MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour - Episode 282

Episode Date: May 18, 2015

Featuring Frankie Edgar, Travis Browne, Stipe Miocic, Mike Swick, Sam Alvey, Mike Miller, Henri Hooft, Jessica Aguilar, and Sean O'Connell. 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 Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

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A pep in our step this morning, my friends, because we have a loaded show. We are kicking off a very interesting fight week. We're coming off a very interesting Saturday morning. for the UFC. A lot of interesting things to discuss a busy time as always. And of course, this Saturday, it's UFC 187. And in my opinion, thus far this year, 2015, UFC 187, the best main card of any promotion this year. Now, I know we're only five months in, but man, look at this, look at this main card. Even without John Jones, even without Chabibh Narmaga Madoff. If it had those two, it would be, you know, without a doubt, 100%

no question, inarguable. But still, it's still the best. Daniel Cormier versus Anthony Johnson for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title. Chris Wyden versus Vitor Belford, a fight that is a year and a half in the making for the UFC middleweight title. Donald Soroni versus John McDessie,

interesting styles matchup. I think if Soroni wins, he gets a title shot. Travis Brown versus Andrei Arlowski, the winner could very well get a title shot. And then rounding out the main card. an important, interesting fight at 125 pounds, Joseph Benavides versus John Maraga. You can't beat that.

Plus, interesting fights on the undercard. I think 187 is definitely one to go out of your way and see. I mean, I know it's coming the same month as Mayweather Pac-Eyau, but this one really tickles my fancy. So we have a lot to discuss this week on the show. We have a loaded lineup. Let us get into it. No time to waste.

We have so much on today's plate. Okay. Around 4 o'clock, we're going to take your questions and comments. A lot has happened in the world of M.MA since we last spoke, of course, Frankie Edgar defeating Uriah Fabor a Saturday in Manila. A very dominant, impressive performance, and almost even more impressive as his actual 25 minutes against Uriah Fabor is what Yariah Fabor, excuse me, Frankie Edgar, said in his post-fight interview. Wow, I loved it. That's the stuff that gets me up in the morning. Also, Mark Munoz, with one of the greatest you know, finishes to a career. It's so funny. After UFSI 144, we were sitting on this very show and shows

all around the world and columns all over the place, calling for his retirement, right? I mean, he looked very old at UFC 184, and now they give him one more shot in the Philippines, and he pulls off one of the greatest endings in MMA, combat sports history, to defeat Luke Barnaut like that, and then to have that kind of goodbye on the mic, major props to John Anick for giving him the mic. You know that's the number one rule that you can't break. But in a situation like that, when it's a fighter swan song, you can have the mic. You can say goodbye on your terms. And Mark Munoz, one of the most beloved fighters in the history of the UFC, getting an amazing, an amazing reception, an amazing ovation, and the words that he said. I mean, it made me very emotional. It really did. I was trying to,

I was trying to write down his quotes, and I started to tear up. I couldn't see the screen. Mark Munoz is one of those guys. You'll be hard pressed to find people, talk. any kind of smack about him. He is just universally beloved and he deserved that send-off. And kudos, Luke Barnard, it was a very, very tough environment to win in. It was a tough set of circumstances and he handled it with all class, even lifting Mark Munoz up afterwards, sending him a tweet and all that stuff. So a very interesting day and evening, if you were watching it live in the Philippines on Saturday. And of course, as always, after a UFC event, a lot to discuss. So we'll talk about that.

We will go inside the vault at around four as well. 340, we're going to be joined by Mike Miller. Mike Miller, in case you don't know, is a shooting guard slash small forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the midst of a playoff run. They are playing the Atlanta Hawks in game one of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday. Mike Miller is taking time out of his busy schedule as an important member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

I know he doesn't play a lot these days, but he is very much an important member to talk to us about MMA and maybe a little NBA talk as well. He is friends with the likes of Ryan Bader, C. B. Dalloway, Aaron Simpson, a co-owner of Power MMA. Mike Miller, very rare that my worlds of NBA and MMA collide, my two loves collide. And this is happening at 340, so I can't wait for that. I know New York, Rick, a big Cleveland Cavs fan is very excited about that as well. 320, we're going to be joined by Henry Hooft, who, of course, has a busy weekend coming up. Anthony Johnson, Vitor Belfort. They could be champions. this time next week. How about that? 305.

Stipe Miochich will stop by to talk about his dominant win over Mark Hunt two Saturdays ago. 245 will talk to Sean O'Connell, who had a dominant win as well in Australia against Anthony Perosch. Two Saturdays ago, also a budding author and a radio host. Jessica Aguilar will stop by at 225. She has some breaking news. And if you recall, last week, Carlos Barza threw some bombs her away. So she'll stop by at 225 to respond and also break some news. Travis Brown will stop by at 204.

to talk about his fight against Andrea Alofsky. 145, we'll talk to Smiling, Sam Alvey. This man has been very much requested to be a part of our show, and we finally got him, so can't wait to talk to the smiling one. And at 125, we'll go all the way to Thailand to talk to Mike Swick. I remind you, as always, today's episode of the MMA hour is presented by NOS. Do something epic. Go make your mark on the world.

Hashtag with this NOS, I will. Follow them on Twitter at NOS Energy. drink. We appreciate their support very much. But first, let us go to the phone lines and welcome in our very first guest of the day. He is fresh off the plane, an amazing performance in Manila. He pitched a shutout in many people's eyes. And then what a callout that was afterwards. Of course, we're talking about the answer himself, Frankie Edgar, who is joining us on line number one. Frankie, are you there? I'm here, man. How you doing, Ariel? Wow, great to have you on the show. Really appreciate the time. Are you jet lagged at all?

I'm not, dude I came home yesterday and we're going to wait to write the dad mode picked us some pizza for the kids because you know, that's what we got to do. It's like a, that's a requirement in Jersey. You got that pizza right away. And then, yeah, we just hung out in the backyard

and put the kids to bed. So it was good to get back to home to the fam? Now was it Pino's pizza? You know, I didn't, I made the mistake and not stopping at Pino's on the way home. Pino's is like 45 minutes away from my house. Okay. I should have done it on the way home from the airport

but I didn't think about it I got closer to the time was over, so I had to pick a spot here in TR. All right, all right. We won't tell Mark Henry. I think he deserved some of your business after a performance like that, but I can understand you wanted to get home as quick. By the way, when did you get home yesterday? I walked to my door around like 7 o'clock last night.

What kind of a flight is it? Is it brutal from Manila to New Jersey? Yeah, we did like four and a half to four, something like that, to Tokyo, and then another like 13 to Norc. So, yeah, it was brutal, man, but. It's not bad when you're going home with a W. Exactly. I can imagine.

I mean, when you go home with the W, it makes it, I mean, you must be so happy. You're on Cloud 9. You're about to go see your kids, your beautiful family. It makes it a little better than maybe the flight out there, right? Yeah, for sure. For sure, you can eat, you know. You can have a drink if you want. It's much more enjoyable.

So before we get to the actual fight itself, tell us about the experience in the Philippines. This was the UFC's, you know, first event there. There was a lot of buzz from what I was told. It was strange for us. back home because everything was happening in the middle of the night as far as the pre-fight activities, but it seemed like the crowd was a very knowledgeable and appreciative one. What was the experience like for you?

Yeah, it was cool, man. I had fun all the whole way through from the press tour to the fight. The fans are into MMA out there. You know, they love, they like you, they love the NBA and they love MMA. It was great, you know, I feel like I got noticed there maybe more than I do here in my own state. Really? You know, they're into it.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I walk around the wall when I was there for the press, so I was getting stopped left and the right. Did you get the impression that they were more Edgar fans or Faber fans going in? I think they were both. I'm a fan. You know, I was so funny because going into this fight, you know, on Twitter,

people are like, I don't know who to cheer for. I don't know who to cheer for. You know who to cheer for it. You know, and I'm like, hey, you don't know who cheer for me. But then I start thinking, like, game, your eyes cool, man. I get how people can be torn. So I got the impression, and correct me if I'm wrong,

that the Filipino crowd actually, actually appreciates the smaller guys, unlike what we see here in the States. Like when they showed Demetrius Johnson on the big screen, he got a huge ovation. It makes me think that maybe if he went over there, he would get a lot more love than he does here. Did you get that impression as well? I do, you know. I think, you know, he went back and watched a fight once. And, you know, even like just some situations where maybe I had Uriah down and he just got up and got away,

they were clapping for that. You know what I mean? Like they were into like the small, just the small battles, even the grappling battles, where you don't see that as much here in the United States. And then last thing on the pre-fight stuff, you know, I recall when I believe it was UFC PR guru Dave Schaller tweeted that Dana White was going to be on Sports Nation

prior to the Mani Pachiao-Flemyweather fight, and they said that he was going to, you know, promote 187, 189, all this stuff. And you tweeted, how about a little love for my fight coming up in just a couple of weeks? So that made me start to think, and I was very vocal about this all week long. I felt like there wasn't enough promotion for this fight.

There should have been a lot more. I wanted to see documentaries. I wanted to really feel that this was a fight that was five years in the making. I know you were away. I know you were on the other side of the globe. But did you feel like this fight was being promoted, like the important and special fight that it really was? You know, I thought there could have been done. More could have been done.

I mean, I agree with you. And just because of Matt, you know, it's me in favor, man. People talk to this forever. I mean, two guys have been at the top of the game for a minute now. And for them to kind of miss that opportunity to get it out. out there, I was a little surprised. I mean, this fight, the fight that sells itself,

you know, 100%, but that extra boost is going to only help. I mean, we're fighting in the morning, so we could use as much as we can get. Was that disheartening for you? Yeah, I mean, I try not to get too involved in that stuff. You know, it's stuff that I really can't control.

You know, I mean, I said what I said, I'm like, hey, a little love for Edgar favor fight. I put it out there, and, you know, what are you going to do? Yeah. You know, I wonder if this fight was taking place on a pay-per-view in the United States if it would have gotten more loved. Do you believe that? I think it would have.

I think, you know, I mean, understandably, you know, they obviously promote the pay-per-views more. Because that's their moneymakers. Yeah. I get that. But, you know, it wouldn't hurt to promote this one. Couldn't agree more. Okay, so let's talk about the performance. What a performance it was.

Like I said, a lot of people thought you pitch a shutout. Maybe the second round is the only one where you could have given it to favor. You said you watched it. What do you think? Do you think you went five-nothing against them? I do. I do. I felt that was really pursuing him.

You know, he was tough. He wasn't giving me much, you know. He was definitely being, you know, he's fighting like a close fight. I was trying to come after him. You know, and I could see him in the fight. I wanted to go after him, but I think I was smart enough not to overdo it. Because, you know, he is your eye favorite. He's very dangerous in his own right.

You know, he's got a great overhand right. He's got a really good G8 team, so I couldn't shoot recklessly. I had to be smart about it. So I think that might have held up. It paced a little bit, but I do feel I was pushing, you know, I was pushing the action the whole time. Did he seriously hurt you at any point in the fight? No, not at all. Wow.

25 minutes never hurt you once. No, no, I've been, luckily, man, my past four, four fights, I think. I haven't been hurt at all, you know. You know, bloody nose is kind of the norm for me, so I definitely had that. But nothing bad, you know, I mean, I feel like, I feel like I can get in the gym tomorrow if I really wanted to. So that used to be, you know, part of your allure that you were this guy who would get beat up, but still keep on going. Of course, the two Maynard fights are legendary at this point.

How have you changed the way you get hit or not get hit? I don't know. You know, I just feel like I'm getting better. I'm getting more relaxing there. And the more relaxed you or your defense is better. Sometimes when you're a little amped up, you kind of stiffen up in the wrong times. And I think that's happened a couple times, you know, in the Maynard fights. but I feel like right out the gun, right out the first round, second round,

my head's really relaxed and loose, and I think that helps me, you know, take less damage. I don't want to downplay what Your Eye Faber did, because I think this is one of those cases where 50 to 45 doesn't really tell you the real story of the fight. I mean, these weren't blowouts. I mean, he was there, but it was clear every time out that you were beating him every round. But did you think it would go that way? Did you think it would be a closer fight where he would rough you up a little bit, or in the back of your mind,

did you think, yeah, I got him? You know, I think this will be a pretty one-sided victory for me. I mean,

I wanted to be one-sided. I wanted to be even more one-sided. You know, that's just how I think of myself and how I kind of want to go in there and make a statement every time I fight. So,

you know, I was actually, I think I was a little disappointed and I wasn't able to close out those rounds even more, although I did feel, you know, when I look back,

50-1 on your eye of favor, is a big deal. Yeah, nothing to scoff. I actually noticed that in your post, fight interview with John Anick, it did seem like you were actually bummed out. Like, you weren't really all that happy after the fight. Yeah, you know, that's just me being critical on myself.

And, you know, sometimes it's not good. You know, we're going to record to say, come on, man, enjoy this. It's only going to last so long. You got to make sure you enjoy it when you can because pretty soon you're not build stuff like this at all. Sure. So, you know, when I, I go home, I watch the fight. I'm definitely happening in my performance.

And, you know, your eye is a stud. And, you know, for me to blank them, I mean, that speaks of it. It's amazing this sort of second life that you've had to your career because, you know, you had that period where you lost to Benson twice. The first time was controversial. And then you had the Aldo fight. And now, since then, you just become so dominant and you've looked so good at 145. And I'm wondering if we can even, you know, you're four and one now as a featherweight. But your first fight at 145 was against Aldo's. Your first time cutting down, you're coming off the two championship losses. I feel like you're a different fighter today than the one who fought Aldo the first time. Like that's not the same, frankly. Edgar Featherweight. Is that accurate? And if so, why is that? Yeah, I agree. I mean, a couple of things. I'm just getting more comfortable at 45. I mean, like you said, it was my first fight there. And you know, getting thrown in with, you know, into deep water against Aldo. And that's why it was close, man. I mean, a lot of people, I talked a lot of people, not just fans, even some writers, they think I won three, four, and five,

you know, so, I mean, and that was, you know, and that was my first fight down. You know, I do think I'm a better fighter now. I'm sure he is, too. I mean, it's been a while. But, yeah, I want another shot at him, and I think I can make up that ground now. There's actually some people who will say that he's not as good of a fighter, that he's lost a little bit of his edge, that maybe he's been hit a little too. I mean, he's gone out there and been pretty dominant for a long time, but that he's not as dominant as he once was. Do you agree with that?

I don't. I don't. I feel like he kind of, he does enough to win sometimes, you know. He goes out there and does enough to win. But look, when Mendez, his last fight against Mendez, you know, he had to step it up. you know, Mendez really brought it, and he was able to do that. You know, he was able to do that. And win convincingly, even though the fight was closer, he won me convincing him. So I know you've become somewhat of a social media wizard.

I'm wondering if you've looked online afterwards, because amazingly, and I don't know what it is, it may be, you know, it actually reminded me a lot of Mayweather-Pakiaw, some people complained about the fight. They said that you guys were dancing too much. There wasn't enough action, like it's supposed to be rock'em-sock and robots. Like, they want you to have your head knocking. off. Did you see some of that criticism and was that somewhat deflating? I have it, actually. I really have. Most of the stuff I've seen been pretty positive. But to that, I mean, you know, it's tough. I mean, of course, you know, I wanted to have more of that.

I'll be honest. I wanted to have more of that. But, you know, it kind of takes two guys to do that. I feel, you know, I'm trying to chase in Uriah a lot and in his, you know, in his defense. I mean, or in my defense, I'd say, I didn't, I couldn't overdo it because, I mean, it is your favor. He's very dangerous. I couldn't be over-aggressive, you know, so I definitely pushed. And I think if I push a little too much, I could have left them openings for him. So was it frustrating at all? Was it frustrating at all? Did you feel like you were chasing him too much? No, no, I don't think I was. I mean, he was coming to, but I would have, like I said, I would have like to have a little more, more action. I'm an action fighter. And, you know, if they don't

bring it, I'm going to bring it to them. And I feel like I did that. But, you know, my corner was definitely, you know, kind of keeping me off, you know, telling me. throwing some more faint stuff like that because you had to keep keeping guessing because you know he's definitely a dangerous fighter how about the the fence grabs i mean a little crazy that you would get that many warnings but never any kind of repercussion right yeah yeah you know i didn't even notice it until until watching the fight oh really yeah uh except the one time when i went to rip off the cage and i fell because he was a grip on the fence and that's, I noticed that, but, you know, I think that was the only blatant one, though, be honest, you know, the other fence grabs weren't super blatant, you know,

where he was holding himself up, you know, to defend the takedown. So, you know, I mean, that's up to the ref, yeah, you know, I don't know. I think two warnings should kind of maybe stop the action and warn them, right, listen, one more time, I'm taking a point. It never happened, but, you know. So then let's talk about afterwards, because like I said, the performance was great, But to me, you know me, I love this stuff. You call out UFC President Dana White.

First, you say, you say, I don't know if he's ducking me. He's not here again. You seem pretty disappointed about that. And you say that he owes you a title shot. Were you legitimately upset that he wasn't there to witness that in person? A little bit. Because I asked him, you know, I asked him actually in UFC Norfolk. I said, hey, you're going to the Philippines.

He said, yes, he'll be there. So when he wasn't there for the Wayans, and then I figured he wasn't going to be there for a fight, I mean, you know, I didn't let it bother me or anything. but I'm like, I'm like, you know, because he wasn't there for my cup fight either. Yeah.

So that's why I said he's not there again. And, you know, I am just stirring the pot a little bit. Yeah, I like it. I like stirring the pot. Now, do you actually think he's ducking you? Ducking me? No, I don't think he's ducking me. But, yeah, I do feel he owes me a title shot.

I think he knows that, too. So when you say owes me a title shot, that means, at least to me, that he once promised you a title shot, and now he's not living up to his promise. Did he, in fact, promise you a title shot in the past? No, well, you know, listen, me and Cubs were fighting. Yeah.

You know, Cub was pretty much promised the next title shot if he beat me. So, you know, I mean kind of what does that mean? I mean, he was promised the next title shot. So if I beat him, I should get it, right? Kind of if you give you, kind of do your M.MA math, I should get it. Okay. But then we, you know, then McGregor started getting in the mix, and Dana said he made calls. He called, he called Cubs, and he called me.

He called Cubs. I called Cubs. I told him, you know, we'll see what we'll see what. what happens here. You don't know what's going to have one, McGregor. Then after I fought and beat he said, pretty much kind of told me is that most likely if McGregor wins, he's going to get the title. He didn't say exactly, but not so many words. He told me, you know, but you never know. Maybe Siever can beat him. So if Steveer could beat him, that would imply I was going to get the title shot. So I felt like he knew I got stepped over a little bit with McGregor.

So here I am, I just blanked out Uriah. It was me a title shot. So have you heard of anything? I mean, did he reach out to you after the fight? Did he appreciate the call out? Did he talk to Sean Shelby, who was in attendance? What have we missed since that fight? Any discussions? Anything like that?

Yeah, I mean, you don't mean, Dan had text back. He hit me with a little LMAF, LMFAO, you know, whatever one of them. Yeah. So, you know, I told him I'll be calling. He said, sorry, I couldn't make it. I said, don't worry, you'll be at the title. You'll be at the title shot. Don't worry about it.

Hopefully, right? You know, yeah, yeah. So, you know, we do little jokes in there, but I'm going to give him a call this week. Probably maybe later today. I'm going to sleep in a little bit. This is important. Who reached out to who first? He reached out to me.

He responded to my pullout on the post-fight. Okay. I like to hear that. Now, does a part of you, you know, inside you think, okay, if Aldo wins, that increases my chances? Because you have to think if Connor wins, they might do the immediate rematch since Aldo's been champion for so long. It's kind of like what happened with Anderson and Chris Wydenman. right right I you know I definitely aware of that

so are you are you rooting for Aldo yeah I'm not I'm not room for anybody man but uh you know I mean what do I want I want to be the guy to take it from Albo okay but you know I'm just because you know I think that would mean more

and Alos especially if he goes and does it again defend it again I mean I don't know how many that is for him eight eight defenses in a row something like that so I you know I'd love to be the guy to kind of like you know upset his party here. And obviously if he wins it, we would get me give me a better chance to get that title shot.

So, fingers crossed here. So let's dust off that old Fox Fight Game analyst hat. Who do you actually think wins that fight? You know, I do think it is a favorable matchup for McGregor just based on styles. Oh, interesting. Albo's not going to go out there and try

to wrestle for the most part. Although he does have good jitsu and he's wrestling is not bad. He's got very explosive shots where he could try to take down McGregor, but I think that could also hurt him too. When you're not used to taking guys down, you try to do it, it's tough to deal with that. Up down, it kind of zaps you a little bit.

So if he does do that, that could hurt him. But I still think there's unknowns with McGregor, although he's done a great job in playing the guys he's fought, where I think he's had very favorable matchups for him. But, you know, he's never gone to distance. He hasn't dealt with adversity.

We really don't know much about his ground game, you know, in the UFC, I'm saying. Sure. And, you know, when you're balancing guys that may be close, you always got to go to the champions. So on the record, you're picking Aldo? I'm picking Aldo. Okay. And now what if they say, okay, we want you to fight Chad Mendez, number one container. Are you saying absolutely not to something like that?

I never say no to anything. I just don't think it makes sense for the UFC. I mean, why get rid of both of us? So we're both in line, you know what I mean? Okay, how about this scenario? What if McGregor wins, and they say we're going to do a media rematch? But we'll give you a shot at the Bantamweight title, because weren't you considering that, not that long ago?

I wasn't really considering it, no. Yeah. You know, I want to take care of business at 45 first. Okay. I feel like I'm so close, you know. And, you know, I feel like I get that 45-pound title, then the whole mystique of being the, you know, the first guy to hold three different titles, three different weight classes,

then that becomes real. Until that happens, you know, I'll keep that in my back pocket. So you want to go one at a time, 55, 45, 45, 35. Ideally, ideally. Is that still even a goal for you, though, 35? I don't know, man. I don't know. Like I said, you know, if I take care of business and everyone starts talking again,

like, I mean, that's kind of hard to pass up, the three titles. and three titles and three different weight classes. I mean, who knows if that ever could be done. Sure. If I could be the only guy to ever do that. But, I mean, I can't even, you know, that's just I feel like that's like talking about winning the lottery, man. You know, let's let's take care of business.

If I got to take care of business at 45 firsts. Are you willing to sit out a little bit to wait for that title shot? I don't want to wait that long. No, I don't. Okay. I mean, I don't know how long you're talking, but, I mean, wait for these guys to fight and fight the winner. I'd wait for that.

you know, I don't want to wait. I don't wait for, like, a rematch. I don't think I can wait that long. And is it fair to say at 33, you know, even all the wars you've been in and all these fights over, I mean, almost 25 at this point, is it fair to say the Frankie Edgar that we're seeing now is the best one we've ever seen in the UFC

in your career, period? You feel like you're more confident in a better fighter than you were as champion? Absolutely. You know, I do. I feel stronger. I feel faster, much more experienced. And I think I just feel more comfortable in there.

