MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 322

Episode Date: March 28, 2016

Ariel Helwani speaks to Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, CM Punk, Renzo Gracie, and Marc Ratner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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blog, or online store for you and your ideas. Squarespace features an elegant interface, beautiful templates, and an incredible 24-7 customer support. Start building your website today at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code MMA at the checkout to get 10% off. It's the mixed martial arts hour with... Mixed martial arts hour back in your life on this Monday, March 28, 2016. Hello again, everyone.

I'm Ariel Hawani. Inside our New York City studio, I missed you. What a fun week it was. What a big week it was. Wow. A historic week in our sport. Of course, last Tuesday, the New York Assembly finally passed the bill to legalize mixed martial arts.

People around here very happy. A lot went on in the world of MMA last week, as per usual. And I'm happy that today, March 28th, we are doing our show. This is a very special day for two reasons. It's a special day because, A,

it is my beautiful wife, Jacqueline's birthday. I wish her a happy birthday. She's probably not watching or listening because she hears from my nonsense enough on a daily and nightly basis. But I wish her a happy birthday, and I love this. day very much. And also, it's a special day because eight years ago today, I received my first

full-time offer to cover this sport professionally and actually get paid to do so. March 28, 2008, I was three days away from my self-imposed deadline. If I didn't get a job covering MMA for actual money, I was going to go back to TV production. And on this day, eight years ago, on my future wife's birthday, I got that offer from MMArated.com, and the rest, as they say, is history. What a show, what a lineup. And I saw someone on Twitter say, and, you know, you guys, you guys are a smart, smart bunch. I love the fans of this sport. I love the fans of this show. I love you guys more than, than you know. And I have to say right off the top, two things. First of all, when you get into journalism, when you aspire to be.

be a reporter when you aspire to do a dream job like this you aspire to report on the news you don't want to be the news and unfortunately fortunately whatever you want to say for a little period there in the middle it kind of felt like I was a part of the news and that's a very uncomfortable feeling believe it or not that's not a spot that I ever want to be in and and number two to every fighter, manager, promoter, fan, friend, coach, trainer, random person on social media, former colleague that I have not heard from in years, current colleagues, every single person that reached out, I saw them all, I read them all, they met more than you'll ever know, I sincerely love you all.

and I know that there is some interest in the Fox stuff that happened last week, and I will address it later on in the program. And the reason for that is this show, as you know, has never been about me. It's never been about New York Rick or anyone who works on the show. It's always been about the guests. It's always been about the fighters. It's always been about the people who were doing us a favor and taking time out of their day to come on this show, and it will remain that way.

Yeah, I can go 20 minutes and talk about last week right off the top, but I'm not going to do that because that's not what we do on this show. And yeah, it was important for me to come out with the all-star cast that we have and hopefully they all show up and everything goes smoothly. Yeah, because a lot of people were asking me last week, I'm going to miss you, or where are you going to go? Or are they saying things like that? I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here. I am not going anywhere. I can assure you of that. This show is going on. The MMA beat is going on. Other great things are going on. Don't get it twisted.

I'm not going anywhere. I'm very happy, secure, comfortable where I've always been, where I've been for the last seven years. This show's not going anywhere. And we have a lot of important people to talk to today. So do not fret. I will address that stuff. And I have no problem addressing it.

And again, I appreciate everyone. But we've got some MMA to discuss. and that's most important to me. And look at this lineup. Look at these people that are stopping by today. Holy moly. 245. The number one contender.

The goat. In the light heavyweight division, John Jones is stopping by. Johnny Bones, first time in a long time he joins us. 225, Yawanna Yongechek is stopping by, the UFC Strawe champion herself. 205 CM Punk stops by. 145. Henzo Gracie stops by. 125, the UFC flyway champion, Demetrius Johnson stops by.

You know, a good pal of mine, Sean Chien, the pride of Limerick, called this the best in the world special. And you know what? It does kind of feel like that. The best in their respective crafts, the best in their respective domains. Very exciting.

We are pumped to talk about MMA in New York, We are pumped to talk about MMA. Yeah, it feels like the old day. I like this. Chris Cyborg officially announced for UFC 198. Remember where you heard that first. Catchweight fight against Leslie Smith. Nice announcement, nice timing, a lot to discuss.

Let's get right to it. Our first guest of the day is a man who, in my opinion, deserves a boatload, a praise, a boatload of our appreciation, the man who was there on the front lines, with others, there's no doubt about it, but no one worked harder to get MMA legalized in this great state than our very first guest and there was only one way that we could start this show.

I had to start the show this way because he is largely responsible for finally getting MMA legalized in this state and, oh, by the way, getting it legalized across this great country. He is the UFC's VP. of regulatory affairs, he is the one and only Mark Ratner, and he joins us right now on the phone. Mark, how are you?

Very well, Ayr. Thanks for saying all those kind words. But as you said, there was a lot of people involved, and I might have been in the face, but it took a real, real, just a lot of people. So I'm thrilled, though. Well, I can't imagine. And so I'm wondering, take me back to Tuesday afternoon, our time, somewhat your time as well. I believe actually you were in Albany, right? You were in Albany last Tuesday when this went down? Yes, I was. I went to, I think, four committee meetings and saw it sail through, and I was certainly

optimistic that we'd get through the assembly, but until we got the vote, it was always a little bit nervous. So what was that moment like when the young woman went on the microphone and announced the votes, and it was clear that it had finally passed what you had believed for a long time? You just wanted that proverbial at bat. you wanted a chance to hit it out of the park and it finally happened. Can you describe the emotions that went through your body when you realized it was actually a reality?

I was surprised at my, when I first heard the vote, that I actually teared up for a second and look back and say, gee, we finally did it. So it was very, very emotional and exciting and just it's the way it's supposed to be. It shouldn't have taken this as long. there was no, it was nonsensical that it took this long, but I don't look back, I only look forward, and now it's time to get the rules done and have a fight there. And it seemed like everyone had a premonition, that it looked like a foregone conclusion in the days leading up to it. Were you at all nervous listening to some of that nonsense from the assembly members, were you at all nervous that they would throw a curveball your way and that this once again,

for I believe the eight straight year, would not pass? I think what I was nervous about was listening to some of the stuff that was being said. And what I was really thinking is, how do these people get elected? It's just implausible that they would say some of the statements they made, and they weren't educated at all about it. But nevertheless, 114 votes out of 150s pretty darn good. What was the vibe like there? Did you get the sense that these people were, you know, maybe, with the union, just one last, because to me the crazy thing was, is like their arguments were so out of left field.

It was almost like they were trying for that, you know, proverbial haymaker, that Hail Mary, and they weren't actually trying, you know, with good intentions to stop the sport from being legalized. Did you get the sense that this was all kind of a charade and hoping that it would be over soon rather than later? It dragged, I know, but to be actually there and listen to all that. What's that like? I think that, I don't know, I wasn't ever worried about it. it was always a question of when, not if, but it was dragging, and I would just wonder, are they going to get a vote here?

And then they would go back and some people had a second chance to speak. And then after you vote, you can defend your vote. It was a very bizarre way of doing business in all the politics of that scene. But the bottom line is New York's finally open for business and we'll be there. By the way, and like I said earlier, you were on the front lines for all the states who ended up legalizing the sport once you joined the team, and there's no coincidence there. Did you have to go through that? I know it wasn't this long in every state, but is it the same setup in, say, Michigan, Florida, where it's an assembly and you get these, you know, these wackos talking about weird things. Did you have to go through that every single time?

More so in the committees, not so much in the assembly itself. And some commissions could approve this without going through the whole political process, like Nevada. Once we got the unified rules in effect, which was late 2000, early 2001, then the commission voted to accept those unified rules, and we were able to approve the sport. But not all states are like Nevada, obviously. And everywhere's different. I've seen a lot of state capitals that I've only read about. and but all and all now it's worth it. So as I mentioned on some of the things,

as Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead said, what a long, strange trip it's been. Yes, amen to that. How many times do you think you went to Albany over the past eight years or so? I would say we lost count, probably conservatively 25. Wow.

Are you, okay, maybe when there's an event there, but are you looking forward to not having to go there for a while? I would look forward and not going there in the winter. That would be nice. Yes. Because most of my trips were in January or February or March. But I was able to have one meeting at Saratoga, which was one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world.

So I got to go there once in a summer. And as far as the commission is concerned, what we're told is that this can't, you know, you can't put on an event. You need 120 days for the commission to set up at least 120. It can't be before that. and then things will, you know, get rolling. Do you have any idea if it will take them less than 120 days? Because they've certainly had a lot of time to think about this.

And all, you know, all signs point to them being in favor of it. It wasn't their decision to ban the sport or keep it from being legalized in the state. So do you think it will actually take the commission less than 120 days to actually be open for business? Well, I'm going to go there. In the next 10 days or so, I'll go to New York. I've already had a conference call with them. So everything is pointing that it should be in action, but we just need to make sure everything is the way it needs to be,

and they're not going to jump into it. They have a lot of different people they answer to when it comes to budget, when it comes to insurance provisions. So we'll just get it done. But hopefully we're shooting for fourth quarter, to have our first show. I mentioned this on the MMA Beat, and I know a show that you love so dearly last week.

I do. I said that, given all the money that Zufa spent as far as lobbying is concerned and just to get this darn bill passed, I feel like the commission should honor that and allow Zufa to have the first event in the state of New York, whether it's at MSG or anywhere else, Buffalo, whatever, you guys deserve that.

Have they told you that that's what they're planning on doing? Can they even do that? the commission that was never discussed I believe absolutely we should be the first show there I didn't even say thank you from some of our competitors

they spent nothing and we spent millions and to get it done but as I've said here before and this is the best New York thing I can say we're Broadway and everybody else is off Broadway so did that bug you when you saw all these

statements and stuff and no one even acknowledging. I mean, whether they, you know, I know all is fair in promoting, but you guys deserve, I mean, that's a fact. I mean, those are numbers that you can look up. You guys were on the front lines. You made those trips. You spent that money lobbying. Did that irk you?

Yes. I took it, I don't know, personally is the right word, but I found myself aggravated that all any competitor should say is we can't wait to be in New York, but we want to thank our fellow promoter, the U.S.C., for getting this done and shepherding it through. And that's what I didn't see. There's also, this was mentioned at the hearing, this tax that seems to be pretty high. I believe it's 8.5%. Will this stop other promoters from even coming here? Yeah, that I don't know. That's part of the things we're going to have to go through. The boxing tax is 3%. And now they want MMA to be 8.5%. And that's the way. And that's, that's

that would make it the most expensive place in the country to have a show. So I don't know why they came up with that number, but that is the number they've come up with. Why do you think you have any idea why? I mean, that's more than double what boxers, what boxing promoters have to pay. From the very beginning that when we started with the Senate getting this through, it's always been eight and a half percent. We know that we're going to keep fighting to get it lowered someday. but right now we just want to get it done, have the first shows, and then maybe go back to the legislature at a different time.

And just for the uninformed, like, what is it, for example, in Nevada or California, what's the tax that you have to pay? Well, everywhere it's different. Now, in Nevada, it is 8%, but there's no television tax. So that comes out in New York. There's a $50,000 cap on a TV tax plus the 8.5%. So it'll be by far the most expensive place. We go to California is 5% with a television tax, but each state is different.

So that's part of a – when we go anywhere, that's the first thing we check is what are the taxes we have to pay. I also understand, and I wanted to clear this up with you, is there some crazy, like really, really high number for health insurance, for any kind of brain injuries suffered in a fight in New York that might procure? include other promoters from coming here as well? There is a, I would call it a catastrophic clause. If somebody was severely injured brain-wise, that they do, they have something in there. Once again, we have to get more into the weeds and find out exactly what it means

if there will be an insurance carrier that would even write the policy. So when you pass bills, and I've learned this in other sports, when you make a new rule, sometimes there's unintended consequences, and you have to get through those too. How much is that one for? I think it was a million dollars. Wow. I mean, no other promoter, I mean, maybe Viacom, but that's it, right?

Are they, do they not want, like, do they only want you got the big shows to be there? Is that your impression? Do they not want the Ring of Combat to hold events in New York State as well? I don't know. I don't know if anybody really looked at it. And this particular part of it, it is for boxing and kickboxing, too. Wow.

So you'll have industries up in arms before it's all done. And what is it in other states? I don't believe that any other state has a long-term brain injury fund, to my knowledge, at least. Most states, like we have 100,000 for injuries, and there's a death benefit of 100,000, but a long-term fund like this would be a little bit different. And that's why we have to spend some time up there and meet the insurance people and meet with the commission

and their attorney generals and really hash us out. So right now, as we sit here today, is France the only country that MMA is illegal in? Is there any other work to be done as far as legalization is concerned? I would say that there's a lot of countries we haven't been to and Eastern Europe. But France did have something against it, but I think that's softening too.

There's very, very few places in the world. We're going to Croatia. In a couple weeks, we're going to Rotterdam. So we've got a lot of stuff going on. We'll self-regulate those places. And what we need is the organization of the IMMAF to help us and try to get some commissions. in some of these other countries.

So, yeah, it's a worldwide sport, and we're going to be at the forefront. So you are looking, you're actually looking forward to the day where you don't have to regulate at all anymore. I think that's the best way to think, yes, because we're a promoter, and right now we're trying to grow the sport, but I think that's my objective is to let a commission handle everything, and properly regulate. Of all the ones that passed, of all the ones that you got legalized, and obviously it's almost like an unfair question

because I know New York was the saga and it is the media capital of the world, but did any even come close to the feeling that you felt last Tuesday when this passed or of all of them, does this one top them all? No, this one is because it was such a long journey that by far, everywhere else,

it might take an extra session or so, but we got it done. But let's go to the state of Connecticut. We still haven't got that one finished because they have some insurance provisions. We're doing clean-up there in Connecticut. We can go to the Indian reservations, but not to Hartford. Any other issues in the U.S. that we should know about? No.

This is why it was so important to get New York done, because you can't have it everywhere in North America, except for New York. It made no sense. Now you're in the media capital and everything else, and it'll make it better for our sponsors. It just makes it better and makes us sport much better to the world. Have you been told by MSG that you guys will be the first event there? I've met with MSG and we'll be meeting with them again.

I do believe we'll be the first event at MSG for MMA. And as far as you know, is there an actual date that has been said for that event? that I don't know I just know we're talking fourth quarter and trying to line it up MSG has so many you know so many things that go on there sure they have to work between hockey and hoops and but hopefully we'll get it narrow down and uh and you'll be hearing about it yeah I cannot wait for that and by the way you know while we have you do you how do you feel it now but the state of of MMA judging refereing this is something that you obviously feel strongly about when you work with on a daily basis with all the commissions even when you're not

self-regulating how do you how do you feel like we are right now i i would say it's better but it has a long ways to go we need more seminars more uh accountability uh i mean i i believe there was a mistake made in the uh magni fight oh the fight went too long there thank you i appreciate you saying that yeah i mean i i i got to be straight and honest about that uh i was my wife asked me she why are you yelling at the TV? I want this referee to stop the fight. So it's a tough sports referee. Unlike most sports, this one, the judgment is really, really tough,

but I just thought that there was too many punches there. And how about the fact that there wasn't a 10-8 given in the first or second round? Yeah, I think you could have had a 10-8 in both those rounds. And I also think that if the referee would have stopped it in the first one, round, there might have been some outcry, but, listen, there was a kind of first round where a lot of people would have stopped it. In Australia, but it's perfect. Sorry, go ahead.

No. No. It's not perfect, and we've got to keep on growing and getting more officials, and that's what we're doing. In Australia, are you guys the regulation there, or is there an actual athletic commission? It depends on the state. What about in Brisbane? In Brisbane, that's in New South Wales.

We were the commission there. In Melbourne, they have their own, and so do they, in Sydney, they have their own commission. So since you would like things to be done better, like in a case like that, with Steve Percival and those judges there, will you sit down with them and ask them why they made the decisions that they made? You mentioned accountability. Do you feel like that's... Yes. You will. Okay. Oh, yeah.

I've already had some email discussions and won't have telephone discussions, too. I also threw out this theory that I understand that not every judge and referee can be made available to the media after the event. But don't you think it's time that some of these judges and officials at least put out a statement like they do in the NBA? You know about this when there's a controversial call. They'll put out like a Q&A explaining why, because you guys sometimes get blamed for calls when people don't understand that it's Nevada that appoints these officials. Don't you think that this should be more accountability as far as the media? is concerned and the public is concerned. Come out there and explain to us why you made the decision that you made.

Wouldn't you like to see that? Well, there's a two-sided coin, more or less. The NFL, Major League Baseball, sometimes they have what they call a pool reporter, but it'll come in on major games. Yes. But very seldom do you see an official, whether it's in college, whether it's where they are allowed to speak. And all my years of doing Division I football,

the individual official was never allowed. And so it's interesting, and I think that there needs to be a statement on certain things, especially when it comes to misapplying a rule. And that's what we're trying to do when I do come on the broadcast, is saying this is the rule and this is the way it should be without killing the official. Yeah, I love that. I hope they continue to do that. And I give a lot of credit to the production team for thinking of that. Okay, so as we wrap up, does it feel kind of surreal like that you don't have to worry about New York anymore? I know there's more work to be done, but it's all good news. The governor, you know, signs it off and the commission, all that stuff. Does it feel kind of weird living in this new time where New York is actually a thing that can happen for MMA and for the UFC in particular? Has that set in yet?

No, because I walk in this morning and we've got to do this for Croatia, this for Rotterdam, and we've got to fight in Tampa. So it just, it's like climbing a mountain and you finally get up to the top of the mountain. You say, man, I finally got to the top of the mountain and you look down, it's like 10 mountains in front of you. You never look down. So I'm thrilled, but we've got plenty of work to do. How did you celebrate? In all of me, we had a big dinner with our lobby.

and a couple of the legislators, and I did have one glass of champagne and a little vodka and a nice dinner. Yes, I like it. Final thing. And my whole company here, by the way, they had a champagne toast. Yes, well deserved as well. Of all the things that you've accomplished in your entire career, dating back, you know, when you're working for the NAC, where does this one rank?

This is because it was such a long and winding road, my other song title. it certainly ranks up there but it's a shared happiness I think you're right it hasn't all settled in and I will be as an aside I'm looking forward to this as much as anything

Kenastoda and June that's a big thing for me also yes you will be inducted into the boxing Hall of Fame correct that's correct and that's overwhelming for me and I'm very much in awe because this is with all the famous boxes from Ali and Joe Lewis and for me as a regulator

to be involved is really special and makes me nervous to even talk about it. Oh, it's a beautiful thing and it's so well deserved. You know how highly I think of you, Mark, personally. So, wow, I really wish you all the best with that. I think what a moment that's going to be. I hope it's recorded or stream live somewhere. I would love to see it and no one deserves it more than you. Here's my last, last, last question.

If Sheldon Silver is still the assembly speaker, does this get done? Well, each year, all these other assemblymen, they were losing their jobs and going to Senate, and we were getting, every year we're getting more. So it's interesting, could he have stopped it, of course. But I don't go back in time. He's not there. Mr. Hustee, he was able to, as a sponsor at one time, all we wanted, as you said earlier, was to get an abet.

and we got it and we won. Beautiful. I cannot wait for that first show at the Mecca. Again, Mazel Tov, to you and the team, a beautiful thing. The Good Guys won on Tuesday in Albany. So very happy for you. And again, thank you from the MMA community for all the hard work. I wonder if this even gets done if you're not on board.

So again, Mark, thank you so much. Thank you for coming on the show. And can't wait for that first show. Really appreciate you coming on here today. All right, Eric. Thanks. All right, there he is. Mark Ratner, the UFC's VP of the... of regulatory affairs.

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Demetrius Johnson. Demetrius, how are you? What's on, Ariel. How are you doing, by that? Great to talk to you, Demetrius. You know, it has been a while, believe it or not. I don't know if you know this since you've been on the show, almost like three quarters of a year. The last time you were on, man, you ruffled feathers, huh? You threw out that $2 million remark, and that thing had legs for days. It was unbelievable. You got any more grenades that you want to launch today?

I believe the reason I've been so long for being your show is because you lost my phone number. So shame, shame on you. No, now you give the exclusives to your boys over at Twitch to your fans over there. What are we at now as far as followers there now? I think we just hit 36,000 followers. So shout out to the Twitch family, Twitch Squad, Midas Squad. Yeah, we're building the next community over there. We talk about all types of stuff, video games, MMA, all types of shit.

What does Rampage have? Rampett. I think he's like 46,000. Oh, we got to beat him. Yeah, I'm not sure. We got to beat him. Oh, we're working on it, baby. Okay. It's a healthy competition.

