MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 332

Episode Date: May 31, 2016

Ariel Helwani speaks to Luke Rockhold, Urijah Faber, Stipe Miocic, Chris Weidman, Cody Garbrandt, and Bryan Caraway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

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of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-O-4-3 at O-D-O-D-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com. It's the Mixed Martial Arts Hour with a mixed martial arts hour back in your life. On this Tuesday, May 31st, 2016, Hogan, everyone, I'm Ariel Halwani. Inside our New York City studio, great to be back for another episode of the show. Of course, we were off yesterday. I apologize for that, but these things happen. Although I will say we did give you a lot of time last week, two episodes last week.

If you missed it, where were you? I think most people by now saw it. or at least heard it. Special Wednesday edition last week with Nate Diaz. Holy moly, that was something else. And thank you so much to everyone who tuned in, who sent feedback, who wrote about it, journalists writing about it. I mean, that was our most watched and listened to episode of all time.

We made history last Wednesday on very short notice. Dare I say, we learned last week once and for all, I think, that Nathan Diaz is indeed a needle mover. I think that has been established. I could be wrong, but I think that's been established. So what a week it was from Monday's show with Michael Bisping and Chal P. Sunnan announcing to the world essentially that he was coming back. And then the Wednesday show with Nate Diaz.

A lot of excitement, a lot going on. And the fun doesn't stop this past weekend. Special Sunday night edition of the UFC, a great card going into it. And I thought it delivered. And of course it was headlined and highlighted by Cody Garbrandt's amazing win over Thomas Almeida in the main event. Some great performances from the likes of Jeremy Stevens, from the likes of Rick Story, from the likes of Brian Carrow and of course a very polite title shot request from one Sarah McMahon. A lot to digest from that card, but there isn't a lot of time to do so because

we got UFC 199 just five days away now. Englewood up to no good. California will be hosting it, the LA Forum. I was there once, I believe in the eighth grade. I visited that great arena, although they've completely renovated it now. I went to see the New York Knicks versus the L.A. Lakers. And of course, now the Lakers play at the Staples Center. But it's very cool that they're at the forum and not the Staples Center. I love it. And it's a great card top to bottom.

Luke Rockhold versus Michael Bisping. Jariah Faber versus Dominic Cruz, two titles on the line. I mean, dare I say this is a more intriguing card than most of the other ones in in 2016, as far as pay-per-view, our paper-views are concerned. It's great. Fortunately, no BJ Penn. We found out last week that he has been removed from the card due to taking a IV back in March. Talk about that a little bit as well. But let's run down today's show, because like I said, a lot of people to talk to, a lot to get into, and there's no time to waste on this special Tuesday edition of the program. Okay, here we go, here we go. At around 245, we're going to be joined by

Steppe Miochich, the UFC heavyweight champion, will stop by to talk about becoming champion. And in case you missed it last week, September 10th, 2016, at the queue in the land, Steve Miochich will be defending his newly won heavyweight title against Alistair Overeux. U.S. 203, how about that? 225 will be joined by the aforementioned your eye of favor, just moments before he takes off for sunny Los Angeles, so we appreciate him stopping by. at around 145 will be joined by Luke Rockhold, who's already in L.A., I'm told. So we'll talk to him about defending the title against Michael Bisping.

125, we'll talk to Chris Wyman in his first interview since having to pull out of UFC 199 and talk to him about the neck injury, where he goes from here. At either 205 or 305, we'll talk to Brian Carraway. Unfortunately, Paige Van Zent had to reschedule. I was told she's dealing with some personal issues and totally respect that. We won't be hearing from Page today on the show, but I can assure you we'll be hearing from the runner-up in this past season's Dancing with the Stars sometime in the near future. So no sweat there.

Waiting to hear back from Brian, I'll give you an update when we will hear from Brian, but we will hear from Brian at some point in the program. But first, and of course we'll hear from you guys throughout the show, and in the back end of the show, we'll take your questions and comments. But first, let us go to the phone lines. Welcome in, the man who stole all the headlines on Sunday night. He was the main event. He called this shot on this show last week.

He said that he would finish Thomas Almeida in the first round. And guess what? He knocked out Thomas Almeida in the first round. Cody, no love Garbrandt is on the phone right now. Cody, how are you? Doing great, man. Thanks for having me and put me on the show. Oh, yeah, always.

Great to have you. Congratulations on the big win. Are we still on Cloud 9 or have you come back to Earth? Yeah, man. I came back, you know, it was a good win. It was just a win over, you know, a very tough Thomas Alameda. I knew the whole camp, and I knew for months, you know, that's why I had this fight that I could do this guy,

and then you get the critics and the people that are back in the fight saying this and that. So I knew I was going to do that. It was awesome. You know, it's always awesome to get a win and get that adrenaline. So you're only sleep, you know, after the fight. But, yeah, I'm grounded and ready to get my next fight, and hopefully September 10th in the land.

We will talk about that in a second, but just want to ask you about Almeda. You said to me afterwards that you tend to fight up to your competition. Like the bigger the name, higher ranked, that's when you shine. Why do you think that is? What is it about you that makes you compete that way? I really don't know. I spoke to my mom throughout this camp, and I told her this to my fight. I'm going to come out with this fight.

You know, this is a high-caliber fighter, very tough dude. and so I you know I since I was younger I always wrestled that way box that way the tough of the opponent the more than I shine I just I've always been like I don't know what it is maybe it's my competitive in this I just get up you know I know that there's more

to win win for me I go out there and perform like I out of perform and I think it's honestly how I train I train with I train with the top guys in the world so for me to go and fight it or opponent, I kind of just say, like, oh, I'm not doing this. I do, I fight better people every day.

So why should I fight down to their level when I need to be fighting up to my level, which is, you know, the top of the division? Being in Vegas, Big Memorial Day weekend, you're the main event, you're on the posters, you're on the billboards, all that stuff. What was that experience like for you? That has never happened to in the UFC. This is your first time. This was your first time main eventing.

Just the whole experience of having all eyes on you. Everything is revolving around you and your fight. What was that like? I mean, it was nice and it was motivating to see the bill of work. My girlfriend lives out here, so she was sending me pictures of it and her friends. Just seeing it all over Vegas was off when I got, when I got my land into Vegas with Chris. It's humbling, you know, I worked my whole life, you know,

I struggled my whole life and dedicated my whole life out of this. And so for these times it be upon me, I kind of just take them all in and live in the moment. I let it get to my head, just stayed focused all week. you know i had my teammates there justin danny chris my brother we had fun man we had fun all week um it was just great you know we crack and jokes just being the same thing like it was just like another

another day in the office you know buck was always to tell me he's like hey when we're walking out to the cage he's like this is a this is a blue mat this motherfucker's coming to the blue mat it's just where we were spar at he's like what would you do if he came in our gym and was on the blue mat mat trying to spar you take him out that's your blue mat go own your blue mat, go protect your blue mat. And, you know, just had fun

just the whole week and just live in the moment and enjoy it all. I love that. That is a great motivational tool. I love that out of him. I think you broke a lot of people's hearts. You're spoken for now? You have a girlfriend now?

This is devastating news for a lot of people. Why do you have to drop that? Now all these women are going to stop following you and cheering for you? I don't know. I hope not, but she's a good woman. So, you know, together a little bit, you know, for a while now, so things are good.

Well, we're doing the long distance thing? How are we doing this if you're in Sack and she's in Las Vegas? Well, we fly to each other, and I'm here a lot, and she comes out. So it's about two weeks. It's about as long as we can go and then see each other.

So we get that two weeks, two weeks, and we see each other. Especially at play, I can't have to do, but now we, you know, don't play. You know, don't play. You can't, like, train out here a little bit and enjoy some of the life.

What happened earlier in the week with Almeida? Explain to me what happened near the elevators, I think you were alone. Was there some kind of altercation? Yeah, I mean, there's a couple of the shoot-box guys. And it's like, man, like, every time, like, I was alone or I didn't have to have a coup of 20 walk me out around. You know, I'm having fun. I'm trying to get a pedicure with my girlfriend. You know what I mean?

And these guys are trying to mean mugging me every time I'm by myself. So I was scared that I'm like they're trying to punk me. Like, I've never been punk. I didn't go to plunge me, so I told him, I was like, you know, they're staring at me as the same shit in Brazil. And I was like, look, so you guys can mean-mug me all week. I said, you guys are cowardice, and you don't do this when I have my crew with me. You guys don't look at me. You guys look at the ground, because that's cowardly ass.

And they just were, you know, obviously the language barrier, but you know when someone wants to, you know, start shit or get, you know, like a big neck, you know, like a big neck up, chin up, like they got a big neck or big chest. I just put my water and I was like we can get it right here I was like you're gonna do this shit all week I don't try to quorum me I'm sure I'm not a punk I'll slap all you guys but it didn't even come into that to the coming that we just talked it was really blown out of proportion

but I mean that obviously is going to happen when you have two rising stars that are undefuted that you know their camp believes in Thomas the Brazilian fans believe in Thomas like my camp believed in me you know my coach is believing to me

So obviously you're going to have the hostility And that, you know, you're going to fight in Sunday So it's that whole week And I like that I survive in that environment You know, that's why I feel like, okay This is a real fight This is, you know, he wasn't an alter, you know There was no reflection on Alameda Thomas wasn't doing it

I have no ill towards Thomas That's what I told him I said, If you're going to make this worse for Thomas He ain't doing none of this You guys are So I'm going to go out there And he's going to get the repercussion for it You know, that may be just all week.

They were trying to count me, you know, punked me all week. But like I said, they just warned their team. I'd never stop doing that. And they still didn't try to, you know what I mean? We were passing each other's in elevators. They're trying to shoulder me, this and that, their coaches. And, you know, I'm humble in victory, and I went over there and shook their hand. Yeah.

Are you there? I don't know. Not have those skills. We're going to have future matchups. We're kind of losing you now. Are you still there? Yeah. Now you're back.

We lost to... We're going to... Go ahead. We're out of... Are you still there? Yeah, yeah. We're back. All right.

So we're on our future matchups, you know, this and that. And there's one coach that didn't even shake my hand, so I was like, man, fuck you. You know, I mean, I want to have to come over here and talk to you guys and give you guys respect, and you can't even shake my hand. I said, you got a coward. It was George Petino. Didn't shake any of our coach, Sam. I said, yeah, you're down and out about your fighter, but show some respect.

You just have no respect. That's right. You know what I mean? So, I mean, I don't know. It was just. We got the last laugh, you know what I mean? They wanted to say this and say that, and put a video up of me getting knocked out as an amateur.

You know, getting knocked out as an amateur, saying I was an undefeated as an amateur. I haven't lost since that fight. I did everything wrong that fight. My whole lifestyle changed everything, and I haven't lost since. I said, I'll never fight like that again. And they wanted to put that shit up there all week, and it pissed me off.

So, like I said, I was just warning them that they kept it up. I made it was going to be on the receiving end of an asshole. So you mentioned your team, and, you know, you come from Team Alpha Mail now. You're a product of Team Alpha Mail now. And you've got Justin Buckholtz, as you mentioned, and Chris Holdworth and Danny Castillo. And, of course, like, the Alpha Male coaching carousel drama is always in the news. Are you now, like you guys, and especially the younger guys, Yariah is always talking about. He's always mentioning you.

Are you almost going out there not only for yourself, but to prove that, like, we're okay now. everything that happened with Dwayne and Martin, like this team is doing fine and, you know, when you win, when you look good, now people start talking about them. I'm asking you about them, other media members. Like, you think about that as well. Like, not only do I have to win for myself, but I got to represent for these guys so that they start getting some respect in the sport. Yeah, definitely.

I go out there. I'm not fighting for myself. I never step in there alone. You know, I got my whole teammate, my coaches, my family, my fans, my supporters, you know, out there with me. But, yeah, I step in there. You know, I lead up, I weigh everything on my shoulders. But when I take that walk to the cage, it slowly starts to come off.

And then my shoulders get loose and loose and I get loose in there. I step in the cage, I get close to the cage. All that pressure comes off. I just got to go out there and perform. That's all I have to do, no matter what, I had the hardest camp I had this camp, you know, with some injuries and just my body just wasn't responding right. You know, I don't know what it was. I was pushed myself super hard.

But, you know, my coach is bleeding in me. He's like, all you got to do, man. All I had to do is show up on Saturday. You know, show up, or I'm sorry, show up on Flight Day and, you know, just perform. A lot of people, they can't do that. They can't turn that switch on when the lights are on. And I'm a performer. That's where I perform best is under the lights.

And, but, yeah, I had to go out there. The second February, I had to go out there and knock out, you know, my foe, you know, my adversary in February to get us started. And, you know, we've been on tear. Yeah, we took some lumps here and there, but that's, we have what happens. But to get the respect that Justin, Justin, Danny and Chris deserve, you know, I'm a product of them. I go in there and I go every day in there to the classes. I work hard. I'm a student of the game trying to lead by example.

You know, we have a good leader of Ryan. Hey, we're 37 years old. you know, has over 40-some fights, been, you know, fighting the top guys this whole career. And he leads by example, he's our leader. He's in there doing the same shit. He's in there going three, four times a day, training, you know, and just live in that life. And, you know, mixed martial arts lifestyle that he preaches to us about living and doing. So if you just follow suit, you know, to someone that's having longevity and success in his career,

obviously he's, it's for a reason, you know. So I believe in those guys. You know, they're all UFC vets. They wouldn't tell me, I wouldn't, I never questioned what they tell me. They told me to stand on my head for 10 minutes and go spar. That's going to make me a better fighter. I'll do it because I got to tell me something that's not going to help me. You know, obviously they wouldn't tell me to do something stupid as that,

but it was just an example. Those guys are so experienced, you know. They all have, you know, UFC fights and just, they've been to that level, so they know what it takes to get there, and they're bringing it out in me. I don't know if you've been watching the new Embedded series for 199, but in last nights, they actually had a camera. I believe it was at Yerai's house as a lot of, you know, your teammates and friends were

there watching Yer Chad Mendes. I noticed significant others, all that stuff, watching your fight and going nuts, absolutely losing their minds when he, when you won. Have you seen this clip? And if so, what's that like to see your friends rooting for you and just having this, you know, this pure joy because of something great just happened to you. You know, that's funny that you bring that up. I just tweeted that out.

Me, my girlfriend just watched that. And you know what? That is like, just seeing that just shows how much, you know, they care about me. I know they always care about me. They're there for me. They're always wanting to give me rounds or work. It's a commodity. You know, their family.

I don't even look at as a team. You know, their brothers and, you know, obviously have some girls out there, so they're sisters. It's a family. Yeah. But it's still just, man, like, that's the people that I looked up to, you know, my whole entire life got, when I started getting involved in martial arts, like Chad, or Raya, Joe, you know, Danny, all those guys. I looked up to them, so to see them so excited and happy for me with my biggest fight. It's just, it's awesome.

You know, it's kind of taken it back. It humbles me that, you know, they're so happy and they invest in me. And not only in the good times, you know, the highs and lows, you know, you can, you know, It's not always going to be, you know, sunshine and rainbows out here. You know, they're going to be there for me, the highs and lows. I've seen that with other fighters and on the team. So that's one thing that I go in there and fight with. I'm not afraid to lose because I know that the people that really care about me

are always going to be there with me. I lost a lot in my life before. I've struggled with my whole entire life. So I know if I just go in there and fight, and if I lose, I lose. But if I go in there and not perform, it's my best ability. I'll be more hurt than go. going out there and getting knocked out or getting beat up. So I'm okay with that.

I'm okay without going out there and chasing this dream and giving it my best. If it wasn't my night that night, then back to the drawing boards. But I'm not okay with not going out there and performing. Yeah, I loved what Andre Feely tweeted you with the hashtag Outcasts and Underdogs. I think that's great and perhaps describes you guys very well. So, okay, so you mentioned you want UFC 203, you want Cleveland, you want a fight at the queue, you're an Ohio native. You said this on Sunday night.

I tweeted it. I mean, it just seems like a natural, even with the timeline, this makes perfect sense, and now you're on fire. You can be very high up on that card. You've had a couple days now to digest. What do you want for that card? Let's put it out there in the world. Who do you want to fight on September 10th?

You know, going into this fight with Hamas Alameda, you know, obviously, Outa Man-Sternling and Brian Careway matched up, too, they were talking about the winners facing each other. So, you know, I have no doubt in my mind that if Al Jemaine won,

I would fight Algemi. You know what I mean? Brian won. So now why can't I fight Brian? Why should I be fighting Brian? For, you know, the next in line for a title shot, you know, or, you know, that ranking up there. I just think I got ranked 5th, he's 4th. So, you know, let's

like September 10th. I've seen him do some bantering in the media about how he says, I don't deserve to be ahead of them. But look, my win was dominant. My win was dominant. My win was no questions. You had a close fight with Al Jameen.

I went through there and destroyed my adversary in under three minutes. It was looked at as untouchable, unbeatable. So I deserve, you know, I deserve not only to have the title shot in front of him, but he also says that he has the strongest jaw. He has a good chin. He has a good chin. in the division, in the UFC. I have the heaviest hands in my divisions.

I'm the hardest puncher, the fastest fighter in my division. So I said, why don't we put those to the test? No disrespect. Let's fight September 10th in Cleveland at the queue. Yes. That number one center spot. Yes. Brian.

I was hoping that you would answer that. You would answer that question that way. I was hoping that that would be your pick. That's the fight I want to see. That's the one that makes sense. Weren't there some talks of you guys fighting not that long ago, or maybe you asked for it? or he was a pro.

Yeah, yeah, I asked for it. I asked for it. We talked about it in the, after Wayne's, you know, I respect with Ryan Carraway. Of course, you know, he went out there and proved that he was a fighter. You know, he fought against Al Jermaine. You know, Al Jermaine was beaten him the first round and came back and won. But I'm on a different level with it. This is this, I'm on a different level.

It's my time. Wherever they put in front of me, I want to knock out. So it doesn't matter, but I think Careway, you know, Carraway is right there. like I said going into this fight with the two mat but you know us all four in the bandway division that's what I was talked about next whoever win the winners to the winners you know so I think we should keep that

and uh coming to my home state you know you got steep A fighting for the title our defendant is first title defense Ohio we will sell that place out at the queue I mean I'm excited so whoever they give me the dance on that night like I said I'm gonna they better have their boots tie tight so I'm gonna knock them out of them It don't matter. I'm ready to go. I'm more motivated than ever, and I get a fight at my home state, and that's more, that's even more motivation just to go out there and perform and give the performance of the fans. It's been watching me since I was a kid with the dream.

That is amazing. That's what I want to see. I hope that the UFC is listening, and I'm wondering, after the fight on Sunday, did you express this to any UFC brass? A, fighting in Cleveland, fighting on that card, and B, fighting Carraway. Any talks that you could tell us about behind the scenes where all the deals get done? Yeah, a lot of people came up to me That were And the UFC and I was like Hey like you want the UFC card He's like you know Start at him for him I was like of course you know

I want to fight in September You know I think that's perfect you know Have three fights in one year You know last year I only had two But I deserve to fight in front of A home state

I deserve to fight Brian Carraway You know He's ranked fourth I want a top five guy. That's where I have scored. So, yeah, definitely. He asked, you know, just told me to start talking up who I wanted, and hopefully, you know, get the careway fight.

And he proved to me that he was a fighter. So I'm not going to talk any shit on him. I'm just excited to go out there and get this winner from my hometown. So hopefully, you know, he signed the out of the line, and we fight in Cleveland. I appreciated the fact that you asked the rankers to actually put you in the top 15. You do recognize the fact that it's not the most prestigious. I mean, no knock on them, but if you actually look at the people who are a part of that committee, it's not really

people who followed the sport on a day-to-day basis. So I wouldn't take, and you said five, I looked on the page right now. I still don't see you unless it hasn't been updated or something. I can't imagine you're not going to be in there somewhere. You should be very high up, especially considered Ameta was number seven. But I don't lose too much sleep over that, all right? I just want to tell you that. Ranking's never, you know what I mean? Like I said, I was not even ranked, I was honorable mention.

It doesn't matter. I just want some respect. Yeah. I go out and knock out, you know, Thomas in under three minutes. I just want some respect, man, but I don't, you know, these type trains that people,

you know, build, you know what I mean? That's what happens. I never, it never was like. I never, I've always earned everything in my life. You know what I mean?

Everything never was hands. I'll, I'll find two to nail if I have to, deserve respect. That's why I want. That's another thing I had to fight these guys to get respect. I'm fighting.

You know, I finally got my respect. Like I said, the UFC gave me the main event. I'm a main event fighter. You know, that's what I do. I shine when the lights are on. And I continue to see that when I fight. And this is just the beginning. I'm getting more comfortable in there.

I'm nine fights in now. I've got my 10th fight. But like I said, a lot of these fighters let people when, I don't know, more so the company or what, build these hype trains and they, not even that, but they believe their own hype. When you start believing your own hype, that's when you get fucked up. That's when you get beat up. You know, I mean, you got to remember that you're human and that, you know, we're not, you know,

we're humans. We're in a lot of minds that we're human, you know, so you don't believe in to your own hype. You know, that's what happens. A lot of these players, they believe in their own hype, and then they start doing things that they haven't been doing and lose that vision of what got that there. And I'll never lose that vision. And I know I've been on the highest highs and I've been knocked back down on the mountain. I'm still, I'm not climbing.

I keep climbing. Maybe I'm a slow climb, but I keep climbing and whoever they give me next. But hopefully September chance that would be amazing. Last quick thing, and just jumping off that point, I mean, you talked about your record. It's an amazing record, 9-0, 8 of those wins. have been finishes, K-O or T-K-O, another one on Sunday, just one decision win. And like you said, you proved your point. And I'm wondering if you are noticing that now.

Like, you called, I had a cab driver actually email me because he was offended that you were calling some of Almeda's previous opponents cab drivers. But you went out there and proved your point against a guy who was undefeated who had double the amount of fights that you had going into it. Do you sense a difference now just from, you know, social media, the way people are talking about you, treating you. Do you sense that you have gained some of that respect that you were looking for? Oh, yeah. Most definitely. You know, I definitely see that, you know, walking in Vegas, just the fans.

