MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 313

Episode Date: January 25, 2016

Ariel Helwani speaks to Luke Rockhold, T.J. Dillashaw, Miesha Tate, Tony Ferguson, Paul Daley, and Aaron Simpson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani inside our New York City studio. It is so great to be back here for another edition of the show, especially since there was a small chance, my friends, that this show wasn't going to happen this week. Very small chance. But as you may have heard, the Northeast this past Saturdays, going into Sunday, crippled by Superstorm Yonis, or is it Jonas?

I like the Spanish version of it, so I'm going to call it Yonis. An epic storm, and sometimes people, in my opinion, misuse the word epic. Epic, in my opinion, just means really, really long. But this was an epic as in insane and epic as in long blizzard. A lot of snow. I think I got around 30 inches. And, you know, the big story to me, in my opinion, Forget about people losing power and all that stuff being cold.

The big story to me was the UFC dodging a major bullet because if UFC on Fox 18, which is scheduled to take place this Saturday in Newark, New Jersey, just across the river, if that was this past weekend, I have a feeling they would have had to cancel the event. There was a travel ban in place as of 2.30 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday. Would they have fought in an empty arena? Would it have been like the Sunday night heat episode during one of the Super Bowls like a decade ago when the Rock fought mankind? Remember that in the empty arena? Would it have been like that?

That would have been kind of cool. But a lot of dominoes would have to fall and a lot of people would be affected Fox, you know, ticket by, all that stuff. So they dodged one. It should be all okay for this Saturday. But I was thinking about that all Saturday. Wow, what would have happened if this storm was at? actually taking place in the hours leading up to UFC on Fox 18. Good thing for the UFC. That did not happen. And I am so excited. I'm so happy that they are back in New Jersey this Saturday.

No one has ever been this happy to go to Newark, New Jersey. I can assure you of that. No one's really excited to go, except for me, except for the locals, because I could just get in my car and go and then go back home. It's amazing. No flight, no hotel. Unbelievable. I feel so spoiled. So we're going to talk about that, of course, all show long, relatively quiet weekend in the world of mixed martial arts. The big news happened around 16 hours ago. In the midst of the AFC championship game, Dana White just tweets out that Sipey Miochich has replaced Kane Velasquez in the main event of UFC 196. He will now be fighting for Breesio Verdoom for the title. Miochich just fought three weeks ago, annihilated Andrei Alovsky in a matter of seconds. And

here he is fighting for the belt. He demanded it. He's getting it. And congratulations to him. kudos to him for stepping up. Also, kudos to Fabrice O'Radoom for accepting the fight. Unfortunate news once again for Kane Velasquez. He continues to be hit by injury. We will get into that as the show goes on. Of course, in the second half of the show as we take your questions and comments.

Ronda Rousey was on SNL. We'll talk about that. And World Series of Fighting had a, I don't know, a subpar event, I guess I call it. It's a weird time over there. We'll talk about that as well. They did introduce rankings, which I like, but something feels a bit off.

Anyway, great show this week. I'm excited to get into it. It's a stacked lineup, so let's get right to it. At 245, we're going to talk to Tony Ferguson, who it was announced late last week. We'll be fighting Michael Johnson at UFC 197 on March 5th. This is a rematch of a fight that happened several years ago. Since then, Ferguson has been in Fuego, and some people were surprised by this news, so we'll talk to him about that. T.J. Dillishaw stops by at 225 to talk about his loss to Dominic Cruz and where he goes from here. Power MMA head coach Aaron Simpson will stop by at 205 to preview Ryan Bader versus Anthony Johnson. That is the main event of the show this Saturday in Newark. At 145, Paul Daley will stop by. He headlines Beltor 148 this Friday. So looking forward to talking to Semtex, the Twitterless Semtex. I got to ask him about that. I always forget to ask him about that.

125 will talk to the new UFC middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold. We'll ask him about life as champion. and where he goes from here. And as always, take your questions and comments at around 310. Also talk to New York, Rick. And we got our y'all must have forgot clip of the week segment. Don't forget about that. That is at 305 p.m. Eastern time.

But first, let us go to the phone lines and welcome in one half of the co-main event of what is, at least right now, shaping up to be the biggest card of the year. UFC 197 March 5th in Las Vegas, MGM. You saw the press conference last week. We're talking to Misha Tate, the number one, in the UFC's women's Bantamweight Division. She's on line number one. Misha, how are you?

Hello, how's it going? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for the time. So this is the big question. And again, thank you for coming on. I know you're very busy or getting ready for the title fight, but this is the big question, in my opinion. Did Misha Tate watch Saturday Night Live on Saturday night?

No, I didn't. You avoided it. You wanted none of it. Yeah, I just, is not I avoided it. I just, I had better things to do. I did those things. Well, you know what, that makes two of us. I couldn't stay up until 1130 Eastern Time, so I didn't watch it either.

But some mixed reviews. I don't know if you caught the reviews, mixed reviews. No, I haven't caught the reviews either. What were the reviews? What was the good and what was the bad? I think if I can speak for everyone, I think some people thought that she didn't say much and that the skits weren't all that great. And as you know, a show like that, you know, you're at the mercy of the right.

So it's not your fault. But to me, the highlight was she did finally congratulate Holly Home on the win. Two months later, but she did do that at the top of the show. And that didn't seem to be a skid or a joke. So I thought that was nice. Oh, there you go. There you go. That's good.

Step in the right direction. Yes. And by the way, Misha, speaking of New York, I understand you just avoided the superstorm. You were in New York City. You didn't call us over here. I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't offended. You know what, Ariel? I honestly actually kind of forgot that you're based out of New York. Oh, it's okay.

I forget where everyone's at, but yeah, I don't know. They didn't have a schedule to come in a see you at all in the PR press thing. So I want to have words with the UFC. Yeah, I think I will. You were on the top of the Empire State Building, right, with Holly Home? Yes, it was. What was that like? That was, it was beautiful. It was awesome. and Holly's a really cool chick. She's really easy to hang out with.

So, you know, there's no drama there or anything like that. So it was just, it was a relaxing day. Is that, is that refreshing after Rhonda and you've had some other beefs with other opponents that it seems like even when you guys were squaring off at the press conference, you're smiling at each other. There's no animosity there. Right, it is refreshing, you know.

And I think what's going to be interesting for the fans is just to see how much we can actually like each other. and still beat the shit out of each other when the cage door closes. You know, there's definitely going to be no, you know, no holding back. There's not going to be any like, oh, I'm going to pull my punches. You know, I mean, we're going to let the leather fly regardless. And I think, you know, that's going to be exciting. So people thinking that, oh, they like each other, it's going to be a nice fight.

They're going to be too, you know, be boring. Think again, you know, I'm coming for that belt, and I don't care how much I like someone is not going to affect the way that I take the belt. Does this stem from the fact that you guys did that movie a few months? Like prior to that, did you not really know anything about her? And then you were on the set with her and got to like her? Yeah, exactly. I really didn't know much about her.

I had never really, I mean, I said, like, hi to her, maybe at a UFC event, but I didn't really get to know her. And then I got to know her and her husband at the movie. Yeah. And she was just, you know, she's kind of quiet, kept herself. But she was really nice and never mean anybody. And her husband was hilarious and awesome. and Brian and her husband became really good friends.

Wow. Yeah. Maybe you guys could double date after the fight. Maybe. Actually, we already agreed to get beers afterwards. All right. Regardless of what happens, you know, we're going to go in there. We're going to smash face, and then we're going to go get some beers.

And I don't know how you feel about this, but if I were you, I would kind of be thankful for Holly, because it seemed like while the UFC was trying to go the rematch direction, both her and her agent, Lenny Freskes were actually, you know, they were pushing for you. They were the ones campaigning to fight this fight, to have it earlier. I feel like they kind of did you a solid here. Do you agree? I definitely agree, and that's why I just have so much respect for Holly. And, you know, the way that they decided to go about that,

because I do think that I'm a tougher matchup for her than Rhonda, and that really makes me respect her as a champion, that she would be like, hey, you know, I'm willing to go the tougher route. I've already beaten Rhonda. I've already shown that I can, you know, what I can do there. let's take on the new challenge, you know, perhaps a tougher challenge, and I do believe that, that I am stylistically a much more, much more challenging fight. Why do you think that is?

I just think that the styles make fights, and I think the way that Rhonda, you know, tried to stand in that fight, and then, you know, even the way that she tried to close distance, were all very ineffective, and I think that my style is just completely different, and I think that I have more experience in there, and I just think the way that our style match-up is just going to make a more complicated fight because she's going to have to worry about more than just me charging in recklessly, you know, with reckless abandonment trying to clinch.

You know, I have much more tools for my game than that. I'm more patient. And I think that, you know, maybe Rhonda went in there with the mentality, I don't finish her under two minutes. I've already lost the fight. And, you know, I'm willing to take the necessary shots when they're there, you know, take the necessary punches when they're there, rather than, like, oh, if I don't finish someone in under 60 seconds, I've already lost the fight, you know, so I don't feel the need to be rushed in this fight. I have 25 minutes to finish this fight. And, you know, if it takes me 24 minutes and 59 seconds, you know, I'm still going to be in that fight. You know, the last time we had you on the show a few months ago, I think it's safe to say you were a little frustrated. You actually hinted that, you know, you were contemplating retirement. You wanted to sit down and talk to the UFC about the future. You were.

just, it was like a couple days away that meeting, and a lot has changed since then, of course. Did you ever have that face-to-face with the UFC before even finding out about this fight that you were getting in and all that? Did you have that face-to-face and if so, how did it go? You know, I did sit down and have a

talk with the UFC and, you know, I was really pushing for that title fight and at that time they were just completely adamant that that was not an option, that they were going to do the rematch with Ronda, UFC 200, and you know that I just had to take another fight, and go about it that route.

But we definitely came to some understandings, I guess, you know, and we're able to communicate a little bit more effectively. But at the end of the day, it still really wasn't what I wanted to hear. And then it was just, it was interesting, like a few weeks later, they were kind of like, hey, by the way, you might want to just start getting ready. We're not sure what's going to happen. And I was like, oh, okay. I was like, well, you know, I'm just going to start my camp without having confirmation

that I have this title fight. Oh, wow. You know, yeah, so I started my camp not knowing for sure if I was going to get it, but I thought, hey, you know, this is the big opportunity, and I'd rather be safe and sorry. And then they kind of kept me in the dark. You know, I didn't ask a lot of questions. You know, and they were like right before they announced it, they were like, okay, we're going to announce it. And I was like, okay, great.

And I'm wondering if they would have waited until UFC 200 for this rematch and you would have been asked to fight someone else. Would you have actually retired? Would you have done that rather than fight someone? else for, you know, for just a contender spot again? No, I think I would have fought someone else. You know, I think that when that happened with Rhonda and the whole change, it just changed everything because now I know that that title shot is available to me again, and that what I was really feeling compromised about was like, hey, you know,

so is my career dependent on when Rhonda retires and, like, you know, am I never going to be able to get a title shot again, no matter how deserving of it I am? Like, what is that what you're telling me? You know, if that's so, you know, everyone's in this sport to be number one. Everyone's in it to be a champion. No one's just playing for, you know, the silver medal, you know what I mean? We're all in it to win it. So that's my goal also.

So if you're going to tell me that that's not a possibility, then that was pretty frustrating. That's kind of where that resentment was coming from. You were obviously very upset. Would you say the relationship is back to where it once was, or will it always change because of the disappointment of how, you know, the title shot was taken away from you. I know, I think it's back to where it was. You know, I'm kind of, I can be a fiery person. I'm not going to lie.

You know, when I'm passionate about something, you know, it's like, don't mess with me. You know, like, if I have my emotions all in the line, I am a woman at the end of the day, and a scorn woman is never someone, you know, pleasant to be around. And it's safe to say, I was pretty scorn in that situation. But I think that destiny and fate has a way of working itself out. I believe I was meant to be the champion. and I think that's why this is happening, you know, and I believe 2016 is my year. So, but bygones be bygones, you know, I'm also a big forgiver, so it's water under the bridge at this point.

Do you think Rhonda ever fights again? Yes, I do. I believe she'll come back and fight. I don't think that Rhonda is the kind of person that wants to walk away from the legacy that she built like that. You know, I think that she's a little bit embarrassed by it. I know she said that, and she's not happy with the way she performed. So I think she'll definitely want to get back in there. and show that she can do better than that.

But, you know, we'll see what happens. What's a bigger moneymaker fight in your opinion? Misha Tate as champion against Ronda Rousey 3 or Home Rhonda 2. Well, if I go out there and be Holly home, which that's exactly what I intend on doing, then I think that is a huge fight in itself because everyone's like, oh, everyone thinks that I'm going to lose this fight. So I'm a big underdog. I think I open 4-to-1 underdog.

So if I go out there and beat the girl that crushed Ronda, you know, I think that says a lot. And I think a lot of people are going to be like, wow, you know, Misha's definitely improved tons. She was able to take out the girl, the only girl that just annihilated Ronda. That's a huge selling point. So I think they're both going to be, you know, both potentially have big selling points. It's interesting that you know the odds. A lot of fighters, you know, two months out, don't know that.

Are you bothered by that? Does that give you extra motivation? What's your reaction when you find out that you're that big? of an underdog? Oh, no, it doesn't bother me at all. I don't think the odds makers are gods by any means. So I think that they've been wrong a number of times, and, you know, their job is to try to get people to spend as much money as they can.

You know, the fact that I'm an underdog means that a lot of people are going to bet on me, and then the odds are probably going to even themselves out because they're like, oh, man, a lot of people are betting on Yisha, you know, so a lot of people think that I'm going to win this fight. and I don't really care at all with the odds-makers say. I mean, look at what the, was Holly Holmahom of 14-1 underdog against Rhonda Rousey? I mean, you never know what's going to happen in MMA, and the odds makers really have no say in it all.

They're just trying to get people's money. So speaking of gods, you know who's tight with the gods? It's Connor McGregor. Connemagreger. Right. God's recognized God. Because you're cool. Right.

So I got to ask you about this, because you were sitting there right next to him throughout that press conference, which will go down as one of the best, at least up until this point. What is going through your mind when Conner is doing his thing, interrupting RDA, getting in, I mean, it's just, it's a show in its own right, but you're sitting there kind of laughing at some points. What did you make of it all?

It's kind of mind-blowing, honestly. I had never sat next to Connery during a press conference. You know, I've heard his interviews and things like that, but I've never sat next to him and just listen to him, really do his whole gamut of mental warfare. And it was honestly pretty impressive. like I don't know where this guy gets it from, but I mean, he is really in his own right, a genius. And it just, it was just crazy to watch it unfold.

You know, I was just kind of jaw-dropping. And there's definitely times that I kind of caught myself laughing. I was like, oh, my gosh, it should not be listening to this right now, you know. But he's really funny, and he's just, he's very witty. He's a very, very intelligent man. It seems like all of you were on time. He was a little late. What was the vibe when you guys were standing around waiting for him?

And then they just start the press conference without him? Well, Dana seemed a little bit irritated and everyone else seemed a little bit stressed out kind of frantically trying to locate him or find him or figure out what's going on. And, yeah, I think that Connor wanted to do it on purpose. Again, I think it's part of his strategy to really always be the star of the show, always be, you know, the last man, you know, standing the last man to get attention. So I think he had it planned a little bit, but I can't say for sure. but I wouldn't put it past him to, like, want to make an entrance. You know, he didn't want to just walk in like everybody else. Like, he wanted to make an entrance.

And he did. Is this a blessing in disguise for you? Because you know he's going to be doing a lot of media, all eyes on him. I mean, you and Holly didn't get that many questions. And if you and Holly could be a main event easy on your own for any show. But yet, because, you know, he is who he is and the way he puts on a show at these press conferences, people gravitate towards the media. You know, I'm, if you want to say, at fault for this as well.

But you kind of like that? that you're flying under the radar a little bit? Well, you know what? It's really nice because it definitely takes a lot of the distractions off, and he seems to handle it really well. And the really good thing about it is when I go out there and take this belt, regardless, there's going to be a lot of eyes watching because whether they want to see Connor McGregor or they want to see our fight,

they're going to be watching. We're right before their fight. So pretty much the entire world is going to see that, and I'm really excited about that. So that's the most important thing. You know, if he's going to take on the role of taking most of the questions and most of the lead-up and most of that stress, like, let him have it because, you know, when that fight comes, people are going to be watching and that's all I care about. Is there a lesson to be learned from your situation, even his situation to a degree? Like, you know, they offered you fights. You said no. You stood your ground. Now, look, here you are fighting for the belt.

A few years ago, does that Michetet do what you did the last couple of months? It seems like you were confident in your own, you know, selling abilities. and your own resume that you were saying, no, I'm not going to take this fight, just to take a fight, whether it's on fight pass or something like that. Is there a lesson to be learned for younger fighters here,

or do you have to reach a certain status in order to put your foot down the way you did? Well, I think there is no amount of money or opportunity that should compromise who you are and how you stand up for yourself, and I truly believe that, but there's also give and take, you know, and to be honest, you know,

The UFC is a pretty cool company to work for, and there's been a lot of times that I did do what they wanted me to do when I didn't really want to do it. You know, to be honest, I didn't want to go to Japan and fight Rinne Kai, an unknown, undefeated girl that I had nothing they really gained from on fight pass. You know, I didn't really want to do that, but I was like, you know what, the U.S. you want me to do it. I got a long road to go back to title, okay, you know, I'm going to do it. I didn't really want to fight Sarah McMahon, you know, stylistically. I was like, oh, it's going to be really tough one, you know, and, and I, you know, I thought she wasn't very exciting for the most part. I thought, you know, every fight that she's been in, you know, kind of people were like, oh, it was kind of boring. So I was like, I don't really, I like to fight, you know, people who will get in a firefight with me and make the fight exciting, you know, like Katzen Gano or people like that really will get into the nitty gritty.

But I thought, this is one that's not going to probably draw a lot of attention. I don't know, but she's really dangerous. I was like, you know what, screw it. I'm going to go out there. I'm going to beat this girl. I'm going to sign on the dotted line, and I did. So there's been a lot of things that I've done. I feel like for the company, I've always been a company woman.

Yeah. Anything they've asked me to do, you know, if they jump, I say how high. But in that situation, it was like, hey, you know what? Cute guys, like, really kind of screwed me over here. So I feel like I have some room to push and shove, and I'm not going to, I'm not going to back down in this particular situation because I felt like it compromised who I was. Deep down, I mean, I thought you handled it very well, but were you kind of freaking out? Like, you're at the crossroads of your career. You don't know if you're ever going to get a title shot.

That's what you're fighting for. I thought publicly you handled it well, but were you, I mean, you're a young woman, and you've got so much ahead of you, you're in the prime of your life, prime of your career. How are you handling it all internally? Yeah, I was freaking out. I put everything into this sport, and I love the sport wholeheartedly, and it was pretty heartbreaking to think that, you know, those opportunities and those dreams that I've been working so hard for

may not be a possibility of no control of my own, and that was really hard for me to stomachs. So, yeah, I mean, there was times when I would cry myself to sleep. There was times when I would be just so frustrated or, you know, it's just a lot of emotions, a huge rollercoaster of emotions like 2015 was. But I think those kinds of situations when push comes to shove and you don't give in and you don't break, it's like iron sharpening iron. Those kinds of situations make you stronger if you don't give into it, you know.

And I definitely feel like I walked away with a whole new appreciation for the sport, for the opportunity that I'm presented now, getting this title shot and the turn of events. Like I said, I think things unfolded the way that they were meant to be. And I think this has set itself up perfectly for me to be the champion in 2016. I know there was a brief clip out there, but did you completely freak out? Not because, you know, Ronda lost when she did, but in the back of your mind, were you thinking right away, this could be my chance, this could be my opening. She, you know, maybe they'll go to me now.

Maybe she's too hurt. Like, was that what you were thinking that night when she got knocked out? I thought for sure that it was going to be my chance. I had no doubt. I was like, oh, man, she got knocked out, like, brutally, and she's definitely not going to be able to as far, and she's not going to be able to come back so quickly, and had a feeling that Holly would want to stay busy.

She's always said that about her career. She likes to fight a lot. So I thought, hey, I'm right here. I'll be ready. As soon as Holly's ready to go again, Rhonda will not be ready as soon as I will be ready. And that turned out to be true. You know, I knew she had two movies to film also,

and then, you know, not so long after the time. that, she was saying, hey, I'm not even going to be able to bite into an apple for six months. And I was like, well, then how can they expect her to fight in seven? That's not even spared to Rhonda to ask her to do that when she wouldn't even be able to spar. If you can't bite into an apple, you're not going to be sparring. So there's no way she could prepare to fight someone who just brutalized her physically, and I'm sure mentally that was a big challenge for Rhonda. So I thought, you know, why not me?

Two last quick things. By the way, do you have any idea what happened to Rinne Kai? we haven't seen her since her loss so she completely fell off the face of the earth, at least in the MMA world. Yeah, you know, I think I heard that unfortunately in training not too long after that she like blew out her knee and that she may not be fighting ever again.

Oh, wow. That's very unfortunate. That is unfortunate. And I know that Las Vegas is home. Are you doing anything different in training, bringing anyone new in to replicate Holly's style? You know, a lot of people would say she's one of the best strikers in the MMA period, men or women. How are you going to plan for all of that? Well, fortunately, I have a lot of south paws at my gym that are really great strikers,

a lot of men that are pretty amazing partners. But, you know, I've also been thinking about bringing in maybe possibly Amanda Serrano. She's a multiple boxing world champion, and she's got very quick hands, very quick feet. And just for understanding distance and range and things like that, I think it might be important to bring in another female. all that I know is at the top level in the boxing world and it's going to be able to present those kinds of challenges. Also, I've been talking to Miriam Nakamoto a little bit.

She may be a possibility. I know she's not a Southpaw, but she's a really amazing striker and still understanding the range. You know, that's something that I'm very focused on is really understanding. I know that that's what Holly is a master at. She's a master at at deciding what range she wants you at. And I want to be a master at deciding what range I want her at. How do you become champion? Is it in your mind already?

Have you seen it? Have you envisioned it? Oh, I'm already the champion in my mind. I've already won the belt. So, you know, when I saw her carrying that belt around, all I was thinking in my mind is like, you know, keep it warm for me. You know, because I already believe that I'm the champion. And I know that this fight is going to go my way.

I've already seen it and envisioned it a thousand times over. so, you know, it's already a done deal in my mind. I just have a little bit more preparation to do, and then I just have to prove it to the rest of the world. Well, it is well-deserved. I'm happy you got what you wanted. Happy you got that title shot, March 5th, U.S. UFC 197. Holly Home versus Misha Tate.

Good luck to you, Misha. I really appreciate the time, and I cannot wait for it. It's going to be a lot of fun. Definitely. Thank you. All right, there she is. Misha Tate, number one contender in the UFC's Women's Bantamweight Division, fighting Holly Home.

