MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 302

Episode Date: October 19, 2015

Ariel Helwani speaks to Chris Weidman in studio, CM Punk, Yoel Romero, Firas Zahabi, Paddy Holohan, Nick Newell, Rick Hawn and Michael Lunardelli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hulgin, everyone. I'm Ariel Halwani. Inside our New York City studio, a great show planned for all of you today. A relatively quiet weekend in the world of mixed martial arts, but things are really ramping up. WSOF had a show on Saturday. We'll talk about that a little bit as my computer is playing back the feed. This is a big day for me, by the way. October 19th, 2007.

I launched jerrypark.com, my very first MMA website. I started with a Kurt Angle interview. Thank you to the guys over at MMA history today for reminding me of that milestone. So it seems like every week we have a milestone to celebrate on this show. And I'm excited about this show. Can you keep it down over there? We're trying to do an intro.

Our guest is in studio, and he's already throwing me off my game. Okay, what do we have to talk about on today's show? Let's waste no time because we have a lot to get to, including an in-studio guest right off the bat. How about that? At 405, we're going to be joined by CM Punk. CM Punk is going to stop by at 405. Talk about his latest news. 325.

We'll talk to Nick Newell, who retired out of the blue on Saturday night in the WSOF cage. At 305, we're going to talk to Farah's a hobby busy week for the head of TriStar MMA, Sage Northcut there, Joseph Duffy, main eventing on Saturday. GSP is he coming back? What the heck is going on? So we'll talk to Faraz at 305-245. We'll talk to Yol L. Romero from Florida. He has a big fight at UFC 194, 225. We'll talk to Patty Hulhan, who is the co-main event now against Luis Smolka. 205, Rick Hahn is going to stop by. He has a big announcement, so looking forward to that. And at around 3.45 or so, we'll take your questions and comments. Just came back from New York Rick's wedding on Saturday. I have a full report to give to all.

of you, so stay tuned for that. But first, let me remind you that the MMA hour is brought to you by Assassin's Creed Syndicate. There it is. Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Thank you very much to them for their support. Great to have you on the team. Speaking of the team, here he is, our team leader himself. Mr. Chris Wydenman, the UFC middleweight champion is in the house, and I got to tell you, back before you became champion, Chris, it was so easy to get you here. You were almost begging me to come on the show. Now it's damn near impossible. Only when you have a big announcement, which we will be sharing later on in the program, can I get you out of Long Island to join us?

So thank you for joining us. It's still an honor to be here. I feel like it's my first time. And if you can talk closer to the microphones. Sorry, sir. There you go. Sorry. I'm very nervous.

This is the show, by the way, that sort of made you. You were introduced to the world on this very program, remember? Yes, I was. Volante was fighting in Strike Force, and I was his sidekick. And it was a very nerve wreck. I was pretty much the guy on the show that you didn't want here. You're like, why is this guy on the show? And I don't know how we got that.

I think I called you Chris Weidman. Probably, like a lot of other people. I still get called Chris Weidman. You dropped the nugget on that show that you were dealing with a rib injury, and then like two weeks later... No, no, that was like three days later, I think. Yeah, well, two weeks later, you made the debut. Yes, yes, yes, yes. You got the call a couple days later.

So I was just hoping not too many people were watching M.M.A. hour, and I was right, not too many people. Nobody really caught up caught that. Most importantly, Alessio Sakara did not watch. Lassos, I don't know, he was going hard on the liver shots. He was really going hard to the ribs. so maybe he did watch. He might have been the one. When is the last time you watched your debut

with that god-awful haircut? What was going on there? Oh, man. Don't... It was a hard fade. In Long Island, we have strong loyalty to our barbers. So I will never...

Actually, you know what? I will, because that was a different barber. I went to a different barber. I was in a weird time. And he went hardcore Long Island on me. And I wasn't in shape for that fight. I was kind of like a little chubby. My face gets real fat.

So with the chubby face and that short skin fade long around haircut, it was kind of embarrassing. It was hardcore. It wasn't the debut I imagined in so many ways. And now you've gone Hollywood on us, so much so that you were actually just in Hollywood. Yeah. I follow you on Instagram and Twitter. You were just in Hollywood a couple of days ago.

What were you doing there? We had some meetings with some movies, like some producers and writers of some films, and my management team is out there, Paradigm MMA. I think it's Paradigm MMA. Maybe their Twitter is Paradigm. paradigm management. But yeah, we were out there with those guys. They're amazing.

And we just got some work done. I was with Brad Slater also. He's my entertainment agent. The infamous. Yes, the infamous. He does Ron the Rousey, does the rock. He's really the guy to have, and I'm lucky enough to have him. Any movie opportunities coming out?

Yeah, there's some things that I had some great meetings. I met some really good guys, and they're looking forward to doing some of me. Do you get the sense that they know who you are now? because you know how it is. Like, some people, everyone knows who Ronda is, but just because you're the champion, doesn't mean you're a household name. You've been champion long enough.

Do you get the sense when you go to these meetings that you have to explain to people who you are and what you've accomplished, or do they know you now? If they didn't know, if they really didn't know, they researched before I got there. So they know what you've done? Yeah, yeah, they're not going to just take me

in if I was just a normal guy just trying to get into a movie. So they know that there's something different about me. That's why I'm on the show. That's why I'm in their office. So they know. any movie parts you can talk to us about? Have you ever been in a movie?

Like even one of those low budget? I don't know. I don't know the legalities of talking about the movies I could possibly get into. So I don't know if it's not smart for me to talk about it. That's probably for the best. Yeah. And nothing is definite. But it was really good meetings.

Have you ever been in a movie? Even one of those like straight to DVD ones? No. Nothing. No. I've had some amazing opportunities to be in some of the very low budget. Oh, okay. You would call those amazing opportunities?

I didn't take them. I didn't take it. I was just kidding. Oh, okay. I was a little facetious. But I know. a lot of people jump into them and you know you want to do you kind of want to earn uh your spot in the acting just like anything else and you know start from the bottom and build

up but um i have an amazing opportunity with like i said brad being uh represented by brad slater longo's been in a few movies oh yeah lily of the feast uh lily of feast it's huge have you seen it um i have seen it yep i was there at the premiere and it's really good actually the the writer producer i think the guy who does it all he goes to our gym his name's michael vigliano and um they did a great job with that movie. And Longo is hysterical in it. Does he actually speak? You don't see his lips moving.

Like, you see him in the movie a bunch of times. He's that guy who's in the back. It's almost uncomfortable because he's in the movie enough to where you're like, who is that guy? But he never says anything. But there was like a couple scenes where you heard his voice in the background.

Like, they took his voice. He's got an infamous voice. He's amazing. I would give him some lines. And he's like, how about those meatballs or something like that? He throws it in there. every once in a while. You just know it's long ago, but you don't, like, if you don't know,

you wouldn't know. Speaking of the gym, and I know you've been traveling a lot lately, and we'll get to that in a second, but some unfortunate news on Friday, Eddie Gordon announcing that he was released. Have you talked to him? How is he handling it? Are you surprised? I haven't talked to him because you're right. I've been traveling. We had a death in the family. We were in Louisiana this whole weekend. And then I heard the news at the tail end of the weekend. I didn't hear it on Friday. But I have to text them and call him because it's crazy because He didn't know he was being cut.

None of us thought he was. We knew, I just, he was going down the 170. So I thought the UFC was going to give him another shot down there. And then he's been looking really good in sparring. And he'd been working out with Valenti, getting Valante ready for his fight. Okay. And he's been looking great. So for him to get cut, it just is definitely a bummer.

But if anybody could come back, it's going to be him. He's got a crazy, amazing attitude. He's so positive. he's a huge inspiration for the team and he's going to make this a part of his long story. So this isn't it for him. He's not done. No, no. I haven't talked to him yet, but I know truck and he's far from finished.

You know, he's definitely, you know, he had three loss in a row. But he's a tough guy, he's resilient, and he'll be back. Okay, let me ask you about this death in the family because you posted on Instagram that you were in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Yeah. And you mentioned, I believe it's your cousin. Yes.

Kevin Lau. Yes. And if you do a quick Google search about this untimely passing, to put it mildly, tragic, it's shocking stuff. I mean, it's mind-blowing stuff what happened. Are you comfortable just speaking about some of the details of what happened your cousin not that long ago? Because it really blew me away. Yeah, no, it's tough to talk about because he left behind a beautiful wife and three amazing kids. and I'm in the position where I'm being asked about the story

and I'd rather be them to tell his story. But all I could tell you about him is that he's a great guy. I've met him a bunch of times. He was my cousin through my wife's side. Right. But I've been down in Louisiana a bunch of times and I met him there. He was a great guy, family guy.

He's never been in trouble. And he had just one bad night. And he ended up getting shot. I mean, they shot over 60 times, shot by the police. I think it's important to remember him as, and celebrate his life for what he, for what he was, which was a good guy,

he was a guy who was involved in his church. He was an amazing family guy. He was very, his family was always together and doing, you know, family events and supporting each other. And it's just, it's just a,

it's amazing how one mistake, which we all make mistakes, but his mistake ended up causing his life, the ultimate, you know, the ultimate thing. And, uh, it's just crazy.

just one mistake and it could be all over. And to see his kids, he has an 18 year old, the 19 year old, and a 23-year-old. The two boys are in military and the daughter's still home. And to see them, you know, just to see their dad pass away like that, getting shot, you know, being pretty much executed. 60 times? Why so many times? Do you have any idea?

There's a lot of controversy. The way the house is set up, he got shot at his house. And again, I don't want to go into much detail, but I will say that the whole family was there. And so his kids were there, his wife was there. The uncles lived next door, so they were there. Cousins were there. There was a lot of people there because there was a, there were out that night. They were all having a good time.

They went to watch one of the girls, his daughter's boyfriend playing a band. So having a good time. They went back to the house and they're all hanging out. And it's the first time that cops were ever, called to the house and basically he ended up, you know, getting shot to death. But it was, it was tough to be there and to see, see everybody going through such a tough time. They're doing surprising well. I think everybody's in shock still. How's your wife? She's, she's okay, but she, I mean, it's been very emotional.

Her mom was staying in my house. She was, she lived in Louisiana for years, so she was always with them. So, I mean, I was in the thick of things, you know. I was with the son. We took the same plane to the airport. I mean, it took the same plane from Lake Charles to Houston. Okay. So, I mean, I was with the family the whole time.

Yeah, so it was just a real situation. I think everybody's in shock. But there's a lot of controversy in the story. If you read the reports, you know, they're saying certain things that didn't, that the whole family witness didn't happen. But I think the cops are covering his butt, covering their own butts. And I think I'll just leave it with that. Sure. Just one last question.

And I'm just hoping that the state. There's a thorough investigation. Are they doing one? I don't know. I'm not sure again. My main focus was to be there for the family, show my support, and focus on the great things he did in his life and not let him be remembered for a guy who was shot by the police because your initial thought is that this guy, he got shot by the police, he must have been an ultra-criminal because

there's no worse. there's no worst thing to happen to you by police you go to jail for life you get shot to death I mean those are the worst things that happen and he had one of the worst things so initially your first thought

is that this guy was a terrible person the cops had to do what they had to do but I want to remember this guy is a really good guy family guy who one bad night one bad mistake led to his death and then his family has to be left behind

so it's just that you know it's a very tough time yeah I hope I mean And it's my first time close to a situation like this And I initially would always think And I just could imagine

How many other families have been through Something like this Where you know The shot by police or shot the death And they have to live with the fact That most people are going to think that That person was a terrible person Sure

And this has changed my thought process on it If you Google your cousin's name You know ABC News There's a ton of mainstream media outlets That have covered this story So they'll never They'll never fix it, but hopefully this doesn't end here and there's an investigation. So I'm very sorry for your loss.

I send my condolences to your family. And, you know, I hope that they're able to, you know, rebound from this in the best way possible. It sucks. It's horrible. It blew my mind when I read about it. It was terrible being down there. It was an amazing trip, but it was just insane. You can't think of a worse way to, he has a mom who's nothing worse than watching a mother bury their son. And especially under the drastic, tragic event that it had to happen under.

So it was definitely tough. Always tough to transition from a story like that again. Major condolences. Yeah, now you're going to try to get me to smile and stuff. No. Let's try to do that. Let's smile. Your new dad once again.

Yes. Your new dad was amazing. Yeah. Three now. Yeah, three. It's been pretty crazy. My wife had a C-Section, so I've been driving my other two to school every day to to their older extracurricular activities and picking them up from school.

They have both two different schools and two different times that they get dropped off and picked up. So I've been the one doing that. And I have a newfound appreciation for what the mothers have to do on a daily basis. You don't usually do that? Not that fathers can't do this type of stuff. I bring my son to school every morning. Yeah. Congratulations.

Thank you. But I only have one to bring. But let me ask you, what do the parents say when they see you? Is it weird for them that a cage fighters? Do they try to get up on your grill, ask you by your previous fights, or do they kind of leave you alone? I mean, it depends on the parent. everybody's individual at the end of the day. But you get that sometimes?

Yeah, yeah. There's parents. I mean, there's times where I'm going to rush. Like, I have to drop my kid. I have to drop my daughter off first to school because she's in kindergarten. So if you're late to kindergarten, they crack the whip. She gets a late pass. So I drop her up to school first.

And then there's some parents in there that want to talk to me, but I have to bring my son to school too. So I have to kind of rush. And then you don't want to be rude. So that, I mean, other than that, that's fine. Do you take your son out of the car? Of course. We were you trying to get me arrested? If I leave them in the car, I'm going to be in trouble.

It's such a, you know, it's such an ordeal to the car seat. Even if I did, I'm not telling you. Okay, fair enough. I tried to catch you. Look at them. You have no... Remember last time we spoke, you were crying. No, no, I'm just curious.

I mean, sometimes you can just leave the door open, put on some music, something like that. I'm not saying I do these things, but... No. No, even think about it. I would never do that. Okay. But for the most part, they leave you alone. I mean, you're part of the community.

Yeah, I'm friendly with a lot of people. I'm going to be nice to them. And, yeah, for the most part, everybody leaves me alone. I noticed on Twitter you were doing like a Q&A recently. You mentioned you haven't started your training camp for Rockhold yet. So we are, we're less than two months away. When do you usually start? For my last couple of fights, I've been doing six weeks.

Oh, wow. Yeah, so I do less. How come? Just no injuries. Because when I go into camp, it's very serious. And I'm working really hard. And that's all I'm doing. my family has to, you know,

there's a lot of sacrifices that have to be made on my family side too. So six weeks is when it's all about me and my camp. And six weeks has been enough. I used to do eight weeks. And by two weeks out, I'm already done. I'm like, all right, I just want to fight already. Right. So then for these last two fights, I kind of narrowed down to six

and it's really, I felt way better. I'm like ready to peak at the right time. Do you feel like you're over? And let's not say, like I'm training every day right now. Sure. I'm still, I'm staying in shape. and becoming a better athlete, working on strength and conditioning and different things. There's, you know, not things we're working on, but my six weeks is when I'm going to, like,

start training really hard. Do you still feel that pressure of going through a camp around 100%? You're never 100% healthy, right? But, you know, as we talked about in May, you were kind of criticized for pulling out and being injury hit for some reason. Do you feel like you're over that hump and you still feel like you don't put your foot completely on the gas? so that you don't get banged up too much before a fight. You know what I'm saying?

Is it in your mind or are you past that? It's in my mind 100%, but not because of what people are thinking. Yeah. It's because I want to get to the fight and provide from a family and go out there and, you know, dominate these guys. And so to pull out of fight, it's just really a tough thing. So I hit the guess 100%, but you have to be smart about what you're doing.

You don't just jump in there with random people that want to train with you as a champion. And even as a UFC guys, everybody can relate anywhere you go. or anybody that's around you, they all want to train with you. And they all want to kind of get a piece of you and go home with something to kind of brag about inside themselves. So you have to train with the right people that you don't feel like are going to create a situation where you could get hurt because they have an ego. So it's very important to find good people.

And I have great people and great training partners. Speaking of which, after a bit of a hiatus, you're back at Hentel Gracie's, right? Yeah, I've been going back there. I've actually worked with Mark Henry, Frankie Eggers' boxing coach a bunch. Is that new? Yeah, that's pretty new. We've done it a couple times now.

So... Why? You know, just because I want... I like to switch things up and everybody has something to teach. I think he's an amazing person. That's the first and foremost thing.

Great God. He reminds me a very long ago. Somebody who just is... He loves his athletes. He's going to do anything it takes to take to get them the W. There's nothing. He's not... doing it for himself. So he's just a great guy. And then also his boxing, what he did with

Frankie Yeager has been amazing and some of the other guys that he trains. And from my Vitor fight, you know, it was a first round finish. But I didn't like that. I got hit. I feel like that could have been a fight where I just completely run through him without getting touched. And so I was kind of pissed at myself and wanted to improve just working on my hands. And he's more boxing than anything. So working on my hands and just trying to get, it owns a really. really good pizza shop. You go all the way out to Jersey? No, I've never, I've never actually been there, but I've heard only good things. And so where do you train with them? At Hensos. Okay, but why, so why are you back at Hensos? Because of him? Well, it's just kind of like a meeting

meeting point. I still go to Hensos, you know, every once in a while. I'm going to be working with Danaher a little bit for this camp too. So I'll be at Hensos probably once a week, maybe twice a week. From my innocent civil fights, I was there, I don't know if I was there for my chita fight, but I would go on Saturdays. We bring some guys in from Jersey and some guys in from the city for sparring. And so we met, we would meet in the city. Me, Longo, Matt, we would jump on a train

and just head into the city. So it's a nice hiatus. Get away from the gym. Get away from Long Island. Switch things up a little bit. Give yourself a little break and it feels good. Am I dreaming or did Vitor say something recently about you?

Off top my head, I feel like I recall. Yeah, yeah. What did he say recently? He said that, testosterone was low and it was weird that my testosterone was low. And that's because I guess I was calling him out that his testosterone was really high, which it is. His testosterone was like a 500, then a 1200. First off, the range is crazy. The other thing is I learned is that you can't base testosterone or of urine tests, which is what this is all based on. Yeah. But that just doesn't,

that doesn't make any sense that his testosterone would bounce that much in camp. And this is a guy who needed testosterone replacement, you know, for such a long time because otherwise he would die. That's the words he said. So his testosterone would be 1,200 was it's just, you know there's, he's taking something to do that. And my testosterone, I think, was like 400 both times. And this is during your training camp. And my testosterone is going to be low during your training camp because I'm working out harder than any, you know, I just work out really hard.

So it's going to be lower. So for him to call me out, it's pretty funny. If anyway, if my test look weird at all is because I might be the only natural guy left. Do you feel that way? No, I don't know. I don't feel that way. but I'm just saying if my numbers look weird at all because I've never taken testosterone.

Right. And this is what a 31-year-old guy is going to look like if he's training hard. Right. So if these other guys, testosterone is up in there, I'm not going to calm out on it. But Vito, I will, because that just is insane. Do you believe he was on something for that camp?

Or for that fight? Oh, he was, there's no way your testosterone is at 1,200 at now 38 years old. That's just insane. But then the other thing is you can't, he can't he doesn't he doesn't he's not failing because the way they test is through the epitostosterone to testosterone ratio which i found that you can manipulate so i'm thinking that he was manipulating that and but his testosterone number doesn't they don't look at that that's not what they raise a failure on they based

them on the ratio and keeping the ratio quite uh close so did you see that story by josh gross um about his john jones fight yes what did you make of that Crazy. That's insane. So, I mean, I don't know the facts on it. I breezed over it. I've been, I've had just a busy time. I've been really just working a lot and traveling a lot. So I haven't put time into that. Well, let me ask you this. Do you feel confident these days with you said, are you happy? There have been some complaints, but it took some time for it to get a lot. So, for example, Uzada actually came to my house at 645. I was leaving on, I was leaving to Louisiana. Where was it? We left on Thursday, early morning. We had like a six.

Friday? We had like a 7.40, yeah, Friday morning, 7.45 a.m. We had a flight. So we left the house at like, I don't know, 6 a.m. or something to get to the airport. And I had a babysitter watching my kids at the house. And she was like calling that to someone at the front door. Oh, no. And I start freaking out.

And then they said it was Uzada. I'm like, oh, my God. So I don't know if I get a failure. Because you have to tell them where you're going to be. But I had a death in the family out of nowhere. So now all of a sudden I'm going to Louisiana. And I don't want to be. like I'm running away from them or something.

And my wife was telling like, who's that door? Don't open the door for anybody because we have our kids in there. Sure, sure. But it ended up being Uzada, and she called me right away, and she was like asking where I was, and I told her my flight information and told her I'm heading Louisiana, given the address I'm going to be staying at, and told her when I'm going to be back home.

So unfortunately, I don't know where she drove from, but Uzada was at my house where they test me. She was testing for blood and urine, so it's a good thing. I'm glad to see it. Has it happened before? I actually even told her. I said if she wanted to come to the airport and test me before I get on the flight,

I don't know, like she could, like, you know, as long as I make the flight, I'll do it. But she said because the blood, it was going to take too long. So she said she's going to, obviously, randomly, randomly drug test me some other time, whenever. Have you been tested prior to that? Usada, no, only through Nevada. Wow, and are you going to get a strike because you didn't tell them? No, no, no, no. So what I did instantly was, she gave me some number to text.

Yeah. It's like, yeah, so I texted this number, you know, whatever time in the morning it was. and they got back to me and they said it's illegal, like everything checked out that I was allowed to leave because death in the family and then I had all the evidence of it was all like booked and I was in the car service like everything was so it was all kosher It was all kosher.

Wow, what are the chances and by the way, why do they have to come so early? I mean, 645 is a little. That's what happened. Yeah, it happened. It's crazy. Yeah, I remember. Two different organizations,

but Nevada, you know, woke me and my kids up at 645 in the morning. I mean, I was going downstairs with a shotgun in my hand and I'm just like, what the hell's going on? Who the heck is at my door? Yeah. This has to be a problem. You own a shotgun?

Like, everyone. Yeah. That's scary. Yeah. Do you really need a shotgun? If they have a gun, I'd like a shotgun. That's true. I always think the worst case in areas,

and if someone was coming to my house and, you know, too many people know where I live, and they're going to come to my house with a gun if they're going to, if they know I'm living there. So if they want to do something to me and my family, I'm not going to be the guy with no gun to protect them. I'll at least have a defense. For sure.

Although you are somewhat of a, you know, You're an armed weapon in your own right, but I get your mind. Anybody with a brain knows that I'm not competing with a gun. So this fight against Luke Rockhold, I can't wait. We had you guys back and forth, you know, consecutive weeks. We got more water, please. I'm sorry. Here, have some of my water.

I haven't. Did you put your lips on that? No, I have not. Here you go. You sure you didn't put your lips on that? Come on, we've been through enough. Tell me what to stop. Thank you.

How's that? Does it feel a little different? When water goes into a cup, it becomes a cup. Yes. When water goes into a bottle, becomes the bottle. Does it feel different this one? Hello, my friends. What, the cup?

No, this fight. I feel like there's something, there's, you know, this. Focused on my, my Bruce Leak line. I'm trying to get back into the moment here. Feels different. Am I focused for this one? No, no, no, no, you're focused. There's a rivalry here. You guys are very similar.

You're two young Americans in the prime of your career. There's something different about this one. There's definitely something different. I'm, Luca, I think, is a, a, a, a real, really good fighter. He brings a lot to the table. I have a lot of respect for him. I think his game is is legit. So I'm taking him very, very serious. And, you know, I think he's a good guy. I think, you know, he's talking trash and everything now. Do you think he's a good guy? Yeah, I like him. Okay. I like him as a person. He hasn't pissed you off? He pisses me off with some of the things

he says. What pisses you off? Well, it doesn't piss me off enough where I'm going to remember it. Okay. Nothing bothers me too much. At this point, I'm pretty thick-skinned. I got enough going on my life where it's, you don't, you know, if anything bothers me, it might be for a couple of minutes and then forget about it. But I think God bless me with the attention deficit disorder. So just gets me off onto something else. Do you feel like he's cocky? Oh yeah, he definitely has a cocky attitude, which you need to be a good fighter. So he has a little cockiness. And, you know, he thinks he's going to beat me, which I think he's wrong. So then you you could say, I'm cocky, too. He said he came to Long Island and people were telling him.

