MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 326

Episode Date: April 25, 2016

Ariel Helwani speaks to John Kavanagh, Dominick Cruz, Daniel Cormier, Paddy Holohan, and Michael Page & Ilir Latifi in studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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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, April 25th, 2016. Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani. Inside our New York City studio, wow. When I said goodbye to you around 160 hours ago last Monday, when we signed off, could you have ever in a million years predicted that the next seven days would turn out the way they did?

I mean, honestly, I talk often at the very top of this show that this sport is unlike any other, that covering this sport, that being on this beat, if you will, is unlike any other, at least in sports. Last week takes the cake. Last week was probably one of the most bizarre weeks in the history, at least the short history, the recent history of the UFC, at least since I've been covering it. And I've been around for at least eight years now, and I've seen some weird things. but this is some kind of drama, my friends, and it continues to turn and it continues to get better.

Wow. Who could have predicted it? Okay, in short, Tuesday, Connor McGregor sends out a tweet that he has retired. Later that day, Dana White says that he has been pulled from UFC 200. On Thursday, Connor McGregor comes out with a pretty heartfelt statement explaining why he was not interested in coming to Las Vegas to do all the media stuff, the promo stuff, etc. Friday, there's the UFC 200 press conference. They show up with an empty seat.

and Nate Diaz, Dana says at the top of the press conference that Diaz will remain on the show, will remain on the UFC 200 card, and then he says shortly thereafter that he is not interested in remaining on the card. Late last night, Connor McGregor says he's back on the card. Earlier today, Dana White tells the world, that's not true. What in the world is going on? It is a wild and wacky time. And oh, by the way, in the midst of all that, John Jones' return looked somewhat ordinary. but won the interim light heavyweight title. He defeats OSP the unanimous decision at UFC 197.

And Demetrius Johnson all of a sudden is everyone's sweetheart. All of a sudden, everyone's saying he's the best in the world because he starched Henry Sohudo in the first round via TKO. What in the world is going on? And oh, by the way, Benson Henderson made his debut in Bellator on Friday and lost five rounds to none to Andre Koreshkov. That didn't go his plan. What in the world is going on?

All right, let's make sense of it all. I can't wait for today's show. There is a pep in my step. This is big. We have a lot to discuss, a lot to get to. So let me run it down quickly and get to our first guest. I know a heck of a lot of you want to hear from him. At around 4 o'clock, we will hear from the newly retired.

Yes, I said the newly retired. Patty, the Hooligan, Hulahan. He retired this morning. Shocking stuff. Patty Hulahan, who was supposed to fight in less than a month, in a couple of weeks in Rotterdam, his career is done. One of our favorites, we will talk to him and get an explanation as to why. At 305, Michael Page, Michael Venom Page, who is victorious on Friday night in Belator will join us in studio. MVP in studio, how about that?

Yes, can't wait. 205, the sledgehammer, Alir Latifie, will join us in studio as well. How fun is this? Two in studio guests. What a time to be alive. Daniel Cormier, the UFC light heavyweight champion who did a fantastic job on the mic on Saturday night. He will join us at 145. At 125, Dominic Cruz will join us as well.

How about that? Dominic Cruz, who is on everyone's mind on Saturday? Everyone's saying that they want to see Demetrius Johnson fight Dominic Cruz now in a rematch? How about that? Dominic Cruz is going to stop by at 125. And in a matter of moments, we are going to be joined. join my friends by Connor McGregor's head coach. The head coach over at SBG Ireland, the one and only John Kavanaugh, who is coming on to make sense of this great world for us, trying to connect with

him. There is obviously, oh, he's giving me a new number. His old number, apparently, that's how big things are these days for that team. His old number is incommunicato. This is the soap operas. This is so proper to end all soap operas. I mean, Wednesday, when this was all settling in, was one of the crazier days of my career. And I'm not just saying this because I'm trying to puff my chest out, but doing 14 interviews about a topic that was still very much in the air was dizzying to say the least. That's when we thought that Connor was retired. Oh, here we go. Whoops. All right. I got to do this. This is great. Just give me a second here. My eyesight sucks. Now you see me. This is live radio at its

finest, my friends. What a way to start. Try that, Eric. I hope you're typing is quick because we are loaded. Back to back to back. Can't wait to hear from Dominic about Demetrius Johnson. Can't wait to hear from D.C. about where he stands regarding UFC 200. Will Daniel Cormey versus John Jones be the new main event for UFC 200? Will they figure this thing out with Connor and Nate? How about Nate Diaz showing up and flipping the script? How about Dana White using the fair excuse? That to me was the most shocking turn of events of all.

Known him a long time, had the pleasure of covering him, or have had the pleasure of covering him for a very long time, never thought I'd hear that one. Theater at its finest. Did I type this right? for God's sakes. Did I get it? My eyesight sucks. I really need to get it checked. Please talk to me. I guess I typed it wrong. All right, here we go. Let's go to line one right now. He made me sweat there for a second.

I thought his tweet was a sign of things to come. But yes, we do have him. The head coach over at SBG Ireland is here. Mr. John Kavanaugh. Here to make sense of this crazy world. John, are you there? What's up. Ari. I'll hear you. I'm doing great, John. You know, usually we have you on the show before a fight, after a fight, but this time, like I said,

we need you to help us understand what's going on. There's a lot of things going on regarding your guys. You are the center of attention. Everyone's talking about your guys. So let me start with the new news, and then we can work our way backwards if you don't mind. What is going on as of late? Connor sends out a tweet late last night that he's back on, and now Dana White is saying that's not true. Can you help us make sense of this all?

I'll do my best. So I'll tell you what I do now. Okay. I do know that we left Iceland very early this morning, which I guess was that time. And we ended up getting separated. We went different ways. And I turned my phone on. I was with Gooney and Paddy Hulham. And things that go crazy. I saw this message. Now, I didn't know about this, and neither did it as manager. So it was news to both of those when we saw us.

I haven't been speaking to Connor since because I've had a bit of a day with potty, as I'm sure we'll get to. And then also getting good and he settled into house here. So I presume I'm going to see Connor this evening and training and find out the exact news. But that's how I heard about it. Well, when you separated, when you went your separate ways, what was the last that you heard, that the fight was off, that it was on, that they were working towards fixing it, where did it stand the last time you spoke to him?

He was still kind of positive, but there was going to be good news coming, and I just seen there an article that Connor being on the card would add 45 million to the ESPN of estimated. So, you know, there's a lot. I think it's moving in the right direction. I'm not sure. I guess holding out for the John Jones and maybe DC2, at the try and fill that spot. I don't know what the latest on that is. I don't know if you can tell me that. Well, you'll tune in later in the show because Daniel Cormeo will be joining us.

How about that? Oh, okay. Well, this is the show to be on. Yes. Yeah, so I think there's a lot of positive momentum going that direction. And it really is, it seems to be coming down to, maybe that ego is the right word, but I guess standing for a point

but at some stage you've got to see that maybe it's pointless just to just to upset so many fans that want to see this fight and ignore the kind of numbers that are going to be brought in over you know press conferences

I know a phone to a lot of people but it tends to be more or less the same questions asked every time and like I said in the article I wrote it's not the same for Connor having to travel halfway across the world as far as opponent

having to go down basically down the road to do these things so there seems to be swinging in the right way and we're aiming for and we're training for 200

so I just hope we get some good news you've been around this game a long time are you honestly shocked that it's gone to this point that they can't seem to find

middle ground can't seem to figure it out that it has turned into this with the empty chair and the back and forth. I mean, it feels as an outsider like this can, could have been avoided long ago. Are you surprised that it's gone to this point? Yeah, yeah, I am, I guess.

Maybe that's what I've come down to was like a communication error. And maybe this could have been avoided with a couple of weeks out more direct conversation between everybody involved and let's see if we could do, you know, have them there on Skype or, you know, the way the world is now, you don't have to be physically at places in order to be involved in things you did that video for the M.A. Awards. Like I said, it's just, I don't know what this obsession is with Vegas, you know. You see the global sport. It's not a Vegas sport. And I don't see why everything has to be done there, especially when one fighter, who's beginning

at 12-week training cycle has to really mess up a couple of weeks worth of training. So I really hope that they can, because of his past goodwill, he's built up, taking all these late-nows fights and never causing a problem with them and generating so much money and being such a large charismatic character in the show in the UFC that for the sake of one half-hour press conference, they can't let what would be a fantastic fight on one that everybody's excited to see happen. Okay, now let's start at the beginning. As his coach, as one of his closest friends, when did you find out that Connor was sort of being summoned to Las Vegas that he was required to be there?

When did this all start for you? So last, we've just come back from seven days in Iceland, and then before that, we were seven days in Portugal. So we've been basically on the row for two weeks now. and it was the beginning of the Portugal trip, I started hearing about this. I'll be honest, I don't involve myself in a lot of the kind of media or management side of O'Connor does. I'm just there for the training, and I have a big team.

It's not just Connor, although everybody obviously is a athlete out. I do have a lot of fighters, and I have a busy gym, and there's a lot of stuff going on back home as well, that I have to be involved in myself with. So I try to focus on what I can control rather than what I can't control. But I did start hearing about them wanting to do this in Vegas and Connor and I guess his manager already worked.

What kind of back and forward with them trying to figure out is the way around this or can we reschedule it? I thought we're going to be out there for five weeks before the event. So why not do it during that five-week period rather than having to add in, like I said, that long, long back and forward journey just when I'm starting

our real training for this fight only to have to readjust again a few weeks later when we move out there for five weeks. So I thought there was pretty good alternatives being offered and then, you know, New York was agreed to, that was no problem because

that's a lot less stressful of a journey, you can kind of go over on Friday and be back by Sunday, it'd just be a weekend kind of thing. But yeah, everything was more that's being rejected. And I guess the standoff came, and there you go.

Here we are. So it seemed like the shit, as you will, hit the fan on Tuesday. Connor gets ahead of it, puts out the tweet that he has retired. Did he at any point ever really consider retiring? What was that? Did he change his mind there? No, that was not a joke. I found out, I was coaching and young.

in Iceland and he showed up late for the session. And I was kind of re-eating a little bit, tell him to hurry up, get on the mat where we started. And he went, oh, yeah, I just retired. And I said, okay, well, let's just do the session, and then we'll talk about that. So we trained for a couple of hours. We went outside, I turned on my phone,

and I seemed that he actually put it out there. But, yeah, he was content to leave it at that. So, yeah, no doubt those. not a joke. And as, you know, again, as his coach and one of his best mates, what was your reaction once you, you know, I know you went on Twitter and everything, but he can't retire now. He's 27 years old. He has a lot more left in him. He's got a whole legacy to build still and all that. Like, did you try to say, wait a second, let's fix this situation. Were you the one that tried to help him out? Um, I'm sometimes a little bit of the, I guess, a handbrake on his enthusiasm. And so,

Yeah, we had a conversation, something similar to us. You know, I do with a little bit rash. But, Conner, they're a very special individual, and these people that are extremely, have extremes in all arts, tend to be, have a mindset of it that's hard for me to understand, but that's what made them brilliant and what makes them interesting to follow. Once this starts to, you know, hit the news cycle, and Dana White goes on Sports Center here in the U.S.,

and says that he has been pulled from the card. There was an explosion. I mean, the amount of retweets, fine, that's all well and good, but the amount of interest from the general news media around the world, to me, was shocking. It was stunning to see how many people were following this story. What was it like for you? I'm sure everyone was hitting you guys up as well.

How crazy was it from your end? That Tuesday, Wednesday front. You saw that when you tried to call me there, you couldn't ring me because I changed my number. Wow. I had the same number for, for, I've had the same number now for 15 years, and I changed it overnight,

because it was, it was just too much. Wow. I couldn't turn on my phone. And I guess over the years, you're the first and will remain the only journalist that has it. Over the years, you kind of give it out as you're going along, and then suddenly I realized about 200 journalists

had my phone number because they were all this. My phone, I couldn't plug it in because it was just ring and ring and ring until the battery died, and then that would repeat. So I had to, I had to ring my, provider and they normally don't do it but the guy on the phone

heard who I was and he was like okay I understand where I was from and I was done it in an hour so about 10 people have my number now wow but anyway yeah so it was very extreme I'm used to the build up to a fight

and I'm used to you know post fight and there's the same couple of people that call or the same couple of messages but this was it was networks and Australia and all around

Europe, Italian TV, all over the state, Canada, South America, everybody. And it was insane. I guess that was the only word I can use. Now, in that piece that you just referenced for the 42.I.E., it's a great piece. I suggest everyone checks it out. You mentioned that you actually reached out to Dana White on your own to try to salvage all of this. When did you do that? I did it on Wednesday. Last Wednesday. And... Go ahead. system. And what was he saying?

Like, what's he doing? I just tried to put, you know, my case across and sort of explain. Like, we're doing everything different for this fight. There's a really new approach to what we're doing. As you know, I have a book winner, learn. And it does no, I don't really mind losses. I see it as a necessary step towards success. And no matter what you're doing in life, but only if you learn from the loss,

If you're losing it, you don't see what went wrong and you don't make changes. Well, then you will continue to lose, whereas we very much made a lot of changes. And we were starting, we're in a really great place, some new members on the team, and we were really hitting the ground running in Portugal, and we were getting some great stuff done. It was just, it was, I knew it would completely throw everything off because this was a very structured layer where we'd never done that before. air structure was Connor would just kind of sleep all day and then sometime emerge in the evening

and then we drift down to the gym and do a lot of training. This was, this was kind of getting up 745 a.m. And I can't tell you how unusual that is unless you know them as well as I do and maybe people listening would know some of the stories about trying to get them up and such. And he'd become this soldier. And I was, you know, I basically said, look, if it comes down to the the press conference of the fight, we've got to let this one go because I don't think it'll be his press version showing up, so I'd rather let that go

as much as I want that fight than to kind of half-ass do it again. Yeah, maybe some cool a TV ad or whatever they were doing, but really, Ariel, if there anyone in the MMA world that didn't want to see that fight, was there a need to spend 10 million on an ad, like,

everybody wants to see that fight and more. If anything at this stage, it's grown even bigger. And for me, as a coach, it was, I set to Connor, I genuinely felt that if he had gone his whole career undefeated,

it would have been great, but it wouldn't have been a touch on what I believe could happen with this fight and to show a real turnaround and the show's true character and how he deals with adversity and how he comes back

and then go on a really exciting run. So I actually thought that this was going to be the biggest positive of his country, career what was initially a, you know, at the feast. So he puts out that statement on Thursday, and it sort of speaks for itself, but I'm wondering if you can tell us what's he like now? Because it's clear that, you know, he doesn't feel like doing as much media. He's been pulled in a thousand different directions, a million different directions. And he pretty much stated his case as clearly as possible. It was a fascinating read. But as someone who's been conversing

with him and seeing him, I mean, is he mentally, is he there? You know, because you can't really tell from reading it. Like, has he had enough? Is he on the, verge of a breakdown. How would you describe his sort of mental state right now? No, he's in a great place. We did two great weeks training. We did a reason a week in Portugal, and then we did a great week in Iceland. And, you know, we're there as well, obviously helping Gunner, and he always gets a real buzz out of being in his company. Media-wise, like, yeah, I've seen a lot of people mess with him. You know, that's part of the job. And he's not against doing media. I mean, as much as anti-fighter,

is against the immediate. He's not particularly earned, not a new amount against it. It was just at that particular time, that amount of travel and losing the momentum of what we were starting was just going to be detrimental physically. And I believe psychologically as well, that you know, when you're making that walk to the cage or that's night before and you have after weigh-ins and you're lying in bed in your own, you can't lie to yourself. You can't trick yourself into that you did everything that you possibly could. You either did or you it didn't. And we just want to make sure that we can do that. When we're walking in, we've given it everything, and then you can live with the result, even if it's a loss,

you can live with the result. But you can't, if you don't, if the truth is that you know that you didn't do everything that you could have. And so, no, there's no, it's not like against the media obligations. And if you had a crew in Iceland, we would do our usual job and then, you know, give the interviews and let them fill on the practice. And I'm sure that was all going to come down the road. and then, you know, five weeks out, we're in LA and to the TV shows and all that, it wouldn't be any problem. But for anybody interested in sports science and known how you break up a 12-week training camp and know how important that first cycle is, to have that pretty much ruins,

it was better to let the fight go as painful as it was. Did you guys watch the press conference on Friday, and what did you make of it? in particular the reasons that were given as to why they weren't going to bend, why they weren't going to make this fight, putting out the empty seat, even what Nate said, somewhat, you know, flipping the script on everyone and siding with Connor. What did you and him make of the whole scene there in Las Vegas? Yeah, you know, much respect to Nate. I think it's a, he's a true, he's a true fighter, a true warrior, and, you know, he can see that in Connor, and as much as Connor can see that in him. There's a lot of mutual respect

between those two guys. And you know, obviously Nate, I'm sure could have probably named his own price to fight anybody he wanted and for him to stand up there and say he was only interested in playing Connor was incredible. I'm not surprised because that's, again,

him and his brother are just like that. They enjoy fighting a hell of a lot more than they enjoy the even the financial awards that come or they don't seem to be that much motivated by that there. They're just motivated by testing themselves. And that chemical craft, that came across there.

As for the rest of the past conference, it was, you know, I think the, you know, I know, I know if I have, maybe it's for fans, but for me, it's just kind of bland, you know, like, same, same questions, and, you know, I just have to be honest, just to say I find him kind of bowling, like so. You know, Carr has a wish about them so that makes them watchable, Sure. You know, Aldo being asked questions about Edgar and vice versa.

It was just... Anybody, you'd know what the answer is going to be. Yeah, I'm training hard as they can. It's been the best I can't have ever had. I respect my opponent and going to win. You know, it's the same old, same old. I think how it's... I think the U.C. did an incredible job at the beginning

and it's, you know, become pretty much symbol on combat sport now. Everybody, because to get people involved with the character, become invested in come on could you be anyone that's on this point

it was it just wasn't necessary I could understand it for the up and coming guys to get the face out there we need to we need for the fans to hear them speak

and hear their background stories but I don't think anybody doesn't know this background story at this stage and if you're sitting down

you're putting in your pros and cons call them and you're saying well pro we get them here and he he gives

his witty answers and stuff but everybody kind of knows but Kong we've potentially damage his training

for this fight surely you have to say okay let's let's let's look the top guys slide on this one

because it's that fight so anyway let's put a bit of attention on Edgar Albo which which is going to be

technically a great fight I don't think anybody is any any true MMA fan is not super excited about that fight I am I'm going to be

studying it But also numbers-wise, I might be wrong. Someone will tweet me a correction, but I believe it was the lowest ever gaited for a paper view, certainly in modern times. So you can see that there's not that interest in that fight from the general MMA people. So maybe they have to do a bit more on this one

and get to know them a little bit better. I'll start to tweet a bit more now. You know, in the last 10 years, you've starting to see a bit of his personality come out now. I think Edgar, when it's Edgar tweeting, not the other fellow, but when it's Edgar tweeting, I think he's good fun and he's interesting.

So let those guys carry it for a little bit. Let them build it up. But the McGregor fight, Gregor, who he's against, but especially against this one coming back from a lot. That's sold. People are in. Everybody's in.

Again, don't bother to tweet me that. He has to do it. He was going to do New York, so it has to be a bit of, it has to be even. You know, that would be more or less equal travel, so at least make it easy. them. So as far as your concern right now, since that press conference on Friday, Dana, Lorenzo,

anyone from the UFC, reach out to Connor or vice versa. Is there any kind of dialogue? Because it would seem right now that things aren't going so well as far as the relationship is concerned. Is there any, is it dead at the moment? Is there some glimmer of hope? What can you tell the people? Yeah, I mean, the message I've had back and forward, Dana, it's all positive. I mean, he always says, how much of a fan he is. And, you know, as a promoter, obviously having someone like Connor is a dream, but, you know, and all these late changes, he's never blinked. He's never hinted at not doing the fight.

He's always just done this. So there's still a massive amount of respect there, but, you know, I suppose they're trying to make a point that, well, if that's the rule, that's the rule, but I don't know. I won't pretend he'll have done an amazing job over the last. decade or so and building up so they obviously know what they're doing they're definitely doing something right but I do think the are dealing with somebody different than they've ever dealt with before and and it is different that's

just that's just how it is it is different but as it is right now I don't know and you know that ESPN report coming out and then I'll definitely be staying on to hear what DCS to say is maybe he's about to announce him and Jones, the new, or the new main event. Yeah, it's amazing, exciting times, I guess. We have another few days of this drama playing out, and let's see where it ends up. But I'm 51% optimistic and 49% if you want to know my feelings on. 51% is not too bad.

And by the way, what do you... What do you make of Dana saying that he won't be on the New York card? Because I know that was important to you guys. Yeah, that was hard to hear. I really think that's, you know, that's go too far. He was bold, but I mean, he didn't, you know, it wasn't anything that bad. So if we get the slap on the wrist for 200, you know,

we definitely can't be pulled on the 90th step for in New York. I mean, as an Irish guy in New York and the first card about the Square Garden, I mean, I think Conner will could be. will show up anyway and fight someone in the changing room. We don't put them on the character, which we have to be on the New Yorker. Are you worried at all that this relationship may be broken for good, or do you feel like they'll fix it at some point?

Do you feel like Connor will still fight a UFC at some point? No thing. I don't think we've gone past any point of no return. There's mutual respect from both parties, and then, you know, everybody's Dane and Lorenzo and those guys are. are sensible businessman. This is just one of those things. I've no doubt, but we'll continue with the tradition after this next fight.

Lorenz, we'll bring in his bottle of Middleton, and we'll do our usual toast, and we'll carry on. Okay. Well, a lot of people are following this story. A lot of people wondering what is going to happen next. It has become a soap opera, if you will. Let's end on this note. Some sad news regarding Patty Houlihan, a guy that you think very high. highly of.

Can you even describe the emotion? I mean, I can't even imagine what's going on in your head between this Connor stuff and now with Patty. Can you put into words how you feel about this announcement that he has had to retire at a very sudden, you know, time and just two weeks before his next fight? Young guy looking good and then all of a sudden you get this news. Yeah, I was genuinely heartbroken. It's just some super rare genetic disorder.

And like he said in his own statement, you know, you've got guys that can take PEDs and it's a fine or a small band that he come back. But this is just something, a sort of a roll of the dice when he was born and he just happened to have this. And it's been pretty incredible what he's been able to achieve with us. But for it to be cut short and, you know, we had a few. There was things that are changing and training firm that I felt he was going to give it a good wrong, now. And saying that, we obviously had the absolute tragic situation with

Jericho Valov. Sure. I guess it's all it's two weeks ago now. And that's real tragedy. You know, this is a sports career cut short. And the selfish side of me somewhat

not absolutely broken up about it because we're opening up this mega gen together in a couple of weeks. And now he's 100% focused on that and not kind of half-focused. I'm fighting and half on that. I'm looking forward to a new relationship of Patty. We're two coaches now.

We're more buddies than, you know, student and coach. And I'm very excited to see him direct this energy towards getting his own gym successful and producing his own little team of fighters and making a real positive impact on his community. He's so proud of where he's from. I know he's going to do great things there. Well, one of my favorite people, hard news for me, one of my favorite people that I've ever met in life, period.

Just an unbelievable human being, and I look forward to talking to him later on today. For now, we have to say goodbye, John. Thank you so much. I know you're very busy over there, and I really appreciate you coming on. I know you have that book coming out in July. Perhaps we need a couple of new chapters. Don't print it just yet because... Yeah, yeah.

I think it's actually, yeah, they've put it up until September now. Oh, okay. Who knows? Maybe there's an extra chapter to win. Win or learn. I do suggest pre-ordering that as soon as possible. Can't thank you enough. Appreciate the time, John, and keep making sense of things for us.

And no more troll tweets, okay, because I can't handle those anymore. My heart is feeling like a 9-year-old at this point. But really, thank you so much and good luck to you guys. Thanks so much, Ariel. Let's speak soon. Okay, always a pleasure to talk to John Kavanaugh. But before we move along, let me quickly tell you about our friends over at Squarespace. So, building a website can be tough.

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the MMA hour. We sincerely thank Squarespace for their support. Now back to the show. Let's go back to the phone lines. This man was on everyone's mind Saturday night for different reasons. Let's talk to Dominic Cruz right now. Dominic, how are you? Good. What's up, Ariel? I'm doing great. I know you're short on time, so let's get right into it.

Your name came up a ton Saturday night. Demetrius Johnson beats Henry Sohudo. I ask the world, who do you want to see Demetrius fight next? And you are the unanimous decision. I mean, the pick from everyone. Everyone said you, the rematch with you. No one else. Did you watch his performance?

And I know you're preparing for a fight, but I'm wondering if at this point you're even interested in this scenario. Yeah, I mean, you look at DJ, and you can't deny that he's the best flyweight ever. You know, I mean, he's done great things. He's defended the title. He's going after a record of Anderson Silver right now. He said himself he's pretty focused on that more than anything. And I kind of understand that.

But at the same time, I don't pick my fights, Ariel. I never really have. And I'm not opposed to a fight. I mean, if that guy wants to come up to 35 and try to challenge me, I mean, I don't run from anybody, so I'm there. But right now, I mean, you look at who I'm facing, the landscape with the 135-pound division is probably looking the best that it's looked in the past four years, in my opinion.

Yeah. And it's looking really good, and I got plenty of guys in this division that are my size, my weight, that I want to scrap and are in line and knocking at the door and saying they want to beat me up already. So, I mean, if you really look at the things, I got a long list of guys that want to fight. Do you think then it would be unfair at this point because, as you mentioned, 135 is deeper than ever, to have a guy come up from 125 and sort of skip the cue, if you will, because he's not fighting at Bantam White, do you think that's somewhat unfair?

