MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 304

Episode Date: November 2, 2015

Ariel Helwani speaks to Fabricio Werdum, Miesha Tate, Joseph Duffy, Rose Namajunas, T.J. Grant, Tim Kennedy, and Josh Samman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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On this Monday, November 2nd, 2015. Hello again, everyone. I'm Mario Hawani. Inside our New York City studio, sad New York City. Their beloved Amazing Metz lost last night to the Kansas City Royals. They are the World Series champions. So everyone's a little sad, but not really. They're more excited about the New York Knicks.

Hey, two and one. How about that? Very excited about the New York Knicks. Big win over Washington on Saturday. Also, Saturday was Halloween. It was a rare, quiet Saturday night in the world of MMA. Some smaller shows here and there, KSW and whatnot. But it was pretty much an off week.

And I think that's a good thing, especially when you consider the fact that there are eight UFCs coming up in the next seven weeks. UFC is back this Saturday in Brazil. Dan Henderson versus Vitor Belfort. We'll be talking about that event. We spoke about it last week as well. It's always good when there's a bit of a break.

you can get a little more excited for the events. This is a pretty solid card. I'm really excited about the Patrick Cummins Glover's Sharefite. Without a doubt, the people's main event, in my opinion. Huge fight for Cummins. Thomas Almeida returns. That's a big fight.

Clay Guida, kind of buried on the undercard. That's interesting as well. So a solid card in Brazil, they're doing less events there, and I think that's for the best. Bell Tour is back on Friday with a tent pole event. I'm really curious to see how Will Brooks does. He has talked a lot leading up to this card.

So it's going to be interesting to see if he backs up that talk with a lot of eyes on him. So we have a lot to discuss. We've got a great show once again. It's great to be back here with the crew. And I really like today's guest list. Let's get right into it. How about that? 305.

We're going to be joined by fellow Canadian T.J. Grant. We have not heard from T.J. Grant on this show in over a year. Of course, he was supposed to fight for the belt twice. Has not fought in two and a half years. suffered a concussion as he was gearing up for a title fight and pretty much fell off the face of the MMA world. T.J. Grant, who just became a father again late last week, is going to join us at 305 and I'm really curious to see, you know, where he's at right now. I want to hear from him. Is he going to fight again? What's going on? It seems like every time someone suffers a concussion,

most recently Joseph Duffy, the name T.J. Grant comes up. So I thought this would be a good time to hear. from the Nova Scotia native. So that's at 305. 245. We'll talk to Misha Tate, some interesting comments from her late last week as well. At 225, we'll talk to Tim Kennedy, who's always an interesting guy to have on the show.

He has a new show coming out next week on the History Channel. Spoke a little bit about it last time he was on around two and a half months ago, but wanted to have him back on to talk about that and other things. 205. We'll talk to the aforementioned Joseph Duffy about, pulling out of the Dustin Porre fight, and mid-last week, it was announced on UFC tonight that they have been re-booked for UFC 195. So at least for now, all is well. That ends well. For those two, 145, we'll talk to Rosenomai Yunus, who was also announced, I believe, on Wednesday as well,

has replaced Joanne Calderwood versus Paige Van Zand on December 10th. Huge fight there in the Strait Division. We'll talk to her at 145-125, the UFC heavyweight champion. Fabricio doom. Vaikavalo will stop by to talk about when he'll be returning to the UFC Octagon. Before we get to our first guest of the day, two reminders. Hit us up, as always, using the hashtag the MMA Hour, leave a question or comment in the comment section below. You know the drill.

We'll get to those at around 325 after Inside the Vault. And I want to remind you that today's episode of the MMA Hour is brought you by Assassin's Creed Syndicate. We appreciate their support immensely. Thank you very much to them. Great to have them on board. Let's go to our first guest of the day. Really looking forward to talking to this guest, I've been wanting to have him on the show for quite some time. Finally, he made it happen. I'm talking right now to UFC middleweight. Josh is a man who is not just a UFC fighter.

He's a man of many hats. So we'll get to that and then some on this interview. First, let me say hello to Josh. Josh, how are you? I'm well, thanks for having me on. A pleasure, my friend. Like I said, I've wanted to have you on for quite some time. And then when the whole Kyle Magalyesh hearing in Nevada happened late last week, I said, all right, this is the time to have Josh on. First things first, let's talk about that. So he gets a six-month suspension, 40-hours community service.

He spit on you after you beat him in July. Did they get a right in your opinion? I don't think that's for me to decide. I already said on talking to one of the guys from Buddy Elba. I told them that I didn't want to – I don't really want him to be successful. spend it. I would rather them keep fighting, keep winning as he was before I fought him. You know, that's better for us. If they wanted to fine them and then, you know, maybe, maybe have some of the fine to go to me or whatever, or maybe even John McCarthy, you know,

suppose like a weight-cutting situation where they miss weight, some of the, you know, some of the fine goes to the opponent. And that would have been fine, but I don't really carry it. The way, six months isn't too long. So one of the interesting things that he said in the hearing was that he had lunch with you afterwards and you guys patch things up. But then you went on Twitter and said that that didn't happen. Clear it up for us. You know, I don't know if I was only following along on Twitter. I wasn't watching the hearing.

So I don't know if it was just lost in translation. He was speaking to a translator and how that got confused. But no, I'm not going to go to dinner with someone that just spit on me. And he apologized. He sounded sincere. I was eating dinner at the time. And he came up and approached me while I was eating. I was about as far as that got in terms of us having dinner together.

Did you realize in the moment what he had just done to you? No, I didn't. I didn't. I mean, my coaches got real angry and yelling over the fence, and I never seen him do anything like that. So I turned around and John McCarthy was kind of had him up against the cage and, you know, was reprimanding him verbally. And so I realized once I saw the instant replay moments later. Had you known what he did, would you have lost it on him?

Are you that kind of guy? No, you know, I mean, I think my reaction would have been the same. Okay. I feel like I would have lost it on him, to be honest. I mean, it's a pretty disgusting thing. The fight was over, man. I mean, you know, the fight was over. Everything that needed to be done had been done.

You know, I let my fighting dude talking in that scenario, and there wasn't any need for me to get upset about it. I think it won me $50,000, actually. I think the whole, you know, the whole debacle of it added to the drama of the fight and yeah whatever man i'm not mad at them about it okay so we'll get your next fight as you mentioned you want a bonus uh for that performance you've actually won two in a row for your last two performances of course in many people's eyes a knock out of the year a ufc 181 against edie gordon what a great scene that was but you also mentioned bloody elbow and this is one of the

reasons why i wanted to have you on because you have been doing fantastic work over there my friend you've been writing great pieces, scoring big interviews like with Jeff Novitsky, you got, in my opinion, the sort of defining interview thus far of this whole Nick Diaz saga, because you got the first Zufa employee on the record to talk about this and admit that something wrong just happened here in Nevada. So let me ask you, how long have you been working at this writing game? Because it's very interesting to watch a current active athlete. You don't see this in other sports, penning these articles, these opinion pieces, actually giving us insight via social media and Bloody Elbow

into the life of an MMA fighter. It's fantastic. You know, I've been in Bloody Elbow for a while now and I was just, you know, I think how a lot of it starts is when they're there. You know, you just start reading and then you start, you sign up and you start commenting. And then as I grew in my

MMA competition and began to get a bigger and bigger platform, I had a lot of encouragement from other folks that said, you know, the same thing that you did that, you know, there's an opportunity to provide some insight that other folks may not have or may not have access to. And so it's, you know, it's become a passion of mine. And I think that it's important, it's a platform for me to not only shine a light on the things that I think are important in the sport, but to, you know,

to offer a lens through which to see it through for folks, you know. And like you said, offering my opinion on things and just, you know, trying to go outside the box a little bit. Has the UFC ever told you that they prefer you not do this? No, not at all. I write for UFC.com as well, you know, and if it's something that UFC.com, I don't think, would be interested in publishing it, bloody elbow, and vice versa, you know. So, no, I've had the support of UFC employees so far.

And how'd you score the Novitsky interview? Man, I don't remember what, you know, we had that meeting. When I fought, Kyle, that was the first weekend that everything, that they began introducing all this information. to the athletes. And so after our, after the meeting where I was, you know, I was live tweeting at the meeting, providing information, trying to, you know, just trying to get all the facts out there for everybody. And so afterwards, I sat down on the Vitsky and told him that I wanted to be involved and be, you know, be a part of his agenda and help clean up the sport, et cetera.

And so we've kept in contact since then. And, um, and maybe once a month or something, he'll text me or email me and, you know, say, oh, I like what you wrote and here and here. And so he had done that one time. And I asked them, you know, just offhand. I was like, what do you think about the deer stuff going on? And he's like, Nevada shouldn't have, so he said, it's not the question of how long he should have been suspended. He said he shouldn't have been suspended at all.

And I was just like, oh, man, well, this is, I mean, I mean, as you said, if he told, if he would have told you that, you would have seen that it was just major news. So I was like, well, can we go on the record about it? Can I just ask you some questions? And he was more than happy to. And, yeah, I'd like to think that, that among other things, you know, was, you know, just trying to, trying to do my part for the things that I think are right, you know? Oh, yeah, it was, it was incredible to read. It was huge. I mean, it was a major, it was a major news

story, and you scored it, and I like the fact that you actually thought like a reporter there. I could see other fighters who just don't think that way, say, like, oh, okay, cool, it's good to know you move on. You actually thought like I would in that situation. Can I go on the record? Have you always been that way? The more reaction that I get from the fans and from the readers that encourages me to do stuff like this, the more I feel like that, the more I'm kind of looking for angles and perspectives that maybe may go overlooked. Like you said, there may be some fighters who see things or know about things that they just kind of say, oh, whatever, and they keep it themselves and maybe tell the friends about it.

But if I have a platform to, like I said, shine light on the things that I think are important or I think are compelling, or I think people may want to know or things that could, you know, change things like in this situation with Nick Diaz, then, you know, I'm doing a disservice to myself and to the fans by not, by holding that information to myself. You know, if I have this platform for which to get it to everyone, then why not, you know? And we've seen, you know, athletes, pen articles before do things like that. I mean, Players Tribune, in my opinion, doesn't count because it's very clear that they're not doing the writing there. They have a ghostwriter, which is fine. You want to see well-constructed pieces.

I suspect you don't have that in your back pocket, and that's what makes it even more impressive, in my opinion, because the pieces are actually really good. I mean, your work is actually very good. It's not a sloppy article. Did you take classes? Did you always want to be a writer? Did you know?

You know, when I was younger, we always have, I'm not sure how it is up in New York, but down here in Florida we have standardized testing, and then we also have what they call write-de-pon request and stuff, where they score you and they evaluate your writing. skills and I always did well on that, but I didn't take any classes. I dropped out of high school, you know, I didn't and started fighting and stuff. So, I mean, speaking on the quality of the work, I'm just as obsessive about that as I am fighting. And anything that I do, I'm going to dedicate

myself 100% to and make sure that before it goes out to the world, it's going to be as polished a product as I can possibly make it, you know. And so anything that I do, man, I'm going to try to, I'm going to try to make it to where the response is what you just told me as, wow, really great. And if I'm not looking at it, I'm thinking to myself that it's at least good or satisfied, then, you know, then I don't expect others to, you know, to give me any positive reinforcement on it. You know, I want to be good. I want to be great. So you have this fight coming up in December against Tam Dan McCrory. It's a great fight December 19th in your backyard in Orlando. Are you going to do anything different leading up like, you know, pen articles about your preparation fight week?

Anything that we wouldn't get from your typical athlete who doesn't do this sort of thing? If it comes to me naturally, then I'll write about it. I'm not going to, you know, I don't like to force anything, and I don't think that's how the best work is done. And so for the last fight, I did a four or five-part series of bloody elbow chronicling the whole week of the fight leading up to the Kyo fight, and it was published a week or so afterwards. So I imagine, I mean, you know, anytime I have something out of the normal happen

or any time something, you know, anything compelling has happened, I'll pull my phone out and I'll take some notes on it. And if it's enough, if it's enough to write something up, and I'll put it all together and create something. But I'm sure something will be written. I don't know what I have planned now. You're a must follow on Twitter as well. I feel like I'm just showering you with accolades here.

But it's all very true and very honest. At Josh Saman, you can see you right there on the screen. I remember when you had that introductory meeting in July about the whole USADA deal, your tweets were fascinating. So here we are four months later. And I know it's really just ramping up. You know, it really started in October. How do you feel about it?

Because it seems like some people were saying initially, you know, where is the testing? We've yet to see one failed test. Not to say that we want to see that, but that's somewhat alarming. How do you feel about where things stand right now with Usada? I think they're on the right track for sure. I've been tested twice, and they tested me twice within,

like within like a week or two. They came and tested me. They knocked at my door at 7 a.m. and then took a blood and urine test, and then just a few days ago, again, they were at my gym. And so that's the kind of stuff that we need to see is like boom boom follow-up test stuff like that i mean they've been doing stuff like this for a long

time so i imagine they know what the behavior of the athletes is like and how you know i'm sure that there are a lot of folks who maybe they get that first test and then think that that's the time to you know begin doping or whatever it is that they do and then yeah and probably boom and i'm sure they get i'm sure that second test you know gets gets a lot of others and i don't think we've seen any of the results yet because what they told me is it takes six to eight weeks and they really began all of the testing um on the first of october's when they became really active in it. And so I think the news should start coming any day now in the next few weeks about some test failures.

You know, if you go online, last time I looked there had been 146 tests over 86 athletes, 84 athletes or something. So of the whole roster, you know, a small percentage of us, maybe 15, 20 percent of us have actually been tested. And, you know, hopefully as the fights go on and keep getting scheduled, we'll see more of that. But I think they're in the right direction, man. I like what they're doing. In your opinion, how needed was this? Was there a huge problem in our sport?

I think it just depends on where you're at, if you're at a gym, where there's a lot of blood doping or juicing or whatnot going on, you probably think it's very prevalent. I've been in small gyms in Florida for most of my life. So I didn't see a lot of it, but the more I am around other athletes and stuff, and just people, the way people talk about it,

it seemed like a pretty regular, fewer things. So I'm glad that I'm entering the UFC and really, you know, starting to fight this elite competition at a time where I don't have to worry about whether or not they're on juice or they're on these perform enhancers, et cetera. And so yeah, man,

I'm happy about where things are going and it is absolutely necessary. I mean, the one single drug test, a urine test on the night of a fight is so inadequate to know whether or not an athlete has been doping or not. So, yeah, you have to have 365-day blood test.

athletes have to make themselves available, and that's the only way that this thing can work. Don't want you to out anyone here, but, you know, do you get the sense that a lot of the fighters when this came out were nervous? Like when you were at that introductory meeting in July, were there a lot of guys who were like, what the hell is happening here? It really seemed like not, I mean, and that meeting was pretty small, and I did get that in front. I mean, not anybody I remember off the top of my head, but I mean, yeah, the, man, the energy in the room was like, oh, shit. This is real.

And so, yeah, man, I think you're going to see these guys, these guys' physiques are going to start changing. You know, their performances are going to change. And so for me and myself, I always like to give people the benefits of the doubt. I never rely on the eye test. There's been, you know, I've had people speculate my whole career that I've used performance enhances and stuff. They say, look, you got the, you got the physique of it, blah, blah, blah, you know. And so I've never used that. So, I mean, there was, I give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

But I think within the next few months, maybe a year or two, you'll see, you know, it will become more apparent who was relying on these things for their career and who was not. Did you use an IV? I've used the IV one time, but I didn't even, I didn't, it didn't, like, it didn't, I didn't know as much difference at all besides oral rehydration. So that was like a few years, a few years ago, one of these fights in Florida, and also fighting in Tallahassee. So I haven't used one since then, and I'm not worried about that's another thing I'm happy about,

man, all these guys that have been relying on that for years. They don't have that anymore, man. So the gap is going to be widened between everyone who's been doing things naturally and those who haven't. Now, you also run your own fight promotion, right? That's right. It's called Combat Night, and it's down here in Florida. We've done 52 events in three years. Wow.

Is it just, what role do you have in the promotion? Oh, I own it. I own it. You own it. You own it. I own it with another professional fighter of mine. His name is Mitchell Somali. you'll probably see him in the UFC soon.

He fights at 125. He's 7 and 2, I believe, as a pro. So we have this MMA thing from the grassroots all around Florida. We're in the MMA scene and we're growing the sport and giving these guys opportunities to be up-and-coming fighters. And so we do them everywhere. We do them in Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Orlando, and South Florida so that we cater to every MMA fan in Florida and every fighter in Florida.

If they want to come and fight for our promotion, they can. And we're super proud of it. That's what I dedicate a lot of my time towards. Any fighters competed on your card and are now in the UFC? Well, the Florida law dictates for mixed martial arts that it has to be all amateur or all pro. And so our shows have been all amateur shows thus far. So some of those fighters that are getting better and becoming pro, we're going to have to move on to a pro show, which will probably do this year.

So there's a guy, I think the guy that I would keep an eye on that fought. for us. I think he took his debut with us and was our champion for about a year before we went pro's name was Josh Blyden and he fights out of the champion training center in George under Mussin-Cobre and I think he's fighting for legacy. I think he's 3 and 0 4-0 right now. So he's probably the guy to watch. For an upstart promotion, an upstart promoter, is the way to go, is it amateur? Is it amateur because you don't have to pay the guys anything, right? So you're making a full profit. That's the whole thing. For most other states, you have what you can do pro-am cards.

And so you can have up-and-coming guys, maybe nine or ten fights through amateur, and then the last two or three fights have the co-main-van and main-of-em pro. But because in Florida, there was no amateur mixed martial arts for a long time. So when they finally legalized it, they didn't, they, what they did is they gave, there's multiple sanctioning bodies for the amateur mixed martial arts in Florida until the boxing commission gets that whole thing together. So when you're looking at an MMA show for an upstart, or even not an upstart, you're faced with a choice of either amateur or pro,

and if you have to pay all the fighters, you're looking at double or triple the budget, you know. And there's all sorts of different costs. And to the fan, a lot of these guys, a lot of the fans, some are hardcore, but to some of them, cage fighting is just cage fighting, you know. And so whether it's amateur or pro, they're still going to come. So until Florida changes their laws and allow them,

start putting some pros on the card, you know, we're going to do mostly amateur cards, and then, you know, these guys that have the ability to go pro and have the skills to go pro. We want to cater to them to and provide for them too. So I think 2016 will start doing pro shows, maybe three or four a year. So anyone who follows MMA who watches a show like this knows about your story by now. You know, you fighting on December 6 of last year, the birthday of your girlfriend and the tragedy

that you had to overcome and other tragedies as well. And injuries, I mean, it's been quite the road for you. And, you know, like a simple Google search, any sort of introductory article on Josh Saman, and it feels like you have to relive that every single time you talk to a reporter for the first time. How difficult is that? And are you tired of doing that?

Is that part of the healing process? How do you handle that? I mean, we're about two years removed now. So, you know, on one hand, I've kind of become callous to a lot of these things. But on the other hand, it's like, you know, yeah, that part of my life and that whole story is, you know, that's probably not probably,

That's absolutely me. My greatest accomplishment with December 6th was doing that. And it provided me with a little bit of closure, but it will always be a part of me. It will always be a part of my story. And I don't want to be an either-or thing for the things that I do from now. It doesn't have to be, do we talk about this, or do we talk about that?

It's just that I need to continue adding to the legacy and adding to the things that I'm doing and the things that I'm contributing, and I feel like I'm doing that the most when I'm creating, you know, whether through writing or creating experiences for fans. through mixed martial arts or whatever it is, you know. That's how I cope with that. Was December 6th the greatest range of emotions you've ever experienced

in the span of a couple hours from, you know, the emotions leading up to the fight? You were probably nervous. It had been a while since you fought. And then the elation afterwards, but also mixed with, you know, the sadness. I mean, it just seemed like you were battling a lot in a span of, you know, just a few hours. Yeah, there's no way you could, in my mind, I mean, I got goosebumps right now. I've been thinking about it. There's no way that you could construct or script a more dramatic scene for me.

And just, and just living through that was just that whole experience of envisioning something and then realizing it and then having it happened and then realizing that it just happened. And it was just, I mean, it was unreal. And I could sit here and try to talk to all day about all the complexity and all the different mixed emotions that I had, but it wouldn't do it any justice. It was, like you said, it was the most. I mean, it was very, you could tell my actions, you know, probably, you know, probably kind of mirrored how I was feeling inside.

I was just, it was crazy, it was a crazy, crazy night. Is there a day that goes by that you don't think about that night, how you felt that night? No, no, I think about it every day, especially when I start training again. I'm in the gym all day and, and I'm, you know, you know, at the end of a long workout, the end of a long set, are really, really tough days. I'll always think about I'll draw inspiration from from that night

from other things that we've overcome and been through in the past and stuff so no I try to keep those in the back of my mind it strengthens me so you're back on December 19th you're fighting Tam Dan McCoy what a story he has as well because he was out of the game for a long time

returns to Bellator looks fantastic and then you know exit through the side door now he's back in the UFC was he on your radar at all when he was doing all this stuff I watched his fight against Ward where he knocked him out, and I was like, and I was like, who is this guy? And then I looked him up, and I was like, holy crap, you know, barn cat from, back in the day, yeah, it's wild. And so he's got a, you know, he's got a cool story.

And I really think he's being overlooked by a lot of folks in this fight. You know, by all means, I'm confident. I believe in myself and my ability to beat him. But, you know, my friends or people will look him up and look at his body and say, oh, man, he's going to kill his kind of. I'm like, man, the physique is not indicative. of talent or skill. And he's very, very talent-rich. And I think that it's going to be a very tough fight,

but I think it will bring up the best to me. I think you guys will be able to see me, you know, tested in a way that I haven't been in my last two fights and still able to overcome and get the finish. Well, I'm looking forward to it. Always good to go to Florida. The last time they were in Orlando was a great card, and looking forward to watching you fight again.

