MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 348

Episode Date: September 19, 2016

Ariel Helwani speaks to Chael Sonnen (00:03:51), Cris Cyborg (00:32:54), Ed Soares (00:50:37), Sage Northcutt (01:10:53), Al Iaquinta (01:28:49), Michael Johnson (01:57:39), Paddy Pimblett (02:15:27), NewYorkRic to take your questions (02:37:36), and Derek Brunson (03:13:38). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for the show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to 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, September 19, 2016, Hogan, everyone.

I'm Ariel Hawani back inside our New York City studio. It is kind of cold and rainy outside. So I'm very happy to be inside talking to you for the next three and a half, four hours about the great sport that is mixed martial arts. Another busy week in the books. Very exciting stuff to talk about. UFC and Belator had events this past weekend. Belator, kind of a subpar one, but they did make some major headlines.

The biggest news of the week by far came late Thursday, and that was that Chale Sunnan, yes, the Chal Sunnan, the bad guy, the American gangster himself, has signed with Bellator. Kind of came out of nowhere. Got some rumblings early Thursday that something was in the works, and then late Thursday night, the Associated Press reported that, Chale Sunnan had parted ways with Belator, excuse me, Chale Sunnan had parted ways with the UFC and had signed with Belator.

Who saw this coming? Of course, for the longest time, I had said that I believed he was on the comeback trail, that I believed he was not 100% retired, that I believed he would fight again. Never in a million years did I think that fight would be for Bellator. This was a UFC lifer. This was the guy that some people thought would replace Dana White at some point. So anyway, that was massive. UFC had a show in Hidalgo, Texas.

Some interesting stuff. Chas Kelly with a very impressive 19 second, I believe it was, submission. Fastest in featherweight division history. Was it 19 seconds? Something like that, 19, 18 seconds. Michael Johnson with a fantastic victory over Dustin Porreier and Derek Brunson with a very impressive victory as well over Uriah Hall. lot that happened over the past week, and there's a lot to come this week as well.

It's kind of an exciting week for Women's MMA with Invicta holding a very solid show on Friday. The UFC back on Saturday in Brasilia with a show headline by Chris Cyborg. Ryzen is back. There's some interesting names, including Miracle Crowcop. That has nothing to do with women's MMA, of course. But the fun never stops in mixed martial arts, and we have a super stack show for you today. this afternoon on the MMA hour.

So let's get into the lineup and let's get to our first guest because there's no better way to start this show than with our first guest. Let me run it down very quickly here. Derek Brunson, the victorious Derek Brunson will join us at 410. At around 3.10, we'll be joined by Michael Johnson to talk about his big win over Dustin Porier. Cult favorite, Patty the Baddy Pimlet, is going to join us at 245. I have not been hit up by so many fans to get a non-UFC fighter on the show.

The last time I was hit up this much was, I hate to say it, but was Connor McGregor after he became a two-divisional champion. And there are comparisons here. Patty just became the Cage Warriors featherweight champion. And at 245, we'll talk to him. I am looking forward to that. He is quite the character. The scouser himself. 225.

Ally Quinto will join us. A lot going on. his life. Sage Northcut at 205. Always a pleasure to talk to Super Sage. 145 Edsores will stop by with some major news that will change. Not the face of MMA, but big news in the MMA world. Chris Cyborg stops by at 130 from Brasilia. But first, let me get to the Skype machine here. And I said, at the top of the show, there's no better way to start this week show. There was only one way that we could properly start this week's show. And it's with that man. Chale Sondon. There he is. The newest member of the Bellator roster. Fighting at gangster weight.

Don't call him a light heavyweight, a middleweight, a heavyweight, a welter weight. There he is. Chale, Sondon. Wow. How about this? Chale, congratulations to you. What a big deal this is. Thank you for joining us. Could have happened to a better day. Okay, so this is a shoot right here, right? We're not working where we're shooting on today's show, correct? All right. Let's start from the beginning. Let's start from the beginning. What point did you decide that you were coming back? Was it when you announced your retirement two years ago? Was it six months ago?

Was it two months ago? When did you decide that you are going to fight again? It was a meaningful period of time. I'm not certain. I'm not certain what the day was, but physically I've been getting ready for a while. Was there something that happened mentally? Was there a shift? Did you start to miss it?

Was there a fight that you watched where you said, okay, it's time for me to come back? No, I didn't have any moment like that. It was, you know, I went through suspension, and I was a little busy and I was doing some stuff and thought, well, maybe this is just all coming at the right time. And I never wanted to want to be done. I always wanted to want to keep doing it.

But I, you know, I had a moment where I didn't. I just didn't want to put in the work. I didn't want to do the work. I didn't want to do what it took. to go out and compete in the sport. And that period, it didn't last very long. You know, it's distant memory now. It was a long time ago. But I remember that comment. I remember trying to deal with that. But yeah, I've had my eye on this for a while. Now, we've talked, even before this news came out, we've talked privately a little bit. And I've extended my condolences to your family

over the loss of your daughter. And obviously, I know that's very private. But I just want to ask how you and your wife are dealing, you know, with this. incredible pain and if that had anything to do with your return to MMA. Well, I appreciate that. I never mind talking about her. She was very beautiful and I only got to know her for a few days, but she really was very beautiful, Ariel, and thank you for being there for me and my wife during that. But how are we dealing with it?

Oh, man, I mean, it's a life-changing thing. I can't imagine we would ever get past it. You know, I think it probably just changes you for the future. My wife is doing really well. She was battling Listeria. which is a pretty rare disease, particularly here in America, and she beat Listeria. So physically, physically she's doing 100 percent, and she's as beautiful as ever. You should see that woman.

And was it, I mean, I saw the videos of you and your son, which were very, you know, heartwarming to see you back in the gym and whatnot. But did that change, like, did you think about not coming back? Did that make you want to come back even more? How did what happened to you and your wife affect your professional career? Yeah, it was definitely the final nail in the coffin. I mean, I was leaning towards coming back. I was in the gym.

I was working hard. I was, you know, visualizing it and thinking about that. But yeah, when that all happened, that was it. I was coming back. And I don't know why. I don't know why the two tie in together, but they did. Okay. When you were on our show not that long ago, you said that, you know, you're not making any, you know,

you're not holding back on us, you want to come back, but you need to go through some steps. You need to get back into the testing pool. You need to get tested. So it sounded back then that you were trying to get back into the UFC. Is that correct? Yeah, I think that's right. And you did several tests. How many tests did you take?

I did at least four. I think that is the number four, but I did at least four. and yeah, you know, that was the first process. So you're talking about the UFC. So let me set it up for the viewers. So the UFC deals with Usada and they have what's known as a pool, a testing pool. And you have to be part of that pool for four months. Now, Bellator, who I'm with, they're not with Usada.

They go under state guidelines. So the state of California, by example, which is Bellator's home, they often use Usada. But as far as being in a pool and the policy's changing, they're not subject to the same protocol. You were telling me after doing some of those tests that you were like, okay, I want to know the results. I want to know if I can continue. I don't know what's in my system from a previous lifetime. Did you get the results from all those tests? Well, no news is good news with Usa.

I don't believe that, I don't think they get a hold of you and go, hey, you know, I think you're just supposed to assume you passed and then you find out that you didn't. So did I get results? No. Did I pass everything? Yes. At what point did you realize that you were free to negotiate with other organizations? Well, I can't remember the timeline, but I did not know that was an option. I thought I was under UFC contract.

And there's been times in my UFC career where that contract lapses or you just fulfill it. and I've never thought about ever not, you know, going somewhere else or looking around for a different place to compete. It never even crossed my mind. I was always with the UFC and was always going to be with the UFC. So I don't know at what point I realized that that paperwork had passed some dates. That was handled by Mike and Jeff, my managers, but it was recent. It was just recently. So you come to the realization that you are.

technically a free agent, do you go back to the UFC and say, hey, let's do a deal here. I want to be in the UFC? You know, I have my talks all over the place. When I finally talked with Coker, Coker only asked one thing, and he just said, don't shop me. If you want to do a deal, I'll put my best and final offer forward first, but I don't want to get shopped, if that's what this is about. So that was literally the one and only thing he asked for. So we said, okay, we won't shop you.

You know, considering the success that you had in the UFC, did you feel any loyalty or obligation to Dana? I know Lorenzo's not there anymore and the organization is very much changing, but did you feel like, okay, let me try to figure out a deal with these guys first before I go to the coakers of the world? No, no, not really. I mean, from a loyalty standpoint, sure, absolutely. But a lot of that, what you're asking me would be like a, you know, behind the scenes and the paperwork and the negotiations. I stay out of that stuff. You know, my managers call me, I used to deal with a lot of that myself.

And I used to think that that was the best way to do it. But over time, man, I had to delegate that. I guess the point that I'm getting at is you're still a very, very, very big name in this sport. I'm surprised they didn't try to keep you. Are you surprised they didn't try to do? I knew that was your point. I knew that was your point the whole time. I just was going to let you dance around until you finally asked the question. Listen, here's how I would answer this question. I was not under contract with the UFC when I signed with Bellator. Sure. That's it. I am Bellator fighter now. The wording of that statement is very interesting. You realize that. prepared. Fair and prepared. I felt like this was going to come up, but I'm comfortable with my answer. Sure. And we should move on. Okay, fair enough. When you sign the contract that you are a

Bellator-MMA fighter, what was that feeling like you've been a part of the UFC for so long? Did it take, I mean, I'm sure you're happy, you're getting paid handsomely, but what was it like, you know, before it came out, wow, I'm now on the other side of the tracks, as you put it. I'm now with WCW, as you know, sort of put it. What's that like? What was that feeling like? Yeah, it's a little bit different, you know, and yeah, it was a big contract and all that, but it wasn't a cash grab. You know, people say, you know, money can make you happy or whatever. I got 10 million bucks there, and I'm just as happy now as when I had nine. So I don't really know where that expression came from.

But, you know, yeah, it is structured a little bit different. They're different business models. You know, one is in the pay-per-view business model. One is in TV ratings and advertisers. So they aren't the same contracts. They are two different things. And I just want a chance to compete, man. I want to go out there and compete.

And that was really it. I didn't get a lot further into that than I don't have an opponent yet, you know, by example. Like I was out doing media. The day that all this broke, I was doing some media, and I was about 20 minutes into it. I was talking to Michael Stets, and I was just stumbling over myself. and I could have figured out what was off, and I finally realized, why I don't have anything to promote?

I kind of did this a little out of order. I've got to deal with the company, but I don't have a fight. I don't have a date. I don't know the opponent. I don't know a wait class. There's no tickets on sale. I don't have anything to tell the fans.

Hey, make sure you tune in, mark this day down. I don't have any of that. So in that regard, I've kind of done things. I haven't quite connected the dots. It went a little bit of out of order. So I'm trying to speed that up. It appears it's going to be Tito Ortiz in November, but a lot of that's just me talking right there.

I don't have any word yet. Okay, if it is Tito Ortiz, November 19th, and San Jose, do you like that as your first fight? Does that make sense? And that's what I think it's going to be. Okay. Thanks for saying that. I think it's going to be November 19th and Tito and San Jose and all that bit.

But yeah, I like that as a first fight. I like it a lot. You know, there's only a handful of guys I think that I'm likely end up matched up with right out of the gate. You know, then things will change. But right out of the gate, I think that the likely suspects are Rampage, Artito. I heard Rory's name get thrown out there, but I don't know if I, I don't know how likely that.

I don't even know if that makes a ton of sense. I hear that Fador is coming, and I had some questions, you know, would you go up to heavyweight and fight Fador? And I think they're going to get Vandalay, too, if they don't already have him. I know Vandali's got some deal. worked out. Perhaps it's with Risen and not Bellator specifically, but then Bellator and Risen have something worked out. I say that as a fan because I watch King Moe, who's with Belator, go over and do some stuff in Japan with Risen. So they must have some kind of a relationship.

And I think those are the likely suspects, you know, probably first, second, and third. I think that's probably the guys I'll be drawn from for right now. Have you heard anything about a four-man legends tournament? Yes. In Bellator, Yeah, you, Fador, Rampage, Vanderlay, Tito. Now, that's five people. I had not heard anything specifically about that. I thought you were asking me just as Bellator going to keep doing tournaments, to my understanding they are, but, no, I haven't, are you breaking something to me?

I'm just asking you. I'm just asking, hey, we're shooting here. Oh, you're sort of like, that'd be a good idea. I think that could be a good idea. I like tournaments myself, but if I like them in one night. I'm speaking as a fan. I like when tournaments are done in one night. If you call it a tournament and you spread it out, I don't know if that's a tournament or if that's just the company moving forward with projected fights that could take place.

When tournaments go down in there in one night and a guy's got to take on two men or in the old day three men and one night, eight-man tournament, I thought that was a lot of fun. I personally enjoyed watching that. But I see what you're doing now. You're getting some, and I like where your head's at. I just thought you were breaking some. I thought you were telling me something that I had missed. this is by far the biggest contract of your career right uh it'd be hard to say man i mean i had the record with anderson so that was a one-off night we had the but as far as like a multi-fight contract

the all-time record um it's a big contract yeah what kind of dealings did you have with cocker before all of this have you ever cross-pass with him i i had him on my podcast and i had met him Matt Linlin fought in a strike force fight, and I had met Koker in a hallway in passing really fast. And I feel like I've known him for years, you know, because our world is so small, but I had never actually visited with him. And I had him lined up for a podcast, had him on the podcast, and that was really the only time I'd ever spoke to him. I know you don't have an official date yet, but it's looking likely. Just being back in the news as a fighter, having a contract, do you feel different?

Do you feel like now you have this mission, now you have a target? Does that change something in your head when you have all of that in place? Yeah, definitely, definitely. You know, that's the one part that's been missing. Like even when I'm going through preparation or training for this or going to the gym and working out or helping somebody else or whatever it is, it's hard to turn that corner. It's hard, you know, when you start getting tired or you start getting banged up to push through that if you don't have a finish line out there.

And that's one thing I couldn't duplicate. I was going to practice. I was doing the runs. I was doing the lifts. I was doing everything you're supposed to do. But the intensity is different. I didn't have the discipline or the mental toughness or the ability, however you want to call it, to manufacture a deadline.

That's largely why I jumped into grappling aerial, just so that there was a specific date, a specific opponent, somebody to really hone in and peek for it and make sure that I did have some of those peaks instead of just staying steady. because I did have eyes on this and a fantasy about, you know, one day coming back to MMA, being done with the suspension, you know, going through all the processes. So, yeah, it did change things. It did.

I had a sparring day on Saturday two days ago, and I could feel it. I could feel the difference that, you know, there's a point now. You raised a lot of eyebrows on Friday on your conference call, and you said that per your contract, you will be fined $500. $100,000 and lose your entire purse if you fail a drug test. Is that correct? Yeah, 100% of the purse and half a million dollars. And that's just to Bellator. Wow. That's not before you deal with commission issues. And that could be standard era. I didn't know

that was going to catch on or whatever, but that could be boilerplate. I have no idea. I just know it's in mine. And, you know, when you're coming out of the principal's office like I am, I did wonder when I saw that, okay, did they only give that to me? or is this, and I don't know the answer to that, but that isn't my kind. I don't think that's standard. And I'm wondering if you fight in California, are you okay with the random out of competition drug testing? Because, you know, Andy Foster, who you praised on the conference call, is one of the very

best in the business when it comes to that. Yeah, and see, I appreciate you saying that because Andy deserves that. And the other side of that is, people got at, Bellator gets asked, why do you guys not use who saw it? And there's some people that are just married to those letters, man. They don't even know what they're saying. They just somewhere somebody told them Usada was great. And so they love to run with that.

But historically, they actually have their facts wrong. Bellator started in his base out of California. And Andy Foster was the first commissioner to start using that organization to test his athletes. He just paid for it himself or had the state fund to pay for it. And so it was actually Bellator guys were the first ones tested through Usada, even though it's not in policy historically, that is the timeline. Belator was tested first. Do you think Bellator, part of the reason why they signed you, is to be a promoter, not just for your own fights, but for their organization? I noticed on the conference call, you did a fantastic job of promoting the card that night.

Do you think that they're going to ask you to be a sort of quasi-promoter? I don't think I'll have anything to do outside of my contract. Now, I like to participate and contribute, man. I'm just a big fan of MMA. I love boxing, amateur assy. I've got the things that I like to watch. So I'm happy to participate and contribute in those ways. But, yeah, I mean, there's no secret.

They brought me over for ratings. It's the bottom line. They brought me over for ratings. And they've got some guys that move the needle. But it's the plight that any promoter has. You can't have enough guys like that. You just can't. You know, even the UFC, they've got a bunch of stars, man.

And they have some awesome fights, but putting on 53 events a year, and that can be tough. So there's opportunities out there, and you never know. Week in, week out, month to month, year to year, you never know. How many guys am I going to have, you know, that can really fill up a building? But that's the business. The promoters got to figure that out. You were such a great promoter and fighter for Dana White, especially towards the end of your UFC run. What was that last conversation like with him when you said, okay, thanks for the time.

I'm going elsewhere. Yeah, you know, it was an interesting conversation. You know, I mean, Dana's a shark, and I mean, it is a compliment. Some guys have it as tough. Dana's a shark, and he's tough, man. I don't know how else to put it. So was it contentious? I just tell you, he's a shark.

Again, I'm comfortable with those words. Okay. I mean, Dana's tough. And that's it. How would you describe the departure? Was it amicable? Do you feel like there's some heat now, some tension? How would you describe it?

Here's what I would tell you, Ariel. Here's what I would tell you. Okay. I am on a legend's ass whipping tour, and I'm starting with Tito Ortiz. All right, I'm starting with Tito Ortiz on November 19. All I need is a contract. This could not be any more official of a call out.

I don't have the linguistic ability to challenge somebody more articulately or clear. And if Tito does not want to accept, I'll never bully him again, man. I'm not here to pick on him. I will take a no as a default and I'll move on. But for right now, my message to you and the whole community that watches your show is November 19th, the bad boy and the bad guy. Are you worried about his injuries that he might not make it to that day, that you will get emotionally invested, that you will prepare and then something will happen along the way?

Not if he says he'll be there. Okay. One thing about Tito, if he accepts a challenge, I can't remember the time, him pulling him out. I know he shows up, he backs up a brink truck full of excuses. He comes with him every time. He drops them every time. I get all those things, but I can't remember a time where he gave his word and pulled out. What's the impetus to this feud?

Did you guys have a run-in back in the day? I mean, you've been in the sport for so long, both of you. when did it first start? Ariel, Aaron. You know good and well, your audience doesn't know the meaning of the word impetus, okay? You know good and well. Everybody's run into Google. I could say anything right now when these dummies watch them would have no idea.

I can give you the recipe to chocolate chip cookies and everybody would be like, well, I guess that's what impetus means. None of your viewers could even spell that word. I mean, do you want to have this private between you? I could say anything. I could hold up a bottle of rust remover, and everybody would just think that this was like fitting to what we were saying right now. Everybody's lost. Okay.

What's the emphasis of Tito Ortiz? Look, he's a big deal. He's a world champion. A lot of it comes from jealousy. You really want to know, you want to know what got me pissed off and started in this sport in the first place. With sitting at home and not having an opportunity. I was in a gym, everyday team quiet. I was in a gym.

We had no less than two world. champions in the room on a daily basis. This didn't count number one contenders, champions over in pride where things were fixed. The guys that were coming in and training with us, we had at least two world champions on our team every day. I knew exactly where I stood in the world. I knew everybody's name that could whip my ass, all of them, because I had them on a daily basis. I'm fighting down at the dog park. I can't get a manager to make a phone call for me. I couldn't get a promoter to know who I was. It was a tough spot, and it's part of the sport.

Guys go through it all the time. I just remember when I went through it. And I went through this, and there was Tito. All the posters, headlining all the cards, biggest draw. On T-shirt and branding coming. This guy was a huge deal. And I remember being jealous, and I remember thinking, look, Tito's a tough guy. I got no problem with that.

But I'm sitting there going, I'm a tougher guy. I do have a problem with that. How do I get my opportunity? How do I break into this? This guy never would be world champion if I was in the big. business right then, but I couldn't even get a contract to get into the company to get on the prelims to eventually work my way to Tito. I could have stepped right into a main event and whipped his ass back then, but I couldn't get the opportunity. That's where Tito comes from. Okay. And now

you get your opportunity, or you probably get your opportunity, right? That's right. Yeah. Do you have, do you feel, I know it's a crazy question to ask a fighter, but because of the way your career stopped two years ago, do you feel an extra amount of pressure to not only prove to everyone that you still got it, to not only proof to anyone, to everyone that you can fight in this new era of drug testing, but also to prove to Belator that they made the right call by investing to you? Like, does this one feel a little different than, you know, 148 or fighting Joe? You know, you know what I mean? Like there's, it's different now, right? Yeah, the third part, I don't, I haven't thought about the first two on your list, but yeah, the third part, man, look, I got a job to do.

And that's the bottom line, and I'm a company guy. You know, I don't come in and try to take all the money and leave town. I want everybody. I'm a capitalist, but I have a very socialistic approach to fighting because there's guys on the undercard that aren't going to bring in any money. The guys on top of the bill have got to have a trickle-down effect and look out for everybody else. And, you know, I not only see that as my duty, but it used to happen to me. I was the guy on those cards that wasn't bringing any tickets, but I needed something too. I had trainers and managers and my own goals and just to get by.

There had to be something. And a lot of times it came from the top, but there was a trickle-down effect. I see some of these scumbags come in now. They try to grab all the money and run away and go, well, all the attention's on me and said, eh, you're not totally wrong on that. You are the one bringing into the dollars, but you still got a family here, right? You still got a group. You've still got what, it doesn't matter if it's your opponent, your enemy, or some guy just trying to live his dream, man.

the show doesn't go on with just two guys. So, yeah, man, I got a job to do, and I'll do it, and I will deliver. A couple more questions for you. What would you compare this signing to? Is this Hall going to WSU? Is this Hogan? Like, it feels very much like, you know, late 90s here. What would you compare you moving over to Bellator?

I suppose there's a little bit of feel of that of the Monday Night War. I didn't really think of it. I didn't really think in those terms, man. I wanted an opportunity to compete, and that was really it. And then, you know, the backstory and everything I'm holding out from you and you know full well that I am if you haven't been able to pride me. I'll tell you over time. I'm just not ready to tell you today.

Why? Why? But I'll tell you over time. We'll do this time and time and again, and I will get you the impetus. Okay. By the way, your friend, CM Punk, of course, unsuccessful in his UFC debut. A, what did you think of it? and B, if it doesn't work out for him in the UFC,

would you like to see Bellator sign him? Well, I thought that Punk proved he was a fighter. I thought that he tried very hard. He got put in a terrible position. Physically, he didn't know how to get out of there. He didn't know where to push the knee, which way to roll, how to deal with the fence. That's a reality of a guy that, you know,

tried to climb Mount Everest with almost no time to prepare. But he tried hard. He was stuck right off the bat. He tried to get up. What Mickey Gall was doing to him was that's as bad as ground and pound gets. He was dry. He had both legs in. He's teeing off coming underneath, coming over the top.

