MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 351

Episode Date: October 10, 2016

Ariel Helwani speaks to Peter Carroll (00:07:55), Daniel Cormier (00:30:39), Ricardo Lamas (00:54:16), Miesha Tate (01:09:26), Derrick Lewis (01:33:20), Chris Weidman (01:52:35), NewYorkRic to take your questions (02:21:45), Marc Diakiese (02:47:30), and Matt Grice (03:10:32). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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at O-D-O-D-O-O-com. That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com. It's the mixed martial arts hour with a mixed martial arts hour back in your life on this Monday, October 10th, 2016. Hello again, everyone. I'm Mario Hawani back inside our New York City studio. Thank you so very much for joining us on another beautiful Monday here in New York City. And boy, do we have a lot to talk about on this Monday. First things first, happy Thanksgiving to all my friends up north. Family and friends, I should say. Where's my flag?

There it is. Yes, to all you uninformed Americans, and I know that is somewhat of an oxymoron, yes, I am aware of that. Today is Thanksgiving here, or up there in Canada. It is on a Monday. It is a month and a half before yours. These things do happen. It doesn't all revolve around you guys. So if you're off today up north, if you're celebrating the Blue Jays big sweep of the Texas Rangers last night, what a moment that was.

I could do a whole three and a half hour show on just that. Loving it. buzzing, can't wait, ALCS, here we come. If you're celebrating that, if you're celebrating Thanksgiving, there's a lot to be thankful for, including the great sport of mixed martial arts. So thank you very much for joining us. If you are joining us on your day off in Canada, if you're elsewhere in the world, appreciate you stopping by on this Monday afternoon. It was an inventful one in the world of mixed martial arts. Once again, UFC 204 in the books. And, you know, some people want to call the main event between Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson

controversial. I think that the proper term is maybe arguable, debatable. It was a fascinating fight. It was a fascinating fight to score. Scores all over the place. To me, it's one of the best main events of the year.

It's in the discussion for fight of the year. In the end, Michael Bisping successfully defends his middleweight title for the first time. He defeats Dan Henderson via unanimous decision. Two scores 48 to 47, 149 to 46. All busted up, cut up, bloody. Don't look at that though when trying to

score or determine who won the fight, but worth noting afterwards that he was a little busted up. Dan Henderson calls it quits. We wondered if he'd call it quits. He does call it quits. He sticks to his guns and it's a proper send-off. And you know what? In the sport of mixed martial arts, not everything's black and white, but I do believe that Saturday night's result in the main event was what was best for business, if you get what I'm saying. And we'll talk about that a little more. But that was the perfect scenario. That was the perfect, if they could come up with, all right, we're going to do this fight that was much maligned, that really didn't make a lot of sense. It was number 13 versus the champion. We're going to go into this. We're going to sell a

of tickets is going to happen at 5 a.m. If we could come up with the perfect scenario, and I'm not saying they drew it up, but if they could have drawn it up, that would have been it, in my opinion. Now it gets interesting. Now we see who Michael Bisping is going to fight in his second title defense. But he is a fighting champion. He survived some pretty serious blows, and you've got to give him a lot of credit. Will he ever get that credit? I don't know. And it also makes me kind of sad that there is no real MMA Hall of Fame. If there was a real MMA Hall of Fame, Dan Henderson would be first ballot and would get the proper recognition that he deserves post-career. Now it will be like Sunday afternoon after four events in Las Vegas in some busy convention

hall at the fan expo getting a little glass statue. It's just not quite the same. But it's a Hall of Fame career. He goes out, you know, with a ton of love that close of doing the one thing he was unable to do in his MMA career and that's win the UFC belt, but nothing to be ashamed of former pride champion, two-time pride champion, two-division pride champion, and Strike Force champion as well, and a guy who kind of played by his own rules. Remember, left the UFC, signed with Strike Force, came back after the purchase, signed some big deals. Dan Henderson has nothing to be ashamed of.

Also of note, Gaggar Musassi defeating Vitor Belfort, was that his last fight in the UFC, Vitor Belfort in MMA? We'll find out. Currently going on right now in Las Vegas, there's a Nevada Athletic Commission hearing. Cona McGregor is talking to the commission. about the incident between him and Nate Diaz and their respective teams where, as you know, water bottles and monster energy cans were thrown back and forth. It appears to be, I'm not on the call obviously because I'm doing this show, but it appears to be a bizarre scene once again where Connor is on the line and they're talking about having him do media training and potential suspension. It's all very bizarre, but what more do you expect from, you know, from this cast of characters? Right now, we have Pat Lundval arguing $25,000 fine is not enough. 5% fine in McGregor's, but I mean, who knows, I'll give you the update once we get the final

word on what punishment he receives. And Nate Diaz isn't even on the call. He got a continuance. I kind of feel like they should both be on it at the same time. John Jones, Brock Lesnar get continuances as well. Once again, the circus is in town and all, in my opinion, all very avoidable, but they love this sort of thing, and it has been quite some time since they were in the news. And I'm not saying that what Connor and Nate did was right and that they shouldn't be reprimanded,

but the suggestions being thrown out here. Nothing short of ridiculous. Okay. Stack Show, as always, we've got to talk about 204. We've got a little break in the action now. And I think it comes at a good time so we can get properly excited for 205. The Manila card this weekend has been canceled. They're calling it rescheduled.

But unless every single fighter and fight, fight on that card is moved to another card at the same time. Like, if that entire card gets moved to another date, then that's rescheduled. If they're kind of scattered, as is usually the case, then it was canceled because it's not happening in Manila. And all those fights aren't going to be on the same card. But I guess that's the way they want to spin it. Okay, today on the show, 405, we're going to talk to Mack Rice. Remember Mac Rice, former UFC fighter, got in that horrific car accident around three years ago, cut short. his fighting career, now doing very well, had a very exciting weekend.

Going to be fun to catch up with Matt Grice at 405. At 345, UFC newcomer Mark D.A. Casey will stop by. He had a successful Octagon debut on Saturday. Remember last week on this show. I was telling you, remember the name, and he had a fantastic debut on Saturday. It was successful, a flashy guy, but a very talented fellow. Always brings it when he fights. Now he's 10-0.

definitely a name to remember in the UFC. Mark D. Casey will join us at 345. 245. We'll talk to Chris Wyden about his UFC 205 fight against Yo-Ramero. Derek Lewis will stop by. Derek Lewis was in Manila when he found out that the card was canceled. How about that? This is a guy who doesn't like to travel.

He'll stop by at 225. Misha Tate will be on at 205. Talk about her. UFC 205 fight against Raquel Pennington. Ricardo Lamas will be on at 145. Talk about the BJ Penn fight falling through. Where does you go from here? and the UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier will stop by at 125 to talk about fighting Anthony Johnson at UFC 206.

His sixth light heavyweight fight happening at UFC 206 in the six home of your Toronto Blue Jays. But first let us go to the Skype machine and welcome in my first guest of the day. Good friend of the show, there he is, Pizzie Carroll of, okay, let me see if I got to write severe MMA.com, Fightland. The Irish Mirror. You're doing well. Is there another one? Oh, Flow Combat. News talk.

Flow combat. What else? And sometimes the Daily Mail. Jeez, Louise. Which is your favorite one to work for? Can you tell me that? Well, you know, SurveiraMMA.com has a special place in my heart. You know, I've been there since the inception.

Yes. And, you know, it's nearly like my child. I feel like it is. along with all the other people that work there. So severe MMA.com is definitely as close as to my heart. But of course, I appreciate all the other guys who's allowed me to go full-time with my dream job. Yes, look at you. Well done.

How about this? I wasn't going to start with this, but are you following with this whole, you know, Connor McGregor, Nevada thing? I mean, this is some craziness. Media training, 10% of his purse. What is going on? Connor coming on and saying that he'd accept any. punishment that they give him. This is, this is madness. Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Media training for like the man who talks in headlines, huh? Right, right, right. It's pretty crazy. I heard that

they didn't recommend the suspension, which is pretty good for us in terms of Madison Square Garden. But another thing that has been blowing up my inbox in the last few minutes is this report. I don't, I can't substantiate that. No, don't even talk about that. I don't like this stuff. Okay, if you want to go into it, go into it. No, I don't have anything to back it up, so you're probably right, I'll leave it there. Leave it there, my friend. Leave it there. Leave it by example there. A real, very nice. Yes, come on, Pizzi. This is the big leagues here, all right? This isn't the freaking U.G. All right. Okay, so we will monitor the Conner McGregor situation, because they have not made up their mind. They're going to stretch this out as long

as possible. So let's talk about UFC 2 or 4. You were in attendance. You were at the Manchester Arena. You were sitting there. Front row. Look at you. It was unbelievable. I kept telling, no, I wasn't watching with anyone, but I was telling my imaginary friends. I know that guy is sitting in the front row. It was amazing stuff. Okay, so this is how I want to break it down. First round, okay?

Michael Bissping, Dan Henderson, first round. Who did you score for? Handel. What was the score? 10-9. 10-9, not a 10-8. 10-9. Why?

Why not a 10-8? Because I felt like Bisspink controlled the fight up until the very, very, until the the knockdown and then it got very dramatic of course but at the time when I was there I scored a 10.9. Okay. Second round, who did you score for? Hendo. Hendo. What was the score?

10-9. Okay, so in that round, Bisp being controlled, I mean, an even bigger portion of the round and again gets knocked down. Why are you giving it to Hendo? Because of the knockdown? Comes close to finishing the fight. Okay. So we now have two 10-9s for Dan Henderson.

Round, who'd you scored for? Bisping. 10-9? Yes. Fourth round? Bisping. 10-9? No, 10-7.

Okay, now here's the big one. Fifth round, who'd you scored for? Michael Bisping. Michael Bisping. 10-9. Why? I just felt he won the round. I can remember I think Dan Henderson got a takedown in the round.

Yeah. But I felt that Bisping landed on more volume. And from where I was sitting, a very good seat. Yes, that one. He looked like he was controlling the fight. Oh, my. So you had it 48 to 47, Michael Bisping, three rounds to two. But I'm a bit surprised.

I'll tell you how I saw it. I thought the first round was a 10-8. How was it not a 10-8? I thought he inflicted a ton of damage, the big knockdown. Here's the thing. And I know this isn't a perfect analogy. But essentially, that was a boxing match, right? One takedown in the end, but essentially that was a boxing match, correct?

not a lot of kicks thrown, not a lot of knees thrown, since she was a boxing match. The 10-point must system is a boxing model, right? It doesn't really apply to MMA. We've talked about this for years, but fine, that's what they use. If, let's just say the second round was a boxing match, you'd have scored that for Dan Henderson because of the knockdown, right? Hmm. Right?

Yes. Okay. First round, boxing match, one knockdown, yes, but if you add in all the damage after the knockdown, How is it not a 10-8? Yeah, I get it, but I'm telling you, what I scored the fight when I was there, it was a 10-9. I mean, it is a fight where you can argue many, many points and many different scores, and the third round as well.

I mean, the fifth round, like, that was the one I was getting a lot of stick for over in Manchester, you know what I mean, from the Henderson fans, because they thought Henderson won that fight. So, I mean, there are a few debatable points, and I understand the 10-8, but while I was there, it was just 10-9, and maybe that's just because I'm. As you know, when you're there, you're thinking so much quicker when everything's happening in front of you. Unfortunately, because of the lightness of the car, they haven't been able to sit down and watch it again. But that was how I scored at the time, honestly. Okay, so my take on it is nothing in life is black and white, including judging fights.

That's why I think it's not controversial. But this is a classic, as I like to call them, barbershop fights. You could sit down with friends. I don't know if this is a thing in Ireland, but you could sit down with friends at a barbershop or a restaurant or a cafe and actually have a very educated debate and make very good points as to why, you know, Hendo won the first, Bispin won the first, Hendo won the second Bist. So I don't think it's black and white, but I do think that this was the best result for the UFC. I think vacating the title is kind of a mess. I think having someone win the belt and then leaving is kind of a mess.

Let's be honest, Dan Henderson didn't necessarily deserve this title shot at this point in his career. They gave him. It was a nice story. He walks away. Bisping gets to defend. All in all, it's a good night for the UFC the way things kind of, you know, shook out. Do you agree? Absolutely. You know, and I asked Dan Henderson while I was there. I said, you know, you know, you're such a hero in America. Would you not love to hear the American fans get behind you?

And he was completely happy with what he was getting there. He knew he was going to come out to a nasty reception. And he turned the whole crowd. You know, at the end of it, everyone was on their feet clapping for Dan Henderson. Michael Bissping, a man who often doesn't praise his opponents is talking about how great Dan Henderson is. and it really is a testament to the man, you know, at 46 years of age, definitely not 47, which he had to correct me on the media day, hands up there. But yeah, I thought it was just a brilliant way for Dan to go out.

And I guess that fight will be debated forever about Hendo and how he could have been the UFC middleweight champion. There's something poetic about that to me. Oh, it's amazing. And it also is somewhat of a good result for Hennie. because I know he doesn't, you know, walk away with the belt, but he's even more sympathetic. People feel bad. What's going on there?

Is someone attacking you? Why you keep looking over your shoulder? No, it's just really dark. I'm going to move so you can see him a beautiful face. There we are. Let me see if there's an update on this. Okay, nothing. So it's a nice moment for him because he's very sympathetic.

People kind of feel bad. He doesn't get the win. He doesn't get the belt. But he goes out on a very high note. What a performance that was. And I think for Bisping, you know, he's, He shows a ton of heart. So all in all, it's a great moment for the UFC.

I think right now, as we sit here today, October 10th, two months to go, two and a half months left, is Michael Bisping in the driver's seat for Fighter of the Year? Is that possible? Yes. And I think the most interesting thing about that is everybody thinks he's going to lose his next fight based on the fact that he fought him. You know what I mean? Like, that is so funny.

Like, this guy has, like, I mean, I think it's really his grit, his determination that's separates him for everyone. And we saw that against Anderson Silva as well. And that was for me the difference between him and Henderson the other day. But the next time he's matched for a fight, I guarantee you everyone's going to write off Michael Bisping. You know what I mean? Because Henderson of 46 and he's meant to be finished and post-TRT, all this stuff that was talked about. And Henderson nearly did it. You know, as you said in that first round, that came very close to doing it. So if people are going to say Bisping is going to lose that fight, I guarantee he won't be the favor for his next fight because of that. But I don't know if that's right or wrong, you know.

Bisping, Stipe Amiochich, maybe Eddie Alvarez if he wins on November 12th, maybe Stephen Thompson if he wins. Those are the ones. But I mean, it's a fascinating race going on right now in terms of who is or who will be the fighter of the year. So, okay, so Bisping, Bisping retains, as you mentioned, you know, he probably won't be the favorite in his second title defense. of the top four guys who are in play. Wydenman Romero, and what a promo that was afterwards where he runs them all down and calls them all out for being whiners and assholes.

It's amazing. Wydenman Romero, Jacerre Rockhold, who does he have the best shot at defeating? That is a horrible question. I think, I can tell you who I think is the best fight. I mean, I think the Weidman fight of Wynman gets to Romero. I think that's the one that Bisping really wants. And that's a fight I'd really like to see.

You know, I think they can kind of put the rockhold fight on the long arm for as long as they can because there's a story there, you know, but it's a trilogy fight. And people might not want to jump all over that straight away again. Wyven has an excellent chance to get a big pop in Madison Square Garden. That's an event that's going to be really, really close to his heart. If he puts on a big show there, he's going to get a massive reception. You know, he's going to have the whole crowd behind him. I think he gets that fight, you know, and I like it. I do like that fight.

Yeah. Because there's been plenty of Bisping, you know, Bisping sent a bit of heat his way already, and he's very good at doing that. He has that ability, Bisping, and it's amazing. No matter who he's fighting, he'll get your roll up and you want to watch it. You know, even when people were questioning his relevancy in the middleway picture a few years back, you still watched every single fight he had. Yeah.

You know, and as champion, I think he's a really great champion for that. division in that respect. And say what you will about the guy never puts on a boring fight. There's always something going on. His face, you know, looks like a mess. He's getting knocked down. He's landing big shots, but it's never dull. It's never boring with Michael Bisping. By the way, what was it like being there? You know, because I can understand if, you know, let's say there was a North American journalist, you know, traveling over there. You know, if I was there, I probably would just stayed on North American time. That was, you know, 5 a.m. 6 a.m. for you, you live in, in Ireland. What was it like covering the fights?

said 5, 530 a.m. It was an absolute nightmare. Ask Casey and Esther what I was like when I got there. I said that to them. I said, well, you guys must have stayed on, you know, California, Los Angeles time coming over here. Well, they tried as well, and they didn't manage to really keep it together. It was really tough, man.

And when you consider that there was an England World Cup Qualifier soccer match on it earlier that day, there was a rugby league final on an Old Trafford that day, I think. You know, there's all these sporting things, and people like to go to the, you know, to the pub and have a few beers and watch this. I really didn't think that this crowd was going to last. And believe me, there was a few people sleeping. But the fact that they had all these Irish, sorry, English fighters on the card. And they performed so well, like, look at what Manoa did. Like, look at what Diakisa did.

You know, even Davey Grant, all the fights were so exciting. Bar the first fight was a bit slow. Let's be honest. Yeah. But all the English fighters really did. delivered and they made the event so, like great, like they really gave me energy being in the arena there. You know, you couldn't help but be hanging on to every job that was thrown in every fight. And it all kind of climax with Michael Bispin and his entrance was absolutely brilliant.

It was it was so loud for that, for that hour, you know, in Manchester. It was absolutely incredible. Really, really great fans. Yeah, I think nine of the 11 fights ended in finishes. is actually one of the best cards of the year, at least one of the most entertaining fight cards of the year. I really enjoyed it from my seat at home. So like do you think that in like the, will they do this again or can they not do this again? Was that a special thing because it was Hendo Bisping and it was his first title defense? They can't go back there and have a fight card at 4 a.m., right? I don't think so. And you know, a lot of people are throwing this around about Crowe Park, the idea of Ireland having this.

event in Crow Park. And I'll tell you what hurt me while it was sitting there. The Irish, you know, our numbers are dwindling. And as I said to you, each time, what do you mean numbers? What do you mean numbers? The numbers of Irish representatives in the UFC. Okay. You know, and each time this crowd got a massive surge every time an English fighter was in the octagon, you know, and if they tried to do something like that in Crowe Park now, you know, there's going to be a whole lot of Irish people asleep in them stands before 4 a.m. if they don't, if they don't have them hometown draws to really get them excited, you know? Yeah.

Like, when you look at what we had, we had, I think we had eight guys at one stage. And now without, if Siri retires after Belfast and Joe Duffy goes and test free agency, we're left with Connor, Ashting Daly, and Artim Loboff. Like, that is quite incredible. Yeah. You know what I mean? And without them numbers, I really can't see a pay-per-view card being staged at that hour to night.

I just can't see it going over as well as it did in Manchester. to be honest with you. You've watched DECC for quite some time. How far can he go? How good is he, in your opinion? You know, I'd be speaking out of tournament if I said I watched him for quite a long time. Okay.

The UK guys, even I go is you know, Steve Koch Abbott and Sean Betts in the UK. They've been interviewing this guy for years. And I've kind of caught on to him later in his career. I've seen his last three or four Obama fights. And he really seems to be a full package. you know, he has a great wrestling pedigree, and now all of a sudden he has these,

you know, this amazing knockout power on his hands. I think the moment might have got to him a bit in the first round. He usually don't see him that kind of inactive off his back, but, you know, when he got going to him and things start flowing, he looked really, really good. And I think to get that first, the UFC debut out of the way, now you're going to really see what Mark Dia Ksay is all about. The one thing I really like about his character is,

he's so chilled out. You know, he's, um, you'd, You'd never get the feeling that he was a fighter if someone didn't point it out to you. He's very softly spoken. He's a very nice manner about him. And, you know, I just really like the way he carries himself. You know, even around Fight Week, he was always a smile on his face, walking around Manchester. You know, really nice guy. And I'm looking forward to see how he gets on.

I think we're going to have to see a bit more from him before we can make a prediction as to where, you know, if he's going to be in the title picture or not. But certainly I'm very interested to watch him in the UFC. Definitely an ill-advised debut Got a little too excited, a little too aggressive But was able to rebound nicely Did he come out to Three Little Birds? I can't actually remember

I think he might have I can't remember, I'm sorry Look at me, I'm terrible This is because of the hour they put it on I know, I would have known how did you stay up? How did you stay up? What did you do? You drink a lot of coffee?

Yeah Oh my poor podcast partner, Noel McGrath I thought he was going to actually have a seizure or something I think he had 18 cups of coffee backstage there I think all the other media members are staying away from sweating profusely. Meanwhile, this deliberation about Conner's fine continues. So it's been going on for like an hour over there.

It's unbelievable to me that they're talking about $300,000. I mean, this is just madness. Anyhow, who else? Like a fine of $300,000 for the water bottle. I thought they said $25K at the start. Well, now we're talking. I'm seeing Anthony Marnell is saying 300K, Pat Lundval. Anthony Marnell is saying, no thanks to $3,000.

300k, but others are... It just gives me a headache. Who else impressed you on Saturday? We had Musasi with the big win. You mentioned Manoa, Stefan Strouve with the submission. Mirsad Bechtik, who I think is a really, really impressive youngster. Who else impressed you? Rocky Edwards against Tuminoff.

Yeah. I didn't see him winning that fight. Honestly God, when I'm looking at Tuminoff, his hands, his left hook, his left hook to the body. and Edwards did absolutely brilliant against him. You know, he's really getting a lot of attention now, Edwards, and that performance can only help him. Because when Tumenov came over, and he fought Nelson, I was thinking these are the best two European welterweights we have,

you know, in the sport, really, and maybe Tariq Safferane, of course, as well. But, I mean, that was a top European welterweight clash there, I thought with Gunnar Nelson and Tuminoff. And for Edwards to do that, do it the way he did it, and, you know, that's really going to be a massive win for him. That's a massive bolster for his stock, I think. So that was a massive win.

