MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 368

Episode Date: February 14, 2017

Ariel Helwani speaks to NewYorkRic to recap the weekend in MMA (00:08:23), Rory MacDonald (00:27:39), Paul Daley (00:48:12), Cris Cyborg (01:04:56), Luke Rockhold (01:33:00), Fedor Emelianenko (01:48:08), Michael Bisping (02:13:18), Jon Anik (02:42:23), Derek Brunson (03:14:03), and then NewYorkRic one more time to close out the show (03:37:56). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Ariel Hawani. Back inside our New York City studio, but there is a twist this time. Yes, it is the same old set, but we are in a new studio, a better studio. This is unbelievable. We're actually like a real TV show here. Wow, look at this. it's there's there's a few changes and I'll get to them in a second but for you right now if I didn't even tell you last week that we were moving if I didn't tell some of you on social media that we had moved you probably wouldn't have noticed but trust me when I tell you this the entire company Vox Media has moved to a new location and it is state of the art and around me it's all brand new where the crew is sitting it's all brand new and I really have to thank all of them right off the top everyone from Adam Alex Rob Miles, Nick, Eric, if I forgot anyone, I'm very sorry.

Joe, Austin, there's so many of you. I appreciate everything that you've done to get us to this point. Moving, not just my show, but all the other shows and just the entire operation is no small feat. And so it is just amazing to be here. And I hope we're on. I hope we're actually working. So what are the slight changes, at least for now? Well, that window that a lot of you used to complain about with people walking behind me with the screen, that's gone.

We're actually back to the old set over here, so you can see a little more over there, and I could put a little more things. My favorite MMA photo is right over there, the Mayhem Sakuraba one. There, there it is. There, that's a better shot of it. Taken by our own Esther Lynn, great feature on her. The LA Times this past weekend. So this is very cool.

This is very exciting, but I should tell you that come springtime, we're actually going to have a whole new set. So this is all going to go away. We're going to have a new and improved set. But for now, it's kind of the same. same old, same old. So yeah, this is very exciting. And we're working. We're live and everything's feeling good. I was very nervous. I'm the most neurotic Jew there is. You think of, you know, neurotic Jew like the stereotype. You look them up in the dictionary. That's me. And so I was very worried about today. And at first I was thinking, you know, first day in a new studio for show,

maybe I'll just ease into it. You know, maybe I won't have the biggest names. Maybe we'll just do a couple of guests, not like our typical six to eight. And of course, I couldn't do that. I thought, you know, afterwards, maybe I'll christen the new set slash studio. Maybe I'll just start this whole thing off with arguably the greatest male and female fighters of all time. How about that, right? I mean, I don't think we've ever done that before. I don't think we've ever had Fador Emilienenko and Chris Cyborg on the same show on the same day.

And yes, I know it's arguable, but look, some can say John Jones. I would certainly not, you know, argue against that. Some might say Andrews still. But Fado and Muleiniko and Chris Seiberg are in that discussion, and they are both on today's show. So it is a stack lineup. We are holding nothing back for our first episode here coming out of our new downtown studio. I'll run down the lineup. And then let's talk a little UFC 208, which of course happened this Saturday in Brooklyn.

I don't want to call it an uneventful card because a lot of things happened, but they weren't all that positive. There was some controversy. Certainly at times it was a little dull. it kind of was what it was, right? I mean, it was what we expected it to be. I don't think, you know, if you didn't watch the show and then read the results, it's kind of like, yeah, I was sort of, you know, kind of expecting all of this. But a few funny things happen along the way, and it's very important to talk about those, so we'll get to those in a second. But first, let me run down the lineup, and then we'll talk a bit of UFC 208. At around 350, we'll be

joined by Derek Brunson. He lost a controversial decision to Anderson Silva. We'll leave it at that for now we'll get to Derek Brunson in a second. He will join us at 350. 3.30, we'll talk to John Anick, who was the play-by-playman for UFC 208. Alongside Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier, they reintroduced the three-man booth. They've done this in the past, most notably and most consistently with Randy Couture back in the day. And now they're bringing it back. And it's going to be sort of this revolving door featuring Cormier and Cruz, I'm told, that. at least for now, is the third man alongside Annenrogan. And I thought it worked very well.

I thought Cormier added another element to the broadcast, former fighter. I thought his chemistry with Anakin Rogan was very good, very strong, and it was rather seamless, but I want to talk to John about this and some other things as well. 310 will be joined by Michael Bisping, the reigning defending UFC middleweight champion. Talk to him about his recent knee surgery, Yuel Romero's comments, YOL crashing his radio show on Thursday. So we'll get to all of that with Michael Bisping. at 2.45, the aforementioned Fador, A.k. Fyodor Amelianenko, will stop by. He meets Matt Mitriano on Saturday. That's

happening. Kind of crept up on us, but Strike Force is back. Strike Force is back. Belator is back. It does certainly feel like Strike Force these days. Belator is back on Saturday from their old Strike Force home. The HP Pavilion in San Jose. Not even called the HP Pavilion anymore. It's called the SAP Center. Old Habits Die Hard. I wish they could just call it Strike Force again. That would be so much easier for all of us. So that's 245. How about that, Fjordor, on the show? 225, we'll talk to Luke Rockhold. It's been a while since we heard from Luke Rockhold. And with all the middleweight stuff going on, I wanted to check back in with him, see how he's feeling, and get an update on his return.

205, Chris Seiberg will stop by. Get her thoughts on the Women's Featherweight title fight. By now, you probably know that Jermaine Durandumee is the new UFC women's featherweight champion. She is the first ever to hold that crown. She is currently the fourth European champion in the UFC. And I know a lot of Irish fans will claim that there are five if you want to give Connor the featherweight title as well. Just the second person from the Netherlands to be a UFC champion. Of course, the first was Basruden almost 20 years ago.

But what about Chris Cyborg? This was her division. This is the reason why they started it. She's the reason why they started it. She was in attendance. She was in Brooklyn. We'll talk to her at 205. 145.

We'll talk to Paul Daly. it was announced that in May he will face Roy McDonald in a fascinating Bellator main event and a lot of fans saying last week that this main event that is being brought to London is better than the UFC's main event that is being brought to London in March

and it's hard to argue against that Roy McDonnell versus Paul Daly going up against Corey Anderson versus Jimmy Manoa and so Bellator is coming out swinging a little less than two months after the UFC goes back to London and the aforementioned Roy McDonald will join us at 1.25 p.m. Eastern time. Looking forward to talking to him about his Bellator debut.

Okay, so you got the lay of the land. You can see a little more of the set. Things are changing, but we are good to go. Let me bring in my good friend. Oh, and before I bring him in, let me remind you that today's episode, I almost forgot about that. All part of the new era here. Today's episode of the M.A. Hour is being brought you by for honor. There you see it.

made by Ubisoft for PlayStation 4, Xbox 1, and PC. It's available tomorrow, February 14th, Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day to all the lovers out there. I would imagine that if you're working today and can't watch the show live, right about now you're snuggled up with your loved one under the covers and watching the MMA hour. What a perfect way to spend Valentine's Day Eve, right? So, when you're done watching the show, you can go out and get For Honor. it's out on February 14th.

Remember, real fighting strategy instead of just the run and gun or hack and slash. This is the real deal right here, my friends. It feels like you're actually there doing all this fighting. And of course, the important key of this game is to balance defense and offense

to truly master the fight and win the battle just like an MMA belt. Okay, Mr. New York, Rick, are you there? Have you made it? Did they pack you up? They put me in my box and I was successfully shipped. Look at you. It's a whole new era.

How do you like your new digs? I mean, I think if we're just going to, you know, do this, in terms of analyzing who got the better end of this deal between you and I, I think I, you know, lucked out. Why is that? Nice new studio. You're kind of in the same old, you know, set over there while I'm here in this beautiful new studio with all these wonderful people.

Yeah, look at that. It's actually like a pro control room or like a real TV show now. We're like a real TV show. This is amazing. All grown up. Okay. Well, no one wants to hear us just kind of get all excited about our new studios. Let's talk some mixed martial arts here.

You were not in attendance. You did not go to UFC 208. Is that correct? I did not. And you didn't watch the event. I went on your Twitter and you're like, oh, I'm just checking in for the main event. Is that not true? I only watched the main event live.

Okay. But I saw the event. What could you possibly have been doing instead of watching the UFC's debut in Brooklyn? Twofold. One, I was at 100. day celebration for one of my cousin-in-law's babies. Okay, fair enough. And following that, I was doing party preparation for my wife's birthday on Sunday.

Are we officially done with the birthday celebrations? This weekend was it. Now it's over. Okay. So do we do anything for Valentine's Day, by the way, or is it? No, there's too much going on. Well, that's actually pretty good. Yeah, I get to skip out on Valentine's Day.

You dodge the Valentine's Day bullet and you get to do it all. Okay, I could live with that. Okay, big question, right off the top. Who did you score the main event for? Germain. Germain Durandumie. But I think, now I scored it that way based on just, you know, my score of each round. But if you're going to remove points I had it to draw, I think, I mean.

Wait, no, no, no, forget about the points for a second. Then I scored it for Germain. Okay, which rounds? Oh, boy. Round one, Germain. Yeah. Round two, Germain, I believe. Yep, yep, I'm right there with you.

Holly. Holly, yep. For Germain. Huh. Or maybe I'm reversing four and five. But I either scored four or five for Germain. So you're not one of those who's crying foul. You're not crying controversy.

You think the right person won. I think that, yeah, I think the right person won. Now, with the caveat that obviously, if a point is deducted, that changes the scoring. Yeah. Because she only would have. one by one round. I didn't see any 10-9s or 10-8s or anything like that. So therefore, if one or even two points was deducted, that would change the outcome. But in terms of round by round, I think that the appropriate winner was selected. Okay, we'll get to the point deduction in a

second or deductions. I had it first, second round for Germain, third, fourth, and fifth for Holly Holme. But important to note, these were close rounds, in particular, the last three. I thought Holly actually did a really good job of adjusting as the fight went on. I thought early on, it was almost like her striking was somewhat formulaic and predictable. Like she was doing the same thing. One, two, and then getting caught by Jermaine. I thought Jermaine was doing a great job of catching her at the end of the one, two. And then she adjusted, I thought, very nicely towards the end of the fight. Now, to get to the sort of controversy outside of the judging, because I don't think the judging was necessarily controversial, though I disagree with it, these were close rounds. Like, we can't just cry,

robbery perhaps like we can in the co-mate event. These were close rounds. But as far as the controversy is concerned with the punches landed after the horn sounded, it really all falls on the referee Todd Anderson. I don't necessarily even blame Jermaine Durand to me. Todd Anderson, fighters are taught and the rules clearly dictate that the round is over once the referee steps in. He was too late stepping in. The second round, very late, Jermaine landed a 1-2, the second one completely rocking Holly Home. I mean, it looked like she almost knocked her out. End of the third round, same.

It was a little closer and less impactful, but those punches were way after the horn sounded. He got in there too late, and this is why, in my opinion, he did not take away a point. After the first one, okay, you can let it slide. Even Holly Home conceded that. After the second one, you can't do it again, but I think he didn't want to do it because it was his mistake.

he's the reason why she's lining these punches well after the horn sounded. And so it's on him. And again, why is a guy who does not have big fight experience? Why is a guy who typically doesn't do UFC main events? Why is he reffing in the main event? Why is he there? I actually reached out to Herb Dean and Big John McCarthy who weren't in Brooklyn on Saturday. Both have yet to get back to me asking them, why weren't you guys there? You know what? Like, how do you come to a district, a city for the first time, especially with all the issues that the New York State and athletic commission has had, you know, they're maybe two buttoned up. And a lot of people don't want to fight here. And we're just three fights into this new era. MSG, Albany, and now Brooklyn, they're

going to Buffalo in April. How do you not rely on these veterans? And I just thought it was unfortunate. Now, also important to note, end of the second round, she lands that big punch. I thought Holly won the third. End of the third round, she lands another punch after the horn sounded. I thought Holly won the fourth. So it didn't really seem to affect her all that much in the fight. but you can't do that. You just can't do that. I mean, it's egregious. It was clearly after the horn sounded, and I know that Joe Rogan was yelling about it, and I respect that he's doing it, but the problem was on the referee. It's more like the fighters are going until they're told to stop, and the referee just wasn't quick enough. And then after the fourth, did you notice he got in there too early? He was clearly conscious of the fact that he was late, and then he got in there too early.

That's a bad job by the referee. And I wish that they could answer to it, you know, answer why they're doing this, judges, reps, etc. but they never have to. They just get away with it. Move on to the next one. It's a problem. Do you agree with me? Absolutely. It's on him.

It's completely on him. And I think it would have been even appropriate to take points on the first, you know, the first instance and the second instance. There's really very little argument that I would have that, that, you know, that something shouldn't have been done. Something needed to be done. And if it wasn't the first one, it was the second one. Jermaine actually just posted something like five minutes ago on her Facebook page. This is what she wrote it. She wrote, woke up yesterday to a lot of support and a lot of controversy.

I should be on the highest of highs right now. But after my long flight home to Holland, I couldn't stop thinking about the events that took place last night and some of the critics trying to take away what should be one of the greatest moments of my career. I want to say that it was a heated battle with lots of emotion, but I am not a dirty fighter. I have always trained to fight to the end or until the referee steps in. Very fair. Never did I punch around or over the referee to deliver a cheap shot on Holly. That's when you take a point. That's one and done for me. No warning. Referee steps in. You try to punch around the referee.

That is dirty. That is very dirty. I have nothing but respect. She continues. For Holly and the UFC and because of that, I want to say right now that I think I owe it to the Holly and the fans to do this fight again to make sure that the winner of this historic belt is crystal clear. Holly, let's do this again. Much respect us. Now, this leads me to my next point. When Jermaine won the belt, great moment, historic moment, she's the first ever champion, I thought that she had to give in all the sort of talk about this belt, given the fact that there's been no indication that the UFC is truly invested in this new division, she had to kind of sell the moment. and I don't think she did that.

Cyborg is there. They fly her out. She's sitting in the front row. They ask her about her. And what does she say? My hands hurt. I got to go fix it. I hurt this hand two fights ago, March of 2015.

I thought that that was a blunder on her part. You have to sell the division. You have to sell the moment. You have to sell the fact that you're the champion. Even if you have the hand injury, she went to the hospital. She's out now. Of course, she's back home. Even if you have it, forget about that for now.

Cyborg, where are you at? I'm coming for you. Just sell the moment, have the moment in the cage, have the sound bite. Get people excited about this new era. Get people excited about the fact that someone who wasn't even in the title picture as a bantam weight is now the champion at 145. Sell people on the moment. Sell people on yourself. Get the fans in Brooklyn who are booing, who are upset about the scorecards, whatever the case may be, the long night. Get them excited. Call out cyborg. Have a moment there to get people excited about your next fight. And of course, it's easy for me to say, I'm not in the moment. I'm not there. I didn't just fight for

25 minutes, but I thought that that was a big mistake on her part. She had to say something to Cyborg. We all know she's the unofficial champion. We all know she's the best 145-er ever. You have to do something towards Cyborg to get people excited. And I thought that was a massive blunder on her part. Yeah. And all that's to say, now you're saying that this might be another reason for people to say that she's not seeking Cyborg if she's seeking her. And now she comes out with this statement. Cyborg is the one. Cyborg is the one. Cyborg has to be the one. And we'll get an update on her situation, but it was important to note that Dana White was going around talking to media on Friday saying it's looking up for her, that things are looking up, that maybe she won't be

out as long as we all thought that she would be out. And look, I mean, the fact that they brought her out there to Brooklyn says something. They're not bringing her out there if she's suspended for a year. You know what I mean? Yeah. They're not going to invest in her if she's on the sidelines and she's got this potential, you know, doping, doping infraction and all this stuff. Now, what about Holly Home? Now it's three losses in a row. I'll ask you the question that I asked Chuck Minnenhall after the fight. Does this hurt her in the sense that, look, she beats Rhonda on top of the world,

one of the greatest performances in a title fight ever, but you follow that up with three straight losses. Does that take away from what happened in Melbourne? Does that take away from what she's now accomplished in her career? Does it make you view her differently? No, but there is a certain set of people that this will diminish her accomplishments. It's tough to follow. up a career-defining moment with three straight losses. Yeah, it won't take away from beating Rhonda.

She'll still be the one to have beaten Rhonda. She'll still have the cash A banked from that, but she will not be in the same place that she was right after that fight. Her status has definitely taken a hit in terms of how I imagine people will view her amongst the top 135ers. Here's the unfortunate part about all of this. She was two minutes away from beating Misha Tate, a hail mayor. take down submission, it all changes for her. A year ago this time, she's still the champion.

Was, you know, dominated by Shevchenko, outworked, fine, that was a bad night for her. Saturday, I thought she won. So it's amazing how a few things here or there, the story is completely different, but now she's staring at O and 3 after Rhonda, and I could definitely see some people showing up today and saying, like, look, she was the Buster Douglas that we thought that she was. Ridiculous comment. Buster Douglas was a 42 to 1 underdog. It doesn't apply here, but for those that don't understand MMA and didn't know who she was going into that fight against Ronda, this kind of validates what a lot of people said at the time. And that's unfortunate. And I hate that because it's not fair. I have so much respect for Holly. She showed up to the press conference. She was so sad. I mean,

her lip was quivering sitting up there to show up. And Germain didn't show up. She had to go to the hospital. I get that. But she certainly didn't have to show up. Holly Home did not have to show up that post-fied press conference. But you're, you know, we've talked about this a bunch of times now, people losing and then showing up. You know she didn't want to be there. And she answered all the question and was as respectful as possible, I thought, even towards Jomaine, even after, you know, the two punches, or the three punches, I should say, that landed after the horn. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's really unfortunate to me that now she has this hanging over her. I think it's, uh, temporary. I think it's for the moment, uh, because she could come out and restake her claim at 135 and I think the narrative would change very quickly. It's, it's possible

in, you think she sticks around. I mean, she looks so much better at 145, right? Especially It does. I mean, she looked fine at 135. I mean, it's, I didn't think... Go look at her when she weighs in on 135 prior to the Ronda fight and then go look at her on Friday. You can tell she looks a lot healthier

weighing in at 1st- Yeah, but that's not what I'm... I'm basing it on performance. I'm not looking at how she looks at weigh-ins because that's for her to determine where she wants to compete. I think her performance was the same at 35 as it was at 45.

I'm not... I didn't go, oh, wow, you know, she looks so much better at 45 in the cage. She looked, you know, roughly to be the same fighter that she was. Come fight night, yeah.

Come fight night. And so staying at 45 doesn't really do her any favors either because it's a bunch of who are you facing and who are you going to beat. Okay, so then let me ask you this. If Cyborg is really out for a year, let's say worst case scenario, right? She's out for a year. What do you do with Jermaine X? What do you possibly do with her? Do you actually run it back?

Yeah. Do you try to sign Megan Anderson? Like what do you think is the bigger fight? Well, the bigger fight? Hmm. I don't think either. of them is necessarily bigger than the other.

I think, you know, if you brought in Megan, she'd be a great opponent for somebody at 45. But I don't necessarily see that as the fight that people go, oh, now this is what I was waiting for at 45. I think it's Cyborg or a boss. So you could run it back.

You could bring in Megan. It doesn't really matter. It's really just biting time until Cyborg comes back and then that person eventually faces Cyborg. And that's why I wish she she sold it a little better. Germaine sold it.

You can't talk about your hand that you injured. I get it. I'm not trying to take that away. I'm sure it killed. And I give you a ton of respect for actually fighting with injured ligaments in your hand.

But just in the moment, just to get people talking, people who don't watch the post-fight press conference, people who don't consume shows like these. You got to get them excited in the moment. You just have to. You have to say something.

Cyborg, I'm waiting. You think you're the best. I'm the best now. I'm the greatest striker in MMA history. I've been gunning for you for years. Let's do this. You got to do that. Now, before we get to Rory, let me quickly ask you about Anderson Silva, Derek Brunton.

Who did you score that for? Please don't tell me, Anderson. No, I scored that for Brunson. Jesus. But I would say this, that those rounds were not... Close. Yeah, not as easy to score as some people are trying to make this into... You know, I didn't think that they were that hard.

Go look at the first round. The biggest... So the new criteria and even the old criteria, they don't like to talk about... They don't like to talk about the word damage. They don't want to use that word. It's not PC, blah, blah, blah. But it's effective striking all this nonsense. We're talking about damage.

Let's just talk about damage for a second. When Anderson clinched with Derek Brunson in that first round, he was landing some big shots that did damage. I don't see how you can give the first round to Anderson. I certainly don't see how you can give the third round to Anderson as well. The second round is certainly the closest of all and debatable. But to give Anderson 30 to 27, to not say that Derek Brunson won one of those rounds? No, that is ludicrous.

That was egregious, but I think the, you know, I've said this before, the term robbery just gets thrown around too much. It wasn't a robbery. It was a decision that most people would not agree with. It was a really bad decision. I don't know one person. And someone, please, correct me if you're wrong, like a sane-minded non-Anderson Silva fan who didn't have money on the fight. I don't know one person who actually scored that for Derek Brunson. Excuse me, for Anderson Silva. I don't know one person who scored it against Derek Brunson. Did you see anyone? Like, do you know anyone who? I saw some people on Twitter. But these are fans, like, who have a... Yeah, I mean, well, I mean, at this point, you know, the only people I trust for opinions on this are people who have actually, you know, taken these courses and understood the rules and, you know,

learned how to properly judge a fight. It doesn't really matter, you know, these numbers that everybody throws out. And I think we're going to continue to just have controversial decisions until the rules are either, you know, more clarified or crystallized. or fans educate themselves, media educates itself. But I think that, you know, 2928 either way,

I'm not really thinking that that's such a bad score. I really don't. I don't think a 2928 for Anderson Silva is the worst scorecard I've ever seen. I don't agree with it, but I don't think it's as bad as people are trying to claim. We've seen some fights that were 3027,

the opposite way, they should have been when the fighter on the losing end should have won 30-27. This was not one of those times. Some people tell me on Twitter that Misha Tate and Kenny Florian scored it for Anderson. Yeah. I think it's possible. And by the way, I'm not calling it a robbery. I never used that word. Let's be very clear here. I thought it was a very bad scorecard. I thought it was 3027 is an unacceptable scorecard. Unacceptable. I mean, that judge needs to explain themselves. And again, I still feel like, forget about that one. I still feel like it's hard to justify 29-28. Yep.

I thought Anderson looked slower. I thought he looked older. He agreed afterwards. I mean, he wasn't blown out. I still would like to see him fight. He's not getting brutally knocked out here. He's just, you know, he's just a 40-year-old Anderson's over now. He's just an older guy. It did seem to me, and we'll talk to him about this, that Derek Brunson was obviously a little less aggressive. It was smart not to rush in there with, you know, your chin up, your hands down. But at times, you know, when you're fighting Anderson, he's so dangerous and he's still quicker than most, even in his 40s. It seemed like he was a little tentative. You're waiting for that counterstrike, and Anderson can lull you into that game. And for the most part, I thought, you know, Derek fought a smart fight. Could it have been a better fight, a more dominant fight, you know, really sealing the rounds? Yeah, sure, absolutely.

But I don't know, I gave him the first and the third, and I could even see an argument for the second. You have to feel for him. You certainly have to feel for him. This is, you know, obviously the biggest fight of his career. He's coming off that loss to Robert Whitaker. He's fighting Anderson Silva. Many people consider him to be the best of all time, the greatest of all time. That's a tough one to swallow if you're Derek Brunson.

Also of note on the card, Jacaray Soza defeats Tim Boch via submission. The only finish on the card, 10 fights in total. Glover-Teshire defeats Jared Kananier via decision was very quick. critical of his own performance, had a shoulder injury, and Dustin Porre and Jim Miller fought in, I thought, you know, everyone agrees, fight of the night, tremendous fight, back and forth battle. Porier wins, busted up leg, but not seriously injured, according to his team, no surgery needed, no broken bones, so that's very good to hear. We'll talk more about the card as we continue throughout the day here, but now let's go to our first guest of the day. It was announced on Thursday that he will be making

his Bellator debut in May in London against Paul Daly. He is the one and only Rory McDonnell, and he joins us on the phone right now. Rory, how are you? I'm good. Thanks for having me. Pleasure as always. It's been a while since we last talk, so very excited to talk to you today and appreciate the time. So I was a little bit surprised, Rory, when they announced this fight, not so much the opponent, but, you know, the time frame, because I thought that you were gunning for more, you know, July, August, a year off. Why are you coming back a little sooner? Well, as you know, I wasn't sparring this year after my last fight. It took a lot of time to stay away from contact and heal my nose properly.

That's why I was taking so much time off. And it's really feeling back to normal now, having however many months I've given it off. So I felt like everything's going to be fine by end of May. so I took the fight. So you have yet to spar since your last fight? Yeah. Wow. And will you spar at all leading up to this one?

Yeah, yeah, I will be. I'll be doing a lot of sparring. Okay, but you haven't started yet. No. Like, you know, doing jiu-jitsu, maybe some touch sparring moving around and, you know, nothing crazy, wrestling, things like that. Okay. But nothing, no kickboxing yet, like hard kickboxing.

boxing rounds or anything like that. Now, did you reach out to Belator and say, okay, I'm ready to come back a little sooner? Or did they approach you with this? And then you thought about it and said, okay, I'm down. Yeah, that's what it was. They offered it to me. I took about a week to think about it, you know.

And then I told them I'd accept after, you know, a couple days of thinking. Was there any part of you that didn't want that I thought maybe this is a little too early? Like, I'd just rather come back in the summertime? time. Well, I mean, that's what I was weighing up, you know, like, should I stick to the plan or, you know, should I just go with my gut and then just went with my gut? Okay. And how about fighting him in London? Any issues with that? No, it's only, I think it's only like four or five-hour flights. It shouldn't be too big of a deal from Montreal.