And I know fair is sort of the term of the week in MMA, but do you think that would be unfair to guys like Al Jermaine and a Sunsau and Dillishaw, etc? Well, we all know that life isn't fair, so I mean, they definitely is not. Very well said, Dom. Cudos, my man. Let's start with that, you know? So, but besides that, I don't think there's anything like that because super fights are at their highest demand right now. People want to see them. People like them. And that's what the fans want to see, that that's what the people are going to buy. Throw us on a pay-per-view if, you know, a million people want to see that fight.

And we sell it, you know, maybe I could be the first time DJ has some of the best sales he's ever had in his career. And because people want to see him fight me. I'm not opposed to the area. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, I've got to be the first time. I got a lot of guys in line to fight me right now. I don't take my fights. It's about the demand of what the fans want to see.

And if they're willing to pay to see that fight, I'm willing to fight anybody. It's been around five years since you fought him. I'm wondering, when you watch him with your careful eye, your analytical eye, do you say to yourself, okay, this guy is a lot better from when I fought him in Washington, D.C. He's changed a lot.

He's a much better fighter now. what I see is he's the same size as the people that he fought. So, like, when you look at him at 135 pounds, he was beating a lot of people. But there was always a size advantage that gave him trouble that he had to work around. At 125, he has nothing to work around. These guys are his size or his height, and he can use his fundamentals, his technique, and his speed at the fullest potential because of that. When he comes up to 135, things are different.

I mean, he's lost to me, and he's lost to Brad Pickett. And that's because of size advantages and then technique on top of that. So he is good. He's the best fly weight ever. I agree with that. But when you're coming up to 135 pounds, that's my division, period. Is he the best powerful power fighter in the world right now? You know, I think that he's done things that in his division that can prove that.

And then I think John Jones has done a lot that can prove that also. But then you look at the things that I've done and I've beaten him and I've done things too. But me being out for so long, not competing kind of throws me out of that equation. Yeah. So, you know, I can't really speak on who's the best because, you know, I'm kind of in the mix of it, in my personal opinion. But I've been out so long. I have a lot to prove. I've got to beat some people. I got to stay more active.

And I get that. So he is one of the best pound for pound-fiders in the planet. I take out three, no doubt. If you were in his position, essentially cleaning out a division, there's nothing, you know, there's no, let's be honest, there's no challenges for him right now, unless he's fighting the same guys over and over again. Would you test the waters? Like if that happened to you at 135, would you go up to 145 or did you just keep collecting those paychecks? Yeah, I mean, like I said, Ariel, what I think right now the fans are wanting to see these super fights. And I think people want to see Demetrius move up because he's just smashing these guys at 25. Everybody wants to see that untouchable guy beaten. It's just the way the world works. So they want to see him move up and see how great he can do also.

Like, is he that good against bigger guys, too? That's what the people are curious of. Would I move up? I already said I would, you know, but it's similar to what Connor's doing too. I mean, he's moving up to 170. You look, I mean, you're taken away. It's not just about technique anymore. You've got to deal with three other things.

you got to deal with size, length, reach, all these other things, it just adds so much to the equation, plus these guys that we're fighting are the best in the world. It changes the fight so much. You have to respect body mechanics. And when size, length, reach, all that stuff is added into the fight, it changes the fight's dynamics completely. It doesn't matter how good you are,

because body mechanics can change everything. You mentioned the C word. So let me ask you. What is your take, if any, on this whole Connor McGregor UFC, saga. Do you side with Connor? Do you think that he has a point? Are you sympathetic towards him? Or do you side with the UFC who says it's not fair for you to skip out on this media stuff when everyone else has to do it? You can't really side with anybody. I put myself in Connor's shoes. I've lost a fight before, you know? And when you lose a fight, it kind of puts you back to the drawing

board. You hear that all the time. I'm going to go back to the drawing board. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. And it's like when you lose a fight, you've got to change something. And, you So he realizes he's human now after that loss. He realizes he can't lose. He hit Nate with everything and the kitchen sink in that first round. And Nate did not back up for one second. That's a different type of fight. Not to mention, we have never seen anybody stand up to Connor McGregor's antics in the pre-fight.

Every single person he faced prior to Nate Diaz was broken mentally, I mean shattered mentally, before they even stepped in the cage. You can't break Nate. He does not care. He doesn't, he fights for a different purpose. And he's a real, he's a real OG, for lack of a better term. I mean, the guy just doesn't care. Nate, you're not going to break him.

You're not going to get him out of the fight. You know when you're fighting him, you're going to be in it from the beginning and to the end. You have to push the button on him. And then you realize he's got a heck of a chin, too. So I get where Conner's at. He wants to put his head down, train, focus, be the best Connor he can be because of that last loss, you know, it can shake you when you lose like that. And his mind is focused on being the best him he can be.

So I understand that. On the other end of things, when you look at what the UFC wants, they want you to do the media. Connor's a failure of his own success. I mean, he's so good at this media that they're going to ask him to do a ton. But I'll be honest. If the UFC said, hey, Dominic, we're going to pay you 100 times what you're getting paid now and you're going to make Connor McGregor money.

I'll go live with Ariel Helwani for my entire camp, eat everything you eat, do every radio interview you do, go out there and be ready to fight. So it's like, it's kind of a mixed thing, you know. He's getting paid a lot of money to do this stuff, a lot of money, and people want to see it. He's at high demand. So because he's at high demand, that makes him a failure of his own success if you get what I'm saying. When I spoke to you in Boston after the win over Dillishaw, we talked about what's next. You said that you want to sit down with the UFC brass and essentially get paid what you're worth. Now you have a fight.

It's coming up. Have you had that conversation with them? Have you sat down with them? Do you have a new deal? Are you happy with what you're getting paid? Yeah, I mean, let's be real. I always want more money. Yeah.

But I get paid. You know, I'm involved at the pay-per-view in this next fight. That makes me happy. Yep. The UFC took care of me. You know, we sat down. They were, they were, Lorenzo was perfectly cool with adjusting my. my pay scale because I was still on a pay scale from when I was injured for my last couple

fights. And he even thinks out with me. And, you know, I'm happy with the contract that I've been given. And I'm going to keep moving forward to fighting. How long after that fight did you guys sit down and talk? Well, right before I got this next fight going. Okay. With favor, we sat down and talked.

He came out to California and, you know, in his jet. I probably spent more money flying out in his jet than he paid me that day, but that's okay. You know, the thing is, they took care of me for this fight. They were willing to work with me and, you know, give me what I'm worth. I've been out a while, so it is important that I get busy. So you've been around Faber for the last few weeks, doing all this media with him. I mean, how painful has that been for you? Have you enjoyed it at all, or did it suck every step of the way?

You know, you, you, uh, after a while, Ariel, you learned that I was out of this for a long time, you know? Yeah. So I have fun poking and prodding at that guy. I mean, he's just, he loves himself so much that it's fun to just pick and pick and pick at him. And he says it all the time. I'm one of the most annoying people he's ever been around. And that's by plan. That's by purpose.

I plan to make his life a living hell as long as I'm in it. Um, he has been taking some shots. He has been accusing you some stuff. Has he crossed the line? Like, has he made this too? I don't know if it's possible to make it more personal between you two, but has he actually accomplished that? No, he hasn't, because this is the thing.

You could say whatever you need to say about me. I understand, like, all is fair in love and war. Like, I get that he's going to come and attack me. I get that he wants to attack my character. I mean, he's been doing this to me since 2007. And this is a favor game. He wants to turn everybody against you and make himself the good guy. He can't handle being the not-liked guy.

But at the same time, this is all based off of fear. You know, judgment is the main act of fear. And if I'm on it, what is everybody on it, everybody he's lost to. I mean, this is his excuse. He's setting up excuses for the loss, and I'm about to serve him. And on top of that, Faber's showing his true. colors. I mean, he has no professionalism, no loyalty. He's trying to dis- before he said anything about me, he attacked Dilshaugh on the Hurt's show and tried to,

and tried to deny it and say he didn't, but it's like he's trying to destroy Dill's career. And this is somebody who's supposed to be his family, his best friend. They were brothers at one point. I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of Dilsha. He's got his own things I mean, that's needless to say. I mean, you could see our last post pipe. He's not my favorite person either. But, I mean, he does mentor kids in wrestling, and he does do stuff. And his own best friend is accusing him of using PDs.

And it's like, what are you doing? I mean, that's a scumbag move. That's your ex-friend. All because he left your camp. I mean, that shows the true colors of favor. When you're attacking me, I can understand that because he wants to ruin my face because we're fighting. But when you're attacking a friend because he left your camp, I mean, you're just a scumbag.

It's a lack of character, and that's something that I haven't liked about Faber since day one. And we're finally seeing the true colors of favor come out when he makes accusations with absolutely no proof of anything. And one of the best doping agencies on planet Earth, there's just no proof to anything that he says. And again, there are excuses. I mean, this is typical favor style, make excuses with no proof. and no facts, and they're just all accusations on his part. Let's end on this, because I know you have to go. Love talking to you.

It's so great. You're just one of the most real interviews in the game, and I appreciate that very much, whether or not we agree or not. It's always great to have you on, Dom, so I appreciate it. Are you hoping that this is his last title shot? This is something that Dillishaw has talked about, you've talked about. Are you hoping that on June 4th, or after June 4th, I should say, Uri Fabor never fights for the belt again?

Yeah, you know, the thing is he promotes fights, and that's why he's in this situation, you know, and besides that, it's also because I don't like him. That's why he's in this situation. Faber got this fight because I don't like him. And because of that, people want to see me beat him up. You know, everywhere I went, Ariel, it wasn't like, you know, who you're fighting next. It's like, when are you going to beat up favor again and shut him up? That guy talks so much.

He makes a bunch of excuses. People want me to beat him up. And he could say whatever he wants about me and I have him. Everywhere I go, I got people asking me to beat him up. So it's like, I don't really care what he does. But I know that I'm going to go out there and stop him again from touching the belt, and that's something I can control. And I'm going to put a beating on him.

And, you know, he could say whatever he wants about my body and all that stuff that he was saying and how it's changed. It's like, man, I was out for four-plus years. That's like 1,500 days. Maybe a quarter of those, maybe like 700 of those days. to work out. I was sitting behind the desk, studying fights, analyzing fights, breaking things down. There was a point where I hit 175 pounds. I was depressed at times. There's a lot going on in my life that I let go of fighting. When I got that Dillet Shaw call to fight, I wasn't going to tell

the UFC no. I was going to, I just said, screw it, let's go. I was rehabbing still when they asked me for that fight at nine months of my third ACL reconstruction. I got ready off the couch, off analyst desk, went out there and fought and did my job while he's making excuses about PEDs, you know? So it's like, I'm doing my job, and that's all I can do. And on June 4th, I'm going to do my job and shut that idiot up. Wow, June 4th cannot come soon enough. Dom, really appreciate it. I know you have to go to practice, so we'll let you go.

Thank you so much for the time, and we'll talk very soon, prior to 199. Can't wait for it. Thank you very much and good luck in training. Thanks, Ariel. All right, there he is, the UFC Bantamweight champion. You feel the passion there. Wow, there is nothing like that rivalry between Dominic Cruz and your eye favor. Perhaps I should take that back.

I will correct myself. There are a few things in MMA like it. And maybe the hottest one at the moment is John Jones versus Daniel Cormier. So let's go from one D.C. to another. Let's go to the reigning and defending UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who is starting things off with a shot of his belts. There you have the Strike Force heavyweight Grand Prix title. You have a couple of UFC titles. I'm not even sure if he's done this on purpose, but it's a fantastic way to start this fight. Of course, John Jones, excuse me, this interview, I should say. John Jones was victorious. His first fight in 15 months on Saturday night. He defeated OSP, OSP, broke his arm, his left arm in the second round. John Jones did not finish him, but he won the unanimous decision. It was fairly one-sided. Daniel Cormier was. was on commentary, did a fantastic job, I thought. And as John Jones left the cage, he flipped him

the bird. And now we await news as to when they will fight again. DC, are you there? Did he just, is he making a point? Is he telling the world that this is all he has to say? He is the king. Oh, there he is. Hey. Hey, Daniel. How are you? I wasn't sure if you did that on purpose or not. I was talking to Salina. You didn't hear me in the background? No. I was holding the conversation and I'd been sitting here for two and a half minutes you know, you kind of big-week me and just had me waiting, so I was

like, well, I guess I have a few minutes, you know, we're on Ariel's time. No, no, it's your colleague, Dominic Cruz, who went a little long with his last answer, so I apologize for that. Okay, the world wants to know. Everyone's watching. Even John Kavanaugh is watching himself.

He wants to know. Will you fight John Jones at UFC 200? Yeah, of course. I would love to. If I get to clearance this afternoon, I would definitely love to fight and make UFC 200. So you're going to the doctor today. Yes, I am. Going to get a new MRI. I feel pretty good, man. Honestly, if I got to be 100% honest, I feel pretty good. I don't know if I could do everything 100% right now, but I could do some things, and I think the things that I could do right now would give me enough to, to actually start preparing.

You know, it's still quite a bit of time, like 11 weeks or so. So 10 weeks of training. If I had to take another three to four weeks to heal more, I think that's sufficient time. UFC 200 is a big deal, and clearly the UFC is now looking for a new mega main event after what happened with Connor last week. But in a perfect world, is this a little too soon for you? Like, if this wasn't the date, if you could just pick your return, would you be coming back in August or September?

Nah, man, I don't want to wait so long to fight. You know, I'm 37 years old. I'm not getting any younger, you know, so I would have loved to fought last weekend. Yeah. You know, but when the doctor said, you know, you need four to six weeks to get to the point that you can move around. And I started looking at dates and John started saying USC 200. I'm like, well, that may work, you know, because I feel like as long as I have 10 weeks, eight, nine weeks, I'm fine, you know, because if I have more time, I'll do more stuff.

And then eventually I run the risk of burning myself out. So I may be forced into doing a camp in the right amount of time frame. So are they essentially waiting on you at this point? Is that why they haven't made this official? They're waiting for your okay? I guess, you know, John said after the fight, I guess John said after the fight last weekend, he still wanted to fight. So it's a matter of health.

You know, so if we get the clearance today, yeah, I'd be glad to go. My team's excited. I'm excited. Cain's fighting. Luke's fighting in June. So we would have all of our guys fighting in a matter of a month. It would be great for us. Before, after your commentary duties on Saturday night, and by the way, I told you this in

private, but you hit a grand slam, my man. I mean, you were natural. For your first time ever doing that, it was just great. I love the WWE references. I mean, the whole thing was just a lot of fun. I'm just wondering if backstage wherever you had a conversation with the UFC brass did they say okay this is yours if you wanted like this is what we're doing this is what we want You know they're trying to they're trying to tell me to still be easy don't go so fast After having to sit next to the octagon knowing that UFC 200 is on the table

All these things that could make a guy want to go while I'm running today I'm starting training camp right now or like, calm down. If this is going to happen, it's going to happen. Don't push this thing faster than it needs to be pushed if you're not going to be ready to go. Take your time, see what the MRI says. And even if they say, well, Daniel, you're healing. You could make this fight date.

Make sure you don't do too much to where you re-injure yourself. So do you feel pressure? Do you feel pressure on saving this car? You're not feeling that kind of pressure? No, there's no pressure on me for saving anything. I mean, I just got to fight when I'm healthy, and this is a great opportunity. If this was to happen, for as long as I live, the biggest fight card in the UFC history to date will always have me at the marquee. Cormier, the first name on the marquee, UFC 200, Cormier versus Jones 2, my name on the marquee, first name listed, that would always be there.

in history, it would always be a part of history. And as I've said time and time again, you know, legacy and everything means something to me. And having that would also be pretty big, a big deal in my mind. So like I said, you nailed it on Saturday night. You called it down the middle for the most part. It was a lot of fun to watch. But can you take us inside your mind? You're watching John Jones for 25 minutes. Is it eating you up inside? Are you saying, golly, if I was in there on April 23rd, I would have been this man. I'd still be the champion on the I would have beaten that John Jones without a shadow of a doubt. Are you thinking like that as you're working on Saturday? You know, not the whole time. You know what I mean? After after a while,

I started to feel like that a little bit because I saw that he was a little tentative. I saw it, hey, one second. My computer has 5%. I'm going to go and grab the charger. You guys stare at my belts for a couple seconds. Okay. Hold on a little bit. I'll be right back. All right. We'll see how fast you can run. So as Daniel Cormier is going to get his computer charger, we're going to see how spry he is. In case you missed it, he said at the top of the interview, he has a doctor appointment later on today. He is going to find out if he is good to go on July 9th. If they give him the AOK, he wants to compete at UFC 200. And look at that. I mean, this looks like the Daniel Cormier, who I saw compete in the NCAA championships against some guy named Kale.

That's what that looked like right there. Yeah, right. I remember watching that live, by the way. I was just a youngster. What a time that was. Hey, you're lying. You're lying. Don't be lie.

Don't you lie. During the end of the time, I did say to watch it. But again, back to the question. Yes, go ahead. I wasn't thinking that the whole time. But as the fight went on, you know, I was like, well, he was a little tentative. And he seemed to tire a lot faster than he usually does. I was like, man, this was a great opportunity to fight this guy.

But then as the fight went on, I just went back to doing my job. I was there for a reason, you know, even talking to the people backstage, the powers that be, the people that matter in terms of my TV career, they said we expected you to call it down the middle. We hoped you would. But at times, it seemed as though you maybe were a little too nice. So, I was being honest. I was just being honest, like, for everything. And I've said this since day one.

I respect what John does inside of the octagon. I always have, you know. So on Saturday night, there were no outside of the octagon issues. This was all him in a competitive field, and I can appreciate that. Considering his layoff and everything he has been through out of the cage, out of the gym, when you were preparing for him for April 23rd, were you expecting that kind of John Jones? Like is this to us, you know, we were surprised. Wow, he actually looks ordinary. Did you expect this? Were you not surprised? You know, not really.

You know, if you go back and watch some of the interviews I did before, you know, I said the muscle may affect him. And he did look physically bigger on Saturday night, but he also looked a little slower. If I got to be honest, he looked, and I did say he looked like he tired a little bit faster. And that could have just been nerves, you know, getting readjusted to being back in the octagon. So it didn't really, it didn't surprise me all that much. I figured he would have a little bit of Russ and not only because of that 15 months but in the last

since April 2014 he had only fought me and Glover to share so it wasn't only just the 15 months off it was in the last two and a half years he had had two fights you know so that's it's not very active for a guy that was super active early in his career

when he was really running through guys he was fighting three times a year so I thought there were some factors that could have come into play on Saturday. Considering how he looked in the fight, do you think that took some of the luster away from the rematch? No, because people are realists. You know what they're saying? Well, it's a little ring rust and he'll be better next time.

Okay. I say, no, I don't think he'll be better next time. I think this is John. This is the new John. This is John Jones with all the muscle. This is John Jones that likes to lift weights. This is John Jones, who's a big guy that's cutting weight and can't rehydrate. under these new USIDA rules.

This is John Jones in the new UFC. This is John Jones in the real world today. So when we fight in July, he's going to look the same. He is going to look like the guy that he looked like Saturday. And he's going to have questions. And he's going to be in there questioning himself as you saw him kind of processing things. And he'll go home now and wonder, why did I look like that? Well, guess what, bud?

You look like that because that's who you are now. And that's how he's going to look in July when I'm kicking his ass. Is a part of you worried that, okay, three more months, two and a half more months? Like, I just want him to get to this fight. Are you worried that, you know, he'll mess up again? Does that come into play? No, I don't think so. You know, I think he'll be okay.

You know, I think that, and I said this Saturday on the broadcast, I'm hoping that the last time was the last time that we hear of John Jones getting himself into trouble. So I believe he'll be okay. Look, a lot of that stuff came with. immaturity, a lot of success at a young age, and you hope that now, he, after hitting rock bottom, it's all it takes. You know, you hit rock bottom and you get better, so maybe he'll get better. Now, how about him flipping you off on his way out? I mean, that was my favorite moment of the whole night. That was just the best.

Well, it's like, the only issue with that is like, you know, I don't care. I really don't care. from my research. I really don't care. I thought it was funny, but just like, you know, it's like, you know, when you think of John, it's like, well, John, okay, you're the PR lady that he has. Greatest PR lady of all time, you know, she's doing a phenomenal job of rebuilding his image. But, um, but John goes in there, it's like almost like she should be in there to watch him because he, post-fight interview, great, very humble, very gracious, cared, was excited. to be back. He looked. He apologized. He told the fans how he loved him. Look, PR 101, Ariel. Yeah. Thank the fans. Thank you, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Be happy to be there. The one thing that they forgot the PR manual that they gave John Jones is you don't flip off decommonator when you're walking out of the doctorate. I was like, what the hell? I was like, well, good on John. So as he was walking out, I'm looking at the dang monitor. And I'm like,

you know what, man? Good on John. You know, he just said he was gracious. just can't wait to fight me again. And in my ear right here, oh, Daniel, he's staring at you. Because if you notice he was like, staring for a second. When I finally look over, he flipped me to bird. I was like, oh, well, that went his PR 101, you know. Why didn't you go in the cage? I thought you guys were going to have a little tete-a-tete.

You see, so that's kind of dangerous when it comes to John and I. Most people can keep it together in those situations. John and I, that's a little dangerous. So I don't know what would have happened. you know, they might have jumped me again like they did in the MGM Grand that one time. Oh, damn. They might have jumped you.

Wow. His whole, I'm just messing around. So when you found out that he was in the wheelchair, did you start to get worried? I panicked a little bit because I want to fight. You know, I mean, because the thing is this. Like, it scares me to think that if we can't fight in July, they would make us wait all the way to UFC 200 in Madison Square, or whatever, in Madison Square Garden, which

would be great. It would be huge to be a part of that. But that would put me out for over a year. I've never done that in my whole career. You know, and at 37, you don't want to be sitting out for a year. You know, so for me, the ideal situation is to fight in July win and then fight them again in November in Madison Square Gardens. What about him saying that you were just hurt and not really injured?

And it's sort of questioning you pulling out of this fight. And even afterwards saying that he was preparing for you and that's why he didn't look good. And if it was you in there, he would essentially smashed you. What do you make of some of those comments? uh you know from a guy that that that again said i want to thank my lord and savi for getting me here to flipping me off not even two minutes later you understand he flip flops in the in the octagon he said the issue was he was preparing to fight me and o'vince was a softball well he watched the fight o'vince fought conventional almost the entire time you know he was switching a little bit but o'vince

fought conventional the vast majority of that fight so things weren't flipped as he said he said everything was backwards. Well, they actually weren't backwards because O'Vitts fought conventional in the majority of the time. Him saying that I was hurt, not injured, that's an old wrestling term. I get it. You know, like sometimes are you, the coaches always ask, are you hurt, or are you injured? My thing was, I could have fought on Saturday if I was feeling as I did the other day, but I would not have been able to train for the whole three weeks prior to the competition. That's unfair. If I would have sat on my butt for three weeks, I've been doing, doing rehab, getting the stem cells, doing all this stuff to get better,

I could have fought, but I could not have trained at all. The last three weeks I've been sitting on my butt. I get up to go to work at UFC's night. That's all I can really do. In the majority of that day, I'm sitting down. So I wouldn't have been able to train for three weeks, and I'm never going to fight him when I'm not fully prepared. That's not fair to me, on my family, or my coaches.

So last time you were on this show, right afterwards, there was some tweeting back and fourth. That was something else. Wow. Do you regret any of that? I mean, that was amazing. The back and forth, you enjoy it? Or like, how would you just, what's going on in your mind when you're going like that? Because that was, I never seen really that side of you on Twitter. You were, you were pissed off, right? Okay, so, first off, outside of John's PR, this is John's PR, there's one that's close to and that's mine, Heidi Sieber, you know? They're running. This lady, they're closed, you know, but Heidi's better. But nobody took my phone after I did this procedures.

I was still a little under influence, but it felt good to let go. Because I live by PR book 101. I live by it. I try and follow the rules. But in that instance, I was able to just let loose and be free and tell this guy exactly what I was feeling. I thought it was great. I thought it was great. Back when I'm like, because he called me a coward.

Yeah. And it's like, how can you ever call someone coward when you have done? done those things. You know, it's like, what the hell? Like, it drives me crazy sometimes that he can say some of the things that he says. And it's like, it doesn't register in his head that he's done much worse or the same thing. Even saying, are you hurt or injured, you canceled our fight? UFC 178, we were supposed to fight. And he actually pushed the fight back. It's the same thing. So I get a little frustrated in those instances because I'm like, well, it's the same exact thing. Like, why is it so much worse when I do it as opposed to you doing it? You know,

and then I said all the fights that he pulled out of and everything. It was cool, you know? He does not, the guy does not, I mean, the guy does not like me. He really cannot. He tests me. Like, really, the other day, I was walking into the arena with my fiance, my manager, and Walt Harris, big Walt. Congratulations, Walt. Great job Saturday. they. Walt said, can I have a picture? And I'm like, sure. I guess John goes into the arena to, like, see the fans now. And he saw Walt and I taking a picture. So you look back and he goes, Walt, you raced that picture you took with me, bro.

Poor Walt's, like, stuck in the middle of this. Like, everybody. Walt's stuck in the middle of it. Old Vincent St. Louis is stuck in the middle. Like, you kind of get, like, drawn into our shit. It's something like, so then we're, like, staring at each other. And, like, what is this guy? I'm scared of him or something like what's his problem?

Wow, so this is right before the fight. So any other run-ins? Like, how did that end? No, that was it. That was it. It was the only time I saw him. Okay. That was the only time I saw him.