Did you, did you see that when he posted a picture? Yeah. And people were saying. So the appearance he did in Long Island, the two appearances, he could thank me for both those appearances. Because both those appearances, they offered it to me. And I turned it down. Wow. And I think they were getting back at me for having them there. So congratulations.

You made a couple thousand dollars because of me. He got your sloppy seconds. He got my sloppy seconds. So I hope he feels like used. And then he came out and said that people were coming up to him to say, it was probably those people that tried to book you. Oh, yeah. That guy. Bad news.

You know, I don't like to talk about people too much. But, man, that guy did some dirty stuff. He actually came to me at an appearance I'm doing in Jersey, and he asked me, he just came out like a fan. I didn't know who he was, and he came out to me. He was like, how much you get paid for these certain things? These things? I'm like, well, it's a personal question.

I didn't say it's a personal question. I said, oh, you know, we did pretty good. You know, whatever. I try to brush it off. I usually would. He was like, no, but how much you get paid? And I was like, he really called me off guard, and I gave him a number.

And he's like, well, your management told, and I don't know, he was like, your management told me that, you know, I have a gym and they're telling me that this is what they're going to charge. I'm like, wow. So he just came to my face and tried. I was like, well, every appearance is different. But he was very, in my face.

Yeah. And then we still were like, ended up, I didn't want to do an appearance for the guy. Like a guy who comes to me like that and kind of catches me up guard and tries to get information for me like that. It was kind of like, kind of like, I don't want to call him out any names, but I didn't like it. Yeah, it's very aggressive. And I didn't like it. So I didn't care how much money he was going to offer me at that point. So Luke actually probably made some really good money on that appearance.

And I'm happy for him. He deserves it. He's a hard worker. He came to my land, and he made some money, so good for him. Wow. Of all places to come, Long Island, and then to say that people are coming up to him. Oh, he could say what he wants. That's fine.

What about New York, though? What about New York? April 23rd. You're a Jersey guy now. Hey. I just want to let everybody know. We don't talk about this. For Ariel is no longer a New Yorker.

Don't tell people. Don't tell people. So don't let him do that. He's a Jersey guy now. Okay. Jersey Shore. April. Fist pump.

We don't pump. gas, we pump our fist. H-D-H, muscle milk. April 23rd, do you think it's going to happen? That was my guy. Ignore that. Hey, you don't talk in my ear, guys. It's very disrespectful. They were telling you not to divulge my personal information. Do you think that MSG will host the UFC event on April 23rd? You know, you know what happened to men of Dordy farted? He crapped his pants. So I don't think that much. I don't want to think about it.

That is the greatest who taught you that one. High school football coach. Wow. It's like when you were doing something and, you know, you went off sides or something. But he thought, oh, I thought it was a different plan. You're like, I thought I was, he would just interrupt you. You know what happened to the man who thought he farted? And then he wouldn't say crappy pants.

You'd say the S word. I don't like to curse them much. So you have not thought about this for one second. The UFC has come out saying that they can take this to court? December 12th. That's all you care about. December 12th is all I'm thinking about. Luke Rockold.

He's a great fighter. He wants my belt. And I'm not going to let him take it. But knowing that it's out there, knowing that it's out there, you've got to get there as champion, right? Oh, yeah, that's... You don't think about that. Well, that's going to happen.

Is there a chance that they do you versus John Battle of New York, if that's the first show, or do you think at this point, it has to be Cormier versus John? Does John Jones want that tough of a fight, you know, his first fight back? That's a question. Have you seen him? No, I haven't seen him. You don't follow him on Instagram?

I do follow him on Instagram. He looks big, he's in shape. He's jacked up right now. Yeah, what do you think? What do I think about it? What do you mean? Do you think that they would go and book the New York? York Superfight at MSG or does it have to be like because you have Jacerre and

I have to do my job on December 12th and then we'll see we'll see what happens um who knows it it could be a who knows what it could be you know the you got Yol Romero you got Jokre trying to fight for a belt maybe me and Luke is a crazy crazy fight and I win obviously and then we have to do a rematch maybe people want to see a rematch right I mean who who knows what the future has in store would be something It will be something. It would be nice for you to fight at least once in your UFC career on the East Coast. Forget New York.

I know. Isn't that crazy? I know. Although you seem to have good luck on the West Coast. It just seems a little weird. I feel like you would have a lot of fans. Even if they do you in like a Prudential Center. Yeah, no, I would love to.

It's just that some of the bigger fights I've been in, you know, are usually in Vegas. So it's there. But I can't wait to just to be on the East Coast and have my East Coast people out there cheering for me. It would be nice. Yeah. It would be really nice. So you have some personal news, some exciting personal news. Well, I had a baby.

You had a baby? Got to my family. It was not really exciting. Yeah, that wasn't. Something's been bothering me as of late. It's really been bothering me since around December, and it has finally been rectified. And we're going to explain what has been rectified after a very quick break here. So we're going to rejigger.

Really? Yeah, we're going to rejigger the studio here, and welcome in a third guest, actually, a second guest, the third man in the studio. Fador here? Wouldn't that be something? What do you make of him signing with that upstart promotion not coming to the UFC? Can we just go into his big surprise?

No, no. I'm just... You don't have any thoughts? No. How about Nick Diaz? You have a thought on that? It's BS, man. I feel bad for him right now. Would you go on the record and say you won't fight in Nevada? I won't do that, too.

I got a fight coming up. They will make your life a living hell. So we have a nice personal announcement for Mr. Chris Wyman. Finally, a wrong has been righted. And we're going to welcome in a third member into our studio in a matter of moments, but we have to take a quick break to, as I said,

realign the studio. So you know what we're going to do? We're going to go inside the vault here. We're going to go to June of 2011. We're going to go to UFC 131. That's me and Tom O'Haw? No. That's 139.

Jesse Bonfeld. You beat Jesse Bonfell in Vancouver, British Columbia. this is the first time we ever did a post-fight interview. So we're going to take a look at that clip, inside the vault, and then we'll be back. The first time. Okay. Post-fight interview. Okay.

At an event, because I was working for versus when you fought in Kentucky, so I couldn't talk to you. Anyway, here it is. Here's that clip, inside the vault, and then we'll be back with Chris Wyman and a special guest right here on the MMA hour. Ariel Halwani post-fighter U.S. 131 alongside Chris Wydeen who defeated Jesse Bonfell tonight via very impressive standing guillotine choke. And I heard that's kind of a go-to move for you, right? It's definitely one of my, I hit that in the Abu Dhabi trials once on some really good guy.

So I guess it's a go-to move. I'm pretty good in the front headlock position. We don't see that often in UFC fights. Talk to us about how you set it up. I mean, I hit a big knee and I heard him a little bit. He went for a take-down, and I feel pretty comfortable there where I don't have to, like, sprawl. I feel comfortable with different types of chokes and whatnot. And it ended up working out for me. But I'm a taller guy, so I think the Stanley Gill team works for me pretty good. You know, it's interesting because after your last fight and your UFC debut, we talked about how You weren't all that happy with your striking. You looked a lot more comfortable out there.

Would you agree? I agree. I mean, in the beginning it was a little sloppy. He comes out real sloppy in every one of his fights. So I knew no matter how much I wanted to make this a pretty fight and make people look at me like I'm an impressive, you know, stand-up fighter, ground fighter. I knew it was never going to look the way I planned in my mind.

So I was prepared for that, but he called me of a little of guard, and I was happy with the way it turned out, obviously. I was impressed that you threw a head kick. That was your first strike of a guard? the fight that that that told me that you were thinking that you're gonna you're gonna prove to us that you're a better striker from the fight against the Sakara yeah thanks man I definitely I went in there I definitely I didn't I really know what was gonna happen in this fight my game plan was really no game

plan I really felt like I was better wherever the fight was so I did I did have a visualization of me submitting him at some point so and I'm glad that it ended up happening but stand-up wise I'm pretty happy with myself why do you think you visualize that just because I mean that's where I'm usually if I'm in if I'm in a When I'm sparring all the time, you know, you don't knock out your sparring partners, you submit them more often. So when you're doing that in training, it's easier to visualize, I think, a submission than a knockout, at least for me. It looked at one point that he kind of rocked you with a kick to the head. Is that true? Nah, yeah, he really didn't. I know he started rushing me like he did in the crowd seemed like he did, but I was kind of more like out of position.

You know, I mean, kind of like, you know, just a little out of position, a little sloppy. But I wasn't ever, I wasn't rocked. When did he, he cut your eye? When I was on top of him, he actually hit an elbow, and I'm like, I felt like the cold, and I'm like, oh, I bet I'm cutting. And then all of a sudden I saw the blood drip down. I'm like, I just hope it's not like a bad enough cut where they'd actually stop the fight, but ended up not being too bad. And then in the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, you talked about hurting your knee. What exactly happened and how serious is it hurt?

Well, it's not hurt at all right now. Since I was a 10th grader and, you know, wrestling throughout my whole life, you know, you gather different types of injuries. But one of them was always, for me, my meniscus, my lateral meniscus would pop into my joint. and I'd be able to stray my knee and pop it back into place. And then as I got a little older, it wouldn't pop back in. So I had to get a couple surgeries because of that would be like emergency surgery. My knee wouldn't go back in. I couldn't stand, couldn't walk.

So during this fight, when I was on top of him, I felt that my knee got locked out. And I was trying to pop it back into place while I'm fighting. And I'm like, oh, I just think better go back in. You got to be kidding me. And because if it was, if it did stay out of place, I wasn't going to be able to get back up and fight. So it was definitely a guy. All right, back on the M.A.R. You can see the rest of that interview if you missed it.

four and a half years ago on my YouTube page. That's me and Chris Wyman back in June of 2011. During the break, by the way, Chris told me that he thought that that was the worst interview we've ever had, not the old one, the one we just did right here. And you know what? I don't really view interviews with Chris as interviews anymore. There are more conversations, catching up and whatnot,

but I'm a little disappointed you didn't like it, Chris. I just feel like you didn't have much to talk about. That was interesting for the people, but... Can you talk closer to the mic? You forget about that? They heard me. I thought it was great. Okay, well, how about this?

We have a special guest in studio here. His name, you may recognize the voice, but maybe not the face. If you're watching it, you'll recognize the face. His name is Michael Lunardelli, who is joining us from... Lunar Deli. Yeah. That's it. Are you Italian?

Just a little. Just a little bit. How you doing? The head of Reebok combat. That's correct. You joined us on the phone, maybe around two months or so ago, and you made the track out here to New York. How about that? Welcome.

I made the big show. He did. I can't believe I made the big show. Thanks for having me. It is a pleasure. You have an announcement, and people can kind of tell right off the bat from the shirt you're wearing, but let's get to it. We're very excited about this right here.

Yeah, sure thing. So first off, great, great start to the show, I've got to say. You don't agree with Chris? I don't. It was like a comedy routine out here. It was a good mix of everything. We had some tough, some tough conversations, some funny ones. Good job.

And the hairdo, by the way, he got his haircut this morning for the show. I got my haircut this morning. It's a little puffy. I like it. I went with the barber's style. You know, he just kind of like, he hair, he blew it up. Yeah. I got it. Don't touch. Don't touch me.

He just broke the microphone. Okay, enough about his hair. Let's get to the announcement. So listen. So we want to announce our latest partnership, our newest partnership with the middleweight champ. The All-American, Mr. Chris Wydenman, joining the Reebok team. And of course, as we say right here, right, join his team. Join the team. I appreciate it. It's amazing for you to have on the team. Right here on the air. Right here, baby.

Where's your shirt? I don't have a shirt. Wait, wait, what's this? Yes. What's this? Whoa. Wow, look at that reveal. Let's get a close of that.

Join. Look at these two guys. It looks like you're running for president or something. It is. It's a campaign. It does feel like one. It's a campaign, guys. Do you like the shirt?

Make sure to go to rebook.com right now and search Chris Wideman. Is it available right now? It is. It's available right now. Oh, my God. What did you just show me? Now listen, we have some, we have some other presents here. What?

I haven't seen these. Yeah, this is news. Okay. We were going to give you the shirt, but I think you got to earn this one. I don't know. We'll talk about this in a minute. What we did is we made some custom shoes for Chris. Look at that.

There you go. Look at the smile on his face. The Z pumps, right? So Z pump quick and the All-American, your color, custom made. What? Get these on Reebok.com. This is, you made a few of them. Guys, this is my first time seeing this.

First time. I'm not pretending right now. This is amazing. This is amazing. You're speechless. I've never imagined having my own shoe. I didn't think they were making me. me a show, so I really appreciate that.

That's really amazing. Do you like them? These are sick. Are they your size? Look at this. This is like almost like blended in the star in there. It is sweet. Can I get Canadian versions of those?

You live in America, right? Are you allowed to vote? No, I'm not. In Canada? No. But you should vote today if you're in Canada. I just got to stand up. This is a huge, what's wrong?

Hang on. He wants to try them on. Yeah, I definitely want to put these on. I just, I'm afraid you're going to break the set. Is that a right and a left? It sure is. Let's take a look. How do you know his size?

We asked him. We got to know him a little bit. We didn't just sign him out of the blue. You know, I'm happy you said that. I'm happy you said that because I said right before the break that I was annoyed about something in December. I have felt that there was a major oversight that he wasn't one of the first guys signed.

New York guy, good-looking guy, family man, the man who dethroned the goat, undefeated. Why did it take so long for Reebok to sign Chris Wybman? Well, listen, you know, our boy, Kevin Brasho and myself, we literally wrote down our, roster that we wanted, our top roster. On the first day, we came into this thing, and he was at the top of the list. We had Rhonda on there, yeah, we had Connor on there, we'd Anthony, all those guys. He was on the list, but he had another deal. So we had to wait. We had to wait for the deal

to end, and we've been patiently waiting for this thing. See, he never said that. He was saying he wasn't feeling the love. He never told me about the other deal. We talk. We don't talk. You're painting a different kind of picture. So that's why you would have signed him if you could have. Absolutely. It would have been one of our first signings. But this is a union. thing because correct me from wrong. So he's not just like, this is a big deal. This is a Reebok sponsorship. This is not so much like he's part of the Reebok kit. This is his own separate deal. Absolutely. So we obviously have a UFC deal, right, with the entire organization. And we signed that back in December. So all 580 or so fighters are wearing the fight kits and they're coming out with

Reebok gear. But we got that covered. Yeah. This is, we go out and we signed a few fighters to activate around the Reebok brand, right, around our combat training business, particularly. And we We've picked a roster of fighters that we're working with, and Chris is one of those people on that roster. Correct me if I'm wrong, a lot of those Reebok-only fighters on that roster don't, are you all right there? Jesus. You're like a jeez. Oh, I got this thing. They don't have their own shoe. Correct.

Do any of them have their own shoe? Are you talking about our rostered fighters? Yeah. Yeah, a few of them do. So basically what we did is we made a custom shoe for Chris. Yeah. And we can do the same for any of our fighters. So we've done this already with a couple, and there'll be more coming.

on this end. These are sick. Mine are definitely the best. Well, I've never seen one that specific. Yeah, so you'll see some more of these. Okay, but is he the first? He's really the first to make one this specific. We've had a couple others that we've done.

How about that? But not to this level. He got the special treatment. Have they rated the wrong? What? Stop it. You're such an instigator. I mean, they really come out.

No, we were in talks, and I was what, we were with bad boys, so we couldn't really, you know, discuss deals. You know, obviously you have to respect to the people that you're on. the contract with. So the contract was finished and we spoke to him and they were very interested and they told me the same thing. The lies they're telling you right now that they wanted me from the beginning. No, but, uh, and it's just an honor to be a part of a team, you know, be part of an apparel brand

like Reebok. Yeah. It would be nice if you signed the contract right here. We could have saw how much it was for and all that. Yeah, we probably wouldn't tell you that. Yeah, we wouldn't tell you. But it made it really official almost. It's official.

I just got, I just put on sneakers and stuff. Can't get any more official than this. I mean, we want one? It'd be nice. I mean, I'll put it. I'll put it on the, this is great. Did you have any say in this,

or did they do it themselves? This, I had a little, I think we had a little saying, I had a little saying this. I like it. I don't know, like, I'd pretend like I didn't see the shirt,

but the shoes is the first time I was seen. We'll pretend you didn't see the shirt. We're wearing the shirt. Yes, well, yeah, right. We had, I can't explain it. Will the shoes be available in stores or? No, this is just going to be on Reebok e-com. Okay.

It's just a Reebok e-com deal, so people can go there, so you can search with Chris Wydman's name, and they'll come up. So with the Sherrots. So I think it was, was it August, maybe July that we had you on? Yeah, it's July. And, you know, we talked about a lot of the bumps in the road and all that stuff.

And I know it's only been a couple months. But are you feeling better? Are you feeling more love? How have things changed, if any, since we last spoke? Yeah, I mean, it's been great. I get to say it's going according to plan, I would say. We knew that we were going to have some barriers when we came in and we talked about this, right? but I think at this point in time

everything's kind of flowing we're not hearing as much negativity in the press and things are kind of calming down a little bit and we're getting our business underway a little bit here so we've got our UFC business going but we're also signing some of the best fighters in the game and we're working with some of the gyms

and some coaches and trainers and I can talk about that a little bit later and a couple things are doing there I think we're just getting out into some of our markets like Brazil and Mexico and Western Europe and the products are just hitting the marketplace there there's a lot of international events coming. We're going to be in Dublin this week. Oh, are you going? I'm going on to

this week. Wow. That is some kind of experience. Yeah, I've got a couple events happening there with Connor and his team and we're actually going to be working with SBG Jim Ireland and John Kavanaugh's team and of course that's Connor's gym and we'll be working with those guys. We signed a sponsorship deal with them. What about law MMA? Law MMA is on the list. They're on the team. He joined the team. Oh, it's on the list. But the deal hasn't been done yet. Not an official deal. But there were sending equipment, I think. Longo's a bit of a ballbuster. I mean, you really have to grease his wheel to make this. Sure do. Tough guy. What other gyms? You said you were...

There's other gyms that we're not going to announce them right now, but there's other gyms that we're working with, you know, different ones in the U.S. and different markets and things like that. So there's a few underway, not ready to announce any others right now. But right now we're focused on Chris. Yeah. Are you done assigning individual guys or girls, or are we still going to see some more? Well, that's a good question. We have 13 right now. We have 13 fighters on the roster. And we'll probably go with another one or two. I'll never say that's going to be it. We'll always look at new fighters. We're always looking to get some fresh look in there. But right now, we're probably close to being done with maybe one or two more coming. Is there one or two in mind? There's one or two in mind, but not in a serving. I'll tell you if it's a good, uh, I'm not going to show you my cards here.

You want that shirt. Is it Luke Rockhold? Wouldn't that be something? It's not Luke Rockhold. You know, actually love the Boston accent. It's great. Yeah, and I'm being good right now. Give me a couple drinks. What were you going to say about Luke? He was going to say something good. No, no. I mean, Luke's, Luke's a good fighter, but our, you know, we're part of a bigger brand. Adidas grip and he's an he's an Adidas guy. Oh, that's right. That's right. How does that work by the way? Because Adidas is the parent company. Yeah. So are you in, are you on on the same, like do you talk? Yeah, it's like two, you know, two brothers. Oh, is separate? Well, we operate separately and they operate separately, but we're all one degree. So there's no competing. I would say we compete,

as brothers would compete. Of course. We root for each other, but at the same time, we compete. Wow. This fight just got even more interesting. It's Reebok for, it's almost like a civil war.

No, my gosh. It's great. I need these things to get, not this particular fight. We definitely root for each other. It's not like that at all. We talk and we know what each other's doing and it's good.

We have a good place. I have to say, I'm happy, I'm happy for you. I'm happy to be a part of this big announcement because I have felt, we've talked about this in May. I have felt like it's been slow for you to get the love.

Some people get it before their champion. You have to defend your title a couple times. And look, you have your own shirt. And I gotta say, it's a pretty, it's a pretty nice shirt. It's a nice shirt. It's not, it's,

it's no skulls and bones and things of that nature. Yeah, it feels good. This kind of like fits your personality, red, white, and blue. It's a, it's a phrase that you said. Clean, simple. It's him.

To the point. And now you can join the team officially by wearing one of these. I mean, it's awesome. This is big. It's better than a hashtag. This is big. I had a bag.

Is there anything else I should bring out that Kevin provided me with or should we just stick to these? Now, I think this is good for now. It's too bad that you put them on because I really wanted to study the shoe. Oh, I wish I had more room to back up. I don't know what kind of place you are here. I know, I just wanted to see, like, I wanted to actually, I wanted you to explain to me.

So this is the pump. Hang on, let me get them up here. Hang on. I want to put both them up. With the pump, where would he use this? Anything. I mean, he can train in these. You can run in these.

I mean, they're super comfortable to just kick around in. I mean, I've got like five or six pairs of these. We've been trying to get some to you over here. Yeah, yeah. You know how that goes. I feel like these are the black in them to the way. Yeah, it is very nice. The stars on the black over here.

I got the stripes. How many people work on designing this? Something like this is usually a couple designers. Okay. It's really just a couple that we have on this stuff. And correct me from wrong, you just saw them for the first time. We saw them for the first time today. That's unbelievable.

You know, Kevin was kind of hiding. I mean, we wanted to be a surprise for all of us. You know, I didn't know what we were going to get. But as the big boss man, don't you get the final sign off before production? Not on these. Not on these. Anything in the combat realm, I would. This is not considered combat.

No, this is more in our running line, but it's a custom shoe that we did for Chris specifically, and we felt like it fit from a designer standpoint, but to actually see him come out and execute, the first time I saw them, they're awesome. They are awesome. I'm going to get a pair. Well, I would imagine. Will I be seeing a Chris Wyman commercial? Possibly in the future.

It would be nice. We'll see. I mean, it's the least they can be. I'm eyeing him up too. Yeah, exactly. You're setting me up here. Yeah, well, I mean, it's what you do. He's very, he's very, he's very humble.

He's very humble guy, so he needs someone to speak up. for him sometimes his his agents don't do these things but oh I think his best days of coming my friend yeah you're attacking everybody today no I'm trying to get you some I'm trying to get you some shine here but I'm happy I'm happy for you putting down other people in in in in a million years did you ever think when you got into the sport that you'd have your own shoe no was that even a goal no that was like the unimaginable yeah it was something I didn't yeah if you could talk into the microphone that'd be great I forgot about that thing Yeah, no, I never even imagined having my own show.

This is, there's no words to explain. It's amazing, ridiculous. Will you use them? Of course. I'm never taking these things off. It's a great thing. I'll be everywhere with these. And look at you, you got an Apple watch as well.

Yes, yep, yep. And it just came on. It just told me it's time to stand. So that's why I was trying to stand. Did it really tell you that? It tells you when you've been sitting too long. You've been sitting. This interview is going too long.

I'm starting to like literally having a panic attack. I need to start moving. I haven't got a workout out of this morning. He's going to start kicking things. Speaking of that, can we play Rock Pepper's Disaster to shoot to see if you get this shirt? Okay, but I want to ask one of the questions. Are there any other things you could tell us? You kind of hinted the gyms.

I know you can't speak, but are there any other things maybe for January? How does it work with you guys? Is it like the cycle? Is it a January to December cycle? Like new lines? You're talking about product lines and things like that? Yeah, I think we took last time. But we were saying that, you know, we had the initial fight kit launch.

