MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 274

Episode Date: March 23, 2015

Featuring Anthony Pettis, Donald Cerrone, Rich Franklin, Bill Goldberg, Rose Namajunas, and Ali Abdel-Aziz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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I'm Ariel Halwani inside our New York City studio. Happy spring. Spring is finally here. It officially came on Saturday. My sister's birthday, March 21st. I'm very excited. It's still cold outside here in New York, but it's coming. I feel it.

This is like if the summertime was sad. Saturday, it's like Thursday morning right now. You feel me? We're getting there. The weekend is coming. And that's very exciting for us, New Yorkers. Also exciting for us New Yorkers is this article that I just read two minutes ago on New York Post.com.

The headline, New York on verge of legalizing mixed martial arts. The top female mixed martial arts fighter star is, there's a ton of typos here, but is ready to twist more than a few arms in the state capital to help legalize the controversial bouts in New York State. Anyway, it talks about Ronner Rousey going to Albany to help push this thing through. And they are very confident that this will be the year, as most suspected. Holy moly, this is exciting. We are seven blocks or so from Madison Square Garden and a couple of avenues. Could you imagine? If this is true, and by the way, as I just said on Twitter, it almost feels right, that Ronda Rousey is the one to help push this through

if this is in fact true. They need to erect the statue of her outside MSG. If she is the one and I think she's on the view today too or was on the view, if she is the one they'll put her up there Times Square for life. At least I will. I'll go up there and do it myself.

Potentially very exciting. Let's not get too excited though because we have a lot to talk about on today's show. The UFC was back in action holding an event in Rio on Saturday. The headliner was Damien Maya dominating writing Ryan LaFlair. Yes, he was penalized for stalling in the fifth round, but that was a solid performance by Maya almost a year since his last fight. Some controversial calls. Josh Kosteck losing once again. There's a lot to digest there. We'll get to that at the end of the show because we have some great guests on today's show. We'll answer your questions and comments at around 345 or so 330. As always, you know where to send them. We'll go inside the vault at 315, a fun one this week, so stick around for that. 245, one of my favorite pro wrestlers of all time, a fellow Jew, Bill Goldberg, will be stopping by to talk about his involvement with glory kickboxing, maybe a little WrestleMania talk, Brock Lesnar talk, MMA talk, great guy, a mensch, if you will, Bill Goldberg, stopping by at 245.

225, we'll talk to the legend, Rich Franklin. He's always busy. He works for one FC. Actually, they're now called one championship. One championship. He is a businessman. He's got a lot going on. And will he ever fight again? I wonder. Rose Nami Yunus is going to stop by at 205. We haven't heard much from her since her lost to Carlos Barza in December. She returns to action UFC-187 against Nina Ansaroff. So I'm looking forward to talking to her. Always fun. 145, we're going to talk to Anthony Pettis, his first interview since his loss to Haffel Dosangos last week in Dallas. He doesn't talk to anyone, so I really appreciate him stopping by. 125, the Executive Vice President of World Series of Fighting Ali Abdel Aziz will stop by to preview WSOF 19 and also talk about his management team and a bunch of other stuff.

If you saw the lineup earlier, you may be wondering what happened to Alexander Gustafson. He was on the original lineup, but his manager told me this morning that he is very sick. He passed out earlier very, very ill, so they asked if they can have a, a rain check for next week, and this doesn't happen often. You know, he was making some time out of his day for us, so of course we understand. So if you are looking forward to hearing from Alex, we apologize. He will be on next week. He is not feeling well, and we don't want to put him through that. And then in a minute, we're going to be joined by Cowboy Soroni, who, I believe New York, Rick, is trying to locate right now. As you may recall last week on the show, Habib Narragamadov was on,

and he threw some haymakers, Cowboy Seroni's way, and it received a lot of attention, and I thought it was only right to start the show off with the man who was being attacked, the man who had his cowboy credentials called into question. That is a fight that is stealing the headlines. That is a fight that is getting a lot of people excited. It's taking place in May, May 23rd.

That's the card, UFC 187, that as of right now, knock on wood, still no injuries. We still have two title fights, Chris Wyatman versus Belfort, and of course, John Jones versus Anthony Johnson. A very busy week in the world of mixed martial arts on Friday, they kicked off that world tour, which is a fantastic idea, and you couldn't have a better fight for it. It actually kicked off really on Thursday. It kicked off on Thursday when Connor McGregor was in an Irish pub and

Rio. Who knew they had Irish pubs in Rio? And he was throwing darts. He was throwing darts at Jose Aldo's face. He took off his t-shirt. He was playing to the crowd. He was on fire in the scrum that they had there. And that all led into Friday when they had this press conference. McGregor with his feet up on the desk, Aldo flipping the bird. They posted an embedded of that day or the last few days in Rio. They're going to be going to, I think, 10 cities three countries. They're going to Canada. They're going to the U.S. They're going to Brazil. They're going to London. They're going to Ireland. It's maybe five countries. And the dynamic between them is just amazing because you could tell Aldo's getting so pissed. You could tell that

McGregor's just playing it up. You know, McGregor not really known as a pro wrestling guy like Chale was, but you know he's taking a lot of this stuff from pro wrestling. Not to say that it's not authentic and that he's not genuine and that he's not brilliant at what he does. But you know, the strut. That's Vince McMahon. A lot of the stuff is, you know, early Rick Flair. He's just great at what he does. He really is. So maybe this is Cowboys Revenge. Maybe this is Cowboys Revenge. Doesn't want to pick up the phone. Just keep trying. Try the backup. Try Cowboy. So they also announced on Friday at that press conference that Ronda Rousey will be fighting Bechkoheya in Brazil. And we spoke about this a little bit on the MMA beat. I'm shocked that

people don't like this fight. I'm shocked that they don't get the fight. It's not like we were all hoping to see the cyborg fight because that was out of the question already. The cyborg fight was not even an option. The cyborg fight was ruled out after her fight in Invicta at that press conference. It's not even like it lingered. I still think that the cyborg fight is going to happen in the next year. But it's not like we were hoping for something else and we got this fight. This is the fight that makes the most sense. This is the fight that will sell the most. And most interesting about the fight is that it's taking place in Rio. Rana Rousey, once again, to her credit, one of the very few champions that is willing to go to enemy territory and defend her title. Now, you could

say, well, she doesn't see much of a threat in Bechko Hea, which is a very valid point. But you still have to go to Brazil in one of the more hostile places. In fact, Ronda actually seems more like a fan favorite in Brazil than Bechko He is. but still, you're going to her home country, you're going to defend your belt there, someone who's been stalking you, calling you out, and for anyone to say that Bechko He had doesn't deserve the title shot, anyone says Bechko He doesn't deserve this spot against Ronda remember, they were saying the exact same thing about Ronda. They were saying the exact same thing about Rhonda when she fought Misha Tate, the exact same

thing. Now, Bechko Hea isn't a, she's not an Olympic gold medalist, or excuse me, a bronze medalist. She's not an Olympian. She doesn't have the credentials. She doesn't have the athletic background that Rhonda does. That's, you know, that's obvious. But she's done her part. Credit to her, credit to her coach, Eric Albarasin,

who showed her what the four horsemen were, the classic four horsemen faction. And they said, let's run with this. Let's start calling her out. Let's start poking that bear. And anyone who's surprised by the fact, that she got the title shot because she did that, because she

talked to a game, because she won a couple of fights against her teammates. If you're surprised by that, what have you been watching the last couple years? Squeaky Wheel gets the grease in this sport. It's part entertainment, it's part sport. And a man who understands that very much is our guest at this time. Let's go to the phone lines. We have located him.

The one and only, Cowboy, Cawrooney. Cowboy, are you there? I'm here. Yes, we found you. I thought this was going to be your revenge. You telling us that you'd come on the show, but not actually show up. Oh, no, I'm in the middle of training. Oh, sorry. No, I apologize.

I apologize for interrupting your training, but I appreciate you coming on. You know, we've done this show for six years. You've only been on the show once. Isn't that amazing to you? That's shocking. You should recognize a gesture, I guess, I, are you? What does that mean? What are you trying to say?

Nothing. Nothing. Are you at the BMF Ranch? No, we're down at Jackings right now. How do you split your time there? Like, I know that's kind of your own gym, BMF, and then Jackson's, how do you decide when you're going to be where? Usually to come down to Jackson's in the morning and train in the evening of our house.

But like tomorrow, we'll stay up at the house all day. I don't know. We just kind of wing it in the morning. We've got 15 guys here right now, so we can do whatever we want whenever we want. How far are they from each other? Well, Jackson's and my ranch are about 40 miles, but I bet you sit in traffic for 30 minutes in your car going to work every day too, so it's just all highways. no traffic ever.

Okay. And you're the boss over there at the BMF, right? I don't know if I say to the boss, but we kind of all just figure out what we're going to do and make it happen. But that's on your property? You live right next to it? Oh, yeah.

Literally two seconds out of my back door. Do all those guys live there as well? Well, they come down and train during training camp, so yeah, they're temporary residence, yes. And so you built them a place to live, to sleep? Oh yeah, they all have bed, showers, bathrooms. I mean, it's easy living. It's not like they're just in a bunch of tents.

Sure. And what about the food situation? Who pays for that? I usually go to Costco and buy, but I mean, typically I pay for most food because they're here for me for training camp, but they're usually pretty good about buying their own. They want something special, you know, but I usually just go to Costco and we just load up once a week.

What does BMF stand for? Bad motherfucker. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I like it. It's so raw. It's so manly. And you're doing this video blog now. Why are you doing this? I don't really have an answer to that. I mean, I get a lot of people who want to know what's the day in the life and what we're doing. So I figured why not see them and let them experience it?

I mean, I don't know. Why not? Who's in charge of putting this together? Like, are you the executive producer or you just hand it off to someone? Our buddy Will Fox is kind of doing it. But we all kind of edited. It's hard to have someone with a camera because everyone wants to do the fun shit. You know what I mean? Sometimes we don't get anything to film because everyone wants to participate.

But then cutting it and editing it. So we need to get one back down. We've got a bunch of footage we need to put together, so we're working on it. Who are the biggest names that you're most excited about at the gym right now? I got Paul Fowler out here. Jonathan Webb. Man, Tom Nook. The list of killers that I have out there right now are unbelievable.

So, I don't know. Yeah, I'm excited to have everybody out here. I feel like you're rubbing off on Felder. I feel like he's taking the anytime, anywhere, you know, persona and really making it his own as well. Absolutely. We're in the car heading back in Jackson's when that, Danica's a fight fell through. I'll call Joe. I'll call Joe for you right now.

I tell me to take that fight. He's like, really? You think I was like, absolutely. So I text Joe. I feel he'll take that fight, and he's like, really? And it all went through. So, yeah, I mean, why not? That's what we're here to do.

We're here to fight, and I don't understand why people don't take fights. It makes no sense to me. Okay, so your last fight was in January, now you're fighting in May. That's a pretty long layoff for you. Do you like that? I don't have a choice on that one. They pulled my car and gave me time out.

They said, sorry, you're not allowed to do that anymore. Why? Because they want me to fight, you know, Khabi. That was dating the only option. You were taking time off and you're going to wait for this fight and not to get. But you would have preferred to come back sooner? Oh, sure. It doesn't matter to me.

Like the placement and ranking. I just like to fight. I feel unemployed when I don't have a date. It's weird. Like, right now I have a date. I know who I'm fighting, you know? So I don't even need a who. I just need to win, you know, just something to get my ass in a gym and train full and get ready for.

Other than that, I literally feel unemployed. Like, I'm just wandering. The Vashlands doing nothing. Are you worried, though, because it's so far away that you might over-train? Oh, you know, better than me, I'm not going to over-train. Come on now. Why? I mean, because...

Summertime's coming. There's too much fun to be had out there. How many hours do you think you train a day? I can't answer to that, honestly. Because some days, I just feel tired to go sore and I won't train. You know, I'll just take it off and go to the late. I took Friday, Saturday, Sunday off this weekend. You know, my body felt sore and tired, and...

I don't know. Is training slash fighting your most favorite thing in the world to do, or if you had it your way, bull riding or wakeboarding, you'd prefer to do that full-time? Well, I'd probably make a living out of that year, but no, fighting to me is super fun, man. I enjoy it. I love the physicality of training and getting out there and pushing your body to the limit every day. You know, I'm happy, happy, happy.

I don't have to go to the gym and train. I get to, you know what I mean? I get awake and every morning and do what I love. which allows me to do all the fun shit that I enjoy doing. So to me, the job that I chose and the gifts that I have allow me to live the crazy and wild life that I most thoroughly enjoy. But even though you're like a nervous wreck, you feel sick to your stomach on fighting it, you still enjoy all that?

Oh, yeah, that's the overall feeling, man. That's the, that's a feeling I'm looking about because one day, area, that's not going to be there, man. I'm going to be looking for that feeling again, you know, when it's kind of hang it up, like you hear, my uncle, and just old people talking about their old high school days. You know, I'm in my high school days right now. I'm living that feeling every time I fight,

so I never want that to go away. Do you dread that time? Like, do you think about that, and does it depress you that one day this rush will be gone and you won't be able to get it? Yeah, absolutely. I dread it more than anything. I mean, it sucks because I remember being the young buck here at Jackson's the 21,

22-year-old kid. And now I've switched into, like, the mentoring. I see all these younger kids coming to me, and I'm like, oh, man, I'm on that side. I'm on that side of my career right now. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, damn. So, yeah, it's, the end is near, man.

It's a scary feeling. But you say the end is near. You're only 31. How many more years do you think you have left? Well, I'm a fight until I come in on a walker with little tennis balls on the bottom of it, you know, until they tell me, Cowboys, you can't take any more punishment. So I'll keep fighting until I can't fight anymore. But I don't know.

You know, to be honest with you, I'm going to fight until all the new guys come up and I start, I'm going to go out on top. You know, I'm not going to be the guy that just keeps getting, losing, losing, losing, goes down to another show. You know, if that ever would happen, I'd be done, I'd stop. You know, I made it to the highest pinnable in my career, and it'd be time to hang it up. You think you'll be able to do that on your own? Because, I mean, we just saw Josh Kosteck on Saturday.

He can't do it on his own. A lot of guys can't do it on their own. I have a hard time believing that you'll be able to say goodbye on your own just because you love doing this so much. You're right. You're absolutely right. You know, it's going to take, it's going to take probably, the UFC telling me, hey, no more.

And you won't go elsewhere. I mean, once the UFC run is over, you're done. Yeah, I think so, man. I really do. You know, I don't know what will be next, but yeah. I'm not even thinking about that right now. Of course.

We still are way up. You are. Your evolution fascinates me because I remember you in W.C. and all that. I mean, you were a great fighter. You had big fights. But now you have become one of the most popular fighters in the UFC. You feel like the every man to the fans.

Like, they really relate to you. They want to drink. with you. How did you do this? Was this a conscious decision on your part where you were like, I need to put myself out there more? Or, you know, did you start to feel like, ooh, the people like me and let me run with this? Because it's not the same cowboy in a sense from the WC days. You may be the same guy, but the way the fans have reacted to you has grown exponentially. What's your reason for that? Yeah.

You see what? You got it. All right, J.J., thanks, brother. Can you tell them we're having a live interview here? I mean, really, but it's almost a doubt. I'm right rude. I see Jardine making it against the turn. Okay, fair enough. He's a legend.

We'll take it. Yeah, he's a legend. I don't know what the 10th point is, but I think I just maybe people starting to know, you know, back in the WC days, I had 20,000 Twitter followers, you know, and 100 Instagram followers now. You know, my people are getting to relate

and interact with me more. I don't know what's changed. I feel like I'm still the same guy. I would drink a beer with them back then and it just as I would now. so I have no idea. Okay, let's not delay anymore. You have this big fight coming up, May 23rd.

A lot of people are more excited for it, honestly, than the title fights. There's a lot of heat there between you two. And you said recently, you said at that Q&A that he's really getting under your skin. How are you dealing with this? Because, you know, a lot of your fights, there's respect there. I mean, you've had some issues, Nate Diaz and whatnot, but this guy is coming at you hard. Mentally, how are you dealing with this? Oh, mentally, I'm fine.

I just, it's funny to me, you know, I appreciate that he's trying to build this fight up. I really do. But he's not really sitting anything like under the belt, trying to dig him and pick me off. I'm not mad. It's just like enough, man. He's like every day he's coming at me.

But it's good. Mentally, I'm fine. I'm not worried at all. You know, I get people telling me I'm scared of a beave. And that's humorous to me as well. You know, I don't, I've never been scared of an opponent in our life. And I've tried to sign a contract with B3 times. now, you know, so someone who's scared.

I don't know why I was trying to fight three times and nobody else would. Would you say this is the most personal, though, since the D.S. fight? That felt personal. Would you say this is... No, I'm not. This isn't personal at all. Not 100. Not even a drop personal. He's trying, but it's not.

Back then, though, like the D.S. fight, when he hit your hat and all that, did maybe because you were younger, maybe less mature, you would take it personally, now you've learned from those mistakes, and that's why it's not personal? Absolutely. Absolutely. 100%. I can't. I cannot fight mad or emotional because I just, I'm unclear. You know, I just have one thing in mind.

I'm okay, though. It's good. Would you say that in the DS fight that was your mistake? You made it too personally. You were too mad in that fight? Oh, no, I don't know. I'm not going to sit here and make an excuse for what happened in the S fight. Something that showed up and he beat me. And I could make a list of things I think that went wrong.

But who knows? Because if it went the other way, then I'd go. tell you, oh, that worked for me. I have no, no, for them no excuses. You should shut up, beat me, and that's moving on. If you don't mind, I don't know if you know this, but Habib Nurmaghamedev was on our show last week. And he had a particularly

comical thing to say about you. Do you mind if I played for you and see what your response is? Sure. Okay, here it is. Here's Habib on the show last week, talking about Donald Taroni. Cowboys fake. I don't think so. It's really cowboy. I think it's fake. You know, I don't think of Israeli cowboy. You think he's a fake cowboy, Fugazi?

I am really cowboy. I am mountain guys, you know. I training all my life, and I'm wrestling with the beers, you know. I'm really cowboy. He's not a drunk. Wait, you're saying you think you're more of a cowboy than cowboy Soroni. Is that what you're saying? I am Dagestan Cowboy, one and for two.

He's no really cowboys. Do you hear that? He called you a fake cowboy that he's the real cowboy. I mean, that feels like a little blow. This is the second time this week that I've been called. What? Kenny McLaren was telling me that there's another real Brazilian cowboy out there. So apparently, I'm not a guy.

Maybe I'll just retire my name and quit doing cowboy shit, I guess. I'm not sure what a real cowboy is, but apparently I'm not willing. You ever see those clips of him playing with the bear, wrestling with the bear and all that? No, what do you make of that? I don't watch, I don't watch footage. Don't you think I lie about that? Well, that's true.

Oh, yeah, you think I lie about that. I don't watch fight footage. I don't watch interview footage. I don't listen to interviews. I don't Google him. I don't... Nothing. I don't care.

What are he doing? Didn't give a shit. What am I doing? What am I going to do today? That's all I'm worried about. But I get the sense a lot of people send you tweets and tell you what people say about you. Is that accurate?

You read that? Sure, sure. Would you rather they don't do that? No, no, I definitely see that. I see the seats on that, absolutely. But would you rather people stop doing that? Would you rather just not know anything? Oh, I don't care.

I know he called me a fake cowboy, and he's the whatever Russian cowboy, wherever he said he was. That's fine. It makes no difference to me. You're trying to get like a giant reaction to me, but I don't care if he thinks he's the real Russian cowboy, then good.

I'm glad. Hope he trains really hard. chops would, plays with bears, and shows up in fights. You know, that's all I could say. If it means pumping this fight up, get the fans excited, and next $50,000 for me, hell yeah, what do I need to do that? Let's do that.

Yep, and has the UFC told you that the winner of this fight is next in line? Have they said that to you 100%? I, man, I know as much as you do. I don't know if that's 100% or not, so who knows. Who absolutely, again, knows. I don't know who else. there is, but

whatever. I'll go fight Khabi, and I'll go and fight whoever's next. It don't matter me. I know you were in Dallas, were you disappointed

that Pettus lost because you couldn't get that. I know you have fights against both, but, you know, because it seemed like Pettus was one that you really wanted back, were you disappointed

that, you know, he's no longer the champion? I would so much I disappointed. I was more disappointed. You know, I felt like maybe something that was wrong with Pettish.

Like, he wasn't himself. I'm not answering any questions for him, but I just felt like that. That wasn't a pet of the side fault. You know what I mean? Something looks off to me, the whole fight with him. So I'm sure he's going to go figure that out, come back even stronger. So I'm excited to get a rematch the fetus.

By no means, I think he's broke or, you know, I just think he's a half night, man. And I wish to do it as speed of recovery, and I'm sure he'll be back stronger than ever. Are you as shocked as the rest of us that RDA is the champion? Did you think he had that in him? Oh, man. I mean, obviously he trained really, really hard, man, and put him the hours, put him the time, and he showed up. So I'm not taking anything away from Dufthamus at all.

He showed up exactly what he had to do, and he's a new chance. Undisputed, man. I mean, that's what it is. All right. Well, Cowboy, I appreciate the time. It's great to have you. It's great to talk to you outside of Fight Week.

I feel like it's a lot more fun, so I appreciate it very much. Oh, by the way, one last thing. What's going on with you and punk? Is there something we should know about? Something you should know about, like what? I don't know. I don't know. I feel like there might be some,

there's something going on. Are we building to something? I don't know if you guys are friends or not. I can't tell. The text, the video, what's happening? I'm confused. It's good. I like punk.

He's a good dude. You like him. There's no animosity. No, not at all. I don't know. We're having fun. All right, all right. I just never know with you.

