MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 271

Episode Date: March 2, 2015

Featuring Roy Jones Jr., Ken Shamrock, Brian Stann, Rener Gracie, Marion Reneau, Tamdan McCrory, and Robert Sargent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

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I'm Ariel Hawani inside our New York City studio. Great to be back home. Great to be back in New York after a great week in Los Angeles. It was wonderful. I got to be in the UFC Tonight's studio. I got to be on the show for the most part. It's a lot of fun. Hope you watched it.

Got to be on Fox Sports Live. talking baseball, basketball, all those kinds of sports. Got to be on the Jane Dan podcast. Did you see that? That was fun with my fellow Canadians. And I got to cover Invicta. How about that? Friday night, Invicta? Very rare these days that I get to go to another organization

because there are so many UFC events. I got to see Chris Cyborg do her thing in a matter of seconds. I got to see Alexa Grasso, who apparently is Dana White's favorite fighter now, name dropping her all over the place. That was a lot of fun. And, of course, UFC 184 on. On Saturday night at the Staples Center, Ronda Rousey, did it again. 14 seconds.

Actually, if you talk to the great judo Jean LaBelle, who gave me this wonderful little gift over here, it was 12.8 seconds. Regardless, she defeats Katzen Gano a surreal turn of events. I don't think a lot of people were surprised that Ronda Rousey won the fight, just that it happened so quickly that Katzengano bum rushed her like that, and then, of course, the inverted belly down. arm bar finish. She's never done one of those before. Certainly she's had a lot of a lot of arm bar finishes, but she made all kinds of history on Saturday night. Here are a couple,

if you're wondering, according to Fight Metric. 14-second submission, the fastest finish of any kind in a UFC championship fight. Her submission now ties for the fastest submission in modern UFC history. She ties the UFC record with five consecutive finishes in title fights, the sixth modern era fighter to finish her first five UFC opponents, now tied for third most championship finishes in UFC history with five, passes Anthony Pettis for the longest active UFC finish streak with five straight. And that's not all. Seventh arm bar in UFC strike force pride, WC competition tying Antonio Rodrigo Nogera for most such submissions and the combined histories of those four organizations. And that's not all. Zingano versus Rousey, the only UFC

championship fight to not feature a single landed strike. Prior, this strange record belonged to Matt Hughes versus Frank Trigg at UFC 45, which featured just one landed strike. How about that? Crazy stuff on Saturday. And of course, we had the debut of Holly Holmes. She won her fight against Raquel Pennington. He had Jake Ellenberger defeating Josh Kosteck. Was it the last time we saw Josh Koshchek inside the Octon? We shall see. But a lot to discuss, a lot to digest on this episode of the M.A.R. And hopefully you're following you're following you. on Twitter once again for the second week in a row, our MMAfighting.com site is down, but the good news is you can watch the show live on live stream right now, so hopefully you're figuring that out.

You follow me on Twitter or Facebook, and hopefully the site is up in a matter of seconds. For now, let us run down today's show. We've got a great one for you. I'm very excited about today's show. At around 3.30, we're going to take your questions and comments, so hit us up using the hashtag the MMR, leave a question or comment. In the comments section below, if it's still there. maybe today a little more Twitter questions. We'll also go inside the vault at around that time. I got a fun one. Of course, one that pertains to this past weekend.

So stay tuned for that. At 310, we're going to be joined by the Barncat, Tam Dan McCrory, who is now 2-0 in Bellator. What a great story this is. Out of action for five years. Comes back in September, knocks out Brendan Ward in 21 seconds, and then comes back on on Friday at Bellator in Connecticut and submits Jason Butcher. In a minute, six seconds. The Barncat is back. Looking forward to having him on the show.

How about this? 2.45. Y'all must have forgot. Roy Jones on the show. Roy Jones Jr., the legendary Roy Jones Jr. He is back in action at 46 years young this Friday in North Carolina. He is making somewhat of a run at the Cruiserweight title, one of the few titles he's never held. And, of course, I'd love to talk to him about Anderson, Sylvan, all that stuff. But Roy Jones. Anytime you can talk to a legend, a living legend. I have a great Roy Jones story, by the way. It's always fun to have him on. 225. We're going to talk to Hennar Gracie, of course, the master of Gracie Jiu-Jit-sue, but, you know, he was in Ronda's corner on, he didn't have to do much, but he was there once again on Saturday. So I want to talk to him about that finish and where Ronda goes from here and all that stuff. So Hennar Gracie, always fun to talk to Mr. Hennargy himself.

That will be at 225. 205. We're going to talk to another legend, Kent Shamrock. In case you missed it, It was announced on, I believe, Thursday that Kent Shamrock will meet Kimbo Slice in June. This is not 2008. This is 2015. They're finally, hopefully, going to get it on in Belator in St. Louis later on this year. Ken Chamrock is back. I believe he's 51, and he is back. Of course, that fight was supposed to happen.

October 4, 2008. Ken got cut, and then Seth Petruzelli stepped in. You know what happened after that. 145. We're going to talk to Marion Renaud, who's a fresh face. or is she in the women's 135 pound division? She is 37 years young. She's a teacher.

She's a mother of a 12-year-old boy, but she's on a roll. Tuno in the UFC. She's coming off a very nice win over Jessica Andraj in Brazil last week. I want to talk to her a nice story developing this year for Marion Reno. And then at 125, we're going to talk to my good pal, Brian Stan. A lot of topics to talk to Brian Stan about. Always great to have his insight on the show. So we'll talk to him at 125.

But first, you know, this was, in my opinion, a historic weekend for women's MMA between what happened on Friday at Invicta, what happened on Saturday, UFC 184, and when you talk about women's MMA, you can only really talk to one person. He is the number one voice, in my opinion, the number one authority

when it comes to all things women's in May. He's been covering this thing since before it was cool to do so, and I'm talking about my fellow Canadian, Robert Sargent of MMA Rising.com. He joins us now via the phone. Robert, how are you? I'm doing well, thanks.

How are you? I am doing great. Great to have you back on the show. Again, when I think of women's MMA, I think of you, so I wanted to get your impressions on what happened this past weekend. Let's start with the main event, of course. The biggest fight of them all, Ronda Rousey, defeating Katzangano in 14 seconds. Again, I think a lot of people thought Ronda would win,

just not that quickly. Were you surprised by what Kat did? Do you think that was one of the most ill-advised ways to start a fight in the history of MMA, considering how dangerous Ronda can be? I think you could probably make a case to that. because anything that's going to get the fight to the ground faster is obviously going to put a fight in Ronda's game plan. So I don't think it was the wisest choice of moves.

It's not how I saw the fight playing out at all. I did think that Ronda would win, but probably second or third round submission. I've seen all of Katz's fights, and she's normally very aggressive, but not in that manner. So it was pretty surprising to me that she would initiate a clinch that quickly that would put her on the ground. And so, I mean, 14 seconds, it's just incredible what Ron is able to do.

Someone said it perfectly, I think, on Saturday, you don't start the Super Bowl with a Hail Mary. And that felt like a Hail Mary. And Kat was saying all the right things leading up to that fight. She's not in my head. I'm not intimidated. And I believed her. But for her to start the fight that way leads me to believe that she was in her head. When you're going to go out there and try to do something that drastic against someone that good, makes me think that you're not thinking about your game plan.

You're thinking about how do I beat this person at her? her game. You know what I'm saying? And it's almost disappointing to see it play out like that because I was really excited to see that fight. And my heart goes out to her. She's been through so much. You saw the frustration, the disappointment on her face. Is that, is that the best way to describe it? She felt like, okay, look what all those other people did against Ronda. It doesn't work. So let me try to catch her by surprise. That's the only explanation I could think of. Yeah. And I mean, going for a quick finish, that's fine. And nobody wants to leave it to the judges. so the longer that you're in there,

the less chance you have of actually getting a fair deal of it. So I completely understand why she rushed at Rhonda, but strike. Don't, like, if you're going to rush forward, box. Don't be initiating anything where Rhonda's going to be able to clinch you and throw you to the ground because, as you saw, that's the result. She can finish you in a matter of second. So I don't fault Kat for being aggressive in the fight. That's always been her style, and that's what made her successful up until this point.

But you can't play that game with Ronda, and then anybody who's tempting fate like that, and you've seen it before with the other opponents in the past, it's not going to work, whether it's two seconds into the fight or whether it's 10 minutes into the fight. It doesn't matter. You have to fight smart.

And so far, the only one has actually been able to have some success against Ronda was Misha Tate. And Misha Tate's normally regarded as a grappler, but she's been the only one who's been able to hang with Ronda on the ground. So I think Katz's strategy should have been to keep it on the feet for as long as possible and to try to wear Ronda down over time.

But, yeah, it just didn't play out in her favor at all, as you saw. Was that finish so freakish that you would be okay with a relatively quick turnaround for both them in the sense that I don't think Katz gonna get an immediate rematch, but if she wins one or two more, would you be okay with seeing that again? Or do you think she has to go all the way back down the ladder and work her way back up?

No, I think it's okay if she beats a couple of top contenders. Like, no, I don't want to see her. like being fed UFC newcomers or anything like that. She's fought her way up to the top and needs to stay there. But if she wins a couple of fights against like top level opponents, like say she fights Sarah Kaufman and wins, or she fights like a Jessica I and wins. Something like that.

Legit wins, absolutely. I mean, Misha Tate said to go through the same thing too. She actually lost the cap, but because of the injury got put right back in the position. And some people weren't happy with that. But then as it played out, she gave Ronda her most competitive fight. So I wouldn't be upset with Kat getting out of a shot relatively soon,

but I don't think she should have an immediate shot. She definitely has to win at least one or two fights first. One of my favorite pastimes these days is to call Ronda Rousey, the Mike Tyson of M.M.A., and piss off all those people online who get so worked up over this comment, this title, who I genuinely believe do not understand what I'm trying to say. It's like they didn't care when we were calling Tyrone Spong, the Bo Jackson of Combat Sports.

And when you consider it, I mean, Tarant Spong has accomplished way less in those other sports to be even in the same discussion as Bo Jackson, but they're okay with that. But for some reason, they can't quite grasp the Mike Tyson thing because they're like, well, who's his Buster Douglas?

Or where's her Buster Douglas? Or where's her knockouts? Or, you know, he was a rapist. What I'm saying, and I want to see if you agree with me, what I'm trying to say is, there are some people you pay money. If you pay money to watch a certain athlete fight or compete, and you only get 14 seconds of action, you are going to feel cheated.

But part of the appeal with Ronda is that you actually want to see history. You want to see the fight end as quickly as possible. And the only person in my lifetime that, you know, fit that description was Mike Tyson. When I paid or sat down to watch him fight Peter McNeely or all these guys, I wanted to see those people get their head knocked off in a matter of seconds. And with Ronda, while you kind of feel like, man, I wish I could see her a little more, you feel like you're watching history. You feel like you're watching something special.

Do you get where I'm coming from here or am I, No, I understand what you're saying. And I think you're right that people are kind of missing the point there. They see that you're comparing to people who are obviously completely different individuals, but their careers do have a similar path and that Mike Tyson was knocking everybody out in a matter of seconds. And yet people would flock to the arenas to watch them do it. And it's the same thing with Rhonda.

Like after she won, you didn't hear the crowd booing that they just witnessed a 14-second fight. They were all on their feet cheering. It's because she is that attraction. She has that same star power just like Mike Tyson did. So in that regard, I think the comparison is completely legitimate. It's not like you're comparing the two people together. Yes.

comparing how their careers have played out. And the way they are presented and the kind of attraction that they are, if Chris Wyman goes out and knocks out Vitor Bufford in 14 seconds, I think some people will be like, they'll start throwing things. You know, they'll be upset. But if you were there on Saturday as I was, that crowd was not disappointed. At first it was like, what the hell just happened? There was this mad scramble and it's over, but then you're like, she did it again.

Three straight fights combined a minute and 36 seconds. There's something there. Now, would I love to see her go on a little more? Would I love to see three, four minutes? Yeah, I'm jonesing for more here. But again, that almost feels like part of the hook. You know, they always want you to feel like you want more, right? That's part of trying to get people to pay $55, $60.

So I was seeing some people today. I saw even Darren Revelle, the veteran reporter, saying that this is bad for the UFC. I think this is great. The more of this, the better, I feel like, look, look at the crowd on Saturday, and that was a pretty weak card. Now, we don't know how many people bought tickets before all those injuries, but I feel like this only increases her appeal. This only increases that legend status that she currently occupies.

Do you think this is good or bad for her in the long run? It's absolutely good. The UFC is in desperate need of stars right now, especially when some of their top draws have been hit with the PED scandals and things of that nature. So anytime they can have a fighter, male or female, who's dominant like this, and is still bringing the crowds in. That's the key thing is keeping the crowd interest. I don't think that the crowd is tuning out.

I think that the crowd is definitely still invested in Ronda, and you could see that on Saturday. So I don't think it's bad to the UFC at all. Plus, she's arguably the biggest star they have, certainly one of them anyway, and it's getting endorsement deals and movie rules and things like that. All of that brings more publicity to the UFC. So I definitely don't think it's a big. a bad thing. Now, that might change, say, a year from now, let's say that she's won two or three

or four more fights, and they've all been really quick and dominant, and there's actually nobody left for her to fight. Well, then, maybe things will have changed by then. Fans won't be interested in watching or compete, but for right now, they definitely are invested, so I think it's a really good thing. Yeah, and let's worry about that later. It's a great segue, though. Everyone wants to know what's next, and we'll get to the Chris Cyborg thing in a second, but I genuinely believe she is not next because of a whole bunch of factors. So let's talk about who's in the UFC right now. You have Bechko Hea, who I absolutely love. I love everything she's doing. If you haven't seen that picture by my colleague Esther Lynn of her on Saturday, it's doing the

throat slicing thing. I mean, she is just such a character. She reminds me, if anyone's a pro-russing fan of Victoria back the day when she was this stalker-like character, just obsessed with Ronda Rousey. She flew from Brazil to L.A. just to be there in person. Poor her, she was there for a 14-second fight, but I think she did a lot of great PR work. And then you have Jessica I that Dana White was bringing up saying that, you know, she wants that fight. I'll weigh in here first, and I want to get your take very much so. I think you've got to go with Betch because of the four-horsewoman gimmick thing. She's taken out two already.

She has that stalkerish angle. She is undefeated. There's a lot to play with there. Do you agree or do you think that you should go with a more, man, I don't want to say established, but someone who can maybe sell the fight a little more, speaks English, all that stuff, someone like Just Guy. What do you think? Or is there someone that I'm not thinking of?

No, I would agree. I think that should have the next shot for basically all the reasons that you just listed there. She's won legitimate fights in the UFC. She's hilarious and very engaging with the fans, which is awesome, because that, again, brings people to care more about the fight. They get them more involved in it.

And then she's nonstop campaigning for it. She actually wants to fight Ronda. There's lots of opponents, potential opponents who aren't ready for Ronda or don't want to fight her at this point. And Batch is like, I don't care. give me the next woman in the line. So I definitely think she should have the next shot.

And I think it's good to you thought of Jeff Guy and that Dana did as well because she's kind of been forgotten about and glossed over. I mean, whatever with the marijuana test aside, she still did win a fight against Sarah Kaufman, which is a pretty big deal because Sarah Kaufman has been a flop contender for years.

But she did lose to Alexis Davis, right? She did lose to Alexis Davis. That's true, but at the same time, Alexis Davis is also a fantastic fighter. And Cassidy McDonough was a fantastic fighter and lost in 14 seconds to Rhonda. Alexis Davis is a fantastic fighter lost in 16 seconds to Rhonda. You can't really judge them. I saw someone post this on Twitter yesterday about how fans just writing off like the top-level female bantam whites and cans just because Rhonda can beat them quickly.

No, that's because Rhonda is so good. It's not because her opponents are bad. It's because she figured out how to beat them quickly and efficiently. So now we have the Chris Cyborg issue. She won on Friday night. She defeated Charmaine Tweet. Ronner Rousey not impressed. Very quick to remind us that she beat Charmaine Tweet very early on in her career.

But Cyborg did what she had to do in front of Dana White and Lorenzo Fertita. I believe the first time they ever watched her live, she completely annihilated Charmaine Tweet. My issue with Cyborg is, look, it's all well and good. You're headlining Invicta. I was there. It's a nice little crowd. You're fighting midnight 1 a.m. Eastern on Fight Pass. That's all well and good.

I'm sure you're making a nice chunk of change. Why aren't you doing everything in your power to get down to 135 and get this fight tomorrow? Why are you being, uh, go up to one? It's clear we're not going up to 145. It's clear we're not going up to 140. You're with George Lockhart now, very well respected. Why aren't you campaigning for that fight? Are you okay with fighting on the regional scene, or do you want to cement your legacy as the best?

Her lack of desire to get this fight is puzzling to me. Look at Betch, what she's doing, and look at what Cyborg's doing. You get what I'm saying? It's very strange how disinterested she seems to be in this fight. Am I off base here? No, I agree too because she was in that same situation last year and talking about how she was going to move down to 135 and then months rolled on and months rolled on

and then the injury that kept her out of the December card and then all of a sudden she announces that, no, I can't make 135 anymore. It's like, okay, so that's finished now. We've given up on that. But then leading up to both of these events this past weekend, all of a sudden there's talk of her making 135 again. It's like, pick one.

Can you make 135 or can you not? You've had a whole year to do test cuts. Why did you not do those test cuts to see if you could make 135? You're not training for a fight. You're not going to have to go out there and fight, just see if you can actually make 135. And from what I understood, the July fight that's coming up is expected to be her defending her featherweight title at Invicta SC-13.

So that's yet another fight. She's staying at 145. So even if she is able to fight Rhonda, Dana has said repeatedly that he wants Cyborg to make 135 at least one time first. So we're looking at what? Like a year from now, maybe they'll fight? Maybe. Yeah. I mean, that's a long time to wait.

Fans lose interest pretty quickly in these super fights that have fizzled out over time recently. And so I think she's got to be doing everything she can to make 135 right now because that's the case where unlike with Ronda where fans are still interested, fans are rapidly. losing interest in watching Cyborg destroy completely overmatched opposition that really has no business being in the cage with her. Yeah, and I think it's great that they're having her fight international fight week, July 10th before the big UFC 189 card, but I'm curious to see who they match her up with. I hope it's not for the 145 pound belt. What I asked Dana about at the Post-Five press conference, which he gave me the runaround,

was the deal that I heard that she had, which the UFC did help broker, was one fight a 145, then a 135 pound fight in Invicta, and then fight Rhonda for the belt 135 in the UFC. So I guess we'll know if that is still in play based on who she gets in her next fight on July 10th. But I would love to see a little more motivation and desire on her part to get this fight because we keep banging that drum. If you don't want it, just let us know and we'll move on with our lives. It's a very strange thing. The fact that she's teamed up with George Lockhart makes me think that she's thinking about it. She hasn't had that kind of person in her camp.

but let's see what happens. I want to ask you about the co-main event because that was a tremendous fight on Friday. Mizuki Inouye versus Alexa Grasso, and Dana White enamored with Alexa Grasso, speaking about her, obviously on Friday, going to the back to speak with her as well, talking about her at the Welcome to the Show press conference,

talking about her on the prelims on Fox Sports One, and even mentioning her at the post-fight press conference. I believe it would be a very big mistake to not put her on that card in Mexico. Do you think she is ready for the U.S. and do you feel like they will put her on that card in Mexico? I hope they do. I definitely think she's ready to be in the UFC.

I think René Aldana, her teammate, is also ready to be in the UFC at 135. I followed both of their careers since they were just starting out for the extreme combat promotion in Mexico. That's where they both won titles and would highlight real knockouts. And so it's been interesting. Like, there's fighters that you see early in your career and you know that they're going to be going on to be something special.

and I felt that way about both, and I think now they're on the Invictor roster and they're getting a lot more fanfare and attention, especially with Dana watching, like that's a big deal. I think that more and more people are trying to see the talent level is coming up because for a while there it was kind of written off, like there wasn't a lot of talent in Mexico, male or female.

That's not actually the case. It's just a lot of untapped talent, not a lot of people know about them yet. I definitely think that Alexa could hang with some of the top star weights in the UFC, possibly even be a champion once in the next couple of years. And I think with some further development, Arana could do the same thing at 135.

They both have really good skill sets and a lot of potential because it's still really early in their careers at this point. So I definitely think it would be wise for the UFC to add them to the Mexico card. I think they're already big stars down there. So that'd be a pretty good addition to the card and then get both of them fights. And by the way, what's wrong with borrowing them? If they don't, for whatever reason, want to have them full-time or they're not ready, what's wrong with just putting them on that card and then sending them back to Invicta?

It's not the minor leagues. They're a partner. I don't see why you can't have them on the card, but maybe I'm not giving enough respect to those contracts. A couple more things I want to ask you about, and then we'll let you go. Let's jump back to the UFC. Holly Holme made her debut, much anticipated, much talked about debut. She defeated Raquel Pennington. I'm happy that we're pumping the brakes a little bit on her fighting Ronda Rousey.

but overall, how would you assess her performance? I think it was fairly decent, but the fight did play out around how I expected. Raquel neutralized a lot of her offense on the feet. Like, Holly definitely landed some shots, but Raquel held her own, and I thought pretty clearly won the third round. So I think, like you said, it's good that people are kind of halting the hype train a little bit here. One thing to know, though, is that Holly wasn't the one who was campaigning for the immediate title shot with Ronda. It was her management that was doing that.

So Holly's been getting a lot of hate about, oh, you know, or are ready and stuff. She's been the one who's wanted to experience all along. She's made it clear that she wanted to have a couple of fights before she got in there with Rhonda. It was clear after Saturday night she needs those fights. And so she just needs to take a couple progressive steps up. If someone may be on the borderline top 10 for her next fight, then maybe get her up closer to a top five and then build her up towards a Rhonda fight. That's a ways in the future. That should be probably three fights from now, I would say.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. You know, like I said, a huge weekend for women's MMA. And one of the not really talked about moments, but also, you know, pertains to the subject we're speaking about, that welcome to the show press conference. It was fun. There were some nice moments, John Jones and all that. But maybe my favorite moment of the mall. And it had nothing to do with that fake brawl with John Jones and Rumble Johnson was Carlos Barza and Yohanna Yom Jacek doing their little stare down. And what Yohanna was doing with that, you know, she likes to get down and look up at her opponent and then putting the number one up. and then brushing aside. All of a sudden, I got way more excited for that fight that's coming up in two weeks. What kind of a chance do you give the Polish fighter? I think she has a very good chance. Carla is a fantastic wrestler, but Juana is definitely one of the best strikers in the division. If she's able to keep the fight on the feet, and she does have pretty decent takedown defense,

Claudia Goodella was able to get her down a few times, but Yuan's take down defense is usually pretty solid. If she can keep the fight on the feet, she definitely has a legitimate chance of capture. during the title. So it's definitely one of the fights that I'm looking forward to most as well. It's a really good matchup. Credit to Sean Shelby for building you want to into a title contender like that. So I think that's one of the most interesting fights

in the card. Possibly a contender for your people's main event, we'll see. Oh, wow. Definitely looking forward to it. Yeah, there's a lot of big fights coming up for both the 115 pound division 135. It seems like we're getting a little more momentum now that Poland card has a lot of great fights. It would have been fun if that fight was on the Polish

card, but I can understand why Carla wouldn't want that. My final question to you is because we have her coming up in around 20 minutes or so. Marion Reno, is she for real, in your opinion? I think she is. I think she kind of proved that now. Does that mean she's going to be put right into title condendership right away? No. She obviously has to take stuff up in competition, too.