And I know there were a lot of questions on whether or not we were going to tweak that or make adjustments. And of course, you know, that's always been part of the game. We said that this would be at least a one year or a three-season jersey to start or a fight kit to start. And that's what we're looking at right now. We're probably looking at an adjustment right around International Fight Week this July. Small one, nothing crazy. Okay. And then a year later, we'll keep that one going for about a year,

and then a year later we'll come out with something brand new. So it'll be July to July. Yeah, and then the way it works in general is every season we come out with new products. So every six months, there's an entirely new product line. Whether it's fan gear or new hats or accessories, all that stuff at all. It's always changing. It's always moving. It's dynamic, so it's good.

But when you say adjustment, what do you mean? Do you mean from an actual product standpoint or from a look standpoint? I would say it's more the look. Okay. And this first one, so the first, I'd say two years, it's essentially the same material as the same general product. We'll change the aesthetic look of it a little bit, about a year in, and we'll keep that for another year, and then we'll come up with something new and fall into 17. I'm putting you on the spot here.

You know, we didn't talk about this beforehand. I did talk to Kevin briefly about it, Kevin Broshoe. What's Kevin's title, by the way? Great guy. I give him that title, but what's his actual title? He's the head of our sports marketing team for comment. I asked him about Giuliana Pena, why she wore pretty much like a cutoff rash guard

as opposed to the kit. Another fighter, Michelle Waterson, wore this. And apparently that for the women's gear, there were some missing. Where do we stand on that? I've had some questions. We have four different bottoms, four different tops, and that's basically what we had planned up front,

working with the UFC. But we're not immune to. to like, you know, catching every single thing and what every fighter wants to wear. But we don't want to leave fighters for something that they're not comfortable in either. So she wanted to wear something that was more of a rash guard.

We didn't have it in the current design of the fight kit. So we said, hey, wear what you need to wear for this fight and we'll design something later that works into the fight kit. Interesting. That makes sense? Yeah, I was actually talking to Josh Barnett's manager, Lul-Libar, and he said that working with the Reebok guys

in Japan. I don't know, were you in Japan? I was in Japan, yeah. Oh, well, he sung your praises. He said that the Reebok people couldn't have been nicer. You know, some people have their reservations going in, but, you know, he just told me that's really the last, was that the last UFC? No, there was Houston before, after that.

But he was saying that you guys were great. You were very easy to work with, suggestions, things like that. So, yeah, listen, we're an open book. You know, we want to, we'd like to work with every single fighter if we could, but there's only a few that we can actually sign to endorsement deals. The rest, though, we're open to feedback. We're talking to as many as we can. We don't get to everybody, of course. There's 580 fighters.

Yeah. But if we can talk to, you know, 20, 30, 40, every couple months, that's good for. us. And we try to take as much feedback into the gear that we're building as well. And so that's one of the reasons we signed Chris. I mean, he's an intense trainer. He's, he's all about his fitness. He's all about his training. And as part of that, he's going to help us build a better product line as we go forward. And that's one of the things. We're going to use him as the face of Reebok combat. Whoa. He's going to be the face. He'll be one of the faces. Well, I got to tell you, one of the faces and the face, two different things. Well, I would say, what do we have to do to make Chris

the face? He's a trust me. closer over here. Yeah. How can you miss his face? Come on. Come on. Let's hug it out. Well, I mean, we have Connor.

We have Rhonda. We got Connor. We got Rhonda. We got Anthony Pettis. We've got Joanna. I'm the American face. You are. There's Jacques Aray.

We got Rory McDonald's. We've got Yair. We got Olivier. Actually, not a lot of Americans. No. I mean, and that's the thing. Like, we try to sign someone from the different markets. We don't need to have, you know, 40, 50 different Americans.

Because, again, we've got the entire U. Is he the only male American? No, Anthony Pettis. Anthony Pettis. That's right. But that's it. That's it right now. That's interesting. And then we've got Paige, of course, and we've got Ryan. So we've got two female and two male. Wow, that week was him with him, Connor in the main event, him and the co-main event.

Crazy. Page, Fight Pass. Thursday night. Yeah. Wow, it's going to be crazy. It's a lot of rebuck. How do you feel, by the way, how do you feel, Chris, if you can just get in there? How do you feel about them putting two more shows before your fight?

Do you feel like it's kind of, you know, it's sort of diluting the message along the way or does it make the week feel bigger to you? No, I think it definitely just shows how big of a fight card we are and that they want to, I guess, capitalize on that moment. There's going to be so many eyes on that weekend and to throw more fights in there, I definitely trust the UFC's judgment on why they're doing that. What's your prediction for pay-per-view buys? You know, I just want the card to stay together. If it stays together. As it currently sits. You know, I try not to. I'm going to say, say 1.4.

Really? 1.4? Yeah. Holy Mark. First of all, the Jose Aldo fighting and Connard's fight has been being getting promoted for almost a year now, right?

And they put more money into that than any other show and it didn't happen yet. So I hope that that's going to carry over and that momentum is still going to be swinging. Wow. 1.4 would probably be the second most behind UFC 100.

Yeah. You want to stick to that? I like that. And I had, well, I had number two right now. Me and Anna's the Silver, our second fight was the second most, a million. Yeah, there have been a couple of millions.

We're number two. You are number two? That's what you've been told? No, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Why, who else is? Well, I know UFC 101 did over a million. I think it did 1.1.

That was BJ Penn, Kenny Florian, Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin. We did more than that. Wow, look at you. Look at this guy. He knows. He knows his stuff. I know everything. Yeah, this is going to beat that.

1.4. That'd be something. You got me and Luke, obviously, is a co-mean event. And anybody who's involved, with the sport at all knows that this is the fight to watch this is going to be a awesome fight have you actually trained with the because this is your first time fighting as a week because your last fight was in may before the rebuct deal kicked in have you trained yet with the rebuck stuff yeah so when i went out for valante's fight i kind of oh that's right i got i got them to send me

i got them to give me some shorts the shorts that they're actually fighting in and then just recently i got a whole bunch of stuff i'm hooked up now and i'll be training and all the stuff i'm fighting. Do you have gloves, too? We have boxing gloves. Okay. Not an MMA gloves. We can do MMA gloves, but there's a UFC deal, so we try to stay there. Are those for sale yet? Are the boxing gloves out there? Boxing gloves are come out and fall into 16. Gotcha. But our guys are all training them. So we've had, you know, Conn's been using him, Anthony, Ron. I haven't gotten. Chris doesn't have boxing gloves coming. We're just signed today. We're just just doing this announcement today. Will you get open? He likes to stare it up this guy. Oh, he's

ridiculous. And trust me, all the people on Twitter are going to be on them, too. Is there, is there? It's not a nice person. Will you make an MMA glove, a Reebok MMA glove, or is that not necessary? Not in the plans. Not right now. Okay. Interesting. And are there any actual boxers who use, like in a pro fight? Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. We've had boxing the past that Floyd Mayweather wore our boot in his last fight. He's been wearing our boots for a long time. Against Berto? Yeah. He wore Reebok. Oh, I didn't know that. Is he a Reebok athlete?

He's not a Reebok athlete, but he's a friend of the brand. So he just chose to wear it. He just chose to wear it. That's amazing. He just chose to wear it. That's amazing. He's amazing. He doesn't have a shoe deal, believe it.

He doesn't do it. That's shocking. You have a shoe deal, and he doesn't have a shoe deal. Hey, I'm way big in the hand. Okay, that's true. There you go. There you go. And then you've got, you know, we've got other boxes coming up.

Really? Bam Rios is going to be wearing Reebok and his next fight. He's fighting for the title. We've got boxing gyms that we're working with. So we're going to be in that. The boxing shoe and the wrestling shoe. Yeah, it's awesome. I've been wearing it.

Really? Yeah. You've been wearing the boxing as well? Boxing shoe, yeah. My first time I'm wearing boxing shoes and it's crazy. Obviously, you don't have a deal like you do with the UFC in boxing as far as sponsoring an organization. But are you as invested in boxing as MMA or is it fair to say more MMA than boxing because of the OECD? Well, that's a good question.

I think UFC deal obviously takes precedence here. We've chosen our focus. Sure. And, you know, it's a multi-year deal. It's a big deal. And a lot of people talk about this and they talk about where the money's going and all that. But we've put our focus into the U.S. deal up front and we're investing in MMA. It's not that we're not investing in boxing,

but that may be something that comes a little bit more later. Right now, it's a UFC focus, so we've got the UFC deal, which is a big investment for us, and we've got fighter sponsorships, and then we're doing some deals with gyms, and most of that's on the MMA side right now. But that's not to say we're not working with boxes, and we're not going to be working with boxing.

We're going to be doing the shoes, we're doing the gear. So if you go and check out Reeboks combat line, we've got combat boxing gear, and we've got combat MMA gear, we've got kickboxing stuff. We'll have equipment coming out, like I said, next fall. we've got the footworld come out next fall, spring. So we've got a lot going on on both sides of it. But as far as endorsing our sponsorship deals,

it's more MMA right now. How badly would you want him to fight in the first MSG show? How huge would that be something? Not as bad as me. Massive. As bad as he wants it, not as bad as me. It's going to happen. You blew it off.

Like, it ain't no thing. I'm saying I'm focused on December 12th. And anybody who's followed my career and has heard me do an interview before. Obviously, that's a dream of mine is to fight in New York and especially at MSG. So that's just a no-brainer. Let me have you address this before we say goodbye.

We spoke briefly about it, but I don't think we spoke about him. I don't want to harp too much on this, but Brendan Shaw seems to have retired for now, and he kind of criticized or said that the Reebok deal was the reason why. Does that get under your skin? Does that drive you nuts?

How do you react to that? No, it doesn't. You know, listen, we've talked about this, I think, before. We can't make everybody happy. Yeah. You know, some people are going to criticize the deal. They may feel they lost some sponsorships as part of this apparel deal. The way we look at it is we're not deciding where the money goes.

We are investing in all of these different things that relate to MMA and the sport. So we've put a lot of money into the UFC deal, put a lot of money into fighters. We're putting a lot of money into gyms and trainers and coaches and things like that. But then there comes a decision point. The UFC decides how the fighters are paid. That's not something that we get involved in at all. So I can understand that he's looking at us and blaming us because it's a Reebok, you know, apparel deal. It's a little misplaced from my standpoint.

And, but at the same time, again, I'm not here. We have to do what we have to do. And that's focus on making great gear, supporting fighters, getting fighters to like, you know, showcase to be the face of our brand and things like that. If we do those things really well, then things will come around. And I think I told you this before, we face this before on CrossFit and other things that we've worked with. And we'll face more of this. It's not going to go away tomorrow but the noises died down for the most part i saw that he's made some more comments recently um again you know that's that's i have never spoken to him so i can't yeah but you know it is i like he said i think it's just misplaced anger right away you see that people wearing rebach and he's

not getting the sponsors that he was making so he gets upset but you can't you can't blame rebach for that rebecca is coming in and doing the best they can to make this sport even better and and they're paying the fighters you know so it's not it's not it's not rebuck if he wants to get mad he has to get the at the ufc but in general I think this is going to be a good thing for the sport. And right now it's just a tough transitional period. But again, I think the anger, you can't keep blaming Reebok. And, you know, I think MMA fans need to start supporting what's going on because this is going to happen. Support Reebok and support the UFC in this move because otherwise you're wasting your time and energy getting

upset about it. Yeah, and I think part of it too is it's the elevation of the sport. If the sport becomes a sport like MLB or the NFL or NHL, it becomes a sport that's viewed in that lens in the U.S. if it's elevated to that level, then there'll be a lot more money in the game overall for everybody. That's my viewpoint on it. And I don't think it's quite there yet, but it's certainly getting there. It's growing, right?

We're looking at some of these fights like an Australia, Ronda's fight. I mean, if they sell out that stadium, if we're talking 65, 70,000 seats for, you know, what's the two, you know, title fights on the women's side of the UFC. That's amazing. Who you be there? It's amazing.

I may be there. I'm still working on that. I will add this button and correct me if I'm wrong if I'm speaking at a turn here, but you had a deal with the UFC. It wasn't necessarily part of the deal to go around and work with Law MMA or this gym, that gym,

or sponsor Chris Wyman. This seems to be what Reebok wants to do to grow the brand. You could have just kept it at the UFC deal, the kits and whatnot. So I think it's very commendable on the part of Reebok to show that, look, we're going to help grow the sport,

grassroots, the gyms. Yeah, growing the sport. That's an important thing. Yeah, and I mean, that's how we learn. You know, we've said this. You know, we come in as humble as possible, as humble as we can, we're really good at training and fitness. We know how to make that gear. We know how to make the shoes, the footwear, all that. We're great at that. What we need to know

is how do we specialize in the realm of combat? You know, how do we make the best boxing gear? How do we make the best MMA gear? And you're not going to do that just by sitting in your office and designing some cool-looking stuff. You've got to get out there, you've got to work with fighters. You've got to get out there and work with the coaches. You've got to get with the trainers. You've got to get in the gyms. You've got to send your people out there and you've got to talk to people. And that takes time. You know, we're three months into this launch, right? So come and talk to us a year or two years from now, and let's see we're at then. And then that'll tell you how far along we've come.

But we feel really good. Remember, we're working out like three seasons out. Sure. So I've already seen the spring summer 17 stuff. Wow. What can you tell us? Blown away. Oh, the line's unreal.

I can't wait to get there. We have, you know, several layers of things. So instead of having one or two MMA shorts, we start building four or five, six different MMA shorts and same thing on boxing and all that. So it's going to take some time to get there, but we're getting. there. We got to work with guys like Chris. This is how it happens. And you start to get the commentary. You start to work with, again, some of the coaches and trainers. We'll give you the specifics about what work and doesn't work. It's amazing the feedback you can get working directly

with the professional athletes in the sport and what they'll tell you. So, you know, me, my fandom goes back, way back. We were talking about it backstage. And, you know, I go back to some of the greats in the game in Japan back in the Pride Days. And we want to. He moved to Japan just to just to watch pride. But that's not my point. I mean, I look at what they were wearing back then, and I look at what they were training in back then, and I'm looking at what they're training in now. And our job is to elevate that, right? It's to make better product all the time, to help these guys train better, to give them, you know, some of the wherewithal to be able to train better, and better gyms, better facilities, better equipment, better everything. And that's what we're

here to do. Well, congratulations on this deal. I really appreciate you making the check you and Kevin. Congratulations on the deal as well. Don't touch me. Sorry. Are my hands sweaty? No. And thank you, uh, thank you for doing it. on this show. We're honored. We're very happy to be a part of it and happy that when people look back on, I think this is the first time we've actually, or you've actually announced a deal live on the air, right? Yeah, absolutely. The first time. This is first time. You know a great job. Rebock recognizes where the cork is popping. Exactly, where the MMA fan lives. You've come here and I appreciate that greatly. So congrats. You can get the

shirt and the shoes at where? Rebock.com. That's it. Look for Chris, search for Chris Wybman, and then the shoes and the shirt will pop up. And final thing, I know you wanted to give a shout out to a good friend of yours, Ian. Oh, yeah, so, you know what? Yeah, I want to give a shout out to Ian. He's definitely going through tough times. Ian Matusiac, I don't know if I could give his full update and everything yet, because I don't do it about that.

We're pulling for him. But I should have figured that out. But he's going to a tough time. He was, he's been going through a lot. Yeah, he's on Twitter. He writes to me quite often. Do you know his name? I think it's Ian Matusiae, but you should have been more prepared.

I just thought of it at the last moment. I wanted to wish him well and wish that everything goes well for him and that we are thinking of him and pulling for him. He's a great guy, great kid. We love Ian. And a big fan of, we'd love to see him in some Reebok gear as well. Really great kid. Yeah, we can get that phone.

Again, thank you so much for the time. Congratulations, congratulations. We're going to take a break. We're going to be joined by Rick Hahn after the break. During this break, we were talking about Eddie Gordon, you know, getting released from the UFC, one of the guys who was released also was Marcus Brimidge. One of my most memorable interviews happened in December of 2011, tough finale. In fact, this is the interview that New York Rick saw, and that led to him writing me via email to, quote, unquote, join the team. How about that?

That's called tying it together. Here's my interview with Marcus Brimidge and Rampage Jackson, December 2011, another inside the vault as we say goodbye to Chris and Michael, the newest member of Team Reebok, and we'll be back in a minute right here on the MN. AMA Hour. Ariel Halwani post-fight at the Ultimate Fighter 14 finale alongside Marcus Brimidge, a very happy Marcus Brimidge representing his team who defeated Stephen Bass tonight via unanimous decision. And Marcus, congratulations on the win.

I've been listening to you do a bunch of interviews. And I can't remember a guy doing interviews after a fight who is so happy, energetic, enthusiastic. What are the emotions going through your body right now? I am so happy right now to get my first win in the UFC. see, my shin is sore as hell. So hopefully tonight when I get white girl wasted, I won't feel it, I think. Now, excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is white girl wasted? Oh, that is when you're drunk to the point of you don't know what's happening, what's going on,

you wake up in the morning with a strange sense of shame. Why is this not just girl wasted? Why is this white girl wasted? Why can't it be black girl wasted, Asian girl wasted? Why white girl wasted? Because stereotypically speaking the course, you always see the white girls like, wow, whoo, they wake up in the morning. Oh my God, I can't believe I did that. What a mistake. Will you be walking back to a room with your shoes in your hand?

Because I always see the girls here in Las Vegas with their high heels and their hands and whatnot. Will that be you at around 4 a.m. tonight? Everyone is bigger than me in my corner. So usually when I get white girl wasted, someone always just throws me over with my shoulder and just takes me home. How long have you been looking forward to this moment where you can just, you know, let loose and get wasted? Oh, for a long time. I mean, you need a reason to get white girl wasted. You can't just go out, well, oh, today's Monday, I'm going to get white girl wasted.

No, you need a significant reason to do this. And having your first win in the UFC is good enough for me, baby. Does it feel almost surreal to say that you are now a UFC fighter and your 1-0 in the UFC? Yes, it actually does. You know, you fight, but, you know, to see yourself on TV, you're like, oh, my gosh, that's me. You know, I look different than HD, you know, all that stuff. And I'm just so happy to be here, man. I mean, the words can't describe how I feel right now, you know.

And I'm just happy and I'm blessed. And, you know, I know I made it because I'm with this guy. He won the award at the M.M.A. Awards. I seen him. I seen him getting. Well, congratulations on your win. and I'm wondering, were you happy with your performance? Obviously, you got the win, but were you happy with what you did out there? Honestly, honestly, I'm not because it didn't go the way I want.

I was looking for that knockout bonus. You know, I need that to pay out the college loans. You know, the student loan people call in my house, so, you know, I need to, you know, pay them off. But things are going to get better, you know. I have been working on my wrestling. That's when he caught me. That's how I got this. When he caught me and I was able to sleep.

take him down, you know, hey, thank you, Kami, ATT for allowing me... Oh, shit. What's up, man? How you doing? I'm taking on this show. This is my show now. This is my show, man. What's up, man?

I just saw your fight, man. I'm pretty impressed. Thank you, man. Man, I'm happy to meet you. I'm happy to meet you, man. I'm happy to meet you, too, man. You're a softball, though, huh? Yes, yeah, I'm a softball.

You can't steal my mic. That's the number one rule, rampage. Everyone knows that. Okay, my bad. But this man has been talking about you for the last 30 minutes saying that you're his idol. Yeah. What's it like to meet your idol after your first UFC win? Man, it's crazy, man.

It's the under to meet you. I've been following you since King in the Cage, pride, all that, man. Thanks, man. I appreciate that. Yeah, that makes me feel good. It makes all my pains and injuries worth while here and stuff like this. You know, it's something. A fight I never think about it.

One of these days, you're going to meet somebody. Be like the NU.C. I feel. Somebody look up to you and stuff like that. But that's how I go. M.M.A. with big family. like you pay it for it you know next year you know he's gonna be sitting while i'm sitting hopefully you won't be there though did you see his fight yeah i saw his fight i was pretty impressed

you know i can tell he he got a lot of potential you know what i'm saying and he's still you know coming up and stuff like that he like he hit hard and stuff like that you let him off a couple of times i was telling you don't let him off i know you probably couldn't hear me they was quiet and i thought you could probably hear me yeah i couldn't hear him i couldn't hear him because you know i'm not used to his voice but you know hey the more i get to talk to him the more I can recognize his voice. Yeah, I saw him kicking your nuts really hard, man. That was that.

It was all good. Now I'm investing them still, we're with Thai Cubs. I'm just going to walk around. Go ahead. Yeah, you can't, you can't fight without steel cups. But see, man, my home boys, my teammate, we play a game, we hit each other nuts.

That condition your nuts, though. Oh, really? It does. When I get, when I get kicked the nuts in the firemen, I've been hit all that, we're hanging on my friend. We just be nut, nut, nut, nut shot. Yeah.

It's called Bunzai, Bunzai. You got close your fist, so you can't touch the ball. It ain't that type of game. Yeah, I don't know what type of people you can be playing with. Mark's favorite rampage moment? What's one that comes to mind? I know maybe hard he's sitting right here, but... After he beat Kevin Randleman, and then he called out Vandalay and Van der Leigh,

go Walter, told him, he said, I want you, bro. Van Deleigh push him, was like, my belt, quentin dropped the mic, and he dropped the mic, boom, got in his face, oh man. I almost lost it. It was like Summer Slamming WWF, man. If I had to jump in, it was off the chain, man. I love that moment. Here's your mic. The mic's getting passed around now.

But he'll let you get the mic. We won't let me get the right. Is it because I'm black? It's a little nicer to me than you are. Oh, okay. Don't you're waiting this day, by the way. Is that since then? Man, it's right after Thanksgiving, though.

You're saying. I was just saying. I know I'm big. Somebody's taking me from James Toni today. I almost cry. Come on, man. I know I'm big. Okay.

A lot of sushi in Japan? I don't eat sushi. Oh. White rice. All right. Would you like brown rice? Would you just say? The white race, you don't like the, it's a little.

You said I don't like the white race? No. He just go there. He went there. He went there. He went there. Because I was so racial with this guy. That's wrong, man.

Can we all just get along? Why does everything I be so racial, man? Well, according to, you know, the book of genetics, there are no white people in this trio right here. I'm not white. I'm in Middle Eastern. Okay, okay. Okay, so you said white rice. Right.

Yeah, yeah, I do eat that. That's it. Let's get back to Marcus. Do you remember that moment? Another classic moment with one Rampage Jackson. Something crazy is happening to my computer screen. All right, back on the M.A.R. You can see the rest of that interview on my YouTube page.

But we got more show to go. By the way, again, thank you to Michael Lunardelli. Thank you to Chris Wyman. That was a lot of fun. And congratulations to them on the podcast. partnership. All right, let's move along. Let's welcome in our next guest. He is the Titan FC lightweight champion. He is Rick Hahn. He joins us right now via the phone. Rick, are you there? Hey, how's it going? Hey, Rick, how are you? I'm doing very well. I appreciate the time. Sorry,

we got a little backed up there, but thank you for being patient. Let's cut to the chase. I understand you have an announcement of your own. Yeah. You know, after giving a lot of thought, you know, I just had, you know, probably the best fight of my career, you know, a few weeks ago, winning the lightweight title for Titan, you know, but, you know, it's been a long road. You know, you've been around, you know, years ago with Belator and, you know, 39 years old. I'm, yeah, it's time to hang it up. You know, I'm going to go out on top, you know, holding the belt. And, you know, it's just one of those things.

I'm not a young kid anymore. And, you know, as you know, it's a hard sport. And, you know, I want to go out, go out in my own terms. And, you know, so my big announcement is, yeah, I'm retiring from M&A. When did you make this decision? You know, it's been on the verge the last couple of years. You know, back in 2013, I almost retired when I was with Bellator having some contract issues with them. and, you know, I wasn't really happy at the time.