Okay, good. We definitely have to beat him. But when you found out that you were the, co-main event to this, you know, on this great card to this main event of John Jones versus Daniel Cormier and that you wouldn't have, you know, to answer for, you know, the promotion, all that stuff. You could just be co-pilot and ride that train along and have a lot of fun with it because, you know, a lot of the attention was going to be on them. Was this the perfect scenario for you? Did you love this idea that was thrown out initially? Yeah, I was ecstatic, man. That was, you know, the whole entire time,

you know, leading up to after my last time with John Dodson, I was like, dude, let me play matchmaker. If you make your guys his card, I was like, you know, put me in the co-main event, you know, of Wyman or Luke Rockhold. Okay, well, let me do a co-main event of Bredome and King Alaska, you know, and I was like, you guys can have two Latino champions at night if you guys make that card happen. But, yeah, I'm very excited to be behind John Jones and Daniel Corramee because they're

going to bring the ice and there's bad blood what you know's too. and I think it's the right platform to get the flyweight division of more ice. Yeah, this is the perfect scenario, in my opinion. So, Hudo, obviously, we know about his background. Gold medalists in the Olympics, undefeated, has had a nice run in the UFC thus far. But honestly, do you think that this, if you can be objective here, do you think this is coming a little too soon for him? Do you feel like this is too big of a jump in competition,

and he's kind of a product of, you know, you just blowing through the competition at 125, and they're not being any other credible opponents and contenders out there? No, not at all. I mean, I believe you're in a UFC, there's no, you know, protecting people or, no, I don't want that person to fight him because it's a bad matchup, you know. I think that's back in your amateur days when you're trying to build your skill set and all that stuff. You know, you're at the big league now, so you fight everybody. You know, like, ever since, Brian I jumped into WEC, you know, they offered, you know, a rat ticket.

and, you know, Sean Schumer was, that's a pretty tough fight, Matt goes, I don't give it there, I'll take him. And I went out there and I fought my ass off. People are like, oh, man, that fight might have been too soon for you. You're fighting a little more development. No, it was a perfect fight. You know, local crime you come to now, and I think it's good that everybody just fight,

you know, don't try to pick and choose your phone. You know, U.S.C. calls in the fight. That was good. So I think, you know, here, Sudo, he has great accolades, you know, a gold medal in Olympic wrestling, and he's undefeated and mixed martial arts. born on UFC the two these got

I'm excited to test myself against them and we're going to find out he said at that unstoppable press conference a few weeks back that he sincerely believes

that the UFC wants him to win this fight to get rid of you what's your response to that uh okay do you think he's just trying to get under your skin

I guess you could say that I mean like I said when people I've had People call me boring. You know, my favorite line was somebody to call me, was John Maron, and he goes, give me Josh is so boring.

I can sit there and watch his flight, get up, and go make his damage and come back, and he still do the same shit. Then when I barred him, I was like, yeah, yeah, that's so much much it's good, didn't it? So for me, people say all types of stuff, man, but it's all funny games outside of the case. When you get in there with me,

you realize how fast I am, you realize how good my transitions are. You realize how good my clinch game is, how I'll get my kickboxing and my wrestling game is. and then, you know, after we're done fighting, you know, they ain't got shit to say. I love the stare down. We're watching it now that you guys had a couple weeks ago in Vegas.

You yawning afterwards. It was great. What did you say to him? You did sort of the air quote thing. What did you guys say to each other? He said, he said no excuses. And I was like, dude, the only person makes excuses you about tacos, bro.

Remember that that you had in Mexico? Yeah, so that's the thing, man. I'm all about trying out there and let my skills. I do the talking, and I've never made an excuse in my life. I followed a broken hand, broken leg, broken ribbon, a mootite fight, came out, you know, victorious, and, you know, after the fight, my coaches, then we knew my leg was broken, or my hammer's broken. I was broken, what was wrong?

I was like, I broke my fucking hand in the first route. He goes, oh, all right, well, good job. You did it good. Tap out in the back. So, okay, surgery, and get back to the gym and get back to work, so. It's funny that he used that line about excuses during the stairdown, because I just want to play this quick clip of him on my show a few weeks back and get your response to it. Is that all right?

Of course. Here it is. Here's Henry Suhuda on the show just a few weeks ago. What I don't want, Errol, I don't want excuses when I beat him. I don't want excuses that. Oh, my shirt, my beard, and people were pulling me over here, pull him over there. No, you're fighting an undefeated fighter. He's an elite fighter.

And, you know, showcase. Come on, man. Like, this is the fight. This isn't, you're not fighting, you're not fighting, you're not fighting, you're not fighting, you're not fighting, Henry Sucho, a really strong, strong-willed human being that can put things together, and that will shine in the brightest life. What do you think of that? My favorite thing is how he's passing third person.

He's like, you're fighting here in Suudo. And I put things together, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, that's fine. I'll see you every 23rd. Sounds good. Why is he so worried that you're going to come up with an excuse? I have no fucking idea. I have no idea.

You should be asking that. Not me, damn it. All right, fair enough. I will ask him that the next time because he seems to be really talking about that particular thing. Do you recall watching him in the Olympics? Are you a fan of amateur wrestling? Do you recall when he won the gold medal? I do not.

100% I've never watched. A lot of USA wrestling people might be pissed at me, but I've never had, you know. I grew up in a household with a mother and a brother and a sister, and I was the only person he did wrestling. So after I was done with wrestling in high school, after I lost age, I was like, okay, well, you know what? I sound like, you know, those are professional wrestling.

I'd go making money. So after my high school career, I was like, okay, I'm done, I'm going to go work full time and, you know, skip out on track three seasons and just start working out. And so hearing about the Olympics, I never knew you could, you know, didn't know the world Olympic wrestling until I got older. And then, I honestly can tell you the first time I ever heard about the Olympic wrestling. But, yes, I didn't know he won it.

And then the very first time I heard about his judo's when he was fighting a legacy fighting championship. And, you know, the headlines that, you know, this man misses weight again. And then when I clicked on the page, I'm named him a junkie. I was like, you know, I read the thing. And I was like, oh, gold medals missed his weight again. and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, huh, that's interesting, whatever, and then move on to the next news. And then, you know, fast forward, here we are. Are you concerned at all that he won't make weight?

I mean, it doesn't really affect... No, no, no, no. You think he will? He'll make weight. He'll make weight. I mean, nowadays, you know, people pay people to make sure they make weight, you know? So I think, for me, I've never been a type person to go out and hire dietitian. You know, always read books, or I always ask doctors, and I pick people's brains. That way, at the end of the day, I can do it on my own. I am comfortable and I can do it on my own, and I have the mind power and the will to be like, all right, tonight we're going to have, you know, all my sugarbreads with asparagus with some type of carbohydrates, and I get by having some type of food kid it.

Sweet, sounds good. Eat it, wake up, feel good, go out of a fight. So, he'll make weight. If you knew about Olympic wrestling back then and applied yourself, do you think you could have made a run and meddled at the Olympics? Do you think about that sort of thing? I don't think about it, but absolutely, I believe I can do that. I would like to think I can. I believe in my skills and the skill set and with the right coaching and with the right mindset

and where I'm just focused 110% on one thing, then absolutely. I mean, you think about it. I was working full-time at a job carrying, you know, construction tubes around, set them up. I made all the way up to the championship at 135, beating the best fighters in the world at that time. So now, here I am, you know, doing my thing, beating everybody up at 125. And life is good. So I believe I could have. You're always peppered with these questions about your opponents

and you're stone cold. You never give us an opening. But when you find out that you're fighting an undefeated guy who is one of three gold medalists in UFC history, do you perk up a little bit? You have an extra pep in your step. Does this one feel a little different because of who he is? Ariel, here's you.

It'll be 8-8, and I'll still have the same fire underneath my ass as if he was undefeated. So for me, it's just another opponent. training my ass off like it's just another fight and that's how it's going to be even the next fight you know like I said I never touch the outcome of my fights I never attached to the outcome of who my opponent's any be I ask you to see what is my date

and I say alright I'll make sure I'm the best initially Johnson on April 23rd and that's what I plan on doing seven straight title defenses right Anderson has the record 10 how important is that to you to break that record That's important You know, it's a goal It's a goal for me

And I think that You know, me having that goal is super high Or high on my priority list Is something I'm shooting for And I just think it'd be fucking dope I was like, oh, Denise Rudy Johnson UFC player champion With 15 consecutive

Out of the 5th Never got injured Beat all his opponents And I think that's something dope to look back on Where you know Whoever purchased the company after Dana Lorenzo again They look at it to see my name

like, oh shit, they had 15 to power since. Let's look up his, why was he so successful? What was he so good? What made him different than all the other champions? You know, he kept on evolving. He kept on, you know, he fought a two-time world's champion. He couldn't take the man down. What do he'd end up outfetching him and outstriking him?

That's what I want my legacy to beat with. If I get in there with the opponent who is superior in one aspect of mixed martial arts, I'm like, my friend, let me tell you something. This is mixed martial arts. I can take this in many different areas. And that's why I credit, you know, Bad Hume and Brad Kirkson for making me have such a long amateur career in Mixed Martial Arts, whether it was me doing kickboxing, boxing, MMA, grappling tournament, shoot boxing, just doing different types of things to where nowadays everybody's such in a fucking rush to get to the dictionary.

It's like, dude, take your time. You're 18, you're 18 years old. Go do a couple boxing fights. Go do judicious tournaments. Go do multi-fight. That way, he's getting it with a certain number. person who specializes in one aspect, but you still have that that is where you can go to a guy and like, hey, what is your background?

I specialize in a movie type. That is, I am a fan of fighter. So it's like, hey, so that makes me feel like you never did any giraffe with tournaments or any wrestling tournament. Oh, hey, so I know we do weeks a kid. So that's why, yeah, that's more rant on mine. I like it. I like that rant.

I know I can go on the record and predict this and I know it's going to be true. You will be more appreciated when you're done. fighting than you are now. You're one of those guys. I can't compare you. No one's coming to mind right now, but you know that's true, right? I mean, when this run is over, when you retire, when you're done doing something else, whatever that may be, people are going to look back on your run in your career way more fondly than they do now. You know that, right? I hope so. I think you might be right. You know, I think now everybody's all caught up with, you know, they want the bad blood and a great soundbite and they're looking for that. And I think for me,

when I'm done by that, I think people will truly appreciate how I'm able to mix it up, be fluid in my transition, and look back how I carry myself as a champion to where I'm a humble guy, even in victory and defeat, you know? When people beat me up or when I get beat up, you know, I always get down to do you I'm like, I'm so tripping your job for two-cooked me three times in a row, but I still love it. You got three footwork. Or even when I beat John Dodson the second time and he was talking all this stuff and I can't hit hard,

I was like, dude, even though you, you know, you talk shit, And congrats of being a father. I wish you the best in life. I wish you the best in your career. After I arm barred, John Marlon, I was like, dude, it's not the end of the road for you. You'll be back. It's all about take care of your family and paying bills. So congrats, thank you for providing me, and wishing the best of the career.

And that's how it's going to be after me here's due to fight. Do you even look at the bottom of the division, the rising stars, the prospects? Like, are there certain guys that you're like, you know what? I have a feeling in a year or so he may be closer to my radar. maybe someone I'll have to prepare for. Do you look at that? I don't look at it as they're going to be on my radar or I have to prepare for them because I'm preparing for, when I prepare for my fights, I'm preparing to beat Matt Hume.

I'm trying to compete with Matt Hume. That is my in-game goal. If you be able to tap out Matt Hume and give him fit and work him on the feet, that is my end-game goal. So I believe Matt Hume is the best fight in the world. So when I am training for my fights and I'm fighting him, there's no way not to get him able to put it together like Matt Hume can. So, but I do look at the guys that are very below the division who are coming up and

say they're going to have great careers that they see on this path. Is there anyone in particular that you're super interested in that you've been watching that you think is going to be a player? I think all of them. I honestly think all of them. You know, I can't sit here and hand-pick one because, you know, I can say, oh, well, this person is going to be good. But, you know, injuries play factor in being a successful, having a successful career.

You know, you look at, to be a man. him right off. I mean, he's an amazing, amazing athlete. And he's fighting. He's undefeated. But the thing that's keeping him out of, you know, the oxygen is his injury. So that plays a factor in people's career. And I can't just take, oh, this guy can be great. Let's you know, you know, wife's 60. He gets their woman pregnant. They have my kids. I don't know. Shit. Anything can happen. That's another thing that I feel like is overlooked. You might be the most

reliable champion in UFC history, right? Have you ever pulled out of a fight? I pulled out of one fight because I needed surgery. And once I pulled out, I got surgery, and I pulled out in my fight against John Maraga in March, and then I got surgery once I pulled out on my labrum, and then I fought him in July. So I was like, hey, hey, you go get a Band-Aid on my arm, then you go through surgery. As far as I got out of surgery, I was in physical therapy and trained for the fight, then we ended up fighting in July.

So that's the only time I pulled out of the fight. Was that announced yet when you pulled out? I don't remember. Or was it being just... Yeah, it was announced It was... It was enough Because we're going to fight on the ultimate fighter

Okay The main event, I believe But then I was training And I was like, now I was like, do this And I was like, man, I can't fucking do it And he goes, uh, why? And I was like, it hurts

And he goes, He said, you get MRI And now I got MRI And he goes, why don't you tell me I was like, I don't want you think I was a bitch And he goes, dude Like that's a last thing

I think you're going to be Like when you're hurting You need to tell me That way we can work around training And sure enough My laborer was so blown and he was like, you need to get surgery. I try to fight it, but now's like, get surgery.

I mean, you can be a tough guy and try to go out there and fight, but what if you lose and your arm blows out, whatever? You know, get surgery. You can have this fight. The fight's not going anywhere. You know, you're still young. Just going to surgery, so I did. You pay attention to, you know, what Connor is making these days and Nate and some of these other guys.

And are you... They got damn right. I do. Are you... Hell yeah, man. First man, shot with Connor McGregor for making seven figures. on first fight, I ever to make seven speakers in the UFC payout. But, yes, I do pay the job.

And are you close there? Do you feel like you should be closer? How do you feel about what you're getting? I honestly do believe I should be closer. Just for the skills that I bring in the octagon. And obviously, everybody can look back at UFC 191 and see what my, you know, this ghost play is. And that's another one of my goals is to hitch my way closer to those big dating. You know, and shout out the Nadeez, and those, both those guys,

for setting the pedestal for us fighters to get paid more. I mean, we go out there and we work our asses off. And the UFC, they work their asses off, too, with promoting the fight and try to sell tickets. And I think it's great those guys get paid more, but absolutely I love to see Demich Johnson, you know. Dimmish Johnson, USC 197 playout, 500K payout, baby. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, amen to that. How many fights left on your contract? I have to look. I think we're getting close. I got three left. Are you looking forward to that? Are you going to, you know, do what a lot of fighters are doing now and try to test the waters or at least try to, you know, not signed before you're done as was the, you know, the norm

back in the day before the contract was up? To be honest, you do I always let Matt Hume deal with that. In that, okay. We sit down and when we talk about it, you know, and Matt Hume was the best for me, for my family, for my children. And I'm sure, you know, the biggest thing right now is going out there and fight. At the end of the day when I was first fighting in the UFC, Malo, but dude just got there and fight and win. If you just win, everything else to take care of itself.

You know, now I've been winning, you know, for a long-end time, and I'm hoping now that everything was going to take care of itself. But when we get closer to, you know, that part in my career, then me and Matt Hey, and him, we sit down and talk about it, then we will go from there. All right. Well, for now, we appreciate your time. It is, I love this fight.

This is going to be fun. April 23rd, Las Vegas, UFC 197. What a great main and co-main event, a true co-main event. Demetrius Johnson versus Henry Sohudo for the flyway title. And of course, John Jones versus Daniel Cormier for the Light Heavyweight title. What a one-two punch that is. Always a pleasure. It has been too long, my friend. Thank you for gracing us with your presence.

I know you're going to train now, so I appreciate some time here on a Monday. Absolutely, or any time. You got my never dog. You're my man. There he is. Demetrius Johnson. We appreciate him. very much the flyway champion of the UFC big fight for him coming up in less than a month and

interesting comments there regarding his pay and certainly one of the more underappreciated fighters in UFC history. I think that's a very, very valid point and a point that could be argued easily, at least in my opinion. Anyhow, let's move along now and welcome in one of my favorite men. Wow, look at that. Look at this studios man. The master himself, Henzo Gracie. Can he hear me? Is he no selling me? I don't know what's going on over there. Rocked the hipster glasses, Roots of Fight shirt.

Oh, there he is. Henson, how are you? Handsome devil, huh? Yes. What are you reading over there? I was checking a old book that I read in Portuguese a while back. The Age of Uncertainty by Galbraith. Beautiful, unbelievable book.

Wow. And I was just thinking that I never read in English, but I'm going to go this week to grab it so I can read in the original version. Have you read all those books behind you? Yes. Wow. Yes, all of them. Which is your favorite? I love this Galbraith one.

I have, man, it's difficult to say a favorite, but Guns Jerms is still is unbelievable. Okay. I love the Greek history and all. Like, everything I read about politics in Brazil, you know, and I have not only what is behind me, but I have a whole closet full of books. Who introduced? Did I grab any more? My father.

Your father? My father, I always read a lot, yeah. Wow. I had no idea you were this philosophical, this learned. Can you believe? Not only a tug, but a thinker, too. Yeah. It's amazing.

Well, always a pleasure to talk to you and see you. Thank you for coming on. a lot I want to talk to you about. First things first, I mean, we were just talking to Mark Ratner about this, New York passing the bill to legalize MMA. You are one of the most famous, you know, mixed martial artists in the state of New York. You have your gym there. You have been there for years and years and years now that the sport is legalized or about, you know, it's a formality. The governor has to sign. But what does this do for your business? It's a, my business is already very profitable and very nice. It's like if he gets

better, you'll be unbelievable. There's always room to improve. Definitely I would love if it gets better. If we're able to get more by having fights next to my academy because I'm a block away from Metro Square Garden. For sure I will get a lot of new students, so

I can't wait for that to happen. But I don't look as only a way for me to benefit from. I see as the martial art community to benefit from. We're going to have a whole new industry, a whole new field to be able to profit and to grow the name of martial arts. And I believe New York is the windows of the world.

Anything that the shine here will shine everywhere in the globe. So I can't wait to see a beautiful UFC event at Metro Square Garden. Was it ever awkward for you that you can have this business? You can have people train there. You can have some of the best fighters in the world at your gym. And yet it was technically... I already have them there. What are you talking about?

Yes. But it was illegal. Isn't that weird? It wasn't that a strange thing to wrap your gym? your head around? Definitely, definitely. I'm really surprised it took that long. You know, I'm really surprised it took that long, but I'm glad finally the politicians after even saying, no, having no, even though some of them have no common sense at all when they were on the floor trying to advocate against, but it's beautiful to see that now we are, we have, MMAs part of

New York. It's amazing. In 2016, people still think this way about, about our sport, but I guess that'll always be the case. By the way, your old friend... By their friend. Yes. My dear friend. A few decades ago, Elvis Presley could not be filmed by the waist down. That's true.

You can't expect to break ground from one day to the other. You know? It's a very good point. It's not about them accepting us. It's about them swalling us. Now we are here, deal with them. Your old friend, George St. Pierre, I believe, is in New York right now. Have you seen him?

Oh, yes, yes. What's going on there? If one man can give us the scoop, you can give us the scoop. What's going on? Is he coming back? He's coming back for sure. That boy, the best thing he does in life is fighting, you know? Look for how long he's been a champion.

He overcome so many hobbies, so many things that people don't know. George used to come from Canada, leaving four, four 30 in the morning, come to New York, by bus, train the whole day and live at night. Wow, wow. So it's like these two, sometimes three. times a week. Wow. So like a champion is not just born. He's forging to it. And George has all the tools to become a champion again. And for sure, he's looking for. He's now 100% healthy. Like I saw him, he's in unbelievable shape. And for sure, he'll be announcing soon to be back in the game.

This is very exciting. What do you think? What do you think is his return fight? Who will he fight? Whoever is a champion, I think. He deserves and he earns throughout his life work. I straight shot to the champion. So whoever the champion is on that way, the vision, for sure, George, is coming after him. And you have no concerns because of the time off that he might be a little rusty or, you know, he's older. You have no concerns about that?

No. How old is he now? Oh, I think he's in his mid-30s. I will check it up as we are. Yeah, this is the thing. In my head, it's like my kids. They're going to be kids forever. So I saw George when he was 16.

34. 17. 34. 34. 34. After they create Viagas. A man of seven years old is just a kid. What are you talking about a 34-year-old?

He's on his prime. That is true. That is a good point. You've been in the news. I'm on my Twitter last week, and all of a sudden, everyone's writing to me, Henzo Gracie is on Monday Night Raw talking about Shane McMahon before his match at WrestleMania against The Undertaker, and I've been following him on Twitter. He's with Crew-Phil Nurse.

He's with you. How long have you been training with Shane McMahon, Shane O'Mack? To be honest, today, his secretary call me, because I'm going to go meet him later today. And she goes, should I reach you on this number? So she gave me a 732-890-163. I go, please tell Shane to not to give this number to nobody. Because this number was my first number when I came to the United States. Oh, wow.

You know, yes. So I don't have that number for the past 12 years or 10 years. So Shane has been training with us for a long time, you know? Wow. I had no idea. Yeah, and in reality, Shane trained Jujitsu for a long time. He was every day at the academy at 6 o'clock in the morning. And the partner that I had trained with him was Hollis because it's his size, you know?

Yeah. 6'4, 250, so he could put up with Shane. If I had trained with him every day the way that he was training, I probably have no joints today. So when he walked, go ahead, sorry. Go ahead. No, no, I was just curious. When he walks in for the first time. And he's in great shape now.