I don't get, fight week is just kind of normal for me. I don't get too nervous. And I think the more comfortable and the more calm you are in there, the better you can react, the better you can perform. And I feel like that's what I'm getting better at. Did you used to get more nervous? I did. I did, you know, early on.

But I think, you know, just from wrestling career in high school to college, to MMA, to UFC, to championship fights, to now, it's just gone better. and better and better and better. And it just comes with experience. Have you ever stopped to think about what happened to Gray Maynard? I mean, it's amazing how different your careers have gone since those fights. Look at you now, and unfortunately for him, for whatever reason,

he hasn't been able to put it together. Do you ever stop and think, like, wow, you know, one different thing here or there, maybe that could have been me? I know. I don't think it could have been me. But, you know, I definitely could, you know, one thing here or there could have wrong where I could have lost. Sure.

Yes, but I just think I would have, knowing the person I am, I think I would have bounced back. I mean, I lost three super close title fights in a row, and if I was going to fold, it would have been then. And I'm just not one to fold. I'm not saying that he folded. Sure. I'm not saying that he folded either.

You know, but I just, you know, I try to think positive about myself. So I think I would have bounced back. Since your fights, he's won once, and that was in 2012 against Clay Grida, a bizarre fight, and then he lost four in a row. Do you think, like, you kind of took something out of him with those fights, in particular the second one? I don't know. I don't know.

People say that, especially on Twitter. Everyone was all, you know, they say that. I really, I, you know, who knows, who knows? Maybe, you know, to be dejected like that and be so close to the title and two times and come up short, it could take a little bit out of your will. If you don't have your will behind it, it's tough to get in there and perform. Do you think your eyes should go down to 135 again, that 145 is, for him?

I think you can do whatever he wants. I mean, he's obviously, he knows how to compete with the best. I mean, you know, really, you know, I've really been finished. I mean, the brow fight got finished, but it was a little, you know, controversial. So he's in there competing. He can compete with anybody. It's whatever he wants to do.

And what was that interaction like afterwards? You guys, you know, you tweeted out a beautiful picture of both of you. I think he did first, and then you responded. I love that stuff. That's one of my favorite things about MMA, the mutual respect. What did you guys say to each other afterwards? just, you know, hey, I told him, you know, I looked up to him when I first got to you, to the UFC, you know, he was the man at the WC. He was kind of, he was on the commercials, you know, on Spike TV and all that stuff.

And, you know, I just told him I looked up to him and, you know, he's, he's one of the greats. And, you know, he told me he wished me the best. He said, I hope you get the title shot. He said, I'm always rooting for you. He said, unless you fight Chad. And, and, yeah, me and your eye have been cool for a pretty long time now. So this was, he's probably the guy, you know,

I like the most that I ever fought, you know. Wow. That's a strong statement. Mutual respect all across the board. Absolutely. Okay, final thing. The floor is yours. I know he watches the show every week.

Give us another message for Dana White. I love these Frankie Edgar messages. These are great. What do we need? Let's go. Here we go. Yeah, Dana, man. You're, you're,

no, he's watching this every week. Yes, every week. He's hearing us. He's hearing us. And, you know, he heard me, man. I feel like he holds me a title shot. I think he knows he does. And I'll be calling him this week, maybe in a couple hours.

Oh. Any chance? You know, I know, like, yeah, there was it the Republican and Democratic Party? They're on the campaign trail right now. I'm on the campaign trail right now. Would you like to use my little bit of a little bit here? Would you like to conference us in to help your cause in any way, shape, or form? That might be good.

You know, how about to everyone, listen? listening to my guys, to my fans, the Frank Yeager fans, definitely get on Dana. All right, I've seen a bunch of have already, but that can only help. All right, Frankie. Well, congratulations. Again, blown away by the performance. I mean, your performance is as of late. I mean, historic Hall of Fame stuff, just really amazing stuff. Congratulations on doing what you did this past weekend. Thank you so much for the time. I know you're probably tired. You want to chill out and just enjoy your victory. So this means a lot to us. And good luck in that conversation with Dana White and getting that

title shot ultimately. You got, Ariel. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to talking to you, man. All right, there he is. Frankie Edgar. Is he the number one contender in the featherweight division behind, of course, Connor McGregor, who has a title fight on July 11th. We will see. Interesting times at 145. All right, for now, let us move along. Speaking of July 11th, Connor versus Jose Aldo is the main event. A very interesting fight on that card, and there are a ton. That's a great card. The UFC historically, they stack the deck July 4th

weekend. This is a week after, but you get my point. It will be the return of a guy who's been around this sport for quite some time, and I think some people thought that he was done in the UFC. That is not the case. Mike Quick Swick is back, and he is fighting Alex Garcia, July 11th at UFC

189, and how about this? He joins us right now via the phone from all the way over in Thailand. Mike, are you there? Hey, Mike, thank you so much for the time. Appreciate it. It is 1230 a.m. over there. So that is that is amazing. Thank you so much for this. You know, it's funny,

not that long ago when Josh Kosteck had what we presume was his last fight in the UFC, I tweeted something out, well, you know, Diego Sanchez and Mike Swick are the only members of tough ones still in the UFC, and I got all these people making fun of me that Mike Swick, he's not on the UFC anymore. He last fought in December of 2012.

You never left, right? You never retired. You always knew that you were going to come back, right? Yeah, no, no, I never retired. There was a situation after, with two fighting that I'm thought where, you know, it was definitely an issue with my health. And the U.S.C. that came recently and did a piece, I'm kind of like not going to too much details as far as where I'm at right now, but I'm definitely healthy now.

And I never closed the door. So I never officially retired, and I was hoping that what had happened would happen. So I'm really happy to be back. I'm really happy to be on the show and have a conversation. So, you know, your health issues, well, doctor, documented over, you know, the last five years or so. And you had a long layoff. You came back, you defeated Marcus Johnson, an amazing moment on Fox.

And then you had a very quick turnaround against Matt Brown. The reasons that kept you out of the octagon the last, you know, two and a half years or so, were they the same as, you know, those esophagus throat issues that you were dealing with, or this a whole new set of circumstances? Yeah, no, it was the same. You know, it was a situation where I felt that I was healed. when I put that fight with DeMarcus. And I was, but it was because of medication that I was thinking.

You told me when I signed for the fight and got rid of the medication so that I could train, it didn't help. You know, it came back, basically, because I was meeting that medication, which was kind of repetitive and affecting my train. So I was kind of stuck in that situation. But, you know, I pretty much, after that fight, I closed fighting off and assumed after those performances, I did win in the same. market. I've been lost against Brown. But both of those performances in my eyes were really bad

performances as far as how the fights went, you know, my energy level and my performance and everything. So after that fight, the Brown fight, you know, became really clear that I was done unless something changed. So that was when we kind of hung it up. I didn't officially retire, hoping that something would happen right, especially in the future. But in my mind, I put it to the past and assume that the timing was going to be over. You know, I couldn't continue to fight of that performance that I've had with those two fights. So I was moving on, and that's why I came and built with Jim Byron and kind of moving on to the next thing.

And then it just really worked out great. And I'm completely healthy now, cost all medications, walking around at 125 pounds. I haven't walked out in that big an eight years, you know. So it's really great, you know, to come back and fight now. So how did you figure it out? That's the thing. I didn't. You had it figured out at that time, and it was the medication.

It was making a 100% fly I was eating, but I was taking it. And then I got rid of the medication, it just sort of came back. And so basically, after the fight, I just assumed I was not fighting anymore, so my career was over, so I kind of let it go. And I think that really helped. I think that was one of the big steps because, you know, not trying to force myself back into fighting and putting the pressure on myself and trying to get back in there, I think kind of killed me somehow, you know,

and so I started feeling better and then meeting myself off the medicine, and I'm completely fine, like 100%. So I don't really know what really changed as far as specifically how I could get off the medicine this time and not effective, but whatever it was, it worked, and so here I am. And, you know, I know the cliche thing actually saw I'm back and I'm healthy, I'm training and everything's going to be great. I'm going to best shake my life. But, you know, we're doing a series now.

We've done at A.K. Island where I'm actually opening the doors of my entire flight camp for the problem. So we're doing a video series that we're uploading every few days starting tomorrow. We did the first episode last week, but the second episode will be tomorrow. And we're literally going to show my entire flight camp. So you'll know well before a July 11th where I'm at. And if the things that actually are true, we're going on that, what shape I meant, how healthy I am.

It looks like it's going to be a completely open book from our camp. It's going to show everything it takes to get ready for this fight. Also, the life in Phuket, you know, it's a very interesting life here in Phuket, you know, and getting ready for this fight. We're going to show everything, you know, the monkeys and the elephants and the island training off the coast and basically everything would do there. Yeah, I was actually just going to plug it. The stuff is very, very well done. Credit to, you know, who's ever shooting it and also putting it together.

You can get it on the AK-Tai-Tailand YouTube channel, their official YouTube channel, all the stuff that you guys upload there. I'm going to ask you about some of the other stuff in a second, but it's all very high-quality stuff. And that first episode is a must-see. So I suggest anyone listening to check that out and also to follow along as we head to UFC 189. Why do you feel the need to do this? Why have all this documented? Isn't it a bit annoying at times to have a camera in your face? It's a lot of work, shocking.

If you look at the video, it seems very simple. but it is a lot of work, but it's worth it. It's just an interesting life here, getting ready to us fight and put together, with the gym, the situation there, the fighters that are coming in, all the things that we do outside of the gym, it's just very fascinating,

and I feel like no potter has ever really opened up this whole camp. I have a full production crew already employed, the AK-I on documenting everything since day one. So I was like, we might as well just do a complete series and do a, it's like an embedded show basically, but it'll go through the entire fight camp. And so this is really interesting because you're doing the camp at AK Thailand, which I remember way back when we had you on the show when you were just kind of breaking ground, and now it's finished. And from one of the videos, the first episode of this video series that we're talking

about, you kind of gave us a tour of it, and the place is unbelievable. I mean, this does not look like your typical gym. It doesn't look like the AKA in San Jose just because of the surroundings. And what I love about these gyms in Thailand is they're essentially like half indoor, half outdoors. It's amazing. Does it ever rain over there? I don't understand how you can have such amazing property, which essentially all outdoors. Well, we'll have one training area right now that's outdoors. It's our large multi-training area.

And we have shades surrounding the whole thing. So if it does start to rain, but what it changes, we can just push a button on the shades come down and remote completely indoors. Oh, wow. But then we have the indoor and BGJ train facility, which is really nice, and then our great room and then another fitness center with the airline circuit room and grappling room on top. So basically I set out to build my dream gym, you know, and what I would envision to be a perfect gym in paradise, one of the perfect locations, you know, in Thailand where

we're dying fighting as a culture, but on an island where it's absolutely beautiful. and we have all the beaches and the animals and the show lifestyle and the food. So we started getting it. 22 months ago, we broke around, and we've been open for about 20 months now, and it's just doing really well, and we're getting a lot of feedback,

and it's cool, man. It's awesome to build a gem from the ground and then use it from my... And then documenting it. He's opening the door, so I'm going to see what we built and how we're doing this. And you co-owned the gym with Javier Mendes, right?

Yeah, my business partner, Blake Spears here in Phuket. He's the founder of Hohel Travel.com. I have partnered with HANFERF after I formed the company, and Javier Mendes, obviously, as well. He's a owner as well, so there's a career that they're still on it. And I know your family still lives in the States. How are you going to figure that out? Are they going to move to Thailand as well, or once this fight camp is done,

are you going back home? I could imagine it's very hard to be away from your family, but also it has to be hard to leave the gym that you help build. Yeah, you know, the family appeared for most of the last year, and I just had a city girl, and so I came home, and that's when I signed for the flight in the training at the UK headquarters, but I had another daughter from the second daughter, and so since she's been born, they've been staying home with family

until she gets little enough to travel, so it's a temporary thing. But in the process of building this gym, I've given up a lot of time with the image is to sacrifice, It's been really hard to do. It's been a two-year build, but I've been working on this for five years back and forth to Thailand after every flight, making connection, building relationships where I can build this gym and held a couple times as well. So it's been a really long process, and so it's really nice to be well right right now. So will we ever see a day where, you know, Mendez or Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockhold, where they ever come? I mean, it might be tough for a coach, but do you want to see those fighters?

do their camps at this gym, or do you think that's kind of a tough ask? Like, will this just be an extension? I'll have the same name, same look, but at the end of the day, it's going to develop fighters who are from that area or people who want to come over from, you know, that corner of the globe. Absolutely. I mean, the potential we have here greater than anything you've ever done before, we're open to the world on this side.

And everyone that comes to the gym is foreign from Thailand. They're not locals that are doing MMA. It's all foreigners coming in from Australia, England, everywhere. I mean, virtually every country. A lot of the Russian countries here, China, Sudan. So this gym will definitely be everything that we could do in America plus more. I mean, we have a full Moot-Sy program in the optimistic, you know, country of Moodytie with authentic trainers, as well as the best facilities and stuff that we would have here in America anyway.

and we got a guy I've got Rupertamp for the fights We got Philip Lilly He's fighting with us He's a team captain of my team He's been training with us for a while And he's doing his camps with us We got UFC fighter

One guy Myself And we have a lot of guys Fighting those promotions That are coming up as well Did you reach out to the UFC and say What's that, sorry? I had a little delay

And you mentioned Rocco too But Rockos actually made the trip out here Right And here, Habeer came here as well I'm here with you in the beginning, and I brought cold came out, plow back and into the training, and I agree with the time. So I think those guys are going to be coming over when they can, you know, and they have the time.

Eventually, I think this will be a hotbed for the side of the world. Did you reach out to Joe Silva Dana White and say, I'm ready, or were they keeping tabs on you? How did that work out? We stay in touch, but, yeah, I definitely reached out, and I wanted to make sure, because, like I said, I kind of put finding in a path that was moving on, because I didn't think there was just kind of the way that I was going to get healthy. You know, when it happened, I was, I was very excited.

You know, this has been a long process of getting back in the gym and training hard and stuff. And then I went back to San Jose when my daughter was born and trained with the guys. And then I just knew, you know, I just knew I was fast and back in a big way. You know, I haven't been this healthy in over eight years. Wow. You know, it was a great feeling. But my whole lot of career, you know, I could obviously because of this issue.

So even through the wind I had, it was the way calming up the ladder, they've all. dealing with this. So there was a real big downside to that. So this is literally the health if I've been since I was in the middleway. And even as a middle way, I didn't walk around the city as I am now. So it's a really good feeling.

And to call this film, that was out of the great feeling because, you know, I'm there at this time. And I noticed it's going to be a great comeback. And it's amazing, considering everything you've been through over the last few years,

that there are only two of you left, at least fighting in the UFC, you and Diego Sanchez. Is that something that, you know, you want to put in your cap? Do you want to be the last active, tough one fighter on the UFC roster? You know, people mention that a lot, but it's not a real, you know, I'm not trying to outlast everyone, but, you know,

I think I have a good one left, and I'm just going to have fun and go out there and, you know, spend a lot of time getting myself in a position where I can fight me UFC, and then I had to deal with all these issues for a good part of my career, the majority of my career. So it's like now I can actually go out there with no stress There's no title shot There's no linkings I'm not worried about anything I'm literally getting a chance to come back

To find out of one of the biggest cards of the year And I'm just going to go out there and have fun Leave it all out there and do what I've always wanted to do You know go out there and fight on the biggest stage I'm the biggest card and have a good time And enjoy it Regardless of what happens on July 11th Is this your last fight like did you just want to come back to end on your terms

Or you know you're you're in it for the next few years now? No, I feel really good. Like, that's why it's good to Jim and the show that we're doing, because you'll kind of get a feeling of where I'm at through this series. And I feel good, man. I feel really good. That is great to hear now. What do you know of Alex Garcia?

Yeah, we've been watching a lot of tape on him, and he's very well around us. And he's explosive, he's strong, he's a great opponent. You know, I didn't want to find someone that's, You know, not a word you're on it or trying to just come back to this with an easy fighter. Sorry. He's definitely credible. You know, he's a very good part, very strong, and it's going to be a good fight.

I mean, it's going to be a dog fight, and I'm going to take it to him off the start. Have you had a chance to dream about this comeback fight? And, I mean, that DeMarcus Johnson moment was tremendous at UFC on Fox 4 in Los Angeles in 2012. But could you imagine, after all this time, Mike Sweecky, returns with a swicketeen, old school, quick fight. I mean, that would be, we were seeing a lot of quick fights these days, Ronne Rousey and whatnot, but you were kind of the originator of that. Old school, Swickettine, like 10, 15 seconds.

I mean, at that point, it might be hard to top that, in my opinion. Yeah, I know. That would be great, you know, and that would be awesome. I'm, you know, I'm a little bit of my strategy. It's always the standard. I'm not going out there with putting that submission on, but if it happens, that would be great. But, you know, even with the kind of site with the market, it was great, and it was one of the best feelings of my career, you know, being in there and box and having my handbrage after knock out.

But the performances, even with the performance with Matt Brown taken into consideration, I was really let down without performance. And I don't want to go out like that as far as performance life for both of those nights. I want to go out there. Whatever happens at the end happens, but I want it to be a good performance where I'm in shape and I look. good and I'm healthy and I'm being able to do what I want to do, you know, and not have any restrictions. So one last thing before I let you go, I was perusing through this, aka Thailand YouTube page, and I came across this video of you and your friend enjoying some kind of holiday,

if you want to call it that, and I apologize if I'm mispronouncing the name, Songkran, where you guys are driving up and down the street, nailing people with a water gun. It's an unbelievable thing. Like, you're just, you just roll down the window, and then you just start shooting people with this water gun. What is that? It sounds like, I mean, it seems so much fun. I watched five minutes of you just rolling down the window and shooting unsuspecting bystanders. It was amazing stuff. Yeah, the Fongrown Festival happens every year in Thailand, and basically it's where the entire

country goes into the waterwork. I mean, it's literally the entire country that was to the water waterworks. If you walk outside there in Farncrant, they'll say they're going to get shot, you're going to get water porn, they got water cannon, and everywhere. you go, you're getting dressed. And me and my friend, Mark of that's my long time, since high school, he's here with me up, we got to fight, and, you know,

we went out to night before and just got ambushed. Like, really bad. We just trying to do our own thing and train and, you know, go to the store, whatever. And so the next day, we decided to get some revenge and played a little dirty. You know, we basically got in the truck, hid inside the truck, and then just drove by

and just nailed everybody who saw. And so that's what is a good thing. from. But it's fun. What a life over there. It seems like paradise. The scenery, the water gun fights, it seems like you're doing it right over there in Thailand. Once again, if you go on their YouTube page, their official

YouTube page, aka Thailand, you can follow along with Mike Swick's comeback and it all culminates with his big fight, UFC 189, July 11th in Las Vegas, the return of Mike Swick. Great news. Great to have you back, Mike. Good luck in training. Good luck with the videos. And again,

congratulations on just getting back here, because I think a lot of people were counting you out, and it's very nice to see that you're healthy, that you're ready to go, and that you've got at least one more fight in you. That's tremendous news. Congratulations on that. Yeah, thanks for having me, Harold. I really appreciate it, man. And to everyone out there, man, please check out the series we're doing.

It's going to tackle everything, and I think it's going to be so fascinating to everyone that hasn't seen a full-campus session in Thailand. We'll also do a live periscope sessions. Oh, yes. A lot of our workouts. I've already started by them, and we'll literally do a parricone online. periscar, we're doing aerosite, mits, sparring, sprints, cruising through the island, like, we're opening it to everything.

So we're being very interactive for this camp. So definitely check it out on Parascove and then Hauditsch Facebook and Facebook. And Facebook works out of Mike Swick, aka Thailand, and AKaTan.com. Yes, I've noticed that. You're very active on Periscope, which is a very interesting app in its own right, where people can live stream and you can watch it right off your phone. So, yeah, at official Swick is his Twitter. You can see all that stuff.

I do recommend following along. Thank you very much for the time, Mike, and especially for staying up this late, and all the best on July 11th. Okay, thank you so much. I appreciate it again. There he is. Mike Swick, original cast member

on the Ultimate Fighter Season 1. It is great. Remember I tweeted that, and all these people are like, L-O-L, he doesn't fight, he hasn't fought since 2012. Well, how about that? Y'all must have forgot, my friends.

Y'all must have forgot. Official Swick is back. Maybe you never left. Add official swick on Twitter. All right, let's move along. As I mentioned at the top of the show, I've been getting a lot of requests to have this particular guest on the program.

People love his vibe. They love what he's been doing as of late. He is on a roll, knocking people out left and right. And the best part is he does it with a smile. What a character. Can't wait to talk to this man. He is known as Smiling Sam Alvey, and he joins us on the phone right now.

Sam, are you there? I'm right here and happy to be talked to. to you, sir. The pleasure is ours. It's great to have you finally on the program. So it feels like you were doing well. You had a couple wins in the UFC, you know, as of late. But after this last one, it feels like your popularity has grown. Has that been the case? Have you noticed a change in the way people view you? I have. I've been getting hit up on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook and just everything. It's been almost all positive lately. And my wife, my wife, wife, she's huge into the forums.

So she's been reading the forums, you know, how loud to me every night. And it was a great fight. It was a good opportunity. And I'm very happy with the outcome. Yes, you're coming off a 49-second TKO win over Dan Kelly in Australia, in his home country. Now, you say it's almost been all positive. Who's talking smack about Smiley and Sam Alvey these days? You know, the Internet's a dangerous place.

It is. More people than not, to this day. have been anti-Sam Lally on the internet. But it doesn't bother me. It's the internet for a reason. People need a place to vent, and I'm happy at least that they're talking about me, whether it's positive or negative.

But you know, reading that stuff, especially when you go deep into the forums, that could be dangerous as well, because you don't want to get too high, you want to get too low. So are you careful about what you're reading? I mean, maybe at this point, you know, you can enjoy the ride a little bit,

but that stuff can play tricks on you. You know that? Yeah. You know, I mean, I don't really. read most of it. My wife does. I'm sure she's selective in what I get, what she reads to me. The Facebook and Twitter, they've all been pretty nice to me.

Okay, that's good. But the internet, I don't read it all that much, but my wife loves it. So let me ask you this. I mean, it's just amazing to watch you fight with this big smile before and after. It's very entertaining. Have you always been this way? Have you always been this happy-go-lucky? Yeah, I mean, at least my entire fighting career and I'd have to imagine before then.

