MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 294

Episode Date: August 10, 2015

Ariel Helwani speaks to Rory MacDonald, Tyron Woodley, Diego Sanchez, Tim Kennedy, Mike Brown, Amir Khan, Luke Barnatt, George Lockhart, and Dave Meltzer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Mario Hawani. Inside our New York City studio, 15 events in 14 weeks. 15 events in 14 weeks, my friends. That is the stretch that the UFC has just completed. Just completed 15 events in 14 weeks. Saturday night they were in Nashville, Tennessee, solid card highlighted of course by Glover to Sherrod defeating Ovin Saint-Prue. Nice comeback win for him. Back on track, former light heavyweight contender.

The man who took John Jones the distance. That was the big selling point. And thus concluded 15 events in 14 weeks. We get a day off, a week off, this coming weekend, and then the UFC is back the following weekend on a Sunday in Saskatoon. beautiful Rough Rider countries, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. And if you look at the rest of the schedule, the next four and a half months or so leading up to 2016, it's a much quieter schedule. It's less intense. And who are we to say that this is the wrong way to go about things?

You know, I think the UFC has finally started to figure out how to book their shows. Because what I mean by that is the summer is so quiet. I think UFC 190 and Ronda Mania. benefited from the fact that there wasn't a lot going on that weekend in sports. July, August, a very quiet time in the world of sports. Of course, you have my Toronto Blue Jays kicking everyone's ass and really stealing all the headlines. But other than that, there's not much going on. So I think it's smart to book July, August, as heavy as possible,

and then come football season, September, October, November, trickle off a little bit. And again, the media loves to complain about it. these things, but, you know, who are we to say that it's too much when 190, by all accounts, was a huge success, 189 was a success. Fox seems to be happy with their ratings, in particular the 190 prelim ratings, post-fight show, pre-fight show, all very good. So a nice little stretch for the UFC coming to an end. Of course, we'll talk about Saturday night in Nashville. We have so much to discuss on this week's show, a super stack show. At first, I thought it was going to be somewhat of a quiet show, and then slowly but surely, we stack this bad boy up, big time.

And I want to make mention at the top that, as you probably have noticed, we are streaming live on YouTube. Finally, the MMA gods have answered our prayers. Finally, after months and months of working on this, and I have to give big props to the guys in the studio here who worked very hard. I don't know anything about this stuff. I just booked the show and show up and talk about it all and of course ask questions, but there are a lot of smart people who work on this show, and I have to give them props for finally getting this done. And I'm not one. I've never been one to say, oh, subscribe, give us a like, all that. I don't do that stuff. I don't do it for iTunes. I don't do it for our YouTube channel. But it is important to subscribe now, more than ever,

to our YouTube channel because I believe there's like some sort of device that tells you when the show is live. Plus the M.A. Beat, plus Luke's shows, it helps remind you when things, things are coming up. That's the cool part about YouTube. Among many other things, our way-in clip, our Ronda Rousey-Betchko-Hia way-in clip, has over 7 million views, 7.5 approximately million views on that clip alone. It's unbelievable what's happening over there on YouTube. Who knew? People went to YouTube. So I'm so happy to have our show streaming live on YouTube. I hope you are all enjoying that experience and hopefully now, no more complaints. I heard from people last week saying they were watching it on Xbox, on PlayStation,

the possibilities, the outlets are endless when you're on YouTube. So I'm very excited about that. Thank you to everyone who made that happen. All right, what are we talking about and who are we talking to on today's show? Wow, we are stacked. 345, we're going to talk to boxer Amir Khan. Amir Khan, former two-time world champion, is getting into the world of MMA. We'll explain why and how when he joins our show at 345.

How about that, Amir Khan? And I'm not talking about Makwan Amir Khan. I'm talking about the boxer Amir Khan. Very exciting. 325, we're going to talk to Mike Brown, the former WC Featherweight Champion, is stopping by. That man is on a role as far as MMA coaching is concerned.

He is on fire. Coach over at ATT. Looking very good as of late. I'm a big fan of Mike Brown, so I'm happy to have him on. 305, we're going to talk to Luke Barnott. He is going to come on the show to break some news about where he is headed to next.

He has signed with a new promotion. Remember, the former U.S. F.C. Fighter was released. He was a member of Tough that season, Chil Sunnan and John Jones. What number was that? I don't remember. Released recently. I thought a little prematurely. Anyhow, he

has rebounded. He's back. And he's going to break that news at 305. 245. We're going to talk to Diego Sanchez. It was announced last week that the dream, the nightmare, Diego. He's moving down to 145. Long rumored, it's going to happen November 21st in Monterey, Mexico.

He's fighting Ricardo Lama. It's a tough fight in his featherweight debut. So Diego will stop by at 245. 225, we're going to talk to Roy McDonald in his first interview since UFC 189, the instant classic that was his fight against Robbie Lawler. Rory McDonald, the Red King stopping by at 225. Can I wait for that? Tyron Woodley is going to stop by at 205.

He got his wish. He's getting Johnny Hendricks at UFC 192 that was announced last week. And it's a big week for him. Why? because he's in the film Straight Outta Compton. Straight out of Compton about NWA. Have you seen those memes everywhere? Straight out of Compton.

He's in it. A crazy name Ice Cube. Tyrone Woodley's in that movie. Comes out this week. George Lockhart's going to stop by at 145. He is Chris Cyborg's nutritionist. You know, everyone can wax poetic about her weight situation. Only one man truly knows if she can make 135.

It's George Lockhart. card, he's going to be joining us at 145. Tim Kennedy is going to stop by at 125, talk about where he's been, what he's been up to the last few months. And in a matter of moments, we're going to be joined by our own Dave Meltzer to talk about the news of the week. Also, around 4 o'clock, we'll answer your questions and comments. So hit us up using the hashtag the MMA hour or leave a question or comment in the

comments section below. All right, all that out of the way. Let's get to the show. Let's go to the Skype machine. Welcome in our first guest of the day. our very own Dave Meltzer is here with us. Dave, how are you? I'm doing great, Ariel. How are you doing? I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for the time. So this past weekend, as I said, the UFC just completed a stretch of 15 events in 14 weeks. Unbelievable, right? 15 events in 14 weeks and we get one week off. Yeah, crazy. I mean, I was looking at the schedule in September and I'm going like, what am I going to do every Saturday? I mean, I've got this thing where it's like Saturday, you're just here and that's just what you do all day.

I'm so envious of you West Coasters, though, because at least for you, it ends at around like 10.30 p.m. for us, the 1.30 p.m. finish time is tough, especially when you're a father of two young boys. It's a little tough. I'm not going to lie. Well, look, I mean, like, our job is what our job is. It's like, for me, it doesn't, it doesn't end so early either between the press conference and then, you know, trying to figure out what's, you know, happening after the show. So it's an all-night thing pretty much on Saturday. I should not be complaining to you. I mean, how you juggle both forms of entertainment, how you do all that on a weekly basis. When's the last time you took a vacation? I mean, I don't know that I ever can really say like vacation. I went places, but I always did work. So I really couldn't answer that question.

I mean, it's, you know, like I would go to Japan, but it's like I was working in Japan. So vacation, I mean, I've had days where, you know, you go to the zoo or something. But, you know, I mean, as far as, like, a week or something, I can't remember. When's the last, you can't even remember? Like, the last time you unplugged, I mean, back in the day, there was no, you know, internet and all that, but that you just, you fell off the face of the news world, so to speak, for a couple days. Any recollection at all?

Oh, not a couple days. I mean, like, when I was in the hospital for 17 days in 1994, you know, and I almost died. What happened there? I was still on the phone, like, the whole time. Well, I was there, so, you know, we'd have to go back. I mean, you'd have to go back to the 80s, early 80s probably. By the way, why were you in the hospital for 17 days? When I had parotinitis and almost died.

What's that? It's basically an intestinal problem. It was horrible. But you were still on the phone. You still didn't take some time off? I think there was about a day or two where it was pretty much going to be impossible. When your fever's like 106 in your 5.4. writing for your life. But I mean, I would say certainly by the second day in when my fever was

down at the 103s, I was on the phone pretty much that whole time. Did you put out an observer that week? No, because I was in for, how do you an observer when you're in the hospital? But I did do a double issue when I came back. Okay, fair enough. Hey, I want to talk to you about Saturday night. To me, the big story was Amanda Nunes, because that was the most important fight on the card, and she really asserted herself as a true contender at 135. Tremendous win over Sarah McMahon. Did the UFC make a mistake by committing, at least for now, and we'll get to the cyborg stuff in a second.

Tamisha Tate, do you think that it would be better for them to present a fresh opponent for Ronda? Do you still think, even though she beat her twice, Tate, Rousey 3, is the best fight they can put on if they can't do Cyborg? I think that right now, since, you know, Tate is on the streak and everything like that, and she's so much more high profile that that's the best fight for the end of this year. But I was really happy to see Nunez come out there because, you know, there's always been that complaint. Oh, there's nobody new for her to face.

And there's really a couple of people, you know, there's Holly Holm and Juliana Pena. And Nunez probably stronger than them because of that win was much stronger than anyone the other two have had. So there are opponents. And, you know, and then there's always cyborg. So I think that I'd like to see Nunez face. You know, it's really hard to say, but maybe a. Sarah Kaufman or somebody to solidify that number one contender spot, maybe Katzengano. Although both are tough fights.

But with a win over either of them, I think that there's no question that you can't say that she deserves a title fight. UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby has a real conundrum here because if he books her against a Kaufman or Zengano, who Rhonda already beat rather quickly, well, then if they beat her, you're faced with having to deal with the reality of booking a rematch against either Zengano or Kaufman. I believe the Zengano rematch is a lot more sellable than the Coffman one right now. And then you have the possibility

of booking her against Holly Home, which would make a lot of sense, but then you kill off a contender. So which way do you go? I would go with Zengano, because I think there's a storyline to the fight, in the sense that they had a great first fight. I would think that the second fight, if anything, would be maybe better. If she beat Zingano,

it's a clear, you know, as far as path. And if Zingano wins, you know, Zengano and Rousy, there is a story, for a second fight and Rhonda has said that she would be willing to give it to her. So I don't know that you're necessarily killing contender that way. With Kaufman, it's a little tougher. So my thought would be Zangano would be the next one and let Holm and Pena kind of get some wins

and, you know, they're not going to be contending for the title until well into 2016, even at best. So, you know, that's fine. Were you surprised by the Ronda mania that just came out of nowhere? Not really out of nowhere, but what's happened over the last 10 or so days, nothing short of amazing. I mean, I was talking about it on top of our show. The weigh-in clip on our YouTube channel has 7.5 million views. That two-minute clip of Betch Gahan and Rhonda facing off, the media day way-in, which is, this

unheard of, has 1.5 million views. Why is this happening now for this fight? Is it because the sports calendar is quiet July, August? Is there something, you know, the SB, why do you think it's all happening now for Rhonda? You know, it's so funny that you say that because, you know, like the week before the fight, we were talking about like how it would do on pay-per-view. And everyone's numbers were below what they did, and most people's way below what they did for a bunch of reasons.

And it's funny because it's like I feel like our job is to be in touch with what's going on. And what we missed was is that there's a whole world out there. And Rhonda hit with women, I mean, like I could tell you like women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. I have friends that are older than me who are going like, you know, my wife wanted to watch this show. they don't know anything about MMA, but it's just, the SB Awards had a lot to do with it. The dissing of Floyd May, whether probably more than the awards, actually. But the book helped.

It was a combination of things. I'll tell you another one, and this one was with my son, because I talked to him and his friends. They had a party on Thursday night, and I was just going to, and these 13-year-old boys, and I'm going like, you know, do you know Connor McGregor, do you know Ronda? Some of them knew Connor, and some of them didn't.

Everyone knew Rhonda, and it was just like, where do you know her from? And it was from Furious Seven. Oh. So, you know, so it was like, because everyone saw that movie. There's one of the biggest grossing movies of all time. And the fight scene, you know, it got over with kids. I mean, she has an audience that's way beyond, you know, what Chuck Liddell, Connor McGregory,

even a Brock Lesnar for that matter. You know, when it comes to people outside of the MMA world, and that's where I think that this, all this stuff that you're talking about, it's all come from people kind of discovering her. She's the hot thing in society, especially with women. And yeah, I was stunned. I didn't notice it really or feel it until the day of the fight. The day of the fight, I really sensed it's like, this pay-per-view is going to do way better than we expected.

And then, you know, the early indications are it did. What are those early indications? I mean, I don't want to say anything because, you know, paper-view numbers are so weird. And to this day, I don't really understand why we don't have a number like on Tuesday or Wednesday. And we don't. We really don't have a clear number for like three months. But it looks like it's going to be the biggest one this year. Do you think it does over a million?

It's too early to say that, but I'm thinking $900,000. Wow. Maybe, you know, I mean, maybe it does a little, maybe it does a little less, maybe it does a little more. I've had people who are suggested to me that it will do considerably more, but who knows. I think $900,000 might be a nice, safe estimate. And like I said, that could be off 20% in either direction. Sure. Any idea what $189 did officially?

I mean, as far as your reporting goes? I heard right over eight. But again, there's different things. The numbers I'm going to get are U.S. and Canada. There is Australia, there is Europe that does have pay-per-view in some of these other countries. There is Internet pay-per-view, which is getting stronger and stronger off the UFC website. So if I have a number, the odds are my number before was pretty darn close to accurate. Right now, my numbers are probably a little lower than accurate just because of these other forms of pay-per-view that are not traditional means or the old traditional means.

You know what's the most amazing about those two numbers, if they are, you know, in fact, correct, at least close to. Those two cards happen less than a month apart. Unbelievable. Three weeks. It's just, yeah, three weeks. That's unbelievable to me. That's the most amazing part of the whole thing. Well, you know, I think

that the number for Connor helps because if you watch the Connor McGregor show on July 11th, there was ad after ad after ad for Ronda Rousey and they were great ads. I mean, I remember watching them and it's just like they really made her larger than life. And the other one was, is if you watch the

the FS1 prelims for the UFC 190, it was unbelievable between the TV commercials and the ads for the fight. It's like every five minutes they were plug in Ronda Rousey, Ronda Rousey, and you felt watching this where I really felt it was watching the prelims and it was just like, this woman is looking like, you know, like a bigger star than anything we've ever seen before.

And that's when I really sense that, you know, my thoughts on, well, it's in Brazil and it's three weeks after a big show. So if it does what the last one did, you know, I would consider that a big success. All of a sudden, it's like, you know, it's going to beat what the last one did probably by a lot. So considering that, do you think, A, putting them on the same card in around December or so is the right call? And B, do you think that they can actually be successful by putting this in a football stadium, AT&T stadium, Cowboy Stadium?

I think it's the time. Yeah, I think so. I think it'd be successful. I mean, the question is, do you go – I mean, Connor McGregor and Aldo probably should do a million buys. Rhonda Rousey and Misha Tate should do what this one did maybe more. I don't know. But, I mean, we're talking about two giant successes. But the thing is, I like the idea of them on the same show, going to the stadium.

Because if you go in there and I think it's just a visual and just a feeling, like, you know, UFC felt like it was super hot around 2010. And then, you know, it's going along. And last year was a terrible year. And this year's been a good year and all that. But, you know, it hasn't felt like it's super hot until really the last couple of weeks now. all of a sudden it's like we're feeling like a super hot. And I think that the idea of if you go and do a show that does 50,000 people, and there's that visual and probably break the UFC 100 buy rate record,

because the one good thing about Connor McGregor and Ronda Rousey is they draw completely different audiences. So it's not like there's this ceiling. There's no ceiling to Ronda Rousey. There is a ceiling to Connor, but everyone who's interested in Connor is going to buy that one, and Ronda's going to add a whole new dimension. Plus it's the whole thing of, you can advertise this as the greatest UFC show of all time and you'll get that kind of stuff. And I mean, that's the key with Mayweather and Pachial.

It's like if you look at the number and buys, but what happens is it's like the day of the show and people go, there's something really big and we've got to see it. And I think that if you have that killer card, you're going to get that type of person. You know, like your friends, they're not MMA fans, but maybe they watch Mayweather and Paciow because it was a big cultural event. Maybe they'll watch the World Series or the Super Bowl or the Final Four, but they're not really big basketball fans. And I think that you put that show on there, it becomes a big.

for the first time, or maybe the second time with UFC 100, where you really have a UFC event that's much bigger than what UFC is. And that's the kind of thing where you're going to make a lot of new fans. But the key is you're going to create tremendous awareness for the sport. So I think it's the time to do it, yes. Do you throw Punk on that card as well to get that audience into the mix? If he's ready. But with Punk, I think the whole thing depends on where he's at.

I don't think that there's any reason to rush him. because rush him and have it be a flop, does nobody any good. If he's ready and they have the right opponent, would I put it on that show? Yes, I would put it on that show. I think that's another great thing because, yeah, now you're adding another couple hundred thousand pro wrestling fans that will probably buy out of curiosity. Plus, again, it's something punk can promote a fight. And there's that curiosity of what's this guy, you know, this pro wrestler, who's not a former NCAA champion.

What's he going to do this Walter Middy story? which I think, I mean, I give him so much credit for doing it, because I can't think of anyone in the world who would risk their reputation and with the kind of money that he could have made doing something else at that age and doing it because he didn't want that time to pass him by and be 50 years old and go, you know, I always wanted to do UFC, but I just kept doing wrestling. And so I think it's a fascinating story, but yeah, if he's ready, absolutely on that show, yes. So on Friday on Inside MMA, Titori said that the UFC reached out to

Cyborg about fighting Ronda Rousey at Cowboy Stadium. Then on Saturday to Kevin Ioli of Yahoo Sports, Dana White said this isn't true. And then after that, both Tito and Cyborg herself and Cyborg's manager to ESPN said that, yes, it is true. What's your take on all of this? Do you think they actually reached out to her or her team? Well, I think that there were probably conversations. And I, you know, I'm not in the conversations. I don't know exactly what happened.

but I think somebody probably called and what they said, I don't know. I mean, look, if I'm UFC, I'm in contact with her manager about doing that fight. Maybe not December 5th, maybe UFC 200 in July. But absolutely, you know, I mean, Dana said it himself. He said that he thinks it's going to do 2.5 million buys. I don't know about that.

But I'll tell you what, you know, when he first said 2 million, you know, it was kind of like it was like a big joke. But now when he says 2.5 million, I'm not even laughing because that's going to be a gigantic fight. and I think it's actually better for that fight to wait to UFC 200 than to do it in December. But, you know, again, if you want to do this giant, giant show, I mean, I wouldn't rule it out. But I think we need to see, we need to see Chris fight one fight at 135 to prove she can make the weight

and to prove she can be effective at that weight against somebody. And preferably on a UFC show and not an Invictus show. Maybe even, you know, maybe even December 50 put her against, you know, a Kaufman or somebody like that, also on that card. And then you come out with, you know, if she gets a big win and Ronda gets a big win, and let's just say that there's this giant audience, including a lot of newcomers, they're going to come out there at the end of that night going like, man, there's another fight we can't wait to see. And that just, you know, builds it even more.

But yeah, I would not do, I would not do it on December 5th. But I would really like to get Chris if she can make $1.35 on that December 5th show, absolutely. I couldn't agree more for two other reasons. A, there's no need to rush it because I think a lot of people are just, learning about Rhonda now, I think a lot of her new fans don't even know that she fought Misha twice already. So it's all still very fresh and new. Why, you know, why rush this whole thing? And plus, you know, it is somewhat of a health risk to make someone in four months drop down to 135 when she's never even done the test cut, who has, you know, talked about in the past that

it's hard for to make, you know, anything lower than 140. I don't, I don't see much of, of course I'd love to see it. You and I, who have been following the sport and talking about this fight in particular for what, like, you know, three, four years now, of course we'd love to see. Maybe longer. But it doesn't make sense to make it on December 5th. Tate is fine. I used to think like two weeks ago I thought you got, screw the Tate fight, but now I feel differently.

Because Ronda is so fresh to so many new fans, there's no need to roll the dice. Could you imagine if Cyborg misses weight and can't even fight? Can you imagine that? Like she gets so dehydrated, she can't fight on December 5th, and now you're left with no Ronda on that card? Well, that's what I say that I really hope that she can do one fight at that weight. to prove that she can make that way. Because also, once she proves she can do it once,

I think not this mental block, which I think it's been, because obviously she's stalled and stalled and stalled, you know, with the proviso for a long time that, you know, let's face it, it's been since, what, the end of 2012, since when she first got the offer, if she'd get to 135, you know, it's been several years, and she hasn't done it yet. You know, it's a weird fight because obviously I'm a fan of big business, and this is giant business.

I can't imagine correctly promoted that this won't be the women's fight event of our lifetimes. I mean, you know, I actually told Dana White that when the first Rousie's fight that night in Columbus, I remember texting him back. We were texting back and forth, and I said, you know, if she, and then again, it's so much bigger now than it was, than I ever imagined it. But I said, if that fight were to happen, you know, this would be like the biggest. women's combat sports fight of all time and for you know for decades maybe and now

it's probably five times as big as I imagined it then because Rhonda exploded like we never saw and even though people don't know Cyborg she's very easy to promote especially if people see a couple of her fights and they promote her really hard and this is Ronda's ultimate this is Ronda's ultimate challenge which nobody believed that

Betch Gohay is and nobody believes Misha Tate is I think the sky is the limit it'll be something that you know it'll be an event that we will talk about for decades, I believe, no matter what happens in the fight. Speaking of big business, do you think Fador's next fight will be in a UFC octagon? I hope so. I just think it's the right time for all concerned to do that. December 5th would be tremendous, right, if you're trying to make a big deal?

And at this point, at this point, I think we should spread some stuff out. Okay, fine, fine. Yeah, no, no, no, no. But, I mean, obviously all the stuff that we're talking about isn't going to happen on that show. but would that be a great a great fight a great show I'm not you know the thing that I'm trying to figure out

is is Arlovsky is Arlofski's really going to fight Kane Velasquez next well he's fighting Frank Mirr on September 5th I don't mean our last I mean I'm sorry I mean for Doom Oh Verdoom right right right Yeah I mean that so I mean it's

Go ahead You know or we'll Will Verdume fight Fador I mean there is a there is a story To redemption and Fador That was pretty memorable fight You know the minute that it lasted But yeah I think

I think that Fador's UFC debut would be a pretty big deal. And I just think if he wants to fight again, it's the place for him to go. And there's plenty of opponents for him. I mean, I think that a fight with Velasquez, I think a fight with Verdume, I think that those are all really intriguing new fights. Fador, Verdome, too, would not surprise me in the least bit, especially in this day and age where you have Alexander Gustafsson getting a title fight coming off a knockout, Condit, skipping over Hendricks and Lawler to get a title shot.