Davy Grant's Arm Bar, that was one of the, the Arm Barry lost boy. It's one of the most gruesome things I've ever seen it in my life. I'm in the front row and I'm nearly looking away, you know, because it's talked right in front of me. It looked like it was broken a long time before the fight was stopped. But that was, you know, there's talking points from nearly every fight there. Yeah, yeah. You know, it was that kind of night.

Everything was so interesting. and that was certainly a spectacle though I've never seen an arm like that in my life Musassi is really coming into his own and he talked about like really hitting his stride now which is amazing considering how many fights he has had under his belt already I really love the idea of him versus Anderson Silva

what do you think of it? Oh I love it I love it you know and he called for that straight after it which is you know Musassi the way he dealt with the press this week and all he's amazing he's really really really changing, man. Like, I mean, he's really come out of his shell. He's hilarious.

You know, he's really, really good all of a sudden. I can remember a couple of years ago I was trying to organize an interview with him, and, you know, it was like pulling teach. You could just tell the guy didn't want to talk. Sure. He's Mr. Media. You know, beforehand, he was kind of laughing and joking with the press,

you know, and he was coming up with great lines, like, I'm going to be in the, I'm going to be the UFC champion now because he sat on our own board. You know, just big talking points that he was saying. And I think this change and approach he's had, you know, I think the fans are really going to, it's going to endear him to the fans. And, you know, big fights like Anderson Silver will do that as well. So I would love that fight. And if you're wondering about Anderson versus GSP, there is absolutely

no truth to that right now. So, and quite frankly, I have no interest in that fight. Do you have any interest in that fight? I don't. Oh, are you, you covering your, uh, your speaker? Oh, sorry. Yeah, definitely. You do have interest? Oh, yeah, course. man. That was the one that we're waiting for, you know? That was for years and years. I don't like one finished business. I want to see it. So, so if you had the pencil, that's the fight you would book for those two guys? Not straight away. Let me have a look at the office. You know what I mean? Let me discuss contracts with these guys for us and then we can talk about a point. Typical Irishman. Always talking about the money over there. Let's see. Can I get a final word on this commission thing before we let you go? Oh God. Now we're talking about 150,000. I mean, the circus

it continues. It's a good time. All right. Well, we have run out of time. Are you excited? Are you coming to New York for 205? Yeah, I was just going to bring that up, actually. I was going to say something about that before I went. What do you got? What do you want to say? I'm in New York for the first time ever. Ever? You do a show on Thursdays called the MMAB, don't you? Oh, look at you. Look at you. And I'm going to give you some incentive right now. Okay, okay. I have some breaking news for the MMA hour. Yes.

Bellator, in collaboration with Bamma, will put on a show in Dublin's three arena on the 16th of December a Friday. And that, well, that's all the news I have. I don't have any fights yet, but this fell into my lap just before I came onto this show. Well, they knew you were coming on the show. Belator. Yeah. And it's what they had to tell me. And we're going to have more news on that tomorrow.

Look at you. A true presenter, you are. breaking the news. That's me. I true it down there. I chew down the gauntlet. This is like the late late show on RTE. Oh, no, it's way better than that. Well, that's exciting stuff. Okay. Well, it's under advisement. This is like when the fighters get the microphone from Brian Stan and they get to say. Yeah, that's what I was going for. I said, I may as well. I may as well stick me chin out here today. I may never be back on the show. Five times is a lot. Five times is a lot. I'm still waiting for the check.

Pizzi, great to have you on. Pleasure as always. Great stuff over the week. weekend and great to get your insight. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. All right, there he is. P.C. Carroll of many different MMA outlets, the main one, of course, and his favorite one, SevereMMA.com. Okay, let us move along. A champion is waiting for us. He is fighting his sixth light heavyweight fight at UFC 206 in the six. But before we move along to D.C., let me tell you once again about my good friends over at Dollar Shave Club. You know I love them, using it for a while. the shave is fantastic. And as I mentioned last time, the body wash, shaving cream, there are other products as well, top notch, not just the razors, they've got a whole host of different products,

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show. He is the reigning defending UFC light heavyweight champion. He is Daniel Kormier. He is on the phone right now. Daniel, are you there? I'm here. How are you? What's up? Wow. It was a bit of a somber hello there that I got. I'm wondering if everything's okay. Well, I'm in, I was playing NBA 2K and I'm losing, man. I'm not as good as I used to be, you know. I, the old man's uh, uh, shoot, I used to be so much better. Who are you playing against? Some guy online, you I'm not very good, though. I used to be much better, man. It's quite embarrassing that I've gotten so bad at NBA.

How many hours a day do you play that game? I used to play it a lot more, and that's why I'm not as good as I used to be. I used to play it a lot more. I just quit on somebody. You know, I used to hate quitting, but I actually just quit. Not only because I was getting beat, but I quit because I needed to talk to you. Oh, okay. Well, I'm sorry for that.

How special. How special. are you. And here I am thinking that I'm interrupting your busy day. All you're doing is playing NBA 2K while your kids are at school all by your side. I mean, the life of a champion. You can't beat that. Well, yes. It's a beauty in having the 12 o'clock practice. Ah, okay. All right. All right. Fair enough. So there's a lot to talk to you about. By the way, have you been following what's going on in Las Vegas right now? No. What's happening? Well, they're having this hearing for Connor, and I'm sure you can relate. What did you, what kind of punishment did you get about the whole

incident with John and the MGM. Oh, we did you have to pay anything? How much did you get fine? I did have to... I don't know. I think it wasn't much. It was like maybe $2,500

because I wasn't making as much as John was. So John got like a big fine. I think he ended up getting like 50 grand or something like that. Man, they were talking 350. They were bringing up 350 for... 350,000? Yeah. 350,000?

Yeah. What? What? That's what they were talking about. Are you kidding me? Now they've gone down to 155% of his purse. I mean, it's just total madness. We actually got, I got 2,500, John got 50,000, and we got community service.

I had no idea. I didn't even know this was actually happening right now if I got to be honest with you. No, it's all good. I'm not in tune with what's happening in the world, I guess. Who did you score that fight for on Saturday night, the main event, Michael Bispink, Dan Henderson? Do you recall who you scored it for?

I do. So here, this is my, this is my, this is my, this is my thoughts. Okay, so either way, I would have been okay. If they would have said 48, 47 Henderson, I get it. If they said 48, 47 Bisming, I get it. Now, 49, 46, I thought that was a little much. Now, here's the issue. The judges scored one and two for Dan Henderson, which in reality,

Dan Henderson got beat in the second round and then got the knockdown. So I'm like, well, I can see how they would still score that for Michael Bissing because he was winning the round so clearly up until the knockdown. Or does the knockdown just overtake everything you've done in the round? What do you think? I thought Dan had a better case. I thought Dan had a better case for winning round five because the strike was more competitive

and he got a takedown and then almost another takedown than he had to win in round two. So I had this conversation with Bob Cook. and Bob's like, if you get dropped, you lose the round. He goes because when you fought Anthony, first round you got dropped, you lost that round and didn't matter what you did. I said, Bob, then I lost to Alexander Gustafson. He said, what do you mean? I said because in the third round, I was winning the round and got dropped,

but the only way I kept the belt was because two judges scored that round for me still based on what I had done the entire round rather than his knockdown. I said, so you can't be selective in your thought. if you think that way you have to think that way across the board. And for me, I believe that I can see how Dan would have won the second. I thought he had more case for winning round five than he did round two. Okay, what about first round? Was it a 10-8?

First round should have been 10-8. I thought it should have been 10-8. He dropped him. Not only did he knock him down bad, he really did land some follow-up shots, and he got dominant control. So this is how I speak about scoring fights, O'Wan. And I could be completely wrong.

Okay. It's a 10-point must system, right? So at the beginning of the round, it's 10-10. You both have 10. Yeah. And then at the end of the round, the person that wins keeps 10, and one guy gets 9, right? Yeah.

So if through the middle of that round, neither one of those guys had pulled away. It was still 10-10. It was equal. Nobody was doing anything. But then Henderson knocks him down. Yeah. And dominates that round.

So obviously he wins that round 10-9. But the dominance of the nods down in the position, that should be 10-8. And the damage, too. And the damage. And the damage. I felt like the first round could have and should have been 10-8, so it could have been a draw. Yes. And what about the fifth?

Who wins that? I thought that, I thought Dan Henderson won the fifth, honestly. Yeah. I thought Dan won the fifth because the striking was fairly competitive. The striking was fairly competitive. and then he got that takedown and he held him down for him, you know, not long. And he didn't get much damage off, but takedown is winning in dominant position. So he got that takedown.

And then he almost got another takedown at the end of that round. It was kind of nice that Dan. Go ahead. I said, I guess I mean, yeah, I guess I thought it was a draw. I didn't even know how I scored the fight. Well, I was watching the post-fight show, and I don't think that I heard you actually give your score, so I wanted to ask you,

because I think it's a fascinating fight to score, but I do think that, you know, in the end, best for business, Michael Bisping retains, the belt doesn't vacate, et cetera, et cetera. And let me ask you this, D.C. Two weeks ago, you made your color analyst debut. Now, I know you did it for the John fight at 197, but you did the entire card.

Were you happy with your performance, and was it harder, easier, just about how you thought it was going to go in terms of calling action for around seven hours like that? I thought it was okay. I mean, I thought it went well for a first time. Not many people have the ability

to do that job. It's tough. It's a long time. You don't get many breaks. You're there for, like you said, seven hours just calling fight after fight after fight. And then there's so much preparation that goes into doing those fights. And there's not many spots where you actually to use all this stuff you go

and gather on all these fighters. So I thought it went well, man. I mean, the best part about it is the people that matter, like the bosses actually thought it went really well, and I'm going to get some more opportunities to do it. Nice. That's like the biggest factor in the whole thing. But it is tough. It is tough.

It is not an easy job to do. Yeah, I thought it went well. Do you know when your next one is? well it'll have to be after I fight you know because right now I got to really get back to training and prepare myself for a really tough fight but uh it'll be afterwards but I thought it went well Juan you know I thought I thought people got to see my personality they got to hear me in terms of what I thought was happening in the fight technical stuff but also like a little bit of you know like some just me kind of being me and I think that's important your finest hour was when you

called out Cowboy Lavera. I thought that was great stuff. And I'd like to see... It's almost like he had forgot that he didn't make weight and all these other things, you know? You can't be like that in those instances. If everything,

if him and Wolbrook's had issues and there was no missed weight or anything and he won in the way that he did what a dominant win for him and they had real life issues, I have no problem with it. When Rhonda Rousey and Misha Tate fought and Misha went to shake her hand and Ronda just shunned her, I didn't care. I knew that was real animosity.

It's fine. I didn't have any say in anything because you know there's real animosity there. And Rhonda had did everything right. She had made weight. She won the fight and she didn't feel like they're in the hatchet. So, Carrie, do whatever you want. But don't do it if there's some bad things that are underlying, you know. You missing weight and all that other stuff.

So here's some breaking news for you, Daniel Cormier. Connor McGregor has been fined 5% of his show purse, which is $150,000 and given 50 hours of community service for the UFC 202 press conference incident. That seems a little excessive, don't you think? $150,000 for throwing water bottle in an enclosed space. Does Congress even have a show purse, though? How did they come up with that number? Doesn't he just get like a, they didn't he get like a guarantee? $3 million or something?

So maybe he's 5% of that? I mean, I don't know, but like, how are they determining what his show purse is? There's no show purse for most guys anymore. But, I mean, come on, $150, forget about what the show purse is. $150 seems like a lot. It's a lot of money.

It's like Nick Diaz. How much did they find Nick Diaz a couple years ago, you know, it was an excessive amount of money. And I still, I don't think Nick's, I don't think Nick's paid that yet. No. So it's like, until he pays that, he can't even fight. It's such a large amount of money.

This is why it's interesting that they're laying down the hammer here because I feel like this is a bad omen for your boy, John Jones. I feel like they are going to try to make an example out of him, and anyone thinks that he'll be able to return in December or January. You're probably kidding yourself. And I thought it was interesting that when they delayed his hearing, it was supposed to be today, they delayed it. Then a couple days later, they announced you versus Rumble.

Was the UFC holding out hope that you guys would fight next? And if so, was that the right call in your opinion? Well, you know, a while ago, we started hearing stuff about John and Anthony maybe fighting. And that was right around the time that, you know, we had heard that John's issues weren't as big as initially thought. Yeah. So I think everybody kind of got excited and go, oh, well, this guy's going to be able to fight. Let's put together this fight. Now, Ariel, I'm a realist, man.

I know that they want to make that fight between Jones and Rumble. It's like a fight that hasn't happened before. And if I beat Anthony and say I was to go and lose to Jones again, that fight may never happen, Anthony and John. So it's like, do we really want to let Daniel beat this dude again or do we want to just match him up now? And I think that was the thought process behind it. But our fight getting announced right after just kind of out of nowhere

and then him postponing that thing. Someone must have gotten win that, you know, even though it may not be as bad as we initially thought, it might still be pretty bad. He might be gone for a while. So let's get back to business. I'm not looking past Rumble, but are you at all concerned

that there is just an extreme lack of contenders, prospects at 205? I mean, after you get by Rumble on December 10th, you successfully defend the title, all that stuff. There's not a lot going on there. That's of interest. No, it's very weird. And I think that's because Jones had been so dominant for so long. He pretty much beat everybody.

Like, I mean, when you defend the belt eight times against eight different guys, that's insane. So he had pretty much beaten everybody. And then everybody else beats everybody else. And then Rumble beats everybody else, and then I beat everybody else. So it was like, you almost had this, like, three-way of guys, especially, and then Rumble hasn't bought John, but then I lost to John, and it's like it was weird. It was almost like when John Fitch was behind George St. Pierre for so long. It was like John Fitch was just knocking guys off, and when they would become interesting, they would fight Fitch, and then he would knock him off, and then George would be faced with not knowing who to fight, you know? So now that we don't know what's happening with John and Anthony and I are fighting again,

because if not Anthony, who else? You know, like, I mean, if not Anthony, who else? I mean, oh, Vince St. Pruh got beat up last week by Jimmy Manawar, who was... Who got knocked out by Anthony? Not that longer. I mean, I think the longest win streak in the division, honestly, is no garrar after Anthony and I. It's crazy. So, okay, so you have the Anthony fight.

I thought your line about him. before your first fight at 187, one of the all-time great lines. What was it again? You said, you know, once a quitter, always a quitter, something to that effect, right? That he was tapped out by Josh Kosteck, so then you'll tap him out, and then you eventually tap him out. What was the line again that you said about him? I don't know.

I said something to the effect of, if it's in there, I'll chase it. You know, the guy got tapped out by Josh Kosteck, and if you were to tell me I was going to fight Anthony Johnson for the the USC championship. Yes. I would say you may as well just ship the belt to San Jose right now because there's no way he's going to beat me. Is he still the same guy?

How would we know any different, Ariel? I mean, he just went back to doing everything he was doing before I fought him, you know? So, you know, to me the most telling thing, and it was something that his coaches gave me without actually wanting to give it to me was right whenever we were fighting in the third and I was on top, his coaches started. yelling, don't give up. Don't give up. That's, to me, that's

crazy. That tells me that they've seen that in him a lot of times. So to yell that in the middle of a fight is about as bad as it gets, especially when the guy that he's fighting, again, has heard it and know that when things get tough, you guys know what happens to Anthony.

I respect Anthony. I like Anthony a lot. I'll be honest with you. I think he's a phenomenal fighter. I think he's tough as nails. and he hits hard as can be, but truth is, if he doesn't knock me out, he can't win the fight, and that's really not enough.

You can't have one avenue to victory. You know, he has to knock me out, because I know Anthony Johnson can't out hustle me over 25 minutes. I know Anthony Johnson's not going to submit me. I know that the only way he can beat me is to knock me out. One avenue to victory is just not enough. Is it hard to get motivated for this fight because you beat him, you know,

a year and a half ago. Like, you know, you've had motivation, going into 200, it was the John rematch, going into 182, it was fighting John, you're climbing the ladder, that's all motivation. The Gustafin fight is your first defense. You know, is it tough to get motivated for this or, you know? Not at all. No, okay. Not at all.

I'm extremely motivated to fight him because I like how, I like how, I like how, I like how, Anthony looks so phenomenal in his fights that people kind of make him into like King Kong. It's like he's 10 foot tall. And I like that. I like people viewing him in that way because then I get to go out and just kind of smash on him and then just show him that no matter what you build these people into, whenever they go into the octagon and they fight,

a guy that's more skilled, more well-rounded is going to beat him. So I don't care how I like that. they build him into this Superman. It is amazing that you said, we have fought a year and a half ago, and you should see the stuff I get on, like, dude, you're getting knocked out. It is amazing because I'm like, man, I heard this only like 15 months ago, and it's like, honestly, man, maybe he's gotten better with Neil Blandson. I don't know, but every fight's been exactly what it's been before.

And I'm just going to go and get him again and make him give up. What are you doing behind the scenes to get GSP to fight on that card as well? My friend George, my friend George, St. Pierre, from Montreal, where they speak French, as they do down in Louisiana. My French brother, GSP, get on this fighting card, man, come on, let's make money together. Card placement means nothing. I will be a co-made event to George St. Pierre. I'll fight in the main card opener if you need me to. This does not matter.

Let's get George St. Pierre on the fight card, right? The great people of Canada, they, they, they leave you coupé with three. They need to see George A.P. And I don't know what that means. Sure. But I just said, it is the only first thing I know. To George, you probably shouldn't say that sort of thing.

But I, you know what? This is why I respect you so much. What did it say? What did I just say? Well, what you said, okay, what you actually said was, do you want to sleep with you? What you were trying to say was, do you want to sleep with me, but you screwed up the end. You should say, Vuele you cooche with me, moi, moi is me, twas is you.

So you said, do you want to sleep with you? You see that? Well, I don't want to sleep with George anyway. I just want George to come at USC 206 and make money with me. That's what I want. What were you told? Like, is that why you accepted this card? Because you, were you told that GSP was going to be on it?

Give us the insight. No one's listening. No, I didn't get told that George was going to be on it. I just thought that when George came to U.S. Tonight a little bit ago, he said that he would love to fight in Toronto. He said that him being in the four-month testing pool of the Ushada, it fell around perfectly. So me, I'm thinking, wow, if everything winds up so perfect, why wouldn't he fight? You know what I'm saying?

And then, honestly, I had a conversation with George about what was stopping the deal from being made at the time, and it did not seem like that big an issue for who he is and what he brings. You know, if it's a matter of money, the amount that he told me was not, that that should not be a deal breaker. That should not be a deal breaker. They should be able to get that done. Now, maybe I'm thinking wishfully, but I really don't think that that should be a deal breaker. have you been able to cleanse your soul of the Jones thing or do you feel like it's still weighs on you like you still need to get that one back to cement your place to get the

respect that you deserve or have you moved on like how do you feel about it now it's not happening next it may not happen for a very long time it may never happen what do you what do you feel about the whole situation you know area i just have to be at peace with uh with with with what I've done. You know, I can't, I can't, I can't, my biggest issue with the whole Jones thing, man, is like I hate not having control over things that really affect me. And lately, it seems like he has such a massive,

he has such massive implications on everything I have to do with my career. It was really just affecting me. There is no area of my life where anyone has that much say in it, you know, So now that I'm not dealing with that right now, and I've kind of separated myself from it, it's really good. You know, so we'll fight at some point because I really don't think I'm going to lose. You know, I'm not going to lose. You know, so when he does come back, I'll still just be right here with the belt waiting

and we'll eventually fight. But I really don't even know what's going on with that guy. I honestly don't think about it anymore. That's good. If it was weighing on you, I think it would be a problem. I am happy that you're slowly climbing up the pound for pound rankings. Remember, I was the one who said that fight should be one versus two and that you can make a very strong case that you are number one.

I think it's a battle between the two D.C.'s, if I'm being honest. You and Cruz, the two guys who were on the set. And he kind of gives you a lot of crap on that set. I mean, I think that you need to put him in his place once and for all. I mean, it feels like, I don't know. I felt like you were a bit of a punching bag on Saturday. That's Dom, you know Dom is who Dom is

No, I I give it to him pretty good too You know, but I don't like to You don't really want to engage Dominic too much You know, you don't want to start to make him feel bad You know, so We all got to take care of our little Cruz bear

So who do you think is number one? You or him? I think it's Cruz, honestly. And then you? I think it's Cruz third is fine for me Demetrius Johnson is I think Demetrius Johnson is number two behind Dominic

A because he beat him A because he beat him and B because if he went back up to 135 he'd do well I've always said time and time again I think we missed the understanding of the true powerful pound means you know like it gets lost it's like what guy's skills translates weight

divisions and I think me obviously fighting at heavyweight shows that mine translates. You're undefeated at heavyweight. He's not undefeated at Bantam White. Yeah, but, but I mean, he's a beastly little dude, man. I'm fine with number three area. I mean, I'm not going to talk crap about Demetri's Johnson. I like the little dude, man.

I really do. I really do. Well, you are just, I mean, come on, man. Look at you. What? You are. You just like to get me going a little bit. don't you.

I just, give me to talk crap about Demetri. No, no, not crap. It just, it is what it is.

I feel like you, you deserve a whole lot more respect. I am happy that you're fighting in

the Great White North. By the way, you should wish a happy Thanksgiving to all the people in Canada.

Today's Thanksgiving in Canada. So if you want to endear yourself. What? Yes, today's,

early. Today is Thanksgiving. I can't wait for things. Yeah, we're a month early and the Blue Js are in the ALCS.

I mean, a lot of exciting things. fending his belt. You know, that's the thing about my Blue Jays, you know. We're on our way

to do with special things. You know, I mean, we're all our way to do with special things. You know, we can get through this, we may actually win a championship.

It's exciting. I know you've been waiting for this a long time. Ariel, maybe I'm jumping on the bandwagon a little early. I'm getting a little head of myself. Usually I'll wait until

the actual championship round, you know? DC, a pleasure as always. Thank you for coming on and good luck. My main man. Trying to get back on track with 2K. Hey, thank you, bro.

I appreciate it. Much love. All right, there he is. Daniel Cormey, the UFC light heavyweight champion returning to action on December 10th in Toronto. Okay, this weekend in the UFC

was supposed to be their second show in Manila. The show got canceled. Thursday afternoon. The main event was supposed to be Ricardo Lamas versus BJ Penn. That is not happening. Neither is any fight on that card.