I feel like you need to fight a little more. I mean, you had one in December and then July. We need to get you in there a little more. Maybe you're too busy writing. I have a lot of hats that I wear. I think two or three times a year is good with me. All right, fair enough. Tremendous work, my friend.

Really, you're doing outstanding stuff. It's great to follow you on Twitter. Great to read your stuff. And great to watch you fight. Appreciate the time, and good luck in the training camp in the last few weeks leading up to December 19th. Hey, thanks for having you on. All right, there he is.

Josh Saman, UFC Middleweight, a name to remember. Great fight on December 19th against the Barncat, Tam Dan McCrory. that's in Orlando on Fox. I am looking forward to going over there very much. Now, speaking of Orlando, and speaking of the last time the UFC was in Orlando, the main event that night, if you recall, April of 2014 was Travis Brown versus Fabriceo Verdum.

Verdom won that night, and eventually, as you all know, became the UFC heavyweight champion. We have not heard from him in quite some time, so let's go to the Skype machine and welcome in. Vaikavalo himself, the UFC heavyweight champion, Fabrizio Verdum. Fabricio, how are you, my friend? everything's great man thank you for having me here man thank i appreciate your time as well so uh like i said we have not heard from you in a bit and i i first wanted to ask you about this uh i remember at a press conference not that long ago dana white said you know we're not going to see ver doom back until maybe february march and honestly seemed a little upset that it was taking you so long to get back in

there but then i spoke to your management team dominance mMA and they said we're ready to go december so why are you out for so long explain it to us yes man i'm very very very good happy for sure and be a champion and I have a lot of travel in the world I go to Chechnya Brazil Argentina Europe a lot of different place the guys invite me for seminars appearance here for everything and for sure I'm happy man I like you I like bring the belt I want to show the guys for the fans I bring the real belt because you know I have a two belts in my home I have a two belt and that versus uh...

Ken Velasquez and Mark Hunt but I have a one more I have a three belts but I have a you know I have a how I say a replica yes you know the fake one but the fake one is not good you bring for the guys because it's not the real one I have a good energy you know

yeah I bring my real belt I put one in my home in the frame I put my one and the one I bring for the I I want you know my last seminar in Spain, I have 240 people in seminar. And I give it for the guys, I give the guys, take the belt for the guys feeling the energy.

It's very important this. So did you ask the UFC for some time off? Did you tell them that you only wanted to return in March? No, no, no, no. Just, you know, the guys want to fight in September. Yeah. But in September poorly, it's very important that the champion will enjoy this. moment, you know. I have for a long time. I tried to be a champion, a long time. And I need, I enjoy

this moment. It's very important, you know. It's okay. I fight in December or in February. It's a matter for me, you know, but I start my train now, my camp. I'm here now in the front, the Kings MMA here now. I'm waiting for the start training. And, but, amen, it's, when the UFC say, Verdun, we want to fight September. I say September? No, no, no. I don't want to fight September. You know, I want to enjoy this moment with my family, my team, with the fans. And February, maybe, February or March

is good for me. No problem. I fight anytime. No problem. Yeah, and who can blame you? It's been such a long road for you to get the belt, so you want to celebrate and enjoy it, I can understand. Have they told you yet when you're going to fight now? Do you know the date? No, I don't know the date yet. I know the opponent. You know, the rematch with King Velazquez. And, yes, amen, you were asking to the fans, the fans say it's not good the rematch.

Yes. For sure, the guys want to see the fight again, for sure, the rematch. All the guys want to see again. But the guys say, it's not fair when the rematch because, you know, I beat King Velazquez. It's not like a very fast fight. I like a maybe knock down the fourth minute. It's okay, rematch. Maybe I like a decision.

Okay, rematch. Okay, but I like I beat him. He punched me, I bought, I punched him. He won the first round. I win the third one, the second one. Yeah, I finish him in the third one. I think it's a, I show inside the cage, you know? Yeah.

But for me, it's okay. I never say, I never pick up each fighter. All the time, the UFC say, Verdun, you fight this guy. Okay, no problem. Verdon will fight the other guy. Okay, no problem. I never say not. Yes, all the time I say yes, no problem.

So were you disappointed when they said we're going to do the rematch right away? No, no, no, because, you know, I have this in my mind, you know? I visualize everything. And Rafael Cordero say, Verdun, you fought versus Kenvelas now, and you have a rematch with him. He said this one year or two years ago. Wow. say that for me. Wow.

For sure. My coach said, Rafael Cordell said, Vedon, for sure, you fight with King Velasquez, you beat him and that you have a rematch with him. I think in Vegas, he said. You know, I don't know, is in Vegas or in Brazil? I don't know yet. Yeah. But I have this in my mind.

I visualize this. I don't disappoint. It's okay. I have a lot of respect to if King Velazquez, King Velazis is a very nice fighter. But he changed his, you know, why? When he beat him, the first day, the same day, he did interview. He said, no, Verdun is much better with me. He beat me.

Okay, but now he changed. Oh. He changed. He said because the altitude, you know? Yes. But, Errol, you know, the altitude is not just for him. The altitude is for me and for both, you know? Yes.

I don't know why the guys say because the altitude. I don't know why. That bother you? Yes. Yeah, but why did I say because the altitude? It's for me, for him, just altitude. Why the altitude is just for hand? Yeah.

Ah, Verdun, you go before to Mexico. You do 40 days before. It's okay. This is my strategy. You know? I don't call, okay, Velazzo. I say, again. Coming before, maybe it's much better for you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't say that. You know, is it. Yes, man. So, so you feel like he's making an excuse now. He's taking some credit away from you, right? It's the same, the same way, Travis Brown. Driving Brown, the first day, he said,

Virgo, much better, he beat me, he kicked my ass, he said that, he kicked my ass, but now he changed too. After then he said, now, I think you're doing blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's okay, man, it's okay. I just saw inside the cage, I don't talk too much before, you know? Because I learned one of, maybe six or seven years ago, I talked too much, I lost, I liked this style. My style is like happy, when I fight happy, when I'm ready for the fight, I mean, that's it, man.

This is my style. I've heard some rumors, some whispers, maybe March in Kutitiba, U. Anderson, Shogun. What have you heard? What can you tell us? Ah, man, it's in Brazil. I like you fight in Brazil for sure because I fight two times in Mexico. Yeah. You know, I love Mexico for sure.

I have a lot of fans there. But I think it's in Brazil is fair. It's good time. for I fight in Brazil, maybe in one stadium, the big stadium, you know? Yeah. I like 50,000 people, but it's no 100%, but I like it for sure.

Do you think that they can fill up 50,000 people there? For sure, 100%. I fight in Brazil versus Ken Velazquez, and then maybe Anderson Silva fight two or Shogun, I don't know, for sure it's real show. Maybe the return of your friend

Vandrelay Silva as well. I know he's been training there. Do you think he'll come back? Do you think if everything works out with Nevada, he'll come out of retirement? Hey, man. Van der Leigh Silvers, for sure, my good friend. And it's like a brother. You know, he in my home yesterday, he had my home Saturday in Halloween party. Yes.

Yes, it's nice. And, amen, he's like a legend, you know. He enjoy a lot now. He enjoy with his family. He has a lot of travels through seminar, appearance. Van der Leigh is very smart guy, man. It's like a legend. I say for defense, I respect him because he's a huge fighter in his moment and his personal.

Yes, a very important part of the history of MMA, an important figure. Yes, for sure, man. 100%. Do you think he'll fight again? I mean, I think so. I think maybe he's fighting in Brazil, UFC. I don't know. But for sure, defense of the Vandele again, for sure, 100%.

It would be good if you can get him to sit down with the U.S. UFC and, you know, be friends again, you know what I mean? I think this is good. This is good deal for balls, you know, good deal for UFC and you have under late 2. For sure, maybe friends again, it's okay. You know, we're approaching the one-year anniversary of that first fight in Mexico. You fought Mark Hunt at UFC 180. It was November of last year.

And then you had to go right away and get ready for the fight against Kane Velasquez. After the Kane Velasquez fight, were you tired mentally? Like, did you need to go on vacation? and just relax, because it was back-to-back long training camps in Mexico for you. Yes, after this fight, after Mark Hunt's fight, I mean, good, okay? I'm training a lot. I stay there two months. The first time, I stayed two months there.

It's a long time. I don't see for my family for two months, my daughters. I don't see just camp, just like a focus there in the high altitude. But after this fight, the King Velasquez fight, I need this moment for the rest, you know? I train a lot, my mind, I need this rest for my mind, for my body. And now, I'm good again, you know. When I finish the fight, I need this moment for the joy, you know, be a champion. It's big different.

My life has changed a lot. Yeah. You know, I'm rich now. I'm rich now. What's the biggest difference? I know you're rich now. You're the heavyweight champion. You're the toughest man in the world.

I just say this is in my seminars. When I teach, same night, I say, I'm rich now. Just like a joke, the guys smile a lot. It's joking, for sure, man. But has it changed a lot? Has your life changed since beating Kane? No, for sure. Change 100%.

100% change. You know, the guys have more respect with me because all the time, I'm an underdog. You know, all the time I'm underdog. I don't like, now I want to guys change his mind. Because, you know, all the time I'm in the underdog, I show versus Travins Brown, Mark Hunt, because when I fought Mark Hunt,

you guys say, hey, Mark Hunt knocked down for sure, Verdun. Or Verdun finished him. But no guys expect I'm knocked down Mark Hunt. Yeah. Nobody, you know. But, hey, I beat, just watch, just look my record, you know. I beat the first time, Fador Emilianenko, Trevin's brow is

hit Roy Nelson Ken Velasquez Ken Velasquez you know everybody knows good cardio very big heart but I break him and I finish him

I don't know why the guy's waiting more you know So do you consider yourself the greatest heavy weight of all time considering that resume are you the best ever Yeah

I don't like when I say this is like You know it's like a prepotent You know how say prepotent Like maybe I'm the best in the wall I don't I know it's not my style man You know I like when these defense say that

The one of the guys the defense say that I mean very happy for sure Getting more motivation for sure But I don't like when I say that you know I have one one record Nobody have a this record I mean I'm a champion in the world jiu jiu jitzscheet world champion Yeah ADC world champion two times Jujits three times and the UFC heavyweight champion. You know what, but when I say that, the guys say, hey, we're doing it maybe a little

pre-potent. Yeah. I don't like it. Cucky, right? But it's true, you know, nobody has this. Right. I have this. Oh, I think. I'm very helpful. So, so it sounds to me and correct me if I'm wrong, maybe you feel like you're don't, you're not getting the respect that you deserve. Is that fair? Yes, yes. I need, I, I like one of the guys that I have a respect. I know I have a lot of fans, I have it. I just come back to Europe now, I go there. Hey man, I teach maybe three or

four seminars. I have a total 800 people. Wow. It's crazy, man. It's crazy. I know when I see it, when I see like 200, 250 people in the seminar. Because normally, normally seminar

I have 30, 40 people is good. 30, 40 people, seminar is good. But 240 or 50. It's a lot, man. It's a lot. Yes. You've been traveling all over the place. I saw that you were in Chechnya recently. And now you're going to be doing some training over there? There it is. Akhmat fight team, right?

Ahmad. Amen. Ahmed. Yes. Amen. I have a good relationship with a president, you know? Yeah. Gadrov. Gadrov is very nice president, man. He loved the MMA. He have a big show there. Ahmat show. and amen, it's crazy, man. I go there, the guys have a lot of respect to the fighters. One year ago, I go, me and Frank Mir and Chris Weidman. This time, just me go there.

I'm an ambassador now. I mean, the ambassador, Chechen ambassador, yes, yes, it's good. How did this happen? He have a big show there. He have a big show. And the waiting, the president said,

Verdo is the ambassador now, the Chechen ambassador. I say, I'm very helpful for sure. I represent Ahmad. But how did this happen? You're not Chechnya, you have no ties there.

How did you become the ambassador? Yeah, because he said, Verdon, you're a nice guy, you're very nice guy. I say this because I want to show for the world in Chechen, I have a good fighters. This is true, man. It's crazy.

The guys have a big heart. Because all the time I say, you train your body, you're training your mind, but your heart, you know, training. Or you have it or you not have it. Big heart. Yeah.

And the Chechenya guys have a big heart. For sure, the Chechenna guys come to FC, the different events for a show, man, it's huge fire there, man. It's crazy, man. It's very good. So this president that you speak of,

Kadyurov, he's a little controversial. to say the least. Have you read about him? Do you know, do you feel comfortable being in business with him? Yes, for sure. Yes, yes, yes. Amen, all the guys there, all the other guy. And amen, have a, the guys take care of me all the time there. No, have a, everything is good. Amen, it's nice country. I love the chairman. It's very good because you want to go there. The guys have a lot respect. The fans. The guys, in his show there, guys say, hey, Verd, do, do, all the time. This is I like, man. It gives me a lot of motivation when the guys, you know, show the, when the guys like you, you know, this is very good.

This is for sure, it's my motivation for the start to train again. Yeah. So for this upcoming fight against Kane, will you train there as well? The training camp? What is it? Will you do part of the training camp for the Kane Velasquez rematch in Chechnya? Yes, for sure. Yes, I mean, here in Kings, you know, really.

Rafael Cordia is my coach, but when I help the guys there, when the guys come to here too, because I have a now, like, you know, relationship, kids and Ahmad, it's like the same thing, you know. It's like the guys sent the president sent the guys training here. Sometimes I go there. I help the guys there. I train there too. I have a gene there. I'm staying inside the resident, you know, the residence.

The palace. Yeah. The palace, yes. The same thing. Imagine you come to USA and Obama goes to White House. The White House. The same thing.

I go to Chechnya. I just go to two palace. You know, I stay there. I have my room there. Amazing. What about Fador? What about Fador? Were you surprised or disappointed that he didn't sign with the UFC?

Yes. I like for sure 100%. He deserved for a fight in UFC. for sure you know but I think maybe in Japan amen the guys love you in Japan the guys love him and the big the big show coming up now in December you know in Japan I think is a huge show and for sure I told before in one interview I like for sure a US a feather in UFC and you rematch with me for sure 100% maybe one fight in UFC The second one, fight with me for sure, man.

I have a lot of respect with Feather. Because maybe the guys who forgot Feather very fast, you know? Federer stopped the fight because he needs this rest too. You know, I need the rest too, but maybe one and two months I'm good again. But Feather has a lot of pressure with him when he lost with me in 2010. A lot of pressure, oh, you love, blah, blah. And he lost again. He lost again.

He's not good. He needs the rest. He'll rest like a two or three years. I think he comes back very strong now. I think he come back. I say for defense, respect, Fadder, but he's like

a legend of the sport. Do you still think that fight will happen against you again? Or do you think now that he didn't sign with the UFC, it's never going to happen? I think it's very hard. The Japanese guy is very smart. Maybe sign with him two or two or three years.

know. Yeah. I think very hard that he fight UFC, you know, a lot of fans want to watch his fight. You know, he fight the UFC for sure, but I don't know what's happened. I don't know. Okay, let me ask you this before I let you go. The heavyweight division, it's very interesting right now. Other than Kane, who do you have your eye on? Who do you think you might have to fight in the next year? I don't know, because it's not dependent for these guys, you know, have a, Dos Santos fight versus Overeux now. Yep. And I have Arloveski versus who.

Arloxvsky versus... Stipe Miochich. Miotich, yes. And depending the guys, man, depending who win. And depending how will you win, like a knockout or big show? I don't know. I think I have a lot of guys in the line for sure, but it's not, it's not my... I just see when I think my training and the 100% I fight each one, no problem.

How do you think you beat Kane in the rematch? The rematch, for sure, he comes very strong again because the guy said he no prepared his body. He's very good, man. But I need more... I think I have a more confident this time, the last time. Yeah. I think I'm very, very good, too, for sure, 100%.

But I beat him again, man. I know I like a prepot, then. You know, I just confident my training. I confident my team. M.A, King's M.A. You know, I start, you see everything. When I'm starting with Raphael, just me, Raphael, with two more guys.

Today, I have 400 people here. Wow. Crazy. I mean, a lot of guys come to visit here. You know, Kevin Gastelon training for us. I have a lot of guys train here, man. The guys come and visit two. Yes. You know.

Patrick Cummins are fighting this weekend. Trains there, right? Yes, yes, yes. and I think it's a good rematch for sure. For sure, it's a big show. But I don't go inside the cage. Like, I'm lost this fight. No, no, no.

I just put my mind. I have a, I visualize everything. I visualize everything. And when I go inside the cage, when I fight with a half a hand, and after then the interview with Joe Rogan, I visualize everything. Wow. I have everything in my mind. And now I think I keep just asking to Ken Velaski, be careful, the right arm.

Okay. my special. Okay. Now come inside my guard, please. Because, hey, be careful. Your right arm. It is always a pleasure, my friend. So happy for you and your success.

Happy to see you smiling and very much looking forward to this rematch. It's going to be fun. You know, at first I think people were kind of, we don't want to see. But now that you're getting ready, it's an exciting time. So thank you very much for coming on the show before your training. A pleasure. And I look forward to talking to you again.

Hey, man. Thank you. I appreciate for you. I just say thank you. please I just say thank for my thing, my team, King's MMA, and my sponsor, you know, Ahmad Rood dot, MEP. The guys help him a lot. It's very important.

The sponsor help the fighters because I'm just thinking my training is that scene. And I appreciate it for the fans. And I just follow me, please, and my Instagram, at Verdun. Yes, it's a good Instagram. Yes, I see it. I follow you, and it's very entertaining. The Halloween stuff, I like it very much. Obrigado, my friend.

Thank you very much. There it is. The face. Yes. I love it. Thank you, Fabricio. There he is. The UFC heavyweight champion. What a face. Love that out of him. And a guy who's always in a great mood, always with a smile on his face, always with a nice perspective. He returns. That's the talk these days. Perhaps Corey Tebow. We'll see if it all pans out. But, hey, he did fight, as he said, Cain Velasquez in Mexico. So, perhaps, Perhaps they have to return the favor now and have Kane fight him in Brazil. It is more interesting today than it has been in a very long time that heavyweight division

with the two fights he mentioned. Also, Ben Rothwell is out there, the return of Josh Barnett, Frank Meir still looming. It's unfortunate that Fedor did not sign, but, hey, who knows? Maybe he gets two wins over there and comes over. I'm not holding my breath, that's for sure. I think that ship may have finally sailed, but crazier things have happened. All right. In a minute, we're going to be joined by Rose Namibunis. As I said, it was announced late last week that Paige Van Zant is no longer fighting Joanne Calderwood. She injured her knee in training, and now she is fighting Rose Namibunis, which is a very important fight at Strawweight, a fascinating fight. It's just

it's just really interesting to break down. It's really interesting to think about. This is not the fight that we were expecting for page next. That's for sure. I don't think a lot of people were expecting Calderwood, let alone Rose. So a nice turn of events, and it makes that week in Las Vegas that much more exciting because you have three events in a row, and it kicks off with this one on FightPass. Let's talk to Rose right now.

She is joining us via the magic of Skype. There she is. Rose Namayunis, how are you, my friend? Hello, how are you doing? I'm doing great. So when were you told that you were going to be replacing Joanne Calderwood to fight Paige Van Zand on December 10th? Like the day before it was announced to everybody. So what does that make it like a few days?

Yeah. Yeah. Perhaps Tuesday or Monday of last week. What was your reaction? Well, was my reaction? Like, this is great. This is a perfect opportunity for me. You know, I get to be back in a high-profile fight, but it would be.

an opponent that's that I can be definitely ready for and I'm in the best shape of my life or at least in getting to my prime in my career and I think it's just like the right progression whereas maybe earlier it was a little too fast so I think right now it's just perfect

so it was just a few weeks after your fight in Houston did you feel like you had enough time to decompress and go right back into a training camp? Yeah after my last vacation after the Carlis fight and I just took a long time off. I kind of realized that that was a time that I needed off

to not need time off from, at least for a while here on out. You know, I think after this fight, I want to take, you know, some time off. Obviously, I'll let my body heal. But mentally, I'm just so ready. You know, I'm more motivated than ever. And I'm really just enjoying this crazy ride. I think the general consensus was when this was announced, like, wow, we were not expecting Paige.

Who's over there? Is that Pat causing a ruckus? Is that what's happening over there? He's not causing no right. Well, I don't know. Maybe just by sitting there, I don't know. Yes, well, I know it's very hard to concentrate when H.D. is around. But let me ask you this.

My reaction, I think a lot of people's as well, was like, I was not expecting them to put Paige in this kind of fight after, you know, she's 3-0 and she's done everything to deserve all the hype in my opinion. But there's not a lot of space in my opinion between you and the title fight. Were you surprised when they, when they offered you, Paige, when you were that opponent next for her? No, I think it's actually like a really natural progression. I think maybe was it like one fight of a difference in terms of when they would match us up?

Maybe, you know, because obviously nobody expected Jojo to pull out. But I think that we were going to be lined up either right after that fight or somewhere maybe one more fight after that. So to me it's like I view her as a high-level opponent, even though, you know, there's a lot of maybe criticism around saying that she's kind of like brought up slowly and stuff like that. But I think it's just a, I think it's a very natural progression in the way that we've kind of matched up right now. Yeah, and I'm not criticizing it. I love it. Why not see, you know, how she fares? And you can no longer say that she's being brought along slowly. Have you been impressed with her thus far in the UFC? Yeah, I think she's doing her thing. She's doing all these interviews. She's really exciting.

And she's here and there. And she's been able to juggle it all. and constantly, you know, get technically better as well as really not losing any of her natural aggression. What about the attention she receives, the hype that she receives? What do you make of that? Is it too much too soon? I mean, obviously not. She's doing pretty good.