UFC is very much in the business of putting on entertaining fights, fights that could sell. And, I mean, it's so easy to sell, fade over doom, especially to say, look, this guy's done enough to warrant this title shot. So it's a really interesting time. And it's funny because, as you said, last year around this time, the UFC was struggling as far as all the injuries and people pulling out for various reasons. Now, coming off this amazing July, this red hot summer, they are sitting pretty. So it's going to be interesting to see how they close out 2015.

Dave, appreciate the time, as always. great stuff. We'll talk to you very soon. Okay, great. Ariel. There he is. Dave Meltzer of MMAfighting.com and, of course, the Wrestling Observer newsletter. An unbelievable wealth of knowledge coming out of Dave Meltzer. We talked to him about the business of MMA for hours and hours, but we do have to move along because coming up next is good friend of the show. Whoops. Good friend of the show, Tim Kennedy.

Tim Kennedy, if you follow this man on Twitter, any form of... social media, which he runs, not that Fugazi stuff. Tim Kennedy has been all over the place doing things that regular Joe Schmo's like myself could only dream of. I mean, the stuff he's done over the last four or five months or so, forget about dreaming of. I would not even dream of these things. The stuff that he's done, I mean, we all know about Tim Kennedy. He's an American hero. His resume has been talked about many times over. We don't have to go into it here. But the stuff that he's done, just based off of what he's tweeting about, terrifies me just to read about. The man is, he's fearless. It's unbelievable. And I'm wondering why he does

this. I'm also wondering what's the status of his fighting career. I'm wondering a lot of things as it pertains to Tim Kennedy. So I wanted to have him on the show to talk to him because he is so entertaining and he's such a pleasure to talk to there he has tim kennedy back from god knows where tim how are you i'm awesome how you doing where did you just come back from um i flew back from brazil yesterday and before that as in columbia ergway argentina paraguay panama i don't know south it's unbelievable what what are you doing over there um i'm trying to find ways that i can drown freeze to death, get blown up, shot, stabbed, murdered via machete with dudes on scooters. What? That happened? Yeah. Someone tried to attack you on a scooter with the machete?

It ended up being anticlimatic. I was driving my four by four with a couple of crew guys in the back. We pull into like this jungle area to try to fix some of our Pelican cases. And these guys on these scooters cruised up with machete. and it's like, doodoo-de-do-do-do-d-d-do-d-d-d-d-d-t. It's like that moment where we're looking at them, they're looking at us. I don't have my machete or my gun yet, but they have theirs. I was like, oh, man, this is going to get ugly fast. But fortunately, my remarkable fluent Spanish got us out of that really tight spot. Oh, where were you?

No. Argentina. Okay, so I want to rewind here for a second, because I remember talking to you. We were texting around April. I think I was in Montreal for UFC 186 and you threw out the idea of a sort of loser leaves town match against Leo Machita

after he had just lost to Luke Rockhold, right? You said you wanted to fight him. If you can't beat him, you're done and if you beat him, he's done, right? Is that accurate? Back then in April? Yeah. Yeah. Yep, I think I said that. And you said cool, great idea, but I'm off to Brazil, I'm off to South America

for a few months to do a whole bunch of stuff. So I'm going to be off the grid for a couple months, come back. So since then, that's when you, marked on this journey. Are you done with your travels? Are you back here in the States for good? Yeah, I'm never done with my travels, and I'm never back in the States for good, but I'm done with this segment of me trying to die. And I'm going to be here for at least two months training. Can we talk about why you went to South America initially? Yeah, filming a TV show. That's going to be on the History Channel. It's going to come out in October.

and I'm the main idiot in the show. I guess I'm a investigator or a special operations guy. And so I was down there filming eight episodes for the History Channel. What are you doing there? TV show. What are you doing over there? Down there? You can't say.

What's the premise? We are using... current up-to-date technology to solve historical questions. Wow. Yeah. And hunting down war criminals. That's the craziest part, because these war criminals, aren't they kind of old at this point? Most, well, from the really big war, most of them are super old.

It's like super tragic. It couldn't be more pathetic when you're talking to like a 95-year-old dude. You have a picture of his ID card from Germany, you know, and he's lying. to you. He's like, oh yeah, my dad was a pig farmer. And my mom, you know, she, uh, she, um, she worked on clothes. She was like a tailor, you know, and you're like, ah, so I know where you were born in Berlin and I have the address that you lived in

when you grew up for 20 years. So can we just stop the charades? You're really old. It's old to me. You don't need to worry about it. I'm not going to like put you in cuffs. Um, it's just like, it's kind of heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. Screw those guys. Screw those murderers. Heartbreaking. He's not heartbreaking. He's been lying for 95 years.

No, it's heartbreaking that he still is doing it. Oh, okay, fair enough. Yeah, yeah, okay. Oh, no, I would put him in cuffs at 95 years old, throw him in the back of the truck, and I would take all of his family's money, and I would take all of his kids' houses. I'd confiscate everything and burn into the ground.

Yeah, they killed two million innocent people. I give zero shits about them. So these interactions are on camera? Yes. Oh, my gosh. This is unbelievable. I can't wait for this. Did you enjoy it?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty crazy, pretty remarkable, the places that it got me into. You know, off the coast of Argentina using side sonar and magnetrometers, scuba diving in swamps in Brazil and Colombia, hidden cameras all over me to go talk to people, going into fight clubs. So in like the Hitler youth culture, fighting is kind of a big deal.

The origin, the genesis of kind of the fascism movement was very violent. And that has been deep-seated in their culture. So you could go to like fight clubs in Argentina and you'll find dudes that have like swastikas tattooed on their necks or like the Iron Cross on their side, you know, or like their dads or their grandpa's serial number tattooed on their back. that worked at Auschwitz or some horrible place. It's just like very ingrained in the culture. When you walked up to any of these people, did any of them know who you were? Are you Tim Kennedy of UFC Strike Force? Really?

Yeah. Wow. What's that like? I mean, I used that as leverage. Yeah. I can't say, hey, I'm an investigator for History Channel trying to find Nazis. Do you know any? Instead, it's like, hey, I'm Tim Kennedy.

I'm in Argentina on holiday, and I'll, you know, I want to go grapple you guys down for some training. This is unbelievable. This is what reality TV should be about. Not people going to get manicures and pedicures. Or spray tans. Sure, or that. Was there any point where you were like, this is not smart? What I get myself into?

Oh, yeah, there was like, Okay. Yeah, there's a lot. I know your background. I mean, you're used to being in these positions, but, you know, sometimes you're there with a camera crew. You have a bullseye. You're not exactly incognito, right?

Yeah. So the camera crew, anytime I've gone places to places where people want to kill me, I have eight other dudes that are just like me that are pretty okay with other people trying to kill us. This is totally different. Where I'm there with, you know, eight, ten other dudes that are from California. California, that the only thing they've ever shot in their life is a video camera. And they're trying intentionally to put me into the most dangerous situation that they can,

because it looks cool on camera with the expectation that me, by myself, can either get us out of it or I'll die heroically on camera. I think that was what they're hoping for. And you're the only guy? You don't have a partner in crime. It's all eyes on you? At every area or place that I went to, we brought in a specialist that was with me. Okay. But for everything, I'm the guy.

So when we're in, at one place, we bring in this death claims investigator to look at the legitimacy of what they're doing. Then we bring in the CIA guy to do the human analysis of the intelligence that we're getting. Then we bring in like this underwater archaeologist. We bring in, like, we bring in the best. guys from around the world for every little segment that's pretty badass so amazingly we are approaching the one year anniversary of your last fight pretty amazing right september time flies i can't believe it it's shocking to me where do we stand with your fighting career um what am i'm ranked like seven or eight right now so i've only slipped a spot which is crazy because there's like five dudes above me that

I would murder or smash. Where do we stand? So everybody, I think I've been calling out every single middleweight that has fought that is ranked in the top 10 in the past six months. Or every marquee name. Sure. I think I've called out everyone. And what's happening?

I miss anybody? I mean, like, Anderson got him. Vidor got him. Dan, he's marquee, but not top 10. Leoto, Musasi. I mean like I don't know So what's going on?

Do I miss somebody? I don't know. So I guess how the matchmaking works now is you just find two dudes that previously used steroids or testosterone and then you just make them fight each other because they're going to lose to everybody else now that they're off of it. That's how I guess how it works.

Oh crap, I'm not wearing my Reebok shirt. Hey, Ginger, will you go grab me? No. No. I actually, I really thought the Vitor fight made a lot of sense, especially timing-wise. Is that the one you're really disappointed you didn't get? Yeah.

Did you ask for it? Did you ever call anyone up? Did your manager your age and someone call up the UFC and say we're ready to come back, we're ready to fight? Yeah. So Mike Fonseca, my management, he went to the fight week in July, Vegas. And, you know, like talked to everybody and says, hey, Tim's pretty much wrapping the show in August. And so I have a big movie coming. that I'm going to be in in October.

So August, September, I'm just training crazy maniac because I have to look like a complete monster for this movie. And I'm going to treat that as maybe like a pre-fight camp. So August, September, one week filming October, you know, fight end of October, November. I don't know. So something like that. I think the good news here is that you're not done fighting.

Well, I'm not fighting. I'm never done fighting. The last time I spoke to you, it seemed like you know, you were kind of contemplating, you know, for various reasons. It felt like the love of the sport, I don't know what, you know, the Romero thing, just something was different for you. Like you didn't feel like you were all in. You need to take some time off. After this time off, it sounds like you're still interested in resuming your career. Love for the fighting is absolutely 100% still there, and it's always been there.

I think my indifference towards the sport has nothing or has nothing to do with the sport. I still love the sport. I still love mixed martial arts. I still love fighting. I'm always going to be a martial artist. My dad is like seated over there on the couch. She's visiting. And, you know, they put me to martial arts when I was like, like stupid small.

So this is going to be until back to the age of I can't walk again. So like 80, I'm going to be doing martial arts. So this doesn't change anything. My disenchantment has come from the business side of it, the officiating, the reffing, the sponsorship. I mean, just where the sport is now, it's horrible and tragic and pathetic. What do you mean by that? We don't know, do we just have a Glover just fought OSP, right? Yep.

and the entire Reebok payout was like 100 grand or something. Oh, of the entire card. I didn't do that math. You mean like what everyone made together? Yeah, everyone, every single athlete on the entire UFC card for that night. Did you sit there and do the math or did you read that somewhere? I made more. I made more in sponsorship money and Strike Force than every single athlete on that card that night.

In one fight. In one fight. Yeah, in one fight. So that couple of... Me versus Luke Rockhold or me versus Jokre, or hell, even my last fight, me versus Pat Cummings, my last fight in Strike Force, I made more than every single UFC athlete to include Glover who just fought for the title against John Jones, cumulatively.

And if that doesn't blow your mind and say what is wrong with the sport, then... Is that precluding you from coming back? I mean, that's a major contributing factor. It's not ever any one thing. Okay. It's like I'm loving life right now. I'm having so much fun. Yeah.

Scoob diving, you know, skydiving, hunting, finding poachers, finding war criminals, hanging out with my infant son, making out with my hot wife. I mean, like, my life is awesome. Motorcycles, big old snakes, Everglades of Florida, pig hunting in Louisiana. I mean, this is like, this is good stuff. You're living the dream. Yeah. So Joe Silva has a, he has a task of, you know, finding something interesting, especially with the circumstances surrounding the UFC as a promotion.

I remember last time you were on this show, you were talking about, you know, the drug testing issue, the PED issue in MMA. You actually tweeted afterwards that Lorenzo Fertita called you up. You had a nice little chat, perhaps stemming from your comments on this show. that we're in this new era with Usada. Are you happy? Are you happy? Because I believe when you were on the show last, they had not partnered with Usada yet.

The thing had not kicked in yet. Are you happy with her out on that front? Oh, this looks awesome. It looks super awesome. Have you heard of anybody being tested yet? By Usada? Yeah. I did see Ronda Rousey get blood tested.

Yes, I did. I saw her get blood tested after her fight. So I can say I saw one person. I mean, usually I don't see anyone, to be honest. But no one has really come out and touted the fact that they've been tested if that's what you're getting at. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm getting. Everyone from, you know, Carlos Condit to Cowboys Soroni,

miss myself, like guys that are pretty outspoken about PD users that we want, like test us at your leisure, we are available. My front door is unlocked, you know, let me know, come in, take my blood, I don't care. Compared to the, hey, I'm down in Brazil training. No, you can't blood test me here because. you don't have a work visa. Any of that stuff. A big, huge contrast.

And I haven't heard any athletes from any of the top guys saying that they've been tested. Did they ask for your input? You know, when you had that chat with Renzor, perhaps others, with other members of the UFC executive staff, did anyone say, look, you're so outspoken. In a perfect world, what would you like to be done? Yeah. What'd you say? I said, super easy solution.

is first initially, right now, the day that it kicks off, test the entire roster. So then you have a clean slate, right? Yeah. And then from that point forward, then you can move forward with random testing. Or if you see guys that, and you can do it absolutely so simply where training habits, as a professional performance-enhancing drug investigator, like the spokesperson supposedly is, he has the clout to say, you know, this guy physically looks like it. He is training like it, and his performance is indicating that he is on it.

So we're going to test him and then go through the roster with a little prejudice about, you know, using maybe a small amount of perception and discernment about who might be using it. We could go through the list right now if you want. Sure. Well, I don't think that's it. I feel like some of the people you called out are some of those. people that you're referring to, right? Dude, I thought

it's supposed to be a fun, exciting show, Ariel. Well, no. Or your sense of adventure. All right, fine. What's the next time? Did you, did you enjoy the fact that Chris Widman beat up Vitor Belfort the way he did?

Effronously? Yeah. Yeah, he was like, did I fight? Cool. Yeah, that was awesome. You know, it was ironic, completely unsurprising.

Is that exactly how, I said Chris was going to freight train him. and that's what happened. You know, this guy fought on Saturday. He's not in the top six or five. He's not someone you called out. But I wouldn't mind seeing a Tim Kennedy, Uriah Hall fight.

What do you make of that? Does it make sense for you? Yeah, what Uriah Hall. I want to fight fun Uriah Hall. Yeah. Not boring your eye haul. That would be super boring. Yeah.

I don't know. I'm trying to think of something off the bean path to get you back on track. I think we missed him, Kennedy. I think we miss you out there. It's been almost a year. By the time you get back in there, it'll probably more than a year unless something crazy happens in the next couple of days or so. I think we need to get you, you know, off your couch, so to speak. It feels like you haven't been active enough over the last few months. This is true. Yeah, I've not been...

We need you back in this world. Yeah, I need to. And do I, man, that, that's... That was really sweet to hear you say that. Talk about a full journey that you and I have had. I remember five years ago where I was considering skinning you alive. You hated me. Is it fair to say you hated me? Yeah. And by the way, it was less than five years ago, way less than five years ago.

Before you FC debut, you almost hung up on me, remember? Yeah. And then you called me a pathetic instigator another time. Yeah. You have a good mind. Oh, I don't forget these things, especially when I piss off someone. of your stature. Yeah.

Well, I'm not sorry. I said that. I stand by my words at the time. But now, now, you're bad, it's getting hot in here. I'm glad that we're where we are now. Yes. Hey, I want to ask you about this, not to dampen the mood, but you tweeted about a friend of yours yesterday, who you lost.

Andrew. What happened? If you made me cry, I'm going to get mad at you again. No, that's not my intention. I just wanted to. to ask because you tweeted about it like less than 24 hours ago. Yeah. Andrew McKenna is, he was in Special Forces Master Sergeant,

and he was in a first sergeant role. So he's a Green Beret. He's a sniper, Halo guy. He was on my ODA, operational detachment Alpha for a seven special forces group. I consider him a very good friend. He was in Kabul, Afghanistan with a guy named George Vera. They were training Afghan police officers when a whole bunch of guys ran into the base to try to kill everybody on the base.

They shot a whole bunch of them. The bombs went off. Andrew and George both survived. The bomb blast. They stand back up and they get, they do what every single special force a guy does is they start running towards the gunfire. George and Andrew end up being in a few-minute gunfight, killing a whole bunch of dudes.

Both of them got shot. countless times. George got shot eight times. He's still alive. He is flying from Germany to the States. He got shot in the shin, the knee, the leg, the hip, the liver, the kidney, and then two rounds in his spine. So right now he's paralyzed.

And Andrew, who I was very, that's one of my very best friends when I was in Florida. He got, his final round was in the head. So he got shot in the head between his orbital and his temple. And he died there. I'm so sorry to hear that. How old was he? 33. 35, 33.

And you just found out yesterday? As I was boarding my flight from Porto Alegre to Rio de Janeiro, I got the first text. And then I started getting more and more and more. At the time, it was just, hey, one of our brothers is messed up pretty bad. and then another one was hey it was Andrew and then by the time i got to rio it's it's pretty much out and then boarded my plane for rio and when i landed in houston i had what a hundred and fifty some odd text messages oh saying hey you know i'm very sorry about that yeah but not not to sound he died how like with his kid on with his gun running towards gunfire um well my condolences to

you, his family, I mean, just, that stuff is very hard. I appreciate you talking about him. Again, we miss you out there. I hope now that you're back from your crazy travel. So October History Channel, what date does it premiere? I can't wait for this. So the second week of October, I think. So there's a TV show called Oak Island on the History Channel. It's Big Pot, I don't know anything about it, but it's like apparently a big deal. the night that the finale is of Oak Island, we are the next. Awesome. Okay.

We follow that up. Well, we have to have you on. If there's a date. Yeah, yeah, we have to have you on to talk about that. I'm actually going to look it up, look up. What's the name of the show? Do you know? I can't tell you.

Okay, fair enough. You've said enough. I can't wait for that. And I hope that you coming back on this show is a sign that you're coming back to a cage near us. Because, like I said, there's a big fight fart in Dallas. Yes. Oh, perfect. We were just talking about that.

your neck of the woods. That's like two hours that way. Perfect. If you drove this way. Let's work on that. Yeah. Anderson Silva. Oh.

Number two, middleweight versus Tim Kennedy, number seven middleweight. Well, let's see if he's cleared. He has a big commission hearing on Wednesday. August 13th day, that is Wednesday. No, Thursday? He can have my blood. After the, he could just inject himself with my blood from this point forward and he'll be good. and then we'll fight in Dallas.

That's her dream. Anderson. That'd be awesome. Yeah, that would be the perfect. Tim, we'll get off the couch. Couch. Yes. For Anderson Silva in Dallas.

All right. Your lips to Joe Silva's ears. Thank you very much for the time, Tim. Great to have you back in the mix here. Welcome home, and we'll talk to you soon. Ariel, pleasure. There he is. Tim Kennedy, great guy.

Looking forward to his return sooner, rather than later, and how about that show? Wow. That sounds fantastic. That sounds amazing. Only Tim Kennedy would do something like that. I highly suggest following this man on Twitter. If you want to feel like a very lazy human being, if you want to feel like you've accomplished nothing, just follow Tim Kennedy on Twitter. And you'll be on your couch eating cheese doodles, which I had this past weekend. And Tim Kennedy will be somewhere in the... In South America, Brazil, Argentina, who knows, and he'll be standing there with a gun. He'll be flying out of a helicopter, jumping out of a helicopter, jumping off a cliff.

It's unbelievable what this man does and what he puts himself through. All right. In a minute, we're going to be joined by George Lockhart. We had George on the show, I believe, in February, to talk about his work. The work that he was going to start to do with one Chris Cyborg. He was hired as her nutritionist. He's worked with her a couple times. now and as I said

at the top of the show as I said on the top of the show a lot of speculation about Cyborg Ronda about her weight all that stuff there's only really one man who can answer these questions for us there's only one really one man who's educated enough

to speak on this subject and that's George Lockhart so we wanted to have him on the show to talk about that and a whole lot more he joins us now via the phone George are you there yeah yes sir how's it going Great to have you on the show, George. So, you know, you're, in my opinion, you're the most wanted man in MMA. Because this fight is, you know, on everyone's mind, every, every show, every media outlet that talks about M.A. is talking about the possibility of Ronda Rousey versus Chris Cyborg. And you're the only man, in my opinion. You're the only person, even more so than Cyborg, who knows if this could actually get done.

So let me ask you the question. Can Chris Cyborg make 135, given your history with her, given the work you've done? done, can she make $1.35? Yes, yes, you can. And how long would it take for her to do that? You know, the timeline, the more time we have, the better, obviously. Okay. We could get her down there within, you know, four to six months. So this talk of December 5th, would that be premature?

No, not necessarily premature. Sure. You know, if they wanted to fight December 5th, that would be, you know, within the timeline. It would be pretty close, but she could definitely make 135 by December 5th. Do you need to have some sort of test cut to make this successful? Like, does she have to actually hit 135 in order for you to feel confident that she can actually make it come way in day? No, I'm actually, I'm totally against, like, test cuts. Why?

The reason being just, it's so much time that you waste. much that you lose. You know, when you do weight cuts, it really is. It's nothing but a numbers game. How much water somebody's holding the, you know, how much mass that they have and what we need to do. And the thing is when we do a cut, you know, that last week people, they're not able to train.

You know, you're not able to train because you're concentrated on the cut, you know, and your body doesn't have that water that's protecting tissue and things of that nature. So that's where a lot of people, they actually get injured on the last couple of weeks before the cut, because their body is not as strong. It's not, it doesn't have that protective layer. So it's two weeks before, but a lot of people don't realize that a week after the fight, you have to do something going to de-training.

You got to kind of get back into the mode of training. You can't just go and, like, okay, well, he took a week off. Now we're going to go back into doing what we're doing. When you do a test cut, you're losing like three weeks to a month of actual training just to do a test cut when the numbers, right, if the numbers are right, then you know that you can make it. And let me tell you, I'm not going to lie to you. Every time, I mean, when I get the phone call, it's not because, you know,

hey, man, I've got an easy cut ahead of me. You want to come help me out, and I'm willing to pay you. It's like, man, I got 30 pounds. I got four days. I haven't had anybody, you know, misway while I fly out there or anything like that. But I look at the numbers, but still, brother, like, you just sit there and you're like, okay, got to believe the numbers, you got to trust it, but it still doesn't mean you don't stress out.

Yeah, everyone always calls you with like some sort of emergency, right? Like you have to move a mountain essentially to get this done, right? No, no, man. You know, I get those occasional calls, and, you know, it's usually the elite of the elite. You know, then you realize you're like, this is why they're the top notch, is why they're champions, because they don't wait until they have. optical, I mean, they, you know, it's just, it's a pre-maintenance, you know, they stay ahead of the game and make sure that there isn't any problems. So do you feel like, okay, so you say four to six months, we're now less than four months away. Let's just say December 5th, you know, actually, before I ask you that question, let me ask you this question. Back and forth this weekend, we have gone from, you know, Titor Ortiz to Cyborg's manager, Dana White. Some saying she's been offered this fight, some saying no. Do you have any insight into this?