And right now we're talking to Ricardo Lamas. I do believe he is joining us via the magic of Skype. There he is. The bully himself, Ricardo Lomas. How are you, Ricardo? Good. How are you doing, Ariel? I think the last time you were on this show, you were in your car as well. I was. Well, I'm at the gym again, so there's some guys working out, and it's a little loud in there, so I figured I'd come into the car. I appreciate this. I appreciate that very much. No problem. When did you find out that the card was canceled? Oh, my God. So I was actually, I was packing up, literally packing up, literally packing up.

my car in Miami to drive back to Chicago. And I jumped on Twitter real quick and saw some tweets of guys, you know, reporting that BJ had pulled out of the fight. So I got on the phone and, you know, started texting my brother who manages me and all that. So it took him a little bit to get in touch with Sean. And Sean said, yeah, you know, we're, BJ's hurt right now. We're trying to get him to go to the doctor. And I think it was maybe the day after that that they had canceled the whole car.

So I might have been actually en route to Chicago driving when I found out about it. What was your reaction? How did you take the news? It sucked, man. You know, I literally went through an entire camp. I was done training. The only thing I was left was to cut the weight. I was already holding my weight pretty low.

And to hear that, it stinks, especially with, you know, the holidays coming up. This is what I do to make a living. I want to give my family a nice Christmas and everything this year. And to have that all canceled when you put in so much work, it's discouraging. But I try to push it out of my head, and I know the UFC will make it right. And I believe that everything will work out. Are you being compensated? Yeah, they said they're going to compensate me.

Don't know the number yet or whatever, but they're also trying to reschedule me. So hopefully, Sean said he has some calls out. and hopefully sometime this week I'll find out if I'm going to be fighting or not. So you don't know if you're getting your show money, your show and win, some arbitrary number. You don't know exactly what you're getting. No, I don't know exactly what I'm getting yet. Would you be okay with anything, or do you think that you deserve your show money, your show and win?

How do you feel about that? I mean, if it were up to me, yeah. Yeah, give you the phone win money, of course, you know, but I would be happy with my show money, but really I came to fight. You know, I put in all this work. I don't want an entire training camp to go to waste. So I'm hoping that they find an opponent for me and get me on a card very soon. Based on what you were hearing, were they close to getting a new opponent for you?

Well, in the beginning, Brian Carraway had jumped on Twitter saying he would step up and take the fight. And then they canceled the event, but they said, you know, we'll throw you on a card in November. And they approached Carraway again about it. And he actually declined. so now they're scrambling trying to find somebody else. Oh, wow. So Carrey would have gone up to 145, and they were interested in booking that fight

at a later date at 145 again? Yes. Huh, yeah. Interesting. But if he wanted more money to go up and wait or something like that, and, you know, it just didn't work out. Does it make it worse? Because this isn't just any fight on any card.

You were main eventing a show against the legend, B.J. Penn. No telling if you're going to get that fight back. Does that add a little salt to the wounds? Yeah, definitely. Beat is a huge name. You know, he's a legend in the sport. I never thought I'd be fighting a guy like him when, you know, I came into the UFC, especially with us being in different way classes, him, you know, finally retiring and then he comes back.

So it was a huge opportunity for me. It's a big name. And, you know, headlining a UFC event in Manila was, I was really excited about that. and it's just one of those things, man. You know, I don't want to dwell on it. I just want to put it behind me and move forward and see what's next. Were you surprised that they booked you against BJ? Because originally when he came back, he was scheduled to fight,

Dennis Siever, which I thought was an appropriate fight for his comeback, then Cole Miller and then main event against you. I thought that was a big jump. That was a big push for him, and maybe not the smartest move, especially main event overseas. Were you surprised when you were given that fight? I was. It was one of the last guys that I suspected that they would throw.

at me, you know, but they didn't really give us any other options. When they approach us with the fight, we usually ask, you know, we like to have options. So we usually ask, is there anybody else? Are there any of the cars we can fight on? And basically they said, you know, I know, this is basically what we have for you.

If not, you'll have to sit and wait around and see what comes up. So I was surprised, but I was excited at the same time, and we took the fight. Did you do media with him in Manila? We were there at the same time. I saw him once or twice. know, there was a little press conference they held there, and then there was a little cocktail that they had at the hotel,

and we ran into each other a couple times, but that was about it. No interviews together or anything like that. Did you get the sense that the Philippines were, you know, the fans there, the Filipino fans that they were really into MMA, or did you feel like, okay, they have a long way to go before learning about the sport, the fighters, et cetera? No, all the fans that I met seemed like they were very into the sport. A lot of people were really excited to meet us,

literally like sitting there like shaking star struck and wow i was kind of confused as to why somebody would think i was so cool but um it was a nice feeling to have and i think the philippinos are our big fight fans you know how can you not be having a star like mani packe out there and right so i think they're they're really into the sport so as of right now you don't have your next fight right nothing is confirmed right now no what's if you could be sean chelby what's the perfect scenario for you? Well, he was talking about trying to get me on the November 5th card in Mexico City, so hopefully that goes through, and hopefully I'll get an opponent for that.

That'd be perfect for me. So you'd like to fight in Mexico City, obviously considering your background, right? Of course, yeah. I fought there before. I fought in Mexico twice now, so I'm always received very well by the fans over there, and I always love going back. How about the issue of elevation, because we are less than a month away from that fight? Would you have to go now to acclimate?

Or, I mean, considering you fought there before, do you feel comfortable? You know, if you do get on that card, how much time do you need there to get used to it? You know, that'd be the one tricky part. But I kind of figured this whole time I've been training for a five-round fight, it dropped to a three-round fight now. So I figure I keep training like it's a five-round fight and get out there at least a week in advance. And I think I'll be all right. That's what I did last time. I was using a hyperbaric chamber last time.

I don't know exactly how much it helped, but I don't think I have enough time to use that now. You need about six weeks. Right. But I'd be confident, you know, I'm in shape, man. I busted my butt this whole training camp, so I'm ready to go. Mentally, how hard is it to know that you're less than two weeks away? You're trying to peak at the right time. You're starting to cut that weight, and you don't have that release, right?

You don't get to go out there and actually put on the fight, the masterpiece that you've been preparing for. How do you deal with that mentally? How do you now scale back? I'm a type of guy that rolls with the punches. You know, there's, there's not much that makes me very upset. And when things like this happen, you know, it sucks. I'll be upset for a little bit, but then I'll get over it right away. And I just try and focus on what's next.

And, you know, I'm a big believer that everything will work itself out. You know, the UFC does a pretty good job, especially with us being the main event, they're trying their hardest to book another fight for me right now. So I'm leaving it in their hands. and I'm just focusing on my training. Last time we saw you, of course, was in June against Max Holloway. A very entertaining affair, sort of highlighted by that moment at the end, where you guys were kind of talking to each other and just were slugging it out.

But in hindsight, since you did come out on the losing end, what went wrong against Max? What didn't you do right in that fight, in your opinion? Max was far really well. I had a couple of bumps in my training camp. I sprained my knee the last week of training camp. and it's not like it bothered me that much in the fight. It did, you know, pretty much heal up,

but it was more of a mental thing during fight week, me worrying about it. And, you know, I think that definitely affects your performance when you're worrying about something a lot. But other than that, you know, Max just did very well. I wasn't on my game, and sometimes that happens in this sport. You're in Chicago right now? I am.

You were in Miami. Yes. And now if this fight goes through, on November 5th, I'll probably leave sometime this weekend to go back to Miami for another couple weeks. Okay. And then head out to the fight. I see you have the baby seat behind you there, right?

Yeah. Is that tough? Because you were away from your family and then you have to go away again? They went with me. So the hardest thing about that was I uprooted them, dragged them down to Miami with me. My poor wife had to be stuck in an apartment all day long, only to be greeted by a grumpy husband who came home from the gym, you know, who just went through hell. and she was stuck with a one-year-old.

So it sucked for her too because she went through that whole process for nothing. Oh, man. That is horrible. Definitely feel for you guys. No easy transition to make here, but I wanted to ask you about a friend and teammate of yours, Josh Saman, who passed away, used to train with him at MMA Masters, right? Yes, I did. Can you put into words what you were feeling when you found the news, found out that he had passed away? it's tough um josh josh was a really great guy you know the type of guy who was always energetic during

training always had a smile on his face um i'm i'm kind of like that too and me and him kind of had this thing where we had always kind of pick fun at each other during training camp i'd i'd imitate his style a lot in front everybody at the gym and everybody would get a good laugh and he would laugh at it too because he was such a great sport um and me and him were we were kind of, you know, the pranksters of the team. We're always pulling pranks on teammates of ours together. And, you know, when I was out of town, me and him would communicate a lot and tax or whatever. He offered up his house to let me stay during the camp one time.

He was just a very giving person and a very nice guy. And, you know, he was really taken too soon. There's no words that can describe it. I know that he was having a very tough time dealing with the loss of, his girlfriend and all that. And, you know, hopefully now they're reunited together. And, uh, but it's, it's something that you can't really put into words. You know, he, he's going to be truly missed by me and everybody on the team. Yeah, you know, I, I won't pretend like we were best friends, but of course, I've had interactions with him. And he told us so much about his life.

And he was so open and honest with it, writing the book. Uh, gosh, I can't imagine how his family and friends are feeling. It's just heartbreaking stuff. So young, 28 years old. Did you get the feeling that he was dealing with a lot mentally because of the passing of his girl like did you feel like this was still very much affecting him three years later? Not really. You know, on the surface, he seemed like he was dealing with it well. He wouldn't really talk about her that much or anything, but I know that, you know, in all the interviews it would come up.

You could see it on his face. You know, I don't know if he, you know, kind of blame himself for. the whole situation of what happened. But, you know, who isn't guilty of doing that, you know, of texting with somebody who could be driving or whatever. You know, I know I've done it. Everybody's done it. But it was just very shocking.

He was supposed to be in Miami the very next day to start training for his fight. You know, he had just signed a fight in November. And my coach came up to me that morning and told me that, you know, he was in a coma. He had just talked to him the day before. And then he's like, yeah, you know, Josh, he's in a coma. coma and you know ever since then it took me back and I didn't I don't think it's it's I don't think it's hit me yet you know yeah I'm the type of person that the you know sometimes when stuff like this happened there's there's a little delay and then you know just one day I'll be sitting there

and thinking about it and then it'll hit me and I think that's what's going to happen now with Josh it's it's still really fresh and and I still can't believe it you know it's uh I think it because I didn't see him every single day. Maybe that's why it hasn't sunk in right away so fast. But it's definitely a really sad situation. What was it like at the gym? Well, we had actually moved locations. So not everybody was together.

I was kind of going in and doing my training sessions with the coaches and stuff. And then I'd be out. And everybody was kind of, you know, on a weird schedule. Okay. So the whole team wasn't really together. when it happened because they're busy moving everything from one location to the other. But I know a lot of the guys are really upset. The manager of the gym who was very close with Josh and helped out matchmaking for his local

MMA promotion was really upset also. And, you know, everybody. Like I said, Josh was a great person and lifted everybody's spirits and practice. So it's definitely going to be different not having him there. What an energy he had. It was unbelievable. Always a big smile on his face. just kind of oozed energy.

I mean, he just was such a nice guy. Poof, still can't get over and surreal to see that graphic at the beginning of the broadcast on Saturday. And I thought it was really nice that the UFC did that, dedicating the show to him. But, man, my heart goes out to you and the rest of the team and, of course, his family. Just horrible news. Really, really breaks my heart. All right.

So now you just kind of wait for the phone call and you're hoping for November 5th, right? I'm hoping for November 5th. and hopefully I'll find out today or tomorrow at the latest. So as soon as I find out, I'll shoot you a text and let you know what's going on. I like that. Thank you, Ricardo. I appreciate it. Good luck, too, man.

Sorry, this happened. It was, you know, obviously a huge opportunity for you, and I'm sure you're a little bummed, but kudos to you on how you're handling the whole thing. And I hope you get that fight on November 5th. Thank you for the time. I appreciate it. All right. Thanks, Ariel.

All right, there he is. Ricardo Lamas, the bully. still very much a top 145 pounder and hoping to get on a card sooner rather than later. Okay, let us move along. UFC 205 is essentially on deck. There's that card on November 5th and then it's UFC 205 at MSG again just six blocks from this very studio. One of the most anticipated cards ever, if not the most anticipated card ever. And one of the top fights on the card is Raquel Pennington.

versus Misha Tate. I have been looking forward to talking to Misha Tate since before her fight at UFC 196. It has been that long and so much has happened since then. And now we finally have found her. She is on the phone. Misha, are you there? I'm there. Can you hear me? I can hear you just fine.

How are you? Just fine. How are you? I'm doing great. It has been a while. I've been trying to reach you for ages, it feels like. So I appreciate you coming on. Yeah, I was off the grid for.

a little bit there. And I just was doing my own thing and regrouping. And I went to Thailand and got some amazing training in. I also went to Belgium and kind of traveled the world and just took a minute to regroup, I guess. Did you feel like you needed to do that after 200? Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's a lot of push, a lot of pressure and just, you know, life.

Life gets in the way sometimes and you get things going on and you think you can do the whole juggling act. And sometimes it's just a lot harder than it's, it appears. And so I just needed a little time, a little time to myself. And I went out, I went on a road trip, too, like, after the fight for, like, two and a half weeks. It was just like me and my dog.

And we went all over the place and hiked and just spent time out in the wilderness. And it was perfect. It was honestly just what I needed. Do you feel like you have officially moved on from the disappointment of that card, or will you only be able to do so once you get back in there and get a win and get back on track? No, I think it was important that I let go of that before I went into a training camp because I didn't want that negativity hanging over my head and dragging me down in my training now. You know, I wanted to be positive going into the next fight. So I think the time that I took for myself was, you know, it was necessary.

And I definitely think that it helped me just kind of, you know, get over it, so to speak. I mean, I'm still obviously not happy with the performance. And I think it's fair to say that that really isn't me. and that night was definitely was by far probably my worst showing, and I have a lot more, you know, a lot more to offer than that. So it was an off night. It was a terrible night to have an off night, but it happened. And I'm only human, you know, I'm not perfect.

So I went out there and made some mistakes and got caught early, and it is what it is. You know, one loss and one win, neither one defines me. So I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. And really looking forward to 205. In hindsight, do you think you came back too soon after winning the belt, the high, you know, such a great victory, the comeback and all that?

Do you feel like it was too quick of a turnaround? You know, I don't think so. I mean, I've had plenty of quick turnarounds in my career, and it's never been a problem. I just, I think it was just one of those things. It's just, you know, you can't predict that. I could have been on a long layoff and still had the same thing happen. You know, sometimes just like I said, life kind of gets in the way, and you get too many things going, and, you know, it's, you know, it's not an excuse by any means,

but it's just what happens sometimes. Sometimes you just get overloaded and you just have so much going on that it's really challenging and that, like, there's no MMA 101 course of, like, how to do it all. You know, you kind of sink or swim and sometimes it gets really hard to swim, and that's just kind of what it was, just a lot, a lot going on. Have you been able to watch the fight? I watched some Yeah I watched the fight once

And then I've seen obviously some highlights of it And things like that But you know It was a It was a shitty performance So you know I'll be brutally honest myself It was terrible

Worth performance in my career But You know I can't I can't leave that looming over my head You know I know What gives me like satisfaction size I know I'm better than that I know that that was like a, it was the one-time thing that, like, I'm never going to let that happen again.

And, yeah, I mean, it sucks. I don't, I'm not happy about it, but there's only one thing that I can do. It's get back up on the horse and give it another go. I think you earned a lot of respect when after the fight you showed up to the press conference with the bloody nose. And, you know, for better or worse, people are always going to sort of compare you or talk about you in sort of the same discussion as Ronda Rousey. she didn't show up and you don't like to compare the injuries and all that stuff. But how difficult was it for you to sit there with the ice on your face having to answer questions and sit next to Amanda, you know, after such a disappointment?

That's like, it's terrible. It's like rubbing salt in the wound. It's literally like the last place on earth that I wanted to be, to be quite honest. Like I did not want to go to that press conference at all. And it really took a strong support system to get me there and get me through that. and I'm just very thankful that my coaches and my management and my friends were all, they all like convinced me to go and say, you know, you've got to do this. This is the kind of person you are.

You're going to regret it if you don't. I was like, you're right. Like, I don't feel like doing it right now. But in hindsight, I'm still glad that I did, you know. I think it was important that I did. So, yeah, it was hard, though. It was not the place I wanted to be. That's for sure.

I appreciate as a media member, you going. My heart went out to you. I was thinking. like, man, she must want to be anywhere in the world than sitting here looking at all of us and answering these questions. So, you know, major, major kudos to you for actually doing that. Did you, in fact, break your nose in the fight? Yes. Okay. Did you have to have surgery?

No, I could have had surgery, but I opted to wait until probably the end of my career because it may not be the last time I break it. So, you know, in all fairness, I may break it again. It's very, you know, probable in this sport. So I think I'm going to wait until it's all said and done and then get it fixed. What was your reaction when they offered you Raquel Pennington? Was she on your radar for your next fight? No, honestly, I really had no idea.

I kind of for some reason was thinking like a Katzingano. I was thinking possibly Holly. I was thinking maybe they would try to put. with Juliana, maybe they would try to push Shoshanko, but, but honestly, Raquel really was, I don't know why I wasn't thinking about her, because really, I mean, that's a great, it's a, it's a great matchup and it makes sense. And I feel really honored, honestly, to have that fight because she's, it shows that the UFC still values, like what I, what I, what I have to offer by giving me someone who's on a win streak when I just suffered a loss, you know, so that's, I'm really

happy that they didn't give me someone who's on a losing streak. You know, they're like giving me someone who's hot and credible right now and beating girls and doing really well, making waves in the division. That's the kind of fights that I want. And, you know, I didn't ask for it. I just, I told them, it doesn't matter who, I just would like to get back in there. And they said, the first name that came out of their mouth was a recal, and I said, perfect. Wow. No problem. You coached her on the Ultimate Fighter, right? I did. Yes. What's her relationship like with her? Um, we're friends. Um, we were pretty close for a while and then, you know, she lives far away. So, you know, we haven't stayed in, in super close contact, um, you know, over the last six months, like, year or so. But, um, no, we're still friendly and like, um, you know, yeah, I, I like Raquel a lot. You know, she's a, she's a really cool chick and, you know, our feelings, but business is business, you know, we, we are in the same weight division and she's, uh, she's the one that's in front of me. So I guess,

kind of, I figure we always knew that that was, you know, a potential possibility that, that kind of, it could happen at any time. So, you know, we have trained together before. Obviously, did coach around the ultimate fighter and, you know, we've had some good heart to hearts and she's been a great support system for me. I've tried to be a great support system for her in various points in our career, you know, and she suffered that loss to Holly. I was there that night. We hung out. She's a really great girl. And like when I lost to Ronda, You know, she was there and like, you know, so we've been there intermittently through each other's careers and we kind of get it. But I think at the end of the day, it boils down to we both have a lot of respect for each other.

And we are in the same weight division. We have the same goals. And now is the time when, you know, we meet as friends in combat, sort of. So it doesn't feel weird for you to fight her. You're able to separate the friendship from the business. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. You know, it wasn't like I was looking for that.

I mean, I suppose if I could avoid fighting, you know, people that I like and care about, it would be nice, but it's just not realistic at the end of the day to avoid everyone that I like in the division. So, you know, it's what it comes down to is that we have to fight each other. And I'm sure we'll be friends before, we'll be friends after, and that's it. As you mentioned, she's on a role. Are you impressed? Do you feel like she's turned into a better fighter than you thought she would turn? into what's your take on how she's fighting as of late?

Man, Raquelis is incredibly tough. She's incredibly durable, and she's strong. She's really, really strong. So, no, I'm not surprised that she's doing as well as she's doing. I saw a lot of potential on her on the ultimate fighter.

And, you know, I know she trains like a beast. You know, we've trained together before. So, no, I definitely am not surprised that she's doing as well as she's doing. and I would expect it. You know, she had a very, very close. The split decision lost to Holly.

And, you know, she's been winning ever since. So she's doing good things. Are you disappointed that you missed out on the spectacle of that press conference a couple weeks ago at MSG with all the Connor stuff and just, I don't know if you saw it, but it was rather entertaining. Do you wish that you were sitting up there in a part of it? No, honestly, I was in Thailand training and having the time. of my life, so I wouldn't have traded that for anything. I've seen the Connor McGregor's

semantic time and time again. I've been on two lead-ups with him before, so, you know, I know what he's all about. He's hilarious, you know, but no, I was training really hardcore in Thailand and getting some great Muay Thai training in, and wouldn't have traded that, no. Does it mean anything to you to be on this card, this MSG card? Like, did that add to it? is this something that you dreamt of? I mean, you hear that from fighters. I know you're not like, yeah. Yeah, okay, you understand the significance.

Yeah, the Megsuit. I am so dumb. I'm going to be honest. There's an interview I did actually with Tracy Lee like a couple years ago, right, standing outside of Madison Square Garden. And, you know, she's asking, would you ever want to fight here?

I'm like, yeah, like whenever it's legal, I want to be on that card. And I was asking the UFC, can I be on that card? I want to be on, you know, and they were like, oh, it just doesn't look like we have an opening. we're shooting for December. So I was looking at either like the December card in Toronto or the end of the year,

December card. And I was actually like on my way to Thailand. I flew to Belgium first and visited my best friend Cindy. And then like we were headed to Thailand and they called me and were like, Madison Square Garden. I'm like, yes, I'm there. Put me on. Let's go.

You know, it was kind of a short, you know, I mean, long enough camp, but usually you have more time. I think I found out maybe seven weeks out. but that's fine because I had been training anyways. I went to Thailand, kicked it up a notch. I'm back here and I feel amazing and incredibly stoked to be a part of this movement in history. And this is just, this is groundbreaking. Like you said, this is one of the most anticipated cards. And not like that, but like, it's so cool.

