MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 375

Episode Date: April 3, 2017

Ariel Helwani speaks to NewYorkRic (00:13:32) to recap the weekend in MMA, then to Angela Lee (00:29:03), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (00:52:49), Stephen Thompson (01:10:51), Kevin Lee (01:31:35), Ray Longo (01:55:09), Khabib Nurmagomedov (02:14:30), NewYorkRic (02:45:27) once more, and Muhammed Lawal (03:14:19) to close the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Service fees exclusions in terms apply. It's the Mixed Martial Arts Hour with A mixed martial arts hour back in your life on this Monday, April 3rd, 2017. Hogan, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani back inside our New York City studio. Thank you so much for joining us on this lovely Monday afternoon here in New York. Beautiful Sunday.

Hope you had a nice weekend. It is spring. It is April. Good time to be alive. and it's a fun time to be an MMA fan. You know, it's interesting. I don't know if they did it on purpose or if it was some kind of dumb luck,

but for the second straight week, it felt like Bellator really took advantage of a lull in the UFC schedule. And this is not a knock against the UFC. I actually think the lull was well received, well deserved. If we're being honest with ourselves,

I feel this way. I'm a little more. excited for UFC 210 because of the lull. And it was just two weeks long. Imagine if we had a two-month-long lull. I feel legit excited for Saturday Night's card. And I think the top two fights are great, intriguing, fun mix of great matchups, great stories, great fighters. And I feel like I've had two weeks to really get excited for them. And I think the UFC has done a nice job in this lull to shine a light on those fights. media. I don't think it's been promoted

any more so than your typical event, but they've had a little more time to do so. It's impossible to, if you have four straight weeks of shows, three FS1 fight nights and then a pay-per-view at the end, it's hard to really give that pay-per-view a lot of love. But we've had two weeks off now since the last

UFC event. I mean, it will be two weeks by the time this show happens in Buffalo on Saturday night. I feel like that has allowed us to a little bit catch our breath and get excited. for two great fights. Of course, I'm talking about Daniel Cormier versus Rumble Johnson for the light heavyweight title and Gaggar Musasi versus Chris Wyman in the co-main event, a very important fight at 185 pounds. There haven't been a ton of fights announced as far as the future UFC cards

are concerned, haven't been a lot of news. I mean, it's really been a quiet time. And I think that Belator has done a nice job of sort of inserting itself into the daily, slash weekly news cycle, if you will. And it's good time for them because they had an event this past Friday in Chicago, just outside of Chicago. And they also have announced more fights for their pay-per-view on June 24th here in New York City. They had that press conference on Tuesday at MSG. And it was an interesting one. It was actually the first official Bellator press conference that I have ever attended. And they are excited. You know, I spoke to someone there who said, you know, one of the big stories of the year thus far, and let's be

honest, were a quarter of the way done as far as 2017 is concerned, and 2017 doesn't hold a candle to 2016 as far as news is concerned in MMA. I mean, 2016 was just dizzying. 2017 has been a little more, I don't know, a little slower, a little easier to digest, there just isn't something massive and seismic happening each and every day as it felt was the case for 2016. And I was talking to someone, a rather high up official at Bellator at the press conference at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday of last week. And they told me, look, Ariel, if you think that we are done as far as free agent signings are concerned, we are not done. We have been told from the highest level possible at Viacom to not stop now to, as they put it, build the 27 Yankees.

Just sign every single big name out there. And they are going to be very aggressive. And I think that when it comes to December or so, we're going to look back on this time and say, like, wow, they just scratch the surface. At least that's what they're telling me right now. Press conference was fine. Those press conferences are always a little tough when it's a non-fight week, so you don't have all the MMA media there. You have a lot of people who don't do this for a living.

And there were some quiet moments. Thank God for Chal Sennon and his back and forth with not only Van der Le Silva, but with Fador Emilienko as well, who's sitting right next to it. him, and I said this on the beat, that to me was the most impressive part of the whole press conference. Chale recognized an opportunity to plant a seed for a future Fador fight, and that's exactly what he was doing. He was sitting next to him. He offered to fight him in February. No one is better, or maybe Connor is these days, but Chale put out the blueprint, plant the seed two to three fights down the line.

Yes, you have one coming up. That one is going to essentially build itself, but let's start planting more seeds and he did that. with Fador saying next to him, making fun of him, saying that Fadour probably wants to touch his arms and things like that. I thought it was, you know, it was a very boxing like press conference. They bring out every single person. They bring out, you know, the pay-per-view provider guy. They bring out Spike TV president, well, not the president of Spike TV, but the head of sports, John Slusser. They bring it Scott Coker. Everyone makes their opening remarks as opposed to in the UFC where they just say, okay, who's ready for the first question?

So I thought that was fun. Of course, they had the event on Friday. King Mo Lulal defeats Rampage Jackson. The big story going into that fight was how much will Rampage weigh? He ends up weighing 253 pounds at the wands, and King Moe ends up weighing 12 pounds. There was an obvious size discrepancy in the fight. Lawal wins. I thought he deserved to win, two rounds to one.

And then they announced right afterwards that he is going to fight Ryan Bader on the spike portion of the MSG card and we don't really know what's next for Rampage. Does he want to keep fighting? Does he have it in him? Does he care? Does he go back to the UFC or does he just call it quits? I told you last week he has to go back to the UFC. His contract is up with Belator and per that deal that he signed at the end of 2014, U.S. he paid for a lot of his legal fees. He signed a deal with them, fought that one fight against Fabio Madenado in Montreal at 186. Now has to go back. Does he actually go back? And so that fight between Mo and Bader was in the works

Had Rampage 1, especially in devastating fashion, it would have been interesting to see what they do with Bader, but they end up dodging that bullet, Mo wins, and now that one's going to headline the spike portion of the card. On Saturday, we had Cage Warriors, and the big news there was Patty Pimbleau losing his featherweight title. And this was interesting because I don't know if a lot of you watch that card,

It was Saturday afternoon. It was in Liverpool. But man, oh man, did it feel like a big deal? Pimbley was fighting in Liverpool for the first time since he won the belt late last year, fighting a guy by the name of Nad Narimani and was thoroughly dominated. And this really the second straight fight in which Patty Pimlet does not look good, won the last one just a couple of months ago. But it was a very controversial decision.

And then comes back with this performance, loses no question about that decision. I mean, it was very clear. there was no controversy at all. Maybe just how many rounds they end up giving paddock. But the entrance, this was a big time entrance. There were around, I've heard six to eight thousand people. They keep changing the number. But it was sold out.

They're dancing. They're cheering. They're chanting for him. He came across like a huge star. He's 22 years old and then loses. And then everyone afterwards says, well, you know, he was pushed too fast. Well, when you become the champion, you have to fight some kind of competition. And if you're not beating this.

kind of competition, then clearly you're not ready for the UFC. This was a good and bad thing for Cage Warriors, I felt, because if he continues to win, he's going to the UFC. And he's a big part, he's by far the biggest star at Cage Warriors. Maybe not the best fighter, but the biggest star. He's also managed by the head promoter, founder, whatever you want to call him, president of Cage Warriors, Graham Boylan. So they probably want him to go, but they also don't want him to go.

Because now if you go back to Liverpool, you go back to the Echoes, you go back to the Echo Arena, you can sell some tickets again for the redemption fight. If he goes to the UFC, you can't make as much money off of him. So it was a good and bad night for him because he loses in front of this very pro-pimbled crowd, but does not look good and everyone now wants to take a step back. So a tough night for him. And yeah, maybe we do have to press the brakes. But I don't think he was pushed too fast.