It's as bad as it gets. And Punk was pushing through it trying to get back up to his feet. Gall's looking for chokes and punk's defending and trying to get back up to his feet. So I thought effort-wise, man, he gets an A for effort. Skill-wise, there was a big difference between the two. that's accurate. I can live with that, but I think the punk had some moments out there, particularly when it's your heart. It's your heart that gets tested. That's really what we want to know as fighters. Who's tougher than the other guy? You can always talk about who's better,

whose skills, and the reach and that, who's tougher than who. And I thought the punk went out there, and I thought he was very tough. Would you like to see him keep fighting? Yeah, I think so. I think that's what he wants to do. I've talked to him almost every day since it, and, you know, his attitude appears to be good. He's already back in the gym. He had his fight on a Friday. He was at practice on Monday. I don't know what he did.

Did he watch? Did he jump in there? I couldn't tell you those details, but he's there. He's being a good teammate. This looks like this is the life that he wants to do. And we'll go back to the UFC or will it even go to a ring again? I don't know. Maybe it just turns into a hobby and this is what he wants to do.

I really don't know. But he'll let us know, and he's got the skill set that if he wants people to be interested in him again, He'll come on your show and he'll build the interest. We both know he's got that skill set. Well, Chil, we will leave it at that. Thank you very much. You didn't give us the entire impetus, but I think we got enough. A little taste.

Well, we're going to have to. You got a nine-hour show here with 75 guests that all suck. I mean, you started off with it. Nothing against those. What is Ed Soros going to come on and tell us that's going to change M-M-M-M-A? He's got big news. What could they possibly have to drop on us that change M-FMF? Stay tuned.

Oh, yeah. Everybody stay to the ultimate T is listen, the ratings are going to drop air. They're going to drop with one final word and you know what it is. Come on. Chal Sondon, everyone. Thank you very much, the newest member of the Belt War MMA roster. In vintage form, we look forward to his debut in November. Okay, let us move along.

We'll talk about Chale a little later on in the program as well. But for now, let us move along to our next guest. She is main eventing. The next UFC showed this Saturday in, Brasilia, Brazil, she is arguably the very best female fighter in the world. But before we get to that, let me quickly tell you by my good friends over at Thursday Boot Company. As you know, winter is coming and you are going to need a good pair of boots. In fact, I could have used a good pair of boots today because on my way to the studio,

it was raining, I was walking in all kinds of puddles, my socks got soaking wet, we had to go buy new pair of socks. I can guarantee you if I was wearing Thursday boots, which are having, handcrafted to be comfortable versatile and durable, I would have been in tip top shape, no extra socks needed. Thursday boots are built for guys who understand quality like myself and want a good looking pair of boots that will last a few seasons. I got a pair, can't wait to wear them.

With the sophistication of a fashion boot and durability of a work boot that you can kick some serious ass and you need a pair of Thursday boots with winter coming up. The clean design and no external branding or logos make the boots versatile enough to wear with jeans and a t-shirt or in a full suit, and you know I can appreciate that. It's one of those rare products that your wife, girlfriend, boss, friends, and grandpa, maybe even your grandma as well, will all respect. Thursday boot company are really committed to honest pricing, with prices starting at 149, including free shipping and returns. Thursday boots are the best buy this season. And with their clean, timeless design and durability, Thursday boots will keep you standing confident for years to

come. Now, to see a selection of my absolute favorites, head on over right now to Thursdayboots.com slash MMA. Now back to the show. She is Chris Seiborg joining us on the phone. Chris, how are you? I'm great. Thank you. Thanks for a great opportunity to be here again. Yes. A pleasure as always to talk to you. So you're in Brasilia right now, right? Yes. I just flew, I think almost five days here. What was your reaction initially when you were told that, okay, the UFC, want you back, of course you're under contract, but they want you to main event a show in Brazil. What was your reaction? You know, the first thing when I know about my fight, I checked the calendar and see how many

weeks I had because it's at 140 again. And the last fight I had 12 weeks for a make-on-40, and this fight, it's eight weeks. And I really traded double for this fight. But I really appreciate the opportunity to fight in Brazil again, you know, and be men. I think all the time I say, yeah, when if I, I say, what's who next after Leslie? You know, I say, have to wait this fight and you open a lot of doors for me. And I feel very blessed and a great opportunity to fight in Brazil may and then. So were you concerned at all?

Did you think about maybe not taking the fight because it wasn't 12 weeks, it wasn't enough time to get down to 140? You know, my plan is a 5-140 like super fight, you know. Yeah. And it keeps my weight 145 and defend my belt. I really just make 140 this time is not really my plan. You know, the plan supports make 145. And, you know, it's a good opportunity to be in Brazil. I know I appreciate this opportunity to find I see again.

But, you know, I was really only about in this camp, my nutrition coach has started giving to me a birth control. And I never take this in my life. And I just take this like three months. every day and I feel I feel my body a little weird but he says it'd be good for me and I believe in him and yeah I fly from America from Brazil like 168 pounds and my body who hold more water than normal and you know I don't think this will help my body and I was really stress about this but you know I did everything perfect my training I train every day I training no double the

trained before. And, you know, I mean, I'm ready for do great show Saturday. Wait, so you said you're a nutritionist, George Lockhart, gave you birth control pills? Yeah, he told me to start because he said it would be helped me lose weight. Really? Wow. I never heard that before. Yeah, I know. And let's see. Let's see. This is help. I don't know, but I believe in him. I know I work with him like two years and a half. And I started to work with him And In the beginning

I really I really don't know And we really like to be close friends You know, I believe him And let's see But you know After this fight I really don't want any more Birth control

Because I don't think this is help my body And they talk to my doctor too He said this is no good And but let's see You know You have to follow somebody And you know he's in line with me And we make the last time on 40

And that's it How much should you weigh you got the call about the main event, about the fight. How much did you weigh? Maybe 175. 175, wow. And you said... 175.

You know, this camp, I don't touch 150. I don't touch 150 this camp. Wow. And right now, how much you went? It's really scary. I was looking at mirror. I said, man, I don't know. I turned double, and I don't know why I don't touch the 50s.

And it just did something I did the different to this camp. It's a take birth control. because, you know, after the can't last fight, I don't know why I take this, because we make more 40 and successful last fight. It's really hard, but we did. And, but, you know, Georgia had a plan, and he said, okay, you, you take this birth control, you know.

And now I'm 168. 168? I fly 168, and I wake up like 165. Today, 165? Yes. So you have to lose 25 pounds in four days? Yes. That doesn't seem right.

I mean, how are you going to do? That seems very unhealthy. I know. I know. Are you worried? Do you know, I always, you know, I have to do 9% and God do 10%. I train really hard. And I run.

I run every day. I train every day. And, you know, Ray leave with me and you see everything I eat. And they eat everything you give to me. You know, I know it's less and it's more, you know, because, you know, I, you know, I want a ball because this is my. my main event. And, you know, I will do my 100% for doing my best, you know.

And not just my head in the line, George, it's a George work. You know, I have to be honest with you, Chris. You know, we've talked about this, and I saw the footage of this documentary that's coming out this week, which is about your debut, and you're on the ground cramping and crying on your way to 140, and we saw the way you look. To me, it feels nonsensical to make you fight in this arbitrary. weight class that doesn't exist. For what?

What are we trying to prove? I don't understand it. Why are you doing this? You know, I don't understand either, but I think if I have blood hair and blue white, I support it as my division, you know. But, you know, I was fight one, one, I really upset about this because, you know, the girl who will fight, she's a 145 pounder. And she's happy to lose weight to either, you know.

My team see her, she lose weight two. It's really hard for her because she's won 40 pounds. Same in me. And then I was really upset because I say I want to make 140 because I would like make super fights, you know? Yeah. Give me people the 10 top girls, you know, the top 10, the 135, she has one, have like one win and five loss, and she's top 10 and 135.

And then people say, ah, your division just has bullshit girls. And on 35, it's not. Okay, if you do number 10, you have one win and five. five lose. What I mean? Why might be bullshit, man? I have a lot of girls. In Bellator have girls have girls 145.

In Victor have a girl. Have a lot of girls boxing girls, one 50, you know, 160. You know, I don't think this is a, I don't think this is skills, you know. Ronda kick a lot of girls in 135, as 135. But you have to check,

check, who's the top 10, you know? And man, I don't know. I don't know. You know, but I'm doing my job, and I'm doing this for my fans. I do everything for my fans because they don't want to watch me if I'm a UFC now, because then I appreciate my last fight. And then because this, I'm doing this, because this I make 140, it's really hard for me.

You know, sometimes I say, man, I don't want to do this anymore. Because, man, 140 is too hard for me. I don't want to do this anymore. No, I love my job. I think, because this, I'm doing this. And I made 140 for my fans. for those super fights for them. And I want then take me my next opponent.

Right. So if then want to keep on 40, I want my fans taking my next opponent. But no disrespect to Lena Landsberg, she's not a super fight. Very few people know who she is. Did you ever know, did you ever hear of her when you were offered her?

Did you know who she was? You know, I really, I really respect all my opponents because, you know, you know me. You know, I respect all my opponents. Everyone has to be something special. for B, you know, for 5M, and for BWFC, and I think she's, I think she's, I appreciate being UFC too. And, you know, I really, I really don't know her when I didn't say my next opponent. And my team starts to study her, watch her. And yeah, but I really know it's she's 145 pounds.

Yeah. Did you or your team have a serious discussion with the UFC after 198 and say, look, if we can't get super fights, Misha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Holly Holie home, we just don't want to do this. We don't want to cut an extra five pounds for the sake of cutting an extra five pounds. There's nothing to be gained. There's no weight class. There's no belt at 140. Did you guys have that serious discussion with the UFC brass about your future? You know, then we talk about, they know what I mean, they know what's my dream. My dream has my division and have a lot of big girls and not just me. You know, the girls in the world is no 135 pounds. You know, if you check it,

the girls don't make this no induce weight every day. If you take everybody, an athlete, having more muscle, of course, it would be more heavy. And then my dream, then have my weight, you know, but if it's not possible now, of course, I'll make 140, but I do like super fights. And super fights for my fans, I want to watch, and because then I think then have to be my, and fight the opponent for me and for being 140.

If you're not, you know, I don't have to be an FC for the fans, my belt, and have my division. I can keep one 40, make super fights for my fans, and defend my bells in Victor, you know, because I still wore a champ. You didn't have to respect this, you know, I still wore a champ. Okay, so you think about what's to come in the next four days. Are you dreading this? Are you worried?

Like, how would you describe your emotions right now as you're going to try to lose 25 pounds in the next four days? Do you know, I have a lot of faith, and something when I get nervous, I pray a lot. And, you know, I know my mind, I did everything right, you know. I know I train really hard, I know I train every day, and then I believe in all my team, you know, and I believe in George, you know, and, you know, I think, I think, you know, I think it'll be everything, everything right, you know, I think it'll be easy because never easy for me, you know, I was hard. And even when I make 145 is really hard and you know, 40 worst, everybody will watch my documentary to come soon. Yeah. And we start now, Cyborg Nation. Every day, today, two fights, people can watch the videos.

You put every day if you can see my weekend before fight. And, you know, people will see the reality. It's no worse, it's the reality. You know, I don't need anything for make worse for nobody. You know, I feel sorry for me. No, I accepted this, Monforte, because it's an opportunity I have, and because I don't have my division. And, but I think it's really nice that people watch and the sea, it's not just my life.

The life, all the fires, you know. And, yeah. Is George in Brazil already? Yeah, he's fluent for me. And he's already here with me. Okay. And do you know if there's going to be the early wands on Friday morning, like they've been doing the last couple months, or is it the afternoon wands like they've been doing historically? Do you know when the wands are going to be?

Do you know, I think it's really cool than this now. You can check weight early because I have more time for recovery. And for me, it's amazing because, you know, guys see how many weight, how much I think I cut. And for me, I think it's a big deal changing like this. I have more than 24 hours for recovery. And, yeah, I need to prepare for this, you know, my mind's strong. And something makes my mind strong and when I train hard. You know, if I train hard, my mind's strong.

Okay, but you don't. You don't know what time the weigh-ins are at? You don't know if it's early in the morning or later in the afternoon? It's early in the morning. It's 9-21-11. Oh, that's good. Okay. Well, I guess, I mean, maybe that means that you have less time, but you have more time.

This is no, this is in Brazil. It's 9 to 11 in Brazil. Yeah. We're just for the people, for the athletes. And for the public, it'll be the end of the day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've had the opportunity to cover some of them. It's good for recovery, but maybe a little early for you.

Yeah, early for me. Yes. Probably I have to cook out to the last. wait in the morning. It'll be worse. Yeah. Is it safe to say that this is your last time fighting at 140 if it's not a super fight, that you're not interested in fighting, you know, some

opponent that doesn't really mean much as far. I think every time you fight, quite frankly, is a big deal, and you alone are enough to make a 145 pound division. I'm not just saying that because you're on the phone. I've said it time and again, but is it fair to say if it's not a Misha Teda, Ronda Rousey, a Holly home type of opponent, you're not going to

cut to 140 anymore? You know, I think something something, I don't want to say I never fight again because it's not true, but probably I will, but a lot of things have to change. You know, for making 140, I sacrificed a lot of things in my life, my diet, my training, man, my thyroid.

I take medicine in the thyroid every day because this is diet, it's insane for making 14. And I started to have probably my thyroid too. And I think you have a lot of things to put in table before I make one 40 again. And I still have my contract with FC and have a couple

fights too, but in my division, we have to sit down and after this fight, you know, I love 5FC, you know, I love the important and then give to me, but you know, my health is more important to everything is my life after fight, man, I want to have my family and I want

to be enjoyed with my, you know, I don't know, but, yeah. Have you ever had to cut this much weight before a fight, four days before the way-ins? Have you ever had to cut around 25 pounds? I think one time because of spirit, you know, in the period. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The girls on the period's worse.

Yeah. You know, I think girls can have a five pound extra when in period. I think it was a lot I have to put this because, man, the growth is really harder than men's. The man's make easy. Then we need to ride two days and lose 10 pounds, you know, and man, the growth is a bit hard. You know, it's really hard. And now the first time in my life I take birth control like three months. now I really know, because I never take birth control.

Yeah. Now I really know what the girl's talking about, you know. And then, yeah, I think it will be hard, but, you know, I'm prepared and be ready. Do you recall how much you weighed on the Monday before UFC 198? I think, like, let me see. I think I make like 153, 152 Tuesday. So 153, 152 Tuesday, that's around 12, 13,000. pounds less than you are right now, and still we saw from that footage that you were crying on

the ground, that you were in a lot of pain. I'm worried. You're not messing with me here, right? You're really... I know, I know. I think because the birth control holds more water than normal. I hope so, you know, but the problem is the water has to take out my body. So you're really 165 pounds right now as we speak? Yeah. Oh my God. And you're eating? Are you eating? Nah, George just bring me like I have one apple. Okay. And like seed. I'm like a bird now. Like a couple of elbows, apple and shit.

And yeah, but yeah. Is George? You don't stop eating. You know, you need to eat a little bit like three, two hours. Because if you stop eating, you stop to lose weight. But now it's no lose weight because, man, you cannot lose weight in two days. I can muscle, you know. Yeah.

And let's see, let's see what's going on, you know. Is George in the room right now? No, he's not here. Oh, he's not here. Okay. Wow. Okay. But you're still, you're still, you're still, you're still, you're still, you're still

believing that you're going to do it, that it's going to be okay and that you're going to be able to fight on Saturday? You have to keep believe, huh? Yeah. It's the end. You know, fight is the death. It has to be the end. How many fights do you have left on your UFC contract, do you know?

And I repeat again? How many fights do you have left on your UFC contract? Three. Three, including this one. Including this one? Yeah. Okay. And in a perfect world, what do you want next?

You get through Lena Landsberg on Saturday. What's the best scenario for you? for Chris Cyborg. If you know, superfight somebody else, superfighter, I won't defend my belt. In Invicta? Yes. Man, I'm a champ over there.

Sure. Yeah. And they have a show on Friday, which is kind of... Or then can make my division, give my belt, same than did with Ronda. Ronda first V-Scheon should then give a belt before. Yeah. That's what I think they should do.

I think you deserve it. Yeah. Do you think it's a possibility? Are you hopeful that that's going to happen, or not really? No, I don't think so, because then I just did it. interview yesterday he said no. But, you know, he said there was going to be no women a couple, you know, a couple years ago, and now there's women, so you never know.

Yeah, I never know, you know. I just have to do my job, go over there Saturday and do a nice, amazing job, amazing fight for all the fans, Brazilian fans be there. And, you know, for the Giavani president, give you the opportunity to fight in Brazil again. I really appreciate everyone here. And, you know, I just want to make my super fight, a superfight Saturday. and after this I went on vacation and think about

and let's see what's going to be next. Okay, Chris. Well, I wish you the very best. Thank you so much for coming on the show and good luck to you and keep us posted and I hope that everything is okay and please, you know, be safe and be healthy out there, okay? Okay, no problem.

Thanks so much. Okay. Obrugue. Thank you very much. Chris Cyborg in Brazil telling us that she weighs 165 pounds and has to cut around 24 or so to hit her weight on Friday.

What? That is, that is, that is, uh, that is some, some scary stuff. Um, all right. Well, let's, let's move along. We'll talk about that a little more as well later on in the program. But now we have to get to our next guest with some major breaking news. I said at the top, I told Chale Sunnan, this is big. This is, uh, this is very important for the future of the sport, the growth of the sport,

the health of the sport. We've got Ed Soros on the phone right now, long time. Friend of the show, friend of the program. The president of Resurrection Fighting Alliance, long-time manager, of course. He is joining us right now on line number one. Ed, are you there? How's it going? Ed, I'm doing great.

Thank you very much. So there's a lot going on in your world. There's some rumblings out there. Let's get right to it. The floor is yours. What do you want to tell us? Well, what I'm here to tell you is that Resurrection Fighting Alliance, the RFA and Legacy Fighting Championship has merged.

We merged into one organization. and we just signed a, you know, a five-year deal. It's a five-year deal with Access TV. And starting in 2017, we're going to be doing 30 shows a year on Access TV. And the new name is Legacy Fighting Alliance. The LFA is the new name of the new company. Wow. Well, congratulations to you and everyone involved.

When you say merged, what exactly? does that mean? Well, basically, both of our companies came together and we formed this new entity so that we merge our companies. So, you know, this year, you know, Legacy did 14 shows. We did 13 shows. So us together, we're going to do, as LFA, we're going to do starting off in 2017, 30 shows. And hopefully in the future, maybe even do more. Wow. How long has this been in the works for? This has been in the works for about six to eight months.

And why? Why did you feel as president of RFA that this was beneficial to your organization? Well, I just felt that, you know, between the RFA and Legacy, we were the two organizations that are sending the most people to the USC and to Belator. We were the two, you know, the premier developmental organizations. and I felt that, you know, Legacy did an incredible job on their own, and we did an incredible job on our own, and we were both going to be successful individually.

But I felt that when we joined forces, we'd be much stronger together as a unit than we would be separately. And that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to create the NCAA of mixed martial arts, and by Legacy and RFA coming together, that's exactly what we built. And what is your position in this new LFA organization? my position, I'll be the CEO. Okay.

And Sven being, actually, Spenn is here with me, too. You're on speaker phone, Spend on the line, and Sven's going to be the CEO of our new company. Hello, Sven. Congratulations to you as well. Thanks, Ariel. Good to be on, man. And we're happy to be breaking it on your show, man. It's going to be a good thing. Good thing for the sport. Good thing for the fighters. And we're excited. And I appreciate that.

So, Ed, are you going to be the promoter the face of the organization still? Yeah, I think that's what I'll be. That's the position I'll be in. And I enjoy doing that. I mean, you know, we're actually, we just got to Houston right now. And we're going to be meeting up, you know, with Mick and just getting together and setting up the game plan over the next three days over how this is going to be all working out. yeah, I'm going to be taking more of that role. And you mentioned Mick Maynard, who is a long-time owner of legacy

and sort of the face of that organization as well. I got to ask you this. I saw him on the stage at UFC 203, and I've heard that he was in the running to replace Joe Silva as matchmaker for the UFC. Is this part of his transition out of that company and into the UFC? You know, right now, Mick, you know, obviously everyone know he's a very well-respected guy in the mixed martial arts community. and the way I look at it is the way I look at,

he's got a lot of opportunities right now, and right now he's got to make some decision on what he's going to do. And I think that within the next 24 to 48 hours, he's going to be pulling a trigger on what his next steps are going to be, and everyone will know. Oh, wow.

Okay, so he won't be a part of this new organization LFA. He's not going to be part of the managing of running the company now. Okay. And is it fair to assume that, like, just all the fighters on your roster, all the fighters on the legacy roster are now just under one umbrella? Yeah, definitely. It's going to be under one umbrella.

And, you know, the great thing, I mean, everyone knows, you know, with the sort of exposure that we're able to get, give them on Access TV and being over 45 countries all over the world, I think that with having that many amount of shows, I mean, I think if a fighter's goal is to get to the next level in their career, I really don't see. be a better organization to do that with because we're not doing six, eight, ten shows a year. We're going to be doing 30 shows a year. So if I was a fighter, for me, I would think it was a pretty easy decision where I'm going to be signing and where I want to, the place where I want to consider my home.

Okay. So at that area, on operational standpoint, we, RFA and Legacy, both have commitments through the end of 2016 as independent promotions. our guys, we're going to continue our shows, our guys are going to fight, but what we will be doing is we will be having their champions, fight our champions to create the inaugural LFA champion and go on from there.

And whoever that person is, whether, you know, whoever holds the belt is going to be the king dog in that weight division, and we're going to build our rosters kind of based on that. So that's the plan moving forward, but we still, both companies still have, you know, three shows to do, four shows to do this until the end of the year. Okay, so.

Go ahead. We have a lot of other things, too, that we're going to be announcing, you know, probably within, you know, we're going to put out a probably going to have a press release or a press conference to kind of announce a lot of the other things that we're doing that are going to really make it different. And like I said, we really want to create this NCAA AAA AAA league, a developmental organization. And that's what we're really excited about in growing the sport. And at the end of the day, you know, when we're all gone,

I just want to know that we're able to make a difference and being able to help guys achieve their goals and being a part of one of the steps in their career to get them to where they want to go is I think what we're about. And I'm real excited to do that 30 times a year next year. Are you hoping to be the official sort of minor league system of the UFC so that they can't go to other organizations in North America?