But mainly just because he's, you know, he's an English fighter. I mean, very popular over there, that sort of thing. Yeah, no, I'll probably be The enemy The enemy over there So I'll probably get some booze and stuff But hopefully I could win over the crowd with a good fight Were you under the impression, Rory That you were going to fight for a title right off the bat?

Is that what you wanted? Yeah, yeah, that's what I was pushing for And it was looking like that But, you know, as far as timing, you know, it's all about timing And this just happened to be, you know, fit properly, you know. And there's no, this is the number one contender fight, so it's possible that my very next fight will be for the title.

Okay. If it's not, I'll probably fight at 185 or something like that, just to stay busy in between, waiting for this champ. Okay, but 170 is still your home, though, or are you planning on eventually moving up to 185 permanently? I'd like to do both divisions, to be honest with you. Okay. I think it would keep me busier throughout the year if I can mix it up between the two divisions.

So I don't have to cut weight every single time if I want to fight as much as I want to. I recall going to your Twitter after he, Paul Daly won in January, knocking out Brennan Ward with that amazing spinning, back fist, flying knee combination. And you kind of, you laughed it off. I think it was a Zach Galfinakis video that you kind of put out there after he called you out. initially when you heard that, were you just kind of like, nah, this is not really something. Like, what were you trying to say when you put out that video? I was just stirring the pot.

So I thought it was a really good fight, and it was a great finish. I thought it was awesome. But, you know, when he started talking a little bit of shit about me, I figured why not throw something back at him. Huh. So it's a good fight. And, you know, I think if we can have a little bit of dialogue before the fight,

just makes it more interesting. So did he catch your attention then, or were you thinking about him a little bit even before that fight? Of course. I knew, like, he's one of those guys I knew I was going to come across sooner or later in Bellator. So, you know, if that's what the hot fight is right now, then let's do it. When did they approach you with this? Was it right after, or was it just that one week, you know, you said,

You took a couple days. I think they came like maybe a week or two after the fight with the offer. Something like that. MVP was really upset, Michael Venn and Page, that he didn't get the fight. Did you see this? He's very mad. He's very upset that he was... Yeah, but you know what?

I think he's still got his dues to pay. He's made a lot of noise and, you know, with a young career that he's had in MMA, and he's doing really good, you know, he's got the flash, and he's got the crazy knockouts, and he's also got, you know, the charisma, and he talks well, gets people excited, and they know of him. He's turning into a big name really fast,

but at the end of the day, he hasn't fought, he hasn't fought that many top guys yet, and I think he's going to break into that, you know, slowly here now. I don't know who he's got, they got lined up for them in London. I'm excited to see who they put them against. Hopefully it's against someone pretty good.

And, you know, see what he's all about. Once he gets through a couple of those guys or want to get those guys at least, and I think then he could start taking the bigger fights in Belator. Has it officially sunk in for you that you are a Belator fighter, or do you think that will only happen once you get to fight week, get into a fight?

Because I have to me, like, even when I look at your Instagram photo, in your training with the Beltor gloves, it still kind of feels like a Photoshop. It doesn't feel real to me because I've associated you with the UFC for so long. Yeah, I guess so. For me, it seems normal, I guess.

I'm sure it's going to be a touch weird when I walk down the ramp, and, you know, it's time. You know, it's a different change. It's a little bit of a change in an atmosphere, but, you know, I'm excited for it. I'm not, I don't think it's a bad thing. No, not at all. I'm not implying that. I guess it's yet to really sink in for at least the viewer in me, the fan in me, because I've seen you fighting the Octagon for so long. How do you feel, I mean, now here we are, what, six or so months after you signed? I mean, are you happy still? I mean, like, do you feel like this was the right move for me in my career? Are they treating you well? How's it going so far?

Yeah, everything's going well. Yeah, they're treating me really well, and they have a lot of respect for their fighters. and, you know, really happy with the contract, happy with the way we line this fight up. And, you know, I'm looking forward to how we're going to do the promo for it. And I think it's just a good thing in general for my career because I really think this is like a fresh start almost because of the changes I'm making in my fight game. And I think just having the different look

get a different promotion to fight for. I think it's just, it all fits, you know. How does it work with your Reebok deal? Because I see that you still rep them, but because they have the deal with UFC, are you still a Reebok fighter?

Yeah, yeah. And will they sponsor you for this fight? I don't know. Okay. Have you fired? I think that's a discussion that's going to happen any day now. Oh, okay.

just because I think they needed to see, I think all of the sponsors that are interested, you know, they had to see if, like, actually put the paper and have a date and see the promotion, things like that before they make any decisions, which makes sense. Have you had a lot of fighters reach out to you and say, okay, you know, you signed, you know, what do you think so far? A lot of UFC fighters, a lot of free agents inquiring about what it's like on the other side of the fence? Not a lot Here and there

Around the gym kind of thing But that's about it Okay I saw that you and George Were at an event recently When they brought out Fador You took a picture with him

What was that like for you guys To meet a legend like that You seem also happy Being there next to him Well George was making me laugh He was pretty funny He was having a good time Meeting Fador like that

But Oh it's cool You know two people that I really looked up to in my young years I got to I got to hang out with and Fader was wearing that sweater I thought it was pretty funny yes it was and I didn't expect it either I didn't even know he was there oh wow into a room and there he was kind of weird why were you at the fight um I was doing uh I was doing promotion for Bellator okay okay it does seem to me like when you when they they and they make a point to do this like they

show all the fighters sitting around like for the chale tito fight a lot of the fighters even the UFC fighters have massive smiles on their face i don't know if they go out of their way to make the fighters feel very much at home but it definitely comes across on television you notice that as well yeah i do it seems uh happier everyone's happier over there huh it's a happy bunch i don't know what they're doing what they're giving you guys behind the scenes but it certainly comes across that way by the way do you have an update on george for us is he coming back what's the scoop here uh i haven't heard anything you haven't heard anything you haven't heard anything anything? Because now no one has to bother you anymore about fighting him. So like, you know, I figured

you can just kind of let it slide tell us the announcement if there's anything going on. I don't think there's going to be an announcement. Oh, really? I mean, I could be, I could be wrong. Yeah, I don't know. That's the vibe I got anyway. Hmm, interesting. Do you hear people when they say, okay, you know, Rory with the broken nose, you know, he had his moment, Robbie Luller took his soul. Like, do you hear these things? And if so, how do you react to them? Yeah, I've seen a couple of those things, but, you know, I guess I'll just have to go and prove them wrong in this fight. It kind of excites me to be somewhat of an underdog again.

I like wearing those shoes, so it should be fun just to see everyone's faces after this fight, or after a couple anyway. We've seen, like, you know, when Benson came over, it hasn't gone his way just yet. is there, because of the big splash, the big contract, you know, the big announcement, the reveal, do you feel like there's a little more pressure this time just to sort of validate the signing to prove to Belator that, yeah, you did the right thing by investing in me? Do you think like that? Yeah, yeah, I want to prove a point. Absolutely, I'm going there to prove a point to show people what's up and who I really am. I think they're going to see a big change and they're going to be happily surprised.

Wow. What do you mean by big change? Like in terms of your fighting style? Yeah. Yeah. I'm just making a few tweaks and focusing all my strengths again rather than you know, I was I have an obsession for learning in

martial arts. You know, I just love learning new things because there's just so much to learn. It's an endless journey of information. And sometimes you just get caught up with over-complicating things. for every single fight, and that's kind of the path I've been on the last of a while. And I'm just going to step back from that and focus on my strengths and apply them in my

fights. It definitely feels over the... I'll give a shit about what everybody else's strength is. I'm just going to go in there and just wreck people with what I know. Was this something that you thought you were, in hindsight, paying too much attention to over your last few fights in the UFC? Sorry, I don't really understand what you mean. Well, because you're saying you don't.

give a crap about what, you know, other people are doing and what their strength, you're going to focus on yourself and make the tweaks. Did you feel like you were focusing too much on your opponent going into your fights? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. And before you know it, I was training way too much how to not get in trouble with some of their strengths, you know, rather than just worry about getting myself ready, let it fly, you know? Does that mean that you won't even watch tape, watch film on Paul Daly going into this film? There's nothing wrong with watching tape or whatever. I was never big on it anyway, but because, you know, that's not really, you know, how I look at fighting.

I think you really see what's going on when you're face-to-face with the guy. But, you know, there's nothing wrong with looking at a little tape and, you know, seeing a bit of what the guy does. And just to be clear, you're going to stay at TriStar, right? Yeah, I'm going to be going back and forth between Tashito and TriStar. Oh, the old stomping grounds. Yeah, I'm here right now. Oh, you're in BC. Oh, wow. I didn't realize that. So how do you decide when you go back and forth?

Random. I haven't really made the schedule yet, but I'll be figuring it out in the next little while. Who will corner you? Well, I haven't decided that just because the fights, you know, it just popped up. Right. So I'm just going to take the next month or so and see how things pan out and talk to my coaches and see who I'm clicking with, and we'll go from there, you know, see how training camp goes. When's the last time that you did something like this, that you spent a lot of time in B.C. before a fight? Last time, well, for how much I plan on just being here, probably back when it was Carlos, right? Carlos called it like seven years ago.

Wow, and what led to this decision? Like I was saying, just getting back to my strength, I think my coach David Lee understands that. And, you know, he knows that to coach me in that way. Wow, that's interesting. I'm curious to see what this next to you. And also interesting that you tweeted the beginning of a bloody chapter. So that would suggest at least to me that you're still going for, I mean, like you're not trying to shy away from the brawes, so to speak, right?

I mean, but when I think bloody, I think about, you still want that after all this time? You're not tired of those types of fights? Well, I mean, who wouldn't want a dominant performance? That's what I'm shooting for. but I'm fighting the best guys in the world. You know, Paul's a good fighter. All the guys that are going to be fighting in Dalitur are very tough. And I would be a fool to think I wouldn't leave with a little blood,

a few scrapes here and there, you know. So you got to learn how to like that stuff. You know, I'm a rough guy, and I like him when I fight to get tough. Did you hear from a lot of fans who said, Wow, the Bellator main event in London is better than the one the UFC is bringing a couple months prior? I didn't hear that, but it doesn't surprise me. You know what that main event is, right?

No. It's Jimmy Manoa versus Corey Anderson. I put a poll, and I think like 15,000 or so people voted. I asked them which fight they like better as a main event for the UK fans, and I think your fight won, like 85% to 15%. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's the direction. Bell, it's always going.

You feel good. Yeah, Bellator is doing the right things and making good moves. It's not going to take too much time before people really start seeing how much competition we're bringing. Wow, all right. Well, I wish you the best, Rory. I'm looking forward to it. And I think, I mean, just based off the reaction, I don't know how much you were paying attention, but people were really excited. I think it kind of came out of the blue because a lot of people weren't expecting you to come back this soon.

But people seem legitimately excited for your debut. This is good. Yeah, no, we're going to have a good fight. It's going to be an awesome time. Fans are going to love it. One last thing, is there any talks about you fighting in Canada? I got a lot of questions about that. You know what?

I hope the one after this, this fight will be in Canada, but we'll see. Hopefully we could do a title fight with Lima. If I win this fight against Daly, we could do that one somewhere in Canada. Okay. Would it be fair to say you want to fight? twice this year? I'd like to fight at least three times before 2018. Wow.

So in the last seven months of the year, you're going to fight three times? Yeah, that's what I'm planning. Okay. How's the hair, by the way? What hairstyle are we going with these days? It's growing. Are we going with the longer, like, gentlemen's part? Who knows?

It could be, it could be, uh, there's no plan. the moment. Okay. I like, for the record, I'm partial to that one with the suit. When you got your hands wrapped, remember that against BJ Penn? You got the hands wrapped while wearing the suit. Yeah. That was peak, Rory, in my opinion.

Okay, I'll try to bring that back. Good, good, good. Thank you, Roy. I appreciate it. Good to catch up. I appreciate you stopping by, and good luck on May 19th. All right, thank you, very. Good to talk to you.

All right, there he is. The Red King, Roy McDonald, May 19th, SSE Arena, and London. his Bellator debut against Paul Daly. Not so much surprised that he's fighting Paul Daly, I think that makes a hell of a lot of sense, was just a little surprise, and there you see it right there.

Good stuff. Nice job. New Era. We got promos. Friday, May 19th. Like I was saying, not so much surprised that he's fighting Paul Daly. I mean, that is a big time fight.

Look at those two guys. Those are names. Those are big names. And like I've always been saying, you got, you had to give Scott, Koker five years to really weigh in, in my opinion. He came into an organization of promotion that was run completely different than the way he likes to run things. Tournament format, less on sort of stars, but more on, you know, competition and this guy's going to fight for this belt at the end

of season, blah, blah, blah. I mean, they were trying to make Beltor into more of a kind of weekly sport. I thought, and I know the ratings necessarily don't reflect it in the sense that they're not vastly better than they were back in the Bjorn days, but it just, it all kind of blend together. For example, I could tell you, you'd say to me right now, UFC 169, who headlined it? I could tell you, that's just the way my mind works. Belator 169, I have no idea. It never kind of resonated with me because I felt like all their events happened so quickly, so close to each other that they didn't stick out. They weren't special. And I feel like they're doing a better job of that these days. I feel like that's evolving a little bit. And so love the fight. Would have loved

Daily versus MVP too. Was surprised that he came back a little earlier, but you heard it from him, less sparring these days, so he's ready to go. Speaking of the fight, speaking of May 19th, London, SSE Arena, the man, Roy McDonald will be fighting is Paul Semtex Daily and he joins us right now on the phone. Paul, how are you? I'm good, mate, good. Good to talk to you. Thank you. I'm good, you good? You good? Everything all right?

Yeah, yeah, I'm good, mate. I'm good, yeah, yeah. I'm just in my gym at the moment, so just busy teaching classes and stuff. I appreciate you squeezing us in. I know you're very busy, Paul. When you got the call that you're going to fight Roy McDonald, was this a no-brainer for you? This is what you wanted, right? Yeah, most definitely. I wouldn't have called in my in front of 70,000 people if it wasn't something that I really wanted. I'm happy he was made the fight and yeah looking forward to it. So can you clear up the whole MVP stuff? Was that even ever on the table or was he trying to bait you into something that wasn't really there?

No, the offer was there. I've got an offer, do I want to fight MVP? I said, look, I'm after the bigger fights. I want to position myself back for title shop, back for a rematch with Douglas Seema. And for me, the MVP fight is neither here nor there. So I was just chasing the big dogs. does nothing for you right now. You don't feel like it's of any interest to you.

It's nothing to me. Michael Page is doing what I was doing like 12 years ago. You know what I mean? I've been there. I've done that. His time will come. He's asked for the fight. I don't duck a fight.

So he will get the fight. He'll get what he has for in due course. But right now I've got to follow my own agenda and not sort of the bite to his agenda. I'm on my own shit right now. Is there anything to the idea? that, you know, having two British fighters, outspoken, flashy, popular fighters fighting in London is bigger than, you know, Englishmen versus Canadian?

Is there any, like, have you heard from fans that wanted to see the two Englishmen go together? Have you seen the response? Yeah, yeah. Have you not seen the response? Yeah, the MVP thing, it was okay because he was pushing it. Yeah. He was getting a lot of attention for the bullshit that he was doing. But then when this Rory fight was announced, it kind of blew everything up, including the UFC squad in London.

So I know I've made the right decision on that front. Yeah, so most definitely I made the right choice. Yeah, so I actually just asked Rory about that. You're in London right now, right? I mean, nottingham, yeah. Nottingham, yeah, of course, of course. I was just curious, have you heard from a lot of UK fans who told you like, oh, man, you know, compared to the UFC's card in March at the O2,

this one blows it, like I'm way more excited for this Bell-Tor card? And if so, have you ever heard of that before? I've never heard of that before. No one is like, it's not, it's like everybody is, no one who's talking about the UFC in London,

in all honesty. Everyone that comes up to me, it's about the Bellator card. And that's amazing, really, for Bellator to, you know, be getting that kind of response

when the UFC was putting on a show around the same time, for a few months in between or whatever. So, yeah, it's cool. And like I say, shows I've made the right, and people are amazing.

It's actually even happening, and people are, know, how comes it's he? You know, they could do it in America and they could fill a massive arena in America with this part. They could do it in Canada, fill an even bigger arena, Canada with part. So it's even after, fuck,

we actually got this part to happen. So, yeah, it's a master for UK, MMA. So when they had you guys at the press conference on Thursday sitting next to each other, what was that, was it a little awkward? Were you annoyed that you have to sit next to him? And he was kind of going back, forth at you? How did you feel about it?

Say it again? When you guys had to sit at that press conference at that small table with Scott Koker in between you, was that a little annoying? Was that awkward at all for you? What, talks about Michael Venn and Page? Yeah, yeah, yeah, on Thursday last week. I'm completely, yeah, I'm over that whole thing. Look, it annoys me that this guy has just imbeamed himself into the same sort of, I don't know, can hold him, he can, he's spoken in the same sentence as me. He said

about me not being undefeated, no, I'm not an undefeated fighter, but I've achieved way more than this guy has. This guy, he's a very talented fighter that's not got that twisted, but he has forced himself upon MMA fans. He hasn't, he hasn't done the hard craft that I have. He's paid for

his social media views and his hits. He's click that sponsor button that always comes up on your Facebook, and he's paid his 100 pounds to get his, get his views, extended. I haven't, I did it a hard way. Yes, he's a talented party, he had some flashy moves, but stop to forget Michael Page. Michael Page is Justin Bieber, and he said something about, yeah, he sat on the same stage as me. You can put Justin Bieber on the stage with Michael Jackson,

but they ain't in the same league. You know what I mean? Justin Bieber's achieved some great shit, but he can be on the stage of Michael Jackson, but he ate Michael Jackson. You know what I mean? So it is what it is. Let's forget, M.B. P we've got Roy McDonald's. I've got deal with that psycho. Yeah, I've got, I need to focus on this crazy guy I got coming after me. Fair enough, I understand that, but just one last question. Where did it go wrong for you two? Because I thought you guys were boys, and even he said that you guys were kind of friendly, and then he heard that you were talking behind his back,

and that really bothered him. Where did it all go wrong for you to? Because I thought you were friends. Talk behind his back. When he just talked behind his back, I just talked behind his back, I did that thing after the Brendan Ward knockout with ES News, one of the biggest combat sports on boxing reporters

other than yourself, of course. And I said, he is Brona and Ford Mayweather. Okay, that's not talking behind it, talking behind anyone of his back. I didn't say it like, it's never going to be seen, and it's not the first time I've said it.

If you ask Jimmy, yeah, Jimmy, the guy that does Bellator, Bellator, uh, contrary. he asked me about MVP pre-fight and I use exactly the same way to reference MVP he's Brunner

and Mayweather we're similar you know we're both from the UK we like to talk talk a fight and fight good so yeah there will be obvious comparisons except he ain't me you know what I mean he's Brona

he's a guy who's trying to imitate what I've done I've been there done that and I'm still doing it I've outlasted my peers if you look at all the guys that entered this higher league of MMA with the international league, they're all gone, bar Michael Bispin. You know what I mean? From the UK, they're all gone.

It's just Bisping that's left. Me and Bisping at the top, in my opinion. So, you know, he needs to give thanks for what I've done. I've sort of, like, paged away for him to even be doing what he's doing. So, yeah, let's just get that out of the way. Fair enough. And you foresee any time fighting him or never? We lost him.

Maybe he didn't want to talk about him anymore. I like the fire, though. Again, I can't help it feel like it kind of makes me want to see the fight, but I understand it's the big fight. There have been very few opportunities for Paul Daly to fight a name of this caliber outside of the UFC. You've got to take the opportunity, especially now, debut. This is a good time to fight Roy McDonald.

Right? Is he back? Most definitely. Oh, there he is. Paul? Yeah, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. Okay. Can you hear me? Yeah, I hear you. I was just wondering, will you never fight MVP? Is that fair to say? Or you're open to it sometime in the future? I'll fight. I'll fight him. I'll fight him. I don't duck a fight. I'll fight him when the time is right, most definitely.

When the time is right, I'll fight him. And like I said, at the press conference, once the fight happened, it's all over here. That's what I just hope it's happy. He called out the fight. he got what he's going he's going to get what he's going to get so it is what it is you know I'm a real fighter I haven't made a habit of fighting bums and pulling off spinning back kicks

and shit against guys that shouldn't even be in there and he'll need help towards the cage you know on a zimuth frame like a poor old cyborg before he got his skull crust yeah I fight for legit guys current champions up and coming fighters and fucking just total

bad asses for the 90% of my career um obviously everyone likes an easy paychecks and there are a few thumbs on there but for the most part you know I've fought tough guys I appreciate the honesty

does it bother you when he calls you Paula no it doesn't because it's like it's pathetic it's childish it kind of shows I thought he was younger than he was it just shows his level of mature

I thought Michael Perkins is like maybe 23, 26 the way he acts and carries on the guy's 30 years old what 30 year old acts like that you know what I mean apart from Adrian Brona you know what I mean let's grow up

and sort of you show you Yeah, man, go up. Do you agree with that statement that this is the perfect time to fight Roy McDonald? I was just talking to Rory about this, that there is a notion out there that maybe he is a little too banged up. Maybe his best days are behind him. Maybe Robbie Luller took his soul. Do you subscribe to that theory as well? No.

Roy McDonald's a tough, tough guy. Very well-rounded. I respect the guy highly. I know he's going to be best. He's got a lot to prove. He's been at the top. He's fourth champion. and I'm expecting it

extremely, extremely tough fight. Is he knows what it used to be? We'll find out when I land the first jab on it. Does Robbie have the same less or more power than me? Again, we'll find out when that left hook lands. I take confidence from the fact that I think Rory thinks a little more of an easy fight than I actually am.

And this phrase I've used, and I've used it before, Bellator fights. But I think it's an accurate way to describe the feeling that I get when I get in there with these guys. I'm just a little bit faster than I am. I'm a little bit, and then I look,

I'm a little bit stronger than I look. There's a little less openings than they think. And just generally, I'm better than people see in footage. Once they're in there with me, it's all too late. But that's the feel I get, and I get confidence from.

I always feel like I'm almost doubted. It's just that little bit. Even against Brendan Ward, I felt that doubt this young brash up-and-coming wrestler who knocks people out I felt like I was put in there you know as food

but me and my team we knew better than that and we knew the fight was just a little too early for Brennan Ward and yeah I get that same kind of impression from Roy McDonald he wouldn't come to England

if he didn't think he was going to win because he knows he has to win he has to win in emphatic fashion because the decision might be hard to come by so I know he has that confidence with him And I think that overconfidence is what's going to get the victory for me as well as me being a straight-up killer. What makes you think that he doesn't think that you're the toughest guy out there? Is it something that he said?

Well, you know, he put that little fucking thing with Flat Allen from a hangover, a pass that I called him out. That doesn't show a guy who's generally worried about a call-out, does it? But it's all good. It's all good statement. I'm looking forward to seeing him at the press conference next week. and exchanging a few words and, you know, staring into those crazy eyes and, you know, see him into his soul. So there is a, you guys are going to be, because I was going to ask you about him not making the trip over to London.

You will actually see him next week? Yeah, yeah. I hear he's going to be here sometime next week to the Bellator press conference. Let me just start this class. Guys, get running, running around the room. Fuck the hell. Work hard. Stay humble. Yes.

Just a couple minutes and then I'll let you go to your class. What are you doing right now, by the way? What kind of class are you teaching? Spiritdojo kickboxing, spiritdojo.co.uk. If we're in the UK, around the not in the area, sign up. We're about to move to a 4,000 square foot facility. Yeah, I've just teaching my class as I do every night, the week, twice a day. You know, that's just how I keep my feet on the ground and I stay focused,

working with local youth in the local area. So it is what it is. When are we getting... Every week I'll be a shirt and tie in front of the cameras going out across the world. What about the Twitter?

When are we going to get on the Twitter? I ain't going on Twitter and it's probably you creating them folks. No, it's not... Every time I'm on this show, it's always, boy, you've got to get on Twitter. So I know, I promised you last time

I was going to go on Twitter. Yeah. I think you got a little pissed and you made your own little profile. No. It's not me. I have way less... Humor, the humor and the way...

It's Halwani-esque, no, but... Ariel humor, though. The problem is, this is the problem, Paul. Now, when MVP was calling you out and stuff, there was a guy pretending to be you and it got all these people excited about it and it was a fake account. See the problem?

It was you. I told you. You did that. It wasn't. It wasn't me. I would never do such a thing. every time you come on I'm at

Go ahead I will get on Twitter soon I promise I'll get on Twitter soon Sam push up Todd Step push up Paul you

you mentioned that he's a psycho You mentioned the crazy eyes Do you think that there is something off With Royne MacDonald Yeah but I don't like to say Because you know When you're in school And you

There's always that crazy kid in school And it's always cool People call them all the names Under the Sun but then you identify the real problem and you out of it in front of the whole class and then he does absolutely fucking desert. And I think I've identified what's wrong.

I think I've identified what's wrong with Roy, but I don't want to send him crazy, so I'm just going to keep that to myself. Oh, come on, that is a great setup. In that case, May 19th. That is a great... I ain't saying it. I ain't saying it.

I got to meet him next week. I want to go home to my two beautiful kids and my wife. I don't want to put it out of there. Not yet anyway. But you do actually think he's deranged? Yeah, there's something in those eyes, man. There's something in those eyes. Can't start him, get!

Maybe after you meet him, you'll tell us? I've got to go. You got to go? That's it? After I meet him, I'll tell you. I've got to go. I've got to get this crash done. These guys are playing me.

