MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 300

Episode Date: October 5, 2015

Ariel Helwani speaks to Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Rampage Jackson, Chael Sonnen, Matt Serra, Kimbo Slice, Steven Seagal, and Mike Dolce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Halwani. Inside our New York City studio, welcome to episode 300 of the MMA Hour. Episode 300. Wow. What a milestone. First show, June 18th, 2009. over 100 UFC pay-per-views later,

eight studios later, two parent companies later, a boatload of producers later. Here we are, episode 300 of the MMA hour on October 5th, 2015. It's so great to be here with you. I'm so excited about this show. I've been working hard on it for the last several weeks. And I got to say, I shot for the moon, as far as guests are concerned.

I think I landed somewhere among the stars. Pretty happy with this lineup. And I hope you are as well. Thank you so much to everyone who said that they were going to tune in, that they were excited about it as well. I am happy to be here. And you know what's interesting, episode 200, which was an unbelievable show. And I don't know how we can top that.

That happened two years ago, two days after UFC 165, which, in my opinion, featured the greatest fight in UFC history, John Jones, Alexander Gustafin, of course, the greatest light heavyweight title fight in UFC history. Now, here we are, episode 300, two days removed from maybe the second best UFC light heavyweight title fight of all time. Daniel Cormier defeated Alexander Gustafson in an instant classic be a split decision. Saturday night in Houston, Texas. What a great fight that was, really encapsulating everything that we love about MMA, ups and downs, roller coaster.

end, a lot of respect between the two, sharing, sharing, you know, a hug, a kiss, accolades. It was really nice. It was a great way to end a very memorable card. Prelims were fantastic. Main card a little slow. Main event, I loved every second of it. So we're going to talk about that, of course, all show long, but we got a lot to get to. And a lot of interesting people are hopefully going to stop by today. What's happening on episode 300? I want to say this. You know, a lot of people have been asking me leading up to this show, what are you going to do for episode 300? What do you got planned?

Who do you got planned? All this stuff. And honestly, from the bottom of my heart, I try to make every show episode 300. I really do. And if you don't believe that by now, you haven't been paying attention. But I recognize that, look, people like round numbers

and, you know, they like to celebrate. I get it. So I tried to step it up. But I want you to know that each and every time that we do this show, I strive for the very best as far as guests are concerned. That's the truth. But let's have some fun.

Who are we talking to today? Four o'clock, we're going to be joined by the Honorable Sensei Steven Seagal. It has been a while since I've talked to my friend, Mr. Seagal. So kind to join us today. He's a very busy man traveling all over the place, doing a lot of movies and whatnot, really looking forward to talking to him at 4 p.m. Eastern time. At 340, we're going to talk to fame nutritionist Mike Dolce. He's been in the news as of late.

Remember last week on UFC Tonight, BJ Penn, called him out and his former client, Nick Lentz, also the Johnny Hendricks situation on Friday. He's very much linked to that. We'll talk to Mike Dolce at 340. At around 315 or so, we'll take your questions and comments. So hit us up. You know how. 245.

We're going to be joined by the interim UFC featherweight. champion Connor McGregor. This show would not be the same without him. You have a celebration MMA hour. You've got to have the notorious one on. Perhaps the most popular guests in the history of this show. So it's a guy who's been doing a lot of media as a late. Very cool of him to agree to come on. 2.30, we're going to be joined by the face of Belator MMA. Make no mistake about it. Kimbo Slice is the face of Belator MMA. He'll join us at 230. 205 will be joined by Matt the Terra. Sarah, no description. needed there. I can't wait to talk to our old friend Matt Sarah, former Walterway champion. 145, we're going to talk to Quinton Rampage Jackson. Yes, it is true. I have not talked to

Quentin in around two years. He is not a fan of mine, but he said he'll do it. How about that? And 125, we're going to talk to Chail Sunnan, who I appreciate him joining us as well. Always very nice to talk to Chail Sunnan. That will be in 25 minutes. But first, let us go to the phone lines. And, you know, you talk about some people, they're busy, they got a lot going on, and they're kind enough to come on the show. No one busier than this man right now. This man is at the airport heading home with his belt because he successfully defended it on Saturday in an instant classic, as I said, a fight that you show to your friends and family members and say, this is why I love MMA, because it had it all. Heart, will, determination. and it's a reminder that the men and women that step into that cage are on a whole other level than us,

and we will never have an ounce of the heart, will, and determination that they possess. What Daniel Cormier did on Saturday night was nothing short of amazing, and he is joining us right now via the phone from the airport in Houston, Texas. Daniel, are you there? I'm here. There he is. Show number 300 and who's leading it off. The raining, defending.

Keep going, keep going. Undisputed UFC UFC light heavyweight champion of the Daniel Corriere from the Houston Hobby Airport. What's going on, brother man, congratulations. Episode 300, glad to be the first guy on it. I got to say when I was putting together

this wish list, if you will, for my show, I rode in Daniel Cormier 1 p.m. Way before this fight ever happened. I had a feeling you were going to get it done and that you'll be able to join us So thank you so much. Of course, it was a war. You were knocked down.

It looked a little dicey there for a second. Less than 48 hours later. Physically, how are you feeling? I'm starting to feel better, man. It's starting to come back around. But I tell you, man, yesterday was a rough, rough day. My eyes are still pretty close. My foot's swollen to double its size.

But I'm starting to feel better. You know, honestly, I just went to bed last night. and my fiance kept going, Daniel, why don't you go to sleep? Why don't you go to sleep? Because Saturday, I barely slept. But I finally told her why I couldn't sleep. And it was because it's just a lot of relief, you know, just so much relief. And actually going out there and beating such a tough guy in Alexander in defending this championship.

The pressure that I felt going into that fight, not only fighting in Houston, but under the circumstances under which I won the title, if I would have lost that fight, my goodness, man, a lot of these people that badgered me on the Internet, they would have had a field they would be. And was there pressure because you were nervous about the matchup? A lot was made of the height and reach advantage. Were you nervous about what Alex brought to the table,

or was it because of all that other stuff? It was all that, man. It was everything combined, you know. Obviously, he's a tough guy, tall, very good. boxing and striking and also just, you know, Ariel, I mean, if you're a realist, for me to,

if I would have won that fight in May and lost his fight on Saturday, it would have been a, it would have been a very bad my place in history would be very, it would be bad because I would be like the belt would just keep going back and forth and just switching places. We don't want to do that, you know?

I want to show that their stability in this division even without Jones and that stability he's me. You said all the right things about John in the week leading up to the fight, but now that it's over, can you admit that he was on your mind that you were thinking about him? Is that part of the reason why you felt a little extra pressure because the hearing happened just a few days before the fight? I mean, you know, man, it's hard to really block out all distractions, you know, and obviously that's a huge distraction going into a fight like that because of what he represents to this division. But I really was able, because of my...

my coach is to keep a pretty good focus on Gustafson. But honestly, you know, I thought about it. You know, I'm like, okay, so he's, he's cleared in the legal system now, so we'll see what happens with the UFC. Did you ask the UFC why they haven't lifted his suspension yet? I haven't. That's not my place. You know, when they feel it's time, it's time. You know, but the thing is, if the legal system saw that their punishment that they gave was fit,

it's time for the UFC to either clear him or tell us what his punishment is going to be. You know, whether it be time served during the time that he's been gone, suspension, or they're going to suspend him to next April, or they're going to, you know, whatever. Yeah. Whenever they decide he wants to, I mean, if I'm the UFC brass and I look at a date that I want John to fight, then I say his suspension's up until to that date, you know, and then his suspension will be lifted right before the date of his fight. but then you can't, but then he still serves his time, you know.

Well, you mentioned April, and last week they announced that they want to go to MSG on April 23rd, but you dropped the hammer at the press conference, and, you know, you have some people, like Luke Rockhold was saying, please, please, I want to fight, I want to fight a New Yorker at MSG in December, it didn't work out. You're saying, hell no, I'm not going to MSG, I'm not going to fight him in his backyard. I'm wondering if that just kind of came out of nowhere? Is this something you truly feel strongly about? There is no way, despite what it means,

You know, history-wise, despite how big of a deal it will be, you have no intention of fighting John Jones at MSG. It would be huge. You know, I competed in wrestling at Madison Square Garden once, and it was amazing, Awani. It was one of the most, one of the greatest environments. I mean, just walking to the arena from the hotel was great. But you look at a guy that actually is just coming back

from all the stuff that he's been through. And I know there are a pocket of people that say, well, the guy's a great fighter and we don't care about anything else. But the general idea in the world, in terms of human beings, they want to see you, they don't like seeing that. You know, they don't like seeing, you know, the 1% feel like the 1% got treated differently, you know, and in a lot of places around the world, he wouldn't be welcomed very favorably because of these actions.

In New York, they might. be he's one of their own. You know how vocal New York fans are. I mean, they boo their own Knicks at times, but they're very loyal. They can hate the Knicks, but the Knicks have the most sellouts in a row out of any team in the NBA. You know, so they're very loyal. They would be loyal to John, too. And I don't understand why he should not have to face.

He should have to face that, man. That is, he should have to face that. He should have to walk out there the entire fight week with people telling him, hey, you messed up and we don't just we're not sweeping us under the rug. I loved what you said in your post-fight interview on FS1. You said, I'm here fighting in these wars and he's at home playing around on Instagram. Back to his old tricks. What does that tell you about where John Jones is at now?

Because I think some of us thought, okay, this is a new era, this is a new page for him. He might not do the deleting thing and all that. He was up to those tricks on Saturday. What does that tell you about him right now? I just say I hope that he was just having fun. But to me, it doesn't, I just hope he was just having fun in doing it knowing exactly what he was doing. Because if his instinct is to do exactly what he was doing before, then how do we really expect this young man to change very much? So I hope that he was doing it purposely and saying, guys, I can still rib you a little bit rather than not just being who he is at his core and he can't change it.

Because then, like I said, you know, if this situation here didn't really clarify things, for John. And John got some real issues. But let's hope that these things got clarified so that this guy can get back to doing what he's great at doing. That's fighting. And I want to fight him. I want to get back in the out of the man. And I want to give people to fight that they deserve to see from us the very first time. I want to give them five rounds of what they saw in rounds one, two, and three at Johnny and I last time. Let's go back to the fight on Saturday. How dicey was it for you in the third round final minute? I don't know if I've ever seen you that hurt in a fight before. He rocked you with a big

knee, you fell to the ground. How hurt were you? You know, man, the knee hurt very bad because it wasn't, it was surprising. I didn't, and like, a lot of times I was catching knees, but I was like kind of turning a little bit away from them and, and they were kind of grazing me, but that one landed right on the chin, and I was really hurt. I immediately turned sideways and tried to get away from them, but, uh, I've always said, Harwani, when I get hurt, like, because I got hurt against rumble, and I was able to get away from the follow-up shot, because I know that's the one that really puts you out. Well, when Alex hurt me with the knee, I didn't get away from the follow-up left hook in Atlanta, and that's why I fell.

And I was like, oh, man, this is not good. What happened? And then he came to finish me, and I was able to grab onto his leg and grab onto a high crotch and kind of get back to my feet immediately. So I was hurt, Elwani, but I was still aware. The problem is I've got to do a better job of fighting smarter because instead of staying in the clench, I broke the clenks and started trying to pursue him again. And in reality, I should have tried to slow the pace down a little bit more in that situation. I know how competitive you are. I know what wrestling means to you.

What's going through your mind when he's actually taking you down? Alexander Guston is taking down a two-time Olympian. How much of that piss you off? It upset me, but you know what, man? It wasn't going to make me straight from what I was doing. Take down the harder to defend whenever you're pursuing someone that much. You know, you overexpose yourself. Because I'm just really pressing the whole time going forward,

just really pressing. And because I was pressing so much, he was doing a phenomenal job of timing those takedowns, and I would just pop back up. Then the fourth round and the fifth round, when the rounds were close, and he tried to get those takedowns, I just really was more aware,

and I defended myself knowing that that could have led to me losing rounds. But it says you really overextend yourself when you pressure in the way that we try to pressure out of our gym. The slam in the first minute of the first round, what did that do to your confidence? because, I mean, for you to do that to a 6'5-25-pound man is nothing short of incredible.

I mean, it was just one of the most amazing things I've seen inside Yatkan. What did it do for you mentally? It felt good, you know? It felt good. I was like, okay, so if I need to take him down, I can go take him down, you know? Because he was good, but he didn't feel that, he didn't feel that good in his defense. I felt like if I can get through his leg, I can take him down. he didn't have the balance that Jones had

Jones has ridiculous balance so it's hard to really move Jones whereas Alex kind of went up a lot easier so I figured well if I need to take him down I can actually go take him down but then as the fight progressed it just didn't seem like takedowns

or what people really wanted to see in there that night you seemed very critical of your performance are you unhappy with what you did on Saturday I thought I thought I thought okay I went back and watched the fight I thought I thought well. It's hard to really gauge stuff whenever you haven't seen it.

You guys are talking to us immediately after these fights. Yeah. And you don't know. You know, you can't really gauge your performance right after you walk out of the octagon. But as I'm going back and watch the fight, you know what, man? I'm pretty proud of what I did. When I said, Ariel, I said to you and other reporters, I said, I can beat Alexander in a stand-up fight.

And people laughed at me. But this was a stand-up fight, and I won it. You know, so it was very important for me to prove that when I'm getting ready to fight, you no longer have to worry about just me taking people down. I can strike, I can take people down, and I can submit people as I've shown. I've shown that I can actually stand with guys and submit guys too. Do you have to go or you have a couple more minutes? I'm fine.

Okay, cool. You know, I'm not just saying it because you're here. You know that for a fact. I do believe you're the most underappreciated champion in the UFC. I'm wondering if after this fight, the heart that you showed, the back and forth wore, all that stuff, do you feel like you gained a little more respect from those people who were trying to discredit you since you won the belt? Hopefully, you know, but all I can do is go out there and just perform to my best, you know?

I look at my family man and the people around me that matter and they all care, and they go, you know what, Daniel, we're very proud of you. You showed us exactly what you've been shown us your entire life, you know, a will and the desire to compete and win that a lot of these people, who don't know me don't really understand, you know? So the people that matter, they know how much effort I'm putting into this. You know, I mean, man, I'm 17 and 1, and I've been the Strike Force champion, the UFC champion, and I didn't start this thing until I was 30 years old, Hawaii,

so I think I'm doing pretty good for myself. After watching the fight on TV, can you say honestly, okay, he won this round? Because that seems to be a big thing. There are actually some people who thought you lost the fight, and the take down here Is there a round that you say, okay, I can see it, I lost that round? I thought he won the second round. I thought he won the second round. I did because he got two takedowns.

And, you know, with me, it's like a lot of times when I get taken down, they give people rounds because they don't expect me to get taken down. So it's like I got taken down. But for the most part, I was actually doing pretty good to stand up in that round. But I think he won the second round. The third round, he did knock me down. But, I mean, I won the whole round up to that point. like, you know, does, it really literally was a 20-second flurry where he need me and knocked me out.

But up until that point, I was really just pursuing him and really kind of beating him up in that third round. Fourth round was close. But again, you know, Alex did a lot of the damage himself by running away. You know, you can't do that. It doesn't look good for the judges. Trust you when the guy's pursuing you the whole time. I'm swinging. You know, I'm swinging.

And at the end of the round, that was a very good flurry. And I thought I won the fifth round. clearly. So I, you know, when the referee said 49-46, I was, I said, okay, I won the fight. When he said 48-47, I was worried if it was another 48-47 round scorecard, I would have gotten nervous. But at 49-46, I was like, okay, there's no way I lost four out of these five rounds. Did you notice him, like, actually looking at his corner repeatedly? And, and of course, you obviously noticed him, like, running away. What were you thinking when he was doing that? I was just trying to hit him, you know. My coach, you know, my coach, you know,

Bob Cook, man, I think he's the greatest corner man in the sport because he came up with this idea. He saw, he peeked out very early in the fight. He goes, Daniel, when you're pursuing, he goes, be very careful when he's standing there because he is just letting him fly and he's doing a good job. He goes, but attack when he's running. He goes, when he's running, he doesn't counter. And so that's when I was getting off the majority of my shots. When he would start to turn and run, I would just start to swing.

Like, even if I wasn't hitting him, it looks terrible when the guy's running away, and the other guy's just swinging punches at him. Right. You know, a couple times I hit him behind the head. I was like, that's all I saw. That's how I swung at it. I loved your embrace after the fight, and there's been some amazing photos of you two together.

I don't think anyone will really understand what goes through your emotions and the connection that you established with another man after going through 25 minutes like that. What did you say to him after the fight? And do you truly feel differently about Alex now? Because, you know, you did call him overrated, and you took some shots at him leading up.

We didn't quite know how you felt about him. How do you feel about him now? I respect him 110%. I think Alexander Gustafin is a phenomenal fighter. I think Alexander Gusterson is... He's every bit as good as me and Jones, you know. So if anybody is, you know, they question the top three guys in this division,

I think it's us three, 100%, because that kid laid it on the line with both of us. There are many guys. If you match me with a lot of the guys in the top 10, they won't fight me like that

as I've shown. You've seen what Jones has done to guys in the top 10. But the common fact for his Gustafson and both of us had five-round wars

with him where it literally went down to the fifth round with both guys that have held the belt last so a kid really has nothing to be ashamed of. Man, he fought his tail off

and he's such a stud. What I say to him was, hey, I said, thank you. I said, my goodness, I expected this, but I was hoping you didn't bring it like you did tonight. I said, but you know what, man? Congratulations, you should be proud.

You seemed emotional in the locker room when you were talking to Megan Olivie on the FS1 Post-Fight show. Your lip, not your lip, but your voice seemed to crack a little bit. Why were you so emotional? Just accomplishing something like that, man. I don't think people really understand the pressure that we deal with on a day-to-day basis in regards to the fighting stuff. You live in the public eye, man. Everything is under a microscope.

Nothing's off limits, you know, because of who we are. Nothing's off limits. I mean, so I not only see me deal with this stuff, I see Selena deal with people. I see my kids get called stuff. My family gets it back. Nothing's off limits. So just a huge weight lifted.

And also just the fact that I can go out and represent my coaches and my team. team and all these people that put so much effort and energy into what I do. So to see them sitting around the room, I mean, if you guys didn't get a view of that locker room, but it was every one of my coaches, it was my managers, it was everybody's wives. It was like that whole family, they're all there. Like the American Kickboxing Academy pretty much shuts down one of his fights, and they were all in that locker room from the Russians and Ruslan and Islam, Khab to Kane and

Michelle and Luke. and Selena and my mom and my dad. It's like I carry, I carry it. Like I say, time and time again, I want to this as my team, and I want the responsibility of representing this team. Got a high level, and I did that on Saturday. So it's just so much pressure. I was like a weight lifted.

And finally, does this kind of fight make you rethink your longevity in the sport? You've never walked away this beat up. Are you thinking, man, you know, at your age, you know, I don't know how much longer I want to do something like this. You know, it's very, very hard to think about that stuff right now because it would seem easier to say, you know what? I don't really need this anymore. Financially, I'm fine.

I've got a job that pays me well outside of the octagon. I don't need it. You start thinking like that, man, the other side starts to look pretty good. So I'll wait until my body starts to feel better and I feel good to know. But I know that I've got at least two fights, you know, that I have to have before. I would ever retire anyway, so it's no good. What are those two fights? Next fight when I beat Jones, and in the third fight with him and I fight again.

So Jones and I will fight twice again, so until him and I fight two more times, I'm not going anywhere. I thought you were going to say your good friend, Ryan Bader. You know, man, unfortunately, Bader did a very good job on last Saturday, but the fans and the UFC will want to see Jones and I fight again, and I just don't know what Bader could do to make himself actually get this title shot. I want some time.

With my foot being all jacked up, I'm going to need a little bit of time. And I think with time, they'll probably schedule Jones. If I was healthy, Ryan may get to sneak in there before Jones gets back, but I'm not healthy,

so I think I'm going to have to wait a little bit until Jones is ready. Well, D.C., again, thank you so much. I know you're about to board playing. You got your family there. It's probably very hectic. It means the world to me that you'd come on. Truly, sincerely appreciate it. Congratulations again on a phenomenal win,

an inspiring win. I know you saw Dwight Howard there, your boy, cheering you on. I mean, what a dream that must be, right? You're a huge fan of these. Come on, man. Yeah, come on, man. We are Red Nation, man. We are Red Nation. You got, T-Mack was there? T-Mack was there. Thank goodness I didn't see T-Mack before the fight. I would have been distracted. Darren Moore actually told me I've got access to games, so Salina are going to just take trips down to Houston and watch the rockets. They told me that next time when the Golden State Warriors played the Rockets, because last time

I had all my rockets gear on in the Bay Area and people were like, come on, D.C., you're on the bus. They said, don't worry about it. Daryl Morris, like, you sit with us next time. That's what I'm talking about. I know that means a hell of a lot to you. An amazing sight. I was seeing T-Mack. Clyde Drexler, Dwight, James Hardin, cheering on,

and you're a huge fan of there. It was a beautiful thing. So, again, congrats. Every round, I thought those guys going nuts to want. He was crazy. That must be a great inspiration. The white was by the cage going, come on, DC, let's go, man. That's my boy.

Thank you so much, man. Really appreciate it. Safe travels home and get well soon. Thank you, you guys for having us. Bye-bye. There he is. The reigning defending champion, Daniel Cormier, a beautiful thing.

He joins us from the airport on his way back to the Bay Area. All right, let's go to the Skype Machine now. Welcome in our next guest. We keep this train rolling along. There he is. The gangster. This time, he didn't sleep through it.

How about it? Chale Sunnan, how are you, my friend? I think I'm even early. I'm trying to get even with you. Thank you very much for joining us. You know, you're in that rare category, that rare company. You're on episode 200 and 300. There's only a select few that can claim that.

I hope you appreciate it. I don't, Helwani. But now that I know it, I'll take it under consideration. It's not looking great in the consideration department, though, in the appreciation department. I know what my ratings are, brother. I know what side of the bread is buttered here, but let's just move on. Okay, by the way, what did you make of Saturday, what D.C. did on Saturday. Were you as impressed as all of us?

Oh, man, with both of those guys, with both of them, poor Gustafson. You know, poor Gustafin. I really agreed with the call. Some people did it. I thought that on a 10-9-month system that Daniel won three of those rounds, I thought it was peculiar from a talking point when the judge's scorecard came out, that the round that Gustafin dropped DC and he lost that round on two of the three cards.

I think that's a talking point. But I thought the fight went the right way. And what about the reversal of roles? I mean, Gustafsson out wrestling, Kormier, out striking Gustafin. It was incredible. When those got error, here's the thing, and fighters will get this, but I hope that you do too. And when you have a plan in a fight, and all hell breaks loose, and that plan doesn't work. And you have to switch strategies midstream.

It's a very tough thing to do. You've got to regain your composer. You've got to go to Plan B. And, you know, that's what Cormier did. Gusason did, too. Gusen also, you know, realized he wasn't going to be able to use that range and reach and have the strike and advantage. But it was incredible.

