MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 345

Episode Date: August 29, 2016

Ariel Helwani speaks to Paige VanZant (00:05:44), Rafael dos Anjos (00:26:17), Rashad Evans (00:46:23), A.J. Mckee (01:11:28), Max Holloway (01:29:30), Rory MacDonald (01:47:40), Josh Barnett (02:13:39), Michael Chandler in studio (02:43:23) and Luke Rockhold in studio (03:13:35). 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-fi 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-4-3 at O-D-O-D-com. That's O-D-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 29, 2016. Hogan, everyone, I'm Ariel Hawani back inside our New York City studio.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. It was certainly an entertaining one as far as mixed martial arts action is concerned. The highlight of course Saturday night, the UFC back in Vancouver for the fourth time. first time was UFC 115, second time, UFC 131, third time, UFC 174, fourth time this past Saturday, UFC on Fox 21. Three major takeaways from that event, in my opinion. First off, Damien Maya continues to impress, continues to dominate his opponents in a way that we have rarely seen. You know, this is a guy who when he came into the UFC, he was obviously very well. versed in the jujitsu game and perhaps it took him some time to evolve as a mixed martial artist.

He hasn't gone away from jiu-jitsu. Obviously, we've seen that once again on Saturday night, but he has really become, as far as one discipline is concerned, a master at it. And he continues to beat up everyone on the ground. And the most impressive part of the whole damn thing is he continues to take very little damage in his fights. Now he's won six in a row. He submits Carlos Condit in less than two minutes. And in my opinion, he cements his place atop the very best in the 170-pound division. So it seems like they're going to do Wonderboy versus Woodley next. And then he's next. He wants to wait. And the emotion that he showed afterwards, the emotion that Carlos Condit showed, I mean, it really was, as the old ABC wide world of sports show used to say at the top of

of its program back in the day, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. You see Damien Maya crying because Condit means so much to him, because winning over Condit means so much to him, because beating Condit like that is so darn important to him. He is literally bawling as Carlos Condit is trying to figure out his career and where he goes from here. Condit said afterwards, he doesn't know if he belongs in the UFC. That is 100% untrue. His heart may not be into it. His mind may not be into it, but he certainly belongs in the UFC and this is a guy who was in my opinion a scorecard or two away from becoming UFC Walterway champion back in January. It's still the fight of the year in my opinion. I thought he beat Robbie Lawler on January 2nd. So it just goes to show how cruel this sport can be. And now here

he is questioning whether he'll ever fight again. Once you start thinking about that, once you start contemplating your future, maybe it's best to walk away. One thing's for certain, probably won't see him for quite some time, and the next time we hopefully see Damien Maya fight, it will be for the Welterway title. Also of note, Anthony Pettis drops down to 145. He submits Charles O'Livera, his three-fight losing streak is over. What a weight lifted off his shoulders. What a great moment for Anthony Pettus there on Saturday night. And then how about Paige Van Zand? Wow, unbelievable, stealing the show, flying switch kick. She hasn't fought since December. She goes and does the Dancing with the Stars show finishes second, probably should have won the whole thing.

And then in her return to the UFC on national television, she knocks out Beck Rawlings with a flying switch kick. What a year for Paige Van Zend. Friday, Beltor had an event, Belator 160, Benson Henderson, now the number one contender in the Beltoir lightweight division, an unfortunate ending, Patricia Pitbull, breaking his fibula in the fight. Benson wins, gets his first Bellator win. What else was on that card? A. J. McKee remains undefeated. Joey Davis looked very good in his Bellator debut. Georgie Carcanian knocking out Bobba Jenkins. Like I said, it was a very busy weekend and maybe the biggest news of all, it was made official on Friday. Roy McDonald has officially signed with Bellator. You know what's

interesting? Tyron Woodley, Damian Maya, even Wonderboy Thompson. What do they all have in common? Roy McDonald is what they have in common. The last man to defeat Tyrone Woodley, Roy McDonald. Last man to defeat Damien Maya, Roy McDonald. The man who Wonderboy beat to get his title shot, Rory McDonald. Well, he's headed to Bell Tor. So much to discuss on this show. It is a stacked one. Can't wait to get into it. So let's run down the lineup and get to our first guest. Can't wait to talk to her as well. Four o'clock will be joined in studio by Luke Rockhold, who is of course coming off that loss to Michael Bisping. There's a ton going on in his life.

He'll be in studio at four o'clock. 3.30, Michael Chandler will be in. in studio. The Belator Lightway Champion will be right here. So we've got two in studio guests today. 305. Josh Barnett, who faces Andrea Olavski this Saturday in Hamburg, Germany, he'll stop by. Live from Hamburg, the aforementioned Roy McDonald will stop by at 245 to talk about why he decided to sign with Bellator. Max Holloway, who's one of the very best at 145. We'll talk to him about Pettus, talk to him about what's next for him. He'll stop by at 225. A.J. McKee, A great character, the mercenary, the son of longtime vet, Antonio McKee will stop by at 205. Rashad Evans will stop by at 1.45, talk about his future.

And Hafaild dosangos, in one of his first, if not his first interview since losing the belt back in July, we'll stop by at 125, talk to him about Connor, his fight against Tony Ferguson. So much to talk to RDA about. But first, we got to start this show one way and one way only. She is still in Vancouver, about to head off to the airport, very kind enough to join us right before she does that. She won big on Saturday. As it said, flying switch kick, Paige Van Zent, massive win for her. It's a highlight clip that will be replayed over and over and over again

until the end of time. And she joins us right now via the magic of Skype, I believe, or is it via the magical phone? There she is. Paige Van Zent. How are you, Paige? I'm good. Thanks for having me. Oh, what a pleasure. Where are you right now with those black drapes in back of you? This is still my hotel room. Oh, my God. I got a good setup. You're such a pro page. Even when you come on via Skype now, you're like, you're just top-notch, A-plus all the way. First class.

I appreciate that. Okay. How many times have you watched that clip over and over again? Do you have any idea? Yeah, you know, a lot. I've gone through and watched it a lot just from every angle, kind of seen how I did it. It was a really cool highlight. I'm going to definitely remember that for a long time.

Is that something that you worked on? training. Were you looking for that? It was actually. That was something I was looking for in the fight. All my corners kind of, it was decided that I was going to get her tired in the first round. I knew I would have world-class cardio. That's something that Justin

Buckles really pushes on us in training. So get her really tired in the first round. Use everything in my arsenal, kind of see what would open up, see how she would react. I was trying to fake a few shots, trying to just kind of test her out. And then I was able to see she kept dropping

dropping her hand and that left side was open and Justin told me left side's open throw the kick, throw the kick and I threw it, landed it and got the knockout. So at the beginning of the second round as you may have heard, Brian Stan says that he heard in between the first and second that Justin was telling you to stop flying around

stop throwing that crazy stuff. Is that in fact what he said because almost on cue you land the flying switch kick? So did he say that or not? No, that's not what he said. I can't remember exactly what he said, but it definitely was. He wasn't telling me to stop using all my tools.

I'll have to go back and kind of see what the corner said. But I know he kept telling me that left sides open, throw the left kick. And I don't know. He's the one who kind of told me. And it was nice to have a coach talk about how athletic I really was. And that's something that he reiterated is that you're one of the top athletes in the gym. You have all these tools in your arsenal and I haven't used him before. And I throw them and I land them in sparring.

but I go out to the cage and I end up just rushing forward and trying to close the distance and not really effectively striking. And for this fight, I definitely wanted to be a little bit more effective. I knew she'd have high-level boxing. I wanted to stay out of that range. And if you use a few more tools that I land in sparring and I landed it there. What were you thinking when you sat down in between the first and second? Because looking at Twitter, a lot of people were scoring that first round for her and saying

that you seemed like you were trying to figure things out, maybe shake off the cobwebs. Were you disappointed in that first round? No, I wasn't at all. That was kind of the plan is wear her out, circle, circle, circle. I kind of looked at her over in her corner. She did look tired after that first round. And, yeah, I kind of did exactly what I wanted to do. I saw exactly how she was reacting to everything that I was throwing.

And threw a lot of lake kicks. I knew that's how I was going to set up the over-the-top kick. And, yeah, I feel like the first round went perfectly, went to my corner, I was really pissed because she, on accident, it was just kind of like when we were clenched up, she came up and headbutted me and I was pissed. I got head butted. And yeah, I mentioned that in the corner. But no, I feel like the first round for me, maybe I was down on points, but I kind of set up exactly what I wanted to.

Is that where the black eye comes from? Yeah. Oh, my. I didn't notice that. Yeah, I didn't notice that on Saturday. Did you cover that up or did it only emerge afterwards? It usually when I bruise it shows up the second day. Oh wow.

That is interesting. When you landed that kick and she fell where you think because you still had to sort of finish her off on the ground, were you like, oh man, this is too good of a kick. Like I need to finish this because it will be almost a waste. Well, I think actually after I landed, I was just so like, holy cow, I just landed it. A little bit too long for it to register that I need to like swarm. But that's something we obviously drill is when you drop someone. somebody swarm them and get the finish. So I hit her. I was like, all right, move in and just got

on top of her and finished the fight. Are you sparring a lot leading up to your fights? And if so, did you hit people with that? Did you drop people with that kick? Yeah, I wouldn't say I dropped. We use headgear and like shin guards, but I landed it really, really well on one of my teammates. This poor guy, Nico. And it happened to be Reebok was in there filming for the day, and they got it on, they got it filmed. Oh, so hitting them with the same move. And it landed perfectly. I hit it on one of the girls that I spar with.

And I just been drilling it, you know, during open workouts, my one of my men guys, he wanted, in trainers, he wanted to throw that just to show it off during open workouts. And I was like, no, no, no, I want to save that. I really want to save that. Let's not show it. And it ended up working out. Absolutely. Yeah. The secret weapon.

You can't unleash that beforehand. I noted before the fight that in talking to some people, no one was doubting you per se, but they did say in the back of their mind, like, man, I wish he had a little more time post dancing with the stars. Like, this is coming quick. And of course, it was a big stage on Fox, so it was important to have you on the card. But did you feel the same way in hindsight? Did you wish you had a little more time leading up to the fight after the show? I did. I did wish I had like just maybe two more weeks would have been perfect. But at the same time, I knew the time that I had to get ready for it. UFC said, I want you on. on the Canada card. So I said, all right, I'm going to Canada and just kind of made it work. I got back into the gym and I worked really, really hard. And I feel like I've worked harder than ever

for the last four weeks of this fight camp. I turned it up. I really feel like I pushed it. And I got ready for the fight. By the time I got to Canada, I felt really ready. You mentioned in the post-fight interview that it was one of, if not your hardest training camps. In fact, you considered pulling out. Why was it so difficult? There was just a lot of factors that were kind of, one, frustrating, too. I took the fight before I even stepped back into the gym. That was kind of a secret. I was trying not to let everybody know.

But I, yeah, I just took the fight. UFC said they wanted me on the card, so I said, okay. And I got back into the gym, trained really hard. I had my corners kind of worked out, and all of a sudden, neither of them could get into Canada for various reasons. But Canada didn't want them here. And four days before I'm supposed to leave for Canada, I got a new corner. I actually had a teammate who was supposed to be on this car, Josh Emmett, and I was just going to use one of his corners.

Then all of a sudden Josh gets hurt and he's not going anymore. So his corners weren't going anymore. So then I had to ask them to come anyway. It was just like a lot of annoying things here and there. Any injuries? No, actually. This is a great fight camp. No injuries going into.

it and no injury is coming out. Wow. Were you freaking out when it's not your usual corner or the ones that you had been preparing for? Like mentally, what does that do to you? It's just to switch up. It's definitely not a problem for me because I have had different corners for actually almost every single one of my fights. I just, I've only had like one consistent corner and it's my coach Owen. And that's pretty much been my only consistent corner. I've used him three times. And then prior to that, I don't think I've had anybody repeat. It just kind of worked out that way. And it's something that you don't rely on. And I mentioned that actually in this fight, that this is the first time I actually listened to my corner. This is for real. And I could hear them and I threw things when

they told me to throw them. And that's kind of how I got that left kick is Justin said left's open and through it. So it was great. And I feel like that's me maturing as a fighter. I'm going to start using some consistent corners and really listen to what they have to say. Do you feel like you were a little rusty in the first round? Like because of the long layoff and all the other stuff that you were doing,

you weren't in the gym while doing the show. Of course, you were very active, but not doing MMA training. Did you feel like you needed some time to get going in that first round? No. I didn't actually. My cardio, I would say for this fight was better than any other. I was running almost like 20 miles a week getting ready for this fight, just trying to get my weight perfect, my cardio perfect.

I knew that I was going to have better cardio just because I was pushing the pace so hard. And for this fight, that's something that me and my coaches have been really, really working on is me not just charging forward and rushing them. And we knew that was what Beck was expecting. And I watched a lot of her interviews. She kind of knew that I was going to rush forward and close the distance. I did see in her prior fights. She's a veteran.

You know, I've watched her fight for a while. She does have very good clench work, and she's very strong when you close distance and get in that boxing range. So I really wanted to stay out of it, circle a lot, and it just kind of worked out. Every fight is important. Every fight in the UFC is important. But because of all the attention that you received off the Dancing with the Star Show, did you kind of feel a little more pressure this time to prove that you're not just, you know,

some celebrity reality star, whatever, that you're at your core, still a fighter, you still care about this, you still want to be one of the best, you know, a champion. Like, did you feel like you had to almost prove yourself again? You know, for me, I feel like every fight, it's not that I have to prove anybody wrong. It's just that I have to prove myself right. And I had to go in there and prove to myself that I belonged in there and prove that I was so much more than just coming off of dancing with the stars. And it was definitely just pressure I put on myself, especially knowing I was going to have a lot of people watching coming from Dancing with the Stars.

So it was just pressure from myself and I wanted to perform really well and I was able, I think I have the most finishes for the Straw. So that was like another awesome thing that happened. Yes. Amazing. And also one thing that wasn't really talked about because the last thing we saw you in was Dancing with the Stars, you know, you're coming off a pretty tough loss. That was your last fight.

Mentally, you had to almost get over that hump as well. Were you thinking about like just to get your confidence back? That was not a great night for you. You handled it like a pro, all class, like a real professional, but you still had to get back on track. Was that playing tricks on you at all going into this fight? You know, actually, I just stayed really focused for this fight, and I had to completely forget about that fight because it is in the past. Learn from it, but don't dwell on it. And I know that I was a much better athlete for this fight.

Physically, mentally, everything was better for this fight. And I had to go in there with confidence. And no matter what happens in your last fight, you even, you even, you even, you know, mentally, mentally, everything. even this fight. For my next time, I'm going to have to forget about this fight and re-evaluate my opponent and just move forward. Did you notice a difference in the way the fans reacted to you, Twitter afterwards? I see a ton of celebrities tweeting about you, being on Fox. Like, did this feel different, especially coming off what you did back in, you know, May, April, and the success on the show? A little different, but at the same time, it kind of, it just feels like I belong here. It felt

like I'm finally like finally back in the octagon. It's a different feeling than anything I've ever done and it's awesome that I have so much support and it is I feel like even a bigger platform because I do have so many amazing people tweeting me and saying congratulations, which feels really special but at the same time it's just another win in the UFC and that that's special in itself. Best celebrity tweet you got. Which one sticks out? My favorite is probably from Nick Jonas.

Oh, you're a Jonas brother fan. I'm a Nick Jones. Okay, fair enough. Do the Jonas Brothers still exist as a group? Do they still perform together? I have no idea. Okay. Have you ever met Nick Jonas?

I haven't. No, but I met Demi Lovato. And that was cool. She texted me and said congratulations. So I know she knows him really well. Wow. Demi Lovato all over the MMA space. Luke Rockhold dating her.

I don't know if you heard the news. Really? Yeah. TMZ broke it. Oh, well. I don't know. about that. We'll see. Okay. Well, actually, Luke is going to be on the show later so we can ask him. I'm sure you'll be tuning in. Yeah, I want to know about that. Okay. I like the way you perked up at that

little factoid. Do you feel like he's not good enough for her? Is that what you're saying? I want to say that, but I did hear that I was dating an NFL player once that I had never met before. So you just never know. Fair enough. JJ Watt, right? Wasn't that one? Yeah, that was crazy. I think he put that out there because he wanted to be linked with you. that's dumb bag. I never had actually met him in person, so, and then I found out I wanted to date with him. Unbelievable. Who knew?

I bet after the show you had all these like PR people reaching out to you trying to set you up with their clients and things like that, right? Doesn't that happen? No. That doesn't happen? Good. I hear that's what happens in Hollywood. Like managers try to set their client up with the, right? That actually is how it works, which is totally weird.

But, I mean, I don't know if you know Mike Roberts. He just replies back. He just applies back, no. That's a good manager. He doesn't like it. He just says no. I like that. So, okay, so no injuries coming off and you said afterwards that you want to come back in December, right?

Yeah, and you know, no injuries, it's perfect timing. I don't know if I'll get on that card. I'm sure. I don't see why not. Yeah. But, yeah, I feel really good. Of course, I do have a few. I was really excited after the fight, obviously, but I do have a few, like, fun things

works right now so hopefully those pan out and um get a good timeline for a fight in there what do we got what do we got last time if you recall you were in studio you held back on us you didn't tell us about that's who the next day you go on some show called good morning america that was like way lower as far as popularity is concerned and then you break it there so give us the goods come on i know i really wish i could but a few more maybe like oh i think i would be in new york Maybe in New York. So, I mean, if it happens, I'll come your way and we'll share it on the show. Okay, fair enough. Was there any chance, given how well you did and how popular you became, did you ever consider not returning to M.A.? Did you ever consider not fighting again?

No, not at all. And I think that's the funniest thing about the whole experience. What I find humorous is, you know, me and Antonio became really good friends on Dancing with the Stars. And nobody ever asked him if he was going to leave the NFL and become a famous actor. That would have never been thrown out there. But for me, it was everyone's like, oh, Paige is going to leave for Hollywood. She's never coming back. And that wasn't in at all. And I do know that there's a lot of other fighters who have had much longer layoffs than I did.

And didn't get to be on an amazing show like Dancing with the Stars and get those opportunities. So for me, I'm a fighter first. I just happened to stay on Dancing with the Stars until the finale. So it pushed back my next fight. But it all worked out. Is it possible because, as you alluded to on Thursday, I believe, perhaps you don't get paid as much as Antonio and you are involved in a very physical sport. And that's why people thought you'd think, you know what, maybe I don't need to do this anymore. I can get paid more to do some acting or whatever.

That could have been the case because that's definitely true. Hollywood pays very well. But I am a fighter first and hopefully, you know, there is amazing things happening. Connor McGregor just had an amazing payday and it's about time and I don't see that as an excessive amount of money with what he's doing. That's about right. And hopefully that starts trickling down. So everybody starts making more money. Kudos to you for saying that.

I feel like Paige of a couple of years ago would have said that. That felt like sort of a big moment for you. I don't know. I feel like that was like, wow. good for Paige for speaking up because you certainly deserve it and then some so I give you a lot of props for that thank you yeah but I just think that we all deserve it we're all professional athletes we're fighting at a very very high level the the UFC I would compare to the NFL it's on that same kind of same playing field and hopefully eventually we we start seeing the athletes making a little

bit more money so anyone who's coming into the UFC they make to the UFC level can actually make a living off of just fighting for the UFC here's the big question. I've been wanting to ask you this for quite some time, but it's been a while since we spoke. What is going on between you and Ronda Rousey? Has the beef been squashed? What's happening here? I think so. I mean, no, I was just kind of the one little altercation. But no, I have absolutely no hard feelings, no frustrations towards her whatsoever. Whatever happened, happened. Not really sure why or how, but. It's over, I think.

No beef as far as you're concerned. If you see her, you'll shake her hand, hug. It's all forgotten. Yes, it's all forgotten. You know, us fighters are emotional. I'm very, very emotional. So maybe caught her on an off day. Have you seen or spoke to her since?

No. I mean, even before that, though, I mean, we are both sponsored by Reebok, so we'll see each other at Reebok events. And other than that, we kind of have never crossed paths. Okay. So, I mean, there's just a lot of UFC fighters will cross paths, but we don't really know each other or talk to each other. But you're not losing sleep over it? No, definitely not.

So where do we go from here? You leave Vancouver today? They treated you well in Canada, I would imagine. Canada was amazing. Everybody's here is so nice. I feel like everyone's so nice. But I'm flying from here to Oregon. I'm going to go visit my grandpa.

It was his birthday a few days ago. So I'm bringing him back some maple syrup for his birthday and then back to Sacramento for training. I like that. And so in between, let's say you get your wish and fight in December, we may see you pop up elsewhere on other projects, other things non-fighting related. Is that the case? Yes. Oh, my. That's the idea.

Bigger than Dancing with the Stars. Dancing with the Stars is pretty big. Okay. I wouldn't say, yeah. But who knows? Who knows? I mean, I'm just getting started. Yes.

Is it a done deal or still in the works, this thing that you're talking about? Everything's still in the works right now. Just a lot of potential things. A few people are reaching out. And it's my management team. Just figure things out on their end and we'll go from there. Okay. What a year it has been, huh?

I mean, the year isn't over quite yet. But thinking about the way 2015 ended for you, you know, you're in tears in front of the media. And now look at you riding high. Again, Dancing with Stars on Fox. nailing a kick like that that's going to be on every highlight reel about the UFC from now until the end of time. I mean, well deserved. Well done to you. Way to come back and way to prove everyone wrong. What an unbelievable moment. Congratulations, Paige. I know you're headed to the airport, so I really appreciate you joining us today. Wouldn't have been the same without you. So,

thank you very much for the time. And again, congrats on the big win. Me, I'll come your way to New York soon. Deal. Awesome. There she is. Paige Van Zent. Massive win for her on Saturday night in Vancouver. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor. and I'm sure you have at this point. What a moment. Unbelievable. What a moment. Flying, switch kick,

finishing. Beck Rawlings on the feet. Well, essentially on the ground, but it all started on the feet. Page Vanzan is a star, and the UFC very lucky to have her right now. Most finishes in the Straggweight Division as well. The long and storied history of the Straight Division.

Okay. Let us move along. polling here today, on the phone right now, man who returns to action on November 5th against Tony Ferguson. Last week on this program, we had Tony on the show. This week we have his opponent, Hafeel dosangos, joining us right now. Hafeel, how are you? Hello, I'm good, Eddie. I'll thank you for having me. Yeah, it is a pleasure. I said at the top of the show, Hafeel, that I thought this was maybe your first interview since your fight against Eddie. Have you done much media since then?

Not that all, my first one. Did you just kind of feel like you needed a break? Yeah, I had a break, and I was thinking about my life a little bit, you know, of my career. And I went back on track, I'm back working hard again on my way to get the build again. Yeah, it had been quite some time since you suffered a loss. how long did it take for you to get over it or maybe do you feel like you're not quite over it just yet? No, I'm over it already, you know.

I think the loss showed me a lot of things, a lot of things that people think about me and people around me, how they reacted. And I think I'm trying to get a good part of everything bad that happened in my life. And with this fight too, you know, that was a bad moment for me. But I'm able to see a lot of things now that I was kind of hiding before. And it's a good thing.

So everything happened for a reason. And God makes everything perfect. So I'm getting, I'm learning a lot of lessons. If you don't mind, what do you mean by that when you say, like, things that you need to change, like, lessons and things? What kind of lessons did you learn after that? Just a second. I'm turning on my car here. Oh, no problem.

Yeah, going to get on Bluetooth. Talking to Hafeld dos Angeles right now. November 5th. Mexico City. Tony Ferguson. Port and fight in the lightweight division. Putting on his Bluetooth in his car, I believe he's on his way to training. I'm giving a play-by-play.