We video blog back and bowl. I want to each other. It's a good job. Okay, cool. I can't wait to get that outfit you bought for me. I appreciate it. Thank you in advance. I'll send your people to go, and since I get my money reimbursed, I go ahead and deliver it. Thank you very much, cowboy. Appreciate it. Good luck to you. You're welcome. You got it. There he is. Donald Seroni stopping by from a busy Jackson's gym. You know, I like it. I think a lot of people thought he might take the bait, and he didn't. Brilliant. Cowboy's smart. I mean it. Back in the W. W.C. Day.

he was popular. There's no doubt about it. He had something going versus like them. He did the PBR thing, all that stuff. But it's on a whole other level now. I saw him in Dallas. He was doing that Q&A. And fans were dying to give him beer. Perhaps more so than anyone. Anyone. You know, Connor had this a little bit now, but it's evolved. And that's fine. Sometimes it has to evolve. But more so than anyone in the sport right now, Soroni has this special connection with his fans. You know, someone on that level who's that close to a time. title shot. The tweets, telling people where he is, it's a very, it's a very smart, but it's also a very, it's a very genuine thing. It's a very unique thing. It's very authentic. The man is, I mean,

that is not a fake individual. You know, some people have been called fake. Some people, it's very easy to see past it all. That man is not fake. Sorry, just reading stuff. So Cowboy Soroni versus Habim Nurmagamatov, May 23rd in Las Vegas. In a minute, we're going to be joined by Ali Abdelaziz, who's the executive vice president of World Series of Fighting. They have an event this weekend. It's World Series of Fighting 19. The main event is Justin Gaichi versus Luis Palomino for the WSOF lightweight title. Also, they've got a four-man tournament going on.

One half of the tournament. This is for a shot at the WSOF light heavyweight title. One half of the tournament is Matt Hamill versus Tiago Silva. Matt Hamill versus Tiago Silva. Silva, two former UFC fighters, now competing WSOF, making their WSOF debuts. And they fought once before. A somewhat forgettable fight, but here they are trying to revive their careers. Of course, you know about Tiago Silva's legal troubles.

WSOF giving him another shot. Matt Hamill briefly retired, now returning. And they have a reserve bout on that card. Jake Hune versus Teddy Holder. That main card is 9 p.m. NBCSN this Saturday, but Ali is a very busy man, a very powerful man these days. He not only is the EVP of WSOF, he's also the big man on campus over at Dominance MMA.

They represent the likes of Frankie Edgar, Chabibib Narmagamadov, Hafeld Dosangios, Fabrizio Verdume. that is a very impressive client roster. Also, a bunch of the Gracies. How one is able to juggle both of those jobs? I have no idea, but so far he seems to be doing a pretty good job at it. And not only that, adding new fighters, it seems, every day.

He's got the lightweight champion now. He's got the interim heavyweight champion. Frankie Edgar. Where is he? If we can't do the Skype, I don't care. I see the guy enough. I just want to talk to him. I don't care if his Skype doesn't work.

All right. Okay, we got him here. All right, let's go to the Skype machine and welcome in the EVP of World Series of Fighting. Our brand new TV, it's still new. It still has that so fresh and so clean smell to it. Is he there? What's happening? I think New York Rick is laying down the law over there.

There he is. Ali, are you there? I'm here, brother. How are you? What's going on with your Skype? My Skype is good using Keith Evans Skype. Oh, Keith Evans. My staff is not very good.

You look fantastic. Look at you. You got the pocket square. You got the suit. No tie this time, though, right? I'm in the office, man. I can't wear tie every day to the office. That's true.

And also, you don't know how to tie a tie. That's one of the big secrets about you. When you buy a tie, you go to the store and you say, can you tie this for me and you keep it in the knot? Is that not true? That's true. And when I get dry clean and I go back to the store and they do it for me. How does a man so smart, so powerful and not know how to tie a tie? I don't know about all that, but, you know, you can help me the next time you see me.

Sure. Every genius has a flaw here or there, so I guess that's yours. All right, let's talk about WSOF-19. I was just talking about Matt Hamill and Tiago Silva. Why did you give Matt, excuse me, why did you give Tiago Silva another shot? There were a lot of people who did not want to be in business with him because of his legal troubles. Why do you feel like he was worth the risk? Listen, I think Tiago Silva is the guy who put his mark in a sport, and I think he's a, a great fighter. You know, like I said, you know, the court defined him guilty. He didn't, you know, it was a lot of talk, a lot of everybody specificate.

He did some things, but at the end of the day, when he went to, like me, like, I don't really judge if I don't have proof or I know 100%, other people, they jump and judge. But on the end, on another note, he's... He's not the age to work too. You know, I make it a five for our title. I think he's a great fighter. He comes from a great camp. But he's not the easiest person to work.

Why, he's causing you troubles? What kind of troubles are you causing? It's stalling too much. Let's just call it. I want to call you on the phone. It's stalling too much, and I can't understand what you're saying. We're just going to call yourself right now, right? Okay.

Okay, I got to see you. You look great. We're going to call you right now because it's stalling too much. and I don't have the patience for that. I'm going to call Ali right now. Saying that Tiago Silva is causing him troubles. At around 1.45, by the way, we're going to be joined by Anthony Pettis. I cannot wait for that.

I look forward. I think that I think what Donald was alluding to. I mean, we reported it on UFC tonight. He broke his orbital bone early in the fight. And, of course, I've never experienced something like that. But I would imagine that could screw up your performance for the rest of the fight, and it did seem like it was bothering him greatly.

Just didn't seem like he was himself. Ali there? Yes, I'm here, brother. Okay, that's much better. So what were you saying? He was giving you troubles, Tiago? No, he's not giving me trouble. We're giving up to our team trouble.

You know, he didn't want to do any interviews. He's worried about asking about people asking questions about what happened and it makes me nervous because if this guy's going to fight for a world title and he's going to be a world champion, it comes a lot of PR obligation. And any guys

not only can fight, any guys can also promote. And this is why I see a lot of guys out there promoting and I need these compatible guys. It's not only about fighting anymore in the NBA. It's about fighting and promoting together. That is true. That is true. Your guys are doing a great job of that.

At least some of them are. And by the way, Matt Hamill, I mean, what do you expect out of this guy? He retired. You know, a lot of people might think that his best days are behind him. You still think he has it in them? Listen, I think Matt Hamill, he has a great work ethic. Actually, I know some of his coaches, he said he's in great shape.

But listen, I end of the day is about giving this kind of veteran opportunity to, you know, to prove themselves. And he's a big name. I think when we sign him, he brought some attention towards yesterday fighting. Sure. I'm looking for guys like him always going to bring attention. We're going to see on Saturday night, you know, how Tiago is going to look and how not I was going to look. And they're not the main event. They are the core main event.

I'm not hanging my hat on both of them. I know two guys I'm hanging my hat on them. It's just in Gaysian Luis Palomino. This is the two guys. I can guarantee 100%. This is going to be an exciting fight. Are you happy with the current state of the promotion? Where it's headed, you know, where you're at right now. Of course, there was some news recently that one of your advisors had some legal troubles. I mean, where, do we stand right now with World Series of Fighting? I'm, you know, and I really, I'm going to say, I really, really mean it.

World Series of Fighting right now, today. We're in a better place that we have ever been. We have three, four, five cards, is ready to go. We have venues. Everything is so organized. We have a great team here. Ray, Keith Evans, myself.

We have such a, our investors, they're behind us 100%. Operation was good. NBC sport and NBC given us great support and we just we point on this great

fire card back-to-back fire card is going to be awesome and I'm very very comfortable to say we have the best place right now we can be since we started. I don't think anyone would argue

that the UFC is the number one MMA promotion in the world where would you put World Series of fighting? Listen, like I said this before. I said when I wake up in the morning or Ray, stuff awake up in the morning,

we both can fire our people, you know. We want to be number one. Right now, I'm not worried about what we rank. I'm worried about one thing. Just one great events, make the fan happy,

and keep going with it, you know. And when it comes to come to be us, you know, whatever rink we are, it doesn't really matter. You know, we try to compete with our own self. I'm not trying to compete with nobody else,

not the UFC, not the Tour, not of this promotion. They all, you know, giving MMA fire great opportunities, you know, they run by great people. You know, I know in the past I have some problems with the Vittor. I don't have problems with Vittor anymore because I think the leadership now is better. You know, I give her the creative what they do.

And I think they will see, like I say, they give us the black print to do our MNA promotion. Right now we can be our own stuff. Everybody in life want to be number one. I want to be number one. Whatever I do, if we play checkers, I want to be number one. Right. But now it's about giving this fighter's opportunity to show their case and put on great events, increase our ratings and, you know, increase our dates, and just this is all in the matter right now.

On March 13th, you tweeted this. Next week, I'm releasing a statement about managers who steal income tax from foreign fighters. What's that statement? And what do you mean by managers who steal income tax? attacks from foreign fighters. What do you mean? That's what happened. You know, it's funny because 30 minutes later, my lawyer, calling and he's like, hey, you need to relax.

You know, because, and that's what happened. You know, I'm a foreigner. You are foreigner, too. Sure. And everybody comes to America, you know, the land of the opportunities. And I think, you know, the U.S. he gives guys opportunities worth as a fighting does.

Belator does, everybody does. And, you know, I got an opportunity that I was surrounded by honest people to care of me, and I made sure, you know, I move on in my life. What's been going on for the last 10 years? Russian fighters and Brazilian fighters, they've been suffering from bad management, you know. And I think right now, the UFC, Belator, World War II Fighting, we all have to educate our fighters. Like me and Ray, we talked about it for every fighter's meeting.

We're going to talk about how fighters, because a lot of fighters, they, you know, they said, we're not making enough money, sponsorship, Reebok, and all the stuff. This is not what is the problem in the May. The problem in May, when a, you know, Russian fighter or a guy from Dagestan or Chechnya or guys from Brazil, you pay 80% and this is what normally the guys from Russia pay. and after the World War II fighting the UFC issue

of B1 visa also Brazilian fighters and after that Brazilian fighters you get a B1 visa some of this manager do they open a joint bank account

who was fighters MMA fighters never opened joint bank account and this is what happened recently you know

it was a confidential thing got signed and are you being told not to mention your name Okay. And I'm going to keep it too classy. And what happened was the manager do? They opened a joint bank account between them and the fighters in America.

These guys live in Russia or lives in Brazil. And after that, all the checks, sponsorship check, some even promotional check, UFC check or worth it as a funding check, and it will go directly to this manager account. You know, all the fighters that don't have access to the account. Because they live in Brazil and live in Russia. And what happened? The manager, you know, he has an address for him here in America.

And we'll go ahead, end of the year, you know, fall for income tax checks. You know, and recently an incident happened, one fighter, I know personally for probably eight years, he has problems. You know, he said, you know, he has a framework for our IRS. and he said he's been getting income tech for the last two, three years, and he asked his management and his manager, oh, you know, we keep it for you for next year and maybe we're going to have to pay. But forget about this manager, forget about these fighters. You know, people always complain about the UFC and about the Reeveld deal.

I think the Revol deal is good for the fighters. I'm going to get back to this in a second. Okay. But if you're on M&A fighters, do not have a joint deal. bank account is your management. Your management is not your father, is not your mother. The manager works for the fighter.

The fighter doesn't work for the management. Listen, it has some good honest manager out there. Like Brian Bufler, Glenn Robertson, and Martin Advisory, even Melty, a guy I have problem with,

probably in the past, you know, I don't think this guy has joined bank accounts in his fighters, and he's a guy probably me and him, not in the best term, all the time.

Bob Koch's Duane Zincoling and entertainment. I know this is for sure. Glenn Rothson, this is good management. And I know this guy, a guy like Glenn, lose millions of dollars on his fire. He doesn't make money. And he and him talking about it other day. He's like, he helping these guys for nothing, you know. But, you know, in other, if I don't mention your name, please don't get assaulted.

There's so many good managers out there. There's a lot of bad men. Well, it's come back. And now all fighters have to open their arms. eyes, it's sponsorship, you know, income tax check, especially foreign fighters. You know, Chechnya and fighters and Douglasan fighters, been charged 30% of the first, and after they have to pay the government 30%, and what they keep? 40%, and they give their income tax fuel from them, even Brazilian fighters, you know.

And I think a lot of these foreign fighters, they need to open their eyes. He can make good money in the enemy. But you write a check for the manager. Don't let the manager write your check. How have you been able to juggle these two positions? Being EVP and like I said earlier when you were off, you've developed quite the client list. I mean, you have an amazing group of fighters under your stable.

It's like this, man. You know, I come from a class of a guy named Hansa Grasie, you know. I've heard of him. Whatever I do, whatever I do is going to come back to him. You know, I don't do nothing without talking to Hinoz. And, you know, I have an amazing team work for Donald M.A. My wife, her sister is a lawyer. Kyle Stood, Corey Hendricks, DiLda, you know, Matt Asterker's two lawyers.

Like me, my time now is about World Sains and Fighting. I'm really focused on Worse Sauter Fighting. Now, Dominantino, Mameh is wrong like a Ferrari. You know, you can have great people, you know, good reputations, you know, We don't have guys leave. You understand? But the whole thing is right now, I'm really focused on work-trial fighting. And all these guys, I want to help.

Like, when guys, like, you know, at the management side, you know, this is a lifestyle for us. You know, I work out every day, I train every day, I go to work here to fighting every morning. At the end of the day, I want to make a different enemy. You know, I'm not perfect, nobody's perfect. but the reason I spoke about this management issue because fighters need to rely right now the manager works for the fighter

not the fire works for the manager. There are a great managers out there. Sure. Let me ask you about the new champion RDA, so you told me last week he needs no surgery that's going to be on Thursday, but he won't need knee surgery. So, you know, in a perfect world, when do you think he'll be able to return

and who would you like to see him fight? Listen, I think, to Raphael, you know, he needs some time off. They got fought five times in 11 months. He needs time to enjoy his family and relax. And at the end of the day, he's going to fight whatever they give him to fight. You know, I'm saying? Whatever they give him to fight.

You know, he's a champion. I think any champion, any promotion, they should fight anybody they're given him. You know, I don't think he should pick fight. Okay. Fair enough. By the way, I like the Phoenix Jones signing. That's the kind of guy that you need in World Series of Fighting. guy that is a little bit different, that, you know, will get you headlines, maybe some mainstream press.

That was one of your best signings, in my opinion. You really jumped on that one. I got a dozen 12 hours. I got lucky I talked to the kid. And, you know, I think he's a very smart guy. You know, and I think, you know, he's going to fight on the Air Force team card with, you know, David Branch, Ronnie Mark, Aligh, Melvin Galard, and Cinnig Jones. He's going to fight Iraq veterans in the real well. And I think it should be a good fight, man.

Listen, you're not talking enough about Justin Gage and Luis Palino. Okay, sorry. I guarantee you, Ariel. Yes. We always talk about predictions. Yes. I can go and see this fight. Who can be a candidate for five of a year?

I think Justin Gates is one of the top guys. I think he's tough him. I think he's legit top him. But he's a dream. He's every promoter dream. The guy is a NCAA All-American wrestling. He doesn't even trust the guy is. And he comes forward, it's throw, but hard later.

He's fighting a guy like Luis Palomino, you know, pack a lot of knockout power. I'm very, very excited about watching this fight on March 28. This is what I'm really, really exciting for. And listen, I want to clear this up. If your own manager out there, you know, just do, you know, do the right things. And listen, you know, Dominant's enemy, not signing anymore guys. I'm not staying there to pop, please his time.

It's done. The door is closed. Dominant M.A. The team told me they're done. They're not going to find any more guys. Okay. You know? It is not like this interview,

get done to promote dominant in the name or anything like that. It's nothing about Dominant MMA. It's not about the sport of MNA and how the sport grow. You know, we see like uniform deal coming, rebals deal, Nike deal. That is all great stuff for the sport, you know? Yep. But. I think that this is going to be awesome

when the fighters start taking control their own career Ali, thank you for the time we have run out of time but we look forward to World Series of Fighting Number 19 this Saturday NBCSN 9 p.m. Eastern time and then of course World Series of fighting 20

April 10th also on NBCSN so a busy stretch for you guys best of luck and we'll talk to you soon the pleasure luck always my friend all right there he is Ali Abdel Aziz the executive vice president of World a series of fighting. All right, let's go to our next guest, as I said. Very excited to talk to this man. We have not heard from him since his fight on March 14th in Dallas. I'm talking about Anthony

Showtime Pettis, who joins us right now on the phone. Anthony, are you there? I'm here, man. What's up? Hey, thank you so much for taking the time. Can't thank you enough. Really appreciate it. So, of course, a lot of people want to hear from you since the fight. The first question I want to ask you is, you know, what have the last nine or so days been like for you since that fight against DeSanjos? Man, just a human process pretty much, trying to figure out exactly what happened. I mean, I went out there, and it wasn't my night.

And for me, I got to figure out what went wrong, and then why my performance was the way it was. So, you know, there's a lot of questions, a lot of things I'm trying to figure out, and if I need to change some things. And I guess you just go through that process, I'm figuring it all back out. I mean, I was on top of the world.

I got knocked down. Those Annios had an amazing performance, great night. It wasn't my night, man. So I've got to get back to the drawing board and figure out what went wrong. I know it's relatively fresh, but have you been able to pinpoint a few things that you think went wrong? The biggest thing I think that I'm going to change is me and my little bro fighting on the same card. Yeah.

You know, the first time it went amazing, second time not so well. You know, he got knocked out. I had to watch that and, you know, get up mentally for my fight. And, you know, not making excuses or nothing, but there are little things that, you know, could have triggered my performance. Because I really had a really crapped performance. I don't know what happened. My timing was off. I didn't have any strength out there.

I felt weak, and it was just like something went wrong. So I got to figure it out, and we've got to fix it. I mean, I've never felt that weak in a fight, and it just was the wrong night to feel like that. Do you remember what it was like seeing your brother lose, and do you feel like that really messed you up mentally? No, I don't think so. I don't think it really messed me up mentally.

I mean, yeah, it sucks to see him lose like that, you know, to get knocked out. He had a great first round. Second round, he just got caught. I mean, you know, it happens. I mean, he's exchanging hooks. I've seen it a million times in combat sports. Yeah, it's kind of, you know, the morale of the cornerman. I mean, we use the same cornerman.

So, like, Serge was all hyped up. They were there before me. You know, he gets knocked out, and then you got to reset the battery and reset everything and then try to get back up for the next flight. So I think it was a little too much for, you know, everybody mostly going through. So next time, I'd rather, you know, if I'm fighting, and it's a big fight guy that has to be all about me. Your manager, Mike Roberts, told me that you broke your,

orbital bone. Is that accurate? Dosanios broke my orbital bone. Well, yes, yes, of course. You know... Yeah, no, it's accurate, yeah. He caught me with that big left. The first punch he hit me with, man, I couldn't see. Wow. It just, like, triple vision, and he was a great punch.

I mean, he got me right in my eyeball. So, yeah, I don't know if it was the first punch that broke it, but, I mean, yeah, I love the fracture orbital. So, I mean, like, he did that to you, so you can't take anything away from him, but do you think that that really messed you up? I mean, you were fighting with one eye, but. so early in the fight, you think that that just completely threw off your game?

Because even when they went to the corner at times, I remember you saying to Duke, I can't see. And he was telling him, we've got to move past this. But, I mean, you were fighting with one eye. That's a pretty huge disadvantage. Yeah, I mean, I don't think, like I said, there's a lot of things that factored into that performance. I mean, having one eye doesn't stop the fact

that I didn't stop any of the takedowns. You know, I didn't stop the fact of me taking the wrong angles. And I was, I never do, like, I wash the fight like five times already, because I wanted to figure out what exactly what I did wrong. And, you know, I was taking the wrong angles. I was doing the wrong. So I wasn't there mentally, I guess.

And that's what that's what caused me my fight, man. I lost my title because I wasn't there mentally. How did you feel going into the fight? Like, no, I'm not talking that night, but just the camp and everything. Did you feel like something was off the entire way? No, the camp, the camp went well, and that was a crazy thing, you know. It was a quick turnaround. Yeah.

I went from one training camp to the next training camp. And it felt like a normal camp. You know, I was in Wisconsin in the winter. sure, that sucks, but besides that, you know, I was training, I was training well, no injuries. You know, I felt like I was in great shape, and I was doing well as faring. And then when it came to, right when I landed in Dallas, it just went to crap for me. Yeah, you lost your bags and everything. I mean, it just felt like maybe there was something off.

Yeah, it was an off trip. I was like, man, this ain't the same my weekend. And then, and also, correct me from wrong here, did you have to stick around like three more days because, because of the eye, they didn't want to let you fly? Yeah, I just decided to stick around. I didn't want to go home and see my daughter with a pie like that. So I just stayed around. And I probably could have flew, but I just decided to stay in the Dallas and the way low for a couple days. What was that like, just being there the scene of the crime for a few extra days?

It made me not want to be in Dallas anymore. I'm going to switch my layovers around. I don't think I want to slot to that city anymore. But, no, I don't know, man. I just had to figure it out. The biggest thing for me was like, you know, you know, Yeah, I'm definitely upset with myself. I'm definitely down about losing my belt,

but that wasn't the best Anthony Pettis. He didn't go out there and demolish my best performance. Then I'm like, yeah, right, now I need to figure out why I was, you know, I suck it up what I do. But I just didn't put it together. It wasn't my night. You know, he had a great performance, and I was firing on, you know, 20, 30 percent of my skill.

It was just, it was so crappy. That's the feeling that I didn't like, and that's what I need to fix. A lot of people, including myself, still can't wrap our head around the idea that Hapoldo Zanches is the champion. again, not taking anything away from him, but I just didn't see this coming. Is it possible you overlooked him heading into the fight?

Not at all, man. I know, you know, that's a crazy thing. I knew he was going to be a dangerous opponent. You know, he's, you know, he's a side to the Kabid fight. You know, he's looking, he looked amazing out there or not. It wasn't, like, an overlooking thing. You know, I knew it was going to be a tough fight. You know, he's a solid ball.

He's got great, you hit you, great striking. I just, for sure, thought my striking was going to outclass his all day, and then that happened. That wasn't the case that night. The other theory that, that people are bringing up as, you know, a lot has happened to since, you know, becoming the champion, especially in the last few years, a few months, excuse me, the Wheaties thing, Reebok, all that stuff.

Did you buy into your own hype too much? Was that a problem? You know, I don't know, man, and I can't say, yeah or no on that. I've been here before, you know, in the glita fight. Yeah, I'm from the W.C., the showtime kick. And, you know, I wouldn't say right after the fight that I bought my own hype, but looking back a year later, a couple months later, I've decided, yeah, I just, I wasn't focused as I should have been. So it's kind of close to call that. I don't know. I feel like I did the work, and I did the camps. I was, I was motivated. I was hungry to keep fighting. I wanted to stay busy

this year, and I had big plans for this year, and it wasn't my night. Do you still want to be busy, or do you want to take some time off now? No, I want to be busy. Yeah, I'm looking to get back. I mean, I can't, I can't make any calls. I can't call anybody out. I can't really talk trash right right now because I'm still suspended for my medical injury. I said my stitches by. So once I find out, more when I can compete again. That's when I'm going to get back out there and get my belt back. I mean, like I said, that wasn't the best Anthony Pettis that lost that belt. So I got to go out there and get it back.

