MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 305

Episode Date: November 9, 2015

Ariel Helwani speaks to Royce Gracie, Freddie Roach, Ryan Bader, Stephen Thompson, Alan Belcher, Louis Smolka, and Erick Silva in-studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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On this Monday, November 9, 2015. Logan, everyone, I'm Ariel Hawani. Inside our New York City studio. So great to be here with you. Jam-packed show today. No time to waste. Busy weekend as well in the world of Mixed Martial Arts Bell Tour. Making some news on Friday in St. Louis with some great fights

and also some interesting fight announcements. We'll get to those later in the show. And also Saturday night in Sao Paulo, Vitor Belfort. In the words of the great Yogi Berra, it was deja vu all over again, right? It was the same kind of finish, almost to the exact minute. It's Dan Henderson, knocked him out, and now the questions once again arise. Should Dan Henderson retire? What's next for Vitor Belfort?

Something tells me a spider is in his future. We'll talk about all that and more. And of course, here we are on a Monday afternoon in New York, and we are five days away from what could be the biggest show in UFC history. No, no hard facts and figures have been released just yet, but UFC 193 is obviously shaping up to be a big one. It's historic in the sense that Ronda Rousey will be defending her title. Yowna Yongecichick will be defending her title. It's in a very big stadium in Melbourne, Australia. I am going to Melbourne, Australia tomorrow.

I look forward to that flight, very much so. And in all honesty, I look forward to going back to Australia. I've been there once before. UFC 127, and that was in Sydney. And everyone would tell us that Melbourne was the place to be. That was the sporting capital of Australia. And if they ever got a cage fighting legalized in Australia, that was the place that the UFC needed to be,

and that was the place that was really going to set itself up as one of the hotbeds of mixed martial arts. And thus far, it's looking like it. I mean, I think that they will at least match UFC 129. That was 55,000. It's going to be a great scene. It reminds me a lot of Canada over there. And that's why I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be a lot of fun.

So that's tomorrow. But today on the program, who are we talking to? What are we talking about? Well, let's get right into it. At 325, we're actually going to be joined in studio by Eric Silva. How cool is that? It doesn't come to New York all that often. He is here training, and he's going to be in studio at 325.

Very exciting. Eric Silva, of course, UFC Walterweight star. At 305, we're going to be joined by Alan Belcher. He announced his retirement Friday afternoon. Hasn't fought around two years or so. Actually, in December, he said he was coming back as a light heavyweight, but in the end, he announced his retirement. So we'll talk to the talent at 305.

245. We're going to talk to Hoist Gracie. It was announced on Friday. I alluded to this that he is coming back to fight Ken Chammrock for a third time. Yes, Ken Shamrock, Hoist Gracie, number three is happening in 2016. What an amazing world we live in. At 225, we're going to be joined by Luis Smolka coming off his big win over Patty Hulahan at UFC Dublin. Exciting times for the Hawaiian.

At 205, the legendary Freddie Roach. We'll stop by. He made news last week about talking about George St. Pierre and their training together and George's plans for the future. I also want to talk to him about Ronda Rousey and Holly Home. That'll be fun. 145, we'll talk to Ryan Bader. He's fighting Anthony Johnson, UFC on Fox 18.

That was announced last week as well. 125. We'll talk to Stephen Thompson. Wonderboy is without an opponent now that Neil Magny is fighting Kelvin Gaslam in Monterey. As always, we'll hear from you that's set around. 4-05, so hit us up using the hashtag the MMA hour, leave a question or comment in the comment section below, and I remind you once again that today's episode of the MMA hour is brought to by Assassin's Creed Syndicate.

There it is. Great friends of ours, pick up the video game if you haven't already. But first, let us go to the Skype Machine and welcome in a regular on the program, one of our favorites in the business, a colleague, the one and only Dave Meltzer. Dave, how are you? I'm doing, Ariel. I'm doing great myself. What was your reaction on Friday night when Scott Koker announced in St. Louis that in 2016, February 19th, to be exact,

Hoyst Gracie will be fighting Ken Shamrock for the third time. I'm dying to know you in particular what you thought. I had a mixed reaction because, I mean, the initial thing was, oh, geez, right? You know, it's like Ken Shamrock fighting again after the last fight after the Kimbo sloth. fight. Yet at the same time, when you think about it, I know what the goals are. The goals are to draw ratings. And the next day, I had people, you know, that are very casual fans, you know, just going, oh my God, Ken Chairman Rock's fighting Hoyce Gracie again. I mean, they were excited like this was a big time fight because they were names from the past that were big names and Hoyce hasn't fought in years.

And the last time, you know, Hoyst hasn't fought in nine years. And the last time he fought it was a big deal. they're going to promote the, they'll both be good at promoting the fight. It is a real grudge match that everyone knows about that was around back in those days. So, I mean, I don't feel that bad. And the reason I don't feel that bad is because Hoise Gracie is not a heavy hitter. And because of that, the idea of Ken Shamrock going against a heavy hitter really concerns me a lot. I didn't like the Kimbo fight for that very reason. But against a guy where it's probably going to be a grappling match, there is, there's a great story to it.

These guys have been, you know, Ken's been waiting 19 years for the fight. may be too long. He may be too old. They both may be too old. It's not going to be a, I don't, like, I'm not like excited about seeing the fight as a fight, but I'm kind of, I see it as something that's, it's a spectacle. People are going to be talking about it. And that's what, that's the story of Bellator, the number two group is, is getting people just talking about your shows. It's an open weight fight. That's per Bellator forces in, uh, in Texas. Are you okay with that in 2016? I, I don't like rules being circumvented of a sport. I would hope that if Hoyce could get to at least one, you know, like 190 and Ken makes 205, that wouldn't bother me too much. It's the same weight class.

But if it's something like Hoyce at 175 and Ken it, well, Ken probably would be about 205. That, no, I don't like that in 2016. No. So they also coupled this announcement with an interesting co-main event, it's going to be Kimbo's slice against Datta 5,000, his former bodyguard who went on to be quite successful in the backyard fighting business. If you've never seen the E-60 on him, I do suggest checking it out. There's also a documentary on him. That's quite good as well. And this got people up in arms. What did you think when they announced Data 5,000 as Kimbo's next opponent? I didn't know what to think because it was almost like, when that happened, it was like, what the, you know what I mean? Like, Hoysen Ken, since I knew.

you Ken was teasing an announcement, I'd been thinking about it, and realistically, there were only a few options. And they were kind of like, you know, Kimbo-Slicse, Kurt Engel, Frank Shamrock, Hoyce Gracie. So I wasn't shocked with Hoyce-Gracy at all. You know, I mean, I didn't know that it was happening, but I was the day of the thing, I thought there was a, you know, a chance of it. When Kimbo-Slices' opponent and they announced a guy, it's like, what is this? I mean, I really, I didn't even know his name barely. So it was almost like, wow. you know, it's, it's, again, it's Kimbo Slice fighting on the same show. It's going to get, we know Kimbo Slice draws eyeballs.

I hope they really load up with some great matches on the undercard. Yeah. So you have that balance because, yeah, two fights like that as your top two fights, I mean, there's a part of me that really doesn't like that. But then, you know, again, if the public was buying Bellator great fights with their top fighters, this, wouldn't be happening. I mean, when we've seen what Bellator fans or what casual fans will buy when it comes to Bellator, which was, you know, Ken Shamrock and Kimbo blew away everything they ever did, that's the direction they're going to go with these big shows. I mean, it's a reality that I wish wasn't a reality, but I'm not going to sit here and go, it's not, it's not the reality. It's just,

it's just what it is. I have said on this show and other shows that I hold Bellator to a different standard, and that's not me trying to put them down. They are who they are. At this point, Belator is like that, you know, there are some great television shows out there, you know, like The Wire or what's another great television, like, Walking Dead or whatever. And then there's like entourage where it's just like eye candy and you don't have to think. And it's fun sometimes to go into that, you know, escape and just, you know, sit back and not use your brain and just watch a beautiful thing. That's kind of like what Bellator is to the UFC. It's just, it's just these, these, with so much MMA on these days, I have a hard time being personally offended by these fights because it's so

out there, it's so different, it's so freaky, that it's just, it's completely different. It's off the map, and that's why it doesn't really truly bother me. Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah, no, it would only bother me if Ken Chamrock was going against a heavy hitter. That bothered. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I don't want to see a guy 50 years old getting pounded on. I didn't really like the end of the Kimbo-Sliced fight.

But if it's, but this fight, no, it doesn't bother because let's face it, I mean, I grew up with Japanese MMA. And, you know, in the New Year's Eve shows and things like that. And the New Year's Eve shows were all about this. This is what it is. And that's what the New Year's Eve show coming up is as well. And it's just like, UFC is going to be the major league where you get the top against the top guys.

And Bellator, you're going to get, you know, hopefully exciting fights most weeks. But what's going to draw eyeballs for Bellator is going to be the stuff that UFC doesn't deliver. You know, that's just how it's going to be. They're not going to be able to make it with, you know, the, you know, the, you know, the, you know, lesser known guys fighting on Friday nights. You're going to need these names. And what they are, their names from the past are names in pop culture that people know. You know, again, everything that Japan did. And Scott Coker learned from Japan. So none of this surprises me. Yeah, and this is not to say that I prefer that over, you know, the actual major leagues.

I just understand. It's really low as common denominator. And that could be a good thing or a bad thing for you. And Scott's been doing this for a long time. The difference these days, in my opinion, is that, A, he's got a lot less to work with because most of the guys are over in the UFC. And B, and I think this is important, he doesn't have the women to book anymore. That was really what differentiated him, in my opinion, when he had Cyborg and Gina Cron. He doesn't have that now. He doesn't have that feather in his cap. So he really has to kind of go off the map and find these very unique freak showish fights

or Masters Division type of fights. And the important thing is what's the rest of the card look like, as you said, especially the main card. That's the most important. If MVP is on that main card, then I think it makes sense because now you're, you're, you're hopefully showing him off to the world. But if it's a bunch of wacky fights like that, then I think you have a true problem on your hands.

Do you agree? Well, I think that the two is going to be it. I think that from there you're going to want to showcase, you're going to want to get a good championship fight, if not, you know, if not two, and, you know, expose someone like MVP or, you know, whether it's Chandler or somebody like that, you know, just expose one of your guys

that you're just hoping to build that's got something and hope that all the eyeballs come in to see that fight. and yeah, that's how you do it. I mean, the whole thing with these, using these old guys, the correct thing to do is load up on the undercard with young guys that are flashy and try to make some stars out of that. And it hasn't happened yet, but still, that's what you got to do.

Would be nice. I think this is more of a, you know, purest standpoint here, but it would be nice if they weren't the main event and, you know, the real homegrown talent was the main event. So hopefully people stick around, you know, they watch the freak show fights and then stick around for the real stars, but we know it's been proven that you've got to put them in the main event. Do you think that this card becomes their highest rated show and thus leads to them

continuing to do shows this way? I think that it will be, I think it may be their highest rated. If not, it's going to be up there with the Shamrock and Kimbo. Yeah, I think Shamrock and Hoist Gracie, I think that come the day of the fight, I think a lot of people are going to go, you know what, I just kind of want to see that fight. I mean, I know it's not going to be a great fight. I know it's not going to be classic, but it's Ken Shamrock and Hoyst Gracie. We've been hearing about it for 20 years. I mean, this, I wish this fight happened in 1996, but it didn't. I mean, the third fight. People have been, you know, and I know there weren't a lot of fans then compared to now,

but still, people know the name Hoyce Gracie, and they know Hoyce Gracie and Ken Shamrock is this, you know, it's this legendary rivalry from the past. Yeah, it was 10 years ago, this would have been, I was thinking about this. If they had done this fight in 2006 and UFC, This would have been a monster by rate. But we're getting it nine years later. And I also kind of wish Ken didn't fight Kimbo now for the sake of this particular fight, if you want to call it that, because I think that's sort of – we just saw him back, and it wasn't a great performance, and he's a little too fresh in our minds, as opposed to hoist we haven't seen for so long.

Not to say that I was longing for another hoist fight, but you get what I'm saying. It kind of diminished what's to come here in February. All right, so this is Bellator. And, you know, it's funny because, you know, I was sitting back and watching Strauss fight Pippel, tremendous fight. The card was very good. And it's like all those Beltor fights in the Bjorn era, they all blended into each other. Like, I couldn't sit here and tell you when Strauss fought Pitbull the first time or the second time without looking it up. I could tell you most, I could tell you when Vitor fought Henderson the last time and all that stuff.

But they all blended in. Now at least, for better or worse, they're sticking out a little more. And I think there is something to that. I mean, the one thing, though, is, and it's sort of. a weird negative is that the Pitbull-Strauss fight was really, really good, but nobody when it was over was talking about Pitbull and Strauss. They were all talking about Ken Shamrock,

Kurt Engel, Kimbo Slice. I mean, it was like, and it wasn't necessarily in a negative way. It was like, people were talking about Bellator and just going like, what's up with Bellator? You know, and I mean, like, I think that if it had been Kurt Angle and Ken Shamrock, which was, they were kind of teasing to do the swerve at the end,

I think people would have had the same reaction. It's kind of like, whoa, you know, Kurt, you know, it's just names that you know, And it brought attention to the brand. How do you feel about the whole Kurt thing? I feel like this is 2005 all over again. Like I may have been fooled once or twice about him dipping his toe. But now at this stage, I just feel like it's very transparent.

And I'm not going to be fooled maybe a third or fourth time. Do you believe that he actually really truly is considering fighting? That's so hard to say. Because the thing is, when he went to the Olympic thing, I mean, he really, you know, in In 2012, or 2011, actually, he said he was going to go back to the Olympics, and everybody thought that this was, you know, a joke, right? I mean, everyone, everyone thought, what a terrible idea. But he really did go in the gym and he really did train and he really did get hurt and all that trying to do it. So he may actually, in his mind, but he's had, you know, he's had countless injury since 2011.

Yeah. So, I mean, I think that, like, when he was announced that's coming in and everything like that, I thought that he would talk like, I may do it. but never do it. And I think that that's probably 80%, but there may be something in the back of his head if he's feeling anything close to good, like, I can do this. But I don't think he's going to do it.

I think that if he goes through a camp, I mean, he's got all those injuries. I just think that he'll probably, for the same reason as the Olympics, he'll probably get hurt in training. He's had two knee surgeries in the last year alone. He had a neck operation, which wasn't from an injury,

but it still was an operation. This is all recently. So, yeah, I wouldn't put money on him fighting, Ken Shamrock. But I think that maybe in his mind he'd think, you know, I'm younger, I'm younger than Ken. He's obviously got more experience at this, but, you know, I'm still a world's better wrestler. I'm sure right down a straight wrestling match, he would eat Ken Shamrock alive just based on, you know, everything. So, yeah, 85% probably no. I don't get excited over it. That's for sure. At this point, all bets are off, in my opinion, with regards to Belter. I mean, I wouldn't

be surprised at this point if they book anyone out there. Randy, Ture, it doesn't matter who you are. You are a viable option these days in Belator. Let's transition to the UFC 24 hours later. Vitor Belfort defeated Dan Henderson for the second straight time. Was that, in your opinion, the last time we saw Dan Henderson inside the UFC Octagon? I'm hoping it is. I think that if it comes down to Dan Henderson's decision, it won't be. So I think that the decision will probably come from, you know, can they talk him out of it, so to speak?

Because I think, I think, number one, he won't want to leave on that kind of a loss. And number two in his mind, I think that he still has it that, well, I made a mistake. You know, but, but, you know, I mean, I, I, I, one of the, one of the things, and I was actually just writing this when, when we started the show is Dan's been knocked out, I think, four times in the last couple of years. And before 2013, I believe he was never knocked out in, in his long, long career. And I think that stat right there just tells you everything. Yeah. And it's, you know, kudos to Vitor, very, you know, a very, uh, a very, uh, conchon controversial polarizing figure, but here we are in this new day and age, and he showed up and really,

he really, you know, replicated what he did the second time. It's amazing watching those highlights, by the way, how different he looks. The second fight and the third fight, he's so much bigger. He's a completely different human being. I said at the top, I think Anderson is the fight that they're going to make for him next. I think that was a huge fight the first time they fought. They're going to try to do that again. I think it would be kind of fun to see the Kennedy fight because he's been on this anti-PED user crusade, but I'm leaning towards Anderson. What do you think? Business-wise, Anderson is the best fight to make, yeah, because it's the right fight for Anderson. And yeah, the first fight, the first fight, you know, for all the reasons. Yeah, I still am holding out

hope for Anderson and George St. Pierre, just because if George is going to fight again, that's the only fight I can come up with for George that really makes sense to come out of retirement. and obviously you're going to talk to Freddie Roach, and that's going to be subject for later on the show today. But so that's why I'm kind of, you know, and to me that supersedes V-Tor. If George has no interest, then, yeah, I think that's the right opponent for Anderson

and it's the right opponent for Vitor because it's a fight that can be a big, big fight, especially for the Brazil market. Other great performances that night, Glover Tshara beating Pat Cummins, and I think it's somewhat clear at this point that Cummins isn't ready for that caliber of opponent, in particular his striking,

Tiago Tavares with a nice win, but I think the one that everyone's talking about more so than Vitor is Thomas Almeida. He really, at 20 and O, seems to be a star in the making if he's not there already. How far away do you think he is from challenging the likes of T.J. Dillishaw? Two fights, maybe?

If he gets two more big wins, and they look like the one on Saturday, I think, you know, I mean, he's now got a fight against someone, you know, and, you know, top seven or something, so right now and then maybe one more like that. And yeah, whether it's T.J. or Cruz or whatever, if he gets two more wins and they look anything like this, he's, he's ready. He was tremendous, I thought. I think he was the start. Yeah, I think he was the start of the show. I feel like I say this all

the time. One of the most underappreciated people at Zufa in our sport is matchmaker Sean Shelby. If you think about where Bantamway was this time last year, in particular December, Remember, you know, Barow comes back, doesn't look great against Mitch Gagnon, and then we all think, okay, we're going to get the Dillishaw cruise fight. Cruz gets injured, a Suntz out gets injured, and we're forced to see Barow, Dillishaw, probably too soon. It didn't happen in April, but you know what I'm talking about. And now when you consider all the players out there, Bantamweight is super interesting with the return of Cruz, but also Almeida, Al Jermaine Sterling, Cody Garbrant. The list goes on and on. I think Bantamway, it's evolution in the last year, probably the best of any division thus far in the UFC as we stand here with a month.

or so left in the in the year yeah i i um i mean it's still not i mean i think the cruise and dillishaw is like really a great fight it's actually one in the fights i'm more looking forward to than almost any fight in the sport i i think that there's still you know there's there's there's the names and you know favor can go back in that division as well i mean you know favor dillishaw is is a big time fight if that actually is to happen and favor cruise again you know you know if if cruise isn't the champion i mean giving favor a title shot against anyone from dillisha i think is going to be questionable right now. Right.

But with Dillashaw, I think that if the story's so good, you almost have to go with it, if Fabor looks good in his next fight. But, yeah, there's a lot there's a lot there. And again, yeah, there's a lot for the future, too. I mean, I can look out at Bannonway more than most divisions and go kind of like 18 months ahead and still have all these fresh fights that can happen. Yeah, and I'm not saying it's a money-making division just yet. I think they have some time before that.

I forgot two other very interesting names. John Linnaker is now a member of that division, and John Dodson as well who beat T.J. Dilshaas. So it's super interesting. Okay, let's talk about 193 before we go. We're just days away now. And I don't know if it's because we're not in Melbourne. I don't know if we're so far away, but I don't feel the same sense of anticipation for a Ronda fight as I did prior to the Bechko Hea fight. Maybe because Betch just sold that fight remarkably well. I think it was a very good time to have Ronda fight in August. It was a super quiet time in the world of sports. Now there's football and all these things. Do you think that it will do as well as the

Betch-Koha-F fight in August on pay-per-view? You know, when it comes to Ronda's fights, I'm always wrong. I'm always low. Because I think one of the things with Ronda's fights is that she draws from an audience that's not us. You know what I mean? It's like we can kind of like, for most of these fights, I think that we can kind of go in and pretty much predict, you know, how they're going to do on pay-per-view

with, you know, little margin of error and everything. With Ronda, it's like there's the margin of error is gigantic because it's like, the key is, it's like 45-year-old women, 35-year-old women who, you, do not watch MMA and on that day or the day, do they sit down and go, you know what, Ronda Rousey's fighting, and they all know her, Ronda Rousey's fighting some girl, going to get together and watch the pay-per-view. And it's like, that's just a different audience. I can say from my friend's standpoint, where you again, talking about that,

they're very into it just because it's a Ronda Rousey fight and every Ronda Rousey fight is big. So it's going to do, I think it's going to do really, really well. My gut would say, no, the last one was a big grudge and Betch did such a great fight and a great job of building. And so did Rhonda. And this one, it's kind of like, it's here and there have been nice video packages. I don't feel the grudge match aspect or the storyline aspect of it,

but it's still a Ronda Rousey fight against someone, you know, an undefeat fighter who is a boxing champion. And on Saturday, you know, yeah, there's other sports and everything like that. But it's one of those things where I think the day of the fight, people are going to go, yeah, you know what, let's go for it. And again, I don't know that Melbourne, But the idea of 50,000 people, you know, if it's a, it feels different. That is a draw.

Yeah, that's a drawn its own right. By the way, what are you hearing in terms of ticket sales? Do you think that they get to that 70,000 number? I don't know if the 70,000 number's ever been real because the biggest crowd in that building is 56. I think when WWE was there and that was packed, pack, pack with no stage or no nothing. In 2002, they did 56,000 with the Rock Triple H and Brock Lesnar. So, and I know that the ticker at sales, the last number I heard was 46, that was a couple of weeks ago. So, and then when I was told

46, I was told that there's, you know, 8,8,800 left. So I think the real number is going to be, you know, 53, 54, 55. And they're going to be damn close. I mean, because when I was told a couple weeks ago, it's like, if you look at how every, all the tickets are, it's going to look packed if nobody buys another ticket. But people are going to buy the last week. And they were counting on the same thing. One of the things about this show, when people judge ticket sales, I think this show starts, and I could be wrong, you're going to know when you get there. You may know already. I think it starts like 10 in the morning on a Sunday in Melbourne. So it's like, and that is a detriment. Like if they go in there and people go, oh, man, it's only 52,000 people. It's like, this is 10 in the

morning. If it was Saturday night at 8, I think that place would already be sold out. Easily. And when I was in Sydney for UFC 127, I learned that to them Sunday morning is UFC time. And that's what they're accustomed to because all the fights are happening Saturday night. So that's their normal time to watch UFC, so it doesn't really deter the audience from showing up at that time. Yeah, well, okay. So there's that. I think the big winner. I mean, as far as UFC fans, I mean, as far as like, if you're talking about like sports fans, I've never seen UFC. And when you're talking about a stadium show, something so big in the market for the first time, a lot of people are going to think, you know, like, let's go. And they may just go, you know,

if it's at night and all the buddies get together at 10 in the morning, we know, breakfast with kids, you know what I mean? I think that they're, UFC fans, no, it's going to be. no deterrent at all, but I think that the audience that brings it from, say, a 55 to a 70, I think that time may mean something. If all goes to plan, I think the big winner could be Yawanna-Jech. She'll get that rub. And if she has a big performance, as many are expecting her to, she might, you know, up her stock as well.