We have to see where he's at. He's the champion. That promotion has sent many champions and many great fighters to the UFC. I don't think Narimani was a bad. booking by any stretch, but some people were telling me that maybe he needs to cool it on the media and the attention and just kind of go back to the basics. He is 22, so let's not write him off just yet. And then, of course, there was WrestleMania on Sunday, which I did not watch, but New York Rick did. I will get his thoughts on that in a second. Let me run down today's lineup,

and then we'll hear from him. At 410, we're going to be joined by King Moe, who, I don't know if you guys follow him on Instagram. I just started. I didn't know he was on Instagram. It was hilarious to look at his Instagram. It's all pictures of him this weekend posing with wrestling legends. And he actually got a picture with Akeem and Slick, as he said he wanted to do so last week on the show. So he went from Chicago to Orlando, took in all the sights and sounds of WrestleMania weekend, went to the Ring of Honor show. But then also, as he said he would not do, went to Mania on Sunday. So Mo didn't stay true to his word there.

We'll talk to him about the win, Bader, and going from Chicago to Orlando at 410. At 305, we're going to be joined by Habib Nirmagamatov. I've been trying to get him on the show for almost a month now since he was forced to withdraw from UFC 209. Finally got him. Very excited to hear from Habib at 305 at 245.

We're going to talk to Ray Longo, of course, the head coach for one, Chris Wyden. Big fight, big week for them. And also was announced on Friday that the UFC is going to Long Island, just minutes from his gym on July 25th, I believe it is. Is it the 25th? No, 22nd, 22nd.

And that's a Fox show, Fox 25. That's why I said 25th. So that's at the new Nassau Coliseum there. So we'll talk to Ray about that. Kevin Lee will stop by at 225. It was announced late last week that he will be main eventing the June 25th, Oklahoma City card against Michael Kiesa. So that's who Kiesa will be fighting Kevin Lee, the Motown phenom himself first time on the program. Stephen Thompson will be on at 205.

Talk about his loss to Tyron Woodley, where he goes from here. We'll ask him about the Gunner Nelson fight that was proposed by John Kavanaugh. 145 will be joined by Antonio Rodrigo Nogera, and this is fun. He has a new show coming out tomorrow on FightPass. Also, this week on Fight Pass, it's Pride Never Die Week because Saturday, April 8th, So in five days marks the 10-year anniversary of the last Pride show. And coincidentally, Gagar Musassi, who is one of 14 active UFC fighters who once fought for pride, is fighting at UFC 210 on that date, April 8th. How about that?

14 UFC fighters right now on the roster once fought for pride. Remember that. So that's 145, Antonio Hedrigo Nogera. and at 125, excuse me, 145 for Big Nog, 125, Angela Lee, who is the one Adam Wade champion, been wanting to get her on the program for quite some time, 20 years old, actually born on my birthday. 1996, 1996.

I was in the eighth grade going to the ninth grade. That's insane. July 8th, 1996, she was born. She's their 115 pound champion, undefeated, big star in Asia, looking forward to talking to her. Also want to tell you that today's episode and every episode this month of the MMA hour

is brought to you by our good friends over at the Marines. How about this? Great to have them back in the mix. You see a hat right over there. Oh, what, what, who, who, who, there it is. The Marines, as you may know, are the fighting spirit of our entire nation

and that fighting spirit is what separates them from all other service. Members, Marines view every challenge as a battle and a fight to win, whether it's a literal physical battle or a figurative one. Every Marine has the willingness to engage the determination and the determination, excuse me, to defeat any adversary. Failure is not an option.

They will keep battling until they win. Good people over at the Marines helping us out once again. Part of the family, we appreciate them very much. And of course we honor, as you can see right over here, the great Brian Stan, the most famous Marine turned. MMA fighter, former WBC light heavyweight champion, and as John Annenet calls him, the greatest living American. Okay.

Mr. New York, Rick, are you there? Let's check in here. I'm here. Okay, so at the top of the show, minutes ago, I said 14 fighters on the UFC roster have once fought for pride. Why do I bring this up? A, because it's interesting. B, because it's a 10-year anniversary of the last prize.

show this Saturday. C, it's Pride Never Die Week on UFC Fight Pass, and D, because it's time we give out another prize to our very, very, very, very loyal listeners and viewers. So what is the... Are you sure you want to do it? Yes, I do want to do this.

They are very loyal. Okay. They have always had our back. Wow. This is a heel turn? It's a heel turn? I've been inspired. I've been inspired.

By WrestleMania? Mm-hmm. Is it over yet, WrestleMania? Or is it still going? I think they still have a match going right now, yeah. Okay, so this is the question. Name, it's quite simple. Name all 14 fighters on the current UFC roster

who once fought for pride. And the first person to get those 14 fighters correct will win three-month subscription to UFC FightPass free from the good people over at UFC FightPass. How about that? And there's a lot coming up. There's UFC 210 prelims. You can watch all the pride stuff this week.

UFC 211, UFC212, UFC 212, all fall under this three-month period. That's one hell of a deal. All you got to do is know your stuff. Now, I actually asked you this question, so I'm not going to ask you it again, but you were stumped. You couldn't name them all. I could not name them all. I did better than I expected when you first posed it, but I could not name them all. Okay, so people will just have to tweet you all the names, and you'll tell us later

if anyone got a right. If no one gets a right, we're keeping this. I'm trying to think maybe tweets not the best way. Maybe comment section, just because there's going to be 14 names. That might be a lot for one tweet. You think so? Right. So what I want you to do is comment section of today's show post over at mhmapfiting.com.

That's where we're going to draw. We're going to pull our winners from. So if you don't have an account, sign up and post the 14 names there. Yeah, don't be lazy, all right? It's going to be fun. I mean, you'll take a trip down memory lane. I'll say there's some really, really easy ones, and there's some tough ones.

People that we don't really associate with pride. It's a fun little exercise. So if you want that free three-month subscription, check it out, go on the site, put down your 14 names, and we'll fight past for that. Yeah, and we'll let you know who won later on in the program. So I actually asked Mr. New York, Rick, when I got in, did you watch Bellator?

He did not watch Belletor. I did not. So you saw the pictures of Rampage. I've followed, yeah. I knew the lead up to the fight for sure. This is the weird thing about Rampage right now. He's obviously getting up there in age. He's in the twilight of his career.

But he's not losing dominantly. He's not getting knocked out. He just doesn't really seem to care. He doesn't seem to care, and yet he's still winning round two. Yeah. Rocking King Moe. It's bungalows. It's kind of the situation where it's more frustrating than sad.

The end of Rampage's career is more, at this point, you know, I don't want to speak out of term, but clearly we're on the latter half of his career. He's talked about retirement. But even in this twilight, he's not really getting the doors blown off. He's kind of just there. Sometimes, you know, he'll lose a decision. He won't, you know, he won't get going. But it's not a situation where I feel like Rampage is the guy who we need to worry about. He's kind of just listless, it seems.

but still dangerous. And it's frustrating from the sense that you get the feeling that if he put in a little more time and turned harder at this point in his career, he could be winning these fights. But I think he's at a different point in his life where he just doesn't feel the need to. And I understand it.

I understand it. I think he feels like he's been burnt. He's had, you know, manager issues, promotion issues. And he just doesn't care. But I have no doubt, if Rampage was motivated, and I know that's a big if. And we could talk about, you know, other fighters, like this isn't the BJ Penn thing.

No. You know what I mean? If he was motivated and went to the UFC and fought in their 205 pound division, I don't like him at heavyweight because I feel like he just won't push himself. He needs to fight at 205. That's his weight class. That's where he was a champion. He would be conservative, top eight? For sure. Although if you're coming in two... Shogun is in the top five. He's coming in 250 something. Yeah. Because he doesn't care, although the problem was booking the fight at heavyweight to begin with. I'm okay with him even fighting at heavyweight. I feel like. he could compete there too.

But he won't push himself in training. That's the problem. But the weight cut, is he pushing himself for that? It seems like at this point in his career, the weight cut is more a deterrent than something that will motivate him to train harder than in the gym. They kind of go hand in hand. I think he kind of just is who he is, which is a damn good fighter. Who, it seems like he's still viable in the game.