But Jessica Androge is a very skilled and talented fighter who's won some pretty good fights in the UFC and Marion submitted her in less than two minutes. I mean, that's very impressive beat to do. So I think that she is for real, but at the same time, you don't want to get caught up in, like, a hype train, sort of like the Holly Holie Holmes situation. Fighters need to build and prove themselves over and over again before they're going to get into that title shot. So give her another step up, like she can face someone who's, again, similar to the Holly Holie Home situation, maybe give her someone who's on the fringe of the top 10, then the top five, something like that and gradually build her up. But I think she's a really engaging person. It's a cool story that she has. and so I think that's helping to get fans invest in her fights as well.

So the U.S.D. definitely has a potential future star on their hand. They just have to build her up properly. Really love having you on the show, man. I know you had to move around a few things to come on today, so I really, really appreciate that. He is the best in the business when it comes to all things women's in May, and just MMA in general, a tremendous mind when it comes to this great sport. Robert Sargent, check him out on Twitter at MMA Rising

and also his great website, MMA Rising.com. Appreciate the time, Robert. enjoy the weather over there in British Columbia and we'll talk to you very soon. Thanks very much, Ariel. All right, there he is. Robert Sargent, a fellow Canadian dropping some knowledge on the women's MMA

scene, a very big weekend for the ladies and it's fun to talk about it all. Let us go to the Skype Machine now for our next guest. Always excited to have this man on, one of these smartest minds in the business. My colleague at Fox Sports, the great Brian Stan joining us.

Brian, how are you? I'm doing well. How are yourself, buddy? I'm doing great. We missed you in Los Angeles. I will say that. I missed working with you. and hearing your insight.

And also someone to keep Daniel Cormier in line. You know, we need your presence around for that. You know, there's not many people who can do that, you know, and, you know, when I'm able to do that, it's by his choice. I've sparred with the man a couple times. Let me tell you something. If he didn't want to do what I asked him to do, he didn't. He wouldn't have to unless I'm armed.

Yes, that is very true. So since we didn't get your insight, let me ask you, 14-second win, Katzengano, like I said, bum-rushing, Ronner Rousey. From a fighter's perspective, I'll ask you the same question I just asked, our previous guest. Was that tremendously ill-advised on Katz part? I mean, hindsight, 2020, we could play Monday morning quarterback, but when you look at what happened, can you come up with any explanation as to why someone would do that before a great fight against Ronda Rousey? You know, I think if I'm Kat Zengano and I'm her coaching staff and I look at this with a very

honest eye, the only way for her to win that fight was to hit Rousey early and stun her and then be able to follow up before she can recover and finish her. That's really, in my eyes, the only way to beat her is you're going to have to knock her out just because technically she's so much better than everybody else everywhere. You know, it's going to have to be a punch that hits her that just catches her in the right spot and gives you that puncher's chance of winning. So I think that's what Cat was looking to do, you know, catch her off guard, surprise her, hit her with a flying knee. It's not often that when you go for a flying knee, you end up at that kind of position. Yeah.

You know, I think Kat should have been more conscious about trying, hey, if I don't land this, I want to be a distance away from her. So it's risky. But ultimately, I don't think that fight ends very different. I think maybe the fight goes on for another minute or so before Rhonda gets her hands on her, puts her down and then would literally in 30 seconds tap her out due to an arm bar. And it's not any insult to Katzenegano, certainly not an insult to our coaches, because I'm a big believer in that camp. But I said it, you know, when we previewed this fight a week ago, when we were doing the Bigfoot Frank Mirr fight, there's Ronda Rousey, and there's the rest of the division are down here.

So, you know, you're a recognized face in MMA, so I'm sure people come up to you all the time and want to talk about the sport. Do you get the sense from fans that they're like, you know what, I don't want to pay to watch these fights. It's fun to see a 14-second finish, but I'm going to try to get the. the replay afterwards online and just see the clip? Or do you think there's that appeal there to watching something historic happen, watch some kind of destruction a Mike Tyson fight? What do you hear from the fans who come up to you after these fights? You know, it's interesting to ask you that. So obviously, you know, I run a company that has absolutely nothing to do with mixed martial arts. I walk in the office this morning and three of my employees who have never done any kind of

mixed martial arts immediately want to ask me about Ronda Rouse. So I, I'm a lot of you. So I, I will tell you that regardless of how long it takes her to win, she still moves a needle and she still attracts a lot of attention, very much like Mike Tyson did. We all knew Mike Tyson was going to destroy somebody. We just wanted to make sure we didn't miss it. Yeah. And so I'm sure there are many out there that we're unhappy about paying the money to watch that kind of fight. But it is what it is. And I think that as long as Ronda Rousey continues to fight, she's going to have this tremendous aura in mystique around her as a woman who's just simply unbeatable.

Well, I tell you, the Staples Center crowd did not seem disappointed. They seemed like they were excited about watching history. So let's see how this builds for her. Would you say right now, though, that she is the biggest star in the UFC, given these reactions that you're getting? You know, it's interesting. I don't think I could say she's the biggest star, but I would definitely say she's top three. Who's bigger?

Who's bigger in your opinion? Ah, well, you know, that's a great question. You know, I mean, John Jones has to come to mind. you know Anderson still still still draws a tremendous crowd but you bring a great point I really hadn't thought about that in the last few days so there are still people that people will ask me out and that's kind of how I use to measure what who do normal people ask about but that's a hard argument to make I mean with her being in now the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated that's huge you know she's on every talk show that really means something late night talk show she's on it I mean, any major media she's gotten it, so it's hard to argue against the fact. Maybe she is the biggest star. You're the one who introduced me to George Lockhart, who I've been talking about for the last few weeks. He is now working with Chris Cyborg, among many others.

I saw him this past weekend. Cyborg, great win, annihilated Charmaine Tweet. And now everyone wants to see that fight, and rightfully so. Everyone thinks that's her toughest test, right? What is George telling you about the prospects of Cyborg going down to 135? And what do you think? Do you think this can happen? then do you think we'll see the fight?

I think it can happen. She can make the weight. If George thinks she can make the weight, then she can make the weight. He can get her there. However, there's a difference from somebody being able to make the weight and still being able.

And, of course, I'm hearing that she will still be as physical and able to compete at the high level by doing so. But then there's a commitment to that person. There's a lot of other coaches involved. You're a nutrition coach. You know, George and the pecking order of all of her coach,

is is not at the top. You know, he's very new to her camp. So I think a lot of things need to fall in place for her. And it's a lifestyle in order to make that weight. You know, we already saw her post a picture. She's back up to 175. That's fine. You can have about a week of fun.

But then it's a lifestyle commitment. If you're going to make 135 someday and you're going to challenge for that title, you can't blow back up to 175. You're talking about maybe blowing back up to 165 and living a very clean lifestyle. in terms of what you put into your body and a fitness level that you're going to maintain year-round. So I think she can make the weight.

I'm not sure if we will see the fight because I don't know her personally. I don't know what her... It's going to take a tremendous amount of discipline and commitment to do that from her and every trainer she has. I honestly am starting to get the impression she doesn't want the fight.

I don't know why. She doesn't want to go down to 135. If someone truly wanted it, she would do whatever it took. I mean, look at Rhonda. When she went down to 135, she never made it before. where she wanted to beat Misha Tate.

She wanted that title. She did what it took. I'm not seeing that from Chris, and it's a little disappointing. I want to ask you about a man you know very well. Jukau, Juan Carnaro. How about that? What a story, right?

Released from the UFC many moons ago, coming back, tremendous win. You must have been happy for your old friend, right? You know, I was. It's tough, though, man, because you hear a lot of rumors and you hear a lot of things about how good a guy Mark Munoz is.

Yeah. And they're all true. I mean, he is. And so I have a relationship with Mark, And that was tough. When I heard that matchup come up, it was a good matchup for Chakao, you know, seeing as he was trying to get into the UFC at all costs and to get a matchup like that where there was an injury and get that much notice to fight the person where he got a full training camp in, I think it was huge. And the thing with Chal that's always been the factor for people that know us is he is a monster in the room in practice, a monster. And he never cut the weight properly to get down 170 pounds.

He cut it old-fashioned. he did it all in one day. He greatly depleted himself. And his confidence, he was never mentally strong in the octagon. Because it's not about who the better fighter is. I mean, trust me, there's a lot of guys in the gym that would have worn UFC belts if they were fighting for a belt in the gym. It's about who fights best at that moment, at that night.

And I think finally, fighting at 185 where he didn't have this huge weight cut and the maturity of all the years and the things he's been through, he finally was able to put it all together. I will also say this. Mark Munoz fell right into the last two places I would ever want to be what you count. You never want to be in a front headlock with him and you never, ever, ever want to let him have your back. If he gets your back, the fight's over. I've never seen a guy whose back he's taken that he wasn't able to finish his jiu-jitsu and it's just that good. There's nothing worse in my opinion than seeing a great fighter stick around a little too long and then you start to see a shell of their former selves. You laid it out perfectly. You said, you know what? there's no point. I don't want to go through this again. I don't want to get hurt. I might as well go out with my health intact, my family. There's just no point sticking around. Not everyone can do that. Maybe not everyone is set up for the future quite like you. But when you see Josh Kosteck and Munoz in those situations, it hurts, right? I'm sure it's, it makes you think about your situation.

It does. It does. Look, I watch the fights alone Saturday night. And anytime I rarely do it, anytime a retired fighter watches them alone, it makes you miss it. You don't have anybody to do. I don't have anybody to. distract you to have a good time with, you really miss it. And Josh Koshchak has a lot of things going for him financially. He'd be the first to tell you that. He invested in a lot of real estate, all kinds of different things. I don't think he needs to be doing it. He wanted to give it a shot one more time. You know, for Mark, it's a tough scenario. I don't want to see him fight anymore. I think he's been knocked out a few too many times. And I think he runs the risk. You know, having met people with CTE, having met people with traumatic brain injuries in the military, you can see what it does to their quality of life moving forward.

And you just don't want to see that for someone you care about. And I think that in knowing Mark and knowing people that train with him, he could if he wants to go on to be one of the most successful coaches in mixed martial arts if he chooses to do so or when he chooses to do so. Naturally so, a story that hasn't been discussed in the aftermath of UFC 184, but deserves our attention because we talk about it all the time. And you talk about it when it's a bad story, but you've got to talk about when good things are happening. How about Andy Foster

and the California State Athletic Commission, urine and blood testing every single fighter on that card Saturday night out of his own pocket and even doing a lot of random testing prior to the Chris Cyborg fight and also the main event, UFC 184, that's pretty amazing stuff and needs to be applauded, right?

It certainly is. It's no surprise either. You know, Andy's had this reputation for a long time. I've never met him personally, but he was, you know, he was in the state of Georgia, and then California stole him from us. I live in Georgia. Andy Foster was a Georgian, and he ran our athletic commission,

and he was so good that California needed him. And look, California needed them more than we did. There's a lot more events taking place there. Not surprising. You know, he's a man of character. He's a man of values, and that's the stance he's going to take. And it's tough. You know, when you get to know and get discussions to some of these athletic commissions,

you see how small their budgets are. That is a big hit to his annual budget for him to do it out of pocket himself. So good on California for doing so. I've been wanting to ask you this since the press conference happened, but what were your impressions of that press conference? Dana White, Lorenza Fertita, Lawrence Epstein sitting there, announcing their plans to clean up the sport come July 1st, random out of competition testing.

Would have loved to have heard who they'll be linking up with. I know you have a relationship with Usada. But overall, I mean, in your opinion, was it like, all right, the devil's in the details here? I really want to hear more. Do you think that was a proper first step? well i think they had to say something yeah they had to get out in front of me there was a lot of negativity surrounding their brand in the sports they had to come out and say something

and and now diving into some of those details yeah and being in some of their conversations you know just kind of consulting as a fighter some of the meetings and conference calls the devil in the details is astronomical there is a lot to putting together a program of this magnitude so i think that their timeline at july first is extraordinarily aggressive. And I mean, look, we've never seen this before. You know, Golden Boy, all the other major combat sports promotions, they've never gone out on the limb and said, hey, we're going to do our own testing program.

You know, this sport is very young, and I was very happy to hear that they're going to do it. And now start to lengthy process. You know, do you go with a third party to conduct everything? Or do you go to a third party for the collection? You know, the hard part is, is, If you're going to go with the WADA code and now you have a four-year ban for one positive test, can that hold up in court? You know, because this is an international sport. You've got fighters from all over the place.

And if they get banned four years from the U.S.-based company, what's going to stop them from going to a promotion out in Japan and fighting? You know, and what about linking it up with the athletic commissions? Are they going to stand by any protocols put forth by the UFC? So, I mean, there is a tremendous amount of logistics involved in this. And, you know, you can easily download baseball's drug testing program. And they're considered amongst all the major sports of the U.S. They're considered to have the best program. And it's still at like a BB plus level.

It's not even at an A level. And if you read that thing and you look at all the different levels, the committees they have involved, they've got a lab, but yet they have a different third-party company that does the collection. They test for HGH during spring training, not during these timing. I mean, it's really, really difficult and how you put it all together. And so right now, they are turning a lot of attention away from promoting fights and becoming drug testing experts. And so I'm very hopeful.

I think that the intent is there. I think they've already done a lot more drug testing than they have in the past. And I think that if by July 1st, they can put together even just the beginnings of a solid program, I think that that's going to be great for the sport with the intention of perfecting it over. time. You bring up a tremendous point about the athletic commissions. It's hard enough to get these commissions to get on the same page about rules and things of that nature. North America only, forget about the world. You honestly believe like they are biting off more than they can chew. In our sport, given the way it is structured, it's going to be impossible to get all these

organizations, all these commissions on the same page. It's going to be really difficult to do it. You know, and the easy thing to do is to go under the Wadocode, right? And that's the easiest thing to do, sign with a party that will do everything. They'll collect it. They'll send it to the lab. They'll do all your arbitration. With that comes a lot more cost. But at the same time, you know, the WADA code is really, it's designed for Olympic-style sports.

You know, that's the reason why there's a four-year ban. It takes you out of an entire cycle of the Olympics, right? You know, in our sport, someone gets banned for four years. Now you're going to tell that person that they don't have the right to make a living for four years. You know, that's going to be hard to uphold in different things. courts in different countries and where some of these men and women want to fight. So you're actually right. It's tough.

I think it is definitely possible. You know, speaking to some experts from all kinds of different organizations, it is very possible to either go all inclusive with a third party agency or to develop their own internal program. But there's a lot of small steps along the way that have to be done right to make sure that it's fair to the fighters. because even when someone does test positive, look, this isn't a perfect world, the testing procedures, the collection procedures, all that has to be perfect

to make sure that that samples tested properly. And then there's the arbitration when someone wants to argue against their case. So there's a lot of details that have to go into it. And I'm anxious to see what those details are. I'm anxious to assist in whatever way I can to get this right for the sport and to see what they're able to come up with. Will you assist? Have they asked you to do so?

I've been doing some, yes. Oh, wow, that's great. I've been consulting a little bit with them, just going through some meetings and giving some different perspectives and maybe connecting them to some other agencies. And, you know, just happy to see the commitment there from the UFC leadership. Because, again, you know, it's really unprecedented, you know, in terms of combat sports, something coming out this aggressively and saying they want to do it. And it's just not a simple thing to do it. And I once, you know, look, when I was a fighter, I thought it was a lot easier than what it really was, when you start diving into the details to see all the steps that have to be done correctly.

And you can see the major investment of time to putting forth a very good all-around program. And their goal, no doubt about their goal, is to put forth the best program, you know, in all professional sports. I love what you said on the post-fight show last week. And by the way, you and Michael Bisping were great together. Who would have thunk it, the former opponents having some chemistry on the, on the desk, but you were talking about, you know, after Frank Mear wins, everyone's like, oh, Frank Mears back and I want to see this, I want to see that, and you were kind of saying, like, look, he came back, he won, maybe now's the time to walk away. This is the perfect time to walk away.

Now, I don't think that's going to happen, but I love the fact that you were the realist of the entire MMA community. It felt like, okay, wow, on TV, you would expect someone in your position to start, you know, wow, pompoming and saying that, you know, I want to see this fight and that fight, no, no, you were saying, this is the time to walk away. But, I want to ask you, but, Saturday night, look who shows up at UFC 184, one of the greatest negotiators of all time. Big Brock Lesnar shows up, of course, his contract is coming to an end in WW. And there he is in attendance at the Staples Center.

Now that I tell you, okay, Brock might be considering coming back. Do you want to see that third fight, or do you still think Frank should walk away? You know, not knowing what's inside of Frank. Sure. You know, for me personally, I don't care to see the fight. Okay. I've been watching Frank Muir fight for a free. years. I've been admiring his technique and some of the things he's been able to pull off.

You know, he's had an incredible career. He's got two UFC belts up on his mantle at home. He's got a gorgeous family and he's just done it all. So I don't see the need for him to go in there and potentially get hit anymore. But look, I'm obviously, I'm overly cautious when it comes to this. I've been very outspoken. I think fans can tell that. But when you've done all there is to do, that it's just time to get out. There's never going to be a time where the drive isn't there as a fighter. There's not.

And there's never going to be a time when you're retired that you don't watch the fights. You hear the intro, you hear Baba O'Reilly, and you don't wish you can make that walk one more time. You'll never miss it more than when you're retired. I don't care, you know, you miss it when you're injured and you don't get the chance to fight in a long time or you have a long layoff.

It's never going to hurt more than when you retired. But that's part of the transition. You know, and you have to go through that because this simply is a sport. that you just can't do forever. And if you try to do it forever, there are lifelong repercussions that you're going to endure. And so for Frank Mear, I just don't,

if it's not fighting for the title, if he no longer believes he can be the champion of the UFC, then forget about it. Get out of it. You know, go back to holding a microphone like I do. People love his thoughts on the sport. He's an expert in so many areas of this sport, and he's a two-time champion.

Why bother? One of the very best in the business, Brian, proud to call you a colleague, doing tremendous work, not only on Fox, but also Hire Heroes, USA.org. That's where you can learn more about the business that Brian was alluding to earlier. Thank you so much for the insight. Really appreciate the time and always great to have you on the show. My pleasure. Thanks a lot, buddy.

Have it going. There he is. Brian Stan. Love having him on. Great stuff there. Always speaks the truth. Great to have him on. And really appreciate him.

You know, he doesn't, you know, when you're on the Fox Sports post-fight show, when you're recapping just minutes later after, you know, a huge win like that for Frank Mir, it's easy to get caught up in the moment, get intoxicated by the moment. But he was like, hey, this is the perfect time. Of course, that's not going to happen. And how about Brock Lesnar showing up in a three-piece suit on Saturday night? Tremendous stuff. I mean, the guy, I saw him in my eyes.

I thought I just saw Sasquatch. And what timing? I don't know if this was done on purpose or not, but what timing on his part to show up right before his old pal Tony Ferguson was about to walk out. Of course, Tony Ferguson was on team Brock Lester and won the ultimate fighter. I think it was Ultimate Fighter season 13. If you remember he serves me, Craig, and he just shows up right as Tony Ferguson's about to walk out. They hug, they embrace. Tony goes out, defeats Glyson T. Bowell, and I even asked him about it in the post-fight interview, and he was referring to Brock Lester as coach. Got to love Tony Ferguson.

And Brock shows up, of course, we spoke about it on the post-fight show with Dave Meltzer, he knows it all when it comes to that stuff, saying that there was some kind of disagreement with Vince McMahon. His contract is up around WrestleMania. He's been flirting with the idea. From what I hear, he's interested. But Brock does it better than anyone when it comes to that stuff. He just magically appears, oh, I just so happen to be in the neighborhood.

The guy lives, like, on a farm in Saskatchewan. He doesn't even have his own cell phone. He has to drive four miles to get to a landline. And he just so happened to be at Staples Center on Saturday Night, rocking a sweet-ass three-piece suit, talking to Dana White. Great job by Dave Schaller getting that picture. And now all of a sudden, here he is. In the MMA space once again.

Will he sign? Who knows? Is he negotiating? Absolutely. But will they get him? Man, I would throw the world at him. I would throw the world. That third fight would do incredible business. Brock being back just raises everyone's game. A huge, a megastar.

He would be the face of the UFC right then and there. Do they get him? I don't know. He's interested. That's what I'm told. But is he actually going to come? It's probably easier being a wrestler and not getting punch in the face and having to create a team again and a training camp, all that stuff. But, hey, as our friend Rampage Jackson, who appears to be in some kind of legal trouble as well, we'll get to that later on. As he once said, the Chetta makes it better. So we'll see. For now, let's go back to the Skype and welcome in our next guest of the day. We spoke about her with our good friend Robert Sargent. She is taking the women's bantamweight division by storm. She's 2-0 now in the UFC coming off a huge win over Jessica Andrarch around eight days ago.

That was in Brazil. I'm talking about Marion Reno. Marion, how are you? I'm good. Thank you. Can you hear me okay? I can hear you perfectly. The Belizeian bruiser.

That's right. Did I say Belizean, correct? You did say it correct. Okay. So I want to know. And there's a lot to get to here. but eight days removed from a very big win for you, Fox Sports. The ratings were tremendous.

How has life changed for you? It hasn't changed at all. Okay, great. I'm actually here back at work. I start my training up again on Monday. I took some time off for a little bit of R&R. I've been going from one camp to the next to the next. So I took about four or five days off,

then I'll start my training up, but nothing has changed. Wait, when you say you're back at work, do you mean the school that you work at? I am. I'm in my office. Wow, that's amazing. Now, you're a physical education teacher, right? Correct. For what grades?

High school. High school? Nine through... Holy moly. All grades, nine through 12. And what school? I'm here at Farmer'sville High School. And how do the kids react to you?

Because these are kids that understand you're not talking about five or six-year-olds. We're talking about teenagers here. They must know what you do, right? They know what I do. They Google me. They post... They even tell me, Miss Renaud, you're trending. and at first I didn't know what the heck that was.

I'm like, somebody explained trending to me, and they're pretty excited. And they're very supportive. Them, their family, and even my administrators and teachers, they're just all ecstatic for me. I came home. I came back to my office, and my office was full of posters,

of congratulations and stuff like that. So it was pretty gnarly. You're like the real life here comes to boom, but you're actually winning. Well, I think he did win 50 grand, so I think we both are kind of similar to that. That is true. So you fought on Sunday. When do you come back to school? How many days off do you take? I didn't take any days off. I actually, well, what do you mean? Before my fight or?

After the fight? Like how long before you come back to school and get the heroes welcome? I came back Tuesday from Brazil and I went to work on Wednesday. And the kids, I mean, what's their initial reaction? Are they jumping up and down? Because they have to be respectful. You're their teacher after all. You're not their buddies. So how do they receive you? They've always been respectful. They received me very well. In fact, they surprised me with a little mini rally outside during break time for me. They were super proud, you know, because I've been telling them for the longest time, you're going to see me in the UFC.

You know, and I've been saying this for the past couple of years now. And they're like, okay, Mr. Renaud, okay. And then when I finally did it, they were like, oh, my God, you did exactly what you said you were going to do. So I think that I like that part because I told them. I spoke it and I was determined and now I'm doing it. And so they're pretty excited for me. Do you feel like they look at you a little differently?

They think you're a little cooler now that you actually are in the UFC as opposed to when you were the fighter with the big guys dreaming of being in the UFC? It's funny. I think it's surreal to them. I do have a couple of times when I'm standing in class and I'm talking to the class and one or two people will be like, I can't believe my teacher is a UFC fighter. I can't believe you were on TV. You're like famous, you know? And I'm just like, no, I miss Renault, and we still do in workout.