And even the Brazilian fans, you know, that wanted me to get, you know, or messaging me all week that I'm going to die and, you know, I really, you know, that they go to convert and they're like, hey, you know, we're just fans. Like, I love people that stick with their their fellow countrymen, you know, he was a Brazilian, or Brazilians came hard, but yeah, I definitely got the respect that I deserve. And I said, I have the most respect for a Tompins, you know,

it's the fight game. I'm not in there to be your friend. You know, I'm not in there to do that. You know, we can fight and fight and have put on a good show for the fans and the crowd and the company, and then we can be cool after that, you know, that's how I am. But I'm a fighter. I take all that, you know, like you said,

I'm saying that he's going to knock me out in the back around. I knew right there he lost the fight. I was already up. I just had to go out there and perform. If you truly believe in yourself, you've got to knock someone out in the first round. You know, you say that. You don't say a second round. And that's what I said with everyone, all the critics saying it's going to be fight of the year, take this fight of the year. I took that. That pissed me off because that means I was going to be in a fight with him.

No. I said, what I said to them, that it's going to be fight out of the night. I'm going to get a knock out of the night. You know, I'm going to knock this guy out in the first round. It says, it's not going to be fight of the night. When people were saying it's going to be fight of the year and this and this and that. kind of pissed me off and motivated me more to change because I don't want to be, you know, I didn't see them on my level. I wanted to show what kind of level that I was on.

And I got to go out there and do that. So I'm just very happy with my coaches and my teammates getting to be ready, my family being there for me and all my fans and supporters. Well, you proved your point, my man. What a performance. Unbelievable stuff. You called your shot and you backed it up, and that's a great thing to see. It's a great thing to actually watch and fold, especially for a young up-and-coming fighter. You are there. I hope you get that fight. I hope you get the fight September 10th at the queue,

home of the Eastern Conference champions. Cleveland Cavaliers, they won't win the title, of course, but, you know, Eastern Conference runner-up isn't too bad. Oh, come on. We'll text after this and we'll put a bed on. How about that? Fair enough. All the Cleveland fans are hating me these days.

And, hey, you know, good luck to the team, of course. I know, you know your eye is a big part of the team. What a way to kick off that week for him. You winning on Sunday and then him fighting for the belt. Good luck to the team. Thank you, Cody. Appreciate your time, and we'll talk to you very soon. Congratulations again.

Thank you, brother. Have a good one. All right, there he is. Cody Garbrand. Always a pleasure to talk to him. Like I said, called his shot. Remember the name. And he certainly deserves your attention and respect.

And, of course, if you're part of the rankings committee, he deserves to be ranked as well. Okay, let's move along. Of course, UFC 199 was supposed to be headlined by Luke Rockhold versus Chris Wybman. A couple weeks ago, we got the unfortunate news that Wyman would no longer be able to fight due to a neck injury, a serious neck injury. He is so kind enough to be joining us right now on the phone to talk about this. and a whole lot more. Chris, how are you? Hello. Chris, you good?

Yeah, my neck hurts. Okay. Well, I appreciate you coming. I'm sorry if I sound worried about it, that hurts. Okay, I'm sorry, I appreciate you doing this. Can you tell us how you're feeling right now? I'm trying to get by every day. Every day's a new day. Are you playing a prank on me here? What's going on? I'm sorry.

Jesus, Chris. I'm on the M.m. Hour. I got a little crazy. Wow. I made it. I finally made it. Wow, you made it. Here you are. I made it. I made it.

I feel big time now. Jeez, I was almost going to sit and cry in the corner. I don't know what's bigger. Me fighting at UFC 199 or being on the MMA hour. No, this is way bigger. Screw that card. You didn't need that. This pays better.

I couldn't agree more. You got a Reebok deal on this show. Remember that? I remember that. Shoes, too. They're right over there. You got shoes too. I got them right over there.

They're in office? They're right here, yes. They're right in. Am I right? Yeah, you can't see them, but they're there. Trust me. Collecting dust. Good.

No, but honestly, Chris, I mean, that's some serious stuff. A lot of people are concerned. How are you feeling? Like, can you do normal things? Are you fine as long as you're not getting punched in the face? What's that? What did you say? How are you doing physically?

Like, can you actually go about your normal life, even though you're dealing with this? I just started to be able to. I'm mostly getting surgery. this next week coming up or the week after. I'm still hearing back from some doctors and listen to different opinions and options. But I've been trying, I went to Pittsburgh and I've had FaceTime videos with different doctors from around the country. And I've had, I went to the city multiple times and seen a bunch of doctors out in the city. So I've been just getting as many options and opinions as possible because when you're dealing with a neck injury,

someone's going to be digging into my neck with a knife. I'm going to have to feel comfortable with it and understand everything and completely be educated. So that's kind of what I've been up to. But as far as living in everyday life, like, so it's got better. The pain has finally calmed down. I got a second epidural injection. And now I can go through my everyday life without taking painkillers. But for about two weeks straight, I was on painkillers nonstop throughout the day and at night.

I could not sleep. I felt I was getting depressed because, I mean, you don't want to be one of those guys who are on pain kills. I was always kind of against taking them, and I just literally couldn't go through a normal day without being on them. And I'm the type of guy who needs a lot of sleep, and not being able to sleep was just miserable. So I was just depressed, and I'm pain killed out.

I pulled out my fight. It was just a lot of things colliding at once. But now I'm good. Now I'm good. I'm especially I'm hearing some good news from the surgeons. You know, it looks like it's not going to be, you know, when you hear neck surgery, when I first, When I first heard that I needed a neck surgery, I went to my...

Actually, I heard, as soon as a legit doctor saw my MRI scan, oh, you're going to need a surgery. And I kind of like laughed down because I'll still schedule a fight. Well, that's not an option. I'm doing... I'll have an epidural. And he said, well, that's not going to work. I'm like, well, can you get me to an epidog guy?

So he got me to an epidole guy, and the guy even said the same thing. He was like, you know, I'm not too confident that this is going to solve the problem by looking at the MRI imaging. and I kind of just was like, whatever. If it takes away some of this pain that I'm going through, I don't care. And when this is happening, I didn't realize, but I had this crazy weakness. I didn't even realize, I guess for a while in my tricep, like my back in my form area, I was kind of just mentally blocking out for a while.

But now looking back, I realize I've actually had this weakness for a while. And I'm just, and now I finally realize, I guess, the weakness came before the pain is the problem. When the pain came is when I started going to the doctors, and then I realized that I had some serious issues, but the weakness as well. What kind of procedure are you leaning towards? Because you can obviously go, like, I know Kurt Angle reached out to you, and you mentioned Pittsburgh, so I'm assuming you went to his doctor.

There are some less invasive, more invasive, potentially, you know, puts you on the sidelines for a while. What are you leaning towards now? Do you have any idea? Yeah, right now it looks like. looking like it's going to be a, uh, um, through the front of my neck. Uh, they go in and they drill a hole through my, uh, through my, vertebrae, like a tiny hole and they take this tool that they have to like create just for the surgery. First of all, the doctor in Pittsburgh, he actually, uh, created this surgery.

It's, I guess it's called the Joe technique, J-H-O technique. Uh, but there's one other doctor that does it in the city now. Uh, that's, that's really good too. This guy named Dr. Rue. So I'm pretty much between Dr. Joe and Dr. Rue, uh, both are from, China, actually, which is funny. You know, they got to be smart. And so basically they go through the, they go to the

vertebrae, and they scoop out the herniation. And where my herniation is, they're both pretty confident that they get cleared up 100%. And I can literally be back to training pretty much right away. Like, they just have to wait for the, I mean, the only issue I have is that I'm going to have a scar. So cleaning up, I mean, I just, we just kind of have to wait for the scar to heal, and that's about it. Wow.

So I could kind of go right to strength training and stuff like that right away. And then I guess after four weeks, I think I could go right into everything, like pull out everything. So when you posted the statement after withdrawing from the fight, you said that you were gunning for the November MSG card. If you get one of these procedures done by either doctor, that's on the table. That's definitely doable? Yes, yes. And the thing that was so hard is that a lot of these, there's only so many doctors that do the this procedure to the front of the neck. And then you can hear the, hear from the other doctors that

don't do it. And they're just like, they just rip it apart. And they said, there's not research on it and you need a fusion. That's the thing that's going to work. But, you know, when you do a fusion, it can compress, you know, there's a lot of research and a lot of people that say don't do a fusion because it puts pressure on the rest of your spine. And if you have any other issues, most people that have herniations and bulging discs and things like that have no symptoms at all. I get it I have four bulging disc and two herniations

but only one herniation I actually have symptoms from so I guess that's just like any normal athlete will have this stuff I'm just kind of unlucky because these symptoms started coming so how do you pick one

I knew now I'm looking back it's crazy because at the at the end of the Lays wrestling tournament which was I guess a couple months back it was like in the beginning in my training camp yeah I was in pretty good shape

my weight was low and I could always bang it one of my exercises that exercise that I was actually good at was pull-ups always. I kind of suck at everything else, but pull-ups, I always get, you know, 20 to like 30 pull-ups, easy. Okay. At least 20, easy. So I'm at the defensively tournament, you know, the military guys up front, and they have a pull-up bar, and I'm like, and everyone kind of knew who I was.

I was like, why don't unless you do it? And they got me to go out down. I'm just doing 20. I'm jumping off. I'm not doing any more than that. I got the 12, and I was struggling at 6, and I'm like, what the hell's going on with me? And I just, I didn't put it together. I blamed it on, like, maybe I haven't done Polips in a while.

I don't know, maybe I'm a little heavier. I don't know. I just kind of, like, blamed on different things. But now I'm looking back. I'm like, man, I must have this week. I don't know when this weekend started. It's hard to put your finger on it. And then also push-ups was another issue.

I'd be doing, Ray would have me be hitting the bag and then have me do 20 push-ups. And it was such a, I'd get the 20. But it was a grind to get the 20 push-ups. Usually, you know, I fly, obviously, right through that. No secret you've had to do that. No secret you've had ups and downs in your life, your career, all that stuff. But the moment where you had to say, and it wasn't that long, it was like two and a half weeks ago,

two and a half weeks out, when you had to say that you can't do this fight and knowing how much it meant you and how much the lost meant, what was that day like for you? It was really tough because I was still on board. I was still going to fight. I was, because I was feeling, I was in such good shape, man. I was feeling better than I ever felt. And so the backoutous fight was just blew my mind. I was just, there was no thought of my mind.

I was ever going to back out of this fight, no matter what. And, yeah, so it was kind of depressing. So basically it wasn't really even me. It was, my coaches were like, you're done. I did an epidural. So I hurt my neck pretty bad, obviously. I was in a lot of pain. I didn't, and it wasn't from, like, anything crazy.

It wasn't like I got, you know, my neck, you know, I didn't get dropped on my neck or anything. Nothing really happened. I just kind of woke up with it after, you know, working out the day before. And it was pretty then painful. So we ended up getting epidural after seeing the MRI images. And after the epidural for like a day, I felt good. I'm like, no, I'm going to work through this. So I started working out. And then another day later, I was in so much pain again. It was bad. And so we were scheduled another epidural, but we had to wait, like, another couple of days until we're allowed to do an epidural. you had to wait a certain amount of time. And there was no guarantee the epidural was going to work, and the surgeons,

and even the pain people were like, you know, it's probably not going to work. The first one didn't work. It's probably not going to work again. And my coaches were kind of like, listen, you've got this weakness, you know, and you're in this much pain. I wasn't sleeping. So I was still trying to get these workouts in. It was pretty bad.

And my coaches were like, you can't do this. They weren't going to let me. and I kind of got double-team by Mark Henry and Ray Longo. Damn. And they were like, I was kind of devastated. But if the closest people to me, you know, who love me and want to see me do great things, by telling me that they're not going to let me fight. I mean, there's not much I can do.

I said afterwards that I felt like it might be a blessing in disguise for you. Obviously not getting hurt and having surgery. But, you know, in the fight game, you lose for the first time. maybe sometimes it's important to just get your confidence back, your mojo back, in the ring. Of course, you're getting in and training, but in the ring, getting a win under your belt and then going for the belt again. Have you been able to look at that silver lining, be like, you know what, maybe this wasn't the right time to go for the belt against the same guy?

Maybe this delays thing. I return, you know, in November and New York. And, you know, because these little things, right, you know, this is how your career unfolds. Have you been able to look at the bright side or not yet? I see your point. I don't see the, I mean, the honest. I couldn't imagine me losing this next fight with him.

I just felt so damn good. So that's what sucks. I just felt so ready more than ever, especially even training with, you know, switching things up, training with Mark Henry a lot, a lot more studying at the tape and, like, getting into no Luke style and the things we were working on. I mean, I just felt so confident against Luke

that it was really hard for me to imagine losing to him. Have you been told that upon returning, if it is MSG and what a scene that would be for you. You are one of the main guys pushing for all of this as far as fighters are concerned. Have you been told that you're getting a title shot upon returning? No, I mean, everybody's kind of just worried about my well-being right now. I'm not talking.

We're not talking who I'm fighting for what if it's for the belt or not. So, obviously, no, I would want to flex it to the belt. But the main thing is that I get my neck taken care of, and take a step at a time. Is there any chance you get this procedure and it's career threatening, not life-threatening, but just that, you know, because you do a sport where you need, I mean, it's a pretty physical sport, you don't need me to tell you. Is there any chance of that at all?

So, no, it's really low risk. Okay. So they said, Dr. Ruth said it, 90 to 93%. I don't know where he gets these numbers. I don't know, based on research or his actual surgery that he's done on similar cases, but 90 to 93% is going to take all the weakness away and take all the pain away, and I'll be back to 100%. But the good thing is, as soon as you wake up, he says, I'm going to know if it worked.

Wow. So he'll know if he got all the material out, and it's not on the nerve anymore. So I think the option is as soon as I wake up and they try to push, because right now I literally could do three push-ups that's on down to. Wow. And so my triceps pretty weak, and whatever little muscles in my body from this nerve again, beat up from this thing, but they're going to know right away. They're going to do an exercise with me and know if the strength is back and if the pain is there,

I'll be able to know everything. And if it is, if it's still there, then they're going to put me right back in the operating room and I'll probably do a disreplacement. Wow. And that's actually enough time to get me back for November 2. I suppose that's the same surgery that I guess Rick Storre just had done. Yes, that's right. And he just came back and fought on Sunday.

Are you going to be able to watch $199 on Saturday night? Yeah, I'll be able to watch it. It won't bother you? I'm sure it'll bother me a little bit, but what am I going to do? Right. I gave a gift, gave him two gifts. What's the second gift? Bisping?

The first gift was me throwing that spinning back kick. Right, okay. And the second gift was Bidbing. on a silver platter. You don't think he has a shot? It's a pretty easiest title fight in the history of paddle fights. So you're not picking Bisping. You don't think he has a chance?

I don't know, man. Mentally somehow Rock will just beat himself. I can't see, no, I can't really see him losing. Are you hoping that he wins so that he's still the champion you want to get that fight back? I'm not really hoping I'm not really hoping anything Okay

You're indifferent Yeah May the best man I'm winning that's it But I just mean By looking at it Yeah I don't think

Bisbing has a chance And that's not just because Biz Bing bedmoused me Every word out of his mouth Not because of that I think the truth Did you see some of the things That were said

I mean did that get under your skin When you're dealing with injury And people saying that you're weak And all that stuff that I'm weak? Yeah, you know, he was saying that, you know, he sent out a tweet about, you know, when he was trying to get the fight, I think, about, you know,

how you broke down or something. And I know you received some shots from other people because it's not the first time you pulled out of a fight. Did that bother you? Yeah. It was, no, no, I don't know if I saw the Bisming thing, but, I mean, this thing, like, I mean, these are things that it was uncontrollable, you know,

but it wasn't like I was training unsmart, and it did some stupid. This is just something that was uncontrollable to happen. I mean, it's kind of like me making fun of Bisbing's eye. I really wouldn't do that. And calling him out on if you needed to get his eye surgery or not. I mean, it's just kind of stupid. Obviously, he's got to take care of what he's got to take care of,

and I'm not going to make fun of somebody that had something that he can't control. So. Did you actually speak to Kurt Angle? I saw him reach out to. Did you guys actually talk on the phone? Did he give you any kind of good advice? No, we've been, we're texting and direct messaging back and forth, and he gave me a lot of great advice. Him, and I actually had a phone call.

I had a 45-minute conversation with Mark Coleman. Wow. Because he actually got the same surgery done from Dr. Joe in Pittsburgh. Okay. So he was high on it. I mean, I guess he walked right out of there feeling 100, percent and he said he was going he had issues in his neck for about two years and but he said you know he was living he just had to take these fights he wasn't he couldn't do the surgeries and then he found out and then

he got to reach out to him and told him about dr joe and he went to him and got taken care of and he was like it's the first thing in his mind was that he wanted to pay back all of his sparm partners all his training partners for the past two years I'm taking advantage of him wow that's amazing the legend mark comel okay I found the tweet by the way I just want to be be accurate here he said training camps separate the boys from the men. This sport isn't for everyone. Two weeks notice, I'm down. I've seen less brittle pringles than some of these middleweights.

Hashtag Usada. That's what Bissing tweeted when the news came out that you had to pull out. So just for the record. Yeah. I hope that Yuzata things are not shot at me. Because I've never taken anything in my life, and I don't think anybody would ever say that I have. And there's a lot of people that say that Bisman has, like his friend rampage.

so I don't know and that's a guy who's very close to him so I don't know why he would hashtag Usada he's got his people that were closest

to him calling him out so be careful what you what you're saying buddy so when do you decide like how soon

and as far as pulling out of fights I saw an article that bothered me it said like I pulled out four times I pulled out of four title fights

and I didn't so that's not a fact there was this it was this one the rock old one and one was Vitor that we postponed two months.

So those only times I actually pulled out. The other time was because of... Was it Liota? No, yeah, when... The other time was because Vitor Belfort actually failed the drug test. And then they weren't sure who they're going to give me. They ended up giving me a Liotr Machita. But the same time, at a knee injury.

So I'm like, you know what? Let me get this knee injury taking care of while they figure out who I'm going to fight. And so I moved it like two months down the line to fight Leota. But that wasn't my fault. Let me just take care of myself because you don't feel the drug test. When do you decide which surgery you're going to go with, and when would you like to have this surgery? I'm assuming sooner rather than later, right?

Yeah, it's going to be sooner than later. The last thing I was running into it was like some doctors saying, you've got to get this taken care of now, like AFAP, because the nerve is getting damaged every second by every day. And then other doctors were like, you know, there's a good chance if you just wait another couple weeks, it just goes away completely and you're back to normal. Wow.

And so I'm like, damn, I don't know what to believe. But it looks like I'm probably going to be getting surgery the next week or two. And by the way, how difficult is that? I mean, at the end of the day, how do you even decide which route to go when you have people, you know, you have one doctor bashing, one procedure, another, but you know what I mean? Like, I can't imagine how tough of a decision that is. How do you end up picking one? This is your life.

This is your health. I mean, I haven't made the final decision yet, but I tell you, I'm just trying to, do everything I can in my power to use my brain, you know, just educate myself and speak to as many smart people as possible, get as many opinions as possible from as many doctors and even, even told them my friends. I don't know what my friends and my family think. At the end of the day, I'm, you know, pray and use my brain and make a decision and I won't work back. By the way, before I let you go, speaking of one of your friends, Al Jermaine Sterling suffered a tough loss on Sunday. Did you happen to speak to him afterwards? And if so, did you share any advice?

What did you take away from that that you can help? Because, you know, sometimes you don't need me to tell you again, loss early in your career could be maybe the best thing to happen to you, right? It helps change things up, humble you, whatever the case may be. Have you been able to speak to him at all? Yeah, I mean, I didn't speak to him on the phone yet. Okay. But I just, we went back and forth on text messages. And I pretty much just said what you said. You know, I think this is going to be, he kid is so talented. It's not like you looked at that fight and said, this kid is not anywhere close to how good we thought he was. He is as good as we thought he was. Carraway did a good job. He made some smart moves in there and won the second and third round. I mean,

there was some, there was small mistakes in there. It wouldn't call it mistakes because it's all about learning. And I think he's going to learn a lot out of that. But there was times where, you know, there was, uh, Cairo was on takedowns. And, He decided to go for the choke instead of really fighting the defense. And the guillotine, I think, kind of gave Carraway the takedowns. I mean, I was impressed with Carraway, man. He chased the back like an animal on the case and stuff. The way he was trying to take the back and the way he kept Algeman down,

it was impressive because I know how good Algeman is. So all credit to Carraway with the win. But I think this is going to only help Al Jamein get that much better. Final thing, Chris. I know maybe you were a little hesitant to, you know, how to put this out because of the feedback from people, but I couldn't help but notice when you posted your statement all the positive messages that you received from fans. Did that surprise you at all?

Did that blow you away? It felt like it was like 95% if not more in your favor, people supporting you. I thought it was pretty cool in this day and age where you often hear about negativity online. Did you even read that stuff? Did you notice it? I did. I usually try not to read as much as I can, but I think I,

peaked the first couple. I'm like, oh, wow, they're actually nice. And then I had to keep them going down. I'm like, wow, they're still nice. So I kept on going. Yeah, it was really nice, man. I appreciate everybody who wrote some nice to me and supported me throughout the tough times. You know, usually it's the fair weather fans, you know. And especially when you pull out of a fight, people get pissed. But I think because I was honest with everybody, let everybody know exactly as much detail as I could with what happened with me, with, you know, the injury, the weakness, and it being my neck.

people understood where I was coming from. It was amazing. I was blown away. Pleasantly surprised. Also pleasantly surprised, I must say, to hear the kind of spirits that you're in right now. You seem to be in a pretty good place. This is not, you know, I remember after that infamous Vitor injury, you came on via Skype and you were clearly down, but you seemed to be handling this very well. So at first, this kind of started off a little rough, I got to say, with your voice to scare the crap out of me. You're like, oh, man, this guy's living like in some crack house somewhere. Yes, a hermit. Don't.