It's just that, you know, as you said, he's had such a long path here. to this point that he's a bit, you know, over it. Okay, so let's say he's motivated. Let's say he makes weight. Who would you favor him against? If he fought Shogun, who would you favor? Right now. If he fought Shogun in September.

Because Shogun's in that weird spot work. We mean like he's as if he was competing for the title back in those days. Like what do you mean? No, I'm saying 2017. What do you mean? Not physically how he will look, but motivated. what do we mean by that is he motivated to be back in the mix he wants to get it toward a title shot he's pissed off yeah he's pissed off about how he looked the jokes he's mad he says okay i have three fights left let's see where i go i think i favor him i would favor him over quite a few guys in that division i'm saying shogun because i feel like shogun's in that weird like shogun's in that weird like shogun versus rampage actually makes the most sense at 205 if you look at the 205 pound division you don't want to put shogun in there against one of these killers like rumble or glover or cormier or jones or Jones, Manoa, I don't like that fight either.

That actually makes the most sense. Yeah, of the two, if one guy's more likely to fall, it's going to be Shogun out of that equation. So, yeah, I mean. It just feels like he doesn't want, and I don't want to make a guy stay if he doesn't want to be here. But it's a weird thing because it's rare that you just see a guy kind of go towards the end of his career and just stop carrying.

It's one thing to see them get knocked out and it like become, like a Josh Costcheck thing. Like you don't want to see this anymore. BJ, you don't want to see this. He's actually hanging. And yes, he's not fighting the Crem de la Crem. You know, prior to this, he's fighting guys like Maldonado or Ishi. You know, these are a fights that he should win.

Lawal was a step up and he still hung in there. Yeah, I mean, round two could have been it. And then he would have been on the winning side of it. So, yeah, I agree. I think Rampage is a very unique case. And that's kind of been the story of his career, actually. There's very few, if any, like him. I'll say this about Beltor.

I do think they've done a good job over the past two weeks of stealing headlines, of being in the news cycle, of putting together good fights, smart fights. I mean, even this Dominic Mazada fight against AJ McKee, I love this fight. I mean, these are the kinds of fights that they need to put together. These are the kind of names that they need to sign a little early in their careers, etc. The one sort of black cloud, I think, hanging over Beltor, because I do think they've come a long way in the span of,

a year, let's be honest, last year this time, we're talking about Data 5,000 almost dying in the middle of the cage and the Shamrock Gracie fight. When Koker goes up there at the press conferences and talks about drug testing and talks about how they're regulated by the athletic commissions, this response did not fly in 2012 and it does not fly even more so in 2017.

And you can say all you want about, hey, the UFC's with USADA, they pay USADA, it's a conflict of interest, it's not as independent as they may seem. It's a much bigger investment and a greater investment and a more significant investment into cleaning up the sport than whatever Belator is or isn't doing. The commissions, they're not doing anything. And it was interesting, like, Mitrione brought up the fact that he was in Houston for the Super Bowl

and he was randomly drug tested prior to the Fador fight. Throw California out the window. California is the only commission in the United States right now. is making a great effort into cleaning up the sport, whether it's drug testing or weight cutting reform. Andy Foster is head and shoulders, number one. He actually cares about cleaning up the sport. He has the resources. He has the time, the resources. He's a former fighter, came from Georgia, now in California, doing great things, actually changing the sport for the better. No ego involved. No one else is doing that. So don't compare California to New York. And then when Koker comes up there

and says, hey, you know, we're regulated by the government. I mean, this is the same answer that Dana was saying, you know, five years ago and it sounded silly. Then it sounds even sillier now. And that's the one thing that I wish someone would get in his ear. Look, we can hold Belator to a different standard as far as their cards are concerned. They haven't been around as long. They don't have the talent pool, the roster. I mean, they're working with, what, a five, six-year period.

And the UFC has been around for 24 years almost. We can hold, I'm okay with that. I don't think we can hold them to a different standard when it comes to drug testing. It's all the same, in my opinion, especially with, you know, some of the things that have happened in the past. So, and the kinds of fighters that they've signed, they need to be held to a higher standard. They need to be held to the same standard as the UFC. If they want to go hire a third party to drug test like the UFC has done and is going to pay them, put them on the payroll, I'd rather that than saying, oh, the commission is going to regulate us.

It's just, it doesn't fly. It doesn't fly when you're in, uh, Italy this weekend or Budapest or Northern Ireland or England or you know what I mean? It just doesn't fly anymore. So I feel like he needs to catch up with the times in that regard. That's the one thing that I'll say about them. How was WrestleMania by the way? Long.

That's it? That's your takeaway? To be honest, that's the only takeaway you can kind of have. Like whether you enjoyed it or didn't enjoy it, I think the story of the evening was it was just long. It thought it was over and then there were three hours more. Like it was very long. Not that it wasn't enjoyable, but at a certain point you hit a wall.

I thought UFC events were long. This felt like an eternity. What was the best match? The best moment. Was it the Hardy Boys coming back? I saw that. People were very excited about that. Bill Goldberg was awesome.

I love Goldberg because of... But he lost. Yeah, but for a guy his age to look like that and do what he did, shout out to that guy. JR getting some shine. Oh, yeah. It was super cool. He got to call a match.

Wow. Is he back full? time? No, I think it was just a one-off. They had, you know, Jerry the King also calling a match and they had him call a match. The matches themselves, John Cena, got married. Yeah, that is weird. Or engaged, I just can't get into it. I want to get into it.

I want to be a part of the conversation. I'm not trying to be some kind of hipster here, but I just it's just too predictable. My favorite because he used to be on that show. It's just too predictable. I feel like MMA gives me the same satisfaction. Mano-imano storylines. I want to see who. who the better man is, but it's unpredictable.

I don't know what's happening this weekend between D.C. and Rumble. I don't know what's happening between Wiedman and Musassi. I don't think wrestling is always predictable, but sometimes. I'm going to go get our guest. Yes. I have bad news and good news.

Okay. Bad news. Yes. Apparently it takes two days to register to our website to be able to comment. Oh, no. This is some kind of vetting process. Okay.

Good news. We already have some people who nailed it on the first go-round, like within minutes of us answering it. I see one person. Marky McFly. There's quite a few on our on our page.

So much for that. And our own Astrolin is telling me that JR signed a two-year deal. Oh, there you go. How about that? Breaking news. I love that. So wait, so how do they...

Is it done? Are we shutting it down? We already have a bunch of winners. Was this an easy question? I guess there's... You could probably use the internet to figure this out in a few seconds. Okay.

All right. Anyway, we'll talk about later who the winner is. How about this hot take as you go get Angela Lee from Campbell McLaren one of the founders of the UFC and now heading up Combati America saying Bellator might be able to replicate the 1927 Yankees because many of their, I lost it, many of their big names were born around then. How about that?

I mean, I get the Zing. I get what he's trying to say. But I think that anyone involved in MMA these days, and I know that there's competition, how can you not be, I was talking about this on the beat, how could you not be happy that there is more competition? I think anyone in the UFC who's being honest would tell you that this is good for the sport.

It's certainly good for the fighters. And I get it. Someone was saying to me like, oh, why do you care if the fighters have more options? I want to see all the fighters fight in the same organization. I want to see the best fights. And I get that. But you're being a bit of a selfish fan if you're saying that.

And then he said to me, well, no one cares how much you make. Why should you care how much they make? They go into a cage. They punch themselves on the face for my enjoyment. I care how much. they make. When they're 35 and have nothing else to fall back on, that bums me out. I could be an MMA journalist until I'm 70 if I want. No one's going to kick me out and say, I have no use for you,

unless I just absolutely start sucking when, you know, at that point, it becomes very, you know, justifiable to let me go. But an MMA there is a shelf life. So I want to see these guys and women get as much money as possible in this short amount of time. And so I want there to be more competition. I want there to be more options out there, like Combatte, like one. UFC, Bellator, World Series of Fighting, the more, the merrier. That's healthier for the business. That's healthier for the fighters. And so I understand if you want to see the best fight, the best, consistently under one umbrella.