Yes, I love it. And now you have a 12-year-old son, right? He actually turned 13 in January. Okay, well, happy birthday to him. How does he react to all of this? I mean, he knows what's going on. What's his take on all of this? He's proud of me.

Every time I go to a fight or every time I have a fight, he writes me a little note saying how proud he is of me, now go win the fight. I don't post it or anything, but I do keep the notes. They're very special to me. He's excited. His friends, they're like, oh, my God, your mom is a UFC fighter, you know? And I think that's kind of cute.

He secretly is proud of me, but he's been living this lifestyle for a very, very long time. So he's used to the fight game, but now the UFC thing, he does get nervous for me. In fact, he's like, Mom, my stomach doesn't feel good right before you fight. And I'm like, it's okay, babe. all the nerves. Mama's stomach is doing the same thing. Do you let him watch your fights live? I do.

I do. If he wants to watch him, he can. I took him to one of my fights. He didn't really want to be there. So I won't take him again unless he really wants to go. I like that fact that he gets to watch it if he wants to or he can walk out of the room if he needs to. Do you think he will fall in your footsteps and become a fighter as well?

Do you want him to do that? I want him to do whatever he wants to do. Right now, he is set on being an Olympic swimmer. He's a very tall guy. He's really natural at it. I don't know where he gets it from because Mama don't know how to swim. I like to swim. I like the edge of the pool.

But he wants to be an Olympic swimmer. So I want him to push and go in that direction because he wants it. I joked earlier, has your life changed? You said no. But to get two UFC wins in the span of what? A month and a half, you made your debut? UFC 182 in January and then you returned last week. I mean, is it a little surreal that all this is happening so quickly in the sense that I know it's not happening quickly your career you've been trying to get here for a long time.

But to be 2 and O already in the span of a month and a half, that's kind of a quick change for you, right? I mean, that's a little surreal, right? It is because I was at a point where in my career where I wasn't able to get fights. So now that I am able to get fights and two fights with the UFC, the top dog, the top dog, the top. top of the food chain kind of UFC. You know, it's surreal to me. It is. But I'm embracing it.

I'm embracing it. And my mentality is, you know, that's just one fight. Okay, that was just another fight. My bigger pitcher is shooting for the top, obviously. It's going as far as I can for as long as I can. So I don't try to harp on those two victories. I want to move on to something else. I want to better myself.

I don't want to focus on those or stay in the limelight of that. Correct me from Ron. here. I happen to run into a couple of your teammates on Friday at the Invicta show. I mentioned to them that you were going to be on my show today and I was very excited about that. And they mentioned to me that you were actually considering quitting. You couldn't get any fights. You just thought that the career just wasn't going the way you wanted it. Is that true? And how long ago was that? It wasn't very long ago at all. In fact, oh, are you still there? Yes, but you flipped on us. Now you're, oh, there we go. Yep, that's cool. Oh, now we lost you again. But we could still hear you,

so that's okay. Hold on. There you go. There you go. There you go. It's absolutely true. I actually at one point wanted to quit, and I was just at a point where I was just like,

okay, I'm working out. I'm missing time with my son. I'm putting a lot of effort in. I'm getting fights, but they're backing out last minute. And I was just to a point where I was like, you know, maybe this is not the place I want to go. Maybe it's just not meant to be. So at one point I wanted to do just jiu-jitsu.

I was like, okay, maybe I should just focus on jiu-jitsu. You know, really try to get good at Jiu-Jitsu, get sponsorships for Jiu-Jitsu. But my coach was stronghold. He's like, no, you're not quitting. No, you're not going to happen. And he was on the bandwagon. He was jumping on fights and stuff like that. Sorry for the announcement.

Oh, no problem. What's the announcement, by the way? I haven't been in high school in a while. What are we announcing right now? They just wanted somebody in the office. Oh, okay. Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

So we hear about this story all the time, but I've never actually heard you tell the entire story. So forgive me if I'm asking, you know, once again, but I'd love to hear it. So you were turned down from Tough 18, right? They said you were too old. Is that the story? Tell us what happened there. And was it Dana White himself that said this to your face?

No, I didn't really speak to Dana. I met him the first day when he was there watching the grappling part of the session. I actually made it through the first day, through the interview. And then the next day, I got a call from Sean Shelby. And all through the interview, they were kind of like, well, you know, you're 30. you're on the cuspid and I was like I know but I'm like fine wine I get better with age you know I kept trying to encourage them like don't look past my age I'm an athlete you got to trust me on this you know unfortunately I got to call the next day from Sean and he was like you

know we want you to get a couple more fights we want to see where you are with it and you are kind on the cusp of the age thing so we're going to kind of play around with it just a little bit and that was my goodbye. So I don't hold it past him. In fact, it was probably a good thing looking back at it. Maybe I wasn't ready yet. Maybe my dots weren't lined up. Maybe, you know, I needed to improve a little bit more, mature a little bit more.

So I'm kind of happy that it worked out the way it did. How did you react to it back then? Were you heartbroken? Did you not watch the show? What did you? Oh, I watched the show. Oh, you did? You cursed them out.

Yeah. I was like, I could beat her. You know, I was doing one of those things. So, yeah, I watched the show. I was very disappointed. I came home. I even remember speaking to my administrator, and she was like, you know what? Don't give up.

Don't give up. She was, like, rooting for me. And I'm like, I'm not giving up yet. You know, at that time I hadn't decided on whether I was or going to quit or not. So I didn't give up. Now, my memory might be off, but I seem to remember that they take. it around the summertime, would you have had to miss any time at school if you did the show, no?

None. I would have been off on summer vacation. Wow, what timing? Because had it been saying in January, February, would you not have tried out? No, I still would have tried out. Oh, and they would have been okay? I got the blessing. Yeah, I got the blessing from my administrator to do it.

So they're all in my corner. They want to see me succeed. The school wants to say, I've been here for 11 years, and they're very proud of me. So they want to see me succeed. They want to see me continue on. Is the goal to be a full-time fighter, or do you like having these two jobs? I don't mind it right now. I'm not making any rash decisions just yet.

So I want to kind of see where everything leads, you know, before I say, okay, yay, I get to quit my job, you know. That's 11 years. So I'm very cautious on that. You were at UFC 184, right? I was there, yes. You were there. You saw it in person.

You saw what Ronda Rousey did to Katzenegano. Seeing her in person, knowing what she can do, knowing how great she is. Not trying to push you in there, but in your mind, how far away do you think you are from being in that discussion? Hopefully, you know, one or two more fights. Oh, that's it. You're ready. I have been in my mind mentally preparing for that fight for a very long time. You know, it's one of those things where you just think about it.

I know everybody in all the females have thought about it. Everybody has thought about that number one spot and who they would have to go against and they've thought about what they would do. So I'm not, I'm no different. I'm no different. What did you think when you saw what Kat did to start the fight? Oh, man. I was like, I just, in my head, I was like, no, what are you doing?

And then before you know it, I didn't even get to finish my sentence and it was over. Right. Right. Does a part of you... Sorry to interrupt you, but I know everyone wants to beat Rhonda because you want to be the one to beat her, but you have to feel bad for Kat, right? I mean, my heart goes out to her.

It was heartbreaking to see her afterwards and just seeing, you know, she's been through so much, and you know that she is better than that, and she can last longer than that. Of course, you make that one mistake, and it's over. But does your heart go out to her, even though she's a competitor? Absolutely, absolutely.

You know, I mean, even though I'm a competitor, I still want to see a good fight. Yeah. Fans want to see a good fight. We want to see a display of all the hard training that you just put in. So my heart did kind of go out to her. But the person who makes the biggest mistakes is going to end up losing. And unfortunately, that was a huge mistake on her part.

And I know she realizes it now. So we'll see what happens. I've heard that they might want to give her a rematch. So we'll see where that goes. Are you happy with Ronda Rousey as the face of women's MMA, the ambassador for all of you guys. I mean, you feel like she is the right person to lead to charge? I don't see any problem with it at all.

You know, I think she's doing, she's doing a good job. I mean, she has her isms, the Rhonda isms. Yes. But everybody has their isms, and she just happens to be in a public, be a public figure, so her isms are out there a little bit more than everybody else's. And it was a tremendous weekend for Women's MMA

with the Invict on Friday, and then, of course, 184. And I saw on your Twitter, you're kind of on the same page as me here. Without Gina Carrano, nothing, none of this is possible, right? It would have been cool if she was there and got, you know, honored or something, but she's the one that

made you want to become a fighter, correct? She is absolutely the person that I saw, the first person I saw and I was like, that is what I want to do. She is getting paid to hit people in the face. Yeah. How can I do that job? Have you ever met her? Yeah, she kind of inspired me. No. I think I would love to meet her. You know, hopefully I bump into

her one day and I'll just hug her. I'll just be a big oh hug. I'm like, who is this girl on me? She is a pioneer. I'd love to see her around more to where we can. I don't want to see her fight anymore. I don't want to see her fight Rhonda. She's been away for too long. She deserves to be treated as a pioneer. Even a Hall of Famer. She's done so much for women's MMA. She deserves that kind of respect. My final thing for you, and I'll let you get back to school. Do you know what's next? You're coming off two great wins. Do you know when you'll return in against two? Break some news for us. Well, I don't have any news to give you, unfortunately. I've been told possibly during the summertime, which is great.

It would be perfect for me. There's a lot of other fights lined up for other females, so I don't know what's next for me, but they are trying to shoot for the summertime, which works out great because I'm off during the summertime. Anyone you want? Anybody in the top ten. How about Holly Home? What do you think of Holly Home? I would take Holly home.

Yeah? Were you impressed? I think she's capable of a little bit more, is what I would say. I think being on such a big stage for her debut might have gotten to her, like Dana said. Yeah. But I think she's capable of a lot more. So I'll leave it at that. I feel like that could be the fight, and very PC answer on your part.

I feel like that could be the fight for both of you. I think that makes a lot of sense. Absolutely. Her, Jessica, I. Beth, you know, any one of those ladies, you know, they don't have a fight coming up. So, you know, any one of those ladies could be a possibility as well. You don't want the slow build. You want to get right in there with the big sharks.

Why not? Why not? Yeah. No time to waste. Yeah, exactly. You've wasted enough time. I'm not getting any younger. I'm not getting any younger.

Okay, I'm going to call Sean Shelby and let him know. Please do. He should be watching this, right? He watches all the time. He's our biggest fan. He's probably talking. texting me right now. He loves our show. Well, this is tremendous stuff. I wish you the best. Congratulations on a great, a tremendous start to your UFC career, one of the great stories of

2015. Enjoy your time at school with the kids. Tell them I say hello and good luck in your next fight. I hope they give you one of those big fights. I think, why not? Why not now, right? Why not you? Exactly. You know, it'll all come into play. All the dots are going to be lined up when they need to be lined up. So I truly believe that. Thank you very much for the time, Marion. All the best to you. All right, you guys, have a good one. There she is. Marion Reno, great stuff from her. Like I said, one of the fun stories, one of the feel-good stories of this year so far. We're only a couple months in, but right now she is rolling.

Six and one overall defeated Alexis Dufrain at UFC 182. That was a fun fight, a dominant performance. Unanimous decision. And then she submitted Descan Drudge via triangle choke in just a minute and 54 seconds. Amazing. So best of luck to her, looking forward to what's next. All right, let us move along now. As I mentioned, one of the big stories of this past week happened on Thursday. Prior to Bellator 1134, the organization announced that on June 20th in St. Louis, one of the most talked about, most anticipated fights in UFC, excuse me, in MMA history, I apologize, in MMA history that never came to fruition will finally happen June 20th in St. St. Louis. It's Kim. Limbo Slice versus our guests at this time, the one and only, the most dangerous, the world's most dangerous man, Mr. Ken Chamrock, who joined us right now. Ken, how are you?

Good, man. Thank you for the introduction, and thank you for having to not. Well, it is a pleasure, as always, Ken, to talk to you. How long has this been in the works for this fight? It actually came up pretty quick. I had already had some ventures with Fairnuckle boxing and saw an opportunity there to, you know, make a jumpstart a, uh, something that's got a lot of interest. And as I was doing that, I had this opportunity that was dropped in my lap. Of course, these people to put out our feelers. When I heard that Kimball was going to sell it for, we shot our name out there as an opponent,

possible opponent. We're about to have that fight. If they would accept it, and, of course, Scott Zilke jumped all over. when we had put our feelers out. And since that time, it's been an actual pleasure to be working via-a-com, spike, and okay, okay, Scott, Gover and Bellastor. It's been a tremendous journey, a short one, but I see this thing as a potential journey for at least another year for myself. I'm very excited and supportive.

So is this an exclusive deal? Those bare-knuckle fights, they're not happening? No, they're happening. I have really an opportunity there to help read the life and something that I think people want to have time. But the thing that I think that we need to keep in mind here is that there is a lot of people in this world. And these people all love...

entertain different ways. And it seems like we have a huge amount of fans that love MMA, that love No Olds for, and that have been very interested in visiting and seeing Fairnacle. So I think that it would be something awesome to be able to offer the fans some choices out there. Like I'm very excited to be a part of fellow, or not as it being in competition with Westie. but it's giving an alternative and an alternative for the fighters and the fans to participate in more than just one venue that they would have option. And I think that's what's missing in the world of MMA today is that there's really no option for these fighters out there. And I think that definitely presents a problem.

So by offering him choices, it makes everybody, including the management and the voters to have to be. present something that is fair. And so I think this is a great opportunity for the fans of the fighters to be able to improve MMA and make it more exciting. But at the same time, I also see an opportunity

to be able to give them another choice to watch MMA, but also to be able to watch something that I think people have been watching see for a very long time. And what would it be like to have guys that are very skilled fighters bear and uncle

and stand up and actually fight the whole three rounds. And I think that the opportunity for us to educate and help people understand that it's not bare-knuckle that's dangerous, is actually having gloves and tape on their hand that's dangerous. So we have a platform that really helps give people a true understanding of safety. So did you try to convince Scott to make this a bare-knuckle fight if you think it's more dangerous to have the gloves on? Why not do that? I think Kimbo was into that idea as well.

well when they brought it up at the press conference. I'm sure he was because he knew it wasn't going to happen. You know, you have a guy sitting up on the platform, somebody mentioned paranormal. You know, the rules and Greg Baxter are upset. They're like, yeah, dude, that sounds great, let's go for it. I was like, you know what? That's so stupid.

I was like, you know, it's not to change. There's no way we're going to change the rules of what MMA is already presented and built. Down the road, it's a possibility. It wants to help you understand that, you know, that the first, take that, say, well, brain trauma or can't, you know, not have them.

So, but that's a process and has to take place. So the comment that he made, I think, was more entertaining, but, you know, I've done it. I've made my career on it. And so it's no strange to me. So it's not about what I would have put. Of course, I've already done it,

and I think it made it very clear that I prefer no fuck. But the stand-up is different. deal now because I don't think anybody ever really done what that looks like. And I think once we can said that and show it with two guys that really know

what they're doing and have experience in it, I think there's going to be a whole different thought of all just going to help people look and stand up like. Hey, Ken, can I ask you a question? Are we on a speaker phone? It's getting a little tough to hear you. No, actually, I'm on a headset

in the car. Oh, really? And you can't put it up to your ear, right? Because you're driving? I get a ticket. Yes, we don't want that. Okay, we'll fight through it. In your mind,

had the Kimbo thing, like, was it gone? Had you closed that door? Is it somewhat strange to be back here sitting next to the guy and doing this all over again? It's been seven years since that fight was going to happen.

Is it weird to be back here again? Well, you know, I tried to get that fight to happen afterwards. The fact is, we put in Seth Petchaville, thinking that it would be a decent fight, but of course, Kimball would beat him

because it's more of a stand-up thing, and I just felt like Kimball might be able to, not fight, but I had a pretty good feeling he could probably beat Seth. And so we put Seth in there to get some experience for a big crowd, main event,

and I could, you know, rematch him. Wait a second, I don't mean to interrupt, sorry, but you say we put Seth in there, you guys put him in there? What do you mean by that?

Yeah, well, Seth is a part of our crew. Okay. So we actually got the fight for him. He was a part of the lion's tent at that time. We had worked out a deal with some people that were involved with him. And he was actually one of our guys so that we had actually placed him in there going forward, thinking that, you know, Seth would have a good shot at having a good fight with this guy.

He'd get his name out there. We did think that Seth's going to beat him. We really thought that we would be able to have a rematch with that. And what I'm talking, I'm talking about my champ, not anybody else was involved. all the thought process on us. And so when that happened, of course, we were a little bit shot that, you know, that happened. But it did, and it was what it was. We tried to still get the rematch because of the trash smack that was taught afterwards.

I really felt like, you know what, I'm just going to shut this guy up. Well, they didn't take the fight. They basically said I wasn't worth it, you know, this and that, a lot more things to the set. So it really pissed me off. But you know what? We got to move on in life. You didn't want the fight. He didn't want it.

Whether it was hammer or his people, I don't know. So we moved on, but I always, in my mind, it kept one foot in, one foot out, of fighting, of competing. Because I'm not looking to be a contender. I'm not looking to do anything other than have fun and to be able to take fights that are entertaining to me and that were marketable and that are entertaining to the fans. And to me, those things line up, then I'm going to do it.

And this happened to be one of them that came to. to Jamie was, you know, pretty much set in my lap, and I said, yeah, let's do this. And I felt like, especially the timing of it with all the things that we got going on, was a blessing because it's going to help about everything else I got going. As you may know, when this was announced, the reaction was mixed. 51-year-old, Ken Chammrock against 41-year-old Kimbo Slice, you haven't fought in quite some time. He hasn't fought quite some time. What do you say to the naysayers who say this is a freak show fight?

This has no business on a big stage like Bellator. Well, it's just like with you saying stuff like that, you know, I mean, I have no problem with people having their opinions of, you know, of what they want to say or what they think. But if they're going to have those opinions and they're going to voice them just as you just did, they've got to be the same people that step up and say, you know what, man? We were completely wrong about this guy, man. He is in shape. He whipped his ass. Man, we've got to, you know, we've got to give him his fross. As long as they're okay doing that, if they want to open their mouths before the fight and they want to say those type of things, I've got, hey, I've got no problem with that.

You know, obviously it bothers me, but just as long as they've got to eat those birds when it's over, you know. So I think it's probably a little bit more wiser to hold your tongue and be careful on the things that you say and how you say them until after you know what the facts are. And then you open the mouth. That's what a wise name to do. So like I said, you haven't fought since 2010 in MMA. What kind of shape are you in? I mean, you look to be in tremendous shape, but how often are you training these days,

or do you really have to get back in there and get your feet wet again? Well, there's no question. I've got to get my feet wet again. It's been a while, so I've been in the rain. I get the training outside for seven years, but it's not the same thing as being in there fighting. And so there's a lot of, you know, as like you said, there's a lot of gifts.

But what I do know is that I'm in a better place than I was, and you've had that up for 15 years. So, again, this is all just talk, you know. You hear fighters say it all the time. I feel great, you know, and they go in there and they clap all over the ring. And you just go, well, here we go again. So it doesn't matter what I say. It really doesn't.

But what I can do is I have the opportunity to go in there and be able to show what I'm talking about, how I feel. That's all I'm asking for, is for people that go and have your comments. Be careful what you say, because if you say something that is a drug or your being, then you've got to be that same guy that's going to have to stand up and eat those words, because you can't be saying those things than not be accountable for them. You had a chance to see Kimbo in person. We had him on the show recently, but I was over the phone, so I haven't seen him in quite some time. What did you make of him?

How did you size him up? Is he in good shape? Does he look like you these days, or do you think this fight might be easier than when it was supposed to happen in 2010. Well, I mean, that's a, I don't know what kind of question. I don't think any flight easy.

I don't care what, you know, day or error it is. The age, just like I did. You know, we both are, you know,

out of our time. I'm doing this because I love it. I want to get in there and fight. I feel great. I believe that I could put on a great show, and I believe that I'm better than I was 15 years ago. And so with that being said, I am just dying and hitching to be able to get in the ring and just stop talking and start showing.

So this isn't one and done for you. You want to get a couple fights here, at least with Beltoe, right? Yeah, I'm going to go as long as I can as long as my body allows to do as long as I'm able to put on. The fans still won't have seen it. And are you at all worried that, you know, the ghosts of 2008 will be? be brought up, you have to go through that whole thing with the cut and all that. I mean, this is a thing that you don't get asked about these days, but now that you're fighting him again, people are going to bring it up, like I am right now.

Are you worried to have to relive all this all over again? Because I know you were very disappointed about how that turned out. Oh, of course not. I think it's something that has to be asked. I think it's part of the excitement of spite. You know, I think people have their own opinion about how things happen. I think some of it's ridiculous, you know, quite far-reached.

It's like conspiracy. Yes. It is what it is, you know, and I have no problem to talk about it. I have no problem to answer questions about it because I know where I stand. I know who I am, and I know how the fight's going to end.

You bumped heads, and that's what led to the cut, right? Because you know about all the conspiracies, right? Of course, man. But, you know, it's... I care anybody. to try that. I really do. I dare anybody to try to cut themselves. Show me how you do that.

Well, in pro wrestling, they do it all the time. You know that. Oh, yeah. Tell me, okay. Now, listen, you know what my cut was? Yeah, it was a bad one. It was right under my, where the bone is on my eyelid. Okay, pro wrestling, you don't cut your eyelid, you cut your forehead. So, and it was a deep cut. And it got double stitched. So,

So the conspiracy theory, that's fine. You know, I'll let people run where they let them say what they want to say. But if you're standing from 30,000 feet up and book it down on it, it was an opportunity for me to go in there and beat this guy, which I believe everybody and myself knows I can do, and that it wouldn't have been that difficult for me to do that. And so if you look at the opportunity that I had there, why in the world would I lose that opportunity?

Yeah. Are you still there? Yes. Okay, sorry. No, no, I don't doubt that. Is that one of the great regrets of your career, maybe the greatest of them all, that you couldn't get that fight on CBS?

Not now. Now you got it back. That's right. But prior to this, was that one of those ones that you were harping on, thinking about what if? No, because it wasn't the kind of guy that I believe that, you know, will ever have

anything in history as far as being a great fighter. Definitely it's raw. We know he brings a ratings in and that's the reason why this fight's happening. But other than that, it's not something people would look at it though I was dodging this guy,

except where unless they're saying is. But anybody that knows fighting and understand, you know, the credibility of fighters knows that that's never going to be in the history books. Is there a personal animosity there between you and him? Yeah, well, you mean, there's definitely something that I want to get across to him.

That, you know, he's been sponsored, there's no question, and that the reality of it is that if you're not going to take MMA professionally and work on things that you need to be at the top, like the rest of the guys that are at the top, that work on their day, try to get better that, that, uh, and don't disrespect it by saying things like, well, I don't go to the ground. I'm going to knock everybody out. Um, or that I don't, I'm not here to make friends and shake hands with anybody. I'm here to feed them all up.

And you have got absolutely no history, none whatsoever of beating anybody credible. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, it's, it's going to be very interesting to see how it all plays out. I'm, I'm looking forward to the buildup of it all. Um, and it's going down June 20th in St. Louis. Will it, in fact, be the main event? Is that 100%?

Yes, it is the main event. It'd be crazy not. Listen, whether the guy's got the ability to fight with tough fighters, you know, obviously not in this era, but in my era, which he has not, at this point, has not done that. And if he does have that ability, then we'll find out. But if he doesn't, then history will be told me. that night, the truth was told.