But he was very cordial to Bob Cook earlier in the day when Bob was alone. It's just me. It's like the sight of me, it just drives him crazy. You know, it's funny. You mentioned PR. I got to ask you, man, because you tell it like it is, what do you make of this whole Connor McGregor situation? Do you sympathize with him?

Do you see where the UFC is coming from? Are they really going to, I mean, you're kind of directly related. to it all because of UFC 200. What's your stance? You know, man, there's a, there's a part of me that, you couldn't see. I saw it. Yeah. Yeah. There's a part of me that really does sympathize with Connor. Like, he said it himself, man. He goes, I just lost to this guy. This guy's longer. This guy's bigger. We're fighting at the same weight division. I need to train. Makes a ton of sense. but we've all felt that way before in our careers where I just want to train I don't want to go do media I want to do this interview I mean I was just on this dang show two weeks ago wait wait this interview that hurts my feelings okay anyways it's like I just want to train but also

Connor also does a lot more than the rest of us so you would think in this instance maybe he gets a little more leeway than anyone else would get would that being said It's the biggest show ever. You're the biggest star. We need you to do your job. So it's like I see both sides. I will not say Connor's wrong because he's not 100% wrong. But I cannot say that the organization

is 100% wrong because I don't feel they are either. It's like we do need you to do this, Connor. Even though you've done so much, we get it. But we need you to do this because this is so big to the company, so big to the organization. We need you to do this. But I do sympathize with him, man, because he does have an uphill battle because he loses to this guy again. I love Nate Diaz.

I love Nate Diaz. He's a great guy. He's a friend of mine. But Nate's lost 10 times. You know, this isn't, we're not talking about Rafael Dosanjos. We're not talking about Kabib Nur Meadow. We're not talking about the champions. Connor can't lose to Nate over and over again, you know?

So, and honestly, I don't know if he can actually beat him. It's just a bad style matchup for him. but it's a, it's a tough situation that these guys are in right now. Two last quick things. Are you hoping that they figure it out and put Connor on the card? You would, you would be, you know, you would stand to gain from that, right? You get them points, right? Well, I mean, if we were all on the card, I just don't know the pie is big enough to share between me and Conner and Misha and everybody else on the card, you know?

So it's a business, man. We've got to think of a business too. you know so people are going to have to choose honestly if they want kind on that card they're going to lose john and i probably you know so it's going to be one or the other because i don't think that they would uh do it with all of us on the same card makes no sense um and finally as we sit here and talk today before you go to the doctor just based on how you're feeling do you think it's a good chance that you'll get cleared and be able to fight on july 9th are you feeling that way i feel pretty good okay i feel confident that um that i'll be able to

to train effectively at the latest in the next month. That would be eight weeks from the injury. Right now, I'm three and a half weeks from my procedure. They say in the fourth week is when the stem cells really start to take and you start to feel the improvement. I mean, the first two weeks, I would actually walk. My leg would just swell up to like double the size. I would run home, sticking in a bucket of ice and just sit there for 30 minutes.

Wow. And then it starts to feel better and better and better. Now I'm not limping as much. I can move around, and I just can't push it too hard. But more than anything, just seeing, just seeing this new guy in there on Saturday, who I truly believe is who he is now. He went home on Saturday questioning, why did I fight like that? Why did I look like that?

I didn't look like the guy that I thought I was going to be. We saw these videos. He's jumping high. He jumped so high once on a box. I thought maybe he could dunk a basketball now. I'm like, okay, this dude is like, he's working. and he's going to be better. And then I see him and I go, okay, this guy's not better.

The game has changed a lot since John last fought. And under these new rules, we have to all, it's tough. Because that IV really does make a difference. And John is a big guy. So that IV makes a difference. Nobody even knew IVs was part of you saw. This was new to everybody. Nobody knew that it was going to be an IV band.

It's new to everybody. But that's him. And Eric, before I go, everybody listening right now, pound for pound discussion is over. We don't talk about this no more. It's Demetri's Mighty Mouse Johnson by a landslide. It's DJ and then it's the rest of us. We're all down here, man.

The dude is the best. He may be the best fighter to ever grace the octagon. Pure martial artists in every form. DJ's the man. I'm not just saying this because you're on. I'm surprised that you don't get more love in that discussion. because you're one of the few guys who actually won in two divisions. You're actually one of the few.

And DJ as well. But his last fight... It is very odd. It's very odd when you do pound for pound. Because, again, love Robbie. But when Robbie was fighting at 85, he would lose a lot more than he does at 70. But in the pound-for-pound rank, because Robbie is actually above me.

Wow. You know, so it's a... If you look at pound-for-pound and what it's supposed to mean, it's whose skills will translate weight division. Jones would. Jones would be successful at heavyweight, just as I was. So he should be up there. But the rest of those guys is kind of weird in that sense.

You don't really know. Well, I got to say, I was pulling for your rockets to pull off the upset after you just announced to the world that you're doing this interview under duress, that you're actually not happy to be speaking to me. I'm back on the Dubs bandwagon. I mean, really, it's going to take me a long time to get over that. But I do appreciate you coming on nonetheless. It's great to see your face, D.C. Thank you very much.

And good luck. Can you give me a text or something? What time is this doctor appointment? What time are we going? Can you give me a text something? You just kind of want everything. Well, I mean, it would be nice. You know, but like, you know, sometimes people ask you for a little bit, you know. Like, hey, can I get this? Do this interview for us, D.C.

And if D.C. had the results, he would get it. But now you want everything. You want me to text you when I get out of doctors, right? That would be nice, yes. Is that too much to ask? I'll think about it. I mean, real quick, though, how's the view? How's the view?

Hey, area, how's the fuse? It's nice. I like those pictures. You got that. I mean, it's really something you got back there. Your parents, I think, is that your parents back there? Got Selena. You got Selena.

The Strike Force. That is the Crown Jewel? That is the Crown Jewel? Andre Aloski, Josh Barnett, Fador Emilian, Inko, Sergey Karthano, Fred Rogers, Antonio Silva. Fabricio Verdu. Verdu. Burtu hate that his name is on this belt, by the way. This is the one.

I look at my, actually, you know what's the crown jewel? Okay. Wow. Look at that. That's not even on the mantle. The king of the cage belt, the Australia belt goes under the bottom. Why? Why?

Put them all out there. The more the merrier. My mantle can't fit. You know, I used to say last year that had a belt for every year I have fought because I had five titles. But I'm in my six-year now, so it doesn't matter. So you get a new one every time you fight in the UFC? Not really, but Alexander Gustafson fought me so hard that I refuse to give it back.

Wow. That's amazing. I'm keeping it all like, I stuff it in my bag and I left. That's cool. That's amazing. I love that. That's a great story. I didn't know that. See, we learned something new every day. But in all honesty, thank you, Daniel. I appreciate it. You're looking good. Got that smile on your face. It's always great to see you, my man. And great job on the commentary. If I were those other guys, I'd get nervous, including Joe Rogan. I think you put out a warning there.

You put them on blast. Thank you. I appreciate it. Those guys make it a lot easier, though. Okay, very nice of you to say. Much love. Thank you. All right, I want to.

Thank you. There he is. The light heavyweight champion of the UFC, Daniel Cormier, joining us with an update on his status. Okay. We're going to stick to the light heavyweight division. In a minute, we're going to be joined in studio by the sledgehammer. Alir Latifie is here.

He's just over there in the other room. I saw him with my own eyes. He's going to be here in studio in a matter of moments. So we need to take a quick break. We need to reconfigure the studio. What's our video that we're doing? I forget. Can someone help me out? So much going on in my mind. Oh, yes, we've got a couple of interviews. Yes, we've got Demetrius Johnson. My very first interview with, no, no, it was after Demetrius Johnson's UFC debut, UFC 126, he defeated Kit Yamamoto. So we've got my post-fight interview with Demetrius Johnson at UFC 126, just to look back at how far he's come. And time permitting, we may also look at UFC 123 after Edson Barbosa's UFC debut. He had a big weekend. He defeated Anthony Pettis. Anthony Pettis now five and four in the UFC. He's lost three in a row.

Who would have thunk it? So let's configure or reconfigure things I should say. And in a minute, we are going to be joined in studio by Alir Latifi, the sledgehammer. For now, y'all must have forgot Demetrius Johnson's UFC debut. Ariel Hawani post-fight at UFC 126 alongside Demetrius Johnson, who defeated Kid Yamamoto tonight and Demetri's very dominant win by you tonight, and it just seemed as though you were able to impose your will on him the entire fight. Was that what you were expecting? Yeah, you know, I was expecting, you know, to get a lot of takedowns because he steps in real hard, you know,

but I made a couple mistakes about, you know, let him curl underneath him. me and not, you know, stuffing him underneath me because he's real good about balling up so I couldn't even get to my submission Webber tour so really upset about that. What do you think of his performance, especially in the first round he seemed very tentative? You know, I don't want to say he's tentative, you know, he just understands range and distance very well and so each time I step in he will back up because he always, he waits and as you come forward he always he treats out hard right and you watch his highlight roll that's what he does. So, you

know, I was trying to ease my way in and not get stupid and get hit with that hook and so He's just really good about controlling distance and he understands it very well. So that's when you get that kind of footwork action going on. And that's what happened tonight, a lot about that stand up. And your timing was impeccable because you were slipping under his right hook every time. You were making sure that he wasn't even going to touch you, taking him down right away. I'm sure that's something you worked on, right? Oh yeah, definitely.

Me, Matt, we worked on a lot. All the guys in the gym we did. And the one thing we were trying to work on was him to draw out that hook. And that's why he looked so attentive because he was waiting, waiting. And I was just too over my base. My head was over my feet, so I couldn't go here and come back and come back on my counter. And so I resorted to my wrestling, because I was already here.

Then when he shot, I just came underneath and got him. You're so fast. You're even faster in this interview. I can't even catch up putting the mic in front of your face. You're very quick out there. Do you feel as at 1.35, no one can just keep up with your pace? I'm sure those guys have to keep with my pace. I think Yomoto was just looking for that one shot knockout.

And I was looking for the complete game tonight. And I was, you know, to be very well-rounded, you know, hit him on a feet, throw knees, lower my elevation. Do the takedowns. If I don't get down, come up, kick, knee, so in combination, because it's mixed martial arts. It's not just, you know, box if it was. And it could have been a different story tonight, you know. What was your take on a moment in the second round? He seemed to have kneeed you, and you were a little bit rock, but then he moved back.

I think he thought it was an illegal knee. Was it? No, I mean, it was going to be. It was almost like the Donald Serroney and Jimmy Varner. Jamie Varner. Thank you. Same thing, you know. He was getting ready to throw the knee, and I was down, and I moved out of the way. And then he thought he hit me, but, and then I was standing there, and I got up, and I was like, hey, man, it's okay.

You know, in a dream, you can need you the head. So, you know, sometimes when I'm working out with these guys, I've been needing in the head because I like to train that kind of stuff too. But, you know, I wasn't days at all. I just moved out of the knee, and I just got him to say, hey, man, it's all good. You know, I know it's a business. It's a sport, so. What was it like being out there in front of a UFC audience in front of the, you know, the crowd, pay-per-view crowd, and in that cage, it's a little bit bigger than the WC cage, right?

Yeah, it was a little bit bigger, you know, like me and my coaches were like, man, it's not really that big, much bigger. And we're like, yeah, and we train at Van der Leigh-Silvish Gym, and his cage is huge. I mean, we had me, Matt, and, you know, what time we had Rafael Sancho in there. So, and it was great to fight in front of the UFC crowd reminds me of my WC day, so it was good. All right, and talk about this situation. We don't see Xbox sponsoring a lot of fighters. Yeah, you know, Xbox 360 really stepped up. Microsoft stepped up to sponsor mixed martial arts and I guess I'm the first

protege and I really want to say big thanks to them and big thanks to UFC and Dana White and everybody at the staff of UFC for putting my feed on Facebook and thank you guys for interview me and who do you think they'll book you against next you know it's hard to say you know I'm still climbing up the the mountain you know and we got a lot of tough guys you know I mean they can put him up against anybody and I just got to go back home and go back to work 40 hour a week job and get ready for the next one so well thank you for the time congrats on the win Oh, thank you, buddy.

Ariel Halwani post-fighted at UFC 123 with Edson Barbosa, who defeated Mike Lulo tonight in very impressive fashion. And Edson, first off, congratulations on your first UFC win. I have to ask you, why are you holding your cup right now? He had to pin the cup for the task, so he didn't want to hand him to anybody. He'd be like, hey, here, hold my cup. So he's holding it.

I'm sure you're going to be keeping that one for a very long time. This was your first UFC fight and victory. How did it feel to be out there in the OXGon for the first time? Well, I said he was very thankful first for the opportunity. And like people say, he has a lot of fights, but he was still nervous for being the UFC, having a lot of pressure winning your first fight in the UFC, which is the biggest show, the biggest league. But he felt like he was very comfortable in the beginning. He was kind of anxious to just be able to put a good show and show his potential, his full potential.

But, you know, regardless of being the UFC or not, he felt like he walked in and he was actually comfortable with the whole atmosphere and stuff. You had a change of opponent, sort of at the last minute. How did that affect your training? Sinceramintu, car. Actually, it didn't change much because I always focused on what I'm going to do, my game, my 100%. It doesn't really matter who I'm fighting. I'm going to do the same things I'm used to do, which is focus on my game.

And as soon as I find out that I was fighting someone else, it didn't change much because I was just focusing on myself, focusing on my game and try to go there and fight whoever, you know. I don't know if you know this, but there is a lot of buzz. and hype about you especially online and clearly you have delivered in your first fight we saw a lot of great power from you obviously the leg strikes were very effective is that for the people who are seeing you for the first time is that sort of your forte here is that your strength those leg kicks do you use that to to beat a lot

of your opponents I sincerely I think I'm a lot of complete I have a game of the show to do wrestling there's a game yeah I'm definitely striker as you can see but my forte I would say it's not just leg kicks, but knees, hands, everything, flying knees, the whole thing. Today, I show my skills as a leg kicker, like throwing leg kicks. But I do have a background in jiu-jitsu and wrestling.

I've been trained everything, and I feel like I'm a complete fighter. I'm excited to show all my other skills, my next fight. All right, back on the MMA hour. Here we are, very special guest. Alir Latifie in the house. How about that? Wow, what an honor this is.

Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here. Thank you for joining us. What brings you to New York? Well, I have a very close friend. I've been here visiting him and had some other meetings with some people. So just traveling in the U.S., you know, I've been here for a couple of months now, and I really like it. So are you done with Sweden?

Absolutely not. You know, Sweden is always my base. That's where I grew up and where I trained all my life. But, you know, the sport is biggest here in the U.S. The UFC is so big, so I felt it was like a big, an important step to me to come over here and, you know, train here and be over here where the big shows are. But do you live here full time now in the U.S.? I've been here for a couple of months. So let's see what happens in the future.

I would probably like to stay here too, but let's see what happens, you know. Well, you're all nice in tan. You seem like you like the sun. I know your base is in Florida, right? Yeah, I'm based down in Miami. Yeah. You're hanging out with my mother. Yeah.

How about that? Yeah. She recognized you. Yeah, that was pretty funny. That's amazing. We're living in the same building. So that was pretty cool. That's amazing.

But like when she came up to you and said, oh, I'm Ariel's mother. Did you think she was joking? No, no, I knew because I met you a couple of weeks before. I said that. I was just like, wow, what a coincidence. But it was funny how she recognized me. How? She was like, you're a fighter.

You're a fighter. You know my son. I'm like, who's your son? So then she thought, I'm like, of course I know him. So it was nice, you know. It was after you just fought at UFC 196. Exactly. So she watches all the pay-per-views, so she was, you know, it was very easy for her to recognize you.

So let's talk. Okay, so UFC 197 just happened. You tweeted me, you were looking for a place to watch the fight. Did you find a place? Yeah, we were at a local bar down at Manhattan and just like chilled with some friends. So it was nice, you know, nice seeing the fights. Yeah. What did you think of John Jones?

is your division. What did you make of his performance? Actually, it was what I thought it would be. Really? Yeah. What do you mean? I wasn't surprised. I wasn't surprised. Everybody was thinking that was going to be an easy fight. I know he hadn't been in an octagon a long time, and it's always a little bit nerves, coming back, all the pressure. And, you know, like DC said, a lot of new rules. You know, the Ivy Band, he's a big guy cutting a lot of weight, different training,

and it fights a tough guy. You know, you can't take that from the guy that was there. He's a tough fighter, and, you know, it's not an easy game. So based on all these new rules and how he looked on Saturday, do you think D.C. beats him in the rematch? I think D.C., the first fight, I think D.C. wasn't really prepared of John Jones wrestling skills,

you know, that he has a good take-down defense. John Jones coming from a Greco-Roman background, gives him a big advantage against the cage,

and it's hard to taking down. So I think he wasn't prepared that he was going to be so hard to take down. But this time, if he fights them, with that pressure that D.C. can put on

and the will that he has, I think, of course, that he can take it. Wow. And he will. And he's dedicated, you know. Yeah, of course. Kind of the same build as you, right?

Yeah. You're cut from the same cloth, as they say. Yeah, we are. We're the smallest guy in the division. But like I always said, you know, people often say, why do you don't cut to 185? But I would never make 185. I'm too heavy.

You know, I walk around 235, even more. Now I walk around less. But, you know, I'm a heavy guy by nature, you know. But that gives me also some other advantages too, you know. So I'm strong, I'm powerful. and I'm fast. So, you know, I make the things that people see as my weakness as my strength. Right. And we will get to you in a second, but I got to ask, because it's on everyone's mind. I know you follow the news in M.MA. What do you think about this whole Connor McGregor situation?

A fellow European fighter, what do you think about this? This is madness. Yeah, you know, me and Connor, we have a pretty cool history because he debuted at the car where I was a main event. That's right. And since then, we fought. like three or four times at the same event. That's right. Well, you know, he's an amazing athlete. He lifted this sport to another level. What he's done for the sport

is amazing. He's a great athlete. He's a great performer, but he's not only an athlete. He's an artist. It's different being a fighter just to be able to fight and it's different taking the fighting to the world like to all the people.

Yeah. And that's what it is. He's an artist. So But in the same time, I understand him because he comes from a loss. All these world tours with the mass media and stuff, it takes a lot of energy. And it takes the focus of what you should do. Because as a fighter, you always got to stay hungry and train hard. And then that's what's the important thing. It's not about the talking.

It's not about the flashing and stuff. When the cage closed, you're there to fight and perform. And I think after the last fight, he thought, damn, man, I should go back. back and do what I should do. Training like an animal, you know, training hard and being hungry. I'm not saying that he's not hungry anymore. But, you know, somewhere I thought like, man, I'm going back where I started. Like I self like to do that.

Go back where I started, you know, in my hometown, train at that dirty, you know, gym where I started to get me hungry again, you know, sometimes you need that. So I think it wasn't like he did it, wanted to diss to UFC or something. It was like, hey, man, I'm here. I want to work hard. I want to win this fight, it's important. And in the same time, I understand the UFC too, because he's such a big name. This event, the 200 event is so big.

They really need him to promote it. But, you know, this thing happened, and I think you just have to have a communication and work it out. Yeah, hopefully they can work it out. It would be a shame if they don't. So what about you? Because you have been looking good. You've won three in a row. You're very dominant.

anyone suggesting you moving down to 185 is crazy because you've had so much success at 205 I see you going back and forth with Ryan Bader what's going on what's next well you know I've been saying a long time you know when I first started in UFC I wasn't ready maybe to fight the best but now after six or seven fights you know I'm ready to fight the best and I've said I've been wanting a top five opponent a while now so and I know I can beat I don't want to sound cocky, you know, I'd never brag and stuff, I never call out people. That's not my style of a person.

I respect all the fighters and everything, you know. I'm a respectful person, but I know I can beat anybody in that division. But you did ask for Ryan Bader on Twitter. I did, yeah. And that's nothing that I have against him. Sure. I just told, like, a lot of fans were asking me about that fight, you should fight Ryan.

And Ryan, he has a, you know, he's at the top. Sure. He's good ranked. He has fought the best and a lot of people see it as a good matchup and I would love to fight them you know so okay you say that I could beat the best I could beat anyone in the division does that include the top two guys like when you watch John Jones fight on Saturday

do you say I could be in there and I could beat this guy of course yeah you feel that confident now yeah wow so has the when I say I can be there then I meet anybody wow it took you some time to start believing that I mean it's all about the experience you know I have developed for every fight that I've come you can see from my You can't even count my first fight because my first fight I wasn't prepared. I caught 27 pounds in three days, you know, and I went in without no training, no sparring,

nothing. I was just like, let's do it. Sure. But that's the kind of person I am, you know. I don't like to talk. I go in and I show the results, you know. That's one of my favorite stories since I've been covering this sport, how you got into the UFC. You don't even know the whole story.

That's pretty crazy. Can you tell us the whole story? Please, once and for all. Tell us the whole story. How does it start? So everything is like, I had like, I was out of, I wasn't in the UFC, but I was like, just the step in. And one of the biggest fighter names in Sweden and the Scandinavia. And I was just, I had like three fights just before that happened that were canceled.

So I was like training for like three, four months. one fight canceled. Then I found another fight canceled. And I had a hard time getting fights. That was my biggest problem before the UFC. I had a hard time getting fights. So after the third or fourth fight was canceled, I was like, man, I'm done with this shit.

Because, you know, it was hard making a living. I wasn't like making money of these fights. And I was like stuck in the middle. So I was like, man, what's happening now? But my dear friend and my coach, there's been with me all the way, Saman Berkshire said, man, let's work, you know. The opportunity is going to come. So I'm back home in my hometown, Malme, I'm visiting my family, and I get this.

Alex was supposed to fight the main event in Stockholm. And it's so funny because I was with my brother and his family at home, and I went down to the shop to buy some, we had Easterdine and stuff, so I went down to buy some ice cream and some candy. It's like 10 in the night, Friday night. I remember it. It was just a week before the fight, okay. The fight, yeah. Eight days, right?

It's Friday. Yeah, probably like, yeah, not even eight. Yeah, it was Friday night. So it was like six or seven. So they say, did you hear what happens? No. Alex is injured, so it's not sure he's going to be able to fight. Okay.

I said, wow. And I even think about they're going to ask me or something. Who's calling you, by the way? My coach. He's calling okay, okay. I said, so okay, I said, wow, so okay, well. Then he says like, I think you should come up here to Stockholm. And it's like a six, seven hours drive.

Okay. So why, Hamba? They're not going to find a replacement, you know, and that's your notice. It's a main event. Who's going to take a fight in seven days? Again, Musashi, a top guy, you know, nobody's going to take it. So, and he already knows me as a person. You know, I would take it, you know, I want to back out.

How much you weigh at this point? I was probably 12, 13 kilos, so I was like 235. Wow, wow, wow, okay. So he says like, okay, so I just go home, get in my small smart car, my headlights were working, and I drove like all night, six, seven hours. Wow. So you don't buy the ice cream, nothing? Nothing.

You are buying and send it at home. And I'm saying, and I just go in and say, like, listen, I'm leaving for Stockholm. So why? maybe I'm going to get this fight because all the circumstances my intention said I got to go so I went up and they go out that he can't fight

and I go out on Twitter on Facebook and we start talking you know I say I'll fight him you know I'll do it and like Wednesday night I get the contract I signed the paper and I start taking the weight you know well wait you skipped some steps here

Wednesday you get the contract but What are you doing Friday, Saturday, Sunday? When do you get the call that you're in? Yeah, I'm like, so Saturday morning, I'm in Stockholm. I go up, I do a workout, no, just to do something. And we start talking to Joe Silva and like, starting like, hey, he can take the fight and they started looking up who I am and stuff, blah, blah, blah. And so, you know, this guy has an amazing crowd in Sweden.

They love him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we go back and forth, blah, blah, blah, and stuff. Are you talking to Alex at this point? Yeah, I'm talking to us. Is it tough? It's tough, you know. He was very disappointed, but he was, in the same time, he was happy that I got the opportunity, you know.

And it was just like so much happening. And then when I go out on Twitter, like, because it was first of April, so everybody was like, there was people going out and saying, I'll take the fight. I think like Vanderleysseva went out and people, so people thought, but they were just joking. So I go out and say it and then it like goes crazy, you know, people know it's full. know it's for real yeah yeah yeah and they start writing you know in the magazines and screen like the rocky story you know this unknown guy yeah yeah yeah relatively unknown for the world you know challenging this this great fighter so it was like a crazy atmosphere in sweden in my home time and i got a lot of support but it was like a very hectic week and i never forget that week

because i was doing like interviews like four or five hours a day cutting weight and like it was just a crazy moment yeah yeah yeah and like I had a lot of close friends and we didn't think so much we was like let's do it yeah that's what life is all about I'm wondering who is the one that told you you're in like do you remember that phone call yeah it was it was my coach cell number you said you got it yeah umba are you ready to fight Saturday are you ready to do this of course I'm ready man wow that's that's life you know I always tell people you guys Try to take your chances in life. Whatever it is, never be afraid to step out of your comfort zone

because then you never know how great you can be. And there was a lot of people doubted me when I fought that fight. Even before the fight, they were like, he's going to get smashed the first minute. He caught so much weight. He's that and that. And I was like, you know, let them believe what they want to believe. I know what I'm capable of.

And it was actually when I come to the arena after the way after the weight cut and come to the arena for the fight and warm up. It's such a crazy feeling behind, but I don't know where I got the energy to fight that fight. Because I was so exhausted. From cutting weight. From the weight cut. And so dehydrated, so I didn't even warm up. Wow.

I just like, I had no energy to warm up. So I was like, what happens, happens. We're going to go in and we're going to do this. But for me, it was important not only going and take the fight. For me, it was important to perform. Sure, sure. So, honestly, I don't know where I got that energy. It was just pure, pure will because there was no tactical.