I just, what's not to be happy about, you know, the air of my lungs and, you know, I get to punch someone in the face. It's a good day in all it comes. But even when you were in high school, elementary school, were you always known as the smiling guy? You know, I'd have to look back at my yearbook,

but I might have been voted Best Smile. It might be in the yearbooks still. Yeah. So I don't know. My parents did something, right? I've just been a happy kid, a happy guy. my whole life. Are your parents the same way? Yeah, you should see them.

They smile just about, almost, not quite, but almost, excuse me. Who gave you the nickname? It would have to be my dad. We try and remember back who said it first. I was a professional at the time. We don't remember the exact time, but we've got it down there. We think it was my dad that came up with it first. And the spelling is the most interesting part of it,

because the way you spell it would suggest smiling and, I mean, it's not smiling I-N-A-N-A-N, it's a smile-apostrophe N, which if someone was reading it would be like one name and the other name. Why do you spell it that way? Because I was young and didn't, and I thought it looked cooler. I thought the apostory capital N was like, oh, my goodness, that'd look great on a T-shirt. And so that was what I started as, and I'll just stick with it. Almost nobody spells it that way ever on the floor. It's all smiling or smile, you know, with an high end.

But the official is the apostrophe in and, you know, whether it makes sense or not, I'm sticking with it. So it was actually a mistake? Yeah, yeah, mistake. I didn't realize it was a mistake until after I graduated college. So let's talk about this run here. Amazing. Three straight finishes, all in the first round. All overseas.

I mean, you're going into enemy territory and beating up these guys and doing so very impressive. this after you lost your UFC debut, after you had a failed attempt in the ultimate fighter, what's been the difference as of late? You know, I just, I'm finding that groove. I've got a lot of fights, and, you know, the MMA is kind of a streak sport. Luckily, you know, I've been blessed never to have a streak in my losing side,

but I'm hot right now. I'm going to keep staying hot, and, you know, I'll make that run for the title over time. Do you feel any, I mean, do you feel like, you have more confident, like something's clicking in practice, or is it just one of those streaks that there's not really a reason for? You know, I practice as hard now as I ever had. I have had a couple really good camps.

They've been lining up with, you know, my head coacher, Dan Henderson. My fights have been lining up kind of with his, so I've gotten to really piggyback off of who he brings in and who he's training with, and then, you know, just getting a workout with him is, you know, a blessing in its own. So I've been hitting that stride with training, with camps, and fighting. You call him your head coach, but correct me from wrong, he's usually not in your corner, at least not in your UFC fight, so how can he be your head coach, Dan Henderson? Well, his name's on the building.

Okay, fair enough. Yeah, no, he's my head training partner, I guess, would be a better way of putting it out. The head coaches here are, you know, just as talented as I am. They just, their passion is coaching as opposed to fighting. Brian Harper, Gestavo, Goku, and the poncho, the four of them will make any person a very dangerous fighter. So he's on your corner, but someone who is in your corner, this has been well-documented, your wife, Brittany McKee Sullivan, who won the 11th season of America's next top model. This gets a lot of reaction from people because we're not used to seeing, you know, a wife in the corner, a model in the corner. When did you first start doing this with your wife?

She has been in every corner of mine since I started fighting. And I tell everyone, it started off. If she was in my corner, she was a free ticket in. We didn't have to buy anything. And she actually took it more serious than I did. I mean, to this day, she knows more about the guys on fighting than I do. Wow. She's in the meetings.

She's game planning with us. She's working on at home. She is the one that kind of choreographs how it's going to be. And it's funny how accurate she is. She knows what he's like a... She was nervous about Tom Watson. She was not at all nervous about Cesar Pahara. She said, this is going to be one of the easiest fights you ever had, Tim.

I don't look at this guy. Don't even worry about it. You train that you're going to train. You're going to be fine. And she just called him down to the round. I finished the guys then. Wow. Yeah, she's just...

She's a gift to my camp. So is she in the gym as you're preparing as well? Is she there watching you, giving you pointers? She's there at least three days a week watching me as I train. I mean, she's got her own things going on too, so she can't be there every practice. But she goes out of her way to make sure she's watching me. Does she train as well? She does.

Not really forever the chance to fight, but she enjoys it. She loves Jiu-Jitsu. We're going to start getting her into more tournaments this year, and she's a big fan of it. of Dutch kickboxing as well. So will she try that out? Like, do you think she'll go pro? Yeah.

We're not even really worried about it. We joke about it every now and then. We don't know. It's always a possibility. She's about the most athletic person, I know, so I wouldn't put it past her. But right now, she's just, she's raising the children and getting ready to go back to school.

Well, she certainly has the height and the reach and all that. She's very tall. And you're saying that she's, She has been in your corner since 2008, since you started your MMA career? Yeah, since, even before them with the amateur fights, but she's been every K-boxing fight, every MMA fight, she's been to all my pencracean fight. She's been there every one of them. So maybe that's why...

Sorry, go ahead. She has the best hand wrap in the entire industry. She will wrap a hand better and more soundly than anyone ever. So she's been wrapping your hands... Yeah? People think it's because I hit her or not It's because of her handwrapped So when you're fighting the UFC backstage

She's doing the handwrapping Oh yeah, she does the handwraps And if I need anything else Rapshap, she wrapped that too Wow So maybe this is why you didn't do well in the ultimate fighter You didn't have your wife there It was between that and the weight cut

Yeah You know, funny story about the ultimate fighter I found out what day the fight was going to be And before every fight My wife and we would find a corner away from everyone else and we just take, you know, 30 seconds, and we just talk to one another, so what we're going to do in this fight, and we don't, you know, advertise it while we're there, we just go and do it.

So I found out when I was going to fight or what day, and I said, all right, wherever you are on this day, it was, Thursday or Wednesday, whatever day it was, said, just go to the corner somewhere away from everyone. I'll do the same thing, and we'll talk to each other, you know, through space. And so we did that. And, you know, to get into the house was a great fight. It was the one punch, you know, the one hitter clear. Yeah.

But then after that, we didn't know when I was fighting anymore, and so we couldn't even talk to each other once in the house. So we couldn't do our little pep talk, and while we saw it happen, it was a boring, boring loss. Yeah, that is fascinating. Wow, I love that. You're connected like that. And, of course, you're coming off this great win,

and I was surprised, I'll be honest, that you didn't get $50,000 bonus. And then I was wondering, I even said on the show, I was wondering if you were penalized for your spray tan advertisement on your chest, which Tom Wright said afterwards was kind of a sort of glitch in the matrix and it slipped by them and it will never happen again. Do you think that was the case? Like if you didn't have that on your chest, you'd have gotten the bonus? I hate saying yes. I hate thinking I cost myself $50,000, but I really do think so. And it's a shame because I didn't know that the spray tan was illegal.

I didn't know it's against any rules. I wouldn't have done it, and I'm incredibly apologetic about it. But they never actually punished me. The U.S.U.S. is very cool with it, and they could have. It was, you know, hindsight is it was against the rules, and they could have punished me. But they didn't punish me.

They've been real cool about it. I just, I didn't win the bonus. And, oh, the rest of my life, I'll be the guy that spray-panned himself to lose $50,000. So that is, that's something. Did the spray tan company pay you at least $50,000? Maybe it kind of offsets each other. You know what?

Kind of they did. They said I've got free tanning the rest of my life. Oh, wow. If I use it consistently enough, I'll make that $50,000 back. Did you do this in the States or when you were in Australia? I did have brought the stuff from the States. Okay. Before weighing, so after I made weight, I spray tanning, well, I had my wife spray tan it on

under my chest. And honestly, I just thought it'd be hilarious. I'm probably the most pale guy in the UFC. Yes. And to have something that's a perfect tan on his chest, I thought it was just going to be funny. And everyone's, oh, look at that guy. He's pale and has tan on his chest.

I didn't realize it was going to be such a big deal. But I'm very sorry. Did you get a tongue lashing afterwards? I did. They're like four different guys that all told me. It said, that isn't allowed. I said, I didn't know. I swear.

I would have gotten it off. I didn't know. But they made it very clear that it's not to happen again, and so it won't. But honestly, isn't it kind of on them? I mean, you had it at the Wayans. No one asked you afterwards if you're going to take that off or what's the deal, right? Yeah, nobody had said anything, but, I mean, it's a busy time from Wayans to fight time. And I was just an undercard fight, and so I can see how it flipped through the cracks.

and again, it was in my contract, so I should have known. It wasn't, you know, it shouldn't have been on the UFC to have to tell me. I should have, you know, read the fine print a little better and not done it to begin with. The finishes are very impressive, but also what impresses me is that you always know where the camera is after your fights and you do that little point thing with your smile. How do you have the presence of mind to do that right after you just finished a guy? It's amazing. That is something I've always done.

The little hand signal, it's called the raging butterfly. It's something a buddy of mine made years ago. And anytime we're on any sort of sports team, a backyard basketball or volleyball, it started with, we had this raft in this little lake, and we'd have the push-off game. We'd get 30 kids on there, and the last one on the wrap one. And our team, we were always the raging butterflies,

so we had the little hand signal and everything. So any time we ever won a basketball game or won this or that, we'd always do the hand signals one another. and I told him, I'm going to make this a thing. And now that I've got a platform to do it, that I'm going to keep doing it. It has become a thing. Why the raging butterflies?

That's a funny name. Honestly, there's a Simpsons episode years ago where Bart says she'd come back as a butterfly because no one suspects the butterfly. And that was kind of that had something to do with it. That is amazing. And also what I really appreciate about you, and we talked about this on last week's show as well, you have put out the blueprint.

I mean, it's amazing that more people don't figure this out. After every one of your wins, you are calling out the next guy. And you're not just making some crazy. You're not like Phil Davis calling out Anderson Silva, which is never going to happen. You are actually looking at things from an honest perspective and saying, all right, this is the next guy that I need to beat to climb that ladder. And you did it with Dan Kelly, and now you did it with Elias Theodoro. and this time around, you threw in the stipulation of hair versus hair. Got everyone talking, he responded to you right away.

This is brilliant. I don't understand why more people don't do it, and I wouldn't be surprised if you get the fight. Before we get to that, how far in advance do you come up with the next opponent, and is it just something you do on your own? Is it a team effort? Because I love it. I love everything about it, and I wish more people would do it.

I mean, I love doing it. I love looking at these guys. And when I said my post-fight speech was, I want to fight the guys I like, and I really mean it. And my wife is actually the one. She does more of the research than I do. She says, well, how about this guy? Then I'll watch some footage.

And I said, you know what? I like this match up. I think we match up well, and I think our records go well with one another. And then I'll send it off to my coaches and see what they think. And Elias almost slipped through the cracks. It was literally, my wife wasn't sold on who we had, who we were thinking about picking. So she was on her computer. all night the day, the day before the fight,

and said, I got it, Tim. I got it. Look at this guy. So me and my coach, Brian Harper, we were on the computer, and we were just looking at who she had found, and, you know what, this is great. And we were looking at his website, and this is the matchup.

And his website says, you know, he's a self-proclaimed best parent M&A. I'm going to make sure he takes this fight. Because, you know, every, every fighter has the option to say no. Not that he would have, but you put, you know, you call the man Taryn the question, at least catches attention.

And I love that you're doing this before the fight, because some people will say, you know, I want to focus on my next fight, and I don't want to think ahead and all this stuff, but you have the presence of mind to do that, which is brilliant. So the big question is, are you going to get him? Have you heard anything from the UFC about them liking this idea and that you will fight Elias Theodore next? I haven't heard all that much just yet,

but I know the UFC likes the call-outs. They like it when people do that. I like it when it makes sense. He's on, what, a three-fight win streak in the U.S.D. So am I. I. I've got a few more fights than him, but he won tough, and that's kind of my goal right now. Everyone I'm fighting is in a tough alumni,

and he beat Cizar, who won the Brazilian tough. I've beaten two Australian tough members now. One Australian tough member, one Australian who was on the American tough, and I would love to fight of Elias now. He was the Canadians or the Smashes champions. I need to make up for my swapout when I was on. this season. I like it.

You're the tough killer. I like it, too. You're the tough killer. That's it. And you've dropped your issue with Luke Barnat because in reading some of your pre-fight material, you really didn't like this guy for some reason. You wanted to fight him,

but I guess it doesn't make sense now, right? Yeah. I don't really know him. I saw him on top, and I'm aware that they can make you look however they want on the TV show. But he seems very full of himself. and I've been fighting people taller than me lately.

Dan Kelly wasn't, but the last three were. So I figured why I go over the super tall guy? How many more call-outs before you call it the champion? I'm going to earn it. I'm going to make sure I earn it before I call it out. It's not going to be an undeserved call-out, especially when it's a guy I like as much as I like Chris. And I've bumped into him once or twice,

and he probably doesn't even remember me right now. but you want me hear a funny story about Chris. The last time I fought in Australia, I was walking down the hallway. I won my fight and everything got the knockout of Sporting and Cloud 9. And the whole trip, Matt Serra was there. And Matt Sarah was kind of a loud guy. And so I was always seeing him.

You know what? After the fight, I'm going to say hi. So I went, he was in the backstage talking to some guy. And I said, Matt, you know, sorry to interrupt, but I'm a huge fan. I always have been. You know, it's a pleasure to meet you. And thank you so much for shaking my hand. He said, oh, Sam, you're great, too.

You know, awesome fight out there. you know, good job. Then I'm walking away. My coach looks over and says, hey, is there a reason you just completely snubbed the middleweight champion of the world? What are you talking about? He said, well, that's Chris Weidman right over there.

He said, oh, you're kidding me. Well, he had the wrist brace on, and he had a full beard, and I didn't recognize him, not even a little bit. Uh-oh. So I ran back. It was actually down the hall. I ran back, and I said,

listen, Chris, I swear I didn't know what it was you. I just didn't recognize you. I'm so sorry. a huge fan of yours too. I mean, you're the chance of champs right now. I mean, he thought it was pretty funny. Oh, now you have a rift. Now you have a beef.

Yeah, yeah. You didn't recognize me. He's going to be calling me out before too long, I'm sure of it. Yes, can't wait for that. Okay, final thing before I let you go, and I've really appreciated and enjoyed this chat, so thank you for the time. Are you still playing the trumpet? I read that used to be a semi-professional trumpet player. I still have a trumpet, and I'll tute on it every now.

and then, but I don't play it as much as I should. But I played it for 20-some years. I was banned college, took it into, you know, just above college. And it was right around the time I started fighting. So I just didn't have time to get to be great at both. And, yeah, I weighed my options. And I think that I think I took the right path. Well, if you want to take things to the next level, this whole smiling thing to the next level,

come out playing the trumpet as you walk to the cage. No one's done that. That would be legendary stuff. So just chew on that, all right? I'm going to read over the contract real carefully to make sure that's not any of the bylines, and then maybe I'll take you up on the option. For now, congratulations on your success to both you and your wife, your whole team. It's been a lot of fun watching you, the former MFC middleweight champion,

so you know we have a soft spot in our heart for Canadian champions. Keep doing your thing, my man. It's been, like I said, a lot of fun, and I hope you get that Elias fight, because I'd love to see it as well. And hopefully they actually honor the stipulation of hair versus hair, because that would make it even more interesting. Thank you so much for the time, Sam. I'm sure we'll talk to you very soon.

Appreciate the time here on this Monday. Thank you so much, sir. It was a pleasure being on. All right, there he is. Smiling, Sam Alvey, taking the UFC middleweight division by Storm, looking great as of late, and doing so with a massive smile. How about that? All right, let's move along.

Let's go back to UFC 187 talk. As I said, at the top of the show, one of the more interesting fights on the card. A fight that could very well produce the number one contender in the heavyweight division involves Andre Arlovsky and our guest at this time, Hoppa, Travis Brown. Travis, are you there?

Hey, hey, what's going on, man? Great to have you on the show, Travis. Thank you for the time. So is it accurate to say that when you got this call, when you were offered this fight against Andre, you weren't all that into it. You guys do have a relationship, right? Yeah, I was kind of just told that that's who I was fighting.

I guess Andre had accepted the fight before I got offered it. So it was all those things where Joe called, say, hey, I got it. You know, I mean, Joe knows how I work. And, you know, that's, I think one of the reasons why he may like me is because I don't, I've never said no to Joe. You know, I never said, nah, I don't think so, you know, have to work tomorrow or just try to make some kind of BS excuse.

So he called me up. You know, we're looking for an opponent, you know, about late May, try to get back in there soon. And, you know, I think he said, hey, you know, I'm. And Andre took the fight, so you're fighting May, May 23rd, 187. I was like, sounds good. But, yeah, you know, Andre and I definitely have a, we have a long-standing relationship, I think. I mean, for fighters, for buddies and stuff for about three years now.

Was he living at your house when he accepted this fight? Yeah, he stuff was at my house, yeah, and Albuquerque. Well, that's weird. Yeah, it was different. You know, it's a little different. I mean, you know, what do you do? This is the first time. I'm actually, you know, I guess fighting my friend.

But the thing is, is Andre and I used to go at it, you know, in the gym for three years. So now we're just getting paid for it. And it's in front of millions of people. Right. Yeah, sure. Did he stay in your house as he prepared for this fight? I know you don't live in Albuquerque anymore. You're now training at GFC.

So was he there while preparing to fight you? No, he wasn't living in. on my house. I got, I got rid of that house in February. So, pretty much around the same time, I learned about the fight. I was going to move out of the house anyway, so we just had

to, you know, figure out how he was going to get his stuff, and that was about it. But since then, I'm sure he's found some else to live. Did you send him a text, like, you ain't gots to go home, but you got to get the hell out of my house? Yeah, you know,

the good old one-liner, No, it's funny, actually, pretty much our communication has been fairly limited. I'm sure you could understand that. You know, as soon as I found out, the fight, I hung up the phone with Joe Silva, and I text, Andrea, I said, hey, buddy, you know, loved your buddy, and he said, I know, and I said, good, I just want to make sure you knew that. Now is it, you know, there's no love loss, you know, like, I still love the guy. and everything.

You know, it's just this is our job, and it's something that we've talked about before. You know, we just didn't, maybe didn't think it was going to happen this soon. Wait, you said I love you. He didn't say I love you back? Oh, that's the Russian way.

Okay. I love it back, you know. I mean, you have to, I mean, it's Andre. Sure, sure. You know what I mean? It's Andreelowski. You got that, you know, that, you know, that's his way

of being a softy. Yes, a tough thing. exterior, but deep down, they're teddy bears, right? Oh, exactly. Big time. Yes. So I know it's an unwritten rule, and I don't want you to break that rule about what goes on in training, sparring, and all that.

But considering your past, training with each other, you feel very confident going into this fight? You know, I feel like it's going to be a great fight. You know, gym time sparring is different than fight night. Um, you know, some people, some people rise to the occasion, um, fight night. Some people are, or Jim monsters, you know. Um, I believe that both Andre and I, we show up for fight night, you know. Uh, so there's going to be some stuff that, that I haven't seen from in my way, um,

the intensity, the drive from Andre and stuff like that. So, you know, I expect the best Andre I've ever seen. I mean, we're like brothers. you know, and if you put two brothers against each other and anything, you know, I've two sons. One's, you know, eight, the other one's seven. And anything they go head-to-head at, neither of them want to lose. And the other one's going to be a sore loser if he does. You know what I mean?

Yes. So they duke it out. They try their hardest, you know, maybe against their friends. They don't try as hard because whatever, you know. But when his brothers are going at it, man, it's a whole other level. 100%. You're talking to a guy with two older brothers. The worst thing in the world is losing to your brother.

is losing to your brother. Yes, 100%. So are you surprised, though, given his history, let's be honest, I don't think a lot of people thought we'd see Andrei Arlowski in an important fight in 2015, you know, on the verge of maybe a title shot. Given his history, given how he looked in his last fight against Bigfoot Silva,

I mean, Ander Alovsky, this is somewhat of an improbable comeback. Are you surprised to see him back in this spot? Not at all, man. You know, the guy's a warrior. You know, we've shared blood, sweat, and tears together in the gym, you know, during his fights, during my fights, you know, we've both celebrated together and we've both gone through the downtimes and our losses, you know. So, you know, it's just, that's, you know, that's how he is. And he's a warrior, and that's what I see him as. I don't see him as anything less.

And for me, there's going to be a tough fight. You know, I know who Andre is deep down. I know that he will not stop. You know, so believe me when I say that, he's going to get the best Travis Brown that anybody's ever seen because I know what he's capable of doing and I know what I need to do. I know the level that I need to be at in order to come out with a win,

which is I have to be at top shape, you know, my A game. I have to bring my A game. So now you're fully entrenched at Glendale Fighting Club. What has been the difference between there and your final days at Jackson's? I believe that at this level, it's, you know, the biggest difference that I've seen that I've had happened now is instead of being at a bigger gym where there's a, there are some names and a lot of people there, what I've done instead of, you know, instead of that atmosphere is I've brought everybody in specifically for me. So, you know, I have my coaching staff, coach Edmund, coach Ricky, coach Neil, and I also have coach Jesse.

He's my strength conditioning coach now over at GFC. You know, and I have my steady core group of coaches, but, you know, my training partners, we bring them in, you know, and they're all there specifically for me. They're not getting ready for any other fights. They're not over there busting their butt and maybe, you know, sore and tired while we spar and stuff like that. They're on their A game. They're sharp.

They're ready to go. And I have to, you know, I feel like I've gotten a better push that way. I've had no shortage of training partners, you know, anytime, you know, we need one, we just fly them in. It's definitely more expensive that way, but I feel like it's the, that needs to be the evolution to this sport. You know, you don't see these huge, these big names and boxing at these huge gyms with, you know, 10 other big name boxers. You know, they all bring guys in for them specifically for their next fight and all that kind of stuff. And that's been the big difference for GFC compared to Jackson's. Do you think that that is the future?

And I wonder if that will eliminate some of the injuries because sometimes you're in these crowded gyms and everyone's preparing for a big fight. you bump into each other, whatever, and you don't have the kind of attention that you need, you make the perfect comparison to boxing. The camp should be surrounded around you. You should be the focus. You should be the guy. And I'm wondering if A, you believe that's the future. And B, does that come from Edmund, who has the boxing background, and it has prepared guys for big-time boxing fights, matches?

You know, yes, one, I believe that is the future. That means to be the future because that's the level that we're getting this sport to. You know, you can't get kind of lost in the shuffle. You can't, you know, other guys, if you're surrounding yourself by sharks, you know, they're going to need some food too. You know what I mean? When it's time to eat, they're going to need some food. So they're all going to have to start doing your own camps.

You're going to need that attention from the coaches. The coaches are going to have to be more, you know, selective in who they train because, you know, with Coach Edmund, just having myself, Ronda Rousey, Jake Ellenberger and then his, you know, his boxing guys like Victor Cheney. You know, there's some other guys coming out. There's a guy named Dominic Brazil.