Does that one bother you more than the Gwita one? Because in that one, like, you know, like he cut, right, yeah, yeah. This is when I lost. Right. This is when I got beat up. You know, I've never had stitches after a fight. I've never, I've never been not able to make the press conference after a fight. You know, this fight, I got, I got beat up, man.

I got hit. I got taken down. I got home for 25 minutes. That definitely sucks more than the degree to fight. Did you suffer a concussion as well? No, I threw up right away after the fight, but I mean, it's been all the commotion and everything that was going on. I don't think I was concussed.

I went to the doctor, and they said I should be okay with the concussion. It was more of the eye that they were about. Has that ever happened to where you threw up after a fight? No, it hasn't. Wow. So a lot of weird things that happen in that fight, man. I mean, all I can do is look at it and figure it, fix it. That's it.

I can't make it. The fight's over. The decision's done. Raphaelgo Sino's is the champ, and I'm back on the contender list, and I'm okay being here, because I know I got a lot of time in this sport, and now I'm going to get back. And you said you've watched the fight five times? Why would you do that yourself already?

At least five times. I just had to figure it out, man. It was killing me. I didn't know why I felt like that in the fight. I just had to figure out what it was that made me have that performance, and I just kept watching it to see like this thing that I would never do, man. I don't circle into a power points like that. I wasn't moving from the sponges.

I stayed in the pocket in exchange. It was like washing all these little mistakes that I made that led up to me losing the belt. Is there any point in the fight where you were like, okay, this was my best moment, I should have done this more, or do you think the whole entire thing was a wash? Oh, entire thing was a blur. Like even in between rounds, it just was a blur, man.

I didn't really take advice. Duke was giving me. I know, Ben was saying some good things. I wouldn't listen to Ben. I don't. It was just, you know, one of them nights. What has the reaction been like to you? Because you know what happens? You know, someone's the king. They all love you, and then they stumble, and everyone turns on you. Have you received that, or have you received support from your fans, friends, all that?

I think it's mixed. I mean, you got the series fans have been around for a long time, and, you know, they're with me to the end. I got my core family that, you know, no matter of winning or not fighting, they're on my team. and then you got the casual fans that just, you know, are riding the next wave. And that's what's all about. You're okay with that? Yeah, I'm fine with that. I mean, I don't even get, I don't even look into the, I'm not even looking into who's talking and who has opinions

because they're not doing what I'm doing. They don't, they don't bust their butt in the gym like I do. And I mean, for me being, you know, 28 years old, I'm the two-time world champ. And I'm doing well, man. I just, I had an off night. Now, if you have a bad day at work, and as a professional fighter, You can't call in and say, I'm not fighting tonight. You know, you got out there and make it work, and that's what I did.

I'm just, you know, I'm really glad I didn't quit in that fight. There was a couple moments in that fight where it would have been easier to tap out. And, you know, I'd mentally just said, no, I can't do it. You know, I'll get in my butt kick, so I'm going to take this butt with him like a man and make it through 25 minutes. You were close, though? I'm first time I ever thought of my head that it might be easier to tap out. Wow. That's them of the thoughts that kill me.

You know, I can't even remember. He had me in that Camaroor position. Yeah. And I'm just like, in my head, I was like, this probably is it. This is like, he's going to just yank this, and there's a Camara. And then I just had a battle within myself. Like, no, man, just fight this, fight this crap out, man, get through the end of the fight. And you've never gone through that ever.

Man, I've never been hitting in a fight. I never have punched in the face in a fight. It's true. That's my first time getting hit in a fight where I was like, damn, this does hurt. Can you see, you know, you often hear people when they suffer this kind of loss, it ends up being the best thing that's ever happened to them. And again, I know it's fresh, but can you see that point where you will look back on this moment and say this changed my career for the better? Most definitely.

Already this fresh out, I could already tell it just recharge some better. I mean, like you said, I mean, I was sitting on top of the – I was on the top of one of the toughest divisions. I felt great. I had a great performance against Melendez. Things were going amazing. And now you just back to the drawing board, back to reality. You see who's really in your corner and who's really, you know, God's. that you want to have around you

and you've got to eliminate the exit that and get back to, you know, back to the ground, I guess. And I'm excited to get back in the gym already. You know, I just want to be in the gym training and getting better. Can you do anything or are you completely suspended?

You can't do anything? I can't have any contact. Yeah, I'm off the running and lifting weights, but that's about it. And I have another big thing in this fight that I noticed. I think I was so focused on being comfortable at 155 making weight so easy that I never really thought about getting big.

bigger at 155, and I have so much to limit to put on a lot more muscle. I barely cut weight to make 55, so that's going to be another big focus for the next camp, you know, putting on as much as weight as possible making myself, you know, lean and mean as possible. Now, I have to ask you about a guy that has kind of been going

at you for a while, and there's been this history, Nate Diaz, and a lot of people think that that's the fight that makes most sense to you for you next, excuse me, and he sent out some tweets and whatnot. Have you thought about that yet? Is that the guy that you'd like to get back in there with and, you know, kind of use him as the way to get back to the title?

I haven't thought about who I want to fight next. Like I said, I can't even really say when I can fight next. But, yeah, I would love to fight that it would be a lot of years. I mean, that's a fight that I've been waiting for a long time. So, you know, if that's next, I'm for sure down with that. I just got to figure out when I'm able to play again or when I can start even looking at dates to fight again. There's a lot of guys that I've got to fight, man.

I mean, you know, now that I suffer this loss, I'm sure everybody thinks that they want to. they want their shot at me or they want to take advantage of this. But it's my job to get back out and get back to the top. You know, I think a couple more wins, and I'll be right back where I was that. Have you even allowed yourself to think, like, oh, I want Dosangios to be the champion when I get back there so I can get revenge or I want this guy. Have you, you know, Habib, obviously, talking a lot, he could be the champion.

Have you allowed yourself to think of that? Yeah, I definitely want to fight Dosanos before. If he's not the champ, I want to fight, I want to clear that before I fight a pedal shot. Okay, you need to get rid of that. Definitely. That's this more of a personal thing. You know, a guy that, for real, he's the only guy that beat me up in my whole career, my whole life. You know, I've ever got, even a great. I don't look at that like if it's lost. I mean, he won the fight, but I didn't get beat up in that fight.

You know, he just helped me down. He just helped me down. He beat me up, man, and I've got to get that back. And I'm assuming you haven't heard the stuff, Habib has been saying that you should go back to the undercard and continue to talk trash about you. Have you heard any of that? Does any of that bother you? No, it doesn't bother him, man. Khabi, I mean, he has a lot of fights. He's trying to go to his title shot, you know. That'll be the shot.

He beat Rafael Dosanio, so he's got a good shot to be a champ. But, you know, I mean, I think, you know, my – I had only four or five fights. You know, I don't even remember how many fights that in the UFC, but I got – I blew up quick, and I think that sucks a lot of guys. I was a champ, you know, coming in a couple fights in the UFC. He's guys been here for a long time. Look at Dosayos. How many times he fought in the UFC.

So, I mean, you know, guys have their opinions, but now he has to worry about Dosanosos and whoever's next for him. I think Cowboys next for him. Yep, and you're a very famous guy in Milwaukee when you're walking down the street and whatnot. What are people saying to you now? You know what, Milwaukee's been cool, man. I mean, I think everybody, I don't know if they know how to address it. They're like, damn, like, you know, you get a bad champ.

You don't worry about it. And it'll be fine. And some guys give their opinion on what I should have did or what I should do. Oh, sure, that's fun. You get people that just try to give you opinions, but it's been okay, man. Are you going to take a vacation and get away? Yeah, most definitely I just got back to Milwaukee now

I'm just gonna pick my daughter up and wherever she wants to go over and go hang out for a week She doesn't care if you're the champion or not She'll be your fan forever Nah, she asked me who beat me up He's out of my eyes Who beats you up daddy? And what did you say?

Yeah, I got beat up, baby Yeah, I don't let her really know what I do She's only three years old so I don't I don't want her know exactly what's going on But I bet that was She's old enough to understand it maybe But I bet that was the best thing when you saw her upon returning, right? Yeah, you know what?

She's the one that, like you said, she don't care if I'm the champ or if I'm even a fighter. She just, I have this love for her and she has this love for me that, you know, no matter what I'm going through, I just see that face, that smile, that just doesn't matter. Yeah. Well, that is a beautiful thing, and you are a very rich man in life, so enjoy all of that. I think a lot of people, including myself, think you'll be right back in there very soon. So, again, thank you very much for the time. Congrats on a great run as champion

and looking forward to your return. Anthony, we appreciate it. No problem, man. All right, there he is. Anthony Showtime, Pettis, the now former UFC lightweight champion, of course, former WC lightweight champion. He was the champion.

He was supposed to fight at UFC 125. Excuse me, he was supposed to fight the winner of Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard, which was happening at 125. He was there. I remember it. He was there in person and they fought to a draw. He didn't get the title shot

and fought Clay Guida. That was his first step. back. This now his second. And this one obviously stings a lot more. He was the UFC champion, but handling it like a pro, no surprise there. And I'm sure, you know, a lot of guys, as I mentioned last week, I'm always very humbled him and almost get downright emotional about it when people take time out of their day to come on this show. And I'm sure this is something he did not want to do. I'm sure this is something that he didn't want to talk about. So I can't thank him enough for the time and his team as well for helping us get Anthony on the show.

That really means a lot. So all the best to him. Hope he heals up very soon and hope he returns to action very soon as well. All right, let's move along and welcome in our next guest. She is also fighting at UFC 187. Donald Seroni on that card. That is a tremendous card.

She is one of the top contenders in the UFC's strawweight division, a finalist on season 20 of the Ultimate Fighter. You know her. She is Thug Rose. Rose Noam of Unis. There she is. Rose, how are you? Hi.

Great to have you on the show. Where are you right now? I'm in Trevor's office right now. Wow, I was just going to say, you have a pretty sweet office. He's back here, sewing something. Or whatever. Trevor Sows. Well, he makes like all of these, let's see.

I don't even know how to turn it around, but he made these shingars. Wow. He makes gloves and pads and stuff, all the types of stuff. So you never know what he's doing in here. Well, thank you for the time. I really appreciate it. You know, I haven't heard much. you since that fight against Carla Sparza.

So there's a lot I want to talk to you about. But first things first, I'm wondering, did you watch Carla's fight against Yohanna Yon Jacek? And if so, what did you think of it? Yeah, Yoana is definitely very impressive. I kind of seen, I mean, I don't want to, you know, I kind of felt like Yohanna was going to win. I felt like that was my prediction, but I felt like Carla had a chance

against her definitely. I think, you know, she could have shut down, shut her down with some wrestling and stuff made her tired, but just all things considered, like being a champ, like people, I don't think, realize how much of a difference it is, you know, once you, once you're on that level,

well, I mean, I guess I can't really talk because I wasn't champion yet, but once you're on that, like, title contention level, it's a total jump between, like, what the pressures are on you and stuff like that. So I believe, you know, Carla could have performed a lot better if she was her, you know, she didn't have to, you know, deal with the pressures of being a champion, you know, and I think that's just a level that maybe she wasn't ready for,

whereas Yawanna, we'll see how she does, you know, after this. I think she's going to stay the champion for a while, you know, until I get there. But, you know, I think that she looked great. I think her hands, you know, look really good. I think she did, like, her game plan was exactly what I needed to do against Carla to beat her. And I just didn't, I just didn't apply that. you know, I just kind of went in there crazy with emotion and, you know, and so like a young kids. So, you know, I'm learning a lot. And it's, it's cool to sit back and be able to, like, watch,

you know, and be a fan as well as, you know, kind of stop my other opponents as I'm climbing up the ladder again. Was it was it a little bit hard to watch? Because you just last fought, Carlin, you're like, damn, you know, if I would have done that, I could have been champion. Were you thinking like that? Yeah, of course. I mean, no. And yes, like, of course it's frustrating. But at the same time, I'm glad that it happened now versus, you know, you get the belt and then lose it right away. Like, I'd rather learn these lessons before I get there. And then once I get there, become a better champion and be able to, you know, be able to rain for a while. You know what I'm saying?

And as long as I can versus getting there as kind of like, you know, I kind of steamed through the house and then, you know, all these fights back to back, you know. And it was definitely a unique situation the way I got to the title. So whereas other people normally they have to, you know, have so many more fights or so much more experience. Whereas I kind of just fast track all the way there and didn't really have time to develop my skills. Whereas now, you know, I had a long break to have finally vacation, kind of put everything behind me, you know. And then now I'm back in the training and I'm working on the basics. Like I'm working on game plan, yes, but it's more so like developing me as a fighter and fixing the things that are going to work against all different fighters. and more in the future versus just this next opponent.

And then, you know, as we get closer, obviously, we will, you know, hone in on and more specific things. But I'm really just enjoying just becoming a better fighter as myself. You mentioned that you. Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned that you were emotional in the fight. So I'm wondering, how did you deal with the loss? I remember seeing you at the press conference.

Obviously, you weren't very happy being on that dais and having to talk about it. But then when the lights were off, when you were by yourself, the days, weeks afterwards, how did you deal with it? I mean, I guess it's like the normal. I kind of am more dramatic than I think other people are, or I just show it more. I don't think that there's anything wrong with that. You know, I have a lot of passion and stuff like that. But yeah, I definitely had to step back.

It was definitely necessary for me because just that loss in general and everything that led up to it because really reminded my – it helped me realize what's really important in my life. You know, it's not – I barely – I mean, I just recently posted a lot of stuff, obviously, and this is the first interview that I'm doing. And, you know, I would say, I want to come on your show. But I'm enjoying just kind of stick it to myself and paying attention to the people that matter in my life versus, you know, I want to update fans on what I'm doing and stuff. And, you know, give shout out to my sponsors and everything like that. But I don't want to give too much energy into it, you know.

So, yeah, it's really necessary for me to just step back for a little while and kind of be a little hermit. Like, I'm so out of the loop when it comes to everything. You know, the important fights, you know, obviously, Yohanna, I watch, you know, I watched the whole card the last, last, whatever, was it, week or something. Yeah, but other than that, it's really, it's really been kind of refreshing just to kind of, you know, just be into myself. Did you feel like you needed that cleansing a little bit because you were on the show as well, and it was like a constant weekly thing. There was all this attention. Did you feel like you just needed a break from MMA after all that? Yeah, yeah, I think so.

I think that, you know, I've been, it's kind of a weird transition when it comes from being on the show where you're totally secluded. You don't, I mean, you kind of have to do media and stuff, like you have to do interviews and stuff like that. But it's kind of like so monotonous that you kind of get used to it. Whereas like once you get out, then you have to deal with like the pressures of or the adrenaline dumps of like, you know, people finding out about your fight if you won or loss. and then you're up or down based off of that, but you already had it. So it's kind of this weird time warp thing, and then you're dealing with,

so you get all distracted, you know, based off of what people are saying or what people think about and you get all hyped up. And obviously, they really hype me up. And then you, you know, whereas you got to prepare for the next fight, you know, in my case, like I had to prepare for the finale. Or, you know, some other girls, they had lost earlier on the show,

so they kind of had a little more time to put it behind them. I felt like it. And, you know, it's just when I was saying, like, I mean, it's not an excuse at the same time. I mean, it kind of is because I'm mentioning it. But it's just to make people understand, you know, what's really going on. You know, it's not just a punch and kick. It's not just, you know, who's the better fighter. It's also, you know, who's the better fighter that day and who feels better, you know?

There's so much more that goes into it rather than, like, you know, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. More than people think. What was that week like for you in Las Vegas leading up to the fight? because here you are. This is essentially your UFC debut officially, and it's for the belt, and you're being exposed to the world.

You're getting through this media after the show's over. They're calling you the next Rhonda Rousey. There's all this attention on you. Well, how did you deal with all of that? It's such a young age as well. How do you deal with it? Honestly, I don't even know.

Like, it's such a blur. Like, there's just so many things that went on during that week rather than not even just a training camp that is just really fast-paced, being bang, boom. And I know that that's something that I have to be able to deal with.

if I want to be on that level. But, you know, let's take it in baby steps. You know, like, I'm only 22. Like, I'm doing pretty well for myself. You know, like, let's not jump the gun to say that I'm, you know, Ronda Rosalie, who she's been, you know, competing at elite level since she was very little, you know. And it's like, you know, she's got the time in where it's like to compare me to her.

It's like, oh, yeah, of course I'm not going to go to practice today, you know? Right. I'm the next round of Rousey, no. Were you saying that? What I did, but, huh? Were you saying that? No. Oh, okay.

I mean, it's like, it's eventually like, like, I get, you know. I was saying that. I was saying it. That's trouble. Get back. Give it a bout. Just give it to her. It's like, it's kind of cringeworthy.

Like, I know I have, like, I go back and we watch all my fights, even the ones from the show. And like, just compare and contrast, just the mental and all this other stuff going into it. And, like, it's really kind of cringeworthy when you hear Pat in the, in the corner, like, yelling all these. seen things like, like, he's just overly hype. It's like, you know, that's like cool because, you know, he was that excited too. Like he bought into the hype. Everybody did. And it's okay.

That's fine, you know. I didn't buy into the hype. I firmly believe. Yes. All right. There's a difference between, hey, I'm just in the zone and I firmly, we all did. We all firmly believed Rose is invincible. We were two in the zone.

I'm sorry. I mean, yeah, I definitely really truly believed in myself. But, you know, there wasn't, yeah, it was just too much all at once, I think, and you do get carried away. So it's good to happen now, so that I learned that, you know. I kind of just stay cool. Sure. Yeah. I remember seeing you at the way and the way and you're all right.

You bow down and everything. Do you think you'll always be that way? Is that not going to change, or would you like to be less intense? Yeah. I'm definitely, I think, you know, it'll be interesting to see what, what takes place in the future because I know myself like um just away from social media um just in my personal life I'm totally different and I feel like I'm making rapid changes and like very short amount of time I'm just how how I think about things my perspective and attitude and stuff like

that but it's interesting to see how it's going to portray you know to the rest of people and to other people watching me because um I don't know like I'm still trying to learn this new person who I am you know So and who and making progress throughout this training camp. So I'm really excited to see what new roses can show up. Now you're fighting Nina Ansoroff, which is interesting because Amanda Nunes, who won on Saturday. I don't know if you watched her fight, she beat Chena Basler. She actually called out Nina, who I believe she's in a relationship with and said she's the next and all this stuff. And it made me think, oh, that's Rose's next opponent.

So what do you think of her? Oh, I think that I'm a big fan of Amanda Nunes. I recently learned about Nina Ansaroff. I watched her fight, you know, with Juliana Lima. And, you know, she looked really impressive. I think that our styles really match up really well. You know, she's got more of a striking style, but she does everything. So, you know, I'm really impressed with her and I'm really excited for the challenge.

Like, as always, you know, I think she's, you know, she's a big 115er. You know, she fought at 125, so there's another thing about her. But, yeah, I think it's just going to be an excited fight. she has that striking style you know it's not going to be just sprawling brawl more like against Carla as it should have been

so it's going to be cool to switch up the game plans so they could have put let's say they would have put you on some kind of fight night show you would have received I think still a lot of attention but they put you on as it stands right now the best card of the year I mean you have John Jones and Anthony Johnson Chris Wyden

Vitor are you happy about that that there'll be less attention on you because those big boys are also fighting on the card Yeah, I had the choice to go to fight on that New Orleans card in June 6th. Yeah, June 6th. Yeah, and that would have been cool because, you know, Pat's families from New Orleans and stuff like that. And I like New Orleans. It's a cool place.

But yeah, the Vegas card is definitely a bigger card. And it's going to, you know, I think it's going to be better from my sponsors and everything like that. So that's always a thing to consider. But yeah, it's going to be cool just to kind of at least have one UFC. fight where, you know, I'm not the main event. I'm not fighting for a title. Like, let's just have a fight, you know, and let's just have fun. Let's freaking fight.

That's going to be cool. And, yeah, and that's going to be cool just for the exciting card, all the other cool fights is on there. Are you on the Fox Sports One prelims, or are you on the pay-per-view? Do you know? I think I'm not, I can, I don't want to answer this, but I think I might be on a Fox Sports prelims. I'm not sure.

I have to double check. You don't want to answer? That's something I should know. See, this is like I'm even in a loop for my own stuff. Sure, because you were talking about your sponsors, I feel like that could be something that would interest in. But you're part of that Kevin Harvick team, right? Mm-hmm. How did that happen?

Because they have a very select, I mean, it's you, Misha Tate and Donald Taroney, I think, as far as MMA is concerned. Yeah, so Pat is friends with Scrake from Tapout. Yep. And he is, you know, I guess, like, he's an acquaintance with her friends with Josh Jones, the manager. of that company. And, you know, he's suggesting me. They were looking at, you know, they want to do like one person at each division or something like that they were looking for that.

So they, you know, wanted to scout out another girl, you know, as well as Misha Tate. And they kind of just recommended me. They looked at some other girls, but I kind of just fit their style and their, you know, their personality and something that they really liked what I was bringing to the table. That's great. And you probably have big sponsors now as a result. Yeah. Budweiser being one of them.

Wow. The list goes on. I just got a new sponsor that, you know, that gas station pizza that's like at every gas station. Yes, yes. I saw you tweet about them, B, B.HM or something like that, BMH. Is that inaccurate? HB. HB.

There you go. Yeah. I don't think they have that in New York. Yeah. Yeah. So that's pretty cool. I want to ask you about Paige Van Zent. She's receiving a lot of attention now.

She's you four months ago. Yeah, I know. Good luck to her. She can pull that up. Good job. You know, I think it's cool. You know, I think that she's, I think she should just, you know, experience it and get the most out of it now that while, you know, while it's coming at her. You know, I think the more stuff that comes at you and the more that you can handle, like see what, you know, she can handle. I honestly, I feel for her because, you know, that's a lot of pressure going to a fight and stuff like that. But we'll see how she performs, you know. She looked impressive in her last fight, but, you know, like I said, the pressures outside of the ring are definitely play into a factor. And they make it more of a job rather than, you know, your passion. Reebok, Fox, all that stuff. Do you kind of cringe when you? I mean, she's so young, she's 20 years old,

and it's amazing to hear a 22-year-old like yourself kind of grow up in front of our eyes and be, you know, wise and mature and all that stuff. But, I mean, she's going to come in, she's fighting in the New York area. That's going to be pretty intense. It's going to be very intense. It's probably really intense for her already. And, you know, if she, like I said, nothing's impossible. Never say, you know, never say never and stuff like that.

