MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 260

Episode Date: December 15, 2014

Featuring the 2014 MMA Hour Awards show, plus Robbie Lawler, Carla Esparza, and Marc Raimondi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Mixed Martial Arts Hour back in your life. On this Monday, December 15, 2014, hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani. Inside our New York City studio for our final live show of the year. Not our final show of the year, final live show of the year. Next two weeks, final two weeks of the year, we'll have a best of MMA hour show. We've compiled them.

They're ready to go. So that will be next Monday and the following Monday, and then we're back live first week of January, following the highly anticipated John Jones versus Daniel Cormier fight. But my friends, I'm so excited about today's show. Because if you recall, first show of this year, right after the – it was actually the last weekend of 2013. Right after the Chris Wyman-Anderson Silva fight, we did our first ever MMAR awards. and it was great. It was a lot of fun, well-received.

So I wanted to do it this year. And I was debating whether or not we should do it first week of January because I hate when they do awards and there are still fights. As you know, it has kind of flown under the radar, but as you know, C.B. Dolewey, Leone and Machita is this Saturday. So it seems kind of weird to me to give out awards

when there's still one, you know, pretty significant card coming up. Turn of Henan Barrow as well featured on this Saturday. that card. But I didn't want to do it after Jones, D.C., because it feels like, all right, now it's January. That's going to be a big fight. There's lots to talk about it. I didn't want to look back when we're already moving forward, when it's already 2015. So I thought, all right, our disclaimer will be, if anything huge happens this weekend, because this weekend's fight card is really the last significant fight card of the year. If anything big happens, we reserve the right to change our pick. Nothing happens. These are our picks. We've gone through

them. It'll be my picks. New York Rick's picks. We have 19 categories. in total, and we've worked pretty hard on these, so I hope you enjoy it. Now, the awards portion of the show is going to kick off at around 1.45. We still have a lot to discuss between now and then, and we'll do those for as long as it goes, and then we'll go inside the vault, and then we'll take your questions and comments. So it's a bit of a different show, less guest, but this is how we like to do it at the end of the year. I hope you'll enjoy it, and I encourage everyone, and I appreciate everyone doing it so far. I encourage everyone to go in the comment section below and give us your picks. And at the end, we'll read some of the good ones.

A lot of people have weighed in thus far. I love it. And we have some of the same picks, some different ones. Some, some of them are out there. I'll be honest. But I love that everyone weighed in, and I hope you had fun doing it. I had fun putting mine together. I'm curious to hear what you all think about it. So we'll get to that in around 45 minutes. In fact, around 145, our fighter of the year, who is a mystery right now. I'm not announcing who it is. will be joining us. So at 145, the male fighter of the year will be joining us. I kind of gave it away to a degree there, but this, in my opinion, is fighter of the year for the males and the females. This man had a tremendous 2014 campaign. He'll be joining us at 145. At 125, at 125, we're going

to be joined by Carla Sparza, who, as you may know, won the first ever UFC Strawway title fight on Friday night. She defeated Rose Namibunis. She won via third round rear naked choke, tremendous performance. She was the number one seed going into the show. She's the number one seed now, of course, the number one ranked fighter in that division after winning the belt. A very entertaining card and also a very entertaining card on Saturday. A bizarre card on Saturday. I just got back from Phoenix, of course. That show headline by JDS versus Stipe Miyoch. JDS wins. A bit controversial. We'll weigh in on that, but hey, it was a very memorable first effort in Phoenix. Fight cancellations at the 11th hour. Some great performances, some

controversial won some great knockouts. And overall, I thought it was a pretty entertaining show. So we had that. And of course, Husseumar Palliaris, winning once again via Niebar. This guy, it's unbelievable. Perhaps the most devastating finishing maneuver in mixed martial arts. You know what he's going for and he still does it. And not only does he do it, he does it in the first minute of the fight. It's unbelievable. I'll weigh on on that as well. So, MMA Our Awards show. Before we get to all of that, let's welcome in a man who had a pretty good 2014 campaign. Some might say he's gone from the outhouse to the penthouse, the newest member of the MMAfighting.com team,

the man who recently moved from Fridid New York to beautiful Los Angeles, the one and only Mark Romandie. Mark, are you there? What's up, Ariel? So you moved to L.A., you turned your back on New York. Some might call you a Benedict Arnold. How are things going over there? How's the move so far?

It's a lovely day, about 65 degrees out here in Los Angeles And listen, I just want to thank you for naming me Anime journalist of the year under 5'8 I really appreciate that We could even gone like 5'4 foot 3, right? Easy, easy now, easy. So I understand because this is our award show You've prepared a monologue on the year that was in MMA, so let's hear it

I actually have a song You have a song? No, I mean, I don't want to take your gimmick, so I won't do anything. So what you're saying is we gave you the honor of being on our award show and you have nothing prepared. I'm sure to answer any questions you have for me. I'm the NBA Journalist of the year under five footage. Well, what a year it has been for you. Were you part of Fox Sports at the beginning of the year?

You were? I was. Okay. I was. 2013 was my first day. Right, right, right. I thought you had three jobs, but of course some might recall that you were once a member of the New York Post team. Then you went to Fox Sports. Now you're a member of MMA Fighting.com.

Very happy to have you. So let's talk some MMA, Mark. Before we get to the awards, it was a very busy weekend in mixed martial arts. As I mentioned, tough finale on Friday. We had UFC on Fox 13 on Saturday, and of course World Series of Fighting 16, also on Saturday night. Of all the performances, of all the fights, which one stood out the most? What was the story of the weekend, in your opinion? Wow, putting me on the spot. I wasn't prepared. No, I'm just kidding. Wow. The performance of the weekend, I think, has to to be Hafieldo Zanjos.

And I know that there were some things that happened, some very vague things, an injury, some issues with training with Nate Bias, he was out of shape, he came in overweight, we know that, but Javier D'Anjo's has taken his game to a whole different level.

I mean, he looks like a different man. I don't know what they're doing down at King's M.A. between, you know, with him and Fabrizio, but these guys look fantastic. You know, I think that if Neda White said it on Saturday night, If Khabibn Mermaghan-Met-Metov is not ready for the title shot, who else can you give it to besides Tafio Dosanches?

I mean, he's, what is he 8 and 1 in his last, you know, nine fights, something like that. You know, he looked phenomenal. He, no one has ever really beat up Nate D.S. quite like that in terms of control and just sheer, sheer violence. I mean, he just laid it on him. I thought that was extremely impressed by that. Well, certainly not at 155.

I mean, he had some performances. At 170. Yes, at 170. The Benson fight was pretty once. decided as well, but I get your point, and a lot of people didn't see this coming from RDA. Remember, this is a guy who started his UFC career, oh, and two. No one really thought

that he'd be a major player, and he's turned into that. I'm happy Dana White came out and said that he's the number one contender, if Habeb can't go when Pettis is ready, and he deserves it because he beat RDA back in April, because I was afraid that if Soroni won, given his popularity,

if he won on January 3rd, people would get on that bandwagon and ask for him to get a touchdown shop, but let's not forget, he's already lost to pedus. And first round. Yeah, and RDA already beat him

last August, a fight that no one remembers, but he did beat him. You mentioned Nate Diaz. You alluded to the fact that, you know, he had some issues.

Those were the least of his problems. I mean, he, in my opinion, went into this fight with a black cloud hanging over him. He has so much

negativity, it's got to be exhausting to fight like that. And he alluded to that as well. He said, you know, it's tiring going into these fights thinking that everyone

wants you to get your ass kicked. And I think he's alluded to the fact that he just feels like he's against the world here. If you're the UFC, given all the issues, given what he says, given the fact that he missed weight, that, you know, he didn't do his interview when he was supposed to for a road to

the Octagon and all that other stuff, and they went through a laundry list of issues at the beginning of the Fox show, somewhat surprisingly. Do you still want to be in business with this guy? Is it worth being in business with him? Yeah, it is. It is because, you know, it's funny how Dana White says that Nate Diaz is not a needle mover. Nick Diaz is a needle mover, but Nate Diaz is in a co-main event on Fox for a reason. As good as Hotifio Dosanjo is, the reason that's why the co-man event was because of Nate Diaz, not because of

Los Anja. So he's still a guy that people want to see. And honestly, even though it was kind of negative toward the UFC, the big story of the week leading up to the fights was Nate Diaz's interviews, you know, on Thursday. Yeah. You know, and what he's talking about, you know, CM Punk and I think he called him. Steve Miotic-Sipe. He said the seventh

through big ass couldn't play in the NBA. I mean, the guy was like a comedy routine was hilarious. And even though that's not really a great thing to the UFC, that's what the D.S. brothers bring. They bring that unpredictability. They're unfiltered. They're so real and uncensored

that people can't help but like them. And as long as people like them and want to see them fight, I think you have to, you know, you're going to cut Nate Bias and have him go to Belvoir and be a big druth. Yeah, you can't do that. No, you have to stick with it. You have to stick with him.

It almost felt like he wanted to get cut, or at least we know he's not happy, but was trying to do whatever he could on the way to the fight to get cut. You know, when they come out at the beginning of the show and they run through all his issues, they show him walking out in the interview. That, in my opinion, only makes him more popular. People love the Diaz brothers because they see him anti-establishment and all that, and this is like, wow, look at this guy, sticking it to the man. So I don't know if it had the result that they were looking for, but I thought it was

interesting that they did that. So he's, you know, he's still going to stick around. I expect him to fight a lot more in 2015 because this is what he does, is how he makes his money. And, you know, he has made no secret of that. So let's go to the main event. Miochich loses a close one to JDS. It probably went longer than a lot of people expected. It was very close.

Who did you have its score for? I voted for Miosich, 48, 47. I did. Which rounds do you give him? I gave Miosch the first decision. second and the fifth. You see... Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. The first and second and the fourth. I apologize. Oh, the fourth. Interesting. Okay, because it seemed like a lot of people were going one, two, five. You went one, two, four for Miotich. I thought he won the four.

I thought he did a little bit more damage in that round. I know those had to take down, but I think in terms of damage, I think, Miofich did more, but I wouldn't argue either way. It was, I know that it was a close round. I really wouldn't, I'm not adamant that that steepe won that round. I could go either way. You know, I watched the fight again this morning, and I thought it was pretty clear 1-25 JDS. So I'm happy you say that you think JDS won the fifth round, because I thought that was the round that a lot of people, you know, a lot of people were kind of going back and forth on.

But I thought it was pretty clear he won that round. Perhaps I'll go back and watch the fourth again if you're bringing that up because I felt most people had it, you know, tied going into the fifth. But I don't really feel like there's a controversy there. I mean, it was super close. But this is not one that I think we should be crying foul about. No, there's no robbery here. For some reason, every time in an MMA fight, a decision doesn't go the way of your opinion,

it gets called a robbery. That's not what a robbery is. A robbery is when Diego Sanchez gets the decision over Ross Pearson after he gets humbled and controlled for a through straight round. That's a robbery. On Saturday, it was not a robbery. On Saturday, it was a very close fight that went Giudanth Santos's way. I don't know.

People are calling that a robbery or are, and they don't know anything about judging an M.A. So in the last two weeks, we had a few very important heavyweight fights. Duffy wins in his return. You had Travis Brown winning. On Saturday you had Matt Matrione looking fantastic. You had Overeem coming back looking great. And then, of course, JDS.

And I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but, you know, when you think about what's next for these guys, like let's start with JDS, what would you do with him? Because he took a tremendous amount of damage. He hasn't fought in 14 months leading up to that point. But if you think about his last four fights, He continues to look horrible after his fights, and he's taking a lot of punishment. He did win this fight, but in my mind, like, I even feel weird talking about what's next for him,

because I don't want to even think about him fighting again for a long time, especially coming off this week, where he had Joe Rogan, you know, talking to Brendan Shaw about brain damage and all this stuff. I feel weird thinking about JDS's next fight. Yeah, I agree with you, and I think being a wife's on Saturday, let's give it some time, let's give him a few months off. you know, let's not, you're not going to come back in there in February, March, and say, you know, hey, go fight. I do think, and I think that's when I was on the NBA beat a few months ago, I never liked this Junior Dos Santos beat Miotis fight because the heavyweight division doesn't have a ton of clear, you know, contenders.

And I thought Miocis was that, and I didn't like giving him Junior Dos Santos because no one wants to see, except for maybe Junior, no one wants to see Camelazquez versus those Santors. again because I mean that those I think those losses took years off of his career to be honest with you. I don't want to see him fight Kane again. So now you're taking a guy who no one wants to see fight Kane again and you're putting him up against a possible contender, a pretty, a pretty solid contender. Sure.

You know, a guy who had won, you know, a bunch in a row and was right up there. So, and exactly what they probably didn't want to happen, happen. So Santos beat him and now Steve had to go back, you know, to the end of the the line, which is not a very long line at heavyweight, but, you know, the end of the line regardless. To me, I think what you have to do with those Santos next is I don't like giving him a guy who's on like a run, who's ready to fight for a title. I think the fight you have to give him is Alper Overeign.

And this is a fight that they tried to put together before, and it's self itself. I mean, it's two of the hardest-titters in the division. Poor DeSantos, maybe, but, you know, I think he'd be a favor in this fight. I think that's the fight that they've wanted to do for a long time, and there's no better time with the present. You may never get another opportunity to do it. It's amazing how Overeem winning really opens things up. It makes things so much more interesting,

the possibilities that you have with this guy. Everyone loves to see him fight. There's something about him still, even though he hasn't had the best UFC run. I'm down with that, but the one that I kind of feel like I want to see more. I don't know. I do love that one, but Mitrione has also been asking for that Overeem fight. You have the backdrop of the Black Zillians team,

and Overeem leaving. Mitriona's looked great, and I'd love to see him take that step up. So that's the one I'm leaning towards. Struve Gonzaga, I think, makes sense next with both of them losing. And I must say, I feel like Struv, you know, losing is kind of inconsequential on Saturday,

just the fact that he made it to that point, considering everything he's been through, issues with his heart, collapsing backstage at 175, of course, his father passing away. I mean, that was a victory in itself, and I actually went out of my way to tell him that backstage. And then as far as the top guys go, I know they sometimes like to do, you know, winner versus winner,

but they've gone away from that at times. I want to see Brown versus Meochich. I think Travis Brown versus Meochich, you consider the fact that Brown was coming off a loss, came back, won. Miochich had a run, so it kind of equals out. He is coming off a loss, but it was a close one. I think that makes sense. And, you know, I get exactly what you're saying about JDS.

JDS, Andre Arlovsky. When you consider the fact that Arlofsky is going to be out, still for a bit he had surgery on his shoulder, JDS needs some time off. If Arlofsky could then beat JDS, I think that is the win that he needs to really get into that title talk. And if you have JDS beating Arlofsky, it's not the worst thing in the world because he's not a fresh face that he's somewhat of a job because he's a name, but he's not that fresh face that you're derailing, which is what you were worried about with the Miotich fight. You know what I mean?

So that's kind of what I'm thinking of. And of course you have other players out there like Roy Nelson and Ben Rothwell and Josh Barnett, who knows when he comes back to Mark Hunt. Mark Hunt is still around. So it's not that bad these days at heavyweight. The waters are a little muddy, but it's not as bad as I think we thought it might be. I still think it's pretty interesting. Of course, you have to have Kane Velasquez coming back. Who knows when that will happen, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I want to talk to you about what Jamie Varner said after his fight on Saturday. He announced his retirement after losing in his home state. This is his final fight, and he did it all class. And I thought Drew Dober as well, you know, all class, great performance. But afterwards, the big news was he said, you know, it's time to start a union. and there's this sort of this talk that's been developing a lot this year from the fighters, from managers about a union. I'm surprised to hear Jamie Varner said.

I just didn't expect that from them. There are certain guys you'd expect it from. Do you think 2015 we see this thing? Or if it actually ever does happen, you'll need a lot more time than that? It's going to need a lot more time than that. I talked about this with Makikawa a few weeks ago after the Reebok deal. was announced and I don't think people

and this is his opinion and also, my opinion, I don't think people understand how hard something like that is. You know, majorly baseball was around for, I think, 60 or 70 years before there was ever a player's union. The players union is still kind of a, I mean, I guess if you look at it in the grand scheme of things,

still a relatively new thing. It's not one of those things where, you know, a few guys can just get together and, hey, we know, we're going to start a union. It doesn't quite work like that. You need everybody all in on it. Okay? And I don't know if you're going to get that now.

I don't know if the top wrong of fighters is going to say, hey, I don't mind giving some money back to the lower level guys and getting together and going on it in the union. I don't get happening right now. I just don't. Yeah. I think that the guys at the top do too well. And I don't know if the union would benefit guys like that. There's no doubt that the union. any union would benefit the whole, the unit.

But, you know, there's this, you know, this is not a team sport, M&A. And people are going to look out for themselves, an individual sport, and you're taught from the beginning as you're a fighter that you're looking out for number one and number one alone, not the other guys in the back. So if you're on top of the sport,

what benefit of them have you to start a union? We can talk more about that later as we continue to talk about this past weekend. running out of time. So I want to get your thoughts on Friday because I know you were there in Las Vegas. Carlos Sparza winning the first ever UFC strawweight title. A very strawweight heavy card, the most women's fights in the history of the UFC on one particular card. What was the crowd like? How interested were people in these fighters who had just been on the ultimate fighter? So you've seen them, I would imagine a lot of people who are in attendance, watched them for a few weeks. Did you get the

sense that these were stars in the making, that people were interested in strawweight action? vibe like at the POMS? As a whole, the vibe was not, was not great. The POMS is kind of a, the pro-the-poms are very strange venue. It's very small, and it's kind of like echoey, and the acoustics are weird. It wasn't, it wasn't a very enthusiastic, vibrant crowd. It did pick up when the main event came. There was no doubt that the main event was the big fight, and that that was, you know,

That was for all the Marvels. That was for the championship. Rose Nama Unis got a huge welcome, and as far as they got a pretty nice obation, too. The prelim, the prelim fight didn't do so great as far as, you know, fan attention. The Jessica Pena ran the Marcos fight got a little bit of buzz, too. But other than that, it wasn't, you know,

I wasn't blown away by, you know, the crowd going crazy. I do think that as far as that Nami Unis had a chance to really develop a following, in that division and kind of it's the division of the U.S. I have to bring along slowly. You know, they're not going to be headlining K reviews anytime soon, most likely. But there's potential there. You have to give it, you have to give it some time.

And not the unit, I think everyone knows as a future star. She's 22 years old. And as far as it's just really damn good. You know, she's really, really good. She's not, you know, she's a wrestler, but she's not boring. She has an exciting, high-state style. I think the division will be fine. I just need a little bit of time.

It's unfortunate, from their perspective, that Claudia Godelia did not win because there's that rivalry there. They were supposed to fight twice before. Instead, Yonaheachek. How about that? You like that? Yondreichik.

Y'i... Yichick. Y'i... I've studied it. Studied it. So, anyhow, they have that rivalry... I defer to you on... She won, and it's clear the UFC likes her.

Dana White, in particular. She was sitting cage-side with him on Saturday after her fight. So give us the final grade on Tough 20. All-female. straw weights, champion will be crowned. I think we were all pretty excited about it when it started. What did you think of it overall?

Give us the grade. What did you think of that first season? I'm going to give it a solid B-plus. Wow, that's better than I thought. No, because I think that there are talented fighters, and I think the division is pretty deep. I like Tisha Torres in the future. You know, Angela Hill is someone who came in very experienced,

in experience, and she looked great against Emily Kagan. and I think that she can have really entertaining fights. I think that the division will be very entertaining. One of the more entertaining in deep divisions, there aren't a lot of, like, you know, women who are going to be huge stars in UFC, but as far as just entertaining fights and exciting fights, there are plenty of those there. The merits that I'll give the season was just that it just seemed like the focus

was so much on the drama. And it seemed like, you know, Fox was pushing the drama and pushing all the expectations. extracurricular activities in the house down viewers' throats rather than actually promoting a championship fight a very, very good championship fight between the two, really the two best women in the world at that, that way class. How many times, you know, this has never happened. You know, the Open Fighter has never been for the title.

And yet it just seemed like the focus was more on reality show, you know, drama and Patty Cake and some of the strange things that happened on the show rather than, hey, You know, we have two world-class athletes. Carlos Parza, Rosenama Yunus. We're fighting for a UFC title on Fox Sports 1, you know, on Friday night, and the focus was more on, you know, reality show crap. I'm not really sure why. But that's why I would bring down my grade a little bit.

But I can't fault any of the women. I think there's a lot of potential in that division. I think it's going to be really fun. I'm excited for a lot of potential fights in that division, well, moving forward. Before I let you go, let me ask you about Hussemao Palliaris. He wins again. He defeats John Fitz. A quick update on John Fitch, by the way, I spoke to him earlier.

He said that he's hoping to have an MRI today, meeting with his doctor tomorrow. Not sure how seriously injured that leg is, but it was clear that he heard it because he couldn't stand up afterwards. Once again, Palliaris, we know what he wants to do and he does it. But once again, it seems like he may have held it on a little too long. What do you think? Was it okay or did he hold it on too long again? You know, I'm a little porn about this because I think that if this is a different guy in the main event of WFOF on Saturday night, and he landed a heel hook, and he took a little bit

longer than normal to let go. No one would be talking about it. Okay, but because it's Paul Harris, Paul Yarres, and he has that history, it's become a big story. Now, I'm not defending him because that's his own, that's his own fault. He's brought, he's brought that upon himself. And the scrutiny is going to come every time he's in the cage. So if he even let's go a millisecond too long, people are going to wonder,

is it the same guy who, you know, messed up Mike Pierce's knee and Thomas Rival and so on and so forth. So I think that it was a little bit longer than normal. It wasn't completely blatant and crazy as some of the previous one, but the fact that we're even talking about this is because of that. I don't know what – I don't know what to do about him. I think he has a very loose interpretation of how and when fight then. You know, he fought Dan Miller, and, you know, he was landing ground and pound, and then he just got up and Herb Dean didn't stop the fight,

and Palliart thought it was over this was a few years ago in the UFC. Yeah. And he had that weird, the weird incident with Nate Mark Whart, where in the middle of the fight, he accused him of greasing his leg, and he stopped fighting, and Mark Ward knocked him out. There's just some very strange stuff that isn't just related, to these leg locks. He just has a very loose interpretation

of what ends fights and what the rules are, maybe. I don't know. He's a strange guy, but, man, I got to tell you, it's kind of must-see TV when he fights, isn't it? It's 100% of must-s-tete. You want to see what the guy's going to do next? Yeah. It's tough. You watch it a thousand times, and it's like you just feel like the referee's tugging

more so than usual, and, okay, Fitch is tapping his leg, his own leg, then you'll be like, okay, maybe he didn't feel it. He's clearly tapping Polyeris, his leg, I don't know. He's 100% must-see TV. I'm not saying he should be fine, suspended, whatever. It does always feel like he holds it on, you know,

onto it a smidge too long. But holy moly, this guy, I mean, to do that early, when everyone knows it's coming, is nothing short of remarkable. And, you know, it's a shame that they can't do the Ascran fight because that would have been, I would have paid $100 to watch that. But they might get Jake Shields, which is pretty interesting in itself

considering his ground game. Mark, great stuff. If you look, I'm sorry to interrupt, Ian N. Fent whistle fought Anthony Bershack, and he hit a heel hook, and he was off the leg before the referee even came in. You know, Birchak tapped, and that was it. That's what an actual heel hook finish looks like in an NBA play. That's not a polyarish finish. This one was more of a kneebar, but I know what you're saying.