They just, you know, if they want to send a fighter down to, you know, get back, you know, on their feet to get back on track, they'll send them to you and you can give them talent. Like, is that a goal here or is that impossible, given the structure of the sport? Everything's possible. I mean, when we started off in this business, that's what our goal was was to be a developmental organization for the USC.

And that's not going to change. I just think that it's kind of, it's kind of obvious that that's what it's going to be. I mean, what other show out there is doing 30 shows. a year, and it's going to be developing talent and letting them go to further their career. Nobody else out there is doing that. The UFC, you sign the deal, you're with the UFC, that's where you want to be. If you go to Bellator, that's where you're at. And for us, we're developing these guys.

We're developing these guys, and we're handing them off. So I don't really see another organization in the world that is capable of doing that with the amount of shows that we're doing. Okay, so 30 shows is a lot, obviously. and as I mentioned, you also, you know, you've been a manager for many, many years, likes of the Nogara brothers, Anderson, Silva, the list goes on and on. Are you going to be able to do both? No, I'm not.

And starting in the beginning of 2017, I'm going to finish out my duties. Listen, guys like Anderson, guys like Nogera, guys like Liotto, these guys are my friends, these guys are my family, I'm still going to be there with them. But as far as managing, my partner, George, is taking over tough media, which will be the management company. And I'm going to be focusing 100% on the LFA. And, you know, it's a bittersweet day. You know, the management, I've had an incredible management career. I've had a blessed career.

But, you know, when it boils down to it, I feel that there's really not too much more that I can get from the management business. that I haven't already gotten. I've managed one of the greatest of all time. I've managed various champions, and being a manager has been a blessing. But I'm really excited about this new chapter in my life about helping guys get to where they want to go because I had to really dig deep and think about why I got into this business. And when I got into this business, it was really for one reason.

And that was, I really enjoyed helping guys get to where they want to go. And as a manager, I was able to do that with a lot of different guys. And I just feel that with the RFA and now with the LFA, what's going to happen is that, you know, like for instance, in the RFA, you know, we've put 52 guys into the USC in the past three years. And out of those 52 guys, only six of them were guys that we kind of worked with. And that's what kind of made me see that, you know what, I'm able to help so many more people and touch so many more people's lives as a promoter than I was able to. able to do as a manager. And that's what makes me feel good. That's what fulfills me is helping these guys achieve their goals. It's like, you know, when guys fight in the RFA and now when they fight in the LFA, it's like a fraternity, man, for the rest of your career, where they're supporting

you, helping promote you, even after you leave. Because it really, for us, it's not about getting the guys to the UFC or developer. It's about keeping guys there. And that's what's important to us. Are you going to have an exclusive relationship with the UFC, or can guys still go from RFA to Belator? No, guys can go to where they think is going to benefit their career. Okay. And we're a developmental organization. So to me, it's kind of like I've said many times before.

When I look at the landscape, when I look at the landscape of mixed martial arts, and I compare it to American football, I look at it as, okay, you know, you've got the NFL, which is similar to the UFC. You've got Bellator, which is kind of like the Canadian Football League. And now with Legacy and RFA joining forces, we're truly like the NCAA. And all those other organizations out there that are televised, to me, those are like the arena football. Yes, you're on the road, but where are you on the road, too? And that's the difference is. The LFA is a place where you're either you're stopping through on your way up or you're stopping through on the way down. If you want to test yourself against the best talent that's coming up

in the world, this is where you're going to do it at. So to us, we're really kind of, we're like a, you know, like a minor league team or a minor league organization. So when you're on your way up or on your way down, that's where you're going to test yourself to see if you're still really, really ready to compete at the highest level. So playing devil's advocate a little bit, a minor, let's say a AAA team for the Yankees. They're still under the Yankees umbrella. So they don't have to necessarily worry about, you know, making money, selling tickets, et cetera. Of course, it's something that they want to do.

But as long as they're part of the Yankees family, they're still going to be around. A college football team like the University of Michigan can have their quarterback just taken by the Buffalo Bills this Saturday. So how are you guys, how do you make money as a promotion, an independent promotion, when you can make a star, he becomes a champion. and then tomorrow he's gone, and now you have to build a new star, and then a new star.

Isn't that very, very trying? Isn't that a very tough task that the UFC Beltor don't have to worry about because when someone's on their contract, they're there for X amount of fights? You can have your top guy that you've been grooming for two, three years

gone in a flash. Yeah, you know, that's the way a lot of people think about it. And, you know, we've always taken a different approach and we kind of like to think outside the box. But at the end of the day, we're not here promoting one particular fight, rider or the other, we're here promoting the organization. And what people are going to be

tuning into the LFA for is they're going to be tuning in to watch the future stars. And that is actually our slogan that we came up with, which is LFA, where the future is now. You're going to be able to see the future superstars now. And that is our goal. So people are going to be tuning into the LFA, not because Bill's fighting or Tommy fighting or whoever, they're going to be tuning into the LFA because they want to see the best unsigned talent compete. And that's what we're promoting. How many fighters do you think will be under this new LFA umbrella? Do you think like 200, 100, what's the ballpark figure?

Infinity. I have no idea. I have no idea because, you know, we run our business a little bit differently. So, I mean, we are going to be doing 30 shows. We're going to have a lot of guys signed, but we haven't really gotten boiled down to how many guys we're going to have signed because, you know, as you can see, guys get signed from our organization. So, I mean, every week just about, like, we have, we've only done, um, with the RFA, we've done

40, 43 events and, uh, we've already put 52 people inside, uh, the USC, not including everyone that we've spent to Belator. So when you look at it that way, it's really hard that we're going to be constantly signing people and constantly letting people go to move up. So, you know, currently right now, when you look at how many, uh, in the current USC, roster, we have about 14% of the current UFC roster have come from our RFA and Legacy alumni. So I believe with the amount of shows we're going to do, I think that that number is only going to increase over the next few years. Wow. So you're going to do almost as many shows in 2017 as your promotion has done in its entire history. Yeah. That is right. You are

Any new markets? I mean, typically you seem to be going like West Coast, Midwest, not a lot of East Coast shows. Are you going to be hit, you know, I don't think you've ever been to Canada. Are you going to start expanding now a bit? We're going to start expanding, but we're definitely going to be hitting the East Coast. And we're doing that amount of shows. You know, our goal is really, we're going to do 30 shows in 2017. And in 2018, we're planning on doing 40 shows a year. Wow. And just for sort of some. Is it fair to say that RFA bought Legacy? No. It did.

No. It is a true merger. Okay. We basically came together. We came together and we merged. It wasn't we bought them or they bought us. We just kind of, we just got married. Unbelievable.

They have their staff. Yeah. And we have ours. And, you know, on the, on the amount of shows that we're doing, if you add up what legacy did last year and what we did. did last year. It's close to 30 shows anyway. They have their existing markets that they're, that they're been going to for years and do very well at, and we have the same. And so we're going to hit all those markets, but at the same time with the new venture, we're able to go

into some new markets, and we definitely 100% want to go to the East Coast, because neither legacy or our RFA really put our footprint down there. But as the LFA, I can guarantee that we will. Who approached two? How did it start? Did they come to you or did you go to them? actually, to be 100% honest with you, when we got involved with the RFA one time, one of our first meetings that I had with Sven, I told them, I said, what we need to do to really make a move. And I didn't even really know Mick at the time. And I just said, we need to merge with Legacy, because I knew that Legacy and RFA were the guys that were developing the most talent. And I think that that was the best way to give both a

of us the best leverage in the market. We're doing this amount of shows and putting on the sort of product that we've been putting on and putting on the types of shows we're putting on. I think it really opens up a lot of opportunities in many ways. By doing 30 shows a year, it really opens up from a marketing standpoint and from a platform. We're doing 13 shows. Legacy was doing 14 shows a year. But together, us doing 30 shows, we can really build some strategic.

partnerships with the right sponsors and with the right people that want to get involved. And I think that, you know, having 30 shows and having that sort of a frequency is really going to open up the doors to really bring bigger and more mainstream sponsors and more mainstream partnerships to our organization. Last thing. Do you know when the first LFA show will be? Do you have a date yet? July 13th.

I'm sorry, January 13th. Okay, I was wondering. I was like, that seems like January 13th. January 13th. January 13th, where? Houston. Houston. And that's interesting.

That's kind of like a backyard for Legacy. And do you know who will be on the card yet, or is it too early? I know I'll be there. All right, fair enough. That's why I'll go, because you'll be there. But there will be, we do have some things in the work that it's going to be a big card. We're going to probably try to have, we're going to try to have at least two of the new inaugural LFA champion. So what we're going to do is in the determine weight divisions, we're going to have the RFA champion fighting the legacy champion for the new LFA title.

Okay. Well, that's fun. Well, congratulations to you guys. Ed Sven, thank you very much for coming on the show to talk about this. Like I said, a very important piece of news, and especially when you talk about guys coming up to the UFC, trying to revamp their careers, trying to go to Belator. as Ed spelled out rather convincingly and clearly a lot of those guys come from either the RFA or legacy. So why not make it into one organization? I wish you guys the very best.

Again, thank you for coming on the show and we'll be keeping our eyes on this. I'm looking forward to seeing what it turns into the new organization and especially when you're putting on that many shows. I wish you guys the very best. Thank you. Thanks, Ariel. And, A, I'm heading to New York at the end of the week. So if you have some time, maybe we can grab the top. Always have time for you, Ed.

Thank you. All right. Okay. Thank you, guys. All the best. Ed Soros and Sven Bean, Beam, excuse me, CEO and CEO of the new Legacy Fighting Alliance.

It was the Legacy Fighting Championship. It was the Resurrection Fighting Alliance. Now they're won. And interesting to note that Mick Maynard, who was on that stage at UFC 203 in Cleveland, I pointed him out. I saw him earlier in the day. There are some strong rumblings that he is.

is going to go over to the UFC to be a matchmaker and perhaps replace Joe Silva and have Sean Shelby take Joe Silva's weight classes and Maynard take Shelby's. It's all very fluid, but that seems to be the strong indication. This appears to be another strong indication that this is happening. And I've actually reached out to McMainer to ask him about it, but he said he couldn't talk about it at this time. So we'll see 24, 48 hours. That's what Ed hinted at. Let's see what happens, but all signs seem to point to it, especially after the news Ed just broke. Okay, let's move along. Sage Northcutt is always in the news. It seems like everyone is calling this young man out. We have not heard from him in quite some time. Last time he fought was UFC 200.

Big win for him over Enrique Mar-in, and he joins us right now via the phone. Sage, how are you? Thanks, how are you? I'm doing great, Sage. It's great to have you. You know, I'm a little disappointed. We usually like to have you on via Skype. This time, I think for the first time, you're on via the phone, but we'll take it nonetheless. It's always a pleasure to talk to you. Yes, sir. Thank you. Where are you right now, Sage?

So I'm actually in the car. I'm heading to Dallas to train. So that's the reason why I couldn't be on the Skype right now, even though I would love to be. Okay. I don't have any Wi-Fi. It's all good. Why are you going to Dallas to train?

So I actually have a friend up here. My friend Drake Dudley, his dad, and one of my coaches, Alan Moller, I'm going to be training with up here in Dallas. So that's what I'm going to be training right now. Okay. So as I mentioned, you're always in the news, but you were very much in the news last week. Mickey Gall, defeated CM Punk and went on the microphone and said he wanted to fight you.

Did you hear this? Did you see the fight? Yes, sir. I did see the fight. And then actually, when he said that me and my team, my coaches, actually reached out and said yes to the fight. Oh, so you want to take this fight? That's great with me. So I said yes to it and I'm looking forward to it.

You get called out every week, it seems. Why does this one interest you? That's funny. You know, actually, I like the fact about 170 for this fight because my previous fights, I've had a tough time making weight of 155 having tough weight cuts. So after this fight, I'm going to go back and I'm going to figure it out. And it's been kind of like trial and error with me with the weight cut.

So I'm doing one at a time. I'm getting used to it. I'm figuring it out. But after this fight at 170, then I'm going to go back and make sure I get that down. Okay, so is there a chance that you will not be fighting at 155 ever again? No, no, I absolutely will for sure. Okay. And I think I've just been having trouble, I guess, cutting the weight and having the right weight cut.

I've been doing it on my own. So after this fight, this fight happens at 170, then after this, I'm going to go back and make sure I get that down. Now, of course, back in January, you had that, you know, short-notice fight against Brian Barbarina, didn't go your way, and that was at 170. Are you worried considering how that fight went? I know you were dealing with a lot of health issues that fighting guys at 170 is just too tough. They may be a lot bigger than you. No, I'm not worried about fighting at 170 at all. And, you know, that was a weird deal, Mr. Holwani, because I was having one fight, just like Mr. Zahabi actually told me, having so many fights so soon, cutting.

so much weight to go down to 155 over and over and over like I did at the time having three fights in a row back to back very close to each other it runs down your immune system so that's what happened then coming up about a week before the fight against barborena my immune system was run down I was very sick um we figured that going up to fight at 170 would be a good great thing but at the time my body just didn't heal up and it wasn't feeling right so but this time coming around I guess having having more time uh notice for it and to fight at 170 I should be healthy. Now, do you know when this fight is going to happen?

You versus Mickey Gall? So there's nothing officially confirmed yet, and I know the UFC and we're talking about it, but hopefully December time, that's what it looks like. Okay, because he was pushing for New York, November 12th. Is that a little too soon for you? You know, normally that would be great, and I would say that's great,

but to tell the truth, I haven't really gotten to train very much just because I'm healing up from a staff infection, actually. That's getting cleared up, and just coming off from my last fight, I would have liked to train more, but all I've really been able to do since the fight was just train a few body parts here and there, working out in the gym with weights. Not much grappling or stand-up like I'd like to, so December time. Okay, so is this the same staff infection that you were dealing with before UFC 200,

or is it a new one? So what's weird is there's so many different kinds of staff, actually. And I was told from various doctors that their staff pretty much on everybody on their that's walking around every day. So that's what's weird. It can get in your immune system, get inside your bloodstream, and it can travel throughout your blood,

and that's the last thing you want. So that's why I haven't been able to train very much come off in the fight, because I caught this staff, and it's a weird thing, and it's actually similar to the one I had in Canada, but this one's healing up quicker, and what's weird about it is

if you get your heart rate raised up too high, that's how it spreads. That's the last thing you want, so I'm going to have to be very careful of what I do and what kind of training. Are you worried that you're a little more susceptible to getting staff while training?

You know, it's the fact that's on our bodies every single day, that's definitely kind of creepy for sure. But getting to, I guess, eat more. If this fight happens at 170, getting to eat more, and walk around my normal weight and not have to constantly under-eat, diet down, and make weight at 155, I think I should be healthier for sure

and should keep that away for this fight. Now, did you watch the Mickey Gaul-C-N-Punk fight? Did you watch it live? Yes, sir. I sure did. What did you make of Mickey Gaul as a fighter? Were you impressed by him? Were you not all that impressed? What was your takeaway from that fight? So, look at that fight, actually, his previous two fights from the UFC, he fought two guys that came in to fight him, which I've actually never seen happen ever before, that had an MMA record of, nothing. So they had no MMA record. I don't think they had no pro-MMA record, no even

amateur M.A. record. So they had no fights at all. And I think him just going in and fighting two different guys had no fight. I think they're both close to 40 years old or something like that too. It's almost like fighting someone's dad. So that's only trained very little for a fight. And it was definitely interesting, if you think of it that way. Yeah. And then he fights CM Punk, who obviously had no experience either. And he, and he, He's close to 40 as well. Were you impressed by that win, or was that what you were expecting? Well, I think everybody was expecting that, and I just want to say that Sam Punk,

that was awesome for him to get out there and have the guts to go out there and fight because not everybody will do that. So to get inside the octagon, and she said it was his dream to go out there and fight his dream out there, so that's awesome for him. And I think everybody kind of expected it to go the way it did. He was fighting a guy that trained very little. and the fight went just like I'm sure everybody expected. And then he gets on the microphone.

Did you have any inkling? Did you have any idea that he was going to mention you almost right away? No, sir. I was just watching the fights, and I was just checking them out. Okay, and then he starts calling you names. He says you're corny. He's getting a little personal here. Were you offended by it?

No way. You're kidding me? You know, hey, you know, it's funny, Mr. Hawani, that he said, he's talking about my hair. He wanted to punch the spice out of my hair. And he said, looking at that from his fight side of thing, you know, in his pictures, his hair kind of looks like mine. It just doesn't have the hair gel in it.

It doesn't look like so. I'm thinking maybe he should get some hair gel and style it or something. Oh, wow. Them's fighting words, Sage. Yeah, he's kind of playing with his hair on the way to the cage and, you know, being the cool guy and everything. So he didn't get under your skin. and offend you with any of the words that he said?

No, sir, absolutely not. Is it fair to say that skill-wise and experience-wise that he's below you, that you feel like this is kind of a step down for you in a way? Well, you know, all I can say is that I believe I had better grappling than him, and I believe that better stand up. If I want to go out there, I could take the fight wherever I want. So if I want to go out there and stand up with him and knock him out, I believe I can do that.

If I want to take him down and submit him, then I believe I can do that also. So nothing he does in any area of the game really impresses you all that much? Nothing that stands out to me. Okay. And going back to UFC 200 for a second, considering what happened in January, were you feeling more pressure? I know we talked about a little bit before, but in the locker room and the hours leading up to the fight because it was such a big deal, what were you feeling like as you were preparing

to try to snap the sort of losing streak, if you will, I know, it was just one, but try to get back on track. What was going on in your mind, in your belly? How are you feeling? Oh, I felt great. There's no pressure on me, actually. So that's one thing that's great about me is that I don't have that pressure on me. I guess that's pounding against me or I'm feeling nervous about this or that.

I just don't feel that out there. That's good. But something that's interesting is all the fights that I've had at 155 so far since my weight cut has been tough, I just haven't felt quite right out there. So if that makes sense, my body didn't feel quite right. I haven't performed like I know I can. So it'll be interesting to go out there to fight at 170s for this. Oh, okay.

I totally see. Now, were you happy with your performance looking back? I know you said you didn't feel quite right, but overall, were you happy with what you did out there at 200? Yes, sir. I was happy. Obviously, anybody wants to finish their opponent off. And I was honored to be able to fight on UFC 200

and just have the ability to fight that night. Yeah, there were a couple of points where it seemed like it got a little tricky for you on the ground with his submissions. Did he ever have you in a tough spot where you ever considered tapping? Were you ever worried that you might have to tap? I had very tight joints, so I felt good while I was out there, but he did have a few positions that were pretty tight. And, you know, I heard that he was a pretty good grappler after the fight, and I thought that was interesting. Was Marin tougher than you thought he would be? You know, I really can't describe how tough my weight cut for this was.

Wow. It really wasn't, I guess, the amount of toughness of my opponent, Marine, when I was out there, but it was a great fight, and I'm glad he took the fight. Now back to the present, how quickly after hearing the Mickey Gall call out, did you guys call Dana White and say we won in? So actually our team called them within just a few minutes actually I believe And it was it was very very soon after that Do you get a kick out of all these people

Almost every single UFC show someone calls you out Do you find this funny? I do find it pretty funny I mean that's actually a compliment Yeah That people want to fight you What I find funny is if some of the guys at the top Try to call you out or toward the top

Because that doesn't make sense If they're taking the I guess going backwards in the rankings when someone's trying to work their way up, that doesn't quite make sense. They should be going to try to call up the champion if they're going to call someone out. They're trying to improve their games. That's good. Yeah, it is kind of, so you just laugh it off. Do you have any idea why everyone is calling you out? Why are they always picking on you? You know, I don't really know what to say about that, but I take it as a compliment. All right. Well, it's good you take it as a con. I saw a picture that you posted, not that long ago,

on your Instagram, and you wrote, cinnamon bun and you're doing, I guess you're working out your legs. I've never seen anything like this. This photo has to be, I wish we could show it right now, this photo has to be Photoshop, right? I mean, this is unbelievable. The muscles in your thighs are just bulging out. This is crazy stuff. You know what I'm talking about which picture I'm talking about? Oh, yes, sir. No, it's not Photoshop. That's actually a real picture. That is insanity. I believe my brother took it, actually. Well, he's a great photographer. Why cinnamon bun? Why did you caption that? cinnamon bun.

Oh, thanks. You know what? My nutrition company that I get all my supplements from called the Broad Nutrition that I order my supplements from, they have a new RTCD, which is a ready to drink protein shake and a cinnamon bun flavor. Oh. And I was just pumped up. That was drinking cinnamon bun while I'm working out.

It tasted like an actual like cinnamon bun dessert. How many sessions do I need to partake in to get thighs like that? What do you think? Thanks, Mr. I want to, it definitely takes, it takes a lot of work for sure. It's unbelievable. I mean, if you eat, if you eat right and you constantly work in it, then I know it could happen.

Do you ever have a cheat day where you just eat very poor, you know, a poor diet, junk food? Like, do you have one day of the week where you kind of go crazy? No, sir. I mean, I've actually, of course I've eaten junk food before or of eating out somewhere, but I always eat very healthy. and I think that's why I walk around very lean and that's also possibly a reason why why it's pretty tough for me getting out of 155

because I'm a pretty big 155er and walk around, get my body fat checked. I checked a few times and I walk around with close to 3% body fat, so that's why it's pretty tough. What's your biggest vice as far as food is concerned, like when you want to just kind of get some comfort food? Is there something that comes to mind? I love sushi.

I know it's not that unhealthy, but... Come on. But sushi is got to be my favorite. Sushi is not a vice. If that's your biggest vice, then I'm in big trouble. That's funny. So that's it. No chocolate chip cookies, no cheesecake, none of that.

Sushi is where it ends. I do like chocolate chip cookies, but I would have to go with sushi probably. How about you? That's a good question. You know, I really like Tiramu cake. I talked about that last week on the show. Have you ever had Tiramu cake? I think I've tried before.

It's been a long time, but I think it's very good. Yeah, it has a bit of a coffee taste to it. My mother makes a fantastic one. In fact, she's listening right now. I'm sure she'd make you a slice the next time you fight near Montreal, the East Coast. She'd be more than, she's a big fan of yours, actually. Oh, that's very nice. I think all moms are fans of yours.

Oh, thank you. Hope like in a meantime. Yeah. You know, and that goes, and as we wrap this up, that goes back to Mickey Gall and his trash talking. I thought, you know, it was a bit below the belt to say that you were corny and whatnot, you know, call the guy out, but I thought maybe he took it a step too far there. Yes, sir, I agree.

