MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 343

Episode Date: August 15, 2016

Ariel Helwani speaks to Shaun Al-Shatti (00:06:40), Demian Maia (00:27:17), Artem Lobov (00:48:01), John Kavanagh (01:06:45), Jeff Borris in studio (01:51:13), NewYorkRic to take your questions (02:44:30), and Conor McGregor (02:59:35). Plus, a look back with Y'all Must Have Forgot (02:37:51). 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 Cudullian 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-by journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for the show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to talk to each other. Introducing O-DU. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier.

CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try O-D-O-4-F-R-F-E-O-D-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-O-O-com. It's the Mixed Martial Arts Hour with a mixed martial arts hour back in your life on this Monday, August 15th, 2016. Hello again, everyone.

I'm Mario Hawani back inside our New York City studio. Hope you had a great weekend. I sure did. It was a scorcher here in the tri-state area. And perhaps that best describes the week that we are about to embark on, my friends. Wow. It is finally here. fight that is not only just five months in the making, you can make a strong claim that this fight

is years in the making. That this rematch between Connor McGregor and Nate Diaz is years in the making that it dates back to when Connor McGregor used to be called McDiaz. Back in the early days of his mixed martial arts career, people used to compare him to the Diaz brothers saying that he is the Irish Diaz brother. This has been a fight that has been discussed. This has been a fight that has been bandied about, debated since long before UFC 196. It explodes at 196. Diaz wins. Connor throws us the curve ball, asks to run it back.

Same stakes, same stipulation. We thought it was going to happen at 200. It does it. And now it's finally happening in just five days time. UFC 202 is upon us. Fight Week is upon us. Going out to Las Vegas on Wednesday. and just like I did last summer,

envisioning people from all corners of the world flying into Las Vegas. I don't know if they're going to sell it out. I don't know if they're going to draw the same gate. I don't know any of that stuff, but I do envision a lot of people firing up this podcast, getting ready to embark on what should be a very memorable week in Las Vegas to watch Nate Diaz fight Connor.

It is a solid card, but make no mistake about it. That's what everyone is looking forward to. And I think that the week off that we do, just experience, no fights, no major news, was pretty damn good for all of us. Gives you a chance to miss things a little bit, recharge the batteries. I thought the UFC put out a very good bad blood episode. And what was good about it was it was honest. It wasn't just training, training, talking, talk smack, talk smack.

It told the story of these two guys, dating back to really, oh, I don't know. I mean, even before the Go Big Press conference when Connor was talking smack to all those guys. It told a nice story of how we got to this point, including the retirement, including the 200 debacle. And I also feel that it is really good to experience this fight once and for all, this rematch, finally full training camp. Because it does in some ways mean like we can finally put 200 to bed, right? This fight is still somewhat tied to 200. It will always be compared to 200, even when we get the pay-per-view numbers. I feel like once this finally happens, Connor could go on his way. I know he's talking trilogy.

Nate could go on his way. I'm sure he'd be open to the trilogy as well, win or lose. And really, we could just kind of move on from 200 and start thinking about other things. Don't get me wrong. I am excited. I am pumped. I can't wait to see what unfolds over the next five days or so. But I do feel that way as well. And when I was trying to think of this show and putting together this lineup, and putting together the best show possible, I felt, okay, I need to obviously pay a lot of attention to this fight and the periphery characters. I feel like one of the most interesting parts of this fight and of this rivalry is this narrative that was born at that first press conference in L.A. the day after the fight was officially announced pre-196, when they were both talking smack

about their training partners. And the UFC did such a smart thing. They booked training partner versus training partner on this show on this event at UFC 202. I love that. That is brilliant. That is such a nice little wrinkle to this card. It happens on the prelims. Artem Lobov versus Chris Avila, Chris Avila. What a great fight that is.

It's brilliant. I love everything about it. And of course, there's a lot of other things to love about this card as well. Glover to share versus Anthony Johnson. Cody Garbrand is fighting. Neil Magny's on the car. I mean, there's a lot to like here. But just the whole storyline finally coming to head.

excuses, full training cap. I'm so excited. Let's do it. And as you probably know by now, we've got the man of the hour. No pun intended. Finally, Conner McGregor is coming back. So let me run down this lineup and let's get to our first guest of the day because, as I said, I am very excited to get things going. Okay, four o'clock, mark it on your little calendar, mark it on your clock. Cancel all meetings. Tell your boss that you're busy, your wife that you're busy, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, tell your kids that you are busy. Finally, Connor McGregor is coming back to this show, his first appearance since episode 300 in October. Finally, Connor McGregor is back on the MMA hour. Dare I say, Connor McGregor is back home. That's happening at 4. You don't want to miss it.

245. We're going to be joined by Jeff Boris, who is a part of the new professional fighters association. He will be in studio to talk about the launch of that group last week, big news regarding MMA associations, unions, things of that nature. 225 will talk to John Kavanaugh. Of course, head coach for one Connor McGregor, headman over at SBG Ireland. Last time they fought, John did not keep the tradition going of coming on before a Connor McGregor UFC fight.

We have rectified the situation. John Kavanaugh joining us at 225. At 205, Chris Avila will join us as well, the young man who is a protege of the Diaz brothers, the young man who is making his UFC debut on Saturday night, the young man who will be fighting Artim Lobov on Saturday night. So he'll join us at 205 at 145. Artim himself will stop by and talk about the fight

and perhaps his last chance to make good on a UFC run. 125 will talk to Damien Maya. Damien Maya was supposed to be on this card. They bumped him to August 27th in Vancouver. But there's a lot I want to talk to Damien. about Jiu-Jitsu, the Olympics, Brazil, and of course his big fight against Carlos Condit. So much to get to throughout the show. We'll take your questions and comments.

It is a stacked one. I am excited. I can't wait to get this show going. I can't wait to get this week going. Let's start off, though, with my colleague and friend, Sean Al-Shadi. He'll be joining me out in Vegas beginning Wednesday for me. He is joining us via the Magical Skype right now. And he wrote a fantastic story on young Nate Diaz that came out Friday on M.

Fighting.com, a sort of oral history of the UFC career of one Nathan Diaz. He's sporting a beard. That's how big this week is, my friends. Sean Al-Shadi is all growns up on us. He is on the Skype machine. He is sporting a beard. Now I'm excited because Sean's got his beard in full effect. That's a nice looking beard in my man. Well done. Thank you, man. I haven't gotten cleaned up yesterday this week. Why are we getting cleaned up? This is good. It's pretty bad on this side. No, stop it with the bad. No. No, it's good. I like it. You look rough and tough. We'll see what we can do. We'll see what we can do. We'll see what we can keep it.

Okay. So, we have a lot to discuss. Let's first start with this piece, because I'm always curious about these super, super, super duper long form pieces, as we like to call them in this day and age that you come up with and put together as good or if not better than anyone in the game. This one was about Nate Diaz. and what you did was you spoke to the majority of the opponents that he either beat or lost to in the UFC, that decade-long run of his. And you were kind of trying, correct me if I'm wrong here, trying to figure out why are we so enamored with this guy, what makes him so special. Despite losses here and there, despite never winning a belt, never going on a long winning streak, he is a special figure, arguably one of the biggest names faces in this sport. You went in there with this mission. What did you learn from the exercise? you know that that was ultimately the the genesis of it was I was just really interesting like why why is the Dia's brother so fascinating man because it's so it's so strange they have something

then I feel like no other fighter in the sport has just this following of win or lose regardless of how it goes down like these fans are still going to follow them and we're still going to cling to their every word and you know I went into it expecting to honestly find a split between these guys of whether you know well first of all I mean the thing that struck me the most was that everyone that I talked to respected the hell out of the Diaz brothers. Like it was not even, there's no wavering on it.

It was just, these guys are real fighters and there's not many real fighters in this industry. And, you know, they're a good representation of what this should be. But I honestly went into it

expecting to find a split between guys who are happy for him and guys who were kind of jealous of the situation that he's found himself in. And man, there was none of that at all. That was the thing that surprised me

the most. There was literally no jealousy. I think I ended up talking to like, 20 opponents. And there was no jealousy from anybody. It was, every single guy was, I am so happy for Nate Diaz. He deserves something like this to be happening to him. He's been in this game for a decade. And I think that was what struck me the most. Why do you think that is? Like, I think that a lot of Connors, he hasn't fought as many people in the UFC, but a lot of Conner's previous UFC opponents.

I don't think the majority would say that about him, even though they probably should that he deserves all the money, that he deserves the fame. Why do you think they say that about Nate, who, let's be honest, to some of these guys he was kind of disrespectful to, right? I mean, flipping them off, doing things, holding on to jokes. Why do you think that they say this about him now? Yeah, I mean, you even have longstanding views. Like, Kurt Pellegrino is just an instance. I mean, I remember he mentioned way back in the day, the interview he did with you,

and Nate walks by and he was like flipped them off and stuff. And it's just, you know, it's interesting. I think it's one of those things where it's like, Nate, a lot of them do Nate as a guy who put in the time. and it's really I mean we've talked about it the past few years with him has been so up and down and you know he wasn't fighting

he was fighting once a year and he and when he was fighting that once like remember in Phoenix like he was just so not he did not want to be there at all and I think guys respect the guys who put in the time like that and you kind of have to go through those ups and downs in his career

and to be honest I mean he was on an ultimate fighter contract for the first like third of his career and I mean I did one of the things that stuck out most of me was Marcus Davis at one point in the piece says you know I fought Nate and I ended up making more money than he did that was like when Nate was at Welterweight so that was maybe seven fights into his UFC career

and he's still on that ultimate fighter contract and you know I think guys just see Nate as one of those guys who's put in the work put in the time but he just never really got out of this what he what people felt like he should have like he'll he's always kind of had this star quality a lot with his brother and he just never was able to fulfill that and you know parlay that into really good money until just within the past you know six months and it it really is crazy how how quickly things can change in this sport just i mean you go you go from December all everything that happened with michael johnson and everything before that like how was nate d is viewed before that like

he's getting taken out of the ufc rankings and there's this whole two-year thing of like release me i don't know how long we're going to play this game and then man just one win over michael johnson and he looks like the Nate Diaz-Avold, he's slapping him, he's talking, he's grinning during the fight. He does that call-out, and then, you know, four months later, all of a sudden this happens. And it's just, it's crazy how quickly things can change in its sport. Yeah, I mentioned at the top of the show, I thought the UFC did a very good job on their bad blood special on this particular fight that came out. I think yesterday, it's on their YouTube page, of laying out the thought process behind the Go Big Press conference last September to asking for Johnson to calling him out after the first. fight to being sort of ready. And of course, there has to be a lot of good luck there with

Dosangos getting hurt. And one thing that is often not discussed is Connor is sort of picking Nate. Conner could have picked Donald Seroni. He could have picked a bunch of guys on 11 days notice. But he understood as well that Nate would generate the most money, would be the biggest fight, the biggest buzz. And I don't think that's something that we need to gloss over. That's a very important part of this story as well. I think he recognized that that's a few that people wanted to see play out. Who surprised you the most of the previous opponents? Like one guy that you may have thought, wow, he's going to talk smack or maybe go

the opposite. Is there anyone that you left, you left that conversation thinking like, wow, I did not expect that at all? To be honest, not really, because once I started and, you know, the first guys I talked to, I think Jim Miller and Joe Stevenson and maybe Manning Game Beerin were the first three. Okay. And so those were guys who've been in this for a long time along with Nate, basically the entire decade. And they were so respectful of it and respectful of him in the process that he's

been through and, you know, happy for him that I realized very quickly that I think this is going to kind of be the tone that all of these guys set. And but to be honest, man, the thing that surprised me most was how many guys spoke very candidly about how NADIS broke them, basically. And it's like, I don't feel like guys don't really talk about that that openly and just, you know, talking about their fight and just Nate Dia's worked me down so hard to where I just mentally broke that surprised me the most to be honest because I just feel like that's such a personal thing to admit especially in retrospect and they must hold him in very high regard if they're willing to admit that about him.

For those that are interested in this sort of thing, how long does it take to put together a piece like that? How many words was it? Do you have any idea? Like 12,000 maybe? How long does that take from? coming up with the idea to actually getting posted? I mean, I started on this right after we finished our Kevin Randleman thing,

so I think that's about two months of pretty much consuming my life. So I'm sure you're happy that, A, the fight remained intact, that there were no changes, injuries, things like that, and that it's finally out there. Throughout Nate Diaz's career, one theme has been like he always kind of has to prove his worth, prove that he's, you know, as good, as relevant, as tough as his brother. One of the fascinating parts of the stories that he's now become a bigger star than his brother, and that's in large part due to the fact that, you know, Nick has been inactive for so long. But that's, you know,

that's a fact right now, does a part of you worry that because he doesn't have this chip on his shoulder right now, because he's a millionaire now, because he's getting all this media in love and attention? You know, Connor alluded to on Friday that he weighs 200 pounds, that Nate weighs 200 pounds. Now, who knows if that's true or not, maybe that's some games in ship. But part of what has made Nate Diaz tick has been proving the world that, you know, he's the man that, you know, he's going to show to two middle finger, blah, blah, blah. Are you worried that he won't have that same killer instinct in this fight because he's kind of already made it? I absolutely am not worried in that. I feel like the Diaz brothers is not, killer instinct is

not something like they with that. And I think also, you know, I mean, people talk about Nate and people have criticized them over the years. But, You look at what he and Nick done and you look at the way that they've talked and the way they just generally view the game and the way that they articulate about it. I mean, it may not be the most articulate way, but ultimately the point that they're always trying to get around is these are guys who really understand the fight game at a level that I feel like few guys do. Connor definitely understands it at that level.

But very few other guys do, just the level, the angles and just the nuances of the promotional side. And what we do really want to see. And you even saw it in that embed where Nate's talking about Tyrone Woodley and GSP. Guys, no one wants to see a fight, set up with a tent. And he's 100% right, man. Like, that's just not. So, I mean, no matter how much criticism to do you the brothers, if they really do, they're smart, smart guys when it comes to understanding this fight game.

I was literally just going to follow that up with that example. When he talks about the fight game, when his brother talks about the fight game and sort of blurts it out like that and simplifies it, you're like, yeah, of course. He's 100% right. You know, when Tyrone Woodley sent out that text message screenshot, I was like, okay, this is cool, he's trying to prove a point. And then Nate comes back with that. And I'm like, you know what?

He's kind of right. He's kind of right. It's amazing. And it was interesting, given what's going on with Tyrone Woodley, that they kept that in the embedded. Perhaps that's a different story for a different day. Some of the talk leading up to this fight, especially during the quote-unquote bye week of last week, has been that there's some buzz lacking. You know, 10 days before the 196 fight, you had that press conference. I remember I was in London for Bisping Anderson.

No one was talking about Bissing Anderson. Everyone was talking about just the press conference. And then the press conference happens. And I'm watching it on YouTube. And there's 250,000 people watching it live. The clip after the fact has several million of views. And you had this amazing spark. And then you had the press conference in Vegas.

Connor hits his hand. at the CNBC. Are you feeling, I mean, it's hard to recreate that. And there was certainly some, you know, crazy circumstances that led to that press conference and the 10-day, you know, roller coaster that we were on. But are you feeling that same kind of buzz? Do you think we will feel that leading up to this one? Or is it impossible to relive that? I think two things. I mean, one, I think that is impossible to relive. Like, that was just the perfect storm. It was an anomaly like that. Whatever happened within those two weeks back in March was just unbelievable.

Like, you can't, you can't really describe. You can't book about it, right? Yeah, it's just one of the craziest, I think, 11-day sequences that we've ever seen in the sport and just how it ended in the card being so as big as it was. And I definitely don't feel that kind of buzz now. And I was talking to, I think I was talking to Chuck about it. And it's just, I wonder why. And I think part of it maybe is the reason that, you know, we've had a little bit of

exhaustion, like how many fights have we had over the past seven weeks? it's been a lot and nonstop there's a little there's a little bit of exhaustion from that and also it seems like this hasn't really been

promoted that much yet and I think I was thinking about it and the big reason to me maybe is that we just haven't had like a classic press conference like that where they're able to go back and forth

because that is the dynamic with these guys that's so interesting is watching them kind of just do their banter back and forth and we haven't had a chance to do that at all

the only other time where they tried to do that was during UFC 200 week where they had that press conference where no, and the arena could hear, and Nate Diaz couldn't hear, and Connor could kind of hear, but Nate kind of shut down really quickly.

And I wonder if, I mean, once we get to Vegas this week, they're going to have a press conference almost immediately. And I wonder if that will kind of reboot this back up. And also I think, you know, you look at guys like Connor and Nate, like we just were talking about, they are so smart when it comes to the fight game.

I think both of them know, you know, this is the week where we kind of got to turn it on and play it up and turn on that promotional side. So I wonder if that's kind of, what we'll see. Yeah, we keep talking about that go big press conference of now 11 months ago. Like that's the perfect example of when everything clicks at a press conference. You could talk about that thing for years. The one at 200 last month was a debacle because no one could hear

anything. And you need them, most importantly, to hear each other so they could play off each other. So that one gets wiped off. Hopefully this one on Wednesday, and it's interesting, it's the very first thing of all the media stuff. Like they need that press conference to be magical, something to happen, not physical, but just an interaction, some lines, some quips to get people excited again. Right now, do you feel like it will beat 196 in terms of pay-per-view? You know, it's also interesting in that bad blood, they said that 196 was the high-selling pay-per-view in UFC history. I don't know if that's, you know, promotional stuff, but that would suggest that it beat 100 as well. I don't know if that's, whatever the case is, it did great. Do you think this one beats it or do you

think that because of that fatigue? And also all the bad news over the last month or so, like John Jones-Brock. I feel like over the last month. I feel like over the Overall, people might be a little bit, you know, exhausted. What do you think? Do you think that this one beats 196 or it's hard to do that? It's weird, man, because I think if you would have asked me that, what was it? I think it was UFC 197 when we were in Vegas. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that whole, this fight felt so big. Yeah. Just during that week, like this felt like the one fight that we needed the most. And I feel like that is gone now. Like everything weird that's happened over the past two months has kind of erased that. And just the fact that we haven't had any Dias McGregor classic interactions or anything like that. And so, I mean, if you would ask me back then if this card would be 196, I would have told you absolutely. At this point, I'm not sure.

And I think you're right. I think you're right 100%. It depends a lot on that Wednesday press conference. Like if that can kind of restart this magic, this week will go pretty smoothly. But if not, I wonder what they're going to do. once we get there and we're in the circus so to speak and we're just sort of living and breathing it I think we will we will get a lot I mean I got to be honest I'm super excited right now but there's something about being there among those Irish fans now I'm wondering how many of them are actually

going to come over I don't know if you noticed this at 200 there and I got the impression while I didn't actually speak to you know every single one I got the impression that a lot of them had purchased their tickets to come to 200 because Connor was originally on the card couldn't cancel it couldn't cancel hotel so they went and now I'm wondering if there's going to be enough there for 202 to recreate the magic of 189 and, you know, what we saw, you know, when he fought out 170, you know, like the classic Connor McGregor Vegas fight. I'm a little worried about that.

I'm wondering if the bar has been set so high that it's going to be impossible to garner that same sort of buzz because a lot of these people were banking on the fact that this fight was going to happen a month and a half ago. Yeah, and you know, that's a good point. Because that's kind of part of the magic of these counterfeights, right? Like, Conner always says that Connor fight is different than a normal fight, and he's right. Yes. And a large portion of that is because the Irish fans are just incredible, man.

Like, they really do make a week in Las Vegas feel really big and different. And that's a really good point. I wonder if, I mean, you can only go out to Vegas. Like, how expensive is it for them to go out to Vegas? You can only do that. Yep. And I do feel like this feels like an important fight for Connor, though. Like, this is one of the more important fights he's had over.

I guess not because he's always had important fights. So this feels like a really important fight for him. And so I feel like there's going to be at least a large contingent maybe by like Friday, Saturday. Well, he asked for it. You know, he asked to run it back. Initially, if you recall, the world wasn't asking for this rematch. Everyone kind of thought, all right, he lost.

Now go back down to 145, defend the belt, or, you know, go to 155 and get that RDA fight. No one was asking for the rematch. Now, after all the drama, we suddenly decided that this is the fight that we, we need it, and if we don't get it, we're all going to combust. But this is all his doing. Like, he specifically asked for it, and he asked for it to be at 170. So, yeah, he does have to show up. Interestingly enough, on Friday, Dana White spoke to UFC.com, and he said that, you know,

he's going back down to 145. You know, and I thought the timing of that was interesting. Here he is fighting at 170, and everyone wants to see him, you know, defend the belt eventually because he is the champion. Do you think Connor's next fight, win or lose? It's 145. I mean, he's talking trilogy, of course, thinking that he's going to win. What do you think? Look at it to the crystal ball before we embark on this week.

Connor's next fight, is it at 145 for the belt, or does he figure something else out, fight at 155, whatever? You know, man, that's weird. It is weird. It's really weird because back at 200, they had that press conference, and Connor was asked what's next, and he said, you know, I'm going to go back to 45, defend my belt, and then we can go back up, and we can do whatever we want. And you ask him, and I think he was asked that recently on the conference call,

and he was very non-committal about 145. It seems like, you know, it seems like they're waiting, to be honest, for the outcome of this. If he loses to Nate Diaz the second time back to back, I don't see what other recourse he has, other than to go back to the place he has the champion and really start to build up whatever aura has been shattered. But, I mean, if he beats Nate Diaz, to be honest, then, like, the world is his oyster. He could fight any Alvarez, he could fight. GSP. Go back down to 5. GSP, like, there are so many different open money fights for him that guys who jump to take.

if he wins this fight. So it really, it's strange. It's such a weird scenario, man. Yeah, it is true. Okay, what do you do with Nate Diaz if he wins this fight? Does he get a title shot? I think, would you be surprised if he ends up fighting Eddie Alvarez? I would be surprised.

They have a history. Yeah. You know, they have a history. We did an interview with Nate in Mexico after Eddie Alvarez beat Gilbert Melendez, and Nate's talking all kinds of smack about him, and they had a bit of a run-in. I still feel like they'll go with Habib. Habib is a big star, especially here in New York, all the Russian fans.

But again, it's interesting, both guys, you win the fight, the world is your oyster. You can have fights from 170 to 155 for Connor, 170 to 145. It's really remarkable. In no other fight that I can think of, are there that many options laid out for the winner? If you lose, you kind of just have one option. Go back to where you came from. But if you win, you're the shock collar again, which I think is fascinating. It's one of the most bizarre fights that we've ever seen in terms of stakes, man,

especially like fights without a belt. Like I can't remember a fight without a belt on the line that has this many stakes in play for the guys involved, just like you said, with options. They've really, the way that him and Connor have come together and really kind of changed the way that fighters think is very interesting to me. I mean, you see, but now with Tyron and just all these guys calling for money fights. And that's not something that's happening. Eddie Alvers is doing the same thing.

That's not something that was happening a year ago. Great point. Typically, you'll be out there. I'll be out there. We do our little thing. I ask you for your prediction on Friday. Let me just ask you this. Do you know right now who you're picking?

I have a good idea. I'm about 80% of the way there. Wow. Can you give us a hint? 209. But I don't know. Okay. But you just said 80%.

So you're feeling pretty confident. I'm feeling confident about it. but you can never know what can change on fight weeks. Yeah, you're going to see them up close, get a feel for everything. All right, we'll see. I'll see you out there in Vegas, my man. I'm looking forward to it.