It was no, I had no energy to. It was just going and fight, you know. I remember there was a shot. I think it was before the third round where they show you, your eye is busted up, and the people are cheering for you, and people are shocked that you even made it to the third round. Like that's a victory in its own right. Were they helping you as well? Of course, you know, it meant a lot, you know, for where I grew up, doing what I did was a big step.

So a lot of people like, wow, you know, look what's what he has done on his own, you know. Coming from where I grew up, they were like, hey, he made it all the way here alone. So it was a crazy thing. But it shows, you know, if you have the will, the drive to do something, you're capable doing a lot in life. How difficult was that weight cut? I mean, did it ever get scary for you? It did, you know, because, you know, I wasn't physically prepared.

I was like in the sauna cutting like four hours a day. Yeah. Four hours a day, three days. Gosh. No drinking, no eating, no nothing. How do you do that? Physically, how do you guys do this? You don't do it.

But it's nothing normal. I wouldn't recommend nobody to do it. Of course. It's not, I mean, nobody has done that in UFC history, taking a fight in that short notice. It's something else taking a fight in two weeks, three weeks, but taking in three days, cutting 20 pounds, 28 pounds, nobody. Was there ever a point where you thought you wouldn't make it? Like it was too tough? No, I already decided. We're going to make this. You got to just decide in your head.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When you decide something, that's how we grew up, you know. That's how my father ate. When you decide for something, then you decide and you make it. Whether you break down or whatever, it doesn't matter. You just got to make it. When's the last time you watched that fight? It was a long time ago. Do you take pleasure out of it?

Like, do you say, you know, the fact that I showed up and went to distance with this guy? Was that a victory for you or were you pissed off that you lost still? I was maybe like, of course, you know, you're never happy when you lose, you know. But in a way, when I think back, what I went through, it was amazing that I did. did those three rounds, you know, because like I told you, I was there already when I stepped in. I had no energy. Like, after the first punch, I was like, so it was just like, it was pure will. So you said that you come from, how do you pronounce it, Malma? Yeah, Malma. Malma in Sweden. Yeah. Your parents are originally from. Albania, Kosovo. Kosovo. Where were you born? You were born in

Sweden, though, right? Yeah, I was born in Sweden. My parents immigrated during the 70s to, to Sweden. Why'd they go to Sweden? To work, you know, they came to Sweden. Sweden was taking a lot of people over there to, they needed like a lot of labor and stuff. Were you an athlete as a kid? I wrestled. I started

wrestling when I was six years old. Wow. Yeah, I did Gregoroma wrestling. I actually did Gregoromber wrestling until I was 25 or 26 and then I went over to MMA. So the transition to M.M.A. came through my brother who's a jihitsu black belt and

one of the pioneers in like no holds bar in scandinavia and europe yeah i've read that um how old is your brother he's uh don't say wrong he's like 42 oh wow okay so is it tough for him to see how big m m ms got in sweden and he wasn't able to capitalize on it i mean sometimes he wish that he could i think he wished that when he fought yeah it could be this big you know yeah because when he's fought there was no money there was nothing he went like to russia to finland fighting tournaments were there practically no rules

wow head butts did you watch these of course how did you see them like did you go with him some of the fights I was with him and others I saw like

they're on like tape or whatever so was he someone like an idol for you someone that you looked up to did you say I want to be like him yeah and my brother always supported me

during my career you know today he's not it doesn't have the possibility being with me like during all my training. But he's always there, like, spiritually. Does he come to your fights? Yeah, he's always in my corner.

Sal and my brother are always there. At what point you decide that you want to become a pro-MMA fighter? Well, I made the switch to our, like I wrestled and was a dedicated wrestler a long time. But you're not making money, right, when you're a wrestler? No. Nothing. So I was like trying to qualify for the national team and for the Olympics. Yeah.

and stuff but you know it's too bad you know because sports has a lot of politics and stuff and favorizing people and stuff and i just felt like was too much bullshit wow and i didn't i don't i'm not saying that i was the best in my division but i was one of the best and i didn't feel that the opportunity was given for me to develop as a wrestler so too much politics they started changing the rules, the rules in the wrestling, like how wrestling looked. Okay. Yeah, the Greco and I just felt like it was, in the time, I was feeling like MMA was more and more interesting. What year is this?

This is like 2004-5. Okay, wow. So there's no real, you know, legends in Swedish MMA at that point. There's no one to really look up to it. Your brother you're looking up to it, but there's no Alex Gustafson, so to speak. No, no, there's not. My brother, I mean, one of the, like, the really, Pioneers in MMA, in Action Street, is Omar Bouch.

He fought in pancreas. And he was actually my brother's, like, first trainer in the M.A. So I trained with him for a while. Okay, so you decide, okay, I'm going to go from wrestling time. I'm going to try to become a fighter. Yeah. What does your family say about this? They didn't like it.

They didn't like it. I mean, how are you going to make a living as a fighter? Because I'm a very dedicated person. I'm either white or black when I do something. something, you know, I'm all in. So when I went in for fighting, I went 100%. Wow. And I started training hard, you know, my brother said, he believed him.

He said, you should do fighting, man. You can make a career of it because he knew that I had it in me. And we started training and like, started looking fights. I get my first fight in Bulgaria. Yes. This is a famous fight. It is. But I can't.

There's no footage of it online. I think you can fight it on Vimeo or Daily Motion. Okay. I checked on you. YouTube. I couldn't find it. Explain what happened here. This is crazy, this story. So, I mean, this like, in the beginning of the world, these crazy shows in Europe, you know, they were not so organized. So I get this fight. I just wanted a fight. I get this fight in Bulgaria, Sofia. And they say, like, oh, you're going to fight this guy. And he's like a

Sainbo guy, world champion. I didn't know so much, you know. But I was like, maybe 2010 pounds. I wasn't so heavy. And yeah, they say like it's the same weight and stuff. So I come to Bulgaria to Sofia, they pick us up. These guys, very nice people, you know,

over there, and they take us to arena and stuff and we meet up to people. I was just like some local, cool guy that had money that was notorious in Sofia who said, I'm going to make a cool show for my friends. Okay, okay, okay. probably his gangster friends i don't know but it was a cool crowd so uh we're coming there and

like no no way in no medicals wow no nothing you know and i'm the main event what years is 2008 2008 yeah i'm the main event and i'm fighting this guy and then blago ivania who turned out to be you know a great fighter world two is a fighting champion now yeah fought against fador yeah it's amazing tough a guy you know and You know, we come in the main event and like we're pumped up, I'm pumped up. I've been training hard for like months and I just want to have a fight. And first at like the first contact, I push him up against the rope and because it was a ring. So when I push him up to the ropes on this side, this pole just breaks loose.

So the whole ring breaks down. That is insane. And the whole crowd grows crazy. And I'm like so focused. I'm like trying to push him like. You don't even realize? No, I don't realize. And my brother says,

Stop, stop, stop, stop. So we find they're going to fix the cage like something was the ring that something is loose. And like we're having a look and it's like the whole pole is broken. So yeah, they stopped the fight, no contest and stuff. How disappointing is that for your first fight? You were probably so jacked up, right? So excited? It was.

How did you calm down? I was like, I was so like now this is not happening. Yeah. I was like, I had two or three. fight cancels and then I get this fight no contest I was like man this is not happening but you know everything has a reason then like two three months after he fought failure and won the world's sandwich championship so you know he's a very tough guy how difficult was it in those early days to actually earn a living like did you have to do other jobs and things like that yeah make money

i worked all the time you know I had two two jobs and I was you do I worked uh like 10 years I work with young, you know, teenagers that, how do you say, social work with guys that maybe choose a wrong way in life. Yeah, delinquents. Yeah. So I tried to motivate them to choose a better life, you know, help them with the sports, self-confidence and stuff. And then I did security and stuff, you know.

Wow. When's the last time you had to do that stuff? Like, when's the last time you had to have another job? Oh, probably three or four years ago, yeah. So before you came into the UFC, once you got the call, you were full time. Yeah. But you said that you were having fights, you know, getting canceled left and right. Did you think about leaving?

Saying enough of this. I mean, every fighter thinks has that doubt when they're upcoming. Like you're living, you're traveling the world, living like in strange places. Yeah. I stayed at some strange places, you know. And you're training and you have a dream somewhere and like thinking like, it's so far. but in the same time it's so close you know and sometimes like coming from sweden being a big famous fighter in the u.s is like it's not even imaginable that why are they going to pick you from

sweden to become a ufc fighter and like top 10 contender why yeah there's so many fighters in the u.s sure so it's such a long like it's so close but still a dream that it's so far away that you like start questioning in it but uh somewhere i had the belief in myself and i worked hard for it. A lot of your teammates got there before you. Was that tough to see Alex fighting John Jones and Reza Madati, these guys? Was it hard to see other people get a shot

and you thinking you deserve to be there as well? No, I always believe that when the time is right, you will be there. Because it's not only being in the UFC. It's about performing there, making your name memorable there. What's the state of the gym right now, the All-Stars Gym?

What's going on? You know, the guys are working hard yeah Reza is fighting in like two or three weeks he's hungry you know and he's ready Alex also working you know developing new skills is he back there now he's back he's back back he's working you know and he's gathering his energy you know it was a tough fight last time with dc amazing fight i helped them prepare for that fight you know and i train because i trained with dc before two you know and we're pretty similar at uh at uh I had our ability.

Sure, yeah. Perfect training. When did you train with D.C.? It was a short while when I was traveling through the U.S. I was in San Jose. Okay. When you were in the UFC? Yeah.

Yeah, actually after my first fight, I was there like two weeks. What was that like? It was amazing, you know. D.C. is a great guy. Yeah. I like him as a champion too because he's a real athlete. Right, right. He's respectful.

And he's a showman in the right way. you know yeah yeah so so I have a lot of respect for him both as a fighter as a person I ask about the team because it seemed like for a minute you know Alex was back in at alliance and he was saying that you know he was considering retirement as well because he had been through a lot would you say that you know this is kind of a state of transition for the team is that fair to say I mean even you it to be honest you're not there you're at ATT and stuff I mean like all teams have these periods ups and downs yeah up and downs like this team is like everybody's there everybody's good and stuff but I mean all teams have these peers that people want to make changes

and they want to find themselves and stuff so that's not from for Alex I think it's just like he he had some tough fights and he he's not retiring he's like I think he has a lot of good fights he did the two craziest title fights probably in UFC history unbelievable I mean you can't take that kid's warrior heart no it's amazing in hindsight I would wish he had a break between the Rumble Johnson fight in that one just to get his confidence. You were there that night, right? Did that hurt Swedish MMA? You know.

Him losing like that in front of all those people and especially it was like 4 a.m. Remember that? I mean, you know, fans, you know, the real fans, they always stick there. Yeah. They always believe there. The real fans are always going to be behind our backs and the Swedish MMA. The Swedish MMA scene is so small. Yeah.

But we make a lot of noise. I mean, Sweden is 9 million people. that's it unbelievable and there's not even New York I mean I live in New York I know it's crazy it's unbelievable

so I mean like what we have done I think it's it's amazing and still MMA is like the people love MMA but still like it's not it's not it's like a little bit

how it was in New York you know people follow MMA but it wasn't like really accepted from the government from the stuff is like oh that that that sport is like you know it's it's crazy you know fighting

it's not okay it's violent stuff but more more people are like wow what athlete these guys are because there's no athlete that trained like us yeah well i i was just wondering you know did the the media turn on it just because the most famous guy lost like that yeah i mean it was a little bit yeah but i think it's gonna change back coming back you know everything is like you're the one doing the best right now i don't i've done i've been doing good you're carrying that torch yeah by the I mean, it's a big man to fill up, but, you know, we're a team, you know, and we help each other. So I'm doing the best that I can right now. And for me, it was a time what I needed to get some fresher and come out, you know.

Did you grow up with the Swedish legend, Zlatan Ibrahimovych? That's true, you know, we grew up in the same. Soccer legend, football legend. Yeah, he's an amazing football player athlete. We grew up in the same neighborhood. Wow. What are the chances? Yeah.

Yeah, it's, I mean, where I grew up, it's a pretty notorious neighborhood in Sweden. It's called Rusangor. Why notorious? I mean, it's, what do you say? It's like... It's a tough area. Oh, wow. So, yeah, I don't know if you want to call it a ghetto or a project or what, but it's notorious.

And I mean, these areas, a lot of talents come because we didn't have anything else to do. Either play football, wrestle. do boxing or that's what we had to do you know we didn't have anything else to do and a lot of good athletes come from these areas not only russing or we have other places too so when did you first meet him well we we we grew up like two three blocks from each other so we had like some some one of my best friends lived in the same how do you say the same yeah same yeah same building so i used to see him there you know did you play soccer with them No, I don't like soccer.

Why? I was always a fighter, you know? I was like, hey, you're always running after this ball all day, but, you know, sometimes for fun, you know. Did you ever wrestle with him? No, no. But he likes fighting. He likes fighting.

He loves fighting. He loves the UFC. And it's pretty funny, you know. We broke, there was a guy who posted a picture of me and him, like, doing a kick, you know, and he likes, when he plays football, he does these crazy kicks and stuff. And like, that, that comes from me. He trained taekwondo when he was a small kid. Oh, really?

Yeah. So, but it's pretty funny because I'm in the new UFC game. He's in the football game. Yeah, FIFA. Both grew up in the same neighborhood that it's like 30,000, no, 25,000 people. What are the chances? What are the chances? It's unbelievable.

How tough was your child, though? You say it's like a poor place, a notorious place. Was it dangerous at times? I mean, it's not, it's not that it's like, it's more the, the, social like the how do you say the right word it's a lot about the rumors of the area like it was notorious of being like bad neighborhood about a crime gangsters and stuff do you go back my parents still live there so that's my town but I had a great childhood my father worked hard my mother worked out we had a like fantastic life so it wasn't like broken down in that way

but it's like you know you have people living I don't know here in the Bronx sure sure families that had a great childhood. I always say it's not what you have when you grow up. Yeah, yeah. Like materially, it's not where you grow up. It's what you have with your family. And if your family is supportive, my father was very supportive and taking care of us. Family values, respect.

When you fight, is it a big deal there? It is. Everyone's watching? Everybody. No matter the time. I've got a matter of support, and I'm very proud for I grow up. It made me who I love. It made me believe that I'm adaptable in all environments.

And that's because where I grew up, you know, it made me challenge life, go out and travel and do new stuff. So I have a mad respect and support from people there. And it means a lot to me, even all over Sweden, but even in Albanian and Kosovo too. Do you go there too? Yes. Do you go back? Yeah. Do you meet young kids who you can see in their eyes they look up to you?

Of course. How do you deal with that? Because that's a lot of pressure, right? Not pressure, no. Because I know, I'm going to tell you a funny story. When I grew up, I had this role model arrested that I really, really looked up to. What's his name? We don't have to go in there.

So I really looked up to him. And I remember I was a small kid, you know, and I wanted to be like him. I wanted to train like him, you know. So I go to him and like he was in the club training down. I asked him, please, you know, I start asking me, can you, how do you train, how do you do that, that, that. And he didn't give me the time, just like 30 seconds. Wow.

He was like, not even like, hey, I'm busy or something. He was like, I don't have time for you, you know. He was rude. Yeah, it was rude. So I never forget that moment as a child. Yeah. How old were you? I was like maybe seven or eight years old.

Did it crush you? No, but I was like, I was like a little bit disappointed. But I always told me, I'm never going to be like that. When I grew up, I say if I ever become like a big champion or a fire or something, I'm never going to be. I'm always going to try to give everybody that time. It's amazing how that works. Now, sometimes people can be like that, you know, famous people and they're just having a bad day. Of course.

But you remember it as a kid, right? But it was heart crushing because that's what I would say, because you never know who admires you or wants to be like you. So maybe you're having a bad day, but somebody else, it's his heart crushing. dream to me too. Yeah, and he'll remember it for the rest of his life. Like you. Yeah. You ever see that guy again? Yeah. You do. Do you tell him? No. Come on. What's his name? No, no. It's not a big deal. He's a lesson. He wasn't like, but as a kid, I looked up him. But it's like, today he's a nobody, but it's pretty. Nobody. Yeah. Serves him right. Yeah. He deserves it. Yeah. This is life. What's he doing now? He's just like a trainer somewhere. Never made it. Never made it.

But that's why you always got to be humble life, because life gives you opportunities. And it's up to you to believe in yourself and do the most out of it. Is it Andreas Michael? I'm just joking. Andreas is a great coach. He's good, yes, of course. Well, he is a somebody. He's dedicated.

Yeah. Wow. He's dedicated. I bet someone will figure it out online. It is true, though. When I said that you were going to be on the show, people are like, oh, the goat. The goat is the greatest of all time. It's a short thing.

love the sledgehammer. Who gave you that nickname, by the way? The sledgehammer, that's a crazy story. Like my third or fourth fight I was fighting at a famous show in Scandinavia called Rumble of the Kings. And the ring announcer was one of my friends from Malma. He's a famous rapper in Sweden. And he's going to make it big soon here in the US too. He's called ADL. And he was a ring announcer and he says, hey, we got to find your nickname.

Man, I don't like nickname. I don't like these fighter names. I'm just Illyri Latifia. I'm a simple guy, you know. He's like, no, no, I'm going to find something for you. So you're going to see when you fight after you win, I'm going to start. So I fight and I win this fight in like one minute, ground upon him. And it was like, and the winner is Ilir, the sledgehammer.

I was like, what the sledgehammer? That's so typical like, like, yeah, WWE. Sure. But it's stuck. It's stuck. So I don't like call myself the stage chamber like that, but sometimes it's fun because the fans like it. So I just go with it. I mean, it fits you.

You do look like a fire hydrant. You know fire hydrant? You have that build like a tree stump. That's what they say. It's amazing. By the way, just curious. So you're in Miami now, South Beach. It doesn't get any better.

But the women in Sweden, way better than in Miami, right? Let's be honest. Really? You're going with Miami. No, no, I'm not saying they're going to turn their back on you. I'm not saying nothing. No, the women in Sweden are amazing. They're very down to earth.

Do you like the blonde? Like, I mean, the typical, is that your style? What's your style? My style is... Anything? Yeah, no, no. You don't have a type. No, I don't have a type.

You know, I go for the character. The character? Wow, what a guy. Unbelievable. I was in Stockholm. Everyone, blonde hair, blue eyes. It's amazing. We have a lot of mixed people there, too.

So you have, like, a lot of mixed girls. that are beautiful, you know. So you like the South Beach better than the Swedish. No, I'm shocked. I like Swedish more. Okay. For a second there, you seem to be going the other way. But South Beach is like...

Are you spoken for now? Is that why you're hesitant? Do you have a girlfriend now? No, no, you're free. No, I'm single. Everybody, everybody out there so you know. Yes, that's the big news of the day. Alir Latina.

By the way, what does Alir mean? What is it? Lear means freedom. There you go. You're free. Freedom. And actually, in what language? It's like, Albanian is like a very, very, very,

old people that live in the Balkans called the Illyrians. Wow. So they're like this old ancient warrior people. And that's where my name comes from Illyir. It means the free people. The free people. So they lived in the Balkans, the mountain area there. And like thousand, thousand years ago, like the same time as the ancient Greeks.

And that's where my name comes from Illir. Wow, that is great. What does Latifi mean? The humble. This fits you perfectly. It's pretty crazy. Wow. Yeah.

The free and the humble. My grandfather's name was Latif, and that's where it comes from. His first name was Lateef. Yeah. And then they turned it into the last name. Why? It was just like that, you know, after it was my great, great grandfather's name. Okay.

Unbelievable. Okay, so to wrap it up, and this has been great, have you enjoyed it? Amazing. I will love to come back. Anytime. But I want to know, when are we going to see you fight again? Because you're on a role because in the light heavyweight division, there's not a lot of guys who are in a role like you.

New blood, streaking, doing well, climbing the ladder. When are we going to see you again? You know, like I said, I don't like the bad, but you've seen my last fights. Yes. I've been finishing. Killing it. And the last fight, I fought Gian, a very tough fighter, experienced guy.

But, you know, I had control of the whole fight, three rounds. I was never, like, in danger. And in a way, I needed to go three rounds, but I had it because I hadn't gone three rounds since the Musashi fight. That's like three years ago, three, four years ago. So I needed that to get the feeling back and felt great, no injuries. I want to fight, you know. I want to go to the top.

I'm ready for anybody, top 10, top five. Are you going to get the call soon? I fight anybody for just not my friend Alex, you know. That's the only one. Yeah. No amount of money in the world? What, no. No money in the world, even if it's for the belt, you don't fight them?

No, no. You fought them enough. Money is not everything in life. That's right. We don't forget. You know, you can't forget that people that supported you through life that were with you all the way. You know, and me and him have been training all the time. We supported each other through the whole career, you know.

So I think some things are not worth money. Well said. I like that. Yeah. So I said, give me anybody in top five. I want to step up there. And I'm coming for that bill, slowly and slowly. So everybody out there, I'm just saying.

So, you know, I'm coming. You heard it here first on this program. What a pleasure this has been. Thank you very much. When you leave New York, by the way? I live in, like, I'm going to be here for like four or five days more. And then you're going back to Miami training there. Okay, ATT.

ATT, yeah. Okay. Yeah, and I just want to, I would love to fight in Madison Square Garden. That's what you want. Yeah, I have a lot of crazy fans over here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like American fans and a lot of like Albanians and Swedish fans too. So they're like, man, you guys.

to fight here in Madison. Do you go see it? Of course. It's amazing, right? I was here 10 years ago, and so funny, I was here with one of my close friends, Sheriff, and he said, that was before the UFC. It's like, one day you're going to fight here at Madison Square Garden. And I told, I promised him.

You're going to see me fight here soon. So we're close now. But Madison is like in November. Yeah. I would love to fight July again. And then. And then, you know, I'm healthy. I'm fit.

and I just want to fight. Well, I really appreciate it, my man. Thank you so much. Very good to have you in studio. I've been admiring your career. What a story, the way you came in. And now, I mean, I think everyone has forgotten about how you came in. At first, you were just the guy who took the fight on short notice.

Now you're a real player at 205. And it's great to see that. You are carrying the torch for Swedish MMA again. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. You can check them out on Twitter. You see it right there. Latifie MMA, one of the great guys in this sport,

Alir, the sledgehammer, Latifie. Now I'll think of that story every time I, I say your nickname. What a pleasure this has been. So we will go from Alir Latifi to another rising star in this sport. Must see TV himself. Michael Page. Michael Venom Page is also here. He's going to join us in studio in a matter of moments. We're going to say goodbye to Alir. We're going to go to another clip. What's this clip that we got? I forget what do we have? What do we have? We have Rory MacDonald interview from UFC 129. Y'all must have forgot. It was April 30th, 2011. My son's birthday, April 30th. You've seen my kids. Yes, beautiful kids. Thank you.

What a guy, this, Alir. Beautiful family. Oh, I appreciate it very much. So that was five years ago this weekend. Roy McDonald beat Nate Diaz. Fun to look back at that. We're going to say goodbye to Alir. Welcome in MVP and be back right here on the MMA hour.

Do not go anywhere. Ariel Hawani for MMA rated.com being joined by the California kid. Uriah Favre. Your eye, what's going on? Just chilling. I got my boy Jeremy Frightag fighting here at EliteXC. So just here to support him for the weigh-ins. All right, so the last time we saw you in action, you were facing Jens Pulver, a great ballot.

I mean, it really put the WEC, perhaps even you on the map officially in the world of MMA. How's life been since you defeat Jens? It's been good, you know. I feel like it was something that needed to happen, you know, a step up in competition like that. And, you know, my hands are hurt still a little bit. But other than that, I'm chilling. And I just got back from Japan and Dream Show. One of my guys had a great fight over there.

So just enjoying my guys having success right now also. That point was a month and a half ago, and your hands are still hurting? A little bit, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. They weren't broken or anything, so I don't know what to do with. He's got a hard head. What did you think of Jens' performance in the battle? That was his first loss at that division at 1.45.

Put up a great showing, but every single round, you just had a little more than him. Yeah, you know, I think he, you know, was really, has a revived, you know, passion for the sport. especially for that fight. He trained his butt off. And I don't know many guys. No one I've ever fought has gone five rounds with me. And it says a lot about him. He's a talented dude. So much respect to Jens. You talk about a step-up in competition on September 10th.

You are facing Mike Brown. Do you view this as a step-up or kind of, you know, at the same line as Jens? Or how do you view it? Yeah, I think he's at the same level. You know, he's one of the top. You know, they have him ranked number two. in the world right now at featherweight.

He's 19 and 4. He's put in his time. I was actually there for his UFC fight. I think I had maybe like four fights under my belt, and he was fighting in the UFC way back in the day, and I met him there. The guy's pretty impressive, so I'll be bringing my A-game. What are you expecting from him on the 10th? I mean, you expecting him to stand on his feet against you,

take you to the ground. Right now you've proven that you are a true mixed martial artist, So anywhere someone decides to go, there's going to be problems. Yeah, you know, I figure he's well-round enough to where he's just going to take it where he goes. You know, I think his wrestling and jiu-jitsu are fairly strong, and I heard his boxing is pretty tough as well. So we're just going to find out who's the better man, and I believe it's me. And he obviously thinks it's him if he's going to try to take my belt.

And how about the WC in general? Do you feel as though there's going to be enough opponents for you out there, You know, now you fought Jens. You're facing Mike Brown. But after a while, I mean, the talent division in the WEC is going to start to thin out. They're starting to acquire new talent. Are you content with the guys that they're serving up to you? Yeah, I am.