And I think a step too far is when he's cussing and sending a curse word out there because I don't know, he says that's how he gets people's attention, but I don't know what kind of people's attention he's trying to get. If he's cussing out there, is it the families, it's the moms, the little kids that are watching? I don't know, but it doesn't seem very appropriate. Do you think that this guy is kind of, you know, in Dreamland, like you said, he's defeated these guys who are going into fights with no pro-or-amature records, you know, the Mike Jackson, CN Punk's, like, do you feel like he's in for a rude awakening when he fights someone like you that almost has now 10 fights under his belt professionally?

Well, like I said, I've never heard of it before fighting two people that have had zero a fight pro or amateur. So I think anybody that's in the UFC is very talented and anybody he fights. It's going to be very interesting. Okay. And last question for you, Sage, and again, thank you so much for the time. It's always great having you on the show. I feel like the sort of social media stuff has quieted down. Like you're now sort of settling into your groove. People are really supporting you. And if they're not, they're kind of just leaving you alone. Is that accurate? Has all this sort of hysteria of earlier this year sort of quite? it down and now you're kind of, you're in that groove as your career settles in?

Yes, sir, a little bit. And, you know, it doesn't really ever quiet down, actually. So obviously, the UFC's great at social media. So the social media is always growing, which is awesome. To me, the more fans, the more people that I get to meet and I guess reach out to and I get to enjoy watching me fight or travel and watch me do this or that and follow my career, I think that's a blessing. So that's awesome. And I like that. It's not, I wouldn't say it's quieting down. I think it's just basically getting started. Oh, okay.

I didn't mean the love that you get, maybe just sort of the jealousy and the nonsense tweets and things of that nature. But you always have such a great head on your shoulders. I think you're a fantastic role model. Let me ask you this one last question. Is there a specific date that you want in December, that pay-per-view in Toronto, that Fox Show in Sacramento, that pay-per-view in Las Vegas, December 30th? Is there a specific date that you have in mind? Not a specific date in mine right now, but probably towards the mid of December. Okay.

All right. Well, maybe in Sacramento and Fox. Sage, again, thank you so much for the time. Safe travels to Dallas. Again, I always appreciate your insight. Always appreciate having you on. And I wish you the best in getting that fight against Mickey. And who knows, maybe we'll talk to you before the fight.

I look forward to it. I think there's going to be a lot of interest in that one. Thank you very much. Me too. And so I can do this Skype today because I was driving. but I would have loved to. Next time for sure. It's a date.

Yes, sir. Sounds great. There he is. Super Sage Northcut stopping by. Looks like he may have a big fight on his hands against Mickey Gall. How about that? That's a big one. I like it.

It makes sense. Let's do it. December. December it is. All right. Let's go from Super Sage Northcut to Rageen Allaya Quinta. There he is. Wow.

Look at this guy. There he is. Realtor to the Star. Stars. Are you a real estate agent now? I am. This kind of came out of nowhere. I saw your Facebook page. Are you at your office right now? I am. Usually you're in your bedroom. You're kind of in this dark. It feels like an underground layer. But now here you are like, you've gone pro on us. Or the opposite. Or the opposite. Okay. When, and we're going to get to all the stuff about 205, but when did you discover that you wanted to be a real estate agent?

When I purchased my house, I had a lot of fun doing it. I like looking at a bunch of houses. Real estate's good. Houses and, you know, money. Money. Money is good. It's a good opportunity to make money in real estate always. So it's, yeah, I just, I enjoyed the process of buying my own house.

and then I met through getting my real estate license, I met people that are doing real estate investments, and I hooked up with them, and I have a mentor, Nick LaManya, who actually trains at Sarah's, and he's flipped houses all over the country, so he's been showing me a few things. I haven't really done much yet,

but looking to get into the real estate industry. All right, well, I wish you luck with that. Now, let's talk fighting here, because a couple of weeks ago, Word got out that you were targeted for UFC 205 November 12th in New York City, Madison Square Garden. That's the car we all know as a Long Island boy that you wanted to fight on. And we heard that the opponent was going to be Tiago Alves, very big fight, big name, et cetera. Rumbling's late last week that this fight was in jeopardy. And then this morning you talked to Fox Sports.com and you sort of late.

it all out there. And you confirmed that you are off the card. Is that true? Pretty sure. I've been pulled off the card. Yeah. Okay. So what happened?

I asked for more money. I asked for more money. When I, you know, I just looking at my contract and what I've been through, just a number of things. There's a whole bunch of things, a whole bunch of reasons. And I asked, you know, I talked to my manager. I said, look, I can't, I really can't see a possibility of fighting for. what the contract here is for.

There's a lot of things that have changed since I signed the contract. And, you know, for me to go in there risk, you know, my health, risk, everything that you risk when you go into a cage fight, I just said, look, I can't do it. We got to ask him for more money. We got to ask for, you know,

maybe we can negotiate something. And, you know, my manager told me there's probably not a good chance of that happening. So I said, you know what, look, I'm not, I can't do it. I can't financially, I can't fight for this purse. If I win the fight and they take taxes out and I pay my trainers, I make okay money, okay. For fighting in a cage, I don't know about it. God forbid I don't win the fight.

taxes, trainers, all the expenses, everything that goes into a training camp, I'm basically fighting at Madison Square Garden for free. And it's just unreasonable. So I asked them to reach out to the UFC and from what he tells me, there was no consideration of a negotiation whatsoever.

So that's that. So what did they say? So your manager, Dave Martin, reaches out late last week and says, hey, guys, yes, you never signed the bout agreement, right? Never signed it. No. It was sitting there, and I was just looking at it. And I was like, oh, MSG, it's going to be so cool. But then I was thinking, I can't afford to do that.

I can't do it. It's just, and, you know, to fight a Madison Square Garden, you know, how many people are going to know me? I fight a Madison Square Garden. imagine you see me driving around in a freaking 2005 Nissan Dude you just Ford at Madison Square Garden What are you doing driving this car? You know, it's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed, you know, so I can't,

and it's not like I live a crazy light where I'm spending money. I don't have chatt. I have no chance. You know, I have, you know, a modest house in Long Island. It's pretty, you know, it's not a very expensive house. And that's basically all I spent my money on. So I don't, it's not like I'm going on. I haven't gone on a vacation in years.

I haven't spent a lot of money on anything. So, you know, my money, I'm pretty wise with saving money. So that's not the reason. It's just, you know, there's not enough money being paid to me to do what I'm doing, to risk my body. The last couple of years, the last year and a half year and change, I don't know, since my last fight, since my knee, it's been stressful.

It's been depressing. At what points, I thought my career was. was over. I needed a knee surgery that for a knee that was injured, fighting in a cage. You know, I fought for the UFC. I injured my knee and I was basically just told, listen, we'll pay for 50, you know, hospital special surgery where is the best surgeon who does this surgery. It's a very expensive place. Very expensive. It's the most expensive hospital. But he is the best guy. And for someone that wants to fight again, that's who you want to go to. And they said, because of the it's so expensive, normally it would cost $15,000, so we're going to cover $15,000 and you can cover

the rest. And I said, well, I can't cover the rest. And even if I could cover the rest, I wouldn't be able to cover the eight-month rehab process where I'm sitting there not making any money. So I don't understand how they want me to do that. It's not possible. So they asked me, they wanted me to get a stem cell injection. Stem cell injections have been proven not to work in articulation. Inartications particular carilage injuries. But their doctor wanted me to do it. So I flew to L.A. I saw him.

That's what he recommended. I come back. I got the stem cell injection. Six months later, what was it, five months later, something like that? No results. We're back where we were, you know, and I wasted five months of my life.

Just on something that I knew it wasn't, I told him it wasn't going to work. I knew it wasn't going to work. So, you know, I went back to the doctor and he said, let's just schedule the surgery, put a little pressure on them, maybe they'll pay for it. And then it was the Saturday before the surgery, and I'm sitting there, and I wasn't getting a call back from the medical department. It was the weekend of a big fight. I was in the car just, like, pulling my hair out. Like, what am I?

I didn't know what to do. I was so frustrated. and last minute they came through and they paid for it. So I got my knee surgery. And I was laid up for a while. It was hard for me to make money. I had, that's another thing. The reboc, when I signed the contract, there was no Reebok.

There was no Reebok. So I had sponsors paying me monthly, you know? I was making money. The Reebok thing comes, boom, all the sponsors stopped paying me monthly. So here I am. making this money, I have this surgery and all the money stops. I'm, you know, I had to, instead of worrying about focusing on my knee and focusing about getting back into the cage, I'm focusing on, oh man, am I going to be able to hold pads

for these guys in three months so that I can make a living so I can pay my mortgage so I can live, you know? It's funny how things change when a different perspective I had to do this whole thing. So it was, it was frustrating. And, you know, that just changed my outlook on everything. God forbid I get to, I take this fight, $26,000, I win, I lose whatever happens, you know, I get, say, I get hurt somehow. There's no, I got nothing to, you know, there's, uh, I'd have to take off time to, from my, my clients, I'd have to take off time with the real estate that I'm learning. I'm kind of, uh, I kind of got myself in a groove to stop that to take a fight where I could be,

you know, risking everything. It's just not worth it for the amount of money that they're going to pay me. You know, I would be great. It'd be great to say

that I fought at the, you know, Madison Square Garden, but, you know, after a while, it's, you know,

you're just saying that, there's nothing to show for it. And that's, you know, that's basically why I took this, that's why I took this stance that I took. And,

you know, it's a tough one because I'd love to, I'd love to, there's nothing, I'd love to do more than to fight at Madison Square. Guard, but just, you know, I just, I feel like, uh, to not even have a negotiation. And to, when we,

when we, you know, the things I heard Joe Silver say to my manager about me when, uh, when he asked just to negotiate, you know, F him, F this, you know, who is he to put a price tag on what my life is worth, on what my knee is worth? In a couple of years, you know, I've had two knee surgeries already. I may have to have another one after, you know, nine more fights, who knows? I might have to have another one. Am I going to be able to walk, you know, I'm I going to be able to live an enjoyable

life. And for him to say, F you, F this, I'll cut him, I'll do, I don't know, I'll, you know, is he retired? I don't know exactly what he said. It was through my manager, but I heard it wasn't, you know, maybe we didn't see the eye to eye, and maybe you know, maybe I'm not worth what I am.

But for you to F, this, f that, you've never stepped in the cage. You don't know what,

you know, what my body feels like after a fight, what my body will feel like down the line. So for,

for a company like the UFC to talk to me like that, to talk about me like that, it just doesn't sit right with me.

And then, you know, I think it could have been resolved a whole different way. I think we could have gone

about it a whole different way. I don't know. I don't know. Just frustrating. It's frustrating that, you know, under the situations they are, now it's at Madison Square Garden and now it's so big.

But it's something that I got to stay. I got to do this because everyone's, I go to a fight and everyone sits around the table. You know, we'll go out to dinner with a bunch of fighters or whatever, and everyone sits around the table and everyone's saying, oh, man, you know, it's just talking about the Reebok deal, talking about how they're losing money, how it's tough to get by, lying people to get a good training camp you got to bring people in you got to pay you got to do this next i flew people in from gilbert melendez fight i flew i got you know he got pulled for what he got

pulled for and here i and then they don't give me any of my show money at nine days before the fight some guys get show money some long for some reason i did um so it's it's tough it's tough if the contract remains the way it currently is are you prepared to not fight again Yeah. Unless I become like a, yeah, no, I'm, you know what? No. Even if I did become, it's just not worth it. It's just not worth it. So right now you're in, you're in limbo or in your mind, you're off the card and you're just going to sit back and kind of see what happens. If anyone needs to buy, sell or rent property, I'm the guy you talk to. That's what I'll be doing, I guess. What do you think it will feel like on November 12th when that event happens? Will you be able to watch it? Uh, yeah. I mean, yeah, it'll be cool. I'll be, I'll be kind of wishing I was there, I'm sure, fighting.

Yeah. But I'll be proud of myself that I took this stance and that, you know, I'm not just going to get walked all over. You know, I, yeah, I definitely, it'll be mixed emotions, but it'll be what it is, man. I'm, I'll be proud of myself. And I think there's a lot, a lot of people out there that are, that are supporting me already. I've seen support on Twitter. and I know there's fighters that wish they could do it I'm doing they wish they could they wish they had the balls to do it they wish they could say you know what you know I'm not I'm not I'm not on the card it would be everyone it was a lot of people oh you're on the msg card in my back of my mind I'm thinking I'm like yeah it's going to be awesome but you know what is it really worth it and I don't think it is I don't think and the other thing is um

A bonus. Winning a bonus. I can't win a bonus. So I kind of factored that into the whole... Why can't you win a bonus? They took the bonuses away from me. Before the Gilbert Melendez, it was supposed to be Bobby Green. I was supposed to buy Bobby Green. And it was like five or six weeks before that fight. There was a fighter summit in Las Vegas.

Yep. And, you know, I'm just getting into training camp. I'm just starting to get really, you know, start pushing hard. And I got sick. I was at Wadman's fight. He had a fight somewhere before that. And I come home from Vegas, and I was, you know, I was feeling sluggish. I wasn't feeling good.

My immune system was run down. So I called the UFC and I said, you know, I told them. I said, I got this fight coming up. I don't feel good. I'm sick. Can I take, is it cool if I stay home and train? I'm not getting paid to go out there. In my head, I'm thinking I'm not getting paid to go out there.

I'm going to get paid to fight. You would think they would want me healthy and good to fight, you know? So they said, you know what? We do these summits every couple of months. We'll get you from, you know, stay home, you come to the next one. So I was like, all right, cool. A couple of days later, I posted a picture of myself. I just posted a picture that I was at the beach.

and now the beach is five minutes it's my backyard I was basically I was in my backyard and I get a call a text message from I didn't know who I didn't know who James Kimball was at the time but he texted me and he's like I thought you were sick what are you doing at the beach so I'm like dude what is it I felt like I was cutting class

you know I'm like listen I'm I got a fight in five weeks I'm relaxing in between training sessions. There's a guy trying to kill me in six weeks. I'll go to the next one. So I get a call the next day from Reed Harris and Dave Scholar, and they're like, well, you know, you can't win a bonus. This is your punishment.

You can't win a bonus. Actually, no, they emailed my manager first and said they can't win a bonus. I forget how it happened. But then they, you know, Dave got a, my manager got a conference call with the three of us. I explained everything. I said, listen, I got a fight coming out, but I was sick. I went to the beach in between training sessions. That's not going to make me more.

It's not going to, you know, what does that have to do with anything? And you said that they do these every month. I can go to the next one. You know, what? I don't understand what the big problem is. And at the end of the phone call, I just, you know, I laid it all out there. And they were just like, you know what? Nah, punishment still stands.

Three fights, you can't win a bonus. Three fights, no bonus. So I'm like, three fights no bonus. That could be, no, it's potentially 150 or even more $1,000. And you're going to take that away for me because I missed. They said it was a three-strike rule. I guess there's a three-strike rule. Basically, you know, there was no dupe.

I didn't go before a committee. I didn't go before. I didn't explain my case. It was just like, you know, you got loud with James Kimball because he reprimanded you about going to the. beach so now you can't win a bonus for three fights and that really stuck with me it was just that that was i don't know that that they could do that really was just it uh i don't know it uh disgusted me it was like what why do i even why do i even want to do this do i even want

really want to do this anymore you know um as you know al the topic of a fighters association is very much in the news. Do you feel like that would, if that was in place, something like that in place, that would have helped you in these cases where there's someone supporting you, there's, you know, there's some kind of backing here. And there's, there's a, there's sort of an agreement in place that, yeah, okay, you could have known about a three strike rule. You could have known about this, you know, not just some sort of arbitrary punishment that comes out of nowhere. No, of course. Yeah. I mean, there's got to be, you know, there's got to be some representation for the fighters.

There's really not, you know, there's not, there's not, there's not, so what happened, you know, if they don't like you, they could do whatever. Yeah. Would you like to get released? No, I love fighting for the UFC. I love fighting for, you know, it's the best organization in the world with the best fighters in the world. There's nothing I enjoyed more than fighting, you know.

When I hurt my knee and I thought that I thought my career was over, I was, that was a hard, hard time for me. Because I do. There's nothing I like more than fighting. But there's nothing I like more than standing up for what I think is right. Yeah. And what I think I've earned. You know, I've earned more than that. I've earned more than just, I've earned a discussion, you know.

I've earned a discussion. I've earned the right to ask and not be cursing. that and, you know, put down, you know, I feel like, I feel like me, them paying for my knee surgery was almost like a, you know, like a gift. Like they should, like, they went above and beyond to pay for it where it's like, I hurt myself fighting for not a lot of money, you know, it's like I was fighting back then. I fought on the ultimate fighter to get, to, you know, get to the UFC, where you're going to make all that money in the UFC. And then I get to the UFC and it's like I'm still fighting for to make that,

to get that next contract where that next contract is awesome. And then, you know, I fight. I beat freaking, I beat Ross Pearson. I beat, I beat, uh, Joel's zone who are, you know, these guys are tough guys. You know, these are big name guys in the UFC. And I'm like, wow, I made it. I did it. We're going to renegotiate and I'm going to make money.

And then they come back with what they, came back with and I was like oh shit that's nowhere near what I thought I was going to be making and it's the same thing it's you know what you should just sign the contract stay in the good graces of the UFC and

win three more fights you or win four more fights and then you sign the big one but it's like I you know in a perfect world I would have done that you know I would have done that two years ago right but I got injured and before that too so it's not you're not getting paid

on what you do. You're getting paid on what you can do. And for a lot of guys, that doesn't happen. They never reach that point. You know, I'm still planning on reaching that point. I will reach that point. I was minus 250. I saw online against, uh, against Tiago Alibiz. His, you know, it's, that's a fight that can put me right up there in title contention. I freaking whoop on this guy in, in my backyard in New York City. He's freaking arms like popsicle sticks at 155 and freaking, and boom, I'm right there. But I'm not going to do it for freaking pennies. I'm going to be famous in New York,

and I'm going to be driving around on a freaking 05 Nissan. What are you nuts? I got pulled over. I pulled over to text the other day. I'm texting someone, so I pulled my car over in Wanto. I guess some people know me from the fight. They watch the fights and stuff, and the pizza guy was driving by.

And the pizza guy rolls down, and he goes, yo, I, Quinto, what's up, bro? I'm like, hey, what's up, man? He goes, he goes, yo, you're, You know, an animal. He goes, dude, you should be driving a nicer car than this, man. You should be driving. You're a hard, man.

You got a heart. And I'm sitting there. I'm like, oh, thanks, man. All right. All right. Like, what the hell do you say to that? Sure. You know?

So I don't know, man. Are you hoping that coming out and talking about this today will get them to rethink their stance and offer you a better deal? Like, in your mind, is the dream dead for now? MSG returning in November coming back from the search? Are you hopeful that this will be the end result after today's, you know, today's discussion, you know, you coming out and talking about all of this? You know, I didn't really, I don't even, I'm not even really even thinking about that.

Okay. I'm just, I don't see from where, I just don't even care anymore. I thought, like, like, when they weren't going to pay for my surgery, I thought my career was over. So I made terms with that at that time, you know? So I'm like a guy that I just really don't even care. You know, I'd love it. I can take it or leave it. It is what it is.

I love to fight a Madison Square Garden. It doesn't seem like they want any wanting to negotiate at all. So I'm not going to sit and cry about it. I'm going to move on with my life. If there is a negotiation, that's great. We can talk about it. But I'm not banking on that by no means. I don't know how much you pay attention to this stuff.

And I'm not putting anyone else on blast, but it does feel like the fighters, not really in unison, and independently, are sort of striking and coming to the realization after the sale of the UFC that, wait a second, we are very much underpaid here and we deserve to make more, especially when you hear how much other people in the company have made as a result of the sale. Do you feel like that's happening? Do you talk to your peers and are you all starting to realize that for the last few years, you probably should have been making a hell of a lot more than you were making? No, we all, everyone knew that.

Everyone knew it. We used to sit around. Like I said, I'd go to the fights and everyone sits around the table and it's just like depressing. It's like blah, blah, blah. Like, oh, I'm not getting this. I can't believe now we're not getting sponsorships. I can't believe now they're going to do this to me. I can't believe I'm not.

And no one does anything. Yeah. So, so nothing's going to get done. I don't know. So it's time to do something. Everyone just takes what they can get and hopes that they'll win three fights, hopes they'll knock everyone out, hopes that the UFC is going to like them, and then they'll be able to sign that new contract. And when they sign the new contract, it's going to be all good. But that very, very rarely happens to a lot of guys.

And there's a lot of guys who are very, they're very beat up. they're you know they're struggling and it you know and it's it's tough so um i understand you know people a lot of people they have families they have kids and they have to fight for the money but i'm i don't have to do that i don't have any of those things right now so you know i'll be honestly if if um cool with just like moving to by the beach and just chilling on, you know, on the side. That's all I need. You know, I don't need a lot, you know, I don't have the kids. I don't have the family.

So I can afford to take this stance. So that's what it is, you know. And to sort of put a bow on everything here, I kind of was joking a bit about the real estate stuff, but I do 100%, you know, hope that it works out and support you. That's the reason why you're doing this, right? I mean, you'd rather be in the gym. You'd rather be preparing for big prize fights. You don't necessarily want to be a real estate agent at this juncture of your career.

But is it fair to say that you feel like you have to in order to support yourself? Oh, no, for sure. Yeah, I got to think, you know, when I went back to school, when I first, right after I had the knee surgery, I was like, you know, it was just, you know, let, what is it, the full, spring. semester. I went back to, I went back to freaking college. And that was, that was just not for me. You know, I was thinking, I got to do, you know, I got to figure out something because this fighting, you know,

it's good, but it doesn't seem like the UFC likes me very much. It doesn't seem like, you know, and I'm not, I'm not one to just cower down and be like, please, please, please just give me scraps, you know, um, so I got to figure out something, you know, I got to figure out what I like to do.

Real estate's one of the things that you can do for, it's a lifelong thing. You know, there's 75, 80-year-old people that are selling real estate. So one day I'll be an old 75-year-old man hobbling around on freaking half a knee that I have and whatever. I'll be doing that. I hope it doesn't, it end like this. I mean, you're too good, you're too young, too much, potential as far as fighting is concerned for it to end like this. I sincerely hope that

something is resolved and that you get what you are you are owed and what you deserve and that we will see you in New York. I don't think it's going to be the same without you, my man. It really won't. We need to have region out there. It won't be the same. It will be a sad day. This is kind of... This is going to get off freaking easy. I'll tell you that. Yeah. Well, hopefully not. There's still time to spare. Well, you, one last thing, will you guys reach out anymore or is it kind of, are you just going to move? along and if they want to reach out they can reach out it's done right yeah i mean all right we're get the f bombs throwing at us i'm not that guy yeah well i respect you man much respect

thanks good luck to you uh and you always have a home here yeah give props to those who are supporting you that's the one right there american ethel hashtag more than a fighter got a you know they stuck by me a lot so shout out to them all right all the best to you uh all right all the best to uh all and please keep us posted on this. If something changes for the better and hopefully not for the worst, but please do keep us posted. And where can people reach you

if they want to buy real estate from you? Give us a plug. You can call me. My number. Facebook.com slash raging Al Realty. There it is. There it is.