It looks like it. from the videos, from everything I've seen. Do you, do you know who he was? Like when he walked in, did you know that he was the son of this guy, Vince McMahon, all that? I knew, I knew more or less. I knew more or less. Right after the first week, he began, then I learned it, you know. But you have to understand, I'm extremely smart for a lot of things and extremely dumb for others.

You know, it's like to me, anybody that walking academy is extremely important. Every shoot I have is a Shane McMahon for me, you know. And I think for that reason, they always give me back. You know, they see this. And in reality, I knew he was having a match back. He was coming back. And he was kind enough to go, Hansa, I want to promote your school. I love your school so much.

And this place received me like I was part of the family. And I fell out of home here. And I want to give back to Jiu Jitsu. I say, Jiu Jitsu is a great sport. I love to train Jiu Jitsu. So can I do the promotion here at your academy? Shane, this is your house. It was always your house.

You know, if a white belt asks me to do this, I allowed him imagine you, you know? So I'm very happy and I'm very glad to be next to him at that moment. Of course, we know that pro wrestling is scripted and we see some clips, but is he actually training for this like, you know, like a George training for a fight or Chris Wyman? Like, is he coming to the gym all the time

and doing everything like a fighter training for an MMA fight? Yeah, man, he's in the best shape of his life. I never see nobody on that shape. He dropped. probably like 25, 30 pounds. Wow. He's moving like a, like a, he's a heavyweight moving like a lightweight, you know. I don't know if you notice, but we're getting cut on and off a little bit.

Have you noticed that? For me, it's all good. Over here, it's all good. It's all good. For me, I think you, you got to stop buying your equipment at Chinatown, man. You've got to stop with that. You've been perfect. You've been perfect for me.

Thank you. It's great. But the reality is, man, those guys are top athletes, you know. Look at Brock Lesnar. What an amazing athlete, a real wrestler. Look how good he did it to the UFC. You know, so it would be great to see more of them interacting and fighting in different events and trying new grounds. You know, and I love WWU.

Nobody brought more attention to fighting than they did. You know, they really did an unbelievable work, job. You see people fall in love into a lot of defense. that we have today came from them. And they do an unbelievable work. I had a chance to see their work in Japan. It's beautiful. I've seen the crowded

arena, the TV shows they have there all over Asia. So it's like anything that brings fighting to a pedestal, I worship and I love it, you know? And I admire those guys as an athlete. And believe it, my friend, I fought laymen

who are very good athletes. They made me sweat. So especially those guys who have knowledge and they spend their life dedicated to what people don't realize These guys are on the road 300 sometimes 360 days a year They have a chance to go home for a week Yeah, you know, they work hard and they do shows three four times, you know And it's unbelievable I really admire that the work addict the way that they do it and everything that they do it So will you be going to Dallas? I don't I won't be able to I have a I have a I have a work addict

I have to travel soon. I'm setting up some business on the side here to make sure that I don't depend of my daughter changing my diapers when I grew old. What are you working on? But I'm working in some construction, in some healthcare company. Wow, look at you. I've been working a lot with a health care company. So it's really taking shape.

And I do hope that one day I can help America to be healthier and better in terms of healthcare. You're like a more likable Donald Trump. Much better. Yeah. He's a buffoon. We've got to build a wall in front of him. He wants to build a wall.

The only place I think he should have built a wall is a cross from his mouth, you know, like to close his mouth. But the reality, this is the beauty of America. Even he could be president. He still wouldn't be able to do this no sense that he claimed he would do. You know, in reality, this great country has great people behind the administration, and they will put him in his place. and show him the right direction to go. I was talking to a crew, Phil Nurse, about Shane,

and he said he has no doubt about the fact that if Shane was, you know, in his prime 20 years ago when this sport was coming up, that he would be an MMA fighter. That's what he loves doing. He loves MMA, and he has the talent and athleticism to be a fighter. Do you agree with him? Yeah, it's like 100%. I remember when he began training, Jiuzzi, he fell in love.

He loved him. Every time he trains, he gives everything. has, you know, and his ability, his athleticism, look what he does on the pro wrestling, you know, how easy. Like, I don't know if you know, but when they pick athletes to play American football, they pick them, they have the criteria only for their athleticism, because to play the ball will be easy, you know, if you were gifted athlete. Yeah.

And the same thing would be for fighting. You got a guy like this who's naturally, an extremely good athlete, always in shape, has the driven force to fight, to put everything he got on every training session he does, he'll be an unbelievable fighter. And I don't know why crew field nurse said 20 years ago. It's like if we push the right buttons, we get this guy to jump in a cage for sure. It's amazing. He's a daredevil. I want to ask you about just a couple more things before I let you go. And again, it's great to have you on. And congratulations, by the way, on the roots of fight, Hansel Gracie gear. They actually hooked me up with one of the beautiful. Those guys.

Yeah, those guys are amazing. Jess is the best. I love everything they do. I have a Tyson one here now from them. Look, you know, and I have a BJ one here. I have the whole collection here in my closet. And you know the beauty, why I like them even more? It's because they don't pick any model that is better looking at me.

You know, maybe the rock. I give a, because the rock looks a little bit like me in a bigger size, you know. Just hearing you say the name BJ gets me excited because I think back to my favorite line in MMA history about him being in his father's nutsack when you were still alive. The greatest line ever, there will never be a better one than that. By the way, what's your take on this debate? People were criticizing Connor McGregor for tapping and saying that Holly Holmes. She's tougher because supposedly she didn't tap.

Is there, and you would know about this because you weren't in that position with Sakuraba. Is there honor and not tapping in your opinion? Definitely. It's a complementary opponent if you don't have. So this shows that he fought a much greater fighter, you know? So like we always saw that way. You know, and I always, one thing that I was wondering, I said, because I was technical enough to spend my whole amateur career,

my whole life in a competition without being caught on nothing. Wow. The first time I was actually caught was by Sakurab on the arm lock. And I was extremely glad when I left because I didn't, I made sure that my mind was stronger than my, than my ligaments and my body, you know, and that was a victory of my mind over my body. And for sure, I was, I was sure that I was a samurai that day, you know,

like, and my whole life I was wondering if I would or not. So that gift, the Sakuraba gave me was something that I would cherish for the rest of my life. Wow. So you would advise to a young fighter, upcoming fighter, not to tap, ever? I cannot, how can I advise that? Nobody ever told me that. There was an unwritten rule that I abide for it. You know, it's like each person chooses how they want to live their life.

It's like Mohammed Ali said, like greatness is not a, it's not on the ring. It's on the gym. It's on the hard work that you put it on and on the beliefs that you have, you know. And this is the biggest truth. It's you choose your pet. You choose how you want people to remember you. It's been over 15 years. I don't know.

I don't even know when that was. Yeah. And you ask me about that moment again. Yeah. That's how important it was, you know? Yeah. Which is exactly like when I beat Pat Millettich, and every support that I had in the arena,

jump in the ring, and they lift me up. And I remember the security trying to kick them out. And as they lifting me up, I was telling the security, leave them, let them be. After that, you know how many times the owners of the NFL asked me to try to reproduce that moment? I told them it's impossible. we cannot reproduce that.

That just happens, you know, and I was glad you guys let it happen, you know, let everyone that I knew that was supporting me on that arena, jumping the ring and lift me up. So it's, those are rare moments that, you know, people are going to be talking about for the rest of your life.

How you have to see is a picture and the moment coming to your life. Like you're going to go through generations. So McGregor could have, not that, definitely. But it's up to him. It's, you know, like he's definitely a great fighter. I love the way that he fights. I actually watched the fight again last night before I went to bed.

Wow. You know, and I was able to see it in an even different way. He fought very well. Nate just is a bigger frame and was able to put up with the punishment. And when he had a chance to finish the fight, he did it extremely well. Like even when he took McGregor's back and he was sinking in the choke, you see McGregor defending. He did a perfect punch on the side of the head to lift his jaw. the hand was right in and the choke was on.

You know, so it was a brilliant fight from Nate, you know, and I'm glad that it happened. That victory happened to Nate because it couldn't happen to better guys, you know. Him and his brother are an unbelievable human beings. Gosh, I can listen to you speak all day. It's just there's something about the way you speak. It is so damn captivating. But we have run out of time.

Let me just ask you about this. What about you? Are you competing? Are we done? Sometimes you give us hints here and there. You tease us. I'm never done. I've never done.

I had the opportunity to go. watch Bellator and Richard Chow and his boss grabbed me on the backstage. They go, what about you? You want to come back? You know, maybe until the end of the year, we get you here. I look at them and say, what are you guys doing? Try to set up a geriatric clinic here. I cannot fight old people.

Like old like me. I got to fight. If I fight, I'll jump in with the young boys, you know. I want to feel the pressure. And if I had my ass kick, may that be epic, you know, by a good guy. I value. So you considering it? But for sure, for sure. My knee is better now. I had a, I actually had a torn ACL before my last grappling match with Sakuraba a day before. And I was, I was lucky enough that didn't, didn't

swallow like the first time that happened fighting Carlos Newton. And I could fight the next day. I was able to fight. And then after that, I couldn't move. My knee wouldn't move anymore. But I was lucky to be able to have that grappling match with him. And I redid the ACL. I put a cadaver for one and I'm back 100%. I just begun training again and by the end of, by this year, I want to have some fun again. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, stay tuned for that. Again, Henzo, thank you so much. A pleasure as always. Like I said, I could talk to you for hours. But I appreciate your time here. Oh, always a pleasure, my friend. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Obrigo. Obrigado to the master, Henzo Gracie himself. Wow.

There is, there's nothing like listening to that man speak. He's just so damn captivated. And now he says, and do you hear what he said? Yeah, he'll fight, but he doesn't want to fight the old guys. He doesn't want to fight the old guys. Unbelievable. He wants to fight the young guys. There's only one, Henzhou Gracie. Amazing stuff. Thank you very much to him. Okay, let's move along from one of the best talkers in the world to the best in the world. My old pal, CM Punk, is joining us right now. CM Punk, how are you? I'm good. I'm a little upset that. I am interrupting and I guess technically ending the Henzhou Gracie interview because that just sucks. I'd rather just listen to him.

How inspiring is that man, right? Don't you feel like going on a run right now or doing a few rounds? I mean, he just gets me so damn excited. I wish I could go on a run right now. Yeah, he's great. He's great to listen to and the nicest guy in the world too. That is very true. Very, very true.

Okay, well, let's talk about you. A lot of people curious to hear about you and get an update or something. so recently you went under the knife, had back surgery. How did it go? Yeah. It went very well. The doctor even showed my wife a picture of what he, like the part of the disc he cut out. I unfortunately didn't get to see it. Oh. That's a little disappointing. Yeah. And she almost barfed. So it went, it went really well. I woke up in the hospital and I was, I was immediately pain free. I could tell right away. So wait, why couldn't they take a picture or show it to you something? You couldn't see it after the fact? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

No, he, well, I was, I was anesthetized, so I was still sleeping. And he, like, immediately when he was like, oh, hey, you know, he emerged from surgery. And was like, okay, he's done. He's in the recovery room. And all went well, hey, check this out and shove the phone in her face. And she was like, yeah, it's pretty cool. And, yeah, I didn't know until I was awake. And he was already probably operating on somebody else.

So I didn't get a chance to see it. Maybe I'll try to ask him. I'm seeing him tomorrow. Oh, okay. Well, first things first. How serious was the surgery? I mean, was there a chance that this would end your athletic career? You hear back surgery, that's kind of scary stuff.

How serious was it? Yeah, as far as back surgery goes, I don't think it was the most serious thing, but it certainly wasn't walking the park either. I basically just had a herniated disc, and it was, I guess, pretty herniated. I don't know if you wanted to call it ruptured or whatever, but it was explained to me that the disc had herniated and it was pushing on a nerve and that was pretty much the source of all my troubles. Wow.

Is this something that you had been dealing with for years? Have you had back problems in the past? Was it something that was aggravated doing something in particular? How long has this been an issue? It's been an issue for a very long time. Really? Yeah, I just chalked it up to, oh, I have a bad back. I wonder how that could have happened.

for the longest time I've been doing regularly, routine, acupuncture, massage, Cairo. I bought an inversion table. I bought a 10s unit. You name it, any kind of therapy I could possibly do, I was doing it. And it eventually just got even worse, and it got so bad that I went in one day to roll. I was in my ghee. It was, we were drilling, doing, I think, triangle two. chokes and every time I had a triangle locked up on me, I would feel the pressure, felt this odd

pressure in my hip. So that's when I was like, hmm, that's a, yeah, something, something's wrong here. So we, we aggressively tried to figure out what it was after that. And you said that you have an appointment tomorrow with your doctor. Is this to clear you? Are you close to 100% as far as how you're feeling? What's this for? I think this is just a routine. I'll be. six weeks post up on Wednesday. So I think that's just kind of how the schedule goes. I'll see him tomorrow.

I talked to him extensively on the phone yesterday to go over like a whole bunch of stuff asking me how I was feeling and everything else. It doesn't sound like he's really clearing me 100%, but it's also more or less on me and how I feel because everybody recruits at a different rate. The biggest thing he doesn't want me to do is, you know, jump into the deep end of the pool, so to speak, and re-injure it. I guess they tell you all the statistics of, you know, 10% of people wind up, you know,

re-herniating the same disc and all that. He just wants to make sure it's completely scarred over and is healed as it's possibly going to get before I start doing, like, wrestling and, you know, grappling and stuff like that, where there's a chance I get taken down and I fall awkwardly on it, stuff like that. But I took it upon myself. I always try to go above and beyond, and I try to push it a little bit more. I've been biking like a maniac. I do what I can.

And I push it, but I'm not trying to push this one too much because I think it's, you know, it's your back. It's a pretty serious thing. But I've been staying in shape. So are you able to go to the gym and do Jiu-Jitsu or wrestling or do you have to wait for that clearance? No, that's like the big one. I'm not going to put myself in a position where anybody can, you know, fall on me or I can get taken down or, you know, thrown against a cage or anything like that. We did talk yesterday, and he does seem to think it's probably okay if I start boxing, not sparring, obviously. And the other night, I think I did a few rounds.

You know, it's like I'm dipping my toe in the pool, you know, and normally I'd be pretty gung-ho about it. You know, I was with the shoulder and I was doing stuff on my shoulder. or before I was, you know, cleared and before I probably was supposed to. But I know my body, but this one I'm really kind of trying to be reserved about it. So I did some bad work the other night, and I felt great. Like, you know, I always wait until the next morning to see how I feel. I wasn't extra sore. I didn't feel like I tweaked anything.

It didn't hurt anything. So that's a, to me, that's a big hurdle. So as long as I can start kind of doing that, that was really the first MMA training I've done in six weeks since the surgery. To get this news, essentially hours after you finally found out who your opponent will be, I mean, mentally, how did you process it? You've had setbacks along the way. You've had your ups and downs, but it seemed like, you know, there was that light beaming from the end of the tunnel, and then, you know, there's another setback. How did you deal with it? Well, I tried not to dwell on it, you know. There's plenty of time after the surgery to sit around and feel sorry for

myself. But, you know, thankfully, the silver lining is we didn't actually have a date. I have an opponent that's fantastic. I felt like shit about it. You know, like I wanted to tell everybody, but it was also like a case of, let's just see where this goes and see what happens. I mean, I got the MRI Friday night, and I was literally diagnosed Saturday right before I walked out to watch Mickey and Michael Jackson fight. And, yeah, so I wasn't trying to, not. necessarily think about me and my back. I was just, I was just watching, I was just watching the fight, you know. And if I would have thought about it, then, and there, you know, what do you, what do you do? I just try not to get too down about it. So, but internally, were you, did it feel weird

being there watching that, knowing that this was probably a reality and then in a couple of days, you know, that things were, you couldn't tell the world, people are excited, everyone's excited, yet internally you have news that is a bit of a bummer, that delays all. It was a bitter, it's certainly a bitter pill to swallow, but there's a flipside coin that I was trying to focus on was that, holy shit, I have a herniated disc, and I have had this herniated disc, and who knows how long I've had it, I was relieved to get properly diagnosed. And it was exciting almost to go, okay, we can take care of this. And then when I come back, I'll be 100%. you know, because there's always little things. You know, when we drill wrestling, you shoot in on a double or a single, and, you know, you switch,

and, you know, you lift the guy up for strength and conditioning. I always had trouble with that. And, you know, I've always been a strong guy for my size, and it was always kind of almost defundling me. And I just kind of chalked it up like, ah, I just got a bad back. I was a, I was a wrestler for a while. So, you know, maybe I'm just weak. Maybe these guys, they're not helping me, you know? And pro wrestling guys jump for you.

these guys aren't. So maybe that's just the way it is. If I got taken down, you know, sometimes that put me on the shelf for like a couple days. So it was a relief to go, oh, wow, remember that when that happened in the gym, or remember when I did this. There's been things that I've omitted from training just because it bothered me. You know, on days where I would work on kicks all day, like it sucked me up the next day. And now we've taken care of it, and that won't happen anymore. So, you know, I was really in that moment when I was watching the fight, just kind of excited for, oh, man, let's fix this.

And I'm not going to have that nagging literally pain in my ass anymore. By the way, I don't know if you know this, but I got a lot of heat that day because people were blaming me for the injury. Yeah, it's all your fault, Alwani. I'm an anxious Jew. I'm a guilt-ridden Jew, and then I had to deal with all that. Can you tell the world it wasn't my fault? You're in the wrong job if you're an anxious Jew, you know.

Or you just don't listen to what other people say. No, it wasn't your fault. Thank you. There's a little thing I did for 20 years prior to me lifting you up on that night of pro wrestling. It might have had something more to do with my back injury than me lifting you up. How did the UFC brass react to the news? Well, wonderfully, in my opinion, you know. I was in with Dana Lorenzo and we're talking, and Dr. Sanders just came up and he goes,

all right, here it is. And he laid it all on the table for us. And, of course, Dana let out this big side. He's like, oh, we can't get a break. So I immediately go into, well, maybe there's a shot I can get. Maybe I can do, you know, Corazon, you know, like, whatever. And Lorenzo and Dana stopped me. And they went, no, no, no, no, no, we're not, you know, it's, it is what it is.

Like, we just want you to get fixed and get healthy. We got shows every month. Don't worry about it. You know, it's just the timing sucks, you know, literally about to walk out and do this thing. And, but they, they were great, you know. It's hard not to compare and contrast to, you know, where I used to work before. But it was just a relief to finally have a boss who was just like, no, no, no, just get fixed. Want you 100% wanting to be healthy.

I'm not interested in throwing a bandit on a bullet wound just to, you know, parade you out in front of people. So it was a relief, and it felt nice. In the past, you were probably told, like, okay, two weeks, we'll see you. Take a week off, right? Get in front of the people. Two weeks would have been a vacation. And, you know, and I realize people are going to cut this up and take these quotes out of context. But, you know, this is an interview.

this is what it is. This is my life. But I was just relieved. You know, I was doing it internally in my head myself. That's just because the way I'm wired, and that's the way it's always been. I was going, well, maybe we can do this, and maybe we can just kind of have me to make sure I'm, you know, let's just get to the fight, you know,

and they stopped everything ice cold. And they said, no. You know, like, how long have you been in pain? And I was like, I don't know, years. I couldn't even tell you, you know. So, yeah, it's just a relief for me. In the past, you said June, July, that was what you were targeting. What's a realistic target now for your debut?

Are you able to zero in? It's too soon? I don't know. Well, you know, part of me I've learned from my past mistakes, and I'm not going to stay a date that everyone's going to get married to, and then I'm going to have to hear about how I'm never going to fight. You know, I'm going to fight. It's going to be this year, and like I said, I see the doctor tomorrow,

and I'm going to talk about with him all kinds of other extracurricular things I can do to probably speed this along, you know, like, see if I can start doing acupuncture again and things like that. You know, in my mind, that card at the garden would be a nice second fight. But I don't know how realistic that is because, again, I don't want to say things that people are going to, you know, be taking the heart. And it's always the people that say they don't want to watch me fight any. Anyway, it's very strange.

Don't worry, haters. I'm going to fight, and it's going to be fucking fun and awesome, and you're going to be real upset. It's just, I just don't want to say anything. Okay. Because, like I said, I've learned my lesson. I have optimistic goals. I've always had optimistic goals,

and we're just going to see if my back can cooperate with that. But you can't say rather confidently that it will happen in 2016, though, right? Yes. Okay. And, you know, you did tweet. about the garden. You're the only guy on the roster who can claim that in the past he has or she has sold out the garden. So that's, I mean, that's not a crazy thing. I mean, I think people would think it's crazier if you didn't want to fight at the garden, right? I mean, that's got to be a goal.

That's understandable. But the fact that you say it's your second fight and not your first, I think, is very interesting. So we can see two fights in the span of seven months here. At least that's something that you're thinking. I mean, it's something I want for sure. You know, and yeah, I think I think it's great that MMA finally got legalized in New York. I think it's, you know, I heard you talk to it to Hanzo about it. I think it's ridiculous that it's taken this long. But just like he said, and this is something I say a lot, too, you know, he said it's just a couple decades ago, you know, you couldn't shoot Elvis Presley, you know, from the waist down.