So, you know, I think that she's being brought up at the rate that she needs to be brought up. And obviously, this is a jump up in competition for her coming up. So, you know, I think that, you know, that's the test that everybody's been waiting for. and I think she's been waiting for her as well. So, you know, I'm more than welcome to bring it to her. You know, it's interesting, and I don't know if you thought of this, you probably did, but this fight is taking place on December 10th, and that's two days shy, one-year anniversary of the fight against Carla,

in the same city in Las Vegas. That was December 12th. Do you kind of feel like this is a perfect scenario for you? It's a year later. You've grown up. You can come back there and sort of exercise those demons. Did you think about that at all? Yeah, actually.

I do. I kind of feel like this is, you know, a time for a big, big milestone. I've definitely come, I've definitely come a long way in terms of putting things in my past. And this is just one more thing that I can, you know, get past and then obviously heal from and come back, you know, and just keep moving on with the momentum. This is a, it's just, I feel like I could write a book or something on how this is all kind of unfolding and just the different side that I have. I know everybody's kind of like watching from a fan's perspective. but for me it's just been a blessing, just seeing how crazy things turn out and just how everything kind of just seems to fall in place to how they should be. It's interesting because going into that fight against Carla, they were saying you're the next Rhonda and there was all this attention on you, and now it feels like she's getting a lot of that attention. You're kind of just sliding in there. Do you feel like the roles have reversed a little bit?

I don't know. I don't even know if our roles kind of aren't even interchangeable just because we're way different human beings, we're two different individuals with a different path. So as much as I'd like to say, there's definitely a lot of, you know, patterns that you can see, you know, growing up, just people making similar mistakes, you know, obviously being overconfident like I was and then kind of, you know, learning at the hard way and then coming back and coming stronger. Like, usually that's the natural progression of a younger, less image or more immature individual and then kind of coming back and, you know, I seem to be on the right path now. But, you know,

At the same time, we're two different people, so it's really hard to compare our circumstances. When you say overconfident, did you think that you were a world beater? Like, at that point, you were never going to lose again? I don't even know so much as that is so far to say, like, it's weird. It's like losing wasn't even a possibility necessarily. Like, it wasn't like, I'm never going to lose again. It was just like, what, I'm invincible, you know? Like, there's no question.

Like, it wasn't even a, like, losing isn't even. a reality in my life. So to me it's like even though it has happened before, it's like you forget that real quick, especially when you're on a role. So for me, that's just like the main thing is just keeping myself humble, keeping myself happy and loving and just loving the fight sport, you know, the way I have all my life and just using it as a way to express myself rather than try and be just cocky and trying to be overly dominant and trying to, you know, instead of just being just being myself. After the win over Angela in Houston,

you said that you were pretty much all out of tears. You had cried so much leading up to that point. You were almost emotionally spent. Why were you crying leading up to the fight? Just because of like, it's weird. It's like, you know, the obvious nervous emotions that you have before the fight, you know, the typical, like, you know, the doubts that keep seeping in your head,

even though you know you silence them throughout the whole train camp, It just keeps coming back in. It's like, I know it's just voices in my head. But then on top of that, you know, this is aside from the natural fears, but also a sense of overwhelming joy that, you know, like, this is it. This is all, like, everything has come to this. And it's just a beautiful time in my life. And whatever it's happening right now, I'm going to remember for the rest of my life.

And I'm going to look back with gratitude. After that win, could you finally, like, did you feel like a weight was lifted off your shoulders? Like, you could finally move on from the Ultimate Fighter experience? because that was your first fight since then. Yeah, actually, that's like the common theme. It's just like after a loss, after a lost Tisha, I put all those things in the past, and I kind of just like, okay, I'm going to be a totally different fighter now.

I'm not even going to think about any of that stuff before. And then even like, and then after coming out of the house, now, like, I didn't realize I was kind of stuck back there. Once again, going into the Carly fight, so then I kind of had to, like, it's weird, but, and it's just, one of those like OCD things but I like threw away all my you know like anything that I say ultimate fighter I still have some stuff but like just certain things that like

has an emotional attachment to you know so yeah just left it and now I'm just kind of like okay now I'm something new thing and then later once I you know what I'm done with everything I'm done with this fighting chapter I can look back into all those things and reminisce but right now I say I keep moving forward when you say threw it out like you actually chucked it in the garbage Mm-hmm. Whoa.

Well, yeah. I don't know if they're like to go over like that. Yeah. Just put it in. It's just a weird. Or just like, you know, like acting like acting or just like acting or like like, uh, just random things like art. you know, arts and stuff like that and in competitions, Taekwano,

and I would always get medals, like, my whole life or just, like, you know, winning this tournament, this trophy, where I would just, like, I don't know, I just never, I didn't really care about the actual trophy. I just wanted to compete, you know? So, like, and that's what, that was actually a problem, like, way back when I didn't really care for the belt necessarily, when I'm back in Invicta, I just, like, wanted to see if I could get there.

And then wanted to see if I can do it. And then this belt is like, whatever. I know what, you know, but I understand the kind of emotional value now that it means so much more to me now than it did back then. So I don't know. All part of that maturation process. No, no, very, very interesting. I love your celebrations, by the way. It almost seems like you lose complete control over your body.

Like you don't really know what to do with yourself. Is that an accurate way of describing it? Yeah. And it's actually kind of funny now that I've seen the way that it has evolved. like the past fight like I kind of was like who like celebration or like like uh send and then all of a sudden I was like you know what I'm just kind of like that was kind of anti-climactic you know like I kind of knew that was going to happen and I just like threw my mouthcraft so like well I knew I could do that like I just had like this overwhelmed like a little

bit of a sense of attitude that came over me you know like it's like what that was supposed to happen why was I having those doubts about myself you know and then just kind of pits at myself percent the crowd for cheering, like, y'all cheer for this? Like, y'all didn't know that's going to happen? But at the same time, it's like, okay, and I just kept walking. I cooled down. Like, okay, calm now. You know, it's, you know, you did a good job.

And then so my celebrations have changed, and it depends on each fight, you know, like, after certain fights, I'm just like, you know. But then there's a lot of fights where when it ends in a spectacular fashion, like the flying armour, there was so much. Yes. So much, like, craziness going on before than that it was just an explosion of just, you know so it just depends on the fight i'm pretty sure that was the first time i got to watch you in person and the best part was i'm able to watch pat as well in your corner because you know

sometimes they'll show him on screen but i can't choose when to watch him can you hear him during the fight it's incredibly entertaining uh watching you in person because of that dynamic can you hear what he's saying to you no no this really like actually that when i go back into that memory is kind of like a just foggy dream. So it's really hard to even remember anybody saying anything, really. How has this been able to coexist and be a good partnership? Because we've seen more often than not, you know, couples get into it together. And it's tough.

It's tough to work together, right? I mean, whether you're working in a company, an office, or training, this is a very emotional thing. How are you able to balance all of that? It's really hard, but I think we've gotten to the point where we're like done, we're past all the dump. like this stuff, you know? Yes. There we go. Pass all the dumb stuff, like the stages where we had to get through, like, do I trust you?

I don't know. You trust me. Like, you kind of did this to me. I did that to you. And I don't want to hear your voice right now. Like, we've gone through all that. And then we kind of like, for some reason, we just can't stay away from each other. So, you know, it all just kind of goes away in the end.

And we're, like, better than ever. That's great. Ever since we, like, first met each other. Like, I'm more crazy about him now. And I'm sure he's more crazy about me. I don't know. What changed? This is great.

I love this. What changed? Just like he's different. I'm different. Like, I like me a lot better than I like myself way back then. And if I would have met him right now the way he was, like, when I first met him, I don't think I'd be attracted to that type of guy. Wow.

You know, so he's changed a lot. I've changed a lot. And we both, like, kind of changed at the same, on the same path. And, like, it just worked out, you know? Remember I tell you? I got something to tell you? Yes. Later. Not yet. Oh, come on.

I've been waiting like two years. Oh, and too much sense. We got to keep these shows coming along. I like it. I like the way it has evolved from, like, him being on the show, and you were kind of in the background, and now you're the featured guest, and he's in the background. It's a... Yeah, that's kind of... It's an...

Here go on my jitzy coach. Oh, wow. I didn't know we had multiple guests in the background. Has he evolved into 100%? being your coach is pat done fighting um oh there's going to be scared oh wow she was so uncomfortable just but anyway um is he well he's teaching now like he's teaching um at 303 bjj training center and he's doing like kickboxing classes there now which um is awesome once a week you know Monday night or whatever but um but yeah wait what was it was not um yeah well we don't i think the fight

I think of kind of open right now. I think it's just not like a thought. You know, I don't want to, I don't want to see that chapter closed just yet. And I don't think he wants to either. At the same time, you know, it's not like, we're not making it a priority by any means. That's right. It's mostly like keeping Pat's body together is like the goal of the day. And like, you know, like getting him up in the morning.

Yes. And he hurts. Like he's a long career. So, and like, you know, broken hands, broken noses. like it's it's tough you know and uh he's definitely feeling his body hurting nowadays and just maybe he wasn't like you know his his fighting career he wasn't as smart as we're doing it nowadays we're actually like taking care of our body and like stretching and doing like discipline stuff so yeah yeah so we're taking doing it like the smart way scientifically and stuff so now i think

if he can you know take care of his body i think i think we'll see another at least one or two or maybe 10 more fight. No, I don't know. And what a body it is. I've seen him in his tidy white. He's right in front of me, and it's quite the piece of work, I must say. Okay, two last things before I let you go, and I appreciate the time greatly. I'm sure he'll be asked this question many times leading up to the fight.

Do you think a win over page gets you a title shot? Yeah, I think so, especially the way that I think that I'm going to win, and I believe in my heart, I think that people are going to be dying to see that fight. And does this make the fight in a couple of weeks in Melbourne? Does it make you more interested in the fight? Now that you have a day, like, maybe you weren't assuming that you were going to be booked for a fight with this huge show coming up in Melbourne. Do you watch the fight now between Yawanna and Valerie a little differently? No, I still, I just want to keep it from a fan's perspective at this point.

Like when I go out to watch it in California, making my appearance and stuff, I'm just there for like a job and I'm still focused at the task at hand with this page. Whereas after the fight with Paige, I mean, I'll be watching the Joanna fight, but. I think I'm just enjoy it from just like fight fan perspective. But I'm not going to be thinking like game plan against this person. Like, no, because I'm, I got enough on my plate as it is. So once I'm done with this fight, then I'll revisit that. And then I'll watch it again and we'll come up with a different game plan. And you're picking Yuana, right?

Yeah, but I kind of feel like I don't really have enough information on the other girl. But I still like, from the little bits that seen, I would still go with Yowana or Joanna. Yonna. I think it is Yonna, but you could call it whatever you want. Joanna Champion, as she likes to call herself. A pleasure to have you on the show, as always, Rose. Thank you very much. Can't wait for this fight.

It's a fantastic matchup. Kudos to Sean Shelby and the team. And good luck in training. You don't have a heck of a lot of time, but maybe that's for the best. Maybe it's good to get right back in there and keep the train moving along. So thank you very much for the time. Thank you to Pat and the rest of the team. And we'll see you in Las Vegas.

Thank you. All right. There she is. Rose Namay Yunus, one of the top contenders in the UFC's Strawweight Division. Huge fight for her coming up. in a little over a month, December 10th in Viva, Las Vegas, Nevada. Just get a little water here, or a little juice. A lot of big shows, like I said, eight events in the next seven weeks,

starting with this weekend in Sao Paulo. Then there's a week off for Christmas, and then they're back, and then they're back on January 2nd, and the UFC just announced that, well, not just, but a couple days ago, they announced that, that highly anticipated Dustin Porier versus Joseph Duffy fight has been rescheduled for January 2nd. And when I saw that, it wasn't so much about the date, the location, the event. To me, it was just great news to see that Joe was able to come back.

You know, you never know, as we'll talk about with T.J. Grant later on in the show, concussions, while labeled mild, can be a very serious thing. So it's great to see that he is rebooked, that he's healthy, that he's ready to go, he will be fighting Dustin Pori on January 2nd. I wanted to talk to Joe Duffy about that fight, the injury and all that stuff. He is kind enough to join us right now. Via the Magic of Skype, there he is. Irish Joe himself. How are you, my friend?

I'm good, thank you, Ariel, yourself. I'm good. Thank you very much. So here you are, just a couple weeks later. Of course, the fight never happened. I know that you've done a couple interviews, but just wanted to ask, I mean, how do you feel right now? Because, like I said, for some athletes, a concussion can linger for a very long time. feel like you're 100% healthy as we speak here tonight.

Yeah, definitely. You know, I felt, I felt healthy fight week. You know, after it happened, you know, we've done a trial on the pads on the Monday and I felt good. And I go on the plane with the intentions of fighting. So, you know, as far as I was concerned, when I was on the way over, I was going there to fight. So, you know, I felt good. but unfortunately, you know, obviously the doctors didn't see me fit to compete in the weekend. Can you tell us exactly what happened? What were the circumstances surrounding the injury?

It was just, you know, normal last bar before the fight on the Saturday before the fight. Normal rounds, same thing we do weekend, week and out. you know just one of them shots that I didn't see you know put me down and you know for a split second I was down and I was up and you know that was it we were not sparring on the head then you know and I know

for as for as an air spoke to one of the doctors who trains in the gym he got a bit of advice and you know we just kind of followed the protocol from there really did you know right then and that something was off? Yeah, yeah. You know, I knew as soon as that happened, I knew what happened.

I can still remember the combo that hit me. Wow. You know, that was it. It was just a flash knock down. You know, but obviously, at the minute, there's a big thing with concussions and people are taking it pretty serious. So, you know, at this day and age,

I think that's what it is. think they see their brain trauma is a major issue, and they're trying to eradicate any further damage. Two things really impressed me about this story. A, the fact that you guys told the UFC, I can see a lot of people in the past just saying, oh, I'm going to deal with it, I'm going to get to the fight, it's too big of a fight for me.

Why did you tell the UFC? First and foremost, it was Frazier's idea. He thought it was a good idea to put the UFC in the loop. Obviously, so they got time to come up with backup plans. And also, we didn't want to turn up there, you know, do my padwork session on the Monday. I don't know, say that didn't go too well. It didn't feel too good. And then after pull out even short notice.

So we wanted to make sure everyone was in the loop. Everyone knew exactly what was going on. And like we said, you know, we thought that maybe. it wouldn't be as big an issue as it was really. You know, obviously that happened. And like I said, the Monday training went well. And, you know, I jumped on the plane with the intentions of fighting. But the UFC, all credit to them, you know, they put my safety first, even after the

Co-Main got pulled. So, you know, it just goes to show how well they look after the fighters. Once you told the UFC, what did they have you do to fight? find out if you were healthy or not? So, you know, as soon as I got off the plane, I had a few bits and pieces to do, and then immediately I was taken for an MRI. Later on that day, then I went back to another hospital. We've done a CAT scan.

And then the following day, which was the Wednesday, we'd done like a concussion test, which was a few different bits of pieces. the doctors put you through like little, you know, basically testing reflexes, you know, different ways of gauging how bad you're concussed and so on. And these were independent doctors. These weren't UFC doctors that were treating you? No, no, this was all independent doctors that were set up by the UFC. And did you fail that concussion test?

Is that why you were ultimately not cleared? I'm assuming so. I'm assuming it was the last test that it was. I know the last doctor, he said, you have got a mild concussion. So, you know, as soon as I heard them words, I kind of had a bad feeling. Yeah. Assuming it was the last test that there was the one that, you know, put the nail on the coffin. This might be a question for a doctor, but I'm wondering if they gave you an explanation.

Why was it labeled a mild concussion and not a severe concussion? Did they tell you anything about the kind of trauma that you suffered to make it labeled a mild concussion? I'm not too sure. I didn't ask the question, tell you the truth. It was just, you know, as soon as I heard the words and as soon as I got the news, that was all that my mind was kind of taken over. So, you know, the mild concussion that kind of went out the window. Have you ever suffered any kind of concussion before that you know of?

No. No. It's only once I've ever experienced anything close to this, which was when I was boxing. Yeah. Fighting out in Germany and I got dropped in the first round. But I went on to win that fight and I didn't have no issues or nothing after. So again, it's not something I've really had too much experience with. Who informed you that you were ultimately out of the fight? I got a let me see

I got a text asking to come down to the office and a lot of the guys who have been looking after me throughout the week who had been taking me here there

and everywhere they put me on the the phone to Joe Sullivan Joe Silva looking me in the news then what was your reaction obviously

none would be the main word I would say it was just heartbroken You know, I've been away from here for, you know, for about 12 weeks working my ass off trying to get into shape. And, you know, I wanted to go to Ireland and put it on a show for the fans. You know, to me, it feels like it was my coming out parade.

You know, I was going to put myself in them rankings. And I felt it was going to be a great fight. There's an exciting fight, obviously, you know, fighting dust and. And so I was just, I was looking for the whole experience. But obviously, when I go to the news, it was just heartbreaking. Once the news came out, like, we don't think about it from your perspective, reporters, fans, fellow fighters, but once the news comes out, the local guy, everyone's there to see you fight during the main event, and just days before you can't fight,

what are those next few hours like for you? What's going on with your phone? What are people saying to you? How do you handle all of that? Because I can't imagine, if I, if something bad happens to me, regular person, I don't have the whole world coming at me. You have to deal with not just the news, but everyone's reaction to the news. What's that like? I suppose, you know, by that point, I already, you know, I was back with my family and

was sitting down and, you know, because I hadn't told my parents at this point. I hadn't told them about the weekend. So they had an idea something was going on, but I didn't want to start panicking my mother. She's, you know, Irish mother. She knew something was going on. She had a holy kennel burning. That's my mother right there for you. But it was just going back

and explaining to them what was going on. And, you know, I got quite a close-knit family, so I just sat down and chilled with them. And obviously, you know, with my girlfriend, we sat down, we discussed, and, you know, just trying to get your head around it all, I suppose.

You stuck around, you went to the event, you were there. pictures of you with everyone from fans, the Dustin, did you think about not sticking around? I mean, I commend you for doing that, but I can imagine it being very tough to be sitting in that arena watching the fights. It was really tough,

especially, you know, seeing the crowd here in the crowd. Yeah. I'm just thinking, you know, I should be in there. You know, I shouldn't be sat here. I should be in the thick of this experience. So it was very tough. But, you know, I had a teammate, Tom Breeze and Stevie Ray were fighting. You know, I wanted to be there.

I wanted to be there to support them, lads. You know, so Tom, I was trying to help him with his reload and just try and turn it into a positive and try and make sure he had everything that he needed. And obviously, if I missed their fights, you know, both of them got big wins, I would have been devastated. So, you know, that was my main incentive for staying there. I know Dana White was in attendance. Did you talk to him when he got there about the whole situation?

And if so, what do he say? Yeah, I was chatting at Dana. Dana was sat in front of me, but Dana was very supportive. He was just like, look, you know, this is your health. You can't mess around with this. You know, you'll get that fight again. again and obviously we managed to get that fight rescheduled so you know thankfully uh you thanks for thanks to dust and thanks to ufc for getting the fight back on what do you say to dustin when

you saw him uh me and dust were chatting i just went up and you know obviously it was last minute news to him so i suppose at the time i kind of felt responsible for the whole thing you know um so i just said look you know i'm sorry that we can't get it on basically. And, you know, I just explained to him what happened. And I said, look, you know, hopefully we can get this fight on again in the future. And, you know, he was cool about it. He knows that's the sport we're in.

You know, at the end of the day, you know, combat sports, there's always going to be these incidents. So, you know, he was cool about us. He received a lot of criticism for not taking a fight on very short notice after the news came out against Norman Park. Do you think any of that was fair? No, I was chatting to Dustin about it actually. It didn't make much sense to Dustin at the time.

You know, Dustin trained for me. Obviously, I'm orthodox, Norman, South Pole. You know, it's two totally different fights. No disrespect to Norman because, you know, I know him well and he's a great fighter. You know, but leading up to that, to the Madadi for my daddy from, fight, he dropped two fights on the bounce. So, you know, to Dustin, from a business point of view, it probably didn't, you know, it didn't make as much sense. So, you know, I can see his thoughts behind it. And obviously, you know, we managed to get the fight done again now, so it makes perfect sense.

So before announcing the new fight, January 2nd in Las Vegas, UFC 195 last week, did you have to get cleared again to make sure that you no longer have any kind of concussion or any kind of symptoms? at all? No, no contact for me until 14th of November. Okay. So as of the 40th November, I can spar as normal, you know, any of that type of thing. So at the minute, I can still train,

I can still grapple, still wrestle, everything else, but just no contact until them. And you don't have to go to a doctor to get cleared, have them sign off. It's just once that date comes, you're good to go? Yeah, yeah. That's it. Once a date's here, I'm ready to go full steaming him. Do you think now the ship has sailed on you fighting in Ireland?

Like if you beat him, UFC 195, and by the time they come back and you're going to have bigger fights after that, do you think you may have gone at least until there's that big show, Kroke Park, whatever, that for now you may have outgrown the O2, or I think it's called the three arena now or something. They change it. It seems every few months. Yeah, that's kind of what I was frightened of at the time, I suppose, that I wouldn't give the opportunity to fight in front of the home crowd again until, except maybe the Crow Park show comes about or something. Yeah, but who knows?

It's one of them. I can sit there and I can wind myself up about it, but, you know, who knows well I's ahead. So I'm just going to stick my head, you know, get focusing again on January 2nd, and that's all I can do for now. Will you be training at TriStar for the January 2nd fight? Yeah Yeah that's it

I'll be out in Tresta I'll be out in Tresta full time now Okay I leave Leave again on Wednesday Oh wow I'll be back out And that's it

I'm pretty much going to be there full time I've got I got a condo there now as well So you know That's it All my train is going to be done in Tresor So you're going to be a Montreal resident Pretty much

Wow I need to learn the lingo there I'm jealous of you my friend You can go see my parents any time. What a treat. I'll pop up in Ariel. Drop me in the address. And will you now rethink the way you spar in the days leading up like the week before?