Final thing, I'll put you on the spot here. Does the fight Rousey versus Home last more than 60 seconds? Yeah, 60 seconds, I think, because I think that, I just think that Ronda's not going to rush in. and I think that home is going to be very cautious. So, yeah, I mean, if you're giving me three minutes, it's going to be tougher. But over under 60 seconds, I don't think she beats her in 60 seconds. All right. Great stuff, as always, Dave.

Thank you so much. Okay, great. There he is. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, also of MMAfighting.com. Always love hearing his perspective when we have these interesting times, and also the world of pro wrestling and MMA blend, as they once again did, Friday night in St. Louis and to get his perspective business-wise on a big show like UFC 199. Okay, let's move along. Let's welcome in our next guest. It has been a while since

this gentleman joined us on the program. We're talking to one of the hottest fighters in the UFC's Walthyweight Division. Stephen Wonderboy Thompson is on the phone right now. Stephen, how are you? Doing great, my friend, and I appreciate you having me on, man. A pleasure as always. So one of the forgotten aspects of this announcement last week that Neil Magny would be replacing Matt Brown against Kelvin Gaslam was that Neil Magny was booked against you in January. Now you're left opponentless. What was your reaction when you found out that they took

away your opponent to have him fight later on this month? Well, you know, it all came as kind of a surprise to be honest with you. I didn't really find out until I got on, you know, social media and found out that way. You know, everybody was blowing me up after that. It was like, hey, man, you know, so what's going on?

I was like, what are you talking about? Like, Magnie's, you know, he was going to be fighting Gasolam in like two weeks, I believe. I was like, really, really. I didn't hear anything about that. But yeah, man, I was a little surprised, a little disappointed, but I thought me and Maddie would put on a good show. But, you know, I guess there's bigger and better things that's going to be happening.

So, you know, we'll see who they replace me with or if they replace Magny with anybody. You know, it's just a waiting game right now. Were you disappointed that you weren't giving a heads up? Yeah, I was fairly disappointed. I didn't get the heads up. But, you know, I found out, like, right when it happened, because I know the UFC was trying to find a replacement very quickly. And I understood, you know, everybody's first reaction was, why didn't they give that to you?

Yeah, I was just going to ask you that. And, well, I think it did make more sense. I mean, because I know Mexico City is like, what, $7.00 to be to sea level. And I know Neil Magni trains pretty much at that altitude could be trained in Denver. It just made more sense for somebody to go from, you know, at sea level, straight up to Mexico City. It would have been pretty rough. And I know the UFC is wanting to put on a, you know, show a good show, put on a good show with those guys and make it exciting. And not saying, I wouldn't make it exciting.

But with the altitude train, it plays a big difference in how you perform. Not to be a stickler here, but this fight is actually taking place in Monterey, which I believe is closer to sea level than Mexico City. Oh, really? I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I thought it was like right in Mexico City. Oh, well, I was throwing off with that, then, huh? That definitely changes everything, then, huh? Yes, it's elevation, according to my quick Google search here, is 1,765 feet.

So it's less. It's certainly something. Would you have been interested if it was, you know, in America or so? Would you have been ready to fight on such short notice? Yeah, it was kind of because I just got off of a, you know, I just had knee surgery not too long ago. And I'm just now getting into the training camp. So that made up, you know, why they went with Maddie. That kid always stays in shape, you know.

Not saying I don't, but I did just have a knee injury and got to get back into the swing of things and get into sparring. Like I just had my first sparring session not too long ago, like a week and a half ago. So I'm not sure, man. I mean, if UFC called him was like, hey, man, we really need you to fight, I believe I would have taken it. And we'll get to that surgery in a second. I'm just wondering, just so we complete the picture here, have they really, reached out to you after the fact and said, hey, look, you know, we're sorry about all this, but you'll still fight on that card.

UFC 195. We're looking at this and that. Has any of that gone down since? Yep, that's the plan. I mean, they still want me to fight in January 2nd, but the thing is we just need an opponent, you know, I would like the top 10 guy. But as of right now, there's a lot of guys that are injured, and most of them have fights coming up.

I think there's one that doesn't, which is Tyrone Woodley, and I think, hey, man, you know, why not go for it? I think me and Tyrone would put on a good show. if he was down. I do know he's wanting the next title shot, but hey man, you never know. We'd love to step in the cage with one of the best, and Tyrone is one of the best.

Well, I love that attitude. Why not? Why not ask for it? Have you officially asked for Tyrant? We have. We have. You know, my manager has talked to Joe Silva and kind of pitched it to him a little bit,

and we're just kind of waiting on him and see what Tyrone has to say. But, you know, hopefully it will still happen because I know a lot of guys, a lot of our family here have gotten tickets, and, you know, karate students have gotten tickets already for the fight, and it'd be cool to make that happen. When, I know you weren't on the phone, but when you threw it out there, your manager, Lex McMahon, threw it out there,

were they like, eh, that's not even a chance, or were they like, ooh, you know, we might look into this? What do you think are the chances as we sit and talk here today? Well, for me it doesn't look good, because I know Tyrone's ranked number three, and it's kind of like a, you know, lose situation for him. if, you know, the wind does come out in my favor because he's, I think he was promised to, like, the next title shot.

And I think that's what he's waiting on. I know he hadn't fought in a while. Yeah. So, you know, maybe that's something I could, I could, they could, you know, throw out their hand fought in a while. You know, why not step in there with the cage with, you know, the number eight ranked guy before you step in there for the, you know, for the title shot just to get, you know, keep your, keep your feet wet a little bit. But, you know, as of what I can tell, I think he's just waiting for that next title shot. but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The other interesting one, and he did suffer a pretty significant injury and ankle injury,

I believe he tore some ligaments, so the timing might be off. But, you know, the lone loss on your record is Matt Brown, and he's, you know, coincidentally, the guy who got injured. Is that still one that you're holding on to that you'd love to get back? Oh, man, that would be awesome. I know he just got injured. I know, you know, it was an ankle injury. That would be another one if he heals up in time for, man, you know,

I'm all about putting on a good show, you know, and making it exciting. And I thought we put it, I thought we did a great job the last fight. I know it could be even better. If he healed up in time, man, that would be another awesome opponent to step in the cage with. Heck yeah, man. Of course. When's the last time you watched that fight? UFC 145, April of 2012 feels like ages ago.

When's the last time you actually watched it? You know what? It must have been, I think it was right after my surgery about a month and a half ago. Really? And, yeah, I haven't watched it again until then. I mean, I know after I got back home from that fight, we watched it one time, and that was it. You know, I was kind of, I was obviously disappointed in the loss, but I just didn't want to sit and dwell on it. And I wanted to get back into training and be ready for the next guy to come up and not just sit there because he wasn't my only loss.

A lot of guys, they sit there, and they just want that fight back. They wanted it. And they're not focused on the people in front of them at that time, you know. and that can definitely throw you off a little bit. So I was just focused on getting back up, you know, moving forward from that. But now that I'm in the top 10, and he is in front of me for the title, definitely would want to fight him again. Oh, yeah. So just a few weeks ago was the first time since that fight that you watched it in its entirety?

Yeah, I'm sure. And you know what? I was like, man, I was my second fight in the UFC. Yeah. I don't think I did too bad to be honest. with you. What prompted you to sit down and finally watch it all these years later? Well, I was, somebody had posted up a, I think it was a highlight video of me on my Facebook,

and I watched it. And there was a lot of clips of me. I think the majority of the highlight was me and Matt Brown. I was like, man, I was really tagging them, man. I was doing pretty good. So that kind of was like, hey, I want to go back and watch, you know, the entire fight, because I know obviously it was just showing me, punching and kicking Matt Brown, and I know there was a lot of Matt Brown punching and kicking me in the face,

so I just kind of wanted to go back and kind of rewatch it and see how much better I've gotten since that fight. Yeah, so did it give you confidence? Because, you know, as time goes on and people talk about that being your only loss, and he dominated you on the ground, when you actually sat there and watched it, you're like, I didn't actually do as bad as I thought. And I'm wondering if in that state that you were in coming off surgery, maybe, you know, not 100% up, but maybe not, you know,

know, as up as usually are confidence-wise, did it give you a boost, an unexpected boost, if you will? Oh, yeah, it sure did, man. I mean, I knew that I wasn't at my best, and that was my second fight. I think my sixth fight ever in MMA, and, I mean, I know I've improved tremendously since then, and it was a huge confidence boost, which, of course, I know Matt Brown has as well, but, yeah, a huge confidence boost. I know I could step out there, and I know I can beat Matt Brown.

Why, you know, if you end up fighting in January, that will mean only one fight in 2015. I know you had the knee injury, but in a perfect world, would you like to be more active than you have been the last couple years? Yeah, I really do. You know, I've been fighting since I was 15 and had a lot of problems with my left knee. It feels great. It always feels great after surgery. And it's always a freak thing that always messes it up. You know, like my last one, I ended up, you know, hurting my heel from the spin kick against Ellenberger.

Yeah. So I was compensating, putting a little bit more weight on my left leg. I was walking down the stairs, and I tripped down the dang stairs like an old woman. Wow. Yeah, yeah. And the next thing you know, I was like, I couldn't straighten my leg. I was like, why can't I straighten my leg out right now? And the meniscus had torn and it flipped over into the joint.

So it was like, you know, stupid stuff like that. It's never inspiring, never during really a fight. It's always something stupid like that, you know? and that gummit, it just seems to happen at the wrong time. And I would definitely want to stay more active. I guess I just got to be careful outside the gym. I never really get injured inside the gym. It's always outside.

How big of a fall was it down the stairs? It was out of my house, man. And it wasn't really that bad. I was, you know, have carpet. I was in socks. And, you know, my heel was killing. I had a real deep bone bruise. And I went to step on.

down on my left leg, all my weight on it, but my foot was kind of too close to the edge, and it slipped. And my knee moved forward, my foot kind of stayed in the same spot as I went down the stairs and I definitely felt something just kind of tear or like a ripping sensation in my knee. And then I tried to very slowly straighten it out, and it wouldn't straighten it out. I was, a few years back, I think it was right after the Matt Brown fight, they had went in and repaired some iniscus, and that's what we did. tour and flipped over into the joint so I couldn't straighten it out.

Eventually, I ended up falling again before surgery and I could straighten it out. Like, it felt fine. I knew I had to get it fixed because I know during a fight, I wouldn't want that to happen, not be able to, you know, that stuff end up flipping back into my joint and not straightened out during the fight. So I knew I had to get back in there, you know, just clean it up. But it feels fantastic right now. Just got back from New York training with Chris Blackman, did some, you know, some sparring

sessions with him, and it feels great. So you mentioned the heel hook that you bruised her heel against Ellenberger. I believe, if memory serves me correct, there's so many fights in between now and then. But you landed two in that fight. Was it the first one or the second one? It was actually the second one. The first one, I let him back up, and I kind of hit him near the jaw area, neck, which dropped him, and he recovered very well. I let him back up, and the second one I knew where I hit him the first time, so I knew his hands was going to drop down.

to that spot again. So I'd be to aim a little bit higher, and hit him right across the four-head temple area. It didn't look like much. When you go back and watch it, it didn't look like much. But it was just fast enough to, you know, across the temple to move his head at that, you know, fast rapid rate, which knocked him down, man, and made that brain bang up against the inside of his skull, knocked him down, and that's all she wrote. And I remember after that, I did the flip.

I was like, dang, I can't even feel my foot right now. It was completely numb. And it was numb until the next day, it was immediately bruised up. So I thought I broke it. But it got x-rays and everything looked good. It's just a deep bone bruise, and it was just really sore. You've landed those before. Has that ever happened to you?

Never happened to me. Never happened. Well, I've never aimed that high on a spin kick. I normally aim for the jaw area, you know, neck. And I just knew that that was where to put it. And I put it right beside the skull, and it definitely hurt, man. The skull is a hard, you know, it was definitely harder than your heel. And, you know, it was just one of those things, man.

And I was like, you know, I'm going to throw it. And whatever happens happens, I can hurt later. That, you've had highlight real finishes in the UFC, but considering the stage, main event, all that stuff, was that the most gratifying win of your career, even outside of ultimate fighting? Oh, definitely. I've had a lot of head kick knockouts. I think in kickboxing, I had, like, close to, 30.

Wow. And in the UFC, I have few. But this was definitely, I think, the most memorable moment of my career just because it was the main event. And such a huge weekend of fight, you know. Of course, you had the UFC, you know, like Expo. You had the Connor McGregor, fight against Mendez. That was just a crazy weekend and to finish it out with that spectacular knock. It was huge for me.

And it was this. It was a great moment. Did you feel like the audience, you may have been in the zone and not paying attention to this stuff, but did you feel like people were somewhat exhausted from the emotional roller coaster that was 194? In hindsight, do you kind of wish that your fight was on the Friday before the fight as they're doing in December so that more people were paying attention and it would build to the pay-per-view on Saturday? Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah, exactly.

And, you know, there was a lot of energy and bugs going on as soon as I got there to Vegas, and it did die down a little bit just because after, you know, you have a lot of, you have a lot of, you know, had the Connor McGreg, and that's where everybody was really there. They wanted to see that. And me and Ellenberg were supposed to be on that card, but we got bumped to the main event for the ultimate fighter. But, of course, I'm going to take a main event spot over, you know, fighting underneath those guys any day just, you know, for the exposure and the experience to fighting on a main

event, you know, on a card. So, of course, I took it. Everybody was kind of, you know, a little tired, I believe. But I think after that, after that fight, the bus kind of picked back up a little a little bit more. And just knowing after that, I was the cause of that. I definitely put a smile on my face. And it was just a freak.

It was a, you know, I've never done that before in my life, to be honest with anybody with two thin hook kicks in the first round. And somebody as good as Jake Ellenberger, you know, when I first got that fight, I was very nervous just because, you know, he almost ended guys' careers with his hands and knocked dude guys, that's great wrestler, rang number nine. And, you know, I was like, very nervous. But I was like, you know what? I'm just going to train it like, I'm just going to train it like,

do every area everybody else but as soon as i got to Vegas and i see my face everywhere wow this is the real deal you know i've got to stay focused my course that's why i keep my dad and good guys around you to keep your focused on what you got to stay focused on and not let the hype and everything get to you and make you even more nervous so it was and i think everything turned out real well yes your father mr ray thompson one of my favorite people on m m m ms a big part of your career and it's it's beautiful to see your relationship and that he's still a big part of your team at this point. So you mentioned Chris Weidman. I know you were just in New York.

He first brought you in to mimic and help him train for Anderson, but now are you just a full-fledged member of the team? Oh, yeah, man. And, yeah, we're there for the first Anderson fight. Then, you know, he invited me back for the second Anderson fight, and Leo is from a cheetah. Yeah. You know, if you tour Belford, and yeah, man, it's just a part of, it's a routine now. You know, he brings me in for his camps, and I bring him down to my camps, whenever I have

fight coming up and it just works out well and now you know hopefully one day he's going to be a family member we're going to be part of the family because you know my brother tony he's he's uh talking to his sister coline talking to is that what they call it these days i guess so man those getting pretty serious you know she's uh uh you know it's getting pretty serious it's pretty cool that that's great i think kind of worked out yeah so i'm wondering the first time you trained with him do you remember which fight it was for for you which which was the first time that he helped you out for a fight? I believe it was

Patrick Cote. Patrick Cote and look at you. Okay, so it's only been two fights. Yeah. I was trying to give him a little too much credit here. I thought maybe it was after the Matt Brown fighting, like, look what's happened since you've been training, but he doesn't deserve any of that credit.

You probably deserve more credit for what he's done with Anderson and Liotto and stuff than he deserves credit for what you've been doing. Nah, man. He's not teaching you those spinning heel kicks and all that crazy stuff. No, it's not, but he's definitely helping me keep it standing. You know what I mean? I mean, his wrestling, he's so freaking good, and he's such a monster.

And what I learned with him mostly is his work ethic, you know, the way he just grind himself out and pushes himself in the gym. You know, there's no excuses for him. And he separates his training and his family very well. He makes no excuses, you know, all on my backs, you know, not feeling too well. I'm going to skip out on this. No, there's none of that.

No matter how he feels or what he's feeling physically or mentally, emotionally, he knows he's got a job, and he's in the gym no matter what, and he pushes himself to the limit, which, you know, I see that, and I know that's why he's the champion. It's his work ethic and his mental, physical, and emotional strength that he has, man, and it's because of the people he keeps around him. You know, Ray Longo, Matt Serra, it's family, he's got a great support system, and I know I got that here, so, you know, why not push myself to the limit every time I step out there for training.

And he definitely has changed my mindset on training and just the whole look on in the training itself. He's a huge asset to my training camp and why I'm where I am right now. From your perspective, does anything Rockhold brings to the table worry you for Chris? Not at all. Nothing. Not at all. Nothing.

You know, from the look at Rockhold, he's never really changed. even from his strike force days, he hasn't made any significant changes to make me think, wow, this guy's going to do something different during this fight.

You know, if you look at Chris, every fight that he takes, he's got something new in his bag, and he's constantly learning and evolving, and everybody's basing this fight off of their fights with Machita.

You know, everybody's like, you know, Chris went five rounds with Machia, no, well, Rockold finished him, I think it was in the second round, but the second round,

you know, it was a rear-necked choke, But, you know, just from that, you know, Luke, excuse me, Liu Chimachito was at his best. I think in his whole career when he stepped in the cage against Chris. I think he was at his best. And when Chris just, it was a great war, but Chris just dominated him.

And he just wasn't the same after that. Even going into the fight with Luke Rockwell, I can just tell you just wasn't the same. And during the way he didn't look the same, he wasn't as fired up as he normally is. and I think, you know, Luke Rockwell didn't fight, Mnuchita at his best. I think Chris definitely has the apprehended in his fight. He's just better, I think, all around. The only thing that Luke may have is reach, advantage with his legs and his feet,

but, man, I'm telling you, man, unless you're just stepping out there with Chris, you don't understand how good he did. Final quick thing for you. You're searching for an opponent. You're shooting for the stars. You're asking for Tyron Woodley. In your mind, how far away do you think you are? from that title discussion.

Man, if this does happen between me and Tyrone Woodley, if it actually, if it doesn't happen, I would say two or three more fights. If it does happen, I would say two. You know, after Tyrone Woodley, you know, make that step up. Hey, let's go for the title.

And that's what I'm looking. I'm looking to move forward. You know, it's kind of, if he about taking the fight with Magny just because, you know, he is ranked number 12, but he is a dangerous fighter, you know? And it just felt like a step back. You know what I mean? And I wanted to move forward.

And, you know, the top five, even, you know, top set, you know, next guy under me. This number seven guy, number six guy. But, you know, they got injuries. They already got fights coming up. And the only guy is Tyrone. And, you know, if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, we'll look for somebody else. But that's the fight.

I think we would, is the best one for me right now. And I think we would put on a good show. Well, I know he's, waiting for a title fight and you can certainly make a very strong case that he deserves it, but you are taking a page out of Tyron's book, and he's got to respect that. He did the same thing when he wanted to fight Carlos Condit, and he was further back in the rankings, did the same thing recently with Johnny Hendrick, so I know he has to respect your drive here and you're shooting for the stars. Good luck getting the fight. Hopefully you do remain on that card on January 2nd.

It's been truly a pleasure watching you grow and evolve into the fighter that you have become and looking forward to the next few steps here. Thank you very much for the time, Stephen, and we'll see you hopefully in January in Vegas. Sounds good, my friend. It's a pleasure to be able to talk to you, and thanks for having me on. All right, there he is.

One of the most dynamic fighters in the sport today. There's no doubt about it when he fights, when he competes inside the octagon, it truly feels like you can't look away. You can't believe you can't do anything because he's got these crazy kicks in his back pocket in his arsenal. A tremendous win over Jake Ellen. Berger in July, one of the best finishes of 2015, no doubt about it, and looking forward to seeing

what the UFC does with him next. Now, the UFC announced around the same time that they announced Magni fighting Gaslam. They announced that they are going back to Newark, January 30th, Fox, big Fox show during the NFL playoffs. So you know a lot of people will be watching. The main event is going to be Rumble Johnson versus Ryan Bader. Ryan Bader joining us right now on the phone. Ryan, how are you?

Oh, great. How about you? I'm good. you know, I, as a guy who lives in New York, and it's a Fox fight, I was like, oh, that's a really interesting fight in the light heavyweight division when it was announced that I was thinking, but I said, man, I wonder how

Ryan Bader feels about all of this, and that's why I wanted to have you on the show. Did you have to kind of be like, well, I guess, you know, like was this one of the fights where, yeah, it's a big stage, it's Fox, it's main event, but you aren't that happy that you're getting this opportunity because it's not what you ultimately wanted? Yeah, you know, kind of.

You know, when John Jones came back, you know, I had it in the back of my head that they're going to do Cormain Jones, you know, and, you know, they want that fight. That's a little big last time, you know, but I still held out some hope and, you know, we waited to kind of hear the word, basically, before we kind of, you know, got on social media or whatnot. And so, yeah, they gave us a call and said, you know, you guys want to fight Rumble in, you know, January 30th, main event, Big Frost, you know, and, you know, so that lessens the blow a little bit. You know, it's a huge platform.

And, you know, Rumble's right number one. And so, you know, we keep going back to like, this one's going to be it. You know, this one, this one's it. So who knows, though? So if I got to beat everybody, that's what I got to do. I'll make it that much sweeter. But, yeah, I was kind of, you know, disappointed at the same time, this is a huge fight and that it's what we're in the game for.

Did they have to convince you? Did you try holding out and saying, I'll just wait for the winner of Cormier Jones, or because of the stage and the main event, all that, did you say yes right away? No, they didn't have to convince me. We just said yes right away. What a good guy you are. Yeah, exactly, you know. But for me, you know, looking at it from my viewpoint, you know, nothing's guaranteed.

No title shots are ever guaranteed. You know, I'm going to sit there and wait. You know, Corme is saying he doesn't want to think about her, whatever, until next year. and, you know, I had no clue when they were going to fight, maybe in April, maybe later, and then, you know, what happened if the champ breaks his hand gets hurt, then I'm waiting even more, and I'm waiting for what, maybe potentially getting a shot? You never know, you know, and so they could throw somebody out of Duke up in Jones, too, you know. You never know what's going to happen.