He was one of my training partners last camp. This time I got to hang out with him talk to him. There's this guy named Paulus Ritter. You know, there's all these other guys that are out there boxing and stuff and his time is limited. So for me to get a full camp in, for me to have his attention, you know, he doesn't get to get to train everybody under the sun. You know, he has to be selective in who he trains.

And yes, it came. That's a style that I was looking for before I met Coach Edmund. I was looking for, you know, that camp where it would be about me. Well, I wouldn't get lost kind of in the shuffle where I would make sure that I had coaches and training partners all the time, you know, and that's something that I was looking for. and we found that. And as we're talking with Coach Edmund, that was one of the first things he said, you know,

and it needs to be that way. So this is... He pays guys to come in there and knock me out. They try to knock me. Right. You know, I mean, we pay people to do that. So, you know, for that,

you have to be on their A game. Guys are going to get bonuses if they drop you, if they knock you out. Oh. You know. How much do they get? It is, but I'm not sure. Okay.

I don't really, I don't really, you know, I'll go into those details with him. Okay, fair enough. This is a very interesting time at heavyweight because we just had Miochich versus Hunt, then your fight, and then in a couple of weeks, we have Velascus versus Verdume. Finally, we're going to get the fight.

Hopefully, I'm knocking on wood here. Hopefully both guys are healthy. We're going to see that fight. So what's at stake here? Do you believe, I said before the Hunt fight that I thought there was kind of a mini tournament, whoever looked the best, the most dominant between Hunt Miochich,

you and Arlofski would get the title shot because there's no number one contender waiting, and they're not going to have, you know, the timing works out perfectly, they're not going to have you, let's say, if you win, against the winner of Hunt Meotich, which it ended up being Meotich, fight in the future, because then Cain Verdoom winner doesn't have an opponent and you kill off a contender. So I believe, you know, one guy is going to, you know,

come out of this little one-month thing and be the next guy in line. Do you kind of see it the same way? Have you been told what's at stake? I haven't been told necessarily, like, specifically, but when you look at the general landscape of the division, and that's how it's looking. You know, it's a, you know, who looks the best gets the title shot out of, out of me and Arlovsky or hunting steepe.

You know, like you said, you don't want to start having contenders fight each other waiting for a title shot because then that, you know, that, like you said, strips away any other contenders. So, you know, I look at the same way you do. Have I been told anything specific? No. But at the same time, you know, you're only as good as your, last performance, you know. And so my focus right now isn't the title shot. It's to go out there

and perform against Andre. But you look at what Stepe did. Do you kind of in the back of your mind, think about that and say, all right, that was pretty damn dominant. I have to one-up this guy on Saturday? You know, what I have to do is I have to go out and stick to my game plan and do my job come Saturday, and everything else will fall in the place. Luckily, I have the style that's entertaining. You know, I go out and I finish guys. and that's what we're looking to do always. And, you know, whether it's my friend in front of me or my sworn enemy, it doesn't matter.

You know, I'm going out there to finish the fight, and I know that he's going to go out there to do the same. Luckily, I have that style that people want to watch and people enjoy, you know, that kind of style or going out there instead of getting a grinding out, you know, kind of decision. I go out there and I finish guys. Five months later, can you tell us what you,

you said to Brendan Chob when you finished him? I just told, you know, I just, I just said, you know, as long lines that's what, you know, so you get for running your mouth, you know. You still have, you know, with me and him, as far as me and him goes, I don't feel like there is a me and him, you know, it was, it was a situation that happened, you know, through the great fine, I've heard that, that he said, you know, that he wanted to, to, to, raise some talk about our fight because it's kind of getting lost in the shuffle and you want to make sure that people are going to tune in and all that kind of stuff but you know i

really do feel like you know if that's who you're going to be then then you have to be prepared for the repercussions you know and you know i mean it is what it is i'm not that kind of person i don't go around you know talking and trying to bring attention to myself i let my fighting do the talking for me. Two more quick things, and then I'll let you go and thank you very much for the time. I know you have a very busy day. No word. I'm wondering how you feel about the Reebok deal.

I think this is your 12th UFC fight, and it doesn't kick in until July. But your manager, John Fosco, has been rather complimentary of it. Do you agree with his take on things? You know, here's... This is where, you know, I have, like, the, way that the way they have to look at it, if you look at it on a per night basis, right? If you look on a per night basis, which any, in my mind, any, like, amateur would do. If you look at it on fight night, just like if you look at, you know, oh, you know, this fighter only

works two nights a year because he only fights twice a year. And the only time he ever works is on fight night. You know what? You're dumb. Because there's so much that goes into this fighting. So if you look at it as a year, year long income, like any business would, this Reebok money is on top of what I'm already making from sponsorships and I have no problem with it. On a per night thing, yeah, maybe I'll be, you know, that night, maybe not making as much. But yearly, I'm making more because of the Reebok deal, because they're coming out and they're taking care of that for us.

But this is also where a lot of managers are going to be held accountable at this point and seeing really what they can provide for their fighters. And if you can't provide for your fighters outside the kids, what good are you? So you don't have a problem. If you depend on the UFC for sponsorships, like the only kind of money you get is in-cage sponsorships, then I don't feel as a manager that you're doing your job. I feel like you need to go out there and you need to have some kind of presence as a business, as a management company. The athlete also has to go out there and do their part as well.

You'll never hear me saying no to a sponsor when they're like, hey, can you make this appearance? You know, whether it's paid or not, that's why we have such an outstanding relationship, such a great relationship with our sponsors. Because there's times that, you know, I'll just show up to places and, you know, they know I'm not sitting here. oh, well, I need to get paid first. Where's my money and this and that? It's like there's a relationship there. You know, there's trust that's been built.

And, you know, I personally have no problem with the Reebok deal. That's on top of money that I'm already getting out of sponsorships. And are most of your sponsors that are part of, you know, this fight? Are they going to stick around? Yeah. Okay. Definitely. We've had them for most of my career.

We've picked up a couple in the last, you know, years, three years or so. But the thing is, is we have a relationship with them. You know, it's not like a one-off. Oh, just wear our stuff inside the cage. That's all we want. You know, part of what we do is a lot of presence outside the cage. And finally, did you finally get married yet?

What's going on over here? Yeah, yeah. You did? I'm hit, man, yeah. Well done, Mazel to. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, we did under the radar, you know.

I feel like that's something for, me and my family to celebrate and, you know, when we get a chance to really go out there and do, like, a bigger wedding, then I feel like we'll definitely have more of a presence like that. But for right now, we just did something small. I have to get ready for fight camp and this and that, and it's hard to schedule that kind of stuff. you know unfortunately you know now Jenna Jenna knows that I have a short time in this in this industry so I'm fully committed

you know to fighting and doing what I have to do to make sure that I'm number one and I'm always ready so unfortunately you know a big wedding you know has to get put on hold but yeah well congratulations I hope you don't mind me saying this your wife is a beautiful lady very fit more fit than you. Yeah.

I hope you don't mind me saying that as well. I mean, she's like a... No, it's my personality. She's supposed to my personality, you know? I think it was the beard. When you're raised, I have the ugly duckling syndrome. You know what I mean? So I grew up and I was, you know, I had to develop a personality.

So now that I'm in my 30s, now my personality shines, you know, it doesn't always, it's not always about looks, you know? That is true. But I think the beard really sealed the deal. Accurate? I think so. Yeah. I think so.

Yeah. It's so funny. You know, Coach Edmund and all the guys at the gym, I showed him a picture of me without a beard. They're like, wow, Trav, the beard looks so good on you. I was like, what are you trying to say? What does that mean? What do you mean?

It completed you. What do you mean? The beard looks good on me. Yeah, it's funny. But I take it as a compliment, you know, can't be soft. No, no. I think it all came together with. It all came together with the beard in the cage, out of the cage.

By the way, did you get married before training camp started or in the midst of training camp? I'm just trying to get a sense for your head. Before. Okay. Before. And then you're going to have a bigger ceremony after this fight. Accurate? I believe so.

Okay. We're still, you know, figuring stuff out. And, man, I mean, you know, you want to think, you think that all we do, you know, is sit on the couch and feel fight time and then we get up and fight. But it's pretty busy, you know, and we're just trying to find that. time to get everything done and, you know, have a life, you know what I mean? So, uh, but right now, you know, unfortunately, unfortunately for, for her, you know, our, our relationship is there and it's great and it's amazing. Um, but my fighting, you know, the, the fight industry, the fight camps, the fight itself kind of takes precedence during the short amount of time that we have.

Well, I know a lot of people are pulling you in different directions, so don't feel pressure, stressed about inviting me. I know there's love there, but you know, you don't have to go out of your way. We're thinking we're going to do some kind of destination thing. So, you know, we don't really, we don't want, we don't want gifts and all that kind of stuff that, you know. Even better, I hate gifts. People make it. Yeah, if people can make it, that's a gift, you know. Travis, congratulations on that.

That is great news. I'm happy you finally did it. Thank you. Very smart man. And good luck in this fight. This is a fantastic fight on a fantastic card. In my opinion, the best main card of 2015. It's loaded top to bottom.

Always a pleasure to have you on the show. Always great to watch you fight. I'm looking forward to it this weekend. Thanks so much for the time. Thank you, my man. I'll see you later this week. All right, there he is. Hapa, Travis Brown.

Huge fight for him in just five days' time against Andrea Olavski. A great dynamic there between the both of them. It's always interesting when two former training partners go, go toe to toe, and it's a very important fight in the heavyweight division. All right, let's move along now. And as I have been teasing on Twitter, we have some breaking news here. A late addition to the show. And if you're familiar with the show, you are familiar with her because she was talked about last week on the program.

We will get to that in a second. But first, let us introduce our next guest. She is the 115 pound champion for World Series of Fighting. She is Jessica Aguilar. Jessica, are you there? Hey, Ariel, how are you? I'm great. Thank you very much for the time.

So let's not beat around the bush. You have some breaking news. What is it? That's right. Well, I'm just excited, Ariel. I'm excited to be here as a free agent today. I'm looking forward to, you know, challenging myself against the best and, you know, proving why I'm the number one ranked fighter in the world. So you are no...

In my way class. You're no longer a member of World Series of Fighting. That's correct. What happened? I... You know, I... Well, you know, I hadn't fought in a few months, and I think, you know, my next step is to be, you know, to be the UFC champion.

I've decided to become the next UFC champion, and that's as part of consolidating my number one rankings. So, you know, the UFC was then allowed to talk to me while I was under contract with the WSOF. So I've solved that issue for them. I'm a free agent. So have you signed with the UFC? No, I have not. You know, right now, you know, I just want to prove once again why I'm the number one rank fighter in my weight class.

I want to have some fun, you know, and now the ball's in Dana's court. So was this kind of like a conditional release where you talked about? told World Tories of fighting what you want, where you want to be in your career, and they said, okay, we'll release you if you could sign with the UFC, because I would have a hard time imagining them saying, all right, just go out and test the waters, and if you sign with Belator, you know, more power to you. Well, they, you know, no, WSRF was amazing. You know, I asked them, and I told them what I wanted, and they granted me release to do

whatever I wanted to do. But obviously, you know, my goal is to be the number one in my weight class. and that's in the UFC. So if I have to do that, that's my move. You know, I want to just continue proving why I'm the best and challenge myself against those, you know, those ladies and amazing athletes there. So I'm excited, man.

I'm excited. I'm ready to have some fun and defend what's mine. Well, congratulations on that news. I'm wondering when did it officially come into place? When did it happen? When did it officially become official? It's official today. It happened today.

You know, today I'm official released, yes. So this is fresh. This is fresh. And, you know, I'm grateful to be live with you sharing the story to tip for everyone. You know, I just want to see women's MMA continue, you know, to hugely evolve. And I just want to do, you know, the best to grow the sport and for fan base. So I'm really excited, man. I'm really excited.

How long has this been in talks for? When did you come up with this idea that it might be best for you to head over to the UFC? A week ago. That's it. Yes, it's been, you know, it's been on my mind. You know, I had a lot of fun with WSOF and I appreciate everything made, you know, the opportunity that they gave me to continue, you know, living my dream and doing what I love to do. But, you know, now it's what's next for me, you know.

I have to continue to prevent. why I am the number one world ranked in my division. And if that has to be in the UFC, then that has to be in the UFC. And I'm grateful to do that. So, you know, I'm really excited about what's going to happen. So you say this all kind of came into play. The wheels were in motion a week ago. So I am reminded of something that was said on this very show a week ago,

Exactly seven days ago. Now, for those that missed it, and perhaps you missed it as well, I know we spoke briefly about it. This was said on this very program exactly one week ago. We had Carlos Sparza, and at the 11th hour of the interview, I threw out your name. You have a history. You fought once. You beat her, and you also have gone back and forth a little bit. And then she kind of dropped the bomb.

This is what Carla Sparza had to say about you, Jessica Aguilar, exactly one week ago. I'm trying to say that she's a cheater, and I don't think that because of what she's done, she can call herself number one ever since she's ever fought, even since she's beaten me years ago, I felt like if you cheat, then you never really even won that fight, so whatever. You think she takes PEDs? Oh, I know for facts. Oh, wow. You know, I'm not going to get into that.

Okay, okay. It doesn't really matter. Like, if she's not getting popped or if she hasn't been tested, not really anything that anyone can say or do, so I'm not really going to sit here and harp on it. Okay. Okay, now I really want to see the fight. The rematch. Yeah, she just talks so much trash on me.

I just felt like, I almost felt like not even putting her on blast, but just almost personally messaging her. Like, really? Like, how can you call yourself a martial artist and how can you sit here and talk trash on me and how you're number one if you're going to go and do these things, you know? You think she was dirty when she fought you? Oh, I know she was.

Really? How do you know? Because somebody, a friend of mine told me that they personally gave her shot in her butt. Oh, my. In her butt or whatever. So whatever, girl, you're not number one. You've never been number one.

So get over it. Wow. Was that the reason why you asked to be released? No, I mean, you know, no, that wasn't the reason. Like I told you, Ariel, I don't have time for that. Ain't nobody got time for that. But, you know, she can say whatever she wants. You know, my record speaks for itself.

As far as the better fighter, hopefully she gets to the best. chance, you know, to put her money where her mouth is soon. You know, my record speaks for itself, and when I say record, meaning my athletic commission record, nothing, there's nothing but clean results, you know. And the message to Carla is, be real, you know, sorry, sorry you're, you know, you keep losing to better fighters. It's, man, how about congratulating somebody, you know, doing something good, saying something good about them versus making excuses and making up negative stories about others.

You know, it's crazy. It's just how, I don't know, it's crazy. But anyways, so hopefully soon, you know, she'll have a chance to put her, you know, to put her money where her, where her map is. So that's it. That's all about, that's all on that. So you think this is sour grapes from her. She's coming up with excuses and she's making stuff up.

Oh, my gosh. I mean, how many excuses, you know, Carla's possibly taking many, like, she's probably taking so many hits to the head, you know, that the only logical explanation for her behavior is, I don't know. I mean, she's, you know, I say this because I personally know how hard, you know, how many times I get hit in the head, but, I mean, I don't act like that. So whatever she wants to do, whatever she wants to say, soon, you know, I'm, soon, soon, she'll have hopefully the opportunity, I said, like I said again, to put her, you know, her mouth or her money where her mouth is. So we'll see how that goes, Ariel. You know this, Jessica, in athletics, this is the biggest insult someone can throw their opponent's way or any other athletes way. I agree. This is a huge accusation.

She's going as far as saying that she knows the person who is doing this to, who's giving you PDs. I mean, you don't find that, you don't get insulted by that, you don't get worked up, and it's amazing when I reach out to you, you're like, nah, you know, nobody got time for that. I'll be like, wow, I respect you for saying, you know what, I'm not even going to, you know, put stock into this, but that is a huge knock on your character, and it's an attempt to put a blemish on your record, so you're not bothered by this? Absolutely, you know, for me, I'm kind of like I just, if it's not true, why, like,

why put so much time into it? I mean, there's other bigger things that I have on my mind. But then, you know, while I sit on it and I think about it, and other people are like, well, that's not fair. You know, what she's saying is, it's not even cool. You know, like you said, it's not, it's something serious, you know. But again, I, you know, I have my records clean. There's nothing but clean results on my end. And all I can tell my fans is that that's not true.

They, you know, believe it. And that's it. We move forward. I have nothing but respect for the sport and I want to do nothing but, you know, nothing but to be good for the sport, you know, to make this, to make what, to see what's, to do what's best for the growth of the sport and for our fan base.

Let's say you do sign with the UFC. Would you like Carlos Sparza to be your first fight inside the octagon? Ariel, my goal is to become the, UFC champion. That's my goal. So if they give me, you know, whatever, I'm not sure what's going to happen, how it's going to play out, but, you know, my goal is to become the champion, the U-Swee champion, and if they give me a five before that, and if it's Carla, pleasured.

I will be my pleasure, and I will be, you know, it'll probably be the happiest day of my life. Oh. Do you think, considering the fact that a lot of people still have you is the number one straw win in the world, you're a champion in another organization, do you think you deserve an immediate title shot? Absolutely. Absolutely. I do deserve that, Ariel. You know, I've dedicated my almost a decade to the sport. You know, everything that I've accomplished is because of my dedication.

my team, my fans, all the hard work I've put in. So, yeah, man, I do, you know, feel that I deserve that. Has your management team talked to the UFC yet? We haven't, we have not spoken to anyone yet. Okay. Are you confident a deal will be made? I'm very confident. And, you know, the fans want to see it if all the media wants to help,

hey, man, if you guys want to see me in the UFC or see me be, the number one strawweight in the world for many more years. Let's get it, you know, get on the bat and get on the jag campaign. And what do you make of the new strawweight champion, Yohanna Yom Jacek? She looked very good against Carlos Sparza. What do you make of her? She's amazing. I have a lot of respect for her.

I love the way she carries herself. Very skilled athlete. You know, it's exciting. I want to have fun, you know. Joanna's a different type of athlete, you know. She's like me. She's seeking, she's always seeking out the opportunity to fight the best possible opponents. And I'm ready to take our skills up to the next level.

So, you know, like I said, I just want, I want to see, you know, the sport continue to evolve and do what's best to grow the sport. Do you think she beats Jessica Panay next month? You know, I like, you know. I like them both, but I do think she gets that fight. And, you know, we talked when you were still in World Chairs of Fighting, and the UFC was introducing the Straw White Division, and you had all the right things to say, and I didn't expect you to say otherwise,

because you were working for World Series of Fighting. It would be silly to knock them. But now that you are a free agent, would you say that it was a little tough being on the sidelines, you know, being in the sport for so long, and your division finally gets introduced to the UFC, they have the reality show, they're getting a lot of attention, and you were on the outside looking in.

You were fighting opponents who, while, you know, very solid dangerous, weren't, you know, as recognizable, as well known, as highly ranked, and you weren't getting the attention that, you know, some of these other women who may not be as accomplished as you are were getting in the UFC. Was that a hard thing for you to digest? No, Ariel. You know, I'm still with, I still think the same as I thought when everything was going on. You know, everything happens for a reason.

I'm very grateful to the WSOF, to all the staff, all the team, for giving me the opportunity that they gave me. I had a great year last year, and I was excited to see what was happening in my division with the UFC. But, you know, they were great. They gave me an opportunity. I took it. And for those fans and people that don't know, I signed with the WSOF before UFC even announced that they were opening my division. And I could easily said, you know, I'm going to leave my contract with WSO and go to the UFC, to the UFC. But, you know, that's just not me, and it didn't make sense at that time.

So, you know, everything happens for a reason, and I'm just grateful that I continue having a great team behind me and people who support me. And, you know, I'm just ready for the next chapter. and I feel that it's just that time to unify my number one ranking and under the UFC flag. I think it's just my destiny. You know, it's time. Are you at all worried that you might be pigeonholing yourself here because you're telling everyone that you want to fight in the UFC,

and so you don't have a lot of leverage now. You can't say, oh, I'm excited. Yeah, okay. I'm excited. I'm, you know, I don't even know how to express my emotions right now. I'm very excited. Well, we are excited for you. Thank you so much, Ariel.

This is big. The best should be fighting the best, and I think this is a step towards that. And I think a lot of credit has to go to World Series of fighting for agreeing to this. I don't know if a lot of organizations would do that. So I think they deserve a lot of credit. What's the game plan here? How do we get you to sign that contract? Like, what do you think it's going to take?

How long do you think it's going to take? When do you think you'll finally make your job? debut. What do you have planned out in your mind? I don't know, man. Like I said, the balls in Dana's Court. If you guys want it as soon as possible, you guys get on the JAG campaign and help out. But I'll be ready. I'll be ready. My phone's, you know, on. If I'm not training, it'll be on. So I'm ready, man. I'm ready anytime anything comes, you know, whoever comes, whatever the future may hold, I'm ready. And you know, Sean Shelby, who is the matchmaker for the Straw Waits, huge fan of this show.

He never misses it. So he's probably listening right now. Anything you like to say to him? I'm here. I'm ready. Do you know him? Do you have a relationship with him? No, I don't.

Okay. Great guy, though. Great guy. Awesome. Well, nice meeting you if you're listening, and you're listening to, you're listening to, your next UFC Strawley champion. Okay, final thing.

If Sean calls you today and says we want to be in business, we're going to sign you all this stuff, and I'm offering you two things. This is Sean Shelby. I'm offering you a shot at the winner of Yang Jacek Pene

or a shot against Carla Sparza to shut her up. Which are you picking? Joanna and Penny. Okay. My goal is to become the UFC champion. Carla's old news. I mean,

if they give, you know, if something works out and they say, okay, you know, this is what's going to happen, and they throw Carla in, and there's no other, you know. But my number one, what my mind has set on is becoming the next UFC champion to unify my number one ranking. That's it. You can't say it any more clear than that. I hope if you do sign with the UFC, when you sign with UFC, that you will still be rocking the luchador mask. You and your corner.

Of course. All right. Of course. It's great. Yes, that's with me. That comes with me, and I'll be getting one to you soon. Oh, yes. And it's almost a shame that this didn't happen a couple months ago,

because imagine your debut in Mexico City. How about that? That would be something. Oh, my God. That would be a dream come true. I think it will happen. Holy. It would happen.

Wow, that'll be amazing. That would be amazing. Wow. A happy belated birthday to you. Thank you so much, Ariel. Thank you so much. 23. Yes, exactly.

You don't look a day older 15, so congratulations on all. And congrats on this news, and thank you so much for coming on our show and breaking the news. I appreciate both you and your team for allowing this to happen. I hope you get it done, and I hope we get to see you inside the Octagon sooner rather than later. Thank you so much, Ariel. And again, like I always say in every interview, I just want to thank my team, my fans, without you guys, everyone who supported me from day one and keep continue supporting me. It's because of you guys that I'm here.