Lazy bums, Paul. Lazy bums. They can't do two minutes without you. I understand. All good. Paul, thank you for the time. I'm the master. I'm the sense.

Ariel, no, thank you. and stop pretend to be on Twitter. Everyone listening, it's Ariel. You know, troll him, do whatever. It's all Ariel. It's not sent sex. Find me only on Facebook. Much love, Paul. Thank you.

Peace. Bye. There he is. Paul Daly. Teaching a class in the middle of being on the show, you can't beat that. Saying that Roy McDonald's is a little bit deranged, but he's not going to tell us before he meets him because he's afraid that he's going to do something to him. Okay.

Well, I guess you, heard it here first. They are going to be meeting face to face next week. It's still, it's like the, the picture of him sitting next to Scott with Scott in the middle between him and MVP, that little table, the sunglasses, they look like they were so uncomfortable. It was great. And so a part of me thinking like, ah, I wish we could just have this. But then you're getting Rory, this is a good problem to have. If MVP gets by his fight, or even if not, if they both lose, who the hell knows, they got to make that fight at some point, and it has to be in London, I think. Like, please, let's not do it in New Kirk, Oklahoma, or some of the

random place that Beltaire likes to go. With all due respect to those places, this needs to be in England, MVP Paul Daly. But for now, we're getting Paul Daly versus Roy McDonald's debut. It's all very exciting stuff. May 19th, Wembley, SSE Arena. Good stuff. Okay, in a minute, going to be joined by Chris Cyborg. She was in attendance. She was in Brooklyn on Saturday, UFC 208. They showed her on camera. Dana White brought her out. This was a very exciting development. This is big news. Yes, she's fought for the UFC twice, but it just kind of felt like they were getting behind her. And it was interesting considering what's going on with her. And Usada right now, the provisional suspension, whatever you want to call it, for them to push her to get behind her,

I thought was very notable. Showing her on camera, asking Jermaine Durand to me about her after she won the belt. I thought that that was a very, very, very, notable moment. And so I wanted to have her on the program to talk about the fight.

Who she thought won. Again, I thought Holly Holme won the fight. It was close. I wouldn't call it a robbery necessarily. But it was, to me, it was two to Germain, in three for Holly, three, four, and five. What the hell do I know?

Let's talk to Chris Seiborg. In my opinion, regardless of who's the champion in the UFC, the best 145 pounder out there. She's joining us on the phone. Chris Seiborg, how are you? Great. How are you doing? Thank you for bringing me your show. Oh, it is always a pleasure.

I always love having you on Chris. So you were in attendance on Saturday. Yes, we saw you there. Just making sure that was here. Yes. Yes. Who do you think won the fight between Jermaine Derry and Holly home?

Do you know, I think it's a very close fight, but if you look face to the Holly and look face the German, you see, you see Holly have more beat than, than, then, then, then Germany. I think, okay, Holly gives a couple got more combos, like throw more combos, but no, no fact the combos, you know, like, yeah, me touch more in Holly than, than, then, the Holly touching game. I think she's a win. I think she's a win.

Okay. But you didn't necessarily score it. Like you, if I asked you which rounds you gave to Jermaine, that's a hard question for you to answer?

You know, she always, you know, you can see Holly, she's no feel comfortable in standard because this, she tried grappling.

She tried wrestling. You know, she don't try keep her game in standard. She tried grappling, but, you know, she cannot take down and Jemmy

and Jemma cannot get out the experience to and then stay like a, like a ball and fight a little bit but yeah, I think okay, Haldholm has the moment. I think she, when she kicked her head in Jimine and

she doesn't have a moment, but I don't think effect the moment. I think the other girl should touch more in Holly. I don't know. I don't know. I have to watch this fight again. Yeah. Yesterday I was talking to Ray, I want to watch again this fight because it's a lot of motion, too, because I was there and watching. Yeah. Sometimes I, sometimes I think probably I missed a lot of things about five. Sure.

But I think then, I think, you know, before the event, I told the, I told the, Donno White said, he asked me, who you think going to win? I said, I think you're going to win the German girl, Holland girl, because. just if the Holy Home, she's doing a wrestling. I never see a wrestling in her game. I think she's going to win. I think she's going to win, but if not, I think other girl are going to get it. And, you know, this is happening.

So you met with Dana White before the fight? Yes. No, doing the fights. Doing the fights. I sit with him a little bit, and then he asked me and they have an Instagram life. Oh. Yeah, and then he asked me,

and I said this. But we don't know about the game, the hold home, but who had more in the NBA game, you know, she's having more many games, just can be the other girl. How was it when you met with Dana?

I mean, you guys have a long history together. Was he cordial towards you? Was it nice? Did you enjoy talking with him for a little bit? No, he just, he just, he brings me and asked me a couple things about fight,

you know, just more for the event. Okay. I think it's serious. Yeah. From what I understand, it was his decision to bring you to Brooklyn. Were you surprised when they reached out to you to bring you to the event? I was surprised, you know, I'm really happy about, I think it, you know,

didn't show respect for me because, you know, they always say, they make a division for Cybor and they feel very happy to be there at the same time, you know. I'm really happy to be there, you know, this history day about making division 1415. was it weird for you to watch that like knowing that you're the invicted champion knowing that everyone considers you the best 145 or if not the best female fighter on the planet if not the best of all time was it strange for you to see finally a ufc 145 pound title fight and not be involved did that bother you no you know uh i was uh i think it's god plan and i was really don't went to the cage this weekend because i was my health you know i want to try

I fight like cybor, and I don't want to, you know, no health in my body. I cannot cut away too soon after my last fight. And, you know, I really felt happy, you know, then have my division. You know, I know the division are going to keep there. It doesn't matter if I're going to fight now or later. It'll be there. And when you be there, it'll be my time, you know. And everybody knows who is the champion 145.

You know, I'm almost 10 years world champ. And I keep training like contender number one. And it'll be perfect, you know, be perfect. He's a fight for, fight for the champion. I've seen a 1-45. When this fight was first announced, everyone including myself was very surprised that you weren't a part of it, and they said that you were offered multiple fights,

and you turned them down, and so they had to move along. Is that really what happened? And were you bothered at kind of how it came out? Because it seemed like, I mean, even talking to Germain on Wednesday about it, she was like, look, you were offered a fight 10 weeks notice? Why aren't you taking the fight? it seemed like everyone was just kind of putting out their theory without you really being able to speak about it.

Do you know, people like talk too much, you know. Some people, you just watch the fight inside of Target, but don't know what's behind stand. You know, don't know what's back stage before you're going to inside cage. And, you know, I did like eight months, three fights in the last years. And the last two fights I cut for 140. and my last fight, 140, it's a really bad cut for me. And it's no good for my health. And, you know, I talked to my dog, my dog, say, you need time break.

You cannot cut to wait again. You need time. And after my fight, I, what I told, I said, man, I can fight after March. You know, I need to really break. My body, need to break. I need recovery. And I want to fight 145. I'm not going to fight 140 anymore because it's, you know,

too hard for my body. And, and I, I told this after fight, you know, I told this. And if you, if you check after my fight, I didn't ask, who next for you? I said, man, I'm going to back to you on 45, defend my belt. You know, he then asked me if I had a light fight, but then asked me before I told they'll be ready, you know, and I say, man, I cannot cut the weight again, you know. It's too much for my body. And, yeah, man, I, I worry about, I was scared about.

my health. So I love fight, you know, but my health first. You know, my body first. You know, in the career,

I'll be with my body. There's no body to be. And then I have to think more about this. And I say, man, I'll be ready after March, you know, and I'll be,

I'll be ready, and after the March, it'll be cool, and my division, perfect. How is, how is your body now? How are you feeling?

Yeah, I'm getting better, I did more exams, and and I'll be better soon, you know, but I'm starting already, you know. I'll be able for training and diet soon. And now I just train, you know, diet, but eat clean, it's a good health. And, you know, soon or soon I don't know when it can fight again.

You know, I have good news, better news after. So on Friday, Dana White was doing a lot of interviews, and he said that it's actually beginning to look very good for you and your situation with Usada that you might be back sooner than we expected. can you confirm that? Is that true? I don't have anything. I don't have any news yet from Uzada. You know, Donna said, but we did a lot of them. And I did everything for Ruzada didn't ask me.

No, I would help for my case. And, you know, I hope I can figure out everything. And I hope I did not see it coming soon. You know, I think he'll be really cool. And I'm not even going about it. because I know it's everything about my health, and let's wait see what's going to happen. Are you confident, though, that everything's going to turn out okay for you? You know, in beginning, everything, I let us say, it's about my health, you know,

and I give it all my exams for all the doctors, and now I have to wait, you know, see what's going to happen. No, I don't worry, you know, I really don't go out here. It's for me, fight now, or fight later, you know, I'll be training, I'll be healthy, and I've been recovered my body. I just had to see what's going to happen, you know? Anything coming, I'm ready. When do you expect to find out?

Like, have they told you this week, next week? We're waiting. I think soon. I don't know. Soon. We'll be soon. I don't know the day exactly, you know. But we did everything for everything last week.

And then we two months in process. And I think soon everybody's going to know. Me too. a way, has the damage been done in the sense that, like, let's say you come, they come out and they say, okay, you gave them the proper paperwork and everything's okay, it was for health reason. But, you know, initially, as you know, you get this news and then people start accusing you of cheating and things like that. Has the damage been done already, regardless of what happens, to your reputation?

Yeah, you know, people, people, a lot of fans with you and everything okay and then something happened, everybody's about to be against you. This is MMA fans, you know. But, you know, I have a lot of loyal things, and I know a lot with me, and then believe me in my word. And you can see, example, this is Ronald Ross. You know, she did a lot of things for the MMA, and a lot of people now make fun, and they do a lot of things for her. And, you know, I already know, I already know this is no, no change, you know, don't change my life. I just train, keep training.

and I just wait and then watch everything, everybody speaking, and when everything is coming clear, the people are going to see, you know. And because they have to think before you say something, you know, because when you say something, you cannot change. You cannot change anything. Was it difficult that day that the news came out when you're hearing people talk about you and stuff? Was that hard that day?

Because you say you knew the truth. It was for your health and now people are accusing you of being a cheater. Was that hard for you? You know, don't change it. It's a semi-john-Roba. I always would speak bad about me and interview and try manipulation all the people. And hours are going to have people love me and they hate me, you know, or it'll be ours. And we have to be smart and comfortable when you read something, hey or speak anything for you.

You have to use this for motivate you and, you know, be yourself. You know, be yourself soon. they're going to see this, you know. And all people speak a bad thing about me. They're going to see you, you know, when they hold my belt and keep you winning my fights. People are going to see, you know, people are going to be my fan. And then after they're going to say, man, you know, I was wrong. You know, soon as this is going to happen, and I just wait and just training and then be myself.

You're no longer working with George Lockhart, right? Yes, no, no. How do you feel? I mean, is there, is there bad blood there? Is there animosity? It seems like there was sort of a sudden breakup and the end was well publicized. Do you feel badly towards him? Do you have animosity towards him because of what happened? Do you know, we don't work together, but, you know, after a fighter, we talk together. I talked to him and I talked to him his birthday. you know we stayed three years together and you know we was really close friends and Georgia would give support for me

you know I understand he did his job you know don't work with no work for me I think he I don't agree what he did but but you know he did his job you know he did his job for me make me wait 140 and he did and

it doesn't matter what's going to happen after the fight or in the fight but he did his job make me 140, you know. I try to hold this and, you know, everybody, and he did his job and I do my job, and when you don't have to work someone, you just have to live and I work more, you know. Is it fair to say that you will never fight below 145 for the rest of your career? You know, I do one thing, it's really dangerous for me. It's made him on 40 all the time. Yeah. All the time. I'm three years, do die with George Rocker High School, we try drop 135.

and we cannot drop 135 too much for me, and we start 5-140. And the problem is getting old, you know, have a lot of problems coming. I have tight-eyed problems. I have a lot of problems, not just the cut weight, but genetic thing, you know, come from my mom. And we need careful, you need careful, because you have to do blood tests all the times, everything okay in your body. You know, I'm not like to say never, but for me,

B 140, I think it's 145, it's perfect for me. It's my division. And if you have 155, for sure, I would like 5155. Now I walk 170, 175. This is my weight. Wow. Okay. And now probably 1, 775. And then I'm running every day.

I did just run in my half marathon last week. And, you know, for me, you'll be open 155. I was like 154, 155, 155, 100, I don't say never, but, you know, I don't have anything in my mind now for this sacrifice again. You know, I think there's no worth. I don't think so. I don't think it's bad for my body. How do you feel towards Rhonda?

Because a lot was said between you two and now it looks like she's not going to fight again. Do you, like, how do you react to that? Because she's obviously going through a tough time as far as her career, but there was animosity there. There was a rivalry between the two of you. So when I say, you know, Ronda Rousey now, what's your reaction? You know, I never hate her wrong, I know. I think we make the, she's always talked about me. I think she did this for promoting herself, because when she started, nobody knows her.

And she talked about me for people know who she is. And she opened the door for the M.A. You know, I don't hate her. I think me and her fight, the biggest fight ever. But, you know, after she lost two fights in the row, I really knew about she, she cannot take a punch. I knew this, you know. And I know this fight never going to happen, never happened before, because she knows what's going to happen, you know. And a lot of people know what's going to happen.

Same thing I'm on the duty for her. I'm going to do it worse. And everybody knows this, and this fight never happened. But, you know, she did a lot of good things, and she opened the door for the division for the girls. And I know, my coach said, man, she can help train. Cyborg can help someone help someone help someone to train. Because, you know, it's never going to happen to this fight, you know. And, actually, it doesn't make me sad, you know, I think when you lose the fight,

it's no end of the word, you know, you can keep training and you try catch up and try getting better, you know. But really, she doesn't need this, you know. She makes a lot of money. She can, if she can do other things for sport, too, you know, just be inside cage. You don't think she fights again? I really don't know, you know. I think she has to have a strong mind, you know, it's not easy. I really understand why she fights straight for the belt after her loss with Hollyholm

and one year no fight. You know, she fights someone, Amanda, have a lot of fights in the year already. And she's one year off. I think that the dent is wrong put her straight for the belt. I think she's supposed to fight one fight, get a win and be confident again and fight for the belt. You know, I think no smart she's fight straight for the belt. Somebody fight all year and she's one year off. I really partly if I managed someone, I'm not good like this.

You know, I would give more fights for her, and she'd get it confident again because after a Hollywood fight, it broke her mind. And, you know, I think this is my idea if you'll be a manager someone. After the fight, Jermaine said, my hand is hurt. I might be out when asked about you. Today she posted on her Facebook. I don't like the criticism towards me after what happened, end of the second and third round. Let's do it again, Holly.

What's your reaction when you hear when she's being, you know, asked about fighting you? She's talking about her hand. Now she's saying, let's fight. Holly, do you think that Jermaine doesn't want to fight you? No, sounds fun. Sounds fun. It is because they asked me, then no. Then no.

Before I don't go inside case, you know, if you win the fight, you're going to fight cybor. You know, I suppose to fight. I cannot fight and make the fight it happen. And who are going to be doing it. You're going to fight me my next opponent. And it sounds funny. She says, yeah, I fight cyber and now have injury and if she's a true to the end upters. She doesn't want to rematch Hollywood.

You know, but, yeah, I don't think this fight is going to happen, you know. Which one? Which fight didn't give the belt for her? Which fight you don't think is going to happen? Match, rematch. Oh, okay, okay, gotcha, gotcha. I don't think this fight is going to happen. After rematch, after they didn't give the belt away, all the private are going to leave away at the arena, you know.

I don't think they're going to fight this fight. You know, okay, this fight have a lot of Brazilian's fight, you know, but I think the best, fight tonight for me it's the two guys uh jerry and the other guys the amazing fight and jacare jacare jacare you only fight finish soon yeah other fights it's really boring for watch and really good fight but boy no i like fight once finish soon and no getting the point i like fight exciting fight and particularly me you know have a lot of people friends like but me i like fight like aggressive fight in the finish soon. And I don't think this fight is going to happen.

I don't think it's going to say. The paper view, it's fight in rematch, really. I don't think so. So it's clear that they want, if you're ready, they want you to be the title challenger. But you even tweeted out about Megan Anderson. Is there any chance that you'll go back to Invicta? Or is that...

I don't think it's go back to Invicta, but I think she won 45, when it was the year open 145 pounds. She can go to West Sea. But I just said this because Raymond, she said she has to do surgery her in my hand. And Megan Anderson, she's an interim belt for Invicta now. And first she'll be a world champion, Invicta, whatever.

She's supposed to fight me. You know, we don't fight because I was in Vic. I was in West Indy now. And now she's having an interim belt. And she's have to fight me. She cannot run for the big. If you want to be a world champion, you cannot choose opponent. You need to be ready for fire anybody.

You know, who follow my career? No, I never choose my opinion. Never. I never, I was a wedding. I just, just, this last week, the last month, I was no fired because my health, really about my health. And if you want to be a champion, you cannot choose opponents. You have to be ready for fire anybody.

You need to keep training, like contender number one, because everybody wants to beat you. You know, you cannot run. And I felt this girl's run for me, you know. And it's funny. It's funny for me, but, man, you cannot run forever. You have to fight. Now you hold a belt, this belt.

I'm a world champion, and I want the belt, and I'm going to fight her. And if it does not happen now, I can't fight anybody, you know. It's not just about belt. I have two belts in my house, and everybody knows how long I'm a world champion. And I just want to fight, make amazing fights for my fans, and, you know, do my job. You know, do my job. If you don't fight, probably want to make other belts and get a belt. you have to the defensive belt.

You can not get a belt and they hold their house. You need to fight for the belt. You need defensive belt. So why you want to be your world champion? Do you think it's weird that they haven't signed any other 145-pounders? I think the, you know, I think they won't 45-pounders, and then, too. I think that they make plan now, and for sure they're going to find more girls.

I don't think the need time. but I think so they're going to I really don't know what's the plan but for sure they're looking for 145ers huh so you you believe that they're invested in the division you think that they actually want to build this division you feel that way

you know I think so then just make the belt just make 145 pounds I don't think they're going to invest money and invest to do 145 pounds and you know no investing in division I think they're going to do this

you know for sure You know, I think, I think they're not, and they have a lot of girls on 45, you know, have it, I know, it's split because in the, you know, there's a lot of have on 45, too. But now open the door before, before it's just 135, now the big girls who fight 155 can try drop 145, and then can find one of C now, you know, it's not just a pretty little girls, but big girls too. Right. Did you see her landing punches after the horn second and third round? And if so, did you think that those were dirty?

Did you think that she did that on purpose? You know, one thing I have to do, I have to watch the fight again. Okay. But I think she's getting mad. She's mad in the fight because the Holy Home kick her in the head, but when she's had two hands on the floor. But I think when she's had two hands in the floor, she saw the kick come, and she's standing fast.

And then, okay, when a holy kick, I think she's already having her hand off the floor. But I think this is making her mad, and then she started punch, and then listen to the bell. I don't think she'd be shitter. I really don't think. And then I don't think she's good, she's just because you're so adrenaline and you get you mad. And then she tried, finish the fight, punch, you know, give you back what the Holohom did. But I really have to watch the fight again. you know.

Fair enough. Maybe she don't hear the, the, the, the bell. Because, man, I talk to her. She, I don't think she's going to do this. She has so many fights. Sure. Yeah, she doesn't have a history of that. No, yeah.

She doesn't know how many fights my type. I don't think she's going to do that. I think she just don't listen and she's getting angry and then did this, you know. Two last quick things, Cyborg. And again, thank you so much for the time. Why were you training with Page Vanzan recently? She went to Huntington Beach and

I would know she's here and I contacted her before and I said man let's go train together and I introduced her with my team and I thought maybe I think she's going to move for Raj Calvert and you know I think she

Christian too and we have a lot of things common and we train together I think you know I can help her too you know her game and I don't know. I don't know. Maybe we'll make one team. I don't know to do it together. But, you know, I told her I'm here for help. You know, I know how hard you get out on place and go other place. And I'm here for help. Does it matter to be, you know, training for me or not.

But she's going to move close to me. And I mean, you open the door for her for help and train me and help her, you know, for the next fight. So she's leaving Alpha Mail? Did she tell you that? No, I don't know. She's saying maybe she's going to move to city because she's going to be close with her family. I don't know if she's going to leave or not. Okay. But because her family lives close here, and she's a family girl. Yeah.

I don't know, but say anything she needs for me, you know, I'm going to help. When do you think you'll fight again? I really don't know. I have to wait or what's going to happen, and wait to the result to Ruzada and keep training, and let's see what's going to happen. I really don't know, you know, just training and wait.

But UFC return. turning to Rio in June, would that be the perfect time for you to return? It would be perfect time. In Brazil, I think it would be amazing. I think the two fights I did away in Brazil with one, the history, the arena in Curitiba. Yeah. And in Brazil, we did 1.3 million people watch it.

I think in America and in Brazil, it's starting me. I think it would be cool. I think all my friends are going to love. And for me, it's a pleasure of fighting in Brazil. And let's see. Let's see what's done. What's a plan done to have for me. But you think you'll fight this year?

I hope. You hope? I hope. Okay. Yes, I hope. All right. Well, we wish you the best, Chris. Thank you for coming on.

It was great to see you in attendance. And hopefully you can get this sorted out with Yusada sooner rather than later. And I want to remind everyone that you're actually going to South Korea. It's March 18th, right, for the new battlefield promotion. What will you be doing with them? I'm going to go to appearance there. Watch the fight. and see my Korean fans.

Okay, that's March 18th. Sarah Kaufman, a part of that card as well. We reported last week, so new promotion out of Korea. Chris, I wish you the best. Thank you for coming on to answer the questions, and looking forward to seeing you back. Thank you. All right.

Okay, thank you. Bye. There she is. Chris Cyborg, stopping by. Great stuff. Looking forward to seeing her back. And obviously, that's the fight. I think everyone wants to see.

And all of a sudden, it seems like there's some hope in the air that her situation is going to be resolved. And she was very confident. Her team was very confident that this would get sorted out even when it first came out. And again, we remind you when this stuff comes out. Don't blame the person. Don't charge them with a crime.

Don't say that they're guilty right off the bat. We've seen this happen too many times now. Reputations are ruined and things get worked out. So who knows? Let's see. Hopefully sooner rather than later we can have a resolution to the Chris Cyborg situation and see her fight for the UFC title.

All right, let's move along. I told you at the top that I have been wondering about what is going on with Mr. Luke Rockhold. We haven't heard from him in a while. So with all the middleweight fights, all the middleweight title talk going on, wanted to check back in with him. He's joining us on the phone. Luke, are you there? I'm there.

How's going, a hell? It's going well. Where have you been, Luke? I've been just trying to distract myself, really, trying to get on the road and get a little travels in. It's always worked for me. obviously everyone's pretty aware of my ACL care and what I went through. And so I tend to push it a little too much in the gym and set myself back.

So I figured a nice trip, get away, and let the body kind of heal up would be the best idea. Where did you go? Went off to Bali. Wow. I went to Australia and bounced around. And then I went to Florida beforehand. I was getting training in. when I could, you know, light training and stuff like that, but just, you know, tend to push a little

too hard when I'm back home and try to get carried away. So I figured it was nice, nice get away. I'm still in shape, and, you know, I had to, I just went through a stem cell treatment. I think a lot of people saw, too. So I'm on the road back as soon as I can, obviously. Okay, so how is the knee now? How far away are you from full-time training and then, of course, fighting again? It's a tough situation to call. If anyone's familiar with an ACL tear, it's partial tear at that. So there's limitations, and I know, you know, where I've, obviously, I spoke of it before,

and it's when I throw a round kick. When I throw a hard round kick, when it gets checked, when it doesn't land right, it rattles the ACL at the attachment point, and it feels like my knee's going to fall apart. So I haven't tested the knee. That's far, I was told to not throw for a few months. You know, we're over two months now. I just had the stem cell treatment. I'm going to let that settle in for another month.

And then I'm going to slowly start to test it. Once I can throw that kick and then it's on, you know. I've been able to work around it in so many ways, but I know my limitations. I know where I have to hold back. And so I'm, trust me, I'm really excited to get back in there and do what I can, but I can't go forth without my biggest weapon, which is my left kick. So I'm waiting for that.

And no surgery needed, right? I'm always one to avoid every surgery I can. Surgery is that there's too many variables with surgery and anything can go wrong. So my knee was so good in so many ways and I wasn't going to jump to a surgery and I was going to give my body a chance to let it heal and go through. The stem cells seemingly are the next wave in healing. It's done great things for me before, and so I'm excited to see, you know, how they take effect. I feel like my body's aren't healed in so many ways,

and so this should just further that and kickstart myself back into... You don't even have, like, you can't say, like, oh, July or November, October, or whatever. Like, you have no loose idea when you could possibly return. I'm saying it feels good. I was told by the doctors about three months before I could start kicking again and we're approaching that in another month, I'd say. And so, I mean, realistically, I think June, July, you know, is very feasible. I spoke to Jacqueray last week and he just flat out said that he thought that you were faking it.

You're asking to train or go up against John Jones in a grappling match. He's like, you know, how can you go in a grappling match if you just injured your knee and you could not fight me in November? Did you see his comments and did they bother you? I could care less. What Jacer thinks of my situation, if he thinks I'm running or not, it's pretty laughable to me. Like I said, I know my limitations.

It was specifically throwing the kick. There was little moments in grappling where I felt any effect to the knee. It was a hard kick step. That was the reason I had to pull back. That was that. I thought it would be a great chance to get out there. mix it up, grapple, and keep my head in the game and do something fun for the fans. And so that's the reason I call it Johnny Boy and have some fun for the fans.