Like MMA is finally legal in New York. How awesome is it going to be to set a precedent precedence there in New York for the first time and be a part of that magnitude? It's really cool. Yes, yes, it is a huge deal. and what a card it is. By the way, what's your take, speaking of that card at the end of the year, what's your take on Amanda waiting for Rhonda

and Rhonda getting the title shot right away, just how it's all playing out when you probably could have waited as well? How do you feel about it all? You know, to each his own, I think my personal opinion is that as a champion, you don't wait for people, you step up when you should. You should stay busy and do whatever.

But, I mean, you know, it's her choice. It's her life. And she's probably being advised to wait. And I can't blame the girl, you know, it's going to be a big fight. It'll be a big money fight, you know, financially, career-wise. It probably, you know, makes sense from the political side to wait. But, I mean, you've got to balance that out. Like, what are you in it for?

Are you in it for the money? or are you in it for like doing the you know quote unquote smart thing or are you passionate driven and you want to do what you know what like the fighter quote unquote would do and so you i mean it's not wrong either way it's just you know personally what i think is is to stay busy and and give uh you know prove that you're the champion why you're the champion and you know so that's what i think um and as far as ronda coming back and getting a title shot right away i mean that's what it's been it's built up to be the entire time, so I just never saw it any differently. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a long layoff can definitely have some adverse effects

on, you know, coming back and getting right back in there and, you know, the best of the best. But I guess we'll kind of see how it all plays out. Considering you know both of them, who would you favor in that fight? Man, you know, I feel like there's so many weird variables. Like, it's really, really hard to say, because, because who knows what we're going to get out of Rhonda when she comes back. You know, if we're getting Rhonda at the best that she's ever been, then I say Ronda. But if we're getting Rhonda coming back kind of, you know, with a half-ass mentality,

kind of like, oh, I just feel like I have to do this one time, and she's got a lot of ring rest, and maybe she's still punch shy, and she hasn't thought since Holly, you know. And we all saw that, obviously, Amanda has an incredible, credible power between her, you know, in her right hand. So, you know, she gets, she hits Ronda with one of those. Like, I could see it being a huge problem for Ronda, a big, big problem. So it's kind of hard to say, honestly.

I really just don't know what we're going to get with Ronda. I think, I know what we're going to get with Amanda. I just have no idea what we're going to get with Ronda. Are you surprised that she's remained out of the spotlight for this long? I mean, you've had demoralizing losses and tough losses to handle. more often than not we've seen you come back after injuries or whatever that seems to be the case with most fighters

but it's amazing to me the same thing that happened with Gina Carano seems to be happening with Rhonda here where big loss, big stakes and then out of the spotlight yeah you know I understand that it can be a lot and it can be overwhelming

and it can be challenging and you know there's there's days that I have when I'm like you know what, I don't want to put up with this anymore. Like, I'm tired of, like, people talking crap on my social media. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of that. I don't want to deal with this anymore.

I don't, you know, I'm done with it, you know. And then I'm like, no, like, you know, my heart still just, it's in it. Like, I just can't, I cannot bring myself to walk away. But, you know, I don't know, I can't speak for Rhonda. I just think that she's probably fed up with, with a lot of different things. And she's chosen to go a different route than I would choose to go, you know? So she's just different in the way she wants to handle it. Well, we know that clearly.

We're obviously very different. That's why we're buttheads. Can I tell you a fight that I'd really love to see? Misha Tate versus Chris Cyborg. Yeah. That's a good one. What do you think of this? Chris can't find anyone to fight.

Anyone of, you know, substance, a name, you know what I'm saying? What do you think? What do you think of that? Has that been brought to your attention? Has that been ever offered to you? No, actually, it hasn't. You know, I've been pretty, when I was a champ, they told me that they would not, like, the U.C is like, we're not going to do a catch weight.

So either she has to meet you at 135 or, like, you have to not be the champion. But, I mean, I suppose now that I'm not the champ, you know, I technically could fight her at 140. You know, I wouldn't be against it. The thing is, it's like, I just feel like I have nothing to lose in that. Like, you're fighting a girl that's, like, such a powerhouse and such a beach. and just crushing girls that like if I went in there and I beat her or even gave her like a solid run for money like it says a lot you know so I wouldn't be I wouldn't be opposed to doing it but it's not something that's been discussed and obviously at this point you know I got to focus on on Raquel um you know

I think she's going to be she's going to be a tough matchup you know she's she's a lot a lot tougher than probably all people are going to give credit for she's definitely hard to she's hard to put away she's hard to finish. She's going to be in it to win it the whole time. So I know that I'm going to be in for a tough one. And I'm not looking past her, but I give you so much credit for just saying that because I feel like a lot of people miss that point.

You have nothing to lose in this fight. Cyborg is so dominant. It hasn't lost in years. Even if you put on a good showing and I know you're trying to win the fight, the worst case scenario is you get a ton of credit for taking the fight when no one else is. Best case scenario is you beat Cyborg.

And then you're the pound for pound queen. Yeah. So I don't know. Exactly. I don't understand why more people aren't gunning for the fight, the big names, but, you know, perhaps they have the reason. Well, I might take a couple years off my life. That's true. Maybe you need to get paid a little more for it.

Yeah, yeah. And I wouldn't blame me for that. Before I let you go, I have to ask you about this. A month ago, you were in the news, once again, for a great act of kindness, you carried, I think it was a five-year-old girl, or was it a six-year-old girl? I believe she's six. Six. How many miles was it? Was it a mile and a half, two miles?

It was close. I think it's between two and a half and three miles. Jeez, Louise. Can you tell us the story if you don't mind if anyone missed it? It's an unbelievable story. Sure. So I was hiking up Mary Jane Falls, which is at Mount Charleston, just outside of Las Vegas. And I mean, it's a pretty tricky trail. It's got switchedbacks and some big rocks and things that you could slide out on. But anyways, get to the top. And I had heard on the way up, people talking about this little girl that had fallen and broken her arm. I noticed her once I got to the top. But she looked like she was being well-take. care of so I just kind of stayed out of it. I looked around and enjoyed the site, started my descent and about, you know, 30 feet from the top.

I saw this, it was the mother struggling to try to carry her daughter down. And they were trying to Mickey rig sweaters to kind of create like a sling because so I don't think the mom had the upper body strength to hang on to her and the balance and coordination. So they were trying to jerry rig, tie her daughter to her body. and I just thought, this is going to be really bad because someone's going to lose footing and this little girl is going to go down and she's got a broken arm. So I just offered it. I said, hey, I'm, you know, I'm a, I just, I didn't say who I was.

I was like, you know, I'm a professional athlete and I'm looking for an extra workout anyways. I really don't mind. I will gladly carry her down if people want. She's like, are you sure? And I said, yes. And she turned a little girl and she said, do you want her to carry you or you want me to carry you? And the little girl looked at me and she's like, I want her to carry me.

It's so cute. I was like, oh, good. So I grabbed her up and carried her down. And, you know, we made it down safely. And she's a little beast, man. She was super tough the whole way down. We had a good conversation. She actually fell asleep at the very throat at the bottom.

What? How long did it take for you to walk? How long did it take for you to get down? Almost an hour, about 45 minutes. Okay, so I have a four-year-old boy, a four-and-a-half-year-old boy. And it's very hard to carry, you know, my son for, five minutes. How are you,

how are your arms? And she's, they were smoked. Right? I can't imagine. My grip, my grip was smoked. My traps were smoked and my back was pretty sore because I could only put,

I carried her princess style for a while and then I just couldn't, she was uncomfortable with me locking my hands because it was kind of like folding her in half. So I was trying to carry her without my hands locked princess down, but it was getting really tough. So I switched her onto my left hip. and carried her that way, but I couldn't put her on my right hip because of her, her broken arm the way that, like, I needed it to be on the outside, not against me,

because I didn't want to bump it. So I was only like one side dominant. Wow. And she's not crying as you're, because you're not just walking down the street. You're going down a hill. She was nervous a couple times, but we, you know, I told her, I was like, hey, if you're strong for me, I'll be strong for you. You know, I'm not going to fall. I got you. and so, you know, we both agree to be strong for each other. And, you know, she was. And there's a couple times when she started to get a little bit emotional,

but we just were like, hey, you know, we're getting there. You got to be strong. And she was, you know, she did a really good job. And she's just incredibly sweet. And, you know, I think I got more out of it, honestly, than anybody else did because it was a good conversation all the way down. She was super sweet. And it was just inspirational because she's just this little girl.

and she trusted me to deliver her down a mountain and she has a broken arm and she just was really upbeat considering the situation so she was good company have you heard from her since

yeah I have she posted a video or her mom did on Instagram saying you know the little girl saying thank you Misha for carrying me down the mountain and that was very sweet and we've been in contact a little bit here and there

I know she had her cast and she's getting it off here pretty soon So, yeah, we've been in contact. Well, that is beautiful. Well done. I mean, that is just amazing what you did. More important than any victory, anything in the cage.

Really truly respect you for doing that. It was amazing to read that. And wow, I give you a lot of credit. Well done, Misha. Again, thank you so much for coming on the show. And good luck on November 12th. This is going to be a lot of fun. Can't wait for it.

What a scene it's going to be at MSG. What a great fight that is. So I wish you the best in the next month of training, and we'll see you over there in New York City. All right. Thanks, Ariel. All right. Talk to you soon. There she is. Misha Tate joining us. What a beautiful story that is. If you did not hear about it, read about it, just type in Misha Tate and young girl on Google News. And it will come up. Tons of articles, beautiful stuff. What an amazing act of kindness that is for Misha Tate.

And she's done that before, helping out Brian Carraway, her boyfriend's mother. I mean, great person. So looking forward to having her back and looking forward to that fight very much. Okay, let us move along. One of the big fights and fighters, big names on that now ill-fated Manila card was, is the Black Beast. Derek Lewis. What a story this is, because I do believe he was in the Philippines when he found out that the card was canceled. So I had to talk to him about it. Always love talking to Derek Lewis.

And I do believe he is joining us via the magical Skype. There he is. Derek Lewis is joining us right now. How are you, my man? I'm horrible, man. How are you doing? Oh, no. Why are you horrible? I have a guess. I like to say that just to see if people care about me. I appreciate it.

It's funny. Because sometimes people, you'll say you're horrible, and then they'll be like, okay, good to hear. And then they'll walk away because not even looking like. Sure. That's how it goes. Are you really horrible? No, I'm good. I'm feeling good. Everything's going well. Is it true that you were in the Philippines?

Philippines when you found out that the card was canceled? Yes, I was there. Oh, my gosh. I was there for like a week before they noticed. Why'd you go out so early? They get used to the time difference. You know, it's 13-hour difference from here in Houston, so I just wanted to get myself my body ready, situated like that, you know,

and check out the beautiful women. How are they? They were small. You know, stuck on a few of them, but they are. You know, I recall when you fought in Croatia, you said you do not like to travel. You did not enjoy being over there. Did you enjoy the experience of going to Philippines a little more? Yeah, it was nice.

You know, everyone was friendly. You know, they wasn't all like shell shock. Like, it was their first time seeing a black guy. And so they made it comfortable for me. So I don't mind going back over there. or Croatia, it's a different story. Wow. Not a lot of people who are your size over there, right?

I mean, you must have... No. I know I was like Gonzela to them. So, you know, they like that type of stuff. So, yeah. Okay, so you go there. You're not alone, obviously. You have your coaches there with you?

Yeah, I was one of my other coaches. Larry, he's a black guy too, so... Oh, perfect. You know, we just, yeah. We fit in pretty well. When do you start to catch when that the card might be in jeopardy? I didn't, they woke me out of my sleep, and I had like five missed calls from my manager, and he told me that he got bad news.

I thought my opponent got hurt or something like that. And he went ahead and broken down to him and said the whole car got canceled. And I was just pissed. And I said, they're still going to pay me. And you said, he don't know. We're going to talk about it this week. And I said, there ain't no talking about it. Let me call Dana White or somebody.

They need to pay me because I already don't like flying. I make me come all the little bit from nothing. Right. So are they going to pay you? So we're still waiting. We're still waiting. So I don't want to hurt nobody, you know. We pay my money.

What's an acceptable amount? Because they said that you guys would be compensated, but it was a little vague. I don't like that compensated stuff because I'm thinking they're going to just try to pay. me for the little taxicab ride that had to spend on going in the hotel and probably a little plane tickets. That's not enough, you know. I cut a lot of weight. You know, I cut up like 30 pounds for this fight. Wow. For real? I was hurting, man. You know, I wanted to eat. I wanted some chicken. You know, I couldn't eat. So, you know, I was suffering. So what's acceptable? You want your show money? You want your show and win? Yeah, I want my show money. Just give me the least half of it, you know?

That's what I want. I'd be satisfied in. Are you confident that you're going to get it? Yeah, either I'm going to get it. Either they're going to hand it to me in my hand or somebody who has to pay for it. So you're comfortable calling up Dana White and asking for it, right? Yeah, I'll call him.

Do you have that kind of relationship with him? I don't got him. My manager, I make somebody give me his number. Either I'm going to call him or I'll show up at his doorstep. He's the one. Somebody going to pay me. Were there a lot of other fighters on that? the card that were already in the Philippines you saw there?

No, nobody was there. It was just me. Man, I couldn't believe that. I was thinking of that because first when you were announced on the card, I was like, oh, wow, they're sending Derek Lewis to the Philippines. Let's be honest, not the highest profile fight that you've had. It was a bit of a strange booking, wasn't it? Yeah, it was real strange, you know, so I was like,

um, they wanted, I told them I fought for doing, and they wanted to go to shape, but they wasn't going to give me the type of money that. I needed to have the fight Redun. And so I said I'll fight Travis Brown. But before Travis Brown had came up, before Wardoon came out, I said I'd fight Travis Brown. They didn't want to give me Travis Brown. Then I saw him I fight Redoom.

And so they tried to re-engoshae, and they didn't come out with a good amount of money. So we just told him no. Then they came up with this guy out of the blue, and they offered me more money than what they was going to offer me for Ordone. So I'm like, okay, I'll take it. I don't know why they didn't want to give me that amount of money to fight with Dune.

Yeah. It was fun. This was on the 203 card in Cleveland, right? Yes. You wanted to fight on that card? Yeah, I wanted to fight. And they said no. So do you think it's possible?

I mean, you're not going to get Vardume because it seems like he's fighting Kane. Are they going to just book you against the same guy? Yeah, that's what my manager said. They're going to book me against the same guy. It really don't matter. I just want a good. profile fight really but if I have to fight this guy to get there then I fight him um so why did you decide to go so I mean I know that you you said you were getting acclimated but for a guy who hates to

travel and there was no one else there yet were you the one who had this idea to go early or was it your coach who said to go there that early because it's amazing to me that you were the only one that was there no I wanted to go early it was my idea you know it was just one of them days that I pull myself up to go ahead and get on this plane. You know, I hate flying, so I was just one of the day I was feeling good, so I was just going to hurry and jump on the plane before I want to be changing my mind about the whole thing. Wait, so it was a spur of the moment type of thing?

Yeah. You didn't have your plane ticket booked? No, we did it that same day. Oh, wow. Yeah. And when you found out that it was canceled, how long did you stay for? I left that, actually, that night. I flew out that night.

What was that like? What was that like? You fly all the way there. You're getting ready to fight and you're going back on the plane. No fight. No money, no nothing. Yeah. Man, it was crazy. You know, the people at the hotel, they were all saying that we was leaving.

But really, they were just mad because they were losing money. But it's all good, though. But, yeah, it was just a crazy experience. I never experienced nothing like that before. Were you pissed off? Yeah, I was pissed off. Then I get to the airport, then the airport is so small and nasty looking. And I don't know.

Yeah, I was just pissed off. Are you done with these international fights for now? Yeah, either if I want to fight in Brazil. Because I heard the Brazilian woman are a little freaky out there. I want to see what that's like. Oh, you see, you want to fight in Brazil. A lot of people don't want to fight in Brazil, but you want that. Yeah, I heard about the taxes and all that, but I heard the women out there cheat.

Okay. So we see. Wait, if you don't want to be asking, aren't you married? No, I'm not married. Oh, you're not, but you have kids. Yeah, I have kids. You're a single father. Yes.

Do your kids live with you? Yes. Okay. How many do you have? I have two boys and one girl. Wow. So who takes care of your kids when you're away? Oh, my mother-in-law.

My ex-mother-in-law. Wow, that's interesting. Not your, not your ex-wife? No, we was never married. It was just, you know, one of them things. I don't want to talk about that, man. I'm not married. It's just very interesting. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So are you, so, because what I heard was that Verdoom didn't really want the fight against you. He preferred the brown fight. It had nothing to do with that. It had to do with the money that they were offering you or not offering you?

Oh, I didn't know. I didn't know that. I didn't know that he turned down the fight. I just thought maybe they didn't want to offer me enough money. And so my manager had just... Okay. But it doesn't make a lot of sense, right? I mean, they offering you more to fight another guy than what they were going to offer? So you know what I mean?

Yeah, for sure. I guess they was just one of their ways, so like basically telling me we're doing, don't want to fight them. Sure, right? I knew we just want to offer more money than what I was making. So I was making three and three before, and we were trying to get more than that.

Three and three? What do you mean three? 33, 33. Oh, okay. And now you have a new deal, right? Yes. Are you happy with it? Yeah, I'm happy with it.

Yeah, it's pretty good, you know. How many fights you signed for? Four. Okay, so now you haven't done any fights on the contract yet, right? I haven't. Okay. I haven't. So if you don't get this guy again, Marcine Taibura, who do you want?

Like, what's the perfect scenario for you? Um, if I can get an obering or um, Mark Hunt, even the guys that are under me, it don't matter. I would like to fight either one of them, Travis Brown or Dune, go ahead and get him a title shot. Um, it don't matter. That gets you a little more excited, right? Yeah. Did you? Yeah, for sure.

Had you ever heard of Marcyne before? I'll take him most serious. Have you ever heard of Marcyne before you offered him? I haven't heard of him. I don't really know how to say his name. A lot of people. people ask me, who are you fighting? I said some polling guy. That's name. Somebody from Poland.

No disrespect to him, but I was surprised that you went from Roy Nelson, like a very big name to him. Yeah. So I didn't care. The wrong day. It gave me the new deal. So I was like, okay, I'm going to take this fight on a new deal. You know, more money. So I'm going to try to take the fight serious, but it was real hard for me to take a series. And then you have to go all the way to the Philippines and the fight. I mean, what a mess this whole situation is. Yeah. What does that a hat mean?

What does Make America Trill again mean? You know, Donald Trump. You know, Make America Great again. Make America Trill again. You know, it's a Houston thing. Trill means what exactly? It's mean like good, like real. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Are you a Trump guy? Yeah, I'm a Trump guy. What? This is a shocker of all shockers. You're voting for Trump? Come on. Stop being racist, man.

What? So you're going to vote for Trump, if you don't mind me asking? Yeah, I'm going to vote for Trump. Why do you like him? Because, you know, I don't need my taxes going any higher, man. I blew you trunk on a lower the tax. The tax a little easy on him. They hurt me this year.

Okay. What about this locker room talk? I mean, are you offended by this? No, he's saying stuff I used to say in high school. Yeah, but he's like 50 years old. on in high school. Yeah, I'll talk like that now. Okay.

That's the thing to do when the girls like that stuff. I don't know about that. Did you watch the debate? No, I didn't watch it. I was doing something else. Okay. What were you doing? Can't tell you that.

Okay. Did you watch the Miochich-Overim fight? No, I didn't watch it. You didn't watch it? You didn't watch it? No. My manager told me about it. It would say it's pretty good. The Verduem-Brown fight was a crazy one. Did you see that? What happened with the kicks and the coaches and all that? Yeah. It was good. You know, I still feel like I would have did a better performance. It would have been a better fight if I would afford what we're doing.

Do you still get hate from your people in Houston when you were wearing that Atlanta Braves hat? Yeah, they do. Yeah, that was... Yeah, it's the hate on me. But it's all good, don't? You know, we still didn't make the playoffs. I know you didn't. It was great.

I was happy. And how about the, are you Texas Rangers fan? No. No, okay. Everything Houston. I'm all Houston. All right. H-town.

How are the Rockets going to do? Yeah, they're doing pretty good right now. Well, it's preseason. Come on, man. You can't talk about it. I said, how are they going to do? Not are they doing well. Yeah, you know, I believe we're going to go deep in the playoffs this year.

You know, we got to, you got to, a better team than we did last year, and I'm glad we got rid of the White Howard, so fast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you ever talked, have you had a chance to talk? He goes to all the UFC events. He was there. Where was he? Was he at 202? Yeah, he said Atlanta. We were sitting next to each other. Oh, did you say anything to him? Huh? Did you say anything to him? No, I didn't say nothing to him. You know, he went to to try to shake my hand. I just gave him my back. I act like I got some girl behind me. Yeah, because I remember you telling me, I don't know if it was before that card or after the card that

you said you were going to say something to him if you saw him. Yeah. So why didn't you? No, I'm sorry. Just finished talking a day in the way he just introduced me to the new owners. Oh, okay. So I just want to be respectful to them. What do you think of the new owners?

Yeah, it's been pretty good. You know, we see what they're talking about with their money, see how much money they're going to do. Then I'm going to do another interview a few months from me. I'll let you know. Fair enough. Do you see all these new celebrities who are investing in the UFC now? This is crazy. Yeah, I didn't think that was real.

It's real. I guess that's pretty good. Let's see if they start throwing that money then. That's right. That's right. Everybody, all these billion and a millionaires, you know, we're sitting around making Trump change for McConnell McGregor and Nate Diaz and whatever the name is making all millions now.

Yeah. You deserve some of that. And we're just making gas money. It's not right. make the UFC trill again is what the hatch should say thank you I'm gonna make a highlight or forget about the again just how about make the UFC trill can't be again if it never was right

yeah for sure I'm glad they cleaned it up though it look a lot better on TV you know everybody in the Reeboks uniform you know at first it just looked trash you know all the different logos different colors oh I like Reebok the Reebok um uniform You like them? Yeah. It looks cleaner on TV when you're watching.