It was incredible from that standpoint for me. When D.C. won the belt, you said, that's not the real bill. He should give it back. How do you feel about him now as champion after what he did on Saturday? Well, I don't know if I said he should give it back. It is a peculiar thing that happened with John Jones. They took a guy's title who never lost, and they didn't. cut it. That's weird. There's no way around that. I'm stating a fact right there, not in

opinion. That's a weird thing to do. It's never happened before. So I think that that's a tough spot, but they had to strip him and the world must go on. I don't object to D.C. step in and being the real champion by any means. But I agree with D.C. I heard what he said in his last interview, and he needs to fight Jones, and I love his attitude that he even needs to fight Jones two more times. You know John Jones. Do you think he'll be back? A. And which weight class? he'll be back at 205. I think that there is some speculation that he could come back at heavyweight. John Jones's weight 225 pounds for the last 10 years.

That's just what he walks around at. That's what he gets in the ring. He's never really lost any weight. He's never really gained any weight. So I don't think there'll be a need to go to heavyweight, but there might be an interest there where he has some fun. Look, if he wants to make some money and he does, that fights with Daniel Cormier for right now.

But Jones, you know, he could bounce around. he could build another fight at heavyweight. I just think his encouragement will be for 205. One last thing on Saturday. What about your old running mate, Rashad Evans? What would you make of how he looked in there? Okay, so I'm on the other side of it here. I thought Rashad looked really good.

Now let me explain. Please. You're going to have some ring rust. You're going to slow down a little bit, and that's going to take away some of your reaction time. So when it came to who was touching who the most, he was getting hit for sure. And so that side of it, I think,

was a little bit to be expected. However, he also pushed the pace. He charged forward. When he hit the ground, he scrambled up. I thought that his conditioning was really good. I thought his grit was really good to Ryan Bader's compliment. He forced Bader to fight backing up and going side to side, which isn't something that Bader does. He's a big, blocky guy. So Bader also showed some new skills and was successful with him. I don't think you could possibly make a case against Ryan Bader to be the number one contender. I don't know that anybody's trying to make that. case. But they'd come up short, man. Bader, and his last five wins has beat two UFC world champions. He beat the current Bellator World Champion in one of those with Phil Davis.

Bader looked outstanding. But I thought that Rishad really did push forward. Well, you got to see, he's been out of the ring for two years. He's going to get hit. He's going to be a little slow on those reactions. And he was. So you believe that there's a thing called ring rust, that it's real? Because when I would bring this up to Dominic Cruz all week and long, he would get like super pissed off. It's not real. It's a figment of your imagination. All this stuff. You believe it's a real thing. It affects fighters. I think that it can affect you in one way, which is it will put your reactions a little bit off. It's something that you can shake off pretty quickly.

The bad news in our sport is, okay, let's say Rashad just went out there and he shook some of that off. He doesn't get to redeem himself for another three, four, five months. So that can be a hard thing emotionally. But physically, he will look better in his next fight. Don't forget. I mean, he was in there with a guy that's on a five-fight streak that is the number one contender, Rashad's been out for two years. Rashad should have got blown away.

And, you know, I thought that he really stood his ground. And again, he pushed forward. He had great conditioning. He scrambled really well. But he got out hit. I mean, that happened too. Good for Bader. Speaking of ring rust, what kind of ring rust are you expecting when you return to the

octagon next year? Ha. I won't be back, but I would tell you, if I was to stand up right now and step in there, I would suffer a little of that, too. I think a way to counter that. And it's probably what Dominic was trying to relay the year. you before he blew a circuit and I wasn't even there for the conversation.

I just know Dominic well enough to know how you responded to you. But you know, you can work that out in the gym. I think the real truth on Rashad should it ever be. I don't think he's been in the gym all that much. I know he went every day, even twice a day. He helped Vitor with camps. He helped some of his other teammates. But I think

as far as live sparring goes, I think he's been back for about six and a half weeks. That's a number that I heard specifically from some guys out there. So while he was working on his body and staying fit a little bit as far as that reaction and knowing when to move and when to block, you know, I think he had a little less than two months at that. Dominic, on the other hand, is in the room sparring and he's at a high level.

So I think in Dominic's case, he makes a fair point that he doesn't suffer from that, like a lot of guys could. So you're telling me right here right now, episode 300, Uncle Dana, Uncle Frank, Uncle Lorenzo, no one has called you and said, Chale, what are you doing July 9th, 2016, UFC 200? need the bad guy. No one has said this to you yet. Because I'm expecting that phone call to No. For USC 200. No, I haven't been offered any fight for UFC 200. I would

not, if you're asking if I can just cut to that and tell you no, if you want to just make conversation, I love doing that too. I don't know, Errol, I'm suspended somewhere real close to there. I think my suspension is up on June 20th, but it could be as far as July 12. I can't, I can't

recall because my hearing was on roughly July 12, but take Anderson, for example, when he went through, they made a retroactive, same thing with Hector Longbar, they made it retroactive to the day when the test came in, which mine was on or about June 20th. So I don't think that that's realistic anyway. Are you getting the itch though? My goodness, man, I never really lose it. Like when I go to bed at night, you know, I do still fantasize about that. But I fantasize about a lot of things, man. It's Olympic year.

You know, I'm a big amateur wrestling fan. I watch a lot of amateur wrestling. I still think about that, too. I think, you know, I could get out there and score. couple of points on those guys. But, uh, yeah, me, come on. I, I envision a lot of things when I, when I have my long time. But just for the record, you're not planning on coming back. I feel like I need to ask you this because we talked about it last time. Right now, you're sticking to your guns. I am not coming back. No, I'm not putting a toe in the water. I don't know how to speak any more clear. Fair enough. Um, I know you've had your history with them and you're still suspended, so maybe you have to tread lightly. If not, I appreciate that as well. What did you make of the

Nick Diaz situation and the way they handled that, NAC? Well, look, they've got a really wide scope, and, you know, that has to be understood. People are saying they're out of their lane here. I think that's going to be for a judge to decide, but as far as their scope goes, they can do that. I wish that there would be some explanation. You know, when a guy stubs his toe and Nick did, Nick's wrong here, but there is a question of how wrong was it?

How, what kind of violation is this? Is this a lifetime ban? You'd call it five years, but as you'd use it? no era. That's a lifetime day on the sport. It sure, I was really surprised by it. I was really surprised because there is a precedent set. There's always something, particularly

in a format that has jurisdiction and binding decisions that precedence matters, and this was unprecedented. So, you know, there needs to be an explanation. More than anything, whether it's my situation or his or what we need to be able to at least

have a teaching moment. I need to at least be able to go to guys and go, look, Don't do this and tell them why. I'm not sure D.S. could have that conversation right now. I think right now he was talking to a group of people. I think he's maybe a little confused. We need, we're owed an explanation. That's fair. Absolutely.

Do you think it's time we have a national commission as opposed to these state regulated commissions where it's just across the board, one group that oversees things, and there's uniformity, and we can really know what to expect because even here, as crazy as the whole situation was, we were expecting worst case three years because that's what they said, three years for a third offense. He gets five because apparently they think he's disrespecting them. That's not right. Yeah, I agree. And, you know, I might push back on one part of your statement, which was three years for third offense.

That's not bad. But I believe that's the new rule that kicked in honor about July 1st. He wouldn't be subject to that. He would be subject to the rules at the time that he fought and he fought on Honor about January 30. It might have been January 31st. So that's the rules he would be subject to. I'm not sure he was eligible for a three-year ban at that time. I know that's been misreported by the media.

But in a worst case scenario, I will concede your point. A worst, a worst, just terrible, terrible case scenario. Yeah, he was looking at 36 months. And I'm not sure that they wouldn't review it. I'm not sure, you know, just kind of knowing that commission, if Nick went in and said, guys, let's try this again. Let's try this again. Something I wanted to tell you that I've heard.

gotten. It kind of made his case. I think that they would listen to him, and I think that that's probably where this is going to go. If it doesn't go there, it's going to go to a judge. We've already seen Vandalay have some success. I don't think that Nix would be any different, but, error, the whole

thing's a delay, even if you look at what happened with Vandalay. So he goes before a judge, now he's got to go back to a higher judge, and then what happens if he wins there is to go back to the commission. When you kick that can down the road, that suspension's in place. There's no retro active way for him to recruit, you know, the time lost here, whether it was just time or

even the monetary damages. So there's not a lot of power an athlete has. You recently made your television analyst debut for World Series of Fighting a great card in Arizona. Do you enjoy that? If I ask you, do you enjoy being in the studio at the desk or calling the action from a color commentator perspective? Which do you enjoy more? You know, I enjoy them all. John Anika told me a number of years ago that the pinnacle of sport, commentator of broadcast, the pentacle of that is live sport, is to be able to call live sport.

I never got that. I never saw it that way. I never had a goal to do that. But I think I agree with them. Man, it was very fun. I couldn't really tell you why, but there was an actual excitement that it was live, that there was no redos that you've got this fantastic seat. and I can type man

the night flew by we were there for about four hours and I mean it probably felt like 20 to 30 minutes it really it was fun it was easy to do Fader Maliananko recently spurned the UFC once again he's going back to Japan

his old boss Saki Kabara we've had some conversations about the pride days and what you thought of those matchups what do you make of Fader's decision I think a lot of people thought finally he would come the time is right he didn't do that he's going back

to Saki Kabao. Your reaction to that. Yeah, I mean, really good move. I think that if you can model your career, excuse me, around Fador in the short term, it looks very good. Here's what a fighter needs to do. I see these guys come out all the time. Now they're calling out top 15 guy. I don't even know what a top 15 guy is, right? When I was fighting, you wanted the number one guy, you wanted a championship fight. If you were a bum and you were doing a call out, you call out a top 10 guy. Now you've got these super bombs that are calling out anybody in the top 15. Hell, some of these brackets only have 16 and 17 guys signed.

They want a top 15 guy. Okay. Well, let's take, here's what you want to do. You want to fight the easiest guy that you can for the biggest paycheck, okay? And Fador, he's doing that really well. Who's in Japan right now? What's the parody? Who are they going to match him up with?

There's not even a sweepstakes for Fadour right now. There's not, there's no division whatsoever. So the likelihood that he gets an easy draw and sells a bunch of tickets doing it, I think there's pretty good chance there. And I think for his skill set of where he's at that that makes sense. And don't forget, he's not coming back to try to win championships. He's coming back and make some money. So I think with his goals and where they were at and him being able to assess his skills,

fans assess Fador constantly. They have no idea what they're talking about. I hear things said about Fado where I'm just sitting there rolling my eyes just going, I had to live through this with Kimbo Slice. I had to live through this where the fan's perception gets so far off and they don't know what they're seeing. Fador can give a very good assessment of himself. He knows where he's at. So when he puts himself over there in Japan, it goes, man, I can make a few bucks doing this.

I can stay busy. And I don't have to fight those guys in the UFC. That ends the argument. His fans always want to come out and go, but you do so well that you'll see. Look, if he's telling you that he won't, you've got to listen to him. In your opinion, is Fader the most overrated fighter in UFC history, excuse me, in MMA history? I would actually need some time to think about that. I don't believe that off the top of my head that he would be, though, your next question is probably well than who is.

I don't think that's right. He's definitely overrated. But you've got to understand he's not that highly rated. The people that watch your show, the people listen to my podcast, but we have some hardcore fans. They watch them over in Japan. They watch some of those matches. And they're more than happy to forget when he came to the States and actually. did a sanction fight with a real referee

that's not wearing an earpiece. They forgot about those. The average human being doesn't have the foggiest idea who he is, and history is not going to reflect well on Fado or Emilianenko as far as his MMA career goes. So I don't know that I would agree that he is overrated. You've got some of the

hardcore guys on the internet and they've got their opinion. I think those opinions matter, but they make up a very small base. You know, it's funny. I was watching the UFC-193 pre-fight press conference, and your name was coming up all over the place, in particular when people were talking to Holly home, because apparently, and I miss this, I will say, I try to catch your podcast as much as possible, but I guess I

missed where you said it. You were saying basically, and correct me from wrong, you know, the accomplishments that we're talking about as far as boxing titles and all that, it's not all that it seems to be. Is that what you were saying about her, that she's been a little bit propped up here? Well, there's no, look, I don't recognize any, I think she has 17 world. This is a very nice girl. I've never met Holly. She has a tremendous reputation. People love Holly.

They don't just go, yeah, she's all right. They go on and on about what a great teammate she is and what a great person she is. I want to make that clear, too, before I start throwing stones here. She is making a claim that she's a 17-time world champion. I will tell you, as an analyst, she has zero world championships. There is no validity to any one of those titles. In her defense, if she enters an event and that promoter calls it the world, title and puts a belt around her, I think she's got the right to put it on her resume.

But from a wrestling background where we have a real world champion, the way you have a world champion, Ariel, you've got to fall Olympic game standards. You take the entire planet Earth, you let anybody that raises their hand with a pulse, work them way down through a bracketed tournament format until one human is left standing, and that's the guy you put the gold medal around. that never happened in any of those 17 championships. She showed up for some event. The promoter needed a main event, and so we called that main event a world title.

That's not a knock on her, but that's what happened. And I'm not going to sit back as an analyst and call her a world champion, let alone 17 times. And she beats Ronda Rousey? We're having a totally different country. She's the world champion. Does she have a shot? That's a very fair point by me. Does she have a shot against Ronda, in your opinion?

No, not anywhere. not anywhere. Again, she's got some skills. You'll hear the expression of punchers chance, but she's not very good at punching. Those boxing championships, those aren't real. And I'm not sure she could out strike run, and she definitely can't out grappler. I wish her all the best. And every team round of a fight, they think, well, this is going to be a bit of a tough one here.

But Holly's right number five in the division. That might even be a little bit lofty, but she's somewhere in there. She is undefeated. she is very tough she knows how to compete well which most of those girls don't that's really what sets Rhonda part but no she just doesn't have that

she's not at that level what's going on with you and Josh Barnett are you going to compete against him at Meta Morris you originally said it was on the table he said no what's going on here I believe it's 100% going to happen I believe it's going to happen sooner rather than later like as in the next month

it is not signed. We've verbally agreed to it. The problem that we run into is Metamorphs doesn't have a locked in date for us. Their next show is October 23rd. That's called Metamorce 7. Howley, excuse me, Hallegracy's approach

is to do everything at the last minute. To advertise it, to sell it, to bring in attention, to put out the highlight reels and do it at the last, hit the fans hard and let them know you don't have very long to wait. So that show's coming up And then Josh and I will be part of a different event

But they see they own a studio now It's much like you've got Ariel He owns a studio now So he doesn't have to do an entire car If he wants to just bring in Josh and I He can if he wants to put a guard together He can turn on the cameras And hold a mask that way

And I know he's considering doing some of that So Josh and I are kind of just Waiting to hear But I do go to practice every day And I do have Josh Barnett on my mind Were you impressed with his win over Roy Nelson? I was blown away. Blown away.

Josh Barnett weighed in at 239 pounds. Roy Nelson comes real close to the heavyweight limit of 265. If you watched that fight and didn't know what I had just told you, you would think Josh Barnett is the bigger guy. He was pushing Roy Nelson around. I spent most of that fight with his backup against the cage because he couldn't move. Josh's leverage was incredible. And then the stuff that he does from a clinch from short-range fight,

with the elbows and the knees, it's violent and it's vicious and it's very hard to practice that stuff. You can't go into practice and start elbowing your workout partner, so you won't have any workout partner. So I don't even know how he develops those skills. I've always wondered that when I watched Josh Fight.

How did you get so good at using some of these close range attacks? But Josh Barnett is one of the best ever. And usually when you talk about a heavyweight, you'll say, well, he's one of the best heavyweight fighters. You can take the word heavyweight out of it. We can talk about Josh Brenner. He is one of the best ever.

When I say one of the best, he is in the top three best to have ever done this sport. Wow. Don't forget. He's the UFC heavyweight champions that never lost the championship. People forget that. Josh Barnett's back in the U.C. to reclaim a championship that he never lost.

That should be the headline. If I'm Josh Barnett, that's the tweet I would have sent out when I resign. Great point. Final thing. What about your boy, Uriah Hall? Has he finally stepped up? Is he finally realizing his potential? No, absolutely not.

He's having some good success. He, Error, he is so good. He is so good. He should have never been touched. That kicks in that flurry he did in that second round with Gaygard. He could have done that in the first 10 seconds. Now, Mussox, he's a special talent. I'm not saying Hall walks out there and walks through Mussov.

I'm just talking about youraya's skill set. he's a very, very special talent. It takes him a little bit to get going. Coach Clayton Heyers has to warm him up in the back so hard to try to get that first round out of him in the locker room. He's getting closer. He's getting closer. Uriah used to not come on until seven or eight minutes into the fight. Now he's coming in about four minutes, five and a half minutes in.

No, you are not seeing his full potential. He's better than this. He's flat. Derek. That combination you saw is things that highlight real. are made of error, he can do that stuff all day long. Chelly, I got to say, I reached out to a lot of people to be on this show, meant a lot to us. You responded literally within 30 seconds.

You were the quickest. You responded right off the bat. You were the first person to actually say, I'll be on the show. That meant the world to me. Thank you so much. You're a good pal. I appreciate it greatly. It wouldn't have been a 300th episode without you.

So again, thank you for the time. And great job with that WSOF broadcast. Really enjoyed, and I hope that you will be doing it. It certainly would not have been, but I want to be. to tell you, brother, 300 is a very rare mark that people get to. You've earned it. You work your ass off. I wanted to miss this show. And in closing, I want to tell you a joke going around. What is six feet tall, dashing, charming, and disappears out of nowhere? Kaboom. There he is. Jell Sondon, the one and only. Great stuff from him. Appreciate

him coming on. All right, let's move along now. As I said at the top of the show, I have not talked to our next guest in around two years. I believe I'm still blocked by him on Twitter. it was it was tough to get him on but for one reason or another he agreed to come on i'm talking about my old friend quinton rampage jackson rampage are you there what's up man i'm here man can you hear me i can hear you just fine what i can't even tell you the emotions going through my body because i got to be honest i thought you never talked to me again i'm not sure why i don't know how you feel about me now but i love that you're here well you see what you see still suck. He still sucks, but my fans

wanted me to go on. I ask my fans a lot of questions these days because, you know, I try to be very close to my fans, the true rampage fans, not just the new MNA fans, the ones that's been there with me for day one. And, you know what I said? I play video games with them. I talk to them on Instagram, and, you know,

I said, I talked to them on Twitter, and they said, yeah, go on area's show we want to hear from you. Okay, well, let me ask you this then. Why are you so mad at me? Why in much show on my hometown when you came back to the UFC you refused to speak to me you wouldn't even allow me to be in the scrum you wanted

nothing to do with me you hated me I could tell why I don't hate nobody I don't hate nobody but you hated on me when I left the UFC and I signed with Vaccombe you you said some very derogatory things to me personally on the phone we talked

I remember talking to you and people kept asking me the same questions like why did you why did you leave the UFC why you go why you go to TNA why you didn't go WWWW and I felt like I got the point across, but, you know, I don't know, you know, I don't know what VICOM had promoted and stuff like that. And I noticed that you have a good connection with the fans. And I wanted, and I wanted to tell you, listen, man, you know, my fans are asking a lot of questions.

I'm trying to answer about the questions. And they don't understand why I'm at TNA, not WWE and why I'm with VICOM. And you said, and I said, and I asked you, I said, can we do an interview so I can explain everything? because like Vaccom did like a media press but I don't know I don't think they got the point across you have a Belarusian man you said

oh don't don't wear that's what happened when you leave the UFC you become irrelevant blah blah you said it to me personally I'm like wow I didn't say

yeah shut up let me talk you ask me the motherfucker question okay I'm like yeah yeah that's what you said I'm making them

I'm making up shit I ain't making up shit and then when I had the reality show you know what I said you hate it on it people people people come in me

I'm like man earlier one and say yeah out of the show suck. I was like, oh, man, I need all the ratings I can get so I can prove the VICOM that, you know what I'm saying? I can do this shit here. I can entertain the fans, even before I stepped into the Cape.

And I thought we were boys, and you said that. So I said, so I told my man, and I said, no, I don't want to deal with an area no more. I don't want to do it in the interview with him, man. He's hating on me. Well, first off, I will apologize. I did say that the show was bad, so I apologize for that. I was just trying to keep it real. You know I like to keep a real.

Can you say now that you're no longer with Vycom, that it wasn't. the greatest reality show of all time. Can you at least admit that? Listen, I never said it was the greatest reality show. Like, listen, if they would have gave me more control over what I could do and say, it wasn't even a damn reality show. It was a show to program, and they just promoted my fight. It wasn't even a reality show.

Like, when you guys got to learn this, when you do it like a reality show or any type of TV, stuff like that, even though they said I was an executive producer, man, those producing and stuff like that, they see how egos. They want to run it. stuff. They have a boss to answer, too. I don't know all their, you know, ends and out. They didn't get me that much control. But the one show that I did have, like, insight in was, like, the last episode

when my cousin had the pool party and stuff like that. And they did pretty much almost everything I said, except for they didn't put the fat chicks in a jacuzzi. I told them, put the fat chicks in jacuzzi, boom. It would have been a hit. That stuff would have went viral or something like that. But, no, people don't listen to me. People just look at me and think that I'm just a black man to be howling in the cage

and stuff like that. You know what I'm saying? They don't understand my. full potential and while I became one of the most, you know what I'm saying, marketable fighters is because of my personality, because of stuff I bring to the table. But, you know what I'm saying? I feel like this. That's their loss. And yeah, it wasn't the best reality show because I didn't want to do a whole bunch of fake shit and do all this stuff. Like mostly women watch reality shows. Like, man, don't watch reality shows. But for guys, for MMA fans, that was a good reality show.

What other fighters having a reality show? You should have, like, You should have lifted up and instead of it sucks. You should have said, like, well, I hope brand page can do this. I hope rampage can do that. You know what I'm saying? I know you keep it real, but, you know what I'm saying? Like when you, when you boys and stuff like that, you're supposed to be cool, you don't, you know what I'm saying? You keep it real by not dogging his shit on the public air.

That's all I'm saying. That's fair. That's fair. And I apologize that I should have supported him more. I think I was a little bit ticked off when I saw you at that media day. And, man, you gave me that stare down. You remember and you said, F this, F that. I'm not talking to you.

Remember that? In New York? No, I don't remember. I probably, I probably did it, but yeah. You were not happy with me. I thought, with your eyes, you were telling me you better, you better go to the other side of the room. Yeah, man, I get, I get hated on, I get headed on enough, you know what I'm saying?

Some people don't like me because of this. Some people don't like me because of this. Some people, because of my skin color, you know what I'm saying? Some people, whatever, you know what I'm saying? So I get hated on enough. I don't, I don't like to get hated on by my friends, you know what I'm saying? So you have to put yourself in my shoes, you know what I'm saying? You both to be cool with something about it.

you know, that's the last person that you want to get hated on. You know, I get hit on enough. Hell, I'm not even close to my family anymore because, you know what I'm saying? I pursue my dream to become a professional fighter. And now they think that I'm a multi-millionaire. I'm a multi-millionaire and all this. And they think I'm, I did one movie. They think I'm a movie star and stuff like that.

So now they feel like, oh, you should pay all my bills. You should buy me a car. You should buy me a house. And when I say, no, I can't do that. I got my own kids. We've got my own bills. Then now I'm stuck up, you know what I'm saying? So I get hit on by my own family.