So that was that. Like I said, I just haven't kicked. If you see any of my sparring videos, my training videos I put up recently, I haven't thrown one kick. I've been working around it best I can. And soon enough, it will be back. I'll be back. That John Jones grappling match, is that on the 10? table. Is that a possibility? No. Okay. I was up for it. I didn't get confirmation on the other side.

Okay. What's it been like seeing the division kind of move on a little bit without you here with Bisping and Romero and Jokre winning, Anderson coming back, you know, some talk of GSP as well. And it, you know, the Wybin fought recently, he's fighting Musassi was fighting well. And it's like, I felt like that's why I actually reached out to you on Saturday night. I was like, wow, Luke Rockhold, you know, he was just, the champion not that long ago and it sort of feels like everyone's sort of moved on do you feel that way does it bother you what's it like being on the sidelines as the division moves on i haven't seen much movement in the division truthfully um i really haven't i think bidsbinger the coward and i think he's running and trying to look for irrelevant fights um and i think uh i think jacques is right where he was before i left so uh Anderson he Anderson came back he did this thing um i don't

I haven't seen much else go down. So we'll see. I'm excited to get back. Jok Gray is saying I'm running. He wants to stay relevant. He wants to stay in the fight game. He's not going to wait around because he's going to have to wait a long time, given the current situation of what seems to be playing out.

So I'd love to go in there and fix that situation and finish my business with that man. What do you mean that he's going to have to wait a long time? Obviously, I think everyone sees how the, the division's playing and how Bidivang's stalling and trying to do everything you can to work his way around, fighting, you know, one of the top guys. So, yeah, yeah, and you have to expect that it's going to take a while for his chance to come up, get him the O.L.'s first. So would fighting Jacare in your first fight back, would that be the ideal situation for you? I don't see any other way really around it.

Okay. If he's, the time works for him, I think, I think that July time frame, what is that international fight week? Yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. It plays nicely. Yes. My tune. What did you make of Anderson?

A, did you think he won the fight? And just overall, I mean, assessing his skills, what did you think of him? I don't know. Anderson, he, it was closed. I think he could, easily could have gave him the fight. split decision maybe he has awkward moments in the clinch where he stalls and I think he hesitates these days

so he looks fairly good when he wants to and then he just needs to hold back at times so I don't know I don't know what to expect Derek Brunson isn't you know the top tier guy that really gauge his skill set from right so I mean not not being able to go in there finished Derek and maybe

maybe his time has passed a bit but definitely a fight that obviously still excites me but you still want that guy I don't know I want Jacquet I'm not looking to come back and dance around I'm going straight through the gut of the division I'm going back to my title okay and Jacqueray is the easiest way to get there at least in your opinion did did he impress you at all

like I mean I know you fought it was actually like eerily similar to your fight against Tim Boch but what did you think of it? But a lot less. I didn't see anything from Jacqueray. I really don't. I think he's slow. I think he's stiff.

And I think he's, you know, he forces a fight where I kind of flowed the fight. I haven't seen him grow since I fought him. I know that obviously I've had a little fallback, but I'll bounce back and I'll show people that, you know, that wasn't what you're going to see in the future. And I'll come back.

I'll reset myself and I'll put that man away. We step back in the cage together. Finish it. Obviously, you never want to be hurt. You never want time off. But to have this time off and the injury happen after what happened in June, has it just made it worse? Has it been mentally difficult to just sit on that L for all this time and not be able to move on

and replace it with, you know, the latest victory and just kind of push it down, you know, your resume there? Do you still kind of harp on it because that was and is, still the last time you fought? Yeah, it doesn't sit well with me. And you know me, and if anyone knows me, this is not going to sit well with me. And it's kind of frustrating me. And that's why I, you know, I've gone off to travel and distract myself in so many ways,

trying to get healthy. But, you know, I know that I can't go in there without my weapons. And, you know, I was almost going to cheat myself and try to go in without a left kick in that fight. I just realized I tried to dance around it and not kick, and then I finally had to try it, and I fell to my knee, and I knew that I had to pull out from that fight. I got to go in there. I got to go into my tools.

I can't fuck around. It's time to go out there and show people who I am and take back what's mine. Your injury and being forced to pull out of that fight in November started this domino, U.D.C. cane, and again brought up the remarks of, you know, AKA leading to injuries. Do you feel like that's fair, or do you think that these were all just freak unrelated occurrences?

Shit happens. Shit happens. There's not much more to say, you know. It was a, obviously, it was pretty freakish to all three of us bounce out in that fashion. But, yeah, at times we push it a little hard. We definitely have, you know, three the biggest, best guys in the world battling each other,

and we all have egos, and we all don't like to give an inch, and that could play a fact, too. So we have to kind of step back, and I think most of us have, and so we'll correct things, and we'll move forward. I see that you do a lot of training with Henry Hooft, and that's not necessarily new, but how do you balance the two, you know, going to Florida, AK San Jose, are you going to do anything differently as you approach your next fight? I've always liked working with Henry from years now.

So it's a nice change. I believe and you can learn from so many people out there. And so I've always had good chemistry with them. We've got similar styles, and so it works really well. I balance it. Obviously, my loyalty is with AKA and my people there and people can talk what they want. I'm not leaving. I'm not cheating on my team. I'm just trying to acquire more skills and

more knowledge and get training where I can. And so I'll balance it how it may be, Henry. I'm sure I'll work with them a bit, but the heart and soul of my camp will be at AK. Okay. And if Bisping does fight Romero later on this year, perhaps in May, who do you think wins that fight? And also, if you can, who do you want to win that fight? If, of course, you're thinking, okay, I got one fight away from when you're like, are you kind of rooting for Bismink to keep the title so you can get the revenge or do you not care your answer to both of those questions? In high favor, I favor you all, Romero.

I think he's a, it plays a lot to his advantage. He's a very dominant wrestler, Bisping doesn't have the jiu jihad to defend him. And then he's got power on the feet. So, Visming has a small chance in that fight, I think, and being able to defend the takedown if he can and keep it on the feet and win a point match of sorts. Of course, I want business. I want business. There's no way around it.

I'm not going to give that up. That one doesn't sit well with me. I'm going to have to go out and find him another title or no title. That will not let that pass. I will hunt that man down and I will finish that. That's for sure. so I'll take a step back if he does lose

I'll avoid the title and go straight forward his ass first Wow you'd rather fight him again for the third time than fight for the belt I'm not letting that man squeak by him to keep running his mouth

it's not going to happen I'm going to find him he has said that he's close to you know calling it a career I mean could you even imagine not getting that chance like what if after Yoel

he just doesn't fight anymore would you be able to deal with that? I'll deal with it when it comes. I have a feeling he's got a couple of fights left in him. I get a feeling I'm one of those. Okay, so you're not worried

that you won't get that opportunity. I'm going to focus on what's ahead and that's most likely Jack Ray. Okay. Then I'll find what the... Then I'll find out. Then you will hunt him down and do what you want to do to him,

basically. In nice terms. in so many ways. Yes. All right. We'll leave it at that. Luke, good to catch up. Thank you for squeezing us in on this busy Monday morning and feel better.

Good luck on the road to recovery and hope to see you in the summer. That sounds great to me. Sounds good to me. All right. We'll talk to you soon. There he is. Luke Rockhold. I can't help but feel like he's in some dark room and just like with pictures of Michael

Bisping and all his foes surrounding him and is just very much focused on getting You sense the motivation there. You sense how determined he is. And who can blame him? Still, in my opinion, one of the very best in that division. Looking forward to his comeback. I know everyone would love to see that Jack Gray fight. July, perfect timing.

Okay, let's move along. Big weekend coming up in the world of mixed martial arts. Big weekend for Bellator. This Saturday, SAP Center. It's Matt Mitrione against Fador and Mileneko. Wow. This is exciting stuff. one of the best main events Belator has ever put on.

They've recently signed Fedor, and he is joining us on the phone. How exciting is this, arguably the greatest of all time, joining us right now from I do believe Russia. I do believe let's make sure, okay, we just lost them for a second, but we are going to get them back. I do promise you that. So there you see it. Saturday, February 18th.

Fyodor O'Mayenko against Matt Matrion, they've done a very nice job. I think of selling this fight, doing it a little differently, building it up with the video, the sweater. If you haven't seen it, I think they've thought outside the box a little bit. And it's been creative, it's been fun, but it's, it's gone people talking. And I think that legitimately when you consider who Fador is, who Mitrione is, matchup-wise, this is one of the best that they put on. There you see also Josh Thompson against Mr. Pitbull, Patricki Pitbull.

have the return of Josh Kosteck. He'll be making his Belator debut. We have not seen him in quite some time. But the big one is Fador versus Matt Mitrione. And this could kick off an interesting time for the Belator heavyweight division, which has been somewhat stagnant. It's not a one-fight deal for Fador. He signed a multi-fight deal. So this is massive. And it's not one where it's just Fader being featured against another opponent because if Mitrione beats him, now Mitrione beat Fedor. And now you can really push him. And if Fader beats him, there's not much, you know, there's not much more to add to the resume, but he's just back on track. And you'll recall that he was on this program in the summertime. And this was before he was coming back to fight in Russia. And it seemed like he was all in.

He was ready to really get back in there, really ready to resume his career, not to come back for one or two fights. Certainly that has been cemented by the fact that he has signed with Belator, but he came back December of 2015, fought Jai Dip Singh. That was a relatively easy fight for Fador, and then fought that fight against Fabio Maldonado in June. And then after that, signed with Belator. I do believe we have Fador on the line right now. Fyodor, are you there? Fyodor, you're with us on linee? Yes, I'm here. All right.

Well, thank you so much. Thank you for being here with us. And thank you to Felix as well. Just to clarify, excuse me, where is Fadour right now? Thank you for us, for us to join us. Okay. Okay. to explain where you

now are you now. We're in San Jose. Currently we're in San Jose. Okay. So he's already arrived to

America. That is good to hear. Let's start at the beginning, Fador. The last time I spoke to you, the last time you were on this show, you said that you were very close to signing with the UFC.

You have not signed with the UFC. You've signed with Belator. What happened with UFC? Why did you not end up signing with them? Fethar, in the last time when we were talking with you were guests on our program,

you said, you said you very pretty stely resmatically the possibility to start to start UFC. In the same

you not started for UFC, but started for Belator. What was with UFC? Why were you not been

with them? We have very good I have a good relationship with Scott Cocker. From them, I... I... We had made a great relation with Code Coaker. I received a good proposal from Belator.

I received a very good offer from them from Belator. Also, Belator I... ...reglassed all my command of all of all of in the people will be in this organization. In addition, Bellator invited my entire team, so all of the guys will be performing as well. Okay, so that seemed to be a very, I guess,

attractive offer for you. How many fights did you sign with Belator? Maybe it's very very very important for you. How many boys you've got to bellows with Belator. Two wars, the possibility of the third one. Two fights with the possibility of the third one. Are you, you know...

...boidnoboenum, if we come to a mutual agreement. Have you been told that Beltor is going to kind of reignite the heavyweight division and if you beat Matt Mitrione, will you be fighting for their heavyweight title, or is that not of interest to you? Have you said to you that Bellator is going to, say,

to set to give a new start to their part of the men of the in a very much and will you be able to be

in this category or you think it not will be it not for you. Well, all will be seen by my performance,

by my own self-chusiness. Yeah, I heard that... We'll see based on my performance and based on how I feel. I said that Belator wants to give a new start in the heavy-wrestive category,

but to do not make new, to do that new movement in the general-viso-category, and that later will be regrouped a poise. I was told that Belator indeed wants to give a new start to a heavy weight. division, give it a new movement, and that later the new belt will be up for grabs in that category. Do you want to end your career with Belator?

In other words, is this your last stop, or you're not thinking about that? Maybe you'll fight, you know, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 fights and go elsewhere. How are you viewing this new chapter with Belator? is, will be Belloor is the last stop or will be you, maybe, will be govety with them

three, four, five, six, seven maybe, maybe boy of, and then you'll go to another. How you think you?

No, I think that in Bellooria I'll finish career. I would want to try to work

to work a contract and obviously it's relationship between people and for me important, for me, it's important, for me, so I,

now, I, probably, if I'll, I'm, I, probably, I would like to end my career with Belator. I would like to work in accordance with my contract and end my

career at that. The relations between people are of great importance to me, and I, value highly the relations between myself and Scott. So, yes, I do want to end my career with the Latour. Could you tell us just how close you were to signing with the UFC? Were you very close?

How close you were close to signation the contract with UFC? Do you know, but, as far as far as far as, you know, but, you know, it's not to conclude contract. Well, that's what we have happened. What you've got to be able to do you see a new thing? Depending on the point of view, you can, a lot of times you can be very close and sort of go around and around, but never get to it.

And that's exactly what happened. There were some things that were not satisfactory for UFC. Something not was not so that we didn't have to go ahead. And there were some things that were not satisfactory for UFC. satisfactory for me and we never came to an agreement. Could you tell us what wasn't satisfactory for you? You can't say what you'd be unscathed one of the reasons was my return

is, of my friends, my team, and just, not really, we've sashed for finance, for financial proposals, for the number of battles, and so, and so much, and so Well, one of the main reasons was ability for my team to perform, for my guys to perform. The other reasons were not exactly on the same terms as far as the financial conditions and some other things, some other smaller things as well.

How much, if anything, did you know about Matt Matrione when they offered you him? I saw You know, How much you know about Matrioni when you had you

brought with him? I saw his performance. Are you impressed with him? Prejadal you were perjune? Does he like it? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, he's a good boy. Yeah, I think he's a good fighter. Okay. And the last time we saw you was against Fabio Madonado. Have you watched that fight again?

I mean, you were obviously a part of it, but on television, have you watched it afterwards? Last year, we was seeing you were with us today before Fibio Mandonato, you watched this boy after this on television?

Yeah, I've watched, of course. I did watch it. After watching it, do you think that you deserve to win the fight? After the procession of this boy, you think you,

you've done a good for you? Yes, I've considered, that I've got to I'm probably, I had,

I was with the judges, who were stood at their boy, I listened their

attention to every doing, and I totally with the decision of the

judge. Yes, I did watch it, and I do think that I deserve a victory in this fight. In addition, I talked to all of the judges that were involved in all of the referees that were involved in a fight, and I got their evaluation of the situation as well, and I do think I deserve a victory in this fight. In the first round, it seemed like he hurt you and you were rocked and it was close to being finished. And obviously it was a tough fight. It was a close fight.

Afterwards, did you consider not fighting again? Did you ever consider saying, okay, that's it for me? Or were you always planning on continuing your career? In first round, it looked at that you received trauma, that you really were really We've been, we've been a very simple No, it was a very simple boy. Did you, do you think, that after this war,

maybe you'd have you'd have to be you'll finish a career, that maybe it's not yet, I still didn't think at that moment. No, I did not think so at the moment. I understand, that I've already just had been able to be with a year.

But so to finish after the past before the no I don't think of no

I do understand that there isn't a lot time I have left and considering my age

of course but no I didn't think that it's time to end my career after the last fight

no I didn't have any thoughts like that okay one of the big the big stories that they're pushing

going into this fight for you is the sweater that you wore when you made your Belator inaugural appearance when you faced off with Matt Matrion. Do you like when people talk about your sweater and make it out to be such a big deal, or do you not quite understand why people have such an affinity for this sweater that you have often worn? One of the moments, which is just discussed, is your sweater, which you had already before

the war are you you think you that is really is a very important for the

important or people just too too serious attention it's

I'm I think too serious of the I just try to put

things and I'm definitely the sweater I've got got much was very quality, so

I've been done he used. I would not say he's some something

kind of I think I think people pay too much attention to this weather I think

they exaggerated it's meaning a little bit I do pay attention to what I wear I like

I think that this sweater is of very high quality, so I wear it for a long time, but I don't think it has any special significant meaning. Do you only have one? Oh, go ahead. Please, Fyodor, please. Me, he very, I very much.

I simply like it, so I wear it. Yeah. Who can blame you? It's a nice sweater. Do you only have one, or do you have multiple sweaters? Well, I'm actually Why not?

You have one or or a few? Uh, Okay, of such kind, just one. Okay. Did you bring it with you

to San Jose this time? Of San Jose brought him this time? I was what's the thing?

Why are you asking? What's the purpose of you asking? Well, I think people maybe are wondering if they're going to see it this week. Press conference, open workout, walking out. You know, they kind of get excited when they see it, so I'm trying to find out if it has made the trip with you

and if it will make an appearance. Well, people interesting, they'll see him in this race. It's not. It's not. On press conferences, in training, people just interesting, will they see him at least. You know, I was he was able.

but I was not, I've got like, I'm going to give him I'm going to do it. Well, I did

take it with me, but once I found out that there's such exaggerated attention to this item

I'm probably not going to put it on. Oh, well, I can understand that. Remember a long time ago, you actually

promised that you would give it to us in the studio, we would hang it up. Do you remember that when you were here many years ago, like five years ago,

do you remember that conversation? I don't know, but you know, you know, it's a long ago, maybe five or six years ago,

you said you would give him and we will we'll just we'll visit in our studio. Remember? You don't

remember. You know. I don't remember. Oh. Do you want this sweater? I would love nothing more. I want to hang it up here.

This has become sort of like an MMA museum, and I feel like this would be the perfect place for it. If you don't want to wear it anymore, if you're tired of the questions, wouldn't it be nice hanging up here? I mean, it would be something else. Yeah, I really want, very want. This is a great exponage to put in our practically museum of MMA.

And if you're more not going to not to eat, Well, if you were If you were like to give him, we'll give him we'll be we'll be we'll be able to

as an good. Well, I thought. Okay, we'll think about it. Okay. You know, when you were

fighting for affliction, a massive fan of yours was Donald Trump. Are you surprised that he's actually the president of the United States

now? Well, uncied your boys and, uh, of your fans of,

one of his most of his big of his fans were Donald Trump. Are you, are you the fact that he is president? Well, as well, as well, no one knows where the God will lead us as we say.

If you're saying, I'm very glad that Donald Trump was in a person. First, he was, as well, he was, as business. And now, we'll see what he'll be president. I'm very glad to him. To be sincere, to be honest, I am very happy that Donald Trump is an established person and that he has become a president. I know that he made a very good name for himself as a businessman, and I'm happy to see him as a president. Do you still keep in touch with him? Have you talked to him recently?

We continue to continue to continue. You have you? I've never I think Donald Trump has two more important than... I think Donald Trump has matters

that are more important than just talking to me. Okay, fair enough. I feel like he would like to talk to you, but I understand that. Before I let you go, I want to ask you about Habib Nurmaghamedov.

I don't think that I've ever asked you about him. Do you feel like he is the biggest Russian MMA star now do you get a lot of people who talk to you about him how do you feel about him as a fighter I'm not even

I think I'd want to talk to you before I want to ask you I'd want to ask you about Habili Mammadov you, do you think you

that he's really a first major MMA? Yeah I think is a very good boyets I have all chance to be champion

U.S. I think Habib was a very good fighter and he has everything that's going for him to become a champion of MMA with two champion with

UFC. Another deal, wants to this, UFC? Another thing to consider is whether UFC wants that or not. What do you mean by that? What are you mean to be? Well, he's a long time,

he's a pretenant, and he can't him, say, he's going to win for his title, Zerzbollahich Klona. Well, he's a president for a, for a very long time, but he doesn't have a chance for that fight.

They wouldn't provide that opportunity for him. Interesting. And do you have a theory as to why they're not doing that? Do you, is there a reason why you think that is? A, how you think it is? Do you think it's, why it's going to, why it's going to be it, why it's going.

I don't know. A politics, you see. I don't know, such as the politics of UFC. For me, many, say, say, a lot of UFCs are still a mystery. For me, a lot of UFC actions are still a mystery. Interesting. Okay. And then finally about your fight on Saturday against Matt Matrione, he has been known to get caught early. Is that what you're looking to do? Are you looking to try to catch him early, knock him out, get out there as quickly as possible, and then return to Belator in a couple months? Well, and, finally,

by the next about your in the next year, is the time of the you're going to that you're going to but I don't know

how it'll go, so I'm going to I'm going I'm it hard to say It's hard to say how the fight will go. It's hard to predict. So I'm not going to predict.

Everything will be clear once we're there. Okay, fair enough. Final question. I promise this final question. Can you, and this might be a tough question for you to answer, but do you think right now, because we just saw Anderson Silva, so this is why I'm thinking of it,

can you call yourself the greatest fighter of all time? Are you comfortable doing that? Well, and, finally, the last question, I I'm going to be the last question, it might be a hard for you, it might be a problem, but, even, you think you, you're the same very big boyce of our time?

Comfortly you, you feel, and is saying it, if you, you're saying it, like, you're not quite not comfortable, I feel like, when I'm doing it's not a lot of questions,

and never never they've never never never I'm

never uncomfortable when people asking me such questions I never put such

questions to myself as well and I feel uncomfortable to responding

to such questions I had a feeling you would say that but I

wanted to try nonetheless Fador thank you so much I really

appreciate you coming on it's always an honor to talk to you and best

of luck to you in your Bell Tour debut Saturday night in San Jose

Thank you. Thank you very much, my friend. Thank you. Thank you. Wow, what great English right there. That's a revelation. Great to hear from Fitt... I didn't know he spoke that good of English. That's amazing. But that was fun. Good to talk to Fador. Always a pleasure to be in his presence. Always a pleasure to talk to him. And I'm looking forward to his Bellator debut on Saturday night. Okay, let's move along. We're being joined right now by the reigning defending UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. I'm very excited about this interview because I do believe Mr. Bisping. has a bone to pick with me. There he is. Wearing the shades. You forgot undisputed, my friend. Okay, fair enough. Undisputed. Raining, defending, undisputed. UFC middleweight champion the count, Michael Bisping. Yes, correct.

Okay. And also... You got to move this along. Come on. Ask me a question. What do you want? Wow. So there is some contention here. You're not a big fan of mine right now. Is that fair? Come on. Come on.

Let's put the cards on the table. It's like the, you were oozing at the mouth, talking to Yol Romero, asking very leading questions, basically trying to put words in his mouth, which is what you do. You know, if only you gave Connor McGregor such easy questions when you interviewed him in Manchester. But, of course, this is me and it's Yowell. So, you know, it was National Yol Romero. let me kiss your ass day, but that's okay. It's going to come around once in a while. What in particular bothered you? I don't know. Nothing bothered me. I just watched it laughing saying, because you're doing your job. You know, you're trying to get into talk shit. And good for you,

Ariel. That's why I enjoy watching you. That's why everybody does. But we're trying to sell a fight here, right? Let's get the money fight. Oh, no, if we are trying to sell a fight, I don't know if he is the fight. I mean, people say he's the number one contender and if that's so great, I still do have an issue with the whole steroid thing. You know, I mean, my research leads me to believe that the benefits of taking steroids, staying in your system for a long, long time.

So being somebody that's been outspoken about that many, many times, being somebody that's been on the receiving end of losses because of people taking steroids, that is something I feel strongly about, you know, and call me whatever you want. But if that's the fight that's made, then I still feel confident in beating this guy,

and I will happily fight him. Regardless of who I feel. fight, people are going to talk shit. Okay, you got Jack Array saying that I'm a chicken, that I'm running, that I'm a nightmare for the division. You got Yowell saying the same thing. GSP is saying that he wants to fight me. GSP by far would be the biggest fight of them all. Regardless of whoever I fight, there's going to be somebody unhappy. I can't face them all on the same night as much as I would like to. I can't do that. It's got to be one at a time. So there's all these people that are going to talk shit. I can't fight everybody on the same night.

So, Yowell on the show last week said that he's been told that they want you guys to fight in May, in Dallas. Have you been told the same? No. So he's just making that up? I don't know if he's making it up, but I have not been told the same. I got off at a bout agreement April 8th, and I needed knee surgery. I'm still lifting around right now. I'm in a lot of pain still.

I'm lifting weights just upper body because that's all I can do. But I haven't heard anything about May. I guess that timing would work. I'm assuming that would work. You know, once that's about 12 weeks away. I think hopefully another month and I'll be able to train properly. So that, you know, that potentially could work. But formally and hand on my heart, I have not been approached about that date by the UFC.

And was he the opponent attached to the battle agreement? Yeah, he was then, yeah. Okay. But safe to say right now that fight, you know, forget about the date, but just the fight, your next fight is not set in stone. There's still a chance you may not fight him. Listen, I haven't signed to fight anybody. So it could be anybody.

I mean, he is, you know, the number one contender, shall we say. So that sounds like the logical next matchup, you know, and so be it. That's who I've got to fight. I've got to fight the best guys in the world. I have the belt and I have to defend it. Of course, I have no issue with that at all, you know, and yours is a dangerous fighter. I know he is. I'm no mug. Nobody brings to the table. I know he's a formidable opponent, but I have no problem facing him. But if the UFC would come to me with a GSP,

then I think I would take that one first simply for the gigantic payday and then do YOL next. But I'm just hypothesizing. Yeah. Is there any update on that situation? I mean, you've been vocal. He's said that he wanted to fight you. Where do we stand on this Monday afternoon? Yeah, yeah. I mean, odds on, it's going to be Yoril Romero on my next fight. That's what I'm assuming. I mean, I've had no further dialect with the UFC, but I know that George, his trainer told me recently that they're pretty much at an agreement with the UFC,

so the deal's almost done, and he wants to fight me. I am the fight that they're targeting. So, you know, it's not beyond the realms of possibility. As of right now, I would assume that Yowell is my next opponent, but there's always that wild card. So if he, as his trainer said to you, and if his trainer is correct. And is this Farazahhabi you're talking about?

No, it's a guy called Jorge Blanco. Okay, so if that's true, then what... If he's agreed to him, why would you fight U.L? Why not fight him? Well, Jesus Christ, you tell me, you're the one asking all the questions to Yowel last week. You were the guy going, oh, my God, so Biscan's running from you, right? I did not say that.