You know, I feel like the biggest thing is the same problem that I was having before is the top talent at this weight class hasn't been showcased to a national level. So now that people are seeing these fighters, they're starting to understand how talented they are. And there's a lot of talented guys that the world hasn't seen yet. You know, guys like Mike Brown have been around the game, and like I said, he's been in the UFC when I was just getting my feet wet in the sports. So, you know, it's just a matter of, you know, letting the public see what's out there. And there's a lot of tough guys, but, you know, I'll fight whoever. You have a dream match in mind if there's one guy out there that you could pick to fight?

Is there anyone that comes to mind? Adolf Hitler. Jeez, nice. I like that. I'd like to fight him, too. Yeah, I think everybody would. No, as far as right now, I'm just taking whoever, man. I mean, there's some big fights in my career that I think could happen,

probably at different weights, maybe up a weight, down a weight. But for right now, I just want to keep establishing myself and keep making that cash. And there is some rumors that the UFC has, or ZUFA has purchased the IFL, and there might be some new competitors coming up to face you, perhaps even Wagni Fabiano, a guy who a lot of people are looking to see how good he is in that division because he didn't have the best competition in the IFL. Your quick thoughts on Wagney. I've seen just a little bit of him,

and he looks like a real athletic guy. And other than that, you never really know until you're face-to-face with someone and you're trying to kill each other. So he's proven to be pretty tough, and I'll fight whoever, so we'll see. All right. All right.

So that was actually Uriah Faber, not Roy McDonald. That was my first interview with Uriah prior to Elite XC in Stockton, California, way back when that's you almost have forgot. But how about this? I am excited, my friends, because I don't throw around the term must-see TV too often. You, my friend, are must-see-TV. I'm in awe of you.

You are such a showman. I love everything that you do. Thank you so much. Michael Page joining us in studio. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having me here, man. It's amazing. Like I was saying to you earlier on, it's just, I'm so used to seeing it from the other side,

and now I'm here. It's just amazing. It is an honor. Really, it is. Congratulations on the win on Friday. From what I understand, now correct me if this is right or wrong. You were in Connecticut on Friday. won. You keep fighting in Connecticut. That was like your third in a row there, right?

Yeah, third time. It's like you're home away from home. Man, it seems to be now. But then you went to Florida. Yeah. And then you came back to New York. Oh yeah. Just for you, man. You're like a jet setter all over the place, loving life. Is it not true that you, so you were also at that press conference last week in London. Yeah, on the Monday and then just flew straight. It's been, it's been just a crazy couple of weeks. And it's going to continue. I land on Thursday. on Saturday I go to Scotland. I'm doing a seminar over in Scotland. Wow.

And then a couple of weeks after that, I'm going to be going away to Canada. What are you doing there? TriStar. I heard this. Roy McDonald? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do some work over there with them.

So it's going to, it's exciting times. They're bringing you in to sort of emulate Wonderboy Thompson, right? Yeah. How did that happen? Again, just more just an email. They got in contact with, you know, my coaches saying, And would I be able to come over? I thought it would be an excellent opportunity for myself as well.

So, yeah, we're going to go over there. Only for a week, because, again, I've got to kind of get in preparation for, you know, what's coming up in London next. So I'm going to be out there a week. Hopefully get to work with all their guys over there and then, yeah, come back. So this is a weird thing because you had a fight on Friday. You were at the press conference a few days before. They say you're going to be on the car July 16th.

And then in the cage, they say it's already sign that you're fighting Fernando Gonzalez. Did you know that before the fight? Yeah, yeah. We kind of, obviously, we wanted to get all the paperwork done beforehand. We didn't want to overlook anybody, but at the same time, it was important for me to be on the July card. Sure. It's my hometown. You know, I feel like I'm going to be a big draw to that show.

So they actually didn't really want me to fight the other day. Oh, really? I actually pushed for that. I was like, man, I can't wait that long without a fight. I need to, and they were worried about, obviously, injuries and stuff. I'm like, I don't get hit, man. Come on, man. Put me in the cage. I'll do what I do. And fortunately, you know, it went exactly the way I expected it to go.

Was that a little weird, though, because that's, I mean, that's a big deal for you that July 16th card. Yeah. Was it hard to focus on Jeremy Holloway? No, I was 100% excited about London. But you know what? Just from the experience in the kitboxing, I've overlooked somebody before. in kitboxing. What happened?

Well, I was younger. A guy had beaten me before and I was determined to beat this guy back. It was a Canadian guy actually. Okay. And I was so determined to beat him back. And we got to the same competition. He was on the opposite side.

Working the way up, I got to the semifinals. He just qualified to the finals. So I was like, yeah. So in my head, I'm like, next fight, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do this. Other guy beat me, man.

Wow. How did he beat you? It just, again, it's points. So he just, the whole time, I was still so focused on the next fight, even during the fight, I'm still picturing myself what I was going to do the next round.

And I didn't make it. And I said to myself, never again will I ever overlook anybody at all. It wasn't that the guy, I fought that guy again. Oh, you did? As well and just destroyed him. Okay.

But it was 100% my fault. You know, I overlooked him, and I said to myself, I'll never do that again. So focusing on this fight was equally as important as, you know, the potential of the landing.

So this is the amazing thing about you. Like even you telling that story, I saw you with Alir Latifi, right, you know, a couple minutes go off camera. You ask him for a picture. You're clearly a fan of his. You say, what's up, all that stuff. You're such a young, humble, sort of quiet. It's a little bit of a quiet guy.

But then in the cage, holy smokes, I've never seen anything like it. In all my years of watching combat sports, boxing, pro wrestling, MMA, I've never seen anything like you. Thank you, thank you. Is that legitimately two different people? Yeah, you know what? It's, I would say, it's a part. of my personality. Okay. But at the same time, I was raised, you know, with my mother and my father,

father being my instructor in martial arts. And you're supposed to be respectful. You know, you walk in the room and you bow before the class even starts. The class starts, you bow. If you need to go anywhere, you bow. You're constantly showing respect and that's the way I've been brought up. But then the other side is, you know, the showman side of me, especially when I'm with my family, we were laughing, we're cracking jokes or this, and we're dancing all the time, music. It's just, that's just how I am. But then it gets in heightened when the spotlights are on me

and, you know, the music is going and I'm fighting. And it's what I love. So I just turn into MVP. Were you always like that? 100%. Yeah, from a young age, man. I used to do all the showmen stuff. I started incorporating dance into my fighting from,

I'd probably say from about nine years old when I was getting a bit more confident in my skills. From about nine, I was kind of that way. You use the word confident. Other people would call it cocky. And you know that there are purists in martial arts who say that there's no place for this kind of behavior in a cage. How much heat do you get?

All the time. All the time? All the time. Everyone's gunning for you. Weirdly enough, even I have friends and family that are like, please, man, just put your hands up. I'm so worried, man. Every time you're in there, I'm just like, please just put your hands up.

And I'm like, man, I've been fighting like this for over 20 years. Yeah. And it's no fluke that it's a successful style. It works. There's no, there's no, there's no, there's no fluke in it. And I'm not just turning it on on the night. So it's not like I'm like this the whole time. Sure.

And then I go in there, I'm like, yeah, let me put my hands down to me, wave my arms about. It's something that I train. I train exactly the way that I fight, and that's how you should. And I feel more confident or more relaxed, fighting the way I fight. But yeah, I get heat all the time. What about from your parents? Because your parents have that martial arts background.

Both of them have a background in Kung Fu. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm assuming they're a little bit old school in that regard. Yeah. What do they make of their son? It's interesting because I watched a video not too long ago get posted on Facebook of my dad fighting. Oh. And he was shaking and dancing.

I think it's a cultural thing. like we're from the Caribbean we like to be kind of like you know have that flavor and and that swag about us I was watching him I was like well that's where I get it from I must get it from there but um so he can't say anything he can't say anything but no but saying that you know they as as he's already said as a parent you know he's worried you know every time I step in a cage he gets worried and even even though he knows I have the ability to do he's worried but then as a coach when he sees me and analyzes what I'm doing he knows I'm good and and and I'm going to continue to be successful in it so and doing it the way

I do it. He never sits you down and said, okay, come on. If we want to really be serious and make a run and be champions and all that, you're going to face better competition. You're not going to be able to do this. Does he ever have that pep talk with you? No, because he understands that I am able to do it because he's seen me do this style at a high level. Obviously, it's in something slightly different, but it's still combat sports. Yeah. And my style has been effective for many years. It's just off, you know, it's off the spot. It was outside of the spotlight because the points kickboxing that I do isn't big you know it's not it's not massive on the on the internet not many people are going to see it so very new to the mama crowd so the second they see

it straight away they're like first of all I don't understand what's going on you know what I mean and I think I find it similar to jiu jitzy when it first you know when when when the graces first introduced that style everyone was like what the hell is this about like I don't I don't like it basically I don't understand it so I don't like it and just stand up and fight you know do it fight properly they were getting booed It's all the same kind of thing until people start to understand and they see how successful it is

and then all of a sudden everyone else starts adopting the same style because of that and I see my style doing exactly the same thing. There people initially are like, don't understand it, I don't like it. Then more people are going to start doing it because the fighters are going to be the first

to be like, there's something in what he's doing. Then everyone else is going to be like, okay, I like the style now. And then you're going to, from the booze and the people that are like negative about they're going to be cheers and like encouraging about it. So that's how I see it going.

So when you were 9, 10, 11, 12, as a youngster doing Taekwondo, you're doing the same kind of thing? But it wasn't Taekwondo. Oh, excuse me. Yeah. Points kickboxing. You're doing the same thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're dancing around as a kid? Dancing around, dancing around. I remember like someone trying to go for a punch and I've ducked under his hand. And he kind of fell over. And as I look back, I was like this. The whole crowd was going nuts.

It's just, it's just, I've always done that. But like you say, the second I come off the mat, if I was to act up like that in a disrespectful way off, outside of performing, that's when you hear my dad. That's when you hear my mom. I know. That's when you hear my martial arts family be like, no, that's Michael, that's not how we act. Wow. So even when you're in school as just a student, you're not acting that way. With your friends. It's different. Obviously, with your friends, actually got a friend that he was over here in New York. So I've actually met up with him and he's here today. And with your friends, you know, I've always had that kind of, like I said, we're always laughing and joking and playing about in that sense.

But that's just you as a child versus me trying to be disrespectful to anybody. And even there's even teachers today that I've actually got a good relationship still today. That they can see how respectful I was when I was younger. and I can still respect them and talk to them now. But yeah, in school, obviously they kept me in line, you know, and having the martial arts family as well kept me in line. Yeah, yeah. I'm told that you take salsa lessons now, right?

Yeah, yeah. Does that help you as a fighter? I feel anything, movement. I'm a fan of movement. Yes. Yeah, I'm a massive fan. You've also worked with Ido Portel. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The great Ido portal. Man, I'm a fan of it. Connor stole your idea. I'm a fan of movement. So, you know, I remember looking at Capoeira when I was younger and like, wow, being fascinated by that. Like I said, I used to breakdance, watching films and people doing crazy stuff with their bodies or anything.

I've tried yoga. Anything that requires movement that I can incorporate, and I might not be able to. I might just enjoy moving it because, again, especially with the salsa, I've always kind of sat there and looked at it in like, man, I'd love to know how they know what each other is about to do. It was just something I found the style sexy, fascinating, like, you know, really showy, exactly the way I am when I'm fighting. So I saw that.

I need to try this one day and end up going to classes and fell in love with it. Are you good? I pick up things quite quickly. I pick up things quite quickly. I haven't gone in a while just because it's been so intense training-wise, but I'm going to be going back. Does that help you at all with your movement in the fights? Do you believe that?

100%. I think if you can learn to docks your body and move it in, just not the, just so many people are just one dimensional. You know, we throw a jab from here, we throw our backhand from here. And I think it's after a while, because we've trained in this form for so long, we can read each other a lot easier.

People find it very difficult to read what I do because I'm all over the place. My jab comes from here, here, here, here. Like, and it's because I'm able to, I'm comfortably able to move my body in different ways and then still get to the point that I want to get to. A lot of people, if they're doing all of this, it would confuse them. They would misjudge everything after that.

But if you're training your body to constantly, yeah, move your body this way, that way, do this, it becomes normal, you know? It's amazing. I don't know if it's because of your nickname, but I always think of a snake when I watch you fight. You sort of try to emulate the snake movement when you're in there? That's kind of, it just all kind of fell into place, you know, more than anything. And obviously with me raising my hand and things like that, it's amazing.

Being called the venom, people kind of automatically, you know, see, see me as. I actually had a guy, I couldn't tell you his name because we were just randomly on the circuit one day. And he saw me fight and he was like, you know, you've got an aura of the snake. And he started talking to me about it. I was like, it's funny because I'm called the venom and this and that. And he was like, yeah, I can see it, man. And he just went into something, man. There's something even about your body.

You know what I mean? Like you're just long and lean. That's what I mean. And so many people say it's exactly the same thing. did it. And it just fit perfectly. So I'll just go with it. Now,

I also read that this thing that you do with your hand, that you got that from the rock? What it was is all the, you know, the pre-battle talking and this and, you know, just the hype. I wasn't into that,

you know, like for me, no, for me, like Connor McGregor is the best when he comes to, you put him on, put him on a stage and let him talk

and people are going to be watching. I find everything he says hilarious. Like I love what. he says and I love his character. I just can't put that off without being fake. It wouldn't be me. It's not you. You would see it.

So I was like, I'm going to have to do all these times where I need to be doing that kind of stuff. I need to figure out what else I can do and how else I can, you know, promote myself. So I sat down. I'm a massive fan of like the, you know, the wrestling scene, especially like the attitude era. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Massive fans. So the rock for me is probably one of the best, if not the best at his, he's, his crowd relationship, you know, and the way he, he, just seriously, the second he gets out there, I'm on, I'm there doing exactly the same things as him. And so I was sitting there right and thinking, what could I do? Similar to the way the rock kind of has his, you know, his stances, his sayings, his one line is, his this and that, what can I do? And again, I'm constantly just writing down things like, okay, I could do this with my hand, okay, go with the nickname, I got this, the one and only MVP, you know, the best hands down, hands down, that's my stars, my brand,

that's everything. And we're just going over notes and how to promote myself in a more, no, cheeky way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that stands out. And I've had people go, oh, you're that guy, that's that. Yeah, you're the, oh, yeah. And people remember those things. Of course.

Versus having to try and be witty every two seconds on every single, you know, interview I have and this and that. And I just felt I can be consistent with what I'm saying. saying now. So I've already covered this area now. Are you surprised that more people in the fight game don't do this? Of course, you don't want it to be forced. Yeah, yeah. But are you surprised? Like when someone comes on the mic and says, oh, I'll take whoever they want, blah, blah, blah, boring. No one relates to that. No one is attracted to that. No one gets connected. Does that, do you ever sit back and be like, wake up? You'll be more famous.

I've spoken to, you know, guys in my gym and, you know, they asked me like, same kind of question. Like, how do you come up? I take myself as a, I treat myself as a business. and a brand. And you actually have to have times where you sit down and think about these things, write some stuff down, like brainstorm this stuff. It is your career. It's not, fighting is one side of it. And then you have to attract people to your fighting. And if you, maybe you don't even have that, you know, that crazy style. You might be very basic. As long as you win is fine, but you can still draw people in in other ways, you know, nicknames and this and just everything. There's so many different ways you can, you can promote

yourself and like you say people don't do it enough it's crazy yeah they don't do you still watch wrestling yeah not as much but um yeah yeah i'll see it every now and again and you'll take little things yeah yeah yeah i still believe that i think every error is going to be different and every era and every era is going to have like my dad's going to say his era jake the snake and all those guys yeah yeah that was the best era and i'm going to be like no they're actually there are so and then the next you know jenna is going to say the same thing but i think that actually era for me did you ever meet the rock i've never met him i you know you know who I did get to meet the other day, or not too long ago, and he was one of my favorite

wrestlers. Okay. And that is Bill Goldberg. Oh, the man. Man. I got to me, he came to a Belator event and I was standing there like, that's Goldberg. I was like, no way. I forgot a face off picture of him.

I was so excited. He's a great guy. So cool, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, I'm talking like, the second I used to hear his music, I used to get shivers down myself. I was like, man, I'm so happy that he's coming out. Oh, is it?

Because he was a Jew. Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, he's, he's amazing. So you were more of a WCW guy than WWF? Both, though. You were both? Both. I started in WWF when I was younger.

And again, more because, you know, like my dad was that kind of error as well. My friend's dad used to go to his house all the time. He was watching The Warrior and Hokeokel. And Hulk Hokeokel was massive in that era. And then I got more into it when, you know, all the rock and that was coming up. What about the British Bulldog, Davy Boy Smith? Yeah, again, I used to, I have the, a pencil case in primary school of him.

So I was like, man, I had all of it. Did you ever want to become a pro wrestler? No, it wasn't. It's weird. It's never, you know, as a kid, I'd watch it. And then straight afterwards, me and my friends are like trying to practice music and stuff. But we never got the connection because wrestling is not big in the UK. It's not.

No, not like here. Not like here at all. So I couldn't just in my head, you couldn't really think of a connection to how it would be possible for me to. So it was just never something I even thought of. You always picture yourself as a wrestler. What would I call myself in this and that when you're young? But not take it actually seriously because, again, wrestling wasn't big. Do you remember when you – okay, so you say that about wrestling.

What about MMA? Like when you decide that you want to be an MMA fighter? Because if wrestling wasn't that big of a deal, MMA's not that big of a deal back then as well, right? 100%. So why did you choose that? It just kind of fell into place. I was literally that typical fan that was like,

that is way too brutal. Really? I was seriously, this is what I found for especially point scoreers. Sometimes the stuff that people say you take on board, they hit way harder, they're way tougher, and you're kind of like, yeah, it looks that way. So I, again, I don't see myself ever doing that. I remember someone, the gym that I'm in now, London shoot fighters, they used to be closer to me to where I lived. Okay. And years and years before.

And one of my friends went there and was like, you should try this. And I heard you know, you're good at your kitboxing. try to come in here and I'm like, MMA? I was like, no way. I would never do that. I was like, I'm focusing on my kickboxing anyway. I would never do that. And five years later, they actually moved further away from me and I ended up joining them. Oh, wow.

But again, I genuinely didn't know how well I would do. But I was like, I was sick and tired of, one, the politics in my sport. Okay. And it doesn't pay anything. You know, I did it because I enjoyed it. I remember representing England and having to pay to go and do that. You know, pay for the privilege. of doing that.

So, but at the same time, I've done it for so many years, I was good at it and I enjoyed it. But it just got more and more divided as a sport and a lot of more politics. So I was like, I need to do something different. Thinking about boxing, thinking about just doing maybe full contact kit boxing,

but one thing that made me go to MMA is that I was like, I enjoy learning new things, which to sound to reason why sales and that comes in. and a reason I enjoy being a student and having someone go, no, you have to do this, you have to do that and trying to figure things out. And I felt doing boxing

wouldn't be that hard of a challenge to adjust to. Doing full contact kit boxing, not that hard of a challenge. I would, it would be a challenge to do it, but it wouldn't be as difficult. But doing MMA meant I had to learn completely new arts, you know,

and be a student. And that is one of the main reasons why I chose to go into that. And when I initially did it, it was just, let's just see how I get on, you know? Not that, you know, I'm 100%. This, whew, five years ago now. Okay. You know anything about the ground game at this point?

No, not at all. You haven't done it. Haven't done it. I didn't even really watch MMA. You knew nothing about it. No, the only person I really knew about it was Chuck Ladeau, just because again, anti-O-T's just because of their clash. It's so strange.

You knew nothing about it. You weren't a fan of it. It's strange to me that you went and did it. I know, I know. But again, I've always been like that, like I said, if I find something, if I just randomly find something curious, I'll go and try it. You know, like, even when I take up salsa, I was asking my friends, it's like, do any of you want to come with me?

You know, like, salsa, man, what are you talking about? I was like, fine. I'll go do it myself. Like, I don't need anybody to, you know, if I see something and I want to try it, I'll go and do it. And it was the same with this. I saw something. I spoke to my dad about it.

He was like, again, I don't really want you to do it. I spoke to one of my best friends, Marvin. in Francis and one of the first gyms I went to was American Top Team. That's right. I read that at all. Yeah. So what did you do? You flew over and said I want to try it out?

Again, I was just kind of in that process of thinking about what I would do next. Okay. So I'm over here with my family. They're all in Florida and Miami. Okay. You have family there? Yeah, yeah. Okay.

So I'm with them and I'm talking to my brother and I'm like, yeah, I'm looking to get into MMA. And he's like, okay, there's a guy that's, he's like, manages. I know he trains and stuff. stuff, but he trained at a gym called America Top Team. So he's like, let me get a hold of him. So he called him. The guy came down, like, yeah, I'll take him around.

He took me to a couple of the gyms, the Coconut Creek one. There's another one. It's slightly smaller. I can't remember exactly where it is. And I've gone in there, I'm almost like, this is where I'm going to train. Like, the place was amazing. At this point, I actually hadn't research anywhere in the UK at all. So I was just like, man, I'm moving.

I'm moving out here. I'm going to be with my family as well. This gym looks amazing. I'm moving out here. What happened? When I got back and I was kind of telling everyone the decisions I was made, Marvin was like, it just makes sense just to look around here just in case. Okay.

And they ended up doing that and found London shoot fighters. And seriously, just for some reason, when I went into the gym, I could just hear a lot of sense. And you could hear history. I could just feel it. And I was just like, you know what? Let me start here. Because, you know, if worse comes to worse, I still go over to America.

Nothing is nothing. And I just never have never looked back after that, man. When I think of London shoot fighters, I think of Lee Murray. Yeah. Have you ever met him? Weirdly enough, no. Because you came after. I came just afterwards, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is his presence still felt there? A hundred percent. Really? They tell stories about him? There's so many stories there. So many stories of just. What a legend, this guy. Oh, he's amazing.

He's amazing. And again, I would love to meet when he's back. And if he does come back, I'm sure he knows about you. I'm not sure. I'm sure the coaches are there. So I know they're still in touch with him. So I'm sure he's probably heard, you know, all the newer people that are coming out of the gym. So he probably has heard. What are some stories?

Anything that comes to mind? Man, there's so many just, there was, I'm sure it's probably the same in other MMA gyms. But you just draw so many characters in MMA. So many weird, quirky characters in MMA. So there's just, there's thousands of stories, man. Do you take pride in that? Like, because for a time, the shoot fighters brand was kind of a little bit down. And I feel like you're kind of helping revitalize it.

Do you take pride in that, considering who they once were, and then for a minute became, and then, you know, who they can become? It's weird. Because I respect their, you know, what they know and their knowledge. I feel, even if I wasn't there, they would develop another somebody that would come back. And I think every gym has that kind of ups and downs of fighters come in and go and this and that and whatever happening. And yeah, I think right now they're on a rise.

And I feel happy that I am a part of this. Sure. And I, you know, I feel like I am doing a lot to help. But there's so many guys coming through that gym at the moment. And it's just, especially now that, you know, the better tools come to the UK. The people are going to see how many of our guys are. You're on that card? Oh, yeah.

Okay. There's a couple of our guys. And it's only because we're doing so well. and after that hopefully they you know they join me out here you know they're going to be out here are they like you Matt you know what's what's good about my coaches is which is one thing I was was worried about coming over is that everyone's going to be like nope don't like that change it change this change that change this he saw it and was just like hmm researched something whatever you're doing it has worked for you for this many years I want to know more okay yeah

So he... Who are you talking about? Alexis. Okay. What's his full name? Alexis Dimitriades. Okay. He, you know, learned my style, started researching it.

And he's very detailed when watching things, like everything. And this is what I love about him. And he, not only did he start telling, okay, this is a slightly unsafe. So just take that out, but keep the rest. I'm like, I like this. Okay. But he's like, show him that. Oh, really?

So he's like, yeah, show him. How do you do that movie? Okay, no, show me that. Okay, no, show him that as well. So a lot of our guys are a lot more movie and like, and like I said, you're going to see the next generation of doing this kind of thing naturally. And that movement just being a standard. And trying to find some of our guys, every time we go to different gyms or gyms come to our gym to our gym to spa, it's, I love watching it because you see our movement, people struggle to just land punches.

Do you spar a lot? Yeah, loads. And when you're sparring, you're doing the same thing as you're doing the real fight. Same thing. We go over a lot of drills, so that is the time to try stuff. So, you know what, I get hit way more than I would normally. Because you're trying. I'm trying to figure out this.

I'm trying to get the steps right. Are you doing with head gear? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn't it hard to move, like you move with that? It definitely is. I've always been more comfortable without my head gear. But at the same time, when you've got something like this, trying to avoid getting hit,

means you have to move that much more. Gotcha. Yeah, that's a good point. And it almost trains you. It's like another form of training. Yeah. So again, when I, when I die, I feel like you're definitely not going to hit me. Your miles away now because I'm still moving the same. So, yeah, yeah. By the way, where's John Hathaway at? What happened to him? He's still having problems with his stomach.

Again, it's a situation where he's, you know, they're changing, they're trying to figure out how to, you know, it's going to be for the rest of his life. Okay. But they're trying to figure out how it, to, what kind of drugs that he can, go one that it's not um one it's not it doesn't affect uh results coming in to um it doesn't it just it lasts he has longer periods of time when he's okay so he's able to to compete and stuff at a moment he's struggling to train so it's it's it's annoying because he for me has helped me the the most really his all-round game is unbelievable his stand-up but he one one thing i i find is when i'm when i do my trying to do my thing with him he does it

He doesn't budge. He doesn't flinch too often. He doesn't get, he doesn't get, he doesn't take the bait. It makes it harder, which, and I always used to love that challenge of trying to figure out how can I pull, how can I pull the strings on someone that's not doing it? So if I come up against someone like that in a cage, I know exactly what I can and can't do. And it was amazing, man. I always loved working with him. What a great guy.