Bring me up on Twitter at Al-A. Quentin. All right. All the best, you, Al. Thank you very much for coming on today. Thanks, Ari. I appreciate it, man. There he is. as ally Quinta, still very much one of the very best fighters in the UFC's lightweight division,

one of the very best fighters in the UFC, a sad sight to see him sitting there when he should be training, when he should be preparing for the opportunity of a lifetime, man, it does certainly feel like the winds are changing here and a lot of things going on behind the scenes and a lot of fighters coming to the realization that, hey, we should probably be getting a lot more, especially coming off the sale of the UFC. And it appears as though Ally Quinta had that epiphany and hopefully cooler heads prevail and that they can figure this out because it will not be the same without him on November 12th. I can assure you of that.

Okay, let's move along now and talk to our next guest. He was the big winner on Saturday night in Hidalgo, Texas. He knocked out Dustin Poirier. There was some fireworks before the fight, during the fight, after the fight. But boy, a lot of people are talking about Michael Johnson now. and I do believe he is making his MMA hour debut. What took us so long? I have no idea, but he is joining us right now on the phone.

Michael, are you there? I am here. I am here. Thank you. So good to debut finally. Yes. What happened? Give me crap. It took us a minute and you noticed and you're pissed off.

Is that accurate? I'm not pissed off. A little disappointed, you know. I thought we're on the same page, but now I guess I just got to go out here and do what I did Saturday night and then everything is starting rolling and then I'll get what I deserve. So it's all coming along.

Well, it was a very big win for you. It was a very important win because you were talking going into that fight like your back was against the wall, that you needed to win, that this was a must win situation for you. When you say all that stuff, and I heard you on Brian Stan's radio show on Tuesday and I thought that you were very honest and open about your life and the state of your, you know, your financial situation, all that.

What do you mean when you say my back was against the wall that this was do or die? Well, you know, coming off of one controversial loss and another really close loss, that's two in a row right there for me. And you know how scarcely is in the UFC. And, you know, you don't want to be on the other end of a cutting block and see how many I just lost three in a row. Or like, I really need this money and I got things to pay for and I got bills. that are backed up, and I just came off this long layoffs. I felt like I was fighting more than just in that fight,

and I think it showed that I was fighting for a lot more. Did you feel that pressure? Were you getting a little more nervous in the days and hours before the fight, given how much was on your shoulders? No, and that's the thing. I didn't feel any pressure at all. You know, I knew me and my team put me through an amazing camp, and I just knew everything was cooking on all cylinders,

and I was relaxed and focused, and I was just ready for war that night, and that's going to continue to be my style the whole way through my career now. How desperate were you in terms of finances? I mean, again, I was listening to your interview with Brian, and it seemed like you were in some kind of trouble. Is that accurate? Well, not necessarily like trouble, but, you know, I mean, it's just that, you know, when bills get backed up,

but you haven't fought in a while, and it's things like that, you know, things need to get paid for you, You get people, you know, so I mean, I mean, places need to be bought. You know, I need to find a new place to live now and everything like this in Florida. So I was just in the process of moving in the middle of my camp and everything like that. So it was a real rough camp. I was dealing with a lot, kind of hard to make ends meet at some points. And, you know, where you're having to borrow money from Springs.

And then you got to, so it was real tough on me. And us as fighters, you know, we're real. proud group of guys and it kind of does something to a fighter when we have to reach out and seem like we're we're needing more help than what it seems. I also heard that you said that your personal life wasn't great at the time. Is that accurate? No, I don't, I mean, my personal life is always doing my personal life. You know, everything was great.

I think what you just heard me said, I didn't really have like to, the loving life that Dustin went back to camp, you know, like, yeah, like I would go in the gym, I would go home and sleep and relax or, you know, some things like that. You know, I didn't go home. It's like a loving family and a loving wife like that. Right. Do you want that? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I would love that. And, you know, when the time comes and time comes.

But, you know, things happen for a reason and things go on and we live. but, you know, I'm in a great place right now, and I'm especially after this win, and I just know what I need to do, and I need to focus on. Was there any previous history between you and Dustin? Because it definitely seemed as things started to, you know, ramp up towards the ceremonial weighing on Friday, that there was some heat there. And I know that's always the case. You're about to fight another man.

I mean, there's a lot of emotion involved, but was this ever personal between you two? You know, I didn't think it was personal until I heard all the bullshit. shit that he was saying about me. You know, really, like, downgrading my skills. I'm an average fighter. I'm not great in this way. I mean, I get trash talking, but at the same time, like, I've been around with Dustin before we've hung out.

We've been in the same areas. I mean, we live 20 minutes away from each other. So, you know, to be, I thought it was pretty much cool between me and Dustin, and to hear him talking shit about me. That just shows really fake, and I don't really like that. and I didn't really take kind of that. And then you go into the fight and wow, I mean, you've had some great performances in the UFC and this one was rather short, but is it fair to call this one your best performance?

You know, it was one of my best performances, absolutely. I think I've had some great performances, but I was definitely, I wouldn't say it was my best performance, I would say it was my biggest statement up to this point. You know, I definitely think this was the one where I needed to go in here. and remind people how dangerous I am and how dangerous I can be. And that's exactly what I had to do. And then, of course, there's been a lot of talk about your sort of post-fight celebration. What did you say to him when he was out?

I said, fuck you when he's, I mean, I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to lie. I mean, everybody heard what I said, and I was really emotional after the fight, but I don't regret what I did. I apologize to him after that, but at the same time, I felt, Just respected and, you know, who's to say I was in the wrong for doing what I did? You know, it's okay for him to talk trash and talk shit before the fight and push me in my face at the way in to try to poke my damn eye out, but I stand over here after I knocked him out and all of a sudden that's a bad thing to do. They're kind of, you know, so hypocritical.

Yeah. So why apologize if you don't regret it? because I can see how it kind of went you know I think I did take a little overboard with you know fuck you and fuck him and um I'm not that type of person you know so I could see like the look in his eyes and I said I mean I just knocked you out I just I just did what I'm going to go out apologize just kind of brush things over you know I don't want to you know it was it was more of I'm apologize to brush things over it was in that aspect you know I don't want to go on you know, and have a bad blood, bad relationship with this guy just because we fought and things

like that. And so I had to apologize and just kind of, you know, make it a little bit right. And it was showing more respect after that. Did he accept your apology? Yeah, absolutely. He accepted it and we exchanged a few words in the cage. And, you know, we still have a mutual respect for each other, but I think that's as far as it's going to go now. What's it like when you have so much emotion, you're so, you're so amped, there's a lot of adrenaline and the fight only lasts, what, 95 seconds when you get to the back, are you able to come down or do you need to go for a run? Do you need to get it out? Because I feel like you still had a lot more left in you. I did. I had a lot more left in me. I tell you, man, I was ready

to fight 30 minutes. And you know, I was ready and this is going to be my night regardless. And yeah, I still had a lot less in me. And I went and got out with all my friends and family. and I think I started wrestling with my friends in the hotel rooms all night, you know, just because I was still worked up. And I was like, no, I don't feel like I did enough yet. I still want to fight. And I'm wrestling around with my buddies and everything like that. But, you know, now I'm cool and relaxed.

And I'm just, hey, it's right back in the gym. You know, I got to carry this momentum. I saw, I think it was on your Instagram. You posted a picture of some pizza that your family brought you. And I'm a big lover of pizza. Tell me about this pizza because it was fascinating to me that you were so excited to have this slice of pizza. It's emo. I don't know if you've ever been at St. Louis, but I think this is the only place you can get in.

It's like they call the Square Beyond Compare, but, you know, it's some of the best pizza I've had. I think it's the best. So every time they come to my sights, you know, I can't go home that often. I'm in Florida. I'm training. So, I mean, they just rally up everything. All the food I want from St. Louis and they bring it. So they brought me white castle burgers and my emo pizza, which is my favorite.

And, you know, it was a great celebratory dinner. What's on the pizza? What are the toppings? Sauses, bacon, and jalapinos. Damn. That is an interesting. I will have one for you, my next fight. Okay.

I appreciate that. You know, it's interesting. This year, one of the big stories, of course, Nate Diaz and his rise to prominence and the big fights and all that stuff. And the interesting sort of footnote to it all is that, you know, it kind of all kicked off with your fight and him going on the mic. And you had to hear that, I'm sure, over and over again, that promo of him talking about Connor and all that stuff. How much did that piss you off?

Just being a part of that, but you're sort of the forgotten figure because he's doing it after he beat you. Yeah, absolutely. It didn't really piss me off. It just rubbed me the wrong way because I felt like a stepping stone. And I was like, shit. I was like, he just beat me, and now he's fighting for this amount of money. he's getting all this fame now, but Nate's been around for a while, man.

He's one of the vendors of sport, and he deserves everything he's getting right now. You know, my hat's off to him, and it's good to see these guys succeed the way they are. Now, with that being said, I want my rematch. You know, I want my money,

I want these big money fights, and I'm here to show the world that I'm not to be joked around with in this division. So when you heard about how much he made for those two fights, What was your reaction? I was happy for him. I was a little pissed off because I felt like it was just a lost focus in our fight. And that almost feels like, man, that shit.

I mean, that could have been me. That should have been me in that fight making that amount of money. And who knows what it happened to my life and my career right now. So, you know, that's one of the things that I always said leading up into this fight that everybody gets their turn, everybody gets their chance to shine. And it's just when it's my turn, you know, I'm going to do more than shock or what. I'm going to crush it. And, you know, I think I'm on a pretty good path to that right now.

In hindsight, what went wrong that night against Nate? Because that's not the same fighter that we saw on Saturday. It just seemed like you can never get going. Why do you think that is? You know, I lost focus a little bit. And Nate was long. I didn't expect him to be that long, you know. And I always say I didn't expect him to come in to that fight in that greatest shape

and that ready to fight. You know, I underestimated him a little bit, and that's a huge mistake of my part. And I bet it never happened again, but, you know, like I said, he's one of the best of the world for a reason, and, you know, I was just off a little bit that night, but we're doing everything we can to do

to not let that happen again, and it's important that I stay focused through my whole fight and through my whole training camp. Saturday was your first victory since February of 2015, and I know the Dariush fight was, somewhat controversial and I think I know that you thought you won the fight

but just to get that victory again that feeling of being called the victor and having your hand raised what did it feel like? I felt great man being on top of the world and especially seeing

you know my teammate and friend Chad Skelly pull out that submission and then see the co-main event get a win like that and I just felt like yeah I looked at my corner I told him I was like listen, I was like, we're ready to go now.

It's like, these guys are getting big wins. Now it's my turn to go out here and put a stamp on this night and get a great win. So it felt amazing. And it's one of those things where it's like, yes, this is the feeling that I need to continue in this sport. This is why I do this to have this feeling. Yeah. And it just keeps me going. Kind of like a drug, right, in a way like that?

You keep searching for that high? Absolutely. It is like a drug. and I'm addicted 100% and no I do not need to go to rehab classes or anything like that like this is a drug that I'm okay with this addiction

I'm addicted to progressing and getting better every day and seeing what my future holds so how does Michael Johnson get on track and be consistent? You had that four-fight winning streak and then the Darius fight snapped it and then of course an ADS fight

but how does Michael Johnson go on like a five, six, seven fight streak to get the title shot, to get what you are searching for, the big money fights. What needs to be done and what needs to be changed before the fight in order to get that in your opinion? It's me not thinking I'm better than what I am. You know, it's me realizing the things I need to work on and the things I need to get better at, and it's me just staying focused.

You know, I think a big mistake that Dustin made in this fight was, she made a statement that said he still is untouchable. I learned that the hard way. I felt untouchable at one point in my career in Miles Jury, beat my ass for three rounds. And, you know, I would never resort to feeling untouchable again. So as long as I'm staying focused, standpoint, having great training camps, taking care of my body. Like I said, these surgeries were huge, but I got them all fixed and I'm healthy now, and I just feel great. And you're like, that feels good for me to go into a camp being healthy.

You know, I haven't had a healthy camp in two years. Wow. And I was just excited. I was just excited to show up to the gym. I was excited to train, to get beat up, to beat up, and I have a great performance. And, you know, like when you see the rest of the lightweight division, and it seems like all of a sudden, everyone, you, what would we have? Anthony Pettis. Who else called you out?

I feel like I saw like three, four people call you up. Will Brooks. Yeah, what was up with that? Will Brooks was really coming at you. Is he pissed at you or something? I know, right. I mean, he has every right to be. That was his teammate.

and he might have felt a little disrespectful, but hey, Will might want to worry about his fight he's got coming up before he loses focus on that. I think he's got something more important to worry about. Okay, so which of the options out there do you like best for you next? Like I said, I want the big fights. I want a fight that's going to set me up to fight for the title here pretty soon. So whether it be Khabib, if he's not fighting for the title,

if Nate decides that he wants to fight before, you know, his kind of trilogy, I love to get my rematch with him, and just anybody else at the top of the division. And if none of those top guys want to fight, then, hey, I'm available to a little fight. You know, I'm just fought. I'm healthy, I'm good, and it's all about making some money right now, so. Yeah, and even Anthony Pettis, who dropped down to 145 seem to be interested in you. Yeah, which is funny.

I mean, I like Pettas. I got nothing against him, but it's, it's, it's so funny. I called him out not too long ago. He went to 45, and now all of a sudden he's calling me out. So I don't know. I'm definitely not going to 45 right now, but I would fight him. No problem. No problem at all. He's a former champ. He's a great competitor, and that would be a huge win under my belt. It's amazing how, you know, you're kind of out and you're out of sight out of mind, and then all of a sudden you get this big win and you're the bell of the ball and everyone wants to fight you and everyone calls you out, right?

Yeah, absolutely. It's so weird. That's one of the crazy things about this sport is all it takes is one big fight, and that's it. All it takes is one big punch or anything like that, and it will just change the dynamic of everything. And I think I shook up this division pretty good Saturday night, and I definitely got a lot of eyes open. And now you feel like you can exhale a little bit. You can rest a little easier now that you got some money that you're back on track? Yeah, and that's the important part, man. I can rest and not have to stress about little money problems,

and I can just focus on what's important, and that's training and getting better and building for my future, man. So it feels great. I'm in a great place and a great state of mind. I'm ready to continue the success. All right. Well, I wish you continued success. Great to have you on the show, Michael.

Congratulations. And thanks for squeezing us in. I know you're at the airport now about to go back home. So thank you for squeezing us in before you board that flight. We appreciate it. Oh, yeah. Thank you, man. Appreciate her. I definitely. Don't stay away so much next time. I won't. Keep in contact. I will for sure. I will for sure. All the best you, Michael. All right, man, take it easy. All right, there he is. Michael Johnson. Big win for him on Saturday night against Dustin Porre. And wow, what a difference a few months make for Michael Johnson as he knocks

out Porre on Saturday coming off that loss to Nate Diaz in December is sort of a forgotten figure in that lightweight division and then boom, reappears in Hidalgo, Texas on FS1 and now everyone's talking about him again. Now everyone wants to fight him. Interesting stuff. Okay, let us move along now. Very, very, very excited to talk to our next guest. Why? Well, he may not be a household name here in North America just yet. But if you're a mixed martial arts fan from across the pond, by now you have surely heard of Patty the Baddy Pimblit. He is the Cage Warriors featherweight champion. He is coming off a very impressive also 95 second win last weekend,

not this past Saturday, Saturday before, in which he won the Cage Warriors featherweight champion. And ever since he won that fight, and if I'm being honest, starting a few months back, I have been terrorized by fans of his on Twitter to tell me, you better get Patty the Baddy on the show. Every time I tweet about this show, every time I tweet anything, when are you going to get Patty the Batty on the show?

And if I'm being honest and I know he doesn't love the comparisons, the last time this happened to this degree about a fighter who wasn't in the UFC was Connor McGregor three years ago, three and a half years ago. I swear it was reminiscent. And so I said, I got to get Patty the Baddy on the show. So now let us go to the Magic of Skype and welcome in Liverpool's own. Patty Pimlet. How are you, my friend? Thank you for coming on. How are you, Ariel? It's my pleasure. Don't worry about it.

Well, I appreciate you coming on. What is life like for you since winning the belt in Liverpool, no less? Getting that amazing ovation, you're celebrating everywhere. What has life been like for you since that fight? Well, it was brilliant, no what I mean. I got to become a world champion in front of all my home fans, everyone who's believed in me all the way. It was amazing to be honest. the atmosphere there was unbelievable and even now when I'm walking around the city or I'm doing anything I keep getting mobbed and asked for photos and stuff like that it's it's unbelievable to be honest do you like getting noticed you like being a local celebrity I don't mind nor what I mean like I've said it before I'm only 21 and it's it's it's crazy but I'll never turn a photo down

with anyone I know I've got like another 20 30 years to be getting photos with people so I need to get used to it. Okay, so now here's the fascinating thing. As you mentioned, you're only 21 years old, yet you seem to have this amazing connection with your fans. They are supporting you, like I said, they're hounding me to get you on the show, they're hounding the UFC to sign you. Why do you think that there's this connection so early on in your career? I don't know, to be honest, it's just I'm likable. I think that's what it is. I'm just, I'm a nice guy, know what I mean? I get called to batty, but I'm just a nice guy, to be honest. I owe me first. I owe me. fans believe in me because I do it for them, know what I mean? And I believe in them.

They give me even more belief when I'm saying and when I'm fighting. Like the other night on last Saturday, no one could have beat me. You could have put anyone in that cage with me and no one could have stopped me from getting that win. There was no way. What does the batty mean? I don't know. It hasn't really got a meaning. My coach, Paul Rimmer, just gave me a I've, on my fourth amateur fights, my coach, one of the announcers, come back and said, what's your nickname? And I just told him, I haven't got one. And then my coach said, no, his name's party the baddie. And then ever since then, it's just stuck with me. Okay, so you made your amateur debut around five years ago, your pro debut around four years ago. And so that's 16, 17 years

old. Why did you get into MMA fighting so young? Did you not want to go to school, have a job, do something? Like, you knew right away. that this is what you wanted to do? Yeah, when I first started training when I was 15 and I'd just turned 15 and like, it's mad as soon as I come in and as soon as I'd done some jiu-jitsu and some stuff like that.

I just knew that it was what I was meant to do, to be honest. I just knew, I don't know why, but I just knew it was what I was meant to do. It was at, I was half good in school, like academically. I knew what I was doing with everything, but it never, like, pulled me in

or dragged me towards it as soon as I'd done some MMA. It just made me want to do it more and made me want to go to gym every day and learn new stuff. How did you end up at the school to learn Jiu-Jitsu? Were you a big MMA fan? Did you watch the UFC on television? How did you end up there? No what, to be honest, the first UFC that I watched was, I've seen it on the UFC actually today. It was six years ago today. The fight or seven years ago today, Rich Franklin versus beatore Belfort and Belfort knocked them out in the first. and I enjoyed it that much that I went for a jog after at 5.30 in the morning over here

and from then on I just wanted to do it and then I went to gym and I just caught on to everything straight away. It's like I've always been competitive at everything I do so it's just showing like it proper pulled me in and made me want to fight. That's right. UFC 103 in Texas, Rich Franklin was. Yeah, 103 was.

And as you mentioned, that's like 5 a.m. where you live in England, And how did you end up, you know, if you have no knowledge of the UFC, you're not a fan of the UFC, how do you end up watching that show at such a crazy time? One of my friends told me about it in school, the lad that I grew up with, he just said to me one day, I think it was UFC 99, Wanderly versus Franklin. Yeah. He watched that, and I can remember him showing me clips of it and stuff like that. And then someone else showed me UFC 100.

And then I just decided to watch it that night because I was up. from then on that that was it it just it got me and when you told your parents that this is what you want to do what did they say um well at first it was just saying it was just a hobby and then when i left school my mom made me join college and like go to six form and carry on to carry on learning but um i just got a found a college what was close to the gym so that i could still go the gym every day I was skipping some classes so that I could go to the gym of a morning and spa and stuff like that

and then in the end I ended up just leaving that after a year and then my mum was like my dad wasn't so much on my case but my mum was here you need to get a job you need to get something that all that you can learn from you can't earn from that

and I can never just tell them no mum I am going to earn from it don't worry on I go pro everything and I'll be signed and up until I was like free and no pro she was still saying the same thing and then I got signed by Cage Warriors and everything just changed, no one I mean. Yeah. Are you making good money now? It's all right, money, but I've got an announcement coming soon over the next few days

where everyone will be interested in. Because we're signed something with a certain organization. I can't say just yet, but I'm going to be getting great money, and it's in my best interest, and I just can't wait to move forward. Well, I've seen online that you have some big news, Is this what you're referring to? Yeah, yeah. There's a big contact news coming up of Sam with an organization,

but I just can't say who you. Does the name of this organization rhyme with Blue Deaf T? I can't say. I can't say just, yeah. Okay, was your goal, Patty, to get the Cage Warriors title, which has propelled a lot of fighters into the UFC, Okay, let me get this belt and then I'll get that push that I need to finally get in there. Did you feel like you needed to win the belt in order to get that attention?

No, to be honest. I think I've had more attention than any of the former Cage Warriors champions, even without the belt. I've had any more attention than any of them. The fight wasn't originally scheduled to be for the belt until Alex Anlan got signed. So I didn't really think I needed the belt, but I'm glad I've got that. that gold, army wasted, it's a nice feeling.

And you never know it could be defending the cage warrior's belt. Oh. No one knows just, yeah. Whatever this deal is, is it signed sealed? Is it done?

Whatever, and you're just waiting for the announcement? Yeah, all sorted. Well, there's no better time than now. The floor is yours. Why don't you tell the world?

I can't just, yeah. You're not going to get it out of my area. Don't worry about that. Block up. All right. enough. I know you're often asked about Connor and the comparisons, you know, they're right there, the same division, same organization and whatnot. I even said that, you know, people, the last time they were bugging me this much to have someone outside of the UFC on the show was Connor.

How do you feel when you are, considering what he's done in the UFC, how do you feel when you are compared to him? Obviously, it's great because people see how good he is and they see that I can become that good, but at the same time, I don't like it because I am my own man. No one showed me no route to do this. Even when I was 17, 18, I was telling people that I'm going to be two-weight world champion in the UFC anyway. And like, the comparisons

to him are nice at the same time, but the horrible at the same time, it does me at him because I'm me, know what I mean? I'm not Colin McGregor. I'm not no MMA. I'm like no MMA fight he have ever seen. He said he was here to take over while I'm here to conquer.