So for me, that was my thought process and said, hey, I'll take a fight, it'll give me, you know, hopefully, obviously, that much closer, you know, beating the guy like Rumble. who's made number one right now. And so that was our thought process. Did they say to you, okay, if you beat this guy, there's no one else and you will finally get that title shot, has that been said? I didn't talk to, like, just over directly,

but the manager dating, I think it was alluded to, you know, a process of elimination, there's no one else. Yeah. But. And so I think that's all the said. You know, and so take that for what's worth. You know, as well as any way,

at this point, crazier things have happened, right? So I guess you're not hanging your hat on that until you get that contract whenever that time comes. Yeah, exactly. You know, so right now, what I can do is, you know, if I want to keep fighting being active, you know, and I'm 32 years old, you know, and I'm right there. I have great momentum going right now. Everything's good in my life, you know, so I'm not going to sit around a week, potentially

potentially a year, you know, perhaps. not a fight, you know, on the basis of maybe getting a title shot. So it's just kind of, as far as what I've went through, like, the last couple of fights and we'll talk about it and this and that. And, yeah, I've just kind of done them thinking about it. You know, it'll happen when it happens. And all I can do is go out there and beat that guy and beat rumble now. So that's it.

Has that been part of the change for you in a good way that you have stopped obsessing over the belt? And I've heard this before that once guys do that, they really start to enjoy great success. Like you stop worrying about what you have to do in the road. Has that happened to you as well? Yeah, for sure. You know, there's the pressure of always thinking ahead and always you know, what do I got to do to get there

and those big letdowns, you know? You know, for, I thought I was playing Corrmeet for sure. Even Cormiate thought we're fine, you know, and then obviously that didn't happen. You know, so you have those letdowns and all you're fighting were shot now. And, you know, if it happened again, you know, it just docked you down a little bit mentally. And so for me, yeah, you know, I go in there, you know, I tend like it was just another fight,

your first fight of a windshick or anything like that. I'm not looking at like, oh, I've got to make this six-in-row or anything like that to up my chances of a title shot. You know, we've seen, like you said, crazy stuff happen. We've seen guys, the last couple guys get title shots off of losses, you know. And so, you know, potentially you can go in there and lose a fight. Yeah, that's right. That's the silver lining.

I stopped worrying about it. I got to tell you, and I don't know if you'll appreciate this, but it was a lot of fun just watching you, observing you, listening to what you had to say in Houston, because, man, the chip on your shoulder, I like that stuff. I like when someone's a little riled up and wanting to prove to the world and shutting up the doubters.

Have you ever felt that way before, a fight before, looking back now? Not too much, you know, because I've never had people really kind of talk, like he was talking, you know, I kind of felt like I was a butt of their joke between those two, you know? Yep. They're all buddy-bodies and whatnot. And so basically it's just like a lack of respect. You know, I can take the smack talk and, you know, I don't care about that.

But there's certain things like, you know, the core-based attitude. That's why I got pissed off is the easiest, I'm the easiest fight in the division, you know, and then Rashad was caught that and all that kind of stuff. And for me, it's – I feel like everything. time I go out there, I have to prove something because, you know, whether it's fans or the fighters that I'm going to fight, you know, fight potentially or I'm scheduled to fight, there's always an excuse of why I won. You know, there's, oh, Rashad's been out for two years, you know, fight before, oh, he had a bad weight cutter. There's always something of why I won. So I just

probably keep this rolling and just keep proving people all. That's what I love about it. Do you feel like because a couple of your losses, which are, you know, your last loss, was to go over to share it two years ago, over two years ago, and prior to that, you beat Matsushenko in dominant fashion, but do you feel like because you've had some of those losses early in your career that were somewhat spectacular, highlight reels for the other guy, that you've been forced to work extra hard to erase that memory for people? Oh, yeah, I mean, you go back, people still talk about Tito Ortiz, as in Tito Ortiz. You know, oh, Ryan put a great streak together, but he still lost a Tito, he sucks, you know?

And so, you know, that's always there. And if you look at my losses, you know, I've lost to John Jones, which pound for pound was best fighters out there. Yep. You know, I lost to Machita back when the Cheetah was rolling, you know, and, yeah, I lost to Tito. And when I fought Tito and Jones, I'm a, I was a kid then. I was a totally different fighter now.

And then I lost a Glover. You know, those four losses. Looking back, you know, three of them were, you know, the championship material. Two are champions, and, you know, and three of them to champion at one point, and Bobber fought for the title, and he's a beast, you know, and so

I feel like I get a little lack of respect, mainly from that Tio by reserve. On the flip side, though, I kind of feel like what Phil Davis did in Beltaire recently upped your stock, gave you a little more respect, like people were like, oh, Phil Davis is capable of this, then that win, you know, while it was close, looked a lot better in hindsight.

Did you feel the same way? Yeah, you know, Phil's all the guys, he's tough. He's a tough guy to get a hold of. And people don't realize that until they actually fight him. You know, Brian Sin was there, and, you know, he's fought him honestly, and he knows. And he told me, he goes, don't anybody take anything away from me without winning, because I've been in there with Phil, and he's a weird, weird guy to fight, get a hold of, you know, and just his motion and everything and that, you know, so I definitely think that, you know,

up my stock and obviously, you know, Bill stock, you know, so that's always good. But, you know, for me, I guess it's going out there and beating Rumble that, you know, I see more respect now, especially from the fans. You know, I've got this Win Street going. And, you know, even if they might not like my fighting style or whatever, you know, they respect that, you know, I'm keeping my head down and taking these fights and going through it. And, you know, and you kind of have people on your side a little bit when you get to keep it and passed over, you know. So, you know, for me, I think it's beating that number one guy, the number two guy. That's going to garner me to respect and, you know, say, okay, now he really deserves that shot and, you know, he can do it. I feel like you've been asked this before, but considering the era that we're in these days, things have changed clearly.

Is it not important? Like, you can't just beat Rumble at this point, right? You have to, especially like you see what Glover did to Pat Cummins. The highlight, the crazy finish, it means more than just the W against who you picked it up. Do you have to do something spectacular on the 30th in order to 100% ensure that you are getting that title shot? Is that what you're thinking? See, I feel like I'll kind of like in a dangerous here because, you know, you're going out and fighting Johnson. You know, we know what he has.

He's supposed to hit hard, especially in the first round. He's going to come out, you know, Blake. and be fighting him at any other time or any time really if I'm going there get him down and do a corps major to them you know and so I go out there and I you know I I'm on them I'm making terrible weight you know I'm taking them down if I don't finish him then it goes back to again well you know that's however many decisions in a win it wasn't a spectacular fight so no we're going to put whoever in you know they're in a title shot So I feel like I'm in that kind of corner right there.

You might, you know, I'd be done to go out there and stay in tow to and trade with them in the first couple minutes, you know? And so I feel like I'm in a weird place right there. But, you know, for me, I don't even really care right now. You know, I'm going to go out there and do what I need to do to go out there and win. And I can go from there, you know, the next fight or whatnot. I know if I can start fighting for going out there and throwing my wrist with the way and just start banging with guys.

You know, but I'm five fights. You know, I've won five fights in a row. I'm right there. This is what I train for. I've been taught my whole life to go out there and win at all costs. Yeah. And so that's my mentality right now. Very few people in the history of the sport can say they've won five in a row in the UFC.

But when it's all said and done, if you never do get that title shot, will your career feel incomplete? No, it will. Yeah, I've had a blast. You know, I've got to travel the world. I've fought in Australia a couple of times in Japan. up in front of new crowds. It's taken me, you know, like I said, different places. I've met awesome people.

You know, last week somebody sent me something on Twitter as far as, like, the staffs in the light heavyweight division. I've never even looked at those, and I even know they had them. So I started looking at it, you know, and it's crazy to kind of look back because I feel like I'm new in the sports still. And I almost have, you know, as many fights. I'm like number three as far as, like, been or been around, as far as, like, different stuff and looking back, holy crap, you know, I've been around for a while and I've had a great

time. And I feel like right now is the closest I'm going to get as far as I'm 32 years old. I can probably make one more run or something, you know, if you take a loss, maybe you start to take a couple losses in a row, you know, that's what I'm talking about going out there and fighting for the fans and making it fun. But if I don't get it, I'm still happy with myself because I know I've been in there. I gave it my all. There's nothing more than I can do. Anthony Johnson told the media and the fans in Brazil this past weekend that he's going to take your soul. What's your reaction to that? Yeah, well, I want to do the same thing.

My game plans are going there and make him quit, you know, do what D.C. did to him. You know, and he has been chatting on Twitter, you know, trying to get me to, you know, respond to him back. And I wasn't going to let him in his camp dictate, you know, what we're going to do in our fight. You know, and he keeps saying I got to beat these, I got to beat a top three guy, or I haven't beat anybody who deserves a war in a title shot, you know, when these other guys are just getting thrown in off a losses and stuff. So it is what it is, you know, it's a, I'm not going to get to smack talk again. But I'm going to go in there.

I'm going to try to do the same thing. I'm going to try to give him to quit. I'm going to try to, you know, just wear on him, getting down and, you know, eventually finish him. Do you feel like this is another guy, though, that deep down doesn't really have all that much respect for you? Yeah, you know, just some of the stuff you're saying, and, you know, it could be the whole thing with, you know, him and Rashad are good buddies. That's right. And all that, you know, and I've knownable, like, from, you know, back in the day where he was a tap out, you know, he's a wrestler. I like the guy, you know, but it comes back down to the same thing of me, you know, I just saw an article today or something about, you know,

later looked like later. You know, it's just a lack of respect, you know, and I don't care. I like that because I get to go out there and prove people wrong. And as I get to do that every single time, you know, my opponent, the fans, or whatnot, then that's what I'm going to do. I like being in that position. You know, I'm a big underdog in this fight. I love being in that position.

And I love to prove people wrong and prove myself right in my coaches. Is it hard not to respond when they're trying to bait you? Yeah, exactly. You know, well, you know, when they came out of Toronto, I was actually in Mexico. I was on vacation. and then I came back, and my phone was, like, blown up on social media, like, oh, you're going to respond, you're being a pussy, all this kind of stuff. And I'm like, I'm not going to just fall into it, yeah, get faded into it when,

first off, I don't know what's going on with this title shot, you know, and they haven't came out and said anything. So I was going to wait and do it on my terms, my own terms, you know. He wants to fight me. I have a five-five win streak. You know, I'm the quickest way to the title. If he beats me, then, you know, he's right there. You know, I'm number, spring number three right now.

you know, and he's fought Dustin already, you know, so, of course, he wants to fight, you know, and then, you know, but Jones coming back makes it more palatable because it's Jones, you know, and he's going to get the title shot, that's fine. You know, when somebody like Dustin, that's a little harder, you know, and so we knew if that was happening, we're going to take a fight, and then we knew it was going to be rumble, and so when it, we found out for sure, said, okay, let's do it, and then here we are. Final thing, who do you think wins when Jones fights Cormier and B of that question? Who are you rooting for?

I'm not really rude for anybody, you know, because, number one, I would love to get in there with Jones again. You know, he's a beast. They're both beasts. But, you know, John's been running through everybody. And, you know, I want to get that fight back and I want to fight him again. and then obviously I want to fight Cormier. We've been through that a million times for what we have, you know, and so, you know, that would be nice to finally actually do it with Cormier

and do it with, you know, for a title shot. Without being said, who's going to win? Cormier has obviously grown throughout his being a champion, you know, going through those five-round war with Gus. It's going to make him that much better when that happens to game with Jones or if that happens to game with Jones, you know, and going out there and being smart and beating Anton Johnson. And then it's where Jones is at, you know, mentally.

You know, supposedly he's in the gym more and all that kind of stuff and time off to be good for some people or it could be bad. He could come in refresh, wanting to train, wanting to get better and having that fire to compete, or could do the opposite. You know, some people need that chaos in their life. and you know stuff he was doing and all that kind of stuff

and some people need that you know to either take the not the attention but that little stress off of it and everything like that and so it really depends on how he comes back you know if he's fired up wanting to go you know it's hard not to say that

Jones wins Ryan a pleasure as always my friend looking forward to it always great when the UFC comes very close to where I live so I'm very excited about that It's a big fight for both of you. Ryan Bader, Anthony Johnson, live and free on Fox, January 30th from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Looking forward to it, as I said, Ryan. Thank you very much for the time once again.

Next, buddy, of course. All right, there he is. Ryan Bader. Huge fight for him if he beats Rumble Johnson in around two and a half months. That, I mean, it's going to be hard to argue against him finally deserving that title shot. All right, let's move along now. So very honored that we are being joined on the phone by. a man who needs zero introduction, a legendary figure in the history of combat sports,

both boxing, of course, and a little bit in our sport of mixed martial arts, and he made some news last week. I want to talk to him about that and a whole lot more. We're being joined by the one and only Freddie Roach right now on the phone. Freddie, how are you? I'm good. And yourself? I am doing great.

Thank you so much. What a great honor this is for us. I really appreciate your time. So, as I said last week, you were the talk of the MMA world, because you subtly dropped this nudge. that you had recently trained with the one and only George St. Pierre and that you guys actually, you know, came up with a plan of doing this six-week training camp to see if you'd be ready to come back. Is that an accurate way of laying it all out?

Yeah, you know, the thing is he came in to train, and he trained for three days, and he actually looked really good. He was, I mean, maybe three of the best training sessions we've ever had. He was a lot more flexible. He's very strong, as usual, and he was. And, you know, he likes to do the power lifting and so forth. And sometimes we debate over it makes them stiffer a little bit, maybe too stiff or not strong enough. So it's always in the middle, but we did have three very, very good workouts. Actually, one day we did 10 rounds straight on the midst with no rest period. We just worked right through it.

Wow. And he's not in top, top shape right now, but he made it through the 10 rounds. and he was wondering when I was going to give him a break, and he would never ask. So we just went 10 rounds straight. And then, you know, we're going to do the six-week training camp, and the thing is he wants to see if he's hungry for it still and still wants to do it.

And after six weeks, I know we'll have a great idea of it's either yes or no. And I thought it was a great idea to, you know, be thoughtful of that of doing and doing something like that. I haven't heard of it before, but it does make sense to me. And, you know, the thing is, if you, you know, if you're not hungry for it anymore, after six weeks of training, you know, you go away. If you are, you know, you make the comeback and give full dedication. After those three days, after that 10-round session, what does your gut say right now before we enter that six-week stretch? Do you think he will fight again? Yes, I do. Why?

Yeah, just on the three-day session we had, you know, he was so, he's so positive and so good. And, again, it was like the three best sessions every who we've ever had. And, you know, there was, you know, nobody down here was very private. And he just had one of his bodyguards with him or actually not a bodyguard, one of his best friends. But the thing is, I said, you know, Georgia, I said, if we do do this, and we do make a comeback, like, you know, how are we going to do it? Like, are we going to fight the top guy right away? Are we going to build ourselves up a little bit?

And, you know, he says, well, I hopefully think that we can build ourselves up a little bit, up a little bit during that six-week session, because during the six-week session, we are going to have actual fights in my ring downstairs, private, of course, but we will have fights and they'll be competitive and, you know, and there'll be no holding back and just, you know, because that's part of the process of getting to know if you still want to do this. So we get some guys that will come down and will, you know, help us out and, you know, give us an idea of where we're at in the sport right now. Will he be spending that entire six-week period with you?

Yep. Wow. Why not Montreal as well? Actually, because my schedule is so damn crazy lately and so busy, and he knows that. And he does want me to come to Montreal to see his new gym and so forth. I just don't have time at this moment. And the thing is, I am probably facing a decision pretty strong.

soon if I have to back surgery or not. Okay. And if I can get around that, and like I'm doing every day, I go to therapy every day and work out for two and a half hours, and the two and a half hour workout gets me here, and he gets me on the meds, and he gets me, you know, the thing is, but every day it's the same thing, and it's not cheap. They charge you a lot of money for those sessions.

But, you know, the thing is, just talk about, you know, some guys over in Germany that are very good, some great doctors over there, and I know some guys that have gone there and have some success. But the thing is, I do have a bad back right now, and that's the only thing really holding us back right now. And if I do have the surgery, I can still verbally coach him from the side of the gym and so forth, and I just don't have time to go to Montreal at this point. But I do like Montreal, and I actually love Montreal. It's a great city and so forth, and I do hope we had a chance to go there.

and if we do have a chance, we will go. But right now, the plan is here at the Wild Car. Prior to this, when was the last time you worked with George? I think the last time I worked with George was right before his last fight. Okay. And then he went back to Montreal to work on his ground game, of course. And, you know, I talked to him about the ground game and all the other factors of getting ready for a fight and so forth. And he told me he has enough people down here that are friendly enough with him that will come over.

And he didn't give me, you know, a lot of his guys will come in. So the downstairs part of the wildcar will be fully MMA at that time. Wow. So a little unusual for us. But that's, you know, again, I care about George and I want him to make the right decision. There's been some talk that if he does come back and you just said you believe he will, you know, maybe he doesn't go for a title. He's not there anymore. Maybe he goes for super fights, Anderson.

That's been talked about as well. I know you know Anderson a little bit. What would you prefer he does? You know, I would like to get back into it, like build yourself up. And the top guys right away and get a couple of fights that a couple of fights that, you know, he's supposed to win and build his confidence and so forth. And then, you know, we can do it here in the gym, but it's better. and it's better in real life

and just build his confidence up to get him where he's at where he wants to win a world title again. And that's the only way. And, you know, of course, the super fight would be great. You know, if we could come up with a catchway that everyone's agreeable on.

You know, we do have cash weights in boxing, of course. Yeah. You know, that's kind of a loophole right now that, you know, I found out that I could use it with Manny Packout when we first fought me, when we first fought me,

Goh Kodo. Now he's him to him to godo and he's pissed at me. He always brings that up and that's why he's doing catch weights right now and so forth because it's legal and you know the thing is no nobody can really do anything about it until they change the rules. So catch weights are part of our lives right now and you know if he did fight Silva it would you know it definitely be cash weight because he's a lot bigger than George I think and they would have it come to a cash weight and it would be a great fight, it would be a great event. I would love to see that event at the end, but not right away. Any concerns at all?

There was a lot of talk about the amount of damage he took, head trauma, all this stuff. Any concerns at all about his health? Like in a perfect world, would you just prefer he walk away as champion, a la Lennox Lewis somewhat recently, and just be the king and never really tarnish how he walked away from the sport? Do you think that way? I like that way. is if Manny Packow walks away from the sport

today, I'd be very proud of him of what we'll be accomplished, and you know, if he did that and, you know, runs for president or whatever he wants to do, I would, I would be proud of them, and, you know, the thing is, there's no shame in that, of course, but the thing is, sometimes

sometimes if you, you know, if you're unsure and you just, your whole life, the rest of your life, you're saying, what if? You know, and I don't like that. You know, I don't like guys saying, And what if I, what if I, what if I got that one more fight? What if I got in shape and did it right?

What if I got in shape and, you know, had a couple, two hundred fights and then fought the title again. So I don't like that either, you know. So, you know, there's certain ways to go out. And I like, I do like people when they go out on top. I mean, it is a great thing. But sometimes in your own mind, if you can't get over it, then you make you come back later on and it's too late. So I'd rather see, I'd rather decide that now and make sure he's hungry. for it and see if he's really hungry for the big time again, you know?

Did you sit down with him at all, have a heart-to-heart and find out what's his motivation for coming back at this point? Yeah, you know, the thing is, I mean, his motivation to come back is the fans, of course, and he wants to be, you know, he wants to win, he wants, he wants, you know, because, like, that last fight was controversial. Yeah. Even though a lot of people tell me he won that fight, a lot of people inside the sport, tell me that he won that fight.

A lot of people just fans that watched on TV tell me he lost that fight. So, you know, the thing is, I'm not a great judge of M.MA fights because I, you know, because I'm more into the box inside of it, and I do like to stand up better. And the ground game is like, you know,

I wrestle a little bit in high school, but that's not enough to be a good MMA fighter. Right. So, you know, The thing is, you know, to be good at that sport, you know, you better be, I mean, excellent at four or five different sports. And, you know, it's very competitive and it's very hard to do. It's a very tough sport. And the thing is getting ready for the sport is just, I mean, getting ready for the fight is just, it's a lot, a lot of work.

And that's what I like about the six-week training camp that we're going to go through that. And if he can put himself through it, I think we'll be in good shape. and we'll be able to fight the top guys out there. But, again, it's a good test for him. And, you know, if he wants to... But at the end of six weeks, if he decides that it's over, and I'll take his hand and wish him best luck in life. And, you know, I'll always be there for him.

And I think we'll all be there for him. And I don't feel any shame in that whatsoever. Is this week one of the six weeks, or was that last week? Are we in week two now? No, no, no. haven't started. Okay. No, he, he did have some business thing.

He had to go back to Montchow. And he told me, as soon as he gets the schedules, it worked out, he didn't call me, and we'll work the schedule out. And, you know, he knows I have Koto coming up. So I think this will start right after the Koto fight. And the timing of having you on the show before I let you go, I have to ask you about this, because there's a fight this weekend that you may be somewhat interested in. I know you're very busy with the Koto-Kanella fight, but Ronda Rousey is fighting.

Holly home, Holly coming from the boxing world, as someone who is a huge part of that world, and I'm sure you've heard of Holly in the past, just how good of a boxer was she in her heyday over there? Holly was a good boxer. I mean, you know, she beat some good fighters. Maybe they're a little bit older once she fought them, you know, me and St. John. But, I mean, she does have some go wins. She has 33 wins, I think, and maybe three losses. And she had a good record. But, like, the female boxing never really caught on like Ronda Rousey has.

Rhonda is just huge right now. And the thing is that she knows the ground game so much better than the boxing girl. Well, I think that she'll – I like Ronda to win that fight pretty easily. And, like, someone asking, can Ronda be you in the fight myself? Yeah. And I said, well, I'm 55 now. I'm a little bit old. And I know nothing about the ground game.

And if she gives me in the leg lock or arm bar or something like that, I would have no idea what to do with it. So, yes, she can be me too. Yes. So, Rhonda's, you know, she's really on top of things right now. A lot of people like her. You know, I used to do a miss with her a long time ago. Really?

That was a lot of fun. But she's really gone. She stepped up, and she's, she's, She's really high up there right now, and I wish her the best of luck. How do you feel about her boxing? She was on the cover of Ring Magazine recently, and it created this whole big storm, and people like to critique her striking. From your perspective, how good of a boxer is she?

I caught her before and so forth. She's not the best in the world, but she's good. She's very competitive. She tries really hard. I mean, it's not probably the best thing she does. I think she's better at the ground game, but, again, She's more experienced there. But her box is good.

And, you know, the girl she's fighting is a good boxer also. So while they stand up, it will be a good fight. But then I think once it goes to the ground, though, I think Rhonda will destroy her on the ground. Her trainer, Edmund Tarverdian, comes from the boxing world. What do you think of him, if anything? Edmund's a good guy. You know, he's always brought fighters to my gym. He had a lot of professionals before.

he had Rhonda and they would come a spot here all the time and so forth, and he was always a good coach and a good guy. So I really like him. And again, I like, you know, he has success with Rhonda. It reminds me of the success I had when Andy Packay. I walked through my doors one day and was looking for a coach. The thing is, I mean, we're both at the right place at the right time, and these things happen in life, and I'm very happy for him.