You know what I'm saying? You think I want to get hated on by my friends and shit? Think about it, man. Put this up in my shoes. Does that mean, the fact that you're on this show today, does that mean that we're friends again? No, it means that I listen to my fans. That's why I listen to my fans.

You know what I've been? I've been on Twitch lately. Yes. Yeah, so now I'll be live streaming on video games. So now the fans can talk to me while I play video games. I can kill two birds at once because I love video games. And they, I guess they follow me on Twitter. So fans on Twitch, man, they speak their mind and stuff.

So they told me, like, yeah, go all that area of the one. You know what I said. Just don't call him big nose or whatever. I don't know why they would say that. But that's what they said. They said, don't talk about his nose, whatever you do. Because if you talk about area of the nose, when you get up the phone, he's probably going to hit on you again. So I said, okay, I said, I'm not going to talk about that big beak.

I mean, that nose he got. I ain't going to say nothing about it. And everything. But I go on the area of the one of the show. and everything. Because they say they want to know what I'm doing. People want to know what I'm doing. A lot of people don't understand. People keep asking me, when you fight next, when you fight next. And most people don't know that I'm tied up in a damn court battle with Viacom and Derritor.

So I don't know where I'm going to fight next. Can you explain that situation to us? Because you came back to the UFC. It was great. You were much of all you won. You beat Fabio Madanado. It was so cool to see you back. And now you appear to be on the sidelines. Where are we at with all of that?

Well, this is the thing. People need to realize that I'm not a matter. I'm a fighter and my manager Is very good at what he does and and VALCOM breached their contract And they had 45 days to fix the breach we gave him 90 something days they didn't fix the breach so in my contract I was allowed to terminate my contract if VALCOM didn't fix the breach you know what I'm saying? Because they promised movies pro wrestling reality shows everything to boost the paper views everybody saw what happened to be on reddeny he got canned

Scott cocker came in the company was turned upside down and my contract got shitted on you know what I'm saying that's all out there that's common sense and so for some reason Vacom didn't want to fix things so my manager terminated it and he took the everything to the UFC

and the UFC said yep he's legal to sign and VACOM didn't agree with determination so I don't know if my man manager missed one step, going to the courts or whatnot. So they try to put a hold on my fight. I go to the courts and stuff like that and everything, and I got the, you know, I got the overturned, you know what I'm saying, and I fought. And I did that just, you know, for the fans, because they wanted to see the fight.

And it just messed up. So now I'm tied up and I'm going to court and stuff like there. And I feel like they just try to tie me up so I don't fight. But, you know, at the end of the day, I've been thinking about this for a long time. At the end of the day, I've won four fights in a row. I've done a lot in this sport. I'm going to fight for 15 years, you know what I'm saying? I love this sport.

So I'm thinking like a Beltor cannot make me fight for them. And so I'm thinking I might as well just go ahead and retire. I just retire, you know what I'm saying? I got my clone that's going to fight. He's 15 years old right now. I'm training him right now. He's going through his whole wrestling background. I'm training him on my septive fence.

He got natural slams. So I'm just thinking like when he turned 18, then I put him in amateur, and then I send him to Japan and do the whole thing. So you guys have another rampage coming in a couple of years. But me, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? I just retire and just do movies and TV shows and stuff like that

because, you know, it's just too much stress for one person to deal with. All I try to do is just fight, put on an exciting fight, and you know what I'm saying? People try to... You know how people are. Some people try to screw you over. Some people try to help you out. You know what I'm saying?

UFC has been good with all this, you know what I'm saying? You know, they've been helping me out and stuff like that and standing about me and stuff in everything. But, you know, there's on so much that one human being can take, you know. So are you saying right now that you're done, that you're officially retired? I'm saying that if this court stuff don't go, If this court don't go, if this court stuff don't go well,

then yeah, I might as well retire, because I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to let's mind force me to fight or, you know. They can't stop me, so I've done, I've done a lot in this sport, you know what I'm saying? So the easy thing for me to do is just retire and just walk away. Wow. Do you have a timeline?

Like if it drags on to this point, I'm done, you know, I'm not going to wait this long. Like, do you have a set timeline in your mind, a deadline, if you will? No, I don't have, I don't have a set, I'm just, you know, I just, I'm just, I'm just been thinking about it. I told my manager the other day, you know, because, you know, no one can ever say in business that I've done them wrong in business. And I feel like, Belator tried to paint a picture like I'm a crook,

I sign, a double sign with somebody. And you know what I'm saying? That's not me. That's not in my character. No one can ever say I screwed them over in business. You know, I keep it real. I've always been that type of guy that's just the way I am. I just choose to be straightforward.

I feel like if you're a crook and you're greeted, you know what I'm saying? You bring your bridges and no one wants to work with you. And it's, you know, I'm saying, UFC don't mind work with me because they know I never, I never screwed them over. I never would. And they start up a new pride and stuff like that. Those guys, they know they would like to work with me because I always bring a sight and fight.

I never try to screw the mold and stuff like that And Belator still wants me to work with them They know I'm not the shaded one in this equation But you know what I'm saying Like at the end of day I'm the only one that's getting screwed Because my manager did his job I don't read contracts

I don't do all that stuff That's my manager That's why I pay my manager So I'm the one that's getting You know what I'm saying Punished for all this So if I retire I'd be happier Let's stress

And it didn't cause you stress guys And it's walk away from it Because stress is is a killer, man. It ain't worth it so. Anything that causes me stress, I'm walking away from it. I'm talking like, girlfriends, jobs, businesses, contracts, anything that causes me stress in these days,

I'm walking away from. Have you thought about trying to sit down with them and settle in a way, or, on the flip side, have you thought about maybe saying, look, you know, I just want to fight and get paid. I'll just go back and fight there, if that's what it means. Have you thought of any of those scenarios? Well, I don't know.

Listen, I don't know how much I can say. Okay. I don't know how much I can say, but yeah, I've thought of scenarios, but this is the problem that, this is the problem that, this is the problem that they screwed everything up. Since Viacom offered me all these different revenues to earn money, fighting was the, you know, the purse for fighting wasn't that great? Because I was going to, I think I was going to make a lot of money on paper view because they said they're going to promote me and do all this stuff. And if I'm making money off doing movies, I make a month off doing pro wrestling, and they promote my T-shirt for wrestling and promote my pay-review. And the reality show, I'm getting paid to do the reality show,

and they promote my color line and stuff on the reality show, and they promoting it all over the place. And then I'm making a lot of revenue off the previews and promotions, but nothing that happened, did it? So it ain't working for me to just fight for the money that they was paying me. I was actually losing money after I paid all my train apart. and my coaches and my 10% to my manager. So, you know, I basically lost money to help build a bellatory.

Then I went there, then, look, you know, their numbers started going up and then other fighters started coming over. Cito came over. Ken Chiroc came over. Kimbo Slice. What's the name? Steffin-Barner? You know, I brought out of it to them, and what I get out of it, I get, I get debt.

I get, I get, I get to, you know, I, I, I don't. lose money fighting for them. And that's not, that's no way to, there's no way to treat, there's no way to treat somebody that, that came over to, uh, to help you out. I came over to help them out and help build their, their, their, you know, organization. And this is how I getting treated. And that, and I don't want to do business with people like that, you know what I'm saying. I'm sure if Icom is a great company, I'm sure Beltoe is a great company.

But, you know, I'm just getting treated poorly. And then I feel like, uh, you know, say they should respect that, like the only, it was nothing personal. I'm like, okay, this is how y'all do business? I don't want to do business with people like y'all, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? If somebody came over, like my gym, my gym needs help. There's no, there's no lie. This is my first time on the gym. He's doing okay, but it could be great. My gym can, you know what I'm saying? My gym can use 200 or 300 or 300 more people. Then, boom, we're booming. Then, then I go and over another gym and stuff like that. That's how you're doing business. But if somebody came to my

gym and they started bringing people to my gym and making my gym flourish and stuff like that, I'm not going to cheat them like crap. I'm going to give them a raise. I'm going to, you know, say give them praise, and I'm going to make them feel good. I make nothing to feel happy about working at my gym. I always choose the opposite. That's all I'm saying.

Like, I know people don't understand that shit. That's all I'm saying. So what do you do all day these days? You know, like I said, I'm still blocked by you on Twitter, but I can't keep tabs. I see you tweeting about this Twitch thing, which honestly I have no idea what that is and I'd love for you to explain it to me.

Is that what you're doing? Is that your new thing while you're not fighting? Well, well, I do a lot of stuff. I do movies and stuff like that. And, you know, I got other investments and stuff like that. But the Twitch thing is, it's like killing two birds with one stone. It's like where you live streaming your video game play.

Like, I can play video games, and people from all over the world can watch me play video games and interact with me and joke around with me and laugh with me. And, you know, my Twitch name is Rampage, it's human, one word. And just go to Twitch and I guess you type that in, and you can follow me. see when I'm on Twitch. You know, I'm not tweeting when I'm on, and you guys can play video games with me. You can just watch,

you can play video games, or sometimes I invite some of the guys that have the same video game I have, and I invite them on, and I play video games with them. And it just, it just fun. There's a lot of gamers in this world, you know. I'm a gamer, but I'm not as good as most people

because I never really had time to play video games. So Twitch allows me to play video games with people that I wouldn't normally give a chance to play video games with it. We've been talking about video games on this show. Apparently, it's very popular. Have you ever thought about going into that e-gaming world? You know, like you can apparently make a lot of money doing that.

Can you imagine Rappage moving over to e-gaming? That would be nuts. No, I don't know. I never heard of e-gaming, but I heard some people can make a good listening at Twitch. But, you know, I still enjoy entertaining people. So Twitch is something that I do on my spare time. But I still like, I still like do movies and stuff like that. And I'll be working on some stuff in November.

I got some stuff coming up and everything. But, you know what I said? Fighting is my passion. It's one of the best things that I'm good at. But, you know, I'm 37 now, and I had a lot of injuries over the years and stuff like that. So if I do have to retire, I'm not going to cry, you know, so I'm going to miss it. I still train it. I still do, like, what I was still do, I still do, like, judicious tournaments and stuff like that.

But I just become upset that I never got the boxing match that I wanted. but I think my last fight with Mababobo was the closest thing to a boxing match that I ever would get because, you know, he was a pro boxer and I basically stood up for most of the match and stuff like that, and I boxed himself. Well, you know what's going on behind the scenes

in your heart of hearts, do you think you have fought your last fight? Do you think that that's the way this is going here? I really do think that I fought my last fight because because you guys wasn't in my mediation with me when... Yeah. Vycom said what they wanted in order for me to settle. And I feel like, I feel like it was lopsided.

My attorney, I feel like a lopsided. What do they want? Can you tell us? I don't think I can tell you, but I can, I can sue them for a lot of money because I lost a lot of money. And they, and they want to settle over all like, wow, this is, it was crazy. But yeah, I don't think I don't think I could tell you guys. I don't think I can tell you.

But if I, if I ever find out, I can tell you, I'll put it out there, but I don't think I can, but I just, I just, I just, I just don't want any more, I just don't want any more stress. I just want to live my life and be happy. You know, I'm a single parent, you know what I'm saying? I got, um, I got two teenagers that, that I take care of every day. Then my two young kids, you know, I, I, I see them throughout the weekend, on the weekends they come stay at my house and stuff like that.

And, and when you, when you, when you're, when you're alpha and you, and you have your seeds, and that's what you basically live for. You want to make sure your seeds grow up and, and your DNA remains on this earth and you you can leave her impression with your DNA. It's just one of my instincts is one of my jobs. I just want my DNA on this planet to, you know what I'm saying? To survive and be successful. And one of my kids is an alpha and you guys get to know him soon, you know.

So I'm protecting him and stuff right now. I'm teaching him all his stuff to ends and out so he don't make the same mistakes that I made. And I'm going to make sure that I manage him myself and that he don't get screwed over Like I've been screwed over by large companies I'm not going to say their name And I've been screwed over by large companies Sponsors you know what I'm saying And all these different things

And I think it happened I think all this happened For me to learn for my son I think my son is going to be a bigger star than I ever was I think my son will be a better fighter than I ever was Because he started younger than me See I didn't start until 17 And he's been he's been trying to

He's been trying to for a couple years and stuff now. I just been keeping everything quiet. Now he's doing wrestling, and I see he's got the natural strength. He's slamming people naturally. He won his wrestling tournament last week, you know what I'm saying? And that was his second wrestling tournament. I didn't saw winning a wrestling like I had been doing it for like a year. He's only been doing it for a couple of months, and he's already pitting everybody and slamming him.

So the kids is just natural. And I'm just going to devote all my energy in him. And I want him to conquer MMA. Well, Rampage, from one alpha male to another, I hope that this isn't the end of your career. I'm very excited about your son. I'd love to talk to him in the future, but I hope. I feel like there's a couple more fights you got left in you, some big fights. I hope it's not the end.

But I appreciate the update. It means the world to me that you would come on this show. And as an olive branch, I'm not asking you to unblock me, but as an all of branch, I want to plug your Twitch. Rampage is human. That's where you can find Mr. Rampage Jackson. Rampage for Real is his Twitter, which he is still blocking me on. Instagram, Rampage for Real

is the name as well. Rampagejaxxon.com. What else am I missing? Am I missing anything else that I can plug? Oh, how about that shirt, that amazing shirt that I would love to have in the studio of the Punch Out? The Punch Out Rampage, right?

That was a great shirt you were wearing. What else you got? I ain't got shit else. All I got to say is, you thank the Rampage fans for getting me on her, because I ain't do it for you, because you got a smart-ass,

motherfucker's mouth and you be hating on me when you stop hating on me and shit and talking shit then we'll be cool other than that wing squash shit you remember that motherfucker can we still go to Memphis and have some barbecue man fuck you are you there

yeah I'm mad fuck you I ain't gonna take you to my hometown let you meet my motherfucker mama and meet all my brother and shit why you hate on me okay fair enough I'm sorry I'm sorry well I'm sorry once again I'm sorry for any

anything I've done to offend you, to disappoint you. I hope this is the beginning of us rekindling our friendship and we could finally do that walk and talk in Memphis. I hope that you are not retiring. I hope that this legal problem gets resolved. I hope you have a great training session today. I think you're going to train. I hope you get a lot of money on Twitch. I hope only the best for you, Rampage Jackson, and I love it. All right. All right. I like what it sound. I think if I'm talking to my fans tonight, see what they say and see if you talk shit about me soon. I got the home. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. Regardless of who you did it for, I appreciate you coming on. All right. Keep us posted. Take care. Much love. Asa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-slamalekum.

There he is. Rampage Jackson. How about that? Who, got a little dicey there for a second, but we made it. All right. Let's move along. I think this guy likes me. He's not that mad at me. Let's bring in the former UFC Walterway champion, the man who deserved a third crack at GSP and was wrongfully, wrongfully denied that opportunity to regain his title, the one and only, Matt the terrorist, Sarah. Matt, are you there? Dude, let me, hold on. Hold on.

You got, I lost all respect to you. Dude, do you have rancid his balls out of your mouth? You are, so why do you got a kid so much ass? I was just... Just be a fucking man. Could you be a man? What? Could you be a man for once?

Did I handle that poorly? Ah, you know what you did? You know what you showed, you totally. show it and listen you know you don't do anything wrong you don't get yourself in trouble I don't see you out at night

I don't go out at night I'm just saying but what I'm saying is if you ever had to like if you guys were ever let's say and I had to share a J.S. Do you're making that

you're massaging that guy at night you're doing a sheet you're doing everything sure you just really you just really you just really you just really disappoint me when you're fucking grovel

like that but how does every do this is your 300th third show yeah geez having me on. Way to make me feel good about myself. Why am I on on this show? Can I tell you my day?

Yes, please. Well, tell me your day. What's new? Well, ask me, what the fuck am I doing on the show? I'm excited to be here. But, you know, talk to me.

Talk to me. Is this more about you? It's just like, I got to my three on this show guys, come on and congratulate me. No, no, this is not, this is your life. Actually, you are very much in the news.

I mean, in fact, this past weekend, Matt, Sarah, a star was born in Houston, Texas, and it's ironic. Do you know why it's ironic? because you had your greatest moment inside the cage in Houston, Texas. That's where you beat GSP, UFC-69. And then this Saturday, it comes full circle because, you know, your spawn.

I mean, this guy looks exactly like you. Sage Northcut, 19-year-old Sage Northcut, the man that you discovered Sage. I was just like me. Do you see this? I 100% whether it's the Diaz brothers, whether it's rampage, I wholeheartedly, and I truly mean this, I understand why guys want to fucking strength. I just want to just kind of just,

not hurt you, and I'm just kind of give you a couple of smacks. Well, look. You're a boy this. You really are. But anyway. You discovered him. That kid's talented. What about his little fucking flip he does?

The front flip. Can you do something like that? No, and seriously, I said it on the show, but he does have some fucking sweet sidekicks, man. I mean, he's, that guy, he's, that's awesome, man. What a nice fight he had. And even when I first saw him, I was like, holy shit, man. Look at them.

Boy, he's using those sidekicks. Such an underused... Do you watch the fight? Tool. What's that? You watched the fight? Yes. Be honest with me.

Somewhere on Long Island, you were sitting back and say, I discovered. You can put that feather in my cap alongside Chris Wyman, Al Jermaine Sterling, Pete Drago Sell. I discovered that, man. Did you say that yourself? Are you excited about the three on the show? Very. Are you excited?

Because I'm just going to flip it. Don't let's not talk nothing. Are you excited? Very. Yeah. No. The kid with stage, I was very, I was impressed. I was excited.

I, you know, that was awesome. And he's 19, and he seems like a real nice kid and good for him, man. And what, dude, that guy's, that guy looks like a fucking superhero. What about, what about that cage announcer? What was going on there? Yeah, that guy, that guy could have been your brother, that guy. What are you talking about? Are you guys?

Are you guys? Are you guys? Is that Hawaiian? My brother would never act. There are any Hawanis down south? No, not. Throw some glats on you and a little bit of a different. knows, that might be your fucking stunt double.

And of course, if people don't know what we're talking about, we're talking about the new reality show from Dana White and Company. It's called Looking for a Fight, where Matt Sarah, of all people, goes with Dana White and Nick the Tooth and some of other Dana friends, and they go all over the country, it appears, and they find talent, and they hang out, and they eat weird hot dogs. It's a fun time. Is this a new thing for you? Are you going to be doing a lot of these? Yeah, you know, I believe so. I think, I mean, it's got a good research. Spence. Hey man, if I should get paid by going to

hang out with a couple of my buddies break some balls and fucking watch some fights. I mean, what's better than that, man? That's awesome. You know, I had a great time, man. You just hung, watched some fights, had a good time, and that's what you saw, you know? But, yeah, that thing at the end, that guy, I just, you know, it's funny, you know, because that, you know, sometimes with reality TV shit can get cut up. But they pretty much,

I think that's pretty, that was pretty straightforward. They caught everything there. Except what you're not seeing on camera is when this guy is saying stupid shit, he's looking over shoulders and making sure he's locking eyes with me. He knew exactly what he was doing, you know. I think they had their own little world there, their own little, you know, the rulers of that little pond, they got there, that little event they had, that little small show.

It would a, what a fucking production. The guy, the, I think they knew all the security. They seemed like there's a bunch of just, every, you know, that was, there was their crew, so I think the guy felt protected. And the guy was just being a fucking smart ass at the end of the day. And the guy was, and he was throwing that shit my way. He knew, he knew precisely what he was doing. He wasn't just rooting for his guy.

And so you start saying, fuck that dude. First of all, you know, watch your fucking mouth at the end of the day. And, you know, who the fuck? You know what I'm saying? I mean, you're on the apron, dude. You know, you're not even, even if you were in the first row. And you start, they, fuck you, fuck that dude. They don't fuck you.

Who to fuck you? you know, I mean, you guys, I mean, I don't know. I mean, no, not enough guys call people on that shit sometimes it gets annoying, you know, because everybody's a fucking tough guy until you're right in their face and then they're on band-jian.

Do you get that a lot, though? Do you get a lot of people? Because I feel like he was just trying to test you, like almost trying to get you to hit him. No, I mean, I don't know what he was looking to do, you know, but like, but he was being disrespectful, and he was doing it blatantly,

you know, directed, you know, to try to try to try to test me. So, you know, you guys, sometimes you gotta tell a guy where to put it, you know, fuck you. But you get a lot, do you get a lot of people who try to test you? I call him down a lot. Yeah. I'm a husband in the fall, though. I'm not, I do the right thing.

I just, you know, I mean, listen, it's a funny. It's a funny thing, you know. But at the end of the day, nobody likes to get disrespected. And there's a right way to act, the wrong way to act. You know, and the guy's, the guy was unprofessional. The guy was disrespectful. And those are two things that, you know, if it's not right in front of me, whatever. I mean, you're doing it right in front of my face, dude.

I'm going to call you on it, whatever. So you don't get a lot of people who try to test you. Say again? I feel like a lot of people would be like, oh, there's a former champion. I'm going to try to step up to this guy and prove to my friends. You don't get that. You don't get that a lot. You really don't.

Because, you know why? Because there's always the chance that something could really happen. So everybody's, like I said, that guy's, you know, being malady. Then you get within a reach of him. And, you know, hey, you know. And all of a sudden you start getting some compliments throwing at. you know. It's just a shame so you seem to have to get to that. But like what I

like I tell my kids not only say, like I like that like you know there's too many there's too many you know knuckleheads out there to smack I'm from Long Island dude I've been through the ring of before with that

where a guy who wants a situation you give it to him you don't like the results the next thing you know you're in court your line I mean so I know how this works you know we have a saying with you know the, you know, the, what is it, the fucking, wait, hold on, hold on,

the loser goes to the fucking hospital, the winner goes to jail, you know what I mean? Yes. But anyway, enough of my philosophies. What else is new? Okay, well. Excited? You excited?

You excited about your show? Yeah, I'm very excited. I'm very happy that you're on the show. I'm wondering, you know, seeing you on a reality. I didn't know. Who was on before me? Am I like the prelim? I heard Rampage.

Rampage? I heard the end of rampage. Well, we had rent. When he was just got a kiss in his ass when he was saying a lot of fuck, saying fuck you and fuck you to you, you know? I thought you were going to be on via Skype. And you were like, okay, Rampage. I want to go to Memphis.

Like, fuck you. You're like, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love you. He's like, fuck you. What about... But did I miss anything else? Well, we had Chal Sondin.

Nice. And we had Daniel Cormier. Did you see that? I'm doing a good look at this, dude. I'm hanging. Dude, I'm walking with giants. Hey, one could say, one could say one of these things is not like the other. I don't even...

Oh, we go on anyway? Are we ending the interview? No, no, no, no. I want to know. I got, you know, I'm on Instagram now. I was... Seriously, Matt Serra B.J. Check it out.

You see my daughter doing some omlocks. Okay. But, um... I'm in my yard, man. I was hoping to get the Skype. Yeah, what happened. But, dude, what a... I mean, listen, I took my one kid's...