Will you not do that anymore? Are you going to not change a thing? I've always looked at it the same way. From, you know, what I heard when I was going around all the different hospitals and so on, they said, even if this happened a few weeks ago, you know, 30 days of, you know, 30 days of of you know at the event I still wouldn't have been able to still wouldn't have been able to compete

so it's one of them you know there's no way you can not spar four weeks before a fight and just it's craziness it's it's a sport win and I always in the past

I kind of I come across this I felt like I would take it easy you know say a week before the fight or whatever and I would end up getting injured because of that and then I would go into the fight where they'll knock. And so the week before the fight

it will be the same as always. You know, there's things in place at Trisa. We're all sparring headguards. You know, there's certain things that same place to keep it from happening. But these accidents do happen. So it's just going to be normal story.

I'm not going to think too much about this. I'm just going to say that. happens for a reason, I suppose. Any idea if this fight is going to be on pay-per-view or FS1? Do you have any clue? I have no idea. And you don't care. It's a tell you the truth.

When it comes to all that, I haven't got a clue how most of it works. People message me asking what channel is going to be on, and they would have a far better idea than I would. Wow. And is Dustin the fight that you wanted, though? Like, did they talk about maybe moving on and doing something else, was that the only fight for you? No, I think it was a fight we both wanted.

I feel it's an exciting fight just in general. So it's a fight that suits us both. It's a fight that the fans talked about, and I think it would be good to get closure on that fight. Last thing, I know I talked to you about being there, but the way the event ended, much different than the last show in Dublin with, you know, the Irish fighters all winning and all that stuff here, it ends on Patty losing.

What was the vibe in the arena from your perspective? And also, what were you thinking? Like, you were the one that was supposed to end the night on a good note, and it didn't end on a good note. What was that like for you? I suppose, you know, like, you just see the Irish fans start tuning. I know, as soon as Paddy comes on there, you know, win, lose or draw, the fans go behind him.

And, you know, I think that's pretty much a good way of summing up the Irish fans. And, you know, it was great to see the atmosphere and the reaction that the fans gives it fighters was incredible. So it was gotten. It was gotten that I wasn't the one, you know, ending the night on a high, but like I said, everything happens for a reason and, you know, touch wood, I'll give them plenty more nights to cheer in the future. I feel like I should get a medal here.

I should get some kind of award. I just conducted a Joe Duffy interview and didn't mention the name Connor McGregor once. How about that? That is impressive, right? Until now. It's got to be the first interview, yes. Well done.

I'm proud of myself. Most importantly, very happy to see that you are okay. The fight is rescheduled. All is well in your world. Can't wait for the fight. I'm sorry it happened this way, but the good news is we're going to see it hopefully in exactly two months' time

from exactly this particular date. A pleasure, as always, you're a class act, my friend. Thank you so much for the time. Get well. I hope November 14th comes and goes without incident and all goes well in this training camp leading up to the second of January. Thank you so much, Joe. Really appreciate the time. Perfect. Thanks, yeah. Thanks for having me. There he is. Irish Joe Duffy. Pleasure as always. What a class act, really. A great guy and always always represents himself in his country and his team very well. And like I said at the top, very happy that all is well. And this isn't something that's going to size you.

sideline him for a considerable amount of time. Those concussions very, very scary, but thankfully for Joe, it's not something that's going to change his career considerably. Got to be tough to be sitting there. I saw him there. You can see him throughout the entire event if you were watching it on Fight Pass. He was front and center right in back of Dana White. Man, I kept thinking throughout what is going through his mind. That's got to be tough. but kudos to him for actually going there and watching it and, you know, showing his face. And I know the Irish fans. I feel like I have a pretty good sense how they react, how they support their fellow fighters and all that stuff, their fellow countrymen.

I have a feeling that they were very understanding and very comforting and they have a funny way of making you feel loved. So I have a feeling that he wasn't feeling hated in that arena. Yeah, great stuff there from Joe Duffy. Looking forward to... That card is a solid one. Robbie Loller, Carlos Condit, Miocchich, against Arlowski, Joe Duffy,

Dustin Porier, some other fights were announced recently. Good stuff. January 2nd in Las Vegas. Okay, let us move along. Let's go back to the Skype machine. I think that's four in a row or so. This is very exciting.

Good to see our guests, not in person, but on camera. Now let's talk to Tim Kennedy. Always an interesting guy to speak to. is. Tim Kennedy himself via the magic of Skype. Tim, how are you,

my friend? I am so well. So, lots to discuss, as always. Last time you were on this show around two and a half months ago. By the way, I mean, look at this partnership here.

We went from hating each other. At least you hated me. Now you're like a regular. I can't get rid of you on this show. Isn't it beautiful? I know. I don't think people really grasp like how caustic

the relationship between you and I were. I might have threatened you a few times, like maybe passive. like, you know, I might kill you later or something like that. I don't remember the exact words, but I think it was that ballpark of that. And now, now, honestly, I follow you on Twitter. I follow you everywhere that you go.

You're definitely the guy I respect the most in MMA. You and Ben Folks. Wow. Please don't say Ben's name on this show ever again if you can. But it is great. And for the record, it was a one-way street. You hated me. I never disliked you.

I always had love. Oh, thank you. Now I feel super bad. So last time you're on, we touched on this a little bit, but I did promise that we'd have you on before the premiere. You have this show coming out on November 10th on the History Channel called Hunting Hitler. And this fascinate me. This subject is obviously one that's near and dear to my heart. I actually had a chance to go to Auschwitz and many of the concentration camps in Poland. I am a proud Jew learned all about the Holocaust in high school and whatnot. So the topic of World War II and Hitler and all this stuff is fascinating.

fascinating to me, but now it's finally coming out, November 10th. I would just like to know, how does, by the way, what's that book right over there in back? Is it, oh, Jerusalem? No, that says, O'Juru. What does it say right there? Oh, we got, we got, O Jerusalem. Oh, it is O Jerusalem. Look at you.

Are you a closet Jew? Israel. That's true. Israel. Wow. Who knew? Gray Wolf. Look at you.

Is this a topic that always, were you always interested in this? No, so I went to, I went to, I went. to Israel when I was in the military and went to a military school there. And as you know, it's a very closed society. And they're not really very receiving to non-Israelis and non-Jews. So being an American, I think they kind of view us as a whole, not as the most supportive in the past few years. So I really wanted to do my due diligence and not be ignorant about the history of some of the conflicts to include, you know, obviously Palestine and the PLO and some of the people that have been in such a tough position with for the past few years.

So I did as much research as I could before I went over there and I still was able to put my foot in my mouth and look like a complete idiot. But I tried to do the best I could to minimize that. How long ago was this? A couple of years. Okay. So hunting Hitler, how did you get chosen to do this? Oh, man. So the History Channel was looking for a lead investigator, a field guy.

So the show is going to have the kind of the talking heads, the researchers that are in the office that are looking at all the data that me and my team accumulate in all the different locations that we visit. And then that they are kind of directing where the investigation goes. I am the field guy. So everywhere that this investigation leads, I put together a team. And we go from Argentina to Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia, Canary Islands, Spain, obviously Germany, a whole bunch. And they needed a guy with a kind of a certain skill set.

I knew just enough in all of the wrong areas that made me the perfect candidate. What do you mean by that? it's kind of tragic when your skill set is to hunt humans but that's what I'm you know it's it's a sad thing to say but the majority of my adult life you know everybody like knows me as an MMA fighter but you know the vast majority of the time that I have been an adult I have been in an occupation where I'm looking for bad people um that's there's a lot of technology that goes into that you know software being able to do demographic and society searches using all the different social medias and then there's hard hardware

like ground penetrating radar and drones all of which i i'm very intimately familiar with i've been to all the schools i can fly drones i can use ground penetrating radar i have the contacts for everybody in the world that has the best equipment so you know if we reached a problem and we're like okay we can't get access to this property i can say well i can fly a drone over it or hey we think there's something underneath this. I'm like, well, send me a ground penetrating radar and I'll tell you what's there. So I was just, I ended up being the right guy with the right skill set to do this. You know, the other tragic part is, you know, in the military. I was part of the task force that found the number two guy on the terrorist hit list, which was our Cowie. I was part of that task force.

Being in special forces, every cave we went into and every dude that we found, you know, we say, hey, do you have any Americans? Are you planning any attacks on Americans? Do you have any civilians in captivity? Do you know where bin Laden is? Those are the questions that we asked everybody. So for 10 years, you know, like in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq, everybody I talked to, those questions came out. So I'm kind of good at this.

Wow. And did you have to audition or were you the guy? I think they thought I was the guy before they talked to me. Okay. You know, there's a lot out there. for people to find out about me and what I've done. But they still made me go through the different phases of interviewing, talking to the production company, talking to the History Channel.

But having now looking back and talking to the people at the History Channel, they knew ahead of time. You know, you were the guy that we wanted. It was just being able to make sure that it worked. And it worked. And why, and maybe this is not a question that you, you can properly answer, but why is the History Channel hunting for Hitler in, quote, unquote, in 2015?

Yeah. So just last year, they released almost 1,000 declassified documents from the FBI, from the CIA, from the OSS, and, you know, there's a lot of weird information in all of these documents, but one thing was clear, the FBI and the CIA after 1945 were actively looking for Hitler. there's you know whether they found legitimate information if they found credible information doesn't matter we know that they were spending a crap ton of money especially in south america looking for hitler and now you have to say why yeah you know if the narrative has been that hitler died in 1945 the germans he executed himself and you know committed suicide with his wife and then the

germans burnt his body and the russians took the body back to russia that's what i've been told my entire life, that's what I believed, then this doesn't make sense. Why would we spend, you know, tens and hundreds of millions of dollars looking for this guy if he died in 1945? Then you start looking at the forensic evidence of what occurred in 1945, and there's nothing that says that he actually died. There's no body. The body that they have is a woman.

They just did genetic testing on it last year. And like, you know, now this is where we get to conspiracy theorists. We're like, okay, well, what happened? I don't care. what they hired me to do was to see if it was possible, if he made it out of the bunker, where would have you've gone? What? This is incredible.

And I'm that guy. I go and look at every single possibility. I look at the trains. I look at the planes. I look at the submarines. I look at the boats. I look at the infrastructure of the church that was hiding other Nazis. I went and found Nazis and figured out how they got out.

And then I wanted to see, okay, well, if this guy did it, and he's a pathetic, like, colonel or a major, than the Fuhr, they would have had a plan for him. Guys like Borman, Martin Borman, would never have let a guy like the Fuhr die in a bunker. It just doesn't make sense. You know, if you look at our president, how many different ways do we have a plan to get that guy out?

Countless. And all of them are airtight. You know, I personally know them. Yeah. So there's no way that we're talking, you know, the leader of what was going to be, you know, the Third Reich, all controlling all of Europe, the most powerful man. and one of the richest. And when I say richest, not like, you know, he had millions of dollars.

I mean, he had money that he could buy countries. Yeah. Gold that he took from the Jews and gold that he melted from the Jews in the finances that he took from all the countries that he conquered. And then he just dies in a bunker. Well, I had to, so I went and found out if it was possible. How many months or weeks did you have on this job? Six months.

Six months. Wow. It was that long. traveling for the entire six months or you did some work back in the States? A ton of research. The files are, intelligence files are a horrible thing to work with, especially, you know, intelligence files from 1945. Yeah.

When I get intelligence files now, you know, there's a format. It's clear. You know, you have kind of like the 5Ws that you can input into systems, the who, the where, the when, the why, the how. In 1945, it was kind of just like this, these guys talking. And you'd have to sift through the, you know, you'd have to sift through the, those reports to extrapolate the information that you needed. So there's a ton of research.

Fortunately, the History Channel, you know, History Channel is big. History Channel has big money. And I'm a pretty dumb guy. So they could hire guys that were way smarter than me, you know, with amazing credentials, the PhDs, the archaeologists, the marine archaeologists, and put together a unique team, a team that has never been assembled before to do something like this. So this is not some reality show stunt. This is a real deal.

This is an investigation trying to get the answers to these questions. Yeah. So like the field guys, we had the movie Sierra Sierra, Sieriana with George Clooney. Oh, yeah, yeah. That movie was made after a guy named Bob Bear. He was former CIA. That guy's on our team. Wow.

The leading U.S. Marshall that has hunted more fugitives than anyone on the planet, he was on our team. The death claims investigator, and this was a unique, unique perspective. So if somebody dies, they send a death claims investigator to go and prove that the guy is dead before they can award the insurance policy. We had the most expensive and the most experienced death claims investigator, a private investigator, on our team. We had kind of the most known historian in all Hitler lore as part of our team. I mean, it was, this team was so comprehensive that it would be difficult for us not to have a stone that we don't overturn. In total, how many people are on the team? So everywhere that we, I would say the core of the team is five guys.

Okay. But we brought in, you know, they just recently discovered this hidden bunker in kind of the tri-border area in where the most northern Argentina. And in that, it's a Nazi hideout. That's what they know. They found Nazi gold there. They found Nazi coins there. They found radio parts. They found that it was completely self-sufficient.

It had its own power. It had its own water. And it had its own food supply. It had its own medicine. And when the archaeologist came across it, they thought it was a mission that had just been left in the jungle for a few hundred years. But then they started finding like canned goods from the late 40s or the mid 40s. And they're like, what the hell is this? And they started finding Nazi memorabilia.

And so when we found that, we bring in coin experts, coin archaeologists. We bring in a whole bunch of social experts that could really look at the demographics and the socioeconomic classes in the area there. We brought in anthropologists. We brought in, you know, when we're off the coast of Argentina, and we're looking for evidence of something in particular. We brought in a bunch of marine biologists. Side sonar guys, magnetrometer, technicians,

you know, ground, I'm really the best dudes on the planet. So everywhere that we went, if we came to a problem or we needed the best, there's not, you know, no expense that was too much to bring in the best in the world. So you weren't, I was into the impression that you were looking for, you know, Nazis who were still alive and, you know, war criminals. You're actually, the, the point of this show, is to find out if he actually killed himself in 1945 or if he went on to live elsewhere. Is that the purpose of this whole thing?

I think the end result is to correct the narrative that has been historical. To say, okay, if he died in the bunker, then all the history books, that's exactly what it says, that Hitler died in the bunker in 1945 when he committed suicide with Everbron. that's not true. We can't absolutely say that. There's no way that we can say, so they could just add one word, if or it's possible,

but we know that there's no way to prove that. And as the show progresses, and things become so astoundingly clear, we changed history. To answer specifically your question, yes, I think the end result is to be able to maybe rewrite history, But if you're going to try to find the mother ant that rules the colony, you have to follow the other ants.

And so we went to the Nazis. We went to the places where we knew Nazis exist, like had to escape. We went and tracked Nazis to make sure that they could have made it the route that we were speculating that they were going to try. So we theorized this. I had my hypothesis here. And to prove that, I had to go and find guys that did just what I was saying that they were doing. And that's what we did. So I found Nazi after Nazi.

Wow. I found grandkids sitting there bragging to me that their grandfather got back at 1946. You know, as this grandson has an SS tattoo on his neck with an iron cross on his shoulder, you know, it's real. Wow. I'm super tempted to ask you what you're finding. What's the end result? But I guess I have to watch the show, right? There's eight episodes.

Eight episodes. Eight episodes. Sorry. So November 10th on history, what time? See, 10, your time, or Eastern and 9 Central. Okay. Wow. I cannot wait for this.

I'm going to DVR this bad boy. What were you going to say, sorry? Next Tuesday. Next Tuesday, yeah, of course. amazing stuff. Cannot wait for it. So I guess I should, I know you have a lot of fans out there,

I guess I should ask you, are you going to fight again? What's going on? Yeah, I think so. Oh. I think, yeah. What's going on? What you got?

A big change in two and a half months. You know, two and a half months ago, I was saying, man, they have to give me something cool. They have to give me something significant. And now I'm hearing inklings from UFC that I might get the winner of Vita Belfort, Dan Henderson.

Oh. I saw, you know, Michael Bisbing was saying he never wanted to fight a PED user again. It's been permanently disfigured, and I would be furious if I was Michael Bisbing, but I'm the opposite. I want to go fight every single one of them and, you know, beat the brakes off of them and kind of put a big exclamation mark that this is a new era of the sport, that the clean athletes, we're going to smash every single one of you cheaters that have been historically making all the big money and cheating your way through it. So, you know, Anderson Silva's, Peter Belfords, Dan Henderson's, I want you guys. So have they told you specifically you're getting the winner of this fight on Saturday or something else?

What have they told you? So they're talking my agent. And those were the fights that I had said that I wanted. And he came back and said that they were interested in those fights. Oh, wow. Do you have a perfect scenario, a perfect guy? Like, are you hoping Vitor wins on Saturday so you can get him finally?

Yes, yeah. I mean, you know, Anderson Silva, New Year's Eve, I don't even know if he's off his suspension. No, he won't be. He won't be. No, January 31st. All right, January 31st. So we could fight on Valentine's Day in February.

Or the February 2nd card, but I feel like that would be a little too soon. They wouldn't book him that close to the suspension. Oh. I said I'd fight Fador on like a moment's notice. That would be pretty awesome. But does he fall in that PED group for you? No, but he's just like a legend.

And I would just love that, man. But the good news is you're back. Yeah. Well, I mean, even when I was filming this TV show, we're in Brazil, we're in Colombia, we're in Argentina. You know, Jets is huge there. I was able to go to, you know, Grace Humaita, like the headquarters. You know, I'm a black belt from there. So I was able to train when I was there.

And Nazis have a huge obsession with fighting. And it goes back to their origin, the genesis of where Nazism came, you know, within the fascists and the social movements. They'd go and they'd beat the breaks off of everybody that was attending there. So you had to kind of be a tough guy in the beginning to be a Nazi. And that stayed true with the culture. So I would go to different fight clubs all over South America. and try to glean information from conversations,

you know, as I'm grappling with a guy and I look and I see the Iron Cross tattooed on his arm, I'm like, hey, what's going on? You know, they're like, what are you doing here? You're really good. Yeah, I like the sport. Can I buy you a drink? Tell me about your grandpa, please. And they didn't know that you were doing this for the show.

Oh, did we lose them? I got you in your back. Did they have any idea you were working on the show? Did you have to tell them? No, no. No, no, I had, no, I lied about everything. Okay. You know, I put a hidden camera in my gym bag with a microphone.

Wow. And, you know, I just say I'm a UFC fighter, you know, because they did know who I was. And, you know, I'm just traveling South America on a break from MMA. They're like, oh, yeah, yeah, we saw your last fight, you know, against you well, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, like, I would take a break too. And I was like, man, I'm just trying to find the roots. So you're trying to get back to the central core fighting, you know, what do you think? You're like, what do you do?

and then they start talking and then I own them. Oh, this is great. This is very exciting stuff, the show, and also that you're sort of kind of retirement. It wasn't retirement, but your break is coming to an end. At least that's what it sounds like. So that's very exciting. So it's November 10th History Channel, Hunting Hitler,

as Tim said, 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 Central. I will be watching this. I can't wait for it. I'm happy that an MMA guy is involved. This is very exciting. This is right up my alley. Thank you very much for breaking it all down, giving us the preview.

and perhaps we'll talk about it eight weeks later when we get to see what you found out. As always, I'm at your disposal. Thank you, for love your show, and just thanks for having me on, man. Appreciate it. Thank you, Tim.

All the best. There he is. Tim Kennedy. Check out his show on November 10th. Can't wait for that. All right, let's move along now. Have been wanting to have our next guest on the program for quite some time.

We have finally tracked her down a very busy lady, but she has carved out some time for us. I'm talking to Misha. Tate right now. Misha, how are you? Feeling well, Ariel. How about yourself? I'm doing great. Thank you very much for the time. So, like I said, I've essentially wanted to have you on the show ever since that infamous

now announcement on Good Morning America. You went to film a film and you had some time off. You were traveling all over the place. So I'm happy we can finally get you on the program here. And the timing is interesting because you did an interview with ESPN last week, ESPN.com. and, you know, rightfully so, I think a lot of people are on your side on this one. You voiced some frustrations about your place and the way this whole thing went down a week later, less than a week later. Where do you stand? Did anyone reach out to you? Did anyone kind of give you the lowdown and reassure you that you're in a better place than you thought?

What's going on in your mind right now? You know, the only person that I've talked to you about it was Sean Shelby, and that was actually the same day that I had done the interview. So I'm still kind of in that same spot. I don't really have any answers because Sean's obviously not in the authoritative position to be able to tell me exactly what's going to happen. He doesn't make those decisions. But he said, yeah, I mean, is it possible to get a title shot maybe? But it's just one of those things he couldn't tell me yes or no, you know?

So I feel like I definitely need some more answers. And I told him that if the reality of it is that I cannot have a title shot, period. then I need to be realistic about what my future goals are and what I want to do from here on out. What do he say to that? Well, I mean, he just kind of, I understand, I get it, but he was just, you know, we don't want you to retire. We don't want you to go that route.

He's like, I think you still have a lot to offer in this sport. I said, you know, because you still feel like you're competitive, right? I mean, you're doing well. I'm like, yeah, I still feel competitive. I still feel great. It still feel like I could accomplish a lot. but I think everyone's goal is to be the champion and everyone's in this for goal to be the best. And if that is not an option for me, then what am I doing?

You know, that is this question I have to ask myself because it changes things. It really does. So did you ever think like this before? Did this all come about after the announcement that you weren't getting the title shot? Or did you start to think this way even before the Jessica Eye fight or any other fight? No, it definitely was not before the Jessica Eye fight. I was at an all-time motivated point in my career, feeling like everything was coming together, you know, the years that I put in to the sport, becoming a better athlete, becoming stronger, becoming faster, becoming more knowledgeable, more tricky. I felt like I really am at a high point in my career, really the best that I've ever felt.

So I felt really good, and I felt very excited after that fight. I didn't take any time off. We began training immediately, and it was just a really, you know, quite a devastating blow to find out, you know, via, you know, my text message is being blown up by everyone being sympathetic that I'm not getting the title shot and I'm half asleep going what? What's going on? And they're texting me pictures of Holly and Rhonda. The image is already out on UFC.com.