Um, you know, all I know is that the camp finally asked me if she can get down at 135. You know, I was on your show before. Yeah. And, uh, you know, I said, you know, I wasn't even at something in my, my brain housing group. I was thinking about it because they always wanted to get to 145. And they finally came out and they said, George, can we get it at 135? And I was, you know, I told them straight up. I'm like, yeah, I believe that, you know, for, for a while, but I didn't want to say anything because that puts Chris on the spot.

Chris has got this new fire about her. She really wants this round to fight, and she's like, George, can I make it? I told her yes. Yes, you can. So this is the first time they actually asked you that question? Yes, yes. Wow, that's interesting. When did they ask you that?

Oh, man, I think it was about a bit a week ago, about a week ago. And you said with no hesitation, yes. Yes. Wow. And did you feel like you needed to work with her in order to feel like, is there something about her, her diet, her weight training, her training in general, that makes you feel like even though she's never hit 135 before, she's never gone lower than 140, that no problem,

there wouldn't be a risk to do this? No, no, you know, as long as we have the time, you know, as long as we have the time. You know, and I told me, this is going to be, excuse me, And the fact that I have worked with her makes me so come. There's so many things that I learned about her body this last camp. I'm literally like we, like we lived together. So I knew exactly what she was eating, when she was eating, when she was training, what she was doing at each training session.

And then even more importantly, like, you know, the cut. A lot of people, it's not that they can't, you know, their bodies, or they don't have the ability to cut the weight. It's just they don't have the mindset to cut the weight. You know, if Chris needed to go out and she needed to run, you know, 10 miles. I don't know. We'd have an off day and she would

go out and run like 7 to 10 miles just just for the heck of it. That blew my mind. I'm like, oh, that's not normal. You know what I mean? That's pretty impressive, you know. And that just shows, I guess she has the ability. A lot of people, they don't have the athleticism

with the conditioning or the mindset to do this. She does. So, you know, I don't see you being a problem at all. So once they asked you this, Once you said yes, did you actually start talking to Cyborg herself about this move, about this possibility? Yeah, you know, she said, George, you know, she made me, you know, she made me promise. She's like, hey, she's like, I, if I'm not going to be strong, I don't want to fight a 135.

Yeah, I think that, you know, that's her biggest, that is her biggest fear. And rightfully so, man. Her health is my number one priority, but also, you know, I want to make sure she, she fights, honestly, I couldn't tell you how mad I would be if I cut down and somebody beat me at this level, somebody beat me, not because they were better than me, is because I was at 70% of me, you know? And that's what I want to make sure. I don't want to, you know, the question really isn't, can I get her down? That actually is the easy part. The question is, can I get her down and be as good, if not better than she was at 145? And, you

that right there, that's my goal. My goal is to make you better, faster, you know, explosive at 135. Can you answer that question now, or is that impossible because you haven't done it? No, you know, it's very, very possible. Like, okay, you got the science part, and then you have, you know, just actual, you know, lights. When you're doing a cut, it's like, okay, when you write numbers down, every time I was out there with Chris, every week, there were certain numbers that I had to hit. And, you know, we hit those numbers, and like I said, you have to hit the numbers.

And, you know, what I wanted her to hit, like, 160 is what she needed to hit the week before prior to the weight cut. Well, July 4th, like I'm looking at my nose, July 4th, she was 170 pounds. And July 8, she was 145 pounds. And the kicker was, this is one of her easier cuts. And if somebody looks at it, it says, well, wait a minute, you know, July 4, you're 170, you know, that's a 25-pound cut. But she'd hit 160. The body fluctuates, the body changes. And a lot of people, they just look at that number and then I realize the actual real numbers, you know, the fluctuation and the actual, okay, you're holding water today because X, Y, and Z stress.

Sometimes it doesn't go down nice and smooth in a nice controlled fashion. With that being said, the same thing is going to go on with her performance. You know, like, if you do what we want to do, you know, we're going to increase. What we want to do is we want to increase the amount of cardio and conditioning way out prior to the actual fight. I wanted her to get down to a specific number using long-duration workouts. And as a fight gets closer, I wanted to start, you know, actually closing in and the workout durations are going to be shortened, but they're going to become more intense. And that's how you're supposed to train for a fight.

You know, a lot of periodization that goes on to this. And when it works synergistically with the nutrition plan, you've got a perfect program. What happens a lot of times is if the weights off, then you end up doing it exactly backwards. You end up doing long-term at the end because that's the best way and the most proficient way to drop the calories, you know, for an actual weight.

If you got these guys, you know, doing like, you know, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, you know, an hour on the treadmill and they're just trying to burn stuff off when they should be doing 15-minute workouts, just high intensity, getting ready for the fight, thinking of only the fight not to cut. So, like I said, if everything goes there

as planned perfectly, then, yeah, absolutely, man. But if anything, she's going to fight exactly as she fought at 1.45, I can tell you that. And the cool thing is that I don't think a lot of you realize is I'm probably going to get her back up to the fight weight that she

fights at very close at 145 the night of the fight at 135. Which is what? She usually fights around 68 to 70, man. Wow. Holy moly. And you're going to do this without an IV? Yes. Yes. How?

Well, you know, the reload process, man. I'm saying that a lot of people, they talk about nothing but the cut. But, you know, I've said this for years, and the reload is even more important than the cut. the food and everything that you include or ingesting your body the night of the way is what you're going to be using

for the fight. You know what I'm saying? If you miss weight, you lose 20% in your purse. You get your butt kicked because you feel like, you know, crab. You just lost 50% of your purse, you know? So, you know, people, they're like, I got to make weight. I'm like, okay, man, but, you know, we got

to worry about your reloaded, you know, more importantly. With that said, when somebody's dehydrated, a lot of people, you know, in the fight game when they talk about this IV band. There's a lot of people that are really stressed about it. If you thought of Brian, Brian Stan, you know, I worked with him for the longest time. He was the first guy that worked with, like, really in the UFC.

And you'll tell you, man, I was always like, hey, man, I would prefer if you orally rehydrated versus taking an IV. You know, studies will show that it's actually more proficient at cooling the body down and the core temperature, the lower core temperature is, the longer you can go and the harder you can go. And there's a lot, there's a lot more other reasons out there, too. But the kicker in the diabetes is so much, I guess, easier, more convenient out. I'll say it's kind of like the protein bar of the micronutrient world.

You know, like you don't eat a protein bar because it's the healthiest thing. It's just the most convenient thing. And I think that sometimes that's what the fighters, they prefer that. And, you know, psychologically they think that it's more important. because they don't know how to do it orally. So I know what kind of screwed you your question. Like, hey, George, I'm going to get her up there. I can give you, I mean, the math, you know, if I want to bore everybody that's on the,

I think it's fascinating. What's that? I think it's fascinating. Really? I can give you a real down and dirty. How we do it if they're open. Go ahead. Okay.

So, so this is what we're going to do. First thing, you know, when we drop the way, we got to find out, okay, if we were, if she was going to get, an IV, how many IVs, how many IVs are you going to get? Each IV contains about 9,000 milligrams of sodium chloride, right? With that being said, that's basically, it's like table salt, okay? What I need to do is I need to create shakes that are going to actually have a balance of electrolytes. When I do salt, I also want an equal balance of potassium. To do that, I use something called new salt, and you salt, it's basically a salt substitute.

You have some citrate. And when you mix those together, one teaspoon of like table salt, it'll have about, I think, 23 to 2,500 milligrams of sodium chloride, okay? To get 9,000 milligrams, which is one 1,000 milliliter bag of the saline, I believe you have to get about four, you know, three or four of those. So you need to mix those and shakes. Now, what people don't realize is this taste god-awful. It's horrible.

But to do this, you know, you want to start off slow. You want to start off with cold water. Cold water empties into the small intestinal tract faster than warm water. People think that, well, your body has got to warm it up first. Not necessarily the case. It gets into the small intestinal tract, which helps the body absorb nutrients faster. You want to put a small amount of carbohydrates into like a shake in the first one. If you put too much, it slows down the digestive process again.

I use this waxing maids. You've been talking to a couple of supplement companies, and they're bringing up some different supplements. I think, you know, there's been a lot of advances in this. But basically, with that being said, you know, you want to give them a good ratio. A lot of people I see after, like, weigh-ins, man, they're to load up on proteins and things for that nature. Your body doesn't need protein. Body, when you take your protein, it releases a hormone called glucose gone that tells your body to use, like, free fatty acids and stored glycogen. Well, the figure is, you just...

just got tons cut away. You don't have anything stored, man. You want to start reloading the body. So when you take an excess amount of protein, it's actually a more of a hindrance in anything. What you want to be doing is taking a carbohydrates. Now, a study show that when I take in protein, it creates a pathway that helps the synthesis of carbohydrates.

It helps your body refuel faster and caffeine. So I'll give her a shake, which will have a specific amount of carbohydrates. The way that I find that amount of carbohydrates is I take her, I'll take her lean muscle mass. And what I do is when I get the lean muscle mass, I find out how much lean muscle tissue she has. And that is usually about 40% of her lean muscle mass, okay? When I get that number, what I do is I divide that by 2.2, get kilograms, and I multiply that by 13 to 14. That's going to give me the amount of glycogen that each kilogram of muscle tissue holds.

That's going to tell me exactly how many grams of carbohydrates I need to reload her with that day and the next day. Then I add another 20%, because 20% of the carbohydrates, glycogen is going to be stored in the liver, so I need to add that on top of the overall number, and then I divide that by eight. Once I divide that, I eight, that gives me the amount of meals that I'm going to have, and the amount of carbohydrates that you're going to have. So let's say somebody who's 145, usually about 160, you need 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal, and then you're going to take a fourth of that.

So you're looking at about 15 grams of proteins. You want 60 grams of carbs, 15 grams of protein at each meal. You get those eight meals. that lets me know exactly how many grams of glycogen that this individual needs to be fueled up properly and topped off. A lot of guys, they want to get as heavy as possible, and they feel sluggish and they feel slow the next day, and they don't understand why. Well, it's because you had spilets. You ate too many carbs.

You had too much food. Or the other guy or girl that didn't have enough of carbohydrates or fuel input in the body, because they didn't know exactly how much they needed. Some people overdo it, some people underdo it. You hit the mark, you have a good day, you have a good fight. There's a lot more that goes into it obviously with calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, you know, all these other things that you need to balance out. But down and dirty, that's how we'll reload her.

Wow. Holy moly. I hope A, that fighters are listening to this or will listen to this, and B, if anyone, for whatever reason, and I don't think this was the case. But if there was someone who didn't believe that you knew what the hell you were talking about, that pretty much seals the deal that you know what you're talking about, my friend. Wow, that was super impressive. So I want to recap two things in layman's terms. A, you're not afraid about this no IV ban thing.

You feel like you can do your job. You can get your fighters healthy, no problem. They won't suffer, right? Absolutely. And B, we keep hearing when we talk to people in the UFC about this fight, Rhonda Cyborg, arguably the biggest fight they could put on right now, regardless of white class, regardless of gender, that she needs to make 135 once,

she needs to prove to them that she needs to make that weight. And that's fine. If that's what they want, that's what they want. But you're saying here, you don't need that, right? You can get her down to 135 regardless of that first fight at 135 somewhere else. Absolutely. Absolutely. Say no more.

Say no more, my friend. George Lockhart, you are a brilliant man. You are doing tremendous work. And I got to say, you know, I'm not your friend. you know, we don't hang out, we don't party together. But I feel better knowing that you're in her corner. Someone as smart as you, as experience as you, the fact that you're the man who has been, who has been chosen to get her down to this fighting weight, to make this dream fight possible,

makes me feel better. You know what I'm saying? And I feel like I speak for the rest of the MMA community as well. This is very exciting stuff. Appreciate the time, George. Best of luck to you. And I am certain we'll have you on the show. hopefully when this fight happens, and of course before that as well, to talk about all this

because I find it fascinating. Thanks so much, I really appreciate it, boss. All right, we'll talk to you soon. There he is. George Lockhart stopping by dropping knowledge on all the uninformed about cyborgs' weight cut and also just weight cutting in general. Sweet Mother Mary, this man is a very smart guy. He knows what he's doing and not taking anything away from anyone else because there are a lot of good ones out there. George Lockhart is a guy that you want in your corner when you're doing this, clearly. I feel better knowing that cyborg's going to have that guy. Smart guy, doesn't go out there, you know, doesn't puff his chest too much, just does his

work, does it well, his clients, his reputation speaks for herself, and don't discount the fact that he is in her corner. That's a very big deal. She's not just picking up a guy who she hasn't worked with. Now that she is committing to making this move, the guy that she has worked with now for the last few months, couple fights, it's a big deal. He knows her. She knows. She knows. knows him. That's huge. Imagine she picked someone up to say, okay, I'm going down to 135 and I'm going to hire this guy to make it happen. That's tricky. That's a red flag. But he knows what he's working with here. He knows who his client is. Please, M.MA, guys, let's make this happen. And look, let's do it on her time. Again, like I said to Dave, I'm cool with that fight happening,

you know, the, the, the Misha Tate fight happening in December. I'm cool with that. Even one more. Take your time. Do it right. He says four to six months. Fantastic. but I just want to see it happen. Sooner rather than later, the UFC 200, idea is a pretty damn good one as well. And if the UFC, you know, look, it's their prerogatives, their company. It's their reputation.

If they want to see her make 135 and Invicta, I'm all for it, but let's see it. Let's see it. All right, let's move along and welcome in our next guest. Always great to talk to Tyron Woodley. He has a big week coming up. Had a big week last week because his prayers were answered. Finally, after much campaigning,

tweeting, the squeaky wheel got his grease. Tyron Woodley, congratulations on getting that Hendricks fight. When you finally got the word, it was going down. What was your reaction? You know, I was excited, you know. Sometimes you get offered a fight, and you get those butterflies, and God's a good fight, especially in our division.

Everybody in our division is so tough, and it's so gaming, man. Every fight's a hard fight, but this was really calm. It was really relaxed. It was like, all right, win. What's the day? when do I get my contract? It was really subtle, and it's not because he's not that type of an opponent that gives you that, you know, that fear of anxiety, because he can knock you out, he can wrestle you, he can do a lot of different things, he can take punches,

but it was just, I'm just, I'm a man of faith, and I believe that when I put my mind or something, remember, they told me I wasn't going to get the Carlos Kondi fight either. Right, that's true. You know what I said? I wasn't going to get that fight, and what happened? I ended up getting in and making the best of it. So I expect to go out there and do the same thing, capitalized on this moment. By the way, where are you right now?

Are you at a Chucky Cheese or something? I might as well call it Chuckie Cheese. I was out doing the grooming of the beard for me and the crew. And, you know, we got caught up, so I was running a little late, so we had to tuck away into a sandwich spot with Wi-Fi because I don't want to miss my appointment on MMA hours. Oh, well, I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

And how about the Houston date? I know you said you'd fight him in September, but it was a bit of a rush coming off the broken foot. You feel like you will be 100% and have enough time to prepare for Houston. Yeah, you know, I'm 100% now. Okay. You know, I was bumping my guns pretty loud. I knew I wasn't going to fight in the July car, but I was pushing for it.

And if they would have said, yeah, man, I'm ready to go. You know, you got the car in July. My eyes would open up like this because, you know, physically I thought I was going to be ready and I wasn't. But now I'm 100% healed. I'm 100% mentally. ready and I got that break and you know I had that family time now I'm ready to fight you know sometimes it becomes a chore and becomes a job but I'm at the point now while I'm eager you know right before I called you I just got the phone

with Duke Rufus and Dean Thomas and we coordinated the training camp how much time I'm going to spend in Florida how much time I'm going to spend in Milwaukee the weeks what we're going to work on and everybody's excited it's like you know they're fighting too man because when I go on the Octagon I'm a representative of you know guys like Corio guys like Dan Lambert Dean Thomas, Duke Pufus, these guys, they go into the doctor's guy with me, and I'm just excited. So what's the breakdown between Coconut Creek and Milwaukee? Because I recall prior to your last fight in February, actually was the last day of January,

you said that you really enjoyed your time in Milwaukee, and you want to do it more. So how are you going to break it down? You know, really I'm going to start in Milwaukee first. Okay. I'm going to gradually. It's closer to my house, so I'm going to drive up next week. I'm going to spend a week there. Then I'm actually going up to Max Holloway and Charlie Oliver Car in Canada.

So I'll go to that. Then I'll go back up to Milwaukee for, I believe, three weeks. Then I'll spend three more weeks in Florida. Just fine-tuning, you know, smelling the air of Florida, seeing the gym, seeing the banner. And I'm really getting focused on what I'm fighting for. And from that point, you know, I'll get back home, get my way down and get on that plane and go out there and beat big rig down like he never been beat before. Is there something about Johnny that makes you feel like you can beat him, as you just said, like he's never been being before? You have somewhat of a personal history, right?

Is it his ranking? What is it about this guy that made you really want to fight him? Because I'm a sportsman, man. I want to fight the best. He's a former champion. At one point, you know, he's had three or four title shots, and, you know, one of him he pulled out. The other ones are very close. So with that said, you know, he's arguably.

one of the best if not, you know, some people can think he's the best guy in the world. So I can go and fight, you know, a fighter that's outside the top 10 or a fighter that's, you know, a good style matchup and I go out there and put on this crazy performance and beat them up and look all amazing and to get a title shot off that. But for me, I know that beating the best and continually, consistently doing that is going to make my role to the top deserved and earned. And that's what I can go look in the mirror, go to some. been night and I can feel comfortable about that.

Did your paths cross that all in college? Yeah, we crossed a couple times, you know. I wrestled Johnny in the Big 12 finals. Very close match. You know, I was in on a single leg. This is a whole history. Yes.

He had a reputation for kind of whining in college and kind of getting the referees to get on the side. He didn't need it. He was a phenomenal wrestler. He won 90% of his matches. And he got himself to the point where basically he, even if he didn't go undefeating, he would always show up for the NCAA tournament

and he would go out there, he would win it, he would place really high. So he's a gamey guy, man, he always rides to the occasion. So with that said, that's the stuff that I know about him as a competitor. That makes me want to train hard because I know what I'm up against. You know, even just watching this fight against Robbie the first time, that was a close fight.

He had to steal that fight in the last 90 seconds of that first time meeting. So with that, just the history, you know, I lost that close Big 12 match. I never got over it. You know, I had to really forgive him because, man, I want to beat him up. You know, Big 12, us is like, that's almost more important to being an All-American because, you know, the Big 12 was so deep with talent, so many national championships

and All-Americans that when he decided to put those three fingers and fish shook me, you know, and I got hit a lot for biting them. And I'm like, you put your fingers in my mouth. So it caused me, you know, I was kind of pissy about it. I wanted to have you talk about that as well. So he was accused of fishhooking and then you bit him, but then you got the punishment, right? He wasn't accused.

Okay, he did it. And I was in on a single leg trying to take him down to go out by the lead. He put three fingers in my mouth and he started to pull my face away to get me off his leg. And he went to the left. He was like, look, look, he bit me, he bit my hand. He bit my hand. And then the referee didn't even ask me, didn't check for bite marks. They just penalized me, a penalty point.

And that was a difference maker of the match. So we wrestled a freestyle match close before, but we've always had very close, very competitive matches. And, you know, he knows he's a national champion wrestler, but I'm not far from him on the level of wrestling. You know, it's a competitive match. Was the last contest you had against each other, the fish hooking match? I think he got that with one zero. So, wait, but have you met since then, or was that your last time facing off? no man me and Johnny actually

really cordial now you know I'm at the U.S.C. Fight Week I mean actually compete against each other. Was that your last competition against each other? Yeah he's a guy like me that it's not about hating the guy you know I don't have to freaking you know talk trash and hate you I just want to beat you because you're

he's the number one guy in the world I want to be the number one guy in the world so I can't be looked over once again I can't be passed up. I can't be taking for granted or disrespected by the fans or whoever, you know, talking crap. If I'm the number one guy, then I'm fighting for the world title. That's why I want to fight him. There's no vendetta. It's no, you know, I hate this ugly smirk he got on his face.

So I think my beard's better or, you know, me, his belly big. None of those things are reason why I want to fight him. What was it like when you spoke to each other in Vegas at International Fight Week? Well, he knew what I was doing. I was like, well, I tried. it didn't work. And he said, yeah, he said, I didn't reply because it's a business. And, you know, you know, basically he knew what I was doing, but he knows how I feel about him. You know, I sat there, talk to him for an hour. You know, his wife was talking to my wife. But I think

one thing that separates us from other fighters, we're actually really not fighters. We're competitors. So I can talk with him, smile with him, have a drink with him. When they lock that cage, I'm trying to knock him out. You know, I'm trying to hurt him. And I think he's going to try to do the same thing to me. What was your reaction when you found out that Carlos Condit was jumping over both of you to get a title shot? You know, I really saw it, I saw it after his last fight. I saw the performance he had, and I said, they're going to give him the title shot next.

I just immediately thought it, and I said it. And then he was in the octagon. If you remember, after his fight, he said, oh, I'll fight, whoever the fans, you know, where the fans you know want me to fight? Because I was waiting at him saying he want to rematch with me, he wanted to get that off his record. He didn't say that. But if you remember, five minutes later, he goes in the back.

He goes to the back. Yeah, you know, I'm ready for the title shot. I got to win over Rory, and somebody prepped him. So then I get on the phone. So you know who? And I'm like, hey, did you call him and prep him? Because his mood just changed really fast in five minutes. Like, no, I didn't, but I probably would have.

So with that said, you know, I kind of saw what was going on? And at the end of the day, you know, what can I do? I can cry about it. I can complain. I can bitch. You know, at the end of the day, I thought I had to fight one more fight anyway. I was petitioned for this fight anyway. I got that fight.

If I was Johnny Hendricks, now I might be a little bit of piss right now, but everything's a part of the plan. Everything's a part of the journey. This just makes it that much sweeter when I get there, you know, and I got to win this fight. I can't focus on their fight and focus on Carlos Kahn. I got to focus on Johnny Hendrix. Who's this you know who that you're referring to?

Malky. Okay. I was, I called me. I was going to go off on them, and I was, I was a little jumpstart on that. He's like, calm down, bro. Come down, calm down, because it's not even me. I'm not even in Brazil right now. I was like, all right, man, because, you know, this is a sport, too.

You know, you got to think of the concept that you lost two guys, that you're going to get a title shot in front of those two guys. So I'm just planning on going out there and present a, violent type of style to anybody I fight from now on. And at the end of the day, how many guys do I have to beat? You know what I mean? How many guys are going to be left? And at the end of the day, I'm going to get a title shot.

Are you and Malky, cool now? I don't know. I don't know yet. Oh. I don't know yet. It depends because we get into it every week like the damn brother. So we, you know, so I just, I just, crap. He gives me crap.