My oldest is at first grade. Then I got my other one. I take cut of preschool. And then I had to take my wife's fucking Vinny Van to Firestone. This is not... This is not exciting. People, dude, they want to get Conner talking fucking how he's gonna smack them.

the Aldo. You know, they want to hear say, and fuck you, you already take my kids to school. This is not new? Yes,

this is, this is probably my favorite part of the show. But anyway, she had to get an inspection and I didn't know that. I was there longer than I thought. So then I mean,

my school's right down the blocks. I jumped in. I jumped on a couple of my purple belt, strangled them. You know, now I'm hanging out with you. Do this in my day. I'm a regular,

I'm a regular fucking guy. When's the long-go reality show coming? Oh, wow to that guy. That guy need to forget about me That guy needs a reality show I was trying to talk you to producer And fucking he's calling in Fucking guy

What producer? You know, who the fuck I'm talking to you When you were a show? Oh Who's setting this thing up? Yeah, yeah You were trying to get him To set up New York Rick?

No, the guy was calling in When I was talking to a guy It's not a story Just roll with it Okay, okay, fair enough What else is new man? Talk to me Well, what about Chris Wyman

coming up against Luke Rockold? A lot of people, including myself, think this is his toughest test Do you agree? You know what? You know, styles make fights, you know, and, you know, Luke's style, it's real good with a lot of it. He has a very well-rounded style that could adapt to different guys' games, you know? And the Machita fight, I was really interested to see that, you know, and he really capitalized when he got on the floor,

and then it was just then, then you're not looking at it, then it's not even him fighting Machita anymore. It's just, you know what I mean? between trying to survive. That first round was so brutal that, you know, it was hard to base anything off of that because, you know, he did the right thing after that. He's good on top. No, no, he's definitely, he's definitely, definitely a tough guy,

tough opponent, you know what I mean? You think he's the toughest, though? Is this the one that's going to separate Chris from everyone else, or do you think that's Jacaree or Romero, one of those guys coming up? Well, listen, I would never downplay the guys, you know, the guys, well, got two losses and one was, what, first fight or something? I mean, it's crazy. And the other was what the,

when Deto was on the Juice. And, you know, it's hard to even, you know, count that because it's unfair. And so, you know, the guys are a real dangerous guy. I would never, you know, talk to him. And I respect his skills. And so is everybody in the camp. But at the end of the day, I feel Chris is going to be just too much more.

I mean, you know, that's how I feel. I think, you know, that's why they fight, though. I'm excited for it. It's definitely exciting. Late last week, excuse me, early last week, the UFC announced that if all goes well, they'll be at MSG April 23rd. Finally, their return,

they're a long away to return to New York, their debut at MSG. If this gets done, what is it, what is it going to take for Matt Sarah to be on that car? No, listen to me. What? You break my, you break my ball

when I repeat some of my material. When I repeat some of my shit, you go, you call me on it. This is news. You can't have some other shit wind up, but I'm on the wrong

inside of 40. And I'm over two bills. I'm not fucking, that, that day, listen, you got to know when to let go. You got to know when to let go, not you,

which you're fucking interviewing. I'm talking about as a fighter. I moved on, bro. I moved on to next chapter in my life. I'm not about to get to a camp.

I'm not about to get off the TRT. Okay. That's still going? I am on that. That's what people are like, I'm on the grappling thing.

I go, yeah, But I'm on the T.O.T. Oh, they'll test for that. But it's like, yeah, but then I never competed with an edge, with anything. You know? Does it really feel different? Do you really feel better with it?

No, listen, it's hard to tell because I'm not doing 100% the right thing with it. What do you mean? You understand what I'm saying? What does that mean? Like, in other words, I'm rolling. In other words, if you're dieting and you're a fucking, you're getting that, fuck, you're training like to have a fight. I mean, you probably should great results because the way I get it out is I have, I, I, I'm,

good during the day. I'm going to talk to you, be honest with you. Please. Sorry. I've been good during the day, but at nighttime, I'm a fuck yeah, I could be a fucking fat kid for sure. You know, listen, you're watching Walking Dead with your wife. You're not having some weak things, motherfucker?

Are you happening? These things happen. So, and then my kids, my kids sound like the little Caesar's commercial. Hey, pizza, pizza. Are you sure you don't want to go to a diner? Maybe Daddy can get a turkey burger. I have pizza. See, I don't want to upset my kid because of my selfish.

So what happens is? I go with them, and they end up. end up finishing their slices and this is the story of my life. But I feel, because I'm rolling, like, four days a week with my guys, I'm crazy. I'm getting ready for Meta Morris, but I like the role. It's my therapy, you know. You know, I maintain, I maintain where I'm not like sloppy, but I'm fucking big. I'm definitely big right now. That's how those cats.

I'm ripping fucking Camores. It's amazing about jihitsu. You're not going to know about this. No. You don't know about jih Tijuana. You really should, though, because it's the one art that you could possibly save you from a rape type situation.

But the thing is, but seriously, I don't see you pegged as a wrestler or the moit, so I's not going to really shoot you. I think you better fucking cling out of God and get a fucking rape whistle. But Ariel,

the thing, that's not the point. The point is, where was I going with this? My ADD kicking in like a motherfucker. I think you were saying that it's your therapy. The jiu-jitsu is your therapy.

Oh, dude, I need, if I eat well, the way I'm rolling, I think I should be fucking way better than I am. I don't know. I think this goes back to the TRT. That's what we're talking about.

Right, right. Well, how about this? I should be way worse than I'm looking now, which is not a good thing. But the calves. I'm not solid. I don't think, I'm not falling apart. I'm not mushy anywhere, you know. You could still cut the coconuts, right?

You could still cut the coconuts, thank you. Why are you always concerned with my conch? That's not the normal. I wasn't talking. I was talking about your calves. Dude. No, no, you know, you just said, didn't you say about the coconuts, you know what you're doing.

And somehow you always decided to put me to bring up my peacock. We don't cut this shit. I'm like, I got a kid. You're fucking, we stopped that shit? What the fuck how madder with you? But anyway, that's fucking, what was I up to? Like the TRT? Oh, yeah.

Chichita would adopt the your body type. It really does. I was always a straight arm lot to the, you know, I still do the Yuma Plata, but, man, I've been ripping, everything in the more with two bills. I've been ripping those comores. You don't give a shit. You don't give a shit.

You don't give a shit. about this. I guess. But I've been setting up those Comoras differently and it's a tool that was never really one of my main tools before. I was just bullshitting with Chris Brennan about this over at the Nokia

Jan Ames over the weekend. I had like 30 guys competing, man. It was crazy. But go ahead. I'm running on and on a rant about nothing. I want to just quickly ask you by your guy Al Jermaine Sterling. He was a little frustrated. He was a little frustrated. He wasn't getting the love. He didn't think he was

getting a fight, he's going to go back to school. Is he in there? Is he mentally in there? He's got a fight. I know, but it seemed like he was talking about leaving the sport for a second. Look what you're talking about. See what you're talking about? You're talking about Aljo, Orange.

Yeah, I'm talking about Aljo. Aljo knows precisely what he's doing, man. Aljo is really, I feel, just a champion in the making right there. You know, I mean, I know he wanted that caraway fight, and that for some reason that didn't go down. I think styles make fights. And I think that would be a phenomenal fight.

I think I don't want to go into too much detail, but Al Jo's got a lot of tricks, man. He's such a fun guy to watch, man. You get a guy that's good with scrambles or something. You put him in there, and Aljo just, what a gifted guy with his jiu-jitsu, man. I mean, he just really knows he's got such good instincts to that. He really does. And he's got some tools that are very dangerous,

and he's got positionally. He's, oh, man, just very sound. He gets certain positions. I mean, it's as good as it comes. You know what I mean? And he capitalizes on little opportunities that are there for a second. And I just, I can't say, you know, good things about the kid. He's really, really a talented guy.

He's a great guy. I don't know if to Matt. And I'm happy to work with him. You get mad to me when I ask you about coming back, but your boy, Pete Drago Cell just came back. Three-year layoff. Dude, Drago, I love Drago. My best friend there.

What happened? What happened in the fight? No, it didn't go He got out You know, he got out, you know Wrestled, you know Then he was behind the You know

It was, The guy was getting down Small cage Got him down a lot What are you going to do? You know And a lot of time up against the cage Well,

It was an eventual fight You know But You know You want him to keep fighting We'll see We'll see what's next with Drago You know

We'll see what's next With them I'll talk to him And we'll see what's going on with him You know what I mean? Are you happy? Am I happy with with your life.

You know, here you are. I couldn't be happier, man. Yeah, dude. I got three kids that I'm so lucky I get to spend a ton of time with. I get to do it. You know, dude, my job is my passion, man. I love being around my schools, being around my guys. I got great guys on the jihitsu circuit.

Chasing around. Zach Sala. These guys are training hard. They're competing. And then, you know, all know, and again, the fight team with long ago. I could not be in a better place right now. You never sit back and say one more shot. There's so many people out there that it's just,

no, I'm not saying I'm grateful, but oh, man, I deserve this. I understand. You know, you want what you're worse. But, you know, I'm a big guy with, I'm a big quality of life type of guy. Like, the money I put into my schools, I didn't get that back yet. I literally didn't, man. But, you know, I got a job that I like to do for the next 20-plus years, man. I love to do what I do.

If I had all the money in the world, I'd be doing what I'm doing. So when you look at it like that, you know, and like, you know, I'm taking care of my family and, you know, you keep it like that life and it's a good thing. I don't know. That is a beautiful thing. That's a nice thing. You see, we had a real, we had a real moment. And you know what? At the real moment. I'll plug my Instagram and like that other shit and get fucking Conner McGregor on me.

I can hear that guy all day. I like, I want to go. I'm a man. Well, I want to end on that moment because it was beautiful. I brought a tear to my eyes. So I want to thank you. Matt, Sarah, UFCs, the Twitter. And there's nothing, really quick.

Really, wouldn't you be upset if you didn't see Nick Diaz in five years? Oh, my God. That's the fuck. I don't want to join on the whole other topic, but that's a crime. That's a really upsetting, man. I called it a crime. He shouldn't have received a day. A day penalty.

And the guy is just, man, the guy is just such a, you know, that's, that'll be, that's an injustice for anybody that just loves watching the sport and anything because they have, you know. And then, I don't know. I just think it's a shame that whole thing. I think it's fucking bullshit. You're 100% right. Good man, Matt Sarah. Thank you.

Yeah, put my shit now. Will you please? Matt Sarah, UFC. Matt Sarah, BJJ is the Instagram. Sarah BJJ is the location. Yeah, wait a wait. Hold on. What about the Twitter?

I said, Matt Sarah, UFC. And what about the Instagram? Matt Sarah BJJ. What's my website, motherfucker? SarahBJ.com. All right. See, we get out there again. But listen to, seriously, though, in all seriousness,

I really, I don't want to go. Everybody says, oh, you know, that thing with Chris, you say he was going to be champ. And that was an amazing moment. no longer got the eye for that, but really, almost equally as important, actually, nowhere near as important. You know, Chris is going to go down as one of the greatest ever. But, but, but, a distant, maybe second or third, I did say back in a day you would have a career

out of this shit. And I'm not saying, listen, I know maybe your mother said it too with somebody or your dad or somebody or maybe your girlfriend, but listen, they care about you. I didn't know you, and I said it. You did. So remember that shit. And now we'll get you now, 300 shows later, you know what I'm saying? So whatever.

I'm going to know what you're d'armus, but I am happy for you because even though you can be a shitster and stuff, it's kind of your job. And, you know, you can say some things that a little, you know, the little, you know, you can be a little smart ass. But you are a good guy, and I'm happy for you. Thank you, Matt. I appreciate you coming on. It means a lot to me. It wouldn't be the same without you. Take care, man.

All my best. All right. We'll talk to you soon. There he is Matt Sarah, the former UFC Welterweight champion. Let's move along now. Let's go back to the phone lines. Wouldn't be the same without this man either. This man is the face of Belator, MMA.

He was victorious in his much-anticipated return to the cage back in June. He defeated Ken Shamrock, and he's joining us on the phone right now. We have not talked to him in a few months. His name is Kimbo Slices. Kimbo, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. What's up, man? Kimbo, thank you so much for the time.

Thank you so much for coming on. Big show for us. And like I said, we really wanted you on, so I appreciate it greatly. Are you still on Cloud 9 over what you did to your rival, Ken Shamrock, or have you moved on from it? Yeah, you know, I moved on. I'm ready to take out my next victim and continue to grow in Bellator. Who is that next victim? You know, we had your boss, Scott Coker, on last week.

He said he was looking at James Thompson, Bobby Lashley, the winner of that fight. Is that what you heard as well? Yeah, you know, but I'm not sure who is going to be, but, you know, either way it goes, I'm fucking excited, you know what I'm saying? I just want to get in there and try to break one of these guys up. I know what I'm going to be sometime in February. I just don't know fucking win and don't know who. Do you have a preference? Of course, you have a history with James Thompson.

Not so much with Bobby Lashley. Do you have a preference? Not really. You know, those guys fight style is kind of the same. They're going to come in and just try to fucking wrestle me up. But if I put the hands on them, it'll be a whole different ballgame. I kind of feel like you'd rather fight Bobby just because it's a fresh matchup. You already conquered James Thompson, no? Right, right. I did win that fight, you know. Back in the days with Strike Force.

What was it like being back in there? And I'm wondering if you were doubting yourself in the moments leading up to the fight. It had been a while, big stage for you, the world was watching. What was it like just being back in the cage? It felt good, you know, you kind of miss it. You know, you know what to expect from it. You know, you just build up a confidence level now because over those years, you fucking, you know, learned to love the sport.

And, you know, it's what I took for granted back then. I kind of embraced now. and which is the ground game. Yeah. Have you been working on that a lot since the fight? Yeah, you know, I added more into a workout rather than just standing off, fucking someone holding pads and going through that ritual. I can do that with my eyes closed or do that in my sleep.

You know, what's still a little new is that's brown. You know, you still evolve. Everything that you still can learn different shit from it. No matter how much you train it, you still find yourself learning something different, you know? So, you know, a lot of people were expecting, you know, and I'm maybe not a very long fight between you, too, but when it goes to the ground, he has your back, and it looks like he's trying to sink in a rear naked choke,

what's going through your mind? Because I would imagine that's a nightmare scenario. That's the worst-case scenario. What are you thinking at that point? Well, you know, you're kind of like knowing where you're at, and you said, okay, you don't tap, and it's like worst-case, you just wake the fuck up, you know, and that's it. You know, but no matter what happens,

you don't bring yourself to a tap. And considering that what's happening in the back of my mind, I was just like, okay, listening to my corners, and remembering the ritual, you know, go to your back, go to your, and go from that. You got to do like step one, step two, step three. You know, and I'm just remembering those steps. You know what I'm saying?

I was able to pull that shit off. Considering his background, are you surprised he wasn't able to finish you off? Not considering his background. We're just considering the way I made myself to have trained. And the way I continue to tell myself, no matter what the fuck, you know, a guy coming in there, I'm coming in there with, no matter what he brings, no matter what the fuck he brings, he's not going to hurt me, he's not going to face me. You know what I'm saying? No matter what position he puts me in, you know what I'm saying, I'm not tapping. He's going to have to either break it or choke me out.

So with that mentality right there, it's just going to be difficult to really just give up a fight to just lose a fight. You've got to really just really, you know, win, win, win to beat me. You've had some great moments there Throughout your fighting career In and Out of the Cage Was that, was not tapping to Kent Shamrock Your proudest moment? I mean, it was, I ain't allowed, man

It was all right, man It was something to remember Because, you know, we're talking about You know, who the fighter is Who my point was We're talking about Ken Shamrock You know, so to finish, to beat him You know what I'm saying?

Within that, within a minute In the first round I mean, that's a story that goes down in history, that goes down in the books. And then considering me, you know, how I came into the sport, every fight is a moment. Every fight is a moment. Every fight is record-breaking. Every fight is something new, you know. And because of that right there, man, I love it.

I look forward to it. I have something that's going to follow me in my years after I'm gone. And, you know, I'm going to stay at it. were you surprised at how many people were interested in watching you fight all these years later you still scored the big numbers you still broke records all this stuff in the back of your mind were you wow they still care about me after all these years yeah man that that shit was awesome you know i got a lot of fans under there they love to see me fight and um and that's one thing that you know you can't change you can't stop you know i'm gonna put asses and see those numbers

are going to be there i'm gonna fight and they know when you're coming to watch the kimbo slice fight, no matter who the fuck his opponent is, that's going to be a fight. It's going to be somebody getting knocked the fuck out. Something's happening in that fight and that match with Kimbo and whoever. So just that alone, you know, that's going to stick with me until my days are done. On top of that, though, is there a reason in your mind as to why people just have this? I'll tell you, as an MMA journalist, when I tell people what I do for a living, you're one of the very first people still in 2015 that they asked me about.

Kimbo Slice, have you ever met him, have you ever talked to him? Why do you resonate with people so much in your opinion? I mean, people relate to me, you know what I'm saying? Ariel, they relate to me. I relate to them. I come up as the same. I don't think I'm not that superstar celebrity. You can't fucking touch.

You see me on TV so that's from celebrity status. You know, I'm fighting on professional sports. Also celebrity status. But to also see me in your local stores to see me on the street, to see me doing the same shit you're doing with your family and your kids and you're giving them that time. You know what I'm saying? To see that alone is why they can relate to me.

You know, for that reason right there, it's why I guess a lot of fans and a lot of, the average person can relate because I'm a real motherfucker just like them. I got a grind just like they got to grind. I get up and get my shit going in the morning just like they do. Put my pants on one leg at a time. I don't think I'm all that.

I don't think I'm better than the next man. But if it's a one-on-one fight and we got a fight, I'm going to bang your ass up. You can believe that. Did you listen to any of that chatter after the fight from some pretty influential people claiming, suggesting that the fight was fixed? And if so, did that bother you? No. I don't know that shit like that gets in the era. You know, it's critics.

We all need critics. You're going to need them out there. You're going to need some haters. You're going to need that. It goes with the territory. You can't have too many people liking you and not too many people disliking you. It goes hand to hand. So you didn't feel like they were disrespecting you, that they were crossing the lawn?

None of that. You just let it go like water off your back, like a duck. Yeah, pretty much. You got to be that way. You got to let it go that way. You know, I listen. I don't listen to it, but I read it, and I hear it, and I laugh from it. And I was like, damn, boy, they're going to have something crazy to say.

I find it humorous, to be honest with him. How many more fights you have in you? Do you know? Yeah, I got like, I say 10, but I'm really saying like 8, but I really want to do like 6. Why is that? Why 6, not 8, not 10? I mean, because, you know, you're getting a little older in the sport, and I want to be smart.

And what I'm doing, I want to be able to leave the game and still be able to walk, chase my grandkids, chase my kids, climb stairs. You know, I want to be healthy leaving this game. I don't want to leave the game, broke up, bus it up, and fucked up, you know what I'm saying? I want to still leave this game, you know, being able to maneuver. It's amazing. I love talking to the 2015 version of Kimbo Slices because you are somewhat of a different man. At your core, you're the same guy. But, you know, when we talked early on in your career, different things were coming out of your mouth.

You seem you're incredibly humble now, not to say that you weren't back then, but it's just, it seems a little different. Seeing your family, hanging out with your family and your kids, the stuff they put out before that fight was fantastic. Do you feel like a different guy? Do you think you've grown up in front of us over the last few years? Yeah, definitely. I've spent my last 10 years of my life on the big screen. Yeah. Fighting in as professional sports. And a lot of people over the years have grown with me from middle schools to high school, from high school to college and from college to adulthoods.

You know, a lot of people grow up with me and they grew watching me. So for the last 10 years, I definitely, I believe I've been an inspiration to a lot of people. So that's why, you know, again, you know, a lot of my fans, they, they fucks with me, they like me, they communicate with me. They see them in the street, I'll shake their hand, I give them a pound. You know, but when I'm with my family, I let them respectfully know, you know, give me my time. And now because my baby's got to get my time. But other than that, everyone else is cool with me and I'm cool with everybody else. It occurred to me this morning that it's a little funny that you're on this particular episode of the show because seven years ago yesterday, you know what happened?

What's that? That was the Petrazzelli fight. No shit. October 4th, 2008. Seven years ago yesterday. Do you still think about that a lot? No, not really. I actually don't.

You know, I take everything for what it is for phase value. You know, a lot of things rent wrong that night, so that was just like a bad dream. I had a couple years to dwell on it, but I've gotten over it. I've conquered it. I've outgrewed it. Any interest in, and, settling that score with him or you over that as well? Yeah, I'm over that as well.

I'm moving on. What about your good pal, your good pal, Scala? Where has he been these days? You still talk to him? Yeah, Scala's a painter now. He's a... He's a painter? He saw a painting thumb.

Wow. Some people find a green thumb. He found a painted thumb. You still talk to him? Yeah, we rap every now and then. We're not on the phone every other day like buddies, though, but every now and then, if he's in Florida and something's going on,

the Art Adventure and Art Expo, here's here here to stop and let me know he's here. If I'm in Cali, anywhere on that side of town where he's out, I'll let him know I'm in town. Did anyone ask you to fight Fader Emilienenko in Japan? No way. It hasn't came up. You know, you just hear rumors,

but nothing that can't come up yet. Is that of interest to you or not really? If it doesn't make dollars, it don't make sense, Ariel. Right. Do you think you can hang with Fader at this stage? Well, man, if Fado, hang with me. man, you're talking about. Can anyone hang with you right now, in your opinion?

Do you feel like you're just on point? If they come in and ready for a fight, and they know they're going to get hit and be hit, and, you know, the fight's going to go up and down. And, yeah, you can hang, you know, just how long can you hang? That's the question. Why do we have to wait until February to see you back?

Why so long? That's not long, dude. That's good enough time. What do you talk about? I just fought in June. I know, but by the time you get back in there, it's going to be like eight months. I need some time to you.

I got this body back, right. You kidding me? Okay, fair enough. Do you go to the gym every day? I don't go every day. I go every day. I go whenever I can't. Well, I haven't got a fight schedule.

But since something might come up in February, I start going three to four times a day until, you know, it becomes every day, and then it becomes two days, and then we start peeking, and then we bring it back down again. And are you done with boxing, or do you still want to do that?

Um, if it comes our way, depending on who it is, where it is, and the nature of it, yeah, I give Gary Shah, I'll showtime, but that's one more fight. But for now, it's all MMA, it's all Belvoir MMA. It's all about Belator right now. Final question. Do you have a wish, like a wishless fight, like a, a perfect scenario fight. If you have one more fight at some point in your career, this is the guy that you want. Does anyone come to mind?

Well, did you see the dynamite, how they have the cross between kickboxing and MMA? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the coolest shit ever, dude I mean, whoever came up with that was fucking a genius. That's Scott Coker, right? I would love to do one of them kickboxing fights.

I don't know who my opponent would be, but, you know, I consider that. I think the biggest fight that Beltor can put on right now is you versus Herschel Walker. That will get them the most attention. What do you think? I like Herschel.

I don't want to have bad blood with him. Well, you don't have to have bad blood. You just go out there and make some money. If I'm about to fight somebody in area, I don't like them. Oh, you have to not like them. Yeah, I have to not like them. Well, that's a problem. So Herschel's not a possibility.