How about the sponsorship money that you're not getting? Yeah, I don't like that, but I wasn't making that much money on sponsorships anyways. True, true, it had gone down. What about that car ride that you were involved with Amanda Nunes and Giuliana Pena? We already talked about that. Because you didn't tell me what really happened last time, so I was wondering if you forgot that I asked you about it. I had a beer now. I'm not thinking right.

I don't know what happened. I don't know. You know one of the, actually, your manager told me that all his football clients, they all come up to him and want to talk about you. All the football players, they all want to talk about you. Like, you're the next big thing. You're the one that all the athletes are talking about. Do you get that?

Nah, I don't get it. Because my bank account don't say it. That's true. I don't think so. You don't care about that. No, I don't care about it. All right. Well, I hope it changes for you.

you. I'm sorry that this whole thing happens. It's crazy. I really felt for you. That's why called up your, I mean, I couldn't believe that you were actually there. I thought you hadn't left it. It's just amazing to me. Yeah, you know, you can send a check money order, you know, if you feel that bad for me. I don't know if I feel that bad. Why couldn't they have just put you in the main event? I mean, I feel like you're a big enough deal. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I can't win five rounds. Oh, well, just do a main event three rounds It wasn't going to go that long anyway Yeah, it wasn't going to go that long for sure

In this fight right here I was planning on Like emptying my gas tank in the first round Even if I had to, I wanted to finish him So I just wanted to make a statement From my last fight fighting Roy Yeah You know, I just wanted to come out more aggressive You know

Did you see what happened with Roy and the referee Big John McCarthy a couple weeks ago? Yeah, that was an idiot And it wasn't even a late stoppage. Right. I don't believe it was a late stoppage. And to me, I don't care we're friends or not. I'm going to keep going.

I'm going to even hit you one last time, even whenever the referee breaking us up. So I really don't even like the referee breaking up an early fight for me. So I don't care who they are. I don't care if I shook your hand backstage just before before. Right. I'm still trying to hurt you. So you thought his behavior was unacceptable? Yeah, it was stupid.

You think he should get... It was needed to get punished. Right, right, right. You think he should get punished? Of course, you need to get punished. So you're talking to all the shit about me? Yeah, get punished. Barry his ass.

What about those videos you post on Twitter? Are you the one making them, or are you taking them from somewhere else? I told you that Adam Sandler doing all that. What do you mean? I don't have a Twitter as Adam Salon. Oh, that's all your Twitter? No. The one of, the one that you did,

with DC and Kane with the music, the Let's Get It On. I mean, that stuff is brilliant. Yeah, I had to edit the last part out because, you know, you can't say gay and stuff like that. Okay, okay. People get offended. Right, right, people get offended. Well, it's amazing. What a character you've become, one of my favorites in the UFC. You're doing great stuff. You know you're not, you're not fighting and you're not going to get to. I was really looking forward to this fight and getting to see you in action, but I'm sorry. I do appreciate you coming on to talk about it. Derek, anything else we want to cover before we say goodbye? They said something about December.

I might be getting on that New York car. So we'll see. Oh, Albany. I don't even want to wait that long. That's too far away. Yeah, yeah. In Albany? Yeah.

Okay. Against the Polish guy. Yeah, that's what he said. So maybe something better come up. So we'll see. All right. Well, good luck, and we'll talk to you very soon. Thanks for coming on.

I appreciate it. Thanks for having. All right, there he is. Derek Lewis. Always a pleasure to talk to the Black Beast. What an entertaining guy. He is. Amazing stuff there. Okay, let us move along. Speaking of New York, New York's own, Chris Wybeman is on the phone. How about this? Chris, are you there?

Yo, what's up, buddy? Hey, Chris. Long time no speak. How are you? I'm good, man. How are you? Where are you driving off to? Oh, you can hear me driving. I just got done getting some wrestling in, and now I'm heading to get some physical therapy, just normal stuff. Okay. And I got to, and I got to, and I got to another workout later. There's a lot to talk to you about, Chris. Let's start here. Were you prepared if things didn't work out with the UFC to not fight on the MSG card?

Would you have been able to handle that? Yeah. You know, I was definitely prepared. It would have sucked to watch that after everything that I've been through to help get that thing to get illegalized. And I just have to watch everybody else and kind of enjoying him. You know, it's been a dream of a dream of my mind. to finally fight in New York, and if I just had to sit on the sideline, it would have to suck.

But it was definitely fun. I had to, you know, I had to stay strong with them. How close did it get to not being a reality? I don't know, man. It was getting kind of close. I mean, I got, I mean, I pretty much reclaimed the terms pretty much the day before the press conference. So I don't think, I don't know, if it would have been something that would have happened. if I bought them to shop that press conference.

So I'm glad that we got it done before. Can you tell us about how you got it done? I mean, yeah. I mean, I know, Dana came out and told people about, you know, meeting with Lorenzo and stuff. So, yeah, I mean, basically, at first I met with Dana for a while. A nice, long dinner in New York City, and then we, we, I ended up, ended up being that he wanted me to talk to Lorenzo after the dinner.

So then I flew to Vegas. That was on Monday. So the day before the press conference, still not knowing what was going to happen. Flew to Vegas, and I ended up going to Lorenzo's house, which is ridiculous. And hung out of him and talked to him for about two hours, and I had to jump back on a plane that was scheduled. I read it back. And then Tuesday was the day of press conference. So I finally woke up like one of the first.

both of like one o'clock the next day because I had no sleep for two days straight. Wait, so when you... And went to the front coverage. When you say it's ridiculous, what's ridiculous? The house or the fact that you met with Lorenzo? Oh, no, the house. Oh, okay. 55,000 square feet, not including the basement.

I mean, the guy, he's doing great for himself. Yes, clearly. But what about the fact that you had to meet with the ex-owner? Like, he has nothing to do with the company anymore. Why did you have to meet with him? It was one of those things where Lorenzo was kind of my guy that I was in touch with before he left. And so me and Dana were close to getting the deal done, but then he felt like it was something that the right thing to do would be between me and Lorenzo and not me and him. And, I mean, I was just like, well, he doesn't own the company anymore.

But Dana's point was that whatever Lorenzo was going to say, you know, it's going to be. I mean, so whatever Lorenzo thought was fair is something that Dana was. would respect as, you know, the new owner of the U.S. Yeah, them being close best friends for how many years, so it didn't matter. It was definitely something I didn't expect to happen, but it ended up happening and we ended up figuring everything out. So he was kind of like a mediator, like an arbitrator, sort of. Kind of, yeah.

Wow, that's amazing. Definitely different, yeah. It was an interesting experience, but we got it done, man. It was a stressful couple weeks for sure. What's he like And I mean, no one's heard from him Is he just kind of like sitting there eating grapes and having pinacoladas

Living the life after selling the company? Yeah, he's, yeah, he's, I think he's kind of hanging out. I don't want to start talking about his personal life You know, I don't want to, you know, you don't mess with a billion there. Sure, sure. Yeah, no, I don't want to, yeah, he's enjoying life, man, he's sold, and he's just enjoying his family for a little bit. Okay, so they offer you, Yol L. Romero.

I said that I thought this was the only fight to make. This is the fight that made the most sense. If you win this fight, I envision this scene of everyone chanting USA, USAID, Wydeman, New York, New York. I mean, this is a fight to propel you into that title shot again, into that discussion. Do you feel the same way? Is this the best case scenario for you? Why do you feel like that, as opposed to Jacarek? Or Rocco, why do you feel like he was the best fight?

okay and why do you feel like people would be chanting USA USA okay I think you know the answer to this question I had to do people around you that's cool Uol Romero How you handle that

You're under Ariel Yoel Romero is a very polarizing figure in this sport He is somewhat maligned What do you mean by that? I mean he has a controversial past He was suspended for six months by Usada He has the incident with Tim Kennedy not that long ago.

And I think that, you know, he has the post-fight interview, the Machita fight, and all that stuff. You are the quintessential baby face. You are fighting in New York. You're the guy who lobbied and went to Albany countless times to make this happen. The last time we saw you was in the title fight. This is your rebound fight. I think very few people are going to be cheering for you all, considering you're the New York

guy and you're very well liked around these parts and what you did to get the sport legalized here. I think that because people have an emotional connection to you, but also towards him, as opposed to a Jacaree, who they respect but don't have that same kind of feelings towards, I think it's going to erupt into something. I don't know. Connection towards him because he's felt a drug test and the, because the stool gate issue with Tim Kennedy? Yes, yes. Okay. I just want to make sure we're clear on what you're saying.

What I mean? What are you trying to get across? I want to make sure that the articles, the headlines of articles, are saying what Ariel said, not what Chris said. I'm not the... Avrioles said that Gail Romero, Polarizing figure because he fell

because he did the tool case thing. Now, important to know, Chris, as we're playing this game. And I can't wait, Malky's gonna call you a piss now. I hope he can do this. It's important to note, though,

that he was somewhat exonerated because they found out that his supplements were tainted. Now, I still feel... Oh, look at this. I still feel... Come on. Come on.

Think to you, Chris. No, I still feel... I still feel like you deserve something, you know, tainted or not, you're putting in your body. Do you think that he's taking PEDs? Do you think he's on PEDs? You agree with what I said? That's the Ariel I know. You came off a little soft.

That's the instigator Ariel I know. That's what I'm proud of you, boy. Well, I'm sensing some tension here, Chris. What's going on? What's happening between us? I'm just, I just love, no, I'm busting your bowl. You're getting tight. You're getting a little tight.

I like it. So I think, listen, man, I'm on the same page as you. I think once you have PDs in your system, to be honest with you, I think anytime that you put these PDs in your system, I think you should be suspended forever. And now you have this whole thing where it's tainted supplements, but honestly, I'm not sold on. I feel like every time someone fails a drug test, their first thing they go to is that, oh, I was taking this and it was tainted. I mean, it doesn't take too much time to be like, oh, wait, I failed for testosterone or whatever. Okay, let me find another. Let me find a supplement inside GNC that people might feel is not a big deal to take to make me,

to let them be a little bit more lenient with their sentence on me. And then when you bring it up in news, it's like, oh, he took a taint and supplement. I'm not sold that there really are these tainted supplements out there. I feel like you're taking stuff that's like a creatine, and it's not from like a weird thing that says, you know, testosterone on a drug test. I feel like people are crap in their pants now because that's, Every time someone failed a drug test, they're saying that has to take a supplement. But not everybody's scared to take a supplement.

But I don't even think that's real. Hmm. Okay. So, I mean, you're a guy who's talked about this sort of thing with Vitor and throughout your career. Is this a personal fight for you? Personal because, I mean, the guy, the gifted athlete, you know, he just failed for steroids. And this is the biggest fight of my life. I mean, my name is Madison Square Garden.

I feel like I'll probably get the title fight. I go out there and do my thing the way I feel like I should. Get a title fight and get right back on track. So this is a huge fight. And I have no emotional connection. I don't like when people take steroids and cheat, especially when you're walking into a cage, you really exist in them.

You have all the seduces and people start feeling bad for you. I just don't buy it. And the way, I mean, the thing is, I started, like, going crazy of these guys that are taking steroids now, but I was in the sport pre-used out of and I was naive to the idea that all these guys weren't taking steroids and now all these guys are getting caught for it.

So at the end of the day, I was fighting guys who are on steroids and now guys are just getting caught for it. So, I don't know if I'm making any sense. You make a ton of sense. You watched UFC 204 on Saturday, right? Yes, I did. Who just...

I missed the... I missed the... I got in for the second round of Vitor, so I missed the whole first round of V-Tor. Musassi, and then I saw the business thing fight. Who'd you score the main event for? I scored for Emerson. I put Emerson won the first round. 10-8? Maybe 10-8? I thought

it could have been at 10-8. I would have liked to, I think, at least one of the judges should have given it 10-8. I don't know why that was even a thought. And then second round, I thought he won. Yes, he was getting pitter-pattered for most of the rounds, but he almost finished the fight again in the second round, dropped them again. So I think if you're almost finishing the fight, you win the round. I don't care how long you weren't, you were losing the round. He was never in danger

in the second round, so I thought he won that round. And I also thought he won the fifth round. So if he could give it a 10-8 round, in the first round, give him the second round, and then the fifth round, I mean, he completely dominates the fight. And I want to be making it very clear. This thing, I mean, the guy's talked, he's put down everything I've ever done in my career. The guy has squashed me, everything I've ever accomplished. And I really don't have any elbow towards the guy. I see him with his family. I think when his kids are rooting against him, I think it's hysterical. He actually seems like a humble guy

when you kind of see him around his family. And he comes out, mouth and off about me and other guys. It doesn't bother me at all. He can say whatever he wants. I think I don't think he's a bad guy. The guy doesn't, you know, bother me at all.

On the wrong direction. Yeah, so, yeah, but I thought Hennyson it would have been nice to see the guy go out and put that championship belt. It was amazing to watch. But for you in the division, isn't this the better case scenario? Because now Bispin keeps the belt, it's not vacated, and you versus him is kind of like a rivalry that's been brewing.

So that's a big fight for the belt. Don't you feel like this is better for you that he won? Yeah, you know, it could have been, but you never know what happened. So I don't, I was kind of Henderson with his story. You got Bidbbing, it was calling him an old man, and just stopped. I don't know, kind of rub me the wrong way a little bit with that, talking to Henson, and to see Hennyson go out there, the only weapon he really has at this point, sports use his role, is that right hand, and Fisbeen couldn't figure out a way to stay out of the way of it.

It was crazy to watch. It was amazing. I mean, I was happy for Dan Hennyson. And then it was a five-round fight, and he was still going out. I thought he won the fifth round. Yeah. And Hennyson, there was no way in my mind I thought I could see him all five rounds. if you watched his last couple fights. I mean, his age was showing, you know, for sure.

And, yeah, so it was a chilling moment to see him accomplish all that to see what he was doing to the middleweight champion of the world. So when you're on the couch watching this, I'm assuming you're on your couch watching this, or maybe in your bed, whatever, and Bispin gets on the mic and starts talking about you

and running down the whole division. You just kind of laugh it off, you don't get fired up at home about this? No. I mean, I'm going to say this. I'm going to say that guy probably had that in his head before the fight and told himself, right? After I dominate Dan Henderson, I'm going to get on the mic and call out all these four guys and say these certain things about him. And it's going to look really cool and it's going to look good. But the guy, he shouldn't have done that when he barely beat the number 14th guy in the weight. And Dan Henderson, he's 14 because he's a legend and everything he's accomplished before that. But in the last couple of fights, I mean, I really don't have no. he should be ranked 14. And for him to get on the mic and start calling out the top four guys, like he just did something impressive, I really thought Dan Hemmiston should have got his hand-raised.

So for him to get on the mic, again, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed for him. But no, I didn't bother. He could say my name a billion times and call me all the names he wants. That guy, no matter what comes out of his mouth, does not affect me. Is it still somewhat surreal that he's the champion? Yeah, I kind of got used to it. It was kind of weird to be seeing that.

these guys fighting, and that's for the championship belt, and that was the champion, the middleweight champion in my weight class, um, out there. And he's, he's, he just, he's struggling. I mean, the guy, it wasn't an impressive performance at all. I mean, he wanted to go out there and really, uh, that he's the true champion of the middleweight division. And he got the fight he wanted, um, which was crazy that he got that fight.

And then that, and that's the way he came up. That's the way he looked. I mean, it was, yeah, it's a little embarrassing. Sure. Were you told when you were negotiating and talking about your fight that if you beat you well, you're going to be next in line? No, I mean, I feel like I would, but it doesn't matter if they told me or not. It's just I've got to go out there and win, and then whatever happens after that happened.

So you kind of view it like there's like a mini tournament, like whoever looks best is going to get the title shot? I, yeah, worst case scenario, yeah. So I just got to go out there and dominate you all, and I think the rest will happen on its own. And, you know, whatever, I can't, I can't the piece, listen, if I got to win three more fights to get a title shot, will I be pissed on it yet? But listen, it is what it is. I got to just go out there and fight and show everybody. That's really deep people up and get back to win it. Who do you think wins?

Luke or Jacqueray? You know, if you liked the first fight, at that point, Jacaree was just kind of more of a Shigit-to guy. I have power in his hands, but I don't think he was really confident with it. And he still rattled Luke's spell a couple times in that fight. But his thing was definitely a juggish-to, you know. And now I feel like he's more well-rounded guy. Luke got way better as well.

He got better stand-up, better than Shih Tzu, better wrestling. But I feel like Luke coming off of a knockout loss to Michael Bisbing. It's not the best for your head. and now you've got Jack Ray who just watched him get knocked out by because of the pillow hands himself who couldn't phase Dan Henderson who

listen I love Dan Anderson at death but he was knocked out I think he was stopped four of his last six fights or something like that right I don't know the staff completely but he's been knocked out a couple times and Bisman couldn't do anything to him so I think

Jack Ray wants to get his hands on him and then I'll open up his egypto and his wrestling a way more. So I'm leading towards thinking Jack Gray will win this way. All right. What was it like being at that press conference with all the fans and Connor doing his thing? And you were getting some questions

but it kind of felt like, okay, those two got, it really was sort of the Connor show again. Do you like that? Do you like being a part of that or do you wish that the love was spread out a little more? I mean, you always want more love. I mean, I just part of human nature, but no, I had a great time at that press conference.

I felt the love. I love. I love. energy that's the new people for us. I'm so excited to finally have MMA in New York. And, no, zero jealousy or anything like that with Connor. It's great to have them on the court. It's going to be wanted. And it was exciting. It was honestly just excited.

It was a really exciting press conference. The way they kind of had us all. Yes. And they pulled out. It was a really, it was a real. Do we lose Chris? Oh, are you back? Chris, are you there?

Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that. the reveal of all you guys standing up and the curtains come up, one of the greatest non-cage moments in UFC history. It was just so exciting being there. It felt like I was at a taping of the Jerry Springer show with everyone chanting UFC, UFC, amazing stuff. Is it a little weird for you, though?

I can't wrap my head around the fact that you're the only Sarah Longo fighter on this card. That to me is amazing in a non-good way. You know what I mean? I would have predicted you, Valante, I know he's kind of half, but you get what I'm saying. Sterling, like the whole car could have been New York versus the world. Is it a bit of a bummer that you're the only one?

Yeah, I mean, anytime I'd always imagine, you know, the first event in New York, I always just imagine all the New York fighters there. So I'll finally have an opportunity to find New York. But it kind of, you know, the way it worked out now, this first show was obviously the biggest, but you start coming to the real that fighting in New York is going to be a thing that's happening multiple times a year. And that this person was really cool and it'd be great. I would love of all my teammates were on there, obviously, and all the other guys from New York

because, you know, we've been waiting for this moment forever. But the way it worked out, for whatever reason, I am the only one. But at the end of the day, this event will pass, and then there'll be a next event. There'll be another event, and people will get really about, oh, I wasn't on the first event ever. It really is something that feeling you had on. Right. You know, you can't have to move on. And then next day, there'll be another event of Madison Square Garden in a couple months.

So as bad as it sucks that they're not on it. I know that at the end of the day, they'll get over it, and that they'll have their time there as well. And I know you were asked about the Iaquinta situation sort of at the press conference. What's his mood like these days? Is he going to the gym or no? Yeah, no. I know he was just there.

I missed him, but I know he was just there at day training. He's doing good. I know he's doing his real seat. same time. I think he's doing really good with that. I think he's putting some serious hours. But I actually haven't had a conversation with him in like two weeks, so I've got to catch back up with Mr.

Mr. Al. Okay. I'm probably quite humorical today. I've been crazy busy, so yeah. Any limitations with the neck? No, nothing, man. My neck is

feeling really good. No issues at all. Strength is completely back. full range of motion. So thank God. Nothing with the neck at all. It's amazing what it took for you to get to this point. I remember when you wrote that post on your Instagram about the neck injury and how upset

you were and kind of depressed about the whole situation, but you guaranteed that you'd be in New York. And then the contract thing, I mean, what eroded has been just to get to New York, right? Man, it's been stressful. And, yeah, I hurt my neck. I wanted that Luke fight more than anything. I wanted to prove myself and let everybody. I know that that first fight wasn't me in there.

And I've never felt better for a training camp and to see it all disappear two weeks before that fight. And the neck injury came out of nowhere. It was like everything was fine. I had no injuries. And all of a sudden, and I was very cautious about getting injured. You know, that's the other thing. I did not want to get injured. And the next thing I know, the worst pain, that nerve pain came in.

And then I was losing my tunnel shot. And now look at me. Now I'm okay. Like I had that title shot right there and then for my rematch that felt like I would have got my felt back. And now I'm fighting for contendership. And there's no guarantee of me got a title shot of this fight. You know, I think I will.

But, you know, there's no guarantee. So it was a spot in my life where I was depressed, man. All the pain I was going through before surgery, I was trying to take my time picking a doctor. And every day it was extreme pain on pain killers. It was like a two and a, it was like more like a three-week period. depressed, man. I really don't. I'm pretty happy-go-lucky guy. I really don't get depressed. That was a tough time. How do you handle depression? Like, what's Chris Widman like when he's

depressed? You know, I think, I don't know. I was on pain killers, man. I literally could not go, I had to be on pain. I was in so much pain. And that nerve pain, it's like the number one cause depression that people have is like cervical neck pain. And I've had, you know, I wrestle my whole life. So I had stingers growing up. I've had a bunch of issues with my neck and obviously other injuries. But, you know, when you get a stinger, it sucks. You know, you're scared to wrestle or you're scared to, you know, spar because every time you go for a takedown or you get punched, you might have a stinger. But when you have the constant nerve pain that I had, it was no matter where I put my neck, no matter what I did, I had this terrible neck pain.

And it was, I had to be on painkillers. And I hate being a freaking, I hate being taken anything. So it was, it just sucked. And, yeah, no, I don't know what I was really. I was in a cloud. I don't even remember what the hell I was doing. Oh, no, I don't even, I honestly going to have to ask my wife. It was like you were drunk for three weeks.

I don't remember anything. Did you eat a lot of pizza or was it lose, Sal's? I'm sure I definitely ate a lot of pizza. I don't have to remember that. But chicken rolls and pizza, I'm sure, were definitely a big part of the diet. What are chicken rolls? Chicken rolls are you got the bread. Yeah.