You know, but there's also things that are a good idea and a bad idea. You know what I mean? And I don't think there's much she can do about it. You know, it's like they're putting into her a spotlight. It's not like she's going to say no to a Reebok deal or no to that. You know, it's like, you know, the more exposure, the better. I mean, the more opportunities that come to you. At the same time, you know, it does take away attention to like,

becoming a better fighter of just focusing on your skills. Like it does have that factor. So she can deal with all that. And, you know, props to her that she's an amazing woman and I admire her. What's going on with the singing on social media? Because I look at the comments and I see you get a lot of interesting feedback for your singing. Is this a career that you're looking to? Oh, the last few I put up?

Yeah. I was, I had a cold. Like, there's like something nasty bug going around here. And like I lost my. I still, like, I'm still. I'm still slowly getting my voice back. It's terrible. Yeah, so I just thought it was funny because I was just singing a song in the car, but I couldn't sing it. I was like, yeah, I'll make a thing about this. This is stupid, but I don't know,

people like that stuff. Yes, I think they do. Okay, before I let you go, I want to ask you, going back to the champion, the new champion being crowned, were you happy about that because it's a quicker path to the title when there's a new champion as opposed to the one that you lost to? Are you happy that she lost the belt, and now there's a new king or queen, I should caller? I don't know if it really mattered in my situation in terms of who. I mean, maybe it does. I don't know. But, you know, I'm sure that with one or two wins, one very impressive win or two good wins, I'll be right back in there, no matter who it is. So, yeah, I think it is cool, though, to have, you know, obviously I'm biased towards striking, you know, but I, you know, I really like Carla and I like how she fights too. I mean, just how she approach.

I think it's something that people don't appreciate, you know. They just want to see somebody's head blow off, which is, you know, that's exciting. But it's really interesting to see how now in hindsight, like, after losing her, really watching how she goes into every fight and really, you know, obviously not the last one, but, you know, just how she goes and approaches each fighter specifically. And she really has a specific game plan for each person. So, yeah, I'm just really excited for Yon. and I think that she's going to make a great champion.

I'm really excited to fight her. There is, it's kind of wide open right now at 115. Who do you think that that gives her the best fight in her first title defense? Do you have a take on that? You know, I say Claudia gave her a pretty close fight. I mean, like she, I mean, Yon has a G though. I mean, she kept going. She never gave up.

She never quit. So I think that Claudia can probably, if she learns and really, perfects, you know, some of the mistakes that she made in the fight back with her before. I think she could really give her the, you know, obviously she's probably in a line in front of me. But, you know, after I fight Nina, whatever, you know, we'll see what happens. That's obviously cool. Sure, of course. Well, it's great to hear from you, and thank you so much for coming on the show.

I love the evolution of your character, your personality. Clearly, you've learned a lot from the loss, and that's most important. I also love the fact that when we first met you, you know, you were kind of in the background, Pat was doing the interview, and now the tables have turned. Now, he's the background noise, so to speak. That's him right there. Oh, great. I knew that was going to trigger something.

Is he okay, though? Yeah, right? He's like, wait, somebody's in my name? Hey, Pat, just curious. I don't want to take attention away from your woman here, but are you all right? I know you had a fight coming up and had to pull out. Is everything okay? I've got a few, and maybe this is just from over the years of, I guess, just the trauma to my hands,

but I've got a few, they found a few fractures in my wrist just after a practice one day, a hard practice at the gym. I just, I don't know, my hands had been bothering me for a few months now. Just a little bit here and there, but I finally went and got them, like, for real looked at, versus just, I'll put some ice on it and wrap it. And they said they found a few old fractures, but they're like one or two new ones. So my hands, I can make a fist now, and I'm about to start training back in a little bit in maybe another week or so.

Okay. All right. You'll be back in glory. Yeah. I look forward to it. Yes, sir. Me too. Rose, again, thank you so much.

Best of luck to May 23rd. UFC 187. We will be there. We look forward to your return to the Octagon and really appreciate you giving us your first interview. That means a lot. Thank you. Oh, yeah.

Thank you very much for having me. All right. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks a lot. There she is. Thanks, bye. Rose Namayunis stopping by. Great stuff from her.

A top contender is still at 115, and it's always nice. You know, it was interesting. We talked to Anthony Pettis. That's a week after his title loss. You talk to her, and this is, what, four months after? Clearly, when you have a little bit of time, you could be, I mean, you could turn that negative into a positive. Actually, very surprised with Anthony.

I mean, he's already doing that. You never know how someone is going to deal with a loss. And you could see she is in great spirits. So that is good to see that. That's a very interesting fight. Amanda Nunez calling out Nina Anseroff. I think she was the one who did the GoFundMe campaign before her. her last fight.

But again, UFC 187, so deep. I mean, that fight, I believe, also is on the Fox Sports one prelims. I mean, it's just amazing. Arlowski and Travis Brown, Benavita's Maraga, the three other fights that I've mentioned, this fight. Really great card coming up on May 23rd. Hopefully, no injuries. All right, let's move along.

And welcome in our next guest, a legend of the sport, former UFC middleweight champion now working for one championship. Always a very busy man. always great to hear from him. I'm talking about Rich Ace Franklin. Rich, how are you? Hey, what's going on, bud?

I'm well. How are you, brother? I'm great. Thank you very much for joining us. So, as I mentioned, you're always very busy. There's a lot to talk to you about. But I want to talk about your latest business venture first. Armour gel.

What is Armour gel? So Armour gel is a silver-based gel that's basically been clinically tested to reduce and kill forms of MRSA. staff, different fungus and yeast. And so it's a silver-based gel that I use. I use it sometimes before I grapple, especially with me traveling, like, overseas and grappling on a bunch of different math and with a bunch of different people. But oftentimes I use it, like, on my post workout.

Like, I had a spot of staff on my leg about a year ago, and I started using this product, and it cleared up the staff almost immediately. And so from that point on, I'd be a lot of. used it for quite a number of things, but I guess one other thing I've used it for is, like, on my cuts, it really reduces healing time for cuts and stuff like that. So I had, I had, got some stitches on my face and used it to help reduce the amount of time that would take me to heal from that, and it got me back to training a lot quicker. So it's just a good product that I've had in my training bag now for quite some time.

and a company out of Utah, ABL, they mine their own silver, actually, and they basically formulated this product. And when I was introduced to the product, I really, really, really liked it. So I started using it, and I was like, okay, guys, look, I believe in this product.

I want to do some more stuff with it. So we started working together. Does something like this not exist, something on this level, in your opinion? Well, there are different types of silver and stuff like that, but they have a patented way that they actually use, they use electricity, electric current, and run it through silver.

And the silver in this product has the ability to continually bind to different bacteria. Like a lot of, like, many people listen probably have used like colloidal silver before and stuff like that. And so you can drink like colloidal silver and it'll bind to like different bacteria in your system. But they basically once it binds, it's pretty much no good anymore. and the way that they, you know, charge this thing and run electricity through it, the silver is capable of just continually buying. So, no, I've never seen anything like this before. And the gel itself, it's actually non-toxic.

You know, some of the guys in the company, they'll use the gel. I use the gel, like, when I'm traveling, I'll wipe it on my, I use it as a glorified hand sanitizer. I wipe it on my face. Like, when I'm in an airplane, I'll wipe it in my face and, like, to me inside of my nose to help reduce the amount of bacteria and breathing in it. How I'm wearing a surgical mask and stuff. Like I have a bunch of different uses.

I was sunburned real bad one time. I just was recently scuba diving down in Bali and got sunburn real bad and use this gel on my sunburn. And it helped me really, like, cleared the sunburn up really well. I didn't have any feeling or anything like that. So it's just, it, silver's been known for, like, in the medical field and for centuries, like silver's been used to help kill bacteria and stuff like that. Just people have forgotten this. like the tradition of like throwing coins in a wishing well and stuff like that is like

people used to put silver coins like in wells where there was water and stuff or like on big voyages on ships they would put silver coins like in barrels and crates of water and stuff to keep the water from corn rants because the silver would would kill the bacteria and so in modern day we use silver for a lot of medical instruments and metals and stuff like that because like I said it's an anti-bacterial type of metal so it has a lot of different things. uses. And like I said, this Marmagell product is a product that I literally don't travel without. I always have a tube of my training bag. I have a tubing my traveling bag, and I pretty much go everywhere with it. So I consider myself an extreme germaphobe. I mean,

the stuff freaks me out, but I've never even considered putting anything like that on my face while I fly. That's unbelievable. That's a whole other level. Yeah, exactly. I'll say what. I'll, um, arrow when, you know, before I get off the phone or whatever, or just email me, email me your mailing address, and I'll send you a couple of sample tubes of it, and you can try it out. And like I said, it's non-toxic, and you can use it. Like, it's very rejuvenating for the skin because it sounds weird like I'm talking from a cosmetic standpoint now. Yes. Like, I really use this product to help clear up, or, you know, heal up cuts faster on my face and stuff like that.

And it really does work, so it really helps the skin rejuvenate. I actually sent a box samples down to, because I do, when I'm down in Singapore, working for one championship, I do a lot of training at Evald down there, and I sent a box of samples so each of the fighters could have a tube of that down there, just because, you know, they're on the fight team,

and I wanted everybody to have a sample tube in case they got cut or something like that or go to staff on the mat or just whatever. So it really is a good product, so I'll send you some of it, to check it out. Well, I appreciate that. And, you know, staff is so, staff is disgusting. I mean, it's painful, it's gross to look at all that.

How many staff infections do you think you've had in your career? Two. I've only had two. I've been very fortunate. And, you know, the first one, the problem with staff is that once you catch staff, it's such a scary thing that you basically, you're willing to riddle your body of, like, full of antibiotics just to get rid of it. And, you know, I'm really big.

I'm, like, I'm very holistic in my approach to help. I eat healthy foods and in my nutrition. And so the last thing, I try to avoid, like, throwing a bunch of drugs and antibiotics in my system just, you know, when it's unneeded. Like, I'm, I'm that guy that when I get sick, sometimes to a fault, I'll make myself, I'll just keep, keep myself going and going as long as I can before I'm finally like, all right, fine, I'll take some cough medicine, which is kind of a bad thing. But, yeah, I just, I avoid drugs at all possible. And so, you know, I know guys that have used, use this gel, which is nearly tasteless. It has a slight metallic taste, but I know some people that have used this gel, like, when they've had an upset stomach and stuff like that. Wow.

So, yeah, it's completely non-toxic. You could swallow an entire tube. It wouldn't hurt you. I've used it before for stuff like that in a pinch. Had some bad fushi one time when I was out of the country. But, yeah, that's not what it's intended for, but it is possible to use it for that. But, I mean, that's the whole point is you're basically taking something that's completely non-toxic, no drugs, and something you can put them out. So if you're a germophobe, this is the perfect product for you, honestly.

So like I said, you're a man of many hats, and we'll get to, I also want to talk to you about one championship, but where do we stand now in the fighting? Because there was the time we were doing a lot of interviews you were saying maybe one more, you weren't quite sure, you had a deadline. are you going to fight again? Are you done? Where do we stand? Yeah, listen, it's getting more and more difficult for me if I want to take a fight again. It's getting more difficult. And I'm further and further out of the case.

Like I realize it's just getting further from the last time that I fought. And so coming back from that kind of stuff is not easy. And I'm not really, I'm not ready to say I'm ready to retire because I don't want to be one of those people, Ariel, who says, yeah, I'm going to retire. and then all of a sudden, you know, six months from now, I'll be like, oh, I'm coming out of retirement. Like, when I say I retire, then I'm done.

And I'm just not ready yet. You know, this morning, I just got back from the gym. I did my strength and conditioning this morning, as I normally do on Mondays, even when I'm getting ready for a fight. And I'm going back to the gym at 4 o'clock today to drill wrestling. And this is the way that I live, regardless of whether I fight again or not, I live like I'm basically still fighting professionally. So I'm not at a point where I'm ready to completely walk away from the sport yet.

But I do understand that it's getting – it's becoming more and more difficult for me to take that last fight. So while it's not looking probable, it's still possible. What is even keeping that door open? I mean, your former champion, you've had gigantic fights. I mean, what could there be left for you to do? Is it just the fact that you want to compete? is there something you'd like to, someone you'd like to fight, why even consider it at this point? Love for competition, man.

This is what I've done the last 20 years in my life. You've got to realize I wasn't groomed into sports growing up. I wasn't this prodigy athlete who knew he was going to be the next big thing professionally. I didn't start from my high school football team, and martial arts has always been a hobby of mine. It's always been a part of my life. And fortunately, it's just something that I was good enough at. to do professionally, and I was able to pursue this as a career. And I'm one of the people in life who truly, truly has been blessed in doing the one thing

that I've been passionate about my entire life, and that's competition. And most people, most people, they go to school and they major in whatever they major in, and they end up having some career, some profession, and something. And, you know, some people enjoy their career, some people, not so much, but very few people in this world can really, really, really do the thing that they are the most passionate about doing in this world. And I've had, like I said, I've been blessed to be able to do that. And to just, at the age in life where most guys are buying sports cars and getting dumb tattoos and dating women half their age, I have to be at that point where I say, okay, I'm ready

to walk away from the one thing that I love the most. And so that's what keeps guys going and keeps guys in the sport. But make a mistake about it. I'm not so enthralled that I couldn't listen to an intelligent coach tell me like, hey, you know what, your time has passed you by, and you should walk away from this sport. And so the day that I have a coach tell me that says, I think it's your time to walk away.

I'm smart enough to listen. So when that comes out of physical necessity, yeah, I will definitely announce my retirement at that point. But until then, you know, I still have. I'm putting the door. So your coaches aren't telling you that. They're saying, let's keep the door open, at least for now. Yeah, you know, and I get to go in the gym sometimes,

and I have guys that come in half my age that are about to hit their prime, and they look at me. I got that target on my back, and I'm the, quote, unquote, old man in the gym now, and it's always fun to think around these little 20, 25-year-old guys that haven't been smacked around yet by somebody that knows what they're doing. So I still have fun in the gym, you know. what was it like for you when you found out about Anderson Silva? What was your reaction?

I'm assuming we're talking PEDs here. Yes, yes, of course. Yeah, you know, I don't know if this is the right reaction, but it's still bad for the guy. Most people are like, well, he's feel bad for somebody who was using performance-enhancing drug. And I would just say that my gut reaction on the whole situation is Anderson got hurt. He was looking to get back into competition as quickly. as possible. Resorted to using,

this is a guess, this is conjecture, this is not fact. I'm not stating fact here, so don't quote me as factual. And he probably used some performance-enhancing drugs that helps speed up that process to expedite things for him.

And in that situation, he got caught. And I feel bad for him to think of all the things. I would like to think that that was the story and that it wasn't the fact that he had been using this his entire career. I don't know one way or the other, but just to,

the thought of that happening to him, and that'll be kind of the, like how the baseball, you know, in baseball, those certain players that have asterisk, you know, the asterisk by their names in the record books and stuff like that, that this is going to be that blemish or that thing that he'll,

he'll be remembered for. And so, you know, that was my reaction. Does it make you think, like, man, I wonder if he was doing that when he fought me twice? To say that thought didn't cross my mind, and, you know, I would be lying if I didn't think that. Even if he was, whether he was or wasn't, I'm not sure it would have changed the outcome of the fights that I had with him.

I'm not, you know, I don't want to be so bold as to say that. Like, yeah, well, I bet he was. And that's why I lost. You know, that's not what happened. You know, Anderson was just a better man that night and beat me. But, but no, yeah, you start thinking about that, and I start thinking about all the opponents that I've had that I've lost to, win or won or lost two that have been associated with,

with TRT at this point in time, and PEDs. And so you start thinking about that kind of stuff. Yeah, you know, it makes you think a little bit. Now the UFC is doing their part, and hopefully everyone else,

you know, follow suit, cleaning up the sport. What is, what is one championship's stance on PEDUs? Because you don't hear, I mean, there aren't commissions

where you guys are running, if I'm not mistaken. So, no, there aren't commissions. And although we have a zero tolerance policy, we're running into the same, we run into the same issues

that, that, the UFC or any other organization this world runs into. When you get out of the country of the United States, it's very, very difficult to regulate this kind of stuff. There aren't commissions, and oftentimes when you're going places and you're doing a urinalysis test and stuff like that, you're going to places where you don't have control

when you're out of the country. And it's easier to get away with things when you're in places like South America or when you're in Asia or something like that. So it is, it, it's not something that we can regulate as, uh, as closely over there. The, um, one, we're in the process of figuring out how we're going to, um, to regulate this kind of stuff. And, you know, you got to realize like one championship at this point in time, we're growing so rapidly. We had 12 shows last year. We're probably going to net out at around 22 shows this year.

And next year we're looking at 40 plus. Wow. And the organization is growing so quickly. and we've only had 23, maybe 24 shows at this point in time. So we have a lot of stuff coming at us all at one time. But, yeah, the stance, obviously our stance on that, like everybody else, is your policy on things. It's just a matter of getting regulation under control.

Are you enjoying this? I know you were just in the Philippines, I believe. Are you enjoying being a part of promotion, being on this side of the table, so to speak? And do you foresee your role growing in any capacity over there? Yeah, I do. For sure. The organization, every day that I work, they're figuring out how to use me.

It's weird because in an organization, like in an organization I want a championship, you have your, there are the faces that are recognizable, like your talent and stuff like that, and then there are executives in the company. I kind of fall in this weird in between, you know, no man's land where I'm from, somewhat of a talent, but then I handle things from an executive position with the company as well. And I think the more that they work with me, they realize, like, you know, I'm college-educated and I'm a fairly smart guy, so I can do more than just be a face. So every day that I'm with the company, like, I have more and more responsibilities.

I think it could come my way. It's a little different for me because I'm still based out of the States and will remain being based out of the States. And so my role is a bit trickier. But, yeah, you know, I handle a lot of different things for them. And so I'm sure it'll continue to grow as time going on. And that was actually my next question. If you guys are going to do 40 shows next year,

are you going to have to move to Asia? I don't think, I don't think so. I'm not completely close to that idea. I'll be honest, you know, when you spend time outside of the States, You really learned to appreciate the place that you came from. But no, we're based out of Singapore, and if I had to choose any place in Asia to live, I think Singapore would probably be the easiest transition.

They cater to pretty much every culture because it's kind of a hub for many businesses, both east and west. So that wouldn't be such a bad thing. But the goal of the company at some point in time is basically Friday nights is the fight night in Asia. They're going to show basically every Friday. That's the company. goal. It'll take us a couple years to get there, but that's what we're looking at.

And when we're at that level, then perhaps I may need to look at living in Asia. But until then, I'll continue doing the things that they have me doing on this type of the globe and that side of the globe and bouncing back and forth. You know, I'm here most of the time. But I just did about a month spent over in Asia, and we had a fight. We had our fight in KL, had a great fight in KL. and then, you know, promoing the fight that we have coming up in Manila here in a couple weeks. And we have Luis Santos who's headlining against an aspirin.

Yeah. And I'm really, really excited for this card. And by the way, why did you guys get rid of the fighting? The fighting in the name. It's not one championships. Why is it not one FC anymore? You know what? That's probably, I'm not the person that's in charge of the marketing division,

and I would probably talk to somebody who does the marketing. I'm not really sure. But, you know, I don't know if you've noticed, but if you look at, if you look at a lot of UFC posters recently, they don't say ultimate fighting championship anymore. They just say UFC. Right. So I'm sure it has something to do on the marketing side of things.

Okay, fair enough. By the way, before I let you go, I just wanted to ask you about this, going back to the retirement or keep fighting stuff, I don't know if you know of an athlete named Steve Nash, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, 41 years old, just retired this weekend. Yeah, did you see his documentary that he did after he got injured?

Yeah, a great documentary, by the way. It really gives a lot of insight on the mentality of somebody who just truly loves what they do and loves their sport. So he said this to ESPN.com over the weekend. It's just a weird transition. Every athlete goes through it. A lot of people say an athlete dies twice, and in some ways, without being salacious,

that's true. Do you agree with that? Absolutely. I was listening. He said that and then if you had ever seen the documentary that was done on Jen's Pulver. Yes. Jim Palmer had an amazing interview talking about this very topic. And it is true.

You have to basically do willing to accept something at midlife. When basically somebody looks at you and says, look, you're just not strong enough. you're not capable of doing the job that you once did. For me, like at the age of 40, basically, like, I'm in that range. And it happens to every athlete, like around this range of time. And most people, in whatever job you're doing, whether you're working as a construction worker or some factory line or whatever it is, like whatever job I'm doing, I can continue doing for that company until I'm in my 70s, until the company finally comes

to me and says, hey, Rich, look, you're just not capable of doing this job anymore. And that's where you have to have that wake-up call. but athletes have to experience that at this stage of their life. And it truly is, you know, some people don't know how to swallow that pill very well. And so do you believe that you're one of those people? Do you believe that you have a hard time saying goodbye to that former self? No, no, not at all. I understand that I love doing what I do.

But like I said, if somebody came to me, if I had a doctor that came to me and just said, Rich, look, you can't compete anymore because you had such and such injury or a coach come to me and said, look, you just don't have it anymore, champ. That's the cold, hard fact. These guys are too fast and blah, blah, blah, then I would understand. I would just say that's just the nature of this sport.

And that's why I work so diligently on everything else, Ariel, like I have the stuff going on with Armour gel. I have this stuff going on with one championship. I keep myself involved in so many other things that if something is taken from me, even though my first love was competition competing and fighting, even if that's taken from me, I can make myself an integral part of something else

that I'm not left in some depressive state, you know, taking a bunch of antidepressants and stuff like that for the next 10 years of my life trying to rebound and turning to all these vices that I need in order to make myself feel complete. It just won't happen to me. What's the square root of 16? Four. And then the square root of that is two.

And the square root of that is irrational. Still got it. Still got it. I haven't been knocked out that many times. One championship 26 takes place April 24th in the Philippines. As rich mentioned, Ben Askron v. Luis Santos. This armor gel seems like it's pretty revolutionary. Where can people learn more about it?

For now, just go to my website, rich franklin.com. And there's a link to the armor gel there. and they can check it out. Like I said, I'll send you some. And Ariel, I'll send you some. Use it. And if you believe that the product is as good as I say it is, saying it's praise, if not, then I'll be honest about it, man. I'm going to bathe in it.

That's not a bad idea, actually. Before my next trip, one of those cross-country flights, I'm going to bathe in it. I appreciate the time. Best of luck with that armor gel. I look forward to checking it out. And best of luck with everything, one championship. I still keep saying one FC. it's tough for me to drop the F, but I will get there soon.