I was at UFC 120 when he fought Mike Pyle. He was on a role and unfortunately, and ever since then, hasn't really, really been able to rebound were you at that card that was a o2 arena yes you were there yeah yeah as just we had you started trading yet uh no so you were just the guy yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah did you look up to michael bisping were you one of those guys once you started to again i didn't i didn't really not sure didn't what didn't once you started getting into it yeah it's only when i started to get into it that i actually started to pay attention to anybody really wow like i said other than chuck ladele who i just loved his character yeah yeah yeah

love the fact that he was just knocking people out. It was easy to relate to again because he's a stand-up guy. Right. You know, I'm a kickboxer. He was knocking people out. It made more sense. And the only reason I knew Tito was because of their little, they're back and forward, their beef, their feuds. But that's it.

I didn't pay. I wasn't a fan of the sport before I was in the sport. Are you a fan of the sport now? I love it. You watch everything? Not everything. Well, in fact, yes, I do, but not always immediately. So I go through phases where I'll just like, go, like, if I've missed a load of fights,

I'll just go back to sit in my house and just go back to back and watch loads and loads of fighting. And then times when I haven't watched any of it for ages. I haven't watched it for ages. So Bellator is a polarizing organization because they have young guys like you that are very exciting, a lot of promise, a lot of great expectations, future, all that stuff. And then they have Kimbo and Ken and James Thompson. How do you feel about that? I think they're an amazing production company. They know how to put on a show.

and it means putting on show means one drawing eyes to bringing up the up and coming three making sure the the guys are already relevant stay relevant they're matching them up they're matching them up well I just think they do just the whole production I love everything that they're doing so you don't have a problem when they put Kimbo in the main event I haven't got a problem at all no because I understand it you get it like I say I understand it because what Kimball what the regards to what anybody say to me he's got a massive fan base and he knows how to fight as in obviously he's more of a striker but you know he was a warrior from from way back when we used to watch him on youtube and he brings in numbers so for guys like

me if I'm fighting on the same show as him he brings the numbers in and people spot me and they're like well who's that guy now the trickle-down effect yeah 100% so there's no way I'm gonna I'd never complain about that in any way shape or form and a fight is a fight and anything can happen so did you meet him I've met him before, yeah, yeah. Oh, you met him before, not just this past week. Yeah, no, I've met him before. Okay, so you were talking about taking the bait, you know, like John Hathaway doesn't take the bait.

In your fights, for the most part, they're taking the bait, these guys. Like this past week, Holloway rushed you. Yeah, that wasn't smart. What were you thinking? Did you expect that? Not in the way he did it. What is that all about? Yeah, no way he did. 100% people want to put pressure on me and prevent me from doing what I do best, you know?

I work well in space so people want to close that down sure and he ran past and usually people run to the centre and they want to control the centre that's fine because for me it doesn't matter either way he ran past that centre point and I was like he's still coming yeah so I was like yeah

and I'm always like I said my punches can come from anywhere so I don't have to be ready to be ready if you know what I mean I came in quite relaxed and I was like whoa he's still coming and was able to go ha and you know snap straight at him and and and pull off a big punch to start.

Yeah. You know? You pissed you didn't finish him? I was shocked I didn't finish him. I wasn't even pissed. I was like, that felt heavy. And he kept going.

After I hit him, I was like, yeah. Oh, he's still coming at me, man. So, seriously, about two shots

really, really landed heavy. And I have to say, all credit to him, man, he can take a shot. So you submitted him. Yeah.

I believe that was your second submission. Yeah. Second. You're 10 and 0 now. How comfortable Third submission, actually. Third submission. That was, what would you call that in Achilles Lock?

It's a reverse, it's a counter reverse toehold. Gosh, that was something else. Do you work on that a lot? Yeah, well, I've got long legs. So, and we've got a load of guys in our gym that are very good at the leg lot game. And you've got guys like, you know, Marcy and Hell, that comes down to our gym and that's a camps at our gym as well, who's ridiculous at this kind of leg game. So for me, having counters to that works amazing. So people in those similar kind of positions, they go for, they go for, they.

They go for a lock. I go for the counter. Usually what happens, though, is they just back off. So they kick their legs out. They go away from me. They don't get a leg lock and I'm free, you know. I don't get my leg lock. They don't get theirs and we're back to where I want to be, you know, back to standing.

But as I caught it, in Jiu-Jitsu, obviously, Jiu-Jitsu versus actually MMA. In Jiu-Zitsu, I'd stand over him now. In MMA, it'd kick me in my face. Sure. So I had to put a knee down and catch it from here. But again, I was still expecting him to pull away from me, me take my leg out and then stand back up. Okay. And I feel it was more opportunistic by him because he took the shot.

He's fallen. He's kind of just gone for the leg lock. And I don't feel he's, you know, he's competent at doing leg locks because anybody else would have sniffed it and would have gone. And that's all I wanted. But because he stayed there. I was like, you know what? I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep going.

And I just kept cranking it off. He tapped quite early, but he did like the rest of this tap once. John didn't actually pay attention. so I just sat there and then squeezed even more and then he was like, yeah. So how comfortable do you feel on the ground now? Man, again, I love learning. Okay.

If Tannett, you're a black belt, if one is your first day on the job, where do you think you're at? I don't want to, I'll never say, I roll with black belts all the time. Okay. And, you know, I've caught submissions on black belts. I've not been caught by black belts.

You know, we work just anti-jidjitzy, just not. I might not be in control of the fight, but I don't get caught. Like I know exactly where to put my hands, where to keep my legs, where to, but I'd never call myself a black belt, man. Some of these jiu-jitsu guys are unbelievable, and I want to beat. For me, and it might sound silly, I still feel like I'm just, I'm a beginner. Although I know how to do certain things to keep myself safe,

that's more because I'm training for MMA. But when I'm doing my jiu-jitsu specifically, I still feel like, man, I got so much to learn. Although I'm, like I said, I'm still able to tap out of black, but I'm still doing this. I feel competent in most positions and have a good understanding about most positions. But just the flow is different. And for me, I think it's just greed of wanting to know more. You know, I wanted to be better all the time. And I can see that there's, again, the old guard who would hate how that fight ended because you submitted him.

He's in pain. And then you're talking shit. It was great. I loved it. What did you say to him on the ground? Funny enough, I actually didn't say anything. What had happened is, and it's weird how nobody really heard it or even mentioned it, as I was walking down the ramp, I got to the bottom on the ramp, he was screaming at me from the cage.

Really? Okay. Yeah. And I think if you watch it again, you'll start to see, people will pick up on what I'm talking about. When I got in the cage and I'm just walking up and down, I'm in my own business for now. I'm just kind of embracing, you know. He's shouting at me from the other side. Look at me. Look at me. And he's re-shied, come, I'm going to smash you. Look at me.

And again, everyone each to their own. You know, that's what he needs to do to psych himself up. That's fine. But that's why I looked at him at the end. And this is when I tell people that, oh, it makes sense now. So again, after I caught the submission, I stared in his face. I was like, yeah, I'm looking at you now. You know, it's kind of like a little comeback to what he was doing.

If he was to watch that again, you'll see him. He kept shit like he was shouting from the other side. And again, no one mentioned it. It's a weird thing because I feel like you're often in your opponent's head before the fight even starts because they want to be the guy to crack you. They want to be the guy to tell them. world look I got it yeah yeah yeah antics you know it didn't work this time so this placed your advantage every time it's an amazing thing you know what even down to the the the the stare off you know yeah

we're going we're going in the way the way ends and i already know when things are someone's nervous or or you know i can feel like i'm going to win this fight and when especially when they copy me so if i go in there i'm doing my thing i'm going there as MVP i'm going as michael page and you come and do the same thing as me. Yeah, you're saying something to me, you know what I mean? You're either nervous about it or you look up to me in a certain way. You don't come in doing what I do. You come and doing what you do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he came in, he's trying to put his hands up the same way as me. You try and I find, I find it hilarious every single time. You know, people are, they, they, they say they don't appreciate what I do. They say I'm just dancing and so on and so forth.

And they're going to do, they're going to show the world that, you know, it is just that. And then they come in and they copy what I do, you know? So you say you don't. appreciate me, but then you do in the same sense. So you know the knock on you is that you're being protected by Belator, that they're giving you easy fights. Is Fernando Gonzalez a step up? Like, when are you going to be ready for that? You know, you're 10 and O. People have gone title shots at 10 and O. Yeah, exactly. Why aren't you in the title talk? Um, I think I'm now. I think I'm definitely I'm now. Fernando Gonzalez, for me, it's just, can you fight Koreshkov? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. No problem. Can you fight Will Brooks? A hundred percent. Where would you

prefer it you want to like you would you go up and down I don't know how much how much you walk around at I'm at 8 I'm 84 it's still I'm so close to the weight I could but the and the reason why my coach initially was there was talks of me going down yeah it's because he was worried about the strength advantage that others would have because although I'm tall I'm very slim okay for that weight division and a lot of the guys that fight me they're their backs everything the arms legs everything's a lot bigger than me so he was worried about the strength but I I've got kind of like gangly strength. And even like what comes to people trying to take me down,

they struggle to, you know. And I've never had a problem with people's, the physicality of it. And when my coach asked me, when I was like three, four fights in, he was like, are you struggling with this in any way? In any way? In the gym, I was fine. But he's like, when you're out there, are you struggling anyway? I was like, no, he's like, well, you can stay there.

Unless we need to go down for a particular fight, you know, if we wanted to fight someone specific, then we'll cut that weight and go down. We just know that we have the option to, because I don't cut that much weight. So how far away do you think you are from that title discussion? Like from getting it, is it the next fight that gets it? You know, because people are anxious now.

They want to see you get tested. Yeah, I think. Is it fair that they're saying this? You've only been doing it for a few years. 100%. I understand why people want me to because, you know, I already see what can happen. Like none of these names in that sense, they don't mean anything to me. Sure.

It genuinely doesn't. mean anything to me. I don't, I don't talk, I don't deal with my fights. My coaches do and Bellator do. So it's between them. Okay. I get a name. So I'll be training. I'm in the gym training. Alexis or Paul will come up to me like, look, we've got a new name for you. I'm like, fine. That's it. I'm training. It doesn't bother me in that sense. Like, would you ever say, I want to, I want to fight some of the bigger names? It, I just don't care. Because the reason, like a lot of people are in the industry chasing something. I don't chase it. I feel I do what I do and things come to me.

That's right. So like, you know, I see the lights there and all these moths are going like chasing, going towards the light, and I'm standing here doing what I do, and the light just comes like this. And all of a sudden, I'm going to have the belt,

and that's what I genuinely believe. Do you know anything about Fernando Gonzalez? Yeah, I know. Do you even look up your opponent? Not often. I only had to look him up before because we had, you know, we were lined up to fight.

Yeah. So what happened there, by the way. It was very secretive when you pulled out. A lot of family issues. and stuff that kind of... Is everything okay? Everything's good now, a lot better anyway,

but it's a lot of family issues and stuff that I couldn't really like... Better to a lot, very, you know, support-supportive of it straight away. Because you pulled out and it wasn't an injury? No, no, no. Okay. I also read that you had to do some coaching. Yeah, my brother fights as well.

Okay. The one in Florida? In the UK. I got a younger brother, younger, bigger brother. Okay. Kailon Page, he's absolutely amazing. Again, he's doing the same thing at what I was doing before on the points. And we had him and a squad of the, again, we got gyms, hands down, martial arts

gyms. They're all going over there and I had to coach at that time as well and help out. The name of the gym is hands down? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because of you? Oh, yeah. That's amazing. So he's going to pursue this career, your brother, yeah. He's right at the moment. He's destroying the industry that I was in. Is he going to go to MMA as well? It's down to him. Again, he's in that place where I was before where he can, he's very happy with what is going on. He's looking at me doing MMA like, I don't know if I can do that. I, know he can do it you know he's he's he's amazing at what he does he's amazing athlete does he he's not he's not he's not he's not exactly the same but he's a showman he's a showman he's a showman he's a lot

tall he's six six five so you coach him yeah but that's not why you pulled out no no okay because that's that's what that's what one of the reasons where you had a prior obligation yeah yeah yeah yeah but you're good now yeah everything everything's cool and like i said every even fernando gonzalez i saw a clip of him saying that i was running and running away from people i always find it i find it hilarious because he will find out exactly how dangerous I am when it's too late. I'm going to be in the cage. He's going to try and hit me. He's not going to be able to.

If he does, I don't even believe he's going to be able to land a punch of me. I just think he's tough enough to stay in a fight. Have you ever been hurt in a fight? In MMA? Yeah. No. Never. No one's cracked you.

No. Was your toughest fight, Nishon Burrell? Would you say that? Is that fair? Because you know that's the fight after everyone said Oh the XUFC guy took him the distance Neutralized you They say neutralized me

He I felt I felt more He just didn't want to get hit with anything crazy And in that fight And I don't like to make excuses but the canvas was slippery And I couldn't do what I normally do Interesting okay And you can tell the difference because I Even with this last fight I'm moving around

My shoulders are going my feet are going that fight I was like this because I could feel my feet going if I did any of that I'd slip and he's throwing wild shots so I couldn't do it so I had to be very disciplined with what I was doing and even though

again we went 15 minutes I don't know he probably hit me about once in 15 minutes so as much as people say he took me the distance and again I laugh at that I laugh at it it wasn't it was an awkward fight because of all the different you know the things that were going on but it wasn't a hard fight

you know And yeah, right at the moment, there's no one fight. I think Ricky Rainey, to me, did the best in as much as how he tried to, he put pressure, but not too much. And he did the best for me. But yeah, like, I haven't been hit too hard at all, having caught. Did you play basketball as a kid? Used to, yeah.

Used to. And you drew interest from schools here in the U.S.? No, no, not from the basketball. We did, we used to do, like, camps for the England squad, England basketball team. Okay, the national team? Yeah, and they wanted to go, they, they had been called to do some stuff, like trial stuff with them, but then I kind of switched off. Again, I always do that. I'm like, okay, I'm bored of this now.

I kind of want to do this now and try this. Cricket, I had trials for, at Lord's Cricket ground. I did just do tennis privately when I was younger. Wow. Skiing, one of the skiing coaches. Did you do the slalom skiing? Yeah, one of the skiing coaches there was like he wanted to train me To go to the Olympics?

To go to the Olympics and I was like, I'm not interested in that like What is that I mean is that even big in in England? Not at all we would we were literally doing school trips and again the friend that I'm here with it We were we used to go school trips all the time to France to Switzerland to this and that and again We were different coaches each time but he said that I really like the fact you how you attacked the mountain and this I really want to train you Wow For the Olympic and I was just like now again

You didn't consider it? I used to love skiing but In my head, I'm a kickboxer, you know? I'm like, no, I wasn't interested, so never, never proceed any of that. That's like cool runnings. You know the movie Cool Runnings? Of course. That's one of my favorite films.

It's an amazing film. True story as well. You weren't born in Jamaica. No, no, no. Or you're born in England. Yeah, yes. I just got my mom, my mom's from Jamaica, my dad's from Trinidad. Trinidad.

Where did they meet? Both martial artists. So, weird enough, on my mom's side, we have a lot of martial artists as well. And one of, again, Master Stan Brown in La Gar Kang Fu, he, he, used to train my dad as well as my mom and a lot of other people so they they met through the martial arts so a match made in martial arts heaven that's in a and there's still no no no no so um we got I got a lot of a load of siblings nine uh yeah for me there's there's there's 10 siblings all together damn but my mom adopted three children oh my um but my dad's got seven children wow are you

close to all of them all of them yeah yeah that's who I stay with after after so again when I finish here we go around New York a little bit more and I go fly straight back to go and see to go and see them in in Florida yeah um you're a big Miami heat fan yeah yeah yeah yeah you follow them yeah as much as I can now you're not you're not you're not bandwagon though like when lebron no joined the team before that yeah yeah yeah I hated the heat as a kid I hate it because I'm a big Knicks fan okay okay so they would have wars you know yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah they lost their last game against Charlotte yeah yeah they're probably win the series they're looking good though yeah they look a lot better than a lot

better. They got Joe Johnson. Have you ever been to a game? Been to three games, I believe, now. So I'm, just every time I come over here, I'll just try to, to go and see them. It's hard to be a fan, though, when you're living in England because of the time difference, right? Yeah, 100%. Can't watch. And it's not that popular there. Not at all. It's getting there because they do, they do shows. They even want, like, the, the, the, the, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, come over and stuff. I'm going to watch as much as much American sports as I can. And it's just, it's making American sports full stop. Right.

popular so more people are following it. Now you were brought in by Bjorn Rebney. Yeah. Did you like him? Yeah, yeah. Be honest. No, 100%. I had cool with him. He was, again, it's funny and I always say this on all my interviews as well. As much as I know, I've heard a lot of stuff about him. I've never been mistreated in any way, shape or form by him, and he was nothing but supportive and brought me to where I am now in that sense. Yep. So I have to, I got a lot of respect for him. But what I did find is the staff were a lot more relaxed and chill when he had left. Ah, okay. Which, again, it does change the feel of how you are treated over there as well.

People, not that anybody's rude, has been rude to me in any way, but when they're relaxed, it makes the, you know, the fight is even more relaxed, you know. In the coca era now. The coca era is amazing. You like Scott? Oh, yeah, man, he's, I just love the relax that actually is. He's chill, right? He's so chilled.

But his network and what he's done in the past, everyone can see it. and his network and what he's doing now. I agree with everything he's doing. So he got a starting kickboxing and now there's Beltor kickboxing. Have they asked you to cross over? No, no, no. At the moment, from my opinion, I think they want to keep me away from that. They want me to be a draw for MMA and they want other guys to be a draw for kickboxing.

But at the same time, I've said to them, you know, if I'm inactive in any way and a kickboxing show comes up, but I want to jump on it. If, you know, if I have space between a fight and the opportunities there, 100% I'll put my hand. I'll be the first to put my hand up to have a fight. Is it true? Because, you know, the big story this year is free agency in MMA. Everyone testing the water is going back and forth.

Benson comes to Beltor loses. How crazy was that? I predicted that. You predicted it. Yeah, 100%. Why? He's too small for that division. Way too small.

And for Koreshkov as well, he's very heavy, hip. So Benson trying to get underneath him and take him down. That one sprawled meant his hands are like. over there now you can't do anything with that you know and he's competent stand up i i did not see in any way shape or nine times out of ten i don't see him winning a fight like that you have two fights left on your contract yeah including the next one yeah are you going to test the market no at all i don't want to sign before are there are there talks of because you you're one of the bright young stars so once once you know well i'm sure we're going to be talking very soon obviously the focus

is london at the moment yeah so i don't really want to be in any kind of contract talks sure for now i just to focus on the London. But I'm sure straight after that where we'll be talking again and I'm happy at Bellator like ridiculously happy at Bellator. And I don't mean to imply that you're not, but once London is over then you have one fight left in your contract. Why not test the market? Why not just, I mean, you don't think the UFC would be interested in you? I don't know, but you know what? I respect the fact that they came and saw me from, from, you know, when I was just, I did one fight. I mean literally after the first fight, they were the first people to one of the first people to come and contact

with my coaches and be like, man, that was amazing. We want to see a little bit more of him, obviously, but just letting you know that we are, if he does well, we were ready to, you know, take him on board. And I can appreciate people that, you know, they take chances in when they

see things like that. But I feel with just, loads of different shows, UFC, obviously being the biggest show, obviously they got so many people wanting to go there all the time. They, I don't think they take as much timing to look at the up and coming. Like look at the sports over here.

One thing I really appreciate, which we don't really have in the UK, is that, you know, you've got basketball, the youth that are coming up. And you guys are all seeing the development of these guys. And then you've got the everyone, the picks for the NBA, for the, for the, for the, for the, for the, for the, for the, for the, for the, for the NHL, for everything. It's just like, you're really looking at the development of young guys up and coming. But I feel like, MMA, it's like when you're, when you're already good,

they're like, okay, look, well, just slap money on you and then take you on. So, yeah, man, I'm happy with the fact that Bellator. I enjoy, I'm a supporter of what they're trying to achieve. And you're loyal? Yeah. Did you pay attention to what happened to Ronda Rousey and Connor McGregor when they lost and how the world turned against them?

Because obviously they're, you know, you know, they're bigger than you now. They're more famous because they've had longer careers. But if something happened to you, you know everyone will come. 100%. Are you aware of that? Yeah, yeah. Do you think about that? No, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't bother me because.

Because they'll all say, look, it happened now, your style, that bit you in the butt, all that stuff. Exactly, exactly. Exactly. It's funny because a guy, I remember a guy posting online, like, that style never worked. Look what happened to Anderson Silver. Look what happened to him. Yeah. So I was like, if I could choose to have any kind of career. Yeah. It would still be Anderson Silver's one. So regardless of what, he, look how long of success he was. People don't, I don't understand how people don't get that, though. Yeah, yeah. They're talking about the styles. I'm like, but look. Look how long he was successful before that happened. Of course. Of course. And but they're just like, your style though is turned up to 10 though compared to him. I mean, let's be honest.

He's not doing what you're doing. No one's ever done what you. Yeah, yeah. Do you have great sponsors? Are there, like I want some like major sponsors to be hooked up to now. What's going on? Right now, bad boy is, um, is probably my biggest sponsor. Yeah.

You know. What about mainstream big time? Not yet, not yet. Um, how are you not bigger in the UK? Come on. No, I don't know. I know this man some love. I mean, every major sponsor,

I hope that back in the UK, every outlet is covering you. You're a huge deal. Yeah, it's getting there. I think people are, with a style, like you say, because my style isn't the way my style is, people struggle to,

they are all waiting. We could sponsor him, but I think the next fight, he'll probably. Okay. And then the next fight, yeah, I don't know how long that would last.

They're not believers. They're not believers. As much they enjoy watching it and they, but they don't want to be associated with it just in case it goes, wrong. When someone sees that you're on the card, and I'm not just saying it because you're here, you have to go out of your way. Because even if something crazy happened against you, it's still a

sight to be, you know, your style, everything that you do from the walkout, the glasses. That's very rare in sports. You're a visionary. Yeah, yeah. So I say keep doing your thing. I'm trying to be, definitely. July 16th, MVP is back in action. He's fighting Fernando Gonzalez at the O2 Arena. The main event is Kimbo Slic versus James Thompson. Also, Paul Daly versus Josh Koshak, too. You know Paul? Paul's the man. Oh yeah, he's cool, man. You like him?

Oh, yeah, yeah, we get on it. You know what, after the American invasion, that's right, that's right? We spent a lot of time together, me, Liam McGiri, Linton Vassell, Jay and Stots. We spent a lot of time together. So we're all like just, we're so cool now, man. There's a good UK base in Belator. Too bad Liam can't fight on that card, right? A hundred percent is, it's unfortunate.

He's here, you know that. Oh, yeah. I know, I know, I know, I know. Liam's cool, man. He's such a wicked character and deserves where he's where he is. This time next to you. Are you champion? I can see that 100%.

Yeah. I can see that. All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, remember that April 25th. What a pleasure this has been, my man. My pleasure for me as well. No, seriously, I am such a huge fan of what you're doing.

It is a pleasure. I was at the UFC on Friday the Wayans were over and I ran to the computer to watch you because I said we got to watch MVP. I mean, you are must-see TV, my friend. I don't say that just because you're here. I wish you continued success, really. And good luck, July 16. Excellent.

Thank you, guys. Any prediction? He's going to sleep. He's going to sleep. He's going to sleep. sleep because I don't like when people have to, you know, say certain things about me. I'm going to back up. Talk smack.

Yeah, yeah. There's no need. All right. I'm going to back out. Okay. There you have it. MVP in the house. Okay.

We're going to say goodbye to Michael. We're going to take a quick break. And in a minute, we're going to be joined by Patty Hulahan, who just announces retirement. Did you hear this? Yes. Sad. I know. I know.

That's crazy. What a shame. We're going to be joined by him. Last guest of the day. So we didn't give you the Rory McDonald interview last time. Can we do that this time, guys? Do we have the Rory interview? Okay, there we go.

April 30th, 2011, Rory after he beat Nick Diaz. Actually, let me call an audible there. Let's go with the Patty Hulahan clip. The T with Patty Hulah as we get ready for Patty to be on the show. For now, we say goodbye to MVP. Continued success. Thank you so much. He is the man, and we'll be back right here on the MMAR.

Greetings, everyone. Ariel Hawani here in Boston for the big UFC fight night, Connor McGregor versus Dennis Siever fight. And, of course, we have some time off. while we're here, so we thought that we would come visit the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, which is a fantastic location. You can learn a whole lot about the history of the Boston Tea Party and do a lot of cool interactive stuff. You can even drink tea.

And I thought, you know what, I don't want to do this by myself. It's kind of boring to do that and a little lonely. So who better than the tea aficionado of the UFC? The man who loves tea more than anything on this planet, the one and only Patty, the hooligan, Hulahan to join us here today to experience this whole thing. Patty, how are you? Absolute pleasure to be here. Great to see you my friend. Pleasure to be here. Who knew? At the Tee, the Boston Tea Party drinking tea with Ariel Hohani. What a life. It never fails to blow my mind. And of course Patty is fighting this

Sunday on Fox Sports One against Shane Howell. You have a big fight. You're coming back from the first loss of your career. And we thought maybe just 24 hours or so before the way this would be a good way to kind of get you in the mood. Get you settled in. Yes, I feel like I've been in Boston since Sunday and I'm excited. I'm excited for Sunday to come. And I know you love tea very much, so I wanted to experience a little tea tasting with you to see why you love this thing. What goes through your mind when you're tasting tea for the first time?