Also, when you have that kind of history, it would be nice if you try to tell people, it just look at the referee. Look at the referee. Look how hardy he has to work to get him off him, and I just don't think it's necessary. Fitch telling me that something did pop, but he said he went until something popped. So it's hard to blame him for that. You'd still love to see him just get off it a little sooner. Nevertheless, he's going to keep fighting. He's a big draw right now for World Series of Fighting.

Great stuff, Mark. Appreciate the time very much. Welcome to the team, and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks, man. All right, there he is. Mark Romundi, follow him on Twitter. You see the Twitter account on your screen right there. All right, let's move along.

We were just talking about her. So let's talk to her right now. She's the first ever UFC Strawway champion. and she defeated Rose Nami Yunus on Friday to capture the belt. She was the number one seed going in. She's number one ranked right now after winning the belt. She is Carla Asparza, and she joins us right now. Carla, how are you?

I am doing absolutely wonderful. Thank you. Well, congratulations. You're the champ. You made history on Friday. Has it all sunk in? Now we're, what, a little less than 72 hours removed? What's life like as first ever UFC Strawway champion?

Life has just been pretty. busy. I just actually drove in from Vegas a couple hours ago, and I am going off to Australia tonight, so kind of nonstop. I haven't really had much time to sit and relax and let it all sink in, but it's still all great. I'm really happy. What's happening in Australia? Vacation. Oh. Much needed vacation. Yeah, it's been a long year, and I really wanted to just get out of

here and go and enjoy a vacation. Any particular reason why you chose Australia? Just the time of year was, you know, I knew it was going to be really nice and, you know, English speaking, be a little bit easier. And Australia just seems pretty freaking cool to me. Yes. And the people there seem cool. So I just was like, hey, let's go.

And were you planning on going on this trip even before the show before you knew you won the belt? Yes, I actually planned this trip a couple weeks ago because, there's been so much going on with the show out, and, you know, it's all been, like, so much craziness. I just kind of wanted to focus my energy on something positive and, you know, just keep myself distracted with this trip and planning it. So I just wanted to set that up right after the fight.

Kind of like your light at the end of the tunnel, right? Exactly. It reminds you of, like, when people plan a honeymoon after a wedding and they go right away after, like, you didn't have no time to rest or anything like that. want to get out of town. This is like your honeymoon. Yeah, this is my fight honeymoon. So, you know, I want to ask you a question that I asked you before the fight when I saw you last Saturday or two Saturdays ago now.

You know, a lot has been made of the fact that you get nervous before your fights, and I was wondering if you would get more nervous because this was the big one for the title. What was it like beforehand? You know, I was extremely nervous, you know, as every fight, but definitely this one had a lot of pressure writing on it, especially because, you know, there was, not only was it, the UFC fight, but there was just so much buildup, and I was such an underdog, and I, you know, just being the number one seed, and I just felt like I really wanted to perform out there. So I definitely felt the pressure on this one.

It was actually very taxing on me mentally preparing for this fight, but in a cage, I brought it all together and, you know, came home with the goals. I don't remember a lot of people talking about this before you were on the show. Are you a little annoyed that now that you let us into your world? so many people talk about the nerves. And I was even watching the fight with a lot of people in Phoenix because I was there for the Fox show and they were kind of studying, oh, look at her.

She looks a little more nervous. Like everyone's dissecting this and asking you about it. Is that a little annoying now? No, it's actually something that people always have asked me about. Even in my wrestling years, like they always kind of see me very calm, very mellow, very, you know, and just not moving around a lot, not crazy. and, you know, it's the opposite of what most people kind of do.

So I usually get questions about it, and people especially close to me or fans, I'm so nervous for you. You looked really scared. But that's just kind of my process. That's what I do before each competition. Are you afraid that at some point it's going to, you know, take over and actually hurt you? You seem to be able to, obviously, overcome it every time. But are you ever afraid that it's going to get out of control?

No, not really, because, um, I guess in any fight in any competition, you know, I really just feel like I want to just be totally 100% focused. And I like, you know, blocking everything out. And I think that's why I'm so quiet. I'm just not getting caught up in all of the craziness around me because every time you fight, there's fans, there's, you know, your opponent right across from you, staring at you. It's just a lot going on. So I just try to, like, be in my own mind and stay focused. It was a little surprising to me, and I want to ask you your opinion on this, that by the time the fight was about to start, you were the betting underdog.

Number one seed, everything you've done, it seemed like a lot of people were favoring Rose. Did you know that, and did that surprise you? Yeah, I had heard that. I knew that before I went into the fight. I guess I could say, you know, a lot of people would think that, to me, that's a little bit insulting. But for me, I don't find that as an insult at all. I find it just as more of just really giving rose to credit for submitting. You know, she's the only person who had more than one finish on the show.

She submitted three of the best strawways in the world, and she displayed great striking. So it doesn't surprise me that she was rated as, you know, the top fighter, and I was the underdog because just based off, her performances. Prior to this fight, your last fight in front of a live audience was January of last year, January of 2013. And of course, you had those fights on the show, but there was just, you know, a few people there wasn't shown live to the public. What was it like just being in front of people again and knowing that this fight was on TV, live, cameras are on, the lights are on, a much different environment, I would assume, than fighting on tough, right?

Yes, for sure. It was a different vibe. And it was so much, like I said, so much craziness going on. I was just doing my best to kind of tune it all out. Because there was so much that I could have had in my mind for this fight. You know, the crowd is here, you know, even just having my own music again. And, you know, everything. There was, like, just what was on the line, like, thinking, oh, my God, this is a UFC belt.

This is, you know, everything that came with it, I just. Honestly, I try not to think about what came with it. I just was just trying to focus 100% on just the actual fight itself. So when they actually put the belt on you, what was that feeling like? Actually, I must correct myself. He didn't actually put the belt on you. You put it on your shoulder, which I thought was a little weird, right? Dana White.

Yeah, Dana White actually came up, and he told me before he put it on my shoulder. He's like, this thing is not going to fit around your waist. So I'm going to put it over your shoulder. And, you know, I didn't think anything bad of it, obviously, you know, I am a kind of tiny straw weight, 115 pounds. So that was fine. I mean, as long as I had the belt, I don't really care where you put it. You can put it on top of my head. So it was all good for me.

It was an amazing feeling. It felt like a dream. It didn't feel real. It didn't even feel real until, honestly, probably like, yesterday for me. Wow. Where it was, even my instructor, Jiva Santana, text me yesterday. He said, I go to sleep, you're the champion. And I wake up and you're the champion.

I go to sleep, you're the champion, wake up, you're the champion. I'm finally starting to realize it's not a dream, and that's kind of how I feel, too. Are they going to get one that fits you, a belt that fits you? I don't know, man. I don't mind it being as big as it is, you know. I'll take it. It is the same belt that the heavyweight to use. Like, it's one size fits all, right?

Yeah, yeah, that's so funny. Yeah, I guess you could say that. Yeah, and I know it's pretty heavy. I've held it before. I mean, you're a lot stronger than I am, but that thing is definitely no joke. You know, I was somewhat critical of the UFC for waiting this long to announce the finals.

Like, I thought that the semifinals should have been the week before so they can have, like, you know, a week and change to promote your fight. This time they really had it like two days to promote the fight. you know, the next day after the semifinals, the wayans were taking place. So there wasn't much to do. But from your perspective, was that almost a blessing?

Because only until 48 hours before the fight that everyone know you were in the finals. So you weren't as much in the spotlight as someone who was waiting around for a couple weeks knowing that you were fighting for the belt. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I know what you mean. But honestly, I wanted to live it up and kind of soak in this accomplishment and have people, you know, I wanted to have that week. It's kind of like that engagement period, like when somebody's engaged and you're like,

look at my ring, look at it, you know, this big thing's going to come. But you're like, oh, my God, you're just kind of enjoying, you know, having that coming. And I wanted to, like, have a little bit of week, obviously to promote the fight as well, but just to, like, enjoy the fact that I get to fight for the UFC title. I mean, how many people get to have that opportunity in their entire life? And I really just wanted to have a little bit of time to just, you know, enjoy that. and I didn't get too much time, and I was feeling like if I lost that fight, I was like, man, yeah, I'm fighting for the towel. A day later, I lost.

Just forget about it. It doesn't matter anymore, you know. So I, you know, for many reasons, I wish there would have been a little bit more time in between the semifinal and the final. Do you think this was just too much too soon for Rose? I mean, she's obviously very talented. She's young. She has been doing this as long as you. After getting in there with her, do you just feel like she's not quite at your level just yet?

I mean, I feel like she's at my level, you know, but possibly, you know, just the way our styles, I think our styles, the way we match up, kind of wasn't in her favor. And just that could have been a factor as well. I mean, she's been doing martial arts since she was a kid. You know, she's been doing this for a long time. Just she just happens to be younger. But definitely I have more time in the cage, and I think that played a factor for sure. because a lot of fighting isn't just who's the best athlete, who has the best skills, you know, who's the strongest. It is a mental game. It is, you know, it is in your head.

So I definitely feel like that contributed to it, but I would say a lot of it just with the style matchup. I think a lot of people are looking forward to your first title defense being against Claudia Godelia because there's that rivalry there. Be honest with me. Are you a little disappointed she lost? I'm not disappointed. For me, I just want, I want, I want, to fight the best and continue fighting the best to prove that I'm the best. And if Joanna beat her, then that's who I want to fight. Me and Claudia have a long history, but I even did an interview right after at the press conference.

And, you know, they kept on, you know, someone... Do we lose her? I think we may have lost her. Yep. We'll call it right back. That's Carlos Sparza, the new UFC Strawway champion. Officially, she's 10 and 2, although the UFC, is as far as their official rankings or records are concerned,

they're actually counting the semifinals. So I guess according to the UFC, she's 11 and 2 these days. I tend to go by the Sherdog Fight Finder, and they say that she's 10 and 2. You know, she was supposed to fight Claudia last year, but then right after the way in, Skidelia had some kind of infection and had to pull out of the fight. And this was just days before they officially announced

that all the contracts, or most of those contracts from Invicta were being brought over to the UFC. That was almost exactly a year ago. She was actually on this show around a year ago talking about that, and they were going to be on The Ultimate Fighter. They were going to tape the show in May. They actually got paid to sit out and just get ready for the show. So the UFC did that, and then they were on the show.

Unlike other seasons of the Ultimate Fighter, I don't expect to see a lot of the women who lost, because when you have those finale fights, you'll have, you know, the people who lost and then they don't get another chance. But this one was a little different because they all had their contracts already. With the UFC and, let's be honest, you need those fighters. The division is, you know, it's somewhat developed, but you can't get rid of eight or so fighters because they lost on the finale.

I think you're going to need a lot of those people, especially some of them like Rowdy Beck Rawlings and some of the other names that lost. Carla, are you there? Yes. Sorry. Jeff Call. No problem. So, okay, so we were talking about Claudia and you not fighting her. It seems like Joanna is next for you.

That's what Dana White was alluding to on Saturday. When do you want to come back? Because as you said, it's been a crazy year. When are you kind of thinking in your mind that you'll be ready to fight again? Well, for me, I'll fight when I have to, you know, it's my job. But I would preferably like a little bit of time off maybe. because obviously, you know, with the fight in two months, then I'm in camp for two months.

Right. You know, so I would like, you know, a little bit of downtime just to kind of decompress from this very long year, but, you know, it's up to the people on top, but whatever they tell me. Are you kind of licking your chops about this matchup because, once again, you're a tremendous wrestler,

her strength is striking. We haven't seen a lot of her ground game. Do you feel like this is a great matchup for you? I wouldn't say that. I looked at the fight between her and Claudia. Claudia was able to get takedowns on her but wasn't really able to capitalize on it too much. You know, she wasn't able to finish. So obviously this girl, you know, isn't just going to, you know,

you're not just going to take her down and she's not just going to quit. You know, she's a very hard hit her. You know, I know that she could possibly knock me out. So, you know, I, you know, stylistically, I guess somebody could say, a striker versus wrestler, yes, it is a good matchup, but she did speed, obviously, some people consider to be the best in the world. So I know it's going to be a tough fight.

Do you think she deserved to win that fight? Deserved it? Yes, it was a very good fight. It was a close fight, and, you know, whatever the judges say, that's her job. And, you know, then obviously she did the job and won the fight. She got her hand raised. So you told me before this,

finale that the way you were going to celebrate, you wanted to come to New York, you wanted to have the $1,000 Sunday from Serendipity. Is that still in the works now that you won the belt? Oh, yes. That is, I cannot wait. I am, I'm going to get on that. As soon as I'm back from Australia, I'm going to book a flight, I'm headed out to New York. I'm getting that Sunday. I'm so excited. And is it true? I just read a tweet from Mike Bond, who works at an M. Junkie. You have yet to have a celebratory cookie. Is this true? This can't be true. Yeah, it actually is true. What?

I need to get on that. I need a victory cookie. No one gave you a cookie in Vegas. There weren't any cookies you can eat? You didn't have someone waiting with a batch of cookies for you? Oh my gosh. You know what? We just kind of ran straight, like, from place to place.

So I have not received a cookie yet from a fan. But hopefully I'll have a bunch cookies waiting for me when I stopped in my gym tonight. That would be awesome. How have you celebrated thus far? How have I celebrated? I actually had an after-party at SLS, and, you know, my whole team was there, and that was great, and just kind of hung out in Vegas for a little bit, kind of ate a little bit of junk food, and, you know, just relax for once.

You gave a mention to your late teammate, Shane Del Rosario, after the fight, was around the anniversary of his passing. Did that make things a little more emotional to you, that this was all coming together at almost the exact same time that he passed away? last year? Yes, it was definitely a vibe across her gym. You know, everybody was remembering and kind of feeling that weight of the situation that happened last year. And it was hard, especially on my coach, I really felt it coming from him. So I didn't get to fight last year against Claudia because she went to the hospital. So I was going to dedicate that, hopefully

that win to him. And I didn't get the opportunity to. So, Just to be able to do that for this, for this fight, it's such a huge fight. You know, it just meant so much to me and my team and my coach. So, yeah, it made me really happy. I know that the experience of being on the Ultimate Fighter is a grind, and you equated to being in some kind of, like, dorm room jail. Do you feel like you've matured? Has it helped you change as a person?

Do you feel like you're a different person than the one? You know, I remember having you on this show when the announcement was made that you guys were going to be on the show. Do you feel like you're a different woman? I feel like I'm a different person, for sure. I feel I'm a different fighter. It was definitely not only just in the house, but even what we've had to deal with since we've gotten out,

you know, just the attention, you know, the portrayal of everybody, like kind of the way that they spun it around and just, you know, it's just been such a crazy whirlwind, and I feel like it's definitely, it's been hard, but I think it's the challenges in life to really help you grow as a person. I feel like I've really grown from the experience.

Well, I just want to wish you, once again, congratulations. A tremendous run on the show. A tremendous performance on Friday night. You clearly were the number one seed. You deserve to win that title. My final question to you is, in my opinion, there's no doubt that you're number one in the UFC, but there's still that Jessica Aguilar fight out there.

That's the fight I think everyone wants to see to determine, you know, who really is the best. Is that something that you want as well to avenge that loss? Are you hoping that she finds her way to the UFC so you can finally put that debate to rest? Honestly, I'm not really worried about it until she comes over. Okay. It's something that I wanted a lot for a long time. And even a week after the fight, you know, obviously she broke her foot in the fight.

And I was like, you know, if she was helping out, I'd love to do the fight right now. But, you know, knowing, you know, you lose, you have to kind of win and prove your way back. And I felt like I did. I was continually calling her out. She even stepped in to fight me at Invicta after Claudia pulled out. But, well, supposedly, and then it turns out she was kind of BSing about it. She told Shannon, hey, I'll take that fight. I'll step in.

And then she never even asked world theories. You know, so it just kind of shows me that she's been kind of dodging me for a while. and I'm just kind of over the whole thing. You know, to me, if you feel like you're the best and you want to be known as the best, you have to fight the best and be willing to fight anybody. And I feel like she's just been trying to do enough

to hang on to that spot. Well, fair enough. First fight in the first and only Bellator Women's Tournament, first ever Invicta Straway champion, participant in the first all-female tough, first ever UFC Strawaway champion. You laid that out very nicely on your Twitter,

so I'll steal it. Congratulations on all of that. Congratulations on winning the Beltaxie. enjoy your time in Australia, and let us know when you come to New York. I'd love to see that in person that Sunday, that $1,000 Sunday. I don't even believe that it exists. If you do find it, you certainly do deserve it. Enjoy it all, and we'll talk to you very soon.

Thanks for coming on. Thank you so much. There she is. Carlos Sparza, the first ever UFC Strawway champion winning the belt on Friday night. Great stuff, and a very nice anchor for that division. All right, let's move along. So I said we'll be joined this first time we've ever done this, mystery fighter. We've never had a mystery guest on this show, but I thought it would be

apropos as we begin our 2014 MMA Hour Awards show to kick things off with our male fighter of the year. In my opinion, he is just the fighter of the year, but we have a women's fighter of the year as well, but this guy did it all in 2014. Both myself and New York, Rick, agree he is the fighter of the year. A very interesting year for him, because for the first time that I can ever remember, he actually has a loss on his record in 2014. But, perhaps very apropos when you consider his career, he was able to come back after his loss to Johnny Hendrix at UFC 171. He came back. He finished Jake Ellenberger at UFC 173. He finished Matt Brown at UFC on Fox 12. And then he won finally the UFC Walter Ray title just last weekend in Las Vegas at UFC 181.

He defeated Johnny Hendricks. Our fighter of the year for 2014 is none other than the veteran himself, the ruthless one, Robbie Loller. There he is, everyone. Robbie, are you there? Hello. Hey, Robbie. Hey, how's it going? Congratulations. Oh, thank you very much.

It's honor. Well, I know you are very touched and humbled by this. You're a 2014 MMA hour fighter of the year. I've got to ask you right off the top. What's a bigger honor? What's a bigger thrill? Winning the belt or this award that we've just given you? Obviously, winning the UFC title is huge,

but this is awesome. There's a lot of really good fighters who had awesome. years, Dillishaw, Cowboy, Neil, Magni, Verdum. So just to be up with competing with guys like that who've had awesome years, it's an amazing accomplishment.

And you've been around this sport a long time. I think it's rare. I mean, I don't think it's ever happened before where a guy actually lost this year and gets this award, but I think it speaks to your entire career. Like, you could have been the comeback fighter of the year as well this year. I mean, I think you know what I mean? It's kind of like the theme

of, even though you're down, you come back stronger and stronger, and I love the fact that you lost this year and are still the fight of the year and still the champion. You get what I'm saying? Yeah, it was definitely an awesome road this year. It was a long road. I was busy. I was just out there grinding and just trying to get better, and everything came together at the end, and it's quite an accomplishment what I did this year. What has the last nine or so days been like for you as UFC Welterweight Champion? It's been awesome, just a lot of interviews, and now it's, starting to die down a little bit, which is nice,

and now I can just get back to being a dad and a husband and working on my fight career. So, yeah, it's slowing down a little bit, which is nice, and now I'm back on the grind working out. Any big celebrations? Anything notable that's happened that you've done to celebrate this great moment? Oh, not really.

Went out to eat the following Wednesday after the fight and went out with some guys from the gym and just pretty much eating some food and hanging out. What was that reception like? I saw some of the pictures of you coming to the gym and bringing the belt there, first ever champion from American Top Team. What was that like sharing that with those guys?

Yeah, it was awesome. This was a lot of hard work and dedication put in, not just by the coaches, not just by me, but by all my training partners and everyone around American Top Team. It was for them. They helped me a lot, and it was we share in this victory. Have you watched the fight again? Yeah, I've watched it twice since, and then my coaches want to watch it probably later on this week

and start breaking it down and try to get better. Are you confident, though, when watching it that you did enough to win that fight? Yeah, I feel like first, fourth and fifth. I did really well, landed more strikes and was looking to finish. And Johnny's obviously a hell of a competitor and a guy who goes out there and knows how to win. And I just felt like I did more as far as damage in those rounds and landed more strikes. But once again, it's a close fight.

When you leave it up to the judges, you never know what's going to happen. And I was just trying to go out there and finish them. I loved how you came out very strong. You were going to the body with those knees. Was that something that you guys worked on from the beginning, that you wanted to try to end this as quickly as possible, and even pinpoint the body there? because it seemed like you were kind of a man on a mission in the first 90 seconds of the first round,

and I think that's what actually won you the fight that first 90 seconds of the first round. Yeah, I think so. That was stuff we've been working on. We had a really good camp. My coaches put together a really good game plan, and knees was definitely part of it, especially we knew he was going to be coming in for takedown, so I wanted to beat his body up a little bit and just try to land really good strikes to the body. and the head as much as possible.

And a lot was made of the fact that the first fight essentially came down to the final minute, and I thought it was almost symbolic that at the end of this fight, final minute, you brought it on him, you look like as strong as you did in the first round. It was amazing to watch. Were you at all thinking about that going into the fifth

or even in the final moments of that fight, thinking like I have to make that statement that perhaps I didn't make the first time around? Yeah, my coach, Kami, told me, hey, we're back where we were in March. It's time to go out there and show them who you are. The last minute of the fight, I felt like a lot of energy come to my body,

a lot of excitement, and I was just getting after it, and I was able to finish really strong, and I wanted to keep fighting. I wanted to try to finish him, and just time ran out. What did you think of his approach to the fight? It seemed like at one time he was getting tired and almost trying not to lose as opposed to win. What did you make of it?

Maybe so. I haven't really broke it down very much as far as that. But, yeah, I feel like he was wearing down a little bit, obviously, from maybe the strikes and pushing on the head. And what he was doing was trying not to take any damage, which is really smart. But I'll leave it up to everyone else to decide what they thought of the way he fought. One of the great moments of the year,

and one of the greatest I've ever seen inside the Octagon was Matt Hughes, your longtime friend and training partner, putting the belt on you. Did you know that that was going to happen? No, but I had a feeling. Matt's been my buddy for a long time. We've been through a lot of training camps, been on a lot of trips together,

and he's a buddy of mine. He's like a brother, so it's definitely an honor to call him a friend, a brother, and it's awesome. It even seemed like Pat Militzch was shouting instructions during the fight as he was sitting there with Dana White. Could you hear him? Did you recognize that familiar voice? Yeah, he was loud.

We spent a lot of time up against the cage, and yeah, I could hear him coach, and I could hear my coach's coach's coaching, and I could hear Johnny's coaching, too, which is awesome. So I could hear stuff, and I was just trying to go out there and win the fight. It even seemed, and, you know, you've certainly evolved as far as your public persona is concerned. It seemed like you were actually getting very emotional when, when they announced that you won, like you were on the verge of tears. Is that accurate?

Yeah, I mean, obviously, it's been a long, hard road. This wasn't easy. This was a long time coming and possibly never going to happen. And I just always believed in myself no matter what anyone said, and I just kept working hard, and it paid off. Somewhat surprisingly, you said before the fight that you didn't feel like you needed the belt to cement your legacy. Like, you've done enough.