I don't know. Herschel's too good. I like Herschel. He's a good guy. But if the numbers are there, if the numbers are there, we can have a competition, you know, see who will win the match. I won't try to kill you, but, you know, I definitely try to win. I just think mainstream media-wise, that gets them the most attention.

Well, damn, let's do it. All right, here we go. We just made a fight. All right. I'll call Scott I'll call Scott right now Kimbo again thank you so much

what a pleasure it is to talk to you I want the larger portion of the purse though okay fair enough fair enough I'll talk to Scott about that as well

I mean you deserve it your Kimbo freaking slice for God's sakes that's what's up man Kimbo again thank you congratulations I didn't get to talk to you after the fight

so congratulations on a big win you return congratulations on those ratings my man I mean no one has been able to recreate that Tito none of those guys they can't touch you right now

I look forward to return in February, my friend. All right, hell. Thank you, buddy. All right, there he is. Kevin Ferguson, Kimbo Slice, the legend. Kimbo Slice, joining us right now. He returns to the cage in February. All right, let's move along now.

You know, in the history of this show, this is our 300th episode. In the history of this show, I think it's pretty safe to say that the most popular guest ever has been Connor McGregor. I don't think there's any doubt to that. And it has been a while, and understandably so. The man has exploded. He has turned the world of MMA upside down. He is arguably the biggest star in the sport.

He is the face of the featherweight division. He has a gigantic fight coming up in December. He is the face of the ultimate fighter right now. I mean, what he has done in the last two plus years, nothing short of amazing. You know the story, you know the ride. But he has found some time out of his very, very, very busy schedule to return home. You can always come back home.

And there he is. Connor McGregor back home on the MMA hour. How are you, my friend? I am absolutely amazing, Ariel. Thank you for that great introduction. That is why you are at the top of your game. Because you can recognize greatness. You can recognize when a man is doing something different

and pay him that respect. People who cannot pay that respect and understand what's happening and hold bitterness and whole grudges to it and hate on it, they'll never reach the pinnacle of what they're trying to do. you recognize what's happening as i recognize what's happening with you and what you are doing your 300 episode you're the top reporter in the game and it's no surprise that you are that way so i am honored to be back here on on your 300 episode what a feat congratulations and let's talk all right well thank you so much again your your first appearance eating those blueberries i mean

that that goes up there in our hall of fame i don't know if anyone will ever be able to top that so it's so great to have you back i was worried for a second that you'd forgotten about us, but I know deep down, you're still the same old guy. You're still the same old Connor. Yes, yes, I am. As hungry as ever, right? I have not changed, Ariel. There's a lot that has changed, but I have not changed.

I'm still the same person. I'm still on the hunt. I'm still on the hunt for that number, you know. I watched that first episode back when I first came out to a show, and I'm no different. I still eat blueberries, you know what I mean, keep them laying. After that show, I was getting people were like Photoshopping my face on the packets of blueberries And I was thinking in my in my business mind saying shit, I should capitalize on this and start selling blueberries now But no, it's it's been a crazy ride and I truly

I feel every every every now and again I get this I almost take a back step or I go somewhere else and I come back reinvigorated and this is just another one I just keep getting reinvigorated to go. go again and keep pushing and keep breaking down barriers and climb to heights that the game has never seen before. You know, I'm happy that we're talking to you back in Dublin. You recently returned to Dublin right after the Go Big Press conference, and it had been several months.

I mean, you had been all around the world and back, and you finally came back with the belt. What was that moment like when you stepped on Irish Seoul and you were greeted by this amazing crowd at the airport? I mean, the support I'm getting is unbelievable. unbelievable, but I think everyone back home, they understood the work ethic that I put in. They understand what I came true.

I think it was clear for a lot of people, the amount of hours and the amount of sacrifice and everything that I'd gone through, all the media, all the travel, all everything. So when I actually came home, I feel my people have recognized that. And they haven't been too invasive. They've given me, you know what I mean?

Everyone is respecting, and it's just been a great vibe. and to walk back into my gym straight blast gym I almost feel like I had to like learn how to mix back in with society or something it just felt weird to be around and people going about their normal day

and but it's been a fucking it's been amazing for me you know the air back home I can't you know living in Las Vegas the air is very very dry it's you don't see fluffy fluffy animals running

around outside in Las Vegas, the only animals that survive out in that climate are reptiles and snakes and lizards. And that's the type of animals you see out there. And there's very good reason for that is because the air is fucking, you can't live in that air. You know, one of the things I noticed and I missed from being out there was the air back home in Ireland. It's fresh. It's clean. Now I have my home and it's right. It's up in the countryside. It's true. You have to get through two gates to get to my house. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's getting right on a golf course. I wake up every day. I have a cup of coffee. I walk out onto my balcony and I just breathe in that fresh air and begin my day. So things are going absolutely

amazing for me now and I feel reinvigorated and ready to go and unified that belt. I find throughout camps, I have boards that almost stick in my head throughout the whole camp. The last one I felt the word was capitalized. I wanted to capitalize on every opportunity that I could and that came my way. And this time I feel the word that's sticking in my head is unify. You know, that's the word I'm going in here with unify. And I'm going to unify that belt. I'm going to silence the critics.

I'm going to put Jose away. And that's it now. Now we're going to see what people have to say because there isn't, I don't get into bare shape anywhere else except home. When I train our home and with the buddies and the people I have back home and the coaches and everything back home, I enter the octagon like an animal. With that last one and what I was faced with

and the work ethic and the injuries and this and that, and I was, I essentially went into that octagon on one leg. Now I feel I am home and I feel coming through that adversity, I feel I have gained three new legs. I feel like I will enter this fight with four legs. So I'm in a great place mentally

and physically. My body is right. I'm moving in sequence. boatways, I can spin boatways, I can land boatways. I'm going to destroy Jose, and I'm going to lay claim to that pound-for-pound number once, but they will understand soon. They might not, I know there's a lot of bitterness, and there's all these bums that are hating me, and rightfully so, you know, I mean, it is what it is.

They continue to hate, but I will continue to show up and win, so that's it. Can you finally explain to us the extent of your injuries going to that fight? We've heard things like that. You've talked about a little bit here, but we don't know exactly what you were dealing with. Are you comfortable with talking about it now? I mean, I was injured. I re-injured my leg.

It was bad? I couldn't walk. I could not walk. I couldn't even... There was a period in the camp where I couldn't even stand up straight. Wow. You know what I mean? Two weeks before the fight was when I was start throwing kicks again.

So everyone that was around me in that camp that I brought in, the reason it all shaped up like that was because I went travelling the World Tour and I got injured on the World Tour training with unfamiliar bodies in a competitive atmosphere this game breaks you down enough you must find comfort with your training partners

and it's about making it to the contest keeping your body fresh and your mind sharp it's the same thing that I tried to instill into those ultimate fire contestants because every single one of them were banged up also they came from a fight to get into the house so everyone had a banged up knee a banged up elbow a bust up face

the game breaks individuals so there's no point in being in the gym and breaking you, breaking yourself down so that's what I learned through that whole experience and when I injured myself on that world tour I had to bring people that I was comfortable with and lock my frame away that's honestly what I felt like I did

I had to lock my frame away and it was almost like I was in a prison cell at times but I always said to myself every damn day I woke up I said the true grates they conquer adversity The true grades can slice true adversity, no problem. And that's what I've done there. I face my adversity, and I can't.

Jose had his adversity, and he ran from it. He might be able to come back, and he might be able to peek his head back in the door, but he'll never be able to leave that. The fact that he ran when I didn't, and they knew about my injury, and the same way I knew about his injury. And I told him, I said I would not target the body. I would have fought fair play. I would have attacked the chin.

It was the chin I was going to hunt, and he still pulled out of it when. when they knew about my situation and I didn't pull, but they were looking to target that area. But it is what it is. I've seen him at the ultimate fire. I've seen him at the press conference. I'm not trying to get in the guy's head.

I'm not trying to mess with his head. Honestly, I'm not messing when I say I'm trying to cuddle him and trying to baby him to this fight because you put it on a man too much. They don't show up. And it's the same thing I've seen in the boxing game with Fury and Klitsko. So Klitsko pulled out with a saw carve, you know, when all this is going on, they don't realize until they're in the fire.

And then they look for their exit. So I'm taking my foot off the pedal. I wish Jose well. I wish him a safe camp. I hope he trained smart because they don't train smart over there. They get banged up and banged up and banged up. And their body breaks. And that's what you're seeing.

That's what you're seeing with Henan. That's why Henan had that second fight against TJ and could not make adjustments because his training and his preparation does not allow him to make adjustments, does not allow his movements to grow and to, he cannot change his reactions because it's repetition, repetition, it's routine. And routine and repetition is the answer. If the question is how can I lock up the human frame, how can I restrict freedom of movement,

how can I close my mind off to other forms of movement? So I just wish Jose well. I hope to see him on the night. Do I think he will show? I still don't. and I still don't I'm rarely wrong but

like always I will be there the numbers I bring they will be there so who are you expecting who are you expecting on December 14th I don't know

I'm not fully I'm not fully gonna say he's not going to show up because I'm still hoping he does you know like I said take the foot off the pedal try and school him how to how to do it

school him to the game how to prepare for World Championship fights. There's a lot at stake. You can't be bringing in people that are coming to hurt you. He hurt his rib when he brought in an opponent to mimic my style through a lazy, wide spinning back kick and I caught him on the left rib. I saw the footage and everything.

I know everything about that whole camp. I know everything about everyone and everything. So I just hope you trained smart this time has learned his lesson because you do learn from injury. You come back with a better understanding of preparation. And at least I did. I hope he does and he shows up and we can put this to rest and allow me to unify that belt and give me that pound for pound number one spot, which is mine.

And I know it's mine. And deep down, he knows it too. So that's it. That's all I'm saying on that. When you squared off with him at the press, it's amazing because you guys have squared off now like 10, 15 times, but you never fought. I mean, you squared off against this guy an unbelievable amount of times, but you still have yet to fight him. What did you see this time as it was different than the other times in the world? where when you looked in his eyes?

I saw, I saw a man who was late for a fly. He was late for an airplane, fly. You know what I mean? He had a flight to catch. So I didn't see nothing. You know what I mean? I just, I don't, I see glass. Like I said before, I look into his eyes and I see glass.

You can hide it with everything else, but the eyes, they don't lie, Ariel. I know I've said it a million times, but they truly, truly don't. And you look dead into someone's soul, you can look into someone's soul and you look into their eyes. And I just saw a man that's, looking to get the fuck out here as quick as possible. So I looked around the platform up there, everyone else that was up there. And I told them, stay ready for this.

Like I said on episode one of our show, stay ready so you don't have to get ready. That's something I said. That's everywhere now. You see that everywhere. But it rings true. Stay ready for opportunities, because opportunities present themselves,

and you must grab them with both hands. So I hope everyone up there and everyone that's linked to my name and everyone that's praying for my name to be linked to theirs, stays in shape because who knows what will happen. Was that a conscious decision on your part prior to that press conference? I've never seen anything like that, where a guy just pretty much goes up there and turns himself into a lone wolf and like a Nuzi is just spraying everyone in sight.

If a brawl would have broken out there, I think you would have been by yourself. I think you alienated every fighter up there. Did you do that on purpose? Was there a reason for that? I'm by myself. I would have whooped everyone's ass up there as well. Make no mistake about that. You know, I don't know, I'm just recognizing what I'm bringing to the game.

It's me who has all these fights. I essentially set the game on fire there at that press conference. I flew home to sweet, sweet Dublin, Ireland with my gold belt and my multi-millions of dollars. And I'm waiting my next multi-nine figure contract, which is en route. So that's what I do. And I just let everyone up there know. I let the bosses that weren't up there know what I bring, my worth. even fights that have linked to my name are main event status

there's no water fire in the game that has that when when when fighters lose to a fighter to defyter not a draw but when they lose to me their draws they have they can go to different regions and headline and make seven figure revenues on the gate and that's what I'm doing their offspring numbers that nobody else would know or really pay attention to it but I pay attention to it my name brings numbers if you have

an association with my name, whatever the result, you will have, you will be main event slots after that because that's, that's what my name brings. It puts you into a spotlight. It gives you, it gives you that status. So I'm well aware of that. These are also cards that I should have my hand in the pie as well, you know what I mean? I should be getting compensated for these cards as well, I feel. So I just went out there and let, let that, let that be known, let the facts be known. I'm funny fight here. And I, and I wasn't. And I wasn't. I was, you know, just because we were up on that stage. I said it backstage as well.

I said the numbers rule. All the belts and all the other shit mean nothing. Everyone was handed a belt. Jose was handed his belt. The belts mean nothing. Numbers rule in this game. And I'm the ruler of the number. So I let that be known.

And what's the middle-way guy? Luke, you know, he was touching a belt. And it's about being number one. And I was thinking, looking at that schmuck. I was like, listen, you, you fool. You want this, like, romantic. Bachelor reality TV show. I'm trying to talk to me about that shit.

You're a bum. He's a bum like the rest of them are bums. And I just want to let that be known. It's my name that's bringing numbers. It's my name that's bringing this revenue. So be grateful. Recognise it. Recognising somebody that's doing something great

will allow you to go and do something great. Hating on it and being bitter on it, you're going to fall. Look what happened to... What's that other schmook's name? Luke Barnett. Remember him? Yes.

Do you remember him? Where's he at now? Where's he at now? Do you know what I'm saying? And that's no disrespect to him because people can be wrong at times and people can not understand how they... I would not rub it in on people,

but you just have to recognize, don't be bitter. Because you won't get better then. You know what I mean? You'll be stuck. You'll be left behind. But people will be people. And they'll allow it to eat away at them.

They focus on other people instead of focusing on themselves and they'll never reach that high, high height. I can only continue to repeat myself and try and educate them, but if they don't listen, then fuck them. You know what I mean? I'm still here. I'm still here at the top.

I'm still here with the highest paid. Let's compare contracts. Because now the contract I'm talking, Aril, is nine figures. Nine figures I'm talking. Nobody in the game has talked nine figures. That's 100 million plus. That's my contracts. So that's where I'm a.

And I've done it the way I've done it. So, either learn from it or don't. That's on you. Are you confident you will get that contract? When you're bringing in 50 to 60 million revenue on a fight where the main event guy has pulled out two weeks before, you think anyone else can do that? This next one, we're estimating a gate of $10 million, $10 million just for the gate alone. This is going to bring in $90 to $100 million this card here.

So you're damn right, I get it. I came at them with facts. I came at them with numbers. I didn't go around the bell. I looked them dead in the eye with straight facts. And that's all you can. When somebody comes at you with clear facts, clear numbers, there's only one thing you can do in that situation.

Respect it. You've got to respect good business. If you don't respect good business, then that's on you. So I'm very confident that we will come to a deal and it will be in the non-figure mark. Rightfully so. I said after that press conference,

I was very surprised. Everyone kind of handled themselves pretty well. but I was surprised that of all people Joseph Duffy didn't say anything because he's the guy who could say, look, I fought you before and it was a long time ago, but I beat you. So, you know, I got a fight in Dublin.

Why don't you sit down? He didn't say a thing. Did that surprise you? Not particularly. I felt, you know, it's easy for people looking in, even fighters looking in that they don't understand when it's all added on. I'm sure he's feeling that now,

all that main events, all the obligations that come with it. It's not just showing up at the gym. It's not just that no more. There's a lot more to it. So I saw a man who choked up there, but it is what it is. That fight, how can he say that? How can he say anything about that fight when one year after that fight,

he got beat and he quit the sport. So I laid out the facts about his career already. He faced it. One year after me and him fought, he was beating for the cage where his lightweight title, and he quit the sport, retired, moved country, changed teams, and took up another sport. They're facts. Then he sees my success and sees the Irish success. Even though he's off somewhere else, he ain't in Ireland.

He's never been in Ireland. He never trained in Ireland once in his life. And then he sees all of this. Then he shaves a shamrock in his head. Then he calls himself Irish Joe and tries to come back and capitalize off of that and milk that. Now I can't hate that because get that, make that. that revenue, make what you can for your family. I don't hate that man for that.

But facts are facts and that's the story of his career. So we'll see how his career plays out. I wish him well. I feel it's going to be an interesting contest. I think Dustin's in a good place. Dustin's in a good place mentally I feel. He's came true with that. He's experienced that. I feel Joe's

new to it. But we'll see. I'm interested to see how it plays out. There's many fights brewing and I have my eye on every one of them. What's it going to be like for you on the 24th of October in the market that you built? When you were on this show for the first time, you said I will drag them back to Dublin. Dublin was not on their radar. You brought them back there and it was one of the most memorable nights in UFC history.

On the 24th of October, you will not be on that card. He will be main eventing that slot. And he has been given this title of The Last Man to Be Connor McGregor. Does that piss you off that he's in that main event slot in the market that you built? Not one bit, you know. I would have liked I felt it should have been Paddy's show

I felt Paddy it should have been Patty's main event or maybe Gunny but Gunny is going to be on my card in Vegas so I felt that was the night for Patty

but I feel Patty Ashling and Carl it's going to be they're the true main events Joe is not from Dublin he's not he was born in Ireland but he's currently in

Canada he's from London Wales I don't know where the fuck he's from but he ain't from here he ain't never step foot in that arena he ain't never trained around this area

so but I don't mind you know it's it's it's it's good business you sell it as the last man to beat me and you put them against the guy that I've beat and it instantly has my name attached to us so I cannot like I said there's only one thing you can deal on your face

with good business you respect it and that's what I do and I respect good business build up those build up those opportunities maybe a rematch down the line with Dustin maybe a rematch down the line with Joe there's there's I don't hold grudges on that You know, I did ask to be on the show. I don't care if it's my entire.

You know, the reason I wasn't on the show is because the venue is too small now. You know what I mean? The venue's not too small for me. The venue's perfect for me. So I would have happily took that main event. I felt I've earned the right to be able to say when and when I want to fight and when I do not want to fight. And that was one time, like most times, I want to fight. You know what I mean?

I would have liked to be on that card. But it is what it is. I'll take my seat. I'll enjoy the atmosphere for Paddy's fight, the crazy Dublin atmosphere supporting their own, for Cahill's fight, for Asling's fight, supporting their own. And then I'll sit and watch the main event that I have built for them. So I look forward to it.

Have you been assured by the UFC brass that if you beat Jose Aldo in December that your first hell defense will be at Croke Park? Is that 100% fact at this point? I haven't really spoke about what's next because we're still in the what's now. Okay. phase right now. So we'll see.

Crow Park will definitely happen. I have no doubt about it. We're in no hurry with it. I will continue winning. I will see what state the Federalweight Division is in after that weekend. I feel it will be up in flames at that stage. I feel it will be dead in the water. Like I said, it would be.

Like I said, I would do. And then I feel I will head up to that 155-pound division and dice that up as well. So if Frankie comes through and win, Maybe then I'll consider staying around, or I don't know. Let's see what happens right now. Like I said, the board that's on my mind is unified. Is that the last guy left, though?

Like, if Chad wins the night before, is it pretty much cemented that you move up to 155 at that point? Not that I can't ever come back down. Right. Not that I ever can't come back down. If something's brilliant, I'll come back down. But as far as your next fight? After the out of fight?

Yeah. I'd like I'd like I'd like the Crow Park fight to be my world title lightweight fight that's what I'd like

I'd like to get crowned that second belt in Crow Park but we'll see see what happens we have a couple of minutes left

you good yeah walk away I'm good I just finished my evening massage I had a good training session today I went down the gym

done some jiu jih T'a done some clobo wear done some flow sparring come home I have my deep tissue guy here, rub me out. It's good to get the king. I have employees now. Oh, it's damn good. I have employees now on there, and my employees are making more money

than they have them booms on the UFC roster. So it's a damn good life for me, and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I'm wondering... Don't walk away, brother, you're 300th episode. Fucking hell, fair played you. 300 long. That's long. That's double the amount. Oh, no, well, it's almost double the amount of the UFC shows. Yeah. That's big. Fair played you.

Well, you know, there have been more than 200 UFC events because you have the fight nights and all that. But whatever, I'll take the compliment. Hey, I'm wondering about your experience on the ultimate fighter because Ronda Rousey famously said it messed with her. She didn't like it. I would say this. I want to get your take on it, but I will say this just off the top. I love the fact that you're not wearing the jersey, that you don't look like everyone else. You still show up in the suit and all that.

Finally, finally someone has done this because, you know, when I saw Brock Lester wearing that jersey on that show on the, I think 13th or 14th. season. It ruined it for me. The aura was gone. And I said, I don't want to see Connor McGregor wearing a green jersey. Thankfully, you have not done that. So what's it? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. The fights are on. But are, did you enjoy, I know, we're all, we're all locked up in a shack. Well, in fairness, I wasn't in a shack. I was in a seven-bedroom, 12,000 square-foot mansion. But still, the amount of time I spent in it, it felt like a damn shack out there a while. But there's fights on. What else have we got to do? Stick on a nice, short, nice, nice pair of pants.

I don't know. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed waking up, getting dressed, going to watch the fights. I didn't want to go backstage. I didn't want to be in people's faces. You know what I mean?

The coach and staff that I brought over, my padman, Rowdy on Roddy, my wrestling coach, Sergei, Tom as well, Eric, my Jiu-Jitsu coach, I brought Gunny over. I wanted to give them a platform.

You know what I mean? But they haven't really played into that too much. They've just kind of played on the story of me not being there, and then I am there and all this type of thing. but the coach and staff I brought over done a phenomenal job and done the job that they were supposed to do. I came in.

I didn't baby nobody. I don't need to hold nobody's hand. I get in and show them what situations I feel will happen in each fight and let the chips fall where they may. Uriah played it like team and you've got to do this. You've got to be on time, push, push, push. They're all banged up. They're all grown men and they're all banged up bad.

They're all locked away in a house. You just got to create an environment where they can come into the gym. gym, free their body, sharpen their mind, and send them in. And keep watching. I know there's a lot of controversy about my coaching style versus his coaching style, but stay tuned. Let's see how it plays out. So, you know, on the show, it seemed clear to me and correct me from wrong, you really didn't want to do this. Like three days after your fight, all the drama, it really felt like they had to drag you in there. And at first, you had to almost convince yourself that this was something that you were going to be a part of. Were you kind of unhappy there for the first couple days that you had agreed to this?

Two days before I started I said I'm out here I'll see his later I'm not doing this I'm only finished Like fair enough if I had to be a Aldo and then I had been Mendez Or I had it been a fight at the end of

Or something I don't know But just it seemed pointless to me And I didn't know about it until Until after they fight even Who the coach was I just kind of put it into the back of my mind And then when I'm in the octagon After Chad is Kiod

Your eye comes out to me and says I'll see it in a few days And I was like what the fuck How am I going to see him in a few days And I mean then all of a sudden it was him So I message him two days before the show started I said There's no point in me doing this

Nobody cares about this unless there's a fight Let's schedule a fight There is the date October 24th The show wraps then I'll whoop your eye in Dublin My hometown The show that I built Give me that

And then I'll go and smoke Jose in December But they played the safe bet And they didn't give it to me So but I understand that So whatever I was just At that stage I was strength, you know what I mean? So I just wanted to go home.