It's a fresh matchup. you know, it's interesting. All of a sudden, we thought we were going to get all these immediate rematches. Well, it doesn't look like we're going to get Kane and Verdume anytime soon. Well, that's a fact. We're getting Miotich and Verdum, and we thought for a second that we were going to get Holly versus Rhonda two, and that's not happening, right away at least. We're getting Holly versus Misha. There's nothing wrong with some freshness, switching things up, getting some new faces in there, some new rivalries, some new matches, some new

matchups. It's going to be interesting if our next guest is on that side of the fence or on the rematch side of the fence. And we'll get into that here in a second. We are now being joined by the brand new. It has been a month and a half or so since he has been UFC middleweight champion, the man who defeated Chris Wydenman in very impressive fashion at UFC 194. Luke, how are you? I'm doing all right. Good time having. Thanks for having me. Uh, well, did I just wake you up? What's going on? I just been sick all week. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

Right, and through it. Well, I appreciate you. But they're in the cold of New York. Oh, that's right. You are coming. Why are you coming to New York, by the way? Just for the Fox event? Uh, I got some deal with the Adidas out there, so I have an appearance and a few things, so. Might as well come to support. Ryan's a good friend of mine, too.

That is true, yeah. I'm disappointed. I can't see you on the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, I'm disappointed. the Skype machine. Always nice to see your face and the belt, but I'll take you via the phone as well. By the way, before we get into everything concerning you, some unfortunate news yesterday regarding your teammate,

Kane Velasquez. Is there anything you could tell us about the state of his injury? He's had a bad back for a while now. He's been trying to fight through it and just progressively getting worse. He hasn't been able to spar and train much. I've been working

around it doing the best you could, but just you can't go into a fight without really training. So I think he just decided to pull the plug last minute and it needed to be done. He basically got something basically no bushings and some of his

lower discs. Wow. Does he need surgery? I don't know. Have you talked to how is he dealing with all this? Luke are you there? I think we may have lost Luke. Get him back.

The cold hit his phone. But yes, they were on route to maybe having three champions at one time, which I don't think has ever been done, at least in modern UFC, three UFC champions from the same gym. A few gyms, of course, have two UFC champions, Kings of M.A. now, AKA has two with Luke and D.C. I know Jackson's has... I'm pretty sure. Have they had two at the same time? Ever?

John Jones for a while. Did they have two at the same time? and Carlos Con did as an interim champion. So I guess that counts. But I don't think any MMA, any MMA gym has ever had two UFC champions at the same, excuse me, three UFC champions at the same time. I think he's back now.

Luke, are you there? Yes, right. So I was just wondering, last thing on Kane, have you talked to him at all? How is he dealing with all this? Because, you know, it's been a few disappointments after the next.

Yeah, it's been an unfortunate string of injuries, of course, but Kane. He's never had a great camp's coming, you know, going forward. So I haven't talked to him yesterday. I know the situation. I know where he's been every day, so it's been able to do it at this point. He can't go in there and he needs to go up and show up and get his title back and be healthy to do it.

So just kind of wait for the time. The time's right. Okay, let's talk some good news. Life is champion. Is it as you envisioned? Is it as you dreamt of? better? What's it like? What's it been like the last month and a half for you? Life's been good. I can't complain. I'm enjoying the champ status.

So, you know, did you ever dream of life as champion and has this exceeded your expectations, or is it kind of the same? I'm sure this is something you thought about as you were working your way up. Of course, it's something I expected. This is something I've been working towards my life, but I didn't think I was going to be here. I would never have started. And so, you know, the paycheck's getting nice. And, you know, I'm just trying to think about what I'm going to buy first, you know. Oh.

Where I'm going to go? The first class flies, everything is nice. You know, the red carpet everywhere you go now. It's not bad. Are they coming out of the woodwork? Are people who weren't talking to you for a while coming out saying that, oh, we're so happy for you? Have you noticed that, that effect? Uh, I don't know.

I've always gotten. I said, my fair. Do respect in certain ways, but you know, you definitely get recognized more. Right. I got to be honest, I was very jealous when I saw you rubbing elbows with Stefan Curry. Wow, was I jealous. That was cool. That's the one time I really wished I was Luke Rockhold.

What was that like? Best in the world. You know, Steph's a nice guy. He's pretty down to earth, cool, dude. And we might have some other things in the future. I'll talk about the Warriors and stuff. Whoa. We might even be training the Warriors.

And we might be doing a little co-op deal. Whoa. Whoa. The area of them. Whoa. I like it. I like it. So you'll be, wow, that could be the thing that really takes him.

And I even saw you hanging out with his wife, too. She was holding your belt, giving you a shout out on Instagram. Look at you with the celebs. Eric Dickerson. Life is good for Luke Rockhold. I can't complain, like I said. It's good to be. the team.

How many times have you watched the fight? I don't know, quite a few times. Maybe 10, 10 times. I get the feeling, though, when you watch it, you're not pleased. You don't take... Because, see, my thing is,

I thought Chris won the first round. I thought you won the second, and the third was up for grabs until he threw that kick. I feel like that bothers you, that some people like me think that he won the first. You don't feel like that was your best? I broke up a little bit But you know

I can see how people Give him the first round But the fact is that I won every round I'm only the judge a score card Is that true really? I haven't looked at that That's true huh I caught wind of that Yeah I guess I won the first round

Two to one In jesus Pretty interesting to see that But you know I could I could see him getting the first round But I thought I was in control the fight I just had to conserve my energy at times And I had to

You know let him come forward I just didn't have that as much I would like any of the fight. But, you know, I felt like I was concerned with a fight way before that. He tried to throw the kick. I heard from a lot of people going into the fight that this was a particularly bad one for you, and you've talked about it, you know, dealing with the infection and all that. Was there ever a point where you thought about pulling out? No.

Never an option. Tom Cook was trying to get in my ear a little bit just because he's a little concerned about the situation, but, you know, I never really thought about it. I'm just kind of block it out and focus on what you're doing. Compared to some other bad camps, where does this one rank? Was this one of your worst as far as injuries and things like that? It's pretty bad. I strained my neck.

Whoa. Quite a way out at the attachment point. And I couldn't really spar and do it here about three weeks. So I started sparring about three weeks out of this fight. And then, yeah, and then I got the infection. and lost to my knee and, you know, it's fight life.

It's what we signed up for. And some don't always go according to plan, but, you know, in the end, you don't get the debil, it's all good. It's probably my worst. I cheated camp,

the second worst. Wow, so your last two have been bad. Yeah, last couple camps have been pretty horrible. How do you fix this? Is this something you're worried about, a trend, or is it just bad luck? You know, I can't complain.

Both folks work pretty well for me. That's true. It's not broke, so I ain't going to try to fix it. And what's going on with your elbow? I saw a video on your Instagram. Your elbow was massive. You had it drained or something? What happened there?

Yeah, yeah. I bought my versus sack in the fight in Wybeman's face. Wow. I've just been, everything's been kind of settling down and hearing, and I drained it. I want to understand people, you know, have to drain it multiple times, and so I got this one drained again, and now I got compression sleeve on it, and seemingly we do a lot better.

I don't have a boobo my elbow anymore. Are you back in the gym? Like, were you helping Kane prepare for this fight? I was doing what I could to help him. Like I said, he wasn't really trained that much. I mean, he's part of him a little bit early on, and then the back issue arose, and so he was just kind of even cardio working around as much as you could.

So I'm not, I just all the little bumps and bruises and stuff, some lingering things. So I'm just trying to clear it up before I get back into the full care. And one last thing on the actual fight, when you watch it, and even in the moment, I've never asked you this, what's going through your mind at the end of the third round when it looks like in most fights they should have stopped it? You know, other people say, I thought it went on too long. I thought Herb gave him the benefit of the doubt as champion, but it went too long. It was almost hard to watch. what's going through your mind when you're,

when you're raining down, blows like that, and are you thinking, do you have any concept of how long this is going on for and are you wondering, like, what do I have to do to actually win this fight? Yeah, yeah, I can't say, I didn't think about ending in the fight and, you know, you get to that point where you're like,

what, you know, what do I have to do? And almost start, you know, I was thinking about saying something, yelling at Herb Dean, but, you know, the fight goes on. And it's a world title in line. I'm just trying to do everything I can to make him stop it. To lighten's credit, you know, the bill ended.

He got up. He came forward in the fourth round. Yeah. I guess he can't fault her being too much. You're still, you know, looking to win. I know you won in the fourth, but were you spent because of that barrage? Yeah, definitely a bit of an adrenaline about that. And just the fact that I didn't know if it was over or not, I was in the middle of the round.

I thought he stopped it around. I didn't know what was going on, and then everyone cleared out in Lavenvenvenven. here we go again okay so everyone wants to know what's next because it seemed like you were campaigning for Vitor that's not happening he's fighting Jacaree and then it seemed like Romero was the number one contender and right now

he's involved with some out of the cage stuff with Usada we don't know what's going to happen to him do you have any idea who you're going to fight next I mean it's pretty obvious you can see everyone out there we'll see what Anderson shows up Harrison Bidding are obviously good. Two prospects.

Wyden is the long-waring champion. So I think he's definitely on the table, and there's a possibility of, you know, I'm doing that one again. I'll put that one behind me for good after the next one. Would you be okay with that, immediate rematch? I'm completely okay. I'm open for whatever the people want.

What do you think, Ariel? Who deserves the next shot? Okay. I'm just, I'm ready to fight. Yeah. I'm going to get paid and, you know, that's all it matters to me. Obviously, the Anderson solo fight is very appealing. Yeah.

The Vitor fight, I like, but, you know, it doesn't seem like I'm going to get that right at the moment. So, you know, maybe I'll have to fight Wyman and just finish that one off for good. And then, you know, move on from there. Did you campaign hard for the Vitor fight to the UFC? I definitely, yeah. I pushed for it. I asked him, and they just, they're not ready to get him another title shot. Oh. So were you disappointed?

It almost felt like it was weird because I understand why you want to avenge it, but I also feel like he doesn't really deserve a title shot. So it was strange. It's almost like you were bringing him up to your level at this point. Yeah, I don't really care. You just want to beat him up. Yeah, I just, I'm over at this point. If he can win a fight, if he can beat Jok Chorah. I'd love to do it again.

obviously Jacare's you know yeah we had a good fight in the past too do you think he beats Jacaree I don't um

okay so then he's a bunch of chance but he knows he knows what we're going to see sure so that that was off the table and then Romero and then

you know what happens him happens him he's uh I guess provisionally suspended as they call it um and you've been vocal about this what's your take on

what happened to Romero and if If for some reason he's able to clear his name, are you open to this fight? It's just, I'm just sick of all these guys. Yeah. Toor, Anderson Romero, you know, all these contenders in my division, everyone's just getting caught. It's like, you guys need to shack up and be a man, fight like a man. I'm doing my whole career fighting these guys.

I'm glad the sports turned in the right direction, and I'd fight. I've tried anyone. They pass a test. They meet me in Las Vegas. I'm not going to fight any cheaters in some shady commission. No. If we're going to do it, we're going to do it right. We're going to do in Vegas.

How many times have you been tested this year, 2016? I've got tested twice in the training camp, and then once in the fight. But not after. Right after, immediately after the fight. No, but I don't mean, like, since you've been home and Santa Cruz and all that. No, not yet, no. Do you think that they're going to wait for the Bissing-Silva fight, or do you think that they're going to announce your opponent,

and that would suggest it is Wideman, too, before that fight? No, you have to just wait and see. Oh, seems like you know something. All signs point to Wydenin. All signs point to Wyatman. What do you mean? Okay, obviously he's going to take it, but do you think for him, career-wise,

this is a smart move so quickly after the first fight? I don't think it's great. I don't know what he sees because this is not God's will this is not a blessing in disguise the simple fact that I'm better than him and I'll beat him again

and it's going to be you put an exclamation mark on it next time I don't know it's just you know I like he's I don't know I don't know where he said that he's he's very religious and he seems to think everything happens

for a reason and this has made him a better man that you know he's going to come in I can cage one more time with me, and I'm going to have to beat him down again. It's interesting you say that. I was going to ask you, did you hear his interview on this show when he said that he was happy for the loss? What did you make of that, if so? That's pretty much what I just told you. Yeah. What I think of it. I've read a little through it. And, yeah, I don't know. I don't know where it's had that.

You know, it's obviously he throws his kids in the mix, and I feel bad for the situation. obviously has to present themselves to this kid. And it is what it is. It's me or him and the world titles on the line, so I've got to do what I've got to do. Is it at all? Because I know you have somewhat of a relationship with him. Do you feel awkward about it?

Because, you know, if you beat him twice, it's hard to get that third crack you're expecting to be championed for a long time. Do you have mixed emotions about the whole thing? Or am I getting too sensitive here? He's a nice guy, but like I said, And we knew we were going to fight one day. And I'm glad he had the chance to be championed because I'm here now.

And he didn't get that opportunity again. Who do you think wins between Anderson and Bisping? I mean, I'll just say, I mean, towards Anderson on this one. Who knows? I don't know. He didn't look that good against Nick Diaz. Right. On steroids.

So, I mean, off steroids. Who knows? But I'm assuming you probably won Anderson just so you can get that fight, right? you've done the Bisping thing. I wanted to fight anything for a long time when I was a strike force champion, and it definitely, it appeals to me in many ways. Yeah. Bizz Bidzing shot wouldn't be fun.

I mean, he couldn't deny Bizzving a title shot if he'd beat anything still, did you? No, I think, yeah, for sure, he'd be finally in line. It'd be a fun one to hype up. Yes, I think you have the history there, you have the rivalry. He'll say that you headbutted him. You'll say that you... He'll beat that headbutt down there. until it was in a time moment.

Before I let you go, I have to ask you about this. Last week, Verdume tweeted out a picture of your head on a rooster and called it cockyhold or cockyhold. Did you see this? What's going on there? Is this feud still going on? I'm not going to waste my time responding to that guy. Why is it still going on?

I'm not going to go out of my way to fucking... We don't have to go out of your way. No? No? It's done? I'm not fond of the guy. I think he's fake. But why, do you have any idea why he tweeted that out of nowhere last week?

I mean, I've said some things about him. He said some things about me and seen and he goes back and forth. I don't know. Obviously, I mean, I get in their skin a little bit. Who knows? Who knows? But I love an opportunity to punch him in the face. I'll tell you that.

He's a pretty small heavyweight. You're a pretty big middle way. Is there any chance you think he's, in your career that we will see this fight? I jump up the heavyweight and fight him in a heartbeat. Oh, my Lord. You'd skip over 205 because your boy, D.C. is there and fight him for the belt.

I jump to heavyweight and fight him in a heartbeat. I'll play that. I'm not, you know, I spar with heavyweight all the time. I know I'm not capable of way in that division. They're slow. He's not technical. I'm not a month. Have you ever trained with him?

No. No. Have you ever expressed this interest to the UFC? I told Dana. I told Renzo. Oh. What'd they say? Gladly.

They liked it? They liked it? This is very exciting. This is great. Wow. This could be the next one. Wydman and then Verdoom. Wow.

Could you imagine that? That's unprecedented. Jumping up past... This is better than what Connor is doing. What can I say? Okay, so is that the plan? Well, okay, final thing. Anderson?

I'll be, I got some business here. Okay, fine. But if they gave me an opportunity, I'd jump on it in a heartbeat. All right. Okay, let's leave it at that. By the way, it's very cold in New York, so just brace yourself. This is in the beach of Santa Cruz, okay? It's not too bad.

It's like 40, right? I know, but there's a lot of snow. A lot of slush. It gets in your shoes, soaking wet socks. It's just a whole mess. Really? Okay. I brought my sandals and my board choice.

Good, perfect. I'll do great. Luke, again, congratulations to you. Thank you for the time, and hopefully we'll see you out here in New York. All right. Thank you guys. All right. There he is.

Luke Rockhold, who sounds like he just woke up, but I guess he's just under the weather. Could you imagine Luke Rockhold versus Fabrice O'Roodoom? That would be interesting. I don't see it happening anytime soon, but the feud continues. I did an interview. I think it was in Mexico. not that long ago with both of them. And they talked about it if you want to learn more about the genesis of this feud. But for now, let us move along. As I said at the top of the show, Bellator is back this Friday, and it is Belator 148.

The headlining act is Paul Daly versus Andy Urick, and Paul Daly is on the phone right now. Paul are you there? I am here. I am. Sam, text my man. How are you? I'm good, Ariel. How are you? I'm doing great. You know, every time you're on the show, I mean to ask you this question. I always forget, so I want to ask it to you right off the top. You are one of the very few fighters out there, maybe 1%, and maybe the only of the top fighters, without a Twitter feed,

without any kind of Twitter communication with the fans. Why is this? How do we rectify this situation? I feel like it's a big problem. I'm just not feeling Twitter. I'm not feeling Twitter or an Instagram or anything like that. I'm just, I'm like Facebook. I call it old-scrub.

I just stick to Facebook and if anyone wants to get at me, I'm frequently on there. Yes. Get me directly. I don't need a Twitter. I don't need a Instagram. I feel like I'm getting pressured into it, though I do get a lot of people asking me and pushing me in that direction, but I'm just not feeling it. I got to tell you, I want to take credit for the guy who gets you on Twitter, so that's why I want to put pressure on you. I will say this, though.

That's cool. You are prolific on Facebook. You're always giving nice updates there. you talk a little smack. I do like you on Facebook very much, but I feel like you're... Forget about Instagram. Can we just get an at Semtex,

I mean, it just feel like Paul Daly on Twitter would just kill it. Okay. I'm going to take it into consideration. Oh, okay. If I make the transition, it's all down to you. All right.

Give me a shout-out. First tweet, I want a shout-out, all right? Definitely, definitely. Okay. All right, so you're in the United States. You're getting ready for this fight. It takes place, like I said, on Friday in Fresno, California.

And the reason why this fight is taking place in Fresno is because that's Josh Kosteck's backyard. He was supposed to be on the card. He's not fighting on the card. Does this piss you off? Yes, it does piss me off. It's very strange. And, you know, I think the people of Fresno need to be asking

why they're a hometown M.M.A. store is not headlining a card. Bellator needs to be asking. Why has they put this effort into promoting a card in Fresno? for Josh Kosteck to pull out with a nondescript injury called Lost My Balls of Titus and he's scared of losing against the lesser opponent and they have to fly a guy all the way from England to headline a card in Fresno.

You know, that's really strange. So you think that's it? You think he's not really injured? He just pulled out for whatever reason. Well, there's been no description of this injury at all. You know, he has been on a... losing streak. His opponent, as is mine,

not the biggest name in Mixed martial arts. And maybe he was just either not motivated, motivated, or he was just scared to lose, which would make sense. What did you make of the decision to not book you guys right off the bat? Because imagine he goes in there, and you know what happens in this sport,

he can lose. I feel like that takes the luster away from this potential rematch. Did you feel like they were playing with fire when you found out that you guys weren't going to be booked against each other? Yeah, but I'm for the cost-check fight because it's going to do good things for my bank balance as far as contracts go.

But I'm not really keen to check. I'm never really chasing the fight. I'm kind of pulling the fight along because I know Bellator really want the fight to happen. It's a popular fight, it's a popular rematch, but, you know, I'm happy just to be fighting. and that's about it. What did you know about Andy Urick when they offered him to you? Nothing. You know, probably as much as Copset knew about his opponent

and as much as I knew about Dennis Olson and the other guy that I just recently thought, Andre Santos. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just a fighter. I fight whoever's in front of me, so it doesn't really, it doesn't matter too much to me.

I've got 100% belief in my. and I know I'm going to win. So unlike Koste, you know, I can enter these parts with complete confidence instead of pretending to be injured. But, you know, if it's someone like Kosteck, even though you think you're going to win, I mean, I feel like that gets your fire burning inside. It gives you motivation.

When you're fighting a guy that you've never heard of up until the point that they offer him to you, is it hard to get motivated for a fight like that? It's never hard for me to get motivated to fight because, you know, at the end of the day, I'm going to be in a cage of someone that's there to do me damage. So to get motivated to fight to defend myself is nothing because that's why I started martial arts to defend myself.

But it is, there is an extra motivation when you're fighting somebody that people have heard of. Yeah. Whether it's motivation or pressure, you know, everyone knows just cost you yet. So maybe it's not motivation, but it's pressure. everyone's out, you know people's eyes are going to be on the fight, so there's a little added pressure that

kind of spurs you on in training camps, but for me, I know that the opponents I have, because I'm such a prolific knockout artist, I know they're going to be the best version of themselves because it's a horrendous thing to imagine to go into a cage with somebody

with such a high knockout percentage and knowing that if you're going to lose this fight, it's going to be by knockout, especially if you've never been knocked out before, and if it's painful, you know, if you're going to get serious, some serious brain injury or whatever. So I know that people prepare hard when they're fighting for me because of that fear, because of the fear of being knocked out.

So it's a motivation for me to know that I will always face the best version of my opponent, whoever it will be. At this point, what do you think? Do you think the cost check fight ever happens? I think it will happen. I know better to want it to happen. I'm happy. for it to happen because of the financial benefits.

It's pretty much all down to cost check. I seem to be doing a lot of interviews talking about the rematch. I see a lot of the interviews that I'm doing talking about the rematch. But I ain't seen shit from cost yet. So I don't know. Does he really want the rematch? Or is he just trying to keep relevant or have something on the side? Should he run out of money in retirement or whatever?

I don't know. What gets you fired up more? you get by this guy on Friday, Urick, a cost-check rematch or a title fight? That's a difficult one. Like I say, I don't know.

Maybe the financial benefits of the cost-check fight might be a big factor in my preparations and the motivation behind it, but being a champion will also bring that prestige and money,

if not as immediate as a cost-check fight. I'm not bothered, in all honesty, to make it simple. Whoever, it doesn't matter. Wow, so you actually get paid more for the cost check fight? I don't know how much I'm allowed to say. I don't know what the protocol is. I don't know if I'm allowed to say yes or no, but I don't know.

I don't know. I'm going to dodge that question. Well, you don't have to dodge anything. Your Semtex. You say what you want. That's true. Well, there are some, there is some money on the back end. check fight that they probably wouldn't be on a title fight.

Well, speaking of playing with fire, what's taking so long for you to get a title fight? I feel like you've been around Belator long enough. What's going on here? I know, me too. I'm three and O. Four and O, if you include a kickboxing fight. You know, I have a solid windstreet that I've built up. There's really I don't see anybody else out of it who should be challenging for the belt.

So I don't know what's taking so long. But you never know what the guys at the top of thinking. You never know what the big picture is. I don't know where they're going with something. I know they're like Brendan Ward. I know the big fans of his. I know he's been talked up for a title show. I think it's whoever's flavor of the month.

I don't know. How do you like the new era? I know you were just a cup of coffee in the old era, but are you happy with Scott and the new guys that have come in? Yeah, I love Scott. You know, he's done great things, and I enjoyed my time with him over at Strike Force, and I'm happy he values me as a fighter,

and it shows us the way I'm being treated. And he gives me these big opportunities, you know, I've always been in big fights when I'm fighting with Scott, Dwayne Ludwig, Scott Smith, Nick Diaz, Aaron Woodley, Kauzu Omasaki, he always gives me the big fight. And I think that has played a big part

in me being where I am, now it's elevated my skill set and my belief of myself that I can go in there with these these uh these uh higher echelong fighters and now I'm there I'm in the same league with these guys where did you train for this fight I train the same place I train it but 90% of my five is that my Jimmy Spirit dojo in Notting him you know I call guys in I think hit the mold of the guy that I'm fighting um I'm not attached no team as I was in the past um And I think that gives me a little bit more versatility. I can call guys in.