One thing we know for sure, it's going to be fun. It's going to be memorable. Yes, it always is. Great stuff with that piece. Really, really great stuff. Keep up the great work. I'll see you out there in Vegas. Thank you, Sean.

Sounds good, brother. Thank you. All right, there is. Sean Alshaddy of M.AFinding.com. If you have not read that piece, it is on our front page right now. I do suggest you check it out. Okay.

Let us move along. As I said, at the top of the show, one man who was supposed to be on this card was Damien Maya. It was supposed to be Damien Maya versus Carlos Condit. But they ended up moving it to August 27th, just a week later in Vancouver, British Columbia. It will main event UFC on Fox 21, five-round welterweight fight, a very important fight. You can make a case that the number one contender will come out of it. Of course, we're wondering what's happening with Wonderboy, but no doubt about it. A supremely important fight, and Damien Maya is joining us on the phone right now. Damian, are you there? Hey, yeah, I'm here. How are you doing? I'm doing great. How are you? Good, good. I'm good. Okay, a lot to talk to you about Damian. First, let me ask you, because UFC 202 was such a big card, you were originally on that card, were you disappointed when they moved you off

it? You know, I was, when Joe called Eduardo, you know, my manager, Eduardo, you know, I was training, Actually, I was in New York training at Marcellos Garcia Academy. You know, before, you know, just when the training finished, you know, I was going to the shower, I wanted to pin to me and said, look, Joe just call me and said to call him, you know, as soon as possible. And, you know, I was, I was afraid that the fire was off. That was, you know, that would be really, you know, sad for me.

But then, you know, they just moved to one week later. I think it's just different, you know. I think, you know, I got some feedback from the fans that, you know, they bought the ticket for Las Vegas and they want to see my fight and Carlos fight, you know, and they were kind of disappointed. But, you know, for me, it's the bad thing is that I would love to be in that car because it's great, no, 2,0-0-2, but at the same time, you know, I'm in the main event right now. you know, it's good to have a five-round fight because if I want to fight for the title, it's a great way to prepare for that, you know, and if I win this fight, you know,

I believe that I will fight for the time. So it's good to be in a five-round fight in a main fight in a main fight. Do you feel like the fact that it went from three rounds to five rounds helps you out is a factor in your favor as opposed to Carlos? No, I think it doesn't matter. I think, you know, Carlos, actually, for me, I think it will be the same. I just changed my camp. And Carlos is a guy who fights 12-5 rounds, and he's using with that,

and he grows during the fight. So, you know, can be better for him. For me, I think it doesn't matter. Carlos was on our show recently, maybe a couple of weeks ago, and we were talking about you and why maybe you haven't gotten the title shot yet, and just like your overall popularity in the UFC. And so I want to play this quick clip of what he said about you and then get your response. Is that okay?

Sorry? I want to play you a quick clip of what Carlos said about you and then get your response. Is that okay? Okay. Okay. Okay. Here's Carlos last week. excuse me, a couple weeks ago on the MAA

or talking about his opponent, Damia. He plays it safe. He's been playing it safe. And, you know, that's why he doesn't have. That's why he's not where he should be with regards to rankings or, you know, respect among welterweights. So he said, you play it safe.

And that's why maybe you don't get the respect that you deserve. What do you think of that statement? Yeah. I think, you know, what happens is more than fight safe. You know, my last fight, I made it look easier. And, you know, it was just look easier because it was not easy, easier fights. You know, all my last fights were, you know, against very tough guys. But I think when you fight, you know, I was able to put my game well.

And when I put my grain in, you know, I am able to, you know, pay my game well. looks like you know the fight become more you know safe in a way that

when the fight is more tight it's more exciting for the public and when you you're totally you know you're dominating somebody

and the guy has not too much chance maybe you know it's more like the public knows who it's gonna in so so you lose

the surprise factor of the fight and that's why it's not about playing safe because I was trying to submit all the time. I was trying to submit all my last fights. Actually, I submit

for example, the last three fights, I did two submissions, but for example, against Guna was trying all the time, but it's hard, but at the same time, my game, it should dominate the position. It should, don't lose. That's my, you know, my principal, the principal of

my Brazilian Shih Tzu game. So, um, it's just, you know, when you don't give chance to your opponent, I don't think that's play safe. That's a game plan.

And for him, he's more like, you know, when he's, and I admire his style, I think, you know, I like to see his fights. It's not because I'm in Jiu-Zit together. I don't like to see strikers, but it's more,

there's more chance that something an expect happens. And it makes the fight sometimes for, you know, people who are not chew into the technique that make more fun of the fight. For the record, I don't agree with his statement.

You said that, you know, the two of your last three fights, they have been finishes. It looks like you're always going for the finish, going for the kill. But earlier in your career, when you were perhaps less confident in your overall game, were you ever playing it safe? Is that a fair statement at any point in your career or no?

No, I think it was of the opposite, you know. I think at the first, when I just started in the UFC, I was really afraid to get the fight stand up again. So when I took the guys down, I would try to go to the submission

right away because I knew, I had like, you know, when there was the break of the grounds, the fight would be stand up again, and I was afraid of that. And nowadays, you know, I don't care. I know that I'm

safe. I have a safe game stand up and I'm able to put the guys down better than I used to do. So I just more patience to find the openings. And, you know, that's good. That's maybe I could get more submissions in the old style. But at the same time, if you move the position, that position is spent too much energy. And so I think now I'm more experienced and I just more patience to find the openings. Is this a guy that you have been thinking about? Like, is this the kind of fight that you've been looking forward to, that you've been wanting for a while, given his fun style?

Yeah, you know, I, like I said, I respect him, I like his style. I watch his fight against Robbie, you know, his side was there. And he's, you know, a former champion, an interim champion. So if I want to fight for the time, I got a fight, you know, I got a fight, you know, a guy like that. And he's a tough fight, you know, he's very unpredictable, he kicks, he knees, he elbows, he punches, and he's he pushing the pace all the time.

So it's a challenge for me, it's not, it's not, I know if I'm able to put my game, like I put in the last fight, I will be able to control the fight, but he's always pushing, he's not going to give up, you know. The only way to stop the fight for me is to submit him. And I know it's not easy because he's, I will be able to control the fight. We got to go jujur. So this is the second or maybe the third time in the interview that you mentioned the title. Have you been told that if you win this fight, you are getting a title shot?

You know, Eduardo always talks to the guys in the UFC, but we don't have nothing really concrete right now. Nothing really, like, sad. But, you know, I guess so I hope so at least. What do you make of the whole situation with Tyrone Woodley saying that he doesn't want to fight Wonderboy, that he wants to fight either Nick Diaz or GSP? Do you see where he's coming from,

or do you feel like this isn't the right way a champion should sort of act after winning the belt for the first time? You know, I think the champion, I think it always like that, you know. Maybe it's changing, but always the only that who couldn't choose his opponents was the champion.

The other, you know, they can, you know, try to ask for opponents and change and say what they prefer. But, you know, the champion, you're the champion, you're the champion, you're defend your title. You're not going to be, you know, should worry about who you're going to fight.

And I think you've got to be fair, you know. You've got to be fair if you're a champion. And, you know, fight with the, the better ranking guys because they deserve and our sport

is not just about make money our sport is about pride and honor martial arts and you know and to fight the best

so you feel just to be clear that he should fight Wonderboy next right? I hope you know for me of course

if I would say who I would say that I win, I would, you know, I would like him to fight me, but if they, but I won that boy for sure, you know, it's another guy because he's, he's, he's number one right now, right? Yes. Yeah, so, yeah, for sure he deserves. He deserves.

I hope they just do this fight fast. Yeah, well, it's actually interesting because here we have a situation where you're fighting next week, his next fight hasn't been booked, so. let's say two weeks from now, you're a free man, you think you're going to be Carlos Condit. If they go with Wonderboy, which Dana White said that they want to go with on Friday, if you want that title shot next, you're going to have to wait for a very long time, right? Yeah, but, you know, it's tough because, you know, when you're waiting, you're not, you're not being active.

And, you know, that's how it works. we live, you know, and make money with that. But at the same time, like I said, my dream is not, was never to get rich or something like that, you know. When I was training, when I was kid and when I was a teenager, to make money with fight wasn't even a thing that you would think about because it was just impossible. So, you know, I'm in this game because I want to be the champion.

So if I need to wait, and, of course, I need to win first and have a pretty tough fight ahead. So, you know, I cannot count it's bad. But if I win this fight, you know, like Tyrone did the same. Tyrone was off how long, year and a half, no waiting. And I don't think it will be so long. But, you know, it's tough if you think financially. How could this? Yeah, financially.

Yeah, your finance, but you know, my dream is bigger than that. You know, I can hold a little bit my, my, you know, my expenses and I live a little bit shorter in the money, but, you know, I would wait a little bit to fight for sure. Yeah, you wouldn't want to fight anyone else.

If and when you beat Carlos Condit, you feel like that's enough, right? Yeah, I think so. I think so. If I be here, it will be six in a row, and, you know, and with a lot of, you know, pretty tough opponents,

and 90 wins in these divisions, in this division. So I think it will be enough. You're in Sao Paulo right now, right? Yeah, I mean San Paulo right now. So you're not in Rio, the Olympics are in Rio, so you're not 100%

feeling that buzz but I'm sure there's buzz in the entire country let me I'm curious Jiu Jitsu do you think we'll ever see Jiu Jitsu in the Olympics

Yeah first of all I wish I could go there you know and if I was not in a training camp I would go there because I would love to watch

you know everything in the game in the games and but I'm watching on TV all the time I'm not trading all day, you know, and I'm not trading all day, you know, sitting and watching the Olympic Games. Anyways, I think, you know, what we miss is a very good opportunity to have the jiu-jitsu here in Brazil as a demonstration sport. Because every country has one sport to put, you know, it's great how the politics and the corruption works in Brazil, but they put both as the, you know, sport, you know, to take, I don't know how to call it there,

but they say like every, every country can put a sport just to test the sport, you know? If, and they put golf, and we don't have any tradition in golf in Brazil, but we don't have even too many golf cards here. And I don't know nobody who plays golf. So I don't know what's happening here. You know, a country like in Brazil who has, you know, about 200 million people. We're doing pretty bad in the sports because, you know, there is money there, but the money is moved to everywhere, but the athletes.

So some confederations, they get the money, but they, I don't know. you know, I saw a lot of athletes complaining that the money don't get to the athletes. So it's just, you know, a country like our country with just one gold medal is something crazy. You know, it's something really sad about our country. What do you think has a better chance in your lifetime of getting in the Olympics? MMA, mixed martial arts, or jiu-jitsu? I think jujitsu. I think jiu-jitsu.

How come? Or like no gizur jih Tzu, like, ABCC rules. Yeah. because MMA still people are, you know, a lot of people understand the sport, but I think the major of the population, if you get like especially the older people, they don't understand and they think it's still violent, so it will be hard to get at least for the next 10 years, I think, or 15 years. but Jiu-Gi Jiu-Gi-Zs or Nogi Jiu-ZC rules,

I think that's, you know, that's a chance, there's a chance to. We saw some sport that, you know, nobody knows, and nobody practicing Jiu-Zitsu or no-Gi. There's so many people around the world, and I think it eventually will be there. Which sport have you been enjoying watching the most? I like so many I like to watch

you know all the like running and everything you know I like to watch handball I like to watch volleyball

I like to watch judo boxing and wrestling and I was you know everything, you know. I mean, watch

every, Linky, the way, police thing, everything. Wow. The only thing I don't watch

too much and I'm in Brazil, so that's, that's weird, but, you know, I don't watch

soccer too much. Wow. Why? Because you get enough of it? I don't care, you know, I think,

you know, I, I respect much more the other athletes than the soccer players. Wow. I don't want to

say that everybody's like that, but, you know, A lot of soccer players, at least in Brazil, they are very spoiled. And they, some of them, they are not real athletes. They just, you know, they're born with a talent and they work. And once they get there, they don't care. And I like to see, like, the guys who work hard and the guys who get there and give

their blood. And I like to see most people, you know, and you see in the other sports, not too much in soccer. You know what's a lot of fun? Not in Brazil, I think. Fencing. You ever watch fencing? Sorry? Fencing, when they play with the sword

and they're wearing the mask and everything. You know that sport? Fencing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I watch it a little bit. It's fun. It's fun. I can watch it all day.

Okay, let me ask you this before we let you go. Of course, everyone's thinking this week about Connor McGregor versus Nate Diaz. Who's Damien Maia's pick? Who do you think wins the rematch? I think, I think, Diaz-we-Ru-Age. Oh.

How? Any idea? J-Jit-Too again? Tap some out? No, I think... Let me say. Yeah, maybe... Maybe...

If I would guess, I would say, T-K-O. T-K-O. Early, late? Yeah. Early or late? Five rounds five. You want to me to pick a round? Go.

Can you pick a round for us, please, Damien? Okay, second round. Second round. Okay, same thing as the first one. How about that? First one? No, that's what he won the first time, second round. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. But the first time was omission. Now I think we'll pick you. Okay, we'll find out.

So this week, it's that. Next week, it's Damien Maher versus Carlos Condit in Vancouver. I don't know if you've ever, have you been to Vancouver? That's right. You fought there, I think UFC, Was it 131? You were there? Something like that. Yeah, I don't remember. The number of what was against Mark Munoz.

Yep, yep, yep. I remember I was there. They had the wands, outdoors, overlooking the water and all that. Yeah, exactly. That's right. That's right. Yes, 131. Very nice.

The city is great. You know, it's a great place. It's a great place. I've been there after that for a seminar. Okay. It's a wonderful place. Best of luck to, Damon. Thank you.

Damien, thank you very much for the time. I'm looking forward to this main event very much. A little bit sad. It's not on this great card on Saturday, but we get five rounds, so that's a nice silver lining. Thanks for taking some time out and joining us today. Always a pleasure to talk to you. Always my pleasure. When I get in New York, I'm going to stop by again.

Perfect. We look forward to that. Thank you, Damien. Thank you. Bye, bye, bye, too. All right, there he is. Damien Maya. Big main event, Walterweight Division, coming up on Saturday night, August 27th.

in Vancouver, British Columbia. UFC on Fox 21. Okay, let's go back to UFC 202 now. As I mentioned, while talking to Sean, I mentioned this, I think, last week as well. One of my favorite aspects of this card is not only that we're getting the rematch between Connor and Nate Diaz, it's that they're playing off of one of the fun storylines

that developed sort of out of the blue that first press conference around 10 or so days before the fight at 196 in March, which was both Nate and Connor sort of talking smack about their training partners. Who trains with the better guys, whose team is better, et cetera, et cetera. So on Saturday, on the FS1 prelims, we're getting a protege of the Diaz brothers, young Chris Avila fighting Artim Lobov. This is brilliant. I love this.

We're talking to Artem right now on the Skype machine. There he is, the Russian Hammer himself, joining us from Las Vegas. Artem, how are you? I'm good. Thanks very much, Ariel. Thanks for having me on the show again. Yes, it is a pleasure as always, my friend. So, a lot to talk about here. Let me ask you this. After your fight against Alex White, of course, didn't go your way. Did you think that you would get one more shot in the UFC? To be honest, I wasn't one I'm sure. I knew it could go either way. I knew I was in the same situation as Uriah Hall after his ultimate fighter experience. three guys on the show and then he lost his first two and he did get another shot but many

guys don't so I was in a similar situation again you know I got the three knockouts on the show so that always sort of give puts you in a better place if you are an awkward artist you know it's a simple economics you know the demand is very high for knockouts and the supply is very very low especially at the federal division it's it's pretty much non-existent so with me being one of the few knockout artists, I knew there would be probably a bigger possibility for me to get an extra chance. Why has it not clicked for you? I mean, I know what happened in the Ryan Hall fight. It was very hard. His strength was sort of your weakness. But why has it not clicked for you thus far in the UFC? Why have you not been able to produce the knockouts that you were producing

on the ultimate fighter? I don't know, to be honest. I mean, it's, you know, people say, I know, in fight terms, you know, two fights, to lose to fights, that's huge, you know, that's like pretty much you've had a bad year. But in the bigger sort of way of things, it's, it's not that much. I mean, if you look at like football teams, you know, they often have, you know, two bad games and then they still win the season. So, you know, to have two bad fights, I mean, it's not really that big of a deal, you know, obviously in the UFC, things are very strict and this could be the end of your UFC. career but I feel that I do have the technique I do have the skill I do have those knockouts in me

and I feel that it will show going into the ultimate fighter it felt like you had something to prove you wanted to prove that you are UFC worthy that you deserve the shot and then you get all those knockouts and you make it to the final is it possible that now because of these two fights because of this experience you've been humbled a little bit and now you're going back to that old artem who is looking to prove things and not so much showing that he can knock people out. You just want to prove that you belong, that you can win, that you can be a contender in this organization. Has anything shifted in the way that you are approaching this fight as opposed to the two other fights in the UFC? Well, in terms of my style and what I plan

to do, nothing has changed. You know, I've been that way since my first fight. It's not even about, you know, I just want to not be. But I think it's to do with your personality as well. And this style of fighting, you know, goes with my personality. I want to go in there and I want to dominate, I want to destroy guys, you know. I never want to cuddle guys. I never want to, you know, grapple guys. So, I mean, this is how I fight. So in that sense, nothing has changed.

But yeah, you're absolutely right. I really want to get this win. You know, I do feel that I could be sprinting in the UFC. But before you can sprint, you have to walk. And this is going to be the first step. Before you were offered the fight against Chris, were you given some kind of confirmation, some kind of assurance that you are sticking around that you'll get one more shot in the UFC or was this the fight that kind of kept you around?

To be honest, what happened was I was, because I approached them and I said, look, I'm ready to go on short notice. And the feeling I got from the UFC is that I might not get another one. So I just started looking elsewhere, you know, and I had, you know, a pretty good fight lined up in Russia. You know, obviously I didn't want to take no easy fights again. So I found out who the best unsigned featherweight was outside of the UFC. And I approached. And I approached. You know, I approached them directly and I said, look, I want to fight your champ. And that fight seemed to be, you know, they want to put the fight on. And I message the UFC saying, okay, can I please get my release and, you know, I'm going to go and fight this guy. And this is when they offered me the

Chris Avila fight. So obviously, the goal always is to be in the UFC. So, you know, once they said that they were going to give me this fight, I was like, right, that's it. Then I'm not going to do anything else. I'm waiting for this fight. Before Connor's story with Nate Diaz started, before 196. Had you ever heard of Chris Avila before? No. I've never heard of this guy before. But, you know, having said that, obviously, they know that this is a war.

They know that this is going to be a big one. So if they have chosen him, you know, he must have skill. You know, he must be good. They must feel that he can beat me. So I'm not taking this lightly. What do you think of him now, now that you've been. preparing for him, thinking about him. Is he on your level?

Is he UFC caliber? He's never fought in the UFC before. So what do you make of him? Yeah, I mean, I can see by the way he fights, he's trying to be Nate. You know, he's trying to copy the style of the D.S. brothers, which is understandable. You know, they're the same team.

But I have said this before. It's not a good style to copy. You know, people always talk about how good Nate's boxing is. But if you look at his fights, he leaves most of his fights absolutely magnified. You know, blood everywhere. His style relies on being a very, very tough guy. It's a great style to watch.

You know, I love watching his fights, but it's not a good style to copy. Especially if you're going to face someone like me, with the kind of power that I have, no one hits as hard as I hit in the Federal Division. So, I don't know. He wants to copy that style against me. He wants to try and be laid. Best of luck to him. Is there anything that Chris does that really impresses you for young guys

or anything that you're kind of, wow, impressed by? Or is it all just kind of, you know, another opponent for you as far as his talent is concerned? Yeah, well, you know, there's one thing always kind of amaze me about him and the whole team, you know. Like he's, you know, he's only 20 years old, but he's got a dad bod. Yet his cardio is really good. You know, I don't know how they do that. That must be the munches or something, you know. They train hard, but they diet must be horrible.

I mean, how is this? fat. How do they look so fat? I never understand that. How can you look so fat and have such good courage? I mean, this is one of the things that always can amaze me. Maybe he's a dad. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe there's

I mean, yeah, I know. You know how they are over there in 2009? The Mexicans. I have no idea what you're talking about. If this whole situation wasn't playing out on Saturday, if it wasn't Connor versus Nate the rematch, do you think he would be in the UFC or do you think that they are playing off of this rivalry between the two camps?

Oh, yeah. Of course they are playing off of this rivaler, but I know he was signed to Bellator or something, and I know he, I think he fought for, what's the other big one, the world? World Series? World fighting. Yeah, World Series of fighting. I think he fought for them once. So I guess he was sort of, his name was, you know, up there in the mix, you know,

with the big organizations, but I know, I don't think he would be in the U.S. if it wasn't for this fight. Yeah, he fought one time in World Series of Fighting. He lost back in December of 2014. When you approach this fight, when you think about this fight, when you're getting ready mentally for the fight, do you view this as, you know, the 209 camp against SBG? Are you representing all your training partners when you fight him?

Are you thinking of it like that as well? Absolutely, yeah. I mean, you know, you've seen all those press conferences, you know, I took that one personally, you know, they're saying, oh, what's the quality of your training partners? Okay, that's fine. They questioned it. I never doubted the quality of Connors' training partners

because the results were there. He is a world champion. But, you know, they said it. They want some proof. They feel their training partners are better. They, you know, they set this fight up. Let's find out. That's the beauty of our game.

You don't need to wonder. Yeah. You can find out. It's very easily done. So we're going to do it now. UFC 2 August 20th. Do you also think about, I mean, just being honest, when I reported this fight,

a lot of the comments were, oh, Artem's still in the UFC, he's only sticking around the UFC because he's Connor's boy. I'm sure you hear this all the time on social media. Does a party you want to shut those people up as well? Do you think about that too? Of course. There's always many, many reasons

to win, you know, and you never ever want to lose, so that would be one of the reasons also, absolutely. Yeah. Okay. You guys have been for the most part training for this event in Las Vegas. So kind of like 189, not like 194, not like 196, but you've gone back to the McMansion and all that stuff. Do you like that better or would you prefer to be in Dublin and come out a week or two before? Yeah, I think I like this better to be honest. Why? You have to get used to the place where you're going to fight. You know, now it doesn't feel like travel.

It doesn't feel like a new place anymore. You know, this feels like just normal. You know, you wake up, you eat, and you go train. And on fight that you wake up, you eat and you go fight. So I do like it this way. And also this camp has a lot more structure to it than any other camp we've ever done. You know, I know exactly when I'm supposed to be eating, what I'm supposed to be eating.

I know exactly when I'm supposed to be trained. what I'm training the exact times. I know exactly when I sleep. So it's been very good in that sense. Much easier to make weight. At the media day on Friday, Connor spoke about that, saying that the training camp starts

at a specific time. It ends before. It was just kind of happening. There was no start, no end. You talked about the rest day, things like that. Was it ever like that for you guys and you drifted away from it, maybe because he got bigger

and there was so much going on? Or is this completely brand new for your team? It was a little bit like this back in the day, you know, where we had the structure and certain times of training. But it's never been as strict as it has been this time. I mean, this has been like very strict exactly specific training, never change anything. The exact times, exact meals, exact sleep patterns, you know, it's been very, very scientific. And you prefer that? Yeah, it was good.