You know, wrapped around, it's like, like, almost like a little, I don't know how to describe it, but you have, like, fried chicken and marinarra sauce inside of fried breading. Wow. And then, of course, you got, you know, you break up and you usually cut in half, then you're dipping it into the marinar sauce that they give you on the side, too. So it's really good. That's usually one of my go-toes. I'm eating when I'm depressed.

Wow. I had no idea. Yeah, about getting bad. All right. You've never had a chicken roll? What's how you're wrong with you? Never had a chicken roll. You know, it's funny?

I was just looking back at our interview. Before I let you go, I'll just tell you this. I was just looking back at our interview at your house after Hurricane Sandy. It's an amazing thing to watch. I don't know if you've ever seen it or re-watched it, but it's just amazing to see how far you've come and what your life was like at that point. You said at one point that you had no underwear, that you had to go find some underwear because you had lost all your underwear. Do you remember that?

Yeah, man, you just gave me the chills. I think, you know, I think when I actually stop and think about my story, like where I came from now where I am, I'm just so blessed and grateful because, man, I never cared about money. I never cared. All I wanted was, like, not to be embarrassed, but I happened to be going out to lunch with the cold people that I can't pay for my own lunch. That's, honestly, that was like my dream. I just wanted to be able to have enough money in my bank account to where I could buy lunch without calling my wife and figure out I'm going to go into debt, just be able to actually have money to pay for lunch. That's what I cared about.

And I remember actually my second MMA fight, there was a guy in the gym. I never had socks. I never had, I always had, like, mismatched socks. I never had, like, they would be baggy, like, hanging off at the same socks as, like, elementary school. And the guy in the gym, the kid who had had more money than me was like, if you win this next fight, I'm buying you 50 pairs of socks. and honestly that was like the best present I ever got man he gave me 50 pairs of like low-cut socks

and I remember just being so happy man I still have those those socks but still the ones I used most like wow hey hang on what's going on here Kevin and so it's funny to see it is it is crazy man to see where it is you know what they say is like you know I became an overnight success it took me I don't know, 20-something years to become an overnight success. I beat in it as a seven and all of a sudden people think it happens overnight, you know, but it was really, man, I got to actually sit down and think about this because I'm not one to usually reflect, but I mean, I put in so many years of works ups and downs, ups and down,

with no sort of ever like being, making money. And all of a sudden, it finally pays off. It's that delayed gratification. You never, that's the real success. See, everyone's looking for that lottery ticket, but what it is is you put all this work in and you don't actually see, you don't see the benefits of the work you put in until maybe years later. Like, I just got done with a great wrestling practice.

I felt great. Because, like, am I a better wrestler tomorrow? Probably not. But maybe in a couple months, that work I just put in now, that extra time I just put in, maybe that'll benefit me then. You know, I don't know. It's So, it's a life

The life of a fighter You don't see the success You don't see the success right away And that's why You know, in a nutshell It would have been a travesty If you didn't end up on that card Considering everything you did for

The sport Considering your story Considering where you're from You had to be on that card And I'm glad they got it done Thank you for the time, Chris I appreciate that I appreciate you reflecting a little bit

And good luck in the last month And I look forward to seeing you at MSG All right, buddy Thanks for having me on And thanks for turning the tables on me there. You didn't get me. It was a nice try, but next time, bring your A-game, all right? You were flustered.

Let's be honest. You're not used to that. So every once in a while, you got all upset. You were like, well, I feel like there's some tension here, Chris. No, that's how I turn the tables back. Come on, man. Look, if we got into the ring... I let you...

Let me make this very clear. I'm the psychology meeting here. I understand the mindset. I understand your mindset and how you try to flip it on me. But I'd let you flip it on me. It's your interview. At the end of the day, I'm sorry. Oh, you flustered. I got what I wanted. You got flustered. And then you turned it back on me,

which, of course, I let happen. And then you're happy. I'm happy. All right. It's a good day. We're both happy. All right. Much love. Both happy. Yes, much love to you, too. Take care, everybody. Thanks for the support. All right, there is. Chris Weidman. Great stuff there from Chris Wyden. Always a pleasure to talk to him. Always love hearing from Chris. And I do mean it when I say he had to be on that card. kind of wild that he got the deal done with Lorenzo Fretta. How about that? But hey, that's the way things go. Kind of served as a mediator, an arbitrator, if you will. Crazy. Crazy stuff going on in MMA.

All right, a bit of a break in the action. In around 25 minutes or so, we're going to be joined by Mark D. Casey, who was successful in his Octagon debut on Saturday in Manchester, and then we'll round out the show with Mac Wright. Rice. Good to check in with Mac Rice in around 45 minutes or so. For now, let us say hello to Mr. New York, Rick. Mr. New York, Rick, are you there? I'm here. A lot to talk to you about New York, Rick, all right? Not all right. Okay. No. Hit me. First things first. Derek Lewis. He's great. Speak. Nothing to say other than, man, that was great. And the make of America Trilligan had his something else.

On point. He needs to get that to Will Brooks. Yeah. Ill, Trill, Will Brooks. I think Will Brooks needs to go back to the ill Will Brooks. I'm very superstitious when it comes to these things. Like if you change it and then something weird happened. But he won.

He did win? No, he lost. No, not his last fight, but he won the fight before that. And I think he was. No, no. Was he Trill? The Trill was before. Trill was before this fight only.

Okay. Okay. Main event, Saturday night. First round. Who'd you give it to? 10-8. Henderson. Second round.

10-9 Bisbing. So you didn't think the knockdown was enough? No. I thought Bisbin controlled too much of the round. A knockdown on its own, to me, doesn't signify 10-8. Although it is a boxing model. We're not scoring like boxing. There's too many other things involved.

There's grappling. There's different parts of the body that can be used in striking. So even though the scoring model is based on boxing, the criteria and things like that are not exactly the same. So therefore, I don't think a knockdown means you automatically win the round. I thought Bisbing did enough in that round to take it. Okay. So now we have it one round for Hendo, one round for Bisping.

But Hendo's up. Yeah. I think everyone agrees third, fourth, Bisping, right? Correct. I mean, as far as my card. Yeah, I haven't seen anyone argue otherwise. Fifth round, though. Fifth round, I had Henderson.

10-9. Why? I just thought he, you know, it was a close round. But I thought he did a little bit more. Got the takedown. And I could see that being scored for Bisping. I haven't watched it again. I've only watched it one time.

If somebody told me they had that for Bisping, I wouldn't say, you're crazy. That was not one of the rounds that I had, you know, the strongest opinion on. But that was how I had it. I had a draw, 48. Okay. So that means you had it a draw.

Yeah. Fair to say, though, like I said at the top of the show. show, this isn't controversial, it's more arguable, debatable, because you can make a case for 10-9 first. You can make a case for Hendo winning the second. You can make a case for Bisping winning the fifth. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing too egregious. Heck, you can even make a case, like I could sit and listen to you talk about 49-46 Bisping, even though I definitely disagree with it. It's not controversial. It's debatable, but I do feel when you consider the fact that, you know, Hendo didn't necessarily earn the title shot. I know it was sort of a

Lifetime Achievement Award. It was weird. He was retiring. The belt would have been vacated. I know this doesn't come into play when you're judging a fight, but in the end, I kind of feel like it all worked out. Do you get what I'm saying? Like, nothing is so black and white. Even judging isn't black and white. But I sort of feel like given all this stuff, it just sort of feels fair the way it ended. Yeah, not for Henderson. Even for Henderson, because really he didn't, he didn't deserve to be in that spot at this point of his career. Leaving with the belt, I mean, the whole thing. I mean, the whole thing, was kind of absurd to begin with. And I'm not trying to take anything away from him.

Like I said, I wish there was a Hall of Fame so that we can induct him today properly. But leaving with the belt and having guys fight for a vacated title, it just feels a little clumsy. And I do think it's better for business to have Bisping around as champion because Bisping versus Wyden, Romero, Rockhold, and Jacqueray. I mean, people are interested in that. He does such a great job of picking fights with so many people. He ran down the entire, you know, contendership lineup. I just feel like it just, it was sort of poetic justice.

Do you get what I'm saying? I do. But I think it would have been a hell of a story for Henderson to go out with the title. I mean, that would have been one for the books. At how old, 40? I still feel like it's a hell of a story. Like he gets that sort of sympathy vote. He walks out with his head held high.

Not going to be the same. People will remember this as a great fight, but they will remember this as a title of defense for Michael Bisping before anything impressive for Dan Henderson, unfortunately. Okay, what do you think about this fighter of the year debate? Now, we have two months left, two and a half months left. There's still a lot of fighting to go. But I think that it is one of the more interesting debates in recent years.

Like I feel like by now, usually we kind of have a sense for who's going to win it. But right now, you've got Stipei, right? Yep. Three and O. You got Bisping three and O. Beat a former UFC champion, a former UFC and Strike Force champion, current UFC and Strike Force champion in Rockhold. and then the former pride and strike force champion in Dan Henderson.

Wonderboy if he wins, Eddie if he wins. What do you think? I think Bisbing's a frontrunner at this point. Even if Eddie beats Connor. If Eddie beats Connor, we have a case. Okay, but right now it's Bisping. Right now I think it's Bisping. Yeah.

Not Miyoch, who's 3-0? The story's not there. They're great wins, and it was great for Steve-Bey to win in front of his hometown crowd. But Michael Bisping was written off and was on the verge. on the very cusp of being a fighter who was buried and the guy who could never get it done was so close every time and essentially never won the big one. And now he's a champion who's defended his belt. It's the swing in momentum for Michael Bisping, along with the strength of that resume,

the strength of those wins that he has, it's got to be Michael Bisping. If you're Michael Bisping, who do you hope your next title defense is a game? Oof, that's a very hard question because all four of those guys are monsters. Are we assuming that of those four, one of those is getting the next title shot? Yes. Or could Gaygar Musassi also jump into the next? I think Musassi is won away. Yeah, so let's assume that those four are facing off for the title.

And that's why I wanted to fight Anderson Silva, but that's a different discussion. Those four guys, Romero, Weidman, Jacqueray, Rockhold. I might want to face, man, let me talk it out as we're doing it because I haven't thought about this. I would rock hold for rock hold's an interesting answer because you face them twice. You kind of know what you're getting. It's a known quantity. You're not facing something unknown. That said, that last time that you did it, it's going to be hard to do it better than that.

And Rockhold kind of has an idea of what mistakes he made. He might be able to adjust them. So the familiarity raises the likelihood of you wanting to face Rockhold, but it also raises the likelihood that Rockholds had the time to kind of figure that out. Widman, maybe because of in the last couple of years and beyond, he's not been as active as you might hope. So maybe you can kind of get him when he's not 100% confident and healthy and ready to fight. so maybe Weidman is an answer there. Jokere, also dealing with injuries quite often. Older.

And same for Romero. You're telling me everything I know about these people. I need an answer here. I'm talking it out in my head. I have to figure this out. I mean, unbelievable. Man, it's so hard. I wouldn't want to face any of these guys.

Who do you think we'll fight him? Well, I guess that comes down to, I think Rockhold Weidman I think Rockhold and Wydman are going to come out of those fights Should they fight Before they get the title fight?

No, or should one just get? It should be one of those guys And I think it's whoever's going to do it more impressively Does the other fight Musassi if it's not Adelson? I like that. I mean, we'll know pretty soon We'll know in the next month and a half If this fight took place any time before this

I'd like Jokkeret's chances But I think it's just taken too long To get to this point where he's at the title shot. So I don't know if he can get past Rockhold at this point. If I'm Bisping, I probably want Romero, because I think he's the least proven of these guys at the top. Followed by Jacqueray, followed by...

What sells more? Rockhold 3 or Wydeman? Oh, I think Rockhold. You think so? Because 199 didn't do amazing. Yeah, but there's so much more storyline now. They've done it twice. It's a rubber match. It's not a... Look, it's hard to sell $199 on the strength of Rockhold blowing the doors off Michael Biscay.

I hear you. Okay, fair enough. Now we're tied. Fair enough. And he blew the doors off Rockhold. It's a new ballgame there. I think that's the fight. There is a lot of history, though, with, if they go into the archives and old interviews and things.

I remember when I was seeing next to Wyatman going to UFC 153 in Brazil, we just so had, our seats were next to each other on the plane. It was a total coincidence. And I tweeted a picture of us sitting next to each other, and Bispin was all like, oh, look at these, you know, bosom buddies and all this stuff. I mean, it goes back several years. But yeah, I agree. I think they can't go wrong with either. All four of these are great options. You can sell these as legitimate contenders to a world title with a legitimate shot of beating Michael Bispick.

And the other way as well, Michael Bisping legitimately beating all these guys. It's middleweight is a mess, but not for bad reasons, but because there's too many contenders. Yeah. No, it's great time. It's a great time. How do you feel about this whole Connor McGregor getting $150,000 fine of $150,000 and 50 hours of community service? I mean, what is going on here? It's a joke.

Every time we think that they can't get nuttier, can't get more, what's the word? What's the word I'm looking for here? They can't get, I mean, it's just, it's, it's unfathomable how they reach. But how do we fix this? And then Nevada, Nevada, Nevada, they said that they suggested, what was it, 25K. 25K, yeah. How do you go from 25K to 150? Let's run it down here.

No one was hurt, and that is important to note. Was it dumb? Yeah, whatever. But no one was hurt. It was in a controlled space. So it wasn't in the lobby. It wasn't outside where people are walking. It was in a small enclosed space.

Yes, there were media there, but who cares about the media, right? I mean, if someone gets hit in the head. No, but honestly, no one was seriously hurt. It was in a controlled space. It lasted, you know, what, 20 seconds, water bottles, $150,000. I mean, look, kind of, Gregor is a rich man, you know, he's, he's not going to go belly up by, you know, having to pay this.

But to me, it's just, once again, it's an abuse of power. And if I'm John Jones, I am, and if I'm Brock Lesnar, Brock probably doesn't care. But if I'm John Jones, wow, I'm getting nervous right now. How do we combat this? I don't know if there is a way to combat it, to be honest. Well, the only way to combat it is by not acknowledging their power. Well, they just, they just exercised their power. But they could, so, Maybe it's up to the UFC or whoever the promoters are to move it out of Vegas. I mean... The UFC, yeah, right.

I mean, that is wishful thinking. The only way that you can combat, for lack of a better word, an unfair commission, a corrupt commission, whatever you want to say, the only thing that you can do to combat it is by trying to institute a national commission. Now, they could be corrupt as well. And we're such a far way from that happening. What about lobbying or trying to be? get better representatives in the Las Vegas Commission. It just feels like it's a kangaroo court every time. And allowing them this power, it seems like everybody's kind of being passive to it.

Now, I'm not the one who's about to say, I have the answer and how to combat it. But everybody's kind of just laying down and accepting their rulings. And it's kind of nonsense. Well, I mean, they, look, Connor McGregor makes a lot of money, Nevada. what choice does he have? The UFC makes a lot of money in Nevada. I won't fight in Nevada. We had that before with, what was it, Henry Sehudo,

and some others who said they wouldn't fight in Nevada during this Nick Diaz thing. Maybe something like that has to be done. There has to be a way, because Connor McGregor is as valuable to Nevada as they are to him. In fact, much more so. They have no value to him,

and he has all the value to them. So you would think that they treat somebody who holds the cards in terms of that a little bit better. This is a slap on the wrist at best. I'm saying what it should have been. Yeah. This crime was worth.

Hunter McGregor has brought a lot of money to Nevada. So it just doesn't really make a lot of sense the way this is playing out. I think they're being granted too much power. But I don't have the, I don't quite have the answer for how that's done. I just think something has to be done. This is getting, it's getting more and more ridiculous. $150,000. More than DC and Jones got for actually.

getting into a fight in the lobby of the MGM. Physical altercation, people being moved, bodies being moved. Crazy. Yeah. Mind blowing to me. It truly is mind blowing to me. And just I saw some people asking me, this does not affect Conner's fight at UFC 205. He's not going to be pulled.

He's not suspended. He just has to, you know, pay this fine and do the community service. I love how they suggested media training, which I don't even know what that means. What is the media training going to teach him to not get riled up at press conferences, to not make the UFC a lot of money? I mean, it's not like he does this every time. It's just amazing that they come up with these nonsensical, that's the word I was looking for, nonsensical. You cannot make sense of their decisions. Sure.

I mean, agree with everything you're saying here. I think everybody unanimously is on the same page here, which is why it's so confounding to me. This should be something if everybody but these, you know, select few people in a, room agree, they should not be the ones that have the power. But alas. GSP, Anderson Silva, people keep asking me about this. Because Anderson's son posted something on Instagram, not on the table, not being discussed. I saw even some people saying that it was a done deal. No. What I can say about the GSP situation is it's a fluid situation.

There's still talks. I know even Dana White refuted it. And I thought it was interesting that people were like, is he telling the truth or not? He's telling the truth this time. I can assure you of that. But he then followed that up with, I don't think he wants to fight. Dana's thing is that GSP is keeping his name in the news. And really, I mean, when's the last time GSP actually did an interview about this? It's been quite some time now.

It's been over a month. But anyway, GSP is keeping his name in the news to appease his sponsors to continue to get paid by them by saying that, okay, I'm coming back. coming back, getting them excited, they continue to pay them. I can tell you with 100% certainty that that is not the case. He does want to fight. He wants an opportunity to fight. He wants to fight in Toronto. The issue is coming to terms. And, you know, here's one guy who's made a lot of money, who holds some leverage, who has some power, and is is not jumping when, you know, they say jump. He's not saying how high. And so they're at a stalemate. We'll see what happens. But I I could tell you about the Anderson fight.

That is not the one that's being discussed or he offered on the table, et cetera, et cetera. So if you were hoping for that one, stop hoping for it. Damn, killing people's dreams here. I'm sorry. What do you think of that 205 promo, the one in New York? I liked it a lot. Okay. I like where you're going here.

What? No, it's good. You don't even know where I'm going here. You paused. I liked it a lot, but it almost felt overproduced. Is that a fair criticism? Okay, see, this is why I'm happy. I liked the way it was shot and edited.

I felt it was somewhat derivative. And what I mean by that was, it was kind of like, okay, we've seen this sort of thing. Which one did we see? 200 or maybe Aldo McGregor. Everything is quiet and they're coming. You know what I really didn't like about it? That most of them were wearing the same thing that they wore at that press conference. Same suit for Connor, Carolina, Joanna, wearing the same thing.

I didn't like that. I mean, I felt like we needed a wardrobe change because it still puts me in that moment and it feels like it was shot. This is supposed to be them sort of converging around fight night. Having Wonderboy walk around with the backpack made him feel very young to me.

He felt like a kid backpacking. This is not really the top contender in the Walter Age Division. Could not agree more on that point. It felt very juvenile. And I thought Eddie's was funny because it looked like he was just some dude at a coffee shop.

He's like, you know, maybe I'll go see some fights. Yeah, I didn't really get like. I'll show up to the fight. I like the imagery and I like that New York was a character and that's the way it should be. But I feel like it could have been done. It was very on the surface. Now, the cinematography, the editing was fantastic. But the actual story wasn't what I thought it could be.

Yeah. Do you get what I'm saying? There's plenty of time to rectify that. I think. Well, I mean, I don't think they're going to shoot another one. No, but there will be. there will be other promos for this that I imagine are less of that, less produced and less Yeah, but that's the one.

That's the one that you're going to see. Yeah, I mean, I'm cool with it. It's just, yeah, all your points, I agree with for sure. Well, thank you. Well, this is a rare occasion. We've been agreeing a lot today. Okay, let me ask you about this one. Yeah, ask me something I won't agree with you.

Okay, wait, I have to find some. Okay, Marlon Maris, re-signing. of World Series of Fighting? Smart, not smart? Yep. Wait, I just asked you a question. Sorry, say it one more time? Smart or not smart?

For... Marlon Marais to re-signed World Series of Fighting. That's an interesting question. It really depends on how highly ranked and how high you think his ceiling is for potentially capturing the UFC title.

You're already going in the wrong direction. Why? It's all about the money. He's getting paid a lot more to fight lesser competition. It's a no-brainer. No, that's not what every guy strives for. Not every guy wants to just be paid for a promotion. They should be.

What does it matter if you're fighting the eighth or ninth best guy in the UFC in 10 years' time if you're getting a fraction of what you could have been making fighting lesser competition? Well, that's what I'm saying. If he and his team and everybody else thinks he could potentially make a run at the UFC title, I think you have to take that opportunity. Yeah, it's nice to be paid that way, but you can also be compensated handsomely and prove yourself to be the best in the world, which I think I don't know Marlon Marias. I can't speak for him, but I have to imagine he got into this sport to be the best. And right now at WSOF, he's not proving that. That's for sure. Selfishly as a fan, I'm a little bum to not see him in the UFC because I want to see how far I can go, but I 100% understand why he's doing this. And, you know, I don't blame him. Connor McGregor

tweet, do you see this? I get fined more than these bums get paid. Oh, there you go. I mean, that says it all. It's unbelievable.

It's incredible. He's spun it perfectly. Now, do you think that they'll take this as an affront and call him back? Oh, God. Knowing these... Yeah, I could see this happening.

I don't think so. I think what's done is done. Okay. Mickey Gaulsage Northcut. Love that fight. Had to be made. On this show, it went even further.

Yeah. Should it be hair versus hair? No, stop. Come on. First of all, neither of them has this like, these flowing locks. It's just a quick, like for them, it wouldn't be that impressive of a hair versus hair type thing. Hmm. You could grow back both their haircuts relatively quickly.

But both guys with the bald cranium is a sight to be seen, right? No, stop it. Hair versus hair. I think there is a very, very interesting stipulation. I think allowance. Milk money versus milk money. It was the fight to make,

and I'm happy they made it, and it's on Fox, and it's a very big stage. Let me ask you about this before we get ready for our next guest, BJ Penn, out, card, canceled.

What do you do with BJ now? What happens? Well, hopefully it's they give him a fight that allows him a little more time to build himself back up. I said on this show, show that I didn't think Llamas was that big a step up for him.