And these are a little bit of a South Force. I've called good South Force sparring in. I was told Dennis Olson was a solid wrestler, so I called a Commonwealth wrestler in, a UK Commonwealth wrestler in. And I didn't have that kind of flexibility when I was at a team. You kind of spoiled with who was in the gym and who shows up to the team training sessions.

So, yeah, I've prepared at home in England. That seems to be a newish trend in MMA to do it more like boxing, where the whole camp revolves around you. Why do you like that better? Definitely. It's exactly the reason and the question, because the whole camp revolves around me, you know. Everybody's focused, coaches, far important is to make sure

that I'm in the best possible shaping sharpness to beat the guy that I've been, you know, chosen to face. Like I said, I've been with teams in the past. to various gyms around the world and see how they operate, and it just works better for me, just to be the main focus and to get things specifically geared towards

the type of guy that I'm going to be fighting. So Nottingham to Fresno, that's quite the trip. You must be even more annoyed that you have to make such a long trip for a fight that he's not even fighting in. Yeah, most definitely. It's not fucking good.

I don't like cross-check, and, you know, I'm fed up of calling him a deal. I need to find a better word for him than just dick. Because guys, I've got one. A asshole is a complete asshole, as we say. And yeah, you know, it is what it is. But I'm here and I'm getting paid for it. And I love Bellator and I love fighting.

It's another opportunity for me to go out there and take somebody's head off. I don't know if you pay attention to the MMA news, but I feel like there's a potentially very interesting fight out there for you, looming out there. Benson Henderson is a free agent. He's fought at 170s, he's had success. Is this something that you're getting excited about? Potentially we know that, you know, Belator is interested.

What do you think? I think it's great. All these free agents, all these free fighters that are coming out of the contracts and testing the three agency market, it's fantastic for me. So I want all these big-name guys who have got the exposure and prestige of fighting in the UFC and they're known on a more wider scale. I want the opportunities to go in there and fill them in, as we say in England, and they really turn them over, do a number on them, knock them out.

and happy days. Ben Henderson used to fight 155. A big fan of him at 155. He did great there, but I think if he comes up to 170 and he fights me in Bellatory, he's going to be in for a real rude way, came with one of these left bums detonates on his jaw.

Have you called your friend, Scott, and said, yeah, you've got to sign this guy. This gets my juices flowing and excited about a fight like this. Have you tried to campaign for them to sign Benson Henderson? haven't. I kind of jumped over the 155 guys coming up to 170, and I heard Vandale was free on the free agency market. I don't know if that's true or not, so I just went directly to Vandale, you know, that shows the type of character I am. I don't want to be beating up a little 155 guy. I'm going to go for the big fish, the big dog. I went from Vandale. You know, at 185, I sent

E to Scott an email directly to him. His response was, isn't he a little big for me? And I said, hell no, you know, I'll fight him at 185, no problem. you know, he comes to Bellator. So that's the fight I'm really after. Wow. Just Costech and Little 155 of Ben Henderson. I'm going to the big dog, the Axe murder, a pride champion, you know, one of the meanish guys of sport.

That's the fight that I'm really after. And what did Scott say? Is he interested? Like I said, he just said, don't you think he's a little bit sick? Yeah, but then once you convince them. He's a little bit big. Don't you think she's a little bit big for you? And I was like, hell no.

Yeah, I'll take the fight. If you make the fight, I will purely accept it. He has to get through some stuff with the Nevada Athletic Commission. He is a free agent per se, but no one's going to have him fight in the United States until that's cleared up. So you might have some time. But that says a lot. Would you fight him at 185? Yeah, why not?

Yeah. Why not? You know, Scott Smith used to fight 185 and he beat Conley at 185. I'm not to spark out. You know, as a young 24-year-old man, I was sparring with Melvin Manhawfer, was then a heavyweight, knocking out guys like Mark Hunt and, you know, Electra Signoshoff and all these other big kickboxing and MMA parties. You know, I only spot with bigger guys because of my punching power.

I don't mess with the little guys, you know. By the way, speaking of, you know, your training and your punching power, Tyson Fury, who is now the heavyweight champion, you used to train with him, right? No, I didn't. I don't know where that information come from. I didn't use to train Tysville-Durie. It kind of got, I don't know, I'm a... I've been to Romania to Jim, Romania, and train with some of the guys out there

who are sparring partners off Tyson Fury, guys like Benjamin, they brew you of glory. Yeah. You know, I've been to Romania. I've trained in spores with these guys, but I haven't been to the Jimmy Bolton and trained with Tyson Fury now.

Never before. I had him on the show like a month ago, right after he won the belt, and I feel like he told me, that he used to be in the same gym with you and Dan Hardy back in the day. None of that ever happened? No, I think he's just fabricating some stuff. He does that, though.

But he's a cool guy. I like Tyson's a story, but I've never been around the guy. Oh, he's not a huge fan of MMA. I don't know if you've heard his comments on the sport. Yeah, yeah, and no. I know he's not a big fan of it, and he would have said some kind of, you know, things to put the MMA fighter down,

but that's just his character. He's extremely entertaining and he's bringing more eyes to MMA, so I would allow him to keep walking and making those comments. By the way, where are you at with kickboxing these days? I hear there's a big announcement

that Vellator are going to make with a cause to some kind of kickboxing promotion and should that happen and if it happens, I'll definitely be part of that roster. And if it doesn't include guys from the

the lights of glory and stuff like that. Then it won't be too long, before I'm the champion. If it includes the likes of guys like Holskine that have to come in and fight it out, then it might take a little longer to me to be the champion. I'll let them kill each other off and then I'll keep a pastoral.

So you still want to dabble in both sports? I'm definitely going to be dabbling. Definitely going to be dabbling. I'm definitely tip... I'm not just dipping my toes in the water of kickboxing. I'm fucking diving right in there. Oh. Any chance you you take a break from MMA for this?

I don't think so because if it happens as a way it's supposed to be happening, it should run smoothly alongside each other. What are you telling me here? I don't know what you're saying here. I don't know. I don't know if I'm allowed to say too much, but... Again, your semtex. Yeah, yeah, there's an announcement to be made soon,

and it will... It's a big announcement. Oh. Yeah, there's a big announcement to make. and I'll be involved in... In the mix. That's what I'm going to say. I'm in the mix of this... In the mix.

To steal a phrase from Dana White, your friend Dana White. Yeah, my friend. When is that announcement happening? I'm not sure as to when the announcement is happening, but I've been... You've been some... A few interviews which incorporates, you know,

questions that will lead into this announcement. Interesting. Well, that's interesting. Very interesting. You're no longer with glory, You don't fight for glory. You don't have a contract with them. I don't have a contract with glory.

As far as kickbox is concerned, I'm just a free agent. And how's the way cut for this fight? The wake-cut's great. You know, it's gone really good. Like, if I can say I'm being looked faster, I'm getting out of here plenty of time, unlike with other promotions. You know, I've been here for a few days now. The way I, you know, like now the attention's all on me in training camp.

You know, things like the wake-cut and everything. and it's been, you know, it's been going real smoothly. So, yeah, the white's perfect. Good to hear. All right, so it all goes down this Friday on Spike TV. It's the return. Paul Semtex Daily, he fights Andy Urick in the main event. No Josh Kostick on this card, even though they're fighting in Fresno,

which was for Josh Kostick. He is injured. He is out. That's what they told us. Final thing, Paul, and as always, it's great to talk to you. When are we getting the knockout in this fight? What are we thinking? Are we thinking first round?

What are you thinking? It depends what he runs on to. I don't know how this guy's going to, you know, when people are in there against a punch, they do weird things. So should he come and run out and try and trade it, it will be over pretty quickly. But I think he could go to the second round.

Oh, really? Okay. Before he gets knocked out. Yeah, he's going to stand up a little bit and feel a little bit nervous. I might touch him with a shot, a jab, and then he'll be running for the rest of the first, and then come the second round,

I will put the pressure on him, and I will crush it. And you are in the United States and you're on the West Coast, correct? Yes, that's correct. I'm in a studio right now, feeling real showbiz, aspiring studios in L.A.,

and, yeah, I'm being told to put a go, which is also a pretty showbiz. So it is 11.05, 1105 Pacific time. I'm giving you around three hours to get that Twitter feed up, all right?

Okay, look out for it. Okay, what kind of name are we going to shoot for? Actually, don't tell me. I don't want someone to steal it. I have no idea. Fair enough, fair enough. Paul, a pleasure as always, good luck in the fight on Friday.

Nice one, Ariel. Thank you, mate. There he is. Paul Semtex Daily. Always great to catch up with him. Main event. Friday. Spike TV, Andy Urick.

Like I said, they were trying to have both him and Kosteck on the show together. And Kosteck is from the Fresno-Kalke California area, but unfortunately he had to pull out of the fight, so that little mini tournament is no more. I kind of feel like they're playing with fire. Just give us the fight. That's kind of the reason why you sign him, I would think. But maybe he wanted to get his feet wet, get a win under his belt, get rolling again. Paul is on a four-fight winning streak. Prior to that, he had won four in a row before losing to Alexander Yakovlev, which actually got Yaakovlev into the UFC. So he's won eight of his last nine, rolling as of late. A lot of TKOs, a lot of KOs, a lot of finishes.

Always fun to watch him in action. Interesting comments there about not only Vandali Silva, but also a potential Belator kickboxing promotion. That is very interesting. All right, so look out for that. For now, let us move along. Main event this Saturday in Newark. So it's a busy weekend in the world of MMA.

Belvoir on Friday and the UFC on Fox in Newark, New Jersey. The main event is Anthony Rumble Johnson against Ryan Bader. Bader has won five in a row. he is rolling as of late. In my opinion, wins this fight. You cannot deny him a shot at the title. Wanted to talk to his head coach, Aaron Simpson, over at Power MMA in Arizona about this fight and more.

He now joins us online number one. Aaron, how are you? I'm good. Thanks for having me on, Ariel. Oh, it is a pleasure. Thank you very much for joining us. Before we get into Ryan, I just wanted to ask you about a man you may know about Kane Velasquez.

You were a coach at ASU when he was there, right? Yes, yes. What do you make of all this? Did he put himself through the grinder back then, or maybe in his M. Maker. I mean, I don't know if you heard the news last night, but injured again out of the title fight. You have any take on this?

You know, I'm not in communication with him all the time anymore, so I don't know exactly. I know he trains hard. I mean, this guy, and I've always said this, he was one of the hardest workers that we've ever had at ASU, and that says a lot because he was a heavyweight. Normally heavy weights like to, you know, take their time and not move very often.

And so, I mean, there's probably, There's no doubt in my mind that he was maybe over-trained or trained hard and was a freak, you know, maybe a little tired and got caught in a freakish accident or whatever. I don't know anything. I don't know anything of it. But I just know, I just know Kane, and I know that something like this last fight where he was tired and motivated him to make sure that that never happens again. And, man, it's just heartbreaking, you know. And I love a guy like Sipay, Miochik. You know, he's got an opportunity on his hands now to go get a title, but you hate it at the expense of someone like.

like King Lasquez, who is just one of the great guys out there, you know, and just a great fighter and a great person. When he was at ASU, was he injury prone? Not so much. I mean, I can't say he ever really was, you know. We always, you know, he had maybe a low back issue here and there, but he never said much. Right. He was injured. He was just quiet about it, you know, and he would just go on about his work and show up and do everything asked of him.

So I can't say that he really has. had a big injury, but, you know, when money's on the line and it's your livelihood and all that, you know, you're probably pretty precautionous or some things he probably would have pushed through, but, I mean, he's taken, I'm sure it's pretty bad because Kane has a high pain tolerance, so I'm sure it's pretty bad. Yeah, and it's interesting you say back injury because that's what he suffered, but we don't know a whole lot about it. Let's move along. Let's talk about Ryan Bader. I'm wondering, as his coach and as his friend, initially, when you guys got word about this fight and you

had to start preparing for it. Did you have to motivate him? Because he thought that he was going to get a title shot after the Rashad win in Houston in October. And then, of course, John comes back and that's the direction they're going in. Was it tough to have to say, okay, we need one more, we need to do this again? We need to prove them wrong again? Not so much.

I mean, it was definitely disappointing that he got looked overlooked twice, you know, and that he's been disrespectful twice. But that right there just puts more of a chip on his shoulder. and knowing Ryan and knowing how he goes about his daily life and what does motivate him, you know, it didn't take any coaxing from us. I mean, he was once the deal was done and once we were going. I mean, we were good to fight in him. We were good to fighting Daniel back in the day.

I mean, it didn't matter. Whatever got him to getting that title shot, he was game for. And so now it's just one more step, you know, and hopefully it's one more step. I mean, that doesn't mean anything, you know. Bader can go out and get this win, and we know how the business works. So all he can do is handle what he can handle, control what he can control. We love this fight with Anthony Johnson. I mean, this is a fight that we would have liked a long time ago,

but, you know, it's now we're here. You know, and people overlook Bader. People, the odds are, the odds are stacked against him and everyone else's minds, but ours and Bader's mind. We know Anthony Johnson. I've known the kids since junior college. I know it's just tell you know, I talk to his junior college coaches, not too long ago.

And we've got stories on Anthony. It was just one of those deals where we know that Anthony gets tired. We know he likes that he's got that bully mentality, and he's a freak when he can be, man. He is very dangerous, and that's evident. I mean, he was evident with Daniel Corriere, but Daniel or outlasts him because he knew that he was just going to be tougher than him. He was going to get him.

So, you know, that's the same mentality Bader has. Bader's, you know, much like Daniel, Cormier, but to me a better striker, a better mixed martial artist all around. Daniel's just a freaking stud athlete and a champion. Daniel, there's a reason why he made two Olympic teams is because of, you know, who he is on his insides. And you'll see that in Ryan Bader as well. So specifically, what about the matchup do you like?

I mean, you talked about those things right there, but is there something technically that really makes you excited about this matchup? Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's a heavy hitter and he throws wild, but technically, Bader's a better striker than it. We're talking about a pure striker and pure footwork and movement and athleticism. Ryan Bader's better. I mean, I'll put that on anything.

And that right there, let alone Bader's a better wrestler. People don't realize that Bader's a better wrestler than Phil Davis in M.A. Didn't get it done in the NCAAs and college wrestling, but shit, that was years ago, you know. Phil Davis couldn't put his hands together to get his takedown. Bader can do that if we need, if need be. Bader's stronger on the cage. Bader's stronger off his back. Bader's stronger on top.

I mean, this fight is, if Vegas really saw what I saw every day, it'd be leaning towards Bader and people would be, you know. But it is what it is. I'm really, really positive about this fight. Once again, Ryan Bader's focus, like Rishad, like OSP, like these ones, he's got, he believes in his mind,

he's already made up in his mind that he's the champion and that he's just another roadblock for him to get through. Yeah, he's a plus 275 underdog. You're obviously very confident, have you put money on him? I don't bet on my guys, but I'm telling people to do that. So how's that? You know how this game goes. Do you feel like he would get more respect and more attention if he was finishing guys? This five-fight winning streak, all decisions. Absolutely. I mean, that's the name of this game. You've got to finish guys, you know? and he's gone against super tough competitors. You know, I mean, it's not like he's going out there against cream puffs.

I mean, he's going out there against tough dudes. So he hasn't finished him, but, you know, it is what it is. Yeah, guys get finished early or whatever, sometimes it's a lot, it's a fluke. When you get in a fight with Ryan Bader and you lose, you know, you got the crap beat out of. You walk out of there like Rashad did and going, man, I just got handled. I couldn't get anything going on Ryan. Ryan, just beat me up. And so that's almost a little more demoralizing than a knockout or a submission.

But, you know, he'll step up when it's time. As his coach, do you feel like he needs the finish in order to get that title shot? Are you trying to push him for that, or is that a mistake? I mean, no. You know, obviously, if it's there and it presents itself and he lands a clean shot or he can jump on his neck and submit him, then we'll finish him. I mean, there's no question in my mind that Bader's not capable of doing that. And it is, and he knows he is.

And so he's patient. But we're getting a win. You know, we're getting a win one way or the other. He's getting his hand raised on the 30th. So that's a foregone conclusion in my mind. I've watched a bunch of clips from you guys leading up to this fight, and it seems like something keeps coming up, and that's that you feel that Rumble Johnson is mentally weak.

Like, you can break him. I've heard, you say that I've heard Ryan say that. Why do you think that is? It's just evident in his career. It's evident in his college career. I go back and his college coaches told me that when we were looking to recruit him. Once that's in you, once you've quit and you've done it, it's in you. It's hard to get past that.

It's hard to be someone who when the going gets tough and you're on your back or you're on your knees and you're starting to get tired, you can come back from that. You can see in someone like Daniel Cormier, where he has no quit in him. I mean, that guy was against his, you know, he was fighting up a hill there against Gusseson, and he doesn't have quit in him. And you see that in Anthony Johnson, and that's going to be exploited on 30th, you know. And I love Anthony Johnson. I do.

I think he's a good guy and I think he's a great athlete. You know, I think he's a with a stud junior college wrestler. But that's about it, man. When it gets into the fight game and we take him into deep waters, we'll see how he responds. And maybe he'll be something different, but he hasn't shown that in the past. So at ASU, you guys actually consider recruiting Anthony Johnson? Yeah, yeah. We, you know, all the Juko guys are on the, in your eye.

But we had CB Dullo-A. C.B smashed him in junior college. He'd be penned him. He wasn't, he wasn't. So you look at all the Jucco guys and see how they're doing. But he, you know, we had kind of, you kind of go over and you're like, oh, this guy, and you start talking to me, you're like, okay, we take him off our list of guys who recruit. You know, there's some whispers, and you never know what's true and what's not, but it always feels like there's this talk of the demise of the Black Zillions

and that they go through these coaches and there's always instability. Do you feel like that that's something in your favor? Are you banking on the fact that he's, you know, training with an instable camp? No, absolutely. not. I mean, I, he's, he's a professional. He's, he's got his guys around him. He's got Rashad Evans around him. He's got, he's got Henry Hoof, and he's got good guys there. Jones, you know, he's got Greg Jones down there, who I really respect and, and, and, I think he's just as a stud wrestler and is a great coach. So I don't, I think they'll have him ready.

I think they'll get him as ready as they can. It's up to Anthony, you know. Is he up to Anthony to show up to practice? It's up to Anthony to push himself through his workouts. If he hasn't been doing that, it's going to be a long night for him. If he has been doing that, it's going to be a phenomenal fight. So how about you? But no. No, you're not back in that. I don't know what's going on with Blacksavians. And I don't even read into that. I mean, I don't, I could care less. I know that we've got one guy. We don't have a whole

team or anything. So, Anthony will be ready. So your last fight, March of 2013, you're retired, right? You don't think about fighting anymore? I think about it every time I walk, I make the walk into the cage. Yeah. or to the gauge. But, you know, I get in there with the guys, and I still, you know, I'm still training,

but it's not for me, which is kind of, I feel like I'm a better coach than I was an athlete because I, you know, you have to be selfish as an athlete. I don't know that there were times than I was, but I really like, you know, giving my all to my guys and making sure they're ready to win. Is it hard, though? Is it hard to be on this big stage?

You're fighting the main event on Fox, all that stuff, and you maybe deep down think you could still do it, but you're not doing it. Is this a tough thing for you to deal with? It was at first, you know? It was, especially as far as the sports progressed and some of the things. Yeah, I mean, I see guys in there at middle-weight and waltrowate that I still feel like I could scrap with, you know? I mean, there's probably 60-year-old men out there that feel that way, though, you know.

So I could beat these young guys, but, I mean, I'm in here, but I wrestle with Logan Storye the other day and kind of got the crap beat out of me. but here this kid's a four-time All-American of Minnesota, and had he redshirted, he'd be number one in the country in Minnesota this year for a senior year. But, you know, I was still able to scrap with him now. I wasn't able to get anything off, and I'd have to really, you know, focus back on myself to get going with those guys again if I did. But, yeah, man, I miss it. It's, it's, what's an athlete and you've competed for a long time.

It's, you know, you feel bad for any of those guys, those, those quarterbacks, and all those guys that hang it up and then wish they still go. You know, look at Brett Far, that guy hung on for as long as you could. Good. Look at Payne Manning, though. Here he is about to play in the Super Bowl again. Did you know, was there a moment where you knew that, okay, it's time for me to hang him up? Do you recall that moment?

Well, yeah. You know, after my World Series fight and here I'm fighting, and I fought my whole career in the UFC, and then I'm like, you know, that isn't on a sour note. I still feel like, you know, I wasn't ready to hang it up there, but I just lost motivation to train when I had to go fighting in a league that wasn't the UFC, and that, you know, that hurt. Yeah. That was hard to do.

And that probably really sealed it for me or somewhat filled it for me. But, you know, it's when you're older and you have kids and family to look after. It's hard to go and chase those dreams, especially when you've got up-and-comers that are in your gym that you need to see them, you know, chase their dreams now. Did you always know that you would be a better coach than fighter or that you would enjoy coach? I know you've coached in the past prior to your MMA career, but, you know, sometimes you stumble upon these things. things, sometimes you always want to be a coach. What was your journey like as coach? That's exactly.

You know, I, I've, when I was coached at ASU, I thought, man, this is, and I was still training in coaching and trying to make the Olympic team and stuff, but, but I love coaching. I love, I love getting next to the guys and, you know, helping get the most out of them and developing those relationships and, you know, doing the extra, teaching them how to, how to go above and beyond just what they do in practice, and how to push themselves in practice, and how to, like, back off when they need to back off and having them have that trust in me,

so I see what's going on, and when they step in that cage or on the mat, they're fully prepared. And, yeah, so answer your question, I do feel like I would have been a better coach, and I am a better coach. Are you happy with where things are at the gym these days? Recently, you gain two new fighters,

I believe, you know, as far as big name, Miles Jury and Michael Chandler. Anyone else come over? Am I missing someone? Yeah, Johnny Case. Justin Lawrence. We've got some guys. We've got that Elvis and Mutatchez. We've got Jordan Young who's an up-and-comer. Some other guys that are up-and-comers you haven't really heard of.

But, yeah, I mean, I looked on the mat to the day. We had 26 guys scrapping, whereas at one point it was like me and Bader and Justin Forbes and CV, you know, and Steve Steinbeis. So coaching ourselves. So now we have an awesome system where guys are coming in. We've got a great strength and conditioning coach that we all. communicate with. We're all in one roof. A couple great striking coaches I communicate with, a jihitsu coach that we all communicate with. So these guys come here and they know what the plan is. You know, they buy in and I haven't

heard a complaint. How did that, and... Go ahead, sorry. Daryne Caldwell is back now, too. He's fighting Joe Warren. So we got Daryan back with us, so it's going to be a good one. Big prospect in Beltoe. How did that happen with the big names coming over? Did you guys recruit them? Like, how does that, when you get this Exodus? No, that never happened. Michael Chandler's is, he's represented by Dave Martin, who's our owner and manager, and Michael's like, you know, I'm looking to branch out and get another place. And Mike and I have known each other for a long time. And they was like, well, why don't you come to our gym?