Always great to have you on the show. I'm quite impressed, man. You did a really good job with it. So there's my critique to you as an interviewer. Thank you very much, Rich. Always a pleasure. All the best. Hey, you're welcome.

Had a good time. Thanks, Ariel. There is, Rich Franklin. There is only one. Former UFC middleweight champion, great ambassador for this board. Great idea by one championship to hire this man. so well-spoken was a part of that boom for MMA in the mid-2000s. And I look forward to checking that armor gel out.

All right, let's move along. I'm very excited about this, my friends, because as a youngster, I tell you what, in, I believe it was 2000, I was about to work on a pro wrestling radio show in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and they used to have these Smackdown viewings, and they would ask trivia at these viewings. And let's be honest, not the coolest kids attended these things. We didn't have much else to do, but I went anyway. And I'll never forget winning a Bill Goldberg long-sleeved shirt, which I still own to this day.

And in fact, on one of my first dates with my now wife, she wore it. So it's a very special piece of clothing that I have. And it's special because I loved Bill Goldberg as a kid. This was a Jewish professional wrestler, kicking ass, taking names, looking like, no one else that I know, but still doing it and doing it as a Jew in pro wrestling. Are you kidding me? I read his book. I mean, I was a gigantic Bill Goldberg fan. And now he is on my show, the one and only. Bill Goldberg.

There he is. I still have that shirt, Bill. I still have it. I just want to make sure that you've watched it a couple times since you... Just twice. What a pleasure this is, Bill. Thank you so much for joining us. How are you?

I'm doing great, man. It's an honor for me, too, Ariel. I've been a fan ever since you got into it, and you know, you and I've met each other a number of times, and I've always been appreciative of the knowledge that you bring to it and the objectivity for the combat sports, man. I appreciate it very much. All right, well, thank you.

That means a lot to me. I really appreciate those words as well. So, you know, we were just talking to Rich Franklin, and he's talking about the end of his career, the Twilight and all that. And correct me if I'm wrong here, Bill, but are you getting back into things? And not only that, are you getting back into the real stuff? I see these articles,

I don't know the sources. I don't know if it's the real deal. Are you actually considering kickboxing for glory? Is this true? I'm actually considering kickboxing for glory. Man, I've been a fan. Ariel, you know everything about me, man. I've been a fan of the combat sports for a very long time.

And as of late, I think that general consensus is that Goldberg co-owns a gym in Oceanside, California. and it just so happens to be a buoy tie gym. And nobody's ever really inquired as to me training or not. But quietly throughout the past probably 10 years, off and on, I have been. It's a real, it's a passion of mine for me. It's not anything that I'm looking to gain publicity to strike off the bucket list, to make waves, you know, like a CM punk thing right now. That was never my intention.

What that's turned into. is something similar to the CM Punk deal, but, you know, Ariel, for me, man, I'm 48 years old, and I go into the gym three to five times a week, mainly for cleansing. You know,

you ask a lot of these guys why they go in and spar, and a lot of it has to do with getting stuff out of their system. For me, not competing anymore, this has been the way throughout the years I've been able to do that. While at the same time, trying to concentrate on getting better at something that I'm not great at by any stretch of imagination.

So each and every day when you go in and take these privates, you try to put something small and try to work on it. And my repertoire of Muay Thai has grown significantly over the years. And, you know, I've been a fan, a huge fan of the combat sports. We all know that the embryonic character that I came up with at wrestling was, kind of a cross between a 300-pound defensive lineman and, you know, an MMA guy, whether it be Ola Tectarov, which I studied all with sombo tapes, you know, in my building of my character, or, you know, a shamrock with the attitude, or Dan the B. Severin, you know, there was a lot of things that went into the character development.

But one thing that I've found along the way is my love for martial arts. and I got involved in this gym in 99 and it's been a big part of my life my son goes there three days a week best friends with my with my co-owner and it's it's not just the training it's a way of life and I just having so much fun at it man I really am and then I did a little experiment with social media I think it's widely known how I got in contact with Glory. I think there's a mutual respect there. And at the end of the day, they didn't realize how much into this glory kickboxing I was. And I'm a huge fan.

I've pretty much sat back and looked at all the paper views that I've got MMA-wise over the years. And nine out of ten of them are between stand-up guys. So what are better to showcase stand-up than glory? I mean, you've got guys from all across the world, different disciplines coming in. And I kind of liken it to the embryonic stages of MMA in that it's more like a street fighter. It's more like a video game than MMA has become. And that's why I originally got involved with the sport of MMA. for me when you can sit down and watch a fight between two combatants and it is literally at the edge of your seat

biting your nails during the from the first bell to the last bell you know you know there's going to be a lot of excitement going on and and I think the the biggest tell I can say as to why I think glory is so exciting. In a nutshell, look at Melvin Manhoof's career. Look at his wins versus losses. And look at still how much of a commodity

that guy is, because every single guy, every single time he goes out and he puts the gloves on, you know that his opponent's getting knocked out or he's going to get knocked out. And that's the type of fighting you have in glory each and every fight.

And if I can lend my to a promotion and do whatever it takes to get that promotion in front of more eyes in getting it to the forefront of combat sports, I'm more than willing to do that. So whether you see Goldberg hosting the top 10 knockouts, whether you see him as part of the front office, whether you see him dawning the glove. I'm prepared to do what it takes to get this thing to the forefront because I think it's the next thing coming.

Okay, well, I have a lot to say in response and ask you about it in response to what you just said. Before I do that, though, do you mind turning the volume down a little bit on your computer because sometimes we're hearing a little bit of feedback and I don't want anything to ruin this? I hear sometimes what you're saying coming back at us. Is that cool, yeah?

I'm about that. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Okay, talk about the fighting first here, because there's a lot to digest there. How close are you to making a decision whether or not? Is there an offer on the table that you are considering? Where do we stand here with the fighting? There was an offer on the table, but, you know, it's got to be done right.

There was an offer on the table for me to fight May the 8th here in San Diego when Glory is in my backyard. Oh, my. But that's way too soon. Okay. Way too soon. For a number of reasons. physically promotional wise and longevity with myself and glory is concerned. So there has to be a bit of professional wrestling involved in the marketing of it,

in that they perfected marketing of big projects such as this. Is that the most objective way to say this? Yeah, yeah, I get it. Was there an opponent, though? offer to you because that's pretty soon. I'd say maybe Albert Del Rio. The wrestler?

The wrestler. So they were going to do two pro wresters. And by the way, he has competed in pride. I mean, he fought Miracle Crocob, Doscarus Jr. So that was the match, huh? And you said... That was proposed, but I've got, you know, I've got a lot of

issues with that. Well, what's your issue? You can't come out of that sport like this. You know, that's as real as it gets and have two professional wrestlers fight in the beginning. I don't think that's good karma for what they want to accomplish. You know, I'm not a, though I'm associated with glory now and though we're on Spike, you know, I'm not a huge proponent of the of the Tito Ortiz fight on their last card.

You know, I went to that fight to see Mannhoff and Schilling, two stand-up guys who just so happened to fight a glory. So I think if it's done properly, then it's a kick in the pants and it's a positive for the business. If it's done negatively, then it's going to do nothing but kick it back a notch. And I have to be associated with anything that's not done properly. So are you kind of going into a training camp now and saying, okay, let me see where my body's at, let me see where my skills are at, and then I'm going to decide.

How are you going to proceed here deciding whether or not you will actually fight? Yeah, status quo for me right now is three privates during the week in two sparring sessions Saturday, Sunday. So I'm keeping things normal. If you look at my Instagram right now, you know that on Saturday I snap one of my toes in half. I saw that. I think I'm going to be working on boxing primarily for the next couple days.

But hey, man, honestly, whether I have a fight right now or not, it's not going to change me going into the ring religiously, going into the gym religiously. It's my second home now. It's where I spend more time than home is down at the gym. I just, Ariel, I really love it. I'm not trying to swerve anybody here. My ass is in that gym training like I've got to fight.

If one comes to fruition, if in the cards, it is the positive thing to do for the elevation of glory kickboxing, then I'll set up at, you know, a training camp, and you'll be the first guy to know. Oh, well, I appreciate it. that. That's music to my ears. If kickboxing, if Flory was around in, say, I don't know,

96, would you have gone that route as opposed to the pro-wrestling route? I didn't have the skill set that I have now by any stretch of imagination. So taking that into consideration, I'd have to say no. Because throughout the years, I've gained a decent

repertoire when it comes to Muay Thai. It's hard to get guys, you know, 270 to bang with. but I have I've learned you know I take baby steps man I'm 48 years old but you know in in the traditional Muay Thai how we're training you know there is no cut in corners it's it's you know you've got to spend every second on every single little details so um I'm I'm in it for the long haul you know something that I've often said about glory I've said it on this show is that one of the

things that they're missing is a face. You know, in combat sports, we're always drawn to a face. Dana White in the UFC, Bob Aram, top rank, you know, Don King back of the day. You know about Vince McMahon. Even, you know, the place that you were involved with for a long time. They had Eric Bischoff, right, WC, you always need that promoter guy, you know, the guy to send the message. And I kind of, I mean, your first answer here, that was like five minutes long about just why you love the sport. Why can't Bill Goldberg be, if you're not going to fight, have they talked to you about being that guy, being the face, the promoter, if you will. It is very clear to me that you have a genuine passion for this brand.

What about that? That's a distinct possibility, too. Like I said, Ariel, I mean, I'm just getting to know the infrastructure of the business over a glory. I'm getting to deal with the people that make the decisions. I've had nothing but wonderful interaction with them so far. And we are going to sit down and figure out strategically what the best position for me in this company is, Because at the end of the day, we all want to succeed. And if it takes me, this is a horrible analogy, one that will probably make you want to vomit.

But if it takes me standing on a corner in a bathing suit with that sign that says glory kickboxing to get people's eyes on it, then, you know, short of doing something ridiculous like that, I'm in it, man, because this is my life. It's a passion of mine. there's no BS here. I'm not just a face. I have a true passion for it and a great appreciation for what these fighters go through. And I'd like to

bring glory and I'd like to bring kickboxing to the forefront like MMA is right now. Because I think that once people see it, they're going to fall in love with it. And like I say, if I have to be the face of glory, if I have to get in the ring for glory,

I'm going to do what it takes to get this to the next level. I can guarantee you that. And most importantly, Ariel, I want you and everyone to understand that this is no promotional BS for me. I have a true love for this sport and an appreciation. So when I first went back and forth with John Franklin, I wanted to take a step back and I wanted to send a message out to Rico Berhoeven and let him know that since he's the the face of glory right now as their heavyweight champion. What I'm doing is in no way, shape, or form meant as any disrespect to them whatsoever. I'm here to help.

I'm not here to trivialize it. I'm not here to make it look like professional wrestling by any stretch because these guys work their asses off in stinky little gems all around the world to fight in the most dominant, you know, the most dominant place they can, which is glory. And up until now, they haven't had a lot of fanfare. I think they deserve it. I believe that they deserve it because of the hard work that they put in. And I wanted Rico to understand that, like I said, I'm not, I'm not trying to, not trying to trivialize what these guys are doing. If nothing else, it has grounded me more. It has humbled me more in that I may be able to pick 500 pound guys up. I may be able to pick 500 pound guys up.

be able to do a back handspring and a ring of 300 pounds. I may be able to bench five, whatever the heck it is. But at the end of the day, all the talk goes out the window, all the bragging and all the braggadocio BS goes out the window when you put gloves on and the bell rings. And I'm no different than anybody else down at my gym. A lot of people didn't even know who I was because I'd come in with a hood and I do a hoodie and I do my thing and I keep to myself. And I don't pound my chest. I don't do that. This is a. sport where you pound your chest and that bell rings, you know, all that stuff goes out the window, man. And you're, it's skill set against skill set. Mentality against mentality, drive against drive,

heart against heart. And I really appreciate that from these guys. And you know me and I know you and the passion that you have for the business. I exude passion for this kickboxing. And I appreciate these guys. I want to train with these guys. I want to teach these guys how to be. better marketing tools. I really want to do whatever I can do to help the glory movement get to the next level because I believe it's the coolest damn thing out there right now. Wow. Wow.

I hope some executives are watching. Hey, let me ask you, you talk about passion and you're very passionate right now. Do you still have that same passion for pro wrestling? Because from this side of the fence, it kind of feel like it just died. Like that last match against Brock and just the way the whole WWW, as a lifelong fan, as I told you, man, you were the Jewish pro wrestler and you were kicking ass. It was the coolest thing for someone my age back in the day.

And it just wasn't the same. It didn't feel right in WWE. Did that kill your passion for the business? Yeah, you know, I really never had passion for the business. Really? Well, don't get me wrong. I as a as a child I never had passion for the business that I I did not did not strive to make it to the top of the professional wrestling rank I was only clouded by the desire to play pro football that was it and I've said it many times and many people have taken it the wrong way there's nothing wrong with that yeah I just had I had folk my focus was elsewhere when my attorney picked up the phone and called me after I got cut from the Rams and picked up by the Carolina Panthers, he said, you know,

well, you're going to have to get off your ass and you're going to have to do something because the money you've made, you know, isn't, isn't earth-shattering by any stretch of imagination. So you need to prepare yourself. And I trained at main event fitness for, you know, 15 years with Sting and Lex Lugar being owners. And so I kind of fell into it. It was a, it was a, I'm going to say a crutch, but it was an option for me. And I learned to love it, and I learned to appreciate it, and I learned to become a fan.

But being in the middle of that at the top where I was, fortunately, because of the right time and the right place, and maybe, you know, the stars aligned for me, it was a very tumultuous time in the wrestling business, whether it be the infrastructure of

WCW, whether it be the merging of AOL and Time Warner, the implosion of the of wcw at that time or you know what was going on with vince and wwe and the fact that from second to second we were trying to match what they were matching on monday night and vice versa there was there was a lot there was a lot going on in the back and i don't know if it was the most positive time of the wrestling business as far as being a part of it and seeing everything that goes on and listening to everything that goes on

my passion for the business was an acquired passion and that passion will never leave me anytime I walk down the street and one person says hey Goldberg and I turn around and they want to take a picture they want to talk or they want advice for their kids that's what wrestling gave me

Wrestling gave the ability to fulfill a dream that I fell short of being in the NFL. So seeing the people on my rise up during my tenure, interacting with the fans, seeing the purity of character development, going out and actually performing and feeling the excitement, you know, from the fans and the generated excitement. that you get yourself. That's stuff that will never leave me. That's passion that is ingrained. I want to almost say inbred. That it was in,

that's ingrained in my heart. So my passion for the business will never leave. My passion for the product right now is waning for sure. In that it's seemingly back in the past when I was working, the business gave the fans what they

wanted. Ultimately, that's what you need to do. Nowadays, it seems as if they're nothing but adversarial towards what the fans want. And I think that coupled with the rise of the internet, giving everyone the possibility of every outcome of every match months in advance, I think is detracting from the popularity of the wrestling business. By the way, around this time last year, I remember there were some rumors that you were going to appear at WrestleMania, the one coming up. Obviously, that's not happening unless you got a secret that you want to tell us. Did that, was that ever in talks? Throughout the years, I mean, there's always been a rumbling whether I was going to show or not.

Yes, I showed up in Louisiana last year at WrestleMania, but I was doing an appearance at wrestlecon, which was across the street at WrestleMania. So that's the ultimate swerve right there. But, you know, I think it's widely known that. yeah, I'd love to get back in the ring and have my son witness his dad do his thing. Oh. But that's kind of the only reason why I'd ever do it, you know. Have you talked to them about it? What's that?

Have you talked to them about it? You know, I've expressed my feelings maybe once or twice on the phone. Okay. But, you know, a lot of people say, hey, man, why don't you just come to terms with Vince and go back there. Well, Ariel, I mean, people must not know me 100% because I am not picking up my phone and calling anybody for employment.

That's just not how it works. So I made my opinions known, whether it's my podcast, whether it's interviews. I'd love to wrestle again, no doubt, for my son. Is it something that before I die, I have to do, or I'm not going to be a complete human being? Absolutely not. I could die tomorrow and be ecstatic and be the luckiest guy in the world.

Would it be an honor for me to be bestowed Hall of Fame credentials? Yeah, no question. Does it define me as a person or as a wrestler? Not at all. Do you think Brock will go back to UFC? I think Brock's a good businessman, period. Very well said. So I think that, you know, I talk to Brock's the only one I talk to.

You still talk to him? I talked to him three days ago. Wow. And the thing about Brock, why he and I are such good friends, we never talk business. So I think if it was me, I'd go back. Oh, why? There's a lot of paydays out there, and there are a lot of people to shut up, you know, because he wasn't 100% healthy

when he was there in the past. Obviously, he was thrown to the wolves and he did pretty damn well. But I think he may still feel as though he has something to prove and that he wasn't 100% physically when he was fighting. And, you know, he and Alistair have some stuff

to take care of. And like I say, Dana knows that his paper view cash cow is over at the WWE right now. Yeah. Obviously, Ronda Rousey has taken that spot, but you know, you can garner some pretty damn good buys with Brock Lesnar in your UFC Octagon. So if you were a betting man, you have to bet on Brock going back to WWR going to UFC. What do you do at this point?

One week left on his contract, I believe. Well, you know, you have to take WrestleMania into consideration. You have to take, you know, what the rumors are about him dropping the belt of Roman Raines into consideration. It's all strategy, it's all swerves. You know, hey, if I was Brock, I'd hold WWE up, and I'd sign a contract from the UFC. And then I'd sign a limited deal, and I'd say, you know what, I'll come back, and I'll be your bad boy if you let me fight at the same time.

Oh, my. It's me. Hey, can I ask you a question? I've always wanted to talk to you about this. I believe I read it in your book way back when. Wow, that book, I think it came out in like 99 or 2000. I remember had your big neck on the back, right? Yes.

Did they really want to have you as, like, the Mossad? Because that would have been the coolest thing ever, with the Jewish star in your trunks. Was that really a thing that was discussed? You know, it was a little bit. I think they nixed it because it was a, you know, delicate subject for them. I wanted to be Jew Zilla. Was that really? That was not really.

Oh, okay. That would be awesome. The rabbis would have loved you. Yeah, my finisher was the figure four skin. This is great. You're giving away precious material here. It's all good, Ariel. I'd rather give it to no other guy, dude.

But there was no real serious talking about that. That would have been pretty, I mean, I thought that would have been pretty cool. I mean, Bill Goldberg was great on its own, but wow, that would have been pretty badass. If you were a member of the Mossad, great idea. No one else could pull that off. I mean, I had people in the South cheering for Goldberg, which I think was the strangest. thing in the world. They wouldn't have even known what the Mossad was and they would have been cheering for it. That would have been the ultimate swerve for us. Finally, we got one over on those people.

By the way, what was the greatest moment of your career? What's the moment when you're done that you'll tell your son about and say, this is when I was at my peak. This was the moment that I just felt on top of the world, Cloud 9, whatever you want to call it. Is there one that sticks out? Yeah, I'm sorry, it's not an original one, but it was when I beat Hogan in front of 44,000 people in Atlanta. Yeah. And it wasn't because my hand was raised as the World Heavyweight Champion that night. It was because at the end of the match, when all his goons came out and beat me up and handcuffed me to the corner, the guys that came out that saved me were my old teammates from the Atlanta Falcons. Oh, yeah. Watching the excitement in their eyes, they looked like they were six-year-old, eight-year-old kids, man,

having the best time of their life. and I'll never forget as I was laying in the corner with spray paint all over my face thanks to Scott Steiner I was looking up man and it was as if time had stopped and I saw the unbridled

excitement in their eyes and for that one second those guys wanted to be me they would have paid money to be me and my entire life I'd want to I wanted to be them. So it was a little bit of poetic justice for me. Are you getting emotional on us? Absolutely not. Okay. Maybe it was the Skype connection. It almost felt like your voice cracked there for a

second. Oh, stop. Okay, one last thing. CM Punk, how do you think he does? You mentioned him earlier? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, it's totally dependent upon how he's training. It's dependent upon his knowledge. It's dependent. I mean, Rufus says he's a sponge. And so that's a great start. You know, somebody that's willing to learn, somebody that's not afraid to go in the gym and put in the hard work. I think he's got a great background as far as a character is concerned. But as I said, once those doors are locked, you can throw all that BS out the window, man. It's all predicated upon your training and your preparation. So for everything I've heard, I mean, I got a phone call into Rufus here later today.

actually Rick Rufus. Oh. But, you know, everything I've heard is positive. But, you know, and more power to him. I hope that he fulfills this dream of his. And I kind of look at it maybe as a parallel to what I'm trying to do right now. And, you know, I'm just trying to respect the business, man, you know. And if you guys ever saw me, then I'd be on top of my game for sure.

And so I think that he's of the same opinion. I think that how the outcome is, I don't know, but I do believe he'll give 100% and he takes it very seriously. And for that alone, whether he wins or loses, you know, I'm a fan. Call into Rick Rufus. What's that about it? Is this about training you? What's going on there? Nice subtle hint.

No, it could be about training and it could be about another opportunity in the combat world. But a lot of things going on, a lot of things going on, Ariel. It's, you know, you're just going to have to, you and I are going to have to talk a lot in the near future. Oh, I love it. Okay, so let's talk about what's going on right now. It is Glory 20. That's April 3rd. By the way, are you going to be there April 3rd, Glory 20?

Not going to be there, no. Okay, good, because, you know, I got to say, first night of Passover at the holding event in Dubai, I mean, what's up with that? Put it, put it this way. put that one call into my brother who put his call into Bill Clinton's aid just to figure out the lay of the land over there. And

I ain't changing my name and I ain't going. So... Well done. But you can't see Bill Goldberg hosting the next Glory Countdown show this Friday, March 27th at 11.15 p.m. Eastern Time that is immediately following Bellator

135. It is a top 10 knockout show and that glory event that we were just talking about It's Glory 20 in Dubai taking place April 3rd, 10 p.m. 9 Central on Spike TV. It all started from a tweet, and now here he is, I'm anointing you, the face of glory, the new face of glory, the people's promoter right here. They may not give you the checks. They may not pay you, but that's what you are, because you've done a better job of selling this brand than anyone in the last couple of years. You've nailed it. It's only just begun, Ariel, and I greatly appreciate the nod, man.