And the thing that he's going to be known for, and I think, you know, I gave him, listen, you know, he's only like a gift horse in the mouth, man. The dude definitely did some pretty incredible things. People around him did some pretty incredible things by getting him that popular when he had no ability at all on the ground. You've got to look at that and go, wow, I don't know how you did it, but you guys did a great job of making this guy like indencible

when, you know, the guy has never fought a lick on the ground. It's been, it's pretty incredible that he's been able to get this far and gain that much attention and that much popularity when the guy can't fight on the ground. Where will you train for this fight and with who? Right now, in Modest, doing strength and conditioning with Dan Freeman, who's been my long-time personal trainer. We're working on getting my joints and my muscles

and my body back to where it needs to be able to go into the prostate training. which is the ropes, the tires, the hammers, and all the things you can do to get your body ready to do combat. And then after I'm done doing that, I've got two more weeks of the dust on our event. I'll be there for two months after I leave. I'll go down to San Diego the next three months. I'm doing my spawning and my grappling down in San Diego.

Which, Jim, which team? Don't know yet. I've got a couple of down there. In fact, both of those guys all went through my school. Yeah. final thing for you, I know you worked very hard to get back, you know, into the good graces of the UFC, get a better relationship with Dana White. There's been fight pass, little documentaries on you, very much, you know, a part of the UFC family and the history of the sport, a pioneer, legend, hall fame, all that good stuff. Are you concerned that now being with Beltorn getting this fight that will, you know, damage that work that you did over the past few years? I see, and that's what I don't understand. I'm just another guy out there who had success in the UFC

and really got a chance to help build the UFC where it is A, but I'm no longer needed there, and I don't take effects on that at all. But I would hope that they don't take effects that I'm out there trying to have fun and people think that I love. They don't have a place there. They don't have a spot there, and that's okay. but don't stop me from living the life that I want to live, and that's a life of a fighter,

and a life of going out there and fighting and having fun, and that's what I want to do. So if I'm doing that, I don't know why they would be upset at that, because it's not like I turned them down to come to Belator. I basically had made this path for myself, but this path is what led me here. It's got to go great to me via calm,

and it's like you have been great to me, and I have an opportunity to really help build this company where it gives band options to watch what organization they want to watch if the fighters an option to fight where they want to fight and I think it's helping for everybody so I hope it doesn't hurt what we've built there already. Well said. Thank you very much for the time, Ken. Best of luck to June 20th, Kent Shamrock v. Kimbo-Slicse live on Spike TV from St. Louis, Missouri.

Looking forward to it, Ken, and really appreciate you. you coming on today. Congratulations on getting the fight. Thank you. And can I promote something here real quick? Absolutely. Go ahead. I have a website called Kimshamlaf.com. Yes. You can go to my contact page and you leave your information there and go to my blog. I've written a blog on there. It's a weekly blog. It talks about my training.

I got videos and pictures also of my training. You can leave your comments and that way I can see them and make comments back to you. I want this journey to be a part of the fans also. This is something I'm enjoying. I want the fans to enjoy it with me, and the way you can do that it's by going to my blog and reading this stuff and going to my contact page and leaving your comments.

I also have a crowdfunding deal going on with Shamrock Slam. It's a big strength, science drink, and it's an awesome drink. It's really good. And I hope that the fans would join the Shamrock team on the crowdfunding. thank you for the time and I really appreciate

you have to be on and God bless. All right, same too. Thank you very much, Ken. Best of luck to you, June 20th, against the one and only Kevin Ferguson Kimbo Slicse. How about that? I remember being there. In fact, that was probably my first big scoop. My first big scoop

was, I remember breaking, this was for MMA rated.com, I broke that it was supposed to, I think it was UFC-85, Chuck Liddell versus Recoop. Rashad Evans, Chuck got injured. They ended up postponing that fight to UFC 88. So that was a big one for me at MMA rated. That was around, that fight was supposed to happen in June. I think I broke that around April or May. That was a big one. But then I'll never forget being front row, press row, Elite XC Heat, October 4th, and breaking the news that Kent Shamrock was out of that fight. That was

a game changer for me. That was a huge one. So now here we are seven years later. They're actually going to get it on, hopefully. Kimbo, Ken, how about that? Time warp. How about Rich Chow having to relive that? I think he's the only big name employee that's still there. He was a matchmaker for Elite XE now, matchmaker for Beltoor, having to relive that whole thing all over again. Holy moly, I wonder what he thinks. Okay, let's move along, and let's bring in one of our favorites here on the MMA hour. He was there, Cajside, in Ronda Rouse's corner. He saw it in person with his own eyes, 14 seconds. But like I said, Judo Gene. thinks it's 12.8. Regardless, it was very quick. Another Arm Bar win, and I want to get his thoughts

on what transpired. Always great to hear from the one and only Hennar Gracie, and he joins us right now. Henner, how are you? What's up, man? It was great to see this weekend, as always, and just a quick correction. I kind of saw with my own eyes, but reality is when I got out of the corner right there, and I pulled the sponsorship banner down. By the time I got back to my corner where they have that stool, I, for the corner guys, right? I was like, Gene was in my seat, and there was two other ones for Martin and for Edmund, and I bundled up a little hoodie, and I put my knee down on it. And by the time I looked up, she was already tapping out.

Oh, my God. So, to be fair, I didn't watch the entire fight until my brother posted on Instagram later. And then I checked it out, and I, of course, watched it several times before doing the Tracy Breakdown. But it's all good. And you coined the phrase Instagramable, at least the first time I've heard it, the entire fight fits on an Instagram video. Okay, be honest with me. I saw when you were talking about Gracie Breakdown and check it out on the YouTube. two-page, Gracie breakdown, tremendous stuff,

and a crap load of views. What do you at now? Like, $300,000? Or, no, 180 last I checked? Yeah, it's like at 140. This morning it was $145,000. I think it's more. At 3 o'clock. So it's already, it's been past 250 great tonight.

It's crazy. Did you expect that, though? I mean, considering what cat brings to the table, did you expect that kind of fight that she was going to bumrush her, go right at her, and of course, I mean, you always kind of expect or are thinking that there'll be an armbar finish, but did you expect that kind of game plan from Kat?

I expected a war of a fight. I expected to be much longer. You know, maybe at least a few minutes. But Rhonda and Edmund both expected Kat to come out guns, blazing like that. And I was like, really? And then Rhonda just said, Henner. I watched my own fight, and no one's ever rushed me 100%

from the out from the get-go. So I would rush myself if I fought myself to surprise me and to throw a curveball. So she was already planning ahead how she would be herself. And in doing so, she anticipated Kat's game plan perfectly. week. Is it true you guys don't work on that kind of thing? That's what's the official name? No, that's not true. Tell us. Tell us.

Tell us. Speak the truth. Drop some knowledge. Yes. Yeah, it's the very jiu-jitsu thing that'd say I've never done that before. Okay. The problem is that arm bars are like fingerprints. No two arm bars are exactly the same ever. The same goes true for triangle chokes and the same is true for any technique in jiu-jitsu, right? The truth is it's never the same. Let's be real. The same arm bar applied against five different people is five.

different arm bars. So when Rhonda says I've never done that before, what she means is that from that exact angle of the hip and that exact entry from the, you know, failed throw to the cartwheel flip, she had never executed it like that exactly. However, every single day in practice when we're doing, when we're training, Rhonda is catching that arm bar behind the shoulder arm bar, belly up, belly down from all different positions. And I've always, I've told people in the past, you know, I've never felt armbars like hers in my life. The best arm bar that ever felt are he don't, and my older brothers ever, and hers, because Heedon's been doing arm locks and chokes and triangles and footlocks and everything else's entire life, he's good at all of them.

But Rhonda, because she spent so many years just breaking arms and focusing entirely on that submission, she actually is the best. She's actually the tightest arm bars that ever felt in my entire life. Wow. And I know you're a perfectionist. So critique her technique. I mean, was that an A-plus, or was that, because in a fight, I mean, it's not always going to be as perfect. as in training when you can control the circumstances. She said she was improvising, adapting all that stuff. But that particular move, was that perfect? Or was that kind of her improvisation of what was being thrown at her?

Well, you're saying the same thing. Landa Rousey's middle name should be improvisation. Her adaptability is how she trains. So when we're training in the academy, you're on a regular basis, literally every single day she's spinning and turning and landing in the craziest ways and catching techniques that are totally improvised, But then if they're that predictable and they're that regular occurring, are they improvised or are they just part of the tornado? That's a good point.

Have you actually seen her do that in person? To answer the question. Yeah. It was perfect Rhonda Rousey. It was perfect. Yeah, as soon as they went to the ground on this crazy scramble, I just thought to myself, as soon as I turned and saw the scramble on the ground kind of chaos kind of chaos, I thought to myself, I thought to myself, oh, Katten's in big trouble right now. Because Rhonda thrives in the chaos. She thrives in the confusion because of her extensive years in judo.

and it's amazing what she's able to do. And when other people would otherwise kind of clam up and just kind of do what faith, Landa's always literally upside down, twisting, and elegantly looking for fine limbs to just a black latch onto and take home and add to the collection. When's the first time you worked with her?

Man, it's been a couple years now. You forget between all these fights and all these camps and all these things happen, but at least a couple years, she don't start working with her initially first, and it's just been a remarkable journey. And, man, she's just such a cool. amazing how someone can be so athletic, so effective, and so, such a great athlete,

I really think she's the most naturally gifted and talented athlete I've ever worked with in my life, ever. And that's in any field or any endeavor. Like, I've met an athlete's professional athletes of all different fields and sports and capabilities, certainly in martial arts and in jujitsu and, you know, in regards to combat sports. But I've never seen an athlete that hones her craft and is perfect for their sport like Rhonda is for MMA. So Joe Rogan was on the Dan Lebitart show before UFC 184, and he said that he believes she

could beat around 50% of the male bantam weights. Do you believe that as well? Good question. I've seen what she does and what she's able to do to the high-level guys at the academy and in terms of sparring and in terms of, no, just filling her, just filling her creativity. There's no doubt that she can put it on some men for sure. I've seen it happen, you know, and really do some damage. because I haven't personally ruled with, you know, the male bantam weights in the UFC,

I couldn't really say, but there's no doubt that her, see, here's the thing. Naturally, what everyone was going to say is, no, men have the physical strength, right, that manpower advantage over someone like Ronda or any female you would say. And that's generally, you know, that's generally a fair statement, I think. But the thing is this, Ronda has some things that have never sailed in even men, if that makes sense. Rhonda has a certain flexibility, a dynamic flexibility mixed with strength. And in the blend of those two impeccable technique, you see,

so she can be totally twisting and turning out of a position as we saw this weekend and applied to a mix like that. We've never even seen men do what she did this weekend against Kat Dengano. So in terms of her adaptability, in terms of her dynamic strength, we'll call it, right? This ability to be strong in weird positions is, um, is unprecedented. And any athlete, in any MMA fighter, and I've worked with a lot of them in any weight class.

Now, you know, what happens when you go on against the man? They put a little more power behind their punches. The knockout power is stronger. And who knows? They can muscle out of submissions a little crazier. But I'll tell you what, once she's latched onto a limb, I don't care whose limit is, they're going to tap. That's for sure.

She brings the pressure. She finds ways to incorporate her entire body, the leverage of her whole body against the joint that she's attacking. So I wouldn't put it past her, but I don't know if I'd go so far to make claims like that. I know what Rhonda's capable of, and I know for sure that there's, it's not going to, it's not, it's not fair. It's not competitive. It's not competitive where she's at right now because, man, she's just too good.

I just, I don't see any woman in the world beating her. One of my favorite things to watch before any UFC fight is the face of the fighter as they're about to walk out and the world is watching. There's all this anticipation build up all that stuff, and no one does it better than Ronda. When that music hits, her song, her walkout is one of the best. best of all time. And the look on her face, man, there could be a 16, 18 wheeler right there, and she'll just walk right through that thing. She's so intense, so focused. What is it like being in the locker room, 20 minutes before the fight, being in that little huddle, being right outside of that tunnel around her? Does she turn into a different person in front of your

eyes? What is that like? Is that the most intense scene that you've ever been a part of as far as athletics are concerned? Yeah, Rhonda is the most focused and most, I don't know, man, I've never, I've never, you know, I don't know what's going on inside her head entirely, but I do know that when she goes to war, she goes to war, you know what I'm saying? Like, she goes in there and everything is on the table for her. Like, there's no, like, she's not playing a game, she's not, you know what I'm saying, in there just to do it to perform for anybody. She's going in there and, you know, she puts everything on it.

Let me just say that. She's 100%. The stakes are 100% for her, and she fights every five that gets her last. And, like, everything rests on, on, victory or defeat in that situation. So she goes in with nothing to lose and everything to gain. And, you know, it was funny because in that buildup to the Katzegnano fight, she said, yeah, Kat's an amazing athlete and has so much to fight for.

And she has a kid to go home to, right, at the end of the fight. She said, I don't. So that was one of the most impactful, just to give people a little insight into Ronda's psyche, that was one of the most impactful things she's ever said. Wow. In terms of her willingness to put it all on the line, you know, and it doesn't start like that right when the camera. are on her. Like the day of the fight, she's, of course, focused, and she's 100% in the zone.

We get to the arena. She likes to take a nap as you see on the camera. She sleeps for a couple hours in the locker room while we wait. And, you know, three or four fights before hers, she wakes up, gets her hands wrapped by Edmund. And from there, there's no talking. There's nothing to talk about. There's nothing. She doesn't get all crazy and yell, nothing like that. She's just like you see on the camera. She's 100% in the fight already. And the cameras get on, and, you know, she's in the hallway and at the game time, we go straight through it. you just, you know, burns through that walkout. And, man, it's, you know, the rest is history.

You can see it. You know you're a big deal when the mainstream sports media is talking about you, and I was listening to some sports talk radio, just like the big-time sports talk show. Not as big as our show, but that's not get crazy. But, you know, the medium-sized ones on ESPN and whatnot, and they're talking about Ronda Rousey, and that doesn't happen every day for our sport.

And one of the things they're talking about is, is this good for the sport if her fights continue to last this long? So they're lasting 14 seconds, 16 seconds the last one. The one prior to that was a minute, six seconds. Is that good? Will people stop buying these fights if they know it's going to be, you know, quick one and done? You won't get your money's worth. What's your take on that? I kind of feel like I want to see history. I want to see something spectacular. I want to see something quick. If that's what she's known for and she is, then I want to see it. What do you think about that? Do you think in the long run,

this is bad for her brand in the sport if the fights keep ending so quickly and she's so dominant? Or do you think it's like what I say, it's kind of cool? And the Gracie breakdown we did yesterday and put it up last afternoon this afternoon. He don't said, man, you know, this situation is getting out of hand. And the only way to solve Ronda's situation is to banter from the UFC. Along the lines of what you're saying right now and jokingly saying that, you know, it's not going to be competitive or entertaining as long as she's in the fight. And we were joking, obviously, and, you know, I don't think you could be more entertained.

You couldn't have a situation where you bring up a, you know, a formidable opponent and someone who's been training their whole life and then put them against Rhonda and let her do her thing, you know, so I don't know, man, the entire crowd was on their feet last night or Saturday night. They seem to love it. The internet buzz was ridiculous.

So as much of people say that it's boring that her fights are that fast, someone's better in the interview after the fights and Ronda said, hey, you know, you, it's so easy for you that, you know, are you concerned that, you know, and she said, wait a minute, says who? So easy in what regard?

The fact that she trains like an accident. absolute monster for, you know, several months before the fight, and it's always on her mind for several months before the fight, and mentally and emotionally draining and all that she goes through, it's not easy at all. So the point is that, yes, the fight might be the culmination of her, you know, intense training camp, but the reality is there's a lot that goes into that. I think people respect that.

The people respect the pinnacle of training perfection, right? The pinnacle of working hard and letting the result speak for themselves. So without a doubt, yes, It's obviously, you know, you get in the situation, like a Mike Tyson situation, we try to wonder who's going to be next. But, you know, there are a lot of people who are training very hard who have not even stepped into the UFC yet. And it's just a matter of time before they surface and have their shot at Runda.

Do you believe Chris Cyborg is the one who could give her toughest test, or do you think that that wouldn't even be much of a test? Yeah, I think that I think people are giving Chris Cyborg more credit than she deserves in the sense of beating Rhonda. And this is, no offense to her, she's obviously an amazing athlete and has that amazing things in MAA. And from what I hear, a great person as well.

This is just, me personally, I know what it feels like to roll with a very athletic, strong person. And people say rolling with Chris Seiber is like rolling with a man. You don't have to go easy, you're rolling very hard. And I've rolled with a lot of world-class men,

martial arts, jiu-git-to-MMA, and I know what they feel like. And Ronda doesn't feel like. like them is the whole point. You understand? Yeah. Beyond, I don't say rolling with Ronda's like rolling with a man.

I've never said those words, and I never will. Rolling with Ronda is like rolling with an alien. There's just no rolling with, someone's a tenant, what's it like rolling with Ronda? And the answer is, the very word like,

it assumes there's a comparison to be made, right? You can compare it to something else that is experientable. But she's incomparable, therefore you can't make a comparison. Yeah. So I've rolled with strong people.

I've rolled with very good fighters, all of which, you know, have been compared to, you know, cyborg and her athleticism and her power. And I think all of that's great. But it comes a point where there's something beyond strength and power and tenacity, right? And that's the special gift that Rhonda has

and has sharpened and honed over the last 15, 20 years. Okay, before I let you go, you know, I have to ask you about our good pal C.M. punk. You were there with him from the beginning. You were one of those guys saying, This guy could do MMA if he wants, and he's trained with you. Of course, now we know he's with Rufus Sport. Are you keeping tabs?

Are you checking in? Will you make the trip out to Milwaukee? Will he make the trip out to California? What's going on? Now that he's officially a member of the UFC, I haven't spoken to you, how big of a part of his team will you be? I know he thinks the world of you. Yeah, he does, and we definitely are committed to training with one another.

Even though he's trying to camp out there, he's very loyal, and he's very much appreciated all the teachings He'd be given him in several years up until then he made the decision to fight professionally. So I'm down in whatever regard he wants. I travel a lot for seminars, so he knows that next time I'm in his neck of the woods, I'll be stopping by. And we're trying to schedule a trip for him to come out here in the not too distant future. So the training continues, but obviously living several states away,

it's not going to be a regular everyday thing. But, man, I just wish him the best, and I just, yeah, he's a great friend. He's been amazing, and he, as you know, you talk to him. And this guy's, when he puts his mind to it, man, he's real. It's like, you know, whether he's going to win or lose, nobody knows, not even him, but whether he's going to give it 100% in the training and really give us a real crack, you can count on that, you know? So I'll support him however I can as a friend and as a jih Tudu brother, and we'll hope for the best.

One of our listeners, Darren Chung, just tweeted me. I remember Hennar Gracie's first MMA hour appearance. He is so much more calm now. Hashtag maturity. Hashtag Married Life. hashtag Henergy. And you know what? I wonder.

You know, I had the honor and pleasure of seeing your wonderful wife at Invicta on Friday night Eve. You were not there, of course. I'm assuming you were busy getting ready for the fight and whatnot, but is he onto something? Is Darren onto something?

Is this a married version of Henner? Have you become calmer? I don't know. It's hard. I've never done a phoner with you, so it's hard to really get a grasp for the energy. Yeah, obviously.

You're going to get the maximum energy when we are, you know, live in. studio at the UFC event and I can put you in a dark choke in the middle of the situation. Yes. And, you know what I'm saying? Be right there after the fight. You know, you're going to get the secondary energy when it's a Skype interview and you

can actually see my face. You can actually feel the eyebrows and you can feel the wrinkles in my forehead just kind of blazing through the screen. Yeah. And then on a phone interview, you're going to get some more conservative. You know, you're going to get some more relaxed energy, the more family man. He's married now, you know, and things are calming down in his life. So there's definitely several different variations of that, just like the arm bar.

and it's all good. You know, nothing's better than the other. They're just different, you know. And at the end of the day, if you can apply them under pressure situations, that's all that really matters. Well said. Hennar, a pleasure, as always.

Check out the Gracie Breakdown on the Gracie Breakdown YouTube channel. That's the name of the YouTube channel. Tremendous stuff, as always. Congratulations to you and the team. And it's always a pleasure to see you blowing up everywhere doing all kinds of crazy things. It's one of my favorite things in M. You're one of those great characters.

So thank you very much for the time. And again, congrats on the win on Saturday. Honor to be here. Thanks for everything. I'll keep up a good work. All right, there he is. Hennar Gracie. Love having him on. Great insight, as always. Appreciate his time. All right, let's move along now. This is very exciting for me. One of the greatest of all time as far as combat sports are concerned. I've had the pleasure of meeting this man in person at a couple of UFC events now. But this is very exciting. For the first time ever, we are being joined by one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Pound-pound King, pound for pound legend. The one and only Roy Jones Jr. is joining us on the phone right now. Roy, are you there? Yes, I am. How are you? Great. I am so great. It is such an honor to have you on the show, Roy. Thank you so much. You know, I got to tell you, before we get into things, I was an intern at HBO Sports in 2003. My very first day on the job, we had to go interview you. I didn't do the interviewing. I sat in the back with my jaw on the ground. I couldn't believe I was in the same room as Roy Jones.

Now here you are on my show. Twelve years later, this is surreal for me. So thank you very much for the time. And thanks for coming on the show. Hey, thank you for having me. Okay, so you're coming back this Friday, March 6th. You're fighting. You're 46 years young. And I'm sure you get this a lot, but let's ask it anyway because we're a different audience here. Why is Roy Jones still fighting? What more do you have to prove?

I don't have nothing to prove at all. It's not about proving anything. What my thing is about is going out the way I want to go out and try to accomplish everything I want to accomplish before I go out. And because I was heavyweight champ, light heavyweight champ, super middleweight champ, middleweight champ, middleweight jump, that's everything covered except the cool way way jam. So why not I go out and try to do it while I feel can,

why I'm still capable, so that when I do retire, I don't have to worry about coming back and doing nothing that I didn't do that I could have done. So do you have a path in mind? I know there's been some talks about you fighting later on this year for that belt. Do you know, okay, two, three fights, I'll fight for the belt

and then I'll retire, or you might go on a run with that, you might go into 50 like Bernard Hopkins. Do you have a path in mind, sort of a limit? Now, I don't have a limit, but I do have a path in mind. Okay. If I get the title, I'll see how I feel. I feel good. I'll continue by don't.

And I don't know, like you said, nothing to prove. I love what I do. I love doing it. So if I have an opportunity, why would I not cash in an opportunity? So that when I come back, I can't say, well, you know, I should have tried to win the who would be a title before I retire. Now, I'm going to try to win the coupie title before I retire. And if I get it, yeah, I can either retire.

I can get it. I don't get it, then I said, okay, I try that. Good enough for me. Is there something about the Cruiserweight title, or is it just the one you didn't win yet? Is it the one I didn't win yet? Between Middleweight and Hedgway. Sure.

You know, I'm wondering, you work for HBO. You do a tremendous job with them. Why aren't your fights on HBO? That's a good question. You should have HBO that question. They love you over there. Yeah, they say they do, but I can't get no fight on that. Do they really love me?

I see the other eggs. And as they're concerned about it, I understand, but if I'm going to fight anyway, maybe they were going to go ahead and do it if I'm going to fight anyway. You're going to shout or not, and be concerned that you love me. You don't want to see me to fight, but I'm fighting anyway.