I've never done this before. This was my first time ever trying this this way, and I've enjoyed it. You know, I could see the shape that I'm in now, you know, the best shape ever. It's just, it's been good. It's not been easy. It's been hard, you know, it's been harder, but it's certainly the results speak for themselves. Connor has talked about also bringing in guys who are sort of the same build as nay, to our lefties, you know, specifically training for that kind of opponent.

Have you done the same as well? Yeah, I've done the same. Conor Fluie inspiring partners for me also. Wow. Which would imitate Chris Avila style. And this is something that I've never done in my life. Wow. I've always just spired whoever was there.

You know, whoever is there, all the guys are good in SBG, so I never really paid attention to this. But this time, I specifically inspired the people that would kind of fight a similar way to him. So this has been a very, very good. good for me. I've never done this before. And, yeah. It's interesting, your nickname now is the Russian hammer. Back in the day you were the prospect killer, you could sort of label Chris Avila as a prospect.

I kind of feel like for this fight, you need to go back to the old nickname. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I don't mind, you know, that nickname, yeah, was good. I mean, those were good times, you know. I didn't just give that nickname to myself, you know. I've earned that, you know, and I put fear into all those up-and-comers or, you know, guys with parted record on the scene, you know, they were terrified, you know, now that I'm gone kind of

from the scene and I'm in the UFC, I can see them starting to talk again, you know, but don't sleep on me, you know, the prospect killer is always there. And if you talk too much, if you pad your record too much, I'm going to come get you. Like the boogeyman. What's going on with the hair, by the way? Are we shaving the head now? What's happening? Yeah, that's it. I mean, I don't know. Which story do you want? The real story or the one I've been telling people?

I want the real story. Okay, actually, give me both. I'm curious how the real story differs from the one you're telling people. Okay, well, the real story is that, you know, it's summertime. I'm going to Vegas. It's warm. All the guys on the team, you know, shave their head, so I said, you know, I'll do the same. But the real story is, you know, a time has come in a man's life when the hair is thinning out a little bit,

and it was time to get rid of it. So that's it. This is the new look right now? I think so, yeah. Okay, how do you feel about it? I don't know. We'll see. If I get the bonus, I might get the hair. We'll see. Don't do it. You get a scar on the back of your head. It's a total mess. At some point, you're going to have to get rid of it.

I'm only joking. I wouldn't do it anyway. Does Artem feel like this is do or die? Do you have to win this fight to remain in the UFC? Absolutely. I mean, in terms of remaining in the UFC, it's a must win for me. If I lost this one, even if they were offering me another chance, I wouldn't take it. Wow. Honestly, if I lost this fight and they said, okay, I item, don't worry. We'll give you another shot.

I'm like, no, guys, you know, I don't deserve this. I'm going to go somewhere else and, you know, I'm going to fight my way back in. So definitely, this is the other. Wow. Even if it's a close fight and you win like a razor, you lose a razor-close decision, you're saying thanks, but no thanks. Absolutely, 100%. you know i i you know i always feel you have to earn things you have to earn what you get and uh the position

i mean i feel that i've earned it you know i've done in europe that no one else is willing to do i fought everyone uh if you look at the guys now in top 20 guys in the uk in ireland uh none of them fight each other if you look at my record every single motherfucker on that record is top 10 so i've done that and obviously i had the three knockouts on the ultimate fighter which very very few people have done so i feel that's a big reason of why I'm here. So that's why I'm still here. But if I didn't feel at some point that I deserve something anymore, then I never want

to get it. I'm not a beggar. I'm an earner. Wow. And you are willing, I mean, obviously you're hoping this doesn't happen, but your career doesn't end with the UFC. You are okay with working your way back up. You're not going to stop fighting if things don't work out?

Absolutely, yeah. Okay. You know, I tried to stop fighting a few times in my life, you know, I'm just going to concentrate on other things. but I swear to God, I'm just, I'm addicted to this. I love fighting. Like, if I could fight every week, I would. I swear to God, I would fight every week.

Wow. What about, and I probably could have cross-referenced this. When's the last time you and Connor were on the same card? Do you remember? The last time on the same card, I can't remember, to be honest. The one that that stick out to me, and the reason that does stick out to me is because we're in a similar situation now. Yeah.

The time when Connor lost to Joe Duffy, I was on that card too, and I also lost my fight. Wow. So the two of us were the only two with the losses. The whole team fought on that card and they all got the wins and just me and Connor lost.

And there's a picture of it. You know, everyone is happy and the two of us are all sad. And that was kind of a defining moment in both of our careers because we came back from that. We came back stronger. Look where we are now.

And I feel that we're in the same situation now and we're going to come back from this stronger once again, prove everyone wrong and destroy the competition and get back on top. Do you enjoy training for the fight with him, like to fight on the same card, or would you prefer, you know, just being, like, how do you like, do you like this situation where you guys can peek together? Yeah, I definitely do like this situation. Yeah, it's good, you know, where you're sharing the same, you know, card, you know, you're training together, you know, you share, you know, thoughts, you know, you share ideas. It's very good. What's your prediction? How does it go down?

I think I'm stopping this guy I'm going out to destroy him I'm going to break his legs in the first round and I'm going to break his face in the second Now do you mean literally break his legs Or are you talking about like sort of Yes literally break his legs and break his face I've broken many faces in my time

If you don't believe me on the ultimate fighter even One of the guys Jenkins when I fought him I broke his orbital He didn't leave his room for days This is the kind of power I have I hate you your face is broken That's it Damn all right

Well, best of luck to you, Artem. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be fun. Thank you very much. I love this story. I think it's great that you're on the card. I think it's great that you're getting this opportunity. I love the fact that you're fighting Chris.

Can't wait for it. Appreciate the time over there. Thanks for taking out some time. We'll see you out there in Las Vegas. Thanks, Amelia. All right, there he is. The Russian Hammer, aka the prospect killer himself, Artem Lobov.

Big fight for him. Saturday, UFC 202 in Las Vegas. against protege of one Nate and Nick Diaz, Chris Avila. Looking forward to that. That, by the way, is not on the pay-per-view. That is on the FS-1 prelims. Okay, coming up next, we'll stick with the SBG theme. We're going to be joined by, I said at the top of the show,

it has been a tradition throughout Connor McGregor's UFC run to have the brains behind the entire Connor McGregor movement, the team over in Ireland, SBG Ireland. the now, there it is, well-respected author, the coach, the Don, John Kavanaugh himself. Prior to UFC 196, we couldn't make it happen due to travel reasons, but now we have corrected that and he is joining us via the magic of Skype. There he is, the familiar face himself, John Kavanaugh on the show. John, how are you? I'm very good, Ariel. Nice to be speaking to you. Yes, I was worried for a second. You were traveling back and forth, back and forth, but here we are.

The tradition is back. This is a sign of good things to come. I make mistakes, but I don't repeat them. So I wasn't going to skip again. Thank you very much for that. By the way, you were in Vegas for a while, and then you went back to Ireland. That's where you are right now. Why did you go back only to have to travel back to Las Vegas?

Why did you do that? So traditionally we have the European, the SBG European training camp on the second weekend of August. We've done it for the last 10 or 11 years. And so it's been booked since January. and when 200 would have announced, I tell it was perfect. You know, Conner's big fight would be out of the way, and then August is kind of quiet. And then it got changed to the, obviously, to August 20th.

And like I said, the SPG European training camp is always the second weekend. So I told Connor this was going to happen, and, you know, we've done 18 weeks together now. And for the last two weeks, it was going to be a taper down anyway. So I just nipped home for a couple of days. just at the finishing up the weekend training camp. I also had a small show I was promoting here, Wimtta Warrior, kind of a body, physical and mental transformation

where guys got the fights. So it was all happening last Saturday night, the show, and then over the weekend was the training camp. So that's all done and dusted now. I'm in my office here now. Orla's across from me, and we're just packing up here and we're getting ready to travel back to Vegas first thing in the morning. Back to the circus, you go.

How did Wimpto Warrior? I've been seeing it on your Instagram over the last few weeks, seeing all the young people training. How did it go on Saturday? It was absolutely phenomenal. It blew me away. Wasn't too sure what to expect on the night, but my God, everybody really brought it. Certainly no wimps were left, a bunch of warriors. And we had some really cracking contests, considering the guys of being trained in only five months, some really good skills.

But more than that was just the heart that they displayed. and I was so proud of everybody and I'm looking forward to doing another season of it. All right. As I mentioned, you have a book out. Tremendous. It's called Win or Learn. There it is right there.

And what's interesting about it, it came out in June or so. It would have timed very nicely with 200, but not that big of a deal when you consider everything that happened. You mentioned this line after Connor lost at 196. Was this always going to be the title?

Is this something that you've been saying throughout your career as a coach? and it just sort of happened to, because when I think of winner-learn, I think of 196 and what both of you were saying after that fight, and it coincides perfectly. Has this been a credo of yours throughout your career as a coach? Yeah, so the publishers actually wanted to call it out of the cage. Oh, no. No, no.

And, you know, it's a big publishing company, and we had a bit of a battle back and four. They said, you know what they're doing, and this worked well with focus groups and everything. And I said, look, you can keep the book. I'm not writing a book called Out of the Cage. And then they asked what would I like to call it. And like, Winner Learn has been a bit of a catchphrase that I've used my whole coaching career, you know, from being in the gym. You know, with Jiu-Zitsu, every time you roll, there's a loss if you want to say, you know, someone gets tapped out. But that's a learning process.

You actually can't get to a good level in J-Jitsu without losing millions of times. So, yeah, I guess I guess with the book launching just after. you know, the most famous fighter of SPG had a loss. And when people got to see how he dealt with it in the immediate aftermath, and now they'll get to see how he dealt with it in the months following it and the sort of training we've done and the learning we've done from that stumble, we'll prove the book title is not just a catchy phrase. Yeah, so it's interesting because obviously you didn't win that night,

but it seems like you guys have learned a lot, especially as a coach, because Connor and even Ardenham right before you just said, things are completely different this time around. There's a structure to the training camp. They're training for specific opponents. This is very even like how they're eating, all that stuff. My question is, why weren't you guys doing this in the past? Why?

I mean, it doesn't sound like you're reinventing the wheel here. So why have you completely changed things in this direction for this event? Well, you know, that was specific to Conner's training camps. Like each fighter has its own personality. and I'll model the training camp based around their personality. Some fighters, you can tell them what to do and set down a certain schedule. Some, you can't.

And, with Connor, he had his way of doing things, and it's hard to argue with somebody that's going out knocking out legends in 13 seconds. And so his system was working very well for him. But it obviously didn't in the last fight. So we said, look, what's it, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing with expecting different results.

So we wanted to change things up. I'm lucky that I have a good friend for a long time he's actually the guy behind the camera of MacLife and he was a he's an ex-professional cyclist and I like I said I know him very well I reached out to him and him and his team his teammate from back in the day who is now a doctor and there's not much they don't know about human performance

because being a cyclist it's not the most technically demanding sport you know as compared to say mixed martial arts I'm sure I'm going to get loads of tweets about the different cycling techniques. But in general, there's not a lot too other than having a huge engine. You know, it's just it's about your VO2 and it's about your heart, your cardiovascular system. So they know how to make a machine. And that's what we've spent the last 17 and 18 weeks doing is putting, is upgrading Conner's engine. You know, now it's a supercharged 800 horsepower, 5-liter American muscle car type engine.

And then on top of that, of course, we've been working on some of the technical errors. And what we do every training camp is try to get better at all areas. You know, I got a lot of tweets there. How much time are we doing on Jiu-Suitzoo? But the same as we've always been doing because we're all – I was just thinking we did a six-day, a six-day training cycle. And of the six days, only one did not involve Jiu-Jitsu or grappling because only one was a boxing day.

But every other day has grappling in at jiu-suitzu striking. You know, we're always training. Obviously, we'll see how things play out on Saturday. But as far as Connor's career is concerned, are you going to stick to this type of format for his training camps from here on now? Do you like the results, you know, Monday before the fight? Do you like how it's gone? Or does it alter before every fight, every opponent?

Yeah, so this is 100% the way forward from now. It would have always been my personal choice. approach. I am kind of like that. I like structure, I like, I like order. I like to know what I'm doing. Conner's more of a sort of free-flown, artistic type of personality. I know as well, I remember back in the day watching the Mayweather, how he trained. And sometimes he'd wake up at 2 a.m. and call a few guys and go for a run and then hit paths. But like I said, bringing in this performance specialist and explaining, you know, your hormone levels at different times the day. There's a reason why Olympic records are usually broken around about 3 p.m. in the day,

as opposed to two in the morning. So a lot of simple things that were being overlooked, and I'll hold my hand up to that. I didn't come from like a, you know, sports science background. I came from an engineer, and I was always obsessed with the technique of martial art, but I'm learning about the weight-cutting side of things. I'm learning about the performance side of things, but we've outsourced that, we subcontracted it, we brought in a specialist, and I've, I've, I've learned probably more in the last 18 weeks than I learned in the last 18 years of training. So not only is Connor benefit from that, I benefit from it, and the next wave of SBG fighters will all benefit from this.

So I've said it before, but I've said again that I truly believe that March 5th, that loss in retrospect, in a few years' time, will be seen to be a turning point for the better and probably the most positive thing that's happened the team as a whole. Did you have a heart to heart with Connor at any point after that fight? Did you sit down just you and him? It all started with just you and him. No entourage, no trainers, no nothing, no celebrity. Did you ever sit down with him after 196 and say, look, we need, if we're going to do this again,

if we're going to get this fight again, if we're going to show the world that we're the best, we need to change this, this and that. Did that conversation ever happen between just you two? 100%. It happened the night of the loss. Oh, wow. We were about two or three hours together on the night of the loss, just talking about it.

In truth, with a few drinks in our hands at the corner of a nightclub. But that was the beginning of it. And then, of course, we did from then on. And like I said, I had this friend, Colin Byrne, and I reached out to him. And, you know, I told Connor, this is something I believe we have to do. We have to change things up. And in fairness to him, he 100% embraced it. And I was kind of surprised that these guys were out to get him out of bed early.

in the morning and get him following this routine. But once he got into it, Connor has this mentality. He can be sometimes hard to get onto something, but when he's on it, he's obsessed about it. He's absolutely obsessive. Now he's even more about structure than I am. So it's being fantastic. You said, I believe it was in an article last week on the 42.I.E., you do these sort of journals from time to time for them, especially revolving the big fights.

You said that your reputation is at stake here in this fight. that's a lot of pressure to put on yourself. Do you truly believe that? Yes, I do. I think this has been a, not everybody would have had the opportunity to do what we've done in that corner, obviously because of his position in the UFC

and his status was able to get the rematch right away. Yeah. And we've had plenty of time to train for this. We've, that's all I've really done since March 5th. This has been an obsession for both of us. And I truly believe we have. I've all, you know, kind of money was no object for the training camp. Time was no object for the training camp.

I've got great coaches here in SBG that I could travel for as much as I wanted. You know, they covered classes for me. The whole team is behind them. This means a lot to everybody on the team. And I do truly believe that this is an opportunity for us to show that we will have losses. We'll have stumbles, but we come back a hell of a lot better and we learn a lot from it. And I don't think this, I truly believe that this performance will show the technical superiority of Connor and our superiority in our approach to the contest and in our training methods. So, yeah, I am putting a lot on this fight.

So, but when you say your reputation is at stake, I mean, as you know, a fight is a fight, anything can happen. What will they then, let's say it doesn't go your way on Saturday. I know this is something you don't want to think about, but then you have people saying that, oh, SBG is not for real. you're not for real. I mean, to say your reputation, you've done a lot more than one fight. Yeah. No, that's very true. I'm not too worried about what they say, by the way. Fair enough. No matter what happens on Saturday night, I'm going to hear a lot. One or the other. But like I said, I think the first round of the fight was all Connor.

I'm sure the three judges scored it for Connor. I think there is a technical superiority already there. I don't think that will have changed with 18 weeks training. I don't think Nate will have been able to catch up on that. Clearly, the way the contest ended, there was a substantial conditioning difference between the two of them. And that's what we've changed. I think skill-wise, it takes maybe 10 years, the 10,000 error rule to get to a mastery level and something.

But conditioning-wise, 18 weeks is a lifetime. And we've had measurable, massive increases in endurance training. So put those two things together. You know, I've said in another interview. It's kind of like that sort of Randy Gartor style engine, you know,

they never stop. So you could maybe use an idea as an example of that. And then with that BJ Pan, you know, super high skill level to go on top of that. And again, I'd use Connor McGregor for that now. And so I really think he's the somewhat perfect MMA fighter now.

18 weeks is a long time. for one fight. Did you ever fear that he might burn out a little early? Did you ever have to take the foot off the gas? Because that's not your typical training camp. Of course, he was supposed to fight at 200. Then you got a month and a half extra. So how did you work around that? Yeah, that's a good question. It was another one I was tweeted a lot. So it certainly would have been with the old approach. If we'd have approached this, even like the Mendez fight, where it was pretty much trained seven days a week. Maybe the seven day was lighter, but We almost went to the gym every single day.

But this way, and you've probably heard Connor talk about himself, the three days on, one day off, you can kind of go hard because you see that break coming up. It's not sort of a never-ending, you know, okay, 12 weeks to go or 18 weeks to go. This is how I'd like to keep Connor training year-round, to be honest. I don't see any reason why not to continue this in this kind of this sort of cycle, which matches are sort of, like I said, this kind of hormonal cycle we go through weekly and monthly and months. monthly anyway. So with this approach, we were able to do an extend the training camp because it was three days on, one day off, three weeks on, one week, active rest week. So we were kind of, if you imagine like a sawtooth on a saw, you know, kind of like jagged. We were constantly kind of working our way up with little back steps, little breaks. And now here we are where

it'll be in, I think, 20 weeks altogether by the time he steps in there. But speaking to him yesterday, the tapering down process has begun already. And the last cycle was particularly tough. And it was expected, the performance coach said, to expect this, that by the end of it you're going to be weary and sore and tired and, you know, a bit kind of done. But that's the idea because then we go into the two-week tapering phase. We're one week into that.

And speaking them yesterday with, you know, having George Lockhart out there as well, you know, making sure the right field is going in. and he is absolutely buzzing. I've never seen him like this six days out from a fight. Six days out from a fight is normally you've got to creep around the house a little bit because the weight cuts in and tired of training at this stage and all the media obligations whereas we didn't really have to do all that much this time. There's no weight to be cut.

The training went perfect and he's like a kid on Christmas Eve. That actually was my next question. Because way less media, because you know from the get-com, you don't have to cut as much weight because there's no travel you're in Vegas. Would you say as far as Conner's UFC career is concerned that this has been the most enjoyable training camp? Yeah, 100%. This has been the best that we've ever done.

It's just been the perfect combination. You know, like we said from the start, it wasn't that there was, we don't want to do any media for the, just, do any media for the 201, but they were going to do it. to try and bring us out for a press conference 12 weeks out which is when you know the heavy cycle of training was beginning and you're all over the place with time zones and whereas now we're we're starting to do quite a lot more media you're going to see a lot more things coming out now over you know over the next few days obviously to help with pay-per-view and ticket sales and whatnot and but that's okay now's the time to do that because the training is done I've seen

Nate did a hell of a lot more this time I'm curious to know how he felt having to do all that and the reality of cameras falling around the whole time and everybody's sticking cameras in his face and I suppose it's going to be easier this time you had a full training camp you know, that pressure building on his shoulders I'm not sure how that's affecting him but I know for us it's without a close second

being the most fun we've had and the most enjoyable and the most learning training camp we've ever done. Are you expecting the same kind of home field advantage for lack of a better word in Vegas because I've been hearing from a lot of the Irish fans that look it's just hard to keep going from Ireland into Vegas, plus a lot of them went to 200 because they were expecting that he'd be on there.

They couldn't cancel. What kind of scene are you expecting this week in Las Vegas? I definitely think it's going to be a hell of a lot less Irish people there for the reasons you said. You know, you can only keep this up for so long. But they're so vocal. I imagine I can kind of see the crowd being maybe you're going to hear the USA chance going and the All-A, All-A chance going from the Irish.

So it'll be a lot more. even than let's say the Siever fight or the, you know, the Porier fight, it's not going to be one-sided with the Irish shouting down. So I think it'll actually make for even a more fun atmosphere because it'll be kind of 50-50. Well, not 50-50 numbers-wise, but I think 50-50 noise-wise because we're such a noisy bunch. But I'm looking forward to, you know, obviously,

Artham and his teammate Chris kind of kicking it all off, getting that kind of rivalry going, that team against team going. you know, the crowd feeding off that and then to build up and then finally, of course, Conorinate walking out. So, you know, I'm a fan of the sport as well. I love fight nights. I love the atmosphere at them. So I'm looking forward to drinking it all in. And when I walk out, I'm definitely going to take a moment to look around and enjoy the moment because these are these are snapshots that I want to talk to my kids about, you know, in a few decades. Did he have to convince you to be on board with this fight? Was there a moment where he had to sort of, get you on board with it as well because I recall talking to you after 196 and you were saying maybe 155 maybe 145 there wasn't a lot of talk about the rematch right off the bad it happened shortly thereafter but did you need to almost convince yourself as well that this is the right thing for your guy you know I Connor has done a far better job of self-managing than I wouldn't poke my nose in there he's look look where he is after such a short period and you always say three years but one of one of those three years was out with an injury so

So in such a short time, he was able to navigate himself through and make the smart decisions. So for me, the right fight is the one that he wants because you're going to be most interested and push yourself the hardest for the fight that motivates you. For me to sit down and try to convince him to defend the belt or go for the 155, then the training camp is not going to be as fun because in the back of his head, he's going to bed with one man on his mind, as opposed to who he's facing. So when you see your athlete is so driven towards one contest, your job as a coach is to support that,

not to try to change that. Okay, so for you, you know, I remember last time you told me after the fact that he was a little bit not feeling. Well, there were some things that came up the week of the 196 fight. As we approach Vegas, as you go back to the circus, is there one thing that you keep thinking about, whether it's the weak, you know, leading up to Wayans and the fight or the fight itself,

if we could just get this out of the way, if we could just get this, if this falls in our favor, we are good. Is there a thing that you keep bringing up in your mind over and over again? Like, we just need to get over this hump and we're good. Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah, I think so. But that's something I try and do during the training camp. I've always said that when I, by the time it comes to walk out, and even now I feel it in my stomach, because you can't lie for yourself. If you're lying about at 2 in the morning and something is on your mind

and maybe you can convince even your wife or your best friend you're okay, but the little voice in the back of your head will scream and keep you awake. And I've definitely had that over the years, but I really feel nothing now because we did so much, we did everything that could possibly be done.

And I know when we walk out there on Saturday night that I'm going to walk to that cage with a small smile on my face because I feel the absolute, no weight on my shoulders. I feel like there's no part of me saying, God, I wish we could go back four weeks and do this, that and the other. I will say that for me, not for Connor, but for me, the extra couple of weeks with the change from 200 to 202 was just a little cherry on the top. You know, that was just the kind of icing on the cake. Based on the cycles we've been doing,

we would have been halfway through a previous cycle for that one, but we actually got to complete another cycle on a half since then. So for me, That was actually a little bonus to get those few extra weeks. So walking to that cage, I'm just looking forward to watching two great fighters. Both of them trained to the best of their abilities with a great backstory. And we're going to see some, I think, a fight for the ages. I think this is going to be a really spectacular fight. A couple more things.