And so I thought about it back then. And then more recently, over this last summer, before I got the call for the Titan fight, I was pretty much kind of made up my mind that I was going to be done with it and, you know, just move on to the next chapter. But, you know, right after that, Titan gave me the call and asked if I would, you know, take the title fight. And I was like, well, you know what, let's put it all back together,

go for one more last run, and see what we can do. And, you know, I was fortunate enough to get the win and had a great fight. If you didn't win that fight against Pat Healy, if you didn't become champion, do you think you would have kept fighting? If I didn't win it? Yeah. No, I still would retire.

It was a win or lose. I was going to be done. You know, I was, it's just better to go out with a win. Yeah. And, especially, you know, arguably, I was probably, well, it was definitely the best fight of my career. I have to say the first time I've been more than three runs. and just the fact that was a title fight and against a name the opponent like Healy and, you know, it was just one of those fights that was a back and forth battle.

It was a war and I'd never really been in one of those before. It was just, you know, everything kind of came together at the right time, I think, and I think it's a good way to finish it for me. It's funny because sometimes when you make these decisions going into a fight and then you perform, you perform mightily and you win a title, at any point did you think to yourself, you know what, maybe, maybe I'll defend it once. Maybe now the Titan is, you know, on Fight Pass, this could be a gateway to the UFC. Did you reconsider at all after being champion?

Definitely. You know, obviously, you know, being fighting in the UFC would be really cool. You know, just kind of complete the whole thing with my career in MMA. I've been all, you know, all the biggest organizations. But, you know, I definitely thought about it. And especially going into this fight, you know, I argued with, I think I had, you know, the best training camp I've had, which is kind of. kind of weird.

Yeah. I felt the best shape I've ever been in going into this fight. I had a great training camp. I think I kind of figured out finally how to train properly, maybe not over-trained like I used to, and it's just kind of ironic that it ends up being my last fight, which, you know, for a minute I was thinking, you know, maybe I got it all figured out.

Maybe I keep fighting and, you know, maybe it'll be a little easier next time around. But, you know, I think I just felt so good going in that fight and I performed pretty good because knowing it was my last fight, and I put everything into it, and, you know, I just kind of let everything go, win or lose. I wasn't, you know, if I got knocked out,

if I got decision, it didn't matter, I was going to go forward and try to perform the best I could. Do you walk away with any regrets? Not really. You know, I've had 25 fights. I've fought a lot of tough guys, you know. I didn't get a chance to fight in the UFC, but, you know, at the end of the day,

that's, you know, it is what it is. It wasn't the right timing for me, you know, you know, it comes down, you know, maybe I had that opportunity, you know, a while back. I just didn't get the job done and didn't get noticed in the right way. But, you know, for me, I'm fine. I'm fine with it. You know, I've had a great career, I think, in my eyes.

And, you know, I definitely wasn't, I wasn't one of the best fighters in the world, but I definitely, by far, it wasn't one of the worst fighters. So for me, you know, that's at age 32 going and starting a fight, I think it's pretty good. Yeah. And like I said, you just became champion. That has to be a night.

I mean, you know, you had multiple opportunities in Bell Tour. It didn't work out. You always perform great. Your fights were always a lot of fun to watch. But to at least walk away as champion, it's very rare in any kind of sport that one can do that. To go off on a winning streak, to go off, you know, on a title victory. That's special stuff. I mean, I commend you for knowing when to say when because I think especially in

in combat sports, you win one, two, three, and then you win a title, and you're like, oh, let me see how much longer, and then you see you guys stick around so long. So that takes some foresight, and also some maturity on your part. I would expect that from someone who's almost 40 years old, but I do think it's very commendable, so kudos. Thank you. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. You know, how many times I've seen fighters kind of just fight off into obscurity, you know,

just going to smaller shows and, you know, they get older and older and just getting beaten on, and their brains are mush, you know, and, you know, and that. I didn't want to end up going that route. I don't need to do that, you know. So, you know, now it's time for the next chapter, and I can still speak relatively well and, you know, and move on from there. So what is the next chapter?

Well, I'm in the process of opening up my own school. I've been kind of doing that the last year or so, trying to get things finalized, and hopefully this January going to have my own school going, and, you know, that's obviously a better way to make a living, I think, in the long run than getting punched in the face and a little safer, and hopefully that all goes well. So obviously you are a former Olympic judoka.

We know that that's your backbone. That's your foundation. Is this going to be a judo school? Is this going to be an MMA school? What kind of school is it going to be? It's going to be a little bit of everything. You know, it's going to be a karate school for the most part, because my partner that I'm going with is a karate background.

They have a very successful other couple schools. So it's going to be karate. It's going to be judo. It's going to be jujitsu. I'm a brown ball in jujitsu now. It's going to have, you know, possibly down the road, maybe some MMA. But, you know, for the most part, you know, just those main three, karate, jiu-tizu and judo. Where?

Where's it going to be? To me in southern New Hampshire, kind of right where I live in a town called Plastow, Plastow, New Hampshire. So, yeah, so, you know, that's the next big stuff for me, and I'm going to put all my effort into that. Are you in Montreal right now? No, I haven't been up to Montreal in a while to train up there, about a year and a half.

Just the last few camps is it's been hard to get up there. You know, I'm married now. Got a house. You know, I've got to stay home and take care of that kind of stuff. You know, so, you know, I haven't been up there. to train with those guys in a while. I asked because, and maybe I didn't look at the date, you know, with finer detail,

because I saw you tweet just a few days ago, just looking at your Twitter feed about 4 a.m. Poutine in Montreal. Was that from a long time ago? Have you not tweeted in a while? No, we were actually up there for a wedding just for the weekend. Ah, there you go. Yeah. I know what's going on.

There is nothing better, by the way. You tweeted nothing better than having some Poutine at 3 a.m. in Montreal. that picture, I mean, I could just taste the cheese and gravy. It was just, what an amazing picture that was. It's just, there's nothing like it. There is nothing like it. Where was that from, by the way? Actually, I don't remember.

Someone picked it up for me because I was like crashed out on the couch. Very nice. Just curious, you were once teammates with Rhonda Rousey. She has brought a lot of light to combat sports in general, but in particular judo. her, when she talks about the U.S. Olympic experience, it's not a very favorable one. Do you share that sentiment, or did you have a different experience? You know, it was, I was at the same level as her. You know, she was quite good.

And, you know, I think, you know, all that, you know, especially in judo, you know, you wasn't one of those top sports, like, you know, someone in the name, the name sports where they get a lot of money. So I think her argument was, you know, having competed at the Olympics, trained your whole life for something gave up so much. And at the end of it, you really don't get anything out of it. You know, I got even less, of course, because I wasn't as good. So, you know, that was, to me that was just part of the experience, you know,

that something, you know, making an Olympic team, you know, money really can't buy that. And, you know, so that was just kind of something that we just did. do just, everything was, was, to make the Olympic team, you know, to push up the medal, you know, like I said, some sports, you've got a lot of money with the medal, the way judo is and the way the organization they run, you know, for the U.S., you don't, you don't make any money. So I think that was her kind of her biggest. Sorry about that.

But her, are you still there? Yeah. Her success, you know, and despite the fact that she may have had a negative, experience, or at least in hindsight, a negative one. Has that opened up any doors for people like yourself in the sense that you are a former U.S. Olympic Judica, you then transitioned to them. I mean, the path is somewhat of a similar one. Have you noticed any trickle-down effect there, or is it completely different?

In terms of more people being interested, following in those footsteps, you know, just learning more. about, you know, the martial art, anything of that nature? Yeah, I think a little bit. You know, I've been really, you know, before Rhonda came along, you know, I was kind of really, you know, pushing judo and selling it and be like, oh, this stuff can work, you know. And, you know, I definitely think, you know,

with the success, successes, she's shown, and guys like Hector Lombard and, you know, a few other judo go out there that are, you know, put on some exciting fights. I think people are wanting to cross-train more, for sure. and, you know, I have my, my students, my MMA students that are up and coming, and, you know, I show them takedowns and trips, you know, every class. So I think in the future, you know, soon it's going to, you know,

you're going to see more of that kind of stuff. And, you know, so it's very exciting. So I'm looking forward to that, especially when I get my school going, you know, possibly get some more transitions from the MMA background that want to learn it. Well, I wish you the best. again, you said in January so you're going to open the school, right? Yeah, January is

what we're shooting for. Congratulations on knowing when to say when, knowing when to walk away. Can we hold you to this? Because you know how retirement in combat sports goes? Sometimes people retire, they get a great fight six months later. No matter what, you're sticking to this one. I am, unless someone wanted to pay me

about $100 grand for the next fight, but that's not going to happen. So, you know, nothing less than $100,000. then, you know, I'm definitely retired. Well, you walk away with a fine resume, a fine career, 21 and 4, the Titan FC Lightweight Champion. So I guess their next title fight is going to be for the vacant title. And, you know, you did a lot in a very short amount of time,

just six years, essentially, almost seven years in the sport, and you racked up 21 wins. So congratulations on a great career, nothing to be ashamed of. And most importantly, at least for me, someone who covers sport, congratulations on going out on your own terms on a winning streak. That's impressive stuff. Thank you for announcing it here on the show, Rick. I wish you the best with the new gym.

Wish you the best along the way. Looking forward to seeing which future champions you develop at your own gym. Thanks, Ariel. I appreciate it for having me. All right, there he is. Rick Hahn, former Bellator fighter last fought in Titan just a couple of weeks ago. September 19th, exactly a month ago, defeated Pat Healy to become the new Titan FC. Lightway Champion. He retires today at the ripe old age of 39, just turned 39 as well. In fact,

four days before that title fight. A lot of big wins for him, of course, in Bellator, fought the likes of Carl Parisian, Lyman Good, Judo Jim Wallhead, Shoney Carter, Carl Parisian, Brett Weidman. Never got that Bellator belt, even though he was a part of their tournament system for quite some time. but in his last three fights, he was victorious and picked up a belt on his way out. So congratulations to him. We wish him all the best in the future. Okay, let's move along. A big weekend for the UFC, they finally, a year and a half later, returned to Dublin.

Main event, of course, we spoke to him last week on this show, Joseph Duffy, going up against Dustin Porre. And it's interesting, the new co-main event, because of the entry to Stipe Amiochich. he will not be fighting Ben Rothwell they cannot find a replacement from Yochich the new co-main event

will be Luis Smoka against our guest at this time joining us via the magic of Skype from his cell phone the one and only the hooligan Patty Hulahan how are you my friend

do you not hear me Patty Patty Patty are you there I don't think Patty hears me I'm going to go out on the limb Patty can you hear me Patty can you hear me yes can you hear me?

Yes can you hear you hear me patty yes yes i can hear you now man all right are you trying to give directions here at the same time are you driving while talking to us via Skype my uh my woman driver here is lost as usual oh oh so yeah no i'm not driving i'm just uh i mean chauffeur around now drinking my water converting it into tea well i appreciate you joining us uh i know you you have an appointment coming up and of course it's uh it's fight week for you so you're very busy. What was your reaction when you were told that you were being bumped up the card to co-main event

status? It's the same difference to me. I was happy as Larry, but I was happy to be going out there fighting in any way, really. If it was a, it was a field around the back of my house and we were turning up, I'd still be there. To me, it doesn't really matter

what time I walk out of the curtains at. So I'm happy, and I'm very grateful for the thing, but I feel it could have been done from the start, you know? but I don't focus on things like that So yeah, I'm happy, I suppose I'm happy in anyway Sure, you're always a very happy guy

But my reaction was where I was thinking I wonder if Patty is happy about this Because you like being the berser, right? You like starting off the party. Oh, yeah, yeah, I like that as well. I look at the buzz of going straight after it being the first one out the door but I think it's a cult pendulum that does that this time now for us

I'm not sure exactly Yeah, it might be Call or Ashton Daly. I'm not sure exactly. I think it is Call, actually. It's one or the other, I think. Yeah, but I'm excited to be leading the parking now as well. So it's pretty crazy going from being on the prelims and blowing the roof off the place to being out of the main event.

So things that must be doing that right. And I think Louis Smoker thinks he has something to do with getting that place on the card. But he doesn't. He's a common event because I'm in the fight. How do you feel about Luis? It was very interesting to see or to hear you kind of asked for this fight. I want to call it a call. You didn't actually say him by name,

but it was very clear who we were talking about because he had just defeated Neil Siri in Las Vegas. Why did you specifically want this fight for Dublin? Well, when I watched the Neil fight, I thought I was going to be either won, whether it would have been Vaughn Lee or Louis Schmoke me from New Smok at that time. So records are the same, were similar to styles and things like that.

So I thought that it would be no. Nice to know who I was going to fight next and then go on my holidays and then get back and prepare and have the opponent ready and all. So, yeah, I think I didn't plan it. I just wanted to fight him next. Do you feel like this is a good progression for you? I mean, Smoka is not a top five contender, not a top 10 contender. Is this the fight that gets you into that discussion? Well, I think in the Floyd Lake Division, if you look at at the moment, it's not really about who is in what position now and going to.

after it's not as clear as all the other divisions. Yeah. I think with injuries and like Demetrius Johnson has cleared out a lot of the divisions so people are walking their butts off to become contenders and get after that belt. But I think you could fight anyone and then all of a sudden you could find yourself fighting for the belt. Who knows what happens? You know, you just got to stay ready.

So you don't have to get ready, right, my friend? Of course, my man. A very famous man once said that. That is right. Speaking of that man, Connor McGregor is not fighting on this. have you noticed a difference in the buzz leading i know it's only monday but is there a difference with him not being on the card um well the town is buzzing as it as a as it was before the last time as well and here we are you know it's it's it's gonna be at the event so i'm sure if connor sold an event without even fighting at now in order than at the moment i'd say it's he do 10,000 tickets no

problem but um yeah it's good to be it's good to be leading the pack now and i connor's going to be sitting there watching from the from the front row, I'd say, and I may even get to go out to Vegas this time because I don't have a fight plan and this will be my one. So, yeah, I'm really, really excited about this. And I'd say the buzz is, it's crazy. Everyone quit their jobs. Is it possible that Patty will get a bigger reaction than Joseph Duffy because of your connection to SBG, because you fought there before, because you are a Dublin guy? Duffy, you know, training in Montreal, Connor saying what he said, the history.

Do you think that the fans will be more behind you as the people's main event as opposed to Joseph Duffy? I think because I've been fighting in Dublin and most of the people that are going to be in that crowd, I've been fighting in gar clubs here for a hundred euro, you know what I mean, for how many years now? And I've been trying to support my family with that and just trying to do whatever it takes to make it. So I think people relate with me, especially the people that are going to be here this time, there's going to be there's going to be a lot of people that have been around this game for a long time

and seeing me coming up from I go walking to SBG and join the foundation program so to be a fun main event in the UFC of in your own hometown after walking in a beginner is pretty substantial for people to see so

I don't care what your job is that's inspiring you know do you feel like and do you think there's any truth to the to the theory by Connor that people don't like that he goes and trains outside of Ireland. Like they want to see their athletes train at home, be closer to home, be closer to the people. Is there anything to that? Well, to me it's starting to look like that.

That SBG is becoming Team Ireland because a lot of the fighters are starting to travel now and move around and things like that. But to me, if you play for Manchester United and you live in Argentina or something like that, you're not really involved in it. Do you get what I mean? Yeah. You're not involved in the guy in the, hold on, I'm giving direction to you as well.

No problem. Do your thing. Do your thing. I think that you're not involved in like being at home and feeling the buzz and seeing what's going on. And to me, I would feel a little bit guilty touching down in Ireland, in Dublin and seeing the posters and seeing the buzz and things like that. But as always, it's about the fight to me. I don't really care about what other people are. where they are on, where they're training or where they are on the card.

I don't really get jealous around like that. I'm always there to do one thing, and that's to get rid of my opponent and then, and move on. But I definitely think that you're going to see a crazy reception for the coal main event. It might be the camera angle, but I'm noticing a bit of a longer beard, which I like a lot. Is there a reason for this? I have been in the cave roasting meat and growing birds. that's what I've been doing for the last since I found out about this fight since I knew

this was going to happen I went on my holidays for a week and I came back and I feel amazing I do I had a a few little knocks going into the Voughton fight now to be honest but my body is perfect now with all my treatments and all I got all my muscle tests this morning and the Irish Strength Institute

and that's what he said I have no time is so I'm just waiting to fight now are we keeping the beard for fight? Of course, man. This bird don't shave off. This bird breaks razors. How are we doing with that T sponsorship? Do you know what?

Please. I'm thinking about taking over the tea industry. You know, we've talked about this. Yes. The Lions has thing never happened in the end, and everyone seems to think that that I'm cemented to Lions, but I'm not really.

I got paid for the gig for Lions about three or four days ago, So, you know, I think when you're dealing with these big companies, it's a little bit harder for the little guy. But I'll just make my own tea company and take over the place. Yes, that's a great idea. Paddy's tea, something like that, that'd be tremendous. You want to go 49%?

Well, I don't know about that. I don't know if I have that kind of those kinds of funds. But I'd love to feature it right on this very desk. Right over here, I'd be proud to do so. Oh, no problem, man. We'll see what happens after this. I'm going to try to invest into a few things they think and try to become an expert in other fields as well.

But I'll see how it goes. Take some advice off of the businessman himself, Conor, you know, and see where we go with it. That would be something. You manufacture. Maybe he'd be into doing a 49-51, you know, but I'd say he'd be requesting for the 51 now and that better. Well, with his nine-ficker contracts, I feel like he has that wiggle room. But you manufacturing it from like a grassroots level, I mean, that would be a documentary in its own right.

Someone needs to make a documentary of you launching this tea company and really getting down nitty-gritty, you know, finding out the right kinds of, I don't know what to call them. You know what I'm saying? This is something I would sit down two hours, no doubt about it and watch it. I can listen to you and talk about T-E all day. I would watch this too. I would watch this too. I would spend more T-companies in the world as well. Sure.

If they want to just give up the money now and not get taken over, then we can do that. And by the way, you know, we've talked about your debut. you couldn't have scripted a better debut. Your first UFC fight, it's in Dublin, you open the show, you win via submission. I mean, it was just perfect. Are you the kind of guy who thinks about that sort of thing? Like, how am I going to top this?

How can I recreate that kind of magic? No, not at all. When that magic was happening, it wasn't even in the room in my own mind. I just zone out. It's not me in there. It's the hooligan. I've always said this from the start.

I kind of feel actually coming in about this week of the fight where I zone out. my brain goes to a different place. I'm low on calories. I'm going to come into a survival situation. That's what it feels like in my mind and my body. And I really,

I don't think about little things like that that are not in my control. I'm just going to leave that down to the Irish fans. We've been watching the rugby and watching the boxing and watching everything. And we are part of all that journey now. We got knocked out of the World Cup by Argentina. And now people are tweeting me saying,

now it's up to you, you know? So to be seen. with these guys and this support, that's just going to be there anyway, and I am very fortunate to have swam

in that atmosphere already, you know what I mean? So I know, I walked out that door the last time saying, like this is going to be loud or they'll prepare for this, I'll do this,

I'll do that, nothing prepares you for that. You've got to be there, you know, it was absolutely crazy when I went there. We didn't know what to expect and I'm glad that

I kind of just zoned out and got in there and was dealing with what my problem was. everyone else is looking at it from a different angle. Sure. I saw a picture you tweeted, your face is plastered all over the Dublin airport.

What is that like for you? Is that surreal? How crazy is that? When I was growing up, I thought it would have been plastered all over at Dublin Airford for saying, check this man's bags, you know?

Wanted. Don't let this man travel. But to be in Dublin airport like that, and that's it, like, I collect my girlfriend from the airport every Tuesday. She travels over from Liverpool. She lives here now. but that was the same gate

it wasn't there when I was collecting horrible that would be crazy now to be going there once a week to see myself and and then they didn't put the rugby the Irish rugby team on that as well which says a huge thing for the sport in this country at the moment you know

rugby is a long long time in this country will your son be at the event oh 100% yeah he would miss it he texted me last night and he was like good look in your fight I was like it's not till next week he's like yeah I know, I'm just saying good luck.

He gets a little bit anxious as well, I think, and emotional. It's team Hooligan, you know. It's a big team of people that are emotionally involved in it. That inspires me alone. I don't need 10,000 people there to scream. We just need that little bunch of people that need me, you know what I mean, that need me to succeed, that need me to push on to inspire them as well. And I'm happy to do that job until my buddy will no longer do it.

Was your son at the first Dublin fight? No, as I said to somebody else in an interview, I was like the scout, you know? I didn't know what happens. I don't know how this works. I kind of scouted out the landscape and seeing what I was going to be like. So I don't think he understands what it's going to be like as well when he gets there. So he's going to be in an atmosphere and he's going to be surrounded by, I think, I think we've got 34 tickets or something off the UFC. That's what I was able to get.

And like, tickets are good. gold dust here in Dublin at the moment. So he's going to be surrounded by 24 of my close friends. And yeah, they're going to party on until the early morning. I'm sure he'll be drinking some hot chocolate or something. Two last quick things. What's it like for you to now share

the card, the bill, with your good friend and training partner, Ashling Daly. I believe off the top of my head, this is your first time in the UFC fighting on the same card, right? Yes. This is probably even the first time. Period?

I'm not too sure. I'm not too sure. might be the first time we ever fought on the same card even. Wow. Well, yeah, correct me if I'm wrong. My brain doesn't work too good without carbs. So, yeah, it's just going to be the first time ever. But as always, we adapt and we are some rounded. Our team went to cork there last week and had four finishes,

all the guys started the term pro and the amateurs. You know, it's not just in the UFC that this is happening. You know, we adapt the situations and we don't have any, like, kind of we have to do this and this person has to be there and it's not like that you have to adapt in this game and and and figure out what works for you and what doesn't and Ashenan is is looking phenomenal now and actually I'm doing to be inspired by watching home performance as well before so that's a new thing for me I'll get to sit there and watch the guys fighting first and then go out and do and do my thing you know will you corner her no I don't think so um the the first bus will leave and I'll be on the second bus then I think so okay I'll probably I'll probably be watching it in the hotel because it'd be a long day in the in the stadium then as well so yeah so I don't think so this time but um we'll see her after for a point sure um have you envisioned the way it's going to end against smoker um I see I see lots of things you know you see you see lots

of things when it comes about you you put yourself on top you put yourself on bottom you put yourself in bad situations and in good situations but um i think the two of us are are different kind of age of fighters it's not just a wrestler versus striker i think it's dangerous on both sides you know what i mean but um i've been i've been brewing up some some some tricky stuff here you know so uh hopefully he he eats some of the traps well it's always exciting when the hooligan fights i can't wait for it and i'm very excited that you're getting top billing this time it's It's a nice reversal of roles here. I'm sorry that I won't be there to experience it this time.

I will be watching from home via UFC Fight Pass. I wish you the best in the fight. I hope all the SBG fighters have a great night. Last time you went undefeated. So I hope for your sake that you get to experience that again. And always a pleasure. I know you're very busy, especially on Fight Week. You're in transit right now.

So I really appreciate you coming on the show, Patty. Hi, Marley. I'm on my way into yoga here now. Do some hot yoga. Oh, hot yoga. Fleezing over here now, the gloves and all are ready to go, so I hide in the hot yoga when the winter comes. Winter's coming area. Yes, I know, I know.