So why would you not go into death care? I'm broadcast at me. Right. Well, this fight will... I don't get. Yeah, yeah, I've thought of that a lot. This fight will air live on Go Fight Live, GFL.tv for 1999 beginning at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Have you ever had a serious sit-down conversation with them and saying, hey, where's the love? I'm on a roll now, I've won a few fights in row. Why can't I fight on an HBO card? Well, I had it a couple of times, but you know, me, I'm not really a big talker. Sure. I mean, I asked you one time, you said, no, that's good enough for me.

It's like when I was in school, I didn't chase a girl too much. I asked her, and she said, no, then I'm done with it. If she said, no, what she means, yeah, and I knew that, then I keep bobbing her. But if she ever told me, no, I guess I'm not with it, I'm going. I don't want to talk about it anymore. I don't want nothing, and nobody that don't want me, you, you feel me? So, I mean, if you don't think you want to do, okay, it's cool, but, you know, I do what I got to do.

So I don't fuck, I don't hog, I don't beg, I did beat me. When you lost three in a row, now you've won five in a row. But when you lost three in a row, how tough was it to go out and be a part of the boxing community? I'm sure you had a lot of people saying, Roy, enough is enough, stop fighting. Now you're on a rule, you have a retort. But back then, not that long ago, was it difficult to look people in the eye and have to defend yourself after everything you've done in this sport? No, it wasn't because when you look at people and tell you what you can't do, those are some of the same types of arguments that made me do all the same as the idea.

You got to remember, people told me, don't fight for the heavyweight you're too small. You know what I'm saying? Oh, he's going to kill you, or he's going to hurt you. Or you're a three-dictional career. You're 36 years old. You shouldn't be doing this. But look what I did. I became everywhere champion in the world.

So I'm used to people getting where I can or what they think I can't or couldn't do. I don't care nothing about it. I don't hear nobody tell me nothing about what they think because if they talk, they're so worldwide a grid, they'd be doing it themselves. And they don't know exactly what they should be doing themselves. So I can tell me what to do. Now that we learn a lot more about brain damage and all that stuff,

do you have any concerns about that? Of course I do. I've always had concern about that, and I will always have concerns about that. And are you certain that you're 100% healthy, that it's okay for you at 46 to be fighting? I'm more than certain I went to the mayor's clinic and made sure

with 30 I would fight after what he'd after 30 I just told a guy yesterday who was a former box of mine that you should never go to the box in again since you want to end the street and where

I tell by I understand that but because of his situation because of the nature of the situation I don't think he'd never fight again because that could be dead and there's no way right now to reverse their damage and if I can see that on somebody else

You know, just think I would be the person with me going down that line? You know, I'm dying to ask you this question, of course. You've been in MMA news for a long time. Anderson Silva has been wanting to fight you, and, of course, you may have heard that he tested positive twice for PEDs, before his fight, after his fight.

What's your response to what happened to Anderson? I feel bad to answer because truthly speaking, and I feel like the country's lead in here, I'm seeing the focus here. I'm still. If you did have BG,

there's only a series to try to help. I'm probably going to rain. Ice storm like that. That's like with a loud noise. What is that? Ice? I'm in an ice storm. Yeah, right here in Biggie, I'm an ice storm.

Oh, my gosh. That's the ice? Where are you indoors? Yeah. I'm a big boy. They're sick in the car. Yeah. Wow.

Yeah, but anyway, I feel bad for them because I know that the only way that I can you have to do stuff like that is. is the cause of that leg, that leg injuries. And what people understand that when we have to age you like that, there's a very different thing to come back from. But I know that's what forced him probably prompt for him to go do things to try to help his leg.

And when you break the leg and when he broke his leg, I mean, I can't feel for him that we'll never try the same thing. So I feel for him in that instance because I know what he's going through in a sense because I've heard people say that those things happen to heal quicker. So, of course, he wants to get a heel. don't think you can't do it that coach can fight because it's illegal. So you don't think he was doing

this his entire career? You don't think this tarnishes his legacy? Then I don't know, and I don't think it there, but I'm not really sure because I'm not into that sport, I'm not into that world. Right. I don't sometimes say that that happens. You know, it's like, I got, you know,

you think ripped you all, sometimes it'll say that it'd be illegal, so, I mean, some things happen, but it don't happen but it don't do it more than you know better. But if they happen more than what, then you can look at it and say, okay, it's possible. But when it only happens with what, they don't know. You know what I'm saying? It's kind of hard to say it.

On one time, you're going to say he's doing his whole career. You know, it's hard to say that. Did you watch his fight against Nick Diaz? I know that's another guy you were interested in fighting. Of course I did. Of course I did. Did you think that didn't seem like him like he seemed a little off? Yeah, I didn't see like him at all to me.

You just chalked that up to him being nervous after the leg. off and the leg and all that. It seemed like he was timid, right? No. No. Yeah, he really wasn't that timid, but he really wasn't the finisher that I wanted him to be. Because I thought by Nick coming up and wait,

he should have had enough weight of balance that he could have finished Nick, and he didn't. I heard recently they finally put the nail in that coffin. As long as he's a part of the UFC, this fight will never happen. You and him, and he was incredibly sad. Is that what you were told as well? Yep.

That's what I was told. Are you disappointed? Nope, not at all. Why? Well, I mean, I don't argue with organizations. I got to trade by HBO. I don't argue with HBO. I don't argue with USC, whatever they're saying here,

file with me. I don't have that to get so, but I'm cool. Sure. I've never half a life, so I'm good. I'm not going to hate somebody because of their decision. I mean, I feel bad for Hamilton because I know he said he wanted to do it. But if he chose, it was a time 15 more pipe with the DMC, then they got you just gave him.

right to tell you what to do and what not do. So I'm not disappointed about that. You shouldn't know that when you'd sign them 15 more fights. Right. You should have 15 more fights? Well, of course you can't do nothing but you want to do. So why should I be disappointed when you're the one that gave them an option? You gave them the power to do that by the time of 15 more fights. Yeah, well said. Are you still interested in that MMA boxer match?

I know Chris Lytle was trying to get a heat. He retired. Is that still something that interests you? Yeah, it's still something that interests me. And Chris Lytle is some of them definitely looking at. Oh. Me and Chris Lyon were trying to get it together in Indianapolis, but I don't think it's going to happen there. But it's definitely so I'm looking at it,

and I like Chris Lider as a person. Well, I know he does have a good boxing, a bad guy, have a good boxing record. And I think it would be a great thing. So if Anderson couldn't, I mean, Chris Lido can. If Chris Lido, I mean, feels like he can do that, then we'll make it happen. What do you think?

I'm the easy man in boxing to make a fight with. What do you think the chances are of that fight happening? I think it's about 85, 90%. Oh, really? Maybe next? Yeah. After this one? Not next, but maybe after this one, yeah.

Okay. And are you sensing... No, not after this one, but it'll be some time. Are you sensing more interest in your great sport now that Paciel Mewa feels like people are talking about the sport, excited about the sport? Are you getting that sense as well? Of course. The guy even got me excited. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking so good.

I'm thinking so good. I met myself a new invention that I'm working in, and I'm like, I'm wondering how in the head. They're going to beat me now because I'm coming back to a point where I'm starting to skip myself. If I told you this, I know you ain't going to believe it, but you're seeing the weekend, I'm fast and right now than I wore it two years ago. Wow. What's the reason? How did that happen?

I ain't going to tell you all that yet. It's a secret here, and there ain't no PEDD you trust me on that. Okay. It's nothing like that, but it's still a figure that I can't reveal yet because I'm doing that. and I promise the guy that the train wouldn't be revealed, and so I can't tell you what we're here, but it's honestly, how it's this will.

It's somebody, but, you know. Will you be in the quote-unquote broadcast booth for Pachia Mayweather? Will you be calling that fight for HBO? Yes, I will. Do you know who the team will be? Yeah, it's a Roy Jones and a year. Yep. I'm in Alberta, and Airbus.

Oh, so it's a little bit of HBO. little bit of showtime. Yeah. Are you surprised they got the fight done? Did you think they wouldn't get it done? No, I'm not surprised. I'm glad. I just didn't see no where I took it go.

I guess you know where to go because everybody else was pretty much going to fight and somebody. So it's like, who else would be going to fight? You had to fight, man. There was nobody else available. Everybody kind of tricky everybody else off the market.

So it's all the option really was made. So it's like, what else was he going to do? Let me ask you, if he wins this fight, if Floyd wins, is he the greatest of all time? No. He's not the greatest of all time, but no. How are you greatest because you 50 and O?

I mean, you're fighting Mani Pekega out. I was good, and Mani Pekega was a good fighter, but if he beat him, it's tough because they're going to say why you didn't fight me as pride. You feel me? So how did it make you the greatest all the time when you beat him when they got knocked out by one million more than you. And now you're the greatest ever

because you're the greatest in me that got knocked out by, I'm knowing that you be using it. You know, it don't make you the greatest person. You're the smartest of all the best business man ever, and you're the best business officer ever because you made more money than a fighter ever. But you are by far the smartest man in kind of boxing of all times. And you always will be that.

But it doesn't make you the best fighter ever knows. Who is the greatest of all time in your opinion? Oh, I'm a little bit of all right. I'm going to say, Muhammad Ali in my book. Muhammad Ali. You started me to box it. And well, for Mother Ali, I would have a little box. And he's a great.

He's a great. because he was not only getting in the rain, but he did it out of the rain. He did it with a much less skill that most people do it with, and he was far more dominant than most people were using a lot less ability than most people.

You know, if you're talking about, Miami-Lah Lee ran it through body shack. You know what I'm saying? Mom-Nan-Lah Lee ran through him. Because he's a lot of them all with a punch or ducked the punch. You know what I'm saying? He didn't do a lot of things that true box would.

But look how dominant he was. He was so dominant that the whole world, you know, who the headway champion, but the world was. more something, and me, everything else. But you got guys like Chris Cole

who are really good, who do so good questions and do good things, but part of the world don't know what they want. Yeah, the answer. Sorry, did you get cut off there?

No. No, go ahead. I mean, I'm here. I just wanted to ask you a couple more things and they'll let you go. Again, this is a real treat for us. The premier boxing champions that new promotion by Al Heyman

is starting this weekend, this Saturday, not going up against your fights, so that is good. Do you think that this can also, uh, resor- I hate to use that word,

but give boxing a much-needed boost being on NBC, being on Spike TV, being on CBS, do you think this could could really help change boxing? And are you interested? I don't know your relationship

with Al, but are you interested in maybe fighting on one of those cards? Oh, yeah, I think it's, I think it's going to change boxing. Of course,

I mean, anything good, of course you're going to help boxing. Of course, I find out of the guy and I wouldn't do anything to help boxing, but,

you know, all depending on who you're going to let me fight. I mean, it's like I'm not with it. being into changing horses in the stream, but you know me, I'm kind of got to, if it's for boxing, I'm with it. Okay. And finally, are you familiar with Ronda Rousey?

Yes, I am. Did you see her fight on Saturday? No, anybody heard about my father's end of it. Yeah, well, she just lasts at 14 seconds. I mean, it's unbelievable. Three straight fights combined a minute and 36 seconds. A lot of people like myself, calling her the Mike Tyson of MMA. And I want to get your take, who better than you, to weigh in on. this. I call her that, not because she's like Mike Tyson as a person, but because people will

pay money to watch her win a fight in 10 seconds. There's an appeal there. Do you see what I'm saying? Do you feel like this is an accurate description for her? I think it's a highly accurate description for her, and I think she had that devastating, and anybody that can be something like that hand-to-hand combat-wise. I'm definitely a fan

of. I think there's a proper name or proper thing to refer her to, a proper reference for her. Yes, she is just like Mike Tyson. And yes, I would pay every time to watch to distort somebody. I don't care if it's 10 seconds. But because I know what she's coming to do,

I'm going to pay to watch it because I know I'm going to be entertained for the 10 seconds that she's in there, which is the same reason I watch Roy Jones dream, and the same reason I'd always watch Mike Tyson because I know no matter how long they're in there, you're going to get entertained for the wider the end now. I love it. Thank you.

That's what I need to hear. By the way, my favorite Roy Jones moment, the day you played basketball on the same day as one of your fights. Remember that? Exactly. Yep, and now take the job. Now what I'm trying to give her to do is work a corner, cover tape, and box in the same court.

Oh, yeah, I love it. Yeah, exactly. I try to get HBO, let me do it, but they don't need to give them a feedback on it. What's up with HBO? Do we need to put in a call? What's going on? No love. Nah, they got love.

They're more concerned about the welfare, which, like I said, the welfare is cool. I understand, but if I'm fighting anyway, you're not saying me. You understand? Because I'm doing it in a way, so it's different than me. So it's coming out of a good place, though. They're trying to look out for you. Well, maybe Al-Haman can make it done. Well, no, Al-Hanahma, H-D had a best relationship right now, so...

That's true. So you can't go compete for Showtime, or could you? That would be weird. I could, but, you know, I got a contract with H-D-Den for a commentary that wouldn't allow me to compete on Showtime. But that seems a little selfish. They don't want you to fight on their network, but they won't let you fight for the other big network. That is different, right? That is weird, right?

I think we need to figure this out. Yeah, it looks different. We'll figure it out. All right. All right. We'll let you go, Roy. What a pleasure. Thank you so much.

Roy Jones Jr. versus Willie For Rio Williams, cruiserweight main event, 10-card bout this Friday, March 6th, in Charlotte, North Carolina, live on Go Fight Live, GFL.com. TV for 1999, beginning at 7.30 p.m. Eastern.

Give us the prediction. How are you going to beat this guy? I'm going to knock him out one with a other. I'm going to knock him out one with a strong right now. I'm going hard to the head, going hard to the body. Or whatever, I've got to get in my left. Oh, yeah. And let's hear that song before we go.

There it is. This is my favorite song. Anyone who doubts this man, anyone who doubts the great Roy Jones, what's the answer? Tell us, Roy. Who is it? Who is it? You know what?

I must have forgot. Yeah. They must have forgot, Roy. We wish you the best. Thank you for your time. Good luck to you. this has been a great honor for us. Thank you, Roy. Thank you, brother.

Keep it going. Yeah, y'all must have forgot. One week after his fight, Roy Jones Jr. Boxing presents Battle of the Belt. Oh, yeah, one of my favorite songs. I try to say that line, every Fox broadcast possible. They need to make a segment. Y'all must have forgot. Jake Ellenberger, y'all must have forgot. March 13th, the Weiko Pa Resorting Casino in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Live on Go Fight Live, 1499 beginning at 10 p.m. That's a week after this Friday. Both cards are on Go Fight Live, as it said, premier online destination for live combat sports action. And in addition, speaking of GFL, in addition, Roy's fight, excuse me, GFL will offer a total of 11 combat sports events, including Jesse Finney's Shamrock FC, headlined by Bobby Volker versus Justin Guthrie, as well as CFFC-47.

GFEL does great work. Yeah. Well, that's it? Song's over? Yeah. There it is. I'll listen to that all day. We should have a Y'all Musta Forgot Hall of Fame.

Who should go up there after every fight? Frank Mier. Y'all must have forgot. Who else? Roy Jones. By the way, Juan Potts came out to Roy Jones on Saturday. Not this song.

Someone needs to come out to the song. Yeah, look at that. Look at them, spin rhymes. Boom. Y'all must have forgot. Hey, our next guest could fall under that category. Tam Dan McCrory, y'all must have forgot. The Barncat, knocking people out, submitting them.

I really get excited. I listen to that all the time. y'all must have forgot roy jones i remember i was a intern an intern at hbo sports 2003 my first day they're like hey ariel i had this jufro i was very awkward they said hey ariel we are going to interview roy jones would you like to come yeah sure i'd love to come oh oh oh oh i'd love to meet roy jones it was amazing and now he's on my show how about that y'all must have forgotten Y'all didn't know I could beatbox, huh? That's such a little taste.

Just a little taste. But thank you very much to Roy Jones. Thank you very much to the good people at Go Fight Live for hooking us up with Roy Jones. Back in action this Friday, if you're interested in watching. Not a lot of MMA action this weekend, so check it out. I'm very excited. I'm very amped up. That was fun.

But for now, let us go to the Skype Machine for our last guest of the day. He could fit under that. You almost forgot categories, as I said. I'm talking about the Barncat Tam Dan McCrory. How are you, my friend? I'm doing well. I know I've made it to the big leagues when I get to talk to you, man. Oh, you're being too kind.

Thank you, though. I appreciate it. What a story. What a story? Tam Dan McCrory is. Unbelievable. Away from the sports since, what was it, 2009. You come back in September.

You knock out Brennan Ward in 21 seconds. And then on Friday, you submit Jason Butcher in just a minute, six seconds. Oh, I just, there it is. I just unplugged my headset. So after that, that was a great submission, by the way. After it, it seemed like you were saying some stuff to Jason. You were spent some fire. What did you say to him?

No, I wasn't talking to Jason. I was talking to Big John. So we were backstage. And you know how the reps usually come in and they give you the spiel of like what I'm looking for, what I don't want you to do, blah, blah. Well, he comes in. and I busts a lot of guys, a lot of these guys' balls, right?

And he came in, and he was like, here, I'm ready. You got any questions for me? I'm like, yo, man, it's not my first rodeo. Oh. And he goes, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm going to go out on the limb and say, I've had a few more rodeos than you, pal. Oh, all right? So I'm just sit here and I'm going to tell you.

And I was like, oh, shit. I was like, oh, man, he is pissed. I was like, I'm sorry, sir. I was like, that's here, you know? So he's like, he's like, gives me the whole spiel, you know, if you're down, you know, don't be doing this, don't be doing that. You know, you have any questions? Like, no, sir. Like, whoa, man, like, push the button.

And then I was like, I'm going to make it easy on you, man. Don't worry, all right? Just you hang out there. I'll take care of everything for you. All you got to do is say, go and stop, and it'll be over. And so afterwards, when I got done, I was like, I told you I was making it easy on you, man. I was like, I told you, right? That's what I said.

I said to make it easy on you. Did he respond? was busting his balls again. Did he respond? Yeah, he was like, I know, I know, I know. He was cool, but he knows I was just busting his balls. And it was just kind of cool to do what I said I was going to do. Honestly, though, it seemed like you were kind of pissed. Like the look on your face, you were like yelling at him. I guess the heat of the moment, right? Yeah, I mean, I was pretty amped up. It was like one of those things. I was talking with Rick Miglurice earlier in the day, and he was wishing me luck. And I was like, man, you know, he's like, you know,

knock them out again, huh? And I was like, you know, if I really want to make a statement, I'm going to have to submit them. And, you know, just the way the fight went, I mean, it's like one of those things, right? You saw me, nobody saw me for five years. I come back, 21 seconds, you know, crack skulls. So nobody knows any bit of my game. Nobody knows anything about me other than what they just saw. So it was like cool to just, you know, do another upset and really show, I mean, it doesn't take anything away from Jason Butcher. I mean, he's obviously got a ton of skill and heart, and he's been in some dog fights and come out on top, you know, and so there's nothing against him, man, my hat's off to him. You know, he's a good

fighter. It just doesn't degrade anything that he's done. All it does is just show people that I've excelled and I've caught up and I've gone to a different level with my game. Did you want to leave the sport for five years? I know you had some injuries. You got to a car accident, but five years is a long time. Did you want or were you kind of forced out in the sense, like you couldn't get back in after getting released? from the UFC? It was like one of those things, man. A lot of it's timing in life, I think,

and it just seemed like the timing was never right. The opportunity just wasn't there. Or, you know, like, who's going to show up for 1,000 and 1,000? Or, hey, you can come here and fight, but you got to sell, you know, 400 tickets, you know. And I'm not at, that's, if you're making me sell 400 tickets, you know, you're the promoter, I'm the fighter. I do the fighting, you do the promoting, you know, which one sells the tickets.

So, you know, I think a lot of, there was just a lot of, like, life circumstance, and it's like one of those things, life is what happens when you stop training. So, you know, not that I stopped training, but I think life stop, life is what happens when you stop competing, when you get off the warpath, you know. And it just took me a while to get the momentum to come back. but luckily, you know, Jimmy Binns, you know, Bin's management, my manager, he was one of those guys who was betting on me when I was down in the dumps, man, when I had nothing going for me, when I didn't even really have the momentum because I had gone through the injuries and all that stuff, you know. But he always had my back and he always stood by me and he knew, you know, when I got back, it was going to be a different, you know, Barncat 2.0. and that's what we got right now. We're making a good team. Once you got back into Bellator, that's really what ignited all of this.

Wasn't true that right before you got back into Bellator, you were actually thinking of firing your manager because nothing was going on? Yeah, we were having some, well, it was like, it's life circumstance, man, again, you know. It's like everybody who says, like, I have friends that are like, man, if I believed in luck, you have the worst luck in the world, you know? and, you know, he was like, I'm trying, man, I'm trying, but, you know, you're always like, I'm impatient. I can't help it.

I mean, I've never been a patient person. It's not one of my virtues. So I was really upset and frustrated because I was like, man, I've been training. I've been training. I've been training. Like, when am I going to fight? When am I going to fight? When am I going to fight?

And, like, right when, you know, him and I were getting into it, he was like on my desk, man, timing, timing, timing. And that's, like, kind of been, like, the motto of our relationship, you know, just give it the time, man. It's going to happen. You know, the timing will be there, and when it is, we're going to capitalize. And so far, that's been exactly what's happened. And, you know, for all the trouble that we went through, it just makes everything, you know, sweeter now that we're at where we're at now, you know. How did you make a living when you were out of the sport for five years?

I know you teach at the YMCA, right, Jiu-Jitsu? Was that what was bringing home, the bacon? Yeah, well, for a while I wasn't making any money, but that's another story. I don't want to get into too much of my personal dealings and, you know, whatever. You were making zero money? I had, I had, well, I've had some, I've had a lot of ups and downs and business dealings and things that I've been involved in, you know, and some of that is, you know, that was in my control and I made bad decisions. And a lot of it was outside of my control and with some other things that I was involved with, you know. and I can't really hold anybody else accountable except for myself, you know,

because ultimately at the end of the day, I'm the one that makes my decisions. I'm a man. I'm a one-percenter. You know, it's going to live or die by me. But, yeah, I was having some tough times for a few years and just scraping by. And, you know, there's a lot of, you know, a lot of circumstance. And for the sake of the people that I'm still tight with and, you know, whatever, I just don't like to dispel too much.

of that, you know, like, and it's not really for the public eye because it's not, it's not like a public thing, you know, it's a personal thing to me. And I'd like to maintain some of my relationships that I have with the people that are around me. But yeah, I had some financial troubles. I still have financial troubles, right? It's just kind of the way things are, you know, when you kind of go down a hole. But I'm climbing myself out, obviously, and ultimately I got back to what I needed to be doing in the first place because it's easy to go off and do whatever. But the best thing that is for me is fighting. That's me. That's what I'm good at. That's what I can do. I always knew that. I got distracted. I got into other things. Well, now I'm back. And everything

that I've been saying or everything that everybody's been saying about me over the past five years is now just coming into the public eye. You guys are seeing what I already know, what my teammates already know, it's just being presented to the world. When's the last time you felt this good about life? Things were going this well for you. Gosh, I can't even remember. remember. It's pretty, this is like a pretty good like a position to be in, you know. I mean, obviously there's always heartache and struggle in life. You can't avoid it, you know, and it's, you know, like the whole thing with like the material treadmill, right? Like, you get one, you get one level and you're like, oh man, that's not good enough. So you got to get to the next level, the next level.