Yes. So I don't know. Maybe it's because I experienced that like 20 minutes ago, and now here you are, you know, laughing and stuff. But this is great to hear. I'm pleasantly surprised as well. So thank you for reassuring me, Chris. Yeah, no, thank you. Thanks for having me on.

I appreciate it. My pleasure. Get well soon. Keep us posted on the surgery. And I wish the best for you, my man. I hope everything goes well. I hope you get a quick recovery and the surgery is great and that you can realize that dream of fighting at MSG because it will.

going to be the same without you. No one deserves him more than you. I don't care what anyone says because you did the work on the front line. So good luck to you. And please keep us posted. All right, man. Thank you. Take care. All right, there he is. Chris Wyman, stopping by. Great to hear from him and great to hear that he is in good spirits as well. Okay, let's go from Chris Wyman to the man that he was supposed to be facing this Saturday. Luke, Rockhold is joining us right now. On the phone, he is the UFC Midway Champion, and he headlines UFC 199. Luke, how are you? Doing great.

here in L.A.? I'm on business. Yes. What is this, Media Day today for you? This is Media Day. Aren't they all media days? You seem to be loving it. Are you having a blast? Enjoyable. Very much so. What about Game 7 last night? Can we just talk about this for a second? How nervous were you? And is it possible? Like, I have an extra pep in my step because my beloved warriors actually pulled it off. What about you? To see your team do that as you're about to defend your title,

that's got to be pretty inspiring, right? I'm feeling pretty damn good The base is feeling pretty damn good Warriors Finals Sharks and the finals I'm going to win our first world title of the year

One of the time Defend And wins Although the sharks lost game one Yeah I have faith in the sharks Man it's been a long road And finally made it So I'm excited for them too

But the Warriors defend They win And I defend It's going to be a damn good start to the summer, I guess you could say. Did you recognize this that in the next three weeks or so, NorCal can be home to the UFC middleweight champion, UFC bantamway champion, the NHL champion and the NBA champion. And then in a month or so, D.C. as well, you can include the light heavyweight champion. That's pretty amazing. Well, technically, he is a light heavyweight champion at this point.

No, but I mean, like, after getting over that fight, but yes, we can say we can include, I was just talking. talking about like everyone getting through that, you know, that next test. It's going to be, hey, I love it. I love the sound of that. It's going to be a good party. I think we should all get together and enjoy this one. So we just spoke to Chris Wyman, and he said that he's given you two gifts in your life. The first gift was the spinning back kick that, you know, kind of led to his demise in that fight, and the second was pulling out so that he gave you Michael Bisping on a silver platter. Do you agree with him on that second one? He said this is the easiest title fight and title fight history. Do you concur?

I think he might have been easier. I don't know. My opinion, I think business is just a little bit funner. You know, it's more tactical. I'm going to enjoy it more. It's going to be funner for the fans. You know, or Whiteman just kind of fights ugly and fights with his balls, comes forward and, you know, might get a little sloppy, but, you know, I'd pick them off fairly early. I think he over extends. or busy, I can play around a little more with them and pick them off, you know, here and there, and then find my kill shot.

So when you... You know, I think, I think, you know, I think they're both in the same department. I think I've finished this fight in similar fashion. So when you found out that Wyman was out and Bisping was in, you actually thought that this is a tougher fight for you, the Bisping fight? No, I thought it was... It's more, it excites me more. It's going to be fun.

It's going to be fun for me. It's going to be fun for the fans. I like tactical battles, you know. I like outsmarting and I like using, you know, adjusting and making my point. For Wyatman just kind of fights like an idiot. He just fucking runs forward and exposes himself and kind of overcommits and relies on his toughness. But Bisving tries to make it more tactical. And I enjoy that process of, you know, I'm finding my shots and outdoing them,

outsmarting them in the cage and putting them away. since your win over Bisping in November of 2014 he's won three in a row against some pretty good competition most notably Anderson Silva Do you think that he's a better fighter? Has he gone better since that fight in your opinion? Yeah, he seems like he's done well for himself. He's won some tough fight, no doubt. But I think who's gotten better is me And as bad as it was for him last time, it's going to be that much worse. I'm not just about beating business. for me. It's about going out there and doing something different than last time and doing it faster. You know, everyone knows me from my left kick. Everyone knows I got the right. Look, it's time to step it up and add something more and put them away with something

different. And that's what I expect to do. You know, it's, people are going to go, they're going to see something different. They're going to see a one-of-a-kind knockout. Some of you've never seen before, I'm going to put on clinic. Wow. One-of-a-kind knockout. What are we thinking here? Can you give us a hint? You're going to see something different. Wow. I'm going to pull out all the stops for Busby, just for Busby. Hey, I want to play you a very quick clip.

This is him talking about the first fight last week on this show. This is what he said he did wrong in that fight. I want to see if you agree with him. Here's the clip. I made some mistakes in that last fight. I was closing the distance. Then I was going out of range. I was going in and out the whole time.

This time, I'm not going to play the long game. I can't afford to do that. he's going to have the better conditioning, let's be honest. If it goes five rounds, I'm going to slow down and slow. So I'm going to look to take him out of there early. I'm going to close the distance, push him up against the fence, and just unleash what I've got, and I believe I can take him out. Is he onto something there?

Do you think he has an accurate assessment of how the second fight, or he calls it the second fight the first fight went? I think that kick is still ringing in his head. He's obviously a bit delusional on what happened in that fight what's going to happen in this fight. I'm not letting this fight go to the distance. I'm not going to give them any excuses. I'm not going to close the distance and, you know, quote-unquote headbut him. I'm not going to allow him to bitch about cardio. I'm going to knock him out in the first round. He's going to have nothing to say. Whether he had a full camp, half a camp, or a week's notice, it doesn't matter.

I'm going to get my knockout. I'm going to put him over. I'm going to show who's the better fighter, who's the champ. And for the record, last week on the conference, conference call, you talked about a bet that you guys had going into that fight, but I couldn't quite, what was the bet? What was the bet that you said that he didn't actually take? The bet at the time, when busying was getting, you know, he gets a fair share of cash. So I was, I had a little setback with the V-Tor fight, so I dropped down the pay scales and I put the offer up to, if I finished him in the first round, we'd switch purses. If I didn't finish him in the first round, I didn't finish him in the first. first round, he would get my purse and his and get everything. All in the first round, he wasn't manned enough to take the bet, and that was the situation. He knows exactly. I made that one pretty clear at the time, and, of course, he didn't want to remember it.

So, yeah, you know, that was the case, but things have flip-flop my paycheck's looking pretty damn nice these days. You know, so I'm comfortable with my seven points versus his. Wow. We talking seven figs now for the champ? I do well. I do well for myself. I don't know if you heard this, but he actually, he claimed on the conference call that he's making more than you,

or maybe just as much. Did you hear that? I don't know about that. I don't know about that. I'm happy with seven figures. We're doing good sevens, so I don't, I really, really doubt he's finding himself in that range. But, you know, happy for him.

Good for him. If he is, he is, he is. so plump, you know. So I'm not wanting to hate, you know, but, you know, I'm just wanting to, I want my money. I want my piece of the puzzle, you know. You know, it's amazing to hear how many people are backing him. He's become this sweetheart because it's been so long for him to get the title shot. He's really done a 180 from being the bad boy. Have you been listening to some, his talk is very inspirational. I must say, it makes me want to, you know, run 10 miles. Have you been listening to this stuff? Like, how does it come across to you, someone who's so confident going into the fight?

Do you feel like he's trying to convince himself that he's, that he's, you know, he's going to win? How do you process it? Doesn't really matter what he says. We all know what's going to happen in the end. So, at least I do. You know, you can call him a sweetheart. You can call him a but it ain't going to be no sweetheart story. It ain't can be no fair tale. I'll have none of that. You know, people, people do not like confidence.

People hate, you know, people that tell them what they're going to do. You know, people hate that. You know, it comes off of arrogance, whatever you want to call it. But for me, it's the truth. You know, the truth hurts sometimes, and I tell the truth. I don't talk shit, you know. There being other people, they might talk shit. I talk the truth.

And, you know, just because I know what I'm going to do, you know. A lot of these guys think they know what they're going to do. A few people really do know, you know, and that's what separates us. And I'm going to go do exactly what I said and whatever, you know, whatever people want to think of it, think of it. but I put my work in. I put the time. I've dedicated everything.

I don't fuck around. I'm here to stay. I'm here to make my point. And so I'm the champ, and I'm going to go prove it. So when he calls you smug and fans call you smug, all that stuff, it doesn't bother you.

Yeah, well, we all know who is that you can try to turn over a new leaf and go out, you know, on a better light. But it doesn't matter. For me, I'll just go fight. When an opponent steps up to the plate, they want to fight me, I take it personal, and I'm going to tell them exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to beat them down. I'm going to get in the head, and then I'm going to go execute exactly what I said.

So, like I said, everything I said, I'm not going out of my way to say something different, you know, to talk shit. I'm going to tell you exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to go do it. And so that's mean. That's what I say, and that's how I just talk the truth. Would it be accurate to say that you're hoping that he doesn't fight again after Saturday night, or is that a little too extreme? Bushing and do whatever he wants, but, you know, I think after this fight, I'll be telling signs that he should probably hang it up.

He's got a good career. He got his title shot, and it's been well. He's done well for himself. You fired up some people going into the second Wydenfield when you're doing media, talking about him being a family man and not having that killer instinct and all that stuff. Abisping is the same. He's got three older kids. He's very much portrayed as a family man.

Do you think that works against him as well going into this? You love this angle, don't you? You love this angle. It's an interesting angle, because I think it's something that you can really, I mean, here you are, you're single, you're married to your career. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I think it's interesting and I think it bothers people. And I think that sometimes it's not the worst thing to bother people if you're, you know, the champ in trying to sell pay-per-views. That's just being honest. You know, I'm not shy.

I mean, like I said, I tell the truth. And a lot of guys with families, they grow soft in this business. different. It's different than any other story. It takes a level of dedication. I separate myself. And I put the time in. You know,

you see a lot of these boxes. They leave their families and they put themselves in these training camps, you know, like the history, you know. You look back and you see the history of it. I think it hardens you and you focus and you can dedicate more of your time.

You know, these guys are trying to juggle their families and training camps and makes these fights. it's a tough one. It's a tough one. So you'll see it. I'll see it on and on. I'm going to go out there and I'm going to show what I can do,

show what I put, all the work I put in every day. By the way, are you familiar? I know you've been asked about this, but the new way-in policy in California, are you going to take advantage of that? You can weigh in between. Hell yes. Hell yes, I'm going to take advantage of it.

So what are you doing? What are you going to do? You're going to weigh into 10 on Friday? I'm going to wake up. I'm going to have a little bit of breakfast, kick up my house, and I'm going to walk downstairs, I'm going to have a sauna. I'm going to go up into my car.

I'm going to drive through the little scales. I'm going to weigh in. I'm going to go eat like a king. And I'm going to come back. Nice and full and refreshed and stir the man down and take a way-in, and then we'll go fight. So I actually wanted to ask you about that. What happens during the televised way-ins?

Because obviously you'll be a lot bigger than one. 185 at that point. Do you have any idea? I have no idea, exactly. I know. I don't know they're going to do some sort of a square off, or I don't know if it's going to be a way in, but you'll see some media side of it, I'm sure. So this is all foreign to me. It's new, but I'm excited about the way in early. I think it's stupid to sit there and deprive yourself and wait for all this bullshit to go through and stayed your hydrate and let your body just keep sucking, you know,

fluid from your brain and your body. So it's that downtime. It's like, you know, once you've made the weight, what's the point of sitting there just to please, you know, everybody, the PR side of thing. It's not healthy. And so, you know, I think it's a smart move on their part. I think it's, we weigh in, we look good at the way in rather than just, you know, completely drawn out.

So are you going to go as early as possible, like 10 a.m. you're going to be there to get it over with? no see whatever's comfortable you know in the morning i'm gonna wake up when i wake up i'm gonna eat a little breakfast i'm gonna wait my timetable i'm gonna take an hour digest and then uh i'm gonna start my cut and then right when i'm done i'm gonna go beautiful routine routine basically just like what just like the rest but now i'm not you know i don't have to wait four hours to commute to and from the way and then wait and do medicals and wait for right time frame for tv and all that all that crap, so I'm excited about that.

Are you expecting him to get in your face and do all the stuff at the Wayans? Are you preparing for that? You know this coming? I'm prepared to smack his finger out of my face. We know a biz being a little fingerprint and a little bitch. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, you know, I'm prepared. Okay, let's finally, the last question, let's, I just want to get clear here, because last week on this show, Cody Garbrandt said, first round knockout.

Can you give us a specific? round. Are you saying first round finish here? Is that what we're saying? I'm saying first round knockout. I already said that many times. Okay, I just want to get clear. Yeah. This one, this one will be ended in the first round.

I will give you something different. It will not be a left kick. It might be a right kick. It might be a left hand. It's going to be something special. And can we get a Warriors, Cavaliers prediction? I'm saying Warriors and Six. What are you saying? Warriors and Six sounds pretty damn good.

you know, I like six. They'll get a couple games, but Warriors will get too much heart. Heart of a champion. Yeah. Boys are on a roll. I mean, they can't stop in the momentum they carried from this last series, too. And the cabs are good. They get a healthy team, but I think there's just too much heart, too much,

they're going to fluster the calves, and they're going to get to them. Curry's coming back on, plays on fire. I'm excited. The great Rudy Tomjanovich once said, never underestimate the heart of champion. I think that applies to the Warriors, and it may apply to Mr. Luke Rockhold come Saturday night. I look forward to it. I am so excited for this. I can't wait. Thank you for the time, Luke. I know you're very busy. You're doing a lot of media today. I know you're most excited for this particular interview, so I appreciate you coming on and talking to us for a few minutes. Always, Ariel. Yolly,

the show. I'll see you soon. Yes, I will see you out there. There he is. The UFC middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold, stopping by great stuff from him. A very happy man going into his fight at UFC 199. Like I said, area or NorCal to be exact is on fire these days. Wow. Amazing. Everyone's coming out of there. All the champions. All right. I look forward to that. It just gets me excited. The dynamic between the two of them, it's going to be a fun scene out in Englewood this coming week. Okay, let's go to our next interview. One of the big winners, in my opinion, on Sunday night in Las Vegas was Brian Carraway. Huge fight for him headlining the fight past prelims against Al Jermaine. and he backed it up. Defeated Al Jermaine. Great performance. And now, Prine for a very big fight, in my opinion.

In the Bantamweight Division, he joins us right now on the phone. Brian, how are you? Great, man. Thanks for having me. Congratulations on the win, my man. What a performance that was. Considering all the talk and hype going into this fight, where does that one rank for you as far as your best nights in the UFC? And maybe your MMA career. It's been a long one. Where does that one rank? I don't know I don't get that high surprisingly

I was obviously stoked yeah but you know he had the number you know four ranking and and they moved but you know I don't know it was all the crap talk

and all that stuff it's you know it is whatever you know I cared most you know beating him to to gain position and move up the rankings

the only thing that bothered me is like he was disrespecting me in a way and that's what that's what made me want to beat them out more so. But everyone in the UFC is, you know, fantastic and amazing. And the next important thing, you know, because that's the fight. That's right.

You mentioned some of the stuff that he said about Misha and calling you Mr. Taden, all that stuff. And it's interesting because I was listening to Dominic Cruz talking about, you know, some people say it's good to not fight with emotion, to not be too emotional in your fights. And Cruz was saying the opposite, that he actually wants to fight emotional. and he wants to feel invested. Did you use that talk as fuel for this fight, or do you prefer not being emotional and kind of blocking it out?

You know what? I think it's different for every... I don't think it's right for everybody the exact same thing. I tend to fight better, I think, when I do have emotion. Emotion connected to it just because I think when you're at a high level, you're so technical anyway

that if you can have a little bit of motion, you've got to find a little bit of... to get you, I don't know if it's pumped up or motivator. And I think when you have that motion is going to make you fight harder, but you're still going to be, you know, crisp on your technique because that's what we do every single day. So, but I think it's different case by case. So, you know, I think I'd have to agree a little bit with Dominic Cruz on that.

Emotion brings them the best out of me. What did you think before they announced the scorecards? Because I thought there was a chance they might go 10-8 for him in the first round, and then obviously the last two were for you, so that would be a draw. If it was a 10-9 first round, then you win 29-28. What were you thinking before they announced them? I didn't think it was a 10-8 round at all. I mean, 10-8 rounds go out.

I think that would be absolutely ridiculous to be a 10-8. T-8 round is when you're just beating somebody up. You know, you're just manhandling him. You know, he came out, he shot a single leg. You know, I went for a joke that I do. I slept and gave my back, and then he just hung on to me like a backpack. You know, you just coming down and you hang on to their back the entire time.

You know, I don't even see how that's close to the tail around. He didn't do any damage. I don't have any single mark on my face at all. Do you do any damage? He threw, like, it's all like at the very end of the round at the closing. But it's like, depending around, I think you have to dominate somebody a wrestling,

beat them up, you know, you have to just have them hurt. At no point in the first round was I even being close to even being hurt or finished. So I thought I had 100% you know, decisively the decision a split decision I thought that was crazy

for cards but either way I felt like definitely the decision went the right way so okay would you agree though

that the first round was 10-9 for him? Yeah oh definitely okay yeah come on there

yeah yeah yeah he took me down and controlled and you know he dominated position-wise but I wasn't in any

anything choked or any damage done but we control the position. So how did you readjust? What was the big adjustment that you made in the second and third to not replicate what happened in the first? Because those two rounds were drastically different than the first. Yeah, you know, I just, I was a little hesitant.

You know, I had a lot of rings. I've been out for a year. Yeah. You know, I respected the game. I knew he was dangerous. And, you know, I honestly believed that the whole fight, I wasn't fighting really at my potential. I can scramble a lot more.

You know, I can create a lot of motion. I'm usually really, really deadly when I get a background, a good position attacking the choke. But I was a little cautious on wanting to control position because he's a squirly guy instead of going for the choke. Normally I don't even worry about positioning. I'm so dominant there. I guess it's attack the choke. But the difference was just imposing my round one.

I was expecting him to, you know, he's afraid to get punched and he was afraid to strike. And so I was just being a little bit too cautious for him to dictate stuff. and round two, I said, all right, you know what? Came back to my corner. I have amazing corners, dolls. Eric Nixick and Misha in the first. She snapped my leg and said, hey, you need to get on.

And she's like, I don't care of this guy's a wrestler. I don't care of you. I don't care of you. She's like, this is M&A fight. You need to get a game. You're the best in the world. That way you do. She said, I want you to go.

I want you to take him down first. And I started realizing that, yeah, what am I doing, man? This, you know, I need true, you know, what I do best. And that's what I did. I can't push the pace, push him. you know, corner to be in the wall, pick him down and, you know, beat the entire time on top.

So after fighting him, do you still believe that he is afraid to get hit, like you said, going into the fight? Oh, without a doubt. You know, the guy throws all these runs away, like he frantically afraid. Those kicks, because his legs are long and he can keep, but he doesn't have to engage his face

at all getting, you know, he tries to kick and run. Anytime I try to pressure him, he's scared. you know, scared. And, you know, it is what it is. You know, I guess people that hardly takes them down. And I had to be in the top. I couldn't chase him too much.

And I kind of had to stay on the outside of his kicks a little bit so you don't want to run it. But I was able to close the distance and get the takedowns and win the round. So your audio went out just at a great time there. Were you saying that you thought he fought scared in the fight? I think he fights all of the fight. always okay yeah yeah I mean when you're doing you watch an alice doesn't you see you know super insanely afraid you know Mizzagaki any fights I mean any

time we get into range where we could actually have on each other he would he'd be out of there he could duck and dodge and move his head crazy and trying to kick and just keep you away he doesn't want anybody to engage when he's on top you know he he hangs on like a backpack he like to do as much damage you know I don't think he likes to no create openings where he can get punched. He was getting a ton of hype going into this fight, of course, resigning with UFC. They put together some great videos, headlining, fight pass, all that stuff.

Would you say now that you've been in there with him, is he overhyped? Is he not deserving of all this? You know, my theme, so this fight camp was hard overhyped. And, you know, I don't know. I don't think he was overhyped. I think he's a world-class guy. But he don't think that he was. I think he deserves that number of force.

You can't go in a condition of the Gaki, who's toughest now. I'm going and finish Johnny Adirto, who's a man, finish these guys and not be ranked number four. I don't think he was overhyped at all. I think that I finally deserve the credit that, you know, credit due to me out there and that people have to recognize my talent. And I think I just was, you know, the better. Did you say anything to him after the fight?

No, not really. You know, I mean, just it is what it is. I respect people fight the fights and doing certain things, but there's a certain point where you could you know, go too far be a little too disrespectful. Like I said, you're saying about me, what I cared to. It was implement, you know, and disrespecting my girlfriend. He's done in her accomplishments. Like, I should be ashamed of it.

You know, he's very misogynist. And that's what I didn't like. So it is what it is. You know, it's not my package. I don't think he's very witty. And if, you know, Connor McGregor's, he could be disrespectful to. That guy's extremely witty. You know, he's, I think his Irish accent kind of helps out a little bit.

Hearing his voice, you know, makes everything a little bit much funnier. But it's like, you know, Al Jemey, I'm in my relationship. And I'm, dude, you're about four years to date on that. And it's not cool to indirectly put down, you know, for being a strong-powered, empowered empowered woman like I should be ashamed to my girlfriend. Like, hey buddy, you know you're talking shit about me, but you know that she's like times more famous than you two and

99% of the UFC division, so I don't know what you're trying to get at. So, you win this fight, you talk about you're not getting that respect and he was sort of echoing some of the things like you said four years like have you noticed the shift now? Because I feel like there's been a shift from my perspective. No one no better than you. Are you

sensing since this win? I know it was just two days ago that you are getting more respect and people are dropping that Mr. Tate stuff? Yes and no. There's always some ways for someone to try to dis, you know, what I do. And I feel like, you know, I feel like definitely some people, you know, I'd say 50-50, 50% of people are starting to give me the respect for 50% of people that are always going to try to dissident of me, you know, instead of saying, wow, you know, Keral is, actually that good and he beat, they were saying, well, Al Jardemaine Sterling was, you know,

as good as we thought, you know, if Carraway beat him, he wasn't that good, he's, you know, he was overhyped instead of just kind of saying, hey, that dude was the number four dude in the world, he's finished, he's finishing top level guys. That guy was top and super legit, and Careway just beat him here. It is what it is, man. You know, I realized to not really care anymore, long as the UFC, you know, they're the guys who pay my bills and set up my fight as long as they're there on uh have my back and they're recognizing the talent from hard work that's what you know that's what matters to me so exactly an hour ago on

this show we had cody garbrem and he told the world that he wants to fight you september 10th in cleveland in ohio his home state ufc 203 are you interested in this i mean i have to go back and talk to my man um you know it doesn't it doesn't seem like you know you know I don't know. I mean, there could be ups in to that fight, but it didn't seem the most, I don't know if I want to say politically or business-wise smart for myself.