I'm probably his worst client because I always give him the blue. So. you think wins, Robbie or Carlos? It's hard to say. I think Carlos has always lacked their power in his punches. He has the volume, has endurance, and he has a durability, but, you know,

it's only so long that you can get hit and not eventually get knocked out. I know his claim to fame is that he has, you know, the conditioning and the comeback ability and he's never been knocked out. But, you know, the statistics will show that if you keep getting flashed or concussed

or hit really hard eventually, you know, like Kachach. You know, we pulled the analytics. We had the recoon from the fighting Anomics pull it for us. And he said, Tyrant, if you get on his chin, you can knock him out. He's been flashed a lot.

And, you know, he hadn't really been put to complete sleep before in his career. Neither had Jay Harron. And, you know, I just wanted to be that first guy that stole that consciousness from him. And I think Carlos Kahn, whether it's Robbie or whether it's me, one of us is going to knock him out because he takes too many punches.

And he's dependent on his shin to, too often. So like I said, it's a big week for you because not only did you just get that fight, but your film straight out of Compton, which is all over the place. There's these memes everywhere. Everyone's like straight out of this, and now I saw yours straight out of Ferguson. This thing is

doing tremendous as far as, you know, the buildup, the buzz, and it's all over the UFC as well. What part do you have in the film? If I go see this movie on Friday, where am I going to see Tyron Woodley? When you go and see this movie on Friday, you will see Tyrone Woodley

playing T-bone from the Lynch mob. August 14, make sure you guys go and check it out, straight out of Compton. People are going crazy on the internet, as Ariel said. If you go to straight out of somewhere.com, you can put your seating in there. You know, I've seen straight out of consciousness for Bech fighting against Ron.

I've seen straight out of living, speak meals. I've seen straight out of daycare for some guys that's not six foot tall. But it's fun. And, you know, the UFC, they marketed with those guys because I'm in the movie, so it made sense to market it. the UFC, so University did that.

And also, you know, people saw the private screening yesterday. I wasn't able to go and see it, but I heard, you know, I had some decent camera time in it, so I'm excited to see the final product. Oh, yes. Have you seen the full film yet or not yet? I'm not, man. I'm jealous because

the cast, the cast had the screening yesterday, and I was driving back from Virginia. So, you know, F. Gary Gray, or Shea Jackson Jr., Coupson, Jason Mitchell, who played EZE, all the So they all was watching it yesterday And I didn't get an opportunity

But people were calling it like man You got some really good camera time You know your phone should be ringing For future, I mean for future roles So I'm excited about that And I'll see it Thursday for the first time I'm doing something for Metro PCS in Kansas City Then I'll see it again Friday

Because I'm doing something in St. Louis Wow, that is amazing Yeah, I got to say when I was a youngster growing up On the Mean Streets of Montreal I used to listen to NWA all the time F the police, man, all day. The Montreal Basketball League. We should have that pickup game, too.

You know, and you think possible because I am going to be hacking. No problem. So it's like it's not the traditional basketball rules. Look, I took away my offer from Benson because he was ducking me too much. So if you want a piece, we'll make it happen. You'll talk to my team. You got to meet. What's that?

I don't see Benson want to come off to me as that great of a hooper. He talks a big game. I'm not talking a big game I'm saying up front I'm going to be claustrophobic I'm going to be following I'm making a ton of shots but I'm going to try to stop you from making shots

and you're everywhere you just filmed something with Bruce Willis as well how are you getting all these parts I didn't even know I was going to be filming with Bruce Willis until I got on set I knew he was on a movie but I film other films and the actor the lead actor Morgan Freeman and all these guys

they weren't actually in the scene because they have two different unit They got first unit, which is usually the storyline. Then they got the second unit, which is the action. I'm usually on the action portion. Not so much of, you know, the peer dialogue and the storyline. So when I got the set, you know, Bruce Willis was there. Wood Harris from the Wire was there.

And Cable. John Goodman from Roseanne was there. And the scene that I shot, it was basically just us for. It's 0% you want to see me in the film. So I'm sitting next to Wood. Then Bruce walks in and then John walks in. And a certain part of the scene is just us for. So I'm like, you know, I was kind of pumped up about that.

And the week before I did a TV show called The Player. So I've been killing it. But now it's time, it's time to put that on pause. It's time to do what I, you know, do for a living. It was just trying to kick butt. By the way, how are things in Ferguson right now? Ferguson's all right. You know, I got something Wednesday.

I'm going to a wing stop that was on Ground Zero in West Florison. My sister actually managed that exact wingstop. She paid for her nursing school through that Wing Stop, and it was one of the few places, you know, the shoe carnival, which is connected directly to that, was burned down, ride it and looted, and then, you know, several establishments around there for some reason they didn't mess with that one. So I'm going to go there and hopefully bring some inspiration to the community, talk about the movie, talk about my upcoming fight, and just, you know, hopefully plan, you know, a partnership with Wingstop and eventually get to meet Rick Ross. Wow. You are a class act, my friend. I really appreciate you stopping off to do this interview wherever you may be. Spit some rhymes for us. Give us some NWA as we say goodbye. What do you got? NWA. Straight out of Compton. I ain't going to say the rest because my sons are sitting right here. Okay. Hey, what's up, guys? Look at that family. What a great family. Thank you guys. They must be hating you right now for... They seem so upset that they're sitting... on earth 10 minutes ago, so they owe me at least 20 minutes of silence. Okay. I know that feeling very well.

Taryn, congratulations on getting the fight. Congratulations on the straight out of Compton Deal. Good luck, of course, with the opening on Friday, August 14th. I can't wait. I haven't been to a movie in a very long time. I'm going to go out of my way to see this one. I cannot wait for it. Good to have you on the show. Great to have you on the show. As always, we'll talk

to you before the fight, of course. All right, man. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you. There he is. Taryn Woodley. Top contender in the UFC's Welterweight Division, big fight for him. UFC 192, October 3rd, Houston, Texas. What a card, Daniel Cormier on the card. Sugar Rashad Evans going up against Ryan Bader. Of course, Daniel Cormier going up against Alexander Gustafson, very close to his hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, so it makes a lot of sense for him to fight there again. I think he's 2 in 0 or 3 in Houston. I know he fought

UFC 166. He fought in Strike Force, I recall. So Houston's been good to Daniel Cormier. Looking forward to that card. Very much as well. Okay, let's move along. I have been trying to get our next guest on the program since essentially July 11th. Everyone's still very much in awe

over what he did on July 11th at UFC 189. It's funny leading up to that card, the co-main event between Robbie Lawler and Roy McDonald flew under the radar somewhat because of all the hype surrounding Connor McGregor and Jose Aldo and then Connor McGregor, versus Chad Mendez. And while everyone was talking about Connor, July 12th, the following day, his big win,

we were talking about Roy McDonald and Robbie Lawler just as much, if not more, because what they did inside that octagon, nothing short of amazing. I joked afterwards that they were going to put that clip of them facing off against each other at the end of the fourth round into that Bobo O'Reilly highlight reel because it's one of those iconic clips. An instant classic, it was legendary, the moment it ended. it was an honor to witness and I've been wanting to have

Roy McDonald on the show since then to talk about the fight where he goes from here and all that stuff. So, so happy that he is on right now, right here on the MMA hour, Roy McDonald, thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure.

It is great to hear from you, my friend. So it has been almost exactly one month since we saw you in action. I believe this is your first interview since. How are you feeling? I mean, that's the big question right up the top. Physically, how do you feel?

I feel good. I've been training. almost every day since the week after the fight, pretty much. So I'm feeling pretty good. And what injuries specifically did you suffer in that fight? I got a broken nose and a really tiny fracture on my joint in my toe. But it didn't really... The toe is not really an issue.

It was more like the swelling from just like the damage, kicking and stuff. mostly was just the broken nose that's the only thing I'm really dealing with right now did you need to have any kind of surgery um no no it looks like I'll be okay and you were able to fly home right away right you didn't have to stick around in Las Vegas

despite the broken nose yeah I I went home the next night I believe yeah Sunday night it was it was a weird thing for me because um and I know this sentiment was shared by a lot of people. You know, we try to remain as unbiased as possible, but we are human

beings. And knowing how long it took for you to get that title shot, knowing what it meant to you, to see the way it ended was heartbreaking. It was hard to watch because you were so close. Are you still over? Are you still, you know, are you still thinking about it? Do you still feel hurt by what happened? Again, according to the judge of scorecards, you were right there. How did you react to it? No, I'm happy the way it went. I thought it was a good fight. It was an amazing experience. I'll never forget for the rest of my life.

And, you know, that's what it's about. You know, it was an amazing experience. And, you know, I'm grateful for what happened in there. And, you know, I think it's going to help me grow as a martial artist. You know, it's going to turn me, it shows me what it's going to take to be a champion. And, you know, the changes I need to make to get to that level, you know, to just get a little bit better so I can remain champion

you know I know also I have a bat I hurt my MCL as well in the fight before the fight but yeah in the fight made it worse

how many weeks or days before the fight did you hurt it initially before training camp oh wow so you went into that camp a little banged up yeah but who who doesn't go into fight camp right

you know You tweeted a picture and you wrote this text. You thanked Robbie Lawler and Farah Zahabia, your coach. You said, this was the best time of my life. I'll never forget this fight. And it's a picture of you, completely bloodied and with the text. So you want to be a fighter. That was the best time of your life?

Certainly. The greatest moment of my life, the best experience. You know, it was a real experience. It showed me who I was. It was the best. It was the best moment in my entire life. It was amazing. So you enjoyed that more than any of your big wins,

beating, you know, Tarek Safini, any of those guys? Yeah, obviously I'm disappointed, you know, that I didn't win. I wasn't able to push through and stop him, you know. But at the end of the day, it was just like once in a lifetime experience. And I'm grateful for it. What was that feeling like because it was, It was interesting to watch again. You're in the fifth round.

It's obvious that you're bloody, your nose is busted. And then he punches you with a jab. And it's almost like a, it was almost like a delayed reaction. It hits you then, okay, this is too much. What was that feeling like? What was that pain like? I believe it was a straight left. Straight left, okay.

Yeah. Pretty much he was just being really accurate with his left hand in the fifth round. and, you know, he was really finding the spot with his left right on my nose. And it just was giving me shock waves through my brain and my body. And I don't know, it just stopped me. Have you ever felt that before? No, I've never broken a bone in my life.

So it was an interesting feeling that fight three rounds of the broken nose. But I was doing okay until, like, the fifth. you know, I was okay, and then, like, it just kind of started finding a home for that left head right on my nose. You know, it was some nice punches by him, so. Have you watched the fight again? Yeah, certainly. What's it like when you watch it? Oh, it's pretty cool.

You relive moments and stuff like that. Yeah, I don't know. I enjoyed watching it, you know. Do you agree with the- Robbies? an amazing fighter, you know, he's an amazing guy to fight against him. I can't wait to fight him again. We're going to fight five more times, I bet. Really? That's what you want. You want five more of those? Yeah, he's the funniest guy in the world to fight. That guy brings out the best in you, for sure.

Do you feel like the judges had a right, you were up 3-1 going into the fifth? Yeah, yeah, I do. I agree with that. So everything's so positive, everything you're saying is downright remarkable. Does the thought ever, you know, cross your mind, I was four minutes away from finally being a champion? Yeah, but I mean, the reality, the guy stopped me. Yeah. I mean, I didn't, I wasn't flipping those punches when I should have been, you know, I wasn't applying good technique. I wasn't using movement, you know.

The foot was kind of keeping me stationary and, you know, he did what he had to do. He closed the show of me. So, I mean, he's the champ now. He's a champ for a reason. So, you know, I'm going to learn from it, and I'm going to get better, and I'm going to come back, and I'm going to beat him. What was the biggest thing? You said you learned some things that's going to make you better.

What's the biggest thing, one or two things that you learned about that fight, that performance, that you're going to correct the next time out? First thing that comes to my mind is my training method. I'm going to make it a little bit more intense on myself. Okay. I would probably start applying small love training Like I used to in the past when I first started out Training more at Teshito and stuff like that

But yeah no like obviously at TriStar too But just applying more small glove training Rather than the big gloves with headgear and shin pad stuff I just think Yeah and then some other things too you'll see in my next fight. I just, I'd rather show it than talk about it.

But I do know that I, I have a strength that I need to, need to work on, and it'll make a huge difference in my fighting. So you'll be doing your next camp, at least a portion of it, at Toshito and B.C.

where you started? Yeah. When's the last time you did that? I'm gonna, I'm gonna be traveling around between all my camps, you know. I just,

spend enough time working at Tishito. It's a different regiment, and I believe that needs to be, you know, it needs to be back in my game. I'm just missing something from my past, you know? But obviously I still need my TriStar team just as much as ever, you know. Yeah. You'll still have Faraz and company in your corner. Oh, yeah.

You know, he causes my head coach, you know, and for a reason, he knows what he's doing. What was that moment like that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, uh, that, that, that, uh, you know what I'm talking about, right? That's one of those moments that, uh, I mean, I'll never forget it, just watching it. You, the, the, the round is over, and you guys do not want to look away from each other. What's going through your mind when that's happening? Uh, uh, uh, I don't know. I just didn't want to back down, you know, you was, you was, you was, you was, you was, you was,

he's a bit of an animal in there, so, you know, he started staring at me, and so, you know, I figured, oh, we're probably going to start fighting here again. I don't know. I just didn't want to back down, you know. I didn't want him to alpha me. Sure. That makes any sense. No other fighter has ever brought that out in you, you think? Like, have you ever felt the way you felt the way you felt in a fight like you did at 189? Carlos. Carlos, yeah. Carlos, yeah, Carlos. Yeah, a car opponent for sure is another guy like that. It was an iron well. And, yeah, that, you know, the fact that those two are fighting, that's going to be an amazing

fight. Can't we to watch that one. Yeah, I saw you tweet about that as well. There was a gif that was passed around all over the place after the fight of the doctor coming to you, pressing on your face, and then you just kind of collapsed. Oh, yeah, that's the thing. Yeah. Is that hard to watch?

No, not really. why? Well, I don't know, because it seemed like you're an extreme amount of pain. Not really. I was exhausted, disappointed, dizzy. Right. And then you go to the hospital, and then there's a picture tweeted of both of you just having a laugh. What did you say to each other?

Nothing. Just congratulations, and, you know, that was a good time. You know, hope you're okay. This and not. Not much. so it's you know this is we're competitors you know

I have nothing against Robbie I have nothing against any of the guys that fight really in fact I like them I have more respect for the people I fight than you know people in general so I don't know do you enjoy that sort of

you know after the fight meet up you get to sort of reminisce about the fight see your opponent he's in the hospital too is that is that a nice way to end the for you or is it awkward? No, yeah, this is kind of cool, isn't it? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, that picture is, I showed that to my mom.

I mean, this is what the sport is all about. Yeah, yeah, for real. Yeah, it was a cool moment. Dana White said afterwards that you didn't know what year it was after the fight. Is that true? Yeah, that's not true. She was just asking me so many damn questions, and I was, like, just trying to get air

and, like, tried to, like, spit out all the blood that was in my throat and my lungs and stuff. So I was just, I was just annoyed, so I stopped answering her questions. Okay, the doctor. Yeah. This in the cage? I knew what year it was. I knew everything that was going on.

Is this in the cage or after the, in the fight when you're in the back? In the cage. Wow. So she's just peppering you with questions right then and there. Yeah. I don't know. I was not into talking to a doctor right then. Sure.

It was just kind of in my own world, you know. Perhaps they should wait. I know what's going on. Well, it's their job to check on you, you know, that you're fine. I mean, I'm not going to question a doctor. That's their job. I just didn't feel like talking about. Are you at all concerned about, you know, head trauma, a very big topic these days in sports in general, not just MMA,

about the damage that you took in that fight? Yeah, but I didn't have any concussion to symptoms. Like, I never got really, like, rocked, like, as far as, like, my equilibrium or anything like that, or, you know, seeing stars. I never had that once in the flight. It was just the damage to my nose. That was a big problem. I got the impression that, despite the loss,

you gained so much more respect from the MMA community than any of your previous wins. Did you feel the same way? Yeah. It seems like I'm getting a lot more love. Everyone loves you now. And we've had... No one wants...

Yeah, like before this fight, I was the boring guy for a while after the Jake fight. Even though I was knocking people out and giving fight in the night, people don't give a shit. They hear one guy say that I had a boring fight, so I'm the boring guy. Now I have a good fight, so I'm fucking cool again. It's all fickle. It doesn't matter.

I don't care. I know who I am, so that's all that matters at the end of the day. So you just shrug all that off, all the praise. It means nothing to you, much like the criticism. Yeah. I mean, my next fight could be fucking boring again and shitty, so they're going to hate me again. Eventually, who knows.

But what about... What about from your peers? Was there one fighter in particular, one... You know, a person you look up to who reach out, you text you, sent you a message and said, holy, moly, man. You know, was there a moment like that that you experienced? Yeah, it's definitely nice from, you know, other martial artists that you have respect for. You know, they give you, you know, props and respect.

That's always nice because, you know, they've been there, and they've been in those situations, and they've had to fight through stuff like that. so you know I appreciate that stuff was there one interaction that really stood out no are you going on vacation after this are you really right back in the gym you deserve a vacation yeah I'm

I went to Colonna training at Tishito now I'm back in Montreal training at TriStar going back to Colona again this Saturday you're gonna do some training there I don't know I'm just kind of flying under the wind but I'm never going to stop training. I need to get to where I'm dreaming of being, you know, and nothing's going to stop me. And that's UFC champion. And when do you want to fight again? December.

December? Any date in particular? I don't know. One of the cards. We've got one December 5th, December 12th, December 19th. Those are the three. Any of those sound good. I don't know. My nose is still brink. My nose is still broken, so I kind of have to wait until that heals so I can test it in sparring. Okay. And then spar for a little bit, you know, get comfortable sparring, getting it punched again. And then when that's all good, then I'll probably book a fight, you know, within like, you know,

two months or six weeks or something like that. I'll probably get right back into it. Did they tell you when they expect the nose to be 100%? No. Okay. So now you just have to lay off it, essentially. Yeah, I'm just not punching it. I'm not doing any sparring.

Right. And do you have a perfect scenario in mind, someone you'd like to fight in December? There's so many guys. I mean, I think Tyrone's fighting Hendrix. Yeah. Carlos fighting him. There's so many good guys.

You know, Hector Lombard, Chago Elvis. Who else is in the top ten that I haven't fought? Well, I don't know. Someone who's relevant and who's a good fighter. I mean, I'm good with anything, you know? Yeah, of course. Well, you know, Hector is still on ice a little bit,

and Tiago Alvis is moving out to 155, believe it or not. 155? Yeah. Tiago Elvis is going to 155 or 185? 155, lightweight. Holy. I don't know how he's going to do that. Yeah, I don't know either.

The only one that comes to mind, like, in the top 10 that you haven't fought, is, well, there's two actually. Damien Meyer or Matt Brown. Yeah, yeah. No, I fought Damien. Yes, you have. Geez. UFC 170, right?

That was when my son was born. I don't know what it was, but... Yeah, I beat Damien, but he's an excellent fighter. Matt Brown definitely is an excellent fighter, fight him eventually, I'm sure. So, yeah, anybody, you know, I'd like to fight someone I haven't fought before. That's good. But if that's not possible, then, yeah, definitely a remit.

match with someone in the top 10 who's good. Whatever. I don't care. Do you kind of feel like because of how great that fight was, because of your popularity now, that all you have to do is win one more time and you'll get right back in there? It's highly possible. I was thinking about that the other day because someone asked me that. You know, you see Carlos, he just beat Tiago with an impressive victory, and he's got the title shot.

And I'm not sure if he lost a fight before that. Did he? Yeah, he lost to Tyne Woodley. He blew out his knee in that fight. Oh, right. So, you know, things like that. You never know. I mean, it's all performance-based at the end of the day.

So we'll see. Hopefully. I don't know. I don't care. I don't really give a shit. I just want to fight everyone. Oh, man. It is so great to have you back in our lives, Rory.

It's good to hear from you. And did anyone from the UFC reach out to you after the fight? You know, did they call you, see how you're doing, check up on you? Dana and Lorenzo called me and you know Dana the next day called me and they were really happy Yeah was it nice to hear from them did you appreciate that and and also Some staff from the Canadian UFC team yeah you know they they reached out to me you know Because I work together I work with them a lot you know Carolyn you know the PR team and stuff like that they sent me some messages and, you know, made sure I was okay and stuff like that.

I'm sure you appreciated that. Yeah, yeah, no, they're awesome people. I love those people. They're really nice. What was your favorite part of the whole process, that entire ride to 189 in the fight? In particular, is there one thing when you're an old man talking to your kids, your grandkids, your friends? This is what stood out. This is why I do what I do.

This is why I loved my career. Probably that moment when me and me and Robbie were staring at each other at the 4th. It was so great. That was an intense moment, you know. It was really, you know, we were looking at each other like, you know, we want to kill each other. We had the ref in our way. God. It was amazing.

What an experience. I hope you get that picture somewhere and put it up in your house. Did someone send you that picture? I don't like pictures of myself. I don't hang pictures of myself in my house. But if one can, you know, describe your career in one picture, that's it, right? That's who you are. Yeah.

I also like the one where my blood is, like, in my mouth and is leaking all over my face. I think that is incredible. I think that one describes my career and my personality perfectly. You know what I would say to that, right? that's why I'm the Red King Right, that's exactly why And another name I'll teach it to the Blood King soon

Oh my God, are you changing your nickname again on us? Who knows? Crazy enough, too, I think I do think you are I miss the hair though Can we get back to the old hair Or is that done? Well, I don't have a Mohawk anymore

I just shave my head, no But what about like the gentleman's part? I like that very much Yeah, yeah, maybe that'll come back Who knows? Maybe I'll grow a mullet, skull it. I like this Roy McDonald's. It feels like you're worry-free, knowing ambitions.

You're just letting it loose. Yeah, definitely. You know, that experience in that cage and, you know, some things that happen to my personal life lately. Definitely. What happened? To be on none of your damn business. Okay, sorry.

I mean, you brought it up. I'm just joking. No, yeah, it's just so... Good stuff or bad stuff? Yeah, it's good stuff. Oh. It's positive. Okay.

So you're a happy man? Yeah. Yeah, I think. It feels like that fight, again, despite the loss it brought out, you know, it just kind of let your guard down and you view everything differently. And that's awesome to hear. I mean, it's very refreshing. Yeah, well, experiences like that, I think, you know, when you have to push to a certain point, you know, they change you for better or worse. You know, you have to decide right away.

Which route you want to take mentally. And this is, I guess, the way I'm going. It almost feels like we got this from George, too. You know what I mean? Like, at one point he went through these wars, and then it just seemed like everything changed for him. Like, his guard went down. Right.