And, like, you know, this country, if you really think about it, like, you know, segregation wasn't that long ago. But now we have, we got MMA in New York, and I think it's very exciting. and I'm happy for all the fighters in New York who, you know, now they might not have to get out of flight to fight and they're where they live. I think that's super exciting. How often do you think about Mickey Gall?

Oh, not often. I'm sure he's training his ass off as he should be, but it doesn't consume me or anything like that. I'm more concerned about what I do, the things I do. But just the fact that the difference now when we speak here today as opposed to in the past, there is a guy, there is a name, there is a face. That doesn't help fuel you. That doesn't get you.

You don't start, you know, thinking about his one fight or looking at the first fight. It doesn't change at all. It doesn't make it more real. It doesn't help you get up in the more. Nothing like that? No, no, no. It for sure definitely does. It lights a fire under your ass, you know.

But having back surgery, you know, it kind of puts a damper on all that. So, you know, I focus on positive things and I tend to be internal. And I just, I'm working right now to get back to 100%, and then I can worry about making it. Was there any talk as far as your concern of having him fight someone else while you recovered from the surgery? And if so, would you have been upset if that happened? No. Nobody said anything like that to me about it. And if, hey, if he wanted to fight somebody else.

But, you know, I think if you fight somebody else and he loses, you know, I think that, I don't know if it hurts his chances, but I think it lessens the attraction, so to speak. You know, I realize for him, I'm a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you know what I mean? I don't know if anybody wants to see him fight unless it's me, but I'm not stopping him, you know. I mean, I get it, you know.

I know once I fight, I'm going to want to stay active. I'm not going to want to be one of these guys that takes, you know, months off at a time and stuff like that, you know. And everybody in my gym is like that. everybody wants to stay ready and everybody wants to fight. And I just want to get the first one out of the way. Two last quick things. I know you had to take a bit of a pause on everything,

but I've seen pictures of you training with the great Izzy Martinez. And of course I know that you're training at Rufus Sport in Milwaukee. Have you zeroed in yet on who might be cornering you when you do fight? Do you know who those three, four people will be? I think, I mean, the top two is going to be Duke and Daniel Wanderler. for sure. He's a jiu-jitsu coach, and he's amazing. I think the third person really kind of depends on who's on the card, who else is fighting, you know what I mean? Because for wrestling, it'd be either Ben or Izzy, you know, and Ben's an active fighter still, so there might be a

chance that he might not be able to corner me, you know what I mean? And I'm fortunate enough to be able to be like, oh, who's, you know, who could do it? Oh, it's Izzy. You know, we'll have to see. But Coach Cush could also, you know, great, great striking coach at the Rufus Sport. I mean, hell, I could have any number of guys cornered me, so there's definitely not a lack of depth on the team. And I know we were talking about dates and all that, and I respect the fact that you don't want to zero in, but is there any chance in the world, UFC 200, you fight on that one, it's still wide open. Is that a possibility at all, or is that too soon?

What's the date? What's the date? July 9th. July 9th, and it is almost April, right? Yeah, three days away. I mean, a 10% chance. Okay. I don't think, yeah, I'm leaning towards no, but, you know, you never know. And if my doctor's kind of steering me away from still doing anything that really kind of, you know, loads my spine and everything like that, like, I'm dying to deadlift and squat here, you know, anything.

But I'm not, I'm not doing it because I don't want to jeopardize anything. So he cleared me, he cleared me to go ahead and box. So I'm probably going to just. just wind up focusing on that a little bit. Final, final, final thing, and I can't thank you enough for the time. Really, it means the world. I really appreciate you.

Who's next? Who's time am I cutting into? Oh, next we have UFC Strawway champion, one of our favorites, Ioanni Young, Jacek, who... Let's wrap this up. Let's wrap this up. I don't need her beating the shit out of me. Come on.

Okay, okay. Just final, final thing. And this time, I don't want to talk about the haters, Twitter, all that stuff, because we've exhausted that. But the fact that now the narrative has become, will he fight? Not when will you fight?

people questioning will you fight? Do you internalize any of that? Do you use that as motivation? Do you listen to any of that anymore? Yeah, absolutely. I'm the kind of guy that focuses on positive stuff because when you're alone and you're in your own thoughts, you can drive yourself crazy, listen to the negative.

But yeah, the negative stuff, the haters, that drives me. You know, proving people wrong is something I've done my entire life. And not only I think I'm good at it, it's fun. You know, when you get people that say, oh, you can't do that. And I think it's more indicative. It's less about me and it's more about their own insecurities. You know, I really just want to show everybody, like, the positive side of it.

Like, yeah, we can do this. And, you know, it's for every kid out there that's ever been told. No, you can't do something. And then they actually listen to that and they believe it. You know, I've never been one that's believed it. More oftentimes than not, somebody tells me I can't do something. that makes me want to do it even more. But I also realize that when it's coming from a figure of authority, a parent, teacher,

or something like that, that can be really discouraging kids, you know, or even grown-ups, even grown-ass people, you know? So if anything, if anybody can take anything away from it is, hey, we all die. It's going to happen to all of us, you know, and before that happens, just make sure you do everything you possibly can to make sure your life is meaningful and fun. Well, you know this, and I'll say it again. I wish you the very best. I hope that appointment goes well tomorrow.

I can't wait. You got a fan in me, my man. I am anxiously awaiting this, and I know no one's more excited about it all than you and your family. So get well soon. Again, appreciate the time. Appreciate you coming on. It means the world, and we'll talk to you very soon. Thank you so much.

Yeah, anytime. Tell you, Your Honor. I'll talk to you later, buddy. Okay, I will do that. There he is. The Best in the World, CN Punk, joining us. as always to talk to him and I do echo those sentiments really appreciate him coming on and giving us an update on his condition. Okay, let us move along. Now let's go to Poland where the

UFC strawweight champion, Ioannio and Jacek is standing by. There she is. Wow, what a pleasure. It's great to have you back on. How are you, Joanna? Hi, guys. I don't know what to say. Good evening because it's late in Poland, but hi, hi, hi, guys. By the way, did you hear that? To talk to you. CM Punk said his wife is a huge fan of yours. That's pretty cool. I love you. I love all of you. And I love all my haters.

Oh. I'm stronger. Wait, you don't have any haters. But let's not talk about, okay? You, you, if there's one person in this sport that doesn't have haters, I think it's you. Everyone loves you. Come on.

Even I have some guy, his nickname is Yohanna Hater. Oh, that's cool. And one day he loves me, but the other day he hates me, so I don't know what he wants to know. Do you look at your, I don't care. I'm happy with all of them. Yes, you should be. But do you look at your Twitter and stuff? Do you read that stuff?

I don't. I don't. Like, I love Instagram. I'm trying to respond to my friends, even to my haters. And they're happy. Okay, so right now, enough about the haters. Right now you're in Poland, right? Yeah.

Yes, I am. I just back from my parents' house, I'm full of food because it's Easter. So lots of food. you could see the, you could see that picture on my Instagram. So Christmas and Easter, very important day for us Polish Catholics. So, yeah, it was a good day. Last day of cheating and tomorrow I'm ready to eat proper and train hard now. Well, happy Easter to you and your family and everyone in Poland.

But it's interesting that you are in Poland because after the Ultimate Fighter, following your social media, Instagram, Twitter, I saw you all over the United States. You were in Albuquerque, you were in Denver, you were in California, training with different teams. What was going on over there? Why were you jumping around from gym to gym? I was supposed to go to New York, you know, to see you guys, to meet you, but I couldn't. What happened?

What happened? What happened? I didn't have enough time, you know? Okay. Didn't have enough time. So what happened? Yeah, I stayed two weeks after the top. I had some media obligations, but I cannot talk about, and I had a few appointments with

my maybe future sponsors. That's all, what I've been doing. But what about, I saw you training with Dwayne Ludwig and T.J. Dillishaw with Holly Holm. Yeah, yeah, of course. The main thing was training for me. It's always, the main thing is training here. Even I'm busy with some other stuff, with some business or some media obligations.

There is always way to find a time for training, you know, so this is what I've been doing. And I was really enjoying to train with different people in different places. It was really great lesson for me. So we thought that maybe you were looking for a new team. Is that true? No, isn't. I'm back to Poland. I start my camp already.

I've been training for six weeks in Vegas with Robert Reisel, but my head coaches were there. So I've been training every day. But now it's time for real camp, and so I'm going to train twice a day. and I'm focused on my fight and I'm going to stay important and prepare for my next fight here. Of all the places that you went to, coaches, gyms, which did you enjoy the most? Which one did you really like? Denver, Jackson's and Albuquerque, Kings. Which one did you really like? Wow.

I met so many great coaches, great people. Like, every gym is different, but like I said, every gym is like very good, you know. Like in Denver, very good structure. The gym is just perfect. It's like one big lap, you know. There is everything, you know. I like Albuquerque because of the people there, the trainers. The training was very good.

So, yeah. Did it open your eyes to training in America as opposed to your training in Poland? Are you going to do anything differently now after maybe what you learned in America? No. No. focus on the same things, you know. I'm going to have some extra surprise for Cadela, July 8. That's all, you know. Of course, UFC would like to help me in US, but even for me, it could be more easy to live there. But it's all about good training, good coaches, good sparring partners.

I know what to expect for me, from my coaches, from my sparring partners in Poland. So better to stay here and be focused on my next fight. Maybe in the future I'm going to move to US. Okay. How is your hand, by the way. Are you 100% healthy? Yeah, very good. Yeah.

There it is. All right, the money maker. Yeah, it's good. It's very good. And, of course, you just wrapped the Ultimate Fighter. That premieres in April on FS1, and I know we can't talk about it all that much. I just want to ask you one question about it. Was it better than you expected?

Do you have more fun with it? You know, the expectations as opposed to what actually happened. Did you enjoy it more or less? What are your thoughts? It was nice, very good experience. I'm very happy about that I was part of. And I used to do the same reality show in Poland, you know. A little bit different, small production, but was more for TV, you know, for people to sell it. But tough is really, you know, people, real people, real emotions, real situations.

And this is what I like about, you know. I cannot wait when I'm going to watch it, you know, on FS1. Does it air in Poland as well? Yes, on Extreme Sports Channel. So make sure we're going to watch it guys. Yes, for sure. Dana White said afterwards that you guys got into a brawl, but the cameras were off. The show was over.

That kind of ruins the brawl. No one gets to see it now. But then the most important fight is going to be July. That's all. It's going to be better than that one. How difficult was it to be around her every day? It was nice, you know. Of course, last day I got enough, you know.

Claudia, she just talked too much and that's all, you know. It was enough, you know. But that's all. She didn't get into my head, but it was like I was the adult and she was the kid, you know. So I was just, I was just, I got enough. That's all. Yeah. So I say a few words to her.

I did some things and that's all. The rest I'm going to do in Vegas, July 8. Was someone calling you now? Who's it? Claudia, maybe? Oh, yeah, Claudia. She wants to ask me when we're going to drink a cup of coffee, you know? Yeah, I'm too busy.

Speaking of which, I saw Rose Namayunis even reach out to you and say, hey, you know, you're right next to where I live. This is someone that you could be fighting very soon. reach out for tea were you surprised about that? No, she's very nice. If I saw this message early, I could go to her and hang on with her, you know. Like, you know, I have good relation with all of the fighters, more of them, you know. So there is nothing to, like, worry about, you know. Even with Claudia, we could hang on together, but she doesn't like me, you know.

Why do you think she doesn't like you? Because I'm the vet. I'm the champ and of course she's dreaming about but she knows that she never going to be a champ. When you guys were squaring off at the press conference, what were you saying to each other? Oh, nothing. Nothing. I was just happy to see her. Yeah, I'm sure you were after all those months.

So by the way, was this like a full-on brawl? Like, did you guys actually punch each other? In the show? No, after. After the camera, yeah. Yeah, a little bit. A little bit. Wow.

No, no, just push, push, and she drove some kick, but she can't kick. Come on, guys. I'm going to teach her how to kick. That is amazing. By the way, I'm curious, now that you were, and by the way, congratulations, you were nominated as one of the best athletes in Poland recently at the end of the year, and you're going to be on this show and you continue to win. Have things changed for you in Poland?

Do you get recognized more? Are you getting more respect from the fans? Yeah? Yeah, I was really surprised how many people recognize me in Albuquerque and in L.A., for example, you know? It was amazing. Like, Albuquerque is like two times bigger than my city. There's like 500,000 people. In my city, Orson is like 250,000 people.

But I was really surprised, you know. Like, more people recognize me in other people. Aberkirken in my city. Wow. But, you know, I've got so many fans everywhere in Poland as well. I like my city so much. And what I can say about, like, I've got, I'm super busy with, I've got so many propositions, like movie propositions, lots of interviews, different, some commercials.

I'm very happy about, you know, that people saw that MMA, it's a sport, you know. So will you be appearing in movies? Ah, probably in some Polish productions. Wow, that is a lot of fun. I like that. What about fighting in Poland? Yeah, it is. Have there been talks to that?

Have you fighting in Poland? I know they were there last year, but you actually fighting on the card. I would like to fight in Poland, like maybe next year. I would like to fight July 8 in Vegas. I'm going to fight July 8 in Vegas. And my next fight I would like to do in U.S. or in Australia, it was amazing. And you know, you just celebrated the one-year anniversary of you winning the belt at UFC 185. It was fun to see you having cake and celebrating and whatnot.

But you mentioned something very interesting in your post that, you know, not that long before you were signed to the UFC. You were actually thinking of retiring from fighting. Nothing was really going on. How close were you to actually retiring? Like, I don't know. So close probably. Wow. I was like, you know, my parents did my parents teach me.

how to make money, how to be a good person, and how to work hard, you know, and this is what I was doing all my life. And, no, I was kind of like sad about that. I didn't have good sponsors, good money from the fights in Muay Thai or from MMA fights on the beginning of my career. So I was like, come on, I can do some business and make big money and just, you know, do my things. and because I invest so much money in the Muay Thai and M.A. You know, when my sister turned 18, when we turn 18, me and my twin sister, she bought a car. I invest the money in trainings, you know. So it was kind of sad, but I'm happy that I survived that Dana, Lorenzo, Sean Shelby,

Jos Silva, they find out me and I'm here, you know. Wow, do you think about that a lot? Like how close you were to your life being completely different? I did. I did. But now I want to keep on winning, be a champ. And I want to help some young people in the future, you know. For example, my sparring partner, he's just 19.

But I promise you guys he's going to be a superstar in the future, you know. What's his name? Jakub Vigwatch, his nickname is Massa. We call Masa when somebody is very big, but he's very tall and very skinny, you know. Oh, what way does you fight at? now he used to fight 1525 and 135 but now he put on wage okay and when you started to think about maybe retiring did you did you start to think about doing something out like what would you have done in your life if you weren't a fighter do you have any idea no I finished my studies I finished

studies like two different physical education and some physiotherapy for kids So probably something with sport But of course I always Had some All kind of different ideas You know in my life And now I'm sure you don't think about retiring anymore Like do you even think like in two three years

I want to be done you don't think like that right Even five years you know So I say like two three years But now I want to fight for five years You know I hope that we're going to have One 25 division In the future

And I'm going to became first female fighter who are going to hold to beds. Would you prefer to stay at 125? Like if there was a 125 division, is that better for you? Probably better, you know, I must cut lots of weight. It isn't nice, but it's part of my job, and I can make it very easy. But of course, it could be more easy, more interesting to fight in 125. What was it like? Is it surreal when you go to these gyms and you have people like BJ Penn and Holly Home and John Jones and Dillosh? Like these great fighters legends come up to you and our fancy want to take a picture with you. What's that like for you? Someone from Poland who not that long ago people couldn't even pronounce your name.

It's very nice. You know, I'm trying to be the same person all the time. But it's very nice, you know, because I follow John Jones since I start with MMA. Holy, Holy, Holy. home is like one of the best female fighters. She's very strong. Like TJ, I like his style so much. You know, he's 135. He's light and he's moving so fast. And, you know, I met so many great people and I'm just super happy about, you know, that we became my friends. It's amazing. Like, we announce you on the show and there's some big names on the show, but I get such a great reaction every time you're on the show. I love Joanna. I love Joanna so much. Why do you think people love you so much? Why do you think people love you so much? Why do you think you have that connection?

I know you said you have haters, but there's this connection that you have developed. It reminds me to a degree very different, but it's kind of like the Diaz brothers in a way. I think it's because you're so authentic. And I'm wondering if you think that's what it is, that you're so real that you just say what you want, you don't pretend to be someone else.

But there is definitely a connection that you have built with people. Why do you think? Where did that come from? I don't know. Like you said, I'm the same. Like the Diaz brothers, they are always the same. You know, I'm trying to be the same. you know like people after the press conference people start to talk that every factor is acting is trying to act like coner you know isn't true i've been doing the same things before the fight with carla you know like before before i've got into the e-fc so when i must be mean i'm mean when i can be nice i'm nice you know it's my business if i think it's my business it's my job so i cannot let my opponents get into my head so i must show to them that i'm tough too

and they can't beat me. When you see what happened to Rhonda and then Holly, does it give you, like, are you reminded, okay, everyone's beatable that I can't get too big of a head? Does that, is that a lesson for you when you see that up close in person? You know, you cannot be so dominant all the time. You know, I'm happy that my last fight was five friends, you know, that I didn't knock Valerie out.

It was difficult. She's very tough, lots of respect to her, but I'm happy because I could see what's good for me, what can work in the future, what can't work, and it was good and, you know, stay humble and just keep on training hard, that's all. You know, when I walk through the octagon, I always want to win. I visualize the win, you know, winning. But in the back of my head, I know that it's a sport, you know,

is what happened to Holy Horn. You must be focused from the first second of the fight until the last second of the fight, you know, because everything can happen. The last time I spoke to you, you said you wanted a bit of a break. This was in November. So do you feel like you're getting that itch back? Like you're ready to go. You're excited for the camp, excited the fight? I am. I cannot wait. I was lying, you know. If not broken hand, I could fight like March, April. And it's horrible, you know, but I did tough and I'm very happy, you know. I took my time. But I'm back to training, you know. I was back to training on the end of December probably. Okay. And have you ever felt this way about an opponent before? Because of your history with her, the fight, the first fight, tough, everything that's gone on. Does this one feel different for you?

What do you mean? just because you have a history, she's not just an opponent, like Valerie was just someone that, you know, you have a history, you've been around this person for a long time, Claudia. Does the fight feel more personal because of that? Not really, not really. Not really. Nothing. My belt is the most important for me, you know. I will try to be as cold, as much cold as I can be, you know, like in this fight, I'm going to be very cold, you know. I'm going to be a real fighter, that's all. But after the fight, of course, I hope everything going to be clear, fair play, respect, and that's all, you know. Any gifts? You're going to make it clear. Yes.

Any gifts for the way in? Ivy? No, for the way in. Steroids? Oh, no. You said a book? No, I don't know. Don't have idea.

There is few ideas. Oh, my gosh. I was a... You said a book, IV, or some, you know, steroids. I don't know. Why, you believe she does that? I don't know. it's her problem you know i know that so many fighters uh got smaller you know after the isada

came in the fc wow there's she she called she called me fat but i'm happy you know when i put on on weight i'm happy you know and my fiance is happy too you know uh bigger few letters you know but they like you know like like you know people they use steroids and they they feel like heroes, you know, like that they are the strongest people, but isn't true, you know. So do you think you'll see a different, Claudia, than the one you fought a year and a half of them? Sure, she's smaller than she was a year ago, you know, so you could see that in the fight with the Jessica Giler. Wow.

All right. We will leave it at that. Yohanna, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I know you're very busy. You guys for having me? You have a lot going on. Yeah, I go to sleep, but thank you guys so much for having me.

It means a lot. So thank you so much. like I said, you're very busy. You have a lot going on. But anytime we have you on, the fans love it and I love it as well. So I appreciate your time. Again, happy Easter. And I look forward to it. Your fight on my birthday, it's going to be a great night, July 8th in Las Vegas. I can't wait. This is what I want to say.

Like, I'm going to keep on training really hard. Everything can happen, but I will try to win this fight. And I know I'm going to win this fight. And you're going to hear it still. I love all of you guys, even you, Claudia. And I'm honest. Thank you so much. there she is the UFC Straway champion, Yowna.

You know, Jaycheck, always a pleasure to talk to her on this program, one of a kind. Great stuff from her. Looking forward to that fight on July 8th, my birthday in Las Vegas. Okay, let us move along. We have saved the best for last, my friends. We are being joined now. It has been a while that we have been joined by the best in the world. The number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world is joining us right now.

Yes, he does not have the title. Yes, he is not the champion. at least as of now he might dispute that fact. But there is no doubt that on April 23rd, UFC 197, John Jones will return finally to the cage. He'll be meeting his longtime friend, Daniel Cormier. Can't wait for that. We're less than a month away.

But right now he is joining us on the phone. What a pleasure. What an honor. This is. What a privilege to be joined by the one and only Johnny Bones Jones. John, how are you? Good, man. What an introduction.

Thank you. This is great. This is a treat. It's always great to talk to you. You know, wow. It was great to see you once again at that press conference, John. It was nice to see that smiles. It was nice to see you back in your element.