So thank you so much, and I'll continue to fight as hard as possible, and I continue representing you all. So thank you again. All the best. Thank you for the time, Jessica. Thank you. All right. There she is.

Breaking News here on the M.A. Hour. Jessica Aguilar, the former World Series of Fighting Strawweight Champion, considered by many to be the number one strawweight in the world. is now a free agent, and she wants to sign with the UFC. She said she came to this decision a week ago. Now, we know this has been talked about for quite some time, but wow, how about that timing with Carlos Sparser coming on this show just seven days ago and accusing her of being on PDs

and this all comes seven days later. Pretty interesting stuff. Hopefully they get the deal done, and hopefully we see her inside the octagon. She would be a very, very good addition to that 115-pound division. All right, let us move along. Also, you know, we've been talking about that Australia show from two Saturdays ago. We had Sam Alvey on the program a couple minutes ago.

He had a big win. We will talk to Steve Miochich in a few minutes. He had a big win in the main event. Another guy who had a big win is our next guest. Sean O'Connell defeated Anthony Perosh in a matter of seconds. It was a very impressive performance. He defeated him in 56 seconds, and he is on a role as of late, and he is joining us right now to talk about that and a whole lot more.

Sean, are you there? Yeah, how are we going, Ariel? It's going great. Thank you very much for joining us. Where are you right now? I'm in Salt Lake City. I'm actually about to head into the studio for my own radio show that we do four hours a day, afternoon drive here in Salt Lake talking sports.

So a little parallel universe for you and me, I guess. Yes, I love it. I love sports talk radio. I love that you have this other job as a sports talk radio host. What's the big news of the day? What are you going to talk about? Drive time Monday, May 18th in the Utah sports scene? We'll probably lead the show off with Devonte Booker,

who's at University of Utah running back, who's getting a little bit of very early Heisman buzz. Probably talk about that a little bit. And then, of course, jump into the NBA playoffs now that the Eastern Conference at Western Conference finals are set. And are you the main host, are you more of the co-host, the sidekick? It's probably like a 1A, 1B.

We alternate hours in which we are the driver's seat, so to speak. My co-host and I, my whole career I've been kind of the one chair, and the guy that I host a show with now has been at his whole career as well. So now we split duties on purpose so that we don't ever really have to feel like either of us are second fiddle, so to speak. How long have you been doing this for? My first full-time sports talk radio gig was a morning drive-time show that I started back in 2010. And before that, I did a part-time all-MMA and boxing show just like a couple hours a week, evening time. You know, when you're getting started, you just take what reps you can get on the air.

So I did that for about two years and full-time for about five now. And how often you get to talk about combat? sports, and in particular, MMA and the UFC, on, you know, Utah sports. I believe it's the ESPN affiliate, right? Right. Yeah, we're the ESPN affiliate out here, and we probably talk one segment a week, one, 10-15th segment a week. Wow.

Yeah, man, we're still a fringe sport, and basketball and football certainly dominate listener interest out here in Salt Lake City, and you have to play into what your listeners want. So when there's a big story in the UFC, We'll certainly talk about it. When I have a fight coming up, we'll talk about that a little bit. But, yeah, it's mostly just a traditional, you know, sports center-style talk show. Famously, the UFC plan to go to Utah several years back for a versus show,

and then they pulled the plug when, well, it was booked on a Sunday, which is a big mistake for Utah, and the ticket sales were very slow, so they moved it to San Diego. And so I'm wondering, do people even, I mean, this is a big generalization, but do people care about MM&A? Do they care that you're an MMA fighter? Because I would think if you're on the drive-time slot, that's a very big deal. ESPN affiliate, big deal. And if you're an active athlete and you're successful now in the NFL of MMA, that's a big deal as well. Yet you say you only talk about it one segment a week.

So how do people view MMA in Utah these days? Well, actually, I mean, we have a thriving MMA scene here. The Sunday thing is really what killed that car. That was for people who remember, that was John Jones versus Vladimir Matushchenko. I'm not mistaken. Something like that. Anyway, it was a... It was that, you know,

you can't put a show on Sunday that the owner of the Utah Jazz famously didn't even attend his own team's games on Sundays out here. The LBS faith dominates everything in the culture, and it was silly for the UFC to try and put a card here on Sunday. But there's actually a thriving M&A scene

and a lot of interest. Just, you know, the list of demographics for an ESPN, radio station is 25 to 54 year old males, and their main interest is football and basketball out here. People care. I get a lot of support, but it's probably, you know, 10% of our listeners that actually really, really care about my career and care what's going on in the UFC as opposed to the ideal number of like 50% or more. So this story has been told a few times now that your careers is underway in the UFC, you know, you had Dana White on your program before you were in the UFC. He was doing

some kind of media tour and point blank on the air. You asked him for a contract. And at first, it was almost like he didn't really know how to respond. He didn't know if you were joking with him, but then you were dead serious. You wanted to fight in the UFC. He hooked you up with Joe Silva, who apparently wasn't all that impressed by this callout, told you to get some more fights. You got those fights and then you were finally in the UFC. I have tried very hard to find this audio and I can't find it anywhere. Where is this? We need to hear this thing.

Man, it's archived at the old station, 95.7 in the game, which is the ESPN affiliate in San Francisco, is where I was working at the time. And they've got it somewhere. Somebody dug it up and retweeted it for me probably a few months ago. I'll try and find it and send it to you. But it was kind of a funny little segment where Dana was a bit taken aback by my

direct approach and thought I was probably just pulling a radio game. and trying to boost my ratings. But at the time I was 14 and 4, if I'm not mistaken, I think I just beat Marvin Eastman, which was the biggest win of my career at the time. And he was like, oh, okay, well, here's Joe's number. And, yeah, like you said, Joe, he'll probably get those phone calls every day, you know, like,

hey, I'm a big deal. You should sign me. He was like, all right, let me see your record. Let me see a beat some more tough guys, and then maybe we'll talk. But it took about a year for him to, finally decide that I was going to get my call up and, you know, you've got to be patient in this game sometimes, but I'm obviously very happy to be in a position I'm in now.

Yes, I would love if you can find that and retweet it. I'd be very interested to hear that. It would be fun. Is it also accurate to say that at this point, now that you have reached the UFC, I've seen you talk about it, about it. I don't know if, you know, your stance on this has changed. The UFC is it for you. If for some reason you have to part ways, you're done fighting, right? Yeah. Yeah, that's the plan for me that, you know, there's a lot of things I want to do with my life

that fall outside of the MMA realm. And this is the premier organization in the world. This is the mountaintop, so to speak. I'm kind of on the side of the mountain right now for being being a champion is the mountain top. But, you know, this is,

I feel like if you go from the UFC to another organization, you're probably, you know, a baseball player who's in the majors and then goes down to AAA and tries to grind it out for however many more years. And, you know, I'm in my 30s now and I want to write. I want to be an analyst for the UFC. I want to, I want Joe Rogan's job, you know, and to pursue those things, you might have to step away from the time commitment that is required for training. And, you know, that's, again, that's hopefully, couple three, five, ten years down the line from now, but whenever the UFC decides that I'm

not exciting anymore and they don't like me anymore and they don't think I can win anymore, I think at least the plan is that I will kind of accept that my run in this sport has probably come to an end and I'll move on to the next thing. So I've also heard you say that, you know, you're very honest about your skills and where you're at. You don't think you'll be a champion. and you're okay with that, they need fighters like you around. So if you don't think you're going to be a champion, if you don't think you're going to win the belt, is the goal to just win as many fights as possible

so that you can be considered a good analyst? Because let's be honest, they're not going to put an analyst on Fox or in the booth, so to speak. If you're just a guy who went three and ten in your UFC career, you have to be somewhat known and have a good career. So is that almost your championship? Well, I think, first of all, my comments have been somewhat misconstrued. Okay.

You know, when I came into the UFC, two fights in, you're not ready to compete for a championship. You know, I said, I'm not that guy that's going to be fighting John Jones next week. Or even probably next month or next year, you know, that's not, I've got a lot of growth left in my game before I'm really a championship contender. And there's plenty of guys that get signed to the roster or before they get signed to the roster and say, yeah, I'm ready to go and fight. this guy or that guy and take the belt. And we've seen all that talk and then people fall flat on their face. And I just consider myself a little bit more realistic than that. And for now, in the UFC, my role is to be an exciting fighter,

hopefully a main card guy, but maybe not yet a main event guy. You know, that's up for them to decide. But, yeah, for me, it's, you have to acknowledge your, your weaknesses before you can solve them. And so for me to come into the UFC and be like, oh, yeah, I just got knocked out by Ryan Jimmo, but I'm definitely championship caliber.

It just sounds stupid to me. I don't know what it sounds like to you, but that's not realistic, and that's false bravado, and that's something that in this sport just makes you look like an idiot, in my opinion. So I think that people have probably misconstrued the fact,

oh, this guy doesn't ever want to be a champion or doesn't believe in his own skill set. That's not what I meant by that statement. It's that I acknowledge the fact that there's a lot more room to grow in my career and even fight to fight before I'm really the guy that they're like, okay, maybe he can be somebody that wears that belt. And even then, you know, I acknowledge the fact that that's a long shot for anybody. But I'm definitely going to be a competitor in this division

and going to be a guy that, short of anything else, fans want to watch fight. So I guess to answer the second part of your question, I mean, it should be the goal for every UFC fighter to win as many as possible. And for me, I think it's that much more important because you're absolutely right. If, you know, something bad happens and I end up being two and five and then the UFC cuts me, it's a long shot that they're going to want to put me on the Fox set or they're going to want to put me in the chair that Kenny Floreen or Brian Stan has right now because whether you're a great analyst or not, the fans are going to perceive you in a certain way. It's like, oh, this guy couldn't actually do it.

Why is he talking about it? So there's more motivation for me to be successful in competition because it will open up doors for me when competition is over for me. As you mentioned, you also have interests outside of the UFC, and you're a writer. You're an author. You have a book out, a novel,

entitled To Light Us To Guard Us The Angel War Book 1 This is a brief synopsis via Amazon There are Angels Among Us

Demons 2 in Brazil A Vatican emissary is felled by mysterious illness And awakes as an angel And then there's more But I'll let everyone else Check it out

Your Twitter bio Has the link up there When did you write this? It was about a five-year process but I finished the book in about 2010 and then subsequent years of editing, which probably are not complete. It's never been professionally edited. I think I actually published it.

It's only available in e-format right now, unfortunately, but I think I published it in late 2012. So, yeah, it was a long process. The bulk of it was written. I was living in Africa doing a charity project. I would, you know, work during the day and then right at night. And so I would say 80% of the book was written in Zambia in 2009. Wow.

There was a long process. What were you doing there? Right now. I was helping to build a school slash orphanage. It's kind of a boarding school for abused girls. It's called City of Joy. It's in a town called Mazabuka, Zambia. And it's run by the Salesian nuns of the Catholic.

church and it's just an unbelievable project. They take the girls who have been mistreated by their own families or the people around them and there's no child protective services in the country like Zambia. So when the government has to step in and save someone from an abusive situation, they don't have a foster system and orphanages outside of the church-run ones to kind of take care of people. So the government removes these girls from a bad situation and brings them to the Catholic Church and the Salesian nuns take them in and raise them and teach them how to function

and help them recover from the abuse. And it's just an unbelievable, fantastic project. And I was fortunate enough to kind of be there for the building of the physical plant. And at the beginning stages of the project, I got to kind of play big brother to all these these poor young girls who had just been horribly mistreated. And I've been back a couple times, actually, this Friday. I'm going back again. I'll be gone for two weeks, starting May 22nd, to go back and kind of check on the girls and enjoy a little bit of Africa,

and then land back here in the States, June 6th, and I'll get back to camp, and I'm anticipating probably an August return, although nothing's officially yet. Wow, that is amazing. Well, that is impressive. How did you get involved with all that? my older brother was kind of did the same thing

he did a bunch of missionary and volunteer work in Zambia and I I was going through a pretty rough time in life and was about you know

one minute away from sitting down and signing myself up for the army and my family was really scared about what would happen if I did that and so he came to me

and said listen the army is going to be here when you come back but why don't you try and go just serve other people and see if that helps you get over these things. You need to get over and helps you fix your life. And he sent me over there, and I lived there for six months. And it changed my whole perspective, kind of saved me,

helped me get things turned back around. And it was, I don't know, the best thing I've ever done in my life. The UFC stuff is fun, and I'm proud of the book I wrote. But the best thing I've ever done was those six months and helping other people out. What was bothering you? You said you were in a dark place going through some rough times. What was wrong? Well, the end of the most significant relationship in my life at the time. I was married very young and went through a divorce and just, you know, it messed with me really, really badly and I wasn't in a good place in life. And I needed to change things up. Salt Lake, I love my home, but Salt Lake is a big city with a very small town feel.

Everybody knows everybody, and you kind of can't get away from your past if you have a past. And so there was just too many reminders of everything going on at all times that I needed to get away from it. And kind of, you know, change your perspective. And nothing will stop your poor me stop story, like going to a place where the people have nothing in terms of their material needs, but still find a way to be faithful and happy and hardworking and watching these teenage girls overcome an amount of adversity that really, I mean, the average American, including myself, just can't even understand.

You can't empathize with what these girls had to go through day in and day out. And I just got a kind of a brief glimpse into it. And all they overcome it. They end up being functioning happy, smart, capable members of a society. that doesn't necessarily even value them as much as it should. So I don't know, man. I would encourage anyone who has questions about it or who wants to help out and just hit me up on Twitter or any other place you can find me

and we'll talk about it because there's nothing that will change your perspective and really help you realize how blessed we are here, like going to a place like that and seeing what some people have to deal with this part of their everyday lives. And that Twitter handle is at Real O.C. sports. Are you out of that funk? Do you think those times are officially behind you? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's a night and day difference now. I'm very happy with my life. I've got the best friends on the planet, my family, who's been amazing and supportive. I've got a great team at Jeremy Horn's elite performance. I've got a great girlfriend who supports me in everything that I do. The radio world plus the UFC training, all that stuff keeps me very busy. plus I'm trying to write on the side.

And just it's nice because I have an unbelievable group of people who support everything I do and believe in everything I do. And it's truly motivating. I mean, I think that's probably the story for a lot of UFC fighters that, you know, you're kind of the spearhead of a much larger movement of people that are behind you and supporting you. And I'm just fortunate enough to be the one who gets to cash the checks, I guess. But, yeah, man, I'm a very blessed and lucky person.

So those dark days are definitely behind me. And you got another book in you, at least one more. Hopefully like five more. Great. I mean, it's just the amount of time it takes and the amount of rejection you have to go through trying to get picked up by real publishers is somewhat discouraging, especially when you're doing other things and the time commitments of a full-time job and full-time training sort of a little bit taxing when you're trying to write because, you know,

it's a true task and a true job to try and not only write a book, but then make sure that it's a finished product in the editing process and then get it in front of people who might also believe in it and be interested in it and things like that. I mean, that's something I haven't accomplished yet. You know, there's no big publishing house knocking on my door saying, we want the rights to this book. Luckily, Amazon gives you an opportunity as a writer

to get your stuff out there, whether publishers believe in you or not. But ultimately, the goal is to write the sequel to this. I've got a couple other projects already storyboarded. That eventually I'll write it will probably be when I'm 40 years old, who knows. But I'd like to finish those at some point. And then the ultimate dream, of course, would be to have this story and the sequel adapted into major motion pictures. If you're nice to me, Ariel, I'll make sure you get cast as like a, I don't know, like a cameo role. That'd be nice.

Thank you. All right, well, before I let you go, my last thing, I just have to say, you know, when you were fighting a couple weekends ago, I thought I was all smart. And when you won, I tweeted the link out to the O.C, the theme song. And then I come to find out that the reason why you're called the real O.C is because, you know, one of your, I guess was your early manager, maybe coach. You know, they would joke with you about this. So someone gave you this nickname because you are the real OC. I loved that show. I love that song.

And I just want to know, is that the reason? Is that the reason? Because this is a fantastic story. If it is, in fact, true that your nickname is tied to this amazing song and show, the OC. What a show it was. I loved everything about it. Yeah, somewhat indirectly. My name is tied to that because no one calls me Sean in life except for people who just met me.

Like, growing up, my mom and dad called me Sean. everyone else calls me OC, like my friends from elementary school all the way on up. Everyone calls me OC on the radio. People call me OC. It's almost strange for me to be addressed by Sean so frequently in association with my UFC now because even in the local fight scene here, people don't call me Sean. They call me OC. And when I started fighting, you know, the guy was like, well, what's your nickname?

I don't really, I mean, everyone calls me OC. And this is when the TV show was out. He's like, no, like the TV show? I said, no. O'Connell, everyone called me O.C., they abbreviate, I guess. And he's like, listen, there's too many OCs. Like, people call OxyContin OC, people call that show OC. You're the real OC.

And it kind of stuck from there, and I liked it. So thanks to Johnny Ritchie of Rockwell Watches for making that happen. I love it. Well, congratulations on your success as of late. Good luck on your show later today. Thank you. I want to check it out. And I also want to hear that Dana White Clip.

So if you can find it, let us know. I'd love to check it out. And also, good luck with your writing career. Good luck in Africa later this week. You've got a lot going on, my friend, and it's all very good stuff. So be proud of that. And once again, congrats on that big win a couple of weekends ago. We look forward to your next fight in the UFC.

I appreciate it. I'm looking forward to that as well. And, you know, I don't know how many people that you've interviewed you tell you this. I've been following your career. You're the guy that on the journalistic side, you came up like the rest of us did, right? I mean, you're the guy who just said, no, this is the sport I want to cover, and you've made it into, like, an empire, and you should be proud of that, man. Congratulations, and it's a pleasure for me to be on your show. I feel like, now I've arrived. Well, I appreciate that. That's very nice of you. Thank you so much. That means a lot coming from you. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you, Sean. Or the real O.C.

Thank you. Thanks very much. All right, there he is. Sean O'Connell stopping by. Great stuff. I love finding out about these guys that we don't know a whole lot about and really getting to learn. their backstories and where they're from and what makes them who they are. Very nice words from him. I appreciate that very much. Sean O'Connell, check him out if you're in the Utah area. He's doing a show in just a couple hours. How about that?

All right, let's move along. Headlining Act that night in Australia, of course. Stepe Miotich looked fantastic against Mark Hunt. He defeated him in the main event. And now he joins us on the phone. Stepe, are you there? Hey, what's going on. Hey, Steve, good to have you on the show.

For the first time. How about that? We've been doing this show for six years. You've never been on the show. quite frankly, I think you're ducking us. True or not? As a real, if you would say, I have made it. Where are you right now, Stepe?

I've been in my room right now in Cleveland. Oh, but you're not at the firehouse, right? No, no, I was there out a few days ago. Did you have a 24-hour shift? No, I worked 12 on Saturday and 12 on Saturday. Was this your first time back at the firehouse since the fight? Did you take some time off, or did you go right back in there? No, I landed on Thursday morning

I worked Friday day. Thursday, so you came the next day? Yeah. So what's the reception like? Because I've never been in a firehouse. I don't think I'm man enough to be in a firehouse, but you have like the manliest of men there, the alpha males.

What is it like when they see you come back for the first time after a win like that? Pretty much, like it always is, they talk smack to me, make me sure. Like, I don't deserve to be there. It's all good fun, though, you know, they're good guys. It's just like, you know, just busting balls and all that good stuff and, you know, and it's fun stuff. They don't shower you with love, accolades, make you feel like the most important man in Cleveland.

Oh, God, no. I mean, they say congratulations all that, you know, but it's all for the games, but no, it's a lot of smack talking. So what about that win? You know, that win has been talked about a lot because not only was it a great performance, it was dominant, all that good stuff, but a lot of people, including myself, thought went on a little too long. What's going through your mind when, you know, minute after minute, round after round, you are just thoroughly dominating this guy?

Yeah. In the back of your mind, are you wondering, like, what do I have to do to actually get this referee to stop the fight? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I was the wherever I could, but, you know, fight games I had to keep going. And, you know, until I got that W, man, no matter what, you know, Mark's as tough as they come, man. He's got a great chin.

The guy can take it, you know, like, just better than anyone. So, you know, it's a tough guy. do you think it went on too long? I mean, I thought maybe I had in the third, you know, but, I mean, you know, it made the rest of a different, you know, and Mark did say you were sorry at one point, you know, I don't know what, but he and totally, I was going to fine.

Do you think that, you know, we see this in boxing more often, we don't really see it in MMA where corners throw in the towel. Do you think that needs to be a part of the culture in MMA a little more? I don't know, I think, I mean, I would, on my corner, so I don't know what. I mean, it's one of the pride thing, you know, and if you're fine, you know, and I wouldn't have wanted to want my corner to do that. So if you're Mark Hunt in that situation. What's that?

What's that? If you're Mark Hunt... I was not a new team that. Sure, sure. Yeah, you can't... If you're Mark in that situation, no way you don't want your corner stopping it. No, I mean, you can, you know, I watch the fight and you said, I'm fine, you know? You know, like, you can tell you don't want to.

Right. I kind of... You know, there's always that punch. much as chance, too. I kind of feel like ever since you told the world that you don't like to travel, that they keep sending you to these far off places. You were in Brazil, not that long ago, and you went to Australia. What's going on here?

Are they trying to mess with you? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it is what it is. Hopefully, you know, if I can't believe one day, it would be great. I could just drive. Oh, that would be something. I thought there were some talks of that. Did you hear anything about that?

Yeah, I heard, you know, that they're looking into. do it and passed for you know in the year so who knows. Oh. May a fight night. That'd be nice. At the queue. That'd be fantastic. It'd be awesome.

What's it like in the city these days with the Cavaliers about to start the Eastern Conference Finals? Is everyone going nuts? Oh, it's been amazing, man. You know, Cleveland's on fire, man. We're doing great. We're in the finals, our conference finals. So you'll get past the Hawks and, you know, we'll go for a title.

They're certainly not going nuts about the 14 and 22- Indians, are they? Listen, Indians will be fine. They'll be doing great by mid-season. Oh, so you're still confident they'll turn it around?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They'll be fine. Did you know that Mike Miller of the Cleveland Cavaliers is going to be on the show later today? Yes, I did. He's a great guy. Super good dude.

You know him? Yeah, super good dude. Are you canoodling with the Cavs? Like, now that you're a big deal in Cleveland, you hang out with LeBron and Mill? Miller, J.R. Smith? No, man.

You don't party with those guys? No. You seem like the type. No, no, no, I'm good. I'm my home buddy. If someone offered you a night hanging with LeBron and Kyrie Irving of those guys, or a night out with Miracle Krokop, which do you pick? I pick Mirko.