I'm, I'm kind of like a, I've reevaluated a lot of things in my life and I'm not like chasing money or chasing whatever. Um, I'm just trying to. to be the best that I can be. And if I do that, the money will come, you know? And, um, you know, all the money, money really does is just buy you things and buy you time. And luckily for me, while I'm trying to make money, I'm having the time of my life because I get to share experiences that, you know, 99% of the world is never going to experience, you know? Were you surprised when you got released from the UFC? It wasn't like you were on a losing streak, you know, I mean, it wasn't the greatest record of all time, but you hadn't lost two in a row.

You didn't lost three in a row. That's typically when guys get released. So why do you think you were released back then? And did you have a massive chip on your shoulder because of that? Do you still have that chip? You know what? I, for, I cannot say anything bad about the UFC or how they treated me. I can't. I can't say anything bad. And that's from my perspective. Maybe other people had a different experience. but I took it as what it was. You know, I got released from the UFC at the time that affliction dissolved. So I think they brought in a lot of talent, so they were thin in the herd,

and it just so happened that I was one of the herd that got thinned. Right. And I don't have anything against them for that because it's a business. You know, I understand, dude. Like, I'm not one of these guys who doesn't complain about my pay or whatever. I mean, everybody wants to make more. Don't get me wrong. But, you know, it's equitable for me to fight.

That's why I'm still doing it, you know? Right. If it wasn't, then I would go find a better means. Maybe. Actually, I'd probably still be fighting because it's the only thing that I'm truly good at that I love to do. That I wake up in the morning and say, how am I going to get better today? You know, like, what am I going to do to chase the next win, the next title, the next whatever? and that's what I get up in the morning for.

I know you weren't a part of the old regime. You're part of this new Scott Coker era, but what's the vibe like at Beltaur? Because I would hear from a lot of fighters in the old regime saying that it wasn't the greatest vibe, all that. I mean, you've been on two shows. The one on Friday was a big show, a tent pole, as they call it. Compare that to when you were at the UFC

when they were doing great things a couple of years ago. Well, my first, fight was right when cocker took over so i haven't even met bjorn i haven't met anybody from the from the past or whatever yeah all i did all i've done is is known scott the only man i've ever shook hands with you know what i'm saying so um to me you know the first fight that i had you know there were differences like you know i the last time i fought was in the ufc i know exactly how they ran you know i used to know all the guys you know and i heard something about bert leaving what the Hacks with that, man.

You want to... You got to fill me in. Yeah, we could talk about that after. I was going to talk about it during the questions, but if you want to hear it, sure, let's talk about it. Yeah, hang out to that. Hang on to that one. We're going to talk about that.

Okay, okay. But, um, so when I came in, you know, I was like bust, I was kind of like busting balls and I was like, man, you know, UFC did it like this or UFC did it like that. So the guys that were doing it like backstage, I was like kind of busting balls. I think I pissed them off. You know, I was just all in good fun, you know? I mean, I enjoyed the show.

I think it's well-ran. I mean, the guys in the backstage, the Cutman, all those guys that, I mean, Cutman Q, he's the one to do my hands both times, you know, and he's like freaking awesome, man, you know, and Dean and all those guys, Christian, Ian, the guys that are backstage, they all make you feel like a million bucks. They take care of you. It's pretty well-ran. You know, every once in a while, you're running those snags of like, oh, man, we're sitting

here waiting backstage and the way-ins, and I got to listen to some guy Yap for two hours and whatever and let me just eat something. But every fighter goes through that. But I mean, as far as like the way that they ran, you know, this time, this fight, you know, we had some posters. There's little differences that like are like, okay, man, we're going in the right, I think he's going in the right direction. I saw a difference between the last fight and this fight. So if that's a, that's just the taste, then what's to come is going to be better, you know, for the fighters. And ultimately, that's who they're trying to please because the fighters perform well.

you know the people tune in and then it gets better for Bellator. And I would imagine Viacom, who owns Belator, loves the guy like you because you were fighting in the UFC when the UFC was on Spike. They've been promoting guys like you either from the ultimate fighter or from

you know that era of the UFC. So I'm wondering, do you have any sense that, you know, where you're at in the division? Because I could see you getting a big push now. Do you have any sense where you're at? Good Lord. I don't know, man. I mean, I'm you know, I'll take whatever they can give me, you know. I don't think that, like, I mean, I don't know. I don't know how they're going to promote me or what their marketing thing is going to be for me.

Obviously, now they've got more to talk about and more to discuss, and I'm sure that my manager, Jimmy Benz, will be doing some talking with Richard Cho and stuff like that. But, I mean, I don't know, man. I mean, I told people, a lot of people say, man, congrats on your comeback. And I tell them it's not a comeback. It's a warpath. You know, I didn't come back because I thought, man, I was going to just come in and do a few things and maybe look like I kind of still got it. Like, you know, I came back with a vengeance and I came back to just, you know, to do things, to be big, to cement a legacy to let people know that, you know, who I was at.

You got to remember, I was 19, 20, 21, 22, and then I was out. I'm 28 now. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm at the point where guys would just be getting started in the UFC or Belator, and I've already done it, you know? So it's not like I went backwards. I'd have only gone forward. And I think ultimately, my time off while there were ups and downs or whatever,

is actually going to be a blessing because it's not like I've been through five, six years of wars with getting my head knocked in with everybody talking about this whole brain injury type crap. You know, I didn't experience any of that. I experienced injuries in a different way. But, you know, I think I'm going to have a good longevity. I'll be able to make it to 35 fighting pretty easily, you know, without too much so long as I stay healthy.

And ultimately, that's the real luck of the sport, man, is how you can train and beat your body down so badly to go out there and fight and be uninjured and fight and perform at a good level. You know, that's the luck of the sport is how you can stay uninjured, I think, honestly. Do you think you're ready for the big dogs of the division, or do you want a bit of a slower build? You weren't even on the main card of this one. What's up with that?

Dude, I'm not... I don't make those calls. Yeah, but where's the love? I mean, you're a name. You had a great knockout, undercard. Come on. Dude, tell me about it. You know what?

Talk to him, man. Tell them what's up, man. Tell them what the hell do you think? I would be shocked. I'd be shocked if your next fight is on the undercard. Shocked. I would be shocked, too. I would be shocked.

I mean, here's the thing. I can't make those decisions right that's all up to the management to the matchmaker of how they want to utilize me how they

what matchups they want to how they want to build me up or whether they don't whether they just want to throw me to the wolves I already got thrown to the wolves and you saw what happened so it's not a matter of you know whatever you know like come on man

like who seriously like expect me to knock up Brennan Ward besides me you know and people that train me with me. I mean, I think if you took the average fan or the average person and said, you know, how is this going to go down? They probably thought I was going to come in and be the opponent and get beat, you know? I guarantee you, nobody said, hey, Taman is going to come in here and fight Jason Buscher. He's already been, you know, the losing end of two submissions of the Knights in the

UFC, you know, fighting a BJJ Blackbelt. Oh, he's totally going to, you know, transition from a guillotine to an arm bar, an arm bar, you know, nobody thought that was going to happen. Everybody thought that was nuts. So, you know, I just, I like, I like. I like to, I like it when the odds aren't in my favor and I like defying them, you know, it takes the pressure off me because if you do, if you know that, you know, losing is what's expected of you, then, well, where's the pressure, man? Because anybody can go out there and lose, you know? But when you win, then you're, you're the man, you know, that's the perfect situation. So I, I'll take the big dogs if they want to give them to me. I'll take the slow road if they need to, you know, either way, you know, I'm trying to climb a little bit in. them wise. And like I say, you know, chasing green and gold, man, gold around my waist and the green in my back pocket. And then that's, that's what it is, you know, building a life, building a legacy. Two things I've always wanted to ask you. Where does the barn cat come from? And where does your name

Tamden come from? So Tamden comes from, I have a great uncle on my mother's side named Thomas Dan. And so Tamden is kind of like a conjunction of those two. And like Tam is like means twin or something like that in Scottish or Dutch. I can't remember. But basically Tamden is a conjunction of Thomas, Dan, and then squished together. Okay. So that's where Tamden comes from. And then I was like, it's funny because I asked my mom, I was like, what's my

middle name? My middle name's Wade, right? W-A-D-E. Yeah. And so I'm like, mom, where's Wade come from? She's like, oh, it sounded good. I'm like, oh, sweet. So, like, my first name has, like, a real, like, sweet, like, family meaning to it

because my great uncle never made. never had children, anything like that. And Daniel is a family name on my mother's side. So it's like that has been carried through. And then what's your middle name? Ah, well, it sounded like it fit, you know, whatever. Why not, man? And the barn cat is because a couple of reasons.

Where I first started training at in New York, we used to train literally in like a Morton building, right? It was kind of like a garage or whatever. and there would be there was like an abandoned barn right it was like in the middle of a cowfield you know what I'm saying dude I mean think about it like that and right next to us was an abandoned barn and there would be all these like barn cats right where they would come out of living the dump there's a dumpster outside the barn we always be catching them hopping there and pulling food out and killing mice and rats or whatever you know whatever was in the fields and stalking around and one day some guy came in and he's like you know barn cats are like pound for pound most ferocious animal alive. Like if you had a thousand pound barn cat versus a thousand pound bear, the barn cat would easily kill a bear. Wow. You know? And then, you know, you know, you think about it, right? They got like a little mangled ears and like, you know, like eyeball maybe missing or like a scratch on their face or something. And but they just kill and they, you know, they got to make ends

meat. And they're mangy. And, you know, I consider myself kind of mangy looking, you know, maybe a little bit. And, you know, I'm not the prettiest technician sometimes, or at least I definitely wasn't when I first started fighting, man. I looked horrible compared to now. But I always went out there with the tenacity. Like, you know, I needed to get my bread, you know? And that's kind of what happened. After my first fight, they're like, man, you use no technique at all. You just went out there and clobbered a guy. You are like totally the barn cat. Like, that's your nickname. I'm like, no, dude, that's stupid, man. That's horrible. I'm never. going to use that.

And so my coaches and my trainers at the time put my name down as the barn cat. And I was like, this is so dumb. I hate you guys. But like afterwards, like all these drunk fans. And when I was like 19 drunk chicks, I'm like, yeah, the barn cat. Woo! The barn cat! I was like, all right.

I mean, I guess it kind of clicks. Yeah. And so it's just kind of road with me. And, you know, it's a cool, it's, you know, whatever. That's the only gimmick I have. I'm not a really good. trash talker you know i don't have some huge accolade olympic wrestling caliber or anything but um i'm certainly different you know you are different and by the way you know let's let's

call it like we see it i mean you know it's thinning up there on on the top of the head do not shave it don't shave it this is a perfect look no pound for pound best receding hairline yes i think you should run with this as long as possible i i want because you look like the every man. There's a guy on a couch watching you saying, that looks like me, and look what he's doing. You could be that guy. So don't shave. Don't go all bald on us. Don't shave. Don't do that. Keep running with this thing. It's perfect. It's too much upkeep to shave, man. I see these guys with shave heads and I'm like, man, you're like married to a mirror and a razor, man. I can never live like that, you know? The only time I ever clean shave my face is when I fight,

other than that, I usually have some scruffy-ass beard going, you know? I mean, I just, I'm kind of disheveled and mangy looking constantly. I can't really help it. I'm not, you know, but, you know, Einstein, right? He wore the same thing seven days a week. Sure, why not? He just focused on what he was doing, and I'm the same way. I focus on fighting. I focus on training, you know, taking care of my family. Who cares about what my hair and my beard looks like? Whatever, man. Okay, before we let you go, Bert Watson. You want to hear what I heard? Yeah. This is all over the internet. Everyone's talking. Everyone's asking you about it, so let's address it. We were going to address it during the questions period of the show.

I can't confirm that there was, I guess you can call it a disagreement between Bert and the UFC brass. I can't confirm that he went home after the way in, so he was not at UFC 184. Any report or anything like that that he's been fired or quit, I think is premature. Obviously, they're not on the same page right now. I would expect them to try to clear it up, cooler heads prevailing all that stuff, because he is, as you can attest to a gigantic part of the sport and how the thing runs backstage. But yes, as it stands right now, there was a disagreement. He did go back home to Philadelphia.

And anyone who was trying to blame Mark Munoz, there was some talk of argument or an incident with Mark Munoz. Nothing happened between Burt and Mark Munoz. I believe something happened pertaining to the Mark Munoz missing Wade and him, just the logistics of it all, but nothing specifically between Mark Munoz and Bert Watson. So that's where I think Stan right now. He is kind of in a rocky spot right now with the UFC.

I think saying that he has been fired or quit is premature. That's what I know about the Bert Watson situation. You know what probably it is? You know like that movie falling down? You know what I'm saying? Who is that guy? Michael Douglas? Oh, yes.

It's like this guy. Of course. Yes, I've seen it. The stockbroker goes on the, he just snaps someday and goes on a killing spree. I'm not saying that Bert Watson is going on a killing spree. No. What I am saying is that I have met in my life. lifetime, a million different types of fighters or whatever. And I could totally see him just

like one day being like, that's it. Yeah. I'm out. I'm leaving. I'm going home. I'm not babysitting you kids anymore. Sure. Because I mean, you know, and I dealt with that, you know, Belator. Actually, I got a lot of comments from, from those guys who thanked me for, you know, man, you're really professional. You're really like on top of your crap. And I'm like, well, you know, someone around here's got to do it you know someone's got to be that guy and you know like good god you know being on weight and having your medicals in on time i mean imagine that you know but um dude i really hope that he comes back i mean obviously you know he was like he was like um you know he was like a great just a great dude made you feel like a million bucks yeah and uh he took care he took care of guys

man if anybody needed anything he was the man to handle it you know so Um, any interaction I ever had with him was always positive, except for when I was, um, my first UFC fight, I would, I like, didn't make one of the weight checks or something like that. And he was, he chewed me up and down one side and the other. And, uh, after that, we were cool, though, you know, he always knew. He's a living legend. He's a very, very important part of the sport and the UFC and what goes on backstage. Anyone who's been there knows that. So hopefully they work it out. And, uh, you know, we'll let them do that. For now, I want to wish you all the success in the world.

Congratulations on a great return to MMA 2-0 now in Beltoir. I hope you're on the main card. I hope you have a big fight next. And I appreciate the time. This has been great catching up. Hey, man, thanks so much. You know, I got to thank you guys for letting me come on here and be a part of the big leagues. Getting on the Ariel Hwani show, man.

Yeah. How about that? Only good things, man. All right. All right. All right, buddy. Take care. There he is.

The Barncat. Tam Dan McCrory looking great as of late in Bellator 2-0. Nice story as well. Y'all must have forgot Tam-Dan McCrory. So that's the story as far as Bird is concerned. I know a lot of people ask me about it. A lot of people are you going to talk about it? Are you going to talk about it?

I had to gather the info. And yes, I did hear about all that. That's pretty much what I heard. Now you hear things here or there. You need to confirm these things. You need to make sure they'll be up and up. but what I just relayed is what I had heard and what I am pretty certain is, in fact, true. So let's hope.

Bert, no one will say anything bad about that guy. Like I said, a living legend, a guy who really, really, really puts it all together for the UFC backstage. And as of late, you know that he has received a lot more attention. You know, he got that award at the MMA Awards. He comes out before the Wains. Have you ever been to those? But that's all the show. that's all of them just pushing, you know, a character who is a great hype man, if you owe.

This guy's been around combat sports forever. Way back in the day, in the AOL days, we had him on the show, and it was great. And I believe he's writing a book, so that should be really cool. Every time I've seen him at any event, the nicest guy, always so positive, energetic, happy to be there. We'll fly all over the world, even after having surgery in his 60s, a true love of life. And I hope that they figure out whatever disagreement they had. that he's back for the next event, which would be Dallas, because he's an important part, and he's a guy that is irreplaceable.

He is a huge part of the sport in what goes on backstage. So our best of Burt, I did reach out to him just to tell him that, hey, man, thinking of you, hope everything works out, but I have not heard back from him. Some breaking news. Ronda Rossi, remember at the Post-Five Press Conference, I asked her what her next movie would be, and I just got it right here, courtesy of variety. She's going to star in a movie entitled,

mile 22, an action pick with Peter Berg on board to produce. Peter Berg, is that the guy from Friday Night Lights? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? I think they're sleeping back there. Friday Night Lights? Peter Berg. Yes, there you go. So there you have it. That's the movie. And speaking of Ronda Rousey, let us go inside the vault. Our choice for Inside the Vault this week Rousey. Which fight in particular? Well, it's the fight that happened exactly three years ago tomorrow, March 3rd, 2012. It was in Columbus, Ohio, Misha Tate, Ronda Rousey, number one. Of course, Ronner Rousey wins the belt. She wins via Arambar. It lasted four minutes and 27 seconds, which is longer than her, like what, her last four fights combined, three fights combined.

It was a great event. It was the moment that brought her to the forefront. It was the moment that she won her first belt. It was the moment that the UFC truly started to believe that women's MMA can actually be a thing. And it happened three years ago tomorrow. And if you remember, the Monday after that show, she was on this show. Wow, wouldn't that be fun to look back at? She was on this show.

And Dana White called her in the middle of our interview. She was in the car, I believe, with Marina Shafir. boy have times changed. Dana White called her to congratulate her, and then she left me on hold and forgot that we were on hold, and then came back yelling, screaming, happiest can be about Dana White calling her. Now here she is the face, many can argue,

of women's MMA, the face, obviously, of women's MMA, face of the UFC, a gigantic star doing great things, and I can assure you that she made more money than what is being disclosed. That's just part for the course, and you know that. so stop getting all up in arms about that. But I thought it would be fun to go back to March the 3rd, 2012, Columbus, Ohio. Moments after Ronda Rousey became the new Strike Force Women's Bantamoy Champion,

no one has held that belt. Of course, it became the UFC Women's Bantamoy Champion after they dissolved that promotion and brought it into the UFC. So I wanted to go back and look at that. This is a young Ronda Rousey, a wide-eyed Ronda Rousey, a humble Ronda Rousey, as she always is. Look at her at the press conference on Saturday. very humble, looking down, doesn't want to speak about herself, these grandiose terms after the fact. And you saw a lot of that in my chat with her after that fight.

So here it is, March 3rd, 2012 after her first win over Misha Tate in Columbus, Ohio. Ariel Hawani post-fighted at Strikeforce in Columbus alongside the new Strike Force Women's Bantamway champion, Ronda Rousey and Rhonda. Congratulations on the win. A huge win for you. Overall, were you happy with your performance? Yeah, I'm really happy because I won. You know, I don't really remember that much what goes on in my fights. I have to rewatch them later, you know.

So, yeah, like I said earlier, I'm not happy with my wardrobe choice. I've never to wear shorts this short again because I remember being in the middle of the fight and thinking, oh, my God, my shorts. So, yeah, that's pretty much all I learned so far. That was the only negative out of the fight your shorts. The only negative was my shorts, yeah. What were you thinking after the first minute when you went for the armbar, everyone knew it was coming, you had it, and then she got out of it.

What was going through your mind? I didn't feel like I had that one very well. I went into the position to try and improvise from there, but I didn't feel very secure in it from the beginning. So I wasn't the least but discouraged when I lost it because it felt very loose. I didn't think I had it. After that, the flight sort of transitioned on the feed, and she tagged you a couple times. Did she hurt you at all? No.

I'm going to be. I'm fine. Okay. Just checking. And then how did you set up the finishing arm bar? Because, again, we all knew it was coming, and obviously you had the great throw to the ground, and that's when things started. But how did you set it up?

Well, she was in a position where she had to, you know, give up an arm and defend herself or else the fight would have been stopped. So I wouldn't have given up such a dominant position unless I was sure I had it. And so I was just setting her up to defend herself and when she did and then I went for it. What do you think this says to the critics out there who said that you didn't deserve this? You know, what do you think this right here says to them? It says they're wrong. What do you want me to say? Yeah.

Just give me a couple minutes here. Just talking to the champion. Okay. So who do you think you should fight next? Do you think it's fair that Sarah, or is there anyone else out there that you think you should fight? I think the most fair thing to do is to give Sarah Cuffin, you know, the shot, but it's not my call and it's not her call. So whatever the fans and, you know, strike force want, then I'll do it.

We're used to people sort of squashing their beef after the fight is over, but it didn't seem like you were interested in doing that. No, no, after the way ends, when Misha, like, got in my face and I pushed her back, and then she went on her Twitter and said, I should be fine for head-budding her. I'm like, you know, I just thought that was not very respectable, you know, before I was willing to give her a benefit of a doubt. But after that, then, no, we're not cool. Do you think your life will change now? You know, we saw what happened after the first big women's fight and we haven't seen Gina back.

Do you think you're going to get a lot of offers? People try to take you away from MMA. Are you here to stay? A lot of people are worried about this. I'm here to stay. Don't worry about it. You know, I got a belt now and I need to defend it. It's my job.

You almost feel like you saved women's MMA here tonight because of this performance, doing it on this stage? I think I did something very positive for it and I think there are a lot of girls doing very positive things for it and I don't think anyone does this single-handedly but I think this is a big deal at least for me Final question What does this mean you dedicated this win to your father And obviously that's something that is very emotional for you

If you could just sort of put into words What does this mean considering the fact that prior to the fight You dedicated the fight to your father, your late father? Well I don't know I just I feel like what he told me that I could do when I was a kid and when everyone thought that, you know, there was something wrong with me and he was the one that had confidence in me. It's just, I don't know. I feel like I finally fulfilled that and I kind of feel an inner piece that I didn't have before. Congratulations, Rhonda.

Fantastic performance. Thank you. All right, so there you have it. Of course, since then, she has steamrolled through everyone, defeated Sarah Kaufman in 54 seconds, defeated Liz Karmouche, the first ever UFC women's fight 4 minutes of 49 seconds in Anaheim then she defeated Misha Tate again only time she's gone past the first round that was in the third round 58 seconds in Sarah McMahon minute six

Lexus Davis 16 seconds Katsangano 14 seconds unbelievable stuff and if you notice I was kind of speaking quickly during that interview someone was telling us to wrap up I was like I'm speaking to the chap leave me alone. Give me two seconds. Made the trek all the way out here.

It was the Arnold's. And by the way, I failed to mention at the beginning of the show when I was talking about a very big weekend for M.M.A. I failed to mention our guy Liam McGeery, winning the Belator Light Heavyweight title, a tremendous performance against Emmanuel Newton. What a fight that was. Maybe a fight-of-the-year candidate. We'll see. But he is now...

Now, I know there are some people saying he's a first British fight. to win a major title. Fine. I guess technically, but look, with all due respect, I think Beltor is doing great things. It was a great show. Look great.

We got McCrory on. You had other great performances. King Moe defeating Czech Congo. Paul Daly winning. Yada, yada, yada. But, but, but, but, but this is not the, this is not the title, and I think everyone would agree with that.

Even Liam himself. Still a great moment. That's why I don't feel like we need to put it in those terms. But he is the new champion. He's undefeated. and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do. I know there were some people in our studio who didn't believe he can get this done,

but he has shut up the naysayers. He has done so. Liam McGee, champion. How about that? Great stuff. All right, let's go to the questions. I know someone who's surprised about Liam. Accurate?

I think Will left. Okay, yeah, Will's gone. Mark's filling in. Will took off. Fresh from UFC 184. there he is, Mr. New York Rick. Thank you, thank you. Fresh from Invicta and UFC 184.

Yes, you were there. I just think it's good that, you know, the guy who's trying to rush you with Rousey found employment at Shrine Expo, Hall, and you didn't keep him unemployed for too long. I have a very funny story about that. You're referring to the Ronda interview, right? Yes.