It was clearly. Lamas is still a top fighter. But I didn't think it was the murder that everybody was making this out to be. That said, now with another fight cancellation, I think maybe it's time to really, really give him somebody that's... Than a Sever, perhaps? I mean, I don't know the last time Sever fought or who he fought, but that'd be a great... But isn't that the one... That was the perfect fight.

sure no like the perfect caliber of opponent perfect placement it was prelims it was you know states he didn't have to travel far it was a guy sort of on the way down fighting a main event against still a very relevant contender overseas made no sense to me so I actually think that this is a blessing in disguise

yeah it has I guess it could be seaver I mean I don't I don't think seaver is anybody in particular that's any better than any other you know, run-of-the-mill featherweight. So I don't know if it all hinges on being seaver, but yeah, it needs to be somebody significantly lower than Lama's.

That's for sure. You still want to see him fight. After this other setback, look, it doesn't matter if I want to see him fight, you want to see him fight, anybody. He's, yeah, I think I want to see him fight just because the alternative is something probably much worse. He's going to be miserable.

not fighting. We've heard it. We've seen BJ Penn not be a fighter and he sounded not happy. So got to do what's best for the... It's amazing that it's been almost 10 months since he came on the show and told us that he was coming out of retirement. Yeah, we've had some setbacks. Four cancellations. Yeah. That's why I was not as upset about Lamas, the Lamas booking as everybody else. But now at this point I'm like, you know, it has to be drawn back a little bit.

All right. All right. So Manila is canceled. Go grab our guests. Yes, sir. And, you know, the silver lining here, in my opinion is that now the UFC has, I mean, the next cards, we have the 15th off, the 22nd off, the 29th off, and then the next card is the fifth in Mexico City, and then it's UFC 205.

So the UFC has four weeks off before that Mexico City card, and there's just one before the New York City. card. I think that's huge. I think that that really helps New York City. I think that, as I've said before, having shows back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back. precludes you from truly getting people excited about these cards, from building them up properly, from doing the right kind of PR, everything gets sort of muddied. But now that we have this break, I predict that come 205 people are going to be foaming at the mouth. They're going to be so much more excited because they're going to start missing the UFC because we've been programmed for

essentially a card every weekend. But now they're really going to start missing it. So this is kind of in a weird way. And I hate the fact that the card was canceled. I hate the fact that the fighters don't know who they're going to fight next, when they're going to fight, how much they're going to get paid. Compensation is going to be their show money. Who knows?

That all sucks. from a promotion standpoint, it's a blessing. I heard ticket sales weren't going well. So, you know, it's just one of those things. The product is very stretched. It's very thin these days. It's very watered down. And hopefully this time, you know, next year, we're looking at a reduced schedule because I think that would benefit all. This year, it's 40-something fights. I think it should be in the 20s or 30s max, but who the hell am I? back in the day we were always told this is in boxing if the main event goes down we still have a solid card well in the last four years it's been three cards that have been announced and then cut

because of a main event falling through and when i mean cut i mean canceled that's not a good thing back in the day main event fall through you bump up a co-made event and sometimes there's going to be a card god forbid something happens at 205 the car will be fine but when you're talking about these smaller fight nights and ticket sales are low. It's hard to salvage the card. All right. One of the big stories on Saturday, UFC 204, of course, it happened very late or early in the morning in Manchester. The Brits did pretty damn well. Of course, Michael Bisping winning, Jimmy Mano winning. But how about Mark D.A. Casey? The bone crusher. Right? everyone very excited about him.

Now 10 and O doing his thing in the UFC now, making his debut on Saturday against Lucas Soyewski. Very entertaining debut. A lot of people asked for him to come on the show to talk about it. You want to hear from the bone crusher. Well, there he is joining us via the magical Skype right now. Is he there? Or is it audio only?

Oh, there he is. Mark D. Casey. How are you, my friend? I'm good at you. I'm doing great. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Tell me exactly how do you pronounce your last name? because I hear 10 different variations of it.

Jacasi. Jaquesi? Yeah. Okay. There you go. That sounds good, yeah. All right. Well, thank you very much for coming on, and congratulations on your debut.

Does it still feel kind of surreal for you? We're less than 48 hours removed from it. What does it feel like that you now have a UFC win under your belt? I don't know. I still don't know, really. I'd like to have a go again. I'd like to go back in there. Have a go again.

Relive it. It were fun. of fun. You'd be ready to go this weekend. Yeah, I enjoyed it. We're good. I'd like to go again. So 10 fights now,

of course, that was your first. Did it feel different? Like in the locker room, under the lights, Bruce Buffers announcing your name? Did you have a moment where I'm not in Bama anymore. I'm not on the regional scene.

This is the big leagues. Did it feel different? If I've been honest, for some reason, I felt like I had more pressure being on Bama than the UFC. Huh. I just felt like,

because I worked a lot of, I worked so hard to get there. And I was there. I was just, I enjoy myself. Because I felt like Bama, I had to, like, perform to not to lose the fight to try and get in. Okay. But no I'm in. I just went to enjoy it.

And then that's what I did. So in the UFC, you were kind of flying under the radar a little bit, you felt. Yeah, I did feel like, now I'm just having fun. Like, it's where I wanted to be. I'm here, I'm there. I just couldn't enjoy it. And that's what I tried doing. Just, no, I didn't worry about anything.

just enjoy it. So your fight happened at around 1 a.m. local time. So it wasn't too crazy. I mean, people fight in main events at around that time. It wasn't like you were a Bissping fighting at 5 a.m. Was that weird for you to fight so late? Not really, because usually I wake up around 4 a.m. for training to do my boxing. Wow.

So I'm kind of used to that time, waking up and training. So it didn't even make a difference. But that means, I'm assuming that you're going to bed early if you're waking up at 4 a.m. No? Yeah, I do. I do go out to bed early, yeah. Just because my coaching coach obviously works, Sean Fickett. So I had to, like, sleep early, then work up before in the morning and start at 5,

then finish early in morning before it goes to work. So you don't have a job anymore, right? You're a full-time fighter. Full-time fighter, yes. So 4 a.m. you wake up. How long are you training for at 4 a.m.? I'm training to around half-six. we start at 5 to 5 to 5, 6, and I'm done and drive back home.

And then I'm assuming you train again throughout the day, right? Yeah, I come back home over an hour, and I'm sleeping and travel to Manchester is like two hours away from my house. My main gym, ASW, to train there with my coach, Darren Morris. And that's it, and come back home. Wow, what a long day that is. So interesting the way the fight started, you sort of bum rushed him, and it didn't go your way.

what are you thinking when now all of a sudden, you know, 30 seconds into your debut, you're on your back? I would imagine this is not how you drew it up. Yeah, I just realized, you know, I rushed a little bit. I thought, oh, crap, I'm best up here. So that's why I didn't want to do anything in Russia or anything because I knew he was looking to take my back. So I thought, he's going to want to do something. I was just waiting for him to make a move and I can explode back up. But it didn't.

It was just holding on. So I was thinking, ref, I was standing up by then. I didn't, so I'd start trying to move a bit and then eventually I managed to get up. But, you know, it is what it is. I think I'm a better wrestler than him, to be fair, but just a just moment in time. I've watched it back. I know I did wrong. I would let them take double under the rock, which way I did wrong.

That's about it. But, you know, I got the win. In hindsight, are you annoyed that you rushed in and sort of opened yourself up for the takedown? Do you think that if you didn't do that, you could have finished them sooner? Yeah, I would have. I definitely would have. Because I don't think it had much too awful for me. So I'd have finished differently a lot earlier.

But, you know, it happened. Was that the game plan? Was that the game plan to start so quickly? No. It was just moment in time, you know. I enjoy fighting. The stage felt amazing. The mat.

So I feel like I could play with it a little bit. You know, but it happened. The canvas felt really soft to plant my fee and do things that I wanted to do. Wow. So I was just enjoying it. Does it feel different than a Bama canvas? It does, yeah, it's very nice. It's honestly, it's like a brand new toy how to play with.

Holy moly. I've never heard anyone describe it that way. So you didn't panic at all, though. You weren't worried about how it started off. No, no, not so ever. You know, it's a fight in the day. It's there to punch me. I was just, you know, doing the same thing.

But mainly I just like to enjoy now because at the back room, I see a lot of people seem to be panicking. They all look nervous Like they're going to You're going to be killed or something You know At the day you know You're fighting

Just enjoy it You work for your entire life to get there When you're there You're going to enjoy it So you're not the kind of guy Who gets nervous in life Not so much I'm confident in my game

Because I train hard I know I put into work As if I'm not like As long I know I train correctly I've not done anything Stupid or going out drinking I know I've done everything right

you know it's time to enjoy i've suffered in training so why would i be worried for anything else i'm there to fight so i just couldn't enjoy it uh from my perspective watching on television it looked like he was really tired in the second round he didn't have much left did you notice that and were you telling yourself okay i need to capitalize now and and get rid of this guy usually my first round that's why if you notice every time i come out i'm coming out sweating ready to go yeah because i usually first round i usually start slow but after that I know that by that sack and then third is my rounds because I know I get stronger by rounds

I pick up so I knew by that second round that you're going to take it I like he took me down I'm not used to take down I know he's gassing so I'm going to put it on him wow and then you did did you think that the fight was stopped late that you know what I first round I hit him when I slammed him I started hitting my four referee just stopped it but it didn't and I thought

I didn't realize I'm like yeah I'm in the UFC This is different. All right, so more be eating, and we're hearing a bit more. Yeah, what a slam that was. That was like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. You picked him up over his head like a body slam. Have you done that before in a fight? Well, if you watch my videos, I've done four suplexes before when I'm much of fights.

But that was like one of these things, you were trying to take my neck, so I won't let that happen. How are we going to pay for this? So I had to slam him. Wow. Okay, and then you get the victory. So now you're one and O in the UFC. What did you do after the fight?

after the fight I went to my hotel and had a nap to go back home you didn't stick around for the main event you didn't watch it no I didn't watch it why I don't know I felt a bit I just went to good sleep so right after you went you went home yeah I went to my hotel your hotel yeah yeah wow you had no interest in watching

Bisping and Hendo's last fight all that stuff no I think I was a little bit tired I went to just go and I would not sleep all right did you take it in did you go in the crowd at all and watch any of the action? Can't remember. Very business-like. Have you ever... Go ahead?

I can't remember, if I'm honest, I can't remember watching any fights. Have you ever been to a UFC event? No. Wow. Your first UFC event, you fight in it. My bad, I have. Gustafsson with Rumba Johnson. I've been to that because I was training there.

In Sweden? Yeah, in Sweden, yeah. Okay. And that's something that I heard people talking about. They were saying that you were from Manchester, but you're not exactly from Manchester, right? No, Doncaster. I live in Doncaster.

Did that bother you? No, because I think, obviously, I train in Manchester, but my coach wanted to be, obviously, because I fired at Manchester, so he wanted to put a fire at Manchester, but it doesn't really matter. You know, we're all together. Right, we are all together.

When I was in London for the Bissping Anderson Silva fight, I was in the lobby of the hotel, and I forget the gentleman's name. He's part of Bisping's crew. He came up to me and he said, Mark J. Casey, remember this name. Go look him up. He's going to be in the UFC in a very short amount of time. He's the future. He's an upcoming star. He's killing in Bama, et cetera, et cetera. And then I started to really, you know, follow you. So this is back in February. And I've heard a lot of your, like when you were fighting on Saturday, a lot of your fans were writing to me that you're the future of your future. Did you feel that kind? I know you say you don't feel like pressure when you're in the UFC and all that stuff, but they have sort of tabbed you as the guy. Like you're the next guy, the future of British MMA. Do you sense that? Like when you're

walking, do a lot of people come up to you and say that to you? Yeah, a lot of people tell me that but at the same time, I don't really like to believe in that. You know, but I can tell you that but at the same time when you lose, we won't be there. So it's about me just getting out there and doing what I do. And that is when fights. I like to listen a lot about that, you know. I want to become a world champion one day, so you can't be listening to people telling you know how good you are. Sure.

Because it gets to your head when people tell you, no, I take it as a, you know, a compliment. Apart from that, it doesn't mean anything to me. I'm at the end of the day, it's me that's fine. If you're listening to men, you're thinking you're good, then that's when you start getting overconfidence, start losing fights. I'm not into that.

You made your pro debut around three years ago. When did you sense that this was, starting to build. People were starting to view you as, you know, a future champion, someone to remember. Like, when did you, was it from the beginning or was there a point where you felt like you turned the corner in your career? I can remember this. One of my first fight, a guy came to me and said to me, oh, can you take a picture of my son? And I said, but I'm not famous. You said, it's all right. One day you'll be famous. Wow. And, you know, I'd like to meet that guy again because he believed him in that day. Wow.

I think from the beginning, people seem sort of like believe that I'd go far, but I didn't really believe in it myself personally. I just thought, you know, they're just talking because I'm fighting. But now I'm saying, you know, getting confident in my own game. You know, I've realized that I'm hard at work. I've realized a lot of UFC fighters that are in a UFC, they're just like to have it for a name. You know, they don't train as they should be training.

I've been a lot of gyms, yeah, say, all-stars, different gyms. train a lot of U.S. Seafiders, but don't train as I do, and they don't think as I do. So that's what I'm thinking. I'm a little bit different. You were born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, right? Yeah. When did you move to England? I moved it in 2005. With your family?

With my family and my uncle. My uncle broke me up. Why did you move to England? Why did you leave Congo? Because it's a long story, but, you know, I didn't really. have like some sort of a parenting so it was mainly like myself and my one my uncle left so he decided to bring me over because obviously I were close to him and then brought me over and that was it you don't have any siblings I have but like you know we don't really associate that I put it that way okay and your parents you don't have a relationship with I have I told to them but not

as I should, you know, their family, which I don't really like to talk about. Okay, I understand. I'm just wondering, did you hear from them after a UFC debut? No. Okay. Were you expecting to? I don't have to talk about this. Fair enough.

Fair enough. So when did you get introduced to MMA? Well, it was six years ago. Mainly, I would just, I went to do some, just to just know, just to train, to be a phone. and then I realized I end up being inside a cage fighting and that was it I never stopped since Wow, who introduced you to it?

Myself, I just walked into a gym Wow. Yeah, because I just wanted to do some mixed martial art I went to a gym and that was it and then I did like an amateur fight and I just carried down since then So were you a fan of UFC? Had you seen it on TV and were interested in it?

No. I never see, I never really knew what it was. I just, you know, went to a gym. But I started watching a bit, I kind of like, I started, I was watching a lot of John Jones when I started, and then that was it. Wow. I got hooked into it and I thought, yeah, I'm going to give this a go. Were you always an athlete growing up?

Like, if you didn't find MMA, do you think you'd be doing some other professional sport? Well, before I did MMA, I played for leads. You know, I would play for leads, obviously, when I was 16, and then, When I got released, I didn't know what else to do. So I went college for a bit. I'll start working a railway, and then, you know, MMA was just something I would just go out. Leeds as in the football club? Yeah.

So what you were in there, like, youth program? Youth program, yeah. I want a youth program, but then it would, like, it was far. But from where I lived to lead, you know, I had no one to take me, so I couldn't, I was struggling, so I just left it. And did you get any offers from any other? clubs? No, but I did go for a trial for where I live in Doncaster, but obviously I went good enough, and then I broke my leg, my foot on the trials. So, and from that day I decided football's not for me. Okay. No one can tell me how good I am. You know, I'll go and fight

because I can decide from good or not. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. And you're doing very well. So you don't play football anymore? No, I don't. I hate it. You hate it. Do you even watch it? I don't watch football. Wow. So you have like these deep, you know, feelings about it. Like, you want nothing to do with it? No, it's not bad.

I just don't enjoy it no more. My main focus, honestly, I leave him and, like, really fighting. Yeah, yeah. That's all I think about. I go to bed. I dream about fighting. So that's all I do. So mainly I just watch videos.

I watch different fighters, you know, to try and get better, you know, just a little bit of movements. That's about it. Do you feel like your background in football, helped you in MMA? I wouldn't say so. I just think, it just, why it does, I think my, how do I put it?

My success has come from, like, my background, you know, I think I've angered behind me, but I, like, I tunnel it through MMA. It makes me, you know, I feel like without MMA, I wouldn't know what to do. And I use that anger to make me a bad person. You feel like you have anger behind you? Yeah.

Wow. Angry about what? I train hard. It's about life. I'm amazed at one that makes me a better person. Okay. I have controlled aggression with my mate. It controls me, so.

And you have a daughter, right? I have a daughter and a son. Wow. Okay, yeah. So I saw this video, Severe MMA, did this video about you, and I saw you holding a pretty young baby in your hands. How old is she? Yeah.

She's 13 weeks old now Fating weeks, yeah Wow Do you feel comfortable Like you feel like you're You're making good money That you can support them

Or are you anxious to get your career going here To make, you know, a proper living? You know, I can't lie At first, I went to railway I was fine I didn't do too bad, but when I went pro, I wanted to give my own

MMA, I did struggle but now I just start to find I'm not comfortable, but I like to have a comfortable life. Yeah. You know, for my daughter. I don't want them to be like the way I've had it. Sure. I enjoy fine, but I'd like to give my son-in-law a good life.

So that's what I'm doing this. And when you say you worked on the railway, like, what, the railroad tracks? Yeah. Wow, what did you do? Well, a trackman, railway engineer. Basically, just been a tough, tough man, just on clipping rail, removing rail. Wow. Those are different stuff.

You're going to be tough. That's a long ways from the Manchester Arena in front of like 15,000 fans, right? Yeah, well, I didn't like it, you know. I was working, I was like, this is not for me. Right. I just thought it. I was like, this is not for, this is what I meant to be doing. You know, but MMA I just feel like it's my old and enjoy it.

So I just give you my own. When did you start doing the Mohawk? Well, it was before my time of five. you know, I just thought, I just said, I fall off with my different. And as soon as I had, they had a knockout, and then since then after, you know, this works for me, this works for me, and I keep it on. What inspired you to do it? Is it, you just think it looks good, or is there a reason for it? I don't know. I just go for it. Whatever I fell in that day, it just made me do it.

I just felt like doing it on that day and then did it, and then I got a knockout and just stayed up. That is amazing. So have they talked to you yet about your next? fight. Do you know when you're going to fight again? Well, but I haven't really said much, so I'm just waiting to hear from them. When do you want to fight again? It depends. It depends. Whatever you want me to, I'll be out there. What do you mean? It depends. In your perfect world, your perfect scenario, when is your next fight? Is it like, you know, in December, November, like, do you want to fight that?

I know you said you're anxious to get back in there, but do you have an event and nothing in fine? I feel like you have something. You want to say it. I don't know. I truly don't know. Okay, fair enough. I'm never, I'm fit. I'm always training. So whatever they feel like calling me or jumping for, what's his name again? Who's fighting? Michael Johnson, whatever, jumping forever. Oh, I'll be there. We're talking about the creme de la creme, the top guys. You're ready for that. I'm the top guy. I like that. But you don't want to slow build.

You want a quick build? I'm not saying quick build, you know. I'm not being overconfident, but, you know, at the day, fire doesn't make a difference. Fight to fight. You fight. It doesn't mean it doesn't take no levels. You're fighting.

A best man wins. That's what I see it. If they give me a fight, if you'll fight anybody. That's a good attitude to have. How far away do you think you are from, you know, how many years, how many fights from being in that title discussion? What are you thinking?

Uh, pro blade over two fights. Two fights? Well, it depends on the beginning me. All right, all right. Depends to begin me. But in your mind, that's how you feel. Ah? In your mind, that's how you feel.

Obviously, that's how I'm going to feel, out there. Yeah, you got to be confident, right? Yeah, we've got to be confident. Confident is the key. That's right. I don't really like to talk crap, but this is me. I like, I like to be a difference. To be honest.

Final thing for you, Mark, what was the best part of the whole experience? I'm sure winning was great, but was there a moment that stood out? Did you love, I don't know, the face off, the walkout? Oh, by the way, you come out to Three Little Birds, right? Did you come out to that? That was my first fire for a knockout. But yesterday, it was my moment. So I had to play this song that I want to feel like playing my moment because it was my moment.

I felt like, you know, avoid to get here. It's my chance. I've got to get out there and, you know, give it. I'll give you my own. So what, because they didn't show the walkout on TV. So what song was it? DJ Drama, my moment. Oh, okay.

Because Three Little Birds is my song. That's my walkout song. I don't know if you know this. Yeah, you'll be hearing that again. But that yesterday was my moment. I just needed to play it. Okay, but you're going to go back to Three Little Birds. Definitely.

Why do you like that song for a walkout song? Because it's not a typical walkout song. It's just kind of chill. Yeah, that's what I mean. It's chills, but when you're in there, you know, I like to be going, knowing that I've done everything right, I'm relaxed, you know, that song walking out there, chills, and when you're getting there, it's into a different animal. And that's the best thing about it.

Okay, I like that. Okay, so going back to my original question, what was your favorite part of the whole experience? Favorite part? I don't know. I'm going to say, I can't, I don't really know. It was just, the whole thing was just different. All of it would just, you know, I'm just grateful to be the, that. I just feel like this is where I'm meant to be. You know, I'm just enjoying all of it. All of it. It was just

amazing. All right. Well, that's great stuff, man. Really, congratulations on the victory. A lot of people are very excited about your career and where you're going and you being in the UFC. You have some very loyal fans, my man. So great stuff. Congratulations again. And a fantastic performance. Thank you for coming on just a couple days later. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. All right. I appreciate it. Yeah. The bone crusher. Mark Jakesy. What a great demeanor he has. Smiley, happy, you got to love that.

Great stuff there from the Bone Crusher himself. A lot of people very excited about his career in mixed martial arts. What a win that was. I'm curious to see how quickly they push him. But there is a name to remember, a face to remember, coming out of England once again. Okay. Let us go to our last guest of the day. I told you I was very excited to catch up with.

Once again, it has been a while since we heard from Mack Rice. as you recall around three years ago he was involved in that car accident cut his career short but he's doing great things had a very big weekend this past weekend in Oklahoma so I wanted to catch up with him former UFC fighter Matt Rice joining us right now via the magic Skype Matt how are you good how are you I'm doing great it's great to talk to again it's great to see you so a very big weekend for you right yeah definitely definitely I'm very honored to for the, you know, recognition, getting into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Oklahoma chapter.