I had to be hung out before he's awesome. Yeah, I know. But that to me, like that almost feels like a dream come true for a young Croatian fighter, right? This is a guy you probably looked up to. Oh yeah, it was awesome I would definitely pick that over it You know Nothing against those guys

But it's just you know Possible have more in common I wasn't good at basketball At first when you started to hang out with them Train with him You're over there in Croatia Was it somewhat surreal Was it was it was it hard to just look at him as a peer

As opposed to the legendary Miracle Krookop Yeah I mean Yeah it was a little You know it was a little surreal for sure And then you know We trained the first day It was great And then you know

They played a trick on me, so after that it was awesome. He was like, we had the entire house. What was the trick? So, you got showers in his gym, you know, in his house, so he's like, hey man, you use a shower, you know, the other one sucks. Like, all right, you know, not, like, really realizing what's going on. So I'm taking a shower, and they dumped a whole bucket ice on me. Oh.

First day there? Yeah, first day there. They're off the rip. How did you even come in contact with him? I met him before, you know, I went to Croatia. there's summer, and he actually gave me a phone call. You know, said, hey, man, if you want to know, if you want to come training, so she reached them, you know, that's for sure.

So, you know, that has history. What was it like watching that comeback win over Gabriel Gonzaga? Were you flipping out? I sweating, you know, I was real nuts. It was awesome. I was so happy for him. He turned back the clock. Now, what happens sometime in the near future?

If the UFC says, we want you to fight Miracle Krocop, what do you do? I'm not confirmed. No way. No. Even for the belt? No, I wouldn't final. Wow. That's impressive.

Speaking of the belt, are you the number one contender in the heavyweight division? Yes, I am. You are, 100%. Yeah. Have they told you that? Do they agree with you with the UFC? I don't know, but I feel that I am and I feel that deserve it. What are you going to do about getting it?

What are we going to do, man? Have you... Say everything I got to say anything. Put a big billboard up, I don't care. You Cleveland people on your billboards. You guys love billboards over there. That's the impression I'm getting. So has your manager, have you, have you guys reached out to the UFC and said, look, you know, the timing, as you know, it's all about timing, right?

I mean, if you're fighting around the same time as the actual title fight, that's a pretty good sign. But, you know, there are other factors. Of course, there's the Travis Brown fight coming up this weekend. There are other things, perhaps small roadblocks. What are you going to do to actually get the fight? Has anyone reached out? Have you had these discussions yet? I don't know.

I mean, nothing more than that. Yeah, so we'll see what happens. You know, I mean, I've been to fifth-rate guy decisively, you know, I feel like that I deserve, you know. You know, I showed that I belong. I showed that, you know, especially the fight before, you know, I lost, you know, I home with the former champ. And, you know, I've been to, you know, a five-out fight twice.

So, I mean, I, you know, I want to shout out of time. What an amazing fight that JDS fight was on Fox main event. How tough was it to get over that one? Because you were so close. A lot of people thought you won. You know, it was a bit of a little bit, you know, because it was just, you know, I did win. You know, I like winning and I don't like losing.

And yeah, it was a little rough, you know, but I have good, you know, my girlfriend and my family and, you know, my coach, you know, support me and, you know, kept me grounded and made sure I was okay. You know, I was back in the gym, work on it. and one of the next best guy

you know that's why I you know what are the guy's next you know you know and help me out you know get back up there came up mark hunt I said for sure do you still think you won that fight I was man the judge's fault that I lost I lost

did you go to the wrestling pay-per-view the next night no I did not actually why because you were you were just what was the reason no actually no I didn't that the guy the guy that's supposed to be tickets that fell through what

Tony dropped the ball. I was so mad. So not only do you get screwed the night before, then the guy drops the ball with the tickets. What a crappy weekend. Oh, right. I was like, oh, they were ready to pour for me, man. Oh, man. How long did it take for you to get over the fight?

You know, I just, I mean, I think about it every day, still, there's no question. Really? But probably, you know, I mean, I'm pretty good blocking stuff out, so, you know, right away, a couple days I was good to go, you know, back at about a week. too. I came back in. So I'd do the

like stuff. But, you know, and there would be no doubt if they gave you the nod there, you'd be the number one contender easy at this point. Is that why you keep thinking about it? Yeah. Of course, it's going to bother me. Yeah. You know, it's just, you know,

I mean, do not dare it goes right? I don't think about it. And so, do you think there's a chance if Travis Brown knocks out Andreelofsky in like 10 seconds on Saturday or vice versa? Do you think there's a chance you get leapfrog? I don't think I deserve, I mean, I think I'm not one contender. I know I am.

Right. You know, I beat the same guy decisively, you know, you know, to the nail with a number, number two guy. Who do you think wins? Kane or Verdume? That's a good call, man. You know, like I said, I'm not good at choosing the winners. But, you know, I think it just depends, you know.

It just, uh, if it ever shows up, you know, Verduen's a matter, you know, and, you know, Kane is a champ man. You know, he's been on a beautiful. and I think it's just really the game plan is going to get it, you know? Do you have a preference? Let's say you are the number of contender

or is there a guy you'd rather fight? No, no preference. I have a great coach that. I guess best game players when I walk in. Will you be watching on Saturday to see what happens with Brown and Arlofsky or you don't even care about that fight?

Oh, yeah. You will be? No, no, I will, yeah. I mean, I'll watch my fights. You do? You do? how have you turned into one of the best if not the best tweeter in the UFC my fingers are hurt man you know i think it's a lot of video games playing

you know just uh you know a lot of conditioning you're amazing it's unbelievable you you actually i don't like following a lot of fighters but you actually legitimately make me laugh like like this one from last saturday quick breakdown of twitter for you me that was a fun fight twitter it sucked and you suck stepe me thanks for the support it's just great Where do you come up with this, though? It's great. I think about it from the firehouse, you know what I mean? Just because, you know, we're so dry human and stuff and just, you know, it's fun.

You know, like I said, like me to keep my warrior, it's fun. Yeah, but you kind of wish that you could do all your talking through Twitter because, and correct me if I'm wrong, it feels like you're more comfortable via Twitter getting your message out there than via interviews. Yeah, you know, I just talk interviews, man. I'm just paralleled them. I've gotten better at them. You have. I have.

My coaches hate it because they love what I messed up to make fun of me, but I'm getting a lot better out of them, so they're not as fun because they're not as fun. Because they're not as fun on me with them. But, you know, I talk too fast

and I'm mobile, so it sucks. Let me tell you something. I remember interviewing you before UFC 161 against Roy Nelson. And, you know, I'll say to you now because you've come a long way. That was one of the worst pre-fight interviews we've ever done,

because you kept giving me yes or no answers. That's it. Nothing else. It was unbelievable. Yeah, I know. I've gotten yelled at before for that. Well, you've come a long way. My manager's like, what are you doing?

I'm like, I don't know what to say. What I do with my hands? I don't know. Oh, that was amazing. That's actually one of the few times I thought about not posting the interview because it was so bad. That's okay. It's a lot of my choice. No, but look at you now.

Now you're like this Twitter machine. You're prolific on Twitter. Your interviews have come a long way. Is there a reason? Are you just a lot more comfortable with everyone? I think it's a lot more comfortable, getting used to everything, and just, you know, have a fun with it more, too, you know. You know, with me, I just like fighting it's all I care about, you know.

But I understand that, you know, the social media and, like, just the fans and everything, you know, they're just a big part of it. You know, see that's what makes sports so awesome. Sure. Okay, last thing. Are you ever out on the job, you know, fighting fire, putting out a flame, and someone in the midst of it, perhaps someone who was involved, whatever,

victims, a bystander, whatever, says, aren't you Steve Miochich? Can people recognize you or because you're wearing the big gear, it's hard to recognize you? Well, we don't know a lot of me, you know, that's called. Okay. And I actually had one guy, one guy, we were, you know, checking out on the table of hospital.

You know, he was fired. He had, you know, no blood sugar. And he was starting up and he goes, yeah, where's that fighter at? And I was like, oh, actually, he said, I knew it. And he said, I go, I'm crazy. during a call.

That's pretty cool. It was pretty funny. Yeah, it was actually, it was kind of awkward, though. Why? It's good to get love. Help the guy out. Yeah, I know, I just try to help the guy out. Well, maybe then your colleagues would give you a little more respect and love.

The people are giving you. No, no, it's way worse. It's really bad. It's terrible. Well, Steve, congratulations on a great win. Thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it. I know you really didn't want to come on,

but I appreciate you and your manager, Greg, for making it happen. Good luck getting that title fight. No, I was coming on, man. Don't listen to him. Okay. I was coming on. Fair enough, fair enough. I really appreciate me, man.

I want to show and the show of that title. All right. Good luck getting it. All right, thanks, buddy. All right, there is. Stepe Miotich stopping by. Is he the number one contender in the heavyweight division? We shall see.

He look fantastic in his last fight. We'll see what happens this weekend. All right, let's move along. Speaking of this weekend. it's a very important, it's a very busy one for our next guest. Henry Hooft, who is the, I think, the head coach over at the Black Zillions in South Florida. It's really a tag team effort between him and George Santiago, but he's the guy who, you know, when he really came in there from Holland, he whipped those guys into shape.

They were kind of like a rudderless ship, and he put them together. And now look what we're seeing, Anthony Johnson, fighting for the belt on Saturday, and also Vitor Belfort, fighting for the belt on Saturday, two here. huge fights. He will be there in Las Vegas. We had to get his thoughts on it all. We're talking to Henry Hoof right now on line number one. Henry, are you there? I'm here, yeah, yeah.

Good to have you on the show, my friend. You excited, how do we put into words what's going on this Saturday in Las Vegas? Two title fights, main event, co-meat event. This is huge stuff. Yes, it's the words are tired. I mean, it's hard work, two title fights

at some evening. I mean, it's nice, it's great Of course, they have the opportunity to fight for these daughters, but it's a lot of work, two of these guys. But we're ready. I'm finally, we're happy that it's over. Vito is already in Vegas, Anthony and me and the guys, George, Greg, everybody flies out tomorrow.

So finally, just fighting, and training is over, and just try to get these belts. Let's start with Anthony. You know, he told me the story, and I know we spoke about it briefly on television before his fight in Sweden. he tells this story about you guys being on the plane, on the way back from that Vitor Belford fight at UFC 142,

where he finally said, you can have my career, you know, lead me down the right path. When he said that to you, after missing weight and all the problems and he was released from the UFC, did you believe that he would turn into the student

that he has become, that he would be able to turn things around like he has? At that moment, we both kind of drunk. We were on the plane back from Brazil. I remember that we'd be talking about. drank a lot of wine and we're not drinkers. So at that moment, I mean, it was more the way how everything went. The first time that I came, I was in the corner with him when he fought Charlie Brennan,

and I thought it was not a real fight because the guy was so small compared to Anthony. And then after the Vito Belford fight, I kind of missed my Christmas with my daughter and my wife. He said everything, he put everything away for that big fight. And then that happened. I was very disappointed in him, but it's more important, of course, that Anthony was disappointed in himself. and I said, listen, you have all the tools, you have everything, you have great coaching, you have a great manager, you have the right way, but your mindset needs to be on a different level.

You need to take a series because Anthony was just fighting because he was fighting or not because, or he was good, or because he liked it. I'm willing to go to you to all the small shows that you're Titan and all the other shows. I will take you there. I will help you out bringing you there, but you need to show me something, you know. And from the right moment we're back, we started picking it up. And from the moment there, and from the moment now, he's still the same guy. Very relaxed, humble, good student always listens. We do very simple stuff together, and it works.

We're going to see on Saturday. But it was really a big turnaround. Yeah, it was nearly four years ago now, like three years ago, and three years ago or something. So it's been a long road. But, again, it looked like nothing really changed. The windet was good. We still do the same stuff.

It was great. Is it true that when you got there, you were kind of like, wow, these are kind of spoiled brats over here in South Florida. Like they have it all. They're being pampered, and no one was really cracking the whip and putting them in line. Is that what you saw and is that what you did to them? Well, again, I come from the Netherlands and a small country, but in kickboxing, stand up, we're kind of good. And our way of training is we do everything hard. We go hard on the pet, but we also spar hard.

I know that's sometimes an issue here in America. I hear people other trainers talking about it. Sparring is too hard. We just don't do that. We go kind of hard because one, we like a fight. We like to compete and two. But that's the real fight. So when I came here, I saw them,

there were some good guys already there, ABLE, Michael Johnson, Anthony, but they were more running around and trying to do stuff instead of just doing simple, basic stuff that we need to do, set up kicks or even set up takedowns. And I kind of put it in. I'm also an old-school team. I like to do simple stuff, but I like to be, uh, when I put my feet on the mat,

people know that I'm there. So I like to control the room and everything because I think discipline, order and everything is, is very important, especially if you're a high level athletes, you know. And some people pick it up. Some people don't like it. But, uh, we have, we have a great thing. We have a beautiful gym. We have a, we have a good manager, Glenn Robeson, who's putting a lot of money,

uh, to, to make these guys train, to have good facilities. and then if you have to fight, the only thing you need to worry about is training and fighting and you don't show up, then I get angry, you know, and that's the one thing that I kind of try to put in a change a little bit. I want these guys just to come to work, like everybody else goes to normal work, everybody has a job,

and you can do something what you really like, and if it's not for you, then you're not a fighter, you know, but just show up, train hard, and look where you come. You can fight for the title, the biggest show in M.A. You know, so just be simple, you know, and that's what I kind of brought. And along the way, a couple of years later, George Santiago stopped fighting. So now we're doing a lot of stuff together.

I heard you saying in the beginning I'm the head coach. Maybe for some people it is because I'm more experienced and I do this for a little bit longer, because George is still fighting. But we kind of do me, George, and Greg, we kind of do everything together. Only because of the standard, the difference in the standard you see so much that people all recognize it. But you all do it kind of together. but I'm a little bit more of the voice and I'm a little bit more close to the guys

because I'm doing this already for four years, especially with AJ. AJ and Michael Johnson able to heal these guys are my products, you know? So you mentioned the gym, Blacksillians, very much featured these days on the Ultimate Fighter Against American Top Team. How come we don't see Henry Hooft on that show?

Well, like I just said, I am... At that time, Anthony fought also in Sweden, so he thought he thought Luson was very important. Michael had a big fight with Barbosa. We were busy with Eddie. Tyrone was getting back from his injury, thinking about what he had to do.

And I don't know. I don't think I'm a good coach to be on the show. I'll be honest with you, R.R.L. Because I like to be very involved in things. I want to have my hand into it. And I think when you do a show, there's so much stuff going around that you cannot control that I don't want to be in that position.

If we Saturday, we fight because whatever happens in the fight Saturday, I leave it to the guys, but I know they're going to be good when they fight them in the show with so many people around. And again, we talk about the show, a show is not fighting, you know. So I prefer to stay with real fighting. The guys are doing good, but I prefer to stay out of it and come straight on the bigger fights, you know. Is it weird for you to see the show? Do you not even watch the show since you're not in it? Well, no, I'm not really, I'm, sometimes I'm watching when I'm at home, but I have a long day, a day, area, you know, so long days in the gym.

But, no, I'm not really, I'm not really looking at that shows. I don't really look a lot of MMA fights. I like to look some of the bigger fights. I like to look gore, fight, kickboxing, and I like to look soccer because I, I, six days a week with these guys. Even Saturdays, I turn on the beach with these guys. I love my soccer game, and I love my wife and my family. And again, the program is not really my thing, you know. So you have this situation where the guy that you groomed and you've been with him for so long is fighting for the belt.

He goes to Sweden. He knocks out Gustafin. It's an amazing performance. Everyone's looking forward to him fighting John Jones. And, of course, John Jones, not the champion anymore. He's been stripped. And he's fighting Daniel Cormier. You told me when I called you up after this fight was announced that you believe this was a more favorable matchup because you know what you're getting at a Cormier.

there are no big secrets with him. He is who he is. Anthony has been saying he thinks he's the tougher opponent. So which is it? Tougher or easier? Well, Anthony needs to fight him. So I never said that D.C. is an easier opponent. I just say, I said, because he's really good.

Yeah. But everybody has the top 10 in the UFC is good. So I'm not said it, but I think D.C. is a pressure fighter that comes forward, set up his takedowns, of course, but has good stand-up. He has good coaches. good training partners. I think John Jones is more of...

I think D.C. is more of a fighter, and John Jones is more of a creative athlete. I don't know if... Of course, he's a fighter. He's the best fighter. He was the best fighter there. But I think D.C. is more of a guy that's good for the style,

fight AJ. Again, I told you before. I don't believe in game plans. I want to make my fighters ready for whatever. You see what happened. If you have a game plan for John Jones and only train with the people for John Jones, you get D.C. And then people get nervous

because they fight somebody else. I don't believe in it. I just want my fighters be ready at every point to fight everybody else in every style, and I want my style be better than everybody else's style. And if they do it, then whatever guy they fight,

they need to find a solution inside there. In training too, I'm not overcoaching them. You know, so what I've seen DC is a very, very strong, competitive guy, hungry, because he knows its second sense, but we know what he's going to do. With John, you kind of kind of know, but he's more creative.

He has stand-up-wise, I talk about. He has the sidekick, the kick to the legs. But, again, we prepare for that also, you know. So for me, it doesn't really, really, really matter. But I think V.C. is a good matchup for AJ. Like I said, John Jones also. But I think we kind of know what he's going to do, you know. There's no secrets.

Were you disappointed when you found out that John was out because, of course, you want to beat the best? Or were you happier? Were you more confident? Ooh, now we have a more favorable matchup. No, no, no. I wanted to fight, not me, I'm not fighting anymore, but I wanted AJ to fight John because he's the champion.

For me, like AJ said, for me, it's the same. For me, he's the best fighter of all times still now, I think. And I wanted to, if you want to win, you want to win the guy who's the champion, who is at that moment the top. And so I was kind of disappointed, and I feel sad for him, you know what happened, because we all make mistakes, you know, so I hope he will be good and come back. and have the big fight as soon as possible again. But I switched over directly and when I heard it was DC,

I said, no, nothing is going to change. We have a spy partner partners here. They are big and tall and small and fat and fast and slow. We have everybody here. We have 40 fighters on the mat. We just do our same stuff. There's no secret you can hang the cameras in my gym. We're just going to punch and kick and we're going to see, you know.

And that's what we just did. Nothing really changed. We just fight. So, you know, it's been an amazing road for Anthony because he left the UFC, then he came all the way back. And, you know, recently it seemed like he might lose his chance when he was indefinitely suspended. He's been cleared of all of that. And, of course, now he's good to go. But when there was that period of, you know, he wasn't sure what was going to happen, how did you keep him focused?

How did you keep him, you know, just thinking, okay, I'm going to come back. It's all going to work out. Everything's going to be okay. Do you recall those conversations? Yeah, because I knew what was going on. I mean, I'm very close to AJ, so I know what's going on. I mean, you have to understand one thing, man. These guys are so famous, and everybody wants to be part of that,

that if it's a woman, a woman or a man or whatever happens, they always try to put people in the bad spot, you know, because fighters are vulnerable for that, especially in certain points of their lives. Everybody can make a mistake, whatever they do, but it's all highlighted these guys, you know, because they're on television and everything. So I knew what's going on with AIDS, and we just trained, we just sit still, let other people decide what they had to do, and just train to be ready for whoever you're going to fight and whenever you're going to fight.

We had the situation with Tiago before. We kind of knew what was going on, and, you know, I knew the story. I knew there was nothing wrong over there, so I was just waiting to the UFC release. Everything was okay, no problems, let's go on. And AJ is the guy who was always in the gym. That's another good thing about the guys, most of the guys in our gym. AJ likes to spy He likes to be in the gym

So he's not training for a training camp He's not in a camp We're just Our work is in the gym So we're always in the gym We don't do training camps Because our workplace is our gym So you know

So we stay cool and We weather the storm and we're good You looked into your crystal ball Very well even though you told me on TV You don't have a crystal ball But you called your shot against Alexander Gustafson So can you do it again for us Against Daniel Cormier?

I got two small crystal balls. Oh. But let me see. I did it the last time I did it good. So I cannot beat myself again, you know. But, no, again, what I always say, two people go in the cage or in the cage. They are two very competitive guys.

But I think at this moment, when I look at my fighter, I know he's ready, you know? Both of them already, if we talked to you, but AJ is more than ready. and he is, I don't think he's going to let this chance slip. I think it will be a great fight, but just watch. If he hit somebody in this weight class, even in the heavy weight class, it can be over. And D.C. is a very strong and competitive guy, too.

So it's going to be a good match, but my guy's going to win, and he's going to walk away with the belt that he deserves, and that he worked very hard for him. Okay, maybe didn't knock out a couple of guys that he said, but just watch his highlights on YouTube, and you see how you have to knock people out when they're on the floor, you know? And how closely did you work with Vitor? Because I know he has his own gym and his own thing going on.

Did you work with him a lot? And will you be in his corner on Saturday? No, no, of course I'll be in his corner. But he has his own gym, but we train that sometimes. But he's always training in our gym too. He's training in our gym, too. He's training in our gym. You know, they showed some clips on television that he was in his own gym. Well, we all go there sometimes just to do some training when he's busy in our gym

or when he prefers to be there. But he had a couple of guys flying over for his golf. wrong game and stuff. And I'm still a striking coach, you know. I do the classes, but it's difficult. You have AJ, so we switch times. But I'm still in his corner. I'm still a striking coach.

Nothing changed over there. Okay. That is good to know. And he hasn't fought since November of 2013. Of course, you know, much discussed that he can't use TRTN, things of that nature. Are we going to see a different Vitor Belfort on Saturday as a result? Well, we see every fight you see different Vitor. You see somebody with a head kick, turning kicks.

let's see what we're going to see on Saturday. But again, he also fights he fights good one of the very, very good fight. A big, good champion. This coach is one of my favorite guys where he's a very cool guy.

I hope one day is going to be like him. Like, you know, I like him a lot. You know, he has a good guy. He has a good energy. He's a good champion. And Gitor's 19 years, man. I tell all my students in my gym too, man, you just need to appreciate

and admire the guy that he's in, 19 years later, he's going to fight for the belt again, man. That's a big achievement. And, you know, it's a big boost. We had on Saturday our live beach training, and we had a talk with everybody who said something, and Vito said something. And AJ said that Vito also inspired him after that fight three years ago

that he had to pick up his life. And now these two guys fight on the same night. So whatever happens there, whatever happens in everybody's crystal ball, we're going to have a good night. We've got two guys fighting for the title. After 19 years and AJ and the boat, they're both ready to go. So let's get it on. Let's go to Vegas.

Get this couple of days over and just bring the fights, you know, because I'm ready for it, you know. Well, I can't wait. I think it's going to be an amazing night, in my opinion, the best main card of 2015. Two very interesting title fights, and even without John Jones, I feel like these two. I mean, you can't beat this. We've been waiting for it for like a year and a half. And D.C. versus Rumble Johnson, you know, number two and number two and three, in my opinion, as far as the best light heavyweights in the world. A very busy night for you.