It's better. It's easier. It's easier to cover one organization. Ultimately, it's better for the growth of the sport, the fighters, everyone involved. If there are more options, then you can get your market value. And in particular, when it comes to women's MMA, because there are less organizations out there who are home to the women fighters and they don't have as much leverage as the male fighters. If you're a 135 pound UFC fighter, how many places can you go to try to get the best money

possible? Invicta's not competing with the UFC. There aren't that many options out there. Beltor doesn't have a bantamweight division. So I want there to be more places for the fighters to go. One is doing a great job and in particular with their women's division and in particular with Angela Lee. She is, in my opinion, their biggest star right now. they've done a fantastic job of building her up, especially in their Asian market, their home base. And I've been wanting to get her on the program for quite some time. And I'm very happy that she is joining us right now via the magic of Skype, I do believe.

And it is very early over there in Hawaii where she is joining us. Do we have her? We have myself. And there she is. Angela Lee. How are you, Angela? Hi, Ariel. I'm doing good.

Thank you. It's great to have you on the show for the first time. I've been trying to get you on the show since I think when you beat May Amaguchi. It's been almost a year. You are a tough person to nail down. Yeah. I apologize. You know, things have been busy. But I'm so glad that we could finally make this work. You're 20 years old, right? You're born actually on my birthday, July 8th, 1996, correct? Really?

Yes. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, correct. That is a great day to be born. I can't believe you were born in 96. That blows my mind and you fight in a cage. Um, kudos to you for everything you've accomplished in just 20 years. But, um, you don't usually wake up this early, correct? 20 years old, you don't wake up at 7 a.m. Actually, I wake up earlier than that.

Oh. When I'm in fight camp. So I'm, I'm actually okay with the time. Yeah, usually I wake up at like 5 a.m. So. Okay. Well, then I don't feel so bad. I appreciate it.

Um, do you feel like you kind of lived like this double life? Because, because I noticed like even when you Google your name, all these outlets in Asia are are writing big features on you. There was a great feature on you on CNN.com. And then I feel like when you come home to the United States, you now live in Hawaii, you don't maybe get that kind of attention because one just isn't, you know, that household organization.

Does it feel that way or maybe I'm wrong? Maybe where you live now, you are a big star. You walk down the street and everyone recognizes you. Well, in the beginning, yes, it started out like that where it was mostly all the media and press that was done in Asia because that's where I fought and then I'll come back home to Hawaii but now actually I've been getting

like a ton of support from everyone in Hawaii back home from the news outlets and such doing stories on on me and trying to help to promote it and to tell everyone here in Hawaii about it so I don't know it's nice

I don't really see too much of a difference of course majority is always going to be in Asia and Singapore but yeah so they are catching up, that is good. Did you expect to be this big of a star at 20 years old, or are you a little bit blown away by all of this? I'm blown away by it, man. Every single day, I'm like, wow, I can't believe this is happening. This is my life. It's crazy. And it all happened so fast. So, you know, just really, really, like, incredibly grateful for everything that's happened. Some of your friends,

other 20-year-olds, what do they do? Are they in school? Do they have jobs? I mean, I'm sure they're not, you know, getting as much attention as you, what do they do? Um, yeah, I mean, you know, they're doing the college life and, and, um, I still keep up with them and, and, um, yeah, college life, part-time jobs, full-time jobs. Um, yeah. Do you feel like you miss that? Like, you're, you're not able to be a regular 20-year-old considering your occupation? Well, actually in high school, out of high school, um, like my first, couple professional fights. That's what, you know, a couple days, you know, I would be like really thinking back to, to, if I wasn't fighting, what would I would be doing? And yeah, some days I, of course,

I'm like, I wish I could just be a normal kid, a normal girl. But now in my position where I'm at, being a professional fighter, you know, I'm, I wouldn't change anything. I'm so happy with, with what I do. One seems like the perfect promotion for you right now, given your family background and what they're trying to do over there in Asia. Do you think that if one wasn't around, that you wouldn't have gotten into MMA this soon? No. You know, after, you know, I graduated high school and I had my first amateur MMA fight, you know, I knew that after about three, three to five amateur fights that I wanted to, you know, try and look to get into a bigger promotion.

And so if one championship, you know, if we didn't find one championship, it would definitely, we'd still continue with this career path. Did you or anyone who, you know, works with you, did they talk to North American-based promotions? And if so, were they not interested given maybe your level of experience, age, et cetera? So my dad actually is the one who handles all of that for me. And I kind of just left it to him to research, to do what's best. Because I knew at the end of the day that he would have more knowledge and insight in which promotion we should go with. So I trusted him for that. And yeah, so how it happened was that he actually had a connection at one championship.

So that's how we got in through, you know, Matthew. And your mother and father have a long history in the martial arts. Is it true that you actually spar with your mom? Like, does she actually get in there and help you train for these fights? Yeah. So my mom, she's amazing. She's like super mom. Yeah, she's still in there.

She trains every day. And she's like one of my main drilling partners. My little sister, too. She's 12, but she's almost my size already. So I drill with my mom and my sister for a majority of my fight camps as well as my brother cushions. Yeah. Your brother also fights for one. But like when you're going with your mom and with a 12 year old, your sister, does it feel weird to be going full force?

or is this kind of a blessing because everyone kind of gets mad at their mom sometimes. So this is an opportunity to maybe punch her when in regular life you couldn't do that. You'd get grounded. Oh, my God. No, no, no way. Okay. I mean, it's never like full like the live sparring that I would normally do with other teammates. But definitely for the drilling, you know, hard drilling technique, I like pairing up with them

just because they've been doing martial arts for a long time too. So it's not like they don't know what they're doing. Right. They got a lot of skills, though. Yeah. What's her resume in MMA and, excuse me, in martial arts and what's your dad's? My mom, so she originally, my mom and dad actually originally started out doing taekwondo. Okay.

And they reached back that level and then they were competing nationally. And in Canada, they were representing the Canadian national team. Yes. But from there, they actually expanded out to, they stopped competing because they had me. And then they wanted to teach. They opened some schools. And they didn't want to just teach one discipline. They wanted to teach a broader range of martial arts.

And so they opened their own gym, multiple gyms in Canada, actually. And from there, that's kind of where they started, you know, this whole, their evolution of MMA. And that's how I started. That's how I was brought up, you know, learned. learning mixed martial arts as a whole. You were born in Vancouver and then you guys moved around when you were seven, right, to Hawaii? Yes, that's correct. Why leave Canada?

Great life there. I know, I love Canada. Honestly, I still have some relatives there. So we visit every now and then. But I think that, you know, my mom, she, my mom and dad, they met in high school over here in Hawaii. Okay. And they thought that it was a perfect place to raise a family. So that's why they moved.

Well, I don't blame them. I left Canada too. It is a great place, but more opportunity here in the United States. Your brother, Christian, also fights for one. Recently suffered his first professional loss. Do you like fighting on the same card? I know you've done this before with him. Or would you prefer?

Like, I know the Pettus brothers don't like fighting on the same card. The Diaz brothers don't like fighting on the same card. What about you? Do you prefer it or would you rather not? You know, I can understand why, because it's so stressful and there's so much emotions on that night. It's very, you know, it's very crazy. But for me and Christian, actually, we've been competing with each other, you know, whether it be in tournament, whether it be in the amateur fight, since we were little. So it's kind of something we're a little more accustomed to.