Final thing for you, Freddie, and again, thank you so much for the time. Are you working with any other MMA fighters these days? I know you've dabbled with Shogun in the past, Andre Arlowski, GSP, of course, anyone that we should know about. Nobody right now. Andre did come to me one day and said, how come you won't train me anymore? I said, come on, Andrea, I'd love to train you. I said, anytime you want to come to my gym, you, you're always welcome. So I hope he's singing about it because I would like to bring him back.

because Andre, I really like Andre. He's a great guy. I think we were having a great fight when we fought Fadar. We're on the way to win in that fight. He was kicking his ass until he tried to jump him with a flying knee from too far away. But sometimes we made mistakes in life, and that one cost us. But he's a good guy, and I would love to work with him again. Official prediction, Cotto Canelo on November 21st.

How do you beat him? Coder will knock him out in the 8-front. Wow, there it is. I love your predictions, how confident you are. Freddie, again, I use the word honor, but that's the best word that comes to mind. I really appreciate your time. I know you're very busy these days. Been great catching up with you.

Thank you very much. And good luck with that training camp. When it's over, please do come back on the show and we can talk about it all. Yeah, great. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right, there he is. The one and only.

Freddie Roach joining us from Los Angeles. Great stuff from him, as always. It's always a lot of fun talking to him. I mean, he is a living legend and still, you know, I look at breaking that news about George St. Pierre. And the fact, that's really interesting, the fact that the entire six-week training camp, if you will, is going to take place in Los Angeles. That one caught me by surprise. That is super interesting. So we'll see.

And great to get his insight. I didn't know he held pads for Ronda Rousey. Big fight for him coming up. Miguel Cotto versus Canelo Albu. on November 21st in Las Vegas the same day as the Kelvin Gaslam Neil Magny fight taking place in Monterey, Mexico. Everyone will be tied. That's going to do tremendously well on on pay-per-view. That's a huge fight in the boxing world. All right, let's move along. Let's welcome in our next guest. Huge, huge opportunity for him just a few weeks ago, and boy, did he deliver. He started off

as I believe the opening fight on P-per-view, excuse me, on Fight Pass, and then they got bumped up to the co-main event, and then by the time UFC Dublin happened on October 24th, he ended up being the main event in enemy territory, fighting a beloved son and Patty Houlihan, and it turned out to be, in my opinion, one of the best fights of 2015.

I enjoyed it immensely. I have been wanting to have him on the show since then. He is joining us now from Hawaii, the one and only Luis Smoka there with amazing Skype Connection. Wow, that is crystal clear. You are all of a sudden on our Hall of Fame of Skype Connection. Well done, my friend. Thanks, man. I guess we have a good internet out here. I like it. Which part of Hawaii are you in? Oahu, Koppola. Okay. I know it's early there, somewhat early, so I appreciate you joining us at around, I think it's like 9.25 a.m. over there in Hawaii. So we're a few weeks removed.

from your big win. Are you still on cloud nine or have you come back to Earth? I'm always on cloud nine. I'm always think I'm awesome. So, yeah, I'm still riding my high. But things definitely change for you after. I mean, it's very rare these days in the UFC for two fly weights, neither of them named Demetrius Johnson to main event to show. You're in Ireland. You're fighting, you know, very popular. That was a huge deal. That was a major turning point in your career. You do recognize that, right? I'm not sure, honestly. I feel like every fight is like a huge turning point.

Every fight is important. So I guess maybe exposure-wise, yeah. You didn't sense anything after the fact? You didn't sense more people talking about you. You becoming more of a bigger name in the sport? Well, I guess. You're totally no selling me here. It sounds like you just opened the show.

I am talking to Ariel Hawani right now. So I guess it did move me up a bit. There we go. A nice byproduct. How did you handle it? It sounds, I feel like I know the answer, but were you at all a little more nervous than usual, a little more anxious once you found out that you were going, like in the locker room. You knew that you were headlining at that point. Was it different?

Not really. I was just trying to tell myself to just like let everything go and just go out there and do it. I do it and not choke, you know? Like I just like I just did I really really didn't want to choke. I was like I just did not want to choke. I was just really scared. I was like I'm trying to get to four and one right now. Like I was just I knew that if I let go I was going to be okay.

If I let everything go and just like didn't didn't second guess myself and start overthinking things. I knew I was going to be fine. Have you ever thought that way before? Like don't choke. Yeah. That's what I always tell myself. It's like my little like like like like. like mantra that I said like like don't choke don't choke like like go like go

well you certainly didn't choke uh is that I mean it's kind of a weird thing to say to oneself everyone's different in a previous life were you a choker did you did you usually choke on a big stage my first my first grappling tournament I choked pretty hard like I freaked out and I ended up losing like at novice to like some dude and I was just so upset with myself because I'm a pretty good grappler I've been a pretty good grappler for a while I ended up choking and losing my first match and I was getting silver or a bronze and I was pretty upset

and ever since that I've been telling myself not to choke. So considering that, considering how good you are on the ground, what did you make of your ground attack on October 24th? Were you happy? Because at times it got a little dicey there and you guys were going for it, that's what made it so fun as a viewer. But as you critique yourself in your performance,

what did you make of it? honestly I wish I didn't let him get to my back that was one of the things we were working on not happening but he ended up getting to my back so that was a little that's a little upsetting for me because that was one of the things like we didn't want to happen but I was able to you know just keep my calm and work my way out of it which was good I just I thought my grappling was pretty good

he came out sprinting at me and I guess he just couldn't hold the pace you know what I mean like he came out really trying really hard for takedowns and stuff and I guess he just couldn't hold the pace. The rear naked choke, as you mentioned, it did seem dicey for you for a second, but how close was he to actually locking it in? He never got, he never really had it under the chin. I had my chin down the whole time, but like it was just positioning and, you know, like if he had stayed there the whole round, I would have lost.

It's losing points, you know, and you don't ever want to like give the guy like an advantage, especially in his hometown, you know, like you want to be dominant and like make sure it looks like you're winning, you know, the whole time. Were you able to look around you and take it all in? That's a very unique place to fight, especially when you're fighting one of their own. Were you able to enjoy that? At one point, when he had my back, I rolled over and I could see Carter McGregor screaming. Hit him in the body, hit him in the body. I was like, what?

I was like, what's going on? This mother. Then I ended up getting punched. in the face right after. I was like, okay, I got to go back to this. You got to focus again. Did you notice how quiet it got when you beat him? You could tell on TV or on the internet that it was super quiet in there. Yeah, I didn't really realize it at first, but yeah, it was, it would really quiet really quick. You like fighting a guy that that is that long? Is that good for you considering your ground skills? I'm not sure, honestly. It seems

to kind of help a little bit because I have a little bit more room to move and stuff like it makes me a little more slippery it was interesting because that was the first time I fought someone who was taller than me so it was pretty interesting and my striking ended up being all right in the pocket I felt like

like when the guy was on when he's taller than me actually I felt like I had decent striking in the pocket so I don't know it was interesting but I feel like maybe if I had rain I don't know I just take it one fight at a time Sure, sure. Although I didn't ask you for your next fight, so that answer doesn't really apply to the question, but I get it. I understand what you're talking about. Okay, how about before the fight? Were you really impersonating BJ Penn after the way in?

I don't know, man. That just came out. It sounded like him. I didn't know what else to say, man. Like they put me on the spot. I didn't really think it through. I was just like, yep, you want to fight? Let's go fight. And then like, through the microphone, I was like, I wanted to go drink my. water. But you said the word scrap. I mean, it really did sound like BJ, and you alluded to that on Twitter. I thought it was awesome. I thought you were giving a nod to the greatest fighter to ever come out of Hawaii. It wasn't on purpose. But like afterwards, I realized it. I was like, wow, that kind of went on BJ Pan up there. I was like, well. You have seen weigh-ins before, right? They always talk to the main eventers after you guys weigh in. Yeah, yeah. My co-teens even told me my coach charles keelie he told me that that was going to happen but i don't know i just like had a brain part like i didn't know what else to do uh okay so by the way have you ever met

bj have you ever trained with him you have a relationship with him at all um i met him a few times he's a really nice guy like um before his last fight he flew up on my coaches and a couple of my training partners um low and tan anez and russel don't he flew them up to this like secret dojo he has out in like the wilderness of like Hawaii it's like it's in this place called YPO valley there was like no no internet reception no running water like out in like this like it's like valley of the Kings thing it's like it's super like out there why didn't you go um I was finishing up my carrioso camp so I had to go because um Charles is my main mint man so I had to go and um like finish up my camp with him so they just asked if I could tag along oh so you did

go. You did go. Yeah, yeah, I went. Oh, wow. What was that like to go to this super secret location and the legends there for his last fight or, you know, we thought it was one of his last fights at the time. Was that surreal? It was pretty cool. It was like, it was interesting. I was just kind of concerned with my weight at the time because I had no control over food and stuff. But it was pretty cool. Like, it was pretty crazy getting to, like, grapple with BJ and, like, roll with him and, like, spar with him like like if like no one could pass his guard the whole time it was pretty it was pretty wild like even with all the pads and stuff on and low one is huge he's like 170 pounds probably walking around probably bigger than that no one none of us could pass bj's guard it was pretty crazy

were you there at the same time as dolce and nick lenz i don't think so no okay so you didn't see any of that drama no i didn't see any of that happen i think i think we came um prior or something i'm not sure i'm not sure when they went honestly do you want to see him fight again yeah i would love to see him really i'd love to yeah i want to see the um the the moranovic brothers bj pan though that that that's the one i want to see against two um the nick lends thing seems to have a pretty good storyline yeah to it that that one seems pretty interesting so um yeah or or he could fight mike dulture or something i don't know if that's happening but i i do feel like now with your success and Max Holloway of course he's still always a figure i feel like

and and correct me from wrong there's a new stadium that is either about to be finished or is being built right now in Hawaii that they could bring a show to i feel like we're closer than ever that's not to say it's going to be announced tomorrow but you get that sense as well to a ufc event in hawaii yeah um apparently max hit up when we're up in dublin max was asking i can't remember who it was like Sean Shelby or Dana or somebody and he asked him, he's like, oh, so why are we getting a UFC in Hawaii? And he's like, oh, it's closer than you think, my man. I was like, wow. Yeah, I think we deserve it, though.

Like, given all the fight history that Hawaii has, I think we deserve a show out here. I think we do. You alluded to the fact afterwards that you always fight people in their hometowns who are used to that. But what would it be for you? Like, is that something that you dream about, or do you feel like it might bring more pressure, more anxiety fighting in your home state? for me honestly it might bring a little bit more pressure but um i try to like not just just like not let it get to me for me it would be just amazing to you know i have my friends and my family and everybody

just be able to come out and watch me fight um all my coaches everything it would be it'd be really cool to have everyone there and you know just have that home field advantage you know not have to like like figure out where I'm going to go eat food at or like you know just to have a real good control of your surroundings it'd be super nice so after your fight I spoke to uh Sergio Pettus's team and they said they wanted to fight you it sounds like you're not all that interested in that fight is that true um not really no um honestly I'm right about to have my daughter right now um yeah um my girlfriend she's due on Christmas and we're in the process of buying a house right now, so I don't really have a whole, like, I don't have a whole lot of time for really

anything else right now. I would prefer to just talk crap when I can't, when I'm actually in a position to back it up. Okay. Like, I can't do anything right now. Like, I have no, I'm nothing. Like, I can't say anything back because I can't back it up. But honestly, I would prefer, just for my own selfish reasons, I'd prefer to fight Dustin Ortiz because he said something to me too.

And he's ranked higher. So the higher, I just want the higher ranked fight. You know, I have more to gain from it, just because I'm sorry. selfish. Yeah, well, I noticed you guys going back and forth on Twitter. What did he say that really pissed you off? Oh, he just said I was an easy fight or something, and so I would, like, I was like, I didn't really care, but it was just like, you know, I have to say something back. So I was just like, you know what, dude, like, I'm not an easy fight for you. We can fight, but it's going to have to be a while. And he was like, yeah, I'm not waiting for you. So I was like, oh, I guess

it's done. I guess that's over. But don't you think with all due respect to Dustin, Pettis is a bigger name, right? Uh-uh. You don't know. Well, I guess he's a bigger, he might be a bigger name, but I'm not in this for your name value. I'm in this to, like, get my way to the top. I'm not here to try to, like, sell out and, you know, like, be a star or whatever.

I'm here to try to work my way to the top, and then, like, I'm trying to get, like, that will, like, the star will, the star power will come, you know. Yep. If I keep, if I keep working my way up. You mentioned your girlfriend is pregnant. I see a box of huggies above your right shoulder over there. You guys are already buying the diapers? Is that what's happening here?

We had one of our baby showers. Okay. Yeah, like this past Saturday with her family. There's all kinds of stuff over here. There's like stuff in animals. There's a bassinet over here. There's like a diaper cake this way. There's all kinds of stuff over here.

First one? Yeah, it's kind of crazy. There's just one right now. No, is this your first child? Oh, yeah, yeah. This is both of our first child. So, yeah. Well, that's exciting.

How are you feeling? a little over a month away. Are you freaking out? Yeah. I'm excited. Sometimes I freak out. I'm kind of like how when I'm getting ready for a fight, I have like five minutes where I'm like real confident in myself.

And then like 10 minutes later, I'm freaking out like, oh my God, what am I going to do? I'm in over my head. You get any tips for Max Hallway? A few, yeah. I kind of got the house idea from him to get a house because he said he was getting a house. I was like, oh, wow. And then, like, I was looking, yeah, I was looking into it. And I was like, oh, wow, this is actually, like, affordable.

And it makes more sense than renting because it's like, our mortgage is, like, less than, like, what my girlfriend, like, I was dating with her. And it's less than what she was paying in rent before. So I was like, it didn't really make sense, you know, to rent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what does this do for the way you fight and what you think about? Like, in this, in this fight, this main event, now that you're becoming a father, do you look at your career differently? because now you can't be selfish in a way. You really have to be selfless.

You have to think about someone else. Do you think that way yet or only when the baby comes? Yeah. It's made me a lot more disciplined, honestly. Like, I still kind of screw around a lot. Like, just even during fight camp, like, I cheat on my diet. Oh. But it's like, it's made me a lot more, like, disciplined with actually, like,

coming to their practices. I remember there's a point where, like, I would miss a few practices here and there at week. Like, but now. Like my past two camps, after I found out I was having her, like, I haven't missed, like, any practices. Like, I've been, like, working super hard. I kept my diet, I kept my weight a lot lower. And, yeah, like, I've been keeping my weight a lot lower just in general.

Like, normally I would walk around pretty heavy, but I just keep it lighter now. Like, I'm trying to, like, take everything more serious, you know? So it seems like food is a tough opponent for you. What's your weakness? During camp, I crave carbs so bad. I love chips and Simon. I love that stuff. What's that?

Simon. Like cup noodles. Oh, okay. Romet. Yeah. What about the spam and the eggs and the rice? Do you eat that? Yeah.

What does that call? I love spam with subis. Huh? What is that called? Is there a name for that dish? Spam rice and eggs. That's just like breakfast. Spamu-Bs are like,

It's like fried spam on top of rice with like Nodi wrapped around it. Oh, wow. It's pretty good. Yeah, that's my jam. One time we had Brad Tavares on the show and he was teaching me some words in Pigeon, right? Do you speak that? Okay. Yeah.

Major. Max Holloway as well. I need some new words in my repertoire. What is cool these days? What did the kids say? Easy. Easy. Raja.

Raja. What's that? What does that mean? just Roger? Yeah, yeah, it's Roger. It's just like, okay, I got you. Yep, I know what you're saying. Anything else?

There's cherry. What's that? Cherry. What does that mean? It just means good. It just means something is good. Cherry. Cherry?

Like the fruit cherry? Yeah, cherry, but cherry. Wow, that's a good one. That's a new one. I like that one. I'm going to use that with my good buddy, Rich Chow. You know him? We run in the same circles and stuff because it's,

MMA, but it's like, I haven't actually met him yet, I don't think. Okay. Um, so how far do you think, I know you're not thinking about this right now, but like I said, you, I think that was actually the only fly, I have to check with my man, Michael Carroll on this, but I think that was the only flyweight fight in UFC history not headlined by Demetri's Johnson. Do you know if that's true? I'm not sure. Um, I don't know. I know I'm like one of like, maybe like five or six people to ever like, or flyweight's to like headline a UFC, I think. Yeah. I don't know of two and There's not too many. So how far away do you think you are from the title shot now?

Honestly, like three wins, I would think. If I could get three more straight wins, I think I would, I think I'd be right there. How much time are you going to take off after the baby comes? I want to be able to, like, make sure she can sleep all the way through the night. Well, good luck with that. Yeah, well, it's supposed to be like eight weeks or something. Eight weeks. Jesus.

I have a three and a half year old and a two. I have a three and a half year old and a two-year-old, and they do not sleep through the night. Till this day, my friend, so you're going to be waiting. At least that's me. Maybe I'm a bad dad. I don't know. I don't know, man. Well, maybe you're just spoiling them.

Who knows? By the way, that's 100% accurate. I do. They come to the bed. They walk in there with their little pajamas. I can't help it. I want them to come in. It's cuddly.

You know, you want to sleep with them. Trust me, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about very soon. I feel like an old man here. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I know I'm going to spoil her too. I know I am. Like, I know it. But when you watch DJ, do you feel like you're far off?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Like, in certain aspects, I feel like I've really been trying to work on my fast Twitch. Like just footwork and like just being able to explode more. I've really been trying to work on that. I've been getting better. I've been at this place called Fitness Rains. My coach, Chris Rains, he's been working with. with me a lot on the fast switch aspect of my game.

I'm feeling like I'm getting closer, but I don't know if I'm quite there yet. I would still fight him, though, if they ever called me. I would still fight him. Why not? By the way, why do they call you the Last Samurai? Tom Cruise is my favorite actor. Oh, that's it? No, I'm just kidding.

Oh, is that a joke? Yeah. You don't strike me as the Tom Cruise kind of guy. it's just because I'm like half Japanese and um like all my fight or I've had a bunch of fights where I got I got beat up um like I had a few fights where I was like bleeding all over the mat or like I got dropped and then somehow I was still able to like to get up and win the fight you know like I had this one fight where I got dropped and like like I went up two way classes on two or three weight classes I fought at 55 on two days notice wow and I ended up like

I was doing real well. I ended up getting dropped in the second, like, pretty much knocked out. But, like, somehow I was able to, like, crawl up the guy and catch him in a dars, like, a minute and a half later. And so that... I'm not really sure... Yeah. And I still don't know what happened to this day. Like, I don't...

I still don't know. Like, I was, like, pretty out. And so is that how you got the nickname? Yeah. It was just, like, my never-say-die-die attitude, like, going out on your shield and stuff. It's kind of... It's like a samurai. know, like it's like death before dishonor, you know?

Well, you certainly showed that on October 24th, a great win. Honestly, truly one of my favorite fights of the year. I really enjoyed what both of you did on the ground. So congratulations on that big win. You taught me a word. I might teach you a word here, muzzle tov. You know what muzzletov means? It means congrats, right?

Yeah, it means congrats. Good luck and congrats. So I'll give you the good luck for the baby and the congrats on the win. How about that? Oh, thank you, man. Appreciate it. A pleasure to have you on the show, Louis. like I said, good luck with the baby coming up.

A great time for you and your girlfriend. Very happy for you and looking forward to your next fight in the UFC. Thanks, Arrow. Thank you for having me, Matt. My pleasure. There he is. Louis Smolka, a name to remember in the UFC flyweight division, big win over Patty Hulahan just a few weeks ago in Dublin, Ireland.

He has been on a roll as of late. And another one of those young Hawaiians coming up, he's won three in a row. He's defeated two Irishmen in a row, picked up a big win over Neil Ciri at UFC 189. has only lost once in the UFC that was to Chris Carrioso, and he lost via split decision. Actually had that poster behind him.

You could see that Matt Brown, Eric Silva poster right behind him. So great stuff there, and in a minute we are going to be joined, hopefully, by another legend. Hoyce Gracie, as we talked about with Dave Meltzer at the top of the show, was announced Friday, and they kept it pretty close to their vest, and that's definitely saying something in 2015. No one was, I mean, there had been some hints here and there, but maybe some clues or some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, some, except Kent Shamrock's blog accidentally tweeted it out and email blasted a whole bunch of reporters, maybe 35 or so minutes before. what I think probably happened was, you know, if you've ever done a blog before, you can time a post, WordPress, any kind of blog these days, you can put in the date and the time. And they probably thought that it was going to come at a certain hour, and it didn't.

Maybe the show went a little longer, whatever. And they kind of spoiled it, because I think had that not come out, everyone would have been surprised that Hoyst Gracie is fighting Ken Chamrock in. 2016. They're going to Houston. They're going to Houston on February 19th. They're going to the Toyota Center, the site of UFC 192. And Texas, okay, the open weight stipulation, which means there's no weight class. They can weigh in at whatever they want. At least as of now, there might be some parameters, and we'll find out. But yes, it is true. They announced it. They also announced that the co-main event will be Kimbo Slicse versus Data 5,000. I know there are a lot of people who don't know who Data 5,000 is.

I suggest doing a little bit of research. It's not that hard to find out. This is a guy who was a, I don't want to call him a protege, but he was definitely a member of Kimbo's security team. And he went off to start promoting his own backyard fights. And this fight has been talked about in the past. I am surprised. I know another MMA journalist, Jason Floyd,

was tweeting about this on Friday when it came out. I am surprised this fight isn't happening in Miami. Miami not a great market historically for MMA fights, but you have Kimbo Sleiss fighting another Miami product in the great, the legendary Data 5,000. That's a fight that's got the 305 written all over it. It's not happening. It's happening in Houston.

The main event is Hoyce Gracie versus Kenchamrock 3. The last time Hoyce fought was 2007, June of 2007, against Kazushi Sakuraba, that infamous K-1 Hero's dynamite show at the LA Coliseum, of course, somewhat marred after the fact by that post-fight drug test. But he fought Ken Shamrock at UFC 1. Remember, he beat him in just 57 seconds on his way. It was in the semifinals of UFC 1, November 12, 1993 submitted him via rear naked choke. Ken was the wrestler, Gracie, of course, the BJJ practitioner. and then they ended up meeting again several fights later,

not that many years or events later, but because of the tournament, several fights later, they met again at UFC 5 in April of 1995, and this ended up being one of the most anticipated fights at the time in UFC history, not saying much the organization was less than two years old, but it was a hugely promoted fight. Anyone who was somewhat interested in NHB at the table, time, combat sports.