And so he started talking to Miles and those guys because they wanted to leave too, Johnny and Miles and Justin. And so that's kind of something. They got, you know, talked to their manager and Ryan Hass out in Iowa. And so Hatch has reached out to me and we made it work. You know, I'm not, I don't, we never recruit out of another gym. I don't know, I don't agree with that. I feel like if someone wants to up and leave, that's fine. We got Jordan Johnson with us who wrestled heavyweighted high, heavyweighted out of

Iowa, he's three and O two or five pounder now, trained at the lab, then went to the alliance and was a stud there with guys, it was in Gus's corner and, you know, buddies with Phil and now he's with us. You know, these guys want to come where, especially wresters, we're going to get train like wrestlers, you know, go through the wrestling practices that I'm able to put them through, which isn't like a boxing practice. It's not like a, you know, I've been there, I've done it, I've been in the cage, I know what we need to do, and I don't have an ego so I can communicate with our striking coaches and everybody.

We can make a plan happen to where, you know, you're still going to some of these other gyms that they're boxing dominated gym, and this is our boxers trained. But MMA trainers, you know, fighters don't have, they don't train like that. We have more to do in a day than just box. So I think they like that You know I think that That we're kind of a hidden gym still

You know And we're just really scratching the surface We still got you know We're still making mistakes Miles Dury went out and made a mistake He made a mistake But we're getting better

You know It's just a matter of time I feel Okay so how do you foresee it going down on Saturday What's the official Aaron Simpson prediction I feel like I feel like we're We're gonna wear on him You know we're gonna put him on the cage

We're and take him down We're going to land big strikes. If we don't knock him out early, he's going to, he's going down, you know, in the third or fourth round. I don't see it going the distance. I think Ryan will finish it earlier than that. I think 25 minutes is just too long for Anthony Johnson to go. I mean, look at any of his fights. Even towards the end when he wins these fights, he starts getting a little sloppier and a little more tired, even the three-rounders.

Andre Roloski and generally starts trying to dive in on takedowns and go that route. So, you know, but it's a fight. Anything can happen. I just feel real confident Ryan. I feel a real confident Ryan's footwork and it's striking, its ability to close the distance and get down on takedowns and defend takedowns. He's just the best he's been. Looking forward to it.

Appreciate the time, Aaron. Best of luck to you guys. And by the way, I know you guys are very spoiled over there in Arizona. I don't know if you heard epic snowstorm over the weekend here. So I hope you brought some snow shoes, some snow pants. It is cold, slushy, it's not a good time over here. Yeah, you know, it's 80 degrees here in sunny, and I'm absolutely sick of it. I'm just so tired of me.

I'm bringing my sled. I've got a sled I'm bringing out some snowshoes. I kind of want to go snowshoeing. Yep, get some excitement out there in Jersey. Yep, you will definitely need all of that. Safe travels over. Good luck, too, guys. Appreciate the time.

Thank you. We'll see, I think. All right, there he is. Aaron Simpson, head coach over at Power MMA. Big Fight for them. this Saturday on Fox, Ryan Bader, against Anthony Rumble Johnson. Winner could very well be next in line for the heavyweight title shot. All right, let's move along.

We are just days removed from an unbelievable show in Boston. It was last Sunday night. It has come out since that it's the second highest rated UFC show in the history of Fox Sports 1. A short history, but once again, that Sunday night slot after the NFL playoffs proves to be very successful for the UFC. and two plus million people watched, they got to see a great one between Dominic Cruz and T.J. Dillishaw.

In the end, Dominic Cruz won a super close decision, a split decision over T.J. Dillashaw. He's now the new champ. We're talking to T.J. Dillishaw now, who I very much appreciate coming on a few days after the fight. T.J., are you there? Yes, I'm here. Thank you for the time.

I appreciate it greatly. So, like I said, just a few days removed. We are eight days removed from the fight. I know you watch it. you posted on Instagram, you watch it on the plane. How many times have you seen the fight since? That was the only other time. You know, I feel like I get a little bit too angry if I watch it right now.

Maybe I've got to listen to the time pass and, you know, I get a little more level-headed about it. And obviously, I'm already correcting myself on things I should have done differently, you know. But watching the fight does make me a little angry. I do feel even more confident that I won that fight after watching it on tape as well. Was that just a coincidence you said that? down on the plane, your fight,

I mean, it's very rare for UFC to be on a, you know, a TV on a plane. Was that a total coincidence? Completely. Yeah,

I sat down and started going through the movie channels and stuff and Fox Sports 2 was playing our fight. So yeah, I got to watch it. Did you have a moment?

I wanted to sleep on the plane at home, but then I got all amped up and had to watch my fight. Did you have a moment where you were like, I don't know if you were with your family members

or you were like, am I going to commit the next 25 minutes to watch and so you know how it ends. Like, did you struggle with that a little bit? I guess not so much with this one. I mean, obviously I was on the plane, so I was by myself, you know,

other than the people around me on the plane, I think I'm going to be a psycho moving around in my chair and getting angry and watching a fight and having a black eye, you know, so I'm sure they probably put two and two together. But, you know, no, I wasn't too angry. I mean, I wanted to watch it because after the night of the fight, you know, I had myself winning a very close fight, a close fight, which, you know, it was, you know, a very good close fight even after watching it. But I wanted to see what went down.

and if I feel like I was, you know, biased in the night. And I wasn't, man. I still feel that, you know, I was winning the transitions. And I was, I was one score more points, you know. And it's just unfortunate, you know, a little unfortunate. I mean, ultimately it comes down to being my fault. And I really do want to congratulate Dolmex's Cruz on everything he's had to go through and the comeback and how good he looked at night.

I mean, he looked awesome. You know, he did really well. And it was an awesome, entertaining fight. I mean, even after I got done watching it, usually after my fight to just pick myself apart the whole time. But after watching that fight, it was super entertaining, man. And I hope, like me or hate me, I hope everyone enjoyed it, you know? Yeah, well, that is classy stuff.

I think a lot of people appreciate you saying that. You know, he was very adamant that this cage rust idea doesn't exist. Were you banking on it? Like, were you surprised at how good he looked considering the injuries, the surgeries, the layoff? No, you can't really put that in your head. You know, you can't put it. You're not going to fight the best Dominic shoes ever. You got to really think that he's going to come in and sharp and ready,

and he's taking these last four years and analyze me. And, you know, he's a smart fighter, you know. So I expected him to come out and do good, and he didn't. The takedowns were, I think, a big story. You had never been taken down. He took you down a few times, and you wonder how much stock the judge has put in that. Do you think that that's what won him a few rounds? And if so, do you think that's fair?

Yes and no, I guess. I mean, takedowns should matter. You know, I mean, I feel like you should have to control someone, though, especially when the fight's mainly on our feet, you know, I mean, the way the judges are supposed to score it, that wherever the fight takes place the most of, that's the controlling factor. You know, he only took me down and got, like,

a second or two of control until I was right back up to my feet. So if you're going to benefit him for getting a takedown, you also got to benefit me for winning the scrambles and getting back to my feet, you know. But, yeah, I mean, for those close rounds, he definitely could have squeezed by, and, you know, those are the rounds in my head that I was given him, after the fight, you know, and even watching it,

even those rounds that I was given him were a lot closer to where I could have, you know, possibly taking him as well, just depending on who's watching the fight and how they're scoring it, you know? I mean, I feel that he got a lot of points for stuff that's not supposed to get points, you know, being elusive and having me missed punches doesn't score you points. What it does is it scores you not being hit,

and that's the advantage of the end of the exact same. Like, uh, We may have lost you there You still there, T.J.? Yeah, I still here. Can you hear me? Yeah, we lost you there for a second, but I think you're back. Yeah, I was just kind of saying how he, I think he got points off of things that you're not supposed to score points making me miss.

You know, the plan was, when you're coming into this fight, that I was going to miss shot. The new Dominicruz is a very elusive, great head movement. I was going to miss shots, so I was going to follow him up and connect, you know, maybe on my third, fourth, fifth, six punches, you know, and that's what I did. and I felt the rounds were so close with me pressuring, and I was still outstriking them. You know, most of the rounds, I would struck him. The total count at the end of the fight, I was like, I had 10 more strikes, and he had, which is very close.

It's not a very significant difference, but with the way the fight was going, and I felt I landed in the cleaner shots, you know, his hands were down when I was landing. Half of his shots, they counted, my hands were up, you know, so it's tough. I mean, obviously I'm coming back here and picking apart the fight for everyone and complaining about it, but, you know, that's just my opinion. It's all opinion-based. Ultimately it comes on to be in my fall. I should have changed some things up, and I definitely didn't.

I mean, it was a great fight, and I technically did some good things, but there's a lot I didn't do, and I don't feel like I had my best performance, you know. And, yeah, it's a tough one to swallow, man. I feel like I should still be a champ. Yeah, and for the record, and I'm not just saying this because you're here. I don't think that you're actually complaining. I appreciate the candor and you answering these questions, so I don't think anyone should take it as complaining.

Did you score the fight when you were watching it on that plane, and if so, which rounds do you think you won? I felt that I won definitely one, four, and five, and two and three were closer. I could even see myself giving myself a fourth round, but just to be safe, I'll give myself one, four and five for sure. You know, one of the judges, I think it was Tony Weeks or something,

didn't even give me four and five, which were my most dominant rounds, you know, and that's just crazy to me. It's just crazy. I mean, the only thing I can think of is that he got us mixed up, because I don't understand how you're not giving me. me four and five. Yeah, I actually thought those were the easiest rounds to score, four and five in your favor. For the record, two and three I gave to him. One, to me, was the, maybe the closest

of the mall. I sided with him, but I mean, super close. That's why I definitely feel for you, and I feel like it's probably a tough one to stomach. It's a tough pill to swallow being that close. How has the last week been like for you? Are you having trouble sleeping? I mean, And how have you been able to deal with this? The first couple days, yeah, it was tough, you know. But that's part of being a competitor. He's learning to take what happens, you know, and take the losses, even if you don't agree with them and push on.

You know, I just got done with kickboxing practice. I'm out here helping Joseph Benevita's out. Joseph's doing his camp out here in Colorado. And we just did kickboxing about an hour ago at Duanes. And so I'm heading out to do wrestling practice with him in a couple hours. So having him out here is nice because he's getting my mind off it, and he'd get me right back into the... the gym and you know I got some bumps and bruises that I need to get checked out nothing too bad

and you know I got a bruised hopefully not I mean it's pretty pretty bruised up foot and hand you not I'm going to get those checked out but other than that I'm in there practicing with him and feeling good you know working on some things that I should have done differently so no serious injuries coming out of the fight not that I know of I mean my hand hurts pretty bad and you got I've been kind of holding out with getting and checked out the UFC can ask me if there's anything wrong with me and I'm just hoping they all bumps and bruises but uh you know my my right hand hurts pretty good. I landed a pretty clean shot.

You know, it hurts all the way down into my wrist. And by the way, it's just a little bruise, you know. You said that's her right hand? Yeah. Joseph, is he officially with you in Colorado now? Has he left Alpha Mail? He's traveling and training everywhere. I wouldn't say he's leaving anybody.

I mean, he's kind of doing what I was doing, but he didn't get there. He didn't get reprimanded, I guess. You know what I mean? Like, what I was doing was going elsewhere to do my camps and coming back and helping the team out and running practice. when I was back in Sacramento and trying to be a teammate, but unfortunately that didn't fly with Uriah. So, you know, I mean, it's funny that he's not, it's funny that it doesn't matter when it's someone else like Lance Palmer or Joseph Binovita is that when it's me, it's a big deal.

And I just feel like, you know, that's kind of more of a statement showing that he's trying to get a fight against me really more than him, honestly trying to, you know, start conflict. No secret that this was an emotional ride up until this point, the back and forth between you and Dominic and the Uriah stuff. looking back now, did you fight emotionally? Did it get to you at all? Do you think it affected your performance at all? No, I didn't really fight emotionally.

You know, like I said, the plan was to miss. There's definitely things I should have done differently. And we game plan for me to miss and followed up, which I did. You know, it wasn't anger. It's just, you know, I mean, that's kind of the way I fight a little bit. I'm always fighting looking for the finish, you know. I mean, like I said at the entire fight camp, Cruz was looking to dance around and, man, like, it's technical, I mean, the way he throws punches and the way

throws kicks and moves, it isn't very technical. It's just unorthodox, and he gets away with it, you know. I mean, the punches he lands, I could have my hands down and walk right through him. You know, there's no power behind him. They're all arm punches. He's just throwing him from his hip. And, you know, it's just frustrating the more I talk about it, I guess. In hindsight, you wish you threw more leg kicks.

It seemed like in the fourth and fifth rounds you had success. We come to find out he had a foot injury that only got worse towards the end of the fight. Because I kicked it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yes, of course. I mean, yeah, I definitely, I mean, I definitely probably should have. You know, I mean, you know, it was getting down his timing and stuff, and yeah, I probably should have done that sooner. And then, you know, in the fourth round, I'm in the real good leg kick that I felt,

and then I know he felt it, so I was coming for two or three more. And when he went to go check it is when I knew I heard him. You know, it wasn't the fact that the leg kick probably hurt his leg, but when I hurt his ankle is when he went to go check it, and I kicked right through it and almost kicked through both of his legs. and I felt right after that it slowed him down. I could tell that that kind of messed with him. What about, I mean, last week on the show, Bang told us that,

and as you alluded to this, that it was almost part of the game plan in the sense to miss, but not to miss on purpose, but you were going to throw one and then two, three, four, and then keep coming at him. That being said, was he a trickier target to track down than you expected, or was he just as you expected? I guess maybe a little bit more. Yeah, I thought I'd feel like I cut him off of some certain things that I wasn't able to. You know, I had some thoughts in my head that I'm obviously not going to give away because I want that rematch.

Sure. And I want it right away. I mean, I'm ready to take it right away. And, I mean, that was, like you said, it wasn't the game plan to miss on purpose, but I knew just going into the fight with him being so elusive that I would most likely miss. You know, once we planned on when I did miss to continue my combos. And, you know, that's why I was so aggressive and always coming forward because I knew that was going to happen. And I knew that I could walk through whatever he was in the thrill, you know.

Okay, so let's talk about what's next. you said you want the rematch Yep Have you told I know you alluded to this at the presser But have you had any conversations You or your management With the UFC

About getting that rematch next I've talked to my management You know I'm waiting to I think we're going to be talking to them To Dana and Lorenzo And we'll hear real soon You know I mean I'm gonna let in the dust settle

I don't want to seem You know seem overly pushy about it I mean I told Dana after the fight That I wanted that rematch And I felt I deserved it And so I'm hoping he's taking that consideration. I hope he's been taking consideration what I had to do.

You know, when I won the belt, I dominated him him Browell, and they gave him an instant rematch within two months, you know, and then he missed weight, and then I still gave him a rematch, you know, so I feel like it's deserved, you know, I feel like I did the exact in this fight. This fight was actually close, if not in the wrong

decision, to where it should get a rematch, you know, and I feel like I am the most deserving of that shot. I still feel like I should be the champ right now, and I want that fight. You know, I mean, I'm afraid I'm afraid that Cruz is going to be a champion that's going to be up on the shelf like he hasn't in the past.

You know, not defending, not fighting very often, always hurt. The guy doesn't seem like he's built to fight. And I'm just worried that he's going to be sitting on the shelf and not looking to defend his belt very often, you know. And as being an active champion, the guy that was taking fights whenever, I just, you know, I'm hoping that's not the case. I'm hoping I can get that shot.

I want that shot bad. It's obvious Yariah wants the shot as well, but Cruz came out last week and said that he wants to fight Yariah. Are you surprised by this? Of course he does. Why do you think that is? I mean, why would he want to fight me when you know, when I, with such a close fight and I feel that I won, and a lot of other people feel that I won that fight.

I mean, that's a lot more dangerous fight for him to take and try to stay on top. I feel like Yaya looks like easier fight, and Dominic knows that. Yeah, so do you feel like they're going to go, like, what's your gut say right now? Do you feel like they're going to go in your direction there? What are you thinking? Man, I don't know. I mean, I'll probably be sick to my stomach if that happens, man, because why, why does he, deserve it because I mean one reason why he deserves is because he got a name it's not like he's

had performances where he should be in title contention you know I don't I don't feel that he deserves that shot you know I feel I do I feel I won that fight and it'll make me pretty sick to my stomach and I'm hoping to figure out talk to them soon and plead my case and hopefully get that fight I mean I hope everyone enjoyed it to where they would want to see that rematch me I mean why would you not want to see the fight I enjoyed it and I end up getting the decision against me and I still still fight so you know I think that it should be something It's redone. When you saw the, I don't know if you pay attention to this stuff, but when you saw the ratings,

did that get you excited in the sense that they're like, oh, this scored, maybe they're going to try to capitalize on this. A lot of people saw the fight. Did you think that? I haven't even looked into it until you. I heard you say that. Oh. I had no idea of any of the ratings. I mean, I've been trying to stay out of the media and off my phone and get my head out of the fight as much as possible.

And that's why I've been to have Joseph out here. And, you know, distract myself with enjoying Colorado a little bit. It's always a little tough to look back in all that shit when you're pissed off. Yeah. Well, I mean, that is a feather in your cap and probably something that will be brought up. I'm sure your management team will bring that up when they, you know, make the... Good to know. Yeah, make the pitch for the fight.

By the way, I said right before the fight that I thought too much had been made by the media about the whole camp thing because you had buckles in your corner. You know, Palmer and Benavitas were there. You were with those guys leading up to the brow fight. Is that true? I mean, I thought it would be a big deal if you fought face. for obvious reasons, but leading up to this fight, it felt like something that we were kind of

putting too much stock into in hindsight. Do you agree with me? 100%. I definitely just added drama that kind of makes ratings, you know? It was a little unfortunate. I mean, it was putting the story wrong and, you know, and it all worked out to,

I mean, obviously because Connor calling it out on the ultimate fighter, he's got all his fans, and he's a very popular, persuasive guy that this is going to continue to create create drama because whatever he says they're just going to follow, you know? He's got like a cold following right now. So, you know, that also made it a little bit worse.

You know, I was trying to do my due diligence and come out and help the team out and come help your eye at coach. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't even have done that, you know? Because, and it ended up getting a bunch of drama started that's not even true, you know. Be being unloyal when I'm actually at that gym teaching more of the practices.

And, you know, how am I unloyal to follow a coach has been in my career for half, been involved in my career for half of it and actually my first real coach. You know, I mean, before that, I was running practices at Alpha, no, I mean, I can't be a fighter and run practices at the same time. It's not going to help me grow. And so I decided to make the decisions that were right.

And, you know, I figured people would understand that. But, you know, with all the drama of TV, it gets built up. It's more TMZ now. Would you do anything differently, though, leading up to this fight to avoid that drama? No, not really. I mean, I think that was inevitable. I mean, camp looked great. I felt very well prepared.

You know, it wasn't drama, but you just kind of do best you can of getting it out of your head. And it also helps when you got your buddies coming out and training and your teammates, you know. I mean, it kind of makes you realize that it's all just a bunch of bull. Yeah. Okay, so now here we are in a perfect world. When would you like to fight again? You know, I knew Cruz got a little banged up, and I got a hand checked out, but it's not too long off. You know, I mean, I wouldn't mind getting in there.

in May or June, you know. April's a little bit close. I got some stuff in February. I'm trying to figure out starting some new businesses. Oh, what do you got? Maybe so. Well, I'm going to start doing a nutritional plan for the California USA wrestling and get involved back in the wrestling world because there's things that I wish I would

have to know when I was wrestling. And the only way to start good habits is at a young age. And so I want to kind of come back, not only kind of give back and come to those wrestling tournaments and make wrestling with them more popular. in California for California's wrestling, but also give in some nutritional insight and, you know, obviously make a little bit of money on it as well, but

doing that, and then I also started a woodworking company in my hometown, about a woodbill. I can start making, like, custom furniture and stuff like that and called Murphy's Woodworks. Cool. Kind of getting those things started up and thinking about what I'm going to do with my house in Sacramento, no, they don't spend much

time there. So I got some stuff I've got to figure out here in the future. So you're going to probably move to Colorado full time. Yeah, I mean, I'm here now. Yeah. That's where I'm at. Obviously, when I go home, I go home to see, I'm from California.

I go home and visit my hometown all the time. It seems now when I go back to California, I go back to Angels Camp. Don't really hang out in Sacramento too much because other than seeing my buddies, you know, it's nice to go back and see them, but I can't train there, you know, so it's kind pointless. Right. And by the way, there's a website called MMA Decisions where they track all this stuff. They tweeted out literally minutes ago.

T.J. Dill Shal won three separate. rounds on two of the three judges' score cards yet still lost. First time this phenomenon has occurred in a five-round UFC fight. So that's... That is interesting. I mean, I'm telling you, man, I mean, it's kind of funny

to say, but I almost feel like that Tony Wee, I think it's his name is one of the judges, Tony Week. I really feel like he got us mixed up, man, because you can look at the punch count, they're exactly opposite of every other judge. Like, the judges write down their score and the punch count and the strikes landed or whatever.

And the numbers were exactly the same, just flip-flopped on other judge's scorecards. And it's like, I almost feel like you guys confused or something. It's like conspiracy. And that would be crazy. If that is actually the case, then Tony Weeks, who by the way, a controversial judge,

one who has had a long history in the boxing world and MMA sometimes, I mean, we could talk about the judges for... What do you think, by the way? Ten point must system. If he's a boxing coach, you think you'd be more in the favor of the way I thought. Because when you judge, when you're supposed to judge fighting, you judge the offense. You don't judge a, you don't judge

a defensive fight, you judge the offense of how it's being scored, you know, and it's I really do feel that like it kind of got blown out of water of him making me miss when I still outstruck him. Yeah, sure, he did make me miss, but I still outstruck the guy. I landed the cleaner, bigger shots. I mean, just because he made

me miss doesn't mean he's winning the fight. I'm still outlining, outstriking you and being aggressive and in your face, you know? By the way, 10 point must system. Are you in the camp of changing it, or do you think for the most part, it work still. Shoot, man.

I think we just do 1.25 minute round. Yeah, that would be interesting. You'll know who won the fight up into that. You know what I mean?

I'd probably won't be very many decisions anyways. You would be okay with that? 125 minute around. Hell yeah. Wow. Hell yeah. That is unbelievable.

Why not? I mean, that's a real fight. There's no breaks in fighting. You know, I mean, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is. I know the judges should be,

I think, in the back room, not influenced by the fans whatsoever. They should be watching it on TV, and they should, you know, and that should be, yeah, just in a silent room watching it on TV, you know, and they should, they should have to judge it just off of that. I feel being there in that whole environment, and I think I always put the effect in most fights, too. You know, that's why you get these bad decisions when people fight in their hometowns or their home countries and stuff. Very last quick thing, I know you want the title shot and you have a strong case.

any part of you want that a Sunsal fight to avenge that loss or you're not thinking about that right now I haven't even thought about that I like to avenge that when I have the belt I mean I feel like I since I deserve a shot as well he's been on a good way shake trip he's been out for a while so I mean he's been out for a long time but I'd like to get the rematch in once I beat Cruz you know I mean I feel that I I feel like that I already beat Cruz and we should be giving him a shot you know it's uh that's what we should be at right now I should be fighting this and so or someone next, and I still have that belt. That's just me.