So to me it's an honor and I thank you for joining us. Absolutely honor to me as well. Let's do this. Alright, let's do it. Let's do it. Here we go. All right, Patty, we're here in Abigail's tea room. Look at this.

All this tea. This is like Christmas morning, right? This is pretty cool, yeah. This is the question. You couldn't have visualized this, could you? I know, we have come a long way. And I brought my friend Evan here. Hello, gentlemen.

How are you, Evan? Very well. Thank you for being here. Oh, it's great. It's great to be here. Patty's a tea enthusiast, an officianto, if you will. I heard that about you, sir. In Ireland, I am the king of tea.

So Evan is going to tell us about all these teas that they have here in Abigail's tea room, and we're going to have a little tasting session. Yes, we are. What you have before you, gentlemen, are the five different types of teas that were thrown overboard during the Boston Tea Party on the evening of December 16th, 1773. There are two different types of green teas and three black teas, and there is a wide variety of differences between all five flavors. The first one we'll sample is called Singlo.

Singlo is a very delicate flavored green tea. Now of course what makes tea green is at the type of bush that it grows on and the time of the year during which it is picked. Green teas are generally from the higher portions of the bush, which means the leaves are smaller and they are much younger. Please, do you sample some if you wish? Is it a camilla plant? Yes, it is actually, a camilla plant indeed. Cheers.

Cheers. What do you think, gentlemen? Being honest. I wouldn't be a big tea, a green tea drink. Well, I think you're a more robust man, sir. We'll get to those black teas in a moment, but let's finish the green teas here. This next one is called Young Heism. If you don't mind me asking, Patty, why?

Why? Because I reckon this was the first tea you were thrown off the boat. I'm not a big fan of Singlow either. But Young Heisen was the favorite tea of two very important people in this time period, General George Washington and Mr. Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Young Heisen tea is picked before April 20th every year, the earliest leaves picked during the tea picking season. And it was so popular in Boston that it was found in almost every tea shop throughout the

city in 1773. That one's kind of like taking a shot, isn't it? Still not in there, huh? He's a very critical tea drinker. He is. He is indeed. Which you like better so far? That one was like taking a shot. That one was like, and then that was just kind of smooth.

I drink that if I went to my friend's house and he said, we only have great tea. And I was like, well, we have friends. You can sweeten it for sugar, honey, if you wish. That was acceptable back in colonial times as well. Oh. But green tea was a, um, Like an upper class thing, was it was quite upper class.

And the lower classes, where I'm from, of course, we would have had more of the black teas. We have Conju over here. Conju's nickname was Kung Fu and given your line of work, sir. This may be up more of your alley here. The black teas are, of course, picked later in the tea picking season. And they have a much more robust flavor. What do you think of that, gentleman? That's going a little bit green and black, isn't it?

A little bit, yes? It's a bit softer. How do you feel? Yeah, it's all right. You're right? I think anything with green in it is not your style. I'm more of a breakfast man.

I'm more of a breakfast tea, man. In Ireland, we do drink the highest grade quality tea in the world. Really? Yeah. In the world. And we drink more cups. I think it's like pound for pound

as we would know. Yes, exactly. In the world. All right, back on the MMA hour. How about that? That was a lot of fun. MVP in studio, one of the bright young stars of mixed martial arts. Thank you to him and Belator for hooking us up with that. That was a lot of fun. Really great getting to know him and of course

Alir Latifie as well. What a show this has been. Pretty sure our most watch show, maybe ever. I mean, unbelievable stuff. And well, let's let's end on a very high note. Let's end with one of my favorites in the history of this game. What an honor it has been. to cover this man. And like I said, not only one of my favorite fighters to cover, just one of the best people I've met in life, period, an amazing human being. You know how I feel about him. Earlier this morning, Patty Houlihan announced, unfortunately, that he has to retire at a young age. It's sudden, it's unexpected, and he was supposed to fight in a couple of weeks in Rotterdam. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen, but he seems to be in great spirits, and he has a long

future in this sport, but I really wanted to have him on the program, and I really appreciate him coming on. He joins us now, right now via the phone. Patty, are you there? Hey, how's it going? Patty, pleasure to have you on the program. Thank you very much. I know a lot must be going on in your life. If you could just tell us, I mean, we're, what, six or so hours since you made the announcement, seven maybe? What's life been like since you made this news public? We haven't been count when we said now. What's it been like? And I don't know, we've just kind of been in my house. I kind of expected it over the last week.

I was in Iceland for a week. And we kind of knew we were trying to sort it back and forward there and put the statement together. And so then when I came back, it was really important to do it today. So they had to just make that announcement. When did you find out that this was an issue? When did you know about this rare blood disorder? Well, when I was eight years of age, we was diagnosed with it,

and it's an extremely rare kind of, it's called a factor 13 deficiency. It's like how a clot is sealed after it's formed over. So it's actually not to deal with like it's after damage. So say if you get cut, when they'll cut is heel, the clot doesn't form properly. So when it was diagnosed at that age, it was, it was diagnosed at one. one in five million people get it, so it's really rare. So we've got a factor of placement for it. So it's kind of like taking a vitamin there,

you make where you replace it. So you've known about this long before you started MMA. This is a secret that you haven't told anyone close to you? No, not that I haven't told anybody close to me. It's not really a secret to me. It wasn't as crazy as it sounds. because of being inspiring I was being

like letting all in my life before I was diagnosed where I used to have bruising and things like that but then the minute I was diagnosed and I got the treatment for it and I was good again

like I never really had problems to deal with bruising and other like normal people have so at what point did it because you had a career you were a fighter before the UFC you know young healthy man

at what point do you get news that this can potentially end your career, that even though you've known about this for well over a decade, this now suddenly makes your career end on the spot? Well, at the time, not that we didn't, we didn't disclose it. It ended up a, like, I didn't, I thought, I walked into John's gym and at about 19 years of age as back playing in Jiu-Too. I didn't expect to be going to the U.S.A. in the main event. came. So as a process, we went on, we went on. We never denied anything, I never hit anything.

But then when the USA found out the hit after an injury in Dublin, they diagnosed it that you wouldn't be able to, when they got other information and waited up at their own doctors, that they wouldn't be able to pass me for a medical anymore. So they told me that they were going to have to remove my contract and that it's not their fault. It's not my fault. It's just the way it worked out. How did they find out? Was it because of Usada doing more advanced drug tests? I mean, blood tests, I should say.

Like, how did they find this out when you fought for them several times in the past? Because when I got injured in Dublin, I had had a surgery in an, and a team of hemophilia doctors were there. Oh. So they went back after Dublin.

We had holt my disc again in my back and I got a scan. and a letter got sent, and it's just the way it came out that way, and Vegas was straight away, onto the UFC took all the precautions that they had to do, and the minute they found out that, like, this was kind of an issue that I had, and I didn't see this as an excess, this is just a normal thing to me. I've been trained for 10 years, it's just normal to me. But the UFC took the effort, and informed me that I wouldn't be able to get past, for a fight license.

So what else do you do? You can't get a fight license. So we had to retire. I'm grateful for what I've got to do on the sport. I've got to raise with a lot of superstars that came up from the Euro circuit. We've got to kind of do an apprenticeship over a really good point in M&A in Ireland.

So I'm not happy. We understand. We do with you understand. So for the uninformed, what is it about this rare blood disorder that is stopping you from fighting? Like, why can't you, even though you've fought with it before and were willing to do so, what is actually stopping you medically from fighting? Because it's increased chances of cranium bleats. So that's what it says on, like, if they're going to be able to.

So, or it would be a higher percentage of somebody probably to be able to get a bleed. Okay. So at that, no doctor is going to pass you to fit to be able to fight and say that or he clear it is going to fight when he has a higher risk of, it's a fight at the end of the day as well. So given your line of work, are doctors surprised that you've been okay up until this point? Well, as I said here, Ariel, it's one and five million, so there's not a big case study being done on a thing that rare, you know? So, to me, I am the evidence of me. That's what I think.

I train. I don't have any issues, any problems. I feel okay. I'm fit, you know. I spare. I've never really had any issues of injuries to do with this. this to me, that's why this never really came to me. It's like, all you have to say this or this is, this is like the diabetics say to me.

That's what it feels like, you know? Mm-hmm. Do you have to take any medication or anything like that for it? Yeah, we take a medication for it. Sorry, say it again? I take, yes, we take a medication for it. Oh, okay. For your gammon, it's called.

Okay. And so when did you get the official word that they weren't going to, you know, you know, have you on the roster anymore because you can't get clear. When did you find out this news? How long ago? I know the process started. I think it's as soon as the U.S.C. came across it. It's straight away. They rang me straight away and asked me, and it's like something that you have to disclose.

And straight away, I told them, I have this. And I got letters from doctors to say that this is what it is. This is what the letters are. He sent them to Vegas. Vegas went over them and then all the precautions that they had to do and then they informed me that he wouldn't have been able to pass a

medical, so I said, I shouldn't be disclosed at the start, but you know what? I didn't, and we took a chance at it. That's that's what he said. I walked into John's game, 19, the only jit, two, I ended up going up,

having a fight, you know what happens? It's not, like it wasn't back on their all starts. Like, crazy mediation. and things like that, you just fall. So given this... It's much better now to be these days. The medical standard is brilliant in the main now, so. Given how sensitive of a topic this is,

did someone, like, I'm wondering who told you the news? Like, who gave you that final answer that you wouldn't be cleared anymore? Well, I was asked to send over the information about this disorder, and we sent it over and then Vegas informed me that they would

check it through and go through it and just how the process started then I don't you don't know who would be like sending an email to say this

and right this is the way it's going to happen but the USA at the you're having it like

perfecting me you know now have you considered or did you consider then just going to fight for someone else

like saying okay I'm going to leave the USC but I'll go fight for a promotion in England and Ireland and Europe anywhere else? Is that something that you thought of at any point? Did we lose them?

Patty, are you... All right, we're going to call Patty back. We may have lost him there. Certainly unfortunate news, 27 years old, Patty Houlihan. Still going to be a major part of that SBG team. You know, his last fight in a way, nice that he got that main event after some crazy circumstances. with Joe Duffy, suffering that concussion and getting pulled at the last minute from that card,

he ended up fighting in a fight that was fantastic to watch. And I thought should have garnered a little more attention for one of the best fights of the year. I'm like to say the best fight of the year, but certainly, I mean, from start to finish, that fight against Luis Smoka, which Smoka won towards the end of the second round was just a fantastic bout between two great fighters. but we remember July 19, 2004, he set the table for that night that will be talked about until these days are done. I mean, that night in Dublin, where it all started for those young men, he was the first one up. He was the first one up to bat. It came out to that song, 10,000 hours. And if you haven't seen that mini documentary that the guys over at Severemama.com

produced about Patty Houlehan and Owen Roddy. It's called 10,000 hours. It's phenomenal. And it was very fitting that he was the one that started. Connor McGregor, the one that finished it that night against Diego Brandau. That to me is top five, you know by now if you've ever listened to this show or watch the show. The magic in the air that night.

Patty Houlehan, Cahal Pendrad, Neil Ciri, Norman Park, Gunner Nelson, the Honorary Irishman, Connor McGregor, all winning, all an impressive fashion, all great performances. I think that a movie can be made about that night, whether it's a documentary or a feature film, if you follow them from start to finish, if you follow, and it ends that night,

it doesn't matter, I had someone, I tweeted this earlier, and I had someone say, well, look at them now. That doesn't matter. how they all started and how it all came together on that night. A lot of them in attendance for UFC 93. I mean, that's something that we haven't really seen since. And I don't know if we'll ever see again, because remember, they all won. They all put on the performances of a lifetime.

I mean, it's really hard to recreate that for the stars to align like that. Pretty amazing. I mean, certainly here in the United States, it didn't have that impact. But there, that's the night Irish MMA. you know, really arrived. It had been around for years before the likes of Owen Roddy, who never made it to the UFC, and guys like John Kavanaugh, who you heard earlier, and I've gone to learn more about it. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm some kind of Irish MMA expert, but I have gone to learn a hell of a lot more and appreciate it

more. It was around long before that night, of course. The first UFC event, UFC 93, perhaps you could say it was maybe born or had it, you know, first or second year birthday there, if you know what I'm talking about, if we're going to compare this to a young child. But it all came together that night, and he was a very, very big part of it, a gigantic part of it. He defeated Josh Sampo that night via first round submission, and that place exploded. There was around 10,000 people there. It was called the O2 at the time, and that place just exploded. It was amazing.

And then it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And by the time Connor beat Brandau and said the famous line, to Dan Hardy, who was on the mic that night doing the post-fight interviews, saying we're not here to take part, we're here to take over. I mean, exploded is not even a word that you can use at that point. Patty, are you back? Yeah, I'm here with you. Okay. I was just curious if you considered, once you found out that your UFC career was over,

did you consider continuing your career for another organization, keep on fighting? you know well as I said I didn't really understand the the excess kind of like risks involved in fighting like I didn't sit down in an Illinois that I was going through fighting like I'm at more risks than this guy

am I in my head like I was just I'm just fighting at the end of the day like and to me as I told you it it was always okay so I I don't know what to do what to do in a situation now you're on there like USC tell me that they can't, they can't pass a medical with them.

So I don't think we can pass a medical for any organization, and I don't fancy that doesn't exist without a medical. So we're having to put it in a way, you know. Okay. Are you at peace? I mean, can you walk away knowing that you'll never fight again, especially, you know, I know how disappointed you were after your last fight. Are you at peace with this decision,

or do you think it will take some time for you to come to terms of it? No, I'm not a piece at all, like that's what he said, I spent a whole week in Iceland there and my emotions are going back and forward where like anybody's would be. I just, like,

I can't believe that I'll never get to make that work again and I can't see how we could unless I could find some way of proving that I don't know, you know, I'm not a doctor. Are you going to try to find a way or is this a closed case? Are you going to try to talk to doctor?

try to get cleared, or is that impossible? I talked to doctors. I already asked the doctors for a letter to the same time to Vegas, and the doctors in Vegas said that they couldn't pass it on that grounds, that the doctor wouldn't pass me and say that this guy has medically cleared to fight now, known that he had factored end deficiency. Okay. That's amazing.

So I'm assuming most of these doctors, if you say it's one in five million, haven't really met people like you before. Like, they're all kind of in the dark about it as well, right? Well, I would be definitely the only one in Ireland. So the people that have been dealing with me for my own life, they would have more experience with than a lot of people. I don't know how many people would have it in America. I don't know what the scale of people is,

but I know that they have won, and that's me in Ireland, now, that has that deficiency. When did you tell your coach and longtime friend John Kavanaugh? When did you inform him of this? How did we lose them again? Oh, there he is. No, just not. I have you. I'm just getting a charger. Okay, yeah. You're back. And so, I think, I knew that, like, it being so rare,

no one's going to understand it. No one's going to be able to say that, like, even if you said it to the doctor, it's a factor 14 deficiency. They'd say it to you. No, it's not. You know what I mean? Uh-huh. No one would hear of it. So, like, it's so rare that if we start bringing up a,

something that's so rare and people don't want to stand there. I'm definitely going to be gone, you know what I mean? So when did you tell your coach about this? John, well, they talked to John Adele, but I didn't sit down and tell John, as I'm saying. I didn't know that the risks were in session. I found out when I kind of looked into this

because this became a problem. Okay. But it's more serious than we caught, you know. And all along the way, it's just being, And this has not bothered me. To me, I'm still able-bodied boo. I'm being whole with his doctors now that this is, you know? Yeah.

And I'm sure at some point you informed him that your career was over, right, before the news came out? Yeah, John? Yeah. So what was that, what was that like for you? How difficult was that? I don't know. I don't know how, like, it doesn't feel real, you know what I mean? Yeah.

It feels like a death area. That's what it feels like. It feels like a depth. Like, even the whole last week we've been in Iceland. I'm so relaxed. It was so nice and things like that big. It just kind of felt like coming back in ways and thinking about it, you know, and I'm still training in an ice land and still keeping me head nice and clear.

And that's what we will continue to do with. It just feels like my hands are put in there with. I didn't know what this situation with this was as serious as it is. Okay. So perhaps that's the silver line. It's great that it was caught and that nothing serious has happened and that you can continue your life as it was before. John mentioned earlier that you will remain a part of the team that you will be a coach now, that you're going to be sort of colleagues now?

Is that what you want to do? Do you want to now mentor the young fighters and be a part of the SBG team from a coaching standpoint? Of all these things, coaching to me, as I said, when they came into Johns, when they fell in that place, I was like, speaking there wasn't to go to the UFC for me. It was like, this was a good group of people doing jihitza, everyone having fun,

everyone's happy. That's how it started for me. And that's very addictive. So it's still that same situation when I'm with the girls and the new kids coming up and going to new places, training,

and it's exciting, you know? So that's always what I wanted to do. And it just led to the UFC as well. But, like, I'm not going to stop doing that because I don't be, competitive in the UFC anymore. You tweeted last week that you guys were in Iceland

as a team for the first time since before that UFC Dublin show, and knowing what you were going through and that maybe the end was coming, and even the stuff that Connor was going through, I mean, what was that like? You know, you're kind of an Iceland secluded from the world. No one's really bothering you. There's not a lot

media there and stuff. Was that a great way to sort of end it for you? I mean, how are your emotions with everything that was going on surrounding you and the team and all that stuff. It was madness here in the United States, and you guys are just sort of tucked away, and you knew something that we didn't even know,

so there was even more news to come out of the team. What was that experience like for you this past week in Iceland? That's easy, that's how Irish people operate. Everyone else is panicking. The British children. So that was another day. There's no need for panic, you know. You just have to look at the facts of the situations.

and when you have to weigh up your options and like whatever's going on with other people and start it there's, you don't, you don't be sitting around

getting involved that kind of stuff that's everyone else's business as well, you know? Mm-hmm. Gosh. I want to sit in there emotional,

discussing this stuff and things like that because boys aren't just a nice cheer place and the training is amazing, the field is amazing and, like, it's just

it's a really, really, really unreal place to train and get away. I wish I could be like that I get anxious about everything I admire you guys for that it's a beautiful thing

well that's that's going to sleep a frame of moments that we bring to the game I think that what we did bring it's it's your impact will be felt for a long time like I said that night

when you look back now is it all kind of worth it I don't even know how to phrase that but that night that first night when you came out and set the table a night that I think should be there should be a movie made about that night, what you guys did in July.

The fact that you got to experience that, that's what I meant when I asked you, like, are you at peace? You got to experience something that very few people get to experience in their entire life, fighting in front of their people, victorious, setting the table for the night, and the way the night ended was just magical. Is it okay because you got to experience that? Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah, well, as always, when we hit the place, we hit it running.

Yeah. That's what we felt happened. Like, if you look at the consecutive fights that we had, we were putting out fights at a lot of tempo. Like, Carl, we put in their fights and Ash and Connor and myself and Neil. You know, for a little nation, we were putting out some of the fight. So I think that we hit the ground winner, and it was kind of go, go, go.

And that was my actual towards it. Like, it wasn't, like, get in and fight now, because we've made it through the door. in a way, you know? Yeah, amazing. Just simply amazing. You know, some people are asking me on Twitter, if you're going to do grappling tournaments,

you have any interest in that sort of thing, EBI, Meta Morris, any of that? Okay. Well, definitely. These are all things that you can, we have to kind of sit down on way up and sit down with the people that deal with the heads that have experts in this

blood disorder that we have. Right. I'm sure there's no headshots in grappling and things like that, then again, they have to weigh at the way of the options, and if we can pass the deal, 100% will be doing grappling phones. And also curious, because I know how close

you are, what was it like when you told your son that you had to retire? You know, he just really said, oh, it was good, wasn't it? Remember this? Remember that? And then it's just like a life then for him, like it's... Oh, it was just... A big crazy wound for him, with cameras

and all over here, you know? Yeah. He still has a foot at life and It stays that way for him as well. I have a simple life, and I coach in the gym now, and I try and do my own training, and then I fight when fights come up, and that's the way it is. I'll just fill that time.

I'll still be training with the protein. Okay, so it goes back to a more simpler life, but I'm glad to hear that you are in relatively good spirits. I mean, over time it will probably get easier to digest, but I do appreciate you coming on, Patty, to talk about this. Let's close on these last two questions if I can. And again, really thank you very much for coming on. How do you want people to remember you?

Is there something that you want people to remember you by, the way you fought, the way you handled yourself? If you never fight again, if this is really it, how do you want people to remember you as a fighter? I went in and I tried to play my game, and like to me, fighting these little bits and little sequences, and I went in, always trying to execute. sequences that we've been practicing in the gym

that John is being shown me and the whole team is being walking on together and that's worth about dealing in a lawyer's atmosphere and that's what it's all of you to do. Sometimes there's just like a dash of just scrapping in there as well. Yes, indeed.

And I would be remiss if I didn't ask you what's your take on this craziness with Connor? Is this going to get resolved or what? I don't know. No comment. No comment. Fair enough. We've said enough. Patty, I appreciate it, my man. Thank you.

I meant everything I said. It was truly an honor to get to know you, and I hope to get to see you. I many more events in the future. And that time we got to share some tea was great. I have some... I know you don't like the ice tea, but it's the closest I can get.

I don't usually drink the tea on my show, but I got some for you. So I raised my glass to you, my friend. You're great. And I wish you the very best, and I hope everything works out okay. Thank you, Mr. Rowan. Thank you very much. And that compliment at the start,

and you've met a lot of people, a lot of good people. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, we'll talk to you very soon. All the best to you. And again, thank you for some time here tonight. I know a lot's going on in your life, but I sincerely appreciate it. I will figure out where you. Okay.

There he is. The Hooligan. Patty Hulahan. Beautiful stuff. Cheers to him. Okay. What a show. All right, just a few minutes left.

New York, Rick, are you still alive? Or have you gone on vacation yet? Yep, I think he's gone. Sleeping. Did he really leave? Is he leaving me hanging? Or was he in the bathroom? Nope.

I mean, this guy already on vacation. Unfortunately, uh... What? What's the excuse? No, no excuse. My bad. I was, uh, I was just playing around with my thumbs back here. Yeah, typically. So what do we make of this world? Has anything changed since the top of the show?

John Kavanaugh told us 51%. That's his guess. I mean, this is madness over here. Has anything changed? I haven't really been on Twitter. I haven't really been talking to people. Can you tell us anything? Nothing's changed.

No, status quo. Connor puts out that tweet. UFC says no. I mean, okay, so I've weighed in on it. I've said enough. What do you think of this? It feels like an exercise in futility. In terms of what?

Like, I just don't, at this point, I don't really care. You don't care. You're turned off. Yeah. You say, to hell with Connor. No, I mean, I'm sure he'll return. He marched back and said he's not retired, so therefore I'm led to believe that he will fight again for the UFC at some point. Dana White says it's not going to happen at UFC 200.

I have to believe that he's telling the truth there just because he's been saying it so many times recently. Adamant. very adamant about it. So that's what it is. Connor will fight at some point in the future, and I don't really care when that is right now. You're over it.

I'm over it. Okay, let me ask you this. When he retired, did you believe him? No, of course not. When Dana said that he was off 200 because of the fact... Whoa, what? You don't know my question? Continue.

Were you okay with that? Oh. Were you one of those who said, look, everyone has to do it? Aldo came from Brazil, Nunes came from Florida, Edgar came from New Jersey, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I get it. Were you one of those? Like, do you understand where they're coming from?

I understand where they're coming from, but I think that you have to make concessions for Connor McGregor. You recognize the fact that there are megastars, there are superstars, there are stars, there are players. Correct. People get special treatment. Nobody said it better than himself. How many people on that stage made 400 million for... the UFC in their last three fights. And so then he comes out and puts out a statement.

I'm just curious, I like the timeline. What did you make of it? Was that a good representation of himself? Did he, you know, because some of the other said, yeah, he wanted to do every interview back of the day. Oh, now you lose, you don't want to do interviews. You know, there's the gallery, the peanut gallery. Were you okay with what he said, the Tim and Susie show, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I thought it was the Connor McGregor way of saying what was really, you know, something that happens where people get burnt out. And I think he wanted to, look, he, you know, he hasn't tasted defeat in a while. He wanted to refocus. He has every right to do that. And he's going up against the exact same opponent. He knows the work that needs to be done. He's gauged Nate Diaz once now.

And he didn't feel like he was ready. And if he took away time from training, he wasn't going to be prepared. So I think he has every right to do that. Now, certainly, he can't skirt every responsibility. There's a limit to that. But I think he does deserve some extra rope. And in this case, he didn't get it. Do you feel like the UFC is to blame here in the sense that they created the monster?

They let him show up late. They let him dictate things. And now he just went too far. He tried to push like a little kid, right? They tried to push. They tried to push until you don't think. It's a partnership. And nobody created Connor McGregor.

Connor McGregor created Connor McGregor. UFC didn't make him. No, but did they give him too much leeway? You're saying did they give him... Did they not put their foot down earlier that led to this? No. Yeah. Because I think it's funny when people say like, oh, you know, special treatment, this and that.

I mean, he has gone above and beyond in many respects. I just want to say for the record, I really do think that all the fighters on this show who have asked about it are actually nailing it. Like they're not afraid for their jobs or whatever. there is a point on both sides here. You know what I mean? They get where Conner's coming from. And by the way, none of them know what he has to deal with because he's all just more popular than them.

That's just the fact. And they also get where the UFC is coming from. The UFC is a promotion and part of being a promotion is to promote. And, you know, there's obligations and things of that nature involved. I mean, it's all kind of reasonable. I guess what feels the most unreasonable to me is that they can't come to a middle ground. Like, I can't understand this. Who is being the stubborn one here?