So when you say that, unlike any other fighter that we've ever seen. I mean, why is that? Explain why you're unlike anyone. Have you seen these pretty boy good looks? Hey, have you seen these? Yes. And what happens in the cage? You just don't see what happens in the cage apart from when I'm in there. I do stuff in there that no one else can do, know what I mean? I'm an entertainer. I put a show on for my fans. Do you feel like there's not on and off the microphone as well? Right, right. Do you feel like there's not enough of that in MMA that people don't understand the entertainment aspect of it

and sometimes are boring on the microphone, don't sell themselves enough? Yeah, you know what I mean? You've got to be yourself in there. Too many fighters go in there and put an act on and try and be someone that or not. And I hate that personally, you know what I mean? Just go in there and be yourself. Yeah. You go in there and be yourself, everyone. I think someone is calling Patty right now.

This usually happens when someone calls someone on Skype when they are on Skype. Oh, there he is. What's up on there? Yeah, did someone call you? You're back. Yeah, someone rang me, someone rang me. A little glistence. Oh, good.

Are you familiar with a guy by the name of Kerry Von Eric? No, none of the talk of me had, no. Carrie von Eric, I want you to Google this man afterwards, was a legendary pro wrestler, and he had hair just like yours, and he was known as the Texas Tornado. He was an amazing wrestler, and he would get on the mic, and he was very excited. and you remind me a lot of Kerry Von Eric, and that is a great compliment. He is no longer with us,

but you are kind of like the hair, the shaggy hair, you remind me a different accent, of course, but you are Kerry von Eric when I look at you. So I'm wondering, did you grow up a pro wrestling fan? And is that where you got kind of your style of talking on the microphone and all that?

To be honest, yeah. Okay. I grew up watching wrestling. My favorite wrestler was your Michael's the heartbreak kid. All right. So, yeah, and I know what you mean here. It could have come from that subconsciously. it could be from my days when I was like 8 and 9 staying up to later watch that

and not staying up later to watch a UFC, it could be something to do with that. Yeah, and Sean Michaels was known as the showstopper, and he had a flare of dramatic, so that's where you get some of it, right? Yeah, defle. Defel, I like that. What about the Sakuraba shorts that you were wearing in your fight last weekend? Why did you do that? Well, I'm sponsored by Scramble brand, and, um,

They sent me a few pairs of shorts before me fight, and I'd wore their purple ones previously, and the orange ones came, and I just like the look of them, they look boss. They make your staccouse as well, know what I mean, orange and white,

and I'm a bit of, I'm a bit loose just like Sacheraba was, so it was a nice fit, to be honest. And from what I understand, the knock on you was that maybe you didn't have enough knockout power. Did you feel like you wanted to put that statement on, that statement victory? you say, look, you know, you could talk about my ground game,

but I will knock you out as well. Was that a conscious decision and effort on your part? Yeah, I'll be honest for a few fights. I've wanted to show me striking a lot more. In the fight with Ashley Grimshaw, I wanted to show me stiching a lot more because he was more of a grappler. But when he ended up on the ground with him,

it was just so easy to keep control of him on the ground. I thought they're not standing up with him because anyone can catch anyone with a big over-and-right and anyone can knock anyone out. So I just grapple, and then the same happened with Teddy Viles. it was so easy when I got on the floor. But last Saturday, I didn't even get a chance to go on the floor with him.

I've done the sloppiest takedown that I've ever done in my life. And it was shaking my head. I wasn't happy with myself. And then stood up on the first punch, what landed after it, put him down. So I think it was because it was a bit pissed off with myself before it, that I landed that one even sweeter. And then you celebrate by jumping into the crowd. Who were those people that you celebrated with?

Were they just random people? Yeah, they're all my mates. and other random people as well, know what I mean? I jumped over the cage of first to celebrate with my team because that's something we've been working towards for like seven years

and Adam and Ellis and Paul who had jumped on my head coach and two my best mates and then I can remember seeing my other mate over the other side and I thought the whole arena's going nuts I'm going to have to jump over and celebrate with them

because I am one of them we're all the same I'm cuffing the same cloth as all these people so I just jumped over and got in there with them. The shot of you sitting on top of the cage with your arms crossed is a classic shot. You're just kind of loving it all, right?

What are you thinking in that moment? I was just thinking, wow, I'm basking in the glory here. That was when I just got back in the cage. It just climbed back up onto the cage, and I looked up and I looked around that everyone and I could just see every single person that was there up on the feet. And I just thought, yeah, everyone's here for me. This is amazing. and going to have to let them know how happy I am

and just done a little pose for them, sat on the cage. Fair to say that was the greatest moment of your life, short life, young life, but was that it? Yeah, like you're saying, I'm only 21. I'm going to have a lot more bigger and better moments than that. I know I am when I lift that UFC title and stuff like that. But for now, that's the biggest and best moments of my life. And when you were preparing for your MMA journey,

when you were starting out at a young age, did you think at 21 all of this would be happening, you this soon? Yeah, I know I'm on a path of greatness. I know where I'm headed. I know, I know everything. I know what I mean? I've envisioned all this in my future.

I knew that I was going to get this far, really engaged. To be honest, I already thought it'd be in the UFC by now. Oh. I sure be, but, you know. What took so long? I know what takes so long. What's happened here?

Your videos went off again. Oh, yeah. What's been so long, they should have already been on. on me, but we'll see what happens. Yeah, so if your next fight, do you think it will be a 145 or 155? 145, probably. Okay.

How's the weight cut for you? I'm the champ now, aren't I? Yeah, yeah, that's right. But if you go to another organization, you might have to, you know, give up the title, right? Yeah. Yeah. Who's on your hit list in the UFC? All of them?

Anyone in particular All of them Every 145 or slash 155 That's got anything to say People get dealt with What's the dream scenario for your debut Do you have it, a venue, a city, an opponent? No, to be honest

Like I've said, it doesn't matter who it is, where it is When it is, the only thing I know is I'm coming out the winner Okay And what about, I've seen you go back and forth With some of the McGregor fans on Twitter Is it suffocating? Are they coming at you a little strong these days?

Nah, I enjoy it, no what I mean? They're all right today. They come in and try and have a little go, but I just talk back to them. It doesn't bother me. He can say whatever they wants. I'm the one who's world champ now, and I'm the one who's going to UFC there, you know.

If UFC goes back to Liverpool with you, how big of a deal can that be? That'll be the biggest show. what the UK's ever seen. Big a show. You'll have never seen an atmosphere like it. I spoke to a few people about the other night

and like a lot of them have said they've never been to a show like it, they've never experienced, nothing like that. I spoke to someone there who worked in the MMA world and they said to me the only time that they've ever been in an atmosphere, anything like that, was when Vitor Belfort beat Luke Rockhold

in Brazil. And he said that was a better atmosphere than Brazil. He said he's never seen nothing like that. Wow. How did you celebrate? Went out on the town, had a few aisles with me mates. Yeah.

A few beers. Yeah. I bet they're all coming out of the woodwork now, everyone wants a piece of the batty. There's all sorts of people jumping on the body bandwagon now. Yeah. How do you feel about that? Yeah.

themselves. It's great, I mean, it's the people who didn't believe in me at first and now are jumping on the bandwagon. I don't like them. Some people are jumping on now. But the people who've always believed in me, I loved them, no or I mean, I wouldn't be where I am today

for all those people who believe in me and all my fans. When can we expect you to fight again? Before the end of the year. Okay. Definitely. All right. You know, I like to stay up. but I don't like to sit out

and like I said I'm only 21 so I'm fit as a fiddle I'm sorry I can jump back in there all the time and just like you said I won in 95 seconds last week so no injuries

not a mark on me on my lovely face so it's all day I love it I wonder what you're doing November 19th exactly two months from now in Belfast

I wonder if you'll be available then I would be like I would be available but we'll see what happens, won't we? Well, Patty, I wish you nothing but the best. It's been great to have you on the program. You're tough to penetrate, my friend. You're like a steel vault.

You know that from Liverpool, we don't open our mouths. We don't snitch on no one. That's right. I've heard that about the Scousers, right? Is that how you pronounce it? The Scousers? Yeah, Scousers. What's the difference between Scouser and Liverpoolian?

Not on the both the same. Oh, okay. The both in Liverpool, yeah. Are you a big LFC fan? Yeah, of course. Like you seen after the other day, I got the whole arena to sing justice for the 96.

Yeah. That's the 96 Liverpool fans that He lost a large. Explain what happened there. Well, there was a disaster like 25, 26 years ago now in 1989 at a football stadium. They left too many people in

and 96 of my fans, Liverpool fans got crushed and, you know, lost their lives and other people got injured and ever since then we've been ridiculed over it because some newspapers put out that Liverpool fans were robbing off their own dead, taking rings off fingers, not helping each other

urinating on police officers that would find out of help people in that and it was just a newspaper called the Sun lying lying through its teeth and we've been ridiculed for 25 years over that So I'm not going to let people forget that, no what I mean. I'm a lib pool fan through and through, and I'm a scourter through and through. I'll never forget them 96 people who lost their lives,

and I'll never forgive the son for posting bad stuff about my people. Well, they are certainly proud to call you their own. Congrats on all your success, even though it's been a pretty short run for you thus far. And you have our attention, my friend. You have our attention across the pond. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next for you and what this big news is, and having you back on the show to talk about this big news. I can't wait to come back on the show.

I've got another 15 years left in my area. I'll be on this a good few times over the next few years. All right. Well, I look forward to that. All the best to you. Thank you for coming on. Appreciate it very much. Thanks very much.

See it again soon. All right, there he is. Patty the Baddy Pimble. Remember the name. It sounds like he has some big news for all of us. And I think he may have, if you were listening closely, I think he may have, ever so slightly let the cat out of the bag, but we'll let him off on that one. He is a young man. He is

21 years old. He is very excited about his future and who can blame him, everyone. And I don't, I do not overstate this. It is very reminiscent. Now, I'm not comparing the two. Certainly different fighters, different personalities, but you can see there are some comparisons there in terms of representing a nation, getting fans behind them, unique styles. And for me, very much, much deja vu all over again as far as the requests and the demands to have patty pimbleau on the show so very very happy that he was able to come on it was a lot of fun to talk to him and i look forward now to hearing this news what is he talking about i wonder that was fun uh mr new york rick are you there i'm here sir there's a lot going on mr nearerick what do you think of young patty the baddy pimblit

he's got the goods he's got what i think what do you what do you do you do you think his big news is? I mean, one can only wonder. Yeah, I know. I mean, part of me kind of wishes that he told me about this pending big news that we had him on after, but I feel like... You know what? It's his news. Let us, you know? No, no, certainly, but I'd love to react to the news, but I get it. Oh, he got, yeah, 21 years old, it'll, uh... He'll figure it out. But, uh, no, he's, he's definitely got the goods. He, he, after I called him, he tweeted out, um, something about the time swap and he's just a good cat he's a he's a funny personality and a what was he giving you crap no not me no he was he was he was awesome okay he was super accommodating

and incredible and took it like a champ um he was just tweeting uh michael johnson needs to you know get his times straight on uh on twitter already talking smack huh yeah maybe that's one that he can match up with now to be fair that that was our doing it wasn't michael johnson's doing um i know michael johnson had to get on a plane So we wanted to accommodate him. But all is well, that ends well. And I do remind you that Derek Brunson is coming up at around 410 to talk about his big win over Uriah Hall. So there's a lot going on.

Wow. Unbelievable. Shall we get to the questions now? What do we got? Anything good? We could get to the questions. Anything you want to just bring up before we do that, like spitball? I want to see what the people are thinking about.

Sure. I got a few things on my mind. Oh. But I want to see if we're on the same page with the people. So let's see what they got. I have a feeling not. Interesting. Wow.

I feel like you're going to have to pull some out today. So Michael Johnson, he explained the situation between himself and Dustin, I think, pretty well. He went through it from start to finish and accounted for everything. Did you have a problem with his post-fight celebration? People were saying on sportsmen, like almost unanimously everybody was disappointed in that. How did you feel about that? Look, I think sometimes we forget that there's a lot of emotion involved, that these guys are in a cage, that there's a door lock behind them, that there's a lot of, there's a lot of adrenaline,

two alpha males, they're talking at the way-ins, they're going back and forth, fingers are being pointed in each other's faces. And I think we forget that when it reaches a crescendo like that and you realize what you have been working on, you know, accomplishing for the last three, four months, which is knocking this guy's head off, so to speak, there's going to be some emotion. And of course, course other people react to it differently. Some are able to, like Mark Hunt, knock the guys head off and walk away, and others are going to let it out. And when you hear what Michael Johnson has been dealing with as of late, you kind of get it. Now, I will say, what, and I, and I,

and I use the word bother lightly, but if I had to pick one, you know, one thing that I, I, I, I, I liked less than the other was, it would be the extra shots. You know what I'm saying? the extra shots is what bothers me more than the words. So you thought the stoppage came a little late? Slightly late, yeah. I didn't necessarily feel that way. I thought they were academic for sure, but I think the ref wasn't stepping into the point.

I don't think he landed anything that felt borderline. I felt when the ref came in, he was done. Now, Dustin was likely unconscious at that point. He gave him a really, really sharp combination. But I didn't have a problem with that. And to be honest, when the adrenaline's going, like you said, the actual, you know, pointing and that type of thing is poor sportsmanship. But I understand, like, I get the place that's coming from. There was so much built up to that.

The weigh-ins, there was so much tension there. And then if we're going to dog him for that, we have to give him all the credit in the world. For when that adrenaline dies down, he apologized. He didn't, you know, shy away from it or double down. He went to Dustin directly and apologized for it. And cooler heads did prevail. So, you know, I think all as well that ends well, certainly they're not going to be breaking bread together. But I don't have as much of a problem with it as most seem to.

Unless it's like completely unsportsman like egregious, like you're trying to soccer kick the guy or do something illegal. Yeah. I try to give fighters, especially those that don't have a history of this sort of thing. Michael Johnson doesn't have a history of this sort of thing. You try to give him a pass in the heat of the moment. Yeah, the heat of the moment got to him. But afterwards he apologized and, you know. He did.

But it's interesting to hear him say that he doesn't regret it. No, I mean, you have to kind of understand it. You know, Dustin's the one that did push his head at the way-ins. So I kind of get it. At the same time, you know, it's not sportsman, like, for sure. And you certainly feel for Dustin. I mean, this is the second time that he has made event at a UFC show. And, you know, he's climbing the ranks as he was a game.

against the Korean zombie back in 2012, and for the second time, he stumbles in a big way. Yeah. But that does show that he can get back here and that he has to rebuild and do it again. And I think he's perfectly capable of that. So a young guy, for sure. I mean, let's not take the shine away from Michael Johnson, because that was bonkers. That knockout was, you know, vicious. And he's talked about, I forget, I believe it was Stan on the commentary.

or Anick, I forget who said it, but somebody was talking about how Johnson had said he believes he had the fastest hands in a weight division. And after that, it's hard to disagree. Literally, if you blink, you miss the entire exchange. He put it on. And, you know, Dustin missed that uppercut and that was it. But incredible performance. And also, I think Dustin will be back. This was, I think this is his first loss at 55, right, since coming back up. You have a soft spot in your heart for Dustin. I do. I'm wearing the Fightville shirt right now. Oh, look at you. Look at you. That is a great. documentary. Incredible. Because you do kind of look like each other, right? Not anymore. Come on. Well, not anymore with the hair. Now, I'm just curious about the shaving of the sides. Like, why, when do we determine that it's good to shave, not good to shave? Because if I'm being

honest, I don't hate the hair. I like it when the sides are longer. Nah, I like it when the sides are shorter. You do. You feel more aerodynamic? Yeah, it just feels heavy, you know. Cleaner. Yeah, it's nice. I like it. How long does that take? What do you mean? To get a haircut? How long does it take? Because you're not touching the top, right? Yeah. Oh, you are? No, no, I'm not. When's the last time you trimmed the top?

It's been years now. Years, literally years. Two, three, four? I think like we're going over two years now. Wow. And what about the sides? How long? Do you wait in between?

Depends on travel and laziness and all that stuff. I don't, I've been getting haircuts on the road a little bit when I travel for events with Invicta and Glory and all that stuff. That's tough, man. Not good to get the road haircut. I hate the road haircut. I've actually never done the road haircut. if I'm being honest. I have been...

Smart. Let me tell you this. I have been in search for one reason or the other. I don't want to get into that, but I had a barber that is the man, but I don't live near him anymore. This guy's Mani the barber, crew barber, and I go every week. And to me, it's like a bond that you have with your barber. The comfort in knowing that you can sit down and just let him do his thing.

You don't have to explain to him. You don't have to worry. is an unbelievable load off your shoulders. It's a great comfort. And so I had that for years. And then we parted ways. Sometimes I even make the drive, but it's just too far.

So I've been searching for quite some time, and I thought I found someone, and it was going great, and then she made her off day on my day. And now I can't go anymore. So now I have to search. You can't change your day? I only got one day.

Oh, get out of it. There's only one day. Every Tuesday is my day. You got to work. You've got to work with them. I can. I travel. I travel.

You know, I do things. It's a big problem. It's a huge problem. It's actually depressing me that I now have to find someone else and go through this because I finally found someone. She was fantastic and she left me hanging and we were together for four months. This is a relationship, Ariel. You're trying to take, take, take.

You got to give a little bit. It's so depressing. Maybe it's Wednesday is your day now. No. Monday, Tuesday, her new off days. I mean, who takes three days off for God's sex? That's a little. I mean, come.

But maybe you bring her in, you know, privately. Maybe you say, come out to the house. You know, I think Luke Thomas, by the way, does private haircuts. What about beard grooming? Private? Or does Luke, you know what? Luke does the whole thing private. Yeah.

I don't do that. I like to go. I like the experience. Oh, you're a man of the people. I'm not above the whole experience of going to the barber. Plus, I don't want all my hair all over my house. Then I'll do it myself. It's a mess.

Anyway, if anyone wants to offer their services. New Jersey barbers, New York barbers. And a lot of people say to me, a lot of people say to me, you know, your hair is just easy. Very, very, very, very incorrect. It's, it's, it looks easy if you gloss over it. But it's, it's a tough thing. It's not about the haircut itself. It's about the experience, the comfort. You know you're in good hands. They're not going to push your, your hair line up this way or do that. You know, it's a whole thing. A little hot towel would be nice. Yeah, yeah. Get into it. Okay. Derek Brunson, he's coming on next. Yes. Four first round finishes in a row. Yes. What's, what's next for him?

And one somewhat controversial fight against Yul Romero, which he talks about quite often, and I'm sure we'll get into that. Wow. Derek Brunson, turning into quite the finisher. Remember, when he came into the UFC, he was kind of known as this wrestler and he was a grinder, right? But he has turned into a finisher. What an amazing revelation this has been. Who is next for him?

Is he in the wrong division right now? It seems like there's so many guys in line at this point. He's not even in the top 15? This is. Oh, there he is. He's top 10. Yeah. He's number 10.

Well, Musassi. I know Musassi's fighting Vitor Belfort, but the winner of that fight, I mean, the time is something works out. Of course, there's Anderson Silva out there, but I don't know if it's, if that's going to happen. I mean, Robert Whitaker is still number seven. That's a good. Man, Whitaker hasn't fought in a minute, huh? Yeah, he hasn't fought in a minute. There were some rumblings about Whitaker versus Ange and Sylva, but I looked into that and there's nothing to it at the moment.

Brunson Whitaker would be fun. Brunson, Whitaker, Brunson versus the winner of Musassi, Belford. I feel like something like that. I'm kind of surprised that Belford is still number five in that division. And then after that, I feel like it's one away, two away from the shot.

Yeah. So he's getting there. Because he's been super impressively. Yeah. Uriah Hall. On the other side. of the coin. Yes, I'm surprised.

Where's the Chale-Sundan talk? What's going on here? You know what? I'm kind of itching. No one talked about Chale, I don't believe it. Let's get through this. Okay, okay. Uriah Hall.

Yes. Will we ever see his true potential in the U.S.C.? I mean, I feel like this... Or is his true potential. Yeah, he is who is. I feel like there's people who think that we're just not seeing the Uriah Hall that we saw in Taw for. Is this the guy that we...

Is it possible? Is it possible that he was overhyped? I don't know. But, I mean, let's not forget who he was being compared to. then you see him do the things that he does to Gagar Musassi, and it makes people think that they're not seeing everything that he has. Yeah. I don't know.

I wonder. I mean, it's hard to say. That was super impressive. I kind of feel like he is who he is at this point. I mean, sometimes he'll win with the best of him. He'll lose with the best of him. He is a very, very good fighter. He's a top 10 fighter.

Will he ever be champion? Look, at this point, this game is so wacky that, you know, a guy will lose two in a row. I mean, who would have ever expect? what Robbie Lawler did. So, and I haven't really seen this, but anyone who's trying to, like, end the book on Yariah Hall or saying he's done or whatever, I mean, that is obviously very premature, but maybe he caught Derek Brunson at a bad time.

Derek Brunson is going up like this. There's no doubt about that. So, you know, I don't think it's, you know, any indictment on him. I just think that, you know, Brunson was the better fighter that day. As cliche as that sounds. Now, let me ask you about Chale Sun in here. Sure. Hit me.

What was your reaction when you? you heard that Sunnan was leaving the UFC and signing with Bellator. I was shocked. Shocking. Because nobody's been more of the company guy than Chale over the years. He's always been the UFC guy, you know, promoting that they're the best organization around and, you know, being the face of it for quite some time. But even after, even when he was not a UFC fighter, at least, you know, provisionally,

while he was suspended. He was still the UFC guy. He was still, you know, always touting the UFC. So it is a bit weird to imagine him on the other side with Bellator. But at the same time, I feel like

who's a more perfect Belator fighter than Chey al-Sanen? He is such an important signing for them. Now, I will say this, and I think it was actually Luke who mentioned this on Twitter. I'm not sure if he's bigger than a Kimbo slice. I mean, Kimbo slice really truly moves that needle. Bigger definitely. I don't think so. Kimbo is bigger.

Yeah, and he was an icon. That being said, Chale does much more than fight for Bellator. Scott Coker is a brilliant mind when it comes to putting fights together, building organizations. We've seen him do it once with Strike Force, and he's in the process of doing it with Belator. And I have the utmost respect and confidence that he can do it. He is not the best. promoter in the traditional sense of the word. Chale Sondon is that. He is a fantastic promoter. And on that conference call, in the span of around 25 minutes on Friday,

he promoted a sort of ho-hum fight between Czech Congo and Tony Johnson three times. He found three opportunities to remind us that there was a live fight that evening in Texas, in Austin, Texas. That's what he brings to the table. So now you can use Chail Sondon at all your media days, at all your fight weeks, even when he's not fighting and people are going to want to interview him. He's going to stir the pot. He's going to create headlines.