I want to go home with my family. Enough was enough now. Let me just chill for a fucking mini. But then when I got there, I swear to God when I got there, and I was watching the day we were watching them fight to get into the house and Dana Torrance and was like, this is, think of what, he said to me, he said, think of what we're known here. We're sitting here and watching these fights live and just

what, and I just stopped and taught to myself, this is fucking, this is brilliant. He's right. We're chilling here. watching these young kids trying to chase their dream. And you're watching the story from the start. Like before they walked out, I'm reading little... Because on the cars, they have like little bios of them. Like, they tell a little bit of their story.

So you're reading their story in their background. Then you're watching them walk out and fight. It was actually a phenomenal, phenomenal experience. And it just took me that time. It just took me back. I said to myself, why am I doing this for? Am I doing...

You know what I mean? Do I want to do it or not? You know what I mean? If I was to go into that show with that kind of... negative attitude and that that vibe that I didn't want to be there, it wouldn't play right. It would only make more. It would only bring on more of those feelings.

So I sat back and I was grateful for the opportunity that I had here to where. I could come in and watch this and be a part of this. I'd watch the show, like many of us would watch the show years and years ago. So I was thinking to my head, why am I, why do I want to go? You know what I mean? This is just six weeks. Let's go and have fun here and have a new experience. this is an experience that I can look back on

for the rest of my life and this is a once in a lifetime experience that very, very few people get to experience. So that was the approach I took after that very first day and I grew with it, you know what I mean? So I felt that was the right approach to have a positive outlook on it and to realize that this is what I'm in the game for

for these once-in-a-lifetime experiences. This game, I absolutely love this game more than I love anything, you know what I mean? So I had a lot of fun then with it And it was great to be a part of it. It was great. You know, it was great to give the opportunity to my coaches as well. I mean, there was a paid opportunity for them, get their faces out there.

And then I had Artham in there and then other people. And it was just a great experience overall. Keep watching the show. Because it turns even better. Who is the true number one face of the Ultimate Fighting Championship? Is it Connemar-Rober or Ronda Rousey right now? Um, we are, can I say something? By the way, before you answer, I feel like you choose your words wisely when you talk about Ronda.

Am I on to something here? I have a lot of respect for Ronde. I have a lot of respect for Ronde. Rightfully so. She's a, she's as dominant as they come. And I'm a big fan of Ronda. I always have been. I always big up her fights.

I always celebrate. So I don't choose my words wisely, but I don't, I'm not going to disrespect anyone. You know what I mean? not in the way. You know what I'm saying? You're not in the way and you're good. Ronda is the queen and I am the king.

Any lessons to be learned from the John Jones situation for you? I don't know. I haven't really well. He's back now. I'm happy to see him back. John's a great guy. I've met John many times.

I message him a few weeks back, wishing him well in this time and I hope to see him back and I can't wait to see him back. Just to give him that bit of support. The same way I feel with that Nick Diaz situation, which is absolutely ridiculous. I can't wrap my head around that whole situation.

I mean, five years is absolutely ridiculous. I wish him well as well. I've always been a big fan of Nick and his style of fighting. It would be a sad day if Nick doesn't lace up the gloves again and make that octagon walk. So I learn from everything. I learn from every situation, but I just keep myself grounded.

I pick up my focus again. Sometimes I lose it. But I pick it back up. And when I pick it back up and I'm on, and I have that hunger, there's no one that can do this game better than me. There's nobody that can do what I do. The biggest show in UFC history is on the horizon, UFC 200. It's coming up July of 2016. Do you feel like you must be a part of that card?

And if you had your way, who would be against? What's the perfect scenario? When is it, July? July 9th, 2016. Is there a venue? Oh, it's in that new MGM? The new MGM, yep. First UFC event there.

I feel Jose December Maybe Crow Park April May And then July UFC 200 Maybe a defense of the Lightweight belt Or maybe a fight for the lightweight belt Maybe fight for the lightweight belt there I don't know

There are many great fights there There are many fights brewing There are many big numbers to be had in the future And I'm just going to continue making them and continue rocking them open. Enjoying the riots. A couple last quick things. I'm wondering, your coach, John Kavanaugh told me,

this time around, you're staying in Dublin for this camp. You enjoy tremendous success leading up to 189 in Vegas. You're going to Vegas around four weeks before the fight. Why are you changing things this time? You know, I've spent time in Las Vegas in its most, in its most heaviest climate at its hottest, like literally mid-July. it's unbearable.

If there was no air conditioning, you know, you have a relationship with the air condition when you're in Las Vegas. You know what number you wanted on at what particular time of the day. If there was no air conditioning, we'd all be dead. So I spent a crazy time

in its craziest time. So now it's rolling into December. I feel Vegas is a second home for me. I'm comfortable in it. I feel three weeks, two weeks is plenty for me because I have acclimatized to that in the past. It will be nothing to me. and then at home when I roll to the gym

there's a million bodies down there every day now that I don't have to look my frame now that I'm free to train with anyone and move anyway again I'm enjoying my training here I show up to the gym I do whatever I feel and there's many bodies to work with

and to learn with and to grow with so I always get in absolutely phenomenal shape back home so I feel I feel I will turn myself into an animal and then three weeks before the fight, I will make my way to Las Vegas and begin bringing my weight down and preparing for that fight. And then I will go in and be in tip-top shape and run through Jose. It was beautiful to

see just how emotional you were after winning the interim title in July. I had a chance to talk to your father. He was on this show. That was tremendous. It was just great to see all your friends and training partners having the chance to talk to you in the locker room was a moment. I'll never forget. it was just great to see you enjoy that moment. Was there a singular moment that stood out, though, a conversation you had with a family member or coach, something that happened that night or in the days afterwards where you're that you'll always remember

when you're 80 years old and just sitting around, that you'll always remember, wow, it all came together for me that night. I don't know when I hooked my mother, and when I saw my mother in the octagon, I hugged who were there. You know, that was a special moment for me. You know, there's something that people from where I'm from anyway, I don't know where other people are from,

but where I'm from, when people make it and have success, there's one thing on their mind, and that's family, and that was what I had in my mind. When I came home from Las Vegas, I spoiled my family. I took every bill off of my family.

I paid for my mother's mortgage. I gave everyone brand new cars. I gave them, you know, on the climb, I always visualized, given to people that are around me what it would feel like to roll up one day and say hey you don't got to that mortgage on the house is gone now i'm not to take that's that's that's no problem now don't worry about that they are things i used to dream of and and see what were their reactions so when i came home i had i invited them up up to my home and we were set down we had dinner and i mean and we talked about all these type of things and i took every bill off of their hands every single bill my whole family is retired young now so um I started things that that motivate me to push on and that's that's why I do it. That's why I went through that struggle.

I'm why I pushed and pushed and pushed and faced that adversity and faced that adversity like true champions deal so I could come home and do that for my mother and my family and I look after the people that have been around from day one. Same with John. John's been around and helped me so much and I'll never ever stop being grateful for John's help. So I came home as well and helped John and I know what I mean? I don't know, just, I just want to give to the people that have given me so much. So that's, that's, that's, that's something I can, I can, uh, be grateful for and keep pushing.

And that's why I keep pushing. That's why I keep pushing. But a moment would be when my mother came into the Yacht deal and I hugged on. And that was a special moment for me. Connor, final question. We'll end on this as we look towards December. And, and, and it's amazing to me. And again, by the way, thank you so much.

I know how busy you are. This really means the world to me that you'd come on. It's amazing. Even today, Anthony Pettis said headlines. He still hasn't beaten anyone. And even at the press conference, they were saying that. And Chad Mendes and Porre were sitting right over there. Still hasn't beaten anyone. When will this talk end? Will it ever end? Will it end after Aldo, in your opinion? Do you just sit back and laugh? Max Holloway is doing what he's doing. Mendez has done what he's done. Porre has done what he's done. Look at Brando in his last fight. Marcus Brimidge is still around. Why are they so reluctant to give you the credit that you deserve? I don't care. You know what I mean? Like I said before, I am not in this game to get for credit. It's cash I am here for. At this level, I am after the numbers.

So they'll never give me the credit I deserve, but I do not seek credit from them, from people I do not know. I seek cash from them. And that's it. Pettis can say, I have never fought anybody. But he's never fought anyone. Who's he fought?

You know what I mean? Who has he fought? really. He's fought nobody as well. And his numbers are really, really low. He lost his last fight, so that's a crazy statement from Anthony. And I don't mind Anthony. He's okay. I like his style of fighting. I think it would be a good

fight down the line. But he needs to check his mind frame and he needs to look at the numbers and see he really is at the top of the game and make his climb back because, as far as I'm concerned, he's back on the fight pass events right now, I believe, or you know what

I mean? He's fighting. He's he's lower now, so. But there will always be something, Ariel. When Jose falls and won, they'll come up with something else. So I don't know. I'll still be here and I'll still be winning. I say this to all the people who come up to me.

A lot of your friends come up to me. Has Connor change? Is he different from when he was on your show the first time? It's amazing. It's the same exact guy, and that's the best compliment that I could give to someone. Again, thank you so much, Connor. You're all class, my friend.

you're a top man, I really appreciate you coming on. Best of luck to you in training. Best of luck in the fight. I can't wait for it. One of the most anticipated fights of all time. But again, it means the world that you would come on the show today. I truly, truly appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Ariel. I'm grateful you'd have me on. We've had some fun on all these episodes. I think this is my fourth or fifth, maybe four. Oh, fifth, at least. You remember we had Steve Collins on? Remember that moment? Oh, yeah, that was unbelievable.

I tell you what, you know what I want to do one day when it's all wrapped up, like make a little, like, continuous ones, you know, have them all back to back. And that would be something that we could look back on. But I appreciate you having me on the show. Congratulations on your success. And I'll talk to you soon, I'm sure. All right.

Thank you so much, Connor. There he is. The one and only, the notorious one. Connor McGregor, unbelievable, as always. A pleasure, as always. Riveting, as always. What more can you say about the man? It was February of 2013.

Was it 2013? or 2012? 2013? One of those. Time flies. Right before that Sweden show, he came on this program. And he called a lot of the things that have since come true, amazingly,

while saying he didn't have a pot to piss in, while saying, you know, there wasn't much going on for him at the time, didn't have, I think he didn't have a car, he was eating blueberries, it's an unbelievable appearance. And it really is true. It's the same guy. It really is. Don't be fooled by the suit, the watch, the shoes.

Don't be fool by any of that. The haircut, it's really the same guy. All right. Thank you so much to him and his team for making that happen. The guys over at Paradigm, Ryan and Adi. I sincerely appreciate it. It means the world. Okay.

We still got more show to go. We got Mike Dolce and Sensei Segal coming up. But, you know, before we continue, before we get to our next guest, it's good to reflect. It's good to reflect on June 8th. 2018, 2009. I think this would be a great time to do that. Our very first episode in the old AOL studios, right? That was something. It was a weird time in MMA, as you'll see. I wanted to just show you a little little piece of that first ever episode. Who would have thought it turned into this? And this is not really, you know, I feel weird about the 300 number because again,

I try to make every show the best of all time. But it's a nice round number. We can celebrate. We've been doing it six and a half years. I thought it would be fun to look back at episode number one. So inside the vault this week, it's a no-brainer. And we haven't done this in a while. Let's go back to June 18, 2009, AOL Studios. I believe we've gone through eight different studios since then. The very first episode of the MMA Hour, and back then it was called Fight House Radio. We changed the three episodes in because we found out there was a gym called Fight House, and we didn't want to do that. So we became the MMA Hour. But on that first episode, we were Fight House Radio. It was right after, I think, UFC 99. And that's where all started. Here it is. Inside

the ball. Well, this is certainly exciting. Welcome to the premiere edition of Fight House Radio from the beautiful AOL studios in downtown Manhattan. This is a dream come true, I must say, guys. Very exciting stuff. My name, of course, Ariel Hawani will be with you every single week, and hopefully if this show turns out to be a great success like I expected to, every single day. That's my plan, at least. And we'll be breaking down the wonderful and exciting world of mixed martial arts. We've got a loaded first show for you guys. This is a great way to kick things off. So let me introduce everyone in studio first,

and then we've got some special guests on the phone. Later on in the show, let me first just say, the most important person that will be joining us is the former WEC featherway champion, Uri of Faber. Going to be joining us on the line. Very excited for that. And you can listen to the show on your iPod,

your MP3 player, or any other means that you may have to listen to music or podcasts. But even more exciting is, you can actually see me on this camera right here or over there. So now you can find out that I actually don't know anything about MMA, and I just read all the stuff off my computer. So I'm about to expose myself. But let me introduce the very special people in the studio with me.

First off, I got my man Josh, our producer. Josh, thank you very much for spending the time with us today. Thank you for having me. It's great to have you here, Josh. I know you're a big closet MMA fan, so I'm very excited to have you here with me. And to my left, you're right. Mr. Mike Rubens of AOL Studio.

How are you doing, Mike? I'm doing very well. Hello, Fight fans. Yes. They are very excited to hear from you, Mike. I think a lot of people have been waiting to hear your views on the world of MMA in the AOL world. So it's great to have you here, join us. I'm very happy to be here.

Thanks for having me. All right. And, of course, on the line, I guess you could call them my partners in crime or if we want to keep this in line with the whole MMA theme, my training partners, my teammates at Fan House. The great Michael David Smith's MDS, live. from Chicago, MDS. How are you? I'm doing great, Ariel. Good to hear from you. Our podcast has reached a whole other level here, eh? It's pretty exciting. Absolutely.

And over in the state that Vince McMahon built, as I like to call it, we've got Mike Chiapetta coming at us from Connecticut. And Mike C, I'm going to call you in this show because we've got so many mics on the line. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks for, I'm glad to participate for once. Yes, it's great to have you here. You finally paid your dues at Fan House, and we've allowed you to come on the show. I'm just joking. You've been doing a great.

job and thanks to everyone at Fanhouse for giving us this opportunity. And this is a great chance for us to kick this off because such a, such an exciting time of the world of mixed martial arts. This summer is shaping up to be the most exciting summer in the history of this sport. And things kind of got kicked off in Cologne, Germany this weekend. UFC 99, very exciting stuff, Van der Lea Silva, Rich Franklin, an epic three-round battle, maybe not epic. Some people like to call it epic. I just thought it was a good main event. But I'd like to start in a dingy little gym in Alabama, where the former UFC heavyweight champion, Tim Sylvia, fought Ray Mercer in what was supposed to be a boxing match that was held

in a MMA cage. Then at the last minute was turned into a MMA match in an MMA cage, whatever it was. Tim Sylvia got knocked out in nine seconds by the big old Ray Mercer, former boxing great, I guess you could call him, or at least a respectable boxer. And I was quite shocked by this. I didn't think that Mercer would be able to, you know, hit Sylvia's buttons and knock him out in just nine seconds. Personally, if you ask me, this is the biggest news of the weekend in the world of mixed martial arts. I know Mike Rubens, to my left here, is a closet Tim Sylvia fan

and is very upset about the proceedings. Tell you this about Mr. Mercer, big right hand. Big right hand. I don't know if any of you guys saw the pre-exilvia. fight commercial for this, the ad for it, the most depressing thing you've ever seen in your life. Two guys, you know, the sort of training footage, both looking like they'd been forced at gunpoint to do it. Oh, it's just sad. All right. Well, a heart out there, but that was a look back at episode number one. We need to get better transitions as we evolve of our show. We need to get

some better transitions. So it's not as abrupt. But I hope you enjoyed that look back. I actually tweeted the full show yesterday. So if you're interested in reliving that, what's going on here? You can check it out. All right. In a minute, we're going to be joined by Mike Dolce. Like I said, he was in the news last week, BJ Penn calling him out, saying that he wanted to fight Nicolence, but then finding out that Nicolence isn't teamed with him anymore. And then the whole Johnny Hendricks situation, I think, is worth discussing with him. And then after that, we're going to be joined by Steven Segal, which is going to be a great way to end the show. and then we'll try to squeeze in some questions and comments at the very end.

A Stack Show, everyone's been tremendous. So much fun today. I guess the one weird thing going on today, brewing, as I quickly look at my Twitter and against my better judgment, I guess I'm going to address this, even though this is supposed to be a fun, happy celebration, if you will. Apparently, Dwayne Ludwig was on the Fighter and the Kid podcast, which I enjoy today and said that I blew him off for an interview. As you know, if you've watched the show,

I have had Dwayne on the show several times, and a couple of weeks ago, I think it was two weeks ago now. Your Eye Favor was on and went through that entire long history between him and Dwayne and the relationship and the end of the relationship. And apparently I have not heard it, but I had people coming to me on Twitter and saying, why is Dwayne saying this?

And also saying that Brendan and Brian were throwing some shades, on me, whatever that means. I have not and will never turn my back on Dwayne Ludwig or not give him the time of day. In fact, I have a text message conversation here, which I can quickly get to. I don't want to read everything because it is private, but he did ask me in the middle of the interview at 4.01 p.m. Eastern on Monday, September 21st, when can I get on? I responded to him very soon. My show is weekly. But I am. I hope you know, no hard feelings here. Also, I am very happy to have someone on my site call you right now if you want to respond right away. So I offered that. Of course, this show is a weekly show.

So I couldn't have them on Tuesday or Wednesday, Thursday. He said, okay, please thank you. And then he said, can you book me for next Monday? And then I responded, how did it go with Mark? Because he did the interview. He said, went well. I'd love to get on the show and just speak my mind if that's okay. Ariel, when can I get on the show? I'm in a weird spot. We'd love to explain. a few things. I said, I'll get back to you ASAP. Just need to figure out when's best, because the next two weeks are different for us. It was the 300th show. It was almost pretty much laid out. It just happened that $2.99 was laid out because I, I don't know, I had this sort of framework in my mind. And if I'm being honest, I really, you can see my records. Dwayne was

booked for the next week's show. That was my, I have these sort of sheets that I go by, as well as some other people. That's why sometimes people say, why don't you have this guy on? well, things are already in my mind set in stone, and there's kind of a flow to it. And I thought that, well, we got the other side. It all started with the apology that Uri didn't like. And then it went back to your eye on this show. And then we had Mark speak to him. And I thought that he had to say what he had to say.

And then it's like, how many times are we going to go back and forth here? You know, sometimes I get hated on for people saying, oh, you go back and forth. He said, all right, well, we got the response. How many times am I going to go back and forth? And truth be told, and I know people love when there's some sort of controversy, when I put out the following week's lineup, I didn't get one person say, where's Dwayne? And it wasn't because I didn't want to get both sides of the story. It's just I thought we got the other side of the story in the article right after, like a second later. But apparently that wasn't good enough. And so I wanted some time to go by. Things have happened since from what I'm told. I just thought, okay, if we wait a couple weeks here, we can maybe get some perspective. maybe they've talked, maybe, you know, that was my plan. No, no bad intentions. I will actually reach out to him right after the show and try to clear it up. You know, hate the fact that it was gone about that way. And I know some of you who are always looking for a reason to, uh, to celebrate

my demise. And I told you long ago after that Chicago show, it's not going to happen so you can stop hoping and wishing. Um, I know some of you get excited about this sort of thing. But as you know, it's funny, I'm usually, I'm usually criticized for going back and forth too much. And now I'm criticized for not going back one more time to the well, you can't win. But I do know that haters are going to hate. I'm not talking about Duane here. So I will clear that up with him. And if he wants, and I'll say it here, and I usually don't talk about the following week, I would love to have, I would love to have them on the show next week, hopefully. So I think that's enough time devoted to that because I think it's a misunderstanding. And I don't favor one side over the other,

especially in a case like this, I had nothing to do with it. And as I said on the, on the program when your eye was on. I didn't know most of the stuff he was telling me, contrary to what he said, he reached out to me to be on the show. I'd not reach out to him. He reached out to me. We gave him the forum. I thought it was a good interview if you want to call it out, even though I asked like five

questions. And then we got the reply, and I thought that was it. How many times we didn't go back and forth? But I'm more than happy, and if I'll take a screen grab of my schedule if you want, and he was there. I just wanted to give it some time to breathe and wanted this show to be a little more of a celebration of sorts. And I don't know, that's just the way I saw. I didn't expect him to go on another show and throw shade, as the kids say. But this is a happy time. And misunderstandings are going to happen. And I only got love for all involved. So let's move along now to our next guest.

Unfortunately, I love talking to our next guest, but I have a feeling that, well, some of the topics aren't very positive. But we'll try to rectify that. I'm talking about fame MMA nutritionist, the guru that is Mike Dolce. He joins us right now via the magic of Skype. And you know what I always appreciate about Mike Dolce? His Skype is always crystal clear. It always looks like he's sitting right in front of me. I appreciate that greatly. On time, as always. Mike, how are you? Ariel, I am great. And congratulations on your 300th show. I made sure we contacted Cox Internet to ensure that we had to be able to be able to be. best possible connection because I know what a big show this is. Thank you very much, my friend.

I appreciate that as well. Okay. So there I am flying to Houston last week and I land and all of a sudden I check my Twitter. I checked the internet, all that stuff. And apparently BJ Penn, the legend, BJ Penn went on UFC tonight and just went off on you, my friend and was so fired up that he said he wanted to return to the cage to fight Nick Lentz, I guess to get back at you in some weird way. Were you expecting this? Did you know that this issue still resonated with him? No, completely shocked and completely entertained. I thought it was awesome and kind of a brilliant move on BJ's part, who he's a genius marketer, as can be shown by the shirt he was wearing and getting such great headlines. And he's exciting. I mean, guy, anytime BJ talks, anytime BJ does anything, it's exciting

and it's newsworthy. So it's kind of an honor for me to be involved. in a BJ headline, though they're not always the nicest. But I have nothing bad to say about BJ. He's certainly a legend in our sport. I think what he's done in this sport will never be seen again. He's certainly a once-in-a-lifetime athlete. So, you know, I have nothing but great things to say about the man. Well, since this came out, have you tried to clear the air with him?

Because it seems like he's pretty fired up. Yeah, you know, we have mutual friends and contacts in between. And I do believe that it's completely, you know, cleared. up on both sides. That's, you know, all the indications I've had. I tried to get to his Hall of Fame induction and certainly to cheer for him. Unfortunately, we had a seminar that was at the Mandalay Bay, a three-day seminar and I couldn't leave that, but I wanted to go there and support because he truly is a Hall of Fame athlete. And I was hoping to see him and just, you know, get five seconds, 10 seconds with him, shake his hand and give him a pat on the back and just tell him, you know,

what I think about him, you know, in such a positive light. Didn't get that chance yet, but I'm hoping that the first time we do that, you know, I'm able to express that. My memory may be a little foggy, but I don't recall us talking about all of this. I want to ask you from your perspective, where does the issue lie? What went wrong between you and BJ? You know, the one thing that I'll say is fight camp and fighting itself, it's so high stress, it's so high pressure. There's so many things happening all at once.