Not saying he's not extremely talented, but he wasn't in the top 15 in the world at all. Granted, he just had an amazing performance, knocking out a top undefeated guy. But I feel like that would be going backwards, not not set, but backwards, just from where I'm trying to go. You know, he just broke into the top 10 in the world.

You know, I assume he's going to be breaking the top 10 of the world. I beat an undefeited guy as well that night. I was the number four guy in the world that was undefeated. He beat the number seven or eight guy in the world. Undefeated, I feel like I want one of those top guys. You know, I want to fight. I feel like I earned to fight for the, you know, for the belt. Like I've been beat, you know, I beat the number six guy.

My last fight before that, I beat the number four guy that was undefeated this fight. I feel like it puts me on the upper echelon of top five. I think I feel like Garbrandt needs maybe one more top 10 win, and then he'll be right next for top five guys. So to be clear, you're saying you want a title shot next? I do. I absolutely want a title shot next. You know, I feel like I earned it for a long time.

I put in my due. You know, I'm beating top-level guys. I just beat the number four rank. Well, the only guys I ranked above him. I was Brown who's gone at 45. Gabor who took the title. And Dillashaw. Those were the only guys ran Al Jermaine Sterling.

The only guys. They've already all fought. You know, I feel like they need some new blood up there. They need a new face. You know, they need to get somebody else's a shot. And I feel like, you know, guarantee if Al Jemaine Sterling beat me and they're saying, oh, he definitely gets a shot.

He's on a five-fire wind street. You know, he beat all these guys, you know, the only guys above him. You know what? You know, I beat the man. You know, I beat the top-ranked tough guy. I believe that I earn that spot for the title shot. And if not, then I would want to fight, you know,

somebody else that's right there in the mix. You know, if I did have to go back or don't want to go too far back, I called out before. I'd really like to fight. You know, Mike, I know he's right there behind me or right there next to me, you know, number six guy. I'd love to fight. Or if John Linger beats him, I know he's going to be right in the top five.

So I'd love to fight one of those two guys. I know right there in the top four position. I would love to fight one of those guys that, you know, top 10 rank. for a while. After the win on Sunday, I don't know a lot of UFC brass were there, and did they say to you that they are interested in giving you a title shot next? Like, what was the response that you got seeing people backstage? You know, they don't like to give too much.

They don't like to give too much information to put their eggs in one basket. Yeah. So they said, hey, we'll talk. You know, we'll sit down. We're going to talk to me. You know, we're going to be into some talks. So I don't know what that means with the UFC. It could be good. It could be bad.

You just never know what they're thinking. So I'm just going to enjoy this one a little bit. I'm going to get back in the gym already. Start training immediately. I didn't take any damage in this fight and completely healthy. So, you know, well, the shoulder in the first, I had a previous injury to the shoulder a little bit and tweak. But overall, I think I'm going to be able to come back and be healthy soon.

And so I'm just going to get back, keep my weight down, and, you know, wait to hear that phone call from UFC. So are you hoping if everything's okay with your shoulder? Because, you know, you said you had a long layoff. Your last fight prior to this was July. Are you hoping to be more active here in the back end of 2016, like not go almost, what was it, 10 months or so between fights? Do you want to be more active? I do.

I do. I definitely want to do more active. And I just, you know, had little injuries and stuff. and at the end of the first, he had me in that full melton. It wasn't a submission, but I had previous shoulder injury from a few years ago that had healed. I think he just kind of reopened that. So we'll be going and just get a checked out.

But other than that, yes, I want to be active. I want to fight it. You know, I don't want people to forget my last win. You know, Wyman, who is a former W.C. He was ranked number six for a reason. I go out there in his own game, and, you know, people kind of forgot about that. You know, so I discredit me. And I beat Al Jermaine Sterling, he's the number four-ranked guy, undefeated.

I go out there and beat him at his own. So I'm showing that I'm well-rounded. I beat phenomenal strikeer, and I beat Alarmine Sterling who's a fun about their own game. So, yeah, I want to keep in there and stay relevant. Since you're talking title, Shaw, just curious, who do you think wins on Saturday? It's your division. it's the belt that you want, Dominic or Uriah? You know, favors, you know, on the calendar of his career a little bit.

He's still super Uber dangerous. But I think Dominic Cruz hasn't figured out. You know, he's got him figured out. He's extremely difficult to, you know, to hit. He moves well. He mixes his take downs flawlessly. You know, I just think he's going to just have too much movement for Cruz. I think it's going to be, you know, the only favor really winning is if Cruz gets a little too

caught or a little bit too emotional and tries to put favor card and basically he gets out of his element and gets caught with a punt. I think if he sticks to his plan like he usually fights most ever, but I think he's going to be able to just go out of favor. Are you hoping for one to win over the other? Because I know you used to train with Alpha Male. If Cruz wins, maybe that opens things up because of Faber wins. Maybe they do the Dillishoff fight, you know, because there's that history there? Like, are you hoping for one scenario over the other? No, not really. Not really. I mean, I think, you know, favors stylistically a better match up with me.

He'll definitely engage you as a bike. I think that would be, you know, a fight for the fans, you know, and I would love to fight the UFC World Title. I did train out there in a long time, and, you know, I always said, you know, been a lot of the first. if I ever would fight you, I'd want to be for the UFC world title. And so I'd be kind of bittersweet. But I'm not really tied to anybody winning that one. Okay. Well, I got to say, selfishly, I really would love to see you fight Cody,

but I respect the fact you've been doing this a long time. Go for that title. If you feel like you got a good shot and you get a win over Al Jermaine, That's a major feather in your cap. So, you know, do your thing. I wonder, you know, it's going to be interesting. As you know in this game, I think what helps you is the timing. You fought right next to the, you know, the title fight being played out on Saturday.

There's no longer, you know, you talk about the rankings, but it's no longer, you know, oh, the number one guy he's going to fight. There's a lot that goes into it, as you know. I agree. The timing's great. You know, TJ's fighting half ails on South already signed. I think I'm in a good spot timing. And bottom line, you know, I think I've earned it.

You know, I think it would be a great struggle. We could sell that a lot. Misha Tate, you know, my girlfriend, who I've trained for 10 years. She's a, you know, current world champion. And I think giving me my shots, you know, everybody says, you all be, you're going to kill. Well, guess what? And then I'm saying that my fight.

I'm supposed to lose against wine. I'm supposed to lose against wine. the underdog every single fight. So boom on. Who cares? The dog. You know, I wasn't supposed to win this, but I was going to get murdered. I was going to get killed. Guess what? I keep winning. So I say all that stuff, but I'm ready for the title shot. Earned it. And let the haters hate. And, you know, test me. A chance. Let me prove myself.

Yeah. Great stuff, Brian. Thank you very much for the time. Congratulations on the huge win. And good luck getting that title shot. Appreciate the time. Thanks, Ariel. I really appreciate it on the show. man. All right, my pleasure. There he is. Brian Carraway stopping by coming off that massive win over Al Jermaine Sterling. Okay, he wants a title shot. Well, let's talk to the guy who's got the next title shot. We're just five days away from one of the most anticipated fight cards of the year. And it's in large part due to the fact that Yariah Faber and Dominic Cruz are going to get it on for the third time

Saturday night at the Forum in Englewood, California. And how lucky are we that the California kid right before his flight to Los Angeles is stopping by on this show. Yari, are you there? What up? What's that, Barrow? How are you? There he is. Wow, what a pleasure, man. Thank you so much for doing this.

I really appreciate it. What are we looking at today? How busy is your schedule before you fly out? You know, it's been pretty busy. I went and got a haircut. Oh. I've been packing all my stuff, last minute packing, making sure I stop by the gym,

stay by the guys, and pick up some stuff. But not too crazy. So we're going with a haircut where we're not letting it long? What are we looking at as far as your hair is concerned? Yeah, it's pretty short at this point. I mean, it was at like an uncomfortable stage. So last time my hair was, when I fought Cruz 2011, my hair was pretty long, and any time I did anything, my head would shake.

Yeah. And, you know, it just didn't look at it. So I'm going to cut it short and be ready for a battle. I remember that. You were rocking the cornrows in that fight. UFC 132, July 2nd, I believe. of 2011. I remember these moments. No, I didn't have cornrows for that one.

It wasn't long enough to do cornrows. It was like right before you could do corneros. It was just shaggy hair. God, I suck. Okay, my bad. I don't remember everything about you. It's all good. So can you put us in your mind? Like, you're five days away from finally getting this third fight.

What a journey it has been. The ups and downs. You're supposed to fight at 148. I mean, it's amazing that we're finally here. Does it feel real now? Because I know you were talking about a contingency plan and all this stuff. he's had his injury problems. Does it feel like it's actually going to happen?

Is that the way you're processing it? Oh, it's 100% going to happen, which is awesome for me. It's awesome for everyone, really. I mean, everybody's going to want to see this fight, myself included. So, yeah, I can't wait, man. I've been feeling so good. And was there any part of you that was worried that it wouldn't happen, given the injury history?

I don't like to worry about the what-if of things. You know, I don't really, that's not how I operate. So I didn't really think about it, but, I mean, now that you mentioned, the chances were pretty high. Well, the good news is it's happening. So here we are, like I said, you're about to go out there, and this is a guy, like he talked about, and I mentioned this to Carraway, he talked about how, you know, fighting emotionally is something that he tries to do, and that's stuck with me because I'm always used to hearing athletes and fighters saying you don't want to fight with emotion. He says, no, I like to fight with emotion.

Where do you fall in that? Because of the rivalry, because of how you feel about each other, do you say, like, this is Dominic Cruz, I'm going to fight with my heart, I'm going to fight emotionally because I want to prove to him that I'm the better guy and all that stuff? Or do you try to block that out? Is he just like a faceless opponent like Connor McGreg always likes to talk about? You know, you don't really know what's going to happen

until you step in and get in the cage. I feel like, no, there's a lot of emotion going into this thing, and that's something that you can't always control. I mean, I've been in this game a long time. I've had a lot of fights, so I know the process, and there's definitely a little more edge to this one. It's a little more intent to kill, like I said, originally back in 2007. I mean, we really don't get along, and this is going to be a battle.

Okay, so let's clear something up here. He says that you're accusing him of taking PDs. You say that you're just talking about back fat. I mean, what were you really implying there? Were you accusing him of PDs? Were you saying he was out of shape? What were we trying to say with these comments? What I'm going to say is this.

That guy's body has changed. If you look at my body from when I was 13 to currently, it looks the same. Whether it's, you know, I would say probably the best I've ever seen him physically looking was against Joseph Benavitas. The last night when he came back from Mizogac, you look pretty good. Guys not aging well. He's talking about me being old and the guy. the sport, bro, I'm not oldness for it. This guy's body is deteriorating and I'm pointing that out.

Back fat, he looked skinny fat, you know, love handles, et cetera. I said, yeah, yeah, that's not my job to sort that out. If you ask anybody, though, and you can ask T.J. this, you can ask any one of my guys about this, I'm super adamant and proud about how healthy and natural I've lived my life. you know it's it's a testament to to hard work and dedication etc but i'm a super anti-doping guy i never i never said one thing about peds or steroids i don't even know about the kids are doing these these days steroids but they do like EPO hg or whatever the heck they're doing they choose this i don't care i say look skinny fat because you look skinny fat i said i saw a love handle so i saw love handles his little saggy boobs were out there maybe that's a cruise

you know, you hit 30 and your boobs drop, whatever. That's not my business. The comedy is, honestly, the best thing about this whole deal is these guys try to engage in some banter back and forth. You know, T.J. said I'm a dinosaur, and I haven't earned any shots. Well, I've been actually fighting, like, you know, triple as many times as T.J. and twice as many as Dominic. dude the best part about this whole rivalry is how it brought TJ and Cruz together

you know what happens to somebody hints or says that I was doing some sort of PEDs I would say absolutely not I've never done anything like that I've never even considered it and in fact I've been a proponent of it so why would you even say that I'd say no no no no what do these guys do they become best friends

they uh you know cruz is making up charities that he thinks dillishaw might have worked at and i mean i'm ready to make them either we gotta take a take a poll is it dilla cruz or cruzschaw these guys are a team now it's comedy well i can't wait to see who backstabs who first so so to be blunt do you think dominic has taken pds in the past

you know what i'll talk to you what i think in private or what I know and what people talk about, et cetera. I'm not going to say anything publicly about anybody's business. I'll say this, and it's a great message for me to send to anybody out there, whoever has been using any sort of PED. Whatever I've done has been completely natural. I'm proud of that. If you had some sort of advantage and you're not able to do it now,

well, that sucks for you, but I don't have that problem. So for whoever's out there, and I think you know that, Dilleshaw will be a testament to the fact that I lead by example. I never even used caffeine until I adjusted my time against Frankie Edgar fight in the Philippines. I'd never use caffeine at all. I actually like it now. I've been using a little bit of pre-workout and stuff like that, but I'm always adamant leading by example to be healthy

and do everything natural. So that's what I can say about myself. As far as these guys get their feelings shirt, becoming best friends, I mean, we'll see how that ends up. I know how it worked out for me. I know you're a very busy guy, so you don't always have the time to watch or listen to this show, but I know that we can always count on Mr. Faber,

your father to tune in every single week. That's right. He's just here. So he may have told you about this, but I want to play you a quick clip of Dominic talking about you a couple weeks ago and get your response, okay? Okay. Here we go.

Here's Dominic talking about your eye 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 favor 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 favorite style, make excuses with no proof and no facts, and they're just all accusations on his part. What do you make of that, Uriah? Well, first off, I give you a list of people that through my actions and who I am, what I give back, they can testify about my character. So it's funny because Cruz is always trying to figure out what's going on in my life.

I don't care what's going on in his life, to be honest. And whoever told him that me and Dilleshaw are good friends, it's like it almost, I saw somebody else told me about something T.J. said about, I'm really crossing the boundary and our friendship might be over because of, because I said he looks like a preteen. I'm like, did he get a PR agent that just came into the fold and was like, hey, man, you should say that you and your eye aren't friends in any. more because he said you look like a preteen.

Dude, I have friends. It's built. I mean, somebody that just doesn't know what the heck transpired, all the things I've done for that guy and the way he's flandered my name saying, you know, don't deserve this and don't deserve this, and don't deserve that when all I've done is put the guy in a pedestal. And this guy wants to, Cruz wants to say that this guy's my friend. That guy's not my friend.

I have friends. I have friends from when I was a kid that we've earned each other's friendship through actions through the way we treat each other through everything tj was a teammate someone that i helped build up he's not a friend to me uh it's very evident he actually uh has helped try to break down the culture of a team that helped build him which is kind of sad look at how many times after my fights where i've shot i shouted out tj the loss of brow give my guy a chance then i went in and talked to dana about it etc etc dude and it wasn't about following a coach that I brought in, as T.J. had said,

he said, hey, these guys are going to pay me to represent another team. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too, then act like a victim. TJ's not my friend. I didn't say he was doing any sort of... You guys should be on... Dilla Cruz or Cruze Shaw should be on America's dumbest criminals. I mean, someone says that one looks like a teenager after he says that I look like a dinosaur,

which is banter back and forth. and he accused himself of steroids. The other one I say as back fat and looks skinny with a little man boobs, he chooses himself as steroids. I've never said one thing about steroids or PEDs or anything like that. Now, if you and I want to have a private conversation about what I think about the sport in general about who's doing what, or what has been said or hearsay, etc, I'll do that. I'm not going to say that out here, but there's one thing that's for sure.

I'm going to whip cruise on June 4th. He's a guy that I think through all this is forgetting the last fight and how he got Rock last fight. And he's forgetting the first fight because he says it all the time. Faber's just mad because every time I fight him, he knows I'm going to win. I'm like, bro, we're one in one. I choked you out the first time real quick. and I very easily could have got the nod depending on what's going on in the judge's heads

the second fight. I mean, give me, and he wants to make comments about my character. I have a laundry list. Let me ask you, I feel like, Arrow,

you know me. Yes. Do you feel like I have good character? I've always appreciated your character, yes. Thank you. I appreciate that. And I respect you as a journalist, and I feel like,

you know, and I have a good sense of who each other are. And I can tell you, I've got some of my best friends from high school, from college, from before I could even talk and walk that are with me still. I just had Lisa Gonzalez and Carmichael Dave come over to local news personalities here. I've been friends with them since before I can remember. elementary school and in church groups growing up. Like, you know, Dominic to Slander,

instead of slander becoming best friends with Dominant with T.J. Dillashaw and saying I'm such a bad person for saying what I feel I've seen with his body deteriorate. Why don't you just say, no, I don't do any PED if that's what he's implying. No, I would never do that. I haven't heard that at either one of those guys. In the meantime, you know, they want to become best friends, and then you know how that's going to end. It's just going to end with them talking crap on each other in the end anyways.

Has the thought ever entered your mind going into this fight that this could be your last chance at UFC title? I don't think about last chances ever. I mean, every fight could be my last fight. I might decide I'm like a very fall in my heart kind of guy. Yeah. If I'm not into something, if it's not becoming fun, if I want to focus on the next generation or more on business, whatever, I'll do that. Right now, I cannot wait.

I cannot wait to fight for the title. I cannot wait to punch crews in the face. I can't wait to make a statement. I can't wait to bring the belt back to Sacramento. I can't wait to just snuff all the naysayers and celebrate with the people that love me. I'm a very lucky guy, man I'm a passionate guy I'm a very hardworking guy

I'm a natural guy that has put my heart and my soul into something and everything that I do and it's funny to watch these guys try to slander it. It's like these two guys got together and I'm like, TJ,

don't even start with me bro. Don't even start with me. Don't even start with me. Does TJ think that I've ever tried to beat him up in practice? Absolutely not. And to be honest, he's always showed respect to me in practice.

Him saying he'd beat me up in practice. Give me a break, dude. We'll see, guys. June 4th, we're going to see. Cruz, you just worry about your little getting back in shape so you don't have the, you know, have to listen to people, talk about your physique falling down. Have you seen him?

And let's scrap. Have you seen him on embedded? He looks good. Yeah, he looks pretty good. He doesn't look like he did against Joseph Benavito, that's for sure. Okay. Um, speak. It didn't, it don't look like this picture I have him where he looks like he, he looks like Peter Pan that robbed a, a friggin' GNC, a bunch of acne.

Oh, come on, but what do you want, how do you want people to take a comment like that? I'll just post that picture. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. You watch the second fight a lot? Like, do you think it will go down the same way? Because he hasn't, I mean, he's come, I mean, it was five years ago, but he hasn't fought as much as you. I think you fought 11 times since then. I think he's fought three times.

So do you think that he'll be the same, or do you think he's gone a lot better or worse? What do you think? Like, you put a lot of stock into that fight at 132? I think he looked good. His last fight is, he hasn't slipped a bit. Okay. I actually thought T.J. was going to beat him.

I would say, though, that little things count. You know, I don't think that he's, you know, he's had surgeries. He's gotten older. I don't think he's probably had a healthy lifestyle his whole life, I'm not sure, but you know, every little bit counts in those fights. So I

would say skills there, fight him and talk, he's got that. Fight a mentality, he's got that. As far as the heart goes, he's got that. The ability to train hard, he's got that. Right? I have all that, too. It's going to be who's the best man out there, and every

little bit count. And I'm going to tell you, I'm prepared. I saw the clip, but internally, what was it like six days before your fight, seeing one of your guys, you've talked them up so much, I know you feel very strongly about him, Cody Garbrandt, fighting in his first main event, winning like that. It was amazing to see how happy it made you. And this has been a theme.

You talked about it. I remember in Newark when you just lost very frustrating, controversial fashion against Brawl, and then you're talking about Dillishaw. So I back up everything that you're saying. But to see that, like, did that give you any extra motivation? Do you not need any extra motivation? Like, how do you use that moment, and it's just six days before your fight? Does that help you at all?

Oh, man, it does. You know, it's been a, it's been a rocky year as far as emotionally for me, because I really, I really put my heart and soul into building a great culture and a great team. And that was, you know, we went through a divorce. Yeah. You know, at the hands of, in my opinion, at the hands of greed, which I hate to see. And so to see the renewed enthusiasm for what. what we've built here with guys like Justin Buckles stepping up and guys like Danny Castillo

stepping up and guys like Chris Holdsworth and Fabio Prado and Coach Joey and Master Tong and the list goes on. We've got Philippe. We've got so many great contributors to our team. And Cody is such a good guy, man. It's so funny because he's, I mean, don't judge a book by the company. I always say that. But when I first saw him with the tattoos and things like that, I didn't know what he was all about. That guy's got a heart of gold. He really does, and he's a very loyal guy, and he's a hardworking guy.

He's a determined guy. He's got a great attitude. And, you know, he just proves it over and over again. To see him, something great happened for him, somebody that's set in the next bar for his community and for his friends back home and for his next generation of family, I mean, the guy is stepping up the game, and he trains like a champion.

He has everything he can for a champion, like a champion. He goes to bed early, he gets up early, he's at practice early, he's looking for every single edge. And the guy's a killer, man. He's a lady killer. He's a fight killer. I mean, the guy's a star. I think we saw that. What's up with you guys, you alpha male guys, and perhaps, how should I say this nicely, like female comedians, perhaps a little bigger ones, Rosie loves you?