You said that your reputation is at stake. Do you believe that Conner's reputation is at stake as well in this fight? well every every fighter's reputation is at stake every fight you know we compete so little compared you know I heard art I'm talking about soccer there just

just just just previously we compete so little compared to other sports you know two or three times a year there's always such a buildup for every fight and every fight you're going to be remembered on your last performance so of course Connor you know he chased this

fight which I if I'm not part of the camp I'm just looking at, I'm going, wow, he went for the, probably the hardest fight he could go for. Rather than, you know, a rematch Rialdo or a 55 fight, he went for the hardest fight possible. That, first of all, I have to give a massive nod of respect for that. But, so he's obviously feeling that he has something to prove. And he does, you know, he's talked, he said what he's going to do in this contest. We slipped on the last one.

we've had everything perfect for this one. Nate's an ideal, I think, style opponent for the likes of Connor. With the strategy down, I feel I could tell you kind of second by second what's going to happen in all the rounds. I've just done it so many times in my head. The plan is so strong in my head that I'd almost like to kind of record something and prove it's the day before and then show the day after because I really kind of feel I know how the fight's going to go around by round.

Well, how about this? We have a show right here and we can replay it next week. The floor is yours. How is it going to play out on Saturday? Give us the preview. I can't quite show my hand just yet. If I was the enemy, I would definitely be watching this interview. So we can't quite show the cards just yet.

But like I said, as a team, every night you might see some of the pictures. Connors always goes a bit extravagant with the house of the Mac Mansion. and we have a beautiful cinema in the house. And every night we were finishing our days by watching tape, either was sparring or watching every fight Nate's done since he was 16. So that's just all we've done. So we're truly living for this. Okay, I won't ask you about the script, but what about the finish?

Is there a finish that sticks out? Do you see a finish? Do you see a round? I know you've talked about the fourth round, I believe. Here we are five days before. Can we go on the record with the finish? Yeah, I mean, you've got a, you know, Nate's only being stopped with strikes, one, I believe once with that head kick. Yeah.

It's, you know, Connor, you know, I mean, Connor sort of have a little mini beck on. He's saying two, I'm saying four. I guess I guess we'll find out. I just think Nate's number, if you were to have like, you know, those kind of baseball cards or cards where you list different skills. Definitely his 10 is ability to take punishment. as Artem has said, that's kind of a almost maybe a little bit of a dangerous trait to have that they can just walk through shots. Very exciting style to watch.

Personally, I'd be a little bit worried about my guy taking that amount of punishment every single fight, but he can't take it. He seems to eat it up, so I find it hard to see a stoppage coming early because of that. So I think it's going to be cumulative damage by the fort. it'll be called a TKO. That's what a TKO stoppage is when it's, you know, just true to damage. So I think it's going to be round four TKO towards the end of the round. Last thing, and forgive me for asking this,

but already, you know, Dana White's talking last week about the next fight 145 title. Do you guys already know what's next? Is it possible that he can go from 170 to 145 in his next fight perhaps in just three months' time? Well, to answer that, The weight he's at now would be typical for the weight he would be 12 or 14 weeks out from a fight. So a lot of being made of that. But he was always around about 165, 168. That length of time out from a 145 fight.

He's never missed weight. So could he do it? Yes. That's absolute given. What is going to be the next fight? Well, I've seen your lineup. and apparently have the man on himself, so I guess he'll give you a bit of feedback on that.

I know I haven't actually sat down and have a conversation with Connor about this. I've seen him mentioning interviews, and I've given my opinion in interviews. Me and him will talk about it after this fight because we're so engrossed in this fight. I don't want to take away from the attention of it, and I don't want to start talking to him

and starting to live in the future about, whether it's November in New York, and is it, who is it? This is our... focus. Our focus is Saturday night, Nate Diaz, and that's what our life is about at the moment. And this is the biggest one of them all. Will we be speaking on Monday?

If you will have me on, I will gladly come on. I don't like to break tradition, my friend. We did it right, and I talked about the beginning. That is part of the tradition. As you know, you held up your end of the bargain last time, which was supremely impressive. I just wanted to get it for the record. Can I just say one thing? Well, I have to the mic. I got a lot of messages from the Irish fans about the fight past decision to remove main events. I personally wrote to Eric Winter, I sure I have his name right, I tweeted him and had it back and forward and pled the case.

I think the Irish fans give me a lot more credit than I deserve for having any kind of influence of that. But they've been tweeting be nonstop since, so I'll say that I definitely have your backs. I did what I could, but they're not going to change on this. Personally, I think it's a poorer move on their behalf, and I said that. I think it's bad for them to do it's so close to an obvious fight that all the Irish and all the European fans want. And again, I said that, and he just kind of said so. So I apologize to the Irish fans. I was not able to twist around a little bit more, but that's, it is what it is.

You are a man of the people, and I respect that greatly about you. And they've been asking me the same thing, but you have way more pull than I do, so I'm happy that you did it, so I didn't have to. I give it one quick shout out as well on Thursday night. Yes, please. Yeah, I'll be in Re-Raws in Mandalay Bay, the Irish Bar, and I have a small event on with Q&A and talk about the book and talk about the upcoming fight and talk about the journey of SBG as a whole. So you can only get tickets from the bar themselves.

You can't know online thing. I wasn't able to set it up in time. Apologies for that. So it's just kind of first come first there. So any Irish in town or any fans in town, that are looking to do something after the Thursday is the open workout. So we're going to go do the open workout and go straight from there to REROS and have a bit of fun with the fans, have a bit of back and forward, a bit of chat.

And then we're staying in the Red Rock, the Thursday night for the way in Friday morning. A bit of a crack, if you will. A bit of crack, good man. And the book, where can people get it anywhere, right? Amazon, any website worldwide. Yeah, I get a lot of people tweeting me. Amazon seemed to be out of it at the moment. Oh, wow.

But on my Twitter account in my bio, there's a link there, free shipping worldwide. The Russia, it's just been sold the rights to a rushing publishing firm, so it's going to be translated to Russian. I have heard a few other countries have spoken about buying the rights to have it translated to a few other languages. But yeah, English and Russian so far. That is great. Who would have thought? It's just crazy. That is amazing.

Unbelievable. You're a good man. Thank you so much, John. I appreciate you taking out some time before your trip. What a pleasure it is to pick your brain before this mammoth fight. Best of luck to you in the team, and I look forward, as always, to seeing you out there in Las Vegas. Thank you so much, and Orla says, hi.

Hello, Orla. Hi. Looking forward to seeing you as well on the whole team. A pleasure. Thank you for keeping the tradition alive. We are back on track. Thank you, John Kavanaugh. There he is, head coach for Connor McGregor,

head coach over at SBG Ireland. What a pleasure to speak to him, Amir, five days before. UFC 2002. Okay, switching things up a little bit on the program. Apparently in classic Diaz fashion, young Chris Avila is missing in action, but that is okay because our in studio guest is in the house. That is Jeff Boris of the Professional Fighters Association. That was launched late last week, Thursday morning, to be exact, and it has raised a lot of questions, a lot of lot of chatter, some criticism. A lot of people talking about what this group is, who they are, what they're aiming to do. So we're going to answer all those questions. We're going to

reconfigure the studio here, set up the second mic. You know the drill by now. And we'll welcome in Jeff Boris, who if you're a longtime sports fan, you have definitely heard of his name, longtime sports agent for the likes of Barry Bonds, Bobby Benia, Ricky Henderson, a lot of big names, a lot of big stars from the world of professional baseball. So this is going to be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it very much. So we'll take a quick break. Speaking of Connor McGregor,

he held a media day in Las Vegas last Friday. It was at his makeshift gym over there that you've no doubt heard a lot about. Held court for around 30 minutes. We'll play some of that as we reconfigure things. Welcome in Jeff Boris and we'll be back in a minute right here on the MMA hour. You handled yourself like a professional. You received a lot of praise for showing up the press conference

and handling yourself the way that you did. But talk about the few days after that, when things started to sink in, you were away from the media. What was the emotion like for the first couple of days after the loss? You know, it's something that you, it's part of the game, you just gotta take it.

It ain't nice. Now the highs are very, very high, and the lows are low, but you suck it up, and break it down into what went wrong, and correct the mistakes. This is the game we are in, it's a crazy, crazy business. Nobody makes it out of this game unscathed.

All you've got to do is look through the history books. So, I look back at the contest and I enjoyed the contest. And that's it. I made my plans for revenge, and that's it. The weeks after that, we kind of all wondered what was going to be next for you. And Dana would say, Conner's obsessed with this rematch, man. He's obsessed with it. Do you think that's a fair characterization?

And if so, why are you obsessed with having it at 170 pounds? when truthfully neither one of you guys are welterweight, so why not change the terms a little? He's more than a well to weight now. He's about 200 pounds. He's been enjoying himself. But I couldn't make it at any other way to accept the weight that I was defeated at.

It would have raised questions. I feel it would have defeated the purpose of what this is about. I feel I was completely in control of the contest. I was slapping the head off, and let's be real here. So that's it, I just wanted to keep it as is. Have my training camp in preparation for that frame, for that larger amount, and that's it.

And I wanted no changes, so I got it. And we've heard a lot about the changes in your training camp and the way you're approaching it differently this time. Can you talk about how that was developed, the decisions that were made, were these decisions you made, your coaches made? How was it developed? You know, nobody can compare to my eyes and how it's how it. this is all shaped about myself my coach my team everyone involved in this our life has changed so so quick so we were forced to kind of look at how we were preparing for these contests you know it got it got complacent they got we'll show up anytime we'll

train whatever we feel like we'll hit them and they fall and on top of that everyone has their own commitments everyone has you know the amount of stuff I have John my coach has like book out now and you know everyone that has been involved in my camp had a crazy change in their entire life so this one it forced us to look at how we prepare and it forced us to come back together and and do what we've been doing from the beginning you know focus solid work this time we incorporated structure into the game I feel structure is the true key to success you can get you can get a reasonable reasonable amount of success and by just winging it and

just go on as you feel but I feel true to reach the true heights with you know to reach the billions the amount of stuff that comes along with this life you've got to have a structured life you've got to live a life of structure and you can't stray from that and that's what we've done we've we've set training times we've set schedules and we've stuck to it and I've responded really well and another thing that we used to never do was rest was never really you know it was We just train until it was five time. This time we had a set days and we had our rest days.

So I knew what days were and the days prior to that I would walk hard in anticipation for this rest day. And when that rest day came, I would take my rest and I would not have this anxiety feeling where I must train again because that's what happens so a lot of people. They train out of anxiety and it's like, I'd be sitting there at 11 o'clock at night and be like, and I've just done 100 rounds this week,

and it's Sunday and I'm supposed to take a day off and I'm like twitching and saying fuck and I'm gonna go do another session and then I'll go work so everything was structured I take my rest I walk when I work the session starts and ends that's another thing that we drifted off the session never really started or ended sometimes I'd be in the gym for like eight eight to ten hours a day just rolling through not really anything specific after the fight game that's not that's not that's not the correct approach it's a five-minute round with a one minute rest.

You need to be prepared for that. That's what the contest is. You need to be able to go from zero to 100, rest and go again, rather than a continuous training cycle where you're in the gym, half training for many hours a day. That's not beneficial to what we are doing in the fight. So these are just changes that we've implemented. And again, I've responded amazingly.

Usually at the end of camp, I'm like, I can't wait for this camp to end, or I'm sick of training, or I'm banged up. I am absolutely perfect. Like this time last camp I remember, I was in a bad way. You know, everything was just the opponent changed. The whole circus was kicking off again when it only had just happened. And I was over trained and well now here I am fresh, full of energy, full of vitality,

underweight. I know he's close to 200 pounds. So he has a weight cut. That's what happens. You eat and you get comfortable. All of a sudden that weighing day creeps up and you've got a weigh in. And so it couldn't have went smoother for me and I'm very happy with it. I brought out a full team of people to help me from home and from abroad and from everywhere.

Everyone has been on the same path. It's been a phenomenal camp and I look forward to showcasing what I have been doing in the gym. Playing this makeshift gym that we built for you here in Vegas and why you want to pull you stuff up here? Yeah, well, one of the battles I've had with the UFC, the ongoing battle is the media obligations. Obviously, I was pulled from 200. it and but they came back with a lot of new ones and I was like look okay I'll do certain amount of stuff but I want the gym hook me up a gym and then we went back and forth and that didn't happen and then the UFC gym people which is like a

separate and separate to the UFC they they they're the UFC brand they said they would build a gym for me they built this gym up but I sourced the location for it and I got the location but they built it like within a day so that that was perfect for me we in here full octagon canvas dolomar mats heavy bags and all the the equipment I needed they they assisted with that so and that this could be the start of a relationship with the UFC gym maybe I will take the European rights and bring the UFC gyms all across Europe and we'll see we're in

current talks with that but I'm grateful for for further help in this one you mentioned evening around 20 pounds how much are you waiting right now I'm wonder wait I wake up I'm on wait I wake up on weight. And speaking of Wade, Dana White said today to UFC.com that you'll definitely be going to 145 next to defend the belt against Jose Aldo. Is that accurate? Is that what the plan is?

Yeah, I read that, you know, we'll see. We'll see. There's a lot to still happen yet. So I'm going to go in here, face this man, do what I know I can do, put him away, and then we'll talk. but we'll see I think aside from that aside from opponent New York has always been

on your radar as a place where you wanted to fight obviously that fight is coming up in November pretty close to right now is that still on your radar is that still what you want again we'll see there's a lot there's a lot going on in the background there's a lot happening there's a lot of options available so I'm just trying to stay focused on the task at hand

I certainly want to fight closer to home you know I've fought so many times I'm very very active as you know I've fought out here in Las Vegas. It's a long trip from Ireland, so New York is setting me closer. There's a lot of Irish in New York. I would like to fight there.

I think I've earned a chance to fight in my hometown also, you know. So these are things that I want to deal. But right now we are in Las Vegas, in city, the desert, and we've got business to handle. So that's what I'm doing here. Connor, much has been made of the fact that Nate Diaz has been able to have a full camp to prepare for you this time. But you've also had a full camp to prepare for him this time, which is not something you had last time

time. Do you feel like that's made a positive difference on you that you've noticed? It's certainly made a positive difference for me. I've experienced that motion, that range, that weight time and time again in the camp. How can I not make it positive feeling for me? I'm interested to see what the boy has done with a full camp. He was talking all this, oh, well, I didn't have a full camp, and that's the reason I got my ass with the most of the fight until he couldn't move my ass no more. And so let's see what he has. Let's see what his full camp is done. I believe I am the better fighter by a long stretch. I am more skilled. I am faster. I am smarter. He is tough, durable and big. That's it.

So let's see what his full camp can do. He spoke a big game about it. He has had a long camp. Let's see. By your own standards, there's been probably less trash talking to build up to this fight from you than others. Does it seem unfamiliar to you or has it actually helped your focus? I don't, again, this trash talk thing, I don't know, I'm, I simply feel I'm speaking the truth every time. It's been the same, it feels to me. It's been no different. I don't feel there's been any lesser anymore.

It's just been the same. So I'm still saying I'm going to go out there and slap that big, heavy bag with eyeballs around the ring. And that's it. It's the same thing. And lastly, you seem a little non-committal as far as what might be waiting for you at 145 if you ever returned to that. But has the thought occurred to you that contractually, you're obviously still headlining pay-per-views and non-title fights at higher-weight classes, that you could benefit contractually from continuing to headline these paper views,

actually not hold the title and play out the contract and not be beholden to a champion's clause. So you say that one more time, please. Okay. Has it occurred to you that because you're still able to headline pay-per-views at higher-weight classes, that if you don't return to 1-45, let's see your strip to the title, that you could actually benefit contractually because you could play out your contract, headline pay-per-views, and then not be beholden to a champion's clause?

Man, you know, I don't know. I'm just taking a one-fay-a-time. The contract's sweet as-play, and... But it's most sadly a new time. There's new owners. Four billion this baby was... sold for I believe I'm a strong leasing.

Boy that price tag was 4 billion, so this contract is great. I feel the next one will be even better. Conner, you were talking about overtraining last time, and you mentioned the other day on Instagram that you already did like more than 410 rounds. How do you face yourself in those rounds to not really overtrain this time? Again, like I said, it was like three days on, one day off,

three weeks active, or three weeks on, one week active rest. So I had three days intense work. And then I had that day four was an active rest day where I chill and I stretch and I focus on my balance and just keep my body, body correct. And then back in for another three day four. So that really helped me. I could see the rest ahead of me.

So I would push for those three days, I would push hard and then I had my day rest. And you know, with the amount of stuff that comes on, I had that, I had that, I would always almost push stuff to that day, okay, I'm gonna handle this on this day, if there was business issues or whatever. It would be on my active rest day. So it couldn't have been perfect. Three solid hard days, one day rest and carry on. Again, I was monitoring my heart rate. If my heart rate was up in the mornings, maybe the day would come, the rest day would come earlier or later dependent. If I woke up on that active rest day and my heart rate was low, I would go again and take the rest day the following day.

So it has been very methodical in our approach. And like I said, I responded amazingly to it. I am full of energy. I am fresh. I am underweight. So I'm happy. You also mentioned that you spend a lot of money. All right, back on the mixed martial arts hour.

Ariel Hawani here in our New York City studio. Okay, this is very exciting. We have an in-studio guest. I talked about it before the break. We've been talking about it since last week when they officially announced the Professional Fighters Association officially announced. officially announced Thursday morning, and one of the faces behind it, one of the leaders behind it, is our guest in studio right now. His name is Jeff Boris, long-time sports agent, primarily

over the last few years working in the world of professional baseball, but he is front and center on this one, and we are privileged to have him in studio here on the show. Jeff, how are you? Good. Thanks for having me on here. Pleasure to have you on. Thank you so much for joining us here today. Okay, so there's a lot to discuss here. This is a very interesting topic. Okay, here's the first question right off the top. When did you first come up with the idea of launching something like this? When did you first start thinking that this is something that needed to happen in MMA? Well, it was January, and I was doing baseball salary arbitration cases for the Balangie Group. And at that time, Lloyd Pearson had just done the first bout agreement with McGregor Diaz.

And he came up to me and he said, would you take a look at the bout agreement and the promotional agreement and has to have another set of eyes look at it. So I said, okay. And I read it, and I couldn't believe what I was reading. I said, this isn't valid. This isn't enforceable. This won't fly. This has to be changed. And he said, this is the way how the UFC does their business. And then I started learning more and more about it. We went to their headquarters, had a meeting with Lorenzo and Dana. And I brought it up. I said, at the time, I said, Dana, how come these fighters haven't never unionized. And he said, they're not employees, they're independent contractors, which I thought was a very self-serving statement at the time. And that, you know, he kind of scoffed at the idea.

And I walked out of that meeting and I turned to Lloyd and I told him, I said, I'm going to unionize these guys. Wow. Right then and there. Because of his response. Not just because of his response, but when I had read their initial agreements, I mean, I've worked in baseball for 30 years. And I think that the Major League Baseball Players Union is the gold standard as far as unions in professional sports. I mean, the rights of baseball players are light years ahead of every other sport. And I said that this just can't happen. With the sale also, I mean, it indicates that the UFC is really the Premier League.

When you look at Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA, National Hockey League, it's right up there with them now. And these fighters need representation. I mean, their rights right now are being trampled upon, and it's probably worse than ever. The UFC's profiting, which is okay. They're running a successful business. They're entitled to it. But the fighters are the – they're the show. They're the ones that drive that business, and they're entitled to.

to be compensated for their efforts. So prior to seeing that contract, and by the way, I believe it was in February when they first started because the fight was March 5th. It happened around 10 days before, right? The Diaz-McGregor fight. 196. Yeah. So prior to seeing that contract, you never thought of this at all?

I mean, again, you've been around sports for a long time. You've been an agent represented some of the biggest names in baseball. You've never thought about this. You were never really privy to what was going on as far as the contracts are concerned, right? Right. I had never looked at a UFC contract before. I had never even given it any thought. Yeah.

I just strictly worked in baseball. It was the first time when the contracts were put in front of me that I looked at it and I even started thinking about it. Were you a fan of the sport before all of this? I was a fan from day one. I was watching Gracie when he was fighting guys twice his size and laying on his back. I've been a big fight fan for a long time. So given what you know about the MLBPA and contracts in baseball, you never thought like, you know what? I wonder what those guys are making, how much they're getting, what cut they're making.

Have you ever, you never had that discussion with anyone before the contract, contract was the slap of the face? Well, I first started investigating that at that time. I had thought that these guys were making a lot more money than what they were. And then when I started talking to many of them, and I'm finding out that it cost a lot of these fighters money to fight. Sometimes it's, you know, I know right now 10 and 10 is the minimum, and that might seem like a lot of money, but for putting your life on the line and going in a cage and against some gladiator for $10,000, that's really not enough, especially when you have to pay your corner, you have to pay your training expenses. There's no types of stipends.

that are given to these fighters for that, if you talk to all these professional fighters, I bet you at one point or another, they'll tell you it actually cost them money to fight. So when you're leaving that meeting and you turn to Lloyd Pearson and say, okay, I'm going to unionize the fighters, then what do you start doing? I start doing research. Okay. I start doing research. Getting everything I can get my hands on that I could read to educate myself.

I'm one of those guys that's real cerebral. I got to know everything that there is out there. You know, I mean, it sounds funny saying it. I mean, I feel like an expert in baseball, but I didn't feel like an expert, you know, as far as the UFC was concerned. So I just read everything I could get my hands on. There's quite a bit of information out there, too. Okay. So then when do you actually put this plan into place?

Because it's one thing to say I'm going to do it. It's one thing to start researching, but to actually launch the damn thing. You know, when you start doing that, how long did that actually take from, you know, the point of when you're saying, okay, this is what I'm doing to last Thursday when you guys send out the press release? Right. Well, it's a process because this is not a one-man show. I wanted to put a group together. because I've, you know, for 30 years in baseball, I've watched the Major League Baseball Players Association

and how they conduct their business. So I want to try to pattern it after that. So I wanted to assemble a group of people. I wanted to get a hold of Don Fear, who had been the director of the Baseball Players Association for years now. He's of hockey. I wanted to talk to Tony Clark. I wanted to get the endorsement of all the major sports leagues, of all their executive directors. I know that I can lean on Don and Tony for help. They've, you know, agreed to advise me at any point in time, lend a helping hand whenever I needed. And I wanted to put the right people in place. that the fighters really get the bang for their buck. When you reached out to these people,

was it just like, okay, we're friends with you, we've worked with you, here's my endorsement, or were they interested in, wait a second, these fighters don't get this, they don't have these rights, they don't have this association, like what were those interactions like? Because if I'm being honest, on your website, I believe it's pro fighters.org, the thing that really sticks out are those sort of endorsements

from the MLBPA, from the NBA, I mean, that really smacks you in the face somewhat unprecedented for a sport. So what were they saying to you? Was it just sort of a favor for a friend or were they truly interested in your opinion? Well, the first person I called up was Don Fierre because I've known him the longest. I've known him for 30 years and worked closely with him on many situations. And I've been through lockout, strikes, collusion on multiple occasions, unfair labor practices, all with the baseball players union. And I said, Don, this is my idea.

You know, I'm looking to you for help, guidance, advice. Tell me what to do. He said that a group called him, like three years ago out of Chicago, brought up the same idea to him, said, hey, listen, we're thinking about doing this. and he said he never heard from them again. And he said that absolutely. He said the UFC with their sale, they're right on the same playing field as all the major sports leagues.

The fighters definitely need that, and now's the time. Would you have launched the PFA, the PFA, excuse me, would you have launched it if the UFC didn't sell for $4 billion a month ago? Yes, I would have, because I believe them to be enormously profitable anyways.