Fair enough. I appreciate the time greatly. Really appreciate your candor. Thank you so much, T.J. Again, congratulations on a great fight. I know it didn't go your way as far as the judges were concerned and others as well, but what a fight. It was a lot of fun to watch, and I hope you get what you are searching for next. I appreciate it.

I've got to go and thank my team, an elevation fight team, to help me get ready for this fight. They did wonders, and I'm also fond to give me every training possibility, and, every advantage I could in my camp. You know, Muscle Farm has done a great job of providing me with everything out here in Colorado, and that's ultimately why I made the move, you know. And I appreciate the interview, and, yeah, I'm glad that everyone enjoyed the fight. I want you to go back and watch you to get in that, too, and see what I'm talking about. I will.

I will do that. Thank you, T.J. Absolutely. There he is. T.J. Dillishaw stopping by. Great stuff from him. Okay, let's move along. Last guest to the day, it was announced, as I said, at the top of the show,

late last week that Tony Ferguson will be fighting Michael Johnson, also at UFC 197. They fought back in May of 2012, right across the river and East Rutherford, New Jersey. That, in fact, was the last loss of Tony Ferguson's career. Since then, he has won seven in a row, and this left people scratching their head. Why is Tony Ferguson fighting a guy who's on a losing streak? Well, let's ask the man himself, he is joining us on the phone right now. Tony, how are you? Good. How are you doing, Ariel? I'm doing great. Thank you for the time. So when this fight was announced, I don't know if you pay attention to this stuff, but a lot of fans were very, very confused. Why is this happening? Why is Tony Ferguson fighting Michael Johnson? Why is he fighting an Eddie Alvarez or a Habib Naragamato, someone like that? Why are you taking this fight?

Well, let me start off. They offer me the Kibb fight twice. They offered me once in December and once in February. But due to injuries, he couldn't take the fight. He asked for a fight in April. and honestly I'm having a new family arrived in April. I can't wait around that long. I'm a businessman and I have unfinished business.

So I look at the drawing board. Everybody else's timeline has taken. You have pettuses, I don't know where he's at. Let me just not go through the list. You have everybody that's either choking, broken, or they're waiting, or they have quite lined up. It's a waiting game, and I'm not playing here to wait. I did say that I was going to beat everybody in the division.

And Michael Johnson and I, like I said, we have unfinished business. So he's the only one that's the game right now To be able to take the fight Two fight losses I understand that But I would be pissed off You know, I didn't want a third loss And I can respect that

And he's an ultimate fighter alumni So I know he's gonna go back to the drawing board And we're gonna have a great fight So did you say to the UFC okay I want to fight before my baby comes And I want to be on this card And I want to fight Michael Johnson Or did they, you know

Like was it your idea or was it their idea? Well first it was I want to fight the Bid and then that was a more important fight to me and then he was injured and so I said okay how about Eddie Alvarez and then they said nope he's out of it he can't do it and obviously I went through the whole list there I'm not just going to throw a name out there just to throw it out there sure so as far as waiting like I said I'm not going to wait around

the last time I saw Michael Johnson was in 2012 broke my arm in round two I think it'd be a great way to calibrate myself to see where my skills are laying at which I know they're a lot better. And I think I'm a much different opponent than I was before. And I'd like to go back and not just prove it to myself but to the fans and everybody else that I am that fighter that deserves a title shot. And I'm willing to pick everybody off. I have to and it doesn't matter who's next in line. Kevin Ioli of Yahoo Sports tweeted when this news came out that you were on deck if Connor didn't agree to fight RDA, you were going to get the title shot of 197. Were you told the

same? I don't know, man. I mean, I haven't been told anything as far as title shots. You know, After the fight for Edson, I went up to Dane, and I asked him, hey, who's next? He said, just, you know, enjoy your vacation kid. So I don't know what the issue is, but there is no issue. As long as I'm staying busy and I'm staying active, I don't see my stock going down. Everything is going up. I don't see why everybody's bitching and moaning. You're going to get a phenomenal fight.

The last time that we fought, we went three rounds, and it was great. You know, with a broken arm, I continue to finish it, so I wouldn't get a blemish on my record as far as a QKO or, you know, a finish. So this fight is much more than everybody thinks. You guys need to take outside the box in this one. You guys are stuck in the white and black world. You guys need to come to check in the gray area and all the other little spots. It's much more than everybody thinks. So regardless of whoever is going to be winning there,

hey, post-press conference, who's Connor going to be sitting next to? So regardless of what's going to happen, win or lose, I'm going to walk out of this, happy and a smile on my face. I'm going to train my ass off, and my fans are going to get exactly what they want, which is their money's worth. So only on paper review March 5th UFC 197 I'm not sure what we're going to be on the bout

but you guys are going to see fireworks and make sure you set your DVRs you're going to watch it again Did you want to be on the Connor card for that reason to be at the press conference with him? No not really personally His move from 145 to 155

was kind of fast I would have hoped that he would have stayed at 145 and defended his belt for a second but now that he is at 155 and he is fighting that same night. I hope he can stay in play it for a while. Yeah, I'd love to know your reaction. Like, when you found out that news and it was kind of out there for a little bit

before they officially announced it, that he was going to get the immediate title shot after winning the belt at 145, and you're so close to that belt at 155. How did you react? Oh, nothing, man. After I was a little upset, but I wasn't as upset as I was. I mean, like I said before, I'm leaving my legacy in this division and in this ultimate fight around the way I said I was going to.

By picking everybody apart, I didn't want to move down the lightweight division. You know, the UFC recommended it. I did it. I picked them all apart. So after this, you know, maybe future we'll do something different in a different way class. But right now, the fight at hand is Michael Johnson. It's not Connor. It's not RDA.

It's not any of those at all. I think what we need to focus on is Michael Johnson, the team of Black Zillions. Those guys over there, you know, they've been out of the loop for a second. I know Henry Hoof. I saw him and I talked to him the last bout. So he knows, and as he saw me in the eyes, too, he knows what he's up against. But they have a great coaching staff over there, and I know they're going to be a busy over there.

They have their hands full. What do you mean when you say they've been out of the loop? Well, you remember everybody wins and loses. Right now, the American Top Team's on top. So it's one of those things. You just kind of have those different things kind of coming up and going. But let me just break into this. I am opening up my own academy this year.

Oh. You will have the stat that. Academy, my style of fighting. And it's really cool. I'm not trying to change anybody up, and when everybody is welcome, when it is open, it will be open to the public later on, but it's going to be focused on my core basis, which is wrestling. And my fundamentals from there, punch, and striking and submissions all going towards finishes.

So what's the name of it? It's going to be called the Snapdown Academy. Snapdown Academy. And where will it be in Orange County? This will be in Orange County, yes. And who will be the coaches there? Well, we're deciding that, actually. I'm going to be pulling some of the best wrestling coaches around the world.

Actually, hopefully the nation, I'd like to stay within the U.S. Some of the coaches that I've actually worked with in the past, some of my old coaches at Grand Valley State, like to offer them some coaching positions, and perhaps actually make a private facility like we did at Death Clutch. There's a lot of networks into it. So we're now what the focus is to be able to raise some of these fighters that are amateur or pro and just be able to kind of beat it for them, like how my coaches work for me. So what's the thought process here?

Because I know you've actually been happy with being a lone wolf and doing your own thing. Why do you want to do this now? Well, I've been active in the coaching and volunteering room for a while. I just never really put a brand on or put anything towards it. I just kind of do it out of my own thing. And now it's just one of those things right now. Honestly, instead of traveling around and having my camp set out and traveling toward them, I'm going to bring the camp to me, which has been for the last, what, two, a couple years, actually.

the focus of every camp is getting around what I'm doing at hand. It's not, like I said, this fight camp is not around Kabe it's not around Connor. It's not around RDA. This fight camp is around Michael Johnson. So you're going to see me probably out in the park. I'm going to be moving around, be doing a lot of running. Be doing a lot of body manipulation type of different stuff.

Body movement, body core stuff, taking him down, making sure I'm out-conditioning, making sure my level changes and my fundamentals are right there. I'm not going to get caught by this guy. I think everybody's understanding, overlooking the fight. I think they're trying to look past the fight where they think that, oh, man, Tony's looking at this guy like he's just another step. For me, I'm going to go out there.

I'm going to make an example out of Michael Johnson. And I'm not looking past him. I'm looking at him like I'm going to look at him at that time. He broke my arm that last fight. So there's a reckoning man. But I can't make a personal, so I won't. I'm just going to make sure I go on. I'm going to make it a quick finish.

When's the last time you watched that fight from 2012? 2012. The last time I watched that fight was probably a year ago. Will you watch it leading up to this one? Oh, of course. It's not hard for me to watch. It used to be hard for me to watch when I was in a cast. But, I mean, man, it is what it is.

You got broken arm in a fight, you fight the rest of it, and you had a year and a half to think about it. What are you going to do? well for me personally I'm going to go on a win street and what sounds better than seven eight exactly by the way one more thing on the whole Connor stuff

are you hoping he wins because that's the bigger money fight is that what you want have you even thought of that honestly if I was in this for a sport for the money I'd be all over the sponsors and worrying about all the other BS

yeah I'm not in it I'm in it to flip some ass personally and I'm trying to be as nice as I can and humble but I'm in it to do work, stay busy, stay active, and make my skills better. I'm not here to talk shit and do anything else. I'm here to do work and get the job done. If it comes with the other stuff and I have to talk a little smack,

trust me, I won't bow down. But right now the opponents know that anytime somebody's small talk smack, I use that against them, and it works beautifully. Yes, I like it. I like it when you do it. I send people to a hospital. You know, and that's the thing is, like,

when people talk shit, I send them to the hospital. Keebao didn't talk shit to me. You know, a lot of these guys I finished quick, they didn't ever talk shit to me. So it was cool. I don't want to hurt them. But that's Al-Kukui. And these guys, man,

and Michael, like I said, Michael and I, we don't have too much animosity. It's going to be a technical fight. And I respect that. So these other guys, like I said, they're going to have a coming, but it's not now. It's later.

Right now is Michael Johnson. So you don't expect him to smack talk leading up to this? If he does, he's smart. If he doesn't. So if he's, If he does, it's beautiful. Thank you.

Give me that fuel. Give me that fuel, and energy that I need that extra stuff because I honestly don't give you shit. But I'll use that inside the gym like you would not even think of. I will turn against you, and it will haunt you.

What's going on, by the way, as far as you and Habit, I saw you guys going back and forth on Twitter? Oh, I don't know. I gave me English lesson or two. Yeah. You even went back to the Happy Gilmore Days. Great film.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Shooter McGavin. Shooter McGavin. He eats pieces of shit for breakfast, so you just kind of do that out there for him. But in this game, like I said, if you want to go ahead and talk shit, we'll go ahead and talk shit.

You want to be a keyboard warrior? Go ahead. You want to play that game? That's fine. I'm in it to have fun. I'm not going to have to be pissed off. I learned how to laugh about this stuff a long time ago, and I learned how to take a joke.

So all you guys out there hating, go ahead and keep hating. You can affect me at all. I don't get a shit. I'm going to keep going and do what I'm doing. if you're going to keep watching me, go out there and fight regardless of you like me or not. And if you buy that ticket, trust me, you'll get your money as worse. So I'm happy if you do.

By the way, did you watch the Alvarez-Pettus fight? If so, what do you think of it? Alvarez-Pettus fight, it was a good fight. They both showed up. It was good, but they needed to come and take my class. The conditioning sucks. So you weren't totally impressed? No, man.

The conditioning is terrible. Alvarez looked gassed, and Pettis was gas from being pester. against the, I mean, it's no preparation at all. Both of them. I mean, he couldn't finish takedowns, barely finish them. I mean, it was a piss poor job. I think... Take more, take more pride in your work, put that way. I think that...

I mean, obviously, Eddie got the win. I don't disagree with it. It wasn't the fight maybe that we thought, but I thought he had to do... He did what he had to do to win the fight. Do you agree with that? Oh, yeah. Or do you think it could have been more exciting? Eddie... Eddie is that type of fighter. Eddie's going to drag the fight out to try to just get the decision win.

He's a true 140. He's not up here. He's not up with these ranks. I can consider him, obviously, I have to, because he's in my weight class. But Eddie doesn't want to be here with the big dogs. What do you mean, the big dogs as far as the 155ers? Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, maybe one time you'll fight him sooner rather than later, but for now it's obviously Michael Johnson. Have you been watching him since your fight? Like, is this a guy that you kept your eye on, watching his progress, his ups and downs? Oh, I've been watching him, too. Obviously, you watch him.

You never forget. get your losses, Ariel? Yeah. You got a couple of different fighters that will probably avoid their losses and try to not take this fight. Because why? Because usually that would be like a double stamp. Boom, don't. You don't.

No, but this is beautiful. Like I said, out of this fight, win or lose, I'm going to come out of this with more fights than you know. Everybody's going to want to fight me after this fight. It is interesting. It kind of feel like, I like the symbolism. Like, you can only take that next step to getting the belt before you avenge that last loss.

Like, there is something kind of beautiful about it all. And I totally respect you for doing it. Sometimes people are like, oh, he's on a losing streak. Why should I do it? This means the world to you. And it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else. It makes sense to you, and that's why you're doing it. And I really respect that.

Thank you. I appreciate that. It's only until you can actually, it's even better, like, as far as in my workroom. Because once I started realizing that, you know what, it's not always just about getting the goal. You heard Dominicruz, and I'm going to respect. that real quick. Because I'm going to Cruz said it beautifully.

He said, I realized I was more happy without the belt. Yeah. And honestly, I see what it does to champions, and I see how all the business and all the fan and flare and all that stuff. It's a big headache. I mean, I'm ready for it if it wants to come,

but honestly, I've been pushing away for so long. So I'm stubborn, man. And honestly, nothing's going to break me. I'm going to get that belt one day, but I'm patient and I'm very stubborn. By the way, I'm just curious. You're represented by a paradigm. they do a fantastic job.

As is Connor. What's that like for you, since you're both kind of fighting for the same thing now? Oh, yeah, they know. They know what's up. It's like Velcro. It's like Velcro, bro.

But you know what? They're cool. They hold it together and it's a business. I'm a business man. I'm here to stack my chips and move on. And right now, Connor's not in my... Honestly, I don't think he's in my league

as far as what we've got going on. My plans are different and we're on different timelines. So, like I said, if he wants to stay at 155, I'll take whatever he wants to do. I think it would be a great fight. I think he has great talent.

I think my skills versus his skills, everybody would make it a super fight. I wouldn't take nothing else in the main event, honestly, and you have to call the super fight. So I am a super fighter. There's no other person on my level, so. Well, first up, rematch against Michael Johnson on the same night as Connor versus RDA,

UFC 197, March 5th. You broke it down. I don't see how anyone can really argue with the, facts that you threw out there. So I wish you the best, Tony. Also, I hope that everything is going well with your wife and the baby, and I definitely respect the fact that you want to get this fight out of the way before that comes, because that could be a little hectic, and you want to focus all your energy on that. So wish you the best there, wish you the best in training for this

fight. Always a pleasure to talk to you, and I'm sure I'll talk to you before the fight in Las Vegas as well. Solid. I'll catch you later. Thank you. All right, there he is. Tony Ferguson stopping by. Great stuff from him. As always, appreciate Tony stopping by. Well, hopefully now you kind of get it. I got it once it was broken down to me. He's having a kid in April.

Habib isn't ready. Eddie isn't ready. I personally think they're going to do Nate Diaz versus Anthony Pettis, a fight that's been talked about for some time. I think it's the kind of fight that Nate Diaz would get excited about. So who's left? He wants that fight. Remember when he was on the show after he won at UFC 194?

He talked about wanting that Michael Johnson fight. So do it. It's his own journey, his own career. Why not? I get it. And I do like the symbolism. Much respect to him. And thank you to my friends at Paradigm for hooking us up with that interview.

Appreciate them as always as well. Okay. That does it for today's interviews, but we got plenty more show to go. What's going on here? What do you got? Jump in there, New York, Rick. You want to say something? You all shy?

He's all shy. We'll hear from him in a second. It's happening. All right. Look at him. He's the guy's writing me. He's writing me on G-chat. He can't even speak.

Let it be known. New York Rick, shy to speak on the show. What is this? Our 200th show together, if not more. All right. Time for y'all must have forgot. Our segment where we look at a classic interview from the vault. This week, we're going back to July of 2008, just days before the first affliction

event. We're in Los Angeles, of course, main event, Fyodor Emilienenko versus Tim Sylvia. On that card was an interesting fight between a guy named Josh Barnett. Do you remember Josh Barnett? Josh Barnett is in action this weekend in Newark, very important fight, Josh Barnett and Ben Rothwell. And a fight, by the way, quick tangent, that, in my opinion, the stakes have just gone up a little bit because now that Kane is out, I'd be very surprised. if Kane gets another title shot upon returning from injury. So I feel like, okay, so Miocic is getting the fight. I kind of feel like he's, you know, things have just kind of been expedited.

So the winner of this fight, Rothwell and Barnett could be next, depending on what happens, Overeem could negotiate it, but especially if Rothwell wins, and maybe we'll talk about this later, but if Rothwell wins, he has a win over Overeem that people seem to have forgotten about. So wouldn't he be next after that? And if Barnett wins, Barnett versus Overing would be a lot of fun. I don't know. All I'm trying to say is it feels like it's a lot more important now.

Anyway, July of 2008, Barnett was fighting Pedro Hizzo. We were at the press conference in Los Angeles, and this was very exciting for me because this is one of the first events that I ever. I really started traveling and covering shows in person for MMA rated.com and around. April. The first event that I traveled for, actually the first event that I really traveled for was HGNet Fights 2 in December of 2007, but that was for my own website, Jerry Park.com. First time I was traveling around for a website that I was getting paid for was around April of 2008, UFC 97. A couple months later, I'm in Los Angeles for the first affliction event, big event. Of course, Fader's on the card. Tim Sylvia. They're crazy payroll, all that stuff. Barnett's on the card, but if you were recall he was a little upset at his placement on the card. He was a little lower down. He was

upset. Well, I go to this press comment. There are legends there. And Josh Barnett knew who I was. He really knew. He was like, oh, I've been watching you. And I couldn't believe it. Josh Barnett, the baby face assassin. He knows who I am. I was blown away. And I mean, I know that he used to read stuff on the internet and still does. But I just, I couldn't believe that he was aware. It just, it really blew me away. And I still remember it to this day. So we did an interview. So I wanted to go back to that very first interview with Josh Barnett, a favorite of ours on this particular program as he prepares to fight Ben Rothwell in a huge fight this Saturday night on Fox. So here's that interview before Affliction won.

My very first interview with Josh Barnett in Los Angeles, July of 2008, y'all must have forgot. Mayrated.com being joined by the babyface assassin, Josh Barnett, Josh, there was some trash talking going on with other fighters at the press conference. What was that all about? That's not trash talking. That's just folks having to deal with denial. of the truth of it. The thing is, is that most people don't get into trash talking situation with me, because I'll just tear them up.

If they want to play dozens, they want to talk about jokes, I got jokes. So I'm not worried about that. It's just, you know, they should be happy that they had something to say other than I thank affliction. I'm glad to be here. It's going to be a great fight. Thank you, everybody. Well, in all seriousness, did you feel that you were put too low on the card?

I don't give a damn. As long as people are going to pay to see me. fight I know this and they could put me at the top or they could put me first of the night first the night's kind of nice because then you get to beat the hell out of somebody and just sit back drink your pinocaladas and watch the rest of the fireworks all go down but you know it's not a status thing for me I mean to hell with that I'm a main event guy and everyone's going to see that when I fight you know a lot of people have always wanted to see you fight Fader Emilienenko and Tom Intenzio the VP of Affliction Entertainment has said

this is kind of like a tournament situation where the winners will advance to another show possibly in October Do you think if you win you'll get that shot against Fador finally? I've no idea. I haven't really thought anything about it. The only thing that matters to me is beating Pedro, because he's the only one that's trying to knock me out that night. Fador's not going to jump me from behind.

In fact, if anything, I'll probably get my after party, and we'll get a little tipsy over at Ember. Can you invite me to the after party? Go ahead and swing on by. I thought I was going to get like VIP love. It's tight space. All right, well, let's talk about Pedro. First off, I mean, this is a guy that you lost too,

to in a fight that I'm sure you thought you were going to win everything was going in your favor and then a flash knockout so to speak how long have you I mean since that night several years ago have you been dying to get this chance again I wake up in a cold sweat screaming at the top of my lungs Pedro it haunts me ah really it's seven years ago if anything I just like I tell all my other fighters good or bad if you go out there and you compete there's going to be something you can take away from that it's going to help you become a better fighter. So I took away, don't get knocked out, and that works for me. And how about fighting in the United States? Because you've only fought twice in the last few years or so. Any difference in terms of preparation and all that, that you're kind of in your backyard here? I know you're not from the California area, but it's a shorter flight than going to Japan.

Well, actually, I've been staying down here in Florerton, so you might as well just add me to the OCs list of fighters down here. But, you know, the only thing about the difference here is I got less paperwork to deal with. and Japan and it's just a little easier to deal to do everything but a fight's a fight I'm here to go I'm licensed I'm ready to smash and I be the thing about the ring is it just it could happen anywhere it's it's an international that ring is my nation so wherever that's at it's where I'm fighting well just promise me this if you do you know win on Saturday night and your star blows

up here again in the United States just stick with the pro wrestling all right because I love that that's not going anywhere this is pro wrestling When I go out there and fight Pedro, that's pro wrestling. When I go over to IGF, August 15th and take on whoever they can find to drudge up, is dumb enough to get in the ring with me, that's pro wrestling. Everything I do is pro wrestling. I am fighting for the entertainment of the fans. I'm going out there.

I'm going to give everybody exactly what they came to see, a show, something to talk about, something to be entertained with, and to do the sort of things that only I'm capable of doing. All right, well, he is the baby-faced assassin, Josh Barnett, and you can guarantee him one thing that there will be some thing some form of entertainment on Saturday night. Josh, best of luck to you. Thanks, Ariel.

All right, there you have it. Two baby-faced assassins there. Josh Barnett and myself, July of 2008. Y'all must have forgot my first interview with Josh Barnett. I look forward to seeing him this weekend in New Jersey, big fight for him against Ben Rothwell. Fun talking about pro wrestling with Josh Barnett, who now does commentary.