Trains out of King's MMA. Huffel Cordero, head coach. Of course, RDA, the one who started Anthony Pettis's losing streak back at UFC 185. He defeated Anthony Pettus to become the lightweight champion that was in Dallas, Texas. Defeated Donald Soroni in Orlando back in December. And then back in July, International Fight Week. Hello? Yes, there he is.

Sorry, yeah. No problem. Yeah, so I asked you about the lessons that you learned. Yeah, I learned a lot of things, man. For example, with my family, all my family, how the people trade you to, you know? And for each person of my family, there was one kind of lesson. Like, for my kids, everybody got sad,

my wife too. And it was a big loss for us. Especially the way that it went. And in the gym as well. Because people trade to you in off like one way when you're a champion. But when you're not a champion, everything changed.

People trade you different. But that was good to know how people really think. and so we can start make adjustment and make some cuts on the near future when I be champion again

so for sure these people will not be on my side Wow so you cut people out of your life after that fight A little bit Wow How many times have you watched it? No

not many man Not many I think On TV I had it I have it recorded. I haven't watched once. Not even once.

I watched some highlights on internet, but I'm not really on social media anymore. You know, very little. How come? How come? Why? But I didn't watch much, man. Why no more social media for you?

I think social media is good for promotion and stuff like that. but most of the people are so negative people too negative people just like if you read the comment people it's just too negative man people just think so bad but I prefer to stay away of this

so you don't you know you don't care to watch it and I totally understand that of course you probably have a sense for what went wrong like in a nutshell do you have an idea why you lost that fight is there a mistake or two that you think that you made that led to him winning? Yeah, I think I had a bad night of work.

I think just that, you know. When you're fighting, when you're not doing good on your work, when you have a book that has face, you lost the fight. And I think Eddie, he had a great day. I had a bad day. But I'm sure. I am the best fight on this division I am the best fighter on this division

and I will prove it once again I'm still hungry I just got caught my guard was up my hand was up I just got caught and punch and you know

I had some issues on the way cut the day before but that's not the excuse Eddie had a great day but I'm coming Was he tougher than you thought he was Like the last couple of fights Freddy Alvarez We know what he can do

But you know There were kind of grinders He wasn't showing that kind of aggression In his fights Was he tougher or maybe Did he show something That you weren't expecting in the fight No man

I train for everybody The same you know Eddie has a heavy hand But I think that happened on my life, you know, and that's for a reason. You know, I know my life is under God's supervision. He's watching over me always.

And if he let this happen, that was for show me a lot of things. So he's been showing me a lot of things, and I make it adjust. And like I said, once I get back on the top again, everything will be different. You know, one thing that has been said this year was you ended the year last show of 2015, massive win over Soroni, your book to fight against Connor, and then unfortunately you suffer that injury. Nate Diaz steps in, now we have these two fights, they're making millions of dollars, and maybe Connor is going to fight Eddie, and that's a lot of money that could have went your way. Does that eat at you inside?

Do you kind of feel like you just had bad luck this year? 2015 was an incredible year for you. 2016, you almost had that massive payday against Connor, and, you almost had that massive payday against Connor, You know, the bad luck came into play just days before the fight. Do you think about that a lot? Yeah, man. Like I said, everything happened for a reason. Here I am.

I lost my title. I lost the, I got hurt two weeks before the fight. It's not all about the payday just because I got hurt and I couldn't fight. But man, I'm still doing okay, man. I'm blessed. I have, like, amazing kids in my head. I have amazing family, you know, everybody with a good health. And I have everything, you know.

I live in a nice place. And I can't complain, man. I think I'm still 31 years old. A lot of things will come. I'm still, I keep my faith. And I keep working hard. I keep my hard work. And that's how the fighter's life is.

You get hurt. You lose opportunities. But I think bigger things will come in the near future. Is it hard for you to watch those Connor Nate fights because that could have been you in there against them? Yeah, I don't even think this way. I think I got hurt, Nate step up, beat Connor, and now he lost.

It could be me, but I don't really think this way. Like I said, everything happened for a reason, and I'm happy where I am now. It's going to give my extra motivation to work hard and get back on the top again. I know you say that you don't do a lot of social media these days, and I don't blame you. But I did notice during that fight last week, UFC 202, that you mentioned something about, I think it was Conner's cardio, that you didn't seem all that impressed with it. That was you, right? Yeah, that was me because

I just saw the next day people see how that was I think 20 years, I don't know because I think most of people, they watch MMA for the first time that day and they think there was I just saw two sloppy guys on the after the second round and the fight

got so sloppy and I didn't see the best fight at all but it is what it is so you didn't enjoy it yeah the first round was good the corner dropped Nate a couple times but then I didn't see like oh

what exciting fight I didn't see that way wow um so I've watched better fights before sure who do you think won the fight who did you score it for I scored for Nate oh interesting okay

do you remember which rounds did you give Nate the fourth The third I think I had Connor on the third No I had Nate I had Connor

on the first and the second I think the rest was late Okay So the second Nate had it I think Connor got the third And four and five on Nate Okay I think you mean the third I think you're swapping to

But fair enough You think that Nate won the fight Now it seems like There might be a chance That Connor fight to Eddie since you've been there with Eddie, you've been in there with Eddie,

you were preparing for Connor. Who do you think wins that fight? Man, Conor, Eddie, he has more weapons than Connor, you know. He has grapple, he has better wrestling than Nate. Everybody saw. Nate is a tough guy. He has a big heart. But Nate, he's kind of limited.

He has a good boxing, good ground game. But he doesn't have takedowns. He doesn't have kicks. so this thing it can make it like harder for him you know but Eddie Eddie

Eddie have a good wrestling good boxing he kicks too so I think Eddie can give Connor you think he finishes Connor yeah it can happen

like everybody thought I was way favorite against against Eddie Alvers and so that what didn't happen it's hard to tell MMA but

I think Eddie has advantage. Now, what about this fight against Tony Ferguson? When you were offered this fight, did you like it? Was this one that made sense to you? Yeah, I think the guy. I asked for the rematch, but I think UFC will not give it to me. No rematch right now, so I need to fight somebody else. And then I think, who should I fight?

you know and I think Tony is a guy that has eight wins straight and Kabib right now is begging for title shot which I think he's don't deserve but I would fight him too you know to see who's going to fight for the belt but I think Tony is a guy that is ahead of him it's a guy Kabib is a better position on the ranking but I think Tony is ahead of him because he's being active he's been fighting more and with eight wins straight. So I think that's the guy

that are going to beat and then I want to fight for the title again. So even though Habib is 23 and O as a pro, you feel like he hasn't done enough

to deserve the title shot? Yeah, not on UFC. He hasn't done in different organization, but in UFC I know he beat me three years ago but his last fight

he fought no offense to nobody, but the guy wasn't even top 30 you know and I think the guy's not even in the UFC anymore

you know and I think he needs to fight somebody to get the title but it is what it is if you actually think Kabib should fight for the title now or Cornell which I don't think is fair because Jose Alte is waiting for corner you know

the guy won the belt not even defending his title he's already want to fight for the lightweight but I don't think it's fair but I will be in this position before I will build my weight up again I will be Tony Ferguson November 5th and I want to fight for the title again

so if you had it your way who do you think deserves to fight for the belt next? I think ma'am I think I should I should get my rematch that's what I think so everything that I've been done in the division finishing guys

that I've never been finished before. But it is what it is. If Khabibu goes, it's fine. But I will get that. I will get that again. Just for fun, who do you think wins? Habe or Eddie? Yeah, man.

It's hard to tell, but I think maybe Khabib can win. Oh. And it would be great to get the back for him. You'd prefer that? Yeah. Either way. So I lost five. Both of them, either way, I'm going to get my rematch with some of them.

So I will be home and watch. And either way, you know, they both beat me. But it would be good to get a rematch with one of them. Have you been told that if you beat Ferguson, you will get the next title shot? I hope so, man. I hope so. Because I don't see nobody else to have the title shot. But you haven't actually been told that yet.

Sorry. But has anyone from the UFC told you or your manager that that's the case? If you beat Tony Ferguson November 5th, you're getting a title shot? No. No. But I think that I just won it. I think I deserved it. Any concerns about fighting in Mexico City, your teammate, Fabrice Over Doom, went there

around two months before when he fought there the first time. Are you going to do the same so that you don't suffer the effects of the high altitude? Yeah, I know that's very high. It's like $7,500. It's very high. But I'm trying to, I go there a couple weeks before, maybe a month before. And acclimate, you know, I go a little bit early. You mentioned earlier about Tony Ferguson. He's won eight in a row. He was on this show last week, and he said that the blueprint is sort of out, that if you pressure you, then you will falter.

I'm curious what you thought about his last fight against Lando Venata, because it seemed like he was rocked by a guy who was making his debut on like two weeks notice. What did that say, in your opinion, about Tody Ferguson? What did you learn from that fight? Yeah, the guy, I didn't watch the fight, I just watched the highlight. Okay. And I'm kind of out of everything. I'm doing my own thing now.

You know, I'm kind of training hard and keep me. like focus or, you know, but man, he's not going to have an opportunity to do that. I'm going to, I'm going to push the pace of the fight, you know. I'm going to push the pace of the fight. So it seems like you've kind of cut everything else out, all the noise, you're just focused on yourself, you're training your family, nothing else. Nothing else, man, nothing else. Were you focused too much on that other stuff, you think, when you were a champion?

No, man, I always was kind of low-profile. guy, you know, I always spoke on my family, my, my things, you know, but it's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of, it's kind of, it's too confused for me that loss, but I know, I know on the near future, a lot of better things will come. And, but I wasn't focusing on different stuff at all, you know, I just, I just, I just, I just, I just had a bad day of work, but like I said, I will, I will, I'll, I'll, I'll be back. Does it still feel weird not to have the belt, not to be the champion? Yeah. Yeah.

It's weird. You know, because I put a lot of work on that. You know, I have my team. I went to evolve. I trained a lot of there too, man. My coaches put a lot of work on it. Master Gordon, Master Rafael Cordero, Jacob Harmer, Philippe Delamonik, all my coaches, we put a lot of work on it.

but it didn't went the way that we won, but I'm pretty sure better things will come. One last quick thing. I'm curious if you saw Anthony Pettis' fight on Saturday. Of course, you beat him to become champion. Do you think he's better at 145? Yeah, he did great because on 55 he wasn't...

Anthony Pettis, it's a great fighter, man. I have a respect for him. I watched his interview after the fight. Man, he lost for me. He lost for Boboza. He lost for Eddie. He's still hungry, man. He's still, you know, like he still won it.

He dropped weight and he beat a tough guy. And I have a big respect for him because of that. He didn't give up. He's still there. He's still on the game. And congratulations him. He did great. Great stuff, Hafeel. Thank you for the time.

Best of luck to you November 5th. I'm looking forward to your return and appreciate you coming on today. Thank you. You're welcome, bye. All right, there he is. Huffel Dosangos, the former UFC lightweight champion. Okay, let's move along now. Looking forward to talking to our next guest,

it has been a minute, have been trying to get him on the show for quite some time. Finally, he squeezed us into his very busy schedule. We're talking to Rashad Evans right now. Rashad, how are you? Hey, I'm good, Ariel. How about you? I'm doing great. I can feel.

the smile on your face right now. You're just so happy to be back on the show. I am. I really am. Like you said, it's been a long time comment. I've been trying to fit it in there, you know. Yeah, yeah. You've been ducking me. A little bit. All right. Well, let's talk, my man. There's a lot to discuss. Let's first start with you. A couple of weeks ago, there was a report, I believe it was flow combat that reported that you're going to return in New York as a middleweight against Tim Kennedy. Is that true? Well, I can tell you I'm working towards that. I'm working towards that making my cut down to middle weight. As far as the opponent, nothing has been, you know, nothing has been set in stone.

There has been talks about, you know, a fight with Tim Kennedy. We've even talked about other fights too as well. But nothing has been, I haven't signed anything yet. You know, I just, I had Ali working with Joe Silva to try to set something up, but nothing has been finalized yet. Now let's start with the weight first. Why do you feel at this stage of your career like this is the best move for you? That's 20 more pounds to cut. Do you really want to do that?

Well, you know, the thing about it is is the fact that it is a tough cut. But at some point, you know, I feel like I need to just, you know, kind of start over again. It kind of get something fresh, you know. And 185 is a weight class that I've always thought about gone but really just never put the time in a discipline into making it happen. And, you know, coming off, two fights, you know, losing and just wanting to just find a way to bring some life back into, you know, wanting to compete again. I felt like dropping the 185 is the best choice. Like right now, how much do you weigh, if you don't mind me asking? I am right not, 215. 215. And, yeah, 215. So, you know, I'll start my day probably about,

you know, 217 when I wake up in the morning. About time I'm finished with my workout and, you know, stuff like that. I can get to be about like 210 to 209. And then, you know, by the end of the day, I'm usually in about 215 and that's fully gassed up and everything else with, you know, proper nutrition and liquids and everything. Wow. So you lose six pounds just working out? That's incredible.

Man, I lose a lot of weight. A lot of it's just water weight. You know how it goes. But I'm training two or three times a day, you know, and I have a couple different workouts that work on a different, different aspects of my physical training. So then that way it kind of shocked my body a bit and I sweat a little bit more. So I'm just trying to keep it, trying to keep it moving. You know, at 36 years old, going on 37, in a few weeks, I got to find something just to keep my body, you know, always, always trying to, trying to catch up. I don't want to get comfortable. I don't want to plateau.

To that point, I noticed that you were in Thailand recently for a couple of weeks. Is that part of trying to switch things up and light a fire under you? Yeah, you know, you know what happened, Ariel? Like, I got to a point in my life where I had like a lot of things going on. You know, I was kind of, you know, spread out too thin in my personal life and professionally, you know, you guys know, I was struggling in the octagon. I just wasn't finding the right kind of, the right kind of flow for me. You know what I'm saying? And fighting for me has always been like a spiritual thing for me.

You know, it's never been about just being a toughest guy or nothing like that. I go in there, I have fun. I'm clowning around, and it's a good outlet for me. But when I was all clogged up in all areas in my life as far as my personal life, life and it really messed up my professional life. So I wanted to go to Thailand and just kind of reset my focus and just kind of get away from everything and just kind of, you know, just get to the basis of why I even started to be a martial artist.

And it was just because I'm a student of the martial art. I'm a student of the game. So was it a fruitful trip? Did you find that? Do you feel better now? I feel like I found it. You know, if anything, I enjoyed. the process of just getting to be a student again, just putting myself in a position where,

you know, I don't know everything that's going to happen. And I'm kind of, you know, kind of figuring out the whole, the new environment of being in Thailand, you know, being with the Thai people and the way they live. And they live in such a carefree way. And it's just like, it kind of reminded me like, you know, I've allowed myself to make life a lot more complicated than have to be. Because then at the end of the day, like if, you know, everything goes a hell in a handbasket, no matter what, I really don't have no control over it. You know, I can want to be this way or that way, but at the end of the day, I don't really have no choice. So I've got to learn

to just accept things the way they are, but at the same time, I can't allow anything to steal my joy. I got to still find a way to be happy no matter what variables like throw at me. Do you still enjoy everything that goes into being an active MMA fighter, like the entire process, the build up, the training, getting to the city and fight? Like, do you still enjoy that whole, you know, sort of tornado of things that goes on as you prepare for a fight? I do enjoy it. I do enjoy it. But, you know, one thing I've been finding myself, it was just like a few times before the day of the fight. you know, that process for me was kind of a little bit more psychologically stressful than it normally is.

And it can just deal with the fact that me just not being ultimately, you know, too sure of my preparation and stuff like that. But, you know, it was just something that I had to really take a deeper look into, you know, because, you know, on a fight day I wake up and I'm like, I'm nervous, but I'm like a little bit too nervous. You know what I'm saying? And then the process, once I get to the arena and once I start cracking paths, It's not like, oh, yeah, this is it, I'm ready. But, like, the restfulness that you get before a fight, you know, because there's having, like, before you fight, there's this, there's this readiness that it's really hard to explain, but you know something's going to happen.

There's a piece that comes over you in between that where it's just like, I know what's going to happen, but at the same time, I'm okay to rest because no matter what happens, I'm going to handle it. I felt myself in a place where it was, I never really got to that place where I was able to have that ready rustling. Because I was thinking like, man, maybe I didn't run enough. Maybe my knee's not strong enough. We know what if this happens?

And I couldn't allow myself to mentally relax. So that's something I've been really trying to work on now was just enjoying that process a little bit more. Speaking of the knee, you know, no secret that you haven't won since the knee injury. Do you feel like it's still holding you back? You know, I do feel like it's been holding me back, but not because of the knee itself, but just because psychologically I'm so worried that I'm going to move the wrong way. I'm going to, you know, do something that's going to pop out and it's going to be ruined again, you know.

So it's really been, you know, my training consistent now is just doing a lot of working out far as, planning off the knee, explosive movements off the knee. And I've been training with Tony Volani at FTE as well as my other trainer, Rob, at around the same area. So what I've been doing is the fact that I've been doing a lot of just explosive movement, you know, changing direction, all the things that you would do in a fight where you always have to be willing to, you know, cut on a dime or plan or put a lot of weight or carry somebody else's weight and be able to move in a second. And once I know, and I'm feeling like I am now, like, I can do that and I'm ready to do that,

now I know when I'm training and now I know when I'm going to fight that I can do it. So I'm getting a lot more confidence in my knee. You know, I think I speak for most of the MMA community, if not all, when I say that in April, looking at you at that press conference in Tampa Bay, It was hard. You are a legend. You are a Hall of Famer. You are a former champion.

You were emotional. You were kind of hurting after the loss against Glover to Chera. What was going through your mind? Were you, I mean, A, have you ever felt anything quite like that? Because it's different than the Machita fight when you, you know, you lose the belt, but you know that you're still at the top of your game.

Are you starting to question yourself? Are you starting to think you don't want to do this anymore? What is going through your mind at that moment? Yeah, at that moment, it was really frustrating because, like, like, when I felt, like when I was in the ring and once I got gone in a cage I felt like I was ready and I felt like I was you know on point

but then you know when I got knocked out and it just went so fast I felt like I was so far away from where I ever been and I felt like like I was struggling way too much but even just to try to even compete

and then I had to start thinking like when I went into the fight did I already like did I already mentally lose in my mind? Like was I already kind of like not, not, like expecting to not win? You know what I'm saying? Like I never had a feeling like when I went to a fight, like I could lose. I never ever felt like that, but I was thinking like maybe I felt like I couldn't lose

in this fight and maybe I didn't really go out there in attack and I had positions on them where before I would have never given up. Like if I get somebody against a cage, they're going to have. to work their butt off to keep me off of them from holding them against a cage because then I'm going to try to take a shot or I'm going to make them work a lot more. But when I had lower against a cage, I didn't maximize that position. And I'm just like, dude, where's your head at? Like, what, like, what am I thinking?

Where am I at when it comes to competing inside of this octagon? And even before that, I'm just like, these are all things that used to never happen to me. Because fighting used to be, it used to be so automatic. Like, it would just be like, it was just. It was just like easy. It was so easy for me. And I never had to really to really work at being a top, top fighter. And it sounds weird to say because I felt like I had never have,

I haven't had my best performance in the Octagon, but at the same time on that day, I felt I was so far from where I used to be because I actually felt for the first time that I need to do something in order to bring my level up way more than I had before. And I'm like, that used to never happened to me. And I was like, where did I go? What happened to me?

You know? And it's just, it's a sickening feeling because fighting, fighting has been something that's always been in my DNA for so long. Like, I've been fighting before, I can even remember. And I never had that feeling gone, and it was gone that day. did you consider not fighting anymore um that that night i went i went back to the hotel and i went and i went and sat my family and i and i thanked them from all coming and you know i hug out with them and i ease their mind i smile with them and laughed and stuff like that but that night i knew

i had my answer because i went back to the hotel and i had a little bit of a little bit of a little bit a couple of drinks, stuff like that, but I couldn't rest. My mind was still busy on what happened, and I was embarrassed and everything like that. And then I just put on my running shoes, and I ran for like four hours straight. I ran until the sun came up, and I ran until all the fighters were getting on a bus, going home for the next day. And I just kept running, and I felt like Forrest Gump, but at the same time, finding the will to run, finding the reason to run,

it answered my question on whether I should quit or not. Wow. And my body said I shouldn't quit. My mind said I shouldn't quit. My heart said I shouldn't quit. And if I never win another fight again, I would at least be able to go out there and compete knowing that this is what I truly, truly want to do.

Why do you still do it? Why put your body, your mind, your emotions, your family? What's the point? Why go through it? it's just who I am. It's just who I am. It's just

it's like a big part of who I am. Like I, it's just something that's inside of me. You know, I can't even explain it to be honest because

I don't, I don't get another feeling like this doing anything else. Like there's no feeling that I feel preparing for a fight, getting ready for a fight, you know, sitting there waiting for the fight

to happen like I do when I'm like when I'm like when I'm like when I'm like when I'm like when I'm like when I'm like when I'm in it you know so it's a tough thing you know this sport is is very cruel sometimes some of the things that you're talking about right now like I was watching Carlos Condit a former teammate of yours on Saturday I don't know if you saw that fight did you see that fight on Fox I did see him after the fight the press conference in the cage I mean it's heartbreaking stuff to see someone like Carlos Condit who I still think is one of the very best in the world, say that he doesn't know if he belongs in the UFC anymore. And it feels like every athlete, whether it's in the NBA, NFL, MMA, whatever, goes through this sort of moment where they have to decide, should I keep going, should I not keep going? Someone who is, you know, obviously you're getting up there in age, you've had your highs and lows, how do you react to seeing others kind of go through the same thing? Like when you see Conda go through that, how does your heart react? And you know him on a personal level as well, but it's sort of a fraternity that you've

are in and you all kind of go through it together and I'm sure at some point you thought you would never reach that point like we all think we're going to live forever and we all think like oh you know we're going to be the best forever but that doesn't that doesn't happen obviously how do you react seeing others kind of start to go through the same thing that you're going through my heart my heart went up to him because I know that feeling I know that feeling where you put your heart and soul into everything and then you go out there on a night where you where you supposed to perform and it doesn't happen. And you just are in a weird space where you're just figuring, like you're just thinking like,

I just dedicated, you know, three, four, five months to getting ready, to be ready, to go out there and compete. And this is what I go out there. And I went out there and I just completely just, you know, let the bed. I didn't go out there and perform the way I need to perform. And then you start thinking like, you know, has it, has time passed me up? Has a sunset on me and I didn't know? And I always said I never wanted to be one of those athletes where people are like, you know, I'm the last to know I need to stop competing.

So then you think to yourself like, is that, did that happen to me? Should I stop competing? Now is the curve, the level went up that high and I'm just not there no more, but I can't see. see it because I'm too close and I can't I don't have enough perspective to see that now I'm the guy who needs to give it up and it's it's a really really tough thing to ask yourself because as a top athlete who's always been you know at the top of the food chain you're not ready to be at the bottom and you don't even know how to feel when you are at the bottom or you don't know how to feel when you do get gobbled up as if you are you know at the bottom because you're only used to

being an apex predator. And when you're not, you feel like I can't compete in the other way. And then you start thinking like, well, what do I do if I don't fight? Like what am I if I'm not a fighter? And it takes you in a weird place because then you have to start to find a way to redefine who you believe yourself, you know, who you believe yourself to be outside of fighting. what do you think you'll do after you stop fighting you know i really like doing the tv stuff yeah but more importantly i feel like my thing in life is just to give back and as anything i can do to give back

to help out um just to start some kids programs and in the inner cities where they actually need it Meaning the fact that, you know, a lot of school programs are being cut, and these kids have a lot more free time on the hand, so they get involved in nonsense, you know, and I used to be one of those kids who used to part of the Roddy Bunch. If I wasn't into sports and stuff like that, I found something crazy to get into. So a lot of these kids, they get into bad things.