I don't know if you know this, but Roseanne was tweeting up a storm about Cody. on Sunday. Is there something that we're missing here? What's going on? Wait, Roseanne, who? Roseanne Barr, you know, from the TV show, Roseanne. You don't know Roseanne? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You didn't see her tweets about Cody? They were incredible. Honestly, I try to stay off of social media. I mean, I get on there to post some stuff, but I don't like to go delving it. That's awesome, though. I have no idea, but, you know, it's on, I think what our teams have been built on. And I had to do a lot of defending for TJ

throughout the years because I'm trying to get him, you know, in the mold. But we're just trying to have fun out there, you know, and I think that positive energy trying to say positive is something that that people enjoy. But I don't know about

female comedians in particular, but we'll take the support that we can. I know that Rose, Rosie's awesome. And she's going to the fight? I'm not sure, but she just texted me yesterday. Wow. I love this.

What's up with her brother? She's a big supporter. Her brother. I don't know what's up with her brother, but I'll tell you what. I'll bet you they had their qualms about that because, you know, Rosie loves, she loves MMA, and that's so weird that her brother absolutely despises it, it sounds like, right? Yes, it was very strange. I couldn't believe that.

That was her brother. He's up there at the New York Assembly, strongly arguing against it. And then we find out that he's her brother. Crazy. Okay. So let's put it out there. Do you got an official prediction for us? Because I don't know if you heard this earlier. You were probably listening or maybe your dad told you. Luke Rockhold said, first round knockout. Can we get a prediction from you as well? Wait, Luke predicted he was going to knockout. Bispink, first round, yeah. So what about you? I'm just going to win.

Okay, fair enough. I talked to a sports psychologist, and I used to have goals, like, written over and over and over again about specific things in the fight, etc., etc., but you know, you can't control outcomes. You can control preparation and the things that you do, so I'm going to have my best fight, and I know that's going to give me the bill. By the way, you heard about this, the new weigh-in rules in California. Will you be taking advantage of this? you can now weigh in between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Friday, as opposed to doing the 4 o'clock thing on TV and all that. Are you going to do that as well? Oh, of course. Dude, I can't wait for that. This is actually the best I've ever felt, though. I mean, like, this is the lowest and the best that I felt during this camp. I think, you know, my ankle, assert last fight, so I wasn't able to run much, and I've also been taking some supplements for the first time in my life, which had been,

helped me train smarter, you know, getting some BCAAs directly after my workouts, instead of trying to get through the gym and then get to my phone call and then get to my house and then prepare some food or whatever. I'm real, like, smart about everything this camp with that, so it's helped out as well. But I will be weighing it as soon as I can. Well, you're right. I've got to say, I'm giddy at the thought. I watched the bad blood show last night. it's just so much fun seeing you to interact and uh you know there was a time i didn't think that you was that on was that on tv yeah where are you at you know what you could get it on youtube get it on the ufc youtube channel it's the whole thing is there you're fired up in that thing you're fired up

i loved it it was great he's calling you a bully his coach is saying that too you're coming back it's great the the whole back and forth i can't get enough fit you know me i love this drum bully, wow. Yeah, that you didn't hear that? They were calling you a bully. They said you have bully mentality. I'm going to bully him. Yeah, that you're like the popular kid in school, and he's the not popular kid, and you're picking on him and all this stuff.

It's great stuff. No way did he say that? Yeah, yeah. Go check it out. That's funny. He makes a lot of weird comments about stuff that he has no idea about my life, which is really funny. I come from a small town, Lincoln of Lincoln, is my high school. There's 7,000 people in the town, and there's about 700 in the school.

And we're all friends. I mean, there's cowboys, and there's, you know, I mean, everybody was friends. You don't have a community like that, like the popular group. I don't know what he's talking about. This is all new to me, so it's pretty comedy. Well, it's fun. You know I love this stuff. Can't wait for the fight. The fight itself is more interesting than all of it, but the lead-up has been a lot of fun as well. Thank you again for taking the time, Your Eye. I really appreciate it. We'll see you out there. Good luck in the fight. Good luck the next few days. And again, good luck the next few days. And again, good luck, the next few days. All right, there he is. Uri Fabor stopping by. Huge opportunity for him Saturday night. And I hope the fight lives up to it. I can't wait to see it. Thank you, thank you. All right, there he is.

Uriah Faber stopping by. Huge opportunity for him Saturday night in Inglewood, California. Okay, one more guest to go. How about we go to the UFC Heavyweight Champion? Coming to us from the land, the home of the Eastern Conference champion, Cleveland Cavaliers, he is the one and only Steve Amiochich stopping by. How about this? Steve, are you there?

Yeah, how are you doing? I'm doing great. Thank you very much for the time. Okay, this is the big question right up the top. How was the Bachelor party and why wasn't I invited? It was awesome. And then it was just the winning party. I apologize.

What happened to your voice? I lost it. Is this a result of the bachelor party? Most likely, yes. What do we do? Can you give us a hint of what you guys did? I presume I know John Volante was there. I saw, was it off the charts better than you expected?

No, it was a great time with our friends. It was awesome. We, you know, we had a pool party, went to, you know, went to a part night, and we had two houses. It was fun. Is it possible to put like a scale of 1 to 10? Is that even possible how good life is for Steve Amiochich right now? Because it really does seem like you're living the absolute dream,

not only from winning the belt but hanging out with all the athletes in town, bachelor parties. I mean, is there anything bad happening to you right now or is life just amazing? No, it was amazing. It's always amazing, man. I mean, I don't like to bring myself down to. I try to stay positive all the time. Is it better than you thought the aftermath would, be?

It's not too bad. You know what I mean? I've been a little bit digital with interviews and doing stuff like that, but you know, what's a good problem I have? And we all know how much you love the interviews, right? Oh, so exciting. Have you warmed up to them a little bit?

Now that you have good stuff to talk about, you're the champion, they have to be a little more enjoyable, right? Yeah, definitely. I mean, it just, you know, I just, I don't know, I didn't like doing it before because I didn't know what to say. Now I've gotten more comfortable with doing them I do them so much now. I'm just used to doing them.

What has been the coolest thing to happen to you since you won the belt? Is there something that sticks out? No, I mean, I got to do the parade in one of the series I worked for and I got to pull the belt up and I don't scream. That was pretty cool. And what was in the home run at the Indians field? I mean, you actually hit two though, right? No, I did one.

Just one. Okay, I thought you hit two dingers. I thought you tweeted that. That's got to be cool. these multi-million dollar athletes bowing down to you, that has to be a little surreal. I was talking about this, you know, before. It's like you're coming home and your hometown teams and your favorite athletes and all that are looking up to you and giving you the red carpet.

This doesn't happen all the time. It's got to be a little surreal, right? Oh, definitely. It's just pretty terrible surreal by itself. You know, still haven't hit me yet. You know, but I, you know, I think when I'm all done, an entire old and sad, I'll find out sink in, but right now I'm, you know, she's going to try to keep getting better and, you know, hold his belt for a while.

How many times have you watched the fight against Verdume? Quite a bit. Is it just amazing, I mean, you've got to love that thing. Is there anything that you feel like you did wrong in that fight? No, I think, uh, every little bit more head movement, you know, I was kind of standing still with my head, but in general, I know, everything with the game plan, you know, we knew exactly it was going to do, and, you know, and then, you start charging, which actually called me off guard, but we work on backing up and throwing punches and angling. But it worked out well.

So did you, did you expect that or not? Because, you know, we talked about afterwards how it was a little out of character for him to just start charging you like that. Were you expecting him at some point to do that to you? No, I didn't think he's about, you know, he's going to keep doing what he's doing, you know, looking for the leg cakes, like I said, take down, trying to do the crunch and all that, you know, and, you know, everything you're trying to do, and, you know, they start charging me. Call me off quite a little bit. Crazy. Do you recall what it sounded like in there on television?

It seemed very quiet. Were you worried that they were going to throw things at you? Because we've heard if a non-Brazilian goes into Brazil and wins the belt, that it could be a little bit rowdy. But from a viewer at home's perspective, it just seemed really quiet. Like everyone was just in shock, but they were actually very respectful towards you. Was that how it was? Yeah, I mean, answer the fans are respectful before, during and after the fight.

They're amazing fans. You know, it definitely was real quiet, and I heard me screaming. And that's about it. But everyone was, you know, real nice and respectfully when you only had to. What about that moment when you came home at the airport? Were you expecting a reception like that? No, not at all. I just, you know, I just wanted to go home and see my mom and show her the bell.

But, you know, it was a little warming. So all these fans showed up. You know, they're greeting you, like, you know, like you just won the NBA title. And you were actually moved to tears, right? Yeah, definitely. Amazing. Yeah, man. I just worked so hard to get here, you know, and just it was so awesome to have support.

And then just, you know, it was just amazing. She still had all the people behind me and supported me. When you finally got your mom and gave her the belt and, you know, you got to see her for the first time, what was that like? How we just started crying. Wow. So a lot of tears shed in those 24-48 hours. Oh, definitely. It was, you know, you know, it's worked so hard for something.

company in your final chiefers, nothing better than that feeling. And so when do you switch off? Like, when does the party end for you? And because you already have your next fight. Typically, it doesn't happen this quickly. You have a couple months to bask in the glory. Have you already started thinking about that ovarine fight? Or are you giving yourself a little more time to enjoy this?

No, no, definitely. You know, I'll be in June tomorrow. I've been going a couple times a week, you know, not every day, but just kind of working on stuff. But, you know, probably I got one's a very exciting. Did you know that that was at play that if you won, you would headline in Cleveland? Did you know that that was a possibility? No, I had no idea.

I know U.S. is always trying to come, you know, Cleveland, but, you know, they gave it probably a week, probably about a week after the fight. You know, they actually told me that every fight in September. Wow. What was your reaction when they told you the news? Oh, of course. I mean, I love what I do. I mean, fight, you know. Can't pick and choose our own fight.

Right. Sure. But do you think Overeign makes sense? Yeah, definitely going to afford if I went to shoot me. Whoever you want to put in front of me outside, you know? Gosh, I can't imagine what that week is going to be like with you defending the title. They've really rallied around you. And it seems like some people are saying maybe you're the one to sort of change the fortunes of Cleveland.

And now the Cavaliers are in the finals and their four wins away. Does that, can you even process that that Steve Miochich, local guy, could be the one credited for changing the fortunes of a city that has enjoyed so much heartbreak. I shouldn't say enjoyed, experience so much heartbreak over the last 50 years. Does that even make sense to you? No, listen, we are, it's a great city. I live a city other than, man. People here are awesome. They're loyal, and they're hardworking and they're loyal to sports teams. So, you know, things are changing here. Did you see LeBron when you were at the game a couple, a couple weeks ago? Yeah, for a split side. I mean, you, they're running out of locker. Okay.

I'm sorry. Why did you choose the Delavadova jersey and not the typical LeBron jersey? Well, I needed some more calves here, so I went to a store, and pretty much were all out. I don't know that I do like Deladova. I do like a lot. I like a Derry. He is a hard worker, but you don't actually think they'll beat the Warriors, right? You're hoping for the best, but you don't think it's actually going to happen, do you?

Oh, I'm sure. It's going to happen. Oh, you're going to, you think it's going down. It's going to happen this time. Oh, yeah. 100%. What's your prediction? Do you got one?

I'd say six games. Six games. All right. That means they will do it at home. Have you been on any, I know you're still a fireman and you're not planning on leaving that post, right? Nothing in the world will take you away from that, correct? No.

Yep, I worked as Friday. Have you been out and about and have people been like, wait, are you the heavyweight champion? Has that happened yet? Just civilians? No, no. I mean, we're not a few calls. Nothing like that I've came up yet.

Okay. I saw a picture that you posted. What a picture this is. You're in a uniform and you're holding the belt. We'll show it right now. Was that your idea to do that? And you're sitting in front of the fire truck. I mean, this is like, this is a movie right here.

I'm looking at this picture. It's unbelievable. How did that come about? The button up, the suit and everything? Yeah, it's unbelievable. Yeah, my, actually wanted to do it in LA did the photos. I wanted to do it also. Wow.

And you got the hair, the quaff. I mean, that is, that is framable, right? I mean, that has to be somewhere, at least your mother. That is a great picture. Yeah, yeah. What a dream. That's got, I want to ask you this. I had Roy Nelson on my show after your fight, and I asked him, it was just a couple of days after, and I asked him about the fight.

And this is what he had to say. I just want to play you the clip and get your response, okay? All right, here's Roy Nelson. He did the point in fighting with me, too. He ran. You can actually see him. Like, I think that's where, like, the people that are, you know, on track stars, you know, but, like, I would love to fight Steve A, again, especially now,

since he has champ, with actually a full camp. The point fighting. What do you make of that? I mean, sure. And what he wants to say? It's his opinion. Are you surprised here, him saying you knocked out the heavyweight champion, and he was, do you think it's still, you know, just stems from your first fight at 161?

I mean, I've heard him say this before, but I was surprised. surprised to hear him say it on that day. Where do you think it's coming from? Do you have interest in fighting him again? I mean, if I worry about me to fight, I mean, I think you just try to round me up and, you know, get some Twitter action or whatever you want to say. Maybe 31st, I mean, that's fine.

I mean, you got to fight him up with Derek Luzzi. You should fight him about. Right. But you're not opposed to that. I mean, if they say you're going to fight Rowan, you're down with that. I'm going to fight. Okay. All right.

So September 10th, do you have any idea when those tickets going to sale, by the way? Nah, I do not know. I'll just find out to send to that. Everyone and their mother texting and calling me and asking me. Yeah.

Wow. I think that those are going to sell it in one day. I'm pretty sure. Are you enjoying... There's going to be a lot of distractions. Do you think it's going to be fun, or do you think it's, you know,

just fighting away from home would be less of a, you know, and I don't want to say a headache, but there's a lot that comes with fighting at home, as you know. How do you think that's going to be? How are you going to deal with that?

I'm going to do everything what you do if I was out of town, I would, you know, stay in the hotel, keep to myself and do my thing. Okay, so you're not going to stay at home or do anything like that? Nope, no, do the usual and, you know, take care of business. When's your wedding, by the way? Junior Chief. Wow, it is good to be the king.

What a life. Steepin-Meotich. Yeah, I'm super excited. Are you going to sit courtside for all the finals games as well? I'm going to try unless I'm working. Wow, I'm sure they're going to hook you up if you want to. right? We'll see.

Maybe not, maybe not. Either way, I'll be watching, so I'm not worried about it. Did you know that it was exactly two years ago today that you flew to Brazil to knock out Fabio Maldonado? May 31st, 2014? Incredible. Two years. Look what's happened to you since.

Crazy, right? Unbelievable. Well, Steve, congratulations, my man. Thank you for some time today. I really appreciate it. And good luck, September 10th against Alster Overim. Hey, thanks so much for having me on and have a great week. Same to you. There he is. U.S.

Heavyway King, Steep Amiochich, defending his title at the queue in Cleveland on September 10th. Hey, New York, Rick, can you do me a favor? Can you see if you can call Cody Garbrand? Again, I want to ask him one other question. I forgot to ask him, and it's really bothering me. Can you try to get him back on the phone, if possible? Just one quick question I wanted to ask Cody. All right?

Something's bothering. You know, sometimes I forget. There's so many questions. I don't write any questions down. And then it occurs to me that I forget to ask, one question. And it bothers me. You have no idea how much it bothers me. I think about it. Can I have the perfect show. And I'll obsess over it. That does it for today's guest, by the way. Hopefully we can connect with him. We'll do a quick y'all must have forgot. Memorial Day weekend

came and went. I wasn't at the fight. I think I mentioned this last week. First time since UFC 71 that I wasn't at a Memorial Day fight. We had 84 I was there, 98, 114, 114, 14, 146, 160, 173, 187, and then this past one. So it was the first time since UFC 71 Rampage versus Chuck Adel that I wasn't at the big Memorial Day weekend card. That's because they made the pay-per-view the following week, the one. coming up, UFC 199, and they did the smaller show at Mandalay on Sunday. But it's always been fun. It's always been fun, you know, covering those events because there's a buzz in the air in Las Vegas. That's typically where the cards are. And they try, in the past, those cards have actually been hit by injuries and all kinds of crazy stuff, but they always try to put on a big card. And I was reminded of my interview with Rampage Jackson, UFC 130. Rampage Jackson against Matt Hamill, that wasn't the original fight.

Things changed along the way. And that's when the whole squashing the beef with Rampage thing, that's when it all started. And it started actually before the fight where I think he said, I don't remember what happened in the pre-fight interview, but he talked about me saying something about him. And then I said, well, let's squash the beef. And he said that where he comes from, you know, that's, that's fighting words, them's fighting words, and he got on my face, and it was a fun time. And then he actually did the interview with me after the fact.

And I actually thought it was the more enjoyable of the two. He was a little less, he was a little less aggressive towards me, and that's where the whole alpha-beta thing happened. So that's my almost-a-forgot clip of the week. I guess we'll play it now. Any luck with Cody or no? No dice. Okay.

He just didn't pick up? Correct. I'm going to text. them. Anyway, let's go to the y'all must have forgot clip. This is prior, actually, it's after UFC 130. When was UFC 130? UFC 130. I'm going to say UFC 130 was 2011, right? May of 2011. There it is. May 28, 2011. This is after Rampages win over Matt Hamill, a very fun back and forth. And, you know, since it was Memorial Day weekend, I was reminded of this, this fun interaction with my old friend, Quinton Jackson. So I thought it would be fun to replay it. Here it is. Y'all

forgot me and Rampage way back when five years ago. What do you want to know? Well, Rampage, congratulations on a very dominant win. That's a fake congratulations coming out of your mouth right now. Honestly. This is my peace offering to you. I came specifically to you. You lost money on me, didn't you? To be honest, I said you were my lock of the night. What? What do you mean? That means that I was most certain in your fight, the outcome of your fight. I said, Rampage, that's my lock of the night. That means you lost money on me? No, that means I picked you. Despite the fact that you called me out and made me a little nervous on camera. Well, you've been talking bad about me, homie.

I get tired of that. People don't know how much work I put in to this job, and they disrespect fighters and think they can say whatever they want to say about us, man. We're human beings, dog. The truth is, I never talked bad about you. I just asked you some questions that you didn't like. Oh, okay, then. Well, we want to squash it?

Do you want to squash it? Uh-oh. Man, I just had to fight. What's wrong with you, man? What's wrong with this guy? Was there any point in the fight that it got kind of dull and you just thought of me and that kind of like raised your aggression? Man, that one combo, he looked just like you, homie. That's what got me through that fight, man, because my hand was hurt.

I still wanted to knock his face off because he looked just like you, homie. He had the same messed up face of hair. I thought I saw some crabs. You got crabs in your face of hair. And that's why I was like pitching the crabs. It was like going around and that dude. I thought he was you in one combo. That's why my finger all swollen up now.

How is your hand? You said it was fractured after the fight. It was fractured before the fight. When did you injure it? Like, how many weeks out? I injured it months out in Japan. In December, I was drunk. Christmas time in Japan.

I know my Christmas holiday is in Japan, and me and my friend Dave Roberts, he was my corner man. Maybe you got to see him before, and I was kicking his ass in the hotel. And I missed the elbow, and I hit my hand on the ground. But then, you know, he healed up before camp. But then I was messing around in camp, sparring,

and then I did like an up jab, and I hit me. and I heard it. And so that happened. It re-injured that. That happened like, that was in the beginning of camp. That was like eight weeks ago. And I kept sparring with it eight weeks.

You often do that? Just wrestle with your friends in your hotel room and get crazy? I'm a wrestler. Rattlers always do stuff like that. I'm a wrestler. I'm a fighter. You know what I'm a wrestler. Yeah, we mess around.

Especially with some alcohol. We mess around. Like, when people don't know about fighters, we're the affle us. We're the alpha male. And guys like this, They don't like alpha males. That's why they try to pick on us because they're more intelligent than us. But that's all they got.

I'm alpha. You know what I'm saying? We afas. We do what we want to do. We mess around the hotel. We get out the car and fight at a red light we want to. We afa. We do what we want to do.

Every fighter you all see in the, step in the octagon. We alpha male. You know what I'm saying? And everybody else. Beta. Whatever. They ain't alpha. You a beta?

Well, it's a step, I guess, a different level than alpha. See, he's smart. Right. But he's smart, but look at, look at he's scrunny. Look at his neck. Look at that, look at that little bit. I could choke this shit. Look at the neck.

I'm alpha. Look at my neck. Look at his neck. Scrun. I'm alpha. Then, and betas hate on alphas. Trust me. All the time.

We get more ladies. How many ladies you got? Just one. Shut up. He's lying right now. He got me in. I just want to ask you about your wrestling. He didn't take you down once.

You know, people forgot. That's your base, right? That has to be a source of pride for you, right? Right, yeah. I knew he wasn't going to take me down. I knew it. I fought way more wrestlers, way better wrestlers, you know what I'm saying? I'm a wrestler. Just because I don't go out there and wrestle, everybody trying to hump on their legs and stuff, don't mean. That ain't no wrestler. I ain't no wrestler. I like to knock them out. But maybe I should have wrestlers that head. My fist won't be hurting so bad. He got a hard head, man, for real. Whoever fight hammer next, I'm going to tell y'all, what you want to do is, go back and watch those old movies when they put their hand in that,

that stuff in that pot, make your hand hard and hit the fist and get your fist strong, man, because other than that, man, you'll be hurt. Just two things I just want to. Why are you always picking on me? Now you've got the people on the internet that are hating on me, and it's you playing your favorite. I saw a lot of people rang to you because they include your at rampant.

Yeah, yeah, and you got a lot of people hating on me. No. Yeah. Only love from here. Okay, whatever. You would say that. What do you guys say? Is John Jones next for you?

I don't know. Did you hear Dana talking? Did you hear that? I want to hear it from your opinion. Well, I don't know. What, you know, I would like with John Jones be next. He got the belt, don't he? Yeah.

That's who I need. I need to get that belt. I need that belt back around my waist. Most importantly, how you celebrating tonight? And am I invited? You're not invited, but I'm going to celebrate my ass off, but I better not see your ass there. You don't want to be around me where I got alcohol in me, hungry.