Your work says it all. But now that you won, understand why this kind of distinguishes you from some of the other grades? You know, it's kind of like that thing that in other sports with Charles Barkley and Carl Malone and Patrick Ewing in the NBA, they never got that ring, so they can't quite be considered, you know, one of the best ever. Do you feel now that winning that belt puts you in that discussion? Yeah, I just feel like I'm up there with all the other champions, but those sports are a little different because it takes a team. You can't win a NBA championship just being one guy.

So it's a little different just being, obviously, you can't win a title without a really good team either. So in the MMA. But yeah, I see what you're saying. And obviously this is a hell of a way to end this year. Does Robbie Lawler not become UFC champion if he doesn't move down to 170 and go to American Top Team? Yeah, it would definitely be really hard for me to do it the way I was doing it the last two, three years before. But moving down to 170 was huge. Coming down, the American top team was even bigger.

So everything happened at the right time, coming back to the UFC, being excited to fight for the best organization in the world, and moving to a top team and moving down to 170. Does a party wish that you did those two things earlier in your career? No, because I wouldn't be who I was today. It's all about building and getting better from all the mistakes you make in life, and it kind of shapes who you become. So I needed those things in life.

I wasn't ready to be a champion three years ago, mentally and physically, technically. So it's just everything happened at the right time for me, and I wouldn't change any of it. What was it like backstage with the team and also Militich and Hughes? What was that moment like for you? It was awesome. It just shows you that it's more than just one guy out there winning a title. It wasn't just about me doing it. It was about all the coaches, all the training partners,

who helped me, all the guys who put time and effort into me. It was about them, too. It wasn't a one-man show. And now the big question is, will they do the third fight right away, or do you get the rematch with Rory McDonald? If you had it your way, what would you prefer? I would prefer the UFC to make the choice, and I'll just show up and fight and do my job.

That's what I do. I don't really pick and choose. I'm not a matchmaker. I don't run the UFC. I'm a fighter, so I'll stick to doing what I do, best with his training and and punching people. Do you have any insight as to what they're going to do? Have they told your team, you know, which way they're leaning?

No, not really. I think they're, they had a really busy end to the year, so I think we'll know more after probably the Jones Cornea. When would you like to fight again? Because I know it's been a very busy year for you. Yeah, it's been a real busy year. Pretty much I'll be ready whenever the UFC tells me. but I would prefer to fight like Memorial Day in like Vegas or something like that in May,

June or July somewhere in Vegas, but whatever, if the UFC needs me in, then I'll show up. I know you're a great family man bringing that title to your son. What was that like? Yeah, it's funny because my son really doesn't know what I do. He just knows that I go wrestle and I go to gym and work out. So he told me he believed in me, which is funny. Yeah, I'm just his dad, and he thinks it's funny when people are taking pictures with me. He's wondering why, and eventually he'll grow up and realize who I am,

and right now I'm just happy to be his dad. But I'd imagine he thinks the belt is pretty cool, right? Yeah, he thinks it's pretty cool, but he thinks his toys are a lot better. So he's still young, still enjoys what he has, and I enjoy him being a kid, and grow up eventually and start realizing what I do. And by the way, I know that Dan Lambert collects pro wrestling belts. He has like 80 or so. Has he taken your belt yet and added it to the collection?

Because I know that's the one he really wanted. Yeah, no, but I think he's going to have something pretty nice. But I kept my belt and saving it for my son. And, yeah, Dan has a lot of adults, and he's definitely excited about getting his first UFC. out. Final thing before I let you go right after the fight, which I thought was very interesting, you tweeted to CM Punk inviting him to the team, which says a lot,

considering everything that you've been through over the last 24 hours when you tweeted that, and given your stature in the sport, a lot of people have been kind of torn on this one, thinking, you know, either it's great for the sport or very bad for the sport. Why did you do that? What made you do that? Obviously, CM Punk's a really big draw of the UFC. He's going to bring a lot of eyes to the UFC. and the better he does, the better it'll be for all MMA fighters as far as sponsorships and stuff.

I just think if he comes on the American Top Team, he can prove a lot of people wrong. And obviously he's an athlete. Now we just have to figure out if he can fight, and I think American Top Team will be a good fit for him. Do you have no problem with them signing him, bringing him to the best organization in the world, as you called it? No, no, I think it'll be good. But I think UFC has done a great job of building the brand, building the UFC, building MMA. And it was very calculated, and I think they're continuing to build a better UFC.

All right, Robbie, I thank you so much for the time again. Congratulations on an amazing 2014. Congratulations on winning the belt. It's one of the greatest stories in the history of the sport. Your comeback and you're reaching the top now. So can't wait to watch you in 2015 and beyond. Enjoy the time with your family, the holidays. enjoy the belt, and we'll talk to you very soon.

Thanks again for coming on. Really appreciate it. Thank you. All right, there he is. Our 2014 MMA fighter of the year, ruthless Robbie Loller. Some applause from the live audience here. Everyone very excited about this news. What a year it has been.

And, you know, I haven't been doing this for all that long, but I will say that I don't recall anyone ever winning such a prestigious award after losing in the calendar year. Lost to Johnny Hendricks and it was super close and I have a feeling we'll be talking about that fight again on this show. But then it really says it all about his career

because remember this is a guy like, think back to 2011. Let's go to 2009. Submission lost to Jake Shields in just over two minutes. Comes back, beats Melvin Manhuff when he was losing that fight, but that's one of the greatest knockouts ever.

Then loses to Babelieu That's showing Los Angeles for Strike Force. Knocks out Matt Lundlin, then loses two in a row to Jacques-Rae and Tim Kennedy. Then comes back, beats Adlan Amagov, a very weird TKO flying knee. Then loses to Lorenz Larkin, which, no disrespect to Lorenz, but that kind of felt like, all right, what's going to happen to Robbie Loller? But still, it was around the same time that Strike Force was going to be absorbed by the UFC, so he comes back in the following year, and then it all just changes.

comes back, debuts at 170 in the UFC, the fight's Kostchak, and a fight that I thought was a mistake to book because I thought that Kostchak, you know, with his wrestling, I mean, what the hell did I know? And who knew if, you know, he was going to look good at 170, just demolishes him, beats Bobby Voker,

beats Rory McDonald, loses then to Johnny Hendricks, and then the back half of this year. Between May and December, fought three times, beats Jake Ellenberger, Matt Brown, and Johnny Hendricks. New UFC Walterway champion. it was a bit of a tough call going into the fight, whom my fighter of the year was going to be.

I spoke about that on this show, but then once he won the belt, to me it was a no-brainer. And I love the fact that he lost this year because I think that that says it all for Robbie Lawler. New York, Rick, you also agree he is your fighter of the year, right? That's right. It came down to if he beat Johnny Hendricks

because I really was going to go with Neil Magny. You were going to go with Neil Magny going into 181, right? Correct. Yeah. But when Lawler pulled him. it off. There was no choice. It had to be Robbie Luller. Now, explain to me why Neil Magny, and now we're officially in the award show here. So welcome everyone to the 2014 M.M.A. Award show. M.M.A. Hour, I should say, award show. It's great to have you here. Hope you'll

stick around. Why Neil Magny over someone like T.J. Dillashaw? Because for me, if, if Robbie didn't win, I was probably going to go with Dill Shaw for, you know, of course, what he did against Hennon Boreau. Well, Dillishaw has won incredible. victory this year and then one, two. Mike Easton and Joe Soto. Did he beat Mike Easton this year?

I feel like that was last year. No, early in the year. Either way, I wouldn't call that an incredible victory. I'd call that solid. So Mike Easton, Henan Borough, and then Joe Soto.

The other two don't really do it for me. And, you know, Neil Macon, any set a record. You know, whether you think the level of competition was, you know, world class or not. He was healthy enough to fight five times this year and picked up Ws in every single one of those. That's a tough task no matter, you know, the level of competition. You have to make it there and you have to win every single time. And he did that. But wait a second. First of all, he tied the record. Yep. Okay. So Roger Horta had the record. He tied the record five wins in a calendar year. And like, okay, you're hating on.

Mike Easton and Joe Soto, but let's be honest, some of these wins, and I'm not trying to take anything away from Neil, but once we're debating it, some of these wins aren't exactly, you know, the creme de la creme, right? I'm not, no, believe me, I'm not trying to advocate that these are, you know, the wins that are going to get him a title shot. But he fought in won five times. There has to be something said for that. So even if you certainly, that in itself gets you to the point where you're. talking. You're in the conversation, 100%. If you win five times in a year, you're in the conversation.

But would you admit that, and I don't feel like T.J. Dillishaw had the year that makes me go, oh, he's definitely a fighter of the year. So if Magny's in that conversation, I would not back down from that if Robbie had lost. Is it all about numbers, though, or does, let me ask you, does like two amazing wins equal five mid-tier wins? I mean, it's very subject. It all depends on who those two amazing wins are. It really always depends.

And I don't feel like anybody had a year that made me go, oh, wow, incredible. Like last year, I believe yours was Chris Wyden. I believe it was. You know, nothing needs to be said about that year. You beat Anderson Silva twice. Yeah. That's incredible. Mine was Vitor Belfort.

He destroyed four guys. Right. Nothing, you know. Those two were very clear. clear cases. Those two were very clear cases for Fighter Over the Year. This year, I feel like it was a little murkier, but Robbie at the very end, I think, was the right choice for this. It felt to me, and it correct me from wrong, it felt like he was very touched by this award. Oh, yeah, he seemed like, you could tell. Yeah, it was great. Other ones that came to mind,

I think Seroni, Donald Seroni, deserves a mention. He had a great year. I think Luke Rockhold had a great year. You know, he, you see, one thing to remember, and we'll get to our 2015 fight of the year, who we think will be 2015, it all depends on when you fight. Like, the guys who are going to fight around January will typically, if all goes, well, get at least three fights. So, Rockhold fought January, he fought April, and then he fought November. Well, you don't need to fight three times, right? You get two huge wins. Well, no, that's what I'm asking, I was asking, no, because I think if you fight, like, if, to me, I was wondering, all right, if Johnny Hendrix beat Lawler, because I was thinking,

about this going into the fight. Does he get it? I feel like you have to fight a little more than two, but that will come up later. I don't know if you're... Because I've been fought twice, I believe. Yeah, but come on. I mean, that's Anderson Silva.

That's what I'm saying. It's every, every case is different. Every, every situation is independent, and I think Magny deserves recognition. Didn't Robbie say Neil Magny? He did. I'm not hating. I'm just trying to, I'm trying to flesh out your...

And see the thought process there. Yeah. I also think Roy McDonald deserves a mention. Sure. He came back from the loss to, to Robbie and has, you know, obviously put himself in line for a title shot, had some solid wins. I think he was 3-0. So I think he deserves a mention. So, you know, look, to me, it was T.J. because of the huge upset, because of how he won. It wasn't his

fault that Brow pulled out at the 11th hour, and he had a great performance against Soto finished the fight. Easton, you know, not in the UFC anymore, but at the time, I think that was a pretty significant win. And he was coming off a loss, so he was 3-0. But in the end, agree, so there's no point in arguing. Right? We agree. This is one of the few times that we actually agree. Not just in the awards, just in life.

Just in life, yeah. Okay, let's move along to our 2014 MMA Hour Award. Women, female, fighter of the year. You ready for it? Why don't you go first? Okay, mine was... I'm going to do a... That's your drum roll?

I mean, that's the best I got. If you saw the table space back here I have a live audience here who will applaud if they like it What? Who's in the studio? Just go Mine is You just ruined it

Oh you say go And then it's supposed to pull back One second, don't do it yet, one second Just give me a second Okay, go ahead What was that? Go, go, go Yohanna Jachik

That's my choice That was what you made me hold up for for that. Crowd's booing. They don't agree. I have sound effects. That doesn't even sound like a boo. This is terrible. I had to find something quick.

Yohanna Yao Jacek, who just won this past weekend. Why'd you go with her? Why'd you go with the poll? Three wins, including the big one this past weekend. Or rather, yeah, this past weekend. It was on Saturday. over Claudia Gadeja. So I think that, you know, obviously Ronda Rousey is always in the running for this.

Two, you know, first round victories. But I wanted to mix it up a little bit with this one. You know, Ronda Rousey always is going to be here in this conversation every time. And quite honestly, she probably deserves it every year. But I kind of got bored of voting for her. It's like an MBA MVP. I just got bored with this one. But you got to go to the most deserving fighter.

Are you saying she doesn't deserve it, Yohanna? I feel like she had a very, very good year. The most deserving. The most deserving. No, I feel like there's multiple candidates for these things. Okay, fair enough. Well, the most deserving according to me. And she is the winner in my eyes.

Another one I had, originally I picked Amanda Bell. She had a good year, also 3-0. And she defeated undefeated prospect, Marina Shafir, Rhonda Rousey's stablemate. So that was one that I thought was worth mentioning. And in fact, she was probably mine before Yohanna won as well. By the way, Yohanna, and it's pronounced Gadelia, not Gidelha. So you know. I don't know if I said that.

Yeah, you did. Yeah, you did. Go back. She was Forno this year, not three, no. Who are we talking about? Yonah. Oh, yes, yes, yes, four no. Fourno.

So that even adds to your case. You didn't even get the record right. There you go. Still, I disagree. because she's definitely in the running and I think a lot of people would have picked Claudia if she won but to me it's it's Ronda Rousey. It has to be Ronda Rousey, just so dominant

and I hate to and let's just wait for the applause. There it is. Who's applauding over there? Is that Zufa? Yeah. Well, no. Is that the Zufa offices? By the way, they love Yuana.

I mean, she's sitting there in the front row. They know why tweeting about her. They love her. Do you see her sitting in the front row? row on Saturday? No, I did not. They brought her out there after her fight. She's sitting there. It was Sensei Segal, Dana White,

Mark Ratner, and Yuana. Juana, you're gonna actually sitting right next to Dana White. So I don't think Zufa has a problem with this pick on either end. But Ronda, two very dominant wins, and if you even consider she won at the very end of 2013, I'm not gonna I don't consider that. I don't consider that.

But she annihilated Alexis Davis. One of the greatest finishes. I mean, that could be a candidate for a knockout. the year. We'll get to that later. And somewhat controversial, but still a very dominant win over Sarah McMahon. And in this case, I have to give some props to everything that she's done, you know, outside what she's done for Women's M.A. And I agree. I think Chuck Mindenhall nailed it in his column after the tough finale. Like, there is no next Ronorowski. They'll never be in next Rondorowski. All these women, they're going through the door that she broke down. It's true. Are we giving a

lifetime achievement award here? She deserves it. Get out of here. Those two wins. are incredibly impressive. I mean, Sarah McMahon. Absolutely. No argument there, but this other stuff that you're talking about,

come on. It comes into play. It's the same thing that you're saying about, like, oh, tying a record. There are certain times where factors outside of the fights come into play.

But he tied the records in the fights. No, but just like, I mean, if he would have won five times in the span of 14 months, you know what I mean?

Like, that's part, if you would want four times, would you still consider him? No. But because he tied a record. But he won five times. But because tying a record means something, I get it. I'm not denying that.

I just feel like because of what she's done, how dominant, like those wins in such a short amount of time, oh, okay, I mean a little more to me. Perfectly on the same page there. And then what about the stuff about breaking down doors and all this stuff? That's not in the cage. It doesn't. It means something to me. Yeah.

It means something. Because you're even saying, I can't get on board with that. You're even saying that you're bored, you know, it's like it's too easy to give her the award. It is. But that's because she's so damn good. Absolutely. She's so damn good.

So why take it away from her? If she deserves it, she deserves it. Because I'm choosing the award. That's why. All right, fair enough. But, yeah, I mean, if, you know, if the MVP trophy went to the right person every year, if, you know, the award went to the right person every year,

in this case, it's Ronda Rousey. The Amanda Bell one is just weird to me. I'm sorry to say. What's wrong with Amanda Bell's year? Three wins. Solid year, but like I think of Carla Sparza before Amanda Bell. Well, I would love to give it to Carla Asparza. If those wins on tough count.

Oh, they count. No, they don't. What do you mean? Only the semifinals count. She wouldn't have been in the finals if they didn't count. They don't count in the like weird reality TV world, but she needed to win those fights to get to this point. Oh, come on. First of all, it's not the same.

They count. For the, for the, for the, for the, for the, for the, for the, you're not going to acknowledge them. You don't think they count. Like, I acknowledge them. I acknowledge them. I appreciate them. But first of all, it's not the same in, you know, the preparation for those fights is not the as, you know, other fights. The number of rounds in those fights is not the same as other fights.

Those are legitimate factors. Now, I'm not counting them because they don't count on the record, which is the technical reason. But as well, what I'm mentioning, that, you know, they are completely different fights. The preparation for those fights is not nearly the same as a fight camp for another fight, and they are only two rounds. That is a difference, and that matters when you're considering this. So I consider what is our Sparza this year, then 3-0, if the semifinals count? That's a very good year.

But, you know, if those other wins had counted or if she had been more active, I would have gladly given it to her. No, she's actually 2-0 if the semifinals count. Yeah, I mean, that's not enough in my opinion. Yeah, I have a hard time ignoring that. What about Jessica Aguilar? She had a solid year. Good year. Very good year.

Three and O as well. Let me get back to Amanda Bell. Yeah, yeah. If she loses that fight, the Marina Shafir hype train continues. She's the next Ronda Rouse. That's a significant thing, beating Marina. I think that matters a lot. Because we would be talking about Marina Shafir as, you know...

She was one in all going into that fight. No, come on, let's not discount her amateur fights. Everybody was following her career. Oh, it was a big deal, but I don't know. I don't know if it... Beating her could have changed the difference between somebody being considered the next Ronda Rousey or being talked about as the next Ronderousie and not. That's a big deal.

I think that win is a very significant win. significant, but I don't know if it's more significant than anything again. Well, that's why I didn't pick her. Yeah. But you were going to. I was going to. If Claudia won, you were going with her. No, I would have gone with Claudia. Oh, you would have? Yeah. Oh. But she's definitely in your honorable mentions. 100%. All right. Also, even though she lost, I do think, and again, you may disagree, I do think it's worth mentioning Rose Nomi Unis because she came into that show, not in the top five. And I think she probably improved the most in the entire show. a lot of people, even though a lot of people are excited about her,

I don't think a lot of people were picking her to get to the finals, and she started off great in that fight. She's definitely one of those fighters that I think will get another crack at the title before it's all said and done. I think she has come a long way since she started and was on this show as just Pat Barry's girlfriend. Now he's her boyfriend. She's the star of the family now, so I think that's definitely worth mentioning.

And again, I do think Asparzo is worth mentioning. Carla and Rose get the asterisk. They definitely belong in this conversation and deserve it. I would love to, but the official record doesn't state their case. All right. So you go with Yohana Yianjacheck for your women's fighter of the year. I go with Rowdy Ronda Rousey, who returns to action, of course, on February 28th. All right, let's move along now.

Let us go to Fight of the Year. I'll start with this one. My fight of the year, this actually was one of the easier ones to pick. And I must say, I felt like this was a really tough. year to give out awards. Like last year was super easy. I mean, it was easy in the sense that there were a lot of great candidates. This time you actually had to sit down and really think

okay, what happened this past year? It was all kind of a blur, especially with so many events and so many crazy things happening. But the fight of the year I felt was relatively easy. I gave it to Johnny Hendricks versus Robbie Lawler won. UFC 171, March of this past year, of course, that was the fight won by Johnny Hendricks.

And in my opinion, what it came down to was A, was incredibly entertaining. It was super close. It came down to the final minute. Johnny Hendricks essentially won that fight, in my opinion, with that final minute take down. They fought the fight in the phone booth. Back and forth, they went. I mean, I actually wasn't at that event. I was at home. I just had my second child, and I was on the edge of my seat. Loved every second of it. It was the best of M.MA. It had it all when you consider the fact that Johnny Hendricks fought the majority of that fight with a torn biceb, all that much more

impressive. The other ones that came to mind, just throw them out there. Matt Brown, Eric Silva, was a lot of fun. Chris Wyman versus Leotomichita. I like that one very much. That's probably my number two or three from UFC 175. Jose Aldo versus Chad Mendez 2. About time.

Safidine Lim was a lot of fun one of the first fights of the year back in January. And, you know, I thought JDS Miotitch was fun, but not quite in my top five. But at the end of the day, it had to go to Johnny Hendrix versus Robbie Lawler. One.

So much fun. One of the best, if not the best, if not the best, Walterweight title fights of all time. it happened in March and that's my fight of the year. Mentioning Mendes-Aldo that far down on the list. Sorry, that was in no particular order. Because that was the number two fight, in my opinion of the year.

Okay. Incredible drama in that one. I really liked Hendricks Lawler, but I think people have a, since it was so early in the year, I think nostalgia has kind of become a factor in that one. Mendez-Aldo was much higher drama, in my opinion. And I think that, you know, both guys were significant. tired at the end of Hendricks Lawler and it kind of just came down to a war of attrition

that Hendrix won with that takedown. But I don't remember I don't view that one the same way as a lot of other people do. I know that this was a popular pick for it, but I think Mendez-Aldo number two. And my number one, fight of the year. Oh yes. T.J. Dillishaw versus Henan Burrow. Wow. This

is a shocker right here. I don't think a lot of people are going to agree or have this as their fight of the year, but that's my fight of the year and I'll tell you why. Please. Mendezaldo, incredible fight. Hendrix Luller. Great fight. Machita Widman, high drama, great fight, back and forth, war, who's going to take it? It comes down to the final round, all that. But the reason I picked T.J. Dillashar v. Hennon-Brough is there are not many times in M.MA where people watching in the crowd and at home get the opportunity to feel something special. You know, there's drama and there's competition, and then there's the feeling of witnessing something that you're never going to witness again, that that, that, that, feels completely special. It feels unique. And that was the feeling I got. And I think a lot of other

people got during the T.J. Dilloshaw-Hen-Berow fight. It wasn't competitive. And, you know, that is a small factor in fight of the year. I think that is a fact. Actually, I shouldn't say small factor. That's a big factor in fight of the year. But in this case, when I was sitting there watching this fight, I felt like I was a part of something that was bigger than, bigger than just a competitive fight. It had the makings of something that, that I, I'm, I'm, I'm, you know, even having trouble trying to describe it. It's indescribable. And that's the feeling that that made me choose this as fight of the year. I think it's the difference between a competitive fight and something special. And I feel that this fight was something special. And, you know,

Henan Burrow had to be in there. It takes two to, you know, to make that fight. So even though it wasn't, you know, the back and forth war or, you know, the competitive affair that the other fights that we've been mentioning are, Henan Burow was a part of it and T.J. Dillishaw was the bigger part of it. And I feel like this was my choice. It was certainly one of the most memorable moments of the year. That's for sure. One of the greatest performances. Joe Rogan called it the greatest performance he's ever seen inside the octagon. But I didn't consider it just because I felt like it was so one-sided. If there was an award for like best performance of the year, that could be it. Like that's one of, you know, I mean, what he did was nothing short of amazing, especially considering

the fact that you was such a big underdog going into the fight. But I'm surprised to hear you picked that fight considering the fact that you weren't even considering like that to me i know you said it's it takes two to tango and brow deserves to be part of this discussion but when you weren't considering him for fight of the year but you give him fighter excuse me fighter of the year but you give him fight of the year because of what he did seems weird to me because that was the one as i said the mike easton win and the joe soto win aren't doing it for me it comes down to that yeah no i understand it was great i'm surprised i didn't even think of that when i was thinking of fight of the year the feeling when watching that was different to me.