And it truly is an honor of mine to get back into the combat sports world and to be the face of glory kickboxing. And, you know, there's nothing but great things expected in the future, man. And they've had a couple stumblings in the past. And I do believe that they're en route to putting on some shows that are just unparalleled in the combat world. And I appreciate your help. And, you know, tune on to tune in to me at Twitter and Instagram.

we're going to be showing some fighting sequences here in the near future. And, you know, hopefully it'll satiate you people who can't wait for me to get in that ring. Oh, my. And the Twitter account is at Goldberg. What an honor this is for me. Thank you so much, Bill. Really appreciate it. I hope we can do it again soon.

Good luck with this. And keep us posted. If you sign that contract, we'd love to have you back on. You've got it, buddy. I appreciate it greatly. And to all your fans out there, man, you're doing a hell of a job. Like I said, I've seen you over the years. You've done nothing but an outstanding job in your reporting, man.

So I greatly appreciate it. It's an honor to be on the show. And I'll see you soon. Thank you. Happy Passover, by the way. And to you too, my friend. There he is. Wow, Bill Goldberg, the 16-year-old in me, geeking out.

I'm not lying. The fact that even knows my name. You have to understand. 1617, Bill Goldberg, doing what he was doing, sold out Georgia Dome, Jackhammer, Spear, they ruined the streak, they ended it when they shouldn't have. It was a huge mistake. He gave us hope.

I read that book in like 10 minutes. He gave my people hope. That was a lot of fun. And I'm not kidding. I hope Lori was watching that because that man has a genuine passion for the brand, He knows what he's talking about clearly. That could be the face they're looking for. That could be their promoter guy.

Think about it. They need it. Every promotion needs that. Every promotion. Media fans were all drawn to these promoters. We've been programmed to be drawn to these promoters. We need it. It's part of the whole system.

You know, it's the same way that an NBA team has a GM, a coach. There's a commissioner of the league. It always felt like Glory was faceless. You know, Invicta has Shannon Knapp. Belator has Scott Coker. UFC, of course, has Dana White. WSOF kind of has a two-headed monster, but they got something Ali Recefo.

You need that. And in boxing, you know the guys. Even Floyd, Floyd has Leonard Ellaby. You just need that guy, that suit. Could Goldberg be that guy? Anyway, he is hosting their countdown show this Friday, as I said, March 27th. It's right after Belltor 135.

I'll tell you about that. bit, but that show is a top 10 knockout show. And then the next glory event is Glory 20 in Dubai. It is taking place on Friday, April 3rd at 10 p.m. 9 Central. Two world title fights, lightweight champion Robin Van Rous Malin defends his belt against challenger Andy Reistee. And then a fellow Canadian, Gabriel Varga, faces off with Mossab Amrani for the vacant glory featherweight title. Also on that card, four men, one night. middleweight contender tournament. There you have it.

Thank you so much to Bill Goldberg. We're going to go inside the vault now. And as I said at the top of the show, Josh Kostchak losing once again this time to Eric Silva. Contracts up. We don't know if he's going to fight again, but I think many people would agree, no mas. It's time to walk away.

It's a tough thing. As Steve Nash says, every athlete dies twice, and Josh may be dealing with those emotions right now, so let's give him some space. But I started thinking about Josh Koshchek and the memories with Josh. We've had such a great relationship over the years. And I thought about one of my favorite Josh Koshchek moments, memories. That actually was in Sydney.

It was a little bit after maybe like two months after his title fight against George St. Pierre in Montreal, UFC 124. He was one of those guest fighters in Sydney, UFC 127. And this was one the most fun times I've ever had covering an event because we were there all week long. and they did a lot of fun things leading up to that event. That was the card headline by BJ Penn versus John Fitch. One of the fun things that they did was they had some of the guest fighters like Josh Koshek, Stefan Bonner, Matt Matrione, and Octagon Girls, go to Bondi Beach, the world-famous Bondi Beach to have a surfing lesson. Even Dana White showed up. And we've done this before.

We've done this little fun video packages, and I thought it would be fun to revisit that. You know, we've been doing inside the vault. I think it's pretty popular at this point. We're always showcasing our interviews, but here's a fun package that we did. In February of 2011, prior to UFC 127, Josh Kostak was there, so it made me think of him. The fighters and the Octagon girls

went to Bondi Beach to learn how to surf. We had a great time, so I thought you would enjoy it as well. Here it is, February 2011, inside the ball. The UFC has been invading Australia all week long. On Friday, they finally hit the world-famous Bondi Beach here in Sydney, where fighters like Matt Mitrione, Stefan Bonner, Josh Kosteck, and all the Octagon girls met up with some pro surfers to learn how to surf.

Fighters surfing. Let's see how they did. Another afternoon with Matt Mitrione. Matt, you're about to go surfing. What's your talent level like in the world of surfing? What's your experience? Well, I'd say compared to Kelly Slate around probably about a 9 out of 10. Not a lot of scenes like this in Indiana, right?

Actually, this is amazingly someone. at home. Amazing. I mean, this is very similar. Actually, like, that shark fin out there, probably shouldn't joke about that. I think I have better. I feel like Stefan Bonner's just itching to get into this and show you up. It's not too much different than Lake Schaefer and Monticello, Indiana, right there. It goes back to Indiana with you two guys. It is an excitement-filled state. There's more than corn in Indiana at Indiana Beach. I'm beautiful Lake Schaefer and Monticello, Indiana. Approximately, what's the longest amount of time that you can actually stay up on the board?

Oh, I can ride a wave, like, full on, full throttle. What does that mean full throttle? Like, ride it all the way to the shore. Really? So awkward. That is what makes me me. That's how you charm people. It's my endearing quality.

Making them think you're awkward. Do you think I'm making you think that I'm awkward and dorky? You just kind of slid that one in there. Or do you think that I am actually, in fact, awkward and dorky? I think that you are in fact awkward and dorky. Some people like that though. Yeah, you're right. I can tell you do Are you coming on to me right now? I might be just don't tell your wife. Deal or your significant other. Yes, thank you.

Things just got awkward right now. Yes. Officially. Officially. You got weird between us. Yeah, I think I gotta go. See ya. Employees here. I'm impressed. What do we have to do to get you to go out there? I'm not going out there, man. I'm too old for that. We're out there five 30 minutes. out there five 30 minutes yeah yeah it's cool yeah better still numb still like this side of my face has been numb the whole uh the whole time and my teeth still are numb so some nerve nerve damage yeah i got like five months probably kind of sucks

this is where we should do all our fights here yeah that's why i said the city's absolutely gorgeous no more canada all right guys great job i must say very impressed who did better though, who stayed up longer? I don't know who stayed up longer, but she got up the first one, so she was a winner. Dub, were you happy with your performance, though? I was happy. It was good. You were very happy.

Yeah, it was really fun. Except for the big wave that they tried to make me do, I went under, and that was like really scary. Very scary, actually. I almost cried. I did not see you up there very long. Did you see me in the last one? Yeah, I was sucking balls the whole time, but they're all waving me in. I'm like, no, I wouldn't go in.

And the last one, I finally got up and rode the wave in, man. And I'm like, hooked. That felt great. It was funny. We're all swimming out there, and I'm just, like, figuring out how to even balance on my stomach on the board. And I look over and there's Ariani all the way in, like, holy shit, man. Who was the worst of the bunch?

Probably me. Oh, okay. Final question. What is tougher that you think? Being a professional surfer or professional fighter? This is really hard to balance and all in that, but, you know, shit. Nothing's just exhausting. It's, you know, fighting someone balls.

out for 15, 25 minutes, you know? I mean, I'd much rather, hey, if I were an awesome pro surfer, man, I'd much rather do that than have to fight people in the cage, you know? I mean, so, Matt, how'd you do? I think I probably won the award for the worst wipeout. But I got up, I wrote a couple. I was motivated by Ariani today. She actually caught the very first wave that we saw, and she rode all the way in. And then, so from that point on, I wasn't going to get upstage by her. So I caught the second and third went in, and then kind of traded the last. on a couple other ones.

Good news is, though, you're better than Stefan Bonner. And that's all it really matters. You know, really, that's what's called Spade of Spade here? I'm heavyweight, and I was the best male surfer. I think that's a big deal. Better than Cost Check? Exponentially better than Cost Check. And my hair looks better, too.

And let's just, you know, put a bow on this whole, you know, two-day adventure with you. You were coming out here last minute to corner Chris Lytle. All of a sudden, you're doing PR things for the UFC. You're surfing. You're playing rugby. Not a bad gig for a corner man. I'm kind of a commodity. So I can't blame the US for really liking me a lot.

We have seen girls in bikinis, fighters and bathing suits, but now we've seen it all a journalist, business on top, something I'll call it casual on the bottom. Gareth A. Davies of the Daily Telegraph. What do you think of this whole experience? Look, this is an iconic site in Australia around the world. Oh, hello, man. It's very rare that we're together on the same screen,

so why don't you take us home? goodbye to the people, sign off for us. It's an absolute pleasure to be interviewed for the first time by growing MMA legend, Ariel Halwani. For Gareth A. Davies, like you said, Ariel Halwani in Bondi Beach. No, I think we cut it off too early there. I had a great sign off. Anyway, you got the point.

A lot to digest from that video, huh? I forgot about the Gareth appearance. Shorts and all. What a time that was. The Octagon Girls, I'm pretty sure Ariani was hitting on me in that video. The guy's surfing, I mean, it was a lot. Dana White Cameo. That was a fun time.

A different time, but a fun time. So there you have it. February 2011, of course, that event was headlined by BJ Penn, John Fitch. A draw. But it was kind of a moral victory for BJ Penn, if you recall. It came out, shooting. No one expected that out of him. fun. Hopefully one day I could go back to Australia. For now, let us go to the phone lines. And you know what?

Last week when New York Rick so rudely hung up on someone who called it, I started thinking, I mean, we need to go back to the phones. You know, historically, the phone callers on this show have sucked. I mean, there's no other way to put it. But I feel like we have it in us. I feel like we can make this an important part of the show. I like hearing from people. You know, the tweets, the comments, It's all well and good, and it's not going anywhere. But time permitting, I think it's always good to hear from people. Take some calls. That's one thing that we could do on this show that a lot of other, quote-unquote, podcast can't do.

We're live. And thus, we can take calls. So I'd like to reopen that. And it's up to two people today. We're taking two calls today, because right now I think we only have two lines. They're both taken at the moment. Let's see if today's two callers can get the... this thing moving along and actually deliver and not laying egg.

First up, let's go to Iowa. Let's go to Diego in Iowa. Diego, are you there? Yeah, I'm here, Ariel. Hey, buddy. So, what do you think Chad Mendes should do if he wins? He's 0 and 2 against Aldo. So should he stay at the division or hope that Aldo loses?

I think of Benson Henderson was in a similar situation and moved up, but only to see if that is lose, so what do you think? Well, actually, this is a good question, and I'm happy you bring it up, because I feel like that April 4th card. is somewhat under the radar right now. I like it for a couple reasons. I like the card. I think there are a lot of intriguing fights on the card,

and I like that it's an afternoon card. It's one taking place in Virginia. Anyway, you know, I don't know if he has to make a decision right away, because as you know, the featherweight title is being defended on July 11th. If Connor McGregor wins that fight, and if they don't do an immediate rematch, my, oh my, I think there's a fight right there for Chad. I think Chad needs to root for Connor McGregor. I mean, even at the press conference on Friday,

Connor was taking shots at Chad, talking about his arms, saying he wasn't all that impressed with the win. So I think if I'm Chad Mendes and I beat Ricardo Lamos, and that's a really solid win, I wait till July, I wait to see what happens, and then I decide. So you don't think he should get another fight before? I mean, you know, maybe Frankie wins. There's a lot of possibilities, but if I'm him,

I win in April, I weighed out the first. three months and I see what happens because that Connor fight is the money fight. That's the one that you want. I wait to see what happens because if Connor beats Aldo and they don't do an immediate rematch, which is possible, I think their immediate rematch would be gigantic. I think it's, I think it's worth the risk of waiting for that three-month period. Good start. I like the call, my friend. Thank you very much. Jago and Iowa. All right, let's keep this going. Let us go to Jacob in Toronto. Jacob, are you there? Hello, yes, I'm here.

So my question, I have two questions for you. They're both about the fights on Saturday. Yes. Damien Maya, he's 37 now. He won. What do you think he goes from here? What's his ceiling at this point? You know, the ceiling is a tough one to answer.

I mean, he's still an intriguing player at 170. I got to be honest, there are a few interesting fights for him. The one that I'm kind of... Anything? There's one in particular, but I don't think they'll make it because I think there's a disparity in between where their book. You know, sometimes I hear, I even heard Kenny Florey mentioned this on UFC tonight last week. They're like, oh, they don't book a guy coming off a loss against a guy coming off a win.

That's very 2011, 2010 UFC thinking they do it all the time. I mean, I can think of 100 scenarios. Just think about Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas. He's coming off loss. He's fighting. Lama's coming off win. Cormier Bader. The list goes on and on.

The one fight that I think a lot of people would be interested in is Gunner Nelson versus Damien Maia considering their grappling skills, but I'd like to see Gunner get another fight under his belt to get rolling again, especially because he's been out for so long since losing to Rick Story in October. From what I understand, Tarek Safedine is close, close to getting cleared again.

He's been battling injuries. And if you look at the rankings, they're seven and eight. They're very close to each other. So I think maybe Safedin Maya is a very interesting styles matchup because of Safedine's striking Maya's grappling. And I got to say, know a lot of people weren't all that happy with that fight. They found it to be boring. But man,

Maya's wrestling. And then what he did on the ground, you know, seamlessly going into Mount, time and again, taking the flare down at ease. I know he was tired in the fifth. And I don't know if I totally agree with the stalling, you know, call by Big John. But I prefer, you know, I like the fact that he was out there. He was asserting himself. I mean, he is the very best. So it's fine, that's the only blemish on that performance that I can think of. I thought that was a very dominant performance. And if you can appreciate that aspect of MMA, it's not always about, you know, striking and knockouts and all that.

There's a lot to be excited about there. So Maya was out for a long time. He was dealing with a potentially career-ending injury. He had an infection on his bone and his shoulder. He was in the hospital for several weeks. To come back and do that to a undefeated fighter in Ryan LaFlair, I was very impressed. And I think it's, I don't know, it's a little too critical to hate on that. I know the fans in Brazil weren't all that happy.

The fans at home certainly weren't. My only complaint, by the way, was that it took so damn long to get to the fight. I mean, it was like 1 a.m. by the time we got there. And again, I just feel like these fight night cards drag a bit, but I get the economics. I get the business side of it. They got to do what they got to do. Yeah, I completely agree. And my second question was actually about that point deduction.

Because it looked like to me, like Damien obviously was tired, but when he went down in the 5th, to almost like avoid a shot. Yeah. Like a strike. So is that fair? I don't know. I think he was... I think he was trying to pull guard.

I think he was trying to bait him. I mean, at that point, Ryan LaFlair, he knew what he was dealing with. He knew he needed that knockout punch. He needed to finish him. He needed to do something. He was not... I mean, it was clear that he was down four rounds to none.

Anyone would agree with that. So he had to do something. And Maya, I think, was just trying to negate that by getting him to the ground and having him, you know, playing his guard. But he was doing it maybe a little too much. You could tell he was tired. I think there were other ways in which he could have stalled, quote, unquote, and not lost the point.

I have no problem with a referee. Look, if it was a close fight, if it was two rounds to one, excuse me, three rounds to one or something like that, and you take away the point, wow, now we're getting a little interesting. So it's a dangerous game to play from the referee's perspective, but I can't see many fans who especially didn't like that performance being all that upset with it because all it is doing is trying to get the fighter to engage more. So was I surprised a little bit, especially where he called that. I mean, it was like essentially with a second left. But I like the fact that,

you know, John had given him warnings. He kept doing it. And at that point, he had to do something. So more power to him. No real problem. All right. Thanks a lot, Ariel. All right. Thank you, man. I appreciate the call. By the way, if John didn't do the warnings, if he didn't hand those out and then took away the point, all right, now I have a bit of a problem. But he had a few warnings, and he kept doing it to you got to do what you got to do. Let's go to another call. How about the Canadians coming out in full force? Adam in Vancouver up next.

Adam, are you there? I'm here. How are you, Ariel? Hey, bud. Hey, man. Big, big, big fan, man. And thank Eric for letting me actually talk to you this, sir. Yeah, yeah.

What's up? You know, they have the media event here for the 189 World Tour. They have a close for the public. Any idea of why? Any idea why? Because it's just media, media only. So I know a few fans have complained to the UFC about this, and I was included in some of those tweets.

Yeah. In particular to Dave Schaller, who's the head of PR. You know, sometimes I think the fans have to understand that at the end of the day, I think, honestly, I think that MMA fans to agree, and, you know, I'll include myself in that category, are spoiled because so much is made available to them, so much is public. Every fight on the card, every press conference stream, and sometimes it's just not cost effective for the UFC to hold the press conference. I mean, these things cost money. Hold a press conference, stream it, you know, bring it to the

masses, put it in a place where they have to rent the venue, where the fans could go. I mean, there's a lot that goes into it. It's not just about, you know, bringing out the two fighters and saying, here you go, let's interact with the fans. So sometimes it just makes more sense to have them go to a bunch of TV stations, radio stations, and just do the media from there. You know, a lot of other sports when they do media, when they have media days, I mean, just look at the NBA, the NFL, when they have media day, there are no fans invited to that. So I can understand why you would be upset, but let's also see everything else that we're, you know, that we're privy to.

They make a lot of it available to the public and, you know, I can't really hate on them for this one. Sometimes it just, it makes more sense to just have them go to different stops. and if you happen to catch him, good for you. But if not, you'll have to wait for the next time. Well, you know, the thing is, like, you know, Aurora is from here, and I'm a real big fan and it's here. So that's why I thought it should be public.

But, you know, he just fought in Vancouver. He fought there, UFC 174. Yeah, I was there for that. It was good. Also, I want to ask you, who do you got between Robbie and Glory and Jose and Connor? Oh, my. Who do I have? I think it's a little soon.

I think it's a little soon. Do I have to pick right now? They get all mad at me. If you would, please. You know who I have? I know they do, but... I'll tell you who I have. Who do you have?

I have the fans. We're all going to win. Are you going to go to the fight? His first title defense, or his first title fight, excuse me. I think we know who you have now. It's in Montreal. It's in Montreal. No, no, no.

It's in Las Vegas. It's in Las Vegas. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, July, July 4th. Yeah, July 11th, actually. I don't know, we'll see. We'll see what happens. All right. I like, like, the local events, you know, it's better to me.

Of course. All right, man, I appreciate the call. Thank you. Thank you. Keep up the good work, bro. All right, have a good one. All right, there he is. Adam in Vancouver.

So I got to say, I feel like the vibe from the people who called in, while all great and encourages me to do this more, they were a little bit scared. I feel like New York Rick cracked the whip back there and said, if you mess this up in any way, if you cross that line, if you keep talking and say stupid crap, I'm going to hunt you down and kill you.

Is that what happened back there? Because they were all in their best behavior. Remind me, it was like when you scold the little kid and then he comes back and he just had time out and he does want to piss you off. Is that what happened? I'm not going to go ahead and say that, but I think people took notice last week

when I yank that dude for pulling the Hafeel do Santos move. Did you ever hear from that guy? I heard from him all week on Twitter. Oh, why? What do you say? He wasn't happy.

He wasn't happy? He wasn't happy. I'm surprised he didn't call back, or did you piss him off for life? No, he may have called. I mean, you know, we only have two lines, so there's still time and he may have called back. But let's hop into some website questions. But one more thing.

I know you were kind of down on the callers. I mean, I think this was a good start. Well, you know, I had a little time to screen them. Oh, did you weed some out? there were some that got weeded out. What's it like when someone's like, hi, I'd like to go on air and you're like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, no, no, no.

And you just hang up on that? I do not handle it like that. I try to have a little more diplomacy than that. Honestly, I kind of saw you in action last week. Well, that's because it went from, okay, I'm reading a question to, no, pick that phone up, answer it on air. It doesn't work. It doesn't work.

Can't multitask? Okay. I'll read this question for you. Yes. And I will answer the phone at the same. same time and I will, you know, digest what he's saying as you're answering something about some other thing. That's what you got to do.

No, it doesn't work that way. All right. Well, let's answer some questions. Let's go back to our brand new television here. I mean, it's crystal clear. It's something, huh? I love it. Thanks to the folks at Samsung.

Okay. First question. Eric Silva. What did you think of? And I'll say that we had a Damia Maya question to lead off, but since you talked about that on the phone. we're jumping right to Eric Silva. I like it.

What did you think of his performance? And after finally managing to string together two wins in a row, what do you think is next for him? On Twitter, John Kavanaugh suggested a match with Gunner Nelson. Yes. What are your thoughts? Well, you know, John Kavanaugh has been, you know, he's been pushing for Gunner to get that big fight.

He mentioned Damien Maia as well. You know, first off, man, how crazy is it that Eric Silva has never won two fights in a row? Well, he got job done one in the middle of a streak. Still kind of crazy. You know, I don't know how much stock to put into this Because again, I think a lot of us would agree that Josh Kostech, by the way, I'm assuming there are questions about Kosteck, right? There will be a question about Kosteck.

So I think a lot of us didn't expect all that much from Kosteck, especially when you consider the fact that he just fought three weeks ago. But still, a win is a win, so not taking anything away from him. He seemed quite determined. He got the win in the first round. All that's great. I don't know. I'm cautious.

I used to think that he was. you know, primed for greatness. Now I'm wondering if he's just one of those exciting fighters, excuse me, fighters who will always have a place in the UFC, but never quite reach that title fight, never quite reach that contender status. I mean, I said this the last time

we discussed Eric Silva, I believe it was after the loss, after the last win, or maybe before the fight, I forget. But people forget, he's not that young. He's not one of these, you know, under 25 prospects. He looks young, yeah. We kind of know what he is at this point. He is a

fantastic first round fighter who can finish guys very easily. He has his powerful hands. He has a good submission game. But after that first round, we kind of haven't seen anything other than that. So I don't think we learned much of anything new, to be honest. It's 30 years old. This was another Eric Silva dominant first round. And I think what will be more interesting is if he shows he can be more than that first round fighter.

Now, it's almost counterintuitive because why would you? you want to see somebody not be able to finish in the first round or see a longer performance. But at this point, that's almost what you want to see out of, to see out of Eric Silva to kind of see how he will adapt to those later rounds. But in the first round, he's as dangerous as they come. And he proved that once again. Yeah, I just don't know how much stock I can put into that win. That's the thing.

We still don't know. He's still an unknown quantity. But I wouldn't go so far as to say he's like a prospect anymore. We're past that point. I'm down with Gunner versus Eric Silva. Great fight. Also, how about Rick Story, the guy who beat Gunner Nelson? He's looking for a fight too.