He's going to be controversial. He brings that to the table as well. He works for ESPN. He's still a commentator for World Series of Fighting. This is a very important signing for Bellator in that regard. I'm also just kind of surprised that the UFC parted ways. But if I'm being truly honest, he's not telling us the whole story. Obviously, he alluded to that.

There is more to the story. And when he says quite carefully that I was not under contract with the UFC when I signed with Belator, that's obvious. He had to not be under contract with the UFC when you signed with Belator. You cannot be under contract with UFC when you sign with someone else. That doesn't mean that they parted ways with some fights left on his contract. Now, what led to them parting ways, what led to them releasing him from his contract? We do not know. And I thought it was interesting to hear what he said about Dana White, because I was told last week that they parted ways amicably. But he sort of alluded to otherwise. He also said last week that heels lie and he

was just lying the whole time when he said that he was going to, you know, when he was going to retire this whole time. So, you know, you got to weed through all that stuff. But above it all, regardless of what happened, regardless of what got us to this point, this is a very important signing for Bellator and not just because of what he does in the cage, because what he brings to as far as headlines and promotion is concerned as well. I also think that you're going to get many more bites of the apple with Chale versus a Kimbo not only because of the stuff that he does, you know, because he's such a good mouthpiece and that type of thing,

but there's not many people you can match Kimbo up with. Let's, you know, let's be real about that. There was a select few, there was a very small pool of people you could match Kimbo up with at this point in his career. And now, Chale Sonan, on the other hand, there's been, you know, 15 names at least that have come out by the time the ink was dried on this. So there's so much possibility. There's so many options.

He'll stay active. It's a great move. And nobody's more prototypically Bellator than Chale. Can I say this, though, of all the options that have been laid out, Rampage, Fador, which is sort of coming out of nowhere these days. Who else was there? Tito. Tito.

Rory, even. Rory, there was another one. Oh, Vanderle. of course, but Vandalay can't happen just yet. I mean, isn't it amazing that the Vandolay fight could actually happen in Bellator of all places? But my point is, of all the options, even like a Liam McGeery or a King Moe, the one I'm least interested in is Tito Ortiz. I'm just kind of over it. I really am.

Even like his reply on Twitter, I mean, I'm just kind of over it. I don't want to see it. It doesn't come across as genuine. It comes across as playing pro fighter at this point. But I think it's the first step. I think it's the one that you get... I have no doubt that it will do well. I have no doubt that it will get a solid rating.

I have no doubt that I will watch it. Of all the options, I'm just saying it's the one that interests me the least. Well, that's the great part, because all those options are on the table, even after the Tito Ortiz fight. Yeah, fair enough. I think it's going to be fun just because, you know, objectively, Tito, is not Chaile Saanin on the mic. Let's just say that.

No. So that juxtaposition, those two playing off each other at press conferences, you know, media days and that type of thing. You think it would make for good. All right. Good fodder. The fight itself, I mean, to be honest,

we're talking about all these things. Are we even thinking about how Chale matches up with them from a fight perspective? I don't think I've heard one person actually talk about Chale Sondonin's fighting since he signed. I mean, he hasn't wanted quite some time. This is all about him

cutting promos on guys in the lead-up to the fights. I don't think we've even considered the fact that after he does these promos, they're actually gonna have to get in there and have a fight. Well, I think Tito Ortiz is a good matchup for him. Sure, but are the other guys?

Who even knows at this point? We've just completely glossed by that. Yeah, yeah, that's so interesting. Yeah, that's the least important part, apparently. Are you surprised UFC let him go? sure but you know they're not the last thing I would consider the UFC is dummies and so there's more to this story more to it and Chale has already alluded to that I'm I'm sure more will come out soon what about this cyborg story that she you mean that she had to cut so much weight

that she still needs to cut all this weight I mean this is this is a case where I'd be okay with them making it a catch weight fight week God oh oh fight week yeah well I mean it's too late like the weight is contracted now. If they literally say let's fight at 155, no one in the world would care. And it doesn't impact this because there's no division here. What is the point of fighting at 140 versus 155 versus 170? What is the difference? Okay, well, I take it back.

If Lena Landsberg comes to Brazil, you know, weighing, I don't know, 150, and then you could say, look, she's worked her ass off to get to this point. But I'm talking about like from when they signed the contract, when they signed the bout agreement. agree with you. There is absolutely no reason. At this point, it is, it is borderline careless to make this woman continue to fight at 140. If they refuse to make her fight at 145, they need to get rid of her. They need to cut her. There's no point. And she needs to put her foot down. And maybe they were under, you know, false illusions when they signed her way back when, but she can't do it. She just cannot do it. Why are we going through this? I actually reached out to George Lockhart while we were doing the show. And I tried to get him to actually come on and explain from his perspective, the birth control thing, which I know nothing about. This is not my domain. And also just the state of affairs and

how in the world he's going to get her down to 165, but he said he couldn't talk about it at this time. So, that's that. At first I ask him, is this problematic? And he said, you know me, brother. So look, his record speaks for itself. His

resume speaks. Yeah. But I mean, geez, come on. You know, there's times where both fighters are having a tough weight cut. They come in and say, hey, can we fight this at X weight? You know, one weight class? It happened with Sam Stout and KJ. Noons. Very recently. And so I wouldn't, you know, no, I don't think anybody would be upset if that happened. But as you said, if Landsberg is coming in and she's a professional and, you know, she's on weight, it's hard to say no. And it gives her an

advantage, to be quite frank, if you make cyborg cut down and make the weight. The other thing is, I know Dana spoke to a Brazilian outlet this weekend and said, like, unless we find something that is going to, you know, blow things up, we're not going to do 145, and he kind of poo-pooed 125 at this point as well. I think Chris Cyborg is big enough for her own weight class. I think she's a big enough star. She can headline a show. She was getting a ton of press more than anyone on that 198 card. She was in the New York Post the day of the show. I've talked about this. She can hold that division on her own. She can run with it. She can be the face of that division. I think there's a great amount of interest in her. She's speaking.

English now wonderfully. She's a very good interview. I love having it on the show. She's very honest. I think her Twitter account needs a little bit of work, but that's a different story for a different day. Look, she's a star. She could be the face of that division. I still do not understand why they are so fixated on having her fight in this make-believe weight class. That means nothing. And then having her fight someone like Lena Landsberg, who no one knows, you're throwing her into the fire. It just doesn't make any sense to me. It really does. This is one of the more baffling decisions in recent memory. Speaking of not making sense,

give a grade to the refereeing and judging on this fight night. It was a little bizarre. My favorite part was when Dan Margriata, who I love, lost his shoe? Had a hole in his sock. Oh. What about the fact that you lost his shoe? Why do these things amuse us so much?

That's just funny. It's the old, you know, Johnson hit him so hard that the ref lost the shoe. Yeah, yeah. I'm so tired of talking about that stuff. I'm almost a defeated man. What about Ally Quinta? Texas in particular.

Alli Quinta. This is a depressing thing. To go to Al Iquinta, who's been on the show, time and again, and have him sit there in his polo in some real estate office on Long Island when he should be preparing for UFC 205 is a very depressing site. I'd almost go the opposite way that it's not depressing. It's kind of like positive and inspiring that somebody's taking him. control of their... It is, but it shouldn't be this way. No, it shouldn't be this way.

But there are people who would just take the medicine and lay down and say, yeah, you know what, I'll fight at MSG for free so that after I build my name on that, I'll take the next one and then the next one and the next one and the next one. And Al is at this point saying, you know what, I've had enough of this. I'm making my stand here. It's, you know, I understand where you're coming from that, you know, this is not what we want to see and it's depressing in that way, that we're not going to get to see Al fight on a New York card or at this point not going to get to see Alfight on a New York card.

Hopefully not. Hopefully we do. Hopefully cooler heads prevail. But, you know, it's, it's an important thing for somebody to kind of take a stand like this. So it's, I see it as a positive. I give him a lot of credit. It takes a lot of guts, especially given how important that card was for him. And let me tell you this. Last week in particular, I mean, I can't tell you how many people I've talked to who it's becoming this thing where everyone's having these come to Jesus moments where they're like, what am I doing? And it feels like it's directly related to the sale. And this is a battle. I mean, to agree, I mean, the UFC is getting it from all angles. And it's going to be interesting to see. I mean, there was a story about Joe Duffy that came out. I believe it was the 42.I.e.

that wrote this story that he wants, you know, a better deal. And he has one fight left on his contract. You know, Chris Wyden has not agreed to his fight against Yo-O. Romero. Jeremy Stevens has not agreed to his fight against Frankie Edgar. I mean, go down the line. We are less than two months away from UFC 205. There is no main event. There's no main event. I mean, think about that.

This is a show that has been, you know, worked on essentially for years. This is years in the making, literally. And there's no main event. I'm told that tickets go and sell next week. There's going to be a media day. There's going to be a lot of stuff happening in New York. But as we sit here right now on this Monday afternoon, UFC 205 does not have a main event.

event. Now, we know what they want. It's Eddie Alvarez versus Connor McGregor. And to a degree, I think this is Connor reminding us all who has the leverage, who has the power. More power to him. He does. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just fooling themselves. But it is amazing to me that we have no main event less than two months away from UFC 205. And a lot of the fights, how about this? Not a single fight has been officially announced by the UFC. Not a single fight. It's fascinating what's going on. And I think some people, people get it confused. Like, I'm not trying to advocate for this. I'm just trying to bring a light to what is going on in the sport right now. A lot of people ask me, why do you talk so much about the money?

Why do you talk so much about the finances? This is why. Because almost every single fighter on the roster, and it all walks the life we always want more money. But they're all having these conversations. Now, very few of them have the guts that Ally Quinta does to come out and say it and to put his foot down. But I can assure you of this, your favorite fighters are having these internal discussions, conflicts about what they signed up for. And the stakes have changed because of Reebok. You know what I mean? I mean, the stakes have changed because of Reebok, because of everyone getting smarter, because of the TV deal, because of the sale, because of USADA, the stakes have changed. And you know who's benefiting the most from all of this? Belator. We're seeing that, right?

Look at the year that they've had as far as signing people is concerned. of that. Yeah. Is this the biggest bellator signing ever? Is Chale the biggest bell to sign? I think Kimbo is.

And what about Benson Henderson, who just went over was, seemed to be in the prime of his career, just coming off a UFC win. Given what he brings to the table, of the guys this year,

this is the biggest one, because he is such a popular figure. He's on ESPN. He's fought in those big fights. Yeah. But I don't know if anyone at this point can surpass with Kimbo,

who had been removed from the game for five years, brought to the table. Remember that? Like, they weren't signing Kimbo right off the UFC. He was essentially, I mean, no one was talking about Kimbo for a very long time, showing up here and there doing some boxing, but it was a, I mean, it was pretty quiet on the Kimbo front,

and then he returns, and then he just nailed it as far as the ratings are concerned. It was very impressive. How about Anastasia Yankova? Did you see her fight? I did see that fight. What'd you think of it? You know, back and forth.

Is it too much too soon for her? No, but this seems to be a trend with Bellator where they're pushing these specific fighters and then they go out and either lose or don't look as dominant as you would hope. That seems to happen quite a bit. I mean, at first it looked like she was going to get knocked out. Well, yeah, and that's what I'm saying. Like, maybe, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is.

but also you have to give credit to the toughness. If you're going to say it looked like, you know, she was going to get knocked out, then you also have to give credit for the fact that she didn't and hung in there. 100%. I thought 2928 was fine either way. I saw quite a bit of people were outraged and saying, you know, they can't believe that. But I thought either way, 2928 was a fair score. I thought that it was a fair score.

I thought that she showed a ton of heart, a ton of resiliency. And I thought that perhaps most impressive, of all was the fact that she was very honest in her post-fight interview. Like she wasn't, you know, she was actually disappointed and sort of alluded to the fact that she thought she was going to lose. They keep pushing this McFarland fight and I thought that it wasn't the right time to do it. Now, Jimmy Smith said on Twitter that he was asked to do that and I get it. It seems like they want to book this fight as strange as these circumstances surrounding it are. But I didn't think that was the right call in that moment to start

talking about someone else when she literally just got, you know, her bell rung several times in the span of 15 minutes. All right, sir, Mr. Helwani, we're going to flip the tables on you. Okay, I had a couple other questions, but go ahead. No, no, no, we're going to flip the tables here. Yeah. We're going to look ahead to this card. Oh, snap, swap, crap.

That was like, that was a mix of snap and crap and whack. Okay, I feel like this is an easy one. Okay. So you'll be able to navigate your way through it. Okay. Who is the favorite? Yeah. Lena Landsberg or Cyborg Santos.

She, I'll say that Cyborg is a plus. You're already wrong there. Excuse me. This is the favorite. Yes, yes, yes. See this out of the line. Minus 800. Bigger.

Minus 1250. Wow. I mean, she could be minus. I honestly think there might even be some value there at minus 1250 just because you could give me quite a bit worse odds. on her and I wouldn't give Landsberg a chance. Is it even worth it? Probably not. There's other ways to make the money there. Okay.

Henan Barrao, Felipe Nova. How about this one, huh? Felipe Nova, getting the big fight. It's a huge fight. And a very important one for Henne Barow as well. Minus 300, Henna Barrao? Minus 470, plus 375 for Felipe. I like that you're taking a shot at the numbers.

That's not bad so far. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. I can't just pick cyborg, I guess. Roy Nelson versus Bigfoot. I can't believe that promo has it listed as Roy Nelson versus Bigfoot. I mean, this is one that I mean, Bigfoot versus Big Country. I mean, I almost feel like they booked it just so that they can say that.

Like the Cowboy versus Cowboy? Yeah, Bigfoot. But on the promo on television on Saturday, it was Roy Nelson versus Bigfoot. What? Roy Nelson minus 200 minus 450 what

I'm with you on that you know Bigfoot hasn't looked great lately yeah he hasn't but I don't think Roy Nelson is that guy anymore where he's commanding a minus 450 I am a little surprised that he's as big a favorite as Henan Barow is

that's a little bit interesting especially at heavyweight you know Silva could get off one good shot. But clearly, Roy Nelson deserves to be the favorite in this fight. Okay, a good one. Paul Felder, Francisco Trinaldo. It's pretty solid card.

It's not bad. Paul Felder minus 150. So Trinaldo is actually the favorite here, minus 140, Felder plus 120. But I'd say that's about in the right area. Your number was also right in the right area. This is going to be a less than two to one favorite fight, and I think it's going to be good. I give the advantage to Trinaldo at this point, but he tends to fade later, so we'll see how that impacts the fight. But it's going to be close, and that's a fight I really, really like.

Tiago Santos versus Eric Spicely. Santos minus 250. Santos minus 470. He's been, now, you talk about guys looking good lately. He's been incredible. Although he lost to Musasi. Yeah, but, I mean, I think Musassi is. Short notice.

One of the top guys in that class. And Santos has gotten the job done against the guys he needs to. I've been really impressed by him so far. Favorite of everybody involved, Godfredo Pepe, versus Mike De LaTore. Is he a favorite? You're not on the Godfredo Pepe train? I mean, if he goes out, he loses or wins spectacularly.

You're getting something good at a Godfredo. Yeah, I guess. That crazy flying knee against him. Noad Lahat. I'm surprised that you're not talking about our own Roxanne Madaferi finally fighting for the belt on Friday night. Although I don't see any odds for that yet. What's up with that? I think for Invicta, they actually typically come out a little bit closer to

a little bit closer to the fight night. But that's a, as you said at the top, this is a really good card. Jennifer Maya versus Roxanne Madaferi for the title. I brought in my book. A former guest of the show, Juni Frye versus a Hamasaki for the title as well at Adam Wait. I brought in my How to Be Positive book by Roxanne Madaferi. We have the Happy Warrior. I mean, she is represented quite well on this show. She's fighting for the belt. Yeah. This is big. This is actually, in my opinion, one of the better

Invicta cards in recent memory. Yeah, solid. For the striking fans out there, Tiffany Van Zos. Say her name. Say her name, Aldana. Irene Al-Dada. There you go. Tiff Time Bomb. Yeah, Tiffany Van Zost is making her MMA, pro-MMA debut. So it's a solid one on Friday night. Let's finish this up. Actually, you finish this up. Justin Ortiz and Juicy A Formiga while I go get our guest. Dustin Ortiz versus Jucia Formiga, I don't really have much to say about that. What do you want me to say? You want me to pick? I'm going to go with Formiga on that one. But let me go back to Invicta. I like the Invicta card. Fight pass 8 o'clock from Kansas City, Missouri. One of my favorite fighters to watch, I've said it before on this show, Jin Yu-Fry, fighting for

the Adam White title against Ayaka Hamasaki, 13 and 1 against 5 and 1. And Roxanne Mottifery in the main event against Jennifer Maya. It is a solid card. I like this card very much. And then Risen is back on September 25th. Cron Gracey against Hideo Tokoro, started the Openweight Grand Prix, Mirka Krokop, Kaziuki Fujita on the card, Andy Sauer on the card, Gabby Garcia, right? I think she's on the card.

The return of Crazy Horse Bennett? Verizon is back. So this is a, this is a very interesting, it's an eclectic weekend in mixed martial arts coming up. Other news last week, Jorge Mazvedal, we'll talk about that before we go as well. Very upset that he had his fight with Calvin Gaslum pulled because Gaslum is now fighting Cowboy Soroni at UFC 205.

205, if I'm being, being honest, it's starting to feel a whole lot like 200. It's like in this day and age with so many events to try to make one in a long line of many special and stick out is very, very hard. I feel for the UFC on this one. It is hard to make it special. And I'm getting those feelings all over again. We shall see. Less than two months, two months away. What are we? Six blocks away from Madison Square Garden. How exciting is that? For now, let us go to our last. guest of the day. Big win for him on Saturday. He defeated Uriah Hall. And there he is. Derek Brunson texting as we get to the Skype machine. Who's texting, Derek?

Man, you know what? I'm actually trying to keep up with the show, trying to keep up with what's going on. Oh, wow. What a nice plug. What do you mean keep up with the show? So much has gone on today. I mean, I heard you talking about Jorge Mansford-on and the fight that he had, just trying to keep up with the current stuff in M&M. What a nice recovery that is, Derek. Thank you. Well, congratulations on the win. When you were preparing for this fight, when you got the fight, leading up to the fight, did you envision knocking him out? I envision myself knocking everybody out, but I didn't, I don't know. It depends. I didn't know how you are a hall would come at me. I mean, I saw a lot of instances,

different scenarios. He might come out and run and try to fly me me, try to like karate kick me, or he might come out really patient, you know? So I was just prepared wherever the fight went. Now, on, I know, when was it? Friday at the early way-ins, what happened between you two? You came in at the same time, right? Well, I'm trying to think which scenario you're talking about. Oh.

And me and you were out in it, like, about five times all week long. He separated like five times. It was crazy. Okay, tell me about each time. When did it first happen? Well, I think the first time open workouts. Ural Hall was finishing open workouts, and I was going to open workouts. So he was leaving the shuttle, and I was coming to the shuttle,

and we were just kind of like walking by each other, and then we both just kind of like slowed down. And then we kind of like got each other's face, and I was like shaking my head, and he was like, yeah, all you're going to try to do is hold me down. I was like, that's exactly what I'm going to do. So, and then I was like, I called him a boy, and he was just getting all up. He's like, boy, boy, you called me a boy.

You know, he was trying to get all in my face and, like, a couple of UFC people came in front and, like, separated us. Then we had another instance in the back right after Wayans. He came up to me because I was sitting down ready to be interviewed by Fox. And he came up to me and just was running his mouth. You know, like, every time all week long, he saw me. He just came up to me and was running his mouth. And then it's funny, at Wayans, oh, at the official Wayans, we almost got into it also. So he went and weighed in, probably like, I don't know, like three or four minutes before me,

and I'm going to weigh in. You know, I'm like, I don't know, dehydrated, and he's already weighing in. He had a couple drinks in him. And he came up to me, and he was just, like, blabbing at the mouth. And then Heidi stepped in between us. And he was like, fucking track. So it was a, we had it out a lot that week. Yeah.

And then you go in there and you actually have to fight the guy. Did that raise the stakes after all of that once you get to Saturday, were you like, oh man, there is no way I'm losing to this guy after all this? Yeah, I mean, yeah. And I'm sure he was feeling the same way, but it's funny, though, because you're right, Hall. He did all this talking. I mean, I heard all of his interviews. Even when we did, like, you know, the interviews for the TV, he was saying, you know,

Derek is not dangerous. He's a boring fighter. There's no way he can beat me, you know. And I looked across, he walked past me. When he got in a cage, he walked past me, and I looked at him, and he just looked me and he like blink and he nodded his head. I was like, I don't know if he really feel like that confident anymore. And then we got across the cage and we were looking at each other, you know, we're standing each other down. And then I saw him blink again. And I saw it in his eyes.

I was like, he is regretting everything that he said. But now he got to ask what he said, you know. So at that moment, and I smiled at him right before, you know, we got after it. But I knew at that moment he would kind of regretted all the stuff he said because he had to back it up. So the whole fight lasts a minute and 41 seconds. That is your fourth straight first round finish. And in this particular fight, you drop them early, and then it's ground and pound time, and then you're pulled off and you're celebrating. And then, of course, everyone says, or a lot of people are saying, early stoppage.

What's your response to this talk? Man, honestly, it doesn't matter. I don't really care if it's an early stoppage, late stoppage. You know, I guess if I'm on the opposite end and let's say somebody dropped me and I guess I would want time recover it kind of depends you know it goes both ways but as a fighter you know like eurya hall hasn't said anything you know he hasn't posted on any social media haven't said anything because you know as a fighter you know you can't get caught in those positions it's martial arts it's about protecting yourself you know the fans want to see more they want to see fights you know they want to see more they want to see

you know people get put unconscious whatever whatever but you can't get put in those spots you know as a mark you can't get caught you know you're learned we're highly streamed how he trained individuals, so we know how to protect yourself. And we know that, you know, you can't get hit like that. Uri got hit with a big left hook, and he was down. You know, the only thing that woke him up, per se, is him hitting the canvas.

Like, he dropped. He was out. He was limp. You know, his back hit the cage, and his head hit the cage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I hit him with an elbow that connected. I threw another punch, and I hit the canvas.

I'm not going to lie. Like, boom. And I was like, man. in the middle of punching, I was like, man, I was like, that was bad. And I followed up, raised his chin, and I grazed his head. And just looking at him, yeah, he was pretty out. And then her beam stopped in the middle. And I was thinking, like, I was like, what are you doing, her?