So I would like to start, you know, programs that. I'm like some kind of MMA train or something like that, where they'd be able to get into after they get done from training and just give them a better outlet just besides hanging on the street and doing bad things. You know, that's something I can do, and it's something that I feel like I can find purpose in doing. Being a New York guy is MSG just what the doctor ordered for you in the sense that this is something that you've been talking about that you've wanted for a while? Here it is right around the corner. I mean, it feels like the timing is so perfect to use that as great motivation to get you kind of back on track and to strive for something to be a part of that card, history, all that stuff.

Like, is this perfect for you in that sense? It is absolutely perfect. You know, this is, I couldn't, you know, wrote anything better myself, you know, and to be able to, you know, hopefully have an opportunity to compete on this card and to be a part of what this card means in the history of mixed martial arts is just, it really means everything to me, you know. And a big opportunity, a big chance for me to get back on track. and to make a statement, you know, it's something that I look to do.

And if I get a chance to be on this card, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to show out. I'm going to go out there and I'm just going to, I'm going to do my thing and I'm going to enjoy doing it. You know what I'm saying? So, but this is what this is what it's about, though. You know what I'm saying? And if I, like, it's just about being a part of history. No matter what happens in my life, no matter, you know, you know, I live forever in this moment.

I live forever. I'm immortalized forever in this moment, being the fact that I can say that I've competed in the first card at Maddiscay Garden, UFC, mixed martial arts. And that, for me, is something that no one can ever take away. And I'm just happy I get a chance to be a part of that. So do you have any reservations fighting Kennedy? Were you guys tight when you were at Jackson's fighting a Jackson's guy?

Any issues there? You know, if that's a fight, then that's a fight. You know, at the end of the day, I'm professional. He's a professional as well, too. But I have no reservations. You know, we've always had great training sessions when we train together at Jackson, so it should be excited. You know what I'm saying?

Like, you know, I think it's weird because, like, when I would train with him, I would always think, like, you know, maybe one day we will fight each other. Because at the time he was coming to the gym, he was still kind of like a, he was kind of still like a guy who just came for his camp, so he was part of the team, but he was kind of like a floater, you know. But, like, you know, now he's a Jackson guy.

And, but I've always felt like we would, we could possibly fight, and when we train together, it was a dog fight. We were going there and we would get after it. So I look forward to, you know, if that's a fight to be, I look forward to fight them. And have you decided, like, is it 100% that your next fight will be at 185 regardless of if it's Kennedy or not? Is that the plan? Yeah, that's the plan.

Okay. Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to make it happen. I'm going to do whatever I can and make it happen. And just, you know, make sure I take care of my weight so that way I'm not, you know, killing myself before, you know, right before the fight. You know what I'm saying? So I'm going to really do what I can and make it. sure I'd get my weight down as soon as possible. Will you work with any of these famous nutritionists to help you in that regard?

Yeah, actually, I've been working with, you know, George Lockhart and his people already. All right. Yeah. They're the best. Yeah. And final thing for you, what's your take on this whole Dana White saying that he wants to see Rumble fight John Jones and not D.C., which seems like it makes no sense. And then you have Cormier and Rumble saying they want to fight each other and sort of box out Jones.

We don't even know when Jones's coming back. considering you're sort of tied to that whole picture, what's your take on that? What should Rumble do next? I think Rumble should fight D.C. And here's the thing about it. Like when you're a UFC matchmaker or whatnot, you know, I'm not a UFC matchmaker, but it just doesn't seem smart that you'll take out two number one competitors, you know, and as the way it is right now with so many shows and the way the landscape is

with people getting hurt and losing real big star power as far as, you know, big athlete that has a drawing potential, it just doesn't seem smart that you would knock out two top guys, you know what I'm saying? It would seem better to have, you know, D.C. fight Johnson and then, you know, if Jones comes back in a certain amount of time, then he fights the winner or whatever the case may be. It just doesn't seem smart that you would knock out two potential main event cards. Yep, yep. I couldn't agree more. Well, Rashad, man, I feel like we could talk for another 30 minutes. It's such fascinating stuff. The honesty that you put on display here today, wow, it's breathtaking, really, to hear an athlete talk about his career like that and that story about you running after the Glover fight.

Just incredible stuff. And, you know, I hope that you do find what you are searching for and get back on track because you are one of the best, my man. Really a pleasure to have you on and talk like this and get to hear what's going through your mind. It's an honor, really. So thank you so much for coming on the show. And I hope to see you at MSG.

I hope you get what you want. hope you get to fight on that card. That would be something very special for long-time fans of yours. All the best to you, my man, and we'll talk to you very soon again. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks having me all. He's the man. Rashad Evans, former light heavyweight champion. Wow. Amazing stuff, especially considering what Carlos Condit, coincidentally, the former teammate of his is going through. This is a part of combat sports. This is a part of sports in general. It's a part of life. At some point, you face it. your own mortality, if you will. You face the facts that, look, we can't be the best forever.

We can't be on top of the game forever. That's just the way life goes. And at one point, you feel like you are the king of the hill, that you'll never slip, that you'll always be the best. And then, boom, just like that. In a matter of seconds, it feels like you start to question yourself. You start to think about the next chapter. You start to wonder if you're good enough to hang with these young guys. I mean, it's just amazing. And that was on display on Saturday. And it's hard to see.

It's hard to watch these individuals who we deem invincible, who I have the utmost respect for, who, again, as I've said many times before, contain more testicular fortitude than I can ever dream of, that have more guts than I can ever dream of. and then you see them in this vulnerable state starting to question themselves. It's a heart-wrenching thing to watch. Really appreciate Rashad and his honesty right there.

So how about this? We go from Rashad, who's at that juncture of his career, to a young man who improved to 5-0 on Friday night. He is just 21 years young. He is one of the bright young stars fighting in Bellator right now. He is the undefeated AJ, the mercenary, Mackey and he is joining us right now via the magic of Skype. AJ, are you there?

Yes, sir. How are you, my man? Good, about yourself. I'm doing all right. Congratulations on the win. Thank you. I got the impression that you were a little disappointed that it went as long as it did. Like, you couldn't really truly enjoy it.

Was that the case? A little bit, you know, but it is what it is. And I ended up getting another second offender. So I'm happy, you know, just. to go in there, and it went a little bit longer than I wanted it, too, but at the end of the day, I still locked out the cage with the victory. Now, you mentioned that you were partying the night before, and you alluded to that as maybe the reason why I went to the second round.

Is that true? Were you really partying the night before? Kind of, yeah. I went to the club. We had Wiz Khalifa there, so. I want to go see with his Khalifa, man. He can't pass up with his Khalifa. Were you personally invited to the concert?

Well, no, I work at the club. Same spot where my after party was, so I just kind of went up there. What time did you go to bed? About one, one, two. In hindsight, do you think that was a mistake? Definitely, you know. I think you just kind of being young, you know, you just kind of look past things and you want to just enjoy life a little. But I don't know.

I feel where I want to be, where I want to go. There's little things that I got to leave alone, you know, and being young is probably one of them. That's a sacrifice I got to make to get to where I want to be. Well, what a story you are, because, like I said, you're just 21, you're 5'0, and you're the son of Antonio McKee, who you've been watching for quite some time. And the interesting thing here is, you know,

I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but your dad was considered kind of a grinder. You know, he wasn't known for his finishes. He was known to beat up people and go the distance. You're the complete opposite. You're upset if you go to the second round. Was that a conscious decision on your part? Like, I don't want to be like my dad.

I want to be known as a finisher. Yeah, you know, it's just kind of an entertainment thing for me, you know. You make the fans happy. The fans make Belator happy and Belator make me happy. So it's just kind of a supply and demand thing, you know? growing up with an MMA fighter as a father was this something that he you know kind of forced you into like not forced but kind of nudged you to go in that

direction because you know I got to be honest like we don't see a lot of sons of fighters at this stage as far as I'm covering the sport it just you know because you're so young and he's young as well is this something that he wanted you to do and you just kind of followed his path no my dad actually didn't want me to fight at all I had to like beg him to let me fight my first amateur fight, which was a week after my 18th birthday. So after that, you know, he kind of saw how good I was, and he's like, man, he's like, if you're going to do this,

then you got to give it 110. And there's certain things, certain aspects of your life you're going to have to leave alone. There's certain things you're going to have to add in. So just knowing he's been through it all already, you know, and he's been on it all, he's done it all. all, you know, I just kind of look at his career and see the things he's done already and just follow his footsteps, you know, just because he wouldn't put me down a path. He hasn't already

been through himself, so he's not going to tell me to walk that walk if it's not the right walk to walk. Do you recall when you first started to think that this was something that you wanted to do? Say that again? Do you recall when you first started to think that this was something that you wanted to do? Like, at what age did you start to think about being an MMA fighter? And since I was probably like five or six, I barely started. Yeah, I started wrestling at three or four. So just being around all the fighters, you know, my dad fighting all the time, being around Rampage, Chuck Liddell, Congo, Rashad Evans, literally, any fighter you can talk up.

All the grades, I've been around, you know, I've watched their careers. I just, I grew up around them in the gym, you know. Everybody's known if you want the hard work, the grind work, that Antonio, McKee, he's going to give it to you. He's going to give you the real deal. So just always being around the grind, you know, it's all I know how to do, you know. And that's kind of where I feel I let him down a little, you know,

going into the second round. But it is what it is, you know. With due time, people are going to get better and they're going to catch up. So you just got to keep evolving as they evolve along with the sport and stay on top and stay ahead. So if that's sacrificing time and partying, then that's what you got to do. You know, you just got to decide what you want to do

and give it 110. What are most of your friends doing at this age? Like, are they in school? Do they have jobs? What are they doing? My cousin's in school. The rest of my friends, I honestly don't talk too much.

Really? My friends are in the gym, you know. I see that Monday through Thursday will kick it on Friday or Saturday sometimes. usually I'm at work Friday, Saturday. But the ones you grew up with, you don't keep in touch with? Not really. They come to the fight, they support me, you know, we'll hang out, they come to the after

parties. But after that, you know, it's back in the gym. I'm supposed to be in the gym today, but I'm like, you know it, I want a little break. I'm kind of drained. So I'll definitely be back into the gym tomorrow. Are a lot of them hitting you up now that you're gaining more notoriety? You're on television, fighting on the main card. Are you feeling a lot of people coming out of the woodwork?

Not really, you know. Some of my main friends that were always, like, supportive of me, even when I was fighting back in high school, you know, just like, hey, you shouldn't be doing this. You got to wrestle entire of it. Like, just fighting, you know, I've always loved to fight. I've always been a fighter. I've always had that inside me just to fight. So they're always supportive. And, like, now that I'm actually getting there, you know, they're still supportive of me.

and just when I step away, you know, they still give me my space, but I know they're still always there for me. When you were dreaming about your career, did you think at 21 you'd be fighting for a top promotion like Bellator on national television? Was this part of the plans, or is it happening a little sooner than you thought? My dad's had it all plan, man. It's crazy. It's crazy.

I'm just figuring it out. And, like, me wanting to be the youngest champ ever now, I'm trying to get it within the next couple fights. So just it all being here and it all settling in is just life changing, life blowing, you know. Just taking it all in, trying to get acclimated to it all is just, it's intense. Yeah, after the fight, you weren't talking about, you know, slow builds. You were talking about Pitbull, Strauss, the champion. Do you feel like if they booked that next, do you feel like you're ready for that?

Or do you feel like you want one or two more fights? I feel like I got one or two more fights just to kind of, tighten up things you know especially after this last fight um it was a good win but i feel i kind of overlooked cody walker not overlooked him but i didn't expect what i expected from just based off he's probably one of the biggest 45s anyone's ever seen with a 78 inch reach 6-2 you know that's that's a huge 45-pounder and i'm already a pretty big fight 45-pounder so me having to change my entire game up you know, just being focused to fight corrales and being ready for corrales. I went in there kind of getting ready to fight corrales, you know, staying long and staying on the

outside. But I don't know, in the middle of the fight, the whole game plan, a week before the fight, the whole game plan just changed. And my dad's like, hey, you've always wanted to go get it. He's like, this is your fight. He's like, you've got to be inside this fight. So go get it. And I just went in there.

kind of let those hands go, you know, and when to go get it. What I appreciate about you, among many other things, is that you get the showmanship part of the game. You come out with the jacket. You call yourself the mercenary. Where did that come from? Where did this gimmick come from? My dad, you know, I'm a car fanatic and a gun fanatic. You can put any gun from me.

I'll take it completely apart and put it back together without even being shown how to do it. It's just I love guns, I love cars, I love speed. So it's kind of just things that motivate me, you know. And like I want to go take Artemis classes just to learn tactical training. You know, if fighting ever fell through, I was probably going to go into the military or something. There's just certain things that drive someone and fascinate someone, you know. So for me, speed and guns is one. I love speed and I love guns.

Forgive my ignorance. Oh, go ahead, go ahead. Go ahead. And that's just kind of where my dad came up with the mercenary thing, you know. Bellator also they hired me to do a job, you know, when they signed me, they signed me to sign the contract, you know. I signed that contract promising that I would take over the division. That was the promise I made to myself and to my dad and to Scott Croker.

So at this point, all I have to do is live up to my word, you know, and take over the game and stay focused and do it one fight at a time. Where does the jacket come from? That's just me. That's just a little part of AJ, man. I like a unique type of fashion, you know. So like after the fight, I put on all white, and we went to after the after party with all white.

I went all white with tux tail, white jeans, black belt, black glasses. Why all white? It's all white. It stands out. I don't know. It's a celebration, you know. All white is just kind of the thing. It's all white or all black, you know. White stands out a lot more than black.

So I just felt it was just necessary. You know, it's what I wanted. Everybody's got their own different little type of fashion, you know. My cousin Joey, he's more of a modern fashionist, you know, versus me. I'm more of a classic fashionist. But his style is off the chain, too. I'll go in his closet and pull out his clothes just because I like his style. But everyone's just got their own different swag, their own different look.

He'll sit one way versus the way I sit. But they're both still a classic look. And of course you're talking about Joey Davis, who was successful in his Belator debut on Friday, a very, very hot prospect, 133 in O, I believe, in college. So you're on the same card as him. You called him your cousin. Is he like a blood cousin,

or are you just like, is he like your boy, your cousin? He's blood to me, but he's not. I've known Joey since I was three. He started training in my dad's garage at five. Crazy. And I was three. So I don't have much family, you know.

Joey doesn't have much family. Our lifestyles are kind of similar, you know. he grew up in Compton. I grew up in Long Beach both from the hood. We just both, you know, we've both seen some crazy things in our lives. We both are changing our family's lives at the end of the day, you know. So our lives are just so similar from me living in a loft with my parent, my dad, my little sister, him living in a loft with his dad and his little sister, you know.

It's just crazy how similar our lives are and how, like, how we've kind of, kind of just shared our lives together, you know. So I'll kind of slip off track. And like, wherever Joey's going, I'm going. Like, right now, you can see there's Joey with his girl. And I'm sitting right here. So, like, this is just like how we are. Wherever he goes, I go, wherever I go, wherever I go, he goes.

And so how about that? Close to where you're both from. You're, you know, fighting on the card, main card. You're about to go 5 and 0. He's fighting on the undercard making his debut. Was this something that you guys dreamed of? Like, did you plan for that? How surreal was it on Friday in the locker room when it was all happening in front of your eyes?

For me, I didn't realize it was happening until I got into his corner and started cornering. At that point, I was so nervous. It wasn't even funny. I started freaking out. Like, my dad's one of the type of coaches. He hates when you just yell. And, like, I started noticing, like, hey, you're just yelling, shut up. Like, your dad's not talking anymore. But I wasn't yelling, like, crazy stuff. Like I was yelling good things to do, you know. I was trying to get him to see things he needs to open up. And after the fight, he noticed, you know, he noticed it.

But when you're in there, you know, there's just certain things that hold you back that you can't do. You know, you can't pull the trigger. You can't get in tune with your body or there's certain things that are blocking you from that, you know. So he sees it. I see it. We've talked about it. We've talked about it with my dad. there's a lot of work to do, but for a month and a half of training, he's going to be awesome,

man. He's, he's right behind, you know. He's right behind me. You're the reason why he didn't try to go for the Olympics, right? You said, no, that doesn't, that doesn't pay, come do prize for him with me? Yeah, what's, yeah, what's, what's, what's an Olympic medal going to do for you? We're the only, we're the only country that taxes for an Olympic medal that is supposed to be a prize. How are you going to tax somebody for a prize that you're giving them? You know, I just feel it's ridiculous. And then on top of it, there's no pay for it, you know?

Yeah. Unless you're Jordan Burroughs, and guess what? Humboldened Jordan Burroughs, he lost this year, you know, so I want to see if he's going to compete again after that, you know. All respect to Jordan Berros, he's a great athlete, phenomenal athlete. But hey, what's next now, you know? Is he going to compete again? Is he going to switch over to fighting? Because sooner or later, you know, everyone slips up or everyone falls if something's not in place.

When do you want to return? I want to get on September 13th card. I'll fight whenever. What about that break that you were just talking about? I don't need a break. I'm back in the gym tomorrow. I'll get back in the gym tomorrow. I want it today, but I'm a little spiritually drained from this weekend.

Are they down with that idea? Are they going to give you a fight on that card? I don't believe so. I think the main events are already locked in. So maybe October. October in San Jose, the Chandler fight. I believe it's Chandler versus... Oh, that's November 19th. Chandler Benson. Chandler Benson and then Phil versus...

Is it Phil? Or no, MVP? Yep. That's the co-main. So there's two open fights we were talking about on the press conference after the fight. I was like, cool, like I asked Scott Croker. I was like, can I fight? In the middle of the press conference, he's like, you can fight whenever you want. I was like, let's make a contract.

I'm ready, man. I got a couple more fights of just fine tuning up to do, just spiritually getting right and doing things right, you know. So I feel two more fights and I'll be prepared and we'll be ready, you know. We'll be ready to get that title shot and be the youngest champ ever. Well, I am intrigued, my man. this to me represents what Bellator should be all about. They are doing a great job now of pinpointing young talent and bringing them up and none better than A.J. McKee. Five and O. Now, fantastic win on

Friday. Congratulations to both you and your cousin, Joey. I'm really intrigued by what you guys are doing and you guys have become must-see TV now. So congratulations, keep it up and looking forward to your next fight. Thank you very much for the time, AJ. Thanks for having me, man. Thank you. All right, there he is. AJ McKee stopping by the son of Antonio McKee. What a story. Belator has on their hands there and the best part about it all, he is winning and he is winning in very impressive fashion. This to me, remember when Scott Coker came on board a couple years ago, I said, look, we need to give him some time to write the ship. And perhaps it has gone slower

than some wanted. Perhaps it has been, I don't know, a little up and down, a little like a roller coaster. But you're starting to see the beginning of Scott and his team. It's important to note that he has a similar team to the one he had in Strikeforce. You're starting to see them find young talent, build up young talent, and start to have a persona, start to have a brand. You know what I'm saying? Like they did in Strike Force with Luke Rockhold and Kane Velasquez and Daniel Cormier, young guys like that who ended up being superstars.

So very intriguing stuff, A.J. McKee, well on his way. Okay, let's move along. one of the very best at 145 pounds in the UFC is Max Holloway. This man is on a roll. He is hungry for a big fight, and he is joining us right now. Vee the Magic Skype. Wow, crystal clear Skype over there in Wyni. How about that?

Max, how are you? What's up, my friend? Good, good. How are you, my friend? Look at this setup. What do you got over there? This is incredible. This is a regular logic tech camera and a Yeti.

My streamers, I stream in. I'm off of, I stream on Twitch TV. So this is all my streaming set up. Oh, I see. So you're one of those Demetrius Johnson Rampage Jackson guys doing the video game thing. Yeah, yeah. Let Demetrius Johnson know that I'm coming for his ass on Street Fighter 5.

He whooped my ass real bad a couple weeks ago. So tell him I'm practicing and I'm coming to get what's mine, my revenge. You guys are actually competing in front of fans online? Oh, yeah, he was playing street. Yeah, his game is Street Fighter 5. I played him once in UFC. And I won, and he was saying how terrible that game is, whatever. So I told him I would buy Street Fighter 5 to play him.

We played 10 times, and he wooked my ass 10 times. Wow. I'm practicing. Damn, let him know. I will let him know. Do you get paid for this? Twitch, we partnership. Yeah, we do.

It's all off of our Twitch is at Bless Soma, so give me a follow, guys. Go do. I watch the fights and stuff, whatever, and we play games. But we got to sponsor a partner. partnership with them. They give us e-motes and stuff and the way we get paid if people come and subscribe to our stuff. So it's pretty cool. And the best way to talk to fans, I get to tell my wife that I'm working. So it's awesome while playing games. So it's fun. Well, I know nothing about that stuff, but I love the fact that they're supporting fighters and giving you guys an outlet. So I am all

for that. Great stuff by Twitch. Okay, there's a lot of business to talk to you about. First, let's start with the new stuff. Saturday night, UFC on Fox. Anthony Pettis, 145 looks great and then wow i see on your twitter don't believe the hype you were not impressed bro i didn't even want to fight bro i just i swear i swear to god after every 1 40 fight five people's tweeting me that i should fight this guy and i'm like bro like two weeks ago you just is telling me i should fight your rear and before that you just is telling me i should fight dhu choy make up you guys mine man what the hell is going on you know it's just it's just a confusing thing you know these guys want me to fight it's just it's just it's just it's just

the hype, you know, it's just, I'm not talking about Pettis or whatever, you know, I'm not trying no shit down, I just just saying, don't, don't, like, they're so, like, it's, uh, this MMA fans, they just jump on the, whatever that fight is, you know, and that's what I say. I want to fight, that's come I want to fight often because they remember you for fights, you know, if you, if you take

some time off, they kind of forget what you do, but it just proves over and over again. Every time I, every time I, every time I won 45 or fights, they're like, Max, fight them, Max, fight them. I'm like, what the hell is going on, my friends? You know, there's some guys that I want to fight, hey, that's all good matches for me, I think, down the future.

But there's a couple guys on my radar right now that I really want. And if I can't get the guys I really want, I'll fight whoever. But, you know, that's what I'm talking about. They keep fight. 45 is keep fighting and I keep getting harassed on Twitter that I should fight them, that they win. So it's crazy. Okay, well, get to the guys that you want to fight in a second. But have you seen the Pettus fight since Saturday?

No, I didn't walk. Okay. I was, I didn't tape it or anything. I found finished. No, I didn't tape it. No, we was, I had a family day on Saturday, and then we came home and the DVR didn't record, so it is what it is. Yeah. But after the fact, he's saying, you know, title shots this and that.

I mean, I'm looking, you won nine in a row, correct? That's not a typo. Yeah, yeah, nine in a while, well, it's, yeah, my friend said to make sure to correct you because you keep saying eight. But I was saying, I was giving you a break because it's eight 45 fights, and I fought Clay Collar at 150, so it's nine fights. Fair enough, fair enough. My bad. I'm not trying to take anything away from you. I'm just trying to be... No, no. He said, I thought I got him. I told him I got him. I said, everyone said, yeah, but it is what it is. Right, because of the Will Chope fight, correct?

Yes, sir. Okay, so 9, 8, whatever the hell it is, it's very damn impressive. But still, we're not hearing you in title picture talk, this and that. What's going on here? When are you going to get what you deserve? I don't know. The weird thing of the division, there's two champions. I would sit here and be like, you know, I want to fight Connor. But then I'll be a stupid. I'll be a dumb ass, you know, because there's another belt in the division, and Aldo got him, you know. So if Connor comes back down, they fight each other for sure.

You know, I can't be saying, like, wow, where's my fight? Because Aldo got a belt, you know? So we're hearing talks, you know, of stuff going up to 55 and fighting for that title, and he got to drop his 45 belt. Then, of course, the only fight that makes sense is probably me and Aldo, you know, since Aldo already fought the guy Frankie Edgar twice that's in front of me. and then I would like to think I'm next in line, but, you know, we sound some crazier things than UFC happened.