This is like, uh, wait what? You know, we were completely not informed about this at all. And I suppose the handling of it is more, you know, things more than anything because I just felt like it was so poorly handled. You know, I've been a professional. I've been a team player, you know, with the UFC. I've always been a company woman, and I just felt a little bit frustrated that it wasn't handled differently, you know, or that they didn't think for some reason that, or, you know, that I would not say anything, you know, which I wouldn't have.

I separate my professionalism from my own emotional feelings, but I think it would have, and should have been handled differently. So the date was August 21st. I remember they were pumping up that Rhonda was going to be on Good Morning America, but we didn't know why, and she, you know, comes out and announces the Holly home fight. and then I remember talking to your manager, Josh, and he had no idea. He was floored. He was fired up. He said that he believed you were still sleeping at the time of us even talking on the phone

a couple hours later. Can you tell us, have you ever experienced anything like that? You're just waking up. How do you react to that? No, absolutely not. I mean, that's a lifelong goal and dream of mine to become the UFC champion. And I knew how important that this all was to me, and I definitely had no reason to take it lightly. I was very motivated, feeling very good, very confident, and to wake

up to that, it was almost like waking up to still being in a nightmare. You know, I felt like I wasn't even sure if I was quite awake yet. I'm like, am I still sleeping? What is going on right now? You know, I'm like half days and I'm trying to take it all in and I just felt extremely overwhelmed. And then, of course, I wanted to verify it, you know, because I'm like, well, why would so many people be texting me if it wasn't true? How could it be true? How could it be true? I just was in disbelief. I was like, it can't be true. It was like they already promised me.

They already announced it. They already did all this stuff. So, I mean, I was so confused. And then I had to talk to Josh immediately. And, you know, he was verifying it. And we found that it was true. And I just got really depressed, honestly. I didn't, I wasn't very happy or really motivated at the moment.

I didn't know what to, what to think. So it took me a couple weeks to kind of wrap my mind around it and, you know, get back up on the horse and try to, you know, start training. again and figure out, I guess, start thinking about what I want to do. And then I heard Dana White announce, oh, Misha's one more fight away. Well, I'm like, okay, well, shoot, it's not what I wanted, but one more fight isn't that bad. And then he's like, oh, she's still a few more fights away. I see another headline.

I'm like, you know, what is going on here? Like, realistically, you seem to be reneging on the entire thing. And then, you know, I don't know what's going on. So one fight, a few fights, how many fights, if ever, you know, all these questions are kind of going through my mind. Have you talked to him yet? No, I haven't. I finally, you know, I made it very clear. So, you know, not to say that the UFC didn't want to talk to me.

It really wasn't that. It was really more on my end that I was frustrated to say the least, and I told them, I would just want you guys to deal with Josh. You know, Josh is my manager. That's what I pay him to do, and he's a damn good manager. Yes. I said, just talk to him. You guys figure it out, and you let me know what's going on.

You know, so I really put Josh in charge of all of that. But I told the UFC, don't contact me. Don't contact me directly. I don't really want to hear exactly what you guys have to say unless it's coming from Josh. So that's really how that went. So, you know, they were very respectful of that. And I finally reached out to Dana the other day and said that I would like to sit down. And he said, yeah, it's long overdue.

Let's sit down and talk. So at some point we are going to talk and we'll hopefully figure something out. But hopefully he doesn't say, you know, that the title shot is not an option. Yes, and by the way, not that I'm ass kissing here, but if I can clone Josh Jones into, you know, 25 different Josh Jones and have him manage a bunch of other fighters, I would be very happy. He is tremendous at his job, and I appreciate him greatly. So you are lucky to have him in your corner. So do you know when you'll be meeting, Dana White? Probably around mid-November, is what I'm thinking, because I won't be back in Vegas until, like, at least like the 10th or so. But, you know, on a lighter note, I'm thinking. I'm thinking, because I won't be back in Vegas until, like, at least like, the 10th or so. But, you know, on a lighter note, I've been staying really busy, like I said, with Kevin Harvick, Incorporated, my management, they have been crushing it for me. So, I mean, really, I feel like other than fighting, I'm not skipping a beat. I've been staying very busy, and that's all very motivating, too.

So I suppose that's another reason why walking away from fighting is, it's not what I want, but I feel like it's an option because I'm definitely able to sustain myself by other means. and I really like the commentary. I really like doing that kind of stuff and working with Fox and being an analyst and want to film more movies and more appearances and all that stuff. So I've been very, very busy, luckily, since then, I'm very fortunate. How real of an option?

Like if you say, okay, I'm never going to fight again, is that okay by you? Can you live with that? Are you okay with ending your career and never fighting again? Well, it doesn't, it's not what I want. So, I mean, I guess there's different definitions of okay with it. It's not what I want, but I also know that I'm not going to...

There's a point. There's just a point where it's not okay. I'm not willing to bend and I'm not willing to break. I'm a very, very stubborn person. I'm a very strong-world person. I think I'm a fair person. I don't think I'm asking for too much. But, again, too, I mean, I feel like, you know, Joe Rogan maybe said it best.

He, you know, had an article written on him that I read of some things that he said during his podcast, and I really think that he was very spot on. He said, you know, I get it. I completely sympathize with Misha, and he's like, I don't understand why there's such a big discrepancy between number one and number two. And he said, you know, Rhonda made six, over six million dollars, according to Forbes, just on her fighting last year. and I'll tell you I made nowhere near, not even close to that. And yet they want me to fight higher ranked and much better skilled opponents than Rhonda's fighting.

And she gets paid millions and I get paid pennies on the dollar. It's just something to me, you know, I understand they have the jobs do. They want to promote. They want to make fights that sell. I get it. But this is also my life and I'm not a robot and I'm not a puppet and I'm not going to stand for something that I don't feel right about that I don't agree with, and I will not take fights if my heart's not into it, period.

It doesn't matter who it is. Like, if I don't feel good about it, I'm not going to do it. The whole reason I do this sport is because I love it. And when the politics get in the way and they start messing shit up, use my language, I'm just not going to stand for it. It's not why I got into fighting. That's not why I do what I do. And I'm not going to go out there and put on a crap performance in front of all my fans

because, you know, I didn't feel right about it. I could see someone saying to you, like, who cares about the belt? Why don't you just rack up those paychecks, get paid? You know, you only have a limited amount of time to be a high-level athlete. Does that interest you at all, or does the belt mean more than just an actual belt to you? That does interest me a little bit as far as, like, I mean, there's two ways to go, obviously. So one way is, this is considering that maybe the title, as long as Rhonda has it, is not maybe an option for me. Yeah.

And, you know, if they can't give me that yes or no, then I'm just going to say, you know, I'm going to lean towards no because I don't want to get my hope stuff, obviously. So considering that, if that were the case, then I can do one of the few things. I can either fight and just take the, everyone says, the Donald Seroni approach and just fight as much and as often as I can and just rack up the paychecks and fight for money, essentially. Or I can say, you know, I'm not going to stand for this. I don't want to fight for the UFC anymore. I don't want to fight at all, possibly anymore. And, you know, let's look into the other avenues that I've been working on transitioning into, you know, for the future anyways.

They're all coming together. Like I said, I have an amazing management team. I think I have a future with Fox as an analyst. Absolutely love working with them and lots more movie deals and all those kinds of things. So I definitely don't think, you know, it would be like you wouldn't see me anymore, but maybe as a competitive athlete, it may unfortunately be the reality of it. I don't know. What was interesting to me about the way the whole thing went down was, and we've joked about this privately when you've been working on the shows and whatnot. One time I remember texting you

and asking you to confirm, I think it was when you were about to fight Rinne Kai, and you said to me, which was totally fine, you were like, that's not in my job description to confirm stories with you. And I was like, all right, I never heard that one before, but that is a loyal employee. That is a loyal employee. She is not going to even, you know, give me anything off the record, anonymous, whatever. So then when I saw that they didn't even tell you that they were going to announce this, I was like, Misha's probably the one person in the UFC who maybe she'll be upset, but she's probably going to keep her mouth shut.

Was that what bothered you the most, that you couldn't even get a heads up? Yes, absolutely. I feel like I've been with, I was the longest signed female athlete from Strike Force to, you know, through the UFC. And I've never had that reputation of being a gossamer. I've never broken news that anybody's ever told me before in the UFC matchups or anything, you know. And I just don't. I don't do that because I think it's disrespectful.

And I wouldn't have done that. But I guess to me, I guess I felt a little bit disrespected. Like, you guys really think that that's my character. But, I mean, I don't know. What can you say or what can you do, you know? Is it fair to say that you're not quite over it? now, like, it's only been two months, and this is your career, you don't have a fight book, so is it still bothering you?

Yes, that's definitely, you know, fair to say. That's why I'm at this awkward limbo stage, and I just don't have answers, so I decided I needed to reach out and figure something out, because I need to know for myself, for my career, what my next move is going to be. And I have some more demands that I want to make, you know. I realize that Ronda is making a lot. And I just, I feel like when I walk out for my way in, when I walk out to my fight, I have an amazing fan base.

They really, like, always show their love and appreciation. And you can tell I have the loudest crowd response, pretty much of anyone fighting on the card, besides Ronda, of course. But, you know, when it's a card to myself, I always have a huge crowd response. I have a tremendous fan base. and I don't think any of us really want the retirement to be the situation. So the U.S. you need to kind of wake up and smell the coffee and, you know, make something work, you know. As Rampage Jackson once said, the Chetta makes a better, right?

What was that? I said, as Rampage Jackson once said, the Cheta makes a better. Exactly. That's a very, very accurate statement. Yes. Speaking of awkward, just like a day or so after this all came, came out, you went to go film a movie with Holly Home and Cyborg. How awkward was that? It was a little awkward. I'm not going to lie. Not because of Cyborg, obviously, her and I

get along great, but because of Holly and the whole situation being so fresh at the time. Her and I really not knowing each other very well. I didn't really know what to expect, but I only knew that it must be more awkward for her than it was for me because she probably maybe felt that I would be upset at her. But again, you know, the testament to just having professionalism, I wasn't. I mean, if I was in her shoes

and the UFC called me up and said, hey, this is what you're doing, I would have done it too. So how can I blame the girl for taking the opportunity, you know? So I wasn't mad at her. I didn't take it as anything personal. You know, she got an opportunity

and, you know, she should go for it. But, you know, it still sucks for me. So she is a huge underdog going into this fight. Do you give her any kind of chance? If I had to pick, I'm definitely going to go with the champion. Yeah. Yeah, something against her.

I just don't think it's a good style match-up. I really don't. I don't think that she's going to be able to stop Rhonda for 25 minutes, taking her down and beat her. Even if she jabs and moves, I mean, she's going to have to run a lot, which means the champion's coming forward. And in order to become the champion, you have to beat the champion. So I'm curious to see what kind of game plan they're going to put together to try to do that.

Originally they were booked to fight January 2nd, then it got moved to November 14th in Melbourne. Would you have been ready, if you were in that position where you were supposed to fight in January and then moved to November, would that have been okay with you? Yes. Sorry, go ahead. Enough time to train to get ready for a fight. Is that going to be a tough one for you to watch? Will you watch it? Because now as we come to find out, perhaps the biggest show in UFC history, all this attention, it's going to ramp up at the next week.

or so, how will you feel in the days leading up to it, and even if you do decide to watch it? Oh, I'll definitely be watching it. I'm definitely vested still in that fight, and I want to see what's going to happen. I'll actually be hosting the fight at the Sapphire in Las Vegas. Okay. So if anybody is going to be out there, you know, come on out, and you can watch the fights there with us. They have a pretty cool set up there. I hosted the last fight with her and Betch as well. So, always interesting, and, you know, hopefully, hopefully that'll be me in there before too long. Did they offer you a fight against Amanda Nunes?

They kind of did. They said, you know, would you be interested? And I just said, you know what, you guys, I mean, it was on a fight pass card. And I just said, this is not at all. You guys go from taking a pay-per-view title fight, and you want to offer me a fight on flight. I don't care who it is. I'm not fighting on fight pass at the moment. You know, I understand

Fight Pass is growing, but I was like, I've already done my Fight Pass fight with the Rindakai, and it just You know what I'm saying? It felt like kind of another slap in the face, so I was just so frustrated that it just wasn't appealing to me whatsoever, so

there's nothing against Amanda. I think she's an amazing fighter, but again, and I would love that fight at some point, I think we would put on a spectacular fight, but it's kind of when push comes to shove, It was my way of pushing back because, again, Amanda's ranked like fourth or fifth. And, you know, then Holly's ranked ninth or something like that.

It's like, this is just, like I said, this is dumb. If you guys, I'm not the champion, so why am I fighting girls tougher than Rhonda for pennies on the dollar, period? It's a matter about making a statement and just saying to the UFC, I'm not going to be, you know, not going to be pushed around into this, so it's not going to happen, you know, unless you guys make some serious changes. So here we are, and the fight is rapidly approaching. It's less than two weeks away. Do you think there's any chance in your heart and your mind that, hey, enough time has passed. She's about the fight. Then you're kind of on the same schedule that this will blow over. If Rhonda wins, you'll just get the title shot. She'll have fought and you'll be the next one. I think everyone would agree that after this fight, if Rhonda wins, you're the number one contender. You're the one with that resume. So do you think there's any chance that happens? Is that what you'll be fighting for? Well, let me put it this way. I've been the number one contender, and I'm still not getting the title fight. So I don't think so.

I think that they're probably going to want me to fight once, twice. Who knows? Depends, I suppose, whatever else comes about. But I think that if I did take a backseat or a back burner and I wasn't fighting, I don't think that I would be next in line. Okay, so you're not expecting that. No, I'm not. What do you think happens after you meet with Dana?

Um, it's either going to go up in flames, or he's, you know, going to say that I'm making some valid points and make some adjustments, you know. I'm pretty dead set on what I feel like I deserve and what I want. I know what I want, and I'm just not going to take anything less. So I guess he's going to have to be prepared to deal with one stubborn woman. Are you going in there alone? Yes. How come you're not bringing your manager? Because Josh has already talked to Dana.

They've already had an open conversation, and I just like everything that they've needed to say to each other has been said. So this is more of like a heart-to-heart between Dana and myself to try to get him to understand where I'm coming from. And I don't know how far off base he is from that. Like I said, I haven't talked to him, so he could be already kind of on my page or he could be thinking something completely different. I really never know Dana. so I really don't know what to expect and I just hope for the best. I saw that you were training with Donald Soroni last week.

I also saw you tapping out, I think it's like an Australian boy band. I don't know who these guys were, but I'm wondering, is it hard for you to be in the gym now? Is it hard to find that love to get up and go train or is it starting to slowly come back? It's definitely coming back. I love training regardless, so I think even if I wasn't to fight anymore,

I would still be hard-pressed to not find me in the gym. So I enjoy grappling. I enjoy learning. I enjoy training. I enjoy all of the perks and benefits that come with it. But, yeah, I was having a little bit of fun with the Janowskians. They are like a YouTube comedy sensation group and also known for their music and whatnot from Australia. We had fun. I thrashed about four of them. That was fun. Yes, it was quite the dominant performance. Okay, so here we are, final thing. It's November 2nd. 2015, do you think Misha Tate fights again? Is this it? Or do you still have some more great performances, some more great highlights, some more fights in you? I have it in me, but it needs to be right. I'm not going to do it if it doesn't feel right.

So I have the ability and the drive to want to fight more, definitely. But am I willing to consider retirement if things don't go the way that I feel like I need them to go? Yeah. So I feel like I'm really at a big turning point, and this is a big why in the road for me. You know, it's definitely going to be a game changer one way or the other. Well, that feels like it would be a crime. 29 years old, four-fight winning streak, those great performances for you to walk away, hopefully can get figured out. As Yogi Berra once said, you're definitely at the fork in the road, but you've got to take it. Which way are you going to take it?

Which way is it going to go? Exactly. Yes, right? And I've already been fighting for 10 years, you know, so it's not like it's a short career for me. I know a lot of people didn't really know about them in special arts up until, you know, it was signed with the UFC two or a little over two years ago. But, yeah, I've been doing this for a long time. I have a lot of miles on this body, and I've been doing contact sports since I was 14.

And, you know, it starts to catch up with you after a while. So it's like, you know, it's got to be worth my while. I put my body through a lot. I put my mind through a lot. I put myself through a lot to get through these training camps and be the best fighter I can be. and I'm willing to do it, it just has to make sense. Amen to that. Misha, appreciate the time.

Thank you very much for your candid answers, and I hope everything goes well with Dana White. I think I speak for everyone. We still want to see you fight. So I understand where you're at, understand your frustrations. Hopefully it all goes well, and we can see you in there sooner rather than later.

I appreciate it. Always a pleasure, Ariel. Thank you very much. There she is, Misha Tate. In many people's eyes, the number one contender in the UFC's Women's Bantamweight Division. she will not be fighting for the title on November 14th. That honor goes to Holly home

in front of what is expected to be the biggest crowd in UFC history at Eddie Had Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. But perhaps if all goes Ronda's way, as many people are expecting it to, maybe she just gets the title shot afterwards. Who knows? Cyborg still has that 145-pound debut,

excuse me, 140-pound debut coming up. There are basically two, fresh opponents in my opinion out there for Rhonda outside of the obvious cyborg fight, Amanda Nunes and Juliana Pena. Right now, I can't think of any other fighter in that division outside of the UFC's division who you can say, all right, this is going to be a major test for Rhonda. So Amanda Nunes, will she get a title shot next after the win over Sam McMahon? I could see that happening as well. Julianna Pena coming off a win. I don't know if she's going to get it right away. She's definitely in there.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens after that meeting with Dana White later on this month. All right. One guest to go. And I said before the Misha Tate interview, we've been trying to get her on the program. I've been trying to get T.J. Grant on the program since well before that. It has been over a year since we talked to Nova Scotia's own T.J. Grant, a very busy man these days. But like I said, any time, I probably get, you know, every week, five or six questions. Where's T.J. Grant? And especially in the last couple of weeks after what happened to Joseph Duffy,

got a ton of people saying, can we hear from T.J. Grant, where is T.J. Grant, so we have finally tracked him down. He is joining us right now via the phone. T.J. Grant, right now on the M.M.A. hour. TJ, how are you? I'm good. How are you doing? I am great. Congratulations, first and foremost, to both you and your wife. You are now a father of two, right? That's right, yeah. Very exciting. Hey, Bert, my little boy there on Thursday, so it's awesome. Wow. Well, congratulations. That's very exciting. So now you have two boys, right? Or one girl and a boy? No, I have a... Yeah, that's right. Yeah. All right. Casey and Duncan.

So I have to ask you the question right off the top that I get asked almost every single day. I'm sure your Twitter page is no different and then some. Are you done fighting? Who knows, man? I've been doing the sport. Oh, I did it a long time. time. I won't say I'm still doing it currently. Like, I mean, it's, I'm not going to close the door on, you know, ever coming back to fight. But at this point, it's, I'm just taking care of myself and my family, you know, first and foremost. I mean, I, I, I did well in the UFC. You know, I wouldn't say I made a lot of money, but, you know, I was able to buy a house and buy another one. But at this point, I mean, for me to, you know, where did the, the, the, the, you know, the sport really leave me. It kind of left me injured. And then I had, you know, a little over a year where I just basically accumulated debt like most fighters do in between fights, you know. So basically, you know, I was hurt for a while and I, you know, I just had to go back to work just be a regular guy for a bit. And, you know, I would, I would definitely entertain the thought of going back to fighting. But at this point, I've got to also realize that,

to get back into fighting it costs money. You know, you got to, you know, you got training camps and basically put your whole life on hold. So right now it's not something that's in the cards for me, just having, you know, two little ones that's obviously taken precedent over my life. And, you know, potentially in the future, you never know. I mean, I still feel like I'd love to compete. I still feel like there's some fire in me, you know, and I definitely love, I love combat sports. I love competing. So I would, you know, I'd like to do it potentially,

but I still haven't made my mind up at all. Health-wise, how are you feeling these days? Actually, I'm feeling pretty good. My body isn't obviously as good as I'd like it to be, just like my back's a little banged up. But besides that, I feel pretty good. you know, the concussion thing is in the history books, but you never know, right?

I mean, I did this for a long time. I'm sure a lot of other fighters will tell you the same. They'll get up and they'll walk into another part of their house. And then they'll just kind of realize, like, you know, what did I come here for? What was going to get something? You know, what was that? I don't know if that's from fighting or just getting older or just kind of being lazy with my brain. but, you know, that's about the extent of how I, you know, short-term memory loss maybe a little bit,

who knows, but it's probably pretty common among fighters, so I feel good. Obviously, the initial concussion is what led to this time away from the sport. And correct me from wrong, I've never actually heard the exact story as to how it happened. Are you able to share that? Yeah, I mean, I fought gray. at UF 160. He tagged me with a one. I remember feeling like bells ringing in my head, you know,

for like half a second during the fight, and then 30 seconds later the fight was over, you know what I mean? It was just so, so quick. And then, you know, I never received any type of suspension. And, you know, I should have probably known better than to train. I'm assuming, like, I mean, I'm not a doctor, like, but I'm assuming, you know, like you don't have to have a vomiting or get knocked out to have a concussion.

You don't even have to get knocked down. I think that was probably a little bit of a concussion. I'm willing to say, I mean, that guy hits pretty hard, and he tagged me pretty good. And then, you know, I just kind of went back to training, and, you know, I was getting ready for the potential, you know, the fight with Benson. I was just doing jiu-jitsu, and, you know, I had my training partner, went to sweep me. I put my head out to stop the sweep. And, you know, I got a foot in the head in the same role.

I don't know which one did it, but after that role was done, it was the last year old night. I just had like a headache and it just didn't go away. So that was kind of how it happened. And as you mentioned, you were getting ready for a title fight. You came back,

or at least they rebooked you in another title fight, but then you had to pull out of that. Is that because you came back too soon? Was it still bothering you? Did you re-injure yourself? No, you know what? I wasn't even training. I was basically like,

I wasn't even sure what the hell I was going to do. I didn't know. I was trying to be optimistic. like, okay, I'm going to beat this thing. I'm going to feel better next week. And, you know, I've had optimistic people in my corner. Yeah, I think that's the way you kind of have to approach an injury. But I didn't, you know, I just wasn't getting better.