Okay. I really don't mind. I actually like it because I feel like it's it's like double the focus. It's double the support. And everything is when it's good, it's great. I mean, of course, we haven't had a bad night yet where, you know, that things have gone, you know, not in our favor. But yeah, I think mostly it's my dad who doesn't really,

appreciate when both of us are on the same card too much just because he has so much to deal with being dad and coach of two fighters that night. Right. When a, when a MMA fan looks you up here in North America, they'll see that you're the one Adamweight champion and they might think, oh, you're the 105 pound champion. You're actually there, essentially 115 pound champion. Why do they do that, by the way? Why don't they just go with the same weight classes as here in North America. Yeah, so it got a little, the weight classes, they changed last year. So now it's kind of a range between 105 and 115.

So they have that, like, yeah, so because they changed the weight class policy so that no one can dehydrate to cut weight anymore. Yes. Because one fighter, you know, passed away last year. And, you know, so far it's actually been a great change. A lot of the fighters now, I see them on Fight Week, and they're, you know, not looking like they're about to pass out, they're healthy, you know, they're being responsible about their diet and their weight plan. And it's a much more healthy descent plan, I'd say. I saw an interview with one founder, Shatri Sitchotong, just a couple days ago.

And he was saying, I would like to throw this out there. I want to see Angela Lee fight Yawanna, Jacek, who's the 115 pound champion of the UFC. As we know, UFC doesn't often co-promote, but maybe those days are changing. Do you share that sentiment? Do you think that you are on the level of Yowana or given your age and lack of experience?

I know you're the champion, 7 and 0, I believe, but do you feel like you'd like a little more time before you're in that discussion? You know what? Being one's champion and having talks about, you know, having a super fight with Juana with the UFC champion is something that, you know, I'm all open for. I think that it would be a really great opportunity.

And I think that, you know, for me, every day I'm just learning and growing and evolving even more as a fighter. And so it would be a really great fight. I would definitely look forward to that. So when you watch the UFC Straw Whites compete, you're like, yeah, these people aren't as good as me. I can hang. I could beat them, right? Even though they may get a little more attention here in the U.S., they're not on my level. Well, I think that because, you know, the UFC is like the predominantly the major organization

here in North America, a lot of times other people don't, you know, pay as much attention to the other organizations. Yeah. And they might discredit it. So I think that, you know, when I watch the fighters fight, I'd not necessarily say, oh, I, you know, talk like, that. Okay, fair enough. I know that I can connect them and I know that I could, I'm pretty confident in my skill set that I do well. I noted on the show after your last victory that it felt like there was a big improvement

from that fight dating back to your win against May Amaguchi. Your striking seemed more on point. You were very aggressive on the feet. I mean, it just seemed like you've come a long way in less than a year and you took a bit of a break after winning the belt. Did you feel the same way? Did you notice an improvement in your game? Definitely.

And I think, you know, that was the perfect timing for me to really go back and and upgrade my skill set. You know, just really focus on training and learning. I was so glad that I was able to execute everything I wanted to do in that fight and really, you know, gain even more confidence in other areas of my skill set. And then you're coming back in late May. So you're making up for lost time. Why did you take that long break and why are you coming back so soon now? Well, the long break after the title fight was because leading up to the title fight, I kind of fought pretty frequently five times and less than in a little over a year.

So I don't know if that's right. But yeah, I think that it was really great to work so hard, just put your head down and grind, grind and then have, you know, a little bit of break to spend time with my family, to relax, and then also upgrade my skills. I wanted to jump right back into the fight after my one in March because I wanted to kind of just get the ball going and get back in there. I'm used to competing, you know, I was used to competing so often. And so I was really itching to get back in the cage.

So after my last fight, I was like, let's. line up another one if possible. So I'm really happy that I'll be fighting again in May. And there's an Olympic gold medalist who's walking you out, right? Is his name Joseph Schooling? Is that his name? Am I getting it right? Yeah, Joseph Schooling.

So he's from Singapore as well. And I think that it would be really great to see, you know, to have the Singaporean crowd see two world champions walking out to the cage. And it'll be really great. Have you met him? Yeah, I've met him before. I've actually taught him's MMA move in the cage. He's a nice guy.

Yeah. So are you actually friends or did one put this together? Well, I've spoken to him on a couple of separate occasions. Okay. I'd say more than friends? What's happening here? What are you trying to say to us, Angela? No, no, no, no.

Oh, okay, not like that. Okay, sorry. Okay, okay, platonic friends. I wasn't sure where you were going with that because I said, One, your buddies. Okay, that's what my son calls his friends in pre-K. And so how do you feel about the level of competition right now for you at one? Like, do you feel like there are enough people that you can, you know, feel challenged by?

Or would you like to see them go out and sign more women? Well, going out and signing more women is, you know, is never a bad thing. that one championship, the women's division is growing right now. Yeah. They do have a handful of fighters, but I would like to see those numbers increase in the next year or so. But yeah, I think that, you know, my next fight will be against Estella Nunes, and she's fought in one before.

So I think that they're constantly recruiting more and more women, more female fighters, and yeah, that's great for me too. The rules are a little different. The scoring is a little different. Do you prefer that over the scoring and the rules here in the United States? I do because I think it makes for more exciting fights because of the broader rule set. I think that I really appreciate, you know, especially, you know, when the knees are involved. Because I love brown and pound so much.

And so that's something that, you know, I appreciate with one's role set. Right. And what about, you know, these days, I know the Hawaiian. fans are very thirsty for some big MMA fights to come. There used to be a ton with Rumble on the Rock, et cetera. I mean, I feel like you'd be the perfect person to headline a show in Hawaii. Have they been

talking about that? I know they stick in Asia, but have there been any talks of bringing the event with you involved to Hawaii? Oh, I ask them every time I see them, man. I would love it. I would absolutely love it if one championship would come out to Hawaii and do a show. I think, you know, they do really well, especially because they have like four fighters from Hawaii that fight in one already. So, I mean, the numbers just keep growing.

And especially with how much talents over here, it would be great to, you know, sort of for Hawaii fighters to see that there are other promotions that they can fight in and do well. Right. So what do they say when you ask them? They say, oh, Jeff, trust me, we want to go to Hawaii. It's always the same answer. Okay. It's not going to say, no, I'm not going to go to Hawaii. All right.

Keeping your hopes up. Yes. By the way, I read that when you were, I think, 16 or so, you saw Ronda Rousey fight and you were inspired by her and she was one of the reasons, I mean, of course your family, your mom and dad, but you felt inspired. Is that an accurate thing to say? Yeah, of course. I mean, it's so nice to see, you know, what she's done for women's MMA in the UFC in North America because that was something that wasn't there before at all. and you know go to Las Vegas and seeing her fight live and you know I still have so much respect

for Rhonda and all that she's done Which fight did you see her compete in live? The one against Misha Okay the second one Oh the first one The second in the UFC Because that was in Vegas

The first was in Columbus In Strike Force Oh the first in the UFC Yeah And so In your mind Are there any lessons to learn From Rhonda

I mean because she almost now, you know, left as quickly as she came. It doesn't seem like she's going to fight again. And I don't think a lot of people expected that. A lot happened to her very quickly in Hollywood and things like that. A lot's happening to you very quickly. Do you try to look and learn from the past and how other fighters dealt, even with Gina Carrano as well? I know everyone's different, but do you feel like you're handling all of this well?

And like you won't leave as quickly as you came like the ones before you. You get what I'm saying? I get what you're saying. You know, I mean, this sport that we're in, MMA, it's crazy. You know, it's full of, like, highs and lows and everything happens so fast. Yeah. I think that at the end of the day, you just kind of really make the most of your time. And that's what's going to count.

You know, I think that she's made the most of her time and she's done amazing things in that time. So for me, of course, looking at, you know, Rondo, looking at Gina, and they've had very successful careers. Of course, I'm still young in my career. I still want to, you know, run with this for a while. But I think, yeah, if anything, just make the most of your time. How long do you want to do this for? It's hard to put an end date, you know? Yeah, you don't have to.