But who would have expected that kind of reaction from the fans? Did you expect that? I mean, that was the story. We're still talking about that press conference and the dynamic and how they cheered you and their reaction to D.C., honestly, did you think it would go down like that? No, I did it. Honestly, I had no clue what to expect.

but I definitely definitely I'm really grateful for for all the support you know it's been a long time since I've been around it and you know I definitely felt missed and it made me feel really good did that whole experience kind of give you a bit of a shot in the arm

you were sort of a month and a half away from the fight but it feels like you've been training for the last six months to be back in Vegas in front of fans people talk at you, familiar faces. Did that kind of take the training camp, you know, like if this was a car to the next year? What was the last part? You know, just...

Yeah, like, did it sort of up things for you? Did it give you a little more motivation? Just, you know, sometimes training camp, I'm assuming, can be a little mundane. Did this kind of up things a little bit just being there? Yeah, definitely. It was, uh... It had lots of value, you know, definitely encouraging.

to be around the fans and to see the level of support, to have their support, you know. And also to just be around D.C. and to see how much of the headcase the guy still is. You know, it definitely seemed like all the booze and fans' opinions really, really mess with him psychologically. And I haven't seen during the only long just to see how emotional he can get so fast. It was interesting to see. Why do you think they reacted him, reacted to him that way? You know, it could be many different things. I think, in some ways, you know, I think people are rude for me.

I think people want to see me to the right things, and I think they want to see a comeback story, a comeback story. They want to see, you know, right now I'm trying to represent a message of, like, you know, coming back from things and never given up. from your dreams and I think I represent hope in a way. You know, I, you know, I'm a guy who's really doing a lot of great things, and then I ruined a lot. I crashed and I burned, and I could have took my life and allowed it to keep spiraling down.

But instead, you know, I'm fighting to not only get back the things that I've lost, I'm fighting to live my life better than I did before, doing it sober, and taking things more seriously. And my idea for myself is to ultimately be someone that could be looked up to by kids and motivate other people and inspire other people to clean up their lives and to change their lives around. That's what I'm trying to represent. And I think somewhere I became a representative of hope for some people.

And I think D.C. is kind of representing that one person was telling you You can never be sober. You can never be this or that. You know, you can never get your life back and be on track. I think he's just the antagonist. And, you know, a lot of people have fell themselves and let themselves down. And they draw strength, seeing somebody else do the right things and turn their life around.

You see that one teacher in school was telling you, you can't do it. You can't be sober. You won't be a good person. your life is over, you don't get second chances. I just think D.C.'s trying to make himself come across as a better person to me, playing the high and mighty role. I just don't think it's going over well with the fans. I think he's in the way of a comeback story,

a comeback story maybe people want to see. After our discussion in November, one of the big takeaways was, I think, that, wow, this is a new John. He's finally being honest with the people. He's telling it like it is, and people were curious to see how the next few months would go until the fight. And then there was a bit of a speed bump, a part in the pun, where you got some tickets. And people were freaking.

People thought the fight was going to get canceled, that, you know, you would have to, you know, face some charges, your probation, all that stuff. And you went on Instagram and like, we're just talking about tickets here. Was that a reminder that, you know, this thing, you know, again, you're still not out of the, you know, you're not out of the dark. a little, you know, slip up here or there can derail all of this. How did you, how did, I know what you said in the Instagram video, but how did you react to all that? Well, you know, in a way, I felt like the media in the world show me a chance. You know, I had been doing a lot of the right things, you know, I had, you know,

I made a thing that I'm most proud of is just. You know, I'm not the party animal I used to be, you know, and I've lost a lot of friends because of that. My wife's a lot happier, and a lot of coaches and business partners are a lot happier. I'm a lot happier. I'm living healthy for the first time in my life. And so I was really proud of myself in the way that things were going. And then, you know, I'm late to practice and I'm on a back road that's really close to my house. I drive every day and nobody really is around that road.

I'm definitely going over the speed limit to get to practice on time, and I get pulled over, and I get pulled over, and I didn't have my proper paperwork. Paperwork that I always had was at home in my office instead of in my car where it should have been. And, you know, I get these tickets, and the world blew up. I mean, it literally was covered by, you know, the top media outlet to the world.

And it just was a quick reminder to me that, yeah, John, you come a long way, done a lot of things right, you're doing really good. But, you know, there's still a lot of people out there who want to see you crash and burn and never recover. So it just let me know, John, you know, you can't afford to do anything. You can't, you really have to live as close to perfect as possible. And so, you know, I really made a promise to myself that, you know, nothing would be acceptable. You know, don't speed, John, not even five miles over. you know, do everything as close to perfect as possible because I just can't afford to do anything.

You know, I really don't get second chances at this point. Was the fight in jeopardy at all when that happened? No, the fight was never in jeopardy. No, the fight was never in jeopardy. No, I, uh, no, it wasn't. It just wasn't. Okay. And, and go ahead.

I was saying, I actually, um, I actually just came, across some more tickets. Since this little since the incident I had recently, I just actually just got pulled over the other night for drag racing,

supposedly. So this is probably going to hit the media really still. I guess I'll talk about it right now, but before it comes out anywhere else here is for me. So definitely as fans

and get ready to see this world when play out. Wow. When did this happen? About, about, I don't know, three or four days ago, I, this is crazy. So I ended up getting into the first sentence for, you know, not having my proper paperwork.

And so I went to court and judge tell me, John, you know, in no citations for 90 days, and this will go away off your record. And so, we knowing that, obviously, you know, I'm driving and following the walls, you know, doing what I can just. She had trouble. And literally, I'm driving up the street called Central here in Albuquerque. I was coming back from dinner with my teammates. and I pulled up to a red light and I had these fans. They're like, they're like rolled down the window and they're trying to get me to roll down my window.

And I guess I wasn't really in the mood to talk. So I grabbed my engine at them and they like start clapping and they're smiling and they're so happy. And the light turns green and I start driving away. and I literally get pulled over like, I don't know, 10 yards after driving. You get pulled over in a 35-mile-four-hour zone, and the officer pulls me over and tells me that I was drag racing. And I was obviously really upset, and I asked him how was it possible to be drag racing in a 35-mile-per-hour zone.

And he said, well, I never said you were speeding, but I'm going to ticket to you for drag racing. And knowing that I just got a deferred sentence, knowing that it's the last thing I need to be associated with a drag race, knowing that I wasn't drag racing. I freaked out. I totally freaked out. And so, yeah, this guy ended up giving me, yeah, I freaked out pretty much and argued with this officer. And it got pretty heated, and this guy ended up giving me five tickets. What?

Yeah, he gave me five tickets. Yeah, it was foolish shit, quite frankly. Five tickets for what? Five tickets. He gave me a ticket for exhibition of driving. He said that me revving my engine was illegal. And they gave me an exorcisting of driving. He gave me drag racing, which is impossible because I was in a 35-mile-phower zone.

He acknowledged that I wasn't speeding, but he wanted to give me a ticket to drag racing. So, which is, I don't understand how you can drag race for 10 yards under 35 miles per hour and get ticketed for that. So I got a ticket for drag race. He gave me a ticket for altering my exhaust, which I didn't alter my exhaust. It was completely stocked, but he just wanted to throw that on there, too. He gave me a ticket because he was swerving lanes. He said I broke the dotted line three times, which is also simply not. true and and then he gave me another ticket for you say you couldn't see the

registration number at the bottom of my license plate because it was covered up by that I guess that frame that was around people's license plates to show where you brought the car like the car from so it was it was just excessive you know the guy really just you know picked me I think you I think you I think it's a DWI cop you wanted to find a drunk driver and I once you realized I was so over. You needed something that's to justify pulling me over. So I was kind of fabricated this whole thing that I was drag racing. And I'm going to fight it. It's definitely the last thing I need to be going through right before this fight. I'm going to fight it the best I can

because, you know, I simply wasn't drag racing. So I'm really emotional and said a whole which things I probably should have never said to a police officer. But, you know, just getting accused of something and it really pissed me off. And I definitely regret some of the things I said to the guy, but it'll be coming out here shortly. I'm sure if somebody's going to pull the tape of it or something. So whatever. Well, I mean, I got to tell you, I am thoroughly impressed that you would be the one breaking this. I don't recall an athlete, you know, who was in a situation like that, breaking the news and getting ahead of it.

So, you know, I appreciate you doing it here and kudos to you on that. And perhaps it's from a lesson learned. Well, right now, I really am. My whole life is, like, it's so public. Yeah. You know, everything I do is so public right now. I'm really walking on eggshells. So I figured, you know, I was talking about it right now.

That way I'm being progressive and not being dissentive and trying to, you know, fix the story that I'm sure is going to be, you know, Last thing, you know, John Jones drag race in that line is terrible. That's really terrible. But I thought about it now to get ahead of it, but everybody knows what's going on before it actually comes out. What's going through your mind when you're sitting in your car and this is all unfolding and you know, like you just said, your life is public? You've had the mistakes. The fight is coming up?

Are you panicking? Is that why you sort of, you said you're apologetic for some of the things that you said. Are you, like, did you have a panic? What's going through your mind? How are you reacting to all of this? Well, in the car, I started to panic right away. You know, because here I am. I just got this first sentence of, you know,

do the right thing for 90 days and your chick to go away. And so, you know, I had made a vow to myself. Not only that I'm going to do the right things because of this, the first person's just, but I'm also trying to, like, get my life again and get my life back on track. And so to get pulled over for trying to acknowledge some fans by, you know, giving them a rev of the engine, was ultimately put a huge smile on these people's face,

and then they pulled over three seconds later being accused of drag racing. You know, I felt like I was looking into the face of an absolute liar. And I honestly, I was looking for asking for Patrick Pitchard. I was like, this cannot be, you're joking me, you're joking, right? And I, I can't give you a speeding ticket, but I want to go up and give you one for drag race. I'm like, how is this possible? How do I drag race under 35 miles per hour? I don't get it.

And the guy was just really confrontational with me. So, yeah, I freaked out, man. I lost it. I completely lost it. I said a whole bunch of terrible things. The guy called him off of his name and stuff like that. Things I really regret. But I don't know.

I don't know. I lost my cool. But hopefully we can get past this. And, you know, at the end of the day, and just really focused on this fight. and I want to let my lawyers really take care of this situation. I'm going to fight it too very into because when you know you're innocent or something, you know, it's not very easy to lay down and pick shit and you've done nothing

around. So I let my lawyer handle it. I'm just going to focus on what I can control, just fight, training, staying focused, staying positive. Did you feel like they're actually, I mean, you think that you were wronged here, do you feel and I'm sure you're a pretty recognizable guy in Albuquerque with a you know probably a pretty recognizable car do you feel like they're now looking for you because you've had these run-ins do you feel like you're you know no no I don't I don't you know

um Albuquerque police environment they've been really fair to me you know I definitely haven't been the easiest the greatest citizen you know but I'm recognized that and I've made a lot of huge changes try to change that and trying to do the right things um so I'm definitely not calling out like state PD for like noticing me and choosing to harass me. I actually have a lot of friends in the department, things like that. So I doubt that's the case. I just think this officer in particular was looking for it, like a DWI or something. And, you know, so I'd try to, you know, stick me with one of those.

I once you realize that was sober. I just think he, I don't know, man. I don't know if he was in a bad mood or what, but he's definitely very confrontational a guy to talk with and deal with. He never allowed me a chance to talk, or it's just rude and sarcastic the whole time. And things are escalated really fast, so I don't know. Do you think he knew who you were? I don't know.

Honestly, I don't know. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. But I think the moment I wrote down my window to talk to the guy, I just think he knew he wasn't going to be giving me a, I don't know. I don't know. I just feel like the guy was computational

from the very first second of the conversation. So. Now, of course. Even then, you know. Yeah, yeah. You're supposed to swallow your pride and lay on the sword

and yes sir, no, sir. I had a really hard time doing that. This guy's just accusing me. I'm like, bro. Okay. Bro, I'm the last guy you can give a ticket to for a drag race. And, like, you don't understand.

Like, please don't do this to me. I said to the grass. and he was adamant that he wanted to do what he wanted to do. So he gave me five tickets, man. And it's a little shit, but that's why we're not going to sit back. We're going to really fight the thing, no, how long it takes. By the way, do you have you ever drag race? Like, is this a thing that you've done in the past that you even...

No. Okay. No, I've never drag race, ever. Ever. Now, of course, people wondering the fight less than a month away, how does this affect the fight? Is there a chance now that the fight won't happen? No, no. I don't think that's the case. You know, it's a republic that I'm a probation, so I talked to my probation officer about it right away.

Okay. And so, you know, I don't think anything is going to be happening there. And, you know, like I said, if I was guilty of it, then maybe I could possibly be in some type of trouble. It doesn't affect the fight at all, especially because I know I'm not guilty and we're going to fight it. And I just don't think it's going to affect the fight. Okay. Last question on all of this. Is there anything that you know you have to do now as far as this is, like, do you have an appearance coming up, a court appearance?

Like, is this going to be a distraction between now and then? Sometimes I know you get the court appearance, you know, right away. Do you have to deal with this before the fight or is it going to be after the fight? I'm not sure. I think I've got to go in for some type of a hearing. My plan was to send my lawyers to it. Okay. Then the actual court date will be like after the fight.

So fortunately I get to, you know, just stay focused on the fight. It is a little bit of a distraction. But like I said, when you know you're innocent of something, you don't need to really worry or stress your stuff out about it, you know. So I'm just staying extremely confident and positive. about the whole thing. And it makes me feel like, makes me feel like I'm getting ready to win that bill bit.

You know, like if everything was going smooth and easy-sellers, you know, it's like it would be a little more scary. But having little things, you know, little bumps and little things, it's that little bit of last-minute adversity before the battle to check your strength. You know, and it's like a moment.

mental test for me, you know. So I'm just, I'm just staying positive and fighting through this little bit of adversity. And, you know, I'm sprinting towards the finish line. By the way, I heard from a lot of people last week about MMA, about to be legalized in New York, Wydenman, Ratner, for T. Everyone talked about it. Andy Cott's own, John Jones. I saw a couple tweets, but what was your reaction? Is this now, you know, like, can we throw your name into that MSG hat? Is this something that is exciting you right now? what's your reaction to this? Yes, it's very exciting. Very exciting.

I've always strength of fighting at Madison Square Guard. I'm really excited to do that. It's going to be a huge honor to fight in the same arena as Al-A and Mike Tyson, so many other great combatants over the years. But what most excites me

is the opportunity to fight in Rochester, New York. You know, I've never done any thing in Rochester. And that's where I was actually born. There's a lot of kids in that city who could use my support and could use my presence being there to opt to the school and visit the Boys and Girls Clubs. I've always had a certain amount of guilt not giving back enough or giving back anything to where I'm from. So I really want to do that, you know, tap into that and not only starts to do more for that city, but to fight there.

Awesome. Right now, that's a bigger achievement for me than fighting at the garden. Wow. I'm at an arena in Rochester. Yeah, given back in that way. Wow. Is there a dream fight there that you, like this would be the perfect scenario in Rochester, this guy, these stakes.

Do you think about that? No. No one in particular. know. Okay. It's just doing it there for them. What about getting the belt back in fighting D.C. and putting this behind you? Oh, boy. Well, that's my everything, man. I don't know what you say about that. That's everything to me. I mean, I think about it all day, every day. I watch and

I watch invite Guffington and myself, Anthony Johnson, almost every day. And I have these different thoughts and new ideas coming to mind. You know, what I did run last time, you know, I was D.C., what would I do to keep me? You know, and I think about that all the time. And I think I have a pretty good at grasp and idea of he needs to do differently. And it helps me make proper alterations. I'm just really confident. I'm really confident.

Definitely more healthy than I've ever been. Cardio and my physical strength and my tactics and my tactics, you know, just really in tune. And I'm just so excited, man. Really excited. I'm getting all fucking, I'm getting all excited to talk about it right now. Wow. Did he, did things change? I know that guy, is Chai Louis Perry, his training partner.

he was on this show talking. There were some words exchange between him and your brother and you. Could it be more person? What? That was so weird that situation. So let me, I'll talk about to touch him that real quick. Sure. So me at D.C., you've seen a little sit down meet Joe Rogan in D.C.

Yeah. And so we're in there. We're talking. I can't think that he did, but we were a comcold collected, both of us. And right when the thing's done, I go outside. and me and my publisher as my manager, we're all talking about how it went. And D.C. comes out with Bob Cook, his boxing coach,

and that giant, whatever his name is, and D.C., so it's four of them, four fighters, versus me and my business partners who aren't fighters. And right away, D.C. goes like, oh, you're going to see, like, you're going to get it. And the first thing I said to him was D.C. man, let's keep this shit professional, man. We got in a fight last time in public, like,

chill out, bro. We were just face-to-face. You could have said whatever you had to say there. And the D.C. started chirping at me. I'm not sure exactly what was that. And I started chirping at him back. And then I noticed that the giant, Tai Perry, or whatever,

he would make a little remarks to snickering, and then his boxing coach was making remarks to snicker in. So I'd say something like, dude, you're talking all this crap. We've got security guards, and you got all your team at your cheerleading squad here. And so once I said that, the boxing coach right away starts yelling at me.

And Ty's started yelling at me. I remember calling him Tiny. I was like, do you shut up, dude? You guys just get in your car, get in your car, right? And for me, you know, I look at myself. Self is a bad mofo at the end of the day. and even outnumbered, I have to show that there's no weakness in my heart. And so even though it's Bob and Fox and Coach and Ty and D.C., I sit there,

you know, willing to get jumped if that's what it came down to. And I faced all four of them letting me know that I will fight all four of you right here in this parking lot. And that's what happened. They ended up getting into their car and driving away. And I guess, you know, the Ty Perry guy ended up doing all these interviews saying that I was the worst person ever. But really, the conversation was between me and D.C. and he decided to be a cheerleader and make remarks and snicker over everything D.C. said, and his little puppet. And so I had to face off four of them. So I had some things so all of them.

And I guess they didn't like that. But at the end of the day, I was minding my business. And I was outnumbered. And they ended up walking away with their toes between their legs and with their feelings hurt, all four of them. not Bob Cook. I said nothing to Bob because I would never disrespect somebody's coach. And Bob never said anything to me either. He was smart enough to mind his business. But, you know, whatever. Okay, let's end on this, John. And I appreciate the time. And really I appreciate, you know,

what you were talking about earlier and coming out and saying it first. Thank you very much for that. I follow you on social media and you're in amazing shape. And you were back in November when I saw you. I don't remember you being in this good shape this early before the fight a month out. You're always in great shape, fight night. But it's just, it's an amazing progression that we've seen, especially from the past. Do you think that can you confidently say you're going to be better on April 23rd than you've ever been? Do you expect that out of yourself all this time, everything you've dealt with? Is that a real possibility?

I don't know how it could be possible because, as I said at the top, I consider you the greatest of all time. And I would say that to anyone. but is that a real thing now? You know, I think I will be better. I think I will be better. Right now, I'm competing at a really high level here in practice. Confidence is a lot higher than ever before because I know that I'm doing the right thing.

I know that I'm taking aided extremely seriously. As far as being in shape, you know, I'm able to do things I just couldn't do before. I notice when I run mountain, and I run sprints up the hill. You know, I got legs under me now. That pushed me up the hill before I would have to, I would have to, I would work so hard, you know, having no leg muscles.

And push as hard as I wanted to. So now I have a stronger vehicle, you know, but to push harder. So I feel like I'm in the best shape I've ever been. Definitely more confident in my jihitsu. Sometimes I have these dreams of tapping out of D.C. You know, we know that he's going to be shooting in. We know he loves his head outside single. And so we've been working for months on different chokes and tissue chit-to.

And I really, if I don't submit him somehow, then I believe I'll win by decision. I just think there's no way he's going to be out pushing me. and outpacing me. No way. So I feel good. I feel good about this fight. I really feel like I'm going to win this fight. And try to keep fighting.

Keep fighting and keep moving forward. Stay positive. And isn't it funny after all this time since we spoke, Ronda loses, Connor loses, Sage, all these sort of golden boys lose that people perceive to be the UFC's golden boy, and it all coincides with the return of the king. You had to have thought.

of that, right? In time, man, a lot of things are timing. A lot of things are timing. But at the end of the day, I don't really, I don't really, I try not to compete with anybody else, man. There's room for all of us to be great. Yeah. You know what I mean?

I think once you start competing with other stars and finding jealousy in your heart, you know, that's, that's, that's, Rashad Evans just to say something. Rashad Evans said to me once, he said, uh, John, I don't wish bad upon you. You know, your star declining doesn't make my star climb any heart any higher. And I always remember that day, he said. And I've really taken that in. You know, somebody else's losing really doesn't make my stock go up. You know, it's like we all are stars in our own right in our own way.

And I try to never, ever have that mindset of competing. So, you know, ironically, yeah, a lot of the Golden Boys have lost, and now I'm returning. So I see how that can give me a sort of momentum in the eyes of as far as being a star and endorsements and stuff like that. but in any of the day, I'm not, me personally, I'm not competing with any of these guys. I know what I've done in the sport. And I beat a lot of amazing fighters.

I don't question myself because I've been out for a while. Be confident who I am. All right, fair enough. I'm going to do you one favor. Can I get you a driver for the next month? Can we just not drive anymore? Oh, Ariel got jokes. Can we just do that?