All these other fights, I was on the edge of my seat. I couldn't wait to see the, you know, the next round. But this one, it almost felt like with every round that passed, you know, T.J. had jumped another hurdle. We felt like, wait. You know, even though T.J. was completely in control for every moment of that fight, there was this feeling that is this really happening? Is he really going to do this?

And with every round that went down, that, you know, the feeling of elation just increased. and it was indescribable. That might be, you know, I've been live for a lot of fights that I consider all-time greats. This one might have been the best one I've ever watched from my couch. Wow, he was going that far. I had no choice but to pick this one because of how it made me feel. I don't know. Am I correct in thinking that you didn't think that highly of Wyman Machita or were you just making it?

Oh, I did. I did. But I thought Mendez Aldo was the clear. Like, if you eliminate Dillashaw Barow and this, you know, the circumstances surrounding it, I think Mendezaldo was an all-timer. I think it's the best one of the year by far, if you eliminate my choice. Yeah. I will, when I put together my honorable mentions, I didn't do them in order. So just a heads up for that. That is definitely number two, in my opinion. But you don't, you didn't even consider Hendricks Lawler? No. Mendezaldo jumped that easily. And that's not even in your top five? Oh, yeah, of course. Oh, okay. Hendricks

Slower, Machita. Is it top three? I'd place Machita Wideman over it, to be honest. Wow. Wow. But it's the number four, number five, for sure. Greatest Waltrowy title fight of all time. If you look back, I did the research, because I had to do a report about this on the pre-fight show last week. A lot of great moments.

Sarah beating GSP. Sure. Trigg, Hughes 2 with the comeback. Hughes Newton. What else? BJ Penn when he beat Matt Hughes. GSP Hendrix. GSP Hendrix was great.

GSP huge when he won the belt first and the interim title. But as far as the actual fight, those were all great moments, but they weren't really long enough to be considered greatest fight. This maybe was the greatest fight of all time. And then you got the rematch. You might even get the third fight in the span of, I don't know, 15 or 16 months.

So I don't know. It wasn't as bad as I thought when I was sitting down. Last year, I remember thinking there were so many great fights. Off the top of my head, I don't even remember what I picked as my fight of the year, but I do remember having an easy choice. Do you remember what it was? Free or five of the year? Yeah.

Don't. I mean, it could have been Wydensova. I know that one won a lot last year. I don't think it was that. But I remember thinking that there were a lot of, like there was Chandler Alvarez, and there was Penae versus Waterson. There was, oh, Melendez against Sanchez?

No, that's not in. I remember us both feeling the same way about that. That it wasn't up to snuff, right? Yeah, I mean, Diego had one flurry in the third round, but that was about it. Oh, of course. Jones Gustafson, that was a no-brainer. No-brainer. Vanderley, Brian Stan.

Anyway, it wasn't as great. That's kind of the theme of this whole entire year, but still some good choices. All right, let's move along. So am I up first on this one? Yes. We're going with the next one is round of the year. 2014 MMA round of the year. This was my easiest one.

Easiest. By far. Wow. Jamie Varner versus Abel Trujillo. at UFC 169 round two. It wasn't long. It wasn't a complete round. It was only, I believe,

two and a half minutes or three minutes, something like that. But the way those two were firing at each other, when, you know, Varner had them looked like finished, maybe two, three, four times, got on his back. And then they started fighting in a phone booth

and they were just slinging leather like, very, you will not see that at a UFC fight. very often, and, you know, Abel had the faster sword, and Jamie was on the losing end of it, but God, was that, I mean, I... It was a great fight. Early, happened in February. It doesn't mean anything. I'm just noting that. When they were just standing there, wailing haymakers at each other, I mean, that was it.

A very, a very entertaining year for Jamie Varner. When you consider that fight, he came back, injured his ankle against James Krause and kept fighting. And then, of course, this past weekend wasn't all that entertaining, but he did retire. So a memorable year, if you want to call it for Jamie Varner. That's a solid choice. It felt a little too sloppy for me. I mean, we're talking about round of the year here, so it's just really a five-minute stretch that we're talking about. It got crazy.

It was definitely in consideration, but I didn't go with that one. Are you done giving reason why? Yeah, I didn't even put any honorable mentions because it was so easy. I thought it was a no-brainer. My pick for 2014 MMA hour round of the year was or is Matt Brown versus Eric Silva, round one UFC Fight Night 40 in May in Cincinnati. I went back and watched a lot of rounds to try to really get my pick on point. And I felt like this one had it all.

Remember, at the beginning of that round, Eric Silva crippled Matt Brown with a body shot, a kick to the body. And it looked like a minute into that fight, Matt Brown was done. Remember that? I mean, I think it was Herb Dean, the referee. I may be mistaken. Don't take my word for it. But the referee was very close to finishing that fight.

And then somehow Matt Brown hulks up, which has been a theme throughout his great run before he met up with Robbie Lawler in July, comes back and starts like throwing him around like a ragdoll finishes in dominant position and ends up, in my opinion, actually winning the round after it seemed like he may have lost the round, lost the by maybe in 10-8 round. It started off, and he came back and won the round, and then, of course, later on was able to finish Eric Silva. That one had it all, and I got to get props also to John Anak who I thought had a tremendous call during that first round. He was very excited, and he was even saying that this could be a round of the year candidate. So that was a lot of fun in the

crowd, if you recall, they were on their feet. First, very nervous because the Ohio guy, Matt Brown, was in a lot of trouble. And then they were just, they were almost willing him to victory. and pushing him with their cheers. Everyone was on their feet. There were some Bengals players in the front row. They were going nuts. It was just a really fun scene. And I thought that kind of had everything that you won in a great round.

A comeback, a guy almost getting finished, coming back, and ends up winning the round. That was a lot of fun. So that's my round of the year. Matt Brown, Eric Silva, round one, UFC Fight Night 40. Honorable mention, yours was great. Definitely in there. also towards the back end of Tarek Safedin against Lim, Yanggu Lim at the beginning of the year.

Remember that? It went back and watched that. Was it that good? It was fun. I mean, it's honorable mention. To me, it was all about Brown and Silva, but it was up there. It was just fun because it seemed like,

remember, Lim was losing, and Safedin had a pretty dominant fight, and then he came back and almost finished him. Remember, if he had, like, a minute more, it looked like he was going to knock him out. But it was almost four and a half rounds of Stobey. getting his leg chopped out until that very end. I mean, I had heard that a lot, and I went back and watched it, and I was like,

is this really? Yeah. I was, but Brown Silva, great one. It was fantastic. Yeah. You felt like this was easy because there was one that stood out, but there weren't a lot that stood out, right? No, that's true. It would have been easier to have honorable mentions if there were more honorable mentions.

But, Varner, Trujillo. That was good. It was almost Diaz daily-esque, almost. Yeah. That's one of the greatest rounds of all time. I think that's the... The greatest round of all time. It doesn't get better than that one.

Especially first rounds. All right, let's move along. Cool. I'll go first. 2014 MMA Hour Awards. Event of the year. I think a lot of people could have guessed this one. My event of the year at UFC Fight Night Dublin, July 19th, 2014.

I'm still glowing. Wait one second. Do the people agree? I don't think. I... Yep, they agree. Thanks, guys. I'm still glowing.

This one had it all. It had an unbelievable crowd. It had a crowd that was just dying for the UFC to finally return. They were there from the get-go. You had five local fighters look fantastic. You had dominant performances. You had finishes. You had comebacks.

Cahal Pendret, of course. You had close calls. And they were spread out throughout the night where it wasn't like back-to-back-to-back. so the crowd didn't get exhausted. They were excited the entire time, but the Irish fighters were spread out, and then it all was,

it all culminated in Conn McGregor doing what he did to Diego Brando. And it was just, to me, it had everything that I love about MMA. That whole week was special. And I even saw Connor McGregor do an interview with our good friends over at Severe MMA,

sort of saying that, you know, he had to do that walk and talk, and he was a little bummed out. And, you know, I get what he was saying. you know, it was a day before the Wayans and all that. It kind of did it bum me out, no. I knew he didn't really want to do it, but I think it kind of helped get it.

You know, if I may say so myself, I think it kind of helped everyone get a little more excited for the fight. It was just a very special environment. The crowd was unbelievable. His walkout was unbelievable. And everyone went home happy. The first time they went to Dublin, there was only one Irish fighter on the card.

Tom Egan, he lost. They come back five years later, and they sweep the card. A lot of fun fights, a lot of fun results. There was something in the air that night. It was just really special. Everything from the PR people that night, how they treated the media,

to the fight week activities, to the night before Dana White buying all these people drinks at a bar. There was something in the air, and it reminded me why I love covering the sport, and I felt so lucky to be there. So that is my fight card of the year. UFC Fight Night Dublin, July 19, 2014.

I do not begrudge you for picking that. seems like it was an incredible experience. It's one of those where I feel like if you're there, you feel a little stronger about it. But I wasn't there. Yeah, so when I'm watching, that one did not feel as big or, you know, as exciting. It felt pretty special on TV, though. It definitely did. It felt like a huge event watching it. Um, but I evaluated this more on the actual performances. And, you know, since I did it that way, uh, UFC Fight Night Rockhole versus Bisping, the, the card with all finishes. Yeah. Um, you know, it started with the Bama beast landing that spinning kick. Incredible knockout. He stole that dude's soul. Smoka hit the sweet chin music, Dylan

Andrews versus, no wait, Dylan Andrews? What did Dylan Andrews do on that card? Oh, I know what he did on that card. He knocked himself out. Yes. Whitaker and Clint Hester, they had a scrap. Ayakinta. He shocked the world. And then Rockhold choked out Bisping with one arm. It was all finishes. It was all finishes. Every single fight on that card was a finish. It was actually the shortest event of 2014 with an hour, three minutes, and 51 seconds of total fight time, which is, in this day and age, that's something to look forward to, to have an event that moves quickly. I think that's another reason that it was the event of the year. Especially on fight pass. It felt like it just, it just flies by. So that was mine. Obviously, you know, I probably would have felt a little different

if I had gone to Dublin. But that was mine as an outside kind of observer. That was my card of the year, or event of the year, rather. Other ones that I thought were worth considering U.S.C. 178. That one had it all going into it. It had it all going out. You know, it had the great stories, Dominic Cruz, and Katzenegano. Of course, the big Conn McGregor, Dustin Porier fight, the debut of Eddie Alvarez.

He ended up losing. Great performance by Donald Soroni. Demetrius Johnson, dominant once again. everyone expected that. You had the controversy with Y'all Romero and Tim Kennedy. That was just a really great card. I thought that that was, as far as pay-per-views go, probably the best pay-per-view of the year. U.S.C. 171 was also a lot of fun. I thought there were some great results there. Of course, my fight of the year was on there, so I'm a little biased. But UFC Fight Night Dublin and it ended with that great post-fight speech. The crowd was in a frenzy. It was the first

fight-pass show that really felt like this could have been on TV and should have been on TV. I felt like a star was born. It was just special stuff. So I will always remember that event, July 19, 2014. Fight Night Dublin, one of the greatest of all time that I've been at, if not the greatest in person. Okay, you're up here. We're going with 2014 MMA Hour Awards walkout of the year.

What do you got? This one hurts my soul. Wow. But it had to be done. It was BJ Penn walking out for the tough 19 finale. And the obvious reason is because it's the last time he's going to make that. walk. And he has one of the greatest walkouts or had, now that he's retired, one of the greatest walkouts in MMA and UFC history. He just, you know, when that music hits, the atmosphere and

the building changes. And that's the last time that's ever going to happen. So that was my sentimental choice. I don't think I need to explain it further than that, really. A couple questions about that. Go ahead. And I don't even remember, like, we knew that if he would have gotten creamed, it would have been it. But going into it, were you that worried about his performance in the fight that you thought this was going to be the last time? Because he wasn't saying this was the last time. Well, I mean, does he have to say it's going to be the last time? No, so what I'm saying is, is it great because after the fact you look back and you say, all right, that was the last time. Oh, yeah, that's certainly part of it. But were you thinking that going in?

retroactive or retrospective. Were you thinking that going in though? No. I was, well, I did think it could be the last time if something like that happened. I mean, by all account, no, by all accounts, BJ had made the way it was looking good. And now, you know, in hindsight, it turns out that he probably wasn't doing so great. But, you know, in training, everybody was saying in training, he's looking great. So I don't know if I thought that this would necessarily be his last fight, but I definitely thought that was a possibility. You know, I agree that his walkout music is one of, if not the best ever. But if you recall, he came out with like a remix, and it was just weird.

Listen, the last time he came out of the remix was very good. I know you... What was it? It was the one where it went into the Narls Barkley. That one was really good. Oh, I don't know. He should have went with the old school one. The real one.

Once he came out to that song, it just felt like I wanted to see... It's like, who has, it's like, it's like, if you think about pro wrestling, where the other, the other world that they use entrance songs, like, when Hulk Hogan comes out, I want to hear his music. But don't they change music? No, there's some that have stayed, like Stone Cold, he had his music. And then they tried to change it at one point. Yeah, they do change it, don't they? And everyone crapped on it. So now it's back to the old one, the rock.

This felt like, it's just, I wasn't ready for it. Maybe if you would have told me beforehand that he was coming out to a different song, I would have been ready for it. But I actually, very rarely do I watch the action from the arena. Like this past weekend, I didn't even step foot in the arena to watch anything. I was there when I was at the desk, but to actually go in the tunnel and watch something or sit at a desk, nothing. That time took off my headset, my cords, all that stuff that's attached. And I went into the arena to witness this potentially final walkout. And he comes out to that and I was thrown off and it just was an indication that he's not there.

that this was BJ trying to change himself when we really just wanted to see the old BJ. And look, look how he looked in the fight. Not the same guy, right? Oh, my God. Don't do that to me. It wasn't the same guy. So to that walkout, I say, tomatoes, eggs.

You're spitting on BJ Penn's legacy right now. I love, I think everyone wants to forget that whole evening as far as BJ Penn's legacy is concerned. I want to remember it as the last time we saw a legend fight. You really want to remember that? I want to remember. That's maybe his worst performance ever. Look, I'm not saying that when I think of BJ Penn,

that that's the first thing that's going to come to mind. But it's important to look at in the entire career. And that was the last time we will ever see BJ Penn. And that's why I chose that. It was certainly a hindsight influence day. It wasn't coming in. I was like, oh, this is going to be the greatest entrance ever. So my walk out of the year, at first I was going to go with McGregor in Dublin

because the song was great. the crowd made it all that much better. The crowd adds a lot to the walkout of the year because if they're into it, if they're feeling it, if they're on their feet, if they're going nuts, it's all that more memorable. And that had it all. I mean, the atmosphere there was second to nine

I just went on and on about it. But interestingly enough, my walkout of the year was a fight that actually was the curtain jerker. First fight of the night. And to be honest, the crowd really added nothing to this walkout. But for me, it was very sentimental. It was one of those, again,

where I had to be there in the arena, I had to witness it. And I'll be honest with you guys. I haven't said on the show, I actually started to get very emotional, almost to the point of tears. It was a very personal walkout for me. What's this walkout? This walkout was UFC on Fox 12, July 26, 2014. Noad Lahat coming out to Jerusalem by Matisiyahu against Stephen Siler.

If you recall, big story going into that fight. Noad Lahat, the next day was going to go back to Israel to be a part of the Israeli defense forces and the ongoing struggle and war in Gaza. And he, of course, just the second Israeli fighter in the history of the UFC. And he comes out to Jerusalem, which is an amazing song. Comes out with the hat, the Star of David. You know, I said what I had to say. I didn't try to get too invested in that fight beforehand and weigh in too much on it. But him coming out to Jerusalem in front of a pretty empty arena, by the way. But he was the fan favorite because he does train at the American Kickboxing Academy, which is in San Jose.

This fight was in San Jose. Just really moved me, gave me goosebumps. So I know most people, 99% of the people are going to disagree with my pick, but these are my awards. So this one was a very personal and very sentimental one for me. He came out, won the fight, great performance. He's coming back from an injury, if you're wondering where he's been. He's back in the United States. He served his time in Israel.

But for him to come out to that Matissejo song, one of my favorite songs ever. I love Matisajo was just amazing. It made me very proud to be Jewish and very proud to be there. So that's my walk out of the year. I know that feel, bro. We both had a sentimental pick. That's true. But what I won't do is say, wow, he came out to that song.

Look at how it ended for him. But he won. He won. You're saying I crapped on your parade? A little bit. I'm just saying he won. And all I'm saying is if you're such a big BJ fan, don't you want to just erase that? Look, you gave me a good explanation.

No, it's, see, I don't like that. I don't like when people want to just, you know, throw everything out because there were tough times. You know, it's important. Like, BJ's career was encapsulated by that fight. He was the guy who, you know, we wanted to, no matter what, no matter the quote-unquote motivated BJ Penn, no matter what, where he was in his career, no matter what the circumstances surrounding it was, everybody wanted to see BJ fight. and, you know, to the very end, he got in the cage,

tried a new weight class, went up against a guy who beat him twice, and it didn't work out for him. But it's important to remember him as that guy who never backed down from any fights and, you know, went in there and we paid attention when he did, including the last one, and we all paid attention. I just, I would have been down if he would have kept the original song. Why did it change that song?

My Twitter, I don't know what it's called, header thing, is BJ with his head down? I respect it. Because I want, you know, the good times were good and the bad times were bad, and that's what it was to be a BJ Penn fan and to still be a BJ Penn fan. For the record, Mama knows weighing in on text message here, she agrees with my pick, Noad Lahat. So there you have it.

Shocker, your mom agrees with you. Well, no, no, this was a personal one for her as well. She's a big Noad Lahawk fan. It's a good pick. I really like that. So, yeah, so those were some of the other ones, McGregor to me. Also, you know, I'd say, I mean, Ronor Rousey always,

her demeanor and her song is just perfect. Very underrated walkout. And I like when the guys stick with the same song. I think that's very important. It's part of your persona, your gimmick. Like Roy McDonald. Well, Roy McDonald, no. He just throws me for a loop every time with his songs.

One, it just happened this weekend. I was thinking of it. Matt Matrione, very underrated because he comes out to Simple Man by Leonard Skinner. And what I love about him is, and he's always come out to that, song. He gets undressed always on the way to the cage, and he's singing the song, and it just, you know, he's, you know, he may be called the meathead, he may be called a lot of things, but at the end of the day, he's just a simple man from Indiana, and I love the fact that he starts to get undressed on the way to the cage, not the first to do it, but he has this,

this tunnel vision, and it just screams like, all right, he can't wait to fight, he's ready to go, I love it. I love Matt Matrione's walkout. Matt Matrione singing to himself is a national treasure, something we should preserve and... Widens is always great too. I like Widmonds. It's good. It's good.

Yeah. But Ronda Rousey's is a few levels above that. All right. So that's walk out of the year. Who went first that time? You did, right? I did.

Yeah, so now my turn. Okay, here we go. 2014 MMA hour awards. Knockout of the year. Tough one. Toughest one in my opinion. This one had a lot of choices. We can crap on the year

all we want, but this one had a lot of choices. Knockout of the year. Mine went. to a knockout that I saw back in March of this past year, the tough China finale. When I watched this knockout, my entire spine felt like it hurt. My head hurt. My neck hurt. Dong Yong Kim, knocking out John Hathaway with a spinning elbow, first of its kind in the UFC was nothing short of amazing. And one that I could watch a thousand times, but every time I watch it, it hurts.

It actually hurts. Like, when I think about it, like my neck and my spine actually feel like they're shaking because it just seemed like it hurts so bad. It connected perfectly, knocked out Hathaway cold. Again, we've never seen it before. Very memorable. Dung-Yung Kim, spinning elbow, John Hathaway, out cold, tough China finale in Macau. Fantastic. That's my knockout of the year. Great choice. I'm going to get to a few honorable mentions before I actually get to the one. Because, as I said, this was the hardest one for me. I mentioned stun gun, spinning elbow on Hathaway. incredible. The aforementioned True Helo knockout of Varner.

Roy Nelson, his fastball to Big Nog's head. That one was incredible. Chris Beale on the undercard, the flying knee to Patrick Williams. Anthony Johnson shutting down Mike Kyle like a robot. Mike Kyle just kind of like decommissioned. DiMacio Page at Legacy FC36. If you haven't seen that one, go find the video on the internet. that one was incredible.

It reminded me of Barbosa Edom in the way that he stiffened up and kind of fell over like a tree. Demosio Page, that was a big one. But my choice is Joe Schilling knocking out Melvin Manhoff at Bellator 131. Yes. With the right hook that has made him famous,

he landed that same right hook in glory against his longtime Canadian rival whose name is escaping me right now. Did he landed against Wayne Barrett? No. Wayne Barrett knocked him down twice and he landed a huge knee against Wayne Barrett. Simon Marcus is who I'm thinking of.

Joe took out Simon Marcus with the right hook. And this was more of a culmination of quite a few knockouts that are really stuck in my mind and this one was an incredible one. That Joe Schilling put himself on the MMA map with that knockout. And that's my choice. Joe Schilling knocking out Melvin Manoff with the right hook at Bellator 131.

You know what I love about Melvin Manhuff? He gives out good knockouts. He also takes them very well. Robbie Lawler. What do you mean by well? I mean, very memorable. You know, like, you know, he'll do the job or he'll put the guy over. You know, it's one or the other.

He does a great job of, you know, selling it. Because I don't really believe he was knocked out that badly. I'm kidding. It was pretty bad. It was great. And also what was great about that, very much reminiscent of the Robbie Lawler fight, he was winning the fight. Remember? Yeah.

And I say he, Mannhoff was winning the fight. Yes, Melvin was taking round one for sure. Yeah. And then in round two, it still looked like, you know, Melvin was pressuring. But Joe turned it around and, you know, that little short hook got him. Other ones that come to mind for me, Rhonda Rousey against Alexis Davis. Oh, sure. That was unbelievable.

Now, before you do that, let me jump in. What do you consider for this? Do you consider TKOs? Because in my opinion, I don't really like to for knockout. When the ref steps in. Yeah. I kind of feel like it has to be a knockout. I want a clean knockout.

You know, I pick this. But I almost feel like in that case, the Ronda Davis case, I felt like she was knocked out. Before that. Yeah, and it was just the referee that kind of jumped in light. I just jumped in there at that time. But I agree with you. that was a clear knockout.

That's fair. Other ones that come to mind, Dan Henderson against Shogun in March, Mark Hunt knocking out Roy Nelson, which was awesome because it was another walk-off. Degree of difficulty on that one. Yeah. Through the roof. That might be, if you're judging it, you know, objectively,

the degree of difficulty on knocking out Roy Nelson, pretty tough. Yeah. It was ruined by the referee, though. Certainly. Rewened the highlight forever. Other ones that come to mind, you mentioned a lot of them, so I won't repeat them. But Josh Saman against Eddie Gordon just a couple of weeks ago was unbelievable.