The fact that they sold really doesn't matter. I was the theme ahead. Yeah, so the sale just, I think, adds to the season. situation, but I would have done it anyway. Did you know about the talks? Had you heard the rumors? Did you hear anything behind the scenes when you were starting to come up with this? Because this has been said a lot, oh, they just sold for $4 billion. Here comes this agent who wants to make money off of, you know, the sport, et cetera. Right. I had heard lots of rumors out there, you know, and you don't know what to believe. You know, it's rumors not substantiated. So until it was actually

fact, and I think, I mean, even I heard Dana, I mean, maybe a couple days before the sale was officially was saying that there was nothing. And I understand that there's nothing until it's something. It's the same thing with the professional fighters organization. It's nothing until it's something. Sure. Did you take the temperature of the community, reach out to certain fighters, reach out to managers, reach out to promoters, and say, look, this is something I'm thinking of doing. Like, you know, sometimes I feel like I've said this before. Sometimes I feel like the media cares about this stuff more than the fighters. Like I talk to them about it and about it. And they're saying like, oh, you know, I just want to fight. I want to support my family. And I,

And I get it because they're focusing on just fighting and they don't want to rock the boat. Did you get the impression from any conversations behind the scenes on or off the record that this was wanted by the MMA community? Yes, I definitely went up there and took the temperature of several groups. It's not just the media that's interested. First thing I did, obviously, was the fighters. I've been talking to them in small groups on an individual basis, and my batting average is 1,000. Every single one of them that I've talked to wants us. There is one common theme, though, and that common theme is a lot of them are fearful, I mean, of the UFC, that they're going to retaliate against them.

You know, what's funny is that inside the octagon, they're courageous, they show no fear. But then outside the octagon, in the business arena, they're scared. They're scared that the, and I'm trying to tell them, listen, there's rules in this country that prevent employers for preventing employees from organizing. And don't worry, they're not going to retaliate. I mean, I would love to name names of the fighters that I've talked to. I would love to name names of agents. I've reached out to the agent community. I've talked to all of them because I know as an agent in baseball, how much the unions relied upon me to communicate the message to my players.

So I'm reaching out to agents as well, and I'm talking to them. And the fear of reprisals is unbelievable. I don't know what the UFC has done to try to bully or create this fear or instill this fear in the fighters, but they've done a good job. And, I mean, they tried to even bully you by, you know, taking away your media. credential. Were you surprised by that, by that response? Yes. Actually, I thought my biggest challenge was going to be to unify the group. Yeah. And I'm finding out that that's really not my biggest challenge. My biggest challenge is to quash their fears about reprisals from the UFC. And I'm telling them they're not going

to retaliate against you. Like I said, there's laws in this country. And that's why I'm not going to mention any names. I want to respect them. Sure, sure. But when I get the group together, I said, yeah, it's not a fair fight. I'm not going to take one fighter and say, oh, let's just take Connor, for example. Connor wants a union. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to take all 600 of them approximately. I want to get them all because that's going to communicate a message to the UFC and it's going to say,

look, they stand together. They're the ones that drive your business. They're not divided. There aren't multiple factions within that group of 600. They stay unified. And now it's a fair fight. Did you tell the UFC before you officially launched this? No.

The only time I did it was when I asked Dana the question when I was in there at their headquarters and I said, have the fighters ever attempted to unionize? And that's when he told me, no, they're independent contractors. And he said they'd lose their ability to be able to negotiate on an individual basis. And I said, that's not true. I said, look at all the major sports. Their agents go ahead and negotiate for them on an individual basis. There's a disparity in the salaries that are made.

That's not going to be any different. It's going to be the same thing. So I think that by calling them independent contractors, a very self-serving statement for the UFC. And I'll ask you about that in a second, but have you heard from the UFC since? you launched this on Thursday? No, I've not. Are you surprised by that? Yeah, I don't know.

I'm not so sure. Okay. What about this independent contractor versus full-time employee debate? This is what people say when they hear, oh, the mixed martial arts fighters, the UFC fighters,

want to start a union. They say you can't start a union because you're not a full-time employee. What are you saying in response? And for the record, you're called the Professional Fighters Association. Did you use the word association because you recognize the fact that they can't be a union?

Yeah, there's differences between an association and a union. First of all, to be an association, you don't need to be elected. You just call yourself an association. You get members you're an association. I'm trying to form a union. Okay. Union is different than an association. For instance, as a union, your employees, I'm talking about wages, hours,

and other terms and conditions of employment that I'm concerned about. I'm not so concerned about the things that an association is concerned about. And I'm going to give you an example. I'm concerned about minimums. I'm concerned about a pension. I'm concerned about medical insurance, a grievance procedure, collectively bargained for drug policy, things like that. An association, like I read the MMAFA's mission statement, they're concerned about advancing the rights of the sport through websites, domains, logos, things like that, trying to bring the fighters together based upon race, religion, creed, things of that. I'm all for that.

I've read a lot of negative tweets from the MMAFA during the week as if they feel that we're a threat or trying to attack them. Not at all. I endorse what they're doing. I support what they're doing. I support the Ali Act. And I'd lend them a helping hand if they needed it. I'm about collective bargaining for the employees of the UFC and trying to improve their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. That goes right to the heart economically of the fighter's pocketbooks.

I'll ask you about MMAFA in a second as well. why didn't you call it the professional fighters union if that's what you want a union? I could have. I don't know. It might take your suggestion and change it if we get elected in. But for the record, you want a union? Yes, union. So is part of the process to turn them into employees and not quote unquote independent contractors?

No, they already are employees and I'll tell you why. Okay. The UFC is the boss. They tell them where to fight, when to fight, what to where when they fight. They're employees and their full-time employees. what it takes to train for a fight? I mean, I was listening to John Kavanaugh speak. I mean, it's a full-time thing. But a lot of them have to have some other jobs to supplement their fighting income because their fighting income is not enough to sustain themselves. Yeah. That's not right.

So do you need to, like, do they need to, is that something in the contract that's stated that they're an independent contractor? Do you need to change that language? Is there a way to get them recognized as employees? Well, one of my goals would be once elected and we had a collective bargaining agreement, in place, what they need is to have what I would call a uniform fighters contract. In the major sports, they have a uniform players contract. So the only thing that the agents would really be negotiating is the purse amounts. Okay. That's what they would be to go.

So there needs to be a uniform fighter's contract written because the contracts that I've read, which was the Diaz contracts, are just, they're baffling when you read them. I mean, it's just preposterous of things that are in there that I don't believe are legal, valid or enforceable. I even believe the UFC knows that, okay? Can you give us an example? There's no pushback. There's no pushback.

What's an example of something that you think that is illegal or something like that? That's necessarily illegal, but let's look at the licensing situation with Reebok. Let's talk about the Reebok deal. Okay. Okay. The money comes into the UFC, and then they're going to chop it up however they want. Look at the Brock Lesnar situation. They usually chop it up based upon seniority in the amount of fights that somebody had.

So Brock got the least at UFC 200 because he had the least amount of seniority, but yet he was probably the biggest draw. So how is the guy who's the biggest draw making the least amount of money? How is the guy who's the biggest draw doesn't have a choice over wearing Reebok? What if Adidas wanted to do a deal with him? What if Nike wanted to do a deal with him?

He's got to have the freedom to be able to negotiate or as representatives have to have the freedom to negotiate with other groups. But no, the UFC says, you're wearing this and this is what we're paying you, whether you like it or not. So that's something that I look at as an agent and I laugh at because that would never fly in baseball or any of the other major sports.

Yet it flies in the U.S. UFC, that must change. Part of that contract that you talk about, you say you just, okay, if this, if, if, if, if they're employees, you just as an agent will negotiate their purse, right? So does that mean that, for example, the TV deal, which the fighters don't make any money off of now? Would it be then, let's say perfect world, 50-50, right? Like the NBA, and we saw what the contracts, what the new TV contract did for the free agent contracts this summer, enormous amount of money being given to the players. So would there be a set contract? that like all the fighters under the UFC contract in your perfect world.

All the fighters in the UFC contract are getting 50% of the TV deal. And it doesn't matter if you're the biggest draw, the smallest draw, you're all getting that. And then on top of that, you're then negotiating your purse. Is that what you'd like in a nutshell? The TV revenue and the licensing money has to be shared. What percentage that remains to be seen. Okay. But that money has to come.

The pendulum has to swing towards the fighter side or the fighter side. And they have to get some money. Now what I would do is hopefully I would establish an executive board of fighters because the fighters are one's going to be running the union. Okay. So let's just say in my mind, I think it should be about 12 of them. Okay. Of fighters that are really passionate about the issues.

They take this to heart. And we would decide, you know, how much money would be carved up amongst the fighters. Who would make what? But the money definitely needs to come in from the other side. Now, there's no denying that before you guys came around and others came around, I know there's a group in, at a New York, a group of lawyers who have sent some letters to fighters. MMAFA was the first mixed martial arts fighters association led by Rob Macy, the first that were kind of pushing these sort of issues, I think starting back in 2009. And as you mentioned, there's been some tweets, some comments about, you know, we're first, we're the ones who started this, let's not divide.

And I think you would agree that dividing isn't the best thing. It kind of goes against the whole union concept. Did you talk to them at all before launching this? Did you feel like you had to talk to them at all before launching this? No, I didn't feel I had a need to talk to them. I haven't spoken with them. I think they're doing something different, although there is some overlap, a little bit of overlap. I'm there to help them if they need help.

I'm not a threat to them. Now, if they said that they wanted to be a competitive union, they wanted to try to get elective, well, then I'm willing to get in the ring with them. I'm willing to get in the octagon with them and duke out these issues and see who would be better to represent the fighter's interest. I'd be willing to do that. But they're doing something else, which is totally okay, and I support what they're doing. Are you disappointed by some of this reaction? because the story has been, okay, the PFA is a thing,

but it also has been MMAFA versus PFA versus these other guys out of New York. Are you disappointed that it's now become sort of a divided front as opposed to a united front? Not necessarily. I think that they probably look at it and people maybe feel a little bit threatened by it because I think that we're positioned with the support of the other unions that we're the ones that are best suited to represent the fighter's interests.

Why not reach out to them to try to squash this sort of beef? Well, I actually had a conversation today with a fighter who I won't say who it was, who suggested that Mr. Mesey's going to be in Vegas. When I'm going to be in Vegas, I'm actually flying there after the show. Okay. And I'll be. I'm open to having a conversation with them. What is the distinction between, because I'm actually hearing from this a lot from people on Twitter fans, even some fighters, like, what's the difference if you can describe between the MMFA and the PFA? Right.

Well, once again, they're an association. Uh-huh. We're a union. Okay. They don't need to be elected to do what they do. Okay. We have to be elected and certified by the National Labor Relations Board to operate as a union. How do you get that?

How do you get certified? Okay. I'll use the number 600. There's roughly 600 fighters under contract with the UFC. First thing you have to do is you have to get them to sign solicitation cards 30%. So say 180 of them. Signed solicitation cards. Submit that to the board.

Then you have an election. And if you get a majority, which would be, say, 301, then we would be certified. And unless the UFC recognizes as a union, and they probably. won't. You get certified by the National Labor Relations Board. Then we become the exclusive agent for, you know, wages, hours, and other conditions of employment. And we negotiate with the UFC. So, but I said I wouldn't take the job if I got 301 votes because that's going to communicate a very negative message to the UFC. It's going to show that there's different factions within the group. And they will not, the fighters will not prevail in a situation where there's, I get elected by

a simple minority like that 301. I want it to be over. I want 590 of the fighters to vote it in because that's going to communicate a message loud and clear to the UFC that they mean business and they stand together because nothing is more important to show that all the fighters are aligned on these issues. And if they're divided, well, the UFC wins. The fighters are going to be continued to be trampled upon for many, many years to come. Your phone number is on the website. It's on the Twitter page as well, correct? Yes. Who have you heard from?

Lots of people. Really? And the people, some, it was suggested to me, you're crazy for putting your phone number out there. And I said, no. I said, there can be a bunch of lunatics out there calling me 24 hours a day. I don't care. If a fighter wants to talk to me, I want to be able to take his call morning, noon or night. That's why I put it on there.

So I don't care about all this, the bizarre calls I'm getting. Are you getting bizarre calls? Yeah, I'm getting a ton of bizarre calls. Really? I'm getting a lot of calls actually for employment. People want to come work. That's probably the number one call. Interesting.

Getting a lot of calls from fans, obviously. but the number one thing is I want fighters to be able to access me like that. Okay. Have you received a lot of calls from UFC fighters? Many. Really? Many. Wow.

And what are they saying? Tell me more? There's one that stands out, which is very interesting. I won't say the fighter's name. Fighter calls me up, says he's, you know, Fighter X, right? Big name, fighter. Okay. And says to me, how do I know this is Jeff Boris and how do I know that this is really your phone number?

And I said, well, I guess you don't. You know, he said, how do I know I'm not talking to Dana White right now? I said, I guess you don't. And I said, how do I not know that you're not a mole for the UFC? I said, but I'm going to tell you something, I don't care if you are. Because whatever I'm going to say to you right now is the same thing I'm going to say to the UFC. So I don't care if you're sitting in their boardroom right now and the table is surrounded by Dana Lorenzo, by William Morris and all their people, because what I'm going to say to you is the same thing that I would say to them if they were here right now.

And what is the general pitch? I'm sure you're getting people who are calling you and saying, like, sell me on this. Why should I join this, right? What do you say back to them? Give you an example. This one fighter that I'm talking about in particular. It's about 35 years of age, had 30 professional fights, something like that. So, you know, he's towards the latter stages of his career.

And I said to him, when you would like to have known, if we could turn the clock back, and this was your first professional fight, wouldn't it be nice to know that you'd have a pension if you turned 65 years old? Let's say if you had 30 professional fights. You know, and the way it works in baseball, you put in 10 years of service, or you make more than the average salary three consecutive years, you get fully vested for a pension, which is about 175,000 a year when you turn 65 till the day you die. There's a lot of different variations on that theme that you could take.

But wouldn't it be nice if you knew you had something like that? I said, currently you don't. So one of the things I would be a big advocate for is a pension for the fighters. And now I would, but a fully pension might be vested, let's say, at 30 fights. Maybe you get a half a pension at 15 fights. I don't know. I would have to sit down with the fighters, discuss with them, give me some sort of scale with our economist, Andrew Zimbalist.

I would have to sit down with him and say, what do you think is appropriate here? And then I would go try to collectively bargain for it with the UFC. But the pension would be an example. Andrew's involvement fascinates me. As a long-time baseball fan, I've seen a lot of his work as it pertains to the MLBPA. What exactly does he do for the association or union? I first learned of Andrew. This was in, I think it was in the 80s, the late 80s, when

I was an advocate for something called the Players League when the owners had locked out, no, I think it was 94, when the owners had locked out the players. And I said, you know what, let's do away with the owners, let's form a Players League. What do you need the owners for? Okay, we'll rent the stadiums. Most of them were owned by the municipalities anyways. We would just rent them out. Only a few ballparks were actually owned by the clubs. And let the players play and we'll carve out the middleman, the owners of the middleman. So I was an advocate for the Players League, and he was writing a lot about, I think he wrote the book, Baseball in Billions at that time. And that's when I started following him, and he's the leading economist in the nation regarding sports.

And so he was another guy, one of my first phone calls, and I said, listen, this is what I'm attempting to do. I said, I'm not an economist. I'm a lawyer. I'm not an economist. I want you to help me regarding the economics of this, and he said he'd be happy to. Brilliant guy. Very.

Love reading his stuff. A lot of other people say to me, you focus solely on the UFC. It doesn't say MMA fighters. Why do you only care about the UFC? Why are you focusing solely on the UFC here? That's interesting. There are other fighting leagues like Bellator and the world. The difference is and the reason why is the UFC is really the Premier League.

It's the Premier League. And they have 600 people under contract fighters that they're employees. That's why we're focusing on the UFC. I was talking to a fighter today. I give you this as an example because the fighter said, let's say I became part of the union with the UFC. And Bellator offered me a bigger contract to go fight. My contract was up with the UFC. And my agent got me a better deal with Bellator.

What would happen? I'd say, that's no different than what I do in Major League Baseball. Guy's contract is up, and I get more money from a club in Japan. He leaves the Major League Baseball Players Union, and he goes to Japan. Okay. You're free to go to Bellator. Okay. Your contract's up with the UFC.

I said, but if you're under contract with the UFC, and you're going to be part of that union, there's a big difference there. Could you have a union that encompasses the Bellator's in the World Series, or because the UFC has its own TV deal, the uniform, things like that, it's impossible to have one large union. Probably not impossible, but I think for right now, I want to treat the UFC and give them the same respect that they would if they were the NFL, the NBA, MLB. A lot of other people have said to me, oh, great, this is the demise of MMA. We're going to see a strike.

The fighters are going to, you know, as you can see, I'm a longtime Montreal Expos fan. No one knows the pain of a strike more than myself. 1994, you mentioned it earlier. The best team in baseball. We got screwed. Were you behind that strike, by the way? No, I was not buying that. Were you advocating for the damn strike?

No, by the way, it's funny that we're talking about it, August 12, 1994, so 22 years ago is when they went on strike. Actually, I take that back. Yes, I was a proponent. Come on. No, I was a proponent of the strike. From a fan point of view, from a fan point of view, no. But from working in the business, it was the right thing to do at the right time and it advanced the rights of the baseball players. Right.

It definitely did. As a 12-year-old, I couldn't really understand that. I was devastated. I understand. you can imagine. I remember that team very well. Yes. Did you have any players on that team? I had, yeah, I think I had quite a few. I remember the guys on there. It was Pedro Martinez, Matt Williams.

Not Matt Williams. Matt Williams was on the Giants, and he was on pace to break Roger Maris's record. Alu, Tim Wallach. John Wetland. Wetland, yeah. Did you have any of those guys? None of those guys, no. Then I would have asked for your autograph.

But my question is, a lot of people say, oh, they're going to go on strike, I'm going to lose the fights. I'm not going to get the matchups that I want. What do you say to those fans? What do you say to those fans who say that this is going to room? because when they start thinking, at the end of the day, you know, the sports fans just want to see the games, right? They just want to see, they don't care about PDs. Just give me the damn game.

Give me the fight. And now this potentially throws a wrench in that. What's your response to that concern? I think in the court of public opinion, the fighters win. And the reason why the fighters would win in the court of public opinion if they understood exactly to what degree the fighters were exploited. I mean, it's very easy to see, you know, Diaz and McGregor fighting this weekend and making millions of dollars and thinking, oh, this is very glamorous, this is great. But that's not the masses.

What about the guys on the undercard who are fighting for 10 and 10, right? Ten to show, 10 to win. How much money does it cost them to put on their camp to fight? How much money do they have to pay their corner? So I think in the court of public opinion, if the public knew that they don't have any medical insurance, shouldn't they have medical insurance? I talked about a pension. How about medical insurance?

I mean, the Obama administration was big on making sure that medical care was affordable to everybody. A lot of these men and women are the UFC. they don't have any medical insurance. And to be clear, it's like in training insurance, right? But if they get hit by a car walking to the grocery store, they're not covered. Correct. I'm not talking about what happens when they're in the octagon. I'm talking about in general, everyday medical insurance when their kid gets the flu

to be able to take them to the doctor. Right, right. Yeah, yeah, of course. That is a very strong point. So you say that you've been, you know, people have reached out to your phone number, whatnot. You also said you're going to Las Vegas. Why are you going to Las Vegas?

Because that's where the fighters are. Okay. That's where the fighters are. I'm going to be there and I'm going to be talking to every UFC fighter that crosses my path. You're just going to be walking around. Well, I have other things to do there. I have lots of meetings that are already set up. We plan on having a press conference on Thursday where we could address the media all at one time.

I've been silent since the press release on Thursday, which has been very hard to do. But I wanted to break the news on your show because I know that you reach out to so many people. And I want to thank you for that. But Thursday we'll have a press conference where we can address all the media. Obviously, I've seen some fighters tweet about it a little bit, but I haven't seen many fighters that come out and publicly support it. Are there any fighters that you can say are in support of this union? I've made promises to every fighter that I've talked to

that I will not use their name. Okay. Because I don't want the UFC to, if the fighters are right and the UFC wants to retaliate, I don't want them to retaliate against one fighter. I'll start mentioning names when I have 500 guys in my hip pocket. Oh, okay. What about at this press conference? I won't mention any names there either.

Okay. You won't have any fighters show up. This is going to be you explaining things, talking about things. There might be a fighter sitting at the table with me. Okay. There may be. I'm not making any promises, but there may be. Again, on your website, it's interesting, you have these little pie graphs, right?

The revenue share between the NBA, NFL, MLB, NH, and then the UFC. In those sports, everything is pretty much public. LeBron James signs for three years, $100 million. We know that right off the bat. In our sport, it's a little different, as you know. Your pie graph, I think, is 15 for the fighters, 15% 85 for the UFC, correct? Is that the number? Something like that.

When I talked about when I was doing research, I got that from a quote from Lorenzo that's on the internet. You can Google it. Or he's saying something that the division is somewhere 86, 14, 85, something like that. Do I know that to be true? No. Because you don't have access to the books. I don't have access to their books and records, and I'm not saying I'm entitled to. And let's say what Lorenzo said on the Internet was not misconstrued, was not taken out of context, and let's say it was accurate.

Okay. Why are all the other major sports all close to the middle? They're all close to the middle, give or take a little bit. Maybe the UFC should be, and I know they're going to hate hearing what I'm saying right now, should be close to the middle. Now, I'm not saying that overnight we get certified as a union and we go from 14% to 50%, but there's got to be an edging up along the way. It would be a process to get to that number ultimately one day, but there has to be something, like I said, the pension. Lums got a swing to the sides of the fighters sooner or later. Would you like to meet with the UFC while in Vegas?

What I would like to have happen is that the UFC understands what we're doing. They respect it in a business sense. I don't begrud as a UFC. I'm a fan of the UFC's business model. I think they've done tremendous. I think their $4 billion sale is well-deserved. And they're to be applauded for what they've done. And they should be concerned with their bottom line.

But these fighters do also. They're the ones that drive their business. I would like them to respect that in a professional atmosphere and just compensate the fighters appropriately. But, you know, let's say someone reaches out to, hey, Jeff, let's talk about this. Let's talk what the heck you're doing here. Are you open to sitting down and talking to them about where you're coming from, why you launch this? Yes, absolutely. I would like to think that would happen, but I'm not optimistic.

Do you need to reach out to them? Like, is it important for you to establish some kind of line of communication or no? Okay, I'd like to officially invite Dana right now to the press conference on Thursday to talk about these issues. Okay, but that doesn't have to happen. No, it probably won't. I would like him to show, maybe he will, maybe he won't, I don't know. For the layman, for people like myself who aren't entrenched in this, what are the steps that need to happen for this to become a thing? What are you looking at and what kind of timeline?

Does it take a year to make a unit, six months? What can you tell us about the timeline? Yeah, that's the hard part. The hard part is I want to, even though, for instance, on this show, I'm sure there's many, many fighters that are watching the show right now. I want to meet with those fighters. I want to meet with them on an individual basis. I want to meet with them in maybe a small group. And that's going to take me some time because I want them to get to know me.

I want them to get a comfort level and a feel for what my objectives are. I mean, it's nice coming on a show like this and you might be able to get a feel, but I want them to get to know me in person. So we're going to go city to city, fight to fight, and you're going to start traveling to all these fights? Yes. Wow. And I'm thinking, I don't know, maybe six months, something like that. Six months until you get what you want? Well, if I was talking to 10 fighters a day, just over the course of a month, I hit 300 of them.