It's unfortunate. Enjoy fight week. Enjoy everything that comes with it, and best of luck to you, my friend. Thank you very much, my man. I'll see you on the other side, right? All right, yes, there he is. Always a pleasure to talk to the hooligan himself. Patty Hulahan, who has a big fight on Saturday UFC Fight Pass headline,

Joseph Duffy versus Dustin Porier and some news. regarding UFC Fight Pass they actually announced during our Chris Wyman interview that Sage Northcut

the talk of the MMA world as of late Super Sage Northcut the newest member of Team TriStar at least for now he's been training with them

last couple of days he will be fighting on that December 10th show the one headline by Joanne Calderwood versus Paige Van Zand so now Sage Van Zand is going to be fighting

Cody Fister on the Fight Pass card so they're keeping him on Fight Pass they're at another popular name to that big show, or that big week, I should say, in Las Vegas. Sage Northcutt now added to that December 10th card in Las Vegas, that taking place at the

Cosmopolitan. So they are truly stacking the deck for that one. All right. In a minute, we're going to be joined by another fighter who will be fighting on that card. Y'O. Romero, Y'O. Romero has a very big fight on December 12th. He is fighting Jacare Soza in the, well, not the co-main event, it's the third top fight. Is it the tri-main event? I don't know if we've gone to that point just yet, but he is fighting Jacquet so as in a fight that I think most

people agree, even though it hasn't really been said outright. Most people would agree that that is the number one contender fight in the middle-weight division, unless something crazy happens with, well, I could see, you know, if Wyden loses and Rockwood, they might do an immediate rematch, especially

in New York. But, Yo-Romero has a big fight. Of course, coming off, a win over Liyon Machita, a dominant win, an impressive win, by far, in my opinion, the most impressive win of his MMA career prior to that. He had defeated Tim Kennedy and Brad Tavaris. 38 years young, Yuel Romero, training out of Florida these days, is joining us via the magic of Skype. And there he is. Y'OEL, how are you, my friend? Anglo, Shalom. Shalom. Shalom, Chavere. It's great to have you. Now, you are also being joined by a translator. I just want to get your name.

What's your name, sir? Bean. Bean. Yes. All right. Sort of like Madonna. Just one word. You know, Yuel, believe it or not, I have wanted to have you on the show for quite some time.

I've been trying to get you on this program for the last four months, and it was only the great Abraham Kawa who got it done. So I appreciate Abraham very much. There he is. I had a feeling you were saying there. He got it done for me within a matter of second. So thank you very much, Abraham. Uel, first let's move backwards. Let's talk about the win

against Liotta Machita. Would you agree with me that that was the most impressive performance of your UFC career thus far? That was the play of Machita. That was one of the main express like the best

that you've had to have with a personnal. Well, the people have been seen so in that form. The people have been seen it like that in that type of way.

Why would... Yeah, why was it different that time? Excuse me, I agree. Why was his performance different? Why are people saying, like myself, that it was his best? Was there something different in training, something about the fight, the opponent? Why? What was the difference?

Why do you feel that this battle was so, you changed so, you, how you trained, what was the different that you did for that battle? Well, in reality, I think that, you think, that, you know, He has been the the entranement continuous of these years.

He feels the continuance of the training that he's been doing for all these years. In hindsight, it might be... Go ahead. And I think that when you start to train,

a year consecutive, it's a year consecutive, it's a day, that this gets to get to get to

the Lus. Basically, after so many years doing the same training, after so

many years he could, it's just like, it comes natural, it comes to light, like, understood.

You understand? Yeah, I understand. You know, I said before that fight and after that fight,

that Lioto came back too soon after the Luke Rockhold loss. Do you agree with that, with that statement? Do you think

it was too soon that he wasn't quite himself in that fight. So, you feel like he not was the, like he, he, he was a much, uh,

rapid for that play. Well, me know, no, I'm not so, for,

to, but I think that if he came a rapid for that battle, is because he, with all the,

with all the experience that he had had said, he, he should have said, if had, in form.

And if he's because I think he feels like he don't want to criticize anybody, but he feels like

if he was going to come, he came, prepared for that, so he was ready for this fight. For that fight.

Because Loto has a lot of experience also. Yeah. And if he was because he was

because he was prepared for that fight. Understood. So no secret, and this was obviously one of the

reasons why I wanted to have you on the show. you were heavily criticized after that fight for comments that people thought were controversial. I actually went back to the interview yesterday last night to re-listen to it, and I still maintain that you didn't say what the world seemed to think that you said. I want to give you this forum here to explain once and for all what were you trying to say when you got on the mic with John Anick and were telling America to wise up and not forget Jesus.

Explain to us where you were coming from and what exactly you were trying to say in your native. of tongue. And now, tell you were saying much of what you did, but

now they're to say the public that's what you did, that he said,

that he said, now, I can say pronounce the word that

he can say. Now he knows that pronounce the word that he wanted to say.

No, forget. Forget. Forget. Forget. Jesus. Why did you feel

the need to say that after such a big win? What led to you trying to tell America not to forget Jesus? Because you wanted to say to America, in the South of the United States. Because I feel like not only America. He feels like not only the United States, not only America.

The world has forgotten about God, about Jesus. Can you expand on that? What do you mean? What makes you think? think that the world has forgotten about Jesus? Because you're always like, because you're saying,

because the kids now, now, with more frequency, the children, they're going to their parents. So, they're

making their parents feel um, um, um, Oh, my God, how do you say it? Basically saying like the kids nowadays, they don't, how do you say, like they're embarrassed all their parents.

Okay. The people today, no extend their hands to other person if not with a objective, with a double objective. Not in days, people don't shake your hands unless if it's double objective, like saying there's no, there's no, not, I don't want to say respect. It's, you know, I give you something like this. Yeah. I don't want to give me something tomorrow, you know.

When I give something, it's because I want it to give. Sure. Yes. You know, I want to, my friend tomorrow, give me something tomorrow. I understand. There's always a motive you're saying people aren't giving something out of the kindness of their heart They always want something back for their actions right is that what you're saying exactly I should be the translator here You could shoot somebody for no reason You don't understand why nowadays you could shoot somebody for no reason right and you think

if somebody if someone if somebody made a mistake, if somebody made a mistake now and they don't give them a second opportunity. And that's what the world is doing now. And God, Jesus Christ. All these things

were overrecy. Only only erase it. Only that was more. He just gave love. Okay, so, so I think the timing of your fight is what led to people thinking you said no gay Jesus because the day before they made this historic announcement about same-sex marriage.

So you're saying right now you were not referring to that. That was not on your mind. That's not what you were talking about, right? It has no, it has to be with what you're saying, what you're saying to the people of the, the, of the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, no, gay Jesus. Let me say something. No has nothing

to be. But if that's he got to the world of the person, not was

my purpose, but maybe it was the purpose of God. Basically,

if they got to the people's ears saying that that mistake, it wasn't his

motive, but it was God who did he. Oh, that's interesting. But were you

referring to if you didn't say no gay Jesus, I get that. It sounds to me

like you said, no forget Jesus, but were you referring to that

announcement the day before? Were you talking for the day ante, but what I said to do you were you talking

about the announcement from the day before because that just happened, a day before his fight if you recall. El diante because you

did he. The gay. The same or same-sex marriage. Or same-sex marriage. Or say or that's

I didn't know that. He had no idea. You had no idea, okay. So that's not, because people afterwards were saying, okay, maybe he didn't say this, but maybe he was referring to it. He was talking about it. You get what I'm saying?

No, but he had no idea. It was just a coincidence. That happened to be that same day that he said that. Go ahead. Go ahead. For that, I think, in reality, God, I don't know anything of that. I was the day anterior,

He said he had no idea that he was doing that day before he was dropping weight for his fight. So he had no idea that was going on. But there are times that when things, although one no knows, these are various examples. For an example, these are things that could happen. A lot of people don't want to do one. Sometimes. A person doesn't want to do something.

But God lets that happen. That's one example. I don't understand that one. I don't understand. What are you referring to? For example, I don't know what he was saying. For example, he had no idea what he was saying. Okay.

What he was saying? Look at that was the other. Yes, they were following the whole. Yep, yep. You know, and when I spoke, Yeah. So no. It sounded.

Like he was talking about what we were talking about right now. Mas in my mind, in my heart. I'm saying, no, forget Jesus. Yes. He was saying, don't forget Jesus. I understand. I spoke to Dana White just a couple days after that interview, and he was saying, you know,

Even if that's not what you were talking about, why are you talking about Jesus and talking about religion in a post-flight interview? Shouldn't you be talking about what's next? America doesn't want to hear that sort of thing. What is your response to that? They don't wait. They were talking about. Yes. Because you were talking about that, and not talking about the next fight that you had to be talking.

Because I'm of the people that, first, I'm a man of God. Second, if I'm a man of God. and everything I'm doing, and he's giving to the United and the USA, is thanks to God. And everything that he's giving for the USC, working, fighting, and everything is, thank to God. Because I'm, I'm a miracle of God.

Or not a travel to you. I'm a miracle because, I'm a miracle because the people don't understand how, you know, a person who can't play. For, um, no person in the problem that they're in the coil, you can't play. For, um, no, Everybody's going to understand for the fight that he had and the surgery that he had. He's not supposed to be fighting there, but he's there for all purpose.

So he feels like God is the one that's taking care of him. He's the one that has his hand above him. The least that he could do is always thank God. Always thank God. What I sort of, hypothesized in my mind. What I said in my mind was that some people think that their mission is to win a fight and get on the microphone and say, I want this person next. Can you hear me? You can't hear me anymore. What happened? Abraham? Can you hear me now? Yeah, yeah. Okay. What I said after the fight was that some people will say, look, why is he talking about this? The mission when you win a fight is to get on the microphone and call out your opponent. But for Yuel Romero, and correct me if I'm wrong, Yuel Romero, you're mission is to win a fight and then speak about your main love, your main purpose in life, that's your religion.

Is that kind of, in the simplest form, your mission when you go out there, win the fight so that you can then use that platform to explain to the world why you consider yourself a man of God? You're gaining, in other than saying, who the next opponent? But you do it do for, okay, I gained now and giving them the grace to God. Amen. He's saying that's what he does. You see my brother.

We're on the same page. You and me. Khaver, Shalom, Shalom. You understand? Okay. I feel like we've cleared that up. Is there anything about that specific incident that you'd want to say

before I move along here to Jhara? Anything else you want to say? You want to say? You want to say other thing that you have to be in now. The topic is what? Yeah, now, of what we're talking about now. No, yeah, all what the past is the past.

Okay, because you received a lot of criticism, a lot of hate. Has it gone away? Has all that? Because you remember when that happened, people exploded calling you all kinds of names. Has that gone away for you? You're critiqued all that when that's happened. Yeah, all over past, yeah, not, not they've done, no, they've done anything. No.

The person that can say, to say something that can be to be to give me that I for me, I'm going to

because I think a God in my heart. The people that criticize him, he basically

forgives him because he has God in his heart. Amen to that. You're fighting Jacre,

you're scheduled to fight Jacari on December 12th. I believe this is the third time you've been

booked to fight him the two previous times it fell through. Are you confident now? Are you at all

worried? Are you thinking in your back of mind, silly screw is going to that this fight is actually going to happen on December 10th.

Excuse me, 12th. Yeah, no, there's three. Now, you know, you're going to say December 12th. Well, I hope, in God, what happens. He's hoping to God that it happens. Okay. And have you been told that if you win this fight, you will get a title shot?

They've been told that if you, when you're going to win this a play, you can play for the title. Yes, yes. All right. All right. Who are you hoping for Chris Wyman or Luke Rockhold? I can't talk about Chris Feynman.

Oh, I think, I think that the best. Whoever does best. Oh. That's the best. How do they're both good players. They're both great fighters. They both have very They have a lot of,

skills. They're both They both have great skills. Okay. They have a lot of experience, both of them. They've played with great fighters. So we'll have a great fight with great fighters. We're going to see two great fighters going at it.

Since the relationship, between the US and Cuba has improved, have you been back to Cuba yet? You broke. Oh, I was just wondering if he's been back to Cuba yet. Oh, yeah. Not yet. Not yet.

What are you waiting for? Yeah, he's only that he'll be his passport. His password on the way. The world working on his passport so he could go after this fight, hopefully. Do you think he'll, does he think he'll be very emotional going back there after so many years.

100,000 people. Can't even talk about it. Can't even talk. How long has it been? 9 years. 9 years. 9 years. And he still has family there, right?

Yes, yes, his family. His mother, his family, his son. You haven't seen them in nine years? Wow. Do they watch your fights? Yeah, yeah. Wow. Could you imagine you go back to Cuba?

as the number one contender in the UFC middleweight division, maybe even as the champion, they throw a parade for you, right? I imagine that you go to Cuba and get a lot of over there. Yeah, they shut it down over there. Yeah, they shut it down. What a story that would be. Well, I hope you get that opportunity, my friend.

I thank you very much for coming on the show today to clear the air. I appreciate it. It was tough to get you on the show, but we finally did, and we did it very quickly, thanks to Abraham once again. So Bean, good job, my man. Yoel, good luck to you. As they say in Hebrew, Behatzachah, you know what Behatzachah means?

This man knows. He knows his Hebrew. And I'll see you in December, okay? All right, Godalendish him. All right, there he is. Yoho Romero. I mean, what a lovable guy. What can you say about Yoel Romero?

One of the great voices in MMA as well. Joining us, big fight for him December 10th. I'm wondering if anyone actually speaks Spanish and could say. I mean, clear that Bean was having a little bit of trouble there. Did he translate correctly for YOL? You can tell, again, I listened to the clip last night, and not to bring up, but I feel like this is something that I needed to be addressed back in June. It was a hot topic, but as we all know, these things go in MMA.

A hot topic one day is a non-issue the next day. well, I felt like it was important to address because I really feel like he got a raw deal. Now, if you have an issue with him talking about religion or anything like that, I mean, that's your prerogative. But I don't think he said what we think he said. I truly don't. Now, was he referring to it?

That's why I kept trying to, you know, clear that up. He says, no, we'll take his word for it. But I don't think he said. I think he truly said, forget Jesus. So happy that he was able to come on, clear the air. Big fight for him, December 12th in Las Vegas. What a huge weekend that will be. Thank you, Yuel.

All right, let's move along. Very excited to talk to our next guest. Another man who is sometimes hard to pin down, but when you get him, it's absolute gold. He is the head coach over at TriStar in La Belle Provence, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is Faraz, a hobby. He joins us right now via the phone. Faraz, how are you? Great, Ariel.

How are you? I'm doing great. By the way, we had one of your former students. students, fighters on the show just moments ago. Rick Hahn announced his retirement. Did you know that he was retiring? He was thinking about it. So, yeah, I saw it coming.

All right. Well, I was trying to surprise you there, get your, your heart to penetrate like that. Are you surprised he retired? No, no. I think he's, you know, he's finishing out on a high note. So I think it's a good time for him. You know, he's got to move on in his life.

He got married. You know, he's got to move on, I guess, in life. You know, he's got to move on, I guess, in life. And, you know, he finished on a high note. I'm super happy for him. He had a brilliant career, and I couldn't be happier. Okay, we have a lot to talk about, my friend. You're all over the news.

I mean, wow. It's unbelievable. All of a sudden, after just a couple of days, TriStar has become the epicenter of MMA once again, and thanks in large part to the phenom that is Sage Northcut. He came to Montreal. I believe he's still there. He's been training. What are your early impressions of this 19-year-old kid?

I love the kid. The kid's amazing. He's amazing. He's amazing. He's amazing. He's amazing. He's amazing outside. He's super hardworking.

He's friendly. I mean, I couldn't ask for more. The kid's amazing. Now, did you recruit him, or did he come to you? I was trying to reach out to him. Actually, this is when he was in Legacy. Oh, wow. I saw his fight in Legacy.

I really liked the kid. You know, I'm always looking for that type of fighter, you know, a good distance and footwork and karate, traditional style. So I couldn't find his dad on, I couldn't find his dad on, Facebook. I don't know if you even have his Facebook, but I wasn't able to. And then I got a call from a friend who knows them and he said, hey, we get to connect you guys and we got connected. We tried training for a week together. We both enjoyed it. So we're going to be working together from now on. So he's a full-fledged member of the team now? Yeah, that's right. Wow. Is he

moving to Montreal? He's going to be staying here for his training camp, yeah. So he's going to be training with us. He's going to be staying here in the TriStar dorms and he's going to be going through the paces. His demeanor is really unique. I mean, this kid is always smiling, so respectful, humble, calling you, sir. He's really a little bit different, isn't he? I think he reminds me a lot of George, you know. George is a lot of type of guy, positive attitude, eager to train, always happy to go to

practice, never always positive. I love it. I think this is the right, this is the first step in being successful, having a good attitude. Was he, were you there when he met George for the first time? Yeah, we went to dinner. The night they landed, we took him out to dinner, we hung out. And when George, the first practice, I wasn't there because I had to go away in for another show.

But him and George worked out. Unfortunately, I have to be somewhere else. But what was his reaction when he got to meet his idol for the first time? He was excited, man. You know, we're all excited. We're all like shaking, talking, and talk about fighting all that long. And we had a blast. We had a good dinner, and the next day we were in practice.

So you were actually on the bandwagon before the rest of us. You actually noticed him. Let's see. Who introduced you to Sage? I saw somebody I posted his fight, and I saw that psychic. I was like, yeah, for sure he's doing traditional martial arts. For sure he's got that, you know, I saw his footwork, and I was like, wow, this kid is something special. You know, he's got that technical style we do.

You know, we cultivate and we work with. So I was like, wow, I'd love to have this kid come in and see what he can do. And then he got picked up by USC, and then I saw his debut, and I was like, wow. But I thought it would be hard to get in touch with them now that they're in the UFC and I was getting these messages saying, hey, I'd like to connect you with them and we think it's a great fit

and it turns out that, you know, everybody thought it would be a great fit with TriStar, so a lot of people were thinking the same thing. And it is, you know, that's the kind of fighter we like to look for, you know, good, polite, kind, good attitude, hardworking, and it's working well. Have you ever come across a kid his age who already has, you know, a handful

or so MMA fights under his belt with that much raw, natural talent? I told his father today. I said, I think your son's the best 19-year-old fighter in the world today. You know, if you put a call the 19-year-old fighters in the world today in MMA, made them compete,

I'm very confident Céjo will come out on top. So he's really, you know, really, in the 19 years, for a 19-year-old, he's unbelievable. What impresses you most about him, as far as his skill? I would say there's so many things that impress me but his understanding of when to counter

his timing his timing is something that only the most experienced guys have he's got a fantastic timing and his dad you know his dad is a brilliant trainer so I really learning a lot with his dad we're talking a lot about technique we've been hanging out together every day talking about training and his dad really trained his son

from the age of four you know he had excellent training from a young young age You know, it wasn't some kind of a recreational training. This was serious training from a young age, and you see it in his fighting. Will his dad continue to train him while he's at TriStar? Oh, yeah, I definitely want his dad involved, you know. His dad's going to be, you know, going home and coming to help his son as much as he can. And, of course, his son's going to be going back home to train.

He's got to study. He's studying, you know, he's not going to be giving up out of school or anything like that. So he's working hard. He's working hard, you know, he's training and studying. I'm somewhat putting you on the spot here because it was just an but the UFC just announced that he'll be fighting Cody Fister on December 10th. Do you know anything about Cody? Do you like this matchup as he progresses and climbs the ranks?

Yeah, Cody's an aggressive guy. He moves forward. He's a high-pressure guy. I think it's a good test for Sage. Cody's not going to give him an inch. She's not going to back up, so it's going to be fun. I like the fight. And by the way, it also came out around a week ago.

I believe it was Showdown Joe who first reported it that not only Sage was coming, but Tarc Safedin. Is that accurate? Is Tarika, a member of the team now as well? Well, he came to train for, I think it was 10 days, and I won't say he's a full-fudge member yet. I think he came to try it out and check it out. I think he did enjoy it.

We talked about, you know, the next training together, and I think it's up to him. You know, I don't want to put pressure on him, but he's thinking about it, I guess, and he's going to make his decision whenever he feels like it. Is he healthy? He did hurt his neck a little bit. You know, he had a small tweak in his neck,

so we kind of trained around it. But, you know, he was, He wasn't in training camp, so we're just kind of having more fun in practice, sparring, more relaxed, and doing some wrestling and jihitsu stuff. He was just kind of getting a feel for what we can offer. And we were doing like a, you know, he didn't have a fight book. Right. We're training technical, you know, instead of like prepping him for a fight.

One last thing on stage before we move along. I mean, I think there's going to be, you know, already people criticize the way he's pushed or the way that the UFC, you know, markets him, gives him a lot more attention preps than others. it's rare that we get to see a fighter this young. He's currently the youngest fighter in the UFC third youngest of all time. Do you feel like you're going to have to be a part of not just his fight preparation, but being a part of the discussion, like, all right, how fast are we going to push this guy, you know, who's the right, he doesn't even have a manager,

at least that I know of you may know differently. I mean, it's not just getting a fighter and saying, all right, this fight, this fight, and then you're fighting for the belt. Like, you really have to be a part of this, you have a piece of clay that needs to be, you know, like put together. He's really just, you know, a piece of clay. that is incredibly talented, but he's so young and so green. Are you going to be a part of that process as well?

I think so. I think me and his dad, we're just going to have discussions. And at the end of the day, you know, his dad's been training in his whole life. His dad should have, you know, the last day. But, of course, I want to be part of that conversation. I want to give my consent, not necessarily publicly, but between us and all the coaches working together, what's the next best fight? How long do we have to prepare?

How do we feel we can do? And these are things we do with all fighters. What the public is saying, what other fighters are saying, that's their prerogative. We need to focus on what's best for a Sajian, and give him time to expand, because the kid is 19 years old. I think by the age of 21, 22, he's going to have reached so many other levels that it's going to be scary. Right now, how many fights before he fights for a belt? Oh, I don't know. I never think of those kind of calls.

You know me, I take one fight at a time, and now it's Cody Fister, and that's all there is right now. Okay, let's talk about George St. Pierre. He sort of dropped a bombshell on us. He was talking to L. Diaz and said that he's getting this itch to come back, and he's watching his division. He doesn't know if it's 2050, but to me it felt like the first time in a long time where he was actually admitting that he's thinking about it. What more can you tell us about this?

I know George so well. I know him better than himself. I know George, I don't know if he can walk away. I don't think he can't. You know, I just personally, I never talked about this stuff. You know, when I see him, I know everybody's been asking him. every single day, everywhere he goes. I know that because everybody asks me every single day

he's fighting. I just personally think he cannot sit on the sidelines for too long. That's just the type of guy George is. You know, he's just that type of personality. He has to compete. And when he's really done with fighting one day, he's going to compete in something else. It's just a competitor. You know, I don't know if he's going to take up golf

or something, but he's going to compete the rest of his days. And I think he's still going to, you know, I think that it hasn't gone. So it doesn't surprise me. And I really hope. Hope he does come back because I'm such a fan of his fighting. That's the truth, you know. He doesn't need to come back.

I don't need him to come back. I think he's amazing. I think he's full God. He comes in the practice room. He looks amazing. I just want him to come back because I'm a fan. And if he wants to come back or not, I'll support him. I don't think he holds anybody anything.

So I'm behind George 100%. But I think he's a hardcore competitor. His psyche is built to compete and he's going to do it eventually one way or another, whether it's an M.M.A. or something else. So as we talk here today, you do think he'll fight again. I think so. I think he's got plenty of fighting.

You know, I think he's a beast, man. You see him in a practice room, he's a beast. So I don't think he's even slowing down a bit, you know. Do you think this year? Because he did mention 2015. I don't know. I don't know what schedule is like. Yeah, he's got a lot of PR.

He's got a lot of, you know, duties to do. You know, he's everywhere. You know, he's traveling, but training still all the time. I don't know. I don't know. I think it has more to do with his schedule, you know. Yeah, I forgot that we're already October. Cobra, 2015.

Yeah, he's a busy man. He's a busy man, George. And how much does he weigh? Do you have any idea? Because he seems bigger than normal. I don't think too much bigger. No? I don't think too much bigger.

No. So you think if you came back... He's not in training camp, right? Sure. He could lose 10 pounds in three days, George, in training, you know? So it's maybe a little water weight here and there, but nothing. Nothing. I was just saw him last week.

He looks pretty normal to me. So you think that if he comes back, he'll be a 170, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, George will make 170 easily. How often is he in the gym these days? I feel like I see him more than before. I always see him in the pictures with the team. He's in the gym a lot.