Yeah, yeah, you're right, huh? Yeah. Did you talk to him after the fight? Yeah, yeah, I trained with him today, actually. Oh. Yeah. Wow. All right.

Did he tell you about his plans? I feel like I might as well ask. His what? His plans for the future? No, no. You don't talk about that. Not really. I mean, I don't know.

I'll talk to him about it soon, I guess, probably this week. Oh, okay. Do you want to call me as well? We could go like a three-way? Yeah, I'll leak all his big secrets to see him. Okay. Sounds like the plan. Roy, I'll let you go.

Thank you so much for the time. This has been amazing. I was so excited when we got to secure you on this show because, like I said, I've wanted to talk to you for a month now since this fight. I was just in awe. You know, you made me proud to be a Canadian. You made me proud to be an MMA fan. You made me proud to be an MMA journalist. What you exemplify to the world that night, nothing short of amazing.

And I think encompassed why we all love the sport so much. So congratulations, my friend, and I can't wait to see you back. And get well soon. I hope the nose. I'm very sensitive when it comes to noses, because I can. I can't imagine what would you like to break my beaker, so I hope it heals soon. That thing is iron. It's not breaking.

That could be true. That could be true. But again, thank you so much, and thank you for the time, and we'll talk to you very soon. All right, buddy. Thank you. All right, there he is. Roy McDonald. Relaxed, Roy McDonald.

A happy Roy McDonald. What a pleasure to talk to him on this Monday afternoon. That was phenomenal stuff. Okay, let's move along. Also very much looking forward to talking to our next guest. It was announced last week that he'll be fighting. Ricardo Lamas, November 21st, in Monterey, Mexico. At Featherweight, 145.

Diego Sanchez on the phone right now. Diego, how are you? Come straight out of Boudke. Yes. I am doing well. It is good to hear from you, Diego. Why are you fighting at Featherweight next? Well, let's just go straight to that question, all right?

Yeah, why not? Yeah, Featherweight. Let's start with my first email of my life was D. Sanchez-145. And so for me, it's like, just my destiny, I guess, because, like, 145, Diego Sanchez, got to do it. You've always thought that this is where you're going to end up? No, it's not even like that. It's just with the sport and the evolution.

And, truck me, there's, like, so many guys coming in and out of our gym and it's just, if you notice, for me, what I think, I'm like, I see all these long, strong wrestlers like Luke Rockhold, John Jones, they're, they're wrestlers, but they're long. They have long distance, long reach, and for me, my whole career, I started at 185, and I dropped to 170, I felt most of my career at 170, even at 155, I feel like I just have always been the smaller guy, the smaller, shorter guy playing the same game plan, trying to get inside of the long reach and get people down to the ground. And through my evolution, I, like, you know, I found that being longer, every time I fought a shorter guy, like when I felt Claygwita,

I could kick better, I could punch better, and I just, in the gym. It's more, it's more in the gym. Like, seeing all these young and up-and-coming guys come into our gym here at Jackson's, and I see every different type of body type. And it's just like, the more and more I noticed that the longer I could be, the long and strong, the reach, the distance, the height. It came down to that. And all in all, the real truth is when I saw Connor McGregor drop down to 145, the

guy's my size, he's not bigger, straight up. Like, the guy's big, like, he's my size, if not bigger. And I was like, wow, look at this guy's, he's, he's held a huge size of advantage number one going into all his fights. He has the reach. He has the leverage. It just, it just made sense. And to be able to see someone my size do it and do it effectively and do it correctively, it just made sense for me to do it. It was the next step for me. And once I got it in my head that I could do it and that I wanted to do it, I basically was like, all right, you know, this is the next step. And there was other fights out there that I wanted to at 55, like, Nate Diaz. I had been wanting that fight for so long, and there was just so many good fights at 55 also.

But it was just like once the desire was gone, the desire was gone. I had made the decision in my heart that I'm going to 45. I'm going to finish my career at 45. It's where I want to fight. The guys are smaller. Yeah, I know the guys are faster. I get that. Everybody tells me that I know that.

I train the fast little guys that are like Jack Rapids. But it's just a decision that I wanted to do. And it's an exciting adventure. And with great sacrifice, it comes great reward. And that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for great reward. Big fight. And look, here we go.

I got it. Number four in the world, you're part of lawmakers. Yeah. I go in there. I do what I do. I know I can do to this guy, dominate him, finish him, and I'm in the mix at 145, you know, and it cannot be designed. How much you weigh right now?

Right now I am 172 pounds. Okay. And I walked up to the gym this morning, and John Dothin was giving me shit telling me, do you go 90. I'm like, shut up, bro. I'm like, shut up. It's the first day of training cap. Shut up.

but yeah now he's giving me a hard time he's my buddy I'm like how much you weed bro you look like you're about 155 did you by the way did you expect

that for your featherweight debut they'd give you a guy who not that long ago fought for the belt like a true serious contender I know he's coming off a loss and all but Ricardo Lamas

I mean if you could be him like you said you're right in there did you expect that they throw you right in there right off the bat no the way it went down

with the transition down to 145 first of all had to talk to Sean Shelby and be like, look, dude, you know, you want me here at this weight class? Something that I want to do, and he was pumped on the idea. And I had throughout some names, you know, I wanted the Caliguri fight first and foremost. And it just, I wanted to fight in Houston. And so we were trying to put that together, and he threw it out there.

He said, there's a really high-ranked guy that's looking for an opponent in Mexico. And I was like, oh, yeah, who's that? He's like Ricardo Obama, so I was like, well, not really the fight I'm looking for right now. You know, I want to, you know, I've had a year off. I had a lot of injuries. I want to get in there and really showcase my skills at 145. I want to fight a shorter fighter, da-da-da-da. And then, you know, I was watching the fight.

I was watching Frank Mirr throw down the other day, and I just sent a Twitter message to Ricardo, you know, because me and him are cool. We're just, we're friends, you know, we follow each other. So I sent him a direct message And I was like, hey, what's up, bro? You know, if you need an opponent from Monterey in November, and I'm down. And so he, you know, we started talking

And he said, you know, let's do it. Let's give the Mexican fans the fight they deserve two Latinos that aren't afraid who are going to throw down, who aren't going to play that run around the ring, run around the ring, ring around Rosies type of fight. and, you know, a man's fight. You know, we're going to throw down.

And for the Mexicans, and it's going to be awesome. So is part of the appeal here that you finally get to realize your dream of fighting in Mexico, I knew you're supposed to be on that first card against Norman Park? Now here you are in Monterey, the debut in Monterey. That's got to be huge, right? I mean, this is something you've been dreaming about. It's a dream come true. It's a dream come true.

I love the Mexican culture. I love the Mexican fans, and it's just going to be really awesome. I'm pumped for it. I think I have the perfect opponent, and our styles match up really well together. He's a striker. I think he's a striker, wrestler, you know, with a good gear team, and I'm going to go in there and do what I do. I think that I'm going to have a lot more power at 145,

and I'm going to look for the knockout. And if I can take it to the ground, I'll take it to the ground. I'll mix martial artists. I want to fight everywhere. And I'm pumped on this fight. He's pumped on the fight. And we're both 32 years old. So it's like a good age matchup also.

So I think it's going to be a good night. So you know, the big takeaway from UFC 188, the last car to Mexico was everyone coming in, you know, somewhat out of shape because of the altitude. too, they didn't, you know, Kane was mentioned that he didn't, he didn't get there early enough. Verdum did. It affected him in the fight. Other fighters complained about this as well. Because of this, how early are you going to get to Mexico? You know, for me, Monterey, Mexico, by the way, is not even close to the same altitude as Mexico City. So that's not going to really play into the, play into the equation much. but cutting weight down to a new weight class in a different country where the food

are different and, you know, the water and just everything, that's more of the challenge for me. I think I always come in great shape and fighting and training here in Albuquerque where, you know, my house is at 5,800 feet. My gym is at 5,000 feet, so I train a little lower than I sleep, and it's always been a real beneficial for me and my cardio, but going down to Monterey, Mexico, which I believe is like 1,600 feet, it's not going to really affect me.

If anybody, it's going to affect Ricardo. He's coming from Miami, you know, coming up a little bit in altitude. So he's the one who's going to have to train for that. So you are the last of the Mohicans, my friend. You are the last remaining Ultimate Fighter 1 cast member on the UFC. Is that a feather in your cap? Is this something that you wanted? You know, not necessarily.

I would have liked to see more of the ultimate fighter cast have a little bit better longevity in their sport. But, you know, I was the youngest one on the show. I was only 22 years old when I was on the TV show. So, you know, I look at it and I think of that. I've always done yoga and, you know, looked towards alternative medicines, holistic health. And so I think that that has also been a big play on my longevity.

But, you know, MMA's hard. It's a hard sport, and we're going to get injuries. And as you can see, it doesn't even matter your age. Look at Kabib. He's constantly injured. You know, he's a young guy. You know, he looks at Alia Quinta, and, you know, he's getting a knee surgery. unit. It's just a constant thing for all mixed martial artists and the better that we can learn how to train in the gym.

Like, for instance, today, I was training with Western World Sambu champions and we're doing MMA sparring. And there's a time where, you know, these Russians, they want to go freaking hard. And, like, and you have to be a veteran. I have to be a veteran. And they're like, okay, all right, you know, like, take it down a little, you know. And it's like, be aware, aware, you know. We start going hard. We start really driving our legs on those takedowns. We start throwing a little more, little more gust on those punches. And we've got to be careful, you know.

That's how we're going to get cut. That's how we're going to get injured. And so you have to be the veteran. And you have to determine the level of and who you're training with. And before I get into a mixed martial arts training session, I tell a guy, look, man, dude, no show time. No showtime pedice kicks without shampas. You know, like, I'll be real and tell them, like, look, come on.

You know, like, I've got to make it to the fight or else I'm not getting paid. You know, you, you're on a way lower level. You know, yeah, you're having fun sparring with me right now, but, you know, I got a family to supply for. So, you know, like, call them up there. How many more years do you want to do this for? Me? I want to do it as long as I can. As long as I can do it effectively.

and as long as my body's holding up, we'll see how things go at 1.45. You know, like, I, you know, I love, I do it for the passion. I don't do it for the money. I don't do it for the fame. I don't do it for my legacy. I do because I love it, above all. I think it's the funnest thing in the world.

Even everything, every single training session is just, like, so fun. Like, I love it, man. I love doing cartwheels, and I love running around the mat, doing fun stuff. I love mixed martial arts and it's a part of my life and I think I'll always stay involved in the sport just because it's what I know and that's what I love but as far as fighting goes

133 now and I want to fight as long as I can't you know I would be happy to be like a Dan Henderson or Randy Couture but you know we'll see you know every every man has his day when it's time to call it quits

and, you know, it's, that, that's in God's hands. I'm a believer, you know, I'm a believer that, you know, my destiny is in God's hands, and, and when it's time to step away from the sport, you know, it's time to step away from the sport. But as far as I'm considered right now, even injuries and stuff, I'm going to fight through it. I'm not going to quit. I'm not a quitter. I'm not going to step away from the sport until it's time to step away from the sport. As far as I'm concerned, you know, yeah, I know. that my last couple of performances were not the best in my career. You know, the career, it comes in waves.

You know, you have ups, you have downs. But as far as my down's have been, fighting mild jury, an undefeated guy, sick while I was with food poisoning and him running for me the whole fight, yeah, it wasn't my best performance. But I didn't go out there and get knocked out. I didn't go out there and get submitted. I didn't get TKO'd. Yeah, I thought the fight with

a last person. It wasn't my best stand-up. I didn't go for no kickdowns. I didn't fight the right game plan. But you know what? I didn't go out there and get knocked out. I didn't go out there and get dominated. And so, as far as I'm concerned, yeah, I've had some not the best days,

but I'm not out in my last days, and that's my point. Back in February, you tweeted a picture of surgery you had, and you mentioned that it was just the same. second surgery of your career, which is pretty amazing. It was a pretty graphic picture, somewhat gruesome, but also very fascinating to watch, to actually look at and study, and it was your injured collarbone, and they put some sort of, what is that, like some sort of metal rod in there? Titanium plate. Titanium plate. I have a titanium plate with 10 screws put into my collarbone and um you know it's 100% recovered okay you know all the all the numbness

and you know for a while the last thing to go with the numbness and um like i've recovered full strength in the shoulder and um it feels great actually feels it feels really good actually was wrestling and um got got like um something grinded on it today and i was like oh it was like a nice little test to see how it felt and so it was great. How much did that hurt, that injury? You know what? It hurt for like the first three days where I had a weight to get into surgery and I just got a broken bone that's just popping out and that was painful. That was very painful.

But, you know, I sent as I got the surgery, you know, I felt good and, you know, of course I'm going to, you know, be excited to get back. So, you know, it was more than anything. It was just frustrating having to wait so long for the bones and the muscles and the cartilage and the tissues to heal. Right. Because they basically, they open you up. You know, they cut through the fascia. They cut through all kinds of stuff.

And it's a pain in the mass and it sucked. But, you know, I'm glad that I had that opposed to like an ACL reconstruction. A couple of days ago you also tweeted a picture of a young man. You said that you miss him, that you'll never forget him, that you love him. Who is this person? I couldn't figure out who you were talking about. This is, he was one of my close friends. His name was Jaden Chavez Silver.

And he was just a victim, man, a victim of just reckless, violence. You know, he was 17 years old in summer before his senior year, and he went to a party, and they shot up the house. Someone shot up the house while he was there at the party. He hadn't been there for five minutes, and he was shot in the, in the, in the, right underneath his collarbone. It punctured his lung, and he died of, you know, he basically bred the, he basically bred the death and choked on his own blood. His, his lungs felled up with blood. And, and, um, the saddest thing about it all was, um, they called 911 and the 911 operator actually hung up on the, you know,

it's, it's a nationwide story, but, you know, yeah, they, they, they called the 911 and the 911 operator hung up, hung up on the person that was calling for help. And, and, um, he didn't make it. He died, in the hospital. He made it to the hospital and he died in the hospital and he was a close, very, very close friend of my next day he was going to be a lifeguard at my, my two-year-olds pool party, her birthday party. He was going to be a lifeguard at the pool and, you know, and I was going to have a party in my house and, you know, I was expecting him and then we got the call in the morning, you know, and he was merger. You know, I cry all the time, man. I think,

about them and and it devastates me that they can't find his murderer. They can't. And the worst part about it is, you know, it's a drive-by shooting, so there's no proof, you know. The police department, they have their leads, but, you know, it's just one of those things, you know, and it's just hard to get any closure knowing that the person that pulled that trigger is just out there, you know, you know, not serving any punishment for taking one of my friends, a good person, an athlete, a good kid, a good kid's life. This kid was not a punk. This kid was not a little gangster. He was not a little drug dealer.

He was not a little, he wasn't a punk. He was a good kid. He played football. He wrestled. And he was a good kid. It's a very, very sad thing. But I dedicate this fight for him. and I know that he's going to be with me on my shoulder, you know, out there fighting with me.

Every training session, I dedicated to him. And that's Mahito. He's my little buddy. And he's gone. I'm sorry to hear that, Diego. That's a horrible story. So young, man, you know, my condolences, my heart goes out to you. And, of course, his family and friends, it feels.

to me, Diego, like you entered this fight as sort of a new man. You talk about this experience, which is, you know, you can't even put it into words, but even some of your tweets and you tweeting about the odds, and you tweeting about the people who are doubting you, even my first question was about the featherweights.

You know, it feels like you feel, and correct me from wrong, a lot of people are counting you out here that are just kind of saying, what is Diego doing and that you want to prove a lot of people wrong? Is that fair? Definitely. Yeah. Like, that's, like, what I was telling you, like, how, yeah, I know my last performances were not my best,

and I know that I've had some rough patches, but I showed some greatness. You know, I fought Gilbert Melendous to a very amazing fight. I showed some great moments, and no way am I close to being done, you know, like, people don't really like to take into consideration that I've been fighting the best, in the UFC for 10 years. 10 years straight, I've been fighting the best. I never took no slouches. I never took no easy fight.

I always, always was looking to fight the best guy. And so, you know, for people to count me out and consider me washed up and done, you know, it bothers me, you know. It really bothers me, you know. At 33 years old, the people will be like, you know, oh, what about retirement? everybody, you know, there's people saying, oh, how many more fights you got left. So all those questions that arise, and it's like, you know what? You know, like, to me, I look at those people and, and I don't get angry at them.

I just look at them and I'm like, who are you? Who are you? Who are you? You know, I'm the expert in this field. You know, I know what I'm doing. who are you to tell me? You know, you're just some little punk trolling Twitter, you know, looking to get a rise out of a professional mixed martial arts fighter.

And so for me, it bothers me that a lot of people are letting me off. But at the same time, I've got a lot of support. I've got a ton of support. And, you know, there's a lot of people that tell me every day, you know, with Diego, you know, you put on the greatest fights, you fought with the biggest heart. and you fight the way we want to see fights be fought. You know, you fight. You're a real true fighter.

And so I know my fans are out there, you know, and I'm fighting for them. I'm fighting for my fans. I'm fighting for the people who support me and for the people who believe in me. But I really do feel that at 145 pounds, it's where I belong, you know, because I walk around, Ariel, My real true walk-around weight is about 174. Yeah, that's me walking around and not even maybe 10% body fat, you know, walking around about 10% body fat. So, you know, for me, I'll cut another 10 pounds in the next two weeks,

and I'll be 165 and I'll be looking to cut, you know, 20 pounds like everybody else. And that's where the sport has gone right now. everybody's cutting weight. I see these 55-pounders that are big. You know, these guys are big. Even just seeing Nate Diaz and, you know, in real life, you see the guy he's big. He looks like about 180, 190, you know, maybe even 200 pounds. And so for me, I'm like, well, you know, I'm tired of being the small guy.

I want to be the big guy. I want to be the guy with more power. I want to be the guy with better wrestling. And the other person who really showed me this format of dropping a weight class was Damien Maya, you know, a jiu-jitsu guy who dropped down to 170 pounds. And, I mean, he started dominating great wrestlers. You know, he was taking down Rick's story. He took down Kim, you know, like, I mean, he was just dominating people.

John Fitch, I believe, you know, he took down to him and just totally dominating him. and I'm like, that's, I'm like, that's what I want to do. That's what I want to do at 145. I want to be the big guy. I want to be the big, strong, dominant, wrestler, grappler, but at the same time, I want to have more power in my hands, more power in my kicks. I want to use high kicks. I want to use all these different dimensions that I wasn't able to use at 155 or 170

because the guys are so tall. The original Ultimate Fighter, the first ever ultimate fighter winner, the last remaining member of the Ultimate Fighter 1, still on the UFC roster, still doing his thing, reinventing himself at 145. He makes his featherweight debut November 21st, Monterey, Mexico against Ricardo Lama. What a fight that will be. Diego, always a pleasure to talk to you, my friend.

It's great to have you back in the mix. Looking forward to that fight very much. Thank you, Ariel. Thank you for your condolences, too, because Jaden was a good kid, and this fight is dedicated to him. And, you know, so every training, every training session, and when I make that walk, you know, people are going to cry because this fight is in his remembrance,

and I'm fighting for him this fight, and I'm going to go out there and I'm going to lay it all down the way I always do. But, you know, I also have a lot of respect for Ricardo Lama, and I just want to put that out there that, you know, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He's a good dude. There's no beef here. We respect each other, and it's going to

be a very respectful fight, but once they lock that door, you know, he's got a family, I got a family, and we're fighting to feed our kids. So if you want to see a hell of a fight, tune into our fight, because that's going to be a hell of a fight.

You know, it's not the main event. My brother Kelvin and Matt Brown, they're going to put on a great five-round mini event, but the coal mini event is going to be, it's going to be vicious. Me and Ricardo, it's going to be vicious. So, all you boxing fans who want to watch

Canelo, you know, if you do, you're going to be missing out on a real war, which is going to be Lama Sanchez. It's going down November 21st, so tune in. All the best, too, Diego. Talk to you soon. All right, bye-bye. There he is.

Diego Sanchez. Great stuff from him. As always, I said, changing it up, switching it up, dropping down to 145. Big fight for him on November 21st. Let's move along. Let's go to our next guest. Luke Barnett, patiently waiting for us. And you know, it's very nice that he has taken some time out of his day to join us because if you follow him on Instagram, he's somewhere in Italy, all bronzed up with his fiancee on the beach going shot. I mean, the guys just live in the dream. If this is what post-UFC life is like, Luke Barnard is doing it right, friends. Here he is. Magic of Skype. Big Slow himself. How are you? I'm very well, Are you? Where are you right now? I am actually back. I actually did a trip across the

Costa del Sol and all the way from Malaga to Barcelona and back, so I stopped off in Valencia and spent a lot of time in Spain and like you said, getting bronzed with my fiance, but now I am home in my in-law's house, so it's not as glamorous as you might think. Okay, so I must apologize. I said Italy, you were in Spain, so my apologies to the Spanish for that. Why the in-laws, by the way? Have you moved in with the in-laws? Is this what happening here? We've got two weeks till the wedding. So the wedding is up here in Liverpool. I'm up here preparing and obviously sorting out all the last-minute things. So, you know, I've got to be on ground zero where it's all happening. So I'm here sorting things out. What's the mood like? Are we nervous? Are we anxious?

Are we excited? What's it like? I mean, I'm very excited I think you get nervous The last couple of days Maybe or the day before I don't know You tell me But I'm excited to make it happen

You know I've been waiting a long time for it And there's been a lot of effort Going into it So I'm really really excited for the day And everyone tells me that it just goes too fast So I'm going to try and remember it And have a good time

So you said it's in two weeks Right Two weeks Wednesday Yeah So that's weird Because you know I remember you saying we're best friends And all in two weeks

I know the mail slow but I still haven't received my, is this an internet one? Is it like one of those email ones? You are more than welcome to come here. I'm sure I send something to your email, but you obviously get a lot of important emails and it must have. Check your junk. Check your junk, your trash. Just make sure you didn't throw away because you're definitely invited. Okay, that is good to hear. I'm happy to hear that. Okay, so let's break some news here. You have found your new home. Recently, you part of ways with the UFC, still hoping to one day resume your career there, but for now you have found a suit. let us know.

Yeah, you know, obviously I left the U.S. a little while back, and I've been searching for the right company to take me forward and the right people to take me forward. I've had a lot of offers coming in from loads of different places. It's quite a surprising company. I think people will be surprised who I've decided to go with. They're quite a new startup.

But there's a company out of Italy, which you mentioned earlier, named Venator FC, the Venetor Fighting Championship. They've had, I believe it's five shows now, but they are on the television in Fox. And they've been done like an Italian version of the Ultimate Fighter, where they've pitched Italians against each other. And they've done a 13-week series of this show where they've built it up. They haven't had them in a house, like the Ultimate Fighter.