I can't wait to see you, you know, how you pull it off, going back and forth and all that. I wish you the best. Henry, really do. You've done tremendous work over there in South Florida, so you deserve the best. Good luck to you on Saturday. And again, thank you very much for the time. Okay. Thank you, Ariane. I see you in Vegas, man. Take it easy. Yeah. I will see you there. There he is. Henry Hoof, striking coach for the Blacksillians. A very busy weekend coming up for those guys on Saturday in Las Vegas, UFCC. 187. All right. Last guest of the day, and as you people know, this gets me very excited. It's very rare that my two loves combine on this very show. Sometimes I throw in the NBA talk here and

there, but really, it's often out of place. Today, my friends, it is not out of place. For the first time in this show's six-year history, we have an active NBA player, not only an active NBA player, a player who is in the midst of a playoff run. His team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are in the Eastern Conference Finals, Game 1 on Wednesday. Not only that, two-time NBA champion, NBA rookie of the year, all-rooky first team, six man of the year. This is amazing stuff. I am so excited about this. Mike Miller, the shooting guard slash small for the Cleveland Cavaliers, is on line number one. Mike, are you there? I am here, thanks. Mike, what a pleasure. Thank you so much. I really, really appreciate it. I know

you're very busy, and I might be fan-boying here a little bit because I love the NBA so much, and I never get to talk about it. You just had practice today, right? Yeah, we've got no practice, get a little preparation for Atlanta, and you're ready to take off to Atlanta tomorrow, so it should be fun. How do you feel about this? You got Atlanta over Washington. Do you prefer that matchup? Your former team, Washington, you don't get to play them. Do you like this matchup better? Oh, I mean, I think it's both teams. I mean, obviously Atlanta played well against us in the regular season, but regular season and postseason is different, and we've made some trades since some of them

game. So it is who it is now, and we'll head down to Atlanta to do against them on Wednesday night. So, of course, some people might know that you have a connection to M.A. We'll get to that in a second, but I want to talk a little basketball at first here. You were a part of that, you know, the Healds when the big three came together, and now you were a part of this team when LeBron went home. Similarities between the two, I know it wasn't quite the same with three big stars coming together, but you struggled out of the gate and all that stuff. Did it feel the same, or was this time a little different for you? This time was different.

There's obviously similarities. Anytime you have the expectation level that we had coming into this, well, pretty much any time you get on a team with LeBron, the expectation level are through the roof. So it was different just because we've been on the path before. We had the blueprint already kind of done in Miami, knew it to expect. knew there was going to be highs and lows,

knew that they're going to go through some struggles, and people were going to wonder what was going on. but at the end of the day, it's about playing your best basketball in the season, and fortunately for us, we're doing that. How would you characterize this season for you? Because you haven't really played all that much, and last year you played 82 games. You're very important part of the team.

Every single player says that. You're very active on the bench, which I truly appreciate. But for you personally and professionally, what was it like for you? It's tough, but at the end of the day, you know, for me, you see this happening a lot. I mean, it's my 15th season. I've been through a lot. And for me, obviously it's difficult not playing, but I'm a part of a special team here

and understanding your roles are different every place you go. And my role on this team is being important part of not only going on the floor, but making sure everybody on the team is in good spirits and understands what we're trying to accomplish. If you don't make those trades for Mosgov and also Shumper and J.R. Smith, are you in this position right now? I don't think so I think you know obviously give a lot of credit to David Griffin our GM but we recognize

that we needed to make some changes we needed to get better in some positions we've done that a month Shump has been been huge for us J.R. has been lighting in a bottle for us and Timo has really done a good job

of bending the rim and defending the paint and running and those are pieces that you start building around the guys like LeBron and Kyrie unfortunately Kay Love got hurt but our roster is loaded, but it's all about, you know, what Atlanta does well, is plays together as a team,

and so it should be a good series. You probably don't know this about me, but I am a die-hard New York Knicks fan. I mean, I would say I'm a bigger Nick fan than anyone, even Spike Lee. I live and die by the team, and it's been a very depressing 15 years from year or so. And to see JR and Shump do what they're doing,

I'm happy for them, but I don't know, I have weird feelings about it, because, to be honest, I kind of felt like they quit on us, to be quite honest. What was it like when those guys came in there, especially JR, because let's be honest, he has a reputation, he has baggage. And I don't know if a guy like him could succeed in a system that doesn't have a LeBron, a la Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan.

You know what I'm saying? He's not going to step on LeBron's shoes. He's going to keep in line. Was that the case here? Is that what made him so great now? You know, it's hard for me to say anything because he's been amazing since he's been here. He's done his job. been, he's been a huge reason of why we're able to accomplish the things we are,

and it can help both. You know, and I think, obviously, a lot of it has to do with positioning and where you're at. And being part of a LeBron team, LeBron does such a good job of demanding things that made the transition, I think, a little bit easier to these days. But honestly, though, is he a little crazy? Is he as crazy as he seems? I think he's awesome. He's a golfer, too, so the transition was easy.

Okay, now, I know this is an animation. We'll get that a second before all my viewers hate me. But what's going on between David Bly and LeBron? Is there a rift there? Is David Black going to be the coach next year? Break some news for us? No, there's no rift. I think it's funny every time.

You know, one thing about LeBron is he's probably one of the most intelligent basketball players all up at the skill level. So anytime, you know, he's obviously does his job on there and sees a lot of things on the court and it's almost like a coach on the court. So I just think it's funny. Every time he's with a coach in these situations, there's a risk. But there's not. No, there's not.

Okay. Do you think he could be a player coach, though? Because I feel like if there's one guy in the NBA right now, he could pull that off. It's him. He doesn't, for the most part. I mean, you know, he might not have the title, but he's such an basketball player,

and he understands what were he wants guys, the unique guy, and then for us to be successful. His works across the board. I think that's, that's one. of the luxuries I have in a little bit of a lot of his talent level, you know, his, his freakish build and athleticism and speed and power, but also that intelligence in the basketball IQ, which comes with him. A lot of people might not know this because he plays with giants, but this is a guy who's

legit 265 pounds, 6-8. I mean, he would be a heavyweight if he was in the UFC. Have you ever talked to him about this? I feel like he could be a tremendous fighter. He would be. I think he'd be pretty good at whatever he does. Obviously, the game is completely different, though, you know, and getting into the JJIT 2 wrestling, that would be a little bit tough.

But at 260, you know, 2605 and 68, he is a specimen and it's an athletic. When's the last time you trained in MMA? I trained probably two summers ago our gym in Arizona with our guys, and I love it. it's about the most well-conditioned guys in sports, and it was why off-season things that I did religiously for a while. So you're still affiliated with Power MMA, right? Yes, sir.

And two summers ago, why not do it more often? Do you feel like at this age it's not worth it? It's too physical. Why not keep up with it? No, I like it. It's just, it is. It's tough for me. At my point now, it's about, you know, staying healthy

and being able to shoot the ball and as I've gotten older, it's about different training methods. I still like the stuff. I do the conditioning stuff with them, and I will always do the conditioning stuff with them because like I said, I think they're probably the best condition athletes on the planet.

But, you know, getting in there and doing things and mess around them is a little bit more difficult now. What's your first memory of mixed martial arts? Were you a youngster in South Dakota? Were you a University of Florida? When you first remember seeing this thing and being like, wow, I'm into it.

I remember the graces. I was big, and I was always a big boxer, but I was watching these guys, you know, the 155s fighting 260s and the no weight classes and fighting, you know, three, four times a day. Like, that stuff was amazing to me. And to see where the sport has gone, the evolution of the sport, has been fun to watch from the beginning to now. And just seeing the thing grow has been remarkable. And do you wish that we went back to those days? Do you think the sport would be more fun to watch if it was the Wild West from the early 90s?

Or do you prefer it now like a real sport? I prefer now. I mean, obviously, you know, everything has time and it was, like I said, it was fun to watch. And that was that time. But I think the sport has grown now. It's taken amazing strides. And where it's at now is really good. I mean, I think it'll continue to grow and continue to.

to really catch the momentum that it has and built an even bigger brand. Is it true that your favorite fighter back in the day was Keith Hackney? Keith Hackney. That's a good one. That's a great name. I liked a lot of fighters, but Keith was fun. But the guys now are fun to watch. And I know back in the day, like early UFCs, you were a big fan of Robbie Lala, right?

That's my guy. I still am. He's really, he's really, since making the cut down, been fought a lot. I can't wait for his fight this summer, and just to see him continue to definite what he's doing. Did you hear that he's not the betting favorite in that fight against Roy McDonald's. He has a win over him, yet still not getting the respect as champion.

How about that? That's good for people like me. Yeah. I like that. No, and listen, Rory's talented, he's good. He's been, you know, he's been on the radar and the watch list for a while. now. But I like our chances with Robbie for coming in the cage. Now, this is perfect because it's after the NBA season is over.

Are you going to be in Las Vegas for that fight? I will be there. I think that card's going to be exciting. And I just, I can't wait for that fight. I can't wait for Aldo and McGregor. I think a car is going to be a blast. What do you make of McGregor, a polarizing figure in our sports? Some people hate him, some love them. What do you make of him? I think it's great for the sport. I really do.

You know, it's going to be interested. I think it's a step, obviously, a big step up against Aldo, but he's been calling his shots the whole way. It should be a fun fight, but I think he's great for the sport. Anytime you get that, you know, the charismatic guys like him in a sport who are successful, but obviously he's been successful, I think it's great for any sport. It's amazing. You could tell right away that you know what you're talking about, that you're a big fan.

Do you get to watch all the fights? Do you read the news? Like, how big of a fan are you? I watch all the fights and read the news. You know, we're big, our jet, big in it, I'm big into it. So it's always, it's always fun to see where the sports going. But, you know, every weekend, every other weekend, what we got on, I'm watching them, for sure.

Who are the other big fans on the team? We all like it. You know, I mean, that's what's great about the UFC. How can you not like it? It's, you know, for me, it's action non-stop. and as you get up in weight classes, anything possible. So it's a little bit different in boxing in that situation there. And so it's a lot of fun.

Now, I know you watched the Mayweather-Raeo fight, right? I did. Are you one of those who was disappointed by it, or did you know what you were getting into beforehand? I wasn't disappointed. I think it was just clinical boxing. I'm a big Pac-yel fan. I like Floyd.

But, you know, at the end of the day, going into that, for anyone disappointed, you hadn't watched it. You hadn't watched Floyd in the past. Right. You know, and if you thought Floyd was going to be that kind of boxing match. And that was the expectations I had. Obviously, the thing that got me excited was, it was a contrast of style.

If Mani Pacto was going to win, it was going to be exciting. If Floyd won, which he did, it was clinical boxing, and that's kind of what you saw. So we have UFC 187 this weekend, and I think that you'd be very interested in this card because the light heavyweight title is on the line, and your boy, Ryan Bader, is campaigning to fight the win. winner. Now, I got two questions. A. Are you going to watch? And B, who do you think is going to win? D.C. or Rumble Johnson?

I definitely don't watch. I was amazed at how good Rumble looked his last fight. I'm a big Cormier, I know, have them from the beginning. So I think Cormier wins a fight. It's going to be an interesting fight to watch, though. And I'm excited because I think Bader should get a chance at whoever wins. But I think it's a good fight. If I gave an answer right now, it'd be Cormier, but he's also taking a little bit more of a short note, which would be interesting. Oh, wow. Look at you. What do you make of them stripping John Jones? Do you think that was the right call for the UFC? Right now it is. I think, you know, obviously John Jones is one of those polarizing figures.

He's exciting to watch. But until you figure out what's going on, it's almost, you know, it's like a day sport, you've got to be a little more tentative to figure out what the whole story is and what's going on and let him worry about his personal stuff and take care of that first. That's the most important thing right now. His life is not UFC or a title. It's more a lot of times of is he healthy as a human and what he wants to do. Have you noticed a change in Ryan Bader?

It seems like as of late he's really put it all together. He seems a lot more confidence. He's looked good in his fights. Has something changed as far as you can see? Well, it's like anything else. The more and more you do things, the better you're going to get. And we've continued to improve our gym. our coaches are a high, high level that continue to get better.

We continue to get the best coaches in there. I think you see everyone that comes out of power that's continuing to getting better. And that's obviously a tribute to our gym, but it's also a tribute to those guys working. The best thing about this sport and the bigger and bigger is the evolution of it and the guys putting in more time. And it's showing a lot of guys, but our gym has been great.

And for Bader, I'm just proud. out of him and happy for him because he's gotten really, really good. I'd love to seem to this. Is there a chance that you expand the power MMA, Jim's? Like you open them up across the country? Yeah, of course. We're looking at that. And we definitely will.

It's one of the things we're looking at right now. The more and more, like I said, the bigger and bigger the sport gets, the younger and younger the sport get, the more sets of the options. And is there a chance you ever fight? A celebrity thing, nothing big, but did you have that itching? you. I, if I,

the only way I fight is if we get beat a game on against Atlanta hot. What? You're going to fight? Are you saying that on the record

right here? No, I'm not going to see me in the act again. I'll pay that much. Are you saying

that if you lose game one, you're going to start a brawl? Is that what you're saying? No. No, you don't strike me as the type.

You know, that's not the only that you're, it's going to be a fun series. Okay. And, and, you know, I got to say,

I know you're not playing a lot these days, but you're a very important part of the team. I feel like we have a Mike Miller moment in us, whether it's, you know, Sands Shoe, whether it's, you know, the punching game against the thunder. I feel like something's about to happen here.

You're going to step up at some point and go crazy. Maybe this was the appearance that you needed. Maybe this interview needed to ignite that in you. How do you feel about it? I do. I mean, you know, obviously anything can happen. You know, I just, I hope if I get that opportunity, I'll be ready.

I can stay ready. and if that opportunity comes, I'll get a lot of credit to the show. Yeah, well, I appreciate that. You'll do that in your post-game interview on ABC or something, right? You'll call it the MMA hour? Absolutely, absolutely. All right, we'll hold you to it. Well, Mike, I got to say thank you so much.

Congratulations on an amazing career. I've been watching you since Florida. It's been unbelievable watching you grow as a player, and, you know, there was this great article on Grantland about you a few months ago about how you're, like, one of the most beloved people in the entire league. I can see why everyone speaks so highly of you. Good luck the rest of the way. And thanks for giving our sports some love.

Thanks for, you know, when guys like you do so, it gives us some credibility. So we appreciate that very much. All right. I appreciate it. There he is. Mike Miller. How about that? Shooting Guard, small Ford, extraordinary for the Cleveland Cavaliers, a pros pro in the midst of a playoff run, making a run at the NBA title, and he takes 20 minutes out of his day to come on the MMA hour.

Well, that was exciting. Was that exciting for, you know, I got to admit, New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here. I wanted to give you some shine, but we were kind of losing him, and we were running out of time, and I just didn't know if it would come off. So I don't know if you were expecting it. But I apologize if you were expecting it. No, I wasn't.

It was just a pleasure to hear him, and he knows his MMA. He does. You can really tell, right? Yeah. You can really tell. Like, he's talking about Connor and the stripping of the title. He's moving up the list of favorite cavaliers. for sure.

Were you not that into him before? I mean, you know, he's only been here for a short time. Sure. And hasn't played as much as, you know, he has for his previous squad. So, yeah, he's moving up after that, for sure. Mike, I got to tell you, I kind of want them to win now. Like, I don't want them to win because I don't, I like David Blatt, fellow Jew. Shumper, JR, I'm still a little pissed off about the whole thing.

LeBron certainly doesn't need it. I think Cleveland it would be nice. Deep down inside, I kind of want the Warriors to win. I just think it would be a better story. But this is nice. I kind of feel a connection. It's all about having that emotional connection, right? Welcome.

Cleveland Cavaliers. How about that? Mike Miller on the show. All right. Well, no time to waste. We have 25 minutes left in the program. So let's answer some questions. Where'd you go?

Are we not going inside the vault first? You know what? Let's skip it because I think people would rather hear his talk. So let's skip it this week and we'll bring it back. next week. It's still a relevant one. And by the way, speaking of next week, I should say right now, we're off next Monday because it is Memorial Day, but fear not, we are back on Tuesday. Special Tuesday edition. We haven't had a chance to say that word in a while. So we're off next Monday. It's Memorial Day here in the United States. It is Victoria Day in Canada today.

So happy Victoria Day to all my fellow Canadians. And what does that entail? You know, we don't have a lot of time to talk about history and stuff. I'll talk about it later. But next week is Memorial Day. So we're off on Monday. We're back on Tuesday. So please make note of that. It will be May the 26th.

Okay. Okay, let's hit the first question. If you're Frankie, what do you do next? You sit out and wait for the title shot, or do you take on another fight? If so, who fighting Chad Mendes would eliminate a title challenger, but makes an interesting fight for the true number one contender? In my opinion, there doesn't seem to be anyone for both Chad Mendes. doesn't Frankie Edgar at this time? That makes sense. Thoughts. Before I get to that, let me just remind you that this week's

MMA hour is presented by NOS. No looking back, no holding back, and absolutely no regrets. Find a Noss near you at Find Noss.com. I think it really depends on what happens with McGregor and Aldo. I think if Aldo wins, he's a shoe-in. I think if McGregor wins, they might go the rematch route. So in my opinion, just chill out for the next almost two months and see what happens and then decide. That's the best answer. Ariel, when you compared Mayweather Pachial to Edgar Faber, were you foretelling a similar lackluster performance?

Please give your thoughts as to why this fight was probably the least engaging of both men's careers. Well, much like our previous guest, I didn't think that Mayweather Pachial was a letdown. I didn't think it was boring. I didn't think any of that. I knew what I was getting, or at least getting myself into. I kind of felt the same way about Faber Edgar. To me, it was about getting them in the cage, finally, all these years later, I thought that was part of the appeal.

And really, when you look at what Frankie Edgar has been doing as of Lane, especially his inability to get hit or his ability to avoid getting hit, I didn't really expect anything more. I mean, some fights you have to understand are not going to be Rockham Socom. They're just not, especially when you consider their skill set. And this is kind of what I expected. And I was thoroughly entertained by the fact that Frankie Edgar was dominating Uriah Faber. He did a fantastic job.

I thought the second round was the only round that may be Faber Juan, but other than that, it was very one-sided for Frankie Edgar. But important to note, if you haven't watched the fight, it wasn't like one-of-the-fighted fights. I mean, I think those were close rounds, but all, in my opinion, for Frankie Edgar. Tough to score, but the judges got them right, so they deserve credit. I didn't think it was lackluster. I didn't think it was boring. It was what I thought it was going to be.

Our next question, John Anick, letting go of the mic. Hey, I remember Ariel talking about the unwritten rule of never letting go of the mic. This past weekend, John Anick broke that rule and passed the mic to Mark Munoz. Would you have broken that rule? Is it okay for retiring athletes? Or was Mark Munoz the exception to the rule? John Anick could not have played this better. He did the right thing.

There's only one time, one exception to this rule, and 100% is a rule. You never give up the mic. But you give it up when it's a swan song. When it's a retirement fight, when the stage is theirs, and when we look back on this moment, there should be no interviewer. It should be the fighter addressing. the crowd his people. And I got to say, this has surpassed Chris Lytle for the best swan song in MMA history.

You can't beat this. Remember, this is a guy after UFC 184, we were talking about on this show, that we don't think he should fight again. And they gave him one more shot, credit to them. And, you know, he didn't fight a scrub. He fought a youngster who was coming up, who was very hungry, who needed a win. And Mark Munoz turned back the clock. Now, did he look older?

Did he not look as on point as he did when he was, you know, making that run? and before the Wyman fight, absolutely. But Mark Munoz turned back the clock with takedown, Donkey Kong punches, all that stuff. He won as he should have, and then he gets to address the crowd with this unbelievable post-fight speech. It wasn't an interview. It was more of a speech.

John Anick did. I mean, he proved that he has no ego, that he didn't want to be a part of the moment. It wasn't about him or anyone else. It was about Mark Munoz getting to say goodbye. And then doing the old-school wrestling thing, where he takes off his gloves, and he puts him in the middle of the cage,

it was beautiful. It really was emotional to watch. And again, couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Good for him for going out on his own terms and saying goodbye to everyone the way he wanted to. And now let's see what he does with the son and with the youngsters that he'll be coaching. I'm sure it was a very emotional time for him, especially with the gym closing recently. And it was really good. I mean, he has been struggling as of late. He hasn't been himself to have a moment like that in the Philippines. He's been talking about fighting in the Philippines for so long. Wow. You can't beat that. You can't script it. It was better than Lytle only because it happened in the Philippines,

and Lytle had no connection to Milwaukee. Also, there were so many ways it could have gone wrong. You know, Anik could have held onto the mic and not giving it up, and they could have cut away because it was such a, you know, lengthy speech, and there is TV time to worry about. But everything went right, and everybody did the right thing, and it ended up being a pretty magic moment for everybody. You know, everybody involved in the production,

and everybody involved inside the cage. It was unbelievable. Next for Neil Magny. Neil Magny continues to look more and more impressive with every win he adds to a streak. Who do you think makes sense for him next? How do you think he matches up against the top 10 of the division? Well, Neil Magny, what a story this is.

I mean, this is a guy who lost two in a row in the UFC, and they stuck with him. And I hope they do the same with Luke Barnard. I really think he deserves another shot. I'm not just saying that because he comes on the show and all that stuff. I like to see a little longer leash. But anyway, back to Neil Magny, he has looked fantastic.

This by far his most impressive win. And I heard some people say that it was, was more impressive because he came back. Absolutely. He was rocked. It looked like he was almost finished. But, I mean, he did get rocked. So let's not forget that.

Let's not forget about him putting himself in that position. But his ability to come back. But you can't say it was impressive. It was impressive because he came back. No, the comeback was impressive. But the fact that he got rocked is still like that doesn't make it a clean fight. You know what I mean? Yeah, but every top fighter has been vulnerable.

He was close there. It looked like he was closer. I mean, he was in a lot of trouble there for a second. And the fact that he was able to, you know, regain his composure and figure things out is supremely impressive. But I wouldn't call it, you know, a perfect performance by any stretch because he did get rocked. Front runner for 2016 fighter of the year.

Or rather, 2015. Well, that leads us to this point. I mean, he needs a step up now. I mean, at this point, he needs to step up. Unless he just wants to keep racking up fights so he can get that Reebok money. But I think he needs to step up. It's not a bad idea. It is not a bad idea.

To me, the two ideas that were thrown out, I would love to see him fight Damien Maia. I know Damien Maia's manager said they wanted Tarek Safedine. But, I mean, if we're going to step up, let's step up. That's quite a big step, though. Or... I feel like there's some intermediary... The fight this weekend. Dung Young Kim versus Josh Berkman, the winner of that, especially if it's Kim.