Yeah, you know, I, uh, I, uh, I, uh, That's funny. You know, my buddy, nutritious, he usually drives me in between the practice. I'm so glad to have them here. I literally, I train, and I eat, and I train and I eat, I train and I eat, I train and I eat, and then I'll see my kids at the very end of the day. And sometimes, you know, I'm so, like, out of it while I'm driving because I'm just strained, like, emotionally and mentally,

just drained and consumed by this fight. and so there's been times where I'll literally sit in my car for up to like 45 minutes after practice because I really don't have it mentally to drive my car being so exhausted. And so having him here here with me is another thing that's really allowed me to train even better because I know I can give my all at each practice

and have him there holding in water for me, you know, having a pro-tee shake already. ready for me right after my workout. He has the keys to the car. He's driving me to my next workout. He's picking me up for my workouts. And it's just, he's been such a valuable key. So a little shout out to Lou for helping me out. And I do have a driver to answer that question. Good. All right. Driver. That is great. That is great news. Let's rely on him a little more. But in all honesty, I hope that it all works out that this is, you know, just a little issue. And then we can move along and finally get to see the fight that everyone wants to see again. John, best of luck to

and really appreciate you coming on and talking about this first on this program. That means a lot. I appreciate your trust. And I wish you luck with that. And obviously, most importantly, the training camp in the fight, April 23rd, I look forward to being there and covering it in person. Thank you, John. I appreciate it.

Hey, thank you, man. They're in a great area. All right. I appreciate that as well. Thank you very much to John Jones for stopping by. Wow. Really interesting stuff. really interesting stuff there from John Jones. Wow, I didn't think we'd go in that direction.

I can't recall an athlete of his caliber coming out before something hits the quote-unquote newswire and actually telling the world that this happened, especially given his history. I mean, if nothing else, who knows what happened, I'm sure a video will emerge, an audio file will emerge, will emerge. I'm sure they'll have to answer it and it will be, you know, it will be coming up. There's no doubt about that. But to break it first, when's that ever happened? Wow. Didn't expect that. Obviously, you hope that nothing, you know, illegal was done. You hope that he's not being targeted. And, you know, selfishly as a fan, you hope that the fight is not affected because it's a fight that, as I said, everyone wants to see, everyone's excited about one of the best rivalries in UFC history. And we're, oh, so close. We're less than a month

away. So you hope that that's not going to be an issue. And you hope that he can, you know, stay out of trouble regardless of whether, you know, you just don't want to get in those situations because you never know what can happen, especially when you're on probation. So, again, I appreciate John coming out and saying it. I think that, I mean, that in its own right says something about the difference in, and who he is today as opposed to even six months ago. You hope it all works out for him and that nothing affects his life, his family, and obviously the fight itself. Thank you very much of John.

What a treat that was. Great to have him on the program. Okay. Speaking of John, let's go. Y'all must have forgot here for a second. I spoke to him five years ago. I spoke to him five years ago. Everything's okay with the stream, right?

New York, Rick? Something happened there for a second, but I think that we're all good. We're all good, right? New York, Rick? Everyone good? Anyone? Okay. I thought maybe you guys were sleeping back there or something.

Okay. That does it for today's interviews. Woo! What a ride that was. Mark Ratner? Demetrius Johnson. Henzel Gracie, CM Punk,

Juana, Yon Jacek, Johnny Bones. Woo! I'm beat. But there's plenty of show left. There's a lot more to discuss. I know you guys want to hear what happened last week.

You know, it's interesting. When I book the show, I often think to myself, okay, who are the newsmakers of the week? And how do I get either the newsmakers, him or herself or someone related to them because I need a solid show that represents the news of the past week. And this time I was like, oh, I got myself. This is great. This is perfect.

So I'll divulge a little bit. We'll talk about it. We'll air it out. And then we'll move on to happier and better and more exciting topics. But before we do that, let's go y'all must have forgot. Let's go back to my interview with John Jones, UFC 128, March of 2011, right before his title fight against Shogun right before he became champion in Newark, New Jersey. That was five years ago this month, a young John Jones, a fresh face John Jones, a John Jones who was talking about tweeting every two seconds and retweeting a different kind of John Jones. But the same guy, just a younger, maybe less mature version of him, one who had not been, you know, hadn't even stopped that perpetrator right before the fight. Remember that? The morning of the fight? I thought

it would be fun to look back at that on the heels of that interview with John live here on the show. So here it is. Y'all must have forgot me and John Jones, March of 2011, and then after the interview, we'll talk about my fun week. How about that? It's a date. You're watching the MMA hour. We'll be back in a second. Y'all must have forgot. Here it is. Ariel Hawani in Newark, New Jersey, getting set for UFC 128 alongside John Bones-Jones, who faces Maricio Shogun-Hua this Saturday night live on pay-per-view for the UFC light heavyweight And John, the moment is here. You've been talking about this for a long time. I just want to ask you first, you need to tweet because you've been averaging like one tweet every five minutes. So if you want to get that out of the way before the interview starts. I'll probably tweet this interview when it comes out. How's that?

Yesterday, I thought at the press conference, you look very calm, relaxed. You were really enjoying the moment. What have you told yourself about this? You know, this is a big deal for you. But it doesn't seem like you're reserved, you're nervous, anything like that. You just seem to be having fun out there. Yeah, I'm just going with it. You know, I'm realizing more and more that no matter what I do before the fight, they're going to lock up. us in there. We're going to have to fight each other. So I might as well enjoy the ride. You know, I would hate to look back on life and say, oh, man, you know, I remember I would just stay in my room and I would just freak out the whole time and, you know, and I ended up one of the fight anyways type of thing, you know. So I'm just realizing that they're going to lock us in there. So I might as well make the best of it, you know. I use all the media to my advantage, you know. I'll get my Twitter followers up and things like that and just enjoy it, you know. I'm fighting in New York as

well and I think it's important for me to do my part. You know, this fight is a very small compared to the scale of work that needs to be done. I'd illegalize it in the sport and in New York. So I'm just trying to do my part as much as possible and then put a cherry on top of all of it with a great performance. On the flip side of that, we talked to Shogun about the press conference and some other stuff and he called your demeanor and your behavior ridiculous and he was very upset and he thought that you were a little too confident, a little too playing to the crowd he didn't like all that stuff what do you make of that I have no clue what he's talking about I don't think I did anything that was

disrespectful I don't think I said anything that was disrespectful and I mean I find some of the things that he says about me actually disrespectful between his brother making comments about how I have no punch in power how his manager says that he was gonna kick my ASS what else what else see the countdown show how I have chicken legs and how he's gonna kick him repeatedly so you know It's okay with me. If I'm in his head, that's even better. Did you see the countdown show? Yeah, I did see it.

They seem very fired up. His manager, Eduardo Alonzo, they seem very fired up. They're not getting any respect here. Do you see where they're coming from? Yeah, absolutely, and I love it. I feel as if I've maybe gotten in their head a little bit, and maybe they feel as if they're backs against the wall. And that's great. Hopefully that brings out a really vicious show gun, and I'm definitely going to be as vicious as possible. So it calls for a great fight.

A lot of people were surprised when they found out that you've been signing your name as Champ 2011. How did that come about? You know, I believe in the law of attraction, and I believe that you can speak things into existence. And I believe that when you know where you're going and you know what you want, the universe has a way of stepping aside for you. And me signing my signature with champion 2011 on it,

it can't hurt me. It can't hurt me. It could only help me to believe it even more, you know. So, yeah, I mean, it works for me. You've been saying something that I find to be very interesting, that the butterflies in your stomach are in formation. I've never heard that before. I think it makes a lot of sense. What do you mean by that?

What do you mean about it? Okay, so the butterflies in formation, basically it means when you have butterflies and you're feeling anxious and you have anxiety or nervous, that's when you're most powerful, I believe. And either you can, yeah, you're most powerful. So a lot of people, instead of homing this power and using it, they allow it to just consume them. You know, there's another quote that says, a big challenge or big pressure is like a fire. It's like a raging fire. Either you can allow this fire to consume you and just take you over completely, or you can gain control of this fire and harness it and you blow it right at your opponent,

like it's Dragon Ball Z style. All right, so that's what I'm trying to do. I try to get my emotions under control and use this address. adrenaline to my advantage. What do you think is Shogun's biggest weakness? Shogun's biggest weakness is definitely his wrestling, and I think his jiu jih Tzu is also very overrated.

He thinks your jiu-jitsu is your biggest weakness. I think that's great that he thinks that. We'll find out. We shall. Is 50 Cent walking you out to the cage on Saturday? Unfortunately, he's not. We offered him tickets to the fight, but he's a very busy guy, and it was honored me in 50 Cent.

I think us fighters, you know, getting to have, you know, bigger celebrity friends like that can only help our sport. You know, he gave me a tweet, and I think he has about four million followers, which is more than Dana White and the UFC put together. And that educated a lot of people to, like, want to see this fight. So it could only help our sport, you know, me and 50 Cent meeting each other. You know, we're both from New York, and I think it's important for people to come together and use their power together and promote each other and things like that.

There's nothing negative that can come to me by meeting such a huge marketing tool like 50 cent and a huge icon like 50 cents. If not 50 may be Rosari Dawson? I got in trouble last time I talked about her in an interview, so we're not going to go there. Final question. A lot of people like to compare the stars of today to the stars of yesterday, and a lot of people are comparing you to Mike Tyson. At just 20-something years old, he won the heavyweight title and just started this whole new era of heavyweight. boxing. Do you see any similarities and have you studied what he went through and then what happened to him when he won the title and his decline, all that stuff? No, I don't see any

similarities between me and Mike Tyson. You know, Mike Tyson had a different mindset. He was raised differently. You know, he was a little more worldly and, you know, I come with a different message. You know, I think he got sidetracked to things. Even though he's a great guy, he's an icon. He transcends into boxing at the time. But, you know, I try to to listen to things like that. I just try to focus on being the best John Jones that I can be and, you know, keeping my message more on the positive side. And I think the only similarity is that we both achieved a lot of success at a young age. But to be compared to Mike Tyson is not what I'm looking for. Not one Rashad Evans question. Are you impressed? Thank you.

It goes down this Saturday night live on pay-per-view. John Bones-Jones goes up against Maricio Shogun-Hua for the UFC light heavyweight title. Best of luck to you, John. Thank you, sir. That's fun to look back at that. You know, you hear what he says. And same kind of guy, you know, he's still a little bit, I don't know, camera shy, if you want to call it that. Obviously, he's been through a lot in the last five years. But that's the fun part of that segment, especially when you can talk to the guy in 2016 and then go back to just days before he became the light, heavyweight king. He attempts to get that title back in less than a month.

and we hope that nothing stands in his way. We hope that we can see the fight. And I sincerely hope. I know I was kind of joking there at the end, but it would be good, and he's been asked this before. You know, maybe for the next month, just get a driver. You know, maybe if you think that you're being targeted, just get a driver.

You know, maybe that's for the best. Get a sweet ass, Rolls Royce, get a Bentley, get something. Or get a Kia. I don't know. Get a, maybe it's a little weird to have a driver if you've got, you know, a fancy sports car. But one of those old school classic, cars where you can just chill, you know, like Connor was doing, have some breakfast in the back.

Do your thing. You don't have to worry. You can text and drive because you're not driving. Maybe that's the way to go. Anyhow, we appreciate John and everyone stopping by today. This was a very important show and a show that I wanted to, I wanted to have this big lineup because, you know, a funny thing happened last week when all this came out about, you know, me parting ways with Fox. And again, I will reiterate what I said earlier in the show. I've never felt like this show should be about me or, you know, a place for me to stand on a soapbox and lecture people or tell you about my personal life. I mean, very rarely do I even tell you about my interests or my family, things like that. These days maybe a little bit talk about, you know, the Nix or my Syracuse Orange that are in the final freaking

for things like that but i i i usually stick to the script because i understand that this shows the mma hour and that you follow me for mnm news and mma content and may interviews and i don't want to take that for granted i am not naive though i know people like juicy stories and i and i know people you know want to know what happened and you come to me to ask questions and to find out answers so if if something is affecting me then you you want to know the the answers to those questions i get that. But I will reiterate what I said earlier, and that was, you never aspire to be in the news. You want to report on the news. That's why I did this. Trust me, I did not become an MMA journalist back in 2006, 2007, because I heard that MMA journalists were making a boatload of cash.

That's certainly not why I did this. And it wasn't because I wanted to be famous or anything. I love the sport. Love covering the sport. Love reporting on this sport. And most importantly, love talking to the fighters. I love everything about being an MMA journalist. And that's a, that's a title that means a whole lot to me. And it's very important to me. And I know in the past, people have accused me of not being that or not being true to that. It's funny. I hear from people in other organizations who call me a shill and others in other organizations who say that I'm too tough. It's like, you can never please everyone. And maybe that's a sign. that you're doing things right, when everyone thinks that you're not being fair to them.

Maybe that's a sign. I don't know. That's what someone told me. But when I went to Syracuse, when I left Montreal in 2001 to go pursue a degree in broadcast journalism and left everything behind and that's not something that is done in Montreal, that's because I sincerely loved journalism. I loved the idea of having a career in this. And there were, you know, that was a weird time for me.

I've talked about it before. were definitely some lessons that I learned back then. I've said this, I don't know if it's been on this show, but in other interviews, in 2001, I told my parents that in 10 years, I believe that this sport is going to be mainstream. I told them that when that time comes, there are going to be executives who are going to be sitting in an office somewhere and saying, all right, I guess we have to start covering MMA. I guess we're going to have to start covering the UFC. Who's the guy? And my goal in 2001 was to be that guy in 10 years, to almost force their hand. I had a feeling. It's before tough. I had an MMA radio show in college. I followed. I bought all the paper

views. I just had a feeling. Luckily for me, August of 2011, the UFC signs a deal with Fox. Out of Spike TV, signed a deal with Fox. And wow, there's a lot more on the menu. There's a lot more content to be produced. There's pre-fight shows and post-fight shows and all this stuff. And this is potentially exciting because it's 10 years later, but it's also the big leagues. It's Fox. It's all that good stuff. That day, I credit Dana White with this. A few days before the announcement, he gave me the heads up. He gave me the heads up that something big was going down in L.A. on that Thursday. I believe it was August 12th of 2011. And so I went to L.A. I mean, I wasn't just in the neighborhood.

I was there, but I had a premonition. I had a tip. So I went to L.A. to cover that. I wanted to be there. That was a no-brainer. That day, I met with some Fox executives about the potential of working. And again, I have to give props.

I don't even know if I get that sit down, if not for Dana White. I'm being honest. I don't even know if that happens. I truly owe a lot. I've said it in many interviews. He gave me the time of day before most wouldn't, gave me interviews, always said, ask away, never said stop. And even if, you know, for whatever reason, he doesn't ever want to talk to me again, I still owe him a heck of a lot. And so I got that sit down.

And in that sit down, I was told that, hey, look, we're about to get in a relationship here. We're about to start covering the UFC and doing a whole bunch of stuff. But we are going to stay true to ourselves and to journalism. and we're going to tell stories when they need to be told. That always stuck with me. I never forgot that. I was like, wow, this is great. Because you wonder, as people have since then, you wonder, what's going to happen?

You know, what is this going to be? That was on the first day. Three or so months later, I actually got hired to be on UFC tonight as the insider. Now, that show was predominantly on Fuel TV, but this is, this is huge. This is my first full-time TV job. this is exciting this is end of 2011 and it's important to note that time frame why it's important to note that time frame because it was actually around that time and i'm so happy it worked out this way around that time s b nation bought m m ming fighting from aOL i got a call before the ufc on versus i believe it was

six, if I'm not mistaken. The one in Washington, D.C., Demetrius Johnson versus Dominic Cruz. I got a call from a higher-up saying that they would like to meet me in Washington. Am I going to be at the event early October? And if so, they'd like to meet me. I didn't know why. I said, yeah, sure, you always want to meet people. It doesn't matter what's going on. You're working for AOL. You actually have a relationship with Ariana Huffington. They just bought AOL or AOL bought them and things are going well. We've transitioned to MMA Fighting.com from MMA fanhouse. We got a job in MMA, two years strong.

I was hired in 2009, working with great people like Mike Chiapetta and Ben Folks. And I don't know if Michael David Smith was still there. Brian Tucker, editor, who's still there, me and him, the last ones left. Things are going great. I'm told you want this meeting. Okay, let's sit down and talk. Yeah, sure. What do you want to talk about?

I'm told in that meeting, October of 2011, that SB Nation has bought MMAfighting.com. Maybe it was 2010 now that I'm thinking. The point is, it's a few months removed. SB Nation has bought MMAfighting.com. And I was pissed. I was so disappointed. I was devastated. What?

Eh, well, that's our home. That's where they treat us great. This is the unknown. I didn't know what's going on at SBA. I didn't know who these, these bosses. were, these coworkers were, what is happening here? I was very reluctant. And the deal went through, it happened, we really had no choice. I can sit here five or so years later and tell you that every single thing, every single thing, every single thing, I'll say it again, that those men

promised me back then when we met for the first time and they told me that this site was being sold to SP Nation to what became Vosk. media, every single thing that they promised me that they spoke to me about that they said would happen, happened and then some. Every single thing I cannot think of a single example, even on this show. When there's an issue, they get on it. They do everything they can. And yeah, we're kind of the little train that could, but we freaking work our ass off, everyone here, and we make it happen. Every single thing that they told me what happened, happen, and then some. When I said, hey, let's do the MMA beat, can you start on Thursday? Let's do it. Everything. Every

single thing that they told me was possible. Was a possibility, is a possibility, has happened, will happen. I mean, to say it's impossible to be treated better than I am treated working for this company. Honestly, if I didn't mean it, I wouldn't say it right here. I'm not that kind of guy. And so why am I even talking about this now? I am talking about this now because unfortunately, the juxtaposition of both jobs kind of starting at the same time, and the differences couldn't have been more clear from the get-go. And that's just being the truth. That's just telling the truth, I should say. That's just being honest. I will tell you this. I have never in my life quit anything. I don't quit. I'm not a quitter. I've been frustrated. I've wanted to leave, but I don't quit things.

I see them out. And to me, seeing it out was this UFC on Fox contract. I was very proud of the fact that I was very proud of the fact that I only missed one episode in the history of UFC tonight. Why? Because my firstborn son, Oliver, had just been born and I said I would be there. They told me to take the week off. I never missed another episode.

when I had family issues, when I had health issues, never missed it. Didn't have a voice, didn't miss it. Had to travel, didn't miss it. Never missed it. I was very proud of that. I was very proud of the fact that I was one of the first people, on-air people to be hired for that show and for that channel, that coverage. That meant a lot to me to get that opportunity.

And it wasn't something that I was going to give up, despite the frustrations. Despite the fact that I felt like I couldn't grow, I wasn't given opportunities. I was given one-offs and then nothing. I was given promises and then nothing. I was pulled from things here. I was pulled from things there. I was told things. I'm not quitting.

I'm not going to try to be the best that I can be. Thank God I still had this job to remind me how great and lucky I was to be in this situation, how great this situation is and was. And so I was never going to walk away. So I can tell you right here, I did not quit that job. I did not leave that job. I did not leave that place.

I was sticking around. There was no doubt about it. There's a lot of smart people on the internet. There's a lot of smart people out there. You can probably guess what happened. I don't need to go into that. I want to have a career. I want to cover this sport.

There's no need. You can guess it. Read the stuff that's out there. I don't know how people are so smart, but you're spot on. I didn't respond to anything. I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't retweet anything. I didn't do any of that.

I put out my statement. I wanted to take the high road, and that's what I'll be doing. But I would be longing to you if I didn't say that I am hurt by what happened. To dedicate four plus years, to show up,

to never be wrong with one scoop, to never be wrong with one story, to never back out of an assignment and then to just be given you know a two three minute phone call and say see ya no real reason thanks but no thanks that's it that's all and I would be lying if I didn't say that there were people that I worked with very closely on a daily basis that I've still not heard from can you imagine that can you imagine that to be to to to to to to to to like you actually did something wrong. Can you imagine that? So I would be long if I didn't say that, you know, I had a bit of a heavy heart. But I would also be lying if I didn't say that,

you know what, I'm at peace. And I do think that this is for the best because I don't wish any ill will towards anyone. I hope that the coverage continues to be great. I hope that the ratings continue to go up. I'm sorry that I won't be, you know, a part of it. But I do believe that there are silver linings. I do believe that when one door closed and I'm a weird guy like that. I believe those things. And maybe it was time for a freshening up. But man, I got to tell you, the people that reached out and you would be shocked at the people that reached out, the names, people that I had not heard from in years. Texts, phone calls, wow, you don't want to go through that. It's a weird thing. You don't wish that. But wow, was that.

an amazing thing. I mean, I can't even tell you. I will be thankful for life for that. I did not expect that. I really didn't. I love covering this sport. I love it more than anything. And I'm not going to change and I'm going to be here. And I had a lot of people say, I'm going to miss you. And you were, you were great to watch or listen to. Please don't forget that this is my home. This is my full-time job. This is what I showed up every Monday here. I'll be there Thursday. Don't forget about that. I'm not going anywhere.