Not as much pro wrestling these days. Of course, with the UFC, it's tough to do. But there was some pro wrestling on last. night right New York, Rick. You watched the Royal Rumble? I did. Uh, I did not. Who won? Triple H. Someone told me. Triple H won. Someone told me. Triple H. What, what year is it? Freaking 2000, 2001. This is exactly why I stopped watching. Triple H won the Royal Rumble in 2016. What the hell is going on? I have to tell you, if you don't get invested in, like, the storylines and just kind of check in from time to time, it's kind of fun. I like it. I have no problem with

Triple H winning the Royal Rumble because I don't, there was no lead up for me to care or not care about him doing it. So it was fun for me. It made me sad that I missed it. Royal Rumble, always my favorite event of the year. It's such a great match. It's fun. It's an hour or whatever. I saw it once in person. But come on. Triple H, really? So now he's the champion? The belt was on the line? That's crazy. Who cares? It's ridiculous. The belt doesn't matter. What are you talking about? You can't support it and say who cares. It's not real. I need to get emotionally invested. I don't care if it's real or not? That's like telling someone who watches Homeland. It's not real. No, I get

invested. No, but yes, but if somebody won a championship or didn't win a championship on Homeland, it doesn't really matter. If she's playing in the soccer league and wins a championship. It matters. No, it doesn't matter. Well, of course, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of life, but why does he have to win? He freaking owns the company.

He's married to the coach. That's awesome. Could you imagine if you're in the back, you're one of these guys and the freaking CEO of the company or whatever the hell he is, Becomes champion? What the hell is going on here? How old is he?

It's crazy. 15 years later. It looks great. Yeah. I wonder why. I always felt like Triple H was like mid-tier. Triple H was like, who could we compare him to? Triple H is like a mid-tier fighter.

Never a champion. Michael Bismegh? No, no, no. Michael Bismic, way bigger draw. Wait a minute. Triple H was like lucky that he, married the boss's daughter. He was he should never, he's not a legend.

You know, the walkout was always lame. I don't stand for this triple H slander. You were a fan? I wouldn't say it was a fan, but isn't he like a almost like 20-time champion or something? Yeah, of course. What does that mean? He made himself the champion. Who cares? Oh, so all of a sudden the championships do matter. And now when I say he's a 20-time champion,

oh, it doesn't matter. Well, no, like when Jeff Jarrett became 16-time champion, that's just because he wanted to beat reflif record. Wait, really? He was? Yeah, like TNA and, and, World Tour. Because I watched WWE when Triple H was, or I guess it was WVF back then, when Triple H was around in, like, the Rock and Stone Cold and all those guys, he was always, you know, good. He was changed the channel heat. He was so unlikable. And every time he would, McFoly comes back, he ruins that. He just ruined everything. It was so. I won't stand for this Triple H center. Congratulations.

Sometimes I wonder, like, my kids are young. Well, I get them into wrestling. And then I see Triple H as champion in 2016. And there's no way I'm going to watch. this. Rock Lesnar looked awesome. That was fun. Did he? How did he do? He eliminated all the biggest dudes in the ring and then, uh, and then they cheated. See, this is what I don't understand.

They came back in the ring and guys who had just been eliminated from the match threw him out of the match. Well, that's BS. It's kind of nonsense, isn't it? Yeah, it should cancel. That should be a DQ. Paul Heyman's got to, you know, take care of that. He's got to take care of that.

Get him back, uh, you know. I did see AJ Stiles debut. That's kind of fun. I don't know who that guy is, but everybody seems to love him. I really don't. I have no idea. No idea. He's good.

He's one of those guys who's never even. I assumed as much when everybody. Was he flying around? He looks like a small guy though. Hmm. It was always a small guy. But like really small. Like he came into the ring with Roman Raines at first.

What do you mean? They were standing. They're a team? No. Like they came in at the same time. Like you know how the clock counts down for where a rumble and then the guy comes in? Yeah, yeah. They were the only two standing there for a minute.

And he looked very, very small. He's a small guy. X-Division for life. You don't know what I'm talking about. No, I don't know. Someone comparing Triple H to Carl Parisian. I don't know about that one. But you know what I mean?

Like, he's a guy who should never won the belt, but only did. But he's won it 20 times or almost 20 times, I think. Because he's the freaking boss's daughter's husband. How dare you? Or boyfriend at that. I did like that angle when he drugged her and, I mean, it was... Wait a minute. I don't remember that.

You don't remember that? No. Yeah, that's how he married Stephanie on the show. And then, look, if you're going to... to watch in 2016, at least respect the past. Watch the history. You got the network. I don't want to do that. Don't you have the network? No, it's too much of an investment. For me, it's not like, it's not episodic. It's not a movie. It's not a thing where I'm going to go back and learn the history. I just kind of check in from time to time and it's always fun. But you have the network.

I'm assuming. I have the network. I hope, unless you're stealing. No, no, I have the network. You know I have the network. For someone who's not a fan, why go out of your way to watch this? Because it's like, it's like a big UFC. Like, why would somebody who's not a fan of UFC, tune in for a Ronda Rousey fight. It's, you know, supposed to be the big one. I tune in for it. All right, fair enough. What's this thing you said me about?

MSG, I can't read it. What do you got? Fightland had an article that just said, essentially, the, you know, the UFC was filing that injunction. They stated that today was the date. They gave this as a hard deadline. It appears that injunction was not granted. Leaving us in a strange predicament for, you know,

MMA in New York. Well, I mean, that was always kind of the, the Hail Mary, in my opinion. I mean, the UFC has always wanted to go about this the right way, which is get the bill legalized. So, I mean, to me, this is kind of like, all right, your last-ditch effort on that side didn't work out, but they want to get this legalized.

They want to build the pass through the Senate, which it has, like, the last six years. They wanted to pass through the Assembly. It's now in the governor's budget. That's huge. And they're in Albany now, stumping. I know Wyden's going and some other people. So I always felt like April 23rd, as I think I said on this show, was a little ambitious.

But I don't feel like this is the end of MMA, New York for 2016. But for April 23rd. Yeah, I always felt like it was ambitious. And also, don't forget, they've announced the date in the past. Remember, December 5th? They've announced it. They do that. And it's smart.

They want to put pressure. But again, and they'll do the lawsuit, and I commend them, they have pumped a lot of money that they will not be seeing back. into this effort. And I know some people think it's futile, but you don't understand New York. This is the media capital of the world. You have to be in New York. I mean, to be a little, it's weird that the sport is illegal. And we all know why it's illegal. We all know it's a union thing with the station casinos. We know that. It has nothing to do with MMA as a sport. If Zufa wasn't the parent company of the largest organization, this sport would be legalized a long time ago. No one would care.

It's bring money. You know, it's a moneymaker. I mean, it generates revenue for the state, a state that could use it. So we know why. But this to me is just, eh, it's kind of like, okay, fine. I think a lot of people were banking on April 23rd actually happening in New York. Maybe I'm, maybe I misread that, but I feel like people assume that that was something that was going to happen. I think that ship sailed.

Well, for sure now. Let's not forget. It's January 25th. So for an athletic commission to get on board, for everything to, it's tight. It's very tight. And I think it's good timing that they're here. I think it's very strategic. I don't know if they did it on purpose.

I'd love to ask someone, maybe Peter Dropick. Peter Dropick used to be VP of W.C. Now he's in charge of booking the arenas, among many other things for the UFC. S.U. Alam, I might add. But I feel like it's very smart for them to be in New Jersey this weekend. So do a lot of media. get the, you know, just raise some awareness. But I would not, this sucks.

I mean, it would have been nice. But I don't think this is the end. Now, like I said, busy weekend, as far as non-MMA is concerned, news about Kane Velasquez. Anyone ask us about that? Of course. First question up. Ronda Rousey, anyone ask about that?

Of course. All right. Let's save my thoughts for after the questions. First question up. Kane's injury, what are your thoughts on the disappointing news of Kane Velasquez being once again injured and having to withdraw from his fight next week. Where do you think the injury now leaves him in the heavyweight division? And do you think he's likely to still get the winner of the Verdume-Stepe fight upon his return?

Okay, I'll start with the second half first. I don't think he should get the winner of Steepa versus Verdum. This train needs to move along. And quite frankly, I wouldn't blame the UFC if they're a little hesitant to book him in a title fight right away. I mean, this has happened before. And the division was on hold for quite some time. and he's been hit with injuries. You know, where is this coming from?

Is the injury hit? Who knows? But them's the facts. So I don't think that he should get an immediate title shot upon returning. I called it a tragedy on Twitter, and that's too big of a word. I just couldn't think of a better, smaller word.

But the sad part about this is he wanted to fight in Houston. He wanted to fight on the same card as Daniel Cormier versus Alexander Gustafin. And, you know, he waited for the title shot. Once it became apparent that, you know, It was going to come, but he had to wait. I mean, he made that choice. You don't necessarily blame him.

But I think I said it on this show. I wish he would have gotten his mojo back, get a wind under his belt, get his confidence back, fight on that card with his friend DC. I really wish he took that fight. Go ahead. I was going to say, but what's to say that this wouldn't have happened anyway? It's just, and I just keeps him on the sideline. Look, he missed out on a payday.

You know, we get hung up. Certainly that part of it's disappointing, but this seems to be a thing for King Velasquez. know, whether, whether you are reluctant to admit that or not, and I don't mean you, as in Ariel Hawani, I just mean whether one is reluctant to admit that or not, he's injury prone. There's no two ways about it. This is, that much is clear at this point. If, if he had fought on that card, there's still no guarantee that that was the thing that kept, you know, the rust off. I just feel like there's no avoiding this. You just have to, you know, handle him with care.

He's not a durable fighter and, you know, treated as, you know, treated as, you know, such. And I don't think there's any guarantee, even if he fought there. It would have been great for him to get a payday and fight with DC, but I don't think that changes this scenario or anything that has happened. I'm not saying that. Absolutely not. It just sucks that he missed a payday. I mean, you never know what's going to happen where he was on the day where he injured himself. So what I was told was, as Rockhold mentioned, injured his back several days ago and was just doing cardio and was hoping that it would be better by last week, late last week, and it wasn't. And so, you know, he had, he had to pull the plug. That's a risk. When I found out about that, and, you know, it's one of those

things we go back to the Josealdo thing. You find out about that stuff off the record. Someone tells you something off the record. You've got to keep it that way. And of course, if you report it, he takes the fight, I feel like you're putting him in a tough spot. I know people would argue against that. But anyway, he tried to just pretty much run all day. That's all he could do. He couldn't even spar. Couldn't do anything. And it's hard. You're rolling the dice because you're about to fight for the belt. You're fighting. I think that much like Mike Brown and your eye favor, they fight a bunch of times. I feel like Brown is his kryptonite. That's the case I think with Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis. We've seen this before, right? There's just certain matchups where one guy will always be

successful. I think this is a very bad matchup for Kane Velazquez. For Doom is a bad matchup for him. And we'll get into the steep part of it. So here you are going into a fight against a guy that you lost to in pretty one side of fashion. And you can't even do anything other than run. So that's a risk in his own right. So I don't blame him for pulling out. You got to do what you have to do. And who knows if you get that shot again, if you go in injured and lose. It sucks for him. I think it does suck that he missed out on that payday in October. I give Stipe a lot of credit for stepping up on two weeks notice to fight for the belt. I mean, that takes a lot of guts. I know he just fought, but still, I mean, you're only getting

two weeks to prepare for the best heavyweight in the world. And this is something that has not been brought up. A lot of credit should go to Verdum. for Doom is accepting a fight against a younger fighter, a different kind of fighter, a healthy fighter, you know, I think he brings different things to the table. He's a durable fight. It's a different kind of fight,

and he's accepting it in his first title defense. So I think he deserves a lot of credit for that as well. Now, to go back to the, what was the first part of the question? Oh, and where it leaves him, I would like to see him get in there and get at least one more fight, you know, a main event, against, you know, a top contender non-title, co-mean event, whatever the case may be.

but I think he should just hopefully he doesn't sideline him. The back is a tricky thing, but just get his feet wet, get his mojo back, and work his way back up. I think that's best for him. I agree with everything you said other than the idea that Verdume is this guy he can't defeat. I don't know if I'd go that far yet. I'm not going to make the joky sea-level cane stuff. No, no, no.

I just think it's a bad matchup for him. Because look, I don't necessarily agree. I think that we saw it one time, but it was in the worst of circumstances for Velasquez. And I think, you know, if he was able to come out earlier, if he was going to fight at altitude versus or not at fight at altitude, and also get one under his belt, get healthy. I don't necessarily think that we saw the best of Kane against Verdume. I think he could very well beat Verdume. By the way, I said that Miyocch is younger.

In fact, they are the same age. They're both 33. It feels like he's younger, maybe because he's newer to the UFC and hasn't been in the same kind of wars. but I just feel like Kane Velasquez you know obviously he's great in wrestling

he's ground and pound he's got great cardio and all that stuff you know obviously except for the last fight but that might feel like an anomaly given the

the altitude and the layoff so so where's where's Rejum great at he's great off his back you know he's great in the clinch he wants to keep the fight close he wants to get rough and tough like where does Kane beat him

what outworking him but that would be not evident from the last fight. Verdum is a different kind of cat. So that's why I kind of feel like Miyocic with his boxing, his chin. We haven't really seen him get tested on the ground as far as Jiu-Jitsu is concerned, grappling. But this is not, I don't know how you felt about it. I am sincerely sad for Kane. It feels like he just can't get it.

He can't go on the streak and just be healthy. Can't go, you know, a few months without getting hurt. And that sucks. He's so good. He's one of the best heavyweight to ever, but it just feels like for some reason his career can't get going. That being said, it's fun to see a fresh matchup. I think Miotritch brings different things to the table.

I wasn't depressed. I do feel like, A, announcing it during the football game via Twitter doesn't really get people all that excited, and I felt like it flew into the radar. This is for the heavyweight title, after all. And B, you know, Miotrish doesn't love doing interviews. he's not the most... It's just going to go away and maybe that's a blessing.

He only has two weeks to go through this. Maybe that's a blessing. They're playing with different things here, but I don't hate it as a fight. I will say one thing. Heavy weights tend to go longer as we're seeing with Verdume and Steepay. Kane, you know,

I think a lot of people will be saying Kane's career is over, but I don't necessarily think that that may be the case. You know, in the heavyweight division, you get a little longer in terms of, you know, career life. So I think he...

Hopefully, yeah. I'm not saying he's... done. I'm definitely not saying that. I think there will be people who do say that though. Yeah, whatever. And I think, you know, at this point, it's looking like his career, taking a trajectory, like to draw a comparison to the NBA, like a Grant Hill, where he was surefire Hall of Fame, the best. This guy looked like couldn't be stopped, and then he just couldn't get over the injury hump and could never come back the same. So I think he's fortunate that he's a heavyweight because the divisions are shallower and guys seem to have longer

career. So we'll see if you can get back. But you can't help but, you know, feel compassion for a guy who seems like he can't stay healthy. Yep. Steepi in the state of the heavyweight division. Ariel, what are your thoughts on Steepi as a contender? You touched on this a little bit. I can't help feeling that he'd be one of the least marketable fighters we've had for a long time, or champions, rather. Also, is it time that tough went back to the heavyweight's only season? Oh. That division seems thinner. Maybe they could, you know, build up that division that way. Well, I think that's a tough thing to do, pardon the pun, because there aren't that many prospects out there in the heavyweight division. I mean, look back to tough 10. They've only done it. That was the last time they did it.

They did it tough too. I'm pretty sure those are the only two times. It's tough to get 16 or eight heavyweight prospects. I mean, just look at the Bellator heavyweight division, look at the World Series of Fighting Heavyweight Division, look at Risen, having a hard time finding one for Fedor Emilienenko. It is hard out. out there for a promoter trying to find at least eight heavyweight prospects. So I don't see them doing that anytime soon. I kind of disagree with the statement. I feel like a couple years ago, you know, I remember when, remember when Kane won the belt

and then had to fight Bigfoot a year after he had just annihilated him? And it was the same fight all over again. I mean, that to me was such an uninteresting fight. We had just seen it. There was no controversy. It was one-sided. And now he has to fight him again. and I feel like that was a time period

where things were very shallow. Now in the heavyweight division, I think things are pretty interesting. Verdume is on top, so there's a bunch of fresh matchups for him. Stipe's fighting for the belt. That's never happened before. You got Overeem there.

Hopefully for his sake and for the UFC's sake, he can get a good deal. And if it's in the UFC, then he's a major player with a strong following, so he's there. Travis Brown,

good or bad, is coming off a win. You got Ben Roth, and Josh Barnett, Hunt's coming off a win, he's fighting Frank Mir next, Roy Nelson's fighting this way. I don't hate it. I think it's definitely been worse in the past. And then, and then Keynes, this X factor out there. So what about Steve A specifically, though? Well, yeah, I mean, he's not the most talkative. He doesn't go out of his way. You know, I'll be honest. I asked his manager to come on this show. I said, just five minutes. He said he's

doing a bunch of interviews, you know, maybe five or so that the UFC set up. And then he just wants to focus on, you know, game planning and watching film. And I respect that. I mean, look, he has less than two weeks to prepare for the biggest fight of his life. I think that if they're smart, they play up the Cleveland part of all of this. Cleveland hasn't had a champion in over 50 years. They've been hard luck. They've had their hearts broken multiple times by multiple different teams. Finally, a championship, if steep Miochich wins, they need to play up the Cleveland part of it. And if he, wins that belt, his next fight should be at the queue. That's how you build this.

Hardworking firefighter. This is a guy who's a man of the people. He's charismatic when he wants to be. He's great on Twitter. He doesn't have a lot of Twitter followers. I saw he has like 36,000 or something like that. So they have their work cut out for him, but he's had some nice wins, great knockouts. You replay that. You get creative. And that's where the UFC comes in. So it can't just be on him. Some guys just do it themselves, like Connor McGregor. Others need some some help. Play it up. Get him to a Cavs game maybe before this fight. Get the people behind. Get him a damn

photo op with LeBron James. Do whatever you can't get LeBron James to tweet about him. Make him the damn coach. Ferekin, make him the damn coach. Actually, don't tell LeBron James, because he's just going to ruin this, undermine him, get him fired from his job, then pretend like he had nothing to do with it. The last

thing you want to do is tell LeBron James, I take that back. What a God. What a joke. How can you support a franchise like this? this. I mean, could we get into it for a second? Thank God, David Blatt has been freed from the oppressor that is LeBron James. And then you have Tyrone and Lou acting like he doesn't know, calling him Blatt, no respect. Then you have LeBron pretending like he had nothing to do this. Get out of here.

I agree that that is... That whole thing was disgusting. That whole thing was ridiculous. That said, it had to be done. It had to be done. They didn't respect them. What had to be done? No, they have to do it now.

They're in first place. Yes, but you have to, you have to... cut it out before it effect. Like you can't ride into the offseason after losing and then say, okay, now is the time to do it. If there's a problem and they didn't respect him and he was making these kind of boneheaded, you know, moves in the timeouts and things like that, you've got to remove them. It was so uncomfortable to watch their dynamic.

LeBron ignoring it. That's what I'm saying. Like get rid of it now rather than wait until the off season just to say, oh, we were winning. So it's not the time to do it. I agree with what you're saying about the way it was handled and just the idea that they really didn't give him, you know, much of a chance to begin with is accurate, but... David Blatt is a legend. He is a Euro-M League legend.

He's an Olympic... He's an Olympic... Best suited for the NBA. Medalist. Get out of here. He never had a chance. He wasn't brought into coach this. Anyway, we don't need to get into that.

But I will... But I will say this. I will say this. One last thing. If Tyron Liu coaches the All-Star team, I swear to God... He's going to coach the All-Star team. That is disgusting. What are you talking about?

Why? He might not win a game. He might not win a game. He might not win a game. No. It should go to Duan. Casey. Let him coach at home. It's going to be Tyron Lou. That is ridiculous. Okay, anyway.

Stepey, I love your whole Cleveland thing on it. It's brilliant. Build it up. And they should do that. By the way, I said yesterday, this fight is only official until he tweets something witty and he went all business. And I respect it. But what I would have done if I was in charge, I would have said, so guys, how's your Sunday night? Any news? Something like that. That's Stepe Miyotich on Twitter and then let everything blow up. That's what I would have done. I also feel like it's not accurate that he's like super boring. He's kind of an interesting guy and he's been coming into his, no, the person who asked the question, he's saying like he's the most boring. No, he's sellable. He's definitely sellable.

UFC195 countdown was actually really good. Yeah, the firehouse hijinks and stuff was interesting. Okay, Overeem. We're staying on the heavyweight theme. Do you think with the heavyweight division now moving along that Overeem is in a great spot to get the winner of this title fight? I think Cain should fight a high-ranking contender with his next fight rather than another title shot. So they agree with us there. What about Overeem? Again, as the great Roy Jones once said, you almost have forgot about big Ben Rothwell. He beat Overim. If Ben, explain to me this. If Ben Rothwell, if Ben Rothwell beats Josh Barnett on Saturday night on Fox, why isn't he ahead of Overim? I'm just, I'm just wondering.

Because Overreem's fresher in our minds, maybe. I can't, I can't give you a legitimate, you know, reason based on, based on the resumes. Probably Overim. Why? Also because he's, you know, a bigger name and more sellable. I don't think we're at a point where title shots are earned at this point anymore. There maybe was a day, but I think a complete package of, you know, being able to sell the title shot and having a bigger name is much more important in the current climate.

And I think Overreem is more along those lines than Rathwell. Well, you certainly have a great case for Rathwell. I can't argue with it, but I think Overeem is the guy that... ultimately will earn it. What Overeem has in his back pocket, and I know he was recently at Zoof HQ. I think Overeem wants the belt. I am pretty certain that Koker wants him as well.

That's a guy who is obviously Strike Force heavyweight champion back in the Koker days, and Koker needs some heavyweights. No doubt about that. They need some life over there in the heavyweight division. So he's in a good spot either way. He played his cards right. He won his last fight.

Good for him, beautiful. He's still ducking me, but that's another thing we'll talk. talk about later. So why is he in the best ball possible? Well, not only is he going to get a big deal, but he's also in a position to maybe negotiate a title shot for himself. Like, if he says to the UFC, look, you guys want me to stay here? Well, I want the title shot next. And that's why I feel like this, this, this cane injury has really expedited things in the heavyweight division. It bumps me, me out which, who by the way, wasn't guaranteed. I know what they said after the fight,

but I mean, just asked Misha Tate about that or other. So he wasn't guaranteed. I mean, Overeem could have worked his way in there. Rothwell could have worked his way in there. So he now gets the shot, and now you're left with Overeem or the winner of Rothwell and Barnett. That's kind of where I see it. And now you're pointing to Rothwell's win over Overeem as the reason he would get the next shot. How about Overemes win over Verdun? That's worth considering when building this up as well.

So I think you could certainly if you're Rothwell, you're going to feel slighted if Overeem gets it. And vice versa. if Rothwell gets it, Overeem is going to feel that he had the best case. But either way, I think you have two valid contenders. And also, let's not forget that Josh Barnett could throw a wrench in Rothwell's plans altogether. Absolutely. He actually has two fights against Redoom. And back to the original point in all this, when's the last time we had this many options?