Can't argue with that. There's a lot of good matchups at Walter Waite. Opinions on the Drew Dober stoppage and CAMMBA saying there's nothing they can do. Plus, how about the other fighter saying he went limp and back the ref's horrible call? Is there a way to get rid of a ref? Well, I mean, there's always a way to get rid of a ref, especially when, you know, the UFC has a great relationship with that. that Brazilian commission. I believe, by the way, it's CAB MMA. But anyhow, I know what you're talking about. He did ref another fight after that. I think we might have to cut this question short.

No, why? Another call? No, for that terrible botching of the other guy messed up there. Eric Silva's name. Yep. So anyhow, the UFC works very closely with them. So he did ref another fight on that car, but that was already scheduled. So you can't, I guess, blame them for that. Anyway, of course, everyone agrees it was a horrible call. I watched it many times. And I'm trying to see what the referee saw, and there's that moment there where Dober kind of falls, and he quickly touches his arm, and he thinks that his body is limp and reacts and calls it off.

Obviously, there was no tap. And by the way, I saw a lot of people say, well, he didn't tap, he didn't tap. You do know that you can lose without tapping. That is a fact. I mean, if you're out, you're out. Obviously, in that situation, he wasn't out. And I think the referee completely blew it.

He thought he was out, and it seemed like he was a little bit quick to, I mean, he, he, like, literally touched his hand quickly or his arm, and he's like, oh, he's gone, you know. Did he? I feel like he moved in to break it up. I don't think even saw if he was unconscious. Maybe in my mind, I am trying to justify this, but it seemed to me, you could see Dober's body kind of fall over, and he's 100% with it. There's no doubt about it. And then the referee touches his arm, and his reaction is like, oh, you know, he's limp here.

He's been choked out. somehow he thinks that and he calls it off. It's completely ludicrous. It's the wrong call. It's one of the worst calls in UFC history. And the part that bothers me the most about it isn't so much the call because the call is horrible. And look, sometimes people just miss things. Everyone screws up. Fine, let's give them a pass.

It's the fact that everyone in the arena knew was a bad call or any sane person, including the commission, including the judges, the officials, everyone involved, to promote everyone. And they don't do anything about it. And there's like a five minute period between when the fight is called off and when they officially announced the winner and they don't do anything about it. It is so prehistoric to work this way. In no other sport does this happen? When there is a bad call, a questionable call, there should be some kind of challenging system, some kind of instant replay system where between stopping the fight and if both guys are healthy and announcing the winner officially, you can say, all right, clearly there's,

There's a controversy here. Clearly something is lost. Let us go to the tape and see what the referee saw, and let's see if we could fix this situation. Because we have two guys who are able and ready to continue fighting, perhaps we should have this fight continue and not have a guy have a loss, not have a guy lose money, not have a guy, you know, have to have a whole new training camp to do the rematch. I mean, that is so silly. And it's amazing to me that everyone was able to recognize that there was a mistake. Maybe even the referee in that moment, we won't know because he's not doing any interviews. And the commission should be ashamed of themselves for not,

even looking into it and overturning it, or at least investigating it, how do they not go to the instant replay? How do they not? Look at the tape. It's 2015. Look at the freaking tape. Look and see and recognize that it's wrong. That's the part that bothers me. There's no justification for this. There's absolutely no justification. And kudos to Dominic Cruz for saying that on Fox Sports 1. It was a horrible call, but what pissed me off even more is that they won't even look at it. And it pisses me off even more that they won't even investigate it. What was going on there? a picture being thrown around of the referee, Hardy and Silva, training together, but it's a different Silva, as our own Guillermo Cruz has pointed out multiple times already, it's a different

Silva. So there's no foul play there, at least with that evidence, but something was off, and it was a bad call. But guess what? Bad calls happen all the time. Sometimes they can be overturned, sometimes not. But, you know, a traveling call, or, you know, we saw in the NBA, excuse me, in the NCAA tournament. There was a horrible goal-tending call, SMU-CLA. Sometimes it could affect the outcome of a sporting contest, but unlike

those sports where there is a clock and you can't necessarily add, you know, 30 seconds to the clock, you know, you could put point four here, whatever, when there's, you know, a malfunction with the clock. Here, in a fight, if both guys are able, and that was a mistake to stop the fight, just continue it. Just let them fight again. You know what I'm saying?

It doesn't make sense. I do know what you're saying. It's just so stupid. Now you chewed up a lot of ground on that. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. Instant replay with massive mess up at UFC Rio.

Do you think it's time to install instant replay? Every other major sport organization has it now. What's stopping the UFC? I asked this because our buddy asked a great question this week after not such a good one last week. And you get rewarded for that. Yes. My good friend, the hashtag UFC biggest fan. I think his name's Jason Jones.

Yes. Something like that. Yes. He's a great guy. I just saw him in Dallas. and he's a part of a UFC group on Facebook, and now the name is escaping me, but he wanted me to give them a shout out,

so I'd just give him a shout out right here. But, I mean, I think you've made your point on this. Instant replay. There needs to be instant replay. At all times. And, of course, if we're in Louisiana, you have to go by the commission rules. I would hope that at some point,

all the commissions get on the same page. But when we're in a country where there is a Brazilian commission, I know, but let's be honest, UFC helped put that commission. They're kind of on the same page, and that's fine. okay with that. And especially when they go to Poland or Ireland, when the UFC's in charge, let's be leaders. Let's show the world how it's done. Let's use the replay. Let's get it right.

Our next question, title shots. How do you feel about the many contenders receiving title shots after multiple chances just because they're, quote, unquote, the only ones left or, quote, unquote, have the best chance? Although fighters like Misha Tate gave their respective divisions champion the longest fight, does that really give them the best chance? What's really, quote, unquote, best for business. A lot of quote unquote. Thanks guys. Our buddy Bill Steinmetz. Well, I'll tell you what, and I love Bill, by the way. I'll tell you what. What's best for business right now in that division is Betch-Go-Haya getting a title shot. Anyone who thinks that that is not the case is kidding themselves.

I mean, I don't know what planet they're on. I don't know what they're smoking. How is the biggest rivalry right now outside of the cyborg one, and you can't do the Tate fight again right now. You just can't. It's Rhonda and Bech-Coh-Hia. She's done a fantastic job of building this fight. And if you say to yourself, all right, who's she beaten? Well, guess what? A, there aren't a lot of contenders. There aren't a lot of deep, talented contenders at 135.

Two, why would you even risk putting her in there with one of them and knocking her off before she gets to Rhonda? She's done a year's work of promotion, right? And then you add to it, how rare is it where the setting is part of the story as well? Rhonda's going to Brazil to defend her title against the Brazilian. I mean, this is a layup. This is a home run. How does no one understand this?

People said the same thing, like I said earlier, about Ronda Roessie. She didn't deserve it. Who'd she beat? Well, they're saying the same thing about Betch. Now, do I think Batch wins? No. But I'll tell you what, the buildup will be great, and all it does is bias time until the cyborg fight. Because I truly believe the cyborg fight is going to happen. I think it will.

But we know it wasn't next. So what would you rather, you want Jessica? I don't think that, you know, I don't think she deserves it yet. Well, I mean, you have to be careful. After just saying that, what do you mean by deserves? Look. you can't listen to the vocal minority, right? You just can't.

Here you have, let's look at what's on the table. Undefeated, Brazilian, beat two of her teammates, talk some smack. Those are all promotional tools. Absolutely. Jessica doesn't have that. But you can't make the case that, see, when you use the word deserves. Yes, because Bechko-Haya had the foresight to build to this fight. Jessica wasn't necessarily doing that when she was coming to the UFC fighting Sarah Kaufman,

fighting Alexis Davis. She wasn't doing that. She wasn't banging that drum. No, but she was. beating legitimate contenders or having good fights with legitimate contenders. She was, but in my opinion, you can't just dismiss the entertainment factor here. Absolutely agree with you. Anyone, I mean, all you have to do is look at that press conference and look at the crowd

and look at how they were reacting to everything that was going on Friday in Brazil. And anyone who says that the trash talk, all that, I mean, A, I don't believe him. I don't. I just don't believe him. Because 100% you are more hype for a fight. Like, are you more hyped for Ryan LaFleer, Damien Maya, or Connor Josie Aldo? Come on. But I think that's a higher level of competition.

Objectively. Are you more hype for Conor Jose Aldo or Chadman is Ricardo Lama's? Pretty equal, right? Yeah. I'd say I'll... I know that you're kind of on the same page as me to a degree on this stuff. I don't understand the fans who are like, this is ludicrous, this makes no sense. A, who else are you going to give it to?

And B, it makes the most sense. So let's try to get back to this point. So essentially what you're saying is find somebody else anyway, right? You don't like the idea of rehashing the same contenders over and over anyway. Yes. A, look, when I heard that they're doing Jessica, Misha Tate, I pause for a second because it's risky, and it's somewhat unlike the UFC because Jessica I is 100% one fight away from getting that shot. And I think that will be a very good fight.

I mean, that will be a sellable fight, all right? But if Misha Tate wins, there's really no one else. She has to get the shot then, right? I think, I mean, you're just in a tough spot. That's just how that division is. You're in a tough spot. Can I tell you what my theory is? Yeah, what my theory is.

Obviously, there's something going on. Obviously, Cyborg. I mean, we've seen the picture with Lorenzo Fetita. We know what's up. Cyborg's going to fight in July. She's going to fight at 145. That's what's been told to us. And this is what I mentioned to Dana White

at the press conference. I think that she fights one more time, one more time in around October or so, foreign victa at 135, all right? She's going to fight one more time. That's going to be her test cut. She can't make that test cut as a member of the UFC, it's too risky.

Okay? And then, December, January, February, latest, she fights Rhonda for the belt. Now, Ronda Rousey, she's going to fight in August, right? Then she's going to go film a movie. So she's going to be out for a while. Misha's going to fight. Jessica, that's all well and good. But she fights in August, say she wins that fight, she films the movie, she's back around December, January, February to fight Chris Seiborg. I believe that after beating Bechko Hea, if she, in fact, does that. Her next fight won't be against

Misha Tate or Just Guy. It will in fact be against Chris Cyborg. That's what I'm laying out. That's my prediction. That's what my gut is saying. Let's call it an uneducated guess. Interesting. I like it. How about the UFC 189 tour getting its own

embedded show? Do you think 189 could possibly beat 187 in pay-per-view of eyes? Hmm. They're certainly putting all their eggs in that bass. I take that back. They're doing a tremendous job. one of their best jobs in recent memory selling that fight.

And let's be honest, they're giving them a lot to play with there. I mean, the dynamic between Jose Aldo and Connor McGregor is magic. Because you have the brash, contender, I mean, I think Connor is must-see TV, whatever he does. And then you have Aldo, the champion who feels disrespected. Like that one moment in that embedded episode, episode one, where he said, I'm really mad afterwards. I mean, that was gold. The whole thing is gold. what Connor says, how Aldo reacts, the middle finger, it's just amazing.

And the world tour was a great idea, especially with tickets going on sale this week. It's getting everyone hype. And then the embedded thing is just the icing on the cake. And I love the fact that they're breaking from the norm and they're putting all their eggs in this basket. They're actually going out there and pushing it as hard as possible. Dane is a part of it. Even Robbie and Rory are a part of it. I love it.

Does it beat that fight? I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say there's going to be more heat going into that card than there is. 187 is tremendous. Those two title fights are amazing, but I'm going to say yes. I'm going to say 189 beats 187 and pay-per-view buys. And also, I mean, that's the, we've come to believe that the July card is one of the, you know, big events for the UFC for the year. So I think that will help out as well. And by the way, I think it's good to know it's July 11th. You know, usually it's around July 4th. It's that weekend. But I think because July 4th was a Saturday,

they said, let's delay it. And I think that might be good for people. I mean, I'm no American But I feel like July 4th, if it was July 4th, you'd want to be out, you might not have time or you might forget buying a pay-per-view. So I think this is a smart move on their part. You heard it here first. Yes. Ariel Hawani, not American. Well, I have a green card. Anderson and Dana.

What do you make of Dana saying that they would be supporting Silva, Anderson, that is, through his upcoming trials and tribulations. Is this an act of loving kindness or based on the fact that Silva is still a potential big money spinner? I think Dana has the utmost respect for Anderson. I think that, look, he's saying what he should say. He's acting like he's innocent until proven guilty. I mean, Dana White has, the way he has spoken about Anderson Silva in the past was such reverence. I mean, he was such admiration. He talks about him like he's an artist.

He talks about him like when you deal with Anderson Silva, it's dealing with a special kind of human being and you have to kind of deal with his quirky nature unlike anyone else. I mean, he really has a lot of respect and he holds him in the highest regard. So I'm not surprised that he's acting this way. I'm not surprised that he's saying these things. And let's be honest, if he was throwing him under the bus and saying he's a cheater and he's a liar, I think that he would receive a lot more heat for that. It's not the right thing to do at this point.

Anderson Silva is a huge part of UFC history. He's been, for the most part, you know, a very big draw for the UFC. These are the right things to say. I think it's important to note that he's not the only one who feels this way. A lot of times when people get, you know, popped for stuff, everybody comes out of the woodwork to bury him. But we found that with Anderson Silva, a lot of people have said, all the fighters, I don't believe it, or, you know, he made a mistake.

It's very interesting to see how people treat him versus, you know, other people who have tested positive. There are fighters who have never tested positive. To get more hate it, yeah. Yes, they're treated worse than the way he's being treated. That's all because I think he means a lot to a lot of people. By the way, the next Nevada Athletic Commission hearing actually just kicked off a minute ago. And we thought that Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz were going to be a part of that. We thought that they're disciplinary here.

would actually take place today, but they received an extension, a continuance, if you will. So only Hector Lombard is having his day in court today, as far as the big three that we've been waiting on. So hopefully in April we'll have some closure to this whole Anderson-Silvanik Diaz thing. Last one from the website, Dominic Cruz, that is said in a recent interview

that he's looking to face the winner of Dilleshaw Barrao upon his return. Do you think this is likely to happen, or will the U.S.E. push for him to take another tune-up fight after the lengthy layoff. Also, how do you see a fight between him and either Dillishaw or Boreau going? Well, it depends on how his recovery goes, but I think that...

I think if Dillshaw wins on April 25th in Montreal, that has to be the fight. Now, will he be ready? I don't know, because he had that surgery in January, and that might be... That might be a little soon. In a perfect world, absolutely. But will T. T.J. Dillisha won't wait.

Now, if Borel wins again, I don't know, maybe you do that third fight, because let's not forget, fight in that division is Uri Fabor, of course, and he's busy in May. Now, the wild card would be Hafele Sunsau, who is recovering, who's back to training now, so maybe he jumps in there either against T.J. or Brawl, if he retains or gets the title back. You know, obviously the Faber fight or the Dominicruz fight is a much, much bigger moneymaker than Hafele Sunsau. But there was a story there with Sunsau. He beat the Lishaw before he became

champion and maybe you can have Barow, Sunsao, Boral gets the belt back in Brazil and that would be somewhat of a big deal. But in a perfect world, yes. If, how about this, when Dominic is ready, I say give him the title shot right off the bat. I mean, especially after the way he looked the last time. He looked almost better than ever. So I think there's no question that you can count on if he's healthy and that, you know, that's the big if at this moment.

Give him the damn title shot. So impressed with his demeanor. and how positive he is. I feel like I was... Speaking of that, how about Anthony Pettis? How about Anthony Pettus? Yes, that is a great call. And I mentioned that last week, that he will be the last guy to make excuses.

And he came on the show, made zero excuses, and just kind of said, look, I was off. I got beat the hell up. Even when you were like something about he broke his orbital. He said, no, Raphael Dosangos broke my orbital. I mean, he's just, he has that spirit of a champion. He's not going to make excuses. he's already thinking about what the next thing is, and I'm sure he'll be back.

He's really an incredible figure in the sport. I have a lot of respect for Anthony Pettus. There was a quiet confidence there, though. There was something like he knows something that we don't do. He didn't get to the top for no reason. Yeah, yeah. I feel like he's going to kill someone next. I did try.

Not literally. Relax. If whoever faces him next does not try to take him down, I think it will be a very long night. Or actually, it'll probably be a very short night. Next question. this is from Twitter. How likely is it that Josh Koshchek heads to Belator? He wants easier competition. I'm not sure he himself said that. And there's some fun fights there in Bellator for him, such as Paul Daly. Yeah, how about that, a rematch with Paul Daly? You know, the one thing that you need to keep your eye on is the relationship between Zinken Entertainment and Scott Koker.

You know, back in the day, of course, when Scott Koker was the head of Strike Force, I mean, they had the pipeline there. Kane, D.C., all those guys. Luke Rock, Rock, called all the AKA guys we're going to strike force first. That's why I wouldn't be all that surprise that Phil Davis, who's a part of Zinken, actually ends up signing with Bellator. He is now a free agent. I think Josh Kosteck is a very important part, the history of the sport, and I don't know if the UFC would love that,

and maybe they'll make it worth his while to hang him up. Certainly Dana White alluded that he would like to have a discussion with him and try to get him to retire. Now, I feel like the situation is playing out very, similarly to one Stefan Bonner, where he was, you know, the guy, he's the, you're right, you're a tough character that he's always going to be a UFC guy, put him in the Hall of Fame, and then all of a sudden the money comes calling and Stefan Bonner's fighting for Belator. Could happen, and I think it would be a huge coup for Belator. Koshek versus Daly would be. That's a main event.

Yeah, you can sell that. Yeah. You know, he didn't want to say the R word, and I get that. based on my discussions with him in L.A. before his fight against Lemberger, I know he's very, he seems loyal to Dana. He mentioned that on Saturday, but put it this way, I wouldn't be shocked if they say, look,

we'll give you our blessing, go, I don't feel like he's a lifer. He's not Forrest Griffin, right? He'll take that. He'll take that opportunity. You don't think so. I don't know him one way or the other. I just find that interesting.

I feel like he's very much tied to the UFC in the way that Forrest or Stefan or any of those guys were. it, as you just said. And by the way, is there another cost check thing? No, can I say something? You know, I had this discussion with Josh Gross on Twitter during his fight, and I called Josh Koschek, or after his fight. I called him one of the great heels in the history of MMA, and Josh said, well, I don't

know about that. He said, you know, he wasn't quite on the level of a Tito Ortiz or a tank abbot. And other people were annoyed that I used the word heel, but you know what? I got two words for you, because that is the best way to describe these people. I mean, if you don't think that Conor McGregor is acting like a heel right now, he's kind of in that great territory. But it's a word. I do kind of, I feel like I see what Josh is saying, though. Because I think of, I personally think of Josh Kostchak as not really playing the bad guy.

What? He 100% played the bad guy. Yes, but I feel like he played the bad guy to his opponents, whereas these guys are like they want to be the bad guy when they walk, like a Chal Sondon. Chal Sondon wants to be the bad guy everywhere he goes, no. matter he's talking to, walking to the room, he's playing this persona of a bad guy. I feel like Josh Kostchek was kind of more like this bully antagonizing kind of figure to his opponents, but I don't feel like he ever crossed that barrier into like a character. To be honest, I feel like he was kind of what people would consider a dick.

But that's exactly it. By the way, there's not one kind of heel. Sure. But he was the bad guy. I mean, he was always the bad guy. The beauty of Josh Kosteck was he didn't play. character. He is a dick. Yeah. He acts that way. When I interview him and he's like,

oh, you know, I hope I never talked to you again. He won't look you in the eye. That's the brilliance. He's not, you don't see him parading around with a fake belt or cutting promos. Yeah. He just comes across that way. He's got the hair. He did what he... Look, it's... So that's why I think I see the distinction, though. But that's

the thing. You can't just have one kind of heel. There are different kinds of bad guys. The ultimate fighter, Josh Kostech's quote-unquote feud with Chris Lieben, and their fight on the show was a huge, huge part of the show's success. And Josh said, you know, Gross was saying to me that, you know, he viewed Lieben as a heel. That's not true.

The crazy thing about Leban was, Leban, yes, he peed on Jason Thacker's pillow. But Leban ended up becoming a very sympathetic character because Kosteck and Bobby Southworth called him the fatherless bastard. And then he went nuts and he was upset. And you couldn't help but feel bad for this guy who, you know, went and slept outside. and then it culminated in that fight, which did tremendous ratings. I don't know what they were up top of my head, but that was a gigantic feud.

Costech was the bully. Costech was the dick. That's a bad guy. That's a heel. Anyway, I think early in his UFC run, he felt uncomfortable with this and tried to fight it. And then, much like Michael Bisping, once he recognized what he had here

and that he should just run with it, I think then he started to make money. And unlike Michael Bisping, who would go to England and be the fan favorite, Josh Kostech could fight anyone, in America, anywhere in the world, and was never the fan favorite. Even if he fought in Fresno or if he went to Buffalo, where he's from, he would always be booed. You know what I mean?

Like there are some guys who are hated everywhere but one place. Connor will always be cheered in Dublin. He may go to Vegas and get booed, whatever. He may go to, I don't know, Brazil get booed. But Koshchuk was getting booed everywhere. And if you were in Montreal for UFC 124 when he fought GSP, he was a hated man. People hated that guy. I don't really think that's fair because the thing that Connor McGregor and,

Michael Bisbing represent for their country is not the same as what Josh Kostech will represent for the United States. It's not the, you can't say, oh, because those guys get that kind of cheer. Like if Josh Kostek was Irish and doing the same kind of act, I guarantee you'd be getting the same cheers. Well, for that Connor McGreg. A, it's on, I really truly believe it's on an act. I don't think he's able to do that.

And B, all I was doing was comparing him to our contemporary bad guys. Like Tito, Tank, that's a different time. That's a more colorful time. a more pro-restlingy time for MMA, the Wild West. You know, in our, we were even talking about this last week, I think, who's the Christian Leitner? And I think we mentioned Kostchek. We mentioned Bissing and some others.

Koshchak was just hated everywhere. Everyone thought that he was a day. Kossack might be the best answer we've got. So that's my point. That's why I said he's one of the great heels of our generation. He might be the Christian Leitner, yeah. Well, yeah, he might. Well, again, I don't know if that's fair because Christian won.

The championships. So I don't know if there's a perfect example there. But I think to dismiss what he did on the ultimate fighter and the run that he had. And the second time. And the big wins. Yeah, yeah. Remember when he got into it with GSP, he was getting under his skin. He was great.