So I ain't holding my breath on. And if I get the car, get the car. If not, we got to go for 10. And that's what we're going to do. So, okay, so let's lay it out. If they do Connor versus Aldo unification bout, who makes sense for you then? I don't know, man. You know, I want to fight in New York.

So, you know, Frank Yeager pops up in mind. Yeah. You know, Dominic Cruz is saying that he would, he would, He wanted to fight for a belt and won a big fight. I would like to fight him at 45. I think that would be a fun fight to prove myself against someone, a pound for pound, number two in the world, you know, number one, pushing it there.

So I think that would be a fun fight. Or, you know, now there's Pettis and whatever. So we see what happens, you know. Whoever you see wants me to fight, I take the fights, you know. We never turn down one fight in my life, you know. We get the call and it's like, whatever, you know. Time of us the day, we get ready and we be there. But as of right now, they haven't reached out to you yet.

they haven't talked to you about what's next. No, I'm in the shadows, just like you guys. Yeah, I'm in the dark, man. Ninja's moving the shadows and it's time to shine. It's time to shine, huh? Are you starting to get anxious? Are you getting like, you know, you starting to feel like, okay, what's going on? I fought, you know, two months ago, two and a half months ago, what's going on here?

A little bit, you know, I want to, yeah, I fought four times the last two years, you know. So it's like, yeah, I want to, I want to, um, I want to, each year I fought four times. So I want to fight, you know, I want to keep fighting. So, yeah, I'm getting anxious. You know, this breaks, anything longer than three to four months is kind of driving me crazy, you know, without being booked. Usually I would be book already, you know, last year I would have been book already. So, yeah, I want to get, you know, I want to make those big money pay days and whatever.

And I want people to harass people because I fight and they harass the top, the other guys in front of me that I should fight them, you know. So, yeah, I'm getting anxious, man. I want to wait. but, you know, time is on your side. You know, I'm just taking my time and we see what happens. If you were in charge, what do you think should happen with the title? Like, do you think that if Connor doesn't, if he fights 155 next, should he just give up the belt at that point?

Is there value and still, you know, having him hold the belt? What do you think should happen here? Because he's now fought, what, twice since winning the belt and hasn't defended at once, yet, you know, you can't deny the fact that his two fights against Nate have made a lot of money for everyone involved. What do you think should happen at this point? I don't know I ain't the UFC you know at the end of day At the end of day it's whatever you know

If when I'm in when I'm in that position I would want to do what I would want to do You know so we see what happens you know Dana White already said that that he said that if he fights 55 he's gonna drop the belt You know or or unify the belt 45 so we see what happens you know everybody keep crying and complaining you know I ain't no cry baby you know it is what it is I'm not going to let my emotions get into this. It's just the way it turned out. You know, you can't change nothing.

You're going to do what they're going to do. And I'm just ready for the call. Whenever they call me, I'm going to fight. You know, I like to call it spilled milk. You're not going to spill milk and try and put it to a container. You know, you just wipe that shit up and move on. What's your dream fight at this point? Ah, you know, my dream fight is either a rematch with Connor or a fight with Aldo, you know,

because, you know, I always wanted to fight Aldo since it's the WEC days before I even was in the UFC. He was the best guy forever, you know. I always wanted to fight him. And then, of course, the Connor fight, you know, people keep saying, telling me that harassing me on top of Twitter and stuff, that he had a torn ACL and he couldn't finish me and this and that. But it is what it is.

You know, go tell your boy, Connor, prove it that he can finish me. Take the fight, you know, we keep, I keep calling him out. I keep seeing, you know, I keep talking, talking. And he's not talking about me. He's talking about a bunch of other guys that he fought before. Have you noticed that your name has sort of become a verb in MMA where people say, oh, he's pulling a Max Holloway right now, the sort of end of a round thing where you point to the ground? That whole thing that emerged when you fought Ricardo Lama's. This has become a thing now in the last two and a half months.

Yeah, yeah. They put it in the E.A. Medan Sports too, too. Really? UFC, too. So, yeah, yeah, they did it. Only my guy can do it. So it's pretty sick. Wow.

Yeah, shout out to, I think, Terry out there. he uh he uh yeah the yeah the guy who does the game he he put it in for us and he he's the man you know you get to uh what what happens in the game is the last 20 seconds you do the taunt and he do i do point down taunt and they taunt you get a limited uh limited uh what is that cardio you can't uh you can't shoot and clinch and you just bang hands in other words so it's pretty cool it's pretty dope and yeah everybody's doing it you know uh shout out to uh Rivera uh Rivera they did it in the first 30, 20 seconds of the turn around, not the last. I was like, they're kind of forgetting the thing.

It's at the end, not the beginning. So shout out to their fight. That fight was crazy, too. When was the first time that you did that? Was the Ricardo fight? You never did that in training or in any other, like, small-time fight. That was the first time ever? Yeah, I was like, you know, I try, at the ending out of fights, I try to, I try to

throw down for like the last 10 seconds, but I never really made it known. You know, I try to stay there and be like, oh, 10 seconds, my would just swing. you know, see what happens. But that last fight, Ricardo, like, if you watch, he taunted me like three times. And I was thinking, like, in my mind, like, what the hell you taunted me? You know, if you want it, you can get it. And, you know, I decided to just stand my ground, you know. So it was crazy.

Wow. It's amazing how it's actually become a thing. Now, explain something to me. How has the UFC in Hawaii not become a thing yet? With your success and so many others coming up, Courtney Casey just won a couple weeks ago. I mean, I feel like they can legitimately put on a card at this point. versus the world. I feel like you can have like a 10-deep card of Hawaii fighters,

Hawaiian fighters against international fighters. How has this not happened yet? I don't know. You know, I talked to Dana White Tam a while ago about it, and the only way they said they want to come to Hawaii if it's huge. And the arena that we have in Hawaii, the big stadium that the Pro Bowl and stuff come down, it's an open stadium, and they keep saying that the rain and stuff and whatever. But they want to come down when,

for a big event, for a huge event, they said. So we see what happens. You know, maybe I can get my title shot in New York, you know, hopefully pull it off and win and then, you know, take a defender belt at home. You know, I think that would be pretty crazy. Is that part of the motivation? Like, do you feel like you need to be the champion to bring the UFC to Hawaii? Oh, hell yeah, you know, hell yeah.

You know, look at Stipe, you know. That guy just wins a belt and they do a damn event for him in Cleveland. The hell is going on Cleveland. Shout to LeBron James then, but come on, man. I agree. I agree, by the way. Come to Hawaii. People want to come to Hawaii.

Everybody wants to come to Hawaii. I agree. Do you feel like life has changed? Like now when you're going around your town, are you getting noticed a lot more? Oh, yeah, yeah, way more, you know, way more. Just going around anywhere, you know, going to the mall getting stopped and whatever. It's super cool, you know. It's just showing that the hard work is paying off, you know.

I go out there, I train hard, and I go out there, I fight hard, and, you know, a lot of time and a lot of my time and a lot of time I got taken away from my family, sacrifice. So it's just, it's just a relief like, damn, it's working, you know, I'm doing something right, you know, so it's super cool. How old is your son at this point? My son is four years old. Does he? He turns five in January. Well, happy birthday, or well, sort of early birthday to him, but does he get a kick out of seeing people recognize you and ask for pictures? Does he understand kind of what's going on?

Yeah, yeah, you're not going to believe that guy. He either wants to be in the picture or he tells me to stop taking pictures. So if he's not in the picture, he chose a little fit and he's like, Dad, stop taking pictures, I said, stop. And then if he's in the picture, he's all smiles and shocking and whatever. So he loves it. You know, he just got to, I got to tell him, hey, get in the picture so he doesn't complain about it. Wow, he feels left out. He wants a piece of that action too.

Yeah, I guess so. Smart man, I guess. Like I said, your last fight was against Ricardo Lama's, and now here we have the legend B.J. Penn fighting Ricardo Lamas. We were talking on this show a couple weeks ago. I feel like I don't like this fight for B.J. I feel like it's a little too soon to have him come back against someone like Lamas. You've been in there with Lamas. How do you feel about the fight? You know, I feel MMA is wild, you know, and motivated BJ Penn is a scary dude. So we see what happens, you know, Ricardo ain't no slouch, you know, he's number, he's number four in the world for a reason, you know, so, but then, you know, B.J. ain't no slouch either, so he's a legend. So we see what happens. You know, I think should be a fun fight. It's just who can get their game plan first, you know, it's, if, if Ricardo can, you know, I think Ricardo's probably going to try and stick and move on, on BJ and, you know, and, you know, kind of try and take them down and stay in BJ's guard, but, and then, you know, of course, BJ probably once again on top, we see the most, uh, uh,

most damage he does when he's on top and he takes someone back from there. So I just think it's just who gets the game plan off first. You know, we see what happens. Who's your pick? You know, hopefully we got to stick. I got to stick with the Hawaiian, you know, so we can get this UFSI train rolling. Oh, okay, all right, all right. So you got to, okay, you can't, even though maybe you're picking with your heart, right?

Yeah, yeah. All right. Sure. Fair enough. I like that very much. Okay, so when do we think that we're going to hear something here? Hopefully this week, you know. I'm waiting.

Hopefully we can hear something as week. It's a one week pass. Actually, this is going to be a second week going on with the whole Connor McGregor, Nate Diaz fight. So hopefully Connor make up his mind soon, you know, because. Everyone's waiting on Connor. I guess so, you know. What's new? Does that piss you off?

No, I don't care. You know, I have no. But I have no, I can't let that affect me because I can, I have no control over that situation. Sure, sure. I'm not going to be pissed off. I'll be crying about nothing. That's really, really stupid. So I ain't being pissed off.

But fair to say, you're not going to accept any fight, right? I mean, you want the top guys. If it's on a belt. Yeah, I want a fight, you know. We see what happen. I just want to fight. If you see what comes with me with a fight, I'm going to fight. You know, that's just at the end of day.

If you don't believe you the best in the world, then why the hell are you doing this shit? You know, I think I can beat anybody in the world. And to prove it, you got to fight everybody. You know, I'm not picking and choosing. I'm not cherry picking out here, you know, or being like, no, I don't want to fight that guy when they call me. When they call me, they get the same answer. Yes, you know, just tell us the date, tells the time, we'd be ready. By the way, what's the Brodies?

The Brodies is my YouTube channel. Oh, look at you. Damn. Brodies, yeah. YouTube Twitch? Yeah, I'm here my boy. Me and my boy, Birdie Bird, my friend, he takes pictures and stuff and whatever, and he does videos for me sometimes here and there.

So go check them out. And you're not into Twitch, but you can watch my gaming, some of my gaming clips. I got it up there. It's funny. And you're doing commentary, right? I'm talking, yeah. Yeah. This is how Twitch looks.

Twitch looks just like this, and then the big is my game, and I can talk, and I talk shit to whatever. All right. My Madden ones is the best one lately. I've been put up a Madden one, actually, but I've been losing. my shits over Madden, man. Fucking Madden gods. I want to see you and DJ talking crap to each other while playing. Is that online somewhere?

Oh, yeah, that's on our Twitch. I'll have my boy post one up on the stuff and I'll let you know. It's funny. I won one round and I gave DJ the most shit talking ever because you got to win two rounds. Okay. And I run one round and I was talking shit to him. I was saying, yeah, boy, this fucking swearing at him and doing all kinds of shit. He was laughing.

It was funny. And then he whooped you. is a good time playing. Yeah, we fight you with my ass. It is what it is, though. That's his game. He can have his game. Look at you, a man of many interests. I love it. All right. Well, best of luck to you in getting that big fight. I hope you do get to fight in New York. It seems like everyone wants to fight on that card, and who can blame him? What a, what a scene that will be November 12th. I appreciate you coming on relatively early over there in Hawaii, Max. All the best to you. And congrats on all the success thus far. It's great to see.

No, thank you for having, man. You have a great one. All right, there he is. Max Holloway. joining us from Wainai in Hawaii from his amazing setup over there. Wow, unbelievable stuff, certainly deserving of a big fight. And you'd have to think that if Connor fights, if Connor fights Aldo next, he needs a big fight. If Connor doesn't fight Aldo, he's got to fight Aldo, right? You would think. We'll see. Interesting times at 145 pounds, especially with Anthony Pettis dropping down. All right, let's move along now. The big news of last week, no doubt about it.

Rory McDonald signing with Belator. You recall on this program back in March, Rory kind of broke the news that he was going to fight out his contract, test the waters. He has done that, and he decided to sign with Belator. How fascinating is this, the sign of the Times. He is now joining us on the phone. Rory, are you there? Hey, I'm here. Congratulations on the big news, Rory.

Thank you. Thank you for joining us as well. So when you were on this show back in March and you were kind of, of maybe for lack of a better word, venting and saying what was going on behind the scenes. Did you know already that you were about to fight your last UFC fight? No, no, I was pretty like, I was pretty transparent about the whole thing. I knew that we were going to go into a tough negotiation period, but I didn't know that UFC wasn't going to match me, but I had my doubts, you know, about the whole thing.

But at the end of the day, I really didn't know which way it was going to go. When you fought against Wonderboy in Ottawa, did you feel the pressure of becoming a free agent? Did that affect you at all? No. I was excited about the whole thing because it was time that I get paid, and I knew what I was worth. Win or lose? I know I bring a lot to the table. I'm one of the youngest and brightest fighters in the...

in the division. And I really don't think that I've even reached my potential. There's a long road ahead in my career. And I really don't even think that I've shown anything yet. I think there's a lot ahead of me. A lot of people are going to get excited in the next few years, I think. So after that fight, how soon afterwards did you start, you and your management team start talking to people testing the waters?

Like how quickly did you get into the process? Right away. right away. Did you receive any kind of offer initially from the UFC? Yeah, yeah, I mean, they had an offer, we counteroffer, counteroffer, you know, I think it went back and forth a few times, but the end of the day, Bellator stepped up. Was that where you wanted to go?

Or would you have been happy going back to the UFC? You know what? You know what? You've got a lot for me, and I'll never, I'll never, I'm not. going to be one of those guys that sheds all over them and say they're doing this, they're doing this. Yeah, they've done a lot for my career without them. I wouldn't be where I am on the bargaining side of things. You know, they put me in the position to do this, to build my career. They've given me many opportunities. So I would have been happy to go back with them,

but at the same time, I also believe in the promoters and the company at Bellator. I believe, I believe even what they're doing, building a strong roster. And, you know, I have a lot of faith in them in the direction they're going in our sport. When you met with Scott Coker and members of his team a couple of weeks ago, before they offered you a deal before anything was signed, what was your impression of them? Like, what did you like about them? They're straight up guys.

They're easy to talk through. They're approachable. And have their ears open, not just, they don't just have their plans. and they tell the fighters to just do what they want, you know? They want to hear what the fighters want to do. They want to be creative, do something new. They don't want to just push their agenda, so to say. They want to listen and, you know, see partners almost, you know,

do this together and build something unique. So, you know, it's been, even though it's new, it's already been awesome. I talked to the head guys over at Bellator and Spike in one day more than I have it in a whole seven years with the UFC. Wow. You know, so. Was that something that you wanted? You wanted a closer relationship with your promoter?

Well, I mean, I think that only benefits everybody. Yeah. I think, you know, when you guys can work together, put your heads together and come up with something really special for the fans. I think people could really appreciate that. When they offered you the deal, did the UFC say no or not match right away, or was there a back and forth?

How did that play out? The offer that I'm under currently, I'm sure, I'm pretty sure anyway that it was just straight up, we can't match that offer. But there was some back and forth leading up to it. I mean that's my manager's side of things

he was the one in the talks you know during the negotiations that's how I wasn't a part of that and once you got the word that they're not going to match and that you're headed to Beltaire what were you thinking because it's you know you came into the UFC as a kid and there have been so many great moments there ups and downs fought for the ball like what were the emotions that you started to feel

once it sunk in that you're leaving and now going somewhere new You know what? I was very excited. At the same time, I had the butterflies, you know, like, you know, this is a big, a big career choice, you know. So, you know, I really had to feel very strongly about my move, and I did. I do, and I did, you know, so I was nervous. Don't get me wrong, but I think I made the right choice. How much did the new UFC, so to speak, the Reebok deal, all this stuff come into play as far as far as. as your decision is concerned. You know, I spoke about this at the press conference at Bellator, and I think I have to clarify something because I think a lot of people took it the wrong way. Okay. I think I'm sponsored by Reebok, and I appreciate everything they've done for me, you know.

They do a lot for me on a daily basis, and they've actually been great, and they actually want to come into the sport and make a positive... positive effect. And you know what? They came in with not much time to work, putting together, you know, the stuff that they got going on in the gauge right now. But I think in the long run, they have a, they have their mind in the right place. You know, they want to do good things for the sport, be a part of it for a long time. I appreciate that. I just think the UFC went about it in the wrong way. They didn't, they didn't, they didn't, uh, they didn't, uh, you know, I didn't really think of the fighters, I don't think, even though I think they say they're

trying to make it out like they are, there was no discussion, it was just, okay, this is happening, and deal with it kind of thing, you know? And that's not very respectful. I don't think that was a very good move. I don't appreciate that. But at the end of the day, I don't think it really played the biggest factor in my decision. It was more the numbers and the respect they get on a daily basis. The opportunities on the horizon that those were believing in giving me and working with me, building my

brand, and, you know, making money and making good fights and, you know, making a great promotion. By the way, are you hitting pads as you're talking to us on the phone or is that someone else. It's other people. Oh, man. I would have given you major props for that. That would have been a first for us, hitting pads and speaking. So you mentioned that you were sponsored by Reebok.

Is that going to continue? How does that work now that you've left the UFC? Sorry, say that again? How does it work? Because you had your own deal with Reebok, right? How does that work now that you've left the UFC? Are they still going to sponsor you? I hope so.

I guess we'll see. I still think that they have a great opportunity because of all the things that I'm going to be doing outside of the cage with Bellator and a lot of shows and good promotion. I think they could reach the benefits of that as well, not just reaching the UFC market. But, I mean, that's a discussion I have to have with them. Okay, you haven't had that discussion yet. No. Okay. You know, I don't know if you've allowed yourself to think this way, but I know that you kind of look at the sport from a larger perspective at times. Do you feel like historically this is a significant move, this can help others jump? Like, are you trying to, when you talk about, you know, not speaking to the fighters about the Reebok deal, do you want all fighters? Would you prefer? Would you, would you suggest to all fighters to fight out their contract, to test the waters, to do this sort of thing so that free agency really becomes, you know, a real thing? in MMA as opposed to how it's been in the past?

Do you think that that's better for the sport, that this move kind of moves things along in that direction? You know, I think every fighter has a unique position, you know, in their career. And I think like any business move, you have to have the right strategy going in. So everybody's got a unique situation, and I think you have to analyze their own. for me in the position I was in it was a smart move I can't say that for everybody at you know everybody's in the different stages of the career so you know build your brand you know make a name for yourself have good fights put performances on and maybe you know and maybe test

it out but I don't I don't I can't speak for everybody if the likes of Benson Henderson didn't sign with Bellator first do you think you would have not considered them as seriously like if they weren't if they didn't have the brand like they didn't well you know some people made a name up in the UFC well no like some people have made the jump before you know UFC you're obviously not the first to go from the UFC to Belator but if you were the first like do you think it's a little less daunting now that others have done it

I think that I was I'm I'm the one that grab the most attention for it. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. What do you think? No, I think it's very significant. I think it's 100% significant. I was just saying if you were to be, it's different, there's a different scene grabbing the most attention and being the first. Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah. I think that there's also the tide is turning a little bit. People are more aware. They see the opportunity where there was no opportunity before. So that's all.

Did you reach out to anyone who fights for Bellator to get their take on what it's like to work over there? No. No, wow. Interesting. Because they don't have a lot of Canadian. I mean, is there anyone at TriStar these days who fights for Belator? Francis. Francis Carmel.

That's right. Yeah. You didn't ask him? Well, I believe we're managed under the same people. So my management had a pretty good idea. And plus, I mean, I met with the people and I seen the product, you know? so I didn't really have too much to ask. Right.

And was there any other promotion that kind of came at you strong that you were considering as well? Delo and UFC were my top choices. Okay, you didn't want to consider anywhere else. Because I heard there were others that really wanted to sign you as well. Yeah, I mean, I think one FC took a crack at it, but it wasn't, they weren't in the ballpark. Do you leave the UFC a little disappointed?

that you never were champion, does that bother you? Do you think that, like, that will eat at you inside? Sorry, say that again? The fact that you never won the UFC belt, you were so close, but you didn't get it. Does that bother you? Like, do you feel like that will eat at you inside? Do you leave disappointed? Yeah, but like I was saying, I'm young.

Yeah. There's a long journey ahead of me. I got another 10, 15 years ahead of me in this game. I think people have seen me for a long time at the top, getting a lot of attention, so they think that I'm old school and I'm on my way out. but you're going to be very surprised when they see me down the road in 10 years still still at the top of the game, you know? But to answer your question, am I disappointed about, you know, leaving the UFC and not having the bell? Yeah, I am.

And, you know, actually, I just, actually, something right before we got on this conversation, something very interesting came up to me. We're going to have to see where it goes, but it has something to do with that, my title fight with Robbie. Some very interesting information that came about. What? What are you talking about? Yeah. So we'll see what happens with that. I don't really want to speak out too loud about it,

but something that really grabbed my attention, and I think a lot of people are going to be very interested to hear about this. If it actually is true, I have to do my research, but it could be a very potential, potentially a very big thing. Whoa. And it pisses me off. And it pisses me right off to hear about it, to be honest. Because I feel very, I feel robbed.

But, you know, I came in. I worked hard for that fight. I fought my heart out. And, you know, I left everything in there. I left my soul. And, you know, I really poured everything out there. I came in honest. And I always have my entire career.

I don't play with no dirty drugs, any performance enhancers. That's something I don't. don't believe in morally. You know, I always believed in myself that if I worked hard, I trained hard, I worked my martialist techniques, I could get to the top and I could be the best in the world. For the fact that whatever happened in there, if this is true, it pisses me right off to my core. So, I mean, obviously, you may have heard that he, are you implying that you heard that he

failed a drug test or something like that? Is that what you're saying? some test results came out four times higher than the limit for that fight or for his last fight my fight with him how does this come out now he's fought he's fought twice since

yeah I don't know like I said it could be bullshit okay I mean we have to look into it that's so I don't want to get I don't want to start pointing fingers or anything but I mean it definitely look at their team's history. Look at that team's history, you know?

Yeah. It makes me very suspicious. But, I mean, I can't go out and start saying for sure without making my research and making sure that all this is true. Good source? Yeah. Interesting. All right.

Well, we'll keep an eye on that. So I'm sure I guess that kind of adds to the question about not winning the belt. How many fights? have you signed for it. Can you tell us that? Six. Six. Okay. And is this, is this like collectively this, I mean, I feel like, okay, let me ask you this. Why can I ask you, why is it taboo for me to ask you how much you're getting paid when in every other sport it's, it's, I know how much LeBron James is making, Carmel Anthony, every other athlete, but why is it taboo in fighting? Well, you know what? I think the details of the contract are confidential.

Okay. Because it takes a lot of creativity and work on our behalf to come up with this kind of a deal, you know, and I don't think you do understand exactly how much every other athlete is making because there's a lot of underscosed purses and things like that on deals and sports deals that you don't hear about. I think that is proper that it's confidential, you know? Okay, fair enough. When you were on the show in March, you said you want to get paid fine.

Like you have a family now, you've put in a lot of work, you've taken damage, you want to get paid what you're worth. Do you feel like now you are getting paid what you're worth? Yeah, I do. I feel very happy with what we have. Were you worried at all that you weren't going to get paid what you're worth and that you were going to be forced to walk away? No, I was very confident.