I feel like we could do it forever. Okay. So right now you're happy. Things are going well. Yeah, I'm very happy. You don't want to do anything else? No. Keep beating up your mom.

This is the best job. Yes. It is a great job. And I know they treat you very well over there. Shatri is saying that you're one of the highest paid female fighters in the world recently, right? Yes, that was announced. Yes, life is good. How many fights did you sign for?

Every contract is different. So with the contract renewal, it's kind of based on time. Oh, wow, that's interesting. I like that. That's better than number of fights. So they have to get you X amount of fights in a short amount of time. more if the time frame comes up, then you become a quote unquote free agent, right? This is very good.

I would like to see that more here in the United States because you have a situation like George St. Pierre. The guy doesn't fight since he signs a deal in 2011, doesn't fight since 2013, and they're still sticking to the same old contract even though he walked away from the sport. So very smart, very smart, Angela. Well done. Thank you. It's great for the fighters when it's like that.

And at the end of the day, as fighters, you just want to do what you love. You want to go out there and fight. And I think that should be the most important thing. Well, I wish you the best. It was great to have you on the show for the first time. You're killing it over there, and it's a lot of fun. I thought your fight, by the way, against Yamaguchi last year was one of the best fights of the year. I had it in my top five.

Thorily enjoyed it. And what a great victory was for you. And then the return back in March was equally impressive. Best of luck to you in May. Thank you for stopping by. Thank you for waking up relatively early. And we'll talk to you very soon. All the best.

Okay. Thank you so much, Ariel. I really appreciate you having me on. It was great talking to you. My pleasure. There she is. Angela Lee, just 20 years young, born on the best day on the calendar. July 8, 1996?

What were you doing in 1996? She was born. Is that insane? Unbelievable. July 8, 1996, she was born. Now she's the one Adam Way champion. Great stuff there. And certainly a name to remember.

Angela Lee undefeated returns to action in May 4-1 championship. Okay, let us move along. As we mentioned, big week for Pride fans for Fight Pass. It's Pride Never Die Week. And they've got a cool thing going on, all kinds of shows, documentaries. And like I said, name 14 UFC fighters currently on the Pride roster. And you'll get three-month subscription courtesy of Fight Pass. one of the shows that is coming out tomorrow is the third degree with Antonio

Rodrigo Nog going six episodes, different countries learning about different forms of martial arts and Mr. Bignog himself, Antonio Hedrigo Nogara, is joining us on the phone right now. How about that? Rodrigo, are you there? Do we have him? Antonio, Rodrigo, Nogera, Bomjia. Okay, we lost him. We're going to get him back.

Obviously made a name for himself in pride. defeated the likes of Josh Barnett, Fabrice of Redoom of course had the great fights against Fyodor Amelianenko, Miracle Krocop. The Bob Sapp fight was a real special one.

One of the legends of the sport, Hall of Famer. I'll tell you what these are these things. Yeah, I got some pride stats. So the 10th anniversary of the last Pride show is this Saturday, April 8th,

2007. number of fights in pride 56 their 10-year run oh Big Gnog, are you there? Hello, I'm here, buddy. Oh, great to talk to you.

How are you? I'm doing well, buddy. I'm doing it. It is a pleasure. It is a pleasure to talk to you as always. So this is a big week for you. You've got your new show coming out tomorrow on Fight Pass,

and it's the 10-year anniversary of the last Pride show. Let me ask you, when I say pride, what do you think of? What's your greatest memory of pride? You know, that was a show with a lot of, you know, put a lot of fans together. All the Japanese, like, you know, future of like summer rides and, you know, great fighters. By this, you know, time when I thought over there was a great heavyweight season, you know, and light headweight as well.

We have humpage, we have bundle A silver, you know, and then heavyweight. had me, Fedor, Crocorp and all the guys. It was a great show, my great time. And, you know, I was in my drive up my, you know, career, but I thought over there, you know, challenging, you know. Yeah. And it was great, you know.

I really miss Japan. When's the last time you were in Japan? You know, just came back for Japan alone last year. Because we lost female third degree, you know. You know, the series. Yeah. We have two episodes of shooting in Japan. We shoot in Okinawa.

It was nice and Shudor camps as well. They shoot at a tournament universe. Oh, wow. Okay, so there are six episodes you went around the world. What was your, I guess, best experience? What kind of blew you away? As a veteran of martial arts, someone who competed for many years, on the biggest stage as possible,

I saw, you know, some footage of you. I think you were in South Korea, watching a Taekwondo exhibition. What really, you know, really spoke to you and got you excited doing this show? Oh, damn, like a son, you know, like, see, you cannot say which one is the best because every one that owner, you know,

especially in Springs. You know, I will tell you, you know, on the Moitai, we, you know, involves you, you know, the Mottai season will film in Bangkok. They will went to the side, you know, such as Maltau, close to Bangkok. So we filmed since the tournament like King's Cup, like, you know, who wins go fight for the king. And we film also, you know, another very fancy tournament over

there. And then we filmed the more tiny street, you know, like tournaments and behind the temple. So we see how the simple people, the local ones, you know, go and have a fight. So it was amazing explains. You know, all the other one was when we filmed the Shudo University tournament, who decided who's going to represent the Japanese team in the next Olympics. So it's kind of, you know, get the best Shudor guys. Was amazing experience, you know. Get inside, see the Qomps and the Shudor people, was good too. So you currently work for the UFC and I think a lot of people were wondering, Rodrigo, what your role would be after Chuck Ladell and Matt Hughes left. What is your day-to-day life like when you were, like, do you go to an office and work

with the UFC or do they just send you around? What exactly do you do for them these days? I do, you know, do work every day, man, you know. Every Monday morning, I got a flight from Rio Janeiro where I leave at the weekends. And I got my apartment in San Paulo, so I go over there in some followers the Gers jobs. You know, we look for good fighters and we send to the matchmakers, you know, all the weeks. You know, like I advise who is the best Brazilian guys in the moment. We'll be in the contact with the other 82 Brazilian guys under contract in UFC. So we follow them how they're training, how they're doing, training one get hurt.

You know, how the situation there in UFC, how they're going to be ready for fight. And we follow up in lease, you know, once a week, every fighter. I have a guy who works with me, his name is Danny March, named the marketing. So him and me, you know, we kind of follow the fighters. And when they get through, like the drug tests, you know, any, like a payment, you know, problem, and things like this, we try to solve. So we've got a department with, like, athlete, you know, performance department.

Wow. You know, we're doing well. I'm very excited. We're excited. I'm a walk in, man. I'm a woke in there. Do you think, do you think if you didn't have this job,

you'd still be fighting? No, no, no, man. You know, my heaps is not jig. So. You're hip. Unless my hips, you know, I have a heap C3. Yeah. And, you know, my last three fights wasn't 100% any of all.

You know, so always my last fight I said, I just, I decided. you know, give up and, you know, I talk to the dinner and then I say, you know, man, I talk to dinner about like you're working, you know, like I don't work and say, man, come work with us with me do with you do than Brazil office. So Brazil is a second spot at MMA and I love to be working for them, you know. And we got like an online show in the internet, also once a. a week. And we

plan to make two more shows you know, like I'd use something like this. All right. And so when you watch some of the other fighters who you competed against and your brother is still fighting, do you ever sit and watch

man, you know, I wish I wasn't banged up, I wish I could still go, or do you feel like you've had enough and that itch is not there anymore? You know, of course I least fighting, you know? You know, that was my life. Now we got to be in a little kid. I love, not the fight, but camps, you know, like, you know, losing weight, you know, you measure your body fat, you measure the power of some position, you prove something.