Yeah, yeah, I have a funny story about that, but I won't get into it here. Okay, tell me there. But also kind of funny that the same thing happened on Friday. Did indeed. Now, can we address this? Sure, let's talk about it. So a lot of people may know.

I mean, it's not a secret. You work in PR. I do. Four days a week. Yep, Jack Taylor, PR. Jack Taylor PR. And one of your clients just so happens to be Invicta. Yep.

And there I am. I think working with you and your team for the first time, right, in an event. Actually, no. Well, yeah, because when I went to Gloria, I was really working. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So working and, you know, I'm thinking, all right, this is going to be great.

You know, I'm going to get interviews, getting exclusive. all this stuff. And, you know, I, I mentioned a few times, although you claim to have not heard me, I mentioned a few times that I wanted a post-fight interview with Shannon Knapp, of course, the president of Victa, and the winner of the Cyborg fight and the winner of the co-made event, Grasso Inouye. Yeah. And then I get to the press conference. First off, the press conference was late, and everyone's tired. It's like 11 p.m. at that point. It's been a long day, way-ins and whatnot. And press conference over, okay, who do you want? You won Cyborg, right? No, no, no. I told do I wanted Shannon, winner, winner.

Okay, okay, we'll figure that out. We do Shannon, that's fine. It's over, it's okay. I think it lasted like, what, six minutes, seven minutes, something like that? We had to recap the event. It's a big moment for her. We start interviewing Grasso, and like two minutes in, I'm being told to rap. And like, no one's there.

There's no media. All I hear is you guys complain that you don't get enough media. MMA fighting is there. ESPN is there. Everyone's there. And I'm being told to rap, Alexa Grasso. rap. In the middle of the interview they're talking to me to rap. And then we try to do cyborg and we have to leave the room and everyone's staring at us, giving us the stink eye, everyone's giving us crap for being there.

We're like, the thing lasted 20 minutes after the press conference. We're trying to do post-fight interviews. Never get this. I'm not used to this kind of, you know, this amateurish behavior. I'm used to the big leagues. People are kicking me out. What is that? I'm still kind of pissed off about it, to be honest. Now, do you have anything to say for yourself? I mean, man, ESPN's there. They're not complaining like this. Unbelievable. Yeah, because they only did one interview.

Now, I'll say two things to this. One, for the life of me, do not remember you telling me the three interviews you wanted. But I will grant that I was quite busy, and it's very likely and possible that you told me that. So that was my fault. Kind of besides the point. But the second thing about, I mean, there's nothing I can do about the press conference being late. The event was late. and I can't do anything about the security guard.

If you watch the interview that Ariel did with Chris... No, no, no, with Chris. Yeah. You can hear the guy saying, what was he saying? We got to get everybody out of here. He just kept repeating it, trying to ruin the interview. Oh, my God. The security guard from the venue, which is what I was alluding to with the Rousey.

You saw Piss off Hawaii get out just a little bit, right? Oh, the confrontation. I was going to lay the smackdown. because he was he's like you could have done it downstairs i said you didn't offer me that you didn't tell me i could do it downstairs look far be for me to tell a PR person how to PR but isn't that a conversation that you maybe have with that guy and say look these guys are doing interview that the last ones here can you just let them do it yeah we had that conversation his answer was no the F out how do we fix this situation can we go downstairs is there another room and why did

he want to go when i went downstairs guess what he was sitting with his cronies just talking yeah watching the watching the ring get broken down doing doing i don't understand people which want to go home lazy bums um but it was a successful event sure we got the interviews we did but they were a little rushed no not shannon's that was a nice one yeah i know but i wanted to interview the fighters too oh i know i wanted you too and you and you did you though or did you guys want to go home and eat or something it felt like everyone there's nothing that pisses me off more than when you do an event and then the event is over and we're like oh we got our stuff we got our stuff we got our stuff

it's all good. We got the pre-fight promotion. We got the articles. We got the videos. We got all that. Press comments over. Okay. See you later, everyone. And then everyone just rushes out. Well, let's be honest. I mean, and cork me from wrong, you might know more than I. The fighters want to talk, right? Oh, yeah. They want to talk. They want to bask in the glory.

There's no pressure anymore. There's no weight cutting involved. They want to talk. Why are you rushing us out? I don't get it. Why? Not I. I wish it was my call. Don't even try this. Don't even play this game. Are we passing the buck? Listen, who is screaming in your face?

Was it me or was it the security guard? Well, you know that if you were screaming my face, you know, the fallout. The destruction. You know, you could never do that. But, but, I mean, I felt like there could have been a conversation. I had the conversation. And the answer was, get the F out.

So you're saying that the client can't control the security of the venue. Well, I mean, I suppose that the venue. the venue was only rented for a certain amount of time. I don't know, but I can't... Yes. Anyway, let's not put a damper on what was a great evening for women's MMA. Yeah, how about that? There's a nice card.

A lot of luminaries there. Wow. There's all kinds of celebrities. And then they announced July 10th. They're going to be back in Las Vegas teaming up. I think every event should be, you know, linked up with a UFC one. There's another one April 10th, correct? Correct.

That is not because the UFC is impolent, and that event isn't happening in Poland. Where is that event? No location yet. Okay. Maybe it's Poland. Possible? It is not Poland.

Krakow? It is not Poland. No. But I will make sure to have a conversation with the security there. It'd be nice. Or maybe we just won't come. How about that? We'll put our big boy pants on and leave.

Listen, I'll stand on camera with Casey. Yeah, the PR guy. The PR guy doing the interview. But yes, it was nice. Let us answer some questions. We were running out of time. We don't have time to waste. Are you rushing us out of here?

I'm not. I just want to have enough time. I want to have proper time. You can have a conversation with the security? The security. Maybe he can be one of our cronies here. Tell us what to wrap the interviews. No, he'll fight for us to have the more time.

We'll utilize him. That'd be great. We'll go to 4.45. No, trust me. I've dealt with the brass over here. They don't appreciate that. One minute over, Will goes nuts back. there. Starts throwing things, breaking the TVs.

All right, let's do it. Let's do it. Okay. Who's next for Rhonda? If Cyborg isn't able to make weight for Rhonda Rossi's return to Hollywood, who do you think should have a crack at her belt next? Betch Kohia, Holly Holm. Or James says, my personal favorite is another Misha Tate matchup. After all, she has come closest to beating her by going longer. Well, first off, it's great to hear from my man James. I love James Glory. Anyhow, it has to be Betch Kohair.

That's the only answer. It's the only answer. If all of you respect, James, Amisha Tate was close, the second one, or at least the closest that anyone has gone to actually finishing her or beating her or actually taking her into the championship rounds, basically the only person to go past the first round, but we've seen it twice.

And she's 2-0, and I'm not a huge fan of a third crack when you've already lost two. So it's got to be Betch. Like I said at the top, she's a great personality. She flew from Brazil. She's been calling her out for a long time. She took down two of the horse. You know she'll promote the fight.

Now, she can't speak English, but she does a great job of pushing her buttons. It'll be intense. Think about those stare downs. I think that's the way to go. I think that's the most fun fight. It's the most promotable fight. And, you know, maybe. Maybe she has the style.

Do I think Betch-Kohara wins? No, but maybe she roughs her up. Maybe she makes it a little dirty. Who knows, who knows. No one's on her level right now in the UFC and my. opinion. But I'd like to see Jessica get one more fight to build her up and then be in that discussion. Betch Kohaz seems like the most logical answer in my opinion. Do you agree? Sure, but I mean, I said this when the Gina Karano fight was thrown around. It's Ronda Rousey is number

one and then everybody's tied for 500th. It doesn't really matter. Outside of Cyborg, I don't really care who she's matched up with. Sure, Betch Kohuea, sure. Holly Holm, sure. She's going to destroy them with an around, all of them. So unless it's cyborg, line them up. It doesn't really matter. And it's not Cyborg next. We know that because,

A, she was announced for July 10th. Yep. And what do you make of that? I mean, you've been around her. Do I think she could make 135, you're saying?

No, no, no. I don't feel like she really wants to, to be honest. Oh, she wants it. Really? So 100% wants it. So why does she say all these things in the press? She just doesn't want to play that game.

What do you mean? In the post-fi press conference, she said, 145, 140. It's not happening. And stop coming to me. saying like, oh, Ronda would go up for Gina. Oh, Andrews and stuff went up. It doesn't matter.

They said it's not happening. Who cares? Stop bringing those up. They are not going to do it. For their reasons, they're not going to do it. So what's the point? Well, I understand why they wouldn't do it. I understand the champion at 135 saying you have to come down to me if you want it.

But I just don't think Cyborg can make 135 and keep her health. Like, she is very large and it's going to be tough. I just can't see it. I mean, I'm sure she's going to try at some point because I 100% believe she wants the fight. Why can't the next fight be at 135? She has what? Four months. I don't think it's that easy.

No, 35 is not. Let's try. Don't even announce what weight the next fight is at. Do a test cut. You have four months to get ready. You didn't get any damage in this fight. Let's try. Let's give it the old college try.

I mean, you can give. Like, this is the fight. This is your chance to make money. That's the part I don't understand. Who's going to benefit the most from fighting Ronorossi? you, not us. Yes, but I mean, you could give somebody infinite time. They can't, sometimes you just can't get down to a weight class that you can't.

So why do we keep talking about it? It's not happening. Because nobody can challenge Ronda Rousey. We keep talking about it because everybody else at 135 isn't good enough to beat Ronda Rousey. That's why we keep talking about it. Right now. And that's just the truth of the situation. Nobody at 135 is even in her, like, in her ballpark.

They're somewhere else. And that's the reason is because Chris is a 145. and she's obviously very, very good, and people want to see it. But the truth of the matter is, somebody at 135 has to come up to challenge Rousey before, and that will... Well, it's right now. It's right now. I mean, who would have thought Chris Wydenman when he was living out of his parents' basement would beat Anderson Silva?

So these things take time. Like Kenner Grace said, there's someone training somewhere who might beat her one day. Hopefully she's around. She wants to retire and defeat it. But... Well, I mean, Anderson Silva wasn't going out there and destroying everybody in a round. He kind of was. I mean, on a round, not in a 10 seconds.

But he was destroying them. And you get the sense that if you really care, like he was clowning around a lot of those fights. He couldn't want those fights earlier. No. The point is, if you really want it, why aren't you banging that drum? Why aren't you doing what Betchko Hea is doing?

That's the part I don't understand. That's a 135-er. It's not the same. You're saying, oh, why isn't the person who's clearly a 145-pound fighter who's incredible at that weight class? Why aren't they banging the drum? And who's also successful and is headlining cards by herself? Why isn't she banging the drum to get down to 135 to fight Randa Rousey?

As opposed to the person who has nothing to lose, who isn't really that, who hasn't established themselves as an MMA fighter at 135? Of course they're going to be banging the drum. Okay, here's my response. Here's my response. She already announced her intentions to fight a 135 once. At one point she thought she could do it, then she got injured, right? Right? Yep.

So at one point she believed it. It's not so out of left field. She believed it. She agreed to it. So why not do it again? Listen, I think she is going to try it. I think she is going to try it. I think the fight will happen.

I disagree with Brian Stan. I think the fight happens. Listen, I think everybody in the sport, everybody involved wants that fight to happen. All the fans, the media would love it. The Ronda Rousey and Chris herself want it, I'm sure. And I think it will probably happen, and Chris will probably try to get down to 135. But I don't think it's as easy as just, okay, why is it this fight happening?

It's not a situation. I mean, look how long Paki-O-Mayweather took to put together. There's just reasons why these things don't happen. And for now, this is not happening. And by the way, I do agree with the idea that she has to make it somewhere else. You can't take that risk. Oh, of course. No, I agree with that as well.

The Bellator thing, excuse me, the Invicta thing is perfect. You got four months now. Hopefully, see, what I had heard, which is what I brought up, Robert Sargent said he heard something different. I heard that it was a three-fight deal where the first fight would be a $1.45 for the belt. The second fight would be at $1.35 for Invicta, and the third fight would be in the UFC. Of course, if she wins all those fights. That's the question I asked Dana White. That's the one that he gave me the runaround.

And I love all these people saying, oh, Dana White poned you. Just, can you just relax? I've been here poned in a minute. Yeah, I hear it all the time because these people don't know what they're saying. How about this? And look, I'll be that Huckleberry, no problem. Legitimate question. And it had nothing to do with the other question that was asked earlier by Stephen Morocco.

But you know how that goes. David St. Martin tweeting out a death glare, courtesy of one New York Rick. I saw it. What? Yeah, check it out. I don't know. I have the questions up, but I'll look at it later. Okay.

Next question. We know how amazing Rhonda is and how tough cats. Zangano is, but what do you think the casual fans sees Ronda as? Do they believe she is as good as we see her to be? Do you think someone tuning in and seeing her finish opponents without breaking a sweat just makes them think she's fighting quote-unquote bums and not the same caliber as the men's division? Which do you think it is? I don't know what those casual people are thinking. To me, it just makes me think that she's incredible, that she's unbelievable, that she's a superstar, that she's on a whole other level. I don't think it necessarily diminishes her opponents. These are solid fighters. Perhaps

they're not on the level and that's why she's champion and they're not. To me, my reaction on Saturday was, this was it. Cat starts running. Holy crap. What is she doing? And I'll be honest. You know, like there's a lot of armchair quarterbacking going on. I was like, wow, could this be it? Nope, it's not it. Down, submission. Holy crap. She did it again. I kind of wish I could see a little more, but holy crap she did it again she's unbelievable i kind of wish i could see more but wow i'm so happy that i'm here i'm so happy that i witnessed it the crowd seems okay it's like all of these these emotions i tell you that's a lot more fun than you know a five-round snooze fest i tell you that's a lot more fun than a 12-round snooze fest we're going to compare it to boxing so to me what i'm thinking is

and i see all these people saying well you're not getting your money's worth if i'm inviting friends over to watch a ronda rousey fight and i'm trying to convince them a little bit to come they're kind of on the fence, you're going to see something spectacular. This will not be boring. It might last 10 seconds, but let me tell you, this is going to be amazing. And you'll be talking about it, and our jaws will be open, and we'll be excited, and will be pumped, and it'll be an event. This is what sports are all about.

And it's very unique, because when you sit down to watch the calves and the rockets, you know you're getting four quarters, but this is what combat sports are all about. It can end in a flash. Isn't that why we watch to see the unexpected? I love it. I love everything about it. there's no way this is bad for anyone involved, except for the opponents. I agree with you. And I think the comparison to boxing is a little off base anyway,

just specifically Mike Tyson in this case. You don't like my Tyson. By the way, Roy Jones Jr. could have agreed with me more. You're misunderstanding. Let me finish before you jump in there for a second. All right, all right, all right. The point being that when you're paying for a boxing fight, you're paying for one fight. You're paying for Mike Tyson versus X.

When you're paying for a UFC card, it has never been the case where you're essentially paying for one fight. Now, people will say, you know, oh, there's the John Jones, what was it, 159, where it was essentially John and Chale and not much else. And people are saying, oh, this is one card based around this one fight. Well, as a fan, you feel that way. You're not, you're not loving the rest of the card. But the point being that that is a full card that they're presenting to you. And oftentimes a boxing card is one fight and then, you know, guys who haven't been on TV before and things like that.

So when you're paying for that card, like last last. Knight's card, for example. That was a relatively weak card when compared to some of the other paper views that we've had this year already. Would you agree with that? The card on paper? On paper going in or going out? No, going in.

Going in. Not including the fights that were scrapped. I'm saying the card with... The final card? Yes, the final card. Going in. Yeah. Yeah, of course.

Okay. So even in that case, you're at least getting a few fights, even if they're not, you know, the fights that were initially announced, you're still getting, you're paying to see, you know, Holly Holm home and you're paying to see Glacin Tebow versus Ferguson and Josh Koshchek versus Ellenberger. You're not just paying to see Ronda Rousey fight. If it was the case where it was essentially three undercard fights, and then Ronda Rousey, I'm not so sure everybody be paying for it, but that's not the structure that we're dealing with with MMA and specifically the UFC. So I don't think that we can necessarily say, you know,

I don't feel like I'm getting my money's worth when I tune into a Ronda Rousey pay-per-view. And originally she wasn't even going to be headlining the card. Right. So I think this whole idea is silly, and I don't think that there's necessarily that sentiment. At least I haven't heard it except for people who want to put that forth as something there. I've never heard that from anybody who follows MMA very casually, but they were looking forward to the Ronda Rousey fight.

And I haven't heard anything to the point where, oh, I'm not going to ever watch UFC again because of this. I think that that's something from inside the bubble that is trying to be contrarian and trying to put forth this thing that Ronda Rousey's fights are somehow, quick fights are somehow a detriment. to people ordering paper views, which I don't think is possible, to be honest. But you get the mic time. Again, I'm not comparing the people. I'm not comparing the personalities. I'm just comparing the last time I felt like there was a fighter where you weren't bummed that it ended so quickly. Like if, sure. Okay. If Pac Yao Mayweather ends in 14 seconds, we're going to be bummed. Yes, because you're paying $100 for that one fight. Yeah, yeah. You're not paying $100 for Ronda Rousey. You're paying $100 for Ronda.

Rousey, the Komiant event, the third fight, the fourth fight, the fifth fight. Although you could make the case of this time you were paying to see Ronda fight, right? I mean, most people were there. Yes, this was a relatively weak card, sure. 170 also. Remember when she fought McMahon? Although that was supposed to be D.C. versus... Yeah, I mean, they're not trying to do it that way.

No, I know. It's crazy. Anyway, all right. We've covered this. Next question. Could Zingano be in the Chad Mendes role now? She's obviously the number two at Women's 135, her post-fight interview. was one of the most heartfelt moments in the UFC ever.

That one that she did live was interesting. Do you see her getting a title shot again after a bunch of finishes or just linger at number two like Chad Mendez? Well, again, Chad Mendes lost twice to Jose Aldo, so I don't know if that's a fair comparison, to be honest. Yep. I think she's in the Sarah McMahon territory. You lost a quick fight to the champion.

There aren't a lot of contenders. A couple wins, and you're back in there. Now, Sarah stumbled against Misha Tate, but if Sarah would have beat Misha Tate, I think she would have been maybe one fight away. So, but everybody who's lost to Ronda Rousey is in that same situation except for Misha Tate. So this is Sarah, Sarah Kaufman. Absolutely.

This one was so freakish. This one was so freakish that I would be down to see it again, but not right now. Not right now. I want to see the new ones. I want to see Bechkoheya, of course, holding out hope that Chris Seiburg happens. Jessica, if she gets a win. I like to see new challenges, but I still think that there's a fight to be sold there. you can obviously build up. And I loved every single thing. I'm very happy that Katzenegano went to the

Post-Five press conference. To be honest, it was a little uncomfortable to watch the Post-Fight interview because you could tell how frustrated she was and how it was coming out. But I love what she said about, I don't remember the quote now off the top of my head. She said something about I don't always take the easy route, but I usually find my way around. And her looking at Dana, wow, what a moment that was, saying, who's number two, I want them right now. I mean, you could tell she's very motivated. Let's see what happens and maybe she can get a little more on a regular schedule as far as fighting is concern. But I'm okay with it. Look, if you're going to lose, the better to lose like that where you can claim that it was a freakish, stupid mistake than to get thoroughly dominated for

three rounds and then lose. I'd rather see a Katzangano rematch at this point than a third Misha Tate fight. Let's put it that way. I feel like rematches in the sport come in all different ways. Like, you know, T.J. Dillishaw beat the brakes off Hennon Burrow for five rounds and he's going to get a a rematch. He was supposed to get one. He was the champion. He was the champion. Yeah, but the point being that it doesn't matter. I don't think the outcome of the fight, whether it was long or short, really matters as much as just proving your case once you get the opportunity. So after this fight, if Katzengano comes back, firing on all cylinders, just destroying challengers, she's going to be right back in there. The same for anybody else. If, you know,

the people who had fought Ronda Rousey before are false. altering. That's the case. Misha Tate hasn't looked spectacular lately. Sarah McMahon just lost to Misha Tate. We need somebody who's going to come up and look like the worthy challenger. Kat Zingano was that person now. And if somebody else comes along and it can be cat again, they will get the title shot. And I don't think any of these quick losses will matter in the long run in terms of securing yourself a second shot.

I wonder who's next. It's a good question. Maybe the winner of Kaufman Davis. That makes a lot of sense, right? We shall see. Next question. Everyone was so quick to point out Holly Holmes flaws after that fight,

but what did you think of Raquel Pennington and what she was able to do in there? Honestly, I wasn't just... Oh, sorry, sorry, keep going. Let's see, was there much more? This person thinks, Gator thinks I think she was much improved and gave Holly a much better fight than expected.

What would you like to see next for both of them? Holly and Raquel, and he suggests Jessica I versus Hollyholm. I think I-Home is a little early for a home. I'd like to see her get a bit of a slower build, especially because you don't want to kill off one of those contenders, two potential matchups for Ronda Rousey. There aren't a lot of options.

That fight was what I expected. I spoke to someone, actually, what I predicted backstage, and you can ask the people back there, I said unanimous decision 30 to 27. It ended up being a split decision. Whatever. But the 29, 28 was the right call. that was the right call 100%.

Two rounds, first two going to Holly, third round going to Raquel. But I didn't think that Holly would be able to finish Raquel. She's super tough, great chin, a very hard out. And Raquel, give her a lot of credit as is being brought up here, kept going, even quickly dropped Holly in the third round. She just kind of ran out of time. A little too much, a little too late.

But I was fine with it. I expected that. I thought it was interesting that her manager, Holly Holmes manager, told me afterwards, Lenny Freskes, who's a tremendous guy, my first time meeting him, he's been on this show once before. She was talking all week long about how nervous she gets, and he told me that she didn't seem as nervous as usual. Now, she kind of poured cold water on that in the post-fite press conference, but, you know, that's a weird thing. Like, why wouldn't you be nervous? It's funny how the mind works sometimes. I expect the next time we see her, she'll be better.

She seemed a little, you know, Tim, it's your first time in the U.S. There's a lot of pressure. You know, there's a lot of money involved. You've been talking about it. this. You've been, you know, part of this story for a long time. People wondering when you'd make it to the UFC, you have a great team behind you. There's a lot of pressure on you. So that fight was fine, in my opinion, and it was pretty much what I expected. And yes, I give Raquel a lot of credit as well. Like I said, Jessica, I think is a little too early. Next, you know, I like that Marion Renaud idea. Marion Renauds ranked 10th in the UFC rankings. Home ranked 13th. They're fighting around the same time. What do you think of that?

great fight. As for Raquel, I'm not sure. I mean, there's a lot of opponents there. Maybe Jessica Andrudge, who just lost to Renault. You know, you've got to see who's matched up when, but Renault Holmes seems to me like the perfect

fight and the kind of fight that Renault was talking about, a big fight on the cusp of getting in there. And I think that's a solid win for Holly if she beats Marion. Yeah, that's a great matchup. Our next question. What did you think of Josh Koshchek's performance on Saturday, as much as he doesn't want to retire on a loss, should he maybe consider calling it quits now, if not, who makes sense for him next?

Also, he appeared to be having some trouble with his eye during the fight. Do you have any insight onto whether he injured it, or was it just never fully recovered from the GSP fight? Well, it was interesting. If you saw my pre-fight interview with Jake Ellenberger, he admitted that he is going to target that eye. And apparently he did a good job of doing that. Josh Koshchek, man, what a pre-fight interview from him. Holy moly. He was spin-fif. fire as well. He was talking about unions and A.K.A. Burning down, all this stuff. I mean, he was in rare form. It was great to see Josh. I loved our exchange at the beginning of the interview where I said, I thought I'd never see you again. He was saying that he hoped that was going to be true.