Even after how the fight went in June, you didn't feel like you hurt your negotiation power, your leverage, anything like that? No, because of what I've done. I mean, I think people realize that everybody has their bad nights in this game, and I have many years of great potential. So I think people realize in the long run, my stock is going up. So initially I was told that you're targeting a sort of January debut, but I think on Friday you said maybe the summer time you're targeting.

So why one year away? I want to make sure my nose is completely healed. I didn't do that last year after the Robbie fight. I just kind of was too hungry to get back in there and start punching people and getting into sparring matches and stuff. I didn't go about it smart, you know? So this time I got to take the pop of that. I don't know if it'll be summer, but I really have to be smart about it.

And I have to lay off sparring, you know. I'm really going to tone that down in my career in general because, I mean, I've been doing this since I was 14 years old, sparring, full-grown men, you know? So I've done thousands upon thousands of rounds. So I really just got to cool that down at this point in my career. How is your nose now? It feels great. I mean, actually, if you look at the pitchers before the Stephen fight, it was crooked. Stephen actually straightened it out for me, so thank you, Stephen.

What went wrong there, in your opinion? Like, why couldn't you figure him out in that fight? You know, I think it wasn't a fact of not figuring them out. I think I just got stuck in a rhythm with the way I was training, and I didn't adapt to a style that I feel that was myself. You know, for so many years I've been trying to learn this, trying to learn that and be so unique every single time. From now on, I'm going in with the, you know,

I was in my early career. Like I have a I have a certain style that fits that fits me, you know? A pressure, a system that, you know,

that works with my body and my, in my mind and stuff. So that, that intensity and that pressure and, you know, I'm going to be working on those skills

rather than developing, you know, a brand new set of skills every time I step in the fight. Hmm. Even though it, it has, it has boosted my,

my skill set majorly, but I also have to be true to myself and be true to the fighter that I am, you know? I think you're going to see a more consistent fighter. For a guy who was saying that maybe he wanted a little more love, what was it like on Friday when it felt like you were sort of the bell of the ball and everyone's excited about you, your first day at school, kind of, like what kind of reception did you get? And how much did you enjoy it? I thought it was awesome. Everybody was really nice and, you know, welcoming all the fighters. You know, it was different.

You go over there and everyone's like, welcome to the family. Yeah. And I felt like that, you know? It feels like just warmer. A better vibe comes off of them, you know. It almost feels like how it used to be, I guess. I don't know how I could say that, but like it's a bit of that old school. fight show vibe was going on, you know, like doesn't feel,

it doesn't feel quite what I've been used to at the USC for the last, you know, two, three years. And you get the big reception, the big introduction with the Canadian flag, which was pretty damn awesome. And you hint that you are curious or you're interested in fighting at 185 as well. That's on the radar? Ariel? Yes.

Hey, sorry, my Bluetooth cut out. Oh, no problem. I was just asking, is 185 like an immediate option for you? because you hinted at that in the interview on television? Oh, 100%. My plans for Bellator, my recent plans or whatever, it's going to be, you know, I'm going to fight for that 170-pound belt, and I'm going to take that off Koshkov or whoever you say his name,

and then I'm going up to 185 and I'm taking that too. I'm very focused on this. I want to be a two-division champion. I want to do their tournaments. I want to do the whole thing. So it's going to be an exciting time. Have you been told that your first fight will be for the belt? No.

Okay. But that's what you'd like. You feel like you deserve that. Yeah, it's going to happen, though. Okay. Let's end on this, Rory. Your first loss in the UFC was to Carlos Condit in Vancouver. And I couldn't help but kind of feel like there was some, I don't know,

it was just kind of strange how on the weekend that you signed with Belator, there is Carlos Condit fighting in Vancouver, losing, and now kind of questioning his career. I'm wondering if you saw that and what your emotions were seeing that, because I know how much you wanted to get that fight against them, the rematch, and never got it. What did you think when you saw all of that? Yeah, could you imagine if we had the rematch there in Vancouver, it would have been pretty cool, huh?

Yes, it would have been great. I thought that would have been awesome, but I knew that that fight was going to be dangerous on both sides. Damien's one of those guys that he can really, you know, he could put anybody away in the division. I believe I'm the only 170er that really stuck it to him. I don't know, am I wrong there? He has two losses at 170, but I think that's a fair assessment.

And also, by the way, his last loss was to you. Yeah. Jake Shields beat him. Jake Shields beat him. And him and Tyrone. that's right. Jake Shields beat him. That's right.

It was a close fight. It was a close fight. Your fight was a lot more one-sided. Yeah, okay. I remember that fight. Well, yeah. You know, Damien's one of those guys. You can make you look really bad fast, you know?

He's a very unique style to adapt to. You actually have to do some tricky things to stay away from his strengths. Did you feel for Carlos seeing him sort of talk about the end? I didn't actually see him. see his interview, but I can only imagine, especially after his loss as Bobby, I did see how he was speaking after, and he seemed like he might be at the end of his career, you know, he keeps questioning whether he should still be doing this. I have a lot of respect for Carlos. He taught me one of the most important lessons in my career, a very humbling experience. And, you know, I just, I wish him all the best.

I still think he's a very dangerous fighter in the division. But with this game, you can only do it if your heart is in it and your mind is in it because it takes everything to be at the top of this game. Well, I wish you the best, Rory. What exciting news this is for you and your family. Congratulations on signing with Bellator. Hopefully they'll bring more events to Canada. I know a lot of your fans are wanting that.

100% we're coming to Canada. And like I was tweeting yesterday, these shows are going to be big. Okay. It's not going to be, you know, this is going to be a legit show. You're going to go there and it's going to be an experience. You're going to be talking about it on the car ride home and the next day. And oh, wow, that was an amazing show. I can't wait for the next one.

And I can guarantee you I'm going to be putting on a strong fight game when I come out there for Bellator. I'm going to be dropping people like flies out there. I mean, coming forward and bringing the action. Without a doubt, people are going to be going crazy. Wow. Rejuvenated Roy McDonald. I like it very much.

I could sense the ambition and the confidence in your voice. It's great to hear. Thank you so much, Roy. Congratulations. We'll talk to you soon. Appreciate it very much. All right. Thank you, I.

See you later. There he is. Rory McDonald. How about that? Wow. You can feel it. in his voice, right? There's nothing like a fired up Roy McDonald. Okay, congratulations

to him. Let's move along. The UFC train rolls along on Saturday. They are in Hamburg, and the main event is one that we have been talking about for over a decade. It's Andre Arlofski against Josh Barnett. How about this? Old school fans love this. Josh Barnett joining us right now via the magic of Skype. I do believe there he is. Josh,

how are you? Hello, Ariel. I'm Hamburg, Deutschland, Deutschland. Oh, wow. Do you speak German? Yeah, no. No. In fact, what little German I can remember from high school, it gets overtaken by the urge to speak Japanese to German people.

And in this day and age, I don't think it would go over as well. World War II jokes. Oh, yes, yes. Okay, let's stay away from that. Before I actually start the interview, I want to tell everyone, pay close attention to this conversation with Josh, because afterwards, New York Rick is going to ask you a trivia. a question, the first person to get a right based off of what Josh says in this interview is going to get a signed DVD copy of never back down, no surrender, right? That's the, there it is.

There it is. Yeah. You know, and I won't even, I will actually pull out the liner. Oh my. Sign it, you know. Well, I mean, this is the way to do it. Yes. This is like the legit. The certificate. I mean, you could, yeah, yeah, I'm going to have a notarize. And I'll file the form of the triplicate. It'll be absolutely official. Holy moly. Just didn't on the air.

Yeah. And you know what? I just completely devalued your DVD for nothing. No, this is great. I think it just shut up. Completely free of charge. I think that our man New York Rick is going to rig the competition because he told me he's a massive fan of this franchise.

He's sort of marked out when I told him, yes. So we'll see what happens. He had a teenage coming of age stories, I see. in and around fighting. Right. Well, this one doesn't really have that because we're all grown-ass men and it's rated R. There's boobs and swearing and the like. There it is.

I hope it doesn't hurt his delicate sensibilities. Okay, so stay tuned for that. Pay close attention. Now, you are in Hamburg. When did you get there? I got here Friday. Friday. How has it been thus far?

How have the German people received you? Yeah, Gonsky. You play the part very well, if I may say. Oh, you don't say. Yeah, it could be a little German there. Could be a little German in you. Do you have any German ancestry in your... What now?

Yes, I do. You do? Yeah. Who? Which part of your family tree is German? Mainly my dad's side, but my mother's side has some as well. Has this been something on the bucket list to fight in Germany? I mean, I'll pretty much fight anywhere.

If the pay is right, I'll show up in your car park in Toronto. To hell with it. Okay. Coming to Germany, I've always wanted to spend time in Western Europe, and I've always wanted to do Northern Europe, Germany, Scandinavian countries, just to get a glimpse of the area, the people, the culture. and I hadn't had a chance to do that yet. So to be able to come over here. And all I have to do is beat up Andre Arlofsky, well, it's a dream come true. True or false, you will actually be repping Germany on your fight kit this Saturday.

Is that true? It is true. They had one, they've got a really cool looking flag. Yes. Awesome people on it. And two, it also has to do, and not only is it because I have a lot of German blood in my veins, but, you know, the color scheme works out a whole lot better too. I know that they're starting to personalize things to a degree,

but coming from a guy that used to make all of his own stuff. Yeah. You know, this Reebok thing, as much as I, you know, I've actually found no issue with the gear and working with the people. You know, I designed everything to fit me to be the colors I want them to be, everything the way I want it. So to lose that bit of individualism is, been a bit of a struggle. Does it, does it feel like a piece of you kind of dies when you can't

put your personal touch on things? If there was any soul left, maybe. Now, if this were pro wrestling, is this kind of like... If it were. Yes. Is this like your version of the cheap pop to go with the local flag? It is a cheap pop. I will totally own up to it. Yes, it's a cheap pop. But I do have at least, I have ties to it, you know? Fair enough. Bloodlines in any case. But, uh, And, you know, we all, Germans, they loved Odin too. They're basically all the same, same god structures as Sweden and Norway and the likes, and Denmark. Right.

But, you know, it's not like showing up in Philly and just wearing a Flyers jersey as you walk out to the rain. Now that's a real cheap pop. Right. This is a somewhat cheap pop. Settled. And he's European, so you're kind of trying. I wonder who will be the, you know, the baby face. who will be the, I mean, you're always the baby face in my eyes, even though you kind of moved away from that moniker.

I don't know how Germans and Belarusians get on. Sure. Could be that they're like, well, we spend all the same money, so that makes us buddies. Although I don't, actually, I don't even know if Belarus is in the EU. But, and if it's not, what is a Belarusian form of currency? Chicken feet? I don't know. Wow.

This is all stuff that. that we didn't expect to be talking about, but this is why we love speaking to you. So, we'll see. You know, I mean, come, come weigh-ins, I guess that'll give me a bit of a glimpse.

But, you know, I can say that I'm already feeling a bit of the European notion and culture kind of ingrained itself in my person. Okay. What do you mean? Yeah. So today, I went to the sauna

here at the hotel, and it is European. And I don't even, I don't, not even just talking about the bathroom, but the rest of it. So, you go out there, you strip down naked and you've got your saunas, your wet saunas, your dry saunas, all pretty typical. Yeah. But it's nude co-ed. Oh. So, yeah. Wow.

How many people were there? You know, surprisingly, the fact. that they even let me in at all is incredible. Why? And that anyone bothered to get into the sauna with me, even better still. Why can't you go in there? You know, I don't like to get into legal discussions. Okay.

All right, fair enough. On air. All right. My lawyer has advised me to not speak about this. But nonetheless, it was a very relaxing time had by all, I imagine. I remember dehydrate afterwards. You know, we got two girls on this card, too. And if they're going to be, I'm going to assume they're staying in the same hotel as us.

Yes. And all these fighters are going to be cutting weight. I just can't wait. We don't know how that goes. You don't have to strip down, right? I mean, it's kind of optional. No, you don't have to. I don't think there's anybody, you know, forcing you at Schmitzel point.

But they're not threatening you with a really obnoxious looking sausage to do so. Sure, sure. But nonetheless, I don't know, even still. Even still, if there's people, let's say the girls are in bikinis, right? And there's just a bunch of Germans just running around, you know, just flopping everywhere left and right. Right, right, right. You know, a good 75-year-old, that'd be good, motivation to cut some weight,

get out of there as soon as possible. Now, where are we at mentally going into this fight? I like to take the temperature here because I watched this battle line show that the UFC put out, which I thought was nicely produced. It wasn't a lot of, like, yelling and screaming. kind of chill and it gave us great insight into where you're at and where Andre is at. But it did focus a lot on, you know, your age and how long you've been in the UFC and him as well. Where are we at mentally as far as your career is concerned going into this fight?

Well, first off, I want to know, how are you taking the temperature here? Because that's really important information to be perfectly honest. You know, if we're talking in the armpit, that's cool. Even just, you know, forehead of the back of the hand of the forehead, I'm all right with that. want to get more intimate. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, you are my manager. That's right.

That's right. I think I would prefer the hand of a certified technician. Fair enough. Technician. Fair enough. At least somebody that went to like some DeVry Institute and got an X-ray lab technician degree. I'll accept that. Okay.

Because you know with their irradiated hands, they've got to be clean. my mental state is as good as it's been. I actually asked for this fight because I'm not the only old geyser on this thing. Andre, he's just as old as I am, essentially. And the fact that he's been knocked out like 12 times means he's probably even older yet. I'm aiming to make it 13. But the camp went fantastically well. I'm sorry that there wasn't as much yelling and sorry.

screaming as you must be used to in terms of UFC pre-fight footage. I'm good. I've not watched a lot of these, but, you know, that was my original motivation was I was asking the line producer. I'm like, how much yelling and screaming do you need for this? I don't want any. I want to make sure that my core market isn't disappointed. So.

I liked it. You were doing laundry. It was great. It got me really fired up to watch a fight. It happens. It happens. I had a great camp. It went really fantastic. I brought in Tony Nelson, who's been one of my students and training partners for a few of these camps now, as well as Joel Sherritt, who I've been working with. I usually go to, when he was at the Air Force Academy, I'd head out there. I'd go to the Naval Academy. He's a head coach for the wrestling team there. But I managed to prime away to come out to California for a little bit. it and work with me. I've got Jamal Abdullah, who I've actually been, I've spent time with

for the past few years as well. And Eric Hammer, as always. So the, it was just more of a matter of getting a bit more time with some of these guys. And, you know, I feel great. The mind feels fresh. Love in the German air. Is it annoying when people ask you about the state of your career, how many fights you have left, what's going on? Are you thinking about retirement? Is this an annoying question? Is this your way of asking that question? No. No, it's not. But I just feel like after the Rothwell fight, you went on Twitter and this is, you know, like this is something that is discussed. The fight game, you know, Carlos Condon is talking about it. We had Rashad of it. This is a part of the game, right? As you know, and sometimes fighters stick around too long. Sometimes they leave early.

You know, it's just, it's always a fascinating part of the game. And I know you're a student of the game. So I'm curious how you. I, I, I, I, I, I, have, yeah, honestly, I mean, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be at this, because I've been doing it for 20 years. So, I mean, I had a one of the days, I was in the gym, just getting a little cardio work in, what have you, and this kid comes up to me. I'm going to assume Russian, but I know he could be from any number of Eastern European countries. So, no offense, if he's watching.

He comes up to me and he goes, Oh man I like to shake your hand It's really great to meet you Man I remember watching you fight Way back in the day I was just a little kid I was like oh you don't say

I mean you look 35 But You know I guess it's just the facial hair It's just to that To hit home Yeah I've been doing this that long There are people that were children

Yeah. And I've said it jokingly before, but it is a truth that there are people that didn't even know what the hell the UFC was when I was fighting in it and now they're in the UFC. Yeah. So I've seen at least probably two heading on three generations of fighters come and go. Other than getting paid, and that's a great motivation, what motivates you now to do this, to continue doing this? honestly just to keep having the opportunity to come on the mMA hour and talk to you aerial i feel like there's not a whole lot at which a man can be motivated to even get out of bed in the morning but knowing yes that that light at the end of the tunnel that that that luminescent glow from the

screen on the other side of the Skype session it just it does something you know it's it's it hit you really deep, like almost to the prostate deep. Oh, wow. But somewhere in between. See, I feel like this has been just what the doctor ordered for you because the word on the street is there like, yeah, you're in fight mode. You're getting all, you know, serious and, you know, you're focused. And now here you are talking to me.

I feel like I've brighten your spirits up a little bit. Yeah, I think it's, I think it's safe to say that. I think that you're a little bit of a ray of sunshine in my life. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. all the shine off of that gel. I know. Look at this thing. I've been sitting here for two and a half hours.

In any case, yeah, I'm dead serious, man. I can't wait to get out there and fight. This is just a, as the time takes down, it seems to just be taking forever. It seems like as if every day was the last day and just the same as before. but I do know that, you know, fight time is around the corner. So all things are going as scheduled. How would you assess right now, Andre Arlowski's skills? Where is he at in your opinion?

I don't know. I really don't. He's done so much over so long of a career. And everybody has witnessed his talent time and in time again. But I'd like to think that he, wherever he possesses now is not going to be enough and and to say that whatever he had then was never going to be good enough but i have to go out there and uh and implement my will upon him but knowing how tough andre arloffsky is meant that i had to had to train incredibly hard i had to keep a lot of i have a lot of things in mind while i'm training

to perfect my approach towards this fight because he is not someone to take lightly and he isn't anybody to to, to, to underestimate. So I have ultimate faith in what I've done and who I am, what I possess to go into that cage. But knowing that, it's, it doesn't diminish the fact of how dangerous an opponent, Andre Arlowski is. And, you know, he's coming off of two losses. But like people often say, it's like the cornered animal. I still feel you win a couple.

The heavyweight division is so unpredictable that you're still very much in that title chase. Do you even think about the title anymore? No, I just think about winning. Winning is really all that matters. I don't need to chase titles because I've fought in so many title fights and so many title fight level matches that if somebody thinks that I need to give them a reason to give me a shot, any belt in the world, then, you know, clearly they don't know what they're talking about as far as MMA. So, you know, I'm ready for, I'm ready to fight anybody with any belt anywhere in the world. And this fight could be a title fight in the UFC. It could be a title fight anywhere.

It just so happened that it's not, but it is the main event. And I'm hoping that Andre is a much nicer guy than Roy Nelson. And if I happen to be winning, he actually lets me finish him or something. So we don't have to keep fighting out there because, to be perfectly honest, he's a heavyweight too. So I don't know why the hell he would want to go 25 minutes if you didn't have to. That's true. That's true. That's very inconsiderate on Roy's part. Wasn't it, though? Wasn't it? Part of the reason why you like this fight, because it's sort of a throwback fight, because he represents an earlier period in the sport. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like you're one who appreciates that sort of thing, and it's not, it's, this is something that I've been building. So it kind of, that, that adds a layer of intrigue to the fight.

Is that why you like it so much? The way I introduced this fight to the fan base out there was that this is UFC versus Pride. Yeah. He was the UFC hotshot while we were over in Pride. So this is one of those matchups that people would have wanted to have seen back in the day. It never happened. So by having us get in there now, I know it's a bit after the fact at this point. And technically, we are both UFC fighters.

not to mention the fact I was a UFC fighter before being a pride fighter. But our assent in the MMA world started at the same time. He was on the same card as I was, UFC 28 in Atlantic City at the Trump Taj Mahal. Here we are. Come full circle. And I want to get in the ring with him. I want to challenge this guy that used to be considered unstoppable. As simple as that.

What do we have planned for fight week? Open workouts. Can you give us a taste? No, no Germans watch this, so anyone who attends will... I have no idea if we even have an open workout. Get the F out of here.

Josh Barnett, part of a fight week, no open workout? What the hell is going on? Well, I'm not... Yeah, none of this is in my hands, by the way. I don't plan this stuff out. If it was my fight,

week, you know, it would be a completely different thing. I mean, I'm sure we'd have like a great big bloot and we'd have a big feasting and, you know, all kinds of stuff. And, you know, we'd stop around fires listening to a... Yeah, that'd be great. Satanic black metal. It'd be great. But that's not what's going to happen. And I did see, however, a great fighter that he is, Carlos Kahn, it's stealing my gimmick. Oh, yes. And trying to pro-ristle up the open workout. Yeah, yeah. You didn't like that.

Yeah, but that's okay. My gimmicks have been stolen for years by people in the UFC. This, cleaning the blood off and licking it, all that. Do you think BJ came up with that? No. You know, I got in trouble over that, in fact. I mean, in a way, I mean, I got a talking to, sort of. I mean, Dana went to the press at the time, and people were completely aghast

at me licking blood off of my fingers and gloves. And he said, I don't know if that's the kind of thing we really want. The UFC is gruesome and so on and so forth. But, yeah, you know, I guess I'm an inspiration to people, even in how they want to screw around in their open workouts. Well, I hope that they rectify that. Hopefully they do something because... rectify, rectify it, I'm barely newer.

Never mind. All right. We will hope that they do something because it's not a Josh Barnett fight. If there's no open workout, there's got to be something. Well, given the opportunity, I will be sure. Maybe a run-in in the sauna with the naked people or something. Camera, just have Leland break out the camera phone. Let's get something going on here, right?

Yeah, I mean, we got the, I'm doing stuff with GoPro now as a content creator. So for sure, I've got like four of them. I mean, we could get it from pretty much every angle at this point. Okay. I want that. Yeah. You know, there's probably a YouTube channel, or not YouTube. There's probably a website for that kind of thing, Ariel.

I'm sure you can find your fix. I will look into it. For now, I will let you go, Josh. Thank you very much. Guten tag. Is that German? I don't know. This is, you can just say choose.

Okay, there you go. You know better than me. I wish you the best, my man. A pleasure, as always, to catch up with you. Thank you for the signed DVD. We'll be putting that out there in a second. Appreciate that, and we'll be watching this Saturday afternoon here in the United States live on Fight Pass. It's Josh Barnett versus Andrea Alofsky.

And worth noting a very, very good card. The return of Alexander Gustafin hasn't fought in around 11 months. Alira Latifi against Ryan Bader. I mean, there is a lot to like on this card. So do check that out. Yes, Nick Dalby. He's a great prospect. I love watching the karate action of Nick Dalby. Yes, Denmark's own. So we appreciate it and we'll be watching. Thank you, Josh. All the best to you. See you. There he is. Josh Barnett stopping by live from Hamburg, Germany. Okay, we're going to take a quick break.

We've got some guests in house. First, we're going to be joined in studio by the reigning, defending, Bellator Lightway Champion. Michael Chandler is here. after that will be joined by Luke Rockhold. How about this? This is incredible. This show is flying by, but we've got much more show to go. So in a minute, we are going to reconfigure this bad boy. We are going to be joined by Michael Chandler in studio while we do that. Here are a couple old-school clips for you. First, the first time I ever spoke to Josh Barnett and Andrea Olavski was at the Affliction One Media Day. That was when Harlovsky uttered the now famous or infamous House Taste My Pee Line. I also spoke to Barnett that day as well, so I thought we'd look back at July of 2008

when I spoke to them for the first time. Watch that. You almost forgot, and then we're back in studio right here on the MMA hour with Belator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler. Ariel Hawani for MMA rated.com being joined by the baby face assassin,

Josh Barnett, Josh, there was some trash talking going on with other fighters at the press conference. What was that all about? That's not trash talking. That's just folks having to deal with, you know, denial of the truth of it. The thing is that most people don't get into trash talking situation with me because I'll just tear them up.

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

As long as people are going to pay to see me fight. I know this. they could put me at the top or they can put me first of the night. First of the night's kind of nice because then you get to beat the hell out of somebody and just sit back, drink your pinocaladas and watch the rest of the fireworks all go down. But, you know, it's not a status thing for me. I mean, to hell with that. I'm a main event guy and everyone's going to see that when I fight.