What do you think of that? I mean, that's tough. Welterweight's a buzzsaw. Well, look at the rankings. Yeah, who's near the bottom of the... Well, this is the thing. I was actually looking at that very recently. So you got, okay, so you have Magdi at 15 today, but it might change.

Ryan LaFlair, who just lost, doesn't make sense. Gunner Nelson has a fight July 11th. It doesn't make sense. Tiago Alves is fighting Carlos Condit. The timing works, but then, I mean, if you don't want him to fight Maya, do you want him to fight Alva's kind of winner? I mean, he mentioned Rick's story. And by the way, the one real blemish on the fight was his lack of calling anyone out.

I mean, he finally said a name, but it was kind of, there's a weird way to go about it. I'd love to see him. Maybe he just doesn't have it, but he's like the anti-Sam Alvey. So anyhow, Rick Story has a fight coming up. Gasselm is no longer fighting in the division. I don't even know why he's still there. Ellenberger, he just got a fight, Stephen Thompson,

and you got Dung him and Kim at 8. Yeah, well, I mean, what that just says is Walter Waite is healthy, and that next step up is going to be a big determining fight for him. I'd like to see him fight a rank guy next. I agree. Now that he's a rank guy himself, I feel like there's really no alternative. Next for Musasi, with Bisbin coming off a win and ranked at number nine in the division, I've got these two matched up next.

Maybe headlining a card in Europe. What do you guys think is next for Gayguard? Hmm. A card in Europe? Well, he said he wants to fight October, November, I believe. So I don't know what's on the docket there. We haven't gone that far. Very solid, if sort of uneventful win.

a very bad matchup for Costa Philippa. But let's not forget, I mean, for a while, Gagar was known as a striker. He's really evolved very nicely. We've come a long way since he got taken down continuously by King Mo. Yeah, I remember that? Wow. I thought he won that fight anyway, to be honest.

I'd like to see him fight the winner of, you thought he won from the bottom, eh? Yeah, I mean, he was doing a lot more damage. I'll tell you that much. He did. I remember when I interviewed King Moe. He couldn't even stand up in the locker room. That's one of my favorites.

The winner of Machita Romero. that's a good fight Romero's six Machita's five he's seven I think I think Machita beat him pretty soundly last time

but it wasn't feel like Gaygard was out of that fight at any time and had his moments so I wouldn't mind seeing that one again for sure I mean what else makes sense

I mean I get okay here's a thing like if Vitor loses I could see that right I like that as well I think Gaygard you know

he's got a lot of options here He's on the cusp. The loss to Jacerre hurt him because it's going to be hard to leapfrog him. But he's certainly... Yeah, but Jacqueray is going to be floating around doing nothing for the rest of his career, which is unfortunate. He cannot get that fight. He needs to get that one fight, and he just can't get it. Timing hasn't been his friend. Also, congrats to Gayguard. He secured a pretty big sponsor, Bridgestone Tires. That's a big deal. Yeah.

Gaygard, how about that? Must have been the personality. Oh, come on. I love Gayard. He's great. I love him. He's one of the nicest guys in the entire sport. I love his personality. Yeah, I think he's like anti-comedy in the sense that he's so far in the other direction that people are tickled by it. There's something killer about his personality.

Honestly, like his deadpan personality is sometimes it works. And I think with him it works. Although I'd like for him to fix his posture a little bit. He's very bad posture in his stare-downs. Luke Barnat, do you think Luke will be? given another shot in Glasgow, considering he's technically on a three-fights skid. I say technically as the Strickland fight is technically a loss. 95% of the MMA community gave Luke the nod.

I don't know if it's going to be Glasgow. But that's an important thing to note is that, you know, there's three-fight losing streaks and then there's three-fight losing streaks. And, you know, he's had some tough ones. I hear from a lot of Scottish fans that I mispronounce Glasgow. So I believe that's it. I used to call it Glasgow, I think. I think it's Glasgow, right?

That's how I said it and have said it, but I'm not the aficionado. I don't know if it's going to be there, but I'd like to see him get one more. And you saw the alliance influence come out, right, with the way he was moving his feet, his striking. I'd like to see him get another camp under his belly. He's getting married soon, so I'd probably let him do his thing there. But I'd like to see him get one more. I don't think he looks like a guy who doesn't belong. I think he's just on a tough streak right now.

Um, so yeah, I'd like to see him get, get another shot as well. Yeah. And it's important to note that most people thought he did be, uh, Strickland. But, but, but, hey, he needs to show some fire there. I mean, like, you can't just, you can't just like, say like, oh, you know, that wasn't, uh, you're a hundred percent right. Yeah. Being on a three-fight losing streak, whether, you know, it was robbery, not robbery, whatever the case may be, you need to win the next one. Yeah.

Uh, thoughts on Bellator stripping the title from Halsey. Should they have stripped him or make it a non-title fight, vacating the title seems a bit harsh for missing weight. What penalty would you have given him? I thought Bellator nailed this one. It was perfect. This is what you see in boxing. It 100% should have been this way. Halsey as champion missed weight. He deserves to be stripped.

Now, Kendall Grove should not suffer. He should still get that chance, and he did. They played it perfectly. If you missed it, Brandon Halsey, who we had on this show last week, misses weight before his middle-white title fight in Belator on Thursday. They say, all right, win or lose. on Friday, you're not the champion anymore. You've been stripped.

But if Kendall Grove wins, you become the champion. Well, unfortunately, for Kendall Grove, he lost. So now they have a vacant title and they have to figure out what to do. Quickly, the Beltor middleweight division has become their least interesting. It's very shallow, so they have to figure something out here. But they made the right call 100%. But my question is, so now is Halsey not going to fight for the title? No.

So what's the point? What does it tell you by stripping him if he's going to fight for the title in the next fight? You can't go around calling yourself champion, A, and B, it's still up for grabs. It's still vacant. So I think if I were the matchmaker, if I were a Rich Chow, I would have him fight for the belt next. But as a vacant, you know, a vacant title fight. I guess. I mean, to me, it's kind of pointless.

They could have just made it a non-title fight, I think, would have been a better way to go about it. Wait, but then why does Kendall Grove suffer? Yeah, I mean, it's just the consequences of, you know. It's not his fault. No, it's not his fault, but that's why he gets to 20% or whatever the fine is. And, you know, Halsey was unprofessional, and he'll be viewed that way. But yeah, it's just unfortunate. It would be unfortunate for Grove, but I think that, you know, having a vacant title that he's going to fight for next doesn't really do anything.

So you think it should have been a three-round non-title fight, and he remains. champion. Yeah. Kenil Grove been working for this opportunity. He shouldn't have to pay. I think they nailed it perfectly. Yeah, I mean, they can do a rematch for a title fight. I don't know.

Because I think that this is equally... Why? There should be repercussions for missing weight as champion. Well, yeah. I mean, he loses the... But he still the money. Look, I'm not saying that there's a perfect solution here, but I don't think having a vacant belt when you're a champion, your former champion won.

is the solution either, especially when he's going to fight for it next. Now, if they come out and say, you know what, he's going to have to work his way back to the title, now we're talking. Now I'm like, okay, that's an actual penalty. Because you're saying that's the penalty, but what's the penalty? He's going to be fighting for that same belt in the next fight. Well, I mean, who knows? Maybe, and this is just us speculating, but maybe in his contract, it's different when he's not champion. I guess, yeah, that's fair enough, but perception-wise,

it's roughly the same. But if they make a bold move and he doesn't fight for the title next, hey, maybe you need to get one more, then I can see the logic behind this. It does make sense to me. I disagree. New NSAC drug testing punishments. What are your thoughts on the new punishments for drug testing failures that the Nevada Athletic Commission have approved? Do you think the punishments are fair for each drug category?

Do you expect other athletic commissions will eventually adopt the standards they are setting? Well, look, when this case, came out on Friday. There was so much belly aching. I mean, people are always looking for things to complain about. And I think that Nevada's on the right track. Now, that they nail it? No, because their big issue was they, they are essentially treating marijuana and drugs of that nature as PEDs. And I thought we were, we were already over that. I thought we've already decided and figured out that it's not a PED. So what the heck? But overall, as far as PEDs are concerned, I think they nailed it.

And I found it weird that everyone was focusing on that as opposed to, you know, the one sort of mess up. Now, it's a big one. I mean, it would affect several people, including, you know, our pal Nick Diaz. But as far as the PEDs are concerned, I mean, this is what we've been asking for. This is what we wanted. What we wanted were strict penalties and an actual guideline. So it's not, oh, this guy failed. let's see what he gets in the commission hearing.

It could be 12 months, nine months. No, now we know for sure. If you missed it, these are the guidelines quickly, all right? Tier number one, sedatives, muscle relaxants, sleep aids, angsi, colobliates, and cannabis. First offense, 18-month, 34% of the purse. Second offense, 24 months, 40 to 50%. 36 months is the third offense, 60 to 75%,

and lifetime suspension for the fourth offense. Now, this is the one that people have a big problem with. these four because they're like, what? 18 months for cannabis, that's crazy, right? Okay, let's put that one aside for now. Number two, diuretics, 24-36 lifetime ban. Okay, that is freaking tough and deservedly so. Now, this is when we get into the interesting stuff.

Cocaine, amphetamines, who, I don't know, 24 months, 36 months, lifetime. I think some people thought that was a little harsh. Okay, this is the real interesting. So, anabolic steroids, 36 months, 48 months, lifetime ban. If you fail first offense for PEDs, 36 months. And then there's also avoiding testing. First offense, 48 months, second offense, the lifetime ban. This is strong stuff.

This is a message. I hope as far as the PEDs are concerned, UFC, when they're self-governing and also any other commission adopts it. I do think their recreational drugs needs some fixing here. I think it's too harsh, especially when you have a situation where a guy has like a license in California and then in Nevada and you don't even know. I mean, that's a whole mess. But let's not overlook the PD part. That's the real problem here. That's what's going to save lives.

That's what's going to save careers. And to just dismiss that to me is silly. At the end of the day, my friends, as cool as it may be to smoke weed and do cocaine, at the end of the day, it's illegal in Nevada. And you have to abide by it. That's, just don't do it. And also don't do steroids. And you'll be okay.

I think I'll give them a passing grade more so than that. Because I think, and I know it's so cool to hate on commissions and all this stuff, I couldn't believe the reaction I was seeing to this. Yeah, I mean, I'm with you, I'm with you, but I understand the backlash against the recreational drugs. So what, do we want the old way? Do we want the way we're going to? No, there's a middle ground. There's a middle ground.

Okay, but I think it's... The recreational drugs have a less stiff penalty, is the middle ground. Or just don't test and find people for it at all, because that's not really related to competition. Yes, that's a mess. but let's not dismiss. No, we're not throwing the baby out with the bath water.

The steroids thing is the, is the headline, is the bold face type, and it's the most important thing, and that's progress, for sure. Okay. Joe Rogan,

we got to hit these quick. Joe Rogan confirms Brandon Schaub's sponsor money on the podcast. Did you hear Rogan and Schaub talked about his sponsor pay on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast Saturday morning.

Do you think Dana White will acknowledge that the pay looks legitimate after previously scoffing at it? Okay, I mean, in short, you know, shop came out and said,

he made over 100,000 for his last couple of fights and sponsors. Dana White was on off the record and was reading off sponsors and was kind of scoffing at that. And then Shob was on the fight companion show. I saw that clip. And essentially, Rogan was trying to get him to prove, like to actually release his facts and figures as far as these sponsors are concerned. And Shob, you know, he kind of took the high road. And he's like, I'm not interested in doing that. I'm team UFC and all that.

And I give him credit. I do think what Joe said was right, he needs to sit down. with the UFC, with Dana White, Shaw up Dana White and just figure things out because there does seem to be some back and forth going on there. But if Brent and Schaub's going to go out and say it, I believe him. Yeah. And I think there's nothing more to that.

I mean, the sponsors may not be the most well-known, but if they're going to pay him, they're going to pay him, and I don't feel like he would lie about that. I think he came off pretty well there. I thought he came up very well, yeah. He gave a good account of himself and he's in a tough spot, though. Was he going to get into a pissing match with Dana White? Yeah.

Well, that's what Joe was saying. Or no, that's what he was saying. am I going to do? Am I going to get into a pissing fight with Dana White? And he opted not to. But it seems, you know, they're going to have to sit down at some point. I like the fact that they've reached out to those fighters who are complaining about him at Matrione, Brennan Schaub.

So they're listening. And it proves my theory wrong. I said don't go through Twitter. And I hope they listen. I hope that if there really is a discrepancy here, that it will be fixed. It's been a year since the matchup between Widman and Belfort was supposed to take place at UFC 173. Do you still have the initial excitement for the fight

or as the expectation fallen slightly due to the co-main event and the wait since the fight was originally made? Isn't that amazing? It has been so long since that fight. I can't wait. First of all, I can't believe it's the co-made. I mean, it really doesn't matter,

but to me this is, you know, say what you want about D.C. Rumble, it's a great fight. You can make the case as you have that it's not for the real belt. that proves even more, in my opinion, that Wyden and Belford, I mean, I think very highly of Wyman, I think what Belford has done. I mean, I was watching The Countdown show today, and you just look at what he did, you know, is there an asterisk? Maybe.

But to do what he did to Michael Bissing, Luke Rockhold, and Dan Henderson in the way in which he did it, considering where those guys were in their careers, time, you know, has passed is nothing short or remarkable. It's one of the great three fight stretches in MMA history. finally we're going to see this fight. Wow, I am so excited for it, and hopefully nothing happens to you now and Saturday. It hasn't waned?

No. Not at all. For me, it has a little bit. In fact, it went away, and I just wanted to stop thinking about it because we were teased. Let's forget. It was supposed to happen in May, and then it was supposed to happen in the summer. Well, we had the suspension, so it was always kind of, or the unofficial suspension,

and then in the summer, and then it was supposed to happen in December, and it was supposed to happen in February, and now finally we're getting it, I kind of put it out of my mind, and now here we are. I'm very excited about it. And finally, I feel like both men can move on. Because there are other guys. I want to see Rockhole, Jacari. I want to see other guys get a shot.

So finally, we can move on. It has waned for me a little bit. And especially, you know, as you said, I think, you know, John Jones is still the champion. Even though he was stripped of the title, I still think he's the best. And I think that this, you know, matchup isn't for the championship. but it's still a more interesting matchup to me. I think there's more questions to be answered about Rumble Johnson and Daniel Cormier than there are about Vitor and Wyden who I think are a little more established and more known quantities.

It's a great fight. Don't get me wrong, but I'm more interested in the main event. Well, the odds makers seem to agree because Vitor is a big underdog, plus 475 to minus 435, and Anthony and D.C. all closer. Who's the favorite? I didn't look at it, but if I had to guess, I'm going to go DC's a slight favorite. Yeah, minus 124 plus 118. I mean, stylistically, you know, the wrestling is always going to be an advantage in betting odds.

But, I mean, that's one hell of a fight. And, you know, as much as I have touted Daniel Cormier and respect Daniel Cormier's skills and think he's fantastic, Rumble Johnson has proven it in this division longer than Daniel Cormier has. So it's going to be an amazing matchup. Tough 21. Just wanted to know if we're watching ATT versus Black Zillions, given your stance on Tough running out of ideas.

This person says, I can't speak for anyone else, but this has been the first season I haven't tuned into, but the trailers for it do not look too bad. I have not seen it. I have not seen it either. And really, I think I said it on the MAB. Once I was told that they weren't fighting, for a contract.

You see, the thing about tough very quickly, it used to be, you know, A, a shot in the UFC, and B, it used to be this gift. Wow, free MMA, you know, in between all these pay-per-views. Now we get free fights all the time, you know, and this one's not even to get into the UFC. So I get enough MMA, enough UFC on a weekly basis

where I don't need that extra for what? For bragging rights? Okay, Judge. This happened earlier, today. Judge reverses Vanderlae Silva's lifetime ban against NAC. What does this mean for fighters in the future? Does he have to go back to do appeal against

the NAC? And will he possibly compete again? Possibly in Bellator. A brief right up here. We got it at the beginning of the show, courtesy of his lawyer, Ross Goodman. This is what Mark Romondi wrote. Van der Leis Silva scored a victory in court last week, but he's not out of the woods just yet. A judge in Nevada District Court

ruled Friday that is disciplined from the Nevada Athletic Commission, a lifetime ban, and $70,000 fine will be overturned because it was, quote, in excess of the statutory authority of the agency, end quote, according to court documents obtained by MA fighting, Silva will have to appear again in front of the commission for a rehearing. However, the argument put forth by Silva's attorney Ross Goodman that the Nevada Athletic Commission did not have proper jurisdiction because Silva was not a licensed fighter when it attempted to drug test him was also thrown out. Judge Kerry Early ruled that the NAC, quote,

properly exercised jurisdiction in the matter. So in short, they're saying, let's run it back. So we'll see what happens. But I don't think he's out of the woods, as Mark pointed out just yet. It will be very interesting to see if they would have won that part of the argument where they said, look, if you're not licensed, you can't punish this guy. That would have been huge. That didn't happen. But they're still saying, let's do it again. So this could be very interesting. Okay, three quickies from Twitter. Which weight class should Fabor stay in? Or should he just go where the super fights are at?

I don't know how many of those remain. I think he should go back to 135 because there are bigger fights for him there. Dominic is still a fight that could happen even though he lost. And who knows, a couple wins. You still have that T.J. fight, so 135 should be it. I don't know. I don't think he needs to have a weight class. I think he's comfortable enough in both that he can kind of float between,

just take the big fights as they come. I don't know. Is there anyone in MMA history who has had a better ending to their career than Mark Munoz. I know you said it was the best swan song. I have to imagine that ending to the career phrase that way means that would include going out on a better streak. Just the way he did it. But the actual performance of it was probably the best. I'm not talking about the actual fight.

It's just the way. I'm saying the swan song, the best. But there's probably got to be guys who went out better. in terms of record, you know, going out... George St. Pierre. No one beats George St. Pierre. Oh, there it is. That's the one. Yeah, no one beats him, at least right now.

He could come back and it all changes. But, you know, George was kind of like... He was kind of like Michael Jordan against the jazz, although Jordan ruined it when he came back. I mean, you went out as champion. It's impossible to do that. Is GSP going to do that? Is he coming back for the Wizards?

I don't know. I don't know. The more I think about it, the more I think he won't. But as far as, like, it being in the Philippines and what he said and how he performed after having those bad performances, I mean, you can't beat that. That was fantastic, and it was so Mark Munoz. It was perfect. Last one, how do you think Ed Roof will do in Bellator?

And do you think Bellator will get more big names now because of the Reebok deal? I think it remains to be seen. Let's not forget Ed Ruth has never fought. I know he's trained with guys, but he's never fought. He has no amateur fights. And, of course, he's one of the greatest collegiate wrestlers ever, three straight, not three-time national champion for Penn State. And highly regarded, he's trained with him.

John Jones. He's trained with Chris Weidman. So this is a guy who clearly, I mean, this is not, you know, some bum off the street, but still, let's see how he puts it all together. So, and also, let's all forget, he's trying out for the Olympics. So it might be like two, three years if we ever see him fighting in a

bell to a cage. That's what makes this so interesting, as well as the Aaron Pico signing. Also, he's a Zinken fighter, and they represent the likes of Phil Davis, Aaron Pico, Ed Ruth, also Josh Thompson, D.C., Kane Velasquez. They were the ones that got Luke Rockhold in Strike Force. They were the ones that got Kane Velasquez

in Strike Force. They have a great relationship with Scott Koker. So this is a continuing of that trend. So I think it remains to be seen. And about the sponsor thing, I think using that as the excuse is very weird, because who knows where the sponsorship game is going to be in two, three years. I kind of

feel like they sort of told them to say that to take some shots of the competitor. I, at the end of the day, don't believe that that's the reason why he signed with Bell Tor. That's just my opinion. Maybe we'll never know, but I feel like that's games and ship. That's it. All right.

Hey, how about this? Sean O'Connell just tweeted us the link to his interview with Dana White. And I just retweeted it. So there you have it. Sean O'Connell, great stuff. Great guest today. Wow. Amazing stuff.

UFC 187 is just five days away. It's an amazing card. It takes place Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Let us not forget about John Dodson versus Zach McCovsky. That's not even on. I feel like that should be on the pay-per-view. and Benavita's Moraga, the headliner for the prelims. The number one contend of the Flyweight Division could come out of that fight.

But anyway, Josh Berkman versus Danyan Kim, Uriah Hall versus Sapo Natal. And how about this one? Remember her? Rose Namayunis is back against Nina Ansaroff. And Colby Covington, who is very highly regarded by Uriah Faber, is fighting Mike Pyle on the UFC fight-pass prelims. Justin Skagins returns against Josh Sampo, Leo Kuntz, versus Islam.

Makache. It's UFC 187. It's this Saturday in Las Vegas. You can hit my music. A full show, a pack show, my friends. Remember? We are off next Monday, back on Tuesday, Memorial Day weekend. If you're celebrating Victoria Day in Canada, hope you are listening to the show,

listening to the show while cooking some hot dogs, hamburger, having some Labat Blue, enjoying a nice spring day in the Great White North. Next week, we'll be back on Tuesday, so enjoy your Memorial Day. Sands MMA Hour, but don't worry. After what should be a very fun night in Las Vegas, we will have plenty to discuss as always.

I remind you that the M.A. Hour is brought you by our good friends at NOS. Thank you so much to them for sponsoring the show once again. Follow them on Twitter at NOS Energy Drink. Find a NOS near you at find NOS.com. I really like today's show. Such great characters. It started many moons ago with Frankie Edgar, or at least it felt like many months ago.

Congratulations to him. Good luck in getting that title shot. Let us know if you want to be on that phone call, or at least let us be on that phone call. Good luck to Mike Swick. Check out his video blogs, aka Thailand. July 11th, he returns. Smile and Sam Alvey.

Good luck to him in getting that fight against Elias Theodoru and also congratulations on that three-fight winning streak. Good luck to Travis Brown this Saturday at UFC 187. Looking forward to that fight. very much. The return of Andre the Pitbull Arlofsky. Happy trails to Jessica Aguilar. Good luck in signing with the UFC. Thanks so much for breaking that news on the show. So congratulations to Sean O'Connell.

His success as well, congratulations to Steve Miochich. Good luck to Henry Hooft. And thank you so much to Mike Miller, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Good luck to him in the NBA playoffs. That's it for us. See you next week. Peace. Somebody out. Defenders in cybersecurity are always there when we need them.

They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat. and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve and the one they need to defend beyond. Visit darktrace.com forward slash defenders for more information. I'm Nilai Patel, editor-in-chief The Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. We've talked a lot about generative AI on the show.

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

So it begs the question, what are we even doing here in higher ed? This episode is presented by Salesforce.