They've just been fighting. And it's become very popular over there. And now they've built a show off of that. So they had a reality TV program around mixed martial arts in Italy. And now they've brought a big show to Italy called Venetor FC, which they've now recruited me to fight their middleweight finalists. of that tournament. There's a guy named

Matthia Chevalian who's the best middleweight in Italy, the number one ranked Italian middleweight and they've recruited me to come in fighting for the title on December 12th in Rimali, I think hopefully I'm saying that right,

right next to Bologna. Rimini. I believe that's correct. Yes. So we're talking Italy here. Of course, you're European, you're from England. Why do you choose,

and I know there are some, you know, some organizations in the UK, around the UK, why'd you choose Italy and not one of the English promotions? Well, you know, one of the big advances I had with the UFC was travel. I actually fought on three different continents with the UFC. I got to fight in Asia, in America and in Europe. And that's one of the things.

And now the greatest thing with not being with the UFC is the power to choose your own destiny, to do what you want to do and be where you want to be. And I wanted to travel a little bit. And I think Venator is trying to really upstage those promotions and really push European MMA. And a lot of guys in England, without the Cagerorius, obviously, was with us and it's coming back, but I'm not sure we'll come back

with the force that it had before. And without Cajoros, there's a real void in Europe for a very, very solid MMA promotion. And Vennator of hired Mark Goddard as to being charged with their safety and all of their refereeing and all of their judging and so forth, the backstage.

They're very serious about making it a clean, great event for fighters like that. me, they're very fighter-oriented. And, you know, I met with Frank Miranda, if I can say his name correctly. I met him for lunch. We had a long discussion about what I was trying to look for. And, you know, they are just investing in the fighters, trying to make it a good fighters' organization, and they're worrying about everything else later.

So, you know, a lot of organizations that start up and they don't last. I mean, hopefully Benatorre is going to be last at the time. They have the Fox deal in Italy. They're the only MMA shows shown on Fox, apart from the UFC. so I feel really, really good about it. And like I said, I never been to Italy. One of the only countries I've not been to in Europe. So another reason I wanted to go.

Did they reach out to you or vice versa? My teammates, a very good team had mine, probably, well, the guy who got me into mixed martial arts, Jack Mason actually fought on their last show. And I spoke to him about it. And then we had a training partner together who was Italian, and he reached out to me on their behalf. And I said, oh, sounds interesting, let me speak.

and then we got chatting. So technically they reached out to me, but it was more of a mutual thing. And is this a one-fight deal? I know you said you're fighting for a belt, so what kind of contract? What kind of deal do you have with them? It's literally just a two-fight deal.

So we have two fights. They've got the next shows in December, and then they're putting on a show in May. So there's a little bit of a gap in between. But within that contract, I'm not exclusively signed to Benito. I'm signed with them, and they're my number one client, if you will,

if you put me as a contractor. and then I can look for other organizations to work with them. And I'm looking for one more organization to fill in the void, to fill in the gap, because I want to get as many fights as I physically can. And I want to fight people all over the world, like I said. So I'm trying to get as many fights as I possibly can to get myself back to the UFC. So who else are you talking to? We've been talking to an organization in South Africa called EFC,

who are huge over there over in Africa. They're the only MMA show shown on the television. and they have a very, very big outfit out there. And I'm in deep discussions with them, and I'm hoping that would be the organization I go with. Apart from that, there's been bits and bobs going around, but nothing solid. I'm literally looking for the fights that I can get

to take me back to the UFC. So I want good fights with good people and good organizations that are clean and really trying to push the sport forward. And I feel like I'm a good representative for them. So I'm just trying to push that. So you're up front with these executives. You're telling them, look, I'm happy to come, I want to sign, but if the UFC comes calling, that's what I want.

That's my end goal here, right? Yeah, and most organizations know that. Yeah, now at this stage, they understand that, and it's written into the contract. They have a break clause that the UFC come calling, that I can leave and go there. And that was one of the main reasons I didn't go looking towards Bellator, you know, because they're obviously, you know, competitors or whatever you want to call it. And there's a lot of I have a lot of close friends that fight there, a lot of people that I respect that fight there. But I just, it wasn't the right fit for me.

And I feel like, on my end goal was to be back in the UFC. I feel like my journey was very, very quick to the UFC. I mean, I had been fighting barely two years and I got in the ultimate fighter. Went through that process, was in the UFC, had six fights there. And it was very, very fast. You know, I'd only been, I've only been doing the sport six years. And I was fighting Mark Minos, who I wanted that fight, and I still wanted that fight. And I'm glad I had that fight.

But, you know, it all moved very, very quickly for me. me and I feel like I handled it very well. I enjoyed my time with UFC. I had some great fights. I learned a lot from it. And I feel like once I get there again, I will be a much better suited athlete for the sport and I can do much better things. Will you still be training at Alliance? For the European fights, no. It's not worth the investment to go out there and train. If I was fighting in the US, I would have, but to go over there and fly back to Europe, it's not going to have. I'm actually moving to Malaga, Spain, which is why I'm, out there looking. I'm actually moving there on September 6th with my fiance to live.

Really? Why? Well, because I fell in love with the sunshine in San Diego and England doesn't have it, basically. And it's always been my fiance's dream to live abroad in Spain. And she, her work, she wants to work in England and in Spain back and forth. So, you know, she followed my dream for a long time and helped me out. She lived with me in San Diego and all the rest of it. So it's a small repayment to her. And then I'm going to travel for camps. At the moment, I'm looking at, I'm looking at one country, but I'm looking to train in Sweden right now for the fights. I'm actually looking to, I'm looking at All-Stars, but I don't think that would be the right fit for me either.

I'm looking to train with an old friend of mine from the ultimate fighter, a guy named Thor Trang. He has his own gym in Umio or Umiar. I can't say it's Swedish. It's about two hours away from Stockholm. We're very, very good friends. He has a small outfit there. I think I need, I've tried the big gym. gyms like Alliance, and I've been to All-Stars a couple of times. I know the coaches very well, but I think if I have a smaller outfit where I'm the main focus for this fight, I feel like

it'll be a very good outfit for me. And the Thor suits Matthia Chevalion, the guy I'm fighting. He's like the perfect match for him, and he can emulate him very well. So as we're very closer, I think it'll be a much better fit for me. Shortly after leaving the UFC, you were actually right back in the mix because your friend Arnold Allen was fighting on a car. You were there, fight week and all that. What was that like for you? Was that strange? It was definitely.

It was tough. I tell you what was tough. Obviously, I was extremely happy for Arnold, and he got a bonus that night, put on an amazing performance, came back from losing and submitted a guy in the third round, a very, very tough guy, so he made a bit of a bit of noise. But the fight week itself was hard. I mean, I'm very close to the staff, the European staff. I know them all very well, and they're all talking to me.

And everyone you see thinks you're in the UFC or not in the UFC or not in the UFC. You know, they're confused, and you've got to explain it. And then the weirdest one, I think it was a Wednesday or the Thursday night. All the staff go out, and they had some guest fighters gig. I can't remember what it was. They went to some bar or something. And I just tagged along, you know, I just, I got on the van, I went to the venue, everything. And I'm not supposed to.

I'm not allowed to, you know what I mean? I'm not in the UFC anymore. But, you know, I went and tagged along. You got fans speaking to you. And I was lucky enough that, you know, there was a couple of fighters there that I knew very, very well. so they kept me company and David Allen, who's no longer with the company, but I was very close to. It was there. So we had some good chats, and it was great. I mean, it showed me, it showed me one last time what I'm missing with the UFC, you know, and just seeing the people was hard. I think the

organization I'd left behind, but the people who are part of it, even just the PR girls and the people that I know, it was tough to see them again. Yeah, I thought of that right away, you know, seeing you fight week and all that, I give you a lot of credit. You're a great teammate and friend, because you didn't share with the world that this was hard, but just sort of knowing you a little bit and just, you know, normal human being reaction, I was like, wow, this is almost like divorcing your wife and then still kind of hanging out or working with her. It's hard to make the comparison, but you know what I'm saying.

It's a strange feeling, but you handled it very well. So now here you are. You're going to make your debut for this organization, December 12th. What does Luke Barnaut have to prove to the world? Do you feel like, all right, if I get one win here, I'll get back in the UFC, is it a slow build? How do you enter this new phase of your career? You're about to get married.

All this stuff changing in a short amount of time. How do you enter this fight? I mean, I'm not. I don't think I have anything to prove. Like I said, I think it was very quick. What happened with me in the UFC and how I got there. I think I handled it very, very well. I still believe that I, you know, we could say four and two,

but I believe my record's even five and one in the UFC, which is a great record out of six fights. And I'll hold on to that. Well done. You know, it's a tough thing to leave. And to come back, I'm not looking to have one fight and then get back in the UFC. I mean, I'm looking to reinvent myself, change my style. There's a lot of improvements I need to make that I've skipped because of the speed that it took me to get to the UFC.

You know, silly things like stretching. I'm probably the least flexible man. I'm six foot six and the least flexible man on the planet. So I can incorporate a lot more headkicks, push kicks, a lot more of my tieboxing, which is the style I originally had. but getting to the UFC and having to pick up on that wrestling so quickly and going training all over the world and living out of a suitcase for the last two years of my life

definitely had an impact so what I want to try and do is have more of a home life, a much better home life much a stable home life where I'm at home I'm training enjoying my training and I'm not chasing what I can become I'm actually building it from there and then when I feel like I get to the UFC

because I'm extremely 100% confident I'll be back there maybe two, three, four, five fights I'm not bothered about trying to get back there as soon as possible. When I feel ready and I've won the fights that I feel deserved to get me back to the UFC, I'll give Joe Silver a call. We had a chat when it all went south, and he spoke to me about me getting released and how he felt about it. And, you know, they want to have me back in the UFC.

I just have to prove myself to them that I can win the fights and get back there. Cheers, my friend. I wish you nothing but the best. Thank you so much for coming on this show to announce this news. Congratulations to both you and your fiancé on the upper. upcoming wedding, enjoy that process. You know, like, don't think about fighting for the next two weeks, all right? Just enjoy this ride.

Have fun. Have a great night with your family and friends. And I look forward to your debut in December. I'm sure I'll talk to you before then. I appreciate that. Errol. Thank you very much for having me on. And trust me, there's no fighting going on here for two weeks.

It's planning tables, seating plans, whatever it is, all that, all that stuff. So I'll be fine. I'm going to concentrate on the fight after the wedding. And by the way, if you can avoid fighting about that stuff, good luck to you. Boy, was that an annoying process. when I went through it. So it's a different kind of fighting, but yeah, have fun with that.

As they say in Italy, chao regato, bellissimo. Bellissimo, shallegado. There he is. Big Slow, Luke Barnard, joining Venetor FC. As he mentioned, new organization out of Italy,

they've done a few shows. Actually, I checked out their website, and it's a nice-looking website. If that's any indication of who they are, what they do, what they put together, Nice job. Now I think something that he said that was really interesting was, you know, some people when they get released, they talk about the UFC, UFC, UFC getting, you know, getting back in there with the UFC. And it's important not to rush that because I always feel like those fighters who do that, they stumble. At some point, they inevitably stumble because they keep looking past the fights that they need to get back into the UFC. And it sounds like Luke's not doing that. Sure, he's talking about it and that's his end goal and he's open and honest about that, which is fine. But you

You can't look past these fights that you need to conquer in order to get back into the UFC because you weren't looking past those fights on the way to the UFC initially. So by doing that now, you're only doing a disservice to yourself. It seems like he's figuring it out. It seems like he's trying to get it all together. And we wish him the best. Great guy. An incredibly smart man when it comes to fighting.

Tremendous analyst, as I've said before, he has a future in media, no doubt. But for now, he is chasing. that dream once again, and I look forward to watching that journey. Wish him the best. All right, let's move along. You know, I said on Saturday that it has become a common theme these days. It seems like almost every UFC card, every big time card, post-fight interview, fighter gets on the mic, thanks Mike Brown. Thanks Mike Brown. Thanks Mike Brown for his coaching, for his tutelage, for his training, for being there in their corner. this has become somewhat common.

Former W.C. Featherway champion Mike Brown. One of my favorite people in MMA, it has become common. And then when after, you know, when Amanda Nunes won on Saturday night, in my opinion, the big story of Saturday night in Nashville, she defeated Sarah McMahon. Incredibly impressive performance. Dominant win. She is in that mix, as they say. She thanked Mike Brown.

I said it is high time. We get the former champ on the show to talk about his transition into coaching because he is doing so damn well. So here he is joining us via the magic of. Skype, the one and only, Mike Brown. Mike, how are you? I'm great, man. Thanks for having me on. A pleasure, as always. It's been a while since we had you on, and now here you are transitioning. Like I said, I saw something on Twitter, and I forget the number.

How many weeks in a row? How many events have you just completed? Yeah, I've had a, man, it's been a rough stretch. 10 out of 12 weeks, I've been on the road. 11 shows in 12 weeks. Wow. Yeah, it's been a lot. You enjoy that? It's a little much.

I mean, I love what I do, but it's a little, I mean, sometimes I feel like I'm turning into a little bit of a professional cornerman, not a coach sometimes, like I'm almost on the road too much. I got to try to go out later, or it was just a, we have so many good guys that are fighting a lot that it's, yeah, sometimes it's stretch me thin. But I have some time off now. Okay, so looking at, let's say, the rest of the calendar year. Do you feel like it's going to scale back? Was this just, you know, I talked about on the beginning of this show, no, 15 UFC events in 14 weeks.

So it's been busy for everyone. Do you feel like you'll be able to figure it out? Yeah, I think it'll slow down now. Okay. I think, yeah, it was just a busy time. I mean, I don't even know the next time I go out probably. My next time will be, I'm guessing, with Dustin, Fourier, probably the next time I'll travel.

But something might pop up. So are you a full-time coach now? Full-time coach, full-time coach. MMA is done. The fighting is done. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's weird. I just never, I never officially retired. I just kind of faded off, and I didn't want to make a big deal of it, you know.

But I'm retired, you know. You retired. Was it hard to come to that realization? I mean, there's parts I miss, parts I don't. So, you know, I love my job. I couldn't ask for a better job. I'm really, I'm in love with a sport, man. The sport has been great to me, and it was always a huge passion for me, and I couldn't ask for a cooler job, man.

Just hanging out with high-level talent, you know, working on techniques and playing around with the game. You know, it doesn't get better than that. Did it make the transition easier because you just, you know, you took your foot out of the fighting door, and now you're in the coaching door, you're still in the same gym, still surrounded by the same people. It's not like you have to go out there and find a nine-to-five job, and now here you are. it's like a shock your system, your world has changed. Did that make it easier? No, I mean, it was super easy because I actually, like, I was, before my last fight,

I was coaching. I, like, I had a neck surgery in 2000, maybe 12. So I was out of training hard for a while. So I started a coaching kind of spot position in 2012. And then from there, I was, like, kind of playing both trying to coach and fight. but it was a better fit for just me to step back and then start coaching full-time. How does that work at ATT? Like, do you go up to the guys, you know, like Laboreo or Conan, Dan Lam?

Do you go up to them and say, hey, this is something I want to do? Did they recruit you and say, we see this in you? How did you get to that point where you became a full member of the staff, full-time member? That was Libo, man. Lebo for years, man. It's always, you know, we always talked and we've always been close, and he's always said, hey, man, I really want you to, when you're done, help us out and continue on.

And we had a good relationship. And he thought I was a good fit for the team. And I couldn't ask for a better home, man. I mean, this is my team and this is, it's like a family, man. And, you know, I'll be here forever. Of this particularly crazy stretch, what's the performance you're most proud of? I mean, so many. like in this stretch i think uh poorier probably fought twice finished both guys and in the first

round that's impressive uh amanda is damn close to a title shot yep kimbo dug himself out of a grave he was in big trouble and somehow ended up on top uh there are many many fights that you know, I'm proud of. I got a kick out of that one, seeing you with Kimbo in that corner. I mean, what an experience that must have been. What was it like for you to be a part of, you know, I don't say this disparagingly, but it's somewhat of a circus, right?

I mean, this is Kim over versus Ken and the bad blood and all that, and you're there and he gets taken down. It was pretty wild, yeah. Yeah, what was it like for you? A lot of people watching, you know, it's pretty crazy. And, man, he got taken down right away. I mean, Ken was smart. Ken, like, wanted, he didn't throw any punches. He was just, like,

boom, right to the takedown. So he, I mean, he fought very smart. But he battled out, and he battled out of, like, near death, man. He was, like, hooks in. Ken's trying to shoot the rear naked, but he kind of had it on top of the head. And, you know, he, like, he was a little loose. Kimball's got a lot of heart, man. And he just kept fighting, fighting.

And then right when he got back to his feet, man, he drilled him with a wicked shot, you know, that put a hole in. Shamrock's head, man. You could see it, but you could like see the bone. Oh. It was so deep. He had a hole in his head. Any word on his next fight yet?

No, I don't know what's going on. He's been back in the gym since, man. He's starting to train and, you know, that's his manager's role. But they're looking at something. I'm not certain. That's not my job. And what about Amanda? It really felt like, you know, I remember when she made her strike force debut,

I believe also in Nashville, she blew the doors off of Julia Budd in a matter of seconds. And, you know, she's had a nice run, you know, since then. A couple stumbles here and there. But on Saturday against, you know, super tough opponent, silver medalist in the Olympics, of course, Sarah McMahon. It really seemed like it all came together for her. Had that killer instinct. She looked fantastic. Why now does it seem like it's all coming together for Amanda?

I mean, I can't say for sure, but she's only been with us for the last couple of fights. Yeah. But I'll say 100%, this is the first girl, you know, like I've ever seen the gym where I was, I looked and I was like, whoa. You know, like, I've seen her stop, literally stop guys in the gym. Like, I mean, beating dudes up, making guys quit. Like in the stand-up. And she's primarily grappling background. I've seen her like make dudes quit, like kickboxing in the gym.

It's impressive. What weight are these guys that she's fighting with? You know, 25ers, 35ers, guys her size. Okay. I mean, they're not like, I'm not talking, you know, Dustin Poirier or, you know, or Sad Bectick, but professional fighters, you know, that are very tough, that she's, like, beaten up and she can be mean. too. She's like, you know, getting after them and guys are like timid and she's like the alpha

for sure, you know? It's pretty crazy. Is she ready for Rhonda in your opinion? In my opinion, I think she is. Really? I think she is. I think her stand-up is light years ahead of Ronda's, but obviously, you know, Rhonda is super talented, the best, you know. You have to like, should have to use good footwork and score and move and try to stay off the ground because Rhonda's, you know, a phenom on the ground. But, I mean, I don't think Ronda's stand-up is Amanda's level. So in your perfect world, does she, you know, fight once, twice more, or in your perfect world, if you're booking things, do you think, all right, let's put her in there, let's see how she does?

I don't know, man. I'm not a manager. I'm not a manager. But you're the coach. You know better than the manager. That's the bandit's call. You know, I think she can always improve. You know, I think that, you know, you get better with another fight. But I don't know what the right choice is. Do you take the risk of losing a fight? Because, you know, sometimes the better fighter doesn't always win. You know, sometimes you take a risk and somebody beats you that's, that maybe you're better than, but you get caught. You know, that happens all the time. So, I mean, I think she can beat Rhonda now. But, I mean, I don't know.

Maybe you try to build her a little more and get her a little more experience. But, I mean, she's more than capable. A few months ago, Robbie Lawler said that one of the keys to his success as of late was less sparring. And last week on this show, Dustin Porier echoed the same sentiment. Perhaps he does that a little more than Robbie, but said that he's definitely dialed back. Why is this being done at ATT and do you subscribe to this theory as well? feel like fighters should spar less? Yeah, I mean, guys are still sparring, but they're not, I mean, they're not killing themselves,

not going to war, you know, two or three times a week, maybe once, twice a week. I mean, those guys still spar. I mean, don't get me wrong. But, I mean, there was a big thing about Robbie where he said he wasn't sparring for years, right? Yeah. This was kind of a thing. But then he, lately, I mean, he's been killing it.

obviously he's the best fighter in the world at 170 pounds. And I mean, he's sparring now. He is. So, I mean, I think it's all about finding balance. Okay. I mean, I think you, but once you're, especially when you're higher level guy, you can back it off a little bit, I think. So he's back to sparring?

Yeah, he spars, no doubt. But I think, I mean, there was a period where he didn't spar at all, you know, like for years. Yeah. And then I think when he came to ATT, he started sparring more. I mean, I think Kami Barzini runs most of his training. He's one of our high-level coaches at the gym. He runs a lot of his sparring. But he has some sparring.

I mean, not a lot. And maybe he doesn't spar. He definitely doesn't spar when he doesn't have a fight coming up. Yeah. They know how to balance things. They balance very well. Speaking of balancing, you know, injuries have plagued the sport for quite some time. As a coach and as a former fighter, have you kind of figured out what's the right amount of how, you know, how you should push yourself before these fights?

Because it seems like so many fights over the last five years have gone up in smoke because of an injury. How do you find that balance? Yeah, I mean, that's a tricky thing. I think, uh... Are you guys evolving? Did you feel like it's evolving? It is, but you get better by... playing the game. You know what I mean? The way you improve most is by playing the game. But by

playing the game, there's a lot of injuries. So you've got to play the game just enough not to get hurt and do enough drills and then try to learn as much you can with the drills and then test it out by sparring and then back to more drills. I mean, you need to do both. It's a tricky balance for sure. But do you feel, you know, I've heard of a lot of fighters, including our last guests who are now saying, you know, I need to be the center focus. You know, I can't be a part of a big gym anymore because I get lost in the shuffle. It's too crowded, things like that. It needs to be more like boxing, you know, where the camp is built around me. How do you feel about that? You know, I was listening to Luke say that. Yeah. I mean, there's different arguments.

That can be true when you're in a small camp, you have all the coaches' attention, right? Like the coach is 100% on you. That's all, you know, the focus is. But you don't have the world-class sparring partners every day, many of them who really, they'll find your holes. And, you know, that's what, you know, closes up any little hole or gap in your game. Like, say, if you're a wrestler, you know, if you're from a wrestler from a small state, that's me, man. I grew up in Maine. Shout to all the maniacs out there.