You know, a lot of people have always wanted to see you fight Fader Emilienenko, and Tom Intenzio, the VP of Affliction Entertainment, has said this is kind of like a tournament situation where the winners will advance to another show, possibly in October. Do you think if you win, you'll get that shot against, Fador finally? I've no idea. I haven't really thought anything about it. The only thing that matters to me is beating Pedro because he's the only one that's trying to knock me out that night. Fadour's not going to jump me from behind. In fact, if anything, I'll probably get my after-party

and we'll get a little tipsy over at Ember. Can you invite me to the after-party? Go ahead and swing on by. I thought I was going to get like VIP love. It's tight space. All right, well, let's talk about Pedro first off. I mean, this is a guy that you lost too in a fight that I'm sure you thought you were going to win, everything was going in your favor, and then a flash knockout, so to speak. How long have you, I mean, since that night, several years ago, have you been dying to get this chance again? I wake up in a cold sweat, screaming at the top of my lungs. Pedro! It haunts me.

Ah, really. It's 70 years ago. If anything, just like I tell all my other fighters, good or bad, if you go out there and you compete, there's going to be something you can take away from that that's going to help you become a better fight. So I took away, don't get knocked out, and that works for me. And how about fighting in the United States? Because you've only fought twice in the last few years or so. Any difference in terms of preparation and all that that you're kind of in your backyard here?

I know you're not from the California area, but it's a shorter flight than going to Japan. Well, actually, I've been staying down here in Florida, so you might as well just add me to the O.C.'s list of fighters down here. But, you know, the only thing about the difference here is I've got less paperwork to deal with in Japan and, and, and, you know, and it's just a little easier to do everything. But a fight's a fight. I'm here to go. I'm licensed. I'm ready to smash.

And the thing about the ring is it just could happen anywhere. It's international. That ring is my nation. So wherever that's at, it's where I'm fighting. All right, well, just promise me this. If you do win on Saturday night and your star blows up here again in the United States, just stick with the pro wrestling, all right? Because I love that.

That's not going anywhere. This is pro wrestling. When I go out there and fight Pedro, that's pro wrestling. When I go over to IGF August 15th and take on whoever they can find to drudge up, is dumb enough to get the ring with me, that's pro wrestling. Everything I do is pro wrestling. I am fighting for the entertainment of the fans. I'm going out there.

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

Andre, Saturday night, you against Big Ben Rothwell. How are you feeling just a couple of days out? I'm very excited, and I'm ready for the fight. How has life after the UFC been treating you so far? You know what I'm not even thinking about because I was busy with my training and I can tell you after July 19th. Do you feel different? I mean, you know, in the last year you fought against Jacob,

They put you on the undercard. Now you're being put here one of the top dogs, one of the big draws on the card. Do you feel loved more now? Be honest, it's not really matter for me. I'm on a paper view or not. But yeah, of course I'm very excited and I fought for you in the FACC almost eight years. It was tough decision for me, but now I'm with affliction and won and I'm cool. Big Ben Rothwell is a guy who, you know, blew through the heavyweight division in the IFL. Now he's coming over and fighting a top 10, you know, fighters such as your side. know fighters such as yourself. Do you think that maybe his record was a little padded there

because of some of the competition he faced in the IFL? We will have an answer on July 19th, but I can tell you he's a tough guy, he's strong, he's a good striker and I train for this fight really hard and we found out who's better in July 19s. You talk about that training, you've enlisted the help of Freddie Roach, the world famous boxing trainer. I give you much props for that because I think it's a long time coming that an MMA fighter goes into the boxing world and gets some help with striking.

How has it been working with Freddie thus far? It was very excited. I spent three weeks in LA and Freddie helps me a lot, but I'm still trained with my boxing coach in Chicago, my Garcia, and I have great team, great trainers. I'm happy. He'll be in your corner right on Saturday. We've heard some rumors that you're going to be going into the world of boxing,

but then we heard that it's not for sure yet. September 13th. Are you in fact going to be trying your hand at the sport of boxing? boxing. You know guys, first thing first of all I have to fight on July 19th and we'll find out after. But it's something you're thinking about. We'll see. Okay, I got to ask you this final question though because there was a lot of talk online, I'm sure you know about it.

Tim Sylvia and your former ex-girlfriend. What was up with all that stuff? You know what I'm not interesting and it's his business and if he did something with him, I just want to ask you, A, Tim House taste my P, P, P, okay? All right. You talk about Tim Sylvia. It was a little bit of him. soap opera, right? I don't care. All right. Well, strong words from Andre Aylovsky. Clearly,

your mind is focused on Saturday night. Absolutely. Best of luck for my fight and July 19th again, Man Russell. Well, we may be seeing the return of the pit bull on Saturday. Best of luck to you and continue success. Thank you. All right, how about that? Blast from the past. MMArated. com. Andreelofsky, Josh Barnett, that's back in 2008. Great stuff there. Okay. Now let's move along. Here we are in studio with royalty, Bellator Royalty, the reigning defending Belator lightweight champion Michael Chandler in the house. How about this? Wow. This is great. This is something. You've been on the show many times before but never in studio. What's it like? It's just the culmination of your career? It's actually really cool. I guarantee that there's a lot of MMA fighters who have not seen this

setup. Yeah. When we walk through here, you know, it was just, it was cool. You were kind of like, wow, I finally made it. After all these years, this was that breakout moment right here. Forget the belts. Yeah. David Busters. This is it. breakout moment. What are you doing here in New York? We are, I'm here with Luke Rockhold and Robbie Lawler. We are shooting Adidas Combat Sports Ope at Church Street Boxing. Just got done still a little bit sweaty. Okay. You were working out? Yeah, I mean, we're doing all kinds of shots, hitting bags, and they have a lot of cool new gear coming out, a lot of new shirts and shorts and rash guards and spandex pants. And obviously, Adidas is one of those brands that's been around.

It's one of the most iconic brands in the world, but now they are, they're, they, been for the last year or two moving in that combat to sports direction. And lots of cool gear, lots of cool apparel. So it's cool. It's cool to be a part of it. And we're just shooting a big old photo shoot. So you're a sponsor by them now? Yes.

Is this new? No, I've been with them for about a year. Okay. So it's, yeah, it's me and Luke, Robbie, Chris Algerie, the boxer. That's right. Clark Gracie, who's a BJ guy and a couple other guys. Now, you get the set, I mean, you don't have to concern yourself with this, but the whole Reebok thing affects that you.

UFC fighters. Adidas and Reebok are part of the same family. I didn't know that. You didn't know that? I didn't. Owned by the same parent company. Okay. But do they have anything as far as you're concerned to do with each other? Not that I know. Not that I know of, um, I mean, it's, it's different, you know, I mean, all these different licenses deals and, and all that kind of stuff, it's different money. It's, it's great gear. Um, I use all the, the shin guards and the, you use it in training. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I mean, obviously it's a, you know, it's a sponsorship thing. But I actually do prefer it. I mean, it's a good, it's good gear. So, you know, I didn't know that about the parent company, but it's cool to, obviously, in Bellasor, you can have whatever sponsors you want,

as long as they're not vulgar, the old school stuff that guys used to wear. And it's cool to be, to see even two UFC guys who, obviously there's a lot of restrictions put on them when it comes to fight week and it comes to their fight shorts and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, with our management, you know, we've been able to get a great partnership with them and it's a great company. Obviously, it's one of the, like I said, one of the most iconic brands in the world. So it's a cool deal. It's Reebok, but it is good to see some brands, especially blue-chip ones like Adidas still sticking around and sponsoring those guys, sponsoring all fighters.

I like that very much. So you just came back from the O.C. You were there. You were front and center. You were all over the place. Now, let me ask you this. The way in's happening as a fighter, right? As a fighter, how do you feel about being there front and center holding the belt?

Did you kind of, like, if I'm being honest, I felt like that wasn't the place for it. Yeah, you know, I mean, at the end of the day. Pitbull facing off. I get what they're doing. But don't you want to respect what's about to happen to? Absolutely. You know, and that's, and that was one of the things. They wanted to bring me out for the Wayans, and I was cool with it.

I mean, I think at the end of the day, we do fight every single fight to get towards that belt. Yep, yeah. So I have the belt, and these guys had to win that fight to fight for it. So I was told to be out there. Did you feel weird about it? You know, I mean, I think if I was in their shoes, you know, I, you know, Pitbull's talking all this trash about killing me and taking off my head, and then Benson's talking about getting the title shot and this and that. But I didn't expect them to really.

really, I guess, acknowledge me there. I mean, they can't focus on me. They can't focus on the belt because you got to, both of them had a tough fight in front of them as we saw. And, you know, it was an interesting situation, but, you know, at the end of the day, I wasn't too far away. And so I made it close and held the belt

and showed them what they have a shot at possibly. Considering what happened between, and I love that Michael took this. Oh, this is, I keep that close to me. Yeah. Just in case I get too about, bite the head off of it. I didn't even realize that it was here. And you found it among all.

I thought you were messing with me. No, I swear. at this Benson Henderson doll right here. So I'm feeling it. I'm feeling. There it is. I'm getting pumped up. I'm ready.

He's staring at me. Consider it. You're not fighting Pitbull. You're fighting Benson. Yes, sir. Considering what happened between you two back in June, were there any words exchanged? Anything happened there? No.

And I think under different circumstances, I think he would have been able to put his disgust on display. But like I said, he had to focus on that Benson Henderson fight. That's a very tough guy against a former UFC champion. And the only way that he will get to fight. me as if he would have won that fight. And, you know, I think we can end up setting up a fight down the road because he obviously hates my guts. So why does he hate your gut so much? What's not to like? Allegedly. I mean, allegedly, I talked about his family. I think he took it personally. I think, I think, obviously, you know, knocking out his brother pretty bad, you know, and I told him I would,

you know, I would kill him. I mean, I really do think if I stepped in the cage with him, I would tear him limb from limb, you know, and that's just the confidence that I have. And he's a puffed-up 135 pounder he's not he's not even though 145 pounder you know in my opinion he's five foot two and a half and it's you know i don't know but uh i don't know i think that fight will probably eventually happen but i think he he thought i talked about his family and i think in his mind that thought me that meant like wife and kids and grandma and grandma and grandparents and that kind of stuff but obviously just the just the pit bull brothers considering you say that he's a puffed up 135 or he was fighting a guy who in his last fight was fighting for the 170 pound title do you think he bit off more than he could chew in

do you believe that that may have led to the injury? It was pretty gruesome. You know, I think the human body is, I mean, when it comes to the way that our bodies are made, I don't think there's much of a difference between the bone density of 135 or 145 or 170 pounders. So I don't think the, I don't think the leg break actually had much to do with the size difference necessarily. Okay. I think it was a badly timed kick and a well-blocked kick. But I think he definitely bit off more than he could chew in that fight. Even though, I mean, if that fight keeps going, the way it was going,

I mean, I don't think Benson was winning the fight. Yeah, because I thought he lost the first. Yeah. I mean, he was very inactive. You know, I think... What do you make of that? Do you think he was gun-shy after what happened in the last fight? Possibly.

Didn't seem like himself, right? True, but I will say, I mean, the only way that I think Benson loses that fight is possibly getting clipped with a really bad right hand. You know, a big right hand because Pitbull has power. So I think implementing that game plan of pushing Pitbull, like chasing Pitbull around the cage and putting pit bull up, cocked and ready on that back foot, ready to throw that right hand, he was putting himself in harm's way but I think

it was cool to see Benson actually be the aggressor I think he took the he took the backseat against Koreshkov and Kreshkopf crushed him you know and Kreshkopf is a 6 foot 270 pound legitimate welterweight and you know we're going to see with Warren McDonald coming over I don't know if they fight next or what happens

we're going to see how good Kreshkopf is I think you know I not to sit over here and toot the bell to him but that guy in particular I think he's a tough fighter I think the fighter that we saw Ben Askeran dismantle and make them look like, you know, a little child, is not the same Kreshkopf, especially against the guy who will stand and trade with him. So he's a very, very tough guy, and we'll see. Okay, so you were there front row when they introduced Rory. Yes, sir. And I'm

curious to get your thoughts on this, because you're kind of one of these OG Bellator guys now. It's crazy that the organization has been around so long that there can be such a thing. Yeah, right. To see a Roy and McDonald come out with the Canadian flags, the red carpet and all this, and this is a year where Benson comes over, Matt Matreone comes over. Now Rory, which you make the cases the biggest one yet. For sure. What are you thinking? I think it's great.

You know, I don't know the details, obviously. I didn't even know he was going to get announced that night. But, you know, I think, like he said there on the broadcast, he was made an offer that he could not refuse and that nobody can match. And that's kind of the trend. You know, you're seeing that now. Yeah. You know, I, there's pros and cons of both organizations, I'm sure.

I can't attest to the UFC, fighting the UFC. But, you know, he seems like. like he made the right decision for himself and we'll see we'll see what happens you know the good thing for me is I think that's a fight that I could have in my future I would definitely step up to 170 and and met that fight happen I want the biggest fights that Bellator has to offer and I think Benson Henderson next I still have unfinished business with Josh Thompson yeah and you know I'm sitting at 190 right now so I'm not wouldn't be too tiny of a wellterweight you know whether it was for the for the belt or not for the belt I mean I want big fights I want exciting fights and I want

fights that fans are going to put their eyeballs on. Before I ask you about Josh, as you know, free agency has become a big thing this year, Rory, the latest example. But you decided not to test free agency. Why? Very similar to Rory. I think when you're made offers that are tough to refuse, it's, man, with me, I'm in a unique situation because I'm not just a Bellator guy.

I am a guy who has one of the biggest trilogies in the sport, you know, breathing down my neck. That fight with Eddie Avvers is going to happen. I don't know if it happens in Belator. I don't know if it happens in if it happens in the world series of fighting or if it happens in his backyard and Phil, it's going to happen. That trilogy is going to happen and that's something that people want to see. So I'm in that unique situation and then you have, you know, you got that kind of McGregor fight and you got those big, big, big fights. But for me, man, I've been with a company now for a long time, six years and they've taken care of me. I've taken care of them. I've helped build the, build the company. here I am champion again.

I'm about to, I think, dismantle one of the biggest names that we have in Vincent Henderson to get another big fight against Josh. And the fights are getting bigger and you can see that happening. And at the end of the day, I'm still just 30 years old. I just now have hit my prime through my first punch in my entire life at 22 years old. Wow. So I've been in the sport for eight years. So I think the road that I have taken, I haven't taken any damage up until I started fighting,

which was at 22, you know, so I've only been taking damage the last six, eight years. And, you know, I have a lot of time left in this sport. So this last contract I signed wasn't for the rest of my career by any means. How many fights left? A few. A few. A few. Why do you want to say?

I don't know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. Let's just say I just signed a deal. I'm not asking you for the amount.

No. I'm just saying the number of fights. Not the dollar amount. Wait, what? I'm not asking you. You're asking for the number of fights. Yeah. I'm not asking for the dollars.

It's more than three and less than eight. Okay. Okay. Okay, so I was in Atlanta for UFC 201 and Eddie Alvarez was doing a Q&A. Okay. And someone asked him about you. I don't remember what the question was, but he, and I saw that you tweeted a little bit after. And you kind of took it as a compliment.

I took it as an insult, what he was saying. What, what do you say? He was saying, I wish I had the damn clip. Oh, no, I got, I got it. He said that too bad. Yeah, too bad he didn't want to sign with the UFC and we could have made some magic or something. And I agree with him. But at the end of the day, Eddie freaking protect your chin.

Don't freaking, you know, hold on to that belt. Okay. At the end of the day, like I said, I'm 30 years old. He's been fighting since he was 18 years old. I'm still green in the sport. Right. And I'm just now hitting my stride. I'm just now hitting my full potential.

And I feel like I have another four, five, six years left in the sport. A full potential, full bore ahead with power and speed and accuracy. And I'm getting better. So I, at the end of the day, man, I got a long time left in the sport to make men. And like I said, whether it happens in this organization, that organization or in his backyard in Philly, that fight is going to happen. So I just hope he can hang all along enough to let it happen. I feel like in a weird way, you're the biggest Eddie Alvarez fan because the better he does, the better it makes you look. True. But, I mean, at the end of the day, if I can take my own pride out of it and I can just put on my fan hat,

man, he's the kind of guy you need in this sport. Just the other day, I was on Luke show and we were talking about I think that he beats Connor McGregor nine times out of ten. And you cannot ever count Connor out. But Eddie's got, I think, the full package. I think he's a very, very tough fighter. And, you know, it definitely selfishly does well for my career if he does well. But at the end of the day, when you have shared the cage with somebody for almost 50 minutes and beat the tar out of each other for you and the fan's enjoyment, and you know why he fights,

he fights to put food on the table for his wife and his kids. And he, you know, moved back to Philly to be with his wife and kids to, to, you know, make the sacrifices to take care of the people that are most important in. And that's the kind of guy, you know, it says, that says it speaks volumes about a person, you know. So I am a fan of him. I'm a fan of his fight style. I want to fight him again. He wants to fight me.

I just saw him, you know, a couple months ago at Black Zillions. It's a, hey, what's up? How you doing? Wish you the best. Stay healthy. God bless you. Were you in the same gym training? He came down for like a, I don't know, some kind of bachelor party or something.

Okay. You know, and he was just in town for two days and worked out with somebody he was there. and I was hitting Mitz or something, and all of a sudden he, I saw him out of the corner of my eye and it was kind of like one of those, what's up, bro? You know, like I'm supposed to freaking hate you, but actually, you know, it's not a big deal. Whatever. If I ever have to fight you again, we know what's going to happen. He knows what's going to happen.

And that's the, I don't know, it's just the confidence I have in that situation. So I believe every word you said, for some reason, I feel like you don't feel the same way about Will Brooks. Do you. Why? What's the difference? Different? You shared the cage with them? Man, I could name about 500 different.

different things. But Eddie is a stand-up guy. Will's not? I don't know. I cannot confirm nor deny. I just know that I've, you know, and man, I'm not in a position to, I'm not in a position to say anything good or bad about him.

You know, I think, you know, I've lost to the guy. I can sit here and humble myself and say, I have losses on my record to that man. So anything I say can be taken out of context or can be taken as saltiness or it can be taken as, you know, of course I'm up. upset at him because I lost to him. So it's one of those things that you don't really get into,

but I think, you know, I mean, he has a reputation. I have mine and you have yours and Benson has his. How do you feel about this, man? Man, you can't say a bad thing about him. So it's tough, it's tough to sell a fight against a guy who, you know, is, I think he's a good man. I think he's a good person. I think he's probably a great father and a great husband.

When it comes to stepping into the cage, I think he can't hang with me. I think he's a former UFC champion. Did great. Has wins over the biggest, one of the biggest names in MMA right now, Nate Diaz. You know, so does Josh Thompson. So, I mean, it's, I have some cool fights ahead of me. I'm excited for November 19th in San Jose on Spike TV.

Stepping in the Caging. It's a guy that I've wanted to fight for a long time, you know, back in 2011, 12, 13, when I was the champion, he was a champion in UFC. So they were always talking, okay, Benson's number one. Chandler was number three or five. And who's, you know, who's the best champion? Now we finally get to see it. I think it's the perfect time for me.

I think it's the wrong time for him. And it's going to be sweet to step in the cage with him. Now, what happened with Josh? Because it seemed like that was the fight that you wanted first. It is, but I think this is the fight that has presented itself. Is he not available? I don't think so. I told the guys, I told Bellator, I want to fight Josh.

We have some unfinished business. I moved all the way across the country away from my wife for nine weeks. And just to get a phone call on a Friday night from Dave Martin, my manager. and it was one of the biggest letdowns of my life. Then I had to go back in the training camp for eight more weeks and spend a whole other two months away from my wife. So I have some unfinished business, and he's a big name with some big wins

or Nate Diaz and Strike Force champion and all that kind of stuff. I mean, so I have some big fights ahead of me, and Josh will have his time. When he came over to this organization, he talked about fighting me, and he said my name, and he said, I want to fight Michael Chandler. So I hope he still feels that way.

And even if he doesn't feel that way, he can have half my person to step. into the cage. I don't care. I want that fight. You know, so that's a big fight that I want. I want the Minson fight. And like I said, I'll pack on some pounds and go up and fight Rory too. So let's do it. Without naming names, do you get a lot of people reach out, because since you're one of the faces of Belator, do you get a lot of people in other organizations reach out to you and say, what's it like over there? What's it like fighting for Koker? What's it like? Do you get a lot of people?

And I have one in mind that just, that is just, always hitting you up. No, no, but I, I spoke to him and he has, you know, I think probably recently re-signed with his organization. And he's getting underpaid probably, but whatever. I mean, I think. He was asking you for advice. Yeah, I mean, it happens. I mean, because at the end of the day, I think. Can I take a guess who it is or you won't say?

No, don't take a guess because I probably can't do it. But, you know, I think, I appreciate you. Yeah. Yeah. But I think, you know, it's one of those things where. I feel like I'm kind of an approachable guy. I'm not the kind of, I have an ego. I am confident in who I am.

But at the end of the day, I love Bellatora. I love what the UFC has done since 1993. I wouldn't be able to sit in here and being able to do what I do without the hard work that the UFC people have put in since for the last 20-something years. But at the end of the day, we're the ones taking the punches. So at the end of the day, when it comes to Scott Coker and Dana White and that kind of stuff, do I take their side or do I take the guy who is, getting his face beat in for everyone's entertainment and has to scratch pennies.

You know, it's cool to see the direction that mixed martial arts is going and we're making more money as fighters. And I want to see guys make more money. And selfishly, I want to see more guys come on over. I have confidence. When I signed this last deal, it wasn't just, oh, I'm so happy to be here and, you know, maybe you can sign a top 20 guy. I said, I want the biggest names in the sport. If I'm staying here and I'm signing for this new contract for however many fights or however many years it is, I want you guys to continue to sign big guys, and then they sign Benson, and now they signed Rory, who's not in my weight class, but he's still a possibility. I'm excited about it.

Do you feel, though, that there's still a long way to go before you're paid what you're worth? Man, what are we worth? You know, I think it's tough because this sport is still in its infancy. I mean, it's not boxing. These boxing guys are making a ton of money. But, I mean, now you see, you know, Connor and Nate's last base purse before pay-per-view and stuff that's unprecedented in numbers. So when those when that ceiling, when that glass ceiling keeps getting broke more and more and more times and that that number keeps getting higher and higher,

it should increase that pay. But at the end of the day, I am also the kind of guy who I believe that I've worked extremely hard since I was 14 years old and made all the right decisions to be where I am right now. And there's other guys who are complaining about their pay who would probably be teaching jujitsu at a school making, you know, whatever or a car mechanic or this. And there's certain guys that should not be complaining because they are given an opportunity to be put on a platform to be able to do this kind of stuff and make a great living and provide for their family. So it's mixed martial arts is a mixed bag of different people and different, you know, different personalities and whatnot. And some of us, some of us have worked to get to where we are.

We've all worked extremely hard to where we are. But at the end of the day, in 20 years, 30 years, how am I going to feel? How, how sharp am I going to be? What damage have I taken? What, you know, knees and elbows and shoulders and back and all that kind of stuff. How is all that going to feel? So at the end of the day, I know I have confidence that when I lay my head at night, I'm doing what God called me to do. And I wake up and I train hard and hope for the best. 30 years ago, a great collegiate wrestler didn't have this avenue. Absolutely. If MMA wasn't around, if there was no UFC and it didn't propel these other organizations

to come about, what do you think you'd be doing after your college career? You know, I think I'm in a way different spot when it comes to just self-education and just where I'm at mentally than I probably would have been if I would have went right into the workforce. You know, when I graduated, I spent a year of coaching at the University of Missouri. One of the most gratifying things in my life, you know, these 18-year-old kids come in. They got their whole life ahead of them. I'm this, you know, 22-year-old guy just graduated from college and just wanted one more shot to throw on that black and gold singlet for Coach Smith. Even to this day, if I had an opportunity, sometimes I feel if I had an opportunity to walk away from this and be able to go wrestle one more year at Missouri, you know, it would be worth it. Wow.