At heavyweight, yeah, it's been a while. It's been a long time. Well, at the time, it felt like Cain was going to rain for a long time. And now that seems to not be the case. So we're looking at a wide open division. absolute garbage quote unquote what are your thoughts on connor's critique of the ufc poster for ufc 197 do you feel they've gotten lazy in their graphics and marketing this person agrees with the sentiment put forth by connor and dislikes the new trend they've

adopted since 189 where they feel like some of the elements are kind of plug-in-play where you can just insert you know new fighter and new image and and there's not as much variation between the different posters Okay, so I have a lot to say, but I feel like I could do two hours on just this topic, because I love promotions and the way fights are built up, all this stuff, and I think it's very interesting. So I'm not going to go as far as to say that they're lazy or they're garbage or things like that. I will say, though, that I agree with his point in the sense that I think it's,

it doesn't make any sense why he doesn't have the title. And we can go through a number of reasons, which we have over the last few days. But first off, the last time they had a fight like this was UFC 94. It was GSP versus BJ Penn. It was for GSP's 170-pound title. And all throughout the build-up to that fight, the first press conference, which is like the one we just saw last week, and then they went on a mini tour of Canada and the U.S.

All throughout, and even the couple days before the fight, BJ's title was there. It was on the table. The poster it was there, the face-offs it was there. It wasn't on the line, but it made the... the fight feel bigger. It told the world that this was champion versus champion. That's special.

That never happens. That's a super fight. And that's the reason why this Connor versus RDA fight is happening. The world wasn't clamoring for Hafeel dos Santos versus Connor McGregor. It's a great fight. I love it. But Connor had a lot of options for him at 145 and 155, which don't include RDA. But the reason why this fight is happening is because it's champion versus champion.

Connor McGregor can make history on March 5th. If he wins the title, he'll be the only man in UFC history to hold two titles, two different weight classes at the same time. That's big. Play that up. That picture of them standing side by side, the handshake, all that stuff, that's bigger with him holding the belt. That poster, even though it looks like all the other ones,

it's bigger because he's holding the belt in the poster. So why eliminate that? Why not use that to your advantage? The UFC interim title, they've done this before. They've made, they've put these titles out there that people disagree with just to build up fights. Why aren't you using it in this one? So what if his title isn't on the line? So I totally agree with him there.

And it was fascinating to see him realize that it wasn't there because I think he kind of realized like we all did at the same time. And I do agree with him that, you know, I get what they're doing with the branding. They made a big deal about this. The shows look the same with the logos and everything. I can understand, and maybe for the fight nights, but for big paper views, step outside the box a little bit. Like, to me, fight posters, I love those.

When I was in college, when I was an intern at HBO Sports, right before I left in 2003 and went back to my last year at Syracuse, they let me go into their warehouse, and they had all their old fight posters there. And I got to choose like 10 of them, and then I put them in my apartment, my senior year.

And I would look at them all the time. I remember there was a Shane Mosley one, a Delahoya one. I had, who else did I have? I think I had a Lennox Lewis one. I love that stuff. That stuff is great. Connor's right.

There's a bar here, not that far from here in Times Square that has all old fight posters. We love that. I mean, that's part of the fight game. So why make them look all the same? And it was fascinating to watch him talk about that next to Dana

and you know other people were in attendance. But he's right. Play that up. It's a steal phrase for my colleague, Luke Thomas. That is promotional malpractice, in my opinion. The UFC does a lot of things right, but on this one, and here's the most interesting thing about it all. Is it going to change?

Is it going to change between now and then? Then we'll really see the kind of power and influence that Connor McGregor possesses, because if it changes, you know who won that one. Now, humor me. Yeah. Is it possible that this was done on purpose to get Connor McGregor riled up, to make him mention it, and to bring it up, and now we're talking about it? If it is, that's brilliant. And kudos to them. I mean, I don't know.

It seems very purposeful. You think? Like, just the idea of not. For that reason or for another reason? Because. No, purposeful in the sense that, like, why would you not use his belt? I can't think of one good reason for it. Yeah, I don't know.

Well, look, there has long been, even going into 194, there has been talk of dissension. I asked them about it. I asked Kavanaugh about it. Jeremy Bauder talked about it recently. He got some heat for that. There's a lot of whispers about that. And I think they have their moments, like any great fighter, like Anderson and UFC, he did like many great.

Brock Lesser, they have their moments. Did this have something to do with that? Did it just give us a reason to talk about it? Which, if so, that is brilliant. I think it's possible. I think it's possible. Well, anyway, regardless of the reason,

not having it there, to me, is a misstep. You got to have it there. That's the whole point of this. That's the whole point. And make the posters different. Make the branding different. For the big fights, it doesn't have to be every single fight.

There's a lot of them. but they all look the same now. Yeah. What do you think? I'm with you. I mean, on the first part about the belt and utilizing that as part of the promotion, I mean, that's a no-brainer. And that's why I think that it's very purposeful. And that's why I think possibly it was done to get this result or, you know, possibly for another reason.

But as far as changing the aesthetic, I completely understand why you'd want to, you know, get that, especially with so many events, I completely understand why you'd want that to be more formulaic and easier to generate, but at the same time, I actually don't. I don't understand. I hate the term fight nerd. I actually like the real fight nerd, Matthew Capowitz, but the term like, oh, I'm a fight nerd. That's me, I just love everything to do with the fight game. And I could read about it, I could study it, I could consume it all day long.

And to me, a big part of the fight game is the promotion. I remember Lewis Tyson is on. they had Lewis, they had Tyson, and then is on was highlighted. That stuff gets me excited. The Diaz-GSP poster, that stuff gets me excited. GSP penned. And this is like, this is the last few years. This stuff gets me excited.

I'm assuming a lot of this is done in-house, and I'm assuming, you know, with this many events, it's just not feasible to make every poster that unique. And also, you're going to run out of options at some point. They're going to start to look the same. Cut that off at the pass and just, you know, make a more generic formula. I don't have much of a problem with it.

I'm not somebody who's really like looking forward to these posters that much. I love the posters. But a good one does get me more interested. So I think for the bigger events like you're saying, you know, roll out something special. I loved when they did the comic book one. What was that,

181. Oh, that was awesome. That was sick. That was different. That was fun. What about, okay, if you've never seen this, do yourself a favor while you're watching the show or after.

Some of the old pride posters, I mean, there's something that have nothing to do with the event. The one with the sharks, the one with the sperm, the one with the baby on his mother's breast, that is, I want a whole room. Missing from most of these was the fighters. Remember that. But it's beautiful. It's not the same kind of thing. But they stick with you.

You know, it makes it a little more special. Of course, I don't expect the UFC to go in that direction, but outside the box, creativity. Nothing wrong with it. Our buddy Scott Cohn. It only helps. Who's donated art to this show many times. Did the Benson print, you know, right over here. He says, I'm more than happy to draw a few a year.

So there we go. There you go. We got a head start on making some of them different. Okay. I honestly could talk about this for two hours. Well, you got more build-up stuff to talk about. OC 200 build-up. With it being announced that the ultimate fighter finale will take place a night before UFC 200,

do you think there will also be a Thursday night fight-pass show to make it a three-day event similar to UFC 194? And if so, is this something you'd be in favor of? I know you were very happy with it last time. How do you feel about, you know, another Friday, Saturday, Sunday kind of deal? I think it was a success for the UFC, and that's most important. All three shows were sold out. It was somewhat exhausting for the media, but it did feel special.

And in the end, I don't think it took too much away from the final event, which was Connor versus Aldo. I don't think you can go to that well too often. Like, if you do it in July, can you do it again in December? I don't know about that. I think you need to pick one weekend a year. I think it's okay from time to time to do two events back to back a couple times a year, like a Friday-Saturday thing. Definitely don't do Saturday Sunday anymore. But Friday Saturday, I think could work. So I can foresee them doing this. Yeah, the tough finale will be July 8th, my birthday. So I think it's a little rude to put an event on my birthday, if I'm being honest. But other than that... What would you rather be doing on your birthday? In fact, I feel that that's a gift to you. I don't know about that. But it's great. I'm happy.

I'm happy. I'm happy to be doing the job. So, yeah, I could see them doing it, but once a year for the three event weekend. A couple times a year or two events, I could see that. Three events, I would keep that to once a year. I haven't heard, by the way, if they're going to go three event yet for International Fight Week, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised because it was such a big success. Three straight sold-out events?

I mean, how can you argue against that? here's one on the welterweight contenders with UFC 200 knocking on the door and the possibility of GSP's return to challenge for the Walterweight title. Is it possible that Condit gets a rematch with Lawler and should Woodley face Maya? We actually, during the show, found out that Damia Maya is going to face Matt Brown. Yes, May 14th in Brazil. That was just announced. And if so, who should Rory fight? So then that would stand to reason and maybe Rory should fight Woodley. But either way, what do you think about the Walterweight title picture?

I don't love Rory and Woodley because they fought already. And we saw that not that long ago. It was USC 174 in Vancouver. So I don't want to see that again. If I was booking, I'd probably go in this direction. Like I said, I throw the world at GSP for UFC 200. So Robbie versus GSP. Hendrix is fighting, Stephen Thompson.

Woodley Condit is a bit of an interesting one. Let's just skip over that one. Maya, Matt Brown. That's five versus six. so that makes sense Magni they just announced who Magni's fighting Who the heck is he fighting?

Magne is facing Lombard Oh yes That's interesting In Australia That's in March So the tough thing is that Woodley fought Condit Of course you have Nick Diaz

Who's coming back What do with Tyron Woodley Well yeah you're saying You wouldn't do Woodley and Rory Because Rory beat Woodley But Woodley be Condit as well So It puts him in a weird spot

I'd rather do McDonald's Condit, finally get that rematch. Right? That would be great. What do you do with Tyron Woodley? And this is the tricky part. What do you do with Tyron Woodley? I bet he would take a Nick Diaz fight, but I don't know if Nick Diaz is going to take that. Well, you know, the one possibility, I mean, you go back to, if Hendricks beat Stephen Thompson in less than two weeks, do you try to do that?

Woodley and Hendricks? That's the fight that we were supposed to see. I mean, if, yeah. Yeah, it's a tough one. There really isn't a great... You know, the other possibility is if they can resign Benson Henderson, you know, Benson is...

The rankings are so whacked because Benson is ranked 13th at welterweight and he's ranked 15th at lightweight, which makes no sense. The problem is, is that some people are putting him at lightweight, some are putting him at welterweight, so he's actually losing out.

Like, you have to put him in one or figure out a way that he doesn't actually, it's hurting him that he fights. The fact that he's so versatile and that he's fighting in two weight classes actually hurts him. So that's messed up. But the rankings have bigger issues than that. So yeah, I don't know.

It's tough. I don't know what they're going to do with Woodley. He's taking some fights where he's jumped up and fought someone who's, you know, way above him in the rankings. Is it time he has to return the favor? Like fight a Rick's story? Would he even do that?

And then what do you do after that, though? Does he get a title shot after that? Like, he's one of these. guys whose his soul focus is this title shot. I'm willing to wait. And he's putting himself kind of in a tough situation. And the UFC has tough decisions to make as well. The big X factor is GSP. Yeah. And I have a hard time arguing against the idea of throwing a lot of money his way or convincing him to fight. When you consider the fact that Ronda's not on the card right now, we don't know. Obviously, Kana wants to be on the card. He said it himself,

last week, but you need a couple of big... It's UFC 200. So that's the big X factor. If he doesn't come back, then Woodley might be the guy. Opponents for BJ Penn. With BJ Penn confirming his comeback on this show. Who would you like to see him fight upon his return? Quote unquote, assuming...

I'm sorry, parentheses, assuming the Knicks-Lens fight doesn't come together, which I think we're safe to assume is not coming together. Man, there's a lot to discuss here as well. here's the thing Okay, first of all I think it's Speaking of missteps,

I mean, I think Nick Lentz handled this very poorly to say the least. You went to the well one too many times. You played the game with him and then you got him out of retirement

and then you were nowhere to be found and of course you'd want to play by his rules. I mean, you don't have to play it out in front of the public. Who knows what's going on behind the scenes but to wait that long for any kind of response or mention, even an acknowledgement of it seemed a little strange to me. I think he was put behind the eight ball because I don't think Nick Lentz is healthy. He talked about after his fight in December that he had an injured knee,

so coming back in March just wasn't going to work out for him. I don't think he's healthy, honestly. So he was put in a tough spot, maybe he was trying to buy his time, I don't know, but it doesn't sound at least right now like that's an option. BJ wants to fight March 5th. He's very determined. His team over at Jackson's, in particular, Greg Jackson, very confident that he'll be ready. So it's an interesting spot because it seems like Nick lost the spot.

And if BJ fights someone else around top 15, top 20, I can't see him fighting that fight. And if he wins, then fighting Nick Lentz at that point. You know what I mean? I feel like this was the time for it. He missed his shot. He bluffed and he got called. now he has deuses. I tweeted this out as soon as he released his first statement where he was making demands of BJ Penn,

like he wasn't presented a golden lottery ticket, as if he was the one holding all the cards and his bluff got called and now he has nothing. So who do you want to see BJ Penn face? And by the way, I just want to say one more thing on the BJ Penn thing. I've thought about it a lot, and the more I think about it, I think we talked about this a little bit last week as well, and I mentioned it on the beat. I really do feel like this is the right thing for him. And I know there's some hesitation and people are very split on this and he's a polarizing figure for many reasons.

But I really feel like for, you know, Greg Jackson to give his okay, we talked about that. He's co-signing it. This is a man who doesn't need this and he's putting his reputation out there. That's very important. And I think for a guy like BJ Penn, as Chris Lieben alluded to last week, some people just need to be on that schedule. They need to have the goal. They need to have the date. They need to be training.

They need to be living a healthy lifestyle. And when they're not, they're kind of lost in the win. And I feel like BJ needs that again. Look, I'm not trying to get drunk with, you know, the hyperbole and get sucked in here. No, that's okay. You can come to us. I'm not ready to write him off just yet because the fact that he's calling out of Nick Lentz. And yeah, he's talking about title shots way down the line, whatever.

That's the goal fine. But the fact that he's saying, okay, I want Nick Lentz next. A, he knows how he does against him. He's been there with him. But also, he's not calling out the champ. He's not calling out Frankie Edgar. He's not calling out Chad Mendes. He's not calling out Gondon, McGrath. He's not calling out Jose I'm, he's understanding where he's at right now. He just wants to get back in there. I think that's a very promising sign. I believe this was mentioned on John Morgan's MMA Roadshow podcast. One person tweeted me about it. I have not listened to it, so I don't know how much they went into it, but I do know that one name that has been brought to the table, it's not a done deal by any stretch. Now that they're kind of looking at other options, I do know that Dennis Siever's name has been brought up. But it's not close to a done deal. It's not. So don't get all, you know, don't get all excited and plant your flag on that one. I actually don't mind that.

I actually feel like that's a better fight than Nick Lentz if it comes to fruition. Stylistically, you mean, or just in terms of... For two reasons. A hype surrounding it. Dennis Seaver is obviously older. He's on his way down. I feel like a win over him still means something to a degree. I feel like it's a nice way to come.

This is the kind of fight that he should be coming back to, right? I think Lentz is fine as well. I think as an opponent. But stylistically, certainly this favors BJ Penn. That matchup would favor BJ Penn because Nick Lentz is going to try and wrestle him. That hasn't always gone great for BJ Penn. He has great take-down defense, but there have been people who have been able to to get him down. Fitch most notably, you know, at the end of that fight where he was able to

get the draw and GSP. And we don't need to go into that. But I think that if there's a guy who's going to stand and trade with him, he has a better chance there. And as far as your, you know, what you said about BJ Penn, you couldn't have, you know, nailed it more. You were completely accurate. And also the thing is, the easiest way to justify this and explain this is you just, you just have to remember he was going to do this regardless. Now he's doing it with. Greg Jackson and the team over there at Jackson Wink, and he's going to be the best prepared he could possibly be. There was no stopping him from doing this.

So I think, you know, we just have to just be satisfied with the idea that he's getting great help in this process because he was going to do it, right? There was no stopping. And the fact that he's in Albuquerque, I should say, out of his comfort zone, to leave his home, his kids, his family, that says a lot about where he's at right now as well. So I like, I didn't mind the Lent's fight, and who knows? knows. You know,

maybe, Lance could come in and save the day, but I don't mind the Siever's crossed. I don't mind the Siever fight as well. Now,

here's my question to you. If he is fighting at UFC 197, which is what he wants, do you put him on the pay-per-view, or do you put him as like the featured

Fox Sports 1 fight? Or, dare I say, do you put him on fight pass? And I know that may sound crazy, but what do you do? Because he is a draw.

Does the paper view need a big fight? Like, I feel like that pay-per-per-view home versus Misha, McGregor versus RDA, you put two fights on pay-per-view, and you'll be able to sell your $60. We don't know much about the rest of this card. So that's an, it's an interesting thing. Yeah, you got Ferguson, but there's not a lot of massive fights, and it doesn't need, but

BJ Penn coming back is a big deal. Where do you put him? Do you put them on FS1 to get people to watch the free card into the paperview? Where do you place them? I feel like in this day and age, it's very interesting how they place things. I think ultimately it'll be, end up being a pay-per-fight, but I could see, you know, that Uriah Faber slot for him. But I think he'll be on pay-per-view. I'm going to guess FS1. And that's just a guess, because I feel like

he may recognize that it might get seen by more people. Historically, the Connor McGregor prelims are seen by a good amount of people, and the UFC

might want it to boost things a little bit into the pay-per-view. If all his fans come back and watch, UFC-197 prelims on FS1, and then right after that

fight, it's a feature prelim, you see Rogan and, and Dana White selling you on Connor and all this stuff, you might get a few extra buys. So it's interesting. There's a case to be made, for sure. It's no longer,

there's no longer a stigma attached to being on the quote-unquote prelims. Yeah, and I think Faber went a long way into making that possible. Ronda on SNL, what did you think about Ronda's performance on SNL? I felt as though the skits were so unfuny that she would look bad regardless of whether or not she was a good actor. Okay, wait a second here. Guillermo Cruz has just put out a story that Fabrice Redume

is now out of UFC 196. This is the story right here from Guillermo Cruz just came through on Twitter. Fabrice Radume is also out of UFC 196. The UFC heavyweight champion was initially scheduled to face Kane Velasquez on February 6, but the former title holder pulled out of the bout with a back injured. A day after the announcement that Velasquez would be replaced by

Steepi Miotich, the Brazilian told EminemateFoney.com, he will also pull out of the event with an injury. What in the world is going on here? Okay, let's table that one as more information comes in, and I'll try to get some as well. Ronda on SNL, I saw the monologue. I mean, you all know I was not up at 1130.

I was gone by 9.30 that particular night after all that shoveling. You know, I shoveled. I'm proud of you. Yeah. My back is sore, my chest. time for everything. Maybe you're ready for Cowboys Ranch. Great workout. I heard that 30 minutes shoveling. No, 10 minutes. Is it 10 minutes shoveling? It's like 30 minutes on the bike. Anyway, it was a daunting

task, but I was able to survive. So I was very tired. Thank you very much. I saw the monologue. I like that she gave the shout out. It seemed fine. But then I saw her get a ton of criticism. I understand you watched it. I watched it. Okay, so give me the run. I watch SNL every week. Really? You're the one. I'm the one guy left. Is it any good? You know, it's not what it was, but I still like it. it's an institution and I like the I like the performers so even though some of the sketches are you know not as great as as you would hope uh I think the performers do a good job with them and I

thought Rhonda was fine. This I feel like this is a the person who asked this question put it pretty well like they didn't feature her a lot they didn't put her in spots to really you know either A be uncomfortable or B you know have a breakout performance um they kind of put her in in secondary roles in a lot of these sketches and um she did fine it's it's It's such a, you know, that's such a daunting task to kind of be funny. It's not as easy as we would all hope. And to do this kind of like, you know, on the fly improv, or it's not improv, it is scripted. But the idea of, you know, coming in for a week and learning how to be a comedic actor is not easy.

So I think she did a fine job. It wasn't, you know, nobody's going to be writing about this that Ronda Rousey, you know, is somebody that they need hosting this again. and they can't wait for her to come back. But at the same time, I don't think she didn't do herself a disservice. Why is everyone so hard on her? They're hard on her for everything. The same way when she lost, they were hard in her.

People just don't want to see her be successful, I imagine, because she's so successful. And, you know, the people who are, there's one argument to be said that whether you thought she's a good actor, a bad actor, you know, was good on SNL or bad in SNL. This clearly was a milestone. There are people who are trying to downplay this, but this was a very important thing for an MMA fighter, and in this case a female MMA fighter, to be hosting one of the longest running programs in television history. So I thought she did fine, and, you know, I was talking about this on Twitter.

I would love to see, you know, a Connor McGregor involved somehow. I think he'd kill it. Is he big enough in America? I think he's big enough, yeah. I wonder. I don't know if they're going to go to the MMA well twice in the same year. They never got into it in 30 years. Sure, sure, sure. This is a once in a long time.

He would be fantastic. Yeah, he could, I mean, I'm sure he'll figure out other ways to do comedy. Any other, did you see anything other than that? Are you suggesting that I go back and I have it on the DVR? I just, I don't, I feel, and I don't want to be one of these guys, but it feels to me like, you know, SNL's better days are behind it. It's not musty. I recognized it for the milestone that it was. I think it was fantastic.

It continues to be interesting to see the way she navigates through her career because who would have ever thought when she lost that fight that her first public appearance would be on SNL, that she would congratulate Holly Home on SNL. I mean, that is incredible. That is iconic. If you don't know what Saturday Night Live is, if you're a fan from overseas,

this is an iconic television show. It's a skit-based show that airs Saturday nights. I've always had a love-hate relationship with SNL because back when I was a youngster, I always loved Saturday Night's main event on NBC, but it was only on once a month, but I never quite understood that it was only on once a month, so I would tape

SNL every week hoping that Saturday Night's main event would be on. That was a wrestling show. And it would only be once in. So three weeks out of the month, I would be upset. I was like, what the hell? Where is it? And SNL was always the lead-in program. So I always kind of felt like

it, you know, three weeks out of the year, SNL, I don't know, of the month. SNL was associated with these hard feelings. You know what I'm trying to say? I don't. Now this was 25 years ago.

A show called Bologna. I think it was called Bologna would be on in its place. Anyway, it's a fine show. It's seen better days, probably. I congratulate her, and I'll probably watch it this week, but I couldn't stay up

until 1130. How do you stay up that late? Oh, come on. Did you choose to watch that over World Series of Fighting? Yeah, I did. Hmm. I did indeed.

says a lot. The latest Eddie, they call him Eddie, let's call him Edmund Tarverdean, debacle, why do you think he would neglect to disclose these arrests? I don't know if, I don't know if it was arrest, but he didn't disclose something on his athletic commission application. So why would he not disclose something that would prevent him from cornering? How do you think this will impact his relationship with his fighters, possibly? And by the way, I'm still trying to get a full read.

I mean, Guillermo Cruz, one of the best, and he says he spoke to Verdum, is trying to get a little more information as he continues to update that article about the Verdum situation. And you have to wonder, I mean, what do you do? I mean, the co-main, if you want to call it that, is Hendrix versus Stephen Thompson. You know what I mean? Do you understand what I'm trying to say here? Yes. Okay.

Just trying to wrap my head around this. This is live television, my friends. This is big. No, it almost makes me think that we should have just had both of them going with their back injuries and scrap and see who comes out. It's not too late. So what you're trying to say is call up Kane Velasquez, tell him that the playing field is level. Yeah, let's do it. I love that.