You know what I mean? Is it, is it Connor for saying he doesn't want to go to Vegas, but he'll go to New York? Is it the UFC who's saying, look, we have this crew booked, come to Vegas and shoot it? You know what? It's like, what? You don't even have to do a commercial for this fight. Like, you could do a commercial with stock footage and send, you could send Casey with his small camera to Ireland and get a commercial that will do very well. to Iceland.

You could send one to stock. You know what I mean? Like you don't need an elaborate Hollywood set to do this sort of thing. And that's the part that I can't wrap my head around. This fight is three months away

and we're not able to come to a conclusion here, like a compromise? It's very easy to say that in hindsight, but now every time the UFC ramps up production and gives us one of those great commercials where it's clear

that they really put time and money to it, everybody's raving about it and can't stop talking about it. So you have to understand their point of view where they wanted to create that. They wanted to be able to have some really powerful content and something

that they wanted him to participate in. But if they couldn't get it done, was it worth pulling the plug? You know what I mean? It's not worth pulling the plug, no. Certainly not. But are you surprised that they're still, you know, putting their foot down. And obviously, John Jones

winning helps them. Because, you know, if John Jones lost, this whole story would be different, right? We say that all the time, but I don't know. What would you have done? OSP versus Cormier? That's not 200. Maybe, who knows? Maybe if you shock the world.

Yeah. OSP, we talked about how Holly Holie home got star power instantly after the Ronda Rousey thing. Though John Jones is in Ronda Rousey, but I get your point. Are you surprised, though, that they're sticking to their guns? I am not surprised, no. Okay, so they have to stick to their guns at this point. Yeah, at this point. Okay, so this is the, this is, this is, this is the most important question of them all.

Did Connor go to the well one too many times with his last tweet? clearly UFC is saying this tweet isn't true that he's back right I woke up this morning the worst way in the world to wake up by the way to a gazillion tweets saying wake up are like these tweets are being sent at 3 a.m. I'm in la la la la land. Wake up. Conner's back. Connard's back. He tweeted this I think at 1.46 a.m. Eastern so technically Monday morning here in the United States in New York and and for a while it took the UFC a while to officially comment on it. I put out a tweet that I was told it wasn't true. did he go to the well one too many times in the sense that like yeah you retire you come out of retirement you say this you say that now you told people you're back and it wasn't true was that

a mistake on his part does that show desperation you get what i'm saying i don't yeah i i do get what you're saying but no people are going to eat up everything connor mcgregor does okay um i wondered about that why do you feel like he did i want to know why he wrote that before really but i was like man If he's just trying to poke the bear at this point, like... I think it's putting more pressure. If I'm... If Connor McGregor has his fans campaigning and saying,

Connor said he's back on, what's the deal? There's going to be, you know, people are going to take notice. And, uh, I think the UFC can't budge, though. I don't think it matters what happens... At this point... At this point... What about this idea of not putting him on in New York? Because that feels like a punishment.

I mean... in terms of what? Are you asking, is that appropriate or are you asking? Is that smart business-wise? No, of course not. Terrible business-wise. But... Does the punishment fit the crime?

There is some truth to the idea, and you were talking about this before, there is some truth to the idea that you can't let Connor McGregor walk all over you. It's just, he's a star that's big enough that he can get some leeway. and I have said that the UFC didn't treat it properly and they should have given him that leeway. He's earned that. But you can't let him have whatever he wants and at a certain point you have to put your foot down.

Was this the right point? Probably not, but there's never a good time. I hate when people keep bringing up the UFC 137 Nick Diaz situation. This is completely different than that. He didn't give them any notice. You know what I mean? He didn't tell them. He just didn't show up, remember?

And we're also going, past history here. Connor McGregor is a media darling, has done every media thing that they've wanted him to do. Exactly. It's a completely different scenario. This is the one time he asked for something.

Or, you know, obviously, I don't know. I'm sure he's asked for other things along the way. But this seems to be the one time that he asked to not participate in something for the media because he's done a hell of a lot. He's done a hell of a lot. And, you know, of course, along the way, there's back and forth

and there were rumors of the rift and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. although no one's really, you know, conceding on whether or not there is, in fact, a rift. Although right now, I mean, it's hard not to think that they're a little disappointed. No, Dana White has said many times. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. Although when you say you're not mad that many times, it kind of feels like you are mad, no? You are mad. Yeah. As Cameron would say.

What about, okay, let me ask you this. What about that press conference? I just kind of, I'm still kind of digesting it all. Sure, sure. So Dana White tells Brett Akamoto on Saturday, VSP, that the media was acting weird at the press conference. In fact, I thought it was one. of these shining moments for MMA media and not just myself, all of us asking those questions because there they are, look, what I would have done if they want this tip, I would have done a scrum beforehand with the media, not live streamed, say here, we're going to address the situation, ask away, we'll talk about it, we'll give you our side, and then at the press conference,

you know, Amanda Nunes, Misha Tate, Frankie Edgar, Josealdo, and the rest will be there and, you know, let's stick to the, so everyone would have gotten their questions out of the way as opposed to doing it on the live stream and it becoming this spectacle. Instead, they come out with Nate and the empty chair. How are we not supposed to ask about it? And then Dana says that Nate's going to remain on the card. Nate says he's not staying on the card. I mean, to me, that was asking for us to ask about it.

I didn't think that we were acting weird. Do you get what I'm saying? I do get what you're saying. But now, is there a thought that that's what they want people to be asking about? At this point, we're talking, what day was the, the press thing? Friday. So we're talking Friday, right?

Yeah. At that point, this Connor McGregor thing is completely out of control. Do you maybe not want that to be the topic of conversation? To get more people interested, to get more people to watch it. I don't think that went the way they thought it was going to go. There's no way. I mean, there's just no way. Dana's starting off that press conference and saying that Nate is going to remain on the card

and then him five minutes later saying he's not staying on the card of Connor's not there. They wouldn't have brought him out if they thought. They thought that he was going to say, where you at, homie, don't be scared, don't be a wuss. That's what they thought. He didn't do that. There's no way that was as they planned. I'm not talking about specifically anybody's responses or anything like that, but the idea that Carter McGregor is a topic of this press conference.

How could they want that? He's not on the card. Yeah, but it's all good for the UFC. If it's all good, put them back on the card. No, well, it's not all good behind the scenes, but it's all good. It's just more attention. Do you think that this TMZ and all this stuff that is stemming from this is bad? I can't.

I can't think that they feel that way. No, it's tremendous. The fight is a thousand times bigger. This fight that no one seemed to want. So why would we think that they're concerned about... Because it's not happening. Because they're letting ego. It's going to happen eventually.

Who knows? Dana White said that it's going to be a Conner v. Frankie and Aldo. The D.S. fight is gone. There'll be just as much excitement for that. It's not the same. This is UFC 200. People could not fall over themselves fast enough to complain about this rematch. And now it's suddenly the thing that everybody can't wait to see. Because it turned into this. It's Connor McGregor. It's irrelevant. I'm not saying that when he comes back, I'm not saying that when he comes back, he's not going to be a big deal. I'm not saying that, you know, his star power has gone down. In fact, it's the complete opposite. I mean, on Wednesday of last week,

it was absurd how many people were interested in it outside of MMA. I'm just saying it still doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense that he's not staying on the card, even with Jones and D.C. I spoke to most of the fighter. I'd say the vast majority of the fighters before and after that press conference who were on that stage. None of them cared. They all had a take. They all thought, yeah, you know, but they all got it. They understood why he wasn't there. They got what he had to say. They sympathized with him. And you think, you think, and she didn't say it, but you think Misha Tate, who's getting pay-per-view points for the first time doesn't want Connor McGregor on this card.

You think she's saying it's not fair that he's not on the card? She stands to make a hell of a lot more money if he's on the card. More people will watch that card from the prelims to the pay-per-view if he's on that card. So to me, it's like figure it out, find him, say whatever you want to say,

and just keep them on the card. The fans want it, Nate wants it, Connor wants it. The UFC has always done a tremendous job of giving people what they want. That's been their MO. We make the fights. I don't think it's that simple.

I don't think it's that simple. The long-term implications are greater than that. I honestly do think it is. I honestly do think it is. You can't. It's not like... They lose if they do that. They lose.

It's not like Roy McDonald can't pull that sort of thing. He's just not that big of a name. Right. And so what's to stop Connor McGregor from doing this every single time? Look, there's a partnership. And they need to sit down and say, look, we need to figure this out. Perhaps, look, I can assure you, and Kavanaugh alluded to this, the next time they they book a fight, they're going to talk about the press schedule beforehand.

It just didn't mesh with his schedule. It didn't mesh. But the next time they're going to talk about it beforehand and come to an agreement. Connor McGregor wants to make money. This is not good for him. He was going to make a heck of a lot of money because it's $200 because it's the DAS rematch. And that's why you have to do this. And that's why you have to do this.

I disagree. I think you're cutting your nose by your face. There is some of that. There is some of that. But long term, you're cutting off something that will continue to happen. No, we've never seen anyone like him. And the fight game is not fair. Don't give me this fair thing.

Life isn't fair. The fight game isn't fair. Was it fair when they put in the Reebok deal and a lot of fighters lost money as a result? Was that fair? Was it fair when Carl Parisian was going to get a title shot? Who's saying it has to be fair? Dana White, that was his main topic of... I thought you're talking about me.

I don't think there has to be any fair. I'm just saying, like, was that fair when Carl Peresian was going to get a title shot and got injured and never got a title shot? There's no fairness in this. But that's what they're hanging their hat on. No. I mean, let's be real. The O. Romero situation, was that fair? We can see through that very easily.

Then what is it? They have to set. Yeah, they have to sit. Look, it's exactly what you said. Connor McGregor stands to make a lot of money from this fight. If they don't. And the UFC. And the UFC.

But if they let him get whatever he wants now and continue to let him get whatever he wants, he will continue to do this. There's nothing to stop him. Yeah. They could have figured. Now, I'm not saying this is the only way they could punish him. I'm just saying that they can't continue to let him do this. There has to be some point where they're stopping.

And they chose this point. Is this the right decision? I don't know. It'll bear itself out. If he didn't show up, if he just didn't show up, like he said, I'm going to be there and didn't show up, that's one thing. He left them high and dry. But that wasn't the case. So I just feel like the UFC is better than any organization.

in calling audibles. You know, a guy gets injured, Cormier gets injured. They put together these shows in like five minutes. It's insane what they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis because of injuries,

fight cancellations, et cetera. They know better than anyone how to pivot. They could have pivoted. They could have said, okay, we're going to cancel this crew, we're going to do it. And I know it's easier for me.

I don't have to deal with that stuff, but they deal with it better than anyone. They are the best at crisis management. That's the base level of this interaction. What else was happening? though. Of course. I mean, I'm just going on what, I mean, by now I feel like we know enough.

This has to be, I mean, there's clearly indications that this is not just one press event. Let's be real. Let's talk about this openly and not like this one press event thing wasn't the only thing. No, it had been building. That's why I said he was coming late. There were issues with the contract. He was signing the contract late. So it's not like they're making a stand because of this one thing.

No, no, no. Because of the fairness or any of that. I'm not saying that. It's an entire story. And this story was growing out of control. It was getting out of control. So you think the UFC wins now? Do you think that they seize control once again by taking him off the card?

That money that's not going into his pocket certainly tells a story. It's not going into their pocket either. Don't get me wrong. As I said, it's not a situation where they're going to come out looking like roses. But they're sending a message and he's getting it. That tweet this morning, as you're saying for some looks like defeat looks like hey it's all back we're buddy buddy right guys and you said did he go one too far and right well then that's the right message isn't it isn't that

what the ufc wants people to to believe yeah i don't know i mean they're refuting it so we'll see there's a press conference in new york on wednesday all signs point to both nate and connor not being there so it seems like and especially if cormier is and don't get me wrong cornea jones is is the main event that I said should have been for, if it wasn't going to be McGregor and Edgar, and if Rhonda wasn't on the card, that's the main event. There's no doubt about it. But you wish that there was a way.

I mean, could you imagine Cormier Jones 2 and then Nate, Connor, three-round fight, co-main event? That's 200. That's what I'm talking about. You know what I mean? And the fact that they haven't stripped them yet, but are still pulling them off the card, seems a little weird to me as well.

Sure. Okay, so we talked. Can we just rifle through these as quickly as possible? Well, John Jones's performance, first question. Yeah, John Jones' performance. Basically, in summation, did he look rusty, did it affect him? And was he lucky? And conversely, was DC unlucky not facing John Jones?

I think styles make fights, and I don't know if I can say definitively that Korme would have beaten him that night. I will say that's the most ordinary John Jones we've ever seen inside the Octon. That's Michael Jordan. He is the Michael Jordan of this sport. That's him scoring like 18. It's like, oh, yeah, you know, he had his... nice little moments here and there, but it's not the 35 that everyone wants to see.

So yeah, you know, the ring rust. You know, I wanted to ask Dominic Cruz about this because it's like everyone is affected by ring rust, but Dominic Cruz, it's amazing. And all the other stuff going on, it clearly affected him. He wasn't the same. He wasn't pulling the trigger as Brandon Gibson told me. So, yeah, I mean, you got to think of your DC that, you know, man, I could have had him, but he seems to believe that that's going to be the.

case that's the new John as he called them. Real quick question, pivoting off this. Do you have a problem with John Jones celebrating the broken arm thing? I saw someone ask me about that, but I honestly didn't see it. Megan O'Levy interviewed him after the fight. She informed him that he likely had a broken arm in the second round, and John Jones said, hey, John Jones, and he started dancing. He was proud of his kicks.

He was proud of, because he broke it with a kick. He was proud of implementing tools that he had to be able to break somebody's arm, essentially. He wasn't gloating saying, ah, OSP broke his arm. It was more of a thing where he was celebrating the broken arm because what it meant for his striking prowess. I'm fine with it. I mean, honestly, I haven't seen it, so I don't know exactly, but I'm fine with it. I'm beyond fine with it. I think it's the most ridiculous thing.

Yeah, yeah, relax. It's like the MVP thing. Everyone needs to relax. Okay, we were talking about Mighty Mouse being number one pound for pound, which I vehemently disagree with. Now, why does Dominic Cruz not get talking about that conversation? That's what I asked him, right? Remember? You missed that. Mighty Mouse. Cruz should be in that discussion as well. So should Cormier.

Mighty Mouse's loss, last loss, is to Cruz. Yeah. And Cruz avenged his loss. Yep. What are we missing other than time? Now, obviously, time is a factor, but his resume is Sterling. Sterling. It's because he hasn't been around as long and, you know, he hasn't been as active.

If we're talking about Mighty Mouse's number one pound for pound, moving one weight class up and then meeting the guy who beat you, that certainly doesn't inspire confidence. Yes, it was five years ago, though, but fine. The pound for pound thing is crazy. It's fun barbershop talk. All due respect, I think John Jones is still the number one. It's John Jones. It's John Jones. It's so, you know, what have you done for me lately?

And I love the fact that Demetius Johnson is getting that love. I love it. It's great. I love the fact that people are actually excited about him, giving him his props. It was beautiful. I was so happy for him. but let's look at the resume let's look who Jones has defeated

he's still number one in my opinion he beat Daniel Cormier who I think you can make the case for being number two Daniel Cormier has one loss has won a heavyweight could probably be heavyweight champion and then went down and has only lost once to John Jones This is what this tells me

People want to make Mighty Mouse you know the pound for pound great but John Jones is still that guy Cormié needs more love and Cruz needs more love That's what this tells me Love for all This is not great. This one.

Keep rolling. Okay. McGregor D.S.2 or Jones DC2? Both. Both. The more the merrier. That's greedy. Both.

No. There's three cards that weekend. Both. If it's only one. If it's only one. Both. You have to choose. No, why?

Why don't I have to choose? You have to choose. It's not realistic to get them both. Both. I don't have to choose nothing. Bad answer. Is Connor fighting or not? Is he going to fight a 200?

Your prediction? Is it happening? 200. Not after New York. Right now, right now, I mean, we've gone to this point. Are you about to say 51-49? I wanted to. But we got to this point and they I think no, I think they're putting their foot down.

I mean, they've had a lot of chances. If Dana would have come out and said, you know what, we figured it out, this whole thing would be over. No one would be talking about it. We'd be looking back at last week. I don't think it's too late. It's not too late. But the fact that they haven't done it at this point, I'm just going to say no. I mean, you could let this go on a little

bit longer. It's building more buzz. It's getting more. There's people who are getting turned off like myself, but I still think ultimately it's building up more. And you could wait this out a little bit and then. Yeah, but you don't want to turn off the public. Like the soap opera, you know what I mean? At a certain point. At a certain point. So if it doesn't happen by today, tomorrow, I don't know how you fix it, you know? Yep. Especially if John is in, you know, John and D.C. are in. Sure. My text, D.C. is supposed to text me. Okay. Connor McGregor doing his own promotion, like a Floyd Mayweather or a fade or do you think he would do well enough does he essentially does Connor McGregor still need the UFC at this point I think they need each other yeah I definitely do I mean

there aren't any fighter I mean he can't just fight on every card you know they need each other they've they've gone to this point and do you think that this is part of the impasse like is this it no Connor McGregor thinks he's as big as the promotion and the promotion oh I mean that's a different that's a different story but I don't think it's because Connor wants to start his own promotion no no no no no but just the idea that he could and that's what he's kind of I think there's a lot of ego at play on both ends here. I also do believe that it's like he's thinking, I've done enough, and I'm coming off a loss, and can you just give me this one weekend off?

You know what I mean? Like, again, it's not like he's saying I'm cutting off all media between now and July 9th. He said he would come to New York to do this stuff. I also believe, I really truly believe, that if he had won, he would have done it anyway. I truly believe that. Well, of course. I mean, he says part of the reason why he needs to go back to the basics is because he lost. And how fair is that?

That has to, I mean, we're talking about fairness. It's completely fair for a guy who just lost. I hate the word fair. How about reasonable? Sure. Great, great word. Reasonable. It's completely reasonable for him to say,

I'm facing this guy I just lost to. I know the work that needs to be done. Let me do it. And again, I'm not cutting off all media. It just, you know, he had this trip book with his team there. You know what I mean? Sure. Could this be the impetus for a union?

No. Connor McGregor. No. Because as we've seen, a lot of fighters aren't banding. behind it. Look, I talked about this last week. Most of the fighters were campaigning for his spot. I mean, this was Exhibit 8,467 as to why there will not be a union anytime soon. And I'm not some guy here that's going to sit and advocate for a union in MMA because at the end the day, the fighters don't even seem to care. But Roy McDonald got a right. They need to have

each other's backs more often than not. And they never do. And they're not on this one. So this is not the impetus. The structure is a little different, so it's going to be tougher for a union and to have somebody's back, but I do get it. And I hope that this is at least something that sparks it, if not getting the ball rolling. Connor McGregor to the UFC as compared Stone Cold to WWE or Vince McMahon. This guy watched the beat last week. It went over all those. Gibroni's. Yeah, those Gibroni's head.

This is why Vince versus Stonecold was so successful. That was so successful because it was employee versus employer, right? That's why everyone was so captivated by it. We all want to tell our employee at some point, although I'm very happy here at box media. But most people want to tell their employer, boom, one finger discount. Here you go. One finger salute. Stun you.

You know, that's what this is. This is so everyone gets, you know, this kind of drama. Oh, there's a little bit. a rift. Oh, they're not on the same page. Oh, they're fighting. People love that stuff. So that's why, if they do figure it out, play this up. The commercial writes itself. All the people talking, all the talking heads. Oh, Connor McGregers off the card. Connor McGarries retired. Cut to Iceland. Cut to him hitting the bag. Cut to him sparring. Cut to him in the mountains.

Cut to Nate, biking in Stockton. That's the commercial. That's why it's don't get it. It's not them walking in Las Vegas and facing off like every other commercial. That's not the commercial. This is the commercial. Play this up. You got it in your hand. This fight is a thousand times bigger. It supersedes UFC 200. It would be a crime to let this go down. And it's not the same at 201. Build it up. Use it to your advantage. Use this to your advantage, the UFC. You're going to make money off of it. What a shame. Love the concept. The action scenes, the storyboarding needs a little bit. bit of work, but we'll work on it.

It's perfect. You don't see it? Whatever. Hitting the bag. Yeah, because this is it. It's like talking, talking, talking, talking, talky, stop. And then all you hear is black.

Follow me here, you're black. And you hear, and you hear, pshch, no, cheese, you had me up to that point. That's where you lose it. Connemertriger is bad. Bad, bad.

Okay. Korshkov versus Henderson. Thoughts on that fight. Surprised by Koreshkov. Surprised by Henderson. What was your take out of that? It was a beautiful performance by Koreshkov. Good for him.

It's clear Benson needs to go down to 155. I think. It was inspiring the 170 thing, but he's clearly a 155er. Kershkov has come a long way since the Asken fight, the best laid plans of Misen Men, you know what I'm saying? Is it going to be fair to him how people are going to view this fight?

Stop with the fair. No more fair. Are people going to view this fight? All I'll say is, for some reason, if you look at the history of MMA, every time someone leaves the UFC on their own, I'm not talking cut, I'm not talking no contract like Phil Davis, don't tell me that one or Josh Thompson, leaves the UFC as a free agent. Dan Henderson, going to strike force, Tim Sylvia, going to affliction, Benson Henderson are just a few. Something bad happens. They always lose.

It's crazy. It's like there's a voodoo hex on them or something. It's true. Look at history. What do you think of the new Kane Velasquez? He had a joke at the press conference. And there was a recent tweet. I think it was him sitting with Travis Brown in the green room. Yes, he said something like, oh, this is a horrible way. Yeah, he had a joke at the press conference saying, Dana, I thought no questions were going to be asked towards me. I love it. This is, finally, we're going to see Kane's personality. I've asked him to come on the show a million times. He doesn't want to come on. But I'll take this Kane, the silent Joker assassin. It's fantastic. Oh, boy. Nickname needs a little word. Patty Holohan.

Love Patty. The man. Just had him, wrap it, sum it up. How do you feel about him and this thought? And also, should we be concerned that he was able to hide this for so long? Kind of. And fight.

Yes, a little bit. It is a little concerning. But, hey, it shows that the sport is coming a long way. It's evolving. Patty Houlihan was a guy who didn't look maybe like a fighter. You know, sort of your typical Irishman, had the strong accent, had an amazing joie de vivre, and almost, like, fought above his capabilities. And how he fought with everyone on his back.

that first show after UFC 93, which I consider sort of the first show again, the Dublin show is something that I'll never forget. He's just a great character. He's taught me a lot about life. I mean, just look over the past years on this show, last couple of years, things that he's taught me about life. Even the way he's handling this, like no tears, no, you know, it's amazing. So, Patty Huland in a nutshell is why we love this sport, the characters in this sport. He's great, and I'm happy that he's sticking around in the sport, and the fighters there at

SBG are very lucky to have them a part of the team still. Did you watch EBI? No. I watched it. Fantastic. Really good. Fight past is the best. They're really putting on great stuff.

That was it. Look at you. You and Sage Northcutt. All right, we're done. So you're gone for two weeks. You're leaving us to go on your eighth honeymoon, right? So we're going to see you again, May 19th? You know, that's what happens when you're romantic, you know?

Oh, yeah. Maybe I, you know, Patty Hulahan was teaching you stuff. Maybe I can teach you something about, you know, Romance taking time. The people won't allow me. I'm going to Montreal, actually, tomorrow for Passover. I missed the Passover Sators because I had to be there for the people to represent the people, the people's champion that I am.

I'm there for my wife. And I love her and I'll see her. There's a give and take. You're leaving us high and dry. But that's okay. The train moves along. We live to fight another day. We'll be here next week.

I'll be coming back from Montreal. Now, I kind of hope that nothing big happens to be honest. Now, here I am going to jinx it at this New York press conference because I will not be there. But yeah, we'll see what happens. Have a good trip. I will miss the people. Thank you. Thank you. You will miss you all. You will miss us. Stop it. Stop it. I will miss them all. Say goodbye. Bye people. I hate goodbyes. All right, you can hit my music. We went a little over today. What is going to happen? Honestly, what is going to happen in the next seven days? Every time we say goodbye, I think, all right, you know, I have a pretty good read on how crazy this sport is. And, you know, we've kind of seen it done and all. Could we have,

predicted seven days ago that Connor McGregor, healthy Connor McGregor would be off UFC 200, that Nate Diaz would show up to this press conference saying it's Connor or bus for me. Could we have predicted all of this, really? I couldn't have. I don't know what's going on. I don't know what to make of it all. Maybe I do need a vacation. It's just madness.

John Jones showing up the way, you know, like the way he looked against OSP. Who predicted that? We all thought he's going to win like one round. OSP fighting five rounds with a broken arm. Sage Northcut Battling Mercer with a huge smile on his face What is going on in this world? I don't know how to make sense of it

I hope that we helped a little bit Certainly tried What a show it has been Perhaps our most watched show ever Thank you very much to John Kavanaugh What a great man Thank you so much for coming on Thank you very much to the great Dominic Cruz for coming on

Can't wait for UFC 199 Thank you very much to Daniel Cormier and his belts Even the King of the Cage won appreciate him coming on as well how about alir latifian studio got to learn more about the sledgehammer maybe doesn't want me to call him the sledgehammer but you get the point

how about MVP in studio must-see TV MVP July 16th back for bell ator and happy trails to the one and only Patty Huland appreciate him coming on as well back next week same time and place hopefully nothing crazy happens to you now and then

until then I say peace somebody out of Defenders and cybersecurity are always there when we need them. They should get a parade every time they block a novel threat and have streets, sandwiches, and babies named in their honor. But most of all, they deserve AI cybersecurity that can stop novel threats before they become breaches across email, clouds, networks, and more. DarkTrace is the cybersecurity defenders deserve

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