The college wrestling is amazing, you know. So it was still one of the greatest experiences in my life. And it wasn't college. It was just the wrestling aspect of it. So, you know, I think I would be around coaching, but, you know, I got a degree in personal finance and I would probably be, you know, doing something along those lines. but I wouldn't be able to see myself, you know, sitting at a desk. I'd be, you know, just get a little antsy. You know, I just took a vacation to Europe and a week and a half into it.

I'm just, like, ready to get back to training and business calls and trying to figure out the future and figure out what's up. So I'm just that kind of guy, and I think I would be doing something with wrestling coaching, but not full-time and, you know, something with finance or something like that. But I'm very glad that I get to do what I do. Yeah, of course. I mean, obviously, you're very good at it. I follow you on Instagram and I, where were you, I forget where you were in Europe.

Where were you just? We went to London for the Bellator show. That's right. Then we went to Rome and Venice and Italy and then we went to Santorini and Greece. You and your wife? In Athens and Greece. This was just a vacation. Just me and Bree.

That was our, that was our big trip. Your wife seems like a very, she's a doctor or a nurse? She's a physician assistant. So it's a lot more autonomy than a nurse. I mean, she, but it's not exactly a doctor. P.A. is most of the time when you, if you came into an ER right now and someone and walked in with a white coat, you would most likely see a PA. The way that health care system is going right now,

physician assistants have just as much autonomy as a doctor. They just have to have their stuff signed off on. So my wife sees people come in, decapitated, broken arms, broken legs, crazy stuff, and she saves their lives with no, quote-unquote, doctors around. They're there to fall on if need be. But, I mean, she's crazy. She's kind of a sick individual. She'll show me like a YouTube video and I'll almost puke.

That kind of stuff makes me a little queasy, but... This is the utmost compliment. Oh, boy. I feel like she is not your typical fighter wife. She's very straight, you know, she's... You know what I'm saying? I'll forget start crying right now. Yeah, chill out right now.

No, but I mean, she's... I'm giving her a compliment. She just seems like a very smart... I'm just looking at pictures here on your Instagram, and she's like, I'm like, this is not your typical fighter wife. What does she think of you doing this for a living? Well, I mean, I think it does help that she sees literally nasty stuff coming through the ER, you know, but she had never, the greatest thing about her is she was not an

MMA fan, had never seen an MMA fight. Her and I first started talking, I had just, I just fought Aka Hiro Gono, and, you know, I had sent her the video, and then her first fight ended up being, this is actually pretty cool story, a pretty cool road, actually not for her, but, you know, she came in and we start, we get together, and I, she comes to my first fight against Dave Rickles and knock them out in 44 seconds, jump up in the cage, and I'm like, oh, great, you know, and she's probably thinking, man, this is great. This is easy. He's awesome.

This is going to be awesome. And then the next 688 days, we did not share a win together. The next 68 days. That was during your losing streak. That was my losing streak. Oh, my gosh. So I broke her in with a 44 second, you know, win. And then she was just with me and just, man, for 68 days through the Alvarez loss.

And then the injury before the Brooks fight lost that fight and then lost again to him. And then changing camps and just moving all over the place. And now I'm going to leave her again for Florida. And she's just, I think, you know, all you young fighters who are looking for a woman don't, don't necessarily find someone who just supports you, but find somebody who supports themselves and they're okay on their own. You know, I think that that's what works out so well for us is that she gets excited when I go to training camp so she can focus on what she loves to do. You know, she can focus on going to the ER. She can focus on her fitness. She can focus on her diet.

She can focus on all that kind of stuff because when I'm around, all she wants to do is serve me. She's an amazing person, amazing support system, and we have cried through the losses, and we have been ecstatic through the wins. And truly when you find your helpmate, your soulmate, it's a cool thing. During that 68 days, did you ever think about stop fighting? No, I don't think I ever thought about stopping fighting. I think I still knew that there was a calling on my life to do great things in this sport. and man, I tell you, losing that first fight, you lose that confidence.

And I think that's what happened. I never could have saw myself losing a fight. You know, I was 12 and 0 with 10 finishes and seven of them in the first round, just running through people in rank top three, top five in the world. And one of them was finishing Eddie Alvarez. So it was hard to see how I could possibly lose. And then all of a sudden you lose and you let that seat of doubt get planted in your head. And that thing will just fester and it'll grow and those roots will grow strong.

If you don't chop that sucker down, dig it up, you know? And that's really what happened. And I think you lose a little bit of belief in yourself. You lose a little bit of belief in your abilities. You're questioning your training camp or you're questioning this. But I never questioned whether or not I should be in this sport. But, you know, that second loss of Will Brooks, man, getting, you know, TKO it or whatever, you think, shoot, did those wars with Eddie and the wars with this and the wars with that?

Has that finally caught up? Do I have a chin anymore? and I absolutely do have a chin. You know, it was just one of those things. You get caught on the button and you dust yourself off and you, you know, cry like a baby and pull yourself back up and get back at it. I feel like those moments make you appreciate these moments now even more, right? They do.

You know, and it's so hard to see because, I mean, at the end of the day, if you, you know, if something bad happens to you, but something good comes of it, was it really a bad thing? That's life's question. And so many bad things have happened in your career, so many bad things that happen in our career. And for a moment, you can feel sorry for yourself or for a moment you can listen to the quote-unquote haters and you can you can buy into all that stuff. Oh, Chandler wasn't as good as he thought he was, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all that kind of stuff. And I did buy into it.

And then, you know, just self-continued self-education is so important, man, and visualization and that kind of stuff. I graduated college in 2009 stopped learning for a couple of years. And then now I, if I'm not reading a book or reading an article or, you know, joining this group or talking to this group or. seeking wise counsel everywhere I possibly can. I'm really doing myself a disservice because just because you're done with school, your traditional school doesn't mean you can't continue to learn. And that learning breeds confidence and that confidence breeds wins. And, you know, here I am.

And I feel better at 30 years old than I ever have. Have you ever done motivational speaking? I feel like you'd be very good at that. I've thought about it. You have that sort of vibe to you. You get people very excited and. No, I don't know. I don't even know what I'm saying.

It's just coming out for real, though, you know. You should consider it. I guess, I mean, I, I am part of Zig. Have you heard of Zig Zig Ziglar? I'm part of his... Zig Zig Ziglar. Ziglar was one of the greatest motivational, I think, guys of all time. And he's got so many books and so many audio tapes and that kind of stuff.

So I spend a lot of time listening to him, a lot of time reading his book. I actually went to his Ziegler certified legacy course, and they have essentials of public speaking and that kind of stuff. I think that's definitely something that's going to be in my future. Yeah. You know, when I'm done fighting, I want to be able to say I did the best that I could with what I had. and, you know, I'm excited to kind of just level with people. Because at the end of the day, it's cool that I'm a fighter and all that kind of stuff, but I'm just a human being who has gone through some ups and gone through some downs.

And we're all just part of this one big human race, you know. So it's an interesting, it's just cool to be put on a platform, be able to do this kind of stuff. Well, next few is November 19th, Benson, title fight. Yes, sir. The Shark Tank, SAP Center. Yep. That main event? Yes.

Okay. And then Michael Vennon Page versus Franc, Francisco. Yes, Fernando or Francisco. I think it's Fernando. Fernando Gonzalez. Like the eighth time they booked that fight. He keeps getting injured. That's right, yeah.

So it'll be good, man. Anytime you share the same card as MVP, that'd be a killer. And obviously they're going to stack the deck. That's Coker's, you know, backyard. So you're here with Luke Rockhold. We're up against the clock. So we're going to say goodbye to you. But it's been, you know, because I know Luke the way he is.

He's probably stooly back there. He's like, ah, I want to talk. There's my love. There's my air time. Motivational stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But man, it's so great to have you in studio. Thank you very much.

Thank you for having me. Oh, my gosh. Anytime you are welcome here. And congrats on all your success. And I can't wait for this fight. When you break it down like that, I forgot that you guys were champ at the same time. Exact same time. That's crazy.

I've been studying to fight this guy. This guy right here. I hope they used that as part of the promotion. I'm studying to fight this guy for a long time. So, I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say I know him like the back of my hand, but I pretty much know him like the back of my hand. And I think back when he was champion in the UFC, he would have had a better chance.

that's beating me and now not so much. So I'm just excited to go out there, get a finish, and hopefully Josh is next, and then Rory and Pitpool, and we've got some big fights coming up. Keep mentioning Rory, by the way. It's very interesting. Yeah, man. I'm just, you know.

I saw them, let's stising them up. I said, you know, congrats on the signing. You know, you deserve it. Man, everybody deserves a Bellator, you know, a red panty contract. That's right. You start calling it a Bellator Red Panny contract. That's right.

A Lifetime Achievement Award, so to speak. Exactly. But I'm very happy for you. Can't wait for that fight. Great stuff this weekend. and you were all over the place getting in there, the face-offs and all that. It was good.

It was good. So thank you very much for coming in and keep up reping the three stripes over there. Where can people get that stuff? It is acesgir.com. Okay. Gear, apparel, all kinds of stuff. It's a great company.

Obviously, Adidas has been around since the beginning of sports. ID Dasler. That's a guy's name. Did you know that? Did you know that? You need to look up a little more. You can bring in Luke guys. We're going to do this change on the fly,

like a hockey game. Oh boy, here we go. And you guys will swap it up. Thank you very much, Mike. All the best to you and your family. Here comes Luke Rockold. There he is. Shut this place down.

We're doing it on the fly, Luke. So just jump. Welcome to the team, Mario. Oh, what do I got here? Stay charged on the go. Look at this. Luke Rockhold, hooking me up with a, is this a portable battery, I believe?

I could use one of those. Look at this. Mike, again, thank you very much. Safe travels. Enjoy New York City. Don't get in too much trouble. I'll tell your wife. Yeah.

I know Luke over here can be a bad influence at times. All right, see you. Thank you. Thank you, Michael Chandler. There he goes, the Belator Lightway Champion, and here comes Luke Rockhold. How about this? What's up, guys?

This is exciting. Welcome back. I'm very sweaty, so I don't want to shake your hand. Germaphone. I am. I like it. You're looking very California today with the shorts. Casual, we just got a nice workout in.

We have a photo shoot and worked out a whole morning. Are you here for the same reason? Yeah, we have that, and then I got some other stuff next week, too. I got Fashion Week, so. Wait, you're staying here for a whole week? We can hang out. We can party. I don't do that anymore.

You don't do that? No, no. That's not my style. Let me just tell the world because this is happening on the fly. Luke Rockhold in studio now. There we go. Okay, so you were at the Adidas thing, right? Yep.

How are they treating you there? They're treating me well. Yeah. A little bit different than his situation because you fight for the UFC, right? Yes. Were you afraid that you were going to lose that deal once the Reebok deal came into play? It just depends on what type of deal we would lose, you know. Okay.

Because there was potential for a better deal, of course. Has it affected your deal at all? It was too late to know, really. Oh, okay. They already kind of, they had knowledge of the deal happening, and so they were still adamant about signing us and making this deal happen. So it was cool to have, so now I can double dip. Okay.

So you don't mind? I don't mind. I mean, I like being with Adidas. Sure. I'm stoked to be on board with the team and see where this goes. Now, what is the brands? Grapes is our charging company. You own this company?

Yeah, we have a, I got a piece of the company. Look at you. So we're doing some things. We're doing some things and, you know, check us out. We got some brand new. What's that? The company? It's been around for a little bit.

We got a new series of product coming out. And so look for some good things from the great. Wow. Okay. Okay, there's a lot to discuss, but let's get this. the big news outright of the way, okay? Big news? Well, I mean, you're all over the place on Friday.

You know, I cover MMA for a living, but I can't ignore this stuff. Entertainment Tonight's talking about you. TMZ is talking about you. You're big news, my man. When I said that Luke Rockhold was going to be on this show, there was only one question that was asked of me. You know what that is, right? Let me see your pinky.

Where's your hand? What? Let me see what's going on over there? Smiley-faced pinkies? What's going on over there? There's no smiley face? Look at that. No, there it is.

It's gone away. What's happened to you? Have you gone soft on us? No, I'm going back to working out, you know. Oh, okay. It's don't last. Wait, what happened? That's it?

Just fades so quickly, you know? Wow. What a metaphor for life. Weird out of love. Weird how that works. Are we being serious right now? Halfway. What happened?

Wait a second. Can I just lay it out on the table? What? All these reports came out. TMZ put it out there. UFC.com put it out there for God's sake. Somebody told me they heard it on ESPN. Since when is ESPN...

They care about these things. When are they acknowledging love life? Yeah. This is big. Yeah. So Luke, it said Luke Rockhold is dating Demi Lovato. Yeah. And now you're saying it's no more two days later.

No, I never said that. Oh, okay. I said the tattoos no more. What was that? Because you put it out there, she put it out there. You weren't in the same picture, but it seemed like there was a lot of lovi-dovey stuff going on. I don't know. The few my friends have the tattoo, too.

Oh, really? Is that true? What does this mean? Is this like the tear on someone's face? But this love version? Just being happy in life, you know. But it's not a real tattoo? Or is it?

Does it rub off? I don't know. What is that? That's not even a smiley face. It's just like three dots. It was a smile. Okay. You went to a bad tattoo artist.

I need to get the five-year plan. Is that your first tattoo? You don't have another one that I know of. I got some couple weird tattoos. Okay. Where are they? If you don't mind me asking. I got one on my toe.

Oh, on your toe. Interesting. Same spot like underneath? Heath? Close. No, it's on the side. What is it? It's a mustache.

It was. Rubbed off again. Interesting. Tattoids don't hold well on me. Mustache on a toe, smiley face on a finger. You're a strange guy. I only live once, you know. That's right.

So are you off the market? I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say, you know, I'm not one to talk. Okay. I don't kiss and tell. That's right. I don't kiss and tell. You know, you never know what's going to happen in the future.

future. Are you happy? I'm happy. Oh, wow. Life's good. Have you found love in the right place? Jimmy's a nice girl. She's got a nice heart. Big MMA fan.

Yeah, she's a big fan. Have you seen her train? With Jay Glazer. She can rip some paths. Yeah. I was impressed. I was like, damn. You've trained with her.

Did Jay Glazer set this up? What do you tell me no? Jay did and not. Okay. I don't know. I'm not even here to talk about that. Okay. Well, I mean, I'm not doing my job if I don't ask you.

I mean, UFC.com put it out there. Then it makes it part of my job. Yeah. Do you feel like they're trying to capitalize? Or deny. Okay, fair enough. Do you feel like they're trying to capitalize on this? Like, it was weird to see UFC.com put it out, wasn't it?

It was interesting to hear all the PR team hit me up. All of a sudden. That was like the best thing that ever happened to their day. Like, they were weak. It was like, everyone like blew me up. I was like, slow down. Yeah, chill out. Trying to ruin this thing for you or what?

What? What are you talking about? Well, I mean, they're trying to blow it up. You want to be private? It's your private. life. Whatever happens, yeah. Okay.

Whatever is going on, I don't know, but. Who leaked it? I don't know. Do you ever see Frozen, the movie? I watch it all the time with my niece. Let it go. Yeah, let it go. You know how many views that thing has on?

I sit there and I watch it. It puts her to like calms her every time. How old is she? It's my go-to song. She's almost two. Funny how that works. 478 million views on YouTube. I think that's how it happens because you just sit there and it's like a calming effect.

Of course. Young kid. So like the Lion King. That's right. Yeah, circle of life. That was the good one. Forever. Now you got frozen.

So you got to, you know, double stack. Now, just curious, because I've seen her hang out with Chris Weidman before. Are we no longer fans of his because of that? Like, has she changed sides? She was an MMA fan. She had met. She'd ran into Chris. But now she has seen the light.

She has seen the light. How's life? In all honesty. It's good. We've talked once. post-199. Yeah. Do you feel like you're getting back on track?

Are you getting back to yourself? Are you over what happened in Englewood that night? You got to get over it, you know? That's the sport. I let my guard down. I did, you know, prepared foolishly, and I went in there with a bad mindset, and I paid for it. I'll pick myself up. I'll rebuild myself like I always have, and I'll do what I need to do to get back on top.

I know what I'm capable of them, so I just got to go out there and fight with the mindset that got me here. and you can't take anybody for granted. I just, it was a mistake and I won't make it again. We talked to RDA at the top of the show, and he said that he's noticed a lot of people treat him differently since he lost to Alvarez. Have you noticed that as well?

I feel like it's as a matter of the circle you keep. Yeah. Of course, yeah. And I feel very comfortable in my circle. Everything's good, of course. Certain things could be better in certain respects, but I'm doing well. I'm doing well. I got, I got, I'm here next week for Fashion Week. I've got some, some big contracts

that we're working up right now. What are you doing for Fashion Week? I'm just meeting with some, some top brands and I'm talking about some deals we could potentially too and jump in that market. As far as modeling? As far as modeling, yeah. Look at you. Are you going to be walking the runway? I'm about getting paid. Yeah. You want to get paid? I'm not walking runways, but I'll be, I'll be at some of the shows for sure. Front and center. Which brands are we talking about? Can you say, or is it a secret? We'll keep it under the wraps, but we're talking the top, top-tier brands. Wow.

When is Fashion Week? It's going to start, I believe, the seventh, the sixth, seven. Okay. So are you going to stay here the whole time? I'll be here. I'm going to go down and get some training. I've got a charity in Charlotte, and I'm going to run down and get some training with Mr. Hooft and down in Boka.

So I'm going to go hang out there for a few days and then come back and get to work. Now you say you want to get paid. You're about getting paid. Is there more money to be made? in that world than your world, or is it about double dipping? What are you thinking? I'm a fighter at heart, but I'm here to get paid. And so if I'm going to, if there's more potential there, I'll take it.

And we're talking big numbers. Really? So I could laugh and let my body heal and wait for the time's right to come back and fight when it makes sense. Huh, because, you know, I'll be honest. I've heard of what they want to do as far as the middleweight division. Yeah. And it involves this city.

It does involve the city It involves sort of like a four-man tournament, if you will. Yeah. Wyden, Jokre, U. Romero. How do you feel about these? There's potential in that. How do you feel about these ideas? I feel like let's make it worth my while.

Yeah. Do you feel like things have changed since you lost the Bissping as far as the relationship with the UFC? No, I have a good relationship with the UFC, for sure. It's just they're always going to try to this business. They're going to make things to their advantage. course.

Yeah. Trying to take advantage of certain things and put you in a place and do what they can. It's business. It's how it is. And guess what? I got my own business on the side and I can stand my ground too and I can take some time off, you know, and I can do you want to take time off? I prefer not to take too much time off, you know.

But I definitely want to fight. I want to get back to that title and I want to get my shot. So it's about making the right move next and making it worth my while. I'm not just going to go out there and put my body on the line and when I can get paid that much more in this world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if they make it worth my while, I'd love to come back. This is what I love to do.

I love to fight. Yeah. But it's got to make sense. If the stars aligned and everything was cool, does November sound good to you? Like, is that a good time frame fighting MSD? Do you like that or would you want a little more time? November sounds great.

Okay. I'd be okay with that. But it has to make sense. time if I'm going to go put my body and put off deals in this world. Yeah. It's kind of make sense in my world. I mean, if I'm going to put down deals that are worth more than what I'm fighting for and I'm avoiding a shoot or something I had, I need to do, it just doesn't make sense. I'm going to go beat my body down and put myself through hell. I love the reward at the end. Sure. But the reward's got to be worth it. Have you put off deals in the past for fighting that you

feel like, man, I shouldn't have done that. That was a mistake? No, I haven't. My opportunities are, I've grown and I haven't had these. They're coming now. Yeah, it's coming more and more now. How did this start? I mean, we all know that you're a drop dead gorgeous individual. I mean, there's no denying that. Some people approach me and they, you know, they said they could do some big things for me. And so I, I, I dabble with that. And, uh, how do you enter it? You, you get an agent? There's a process. You get an agent. They, they, they have steps to kind of do what they want. their master plan on making something happen.

And we're on our way. What does the captain of AKA Daniel Cormier say about all of this? I feel like he's going to, when he finds out that you're going into modeling, I don't know how he's going to react to this. D.C. has an idea. He has an idea. What do he say? Like, I know, but in all honesty,

have you talked to him about what's going on and, you know, trying to get paid more and where you're at in your career? I mean, is it fair to say that you're sort of at a crossroads now? Is that an accurate statement? I wouldn't say a crossroad. at all. Okay. No, I'm just dabbling in a different market and supplementing and doing what I need to do.

I'll fight soon, no doubt. But just, it's got to make sense. No different than what he does for Fox, basically. Supplement his income, right? Yeah. Just outside of the fighting world, it so happens. It just, that's what you got to do these days. Yeah.

Sometimes. Would you prefer not to do that? It's nice to not have to fight every day for a living. Yeah. So it's nice to get something a little on the lighter side. But I love fighting. I love fighting. I love getting in there and I want to.

But it's got... You think you make seven figures in this world? Like, what are we talking? I know nothing about it. Yeah. You can make some figures. Wow. So like these magazines that my wife gets vogue and things like that with these nice spreads

and you're on like some boat in the water and then you're not wearing much and there's some woman like this. We're talking like high-end fashion stuff like that, right? Photoshoots? Depends on who you're aligning yourself with. Yeah, yeah. We don't want to do any chintzy stuff. Yeah. We're talking high-end.

Go big or go home. That's how it's always been. Have you thought about this in the past? Have you wanted to become fashion model? It hasn't been a big thought of mine. I've had some people who try to mention it here. But the people who approached me had big plans and big ideas. So they came to first.

Yeah, big ideas. Interesting. And so they had high aspirations and told me what they potentially could do. And so I said, hey, let's go do this. Let's do it. Post-199 they approached you? Before. Okay.

And nothing changed? No. That's good. You know Alan Jovan? Yeah. He's in that world. You talk to him? I haven't really talked to him.

I met him once. Okay. You're not impressed with this game, right? Might have similar representation. Uh-oh. Is that good or bad? With higher aspirations. You have the higher aspiration?

Because if they're both representing you, like how are them? Oh. Okay, okay, interesting. What is it like now that it's sort of this reality of Bissping fighting Hendo and they're doing press conferences, do you see any of that or do you block it all out? I haven't seen it. I hear a little bit here and there from friends mentioning it. Does it make you sick?

I don't really. It's kind of surreal. You see the press conference and Bissing standing there and he's about to fight Dan Henderson for the belt. It feels like some sort of alternate universe that we're in. It feels a little weird at times. I'm not going to lie. Yeah, just Bisbing doing his thing around in his mouth.

And Dan's staying cool. Somebody told me about him just saying, I'm going to make you retire. And Dan's like, I already tried to retire. Yeah. He says that he's going to retire win or lose. Do you believe him? Yeah, do you believe Dan? Is that kind of crazy that they're giving him the title shot knowing that?

Yeah, I guess. That was surprised. That might deter them from making that choice. Yeah, but he stood firm to what he was saying, and they still granted in the shot, so good for Dan. You know him, you've trained with him. Yeah. Have you talked to him since this fight has been made?

Yeah. I talked to him right the day before it was being made. Wow. About what? About the fight. About like fighting bisping or just about the whole weird circumstances? About what they were potentially going to do? Because it was all up and there.

No one knew what Twitter they did. What did you say about it? What did you tell him? I just asked him what was going on. Oh, you reached out to him. No, we were hanging by the pool in Las Vegas together. Okay. And we're just talking like we normally do.