And when they announced that fight, I was like, okay, cool. You know, like, hopefully we can get it, like, later on in the year, and I'll feel better. And then it just never really happened. Like, the symptoms never went away. So I just basically let the UFC know pretty much read away that, because they announced it without me even, confirming it, right?

Like they said, okay, you're going to fight them. And obviously I'm not going to turn down a title shot, but I also had to let them know. Like, I'm still not feeling great, so either we can postpone it, which I wouldn't have been able to do that anyway. Like, you know, my health, I've seen what this sport can do to people. And, you know, definitely it's an amazing sport,

and the highs are high, but the lows are low. And there's a life after, and you've seen people give a little too much in the ring, too much of them selves and, you know, it doesn't work out so good for them. And I feel like I'm the type of guy that when I thought I put myself on the line. You know, I want to, I don't even know if I want to entertain. Like, I do want to entertain. Like, I take pride and being able to go up there and say, okay, like, those fights stunk, but my fight's not going to stink.

I'm going to go. And, you know, whether it's the most technical or flashy or it'll never be the most flashy, and usually it's not the most technical, but you're going to be excited. you're going to see drama, and that's what I always try to bring. And that's just the way, like, you know, my DNA is, you know, I want to go out there and fight the guy and see who's got, you know, the tougher spirit. And that's also a dangerous way to kind of go about it.

So I don't know. I mean, it's, you know, it's for me, it's a little bit scary, you know what I mean? I'm not closing the door, but at the same point, I want to, I want to make sure I'm 100% you know on board with it because you can't be you can't be halfway in or out of the sport you got to be all the way in or all the way out basically unless you're just training for fun which is something I still do I still do Jitsu okay um

you know I'll still hit pads or hit the bag and you know lift weights and do all the other stuff but you know as far as like contact sparring like I mean I haven't really done that I just fired once just for one of my buddies there last year, didn't feel any worse from it. You know what I mean? But that's pretty much it. So there was a report that came out last year from the Regina Leader Post that you were working in a mine over there in Saskatchewan.

That's accurate, right? Well, it's kind of like, yeah, everyone thought, like, oh, TJ's mining for gold or mining for coal or something. They're constructing a potash mine in Saskatchewan, the K-plusess legacy site. It's like a really big, really big site. it's all under construction now and I was working just like a civil construction

so all excavating and stuff and so I kind of got you know a little bit of experience doing something different I mean I was fortunate enough not to have a real job for eight years or nine years or something like that so

you know it's kind of cool and then you go to work for the man and luckily I know I got to work for some pretty pretty cool people and meet a lot of cool people and you know get some experience doing something different how did you get that job called my uncle

oh okay yeah my family's you know they basically it's on my dad's you know construction so those guys

you know I had a lot of connections through that so my uncle Paul got me a job and yeah I was out there like a week later I wanted to basically wait for the the USC in Halifax happen

because my friend Chris was going to fight and I also committed to doing some promotional stuff for the USC. So, yeah, I just hung around. And after that, yeah, I went to work. So I worked a full year at that site, and then I just came home last week. Oh, wow.

For my wife, yeah. I mean, I've been coming home. I work two weeks on one week off. So, yeah, it's not a bad gig. You know, you get your travel paid for and a place to stay and food. And, you know, it wasn't too bad. Make good money. So what are you going to do now that that job is over?

Hey, who knows. I'm a new, maybe explore teaching some martial arts and just kind of try to enjoy a little bit of home time. I haven't really had it in the last year, and my wife's got her hands full right now. She's a little bit sore. You know, she had to kind of go under the knife to give birth there. So, yeah, I'm doing my best here,

and I'm just kind of enjoying that for the time being, not really thinking too far ahead. You know, I just got to enjoy some home time. What was it like for you to attend that show in Halifax, which kind of felt like the perfect scenario for your return. I know, as you mentioned, Chris Kalatus, your good friend and training partner picked up a huge win. What a story that was, him getting the call on just a few days notice, defeating Patty Houlehem. But for you to be there and not be able to fight and your future still very much in doubt, what was that like for you? You know, I've always, I don't really, I didn't, I never, I never.

really dwelled on it or, you know, a couple times you get down on yourself, but by that point, you know, the Halifax show, I wasn't really, I wasn't, you know, ancient history really, like, as far as feeling bad about situations, I mean, I've already given up title shots and things I worked so hard for, you know, I could have made up to the UFC show and had a, you know,

my pitcher on a poster and, by the time that fight came around, I was just, I was actually really happy that Chris got the fight. and just everything, how it kind of was almost like a dream come true for him. It just everything happened. And he actually turned down fights, you know, at a higher weight class for that same show. And then the way it all just unfolded and then getting to see him fighting and the drama that was involved in his fight.

I was really the only good fight of the night. Honestly, actually, Sunsound Carraway was a pretty good scrap. But, you know, like, that was a magical night for him. And I got to enjoy it. and I got to have my, you know, my adrenaline pump in. You know, I was emotional. I felt like, you know, it was just an incredible moment. So that really made it all for me.

I had to tell Chris that, too, you know, how much, you know, that really kind of, you know, if I wasn't going to fight, that was the best possible scenario otherwise. I think this is the part that is hard for people like me to wrap our heads around because you have been fighting since 2006. You finally got, as you mentioned, to the title shot, the main event, being on the post. the injury happens and that's understandable to take some time off but you were so close

wasn't that enough to try to get you to come back like why say goodbye now if there are no lingering issues well uh i spent i had a i had a dark dark dark time like for like a year or a little more than a year um so it's not really uh i'm sure anybody who's gone through any type of head injury, I understand all that goes along with it. I mean, you can't really describe it, like you can describe it, but people don't, you know,

when you wake up every day and you have, like, a headache and you feel like shit, and you don't really feel good. Like, you know, I had a three-month-old or something like, if she was two months old, or a month-old when I had the gut, the concussion,

and basically, like, you know, all those things that were going on, like, you know, you see your kid smile and stuff, and you're happy, but at the same time, like, you know that you're just not enjoying it, like,

probably should. So, you know, there's a lot of, a lot of that stuff kind of goes into it. And, you know, I'm going to be a man and look after my family. And if I, you know, it's something I love to do, but I've seen what the sport can do to people. And, you know, I've never taken money or fights for money, you know what I mean? I've always kind of done it my way. And if, if this is the way I've got to walk away, it's the way I'll walk away. But again, I'm not going to say that I'm going to do that for sure. I just, that, hey, I'm looking after myself right now and taking care of my family. And that's number one.

Does the UFC reach out to you from time to time with opportunities? Or is it more like you'll reach out to them when you're ready or if you're ready? Yeah, I mean, they reached out basically when, with the whole like fighting Anthony Pettis December 2013 or 14, I don't remember. 14. 14. So when they... Sorry, 13.

Excuse me. 13, yeah. Yeah, it was 13, yeah. So they reached out about that. And then, you know, I kind of was in touch with their doctors and stuff. You know, I had my doctors here. And then the show in Halifax kind of, at any time I needed anything, I could call them. You know, they helped me out financially with some medical bills.

Like, they help me go see some people and do some things. And I got to go to the Carrick Institute where, you know, that's where Sidney Crosby kind of got his big start. in his recovery from his concussion. And actually he reached out to me and gave me some information. So I went there and I saw Dr. Antonucci there and he helped me a lot. And that was really like a big turning point. And then once I felt like I was on the road to recovery, you know, I went to work. I just, you know, I felt like that was what I needed to do to kind of get my mind away from being in the rut that I was in at home.

Just thinking about fighting so much. I had to go do something different. Um, yeah, that's really, uh, where I was at. I mean, yeah. Was that the first time on the tangent there? I don't even know. No, no. I know exactly where you're at. Uh, was that the first time that you spoke to, uh, to Sidney Crosby, who of course famously dealt with his own concussion issues and you're both from Cole Harbor. Um, obviously a very big name in the world of sport. Did he, uh, did you ever have a relationship with him prior to that? Uh, no. I mean, I, I just, I know, uh, I just, I know, uh,

we have some mutual friends and stuff. And a guy I went to school with, it was in my grade, a friend of mine, his brothers played with Sydney all through the years, and they're good friends. And so he basically just wrote me on Facebook one day and said, hey, like,

Sidney wants your number and he wants to just, you know, give you some information. And it was, that was actually a mental lot to me to, you know, to hear, you know, from somebody like that.

It kind of gave me like a boost, you know, like sometimes, uh, with concussions, I think that, um, mentally, once you're in that zone where you're kind of stuck in the funk, it's just hard to get out.

And that really just kind of helped me recharge the batteries a little bit. Because, you know, it's all so much of it's psychological after a while. If you've had lingering concussion symptoms, and that kind of helped me. And getting to go down there, it helped me. And I had so many people that really just helped me a lot. But, you know, Sydney definitely was appreciated. considering how things have gone, are you even able to watch the sport these days?

Oh, yeah. I mean, I haven't really caught a few of the shows lately because I've been away, but, you know, there's been some great fights. I remember the UFC there with McGregor and Mendez. That was, you know, an incredible UFC. It would have been nice to see if, you know, that fight was a great fight,

but at the same time, I feel like we were kind of maybe if it was all no or just a little bit more fit Mendez, I would like to just see a little more drama because McGregor kind of weathered the storm and then once he got his opportunity, he struck. But I don't think that was 100% the Chad Mendes were used to seeing. But I mean, that whole card, that was one of my favorite UFC fights. I mean, I've probably got about five that I could say that have been like, you know, my favorite UFCs of all time, and that would be on the top.

I would say. The way things are in the UFC these days, the state of the UFC with the Reebok deal, does that factor into your decision to return at all? No. You know, what are you going to say, right? Like, I never made a lot of money from sponsors. You know, I made more than I would make if I came back to UFC right now from the Reebok deal. But it is what it is.

and it does kind of save the whole having to, you know, go out and try to get them, but I don't really know. I don't really have much to say about that. I don't have anything really positive or negative to say. I don't really know. I haven't been in the sport. I haven't been, you know, backstage for a while or anything like that. It's not stopping you from coming back, though, right? No.

If I come back, it's because I want to, you know, I want to have glory. and it's not because of money. I mean, money is awesome, but, you know, I'm not making the fuck you money in the UFC and the retirement money in the UFC. I'm making enough, though, so that I can, if you're smart with it, you can do all right for yourself.

But, no, it's all about, you know, competition and that feeling of victory is the best feeling there is. Even defeat, you know, sometimes if you know you gave it, you're all and you have your opponent's respect, and they have, you know, they obviously are going to have yours. And, you know, that's also, you know, it's just the whole sport, the nerves, everything, like, you know, the feeling like you want to puke and get a piss every five seconds,

all that stuff. And then, you know, going through all the nerves warming up and questioning yourself. And then, you know, all the talks you have, you know, internally. That's, that's fun. I mean, it's horrifying and it's terrible. Like, that's what keeps. so many people from actually doing the sport, but, you know, when you can actually look back on it, it's pretty awesome.

In February of 2014, the UFC announced that they were going to support this fighter study at the Cleveland Clinic, Lou Ruevo Center for Brain Health, and really try to, you know, get behind, you know, keeping the fighters as safe and healthy as possible, especially as it pertains to head trauma. Did you ever look into that? Did they ever reach out to you to go over there? involved in that in any way? Yeah, actually, I went out there, I think in June, 2014, May or June.

And, yeah, I went there. I did, like, I went through the whole process. And they contacted me this year and offered me to go out. And, you know, obviously, UFC is taking care of it. So I could have went down there, but I was working and I had a lot of stuff on the go. and that was really, it just wasn't the right time. I would definitely go down again. They kind of just said, like, you know, get in touch with that.

And you just brought that up. I actually forgot all about it. But, yeah, I'll probably continue on. And every year kind of go down there and follow up with it. I'd like to, you know, give some information or whatever I can do. Yeah. It is a study, and it's going to take time. But I do like the way the sport is going and people are starting,

like you're hearing guys talk about it. I would say that I didn't train in a gym where guys were trying to knock each other out. But, you know, hindsight's 2020, but I didn't know, but, you know, you shouldn't be sparring multiple times in a week. And you should just really try to monitor that. And also just being more realistic and honest with yourself. Like, you know, most guys are just like, oh, I got hit. Fuck, I'm going to get this guy back. or, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to admit that that guy hurt me or, you know,

I felt like a little bit, you know, I never would say I got like a concussion in sparring, but, I mean, in the sense that, like, I got rocked at the point of not being able to defend myself, but, you know, as fighters, like, we get hit with good shots and training and you don't want to even, you'll tell your training partner, you ate a good shot, but you'll be the first one to get right back in for the next round or spar, you know, two days later. and I like how now it's starting to become, you know, more talked about because, hey, like, you learn from other people's mistakes. You learn from your own mistakes. And obviously, I would have liked to know this stuff a couple years ago, but I didn't. And if I can, you know, help people in my story.

And that's why I appreciated Joe Duffy. You know, I never want to see, like, a main event goal, especially a fight that I wanted to actually watch. You know, I've been hearing a lot of good things about him, and I would have liked to see that fight. and it really sucks for his career. But it's good to see that that is a real injury. People always go, how can we don't hear about an MMA? We hear about it in football, these other sports. And now it's like you're starting to hear about it.

Oh, it's a real thing. There's guys that have been out for Chris Holdsworth, you know, other guys. Like they're just, they're in limbo. They don't know if they're going to fight again. They want to, but, you know, it is a real thing. And it's been affecting a lot more people that I know personally that I've talked me, but I'm not going to, you know, they're their information, but it's not as unknown as, you know, guys are getting hurt and it's a contact sport.

The best way to kind of monitor is just to limit your, during your training, you know, useless hits, you know. When a guy's tired, not making them do three more rounds, like, you know, make more technical, do something different. I think that'll prolong guys' careers. you know, you don't really feel shots, and then suddenly, you know, you start getting headaches. It's like maybe you just didn't need to take that many shots in your training. You know, fighting is a long game.

It's like, you know, you see people, the worst thing can happen to a fighter, you get success early, and then it just ruins them. And then he starts fighting these guys. Like, I was lucky, even though, you know, I would, at the time, I hated losing. There was times when I lost it. I just wasn't ready to be where I wanted to be fighting. and it's good that you lose because as long as it's not too devastating or you have somebody that's kind of controlling your career

because the farther you go quicker, you know, that could spell doom for you. And next thing, you know, you're in there with the lions, you're not ready to be there. And fighting's a lifelong journey. You know, you look at Robbie Lawler. That guy was, I don't know, I personally didn't think he was going to have a future in the UFC like when he came and fighting Josh Koshchek and other guys.

you just kind of forget about him, but he's been plugging away, getting better. He took time off, sparring, and, you know, that guy right there is a warrior, and I love to watch that guy fight. He's incredibly skilled. He's probably one of the best strikers, you know, skill-wise in the UFC,

but he's got that, you know, that combination of power and, you know, hard and determination. He's just an exciting fighter. But he knows what it takes to be that fighter, so limit the strikes, you know, in your training. And, you know, that's, that's, made his career a lot longer.

When something like the Joe Duffy story happens, do you get a ton of people writing you? Hey, like I said, happened to me. Are you getting fans all the time on social media? I see you tweet from time to time asking you what's up, what's up, just because you haven't made a formal announcement? Yeah, I mean, I get messages. That was, like you said, you wrote me that day.

And I also had a few messages that week and that day as well. and I mean, when it happens, like, you know, I definitely, people will, people will write me, and every once in a while I'll get these, you know, like, where you're at, or, you know, you're so done, you're lucky, blah, blah, blah. You know, you get the haters, the dickheads, but at the same time, like, they're actually hilarious. If you look at their pages, they're just complete trolls. Right.

You know, sometimes it's just funny to ignore them, but I don't know. I mean, I've had a lot of support from people in the sport and outside of the, sport, so it's pretty good. At this point, can you put a number on it? Like, there's a 10% chance you'll ever fight again, a 50% chance. Do you have any idea? No, I mean, it'll just take the right circumstances. I'll just have to be in the right position, you know, where I'm at, family-wise.

And I'll have to, yeah, it's not something I'm even considering, like, having the discussion with my life right now about whether or not I'm going to. fight. She's never against it. It's just, it's more me. But yeah, like I said, I got to take care of my family. I grew up poor. I paid my dues.

You know, I live with my mom until I was like 26 or something like that or 27. And, you know, that's the stuff that fighters they kind of have to do. I remember hearing like Kurt Engel when he went and went to the Olympics. I think he lived with his mom until he was 28 years old. You know, that's kind of

unfortunately, you know, you got to do, you got to make sacrifices in order to do what you want to do. And I did that. At this point in my life, I'm not ready to make sacrifices just to go fight again. I want to fight again, potentially, down the road. But, you know, take care of family. Final thing. If that is it for you, and it's a tremendous career, you currently have a 21-5 record, is there a moment that sticks out? Is it the Gray Maynard win, Memorial Day weekend? Is it the Matt Wyman win, your debut in Canada against Rio Chona and that win, is there one moment maybe outside of the UFC that you'll be telling your kids about and their kids, etc?

I probably, man, there's a lot of, like, good, good memories of wins. You know, the Matt Wyman one, I had a lot of stress. I just, I was dealing, like, I wasn't dealing with things properly. I didn't sleep much. I slept like nine hours and three days. woke up at 4.30 that morning went out and I, you know, I had one of my best performances and but even that, like I was so tired when I won that fight out. I barely even enjoyed it, but I was more just in shock. I was not in the right state of mine, but the Grey Maynard fight, I felt like everything was, uh, was clicking in my career. Like, um, mentally I was like, I've never felt that way before a fight where I was, in my opinion, like, I wouldn't say supreme to confidence. I was pretty confident. I was pretty, uh, was pretty, confident. I'm a humble guy. I like to, I give my opponents a lot of respect, and I obviously

gave him a lot of respect, but I just knew that I was prepared, and I knew the mind frame I had to be in to beat him, and I brought that to the fight, and I got him out of there pretty quick. But my Kevin Burns win was pretty big, too. I was, you know, due to make five and five. Flat broke at the time. My dad was there, and he got to come down, and my brother, and he got to come down and my brothers. So I was probably one of my best home to New CFC, I'd say that, and Gray Maynard. That was a great one as well. TKO first round in Memphis, UFC 107. It feels like ages ago. For me, I can't imagine what it feels like for you. But I really appreciate you coming on, especially I know

how hectic it can be after coming home with a newborn. So it really means a lot. Hopefully this answers some of the questions out there. Wish you nothing but the best. both you and your family enjoy the new one and of course the older one now and if you if you do decide to come back if you change your mind either way please do come back on here it's always great to talk to you always always appreciate it so thank you very much again tj wish you the best and uh and and if this is it thank you very much for for all the great fights you were a tremendous fighter to watch fellow canadian always enjoyed it and and and you had an amazing run there at the end and it was it was really it was really most enjoyable to watch you evolve into an all-around fighter

because at first, of course, everyone knew you as the ground fighter, but at the end you were knocking people out on the first round. It was really, really fun to watch. So thank you very much. Thank you very much, Errol. I always appreciate it. And, yeah, I'm not going to close the door yet, buddy. So we'll see what happens.

Okay, I look forward to that. Thank you, T.J. All the best. All right. Take care. There he is. T.J. Grant, stopping by from Nova Scotia. Great stuff from him. I appreciate his time. it is a very hectic time when you come home with a newborn, so he gave us a lot of time there,

and that is really kind of him. So thank you very much to TJ. He doesn't want to close the door officially. It does sound to me, at least, like for now it's not in his plans, and as you get older, it's hard to dust off those gloves, if you know what I'm saying. But he is only 31 years old, and yeah, he has 26 fights officially on his pro record. So we'll see. We'll see. see what happens, but what a run he was on there at the end. Defeating Shane Roller via submission in the third round, defeating Carlo Prater via decision, defeating Evan Dunham via decision, knocking out Matt Wyman and then knocking out Gray Maynard in a huge fight May of 2013. What a great moment that was for T.J. Grant. He won the knockout of the night. He won the title shot. He was going to

fight in August. That got delayed to December, and we have not seen him compete since. But I appreciate him coming on. Thank you very much to TJ. All right, let's take a quick break. Let's go inside the vault here. You know, I was thinking recently about UFC. 135 because Rampage Jackson said recently that John Jones injured him and tried to injure him and tries to ruin people's careers. He said this before. And it got me thinking about that fight, Rampage versus John Jones at UFC 135. September 24th, 2011, and in particular, a post-fight interview with the Honorable Sensei Segal, as, you remember he was trying to infiltrate Team Jones, and he showered him with praise, but then kind of took a back and said he wasn't all that impressed. And I started thinking about

the Honorable Sensei Segal when a video popped up of Anderson Silva. I'm not sure if this is an old video, a new video, but it seemed like Anderson was mocking him. And, well, I can't speak for Sense, I can say I didn't appreciate it. So I wanted to share this interview. This is Inside the Vault. We missed it last week, so good to have one this week. I know some people like it. And it's good to go down memory lane. So here it is. Inside the Vault, September 24, 2011, post-fight UFC 135. I caught up with the legendary, the honorable, Sensei, Stephen Segal, to get his thoughts on John Jones' big win. Here it is. Ariel Halwani post-fight at UFC 135 where John Jones just submitted Quinton Rampage Jackson

and we've run into Sensei Steven Segal. How are you, sir? Good brother. How are you? So what brings you here? We're usually used to seeing you when one of the Black House guys fight. You know, these guys are my friends too. I'm just not teaching them but they're my friends and you know, I just, this was an important

pivotal fight to me because depending upon who won this fight could change the heavy heavyweight division or the light heavyweight division so I wanted to pay close attention to this fight was that how you expected the main event to go John Jones submitting rampage really why so a lot of people weren't thinking they was actually going to submit him pretty good eye what about John Jones impresses you he has a lot of weapons a lot of technique he's quick he's very athletic he has tremendous potential and you know but I'll tell you something rampage had the best head movement he's ever had and really impressed me tonight.