That was a great part-time gig. It was cool to be on TV and I hope I get that opportunity again. But this is my job. This is not changing. I'm still covering the sport and I'm going to cover it as fairly and honestly and unbiased as possible. And partially, I love the sport. I cannot imagine doing anything else. So I think some people got confused.

and I get that. It's sexy. Being on TV, I get all that, but nothing's changing. And yeah, you bet your ass. That's why I wanted to have a lineup like we did today.

That's why I asked these people to come on the show because I want to remind you I'm not going anywhere. And oh, by the way, this wasn't the first time. I had a feeling. I knew these things were,

you know, it's probably going to happen. I wanted to fight it through, but this wasn't the first time. This wasn't the second time. longtime viewers and listeners of this show know wasn't the first time if i ever get to the position of being a leader and executive things like that i have now gotten the the playbook as to how not to treat people that have been working for you for years i know it now i'm good and and thanks

to the people at this company i know exactly how to treat people and how to treat people that go to bat for me and work for me and pour everything and vote a lot of time and travel and do all that that stuff. I know exactly because of the people right here at Vox and at MMAfighting.com. And so yeah, I'm bummed. But I don't think that, you know, this is certainly not the last. You'll see of me or hear of me. I'm still here. I'm still doing M.A. fighting. I'm not going anywhere. I love the team here. I love everyone that I work for. And I wish everyone over there the best. You could probably guess what happened. You're all very smart people. It doesn't take a rocket scientist. I really honestly do not hold any ill will.

I could be hurt. I could be a little sad, but I don't wish. I really don't. I honestly don't. I hope you believe me. I don't wish anything bad on anyone. I think it was for the best. It was time to move on.

I wish it was handled differently. But that's it. I didn't want this to happen, but it's fine. The universe has a funny way of working out. It will be fine. We will cover this sport. We'll have fun. We'll do the show.

And that's pretty much it. And I think that's pretty much all I really have to say. I don't know. If you have any other questions, I was kind of quiet up until this point about it. But that's kind of it. It's over. It's done. Let's move on.

We're good here. We got a lot to talk about. Chris Freak and Cyborg is fighting at UFC 198. Finally, remember where you heard that first. Kudos to Leslie Smith. Stepping up, asking to fight. But in conclusion, I don't know what happened. It doesn't really matter.

I was on maybe borrow time. I don't know. You can read the stuff that's out there. You can make your own hypothesis. But, you know, I hope to be covering this sport until I'm done. And I hope to be a part of this team. And if other opportunities pop up, television, whatever, great. That would be awesome. It would be awesome. It's a beautiful thing. It's a different experience. I'm happy here. This is a dream job. Doing this show, it's a dream. So that's really what I took away from it. A reminder once again how lucky I am. And I think that's it. New York,

do you have any questions for me? Well, I mean, this is the first I'm hearing of all this. Yeah, I know. Well, I didn't want to tell you. I mean, you knew what happened. No, I mean, this is the first I'm hearing of any of this. No, I'm just kidding. Obviously, yeah, we're here.

We just did a great show and we're happy to have you. So there's nothing you want to ask me? No, not really. that's that I'm not the interviewer yeah well no but sometimes you I mean you did come up to me you did come up to me before the show it said give me the scoop so clearly you know well it seems like you saved the good stuff for on air well I mean that's that's the way it should be I learned that from my main man Howard Stern you know sometimes I don't like talking about personal stuff you know that as well you know as as well as anyone but I understand and and I don't know maybe

maybe people are going to be disappointed with, you know, I'm not going to go into the nitty-gritty. I'm not going to name names. I'm not going to put people on blast. I'm not going to wish bad. I'm not going to burn bridges. There's no point in that. I do believe, I know that some people were disappointed a couple years ago when that wacky situation happened where I just kind of disappeared. And I told you, I did promise you, I did promise you that, you know, I will tell you all someday, right? You remember that, right? I do remember that. And by the way, I still, I still plan on, staying true to that word and maybe one day you know I'll tell more at my book you remember I told you the book is going to be called the highway to hellwani right highway to hellwani that's a perfect

way to describe my journey um in this sport what a what a what a what a wild and wacky life it is but it's the best I love it so I sure maybe one day we'll talk more but I feel do you feel I mean look I didn't prepare anything my wife told me before she said goodbye to me today she said you know she said, you don't have anything written? You're not going to write anything? That makes me nervous, she was saying. I can't write anything. You know, I can't, I can't do that. I don't write any questions. There's nothing on my screen right here except for your G-chat. So I don't know if I missed anything. Maybe tonight I'll think of something else that I wanted to say. But, you know, again, I'll just want to reiterate. You know, I thank the people at Fox. I really do. I had some great

times there. They gave me some opportunities. Full-time job on TV was a dream. To hold that microphone for the first time was a dream. No ill will. You know, it's a bummer. especially when I feel like, you know, I always try to stick to the script and stay true to myself and do what I was told. I know for a fact, anyone who tells you otherwise, I know for a fact, I did nothing wrong. And, you know, that's, I mean, it probably had stuff, it probably had something to do with the stuff that was talked about on this show or other shows that I do on this website, as kooky as that may sound. You get what I'm saying? But, you know, I know for a fact that I did nothing wrong. and you know if if i'd love to hear from from some people there if they don't want to talk to me that's fine but i i i walk away with my head held high knowing that i did everything that was asked of me

and i know now how you know how i want to be treated how how others should be treated and again i thank the people here for for teaching me about that and that's pretty much it i don't know i'd say that's a good summation of it all right this ain't the end it's not a goodbye we're just moving on We're just moving on. You know what was funny. You know it was funny? Sure. Right after all this happened, this happened right after the, my wife's going to hate me for talking about this, but right after this show, this happened.

I mean, and it happened like, you talk about a Band-Aid, this was like one of those mini-band-aids. That's how quick it was. Boom. Done. What? Okay. I sat down and lo and behold, my favorite, one of my favorite movies of all time was on TV. What is that?

Catch me if you can. Do you know Catch me if you can? The Leonardo DiCaprio? Yes. Have you ever seen it? I have. Oh, now I'm forgetting his name. Christopher Walken, the dad, Frank Abagnale.

And what's the scene? He's talking about two mice fall in a cup of cream, right? One mouse drowns. The other one works so hard to get out. He churns the cream so much, it turns into butter. He gets out. And he says, I'm that second mouse. and I'm a weirdo like this.

I was like, wow, he's talking to me. Christopher Walken is talking to me. I could have sat there, and this is a lesson, and punk said it himself, you can lick your wounds or you can move on and hope for bigger and better and be appreciative of what you have. And it was amazing that that would come on right as all this was happening. It was really something else. So, you know, that's me.

That's who I hope that you guys are. and, you know, if there's any, if there's any lesson that I could give to anyone watching or listening, it's just, you know, don't feel sorry for yourself. Don't lick your wounds. You know, better things are ahead and, you know, treat people the way you want to be treated because, again, the world has a funny, funny, funny, funny way of working itself out. Everything will be all right. That's it. Like my main man, Bob Marley said, what do you say? Woke up this morning. Smile to the rising sun. Three little birds.

Reach for my doorstep. I think it's four or by. Singing sweet songs, a melody pure and true. Do you think I've heard the song enough that I would have. This is my, don't worry. Bo do-do-do-do about a thing. Okay, let's go to the questions.

I would sing with you, but embarrassingly, I don't know any of the words to that song. Because every little thing. Yes. one question actually let's do one question for you and then we'll go to the questions okay yes please from you from me here's the question

Mazel to it's the only one that matters what does that mean for the people what are we getting out of Ariel Hawani moving forward what does that mean for where you know where Ariel Hawani stands where are we going to see them what's the deal this is a great question you've come a long way as an interviewer what does that mean

look this is what it means in all honesty as far as this job is concerned means nothing I mean, really. Actually, I take that back. This is what it really means. You see today's show? Did you see today's show?

Did you see today's lineup? That's always been the goal. I've told you this before. But you know in the past how when I miss a show, I feel like I owe the people something? Well, this time in a weird way, I felt like I owed them something. And so I am more motivated than ever.

I am more dedicated than ever. I am just more fired up than ever to be the best that I can. can be to be the best journalist to represent to represent you know syracuse and the education and the ethics that i was taught there to do this the sport right to do journalism right to do it all right and that's it and that's what it means so you can expect a better me you can expect you know and i know that's kind of cliche but that's the damn truth that really is every damn show is going to be the best it can possibly be every m mb will be the best it could possibly be and uh you know i i will i will be

hopefully covering this sport until we're done and great fights, great stories, great interviews, all that stuff. But I am freaking fired up right now. And so I think that affects the viewers of this show, the loyal viewers, who go out there on iTunes and give us the stars and the ratings and the comments. Let's bump those bad boys up. I think that affects them very well. That's a good reminder.

Five star iTunes. Yeah. Let's work on that people. Come on. Okay. Now let's move along to their question. First question. Name on the dotted line. I know it's just a formality at this point, but has the governor signed the bill yet? And if not, when does that happen?

By the way, when I talk to you, there's a bit of an echo. I don't know if there's something in that room. Do you guys hear it? I can hear it, but I have my cans on. I think, no, I think we're okay. We're good. Okay. So, um, essentially, when is the ink dry on that? When does the governor sign? Oh, you know, that that's something that hasn't been really, discussed and probably, you know, something I probably should have asked Mark Ratner at the beginning of the show. But if you recall, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, put it in his budget, which was a huge sign, a huge, huge, what's the word that I'm looking for? Endorsement?

Yes, photo confidence, endorsement, all that good stuff and more. So Andrew Cuomo putting in his budget, you know, told everyone that he's cool with it, that he recognizes the economical impact of the sport in the state. So that's a formality. But the 120 days, those are the days that you should look out for. You know, and nothing's going to happen before that. So what's 120 days? 30, 60, 90, 120.

That's four months. And we're end of, we're like April now. So August, I maintain, and I'd love to hear your thoughts, I maintain UFC should be the first event in the state of New York because they got it done. And I know that it's probably favoritism, whatever, as, a symbolic gesture, I feel like it should be done. What do you think of that?

I don't know. I mean, it's a free market. If somebody else can get in there quicker, then I say more power to them, but certainly the UFC deserves a credit for that. Even if somebody else comes in first, certainly the UFC deserves the credit on that. They're piggybacking off all the efforts of the UFC.

But, you know, if somebody else swoop, in and gets it done. That's just the name of the game. That's just the name of the game. Hmm. All right. Next question.

Your cold-hearted snake, as Paul Daly. Paul Abdul once said. I can be. GSP at MSG. First, GSP was at UFC 196. Now he was at a NICS game. I think this was tweeted out by the NICS. Yes, my main man, Jonah Ballo.

That's right. That's right. Of NYNX.com. Good man. We had him in the studio one time. The best. What are the odds of GSP headlining, or at least being a part of the first UFC event in New York City? And who does opponent be, potentially?

Well, how about Henzo Gracie dropping the bomb today? We had a few bombs today. A few bombs. By the way, it appears as though TMZ has now posted a video of John Jones in this whole incident. I have not watched it, but it seems like, yeah, it seems like something has been posted already. That was quick. I mean, who am I to say that Henzhou Gracie is a liar, right? Right?

You cannot disrespect the mayor of New York, Hensel Gracie. So no, he is not a liar. I would love to see it. Opponent? Who would you like to see GSP come back against? I don't think it's going to be for the belt. I really don't. I get the impression that they want it to be for the belt. I get the impression that, you know, this has been discussed, this has been offered.

But I also get the impression. that now he doesn't want to be bogged down by that he just wants to fight you know not every six months not be tied to the belt and you know what I mean I don't I don't feel like that's what he wants in my mind there's only one reason the Connor actually I guess there's two but one makes more sense the other there's only one reason uh that Connor McGregor would want the the upcoming fight with nadeez at 170 and that would be to win that and piggyback that into a fight with gsp because that would be huge box office I guess the other reason about him, you know, wanting to recreate the circumstances and that type of thing seems a little less legitimate to me.

So perhaps Connem Regger is anticipating, you know, beating Nate Diaz and pitching himself a GSP fight. And I think that would be huge, obviously, GSP versus Cona McGregor. Sure. So if that's the case, I could potentially see that being what happens. I don't know. There's a lot of, you know, dominoes to fall there. By the way, I would have mind seem against Robbie Lawler. I just don't know if that's of interest to him.

Well, that's what I'm saying. I think if I'm GSP, the landscape is essentially, I want Connor McGregor. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you essentially want him to flourish as much as he can? Oh, absolutely.

Look, he was at 196. Yeah. He knew was up. He wasn't just there to watch history. He would have taken that fight. He would have taken that fight. He would have taken that fight. He would have taken the Nate Diaz fight.

You know, if it presented itself his coach, as he said on the show last week, and also as he's been, doing on Twitter, obviously very, they're very calculated those guys. They know what they're doing. So I just don't know if there's fights out there that are of interest to him. I don't think the Anderson fight is of interest right now, perhaps given his history as of late and the weight class issues. I don't know if there's an obvious answer. That's the problem. I don't really want to see the Nick Diaz fight again. Do you? Maybe, I don't know. I'm sure I'd get into it, you know,

but I don't know if that's not my first choice. My colleague Kenny Floreen said that that would be his first main event. It's got to be, the first main event has got to be. If Connor wins at 200, it's got to be Frankie Edgar, right? It has to be. And Jones needs to be on the card and Wydeman. Although you can't have three title fight. It's going to be interesting.

And Rhonda, man, I think that the MSG card is bigger than UFC 200. Do you agree? How about hold off? Okay. MSG versus UFC 200. What do you think is the bigger shell? UFC 200 or the UFC's debut in New York. So you're leaning MSG.

I might be biased. I might be biased. It's hard for me to also weigh in obvious without being, you know, without showing my bias. I mean, I guess, you know, the simple answer is we don't know enough about UFC 200 yet. We don't know if they're hedging and essentially saying, let's take a mulligan. We promoted UFC as the biggest thing ever. But really, it's kind of another numbered event. let's push toward the MSG card.

It's historic. It makes more sense. Or if they're going to pull out all the stops and do whatever it takes to make USC 200 prestigious. I think, you know, they've probably had to revise strategy up to this point. So it really depends on how 200 shakes out. Less so than MSG. I think we know that they're going to stack the deck for MSG. So it really comes down to what they can get done for 200.

Yeah. And we don't know anything really at this point. it's going to be interesting you know how about this okay next question parley's off it USC 198 looks to be better than both so far

I was just going to mention that yes go ahead what do you think of that card is that the deepest card and will that potentially be bigger than 200 an MSG I mean 198 looks hard to top um one 98 is great because it's perfect for that market because you have now

three of curitiba's own um Anderson Silva shogunhua Chris Cyborg at 140 pounds in case you missed it against Leslie Smith and I got to be honest I got to be honest I love the fact that Cyborg is there

but I was expect with all due respect to Leslie I thought that they would give her you know a bit of a step up in competition are we not on the same page here we are so on the same page that the next question addresses that okay okay well let's talk about this first that is a fantastic card for that market and I think it's a card that Brazil very much needed

I think that they got very excited and there was reason to be excited about Brazil as a market. And as has been the case, they went to that well, one too many times. And I think that market started to suffer as a result. Now here they are recommitting themselves to Brazil. Less shows, better shows, going to a stadium with

the Brazilian heavyweight champion headlining it, with Anderson Silva on it, with Shogunhua on it, with Vitor Belfort on it, with Jacare on it, with Cyborg on it. Who else is on it? I believe, isn't John Lineker on it as well? That's correct, yeah. I mean, this is an amazing card.

The only weird thing about the whole card, if I'm being honest, and this is completely nitpicking. Belford versus Jacquet is a little weird because it feels like it's all Brazil versus the world, and that one feels like Brazil and Brazil crime. You know what I mean? Yeah, maybe, but I mean, that's the fight to make anyway, so. I do see that.

I'm looking at the card now, and it is Brazil versus the world. in every other fight. I feel like the crowd there is going to be a little bit confused. Who do you think they cheer for? The legend or the up-and-comer? I have to think, well, I mean, let's be real. Jaka-Rae is not a spring chicken anymore. Yeah.

So I don't even know if he's an up-and-comer, but I'd say, you know, the crowd has always been more partial to Vitor as far as my estimation, so I think Vitor will be... Vitor looking swole as of light. Did you see Guillermo Cruz tweet out a picture of him? I didn't see that, but... Oh, my.

He's... It's... It's not that far away. Actually, it's in two months. Less than two months. Okay, so let's talk about a cyborg on that card. Next question. What are your thoughts on her fighting, Leslie Smith?

This person was saying... This person says I was hoping to see Suburk challenged if she fought in the UFC and throws out the names Katzangano and Holly Holm. Okay. Options were discussed. As I told you weeks ago, on UFC tonight, options were discussed. They looked at many. different options. Some really high, some really, really intriguing, and then there were others.

To me, the best option was Jermaine Daryondami. I thought that was the best way to introduce her. That's a good fight. Because that's a high-level striker who, you know, could use a big challenge, who, you know, we had high hopes for it, didn't really pan out yet. It's not quite, because I don't, look, if it's Holly Home, it doesn't make sense if it's Holly Home. To me, it doesn't make sense. It would have made more sense maybe at a 200, but on this card, it doesn't make sense. Holly should be in that Misha Tate discussion, at least right now, until we know what's going on with Ronda Rousey. I don't think it makes sense to knock one of them off. And Kat, I mean, she's promising an epic fight and all that. That fight's done, and we've already talked about what it is in the past.

Can't talk about it right now, but if you look into the archives, you can see what the fight is. a lot of people thought it was cyborg. Obviously, it's not cyborg. So I like the Darondami fight. I think Smith, this speaks to who she is. You know her? I mean, this is a great person, a gamer, someone who is not afraid of any challenge. And from what I understand, she was like, sign me up.

I just won against the legend Rindakai, sign me up. I want this opportunity once the news started to come out. So I give her a ton of props and go for it. Let's see how she does. Don't overlook the 140 thing, though. This is an important part of the whole equation. Could this be, you know, the final road to 135? She's never gone to 140 before.

I'm talking about cyborg here. So that's an opponent in its own right. And I think maybe they wanted to not throw in the deep end of the pool so she can at least conquer that challenge. But it's time. They had to do it. With all due respect to Invicta, Zufa is paying her. They have to try to capitalize on it.

I think, though, 198 is stacked enough. 200 could use a special attraction. this is a special attraction, I would have saved it for 200 if it was me. Do we need to see Cyborg at 135 ever? I mean, if she wants to fight for the belt, absolutely. I mean, but this comes into play. Do the belts mean as much? In fact, that's a question we have later.

Well, Connor and Nate are redefining the game. Yeah. You know what I mean? Do the belts matter as much or do big money fights sell? I think in this day and age, my eyes open very much when when Bill Simmons was talking to Dan Wetzel on his podcast and talked about how the belts meant nothing, he'd even know who was fighting for what belt,

he'd even know it wasn't for a title fight. That got me thinking that the general public at the end of the day just wants to see special attractions. To us, it means a lot. I like the belts. That's something that I've always loved about the UFC. You had back in the day five weight classes, then it went to eight, now there's 10, I believe.

I liked it. It was all very neat. But as we learn more about weight cutting and IVs and all this stuff and there's a big gap between some of the higher weight classes, I don't feel like a fighter, honestly, should kill him or herself just to fit a nice little box. So if Chris Ibro can only fight at 140 and 145,

then to hell with it. Just let her fight it that way. I think it comes down to this. If you're one of the fighters, the rare few, who has the option to fight for the belt or to choose a fight that potentially does bigger money, bigger box office,

I think they're going to continually take that bigger fight. whereas there are some fighters who aren't afforded that opportunity. They don't have the promotional skills. They aren't able to carry a card by themselves and will need to continue to chase the championship. But if you're a Connor McGregor or somebody of that ilk, I think we're going to see, we're going to continue to see that super fights, you know, quote unquote super fights are the way that this bread is going to be buttered. And the belts are not going to mean as much for the fighters that are. are fortunate enough and can carry a promotion like that.

Is there anything about Diaz in these questions? No. Well, I was just saying, I mean, what Diaz has done over the past week or so. Absolutely. And by the way, if there was any doubt that I wasn't down with the 209, that the 209 was a fan of the nose that Nick and Nate were on this team right here. If there was any doubt, I mean, you saw it last week. That was one of the coolest things that anyone's ever done for me.

period in my life, really, to go on national TV and say, or live TV, cable TV, whatever you want to say that, wow, I did not expect that. Shout out to Rory McDonald's too. I mean, showing the love. Look, I said it before, every single fighter, manager, everyone. And Rory, you know, yeah, what can you say? Yeah. But Nate, I think in the last week has done a fantastic job of getting people excited for

the potential rematch, which has not yet been officially announced. So we can't put it in stone just yet. We can't, you know, put it on our little calendar. Things can happen. Crazy things can happen. But I think over the past week, the media that he's done, in particular on that Wednesday, and then he was on Sports Nation, I think, with Kellerman and Beetle on Thursday. He's just coming out of his shell.

The story about Jerry Rice, did you see that? I did. It was a great story. It's just beautiful. I love it. And the thing about Nate is the authenticity just kind of shines through it. There's no gimmick there, and it just people identify with that. People feel like he's just...

There's something endearing about him. Completely endearing. Yeah. Especially when he's got that tight. It's not the same type of way that other people promote fights. It's completely different. And that's what's so great about this.