Dan's a good friend of mine. It's like, it's going to be open. We're not going to lie to each other. Sure. I'm on all supportive of him, and I hope he goes out there and puts this guy to sleep. Will you help him prepare? We'll see. We'll see.

I might go down there if I have time. I'm just a little busy right now. Sure. I'm bouncing all over the place. All this stuff. But I have. I've helped Dan many times. I've gone down there and I've trained with him.

I'm very comfortable there with all the people, and I know his family. and I know his family. And so if I have the opportunity, I'd go help him for sure. Are you rooting for Dan not only because he's your friend, but if he wins, that means it vacates the title and sort of expedites things? Or do you want Bisping to keep the belt because then you could get the rematch for the belt? What are you thinking? I'm on both sides.

I mean, of course, I would love to fight Bisbing. I would love to beat him. Nothing more. That's the dream fight for you at this point? If you had your way, is that the number one? I mean, it sounds appealing. Going out there and getting to finish that one, you know. I put them away fairly easy the first time, and I got caught the second time,

and so I'd love to go solidify, you know, who the better fighter is. And so that would be nice, but I'm not going to hold to it. I'm not going to hold on to that and make that be my dying desire, you know, to have that bite. I hope Dan goes out there and wins. I'm a friend of Dan, and I don't really care. If I get that as much, I'd rather have Dan go out there and put him asleep. It'd be sweet both ways. Why were you talking about Anderson Silva not that long ago?

It's a fight I've always wanted. Even at this stage? Even at this stage, I think he still kept somewhat relevant in that fight. I think he still proved he's dangerous. He was in there and hung with D.C., hurt D.C. a little bit, and the fight in D.C. couldn't finish him. So that's a light-heavyweight champion right there. Damn.

Are your shade on D.C. No, I'm just saying he's still tough. I'm saying he's still tough. He's still out there. He had a controversial fight. fight with Bisming. That's right. So I go out there and put him away. I think that makes a big statement. And it's a fight. He wanted, he called me out on the strike force. I tried to make it happen, but they made me fight Vitor first. And so I got set back and that. And then, and now the fight,

of course, Anderson's not going to be around for that much longer. And so did you ask? So did you ask? Did you ask about it? I inquired about it. And they want, they have other idea. So I feel like. I didn't hear him say anything back. So I feel like it, this is the time to make the Jacaray fight if everything makes sense financially. That's the fight everyone wants to see. Yeah. Me and Jacari had a great five-round fight, and it makes a lot of sense. I want to go out there and I want to win a fight that's going to solidify my title shot. Yeah. I don't want to fight a guy and then have that other fight come, and then there's a question mark who gets the title shot. That's stupid. Yeah. If I'm going to go out there and put my body on the line, I'm going to go

fight, and I'm going to go beat the guy so I get the shot. Right. I don't want there to be a question who gets what. Right. So this scenario. So everything's got to make sense. Yeah, yeah. So what do you think happens? I don't know.

We'll see. Do you think you'll fight in New York? Based on where things are right now. We'll see. We'll see. Are you confident? I'd love to fight in New York. I'd love to fight New York.

It's a great stage. It's a great time to come back, but I'm not going to hold to it. It's not like, it's not everything to me. There will be another New York event. Of course. I'm young, I'm healthy. I've got a long career ahead.

me. So when it makes sense. If you get hot and heavy in this fashion world, fighting in New York could help that, right? Might. Might not. Maybe they don't want you to fight. Are these people saying don't fight because it might mess up, you might get a cut or something like that? Like, I've never been cut in any of my fights. I fought the best guys in the world. Headbutt, you know, accidental. It happens. Things happened. Yeah, of course. But I've, no. There's no holding back. I'm to do what I do. Okay. That hasn't been thrown out there.

Like, we'd prefer if you don't fight, if we're going to get in business with you. No, no. They're all for my fighting. They believe me as a fighter and everybody else, too. Would it be fair to say you're putting things on pause right now as far as fighting is concerned? I'm just looking to stack some cash. Yeah, yeah. Do you feel like you've been underpaid?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Even as champion? I've gotten taken care of one time One time We'll see Which time was that

We've made some pretty good money as champion This year has been Pretty damn good year But you only have one fight as champion Technically technically yeah So I won the belt and then I had Championship fight so Was that the time?

I've been taken care of one of those Yeah And I I'm not completely stoked on the next. Yeah, because it changes. You've got paper viewpoints. Things change.

Yeah. We'll see. It's a strange thing with this work. We'll see how it all irons out. You never know what's going to happen. Yeah. You know, we're still waiting for paper views. Oh, really?

For $199? It takes that long? It can, yeah. Wow. I didn't realize it took, as far as the numbers or the payment? As far as payment. Okay. Were you at 202?

I was at 202, yeah, I was. Were you in attendance or you were in Vegas? It was, it was my friend's a good friend of mine, this bachelor party. Oh. And so we actually were up at the Hyde Lounge upstairs. What were you guys doing? What was the main attraction of the bachelor party? The main attraction of the bachelor party?

Yeah, what did you guys do? Like, what kind of debauchery did you get involved in? I am not the one to get any kind of debauchery. I don't know what you're talking about. Well, is that what you do at bachelor parties? I mean, not mine. had a good time. You know, we, we, uh, we hit, hit the clubs. Yeah. So my friends managed Calvin Harris. We had a nice night there. Calvin Harris, what's that? Is that a club? He's a, no, he's a

DJ. Okay. So we went to the club. We just, we did everything that you could do in Vegas. We had, we had three of the hangover suites. Oh, wow. Yeah. There's such a thing. Yeah. Oh, which hotel? Caesars. Oh, look at you. Yeah, so it was pretty, piano and everything? It was fun. Yeah. Who do you think won the fight? Connor I didn't we were up there and I kind of lost I stopped I stopped paying attention after the third because I thought it was going to be similar to the last time around

and I didn't realize Connor came back then I re-engaged myself in the field you're up there so high as I'm not like right there to do it I was hanging out with a bunch of wild lunatics and so I went back and watch the fight and Connor took the fourth round and he took the second round

So Nate had chances to finish the fight. I think he looked even closer to finishing the fight than Connor did. But you can't. Connor won, one, two, and four, you know. Nate's a good friend of mine and I'm all four. I thought it was over. I thought it was over after the third. I thought it was easy.

But Connor showed Hart and he came back in the fourth and he did his thing. So that was his dominant round. And then he had those two knockdowns in the second. It was clearly he had the first three minutes of that round too. Did you see their disclosed pay? Yeah. Three and two mill. How about that?

Yeah, imagine pay-per-views. I don't know. What did they say? The early numbers on that one? Oh, yeah. Better than 200? Better than 200? Yeah.

They're saying, oh, more. 1.2-ish. That's what Dave Meltzer reported, but it's still a bit early. But that's the, they're saying it's the third most ever behind 100, 196, and then 202. So that means Connor and Nate have two of the three highest. Is that insane? When you got a good rivalry You know, Connor's done some amazing things in the sport

You can't take anything away from the guy You got a few good rivalries At this point, what do we have? We have We have We have Weidt we've got Jokoree We've got Bisping That's three right there I'm ready to fight, trust me I love it

I like them all I like them all All right Do you see Rory signed with Beltor? I did, yeah What do you think of that? Good for him How many fights you have left on your contract?

I have a few. So? I'm not going anywhere. Okay. I'm trying to figure you out right now. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to mystery.

I'll do with that and I'll stack some chips over there for a while. Okay. So one of those like tent events where I see like Anna Wintour and stuff, I'm going to see you sitting right next there. We'll see. Wow. Okay. We'll see.

All right. Well, once he checks his phone, I think it's time to go. So Luke, you'll say goodbye. You've had enough. Anything else you want to say as far as the tabloids are concerned? Is it all BS? Are we off the market? What can we tell these people who are tuning in today to hear from you for the first time?

Breaking your silence on this show? Your favorite program? My favorite program, my silence. I never thought I was silent, but you're just going to have to wait and see. Okay. Love is a beautiful thing. Love is love. Well, I wish you the best.

It can be. Let it go, Luke. Let it go. There he is. Luke Rockhold. What's that? Yeah. Wouldn't you like that?

I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. Syracuse, baby. Keep up on your set here. I haven't seen it in a while. Well, thank you. Yeah, it looks nice. Do you have a round five figurine?

Round five figurine? No, I don't. Like these guys. They never made one? No, they just stopped right at the time I was coming in. Well, that's BS. Look at my guy. New York, he puts a Vitor Belfort one up there just to piss you off.

I mean, really? Come on, man. I could care less. All right. Look at Brian Stanley. He's looking good over there. He is looking good over there. A nice haircut.

Titor Ortiz. Got a little Carlos. Conda. Did you watch the fights on Saturday? I did, yeah. What did you think of the main event? Damian Maya, he's something else, huh? Damien Maya is a stud, yeah. It's unbelievable watching this guy. How do people not appreciate him? He's only lost as Jake, right? Rory.

Damien? Roy, yeah. He lost to D.Roy, too. Yeah. UFC 170, I believe. Same card as DC versus Pat Cummins, that historic fight. Okay. Okay, yeah, yeah. Remember that? Peace him up on the feet. Actually, Rory beat him better than Jake beat him. Like that was a more definitive win.

I kind of remember now it's coming back. Yeah, Damien's come back a long way. He just kind of has a different mindset now. You can see he's just, he's not going to mess around with him. There's no bullshit. He's going for the finish. Every time. And he's choking guys.

He's not even on the neck. It's amazing, right? He's very, very talented. And so that division, I mean, how do you deny the guy a title shot? Do you think he's, how many is he won in a row? Six in a row. But Wonder Boy, I think he has seven, I believe. Yeah, Wonder Boy's there too, of course.

But, you know, you would imagine he's next. and don't really see many people stopping them. Page Van Zand, flying switch kick. You see that? Oh, my God. The hell is that? Oh, my God. If you ever landed one of those?

I feel like you have. Do you line one against Jacqueray? I threw a couple against Jacaree. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But did you drop him? No, I didn't drop him. He's no Beck Rowling. I was wondering what was going on in that fight.

She kept dancing around and, like, on the outside. I didn't see that fight going that way. I thought she would engage and try to wear her down. And she was definitely behind, and she kept throwing these weird kicks. I'm like, what is she doing? Amazing. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere.

It's pretty sweet. And what do you think of Pettus at 145? I think he looks great. You do? I thought he looked a little emaciated. Do you think? Look at his face. His ears were like sticking out.

I don't know. He fought good. He fought good. But, I mean, what kind of damage did he do to his body getting down to 145? I don't know. I don't like it. Yeah. I don't like this whole weight cutting thing.

Do away with it. Yeah. They actually just increase the weight classes. Put more in there. Every 10 pounds, just like they do. And the lower. More weight class. 185, 175, 1, 65, 1, 55, 1, 55.

Yeah, why does I have to jump? Right. Boxing has every 5 pounds. Like Rashad Evans going from 205 to 185 is crazy to me. That's 20 pounds. I don't see boxers do that. Yeah. I wonder how big Rashad is right now.

I'm going to go down to Boca and train with him. Well, he just spoke to us. He's 217. 217 right now? Come on. You weren't listening earlier? He was on the show. Rashad.

Yeah. Come on. But he says he uses. Let's even this out a little bit. He loses six pounds. Maybe he's a little less. He goes to 209, so maybe he's 2.15. He says he loses six pounds when he works out,

but then he gains it back by the end of the night. Do you lose six pounds when you work out? Yeah. Oh, okay. I wish I could lose six pounds. It depends. On the workout, for sure. All right, well, we'll let you go.

Great stuff. Keep us posted on the fashion. Yeah, that'll be, yeah. And thank you for this. I could use one of these. Yeah, they're great. I'm tweeting so much these days. On the road, you got to have a little extra juice on yourself.

Interesting to note that noted anti-PED user Luke Rockhold is selling juice. Hey, got to get your grapes in. That's right. I like the name. What does it mean, by the way, grapes? Actually, the resveratol in the grapes.

What? Helps build your testosterone. For real? So naturally, you've got to do what you can. Look at you. Is that where it comes from? Resveratol, yeah, and red wine, yeah. Oh, I see, I see.

And help release the hormone. Okay. So, you know. I like it. Little things you have to kind of study of them now. Yeah, you're very smart. You keep up with all these cheaters. Fifteen hours of talk time.

12 hours of internet, video use, 60 hours of audio playback. A fully charged grapes, charge of provide. Okay, I thought that was some sort of tagline. Our next series is coming out too. We're going to have a... Why do you get into this? Why not? Yeah.

We had some friends and we had an avenue and it was a cool idea. We made it happen. Watch the sales skyrocket after today. We'll put you to the test. This will be very worth your while. So if this happens, then we'll drop some more bombs on the show. next time. Why, you were holding back? Is that what you're saying? After today, you're getting a new UFC contract. You're getting a fashion deal.

You and Demi are going to go run off to somewhere. Hopefully don't elope. I don't condone. And these are going to skyrocket. It's pleasure, Harrow. Yes, my hands are sweaty, so I'll do that to you. Thank you, Luke. We're actually going to keep the train moving along as you can walk out. We're going to do it like this. All right, let's walk. Look at this. There he goes. Luke Rockhold, making that walk. The Walk of Shame. Those are nice shorts, by the way. Those Adidas shorts? I like those.

In all honesty, thank you for coming, man. I appreciate it. It's been a pleasure. All the best with the fashion stuff. There he goes. Luke Rockhold, the man. Stopping by. Look at that.

That was great. That was a lot of fun. Luke Rockhold. Michael Chandler in studio. Thank you to the guys over at Adidas and Dave Martin for hooking us up. I appreciate that greatly. I know a lot of people like to hear from New York Rick, so I wanted to have a word with him if he's around, if he's available.

I'm here. Oh, there he is. Mr. New York, Rick, himself. Did we find a winner for no surrender? Immediately we found a winner. Who won? It was our friend. I will tell you his name right now.

Hold on. What was the question, by the way? I didn't have a chance to read it. So the question was, what did Josh Barnett posit that the currency in Belarus was? Oh, okay. And the answer was chicken feet. Okay. And our friend Nate Higgins is our winner.

Nate Higgins. That's correct. I feel like I've heard this name before. He's a fan of the show. He's tweeted before. Yep. Okay. Do you know what Calvin Harris is?

Yeah, he's a big DJ. All right. Come on. I don't listen to music and I know Calvin Harris. I mean, I think he was linked to Taylor Swift at some point. I don't know. Age? Confirm?

Yes. Taylor Swift. Link to Taylor Swift. How about that? So we got Demi, Levado, we got Taylor Swift, all kinds of luminaries. This is, this is how we do on the MMA hour. Is there anything we need to touch on before we go? I know that you didn't get as much airtime. You have to understand, you're great, very disappointed today. He's like, oh, there's too many guests.

There's not enough time for me. I want to talk about things. I want to show off my, my latest hairdo, whatever, very upset. I mean, that's why I appreciate you doing this. He was not happy that we had some of the biggest names in the sports stopping by begging us to be in studio. He wanted his airtime, so I wanted to make sure I got you at least a couple of minutes. Thank you. I appreciate that. So is there anything? Yeah, maybe let's answer some questions. Let's answer two. Let's answer one. Okay, fine, one. And it's the only one that's really important at this point. Okay. Maya or Wonderboy, who's it going to be? You're right. It's got to be, you know what? I think you've got to go with Wonderboy. See, I love this thing. Everyone's like, what have you done for me lately. Wonderboy wins. Like, oh, I give him a title shot. Maya wins. Oh, I give him a title shot. It's kind of like what Max Holley Holloway was referring to, right?

It's exactly what Max Holloway was referring to. Give Wonderboy the title shot. If that's what we're going to do, let GSP fight in Toronto. At this point, I guess Nick Diaz, whatever. And then let Maya wait. That's what you say for GSP's return? Eh, whatever.

Well, I mean, like, anybody. Well, it's clear he's not getting the title shot. So we could just, you know, move on from that. Wonderboy, Maya, and then there you go. Maya doesn't deserve it? More than Wonderboy? Yeah. I feel like we already promised Wonderboy the title shot.

Like Dana White already went out and said it. Now, not taking anything away. Yeah, Dana White says a lot of things. He does say a lot of things. Can we talk about this thing with GSP for a second? I mean, is there any more annoying storyline, if you will? Not the right words, but, you know, he continues to, it's like this game of chicken. You're not going to come back.

I dare you to come back. You're never going to come back. Like, why does he keep saying this about GSP? A, doesn't GSP deserve a little more respect than that? And B, hasn't he made it crystal clear? That he wants to return? Like at this point, yes, but...

He's getting tested. He says he wants to come back. What more does this guy have to do to actually gain your trust here on this one? Well, he keeps saying he's going to come back, but I imagine the UFC hasn't gotten a fight for him yet. So if he wants to really, you know, come back, then you should have a fight put together.

Bizar. Saying I'm going to come back, you know, is one thing, but... You don't find that his... his responses as far as GSP's return to be a little strange. I think both sides are playing it. I know. I think GSP has been crystal clear. I think Dana White should come out and say like, look, we would love to have GSP back.

Are you kidding? Basically what Tom Wright said during the Post-Py press conference on Saturday night. Like, it's up to George, but if he wants to come back, the door is open. We would love to have one of the greatest ever to come in. Completely agree, and they keep opening the door for him. But if he wants to come back, then book to fight somebody. Well, maybe they just can't figure that part. out.

No, then... I think this idea that he's like playing possum... No, GSP is not playing possum. Yeah. But he's also not... Who's he called out? Who's he trying to fight?

Bisping? That's it? Like, who have we heard? That's a realistic... Woodley, he said he'd fight. Bisping, he said he'd fight. He said he'd fight Nick Diaz just last week to our own Mark Romney.

I mean, if I'm being honest... He's actually called more people out than he's ever called out in his entire career. Yeah, and so fight somebody. Let's see it. What do you mean fight somebody? They have to damn. book him. Yeah, well, he has to sign. They have to sign.

Well, there's some contract issues there, but he's put his money where his mouth is, in my opinion, because he's gone into, he's gone into testing. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. No doubt. He's coming back. There's no question there. Enough. Also, DC, not fighting Rumble? You got your wish? No way, it's going to happen, by the way. What? What do you mean? What they're saying Rumble versus John Jones? John Jones has a lot of hurdles to get over. Well, I mean, I'm not like, I'm not dying to see that either. As I said, nothing in this division interest me.

The whole thing is so bizarre. Like, the obvious fight is DC versus Rumble. You can't talk about John Jones fights before he gets through USADA and the NAC. The NAC is the real wild card here. This is true. Who knows how long he'll really be out. I mean, that division's a mess. Cowboy signed a new deal.

Cowboys signed a new deal. Nick Diaz is okay, by the way. Ronderauce, not fighting in New York. Gunner Nelson coming back against Dung Young Kim. All these things happened last week. It was a big week. It was a big week. Worth noting, we are off next Monday due to Labor Day.

We're back next Tuesday, same time in place, correct? Next Tuesday. Next Choo-Chue-Chusday. We are back due to Labor Day, so make note of that. I gave you an extra long show this week so that you can be okay on Monday while you miss us. Back Tuesday. And then Wednesday, how about it? Last thing, let's end on this.

Wednesday, we're off to Cleveland, the land, which I found out on Saturday, people don't like when you call it the land, I'm sorry, CM Punk, it's actually happening. Well, now it is not after you just said that. Feelings as we approach it, thoughts, impressions? The same that I've always thought. Why does anybody not want to see this happen? Why are people so negative? It's so annoying.

He's not taking anyone's slot. No one was earmarked. to be the fourth fight on pay-per-view at UFC 203. Like, did you see the undercard on Saturday night? Come on. You know, it's crazy to me. And one thing that's interesting is, like, he's the complete opposite of his pro wrestling persona.

Pro wrestling persona, he was brash, he was cocky, he was dropping pipe bombs. He's calm, he's, he's very humble, he's very down-ter-th, like he's not talking. Mickey Gaul is talking more smack about punk than punk is talking about him. And he's reserved. He's not the guy who's trying to get in front of the spotlight.

want to bring him into that. Yeah, yeah. It's a very strange thing, but I find those who are holding on to this idea that it's sacrilege that he's fighting in the UFC to be, I mean, I don't know. It's just like, now you're just complaining to complain. Yeah. I'm interested to see how it goes, but I'm not, I don't know if I like his odds. Do you also notice that more people are pulling for him? Like, the longer this went, it actually ended up helping him because he became someone who a lot of people were rooting against it. Now that's sort of turning the tide in his favor in a week. weird way. Okay, this is truly the last question. Yes.

But have people lost interest? It's been a very long time. Did they lose some people that were initially interested in now are saying, I don't even care anymore? I think it lost a lot of momentum. I don't think it's as big as it was when he made the announcement at UFC 181. And kind of weird, that was the last time, Pettus Wan via Guillotine, or Juan, period. And then here he is, his teammate winning two weekends. It's just kind of weird. All these things are working out with Rorty and all that. Anyway, certainly,

momentum, certainly not as big. I think come Saturday, September 10th, it will be a pretty big deal and it will definitely boost the pay-per-view. How much? Who knows? He doesn't have the WWE pushing him like Brock did because of his relationship with him. But I think a lot of people will get behind the story. I think if you've missed the docu series airing on FS1, and it's a shame, it's only airing on FS1, I wish it was on like an FX or a Fox where it got more eyeballs, but so be it. I think you're missing out. It tells a great story. They've done a very good job with him. And they've also done, by the way, a great job with Mickey Gall. I think they've done a great job of propping him up. So if he wins, you've got something there. I think the promotion for this fight has been exceptional. So kudos. Kudos for that.

All right. We're out of here. All right. There you go. See you. Again, Tuesday, back off next Monday. You can hit my music. What a fun. What a fun Monday. This is the way to start the week, right? much going on, so many fun things. Pleasure to do this show, as always. Look at that Wheaties box. Anthony Pet is back on track. You can feel the happiness just radiating off his body. So happy. Look at Paige Van Zant. What a moment that was. Didn't get a lot of time to talk about Jim Miller and Joe Lozahn, but those two can fight 10 more times and I don't think a lot of people would be upset. And of course, what more can be said about Damien Maya? The guy has reinvented himself in a weird way, sticking to his bread and butter, but he has certainly reinvented himself as a 170-pounder, had the two-fight losing streak against Shields and Rory, and since

then he's been undefeated and has taken very too little damage, very little damage in all of his fights. Virtually none. It's amazing. Anyhow, thank you very much to Paige Van Zand for stopping by. Great stuff from her. Again, congratulations on that incredible kick. Thank you very much to dos Santos, good luck to him on November 5th. Thank you very much to Rashad Evans. Outstanding stuff. If you missed it, do check out what Rashad Evans had to say. Thank you very much to A.J. McKee. Congrats to both him and his cousin, Joey Davis. Thank you very much to Max Holloway. Best of luck to him. Congratulations to Canada's own Roy McDonald on his new contract. Good luck to Josh Barnett, Big Fight this Saturday. Thank you very much to Michael Chandler and Luke

Rockhold for stopping by in studio. Off on Monday, back on Tuesday. I'm in place. Until then, I say peace. Support for this show comes from Chase. If you're a fan of women's sports, you're always looking for ways to get closer to the action. And your Chase card can get you exactly that. With a Chase card, you can experience more. That means access to pre-sales, preferred seating, and more savings. For more information about how to step into a world of more with Chase experiences,

visit Chase.com slash experiences. benefits available only to eligible Chase card holders deposit and credit card products provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A member FDIC. Terms, conditions, restrictions, and limitations apply.

Support for this show comes from Volkswagen. As the U.S. gets ready to host soccer's biggest moment on a worldwide stage, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the U.S.

From deaf and power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, Volkswagen is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They're supporting talent from across the U.S. soccer extended national teams and are focused on helping to give these less widely known forms of soccer a platform moving forward. From the pitch to the sand and everything in between, welcome to our turf.