Also, when he's traveling, he travels a lot, like he's traveling right now, he's always training. It's always land, train, do your PR. Or land, do your PR and train. George is, you know, he's a robot. You know, he has to train. We were having this debate on another show

that I do the MMA beat last week. George St. Pierre comes back, fights Robbie Loller for the belt. Are you confident he wins? If George preps and does a training camp, he'll beat anybody. That's my, you know, I really feel he's the best of the best. So I think if he does this training camp and he prepares and it's not calling Robbie or anybody out, I think he's the best. So, you know, him and Rory, I believe in my guys.

I believe if they get prepped, they will win. And there are a lot of people say for his health, he took a lot of shots. You know, it's best for him to walk away. He walked away as champion. Why do it? Why ruin your legacy? You don't share any of that sentiment. You know what?

You got to do what's happy, what makes fun, you know, what's fun for you. Are you not going to do something you love because you don't want people to think you're perfect? You know, you want to leave with a perfect legacy. Are you going to live your life for what other people think of you? Or are you going to enjoy yourself and do what's fun for you? I think George loves the competition. He loves the adventure and it will be doing it because he loves to do it. And who cares if people don't think you're perfect?

You know, what if something bad happens? So what? You're still George St. Pierre. It doesn't change anything. And I don't think anything bad will happen. but at worst, I think he can live with it. You know, it's not the end of the world. So he's got to do what he loves to do.

It feels good and what do you find the enjoyment in doing. But from your perspective, health-wise, he's all there. There are no problems. He's not dealing with anything. Trauma of any kind, head trauma, anything like that. Not at all. Not at all. All his injuries were cosmetic.

100% cosmetic. He's been checked. I mean, the guy's fully functional. I'm sure you hear his interviews. He's 100% coherent. George is far from having any brain trauma. Okay. last thing on George, perfect scenario for you, what is it?

Who does he fight? Where does he fight? Lay it out. Lay out your dream for me. I don't have it. Oh, come on. I don't think about that. Honestly, I don't think about that.

I just like to train the guys and have them compete and whoever it is it is. You know, I don't, I don't care. I don't think of the names. But you are saying today on October 19th, right here on the M.A. hour that George St. Pierre is coming back. It's official, right? I never said that. But you think. You're an expert.

You're an expert. I think he's got plenty of fighting him left. And I see him in the practice room. He's not training like a guy on vacation. You know, he's training like a guy who loves jujitsu. He still has that fire. He loves that wrestling. He loves it all.

So he still got that fire, George. Wow. You're giving me goosebumps. Imagine at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, right? His return? That would be something I'd get out of bed for every day. Gosh. You know, that would be something special.

The Stade Olimpique. Wow. What a moment that would be. Okay. Let me ask you about Joseph Duffy. He is, is it true, by the way? He was on my show last week. He told him.

me you've never been to Europe. Is that true? That's true. I've never been to Europe. What? Someone as accomplished as you, you've been cornering fighters, you've never been to Europe. How is this possible? I'll tell you a real short story. Okay. I used to go to Asia on a regular basis for training in Thailand and for fights and heroes, Heroes K-1. I had a horrible flight experience where I got extremely sick and turbulence, extremely, extremely sick. We had a horrible landing in a storm. You know, people were crying in the plate. And ever since then,

I've had a fear of flying, so I can only tolerate flying for a few hours at a time. Oh. But I have been flying. This is years ago, so they were talking about five years ago, so I've obviously have flown hundreds of times since then, but only short flights, and this will be my first time again back overseas since that dreadful plane experience I had years ago. Are you nervous? I'm feeling much better with flying because I've really gotten over my fear, I think, to a high

extent that I'm ready to go overseas. So I'm not thinking about it now. when I get on the plane and it reaches hour five, I might start to get a little more stress because after four or five hours of flying, I start to get a little more stress, but I think I'll be fine. I'll be thinking of you, Ariel.

I'm going to bring a picture of you in the plane. You must really like this, Joseph Duffy, to suck it up and get on that plane, huh? Well, I'll tell you, they put in so much hard work, him, Tom Breeze, Stevie Ray, that I feel I need to go. You know, I have to go. They put in so much time and energy in the gym.

I want to be there for them. And what's your assessment of him? now this is, I believe, the third camp that you're with him? Yeah. Third, yeah. What's your assessment of him and how far? I mean, do you really think that he, you know, is he one of those guys that you're very excited about? Oh, yeah, 100%.

You know, he's growing so fast, and I wonder, you know, how far he's going to grow. He's a killer, man. You know, he's very precise. He hits hard. He's game. He's ready to die in there. I mean, the guy has, the guy's incredible, and he is technical. He's precise.

So I'm really looking forward to see how it develops with him. And like all my guys, I think. you know, the sky's the limit. They can go as far as they put their energy in, and he's a tough guy. He's going to be a hard guy to beat. How do you feel about this matchup for him? Is it too soon? No, I think it's a good matchup. I think he needs to step it up and take a big name like Pori. Pori is a very big name. Don't forget, Joe has seven boxing fights. You know, he's been doing martial arts since he's a kid. So, I mean, it might be his third-fighting UFC, but this guy's got a lot of, Joseph Duffie's got a lot of experience.

And have you talked to him at all? Is this something that you've even discussed, you know, fighting back in Ireland and the enormity of this show and doing it after Connor all that stuff no you haven't talked about that's no that's all distraction

we focus on training at what we're going to do and that's it training and what we're going to do he's a man on a mission he's a runaway train he has one idea only and that's how to beat us and poor he doesn't think about anything else we don't talk about anything else

it's irrelevant whether the fight is in America or Ireland Ireland it's positive because you know he's in a place where he's very appreciated that's all positive stuff. But when they lock that cage door, it's just about Destin Pori.

So that's where we're primarily concerned. The rest of the stuff is great, but it's taking care of itself. It's going to take care of itself. How do you think he does against Connor now? I'm a great role. You know, who knows? You know, that remains to be seen.

Right now, we're only talking about Destin for you. So for now, that's the subject. Any news on Roy McDonald's return? Sounds like you know something. Yeah, I know. He's training. in the gym. Let's just say he's training in a gym and he's getting ready. Are we getting to see the

Hector Lombard fight that never happened in Montreal? I don't know. You're going to have to wait on this. I don't know. I don't know what's going on with that. I just know Rory's getting in shape. Rory's in baseball right now. He's working harder and he's never been so hungry. Yeah, I saw a picture. He looks to be in great shape, so no ill effects from that Robbie Loller fight.

No, no, no, no. He's grown from that. He's a better fighter immediately afterwards. I think that's something you cannot learn in the gym. That's just a pure experience. A lot of guys have not won their first five round. A lot of guys, even GSP, so many great. It was a great experience for him, and he has taken something that you cannot learn.

And that was a precious experience for him, and I think it's made him stronger. It could hurt guys or it can make you stronger. And Rory is one of those guys where that experience was positive for him. He loved it. If you ask him what the best day of his life was, he'll say it was that day, and he's looking forward to doing it again.

He is a different kind of cat, eh? He is a different kind of guy. So if you didn't kill him, you made him stronger. That's Rory McDonald's. I would love to see a reality show. show of Sage Northcutt and Roy McDonald hanging out. You know what?

They actually get along really well, which is incredible to be. Yes. You know, Sage is such a sweet kid, and Roy just wants to fight. But you know what, Sage's a warrior as well. He's polite outside the cage, but inside the cage, he's fierce.

He doesn't make friends inside the cage. That's after the fight. He's got that assassin's instinct as well. A great video of some of the TriStar fighters trying his flip. Have you tried it as well? Are you crazy? Easy area. Oh, my God. I'll break my back.

Yeah. Holy moly. That kid is something else. Unbelievable. Okay. One last thing, and then I'll let you go. A bit of a personal note for you. How about your little brother? Amon's a hobby, right? Yeah, yeah. He had a big little fight last Saturday. Yeah. Got a first round, K.O. in 18 seconds. He hit hard, my brother. And I'm really happy. I think he worked really hard for this fight and worked out well.

So he's now 5-0, correct? Yep. How far away is he from getting the call? I don't know. You don't have to shout Shelby. Oh. So it's 145, correct? 135. 135.

135. In your mind, is he ready? No, I would like a couple more fights, you know, and he's not far away from that now. We have more shows in Canada. There was a lull in the shows of Canada. There was hard getting fights the last two years, but now there's a bunch of new options. There's a new show in Saskatoon. There's a couple more shows now in popping up in Quebec, so we have a lot more options for fight.

We're going to take those fights as soon as possible. And then hopefully, Sean Sheldley gives a call. Are you comfortable cornering him being his coach, all that stuff? It's a little different when it's your brother. That's a little bit different, but I feel like everybody else. You know, like everybody else in the practice room, he gets as much attention as everybody else, not more, not less. And I try to balance it out.

Of course, he's my brother, so I've got to be there for him in different ways because he's family, but I want him to know what it's like to be a fighter, and he has to go through the pieces like everyone else. Well, I agree. It certainly feels like things have changed a little bit from, I think we talked about this maybe a year ago. It felt like there was a lull in Canadian MMA. All these fighters now coming to try.

I'm excited. I'm excited. My last question for you is, did you vote today? No, I'm actually going to do that right after this very important call that I made time for today. Make sure that I don't miss. Yes, important. All right, I'll let you go vote. I won't ask you who you're voting for. That's very rude. Hey, congratulations on everything. Good luck on Saturday. Good luck. More importantly, good luck on the plane. Just get that picture of me. A nice picture. I'll send you a nice 8 by 10. Think of me. Perfect. And I wish you the best. Thanks again for doing this. Thanks, ma'am. All right.

There he is. Farah Zahabi, head coach over at TriStar, dropping some news of a very busy time for TriStar these days. Joseph Duffy with a big fight on Saturday. Sage Northcutt joining the team, GSP, his brother, Imanzahabi, and we'd even get to, you know, really a lot about Rory or Olivier, Obain Morsier. I mean, the list goes on and on. So good to see TriStar up and running, thriving once again, and looking forward to that fight on Saturday. All right, let's move along. I talked about this briefly earlier, But on Saturday night, the big story, in my opinion, coming out of World Series of Fighting, was that Nick Newell, who, you know, we didn't see this on the horizon. There were no signs of this relatively young in the sport, relatively new to World Series of Fighting.

Of course, not that long ago. Fought for their belt. Just 29 years young. Announced his retirement after his win on Saturday night against Tom Marcellino. A local fight for him. He goes out on a win, has won his last two in a row. But we wanted to dig a little deeper here and talk to him about it, where this announcement came from. so he's kind enough to join us via the magic of Skype.

There he is, notorious Nick Newell himself. Nick, how are you? I'm good, I'm good. Well, thank you for joining us. You kind of chuckled there. I kind of get where you're coming from. Two days later, what's it like hearing that you're a retired MMA fighter now? You know, it was the right decision for me.

I feel in the end, time will tell, you know, but for me it's been really tough training for these fights. I feel like I've underperformed my last three fights and I felt like really it was out of my control. I've been dealing with a lot of injuries throughout my fight camps and they've, they just, every time it seems like I get some momentum going, I get hurt and I can't do anything. So I got to take it easy and I got to not train and I got to step back. And then when I fight, you know, my cardio becomes an issue because I haven't been training as hard as I should be when I have these important fights coming up. And it just seems like I have a bunch of things that keep coming back, even if I take care of them proper. And it's just a little

overwhelming for me. So, you know, I don't, I don't want to treat my fans or anyone that likes me to a watered down version of me. I want the best version of me possible. And I just felt like it was time to step away. When did you come to the conclusion that you would be retiring on Saturday? I've been thinking about it for a while, especially right before my title fight. I dealt with a lot and I pushed through it and I was fine. You know, I thought it would be a one-time thing. And then it happened again my fight after that and then it happened again this time.

and really for this fight, I only got to train for like a week and a half, two weeks for it because I completely hurt my back. I couldn't even move. I looked like a 90-year-old man walking around. But I really wanted to do this fight, and I really thought that I would be able to perform, and my performance was not to my standards.

it's not the type of performance that I would want people to remember me for, and it's not the type of performance that I have shown in the past that I'm capable of much better, and I just don't want to have my career be like that. I want to be an entertaining fighter, and, you know, at the end of the day, it is about winning and doing your best, and I just don't feel like I can perform at my best anymore. Is it possible after two years you, you heal up, you don't go through a rigorous training camp, a fight, you feel back to your old self. Do you think there's a chance that you will change your mind and come out of retirement?

I never say never, because you don't know, only time will tell. But for now, I have a bunch of things that I need to take care of to set up for my future and things that I need to do to make sure that as I get older, I'm financially set and a bunch of things that I just need to work on first. And I need to see all my body heals. I need to see how I can handle training and I need to see stuff like that. But, you know, I have a lot of my plate right now and a lot of things I want to get accomplished outside of fighting. And I was going to do those at a later date and wait and keep pushing it back from fighting. And really, my body's not agreeing with me. And I just want to listen to it. I don't want to be that guy

that goes out there and fights and gets his ass kicked by someone that shouldn't be beating him up just because I want to collect a paycheck. What are some of those things at the top of your list that you want to accomplish now? One second, my computer randomly

kicked off the video. Oh. Can you still hear you? Yeah, yeah, I can hear you. I want to open up my own gym. I've been thinking about and just a few other little business projects. You know, World Series of Fighting has been great to me,

so I have nothing really bad to say about them. They take good care of me, and, you know, maybe they'll have something for me to do on the side behind the scenes. But for now, I just like I don't feel like I can make it through a full training camp anymore. Did you tell Ali or Ray Sefo any of the guys at World Series of Fighting that you were going to announce this after the fight? No, I did not. I didn't tell them because I didn't want it to be a thing. I didn't want it to be like, oh, this is Nick.

Oh, you know, I didn't want my opponent to know it either. You know, because sometimes when you have it in the back of your mind, it kind of says you already have one foot out the door and you're not really ready to do this and I didn't want him to feel like that was an advantage so there was a there was a bunch of things involved in it but I just kind of really just decided the day of a fight I was like you know what I said this is the last time I just I can't do this anymore Did you tell anyone?

No. Family, coach, no one. No, I discussed it with my coach. My coach is, I'm super close with him. You know, and we discussed it in the past and worked on some things. And he gave me some tips on life and business and stuff like that. But, you know, I didn't want him to know either. I just wanted to just announce it on my own.

I just wanted it to be a thing. You were obviously very emotional. There's no questioning that. It's obvious why. I mean, this is a big deal, and most athletes are pretty emotional when they announce their retirement. I could tell to a degree you're somewhat emotional now.

Do you feel that way because you're not going out on your terms? You would have preferred to have a longer career, and you feel like it's the injuries that are pushing you out? Yeah, I mean, I obviously there's some things I would, a couple more things I'd like to accomplish and things I'd like to do. I feel like I've done a lot. My type of personality is I'll never be satisfied than anything. There'll always be more that you can do.

But for me, my body just isn't listening anymore. And it's just a very hard thing. It's very emotional these past couple fights going through and doing it. I mean, if you watch a fight, you could see I got tired in the third round, and I got tired in the third round in the fight before that, and I got tired in the second round against Gagey, and it's like, that's not how I am. I've always been a guy with good cardio,

and I've been finishing these fights in the first round before this, because I've had such great cardio that I can push a pace like that for the entire fight, So I would be a quick starter. I'd start super fast and be able to take these guys out real fast. And I just can't do that anymore because I can't train like that. And I feel like I'm not the same, you know, savage young kid. I know I'm only 29, but I've been going since I was 14 years old. I started wrestling.

I never stopped. Summer while everyone was hanging out. I was training, training, training, training, training. I'm always training. I'm always working to get better. I've never been a kid that is a natural at anything. So really, I just need to step back and I need to just take some time for me. And I feel like it's time for me to start working on some other things and just step away from the sport. How much do you, we've talked about this in the past, the fact that you never got that opportunity, even though you thought you deserved it and many people as well, to fight in the UFC.

How much did that dream keep you going? And how much does it bother you that you walk away now with never getting that opportunity? You know, for a while that really was what I wanted. And I thought that that was what I needed to justify a good career is to get in there. But really, I don't need anyone to say whether I'm good enough or not. I know I'm good enough. I know that I could beat most of the guys in there. and if they didn't want me, they didn't want me.

You know, I'm not going to resent that. That's going to be the least of my worries or things that I think about in retirement. You know, they had a chance, and World Series took me, and they took good care of me, so I'm fine with them. You know, I'm not going to beg anyone to hire me or have me fight for them.

World Series gave me a chance. I went four-and-one in their organization. They're one of the biggest organizations in the world, and I'm okay with fighting for them. What was going through your mind mentally? Once you made that decision, going into the fight, you're in your home state, you have a lot of friends and family and attendance.

You know in the back of your mind, this could be your last fight. There's some pressure involved there. How were you a nervous wreck before the fight? Were you calm? Take us inside your mind. I was. My mind was racing.

There was definitely a lot on my mind during that fight. You know, I have an excellent coach. Jeremy leave his chef. at Fighting Arts Academy. It's a smaller team, but we have a lot of good guys, a lot of really talented guys at that gym. I'm the center of attention,

you know, when I have a fight camp, and I really like that, and I really owe my career to this man and everything I've accomplished. And we came up with this good game plan, and I've always been, like, a guy that listens to him, and it was to just kind of do a slower pace and pick my shots and be technical

and striking, but I just got nervous, and I was like, this is my last fight, and I just wanted to win, so I turned it more into a wrestling match and kind of held top position, and it was, it's not something I'm proud of. You know, I definitely won the fight. There's no question about that, but was it something that I, I even am ever going to watch? No, I'll never even watch it, because I'm, I'm just not happy with my performance, and if I'm going to do that, and I'm not happy with my last couple of performances. I just think it's time. It's just time.

What was going on between you and him? I was told from someone in attendance that in your post-fight interview, he was doing push-ups behind you. I did not see this, so I don't know if it's 100% accurate. But what was it? It felt like afterwards there was some bad blood there. What was going on? Well, you know, I didn't really hurt him that badly.

You know, I caught him with a good elbow, and I controlled him pretty much the entire. entire fight with takedowns. And I 100% won the fight. It's not even question. Everyone in attendance, every website said I won, but somehow he thought he did, which is crazy because he did absolutely nothing to me. So I said, hey, man, I said, good, good fight.

You know, wasn't the greatest fighter I've ever had, but, you know, I appreciate you bringing it. And, you know, I wish we could have hurt each other a little more, but that's not the way it happened. And he's like, you know you lost. And I was like, no, actually, I know I won because they raised my hand. So I definitely won. And you definitely lost. So that's that.

And he said, no, you lost, you lost. I said, get on my face, bro. So then they went to do the interview. And I was talking to Joey. And he starts doing push-ups behind me. And so I called him a jabroney. and then I announced my retirement. But, you know, afterwards he sent me a message online and he apologized for it.

And, you know, emotions are a thing that really get, you really get caught up in them and in a fight. So I don't hold any ill will towards him. And, you know, it was kind of funny more than anything else. I don't really get insulted. And nothing really bothers me that much. So respect to him. you know he was uh i think an underdog in this fight and he did a pretty good job i thought so props to him and i hope i wish him nothing but the best but it was a little weird that he was

doing push-ups behind me right when i was trying to talk so maybe this answer will change in a few years but i'm wondering now when nick newell reflects on his career what was the best moment what was the high point you felt the best about yourself you're fighting you weren't you know you couldn't have been any happier is there anything that comes to mine well you know my my my my biggest moment probably was winning the um the xFC title that was pretty cool i was a big underdog at the time eric rindles was beat a bunch of good fighters he was on a hot streak and and it was just kind of cool the environment and everything was super cool um i really like that. I really like my first hometown fight, which was my last one, versus Joe Conn. The experience

was really cool. And the crowd was really live. And I didn't know that many people from Connecticut really appreciated what I did and supported me. So that was awesome. And then there was like a lot of little things, like my pro debut, all my friends that came out all the way up in Plymouth. I live in Southern Connecticut, so it was about like a four-hour drive. So, It's just cool seeing how my friends and family supported me. And then, you know, all the people I meet through the Internet that have been able to encourage me and support me and the kids I've gotten to speak to that have one hand or, you know, people that have cerebral palsy a lot reach out to me and people reach out to me and ask me for advice. I give them advice. I've helped kids learn how to tie their shoes and do stuff like that.

so it feels good to give back. And if I wasn't beating people up, you know, I wouldn't have been able to do stuff like that. It's kind of weird how the world works. You know, I hurt people in the cage, but then I help people as soon as I get out of it. So that's a very rewarding spot. There's just so many things. You know, I owe a lot to MMA, and I have nothing to say about anyone who I've ever fought or anyone that I fought for any organizations.

you know, I'm just very grateful. You know, I like to call you Mr. MustCTV because it's always so amazing watching you fight. Inspiring is probably the better word. You know, even I was watching on Saturday with my wife and she does not like MMA, but she watched every second of your fight because it's just, you must watch when Nick Newell is watching. And of course, you mentioned, you know, being an inspiration for younger kids. and I'm wondering if you're okay with that kind of legacy. If at the end of the day, people say that Nick Newell was the congenital amputee who fought

and had, I believe it was a 13-1 record and fought for a belt and won a belt another organization, are you okay with that being your legacy? Sort of to a degree the way people talk about Jim Abbott. You know, he had his moments as well, no hitter, all that stuff. But that always comes up in the first couple lines. Are you okay with that, or would you prefer it not be that way? Do I have a choice? In a perfect world.

the world's as perfect as it can get. You know, this is the way the world is. And I think overall I'll be remembered as a good fighter. And this is, it's a part of who I am. It's not who I am. But it's a part of it, and it's a big part, and it makes me stand out. And, you know, if that's how I'm going to be remembered, that's how I'm going to be remembered.

And when I started fighting, I kind of figured that that's how I'd be remembered. but it wasn't why I did it. I don't go out. I've never gone out to be like, I'm going to show the world. To me, it's not a big deal. It's always, anything's always been capable. Anyone's always been possible. I'm sorry.

It's always been possible for anyone to do anything if they put their mind to it. So, you know, I just, it's, it's always been nothing to me. And it's something to a lot of people, though. So that means a lot. to me that it means a lot to other people that I'm out there doing it with one hand, even though it's not a big deal to me. It is to other people. So it's cool that I can touch people in that way.

In the last 36 hours or so, have you received a lot of messages, you know, when these things happen when someone retires, people feel the need or it leads to people telling you and when they weren't telling you beforehand what you meant to them, the kind of inspiration you were to them? Have you received things like that in the last 36 hours? Yeah, I was really cool. A lot of the messages and stuff I got from people. I don't know how to turn the vibrate feature off of my phone.

I know how to put it on silent. But it's like shaking the whole time. So I'm trying to hang out with my girlfriend and watch a movie yesterday. I kind of just wanted to relax a little bit. And you could hear my phone just like shaking over in the corner like the whole time. So I had to turn it off for a little bit. And just so I could just kind of spend some family time and just kind of relax because I go away from home for my training camps.

I'm not home a lot, and I travel, and it's very hectic. So I like to relax a little bit after I'm done, and it was crazy. And today I kind of had some time when she went to work to really check all the messages and all the things that people left me, and it kind of made me cry a little bit. I was, like, thinking that there was some dust in the air or something. And I started cleaning the house a little bit, but it wasn't the house. The house was clean. It's that these people are getting me choked up.

It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. It's well-deserved. So next step for you, trying to open that gym? Yeah, I'd like to do that, and I'd like to do some things behind the scenes and maybe some things in front of the camera. Okay. I've done commentary in the past. You know, maybe start off with a, with...

a league and just kind of show people that I'm actually very intelligent and very good at it and work my way up. Maybe some PR stuff. I don't know. I got to see what kind of opportunities are open and what kind of positions people would be comfortable putting me in. But I'm the type of person that whenever I do something, I'm gung-ho and I really take it super serious and hit the ground running. So we'll see.