And a lot of times that there's the need for a release of that. And, you know, I believe that, you know, I was the release, which is fine. And I think that's, you know, that's kind of where I'll leave it. You know, again, nothing bad to say about the guy. And, you know, I wish him the best in his career for sure. And if he ever did come back to fight, Ariel, I'm going to be one of the first guys buying that pay-per-view because he's exciting. Do you feel like you're being blamed for how the fight played out as opposed to, like,

how the weight cut and all that happened? You know, I would, nothing that I've seen would say that in the conversations that I had, know, with BJ or his team, don't indicate that. I think that it's a series, you know, of issues, concerns, or just pressure, the high pressure of such a fight, a high emotionally driven fight, tends to lead itself towards such issues. So, you know, I mean, I certainly, you know,

know the work that we did, and definitely we did our best to be a part and support him 100% at that time. And you sense that. In hindsight, do you wish you never worked with him? No, anytime you get the chance to work with a legend, you take it. It's like when an athlete gets the chance to fight for a world title, you take it because that might never happen again. So I've really, I mean, I got the chance to see the side of Hawaii that nobody really gets to see. And BJ showed me that, which was amazing.

I saw places and scenery aerial that I never in my life knew even existed. I got to spend time with the Penn family who was absolutely amazing and so gracious. you know, it was a, God, it was surreal. It was certainly surreal to be there. So no, certainly not. And throughout the camp with him, did you foresee any issues on the back end?

Or was it, you know, in the past, sometimes BJ has been criticized for not going 100% all that. Was it a pretty smooth camp from your perspective or in hindsight were there some warning signs? You know, it was my first time ever being a part of it, ever seeing BJ train.

So I hadn't known. and each athlete is different. You know, I know some athletes that they need to do a full 12-week camp to get in shape. Other athletes wind up burning out in just a short six-week camp. So for me, it was all really brand new, and I was just kind of sitting back watching, trying to have influence when and where I could, and being a part of the process. So, you know, it was just, it was a learning experience for myself, definitely, to be there.

And what's Nick's connection to all of this? Like, why is Nick being targeted in your? your opinion? You know, I don't know per se. There's always competitive rivalry. And Nick's, you know, a highly ranked guy, the top 10 guy. So I think that's there. But I do believe that Nick and Merced Becktick, there were the two guys that I brought out to be a part of the camp. And they did great work. They really put their bodies on the line for BJ. They had great rounds together. I believe there was great camaraderie between everybody involved. It was good energy, good vibes. Nick did leave a little early, and he left with a smile on his face, and, you know, BJ was very gracious with Nick leaving, you know, gave him a nice check when he left. So, yeah, I don't know. I can't speak to that. I certainly don't know, but I thought everybody was really on good terms, especially the training partners. They're good guys.

Why don't you work with Nick anymore? Well, Nick's last fight, I was already scheduled to work with Tiago Alves and Mercedek, both on that card in Brazil. Now, two fighters on one card, is, is, I mean, we're really pushing the ability of us to do a great job. And we have a personalized service. That's what we do over here. So Tiago and Mursad are so close that they would be staying in each other's room half the time anyway, and I've already worked with them together before. That was easy.

The ability to take on another athlete such as Nick at that time who really needs a lot of attention for his weight cut, I wouldn't have been able to do a quality job for Nick, which is why I didn't work with him on that car. And now moving forward, he's moved up a weight. class to 155, which I believe is more appropriate at this point in his career. And at 155, I don't think Nick needs the weight-cutting attention that he once needed. He was a pretty clean lifestyle year-round. So, you know, he and I texted the other day. You know, I had great things to say about Nick, and he has a great thing to say about me, which he says publicly. So there's

no falling out. There's no controversy. It's just a matter of, with Nick for five, five, six fights. And there's a lot that I was able to convey at that time. If it comes to this, do you have any interest in fighting B.J. Penn? Oh, no, that's silly. Come on, I'm an old man. I'm an coach. I was never a full-time fighter. BJ Penn is a legend. You know, I mean, that's really the matter. Now, you get a guy like Connor McGregor versus BJ Penn. I mean, that's the fight that probably people want to see. You want to see BJ fight legends for sure. You know, you don't want to see him fight coaches. Well, let me ask you this. Do you want, I mean, you say you're a big fan, I believe you, you know, you're a big fan. You know, asked me, I don't know if I want to see BJ fight anymore.

Like, I'm happy with what he did and there reaches a point where it's like, you know, you have to say enough is enough. Do you want to see knowing him like you do? Do you want to see him fight again, even against anyone? You know, I've been around this sport long enough to never make that decision for the athlete. The only the athlete knows for sure and we have to leave it to the athlete. Now, we've never, you know, BJ has said it. He's never been knocked down.

He's never really taken punishment in a fight. There's something to be said for that. Does he need to come back? absolutely not. His legacy is intact. People will be talking about BJ Penn 50 years from now, possibly the way that we talk about Bruce Lee right now for being an innovator in the world of mixed martial arts. So he doesn't need to come back. Can he come back and still whip ass? Absolutely. I believe that he can. Should he? That's a question for him and his family, though. All right. In March, prior to UFC 185, I'm talking to Johnny Hendricks. He's about to fight Matt

Brown, and he kind of drops his ball on me that he doesn't work with you anymore. And I didn't that. He goes out, he wins that fight, looks pretty good. In the weeks leading up to UC192, I'm getting pictures from his team, I'm seeing pictures on social media, he appears to be in good shape. Of course, as you know, Thursday night, he's rushed to the hospital, say he has an intestinal blockage, he has a kidney stone, can't weigh in, won't be able to fight, and he was in a lot of pain. I spoke to him briefly via text message. What is going through Mike Dolce's mind when you find out about all of this? You know, Ariel, I even reached out to you at that time. I was gutted for Johnny. I was very sad for him. Number one,

I was concerned about his help, which I've been concerned about for a while, knowing him and seeing the way he really mistreats his body in the offseason. He's not a 19, 20-year-old kid wrestling at Oklahoma. He's a 30-some-odd-year-old man with three babies and one on the way. He cannot do the things that he once did to his body and get away with it. And I think that's finally caught up with him before this fight. So anytime an athlete is cutting weight, it's a very serious situation. I don't think anyone really appreciates that more than we do over here at the Dolce Diet.

This is very, very serious business, not to be taken lightly, and not just anyone can construct a weight cut in a healthy and safe manner. This is a precise science. Most people don't take that into consideration. Now, with Johnny, I believe he felt that he could get it done, and I spoke with his coach, Adrian Ramirez, as a strength coach. Adrian kind of told me the backstory of what happened, and it was certainly a comedy of errors, much of which falls on Johnny's shoulders for coming in the camp much too heavy as he once did.

That was kind of his MO feeling that he could get the weight off. But in your early 30s, you just can't do that. And with his body fat percentage, you're not able to get that weight off in a healthy manner. You really start to dehydrate the organs in the process. And I think that's where his body started to shut down. Now, I wasn't there for sure. I don't know for sure. so I'm getting in with this anecdotally from his team.

Do you feel like it's time for him to finally go up to 185? I wouldn't say that first simply because Johnny's, you know, 5-8, 5-9 on his best day at 185. He's fighting Rockhold and Wyden-Widman. That's much more dangerous getting hit in the head by Chris Wyatman, I think, than Johnny taking six months and truly dedicating himself to living a healthy lifestyle. This is more important than sport.

It's more important than Johnny Hendricks' career. Johnny has a much longer life to live. live after this sport. And he needs to do the things that are in his best interest and the best interest of his health. And that's getting his lifestyle in order. He needs to start cleaning up his diet, his lifestyle, and living a much healthier existence. And then he can think about fighting at 170 again. Johnny Hendricks, similar to Tiago Alves. Now, I'll use Tiago as an example. Tiago Alves, Johnny Hendricks, are the exact same height. They have the exact same skeletal frame, nearly identical, the exact same age with a very similar history in combat sports.

Tiago Alves was on weight at 171 pounds the night before Wayne's for his last three fights. Tiago Alves also lives his healthy lifestyle year-round now since he got those injuries almost two years ago. He was on the shelf for 25 months. That was the bottom of Tiago's career. He realized he can't take this for granted anymore. He has to do everything in his ability to be successful. And that's certainly what he did. And that was being a professional 52 weeks out of the year.

That's something Johnny needs to do and let his, you know, let his doctors get in, sure that he has no serious medical issues first and foremost. Get that body fat off of them. See where his lean muscle mass actually falls to. And then you can determine what's a safe and healthy weight class that he can move to. Him at 185, I think, is very dangerous just due to the brain trauma. Quick side note, since you brought him up, it reminded me, why isn't Alva's going down to 155? I was told that he was going down to 155. His next fight's not at 155. Yeah, Malc. I let the cat out of the bag, I think. you were told prematurely, unfortunately, it was a conversation, an internal conversation.

Tiago and I in 2010, when we first started working together, I looked at his lean mass ratio and his height and his skeletal frame. And what we determined was he's truly the design of a lightweight. He had too much muscle mass. I said, let's take our time. Let's dominate the welterweight division. Let's get your health in order first and foremost. And in your career, eventually, we might be able to drop too lightweight. Well, five years later, we're in the position now, Now, again, Arrow, he's on weight the night before Wayans. He has dinner. He has breakfast the morning of Wayans, and he's drinking water backstage at the venue before he steps on the scale.

This is not a man who's a massive welterweight any longer. He's one of the smallest welter weights in the division when it comes to height, when it comes to reach. He's got a good amount of muscle on his body, but now we're slowly pulling that muscle off in a healthy capacity. When will he make the weight? Well, that's a matter of what his body tells us, and when's the most appropriate time for him to do it in that. healthy manner, and that could be sometime in early to mid-2016, but again, that's Tiago's choice. Now, he could go out there, have a great fight versus Ben Henderson at 170, and there might be other great matchups for him at 170. At this point, Tiago's a main event fighter looking

for main event fights to, you know, build up his bank account and build up his legacy. Okay, back to Johnny. What went wrong between you two? And is it salvageable? Are you open to working with him now to help his career? What's going on? Yeah, no, nothing went wrong. Johnny had said that in the media. He and I did a seminar about eight months ago, long after we, quote, haven't been working together. Johnny makes it very clear that during his training camp, he was for the Matt Brown fight, he was still following the Dulcei die. He was still following our meal plan, but his wife and his neighbors, they were actually doing all the meal prep for them. They were following on their own.

They didn't need me to be there full time. Now, after the Robbie 2 fight, a lot of people don't know, I didn't want to work with Johnny for the Robbie 2 fight. And Johnny and his coaches, they called me and we had a conference saying that they really wanted me to be a part of that. And so I can't be a part of this if Johnny keeps living the way he's doing in the offseason. I was very scared for his health, as was his team. And we actually put into the contract that Johnny had to go to the doctor. He had to get cleared. He had to get complete blood panels done.

He had to get his body fat analyzed every six weeks. So there was a lot of medical oversight built into that Robbie II training camp that we really put forth. and during that time, I wasn't completely satisfied that Johnny was doing everything in the best interest of his health. He came into that camp at 218 pounds. Now, I think to show what we do with the Dulcea, I have one of the best teams and minds in the business. I'm here in our office is right now that we have a team that we structured the meal plan for Johnny to get that weight down as fast and as safely as possible. And Johnny did make the weight of 170 pounds for that Robbie 2 fight. Now, he was much heavier going to that camp than he was in this last.

camp, I think he was 200 to 205 or so. Well, he was 10, 15 pounds heavier in the Robbie 2 fight. We made weight. And I think 10 out of 12, the ringside, Cateside journalist all felt that Johnny won that fight. If nothing else, he pushed Robbie to the very limit in that fight. And the weight cut was brutal, but it was brutal as a result of the offseason, not as a result of what we were doing actually doing the process.

He was just too darn big. So because of that, Johnny did make the comment that he allowed himself to get so big in the off season because he note, and I quote, that I know Dolce can get the weight off me. And I told him, I told him to his face, I said, Johnny, I don't want to be a part of that. I, now, some coaches would take that as a compliment. I took that as a slap in the face. You cannot use us as a safety, as a backup mechanism. I want these guys, you know, very healthy. I want these guys, you know, eight pounds, 10 pounds over a week before competition. I want my men at 7% body fat three weeks before competition.

so we can actually feed them more. We can feed them to the scale. That's how you actually achieve a legacy. Now, doing it the other way, these crash weight cuts, that's ridiculous. You're taking literally years off your life, and Johnny being hospitalized before this fight really shows the dramatic issues that are behind weight cutting. Speaking of those issues, is the UFC at this point, because you know they are the major leagues of MMA. Are they dodging a bullet every time out?

Are you afraid that something serious is going to happen very soon? with guys improperly weight cutting, cutting too much, doing it the wrong way, hurting their bodies. Are we about to reach a point? Because we've, you know, we've got some close calls. Let's be honest. Are we about to reach a real breaking point here in the sport? Are you worried that's going to happen? Hey, I'm very concerned about what's happening in the sport right now.

There's a lot of nutrition consultants or there's skills coaches, striking, wrestling, and jujitsu coach is running weight cuts. Here at the Dolce Diet, we have a team of registered dietitians on staff licensed by the state that oversee every ingredient of our athletes consume. Now, that's something that's very important because here in the United States, I believe over 30 states now require this to be mandatory that nobody can prescribe meal plans because this is so serious. We actually enacted that, and I took upon the expense of bringing in a team

behind me of registered dietitians to ensure the health and safety of our athlete. That's very important. So if an athlete goes out there and they cut weight the wrong way, they shut down, their body ends up to the hospital. Well, there's legal liability at this point. Who told you to do that? What meal plan were you following? That could be a very serious issue. That could be a black eye.

Now, let's say, look at what happened to Noviu Now. Novi Now is one of the best teams in the world. They have Joseo Alto. They have Henan Burrao, some of the top athletes in the world. Well, a young man actually died from Novi Now two years ago or so. As you recall, we spoke about it on your show. he died by cutting weight. What if that young man got his shot and he did that in the UFC?

Heming Brow collapsed in a bathtub and hit his head. What if there's a little more force behind him falling and hitting his head? And he was in a coma or, God forbid, worse, during the process of weight cutting in what I believe to be the wrong way. These are serious issues. And now we take the IV band. Yeah, I want to ask you about that. Who's severely dehydrated. I want to make it clear.

A lot of people say oral is better than IV rehydration and all. all the research shows that. Well, they're wrong because research has never done. Not one single study has ever been done to prove that because no study has ever been done on an athlete who is cutting weight, rehydrates, and then gets kicked in the skull 24 hours later. There's never been one research done on that. We don't know the impact of TBI traumatic brain injuries. We have no idea what will actually happen in this modern error of MMA with the IV band.

I actually had Dr. Michael Kim, who's an anesthesiologist, who was on our show, and he expressed deep concerns. Most of the studies done out there are done on adolescents in third world countries. They're not done on healthy adults. And most of the studies out there point between 1 and 5% dehydration causes dramatic injury. 1% dehydration causes a 5% reduction in cognitive ability. Anywhere between 2% to 3% dehydration causes diminished cardiac output. That's your blood ability to transport oxygen and nutrients to the working muscles.

and a 2.5 to 3% level of dehydration can reduce visiospacial awareness by up to 30%. That's your ability to range, to gauge distance, to react and respond to that head kick. Now, we're talking 3% dehydration of a 200-pound man is 6 pounds. That's not a massive weight cut. Daniel Cormi, he and I did a seminar in July. Daniel said when he fought Anthony Johnson, he lost 6.5 pounds in that 2 or so round fight. When he fought John Jones, he lost nine and a half pounds in a 25-minute fight. Daniel Cormier left that optagon in what every scientific study I've ever read would be

classified extremely dehydrated. Now, wouldn't IV help preserve his health, help preserve the integrity of the fluid sac that protects the brain? Absolutely. Do all athletes need it? Absolutely not. Should it be an option that's on the table to protect the health and safety of the athlete? Absolutely, especially since we don't know right now. So those that are saying it's categorically true, oral is better than IV, they don't know. Now, there's many athletes I've seen, you're probably aware of. They're vomiting backstage. Simply due to stage fright.

They have nerves. I know athletes that they can't drink or eat very much after weighants, once they get adrenaline dump and they see their opponent, all of a sudden, their adrenaline pumps. It's hard for them to urally rehydrate, for them to eat food. And these are guys and girls that aren't cutting a lot of weight at all. they can't quite orally rehydrate up to optimal standards. That athlete should also be banned of having an IV because they have performance anxiety or stage fright, not that they're not super tough.

Everyone who fights is super tough. It's a normal biological reaction to times of stress such as that. Probably one-third of the population has some sort of anxiety, performance anxiety. So these are scary issues, and I think it's a much bigger conversation. I don't believe the conversation has been had in depth, and I don't know that it's truly protecting the health and safety of the athletes, which is why I'm one of the few people. Pat Militich also has been very vocal, just as I have, about we need a greater conversation to really focus on what's best for the health and safety of the athlete.

Last thing. Are you trying? Are you interested? Do you want to have a discussion with WADA? Because as you know, the World Anti-Dopi Agency Code is the reason why it's banned. Usada follows the WADA code. UFC is now partners with USADA. given your knowledge and your facts and your research, maybe you can change this. Maybe you can adapt it to MMA. Is that conversation happening behind the scenes? That conversation has happened.

I've spoken with Jeff Nubitsky a few times. I've spoken with Mark Ratner also on this. And it's a conversation that's still happening. Unfortunately, there's some hard deadlines that were written into the agreement as it seems that they're following through on. I know Dan Lambert from American Top Team, who's also an attorney, has been very vocal and adamant and trying to have.

We're not trying to change the rules. We're trying to have a deeper conversation of do these rules apply to mixed martial artists within the confines of what is healthy and safe for their sport? That's something that needs to be addressed. And also, I understand the issue of PEDs, and that's very important. We want to wipe that out completely. But there should be some sort of safety mechanism to allow for the safety of the athlete. Now, maybe that's Awada or USADA sponsor.

team of doctors that actually perform, you know, tests and see if the athlete isn't a dehydrated or they're available 24 hours during fight week. And they can actually analyze and on the spot, write a TUE for an athlete that might be a little dehydrated. They're not sleeping well. They're, you know, they're experiencing symptoms of dehydration. They can't orally rehydrate properly. Someone like that at the very least should be on hand at the venue.

The athlete shouldn't get shipped to the hospital and then kicked off the car because the commission probably in good conscience won't let the athlete to fight, simply because they can't get some water down. So again, this is, I mean, what I'm saying right now, don't take this as the complete conversation. Sure, sure. This isn't even striking the surface. I hear that, and I appreciate the insight, as always.

It's always fascinating talking to you. I know we could do a whole interview just on that whole IV ban itself, but we have run out of time, got to get to our next guest. Mike, thank you for clearing the air. Thank you for coming on, dropping some knowledge. Appreciate it, as always, my friend. Absolutely, era. Thank you.

And congrats again, buddy. Thank you. There he is. Mike Dolce coming on, as I said, dropping some knowledge. All right, we've saved the best for last, my friends. Our final guest of the day, as I said, you know, every guest on this program today in our 300th episode has meant a lot to me and my career. Our next guest is no different. An honor for us, truly an honor and it has been a while since we've talked to him. An honor to have the one and only legend, Stephen Segal, on the phone right now, to close out our show. Mr. Seagal, are you there? Yes, sir.

What a pleasure it is. Thank you so much. It has been a while since I've seen you. It used to be kind of a staple at the UFC events, which is where, obviously, I work these days. How come we haven't seen you in quite some time? Well, I've been around the world a lot. I just got back from Japan and China and Romania and Thailand and Kazakhstan and who's next on in Russia, and I've been just traveling.

You're always doing important things. I see you in Russia. I saw all kinds of politicians trying to get you on board. Anything you could tell us about, or is this all top secret stuff? Well, I mean, rather than going into the details, all I can say is I think it's very important to understand that every country probably has to have a government or a section of the government that's very interested in their own strategic superiority. And therefore, they have a section that would be dedicated to disinformation and propaganda and all that stuff. And I understand that. Conversely, I am a strong believer that Russia and America should be best friends.

I think this is one of the most important things that could happen in terms of world balance of power. And, you know, I dedicate a lot of my time and my energy to that. We have, you know, certain people in power now that really hate Russia and, you know, are saying a lot of things about Russia that I believe are completely untrue. and there are certain, there's a lot of information that's being disseminated that is completely untrue, and some of that I kind of know for a fact. So I am not a politician. I'm not out there to spread, you know, the truth and debunk disinformation.

I'm just an emissary trying to say, I think that Russia loves America and most of my friends love Russia, and, you know, I think that we should all be together and getting along for the sake of balance and power. So you're trying to bridge the gap? Yes. And who's asked you to do that? Is it Russia or the U.S.? Well, there have been people on both sides. There have been several Congress people, particularly Dana-Auribacher, asked me to,

set up meetings for a specific congressional delegation, and I did that in Russia. And, you know, so lots of people high up on both sides of hope that I would devote time and energy to that. And, you know, it's, you know how the media is. You never know what to believe. Is it true that Vladimir Putin backed out of a martial arts match against you? Was this actually on the table? I mean, once again, it's just the most hilarious. am I allowed to use profanity on this program?

Please, this is uncensored. It would be the most hilarious crop of shit ever to hit the press. I mean, I was with him in Vladivostok, which is where my father's family are from, and we were paying hello to each other, and a particular Chinese guy came up and said, oh, man, I know you, you're the Kung Fu Master, and he started making all these moves, and the president,

President Putin said, well, I wouldn't make those moves in front of him just joke and not be a good idea. And after that, somebody put in the press, you know, which couldn't be further from the truth. Okay, because I was surprised.

You have a good relationship with him, right? He's one of the greatest guys in the world, and consider him a dear friend and a great world leader. You know, it's an interesting time. Are you back in America? You are. You are in California, right? Just got back last night to actually, I'm in Scottsdale. A Scottsdale, excuse me.

Interesting time, as you know, with Donald Trump, he's becoming this sort of political phenom. I feel like a ticket with Stephen Seagallan, given your popularity, would absolutely kill the competition. Honestly, be honest with me. Have you ever thought of this? Look what's happening with Donald. People want some change. They want someone they can believe and trust in and defend them. What about it? What do you think? I mean, listen, if that could have... happen, you know, almost anything can happen. So certainly that's something that has surprised a lot of people.

I myself, and, you know, I'm a martial artist. I'm a musician. I'm an actor. I'm not really a politician. Well, maybe you consider it one day, which title are you most proud of, actor, musician, martial artist, which one means the most to you? Maybe it's something else? I would say the martial arts

means the most in terms of titles How do you feel about the state of martial arts Today, October 2015 and in particular, given our world, the state of mixed martial arts? I mean, as I said to you before, I've been doing mixed martial arts for 40 years, you know, we were doing that back in Japan

back, you know, before there was that word because most of us would study different from martial arts and different dojoes from different masters. We've mixed this stuff up to see, you know, how it could benefit us in winning fights. So I think mixed martial arts are, you know, it's a new word to me, but I think it's a very, very important concept. Even though I haven't seen you at the events as of late, do you still watch the UFC or other

promotions? Are you still in tune with what's going on? Well, I mean, to be honest with you, I haven't been in countries where I could see half of that stuff or was too busy to even find out about it. I, you know, just have been too busy, but humorously, I was coming back from Russia the other day. Yes. And all of a sudden, somebody came up and tapped me on the shoulder, and it was George

and Anderson Silva, and they were on the same plane with me. They'd gone to Douglasstrand, where I was invited to Douglaston, by the way. And, you know, it was great to see them again. Yeah, what a coincidence. I saw that picture on Instagram. It was 100% coincidental that you'd run into those two, your two old dear friends, George and Anderson, George Guameresh, his longtime manager and friend.