Do me a favor. I'm going to write you something on G-chat here. Just one second. And then I'm going to answer this question. How about that? Where's your thing? Here it is. Whoops.

Look at the previous emails. if you can find that, all right? You see what I'm trying to say to you? I do. You're putting it to the world. Okay, it's not... This is live television, my friends. Okay, anyway, what's the question?

Okay, it was about Edmund Tarverdean. So, this is the case. My great colleague, Mark Romandhi, wrote a story about this last week. Edmund Tarverdian, when you apply for a coroner license in all states, and even the fighters as well have to do, there's a questionnaire, and there's a bunch of questions on it. one of the questions is, do you have, do you have any criminal record? Have you ever been arrested? Something of that nature. The wording may not be exact, but you get my point. And apparently, according to Andy Foster over at the California State Athletic Commission,

which was reported by Mark Romney, he wrote no. And apparently that's not true. Apparently he's had a history. I believe 2010. So once they found that out, that is considered falsifying a questionnaire. Now, the punishment isn't all that great. And he's expecting, to get, you know, not much of a punishment at all, if at all. So, so, he has to appear in front of the commission on February 2nd, I believe it is, in California to explain why this happened. Perhaps you'll have, you know, representatives there as well, but I don't, I don't foresee, I foresee this being somewhat of a slap on the wrist. I mean, you have to, you have to fill these out correctly, especially when it pertains to a question like that. And this is a kind of another

headache for them to deal with. And it hasn't been the best of times for that team. But I don't think this is, this signals the end of Edmund Tarverdian or I don't think that this means that he's going to, you know, get kicked out of the sport or not being able to corner anyone. In fact, it was reported in that same article that Massachusetts knew about the transgression, if you want to call it that, and still let him corner Travis Brown in Boston last Sunday.

So, an unfortunate situation for a lot of. I'd been another distraction. But, hey, them's the brakes. I don't expect it to be a big deal or a bit, you know, maybe a fine, you know, maybe a couple of months to spend it. You can't corner someone to count. Who knows what is going to happen,

but I don't think this is at the end. So don't dance on his grave or celebrate his demise or anything like that. Okay. That was the question, right? Yes, it was. Okay. This next one is about betting odds.

Now, I've looked at the odds. Have you? No, I wanted to play the game. You looked at this fight? The card on Saturday? Oh, yeah. I've looked at it before this. This one has, I've had my eye on for a little bit,

because I think there's some interesting stuff here. This entire card? Oh, yeah. What do you got? Well, first, let's ask the question. Next Saturday, I'm betting on a parlay with Dustin Ortiz, Tarik Safedin and Josh Barnett. Given the odds, is this a good idea?

I'll answer that. Okay, go ahead. After we ask you the following question. Oh. Who's the favorite? in those three fights. Oh, okay. Okay, go again.

Okay, so... Dustin Ortiz and Wilson Hayes. I'm going to go with Wilson. No, he's an underdog. He's plus 180. Dustin Ortiz is minus 220. Now, Tarrick Safedin versus Jake Ellenberger,

who's the favorite? That's a tough one. And by the way, great to see Tariq Safedin back. Holy moly. We haven't seen him since October of 2014 when he lost to Roaring McDonald's. in Halifax, Nova Scotia,

former Strike Force champion. Another guy who's been hit with injuries, had a serious groin injury recently. My, oh my. I'm going to go with Tark's happening? He's quite a big favorite. He's minus 245. Wow.

And Ellenberger's plus 205. And finally, Josh Barnett and Ben Rathwell. Man. That is a tough one. Holy crap. Very close fight. I'm going to go with the Barnett.

John Rothwell. Barnett, Barnett, Barnett, Barnett, Barnett, minus 135, Rothwell plus 115. So very close fight, but Barnett is the favorite. Now, to answer this question, I'm going to say, I don't like the odds on Dustin Ortiz. I think Wilson Hayes is a live dog, and I think his styles not going to be great for Dustin Ortiz.

That said, Dustin Ortiz may be able to keep them off takedown-wise, but I don't love the odds there, and I definitely don't like the odds in Tarek Safferdin. As much as I think he will beat Jake Ellenberger, his layoff has been significantly too long for me to be willing to risk any amount of money, especially as part of a parley on Tarek Safferdeen. But I do like Josh Barnett. In fact, I think his odds are relatively favorable because I think if he's able to come in

and execute his game plan, if he's able to take Rathwell down, I don't think it'll be a very long fight. I think Barnett should be able to finish him inside one round if he can get it to the ground. Um, so I think, uh, if I was to do it, I wouldn't, you know, play this parley. I might just put some on, uh, Josh Burnett. Now that's my, you know, personal, uh, veer. I don't like parlayes, as I've said many times on this show. Um, which I think is weird.

What's wrong with the parley? It's so much fun. No, yeah, fun is not how you make money. It's not, that's not how it works. Fair enough. Um, I would, I would play Barnett. I really would not, you know, I do think Tarik Safedin, you know, if you match them up right now is a better fighter. But man, that layoff is significantly too long for me to risk it on him. I don't think

everybody's like Dominic Cruz where they can just come back and, you know, look gangbusters. I think he may be a little slower getting back. So that's my, that's my poo-pooing of parleyes for the week. Great. Some fun you are. You should go work for the NFL. Why? Oh, no funly. Yeah. Now let's move on to Twitter. We can't even play the game now. Why? I guess you could do with me. Yeah, yeah.

You want to do the rest of the card? No, no, no. Let's do Twitter. No, no, let's do the rest of the card now. All right. There's some, how about we do some of the top fights? Okay, fine. Anthony Johnson and Ryan Bader.

Anthony Johnson. Yes, he is minus 325, Bader's plus 265. Yuri Alcantra and Jimmy Rivera. Hey, by the way, I like this fight. It's fun fight. Yeah. Jimmy Rivera, East Coast guy. I'm going to go with Jimmy.

I think he's won like 17 in a row or something crazy. He is a psych favorite. He's minus 170 and Yuri is plus 150. And then how about this will be our last? No, we'll do two more. Why? Why can I get the whole damn card? Oh, okay.

I'm sorry. Run through it. Damn, I didn't know you had it like that. Jeez. Brian Barbarina and Sage Northcut? Sage. Yeah, Sage is a big favorite. Minus 470.

He seems to be the biggest favorite on every card he's on, which I think is smart matchmaker. Super Sage. Well, no, not only that, but you want him to continue to win. He is fighting a new opponent, though. Andrew Holbrook pulled out. Yep. And also, he's fighting a 170 now.

And we have... Just saying. Olivier Aubin-Mersier. Olivier Obain-Mersier. Versus Diego Ferreira. Yes. I'm going to go with O-A-M. He is the favorite, minus 290, comeback plus 245. And Hafei on the Tal versus Kevin Casey.

Sappo. Yes, Sappo, another East Coast fella. I'm going to go with Sappel. Sappo is a slight favorite. He's minus 165. Kevin Casey is plus 145. Alexander Yakolev versus George Sullivan. George Sullivan. Nope, he's a small underdog, plus 110,

Yaakov Lev, minus 130. Bruce Leroy versus Masio Fulen. Leroy. He's minus 290. He's a big favorite, Fulen plus 245. Damon Jackson versus Lavan Makashvili. Another East Coast guy.

I'm going to go with Makashvili. He is a favorite, a big favorite, minus 310, plus 255. Tony Martin versus Felipe Olivairi. Hmm. Martin. Tony Martin is the favorite. Minus 175.

Olavari, plus 155. And last one, Fight Pass celebrity, Randy Brown, versus Matt Dwyer. Randy Brown, product of UFC Fight Pass, looking for a fight. Yes, he is minus 200.

And Matt Dwyer is plus 17. Randy Brown. Oh, I thought you were saying Randy Brown. Yeah, he's minus 200. No, I was saying, I was just letting you know that Randy Brown, who he is, in case you don't know. Well, I did say, you know.

Fight past celebrity. Sure, sure. Looking for a fight. Not to be confused with the guy from the Chicago Bulls, number zero. Remember him? It's before your time. Yeah, it's a little bit. You only started watching when 2007, 2008.

Yeah, I don't watch Bulls games. You don't watch Bulls games? He's winning titles for the Bulls. Remember when Michael Jordan won the title on Father's Day and he was clutching the ball? Never heard of the guy. And for some strange reason, Randy Brown was trying to take it away from him. It was very weird. Yeah, never heard of the guy.

Strange. Which fight on this weekend's card, this is apropos as we just went down the full card, which fight on this weekend's card is flying under the radar? This person suggests Thompson versus Hendricks. Now, that's not on this weekend's card. So that would be flying very, very low under the radar. But what fight on this weekend's card is flying under the radar? I'm assuming you're talking about Fox, not Bellator 148.

Yes, that would be correct. I got to go with Tarek Safedian versus Jake Ellenberger. Yeah. No? Are you really expecting great things out of that fight? I'm curious to see how he looks. Former Strike Force Welterweight champion. Ellenberger kind of at the crossroads of his career.

I don't know. What option do you got? Barnett Rothwell, I think. That's not flying under the radar? It's not? I'm excited. Wait a minute. You pick the people's main event for like the main event fight for like the last 10 times.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think you're giving... Wait a second. The people's main event is not a flying under the radar fight. Of course it is, because otherwise it'd be a main event. No, no, no, no. Sometimes the main event has that. Listen, don't you tell me what the people's main event.

I'll go over there and slap you. The people's main event is the fight that the people are clamoring for, that is a fan... Flying under the radar. I don't think that's accurate. Well, Barnett, Rothwell is obviously the people's main event, but it's not flying under the radar. I mean, it was featured on the countdown show. No, it's not the case.

Not the case. It's Ellenberger Safedine. in my opinion. That is not a fight with a lot of potential. Matt Hume insinuated that Mighty Mouse wants to fight Dominic Cruz soon. How do you think the fight would go this time? Would you even be in favor of that?

Mighty Mouse coming up to fight Cruz? Not right now. I feel like Cruz's got enough going on with Faber and Dillishaw, and there's a bunch of other guys like Almeida and Al Jermaine Sterling, hopefully, maybe Cody Garbrand. I feel we've got enough going on.

Mighty Mouse has got his own thing going on too. Mighty Mouse only wants that fight if he'd get paid. and I don't know if he's going to get paid what he wants to get paid to go up there and fight him again. So I'm not buying that it's happening anytime soon. And would they let him keep his belt in the poster

is the big question. They for sure should. Is Chris Cyborg becoming a fan favorite? She used to be hated for not fighting Rhonda. Now she seems to be a face, not a heel. Hmm. By the way, look at your G-chat. Okay.

I don't know about that. It's a good question about Cyborg. We really didn't talk about her all that much. I don't know. I'll say this about Chris Seaborg. Whoever she has doing her Twitter account, it's obviously not her. Like, she's making jokes about Rhonda and SNL.

Stop it with this. Just be yourself. Don't have someone else tweeting news for you. And while I'm at it, can you tell the World Series of Fighting people to stop tweeting out UFC news and other, you know, Belator news? It's just bizarre.

This idea of like, can I go on my World Series of Fighting rant here for a second? World Series of Fighting. I feel like they've kind of lost their way. And say what you will about Ali Abdel Aziz and how controversial or not he may be. And certainly it was a conflict of interest what he was doing. He was double dipping. I mean, all that stuff. It's not right and shouldn't happen.

And he's right for walking away. But it does feel like they've lost a little bit of their edge. Their Twitter and their website reminds you of the old pro elite days. It's not a good direction, in my opinion. It's an unsustainable direction. Promote your own fighters. Promote your own. I get what you're trying to do, but just don't do it.

It's not good. I love what they're doing with the rankings, I'll tell you that, but I did ask them, who is ranking these fighters? Like, where are these numbers coming from? I didn't get that answer yet. But I do like it. It does make those fights feel more important. They're doing fights with local promotions, grassroots, as they were calling it. But a lot of these fighters have one-fight contracts, and you're putting them on TV. It doesn't really make a lot of sense to do that. You've got to build your guys who are going to stick around for a little bit. So I don't know. It feels like, I don't know, something's going on. It's just, the main car was on a 10. I feel like that's a little too late. I know UFC's on a 10, but there's a bit of a build-up there. It just kind of plops on your lap at 10.

I don't know. I don't mean to be a negative an ante on this. I want the best for them. I think the more organizations, the better. But they need to find their direction. And maybe this is part of the transitional period. Maybe this is their way of carving out a new identity for themselves with the new logo and all this stuff.

I like the ranking. I like that a lot. Makes a lot of sense. But the other stuff with the Twitter feed and some of these matchups, I don't even know how I got on this. We were talking about Twitter. What was the question, by the way, New York, Rick?

This was about Cyborg. Oh, yes. And then you diverted. Oh, yes, because she has someone doing her Twitter feed, which makes no sense. I hate when that happens. Anyway, she won.

I think Invicta's having a hard time. I would like to see the UFC just bring her on. Look, she's not going to fight for the belt. Just make her have some fun fights at 140, 140. 14. At this point, it probably is better for them to have her on the roster than have her become a free agent and go to Bellator because you know Koker will be all up, you know, on that deal.

I mean, that would be perfect for him. He has a 145 division as shallow as it may be. He wants to sign Chris Sobri. There's no doubt about that. So just put her in the UFC. Or maybe they're using her to build up Fight Pass, and it's perfect. I don't know.

Anyway, that was it. Let's do something cool. So for Brees over Doom, It was reported by our own Guillermo Cruz is out now of UFC 196 I'm trying to text people while the show is going on but there's just a lot of moving parts here so let's go to the source

let's go to the man who reported it in Brazil Guillermo Cruz there he is rocking the all-elbows T-shirt Guillermo thank you for jumping on here we just have a few minutes left in the program what can you tell us tell us the story what happened here first of all thank you for having you on the show

we just got a text from Verdum He basically created a WhatsApp group before their 10 journalists, them Brazilian journalists. Like, we were all harassing him, asking him questions. Since the fact was announcing that Cibiochi would take the fight, and we wanted to talk to him doing interviews, and he said he couldn't talk to the media, and he just sent us an audio explaining the situation,

saying that he was already injured for a few weeks, I believe, and he had a foot injury, but he was still going to take the fight and fight Kane. But since Kane is out of the fight, he decided not to get Stibiotic. And last Friday, he got another injury, just like Kane. He got a back injury too, and he couldn't spar today. He tried to spar to the same fight, the fight, but. He couldn't do anything in his paring, so he decided to put a plug in not fight. Wow.

So Verdum saying that he is not going to fight in less than two weeks at UFC 196. He gets all technological on us and creates a WhatsApp group. I've never heard this before. And texts a bunch of journalists, that is a first. I've never heard of such a thing. Now, do you think that he would have, based on what he told you, do you think that he would have fought if Kane was still on the card? Or is it because that Miotius?

What do you think? He said he would have fought Kane if he wasn't injured. He said that he was injured when he fought came the last time. He had a head injury, but he fought in the way because everybody wants to see this fight. But this time since Kane is out, he won't take a completely different fight against Miotich on two weeks notice. with a couple different injuries, so he decided not to take fight. So Dana-Wa, like I said, tweeted about this yesterday.

Did he talk about that? Because why would they put it out if he's now... Or did he re-injure himself, like the timeline? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. He had a new injury Friday. But I don't know if the UFC or Dano-Wite knew about the back injury. Okay.

He tried to train today. He went to sparring, but he... He couldn't say, I don't know if he told the UFC that he had a back injury and a foot injury. So I don't know what happened there when they offered Sittinioch. I don't know, but he said that he has a good relationship with the UFC, but he can risk his belt taking a completely different opponent on two weeks notice and injury. Wow. This is a tough situation for the UFC.

Like I said, less than two weeks away. Kane pulls out and now Verdum telling you guys, without a doubt he is not fighting in two weeks. He is two injured. Foot injury and back injury? Not fighting. Did he say what kind of foot injury? It's like it's a small fracture. Oh wow.

Oh, and his toe? Oh, yeah, yeah. And did he say what kind of a back injury? No. Yeah, but I don't know how to explain it in any. English, sorry. I have to check this. I want to hear you say it in Portuguese. It's Chiaramount. I couldn't agree more.

What do you think they do now? I know I'm putting you on the spot here and we're kind of trying to digest this. It's like a muscle injury, something like that. A what injury? On his back. Like a muscle injury. Oh, a muscle injury, yeah. On his back. So if you're the UFC, what do you do now? So this is not an option. What do you do with UFC 16196. I know it's all happening so fast. I'm putting you on the spot. You have any idea? I have no one would take the fight. No other champion would take a fight on two weeks notice. So they just cancel the card if they don't want a paper view without a champion or just give

me a each a new opponent. Right. You know that's easier said than done. It's hard to, you lose a lot money when you cancel a card. Paper views not happy. Ticket buyers are not happy. We've got this covered from all angles. Our videographer, Casey, is with Josh Barnett right now, and he is campaigning for the steepe fight,

according to his Twitter. This is madness going on here. But I don't think that's fair to Ben Rothwell. I mean, you can't just take a guy, and this is Fox. They're not going to do that. Yeah, and that's a fight that Ben Ruffel wanted to. So he could be an option for Scipi.

Ben Ruffin against Sipin instead of Josh Barnett against him. Yeah, but then what do you do with Barnett on Fox? Then you're stuck with that situation. This is going to be interesting. A lot of work to do. A lot of work. Wow. Anything else that I missed?

Anything else you want to share? How's the assayee there? How's the assayee? Any assay today? Not today. Not today. I could use some I'll say you right about now to lift my spirits. Always.

After all the... It's summertime in Brazil, right? Yeah. It's incredibly hot. What is it right now? What's the weather? Temperature. Celsius?

It's probably 34. Oh, my gosh. You know what snow is outside my house right now? Do you have any idea? Yeah. Okay. I've seen pictures. Gilairement, thank you.

Great stuff as always. Appreciate you jumping on. We'll talk to you soon. It was a pleasure, man. Thank you. he is, Guillermo Cruz of MMA Fighting.com. Just a few minutes left here on the program. We have any more Twitter questions, my friend?

That was it. That is it? Yep, we're wrapped. Well, we still got a couple minutes left. I'm not going to shortchange the people. Okay, so let me give a shout out and a happy trails to the great Anthony Perosh, the hippo announces retirement. One of my favorites took a fight on short notice, UFC 110,

against Mirko Krocop and was able to make a pretty damn good career out of it. it stuck around. Got knocked out. I think it's the right move for him. So all the best to him. All the best to Matt Matrione, who I think is undergoing surgery either today or tomorrow,

did confirm that he suffered a broken orbital bone in that fight, right, orbital. We didn't really talk about the actual presser with Connor Greger. I spoke about it at length on the M.A. beat. But that handshake thing,

were you in favor of it or not? That was brilliant. The L. Chappell... I mean... The entire thing from start to finish showing up in the back, like an NBA superstar with the cameras on him as he's arriving, sitting down at the press conference with that immaculate shirt,

you know, calling himself Al Chapo, putting out the hand like Al Chapo, he could not have done that better. From start to finish, it was brilliant. It was. It was one of his best ones. And it's nice to see you come around because for a while you were drinking the Haderade on that one. Yeah, but that's what I want to see.

That's the guy I want to see. Yeah. Oh, he continues to up his game. Every time you think that he's about to jump the shark, as Chuck Mindenhall wrote in that great article, after the presser, he shoots the shark with a machine gun and scolds it for even thinking about getting in his way. So that was amazing. I mean, that press conference was something else. The buildup, as always, will be very fun with Connor involved. Mike Tyson in EA Sports, UFC, too. Do you care about this? I don't play those games. Okay. But that's pretty cool. Mike Tyson's awesome, and I feel like everybody wanted to play with a video game, Mike Tyson. Punchout is one of our, you know, American, what's the word?

I don't know. We have a long history with Mike Tyson's punchout. So I think people being able to play with him is pretty cool. Okay, and final thing, we didn't touch on it last week. I believe filming starts this week. So buy or sell, Yawani-Jechek, Cloudio Gedelia, coaching the Ultimate Fighter season 23. You're buying or are you selling? We did touch on it last week, and I am selling.

I don't remember that. When did we buy? You don't have to pay attention during the fan questions. Okay, so then let me give a shout out to Edward. Edward Cow. I hope I am pronouncing his name correctly.

He drew this fantastic, fantastic. There it is. Right over there. Wow. Look at that shot. Perfect. Fantastic picture of Connor for Sean O'Shattie's long form

on Joseo Alto, right before the UFC 194 fight, and he offered it up to me, and it fits perfectly here. I would love some art of Connor McGregor in the, in the shirt that he was wearing at the press conference with the hand extended. Oh, yes.

I think that would be incredible. El Chapo in his prime. So there you have. So thank you very much to Edward. He's a great artist. He's at Edward C-A-O on Twitter and Instagram. I appreciate it. And speaking of long forums from our good friend, Sean Al-Shadi, check out his one on Team

Topkins that, wow, that dropped Friday. That was maybe my favorite one of his ever. It was phenomenal stuff, so I do suggest you check it out. All right, we are done. Hit my music. What a show. Woo! A lot going on.

Never a dull moment in the sport, my friends. The good news is the UFC is back this weekend in Newark, New Jersey, and I will be there with a huge smile on my face. No flight for me. No hotel for me. Newark, New Jersey, here I come. Also, by the way, programming note, the MMA beat is live this Thursday, but at a new time, a special time, 5 p.m. Eastern time.

That is 2 p.m. Pacific. That is 10 p.m. in England and surrounding areas. Because we're going to go to the Media Day first on Thursday, and then we'll go over to do the MMA Beat Live. Thank you very much to the studio guys for allowing us to do that on Thursday only this week. So stay tuned for that. Another great show. Thank you very much to everyone who tuned in.

Thank you very much to all our guests. Thank you very much to the great Misha Tate for stopping by. Best of luck to her at UFC 197 against Holly Home. That's going to be fun. Thank you very much to Luke Rockhold, stepping in, even though he was sick. Appreciate his time. Good luck to him in his first title defense. Thank you very much to Paul Daly.

Always great to talk to Semtex. I hope he does start that Twitter feed. It gives me my rightful due. He's fighting this Friday, Beltor, 148. Thank you very much to Aaron Simpson. Good luck to him and the team. And, of course, Ryan Bader, this. Saturday night as they face Anthony Rumble Johnson.

Thank you very much to T.J. Dillishaw. Great stuff from him. Congrats on a great fight. And thank you very much to the great Tony Ferguson for stopping by. Good luck to him against Michael Johnson. If you missed anything, check it out. iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube, all those places and more. Back next week, same time and place.

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And one thing we keep hearing about over and over again is that generative AI is causing a lot of problems in schools. There are a lot of people out there, including many of the listeners of the show who email us, who are worried about the obvious problem, students using chat GPT to cheat on assignments. But when our team went and poked at the story, they found that the issues and education with AI go a lot deeper. to the very philosophy of education itself. If this technology becomes more ubiquitous, we'll have courses created by AI, graded by AI,

with submissions from students, absolutely generated by AI. So it begs the question, what are we even doing here in higher ed? This episode is presented by Salesforce.