But I love Josh. He's a great character. He's one of those, you know, those tough OGs from tough one. Just him and Diego Sanchez left as far as active tough one fighters in the UFC. But I do think it's time. I mean, he was talking about a lot of investments and doing things outside of fighting. He said he wanted to finish his contract. He has one more fight after this. I'm not so sure that I want to see him fight again. Just because you don't want to see a guy who was so great at one point, title contender, you know, just he's not at the same level anymore. And these things happen. It happens to everyone, including Muhammad Ali, who Roy Jones called the greatest of all time. There's no shame in that. You have to know when to say when. So again,

we always have this discussion after a fighter of his caliber starts losing a bunch and gets older. they can do whatever they want. But if you're asking me, do I want to pay to watch Josh Kosteck? Do I feel comfortable watching Josh Kosteck? Do I want to see Josh Kosteck fight again? UFC or not, the answer is no. Grusome scene there with him getting, you know,

choked out and starting to foam at the mouth. Boy, actually, I wanted to ask Kenner about that, but it lasted a long. Also, the Mark Munoz one. The interview lasted long. But, man, that was a gruesome thing to watch. I don't want to see him. I don't want to see him fight anymore.

Yeah. I mean, he's proven everything. Same with Mark Munoz. I love Mark Munoz. Really one of the nicest guys, but I just, I don't know. I don't want to see it anymore. Next question. Obviously, it's time to get Tony Ferguson a big-name fight.

He has looked great in his last few, and I can't remember anyone who has run through Glacent T-Bow like that. Any thoughts on who he should fight next? This person, Gator, says, Diaz versus Ferguson, despite me coming off a loss. That's fun. Yeah, Diaz is still a big name. I wonder if Ferguson finally cracks those rankings, those pesky rankings.

You look at who's at the bottom of him. You know, Ally Quinta, Diaz, Masvedal, Jim Miller. I mean, it's obviously a very, I mean, all due respect to Ayahuanta, I kind of feel like he deserves to be in there, right? Over Ayahupta? Yeah, I mean, Castillo, to Mitch. And Tebow is pretty solid. I think he's won, what, four, five in a row?

Five in a row. including those in the last three. He beat Katsunori Kikuno and Mike Rio to start the streak. He's such a confident fighter. Wow, that guy oozes confidence. He's very intense. He's come a long way. I love those stories.

Like, someone was saying, I think it was maybe D.C. was saying on the post-fight show, like Tony Ferguson proves, actually I think he said in the pre-fight show, Tony Ferguson proves that the tough system still works. And that might be the case. But I like the slow build. It's fun watching a guy who makes it into the UFC,

be a tough or whatever. and, you know, maybe stumbles at first, but they give him that slow build, and they don't give up on him. And now, look, I mean, he's really turning into something special. So it's a lot of fun to see that happen before our eyes. I think he deserves to be ranked. And I'd be down with that in a Nade-D-S fight. Even though Nate is coming off a loss and he's been stumbling as a way, I think that's a fight that is obviously very high profile. And I'd be surprised if Tony didn't want that fight.

All right, let's try and power through some of these. We've got a lot. Okay, okay, okay. What did you make of Rumble and Jones? There you go. Rushing me again. Yes. What did you make of Rumble and Jones winding up Dana at the press conference?

Welcome to the show press conference. It was great to see some fun like that. And I thought it showed all involved in a light that we can allow young people and our moms to see. Is it time folks learn to smile again in the fight game? Yeah, it was great. Last time I checked, I think, and I might have gone up. but that video, that one clip, has like 800,000 views on our YouTube channel, which is amazing. Great moment.

I enjoyed that press conference. It ran a little long, but it looked nice, and it was fun to see all the fighters up there. Apparently they're going to do it every quarter or so. So the first time is now. Now it's welcome to the show. They got to put a lot of time and effort resources into getting all those fighters there. Made it feel big, gets people excited about the upcoming fights. I'm cool with it.

I thought the fans asked tremendous questions. My favorite one, by the way, was the guy comparing John John, Jones to Kanye West saying it was hard to be his fan. Anyway, I loved it. I saw something about D.C. not being happy about it. It was fun. It was fun to see Dana's reaction. And look, it brought some attention to the fight. It doesn't always have to be bad blood, all that stuff.

800 or so 1,000 people on our YouTube channel, forget about the UFCs and everyone else's. Saw that clip on a fight day with a lot going on. That's pretty big. So, yeah, it was great. It was a really fun moment and it looked like Dana crapped his pants. So that's always funny. Now the question becomes, are you going to start saying, to the show incessantly now. Yes, absolutely. Hashtag, welcome to the show. Brock Lester was at the show.

Welcome to the show. Brock Lester. Go ahead. Do it. Hit it. Transition. Thoughts on Brock Lesser being at UFC 184. Did he and McMahon really have a fight? Hashtag, welcome to the show. Do you think it's a WWB contract ploy or is there a real chance he could return to the Uckgon? I think it's the latter. I think it's a little bit of both. I think it's negotiations. This is what you should do. You're about to be a free agent. Why not go out there and start flirting with your ex-girlfriend in front of your former girlfriend, or your current girlfriend. Maybe it's your damn wife. Or maybe it's your mistress in front of your ex-girlfriend in front of your wife.

Who knows? All I know is that Brock Lester was wearing a sweet-ass, three-piece suit. He was front row. He makes a great entrance, and the timing is not coincidental. His contract's about to be up. Dave Meltzer saying that they've gone into a disagreement. This guy knows how to play the game better than anyone. He's amazing at that, and he's weighing his options.

So he should do that. That's negotiations. More power to him. I hope he comes to UFC because he makes things that much more interesting. Enough of the fake stuff. Brock come back. That was great. And also, he is a scary, scary man.

In that suit, he looked particularly scary. That shot of him and then Mickey Rorick, or was it Mickey Rourke, then him? I think it was Mickey then him. The juxtaposition between, like, scary man and, well, scary man. Different scaries. Okay, next question. Do you have anything else to add to what we were talking about earlier, were Bert Watson.

Do I have anything? Let's see. My phone? No, I have nothing. That's it. Okay. Hopefully, like I said, cooler heads. Reiterate real quickly.

Because if somebody looks at the clip, you know, in the question section. Oh, I understand. I understand. So what I heard was that right before UFC 184, I believe on Friday, there was a disagreement about a few things, and Bert went home. What exactly was the disagreement about? What were they mad about? What was he mad about?

do not know. A lot of people pinning this on Mark Munoz. I don't think there was an incident between him and Mark Munoz. I think it had one of the things, I think it was multiple things, but one of the things might have been something, again, it's all very murky. So it's weird talking about it on air here, but about him coming back or being brought back after having to weigh in on Friday. A little bit of that is speculation. But that's why he's getting tied to this. But there was nothing between Mark and Bert. You know that those two guys are two of the nicest guys in the business. And then before UFC 184, he went home.

He was not at UFC 184. And I was also told that it would be premature to say that he was A fired or B, quit. These things happen. He's been around the sport. He's been with UFC for a very long time, over a decade. So you hope, again, cooler heads prevail and they'll figure it out. I think it's too soon to say he's done with the UFC. But right now, disagreement, and they're not on the best of terms.

Okay. Ariel Hawani, interviewee, Alexa Grasso. Is it safe to say, we see this girl in the UFC anytime soon? Her performance on Friday night was great. Go check it out there saying. UFC FightPass.com, by the way. Yes. Look, all the things that you can see on paper,

she's very charming, she's got a great look, she speaks Spanish, she's Mexican, these are all very promotable things. She's very marketable. She's a great fighter. She's undefeated. I was blown away by her strength. striking, her technique. She's got great heart. She's very young. I think she's 21. And also Mizuki Inouye. I mean, that was a great performance as well. Obviously, Grasso defeated her and

deserved to do so, and it was a pretty clear-cut decision. I believe 29, 28, if my memory serves me correct, I think it would be a huge mistake not to put her on that Mexico card. Aldana as well, why not try to promote women's MMA to the masses in Mexico with your own? I mean, you're there. June 13th is a great card. Cain's on the card. You get the rub there. I mean, mean, this is a no-brainer, my opinion. And look, if there's an ironclad contract, then send her back to Invicta afterwards. It's not the minor leagues. It's not a demotion, but let's use her for this card because it only elevates Invicta as well. You know, I would think it's short-sighted to not put her on that card if you're Invicta,

to not be in favor of that. Now, of course, you want her to be part of your shows as long as possible, but let's be honest, there's a relationship there. So I think she's going to be a very big star if she continues to win. Like I said, Mexican female fighter, you can't beat that. That is gigantic. And she's great as well. And it has a very nice demeanor, very nice disposition. She could be a very big star. They're not only Mexican, but they still live and train in Mexico. Yeah. Which is another thing. Legit. It's, you know, that's a gold mine right there. Man, Dana White, Sean Shelby, they were flipping out on Friday. They were loving it. Okay, our next question. Our final question from the website, what are your thoughts on the next season of the ultimate fighter? Is the new format change enough to breathe some new life into the show? How do you expect

ratings will differ, if at all, from previous seasons? Look, we bid down this road before. We get excited about promos, this and that. We say it's the new season, all that stuff. End of the day, it usually runs a little long, it gets a little stale. But I will say this. Based on what I've seen, they showed this two-minute clip. Have you seen it? No. They showed a two-minute trailer of the upcoming season, because they've been taping it for a long time now. It's been like a month. And this is pretty compelling stuff. And the most compelling thing, listen to me, the most compelling thing, it's, what's most compelling is the part I didn't expect to be compelling. And it's this rivalry between Dan Lambert, who, if you have been following the sport for a long time,

you know Dan Lambert, founder of ATT, in fact, was trying to buy the UFC before Zufa came along, a real OG, a guy who collects pro wrestling belts, he's unbelievable, read Chuck Mindenhall's story about him after the Robbie Lawler win. His beef with Glenn Robinson, and you know, these guys aren't actors. This was great stuff. They really hate each other. It's a lot of fun. I like it. They're going back and forth, calling each other anathletic, all that stuff. Now, I've looked at the roster, there are some names that, you know, we may recognize. Steve Carl is in there. Yep. Nathan Coy's in there. There's a couple others that I recognize. Do I think this is going to revive tough? Do I think this is going to be the thing that change? No, but at least, I'll say this,

at least, at least they're recognizing that things need to change. They've gone to Florida, it's two camps. At least they're recognizing that. Does that lead to more change? We'll see. But I'm happy that we're out of Vegas. I'm happy that we're out of the, you know, T-Millend. as team pedis. It's a nice change. We'll see what happens. Let's see how it plays out. But the trailer,

whoever put together that two-minute trailer deserves a raise because it looked fantastic. Now, my question on the ultimate fighter, is the question at this point not, can this new thing save tough? Because we've asked that how many times? It's what will it take to kill tough,

I think, is the question. Because... The real point of tough is it's programming. You know, the UFC is doing a lot better on Fox Sports One. It's programming. Yeah. So that's all.

That's all it should be. It's not going to save anything. Yeah. If these ratings are sufficient, then I don't think we'll ever lose tough. I think it'll just keep on churning the same. As long, at least they're not, look, they can be churning the same. Team Dos Santos versus team, you know, Velasca. We could do that a thousand times, right?

Yeah. At least they're trying something different. They're getting out of, you know, I hope, I don't know anything about it, but I hope they're not living in the same house. I don't want to see that. Let them live in their own houses. They all live in Florida. Let them do that.

You know, if they're all part of those teams, let's really do a difference. So this is a nice start. I like the thing with the owners going toe to toe. Let's see. We don't know if they're staying in like a home base yet. I just assumed they were able to go in their houses and all those filming just took place at the gym. I saw a house. I saw a house there.

But I don't know what they were doing because they were all just meeting Dana and he was kind of like picking them. It was all very quick. It was like two minutes long. Oh, no. He was at a big press conference. But I will say this. Look, the UFC has always had this contentious relationship with managers and agents and all. stuff. It's cool that they're promoting, you know, two schools. They have good

relationship with those schools and gyms and teams, whatever you want to call them, and letting two managers come to the forefront like that. This is different. This is a different side of the ultimate fighters. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. I mean, let's just see. It's not going to kill. It's not going to save. It's not going to do anything. It's programming on Fox Sports 1. You don't want to watch it. Don't watch it. It is what it is. You're not paying for it. You're not asking, they're not asking you to pay for production. Let's just see what happens. But at least they've recognized that the old format is stale. and that's a good thing.

All right, five minutes for Twitter. One minute apiece. Yes. Bech Kohia, if she gets the next title shot, how do you feel about Kat Zingano versus Misha Tate rematch? I could dig it. I love that.

I could dig it. Nisha was winning those two rounds, in my opinion, until Kat came on in the third. Yeah, I really like that match up. So I'd love to see that again. Is there a bigger gap in all of sports than there is with Ronda and the rest of the field at 135? In all of sports, gosh.

Hmm. You know, honestly, you can make the case for Demetrius Johnson, right? Flyweight? It's a pretty big gap there. I'd say Ronda's is still the largest, but he has a... His hat's in the ring, for sure. 135. Yeah, yeah, Demetrius comes to mind.

But all of sports, I don't think there's that big of a gap in the team sports, right? No one's killing it like that. Yeah, I mean, it'd have to be like a Tiger Woods, like in his prime kind of situation. Oh, we're talking the history of sports or current sports? No, this is current, but I'm... I'm struggling to think of one now, but like a guy like, you know, Tiger Woods when he was winning everything, that type of guy. Or the Bulls, I think it was in 96 or 7, 702.

That was pretty big. But right now, no, that's a good call. Yeah. By the way, have ever looked better than in that photo there? Every time I see it, I'm like, wow, that was a great day for me. It's a nice one. Listen to this guy over here. Indianapolis.

I remember that. Where should Rhonda Rousey rank on the pound for pound list after Saturday? this person has Jones, then Aldo, then Demetrius, and then Ronda Rousey. Tell me what I should think here, because I don't know what to think. I don't know what the answer is, honestly. I mean, you... I don't know. I have a hard time saying she's not number one.

What? Number one? Yeah. Over John Jones? I have a hard time. I mean, what's the argument? What's the argument for John Jones? Well, here's my argument.

My argument is when I'm ranking the 135ers in the UFC, I'm putting T.J. Dilshah, the hen and bra, blah, blah. I don't put it Ronda Rossi because those are the male, those are the people who fight each other. That's their, now when I'm ranking the female ones, I put her there. So when I'm doing the pound for pound, I don't think of that. You know what I mean? No.

So why should they combine? I don't know what you mean. When I'm ranking the bantam weights. Yep. Right? When someone says, give me your bantamweight rankings. Yep. There's a male and female one.

There's not one. Yes, but pound for pound isn't a ranking of a division. Yes, but you're taking guys from divisions. So you're taking now from the women's side of the division, putting her... Yeah, but that's the part that I struggle with. Like, should I be doing that or should they have... Should there be a women's pound for pound? Should it be separate?

Because T.J. Lishaw is not going to fight Ronorousie. No. But why not? It can be one. But it's not a crazy comment, right? You understand where I'm coming from. slightly, but no, I don't, because the final ranking, the pound for pound ranking is irrelevant because those people are not squaring off. The reason you're having a top 10 bantam weight ranking is because those people are going to fight eventually.

And then there's one person who comes from that, that's the champion. And then you're taking any people from any division and saying these are the pound for pound best. It doesn't have to necessarily be the champion of a division. It doesn't necessarily have to be a guy who's even in the top 15 in that division. if, you know, for some, you know, for some crazy, not possible reason, he wasn't ranked. Let's say he was a brand-new guy that you thought was a pound-for-pound champion, or a pound-for-pound great fighter, but wasn't ranked for some reason. Yeah, yeah.

There's no stipulations there. You can pull anybody, and that's why Ronda Rousey would fit on that list. I don't hate it. I won't argue about it, but I don't really know what to think about this. I don't know. It's like I don't think it's stupid to do it, but, I don't know if it's the right thing to do. I think if you can make a reasonable argument that level of competition matters.

And that's not to say, you know, the question earlier asked quote unquote bums. I don't think anybody who fights in the UFC is a bum, period, end of story. But the gap between Ronda Rousey and the rest of the division is significant. It's very, very large. And it's not because these other girls are not good. It's because they're all very good, but Ronda Rousey is that much better. And I think that that makes, you know, all the case you need. to say that she's probably the best.

She's probably the best. Yeah, she's up there. I'll just say, like, when someone asks me for my pound for pound, I don't think of her as number one. And maybe that's wrong. Maybe that's wrong. I just wish Katz and Gow didn't throw that a Hail Mary. Why do you start the Super Bowl with a Hail Mary?

Just get your feet wet. Relax, chill out. What did you think about what Brian Stan said? Yeah, I get it. I mean, again, look, in the moment, I was thinking like, holy moly, she's going, okay, good, good for her. And then it's over.

But now what I'm thinking about it, it's a very accurate thing to say. just get your feet wet, just relax, you're a little nervous, take your time, it's a five-round fight, why are you jumping in there? Especially get someone who's able to adapt to situations like that perfectly better than anyone. I just wish she just waited a little more to go for the gusto, but look, if she would have landed, we would have said she's the smartest fighter in the history of the world, so that's hindsight beat 20. I get it.

Just last thing on this, I mean, I could also hear the argument that if, you know, let's say, Oh, okay, perfect example. T.J. Dillashaw is the 135 pound champion, right? If you have him on your pound for power rankings, where would Rondick Rousey go? So if I say she's number one, that would assume that I'm saying she could beat T.J. Dillashaw at 135 pounds.

So I could see an argument for why she wouldn't belong there, but I could also see the argument for why she does. But it's an interesting debate to have. And I don't think anybody but her could have made this happen, this kind of debate. Agreed. We have two more. Why doesn't anyone call Rondarousy the best fighter of all time,

11 and 0 in MMA, and only less than 25 minutes in the cage? Same argument. You could. You can make that case. I think she needs to win a few more. The reason I think John Jones is the best is because of who he fought, who he beat.

I don't think her competition has been there. Now, she's certainly beating great fighters, but I think it's a little too early for that. Personally, you can do whatever you want. I'm not hating. Okay, I lied. Two more. Belator, now taking rampage to court, what do you think will happen?

Does the UFC release him being too much of a hassle to hold on to him? No lawyer here, but I'll say that I'd be surprised if the UFC didn't do its due diligence before signing him and making sure this was okay. Now, does this lead to him being off 186? Perhaps. But I don't think this is the worst thing in the world for the UFC. That lawsuit, if he has to go back, if he can't fight, you can point to this and say, look, there is a place for people to fight. There is a place for other fighters to go. not the worst thing. And that's the first thing I thought about when they signed them back in

December. So this isn't the worst thing in the world for the UFC. I'm glad, I mean, like, look, Belter is at least, you know, they're at least keeping their word. They said they were going to do something and then they just disappeared and finally they're doing it. Maybe they were playing posseum trying to do this as close as possible to 186. Let's see how it all turns out. But I don't think it's the worst thing in the world for the UFC if you get what I'm trying to say. Yeah. And I have to agree that they probably did their due diligence before they did this. They're not the type to, they've never done that. So I don't see them changing for Rampage at this point. Final question.

Have you been watching Connor McGregor's six-part documentary series? If so, what do you think of it? I have seen it. I've seen the first four episodes. It's unbelievably riveting. It's amazing access. It's some of the best I've ever seen pertaining to the UFC. There's some amazing clips there at the

UFC headquarters, Zufa headquarters, Lorenzo Fet, Dana White. It's really riveting stuff. Don't be surprised if it comes to the U.S. sooner rather than later. I'll say that. I saw Connor. He was wearing an incredible shirt, some gold thing he was wearing with his lovely girlfriend. Is this, you talking about 184? I saw him, yeah, I saw him after the fight outside, just outside randomly on the street,

on the corner of the street. It was amazing. And he was very excited about the documentary. He wants more. He has big plans for his 189 event coming up July 11th. And I wish I asked him about that hat. Did you see that thing with the hat, Katzangano hat? I saw it afterwards.

She takes off her hat and throws it at him, right? And whips it at him. Did she do that on purpose? don't know, but I saw his Instagram after, I didn't understand what he was saying until I saw the video. He said, slipping hats and cashing checks with Uncle Frank. That picture with Frank Fratita. Did you see that? Yeah, of course. That's one of my favorite ongoing storylines in M.A, his relationship with Uncle Frank. Great stuff. All right, that's it. That's it. We're done. That's it. We're done. Can I get just the, what's, we almost have forgot just a quick.

Oh, Jesus. Welcome to the show. No, it's on, no, you almost have forgot. I wanted to. Yeah. Welcome. Okay. Oh, there it is. Here we go. Can we mix it with the goodbye music? With the goodbye music. We mix it? The best pound for the world.

Not possible. Let's just hear it. You know what? I guess y'all must have forgot. All right, you get my music. I love that song. How about that? Let's see how you faded in.

No, the other music. There it is. There it is. All right, a great show. Great to be back. as I said. Fun week in Los Angeles. It felt like the eyes of the MMA world

were in Los Angeles. Of course, Belator had their event in. Connecticut, Mohican Sun. Congratulations to Liam McGeery, the brand new Belator Heavyweight Champion. Also, I saw Douglas Lima at Invicta, and he was all kinds of fired up

about what Paul Daly said on this show. We'll get him on soon. He was saying this guy is out to lunch. He wasn't impressed. Called him a bum. He wants a piece of daily in the summer. Daily won. I know it wasn't the most impressive win, but he did what he had to do.

And obviously, I think they should make that fight next. Fun times in MMA, lots going on. More to come. MMA beat is back this week, so check that out. I want to thank Robert Sargent for stopping by. Check him out on MMA rising.com. Great mind when it comes to MMA, and also he's Canadian. Thank you very much to Brian Stan for stopping by.

Great insight as always. higher heroes USA.org. Thank you very much to Marion Reno taking time out of her busy school schedule. Good luck to her in her next fight. Great story there. Thank you very much to the legend Kent Shamrock, June 20th in St. Louis, Missouri,

fighting Kimbo Slice. That should be a fun ride. Thank you very much to the great Hennar Gracie. Congratulations to him and the team. Thank you very much to Roy Jones, March 6 this Friday, fighting on Go Fight Live. Check it out. Roy Jones, congrats on all your great success.

And of course, congrats to Tam Namcquory on being Tuno and Bell Tor. Looking forward to what's next for him. If you missed anything, check out. iTunes, such, all that good stuff. Until I'm, man, so I'm out of you. I'm Neal-Petal, editor-in-chief The Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. We've talked a lot about generative AI on the show lately,

which is a very big idea that is causing quite a few problems. And one thing we keep hearing about over and over again is that generative AI is causing a lot of problems in schools. There are a lot of people out there, including many of the listeners of the show who email us, who are worried about the obvious problem, students using chat GPT to cheat on assignments. But when our team went and poked at the story, they found that the issues in education with AI go a lot deeper, to the very philosophy of education itself. If this technology becomes more ubiquitous, we'll have courses created by AI, graded by AI,

with submissions from students, absolutely generated by AI. So it begs the question, what are we even doing here in higher ed? This episode is presented by Salesforce. Sacks Fifth Avenue makes it easy to holiday your way, whether it's finding the right gift or the right outfit. Sacks is where you can find everything. From the perfect Chloe bag for your hard-to-shop-for-sister to a prodig jacket for a fancy holiday dinner. And if you don't know where to start, Sacks.com is customized to your personal style, so you can save time shopping. Make shopping fun and easy this season

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