I did not. I didn't... Would you tell me, why would... Why would I fight GSP rather than Yolo Romero? Ariel Huanic, go, answer it. Why would? Let me ask a second. Why would I take that fight?

Because it would probably do five, six, seven times the business that I fight with Yoa would. George M. Pierre was the biggest star in the company. Yorl Romero has 24,000 Twitter followers. How many do you have, Ariel? I actually just... 20 times. You don't even fight. You know, I've got 20,000 Twitter followers.

Listen, he's a tough son of a bitch, but no one gives a fuck. So, you know, I've seen you guys go back and forth on Twitter, and you don't believe that that's actually him, right? Who? On Twitter, you and you all? No, I do. No, I know. Oh, sorry, pardon me.

Yeah. It's his Twitter account, yes. But I don't believe that it's him actually writing the tweets. And the guy can hardly speak English, but yeah, he seems to be able to tweet it perfectly with, the perfect punctuation, apostrophes, etc.

And I really don't believe that he has the wit. You know, I mean, look at him, the guy's a knucklehead. You know, I mean,

he's only a couple of DNS strands away from, you know, he's not, you know, he's a barbarian, he's a knucklehead. Come on,

he can't, he hasn't got wit, he hasn't got humor. He called into my radio show last week, the countdown, serious XM, Rush 93,

Thursday, 3 to 5 Pacific. He called in, and I tried to have an intelligent discussion with this guy and all he could do was scream and shout and then hang up the phone. Nothing was accomplished.

Nothing was accomplished. La la la be speaking. I'm like, blah, la la, phone dead. I'm like, wow. Yeah, this guy, you know, yeah, he's got rocks for brains. What about when they came out

with this GoFundMe page? What did you make of that? You know, I get it. It's a decent stab. an attempt to stir the pot, so to speak. I mean, I'll say, first and foremost, I think there's $200 in that pot. I'll take that $200, thank you.

I'll go get a nice massage. After I walk his ass, when that day comes. Because make no mistake, that day will come. I'll use that 200 bucks to go for a nice massage. So thank you, Yo, Yor. I appreciate that. On a more serious note, GoFundMe pages do fantastic work for people that need help, you know.

So it was a little distasteful, him using that to mock me. I'm currently using a GoFundMe page to help a young child beat cancer for a fourth time. And thankfully, Leo the Lion, we raised the money. So, GoFundMe pages do great things. So I don't know. Poor taste. It rubbed you the wrong way. No, no, no, not what he was trying to do. It didn't rub me the wrong way at all, no. No, but to use GoFund. Yeah. Trying to create. Sure.

Trying to create him. He's trying to get the fight. He's trying to get people talking to me. He's like a little, you know, annoyance in the corner. You know, he's a, a, a, fly buzzing around my head. And that fly will get swatted. Believe you me, I look at him, I look at his fighting style. Yeah, I mean, you know, he's explosive, he's a good wrestler and all this type of stuff.

Chris Wyman was beating him. Chris Wyman was doing very well. But Chris Wyman kept going back to the same thing. He kept going back to a single leg attempt. And far beat for me to criticize Chris is wrestling. He's a better wrestler than I am. But the single leg attempt was sloppy. He was poor.

It was amateur. And pretty much. he headbuttyed Joel's knee. If you look at that fight, where the flying knee happened, Chris was pretty much parallel with his knee. And if he didn't keep doing that, Chris probably would have won that fight. Is there a part of you as a showman, as someone who sells fights, do you appreciate these efforts, calling interest show? Like, are you saying like, okay, here's a guy that doesn't really have a connection with the audience, but he's going the extra mile. He's actually trying to sell this fight and get people emotionally invested. Is there a part of you

deep down that actually appreciates it? I've never really given him the time of debt. I don't spend time sitting around thinking about yo Romero and how much I may or may not appreciate this guy or respect him. I guess when you put it like that, yeah, yeah, God bless him. Go, you know, do you. God bless you. Okay, fair enough. And what about the knee?

When did you injure the knee and what's the state of it right now? How's it feeling? Yeah, you know, so people talk about injuries and whatnot. I've had a bad knee for years now, for years. and it was just building up and getting worse and worse. After the Anderson Silver fight, I couldn't walk properly for a couple of months. I don't know what I did there,

but I did some kind of issue. And then obviously the Brockville fight came short notice, and then after that, the Dan Henderson fight came around pretty quick. So there was no time. So after that fight, I mean, I just haven't been able to, I can't run, I can't do anything. So they took out, there was a torn meniscus. They corrected that.

They took out several loose bodies. Some of them were like this big. They were really huge. I had two compound fractures. They injected calcium cement kind of thing to rebuild the bone. There was a bone spur there to fix that. That was catching on a ligament. So there was many things they needed to take care of. But it was still a relatively minor surgery. It wasn't like a big reconstruction. I don't need a year out. So as I said, maybe another month. And I'll be good to go. And hopefully I won't be in pain when I train. You may not believe me. But I actually,

But I actually take umbrage with the fact that people continue to say, oh, you're ducking this guy, you're making up this surgery, this and that. Because I feel like throughout your 10-year UFC career, you've really fought everyone that they put in front of you. I've never heard of you turning down a fight. I've never heard of you really picking opponents here or there. And now all of a sudden that you're champion, there's this narrative being thrown out by your foes at the top of the division that you're trying to hold onto the belt. This has to piss you off, right? This has to be annoying.

I appreciate you saying that, Ariel, and I do. And I know we're friendly, and you do mean that. Here's the thing. I have got the belt, okay, and everybody wants to fight for the belt. Everybody wants to be the champion. Of course they do. That's part of the reason why we do that, and I totally get it. The reality of the situation is what I said at the start of the show.

I can't fight everybody at the same time. I can't do that. So regardless of who I fight, there's always going to be someone pissed off. I mean, people are talking shit about me. Where's Luke Rockhold since I knocked him out? Has he come back and forth? No, people are talking shit about him. Jackerade wasn't exactly the most busiest person.

and he comes back and fights number 13 ranked Tim Boch. You know, he did a great job, but he did what he should have done against Tim Boch. No disrespect to Tim Boch. And now he's saying he's going to sit around and wait for the title or whatever. There's always going to be someone pissed off. Yo-Romeo is saying he's going to be pissed off. He's calling me out.

I can't fight everybody on the same night. Fingers crossed, I get through them. I'll happily fight them one by one. I've never turned anyone down. I've paid my dues in this sport. I've paid my dues. I've paid my dues. I've fought everybody.

I've fought people on short notice. I've saved cards. I fought people that we all knew we're on goddamn steroids at the time. And I still took those fights. And I went out there and thought, I went down on my shield. You know, I did my best. And all that time.

And now I've got the belt. And now I get a little bit of say in the matter. That's all it is. And if you don't like it, tough shit. That is the prize of being world champion. If you don't like it, kiss my ass. Because I have got the belt and I do get a say. And that's why I said to Yo Romero,

until I decide to fight you, you are my little bitch. Now go roll me a son. cigar. Well said. Well said, Michael. What about this idea? What about this idea that I've heard you say this, but I want to clarify it. Please.

Is it accurate that the next time you lose, if it's in five years, 10 years, six years, six months, that you're done? Is the next loss, the lot? What do you do? What are you planning? No, I don't know. I say things. I don't necessarily mean them.

No, no, listen. My wife wants me to retire. She wants me to retire. Right now? She's wanting me. Yeah, she wanted me to retire a long time ago. Don't worry. Listen, I don't listen to what she says.

Oh, my God. I do, of course. I'm kidding, babe. No, you know, you don't like any woman. You know, she doesn't want me doing this forever. And, you know, the sport's been good to me. So she says, listen, Michael, when you're going to retire? So I have told her, when I lose the belt, I retire.

Now, when that becomes a reality, which inevitably will, you know, will I retire? Probably not. Probably not. I've said that. But I do love competing. And I know I would miss it terribly. And, you know, I would still fight for the love of the sport. That said, I have achieved everything I wanted to achieve. You know, I was the first British champion. I'm the world champion. I've fought all over the world. You know, I fought more main events, more co-main events than anybody. I've had more fights than anybody, more wins than anybody. Than in the history of the UFC, I've achieved a lot. There's not much more to achieve. but I do love it.

I do, you know, it is part of my makeup. That said, alternatively, you know, whilst I'm still 37, there is other things I want to achieve in life, you know, whilst I'm still young enough to go out there and pursue these things. So I don't want to be a guy that sticks around too long. So there's a possibility, Ariel, to answer your question, I don't know. Okay. Probably not.

Probably not. But it depends. You know, we'll see what the future has to offer. So you haven't even set yourself, I have two years left, one year left, six months, six years. you haven't put a cap? I don't know. Okay, fair enough.

Can I ask? Okay, all right. No, I don't know. As someone who covers the sport, I completely understand when a fighter says, I want the money fight, I want to cash out, especially when you fought 10 years ago when the paydays weren't all that big. Yeah. I feel compelled to ask you this.

Could you tell us how much, what's the most you made for a UFC fight? Well, it's not really in my business to say. I just feel like if people knew how much. much time, how many fights, the injuries, all that, and they knew how much you made, they would say, you know what, this guy deserves a freaking payday. You know, that's all. I'll say this. I'll say this, you know, and with the greatest respect to the company and Dana White, you know, and how you feel about Dana. Dana's always been very fair with me. I love Dana. What are you talking about? What are you insinuating, Michael? Come on.

You know, Dana's always, you know, treating me with respect and this and that, and I've always been happy. I've always been happy with the amount of money I've been paid. But now, I see that we're in a new age of the UFC and I see gigantic paydays going around that I've never been a part of. I've done very well, don't get me wrong. I've done very well without getting into specifics, but I see other people now making a lot more money,

you know, and that does piss me off a little bit. I'm not talking shit about the UFC, they've always paid me well, and I've always been happy with what I've been paid. You know, I just, I would like to be a part of one of these gigantic cars before I retire. That's all, just to get a big payday that I can retire on.

You know, can I retire? I'll live the rest of my life. No, I can't. You know, as I say, if the UFC always paid me well, yes, they have. You know, and then I've got no qualms. I've always signed contracts. And at the time, I've always been happy signing those contracts. So I can't say that.

But I see, you know, you know, run the rousing, Khan of McGregor getting $3 million guaranteed plus pay-per-view. So that would be $10 million pay days. You know, I've never had a $10 million dollar payday. I've never had a $1 million pay day, you know. So, yeah, of course. That's why I won the money fights. Who doesn't want that?

I've done this my entire life. I've dedicated myself to this sport. I feel I deserve it. Of course, you have to earn it. I've earned it. I'm the world champion now. So I want to be a part of the biggest fights. That said, it's a business, you know, and you create your own hype and people tune in.

But, you know, I don't think everyone's tuning in to watch Tyrone Woodley, but he did pretty well on his last final. Wow. Geez. Where did that come from? Taron Woodley's, no, but you know, oh, you're on Jach it. They're all on these big cards. Sure. Full title from one card.

Ah. But when you've got like, you know, the most sick, sick card you've ever seen, that's always going to dwell on pay-per-view. Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm part of something like that. Okay, I hear you. What's your perfect scenario? Like, if you could lay it out, you know, arena, city, opponent.

I reiterate before they take my words out of context and make some bullshit headline. You know, I've always been happy with the UFC and my conversation, but I feel now as the sports getting bigger, and bigger and bigger and bigger. There's more to grab. Yes. More to get it.

And that's, that's all it was important. Yep. In an ideal world, sorry. Yeah. What is the per, for your next fight? Perfect,

perfect city, arena, opponent, time frame month. What is it? Right now? Well, I would say May, June, July.

You know, something around there. I could probably, May, may be a little too soon, but I could do it. July would give me time. June,

you know, would be perfect. But yeah, something like that, early summer, what I would like, I would like to face George St. Pierre, beat George St. Pierre, then I've beaten all the legends, I've beaten Dan Henderson,

I've beaten Anderson, I've beaten Anderson Silver, I've beaten Joyce St. Pierre, and then face the number one contender, Yo Romero. That would be my perfect scenario. And if I could face Joyce St. Pierre, because I know he wants to fight him. The only reason I'm saying Joyce St.Pier,

is because I know he wants to fight me, and I was offered a fight with him. That's the only reason he's in my mind. mind. If I wasn't off the fight with him early in the year, I wouldn't be thinking George St. Pierre, but that just got that carrot dangled in front of my face of several million dollar payday.

You know, call me stupid, but I want that fucking carrot. I want that several million dollars in my bank account. I want it for my children's sake, for my family, for when I'm retired we can still live a good life. That's why I'm doing it, not because I'm trying to rob the UFC or rob the fans of the number one contender or do

wrong to Yo-Romero. I want it for my family's sake. So, in a perfect world, I will fight George St. Pierre. I will beat George St. Pierre. I will not be injured in that fight because George never injures anybody in a fight. And then I will do a quick turnaround. Within six weeks, I'll fight you old Romero. That's what he wants. That's what he'll get. I'll guarantee you right now. Hand on my heart. Okay. And when you say you were offered this, are you talking about like back in September? Not recently, right? Yeah. A while ago. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And have you noticed, like, is life noticeably different

now that you're champion, other than being called champ, other than having a belt. Are there perks of being a champion that you didn't have before? I don't know. No, really. No, I mean, I live a very content lifestyle, to be honest. For the most part, just at home with the wife and kids, I live in a small suburb where no one gives it down. So, you know, yeah, no, life's nice and relax. I guess sometimes when I go places, yeah, it's great, I get perks.

And, you know, you get a little bit of special treatment. But all in all, that stuff, it's not. important to me. I noticed that you completely changed like your living room and kitchen, like in the span of 48 hours. Did you do that over? I was watching it on Instagram. Did you actually renovate your house? Hours. It was the span of around three months, so you're out of your mind, Ariel. But yeah, the house got renovated. And I want to say a big shout out to quality environmental for doing the work. That was a perk of being chump. I'm not going to lie. I got an insane deal. So they refurb my house, completely renovated it.

But that was a stressful time. We finished like a day before Christmas. Yes. Okay, because it seemed like you were really updating us. Thanksgiving. We're done for Thanksgiving. And then we got finished a day before Christmas Eve. But it was my fault because I kept adding things on.

What about this? Well, if we're doing this, then let's do that. Okay. If we're doing that, screw it. Let's do a new bathroom. Let's do this. Oh, new floor. And they're like, shit, Michael.

This is a lot of work. So you're happy with it. Thanks. Environmental. You're happy. You seem happy. Oh, I'm very happy. Okay.

But, yes, of course, except for, I mean, at the beginning we started a little rocky here and I didn't know quite to make it. I mean, we gave you the Fighter of the Year award. Can I get a thank you note? Can I get a text? Nothing. Where's my award? Well, I mean, it's kind of like a, it's sort of a figment of our imagination, but to me,

it's the most prestigious award out there. It's very prestigious and I thank you wholeheartedly, but I would like a plaque or a certificate or something. Something I can adorn my wall with. I saw you Instagram, when rolling. Rolling Stone. Like, when does Rolling Stone give out awards? And you're like, oh, I'm so honored. I ask you for a 20-second video accepting the award. I couldn't even get that. Last minute. Too short notice, but it. But listen, Ariel, MMA fighting, Fox, Rolling Stone, ESPN.

Wow. You know, you know, I haven't got time to dedicate. Sorry. I've won't so many awards. So many awards. So many acceptance speeches. What am I going to do? If I had to block out time for each one of these, I'd have no time to myself. Okay. Last thing before I let you go, we actually just had Luke Rockhold on the program, and he kind of sounded, he sounded like a man who has kind of locked himself in a dark room and has pictures of you all around the room and thinks about you and said, even if he's offered a title shot and you're not the champion, he'd rather fight you, that he will not rest until he gets his hands on you.

I mean, he sounded like a very focused to put it mildly individual. Like, he might be next door right now listening to this conversation and is going to come over later tonight. Why, was he in studio? Luke Rockhold? Because he lives in California. No, I said, was he in studio? No, no, I mean, next door to you right now, like, like he's stalking you. Sorry, sorry, pardon me.

Yes. Yeah, I mean, what is Luke Rockhold doing? When did he say he's going to fight again? What is his plans? I mean, I do believe we are now almost in March. Yeah. That fight was in June. Yeah.

I don't know what happened there, but I don't think, I think I took his soul. I don't think we'll ever see Luke Rockhold again. Wow. I think I beat the shit out of him and I beat. I don't know. I think he's done. Really? The way he went down.

Well, I think so. Why isn't he fought again? He says he has an e-injury, ACL. A lot of times passed. A lot of times. That was me. I would have been right back in there. Why is in the fight rescheduled between him and Jacaray?

Why haven't they rescheduled that? he said he's recovering pardon me he's recovering he said is he has he had surgery I heard he no getting shots he's getting shot

oh he's getting shot all right okay so it's not bad enough that he needs surgery but he needs what June to my he needs nine months to go travel the world and be a playboy

you know that doesn't sound like a man that wants to be champion again to me do you want to ever fight him again or is that done with you know in your mind you know

it's like I mean it's pretty good, it's hard to top that one. I'm not going to find the first round the way I did. He was bouncing around like a pinball machine. You know, it's going to be hard to top that one. If, if, oh, what, so hold on, hold on, what am I going to say now?

Yeah, I want to face Luke Rock hold again. If I say that, oh, he doesn't want to face yours. No, no, no, no, no. He doesn't want to. Ever. He doesn't want to. If I say yes, so A, B, C are going to talk shit. If I say yes to D, CBA talk shit, you see what I'm saying?

I'll fight whoever the UFC say. I won the biggest fight possible, but ultimately is Dana White's decision. And if they want me to face Yo Romero, I will fight Yoa Romero. By the way, did you watch Anderson's fight on Saturday? I did. I thought you were going to ask me about this. Yes. So do you think he won?

No, I didn't. I thought he lost. I guess you could see an argument for him winning, but I think it was disappointing. I thought Anderson really, to be honest, cloned himself. cloned everybody in attendance, cloned the UFC. It was clearly obvious that Anderson was the better fighter.

He stopped the takedowns for the most part. His takedown, the feds looked great. And when he did decide to pull the trigger and actually throw something, he was all over Bronson, but he just didn't pull the trigger.

He stood there and tried doing his usual Anderson Silver thing. He doesn't fight with a sense of urgency because he's the great Anderson Silver. Unfortunately, that's not good enough. He got very lucky with the decision and I feel that it's a real shame

because like everybody, I'm a fan of Anderson, so I like watching him fight and I feel that he didn't do justice to his legions of fans. Do you feel like he looked a lot older? Yeah, he did. I said that at the Waynes,

when I saw him on the Waynes. He looked a little skinny, a little flabier. It's weird. Weird when you don't take steroids. What happens to you? Oh, now he's in his 40s. So, I mean, do you feel like he has a run left in him

or do you think he's done in terms of being a contender? But here we go again. No, you said that if he won his fight, he'd get a title shot. So here's another one. Here's another one. Yeah, I'll face Anderson Silver now. Okay, but I don't think that would sell, not after the weekend.

But you see what I'm saying? I can't fight everybody. I can't fight everybody at once. I will get to them all one by one if I choose to. We should all be so lucky. You're a wanted man. You're very popular. No, that's right.

I've got options. stuff at the top. It really is. You know, I can't keep everybody happy, Ariel, as you know. What else you want to say? What else you want to talk about? Ask me another question. I think I'm good. Is there anything else? Nothing. I feel like we kind of got past our little rough patch there. No, we're good. We had a rough patch years ago. This wasn't a rough. What happened years ago?

I can't remember. Oh, come on. Really? You and I, we had an issue? Did we? I don't know. Maybe, you're going to love this. I'm getting you confused with Garrette R. Davis. Oh my God. Please. I mean, that might be the most insulting thing

anyone's ever said to me. Yeah, maybe, maybe. So, I'm going to let you go. Okay. Just to qualify. Yes. UFC have always paid me very well. Please.

Yo Romero is going to get punched in the face with Peter by me at some point. Okay. If George Ch. NPR wants to do it and the UFC want to promote it, I happily take the fight.

I know the other contenders, really, can shut the fuck up whining and win some fights and earn the right. Until then, until next time, Ariel, always a pleasure. One last question. Grappling match right now, you versus your son Callum, who wins, honestly? Right now, Callum. Wow. Oh, okay. He's wrestling at 197 pounds. He's killing it.

And he's only 180 pounds because there's another guy on the team because he wrestles at Barstit. even though he's only 15, he wrestles up there, you know, he wrestles the juniors and the seniors, even though he's a sophomore. And the guy that wrestles 180 on their team is better than him. So he goes up two weight divisions and wrestles at 197. He's qualified for CIF, which is kind of like the finals for state. He's doing unbelievable, unbelievable. Amazing.

Growing up before our eyes, he's taller than you now. He's gigantic massive arms. I mean, big muscles. When he walks around the house, he comes out of the show, I'm like, dude. put your top on. I mean, let's get you sat on Callum. I mean, this transformation is something else. Yeah, no, it's crazy. Well done. I'm sure you're very proud. I am. Thank you very much. Great to have you on, Michael. Get well soon. Looking forward to your return. Appreciate your time, as always. Anytime, Ariel. Much love. Much love. There he is. Michael Bisping stopping by.

Great to hear from the reigning, defending, and as he noted, undisputed UFC middleway champion. Always a pleasure to have him on. Okay. Let us move along. he has been patiently waiting. He is the new play-by-play voice for the UFC. He was in attendance on Saturday night at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn alongside Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier. He is my good pal. John Anick, who joins us right now via the magical Skype and he is, I think he's annoyed. I've been waiting too long. Is that accurate, John? I am not annoyed. I am not annoyed. I'm happy to be back on. It's been a while. I'm never home when I'm in San Diego last time. I'm in New York City right now. Regrettably, I couldn't find my way to the new studio. I know you had a little anxiety about maybe meeting late. I would have had time, but alas, I'm here in New York, and it's always good to be with you. I was just a little too nervous, new studio. I didn't know about the setup and everything, and so I didn't want to, I didn't want to tempt the gods, so I feel a lot more comfortable just doing this, but we will have you on soon.

There's a lot to talk to you about John, but first let me ask. I mean, I'm asking this, honestly, I'm not being facetious or anything. I've never experienced this. When your team wins a championship, especially in that fashion, as your team the Patriots did eight days ago, how long until you kind of move on? Like, do you still kind of feel like you're on a high or does it last a month? Like, how long can you actually not feel happy about the victory?

Because I would imagine you still kind of feel happy when you think about it, right? Yeah, and I'm going to let this one marinate for a while because the game was over, right? I mean, I had a bet with Brian Stan that the loser of the game, you know, Falcons for him, Patriots, for me, was going to have to get their legs wax. from ankle to groin front and back.

So I was mentally getting myself prepared for that reality. That game was over. And Bill Belichick is the greatest coach, general manager and motivator of men in the history of professional sports. And if you go back and watch some of the things on NFL network like sound effects, you really see the inner workings of that Patriot sideline. And their ability to keep all those guys in the game mentally is just incredible. So I'm going to let this one sink in for a while.

But for the Falcons fans out there, you know, I feel for these people. You know, I was a Patriot season ticket holder when they were the laughing stock of the NFL. So, you know, we do feel like we put in the time. But to see my 65-year-old mother brought to tears after this game is just an incredible feeling. And I know, obviously, we feel spoiled and a little bit blessed in the Boston area. There have been 10 championship parades in the city since I graduated college. Wow. You know, since February 3rd, 2002, there have been 10, and every major team has at least one.

So feel really good for Tom Brady, who as you know is Sean Shelby's first cousin. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I'm going to let this one continue to marinate for at least a few more weeks. I don't often say this in life, but I'm truly jealous of you people. I just want one. That's all I want. Just one. One in my lifetime.

That's it. Well, I remember when you were trying to figure out which baseball team your boys were going to root for and you were thinking maybe the Blue Jays, maybe the Yankees. No. You know, the red side's got no consideration. I understand that because now it's sort of an adopted New Yorker, but you know, don't be afraid. It's a great sports town, not just because of the fans. Sure. It's the executives, right? The fans sort of dictate the executives and the money that's spent.

So any time, you know, Walter and Oliver and the rest want on board, dude. Wait, this seems like a subtle shot at James Dolan. Is that what you're saying right now? Is this a Knicks shot right here? I don't have a great historical framework for the New York Knicks. I'm certainly on Steam Oakley. I'm glad he now has a place in the MMA Hour Studio in perpetuity. I hope that's the right way. So, you know, I love Charles Oakley was my favorite Nick of all time, too, as a Boston Celtics fan. You know, I think we all have an appreciation for what he brought to the table.

And if you saw that feature with Jason Williams, you know he's got a heart too. So I don't know. It's just a mess in New York. I always thought LeBron was going to go there. I thought he would really want to resuscitate Madison Square Garden and bring a championship to the Knicks. But I guess he had other ideas, unfortunately. Okay, let's talk about the fighting stuff because that's what people want to hear about. I heard from a lot of people.

So it was kind of like split. You know, MMA fans are creatures of habit, and they've been so used to the two-man booth. They introduced the three, or I should say reintroduced, because they did a way back in the day with Randy Guter, you, Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier.

And the biggest complaint that I got, and as I said at the top of the show, I loved it. I thought that you guys had great chemistry. You're all friends, flowed very nicely. It was nice to have a fighter in there as well. The biggest complaint I got was,

we didn't hear enough from John. It was tough for him to find his way in there. Honestly, how difficult was it for you to go from the two to the three, did you feel like you had to lay back a little bit because Cormier and Rogan have such strong opinions, they're great at breaking things down, and they're used to just being a part of a two-man booth.