If you were even a pro wrestling fan and you had your ear to the streets, if you, if you, if you subscribe to Dave Meltzer's newsletter, you knew that they, that they were going to rematch at UFC 5 in April of 1995. That fight ended in a draw, if you recall. And, you know, there's, there's been some hints, some teases. People have brought it up. People have tried to make it happen. but they were never booked against each other until now.

Once again, they are fighting on February 19th in Houston, and I will let you know that if you are in that area, tickets are on sale this Saturday, and you can get them on bellator.com. So it's an announcement that has been polarizing it, and like I said to Dave, you know, I see a lot of people getting all worked up. I see a lot of people getting all upset about this,

and this is no knock. I mean, when you're number two and there's that big of a gap and there's so many M-Events, M-M-A events going on, you have to find a way to stick out. To me, the key is, A, it's not going to last forever.

Of course not. I think everyone knows that. But the key is, who else is on the card and what kind of promotion do they get? If it's, you know, if it's card filled with these kinds of fights, well, then I think that's,

you know, that's a, you know, that's a, that's a, that's going to collapse very quickly and without that much effort. But if it's got, like, MVP, in my opinion, has to be on that card. That is a guy that is young, that is promotable, that people want to watch, people want to talk about. Thus far, he's been pretty amazing for Beltaire, that one decision, but for the most part, MVP is one of those guys on their roster, who you have to go out and see. You have to make some time to see him. The biggest thing that I'm learning, and I didn't really have to learn,

but the Scott Coker era reminds us that while the purists may have loved the Bjorn Rebony era, it didn't do them any favors putting on that many shows. Maybe that's what they sold. Maybe that's what they thought was best at the time. But who can tell me, honestly, who can tell me what happened at Belator 108? I can sit here and talk to you about UFC 108. And again, not to compare, but at least with the events being somewhat spread out back in the day, and the names being more established and recognizable, it's easier to remember.

Those events blended together. It was so hard. At the end, they were just sort of, they were just noise. It was like it was impossible to differentiate one from the other. It was impossible to build new stars. It was impossible to get people to care about them. So here we are in 2016 and, you know, we're about to be 2016. And Scott Koker has left with the roster, you know, how many big names? How many people can you go to on the street and say, do you know who so-and-so is? Great fighters, Chandler, Strauss, Pippel brothers, they're great fighters, but they haven't broken through. And that was what, Belator 145, and a lot of these guys have fought multiple times for Beltor, more than a handful

of times. There's a problem there. But now, slowly but surely with these bigger events, they're starting to separate themselves. They're starting to, you know, they use the word tent pole. They're starting to mean something. But the key is to rub off on those guys to make them mean something. Yeah, people were upset. and I get it that Strauss Pipple, Brooks held, they were overshadowed by the announcement.

I don't really feel that way. Yeah, people were reacting to it, but people were talking about it, and that's what they need. That's what they want. They're not mad at it. They're not mad at it at all. They saw, if you didn't think that this was coming after what happened with Stefan Bonner and Tide Ortiz, and especially what happened after Shamrock and Kimbo in June, what were you thinking? This is coming and then some. It's going to keep coming until, you know, you look at their last show, the Joe Warren show, the ratings were very bad. And then you compare that to the other events where they have these kinds of names, the Tito's and all that, they're very good. So what would you do if you're in their position? But again, the key is to rub off on the younger guys and book

those cards strategically to where you're not, you know, you're not left with the the car with no guys that you can promote for years to come. You have to try to get those guys to the older guys, the names, the established names to prop up the younger guys. I'm very curious to see, especially on a card like that, who they put on it. I was talking to a friend yesterday, and I said to him, did you hear about Gracie Shamrock? And he was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know those guys. I'll watch it. And this is a friend that knows, like, he was talking to me about Yoanna. He was talking about Ronda Rousey. This is a guy who doesn't watch every pay-per-view, who doesn't watch every show, but he knows what's going on. He'll watch. He'll go out of his way

when there's a big one. And then I started talking to him about the story behind Kimbo and Data 5000. And he was like, oh, that's incredible. I'm all in. I will go out of my way to watch that. We've said this before. Sometimes we live in this bubble that, you know, what we want, what the journalists want, what the hardcore fans want is very different. from what, A, the casuals want and what, you know, the promoters want to put on. It's very different, and we have to sometimes come to terms of that. But the good news is in 2015, 2016, there's so much MMA going on that if it's offensive, if it bothers you, if you feel like this is lowest common denominator stuff,

if you feel like this is the kind of stuff that, you know, sets the sport back and makes you embarrassed to be a fan, you just don't have to watch it. It's not going to set the sport back. it's not going to make you the butt of people's jokes if you're in high school or college and you spend a Saturday night watch it's it's just that TV you know it's it's that programming that you may not brag about that you love but everyone loved entourage everyone watched that to a degree and other shows like that it's Baywatch it's not going to win any kind of award it's not going to be on anyone's you know year-end list but you go out of your way to watch it because sometimes you

don't like to think. Sometimes you don't really like to, you know, to get all serious. It's, it's candy. It's brain candy. And so I have a hard time getting all that worked up. There's so much good UFC. There's so much good MMA on right now. There's so many great fighters in Bellator too.

And people just don't know who the majority of those guys are. There's just so much that it's hard to get worked up about the, that's kind of why I never got worked up about the CN Punk thing. And yeah, that's different. I know I have that relationship previously with him, but it's a day and age where there's just a lot going on, and it's very easy to skips her and shows here and there if you really are bothered by it.

We'll see how those ratings do, and that will dictate whether or not they continue to do this. So I guess we're trying to find them. Hopefully we'll be joined by the legendary Hoist Gracie any minute, it now. I am curious, by the way, someone asked me of that. I am curious if he is going to wear a guy because I do believe in Texas there is something written in there that you can wear a guy as strange as that is. Could you imagine? It was weird when he fought Matt Hughes at UFC 60 when he was wearing the shorts. It just didn't feel 100% right. But Will Brooks beat Marstein

held a strange week for Will Brooks involved in that confrontation, that altercation with the Pipple brothers. Who knows what the story is? They never came out with the video. And ultimately, I guess, and I was told that there was video, but for legal reasons, they didn't want to come out with it. And maybe that says something. Maybe that's the line. Although you would think you would use to, you know, you'd use that video footage to promote the show. It's funny because that show on Friday was you know, that was pretty much all homegrown guys for the most part. Well, Ashley Thompson weren't, but, you know, the two title fights certainly were. And I didn't see that much buzz out there for it.

And then when they, you know, they try to go the opposite end, they get, you know, they get heat for it. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. You're trying to make an aim for themselves, trying to carve out a place for themselves in the, in the marketplace. It's going to be interesting to see how people react to this one. because this one is, this one's definitely,

it's the lowest common denominator. It's definitely left field stuff. We'll see if people are open to it. Okay, so I guess we'll get to Hoyce in a second for now. Let us go to our next guest. Let us go to the phones once again and welcome in a man who had a big announcement on Friday. Alan Belcher announces retirement from mixed martial arts.

We get an opportunity now to talk to him about that and more. Alan, how are you? Alan, are you there? I'm here. having me on. It is a pleasure, my friend. So you announced officially your retirement on Friday. Why now?

Why did you decide to walk away? You know, I've been, I've been toying with the idea for a while. You know, let me first start off just by saying, man, I didn't retire for any reason of injury or lack of, I don't know, whatever it may be that most people, you know, they're finished physically. There's no physical reason or anything like that. I really believe that I could continue to get better. And I do get better because I practice martial arts nearly every single day.

And I felt like I've been getting better. But I just had to weigh out those decisions. I've been battling with because most of my career, I actually opened my first business when I was about six months before I got into the UFC or six months to a year before my first UFC fight way back in 2006 and I was 22 years old and I started my own martial arts school. You know, I kind of grew that facility and I was battling with, you know, being a business owner and fighting in the UFC, which turned out to be the best decision of my life that I could ever. make because if I wouldn't have if I wouldn't had um took that step to to start my own business because before I got into the UFC I needed money yeah I was really I was living in my girlfriend's house that she was paying for and I was trying to find an odd job and um I had

taught martial arts for someone else and it got paid for a while but the situation I was in where I was living um you know I was really living living living off of someone else and it was it wasn't a really good feeling. So I had to, you know, and I made that decision. Like, I could keep working this job, or I can chance it and, like, start teaching kids martial arts. I taught kids first. And I got a, I borrowed a couple thousand dollars for my dad. My girlfriend actually loaned me some money, which is actually, you know, kind of embarrassing,

but that's way back in the day. And that's how I started my first martial arts school because I didn't, know I was going to make money with the UFC. I didn't know that. So, you know, that ended up being the best thing that I ever did in my life, because if I wouldn't have done that, and I would have waited in under six months and got my fight, got the fight in the UFC, which I didn't make a lot, my first UFC fight, I made three and three. So I had a couple thousand dollars in sponsorships, and I made $3,000 for losing do you shen al-comi the first time? But, you know, you You know, that got me to a few months, and I probably wouldn't have started my own business

and started a martial arts facility or anything like that at that time. I probably wouldn't have at any time in my career maybe later on, which would have been way too late in the game to get started, you know? So I was forced to keep it open because by the time of the first, by the time I thought that first fight, I was already making money with my martial arts school. so there was no reason to close down the business. So I figured out how to run it without having to teach the classes. I always had other people teach it,

so I ran it like a business from day one, just grew it and grew and grew it. And I'm telling you hands-down death decision that I ever made. That forced me to learn the business. And then towards the end of my career, I was really a hardcore entrepreneur, had a lot of business projects going on all the time. Like a lot of UFC fighters do. But take the top entrepreneur that is also a fighter and just times that by 10.

That's the kind of stuff that I've been doing in the last five years. Three years ago, I'm sorry, two and a half years ago, I launched my first online project and the online company teaching martial arts internationally. And since then, we've got thousands and thousands of students online and made over $2 million in less than two and a half years. in that business. And I just had to make a decision at this point right now, am I going to keep, you know, in the back of my mind thinking,

okay, I'm going to find a time here to train and go back, or I'm going to dedicate 100% of the time, even those thoughts that are wasting the time. And, you know, for some reason, it just was kind of, you know, keeping my chi unbalanced. And I was, you know, it was just kind of the vibe was off. a little bit and I wasn't completely focused like I needed to be. Not to mention there's 10 people a day asking me when's my next fight.

Every time I post something on social media, one of the comments is when are you fighting max? So after a couple of years, this starts to, not annoying, it's just a distraction. Yeah. And I think that I could do better with everyone knowing that, hey, I'm here to do business. I'm here to help people learn martial arts and expand on that as much as possible and help these school owners, these gym owners, facility owners, people that want to get in the fitness and mix martial arts and jihitsu industry, help UFT fighters.

I had about five UFT fighters at my event this past weekend. I'll tell you more about that in the second, but I had a business event, and I had five former UFT fighters there. and there's about 200 people there, but five of them were UFC fighters. And, you know, it's just awesome to help these guys. They step away like I am now and say, I'm retired, now I'm doing this. And, you know, that's why I am. I'm coaching them. I think I'm more valuable as a business coach just from my experience and everything

than these guys, or than I could ever be to a student. So I remember in December of 2014, just a few months ago, you did announce that you were going to come back, and you were going to come back at light heavyweight. Why did it change? Why did you make that announcement and decide against it ultimately? You know, just indecisiveness. I mean, it's really, it's just human nature.

People decide things, and then they change their mind. So at that time, I was in really good shape, and I was like, you know what, I am going to do this. and a few different things slowed my momentum because I had a lot of momentum going into it and I was on the verge of I was on the verge of asking Joe Sulla for a fight. So if that would have, if I would have made the phone call and asked for a fight, then you would see me fighting really soon and I would dedicate a lot of my time to it and then I would go from there.

But I had a few business things to fill up and I had my business event coming up in November, so I wanted to kind of get through all that. So at the time preparing for that, I lost momentum in training and my passion to do it. I also have a shoulder injury that I've dealt with for years and years and years, and it's just gotten worse since December. One of the things that got me in really great shape,

and the article from earlier this spring in men's health, I don't know if you saw it, but I was in excellent shape when I was over in Thailand training and it actually got me in men's health because I was doing a lot of fitness stuff and taking a lot of pictures and doing a weight lifting and eating right, and I was in the best shape of my life. I was lifting a lot of weight and, you know,

doing a lot of bodybuilding type of stuff. And that, once I couldn't do that anymore because my shoulder, I really, you know, I really, my exercise kind of went down and I didn't have any fun ways of getting shape and training jiu-jitsu and wrestling stuff. was hurting my shoulder. So I took months off, I lost more momentum, and made a new decision. And that's, you know, I'm not embarrassed by it.

That's what I do. I mean, I change stuff up all the time. Trust me, my staff, my employees, my team, my wife, everyone, they hate me for it. One day I'll come in and I'll just, like, oh, we're changing all this shit up. We're doing something different. I wanted to do this before. Okay, yeah, well, you said this yesterday. So what?

We're changing it up. That's what I do. I make calls like that. because it's the best for everyone around me. It's the best for myself, my future, and my family. So I'll make that decision. I don't care. You may hear me say, I'm going to come back and fight tomorrow.

And if that's the right thing to do, then, you know, that's what I'm going to say, and that's what I'm going to do. When this news came out, I saw a lot of people say, oh, man, the Paul Harris fight, that was the best. I still remember that one. Looking back now, is that your number one highlight? Yeah, that's the one that most. It's fixed out in most people's minds.

I think that was one of the first shows on Fox. I know it was the first one that I fought live on Fox or whatever. So it was like one of those really first ones that got out to the masses and everybody was watching. You know, so I'm glad I was a part of that. And I, you know, got to be a part of the UFC whenever it became mainstream, but wasn't so frequent that nobody knows who the fighters are. Right.

I mean. Yeah. So I'm blessed to be part of that time period, and that's what people remember. So that's what they say was my best performance, and I guess that, you know, if I was to judge it, I would say, yeah, that's definitely in my top two or three fights memorable wise, and, you know, it just made me super happy, and I was pumped to win. And the other one I would say, Wilson Govea fighting him and mentors in front of a lot of my friends and family.

It was from that area. And then the one that I fought in New Orleans against Jason McDonald. That's the first one I had after I came back from the eye injury. And I was debating not trying to that because of my eye stuff. And I lost momentum and motivation at that time. So I came back and won that one. Like, oh, wow, I'm back. And that one really felt good.

So those are a couple of those fights that were awesome. And is the eye. eye, 100% okay now? Yeah, I mean, it's never going to be 100% okay. I have, you know, a little bit of blurriness at times, and I can't see to my right side, a little bit of peripheral vision. I lost. I get headaches, you know, my visual migraines a lot in that some eye because of all the

surgeries that were done to it. and also looks kind of wicked, like enough in a dark room, it doesn't dilate at all. So, like, out in the sun, both are little, but once I get into the dimmer of the room is, one starts to get really big, and it actually compensates.

My other aisle, like, turn all the way black, so it's kind of crazy looking. But, you know, otherwise, I've kind of lost the fear of, like, getting pokes in the eye, I don't have that anymore, and it doesn't give me too much problem. So that's definitely not the reason why I'm retiring.

Obviously, all those ups and downs and stuff is probably one reason that I lost a lot of my drive and everything. But the bottom line is I had to make the choice whether or not I want to be a world champion UFC fighter or a world champion businessman, an entrepreneur. So I had to make that decision to focus 100% on what my goals really really was. because I know what it takes to be a world champion UFC fighter. And I would have to dedicate more time than I ever had before to that and let everything else that I've been working on for years and years and years and all this momentum that I have go to the wayside. And I believe I can help more people on the business side of things

than I can, you know, entertaining fans is, you know, make them smile, but it doesn't really do anything else for them. So what's this summit or the, you know, this conference that you were talking about, which was attended by some UFC fighters? Right, yeah. It was my second year to do it. Last year, it's a business conference called CombatCon. Last year in November was my first one, and I had about a little bit over 100 guests.

This year we had 200 come out, gym, MMA, and BJJ Academy facility owners and their teams, came out to learn. And I brought in some really, really great business people, entrepreneurs that are inside our market of martial arts, but also outside of the industry. Like I brought in somebody that earns eight figures in the fitness industry online. It's like an internet marketing person. A lot of my speakers that I had this year could speak at like TED Talks or something. They're just like business experts.

and, you know, it was really awesome. There's a, I'll post a video or something to you. So you guys want to check out on my Facebook or Twitter or whatever. I'll post some videos. But, you know, if somebody wants to find it pretty easy to find, just ask around about NMA and BJJ business or, you know what? One cool thing to do is check the hashtag, NMA, BJJ business on any social media or hashtag combat con too.

We use that from this weekend. And you can see tons of pictures and videos and, you know, we made some of the people that attended it and everything. It's going to be cool. I think, you know, this is a good opportunity. I want to kind of open everyone's eyes up to, you know, if all these fighters, the thousand people that are fighting in the UFC or whatever, are trying to be a world champion,

then a lot of them are going to fall short, obviously. It's just statistics, right? So they need other avenues. What are they going to do? They're going to stop, when they stop fighting, they're going to go be a server at a restaurant or, you know, try to... Who attended? Uber driver.

That wouldn't be good. Who attended? Which names? Can you tell us as far as the UFC fighters or ex-UFC fighters? Um, yeah, there was Chris Cope. There was, uh, these are the ones that I definitely remember. There were some guys there, um, from different organizations too, but, um, Chris Cope, James Krause, you know him? Yep.

Aaron Phillips. Mm-hmm. Tim Crater. Oh, yeah. Uh, yeah, a couple other guys. Yeah, that was, uh, the ones off the top of my head that were, that were there, you know, and tons of BJJ guys. A lot of BJJ black belts and everything.

And, you know, these guys are really, you know, trying hard with their businesses and trying to help people out. And the thing that I think people have done wrong before in this space and trying to teach business and coaching everything is they teach these old techniques and styles that are just really cheesy, like car salesmen, like, types of things. and I'm teaching people how to build business from the floor up, not how to sell people,

but how to run a business that has the service at the foundation. And you come off really cool, and people just want to be a part of what you're doing, and you have good service and you deliver value, so you feel good about it, you help people out, and that, in turn, attracts people into your business. So, I mean, a lot more goes into it, but basically, like, the whole theme of the way that I teach is,

is I'm afraid that the jiu-jitsu schools now are starting to become McDowjo, you know, kind of like belt factories and just charging people. Did we lose, Alan? I think we did. Right as he was finishing up there. And we do have our next guest. So this is a little... Can we grab them quickly there so I could say goodbye?

Yeah, we'll hopefully connect with them so I could just properly say goodbye. I don't want to leave him hanging there. But there you have it, not because of any severe injury. or serious injury. He did deal with a very serious eye injury back in the day. That's not why he's walking away. He's focusing on the business side of things. And in kudos to him for recognizing that at this stage of his career in life. Had some big wins that he spoke about briefly over Hussein Paul Harris and Jason McDonald, Patrick Cote, had that great stretch between Wilson Gauvea and Hussemaar Paul Harris won four in a row. If we can't get him within the next few

seconds. Are you having a hard time connecting with him? All right. We'll give him 20 seconds here and then we'll move along to our next guest. But yeah, he had that great run, won four in a row and then lost to Yushan Okami at UFC 155. View unanimous decision also then lost to Michael Bispying at 159 and that, at least right now, is the last fight for Alan Belcher. So unfortunately, I don't think Do we got him? Yay, nay. Nay, okay. So we lost him, but we got the gist.

That was the last question. We'll move along. Wish him the best. And we appreciate all his great fights and time inside the octagon. Great stuff from Alan Belcher. Okay, let's move along now. Let's go to our next guest. We teased him earlier.

We've been talking about him for a while. I believe he is joining us now. The legend, the Hall of Famer, the man himself. Hoist Gracie is on the phone. are you there? How you doing, sir? Hey, Hoyce. What a pleasure it is to have you back on the show.

So congratulations on this big announcement. When did this talk start? When were you approached about fighting Ken Chamm Rock for a third time? Man, Ketcham Rock has been always talking trash. He's always won and rematch. For the last 22 years, the guy's been losing sleep. I don't know because he doesn't like me. I don't like him.

So to me, he's... just an opponent. I mean, because I beat him before, he's, uh, he got that stuck on his throat, man. He's been talking, losing sleep for the last 32 years was a rematch. Scott Coker approached me. I guess he wants to fight me on Dallator. They approached me, but then Scott Coker gave it to him Kimball, and he had a good strategy. But didn't work out. out his way. Kim was a tough guy, got up, one punch, man, with his head apart.

So, and then he came back and asked again. Scott Coker approached me. It's like, man, you're going to do it? I was like, sure, let's do it. Let's finish this, man. I'm going to beat him up one more time just to show it. First time, wasn't a flu. Second time, he came in, just sit on me for 30 minutes,

put the crowd to sleep. I've talked to you before, Hoyce, and we've asked you about coming back, and you said the itch was gone and all this stuff. So how are you going to... Where's it coming from? Is it because it's Ken? It's because you don't like him. You want to shut him up.

How are you going to get motivated for this fight, considering the fact that you haven't fought nine years? Because it's Ken. Because it's Ken, man. Okay. I just can't stand the guy. Sorry. You were backstage.

No, my auntie. I just don't like the guy. What was it like being next to him? backstage at the event on Friday. He tried to be friends. There's no friendship, man. I'm not friends of yours, man. I avoid talking to him every time.

Don't want to talk to him. Why don't you like him? What's the root of all this? Because he talks a lot. He talks a lot. He talks like he's the best fighter ever in the history of MMA. Hey, he lost to me less than a minute. Second fight, sat on me, lay down on top of me, hold me down for 30 minutes, 36 minutes.

And he claims that he's the best fighter ever. The most dangerous man, the most deadliest man. Yeah, right. So was Ken the only guy that would be able to bring you back? Man, when you're a fighter, you're a fighter. Yeah. I tried to step away, try to look away, tried to pretend I was, didn't head to each. But as soon as Scott Coker approached me, man, and I was like, let's do it.

You know what? First I was like, yeah, I play hard to get. No, I'm not anxious. But right away I went home, it's like, yes. I'm going to do this. Is this one and done for you? Are you back as an active fighter for Belator? It's one.

One of the time. I always sign one-fight contracts. I never signed multiple fights, so I always sign one fight only. So this is an open-weight fight. How much do you expect to weigh in the fight at the weigh-ins? About $180. And what do you think he's going to weigh? The normal, $215, $2.20.

That's why he walks around. I'm guessing... How much do you wait for... How much do you wait for Kimball? Oh, I think it... I think it... No, I think it was like... like 203, if not less than that.

What was it? It was... It might be about that, yeah? Yeah. So he might be about 205. So given your history, you're not really concerned about the weight advantage, right? Nope, not at all, man. Got plenty of heavy weights to train with.

Who are you going to train with? Hoile is going to be the main coach. Who's that? Horian? Hoyler. Hoyler. Wow, okay. And are you going to bring in specific guys?