You know, only time we'll tell. I fought on Saturday. It's Monday. Sure. You know, I really haven't been searching too much for anything. I go on vacation on Thursday for like 10 days. Nice. So when I get back from there, I'm going to start from there

and just kind of see what I can get and what I can do and work on, you know, doing my own thing and just setting myself up financially for my future. I think you'd be great in all of those roles and then some. It has been a pleasure. It has been an honor to cover your fighting career. I'm looking forward to what you do next. Congratulations on a tremendous career.

Like I said, you were an inspiration, but also a great fighter. I mean, your fights were always fun. Mr. Must CTV, no doubt about it. And it's been a lot of fun to watch this journey. So best of luck to you, my friend. All the best in retirement. Enjoy retirement life at 29 years old. It's a funny thing saying that.

a young man like yourself, but I wish you the best. I thank you for coming on the show, and keep us posted on what's next for you. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right, there is. Nick Newell. Big news for him. As my Bob Sapp CD falls over, like I said, 29 years old, 13 and 1. A great guy with a very bright future, even if it's not inside the cage, but a huge part of World Series of Fighting for the last five fights. One of their more recognizable stars, popular stars, so they'll miss him. And I would imagine that they would want him to keep fighting. Remember, he headlined that first and only NBC show against Justin Gaci on July 5th, 2014. I maintain that fight should have been alone, not the same night

or day as UFC 175, but that's how those things go. Nothing to be ashamed of for Nick Newell. again, like I said to Rick Hahn, congratulations on going out your way. All right. In around 15 minutes or so, we are going to be joined by CM Punk. They always have entertaining, polarizing, and interesting CM Punk. But first, a bit of a break in the action. Mr. New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here.

There he is. The married man himself. I had the pleasure of attending Mr. New York Rick's wedding on Saturday afternoon with my wife. And what an experience that was. First of all, I don't know if you know this, first day wedding for me. Interesting. So that was fun. I enjoyed it because I don't like to stay up late.

So I didn't have to worry about getting home late. You know what? I knew this and I planned that specifically for you. I appreciate it. You're a minch. But I had the opportunity of meeting New York Rick's mother and father. And what amazing people. lovely people. I can't say enough good things. First I met his mother. And

unbeknownst to me, she actually watches the show quite regularly while she plays a game name Majan. Mahjong. How do you pronounce it? Mahjong. It's a tile game. A tile game. It's like, I guess you'd call it a card game, but it's played with tiles. She told me that listening to the show is the only thing that will take her away from her. favorite game known as Mahjong. This is true. So

I love talking to her. She was a big fan of the show, or she is a big fan, I should say. That was a lot of fun. And then I got to meet your father, who, with all due respect to your mom, she's a big fan. Your father, fair to say, an even bigger fan? I mean, your father was dropping little things about this show, interviews,

specific episodes. I mean, he knew it all. I get the impression, your dad comes home and watches this whole damn thing. I don't know why. He said, I don't even watch for my son. I watch all the interviews. and he was just so kind, showering with accolades, I didn't expect it. I had no idea. You've never said this to me before.

He pays very, very close attention to the show and loves it and emails me every week about it. Really? Every week. Why didn't you ever tell me? Well, let's not inflate your ego over here. No, I mean, the fact that we have a fan and your father and mother, I mean, that's a big thing. Yeah, they both, they love the show. And they're happy I'm a part of it.

Yeah, it was beautiful. Also, I now understand why you have such a great affinity for magic. It's true. I love magic, and it comes from Papa Jackman. Explain to me, your father now, he's retired, right? He is retired. And he just went to a couple of conventions. He went to a magic convention in Florida.

I cannot believe that this is what he was talking to. Oh, we went really into it. I was firing away questions. He went to a magic convention in Florida, had a great time. and I'm sure now he'll do that every year. Something very interesting about this convention. He actually said that he had to sign like an NDA. You can't tell me things about what goes on behind the scenes

because I wanted to find out, obviously. He has signed an NDA. I wonder if he tells you. I have not heard about this. I didn't even know he signed an NDA. Is this why you like magic or did you like it regardless? No, certainly he got me into it. And then from there, YouTube and all these things helped cultivate this love

for magic. Amazing. Do you think that he will now go into magic, like get out of retirement, so to speak, and become a magician? I mean, it sounded, honestly, like, that's what he wants to do, which I think is great. I think it's more of a hobby. Really? But can you imagine? Bright Lights, UFC 265, and then right next door at the wind, Papa Jackman, holding it down, Magic Show, sold out.

Let's hope not. That would be incredible. What a great guy. I really appreciated picking his brain. We spoke for quite some time. You saw this, right? I saw this. It looked like he held you captive for a long, long time.

But he's very enthusiastic and he loves me and he loves the show. Sure. So I'm glad you got to meet him. It was very nice. It was great. It was an honor to meet both your mother and father. Also, you had a friend of yours officiate your wedding. I did.

Who claimed that he, was given the call four days ago, but he embellished a little bit. Embellished. I told them a month ago. A month ago, which seems a little bit weird since you've been engaged for what? Ten months? Well, I mean... Well, you're actually married. Yeah, I'm already married.

So this wedding's been planned for quite a bit. But the problem was I was trying to get somebody else who was not already my best man to officiate it. It didn't work out. So then he had to be the one to officiate it because he's known us the longest and just worked out that way. So not only that, he also delivered a speech. He gave the best man speech, yep. And in this speech, he gave you an Anderson-Varajou, Cleveland Cavaliers, baby onesie.

He did. Now, for my future... How do you feel about that? A, the gift, but B, the choice in player. Oh, I love that choice in player. Anderson Varajou is a legend in my books. He will go down as one of the all-time cavaliers. Now, he's only played.

played about 10 games a season for the last five seasons. Sure. But those seasons that he does play, Wild Thing is my guy. So you're okay with the whole thing. I would be proud to have my future child in that jersey. Most importantly, the big news of the day was that you decided against the man bun.

I didn't have much of a decision. I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. You didn't say that last week. I would like to take credit for this. The wife had put the kibosh on that long, long time ago, but I tried to play it up like I was, like I was hot shit, and it's not the case.

She ultimately made that decision. Now, but I've traded one day for eternity, should I be able to keep my hair that long, and the man bun is back, and it's not going anywhere. Was there any talk of cutting the hair? No, never. So you went back? Now, that wasn't in play.

That wasn't even an option. So you went to the slickback look. Yeah. The David Lemieux. I thought it looked pretty good. I had no idea that this guy looked like me. but I got a lot of Twitter mentions on the day. Well, it looked good. It was long. Wow.

It is long, yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, it can't really tell it here, but it looked very long. Slick back, you look like a young Pat Riley up there. Now, are we going to talk about my beautiful bride, or? Well, yes, I was getting to all of that. I mean, I was just kind of giving my perspective on the ins and out to the wedding. But, of course, your beautiful bride. Now, Holly is her name.

Will her last name be Jackman, or are we going New Age here? She's hyphenated, so she's taking it. Oh, really? Interesting. Yeah. Has that been done? It's done. Fischel.

She was radiant. She really commanded the room. You were kind of just more like, you know, wallpaper. But all eyes, I will say this if I can offer a critique. Can I offer a critique? Sure. Absolutely. I felt, and I noted this to my wife, you had the relationship with the best man who officiated the wedding.

Yep. But he also knows your wife, of course. He does. I felt like he was focusing too much on you. I wanted to hear more on her about her. You can never focus too much on me. It felt like it was a little too much. This is supposed to be at the end of the day,

your wife's day. It's all about her. She is the star of the show. She's the princess, whatever. A lot of the talk was about you. And I don't know if this is something that you guys, you know, cooked up in the back. It just felt, was there any talk of that afterwards?

You were not the only one to have said this. Oh, interesting. Okay. But if you knew him, like, you know, anybody who knows him who was there, that speech was very much what it was going to be. There was not going to be much about the two of us. More importantly, or at least her, can you tell us some stories about her? I will say her sister knocked it out of the park.

I agree. That might have been the closest I got to tearing up that whole time. Just the sister. Well, she said something to the effect of, you know, this is a ceremony, but you've been, you know, our family for a long time, it touched me a little bit. That was very nice. Even, by the way, what's your friend's name, the one who is officiating? Garrick.

Garik. It even dropped the word defecating in his speech, which I believe is the first time while eating, by the way, while eating, that someone mentions the word defecating in the middle of a wedding speech. Uniquely Garrick. Yes. So your wife had no problem with it being slanted towards you. I mean, we didn't have, you know, a fight about it afterwards. I think it was okay. She didn't say to him, you know what, in hindsight, if we do this again, we do this again, we don't.

Again, can you mention me at least once? Remember that she also knows him very, very well. Sure. And she wouldn't have expected anything else. She co-signed him saying this speech. She did. Delivering it. And officiating. That's it. And you've never actually told the story about me being responsible for this whole shindy.

I feel like I might have. Right at the show after I got engaged, I think I, I think I told this, but. You were in the car. You told me you don't really believe in this sort of thing. And I said, that's ludicrous, correct? Correct. I still, you know, to be a. honest. I still don't. Don't say that now. The ceremony was fantastic. I had a great time. I'm glad I could share it with my friends and family. But again, we were already married. And even before that, you know, to me, to me, I've been together with my, with my now wife for so long.

Sure. It was, it was kind of academic at that point. You would have been okay without it. No different to me, really. Right. And I love her. I want to be with her. It doesn't really matter if there's a ring involved or legal status involved. Doesn't matter. But all that being said, after our conversation in your car, you did go home and pop the question. I didn't even wait until I got home. Hopped on the phone. Hopped on the phone and did it. What a romantic. Any truth to the rumor that Bellator sponsored your after party?

That is false. Why did I say that? It was Dave and Busters that sponsored my after? No. Dave and Busters did not sponsor my after party, but we did go to Dave and Busters after, and I may or may not have. done very well at the Papa shot and got a lot of tickets for us. Oh, yeah? I've actually, believe it or not, never been to it, Dave & Busters, a D&B. Eat, drink, play, bro. You got to go. Did you really win a lot? Yeah, we got some good tickets. What does the tickets get you?

Oh, man, you could trade it in for all kinds of prizes, but... What did you get? Oh, we're saving them. We've been saving them for years. This is a thing between my wife and I. You're saving them? We've got tons of tickets that were one day going to eventually, you know, trade in for whatever the biggest prize is, and we will have spent 17 times the ticket value of that thing. How many tickets do you think you guys have now? This is a very bizarre thing. In the hundreds of thousands.

What? Oh, yeah. How often do you go to Dave and Busters? Maybe once a month. You're kidding. No, yeah, for sure. There's one in Long Island near the wedding venue. So you're like, honey, we're going to Dave and Buster.

Oh, she loves it. I love it. It's a good time. Ah, that is bizarre. How's the food? Don't eat it. What? You just go to play? Oh, only for the games. I don't eat the food.

Where did you eat? We went to Buffalo Wild Wings after. Look at you. You're going to all the MMA sponsors. Yeah, we were trying to watch the Triple G fight, but nobody in Long Island was showing it. They were complaining about the HBO pay-per-view prices. And especially with a Mets playoff game, why pay the money? That's true. But I was disappointed.

So if I walked into your house right now, you would have hundreds of thousands of tickets from David. They're on a card. They put them onto a card. Oh. At the end. I don't have physical tickets in my house. That'd be incredible. Imagine we walk into your house and it's just a complete mess.

Your hamsters are pooping all over these tickets. In fact, they've done away with tickets completely. You don't even get the tickets out of the machine anymore. You just slide your card. It's really disappointing. I'm disappointed, Dave and Busters. What's the point? It doesn't have the same feel.

I like to be swimming in the tickets and then bring them up to the counter and then get my little card. What was the best part of the whole day? I really enjoyed the ceremony itself, exchanging vows with my wife, because, you know, her speech, I felt like I told her what I wanted to tell her. I feel like her speech was very much what she wanted to say and very much in line with how she is. And I was happy to have everybody there to witness it. Would it have been poor form if I periscoped it? I thought about doing that. I would have been okay with it.

I mean, you could tell that our wedding wasn't, you know, the most traditional and didn't have the kind of structure and flow that. you know, everybody else's would have had, so I wouldn't have been too mad about it. I'm kidding. I've never done Periscope. So the limitation there is your own. I don't know. It just, come on. I actually thought, I did tweet out a picture or two. I appreciate that. You did, because I wasn't sure. I didn't know if it was a breach of privacy.

I asked a couple of people, James Law was there. I asked them, I was like, is this weird? Should I not be doing this? But then, actually, it only occurred to me afterwards. You gave out chopsticks, and on the chopsticks, it said, hashtag party with Jackman. So I guess I was encouraged to do this. You were. But I didn't play by the rules.

I should have included the hashtag. Well, that was bad. Yeah, my wife was very upset about that. Were there a lot of people who tweeted or Instagram? Everybody who was there, you know, gave us a nice shout out on social media. Really? With the hashtag? Most people, yeah.

Damn it. Those chopsticks were, you know, there for a reason. They were. All right. Let me work on. Now that we cleared all that up, well, again, congratulations to both of you. Thank you for having us. Thank you.

It was great to be there and celebrate. Most importantly, it was great to meet your lovely parents. I have no idea how they produced you, but kudos to them. And I appreciated all their kind words about this show and just about everything. It was just, it was very nice. It was a really nice afternoon on Long Island partying with the Jackmans. So there you have it, Mazel Tov, to the Jackmans. All right, in a minute, we are going to be joined by CM Punk,

joining us from Chicago and I wonder what the mood is like in Chicago this afternoon. I was going to say this morning, but it is this afternoon now. Of course, their beloved cubbies are down two games to none against Chris Wyman's Mets. And don't worry, I didn't get to this on the show, but Wyman, I mean, if you call me a bandwagoner for the Blue Jays,

Wyman is way worse. I mean, this guy hasn't watched a baseball game in at least 15 years. And all of a sudden he's tweeting about Daniel Murphy, and the New York Mets. CM Punk, not a bandwagoner. He's been driving that train for a very long time. So let me ask him directly. Mr. Punk, what is the mood like this afternoon in Chicago

as the beloved cubbies are down two games to none? Oh, I'm the biggest bandwagoner fan. There is. There's absolutely no visual audio or any other kind of history that depicts me being a fan of either the Blackhawks or the Chicago Cubs anywhere. At least that's what I read on the Internet, so it must be true.

What is going on with you on the Internet, by the way? Can we just address this? What is happening here? I have no idea. I'm just minding my own business. I've got some fake ice my fake shoulder injury right now. My dog is trying to eat a cookie

that he's not allowed to have, and life is good. We will get to that in a second, but I thought I had it bad, and then you retweet one thing or say one mention, and I get, I mean, the worst kinds of humans pop up on my timeline. I'm like, where are these people coming here?

Oh, that's right. You just retweeted something or mentioned me. How do you stomach it? Well, what's the point? Well, you stomach it by not reading it. Okay. That's what you do. You know, otherwise you'll just go fucking insane.

It's a cesspool of humanity, you know. Do you even read your mentions anymore? No. No, I do occasionally. I'm always always confused I think I think it lies in with the confusion of I don't understand the idea of saying something nasty to me getting getting called out for a personal attack and then me defending myself and then it somehow I mean I guess everybody wants to be Twitter famous so like you know I've played into their hands and I've given

them their five minutes with Twitter fame and I guess that's what they were looking for. Sometimes I don't do it. Sometimes I do. You know, I don't lose sleep over it either way. Yeah, it is a crazy thing. You just Google your name, and like the top articles are about your Twitter activity. It's a bizarre thing. Strange, right? Yeah. It must be a slow news there. Okay, so let's talk about you. You mentioned the shoulder around 11 days or so. ESPN reported after speaking to Duke Rufus, your coach, that you had suffered a shoulder injury. We have not heard from you. So what's the status of this injury?

Well, I dodged a bullet. The doctor on the MRI said that nothing was torn. We were originally concerned that it was labrum or rotator cuff, and that's not the case. I might have slightly tore something. Unfortunately, MRIs aren't 100% conclusive, is what the doctor says to me, which is probably the worst thing you can say to me, because now I'm all fucking paranoid that something is torn, and this isn't being any better because it's been really, really frustrating. but I take it day to day.

I find other stuff to do with my time, and I bust my ass and try to get back to 100% so I can continue training. How long ago did it happen? August, like end of August. Oh, wow. So it's been quite some time. Is it feeling better?

It's exponentially better from, you know, when I did it. Yeah. I'm still dealing with some pain. My range of motion is back. Once it's warmed up and working, my strength, I wouldn't say, is 100% back, but it's getting there. Yeah, it's a ton better than what it was. What led to the injury? I was sparring.

We were on the ground. Guy had his hook, had my back, and I ditched his rugged hook, and I turned to get on top, and I had all my weight on my elbow on the mat, and things just popped. It was like one of those pops, like, everybody in the room just kind of stops and looking. Oh, man. Yeah, that was me. So, but I finished the round. I sparked another round after that and then finish the workout.

And then mop the floors like I always do. Because I honestly, in my gut, I was like, oh, that didn't sound good. This is going to, this is going to need a surgery. And then I got pretty depressed waiting for the MRI. And thankfully, the MRI said that nothing was torn. So it's just one of those things, you know. It's just another hurdle. That's the way I look at it.

When you say you got pretty depressed, I mean, did it make you? you reconsider this whole venture, this whole thing that you're on, this ride, this journey that you're on, to get to your UFC fight? No, but when you want to do something and you want to do it badly,

you know, so bad you can taste it, so to speak, that, you know, anything that kind of prevents you from being able to do, like, I'd be fine if I could train, if I could be something, you know, but just kind of sitting around waiting for that MRI,

that week was pretty miserable. You know, I mean, riding the bike hurt. You know what I mean? Jumping rope hurt. But it's a lot better now. I bike a lot. So are you in Milwaukee? Like, are you still going to the gym?

Well, you know, I know you can't use that part of your body, but are you still around the team, or are you taking a break from that? No, I came home. I've been sitting in Chicago. Okay. That's a bummer. It is a bummer.

The whole thing is. of them. You, you know, you always said that you were ready whenever you're going to leave it up to your coaches, and Duke has implied that, you know, he wants a year at least with you to get you ready for whenever your debut will be. Do you have any idea if this significantly delays things for you? No, that's a question you're going to have to ask Duke. You know, I'm the one that ran my mouth and was like, oh, I hope I fight by the end of the year, you know, and obviously everybody twists and and contorts everything that you say. And for some reason,

a lot of people thought that meant that I was fighting by the end of the year. No, it's just I'm an ambitious fellow, you know. I don't know if that delays me. It's another question for Duke. I think it's going to be a matter of when it lines up best for the UFC and for my timeline. But we'll find out in January, hopefully.

Maybe we can get it. like an estimation. As far as how comfortable he feels with you making your debut, right now, you're assuming or you're expecting that the shoulder will be back to normal by January, right? Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, I was actually going to go back up and start training this week, but I just, I'm still dealing with so much pain and the damn thing. Like, now I'm paranoid that I'm going to start back too early and re-injure it.

And that's the last thing I want to do. so I'm really trying to be level-headed about it. You know, not just full-steen ahead, working through injuries is kind of a new thing for me. So I have to cool my jets a little bit. In a perfect world, you kind of wish that there was never the announcement and that you could have just been training, people leave you alone, and then when you were ready to fight, then make the announcement, and then go into like a real camp for a fight, and then fight three, four months later,

would you have done it the opposite in a way? Yes, and some days I wish that, but it also wasn't my call. You know what I mean? Right. Like I wasn't the one that called them. They called me. I suggested, hey, why don't we wait until we're ready to fight? And they're just like, no, fuck it.

We're going to do it right now. I said, all right. Like, some days are better than others, you know, mentally for me. And I think, man, yeah, it would have been better if we waited other days. I don't think about it. Do you wish this news never came out? What, the shoulder injuries? Yeah.

Were you trying to keep it? Yeah. Yeah, I don't like talking or, you know, whatever happens in the gym stays. I don't like talking about it. Did you tell Duke that? Yeah, we talk. I mean, and it's mostly because, you know, I deal with enough shit. The last thing I need is, you know, some phony journalist being like,

oh, he's fake injured, he's never going to fight. It's like, fuck off that. You know, like, who told you it was okay to write a book, who made you a journalist? Like, I don't know why people are so concerned about what the fuck I'm doing. You know, if you don't like a book somebody wrote, don't read it. If you don't like a TV show or something on, don't watch it. If you're mad that somebody's remaking big trouble in Little China and it's your favorite movie, guess what? Don't watch the remake.

Right. You don't watch me fight. Don't watch me fight. It's a funny thing because in July when we spoke in Chicago, it felt like, all right, we were kind of at the halfway point. people are rooting for you and things like that. And now, slowly, and it's a very, very vocal minority. So I don't want to put too much stock into them. But it's like almost people are now doubting whether or not it.

And we've always said, or at least I've always heard from Duke in particular, that it was going to be at least a year before, you know, he really said, okay, let's go. Why do you think all of a sudden it feels like people are starting to doubt whether or not you, had any intention of fighting? Well, I mean, you know, we made the announcement, what, 10 months ago? Yeah. Obviously, I should have thought by now. You know, I think it has a lot to do with impulsive people.

They have short attention spans. You know, it's nice. I mean, they want to see any fight. You know, as much as they pretend, oh, this is terrible for the sport, and we hate him and we're not going to support it. They're going to watch it. And they want to watch it. And that's the fun thing about it.

It's like, we've got them, you know. And they can say it's a PR stunt, and they can say whatever. But I know. Oh, hang on with it. No problem. Sorry, that was my timer on my phone for my ice. I don't know if you heard that or not. I did not.

I thought it was your dog. Okay, never mind. Trying to... No, it started buzzing and freaking out. You know, I know I'm going to get my day in the octagon, and I'm going to have fun doing it. So I just try to... I just try to ignore all the silliness, you know. Some days it gets to me, and I don't ignore it.

And then I remember, oh, yeah, that's why you do ignore it. because, you know, you fed the troll. Don't feed the troll, so. And then I get back out with my life. Have you heard from the UFC? Do they check in on you, or do they just leave you alone at this point? Well, I kind of assumed it right from the beginning because, you know, doctors and MRIs were involved that Dana and Lorenzo knew,

but apparently they didn't. Once Duke did the interview, I got a call from Dana and Lorenzo, and they were just concerned. They were just like, hey, man, you okay? What's, what's going on? How's everybody? How's the family? How's Larry?

You know. Did they really ask, how's Larry? Yeah, absolutely. Everybody loves Larry. Of course. You'll appreciate, by the way, the picture of you that we have saying you're on the phone is you and Larry. So I thought that was important. Did we lose you?

I think we did. Maybe it was Larry once again. Remember when I was in Chicago interviewing Punk in July. Larry was jumping all over me. It was great. I was very sweaty that day and he was licking my feet. It was more my arms. Actually, he was looking if I, if I recall. He was the unintentional star of that sit-down interview with CM Punk. But look, I mean, I don't know how many times. It is, it is true. If you go back and look at all the interviews, you never said, are you there? Did we lose you? I'm back. Yeah. Sorry. So what did they say, like, come, oh, anyway, I wanted to tell you that the picture that we have on the screen saying that you're on the phone is you and the often imitated and never duplicated Larry there. So I thought you would appreciate that. Oh, lovely, lovely. Did they say they want you to come to Vegas or to check you out or are they confident that you're doing everything that you need to do?

No, I explained to him in the situation. They said, man, that really sucks. You know, get better soon, but take time, you know, go at your own pace. and I'm doing that. Are you going to stir crazy at this point? I am and I'm not. You know, like I said, I bike a lot. I told myself I was going to try to do 20 miles a day in October,

and I missed a couple of days, but I also hit a couple of 30-mile days, so I do that. And my shoulder's good enough that once I'm, like, warmed up and stretched out, that I jump a lot of rope. I'm just nervous. about like the grappling. I'm pretty sure I think maybe striking might be okay.

I'm going to start kind of light hitting a heavy bag here in a couple days to see how I feel. I just don't want to throw any more wrenches in the plans. You know, I just don't want to re-injure it or further injure it. I think I'm pretty fortunate dodging a bullet shoulder surgery really sucks from what I understand. And I've never had shoulder problems before. So it's just been frustrating. So you said that you suffered the injury around August. up until that point, were you happy with your progression?