You know, if he would have let his hands go tonight, it would have been something. For some reason he didn't. Now, what about John Jones's in terms of his legacy? Do you think that he could actually be one of the best fighters of all time? Because right now, no one has ever even come close to really putting a chicken as often. I'm not going to say that about anybody. I don't know, you know, anybody here that I'm going to say, you know, is going to be one of the best fighters of all. one of the best fighters of all time because of all time is a long time he's a great young man

with tremendous potential are there people out there who could beat him maybe you know very you know i noticed him actually go for the front kick to the face there did you see that as well yeah him and i did talk about that but he he he hasn't you know he hasn't learned it yet when did you speak to him i thought it yesterday did before yesterday so you actually have a relationship with john jones well he's a kind of a friend Right. Yeah. How do you think he would match up against Anderson?

Because that's a fight that a lot of people have been talking about wanting to see. I mean, I don't really want to see that fight, you know, because Anderson's a close, close friend, and John's a friend. I'd rather that they don't fight. We haven't seen you since Anderson's last fight. Were you impressed with his performance in Brazil? Well, it was exactly as I told him it would be. Exactly.

You're almost like a visionary. You call all the fights. They haven't been wrong yet. How do you think John Jones will do against Rashad Evans? Do you think he'll beat him as well? Yes. Really? You're pretty high on John Jones.

I'm high on the truth. I mean, and I shouldn't say that. Why not? Because, you know, I want to respect everybody, and Rashad's my buddy, too. But, you know, that's just my humble opinion. Anyone else finally who impressed you tonight? Anyone in particular? On the contrary, thought there was some very poor performance.

Didn't you? Did you think maybe the high altitude got some of those big guys? We can't be saying that, you know? If you come here, get into shape, get out there and bring it. You know, I mean, come on. That's a bullshit excuse, you know? So overall, impressed with John Jones, but the rest of the car are not all that impressive. I was impressed with Rampage.

I was more impressed with Rampage. That's the best head movement I've ever seen him do. If he would have let his hands go, that would have been something. John Jones wasn't himself tonight Really, you thought so Because a lot of people thought that Joe Rogan said It was his best performance Oh, well, okay

Are you not a Joe Rogan fan? I'm a fighter, I fought all my life You can listen to him and maybe he knows more than me, I don't know I was just saying just because that's what he said So I wanted to get your take on it. In my opinion, John Jones is much, much better than that And that's just my humble opinion and maybe Joe Rogan knows more than me.

I don't know. Not what I was implying, obviously. I was just trying to get... I'm not saying you're maybe... I'm just... I want to cover myself so that everyone can know that I'm polite and fair, and I don't want to give you guys a chance to cut this in such a way that it would make me look like I'm, you know, being insensitive or rude or, you know, partial.

You know, I'm just trying to give my opinion. I think, you know, John Jones has tremendous talent. didn't see him do anything tonight as well as I've seen him do it. Did you? I thought it was an interesting performance. He obviously respected Rampage's power, so he wasn't as aggressive. Yeah, it was a little off. But then he turned it up at the end, went for the submission, and yes, he wasn't maybe as aggressive as the Shogun fight, but still I thought he picked his spots well, for the most part. But he missed a lot as well. As you mentioned, the head movement was fantastic. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's tough.

man this is a this is a tough world you've got to be on when you get in that ring you got to be on and we're all human we all have off nights and off times you understand you know it's it's a tough world it really is you're always gracious with your time I really appreciate your insight thank you so much and we look forward to the next time we can talk to you there he is the honorable the legendary Sensei Steven Sego I mean look at that breakdown you won't get that front. The Rogan part was great. The criticism of John Jones was great. A treasure to the world of martial arts. And I get texts. I get people texting me about sense. And the fact that we have yet to recognize his contributions to this sport, to this world is really mind-boggling,

boggling to me. Mind-numbing, I should say. Am I the only one that gets it? I know there are a few of you out there who get it, but why does it feel like the majority don't? I don't quite understand. But anyhow, that was it. UFC 135, great stuff. He never did team up with John Jones, but he did call the Rashad Evans win, as you saw right then and there. So good stuff, as always. Appreciate Mr. Sensei Segal and all the contributions he has made to my career. Now, a quick update on Misha Tate. My friends over at UFC Fight Pass are reminding me that she is the cover star of FightPass this month. That goes live today. Go to UFC FightPass over the next few days and weeks all month long to see her face-off breakdowns of Rhonda versus

Holly, face-off breakdowns of Joanna versus Valéry, her ultimate eight females of all time, and a photography on her winning the Strike Force title. What do you mean? she's not getting a love. Look at all that. That's the love. So check that out on UFC FightPass.com. All right, time for questions, comments, etc. Mr. New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here. Queens's own New York, Rick. Are you sad about the demise of the amazing Mets? I have to admit, I'm not much of a baseball fan. I got into it, though, with the Mets this season and I'm disappointed. Did you banwagon? No, like if somebody's going to stop me on the street.

and asked me about the Mets. I'm not going to be able to talk to them too much, so I'd probably just avoid it all together. But I was watching, and, you know, of course, I want the team from New York to win. When they lost, did you take a selfie of your sad face? Did you say, like, this is how I'm feeling right now? I thought about it.

You did. By the way, Aaron Hill on Twitter says that I butchered Yogi Bear's quote. I don't think I actually butchered it. I think I tried to apply to the situation and maybe that was a stretch, but the exact quote I know it well, it's when you come to the fork in the road, take it. So I was trying to tell her you're at the fork in the road and take it. Of course, that's a yogism.

But I don't think it's fair to say I butchered the quote. You preempted because I selected that for Twitter because you completely butchered that quote. No, I didn't. I don't think that's fair. And you're like, take, you say, when you come to the fork in the road, take it, choose one of them. Like you're explaining the yogism, destroying the purpose of the yogism. So let's, that's from Twitter, but let's go back to the website.

By the way, how was your Halloween? I didn't, I just visited family, kind of chilled out. We don't get many trick-or-treaters in, in my hood, so it was pretty relaxed. When you say visited family, like, like, I think of Thanksgiving, I think of Christmas. Is Halloween really a time to visit family? No, I just happened to do that. Oh, okay, okay. I went and saw my mom.

Okay, okay. But I, it's just a coincidence. It's unrelated to, like, I wasn't going over there to celebrate. Halloween. Fair enough. Okay. My Halloween was great. Thanks for asking.

Anyway, let's move along. No, come on. Who wants to hear about that? Okay, first question. Ready? Yes. Vitor on Inside MMA. Oh, great.

What do you all think about the interview and his gentle poke at Ariel? Do I really have to talk about this? Do you want to make me upset? Do you want to piss me off? What am I going to say about this? in the most gentle way possible. Well, I will say this is the part that I think some people are missing about the whole thing with Vitor Bell for it last week. I couldn't care. Like, do you know how many

times, okay, we have like six or seven guests per week, right? Do you know how many times I get turned down when I reach out to someone? I reach out to multiple people. I probably reach out to like 10 to 11 a week. Some say no, some don't reply. Some have something going on. Some say yes. I have no problem with anyone. You know how many times T.J. Grant has said no to me over the past year. I have no problem with someone saying no or they don't want to talk. Sounds like Misha too. Recently. Misha. She was just always busy. But yeah, that's another example. So I have no problem with that. I don't expect that I'm going to get every single person. Three hundredth show. Another example. I reach out to a lot of people, as I said on the show. Couldn't get all of them. I have no problem

with that. What I had a problem with, what bothered me was, booking him on a Wednesday and then two hours before the show trying to change the rules, trying to put out these stipulations, these parameters, and saying, you know, if I didn't agree to it, oh, you know, I'm sorry. I thought that we, you know, I thought that we could trust you and all this stuff. It's like, where is this coming from? If you would have said from the get-go, we don't want to talk about this, then the other, then I would have decided, all right, maybe it doesn't make sense. All the best, no hard feelings. Really, no hard feelings. I saw an interview with his wife, Joanna Prado, or Joanna Prado, I should say.

And really, I have no hard feelings towards both of them, but I think she told Sherdog that, you know, she invited me to this media day. First of all, I don't live in Florida. And they've done this a couple times before, like come to the Media Day in Florida. I don't live there. So that doesn't really help me. There wasn't any press conference where I could call in. You can't use that as, you know, oh, he didn't show up to the Media Day. That wasn't for people.

I wasn't even invited to the Media Day. by the UFC. So one really has nothing to do to the other. You change the rules, own up to it. You tried to get me not to talk about certain things. And when I didn't feel comfortable doing that, you said thanks, but no thanks. All right. And then of course, you know, Access TV is going to promote that, oh, don't believe the media who says Vitor doesn't talk to the media. No, there's nothing not to believe. That's a fact. He said that he did not want to do the show. I'm a big believer for the most part of media being on the same side as media. I've talked about this before. I remember Pat Militich coming on my show years ago when New York Rick just started. And he made up

this crazy lie about me hanging around at the Access TV studios. For some reason, those guys have never liked me. For some reason, those guys have always tried to discredit me, have tried to put me down. Last week was no different. So I can't say I was disappointed in that. I can't say I was surprise. That's part for the course. I'm proud of this show, whether it's on the internet or on TV, and I think we do things the right way, and we don't try to belittle people and put people down. We don't try to discredit people. We don't try to make ourselves better than others. I'm just trying to do a show. And if other people need to do that to make themselves feel better or put over their own show, go for it. More power to you. I'm not going to get involved in all of that.

but what I told you all last week was 100% the truth. He was booked on Wednesday. I checked in on Sunday. I didn't hear back. I checked in on Monday, two hours before the interview, and they tried to change the rules and say, you can only talk about the Dan Henderson fight. By the way, I saw him talking about Ben Carson.

Was that the Dan Henderson fight? Or is it okay to talk about other things outside of the Dan Henderson fight if they are positive, glowing things? Is that okay? But if it's kind of stuff that makes you feel a little bit weird inside, then it's not okay. Those guys should be thanking us for making this whole thing into a big deal because then you got to have the interview on the back end where it's like, oh, nothing happened. What? Media, I'm right here. What are you talking about? I had a press

conference. I don't think I've ever lied to the public. I don't think I've lied to our viewers. And I'm pretty damn proud of the amount of viewers that we have. Thank you very much, whether we're on the internet. If I do my entire career on the internet, it'll be a great career, so whatever. Not surprised. Par for the course. We'll keep doing our thing over here. Moving on. Habib's injury, how disappointed were you to hear of Habib's suffering another injury? Seems like the perfect time if he was able to stay healthy for him to make a run at the UFC title, considering he has a win over the current champ. Do you think his string of injuries is simply down to bad luck or a result of poor training practices?

Well, I saw a lot of people jumping on the AK bandwagon on this one, and that's a string of injuries. That's definitely not fair because he was not at A.K.A. when he suffered this rib injury. Hey, by the way, by the way, speaking of another guy, I reached out to Habib to be on this week's show. Couldn't get that one done. So it happens. Do I hate the guy? No. Uptmost respect for him. And I do hope that he fights again, by the way, because, I mean, so damn close. His last fight was in April of 2014, that Orlando show that I've been talking about a couple times on this week's show. he beat the man who later on and is still the champion, Hafeldo Sanjo.

So the story of Habib Naragamatov is nothing short of heartbreaking because he is so damn good. He is undefeated. He is dominant. He's just a great fighter. And we've seen this before. And not just MMA, but other sports as well, sometimes fighters get hit with injuries and it's hard to come back.

I mean, just look at Dominic Cruz. It was three years before he got back. And then he returned and then he was out again. So hopefully that doesn't have. happen to Habib. And I know he put on on Instagram, you know, who knows if I'll ever come back, something to that effect. I hope that he rethinks that. I mean, rib injuries happen. Thankfully, it wasn't the knee. That's the good thing. So one has nothing to do with the other. You can't say he was overcompensating or came back too soon like the other injury a couple

months ago. These are freak things that happen. So hopefully he can get back in there, take some time off, get 100%, the rib heals, and we could finally see him in there in 2016. To the people who celebrate, even fighters. I, I, I, I, know he has said a lot of things about a lot of people. I know he's talked trash. I know it. But it doesn't mean you have to go that route. And to celebrate a man's demise, or at least his tough times, it's just the lowest that you can go. It's disgusting. And again, you know, just part of the game that we now play with social media and all that, but just amazing to see so many people just celebrate his demise. Now, you know, to play devil's advocate,

there were times where he was calling out Pettus for injuries. Oh, I just said that. of him. I just said that. I know he's done it, but it doesn't mean we have to do it to him. It doesn't mean it's right to do to him. It's not. I think in those specific cases, two wrongs. They don't make the right. I'm okay with, I'm okay with two wrongs. In my life, that makes sure. You feel okay with people celebrating his demise, his injuries. Those specific people? Yeah. Well, I didn't see Pettis do it. No, Pettis, I think, sent a very nice message, like wishing you the best. Well, that says a lot about Anthony Pettis doesn't say a whole lot about you. Yeah, no, I'm not as forgiving as Anthony Pettus.

Damn. Did Pettus say something? He said, yeah, he wished him a speedy recovery. Really? He's a class act. Well done, Anthony Pettus. I like him even more now. Okay, so let's look at that situation now that he's out.

Who will be next in line after Dosangos and Soroni happens? Habib versus Ferguson was the obvious title contender match. Now that he's injured, it's a bit unclear. What about any of these? of these be now a new number one contender fight. Diaz Johnson, Ferguson Barbosa, Pettus Alvarez. Hmm. Well, it's such a bummer, eh? Ferguson, Habib was just such a great fight. You win that, you get the title shot. It's so clean.

I guess it depends. I don't know if I put D.S. Johnson there in that discussion. I think it comes down to those two other fights. I think if Ferguson wins, he has a strong case, but I think if Pettus wins, he has probably the strongest case. did you say? I think Alvarez is a pretty good case too. Yeah, well, I would kind of put it as Pettus, Alvarez, Ferguson, if all three of those guys win. Yeah, I think that's accurate. And I think, you know, for Ferguson, it would have to be a really impressive victory for him to leapfrog over Pettis or Alvarez just because, you know, if he had beaten Mhabib, that would have been enough. I don't think beating Barbosa is quite enough just yet. He might need one more. So I agree

with you. I think Petis Alvarez, the winner of that is likely the next contender. Slowly but surely, though, that amazing week in Vegas lost Joanne Calderwood, lost Chabibibna Mugamadev. Can we just stop it there? No more. That's it. All done. What are your thoughts on the new fight announced for Paige Van Zant and how do you see it going? Do you think it's too soon for her to be fighting the number three-ranked fighter in the division? Although I think it would be a bit too soon for Paige. Could this potentially be considered in the number one contender fight? I don't think it's too. soon. Was I surprised initially? Yeah, I was kind of surprised when she got Joanne, but I like the

fight. I mean, as I've said before, I don't think losses mean as much in MMA as they do in boxing. And what I mean by that is, you know, a loss isn't going to completely derail your career. Page Van Zan loses to Rose. I mean, look at Rose, lost to Carla a year ago and look where she is right now. This is a very big fight. It's an important fight. After Claudia Gedelia, I can see the winner of this being, you know, maybe one win away. from fighting for the belt. That's just the state of the strawweight division. That's the state of MMA in most divisions these days.

People are going to get pushed quicker because, you know, the sport is young. It's new. And some of the divisions like the straw whites, while very interesting and one of the more fascinating divisions in the UFC, it's all up in the air. And it's, you know, you don't really know, you can't bring people along as slowly as boxing. So you have to move people along quickly. She's had three fights in the UFC against tough competition, and all the fights made sense.

And she is taking a jump. There is a gap between Alex Chambers and Rosam Yunus, in my opinion. So, hey, this is the opportunity. It's a big week. I think Calderwood is probably in that gap. Closer in my, yeah, she's probably in that gap. So she fell off. I heard they reached out to some other people that didn't work out. And here we are. Great. If she wins, she's for real. real. I mean, you can say nothing about her. If she loses, she'll get back on the horse, and now here you have Rose right back in that title chase. So I find it to be a win-win for the UFC. Right after she beat Chambers, we had a similar question to this. Should she be brought along slowly, you know, or should she be thrown into the fire? And I essentially said that there, you know, there's not enough leeway in that division that she will likely be fighting for a title

sooner rather than later. And that's just the scenario that's going to play out. People are going to get hurt, opportunities are going to arise, and now we're going to see if she's ready. I agree with you, though, that Calderwood was that step in between. So if she wins this, she skipped the step. Can you imagine? I mean, if you beat Rose at this point... Yeah, you're next in line, or won away. I'd say she's right below Claudia.

I'd like to see Claudia get the fight. I'd like to see it, but I think that this win would mean a lot. Huge, massive. And you could reasonably get the next title fight without fighting again. There'd be no argument. And how about the story? A year, two days to the year of her fight against Carla for Rose, Paige kind of took over Rose's spot as, you know, the next Rhonda, the It Girl, all that stuff,

and now here they are fighting. Pretty amazing. Speaking of Rhonda, does Rhonda take up boxing or pro wrestling once her MMA career is completely, I'm sorry, is complete or simply rely on movies? They're asking you to play Ari Gold or Ariel Gold and plan Rousey's most lucrative post-MMA career path. What is the Ari Gold like the entourage guy? Yeah. Well, I saw, first of all, I saw the cover of Ring Magazine. Ronda was on the cover that came out last week, and I thought two interesting things. A, you know, I saw all these boxing purists getting all upset and M.M.A.

purists, like, oh, her boxing sucks. Why is she on the cover of Ring Magazine? And then the boxing fans were saying, oh, who's this M.M.A. fighter on the cover of Ring Magazine. I don't know if but I think maybe once before an MMA fighter has been on there, if that's accurate. I'm not 100% sure. But the fact that people were all worked up about Ring Magazine. I mean, how many people subscribe to Ring Magazine these days? Not to belittle it, but like all of a sudden, this is something that really offends you. I thought it was a great cover.

It was a timely cover. It got people talking about Ring magazine. I mean, it was a brilliant move by Ring, and it was good for the UFC as well. Get people talking about Rhonda before her fight. I think the great Thomas Jerbasi was the one who wrote the article, And you know that it's a great article even before reading a word, just the fact that his name is on it. So that whole uproar was silly to me. It did exactly what they set out for it to do.

I don't think that she's going to box. You think the UFC's going to let her box? No, this is post-MMA. But what? They're never going to let her go. If she's done with MMA, she's done fighting, in my opinion. What about wrestling? First of all, who's there for her to fight in the boxing world?

That makes sense. Well, does that really... No, come on. Does that really matter? If after MMA, she says, I want to take up boxing, they could throw any tomato can opponent and it would do numbers. Yeah, I don't really see it. I don't see it. Plus, it takes away a big part of her game.

Take down submissions. Absolutely. The biggest and best part of her game. Yeah. She was, by the way, thank you to my good friend, Ann Evans, for correct me. She was the first MMA person on Ring Magazine. Oscar Delahoya owns it, so maybe this is his way of making nice with the UFC.

Who the hell knows? I thought it was a nice cover. It was a beautiful cover, and I didn't read the article. Did you read the article? I haven't yet, no. I haven't. Wrestling, I could see.

It's clear when you talk to her, when you hear her speak, it's very clear that she has a passion for WWE and Pro Wrestling. And I hear her more, I don't really hear her talk about boxing all that much in the sense that like, oh, this is a dream,

this is a bucket list. You definitely hear her talking about, you know, WrestleMania and wanting to do it again and all that stuff. So I think there's a much better chance of her doing that than boxing. And I can also see the UFC being okay with that while she's under contract as opposed to doing the boxing stuff. I wouldn't be, I wouldn't be counting on the boxing fight coming anytime soon. Time for our weekly check-in.

Yes. Update on Nick Diaz. Oh, my good friend Nick. Well, Nick Diaz tweeted, when was it? Tuesday of last week. that his legal team based in Las Vegas, and by the way, he has the same lawyers as the UFC in Las Vegas. So if you don't think at this point that the UFC is supporting Nick Diaz, they may not be doing it publicly, but I'd much prefer them do this than put out some sort of

statement. So I think things are moving in the right direction. So he put out that they are talking to Nevada and Nevada confirmed that talks were going on. I don't know if I can come out, you know, this whole thing is very unpredictable, but it sounds like things are moving in the right direction. Will he fight in 2016? Who knows? Should he fight in 2016? Absolutely 100%. Will they give him a year? You know, they give him two years because it was his third. Who knows? I don't even consider it an offense. But it sounds like the five-year thing, if all goes well or continues to go well, will be just a footnote in his career, which is great. It's great that they're open to talking.

It's great that they're rectifying. I mean, look, it's not getting as much play, but the Vanderly-Silva thing, while it was delayed again last week, is a very important step. Nevada, while, you know, they may go off script a few times, the fact that they have to have these rehearings and that they're open to talking to Nick,

this is a sign that things can change. Things can evolve. That you can, cooler heads can prevail. So the courts forced them to have this rehearing for Vandrle, and I have a feeling that that might go in his direction as well. At least he won't get the lifetime ban, because I don't think that's fair at all. I really like to see what I talked about on the M.A. B. happened. And I don't know if it's too idealistic or I'm just being too naive. But why can Nevada say, look, Vandrlea Silva, Nick Diaz, Hussema, Palhires, we don't want you fighting in our state anymore. We are not going to license you. You can go out there and fight in New Jersey. You can

fight in Florida, California. You can fight wherever you want. And we'll monitor it. We'll watch your fights. We'll see how you behave. And in two, three, four fights, you want to come back here and revisit this. Then we'll look at the data. We'll look at the facts. But right now, we as a state, are not going to license you. But we're not going to stop you for making a living elsewhere. We're not going to hold that over you. We're just not going to do it here. Why can't it be like that? Why can Nevada say, say, Nick Diaz, five years, you can't fight here? Why does everyone have to, abide by their punishment and enforce the same rules. That's the part I don't get.