I have some guys, yes, some situates that can imitate his style. When does the camp start? I already did. Oh. Before the announcement? I knew about this about almost a month ago. Oh. So we just couldn't say anything.

Couldn't talk to anything to anybody. I didn't avoid nothing my phone. Was that hard to keep it a secret? Oh, yes. Yeah. And by the way, for the Kimbo fight, he weighed 204.4 pounds. So somewhere in that range that we were... Yeah, 2005, yeah.

Yeah, that we were talking about. Will you wear the ghee for this fight? Don't know yet. Don't know. Because I think you may have looked into this. I think in Texas you're allowed to, right? I think so, yes. So what are you considering?

It will be a surprise. Oh, wow. Wow. If you had it your way, I mean, is that what you want? Yeah. Do you feel like when you fought Matt, it just, it doesn't seem right when you're not wearing the ghee. Do you feel more comfortable wearing the ghee? Man, it's just a question of strategy.

Yeah. Depends on strategy that Hoyle decided to go with it. He's the one in charge of setting up the strategy. So, gee, without the gear, doesn't matter. Now, honestly, you're 48 years old. How do you feel physically? Not too long ago, somebody asked me, man, you travel so much and you teach you so much. And how do you train for yourself?

How do you spawn? I was like, man, listen, every time, I mean, I go to the range every day. I practice my draw. I practice my shooting. I'm on target. My time is good. I just not going to war. Simple.

But I'm on target. I practice every day because I'm not in battle every day. You see? So it's just a quick switch. Did you ever think, though, in a million years that you'd still be fighting at 48 years old? You'll be 49 by the time the fight happens. Yes. You did.

It's hard for me to see me quitting. It's hard for me to see me. stopping. That's the hard part. Since that last fight in 2007, how close... Go ahead. See myself fighting,

and I can see that. I can see that. Since that last fight in 2017 in Sakaraba, how close were you to coming back at any point? Did you ever get any offers like this that you seriously consider doing?

No, I didn't get any offers. Wow. I was considering, I was considering but no, I did not get any offers. At that time, why did you stop fighting? Like, why did it end with that fight? I got so busy traveling and teaching. So I thought maybe it's hard to do both, man,

to travel so much and teaching and, you see, to... But then I figured out, hey, I'm traveling, I'm training. I got different sporting partners all over the world. Every time I travel, I got a new sporting partner. I'm in shape Don't drink Don't smoke Live a very healthy life

Clean So Body feels good It's not injured Don't wake up in the morning With aches and pains And why not As you might have expected

Age Age is one Age is one thing That a lot of people Put it The age there Like oh man You're 40

Oh you can't fight anymore. Well, marathon runners average age is about 40 years older. My strength coach is almost 50 and he's just got invited to do a 100-mile race so running. So it's like ages

but that's the average age of the ultra-marathon runners. So ages you see, it's something that people put it there. It makes the body feels good. There's a lot of 20 years old that awesome fighters, but can't fight because already all broken down.

So, so as you may have expected, this announcement was, you know, met with a mixed reaction. Some people are excited. Some people are not so excited. They say, you guys are too old, and you shouldn't be fighting at 2016. In 2016, what do you say to those critics? What do you say to the people who say that this is, you know, too much of a stretch for Belator? Hey. Wouldn't you love to watch Mike Tyson fight the Holyfield again?

Wouldn't you? Yeah, I mean, look, I understand. I understand why they're doing it. I talked about that. So... It's sad. As long as the guys can do it, man. As long as we can do it, as long as we're both, you see, we're both healthy.

We're both ready to do it. They make it sound like we're 100 years old, man. They make it sound like, oh, my God, the guys are so old. Hey, any given day, man. Let's go for a run. Did you see that criticism? Did you hear that, or is it mostly been positive? Mostly been positive.

I haven't heard anything negative. Now what about... Any given day, man. Any guys that want to, hey, let's go for a run. Simple as that. I don't want to go for a run. I don't want to do anything with you as far as... I can run.

So it's like, yeah, a lot of people put age on it. But what's the age? You see, there's a lot of 20 years. years old, 20 plus years old over there, that it's broken down, can't fight anymore. It's all in body and mind older than we are. Will we see the return to the Gracie train for this fight? No no yet. Okay. Don't know yet. Something for Hoyle to decide. Oh, so he's really the head coach here. Yeah, yeah. Why'd you choose him as the head coach? He's the general, man. Every time. Hoyle, he's the general, man.

Everybody's scared of him. So when you start to think about this fight, when you start to envision it, a third time with a man you've had a long history with, how do you see it going? Do you think it goes longer, like the second one, the shorter, like the first one? What do you think? When you see it again, what's the question again? When you start to think about the fight, you've known about it for a month. How do you envision it actually playing out? I can't tell you the strategy, but how it plays out.

I'm going to, man, I'm going to push him, man. I'm going to push him. Does this? I'm going to dust his limits. Does this feel like you're rejuvenated now? Like you're a youngster all of a sudden? I mean, this kind of came out of left. I remember talking to you.

Many times I've asked you. Are you going to come back? And you said, no, no, no, no, I'm done. And now here you are. Training for a fight. That's got to be fun, right? I think, I think the horse today would have beat the horse 20 years ago.

Wow. Why? I've been thinking about that. More experience. Back then, I was using a lot of talent. Today I got the talent and experience. I've got more endurance today.

And I'm the same weight. First year feels, 176 or 78. Right now I'm walking around 178, 180. So about the same weight. So it sounds to me like if all goes well, Well, you're going to keep fighting. Time will tell.

We'll see. One of the time, man. Come on, don't push it. All right, all right. By the way, who do you enjoy watching these days? Who do you go out of your way to watch, regardless of promotion? I like to watch the champions. Okay.

They are the champions because they know how to use the strategy. Not just coming to duke it out in a bloody mess. And, nah. I like the guys, the champions, man. Because they use a lot of strategies. They know how to face the fight. They know how to take the opponents out of their game. And, man, all of them, all the champions.

And now here we are maybe three months away from the fight. Was there a period where you were nervous? Like, wow, you know, it's been a long time. It's going to be nine years since you last fight. Are you anxious? Do you feel like a kid again? How are you handling all this? Man, I'm good to go, man.

I'm ready. You could fight tomorrow. I'm ready. I could have fought that last Friday when they announced. People are asking me, man. I was like, dude, I'm ready. I'm doing. I can do it right now.

What do you think of? I've been training already. Wow. I was already starting training. Any training? I'm bummed. I'm bum for this one. I can see the smile.

I can feel it as you speak. Any training partners that we know of? Any guys that you're bringing in? No, no, just students. Students. of my students. Wow, that's interesting. In California? Local guys, local guys here, yes. Okay, so no more traveling now, right? You're going to focus?

I got one more trip and that's it. And what do you make of the co-main event? Kimbo against Dada 5,000. What do you make of this? I don't know much about Dada, but Kimbo, hey, he's mine, man. That's your guy? That's my pick right there. Yep. I see you guys hanging out. That's why I do in the pictures. when they announced live, Kimbo's like, hold on, hold on.

Go to the other side. I'm going to stay next to the horse. I was like, cool. That's my guy right here. That's my man right here, man. Oh, that is great. Kimbo's a smart man. He knows what's up.

That's my guy, man. That's idea. By the way, how many, what do you think it does as far as ratings? I have no idea about that. I'm a fighter, man. I'm not the promoting. motor. But you know

why they're doing this. They want to get big ratings, right? I think they were sold out in the first week. Yeah. And it might break the record. People want to see.

People still know who you are. People still care about Hoyce Gracie. After all these years, it's an amazing thing. I bet you people come up to you all the time on the street. And there's a history

in between us. Hoyst Gracie and Gensham Rock, man. Yeah. But all the champions right now, they all fight three fights. They all do three fights. So, I'll give him.

my chance. Let's fight a third one just side the same. First one I win fast. He made a mistake. Second one, he just came in. He was used, let's say, the rules and lay on me and hold me down, play for the draw. But he still haven't got a win. So

he's chasing that win, and I'm chasing to put an end to this. Maybe I'll retire him now. Yeah. Well, you Will you prolong the fight just to have fun with him? Nah. Nah. Finish it quick.

If I can do it in 30 seconds, I'll do it, but I don't think it's going to be 30 seconds. I think I'm going to torture him first. By the way, a busy time for the Gracie's Cron Gracie fighting in Japan. Did you hear about that for Risen? Not yet. Is that right? That's news. Awesome.

Yeah, you didn't know about that. That's awesome. No, no. Just heard now for Starry. Maybe you'll train with him. Yep. He's fighting Arsson Yamamoto, the nephew of Kid Yamamoto. Cool.

That's good. Well, I'm glad I can share some news with you. Yep. That'll be a good fight. That's awesome. We're back. You're back. The graces are back.

Graces are back in the map. Very well said. I wish you the best, my friend. It's a pleasure to speak to you. once again. It's an honor always to have you on the show. And good luck in training and obviously in the fight, February 19th in Houston, Texas.

Tickets are on sale this Saturday. You can get them on bellator.com. The one and only, the legend, Hoysgracy, returning to action for a third fight against Kent Chamrock. Thank you so much for the time, Hoyce. Appreciate it. Good luck to you. Thank you. All right. There he is. We sort of cut him off. Hose Gracie. Are you crazy?

All right. We appreciate his time. He is always a fun guy talk to, speaking of Brazilian MMA in a minute, we're going to be joined in studio by Eric Silva, UFC Walterweight Star. He's going to talk about why he's in New York and what's next for him, so I'm looking forward to that. We need to take

a break to reconfigure the studio, so let's go back to UFC 134. Eric Silva won his very first fight inside the Octagon, UFC Rio 1, and that's when we had our memorable interview with not only him, but Validi Shmal, who kind of took

things on his own towards the end. So that's our inside the vault for this week and then afterwards we'll be back right here in studio with Eric Silva. Ariel Hawani post-fight a UFC Rio alongside Eric Silva who knocked out Luis Ramos tonight in his UFC debut. And Eric, congratulations on the big win. How are you feeling right now? I know you've been working very hard to get to the UFC and you just had a most amazing debut. I'm very happy, with sure, I've got a knockout and logo in my premiere. So I think that will sum up

a lot to be called to the next the UFC. He was very happy to start like that with the big knockout and he wanted to fight. He's ready to fight

and he showed he can do it. He's young, he can do it. This is what he said. He's very happy to be in UFC because this is a dream come true for him. When you connected with that big punch did you know that he'd be out right away?

You thought he would have to be Yeah, I trained a BASTAGEL, and with certainly I gave the direct to him to get him, so he came, and he got to to him to terminate the service. He trained a lot this

punch, this goal, this punch, he trained a lot, even today, he showed in the room how he gonna knock out him, you understand? And he's very happy right now, because he's accomplice what he won, and he's say he's just a beginner. He's just a beginner. The people's going to hear a lot about

Eric Silva. Anderson Silva says he is a successor of Anderson. Ask him, Eric Silver. Does a part of you wish that you had a little more time to show the people what you're all about or are you happy with the quick finish? You want to have more time to show, for everyone, your talent, or it's good, this finalization? With that's great, this finalization, knockout. With a lot of course, I'm trying the knockout of the night. But it's, of logish, I also want to show my service, my job.

I have a lot to show. And I will show this in the last few times. For all the world, my style of lot of lot, differenti. My Thai, is beautiful, a mightai, good. And I will show to the world entire. He's happy to knockout the guy fast, but he wants to be a lot of the guy fast. He wants to show his technique, to show what he can do it. But he said, you want to now be the knockout of the night.

And he also come back to the UFC to show more his technique. He has a good Muay Thai, the black belt of Jiu-jitsu, but he has a great Muay Thai training with Roger Camones, Anderson Silva, the guy from Belain, in the Paras, the Distak, Feijon, Daniel, Daniel, you know, his team, he's strong team, taking it in Noggera's brother. Like, he turned with the best world to be the best the world.

Is this a dream situation for you to win this way in your home country, in this fashion? I mean, are you almost pinching yourself right now? No, I'm in your country. With your own, I'm sure, I'm very happy, and the most emotion of my life, even, is getting for knockout in the UFC, and even more here in New New Jersey,

where where there are various stars, in the cards. So I think I've done this knockout, and will call a little attention to me, too. He's very happy to fight the UFC. And this knockout is going to bring a lot of attention for him too. But he loved to fight when his stars, his idols fighting the same card, like Nogheera and the Anderson Silva.

But he's going to be back. He's going to show much more what he can do. This is a dream come through, he repeat. He's fighting in the World Cup, World Cup of mixed martial arts, because the people in the world need understand. This is huge in Brazil. The MMA is becoming the number one sport. Fight tight with soccer.

Anyone you want next? Who can anyone want to do you? Who, Donald White, I don't choose my adversary. Who, Donald White, to put him to fight to me to fight. Joe and Silva, I'll put him to me to to look to, I'm prepared

a lot more than me prepared for this fight, because now, with certainly, I'm going to come in the top. Whatever Dan White tell him to fight, he's going to fight. Whatever Joe Silva tell him to fight, he's going to fight, he's ready,

and he wants to go up with the mountain. He will go up. He said, he's going to train hard, more hard right now, and the people are going to He heard a lot about him. Let me ask you one final question, Walid.

Obviously, you're a legend here in Brazil, and you've been around this sport for so many years. What's it like for you to be here? The UFC's returned to Brazil, the first event in Rio, and now being side by side with him, an unbelievable debut. It's a dream come true. It's a dream come true for all the Brazilians. It's a fan of MMA.

Dana White, Lorenzo, Frank Fertito is my idols. You know what I mean? These guys make millions and millions people all love the world, give better life for his family because Dana White, Lorenzo, and Frankfurt Titles. And this guy is amazing, you know what I mean? He comes to Brazil. Now Brazil grow about 100,000%

because the people love MMA, the people love Dona White's work, the people love the passion what Danoite has for this sport. Because the people understand the love he has, you know what I mean? And he's a big idol in Brazil, like, you know, every sport,

The fighters or the players are the idol. But Dan White, for sure, is a big Dan White, Frank and the Lorenzo, is a big idol for this sport. For all the great things he do for mixed martial arts, he does for UFC. UFC, he is the World Cup. UFC for us, Brasilia, is more than 10 times for the Super Bowl. There's no doubt about. And these kids from Brazil, these kids train hard, give the blood, give the blood, give the the soul to fight good.

It's a dream come true. For all the people, for all the audience, you don't understand. If you are Brazilian, you're going to feel it. You know what I mean? You see the people. Everybody enjoy, everybody happy to be in UFC in Brazil. He is Brazilian legend, Walid Ismail,

also, of course, of jungle fights. He is, of course, Eric Silva, an unbelievable UFC debut tonight. Parabenz, congratulations, and thank you. Thank you. He speaks good Portuguese because you come a lot. We hope UFC come many times. next year. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Ariel Halwani for Fanhouse.com being joined by Mr. Donald Trump and Donald, this is the third time that you've been partnering with Affliction. So far, are you liking the arrangement? I think it's great. They're a great group. Tom and everybody had Affliction have really done an amazing job and this is going to be an amazing fight on August 1st. Is there anything that you'd like to see done differently from the first two events for this upcoming third one? Well, I think the second event in particular was one of the most exciting sporting events I've ever seen. So I really don't want to change anything. You have the greatest fighters and you just let them go out of it. There's nothing artificial. There's nothing you have to change. You've been a part of

boxing for a long time. Do you think that MMA has now surpassed boxing as the new combat sports of the 20th century? Well, I really do. I think it's pretty obvious. You look at boxing matches and there are still some good ones, but overall MMA is the place to be. All right, final question. You were up at the podium with Mark Cuban. Has the beef been settled between you two? Well, we're friends and we never had a real beef. We're just having fun. He had a show. I had a show. and Mark's a great guy and really a smart cookie and the job he's done with the team. You know, everything he touches just seems to turn to goal and he really is a good guy. Some people don't know that, but he is.

Prediction on the main event? Well, you always have to go with Fador, but it's going to be a very tough fight. I watched Josh that same evening and he really dominated a great fighter. He just dominated. It wasn't even that much of a match. And Josh is going to be very tough to beat, but of course you always have to go with a guy who's considered the best in the world by far. All right, back on the MMA hour.

We are now being joined in studio by one of the very best welterweights in the world. Joining us from all the way over in Brazil, he's now in New York City. What an honor it is to be joined by Eric Silva, he's also being joined by his quasi-translator today. This is Amanda Salvatto, who works as a reporter for UFC in Brazil. Guys, thank you so much.

Obrigado. Thank you. So you need a translator. He doesn't speak any English, right? No. No. Okay. Thank you for coming.

If you can just talk up against the microphone here so we can hear you guys as clearly as possible. You want to tell them that? Yeah, we're part of the microphone. We were just watching that interview from UFC 134, you and Valid. Do you remember that day? What was that day like for you? We're we're going to see this interview.

You remember this day? How are that this interview? Yeah, in the fact, yes, I remember. And the people bring with this interview because, I said I said he said he was something

different I perceived that he extended what I said he was there was a he was talking he not was talking

what I said he today today people are people when the people come to ask for me

about this interview the people people end up if you say if you say if you say

something I'll say this interview and everybody kind of make fun of Wali because of what he said

And it wasn't pretty much what I said. Oh, yeah. So a lot of pressure on you here. It was a lot of pressure on you. No, on you. On you, Amanda, because now you have to translate what he says. Exactly. And he spoke a lot.

Yes. Do you still work with Valid? No, more. What happened? What happened? What happened? I'm really, I'm very grateful to Valid. while I

I've with Valid we've we've we've we've always always

it's always he's a way he a way a way a way a way I'm

I'm I'm I'm a man my and I'm more by the

relation my relation with my relation more more more more

more not it's not in the middle the so we

we're for the work, it was more for this for a proximity major with my employer. Nothing happened

with Valid. I was very happy while I was with him working with him and then I met Duda and we have a closer relationship so it's better for me

to work with Duda just because he's a good friend of mine as well. So that interview was in 2011 now here you are you've had many UFC fights

on your resume. What would this Eric Silva tell that Eric Silva, fresh face, you know, no beard or anything. What kind of advice would you give the Eric Silva who's just starting his UFC career now that you've had all these fights on your resume? He's talking, what's the difference of Eric Silva today to Eric Silva? What do you say to an Eric Silva to do, what you'd say to an Eric that's going to

now, since you've started on the FCC? What difference of these two erics? Yeah, in fact I think the difference is more the maturity, when I entered, I really was a girl really was a very impugated and much thing new, happening in my life.

And now, now I've passed for many things, I've passed for moments good, moments ruins. So, I'm so, I'm a certain of what can, not can happen,

of what I want. I think this it's even more responsible too, I'm more responsible too, for the things that I want and where I want to get. I'm way more mature now.

I believe, even more responsible. I know what is good and what can happen and what won't happen in my career. And that's it. So the last time we saw you was in August against Neil Magni, didn't go your way. What, in your opinion, went wrong that night?

What do you think you did not do in the interview, in the fight against New Megney in Canada? Yeah, in fact, in the fight with Megney, it was a lot where that she was marked to first to fight

the 27 of June against Rick Story in this data I was really really very well I was vooing I was in the trainings

and I was prepared for this date and unfortunately not happened this lot on the day 27 of

June some problems with in the Brazil and was cancelled if I'm

remember five two this night so they then they added my

for a month and a half after it was a month and a little difficult to get in the camp normally I was

I was end up in my camp for the day 27 of June so I had to enter in

other long in so I really happened I'm lesioning I trained lesionated

me prejudiced about my trainingments and really in the the

battle it came it was it I demonstrated this in the fight, how I was prejudiced in the training, due to this lesal that I had.

Actually, I was supposed to fight on June 27 in Orlando, sorry, Miami. With Hick Monster, and I was ready for the fight. But then I had problems with the visa. Hick story, sorry. And I have problems with the visa, so the fight didn't happen. Another, five other fights couldn't happen as well.

So then I started my camp again, and I got hurt, and I got hurt and I... Sorry, what did you say You said in the final? You were in the final of your camp? So, it was in the final of my camp I got me machining and it was this form

that I came me present myself to the fight. And I'm sure you know this. You were criticized, your physique was criticized. People said you were out of shape. Why did it appear to be that way? As people said that were out of form. you were critiqued. What do you?

Why did you think? It's why of it. It's difficult you're mached. There are many questions, if the Eric mached was a man, he was with a

arm, he was with a work, why he not did work? But it's very difficult, you know, in the camp, you have to train various things. I don't

continue to train with a a man massacled. I didn't can train with a hand just. And all the world who intends a

little of the part physical of the body, you know, you know, I'm not can't be

a lot of I'm going to do you know to work, I'm going to go to work to work. And really,

I came prejudicing in my part physical. The real manager, Roger Kamons,

tried to do the maximum for what I could be in the but in the middle

the possible. I don't I could do you could do do my really I really

I really I really I really I didn't even 40% for the my last month.

Yes, a lot of people ask me why did I fight even that I was hurt? And I couldn't

have a whole completely camp if I was hurt because people that know how it works to train to a camp

for a fight knows that you cannot train legs every day. But still, I was there and I was

trying to keep up so I could fight. And my trainer, Roger Camois, he tried

the best we could to to prepare for the fight? What was wrong with you? What was wrong with you? Ah, what was he was in the aroused

with you? I'm, I'm doing a surgery now, on the Cotovello, because of this, I had some fragments in my

Cotovolo, and he had to be retired. And he got got inflamando a lot of camp.

It's a last year a old old, so, I just, I've been of two camps sentino

dors on the coteovel. So, I think, I think, because, because, the excess of

trainingment, and out, entering in another, with with trainings with a lot, it was inflamando much, I

don't get my arm, and my cutovolo, do it and no pulse also. So,

so, due to this lesion, I could be movement to the arm, not could stick it,

not could dobbard, not could do that, it was a problem, I was me was

positive, in a moment no, I would say, I'd think it would be better

until I didn't know the gravity, I I know that was mached but I really

I wanted I wanted to I'd I'd I'd job the really to come to me

because at all the moment I'd I'd want to I'd say to I'm not

I heard myself and then I did a surgery on my elbow because I had to take some fragments away

and it's been two camps that I've been doing that I heard my I have my elbow hurt and my hands

and I still was training because I believed that it was going to get better but it was

It was all my fault. I couldn't do my best. I couldn't straighten my whole arm for the fight. And that's it. So what brings you to New York? What you brought to New York? So I, I've got to go ahead and I've never been. He said a lot of time. He always always, I'd always, I'd send my academy, visit in my academy, does a visit in my academy. And I never came. I've never came. I'll go to pass

a time for cause of the Cotovillo of the surgery. I did a my physiotherapy in Brazil and

when I did I came to to come to to come to back to train to the part of

Renzo. I've got three years, I have three years. I'm just a lot of a year. and, in a lot, I'm, in a second, I'm trying to, and And in

it's been very good these trainings and the John, he really is passing about many

things to me and I know that I know that's I'm trying the Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian in the States

but it's being very productive for me here in the States here in New York. I've been always talking to Hanzo

and he always invited me to come over and after my surgery I realized I had the time to come and do it so I've been here

for three weeks I've been going to Hansu Gracie to train my ground floor my ground game and I've been training with John. John Danaher?