I mean, honestly, sometimes we don't like to look at the ones that happened recently, but that's definitely in my top five. And hey, I just gave props to Noad Lahat. He was on the receiving end of maybe one of the best knockouts of the year. Got Afraid Ope in March. That was a brutal knee, flying knee. you mentioned Rumble Johnson against Mike Kyle, also Rumble Johnson against Little Nog

was devastating at that San Jose event. And one that, again, for me, knockout, when it hurts me to watch, when I feel it, I remember them a little longer, and that was the case when Luke Rockhold finished Costa Filipoo in January

with that liver kick. That one hurt. And I love a good shot to the body. So those are some that come to mind, but there were a lot of great ones this year. I feel like this was the toughest, one by far. There were so many good contenders, so many this year.

And, you know, the thing about it is it's not limited to the UFC. For knockouts, I feel like people are much more likely to respect the craft of it. Whereas something like an award to a specific fighter, the level of competition is simply different, but a knockout is a knockout. And when, you know, there's a lot more possibility for something outside of the UFC to creep in. And that's just the truth. And I feel like there were so many good ones inside the UFC. UFC and outside the UFC. Bellator, I mentioned Legacy. Seriously, go check that DiMasio

Page knockout if you haven't seen it. WSOF, Anthony Johnson was doing work over there before he came back to the UFC. There's so many good knockouts this year and in many different organizations. Okay, let's move along. Submission of the Year, you go first. My submission of the year was Ben Saunders, who just recently competed. Unfortunately, you know, the ending to that was a little weird. But Ben Saunders submitted Chris Heatherly. Via Oma Plata, the first in UFC history. And this was at Fight Night Henderson versus Dosanjos. Yes, Tulsa.

This one, I had a hard time not giving it to Luke Rockhold because of that inverted triangle arm bar he had on Tim Boch, which, I mean, just the chain of grappling moves to get to that submission that he had was all time. And then he one-arm guillotined Mike Bisbing. I mean, he was really making a case for himself for submission of the year. but the first in history, it's like when the Korean zombie did the twister. You got to pay homage. You got to pay respect. Some other good ones. Erica Tibercio, guillotined Michelle Waterson.

Now, that's more the circumstances to win the championship. That's an incredible one. Just recently, Anthony Pettis's submission of Gilbert Melendez, really, really slick. And, I mean, last year, his submission of Benson Henderson, really, really slick. But this year, it had to go to. to Ben Saunders for the Omaplata. So we agree on this one. I gave it to Ben Saunders as well.

And, you know, it was fun. I saw him on Saturday, and I did an interview with him after he defeated Joe Riggs. And I told him that he was my submission of the year winner. And he was actually pretty excited. He was very nice. He was really excited.

He said he was honored and all that. So it was pretty cool to let him know. I mean, I know it means absolutely nothing to no one, except maybe you and I. But I was excited to be able to tell him that. And I agree with everything you said. First one. It was really a lot of fun to see Eddie Bravo's reaction.

If you go back, they have a camera on Bravo who's in his corner, and he was almost shocked. He's like, did I just see what I think I saw? His reaction was great. So for Ben's honors to come back after all these years, worked very hard to get back to the UFC and pull that off. That was great. So he's my pick as well.

Others that you didn't mention, OSP against Nikita Krylov, Von Fluchok. That was very memorable. Kerns Strauss, great finish. great submission, in particular because he came at the end of the fight, and it was a very long and tough fight, and I just loved the way he pulled it off. He was losing that fight. Yeah, he was. Pat Curran in the final seconds. And Hussemaer Paul Yaris, not one in particular, but the fact that he just keeps doing it. The body of work. Yeah. I mean, he just deserves to be mentioned in this discussion. Did it to Steve Carl, did it now to John Fitch. Polyaris, to me,

it's amazing. We know, I can't strike. is enough. Everyone knows it's coming, and he still does it. And he does it in the beginning of the fight. It's not like they're all slippery and everything. He does it when they're super dry, which maybe helps him, yeah. But the point is, you don't even get caught. You're not tired. He just, like, it's amazing. It's amazing watching it, knowing that it's happening, and you just focus on the way he sets it up. And then that grip that he has on the, on the leg when he gets it is just amazing. So it's it's second best in the game behind ronda rousey. Yeah, you know she's going to arm bar you and she can do it.

And now she just decides, hey, I don't want to do that anymore. I'm going to knock people out because she's probably bored and she's that good. Yeah. But Hussamar, man. Anytime you talk about sub, sub of the year, anything, he needs to be mentioned. Yeah. Just the word submission. I'm curious to see how he does against Jake Shields of Shields beats Brian Foster in January.

Okay, let's move along now. now they start to get a little tough now and they start to become very subjective. 2014 MMA Hour Award prospect of the year. I'll go first to this one. So there were a lot of candidates and it kind of depends on how you think of, you know, like what a prospect is, like how you describe that term, what you think of that term, your definition of that term is what I meant to say. And at the end of the day, I think back to when I was at that Belator Media Day in January,

and there were a whole bunch of fighters there, a lot of big names. Pat Curran was there, Michael Chandler was there, Eddie Alvers was there, Rampage Jackson was there, and there was one guy in the corner of the room who was eyeing me down. And we couldn't interview everyone. We just didn't have enough time. One guy was eyeing me down, and I could almost feel him saying, like, you son of a bitch, you're going to regret this. And there'll come a time where I will be on your radar where you will want to interview me.

and he, you know, was quiet. He was calm. He was cool. He was collected. He waited for his time and he finally got it. And I think he made a huge impact. I'm talking about Ill Will Brooks, the Belator lightweight champion. He was kind of the odd man out in the entire Michael Chandler, Eddie Alvarez, feud, if you will. Got his opportunity at the 11th hour when Eddie Alvarez pulled out of that fight against Chandler, beat Michael Chandler. Close, controversial, still beat him, warranted the rematch. beat him fair and square in November. He is certainly a talent on the rise.

He is certainly a process. You want to calm a prospect. You want to calm, most improved. You want to calm, whatever. To me, he's a prospect because we haven't quite seen the best of Will Brooks just yet. I'm curious to see how he looks as champion. Now that he has his confidence, now that he's kind of gotten rid of that chip on his shoulder, he had a great year.

And I think he's one to watch in 2015 and beyond. Will Brooks, Bell Tour Lightway Champion, my prospect of the year. I had the same pick. Now, I'll say this. I had trouble with this one because it really is difficult to determine what you mean as a prospect. You know, Will Brooks doesn't have as super long in the game, but he's also not super young. Will Brooks is, I believe, 28, 27, something like that. So, you know, age is a factor on what you consider a prospect.

You know, how many years you've been competing and fighting is a factor. So, you know, it's very subjective on what you actually consider a prospect or not. but I had to go at Will Brooks, you know, getting it done twice against Michael Chandler. Another one I had was Kelvin Gastilum, who was both super young and super young in the MMA game. But he's the blue chip prospect that everybody thought he could be. In 2014, he had three huge wins. I'm trying to think he had Ellenberger. He had, here, let me just look it up on Wikipedia.

How about that? Yeah, Kelvin Gaslam. But you know what? To me, with Kelvin Aslam, he was kind of a prospect last year. I don't know about that. I feel like he's arrived this year. Here, let's look. So, Rick Story.

Yeah, close one. Nikomasaki. Yeah. And Jake Ellenberger. Yeah, he's there. He's 10 and 0. Now, before that, his last win in 2013 was Brian Melonsone. Yeah.

And Uriah Hall. So that's, like, right off tough. And then one win against a guy, you know. Who no longer fights. Who no longer fights. Who no longer fights in the UFC. So I don't know if people at the end of 2013 were super sold on him. And his 2014 was very impressive.

That said, Will Brooks is the right choice for this. I mean, it really depends. I think last year I picked Kabib Nirmagamedov. I don't know. I don't remember who I picked last year, but this is a very difficult one just because it's difficult to pin down exactly who's a prospect and who's not. But if you consider Will Brooks a prospect, and I think I guess at this point, after we give him this,

he could no longer be a prospect. He's fulfilled his potential. Will Brooks is my choice for this year. And by the way, I don't know if he's fulfilled his potential just yet. Well, okay. As prospect, maybe. Yes, as prospect, he's fulfilled it. By winning the championship, I mean, you can't be a prospect anymore.

I think he can be an anchor for that division, and I really feel like we haven't seen the best of him. Like, I feel like now that he has his confidence and he believes and he's gaining the respect that he deserves his champion, I think we're going to see him much better Will Brooks. And by the way, I think it's worth noting when I was telling my story about not interviewing him in January. I think he's been on the show like three, four times this year alone. And he's a great interview. You know he's one of my favorites.

Yeah. So Will Brooks. Belator Lightway Champion prospect of the year, really looking forward to his 2015 and seeing how they match him up, who they give him. Because, you know, let's be honest, there aren't as many options in Beltor, and especially now that he beat Michael Chandler. I would have loved to see him fight Eddie Avres. It's not going to happen, but there are some interesting fights for him in Beltor.

Well, Brooks, congratulations. All right, let's move along. 2014 M.MA Hour Awards, most improved fighter of the year. You go first. My most improved fighter of the year is none other than T.J. Dilleshaw. who I'm going to give quite a few awards to today. I think that this one was also easy. Now, you know, even at the end of 2013 when he lost to a Sunsau,

and, you know, he looked good early against Mike Easton in this year, I don't know if there was that feeling that this guy was the next big thing. There was certainly the feeling that, you know, he could be competitive, but, you know, nobody saw the improvement that he made under Dwayne Ludwig, the change in his striking. He was known as a wrestler predominantly, who has, had some power, but it wasn't like that was his game. And I feel like even at the end of 2013, we weren't talking about him as, you know, a future champion. And, you know, at the end of

2014, he looks like a champion who's going to be, it's going to be tough to find a challenge for, to be honest, outside of Dominic Cruz. So he's my most improved. There were certainly other ways to go with this. One that I think probably won't get a lot of mentions, but deserves it is David Branch. Oh, yeah, that's a great one. I love that one. He turned, He turned, you know, his career around. Yeah. As I said on this show, I said this earlier this year that he didn't, I don't think he got a fair shake. I don't think it was necessarily that, you know, he turned around from, it wasn't a Robbie Lawler situation or, you know, Mark Hunt situation where he was, or Matt Brown even, where he was on a string of losses and then had to completely flip his career around.

I think he was just kind of flying under the radar. And then in 2014, you really, you know, let people know that he was a legit contender and now a champion. So my pick is T.J. Deloshaugh, but I think Dave Branch deserves some love on this one. That's a great mention. Dillishaw is an unbelievable pick, and it's really hard to argue against that one, to be honest, because of everything you mentioned. He's champion. No one expected that, especially he came into this year on a loss, and it was controversial.

Yes, it was a close one, yes. But let's not forget that he kind of lucked into that title fight because Hafele Sunsau wasn't ready to fight. if a Sun Tso is ready to fight, who knows if he can get to a title shot this year? Who knows? You never know. But he got it. He made the best of it. And he put on one of the greatest displays inside the Octagon, and he dominated a guy who had lost for several years. So he deserves it 100%.

To me, my most improved is Donald Seroni. Why? Because it always felt like Donald Seroni would go on a run, get the big fight, and then squander that opportunity. It always felt like he was a great fighter. but every time he got a big chance to really take a big step in his career, to move up the ladder, to get into that title talk, he always took a step back. And this year, he did the complete opposite. He captured every big opportunity that was brought his way.

He put on amazing performances, one better than the next. And when you consider the fact that he won in November of last year, just in a 12-month stretch, I'm not considering the Evan Dunham fight, but just in a 12-month stretch, he won five times. and if you look at his wins in 2014, a fight that we could have mentioned, by the way, for knockout, his win over Adriano Martins in January. Love that knockout.

That was great. That was on Fox. Comes back in April, submits Etzen Barbosa in classic Soroni fashion where he knocks him down and then goes for the submission, which I love. That was very impressive. That was in the first round when Barbosa was on a role,

and again, he's on a role now. Jim Miller, what he did to him? No one's ever done that's Jim Miller. He did that in July. He finished Jim Miller via K.O. Went to the body as well. That was just a beautiful fight for Seroni. And then comes back in September.

And a fight that I think a lot of people are thinking, all right, this is the fight that we're going to see the old Seroni. He's not going to show up maybe. He's not going to rise to the occasion. Like so many times of the past, he defeats Eddie Alvarez. Great performance. And now he's very close. You know, he's very close in that title talk.

He's got Miles Jury, January 3rd. That's an important fight. probably would have fought more times if they would have given him more fights, but that's just the way it is. And they did the right thing. I mean, you can't just have a guy who's that high up, you know, in the rankings, just fight whenever. And he would fight anyone, anytime. That's one of the guys that when he says that you actually believe it. So I love the fact that he's put it all together. He's more confident. It seems like, you know, the mental part of the game has been conquered. He doesn't squander those opportunities. He doesn't buckle into the pressure.

Saroni has really put it all together. It's been a joy to watch him fight. Ditto. Can't say anything else about that. Great choice. I think either of those guys is a worthy choice. Donald Toroni, congratulations. For me. For you?

I mean, I congratulate Donald Seroni, too. It was a hell of a year. No, T.J, those are two really good ones. Can't go wrong. Either way. You know what? I think they deserve an applause. There we go.

All right, let's move along. We got comeback of the year. your turn. 2014 MMA Hour Awards. Comeback of the year. Come back a fighter of the year. Now you could go any way you want with this. Come back in a fight.

Come back in career. Whatever you want. Go for it. Oh, I'll go first again. Okay. Oh, wait. Did you go first last time? I did, but I don't mind.

Yeah, go for it. This one was easy for me. Another easy one. The answer is Dominic Cruz. It's not a fight. It's not a comeback in a fight. The answer is just Dominic Cruz coming back. But you could go.

go fight if you want. No, well, I'm saying that I'm not going fight and Dominic Cruz is the choice. You know, everybody knows the situation. He was off for three years. There were plenty of times where he tried to come back, didn't quite make it. And when he finally did make it back, he looked

every bit the champion that we knew he was and, you know, I couldn't have been happy. I feel like everybody you know identified with that moment. Everybody, you know, felt him overcome the adversity that had kept him down for so long. And in his mind, there were so many interviews coming out leading up to every single time he was about to fight.

I believe he was going to fight in Jersey, right, at 169. And he didn't make that one. And before every fight, people would ask him, are you disheartened by this? Do you think you're done? And every time he would tell them, I'm not done. If I think, if I even let for one second myself think that I'm done, then I will be done. So for three years, he didn't let himself believe that he was done. And when he came back three years later, he proved that he wasn't done.

And I could not have, it touched me in a way that, you know, very few MMA moments do. And I'm really glad to see him back. And I think that him versus T.J. Dilleshaw will be a hell of a fight when that does eventually happen. Yeah, let's be honest. A, he might never come back or be not be the same. He was at the top of his game. He was the champion. hadn't fought in three years.

I mean, it's really amazing when you consider all the injuries and how serious those injuries were for him to come back and do what he did to Mizugaki who had never been treated like that inside the Octon. Yeah, he's been finished,

but not that quickly. Dominic Cruz, it felt like he was in the Super Mario Brothers game, got the star, and was just going to run through anyone who was there. It was unbelievable, and it probably could have been finished earlier.

It was one of the greatest comebacks in the history of this sport. It's my comeback as well. This is a guy who had been through so much. he could have buckled, he could have quit, he could have just said, look, I'm just going to be a TV analyst. I can't keep coming back from these injuries. When he pulled out of that fight in February, I think everyone was devastated for him. Everyone thought that this was a guy who had just been through too much, his body had been through too much, there's just no way he's going to be able to come back and be the same fighter.

And if he's not the same guy that he once was, what's the point? Came back, looked better than ever, and now he's going to get a title shot. So that's my comeback of the year. I think he really showed a lot of heart and desire and never, you know, like everyone was asking him about it. Everyone was talking about everyone's feeling sorry for him. And if you look at his answers throughout the entire stretch, throughout the entire three-year stretch, he never stopped believing in himself. He never gave up, I mean, yeah, yeah, he has moments, he was down and whatnot, but he never even gave you an inkling that he stopped believing in himself. So it was pretty special stuff.

Also worth mentioning on that same card, Katzenegano coming back, A very similar story. She wasn't out for as long, but for her to come back after the knee injury, after everything she's been through in her personal life, and even in that fight, to a degree she came back, right? I mean, she was losing that fight against Amanda Nunes. And to finish that fight and now get that title shot against Ronda Rousey, that one is worth mentioning.

And I also want to mention Stefan Strouf, he has been through a lot. He didn't win this comeback, but to come back from a leaking aortic valve, an enlarged heart, collapsing backstage at UFC 175, personal tragedy as well, just him being there and able to fight again when a lot of people thought he would never fight again is worth mentioning. So those are some of the great stories, and there were a lot of them this year. There were a lot of great comebacks in fights and also, you know, just actual people coming back and fighting.

But, hey, how about Scott Coker? That's a comeback, right? Yep. Return to MMA. But, I mean, certainly. better than Dominic. Dominic, Katzengano, Stefan Shrew, those are great. Just to, you know, bring it to a fight capacity,

Pat Curran, you mentioned this in the submission. Pat Curran coming back against Daniel Strauss was something special because he was certainly losing that fight, and it looked like he was going to lose, you know, by decision, but he got it done and submitted Daniel Strauss in the last round. So that was incredible, but certainly Dominic Cruz deserves this award. Yeah, that was great. And I can't wait to see that fight.

What a fight that's going to be, him versus T.J. Dilshaw for the belt, the two of the best at 135 and just two the most dynamic fighters out there going toe to toe, kind of mirrors of each other right now. So that's going to be a lot of fun. All right, let's move along. Let us go to UPSET of the year. 2014 MMA Hour Awards. U.S.

of the year. I'll go first. We've been talking about it all show long. T.J. Dillashaw, his big win over Hennon Barrow, U. UFC 173. Gigantic upset. Not quite the biggest, the greatest of all time.

That still goes to Matt Serra. But I don't think anyone. I didn't see. Did you see anyone? Do you remember anyone picking T.J. Dillashaw on that fight? I do remember there were some people on Twitter. Really?

Who I followed that were picking him. Now, I feel like a lot of times there's, you know, there's no risk when you do that. It's like, hey, you know, I really think T. T.J. Dillishaw is great. And then when it doesn't come through, nobody really calls you out on it.

So I don't, unless you're putting your money behind it, I don't put too much stock into that. But I did see a few. But, I mean, how many times have we heard, you know, Dana White that month talk about how Hennon Barow is the pound for pound best in the world? And I was certainly with him in terms of thinking that Henan belonged on that list. And T.J. made it look like he's the one who belonged on that list. And I've already talked about this fight. It was my fight of the year.

End of the day, what were the odds? Remember, like going into the fight? I believe T.J. was a seven-to-one dog. I can look this up. It's archived, actually. So, why don't you talk a little bit about it? Yeah, I mean, there's not that much more to say. I said a lot earlier. Yeah, it was amazing.

I mean, no one thought he had a chance. Most people didn't think he had a chance. Brow had been so dominant. The UFC was building him up. Dilshot comes in there, and just the way he did it. He didn't steal a decision. It wasn't controversial. He finished him.

He rocked him early. And then he was dominant. He just looked like a different person. He looked like a different fighter. So a lot of books he finished in the like five to seven to one range. Okay. And Barow, you know, a 10 to 13 to one favorite. It was a huge upset.

A huge, huge upset. So, I mean, that's my choice as well. I don't know if I explicitly said that. That's also my choice, obviously. Some other ones worth mentioning, though, Will Brooks over Michael Chandler, obviously, the first time. The second time, the odds were much, much closer. Tito Ortiz over Alexander Schlamenco.

Yeah, that's a good one. Huge upset. And Erica Tabersio over Michelle Waterson. So a lot of titles. changed hands in upsets. I had those as well. Yeah, that was my choice. Upset of the year.

T.J. Dillishaw versus Hennon-Brough. I think we both agree on that, for sure. Greatest of all time? Greatest upset? Yeah. You know the answer to that. Matt Sarah? Matt Sarah.

All right, let's move along. 2014 coach of the year. You go first. So my coach of the year is Haffael Cordero. Crowd likes it. King's MMA had a big year. I had trouble deciding whether to give the coach of the year and the gym of the year the same award

because it feels like, I mean, if you're saying the gym did really good, it's probably, you know, in some part due to the head coach. Mine are separated. But so I did give Afale Cordero coach of the year. Obviously, you know, nothing needs to be said about Fabrici over doom. What a year he had?

Hell, you could give him Fighter of the Year. Most improved. You could give him plenty. of awards. Just and go ahead, sorry. You were talking to me? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, you know, you could give him any number of awards. And not only the transformation in just his fighting, but I think that people are starting to really come around to Fabrice over Doom as a personality. I feel like his profile has been raised

significantly. And that's, you know, the team and the coaches are a part of that as well. Obviously, RDA, just had a big win yesterday, or Saturday rather. Yeah. So that's another feather in the cap for King's MMA. And, you know, these guys are on their way to either being a champion in Verdume's case

or competing for a championship in Hafeel Dos Anjos's case. So I think that the coach of the year is Hafeil Cordero. By the way, Cordero, yeah, go ahead. I was about to say there are other worthy candidates, but that's just my choice for this year. Cordero could be in the discussion for comeback of the year as well. I mean, this guy has been around for a long time, and for a long time wasn't much of a player, has reinvented himself. He's now part of King's M.A., of course, a long time ago.

He was part of Shoot-Abox, and now, I mean, he's developing a great team over there at Kings M.A. I agree as well. He is my 2014 coach of the year, and guess what? I had the opportunity to tell him that on Saturday as well, and that was a lot of fun. He was, he said, this is after the Dosangos fight, he said, that made his night, and he gave me a hug, and it was very nice. He was full of blood, by the way, and it was a little bit gross. but it was a great moment to share with him,

and I was happy that I was able to tell him this. What he's done with Verdum, as you said, what he's done with RDA. I mean, RDA in particular, this is a guy who, honestly, he felt like he was going to be just, you know, like a glycine t-bow. You know, a guy who'll be in the UFC for quite some time,

but never quite a contender, a Tiago Tavares. You know what I mean? Like another one, you know, these sort of middle of the road, solid, Brazilian, lightweight, who will win to lose one. You know what I mean? And I feel like there's a few of those in the,

UFC these days. RDA has really risen above. If Habib isn't ready, March, April, he deserves that title shot. There's no doubt about him. You consider the fact that he's the first guy to stop Benson Henderson, Fia strikes, what he did to Nate Diaz, what he did to Cowboy Seroni last year, stumbled. Yes, he did. He stumbled against Habib and Marguamara, but he's come back and he's been very active. He fought four times in the last eight months of the year. And then what he's done with Verdume or the last couple of years, nothing short of amazing. This one was one. This one, that I had to think about. There was no clear-cut winner, but Cordero deserves it. He absolutely deserves it. And I think it's great that he's finally starting to get a lot more attention.