So, very honored for that. So not only were you inducted this weekend, you also received the 2016 Medal of Courage Award. What is that, what is that for? Just for somebody who has overcame, like, you know, a significant injury or something of that nature, something, you know, I guess that went bad in their life and all that stuff. Were you expecting to be inducted? Were you expecting to get this award?

I mean, you had a fantastic high school career, college career. Were you expecting this at this time? No, I wasn't. They contacted me just a little while ago and told me about it, and it was just kind of came as a 100% shock. It was very nice to hear and to get to be part of it. So the last time that we spoke to on this show, obviously it was pretty shortly after the accident.

and you were in great spirits, but your life was still very much in transition. Three years later, how are you doing health-wise? Doing great. I mean, God bless me, and I'm very healthy and getting back and back in the gym, working out and all that. Unfortunately, probably never going to be able to fight again, but, you know, it is what it is. I get to be here at my gym with – we have a bunch of young and up-and-coming fighters

who do a great job, and I get to help and teach. them and and still stay in touch with it and be part of it. Was it hard to get back to the gym as a coach when you knew that you couldn't fight anymore, you wanted to fight, you were still young, so was it hard to just sort of be forced into this new role? Did you have to come to terms with that? At first it mean I kind of stayed away from the gym for a while because it was it was hard you know because I still wanted to fight I still wanted to compete and it kind of was depressing.

You know, part of me wanted to be in there, and I like training, but then it was also depressing knowing that I was in here and I would never be able to go compete again in something that I love and enjoy doing. But, you know, I've came to terms with it, and I love seeing the guys and girls of the gym when they go compete and knowing that I helped them get to where they're at and stuff like that. So it's a good deal. What's the name of the gym? R1 MMA. What does R1 stand for? My old coach used to, my nickname called me the real one. So when I opened the gym about five years ago, we just called it R1 MMA.

And in your cornering fighters, your developing fighters, but you're also working with the Police Athletic League, right? Yes, yeah. I went back, when I went back from the accident, I went back all. patrol just like I did whenever right before I got hurt because the doctors told me I would never be able to go back on patrol again and stuff like that they didn't anticipate me being able to be mentally capable enough to make quick decisions and drive and listen to the radio and all that stuff that I have to do as a police officer and I just wasn't willing to accept that so I waited and you know healed up went past

every single thing I need to pass back at the police department, and I went right back to patrol where I left from. And then a new job opened up with the police athletically, which is amazing. It fits me perfect. And I put in for that, and I actually got that. So now we create sporting leagues for the inner city kids here in Oklahoma City and go to schools every day and try to give kids a better understanding of police.

them know that, you know, we're people too and that we can be fun and teach them things. Wow. And we have feelings as well. Wow. That is great. So you're no longer on patrol? No, not full time. I do a lot of overtime where I work like gang shifts and stuff like that. So I still do go out on patrol on overtime stuff. But my full-time job now is with the police athletically and just trying to help the young kids of Oklahoma City. That is a very important job, especially in this day and age. Do you feel that there's tension between the civilians and the police force in Oklahoma City? Actually, you know, here in Oklahoma City, we are very blessed that we have a really good relationship with the community and the citizens in Oklahoma City.

And I think a lot of that comes from our training that the Oklahoma City Police Department gives us. and just the way that we treat the citizens and stuff in Oklahoma City. So we haven't had a lot of issues, but right now it's all over. You know, people just, you know, the police and some of this in certain places. It's just very bad. And it could happen here. But thank God it hasn't yet. And we have a good relationship.

Do you, like, I don't know if you drive by where you had the accident. Do you still think about it a lot? Does it still affect you emotionally? I mean, it's one of those things I've tried to put behind me. I mean, because it's changed my life forever. You know, I never be able to do one of the things I truly care about and love doing. But like I said, I get to help coach and train these men and women here at the gym. And it keeps me involved in that aspect.

but yeah it's still hard you know whenever i you know see a fight or there for probably a year or two after the accident i wouldn't even watch fights because you know it was depressing and my my oldest daughter that was one of the things she always wanted to watch fights with me whenever whenever i was fighting she always would watch fights with me and something like that so it was about a year and a half or so after the accident the fights were coming on she's like daddy can we watch the fights you don't watch me because she would ask me numerous times i It's like, no, I don't want to. You know, it just kind of depressed me.

But now we're all good. Watch the fights and help all these guys and girls. And, you know, I love it as much as I did before. Do you recall which fight that was that you watched for the first time after the accident? No, I do not. I wish I did because, like I said, I watched a couple, and then I would just turn them off because it was just kind of too much. I'd be like, man, they're just more depressing than anything. Did it feel like a relief when you stopped feeling that way and could just enjoy the sport again?

Oh, yeah, 100%. Yeah. It just, a lot of it was just me coming to reality, you know, that, you know, this is what it is. You know, I'm not going to be able to fight anymore and, you know, I have to accept that. And the hardest part with me, I think, was that it, uh, I didn't get to retire on my own terms. You know, it was like it was taken from me. And I felt like, and I was the best fighter that I'd ever been at the time. You know, I was just getting my training down right, my diet, everything.

And then, you know, that happened. So it just kind of felt like it was taken from me. But, you know, life goes on. Other than, of course, fighting physically, is there anything that you can't do? No, no. You know, for a while, I just, like I said, I was depressed. I didn't work out at all. So got kind of fat.

And I now got Jay O'Connor Cochran, one of the main guys in my gym, one of the coaches, and up-and-coming fighters. We're working out. I was actually got done working out of all the go. And I'm lifting, working out with him all the time, and trying to get back in shape.

That is great. Is there a fighter or two that you're really excited about their future, their prospects, as far as the gym is concerned? Is there anyone that you can tell us any names to look out for? Oh, yeah, the one I just mentioned, J.R. Cochran, he's a 145-pounder. He's 2-0 as a pro. I have an 185-pounder, Cheeby, who's 185-pound pro. He's 5-0 with 5-KOs. And then Braden Smith, who's 170-pound pro. He's 5-1 with five finishes.

And his loss was kind of a controversial decision. And then Levi Queen, who is going down to 1-7. from 185, he is 10 and 3. And there's numerous other ones. I mean, I've got a bunch of guys. Jared Sanders, who fought the U.S. 135. Shane Howell is still here training. He was in the U.C. at 125.

So we've got a lot of tough guys, a lot of up-and-comers, and we'll be back in there soon enough. And you know when I think of Oklahoma wrestling, I know he didn't go to the University of Oklahoma, but he went to Oklahoma State. Dan Henderson just finished up his career. Did you watch that fight on Saturday? No, I was working. You know, I love Dan Henderson. That guy is probably one of my favorite fighters ever.

And I know a couple guys in my gym, they're the same way. That guy, you know, is amazing. I didn't get to watch the fight, but everyone I talked to thought he won the fight. I don't know. I haven't got to see it yet. So I can't say personally, but I heard everyone thought he wanted. It was super close, no doubt about that. Looking back on your run as an MMA fighter, what's the moment that sticks out? What was your favorite moment?

Oh, man, golly. I mean, the Bermuda's fight was probably my funnest fight ever. Yeah, that was wild. Yeah, it was a good time. And, you know, that's like I said, I just felt that I thought that was the, after that fight, I felt like that was the beginning of what was about to be my career. Because before that, you know, because I started training right before the Linter Fight. Before that, I kind of did my own thing.

But before the Linder Fight, I finally got around the right people, opened my gym, got good people in, and started sticking to a game plan. And that showed the Linder Fight. And then when I fought Dennis, I felt like I was the best fighter I'd ever been. and, you know, it just felt like, okay, I've got this down now. I got the weight down. I was at the right weight and had my diet and everything. And, you know, and then the rest is history because I didn't get it at 166.

I'll never forget getting the opportunity to interview both of you after that fight. What an amazing brawl that was, a back and forth affair. When's the last time you watched it? Oh, man. I don't even know. I honestly couldn't tell you It's been a while Do you ever go back?

Do you ever go back and watch your old fights or not really? No, I need to You know, like I said I just not too long ago I came to the realization of watching other fights Probably about a year ago I've watched it a little bit Showing to people that had questions

And but yeah I need to I need to go back and watch that for sure Do you keep tabs on Dennis because, you know, you're linked to him and you had that amazing fight? Have you followed his career afterwards? Yeah, of course, yeah. I mean, he's looking good.

I've, you know, watched him and Ricardo, you know, LaMas because I fought both of them and been, they're both really great guys. And, you know, I've been trying to keep up with both of it and rooting for him. When I say Kevin Durant, what do you think? You know, I don't even really think much about it. I could care less. I don't even know what all the big fuss is about. It is what it is.

He's an adult. He's a grown man. And if he wants to go get paid more somewhere else and, hey, so be it. Are people still bum there? Are they over it? Yeah. I don't know. I think they're over it.

I hope they are. I mean, I'm not going to laugh, you know, something like that ruin my day. It is what it is, you know. Sure. Like somebody, I don't know if it's true or not, but there's a town in Oklahoma. Durant, Oklahoma. And somebody said, I think I'm hoping it was fake, but they're trying to get the town name changed from Durant to something else.

I'm like, seriously? I was like, oh, that's pretty stupid, whatever. Final thing, do you have to check in with someone, like on a yearly basis about, you know, just how you feel, like what is life like in terms of that for you? Yeah, I'm going to go see Dr. Smith, my rehab doctor, about, you know, every six months or whatever, just to see, you know, normal junk. I try, I've never been a big fan of going to the doctor, you know. So, you know, if I go, I go.

But if I have something going on, I guess I can call them any time. Well, it's great to see you again. It's great to see you in very good spirits, Matt. And, wow, you know, a Medal of Courage Award. I can think of nothing more apropos than something like that to be given to you. So really happy for you, really happy that you're feeling better and that you're back in the MMA game and developing new fighters. That's a great thing to see and that you've come to terms with everything.

That's really great. I'm really happy for you. So I wish you the best, man. It's great to catch up. And congratulations on the induction and the award this past weekend. Thank you, Ariel. I greatly appreciate it, man. All the best to you and your family, Matt.

We'll talk to you soon. you too have a good one all right there he is mac grice stopping by how about that great to see him recall the last time he was on the show around three years ago um after the accident uh seems to be in tremendous spirits speech is great at the gym training working out developing new fighters watching m mm again police athletic league induction oklahoma chapter of the national wrestling hall of fame medal of courage awards Well done, Matt Grace. Great to see, great to hear.

All right. Just a couple minutes left in the program. Anything else we have to get to, Mr. New York, Rick? Yeah. I have some more questions for you. Okay, hit me, actually. Go ahead. I'm thinking.

Okay. There's a lot of my mind. A lot is tortured soul, huh? World Series of Fighting this past weekend. Did you watch it? No. Why? What's wrong with you?

No. Not a fan? Main event was canceled. Not really that interested. Jason High, that's your guy. Wait, did you watch it? I did. Okay.

But not live, I will admit. I didn't watch it. It was too late. Main card started at 11 o'clock. Eastern time. With no Justin Gachy promise of violence on the other end. But your boy, Jason High. Yeah, that's not going to get me.

Vitor Belfort, will he fight again? Huh. I have to assume so? if he didn't officially do it now, what was the reason for waiting? So I'm thinking, yeah. Hmm. I'm thinking no.

Why? I just don't feel like he has it anymore. You know, he's doing less media, just getting old. I mean, he's been doing this for so long. Maybe he's searching for that one last hurrah, but I don't know. Yeah, maybe get one on the, you know,

Mark Munoz got one where he wanted to go out with a win. I think. Fair. I could see Vitor doing the same thing. and also I think Vitor can draw money still. So I think I'll fight again. Mike Perry's new tattoo, love it, adore it. Those are the only two options?

What's more than a door? Are you serious? It's incredible. Does it not fit the brand? I mean, it's perfect for the brand. He certainly does fit the brand with that tattoo. I mean, what is it? Platinum above the left eyebrow, I think it was, in cursive.

It's very classy. It's super classy. Yeah. The eye tattoo is the classiest of it. It was funny after that fight against, um, name escaping me, name escaping me, name escaping me. Lim?

No, no, no. The one on Saturday. Oh, um, Roberts. Yes, hot chocolate. Um, it was funny after that, everyone was like, fight of the night, just give him the award, just give him the award. And then Michael Bisping, Dan Henderson happens. By the way, right now, who's your vote for best fight of the year?

Man, that's tough. Um, I haven't been able to do a deep dive to, like, kind of dig out the ones that are not being talked about, but I have to feel like Connor and Nate too is the frontrunner? Over I still think that

the frontrunner is the last fight on the first card of 2016, Robbie Lawler Carlos Condit. I still feel like that was the best fight. That fifth round, do you remember that fifth round? It's escaping me. Oh my God. That fifth round was was complete

insanity. Back and forth. Remember they were swinging and then that shot of both of them over the cage, yes. I still think that was the fight of the year and the round of the year. Yeah, I feel like the stakes in McGregor Diaz were very high. Yeah. Which is maybe enhancing my memory of it, but. McGregor Diaz, both of them are in the consideration.

But certainly number two. Number two. Steepa against Overeem. I know it was shorter. No. It was shorter, but it was very good. It was back and forth. Oh, come on.

That's like saying, you know, Brown Arlofsky, wins fight of the year just because they each almost went out one time. Doesn't mean it was a great fight. Rounded the year maybe. Did that go into the second or was it just the first? I think it was just the first. Stepe?

Yeah. Why do I feel like it went into the second? Maybe you're right though. It's been a while. It's been a while? Actually it hasn't. It's been a month. It's been a long year. So the Carlos Robbie fight

now that's bothering me. Let's look it up. Yeah, I'm looking it up too. I think it was the first. I was there, for God's sakes. Carlos Robbie, what else? Oh, Misha against Holly? Yeah, round one, steep A.K.

Yeah. Misha Holly, T.J. against Cruz. Although I feel like Misha Holly was a bit of Holly just kind of being in cruise control and then a drastic upset. Oh, you remember there was that second round? Oh, that's right. Yeah, she was in danger of few points.

You know what? For me, the fight, I almost like the back and forth for a fight of the year. Yeah. and Nate and and Connor had that. They were trading rounds and it's going to be hard to top that one for me, I think. But I'd have to go back and sometimes there's those ones that you forget at the beginning of the card, like you're talking about with Perry and Roberts,

where it was an incredible fight and the main event steals the shine. There's probably one or two like that, that I'll go back and hipster it up and juice. Hipster it up? Yeah, I mean, that's what you tell me every single time. What does that have to do that? That I'm an MMA hipster. Well, I'm going to pick like, you know, some rinkster. random fight night card that had a great fight on the prelims.

Oh, yes. You always do that. Which one? The one that kicked off one of the shows. I'm forgetting which location. Oh, yeah, 199. Yeah, that fight might be my choice. That fight against the two guys that I don't remember.

That might be my choice for a fight of the year. 199. What a blur that night is for me as far as the card is concerned. I'll do that, I'm sure, by the time our award season comes around. Dung Young Kim, the other one against Marco Polarois? Yes. in the third round? That was a bunk.

You have to admit. Can I be honest? There are worse choices than that. Can I be honest with you? I have not seen the fight. That's when I was gathering all my nuts for the Brock and Nate. I was in my hotel room. I was wearing my towel.

I had just gotten out of the shower, got the confirmations I needed, and started writing it, but was waiting for one more thing, got to the arena, you know the rest. So I actually missed the first two fights. I missed the Kevin Casey fight and the Marco Polarois fight. Go back and watch it. Yeah, I should watch it. Well, ungather your nuts and go back and watch it. As we get ready for our big award show.

Yes, end of year. It's coming up fast. Or beginning of the year, because the last show of the year is December 30th, as far as fights are concerned. Yeah, last year, I think we did that, right? I like that. I like that. In early January?

I think that's better. Nothing, nothing. And let me talk about nothing pisses me off more in this world. There's nothing that pisses me off more. than early award shows. I mean, you've got to include the entire year. Well, no. I mean, then you could just make

through end of December town and then the next one goes to next year. No, it has to be 2016 awards. Include the entire year. Stickler over here. Last thing. Yeah, hit me. Did you watch the debate?

Of course I watched the debate. You did? Over the Blue Jays game? She. Baseball? Are you for real right now? Did you really watch it? Yeah, of course I watched the debate.

Did you enjoy it? Yeah. For me, it's theater, although I probably should be a little more concerned. This is the problem. That is the problem right there. Like, I have my father-in-law says this to me, and I'll be a Canadian, so it doesn't really count. But everyone says this. It's fun.

It's theater. It's reality TV. This is what got you in this mess. People, including you who say that should be ashamed of themselves. How dare you? This is what got you in this mess. By enjoying this car wreck of a situation, this is your country, this is your future. this is your future, this is your kid's future,

and you're just enjoying it with your popcorn, this is why we're in this mess. No. Are you not embarrassed? Because election day will come, and my vote will be cast, and regardless of what happened to this point, that won't, that won't.

Are you not embarrassed that we reach this point? I mean, this is America, for God's sakes. This is the greatest country in the world. It's supposed to be the leader. You know, it doesn't make us look good for other countries once our leader is chosen, that this is kind of what we're engaging in.

That's for you voting for. Can you tell me? Who are you endorsing? I'm not about to give out my political views. Why? No. No, who are you endorsing? There's only two choices.

I'm going to write in Brian Stan and make everybody on MMA Twitter happy. Why is it so taboo to talk about who you're voting for? Like, you can talk about anything else. People are very passionate about it. So you don't want to have people upset with you about your political choices. I'm going to write in Brian Stan and make everybody happy. If you do that, I want proof of it. And then why are you watching the state?

Is that legal? Am I allowed to take a picture? of what I voted for? I think I might. Should be told, I've never voted, because by the time I got to America, that's when I was legal to vote in Canada, and I didn't feel like I should be voting. So you're going to do your civic duty, right? You're going to do it. I can't. I'm not

allowed. I'm not a citizen. I can tell you this. I have a green card. I can't vote. Ah, you have a green card, okay. If I was able to vote, we wouldn't be in this mess. I'll tell you that much. I would have cleaned this up. Unfortunately, I can't, so I have no real dog in the race. Yeah, it's nice for you to be talking from the outside, Mr. Mr. Green card.

It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable that you guys think it's great... This is my platform that I will vote for. Make America Trill again. That is right. Let's make America Trill again. How about that? How about that revelation?

Did you think that Derek Lewis was a Trump guy? Wouldn't know either way, but I thought... Obviously, I thought the hat was mocking, so I would have thought not. Yeah. But maybe... That's the real big story broken today. But I thought it was mocking, so I thought not.

but you never know what these types of things but good for him for going out and and uh revealing his sure see he's not afraid why are you so afraid well i'm not derrick lewis derrick lewis doesn't have much to be afraid of if if you've seen the man i mean he says that he's going to go to dana white's house yes and ask for his money i would the image of derrick lewis just knocking on the door uh asking for his money is uh startling um but i believe him at the same time i believe he will call dana white if he doesn't get uh any confirmation soon and ask for his money. That's a video blog in its own right.

Oh, I'm sure he's very savvy with that. I'm sure it will be documented in some way. By the way, Josh Donaldson, who scored to win that game, big UFC fan. In fact, one of the highlights of my Twitter career is when he liked one of my tweets. What a thrill it is when a famous person likes one of your tweets. I mean, what confirmation?

His 15 seconds of athletic activity per game is really, you know. Big UFC. fan. He interviewed Roy McDonald before his fight at I think he was the impetus for us getting the hair thing. The hair thing, the donation to November. So you know what? Josh Donaldson's okay in my book.

He's the man. But baseball sucks. Hard. What does that even mean? Sucks hard. It's just boring, terrible sport. You are missing. I mean, I am I typically have very sweaty palms. I am sweating so much during these games. You can watch all the action from a baseball game in about 10 seconds after it's over.

I'm sitting there for three and a half hours, rocking back and forth, doing my little special things. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Don't move on. What are these special things? I have little things that I do, and I tell you,

I swear when I stop doing them, bad things happen, and then when I go back to doing them, good things happen. So what are these special things? Because I'd like to... I can't reveal because then I'm going to jinx them.

I'm going to jinx them. Now, do you do these for the Knicks as well? I do them for the Knicks. In fact, they developed around 1998, 97. I think it was around 97 when we were the when we were the favorites against the heat and then it all went come up down.

So let me propose something to you. Yes. Maybe you should stop because your teams have not fared well. Well, I only do them in the big games and well, you know, they don't fare well. Yeah, maybe you stop,

maybe you pick a new ones. Well, now we're going good. Things are going well. October 25th, baby? No. Yep. All right. Cut your mic.

October 25th, that's it. All right. Okay, we're done. Bye-bye. I mean, if you're going to insult the great game of baseball, you're out. You came on music. In case you missed it, Connor McGregor with a great tweet earlier. Where was it?

I get fined more than these bums get paid. Now, wouldn't it have been funny if you actually said that on the phone call to them? This is second place. Still pretty damn amazing. Already has 25,000 likes on that tweet. 17,000 retweets. Amazing. Why does everyone, when Connor tweets, why do they call him dad?

It's a very bizarre thing. Dad, King. What's going on here? People are weird. Anyway, thank you to all who tuned in today on this Thanksgiving Monday. in Canada. Hope you enjoyed the turkey. Thank you very much to Pizzi Carroll. How about that? Breaking news from Pizzi Carroll on the show today. Bama, Bellator, December, huge. Co-promotion. Very exciting stuff.

Thank you very much to Daniel Cormier. Best of luck to him on December 10th. Thank you very much to Ricardo Lamas. Good luck in getting that next fight. Thank you very much to Misha Tate. Good luck on November 12th. Thank you very much to Derek Lewis, making it trill. Good luck getting that next fight as well. Thank you very much to Chris Wydenman. Good luck on November 12th.

Big fight for him. MSG. Very deserving. Thank you very much to Mark Giacase. Congrats on your first UFC win. And thank you very much to Matt Grice. Congratulations on the awards. Back next week.

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