But, you know, it doesn't matter how much you train, if you can get today, you cannot do the same performance. Right. Because your body doesn't help, you know, so that's why he stopped, you know. My body wasn't help anymore, you know, my hips or wasn't at the same speed. like foot speed, you know. The fight, you measure how much you can get inside and outside. Eat a long guy here anymore, you know. I said, I was losing that.

You know, I was getting much heat. What about when you watch your brother? Would you, would you like for him to stop fighting, or do you think he should still keep fighting? You know, he's in good shape. It's a good train. He should not have any, like, you'd be angry like I had, you know. Then it broke his arm or something like this.

you know, but still move in first. Right. And he still can do it. You know, the fights, he's at top of his way division. Another Brazilian idol,

Vitor Belfort, is coming to the end of his career, and he's floated the idea of a legends division, and you said recently that you like this idea. You wouldn't really take part in something like this, right?

I mean, you know, he's a, Duthor's a great fighter. Yeah. And, you know, he fights someone like his life's five of three. 25 years old, it's gonna be like hard for him.

Sure. That what he thinks, you know. And, uh, but of course, they, they make like a price, five hundred forties, you know, at age fight, why not, you know? Like, you know, five are the same. Yeah. Same, like, same level of like, you know, quality, but not changing rules. You know what I mean?

Like, not miss it up. I think it's not bad. How I like, get matched up, like, time of trap, you know. You know, things like that. I don't think a bad idea for, you know, for me fighting. I'm not fighting anymore.

I'm not telling you could do, but you know, thinking about him, what he said, it makes sense, make sense, you know. From what you understand, is the UFC considering this? I never talk to the UFC about it. I never talk to the UFC about it. Okay.

We never talk about that, you know. Well, it's just what people say. So I'm telling you know, my personal opinion. Sure. You know, my, like, UFC employer, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.

No, I understand. My personal opinion. I have a clique, you know. But now that my working part, you know, I never even talk to UFC about it, you know, but I don't know what they're in there to speak, you know. Is there a name or two as far as the Brazilian fighters are concerned right now? Because you know, you know, a year or so ago,

there were people were saying, oh, what's happening to Brazilian MMA? There was, at a time, I think, one champion, maybe no champions. Now we're starting to see more coming back. But is there a name or two that you really think this guy is or this female is going to be a champion in a couple of years,

a prospect, if you will, currently on the UFC roster that you're very excited about? You know, some guys. You know, we have some, you know, the median generation was, to me, you know, we had that generation where it was like me, you know, UNSO, Shogun, and all the guys started first in the UFC.

You got the Jackar. and Tanya, those guys they almost there, you know what I mean? They're trying to top their division. Yeah. You know, the good matchups, they can get there. You know what I mean? Jackarix's ready to.

Dam is ready to also, so they'll come back with more titles. You know, Aldo just got back his belt. He's in a good time, you know. And he has more, more things coming up. You know, Thomas Alamed was doing well, but he got the champ in front of him, so he lost him, he stepped back again,

and he will try, you know, the kid Thomas is good. There's a kid, he got to make him more eternal, you know, from Brazil, he's going to fight soon in UFC. He's really good. I think he's really complete fighter. I kind of like him the way he's his style.

You know, some always appear a new guy. You're a senior's contract, the eight new guys, in the best year, you know. And I always think, you know, they do really well. She's about Staka, the girl, you know, she's doing well. She's going to fight for the title. Yeah. You know, I think the Brazilian, you know, is doing well right now.

Okay. And going back to Pride, what's your favorite fight? Favorite fight that you were a part of in Pride? Me, I like me and, Miku Kukop. Okay. You know, by them, you know, I wasn't the best time of my career. You know, he was upcoming, really, like, you know, strong.

He was like, you know, undefeated, so that is important, you know. I like me in Harry Tonov. Yes. You know, by them too, you know, in the fight tournament. I like, you know, my two-fights, three-fightsureth. know, it was a good expense world as well, you know, since I lost two fights, but, you know, it was all tough fights. So, you know, myself, I was, I was in shape, you know, when it was good.

My first fight with federal, I have a really bad problem, you know, I couldn't train that much, but the second one and the third one was really good, you know. Can I tell you what my favorite fight was for you in Pride? My, I was Bob Sap too. Yeah, that was the one. Bob Sap. That was my favorite one. Yeah, now, who was? By then, he was in the theater, too.

You know, just started by his. He just came back from K-1. He beat up, he beat up Enis Hus, you know, the more of the K-1 guy. So he wasn't, you know, good shape, good time, you know. What a great time that was. Yeah, yeah, but it was a great time. I regret not being able to go to any of those events It's just a little different

And I'm sure there are times where you kind of dream about Though I mean when there's 50,000 people watching you millions on television Hard to recreate that Do you think that we'll ever get back to that point in Japan Or do you think it'll be impossible to recreate that magic I mean I was in a really You know

Love to because Japan's special country you know that's okay Japan was a special country you know people love Japan they love them

they made over there you know it's in the future of the country you know and like in the past you know

like in the history of the country we are like the Japanese there was farming people working the farm you know

business people you know and then the kings summarize the fighters it was in the top of the you know the

you know, the people were there. So they believe the fighters, they still summarize, you know. So it's very, like, you know, crucial the fighting people are there. Where are you going? You have an open workout or something to do with Josealdo? Is that true? Yeah, I'm going to the Zuzzi Zerado. We put the letters of UFC up there in the sugarloaf.

And also they're going to put the letters on the UFC next two, three weeks. And the Koko Vado is like in the Chrysoul. that in the real. So it's, you know, it's really cool, you know, it's going to be, you know, I think it's an outdoor going by helicopter over there. He's a super stymbers, you know. Wow. And you're going to meet him there as well. Yeah, I'm going to be there in the open, you know, open letters for you and see. So important for us, you know. Okay. Well, the team for you know, make the shows. They're doing well here in the show in this year. Well, good luck with that. I'll never forget it, Big Nag, when you

fought Brendan Schaub there, UFC 134. There were people crying. I've never seen anything like it. People crying after you beat him and throwing beers and things like that. I never had a chance to watch any of your fights in Japan, but that's a memory I'll never forget how much they loved you, and I'm sure you still feel that love. Did you notice that people were crying as well?

It was such an emotional moment. There were media crying next to me after you beat Brendan Chubb. What a moment that was. I know, I know, man. I know. I was like, I had that. a hip series in the same year. So I have like ACL,

a knee street, and then two hip tissues. Like, you know, three seizures together. And I, you know, and I was walking in the crutcher for six months. Crazy. And then I had like three, four months to get waited for the fight, you know.

So, you know, people knows that. We was feeling like a documentary about, like, you know, but never give up, you know. Like, you know, and people was watching that. and the Brazilian you know

was throwing images by Canal Combiashik as a channel here for fighting Brazil so people know so you know I call me and they see me

walking the carches they fight over there that was you know it was good coming back amazing Big Gnog thank you so much for the time we really appreciate it

good luck with the show that comes out tomorrow on UFC Fight Pass it's called the third degree with Minnetoro Nogera good luck with what you're doing and always a pleasure to talk to you thank you

thank you Thank you, man. I wish you guys. You enjoyed it. Thank you guys. Bye-bye. Take care. All right, there he is. Antonio Rodrigo Nogera. So it's Pride Never Die Week. This is what it looks like. Pride Fighting Decade, a two-hour documentary airs today on UFC Fight Pass. Tomorrow's six episodes, 40 minutes each of the third degree with Minnetonognegeara. Wednesday, Big Nog picks his top 10 Pride FC fights.

Thursday, new episode of 2020, which is kind of like their pop-up video on Don Frye v. Yamah. Then on Friday, Don Fry picks his top 10 wildest pride fights. And then Sunday, it's a new episode of Fightography, Dan Henderson, focused on his two pride title victories. So six episodes of the third degree. You'll recall, first season was with Kira Gracie. She got pregnant. So they called upon Mr. Bignog himself. Filming took place late last year. There's plans for another season. Got a chance to see some of the episodes, very cool stuff, especially if you are a fan, of all things martial arts. So it's Pride Never Die Week.