You know, now that, like I said, that might be optimistic. I mean, there's some days I might talk to one or two. There's some days I might talk to 25. But I realize that it's going to take me some time and it's going to be hard to do. But I'm a tireless worker, and I don't mind it. I've spent my last 30 years on the road and I don't spend mine spending the next six months on the road and just getting in front of all these fighters and getting the word out.

What do you say to the person who says, Jeff Bors sees the $4 billion number, he sees a lot more money to be made, he just wants money, he smells the money, he wants money, what do you say to those people? That's funny. I mean, I was actually talking to a fighter today about compensation or whatever. Obviously, I've had an enormously successful baseball practice

for 30 years that I'm very appreciative of, But this is what I said to the fighter today who was talking to me about compensation. I said, I don't determine what I'm going to make. The fighters do. And let's say I get voted in as the executive director of the union. Because you're not that right now, right? You're just the guy trying grassroot. It's nothing until it's something.

So I get elected in as the executive director. What happens next? I go out and I try to get these things for the fighters, right? The pensions, the minimums, the medical insurance, all these things. And I fail in all these objectives. What's going to happen? the fighters are going to fire me. Right.

Right. Now let's say I go out there and I'm successful. I get all these things and then some. And then I get a licensing deal, a merchandising deal, share the television revenue, whatever. And everybody's benefiting and making more money. The fighters, the board, the executive board of fighters, they're going to determine what type of salary I should or should not get. They're the ones. And that's up in the air.

So I'm obviously not going to get something that I'm not entitled to and I'm not determining what I'm going to get. It's the fighters who are going to be determining that. Do you think it is going to be tougher to get the big. big draws, again, the Connors, the Corners, the Cormieres, the Rondas, the Anderson Silvas of the world to get on board? Or is it the 10 and 10 guys, as you mentioned, the entry level guys, the mid-tier guys? Who do you think is going to be the toughest to sell on this? Every fighter that I've talked to from the 10-and-10 guy up to the biggest name-type guys

and any guys in between, they're all very similar when you're talking to them. They all want it, they all need it, they all recognize it, none of them are opposed to it. But like I said, the only thing that I'm noticing is they all mention the retaliatory effects that could possibly come out of it. And I keep trying to tell them, don't worry about it. It's not going to happen. Give me 600 of you in my hip pocket and I got a fair fight. Are you starting to feel like the fighters because this is sort of a mono-e-mono sport?

You know, it's not a team sport per se. I mean, like, you know, I don't need to team up with this guy. I've worked hard. I've been doing this for 10 years. I'm finally here. I have two kids and a wife. I can't stick my neck out on the line. How are you going to, because I understand what you're saying,

but how are you going to convince that guy to do it? You know, he's the champion. He finally got the belt. He's finally living the good life. And now I'm going to stick out my neck for the guys who are going to fight in 10 years. I hear that a lot from people, as I'm sure you do as well. What do you say to that guy or female. What they say in baseball, same thing.

The fighters of today, they owe a debt of gratitude to the fighters that came before them, like the Gracies. They owe a debt of gratitude. They owe a debt of gratitude to the people that they're fighting alongside of today because they need each other to coexist. and they have an obligation to the future fighters that are going to come behind them. Are you confident that this will happen regardless,

like this is inevitable at this point, that maybe for whatever reason it's not you, and like this has to happen basically in the UFC. Are you confident of that? Well, I'm kind of arrogant thinking that I'm the best, and my team's the best for the job. I'm kind of arrogant and thinking if we don't get voted in, it's not going to be anybody.

Okay, okay. But obviously, if it doesn't happen now, when is it going to happen? If it does, like we use the tag phrase, it's time now for a change. Yeah, yeah. If it doesn't happen now, when is it going to happen? It's not going to happen 10 years from now. So it has to happen now.

You mentioned your team. How many people are a part of this team? Well, the four that we listed on the website. And right now, like, for instance, I'm trying to get a hold of a concussion specialist. Okay. You know, I remember I saw the movie who wanted Will Smith start in thinking, you know what? I got to get a concussion specialist because these guys get pounded in the head. and maybe an orthopedist and something like that.

So I'm in the process of assembling a team because, like I said, it's not a one-man show. Okay, so you're looking to add a few more. Yes. Do you still work for Ballengie? I'm of counsel to Balangy. Okay, how does that work? Do you have to separate from them because they represent fighters as well? How does that work?

Yes. I am not a fighter agent. I've never been a fighter agent, nor do I want to become a fighter agent. I'm a baseball agent and I have been for 30 years. We'll continue to do so. and I can do many things at one time. Okay, so that was actually my next question. You are going to remain a baseball agent.

Yes. Any of your baseball clients, I don't know how big of a fan they are. Any of them reach out like, hey, Jeff, what the heck are you doing? They love, I've talked to all of them about it. Really? They love it. They're fight fans. Sure.

In fact, we had a party in spring training this year, and I had some fighters over there. And my baseball players were enamored with the fighters. I mean, guys were making more. More than McGregor money, okay, who are enamored with the fighters. And they just, to quote Nick Diaz is, you know, we entertain the entertainers. That's right. It's a great quote by him. And so I'm thinking about that.

Well, yeah, these baseball players are they, and they're being entertained by you. Yeah. So they're all in support of it. They all love it. They can't believe that these guys aren't unionized because they understand the importance and how crucial it is to have a union to advance their rights. But you think you'll be able to do both. If you are named executive director, you can still keep doing.

whatever it is you do as a baseball agent. Absolutely. Have you studied, you know, the Kirk Flood story and Marvin Miller, I believe it is, you know, I think what was the year, 1970 or 71 to 72? Have you studied the way other unions were born and the obstacles that they face? I know the tennis, the ATP players in 73, the Wimbledon, they had a strike. Have you looked at this stuff as well? Yes, I was a professor of sports law at Southwestern University for nine years.

Wow. It was a great job. I quit when my oldest daughter was born because it took away too much time. I would rather read her a bedtime story than read a second year law students' blue book exam. But I taught sports law for nine years, so I had to educate myself on all the sports and all the different basic agreements that they have. So I'm very well-versed in all the other sports. What do you think the reception is going to be like in Las Vegas when you go out there tonight? What are you expecting?

Well, if I walk around with the shirt on in my target. Is that what you are going to do? I'm going to have the shirt on yet. I have several of my. I have some in different colors. Okay. Wow. What colors are you got?

White and gray. Okay. I hope that a fighter, I could be walking by. I might not know who they are. They might see me. They see me with the shirt. I want to be approached. I hope they come up to me and say,

hey, could I, you know, spend five, ten minutes talking to you about the issues? Yeah. And you're going to be open to it? Yes. And what about, with regards to the UFC? Are you going to try to, like, nudge your way in there to things and really make a stink? Or are you going to lay back? I'm going to be professional if I see any UFC execs anywhere and Sam, open to talk to you any time.

I realize they might not recognize me because we're nothing yet because it's not in existence. The professional fighters organization has not been elected. So I think you had on your show the other day, I forget who it was, but first comment was when you're nothing until you're something. I agree with that. We're nothing right now. But I don't know. I'm hoping that we'll be a force to be reckoned with and sooner. than later.

Thus far, less than a week after launching, are you happy with the progress? I know there hasn't been a lot of them, but just the reaction, the media reaction. Overall, are you content with where you're at? I know you were anxious to speak and get the word out, and I know Lucas Middlebrook, who's a part of your team as well, who's well respected. He's been on the show before talking about his work with Nick Diaz. Overall, are you happy with where you're at? Yes, very happy.

But I get a little over-anxious. I feel that there's so much work out there to do. And let's say, when I'm flying on the plane tonight from New York to Vegas, those five hours, how many phone calls am I missing? How many fighters are going to be calling me? If just one fighter an hour called me during those five hours, those five calls that I just missed. You know, and I would explain to him, hey, I was flying coast to coast and whatever, and I'm returning your call now.

But I get anxious about that. I want to get the word out. And so the next six months probably going to kill me. Yeah. Well, I hope not because then the whole thing is for not. Right, right. Okay, so the next step is you're going to Vegas, you're going to collect as much data as possible, talk to as many people as possible, potentially put on a press conference, correct? Thursday.

Thursday. And then just sort of build from there. There's nothing as far as, like, union, do you have to pass out union cards, things like that? How does that work? I'll let Lucas take care of that. Lucas will be the- Well, he'd be there as well. I believe he's going to be.

He'll be the nuts and bolts of how the solicitation cards get sent out, get signed. I think he was telling me it could be done electronic. So I'll let him take care of that. Okay, fair enough. And what's the message finally to these other groups that are trying, the MMFA is the group? What's the message? Let's all get on the same page. Stand out of my way.

What ultimately do you want to say to these people because you have not talked to them, correct? What would you like to say to them if they're watching? Just to acknowledge what we're doing that I ought to become their best friend. It's like when I call up an agent, right? The first thing they might think to themselves, oh, is he going to try to take my guy? No, that's not what I'm about. actually, I'm your best friend because if what I do is successful, there's going to be more money in it for everybody. It's not just the fighters. It would be their representatives as well.

And so when you talk about the MMAFA or the Ali Act or things like that, I respect what they're doing. I support what they're doing. And I hope that they give me the same type of deference. Would you like to see the Ali Act come over to MMA as well? Absolutely. There's many things in the Ali Act that are beneficial that I think should have been in existence for many, many years. if it happens great. But this is not something that you are going to work on, not something that you're trying to do right now. That's not part of my agenda, no, because I'm just, like I said, I'm just dealing with the economic issues that go right to the heart of the fighter's pocketbooks. Okay.

And what about, you know, their, so their breakdown is, obviously their big initiative is the Ali Act. Also, they're a part of this class action lawsuit, right? How do you feel about that? Are you in support of that? Do you feel like that's the right thing that they should be doing right? You know, they have some fighters who are listed on you. I'm sure you've read about the class action lawsuit. How do you feel about it?

Yeah, they have some sort of antitrust lawsuit, which I know you cannot have as a union. It would be an unfair labor practice. But on that, I would defer to Lucas on that one as well. Okay. But it sounds to me, though, like if they have their lawsuit, if they have the Aliyahq mission and you're trying to focus on the economic, that you can kind of both coexist in this world, right? That's my position, absolutely. That's why reading these tweets.

coming from them. It's a little disheartening. I mean, my first thought is because in my heart, I'm a fighter. It's like, I want to fight them back. I want to start saying, that's not right. You're wrong. But then it's like, yeah, maybe, you know, I'm going to take the high road here and do what's right. And what's right is I'm in a different direction than them.

There is some overlap, but nothing where we couldn't coexist. Okay. Is there anything that we didn't, this is sort of like an FAQ, so to speak, you know, like a virtual one. Is there anything that we didn't touch on that you wanted to address? No, I just, like I said, I appreciate being on your show because I know you reach out to so many, and that's why I wanted to break the story here on your show. So I mean, technically we didn't break it on the show. We didn't break it. But fair enough, the first time you speak about it.

They're hearing for me. I haven't spoken publicly about. In fact, tomorrow, my whole day is media, media, almost the entire day. Have you received interest from the non-MMA press as well? Yes. People that deal with, you know, like the mainstream sports press that knows all about agents and unions and things like that. Are they interested in this story? Sometimes we have a hard time breaking through as a sport.

Yes. Most of the time, well, I don't know. I wouldn't underestimate it. Most of the time, it is MMA-based stuff, but there are other interested media outlets that have interest in this. Fascinating. What a time. Yeah. What a time in this sport.

One last thing. The TV deal is coming up. Was that important to get this established before they start negotiating that? Because that has to be a part of this as well, right? It's a factor. Okay. It's a factor. Whether they get a good TV deal.

bad TV deal, whatever it is, a part of that's got to come the fighter's way. Okay. This time next year, August of 2017, do you think that you guys are a thriving union, that you guys are a well-oiled machine doing your thing? I'd love to come on this show one year from now to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the union. Wow. Okay, we can replay this clip. How about that?

I appreciate it. Thank you very much. By the way, what's Barry doing these days? He's a hitting coach for the Marlins. Yeah. He's loving it. They're killing it. Oh, yeah.

They're making a run, right? Absolutely. He enjoys it? I never thought Barry Bonds would be a coach. He's a great teacher. He is. Yeah. What a story.

Unbelievable. I got his autograph once as a youngster. He actually got mad to me because I asked him to sign it with a Sharpie and he said, no, I'm signing with my pen. Sometimes a prickly fellow, but that's his charm. He can be. Yeah, can be. Tell him, I say hi. I will do that.

Congratulations on the launch. And obviously, best of luck with this. Thank you. I will probably see you out there roaming the halls of the MGM. Okay. There he is. Jeff Boris of the Professional Fighters Association, their website. as I mentioned, pro fighters.org.

Their Twitter handle is Fighters Assos, F-I-G-H-T-E-R-S-S-O-C. That's their Twitter handle. They've been active, some very nice graphics with the heads of these players association. Their quotes, very interesting stuff. I wish you guys the best of luck.

Thank you, Ariel. All right. We are going to take a quick break. Reconfigure the studio once again. Plenty more show to go. Of course, bottom of the hour, top of the hour, I should say, will be joined by one Connor McGregor, so stay tuned for that.

For now, let's take a break. Let's go inside the vault. Y'all must have forgot my interview back in 2011. Prior to UFC 141 with Nate Diaz, who's fighting in the main event, this was before what I believe was his biggest win prior to the Connor McGregor fight, his win over Donald Soroni on that Friday night in Las Vegas. This was my pre-fight interview with Nate Diaz. Kind of interesting to see how he's grown as a person, an interviewee as well.

So here's that interview, and then we'll be back right here on the MMA hour. All right, well, let's get this going. Nate, it's good to see you, and obviously you have a very big fight. Now, I wanted to play off something that the other reporters were asking you about, you know, the much-talked-about sort of run-in that you had with Donald. In this very gym, just a couple of months ago, do you feel as though there's too much camaraderie in this sport? Everyone's trying to be each other's friends?

Yeah, well, I just don't. That's not what I want to see when I see a fight, so... I don't think anybody else does either, so... I don't know. I think he's making a little more than what it is, too. what it was. What did happen? He just tried to be my friend, try to come up and say,

I just walked the other way. I wasn't trying to, like I said, I wasn't trying to be a bully or anything. I think he's trying to push me in the bully's direction, making me the bad guy, but I didn't, I just walked the other way. And I think he's just making a little more than what it was. It's kind of interesting that it happened so recently. Did you almost have a feeling that he may be next for you? Because that was just two months ago, and you haven't fought since then.

He, well, I fought right before that when he fought. And I got there, and I knew I was going to fight somebody who was fighting. I went to that Houston card, and I had just fought, and I knew I was going to fight one of the lightweights there or one of the lightweights on that show. So I knew I was coming, and it's not like I was, I'm just, anybody, who's in the same bracket as me we're not friends and we're not you know we're not we don't train together

and it's like um it's just you know you gotta fight me I'm not gonna put on the front and act like we're not fighting so I knew it was probably him it's like this like usually when I fought when I fought Kurt Pellegrino

I got paid up at the airport with Josh Neer. And when I fired, when I fired Pelagrin, I got picked up at the airport with Josh Neer. We shook hands. We talked. We were cool. We fought. We won. We talked. And it was all good. And it was all good. And he fought my brother. And we had good conversation. It was cool. I liked him. And then I went home. And then they were like, call on there like, you're fighting Josh Neer. So I'm like, there I went to make best friends with the guy, good friend with the guy that I'm fighting. So I went to that fight and fought. Got done with that fight.

They sent me next to Clay Guita. Have us, you know, do an interview together and want us to be friends and talk. I was like, all right, good fight. I'm good to see, whatever. I go home, they call, you're fighting Clay Gwita. And then I go fight Clay Gwita. I sit in a room with Joe Stevenson, who I was already cool with from Pest. And then I do whatever and say, what up, good fight.

Go home, you're fighting Joe Stevenson and carry it on to Melvin Galard. So I'm like, I make the mistake every time. And it's not, like I'm not trying to bully nobody. Like I said, it's all good. I could respect anybody who fights in the UFC. It's a tough sport. Everybody's got to work hard and train hard. They're athletes.

I'm an athlete, and I think it's great what they're doing. But I got a fight, so you go your way and I'll go mine. I got friend. I got my team, and I'm not going to put on the front. But I'm not trying to be a bully. I'm just trying to, you know, do what I got to do to survive in this UFC. MMA type of game. If he wins on

Friday and even if he doesn't, it's his fifth fight this year and he's looked very good thus far in the UFC and even if you go back to what he did in December of last year against Chris Hordeski, it's almost six fights in the span of 365 days. Have you been impressed with him with what he's done this year?

I think I've done stuff like that. I haven't I fought before I got in the U.S. I was fighting five times a year and then I fight anywhere from three to five times a year. So it's nothing I haven't done or my partners haven't done. So if I come out of a fight unskibed, you know, I'm ready to fight the next day too.

But whatever, he's on a roll. He's on a win streak. And I lost two guys who were Don Camille, who was supposed to get a title if he beat Condit, a title fight. And Roy McDonald, who was underrated, who I knew was tough and no one else knew who he was. And both of the guys, I didn't think they did anything to me. They just were maybe bigger, bigger than me. And it wasn't even the fact it was just I won about the fights a little wrong.

I should have done a little different thing. But I don't know. I've had some tough fights, and I'm just working hard trying to win and do what I got to do. Hopefully I get a rematch with some of those guys one day. But, yeah, take nothing away from him. He's on a roll right now, so that's good for him. Both of those fights were at 170. At 155 against Gomi, you look fantastic.

Prior to going up to 170, you look fantastic. Even at the beginning of your run at 170, you look fantastic. Does a part of you regret going up to 170 only because you probably would be closer to a title shot at 155 had you not moved up? Yeah, well, the guys at 55 that were, the guy that 55 that I lost to, a little slim decision, was, we're at the top of the, top of the division. So, and I went up to 70, and I was trying to come back to 55 before I got those two losses. And they were like, we want to go 70, and everybody was like, yeah, stay at 70.

So, and then at this time, they were offering me fights, you know, Don Kim already, you know. All right, back on the mixed martial arts hour. Here we are. Thank you very much to Jeff Boris for stopping by. I thought that was interesting. A lot of, a lot of ground to cover, certainly. There's a lot to discuss there. There's a lot to learn about. Obviously, this is a somewhat new topic in the world of mixed martial arts, but I feel like we covered a lot in around an hour's time. So I hope you enjoyed that interview and learned a bit about what they are trying to accomplish over there. Like I said, top of the hour, we will hopefully be joined by one Connor McGregor for now. Let me welcome in Mr.

New York, Rick, who's been standing by back there doing his thing, whatever the hell he is doing back there. Schneerkerigar right there. Oh, another camera angle this time. Now we don't even get to see the man bun. This is, this is wrong. And we can't hear you. No, this needs to be corrected. He's back.

He's back. No man bun. We'll fix it. How are you, sir? I'm good. How are you? Let me ask you, what do you think of this PFA? I mean, they're saying all the right things. Yeah.

Are you confident that it is going to be a real thing? That's a different question. I mean, Jeff made the point that you know, the number one thing he's getting in terms of feedback is people talking about the retaliation or, you know, the recourse, the consequence from the UFC. And I think it's easy to say, join me. I don't, and don't worry about it. And it's a lot harder for somebody to actually do that, to, you know, get over that thought and do it.

Because at this time, they don't have those kind of protections. And I think it's going to be difficult to get every. everybody unified. But clearly the fighters have an organization now that is looking after their best interests, and I think it will be wise for them to do it. But obviously, I don't, you know, I can't speak for them. I'm not in their position. I can't make that decision for them.

If it were me, I think I'd, I can't say it. I couldn't even say it because I can't fathom, you know, being in the position of one of these headliners who's making tons of money to say, let me forego this. and do what's right for the collective. Like Connor McGregor recently came out and said, I realize how this would benefit everybody. I think it's smart to do this, and I think it's important to do this,

but I am making a selfish choice right now. And I can understand that. I completely understand that, actually. So it's going to be, I think it's going to be difficult, but I think that clearly this is a step in the right direction, no doubt about it. It'd be hard to,

I'm having a hard time finding any flaws in how they're going about it. No doubt that they have an uphill battle ahead of them. There's no doubt about that. I mean, these things don't happen overnight. It's going to be interesting. You can add another wrinkle to what has become the most newsworthy year in the history of this sport.

This certainly is a worthy wrinkle. We'll see, we'll monitor, we'll see how it works out. And if I'm being honest, last thing on this as we now shift gears back to 202, it would be nice if they can. And that's why I kept pressing on it. It would be nice if this sort of, quote, unquote, beef, for lack of a better word, between MMFA and them, gets settled rather quickly because I don't think it's a good look for anyone, especially in the public sphere.

When we're talking about unions and a united front, this would, in my opinion, be the complete opposite of that. So that doesn't seem like the best course of action. Yeah. And I mean, if truly both of them, both of these organizations, if truly their intentions are to benefit the fighters, they should be able to coexist. There should be no reason that that shouldn't be the case. If they're not after their own best interest

and they are truly looking after the best interest of the fighters, then there shouldn't be much of a reason for them not to get along and to coexist. Okay, let me ask you about a few other things going on. I'll ask you the same question that I asked Sean at the top of the show. Yep. Five days before 202.

Massive fight. massive rematch, biggest fight of the year, the first one was, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What kind of buzz are you feeling? Are you feeling the same sort of excitement as you felt five days before 1806? Is this the sort of buzz that you were expecting to be feeling? How would you characterize it? I am not feeling the same level of buzz. Why?

Now, let me ask you this to clarify. Do you mean personally, do I feel excited for it, or do you mean, am I feeling that everybody else around me is as excited for it? I'm personally not as excited for it And I don't I don't This wasn't a matchup that I had to see again To be honest I didn't need this to be run back

But now that it's a reality It's here The media day blah blah blah Like it's a thing And it's going to be a done thing In five or six days from now You're not pumped for it You're not pumped for the spectacle

The circus Not the back and forth Seeing if Connor can figure it out We haven't had that back and forth yet We haven't really quite had that Yeah but you know what's to come And I think I'm as excited for it as I am any other big fight, and I think that's fair to say,

but not any more excited about it than I am for any big fight. You know, another, you know, big pay-per-view, one that's expected to do relatively well. I think that's around my level of excitement. It's not, I'm not, I previously, and we've discussed this on the show many times back when this was announced for 202, I previously thought 202 would be huge. I'm not so sure that I feel that way.

Does it be 196, pay-per-view-wise? I can't imagine. I can't imagine it does. Wow. Do you think there's something to the Irish fans not being able to come over so many times? I'm really curious about that. I don't know if it's just me who hears about that stuff,

but I'm curious to see because when Connor, if you've experienced a 189 way in, a 194 way in, a 196 way in, and that was kind of close to 194 as well, those things are real. And now the wayans are a little different. Of course, they're weighing in earlier. but those things are, I mean, 189, I've never experienced anything like.

194 was insane. I mean, there was more people there than many MMA fights, events that have actually attended in person. So I'm curious if it's going to feel the same because this fight certainly warrants it, given the history, given what's at stake. But, you know, a lot of those fans are telling me on Twitter, oh, we can't keep coming.