For you, as the lead play-by-playman, how tricky was this for you on Saturday? It was a challenging broadcast. There are a lot of different wrinkles that go into it. And at least from a pay-per-view standpoint, there's a lot more sponsorship inventory. So I felt like every time I want to say something about fighting, you know, our stage manager Niners handed me a card

for Halo Wars 2. I hope they paid the UFC a lot of money for this weekend because I felt like every word out of my mouth was Halo Wars 2. But it's an interesting navigation with a three-man booth, particularly in mixed martial arts, a sport in which the line between play-by-play guy and analyst is blurred unlike in other sports. You know, there's a lot of real estate there, but it's not uncommon in MMA to hear an analyst call out a left hand or call out a combination. So that line is blurred in MMA. But I did have a sensitivity to Joe and Daniel. And I was, wanted to make sure, as any good play-by-play guy I think would want to do, that those two guys would shine. And I said going in, and I might have even texted you this, I was going to err on the

side of not saying enough. If there was going to be any criticism of me after this first pay-per-view or second pay-per-view for me, it was going to be that I didn't say enough. And I feel like after the fight past prelim and the prelims, I started to find my way a little bit and work my way in. But at the end of the day, dude, like, it's just not about me, you know? And it's not about me. I mean, it's about germane d'arandumie and holly home and joe rogan is brilliant and has such an infectious energy about him and you know if i take myself out of it and i put myself in joe rogan's shoes to his right is the ufc light heavyweight champion of the world and an olympic wrestler and to his left you know is a broadcaster right so if he was leaning towards dc a little bit early on or i was letting them

have their moments early on i think for a lot of fans they'd rather hear two of those guys you know I know I heard from a lot of fans who wanted to hear more of me. That's certainly not a criticism that's been levied at me in the past, and I'm okay with it. You know, I think UFC 209 will be a little bit better, but, you know, I thought it was a work in progress. And really what was interesting, I thought, too, was we didn't have much to work with with these fights. You know, there was one finish. There weren't a lot of seminal moments to cap necessarily. So it's a work in progress, but, you know, I think we're all sort of happy to have that first one in the can.

What do you prefer, two or three-man booth? It's hard to say because this was my first time working in a three-man booth. You know, anytime I get the chance to sit next to Joe Rogan, that's a special personal experience for me. And I feel like we have a good contrast in styles. You know, not a lot of people realize we have worked together three times in the past. We did a pay-per-view, a couple flight nights together. So it's different strokes, man. You know, I think for Brian Stan and Joe Rogan, I think they're so strong that they don't necessarily need a third guy there.

But I thought Rogan sort of passed the baton beautifully to me and Cormier all night long and sort of made us feel welcome in his space. So I can't say I have a preference. We're trying to do right by the fighters and the fans and, you know, hopefully there wasn't too much of a traffic jam. I mean, that was a big focus for me, making sure we weren't stepping on each other's dicks all night, you know? When you do the fight night show, you are doing the post-fight interviews. And I always kind of marvel at this because you're reading all the stuff and then you're going, you're doing interviewing and you're coming back. This is not common in sports. The play-by-play guy isn't doing, you know, post-game interviews. This time you're not because Rogan is there. Do you prefer, is this a little

less on your plate? Is that a welcome change when you're doing the paper views with Rogan? Well, I enjoy doing the post-fight interviews. I know like my wife likes to see my fat face on TV, but for me, it's a much easier navigation on fight night. At the end of the night, my voice feels in better shape. Not a lot of people realize when you're getting the arena going and capping a post-fight interview, there's a little bit of a voice strain there. And obviously being the primary traffic cop of the show, it's very difficult to go in and do the post-fight interview and come back and immediately you're banging that Metro PCS read. So selfishly from a seven-hour broadcast standpoint, it's much easier to not do the post-fight

interviews. And obviously when Rogan's there, he's the best in the business. I'm happy to defer. So this has been an interesting time for you. In December, we catch wind of the fact that Mike Goldberg is not coming back. His contract wasn't renewed. Beloved figure, been around for so long, and you're the new play-by-play guy. But just being, you know, as honest as possible.

said this publicly on Twitter on this show, and I've said it to you privately, you should be the guy. It should be no questions asked. You have done the time. You have been there for five years. You do the most research. You're the best in the business. And yet, I don't feel like they've come out and said, you're the guy. You haven't been given, you know, that title. You haven't been given that stamp of approval, that seal of approval. What has the whole transition like been for you after, you know, the sort of hullabaloo over Goldie's departure, the aftermath, and now you kind of re-debueing on paper for you. I know you did the 155 show. He was taking a break, but this is like, you know, really, you know, your spot now. What has it been like for you? Well, it hasn't been

easy. You know, I've had a lot of internal support from guys like Craig Borsari and Zach Candido to maybe reassure me at times when I was frustrated with the way things were playing out. And certainly as I've expressed to you privately, and I would say now to others publicly, the support from the MMA community has meant a lot to me and I think even more so to my family. But again, I hate to trot out the Bill Belichick line that it's on to UFC 209 in Las Vegas for me. But as you know, and I've said this to a million times, I've always approached this job as if I'm show to show and that I'm only as good as my last show and I need to go out and prove that I'm the guy to do the job.

You know, I do feel like at this point, Dana White is entrusting me with his paper views and giving me a chance to earn the job as the lead play-by-play voice. And now I've got to go out and prove that I'm the guy. And hopefully UFC 208 was a step in the right direction. I mean, yeah, would I have loved some fancy press release that says I'm the next guy because I got a couple of years left on my contract? Sure, it would have been nice, but I'm not really in the ego massaging business, and I understand that. And I think it aids performance, you know. I think when you have a boss that, you know, has high demands of you and isn't always massaging you, I think it can only help your performance.

So for better or for worse, that's the way I'm approaching it. And, you know, hopefully I'll continue to do enough to earn this job. And I don't know. I mean, it sounds probably like a little bit of a cop-out answer, but I really feel like it's the only way for me to approach the job at this point. I'm certainly not holding my breath for any public acknowledgement of the promotion. I certainly don't consider it that way because it's consistent with what you said to me privately. But I'm wondering if privately you've been told anything differently because in December, Dana was talking about a dream team, July, this and that. Are you fighting for your job right now?

Like, do you really consider yourself fighting pay-per-view to pay-per-view, or have they told you otherwise behind? the scenes. Well, you know, as far as I know, there isn't a line of play-by-play guys that they're considering to come in and replace me. So as far as I've been told, I'm being given every chance to win the job. And that's sort of the way I'm approaching it. You know, my flights are only booked for UFC 209 and UFC 210, but I will be working the next two paper views. And, you know, hopefully we continue on an upward trajectory. You know, I love working with Joe and hopefully, increasingly he will have that feeling be mutual. I think it's hard for Joe. to lose his right hand man and Mike Goldberg, but I think I bring a different style to the table,

and hopefully in some respects I make his job a little bit easier. So yeah, no, nothing really has been guaranteed me, but, you know, it's fully my expectation that it's my job to lose, and I'm going to go fucking win it, you know. One thing that I've always appreciated about you and Mike Goldberg is when they brought you in, I mean, this was a really new thing because he was the voice of the UFC that was never a second guy, there was never a B team, so to speak, right? and I've always heard him publicly and privately praise you talk about your relationship and you've done the same. When you found out that he was leaving and even in the weeks after, did you have any communication with him? He was on this show and spoke very highly of you as well.

And I think that's amazing because you guys were kind of in competition, if you will, and still were able to be very professional and nice and friendly towards each other. And that's not exactly common in this ego-driven business. So what's it been like with you guys since you found out that he was leaving? Well, we both were informed, I think, on the same day in early December that they were making some changes. And the next time I was able to see him was in Sacramento. So after the way-in show in Sacramento, I was working for Fox. I made my way down to the octagon and made a point to go see him. And I kept it brief, but I just said, dude, I don't know what's going on.

Nobody in this business has more respect for you or the job that you've done than I do. I was a senior in high school when you call your first UFC fight. I know your future's in the Hall of Fame. And I think I said at the time, dude, you know, I'm probably not part of any dream. team either. You know, I really am in the dark as to what's going on, but I wanted to at least pay my respects because it seemed like maybe he was a little bit caught off guard by the decision, by the company to sort of move on from him. So I paid my respects. You know, we stay in touch, obviously, and I felt the support from him. I certainly heard it on your show and in other places,

and that means a lot to me. You know, I really do have a lot of respect for the way he handled himself, particularly when this all went down. And I think you're going to hear from his voice pretty soon. I remember sitting with Dana White at UFC 136 in Houston, and this is before the Fox deal really went to effect. And he told me, I don't know if I ever told you this, I may have. He told me, we just signed the future star of this business. The guy that we signed is going to be the best broadcaster. I'm so excited, blah, blah, blah.

And then UFC 137, they officially announced you, right? In front of New York, New York, Diaz, B.J. Penn. He was obviously talking about you. He didn't tell me at the time who it was. but obviously I had some inklings. If you could go back and tell that John Anick, 2011, about what was to come the next five years? What advice would you give him?

What have you learned over the last five years about the job? Well, I've just learned to pace myself, for one, this is a very different animal than calling a football game, and I think until you actually go through the seven-hour broadcast, you don't realize that you better save room and you register for that main event. And I think it's something Daniel Cormier dealt with a little bit. You know, you're going guns blazing on the prelims,

And then all of a sudden, you know, hour six rolls around and you're just completely gas. So certainly to pace myself, but also to be myself. You know, I'll never forget that press conference. But what I most remember is Dana White and Craig Borsar, bringing me into Dana's office and saying, look, dude, your haters are going to triple, but we didn't hire you to be Mike Goldberg. We didn't hire you to be Joe Rogan. You got to be true to yourself. And I've tried hard to stay true to myself.

You know, I'm not a lifelong martial artist, right? Like I'm a broadcaster. I have a radio background, increasingly a TV background. But I got to be true to myself. You know, I have started training jujitsu, even though I'd probably rather be playing basketball or playing tennis, you know, but I've done that, I think, for the sake of the job. But to just be true to yourself and to just recognize that I think for a lot of play-by-play guys, Joe Buck deals with massive amounts of hatred. And you just have to, as Bill Belichick would say, ignore the noise. And I think by and large, I've done a pretty good job of ignoring the noise.

And there was certainly a lot of it after UFC 208. But, man, you know, I feel like I've aged a lot, Ariel. I'll be honest with you, man. Really? You know, I feel like I've aged about 10 or 15 years since 2011. My little daughters, I think, have something to do with that. But the job's beat me up, man. I mean, I'm not going to lie.

It's been a lot of international trips, 20 trips to Brazil, six to Australia, Singapore, Macau a couple times. I'm pretty beat up for 38, man. I'm not going to lie. Do you enjoy it? Do you like the decision? Are you happy with your move? Are you happy with the move to leave you SPN and come do this?

Looking back, would you? would you do the same thing? Yes, absolutely. You know, I wasn't getting enough live event play-by-play work at ESPN, and this remains my dream job, and this is why I sacrifice about 125 nights a year away from my little girls, you know, to do the job that I love. So there's nothing in the world I'd rather be doing.

And as I've said a million times, you know, I'm a Boston sports fan, but MMA has ruined a lot of those sports for me. Like, I can't watch the NBA regular season. It just doesn't get my pulse going. So I did get to do a college football game, for FS1 last year and football is certainly my first love and something that I'll always hope to maybe get back to at some point in time. But I took this job hoping that I would do it for 25 years and I feel like I'm just getting started. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to do this well into

my 40s and beyond, you know. So I actually listened to that broadcast and you were great and I've heard you do non-MMA stuff as well. When are we going to see you pop up on other FS1 shows or maybe not FS1? I mean, let's let's see some baseball. Let's see some more football. What's going on. When can we get this done? How can we get this done? Well, that's kind of you. It was a huge thrill to do that college football game, and it was sort of funny because it was a big national Pac-12 game. I was expecting they'd give me sort of a local game on Fox Sports, Florida or something, and it ended up being a national game. I have never had more anxiety for anything in my life than calling that college football game because I hadn't

done a football game in four and a half years. It's a national game on FS1. You know, I really had to get pep talks from my twin brother and keep the confidence. up because I was pretty intimidated walking to Husky Stadium that night. But, you know, right now, my schedule is such that, you know, I barely have time to produce my own podcast, to be honest with you. And I don't know how long that thing's going to live. It's just, it's a lot right now with the live events. And, you know, I think the most I've ever done is 23 in a year. And I'm probably going to do 25 or more this year. So at least right now, there's not a lot of time for anything else. You know, still got to work in being a father, as you well know, as well. So at least right now, the focus is mixed

martial arts. Certainly I would hope to do another football game. I would hope to do an NFL game before, you know, I set the voice aside for good, but at least right now, the UFC is keeping me more than busy. So you say around 25 events, I reported a couple weeks ago they're shooting for 41 this year. Does that mean that Todd Grisham is doing the other 16? What can you tell us? Or is there a third man coming? Well, your boy, John Gooden's in the mix, and we'll see what the protection will be, obviously, you know, hopefully John gets some increased opportunity. Yes. That's a good man there. Todd Grisham will be calling for you. fight Sunday night in Halifax. I know I'm doing the Fort DeLaza show in Brazil, but hopefully,

again, I mean, I'm in the dark when it comes to this stuff, but hopefully Todd will get some increased repetitions, which is really the only way to get better and lighten my load a little bit. I think internally, they'd rather not have me do more than three weekends in a row. Yeah. And this was really hard three-week stretch, right, doing Denver, Houston, and then closing it out with the pay-per-view in Brooklyn, 76 fighters or so in three weeks, it's impossible to give them all the attention that they deserve. And then when you inject all of the show formulaics and everything else that goes into

the equation, three and three weeks, maybe to an NFL play by play guy that goes 17 straight weeks, it sounds like nothing. But three and three weeks was a big challenge for me. So I think they're trying to avoid me doing four consecutive weekends. But you just got, you know, hey, when they call due, when they tell, you know, when they say you're going to Fort DeLesa on the frickin Equator, you know, I answer that. I thought maybe you'd be spared from some of those Forta Liza shows now that you're you're the guy, but I guess not. Hey, you know, 20 first trip to Brazil, but who's counting?

Wow, unbelievable. Okay, so let me ask you about Saturday since you were there. You can't really score the fights when you're calling them. I mean, you're freaking doing your job, but if I asked you, who do you think won the main event? Do you have an answer? You know, I thought Germain to randomly won the main event. One thing that's interesting, and perhaps your listeners and viewers will find this interesting, when I'm doing the FS1 shows, internationally in particular, we have no stats. And I'm not the biggest stats guy in the world. But sometimes it's hard when you're calling these paper views and you do have the stats monitor to your left to not invoke the stats at times, right?

But it doesn't always tell the whole picture, right? Just because one fighter lands more significant strikes and Germain Durandum, at least in terms of her striking was far more efficient, it doesn't necessarily mean that she won the fight. I mean, how do you quantify Holly Holmes' takedown attempts, right? Certainly disappointing that she was 0 for 9, but she was certainly forcing the issue. So I thought it was a very close fight. I think I speak for the masses when I say I'm not in any great rush to see it again. But at least after watching it once live, by and large, I thought the more effective striker won the fight. Let me ask you what I asked New York Rick at the top of the show, for Holly to now lose three straight fights after the Ronda fight, after the Ronda win.

Do you think it changes the way people will view her? Does it change the way you view it? To follow up your greatest victory, without a doubt, and when you're going to change, you think, one of the greatest moments in the history of the sport with three straight losses. What does that do to the victory that we're talking about? You get what I'm saying? Yeah. No, I mean, I think it affects her legacy.

I think it's a big part of the narrative. I think now when people talk about her beating Ronda Rousey, they're going to follow it up and say, yeah, but she lost her next three. And even though I think, as you put it, maybe it was a Hail Mary fight against Misha Tate, and that should have been maybe a win for her, but it wasn't. And then obviously this was a close fight, but the record reads what it reads. And, you know, I remember first Holly home fight I called against Maureen Runeau and San Diego, actually the last time I was on this show, the whole post-fight interview, she's getting roundly booed by the whole crowd, you know? So she's had to deal with a lot of adversity, I think, from fans who haven't felt like her style has been all that aesthetically pleasing the Ronda fight notwithstanding.

So, you know, she's had to deal with, I think, a lot of adversity in her mixed martial arts career. I got to remember, too, this is a fighter who only has been training full-time in MMA, technically since 2013, even though her pro-MMA, debut came in 2011. So I think Holly's got some work to do. I think it's got to be frustrating for her that she's worked with Izzy Martinez for this long and that she couldn't take down Germain Durandumie. I think that was probably eye-opening for her. I feel like she felt like she was going to be able to take Germain down. And I think maybe internally some self-doubt might be creeping in a little bit like, man, you know, I've been working hard. If I can't take down Germain, you know, who can I take down? So we'll see where she goes from here. I think the fight that makes the most

sense is Giuliana Pena. But, you know, best of luck beating that monster on a three-fight losing streak. So that fight to me has a lot of legs. There's friction between those two to begin with. But that would be no easy task for Holly as she tries to avoid a four straight loss. And Anderson Silva, Derek Brunson, who do you think won? I mean, again, I know you're not scoring the fights, but what are you leaning towards? When you were watching, were you shocked like a lot of us were that Anderson got the nod?

Yeah, I mean, we called that fight as a Derek Brunson win. And I certainly thought he was the more effective guy, but all of that said, I didn't think Brunson was particularly effective in the fight. So I wasn't totally surprised to see the judges give it to Anderson Silva. I did say on the broadcast, I think these judges do have a tendency, and I hate to generalize, but I will, they're impressionable when it comes to crowd noise. And every time Anderson Silva moves his head off the center line, they go crazy, never mind throwing or landing a strike. And I feel like sometimes the crowd gets affected by that. I have long said they should be in the back watching monitors with noise canceling headphones on and remove the sound as part of any sort of judging equation. But no, I thought Derek Bronson won the fight.

I certainly wouldn't trot out the word robbery because by and large I didn't think Brunson was all that effective. But Anderson, Sylva, you know, I think he'll fight on and certainly his family and his boys want him to. But I think his chin isn't what it used to be. And as such, I think it sort of mutes his offense a little bit. and he's doing a lot of movement and not really doing a whole lot. So, again, it was happy to see him have that moment, and obviously the emotions boiled over, but I thought it was a forgettable fight by and large on what candidly was a pretty forgettable night, at least in terms of the action.

And I appreciate that, candor. By the way, when you are done calling a show, you must be exhausted, right? I mean, I can't even imagine. Seven hours. I'm exhausted doing this show, you know, three and a half, four hours. Do you go to Twitter? Do you read your mentions? What does that like?

Because I know how, you know, it could be tough sometimes. What do you do? What's the sort of, you know, routine of yours? I stuff my face. Okay. So eating is the first priority. And depending on which part of the world I'm in, you know, I would try to get in touch with my wife or my kids, depending on the time of day. But, yeah, eventually I find my way to Twitter because I do feel like there's a lot of constructive stuff in there, right? And ultimately, I'm sifting through more for things

that are constructive, especially when you're trotting out a three-man booth for the first time in a long time. I think there's constructive stuff out there. And yeah, you just try to mute the hate. You know, I don't block anybody on Twitter, but I'm certainly not afraid to mute the hate that's out there. But, you know, we're also pretty wired as drained as we are. You know, we're all hopped up on green tea and energy drinks. So it does take you a while to come down after these shows. And it is a little bit of a high getting through one. And especially my first pay-per-view since 2012. It's a little bit of a high. But yeah, it's a grind man, no doubt about it. It's crazy having called that football game last year. Like, you blink.

It's friggin' half time. Then you get it. break and then the game's over. This is an entirely different beast. And, you know, I can see why back in the early days with boxing and even MMA, why they didn't have the announcers calling the early prelims. I can understand why there was a time in combat sports. And that window has closed for better or for worse. But I can understand why there was a time in combat sports where the announcers didn't call the prelims because you got to save your best stuff for the fights that matter the most. Did you feel like a bit of a rookie? Like when they were counting you down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, we're about to go live on pay-per-view. There's a buzz in the air, all that stuff. Did it feel?

feel a little different, the butterflies, you know, like the first show or second show, whatever? You know, I feel like I have said in the past that when I work the desk now for Fox, I don't have the nerves that used to accompany me when I would work the desk. And I say to our Fox executives, I wish I could get those nerves back because I think they can be a performance enhancer. And for whatever reason, when I'm working the desk, it's just so familiar to me now that I probably have a very still resting heart rate. But when I call fights, dude, not that it feels like the first fight. I mean, I was far more anxious for my first pay-per-view. UFC-155. I got the call on Christmas Day that I was going to be doing the paper view four days later. I almost at times didn't have time

to be nervous because there was so much damn work to get ready for it. But yeah, you feel the energy in that building. And dude, it's a pinch me moment when I'm sitting next to Joe Rogan. You know, I think maybe that will dissipate as I work with him more, this being the fourth time I've worked with him. But dude, you look to your left and it's Joe Rogan instead of Brian Stan who's like my best friend in the world and it just has a little bit of a bigger feel. You know, Brian and I spent so much time together that there's just a comfortability and a familiarity there that Joe and I don't have yet. So, you know, maybe that added to some nerves, but certainly when I'm cracking the mic and doing my opening on camera, I'm not thinking about anything,

but, you know, delivering the message to the masses, you know. Last thing, and I don't want to put you on the spot here, but I do know that Ari Emanuel was in the building. Do you talk to him? Did you have any conversations, a cup of coffee, any how you doing, is anything like that? So I got to meet him in Houston and I got to meet his son, which was nice. And, you know, he came over to the broadcast table and sort of just gave me a nice reassuring rub on the shoulder for lack of a better way to put it. So Ari's been great. You know, again, I haven't had much dealings with the WME IMG people because Dana White's still

calling all the shots when it comes to production. You know, I know other departments have been affected more by this transition. But I can say with 100% veracity that from a live production standpoint, very little has changed. We've lost a few employees, unfortunately, Frosty. One of our good audio guys is no longer with us as he's moved on to the WWE. But by and large, the production channels are still the same, you know, from Dana White, Craig Borsari on down. So at least our world hasn't really changed too much. You know, maybe there will be a time where I can really talk to Ari about the broadcast and some of the challenges that we face.

but at least right now, it's all systems go and status quo largely, you know. And by the way, I hate that it happened, but I love that it was you in D.C. who gave the tribute to our pal, Adam Geller, because I know how much he loved you. And, I mean, you even made the trip to the funeral. I know he was a big part of your career and you just considered him a great friend. So that was awesome. That made me smile. And I don't know about you because this is so Adam Geller, but I felt like somewhere he was like, I made it on a UFC broadcast. Like, he would be the one to make the inappropriate joke about. the tribute to him on the broadcast, and I felt like just somewhere he was just loving the whole thing.

No doubt about, you know, I mean, it's small potatoes, but on our podcast, we name the fighter of the year award, the Snacks Geller fighter of the year, and trying to sort of memorialize him as best we could. And even being able to at the funeral tell his wife, Deb, that I was going to be working my first pay-per-view in Brooklyn was special because she's a die-hard MMA fan too. And, gosh, I mean, Snacks would have been the second or third person I told when that opportunity came my way. And obviously I wasn't in a position to share that news with him. But, you know, just a guy who was full of life, obviously. And I don't know that anybody attributed him any better than you did right here on the

MMA hour. But it's, you know, being in Brooklyn where he spent so many nights with the Nets, it was hard not to think about him a lot during that night. And I know for, you know, his daughter, Sidney and his wife, Deb, she pushed out a tweet from his account, you know, over the beginning. Oh, really? Well, I think he felt it too with the UFC being in Brooklyn. and I think she felt it, and that's what sort of inspired her to push out a tweet,

just thanking everybody for the support. But gosh, man, I'm just like still, still in total, doc, you know. Wow, you gave me goosebumps hearing that. I actually texted him when I found out the news, and my wife was like, why are you texting him? I just found out that he passed, and she wrote back. And when I saw his name pop up, it just kind of took my breath away. But she's been very strong, and I thought it was really cool that you in D.C. did that.

You're the man, John, continued success to you. I know it doesn't mean much for me and probably might work against you, but I'll say it anyway. If those people at WMEIMG are looking for anyone else, they are wasting their time, they're making a big mistake. They are out of their minds. There's the only one of the man that should be doing that job right now, and it's you. Continued success, like I said, good job on Saturday, great job. And I think another thing that people don't take into account, the seven-hour broadcast is something, but the way that you go from partner to partner, you know, that's not easy.

I mean, you go from Rogan to Florian to Stan to D.C. to cruise. No other broadcaster does that. It's always these teams that go together and you do it seamlessly. So great job. You're an inspiration and you continue to kick ass. And I'm pretty sure that sooner rather than later, they are going to give you that stamp of approval that you are looking for, my man. Thank you so much, man.

The biggest perk to work in the big shows, I finally get to see you again. Yes, although not this time. Every other delays the ladies to gentlemen. Yeah, no. I was in the back spilling past on myself so I didn't get to see you this time. but one of these days we'll run into each other again. Thank you, my friend. Good to see you.

All right, there he is, John Anick. Also, check out his podcast, the Annik and Florian podcast with the great Kenny Florian. They do a great job every week as well. And yeah, I mean, I just, if you're looking for someone, there's only, the guy has put in the time five years he's been doing this. There's no one else who deserves that job, who is better at that job right now than John Anick, in my opinion.

And I don't know about any, you know, dream teams, whatever. what anyone's talking about. That's the guy for the job, in my opinion, now that Mike Goldberg is no longer with the UFC. Okay, let's move along. One last guest, and we've been talking about him. All show long sprinkled throughout the show. He fought Anderson Silva. It was controversial. I thought he won at least two rounds to one. If not, three rounds to none. We're talking about Derek Brunson, and he's joining us via the magical Skype right now. Derek, how are you? What's up, man? I'm all right. It could be better, but yeah, I'm good. So here we are like 36 hours later.