I am 100% for uniformity. I've talked about having a national commission on this show. But given the structure of it right now, why should someone's career be left up to four people sitting at a desk? Why should that have any effect on what goes on in Florida or Texas or Tennessee? Doesn't make any sense. Again, to play devil's advocate like earlier, that same committee could end up being,

the national body or the or the international body and they would, you know, there's no guarantee that ultimately they wouldn't make bad decisions there either. So I think, you know, respecting Nevada as that larger body. Why do they have to get that respect? I'm not, I'm not saying that they are the right people for it, but what I'm saying is as it currently stands, they appear to be the de facto people for that. No. And people respect their jurisdiction. But why give them that power? If there is going to be a national commission, then let's make one. If, if there is one commission, that's going to, you know, rule the world, let's do that. And if they're, and if they make similarly terrible decisions?

Yeah, but that's, okay, we've said we have agreed as an entity that this group is going to, and by the way, there should always be an appeals process, right? So this group is going to govern the entire sport. But then there is this process that it's all laid out and there's actual punish, you know, when you have a third offense, it's X amount of years or X amount of dollars. it's not just, you know, this crazy, oh, we didn't like your answers or you didn't kiss our ass. That behavior alone, what we saw on September 15, 2015 in that Las Vegas courtroom, that alone should take away all that power.

I guess my thought is that it's a bit of passing the buck and also I think that... Passing the buck on whose part? Well, saying, okay, you can't fight here, but you're somebody else's problem if you're trying to get licensed. And I also think that these other commissions should, you know, be aware of the decisions and pay attention to it. And, you know, for example, like a guy like Hussimar Paul Horace, he did something much more, I guess, shameful in a sense, than Nick Diaz. I wouldn't want him fighting in my state regardless. That's up to you. You know.

But what if you're – and look, you can't have states that are going to just take all the bad guys. I get that. Yeah, that will happen, likely. But you can say, okay, if Nevada gave him two years and I agree with that, then I'm going to follow that as well. But if you're a commission, let's say like this Massachusetts commissioner that tweeted me after this whole Nick Diaz thing happened, if you're Massachusetts and you believe from your research and your findings and what you witnessed that, hey, this guy doesn't deserve to be banned for five years, then I see no problem with that. and if Nevada wants to fight that, then let them fight that. But I just, I feel uncomfortable these, these commissioners who have been appointed by Governor Nevada hold all this power

and abuse it over these people who are just trying to make a living. Now, if you deserve it, you deserve it. But we're seeing, like with Vandali Silva, like with Nick Diaz, some of these guys don't deserve it. It's got to be a way. So I don't know, this is going to change. It's going to be this way. It's not, it's not going to change anytime soon. But end of story. I'm happy to see that these things are still ongoing. It's being revisited. It's being talked about. And hopefully there's a resolution that's fair and that's deserved. Speaking of fair? Yes. You hinted at Ben Rothwell, getting a big fight on fighter versus writer versus fighter. Yes. Do you know something that we don't? Of course I know something that you don't. Are you kidding?

haven't you learned anything by now? Now, it's nothing I could talk about because it's all very fluid. But look, I don't know if it's as big as Andre. Now, was that a fair scenario? No, I talked about it on this show and that show. It wasn't fair. The worst part about the whole scenario

was the timing, was announcing that while he's in Dublin, he makes the trip, he's there, he's hanging out with the people, he's being a good soldier, and then they announced his opponent who didn't make the trip gets this big co-main event fight on a huge New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, whatever you want to call it show. That's the part that probably heard him the most.

And then Duffy Emporee gets rebooked. So a fight that dropped off that card also gets rebooked rather than them getting different opponents. So it was a bad timing thing. That's a good point as well. And that was the same, that was a week later. They announced Duffy Porier last Wednesday and the Miotritch fight was the previous week.

But yeah, why couldn't he? get a rebooked. The whole thing was a little strange. But you're saying it will work out for him. Well, I mean, I said, I would like to reserve judgment. I mean, look at the rankings. There aren't that many options, you know, right now for, for Ben Rothwell. There aren't that many options. So, I don't know if it's going to be as big as a co-main event fight on a big show like that, but I said, hopefully, you know, they make it right. He deserves it. Okay, let's talk quickly about Usada. Yes.

Three months of the testing policy has gone by. This is a total of 50 fighters. I think the number significantly higher. I think that was at the beginning of October, that it was 50 fighters and 81 total tests. I think they've done a lot in the last month. That's higher than that. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Correct me if you know offhand that that's accurate. But I believe that they've significantly passed the 81 tests and the 50 fighters as it stands right now. isn't that number low there should be this person is positing that there should be close to 3,000 tests done in a year across all the fighters

at this rate they'll complete a total of 324 tests do you think I don't know if the top of my head that these numbers are correct and also Josh Saman said that and we've talked about this on the show it really went into effect in October so I don't think it's fair to say

three I mean it it went into effect where they were starting to talk to people and educate July but I think it truly went into effect, if you know what I'm saying in October. I'm relatively confident that this was first of October numbers. Really? That it was 50 fighters and 81 tests and then since then they've done a lot. Since then they've tested maybe the same amount or double or whatever the case may be. Is there a way we can judge this at this point? Do you have any? I don't think so. Like I said

about the Reebok deal, I think you need to wait a year or so to really find out how these things work. And if they're working correctly, if they're doing it the right way, if you're doing it the right way, If it's a positive, if it's a negative, if they're dropping the ball. I believe we're going to start seeing results soon. Yeah, Josh said that as well. Yeah. Did you not listen to the interview for God's sakes? Jesus. Interview. Yes. I think it's a little, I think it's too soon. So look, here's the thing.

Those numbers may be low, but guess what? They're way better than they were last year, right? So let's see how it all shakes out. I feel like we're moving in the right direction. It's all positive. Is it happening as? quickly as we would like, these things take time. You know, the website, it just, it all takes time. But we're in a much better place today than we were November 2nd, 2014. 100%. No denying.

Got a lot of big close fights coming up? Yes. Let's go down this list real quick. See if there's any underdogs that you like here. By the way, this is for you only, it says, question for New Yorker only. I'm reading the website. You're backing out a little bit? Well, no.

Akiah the man said, question for New York Rick only, in bold. Okay. So let me read them. Okay? All the fighters on the right side are underdogs. How many and which one would you pick if you could play $100 for free? Sure. Now, what does $100 for free mean?

Isn't it $100? They're just giving me $100, I guess. Oh, okay. Gaslam Brown. I don't like Matt Brown there. By the way, Matt Brown is the underdog? Yes. Whoa.

Okay. Kelvin's style is pretty crushing, and he's going to be big. Edgar Mendez. I kind of like chat a little bit there. I think Frankie's going to edge it out. And I looked up, all of these are under two to one, so they are close fights. Oh, wow. I think Chad is live here.

Okay. Maya Nelson. That's going to be tough. I think Maya is going to be able to get it to the ground, and I think he's better on the ground there. As good as Gunner is, you know, there's no doubt about it. Once Maya gets you to the ground, he's pretty suffocating. So no love for Nelson. I don't think so.

Soza Romero. I think Romero is live because he's got that ridiculous power. You're going against your guy? Listen, I'm not picking him. You said he's live. But he's a live dog for sure. Just because he's got that ridiculous strength, he's a freak athlete. But I think Jockeray is better on the feet and likely going to be able to, if he gets

to the ground, sub him pretty quickly. Widman Rockhold. Man, I think you've got to say Luke's live here. Just because he's so good. It's hard to say where Chris Widman has any flaws or deficiencies because he's so well-rounded. and we've seen him excel in all kinds of fights. He's knocked out Anderson Silva early. He's gone through wars with Machita and look good.

Luke, I think, is a live dog, but it's tough to say where either of these guys has flaws. I think they're both so well-rounded. It's a tough fight to call. I probably wouldn't even touch this one. McGregor Aldo? I like Jose Aldo here. And Aldo is the underdog.

Aldo is the underdog. Slight. Loller Condit. Don't like Carlos. don't like Carlos's chances here. I think Robbie's too good right now, and his style plays into where Carlos is strong and vice versa. So I think Robbie's going to retain there. Don't really like Carlos's odds there.

Dilleshaw Cruz. I would love to pick Dominic Cruz, but I just can't because of the health concerns. It's a really tough spot to be in. You don't really want to pick a guy coming back from injury. But I think, you know, if it was at their absolute best, I think Dominic Cruz is for sure a live dog, if not should be the outright favorite,

but the injury really hampers that. So I like Aldo, straight up. I think Mendez is live. I think Romero's live, Rockhold's live, and Cruz is live. So there's, and, you know, rightfully so, these are really close fights that are coming up. There's a lot of good, really, really high-profile fights coming up

that Underdogs could come away with the win here. Can I just say that Sage Northcutt on Twitter is just unbelievable. I mean, the smiles... Is this what you're doing while I'm talking? You're just going on Sage Northcuts's Twitter? You've fallen into this?

The smiles, the poses. I mean, he is just something else this guy. Do you follow him on Twitter? I don't follow many fighters on Twitter. Well, you're missing out. I do not. You are missing out. All right, what else we got?

NBA season. Oh, yes. It's the new NBA season. Correct. This person wants to know who's going to win the West and the East. who will win MVP and rookie of the year, and the Knicks are looking decent for the first time in a long time.

Oh, my. Well, first of all, the Knicks are excited. I'm trying to curb my enthusiasm here. I'm trying not to get too crazy, but two in one. Huge win against the Wizard. The Wizards at Washington, their home opener. Now, we did beat the Bucks opening night, but they were without Greek Freak.

They were without Jabari Parker. So I don't want to put too much stock to that. And then they laid a big fat egg against Atlanta and the Knicks home opener. Tonight we're playing the Spurs. Will the Spurs dress all their guys? Bedown City. Will they dress all their guys? I don't know.

Do they even need to? That is a good question. But Langston Galloway, Kylo Quinn, Sasha Vuechich, Jerry and Grant. So you're saying they're going to win the East? Yes. Okay, so the East is going to the Knicks. That's an easy one. The West.

I see a lot of OKC picks, but I'm not feeling that. Look at Stefan Curry and those guys. Look what they're doing. I'm not going to jump off that bandwagon yet, so I'm sticking with the Warriors there. Rookie of the year, obviously Chris Stap's Porzingis. That's an easy one. And MVP goes to Mello. Perfect.

Wow. Yes. You heard it here first. Those were some picks right there. Yes. No love for Carl Anthony Towns, huh? Well, I have been looking at his, I don't know. I kind of look at his stat sheets with, like, one eye close because I just can't.

I just think about it. I dream about him in that jersey. I'm like, ah, so damn close. He is good, but my man, KP6, he's going to... Remember when we met him? Oh, that was amazing. Did you actually meet him, though? You took the picture, but did you say hi to him?

Well, look, I'm not a fanboy. I'm not going to... I fanboided up. I fan boy. Can I... Can I... I said shove it up Stephen A's ass. I said, prove the people wrong.

You know, people like to bring up this supposed Twitter rant I went on when he was drafted. 100% I was hacked that night. I had nothing to do with me. I have been on that bandwagon since he was rocking the cornrows back in the day. Have you seen him with the cornrows? I have seen him.

And I've seen him like doing lip syncing to rap songs. He's a man. He's great. Now, that is the perfect segue. Speaking of social media and deleted tweets and all that stuff. From our friend Andrew Mayer,

with John Jones's recent comments on social media, do you think he has become comfortable enough to return to his heel persona? What do you think of his social media personality? right now. You know what I think it is? I think it's actually pretty damn real. So I want to stop to talk about heel and face and fake and not fake. This feels like it's John Jones. Remember, this is how I realized that it was real and that he's just trying to be himself. And good or bad,

that's up to you to decide whether or not you like it. He used the P word, right? You know the P word that I'm talking about. I do. The P star star, star, star, Y word, right? And he used that word multiple times in the back and forth with Daniel Cormier that was caught on ESPN or whatever, the leaked footage, right? Sure. So that's a word that he uses. We've never seen him tweet that word out. That feels like, all right, he's just being himself.

He's putting it out there. That's what hinted you off. That was it. See, this is how smart people think. I look for key phrases. I went back to look at that interaction. I was like, okay, we're starting to see the real John Jones. and it's clear he's taking this all very seriously.

He's training. He's getting into it. The gloves are off. And that's all we wanted. You know, I saw him, I saw him, he gave a smiley face to someone who was like, oh, the media first says that they want you to, you know, be a heel. And then when you act too healish, they want you to be a good guy. What do they want?

He's like, yeah, like, you know, SMH. No, no, no. We just want you to be yourself. Just be yourself. If that's you being a dick, be a dick. If that's you being a choir boy, then make it real. Just be yourself. Why?

You don't believe me? I don't believe that there's, I do believe that there are people out there who, no matter what he does, will be critical. Of course. And being, for him being real is not a reality where people will accept him, I don't think. But, but like, no one ever says Nick Diaz is fake, right? Yes, because Nick Diaz started authentic, remained authentic, and now he continues to be authentic. John Jones put on this persona initially. But you can change.

We can all change. But he would have benefited. See, a guy, if John Jones had come out and had this attitude from the start, I don't think, A, he would have been nearly as popular as he is now and as high profile. I don't know if that's true. Or B, I don't think he would have been as interesting. And I think he needed to go through this. And he needed to, at first, you know, it seemed like he was conflicted in terms of. trying to be something he wasn't, and now he's, you know, trying to be himself.

I think there's people who are still going to judge him pretty harshly for that. Sure. Well, I mean, he's a controversial character. I mean, look what he's coming off of. He deserves to be judged with all due respect. But I just, I want to get rid of this whole persona. I mean, let him be who he is. And I hope that he feels comfortable enough to degree being who he is. So if that means messing with people, if you get a kick out of deleting stuff, and putting out videos, then just be yourself. But the talk of personas and heal it, it's very tiresome. And I just want to see the real John Jones.

And if that's who he has been in the last couple days, awesome. Go for it. Okay, let's blast through this real quick. Connor versus the mountain. Did you see it and what did you think of it? I thought he nailed them with some very impressive shots of the body. And it was his head movement. Is Connor going to appear on Game of Thrones?

Do you know? Is that a real guy from Game of Thrones? He is, right? I'm not as well-versed as I probably should be. I think that he was putting him over, the Game of Thrones guy. That is a mountain of a man. That is a gigantic human being. They don't call him the mountain for nothing.

I think Kevin Ioli said it best. He wrote a blog post about this. Connor has an amazing ability of keeping himself relevant, keeping himself in the news, and this is just another example of that. Fador. Yes. This person, Bartak, he writes in a lot.

He's been saying Puginowski was a realistic opponent for him, even though he lost a gram, is he still a realistic opponent for Fadar? Wait, oh, okay, he's not claiming that this was someone discussed, because I haven't heard Puginowski's name. No, he's been saying that name. Yeah, I haven't heard that name. I actually think that that is probably an opponent that would go over well over there. But I reported this, I think, last Tuesday.

In short, you know, I reported the J.D. Singh thing, Jideep Singh is a correct way to pronounce his name. They put him in this fight for the vacant deep Megaton title. He wins. But Sakakibara and the rest of the Risen staff are not impressed with, A, his performance and his physique. So he's now been downgraded from what I've told from very good sources to like a 10% chance. And yeah, he has a contract, but that's kind of, you know, what's, I mean, it's, those are very loose to put it mildly over there in Japan. So they're actively searching. They're talking about a lot of different people, and don't be surprised if it shifts.

But again, I could say that that was the plan. They put him in that fight to try to raise his profile. This guy who was 1-0 and all of a sudden gets a title fight on three days' notice. He wins the fight, but they just weren't blown away, and they don't think that the Japanese. This is a show for the Japanese public. It's on spike, but it's not for the Americans. It's just gravy. They need an opponent that's going to get Japanese people excited.

So they're looking at their options. And look, you remember back in the day in Pride, fights would be in now. announced six days before, so don't be surprised if this takes a while. Bisbing versus Silva. Yes. Paperview headliner or no? Is it worthy? I mean, I think it's worthy.

I think the UFC is trying these days to make pay-per-view headliners title fights. There have been some exceptions, Anderson versus Nick, but I think that was a super-duper exception. Maybe one other one in very recent memory. So what does this say about Anderson Silva then? Is he still box office? I put him, I would make this a co-made event. Like, if for Doom, if for Doom fights Kane in Brazil, as we talked about, this is a very worthy co-mate event. Wow.

You don't agree? I think it's a headliner. Really? Yeah. On pay-per-view? For sure. I don't know. And Your Majesty has checked in with us.

Oh, my old friend. She created the poll. Should the UFC open up a women's one-end? 125 pound division or a men's 115 pound division. And she says they have spoken. The fans have spoken. Let's see what the results were. Where are we going to see?

Oh. A lot of votes for the women's division. I agree. 87% for the 125 pound women's division. Only 115% 15% for the 115 pound men's division. That's what I was going to say. No real huge interest right now in seeing the 115 pound men's division. I would be much more inclined to start up the 125 pounds men's division.

start up the 125 pound women's division. I don't see either of those happening anytime soon. But I think there are a lot better fighters at 125. I also do think that it would hurt Invicta if they did open up the 125 because then they'd have 115, 125, 135, 135. I think they have enough at this point. Don't you agree? I don't know.

How many polls is she putting out there? Well, she's blessed. Oh. Amanda Nunes. I went one step too far. She's blessed, your majesty has blessed us with another poll. Yes. Do you want to see a five-round main event between Misha Tate and Amanda Nunes on a Fox or Fox Sports One card and the overwhelming results are yes.

73% yes, yes, I would like to see that. Although I do see where Misha is coming from, if the UFC tells her number one contender fight against Amanda Nunes and you get a title shot 100%, no question's asked. I can see her being content, I think, with that. certainly a fight that I'd love to see. I'd love to see Amanda Nunes back in there sooner rather than later after that win over Sarah McMahon. Last question, then we're out of here, excuse me. This person has always wondered,

what exactly is the mysterious neon liquid that you're drinking during the show? You'll have to keep... You're not going to give MJ's secret stuff away. Hell no. What's MJ's secret stuff? Oh my God, Ariel. Space Jam?

Ah, yes. He gives them the water bottle? Yes. Are they coming out with a new one? Chris Staps One can only hope that Chris Staps is going to be the MJ I don't know about that one

He might be the Sean Bradley I will not tell you It's sort of like that Was Sean Bradley in Space Jam? Oh yes They took his powers The great Sean Bradley That's right that's right

I will not tell you And it's kind of like the day in a way Remember he always used to walk around With that like purple bottle? Yeah It is it neon? Does it come across his neon? Oh it's quite yellow yeah

Yeah You'll have to keep wondering That's it, folks. Okay, that is it. We never really talked about Husseemar Paul Harris. Did we talk about him? I don't know. Nobody asked about him.

Wow. Here today, gone tomorrow. He's gone. Well, we talked about him on the M.A. Beat. He got two years from Nevada. Very inconsistent. But they said, oh, it's first time happening here. So we'll give you two years.

What he did and what he has done, to me, if you're going to go in line with what they were giving out to other people, like Vandale, like Chale, like Nick Diaz, I was expecting worse, especially considering how that hearing went, but I guess he should be very happy that there was this big uproar because now all of a sudden they feel, they kind of feel like they're, it feels like they're gun-shy all of a sudden. So all those people that signed that petition in favor of Nick Diaz,

he probably should hook them up with a present. Because I have a feeling if this would have happened two months ago before the Diaz hearing, he probably would have gotten worse. Maybe they don't like the backlash. Francis Aguilar, no longer the chairman over there. It's now Anthony Marnell. As I mentioned on Twitter also, I want to see that position and all of those positions be paid positions because they have so much power, so much authority, yet how can you

truly be invested if you're doing it pro bono? So the whole system is very fixable and somewhat out of whack. Hopefully they fix it sooner rather than later. All right. You can hit my music. We are done. As I mentioned, UFC is back. Dan Henderson, Vitor Belford,

Glover Toshara, Patrick Cummins, Anthony Burchak against Thomas Almeida. Piotr Holman versus Alex Olivavera. Solid card in Brazil. Clay Guita going up against Tiago Tavares. Gleyschen Chibao, going up against Abel Chuhio.

Also, Belator, back on Friday. on Spike TV. As I mentioned at the top, a big one for Will Brooks, Belter 145, Vengeance in St. Louis. It's Patricio Pitbull versus Daniel Strauss for the Featherweight title, and Will Brooks versus Marche-Hell, Justin Lawrence also fighting,

Michael Chandler fighting, and the Kimbo sweepstakes, Bobby Lashley versus James Thompson, also going down, hopefully, finally, this Friday. All right, thank you very much to everyone who checked out the show, and most importantly,

Thank you very much to everyone who joined us today on the program. Thank you very much to Josh Saman. Great stuff from him. Check out his work if you haven't. He is a great writer and provides great insight into the world of MMA from the fighter's perspective. Thank you very much to Vaikavalo Fabricio Verdum. Thank you very much to Rose.

Nama Yunus. Good luck to her on December 10th against Paige Van Zent. Thank you very much to Joseph Duffy. So very happy to hear that he is healthy and feeling better. Thank you very much to Tim Kennedy. Looking forward to that show next week. Misha Tate, thank you very much. And all the best to T.J. Grant with his new baby boy and, of course, life potentially after fighting.

Back next week, same time and place until then I say, Pace. Samaria. Support for this show comes from Figma. Figma is the place where teams turn ideas into the world's best digital products. And now, Figma is introducing a faster way to make those. ideas real with Figma Make. It's an AI-powered prompt to code tool that turns your ideas or your Figma designs into interactive code-backed prototypes in minutes. And because it's all in Figma, you can use your team's existing design building blocks, making it easy to create outputs that

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