There was a time where he got some attention. It was quiet, and I was getting more attention. And, you know, he could have two champions next year. Real briefly, before we move on from this, also worth mentioning, obviously, Ray Longo. Those guys out in Long Island are really, you know, churning out fantastic fighters. Obviously, Chris Widman, I'm saying obviously way too much. Chris Wyden defended his belt this year. Eddie Gordon won tough, even though he lost in this last fight. He won tough this year. Al Jermaine Sterling remains undefeated this year.

And outside of one slip-up against Mitch Clark, Al-A-Kinta also had a fantastic year. So I think Ray Longo deserves certainly a mention in this category as well. Also, John Kavanaugh, SBG, they had a great year. they did have a slip up with Patty Hulahan losing, but Ashton Daly winning. So he wasn't in her corner. Patty Hulahan was in her corner, but of course, Connor McGregor and Cahall Pender-Nelson slipped up as well. But I just think that they've really risen as a team, and you know, you're going to have losses here and there. It's going to happen to the sport.

It doesn't take away from the coach. I think he had a fantastic year. So John Kavanaugh worth mentioning as well. Okay, let's go to our gym of the year. 2014 MMA Awards, gym of the year. I'll go first. American Top Team is my pick. They've been in the sport for so long,

never had a UFC champion. They finally got it in Robbie Lawler. They also have a champion in Will Brooks. He, of course, fights for Beltor. Their lightweight champion are prospect of the year. And not only that, I mean, Y'O Romero doing great things. What they've done with Robbie Lawler is worth mentioning in its own right. They got Taryn Woodley, who's part of the affiliate program.

Graham, he's a part of the team. Hector Lombard has looked very good since dropping down to 170. Those are some of the people that come to mind. I think American Top Team had a great year. Tisha Torres also out of there, and she won on Friday. I just think that they, you know, there were a lot of teams. This year was tough because a lot of teams and coaches, you know, want some big ones. They also lost some big ones. And, you know, American Top Team didn't win them all, but it felt like they have really put together a very strong team there. They've really done a great job of that. So that's my team of the year.

American Top Team, in particular, the team out of Coconut Creek. I had the same pick. Robbie Lawler won the belt. Will Brooks won the belt. Jessica Aguilar defended her belt. Daniel Strauss was the champion, lost his belt, but still in a championship fight. Melvin Ghiard, if he had made weight, what have fought for the belt. Hector Lombard, Tyrone Woodley, Dustin Porier, Yole Romero, or all top contenders on the verge of title shots.

King Moe is back on track in Bellator. Todd Duffy and Ben Saunders are back in the UFC. Great calls. Tisha Torres made it to UFC victorious on Friday. American top team is on a roll. There's nothing. You covered it. I covered it. American top team was the choice for this one. Yeah. Great year for them. Oh, how about Marcus Brimidge and Tiago Alves coming back as well? You know, Alves hadn't fought in quite some time, so they've had a really good year. Glover the sheriff fought for the belt. He didn't win, of course. But Nick Lentz, also worth mentioning.

Bobby Lashley has come back in Bellator as of last. Cole Miller had a strong start to the year, as did Dustin Porier, second half not as strong. So they've had a really strong year, and those guys, they deserve a lot of credit. American top team, coach. Their coaches are great as well. You know, I agree with you, by the way. I agree with you. It's tough to distinguish, but they're definitely.

I mean, it's impossible. So I almost feel better splitting it up. Give two gyms and two teams the shot. All right. Let's move along. Let's go with 2014 MMA Hour Awards story of the year. You go first. So my story of the year is Rick Story?

Yes. No. The horror story. My story of the year is the rise of Connor McGregor, or the continued ascension of Connor McGregor. Obviously, it was coming to a head at the end of last year, but it wasn't quite at the level that it is now where he's the guy who gets the most questions when they do a press. conference that includes Chris Weidman, Ronda Rousey, Nick Diaz, Anderson Silva.

You know, we've reached peak Connor McGregorness. And I think that that is the story of this year and going to be a very big story heading into next year if he can get it done against Sever and get himself a title shot. I think that this was the year of Connor McGregor. He had that event in

Dublin. He performed, he came out aces on that one. And he said everything he said he was going to do other than win the title at the end of this year. He did. And it's looking like he'll be at least in competition for that title near the middle of next year. So I think this was the year of Connor McGregor. And the story of this year was the rise of Connor McGregor or the continued rise because it definitely started back in 2013.

But I'm not sure everybody was on the bandwagon. Not everybody believed it. I'm surprised you're going with Connor. Why is that? I don't know. My favorite fighter? No, it just felt like you had enough of Connor. My stance has never changed on Connor McGregor.

I think he's a super interesting, super intelligent, amazing fighter. And I want to hear him talk in a way that's not a character. I want to hear him speak about MMA and speak about competition in an honest and, you know, humble way. And I think he has that in him. And I could do with less of the character. but his mind for the sport and his views on the ever-changing game of MMA, I think are unmatched. I think he's a brilliant MMA mind,

and I think he's a fantastic fighter as well. I could do without the character, but I can live with it because of what I just said about him. I have nothing but praise for Connor McGregor. All right, so my story of the year, I'm going to take a big old umbrella and cover a lot of things with my story of the year, but I do think that they are all related in some way. My story of the year is the UFC expanding their schedule, putting on more events than ever,

and all the cancellations. Now, whether it was due to injury, fight cancellations, of course, due to injury, failed drug test, people pulling out for various reasons at the 11th hour. I mean, this has been a very bizarre year for the UFC, and one might say one of their worst years ever. And it's weird to say that because there's a lot, you know, there's a lot more to work with here because there are more fights, so more things are going to happen. But when you think about expanding the schedule and all these bad things happen, it wasn't a banner year. It certainly wasn't. And when you have Dana White going on TV and saying,

we're back, when you think about the schedule that's to come in 2015, at least in the first couple months, we'll get to that in the second. But they have a chance to rebound, but at least they're admitting that this was down. And there was a lot of bad luck. A lot of bad cards were handed to them. But the expanded schedule with the added fights on Fight Pass, and, you know, the added fights since they've gone to Fox, they've stretched themselves very thin. And then you have everything that happened with, you know, drug testing, TRT getting outlawed, guys having to pull out of fights, Vitor Belford, the Vandale-Salvo, the Situza situation, Chal Sond. And that all kind of falls into it. That all added to what was a pretty down year for them. It was as bad this year as last year was incredible.

And I think that's important to note. So they've had weird things like, just look at this past weekend, Derek Brunson, just moments before walking out, he has to pull out the fight. But you put on more shows, you put on more fights, crazy things are going to happen. and it just seemed like a lot was going on, and it was very hard to get excited for big cards. Even John Jones, Daniel Cormier, remember, it almost feels, and I hope I'm not jinxing them. It feels like we've turned a corner.

The last few fights, the main events, and the important fights on the card have all stayed intact. Hopefully that remains the same for the big fights coming up. Where to go, Ariel? Well, I feel like we have to mention it. But there was a stretch, like over the summer where it just seemed like everyone, oh, of course Cole Miller gets injured. Oh, of course John Jones gets injured.

I mean, it just felt like nothing was going to go the right way. nothing was going to pan out. The fights that we were getting excited about were always going to fall through. And that happens when you, you know, expand the schedule and you're stretching yourself thin. Your options become a lot more limited. The cards aren't as stacked, et cetera, et cetera. Remember Rashad Evans at the beginning of the year pulling out of that fight against Daniel

Kormier, it was just a tough year. So that, to me, was the story of the year. A bit of a bummer, a bit of a downer. But the UFC just expanding that schedule and then having to deal with all those cancellations was was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, a constant story and was kind of trying at times. Other things that come to mind, Scott Koker returning, the debut

of UFC Fight Pass and its evolution. I think it's in a much better spot. I know Aunt Evans wants me to apologize for my 10-7, but the 10-7, by the way, was referring to the announcement. W.W.W. still kicked their butt in the announcement, but now, clearly, it's a better

product, at least in my opinion. And also, on a side note, just, you know, TRT and everything that's happened with that and it getting banned by, the Nevada Athletic Commission. The rise and fall of Mr. Chales-Sunnan, the rise and fall of Mr. Vandrele-Li-Silva, all worth mentioning.

The rise of Bel-Tor, Bel-Tor changing. That goes with the Scott Coker thing. C.M. Punk, his signing. So it was not the best year ever, but a lot happened. I mean, there was definitely a lot of news to discuss. Any other things that come to mind as far as story of the year?

How about the returns of the Diaz brothers? Yes. Even though one hasn't fought this year, I get your point. I mean, they're both back. Yeah. Nick Diaz is certainly back. Make no mistake about that. CM Punk signing with the UFC

I had I had a terrible pun that I'm not going to say go for it no I don't want to say it I'm embarrassed now was it about seam punk no it was about Bellator it was Belator rebjorn hmm wait now you like it

they like it they like it but I mean mine was a toss up between Connor McGregor and the expanded schedule because last year that's what, you know, everybody was looking into was, wow, this many fights. Let's see how this goes. And this was the pilot year.

I know my buddy Jeff Wagenheim's going to be all over the TRT stuff. And it's definitely a worthy contender. But I kind of put them all together because a lot of crap happened this year. Okay, let us go to our 2014 MMA Hour Award moment of the year. And I'll go first on this one. August 4, 2014. We were doing this show. We were talking to Paul Heyman, and thousands of miles away in Las Vegas,

in particular at the MGM Grand in the lobby, John Jones and Daniel Cormier got into a brawl in front of people checking in front of the media. It was talked about everywhere. The entire sports world was on notice. It was being mentioned on SportsCenter. It was being mentioned in mainstream news everywhere. Everyone was talking about. People were coming up to me.

People were talking about it. People wanted to know what the hell was going on with these two guys. see it there. Our guy, E. Casey Leiden, his name has been everywhere as a result of this footage. Great idea to have him go there and film it. And then, of course, afterwards, the interviews, the leaked footage, if you will, that the UFC has been able to capitalize is on very, very well. They were on Fox this past weekend, doing a great job. We didn't get the fight when we thought we were going to get it in September, but, you know, it's one of those things where the dynamic between these two is just so entertaining. I almost, like, I can't, like, I can't

Can't wait for the fight to happen, but I almost want to wait a few more months just because it's so much fun. That being said, I don't want to wait a few more months. I take that back. I want to see the fight January 3rd. And it almost reminds me like the UFC is kicking off 2015 like NASCAR. It's like the day Daytona 500. The best and most anticipated event of the year is happening right off the bat.

And it's Joseph and Cormier. They have an unbelievable dynamic. It's essentially two undefeated guys. Everyone considers John Jones undefeated. They've been going at it for so long. So that moment kicked it off, really, after Gustafson pulled out of the fight, they square off, Dave Schaller's in the middle, he gets ragdolled, and then everyone explodes. We missed it while it was happening in real time. I didn't miss it.

Well, no one gave me the heads up. Although Will tried to give me the heads up, I didn't understand what he was saying. But we were able to react, and then everything that happened in the following days with the sports center stuff, it was just the thing called like wildfire. And that's what made it so devastating that they had to cancel the fight. but we're finally going to get it hopefully in just a couple weeks. That's my moment of the year, the brawl, MGM, August 4th, 2014. It had to be that. I picked the same thing.

For so many reasons. First of all, you know how I feel about Daniel Cormier. I think he's the next champion. So I was super excited for that fight regardless. Then, you know, we get this brawl that spawns not only, you know, the famous video of the brawl where Casey almost gets hit by a shoe. Yes. Then we get the ESPN, the satellite footage, the leaked footage of, you know, are you still there?

Something. Peatog. It's, I mean, that's the moment of the century, in my opinion. That's the best, that's my favorite M.M. And we're sitting here, you're interviewing Paul Heyman. I'm freaking out because I'm like, we have to tell him how do we do this without, you know, destroying a good interview, which I love that interview. And I was like, how do we tell him without? destroying this. I'm going crazy, like, following everybody on Twitter. Twitter's exploding,

talking about this thing. You guys got to react to John Jones and Daniel Carmier fighting, and I would have been, I would have rather been nowhere else other than standing there with Casey dodging shoes than right here watching it all unfold. Yeah, everyone was talking about it. It was huge, and I'm very curious to see what kind of pay-per-view buy they get, what kind of buy right they get because, you know, a few years ago, you know, I was looking back at, I was looking back at, hey, how about this? I'll get to that in a second. I was looking back at, like, early, you know, like, what was it, 2009, 2010, Machita Rampage, they got 500,000 pay-per-view buys. Can you imagine what Mottita Rampage would do in 2014, 2015? Not 500,000. So I'm very curious, like, a few years

ago, given the popularity of the sport, Jones, D.C. with everything that has happened, they're getting close to a million. Easy. Do they get that this year? Do they break 500? What do you think? Yeah, they do. I'm curious. The promotion is going to be great leading up to it. Everything's going to be great. Can't wait for that fight week. I can't wait for their stare downs. The way-ins, that's going to be insane. And by the way, I wanted to tell you, I was obviously in Phoenix with Daniel Cormier. He looks unbelievable. I was shocked. The guy has legit muscles. Like, he is all cut up. It's unbelievable. He did something very interesting, but I didn't ask him if I can share it with everyone,

so I'll ask him and then share it another time. But he is so focused. It's really a sight to see. This is what an Olympian is all about. You can tell the difference between him and just some other fighter getting ready for a fight. It's pretty amazing. The rivalry between them, and I asked, and I bothered John about this for so long, when will he get his Frasier, it's clear even before the fight that he has found his Frasier.

Will we see a new champion? and that's going to be a lot of fun to see. And also, how about their tweets going back and forth? John mentioning all his, his, his, his, who's Frazier and who's Ali, though? Well, it has to be, it has to be John as Ali because he's the champion. It has to be. For how long? Well, no, I'm just going into it because, remember, first fight, Frazier beats Ali.

Yeah, but are we looking at it, you know, maybe this was, no, this has to be. It can't be anything else. Ali was the champion going in. How do we know that we're not looking for Daniel Cormier's, uh, Frazier? That's a whole different. story. But right now you've got to go from the Champions perspective, because I was always asking John whether or not he was going to find

a Frazier, if he needs a Frazier, he thought it was going to be Rashad. It's not Rashad. It's Kormier. Clearly, they can't stand each other. They do such a great job of playing off each other. That promo is maybe the best ever. The one that they put out, it's two and a half minutes long. I can't say enough good

and exciting things about that rivalry. I could have sworn I remember people saying that Gustafsson was the Frazier already. No, no, no, no. I feel like I heard that. Who I said that? I don't know if it was you. I feel like I heard that. No, no, no.

This is the Frasier. It's always been. I think we need to chill out and see how the fight goes before we start Frazier-Aliing everything. No, no, no, no. Let's see how it plays out. All right. If Jones smokes him in one round, what kind of Frazier is that? If D.C. comes out and upsets him in one round,

DC has been able to elevate him to a different strategy. Like, his, before, let's not forget, going into the Guston fight, it was just a fight. It wasn't a rivalry. It wasn't anything. It was just a fight, and let's be honest, a lot of people weren't all that excited about it. But now, they've been dying to see this fight. Everyone, I mean, remember when Daniel Cormier beat Patrick Cummins and people were saying he didn't deserve a title shot even after that fight? And then he beat Dan Henderson.

Yeah, I know, but there are people who didn't believe. You don't hear that anymore. Everyone is interested in this fight. Everyone is just, you know, salivating over the idea of these two finally getting in the cage. So I think that they've done a lot of work in Elvay. each other and everyone loves a great rivalry. And John didn't have that before. He had it with Rashad, but by the time he got to the fight,

it kind of fizzled. By the time I got to the fight, it seemed like they almost liked each other again. It was weird because it took so long for the fight to happen. It felt like the first time they were going to fight, DC and Jones. It was happening too fast and I was worried about DC's knee. I wanted to see the best of both. So this time off has helped. I don't know if it's going to help in the buy rate.

If there's been enough time where people forget about it. But I like the fact that at least I hope we're getting two healthy guys at their best in their prime. They've done a good job of not doing too much so we don't get bored of them, but they're starting to ramp it up. You saw them on Fox together. They just do a great job. And I love DC when he's doing that interview. He's like super serious.

Doesn't smile. Jones is kind of laughing at him, dismissing what he's saying. It's just great. I can't get enough of it. And it all started with that moment. So that's our moment of the year. All right. Let's move along.

2014 MMA Hour Awards. Now we look ahead. Final three awards. of the show, we look ahead, story to watch in 2015. I like doing this, like predicting the future, like thinking about what's to come and moving forward. I'll start, story to watch 2015, and it ties into my story to watch or my story of the year this year.

It's simply can the UFC rebound. You know, it's all laid out for them. If you look at January and February, January in particular, four amazing events, Jones, D.C., McGregor-Seever, Gustafson versus Rumble in Sweden, 30,000-seat arena. And then, of course, Nick Diaz versus Sanders-Silva. I mean, those cards alone are amazing. Then you got the Wydenman, Belford, and Rondarousi, Katzegano.

You got other guys coming back. Who knows, are we going to see the return of GSP? You got the CN Punk situation. How is that going to play out? Can they rebound? Can they have the year that they had in 2013? Will the expanded schedule continue to hurt them? And also, it's just like, you know, and maybe I'm covering a little too much.

here, but, you know, Belator coming up, what kind of, you know, kicking the butt will that give to the UFC as far as having competition, having someone who's not putting on, you know, an event every week and sort of watering their own product down? It's just, can the UFC get back to what, you know, what they were doing in 2013 and the momentum that they were on and the good luck, the good fortune that they had? That's my story to watch in 2015. I considered that, but, I mean, I feel like the UFC's going to be fine. We kind of overplay the fact that, you know, this year was a tough year, but it wasn't that tough. It's not like they were struggling.

They'll be fine. I mean, look at the stories about their credit rating and the money that they've lost. That's fair enough. I mean, there's also this big lawsuit thing. Yeah, there's a lot. There are things, but I don't, I mean, where's the UFC going? They'll be fine. They'll recover.

And the guys will get healthy. It'll be the same. I'm not going to predict. I don't have a crystal wall. I can't say that it'll be the same as 2013 where everybody will be healthy. But it's just bad luck. And, you know, it happens. And they've put on good fights.

I'm not worried about the UFC rebounding. I'm certainly still worried about how many events they're putting on. It's a lot, but that's not my story of the year. My story of 2015 is the MMA careers of CM Punk and Brock Lesnar. Wow. Only CM Punk, it's possible that only CM Punk has one. Brock Lesnar may very well stay with the WWE or just completely do something else.

Who knows what Brock Lesnar? But my story is, you know, the two biggest draws. in MMA will be CM Punk and Brock Lesnar, assuming Brock comes back, whether it be for Bellator, whether it be for the UFC, whether it be for somebody completely off the radar. Brock Lesnar will be, you know, the huge draw that he was before he left, if not bigger. I think it's a different market in the pay-per-view realm, and he might not sell as much as he used to, but he's certainly going to be the top guy or one of the top guys. and I think we can say the same thing for CM Punk, assuming that it's not a one and done situation. If he gets in there and they give him somebody that he can beat and he beats him, the sky's the limit for CM Punk's exhibition into MMA. And if Brock Lesnar comes back, I know I'll be watching and I think everybody else will be as well.

Those are also stories and moments that are going to transcend the sport. Right. That's exactly my line of thinking. This is bigger than just, you know, here's a great fight. DC and John Jones is the best fight you're going to see for a long, long time, and this is a bigger story, in my opinion. Yeah. No, you're 100% right. Those are stories that are going to bring in the old fans, the mainstream, everyone will talk about them. Those are obviously great choices. You know, the Reebok deal, that's one to watch, how's that going to play out? All this union stuff, you know, the fighters kind of banding together. You alluded to this, this lawsuit, this

pending lawsuit that was first reported by Bloody Elbow. Not a lot of details out about it. I hear from at least one source that more will come out this week, so we'll see what happens there if there's anything to it. Class action lawsuit, apparently according to the report,

some of the, what do you call it? Would you call that plaintiffs? Yeah. Plaintiffs, yeah. And the UFC, I guess, would be the defendants in this case. I'm no lawyer. But accusing them of violating antitrust laws. So we'll see if that has any merit to it, if it actually turns into anything.

And, you know, the injuries are, again, something to watch as well. Do they continue? Do they continue to hurt everyone, not just the UFC? Every organization has been hurt by injuries. The UFC's continued growth internationally. There's a lot of stuff to watch. The pay-per-view buys, the TV ratings, all that stuff. So 2015, shaping up to be a very interesting year once again.

I definitely agree with yours, though. it can it can really change things as far as opening themselves up to bigger audiences the old days mainstream press all that stuff

if Brock does come back and of course CN Punk fights it next year does he actually get into the cage next year you know does it happen

in January we don't know all right let's move along wait real quick before we move along yeah not only did Ariel Hawani call Gustafson

the Frazier to John Jones is Ali yeah John Jones called Alexander Gustafin the Frazier to Maya Ali

oh do you have a clip I thought you were teeing something No, no. This was sent in in real time. So at MMA Taliban sent us John Jones saying it. I mean, I don't know if I could trust that guy. It's a quote from John Jones. Yeah, but John Jones kind of just says that stuff

because he doesn't want to give Cormier the credit that he deserves. Now, what's your excuse for saying it? I said it after the fact, but I was wrong. You have to give the Frazier-A-Lie treatment to before the fact. I'm allowed to change my mind. No, but now you're giving it out again. No, but I'm saying it before the fact. Let's pump the brakes and wait.

Okay, well, oh, well, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a second. I don't know if I could tee it up. Maybe I'll tee it up in our little break there for the inside the vault. But when I interview John Jones at UFC 165, prior to the Gustafin fight, I asked him at the very end. I asked him at the very end of the interview. Is Daniel Cormier, the Frazier Tierra Lee? Right?

And he said, no, no, no, no, no. He wouldn't even say his name. He wouldn't even say his name. What he did say, though, was Rashad Evans is the Frazier Tima Ali. So he was wrong. I was right. How are you right? You said Gustafson.

No, I said, is Daniel Kormier? Where is this damn? But you said Gustafson. No, I said that after the fact. Because I didn't know if we'd ever see the Kormier in a fight. Where is this thing? Okay, so my point is. We have to wait.

We have to wait for Daniel Kormier and John Jones to happen before we start calling anybody, Frasier. But what I'm talking about is more so than just the fight. I'm talking about the rivalry, what they bring out in each other. Because before Ali and Fraser fought, there was an immense hatred there. Those guys wanted to kill each other. I mean, you could say that about a lot of fights, though. No, this is different. I feel like the legacy.

The legacy is what makes that. Why can't I find this damn interview? Anthony has it, our buddy, a relevant aunt. He has it. He just tweeted it? Of course. He's on top of it. Come on.

Anyway, I'll talk about my pick for Fighter of the Year while you talk about that because it's relevant to the topic. No, it's not the right interview he just sent me. Okay, go ahead. My Fighter of the Year for 2015. Same guy I picked in 2013, same guy I picked in 2014. Daniel Cormier. Now, I freaking love Daniel Cormier.

But when I picked them in 2013, I expected a huge year in 2014. It was pretty good. And when I picked them for 2014, I was almost right. I mean, if he had fought and defeated John Jones in, what was it, September, that would have put him at three or four or no for the year, including a win over the number one pound for pound fighter in the world.