Yes. The bald-headed guy. Yes. He's a funny man, huh? He's always wearing a rash guard. He's always wearing a rash guard. Interesting guy, right? He's very smart.

Very intelligent. Yeah, yeah. Okay, sorry. So I've been training with him and it's pretty funny that I came all the way from Brazil to train him with John, who's American, and it's been great. It's been really good. First time here? First time here?

First time here. Yeah. In fact, it's the first time that I came to the States to America to train. I always come to fight or to events. for events of the FC and so. So it's the first that I'm going

to do a type of training. In fact, the first time I'm out of my academy and go to do a new

exchange in other academies. And it's being very good. I think I needed this time that I was this is the

first time I come to the USA to train. I only came here for fights or for events with the UFC. So this is the

first time that I'm actually leaving in Brazil to train outside of Brazil and it's being really good. How long are you staying here for?

For how long are you staying here for? So, it's like I had said, I've been three months, I'll be more one a week, this is the last time I'm here. And then I go to California. There, the Raphael Cordero,

I'm waiting. I'm going to find out the final of the year, training with Rafael Cordero, and I pretend also to do a part of evolution technical

there with Raphael. I've been here for three weeks, I'm staying one more week, and then I'm going to California to train with Rafael Cordero and I wanted to do a more technical training there with him. Is there a chance that you come here full time? There's a chance that you'll come here full time? Yes, in New York?

New York, Los Angeles. In New York, I really, I pretend to be direct. In, I don't know how, I, I'm getting in California, I pretend to find a little there in California, I'm really doing my camping, to be in the final of year, the my recuperation

there, and for the year I pretend I think, I'm going to be a more here in the United, training in the

Kings and here with John. I think the John, he is being very important also in part of strategy,

of shan, in the part of Jiu-Jitz is being very good for me too. And for so I've

said that, in January, I'll go to back to New York too. I'm more two

two months here. So I'm kind of intercaling between New York and in California. Yes, I'm

going to stay in California and to the end at the year, then I plan to come back and stay between New York and

L.A. to train with Raphael and to come back and train with John because it's been really good for my

ground floor and for the strategy as well. Wow. Do you know who's next for you and if not

who do you want next? You know who do you want next? I don't who you I don't know

I don't know. In fact, I still even have plans to to work even, because due to this my lesion,

so I'm, I, I, the person, we still not decided how it would be,

I still will do the rest of the trainingments. I still not I'm not able to make a

percent to do because of my cirrhic. But I really, I pretend to be going to be in

March, in March, in March, in the year I still, I still don't have a

lot marked and I I think to, for the year next I would like would be a lot of with Jake Lemberger and have a revanch with Don Junquin.

I think a revanch with Don Junquin in this moment would be a, the Eric more more centered, focused, in the new challenges,

I think the result would be totally different in a new revenge with him. I don't have any opponent yet because I'm still

recovering. I still need to talk to my manager, but I believe now I'm more mature so I would like a revenge against

Don Mookin. And also with Allenberg. So it's interesting because I'm... By March. Yes. Very important. When we first saw you in the UFC, what a great debut was fast and you were exciting everything.

And it's been kind of like one win, one loss, one one and loss. Do you know why that has been? Why haven't you been able to go on a long streak in the UFC? Well, no first I was super impoled. You were getting direct, especially in the first, and now you have, kind of got, or got to

the end of the period? Why do you think that is going to do you? Yeah, in the

fact that really, the derot is a derot is actually not, I think no,

no, I think it's no, we're we're going to be prepared, we're going to a victory.

As a case, sometimes, happens, sometimes, sometimes, I think, I'm, I

dovo, I'm very in this part technical, too, and one that I'm doing

about, that is procuring this. I'm trying this part technical, I'm really trying to me evolve.

At every day that's, every day that's, I try to try to get a good profit. I'm getting, I'm pergently,

I'm trying to take a profit of this this and trying preencher what it's also. I think

today, really, in all the most of my victories, I think I think I preenchending

a case a case a case that is the most important. I to be able to be. I think that this

focus that I'm taking now, this really will be a adversary very hard in category for any one

that's not. The last is part of the game and I know I need it to get better on my technique and you'll be,

you'll be, you're talking too long? He's talking so much. He's got a lot to say this guy. I know. You have a lot So I've been, I knew I have to learn, I knew I need to work on my technique and that's what I'm doing now. And I, uh, I feel that I'm getting much better and I can be, um, a much better fighter for my, my division.

I understand, correct me from wrong. You changed your nickname recently. You're now the tiger. You're no longer a phenom. You're a tiger. Is that right? Uh, if he understood, you now moved your name to tiger. I understand C.

So, really, this don't have nothing to be with my last Luta. I think my last really was

an an an an happen that was unfortunately I don't I didn't

I'm I'm not I think that before this, I think after my battle,

if not me with Matt Brown, I I really I really I really I

really, I think this philosophy new that I came conquisting

the tiger even, you know, I'd like to go to walk a little a little,

he's a solitar, he's a a little so I would be in my world,

I'd create a my own own atmosphere I think I'm going to

go and you know I think the nickname changed has nothing to do with the

last fight it was even before the Travis Brown fight and I believe the

Tiger is alone Matt Brown Sorry, Matt Brown. It's a lone animal, and I like that. I like to be alone and to think about it. And for what I used to say, I used to create my own atmosphere,

and in my own atmosphere, that I was creating this. So I felt that I evolved much in this time. I did my own atmosphere, and I needed that, and I liked that. I, and I conquered two victories consecutive, and, unfortunately, the last one, I don't

win with a victory, but I think not that's what it will do, I'm going to make this my idea. I think I continue with this same idea, with the same focus, and from now, I think I'm even doing a pass a more, because not just on my focus

there is to go, to gain, more space, I'll improve even more, the techniques. Well, I had two consecutive wins and then I lost, And this is what is happening now. I'm coming from Brazil, and I'm getting out of my comfort zone and getting better every time. I'm going to say from my zone of my zone.

And I'm trying to be looking at leastown. I'm trying to evolve technically. I think this will be a lot of my comfort zone and coming all the way here, it's going to make me a better fighter. Did I hear him say the word assa'i? Did he say assay or was that just me dreaming? You said assay, he's just me dreaming. You said asai, right?

You didn't say assayee? No, I think you are, dearly. You like asaii, no? I like asa-i, no? I like, I got to sai. It's the best. Have you ever had assay in the United States? Because it tastes nothing like Bibi-Sucos, you know,

Bibi-Sucos? You know, Bibi-Sucos? It's totally different. It's nothing to do it. It's crap here. It sucks. No, no, no, I've done, I, I've done, yeah, I'm sorry for me,

it was very good, but it's not very good, but it can't compare it for the one of Brazil. Totally different. So I also understand, and correct me from wrong, like, you're a big celebrity in Brazil. People talk about you on all the websites, even your dating life and things like that. Did that become a distraction for you? There was a lot going on behind the scenes in the media

and the non-MMA media for you in Brazil. You're a lot of celebrity in Brazil. And how is that part of your life amorous that was so exposed, and so you affected? No, it's, in fact, in the fact, it, it it's,

it's a way a form negative, in the fact I don't really I'm sure it's

because you have been a position that you don't want to I don't go to the people say that

I don't that I don't be positioned to do, in the case the luta. And so when you

see in a situation this, you feel a little people, because these people

are fulking of me, you know? It doesn't affect me, but I don't like when people talk about my personal life with something that is not about the fight. That's it? What else? I'm sorry, what you said? I thought he was mid.

I thought he was stopping that answer there. But you're going to continue to say, so. So, so, I'm, I tend to vote, justly, all my focus for the Lut. If I say that this it's not not not happening

I'm going to be talking because you being exposed you see when it's when it's

it's it's quite you can't let's you know that you know that it's been

complicated and the people was like you said the people like actually

in Brazil the people me think like a person me can be a person I don't

I don't do really do you really do my work and be

seen as a lot very good and not like a an athlete

out of the octagon I know I know I think to work to work

and talk and I'm but when my life

is being exposed to a form that you

don't get a bit shatien a I don't like

when people start talking you know, about my life, and it is hard to keep the focus, especially when they're talking something that you don't want them to. And it is true, I'm a celebrity kind of guy in Brazil, but I try to keep my focus.

Do you what do you say? G? G. Gaj, now, no final. Nah, I don't see. What was that? I'm a celebrity, and it's hard to keep the focus when people are, like, talking about you with things that you don't want to.

Yeah. Until the final, we'll get in a concordance. By the end, we're going to get along on this. No, you're doing great. I think you're doing great. I don't really know what else is going on. He's going on. Yeah.

Trust me, I've seen worse. I've seen much worse. I've encountered much worse. Maybe that's a reason to come to the States, right? You don't have to deal with all that other stuff. So this could be, perhaps, maybe, maybe a reason for you bring to come to come to do with all this that happens there.

It's, in the fact, I don't, in my I don't try this like a fugue. This I have a sure I'm

sure you think it's a new technology that I'm trying new new new challenges. So,

so, not a fugue from Brazil, I'm getting, I'm, you know,

it's really, I really, I'm a evolution technical and that I see that here in the

United have, it is logic that I'm going to get more more than, I'm

my life, I'm I'm, I go to go to go to an

I'm not going to go to the other, and I don't need to be preoccupied with this part. So, this it's a lot of fattening but it's a lot of a preoccupation. I'm not running away from anything. I believe I'm coming here to get my technique better,

to work on my camp, on my fighting, and it is, that's true. It is better to come over here, and I can go to the gym and not worry about being a celebrity here. Do you feel like you have shown us the best Eric Silva in the UFC?

Do you feel like you have realized your potential or not yet. You think that you have shown the better Eric Silva until

now, all the potential? With certain, I do the better of me.

This is a fact, I do the better of me, but I also I'm sure

that the Eric, he can do what I'm looking now. I give

100% of it. It's just that. I do the better, but I

know that I can even more looking new new techniques doing what I'm doing with what I'm doing now, with the focus

that I'm just the same. I always give my 100%. I always give my best, but I know I can always get better working on my technique and everything I have to, and I still need to learn. I don't have a lot to grow

into the UFC, I have much to show and I have a lot to grow at the UFC. I am sure I still have a lot to grow at the UFC. people feel about mixed martial arts in Brazil? I remember UFC 134, U.S. Rio One. It was huge and they kept coming back. Now they're doing less events. Some of the big names don't fight as

often. Big Nog, retired. Anderson's not fighting as often. Is it as popular as it was when they came to Rio for the first time? How is the UFC today? Today, not have been Tanta Luta, there's many names that's not the

not much not the many of how are the UFC the Luta in the Brazil?

The UFC, in the world, so the fans today in the Brazil, they,

they're so much so that all the events, the dinas they're they're

loted at every day that are, are new athletes that are still

are new idols in Brazil that have growing. And the Brazilian, they

are really this. So I think it's for that's why it is that it's going to be renovating. So, some, some, some, they're still doing to enter in

scene to give opportunities for new names. This is the most important. The UFC is still growing in Brazil, and now the old fighters are not fighting anymore, because they're

giving the opportunity and the chance for the new fighters to come. All the venues they are getting big and, you know, and full. So, yes, people, we have the best crew and everything in Brazil. So it's pretty good. Did you ever think that you would become the celebrity, that you'd be able to make a living, fighting?

When you were growing up, MMA in Brazil wasn't what it was today. And now we're seeing all these young guys, Thomas Almeida and Alex Cowboy, all these guys, they're stars in large part because what you guys did at UFC 134, did you ever think that your life would be like it is today? You thought that your life

would be how is today, you being a lotator, you're living, you're having this as your

career, you, you just, you know, you, you were this you, you know,

you, in what moment? In your moment, the first, the first, the first,

you would be, you'd would be a celebrity, and get so long how you

came, I'm really, I think, I always I always I'm I never,

since when I I started to train. I never, I puttable a perspective grand, I always did because

I'd like. The first last year, I didn't, I don't imagine what would be in the future. I, no, I

didn't, I didn't, I wanted to be the world. In that moment, I did because I, because I I was different.

Today, I think I'm with more experience, I'm very more focused. Today, I really, I I'm not a chronogram.

Today, I know where I want to get to get. So, today, I'm going to do all right to do so that this can't happen. Maybe it's a error that I

had made in the past and I didn't have this perspective. I did for love. I was because I would be because I want to get to get much more

more high. At the beginning, I did it because I wanted, because I love it. I didn't have, I didn't make as a big deal. You know, I was just there, I was just fighting,

I was just doing things that I loved. But now I'm completely different. more experienced guy I know what I can what is my future in the UFC and how where can I get so I think that was even a mistake I did in the in the past because I didn't have any prospective for for the future and now I do and as a Brazilian what do you think of hoist Gracie coming back did you hear this he's fighting in February at 49 years old do

you like this? What do you like this? What do you think of this what you think of this country, who's going to fight against him, Well, in the Royce, he really was an inspiration for me.

If I said that not, I'm going to be talking. I'm going to dojitzo just to watch the

Royce. I never knew what was Jiu-Gitzo. So the first time I was a video

VHS, and I watched the first of Roysse, the first of this guy is this guy lutees? So I said,

I'm going to look the academy of Jujits. So I went justel because of these these

these luts so he really he really he really I'm inspired

in that moment the initial of all the initial of all I'm like

I'm like a person I'm really really thought poach

sure that this is a lot a lot good I don't know

how he's how he is he is he's how it something

something something something something it is what it seems

it's things things people I think two athletes, when they really want to look at and are promptly prepared for this, physically or not, no, no

it's important the age. You see the Henderson, doing lots, until today, and doing good, lots. So I think if really they're physically well and trained for this, why not happened to a lot of this?

Yes, I like Hoisey a lot. I even start doing Jiu-Jitsu. When I first saw him when he was fighting. I always used to look at him. I was like, what kind of fight did he do? That's the one I want to do it. And that's how I start doing jiu-jitsu. Yes, I don't know. As a fan, I don't know if it's going to be good for him. It seems that it's more personal fight. I don't know the reasons. But you can see like Dan Henderson, you know, he's still fighting. He's still pretty good. If the guys are fighting, he's still in good shape, why not? All right. Do you want to fight into your late 40s?

you want to look to until you enter into the house of 40? With certain I think

I think I'm also I'm too have to be very just with my body. Today,

the athlete, I think the life sportive of the athletes will do that this generation

pastada. This generation passed didn't not quite did not quite the humanotau

is a friend but you see that really the body he just

not can't not want to not, he was in a moment good to be in him to be

my body to put in me to be in I'm trying, I want to not, no, no, I think

that's just that's just that, no matter when the years I'm, if I'm, if I'm,

45 years, but I think that, really, pox, maybe maybe it's impossible,

I don't know, but I think with some good the way the medicine has, the science

have, I think the life the athletes today, will be prolonging

a little more. I believe, yes, I want to fight until I can. The fighters

today is different from before because now they have a different they take care of their body is different

it's much healthy and as Minotauru he's a good friend of mine and you can see that he couldn't

be fighting anymore and today I believe with the medicine helps you and you can fight much

longer. Great stuff. Obrigado. A real pleasure to have you in the studio. I wish you

the best with your elbow and in training here in New York and Los Angeles. It was a lot of fun to have you here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It was a pleasure to have you here. Good source in California, Los Angeles, here.

And yes. She'll say less than Valid. Better than Valid. Yes. Is that good or bad? It's a good. I prefer her than Valid. I prefer her than Valid.

And while I love Valid, better to look at than Valid, right? Give yourself a plug, Amanda, because you cover the UF and maybe people are finding out about you for the first time. I'm sure you have a lot of fans now after being on the show. Where can people see your work? Yes, so I do a lot of the stuff. I work for the UFC Brazil and the UFC here. You can see, they can see my stuff in the channel in Brazil called Canal Combat.

Over here is more over the YouTube and the UFC channel. And, yes, I do all the backstage. So I see you all the time there. Yes. And now I'm a translation. And it seems now I'm Eric Silvas translated as well. Derek should be scared. Yeah, Derek.

Yes, coming for you. And you also do Capoeira. You ever do Capoeira with her? You ever do Capoeira with her? No, no, but we've made a lot of a capoeira. No, but we set it up a fight for a Capoeira fight. Okay, I'd like to see that. Yeah, me too.

He said, he said that he adoratia would be this. I said, well, like I said, thank you so much. The best to you and to you as well. Thank you so much for bringing Eric here. Really appreciate. There he is. one of the best fighters at 170 pounds joining us in studio. We're going to take a quick break.

We'll be back in a minute right here on the MA hour. For now, here's a clip from UFC 127 when I was down there with my old friend Matt Mitrione as we prepare for Melbourne this Saturday. We'll be back. On Thursday afternoon, members of the Sydney Roosters rugby team welcome the group of MMA fighters to their stadium to teach them a little bit about the great game of rugby. No one really wants to see me play rugby.

So we've invited our special correspondent, Matt Mitrione, who you can see back there having the team. time of his life to do a special edition of the Mitreo Minute right here at the Sydney Football Stadium. Matt, it's your time to shine. You're happy to be here? I am ecstatic to be here. It kind of gives me the memories of playing good old football. Right. So people were very upset that there wasn't, you're not even listening to me here, but there wasn't a Mitrio Minute this week. So this is going to be a special edition. The Mitrio Minute goes down under at a Sydney football stadium. I think I actually saw the Mitchell Minute down under when I was in college one time, I think, but that was filmed like

through a closet door. It was kind of weird. How many games are in a season? 2026. Get the hell out of here, bro. The biggest stress for me is that if I have a guy like Fitch, where is he? He's right there with the ball right now. He's a phenomenal wrestle. And his top control is superb.

So he can just ride you all day long and you can't get out from underneath him. That's like, that's probably, I think most everybody's biggest concern. Excuse me, Mr. Fitch, Matthew Mitya. So you said just a minute ago, and when he interviews that, you're talking about the sweat that you can work out now. now and what activities do you sweat the most? Um, do you keep this PG? All right, so this is a jersey that you just got on today.

Do you want to tell us a little bit about it? That's awesome. It's from the roosters. We gave them some fight gloves and a UFC belt in trade and hoops up with these cool jerseys. That's awesome. Can we turn around to your last name on there? Do you ever wonder that if you were having a hard time

making your weight, if you shaved all of your body hair, how much weight you would lose? I wonder. I probably got, this is a safety actually. The beard is probably an extra pound. Yeah, I like that. You know, before I fought Kimbo, they actually, Montreal Athletic Commission called me

and asked me if they wanted me to make him shave his beard because I guess I might be against the rules. So just let you know, you may be in some trouble there. If you're fighting Montreal, I'm going to know. That's good enough. So, Stephen, we're down here again in Australia. I'd like to ask you what your thoughts were walking into this stadium and if it made you think anything about Ross Aide from Purdue University.

It did. It brought back memories, you know. It felt like back in the day, I was going in to cheer on Mitrione and Triune and drew breeze drunk as a son. I say, but it must be strange that you're sober right now walking in here. I know, right? I couldn't make service some beers or something.

Yeah, you know, and the last question is, you know, do you have anybody on the docket or who you, you know, who you're hoping to try to punch in the face? Oh, I'd really like to fight former UFC champion Steve Jenham. I heard he's been talking a lot of smack too, so Steve, I'm tired of your mouth, Steve. Here you go, H. All right, Matt, a little bit out of breath. How you feeling?

A little tired. I need to get in shape. Good experience, right? Awesome, awesome. Great grass. Great grass in here. Look at this. You know good grass when you see it. That's good grass. That's the Penn State and USC best grass ever played. What makes it good grass? Short, thick, but enough traction on it.

Want to say goodbye to the people? People, thank you so much for a while. Heads up again. As we're dodging bullets in Sydney, Australia, MMAfighting.com, A.H, Mayterone, old meathead, sweet meat, meat feet. Let's get it done. MMAfighting.com. That was weird. what a time that was with Matt Mitreone. That was a lot of fun back at UFC 127.

That was BJ Penn versus John Fitch. A great week. Aunt Evans, the PR guru for the UFC back then. Really set up a lot of fun things for us to do. So I'm looking forward to Melbourne and this experience, the big crowd and all, it's going to be a lot of fun. And any time Ronda Rousey fights, that's an experience in its own right.

And if August 1st was any... indication this is going to be a big deal. And especially having Yvana there, I think she can really benefit the most out of all this. So that's coming up for now. Let's get to your questions and comments as we run out of time here on another edition of the M.A. R. Mr. New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here. By the way, let's give a shout out to a guest that we had at the beginning of the show, right?

That's a great idea. Excuse me, not the beginning of the show. Prior to us going on air, an old friend stopped by and gave us an amazing piece of art. There it is. zoom back a little bit step back just a touch there it is it's uh it's it's it's sort of and lift it up just so they see my face there at the bottom oh yeah there it is robert pearson who is a fantastic artist he he made our own 300 version in honor of the episode number 300 that we just celebrated but that's that's a play on the uh the spider-man 300th episode right or issue i should say that's correct

yes it's almost you know an exact replica except a much less uh impressive superhero filled in. I was going to say the Spider-Man one was much less impressive. But wow, what a great... Did you notice when you took a look at it, the Jeremy Scott shoes, the Adidas sneakers? I did not. Yeah, he's got the wing sneakers that you had.

Oh, yeah. Oh, that's awesome. It's funny how those stuck with everyone when I only wore them once. It's amazing. Yeah, surprisingly not the pink poodle. Yes, I also wore those ones. But thank you very much, him. He's brilliant.

and he's a good friend of the show. I appreciate him doing that greatly. Also, again, thank you very much to Eric and Amanda for stopping by our. Let's get to the questions before we have to go. Okay, let's distill them. I'm not going to read them all. Vitor... Did you say distill them?

Yeah. What is that? Distill? Take them down to their essence. Wow. That might be the most impressive term you've ever uttered on this show. Doubtful. But Vitor Belfort's legacy, was it tarnished by his TRT use?

and what did this fight do for his legacy? Yes. Okay. I'll... I mean, I don't know how much this... Look, he backed up what he did in the second fight. It was an impressive win. Will there always be an asterisk on Vitor's career?

I believe so. I mean, like I said to Dave, if you look at the second fight and you compare his physique to the third fight, it's a very big difference. Now, I'm not taking... He is an incredibly talented fighter. He's one of the greatest ever.

He is a Hall of Famer. There's no doubt about it. But if you're not, if you're going to talk about the history and the story of Vitor Belfort and not mention these things, you're not telling the complete story. So with that, yes, his legacy, if you want to use the word tarnished, it's not as squeaky clean as others. What does this do for the legacy?