Number one, pound for pound. In your opinion, who is it? John Jones, Demetrius Johnson. John Jones. Completely agree. I think he never lost that. Definitely, you know, he wasn't inactive long enough, in my opinion, for even the conversation to really pop up.

John Jones is the best. Enough with jumping around every time someone fights. I mean, this is indisputable. With all due respect to everyone, it's indisputable that John Jones is number one. And enough with the revision is history. You know, like, oh, Rampage was old. No, these guys were in their prime when he beat them.

If Connor had gone up in his first attempt and beaten Nate, or more convincingly, if he had beaten RDA for that title, I think there would be a conversation to be had about that. if Connor became the number one. But for all intents and purposes, for the foreseeable future, John Jones is number one. Absolutely. I think we can all agree on that.

Absolutely. And I hope, I mean, again, I haven't seen this footage that people are reacting to. You know, you hope he didn't do anything wrong. At the end of the day, you really hope that, you know, you didn't break any laws. You hope that this doesn't stand in his way of his comeback. Because I will tell you this, I have been checking in with the Greg Jackson's, with the Mike Winkle Johns, with the Brandon Gippinsons. I mean, people of the highest integrity possible.

I mean, you feel the same way about him. I feel the same thing I was saying about BJ when he was coming back. If those guys are on board, I'm on board. And I had been checking in with them, not for stories, not for scoops, just how is John doing? And they kept saying he's doing great. And so, you know, you hope that this doesn't happen. We address this quickly. Let's maybe summarize it.

Do the belts mean less in 2016? Diaz-McGregor being the biggest example of that. Connor is a title holder has no interest really in defending his belt versus taking a big money fight. Benson Henderson, on the way out, he was communicating that there's more important things than the U.S.C. belt. What is the importance of the belt at this point? I think it's still important. I think it still means something. I think that paper viewpoints and prestige and history, it means something, definitely. Look at Demetri's Johnson talking about breaking Anderson's record.

It still means something. I make no mistake about it. I believe we sat here a month ago or just about that. and had a question very similar to this. And my answer was that the belt was still more meaningful and that people were still chasing that. And now I feel like I've completely flip-flopped on that. At least in terms of what certain fighters, as I said,

who have that opportunity view it as. In my opinion, I think the belt is the most important thing. Personally, like if I was in the sport, I'd be chasing the belt. You need that. There needs to be something at the top of the mountain. But I guess the question is, let's say Connor didn't have the 145-pound belt. I think he'd be chasing that more so than bigger fights.

I think the championship gives you that legitimacy and allows you to kind of open those doors for the bigger money fights. Absolutely. Don't be mistaken by the Connors and Ronda's of the world. Very unique. There's very few. Let's just say the... Frankie Edgar.

He's the best one that we can point to right now. Well, the Bantamweight Division doesn't have that. Those are shooting stars that come once in a lifetime. And every other division, there's a reason why DJ is now saying, I'm just going to stick to this division and try to make history. You don't hear Dominic Cruz saying, I'm going to go fight Connor McGregor. You know, there's John Jones talking about heavyweight maybe one day, but let's not forget that at the end of the day, these fighters, man or woman, they want the belt because once you get the belt, you get more things like paper viewpoints, you renegotiate, you get sponsors. You can't do that without that belt. And also don't forget that these people talking superfights already have the belt.

No one's skipping the belt to the super fight. You need the belt first. Lombard. Hector Lombard recently announced he's moving up to middleweight. Yes. What do you think of that switch? I think it's smart. No IVs.

You know, this new era that we live in. It always seemed like, I mean, you're going to see this. You're going to continue to see this with many guys. He ran out of gas. First time he's finished. You got to switch it up. I think the weight cutting is a big deal. Who do you like for him?

Potentially. Oh, my. You know, I didn't think of that. Would you bring him back against a top guy or maybe ease him into it? I think you need to ease him into it. It's been a while since he's been a middleweight. So I think, you know, potentially somebody on the lower end of the top 10 or 15 than throwing them right in the water right away.

Maybe like a tallest ladies? I think that's a great fight. I think that's a great fight. Or how about a Tim Kennedy? I don't think Tim would take it. I think Tim's holding out for something. No way. Tim would definitely take that.

I think Tim's hold up for something a little higher ranked, a little more important rankings-wise. But I'd love to see that fight. That's for damn sure. I just want to see Tim Kennedy fight. Yeah, enough of this. This person presents it thusly. It's an old tired topic. But how about Fader talking about how he'd like to sign with the UFC if they gave him the Verduan fight?

So you're not interested in Fader versus Verdun. No, of course I would, but like, come on. How many times, I mean? How many times could we talk? about it without motion. Now you're just messing with us. Sure. How many opportunities?

Enough. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen when you're not under contract with UFC. It's not going to happen. So what are we doing? I mean, it's smart. Continue to bring it up. Keep yourself relevant.

I guess. But you don't see, do you see it ever happening? I guess that's the bigger question. Will it ever happen? Will Fade or be in the UFC? Never say never. I mean, Chris Cyborg is in the UFC. There was a time we didn't think that was going to happen, right?

So I can't, I definitely cannot say that it's a four. Chris Cyborgs is interprime and wasn't, you know, the circumstances are, Fador's window is closing very quickly. I feel like there was a great opportunity to really put some fascinating and special chips for this 200 card. You know, like Fador, okay, maybe it didn't work out, but that would have been one. Cyborg would have been another one. People who were not previously.

It's got to feel like WrestleMania, right? Well, we'll get to that later. Oh, WrestleMania sucks. Oh, really? Come on. We'll get to it later. It sucks. But so you're giving the...

To Fador. Well, just like, come on, enough for this. Enough talk. Let's see some action. And why do we always fall for it every time? You know, we have to. I guess. What's the bigger problem in MMA?

Yes. This is kind of maybe like, let's say, a close to quarter year review. Fighter pay. Yes. PEDs. Yes. Or judging. Similar, similar things that we would have had at the start of the year.

the end of last year, what's the biggest problem right now in MMA? Well, I don't know if my man, Mark Romandy, is listening, but I think weight cutting should be in that discussion as well. So let's combine that with PEDs. Let's say. But is it fair to do that? I mean, guys who don't cut away. Maybe not.

Maybe not. You get a lot of cheaters. I wasn't going to say in that sense, but I was going to say in self-inflicted. I'll go weight cutting because I still feel like there isn't a true formula, perfect formula out there. I'll go weight cutting. I will go PEDs. I will go and then, I mean, pay.

The problem is pay and judging are kind of related in the sense that like bad scorecards can lead to less pay and affect your career. But I mean, the health stuff is definitely 100% number one. Less pay can lead to PEDs because you want to maybe vault yourself up the card as well. I mean, it's all related. It all is related, but I still feel I still feel like we continue to dodge major bullets with weight cutting. I'll be interested to see the 1FC, you know, the results of what happens there. And if that'll have, you know, wider impact. But, okay.

Now we're moving on to outside topics. Oh. How about this person proposes an interview with somebody who went to Q's, an alumni. Me? What would it be an alumnus, right? Interview myself? Because they're, no, they're saying, you know, maybe next show we get somebody from, Oh.

From that world. Yes. Who, and, you know, an alumni doesn't have to be potentially somebody from the basketball part of it. Somebody from Q's in any. No, no, no. Oh, okay. You know what I'm saying? It has to be S-U.

Yeah. Both men and women teams in the Final Four. Yes. I just, you know what? I just brought this up for an opportunity for you to kind of gloat about it. Wait, what's the question? There is no question here. Okay.

But they're proposing an interview with somebody from Syracuse, whether it be, you know, somebody who went there that we know, oh God. All right, you know what? We're going to the next question already. It's the fight song. Pick up the little mascot guy. Fighting for the victory in the cycle. Wait, do we actually know the lyrics here?

Syracuse, each loyal son knows. For we'll fight, yes, we'll fight and with all our might for the glory of all Syracuse. Down the field goes old. Syracuse. We did it. They said we didn't belong. Here we are.

But the problem with this idea, by the way, is that Monday, the Final Four will be over. Will it? Well, it's Saturday. And then Monday is the championship. But if they could lose, North Carolina is a great team. But, you know, I can't.

How about the effort by the boys and women, the boys and girls? Oh, did you watch that game? I watched the men's game. I saw that, yeah. Unbelievable. What a comeback. That D, you wish you,

could play that D. That press, how about that two three zone? Jim Beheim special. But this is why I don't like college basketball. Why? What? It just feels so rinky dink. It's so amish.

What are you talking about? This is why, this is exactly why you should love college basketball. No, I don't love it. What do you mean? It seems like, I don't like it. They've, they've continued to put out this thing about how college basketball is about defense and, um, but it's like, an effort. There's nothing you could say that could ruin this moment.

They were down by like 14, 15 points. They go into zone. Oh, no, they go into, sorry, sorry, full core press. And then Virginia turtles up. Yeah, college basketball teams collapse all the time. They're just not, it's not good basketball. Whatever. Hate it.

Yeah, and I see your tweets mocking the Knicks. Your time will come. Well, I mean, let's be real. That dunk was. Your time will come. That dunk was something else. Last night, my son said to me, I swear, I swear, he said to me, I wish I recorded this. He said, I don't know where this came from.

but I wanted to collapse in tears. He said, tonight I'm going to dream about the Knicks. And I swear to you, I do not talk about the Knicks. There's nothing to talk about, and he just said it. Now,

it was a major milestone. Was he, did he detail? Is it possible it's a nightmare? Looking at the standings? Well, what? Stop it. We're talking about a three-year-old kid here,

for God's sake. Okay. Question for both of us? WrestleMania 32? I don't know. I think that's the right number. I don't actually know. Your thoughts on the event,

you said so far, that it sucks. And do you guys have any picks? I don't know the full card. I know Shane O'Mack is going to be there. Let me look this up right now. Are there odds? I mean, that's a good question.

Let me look it up. Let me look up the card first. All I'll say is that I heard... But you're not excited about it, you say. I'm not excited about it. Why is Shane McMahon going up against the Undertaker? I love that. It makes no sense.

Yeah, sure, it's great. I love that Shane O'Mack's back. He's one of my favorite. Here comes the money. I love that. But why The Undertaker? Since when is the Undertaker and Vince McMahon in Cahoots? Come on, this makes no sense.

He's the company. He's the company guy of all people, The Undertaker. Roman Reins against Triple H? Haven't I told you enough times that Triple H is the exact reason why I don't watch? I feel like people seem to like him right now and not like Roman Reigns. Oh, they hate it. This reminds me of WrestleMania 18 when we had Triple H against Y2J after the real people's main event of Hulk Hogan versus the Rock. I was there at the Skydome.

Fine, how about this? Brock Lesner is competing. Okay, how is Brock Lesnar not in the main event? This is the biggest draw on the whole damn game. If he was in the UFC, he would still be the main event. I thought the rock was going to do something here. They should do the rock against Brock. Yeah. How is he not in the main event?

Am I crazy? I don't see him on here. Hold on. Oh, he's appearing, but he may not be... Who? The Rock? I believe that WW at this point is sort of taking advantage of its audience. WrestleMania sells out before the card

actually gets put together. And they're saying Okay, now we can just put out the subpar card Remember last year this time We thought that Rhonda was going to be on it Remember that? With The Rock? How awesome would that have been? That's what we were talking about.

Did you watch it last year? I did, but I forget. I watched parts of it. Remember it was Sting against the Undertaker? Oh yeah. And wait, so Rhonda was there, right? Yeah, that's what she did the flow. Yeah, okay, okay.

Triple H and Stephanie and then everyone and then they put the promo and they called it rowier. I saw it. I'm going to watch it this year. You're not going to watch it. You're out? You're done? I'm out.

Whimp. You still have the network? No, I don't. I was on a month to month. How are you going to watch it? Maybe I'll go, you know, watch it at a bar where they're showing it. Maybe I'll bring a few friends. We'll order it.

Let me see if there's odds on this. By the way, I don't even think you can order pay-per-views anymore. Can you? No, of course you can. It's like UFC. No, no, no, no. I think they're off that. No.

If they aren't, four people are buying them. Oh, yeah, but then couldn't I just sign up for a month for $9.99? and then cancel it instead of buying the pay-per-view? They're going to get you. I get emails. I got one today. Come back. Please, we miss you.

Biggest mistake of my life. I love WWU, though. I mean, I love one day I'll take my kids there, but I just think the product is very stale. Yeah, the kids would love it. The product is stale. Maybe it's four kids. Maybe that's why I, you know, my son's getting all into Power Rangers and stuff now. I never was a Power Rangers guy.

Wait a minute. That's still on? I'm not really that happy about it because I was never a Power Rangers guy. I was a big Power Rangers guy. It's so cheesy. I watched it with him. It's like the fake. thing I've ever seen. I mean, the special effects in Power Rangers is ridiculous. I mean,

they are bad. Now, this is like the one that was on when we were growing up. I don't know. He asked me to DVR for him, so I do. He dressed up as infiparine. I don't know if you know what that is. I do. Shout out to Nick with the great hamanetashans today. Did you eat it? Did you have some? Absolutely. I'm saving mine for after the show, but I'm going to have a humintosh. Saving yours. Well, yeah, he told me about it like five minutes before we went on air and I was like, oh, well, okay. I'll have it. Um, anyway. Roman Rains. He's the favorite to win?

Are there any odds? Should we do this? But they're always the European odds. Oh, it's too confusing. But he's the favorite to win. Big favorite. Which is, I think that's the way it's supposed to be, right? Roman Rains?

Yeah, he's minus 155 against Triple H. Undertaker is minus 300 against Shane McMahon, who's plus 220. And Brock is minus 335 against Dean Ambrose, who is plus 245. What else is on the card? There was a big battle royal Andre the Giant Battle Royal. Oh great. Oh great. We'll put together all the guys who we can't

figure out anything to do with and throw them into the dam. Come on. Listen, I mean, it's, you know, it's going to be a spectacle. It's going to be fun, I'm sure. The Uso's against the Dudley Boys. Yeah, the Dudley Boys. Come on. What does that really mean? Blast from the past. Kevin Owens and Sammy Zane

versus Dalwzeguler versus... That's awesome. Too many people. there's no Calisto What would it take for you Rhibback and the Rock? That would be sweet

I'd be all over that The New Day Against the League of Nations That's the nation of domination I thought Charlotte with Rick Flair versus Becky Lynch versus Sasha Banks

Why are there so many I mean come on No holds Bart Street fight By the way Almost every single match has some sort of like funny stipulation What happens to old school

That's what you want to see I want to see feuds I want to see it play out Monoie model one on one. The amateur wrestling got to you. The amy. And that's what you want to see.

You just want to see two guys in there going for pinfalls. Absolutely. I want to see best two out of three. Danny Rubinstein is creaming himself listening to this. Oh, God. That was it for the questions. Bad visual there. That's it.

That's it. All right. So no odds, nothing. We're not going to play that game. For what? We could have played the game. For the, the WrestleMania one? We did that last year.

You don't remember this? Yeah, but those were the fights. Those were the fights. that they had the odds for. Oh, okay, but you could have asked me. Wait, wait, so let me see if I can find the odds for that big battle royal thing. Oh. That'll be fun.

But I feel like you're not going to know, like, all the guys in it. Well, I'll know them. In the meantime, I'll remind you that World Series of Fighting is back this weekend. April 2nd, David Branch against Clifford Starks for the middleweight title. John Fitch is fighting for the Welterweight title, the vacant welterweight title. Speaking of the Walterweight, oh, the biggest troll on MM. Hey, Vinnie Magalegesh is fighting on the card as well against Jake Hune. And Dangerous Danny Davis, remember him, the old school referee.

He'll also be competing on the card. Speaking of which, Husimar Paul Yaris is now signed to Venetor. What a, what a promotion that is, Venetor. Wow. Polyaris is fighting against Emil Mek. So that should be a lot of fun. Also, Paul Yaros is grappling. Gary Tonin in Polaris.

For a guy who's suspended, he's, He's very busy. Yeah. That's going to be an interesting one in the world of BJJ. When is that? He's paying attention to that. That's this weekend. This weekend?

Yeah. Oh, is that on pay-per-view? I-paper-view? Yeah, I think so. Gary Tonin, really small compared to Paul Yarrow. So kudos to him for taking that. That's submission only. It's going to be fun.

Darren Krochank has signed with Risen. He'll be competing on their April card. What else, Yoel Romero, is going to appeal his suspension to your suspension. So he'll be the first fighter to be doing that in the. UFC. Fézhou and Daniel Sarfian have been released by the UFC. What happened to Fajiao?

Geez. Such promise. Dan Henderson changed everything. Remember he was the champ? We thought that he was one of those guys? Nothing. What happened? Sarah McMahon v. Jessica I announced

the Korean zombie is coming back. Hopefully fourth quarter. A lot of exciting things in MMA. That's right. Korean zombie. Oh, yeah, that's going to be good. That is going to be good. I missed them.

Man, the odds are all weird because not everybody has odds. All right. Kane has odds. Mark Henry. Braun Strowman. I think he's the favorite to win this whole thing. Who? Okay, I have not heard of that name.

Bronzeman. He's the big, he's like the big kind of Brock Lesnar foil type guy. He's like this like, get out of here. Big monsters kind of guy. I never heard of him. Braun Strowman. Ron Strowman. Sounds like my main man.

Marcus Stroman. Who's that? The Toronto Blue Jays. Season starts next to now. All right. That's it. So we're done. We addressed everything.

We're good. I mean, we even talked wrestling. We hit everything today. We broke some news. Broke some news. We addressed what the people wanted to hear. Hopefully. Yeah, I mean, we did good today.

I feel like we did good today. All right. We can go to sleep knowing that we did our jobs. Brian Keller, boom, Brian just sent me a picture of a really nice mug winking at me saying congratulations on happy eight years to me. So thank you, Brian,

and thank you to everyone else. I appreciate the interest. I appreciate again. I'll say one last time before I go I appreciate everyone who reached out and even some, wow, even some people that I did not expect to hear from. But all is good in the hood, my friends.

We're healthy, we're happy. We got great opportunities and lives. And this sport is on five. Shall I sing the song again about the MMA hour on fire or how you heard enough singing for one show? All good. No, song, song, song, song. No, I don't know if we have it. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't have the lyrics. I can't do that. The M. No, I can't do it. I can't do it. There needs to be, we've done enough singing. But yeah, I really, I really appreciate everything.

And I think I, yeah, I hate that feeling when I go home and I'm like, I didn't say this. I didn't say that. but I feel like we're in a good place. I mean, naturally, people are asking, you know, will you be covering of it? Of course, I'm going. I will be there. UFC on Fox, Tampa Bay.

Going to go check out a raise game. UFC 197, DJ, Sohudo. I saw Sohudo tweeting. You didn't get Sehudo's tweet. Did you get that? I don't know if he's mad at me or he's mad at DJ. Did you see Sehudo tweeting? No, what do you say?

It's supposed to be your job to, I take back everything I said about you. Wow. Um, where is he? Where's Henry Tehuda? There it is. He tweeted us during the interview. He said, I'm not worthy of a title shot. Demetrius Johnson, everybody. He fights in the UFC. No, really. He's in the UFC. Hashtag MMA hour. Damn, that's, that's a pretty solid burn. I don't know. Did the DJ say that? Or was he responding to my question about him not being, like, not having enough competition? I don't know. I don't know who he's mad at there. I love Henry. That's, that, no, that's a burn on DJ. That's great.

Great. That's a good one. All right. He's saying, you know, in case you're not aware, Demetrius Johnson fights in the UFC. Right, right, right. You might not be aware, even though he's headlining cards. I love it. A solid burn from Henry Suhudo.

Okay. Well, thank you very much for your hard work back there, everyone. And I think that we are out of time. So let's hit that music. Let's see if we get number one on iTunes. Wouldn't that be great? Wow. Five star it.

Five star it. Leave a question, a comment, whatever you have. to do over there. It definitely got bumped up. So, anyhow, a fun week last week, UFC, coming to MSG, MMA, New York, Belvoir probably at the Barclay Center in the BK, the 718, hopefully coming to Syracuse and Rochester and Albany and Buffalo, Utica, Schenectady, Glens Falls, Plattsburgh, Queens, Bronx, Everywhere. Good fans in New York deserve it.

Much love to all of you. Appreciate you stopping by. Appreciate you listening, watching, reading. Appreciate your interest. And again, I appreciate everyone who reached out. It's a beautiful world. It's a beautiful community that we are a part of. And this in a nutshell reminds you just how awesome the MMA community is.

It's a great group. Thank you very much to Mark Ratner for stopping by. again, Mazel Tov to him. Make no mistake. Without Mark Ratner, this thing maybe doesn't get done. Poured a lot of time into it. Thank you very much to Demetri's Johnson.

Mighty Mouse, good luck to him. April 23rd. Thank you very much to Henzo Gracie. Wow, you can listen to him all day. Thank you very much to CM Punk. Best of luck to him. Thank you very much to Yowana, Yongechek. And thank you very much and all the best

to the one and only John Jones. Appreciate him and everyone for stopping by today. That does it for us. Same time in place next week. You better believe I'll be back. Until then I say, peace. I'm out of you. Support for this show comes from Volkswagen.

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