That'll ruin your night. That'll ruin my night. If I look up, I see your ugly ass face. Look at me. With this God off a good. Get up. Come on, man. Your shoes don't match nothing, homie. Listen, what we got to do, dog, you got to let me take you to the mall and show you how to dress. I give you a little bit of my afl taste. You know, you didn't need a little bit.

I'll show you how to dress, everybody knows how to dress. Everybody knows how to dress. You know one thing about I know how to dress. This ain't anything right here, homie. I do that for you, because I feel sorry for the people who wasn't born afa. Everybody can't be born afa. You know what I'm saying? You may be afa your litter. Are you afa your litter? Absolutely. I run New York. Your litter. You know where your litter is, home? Yeah, where I live?

No. From our... The bathroom? No. I don't know. You're from your mom's... Oh, that's not cool. Now you're getting my mom involved.

No, no, no. She's not a fan of yours, by the way. I'm not a fan of hers either. But I'm not saying from your mom's litter. I don't even want to go there. This is making me uncomfortable. From all your offspring. Yeah, I know what you mean, but it's...

Okay, well, shut up. Answer the question. Are you the alpha? No, I'm not. Well, shut the hell up then. Get the hell off the stage. You ain't the app. I'm glad.

You're not even af of your own litter. Get the head off. It seemed as though we squashed it, and now we're ending on a bad note. We didn't squash it. We didn't squash it because we didn't fight it out. Man, Matt Hammer, we just squashed it tonight. You know, he said, go break my wheel and all this, isn't it? And we squashed.

You saw it out there. We show each other, respect, gave him, we squashed it. When that meant you, we could squash it right now. You want to squash it. That means hug it out. That means hug it out. Can't leave this. All right.

Congratulations, sir. Thank you for the time. That's your type of squash. That's how they squash it in Canada. That's how you guys squashed. Are you from Canada? Yeah. Okay.

Now, all right. Now I like it again because you're from, because I thought you was a dumb American. See, you ain't no excuse. If you're from, now you're from Canada. Now you've got a lot of excuses. Okay.

What you're from Canada? Montreal. Take your ass back to Montreal. Thank you for the time. All right. Get the head out of my face. Classic. You got to love that.

I haven't seen that in a very long time. Amazing. Great stuff. Okay. Very quick. Cody's back on. Cody, are you there? Hey, Cody.

I just want to. to ask you one question that was going to piss me off if I didn't ask you. Did you see Roseanne's tweets about you after your win? Roseanne Bard

did you see her tweeting about you? Yeah, exactly. I followed her back and saw that. So, I thought that was cool. I'm a big fan of her. What was that all about?

Did you know she was a big fan? Do you know her from a previous? No. No, I didn't know her. I didn't, I was honestly surprised. I laughed because we used to always watch the show of me,

my mom and brother when we were younger, so I was like, I've always, we always sat down and watched her, you know, watched her on her,

television show. So it was cool. I'm willing to see that. She was a fan of mine, and hopefully get a meet her one day. It's amazing. Tweeting about your neck tattoos and all this stuff. She loves you. You fight, your next fight, you have to have Roseanne there. Maybe walk you out. How credible would that be? Have her as my hype woman. That'd be amazing.

Amazing. All right. That's all I wanted to ask. It was killing me that I forgot that. Thank you, Cody. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you again. All right. There is Cody Garbrand. I just really wanted to ask him about Roseanne. That's it. She was tweeting about him. That was like the highlight of my night on Sunday.

Roseanne, tweeting about Cody and not just tweeting about him, like really going strong, really defending him. I love that show. Roseanne was great. I don't think I, Fabor has ever seen it. But I loved it. Roseanne on Twitter. How about that?

Great stuff. What did she tweet? Let me find these tweets here. Rosan. Do, do, do, do, do. Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?

Here it is, here it is, here it is. Oh, yes. So this is what, first she tweeted, Cody wins it. As I said, she doesn't even write Garbrand. She just writes Cody. Cody. Hashtag Cody wins it as I said. Hashtag neck tats tell you, oh, no, no, excuse me.

Hashtag neck tats tell the T-H-A tail. Rosanna's, she is definitely. down with no love. And then she had another tweet. Boy, she tweets a lot. Can't find the other one. That was the main one that I retweeted. Oh, wait.

Did I find it? No. All right. Maybe I found it. Did I find it now? You saw those tweets from Roseanne, right? This is the one. You ready?

Yes, yes. Cody reminds us of who and what we are as Americans. Badasses. No bullshit. Deliver the mail. Put your money where your mouth is. Come back champions. Oh my Lord.

Cody Garbin. She is just the best. Roseanne. How do you not love Roseanne? If I knew that Roseanne was supporting me like that, though she was in my corner like that, I would shoot for the moon as well. She's great.

I used to watch that show all the time. Was it before your time? Yeah, I used to watch it, but on like Nick at Night, like in replays, I never watched it when it was on. I used to watch it when it was actually on. I remember. It was them in the kitchen and all the different scenes with the kids and all that. Yeah, that sounds like every sitcom.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. How about Stipe Miocchich? Did you see this? Stipei Miochich, there was an actual parade held in his honor today. No mention of that. Did he mention that? Of course you didn't mention that. He's Steepet.

This is amazing. No big deal. No big deal for Stepe. John Attic just retweeted someone sending him, See the Hunter. on Twitter, there's a picture of Steve Miochich in his uniform, but it's not like the official fireman. It looks more like a police uniform. It's the blue shirt and the blue tie. And he's in the back of a truck holding the belt. There was an actual parade in his honor. This guy's amazing. Living

the dream and downplaying it every step of the way. All right, what do we got? Congratulations to your cavaliers. Thank you. You're feeling good? You guys feeling all good about yourselves? Yeah. Love and Life Took six games You know Hard fought maybe No not really Can we

BS B S All the wins were blowouts So can't really say Hard fought They kind of crapped on them What do you mean All the wins were

Blows Oh just for the cats Lopsided You know Six game series No most lopsided Single game in Semifinals or Finals

History Just not a good Which one? What the 40. That was game that was game five. Yeah. Was it more than Warriors and Thunder one of those games when they got

whooped? Yeah, it was. I don't know about that. Is that 100% accurate? Yeah, it is. It was number one in the semifinals or finals. No chance they beat the Warriors. Well, that brings us to an interesting question.

Oh, what do we got? Well, I mean, no, no, not one of the... Actually, that is a literal question that we have. But, you know, last time you were kind of pussyfooting around with the stakes of, you know, the Raptors' caps, Because it was easy for you because, you know, the Raptors were clearly the underdogs. Yeah. Now you're in the position where the team that you're bandwagoning is actually the favorite.

The team that your bandwagoning is actually the favorite and my team is the underdog. So maybe you'll, you know, be a little more inclined to actually wager something. I expect this kind of rhetoric from dummies on Twitter, like banwagoning. To me, it's just so funny that people can't wrap their head around the idea of someone, you know. look, some simple-minded people, they need a rooting interest. Everyone needs that when watching sports. So what do they do? They bet.

They do fantasy. They do, you know, actual money-line stuff, whatever. They do. They take the odds. You know, minus 500. I don't understand that stuff. But that's what some people need. And you ask them, why do you do it?

Because, you know, I'm going to a random baseball game. This has happened to me many times. I go to a random baseball game with someone. They're like, oh, yeah, I put down 100 bucks on the white socks. Wow. you needed that to get into the game? Yeah, I needed that. I enjoy sports for the love of the game.

But that being said, I like to pick a team when I'm watching. So when the Warriors were playing the Sonics, I picked the Warriors. When the Raptors were playing the Cavs, I picked the Raptors. Did you call them the Sonics intentionally? Absolutely. Oh, okay. I mean, if there's one fan, look, I know the Oklahoma City fans didn't ask for this. I know this, but I just can't support a team like that.

I just can't. I'm with that. And someone tweeted me yesterday, why does everyone complain about... You know what, that's a sign of? What? Loyalty. Yes. And you know who won't be rooting for Oklahoma City or anybody else after their team gets removed?

It's not, that's not the... By the Sonics. Well, obviously, but especially not the Seattle fans. They're not going to be rooting for anybody else. But someone... Well, I don't know about that. I bet you they were rooting for the Warriors. I bet you they were rooting for the Warriors in this series.

The thing is, people say to me, like, oh, why do the Thunder fans and the Thunder fans, get this much hate, other teams have moved. But if you know anything about that history. The circumstances. Well, it was really an owner that he tried to get a new stadium and it was just a really crummy thing. That city, that market supported the team as much as any franchise, so they didn't deserve that. But that's a different discussion for a different day. The point is the Cavaliers are such an unlikable team.

I will say this. LeBron James, what he said about the great country of Canada afterwards to Dorisburg. That was nice. How about that? I actually felt a little bad about some of the things I said. It was very kind of him. I mean, for him to give us a shout out was nice. But you guys just don't get it.

He was moved by the passion. And that's the passion from the real fans. You know, the real Raptor fans. Not the ones who pick them up at the start of the playoffs. That's such. The real Canadian Raptor fans. How dare you talk to me about a bandwagoning? I mean, I was thinking about this because I knew it was coming.

I have, I will literally go toe to toe with any fan out there and say that I have had the worst luck of any sports fan. And can you blame me for wanting my son to not go through the same kind of heartache? The Buffalo Bills have not made the playoffs in the 21st century. Do you understand what that means? The 21st century, they have not made the playoffs. That's 1999. That's 17 years.

The expos don't exist and the Knicks are a laughingstock. I was also thinking about this. Look at every single NBA franchise. Even the worst ones, even like the Timberwolves, they had a Western Conference run. Even the Nuggets, they had won as well. Every franchise in the last 15 years have had some great moment. The NICs have won one playoff series. I mean, you can make a case for them being the most pathetic.

pathetic franchise in sports right now. And so can you blame me for saying, you know what? Maybe I'm going to give my kid a warrior's head because these guys play the game the right way and these guys are worth rooting for and they do things right. They don't jump ship. They don't jump ship. They don't leave their hometown when they see an opportunity to win a title and then come back and break their hearts.

They probably should. I love those fans. You know, like the Cavalier fans talking to me about loyalty, the same people that were burning his jersey and welcoming him back, you know, the next. breath. Get out of here. Were you watching every Cavs game when they were the worst team in the league and drafting Anthony Bennett? That is total BS. I watch every Knicks game. I watched them more then than I do now, to be honest.

And we know this to be true. You guys weren't watching. You were in the corner crying saying, why me, why me? And now he's back and you're acting like tough guys. Learn a thing or two from the Warrior fans. Humble, respectful. The Warriors fans, are you included in this group? No, no, no. I'm just talking about the people on Twitter. Make sure I want to see it. Look, I'm a fan of great basketball. And to me, I'm actually sad that there are only seven games left.

I actually, I am so happy that this is the final. Believe me, there's not seven games left. The Warriors are going down in six. Oh, God. All right, here we go. There's not seven games left. Well, there's that one Twitter guy that got all upset that I spoke about, anything but MMA on this four-hour show. So that was that little segment there, if you want to call it, that was dedicated to him.

But if the point of all this was to get me to make a bet, are you asking for a bet? I want to wager something. Okay. Okay, so what is it? You can't just throw it out there and not have an idea. Present me with something. You've got, what, three days? No, two days. You've got two days. Present me with something and I'll consider it. And that's it. I know you bleed yellow and blue now. I'm not going to, how do you know, come on. Remove yourself from the situation, the diehard

Cavs fan that you are from Queens, New York. Remove yourself from the situation. Don't even start this with the transplant, Nick's fan. What do you mean? I move to New York. because I felt like I had to be closer to my team. You have to be born where your team is from. Queens, New York. I mean, it's unbelievable. Don't give me this.

Anyway, you got to admit. What you witness from the Warriors is something special. You have to. If you're a fan of basketball, you have to admit that, right? They are the most fun basketball team I've seen in my time watching basketball, which is quite a long time. I like the way they play basketball. I like watching them.

They're going to lose. They're going to lose. Fair enough. And if they lose, I can't wait for the third. the third matchup next year, that's probably going to be it, especially if Durant leaves, although I think he's going to say it's another topic. My point is, how do you not,

if you're a fan who's experienced the worst basketball ever over the last 15 years, and that's New York Knicks basketball for the most part, how are you not, I mean, it's like you're involved in the worst marriage of all time, and then the girl of your dreams is just sitting there. How do you not

sympathize with us? I mean, I just dream of this. Could I just have this for one season? let alone like the last, I mean, look at Stephen Curry. It's unbelievable what he's doing. So that's why I'm living vicariously through those great fans. And the Cavs fans with all their nonsense and their trash talk and their, their histrionics, and they're flopping.

And they're winning. And they're faking. It's just, it's just the worst, the worst. J.R. Smith. He got out of that toxic Nick situation and got himself on a championship contender. Amman Shumper, good for these guys. Yeah, yeah. Good for these guys.

And yes, people asking me, Draymond Green, I'll take that guy on my team any day and so would you. Oh, he's not dirty. He's kicked the guy twice in the same series below the belt, pulling him down by his arm. Draymond Green might be the dirtiest player in the league. You would take him in a heartbeat. Oh, I have no problem with dirty players.

I would take him in a heartbeat. Anderson Varajau is a filth bucket, and he was one of my favorites ever. He will be the X Factor. He's getting a rig. no matter what, which is incredible. Will he? Does he get the ring? Yeah, he played enough games with the Cavs that this season that he would get the ring if he wins.

So he's in a win-win situation. Wasn't he like LeBron's guy? It's got to be weird for him. I doubt it was a LeBron thing, you know, him going out, like wanting Varajat to be part of it, but just mathematically it probably had to be done. But yeah, he was LeBron's guy for sure. He's Cleveland's guy. We love Anderson Varajal as a cavalier.

Come on. Come on. Have you ever been to a Cavaliers game? I think I would like to go in this playoffs, maybe a day trip. Have you ever... Or maybe the parade. Have you ever been to a Cavs game in New York? Oh, yes, of course.

Many a time. All right, many a time. I've been in Barclays, MSG, and even Prudential. No, no, no, no. The one before that. Isod Center. Isod Center. Many, many times.

Anyway, enough basketball. In the next two days, we will come up with a wager. We'll see if Ariel takes it. Yeah, let's see. First question. Cody Garbrand. Smart Cavaliers fan. Who's next in line for Cody? I know we've talked about this and I think you said your one option is Caraway.

Yes, that's what I want. How about Dodson or Leniker? Both are great. Both are great. But Carraway has the storyline. I mean, I think that Carraway has some momentum. I like the fact that they fought on the same card. I like it in Ohio.

but if I'm being honest, you know, Garbrand versus Dotson in Ohio. I mean, the one thing I know for sure, 100%... Yes, that has to happen. Yeah. That has to happen. And I'm a little bit disappointed. I know Columbus isn't Cleveland, but I felt like they should have put Matt Brown. Like, they should just put all the Ohio fighters on that card.

They'll get support. So I'm disappointed that they didn't put Matt Brown on that card. They booked them against Ellenberger like a month before. I'm also surprised. There's a lot of shows towards the end of the year and some that even haven't been announced yet, but like 202, 201, 202, 203 are happening in the span of a month and change, which is kind of crazy. But anyway, yeah, Garbrand needs to be in Ohio, and I love the caraway fight. Dots and Linneker sounds good to me.

Although, no wait, does Linneker have a fight? He's fighting, is he fighting May Day? Who's May Day fighting? Yeah, he's fighting McDonald. And T.J. Dillishaw is fighting a sunset. Danny Rubinstein will kill me if I don't mention a Sunsa. Danny Rubinstein, one of the all-time great up-and-coming managers in MMA. He has been asking me to say that, so there it is.

He asked me to say that line verbatim? Yes. That's amazing. What this tells me, though, that is this division is reinvigorated. There's a ton of just incredible fights. Like, I love everybody who's been mentioned in any combination. I'm up for all of these fights. between, you know, we just listed off six, seven, eight guys, I'd see any of them fight each other.

So this division, which, you know, once was ruled by Henneborough and seemed to be kind of stale and stagnant, is now incredible. It's one of the nicest divisions we've got. I was talking about this with Luke on the MMA beat. For my money, Bantamweight is the most interesting division in the UFC. And maybe MMA right now because of the mix of veterans, Uriah, Dominic, of course. I don't know if you want to include Dillishaw and a Sunsound in that mix, but you know, they're kind of more veteran than newbies. And then you got the newbies like Garbrandt, even Carraway. Carrey doesn't get, you know, talked about as a veteran, but he's been around the game.

You've got these up-and-coming guys. Lineker is still, you know, somewhat up-and-coming. McDonald is back. Sterling is still in that mix. Dotson is kind of in between. I mean, the amount of names that they have in contenders, all of a sudden, that division was so shallow, not that long ago. And now I would put it up, like he was arguing lightweight. He was saying lightweight was the most stacked and deepest and most interesting division.

I think he's right, but I think this is pretty close. You know why? Can I say why? It all starts at the top. And Dosangio still hasn't defended enough. He's not a big enough name. So I feel like when you have a big time champion, there's a trickle-down effect. Cruz has not defended? No, no.

Well, he fought in January and he won the belt, and now here he is coming. back, what, five months later? But my point is, there has been a major shift in the way people view Dominic Cruz. He is a much bigger star than the first time he was champion. I see it with the views when he's on this show, other interviews with him. It just feels like a bigger deal when he's fighting and he's around. I can assure you, and maybe I'm going out on a limb and I'll eat these words, Dominic Cruz isn't going to headline a fight pass card in his next title defense. He's big time. He's a big time guy right now. He's a very big time name. I'd say he's one of their bigger names as far as champions are concerned if you go down the list and draws. Dominicruz to me is a draw,

and the way people perceive him is a lot different. So I feel like there's a trickle-to-and-he has these rivalries. I will grant you that, but is that the deepness of a division? No, no, no, but I say there's a trickle-down effect there. So when you have a draw as a champion and one that has rivalries with several guys, rivalry with Faber, if you, he, you know, if he fights Dillashaw again, there's the rivalry there. I mean, right there, right there, he has his next fight. If Dillishaw wins his next fight, he's probably going to get the title shot again. I would think, right?

Garbrand has a history with him. There's just a lot of little stories like Garbrand and Dillishaw have a story. Dillashaw and Fabor have a story. Cruz and Fabor have a story. Garbrand and Caraway have, I just feel like a lot of guys are intertwining that division, which makes it a lot of fun right now. For me, lightweight is still the buzzsaw. and the hallmark division of the USC,

but I am excited about this one. What do you make of Carraway underselling the Garbrand fight? What do you make of him saying he's not into it? Look, it makes sense. Go for the title shot, you know? But that's not like something that has been said. Like, Carraway getting a title shot

is something he is asking for or not. Sometimes you've got to put things out in the world and hope that they come back to you. So I don't begrudge him. it's sort of like there was a case where this happened recently and I was like, well, why are you saying this?

I don't know. I'm drawing a blank now, but everyone should be gunning for that title fight and you're coming off a win. Like, why not put it out there? That being said, I'm not confident he's going to get it. I just don't see it happening.

But hey, you know, more prior to him, putting it out there. I think, you know, and I've seen some of the tweets since his interview, I think the way it will be perceived is, oh, he's ducking Cody Garbrand. No.

silly well i mean that's just you know that's just that's just that's just the way people want to view things but i i i don't know man i really want to see that fight i love that fight so much cody cody headlined the card this this last card that he was fighting on so even if you know i think there's a lot of getting stuck in these rankings that don't really mean much you know cody's like i want to be in the top 15 i want to be a top 10 it doesn't really mean anything it's kind of irrelevant and and kind of useless um Cody just headlined the card. He's got, you know, name value and it would be smart of Carraway to get himself a fight with him. By the way, is your camera out of focus? Someone's saying this to me on Twitter and it's bothering.

I hope not. People need to see this. Can you zoom in and see? That's the best way to see if a camera is in focus or not. All you got to do is, I learned this in Newhouse back in the day. You zoom in all the way and then you'll see if it's in focus or not. Because, yes, they have to see that lovely man button. How long are we going to go with that, by the way? Are we Are we coming to clothes here or what? No, I think, you know, eternity might be the right amount of time. Can we update the Twitter profile then? I mean, it's...

No. Can you update yours? What? I look the exact same. I look the exact same. I don't know if that's true, but second of all... What are you talking about? I literally looked the exact same.

I wore that hat, that exact hat to the show. Like, there's nothing different. No, you don't look the same as you looked when that was taken. I mean, for the most part, yeah. Even I'm looking at the rampage interview. You look different. And that was sooner. That was before you even had that Twitter picture.

Come on. Not that much different. Maybe not as much as me. Your look is drastic. You got it all lined up and stuff. All right. Cody versus Carraway. That's the fight.

That's the fight. Okay. Why do you think Carraway doesn't deserve respect? I'm sorry. Doesn't get the respect he deserves, rather. And do you feel that this fight will be something that changed that kind of tide, that he will get the respect that he deserves? Well, actually, in the third line there,

Unclever Brett says, is this, is this Brett Okamoto? Stop. I'm just kidding. In the third line, he says, could it be the inactivity or his relationship with Misha? People really sleep on the guy. And I think that could be, I mean, look, he hadn't fought since July. All these reports of him turning down fights. And remember back, you know, I think Ronda Rousey helped fuel a lot of this with her beef with them,

claiming that, you know, he got a little physical with her and taking shots in him. I think the ultimate fighter and the Tate Rousey feud fueled a lot of this hatred that he gets, whether it's right or wrong. But he definitely deserves your respect after the Algemane fight. I mean, 100%. Aljo talked a big game, and unfortunately for him, he didn't back it up. Now, do you think it should have been a 10-8 first round? I do.