What's it feel like? Are you starting to get over it? Are you more upset? What stage in terms of you dealing with the loss are you at? Well, I had an interview with Damon from MMA. Was you with MMA weekly now, I think? Fox Sports. Fox Sports.

Okay, yeah, I had an interview with Damon. I had an interview with you. And after this, I'm done talking about it. But, yeah, I heard Anick a little bit, and he said, you know, I think he said he had me winning, but it was a forgettable fight, blah, blah, blah. That's not, that's not, I think sometimes the fans listen to the analysts and the people covering and the media. I think we need to be more respectful of what's going on. We took this fight on short notice.

Anderson was in great shape. You know, I've seen Anderson a little glimpse of a six-pack. I haven't seen him in a six-pack ever. So I'm taking he was in really good shape. I was not, you know. I had to really push my cardio and change my diet. do a lot of things to get in the shape against this guy who is a phenomenal striker. I train with some guys who fight in glory.

I train with top-level kickboxes. I chain with John Jones. And they weren't the striker that Anderson Civil was after face him. You know, this guy, you come in stepping on a lazy jab. He's going to counter you and put you out to fight. You know, that's why he's done it over and over his whole career, you know. And to go out there and I watched the fight about 20 minutes ago because I wanted to make sure when I come on here that I thoroughly watch the fight and I know what I'm saying.

And man, it's no way he won that fight. Like any, I heard fans saying, oh, well, he's the older guy. He didn't do much or you should have pushed more. Like, guys, look, watch the fight, score the fight as it should be. Oh, he defended your takedowns. You don't get points for defending takedowns, you know. The first round, 39 to 8. I hit him 39 times.

He hit me 8 times. I probably hit him with like 12 uppercuts out of the clinch, where he normally put guys the way out of the Moitai clinch. Like, so it was nasty in the Moitai clinch. In the third round, I outscored him 31 to 18. In the first and a third, I had takedowns. So you tell me who winning. And I also heard someone says,

okay, in the first round, he controlled a whole fight. We stood in front of the octagon for two minutes waiting for, I wasn't going to be overzealous and get caught with a counter. He was worried about me coming for it, being reckless, so he can counter me. Two minutes we stood in front each other. No one really done anything. We're kind of fainting. I then took over, and I started faking at him.

He started backing up. I got him against the cage. The next two minutes, I control the Octagon. You might can give him the last minute of the round. If you do that, I win the first round in Ottingon control. So it's no way that he won that fight. The judge was just in awe. And every time he moved, as Annick said on the broadcast,

the crowd went crazy. So, you know, it's just crazy. It sucks for a fighter to work really hard and, you know, I shouldn't have took that fight. I shouldn't have took that fight. I can't keep, you know, saving cars or doing things I'm not supposed to. Even in Whitaker fight. I was ready for a three-round fight.

Three to four, Lou Rockwoods get injured five rounds. I should have said, no, I'll be made event, but it's going to be three. Yeah. Like, if not take me off the car, you know, I have to do those type of things, you know. I can't, you know, fight one of those. the greatest of all time who has, you know, six striking on three weeks. And then when I fight, I go out there and I get through the fight, you know, I'm out there fighting, you know, and then I get robbed, you know, it's just crazy.

So do you regret taking the fight? Um, you know what? I regret in a simple fact that the fans are unappreciative of, you know, they got to see an honest simple fight who's one of their favorite fighters. And I went out there and I gave it my all and, you know, a late ad for sure. And it just saw the disrespect that comes, comes about. I really, honestly, I really don't care. and I really don't read a lot of stuff on social media anymore.

Like, I post stuff and people would share their opinions, but I really don't feed into that anymore. I kind of like, so if somebody's sending me a good job, or I might overlook it because some of fans have abuse like. You know, I get, like, you know, I've been, that was my 21st fight, and I've been in Strike Force or the UFC for 14 of those fights. So, you know, my media has grown, you know. I have a lot of people paying attention now,

So I get a lot of comments, you know, probably get 500 to 1,000, you know, often, you know. So I don't know. I think people need to be more respect to the fans, you know. Be more respectful of what's going on. Even people who cover in the fight, you know, know what's going on. Judges, let's not be in awe of who's fighting. Judge the fight, you know. If you judge the fight, it's no way statistically he can win that fight, you know.

So you think if you're fighting some other guy, not Anderson's Silver, like just some random middleweighted or Robert Whitaker, same exact fight, you win that fight. Are you saying that you thought that the judges were sort of in awe of Anderson because he's Anderson Silva? If I fought anybody, yeah. Yeah. Same fight. Yeah. I win.

Okay. I tell you what, Ariel, Ariel, who did you have winning? You? Okay. Let's say this. Okay. If Anderson, if the stats were opposite and I did what Anderson did to me and he did what he did to me, who would have won that fight? Obviously him.

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And I'm not, it's not Anderson's fault. Nothing from that guy. Sure, I mean, it's not his fault. And I get me like, oh, you had too much respect. No, I'm just not trying to be stupid like I did in my past fight, you know? I'm not being reckless against a great counterstrike.

I'm not being reckless. I know I can knock guys out. I have to find that patience in my game and be a part of the process. And I'm learning that. You know, I'm getting better. You know, I'm evolving. And this was an evolving fight. The whole time we worked on not leaning with your chin up.

Was my chin up that fight, you know? Yeah, I know. I thought you made nice adjustments, as I said at the top. Were you at all? Did you feel, though, because you were coming off, this is the one thing that I thought was interesting about this scenario for you. Here you are coming off of a knockout. You were very, you know, kind of disappointed with your performance against Robert Woodacran.

And then you do so against Anderson, who's such a great counterstriker. Do you feel that you were a little tentative, a little gun-shy early, just because you didn't want to repeat the same thing? No, I wouldn't say a tentative at all. Okay. It was, I was measuring. I was going to hit him. I'm trying to knock him out.

Yeah. I'm trying to knock him out. You know, I see so many fights. And I heard Annexade, oh, it was a forgettable fight. Cool. Was all GSP fights forgettable? Let's just say that. Let's say all the GSP fights were forgettable.

He sucks. Get him all here. He don't deserve to be in the UFC. Because I'm sure he had five fights, six fights in a row, title fights that he did not finish, but he's fighting the highest level guy. So we call that forgettable. Throw him out of here. Get him out of it.

He sucks. You know, like, you know, this is his crutch. crazy, you know. It's just crazy, you know. So you said that you watched the fight. Which rounds did you score for yourself? One and three easily. Okay. And now, like I said, one, 39 to eight. I hit him 39 times. He hit me eight times. I, Anderson's a striker, right? Correct? Yes, I know. I outstruck him with the kicks. I led it more. Layed kicks. I let it more. I think I hit him with about three rear kicks the whole fight. But I, you know, jab, you know, inside leg kick because we both lefties. You know, I'm just trying to set up, trying to find, you know, holes, you know, open up my part of the game.

Third round, I came out aggressive, you know, in the striking sense. I came out, jab kick, then I came straight left over the top, uppercut hook, hit him with like five punches. Like, you know, I'm going out here making the adjustments. He's not easy to put away, you know. The only time he's really been put away in his career, he had his chin down. just being absolutely ridiculous against Chris Wyman. You know, I was even watching the fights, and I like his showbole. I love watching his fights, you know, it's like it's entertaining, you know, the crowd loves it.

And when he fought Wyman, he showboated the first round, and right at the beginning of the second round, he dropped his hands, wagging his head, egg in the morning, like, come on, come on. He gets leg kick, he gets jab. He's like, come on, come on. Hands completely down, you know, that's the only time he got put away. Other than that, Anderson doesn't get put away. he's too skilled to just go out there and just take the guy out. And yes, I heard Annex A, his chin become lessened. Yeah, he's getting older.

He might have slowed down a bit, but what? He's still faster than 95% of the middle weights in the UFC. I would say the fastest middleweight in the UFC myself, Uriah Hall, Anderson Silver. I would say the most technical seasoned fighter at middleweight, Anderson Silver. You know, like you might have somebody like you might have Mossasi fight him, can get his jab going take him down, lay on him won't submit him.

You know, you might have Jacqueray take him down. I see kind of Anneson's crafty on the ground. Another fine, Jiu-Jitsu, probably picking him apart on the feet unless Jacaray hits him with a hard shot because Jacaray he hits hard, you know, he's a stiff guy, but Anish picks him apart.

So, Anderson is still alive, man. The dude take care of his body however you want to say that, you know? He had great supplements. What's you saying? What are you saying? What are I saying? I'm going to let the fan say it. For this fight? For this fight? No, no, no, no. Oh, I'm just saying in the past. Let's talk about what we actually know. The guy who take care of his body. Sure. So he can fight for a long time. This is not the 1950s. Guys can, Bernard Hopkins. He fights a young guy when he's 49,

undefeated prospect, 22 and 0. He's 49. Oh, Bernard Hopkins is amazing. 50. He loses. Oh, he sucks. He need to retire. Make it your mind. You know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Honestly, when you watch back that fight, are there, you know, is there one or two things that you say, man, I should have done this, though? Like, I know you say that you won, and I agree with you, but it's very hard to pitch the perfect game, perfect fight. In hindsight, are there things that you wish you would have done to cement the fact that you want to really, you know, put a stamp on each round? Is there anything that comes to mind? I wish I wouldn't have been, like, willing to step in on short notice and fight. That's the only thing I could have, you know, because. But not about the fight itself. Not about the fight itself. I guess in the third round, I could have passed it up and threw more punches. But like I said, I outlanded him 31 to 18.

I counted the strikes. And I had like five people in there like, no, yes, no. We got to give him that. Even though punches, I was like, he didn't hit me. They're like, yeah, well, it looked like it. I'm like, okay, cool, we'll give him this, you know. So, yeah, like, I walk away from the fight. And I can remember the times I got hit and nothing significant.

Like my chin was buried. He hit me with a couple of jabs. He threw some, like, flying knees. None of those landed. He threw it out. He did a little Capoeila, threw a kick, a block that, shook it off. Like, no, that didn't land. You know, the crowd loved it.

Because, I mean, the guy's an entertainer, you know? But it's just entertainment or are we fighting and we scoring points, you know, are knocking people out. That's the name of the game, you know? Do you feel like you were robbed the greatest moment of your career? I mean, this is no, this is not a typical opponent. This is Anderson Silva. Do you feel like these three judges robbed you of that?

that's the issue Ariel that's the best way to put it like you look for these defining moments like we can talk about it right now and I've heard people reaction and you know I have the I hated people say oh he went 3027

I heard like five people say that they just retarded excuse my word because that's not a proper word to say but it's just ridiculous but for for you to say Anna's the Civil 1 is just crazy but yeah

it's There's no way he won that fight. I got sidetracked me. So what was the question? I was asking if you thought that maybe, I guess I'm wondering. Oh, yeah. You were robbed.

And they took this moment away from you. These three individuals took this moment from you. Exactly, man. Like, you don't get into this, like, for instance, you got into this sport. When you first started journalism or, you know, you have your show. You didn't get into this to be like,

I'm going to be Air Holwani walking around the streets of New York, heading out business cars, trying to hopefully find my shot. You know, you want to do this big. You want it to be the best at what you do. Sure, sure. That was my defining moment to, like, you know, get a significant win. People are going to look back and people going to be like, you know,

90% of people I've heard say you won that fight. But you know what? Eventually that's going to evaporate. We're not going to be talking about that. We're going to look at the stats. Who won, who lost, not how the fight went, you know? And that's the most important thing that was taken away from me, you know. I went out there, forget how to,

the fight was excited. The fight had spurts of excitement. You know, we traded punches. You know, we were in the clench. You know, he defended a takedown. He's coming up with knees. I'm coming up with uppercuts, trying to, you know, just finish him. So it had his flashes.

But regardless of whether there's most exciting fight or not, definitely, you know, a career defining moment, you know, was taken away from me. And, you know, it is what it is? People expect from me. I hear people say, quit whining, move on. So what? I'm not supposed to care?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's crazy. Leave your house. Leave your house unlocked. Leave your house. Let somebody walk in, steal whatever they want to. Don't file a report and just be completely okay with it because it's over it. It doesn't matter. You know, you can't. It's just crazy comments, you know.

Yeah. And after this interview, I'm planning on moving on. I don't want to talk about it anymore because it doesn't matter, you know. But just so it's credential. Somebody said somebody inbox me and said, hey, they just said, They just stole your achievements and money from you. Correct. You know, money comes and go.

You know, yeah, I want my win bonus. And, yeah, that's a lot of money, you know, that I just lost out on when I clearly thought I wanted to fight. And I really did, you know. But, yeah, the lifetime achievements. And, you know, I think Anderson has a lot of fights left for them, you know. Yeah, like somebody said, his chin might be regressed. But, you know, everybody has a weak chin if you get hit in it, you know.

So his thing is going down the end part of his career, he want to be elusive and he want to hit guys and he can make guys pay from the outside you know I'm fast and it wasn't easy to just you know exploding to hit him and he and a lot of times when I was trying to set up he was pulling pulling pulling I saw him pulling wait for my counters you know

so I had to be a little bit better with my setups you know so yeah definitely you know they stole a moment for me and you know I can I can retire a win over Anderson I can retire today and open up a gym and say I'll be Anderson 7 Not so, you know. Not anymore. They took that from you.

Did you talk to Dana White in the back afterwards? Do we still have him? I think he may have lost him. I actually just had two questions left for Derek Brunzel. I think he's in a grocery store or something. I hear people like, beep, beep, but I do appreciate him stopping by. And he actually reminded me of something when he was talking about the win bonus. Oh, is he back?

Derek, are you there? It always happens, man. Either my daughter or somebody called me. And by the way, wow, your daughter is something else. I had no idea that she was like a beauty pageant girl. We learned this on Embedded. Is that the one you're talking about? Yeah, I know.

And I know exactly where she gets it from. Holy smokes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was really cool. It's funny how everything just kind of lined up at the right time. Get that on camera? She actually entered it. Say it again? To get that all on camera for the Embedded show.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because she entered late and, funny enough, so I was bombarded. with like media obligations for this fight because obviously it was a big fight and he wanted to push everything. So I was kind of like, no, it was an hour and 30 minutes away, the pageant was, so they rode with me.

The embedded guy was with me. At first I was like, no, you guys can like, chill while I go do this. It was kind of cool, you know, everything worked out and, you know, it definitely captured that moment. Yeah, yeah. She was excited.

It was great to learn more about your family and to see you get that shine. Two last quick things for you. Did you speak to Dana White after the fight? And if so, what do you say to you? I text Dana White and he kind of put me on blast

What? What did he say? Well, so I text him something like You know, like, you know I went out there and performed and my The fight was taken away from me and you know I lost money in the fight You know, I didn't get my win bonus when I was supposed to

I guess And he said something in the interview like Derek Texts me about the win bonus Or something like that But I can sympathize for guys I can listen to guys But you know You got to go out

and finish fights and you gotta win correct you know so but I didn't hear the interview it was just kind of transcribed yeah but then one of my corners heard the interview and there was like he wasn't trying to be like rude or malicious about it he was just like you know making a statement but I was like he could have like left for a little text out of it

did he write you back yeah he texted me back okay did he said that he thought you won right yeah he thought I went yeah okay okay I thought I won so yeah so yeah I mean but like I said man it ain't even so much about the fight and it ain't about being a crabby. But, you know, like, Ariel, if you took a fight and it was against Anderson Silva,

and you beat Anderson Silver up, I'm sure you want that win. Yeah, you don't have to explain yourself to me, man. You know, this is why I wound you on. I mean, I even tweeted, my heart goes out to you. I feel for you right now because you were robbed of this moment. I thought you did enough. Took a fight on a month's notice against Anderson Silva. He's still Anderson Silva.

I even tweeted after the first round. I had the feeling it was tense watching that fight. It was one of the more enjoyable fights on a somewhat lackless. cluster card because you felt at any point with his speed, his power that he has left and your power that something was going to happen at some point. And so I was on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed it. There was no finish, but there were moments. Like when he had you in clinch and you were hitting him with those uppercuts, I mean, those were some big shots. I mean, those shots alone gave you the first round, in my opinion. So I don't understand the 30 to 27. I really don't.

And this, by the way, as I was saying, I was starting to say when you were away, this is why I don't like the idea of win bonuses in MMA. You guys should be guaranteed your purse because you have judges that sometimes don't know what they're looking at and they rob you of this money. You are professional athletes. I don't think you would have fought any differently had you have been given a guarantee purse as opposed to a half show half win. Am I wrong? No, you're correct. You're correct, you know. And yeah, that's definitely what's happening, you know. That's what needs. And I saw somebody else post that about that too, that that's kind of outdated. Yeah, Matt Matrione said that.

No, it wasn't him. It was someone else. Ryan Bader? It was another. Ryan Bader? No, it wasn't a person. It wasn't a person. It was an MMA or someone who covers M&A.

Maybe it was me. I've been talking about it for a while. Yeah, man. Yeah. And like, somebody asks you, I want a rematch? No, I don't want to rematch. You don't? No, man.

What's the point? What's the point? The point was to, you know, honestly, people say that was the best. That's Anderson we ever seen. As far as... He wasn't as fast as he was when he was younger.

What? He was a little bit faster. Maybe, you know, um, I don't think he was ever at any point faster to me. I'm an exposed to athlete. Like, I lift, you know, I'm more like an NFL hybrid athlete where Anderson's more like a linky.

I can like, you know, do all these crazy strikes type athlete. So, but it's wrestling. Look at his wrestling, you know? He was able to stuff a lot of my shots, you know? Like I said, I had a short amount of time to prepare. So most of my time was spent, you know, making sure that I was very composed with my strikes and clean with my strikes and efficient, opposed to getting overextended. So that I probably took away from my wrestling a little bit. But he did a good job of stuff in my wrestling, and who wrestling has he really stuffed before?

And I have pretty good wrestling, pretty good takedown. Yeah, Daniel Korme was talking about that on the broadcast. Last thing for you, Derek, what do you want to do next? How much time do you want to take off? When do you want to return? And, you know, just throwing it out there, do you have an opponent in mind, a scenario? Yeah, I text Ali last night. I'm like, yo, get to it.

You need to talk to these guys, you know? You want to get back in there. Yeah, I want to get back. I'm looking at April 22nd, I believe. That's in Nashville. Okay. I fought in Nashville and Fort Campbell. So the fans around that love me because I put on, I fought Brian Houston.

Oh, yeah. My second UFC fight, I got a 45 second finish. Yep. Head kick to a redneckett choke. Then I fought Sam Alvey. Mm-hmm. So I got another, I fought Houston. in Fort Campbell and I fought Albi in Nashville.

So it would be nice to go back to Nashville. And actually, funny enough, Sam Alvey is on that card fighting Talas Laitis. So, yeah, trying to get booked for that card. And yeah, anybody's pretty much fair game. You know, I'm trying to get out there and fight. And just keep getting reps.

I've seen, I know I can knock guys out, as I've done in my, when I went on my four first round and knockouts in a row. Probably in a couple of those fights, I was a bit reckless. I got my chin down now, and now I can I can still knock guys out with my chin down. So, man, I think it's really great things in the future. I think you're going to see some vicious knockouts and really good fights.

Derek, you know, kudos to you for handling this like a pro. I know it's very, very frustrating, and you probably want to scream and shout and complain even more. But you're handling it with class. And, you know, it was a loss, but I'll say congrats because I thought you won. And I thought you fought a pretty damn good fight against one of the greatest of all time. So looking forward to your return, and thank you for coming on to talk about it. I know you probably don't want to talk about it anymore, so I appreciate you giving us some time here today. Yeah, for sure. Thanks for having me.

All right. Thank you, Derek Brunton. We appreciate it very much. Tough situation for him. And again, as I said, another reason why I don't love the idea of win bonuses because, look, even, okay, suppose he was going to make 30 and 30. even if he's guaranteed of 50 and you say that okay they can't give everyone you know what they would make show and win I still feel like okay now it's being taken away that power is being taken away from the judges yes they will decide who wins and loses who can advance who cannot advance but there's money at stake here and that's that's a lot of power to give that's a lot of power to give you know three individuals who sometimes just don't know what they're doing you know this sport is still young There's still some very green officials out there, and especially when you're in a relatively new territory, if we want to call New York that.

Again, why was Todd Anderson refereeing that main event? You know what I mean? I've made that comparison in the past. It's like when the NBA went to Oklahoma City for the first time. Did the local Oklahoma City referees get to ref playoff games? And there aren't that many great ones in MMA. I actually asked John McCarthy why he wasn't there. He said he was asked by New York to be there,

but he had already agreed to be at a training seminar in Vancouver, BC, so he had to decline. That's a bummer. New York Creek, are you there? I am here. As we wrap up today's show, oh, you're still there. It's funny coming back to you. Is no one in back of you?

It seems like everyone went to sleep. Oh, there they are. There's people back here. Okay. How are things? first show almost in the books, we're still going. Cannot be better. Cannot be better.

Better than you expected? No, of course. I expect excellence from this show and I expect excellence of the people who work on it and I think we've achieved that. Okay. What do you expect? I expect the best.

Okay, that's what I thought. I mean. Obviously, Jacerre is not going to get a title shot, right? Let's just be real. Well, not if he keeps going and saying I want a title shot, but I also won't wait for it. I want to stay active.

I mean, they're just going to continue to feed them top 15 guys. Let's be real. Do you like the Rockhold scenario next? Sure, it's great. Let's make it happen. I mean, this guy is 37,

damn near 38, I think. He's wasted his prime years fighting guys who are below his level. Let's call it what it is. Can I just say something like, I mean, he did lose not that long ago. No. He won, not that.

long ago. And I would argue, and hear me out, that fight was easier to score. Yeah. Than Derek Brunson anderson Silva. I have to watch it again. Round one was the most clear 10-9 for Yol Romero.

If you made it a 10-8, let's say, if you stretched it to a 10-8, Jocker is in trouble, no doubt about it. Then it's a draw at worst because Jokkeret won rounds two and three clearly. Yol Romero took round one. It was

It was as clear as day. And that pushed him back to now fight the lower tier middleweights that he's currently fighting. But you won't rock old. I love the fight. Is that a better? Better option? If it happens, he'll be next in line for the title shot. But I think at this point, he could get a title shot at any point.

He's not getting any younger. And I feel the same way about Damia Maya. let's get these guys in there and get them a title shot already. Yeah. It's hard to get them. I mean... Their primes are being wasted. Wow.

What do you think of that germane statement? I mean, my first thought was... It sounds like she doesn't want a piece of cyborg. But I don't see many other options. Well, it's hard for me to be too critical when we don't know what cyborg status is. It's hard for me to say, yeah, you should be out there calling out cyborg. When, truth be told, she doesn't know how long cyborgs going to be... Sure.

I do feel like they're kind of tipping their hand. I mean, Dana White's not talking about Usada stuff. They're not bringing her to the event if they don't have some other information out there. I completely agree. I think it's clear that cyborgs are going to be fighting sooner rather than later. But I can't fault Germain for saying let's run that back. And if all of a sudden cyborgs available and then they ask Germain how she feels and she comes out with a comment that says, let's do it.

I think all as well, that ends well. One last thing about Anderson, it was great to see Post-Fide Press Conference interviews. he's a lot more forthcoming, he's a lot more honest. The frustrating thing about talking to Anderson back in the day was you'd ask him a question, he'd just take it wherever he wants. And I really felt like we were getting a very introspective and, I guess, authentic is the word, and sincere. It was just very nice to hear that from him, talking about his kids,

walking out to his kids, to his son's song. It was cool to see. Because it's been a struggle sometimes. I'm about the hater over here criticizing the walkout choice because he switched from his... Who's hating? You? I didn't hate on it. Everybody on Twitter, including you, oh, you know...

I said it's just ain't no sunshine no more. I mean, it was a play on words. I don't care. I never really liked that song. Really? I like that. I mean, and I like the association with Anderson, but... What's the association?

No, I'm saying, like that it was associated with him as his singular song. but now coming out to your kid's song I mean that's just incredible who gets to do that no it's amazing especially as a dad I thought it was really cool anyhow I'd like to see the New York State Athletic Commission do better

they need better judges they need better referees they need to lean on the experienced refs they can have situations where Douglas Crosby who is a lightning rod judging Nick Lentz's fight Douglas Crosby and Nick Lentz are buddies

he writes his material and he's judging his fight two judges gave it 30 to 25 he gave it 30 to 27 there was no way that you could give it but that's a conflict of interest how can you not notice that I think this says more about the sport

that we they can't let that out that we trade in than anything else they can't let that happen and again you know that referee Todd Anderson not to pile it on

he has to get in there quicker it's on him And that's why he didn't take a point away because it was on him. He's the one who did the infraction, really. I've been seeing that, and I understand that. And it's the same as, you know, submission. You're not going to let it go until the referee tells you to let it go. Tap is not a signifier.

But if there's a bell, there's a reason we have a bell. Now, look, this is from John McCarthy. You text to me, okay? Let's go to the source, right? Let's go to the guy, right? The godfather. Most people think the bell or horn is. the end of the round, but it's actually the call or signal of the referee. You cannot say what a

fighter hears during a fight. Auditory exclusion is very real. Elevate someone's heart rate and it occurs under stress. I teach referees the proper mechanics for the end of the round so that when this type of situation occurs, you have your answers. At a minimum, time should have been called and Holly should have been given time beyond the normal break to recover. from a blow that hurt her. Would I have taken a point the second time? Yup. Yeah.