Like, I was thinking, you know, I thought he's going to give him more time. So I was going to, like, posture up and keep punching. But in my opinion, I think that was a great stop because he was limp. He was out. And the fans don't see every angle, you know. you're out hall got up and he was single-legging herd but that's the thing with him also if you have a fighter that's been punched a lot and been knocked out a lot of times they're not going to be able to recover there or look like they was knocked out yurrah hall hasn't been knocked out so his chin is

relatively good so he can recover faster so he goes out and he comes back and like he was never out but if he keeps taking those type of punches he'll just be out out you know so um yeah he was definitely out, you know. I saw it firsthand. How much did it hurt to punch the canvas? It didn't bust my hands up or anything, but I'd do that again. So do you think the left hook in its own right finished him? That's all you... Yeah, yeah, that's vicious. And if I hit anybody with that left hook, they're going down here. So, yeah, the left hook was what done it. What done it? He was, it's no way he was. It's no way he it's covering. And you know what? I'm not trying to lobby or say it wasn't an early stoppage because

really, honestly, I don't care. My job was to go show up and fight and to sign my show and win bonus, and that's what I did, you know. So after that, my job was done. But my wrestling coach made the best because he's like defending me, like on Facebook and stuff, which, you know, on the Fox thread, but he said, you think a guy who's a three-time All-American going to let him get back to his feet, which obviously he would have got to his feet a little drunk and his equilibrium. would have been off still, you know, that's impossible for him to recover there, you know. Or, I don't know, I'm going to be punching for five minutes to the buzzer goal. Man, you're on some kind of role right now.

Like I said, that's five in a row. You know, seven of eight, if you, you know, you want to include the run prior to the O'O Romero fight, the Romero fight controversial. If you would have won the Romero fight, where do you think you'd be right now? Do you think you'd be champ already? Yeah, honestly, I think I will. Not discrediting anybody because, man, it's nothing but love for everybody who fight in my division, you know.

This isn't like, it's just a sport, you know. It's not what it used to be. MMA is a sport. We go out here, we do battle. Everybody have family, friends. You know, they train really hard. But, yeah, I'm 100% confident I can beat everybody in the division, you know. And honestly, I'm not being cocky.

I'm not talking trash, but anybody who beat me will have to get lucky, you know. Nobody's just going to, you know, out-tech meet me. I'm very well-rounded now. Fort Jacqueray back in 2012, and he caught me. And, you know, I can actually watch that clip in peace, and it's funny and it's laughable. Because you have a guy who's been fighting for over a year, and he's fighting this guy who's been fighting in Japan,

you know, former champion. He's been through all the tough fights, you know, and he's primed, he's ready. You know, you got a guy like me, green. I'm coming in. I want to do well. you know, everybody is picking him to win. I'm like, you know, I'm no myself.

I'm like, you know, I can beat this guy, you know. But me knowing or me thinking I can beat someone, I have to be, you know, skilled and I have to put my time in a sport. And since then, I've done that, you know. I've stayed true to my training. I put my time in. And I believe, you know, I am that complete martial artist now, you know. Nobody has seen my jiu-jitsu, but I have really good jiu-suitzs.

You know, I submit black belts, you know, so. yeah, it's only a matter of time, you know. What was the turning point for you? When do you think you started to become that complete fighter? Because as you mentioned, when you fought Jacques-Curee, and I'm wondering, by the way, if you still feel like you are, and I know I'm asking two questions here, but what the hell? Are you still paying for that loss to Jacques-Rae in a sense?

Like, do you feel like that's why you're not getting pushed more because that didn't happen all that long ago, and he's still a top of tender? No, that was, what, 2012? That was my first. I started fighting it. I started fighting. My first professional fight was like late 2010.

I know, it hasn't been that long. Yeah, what, four years? Yeah. Yeah, that's a long time. All right, fair enough. You've done a lot, so fair enough. Look at, look at like Kane and, like, Junior Dos Santos. A lot has changed this thing.

Like, you remember that first fight on the box? You know, when he caught him big overhand, maybe 40 seconds, everybody that, you know, who don't understand martial arts. just like, oh, King sucks, blah, blah, blah. But in all reality, I mean, those who follow martial arts and know martial arts, I mean, some people get caught sometimes, you know? It goes like that sometimes. He comes back and he fights him maybe like, you know, a fight or two later,

and he smoked him for five rounds. So, and then I think he fought him again and beat him. But it just goes like that sometime. Okay, so when do you think you turned the corner and became that well-round? I mean, this amazing strike. I mean, four straight first round finishes in a matter of seconds is a very hard thing to pull off. Yeah, it is, you know, and it's funny because after my fights, I'm thinking, I'm like, man, like, honestly, I've never been in, I fought some high-level guys, you know, I've been around now, you know, I've been through strike force, you know, UFC now, but I never leave fights busted up. I had that one fight, you know, when I messed up my jaw, but, you know, it's just like a surreal run, I guess. I think it's just a hard work. And yeah, I mean, I definitely need to be pushed more, you know, the middleweight division of UFC is tough.

It's stacked. You know, the guys at the bottom, you know, these guys have been around for a long time. They've been champs in other divisions, you know. There's a lot going on. So I definitely think I need to be pushed more as far as marketing by the UFC. Yeah. How was Hidalgo?

What was that like? Adago was cool. And funny enough, me and my cousin, we got there and this training camp was so draining and stressful, you know, because I was supposed to fight 200. So I was out of action for about six months, you know. So it was, I was getting antsy. And we got to Hidalgo, and we actually rented a car one day, and we went to Mexico. So we went to like, we crossed the border.

I got a haircut, and all the barbers are like, don't go to Mexico. We was like, why? And it's like, it's dangerous. And one guy showed me a picture where, like, it was a mom, a like three-year-old son. and like the father and they were all like face down like bloody I guess it was like somebody got killed by the cartel like that wow

but I was like you know I was just bored tired of sitting around so he rented a car and we drove over we drove through like I don't know all the like poor little towns and it was surreal it was it was very humbling you know these guys live in like little small shacks the size of someone's bathroom and you know I don't know I like seeing

stuff like that it just shows you what type of world we live in and teach you to be a little appreciative. Did that put you in the right mindset going into a fight? It did. You know, it's relaxing. It's calm. You know, it made me think, you know, be thankful.

Yeah. I worked really hard. So just go out here and do what I've been training, you know, and the rest will take care of it so. So you were supposed to fight Musassia at 200. You had to pull out of that fight. Can you tell us why you had to pull out? Yeah.

Well, I was in Albuquerque, and my eyes just, went crazy on me and it was predominantly so um you're out of computer a lot right yeah yeah so i was on when i'm in albuquerque i go and i train in about 9 30 to 11 and then i'm off for the rest of the day most of the time until like five or six so i was on i'm on my phone just playing games and i had lacy's surgery and i was playing on a small phone so it scrabbled my vision from afar. So I couldn't see like when I look from afar, I have to blink and I couldn't see for like 90% of the day. So I completely met vision. And I was like researching it. And we thought it was a concussion and all of stuff. But just doing all the research and I went to all the neurologist, whatever,

just that that's what came back. It's just that my eyes started adjusting to the small screen from using it like, you know, five to six hours straight at a time, you know? So. So no more phone for you. Although we just. saw you on the phone. You know what I'm on right now? I'm on a big iPad. I bought a big iPad Pro with the new ones. Oh, okay.

So you don't have to look at it. So it's a game. My phone that I can play on my iPad now. Ah, okay. I don't know I was phone anymore, yeah. So Musassi's fighting in a couple of weeks. Is that the one that you want back? Listen.

I heard, it's funny, Musassi said before, he said, I saw his post-fight interviews, kind of similar to Uriot Hall. Uriot Hall was saying, you know, it's no way Derek can beat me. I'm not worried about him. He's not dangerous. I heard similar things from Musassi.

Musassi was saying, you know, I'm not worried about Derek. He's not dangerous. I mean, are you kidding yourself, man? Musassi is a slower version of Ural Hall. Like, once again, Musassi would have to get lucky to beat me. Yeah, for sure. I would love to have that fight back. Anybody who's going to do something for my brand or do something for my name,

I would love to have that fight. I said, I'm not being cocky. I'm not being arrogant. I just work hard and I'm very confident, you know? I feel that you just put in the time, everything will start developing at the right time. I feel like the next fight has to be a big one, whether it's Musassi-Belfort winner, Anderson, you know, I feel like you need a big fight now. I mean, four in a row, come on. Four in a row, first round, five in a row in total. You know what? I didn't want to say this, but... Yes, go ahead. Say it. I wasn't going to say it, but to be honest, the best fight. It's the best

for me pride-wise would be jockey right honestly but you know what now with being saying that saying that this is a this is a sport and i heard matt hughes and a couple other guys say i don't do m-ma for the money i do like i'm an athlete like i'm not going to be out if fighting was free i wouldn't do it like i might put on like head gear i might do like amateur style like with some hair gear, like some shin guards, you know, double mouth feet, something like that. You know, I love martial arts. I love getting better. I would train. I would always train, but I wouldn't put myself in front of millions of people, you know, it's a lot of media. It's a lot of stuff they go into fighting, you know. Not just anyone can do it. You know, it's a lot of pressure, you know. So I

wouldn't put myself out there if it wasn't for the money. So, you know, you're talking about a guy who's number one or two in the world. That should be a big money fight, you know. So if I, in other worse, if I was getting paid Nate Diaz money, Connemer Greger money, that would be the first fight I would want right now. Okay, all right, because you want to get that one back? Yes, and I'm very confident.

Yeah, he's fighting Luke Rockhold again in two and a half months, so maybe the timing won't work, but who do you like in that fight? Um, that's a good question. That's a very good question. I watched the first fight. Yeah. And I don't think Rockhole won that fight.

I don't care what anybody say. He got, Rockhole got dropped twice. He got taken down twice. And he really didn't land anything significant on his feet. How he won the fight is he stayed very active. He was kicking his arm, kicking his leg. He out pointed him. He out.

He stayed more busy. So that's how he won that fight. It was very close. It was a split. But I remember the fight like in my head. But I don't know, man. Look at, Bisbing isn't a power puncher, and he put Rocco down. So, I mean, I don't know.

But then again, Jokor is very stiff. You're going back and forth here. I don't know, yeah. I'm very, I'm very confused on his fight. They should send you out there to Melbourne, get some press, get some love, you know, watch that thing. Cage side. You need some of that. You need some of that.

You know what? I think I'm going to show up to Australia. Yeah, you should. You got my word. I give you a lot of respect for coming out and saying, like, there's nothing wrong with a pro athlete who's in the prize fighting business. What is this at the end of the day? You're not, I mean, that's stuff that Matt Hughes was saying, it was very tone deaf. And it's very easy for a guy of his stature when his career is all said and done to start sort of like, you know, putting you guys down and being like, well, why else are you doing this? We have families to feed. I mean, like, to to imply that if you are saying publicly that you are fighting for money is a bad thing is really, is really. unfair to you guys. It really is. I mean, we can all live in this fantasy universe. At the end of the day, why am I doing this job is to make a living? We all do things. Like, we're all trying to make money. That's the whole game of life, right? So I give you a lot of credit for actually saying that,

because I know a lot of fans don't want to hear that, but you're trying to make money here. You're trying to survive. You're trying to cash in. It's not about survive. I'm trying to, you know, enable my life. I'm trying to get out what I'm putting. I have a college degree. You know, honestly if I wasn't fighting I'm all in fighting like I'm 32 now I graduated college when I was 21 22 I could have went back to college I was going to go back to college and get my master's I was going to go to law school so therefore I would have been established in my career you know but no I went all in on mMA and I have no regrets I love it I love waking up everyday training you know I love being my own boss you know but at the end of the day yeah that's that's why we do this, you know, we're trying to get paid, you know. Look at Connor. You think Connor don't fight for money? Yeah, of course he does. You know, this guy buys everything he can find, you know. He probably buy a street if they allow him, like, I don't know, like this guy would buy anything. So,

I mean, and I like Connor. I like Connor. I like Connor McGreg. I like his style. He does it for money. He fights for money. He's very flashy. Um, yeah, of course, man. I mean, that's what we do is for, you know, good vacations, have fun, enable a lifestyle, you know. Perfect World. When do you want to return? Perfect world before the end of the year. Okay. All right. End of the year. So maybe it won't be Jacqueray if it's the end of the year. No, and it's not going to be Jacqueray because it doesn't make sense as far as like

rankings and money. If I'm fighting one of the top guys, top five guys in the world, we're talking a new contract. We're talking to be in compensated for it. There's nothing wrong. Here we go. Let's be honest, you know, this is a business. You know, UFC making money and they, they make a lot of money, you know. So it's a business. It's a business here. Well, man, you are putting your money where your mouth is.

You are killing it right now. Really, it's been, you know, I remember the first time I saw you fight. Let me try to remember this fight now. It was, it was, it was, it was, July 30th, 2011, and you defeated, you remember who you defeated? Was that LaMamba Sayers? You came out to Miley Cyrus, party in the USA? That was on the Henderson Fado Car. Yeah. That was the first time I covered one of your fights in person and very impressive. You hit a bit of a snag there with Kendall Grove as controversial as it was. And then, Jokrari, ever since then, man, you have been on fire and it has been such a joy to

watch you turn into this mixed martial artist that you have become. So congratulations on all your success. And I do hope that you get that big fight with those big riches. big prizes because you're on the rise in that division. I hope you get that big fight. I mean, it's about time. I want to see you fight on a big card, on a big stage against a big time name. You have done enough to deserve that. So congratulations to you, my friend. All right. Thank you. All right. All right. All the best. There he is. Derek Brunson stopping by. Looking forward to what is next for him and appreciate him stopping by after his big win over Uriah Hall. Let us not forget that he was booked against you, excuse me, Gagar Musassia at UFC 200. So that was a big one.

unfortunately for him, eye issues couldn't fight, but now I want to see him fight on a big card. I want to see him fight a big time opponent, a big name, right? I mean, it's time, in my opinion. It is time. And how about this, New York, as we wrap this up if you're still there?

I'm still here. You haven't left to Thailand just yet. Newark, by the way, won't be with us. Is it two weeks in a row or just one? You mean just one? Okay. What are you talking about? Sorry.

Sorry, I can't be responsible. for anything that is said after the three-hour mark of the show. So just for the... Or the first hour or at any point. But what about the topic of pay? People, look, I didn't bring it up there, right? A constant theme. Yeah, I don't think we're going to be able to avoid it.

There was, I feel like up until this point, it's been something that people have carefully danced around. Yeah. I don't think that that's a possibility anymore. And a lot of it had to do with, you know, some of the headlocking. miners guys like Connor McGregor kind of blowing the doors off and making it up okay for public consumption and really like pointing it out. 100%. He has changed the game in that regard. Remember when I said we will look back on that

Connor McGregor versus Nate Diaz feud in a few years time and just marvel at how many aspects of it changed MMA. And that's one of them. That is one of them. Also not fighting for a belt. Why are you laughing? No, thanks. What? Something unrelated. What happened? Email just paying them my thing.

Forget about it. I saw you laughing before, too. What were you laughing about? You go first. I don't remember anything. I wasn't laughing about anything. Okay. That was weird.

Anyway, I maintained that we will be looking back on that. Now, a lot of people talking last week before we go about Kane Verdome, too, you down with that? Down with it? But I don't know. I guess I'm hesitant. kind of gun-shy about it, but yeah, of course, that's the fight to make. Let's give props to Kane, who found out that Stipe Miochich was going to take some time off. And staying active.

Well-deserved. Yeah, he's fought three times, Stipe in the span of nine months, says, give me that fight back. Now, C-level, let's do it. We've had this happen to Kane before, where he took one fight in between and it didn't go well in the title shot that followed, but. What are we talking about? It didn't, didn't he, oh, no, opposite. It went well. the Silva fight, right?

And then the title shot. Okay, so maybe this is the right way to go. So I'm just a little... I don't know. Did I see anything that I want to see run back? I guess. I mean, I guess we'll finally put the C-level C-Level Kain thing to bed. Perfect scenario.

We see Kane versus Steepa, but this is the best number two. Now, I wanted to see JDS versus for Doom. I agree with you there. I was going to fight Steepay. now I want to see JDS versus Barnett. Hmm, that's a good one. I'll take that. We'll see what happens there.

But yeah, I think Verdum versus JDS did a little more for me. But if this is, you know, the path to the title shot, then that's exciting as well. What do you like better? Mosvedal Gaslam or Gaslim Seroni? Mosvidal Gastilam? Was that even in play? Yeah, that was the fight. Mosvidal Gaslim was happening November 5th.

Okay, yes, yes, yes. And then they took it away. I kind of like that one better. Well, I like. Gastelam Seroni better because I like Soroni better than I like Mazvedal in terms of, you know, putting on an exciting fight. From a matchup and where it was taking place,

Mexico City, I liked Gaslim. But then what do you do with Seroni? Mazvedal better. I will say this. If you look at Soroni's rise as a welterweight, right? So he goes from Cowboy Olavera, right? Patrick Cote, Rick Story, Calvin Gaslam. Like he is, you can actually see the steps on the ladder.

It really is one fighter after the next. It all makes sense. so I get that. And if I'm being honest, it actually makes more sense than the Robbie Lawler fight from a progression standpoint. But Gasl Mazzvedal made, I don't know, just kind of fit better in Mexico City. I don't really know, you know, there were some options out there, Chabee, at 170 or maybe even at 155 for Sironi if he wasn't getting the title shot. I think that has a lot more. There's no heat between Gassal and Sironi, and it seems like Sironi has heat with a lot of guys. So that's why I kind of was like, eh. I will take keeping Sironi. active over keeping a fight between Mazvedal and Gastilum together.

Yeah, but why not do the Habib fight? Habib versus Soroni? Yeah. If that's on the table, then I'm in. Well, Habib said he wanted to do it. I was all I'm saying. Yeah, I don't know if that was truly in play, I will take that fight way more. I would like that fight way more than I'd like Gastilum Seroni, for sure.

Well, it's going to be very interesting to see what happens this week as it pertains to 205 because something's got to give, right? It's going to happen. And there are fights that have been officially announced. In fact, I think I wrote them down. No, excuse me, not officially announced, that are probably going to happen. One's off now. One was...

Liz Karmouche versus Caitlin Chukagian. Iaquinta Alves is off. Seroni Gassum, we know. Evans Kennedy. Edgar Stevens is still not 100% last time I checked in on it. Eddie Connor. I told you about that one. Still not done.

Not close to done. Woodley, Stephen Thompson Woodley announced that John Valenti against Marcos Hosogiero de Lima that that has been reported Chris Wyman versus Y'all Romero Not done

So there are still some things That need to be decided in the next seven To 14 days I guess That's a good card though It is a good card If it comes to fruition Something's got to give Let's get

Rage an owl on that card Yeah God dang it I mean I will be sad if he's not on the card. I will too. I mean. That whole story is very bizarre with the strikes and all that.

Well. Now, if you're playing devil's advocate, you have to say, look, if you verbally agreed, maybe the best course of action wasn't to agree to a fight and then come back and say, oh, by the way, I'd like more money, right? I'm sure he'd rather have done it a different way. But you also get what he's saying about the Reebok deal and the times of change and the contract. Also, yeah, this seems to be operating independent of that individual fight.

The timing is because of this individual fight, but I don't think even if he wasn't booked to fight somebody in New York, that he wouldn't feel the same way. This is just what brought it to light. So I don't necessarily feel like the issue is that he took a fight and is now kind of backing out of it. It's more an overall thing that has been building up. Fair enough.

I get exactly what you're saying, though. Look, if you agreed to- He probably should have done it the opposite way, right? He should have done this first and then worked it out and then decided. But clearly he has some kind of argument here and it'll need to be addressed. And if not, then he just won't be able to fight, which is not good for any of us. But in the meantime, if you're looking for some property, you know where to go. That's right.

Regen Al Realty. And another fascinating thing is that when you look at the divisions, Bantamweight title, still not booked. Featherweight, lightweight, lightweight, middle weight, no middleweight's coming up. Light heavyweight, heavyweight, straw weight. I'm seeing Yawanna-Jechak popping up in ATT, Coconut Creek, Florida. So she seems to be in the United States and also women's bantam weight. Fascinating times in the sport of mixed martial arts.

I'm sure next week we will have a lot to discuss. Sadly, New York Creek will not be with us. But we will miss you. Thank you. I appreciate it. I don't know how sincere that was, but... Listen, it's as sincere as it's going to get at 4.42 p.m. All right?

Okay, I will miss you and the fans as well. Oh, wow. I don't know how sincere that was. That was actually worse than mine, if I'm being honest. I actually really will. All right. It's very rare that I miss a show, but I will... Godspeed.

Hopefully it's not raining outside. I've yet to miss a show this year, I believe. Just for the record. Yeah, but you see, your numbers come with an asterisk. Why? Because you can cancel the show and therefore it's not quote unquote like missing a show. I believe from the first week of January up until September we have not missed one week this year. I think so.

That's pretty impressive. I'm proud of that. Yeah. We're like Cal Ripkin over here. Give the people what they want. That's right. Okay. Vali Quinto what he wants.

Right. Okay, we're done. You can hit my music. Another busy weekend coming up in the world of mixed martial arts, as I said. Risen, Invicta, UFC, some very good fights. And a lot of news is definitely going to happen in the next seven days. That's one thing I know for certain. There is a lot of news that is going to happen.

It always happens. It never stops. It never ends in MMA. And that's why we love it. That's why I love covering it so much. And again, I will reiterate for the people who keep saying, why do you keep talking about money? Just look at the Brunson interview.

It's on everyone's mind. it really is the sport is changing evolving in front of our eyes it really is and fighters are getting smarter than they were five years ago the the dynamics have changed the finances have changed the economics have changed it's all changing to ignore it would be careless reckless i'm not that guy it's interesting stuff it really is we're going to look back on this era and say wow This sport was so different back then Because I do believe it's going to get better For everyone involved For the fighters especially

It's going to get better Hopefully sooner rather than later Thank you to everyone who stopped by Congratulations to Chail Sunnan Appreciate you talking about the impetus Of the whole damn thing Thank you very much to Chris Cyborg What a story that is to follow, right?

Wow, 25 pounds? What is going on here? Hopefully it ends in a positive light for her Thank you very much to Ed Soros Ands Van Beme Congratulations, thank you very much Thank you very much to Sage Northcutt. All the best to Ally Quinta.

Thank you very much to Patty Pimlet. Michael Johnson, congratulations, and congrats to Derek Brunson. Back next week, same time and place. Till they say, be shh, I'm out of here. Support for this show comes from Figma. Figma is the place where teams turn ideas into the world's best digital products. And now, Figma is introducing a faster way to make those ideas real with Figma Make. It's an AI-powered prompt-de-code tool that turns.

earns your ideas or your Figma designs into interactive code-backed prototypes in minutes. And because it's all in Figma, you can use your team's existing design building blocks, making it easy to create outputs that look good, feel real, and represent your brand. Whether you're a designer, product thinker, or founder, Figma Make helps you go from concept to something real, fast. Figma Make, a prompt to code tool for making ideas real. it now at figma.com slash make. That's figma.com

slash m a K-E. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-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-O-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com.