Dude, let me tell you, obviously, nobody's going to believe me if I say I'm Anderson Silva, and obviously that would be a fucking lie anyway. Sure. But I was having a great day that Monday, you know, sparring. I felt good, you know, and then this happened. It's kind of the most frustrating thing about it, you know. I felt like I was turning the corner a little bit in certain aspects. and, you know, I definitely don't think I was over-training or anything like that.

I mean, I trained a lot, but this is just, it was just a freak accident, you know. Did they, again, before the entry, were there any talks yet about when the debut might come? Nope. No, Duke is very adamant about not discussing that. He's dead set on being with him for 12 months before he even entertains the idea. I wonder, and again, you know, he's a responsible. responsible coach, you know what I mean? I wonder if now it's like these months don't count and it's now, you know, in a real

timeline, 14 months, you know what I mean? Okay, well, if you look at it like that, like, say I was with Duke for a year and then you were like, okay, you're good to go and say I was going to fight in February and now what I fight in March or April? Like, who the fuck's upset about that? It's the same people who said they didn't want to see any fight in the first place. So shut the fuck up. Like, don't watch it.

don't pay attention to me. Don't follow me on Twitter. I don't know why they torture themselves. I'm such a heathen in their eyes. Then don't associate with me. Don't write articles about me. Don't talk to me about you. Leave me alone.

Leave me alone. Why do I get the feeling that they will watch and write articles and things like that? Of course they will. Of course they will. And that's my whole point. You know, the same people who complain that I was going to come on here, oh, what's he going to talk about?

There's nothing to talk about. All right, but these are the same people who have asked me six thousand times to be on their podcast, and I decline because I don't want to be on their podcast. You're a friend of mine. You asked me to come on. Obviously, let's chat. And there's plenty to talk about it. Cubs, Blue Jays, Blackhawks, My Shitty Shoulder, Larry, you know, everything.

We talk about everything. By the way, when you announced that you were going to fight, you received messages and invitations from all kinds of people. When this news came out about the injury, did anyone reach out to and say, I've dealt with the same thing. This way, do anyone from the team? Has anyone really gone above and beyond for you? I mean, everybody on the team, you know, like, there was a lot of people that didn't know, and then they would text me like maybe four weeks later and be like, where are you? You know, I've been talking about you to know all this hurt.

You know, but guy like Eric Koch, he was just dealing with the same thing. He had a knee problem. He had to pull out of a fight in July in Chicago, and, you know, he just got back to training. I think he's already got a fight in January. So, yeah, like, they're super helpful, keeping me, you know, mentally happy and focused on the task at hand, and they just want to see me back in the gym as soon as possible. Are you happy with the decision to be in Milwaukee and go to Rufus?

That's all staying the same whenever you come back. Yes, yes, obviously. I'm happy there. I'm still happy there, you know. I mean, I've made friends there, you know what I mean? Last UFC pay-per-view, I had Ben Asking and his wife sitting on my couch with their newborn little Larry. Little Larry is so scared of their baby. It was hilarious.

The dog is scared of the baby? He was, like, so curious, and he would, like, try to creep towards her to, like, sniff her. And then once we spotted that he was doing it, he would kind of, like, he would back up. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do with the human baby. Wow. And I was terrified. I was terrified.

He was going to, you know, rip a throat or something. that, but no, he was nice. I always feel like you have a thousand things going. You're writing comic books. Anything outside of this fighting world that I may not be as in tune with that you got going on these days? Well, I'm going to stop writing comic books because there's a bunch of people that got mad that I was writing comic book.

No, I'm fucking with you. Okay. Jesus Christ. You know, I'm just being sarcastic. Now, comic book writing is going. super super well. I lost my computer over the weekend, but then I just found it.

The TSA has it at the airport. Yeah, so I got to, that's another thing I got to do today. I'm a busy guy. That's exciting. Did they look through your stuff? What do you think? I don't know. The only thing I use my computer for is writing comic books.

So if they went through it, then they know what happens in Drex issue three. You know, it's not a big deal. Okay. I would like to think that maybe somebody went through and was like, sweet. we're going to see something, you know, and then they, yeah, that's a boring comic book shit, yeah.

So you're doing the comic books, anything else? I feel like people are always tugging at you. Yeah, let's see what else. What else are people mad about that I'm doing? Oh, I'm doing a movie. I'm doing a movie with my wife. Oh. A lot of armchair coaches and fighters on the internet

who like to fancy themselves journalists, but never went to school for it. Said, oh, that's not a wise decision. Listen, a three-day shoot to get paid a ridiculous amount of money isn't going to hurt my fight career. And I get up to the bills. You know, I hate money, but it keeps the light on. So I got to do something, because I think a lot of people also don't think

these MMA experts also don't realize that I don't get paid unless I fight. Yeah. So why the hell wouldn't I fight? so I can get paid. I'm doing that. I think I'm more terrified that my wife has to do some sort of sword fighting training.

What kind of movie is this? It's like a post-apocalyptic horror movie, like, you know, but no zombies. Zombies, these are zombie things getting out of hand. Yeah, my wife's going to learn how to sword fight.

So are you playing husband and wife? in the film as well? No, no. I'm pretty sure she's the Laura Croft-esque badass, and I'm the bad guy that pretty much brings the monsters to these poor helpless people. I could see it now. Troll Hunter, starring CM Punk.

Dude, Troll Hunter's a great movie. Have you ever seen that? No, it's actually, it's a real movie? Troll Hunter, yeah. It's a great movie. It's a great movie. It's like a, they've been made in Sweden, maybe. It's fantastic.

Stole my idea. Check it out. It's a great movie. Your wife is doing a lot of acting. I saw her on a Madden. The weirdest, I don't even know if to call it. It was like a mini movie, but a commercial. It was the weirdest thing in the world with dinosaurs and all kinds of crazy things.

I thought that commercial was great. It was great. I'm not saying it was bad. It was just, it was a bit off the beaten path, if you know what I'm saying. Oh, but man, you know what? All the commercial actors, like, she's been getting a lot of grief from commercial actors because they were like, you've never done a commercial before. How dare you? You're not allowed to do commercials. They got hairy for a while. Really? What is this? I feel like we need to just,

we need to take a break from all of this. Why? Why subject yourself to this? It bothers me. Oh, are you, are you messing with me now again? Yes. Oh, yes, I am. It's too naive. I guess I am. Too naive. Oh, gosh. It was just, it was an onslaught this morning. I was like, what is going on? Why is this happening? Why is this happening? Why? there's so much hatred out there. Tough guys. I mean, they know where I train. They can show up.

Yes. What's going on to Blue Jays, man? Well, no, hey, listen, don't turn the tables on me. I want to talk to you the most recent thing. The most recent thing is that your beloved Cubs, you dodged the question at the top are down. Two games then on going home. So much like my Jays, who play tonight, by the way,

and I expect them to win. But what's going on? I mean, I feel like at least the Jays were winning in game two. The Cubs have really not shown up thus far. Is it all going to their head? What's happening? No, I don't think it's going to their head. I think the Mets are just a super fantastic team, you know.

I feel like it's unfortunate that so many great teams are already out, you know. Cubs in any other division would have won their division. They beat the Pirates in a wild card. Great game. They beat the Cardinals who had the best record in baseball. So, I mean, saying the Cubs suck is a little bit ridiculous. You know, I didn't say that. I didn't say that.

No, no, no, no, I'm just saying in general. Okay. Like, I'll never, I'll never just feel like, well, the Mets suck. You know what I mean? Like, no, I'm pretty sure if you made it this far, if you made it to either the championship series, you're a good team. You know, and Mets have that deep pitching, you know, and that's gotten out of them, that's gotten them out of some jams.

And obviously, Murphy, I mean, Murphy's a stud, you know. Instead of saying, oh, Arietta screwed up and hit a home run, and threw a home run pitch to Murphy. I'm just like, man, Murphy's hit home runs and bombs off of him, Granky, Kershaw, the best pitchers in major leagues, you know? And, like, you know, I mean,

the Mets are going to let that guy go, and that's mind-boggling to me. Well, I feel like he's playing into an amazing contract, but what I'm wondering is, now I'm assuming you're going to be at game three, right? Yes. All throughout games, game two yesterday.

They kept showing Jerry Seinfeld in the stands, which is a little weird. I feel like Seinfeld is not that kind of guy. Are we going to get some CM Punk cutaways on TBS? I doubt it. I don't got Seinfeld money.

Are you kidding me? Where do you sit? No, I'm just saying, like, I got good seats. I just don't. I mean... Do you sit in a box? TBS.

No, I don't sit in the box. I sit with the people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I sit in a box. Hide from everybody. It probably would be a good idea.

I feel like they have good luck when you sing Take Me Out to the ballgame. Have they asked you to do it? The playoffs. No, I just did it. I just did it to one of the last games against the Pirates of the season. So I doubt it. I would like to think Eddie Vedder is probably going to sing. But I also like when they do the video board stuff,

and you get to see Ernie Banks and Harry Carey Singh. I think that that's really all. Awesome. Actually, a good question. They do, was it God Bless America? Yes. Is that, God, I hope they don't do that at Wrigley? That's really going to suck.

Oh, and so, no, you can't mess with, I wonder, back in the day, like with Bartman and stuff when they were in the LCS, what did they do? Because they've been doing the God bless. And take me out of the ballgame. Yeah. I, you know, I don't know. It's a national broadcast. I don't know. We'll have to see.

even more interesting what will they do tonight in Toronto saying god bless America god would that be great how awesome would that be they ain't singing that in the great white north it would be fantastic it would be hilarious it would be hilarious

um you've been around for a bulls championship and a blackhawks championship bears made the uh the super open would would the cubs winning be greater than all that as far as the reaction and all that or are we over playing it?

You know, the way I always feel about it, I always feel like there's Cubs fans, and then there's Wrigley fans. And I think to understand that, you have to know about the area, and there are people who, they don't care about the Cubs, they don't care about baseball,

they go out socialize, and they go out as an excuse to get drunk. And I feel like those would be the same people that would use the Cubs winning anything as an excuse to, like, commit some sort of horrible property damage, you know? So it's a mixed bag.

kind of worry for the city. Oh. When the Cubs do win the World Series, but they had it pretty much on lockdown. When they beat the Cardinals, there was cops on ATVs, cops on horseback. There was two guys.

They took care of things pretty well, because everybody gets drunk at the game and then filters out and then goes to bars, so it can get pretty hairy, but they took care of it. Last thing, I'm not worried about your shoulder. I'm not worried about whether or not you're going to make

your UFC. debut. I'm confident in all that. I'm confident the Cubs are going to win at least a couple of games and make this a serious. I am worried though about the basement dwelling Chicago Blackhawks. I mean, what is going on here? Three and three...

Basement dwelling. Well, pretty much. I mean, let's be honest. Listen, this is a team that has played the most hockey over the past five years over any other team coming in a distant second would be the L.A. Kings.

guys are probably grizzled, you know, I think they took a little bit extra time off before their training camp started this year, so they're tired. They haven't got their legs under them yet, and plus, you know, a lot of guys got shuffled out and new guys got shuffled in. So they're still guys trying to carve their way out of the roster. We've got a bunch of young Russians on the team now. I don't think Panarin speaks English, which is pretty funny. It speaks hockey, though. He's doing awesome so far. So it's, it's, It's way too early in the season to worry. You know, it's hockey.

We got like 77, 75 more games to play, something like that. Sounds like a lot of excuses to me. I don't know. It's just because, I mean, I got to be honest. Let's see how the Royals do tonight before we thought about me. Well, it's just weird because I look up at the top, you know, 6 and 0 best start in franchise history, greatest franchise in the history of sports Montreal Canaan.

I mean, I just see them all. the way up there, and then I see you guys all the way at the bottom. It's weird. It's just weird. It's jarring. That's all. It's not where you start. It's where you finish. And the Hawks have a dynasty. What are the, what are the Canadians got? You guys still searching for that... Drive for 25, baby. 25. Yeah, you're still searching for that 25. Yeah, that's right. Is Suban and Price going to be able to do it for you? Looks good so far. Did you guys have any offense in the off season? Listen.

Who's scoring goals? We're doing fine so far. 20 goals for, seven goals against. That's not bad. When you got... And until Crider bumps into Price again

and then he can't play in the playoffs. Yeah, we'll see. Well, I think it's a nice way to wrap this up. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. And I think that's the lesson of the day. Absolutely.

That is the lesson of the day. 100%. I wish you the best, my friend. I obviously expect that shoulder to heal up soon. and looking forward to you getting back on that horse, and eventually, of course, that debut, I will not wish you the best of luck, though,

because I know you don't need it. But thank you for coming on. I appreciate it greatly. It means a lot to us. I appreciate you clearing the air, and the physical therapy, all that stuff, just a bit of a bump in the road, and looking forward to you getting back in the gym

and doing what you set out to do. As am I, my son, Mazel Toff. Thank you. I hope he made some people mad. Yes. Thank you. There he is. C.M. Punk stopping by from Chicago.

hopefully that cleared some of the air again i don't understand the uh the criticism it's it's a bizarre thing and uh and i wish people would revert back to our original interviews and just see i mean this is a guy who never you know he was called to do this and for some reason he's getting the the criticism and look he's they've said it from the beginning he wasn't going to fight in september october january was when they would start considering it so where that criticism comes from is bizarre but again I think it is a focal minority and not important for someone in his position to focus on that. All right, we got 11 minutes to go for your question, so let's get to him rapid fire style. What do we got?

Fitch versus Okami, what did you think of the fight? I would not put it on a highlight reel for either, man. I think Ocali is better served. Look, Fitch, he beat a tough guy, but I think Ocami, in my opinion, better served at 185. I thought he was just a little too lean for 170. Fitch saying afterwards that he anticipated him being a little too powerful, and that wasn't the case. So, you know, maybe he didn't go full throttle. I don't know.

I think Fitch versus Shields, believe it or not, is a very interesting fight, a very interesting styles matchup. Fitch versus Okami didn't really get me up in the morning, but Fitch did what he had to do. I'd prefer to see Okami fight at 185. I get why he fights at 170. It's a more interesting division for World Series of Fighting, and he lost to David Branch, of course, but I like him better at 185. UFC Dublin, aside for the main event, which fight or fighter are you looking forward to seeing most?

Well, I mean, Patty Hulahan getting the nod and the co-mate event is a lot of fun. The reversal of rules in Dublin in July, last July, he set the table here. He's ending it for SBG. So I like that a lot. How about the return of Reza Madati? Remember we had him on this show when he was trying to get back into the UFC? So that's interesting against Norman Park. You know who I'm super interested in?

You know, this card has received some flak. And look, it isn't as interesting as the first card in Dublin, at least of this era. I'm not talking about 93. But there, I mean, if you're a fan of European MMA, and again, let's remember it's a fight pass card. So you have a level of expectation there. Darren Till fighting. Super interesting. Remember, we spoke to him.

Love his story as well. Robert Whiteford fighting. Stevie Ray fighting, Neil Siri fighting, Ashling Daly, excuse me, fighting. And there's some names, especially for European MMA. And the main event, for a fight past main event at this stage in the game, is as good as it gets, in my opinion. Duffy against Porier, that crowd is going to be fun. It's going to be entertaining.

So I can't really pick one. I mean, Hulahan's great, till Whiteford, Ray, give me all. Rothwell with the steep fight not happening and he uh Rothwell is officially off the Dublin card that's another one by the way that would have been on that card making it even better yeah what should be next for for Rothwell

do they give them steep again do they reschedule it somebody else what what's next by the way I don't hate that idea he said that he was told if a major name in the heavyweight division pulls out of a fight he'll be the first one they call and the one that he's sort of... He said, I don't want to hope or pray for anyone to get injured.

But, but if Alistair Overeign pulls out of that JDS fight, he'll be a happy man. He really wants to fight JDS. I don't want them to keep him on the sidelines until that fight is over and then have him fight JDS, especially, you know, JDS as of late, is fighting once a year. So perhaps it's Miyochich.

Maybe it's Arlofsky at this point, especially when you consider the fact that the title fight isn't even scheduled yet, but we're expecting it, you know, February, March, at least. You've got to keep him active. So it's a bummer. That was a great fight, an amazing fight for that show. Unfortunately, Miochich suffered the injury, a back injury, I was told.

So let's see how quickly those things can be a pain in the butt. Let's see how quickly he recovers. I would love to see that fight again. I don't think there's anything wrong with rebooking it. Lots of interesting matchups to end the year. Is there a non-title fight that you're looking forward to? Well, off the top of my head, Romero, Jacaree is super interesting. I know you like that fight.

Non-title fight. Narmauga-Madov. Ferguson, yeah. Mendes, Edgar. We're talking about all that weekend. I think Page versus Joanne is super interesting. Bigfoot Mark Hunt in Australia is interesting. Dan Henderson, again, oh, you know which one I'm interested in?

Patrick Cummins versus Fajal. No, no, Patrick Cumberthier. What am I talking about? That was the one that in August. You just beat Fajah. Yeah, that's a huge test for Patrick Cummins. That's November 7th. The schedule is a little quieter, the back half of the year,

than it was the first half of the year. But those are some that definitely come to mind. And another one that's of interest, Kelvin Gaslam versus Matt Brown. All great fights. Yeah. And then there's obviously the title fights to add on to that. It would be a great end of the year. What do you think of the reports of John Jones

acing his court-mandated visits, being a positive role model, He did five appearances in one day. Is he taking this seriously? Is he coming after D.C.'s belt? I don't know if I've seen any reports of him acing it. You know, if I could be frank and offer some unsolicited advice, I feel like the delivery in all this has been, hasn't been tremendous in the sense that, like,

the first time we saw pictures of John Jones out in the public doing this sort of charitable stuff before even he was in court. you know, the way it was disseminated was through his PR firm, as opposed to, hey, call up the local paper, let them put it out there, and we just sit back and orchestrated all. That's how these things are done. But it shouldn't come from the PR firm. When he, when he reached his plea deal, the first comment was tweeted via his PR firm. And now I see interviews of, you know, the way that it's being done and the, the appearances before the plea hearing from the PR firm. I come from the school that the PR firm should be in the background, right?

I mean, you work in this field. Right. Essentially what you're saying is you don't want to see how the cake is made. You just want some cake. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, I feel like that's kind of a no-brainer, right? Yeah.

But I think that even, you know, no matter what the delivery method is, we can see that I think he's taking the steps that, to, that are necessary to get back in there. Of course. But let's see. I mean, I want to see what he says, you know, leading up to his return. He still hasn't done an interview. So let's see. I mean, yeah, this is all well and good, but this stuff, two degrees, manufactured. I'm happy that he's out there. He's comfortable putting himself out there. He's interacting all that stuff. That's great. And it actually seems like he's genuinely enjoying these interactions, which is fantastic. But let's see.

This one came later in the show. How would you describe the impact that Newell has had inspiring individuals like yourself and others? What's, what's Nick Newell's legacy on MMA? I mean, it's amazing. It's a guy who defied the odds. who was successful. He wasn't just, you know, a story. He actually enjoyed success, only one loss. A guy who put himself in an uncomfortable position, I mean, let's be honest, there's a reason why there aren't a lot of Nick Newells out there. And yet, look how good he did. In a sport in which you very much need two hands. And, you know, if you'd watch him, you would not really, I mean, yeah, he does things a little bit differently to a degree, but this is not a guy who felt like he was behind the eight ball at all in these fights. So I think he's someone that will be talking about for a long time. I hope he sticks in this sport.

I hope he gets the jobs that he's talking about. I hope we remember Nick Newell in a sport that sometimes delivers kind of ugly stories and stories that we can be ashamed of. There's nothing bad that anyone could say about Nick Newell. And I wish that there are more people in this sport like Nick Newell. And he is a person that whether he likes it or not, was able to bring in people who aren't MMMA fans because like I said with my wife, you can't help but sit there in awe and admire what this man did. It's an amazing thing. And I wish I had half the guts and bravery that he did.

I mean, to put himself in those positions, nothing short of remarkable. Big fan of his. Last question. Fador still needs an opponent. Oh, I'm so happy you address this. This person suggests Puginowski or Marcyne Tabura. I imagine that I'm going to have to to address this until they announced it. But let's recount the ways. I believe that this individual is actually false in his line of questioning. Remember, I reported Jay Deep Singh. Now, they didn't announce it. Remember, I told you they were upset that it leaked out, and they decided now to build them up. On October 14th, Deep announced that Jay Deep Singh, who prior to this past Saturday, was just one and O in his MMA career, just had one fight in 2013, was going to fight.

for the now vacated, all of a sudden, deep megaton title. Three days later, against Carlos Toyota. He won that fight in the second round, won Best Bout of the night. Saka Kibara was in attendance, appeared to be very impressed with his performance. They put him on their weekly show,

their weekly deep show on YouTube. If you don't recognize what's happening here, I don't know what else to tell you. As of right this second, right this second, J. Deep Singh is the opponent. and they're trying to build them up for the Japanese audience. Who knows what happens between now and December 31st, but they are not in need or searching for an opponent for Fader or Milanoico.

I don't know how many times I can say. I guess my track record doesn't precede me, but as of right this moment, unless something happened in the last three hours or so, maybe. But, you know, I am staying with this story because I know a lot of people are hoping that I'm wrong. And crazier things have happened if you know anything about Japanese MMA. But there's a reason why a guy with just one fight was put into a title fight,

three days later and of course won the belt was given these awards and all this stuff I mean come on right

stay woke stay woke that's it well said wrap it up all right you can hit my music a great show

and there was so much more that we didn't get to WSOF crowning a new flyway champion Vinnie Magaliyesh getting RKOed after his fight how about Ronda Rousey's mom going off on Edmund Tarverdi, and I did reach out to both of them, but unfortunately, no dice as of now.

Big news, though, Nick Diaz, reaching 100,000 signatures. Will the White House respond? We shall see. I hope they do. But that was cool. Big ups to Sean McCorkle for getting that done. I told you we'll mention it every week. It's been over a month since they rob. him of his livelihood in Nevada.

Hopefully that gets rectified. Thank you very much to Chris Wydenman. Appreciate his time. Congratulations to him. Thank you very much to Michael Lunardelli for stopping by as well from Reebok. All the best to Rick Hahn. Congratulations on a great career. Patty Houlihan, good luck to him on Saturday in Dublin, Yuel Romero.

Thank you very much to him for coming on to clear the air. Farah Zhabi, good luck to him as he flies to Europe for the first time on Saturday as well. He'll be flying before that, of course. All the best to Nick Newell. Congrats on a great career and all the best to the great CM Punk as he recovers from a shoulder injury. By the way, Mr. Jackman mentioned to me that all the veterans ever want here in the United States is the thank you. I told them I would thank them for their service on this very show. Thank you to all the great veterans out there for everything they've done for this country.

I appreciate you watching the show. If you missed anything, iTunes to Charlie Good Self-Ull. It'll be, peace. I'm out of here. I'm Nilai Patel, editor-in-chief The Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. We've talked a lot about generative AI on the show lately, which is a very big idea that is causing quite a few problems. And one thing we keep hearing about over and over again is that generative AI is causing a lot of problems in schools. There are a lot of people out there, including many of the listeners of the show who email us, who are worried about the obvious problem, students using chat GPT to cheat on assignments.

But when our team went and poked at the story, they found that the issues in education with AI go a lot deeper. to the very philosophy of education itself. If this technology becomes more ubiquitous, we'll have courses created by AI, graded by AI, with submissions from students, absolutely generated by AI. So it begs the question,

what are we even doing here in higher ed? This episode is presented by Salesforce. Support for this show comes from Chase. If you're a fan of women's sports, you're always looking for ways to get closer to the action, and your Chase card can get you exactly that. With a Chase card, you can experience more. That means access to presales, preferred seating, and more savings.

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