He was the originator. You know, GSP has recently used this a lot with the, this guy finally got under my skin, and I hate him, and I can't wait to destroy him. But Kostchek really brought that out of him for the first time. And, you know, he got into the fight with the nerd, the medical trainer guy. And here's one more thing about Josh. I want to say, and then we'll move on. You cared about him.

You either really, really hated him, or maybe you liked him or respected him. And even now, it's like, He's done, and I still feel like fans are kind of, you know, they're happy. They're like, yeah, F you Koshchek. But deep down, it's like, man, this guy was a big part of the growth of the sport. This guy was a major player. And you cared about him. He was an important figure, that hair, that look, even when he was away for the last year

and a half or so, you kind of missed him. When he fought it was a big deal. You don't go out of your way to boo a guy, like the way people boo Koshchek, if you don't care. They just stay silent if they didn't give a shit. But that's an important thing that a lot of fighters miss. That's an important thing that a lot of fighters miss. you need to be cared about. It doesn't matter if they hate you, they boo you, they throw things at you, or they love you, shower you with praise.

You need to be cared about. That's the most important thing. And sometimes being the bad guy equals more money than being the good guy. All right. Next question. Is this the end for Shana Beasler? Man, that is a tough one. Again, you know, I don't like to call for retirements.

I mean, I do think at this point, you know, it's funny, we haven't seen Julianna Pena in quite some time. She's about to return April 4. but the more Shana Basler fights, the less we kind of remember that big win, that you remember how monumental that win was? It was huge. It doesn't feel as big because, you know, Shana has had a rough time and you really wanted her to get that win in the UFC.

100% a pioneer, someone who was doing MMA as a woman before it was cool to do it. She certainly paved the way. She had a great run. You know, she fought Elite X-C and back on Showtime and all that stuff. And it just didn't work out for her in the UFC. it was a little too late, unfortunately. It was hard to watch that ending.

I mean, that's a brutal finish to get kicked in the knee like that and just kind of, you know, collapse like a tree. She has some ties to pro wrestling. I believe she's been doing some work for ROH, Ring of Honor. I don't know, you know, I'm not Sean Shelby. I'm not the UFC, but for her health, for all the fights she's been in, I'll say this, would I be sad if she never fights again? No, I think she's accomplished enough.

it would have been nice to get that win in the UFC, but you can't keep chasing it because you're only going to get more hurt, and it's hard to go through those training camps and whatnot. So, yeah, it might be the end. And it's unfortunate, but it was a little too late for her as far as the UFC is concerned, but nothing to be ashamed of. A very important part and a very entertaining fighter, back when Women's MMA was kind of on the fringe, she got it, she understood you had to sell yourself. She was very entertaining, part of that Josh Barnett crew, and I think she'll probably dabble in pro wrestling and some other stuff, or maybe even be a trainer.

And that's great. She should be involved in MMA or combat sports. Considering how the World Tour press conference went, do you think Aldo versus McGregor should be in Brazil instead? No, because the most money to be made is in Las Vegas. Let's not forget. Look at those gates when there's a big fight in Las Vegas, even though the arena might be smaller.

There's more money to be made in Las Vegas, 100%. And you could sell the most tickets and putting it on International Fight Week. I mean, let's look at that co-main event. Let's look at those two fights. Brazil versus Ireland, Canada versus the U.S., they're trying to really brand this international fight week thing. That's perfect. So having it that weekend, July, the best month of the year, in my opinion.

It's the only month, by the way, that we don't have school. As a youngster, you had school in June, you had school in August. Of course, you had the other months as well. It's the most special month of the entire year. And also, my birthday month. But it's a great idea. That's where it should be. It should be in Las Vegas.

At first, I was a little skeptical stadium, this or that. I like it. Neutral Grammarine. make that money. What's wrong? I just feel bad that you're going to lose to Benson in the most special month of the year. He's going to ruin it for you. Well, let's see.

I mean, I kind of schooled him in the trash talk on social media, and it just feels like at this point, like, how long can I poke the bear? How long can I keep chasing? Are you saying he doesn't want it? No, of course not. He doesn't want it. He's resting on his laurels. Oh, man.

How about Danny Castillo? Did you see his video? No. Is he trying to get in on the basketball? No, he's not. but apparently someone talks smack about his basketball skills on Instagram. And he's nice? No, and then he invited him to play one-on-one.

Oh, no. And kicked his ass. And then he posted a video of him whipping the ball at the kid. Oh, well, that's not. As punishment. No, he said, now you've got to take your lumps. And the kid went to the wall and he whipped it at him. It was pretty amazing.

I love those. The real-life Meet Me and Temecula moment. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Shout out to Danny Castillo for doing that. I really like that a lot. I'm going to look for that. Yep. Last call.

Our final question from Twitter. Oh, actually, there's two questions here. Are you both watching WrestleMania? Oh. And who do you got winning, Roman Reins or Brock Lesnar? So let me tell you something about WrestleMania. You see, this is the funny thing. When I talk about heels, when I talk about all this stuff,

everyone's like, oh, you're such a loser pro wrestling. I can't say this enough. I have not watched more than 10 minutes of pro wrestling in the last four years. I kid you not. I don't watch Raw. I don't watch SmackDown. I don't know what the hell is going on. I mean, I know who Roman Raised is.

I think I know more than you these days. You probably do. You had the network when it came out. Well, I didn't utilize it that much, but I listened to all the podcasts. I consume all the media. I don't watch the product. I think I've said this before on the show. I don't watch it, but I consume the media for it.

So I recently got the network because someone on Twitter told me that Nxte was going to have two Quebecers in their main event. Kevin Owens versus some other guy that I don't remember his name. Sammy Zane, man. Sammy Zane. There you go. Did you watch that? I didn't. But I knew about it.

Wow. That's pretty impressive. I listened to Cheap Heat. That's my number one. Chee Pete on Grantland. I love that one. With my 30 for 30 colleague, Peter Rosenberg? Mr. Peter Rosenberg and the masked man, David Shoemaker.

I love that one. So, by the way, they're not giving us free plugs. So let's cool it on their free plugs. Anyhow, I watched that. I had to sign up for the stupid thing, so I did it. And now I just looked at my credit card bill because it was free in February. And they already charged me for March, which is kind of annoying. But then I was thinking to myself, well, you got WrestleMania.

It's coming out. So maybe I'll just, but I'm probably not going to watch it. too predictable. It's silly. I don't like it. I kind of share the same, you know, thoughts as Bill Goldberg. It's like, what is this? This is like pre-Monday-Nay-Nay-N-Nay-Wa. It's just, it's not interesting. You're not giving the fans what they want. From what I understand, it should be Daniel Bryan in the main event, and they're giving it. Roman Raines, who's this guy? It's like Rocky My V all over again. They're shoving him down everyone's throat. Now, the Brock thing is interesting because if you lose the title, does that mean he's not coming back? So that's kind of cool. But it seems like

like what, John Sina is competing for the U.S. title? What is that? That's just weird. Wait, so are you saying no? You're not watching it? Oh, yeah. Because I think I'm going to watch it. No, I haven't watched it for a few years now.

I feel like I've watched this every year for the last, like, maybe two or three. I haven't watched it for a few years. I love the wrestling business. Like, you see, I get very excited with Goldberg, Kurt. Yeah, yeah. I love everything about it. But it's just not the same. That's, can I tell you why it's not the same?

I just had this discussion with someone. Who was it? Who was it? Darn it was last week. And basically, when I was a fan, when I was a kid growing up, and even in high school and in college, what I got out of pro wrestling at the end of the day was Mr. X versus Mr. Y, their feud would be settled inside that ring. You'd pay money. It was huge. You watched with your friends. I mean, you loved it. You loved the build-up, the anticipation, the storyline. I get all of that out of MMA now. And there's so much MMA these days, and it's so much less predictable because we don't know what's happening. It's not scripted.

I get that fix. I don't need more of it. I get the exact same thing. thing that I've always loved about pro wrestling in the real stuff. So what do I need the wrestling stuff for? There's no place for it anymore. Why not have more of it? I don't need more. You're always campaigning for more me between, you know. I'm not campaigning for more nothing. Oh, you

want guys to be talking smack, calling out this guy and this guy. Yes, it says, but I don't need more of it. I don't need three hours my Monday night being devoted to Monday Night Raw. I mean, that is crazy. Who thinks that that's a good idea? Three hours is horrible. But I got a lot of respect for Paul Heyman. That's my

guy and I know he's killing it and I catch his things on YouTube. So maybe I lied. I don't watch. But back to the MMA, let's put it back to MMA and then I want to ask you something about wrestling. For anyone to deny that MMA, its roots are firmly in the world of pro wrestling. Its foundation

is pro wrestling. For anyone to deny not recognize that is kidding themselves. And you're just being a hater because if you want to make MMA fans feel uncomfortable about themselves and get insecure, don't even insult them. Don't even insult them. Don't question their sexuality. Don't go the lowest you can go.

Like, what's the lowest insult? Don't even go there. You don't even need to go there because they're not going to care. Just make a comparison between MMA and pro wrestling. And they get so hot under the color. They start freaking out. They start questioning you. They start insulting you.

They start going all crazy because, God forbid, MMA and pro wrestling are linked. Well, guess what? They will be linked. They'll always be linked. And the more MMA steals from pro wrestling and vice versa, the more they'll both be successful. Yep. Now, you will be watching.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like I watch this and there's the other one. What's the other big one? Survivor Series, Summer Slam. Royal Rumble. Royal Rumble. I feel like I watch those two every year. So, yeah, I'll be watching. Why not?

I might even get the network again for a month. Wait, you don't have it? Well, I did it for, what was it, that six months? or whatever. But you don't have it right now? Are there any odds? I don't watch it. It would be useless for me.

It would be useless for me. Remember before the show? There are odds, my friend. Do we have that? All right, let's put the logo on the TV so Ariel can't see this. Okay, okay, okay. Wait, before we get to that, so of course, WrestleMania is this weekend, and I must say my good friend, Daniel Cormier,

invited me to attend WrestleMania. It's taking place at the Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, and I can't go. I mean, I travel enough, so I'm not going to go for it. If it was in New York, maybe I would have considered it. But Daniel Cormi invited me, and he is, you have never met a bigger, like Daniel Cormia, when you talk to him about pro wrestling, he turns into an eight-year-old.

So how does that... So explain, I don't get it if... I mean, that's pretty well known, right? Like, I know that about Daniel Cormier. Explain to me why somebody would be so offended to be called, you know, a pro wrestling fan, if they're an MMA fan, but their hero, you know, Daniel Cormier, is also a wrestling fan.

I don't understand. They're irrational. They're irrational. They don't know what they're talking about. All these guys, Josh Codd, they all took it subconsciously or not. They all took their personalities, showmanship, promotion. It's all from pro wrestling. Anyway, forget them.

Daniel Cormier is counting down the minutes. He is freaking out. He is so excited to attend WrestleMania. And he's going to everything. From what I understand, I think he's going to the Hall of Fame thing. How is Bill Goldberg down in the Hall of Fame? Tell him to take me. Tell him all come with him.

You'd fly out? Hell yeah, it'd fly out to see Brock Lesnar versus Roman Raines. Now, speaking of that. Wait, wait. Beltor, let me get out the real stuff first for this weekend. Beltor 1.35, Joe Warren, Marcus Galvow. That's for the Bantamweight title. That's 9 p.m. on Spike TV.

Also, the Bellator debut of Francise Caramol. How about that? And? Flown on the radar. I'll get there. And Dakota Cochran, going up against Ryan Couture, which is an interesting fight. Also, L.C. Davis versus Hideo Tokoro. A pretty, you know, look, there's the four tent pole cards on Spike, and we just had one at the Mohican Sun.

And this is kind of one of those, it's not quite challengers, but it's a step below. Not bad. And then at 1115, we have that glory show hosted by the great Bill Goldberg, top 10 knockouts, countdown to Glory 20. Also, on Saturday, there's World Series of Fighting Number 19, Justin Gachee versus Luis Palomino Matt Hamill versus Tiago Silva,

Jake Hune, also fighting on the card. So those are the big shows this weekend. And by the way, shout out, we don't talk about them that often on this show,

but shout out to RFA and Legacy doing a co-promotion event coming up. I think that's cool. I think the smaller promotions should do more of it. Remember the almost

Bellator WSOF card, Ali. On this show. Lade it out. Yeah. But, But, WrestleMania this Sunday. Yes.

And I wanted to know, we do the odds, and I wanted to know if there are odds, and I wanted to play that game to guess who's the favorite. There are odds. So there are actual odds? There are odds. You feel like there shouldn't be odds? Because what if someone finds out and, you know, is on the writing team or whatever, and changes it and bet? You know what I mean? Like, I feel like that's a little tricky.

I mean, there's, you know, I've looked into this a little bit, and there's, you know, talk of that where, you know, the people who are internal are discussed. as, you know, possibly betting on this stuff. And, you know, a lot of times, like, right before an event, the guy who eventually ends up winning becomes the huge favorite and things like that, like shady kind of things like that. But the way to counter this is that you can't bet that much on these things. There's a cap to how much you can bet on it. Is it a legit book that's taking these?

Oh, yeah. I mean, this one's international. This one's Patty Power. They're a legit book. But, you know, all the betting sites will have lines on these come event time. And there'll be low limits. I mean, not low limits. A low cap, meaning you can only bet up to a certain amount,

and that's how they counter the fact that, let's say, you know, somebody who's writing for WWE wants to bet $100,000 on this thing, it's not going to happen. Can't do it. You can bet $100, but that's it. You're not walking away with any substantial amount of money. Okay, what do we got? So it's more for fun.

Brock Lesnar versus Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Chip. By the way, I love the idea of people getting so pissed off that we've been talking about this. So there are actual odds that you're asking me, who's the favorite? Who's the favorite right now? See, this is interesting because I think a lot of people are thinking, oh, Brock's going to leave, lose the title. Wow.

It's a whole other element that we don't think about. Who is it? Tell me right now. I'm going to go with Roman. He is the favorite. Wow. If you bet $5 on Roman Reins. Now, these odds are done in the form of the international books.

Okay. So if you bet $5, you win two on Roman Raines. If you bet $4 on Brock Lesnar, you win seven. So Roman is the, I don't understand what you just said, but Roman is the favorite. Roman's the favorite. Okay. Our next one. I'm just going to go down these in the order they have it.

Intercontinental championship ladder match. Yes. Now there's a lot of participants here, my friend. I'll read you the name. So there's one favorite. There's one favorite. Well, yeah, because not everybody has the same odds. Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure.

Okay. Stardust. Our truth. Daniel Bryan. Bad News Barrett. Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper I'm going to go with Brian

He is the favorite Bet six on Daniel Brian win five And then in order after that is Dean Ambrose Bad News Barrett Dolve Ziegler Stardust, Artruth Luke Harper

Dead Last Luke Harper If you bet a buck on Luke Harper You win 22 bucks Love it What else we got? Next one. Singles matches Sting versus Triple H

Well this is a lot of fun. This is the debut of Sting. I might, I might tune in just for this. Yeah, I mean, make an event of it. Why not? Watch it. A little party? Yeah. You want to come over? Let's do it. I'm coming over for WrestleMania. I'm wearing the face paint. I'm coming over with a baseball bat like Sting. No chance. Well, I think, I mean, it has to be Sting, right? Sting. Yes, he's a big favorite. Six dollars, betting six dollars gets you one and Triple H. getting $2.00 gets you seven.

Swear to God if AAA twins, I will riot. I will get so pissed. He killed my fan. He killed the fan in me. He killed my fandom. All right. Next, Undertaker versus Bray Wyatt. Okay, now this is very interesting because what are they going to do?

Will Undertaker have a losing streak now after having that crazy streak? Bray Wyatt, the upcomer? I mean, what? I'm going to say they want Undertaker to go out on top. They'll go with Undertaker. He is a favorite. Yes. $9.

Nets you four. and Bray Wyatt $8. NetZU.13. This is fascinating. It might be fun for a degenerate gambler. I think someone like John Anick. As I said, there's not a lot of money involved here. So it's more for like people who are just casual, you know, playing it real Lucy Goosey. What is this one?

Randy Orton versus Seth Rollins. I'm going to go with the youngster, Seth. He is, yes, he is the favorite. Yes. Bet 11 win 8. Randy Orton is even money. I'm perfect. Bet 1 win 1.

Okay, okay. You got United States Championship. Yes. Rusev versus John Sina. Rusef, the second coming of Fyodor O'Millianco versus John Sina. It's got to be John Sina, right? Yes, John Sina is the favorite. How is John Sina fighting in like the curtain jerker?

What is going on here? Oh, is it the first match? No, I don't know, but it's the U.S. title. Who cares about that? And by the way, I mean, I know he sells a lot of merchandise. He does the, you know, he does the, you know, he does the, make-a-wish stuff. But if you really want to make a lot of money,

I mean, John Cena turning heel. I've heard this a lot. I don't feel like that's the right. Oh, my God. Could you imagine if he's like, spit on those kids, spit on all of you who bought myself. I never wanted to be the doctor

of Thuganomics or whatever he called himself. I never wanted to be your fan favorite. I hate you all. I sleep with women all over the place. I'm a bad man. Yeah, just go nuts. Easy. Just go nuts.

He's too goody-two shoes. And does that make you a bad man? No, no, I mean, is he married or something? I was saying, like, you know. John Sina is the favorite bet seven win two, Rusev, bet four, win nine. Battle Royal, we have, oh, Jesus, too many names. Rifle them, Rifle them, Rifle. Second annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Okay. Damien Mizzdao, Seamus, Ryback, Mark Henry, Adrian Neville, Eric Rowan, Curtis Axel, Big Show, Kane, The Miz, Miz, Adam Rose, Fandango, Titus O'Neal, Gold Dust, Darren, Yardt, Jack Swagger. Gosh, can you say it one more time? Oh, Jesus. No. No, no, really, I wasn't paying attention. Could do it again.

Nope. Pick a name. That's not fair. I want to hear them again. The Miz, Kane, Big Show, Adam Rose, Van Dengo, Titus O'Neill, Curtis Axel, Eric Rowan, Adrian Neville, Zach Ryevac, Seamus, Damien Mizzow, Demi, Mizzow, Gold Dust, Darren, Heath Slater, Sincara, Jack Swagger. Gosh. I'll go...

Geez, I'll go with Swagger. It is, no, he is the absolute worst odds. It is Damien Mizdao. And for some reason, Seamus doesn't have odds, even though he's in here. Weird. So I guess you can't bet on him. I'd like to see the Miz win just because... Wait, Damian Mizdao is one person or two people?

No, Damien Mizdow is the... The team? The stunt double for the Miz. Oh, get the hell out of here. Yeah, that's his character. I like the Ms. because I like the real world road rules. It's my favorite show. I think it's the best sport. Even better than MMA. I like it more. Next question. Money in the bank. Seth Rollins. Oh, this is, is Seth Rollins going to cash in his

money in the bank briefcase? This is a prop bet. Oh, God. Now we're going to prop bets too. We're going to lose all our viewers. No, these are the last two, and that's actually one of them. Okay. Is he going to do it? No. You know why? That is the odds-on favorite. Seven Nets four, and then yes is four, net's five. You know why? Because everyone wants him to, I'm assuming, and they never give the people what they want. Can you imagine actually dictating the events, actually being able to script this and not giving the people what they want? I mean, how backwards is this organization? Now, he, he's had this thing for a long time. Isn't there like an expiration on it? Like, how long can you really? I think it's one year. Oh, so by the next time that thing happens.

I think it's this. Every time they talk about him, he's Mr. Money in the Bank and he has the thing. Yeah, it's crazy. But it's been too long. Like he's never done anything with it. Anyway, Bill Simmons is going to be on raw tonight. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Last one. I think there's like one person watching at this point. That's okay.

I'm enjoying it. Yeah, me too. Why not? AJ Lee and Page versus the Bella Twins. Oh. This is the last one. This is the tag match? A.J. Lee and Paige.

Yes. Tag team match. Well, we got to go with AJ. See, and Punk's wife. That's correct. Page and AJ Lee, 10, Nets 3, and then the Bella twins, five, Nets 11. You did really good on this. Yeah, I think I think I think I. got them all except for the crazy battle royal.

Yeah, you did good. You picked the worst possible guy in the battle royal. I'm just being told from the powers that be that our ratings have never been higher. You know what that means? More pro wrestling talk. There it is. There it is. WrestleMania, I'm coming over to your house.

Leave the door unlocked. Yes. Can't wait this Sunday. By the way, a couple of things before we go, Vitor Bellford officially licensed by the Nevada Athletic Commission during that hearing, the Hector Lombard portion has yet to begin. and Brett Akamoto of ESPN.com saying he briefly spoke to Lorenzo Fetita today. And on New York, Lorenzo said, quote, we are closer than we've ever been, but he is remaining, quote, cautious. So we complete that little story here.

We started with that. Hopefully this time, I don't know, next month we could get it done. That'd be nice. And then we could have the show MSG December. And the best part about it would be I could just take the subway. to MSG and then go back home and sleep in my bed. That's really what this is all about. Make no mistake about it.

Anyway, Alex, you can hit my music. The World Tour continues, and it's coming to New York on Thursday. Thursday's going to be a fun day. We're going to do the MMA beat. It's back this week. And then I'm going to the World Tour. And by the way, if anyone's going to question my dedication to this show, how about this little nugget?

Next week, I'm going home for Passover. My family's actually staying, I think, 11 days in Montreal. I'm going to come back to New York to do the show and then go back home. Home being Montreal, of course. I would never leave you hanging. I would never miss a week. Now, sometimes I know I miss a week here or there, but we got a lot to talk about. That's going to be in between the Virginia show and the Poland show.

So we have a lot to talk about. Today, though, no more to talk about. We're done. I want to thank everyone who stopped by. Thank you very much to Donald Seroni. Great to have him on the show. I enjoy Donald. Sometimes I feel like he doesn't like me,

but I think deep down he likes me. Good luck to him. UFC 187 against Habib Nirmagamato. Thank you very much to Ali Abdel Aziz, attempting to lay the smackdown on MMA managers. World Series of Fighting 19 this Saturday in BCSN. Thank you very much to Anthony Pettis.

Best of luck to him. Really appreciate him stopping. by. Really appreciate Rose Nama Yunus. Stopping by as well. She returns to action. UFC 187. Good luck to her. Thank you very much to Rich Franklin. Best of luck to him in all his endeavors. And of course, thank you very much to Bill Goldberg.

Wow, that was great stuff. Who's next? Bill Goldberg, the new face of glory, you heard it here first. We'll see you next week. Same time and place. Until that I say, somebody. Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade

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