So that would make it a draw, right? That would make it a draw. I mean, you know, I'm not... It's tough with those damn tenets. Yeah, I mean, in this case, it's not one of those, like, I think Al Jermaine's pretty comfortable with where that fight ended, and Carraway is pretty comfortable where that fight ended. It doesn't feel, in this case, it feels like Carraway took the fight from Al Jamein, and I think they both can acknowledge that. Al Jamein's not the, and I don't think he's the type of person to rally behind the idea of, hey, that should have been a draw, when really he realizes that he has work to do, and he's going to make those changes. the stuff that you're seeing from him on social media is super positive in saying, you know,

this is a learning experience. I'm going to be able to use it. Yeah, he's handling it really well. He's handling it super well. And I don't think a, you know, fighting, making the case for I should have gotten a draw is where he wants to be. He wants to be the clear-cut winner and he wants to make the changes to do that. So I don't think this is a case where we need to rally behind the idea that this fight was a draw. Carraway took the fight and he deserves, he deserves a lot of respect for his fighting skills. I think, you know, there's just guys who will rub people the wrong way and he's one of them. There was the thing with the bonus money. I forget who it was. Oh, yeah. He campaigned to get somebody's bonus money. Pat Healy. That's what it was. Yeah. Pat Healy lost it

because he popped right. Yep, yep, yep, yep. And he campaigned for it. There's just a bunch of little, you know, anecdotes that rubbed people the wrong way. Yes, yes, yes. In terms, you know, if we're analyzing him as a fighter, he deserves all the respect in the world. He's, he's really good. So he talked about, you know, I still maintain. I know that if you're taking it, you know, at face value, and literally you can get riled up. And I'm not going to begrudge anyone for getting riled up. But I still maintain that Al Joe's trash talk was harmless, the Mr. Tate stuff. I guess it's harmless, but, you know, not the direction I would have gone.

Fair enough. I mean, clearly it worked because it got under their skin. I mean, it worked leading up to it to hype the fight. It didn't work in the actual fight. You could say backfired because maybe it made him fight better in the second and the third. but I still feel like, you know, there's definitely topics that are off limits, obviously. I don't think that this was one of them. And maybe I'm, and I'm known to be a little too sensitive.

I think it's this. At base level, it's, you know, not that big a deal. And it's something where he's kind of just needling him for the sake of needling him. When you think about it a little deeper than just. just, you know, fight talk, then that's where it becomes problematic. But how much crazy stuff do you hear in the fight game that you put it into the real world and you're like, this is crazy stuff? Yeah, it's almost like this fake fantasy world that we live in.

That's why I love it. It skirts the line, and either way, it seems to be, you know, a non-issue now. That Al Joe hasn't really, you know, continued this and that's it. I mean, it would be crazy if you did. Right? He lost. So our next question is about that fight and it's about the, the first round and the 10-9 must system. This is a recent, this person is proposing that this is a recent example of this happening.

One that comes to mind right off the bat for me is, is Jocke Re and Yo-Romero. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think, you know, you could make the case that the first round was 10-8, and then the subsequent two rounds were 10-9. But do we have an issue with 10-8? Is it not scored properly? Of course not scored enough?

We just don't know what it is. In boxing, it's very clear what a 10-8 is. Did you think that the first round was a 10-8? For Al-GME? As I tweeted, the way I watch fights these days is like I try to guess what the refs say or what they'll think. Yeah, what did I say? Ref. Oh, sorry.

I try to guess what the judges will score. And I thought that there was a chance that they might score. I wouldn't have been against it. I also thought there was a chance they weren't going to give it because they're so hesitant to give it. But I think that there's definitely an argument that could be. made for it being a 10-8 because it was just so one-sided and dominant. Now, it wasn't dominant in the sense that he was beating him up with punches to the face, but it was dominant in the sense that he was, you know, 100% controlling the fight, controlling the round, dominant position,

had him in some tough spots. I mean, it was really a one-sided round. It was so dominant that somebody scored the fight for him. Yeah. I mean, that was. A great Adelaide Bird. That was a disaster. Some of these old boxing referees, slash judges just, I mean, they can't go away soon enough. I mean, I'm sure they're great people, but they just don't know what they're looking at, you know, it's unfortunate. Now, it occurs to me that we've talked about this for years now. Do we have to just accept this?

Do we have to just lay down and accept this? What do we do? Yeah, it sucks. It's been years now. Like, there's been no movement. Nothing is going to change. This, you know, the scoring in favor of Al Jemaine is just as bad as, anything we've seen in the past.

Like, do we just have to lay down and take it? Luckily, it didn't turn into a big thing because the right guy won. I mean, you can say that it was either a draw or a carry-way. So luckily, it wasn't a complete robbery and the wrong guy won. But even if it was, I mean, what do we do? We just move on to the next day. We have no recourse. What are you going to do?

It's on these commissioners. You know, it's on them. What are we going to do? Start a riot? It's a shame. I mean, you know, it seems to work. in the favor of cleaning up the sport on the performance-enhancing drug side, making us think about it, but we've yet to really impact the scoring aspect.

As they say, Rome wasn't built in a day. But it seems like there's no traction. We're not even getting closer. We're not even moving in the right direction. I agree. What's next for Henna Barow? This person is proposing that TJ broke him. I mean, look, he's a complete.

Yes, he's a completely different fighter. I thought he looked great at 145. Physically, it was a fun fight. Huge credit to Jeremy Stevens. And perhaps maybe he never recaptures the magic of old, but I certainly don't want to see him go down to 135. That's for sure. It just needs to take a step back. And look, I don't like this kind of talk because I think it's revisionist history. I will simply say this. When they were touting him as the pound for pound king, it was always very serious. silly. Could we agree on that? In the era of John Jones and all these other fighters, I mean, that felt like we're trying to sell pay-per-views. And I think he has been a victim of that to a degree because I think he's

not that far off from the fighter who was, you know, he just, he wasn't fighting top-level competition. He wasn't, you know, he didn't fight Cruz. He fought Dillishon lost twice. Papers, not, yeah, no, no, he was. But, I mean, other than that, it wasn't,

you know, compare his resume, to John Jones's resume. Let's be honest here. Like how anyone in their right mind can call him the pound for pound king over John Jones. I don't think that was in, you know, now I have thought and have always thought, John Jones is the best pound for pound fighter because I just think he's the best fighter. It doesn't matter. Wait, whatever.

And that's what I think pound for pound should mean. But I don't think it was unfair to have Hen and Brow high at the time. No, I'm not talking high. I think, you know. There was a bit of hyperbole. Yes, yes. We were being told that he is. But that's the fight game.

Now, I think that it was fair to have him up there at that point, though. And, you know, you're looking at his wins. I think he had a solid run of wins up until he got beat by T.J. To the point where, I mean, it's not dissimilar from Demetrius Johnson's run at the top at 125, and we're considering him a pound for pound great. It's fair. That's fair. Although DJ is doing this.

I mean, I think he only has one rematch, and that's a favor. Demetrius is, like, beating the same guys over and over. And shouldn't that be actually a worse case for, you know, he's already beating these guys? No, I'm saying, like, if a guy gets two cracks at you, and in the second crack, you're knocking him out, I think that says something. These guys are seeing, look, I'm not trying to, I hate this kind of talk. I really do. But all I'm saying is, great fighter, you know, has obviously hit a rough patch. I don't think that this performance was, you know, like the Dillishaw fights, that's for sure. But I can't help but think.

Every time I think of Henna Burrow, I think of interim champion, then full-time champion, but he never fought the king. And he was not pushed the right way. I mean, pushing him as the pound-for-pound king, to me is just kind of like, what? You know, you can't do that. It's almost doing a disservice to him, honestly. Yeah. It's like a needless title. It did set him up for an expectation that he probably wasn't able to assist.

And remember when they really started pushing that, he lost his next fight. Yeah. But he needs to retool, obviously. But not go down to 135. No. No way. I think, you know, the weight cutting stuff there, we've seen enough that. But how about on the other end of it, Jeremy Stevens?

Yes, good for him. What's next for him? He said in a post-fight interview that Dana White promised him something. Yeah, I don't know what he promised him. Who do I look like? Jeremy Stevens? Oh, come on. You've got the inside knowledge.

People were wondering if you knew. Let's see. I'm curious. Let's go to the Featherweight rankings. I loved Garbrandt campaigning the rankings committee. I mean, have you, can we just go through? I really, you know what's crazy about the rankings committee? It's getting smaller and smaller.

It's literally getting smaller and smaller. It used to be like this long drop-down list. I mean, I just want to tell you, can I just tell you the outlets? I'm not going to call it names. I just want to tell you the outlets, okay? M-M-M-A Nut, fine outlet in Sweden. M-M-A Weekly, of course, they've been around forever. M-M-A Brazil, M-M-A Weekly, UOL-B Brazil,

Scripps Howard News Service, which is a credible outlet, although I never heard of the guy, CFMU 93.3 FM, Vladusport.com, fight news, K-I-O-Z San Diego, A.M. New York. The Wrestling Observer, Cherokee Scout, MMA oddsbreaker, the Fight Network,

Gazeta Esportiva, Combache, Burbank Leader, Sportsnet. I mean, there's not a single junkie, MMA fighting, Sherdog, ESPN, Yahoo. Do you know what I'm saying? It's a little strange sports illustrated. But for good reason, correct? I mean, they wouldn't want to participate in these. So it's, you know, it's both sides not wanting to do it rather than, like, it's not like if they asked these outlets that they would participate. But it pains my heart that someone like Cody Garbrandt, the biggest moment of his career is campaigning to these people.

You know what I mean? Yeah. It's just, there's just something wrong with it. So anyway, I don't know how I got on. Oh, yeah, Jeremy Stevens. Where is Jeremy speaking of it? which let's see where Jeremy Stevens is ranked. Jeremy Stevens is number nine.

There's some interesting fights for him. I mean, the thing about Jeremy is that he's had big opportunities. This one, I think, probably his most impressive win. And then he'd get the big fight against, like, a Cub Swanson in the main event, and it doesn't go his way. So he's had the big spots, and maybe it's all coming together for him now. I remember this is a guy. Jeremy Stevens, doesn't Jeremy Stevens have a win over Dos Santos way back when?

Pretty sure he does. I think it was UFC 91? I mean, this guy's been around forever. Here it is. There it is. UFC 91, round 3-K-O-slash-T-K-O over the lightweight king. So this guy's been around. He's a tough out.

Anyone's sleeping on Jeremy Stevens making a big mistake. Lost his last fight to Max Holloway. Remember that at 94. He's kind of like, you know, he lost two in a row against Oliverin and Cub, then beat Bermuda's in a great fight, then lost to Holloway, and now beat Browell. This by far, the biggest win. I mean, the Dosangos win didn't mean as much back then. Um, has losses to Edwards and Saroni. So he is on track. He's fought some tough guys, pet us too. So, you know, he's kind of, he's kind of fringe top 10, top eight, top five, something like that. Don't push him too quickly.

Let's see if he can go on a run here. Good for him. And no idea what Danae promised him. No. Should the UFC play up the, the, North Cal versus SoCal rivalry happening at USC199. Seems like they could do some fun marketing. That feels a little too regionalized. As I said at the top, all four participants in the Maine and Co-Main live in California, which is pretty cool. And I said, you know, the NBA champion, NHL champion, middleweight champion, bantamweight champion, light heavyweight champion can all be from that corner of the world come Sunday.

man, look. You know, NBA champions coming out of 300. Oh, right, right. I thought you were talking smack about Faber or someone. But, I mean, you don't want to go too regionalize. You know, that's just something that you might want to do locally, but not, you know, I'll let you know when I'm out there, but I don't...

It doesn't have the East versus West appeal. No, no. Is there a big rivalry between the north and the south? You're asking the wrong person. I mean, I guess the Giants and the Dodgers have had a, you know, long-standing rivalry, and the Warriors and the Lakers, you know, they weren't really good at the same time. The sharks and the kings have a rivalry.

So, yeah, I guess there is. Yeah, but what about like the Kings and the Lakers? That's a rivalry that. That's true. That's true. I think this is a thing. I mean, I'm really not informed enough to speak on it, but it does seem a little regional. I'm with you on that.

They could probably do like a cool, like, maybe one teaser on it or something like that. Do you think... Two from the same guy. Yeah, two good questions from Twitter. get a good question, you get a pick. Yeah. Do you think that USC 199 will be the last chance at gold for both Faber and Bisbing? Oh, you love this question.

I love this question. You're the one who constantly says, not the last chance, you hate when you're talking the last chance. So why don't you answer it? Nope. For both? No, they're both going to get another shot at some point down the line. Wow. That's pretty bold.

The answer is no. Because this is what happens. They take the opportunity. Maybe they're nicked up. They stay held. ready, even if they're not 100% healthy, they always step up and always take the opportunity. Same thing happened here. Bisbing, all he had to do was say yes.

There were other people who said no, including Jacqueray, and he got the shot. What about your boy, Jacqueray saying, no? Well, I mean, his injury seemed, you know, one that you wouldn't say yes to a title fight. Okay, okay, so who do you give the title shot to after Saturday? Do you give it to Jaceret? Has he earned it because he was offered it? Do you give it to Romero who beat Jacare, as controversial as it may have been, or Wyatman who's supposed to fight in this fight?

Like, what do you do next? I think they want to give it to Wyatman based on the fact that they wanted to give it to him based on nothing. He had done nothing to earn it. So, yeah, you do Wyatman. And then I think it's, you know, Romero and Jacquerade of, hell, rematch them, and the winner gets it this time. Interesting. But I think in terms of who's earned it,

Jacare is the frontrunner on that. Even though he's one in one in his last two fights. Right, but he beat Romero, clearly. Did he beat him or was it a draw? Even if it was a draw, then the rest of his streak is all wins. His resume is still better. Right. All right, well, anyhow, I'm going to say it is. For both. Last shot for both.

Yeah. I could see it as they're both nearing the end of their career, But I just think there will be a circumstance, and this is happening more and more in the current environment of MAA where the first person available gets it, I think BISBING in favor will be those guys. At least one of them will get another shot.

I'm going to say it is, and I think that they should play it up as it is, just to get people a little more emotionally invested. I will also say that the buildup has been a lot of fun. I don't know if you saw that Bad Blood Show and all the other stuff. I didn't see that, no. It's just fun.

I mean, the UFC. made a great call, they're going to do a press conference. Sometimes it's better to do a press conference than just your regular media day because it turns into a spectacle. With these four characters, you've got to do a press conference on Thursday. I thought that was a great call because the dynamic between Rockhold and Bissbing and Cruz and Faber is just amazing. So play that up for the world to see. I'm curious how many pay-per-views it's going to sell, though, because it's right before 200. And I really think this is an interesting one as far as paper views. Using Chris Wyden was a net negative, net positive, like, you know, no effect on the pay-per-view?

No, I don't think so, because I think that Bisping has a lot of longtime fans. He's getting people excited. He's getting people riled up. He's just such a fun character. And I think in his older age and this long journey, 10 years now, let's remember a lot of his die-hard fans are in England, and they don't count in the pay-per-view discussion. But I think he's developed a lot of, it's funny, a couple years ago he was the biggest heel in the game. now I do feel like people are viewing him like this sort of, you know, sweetheart character,

father of three. In the Embedded, his own son is picking against him. That's exactly what I was about to say. He's on the Embedded show. His son is picking against him and he's laughing it off. He's laughing at all. That's going to win you some fans. Yeah, he's great.

That's going to win you some fans. I also love how in every, first of all, do you notice that when he talks about the fight, like he literally interviews himself? Sure. He's just, Luke Rock, like, he's doing this like, he's running and he just starts breaking it down and I love how he says in every sound bite, believe you me, believe you me, I'm going to go out there. He's always saying that. It's great. I love it. He talks about, like he's almost, I do believe to a degree that he's trying to convince himself, but not in a

bad way because he doesn't believe. Like, I actually do believe that he thinks he's going to win, but it sounds like he's having this internal monologue, but it's just out there for the world to see and he's just breaking the whole thing down in his mind. It's fun. I mean, this is, this is why we love the sport. Two and a half weeks notice guy, 10 years. in the game and the UFC gets a shot at the belt against the guy who beat him or you know like you can't script a better story so I think it's going to be a ton of fun speaking of a ton of fun Faber and Dillishaw do you think that matchable will happen let's say yes boom how about how about if Faber loses yes it's going to they're going to figure out

no matter what yes it's going to happen it has to happen at this point I would love that fight yeah it's going to happen this question was for me specifically betting question What do you got? Gadalia and Nunes combined plus 900 when doing it as a parlay. Do I think that it's realistic? Yeah. I wouldn't parlay it, but I do think both of them are relatively... He's asking you.

I would say no, because I wouldn't parlay it, especially with underdogs that pay a good amount of money. Okay. But I do think betting on them individually wouldn't be a terrible decision. Who has a better shot? Well, I think Claudia won the first fight. Now, I think Yowana has got... gotten better since then, but I think Claudia has looked just as good since then.

I'm not sure who I'm picking in that fight yet, but I do think that Claudia being as big an underdog as she is is interesting, and I think she has the tools to win. And with Nunes, I think she has clear deficiencies that take advantage of, but the thing about Misha Tate is she's always in a tough fight. You never see a Misha Tate fight where she just cruises, except maybe, no, not even. I was about to say Rindakai, but I think even Rindakai had some moments where she looked like she had some offense. So I think the reason there is just that Tate is always in a scrap and, you know,

you win those and you lose those. It's not a thing where you always come out ahead. So I think that both of them are decent underdogs to take a look at. How many minutes of the Ultimate Fighter have you seen so far this season? negative minutes. Negative minutes. I've gone out of my way to avoid it. Wow.

Strong words there. I just, it's nothing against anybody who's on it. It's nothing against the show itself. I just have no interest in it. And it's, there's nothing they can do to get me back. I've, I've not watched a minute of tough since, you know, God knows how long. I just can't. I think the last season that I watched, really,

Relatively regularly was the first one with the women like, actually, no, I disagree. Excuse me, I correct myself here. The Strawway one, wasn't that long ago, but that was because they were fighting for the belt. And we knew those people. We were emotionally invested in them and all this stuff. Yes, I cannot lie. I cannot front, as the kids say, I have not seen it myself. I did see a promo where it said that Yowana is down like 5-0 or something like that,

and that's interesting. And some people actually have tweeted me saying that she's, she's coming across as a bit of a bully and... Uh-oh. Yeah. The last time this happened was another famous... What happened? Oh, yeah, Rhonda Rousey.

Yeah. Well, there you are. I have not seen that, but that would be interesting because people soured on Ronda a little bit after that. Well, how about this thing that doesn't come into play at all? Sometimes putting someone on tough isn't the right thing. Like, in the past they thought putting them on tough is the right move. You get more exposure, 12 weeks on TV, all this stuff.

Sometimes, you know, I think back to the famous Brock Lesner. season when he's walking around with that stupid basketball jersey. And it's like, what? Brock Lester should be in the woods somewhere. Like, we should not be seeing Brock Lester walking around with this green basketball jersey. It just completely kills the- Connor McGregor. Yeah, although to his credit, he never wore it.

He always wore a suit. No, not, I'm not talking about the stupid jersey. I'm talking about the fact that he probably shouldn't have been on that show. Fair enough, but the jersey killed me. Like, seeing Brock in that dumb jersey actually killed me. Do you remember that thing? Oh, yeah, of course. I remember.

So dumb. Okay. Yes. UFC 200. We've asked this at various points. Why do you skip over the compliment that he gave me on the lineup? So we've checked in at USC 200. We've checked in at U.S.C. 200.

Stellar lineup, he says. We've checked in with UFC 200 at various points. Yeah, I don't know what's going on here. What's your take? But not even, you know, what the last fight will be, but how do you feel about the card as constructed present day, this very moment? Okay. Is it 200 worthy?

I love the Cormier-Jones fight. Love it. Sure. I'm going to be super excited. I'm going to be here saying we're five days away, six days away, blah, blah, blah. I will say this, though. I feel like right now I am really excited for $199 because of all those rivalries. Interesting.

I would put it up there with $200. Like if you're saying to yourself, which one should I get? I don't know if I could tell you. Oh, wow. Am I crazy? I don't know if I'm that excited about $199. Oh, I love $199. I really do.

I mean, Bisp, I'm a sucker for these stories. So Bisp being going for the belt alone is worth the price of gold. And then Fabor Cruz for the third time, that's tremendous. Those stories are great. But John Jones and Daniel Cormier is the story. It is, it is. It's tremendous. I will say this, though.

John Jones and Daniel Cormier, too, does feel like it needs a bit of a kick in the butt. Don't you think? Yeah, you play a promo of their run-ins up until this point, and you will kick that right in the butt. But look at this card. Max Holloway versus. Ricardo Lama's. This is the same thing.

Dan Henderson versus Hector Lombard? What? Dustin Porrier versus Bobby Green? Did you just go? Yes. Dustin Porrier versus Bobby Green. Can we just talk about Bobby Green, the return of Bobby Green, Brian Ortega versus Clay Guida, James Vic versus Benile Darius.

That's tremendous fight. It is good a card. Jessica Andrudge versus Jessica Pene. Cole Miller versus Alex Ciceres, which was originally, was supposed to be, you know, BJ and all that. said. I mean, that's great. Tom Breeze fighting on the fight past prelims. It is a very solid card, but at the top, Daniel Cormiere versus John Jones is just... Overrides everything? It takes everything. Fair enough. But if we're going to go tit for

tad here, can we at least say that, you know, little old 199 actually can hold its own in the discussion? At the end of the day, yes, the pageantry of 200, the new arena, Jones Cormier, you know, seeing Frankie fight against... This is all great. Misha's first title defense. Kane against Brown. This is all well and good. But I don't think it's a no-brainer. I don't think it was the no-brainer that 100 versus 99 was. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I think I think 198 was really, really solid. $199 is really, really solid. But $200, not about the number, but about that headline fight. That really is going to make the difference for me. They're just going to, when we get closer to it, they're going to start rolling out the

promos, and we're going to remember why that first fight was so important and why the second one is as well. It's gigantic, but $199 is great. It's solid from top to bottom. I love it. $199 is really good. And I also love that it's at the forum for some reason and not the Staples Center. Forum's a great venue.

You've been there? Yeah, we had a glory show there. Oh, yeah. Look at you. Really, really nice venue. I am also excited for $199, but not that excited. Come on. Not as excited as you are.

Speaking of fights that were potential for 200, Nate versus Connor. Oh. Do we have an update here? Now we had an interview with Nate. By the way, where were you last week? We had to go on our own. Couldn't make it. I mean, it's unbelievable.