Yeah, it was hilarious coincidence, and George said that they were just talking about me, and Anderson said, what happened was? Masters had gone. He disappeared, man. Yeah. There I was. Why weren't you at his fight against Nick Diaz, his return fight? I was out of the country

Did you watch it? I did. What did you make of it? Was that the same old Anderson or did you think he was tentative because of the injury? Was he a little bit older? What was your assessment of his performance?

I don't believe that age necessarily has anything to do with anything normally. I think he was a little bit tentative because he'd been not fighting as much. I don't think that was Anderson at his best. I think he won the fight. Of course, yeah, I don't think anyone doubts that. But as you know, some controversy afterwards with him in the Nevada Athletic Commission,

what's your take on that? Do you believe what he said? Do you feel like things have changed? What was your impression of all of that? I mean, to be honest with you, you're probably going to have trouble believing this. I'm sure you will, but I really don't know all the details. And so I don't want to speculate. I just have been gone.

I've been out of the country for three months. Right. You just haven't heard about a lot of this stuff. So it didn't make you think twice, or you want to get the full story first? Be better if I was going to comment. I'd really love to hear. Sure. I mean, because I know that testing can go false.

There's a lot of, you know, details that have to be really observed before somebody can make a real definite opinion. Given your time in martial arts, as you said, you've been doing this. long before that word was even in existence. Have you encountered PEDs and things? I feel like you are martial artists at the purest form and you believe in the purity of what this is, the lifestyle, if you will. You feel like people are trying to ruin that

with the advent of performance enhancing drugs and trying to spoil what pioneers such as yourself have done for martial arts to get to this point where it's a mainstream thing? This is a very tough question. I mean, for me, ultimately, the martial arts are not sports. They are a spiritual path where the development of the physical self

and the cultivation of the spiritual manner simultaneously. And this should be done without any kind of drugs. However, if people are going to be competing in something that is really akin to, you know, martial arts Olympics, they, of course, are going to do anything they can, I don't want to say they, many of them are going to do anything they can to, you know, get the advantage. And so it's not like we don't understand that. I'm just saying that in the purest form, this is something that's not done.

But do you feel like it's an epidemic? It seems to slightly be approaching that. Who are some people that you feel are the future of martial arts? Is there someone in particular, we're seeing a lot of young stars come up, Anyone you have your eye on that maybe you'd love to work with. You know, I know you recently gave some advice to Daniel Cormier. I think that's the last time. Is that the last time you were at an event, the Daniel Cormier fight?

That was it, yeah. And he was a huge fan. I remember when he told me that you were going to be there to talk to him about a few things, his eyes lit up. I mean, he said his mom was a huge fan of yours. It was a huge honor. And I believe you did teach him a few things, right? Well, not that he used them.

Yeah. I was going to ask you about that because he lost that fight, right? he didn't listen to you it doesn't seem like it yeah the ingrate Daniel Cormier can you tell us what

no no no it's not ingrat for anything because he's a great guy it's just people you know they I don't want I mean they get you know that adrenaline flowing and you get nervous

and you know they get overcome with stuff and it's not easy to remember everything and you know I don't have anything bad to say about anybody and especially him Could you tell us at least some of the things you told him about? I mean, I feel like we have this window into some stuff. I remember you once told me about some rules that, you know, that weren't in place,

that you knew how to kind of, you know, give guys insight that they could get around. Is there anything you could share with us as far as what you told Daniel or what you'd like to tell to a young stud out there? I mean, the only thing I will say, because I still want to keep a lot of the secret for people. Yeah, fair enough. They're asking me for advice. The only thing I will say is that very few people, are taking advantage of what we call Kanshitzelwaza, which means, you know, the art of stretching to the point of breaking

if they don't tap out the different joints. All the joints of minutes, a lot of that is not being taken advantage of. Have you seen any fighter use that at all? No. Yeah, it's funny. That's interesting. And it's legal, right? It's legal.

Back to my original question. Is there a young fighter out there, male or female, that you'd love to impart some wisdom on? I mean, to be honest with you, I just, I really kind of put my mind on other things right now, and I haven't seen any young fighters that I went, wow, but I'm sure every day they're coming up. And I know when I talk to Dana, usually he says, man, I got this guy and this girl, and, you know, he's usually, he's got a great eye, and he really has, you know, special. insight into these new folks. So I got to get the new insight info here.

Have you, do you talk to him often? Are you in contact with Dana White quite often? I mean, usually when I call him or he calls me, we talk. I've been gone and I haven't talked to him in a little while, but usually he's got a lot of fun things to say when I do talk to him. Could you imagine you on a UFC broadcast in an analyst role? Have they ever offered you something like that? I don't think so. That would be something. Maybe for UFC 200,

that historic event. Okay. I'm going to talk to Dana about that. Are you okay with me doing that? Sure. Okay. And what movies? Anything you can tell us about

that you're working on? I believe you were just filming one, right? Yeah, yeah. Let's see here. We did something called the end of the gun. We did something called Perfect Weapon. We did something called What was that?

Our Fowler So those are all the movies I was doing Wow When's the next one coming out? You know, we always know when movie starts But we never know when they're coming up Because they always watch out for the competition When they released up

Do you still enjoy Hollywood acting all that stuff? I mean, I enjoy playing music a lot more I'm going on tour next month in Eastern Europe and probably Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and Russia. Stuff like that. What kind of music? Blues. I play the blues.

Wow. What instrument? I play guitar. Oh, is it part of a band? Yeah, a Rwand piece band. What's the band called? I mean, we played for a hundred years all over the place. And the original name that we had was Thunderbox,

and then sometimes we just call out his Steven Scroft Blues band. Can I ask you a serious question before you let you go on again? I really appreciate the time here today. It means a lot to us. You were born in Lansing, Michigan, right? Yes, sir. Do you ever have any moments where you stop and smell the roses and say, how did a young man from Lansing, Michigan, become who you are today,

influential around the world, you know, rubbing elbows with politicians, influential in many different facets of the world. Do you allow yourself to do that, or are you still very focused, have this tunnel vision, if you will? I mean, you know, I practiced Zen from the time I was a baby, you know. And in Zen, we really believe that one shouldn't shrink and really retreat and, you know, be afraid of

or unhappy with criticism or slander or any of the terrible things people can say about us. And conversely, we also don't believe that we should puff up with pride and be really happy when people praise us. So what that really means is, you know, I've been very blessed. I've had tremendous accolades and tremendous success in my life. And I've also had, you know, failures. And, you know, I've been in many people. people's eyes a great hero and other people's eyes a villain. So that's life, you know,

in life, as long as you can wake up in the morning and look yourself in the mirror and say, I am a man of honor. I have done the best I can to be a good human being to try to help others make the world a better place. As long as you can say that and believe that and live like that, then I'm happy. Amen. Very well said. By the way, have you talked to your your old friend Machita Kuhn about his career and the state of his career. Do you feel like he should still fight? You know, I love that young man so much. He's just such a great guy.

I haven't talked to him. I do know that he had a couple of, you know, bad things happen in the last two fight. And I would like to talk to him about all of that stuff. Are you concerned? Yeah, I am. Do you think he should stop fighting? I would not say that. That's going to depend on what he says to me

and his attitude. If he thinks that, you know, people have good days and bad days and I'm still young and I'm still good and I'm still strong and I'm still hungry, then I would say, hey, let's start over and let's change this and let's change that. And I told George, I said, you know, George, there's some things I've been wanting to share with, you know,

and, you know, I think they would change things. So if the benefit says, you know, I'm getting tired and I'm not sure about this. Then you know, I would say, hey, then maybe it's time to do something else. That is the toughest thing for an athlete, right? Especially in combat sports, knowing when to say when? That's really tough, really tough. Well, the good news is we get plenty more of you because, you know, you're doing all these different things and that allows you to have great longevity,

and it's nice to see that you are appreciated around the world. I know you're very busy. I know you just came back from a trip, so it means a lot that you come on our special show today. Anything you want to say before you go? Any last words? Any plugs? Anything of that nature?

Well, I don't have any plugs for anybody. I just hope that MMA and EFC can continue to cultivate a lot of great young warriors who are, you know, once again, follow on the path of bettering themselves to be better human beings, understanding the essence of clean competition, which is really to win over yourself. And to make the world a better place, I hope that, you know, UFC and MMA can be a path to that.

Thank you. I appreciate it greatly. Thank you for the time today. Thank you, brother. All right, and I hope a lot more people listen to those words of wisdom and reach out to Sensei Segal about his teachings, ways of life. how to conduct yourself in and out of the gym. Great stuff there.

What an honor to be in the presence of greatness. What an amazing man. I appreciate him coming on tremendously. All right. That does it for today's interviews. Who can breathe. By the way, thank you very much to his good friend, George Guimadesh, for hooking us up.

A tough man to get in contact with, but he carved out some time for his old friends. here at the MAA. All right, New York, Rick, what do you got? What do you have to say for yourself? Anything. Anything at all? 300. In the books. Yes. How does it feel? Well, I tell you, it feels nice. You know, I said to you before the show, I said, I don't know what I'm looking forward to more, the actual show or the end of the show. I am so relieved that everyone showed up. I am relieved that everyone brought it and then some. Holy moly, what a show. What a cast of characters, right? And I'm happy that people tuned in, because it appears as though we had some pretty good viewership, right?

We had huge numbers. We had a lot of questions. Do you want to do some questions? Yes, I'd love to. We have, they've allowed us to go a little bit longer, right? Just a little bit. They have. It's very nice.

And while you want to do questions, we're not actually going to do questions. Why? We have a message from a special fan. Okay. And we're going to play that. In lieu of questions today? What? Thank you, everybody, for submitting some fantastic questions.

We have to answer questions. So we're going to, in lieu of that, take a message from one special person. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Andrew Mayer, and most of you know me is the advocate the reigning, defending UFC champion Daniel Cormier. There's something you don't know about me. Long before I was Daniel Cormier's advocate, and long after, I have always been, and I always will be, an Ariel Cawani guy. Now I'm talking to one man and one man only, Ariel Hawani.

Ariel, you are an inspiration, a role model, and a pioneer in the MMA community. I can't thank you enough for all you've done. And the MMA hour giving us all fans an outlet to hear the gossip and hear the trash talk each Monday. So thank you, and I would say I'm your biggest fan. There's a couple people that might have a problem with that. You know, I've been around long enough that I remember when you first came on the scene, and it's been pretty amazing watching you build the MMA hour into what it is. So, congratulations on the 300th episode.

And, hey, maybe by the 600th episode, your bills may have finally beat the page of it. Ariel Hwani. Oh. 300 episodes. Man with a hat. 300 times you've been back in our lives, man. That's an awful long time. I'm not sure whether they'll laugh or cry about that.

But congratulations on the milestone. You've come a long way from that quiet kid who wouldn't come out of his life. dorm in Syracuse, my man. Keep up the good work. Here's the 300. Oh, Ariel Hawani. What? Without you, I would not be in the position I'm currently in. And when I say position I'm currently in, I mean hated by 90% of the NBA fighting fan base. But in all seriousness, congratulations on the greatest show in mixed martial arts,

the MMA hour. You're the best in the business. It's a privilege to be on your team. Congratulations, Ariel. Wow, man. 300 shows. That's a tremendous, tremendous accomplishment. You're the hardest working man I know in this business. I can't thank you enough for all the opportunities you've given me throughout the years. Congratulations again. You deserve all of your success. On to the next 300th. Wow.

Hey, Ariel. Congratulations on the 300th show. I'm really proud of you. This is really awesome and it's been an honor to work with you all these years. Congratulations, Ariel O'Wani on your 300th episode. I just undoubt you even had a podcast. So this is even more exciting. Congratulations.

Hi, Fetta. Thank you for putting on 300 amazing shows and making our Monday. better. To celebrate this, I had to come to your favorite place on Earth and have one for you. Yes. Palabins! Who's this? Way back in the day, there was Beatles and there was Ali, and Ariel Hoani was a student at Ithaca College. That's where I first remember him, and I just want to say, after 300 episodes

of the M.M.A. hours spanning how many years? Congratulations, Ariel. You've done a wonderful job with your career and it's just great, it's great to be working with you for all this time. Hmm, maybe this one, maybe this one. This is unbelievable. Maybe this one. You know, hey, Ariel, I'm just looking for an appropriate shirt for an appearance on the MMA hour.

I mean, you've had 300 of them. I figure I'll get invited to one someday. But for now, I offer you a shirtless congratulations. Hey, Ariel, Brian Stan here. What? Congratulations, 300th episode. Don't let it go to your head, although I'm sure you will. I will see you soon, buddy, and congrats again.

Yo, Ariel, happy 300 episode. This is unbelievable. I don't really like you that much, but I'm still going to congratulate you because 300 episodes is a lot. Stay up, buddy. Ariya, I just want to say congratulations on your 300 episode of MMA hour, the Howard Cosell of MMA. That's you, buddy. Congratulations, my good friend. And thank you for always putting you on the spot.

and making me feel uncomfortable. You know what it's hard to do, because I got no shame that you find a way to bring it out of me. Thank you, my man. Thanks. What's up, Aira? This is Anthony Romo Johnson and Mad Max.

This is crazy. I want to congratulate you on your 300th episode of MMA Hour, man. I wish you nothing but success. Area 1 in the whole MMA hour. You got set the bar. Congratulations on your 300th episode. T. Wood.

Congrats on your 300th episode. I love watching it. I can believe these people even know who I am. Congrats, buddy. We love you. Hey man, I just want to say congratulations on the 300 episode. I'm a big fan, always watch your stuff, keep you going. What's up, bitch.

Ariel Hwani, 300 show, what's up, man? Give me call. I want to come back on later, man. Hey, Ariel, congratulations. 300 episodes, that's amazing. People, you know, they know you as the male model that you are, but it's your great mind that they keep tuning in for, so keep it up, brother. What's up, Ariel, the 300 episode, and then they all are proud to have you, brother.

to have you brother. You're a great addition to the sport. Stayed for 300 more. Congratulations on your 300 shows. This is crazy. I remember when it was your first show with me back at AKA when we got in trouble for that big deal and you went in there and you know nervous, a little nervous but very professional. I'm happy to say I'm glad where you, you know, you accomplished all these goals and you're the best. Congratulations. Wow. Congratulations. daughter.

Congratulations, Darryl. It's been awesome. You've been my first interview once to start the game. You know,

probably be my last. It's been a pleasure. What you're not so? What can I say, buddy? Hey, what's going to Aaron 1. 8.

Just want to congratulate you on your NBA hour show on a 300 episode. It's an amazing thing you do for the sport.

And besides all that, we need to play a game basketball, you know, I'm a black man. I don't play my basketball, but I got some hoops

and I think I got on a triple you. And another thing, I always appreciate you always have my back and always pushing me to do things that I don't want to do. But like I said, congratulations on a few other episode. That's a big thing.

And you have the good work, buddy. Owani knows. Hey, what's up, Ariel? What's wanted to congratulate you on your 300th MMA hour episode. The Pioneer. I really don't care what Andy says about you. You're the man. Ariel Magal.

Mark, you're so happy for you. This is unbelievable. Ariel Haldi, congratulations on number 300. You're the best, baby. Ariel Helwani, congratulations on 300 episodes. and I hope you get 3,000 more, buddy. Good job. Ariel, congratulations on your 300th episode.

Sean Shelby. Ariel, congratulations on your 300th episode of the MMA hour, and this is as close to an exclusive interview as you're ever going to get. Ariel, congratulations. 300 episodes. Ahtown stand up. Ariel, Devin Sauer here.

I'd like to congratulate you first on being Canadian. Yes. And second, on. on doing 300 episodes of one of the coolest shows out there, the MMA Hour, which I'm a huge fan of, and I've been watching or listening to for quite some time. So thank you, and congratulations. Palani, it is Skylar Aston,

reporting live from Los Angeles. Just want to say, happy 300th episode of the MMA hour. You have made all of my MMA fan boy dreams come true by being a guest on the show and on the MMA beat. So I just want to say Mazel Tov. I am proud to call you a buddy, and you'll always be my favorite. Elwani knows. Wow, 300 years of the MMA hour.

That's an incredible amount of time to be covering a sport that is only existence since the 90s. Everybody knows the MMA hour is the Mooney Podcast. You go on the MMA hour. It's a red panty night. I've been on the MMR hour like 600 times. But I mean, I'm the ream, so could you blame them? Thanks for everything, guys, and congratulations. Yeah, congrats.

You instigating mother. Hey, Ariel, congratulations on your 300 show. probably only make it to 3001, but congratulations. You know, I got to tell you, it means a mix of emotions. Oh, man. It means a certain sense of accomplishment, certain sense of pride, gratitude. You know, national podcast day, hashtag podcast day was this past Wednesday. Gave me a chance to reflect on our six and a half year journey, our journey with the fans, all our supporters over the years.

I didn't know. that should be released. So now the espion days, many producers, many people work behind the scenes. And here we are, 3-0. And you know, some said I couldn't top 2-0. Some question whether we'd be able to recreate the magic of 200. Well, on Monday, October 5, 2015, all the doubters will come home to roost because they will recognize that the best podcast period in the entire world has reached the milestone of 300 and when we reach a milestone

like 300 you bring out the big guns happy 300 episode oh my god say we love you daddy love you oh my gosh have a great show Walter say love you oh my god yeah oh my god what the heck Oh my god. So we're at the M&M store in time. So, we're at the M&M store in. In Times Square. In Times Square. We love you.

Oh, yeah. Well, this is crazy. That's a big deal. Not a lot of people can say that they've made it to this point, but I can't say that I'm surprised that you have. I know I'm a little bit biased, but I've watched you've watched you cover the sports since day one, and it's amazing to see the amount of time and effort

and hard work that you've put into it. And I wanted to wish you a big congratulations on the first 300, and we're looking forward to the next 300, and keep doing what you do with all the passion and love that you do it with. We love you. Hey, Ariel, congrats on your 300th episode. I'm so proud of you and all that you've accomplished.

I hope you know I'm your biggest fan, and that you can always attribute your success to your little sister who used to pretend to be your secretary and call all the fighters for you. Congrats, love you. Congratulations, Ariel, on another milestone you have done. To say that I'm proud of you, cannot describe how I am proud of you. I hope you continue to follow your dreams,

to go places you've never been before, and to do all the things you want to do. I am truly overjoyed with your success. Mazaltov. Mama knows. Hi, Ariel, I understand you reach 300. I'm very, very proud of you and what you've achieved so far, extremely proud, in a matter of fact. You're a very courageous person, and once you set an aim, you make it happen.

Congratulations, love you. So I've been a part of this show for nearly 200 episodes. It's been a real pleasure, real honor. and I think that this is the show that brings, you know, MMA fans what they want every week. And you're the man responsible for that. So thank you, Ariel. Oh, man. Why'd you do that to me? Oh, that was something else.

Holy crap, I am blown away. I can't do this show anymore. That's it. That was like, that was the end. Wow. Thank you for that. Oh, God. It's only because I'm sick.

Who's responsible for that? All credit due to Andrew Mayer. What? Made it happen. Oh, man, thank you so much. What a great guy. Holy crap. That was unbelievable. That was the craziest thing I've ever seen. I am blown away. I am speechless. Ah, that was unbelievable. What can I say?

Andrew Mayer, that is a special cat. That guy went to summer camp with my wife. when they were little kids. And funny story, they were actually, I think, boyfriend, girlfriend for like a day. And I went to summer camp with them, and we were just kind of friends, no crazy connection. And then I went to Orlando to work on a show for Spike TV,

and I was sitting down at a restaurant, and I heard a familiar voice, a raspy voice. And I said, whoa, I remember that voice. And it was Andrew Mayer. This is like 2006. And then we stayed in contact a little bit. And over the last two years or so, he's become obsessed with MMA, travels to all the events, has essentially become a part of Team D.C.

If you watch the Q&As, he often shows up talking about AKA, pumping up AKA. He did it at the Go Big Press Conference, a real special guy. When I moved recently, I was looking around for something to eat, and all of a sudden there was food on my floor. He had ordered Chinese food for my family. But this one tops at all. That was something else. Holy crap.

How do you top that? Do you not have any questions? We have no questions. Oh, okay. That's pretty good. Oh, my God. How about Dwight Howard's first appearance on the evening? You were sitting.

I saw him from the Fox and he was sitting with freaking Dwight Howard. That was, I'm blown away. Well, what can you say? Thank you so much to everyone who appeared in that and to everyone else who's a fan of this show and who has been watching. You know, I feel kind of weird. It's just 300 episodes.

It's not the craziest thing in the world. It's only six and a half years. But that was amazing. I hope everyone gets to experience something like that. That is something I will cherish until I am gone. That was unbelievable. Thank you to everyone behind the scenes. Thank you to MMA fighting for giving me this platform.

and Vox, I'd rather not be anywhere else but here. And that's why I'm so proud of this show and love the show so much. And thanks to the guys in the back, Alex, Mark, of course, New York, Rick, a huge part of the show, there would not be a show without him. He worked so hard behind the scenes. People think, I had someone come up to me, say like, oh, why don't you get a hot girl back there? I was like, what, are you crazy? If you think, you know, I can't excuse his hair, but if you think that all he does back there is just look pretty and get some questions, you are sorely mistaken. He does an incredible job of rallying everything.

And we don't have, you know, the great, this is just at the end of the day an internet show. So I think we disguise that very well. And thanks to those guys back there and everyone else who's worked on the show from Josh back in the day to all the other guys in between until now it is a true honor. Yeah, I don't really know what else to say.

Should we talk about anything else that happened this weekend or that's it. I don't know. Let's hit the music. Let's just hit the music. Oh, God. That was unbelievable. Yeah. You know, in 2001, when I went to Syracuse University,

I told my parents this sport is going to be mainstream, and everyone's going in the football, baseball, basketball direction, and I'm going to go in the MMA direction, pre-Tuff. And I had a show back then. No one listened to it, and I recently actually discovered the audio. And it was unbelievable. to re-listen to that.

And I told my parents in 10 years, this sport is going to be mainstream, and I want to be the guy that they say, well, who's the guy? Let's hire him. Ten years later, I was hired by Fox. And since 2007, I've dreamt of having my own show

on a big platform, and here I am with my own damn show on a big platform. We just reached 300 episodes, six and a half years strong. And it's unbelievable. Truly living the dream. I know it's a term that's overused,

but this, my friends, is the dream. This is all I wanted. this is my dream. Thank you so much to everyone who tuned in. Thank you so much to everyone who is a part of that video. Thank you so much to anyone who has ever tuned in, even if once. It means the world. Thanks so much to Daniel Cormier for coming on.

Congratulations to him. Thanks so much to Chal Sunnan. Appreciate him, as always. Thank you very much to Rampage Jackson. Hopefully we're cool. Thank you very much to Matt Sarah. Kimbo Slice, good luck to you. Connemer, I appreciate you greatly.

Thank you so much to Mike Dolce and, of course, the Honorable Sensei Segal, thank you so much. Next week, it's back to normal. We'll try to top it. Until then, I say, peace. I'm out of you. Support for this show comes from Chase. If you're a fan of women's sports,

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