Yes. But, yes. If you're from Maine, man, it's hard. The level of competition is not super high. If you try to go to wrestle in Pennsylvania or go to Iowa University, you know, you just don't have that high level guys around you all the time to push you. And that's the same of a small camp. You need, like, super high level guys pushing you, I think, finding your holes. Because then once they find the holes, you tighten the holes.

you tighten them on your own. You don't even need a coach. You know, if a guy takes you down five times in a row with a double a, you're going to figure a way on your own to stop that takedown. But if nobody's taking you down or nobody's cracking you with a straight right hand in training, you know, you think you're fine, but maybe you're not. Can you give me a name of a youngster? He may not be in the UFC or Bellator, but someone that's climbing through the ranks at ATT that you are particularly excited about. It could be someone in the UFC, but someone that you've been working with that you think has champion in him, has superstar in him. Anyone come to mind? Yeah, you know, if you talk about something like that, a guy that's, I mean, he's already kind of made it. Like, Marsad Bechtick is one of those guys, you know, as a guy who everyone is really sure of that everything's in line.

He has the genetics, the capability, the drive, the will, you know, like everything he needs to do it. And he's on the right path. So he's one of the guys that will be there. Yeah, he's looked amazing. Yeah, I mean, but he's already there. He's already in the UFC. I mean, most of the guys that are on our team that should be there are there now, with the exception of, Nate Coy is a guy who belongs there that's not in there.

Nate Coy belongs in the UFC. And another young guy, Jamie Alvarez, is a 25-pounder who's a fighter two away. That's a guy who probably people don't know, but will be there in the future. Fricky strong, big, tall, all the strength or all the weight in the right places, you know, big dude for the weight. track athlete as a high school kid, but, you know, super athlete, but newer to the game, you know. You know, it's funny, just a couple of days ago, I think it was actually Saturday before the Nashville card. I was slipping through the channels and the best of WC comes on. And it's you versus Aldo. Of course, not a fight that, you know, you'd like to reminisce about, but, you know, that was

at the height of your career and your run as featherway champion. Did you have it, and it was amazing watching Aldo afterwards. He was incredibly emotional. I forgot how much. emotional he was. Did you have any idea that night that he would turn into the legend that he has become? Well, I mean, that was the biggest stage, man. I mean, he was emotional because at the time, that was the number one spot, man. You know, that was the biggest championship in the world for 145 pounds. Yeah. So I'm sure, yeah, he was emotional because it was a big deal. I mean, before the fight, I was very confident in my own skills. I thought I was going to kill him, You know, but he's, but he's an animal, man, and he's, you know, I'm happy with his success,

and I'm happy that he's still, you know, doing so well. And, you know, I wish him luck. But, no, I'm always, everyone who I ever fight win or lose, I always wish them the best, you know, because I'd rather fight good guys than bad guys, you know, so. Well said. I love to. Go ahead, sorry. Go ahead. No, you go ahead. I'm done. No, no, I was going to say, I love that picture of you two in Brazil a couple weeks ago. That warmed my heart. Oh, no, it was really cool to see him. Man, I have a ton of respect for him, and, you know, I think he is a mutual respect.

He's a great fighter, man. I mean, I felt it in the cage, man. And you learn a lot from a guy when you fight him. But he's a super athlete. There was a couple of times I had a tight body lock on him where I thought, for sure, sure I would finish where normally I finish on a guy. He had really strong hips and I couldn't finish. I remember, for instance, he kind of like need me in the balls.

And the rest was trying to like, ask me if I was okay. And while I don't know, Jose was asking me like, oh, sorry. And while he was saying he was sorry, I tried to like get like a little cheap take down off it, but he still got his balance back. You know, I was like, oh, that bastard, he's a good athlete, man. I tried to cheat him a little bit. Does Connor beat him? I'm sorry, you broke up on me.

Does McGregor beat him? Oh, no. I mean, I think Aldo beats him. Obviously, McGregor poses some problems. He, I think maybe one of the bigger problems, he's a south paw, which takes away a lot of the outside leg kick, which Aldo is great at. I mean, he'll still have kicks there, but the outside leg kick is one of his best weapon. takes that away. There's a little high advantage.

But I think Aldo is the superior fighter, is the better athlete, and still wins the fight. But, you know, McGregor is no joke, big power and great with range. I mean, he's a great athlete and one of the best fighters out there. But Aldo is a better fighter. Final question. Now that we have officially closed the book on your fighting career, what's the moment that sticks out? Your favorite moment in an MMA fight, Cage, Ring, whatever. Gym, out of the gym, what's the moment that sticks out?

I mean, for me, there's three moments, you know, the three title fights that I won in the WEC. Those were the three biggest fights. The two with Faber and the one with Leonard. He knows the number one spot, man. and they were all exciting and great fights. You know, the finish with the knockout of Uriah, the submission of Leonard, and then the decision of Uriah and the second fight.

I think they kind of like cemented my legacy. It was a lot of, they replayed those fights a lot, so they got a lot of airtime, and I think they did me well. Yeah. What a time that was the journey to get to that point, and then your dominance there at 145 was amazing. I loved it actually coincided with the beginning of my MMA journalism career, especially working for Versus at the time.

So that was a lot of fun to cover and be a part of. And I'm so happy to see this transition into coaching going so well for you. It's a lot of fun to always see you at the events or see you know behind the scenes there in the corner. I know you don't want to be a professional cornerman, but it's clear given the success of your fighters that you are doing something and many things right over there. and I know you're a part of a big team. A lot of people deserve credit, but very happy for you. Thank you so much, Mike, for the time.

Congratulations on the win this past weekend and this success over the last few weeks. And enjoy your time home for a little bit. Take a load off, put your feet up, and I'll see you at the next event. Yeah, for sure. Thanks, Lairie. I'll take care, man. All right, there he is. Mike Brown, former W.C. Featherway champion,

and a man who has turned into a very, very good MMA coach, a tremendous MMA coach. And like I said, one of the good guys in this sports, So very happy for his success and the success that the entire team over at ATT is experiencing these days. Because, you know, that is a legendary team, one of the very best in this sport, a top two, top three team out there, no doubt about it. And filled with just great guys. That's the biggest takeaway from ATT. Anytime you see those guys, they're just all such great guys. Very nice to be around.

So congratulations to both him and the team. Okay, one more guest to go this week. Very interesting one. It was announced this morning that the great Amir Khan, two-time former world champion boxer, has entered the world of mixed martial arts. How about that? Super interesting stuff. And Amir Khan, King Khan, joins us right now on the MMA hour.

Amir, are you there? I'm good. Yeah, how are you guys doing? Thanks for a nice introduction. Oh, yeah, my pleasure. What a pleasure it is to have you on this show, Amir. Thank you so much. So you have entered the world of MMA.

What's going on? What are you doing? Well, yeah, MMA, obviously, I really believe MMA is a growing sport. Obviously, now I've joined a company, which is Superfight League, based in India. But now we are going out to other countries around the world. We've had children, Belize Dubai, and now Roper League is trying to secure a good deal in the States, in America. And, you know, because I think in America is where you need to be, just like my boxing career, how it took me to America

and how I have all the big pies over there. When you start to have a big event in America, I think you become a global star yourself. And that's what America brings to it to everyone. That's what I want to do with SFL. You know, being the part owner of SFL, I want to give the young, up-and-coming talent, you know, a chance,

let them showcase their skills on our big network. So hopefully that's what SFL is going to bring to it, and hopefully in 2016, I'm looking at doing 52 events around the world. 52? Sorry? 52? 52? Yeah, or 52 plus, yeah.

I want to do 52 events around the world. So I'm going to be keeping myself very busy, including, you know, my own boxing events. I'm going to be doing around the world with all the fighting and everything else. Did you reach out to them to be a part of this, or did they reach out to you? Both really, because, you know, obviously, being a being being being a, being, being, being, being, being, British Pakistani. I heard about this SFL and it was only next to Pakistan

it was in India. So then I got a few friends who said to me that look, would you want to be involved in it some way? And I said, why not? Obviously, I'm a big fan of MMA. I like MMA and I've trained alongside the likes of GSP, Andrelopski and them guys.

And I've always liked the way the MMA set up is, the concept. So I said, look, let me see what we can do. So I met the CEO, which is Bill Dufant. We had a chat with him, and then we've got it all done. I'm a part-on now, and hopefully I'm going to try to take it to a different level. Obviously, we know how big UFC is and all these other companies at Bell at Tor.

But we slowly get in there. The NFL is getting there now. Obviously, if you look on, with the YouTube hits, we like third on the table. We get a lot of viewing viewers around the world. And we just based in India. It was a small company that will be based in India, and now it's known around the world. So Superfire League's coming to America very soon, hopefully,

and we can get something done there. Any chance they convince you to actually have an MMA fight? Yeah, you know, that's something that's spoken about. I mean, the CEO, Bill did say to me, look, how about you going in the cage one day, but, look, boxing pays me well. Boxing is, I love the boxing. It'll be very hard for me to be.

I mean, I don't think I'll ever do that. It's a little bit... I don't think my mom would like to see me in a cage fighting. Obviously, she hates me boxing, let alone being an MMA fight. So I don't think I'd ever do that. But you never know. Look, this is... I'm a fighter.

I'm a born fighter. You just never know. I might just one day say, I'm going to pack the gloves up, and I'm going to go into the cage. Oh. So you just never know. So you're not closing the door on this? well

not really I mean I'm not going to close the door and you never know honestly I'm a bonfire I'm a fighter so obviously you just never know

what can happen one day I might just say for okay I want to go in a cage and I want to I want to fight I just love the you know

I love all the grappling and everything that happens in in cage fighting and the technique and everything because you know

in a boxing fight there's not much grappling whereas in an MMA fight there's a lot of flow work, a lot of grappling, and at the same time, I'm a good puncher myself. I'm a good boxer, so if someone tries to, you know, at least I've got advantage, if I work a little bit on my grappling, you just never know, I might go in the cage next.

So I know that, you know, there are some boxers out there who have, you know, taking this stance, anti-MMA stance, there's this robbery, but you, you've been a little different. You've always been complimentary of the British boxers, and back in the day, UFC 70, didn't you sit next to Dana White at that event in 2007? that's right yeah I was there I was in Manchester the event was in Manchester I was starting for Dana White you know I'm having a clue then

who Dana was or how big MMA would have been obviously I was just a little boy I must have been about 18 years old and that was the show when Mike Tyson was there as well Mike Tyson was there he was at the event at the same time I was starting in between Mike Tyson

and Dana White but looking back at it now I would start with two great people but they take some things I've got some pictures of that time. And that was so many years ago, and look how big MMA has grown since. Yeah, it's amazing. So good to have you a part of the sport.

I'm excited about this. Now, let me ask you a few questions, because the timeline here is very interesting. Last week, I've got to be honest, not even knowing that you were going to be a part of M.A. and SFL and be on this show in particular. You were the first person I thought of when the news came out that Mayweather is going to fight Burt.

I was like, man, what does Amir Khan have to do to get this fight? It's unbelievable. What was your reaction when you heard the news? Exactly. Tell me very, man. I honestly, so frustrating to be in a position I'm in. Mayor of the first said to me, look, I'm here.

You have to prove yourself in the 140-pound division and the 447-pound division, which I did. I went and fought the three top of ten guys and beat them convincingly. Look really good, in it. Now that, now it come up and I said, if it's Mayer whether, look, let's get the fight done.

I just think, when you'll refuse me this time, again, so I've been chasing Merylera three times but I really believe Mayo de things I would beat him and he definitely is scared I mean that's the reason this fight isn't happening I really know how to be I have the blueprint how to beat

someone at Ford Meroa you need speed movement and I know people always go back to the Mani Pakiya fight because Mani Pakiya also has speed and power but what Mani Paki Al doesn't have what I mean can has is size I think you need to be physically bigger than Freud Naderer as well

which I am. And I think with Floyd knowing all these advantages I have is probably thinking I probably have one or two fights left

in my career do I really need a hard fight to finish finish the sport with it also he gave all the fight fans the fight they wanted

which was him and Mani Pakiau obviously he beat Mani Pakiau comfortably but he fought Manipakia five years later

I mean you know and at the same time Mani had lost a few fights and also been knocked out and he's getting older.

Males was very smart that way. And I think, you know, that's one of the reasons he just doesn't want to fight me. He's a businessman. He's afraid. He knows he'll get beat. So he's, do I really need someone like I'm here can't? Eventually, you'll make a lot of money. Yeah.

But I don't know what it is. So have you given up on this dream? Do you think, given those reasons, you'll never get a chance to fight him? Well, I think. I mean, I just hope that, you know, it happens one day. But I'd never like to always say what would have happened if I'm here. can't fought Mayweather. Obviously, I know deep down I'd beat the guy, but what would have happened?

realistically, what would have happened? That's always going to be back of my mind if the fight never happens. So, and I'm sure there's a lot of boxing fans around the world who think the same thing. You've got people like Sugar Ray Leonard. You've got people like Tommy Herns, but Mike Tyson, all saying, Floyd Maylor should fire Hamio Khan. But Floyd's just to seem to want it. So obviously, look, if it's not Floyd Mayrida, we have to go to Plan B,

see who else is out there, maybe a fire between me and Maniocon. Paciel, there's talks about that fight happening in, somewhere in the UAE. So we're just waiting on Al-Hamon and see what he gets done. Obviously, being on the same team as Al-Ham, and I thought it would make it much easier to get the mail-of-the-fight because he also advises mail-a-the-day male-door is the boss and he's going to make decisions, and I think he just doesn't want to fight on the ground. So, you know, this is an issue that is somewhat foreign in the world of mixed martial arts,

because as you know, it's more, you know, these organizations, and there are matchmakers, and there are a couple examples here or there, but for the most part, it's hard to avoid the big-time fights. Do you prefer the way MMA is structured as opposed to boxing where it's almost like Floyd has this lottery ticket, and he gets to choose who gets to, you know, do the dance with him? You know, that's what me and the builder's friends you're talking about was the CEO of Super League.

We were talking about giving the fight fans the fight they want. the fights they want to see. Now, with boxing, we're not getting that because there's a lot of fighters avoiding each other. Like, for example, my own, my own issue with me, with the not getting a fight. But with MMA, I respect it because their best have to fight the best.

And that's what I love about it. And that's what the fire fans always go to those stadium and they're always going to be full and all the, wherever they fight. They're going to be full because people like to watch real fights. They like to see 50, 50 fights. And that's what MMA and what, Super five league is going to bring to a table as well.

So, yeah, I wish it was. Like I'm a neighbor, obviously, you know, maybe one day it will be. We can just, I just leave it to my advisor, I'll him, and hopefully he can get me the fight and the big fight if I want. Given your history with Manny Pachiao as a training partner, and of course, Freddie Roach, do you think that makes them more likely to want to fight you or less likely? I think, you know, me and Manny Pachians have good sports.

50, 50 days to be and then towards the end I just get quite the better of Mani Parkia was, I got a little older than a lot of bigger, a little bigger. I think business-wise, it makes sense to make the fight. Obviously, me and Manny

are, you know, former stable mate, and partner partners and friends. Business-wise, it makes sense having the same train of Freddie Roach, so we know of each other. But one thing about me is I've changed a lot in my style

and my fighting style being with Virgil Hunt and a new trainer. I've changed a lot as a fighter, where Manipaki is still the same fighter as he was, because he's always been with Freddie Roach. Having to change your trainers isn't a bad thing. I think it's helped me a lot because, you know, I've changed up a few things,

and every trainer is different. And I think, yeah, it makes the fight interesting, though. You know, obviously both of both of us have big hearts, huge hearts and have a lot of hand speed and skills. So that would be an amazing fight. Do you hold any ill? will towards Freddie. I know you guys have gone back and forth through the press.

Is there some animosity still there? You know, never. I mean, I've always had nice things about him. Honestly, I've always been nice and I've said good things. Look, I need to change in my life, and I don't think that's a bad thing. You know, I think with most fires, it could be MMA fires or it could be a boxing fires. You know, sometimes a change makes you a bad fire.

It makes you more serious and makes you work on new things and new strategies and how to, you know, and give you new game plans. and obviously just things I love back into a sport again. Since I've been with Virgil Hunter, I've loved boxing again, and he's teaching new things I've never learned before, so that hunger's coming back again. Whereas Freddie Roach, obviously, you know,

I was living for five years, and obviously, in five years, I did learn a lot with him. He got me to become two-time world champion. We didn't, I didn't walk away. I was the one who sat down with the Freddie Roach and said to him, look, Freddy, I think I'm going to move on.

I'm going to move train. and I respect what you've done for me. And obviously I wanted to open air. Last thing I wanted to do was him reading it in a newspaper on articles saying, I mean, Freddie, I met him myself face to face and said to him that, look, maybe in the future we work together again. But I think at this moment of time,

I want to maybe make a change. So, you know, when I announced that you were going to be on this show, we have a lot of people who listen in the UK and around the UK and the number one question that I received was ask him about Kelbrook. Is he going to fight him? Yeah, Kelbrook. Yeah, you know, I've just, I've just, I just did a statement in the UK that I'd like to fight I'll do it, and hopefully stuff I could be made next year in the summer, outdoor stadium,

maybe Wembley Stadium or something. I think that's a good idea, maybe having that fight one day. But not this year, let's do it in summer, where it's going to be even bigger. So have you not said that you want to see him go out and fight a big name or two and then fight you because then the fight would be bigger? Yes, I did. I did. I did. I did say that. The fight could be much globally with Calbrook. But the thing is the Calbrook now, if he's not going to go out there and fight these big names, then obviously I'll have to just take the fight. Because I get a lot of criticism from people saying, I'm scared of him. I'm not scared of him. I just want him to prove himself. Now, if you look at it on a different angle now, if he does.

go out and fight these big names like some Madonna, Bradley, Pacquiao, and he gets beat. Then he's only going to make the fight smaller. You know, it's not going to make the fight as big as it is now. So let's just give him the benefit of doubt. You know, he's a good fighter, and we're going to go in there. But we'll go in there.

We'll take the title away from him. And then we'll see what happens after that, yeah. So what's the perfect scenario for you? Because you're not getting Floyd, obviously. Manny, it might be some time, of course, because he's coming off surgery. I know you've wanted the rematch against, you know, Garcia, Peterson.

What do you want? And I know you fought not that long ago, you know, right here in Brooklyn. What is the perfect scenario, the opponent, and when? I think the best scenario for me would be, you know, I'm going to leave to all him. I'm upset to him that look, I want to fight the big names in boxing. It could be the third minute that day. It could be the Garcia rematch, peace and rematch.

But, you know, say one thing is, and a lot of these other fights say the same thing. fight anyone. Yeah. When it comes down to it, they never want to find my contract. And I think I'm probably one of the only

guys out that will fight anyone in front of me. So I'm just going to leave it to my advisor with him and see what he does and what decision he makes

and who he thinks that should be fighting. Do you like the PBC format? I think PBC is good, yeah. PBC is different. Obviously, I like the way

it's a little different in a way where you walk out the ring and you're, you're on your own, all the lights are on the fire. Yeah. You know, normally I've walked at the boxing ring

and you've got like 100 people around you and you can't believe. You're getting squashed out and walking into the ring. But I think PBC is good. It's new, it's different. It gives them, if it makes a fire a bigger name, it gives a fire of value. So, yeah, I think it's a great idea what Al-Hamondon. Will your next fight be for PBC?

Yeah, I think it will be again. Yeah, obviously, I'm with Al-Ham and the team. So, yeah, I think it probably will be. Yeah, we want to grow PVC, and obviously PBC is growing now. One thing of the PBC, what I love about it is, the best are fighting the best. There's no hiding. So, you know, there's one little group of fires in PBC who have to fight each other. If you want to be a top name and you want to be on top, I think, yeah, you have to fight each other.

So that's what I love about it. But did you sit down with Al and say, look, man, you know, I'm with you. Why couldn't you get me the Mayweather fight? I thought I was going to get it because I was aligned with you. Did you ask him that? Yeah. What do he say? Yeah, I know, my, I mean, look, he, while him and say, well, him and,

said to me, his mayor is his own boss and he makes decisions and he just doesn't seem to one head this time. So, I mean, what can I do? Honestly, I can only hope that fight happens and I think, like I said,

deep down knows that Ameri Khan would give him a good win for his money. Also, on top of that, if you think financially, how big is Ami Khan? My last fight in America was on free television, it was one of the highest viewed fights in the last 10 years in boxing on free television. And then what I bring to a table,

Nehler is all about money. He goes, he wants to a big person in his boxing, fights in Korea. I've been big money to the table, the UK revenues, the Dubai revenue, the Pakistan, India, the population is huge on that part of the world. And people like in India and Pakistan

who don't know who flawed neighbor there is would know then who flawed neighbor there is. So it's going to be good for his popularity. So, but he just doesn't seem interested. I bring a lot then. I bring a lot more to a table than any of the fire he's faced in his past few fights apart from Manipakia, obviously. You know, but obviously, in Mayer, they just, like I said, it just must be he's afraid. Does Berto stand a chance?

A friend of mine who trained together in the gym. I think anyone in a fight stands a chance. You know, we've seen in MMA, we've seen him in boxing. The best sometimes get beat, it takes out one punch. So I think, yes, he does have a chance. I'm sure he's training, you know, training hard. So, yeah, I think he has got a chance. but you don't pick him at the end of the day right

no I'm obviously I'm gonna I'm gonna be on it I'm gonna be in his call now I want to be supporting him I'm gonna be helping him if I can in anyway but I just I just hope to do it

I mean he can't pull it off and you have to remember Mayweather's getting old now you just don't know when it's your time I mean right you know he's maybe over the night you can get very old and he might just happen to me

where he's the best time to catch him so you know Berto has decent speed. He's a little short in Mayweather, but obviously he's quick, he has decent power. So, yeah, you just never know. This is boxing.

One push can't change a fight, and Berto does have that power. Well, what a pleasure this has been, Amir. Really great having you on the show. Again, welcome to the world of mixed martial arts and just a little business advice.

Thank you. As owner of SFL, I mean, Amir Khan making his MMA debut, that's big business, my friend. You'll make a lot of money doing that. You think so? Yeah. Yeah, well, yeah.

I mean, the phone calls are going to go off. You're the first person I've said that to, so the phone calls are going to start going off like crazy. But at the moment, I'm going to just keep the boxing going strong. I never know my first fight on NFL. And then a couple of years' time. All right. Well, I wish you the best with the new venture.

I appreciate it, of course, in your fighting career in the ring. Good luck getting those big-time fights. And it was great to have you once again on the show for the first time. This was a real treat. Thank you. All right, there he is. Amir King Khan, now entering the world of MMA. He is a part owner of the Super Fight League. Remember the Super Fight League when they burst onto the scene a couple of years ago, focused very much on India. But now it sounds like they want to expand. They got a big name behind them. And who knows? I mean, could you imagine Amir Khan making his MMA debut? That's a pretty big deal. I doubt he's doing it right now. Still very young, still 28 years old. It's unbelievable. 28 years old, Amir Khan. It feels like he's been around forever. I remember the tough, was it the tough 10 finale? Tough 10 finale, I purchased an internet European stream of Ameri Khan versus Dimitri Salida.