I don't know. This is more of a story. This is more part of a shorter, you know, not a postscript, but this is more a part of a chapter. away because he's coming off the loss to Wydeman didn't look great, although he did rock him, but you know, everything's surrounding it, the body, all that. If this leads to

like an Anderson fight, which I think it may, and he beats him, I mean, so this is kind of like a hump that he had to get over to continue his career, and he did very well. Now let's see where it leads him. Do you agree with me that the legacy is

somewhat tarnished? Absolutely. I mean, I think I'm even being like nice. Sure. Yeah. The T-Bow Trujillo stoppage. Yes. Given that the Leandro Silva-Druber fight was overturned, do you think there's any chance the same thing happens here? I don't think this one was as egregious.

I know it was controversial. I know he said he was getting out. I don't think it was horrendous. I don't think it was great. I don't know if he'll win that appeal. What do you think? I don't know what the basis for, like how that determination is made in terms of degrees.

But certainly there's a case to be made that this should be overturned. I didn't, and correct me if I'm wrong, I didn't see like a super tight replay, which showed his face. It did seem like for a split second he might have been out, just a split. I can't go with that because the moves he was making right before the stoppage was he was doing the proper thing to get out of it. So you really can't, you can't go by that. Yeah, it's, um, it's, it's,

It's a bitter blow for him in a fight that, I don't know if he was, was he the favorite going into that fight? Do you remember? No, Tibow. He was. Okay. So, tough one, but I don't think it was as bad as the Dober one. Like, you think he has a chance? He hasn't said that. I haven't seen him say that he's going to.

I really don't know, like, how they determine that. Yeah, who knows with that commission. You know, maybe there's a case where if there's any doubt, we overturn it, maybe it's a case where we really have to believe that this fight was going to change significantly. in my opinion it should be but I don't know what the criteria is it was also weird because the ref was like right on top and his face was right there wasn't like it was one of those where his his body his face was facing the mat you know and you can't really see what's going on we've seen that before his face he was facing up so yeah weird got to give him got to give him more time yeah yeah

yeah for sure amita versus barrao should this be the next fight for for thomas amita um no because where I was going up to 145. So what would be a good fight for him in the division? Thomas? Well, there are some fights coming up. There's Al Jermaine Sterling. There's John Dodson who just moved up to 135. I know Garbrand, there's John Lineker.

I mean, like I said, do you not agree? 135 is so much more interesting today. There's no division that went from where it was 11 months ago, which was somewhat dull, to where it is today, which I think has an amazing... collection of young studs. All these guys, for the most part, are pretty young. I know there are a couple that are a little older.

But, you know, Almeida, Sterling, Dillishaw's Young, cruises. You know what I mean? I would argue that this happens, in fact, every time that a reigning champion gets dethroned. The same thing happened at light heavyweight when John Jones stepped away. The same thing happened at middleweight when Anderson Silva was finally dethroned. I think that once you knock off a kingpin type guy, that's the kind of opportunities that it opens up, people get excited about it. So I wouldn't say that this is distinct for this division,

but it certainly all started as soon as T.J. Dillishaw took that title off Barrow. So any one of those I'll take. Great fights. I mean, just seeing him fight is a pleasure. It doesn't matter who he's in there with. UFC 193 embedded. What did you make of the lengthy new UFC 1963 embedded? I have not seen the entire episode yet. What? Yeah, how about that? How about that? Have you seen it? Of course I've seen it. entire one? I mean, you know, I work in the world of M.MA. Oh, stop it. I have a lot of time to watch that. I got a, I got a 57-hour flight to Melbourne, which I might be able to carve out an hour. So, yeah, I honestly, strategically, I did save some stuff because of the long flight. But tell me about it. Was it like the typical embedded? No, not even close. It was a countdown. It was a countdown. It was just called Embedded? It was called Embedded, but it was a countdown. Do you like the fact that they use that name? Not really? I mean, why? Does Embedded have enough draw with casual fans that it would be worth anything because hardcore fans are going to watch it and realize, no, this was not an embedded. It doesn't really have that same name value.

Although they are still doing the traditional embedded for this one. I saw that, but it just doesn't make, I don't know why it would have been called embedded. I'm sure there's somebody who could answer that, but it doesn't really make sense. Okay, on a scale of one to ten, ten being the greatest show you've ever seen. Where did it, as far as MMA shows? Did they hit a home run here? Or was it really good, really well produced. A lot of people we haven't heard from in the past, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Demi Lovato, all these people that we know are fans of Ronda Rousey

and have watched our fights kind of weighing in. So I thought it was a really good show. Yawanna and Valerie got some good time. I liked it a lot. Oh, they did. It wasn't just the... No, they were also included. Oh, that's good.

I think that's really smart. It was a countdown show. And also, it was on Fox. Let's not forget. This one was on Fox typically. Main Fox shows, like Big Fox shows, they get a road to the Octagon. And then we've seen like Jones Cormier get some Fox love. I think this was an hour, right?

It was. One hour on Fox on a Saturday afternoon, that, again, shows the power of Rhonda. They haven't done this in the past. So that's something. Well, this is perfect segue for the next. Yes, please. Ronda Rousey for Teague. How long will it be before people turn against the constant exposure to Ronda Rousey?

I don't think it's any time soon. Remember, she, I have a feeling. considering all that's happened leading up to this fight, considering the fact that she just fought in August, she was supposed to fight in January, they sped it up because of the injury to Robbie Loller. I have a feeling she might be taking a little bit of a break. This is 100% me speculating, this is a guess,

but a lot's been going on. And I have a feeling that she might be taking a break. And she's not one of those people who, when she fights, or excuse me, when she's not fighting, she's showing up to every event and doing thousands of interviews. I mean, if she wants to disappear, she can disappear rather easily. And also she has movie things coming up. So I don't think Ronnerousy is, everyone, every single MMA journalist has a story.

They all tell you about when they go to their barbershop. I was talking to my neighbor yesterday. And he has like a 12-year-old and I think a 14-year-old. They have no idea about MMA, but they know Ronda Rousey. Just everyone knows her. Everyone knows her. But at some point, is that going to wear thin? No, because those people and the ones that Dave was talking about, like they'll check in

and then they'll disappear for four months and then they might come back whenever she fights if it's five, six months away. That's a fair point. I mean, MMA fans may get burnt out, but people who are checking in, you know, every so often are not seeing. It's very hard for an MMA fan,

like a hardcore fan, to get burnt out. Like if you're still sticking around at this point, you're sticking around. You may threaten to leave here and there, but you're sticking around. You love it. You can't get enough of it. You feel weird when there's no UFC event

or any kind of major event on a Saturday. I also think, let's not forget, like, she's, you know, her Misha Tate fight was in 2012, the first one. That wasn't that long ago. But even so, those people, the casuals, the super casuals that know and get excited about her now, they haven't been falling her since. This is all new. There is a woman beating up people in 30 seconds.

This is all very new to them. So, I mean, we're like a year or so into that phenomenon, if that, it's not ending anytime soon. There was a lot of talk about Ronda Rousey leading into this fight. her mom's dislike for Edmund Terverdian, the Edmund claiming bankruptcy, and when Rhonda hung up in the press conference when Mark Ray Monday asked about Travis Brown, surely all these things have to have an effect on her coming to the fight.

Will this make the fight her most competitive so far? Do you feel like that all these things going on are going to affect her? No, she seems like a pretty focused individual. I mean, has it affected her, has it been a nuisance, has it been a distraction? again, I would just be speculating. Only she truly knows. But it hasn't been like a walk in the park. I mean, that's for certain. Just listen. The comments from the mom alone. That's got to be something, right? And people ask you and the fact that you even have to say, you know, I'm not talking about this and that. The thing about all this stuff happening, none of it was her doing per se. You know, like she's not necessarily embroiled in any kind of controversies or anything. It's all been things around her. So I don't know if that's going to be a huge, you know, if she's able to block that out,

and she seems like a special kind of human being, the one that's able to block that out, I can't say that this is going to be, you know, this is going to be a negative on or it's going to affect her in a negative, I don't foresee that happening. I do think, I think it's a very good bet. I don't know if there are prop bets. Are there prop bets out for this? They likely are, yeah. It's not going to be like 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 60 seconds.

It's not going to be like that. That will certainly be a popular bet. coming up, people betting on the time for this one. And that's more so, by the way, that's more so Holly Holmes doing than Rhonda Raleigh. Holly Holm is a veteran. She's been around. She's a boxer, and she understands distance and range.

She's not going to bum rush Ronda Rousey. But is Ronda Rousey going to bumrush her? So why, okay, why the hell would Ronda Rousey do that? Because that's what she does. Yeah, but in this kind of... Because she gets in somebody's face the first ten seconds of the fight, throws them on the ground,

takes their arm. You think that happens in this fight? I think there's going to be a feeling out process. Don't really know what to make. I mean, to be honest, it's kind of Ronda's world and she determines how the fight goes. There's never been a point where anybody else has determined how the fight goes, so it's hard to kind of speculate on that. If she feels like rushing in, she's going to rush in. If she doesn't, she doesn't. But she can take a punch. And I don't think anybody's knocking her out on the first punch. So I wouldn't be surprised if she got it done relatively quickly. That's the thing here. If Hollyholm had knockout power, in her hands, this would be different, but she doesn't seem to have that, at least not an

MMA. And so while I think she can keep her at bay and use her jab and use her boxing skills as she did in her last two UFC fights and prior, is she going to knock her out? Like, what's her path to victory? Her only path, in my opinion, is to survive five rounds, and I just can't see that happening. Yeah. It's going to be very tough.

How would you describe the product that Bellator offers? I'm often scratching my head asking myself, what is this when it comes to Bellator? I tune in because it's free, but I don't really take it seriously and only click in and out throughout the show. I mean, is this what Koker is going for? I think what he's going for is, you know,

let's get them in with the cheap stuff. And I don't mean that literally in the sense that, you know, Hoy's Kimball, all these guys aren't cheap. Sure. Make no mistake about it. But you know what I mean? The low is common denominator, the low hanging fruit,

the former stars, the household names already. Let's get them in. Let's get those fans who maybe don't watch anymore. And then hopefully they stick around for the MVP's and the Daniel Strausses and the Pit Bulls and the Will Brooks's and the MVP's. Did I say him already? Yeah. I may have said him already. You did.

Michael Chandler, the Douglas Lima's. Hopefully they stick around for those guys. I mean, it's very clear what he's doing. It's not some kind of secret. I think at this point, I'm pretty much sick of the people who are like, oh, this is a travesty. Just don't watch it. Yeah. Well, then, you know, you have to take the stance and just not watch it.

If you're going to watch it, I don't want to hear you complaining about it. I'm kind of sick of all that stuff already. They put out, I mean, and look, they put out Joe Warren recently, Brandon Halsey in a main event, a solid young fighter, and that did very poorly in the ratings. So why wouldn't they go back to what they did in June with Shamrock and Kimbo? I mean, it's very clear that that works today. And, you know, putting these guys who were just kind of part of these tournaments

and these faceless names doesn't work right now. So hopefully, I'm guessing the thinking is, without even really having to talk to them about it. It's let's get these names that people know, that people remember, and then hopefully they stick around or come early and watch the other guys. Yeah. That's the way. But yeah, you're right.

There's so much of them out there. You can very well skip this and still have 40-something solid events to watch. So why do we have to pretend like we're personally offended by this? You know, relax, settle down. Give it a break. Give it a break. At the same time, there is a concern for me for how. how long you will be able to continue to do this.

There will be a point where you can't just keep rehashing. There's Randy out there. I mean, there's so many guys out there that they can do this with. And they only do these ten poles, you know, once every quarter. So I don't think it's A, ending anytime soon. And B, I mean, right now it's working for them better than the other way. So speaking of these gentlemen, will we ever see Kurt Engel attempt to ankle lock somebody inside an MMA.

No, it's not happening. Honestly, that's the big complaint. And I will say this, Kurt Angle was my first big interview on jerrypark.com. It was very kind to me. I did some stuff for SpikeTV.com

prior to this whole MMA journalism thing. It was really super nice. Got me an interview with Jeff Jarrett for the TNA creative team and never went anywhere. But it was very,

it was very kind of him, and he's a very nice guy. But the whole like swerve thing in the announcement and bringing him out there, like, I was fine with Kurt doing the commentary for the Lashley Thompson fight. I thought that was fun.

That's different. Yeah, why not? Switch things up. I'm okay with that. But to bring him out there and do the swerve like, that was a little like, really, it was not needed. And at his age, with his injuries, his backstory, the surgeries, there's no way he's going to do this.

What athletic commission, well, maybe there are some out there. I mean, is it that much different than Shamrock Gracie? Shamrock Gracie, yes. I think actually Dave put it perfectly. those guys are not going to knock each other. I doubt it, right? I mean, the Kimbo thing, it's a little different, but Shamrock and Gracie are not going for the knockout.

At least I know Gracie's not. In Shamrock, I just don't see it happening. So you can live with it if you're going to choose to watch it. So why not do like angle, Gracie? I just don't see. Have you ever seen, when I was with him in 2006, he could not turn his neck. He would have to turn his entire body to come look at you, right?

To direct himself towards you. And that was in 2007. six and yes he's had surgeries i just i would feel very uneasy with that and he's never had a fight i mean no stop it no question about glory kickboxing on esPN uh you know anything about this stuff and what will happen with glory well it's comical that you would ask me this question you would know i know about this yes please tell um glory had a great event friday friday afternoon rather because it was in milan it um four p m on it aired on esPN 3 Did you watch?

No, I did not. I'm sorry. And re-air on ESPN 2 and now looking to get into the next event on ESPN as well. Glory 26, Amsterdam. So it aired on ESPN 3, right? Correct. Is that the norm now? I don't think so.

I think there's the potential for being on ESPN2 for the live. Oh, that's big. Which would be big. But, you know, nothing's 100% confirmed yet. But it was a great event. And I think, you know, if that was any indication people were excited about. Some people were trying to diminish this deal, them going from Spike to ESPN. Can you tell us anything about that?

What do you got? Is it a time by? What kind of a deal is this? It is not a time buy. It is not. You can say that unequivocally 100% this is not a time by. It is a positive deal for them. Correct.

Well, that's good. Well, I hope they succeed. And I hope they don't go for the cheap stuff, you know? Just slow and steady. The next card is Rico Verhoeven, defending his title against Benjamin Attigbouy, who won the tournament in Denver just recently. And then Nikki Holskin.

So it's stacked defending his title against Myrtle, Gronehart, who just won last Friday. Is this in the United States? Amsterdam. It's in Amsterdam. So it will be one of those afternoon. It'll be an afternoon card again, yeah. Which I don't mind, by the way.

But I think it's, you know, as long as there's the rear, that's the key. I saw the rear did like 198. Yeah. Yeah. Is that good? Well, you know, the deal came together. Not a lot of promotion. Exactly.

Yeah. This next one should be a little more significant. Okay. Now, we have two questions about championship belts. Yes. What do you think of the fighters not wearing them down to the ring in the UFC? Or down to the cage, rather, in the UFC. They should wear them.

you're a fan of that second question do you think they need to be redone do you think there could be any new visual touches you know I'm a sucker for old school and history and all that I don't like when WWE changes their belt every five seconds especially when they make those custom

ones like the spinning one that was stupid the Brahma bowl one was stupid the new one sucks as well like the old school like the one that was the hardcore belt during like the attitude era that one was the best one with like the eagle at the top That was by far the best. They should go back to that one.

So maybe go back to the Ultiman? I wouldn't hate it, but it's not something I long for. One thing I do think that they should do is, like, I think it's a little strange when Yowana has the same belt as Fabricio or DJ has the same belt as Fabrizio. Like, why can't we customize these? Absolutely. So that's my only critique. Daniel Strauss, we're going to Twitter now.

Daniel Strauss look brilliant. Would you put them in the top five in the rankings? Right now? Yeah. Featherweight rankings, UFC? No. Would you? Probably not, but I don't think he's far off,

and I think the potential to get there is pretty clear. His game is so well-rounded. He's coming such a long way as he's been in Bellator. I think he's knocking on the door. He's certainly knocking on the door. Number five right now is Max Holloway, then Lamas, the Mendez, Edgar, McGregor. I mean, I don't think there's anybody on there

that I'd say he's going to get blown out by. No, but he's not Mendez, Edgar, McGreg, Aldo, that's for sure. Yeah, that's a tough. So he's on maybe, I think you make a case for top 10, but it would be the back end. I think you'd have a great fight with any of those guys, though. The problem is it feels like it's the same guys in that division. It's like Pipple and Strauss and current. I mean, it's like...

Well, because early on, Bellator had those tournaments that, you know, we got that same fight quite a few times. They've run it back quite a bit. But I think, yeah, he's a very talented guy, and I love watching him fight. Where do you see Vitor going after his win over Henderson? who might be next for him? Look, I think the Kennedy fight would just be so much fun because of who he is and what he says. I just don't see it happening.

I think in my heart of hearts they go the Anderson route. Which is not a bad alternative. Yeah, I mean, I guess the GSP thing can change it, but for some reason I just keep thinking of it. But if it was up to me, Kennedy. Let's do Kennedy. That's the one I want. I think people would like that.

Oh, it would be awesome. Who's more likely to win of the challengers this coming weekend? Letourneau or Holly Holie Holme? I like how he wrote Holmes. Why do people always say that, Holly Holmes? Wow, that's a tough one. Is it? Yeah, what's your pick?

Valerie Letarno, for sure. Better chance, yeah, I guess you're right. It's not no, you know, no disrespect to anybody involved here. I think both the champions are worthy, dominant, and will likely get it done. But Yowana has improved it for as long as Ronda rousy and as dominantly. She looks great, but it's, It's just a different level with Ronda Rousey. As we stand or sit here today this afternoon, according to best fight odds, which is a brilliant site,

plus 1472 for Valerie minus 1800 for Yohanna, home plus 1305 minus 1,600 for Rousey. Do you think those change at all leading up to the fight? Not much, if any. And I think if I'm correct, Valerie would be the biggest underdog ever in the UFC if that stays. and if she wins? Or just period. No, period. Oh, wow.

And she would obviously be the biggest underdog to win as well? Sure. Yeah. So, yeah. I think the answer is Leturnault, but almost by default, if that's, you know, safe to say,

just because I don't think either of them is losing. Mm-hmm. Do you still think U.S.E.193 will be a sold-out event? No. There's still tickets available. That's a tough one. Depends on how they configure it, but I don't think that they will...

I think that they might break it or tied or whatever. The 55K, but 70 would surprise me in. To sell out a stadium of that size is quite the feat. So no, I don't think so. But still, I mean, 40K for a UFC fight with, you know, four women headlining, I mean, it's crazy stuff. It's historic. Who would have ever thought?

Final question. Thoughts on the release of Angela Hill? Yes. She's fought top five talent. they could have built her up instead of facing a murderer's row. She did have a tough road. No love for Al Jermaine Sterling, huh? No love for Al Jermaine Sterling.

He tweeted us. Did you see this? Oh, yeah. He tweeted a video. I can't play the video on the thing. Oh. I see it right here. It's a great video.

Go to Funkmaster underscore U.S.C. He actually put the hashtag DMMA hour. He does. He does it every week. He does? Oh, yeah. And you ignore him? Well, no, a lot of times we don't have enough time for all the questions,

especially on Twitter. kind of freaking UFC prospect slash contender tweeting us. You get those tweets out there. I did. Remember Angela Magana last week? Yeah, but that doesn't. Anyway, Angela Hill. A little surprise. I was more surprised with just the matchmaking.

I give Sean Shelby credit every time, but I thought that he was pushing her a little too soon. She didn't have the experience. In the UFC, she fought Carla Sparza, who'd you fight in the finale? Someone lesser known. But then she fought Tisha Torres and Rose Nomi Yunis. Right? That's correct.

What you fought at the finale? Someone, someone a little... I'm forgetting. Well, this is why we have the... The internets? Yes, Emily Kagan. There you go. But then T. Stores, Rosemary is tough.

And she's only only only two. In that division, I felt like she could have stuck around. Hopefully she doesn't leave Twitter. She's a fun follow on Twitter. We wish her the best, and it sounds like she's going to keep that dream alive based on what she wrote on Facebook. Okay, so last thing before we go, let's look at the times in terms of betting odds for the Ronda Rousey Hallyholm fight. What do you mean times?

Oh. So, Rousey to win in the first minute of the fight is plus 160. If she does anything else, it's minus 210. Wow. Ronda to win in the second minute of the fight is plus 300 and then so on and so forth. So the longer, the higher the odds. because so they're predicting an earlier finish. And then let's see the over under.

Under one and a half rounds is minus 400. So people are fairly significantly sure that this is going less than one and a half rounds. Interesting. All right. Well, there you have it. Hard to argue. By the way, you just reminded me.

We're off next Monday because I'll be flying back from Melbourne, but we're back next Wednesday. So our next show is Wednesday, November 18th. Same time, 1 p.m. Eastern, 10. Pacific, 6 GMT, 6 p.m. GMT, but the flight only gets back at like 4 or 5 p.m. next Monday because of the time difference. I leave on Tuesday. I get there on Thursday. So there's no Wednesday, November 11th for me. Technically, I get no Wednesday, November 11th in my life. I go from the 10th to the 12th. But then I leave on the 16th and come back on the 16th. How crazy is that? Wild.

Unbelievable. I think it's a 16-hour time difference going there tomorrow, getting there Thursday. Stay tuned for our coverage. But that's why no show next Monday, back next Wednesday, November 18th. That's it? We out. We out. All right. I'll see you guys on Wednesday.

You can hit my music. A fun show today. Thank you very much to everyone who tuned in, sent us questions, comments. I appreciate it greatly. Go over to share with a big win on Saturday. Interesting to see what happens to Dan Hendo. How about this Nugget? We have to bring it up.

Negotiations going on between team Nick Diaz and the Nevada Athletic Commission. Will it get reduced to 18 months? That is very exciting. I checked in yesterday. Nothing new on that front, but talks are going well, I'm told. So I'm very excited about this. The power of the people, the people have spoken. Hopefully this time next year, Nick Diaz will have already returned to the UFC.

All right. Thank you very much to Dave Meltzer. Great stuff from him, as always. Thank you very much to Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. Thank you very much to Ryan Bader, Freddie Roach. Thank you very much to Luis Smolka. Thank you very much to Hoyst Gracie. Thank you very much to Alan Belcher.

I got his tweet. Sorry we were unable to connect with him or reconnect with him at the end there. But congrats on a great career and good luck outside of the Octagon. Thank you very much to Eric Silva. Good luck to him. Interesting stuff. It's always tough with the translator interviews, but I feel like we got a good sense of where he's at right now

and what he's looking for and all that stuff. And thank you to his interpreter, Amanda Salvato. Check out her stuff as well. She is on Twitter. At Amanda Salvado. Some people are asking me. I'm off to Melbourne. Stay tuned for all our good coverage.

I will be back next Wednesday, November 18th. If you missed anything, check it out. iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, YouTube, all that good stuff and more. Until next week, I say peace. Somebody out. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover

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