And far be it from me to, you know, argue with that. But what I would say to that is, or what I would think is, the bell is also something that signifies the end of a round for both the referee and the fighter. If the referee is not stepping in, clearly there's something wrong. And I think that if, let's say the referee, you know, didn't even get over there in five seconds, 10 seconds, I would expect Jermaine to not be continuing to fight. I think that there's a reasonable expectation that the bell signifies something. If not, we can leave the bell out completely and put a speaker or some kind of communication device in the referee's year and let them step in and control the action solely that way.

But clearly the bell is supposed to signify something. It can't be just completely disregarded. otherwise it would not be there. Okay, let's play a little game of buy or sell. You know, I like to do this at the end of the show. Buy or sell? Go over to Shera, too hard on himself. Bye.

Really? Yeah. What does he have to be, you know, upset about in that performance? Buy, completely. Yeah, I thought so too. It wasn't that bad. He dominated. When you're dominated...

Hey, one guys, I have to apologize. No, don't apologize. Now, if he had... Now, clearly, he had expectations for himself, that were different than, you know, his performance, and he alluded to the reasons why that may be. But that's for him to criticize, and that's for him to, you know, get into the lab and figure out.

Absolutely no problem with his performance. Dominated, looked good doing it. And Kenoneer is not somebody you want to let hit you, and he didn't let him. I'd love to see him go to 185, Kenanier. I really think at 105 he'll have a lot of power. I mean, I don't think it makes a difference, to be honest. I don't think your take-down defense is going to be at a,

any better at 185 or 205, that was clearly the deficiency in that fight. He needs to shore that up. 185 was not going to cure what happened in that fight. I mean, Glover has got way more experience in him. Sure. It was a big step up. A huge step up, way more experience, a very talented guy. And I think the story on Glover being done after being knocked out by Anthony Johnson was a little bit premature.

And I said as much, if you go back to last week's show, I thought this was exactly what was going to happen. Glover was going to come out wrestling and take them down. But what happened in that fight was not going to be cured by a change in division. Byer sell, Ian McCall is the worst luck in M.MA. It's hard to sell that. It's really hard to sell that. At this point, and, you know, if I'm Ian McCall, I have to kind of wonder, like, what the motivation is.

is to get up for one because, you know, you keep doing these weight cuts, you keep getting prepped for a fight. He's not, you know, young in his career. He's not the one who's, you know, on the way up and, you know, on the cusp of a title shot or anything like that. He's, you know, firmly in the pack right now and he just can't seem to get into the cage. I, I, me personally, and I'm a competitive person, even I would have trouble finding the motivation to keep getting up for this. It's got to be tough for him. Also, important to note the first two times, I mean, it's four times since July that his fight falls through fight week. First few times weren't his fault.

Last two times were. Still, that is just... It's hard... Yes, but it's hard to say his fault in the sense that, like, there's very weird kind of occurrence. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm just saying it was his opponent. Yeah, yeah. I know what you mean.

Buy or sell Wilson Hase getting a title shot over Benavides against Demetrius next. Sell completely. I said this after the Benavitas. I thought maybe you changed your mind. No, but I said this after Benavitas and... and oh my god uh henry sehudo uh fight um benavides i'd i'd see until a better uh option presents itself i want to see them run it back for for eternity um it just doesn't there's nothing else out there

for demetria so um benavitas is is the best one there give me wilson hasten his stash love the stash no pass by or sell three man booths for pay per views uh actually let's let's let's pivot that to a question. Oh. UFC broadcasts. This is from Sean Bradley on the website. What did you think of the three-man team? Philadelphia?

Sean Bradley 11. No, not spelled that way. Not spelled that way. S-E-A-N. With the double talk, it felt cumbersome at the expense of Anick not having much of a presence.

How did you feel about that? Well, I was asking you the question, but if you can ask me, I mean, I said, I enjoyed it. I like that. I think maybe at the top of the show I said that Cormier was a former fighter, of course. Yes, yes, you did.

I meant to say, you know, a guy who's fought is what I meant to say. And typically, these are roles occupied by former athletes. I thought it was entertaining. Now, I should say that sometimes I'm doing the scrums, interviews, things like that, so I'm not listening to every word. But this is something, it's not just like, okay, let's throw a third man in the booth and, you know, it's standard procedure. It's going to take some time to figure it out, you know, to get a,

everyone's roles down to get the chemistry down, the flow down. But I think for the first time, I think Cormey is actually a really good third man because he doesn't have to talk as much. He's light, fun personality. I've always loved, I mean, the three-man booth and boxing, Lampley, Kellerman, you know, now Roy Jones, back in the day, Larry Merchant, loved it. Showtime does a great job. Morrow, Al Bernstein, Pauli Managhi. Now, typically the third man is a, you know, sort of, not like a journalist, but a guy who sets the scene, I don't think UFC would do that necessarily. And maybe that's a Rogan thing now, but that's not really his strength. So it's usually not too analysts. And maybe that is the issue that people are having a hard time with.

But I do like when they try new things, because for a very long time, the UFC's television product, I thought was stagnant and stale. And I like the fact that they're trying out some new things. Completely on the same page with you. I think there's obviously some kinks to work out and and they'll get that out as they go through it. But three-man booth gets a thumbs up for me. I like the idea. Crotty-Hotty against Rosam Yunus was named main event for April 15th. Was this a mistake by herself?

Mistake by the UFC to not put the karate-hadi in the title fight. They're pushing her, had her own media day last week. She's very popular. She's coming off a win on Fox. Why not at this stage just put her in the title fight rather than risk having her lose to Rose Numer Unis, was this a mistake as far as you're concerned? Sell. Not a mistake. Really? Okay.

I think you can build either one of them up for a title fight after this. But they're clearly, I mean, they are pushing Corrida, New York Fashion Week, media day, Allure magazine, all this stuff. I mean, and she recently signed with WME, they are really pushing her. They love her. I don't think a loss hurts her too much, and I think that they could push either into a title fight from that fight. So sell on that being a mistake. Who do you have in that fight?

I'm talking about Rose and Cruddy-Hudderson. Tough. Right now I'm leaning Waterson, but that could change pretty quickly. I think, yeah, I'd need to think a little bit harder on it, but right now I'm leading Waterson, but I don't think the odds are going to be very far apart on that one. By or sell, it would be a massive mistake for the UFC if they in fact let Misha Sarkinov go. Massive mistake? Massive.

Really? They need future stars at 205. You're just going to let this guy walk to Belator? Is he Sarkhanov the future star? Is this? Says who? Why not? I'm asking you.

Why not? Is he? He finishes fights. He's exciting. He's from Canada. You want Belator to sign this guy? Massive mistake? Massive mistake.

Really? Come on. He's not that guy. Look. If you're asking. Famous last words, why? Because he doesn't talk a lot. You said, is it a massive mistake?

You said, is it a massive mistake? If you're asking me, do I think they need younger talented fighters at light heavyweight and is Misha Sarkanov one of them? Yeah, 100%. Is this a massive mistake? Completely sell. It's an unfortunate situation. Hopefully they figure it out. I mean, you can't let them go at this point.

I don't think you can. I mean, obviously, the company's not going under. They're not going to, you know, they're not going to just implode because they didn't resign Misha Sarkinov. But these are the kinds of guys that you invest in. these are the guys that help rebuild divisions. He's from Canada. They need more Canadian stars. He's exciting.

He finishes. How do you not figure this out? I'm struggling to drum up the... Wow. The anger. He's good. Not a massive mistake. Buy or sell CM Punk versus Mike Jackson.

Mike Jackson said last week. 100% buy. You love that one. That's the fight. Order. Now. Boom. He said, let's see who the bigger can is.

He sold that fight on his own, and I think Siam Punk could sell that fight too. Yeah, that's the fight to make. That was always the fight to make. It was Mickey Gall and Mike Jackson should have been the opposite. It should have been whoever loses gets Siam Punk. That always should have been it. Mike Jackson sold that fight before he even fought Mickey Gall. Yep.

That was the one. and I would watch it for sure. I think that's the right skill level. Buy or sell Artem Lobov in the main event against Cub Swanson, November 22nd in Nashville. I'm going to have to sell that one. Not feeling it. Not feeling it? Remember, I was very, very impressed with Artem Lobov's performance against Ishihara.

I thought, looked like a completely different fighter. Clearly had his best performance in it, and I think he put it all together. Cub Swanson Artem Lobov Great, I think it's a fantastic jump up for him I'm okay with it from that perspective But for Cub Swanson

Don't like that That's not who you need to be fighting To take that next step After coming off the Du Ho Cho performance You need... But if you're Ardham You can't hate on it

He's taking the big opportunity For Ardom Swanson you don't get Yeah What about as a main event For like a fight night? Yeah I mean I don't think it'll be

A bad fight visually I think you know, it's just in terms of like technical matchup, I think it could really be a lot of fun. I just think from Swanson's perspective, that's not the fight to take. Lobov, good for him. Take that shot and run

with it. And by the way, this completely flew under the radar. Al-Iquint is officially back. Hell yeah. He's fighting Diego Sanchez. Hell yes. Shout-out to raging Al. First of all, I love that fight. For that same card, by the way. Even if it was, it could have been anybody in the world. Let's just get Al back in the cage. Hell yes.

It just completely, like he retired, not that long ago, remember? I remember he was selling real estate. I've reached out to him. He's traveling, but hopefully we'll have him on soon. That would be fantastic. Buyer sell, Bellator made a mistake by not booking Daily MVP next as opposed to Daily Rory. Sell, because I don't think the appetite for Daily MVP is going anywhere.

I think it's a great fight Daly and Rory. They both wanted it. And I don't think, I think a loss, a win for daily, and then a loss, a win the next time it really doesn't. That matchup was people liked it because of the trash talk. People like it because of the styles. I don't think it does anything to either to daily stock or to MVP stock for him taking the fight with Rory. We'll see, you know, yet to be seen who MVP is fighting. But I don't think that fight can't be made down the line and have the same enthusiasm.

Just got to build up some more Paula memes on. on, you know, social media, and we'll be right back in the same spot. And I promise you, I'm not behind the fake Paul Daley Twitter account. Trust me, only losers make fake accounts. Do you agree with that sentiment, or do you think it was a mistake? Yeah, it's just like, there's so much heat there. Look at the way he talks about him. That scene of them sitting at that table, did you see that picture?

It was, you could cut that. It was a great picture right there, and I was like, but they're not fighting each other. You could cut that tension. But I really think you could build that. that back up. You could light that fire back real quick. Max Holloway, Jose Aldo, officially announced for June 3rd.

He found him. Jose Waldo. Who do you have? Who do you have? Right now, February 15th were like, what, three months away? Is that three months? No, four months.

Four months away. Who do you have right now? I've got Aldo. I really, Max Holloway is one of my favorites to watch. I think, in, the only image of Aldo that I have is, is him losing to Connor McGregor because it was so definitive and because it was so unexpected.

If you eliminate that, the rest of, the rest of it is just Aldo, just demolishing everybody else. It's hard for me to pick against Aldo at this point. I don't think, I don't think there's any concern. I don't think Max is anything that Aldo necessarily hasn't faced before in some variation or in some combination. But the only variable here that I think will come into play is Max continues to hit new gears every time he fights. He could hit even another one and Aldo could be on the downside. But at this point, the Aldo that I've seen and the Holloway that I've seen, I think it's Aldo.

and I think it's a similar thing to what we were just talking about with Glover and Anthony Johnson, where that one knockout is what's going to stick in your head and kind of sway the picture a little bit and color that. But you forget how good Jose Aldo really is. And I think we saw it against Frankie Eger. Aldo was still that dude. And I think he'll be able to get it done. UFC booked for Busey Redoom versus Ben Rothwell, UFC 211, May, Dallas, do you have?

For Doom. For Doom. One source has confirmed to me that Yawaniang-Jech is going to defend her title against Jess Conrudge on that same card. I believe it was BJ Penn that first reported it's done. Looks like it's done. Yonna. Yes.

Have you seen this? Yowana came out and said it's not done. Well, okay. Now, there's still a lot to be told here. Yeah. There's plenty of sources reporting it as in play. but she, I believe, made a social media video saying not yet. All right.

She is a company gal, so I think she lost the way for UFC to do it. Regardless, I would have liked to see that fight in Rio. I would have liked to see you on enemy territory. Oh, yeah. Co-main event. It doesn't make as much sense. Back to what I've been trying to say, like you need to go to the best market possible for these fights.

And I know Jessica Andrudge is the challenger, but I feel like Yohanna would relish being, you know, sort of in that Ronda Rousey in Rio against Bechkoheya. situation. I feel like Yohanna would have relished it, but it seems... I was thinking that maybe you'd go with you know, Steepay, JDS2, Rothwell,

and Verdum, you know, everything's bigger in Texas. Do the all-heavyweight main card thing. Yeah, that would have been fun. Yeah, I guess not. What do you have in that fight, by the way? That's a tough one, but I think I'm going to go steepe. No, no, no, no, no. We talked about that. I'm talking about Yawanna, Jessica.

We didn't talk about that, by the way. I talked about it last week. Yeah, we did. Did I pick Steve A last week? I don't even remember. I don't remember what your prediction was, but we did talk about it. I reported it. Yawanna.

Damn, actually. Colleague of mine, I won't say who he is, but a colleague of mine on Saturday said he'd bet his life that Jessica is going to win. Yeah, she's... I instantly... I almost did Yowana on reflex. Jessica is... Is impressive. Powerful.

I... That one... I'm not going to pick yet. I said Yohana on Reflex. I don't know, actually. I think the tools that Jessica has are the tools that will give Yonah trouble. So I'm reserving until we get closer.

It's one of my favorite weekends of the year this coming weekend. And it's also my son, Walter's third birthday. My sister is having an engagement party in Montreal. That's very exciting. NBA All-Star Saturday night, one of my favorite nights of the year, All-Star game on Sunday.

The return of Fador Emilianenko on Saturday against Matt Mitrione, the UFC in Halifax with Canada's own Derek Lewis against Travis Brown. Who do you have Fador, Mitrione? What's the prediction? Mitrione. Wow.

A walk away. Walk away. Are we talking knockout? Or a decision? No, we're talking a knockout. Wow. Early? He's going to put the hands on him

and it's going to be very quick. First round? If that. If it even goes half the round. Wait, it can be if that. There's not less than first round. Well, could go half a round, could go a minute. I mean, it's...

You're thinking quick. No match. Is this the end? I think the end was already... The end already came, my friend. Wow. I mean, that last performance told me what I needed to know. Wow, and there it is. The promo again.

They're not paying us for these promos, by the way, but we do like our friends over at Belator. Wow. I've seen a lot of... lot of hipsters. This is something you would tweet out. I've seen a lot of hipsters say, oh, you know, the talk of the sweater, the promo, oh, they kind of ruined it. Can we calm down? Do you do you agree with? You obviously agree with this. It's fun. I like it, but, you know, there is such a thing as jumping the shark. There is such a thing. Interesting, though, that he feels

uncomfortable about it. I wonder if they actually consult it with him before making a parody video about a piece of a tire. This is a very humble guy, not his style. Do you? You, feel like they insulted him by doing this? No. But I think... I think we've reached the point where now we've put this to bed. No more? It's enough now.

The video was great. The video was great. Don't get me wrong. Once I found out that M.M.A. Rosa was behind it. I completely changed my opinion on the video. Now we've had enough. Now we've had enough. Derek Lewis, Travis Brown.

Last thing. Who do you have? Derek Lewis. Wow, you even have to think about it? What do you mean? How dare you? No, I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

I mean, it just... Seemed like you were really struggling. Yeah. It's heavy weights, heavy weights are tough. Especially, you know, in two guys who I think are willing to kind of stand in trade, that could go either way. Both are big power. Johnny Hendricks, Hector Lombard. Oh, my God.

Hector? Was the oh my God like I don't care? It's almost like these two have been on the bad end of it for quite a while. it's hard to pick who's going to come out of it I'm going Hector okay

let me two minutes quick game for you you ready okay it's called proposed by NOMs in the comment section

okay based on the TNT Charles Barkley inside the NBA who he play for it's where he fight at okay

UFC 200 you need to name main event, two other fights on the card, and then we move on to the next one. What do you mean? Like, the UFC 200 has this happened? UFC 200. I just have to name two fights?

You have to name the main event and then two other fights. You're going to test my knowledge? Yep. They want to see it. Okay, UFC 200. Mark Hunt versus Brock Lesnar, Lesnar, Daniel Kormeer versus Anderson Silva, and the main event. And then Misha Tatea.

Oh, you need the main event. Main event is number one and then two others. Okay, my bad, my bad. Perfect. Now, moving on. UFC 100. UFC 100, main event, Brock Leicester versus Frank Mir, 2, GSP, Tiago Alves, Michael Bispeng, Dan Henderson. Perfect. So far, you've named the top three on each of those, so that's...

Oh, I'm just kind of going down the line. Oh, you've got the whole card? I mean, me could extend this game. No, we don't have to... UFC 196. Connor McGregor versus Nate Diaz won, Misha Tate versus Holly Home, Amanda Nunes versus Valentina Chifchenko. Yes, but you didn't go in order on that one, so... What do you mean? I said Connor McGregor versus Nate Diaz. No, I know, but you didn't name the top three on that one.

I just did. No. Oh, not Alir Latifie and John Volunte. Listen, my bad, my bad, my bad, my best. I'm just saying you said, oh, I'm going in order. No, no, no, no. You didn't have to. All right, right.

Street going. Okay, now you've broken that. Okay. UFC 202. UFC 202. These are so easy, man. They started easy. The question supposes.

UFC 202. Conno McGregor versus Nate Diaz 2, Gloverterter v. Anthony Johnson. You want more? Yeah. Mike Perry versus Hyung U Lim Great one

Seronian Story was the third one down on that one And UFC 151 Cancelled fight card Okay first of all You should have not said that Because that would have been a trick question No it's not a trick

Because there was a card Eh Okay John Jones versus Dan Henderson J Haran versus Jake Ellenberger One more Do I need three? You need three

You're on the cusp Hit me Come on, this card didn't happen. You can't ask me. Listen, this is, the other ones were easy. This is really testing you right now, and you're so close. Okay, can I throw one? Was Bigfoot Travis Brown on this?

Okay, no, no. But they did, they did, they did fight. It was part of like a whole big mix. Because I remember Jay Huron and Jake Ellenberger, this is some kind of BS. This card never even happened. Lick, you claim, you, you've, you've said, I mean, you were so confident. It was so easy. Cards. Okay, first of all, I got the top two fights.

I can guarantee you. You did get the top two. Most people can't get that. But I have it. I have it on the tip. Oh, Charlie Brennaman. Charlie Brennam was on it because I remember he said that John Jones. Was you facing? Charlie Brennam. I'm trying to think of the guys who were upset. You are right there.

I'm trying to think of the fights that were moved afterwards. Oh, God. Jeremy Steven D. Vedwards? No. Okay, okay, okay. Just one sec. I love this. We have to do this more.

I got half. I got half. You got half. Okay, we'll give you two and a half points on that one. A damn near perfect score. He was fighting Kyle Noak on that one. Wow, 170. I was thinking 155.

Also on that card, Dennis Seaver, Eddie Yagen, Dennis Hallman, Tiago Tavares, Linneker, and Uruishatani, Johnson and Castillo Mizugaki Holin Tim Means Abel Trujillo

Darren Crookshank Henry Martinez Shane Roller Jacob Volkman Wow How many of those guys Are still the UFC Yeah the card that never was

That is a horrible card Makes sense why they cancelled Yeah But you did very very well Congratulations That was a fun We'll do that Throw out a number right now

Any number between UFC 65 and and 208. Throw out one. Why 65? Why is that the cut off? That's kind of just like when I started

become a journalist and really focused all my time and attention on this. I could do some others. See, I don't know the big cards by number,

so it's going to be hard for me because I may step in a lame just throw out a number. Just throw out a number. Just throw out of number. U.S.C. 78. Funny you should say that. U.S.C.

78 was the first time I actually bought a ticket to go see a UFC. Yeah, see, that's what, this is how I'm stepping in it. validation. Rashad Evans against Michael Bisping.

Yep. what else you got on there what else you got on there hey there it is uh joe lozahn was on that card houston alexander against tago silva was on that card who was lozahn facing he faced uh

did he faced jason reinhart boom bang give me another one one more okay we're doing one more and that's it i can go all day with this no we're doing one more ufc 104

UFC 104. This is amazing that you're picking these events. UFC 104. So Casey and Esther, everyone knows by now, creative duo. Esther, all elbows. Casey is her, I guess, husband, if you want to call him that. What the hell was that? Listen, and a very opinionated man on Twitter.

Why am I telling you this? UFC 104 was the first time that I ever worked with them at a UFC event. Ooh. Los Angeles. It would be so good if you duff this right now. If you're talking about how much this meant to you and then you duff this. Kane Velasquez against Ben Rothwell and Liotto against Shogun. What else?

It was a great robbery that night, remember? One more. But this is, okay, and let's bring it back to the MMA hour. I have always said that UFC 104 historically is a very significant night in the history of the sport. Why? Because to me, it birthed the robbery. No, Chale P. Sunnan. It was before, and this, and how about, you know, we bring it all into a nice little package here.

First show, new studio. It was at the old AOL studio that Chal Sondon called in and went on this rant. Go back, there it is. There's the music. Went on a rant talking about how he's selling the fight by himself. He's doing all the work. Oh God, get to it.

Where's Yushinokami? Why isn't he pulling his weight? Okay. Not only were they on the prelims, and Yushinokami was the second-ranked middleweight. Not only were they on the prelims. They were on the un-aired, prelimbs. That fight never aired. I don't even know if anyone's ever seen it. Chale Suna

beat Yushanokami that night. And that led to the birth of Chal P. Sennan, but it was on this program that he started talking about promotion, that he started talking about, you know, selling fights and doing all the work. Go back to that episode. It was October of 2009, October of 2009, right before UFC 104, Chelsan and Yushn al-Kami. And they became friends afterwards, remember? They actually became friends. And his mom, almost shot him. No, didn't shoot him. Almost shot him. Almost shot him. No, you said. Oh, sorry, my bad. Almost shot him. Chale Sonnen, uh, Yushita Kami. And oh, by the way, another great moment from that,

from that show. Pat Barry wins, I believe against Anthony Hardinck. Yep. That's correct. Said before the fight that all he had to eat. Ketchup packet was ketchup and rice, had nothing else. I'm interviewing him backstage. back in the days where we could interview them backstage one-on-one, and Dana White walks by, and he says, I'm not going to wash my hand, shakes his hand, and says, I'm not going to wash my hand,

because the boss just shook my hand. How about that? UFC history for you. Well done. I tip my button to you. No more? That's all you got? No.

Come on. If we're going to go on four-hour rants about the cards. We could do a whole show just on this. I would also say one of the earlier UFC fights that really polarized people. Obviously, it's not early, and there have been controversial fights before then. But it was hard for me to remember something more divisive until that point. Like that was Shogun and Machita.

That one really polarized people. Because I think it was an indication of- Yes, I remember Danaway was very upset. Stiles. And speaking of judging controversy, it's something that's been playing in this board. What event did they rematch? What was the number? Oh.

And where? I remember watching it at Hooters. I just don't remember. No Dave and Busters? No, I don't watch fights at Dave and Busters. They only show Bellator, right? Well, not back then. No, this is not my game. I have no idea.

UFC 113 Montreal, May of 2010. That's easy for you, Montreal. Okay, and who fought in the Comain? Let's tie this whole thing together. Whole thing gets tied together right here. I'm trying to remember who else was on that card. Was Rumble on that card? No.

He wasn't? Who? I don't know. Slice was on that card against Matt Matriot. That's right. I remember that. Comaine, tying it all together. Josh Kosteck, Paul Daly,

punch out of here. Kostechek returns this Saturday. Paul Daly on the show today. That was actually my almost-a-for-ggot clip of the day. Yeah, too bad. We've gone. Coschek. I was interviewing Josh Koshchak backstage about the punch,

and Shogun knocks out Machita, and he's like, what just happened? And someone says to him, during the interview, Shogun won. He's like, wow, Shogun just won. That happened. I never actually saw it live. There it is, folks.

There it is. The game, you know, we're taking the questions. Like, what more can we do for you? New studio? We are improving this constantly. We hope you appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you. All right. We are done. We're out of time. Fun show. You can hit my music. Wow. Boy, do I feel better.

I have to say, I was very nervous. We've been down this road before, moving studios, this and that. We made it. And we tempted the gods. We went a little longer. We had some big names. Fador. Chris Cyborg.

Michael Bisping. Stacked. That's what we do for you. Love it. I'm happy. It's over. I will remind you a lot of people were upset that there was no MMA beat last week. Reason for that, UFC 208.

There was also a big snowstorm. We were going to do it on location. No MMA beat this week due to the transition. But we're back next week. Next week, all things back to normal. Okay? So bear with us one more week. I love you. Someone's asking for a dab. There it is. Dab. Boom. In your face, YouTube commenters.

All right. We're out of here. Thank you so much to Roy McDonald. Best of luck to him in May against Paul Daly. And conversely, best of luck to Paul Daly who left us high and dry today to go teach some students. I'm okay with that. Looking forward to that fight. Beltor 179. Best of luck to Chris Cyborg. Appreciate her coming on. And attempting to clear things up a little bit. Let's see what happens. featherweight title. There's much, much to figure it out as far as Chris Seiberg is concerned. Thank you very much to Luke Rockhold. Appreciate his time. Get well soon. Thank you very much to the one and only Fyodor and Emilianenko. Appreciate his time. It was great to meet all the Russian fans,

by the way, in Brighton Beach with Habibn Mugamagamatov last week. That was amazing. Thank you very much to Michael Bissping. Get well soon. Thank you very much to John Anik. Keep up the great work. And thank you very much to Derek Brunson. You won that fight, my friend. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. Back next week. Same time and place. Until I say, peace. Support for this show comes from Odu. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odu.

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