I believe this was December of 2010. I was big into Demitri Salida, the Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn. He had climbed through the ranks, great documentary on him called Orthodox stance. Really good. and this was his big chance. His big fight was going to be against Amir Khan. December 5th, 2009. What's with that date?

December 5th. It keeps coming up on today's show. Anyway, he gets this big opportunity. It's in Newcastle, and he gets knocked out in a minute, 16 seconds. And that pretty much was it for Dimitri Salida. You look at his record, though. He has done what was asked of him,

defeated Chris Algeri, Devin Alexander, Luis Colazo. He's won, what, five? in a row? Yeah, five in a row since losing to both Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson, and yet he can't get that fight. I would much prefer seeing Amir Khan versus Floyd Mayweather than Berto Mayweather. Give me Etzen

Berto versus Floyd Mayweather, not Andre Berto. But alas, he did not get that fight. How about the MMA hour venturing into the world of boxing? Thank you very much to the great Micah Framowitz for hooking us up with Mr. Kahn. We have gone way over time. We need to answer some questions. So, Mr. New York, Rick, are you

back, have you decided to grace us with your presence on this Monday? Oh, there he is. The Samurai King himself, New York, Rick. Back from his time off last week, we certainly did not miss you. I think that you put a hex on our show last week, but we turned the tables on you because you tried to pull the plug on the show, just 10 minutes to go before we went live last week. Our live stream went out, but then the geniuses back here, they turned on a dime. They got us on YouTube, and we haven't looked back since. So your efforts were futile, my friend. I think all we need to do is look at how the show started out without me,

and that's all that needs to be said. You tried to throw us a curveball, but here we are. Defiant as ever. No time to waste. Let's get to the questions. First question. Next for Glover, after his relatively dominant performance against OSP. Who do you think Glover should fight next?

It's a very good question. First of all, I love the way they promoted Glover's fight. He took John Jones the distance. Did you notice that? Of course. It was great. It was brilliant marketing. What's the next for Mr. Tickshara?

Let me look it up. Do you have any ideas? Somebody later in the question suggested a rematch with Rampage, if Rampage can win his next fight. I don't even want to consider Rampage at the moment because he does have some legal troubles that need to be addressed. So what's the point? Let's see.

What about, what about, what about The winner of Jimmy Manuel Rumble Johnson? Timing works. That's great. That's the fight. I like that. You know, a fight that was discussed, tell me your thoughts on this,

when Bader, what happened here? Okay, when they moved, I forget my timeline, but anyway, it was discussed to book Glover-Teshire versus Pat Cummins. And then it didn't happen. at the 11th hour. Is Pat ready for that?

Not in my opinion. After the big win over Fajat, too soon? I think it's a bit too soon. I think it's too soon. That said, I don't think it's unreasonable. I think you could make the case that he earned at least the shot. I don't think he would win that fight, but I think he's at least deserving of an opportunity. What about Shogun? That's a good one.

But I don't know. I do like the winner of Manoa Rumble, though. I think that's the one that makes the most sense. Yeah. Michael Johnson, do you think that despite the controversial loss, Michael Johnson would be treated like he earned a victory and receive a top fighter in his next fight? If so, who do you think you should fight next? Yes, absolutely because

even Dana White was complaining and saying that it was a horrible decision. Look, this is what you get when you assign Doug Crosby. When are we going to learn? Someone told me that Tennessee is the last one on that train. So, hopefully.

I mean, it wasn't just him. of course. Are we sure that Doug Prosby was the one who didn't... He scored it for Darius. Okay. And another judge did as well. If you want the name, I'll get it. I believe it was Sal DiMato.

Or Sal Damato, everyone says his name differently. Anyway, he was the one that scored it for Johnson. I asked because, you know, in the last one, the Aia Quinta and Masvidal, he was at... Crosby was actually the one who scored it how everybody else thought it should have been scored. So, sometimes... Lion's not that whole thing. Yeah, you know, sometimes he's not the...

Sometimes he's the dissenter in the right way, but I guess in this case, you know, he got it wrong as well as somebody else. Richard Beltran. Who got it correct? No, who scored it for Darius. The one who got a right was Sal. There he is. But who did you think won? Clearly, Michael Johnson won that fight.

Yeah. He won the first two rounds, and then he lost the third round. It was kind of easy. It was one of the easier fights to score. There wasn't so much of a, you know, the striking was relatively equal. in terms of numbers, but when you see, you know, the forward pressure from Johnson and you see

who's landing the Chris Barthar Harder strikes, he knocked him down in round one. You know, fortunately, everybody scored round one for Michael Johnson, which, you know, is not always a guarantee, but clearly he won the second round as well. You know what I'd like to see? Let's see once and for a... No, no, this is not going to work.

I was going to say, first I was going to say Porier, but he's booked. I think that would be fun. And then I was going to say Mazvedal, but... He's in 170, of course. There's no real... Because Ferguson, I think, is going to get a bigger name. Benson...

They were going back and forth, but I feel like Benson's next fight will be at 170. Maybe it's Benson. I'd like to see that fight still. So even coming off the loss. And I want to see Benson at 170, but I'd like to see Michael Johnson versus Benson Henderson.

Does Dariush's stock not go up here? Because we all consider the loss? I don't think... I don't think he loses anything. Because even though, you know, we consider that he lost. his fight. It seemed like as the fight was going on, he was the one who was coming on stronger, the end of round two and the start of round three. It seemed like Dariush could have made this his

fight. So I don't think he loses much against the game Michael Johnson. Yeah, I wonder where they go. I think this is one of them where both guys ended up looking pretty decent and Michael Johnson clearly won two rounds out of the three. If it went longer, I don't think that it necessarily would have played out the same way. I think Dariu She was looking. a little fresher. But it was a three-round fight, and he won two rounds. By the way, no doubt about it. I owe the flying judoka an apology.

Robert Whiteford wanted me to ask Mike Brown about Hagus. Oh, God. I ran out of time. Why are you rolling your eyes at Robert Whiteford? He'd go over there and slap you silly, son. What does that even mean? He always says, son, at the end of his sentences. I think that's a Scottish thing.

Anyway, he wanted to ask, he wanted me to ask Mike Brown about hunting haggis and I told him I would and I forgot. It's not so much I forgot. I remembered, but I ran out of time. The show went a little long, so I apologize. Unified rules, how can we as fans enact change to the rules with the governing MMA bodies? Brandon Chob said it best on his podcast when he brought up the fact that if things like this Johnson fight happened in any other major sport, changes would be made. Shob was originally referring to his loss against Sarlovsky. The point is, if a refer judge screwed up a basketball game and got it wrong.

Commissions would be involved. I don't know if commissions, but the NBA's regulatory bodies would be involved. Hearings would take place and new rules would be in place quickly. Who would we as fans pressure to make these changes? The New Jersey State Athletic Commission originally decided the unified rules. Nevada Athletic Commission is either of those two, the means? Well, I'm assuming you don't watch regular sports all that often because there are horrible

calls all the time that affect games and nothing happens. Sometimes they'll make a statement. They'll make a retortment. But they don't, like, drastically change the rules. The thing about MMA that is so tricky is that it's so subjective. It's more like figure skating than the NBA of the NFL. I mean, A, the referee really, you know, there's no clear cut set of rules when he has to step in. Of course, when someone taps, it's pretty clear, but if you're Steve Mazogati, not so clear all the time,

or Hussein-Parais for that case. But, you know, when there's a TKO, look at the Derek Brunson fight. There were some people who was like, oh, Alvi. Personally, I thought that was a good stoppage, but you could make the case for, you know, thing lasting a little longer. Same with Joe Loz on a couple of weeks ago. So it's very subjective. And then it comes to the judging part of things. And that's also equally subjective. So, you know, I don't foresee anyone. You know, this gets back to the whole, you know, 10 point must system debate. Is it for MMA? Is it more of a boxing model? I mean, this is something that has been talked about. Here's the

one thing I know for a fact that I can sit here and say 100% with the utmost confidence. This debate, this argument, this discussion is not going anywhere. This is going to be a part of MMA until MMA is no more, which hopefully never happens. It's just the nature of the sport. It's just the way it is, more so than even in boxing or any other combat sport, in my opinion. So, yes, little things will be changed here and there, and this is not me trying to say, don't try to make it as good as possible, as accurate as possible, but it's just the way the sport is constructed and the way it's officiated. it.

Hafay el Natal and Yariah Hall. Is Yeraiahal versus Hafei El Natal one of the best beasts in MMA right now that is flying under the radar? Is it time to have a rematch sooner rather than later because of the outcome of the first match

and the words back and forth? Are they still going back and forth? Not sure, but I wouldn't mind seeing it again with how close the first one was and if there's still some heat there. You know, I want to see once and for all. Is Yariah? I know he's coming off a loss.

but like who is eurya hall first of all I feel like he always He's coming off a win No no no prior to that He lost it in Natal part of that Well my point is like It always feels like He has a win

Over like a late replacement guy That we haven't heard of Or some sort of change in his fight And then he'll have a stumble And then he'll come back And look amazing Like I don't know who he is as a fighter I don't know where his ceiling is

You know what I'm saying I just think he's going to be that guy I don't think we will know that He'll just be that guy He'll be a Hafeel Natal Yeah. Which is why this matchup is perfect. I don't want to see it again.

We just saw it like three months ago. Kanda versus Loller. Is this one of those rare occasions that no one is really complaining that Kondit is getting a title shot over Hendrix? Because of the type of fight we know Robbie and Carlos are bound to have. I kind of have a problem with this one, I hate to say. I saw a lot of people in the media too, like cheerleading about this fight. He did lose to Tyron Woodley and Johnny Hendricks. So, you know, are we just going all in on this entertainment thing or what?

I mean, how do you justify this fight? Go ahead. Justify it. It's going to be a good fight. It's going to be a great fight. But as far as a title fight, who other than you, has talked about the Alexander Gustafsson title fight more? I've talked about it a lot.

Yeah. So why would you expect differently? No, no. This is the new era. Yeah, this is the environment we're in. So Condit's title shot is no different than any other one. You know, it's interesting. Originally, we thought that this was going to be in a 55,000-seat stadium in Melbourne, their big debut there.

Big Sports Town, more than the town, big sports city, and they wanted to come out with a big bang. But the UFC has yet to acknowledge this card and this fight in particular because they don't have a venue yet. At least last time I spoke to them a couple days ago. So I'm curious, like, can this headline a 55,000-seat stadium? I don't know about that. I mean, it depends on the rest of the card, but it's on its way to being pretty solid. I mean, that's a good start.

But I don't think on its own it can do it. Mano-imano, it's an amazing fight. It's when we've talked about. It's going to be fun. The worst part about this fight isn't the fact that you can make the case that Carlos doesn't deserve a title shot because he lost to Hendrickson-Willy.

That's not the worst part about this. It's that for the next three months, we're going to have to hear all these people talk about violence. violence. Oh, the violence. Think about the violence. That's the worst part. That's the part I hate. That's instant blockage right there if you talk about that. I'm okay with it. We had this debate a little bit last time when we were talking about Robbie and Rory. Hendricks versus Woodley, this fight is such a great matchup and I'm glad it got added to 192. It's so hard to see how this fight will go. How do you see this one playing out? And who's your winner? I don't know what the difference between those two questions is.

Well, I mean, you can you can say how do you see it playing out in the event? And you say it's a decision, okay, that's how it plays out, and then my winner. So I don't think you need to be so rude to Zach's Super 7. Why don't you tell us how it's going to play out and who's going to be the winner? I see Hendricks ultimately being able to avoid the big power shots from Woodley and mixing up his game a little better in terms of takedowns and striking and ultimately getting the decision. You know what I'm really curious about with this one? is Hendricks going to be motivated?

He was supposed to fight for the belt. He takes the Brown fight. He didn't want this fight. He was very open about that. It's not that far away. It's in less than two months. Is he going to be motivated? He's not with Dolce.

Is he going to push himself? It's got to be disheartening, right? It's got to be disheartening when you see a guy that you beat, jump over you. When you had the title shot, you took another fight in your adopted hometown, essentially. But he's going to get a title shot if he wins this. Yeah.

is he going to be motivated to go through this guy who he has a history with? I think if ever there was a time to get motivated, it would be now. Yeah, but sometimes you can get pissed. I'm just saying, I'm just throwing it out there. That's fair. But before it was up in the air, it was hazy. Nobody was being guaranteed a title shot. If he wins this, I mean, it's almost a short.

Well, when he took the Brown fight, he was like, all right, I'm taking this fight, but if I win, I'm getting a towel shot. I mean, sure, he was saying it himself and no one else, but I think he fully expected to get the winner of Roy Robbie, if he won that fight, which he did, rather convincingly. Amanda Nunes, I've always thought she would be the one to challenge Rousey. This fighter is scary good. She should have beat Katzangano,

but I think she can destroy Misha Tate and give Rousie her toughest match. Do you think there's a chance the USC will make this fight? As no one, including me, wants to see Misha get armed barred for the third time and make her the gatekeeper for the division for the rest of her career? I don't know about that, but can I just say something? I feel like all of a sudden, things are really interesting for Ronda Rousey, because A, as I was saying to Dave Meltzer, all these people are finding out about her for the first time.

So that's why the Misha Tate fight is acceptable, even though we've seen it twice already. Amanda looked fantastic on Saturday. There's still the Hollyholm fight out there. I don't want to see her next. Probably not even in two fights, but it's still lingering. Giuliana Pena, there's a great story there. She has a big fight against Jessica I.

Holy moly, that's a big one in Houston. Let's see what happens there. But if she wins that one, she's probably one or two away. Max. Of course, there's a cyborg thing. I mean, she has more options than, a lot of other champions out there. Now, are these truly options? They're options. They're sellable opponents. More so, in my opinion, look, Bechko Hea was tremendously sellable as far as what she was

saying and the trashdok, but skill set-wise, these are all tougher, in my opinion, than Bechkoheya. That's fair, but I don't think they're sellable outside of Ronda Rousey versus anybody being sellable. Well, can I just say that Ronda Rousey versus, you know, this Orangeman doll is sellable at this point. That's my point. I don't think any of these are, are particularly worthy challengers? I think in a perfect world Amanda Nunes gets a couple more fights, but man, that was super impressive.

You don't do that to Sarah McMahon. I'm excited to see that. I'm really excited to see how Julianna Pena looks against Jessica I. That's really interesting to me. Holly's progression is something to watch. There's stuff out there, and of course, she's going to do a movie

after this next fight, so let's not forget that that will allow the division. Here's the worst part about Demetrius Johnson and his dominance. He's too damn active. He's the most reliable guy in the UFC, most reliable fighter. So he fights so often, wants to get right back in there that it doesn't allow, unfortunately, for the division to catch up to him. Ronda doing these movies sometimes isn't the worst thing in the world.

Tito Ortiz, talking about offers of a fight at Cowboy Stadium for Cyborg, truly or not, gets fans' hopes and expectations up, and in turn makes them put pressure on Dana to make it happen. Thus putting Cyborg in a stronger position than I would have thought. Does Tito help or hinder Cyborg in trying to make the rousy fight? I think it's a non-factor, to be honest. I think that fight is too big to have anyone kind of ruin it. I don't think the UFC is even calling Tito Ortiz. This is Tito, in my opinion, smartly, by the way,

injecting himself into that discussion. Great, he got a lot of press. But I don't think the UFC is calling Tito to negotiate this fight. She has a manager. You know his name. I know his name. We all know his name. George, is it Prasian?

Yep. There you go. They're calling him. They're talking to him. They're talking to Lockhart. They're talking to those people. Tito is, I guess, a part of the team, but they don't need to call him to negotiate. So I don't really think he might be a Thorn and Dana side or the UFC side, but I don't think he hurts it at all. What are your predictions for the outcomes of the Nevada Athletic Commission's hearings of Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz, which are due to take place this week? Well, Nick Diaz is not going to take place because of his, well, last I heard, they asked for a continuance because his lawyer has a scheduling conflict that day. so they're going to hopefully delay this one more month, at least. Prediction for Anderson. I saw Anderson in Brazil, and they were confident that there are some inaccuracies in his drug test results.

They went all into it. I won't get into it here, but they're confident. And then I spoke to Bob Bennett of Nevada, Nevada Athletic Mission. He said he's confident of his test results. So we'll see. The good news is, finally, we're going to get some kind of resolution to this because, you know, I want to see where Anderson stands. When's he coming back? When's he going to fight?

what kind of punishment, if any, is he going to receive? This thing is airing. It starts 9 a.m. Pacific on Thursday, which is a bit of a problem because we do the MMA beat live. So I need to figure out what we're going to do about that. That's on Fight Pass, by the way. And also, speaking of Fight Pass, good segue here. I'm told that you can watch UFC 189 on Fight Pass right now.

It is free and clear. So if you miss that one, definitely worth checking out, of course. Legendary. Okay, moving over to Twitter. Rory went from being hated for his safe style to being hailed as a warrior. Is this the best turnaround ever? I don't know. I'd say that we, you know, I always found it very confusing when people would hate on Rory

McDonald the interview. I love Rory MacDonald the interview. I could talk to him all day. I find him to be fascinating. I think anyone, especially in the media, who complains about having to speak to Rory or the stuff he does or doesn't give you isn't doing their job. It's on you. It's not on him.

Rory's great. I think this pertains more to initially he was somebody who hid behind the jab a little bit and fought what some would call safe fights. Oh, in that respect. And now he's, you know, this guy that is the champion of quote-unquote violence. I know you don't like that, but that fight with Robbie was completely out of, you know, out of character for what those people might have assumed about Rory McDonald. He said it himself.

Next fight, they'll hate on him. Yeah. You know, fans are fickle. It's a, it is an interesting shift, though, because, I think he does now have this reputation. And it almost only took one fight of the slugger. Yeah, it's amazing. The respect that he gets now, as opposed to like, even his last one over Tarrick.

Yeah, it was great. But even like coming off a loss, that proves once again that losses in MMA don't mean as much as they do in boxing. Is it possible? UFC 194 in Dallas will be a bigger show than UFC 200. I guess it's possible, but they're going to stack that 200 card. They're already thinking about it. there's there's no coincidence that they, you know, they announced it a year out. But $194 is a big deal.

And by the way, let's not, you know, let's not book our travel to Dallas just yet. You know what I mean? I would not put that in stone until it's officially announced. I still kind of feel like the better venue is Las Vegas. I have to sell a lot less tickets to make the same, if not more money. You can get away with that in Vegas. And also, Dallas in December isn't the best place to be, by the way. Last one, any update on the John Jones situation?

The John Jones situation is moving along. As you may have seen, there were some pictures that resurfaced of him at a Boys and Girls Club in Albuquerque, not that long ago. I know he was supposed to have a hearing recently, which I don't think happened, but will happen. And if you ask me, do I think we'll see him fight again? I do. I think that he has smartly stayed out of the spotlight. he's you know he hasn't talked to anyone which I think is smart by the way until his legal issues are all cleared up because of course that can be used against him so clear that up get your life in order sounds like he is he's still at the gym he's still training I hear he's actually in phenomenal shape

you know usually when he's out of the gym and he's back in ithaca gets the pop belly all that stuff while he lives in albuquerque so he can be there he's been helping guys like arlofsky and some of his other teammates prepare for fights so I think I think I think John is, from what I'm hearing, is figuring things out and is getting his life back on track. Wouldn't it be special? Wouldn't it be something? If all goes well with this, you know, with this legal issue that he has to conquer first, the return of John Jones at UFC 200 makes all the sense in the world.

If we're looking for a big deal, that's a big deal. That is, I think that's the biggest deal. I think John Jones versus Daniel Cormi is the biggest fight that could be made right now. Bigger than Cyborg Ronda? I guess the proof is in the pudding. and bigger than Connor against Aldo? What are you talking about? I think Jones,

I think Jones Corme could be bigger than than Connor Aldo if you sell it properly. It's a big deal, but I don't think anyone is a bigger draw than Rhonda right now. Yeah, Rhonda, I think, is a guarantee based, you know, she pretty much carried 190 on her own and took it to heights that we did not expect. So Rhonda versus Cyborg may be number one,

but I could see this being bigger than Connor Alda, Jones Cormier. Yeah. I mean, if you put commercials of, you know, what happened in the first fight

and John Jones being stripped, I mean, the first fight was already so, you know, so well done promotionally. And then you add the intrigue of what happened

between the end of the first fight and now, I think it's, it's must see. Well, to tie what I said at the very beginning

of this show into what we're talking about here, we've just finished an incredible stretch for the UFC. 15 shows in 14 weeks, two shows that did big business in less than 30 days. And unlike last year where we were talking about, oh, no, the departure of GSP,

the departure of Anderson potentially, Nick Diaz on the side. I mean, there were all these question marks. Now all of a sudden, the UFC has a lot of toys to play with. It's a really interesting time. If everyone can be healthy and keep it together and no crazy stuff, out of the cage, out of the gym, there are some big-time fights. see throw in Fador in there. And, you know, obviously the CM Punk thing, wherever you may stand on that, fine.

But that's going to be a big deal. There's a lot of money. There's a lot of big fights to be had in the near future. That's it. Good to see you all. Oh, welcome back. Thank you for gracing us with your samurai presence. You're quite welcome.

I know the fans missed me, so I had to come back. Yes. But I'm glad to be here. No Wally Pip. I'm here. Okay. Thank you once again to everyone who tuned down. Thank you to the good people at YouTube for housing.

No problems, right? All good. All good in the YouTube hood. You came my music, by the way. We are done. Thank you to the guys in the back who allowed me to go a little longer. I stacked the deck this week, but you know what? We got to stack the deck.

It's Monday. There's a lot to talk about. There's no big time fights this weekend. At least not that I think of. Or know of. I don't think so. Are there? Let's see.

I think it's a bit of a break. UFC back. Saskatoon, less than two weeks. Bell's Wars back. August 28. And then we get rolling again. Johnson Dodson,

2. Early September, return to Japan, end of September. But for now, we take a breath. We marvel at the last month

for the UFC, and we look ahead to next week. I want to thank everyone who tuned in, as I said. I want to thank everyone who stopped by. All your questions and comments. Much appreciated as always. Thank you very much to the great Dave Meltzer for his insight.

Great to have Tim Kennedy back on the show. Best of luck to him. Great knowledge. Great insight provided by George Lockhart. As always, love having him on. Best of luck to Tyrone Woodley at UFC 192 and in Straight Out of Compton. What a performance by Rohan McDonald at UFC 189. And on this show!

So great to have him back. Good luck to Diego Sanchez in Monterey, November. All the best to Luke Barnett in his return to action in December. All the best to Mike Brown. Congrats to him. And all the best to Amir Khan as he transitions into an MMA owner. How about that? Promoter.

Amazing. Back next week, same time and place. If you missed anything, check it. YouTube, iTunes. SoundCloud, the Ghostavital. Peace. So, Maria. Sax, Fifth Avenue makes it easy to holiday your way.

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