I think that would have been a lock for fighter of the year. So I just missed that one, but I'm picking them again in 2015, I think, starts off the year, wins the title, defends it, maybe. See, the thing, the reason why I'm a little hesitant. in on this one is because I feel like he's going to have the knee surgery after he wins the title. So I think he's going to be out for a little bit. I don't think he is.

You think he would stay active because of his age? And he wants to kind of stay busy? He hates surgery. I feel like he's going to have it. After you win that title, it changes everything. Yeah, maybe. Everyone seems to have surgery. You go on the shelf for a little bit and then you come back stronger.

But either way, Daniel Carmier is my pick. I can't pick anybody else. I pick them every year. I think he's going to have a huge year. I think he's going to have a huge year. January 3rd as the UFC champion. And as I was saying earlier, he's in that prime spot of fighting early. Early.

Yeah. So if he's active, he can fight at least three, four times next year. I mean, that would be amazing as a champion, especially at his age. But he's fighting January 3rd. So at least he's probably going to get three fights in there if he's healthy. And I'm assuming you think he's going to win the belt. By the way, this is some kind of BS. Someone has deleted all our pre-UFC-165 interviews.

It doesn't exist. I swear. I swear I say. said to him. Where is it? I'm not, my thing is, we're so quick to proclaim it.

John Jones, after the fight is saying Gustafsins my Frazier, but, you know, we'll see, we'll see about that stuff. BS. I don't know what happened to it.

I think we're jumping. My last question, I wish, I don't know what the heck. Maybe someone at the M. A. and I remember,

in Toronto, right before that fight against Gusson, I asked him, and he wouldn't say Cormier's name, because Cormier had already announced that he was going to go down

because he was, was just about to fight Roy Nelson in his final heavyweight fight, and he wouldn't even say his name. And you got a glimpse of how much he hates the guy. Wouldn't say his name, and he dismissed the notion of him even being on his level. And I wish I could find it to shove it in your face. But what is it shoving in my face? Because I was calling it back then.

I was saying he was going to be the Frazier to his Ali. Anyway, let's move along. But that's after claiming Gustafin was. No. That's my point. No. You're saying me? I said the Gustafin was the Frazier after.

the fact, because we thought that they were going to fight a bunch of times. Oh, after the Daniel Carmier thing. I said it after the Jones Gustafin fight. Yeah. That's when I said it. But I was saying Cormier was going to be the Frasio-Juiz Ali before the gustavent fight. And then you change your mind. So what good is that?

I'm changing my mind again. I'm going back to my original pick. What good is that? I'm just letting you know that I was on the bandwagon before this all started, before you were even aware of Daniel Cormier and his skills. Let's slow our role there. My fighter of the year for 2015 could have gone in a bunch of different directions. Originally, I actually had Daniel,

down. Then I had Chris Wyatman down. And then I said, you know what? I'm going to give him some good vibes. I'm going to go with Anthony Pettis. He is on a whole other level. What he did to Gilbert Melinda is fantastic. He was very inactive for the last 14 months. He's the Wheaties boys. You can see, I got my witties right here. And I think that he's got some favorable matchups coming up. I know a lot of people think that Habib is going to beat him. You know, I think it's going to be a great fight. I think we're going to see a whole different side of Pettis. I think he has very underrated take down the fence. I just think he's one of those freak athletes. I'm happy that he's finally healthy.

He's back. He's one of those guys that I really want to see fight three, four times a year that I would gladly pay to watch. So I'm going with Showtime Petis. Are you not concerned about the injuries? Sure, I'm concerned. But like I said, I'm trying to give him some good vibes. I like it. I would love to see, I mean, what's a bad Petis fight?

There is none. Yeah. So I'd love to see him fight a bunch of times. Hell, I'd love to see him, you know, break the record, gets six wins. Some other ones that are obviously in the running, like Ronda Rousey, she'll probably have a fantastic year as she does every year. Chris Wydenman, you mentioned. If Habib Narmaga Madov can come back in, you know, the first quarter of the year,

I think he's on pace for a big year. I think he's the champion in waiting. I think if he gets his hands on Anthony Pettis, he will win. There's a lot of, you know, last year, by the way, do you remember who your pick for Fighter of the Year this year was? Yeah, it was Daniel Cormi. Oh, yeah, you said that. I picked him for two years in a row.

Yeah, I picked Johnny Hendrix. That didn't work out, but if you would have won. Oh, that's a good pick. You can't hate on that pick. We actually, how about before we move on to the most desired guest, we take a look at some bold predictions we had last year. Oh, you have this? We have it.

Oh, God. Here we go. Okay. No, I don't think you're going to be too disappointed in the performance. Wow. Alex, let's roll that out. Hang tight. I think you caught Alex snapping.

Okay, final one as far as awards, and then we're getting to all your questions. It's our top five bold predictions. So this kind of falls in line with that. Do you have five bold predictions to make for 2014? I don't know how bold they are, but I have some predictions. Okay. Starting with Daniel Cormier will be the light heavyweight champ. He will defeat.

If John Jones is still the champion, that's who he's going to beat. If John Jones is not the champion, whoever it is, that's who he's going to beat. Daniel Cormier will be the light heavyweight champion in 2014. That's pretty damn bold. I don't say it's bold. Okay. And I think John Jones is one of the best of all time, so that says what I really feel about Daniel Cormier.

Similarly, same vein, Jokuree will be the middleweight champion, no matter who's holding it, whether it's Vitor Belfort, whether it's Chris Wyden, whether somebody else sneaks in there in between then. At some point in 2014, Jokoree will win the middleweight belt. Also, this one's a little less bold. Nirmagamadov will fight for the title in 2014. I mean, if he beats Gilbert, he's kind of almost there already to fight for the title.

But I think he will fight for the title in 2014. Dominic Cruz, he's going to come back and he's going to look as good as he did when he left. Oh, I like that. Now, I'm not saying in the first fight back, he will look as good as he did before he left, but by the end of 2014, he will be back in form and Dominic Cruz. will continue to dominate in the octagon. How many was that? Five? Four? I think it was, I don't know.

One, two, three. That's four. MMA, unfortunately, MMA will not be legalized in New York in 2014. I would love to be wrong. Hopefully that's the one I'm wrong about, and hopefully I'm right about the rest, but I don't see it happening. I've really kind of gotten downtrodden about that. And yeah, those are my five predictions. I don't know how bold that last one is.

That's not very bold. Yeah, you got any? I got some, yes, I do have five. Showtime will not air any MMA in 2014, talking about the premium cable network. Bellator will abandon its tournaments. Now, they might have them here or there, but they will not stick to them like they do now.

Invicto will get a TV deal. Who will it be with? I'm not quite sure, but Invicta will get a TV deal. GSP will not fight in 2014. he will not return. And this time next year, Jose Aldo will not be the featherweight champion. Oh.

Those are my top five bull predictions for 2014. How about those? Holy moly. We both did okay, I'd say. Yeah. I predicted DC the champ. That almost happened. They fought in September.

I think he would have won. I really whiffed on Jokkeri. I thought he would have a title shot by now. I don't know what the hell is up with that. He needs a damn shot. Habib, he got a. got hurt. I think, as I said, I think he's the champion waiting. So a lot of my predictions probably for next year would be the same as this one. How about I pick Dominic Cruz to come

back and not only come back, look as good as when he left. And he fulfilled that. Although you probably thought he was going to fight in February. Yeah, well, I thought he'd be fighting, you know, earlier. So that's why I hedged it a little bit saying, you know, by the end of the year, he'll be back. And then I had a last one that I think, oh, I said, MMA won't be legal in New York. That unfortunately happened. By the way, I killed it. You did really good. Invicta, they got their deal.

Even though it was in TV, they still got a deal. I count that. Showtime. Count it. I screwed up on Aldo. That was the only one. What else did I say? You really, you really buried Aldo.

How about that? Well, I had to pick one. I mean, if Mendez could have made you right on that one easily. What else did I say? Forget. Oh, Beltor? Yep. Leaving tournaments.

You really did good. And then my first one was a good one. What did I say? Oh, I think I'll show them. I had one. I had not one other. one. I don't remember. Forget it.

Man, I killed it. We didn't do bold predictions. No, we didn't. I kind of wish we did. Got any? I'll think about it. All right, let's do our last award.

It's not really an award, but we did this last year. And I think I picked Crowe Cop last year, by the way. I also think I mentioned this same person. 2014 M.A. Awards. Guest, you most want to hear from our most desired guest for the show next year,

2015. I'll keep banging the drum. I actually saw him recently, and I said I really want to get them on the show because when I think of people who haven't been on the show, they've all been on, except for one person, notable person in the world of M.A. UFC CEO, Lorenzo.

It's time. Lorenzo, we extend the olive branch. We want you on the show. It'd be nice to have you. We've got a lot to talk about. Please join us. Let's make it happen. He was supposed to be on the 200th episode.

It didn't work out. I'd love to have him. But I've got to be on it. honest, what a year it has been. We got everyone on the show that we wanted. It would be nice next year to complete our wish list and get Lorenzo on. Also, in that same vein, would be pretty awesome to talk to Bjorn Rebony because he's disappeared. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blow your spot. Anyhow, Lorenzo Retita, that's my pick. You buried me. Sorry, sorry. It was Bjorn. My pick was Bjorn. Where the hell is this guy? Yeah, I know. I think it's the most fascinating story in M.A.

Where the hell is this guy? Another one, obviously. Weird tick. Brock Lesner, that would be a great one to have on. And the guy who chose Rory McDonald's walkout music for a long time. How about that guy? I like to hear what he has to say for himself. That's a great one.

Yeah. I saw that guy on Twitter. How about we? He was actually talking to, he was tweeting with Rory. It was great. How about we hear from him? Yeah, that would be nice. What went into that.

But, man, Bjorn Rebney. That last tweet, The Mexico tweet. It will just live there forever and we'll never hear from him again. I really wanted to look for him in Mexico. At least ask people if they saw him, but unfortunately, I didn't have time to do that. That's a great one. That's a great one.

There's so much to ask the guy. I mean, what the hell are you doing? What will you do? Did you see this coming? Yeah, exactly. There's so much to ask him. So that's our awards. That's it.

I think it was a good year. It was a fun year. I don't want to hate on it. I did take a quick look at Twitter, by the way, and people are really dumb. I mean, they're just very dumb. I clearly state 2015. How can you pick Showtime?

How stupid are you people? How stupid are you? Can you not read? Fighter of the Year for 2015, do you not know what year it is? You idiots. God, one of the many reasons why you want to know a bold prediction?

I leave Twitter in 2015. Just can't stand it. I don't know how bold that is. I'm leaning toward you. You're going to do it pretty soon. The amount of complete effing morons on Twitter. Don't get me started on Twitter. I can't stand it anymore. It's just like, I don't want these idiots in my life. I don't want

this, this, this, this, this, this, this lunacy in my life. I don't want it clouding my thoughts. Anyway, hate to end on that note. But it has been a great year. Those are awards. Let us know what you thought. We're going to talk about a few of them in a second. A lot of people wait in. So those are worth mentioning. But now we're going to go inside the vault. Wait, before we get to the end, let's just see what the, the live audience thought. They love. loved it. You guys liked it. It was good. We went two hours strong on that. That was fun. Keep going. Keep going. Yeah. Everyone loved it. Now, question for you, live audience. What do you think of, you know, just, I don't know, some of the picks that in your cricket head.

Hmm. Yeah. I thought so. I mean, some of them are weird. Amanda Bell. Well, due respect. And pick Amanda Bell. Yeah. I mean, some of those explanations, strange. T.J. on this one. gets in this one. Yeah, it was weird. It was. Anyway, it was great, and I hope you enjoyed watching. Okay, inside of all time, we've been talking about Daniel Cormier. I thought it would be fun in our last live show of the year to look at my very first in-person interview with Daniel Cormier. Very first in-person interview with Daniel Cormier. It was August of 2009. It was Strike Force in Houston, and he had just defeated a man by the name of Jason Riley. Jason Riley was a huge underdog going into that fight. I believe by the time it was all

sudden done, he was a 16-to-one underdog. And what was most interesting about that fight was that Cormier fought July 31st. By the way, did I say 2009? I meant to say 2010. Cormier fought July 31st. Then he fought August 13th, and then he fought eight days later against Jason Riley. this was his third strike force fight his first time on a big strike force show but he wasn't on the main card it was very close to home for him and it's just fun looking at him back then

comparing him to today my first in-person interview Daniel Cormier Jason Riley and then right after that we're going to play a bonus inside the vault because we're going to miss a couple weeks so I thought I'd give you a bonus speaking of Daniel Cormier this was my first time ever

with him on camera it was right before the Chicago card for strike force at the Sear Center. It was the Media Day. A couple days before the event, that event was headlined by Fodor Emilianenko versus Brett Rogers. And at the Media Day, we were at this gym,

and King Moe was there. And also worth mentioning that King Moe has been helping Daniel Cormier prepare for this fight, and I hear that he's looking great and feeling great. That makes me very happy. So King Moe was there, and we were actually doing an interview with him

in the ring at this gym, and then all of a sudden, we decided to do this little skit recreating the Resslemania 6 finish between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. So it was King Mo, Daniel Cormier, and there's an appearance by

Jason Maham Miller. That was November of 2009 just days before the Strike Force Fador versus Rogers event. There was a lot of buzz in the air. Everyone was very excited about that. And it was fun to play out. Jason Miller, of course, was there. He was about to fight Jake Shields. And he made a brief cameo in this little 90s.

second clip. So first we're going to look at Jason Riley post-fight interview, Daniel Cormier, a much different guy, a newbie in the sport. It's a lot of fun to look back, and then you'll get the bonus clip. The recreation of the WrestleMania 6 finish November of 2009, King Mo, DC, Jason Miller. Here they are,

inside the vault. Ariel Hawani post-fight at Strike Force Houston with Daniel Cormier, who defeated Jason Riley tonight in just 62 seconds, and Daniel, your third win in less than a month. I guess the next question is, who are you fighting next week? No fights. next week as a right now. But you know what the funny thing is, Ariel? Bob just told me,

somebody calls, I'm fighting. So I don't know, man. He's crazy. He has his nickname for a reason. It's because he is crazy Bob Cook. So I don't know, man. It was a fast fight. It was a good fight. I landed a good punch. He went down. I don't know what else to say. I'm just excited. You know, I'm really excited about the way this is going, the way it's progressing. You were a 16-to-1 favorite. He was a 16-to-1 underdog. Excuse me. I'm not good with the betting stuff. That just means you were a huge favor going into this fight. Did he have anything that he display that you thought, you know, I have to worry about this guy, or did you know for sure that you were going to able to, at least manhandle him pretty quickly? I don't know, man. He did a good job

with defending takedowns, you know, in the first round, you know, the first two takedowns I tried. He defended really well, you know. I don't know. I think that was me not setting up my shots like I need to, but he did a great job. I mean, I don't know how they based that. You know, you got a guy that's have four fights and he has nine, 12 fights, you know. I don't know what they based that on, but Bob had me prepared for a tough fight. He told me right before he goes 16 to 1, he goes DC, it's a way closer to fight than that. Don't even pay attention to it. When you fought last week against Tony Johnson,

did you have to sort of, you know, not take that many risks because you knew you had this fight coming up just eight days later? No, man, I'm just going to fight. You know, it was worth a chance to get on TV and get seen a little bit and King of the Cage. So if I wouldn't have made it here, that's fine. That was a risk I was willing to take. I was lucky.

The biggest factor in it was not me being afraid to lose this fight was not being able to fight in front of my family. My hometown is three and a half hours from here. So when I came out of the fight against Tony, fine. I was more excited about being able to fight in front of my mom and my family and everybody else. So it was great, man. I appreciate all support and I appreciate Strike Force still giving me the opportunity, you know. Scott could have pulled the plug on it last week, but he didn't and it went well.

When people talk about you in Strike Force, they get a little fired up. You know, why isn't Daniel fighting on the challengers cards? Why isn't he fighting in the main event, at least? Why is he on the televised portion of this card? Are you happy with the way that your career is progressing in Strike Force? Yeah, man, I'm completely happy. I think they're doing a great job, getting me fights, you know. It doesn't matter where I'm fighting, because some guys don't get three fights in Strike Force in a year.

You've seen that. You've seen guys sit on the shelf for a long time. So I'm happy, man. I'm happy with the way it's been going. They're getting me fights. They're allowing me to fight in other places. I have no complaints, man. I'm excited.

I think it's going well. And I just appreciate everything that Scott has done, that showtime's done. And in time, I'll get on TV, you know, and I'll be in the big fights. you know whenever they're ready I'll be ready to go. Do you think you're ready to now start fighting consistently on TV? Again, that's not my decision, you know, but would I embrace it, of course. Who doesn't want to fight on TV and always be seen by everybody that loves you? Of course I want to, but again, it's a progress, man.

It's a career that I've taken, and it's something that you have to build it. And right now, I guess that's what they're doing. And hopefully, you know, enough people saw this tonight where they say, you know what, we will let Daniel fight on the televised card somewhere. And if not, you know what, I'll just keep plugging away, put my head down and go to work. Technically, you're an MMA rookie, but you're 31 years old. Do you feel as though you need to take these fights on, you know, kind of short notice? Just get as many as you can in a short amount of time because you are a little older than the, you know, the typical rookie?

Yeah, man, of course, you know, my pace has to be sped up because I am 31. I don't regret that I'm starting late because I achieve my goals of going to the Olympics as a wrestler. But I have to be going faster. You know, I have to be going faster and five fights in a year, you know, so far. My first year is until September, aerial, you know, so five fights in a year. I'm happy with the way it's went, and I got to speed it, and that's why Bob and I and I, and D. Wayne Zinking are doing what we're doing, and that's getting as many fights as we can. A lot of people saying that you are undersized for a heavy weight.

Of course, we know about some of the health issues you've had in the past. Can you cut weight at this point, or is it better for you not to? Probably better not to, with some change up in the diet and everything. It would be pretty simple. When I'm training normally at the gym, I haven't trained in three weeks with all these fights, but I'll leave training 230, 231, 232. If I really wanted to suck the weight off, I could. I've done it my whole life.

I prefer not to. There's no reason to right now. To be totally honest with you, guys are better at 205. They're faster. These guys are big lumbering guys, so hopefully my skill set allows me to compete at this weight class. And if Bob DeWain, Hov and all those guys, say, Daniel, we think you should go. down and that's what I'll do. When will we see you fight again? Will it be in November in Australia or before that? I'm not sure, man. Bob, Bob will make that decision. Right now, Australia's on the

table. I'm not sure he's booked it yet. You know, I think maybe they're, I don't know if they're jumping the gun over there or if it's official. You know, if it is official, then I'll go fight. If not, we'll see. But right now, I'll go home for a week, see my mom in Louisiana, and I go back to San Jose and start helping Kane get ready for his big fight. You know, we're a family over there. Kane's got a huge fight. I'm going to be in the gym every day. We're going to work, we're going to wrestle, we're going to work, and he's going to become the champion. Any guy out there that you'd want to fight next? Again, no, you know, I'm just...

I'm just... I want tickle your fancy a little. Really, I don't really feel like I deserve that. You know, Ariel, I don't deserve to call anybody out yet. I've just started fighting. Whoever they put in front of me, I'll fight. The one thing I will say is if somebody calls you off of you, if I take the fight,

it's just a fight. What's the worst that can happen, you know? You lose. So, that's why I take my hat off to Jason Riley, Tony Johnson, and Lucas Brown and those guys for fighting, because that's what we chose to do. We didn't choose to say we're fighters and turn down fights. Somebody offers you a fight?

Take a fight. Just go fight. Well, Daniel, congratulations on another big victory. It's been a lot of fun watching you progress this past year. Thank you, Ariel. 67,000-plus screaming fans at the Skydome in Toronto being joined by the Hulkster. Hulk Hogan, just moments away from your big title match. Champion versus Champion.

You against Ultimate Warrior. How are you feeling, Hulk? You know what, brother? Feeling great. Why did it go wrong? This guy is an amateur. He does not know how to throw a match. He does not have to wrestle.

Nathan Jones? Mayhem and Kornier have joined forces. Why did you do it? Disrespectful. Look at that. That's what happens. That's what happens. But you've been friends for so long.

that's what happens and that's how it is here at the GDP wrestling championship wrestling that could very well be the new UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, great stuff

one of the great characters in our sport that was a lot of fun to do back in November of 2009 when he was just merely a prospect and I've looked at some of the responses here how can Will Brooks be prospect of the year

he's a champion? I mean really come on. I know it's cool and all, but is that really the number one lightweight title in the world? Is he the number one lightweight in the world? No. Is he better than Anthony Pettis? Not right now. But also we're looking at it from a perspective of coming into this year.

It's for this year. He's certainly started the year as a prospect and then fulfilled? His prospect potential. Why are people so dumb? Can you tell me the reason? Why are they so dumb? I get a lot of the people who are responding to this probably aren't even watching the show and aren't listening to our explanations.

So I'll give him a pass for their stupidity. Joe Schilling texted me. Thank you for the award. Two K-O-of-the-year performances in two different sports. More chaos to come next year. So I think he thinks I gave him the award. But we were definitely discussing him. He was an honorable mention.

But that was for you. How about that? Joe Schilling. I love for Joe. Yeah, you do. All right. Let's look at some questions, comments before we get. get out of here. Okay. Let's start with our first one. Oh, sorry. Spazzed out. I also got a little

pushback about Daniel Cormier. For what? I feel like people aren't sold on Cormier yet. For your pick for next year? Yeah. Well, I guarantee you the reason you got the pushback is because they think you're talking about this year. Yeah, I think so too. They're like, what? He just beat Patrick comments and he just beat Dan Henderson. Oh, oh, shut up.

God. All right, first question. Stipe Miochich. How much did Steve P. Stake go up Saturday night? I thought he was going to get run over by Junior Dos Santos. It went up.

This is just an opportunity to kind of talk about the fight. By the way, that's why I think he should fight Travis Brown next. I like that. Myoch has come a long way. By the way, I had a lot of fun interviewing him on Thursday.

He's got a great personality just needs to let it out there a little more. Miotritch is great. And a lot of people didn't expect that. His stock is up, still very much a player at heavyweight, in my opinion. No shame in losing to JDS, by the way. But I did think JDS won 4847. And also, that interview you talked about, he's really coming out of shell a little bit. Yeah, I just said that. No, I'm saying, I'm agreeing with you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jesus Christ. Yeah, no, I'm just, I thought you didn't hear me say that. First.

I will kill you in your first. first. Okay, next question. Yes. Henry Sehudo. Yes. He's showing signs of good striking and obviously has an excellent wrestling background. If he makes 125, do you see him as a contender?

Is there any chance of him beating Mighty Mouse by the end of 2016, giving time to Sehudo to develop his skills a little? Or do you see DJ dominating everyone until going up to Bantamweight and or retiring? Well, I don't see DJ going up to Bantamweight. If you missed it after the fight, Sehudo still pleading with the UFC, asking for another shot at flyweight. So that's a big if. He looks so good at bantam weight. Why go down? But clearly, I mean, this is the guy who won the Olympic goal at 121, so pounds, that is.