So I don't know. I'm curious as to, because that adds to the whole excitement and spectacle. Yeah, I, I, I'm not sure. I think, I'll say this, I think there's still a lot of time left this week for things to develop. Yeah. And I think they're, you know, we're probably not at the apex of this fight week. So we'll see what happens. All right.

TBD. TBD. Fight you're most looking forward to not named Connor Nate. Yes, that is one of the questions somebody asked us. I guess, I don't even know. Glover Anthony? No, not it. What?

Not really. Cody Garbrandt? Could be Garbrandt, Mizugaki. Artim Chris? No. What? You hate that fight. Well, also not after Chris No show.

What's up with that? Maybe if he came on the show, I would have shown him more love. How is it not Rumble Glover? I mean, Seroni's on the car, too. Yeah, Soroni, Rick, Rick's story, that's something. It might, could be that.

It could be Seroni and Rick story. But why not Rumble Glover? Like, that feels like it's the obvious one. There's not much intrigue there for me. Number one contender fight. Don't care. Don't care about either of those guys fighting for the title again.

I mean, I don't think they're going to be much of a challenge for Daniel Cormier, and I don't think, and to be honest, I'll be completely honest, storyline that doesn't involve John Jones at light heavyweight doesn't really interest me. Yeah.

So it loses a bit for me. John Jones went on Instagram, by the way, yesterday, as you may have seen and said that he's really confident, that he's feeling good. Sort of his first public statement, certainly in video form since the press conference when we saw him that he was in tears. Different mood. Seems to think that he's going to be back in the octagon very soon, really soon. And a lot of people asking me about this.

what I can say is they are confident, but there is a lot that needs to happen. First of all, they need to get cleared by Usada. They need to figure out whatever the issue may have been. And then there's also the Nevada Athletic Commission. That's the difference in this case as opposed to, you know, the O. Romero case or the Tim Means case, the Yodomache. I mean, the Nevada Athletic Commission is going to hold a hearing about this and they can weigh in on it as well. So I hope they haven't forgotten about that part as well. I'm looking at the card. You know what?

You know what I really like? Yeah. Mike Perry versus Ace Lim. I like that fight. I'm interested in that one. That's probably my... Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Why? I think it's going to be fireworks. Okay. You're a big Mike. Are you joking right now? No, I'm not joking. I really think that's going to be... I think that's going to be a good fight.

Okay. It doesn't have, you know, it doesn't have... What's the word? Consequences or impact on the division too much. but I think it's going to be a good fight. I'm interested in that one. Holy crap. This morning it was officially announced that BJ Penn

is fighting Ricardo Lamas in the Philippines. Indeed. First reported by us late Friday night. This is the thing now. So we've gone from Dennis Siever to Cole Miller to now Ricardo Lamas, main event five-round fight in the Philippines, October 15th.

As the head of the BJ Penn fan club, what do you think of this fight? I have strong feelings. I want to hear yours. I don't think it's as crazy as people... Really? Yeah, I mean, I think Ricardo Llamas is good, but I don't think he's, you know, a guy who's going to most of the time blow the doors off BJPen.

He's not... I don't know. I'm cautiously, not optimistic, because that's... BJPen hasn't won since 2010. He hasn't fought since 2014. He's had one fight at 145, and it was his... a disaster. It was a bad fight.

Very bad. Franky Edgar. Yeah. There are a lot of fighters at 145. Why Ricardo Lamas? Why a main event? I feel like Sean Shelby is one of the best matchmakers, if not the best matchmaker in the sport.

He gets it. I feel like he's not getting this one. The Dennis Seaver fight is the fight to make. Now, he may be unavailable. Even the Cole Miller fight, I was like, ah, what's wrong with just building them up, putting him on the prelims against the top 30 or 40 guy and slowly reinventing BJ Penn? why do we have to throw him in the deep end? I don't get that.

Ricardo Lama's is not that far removed from a number one contender fight. He's not that far removed from fighting Max Holloway to a decision who is arguably, you know, the number one or number two contender in the 145 division.

Max Holloways won eight in a row. Yes, I love Max Holloway, but saying like fighting him to a decision, he got the door, you know, he got worked. It wasn't like... Ricardo Lamas is not... He wasn't in that fight.

He got worked by... Cardalamas is not, you know, the tail end of his career right now. Do you agree with that? He's on the, I'd say he's on the latter half. I just like the idea of building BJ Penn up, having him fight. Like, that's something that is hard to do in the UFC because for the most part, everyone is very good at, uh, at fighting and they're all, you know, the creme de la creme. I feel like throwing him in there, having, you know, when he was fighting on the prelims of

196 or 199 or even 197, he was not doing any media. he wasn't the main guy, he isn't being sent out to do media tours. This is putting, this is adding more to his plate. And I feel like they just need to get this fight out of the way, get him comfortable at 145, get him comfortable with his new team. To me, this feels very short term. You know what this feels like? This feels like a BJ Penn fight.

This is, this is his career. This is his career. This has been what has plagued him throughout his career. Like not taking sometimes the smart fight. And I know this is what makes him endearing. But I don't know. If the BJ Penn that showed up against Frankie Edgar, shows up, he will lose badly.

But do I think he can beat Ricardo Lomas? I think it's possible. I think it's possible. I'm not writing him off. I'm not discounting him. I just felt more comfortable, and I like the... I was like, wow. Remember when they booked that Denisiever fight?

I was like, this is something that the UFC doesn't typically do, and I love it. Big name guy needing to reinvent himself against the, you know, the clearly, you know, fading contender, if you want to call Dennis Seaver, that. Like, that was the perfect fight. Perfect style. I don't know. I just, they nailed it on that one. Yeah.

And for some reason, they haven't been able to recreate it. I don't disagree with you, but I also don't think, I think the, you know, oh, he's going to get obliterated, which very well may be the case is a little bit. The reaction to the fight was a little strange. Yeah, I'm not. Certainly negative. I don't know. I don't know. I have to separate myself from this.

I don't even know what to think of it. So you're on board. I think it's a fine fight. I'm not that upset about it. Okay. Fight pass, fight, by the way. Interesting, right? BJ Pan, fight pass?

Maybe he can become the, you know, the king of fight pass. Hopefully not. I mean, keep line. The big fight for Ricardo Lama's, by the way. You just got done telling us how his career is over and he needs to be built back up and now he can't be the king of fight pass? No, but I mean, eventually he wants to make event shows and become the champion, I would imagine. He is main event they shows.

He's the man. Main eventing pay-per-views or big, big cards. I can only hope. In my wildest dreams. John Dotson versus John Lineker was announced. Main event for Portland, October 1st. You like this as a main event? Nothing, I mean, nothing pleases me more than that fight.

Wow. Nothing in the world? There's not a fight. I'll say this. There's not a fight I'm looking forward to more than that. Really? A lot more than I'm looking forward to Diaz McGregor. Get out of here!

Now you're just being a contrarian. You're being a hipster. How? I am looking forward to that fight more. How? Trust me. Come Saturday night, where are you going to watch this fight, Diaz McGregor? I don't know yet. It's good question. You know, I'll have a party. Maybe I'll hang out with some friends and watch it. I don't know yet. Your hipster friends? I don't have any MMA hipster friends. None? No. MMA hipster friends is almost like a redundant phrase. No, that's not true. Like, casual fans are not... That's fair. By the way, this is a fight that gets the casuals on board. Yeah. Dotson and Linne.

I just, that doesn't get the, but it is a great fight. I met a kid from Kazakhstan on my way to the studio. What? Home of Borat. Yes. The legend. Yes. And he was telling me, he was telling me I'm in.

I want to watch this fight. He was very excited about it. Someone keeps calling me from an unknown number. I don't know who it is. Do you want to touch base with the next guy since he would have? I'll touch base. All right. There's New York, Rickford.

Yeah, they keep calling me from an unknown number. I don't know. I don't know who it is. Let's see. Hopefully in a minute we are going to be joined by the one and only Connor McGregor. It has been a while since we've talked to him on this program, October to be exact, episode 300, five days away now from UFC 202.

Certainly appreciate him taking some time out. Other news announced since we last spoke, Travis Brown is now fighting Fabrizio Verdume for the second time. Remember they fought at UFC on Fox 11, I believe. believe it was in Orlando, Florida. That was a very important fight. And Travis Brown was hoping to get a title shot after that fight. He did not win the fight. For Doom won the fight. Got the title shot, ended up fighting Mark Hunt for the interim title at UFC 180. And the rest is history. So now they're going to fight again at UFC 203. Ben Rothwell is out of the fight. But enough about

UFC 203, everyone is talking about UFC 202. And how about this? Joining us on line number one is the man of the hour himself. The one everyone's been asking to be on this show, the one everyone's talking about the face of the UFC, the biggest draw on the UFC, the biggest star in this sport, the notorious. Connor McGregor. Connor, are you there? What's up, brother. I'm here. Thank you for that introduction. Factorua. Connor, dare I say, welcome back, dare I say, welcome home. Very good, man. Thank you. It's good to be on. It is a pleasure. Thank you so much for doing this. I know you're very busy, so we really appreciate the time.

Let me start with this. Because of the fact that you've not really had to cut weight, you've known who your opponent is going to be. You've done considerable less media going into this fight. Would you say that this has been the most enjoyable fight camp of your UFC career? 100%. Absolutely. I mean, it reminds. reminds me, although it's a lot bigger, it's on a much larger scale, obviously, the team and the expenses, the travel, everything, but it feels like it's like the old days. It feels like all I got to do now show up and fight. So that's all I want it. That's all I want to do. That's all I truly enjoyed to do. You know what I mean? I just got in this looking for a knock and a few quid. That's it. I didn't want. I didn't get in and looking for everything else.

Everything else happened and I embraced that and I ran with it and rolled with it, but when it comes down to it, I just want to get in and have a fight. And that's it. So that's all I've got to do here. I've got to show up, get in and have a knock. Now, right now, what are we six? How many days? Five, six days, five days, five days. I'm just trying to pass the time before I get in, march forward and throw bombs at this man.

So I've had an amazing camp. It's been an amazing experience, a crazy experience. I'm very happy with it. I can't we? Are you hoping that this is the case from here on out, you know, the less media, less obligations, just going back to the old days of caring about the fight. Is this your plan for the rest of your career? Well, you know, nothing is set in stone or nothing is set in this game.

Everything changes as the days go boy. So, you know, who knows? Right now I'm very happy with how this has gone. Who knows what's next? You know, who truly knows? you know, fight another guy all of a sudden we could go back into that old partner and it's just not there

and you've got to go travel the world and do all that again and then he pulls out and, you know, all these other things can happen. So I'm just happy with the situation I'm in. But nothing is saying in this life. Anything can change and I'm prepared for change. So we'll see. As you may know, after the 196 fight,

a lot of the naysayers and the critics said, oh, there goes his star power, there goes his money. He's no longer the man, et cetera, et cetera. You flipped the script on them by showing up to the press conference and saying what you said. Have you noticed a dip at all in the interest level in your career, in a business sense, sponsors, things like? Have you noticed a change at all since that fight? No. No.

You know, if I look back at it, what did I lose? All I lost was a fight. You know what I mean? That's it. That's this fight on a Saturday night. That's it. I showed up, I handled myself well and you carry on.

Nobody in this game gets out unscathed. I said that before. Look at the history of the game. Nobody in this game. This is a crazy business aisle, a crazy, crazy game. Nobody gets out alive. So it's just another day.

You know, it was a crazy contest. I've got to look at the contest and I'm very happy with it. I picked up the kitchen sink and flung it at him for two rounds and he picked it up and flung it right back. It was a hell of a contest

I was involved in, And even looking back at the fight after it, I was like, you know what, that was a damn good fight. I'm very happy with it. And I can't wait to do it again. So that's my mindset on this. You know, people who say those things, and they say, people say, people say, oh, this and that. But they weren't with me before. They weren't with me before it anyway.

So they're not going to be with me after I get this win back either. So I don't pay attention to them. I'm doing something I love. I'm very financially secure. Doing something I love. I'm living the dream right now, so I'm very happy. You've said that you believe or you've heard that Nate Diaz weighs around 200 pounds. How do you know this?

Well, I've heard, and I mean, look, and I've been training with 200 pounds, people close to 200 pounds, and I estimate up there. I just estimate, you know, because I'm the 1.45 pound champion, and when I fight I 155, which I have done, you get a little complacent with food, and all of a sudden that 155 pound wake-core creeps up and it's an actual wake-all and it's just as heavy as the 145-pound wake-up. I've known that's probably what happened to him. That 155-pound waco is long gone for him,

so it's been months upon months, he's been eating up. And I'd say that 170-pound waco is, it's now out of creeping up and it's a little waco for him, so. But like I said, I've been training with 200-pounders. I've been preparing for this. and so we're prepared to face this man so I'm happy with everything in my preparation and that's it

One of the interesting byproducts of that fight has been his stardom growing exponentially and now he's on talk shows and he's doing a lot more media and he's a lot bigger of a star Have you noticed this as well and do you think that this will be to his detriment come Saturday

that now he's no longer this idea of waking up in the satin sheets and you lose that killer instinct You may know something about that. You may have experienced that as well. Do you feel like he won't know how to deal with that? I mean, it ain't for everybody, that's for sure. Countless people have crumbled under those circumstances on this and that type of stuff.

That's happening. You can't go anywhere. You can't go absolutely anywhere without the end spot. Although I don't know how he's handling it. That's only he can answer that. I'm in focus on my training. I've been training very, very hard, as you can see. I've given fans an all-access look at the walk-up and putting in.

Everyone can see that I've been walking my ass off here, so I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud of the walk-up put in for this. And that's it. I'm focused on me right now, how he is handling. His situation, I am not interested in. Speaking of the fans, it has been said to me directly by some of your fans that, look, we want to support Connor,

we want to be there for his fight. They know that they are somewhat a part of the show, but it's just, it's a tough ass to keep going to Las Vegas from Ireland every few months. And I know a lot of them thought that you were going to fight a 200. That didn't happen, of course. And now, you know, they just can't come back a month and a half later. Have you heard the same thing? And are you concerned that it won't have that same sort of, you know,

energy in the building when you fight, when you weigh in. And ultimately, the ticket sales won't be the same because those Irish fans, if yours, those devoted Irish fans, won't be in attendance on Saturday. Well, I estimate that I'll be fighting in enemy territory this time, but usually it's been home. It's been home for me, this place with the traveling fans. I estimate it.

I'd give it. I'm estimating I'm going into a war zone here. That's what I'm estimating. That's what I've been prepared for. That's what I'm looking forward to. But, you know, there's many things why the Irish fans can't make it. I mean, the 200, the bugle, where they took me off that card, I mean, people had already purchased tickets for that.

And then, of course, the European championships, then the Olympics. There's all the stuff going on. And, of course, I'm an active fighter. I mean, I fight every goddamn month. I mean, I fight all the fucking time. So it's getting close for me now that I want to fight back home, that I want to give my fans back home a fight.

I've been, you know, I've been kept away from my home for a while. I know, I understand that it's big business out here. And I've got to, and that's why we're here. You know, I've got to handle myself, too. I can't, as much as I want to perform for the fans by home, and I want to have that same shows back home and do that, I've still got to handle my business out here. So, you know, I know my countrymen will be supporting me wherever they are.

I know there will be many here in town, and I know there will be even more back home in Ireland and all over the world supporting me. So I am content with that for now. As far as ticket sales, ticket sales has been good. At the 20,000 Cs Stadium, if it was the MGM, it's already sold out. So the ticket sales have been great for such a big arena. At this time, I've been the end of summer with everything going on.

I'm very happy with it. I mean, we're talking record-breaking again. You know that. You know the pay-per-view buyers will be smashed. I've dominated the headlines since I have every game wrapped up. At the boxing game, at the wrestling game, I've this game wrapped up years now. You know, what else can I do? I have the game wrapped up.

this will break all records, and I'm very happy with it. When you say that, when you say wrapped up, it reminds me of your now infamous tweet, April 19, 2016. I've been wanting to ask you this question since that tweet. As we sit here today, it currently has 162,000 retweets, 174,000 likes and some change. Where were you when you tweeted, I have decided to retire young, thanks for the cheese, catches later? I've always wanted to ask you that. Where were you when you actually tweeted that? I was in Iceland, chilling.

But exactly where? Like, did you do it on your phone, on the computer? Where did you actually send out that tweet? I don't have a phone. I don't fucking use the computer. I just be using the phone like everybody else. Okay. Straight out of the 12.

Bump, bump, bump. I'm out of here. Thanks for the cheese. Catches all out. See ya, boom. And then off I went to the gym. And then I came out in the gym, and all of a sudden the thing is fucking everywhere. I was like, oh, shit.

Did you expect that? Yeah, we were in Iceland, isolating itself. You know, we were doing what we did. training and studying to whoop somebody's ass, that's it. And I have access to a phone, and my phone has access to millions upon millions of people. So, but, you know, it was all,

that was another crazy experience. This life is a roller coaster. There's many ups and downs. But, I mean, you got to look at it like this. Who doesn't love a roller coaster? I mean, he wants to be just on a flat ground going through life. So, I've had a great journey on this, on this, on this journey

I'm on and long may I continue You know, I'm happy to be back It's good to be back here And so much has gone on I only fought two months ago I was retired then I'm not retired And now here I am back again I can't wait to fight again

I'm loving life And I'm looking forward to this contest Was a part of you shocked at the reaction I mean, world news was talking about a BBC That it turned into what it turned into That it turned into that tweet And then the up and down And the empty chair at the press conference

That it turned into this sort of soap opera and every single hour it was twisting and turning. Were you surprised that it became what it became? I tell you, well,

answer me this, where you went to entertain. You know what I mean? That's what it's all about where you fucking entertain. I was, I was having a great time when it was all going on.

And I was fucking, it was crazy what was going on. I think this age that we live in is insane. I mean, the access that we can have and the things that I can blow up to

from nowhere to everyone. You know, I'm in Iceland in the middle of nowhere in my realm but I have to go training and I can reach millions upon millions of people

in the blink of an eye I don't know I'm fascinated by and I think that's one of the reasons I wanted to set up this news site and I wanted to go into that side of things because I feel there's opportunities to capitalize on you know

I think with this day and age I mean all the news is me anyway most of this damn news is me I've created all these I see a lot site, all these news sites that come up. And it's actually my

traffic and my stuff that's actually made them into a legit news site. For the most part, they're not your one, but your one a little bit, you're showing all. I have that. I have that a bit. Not specifically your own one. But there is a lot of them that literally are just about me. So I was like, hang on a minute, man.

If these guys are making, if these guys are better stuff of making money, well then, you know, I'm going to build it up and I'm going to make a little news empire. And I honestly feel like I'm at the foot of this. If I play this, right, it can go big. Like, I'm only, what age am I, my 20 years of age? I'm only a young man. So,

I'm looking to capitalize on all opportunities and this is a new social media age. I mean, we don't even watch TV. He watches TV anymore. I mean, we haven't, there's 40 TVs in this house and none of us in the house, there's about 20 people in the house, none of us have to have the TV on once. So, I mean, it's a new age, and I'm just looking to capitalize on it.

And I think all the experiences I've had through, the retirement thing, the, 200, just everything trail my career on this damn internet, as I've learned from it. I've learned that there's power in this. If you,

if you capitalize correctly, there's power. I mean, you look at all these bumfires. They're giving over their accounts to these bumps, clickbait sites, like,

I forget the name of some of them even, but you see there, they post these stupid articles all the time. It's like, they must be getting like a little monthly wage or something. You're, You're an employee, you're an employee then.

You know what I mean? I want to be the leader of this and create my own one and go and make it big and make it correct. That's what I'm trying to do right now as well, on top of everything else. And I'm enjoying it. It's just another thing in my life now that I'm enjoying. These videos we've been creating, these are like goddamn Oscar award winner, Nogies were giving you. And they're coming out quicker than the embedded.

I know the embedded guys here now, so, and the first one got released. So I'm looking forward to seeing that one. see, and that's going to look compared to my ones. But, I mean, I'm really enjoying what we're doing here, and we're giving fans in all access, look at the camp, and this is just a start. You know knows where it's going to go from here. But I'm enjoying it very much.

And the name of that website, by the way, we should probably share that is the maclife.com. You know what? You don't even go to, I hear, because everyone on this car already knows the name of the MacLive, yeah. All right, fair enough. I was just trying to help you out, my man, but fair enough. No, I know.

I'm only messing with you. That's good. thank you. And I already told you we've got contracts thrown up for you. I might take you on board the MacLive. Take you out, I haven't made fun. Yeah, well, that. Come on board the real team, the winning team.

Well, you could certainly have a chat with my agent, and if the dollars make sense, then we'll get it done. We'll be in touch. Connor, were you prepared to walk away, though? For real, were you okay with that, or was that just part of a whole game? You know, if it came down to what I would have. but I mean

good luck trying to keep an Irish man from a fight you know what I mean I would shout up and slap somebody with the way it was all gone down but fuck it and you know

I was happy you know when it all kicked I was like for a while for a couple of I think how long did even go on

for a couple days or something for a day maybe I was like you know what fucking I am retired put the feet up I did that that night had a fucking drink

went down you know what I mean I was like fuck everybody I am out here and then you know I was a guy

you know It's best to speak out. And then it kind of got a little bit more serious. You know what I mean? Then whatever. It was a crazy experience. But if it came to it, I mean, fuck it. I'd have a knock somewhere else.

I don't know what would have happened. But like I said, I'm comfortable, are you? I mean, when Lil's draw, whatever happens, I mean, it's shrimp spaghetti to start for me for the rest of my life. So I mean, I'm eating good for the rest of my days. And so, you know, whatever happens happens. good I do enjoy a good old-fashioned knock, and that's what this is. So I'm very happy to be back.

You referred to UFC 200 earlier as a debacle, and I think a lot of people would agree, certainly in the aftermath. A part of you deep down sort of smile at how it turned out after they pulled you from the card for not showing up to the press conference and the marketing obligations, were you kind of sort of smiling deep down inside as to what it became? No, no, definitely not. I mean, it was a successful event. It was actually a great event.

The fights weren't the best for me. It wasn't a McGregor show. It wasn't a match forward, hands down, what the fuck you're going to do now, let the shots fly, McGregor show. You know what I mean? It wasn't that.

It was tentative. A lot of the fights were tentative. But the event, the, just, I knew being there, in the ringside, this is a special event,

and to see what the Pakeitas and Mr. White had done. And to where they, and I didn't know that it had been sold at this point, or that they were at this stage. I don't know how to feel it. I knew, we obviously knew something,

but I just knew this event was what they had created and what they had built this up here and you know I would have loving to be on it I think they would have loving me to be on it but to be there ringside and get to witness it with them

and then it was a marquee event for them was the final home where they sold I'm not really even sure where they are now what the setup is truly but it just felt like a special event so I did not wish that to be anything but a success

you know they have done an amazing job I mean what they've done two million to four billionaires, that's insane. And I know there's a lot more money spent in between that. But I mean, that, that is just that. That's the greatest of all time right there. And if you're talking the greatest of all time in the fight business, that is that. To be able to get a turnover like that, get in, get out, get in, get rich, get out, like that.

And build that up to what that was. And that is, I was blown away when I was, when I was seen it all time. And I'm blown away that I'm even on a name-to-name basis with these people. These are the people that have mentored me in this game. I'm very proud of that. I'll be proud of that until the day I die. I have been surrounded by great people in this business and I continue to be surrounded by great people in this business.