What was it like seeing the entire world? We were trending on Twitter. I don't know if you know this. We were trending on Twitter, whatever that means. I honestly feel like people just say that to sound cool. But anyway, I'll take it. And you were on the outside looking in. What was that like for you?

That's what I want to know. It was not something I was paying attention to because I was working. A BS. And that's the reason. You were completely oblivious to what was going on. I mean, that's even more insulting if you asked me. Yeah, I mean, you know, I had to work. You couldn't have that on and you couldn't wear your headphones?

I mean, I don't believe that. I could not. I could not. That is BS. I will say this. That was fantastic stuff. It was truly incredible. So kudos to you and kudos to Nate, who really, you know, came off like a champ on that one.

But kudos to the team back there for putting the whole show together on 24 hours of notice. They stepped up. They showed up to work. Oh, God. Unlike you. I did show up to work. That's why I wasn't here. So, question.

Do we have any later news than anything that was discussed last Wednesday? Do we have an update since then? Believe it or not, a tiny bit of movement, but nothing huge. But this is what I'll say. Believe it or not, there's not a huge update. I can't tell you that it's anywhere really closer to 201. what was it, 202, all the stuff.

But this is what I said. I've been thinking about this fight all week and long. I do believe that one day, when all the facts are out, the details are out, when the story is told about these two guys and this rivalry, if you will, and this, at least two fights, maybe it ends up being three down the line.

I wouldn't be surprised. I do believe that we're going to look back on this fight as a real shift. Like going down as one of the most important fights in the history of this sport. And I'm not overselling this. I actually feel like I'm underselling it. And I don't feel like everyone is grasping this.

I mean, you start, there's going to be a documentary made. I can assure you that a great book can be written about this fight. And here's why. Connor, when he was fighting in Ireland, people used to call him Mick Diaz. They used to call him the Irish Diaz brother. So you think about there, like where these guys started, completely different worlds. completely different countries, different backgrounds, still had their ups and downs, you know, humble beginnings, all that stuff. But one of them was actually being compared to this famous, you know,

to these famous brothers. And then they go through their journey, journey, they're about to fight. You know, Nate feels like, like Connor's taking everything that he's built and he's, he's making the money that he should be making, calls him out, you know, consciously, as he explained in that interview, so well. And the stars along. remember Connor could have if Connor would have told the UFC prior to 196 when RDA got hurt I want Saroni

they would have done the Saroni fight he was ready and willing but they zeroed in on Nate Diaz for whatever reason and the fight happens and it explodes and it does 1.5 million buys which is absurd for a fight that was put together on 11 days notice and the world is watching that press conference and they have the

you know the the melee at the one a couple of days before and then and then Connor loses and the entire world explodes, the MMA world explodes. And then he, for some crazy reason that no one can understand, asks for the rematch and ask for the rematch in the same way class. And they're going to do it at 200.

And then he retires. And then the fight's on. And then it's off. And then Nate shows up to the press conference and they think he's going to take another fight. And this is where it starts to get really interesting. And this is why it's so important historically. Nate Diaz could have showed up to that press conference prior to UFC 197 and said, if you're going to pay me the same amount of money.

I'll fight someone else. But subconsciously, or maybe not, maybe not even subconsciously, but, you know, he wasn't as literal as perhaps someone would like. He said that I'm going to stand by this guy because he recognized what the fight meant, how big it was, and he stood by Connor McGregor. You get what I'm saying? He could have taken the same payday and fought a 200 and probably made around the same amount because it's 200, and that number means a lot.

But he stood by them. He stood by his guy. And then, and now all this stuff happening. and now you see, you know, Nate coming on the show and even Connor, say, like, that's the fight that they want. And for the first time in UFC, look at Steve A versus Alster. I don't know if I'm verbalizing this the right way, but Steep A versus Alster. Steve Abley wins the belt. They say to him, okay, you know, Alster is next.

I'll fight whoever you want. That's not happening in this fight. And in the history of the UFC, how many times does that happen? Where the fighters are in some shape or form almost banding together to get what they want. and they're talking nine figures and they're talking big money and it's not being scoffed at and it's generating these kinds of numbers

this is changing everything Nate Diaz is putting out the blueprint the fighter saying don't say that you fight whoever they want you know say what you want you know don't say that you'll take any fight on charge you know what I mean? He's actually telling fighters Nate Diaz of all people

is telling fighters how they should act this is fascinating stuff do you get what I'm saying this is a real shift in the way the sport I think is being played out behind the scenes and being viewed by the public. It's opening my eyes. It's mind-blowing to me what's going on here.

Absolutely. That said, I do think Connor McGregor was laying out this blueprint before anybody. Absolutely. I don't think Nate Diaz is the one who's responsible for laying this out. I think Connor McGregor got this train rolling on his own. 100%. And that's what always got me fired up about, you know, the way people couldn't appreciate, you know, even people in the featherweight division.

This guy is changing everything for you guys. And then you have some other fighters like, oh, you know, let's say Connor was calling the mind. He's like, oh, he doesn't deserve to me. Are you nuts? You should be jumping at the chance to fight Connor McGregor, even if he's not the champion. So, so, but to his credit, Nate is proving to be a draw in his own right. Well, you don't think? No, I was about to say, you know, the idea that he wasn't a draw was one statement about

being a needle mover at one time. I think we all can acknowledge. And he said it, the best way it's ever been said was, he said when they needed numbers on Fox, they put me on those cards. That wasn't a coincidence. Right. He wasn't given an opportunity. That was his first headliner in UFC pay-per-view history.

He had never been in the main event before. So I loved his line about, you know, when they said, congratulations, you just scored your biggest payday. And he's like, scored Biggs Pay Day. That was a reimbursement for all the money I should have been making. I mean, come on. This guy is a savant. He's brilliant.

And he doesn't get enough credit for this. But this is not, my point isn't about Nate's brilliance. It's not about Conner's brilliance. It's about what they're doing together. And it may not seem that way at first glance. But in some strange way, Connor McGregor and Nate Diaz are banding together here. And it's an amazing thing to witness. I agree with you 100% that they are doing this and that they're holding out for this fight.

Now, is it not, you know, can you not see that it also is selfishly motivated, that they both want to make the most money for themselves? It is to a degree, but if, you know, look, fighters, at the end of the day, it's an individual sport. And they're trying to get the most, especially if you believe you weren't making enough back in the day. This is prize fighting. But what they're saying about the belts and all this stuff, I mean, this is stuff that has never been said before. It's always been about the belts. And they're like, no, I'm going to fight this guy because he's going to get me the most money. And we have power together.

We have strength in numbers. And the UFC is flying around meeting with them. and we're like, nah, thanks, but no thanks. I mean, this stuff is crazy. Think about every fighter that said, I want to be on 200. And Cona McGregor essentially said, like,

I don't really care. And Nate's saying the same. I don't really care. You could take your 200. And I, honestly, I think 202 is going to do better than 200 at this point. I think 202 can get 2 million pay-per-view buys. I really believe. And I think it would be a travesty if they can't figure this out.

Because at the end of the day, who stands to make the most money? It's not Connor and it's not Nate Diaz. the UFC will make more money than both of them combined. That's 100% fact. That entity will make more money if this fight happens. It's good for everyone. Everything that is happening right now is great. They just need to figure out how to get this done.

The financials, the terms, I don't know what it is, but they need to figure out how to get it done. And we will look back, I can assure you, a book can be written about the history of this fight. It is so complex, so interesting, but what's happening behind the scenes between these two guys coming together from different backgrounds? at first glance you think that they despise each other they're working together every little message every little tweet every little Instagram is them working together and it's amazing it is so

we've never seen anything like this can you can you tell me a fight this big with this much at stake where two fighters were actually working together like this only in boxing yeah I'm talking MMA not in MMA only in boxing you heard it here first 2020

Ariel Hawani publishes his first book on Nate Diaz versus Connor McGregor I would love to. I'm just not that good of a writer. But one of these guys needs a... There was a book about... It's... A writer spent a weekend with Tony LaRusa,

the former manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. And it wasn't even like a playoff weekend. It was just like three games. I think it was against the Cubs. And he wrote a whole book about that, about just like shadowing Tony LaRusa. And it's, you know, very much... It's one of the best sports books ever written.

And it was widely... praise. And I feel like a book about like the last five months can be written. And maybe you got to wait to the thing. But like there's something there for someone. Go take it and run with it because something special is happening here. Well said. Moving on to was it? I don't even know what I said. No, no, I know what I think. It's hard for me to actually. I've been thinking about this fight and I keep, I keep saying to myself like this fight is is so important in the history of this sport. If they, if they pivot and go in different direction and it's, you know, Connor versus Mr. X, it's not the same. It will never

happen like this. I think that's possible, though. I think there's a point where somebody's bluff is going to get called, and you're banded together and you're both taking the anchor down to the bottom. Sure. And again, I'll reiterate what I said last week. The best negotiators are the ones who are willing to walk away, and both of them at this point have shown that they're willing to walk away. And those

are tough guys to negotiate with. Yeah. Okay. Personal favorite segment this month. Oh. Joe Rogan, when he invaded Brendan Shob and Brian Kowellis interview. Chale Sondon, the quote-unquote basically clean interview. Yes, yes. And the Nate Diaz won our special interview.

Gosh, I have to pick. And I feel like not even a month. Wasn't that in the last two weeks? Yeah. I can't pick. That's like picking my favorite son. By the way, I would include Bisping's interview in there. I thought he was, I mean, that thing was pretty special.

He was all fired up. I can't pick. I mean, the Nate one was cool. I'll say this about the Nate one. And I alluded to this on Twitter afterwards. It's like all I want to do, you know, forget about the scoops, breaking news and all that stuff. Like that to me is fun and there's a rush that comes along with it. But to me, if I could do the big interview every day, I love the Charlie Rose show.

I love the Howard Stern show. Like, give me a black room. Give me two microphones. That's all I want. I just want the big interview. And it felt like on that day last Wednesday, that was the big interview. That was the interview that even if you hate me, you hate this show, you hate this website. You had to pay attention to it because it was just so big.

That's what really gets me excited. That's what keeps me going. And I mean, honestly, you know how hard it is to get Nate Diaz on a show? I felt like I was looking at a unicorn. I mean, I was like, there's a good chance I will never see this again. That's what made it special as well. And it was the right time. I tried to get them on weeks prior.

Everything, you know, everything came together. The stars aligned. But the big interview is what I like best. And honestly, if I could do the big interview from here, I would be a happy man. I just like doing the big interview. where everyone has to listen, where there's a juicy topic, where you get a lot of time with the guy. I mean, gosh, if I could do that.

So, yeah, we've been lucky. But I think that answers the question. I think people can figure out from that one. Yeah. All right, fair enough. Cleveland Card. This is proposed. How do you feel about this?

Steepa versus Alistair? Yeah. Verdume versus Rothwell. Do you like that fight? I love it. Verdume versus Rothwell? Yeah. Yeah, great fight.

That was the one that was announced on Sunday. Yeah. Perfect one to. to build them both back. Cody Garbrandt versus Brian Carraway. I will also say, by the way, I like it because Rothwell said on this show that he made a mistake by taking the JDS fight and, you know,

whatever you feel about that is fine. But it's kind of cool that he's getting a chance to fight the champ when he really didn't have to take that fight in my opinion. Not the champ. No, no, no, the former champ. Like, you know, beating Barnett should have been enough. And it's cool that he's getting a chance to fight the guy

who was the champion when he took the fight against JDS. It feels like somewhat of a consolation. It feels like he can still springboard up from this. Matt Brown versus Carlos Condit. Well, Matt Brown was just announced against Jake Ellenberger at 201, which I... So that's out. Yeah, that's out. And Jessica I versus Ashley Evan Smith.

I don't hate that because I think I need to win and you've got to build her back up, so maybe she should take a step back in the ranking. What about Sarah McMahon's title shot request? We had some questions about that, but I didn't feel it was really relevant because they're asking... They're asking, what do you think about it? Should you do it? Of course you should do it. You should always call for something, and you were just giving Caraway the credit for aiming

high and aiming for the title shot. Now, is she going to get it? Not a chance in hell. That was not a performance that earns you a title shot. Yeah, I mean, it didn't seem like she believed that she was in line for that title shot. She's just so polite. But yeah, that's what you have to do. It was just so polite, but it wasn't the performance that's going to get you the title shot.

No, it is not. Well, you give her credit for asking for it, but just the way she said it would just crack me up. Anyway, so I Evan Smith is cool. We'll call this the Cavaliers Championship victory card. Something like that. I am looking for it. I hope that there's no hard feelings between the citizens of Cleveland and I. In fact, I used to wear an Indians hat back in the day.

Of course you did. You've repped every single team in every single sport. No, no. I actually used to collect hats and love wearing them. But, I mean, this narrative that you're trying to put out to the world that I'm some kind of bandwagon jumper is so wrong. I'm the most loyal. I wear the hat of a team that doesn't exist.

It is no longer in the ether. So, and like, you talk about loyalty. I mean, come on. Last question was about the betting stakes, but we'll figure that out. Oh, great. Of course, Joe Daddy has to weigh in on this. I mean, you talk about the, right below Vinnie Magalyesh, probably like the second biggest troll.

in MMA right now. Joe Daddy, I met him in Houston. Had nothing but great things to say about you. I met him too. He was eating, he was nursing, as they say, a large bowl of french fries and couldn't be bothered to get up and shake my hand.

He was just so busy with his french fries. Wait, so how did you know it was him? Because then he tweeted me afterwards. This is a long time ago. Maybe like UFC 136. No, I think it was Strike Force in Dallas. Him and his cronies were just sitting around eating these french fries.

and they just could not be bothered. They're like, yo, what's up, Ariel? Here we are eating French fries. It's like, eh, don't even offer me any. Can't even be bothered. All right, let's look at some of the odds

before we go. Can we do that? Sure. UFC 199 is this weekend, of course. How about the other Dung Young Kim versus Polo Reyes? Dung Young Kim. Correct.

You know what's interesting? Wow, I've never seen this before. He's minus one. 105 on one site, five dimes, and then he's plus 101. Actually, he's not the, my mistake, he's plus 101 on another site, and then minus 102 on the other. Well, it depends on what the other person is. Minus 135, minus 129, minus 110.

No, so then that person is the favorite. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just saw the minus 105. Well, the discrepancy, the discrepancy comes from it being a close fight, and so one, you know, there may have been action at one book versus another that pushed it in the other direction. When it's that close, that can happen sometimes. Kevin Casey versus Elvis Mutapcich. Mutapsych, I think.

Yes, minus 135 plus 121. Jonathan Wilson versus Luis Enrique de Silva. De Silva. No. Minus 199 plus 175. Okay, here we go with the interesting fights. Tom Breeze, Sean Strickland. Breeze.

Well, this is interesting. Breeze is a minus 106, Strickland a minus 104. Who's the favorite? Breeze, but like that's essentially a pickum, yeah. Jessica Penne against Jessica Andrudge. Jessica Penne. Yes, minus 141 plus 131. James Vic, Benile Darius.

Ooh, that's a good one, huh? Super close ones here. Yeah, I'm going to say Darius, but I think it's close, obviously, as you already said. Yes. Yes, minus 152 for Darius, plus 141 for Vic. Brian Ortega against Clay Guida. That's an interesting one. Because I think Guida has the style to kind of neutralize him,

but you don't really want to play in Brian's guard. I'm going to go. I'm going to go with Ortiz. I want to say Ortega because of the youth factor, but then I feel like Guida's going to get the love. Let's go Guida. Incorrect. Minus 2192.

See, that's a little surprising. I think there's value on Guida there. Yeah. All right, how about this? Dustin Porey, Bobby Green. Dustin's going to be the favorite. Minus 200 plus 186. You're right.

Okay, how about this? Oh, why is Alex Caccarus so high up? Okay, let's go to Casares Miller. This is way lower on the car, but for some reason, it's higher up. Cole is going to be the favorite there. Minus 158 plus 146. You are correct. Dan Henderson, Hector Lombard.

Lombard. Minus 309 plus 265. You are correct. Max Holloway, Ricardo Lomas. Holloway. Yes, minus 280 plus 242. Yeah, these are getting easier as it goes up. Yeah.

Dominic Uriah. Dominic, big. So, yeah. So Dominic is a minus 495 and Faber is a plus 450. You like that? Or is it worth taking a flyer? It's hard for me to get over the fact that I thought T.J. Dillishaw was going to be the champion for a long time. Yeah.

And Dominic came in and pretty much blew his doors off. So it's hard for me to... Actually, that's not fair. He didn't blow his doors off. But he looked damn good. It's hard for me to think that Faber is going to be able to do better than Dillishaw did. So, yeah, I think that's about right. obviously I like Cruz in the fight. Okay, and how about Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping?

Yeah, I'm not giving Michael Bisping much of a chance in this one. Wow. A minus 590 to be exact plus something like. Look, I think that's okay. His own son is even picking him. That said, I mean, the third fight between him would do gangbusters if Bisping can pull it off. Oh, yeah. Wow, would it?

The trilogy fight there. Or actually, for Bisping, he would be number four because he'd say he has two wins over him, One in the training room. Yeah, he doesn't need the third fight or the fourth fight. By the way, I love how Bispings kids, do you notice like they have American accents, but they're like slight English accents as well? Yeah, yeah. It's great.

When you're here and you're growing up with people who speak like Americans, then that's what you're going to adopt. So I just love that scene from Embedded. It was one of the best things ever. Okay, what about, I wonder if there's, maybe it's too early, but rock hold first round. down K.L. Well, if you give me a sec, I can actually look and see if this. Because he calls his shot like Garbrand. I wonder in hindsight

what Garbrand's... No, they don't have the round by round yet. It's not out yet. But I have a feeling that it will be it won't be that it won't pay that much because I think people are expecting Rockhold to finish him pretty early. You think it happens

in a round? I mean, last time, you know, he got it done in what was it two? Two, yeah. This time, Bisping has much less time to prepare. He's going to have to take some risks early because he's going to have to finish it early himself. Luke's obviously going to have the cardio edge. I think there's potential for a finish early. Yeah.

Wow. All right. And that's UFC 199. That's USC 199. By the way, before I go, I wanted to just send the best to Valentina Shepchenko and her team. Crazy scene yesterday. You can read about it on our website. caught in a shootout and I mean just just horrific stuff so I wanted to send my best to their team and

the early reports state that Shevchenko wasn't harmed and of course she is scheduled to fight Holly home on July 23rd in Chicago no word yet on if this affects it at all but you know her long-time coach mentor someone very important to her was was heard in this and you know you just hope that everyone's okay and gosh, I can't imagine. So I just want to send my best to Valentina and her team. And I also wanted to mention before we go that I've been seeing some articles and tweets about this online, that today is the 10th anniversary of the passing of Ryan Bennett, who I never had the pleasure of meeting, but I wish I did. He passed away after being involved in a car accident, 10 years ago today,

I remember exactly where I was when I read it online. He had just started working with the Fight Network in Canada. And of course, you know, help put MMAweekly.com on the map and had a radio show online. I mean, really a pioneer when it came to MMA media and even did some work for the UFC and other promotions on top of being a sports anchor. Never had the opportunity to meet him.

did and really someone that, you know, when you see people the way they talk about him still and the impact that he had and the positivity and the love that he had for mixed martial arts, he definitely will not be forgotten. I wish, you know, our past could have crossed when he was still around, but I wanted to mention that and thank him wherever he may be for what he did for the sport, and in particular MMA journalists. So, you know, Ryan Bennett definitely not forgotten 10 years later. I just wanted to mention that at the end of the show as well. There's a great article about him on foxports.com written by Damon Martin, who did work for him over at MAAweekly.com. If you want to learn more about his impact and his story, I suggest checking

that out. There's a couple of videos in there as well. Really great stuff from Damon, and very cool that they posted that on foxports.com. All right. Well, we are done. Anything else you want to say before you go? Nothing, no crazy bets, no offers, nothing. Go cast. All right, there you go. Games one. Games one. Game one on Thursday.

I'm going to say, you know, look, you want to come at me with a bet? I'm here. You know where to find me, but I'm going to say Warriors and Seven only because I want to see them celebrate this time on their home court. I'm going to say over under. I'm going to set the line at 48 for flops from LeBron. I'll say maybe 15 or so missed three-pointers from J.R. Smith in the first three games. So I'll just stick with the first three games for now.

But that's not what we care about. We care about UFC 199. It is this Saturday. It's in Englewood, California. I can't wait. I go there tomorrow. And so I'll be there for all the stuff beginning Thursday. I leave tomorrow night.

So stay tuned for our coverage. The fight week stuff actually kicks off tomorrow with the open workouts. So definitely do not go anywhere. You can hit my music. We are done. Fun show today on this special Tuesday edition of the MMA hour, May 31st, our final show in the great month of May. There is nothing like May, June, and July. I'm just in such a good mood over the next two months now.

I mean, it's just, it's like one long Saturday. It gets darker later. It's like still nine o'clock. and then you can see some sunlight out there. I mean, what a time to be alive, right? And you get all these great fights back to back to back to back. Soon, now we're getting into June. We've got Rory and Wonder Boy coming up.

And then, of course, all the great fights, UFC 200 Week. It is a great time to be a fan of mixed martial arts. Wow. But May, June, July, there's just something special in the air. Love it. All right. Fun show. Thank you very much to everyone who tuned in.

Thank you to all our guests today. Great group of guests. If you were hoping for Paige Van Zand, apologize about that, but I assure you that she'll be on in the very near future. I want to thank Cody Garbrandt for coming on twice. How about that?

Congratulations to him. Good luck getting that fight against Brian Carraway. Thank you very much to Chris Wyman and best of luck to him as he gets ready to go under the knife. Still not 100% sure, but weighing his options right now. Thank you very much to Luke

Rockhold coming on just days before his big title fight against Michael Bisping. Best of luck to him. Thank you very much to Brian Carraway for stopping by as well. Congratulations on the big win. Thank you very much to Uri of favor for stopping by. Good luck to him on Saturday night. And thank you very much to Steve Amiochich. Again, congratulations on becoming the UFC heavyweight champion. Give us a rating on iTunes. Back next week, same time and place. Until I say, say somebody. Support for this show comes from Odu.

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