So he obviously feels better when he's lighter. Although he was younger then, still, you know, if that's what he wants to do, let him do it. If he misses weight next time, he shouldn't do it anymore. But it's like one of those things where I'm happy the UFC said go up to 135. I wish they would do that with Charles O'Urera, too. I mean, this is the guy was having a tough time making 145. He was fine at 155. Why keep putting your body through hell?

So Houda look great. He showed very much improved striking. He showed a diversity in his game. He didn't rely strictly on his wrestling. It was a tremendous performance. And I know that it was one that meant a lot to him because, as he mentioned, he used to sell lemonade outside of that arena many moons ago.

So I don't know if I want to put him in that DJ category just yet or that discussion just yet. But he's definitely a prospect to watch. He's definitely someone who could be a player this time next year if he makes that way. and that's the big question. He needs to go down to 125. Yeah.

Because the path is easier. There's no debate. The path to the 135 pound title is a lot tougher than the path to the 125 pound title. And he can get there quick. He can make it quick, especially with, you know, the guys who have fought for the 125 pound title or, you know, have fought Demetrius Johnson. You know, they're kind of, there's a freshness that Henry brings. And I think that if he goes down to 125, it won't be too long until, you know, gets a title shot. By the way, flyweight has always lacked those sexy names, and when you consider

Sehudo going down, you consider Sergio Pettis going down. All of a sudden, there's some names to start watching over there, you know, some guys with stories that people can get behind. I think the weight thing was, you know, we've had him on the show and he talked about it. He, he, and it sounded like when we had him on the show, it sounded like he can't, he doesn't want to do it again, you know, I'm past that point, I'm older now, I can't keep doing this. But I think it was a, a very, a very, a very, very reactionary thing, and I think he'll make the weight next time, and I think he needs to go down to 125. He's a great personality, too.

He's so, he's just so cute with his little hair and everything. I mean, he's just like a little package. Okay, yeah. He's the only third Olympic gold medalist ever. I mean, deserves your respect. That's a great thing to do. I love that. I don't know about the...

He's so cute, pinch his cheeks. I don't know about that. Nate Diaz, what do you do with Nate Diaz now? Hard to argue he wasn't trying to get cut from the UFC. missed weight and although not that huge of a deal he walked out of his pre-fight interview now that he lost a pretty one side of fight do you think the UFC will cut him and should they?

Hell no, no way he is still a big job. People love Nate Diaz. Are you kidding? That would be a huge mistake. You don't have to be best buds with everyone on your roster. Of course you want to have them, you know, play ball to a degree and again I feel like all that stuff adds to his lore. You want to have him make weight, of course, because if a guy's just missing weight, for whatever reason,

it just doesn't really help his cause. They're not cutting him. There's no way they're cutting him. They're not cutting him tomorrow. They're not cutting him next month. Unless he does something horrible, criminal, they're not cutting him. He's a big draw.

Regardless of what anyone tells you, he is a needle mover, witness the fact that he was co-made event on Fox. I don't know if people know this, but his brother, Nick Diaz has, you know, no-showed a few things in his time. And people still love him. He just got quite a deal to fight Anderson Silva.

So, I don't think Nate is in any trouble of going anywhere he doesn't want to go. The UFC will keep him as long as he's valuable to them and he's valuable. Now that you mentioned Nick Diaz, I feel like I have to apologize to him because, remember when he was on our show a couple weeks ago and I mentioned that he said, I was like, oh, why don't you respond to my glides? He's like, I sent you a glide and all that. Well, I got a new phone and my notifications have changed.

In the past, the glide app, when someone was sending me a message, it was show up. right here on the phone. Once I got the new phone, notifications changed. So I never saw. He sent me like three and I missed them as did Nate Diaz. So I apologize to them in person. I want to apologize to them publicly. I missed your glides. I'll never let that happen again. I change the notifications. I love gliding with them. Proceed. Assessing tough 20. Now that tough 20 is complete, what were your overall thoughts on the season? Would you consider it a success? And if the USC were to introduce new weight classes in the future, would you like to see them do it in a similar way? I don't know if I give it the B plus.

us that Mark Romandie gave it. What did I give? I think it was a success in introducing the way class and, you know, maybe the fly weights would have been better served getting introduced that way as well. Because, look, you know, we know about Joanne Calderwood. We know about Felice Herrick. If you didn't know of these people, I mean, a lot of people, the hardcore fans who are watching this show are listening to it, probably knew who these people were. But, you know, a little, you know, a little more about Marcos and Nama Yunus and Asparza and, you know, Your Majesty. So, you know, you got a sense for who these people were.

That's great. Did it get a little stale towards the end? Did it seem like it was dragging? Absolutely. Do I feel like this should be the end of the North American Ultimate Fighter? Yes, I feel like it needs a revamping that's not just, you know, for the belt or all women, like a major revamping, different location, different house, different rules, different format, everything. I feel like it's gone as far as it can go.

It works overseas. It works introducing, you know, to introduce MMA to new markets, but it doesn't work anymore in the U.S. this same way. So it was good to end it this way. It showed the evolution of the sport and the show, but I say no mas. It did do a good job building up Rose. Yeah. No, it did.

And she evolved, like Marcos, who was talking? about her going into the show. So it did its job as far as the division is concerned, but as far as an actual show, I agree with you completely. I've never, you know, wavered from that position, but I feel like Rose in particular, she, she did her job and, you know, had really, really impressive performances, but it really built her up. And, you know, people were picking her over Carla Sparza. She was a favorite over, you know, the Invicted Champion. Yeah, which did you find to be a little surprising? No, because I thought she had made those steps that made it look like this was going to be a very competitive fight.

But Carla, Carla's boxing and Carla's wrestling are just, you know, she has really good attributes and she's a really, really well-rounded, good fighter. So I wasn't surprised, and I'm not surprised Carla won either. This is our last question from the website. Paul Harris, seriously, how many times can he get away with this? Clearly held the sub longer than he needed. The ref had his hands on him too, so it was clearly over. I wouldn't blame any fighter for not taking a fight against him at this point. Ian Entwistle had a win with the same sub in the UFC and compare how quickly he let go. Did Mark Remundi write this? I think the exact point. I'm not going to cry bloody murder. I did that already the last time. I still believe you watch it

a thousand times. The referee has to tug multiple times to get him to let go. Now, is it malicious? Is the Blake, I don't know, but it just, it feels like you got a guy slapping you on the leg. He's not slapping his own leg where you don't feel it. He's slapping you multiple times, and you're not letting go. I don't feel like the referee, who's in front of you, by the way, needs to get in there and, you know, really pull you off multiple times. Now, yes, you're told to go until the referee tells you to stop. Gets in there, breaks it up.

Fine. But that doesn't mean you can't have some common sense. I mean, look at these knockouts all the time where guys know that their opponents out and they walk away. You don't have to go in there and add a few more punches just because the referee didn't tell you to stop just yet. If it's clear that something popped, if it's clear that he's tapping, just let go. But you do. You're saying you don't, but you do. Matt Mitreone, you could be a professional. Matt Mitreone had to land another punch to end that fight. He didn't have to. He did, but that fight was not going to be stopped. There are cases where Mark Hunt knocks a guy out and

walks away, he knows it. Yeah, and he's taking a risk. Yeah, sure. He's taking a risk. So someone with that reputation, someone who lost their job as a result, I think, think he should maybe take a risk or two. How about that? I disagree. If I'm him, I never take the risk. And you don't feel like the referee comes in there and has to work a little harder than most? I'm not disagreeing with that. There's an opportunity between letting go as soon as the person taps and holding on to it even when the referee is trying to pull you off. As soon as the referee touches you, that's when you should let go. There's enough time between the first tap and the last time that the referee is trying to get you to. to break it. There's so much time between that that you should be letting go earlier. That's fair enough

but you can't let it go before the rest comes in. You can't. It's just how the sport is. You cannot do it. I disagree. You know, you're entitled to your opinion but there have been many cases where a guy felt a tap and let go. There's the many cases where a guy saw a guy out and stop punching. And that's he's

taking, he's willing to risk losing on that. I hate the fact, I love watching this guy fight, but I hate the fact that every single guy who fights him has some kind of serious knee and This is specific to him. I'm talking in general. You're taking a risk.

You're taking a risk that you can lose the fight by letting him. I'm not talking about GSP here or some other guy who doesn't have this history. I'm talking about a guy who keeps doing this every time. He's blowing out people's knees. And it's part of the game. I get it. And you can't say, oh, look at other people. When a guy's knocked out, they throw the extra punch.

It doesn't happen every time. And we've seen more cases. We've seen tons of cases where guys see a guy who's out. They see a guy who taps. and they stop. You don't, yes, that's what you're told to do. But if it's clear that a guy, like, are you that much in the zone, perhaps?

That's why I feel weird, hating on him all the time, or criticizing him. But when you watch it, you can't help but feel a little weird about it. It feels a smidge too late. And you'd like to see a guy who his opponent is tapping multiple times every time, air on the side of caution for once.

Just to show us that, you know what, I'm not doing this maliciously. I'm not trying to ruin guys' careers. I'm not trying to blow out their knee. just err one time on the side of caution. That's all we ask. But what does he do every time he errs on the side of not caution? He errs on the side of let the referee pull me off multiple times.

It's not right. It's not. I know. There's tons of things that are by the book, yeah, you've got to do them. But I think there needs to be some sense involved here, some humanity involved here. There needs to be, you know, a little bit of respect for your opponent. I have a hard time believing that you're that much in the zone, that you don't feel, A, your opponent. tap because the opponent taps and then the RIF comes in and then he tries to pry his hands open and then he tries again.

Like how many opportunities. I hate to sit here and complain about it because I try not to make that big deal. However, I still feel like he can let go a little sooner. I won't necessarily disagree with that. But if you're looking for humanity, this is the wrong sport. It's just, it's a cage fight. And there's a difference between holding it and cranking it. If he's cranking it, then there's a separate issue there.

Look at what he's doing. Hey, I'm not saying that he couldn't have let it go sooner. I'm just saying he can't let it go before the ref steps in. I've heard that a lot and I can't agree with that. All right. Because it's his livelihood on the line. And it's the other person's livelihood with the knee thing. So there's changes that he needs to make, but I don't think that that's it.

He can't let it go before the rough steps in. But again, worth noting that the ref doesn't just step in and he lets go. He has to pry it. Yeah. Multiple times. Like, he's pulling. I agree with you. He's pulling. That's when it needs to happen.

Our first question from Twitter, do you find it uncomfortable watching Junior Dos Santos get punched now? He is tough as nails, but every fight is reducing his lifespan. Not really uncomfortable, like, the first punch of the fight, but it's uncomfortable seeing his face afterwards. And a lot, you know, that may be cosmetic, who knows. But heavyweights, taking those kind of punches for five-round fights, yeah, you wonder.

You start to wonder. Perhaps more alarming is that he has no issues, with it, that he continues to say he's a warrior, that he's going to do this, that he has no problems taking that kind of damage. That is most alarming. I think that this is a larger issue, though. What, like, is, is Joe Rogan going to give him a speech? No. About, you know, retiring? Because he's not his friend. That was his big thing, right? He's saying, I'm only doing this because you're my friend. I care about you and I know you on a personal level. But should someone surrounding him be talking to him about this? Yeah, I think so.

It's tough. I mean, this is the sport we love. I don't know. I honestly couldn't, I couldn't even tell you. Because I love watching this sport, but these guys are putting their health at risk every single time they get in the cage. That Rogan Shaw podcast, especially what Rogan was saying about starting to feel a little conflicted. It reminded me a lot of Howard Kosell, who was a big part of boxing, but then towards the end was voicing the same issues and reservations with boxing about feeling a little conflicted. So it happens to people who watch this stuff for a very long time. our final question should Claudia

be punished for the after the bell punch you know I don't know if she should be punished because I do feel like Joanna threw a kick there at the end as well the issue that I do have

is the explanation as to why the UFC doesn't have a problem with it you know Dana was saying Dana Waite was saying well this is different than the Paul Daley situation because Paul Daley was unapologetic when I went in there he didn't care and Gadella was you know very sorry right way. I don't feel like that's a valid explanation because, you know, they both did it. The actions

were the same. So now let's talk about the reaction. Okay, Goodelia in the moment was able to recognize perhaps because of what happened to Paul Daly that this was the wrong thing to do. Daly, very heated in the moment, you're asking him 10 seconds afterwards after getting his buttwipped in front of a sold-out crowd. You're asking him, he's going to say, all right, F off. I don't think you should be judged on your reaction. I think you should be judged on your actions. And if Daly was punished for that, I think that Gadelia should be punished for that. Now, do I feel like Daly should be banned? Absolutely not. Do I feel like he should have been reprimanded in some way? Sure. Fine. Maybe he doesn't get a fight for an extra month or two. If that's the case, then she should be punished for the same because it was the exact same thing, in my opinion.

I don't feel like Daley should be banned for life for that. I think, I think he has served his time, and I don't think it would be fair to ban Godelia for that. But if Daly got punished, period, just a punishment, then she should have a punishment, too, because it was the exact same thing. Do you agree? I think it was a little different. Why? Just because... It was clearly after the bill.

It was after the bell, but there was an exchange. I'm not sure where I fall on this, because I don't necessarily agree with Dana where he's like, oh, it's completely different. Right. I don't feel that, but I also feel like it's closer to the not hearing the bell were kind of in the middle of an exchange. It was certainly after the belt. There was a beat. There was a beat or two.

But she had just got hit and then she threw back. Two wrongs. Don't make it right. Not that I'm not talking about in terms of like tit for tap, but more like reactionary. She's still in the, like the bell just rang and the punch comes and the reaction comes. I feel like it's closer to that than Paul Daly who just cocked back and tried to punch somebody. but I don't agree I don't agree that with Dana

that it's like oh this is completely different scenario there's no reason to even think about I don't agree with that either but I'm with you I don't think she should necessarily you know find some kind of punishment but then daily

should not be vilified for that at least I mean not banned for life yeah by the way not for life not for life by the way Sean Oshaddy spoke to Matthew Valenzuela who is the executive director of the Arizona

Boxing and MMA Commission, and he says that she will probably not be fined or punished or reprimanded at all. Which, I don't know. I mean, I kind of feel like it falls on the commission's shoulders at this point. Especially, I mean, you think about the Jason High thing, too. You know, these things happen in the heat of the moment.

And you know what? If you're going to say, fine, it happens in the heat of the moment, then no one should be punished. Hers wasn't blatant. Excuse me, hers wasn't blatant. Hise wasn't blatant. Daly's wasn't blatant. Do they deserve maybe some kind of fine? Sure.

But to get cut from the UFC, banned for life, all that stuff, I feel like it's too drastic. None of them should be banned for life. None of them should be cut. Little punishment, sure, but I find aware that, like, High got punished, severely.

Daly got punished very severely as well. And she's getting nothing. Let's, one thing I want to mention, how about John Fitch back in the day, saying he didn't want to fight Paul Harris, I guess, probably should have listened to himself. That sucks. But now, let's look at some of the people's submissions for their awards.

Yes, quickly, let's go through them. See if anything stands out. Yes. Let's scroll up. Let's see. A lot of people agreed with you, the event being Dublin. I mean, that one felt special to everybody. I can't really argue with that much.

Josh Saman, that knockout, people seem to like that one a lot as well. Yeah, and you know what? I'm happy you mentioned him because... The comeback? Yeah. We didn't mention him for a comeback. back and he certainly deserves to be mentioned there as well. Yep.

Jones Cormier Brawl, seeing that a lot. Yeah. I feel like a lot of them were pretty consistent with ours. I see Andre Pettanaris for Coach of the Year. Brown lost the title. A lot agreed with you, Lawler versus Hendricks, the first fight of the year. It's interesting to see some people pick Pendred over King. That could be a comeback.

It depends on your interpretation of the comeback. award. I see a lot of Dana White's for guests next year. We had them once. Yeah, we did. We had them actually twice, once before your time. Oh. Romero Kennedy, round two, round of the year.

That was fun. Oh, that's a good one. Roy Mack in Halifax for Walkout. I don't even remember that one. Was that like Katie Perry or something? I know he came on. Round two of, what was it that you just said? Romero Kennedy.

Oh, yeah, yeah, that is a good one. Although it was short. Didn't, I feel like that's more end of round one than round two. Yeah. Coach of the year, Bang Ludwig, certainly had a great year as well. I mean, they won the belt after all. But that was more last year. No, he won the belt this year.

He won the belt this year. But we gave it to him last year because all the work, you know, with Benavita is getting back to the title shot and all that stuff. Like, most improved Neil Magny deserves who you mentioned there. That's where I think he probably is a shoot. But did he? I mean, you're saying that he fought, you know... Yeah, but he still won the fight-fights.

Oh, I didn't say that. I didn't say that. Get out of here. Any other ones? There's a lot. I really appreciate everyone. Oh, James Tihuna's dance, his walkout, the Haka dance. Were you not happy about that? No, no, I... The men and black ones.

Yes, the Haka dance prior to the Nate Markquard fight. Yeah, the Haka was very good. My buddy texted me during the show to say that one. Yeah. Yeah, I really appreciate everyone weighing in. I appreciate everyone giving their picks. And if you're listening to this after the fact, definitely go into the comment section below to look at everyone's picks.

It's a lot of fun to do. And I love that everyone weighed in. Thank you very much for that. Before we go, I want to let you know once again that next week's show is a best-up show. The week after is a best-of show. We'll be back live, January 5th, taking a little break.

But we do have some great shows lined up for you, and they will be posted on Monday. day. We had a lot of great interviews this year, a lot of great guests. And again, you know, I was getting a little harsh on the people before. Perhaps that's just because I'm tired. But I truly appreciate and want to thank everyone for their support. Go to all these events. See all the people everywhere. You guys are so kind, so nice, so, so warm to me in particular. And you're always asking about New York Creek as well and everyone else who works on the show. So I really want to thank you all for all your kind words and your support. And I really love it. So thank you so much.

And before I go, I know usually at this time, we thank everyone who joined us, but I want to do something very, very quick here. I know I'm running out of time, but I want to thank Sarah McMahon, Chris Wyman, Tarek-Safedine, Matt Sarah, Luke Rockhold, Sear Bahar, Dorsada, Ali Abdel-Aziz, Reid-Aude, Audea, Audea, Audea, Audea, Audea, Faville, Narayanov, Chris Liebben, Cole Miller, Glenn Robinson, Kevin Ayoyoy, Johnny Hendricks, Alex Davis, Ricardo Almeadow, John Crouch, Alaster, Overeem, Slayer, Asden, Malin, Lipstine,

Pat Barry, Gegar, Musasas, Roy, Nelson, Jessica, I, Edmundarverdi, Noad Laha'Huemar Cruz, Miracle Cropovic, Rashad, Evans, Gilbert Melendez, Alex Gustafson, Kyle Kingsbury, John Gooden, Goulden, Gispe, Tyran Woodley, Herb, DeN, Tiago Alves, Sean Al-Shadi, Phil Davis, Kenney Floreen, Melvin,

Al Gore, Matt Brown, Eddie Bravo, T.J. Dilshar, Brad Tavar, is Nick Newell, Shia Shave Levine, Chuck Ladell, Demetius, Johnson, Jake Shields, Danny Castillo, Javier Mendes, Henry Hoof, Dan Tiers, MEDA, Alexander Gusterson,

Daniel Kornier, Dan Henderson, John Lovsky, John Lovsky, John Lovsky, John McAudewood, Conover Gregor, Cole Miller, Jerry Ferraro, Chad Mendez, King Moe, Marrano, Mark Pavlach, Mark Hunt, Travis Brown, Michael Chandler, Eddie Chandlerz, Eddie Chandlerz, Eddie Chandlerz, Eddie Chandlerz, Eddie Chandlerz, Eddie Chandlerz, Eddie Chandlerz, Eddie Adlerz, Eddie Adlerz, Eddie Adlerz, Anzel, Gracey, Will Brooks, Diego Sanchez, Tyrone Woodley, Greg Jackson, Ed Soros, Patrick Cummins, Patrick Henderson, Russ Pearson, Ken Shamrock, Diego Randall, Malky, Chowahua, Shannon Kappe, Nicholas Batchambe, John Jones, Matt Sera, Jason Haynes, Melvin, Marlonov, George, Karanette, Dave Meltzer, Dave Meltzer,

Halle, Gracey, Paige Van Zenzhen, Mike Doche, Mani Gamberian, Antoine, Antonio Silva, Tarek Saffin, Justin Gaiti, Pat Militch, James Pulver, Chadmendez, Jason Perillo, Phil Barone, Dmitries Johnson, Neil Seary, Kyle Pendra, John Kavanaugh, Chris Wyman, Alastair Overeem, you can hit my music. Dominic Cruz, Dustin Porreier, Dennis Bermudas, Tom Egan, Anthony Pettis, Chris Carrioso, Paul Daley, Chuck Mindenhall,

Shott Evans, Vitor, Belfort, Johnny Hendrix, Brendan Scha, Daniel Cormier, Cohn, John Jones, Alexander Gusterson, Randy Couture, Paul Heyman, Faber, Uriah, Patti Hulahan, Cousanne, Mark Bochek, Dave Meltzer, Scott Coker, Dean Thomas, Castillo, Josh Barnett,

Josh Barnett, Kristof, Sochinsky, Roy McDonald, Luke, Luke, Luke Rockhold Bobby Green, Will Brooks, Joe Riggs, Michelle Waterson, Ben Bissombein, Ben Aspern, Yaya Hall, Big John McCarthy, Sam Kaplan, Tiago Silva, Henry Sehudo, Anthony Johnson, Stefan Bonner, Anderley Silva's lawyer, Ross Goodman, Guillermo, William McGeeree, Hab, Jim Roscoor, McGee-Oster, Overeem, Tide, Rubeb, Tartee, John Anak, Dmitre Johnson, McChanler, Rich Franklin, Mark Ratner, John Kavanaugh, Artim LeBov, Stephen Struve, Mark Hunt, Chris Wyman, Ashton Dayly, Sean McCorkel, Kenney, Enzo Gracie, John Kavanaugh, Chris Caledis, Fraz Zhabi, Joe Schilling, Todd Duffy, Ryan Ford, Chadmendez, Hafell Sondi,

Hafello Sontarero, Juan Carnero, Holly Home, Rick Storer, Martin Catman, Joe Warren, Peotre Hallman, Daniel Cormon, Hoys, Grasie, Dan Miller, Michiganion, Jessica Aguilar, Mike Chiappetta, Lucreco, Dei Alvarez, Diego Sanchez, Valid, Ishmael, McDonnell, David Branch, Habeer Mollas, Hafeldos, Al-Dosos, Al-Aquinta, Eyn McAulman, Jim Fennett, Dave Meltzer, Nick Diaz,

Frankie, Edgar, Anthony Johnson, Eve Edwards, Hallick Gracie, Chuck Minhal, Russell, Woodley, Matt Wyman, Ben Rothwell, Will Brooks, Gary Cook, Alexander Guston, Scott Cooker, Claudia Gidellia, Edmund Tarvedian, Roxanne Mautafari, Mark Lameon, Robbie Lawler, Eve Edwards, John Fitch, Matt Hughes, Frank Mir, KJ News, Tom Wright, John Pollock, Mark Romondi, Carlos Sparza, Robbie Lawler, thank you so much for joining us this year. It's been a great year. We'll see you in 2015. Until then, I say peace. I'm out of you. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough,

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