And it was an honor to be there ringside. Of course, before I went down, I would have loved him to fight for the family. You know what I mean? I would have loved to put on a show for them once again. But six to five days, I'll put on the show and we'll carry on. I'm going to talk after that.

We'll see where everyone's at. I'll sit down with me. to see that after, like, always had toast a fine-ass whiskey, and see what's really happening, let's see what's next, and figure it out from there. Well, will you be doing that toast? Because at 201, he wasn't there, the new owners were there. Is he still present, as far as your concern?

Oh, I mean, I'd imagine so. He wasn't at 2-1. I'm not sure. I mean, I don't think they can miss a McGregor fight. I don't think they're going to miss him. I don't think the whole family is going to be there. I think Uncle Frank and Kat, Cat,

Miranda, the kids, the whole lot of family is going to be there supporting me, so, I hope so, I hope so anyway, but I would imagine so.

Have you had any contact with the new owners? No, I haven't had any contact with the new owners, but that's another, that's another shit down alive. That might be a,

that might be a, that'll be an interesting shit down. I haven't, I mean, I actually have spoke with the guys. The, Ariraj, right? Ariya, what's the name, Ammanuel? Yeah, he came over at Q00 and was like,

you think you made a lot of money now, kid? We're going to make you a lot more, something like that. And I was like, who the fuck is that guy? And my time was like some kind of Hollywood movie guy or something. And that's what he is as well, right? But I didn't really understand what he was saying, but I guess that's what he, I guess, and a couple of days later, got announced that he took over

or his people, I bought the UFC now. I don't know. I haven't had to sit down, but hey, I'm close to a flight. My current deal is signed, so we'll sit down after this fight and we'll see where it's going. There is a now famous photo of you standing up throughout the entire Frankie Edgar versus Jose Aldo fight, locked in. It's like you're the only person in the arena watching the whole thing as you stand up throughout. What is going through your mind as you're watching that fight? That's my division. That's my division, my belt. and this this frankly kid

and this all time and talking all the sort of stuff so I just want to stand up and let them know I'm here let me see what the fuck you have let me see what both of you have and at the end of the fight

I'm seeing frankly can't touch him and all those dancing around and playing it safe and I'm saying fight fucking fight you want you want this

you want this fight again take it win it you know what I mean you've got it going you can't play a save about like what where's my excitement in that? You're running away and

poking him out. You know, you're just out slapping him and he can't come near you and that's it. That's not. I want to see you come and try and get that fight and really want that fight. I didn't see that. I saw the same thing I've been seeing. I saw that. If we signed the fight again,

he's gone running again. That's what I saw. I just stood up and I was like, I'm here, let me see what the fuck the two years have. and right now a guy I can't out in 20 seconds holds the interim federal title so all I know is I'm in a solid position right now so I'm going to be tactical

and figure out my next meal but I've got a hell of a task ahead of me I've got a I've got a tough Mexican so that's all I'm focused on right now putting this man away in five days are you still are you still thinking at all about MSG Do you still want that?

Because you said that from the beginning, now that it's a reality and almost here, is the plan to get out unscathed and then fight in New York on November 12th? Again, let's see. Nothing's set in stone in this game. Everything changes day by day, so we'll see. How's your relationship with Dana White these days? Amazing.

My relationship with Dana and Lorenzo and everyone has always been great. I mean, we have moments. We have business moments. like, you know what I mean, but our relationship is great. I have a lot of respect for Dana. Like I said, what they have done in the sport has been truly phenomenal. And to be on name-to-name basis and to be mentored by these people is great. But my relationship is great.

It's been no different. I mean, I haven't spoke to him that much since 200. You know, I've been just kind of left and I've been given what I ask. I've been walking. And I don't really know what Dana's position is anymore. I don't really know what, you know, everything's going to change in right now as I'm preparing for a fight. So I'm just letting things happen on that side, letting things happen on my side.

I'm going to show up and fight. And after the fight, I'm sure we'll figure out what's going on and what's next. And we'll get down to more business. And given how enjoyable this whole process has been, do you really have it in you to cut to 145? Like, do you really care to do that at this stage? We see how it looks on you and how you feel. Why do that to yourself?

You know, it ain't an easy cut, but I have nutritionists now on board. Yeah. And that aloe coat was the best cut I've ever had. The IV was banned. We weren't allowed using IV to rehydrate. I made championship weight, and I rehydrated fully. I was brand-nil, you know, so the weight is there for me to make. But it's got to be right.

I've got to be intrigued by it. You know what I mean? I can't be intrigued by a guy that's been running. And still, I still see a runner in my eyes when I look at how I was like. I still see a guy that I go through the whole shit again and then nine days out, hey, Connor, we've got a middleweight there. Do you want to fight a middleweight? Okay, then fuck out, I'll fight a middleweight.

You know what I mean? It's got to appeal to me, so it's got to be right. So like I said, I've got this guy to take care of. But I'm still the Federal War Champion. And after this fight, we'll sit down and we'll... I'm sure they'll attempt to make it right. get sweet for me. So we've talked then. I couldn't help, and with just a couple more minutes, and thank you so much for the time,

Connor. I sincerely appreciate it. I couldn't help but smile when it was your birthday and a belated happy birthday to you when your coach, John Kavanaugh, gave you the two Cage Warriors titles because it was on the show that you mentioned that you lost the belts when they took them from you and you wanted them back and then it seems like you finally got them back. How did you get them back? Yeah, I mean, well, originally with John Beck set it up to have the thing taken away me but all these years later he finally got them back. How?

I'm not sure he had a crazy a crazy job trying to get them back. For some reason, they don't, they want to give me the belts back. So John put in, I mean, he's been working to get them back for a good one now. Seems like, I think he's telling me, like, over a year, two years or something,

he's trying to get them belts. But when he showed, when he gave me them belts on my birthday, I was gone away, I mean, this training camp has been absolutely phenomenal. John has gone above and beyond to me, and we really came back together, and it's a really coaching student

and brothers in arms, you know what I mean? We are in this together. It's been a crazy journey. Nobody can compare to this journey we are on. I'm just grateful to have a man like John, a coach like John with me, every step of the way, and it's been phenomenal.

My birthday was celebrated well. Them Bells, who just reiterated who who I am, who we are, where we have come from, what we are doing here. And I just put everybody in a solid mindset and we have been in that solid mindset since. So it's been a phenomenal camp,

and I look forward to having a phenomenal fight to represent my coach and my people. Speaking of that, as you know, the lightweight champion is talking about you a lot these days, Eddie Alvarez. Are you still wanting to get two belts simultaneously? Is that still something that you want to do? Yeah, I mean, yeah, of course.

I truly, truly feel I would have the two belts right now. If the Sanias showed up, he would have been sleeping after them shots that's no question that's no doubt and right now there's a new champion he's a bum as well he's a novice he's a novice on his feet swinging shot overhand he's just a wrestler

with an overhand as well and the novices where I come from that's that's the truth of it so and we'll see about him we'll see about him we'll see there's a lot of options they're all begging for it they're all they're all begging

in their own unique way but make no mistake is begging they are all begging for this. They're all begging for what Nate got. I mean, look at Nate. Who went for 20 to 20... Now he's talking big money. So they're all on the hands and he's begging for this.

So like I said, I'll have this fight in five days. I'll sit down with Mr. White, the new owners, Mr. Fatita. I don't know who the fuck I'll sit down. Somebody who the fuck is next. But that he'll better be sweet. And then we'll figure it out from there. When you heard that $4 billion number,

did you kind of think to yourself, man, I should be getting more. No, I'm simply over the middle of them, I mean, to see the work they put in, to see what they've done. I was inspired by it. Oh. Absolutely inspired by it. The biggest, what was it, the biggest sport trail in history. Yep. A little sport that they last at.

They last at this sport. Everyone ridiculed this sport. You know what I mean? This sport wasn't even a sport. And now all of a sudden, with their guidance, It's the biggest fucking sports franchise in the world. So I took inspiration from that. That is motivation right there.

And I've nothing but respect for the fatigatives and Mr. White. Like I've said many times, it is. I'm sure they don't know what's going on. I'm sure they're thinking in the head. Like I read an interview or listened to Dana on a talk show. He was like, after the sale, I locked myself in a room, and I didn't know what the fuck was going on. I'd say he didn't know what was going on.

I was laughing at that. But I'd say, I mean, you've just got to take your hat off to yourself. You've got to give yourself a pat on the back. You might have to walk that man at the only. They'd have to work the baddivis and love to get that. To get that number, to build that up to what... I mean, the UFC is them. They did it.

So, fuck me, man. I'm just... I was just motivated by that number. And you're damn right, I want a piece of that pie. No, no, let's not get a twisted. I like pie too, so I'm coming for that. I'm coming for some of my play also. But I took motivation in that sale and that number.

And like I said, I think I played a... I played a nice role in that number. I mean, what was it? It was estimated $2 billion at one stage. I mean, before I came along, I remember when I first started getting in, this is a $2 billion in the franchise. I remember hearing that sometimes.

And now, since I came along, now it's $4 billion. So the year before it was sold, as my year, numbers was, I mean, I played a nice role in that, too. So the number motivated me. That's what I thought. Two last quick things. Are you surprised at the reaction

from the WWE stars to your throwaway comment were you surprised at how many of them reacted to it the way they did? You know, not really. I mean,

they're an emotional bunch of guys there. They're scared of the real man, let's be honest, that's just what it is. This is the real shit and that's a fake shame. They're just scared of the real man. That's just the way it is.

And I just felt like a smoke troop. They are little dwebs. Let's be honest I don't know those new guys There is a couple of OGs in it But the majority of them

I'm at the whibs So That was it It is what it is Either way I know I'm laughing Straight to the bank With it

So that's it Tell them all Tell all them Toos Toos Toos Actually don't even tell Them

You know they're tuning in You know that tuning in This Saturday 2O2 I can't wait To see the numbers Out of this And giggle my way

To the bank lady And final thing Connor I'm just wondering because when we were told about this fight, you know, we're told that you... Is that the giggling? What?

Is that you giggling to the bank? I was being giggling to the bank, lady, yeah. Okay. When we were told, oh, yes, the 50-cent song, right. When we were told about this fight, it was you're obsessed. You have to run it back. You have to run it back. You have to get this one back.

It has to be the same stipulations and whatnot. In a way, is this a byproduct of your success? meaning when you lost to Joe Duffy in 2010, would you have liked to have run a back? Is that a part of your sort of OCD mentality that you need to get it back right away? Back then you didn't have that clout. Now you do have that clout,

and that's essentially why this is happening now? I'm just a competitive man. I want to compete. I want to challenge myself. I don't want an easy fight. I don't want a cherry pig nothing. And that's it. I'm looking to challenge myself.

And that's it. Here we are again. and it's good to be in a position where I can do this. But, you know, you win some, you lose them. But we always learn, and that's it. So I feel I've learned a lot. I'm looking forward to Saturday night to come and show on it. Win or learn, as your coach says, right?

Yeah, booking stars now. Yeah. Connor, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Scoop that one up by you, then. You'll know, you're no reading that one. You'll know reading that book. Because when I read out, I was actually on the way by John's book,

because I didn't, you know, when you hear I'm talking about how his mindset is and how he's, how his coaching, they said, it's like, man, this is no Sunday league shit. This isn't like a sun, this isn't like your average Sunday league coach the way he's thinking. So I took great motivation in reading that book and I realized that I have a special man, a special coach on my side here. So I was very happy with that. So you can read that also. Oh, I have it right behind me.

and he was on the show earlier. I am in the process of reading it and have enjoyed it immensely. Trust me, read it. I ain't Sunday leechy. No, I know. I don't know. I ain't your average coach.

You know, sure. I haven't you reading it. It has been fun being on this journey watching you from your first UFC fight up until this point. I know the journey dates back well before that, and that's what the book details quite nicely.

So I do suggest checking it out if you are a fan of Connor McGregor and just want an inspiring story as well. What a treat this has been, Connor. in the making, and I really appreciate you taking some time out to join us. It has been a minute, but you certainly lived up to it once again. Thank you so much for the time. I look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas, and I wish you the best of luck on Saturday night. Thank you, Ariel. I appreciate it. And it's always an honor getting on and speaking. And I'll

send those contracts over for the MacLife shortly. Check them out. I will. I will. I will. I look forward to... You know what they say, if you ain't Macin, you ain't stacking. Thank you, Connor. There he is. Thank you. If you ain't Mackin, you ain't stacking. That's good. That's a good tagline. I like it. That was fun. Great to hear from him again. Like I said, it had been a while the first time. It was with blueberries.

No pots to piss in. Then we evolved. We had the Cole Miller situation. The back and forth there. What else did we have? We had rehab. We had post-brimmed. pre Brandau, pre Steve Collins with Steve Collins, pre that fight, which was that fight? Max Holloway, right? We thought it was going to be Andy Ogle. It's been a fun three plus years. It really has. And Saturday night is a big one for him.

He's asked for this. He asked to put it on the line. He asked to run it back, as they say, and he's getting exactly what he asked for. Connor McGregor is fighting Nate Diaz on Saturday at 170 pounds. It came together in just 11 days when they fought at UFC 196. They get a full training camp this time. They get a lot of ups and downs leading up to this point. What a long and winding road it has been, but we are finally here, five days away from

one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history. Exhausting, an emotional roller coaster, but here we are. It's going to be fun. Any final words, Mr. Nier. Rick. Someone from an unknown number keeps calling me throughout the damn interview, they keep calling me, and they're calling me right now. I think you have to answer it on air. Let's do it. Hello? Ah, and they just hung up. That's a lot of fun. So they were, look how many, and I just heard myself. I heard myself, and they keep calling. 42 minutes ago, 36 minutes ago, 34 minutes ago, 31 minutes ago,

26 minutes ago. How many missed calls did I get from unknown? See, what did you get out of that. Eight. That's a lot of fun. Oh, and they're calling me again. A bunch of losers. Okay. Any final shots?

Any final word? No shots. I mean, well, I mean, a question. The question that's hanging over every, you know, over everything after that interview. Can you break the news? Are you going to the Maclife? Listen, I'd like to just tell you guys after long consideration with my team, I'm taking my talents over to the Maclife.com.

How would you describe Connor McGregor today? Is it a subdued Connor? Now, this has been a topic that you and I have discussed on this show for years now. After every performance, I called it performance, which is apt for what I'm about to say. After every appearance by Connor on the show, you know, you've asked me how I feel about Connor because I've always had a stance where I was a little cautious and, you know, wasn't ready to jump on the Connor McGregor train and get behind. and all that stuff, but this is the guy

that all those years ago that I thought he would be and could be and I think this is the most authentic and entertaining version of Connor McGregor that will get. Wow. It's this one right now.

The, you know, the rehearsed punch lines and going over the same kind of stick, you know, essentially doing Chal Shonan's act like he used to was great and it got him exposure and I think it was necessary at the time but I think that right now this very powerful

a little more stoic you know always willing to speak but not always trying to get in front of a camera and you know do a rehearsed line is the Connor McGregor that that I personally like and I think it's the right mind frame for him to be going into a fight so yeah he does seem to be

in a great place right I think that this is a much easier thing to sustain when you can be yourself when you can be authentic but and his all him being authentic does include trash talk it i don't i don't mean and i never did mean for him to put that part of it away or to the side but there was a bit of it that seemed like a routine that he was turning his character up you know the there's the old analogy that people make about you know wrestlers and all these other people where they turn themselves up to 11 i felt that he was turning it up to 15. And this version, I think, is prepared for battle. And I think a much more compelling character.

That's how I'll say it. Maybe not more entertaining, but much more compelling. And I'm... Wait, are you now back in? You're back in? That did it? I'm kind of... I'm kind of amped for 202 now. I need to get a piece of that pay-per-view pie now. I like pie as well. Who doesn't like pie? Well, you know The Rock? No, well, that's not what I was going to say. I was going to say, as the great Connor McGregor just said moments ago, what did he say?

I don't remember. Oh, man. Regarding pie? No, not regarding pie. Which one? If you ain't stacking, you ain't Macon? No, well, you botched it, but yeah. Is that not it?

Wait, wait, wait, if you ain't Macon, you ain't stacking? Yeah, that's it. That's right, that's right. A lot of people like that line. I'm going to get that one on my shirt. We should get that right here. By the way, I appreciate the good people over at the Mac Life. Uh-oh.

No, they embedded our video. They're good people over there. Who did it? Is there a name attached? It says Ariahawani over here. It was probably Connor Hems, oh, you think it's me going on the backhead? Listen, I may be double dipping. You'll never know.

Could you imagine that? What a controversy that would be. Maybe that's why Chris Avila didn't show up. I don't think that's it. No, that's not. Chris, banned, sorry. banned. Sorry,

how long is this band for? Yeah, it's been a while, right? We haven't banned anybody in a long time. I mean, to get banned by a guy who's making, to get no show by a guy who's making his UFC debut, who's what, 23 years old, who, you know,

I mean, what was it for Brendan Schaub? Didn't we do it to Brendan Schaub one time? See, but I think we relaxed it. Like, we said it was going to be like forever. Yeah. And then it turned one month or something like that. We had the classic one with Ben Folks. Yes.

We even made him a video. One of my first things that I did for this show was making a video for the return of Ben Folks. And the classic part about that was, you made the video and then the show never happened because my first son was born. Yes. That Monday.

Oliver was born, so we never actually got the payoff. We actually made a promo video for Ben Folks's return and we had to wait a full week because I became a daddy. Yes. Then we showed it, but yeah, you're right. We did have to push the programming. It was good video. It was the I'm coming home.

So officially, it's Nate Diaz plus 110. It's Connor McGregor minus 117. First things first, are you surprised that he is the favorite? That Connor is the favorite. Yeah. I'm not. I think that what he showed in that first, you know, round and pretty much round and a half,

is that he does have the stand-up skills to give Nate Diaz problems. But on the other side of it, what Diaz showed is that, and it's what he's shown throughout his career and what Sean Al-Shadi did a fantastic job of highlighting in that piece. And his opponents did in highlighting in that piece is that he's never going to go away. He's going to continue to pressure. And he's going to, you know, the way he wins is by breaking wills and hanging in there when you think he's not going to. I think, man, it's tough. I don't think that we're going to end up with the same kind of fight. I think Connor McGregor is going to be much more measured.

And I still think he's going to be chasing the knockout. I still think he's going to be trying to load up and put power into his punches and take Nate Diaz out. I don't see him, you know, dancing around trying to get a decision outpointing Nate Diaz because I don't think that's an effective strategy. I think Connor being a favorite is right. even though Diaz won, and we've seen this before. This is not the first time a guy who's lost the first fight was a favorite in the next fight. But I'd say it's probably just slightly closer to even money than this, if I was capping it. What's your pick?

Who's your pick? Man, I was so sure Connor McGregor was going to win the first one. Could not have been more wrong. I think McGregor's going to get it done and set him up for all these incredible fights that he had in his mind already, I think McGregory is going to get it done. I'm not sure how. I feel like you just said the opposite at the beginning of the show. Am I crazy? No, what did I say at that? Did this interview really change you? No, what did you think I said at the beginning? I feel like you said that Nate was going to win when we were talking. Am I wrong? No, no, no, I never

said that. Conch's going to get it done? Second round? I think, no, no. I don't think that really. I think later. So you're going with Kavanaugh's pick. Yeah, I think I, when I play it out, I think Connor, I don't think Diaz can fight a better fight than he fought the last time in the sense that Connor was the one pushing the pace and had him on the back foot and eventually he sustained that and then overwhelmed Connor McGregor. But I think that's how he's always going to fight. Diaz's style is that way. There's not much he can change up to kind of make this fight a little bit different.

I think the onus is more on Connor to change what he did coming in because I think Again, he's going to be dictating the pace a little bit early. And I think he's going to get it done. I think he's going to change enough to get it done. But as I said, I think it's closer to even money. I'm not confident in that pick. I think this is a close fight. I think Diaz has all the tools and capabilities to do exactly the same thing he did last time.

I just don't think he will. I do see Connor McGregor getting the win this time. All right. And what about this? What has been the narrative as far as Connor is concerned? turned since he became this draw, since he became this star. What have people said about him? What has been the knock on Connor?

The main knock on Connor since he became the star? In terms of fight aspect? No, no, no. Are you talking about the whole package? I don't know. That he's too egotistical? I'm not sure. What is it?

Well, it plays into that. That it's all about him. That he thinks he's the man. That he shows up an hour late. That the press conferences start late because of him. That it's all on his turn. that he wants more money, that he wants this, that he wants that, he wants this. That's all been the chatter, right?

Yep. On the MMA hour, what time was he scheduled for? 4 p.m. Eastern time. What time did we get him? 4 p.m. Eastern time. Connor is a very smart man and he recognizes the show of shows. He recognizes the platform or platform. So yeah, maybe on Wednesday he'll be a little late,

but he wouldn't dare do that on this program. He wouldn't dare do that on the program. that made him, that brought him to the world, that brought him to the masses, that exposed him while he didn't have a pot to piss in, while he was just eating blueberries, while he was dreaming about this restaurant, about some paleo pizza chicken thing. You remember that? I do. What was it called? Oh, yeah, like I'm going to pull that one. Good times. It was nice. It felt like, you know, old friends catching up again. There it is. There it is. I mean, I can't cut a better promo than that, so let's dip out on that one.

All right. Godspeed. Salam al-a-a-a-a-a-a-brother. You can hit my music. sick, fun show today. I gotta tell you, I think I lost 48 pounds doing this show. But in the end, our guy comes through. How about that? And yes, I'm wearing shorts again this week.

You know why? Because it's very hot outside. It's almost 100 degrees. It's crazy out here. And it's not just like a normal 100 degrees. It's a very humid 100 degrees. When I walk from here to the train station, it's like, I'm literally like,

it's like coming out of my pores. I'm sweating like crazy. Anyway, I need to take a shower. But what a fun show. Here we are. UFC 202, five days away. Wow, can you feel it?

I certainly can in this empty studio all by myself. I can feel it. I wish it was happening right now. T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada. It all kicks off Wednesday. Press conference. Guess what? MMAfighting.com will be there from beginning to end.

Hopefully, doing our thing. Looking forward to it. It's going to be a lot of fun. I want to thank Sean Al Shadi for stopping by. I want to thank Damian Maya for stopping by. Don't forget about UFC on Fox 21, August 27th. That's in less than two weeks in Vancouver, BC. Want to thank Artem Lobov for stopping by.

How about John Kavanaugh coming back? Keeping up with tradition. Where's that book? There it is. Win or learn. There you have it. John Kavanaugh's book. Check it out if you haven't.

And also go to that appearance Thursday. It's on his Twitter. I retweeted it as well. Best of luck to him and the team on Saturday. Thank you very much, Jeff Boris. Best of luck to him. And, of course, thank you very much to Connor McGregor. Best of luck.

Nate Diaz, Connor McGregor, fight week finally here. Thank you so much for watching the show. If you missed it, iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube, all that, got stuff and more. Same time next week. Tell us happy. Somebody. Sacks Fifth Avenue makes it easy to holiday your way. Whether it's finding the right gift or the right outfit.

Zax is where you can find everything. From the perfect Chloe bag for your hard-to-shop for a sister to a prodig jacket for a fancy holiday dinner. And if you don't know where to start, sacks.com is customized to your personal style so you can save time shopping. Make shopping fun and easy this season and find gifts and inspiration to suit your holiday style

at Saks Fifth Avenue. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-eastern.

in one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier, CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, O-DU replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch, so why not you? Try O-D-O-4-free at O-D-O-D-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com.