There you see some footage from South Korea. And Big Nog is a big part of it. Again, 14 UFC fighters currently on the roster, once fought for Pride, 10-year anniversary of Pride 34, the last Pride event this Saturday. And wouldn't you know it, Gagha Musassi, I'll give you one, is fighting on that card, former Pride fighter. So a cool time to reminisce about the good old days of Pride.

All right. Let's move along. One man who knows a thing or two about martial arts and really has a passion for the martial arts. Not this new stuff, MMA, the old school stuff. Our next guest, Wonderboy Thompson, Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, good to talk to him. Have been wanting to talk to him for the last few weeks

and we got a hold of him. He is joining us now via the phone. Stephen, are you there? Do you? Yes, sir. I'm here, man. How's everything going? Everything's great. Thank you very much. How's everything with you? You had knee surgery around a week ago, correct?

Yeah, I had knee surgery about last Tuesday. Yeah. And to be honest with you, I was back up on it the next day and hit the bag. Wow. Getting back into swing of things slowly, but surely, actually pretty quick. But it gave me four to six weeks, and hopefully we'll get that in four. But we'll see. I got a good physical therapist here, and the conditioning coach is on the same level.

So, man, it's him to best to get back out there and do it again. What exactly was wrong with your knee? in the fifth round against tiring I get hit and I fall kind of like straight down my knee kind of buckles

out to the side I ended up tearing my MCL and a short meniscus tear and I didn't feel it until about two to three after the fight after the drill and everything

you know kind of wore off but I knew there's something wrong with it I've had several knee surgeries on my left knee so I kind of knew what that felt like and they got an MRI they said it was torn MCL

and a total meniscus. So it was a real quick surgery. Nothing too crazy. I got two little incisions on my knee, and I was in and out. Have you watched the fight again? I have. I have watched the fight a few times, actually, with my thoughts and my coaches. Yes, man.

You know, to be honest, I was a little disappointed, and, you know, the call. I thought I had three of the two, but, you know what, it is what it is, then we'll get back out there and do it again. What is it like? I mean, I know you say, okay, you thought you had three of the two and you're disappointed, but is it frustrating to watch that because you may have heard. People were critical of the fight.

They didn't think so highly of it, and you've never really been in that kind of discussion. Your fights are usually very, very, very exciting and highlight real stuff. Is it frustrated? Do you share that sentiment or do you not quite understand when people criticize this particular fight? Well, you know, we are in the,

the entertainment business and, uh, you know, from the, the audience standpoint, you know, it was a fairly slow fight and they're there to see people get knocked out. Well, we're here, when you're out there in the oxygen, you got to kind of, you know, it's a little different when you're out there, you know, I mean, especially when you're fighting against somebody as powerful as Tyrone Woodley who can, you know, knock you in the next week with one punch or, or if you wanted to, take it down and hold you down there. He's just, you know, he's got that kind of power. So you've got to be, uh, you know, fairly swan stepping out there with somebody like that. And so do you feel like fans have, I don't know, maybe their expectations are a little too high.

Like you can't just be rock'em-sock and robots out there. They don't quite understand that when you're fighting at the highest level for a belt, this is your second opportunity in a row. You have to be a little more measured, a little more. Like, do you feel like they're kind of wrong here? Or do you, when you look at the fight objectively, you say, you know what? Maybe that wasn't my best effort. Um, I think so. I mean, I think they're gauging it on what the first fight was like.

The first fight was pretty crazy. Yeah. And we, but again, me and Tyra both learned a lot from each other from that fight. So we knew what to do, what not to do. Um, you know, for me, it was, you know, this guy is going to be a little bit more aggressive going into this fight. I think he even said he was going to be a little more aggressive. So I was waiting for him to, you know, to commit and be counteroff of him. but I didn't expect him to back up pretty much the entire time.

So, and then again, since he was backing up, I knew he was waiting for me to come in, so I would run into his right hand. Same thing I did in the first fight. He ended up not getting down twice, you know, doing that. So it was kind of like it was very slow, that fight, but then again, there was a reason for that, you know. There were times in there where I think I could have pressed a little bit more,

going back and watching it. But it's different going back and watching it. You can say, you know, I should have done that. I should have done this. But when you're out there, it's completely different, you know? Honestly, I wasn't surprised, but I was very impressed with how you handled it. I mean, you showed up to the press conference. These things impressed me.

And you were, I mean, you were obviously disappointed. But, I mean, here you are a second crack at a belt. And it's so close once again, like the first fight. And you were able to almost like see a silver lining and everything and keep a happy face on. Was that how you were feeling internally, or were you really hurting? Because, you know, it's a bit of a road back now. Two in a row, it's not going to come, you know, tomorrow.

How are you able to be so positive about everything after, you know, a frustrating fight in which you say now you thought you won? You know, there's a lot of things. I was very disappointed. And I'm fairly good at hiding it. But then again, I've got a great support system. around me, man, you know, my family. And, you know, win or lose, I know when I go home, my family's still going to love me. My students are still going to love me. And, you know, we'll work a way

back up, you know, it depends on how, you know, who I fight these next two fights, and hopefully it's the people I want to fight. You know, how I finish them will determine whether or not or how fast I get that next hour shot. But I know that I always improve after every fight. I've known to be better after that fight. And when we do it again, no matter who's got the belt, it's, I'm going for it, man. I'm not giving up on it.

You know, I've always been a very positive guy and move forward from things. You can't look back on it and dwell on the past. Even if it, you know, it happened an hour ago. You still got to keep moving forward. And, you know, what happened happened? and I can't go back and change it. Is a part of you a little happy that your next fight 100% will not be against

Tyrant? I mean, was this whole process a little exhausting with him? It was. I mean, just with the whole, you know, not really knowing where his hatred for me, I don't think he was hatred, but, you know, of course I know a lot of it is hype in the fight. Yeah. You know, the bad talk from, you know, the bad talk from.

him was coming from about me, you know? Yeah. It's like, you know, it's like, come on. It's kind of getting kind of tiring, but it's part of the game. And that's something I, that's the person I've actually experienced a little bit of that at this high level in the game. You know, it's nothing compared to what, you know, Conno McGregner and his opponents have to go through.

But, you know, it was a little different. It was a little different. So, yeah, man, right now I'm just excited. I'm focused on healing up. But I am excited the fact that I will be facing. facing a different opponent, you know, a different look, somebody different to prepare for. So all that is going to be new and exciting. Do you feel, in hindsight, like he ever crossed the line with anything he said?

No, I mean, there was really no crossing the line. It was other things that were involved that were talked about with it, you know, the race and things like that. Something I didn't want to kind of, I didn't want to get into. I know he was bringing it up, but at the time I was just focused, I was hoping that. he wasn't too focused on that and not about the fight and, you know, worried about, hey, man, is this guy going to be 100% stepping out there? Okay. Where I think most opponents were probably the opposite.

They want tyrant confused or are distracted so that, you know, hopefully it will show in the fight. But, you know, I want to fight the best. I'm going to fight the best tyrant. And I was, you know, I just wanted him to be focused on not those things that just focused on the fight. That was it. Okay.

So you've sort of hinted at, you know, two. more fights, get back in the mix, opponents that you want to fight, that you're excited about fighting. Do you, I mean, it sounds like you kind of have a name on your mind. Am I, am I accurate here? What do you got? You are accurate. I think me and Robbie Lauer

would, uh, I think that would be an awesome fight, man, what do you think? I like that fight. I did, I did, honestly, I didn't really think of that one. Where did this come from? You know, um, just, just, I think, you know, he's a striker.

Even, even Carlos Cond did. or Nick Diaz and just give you something, you know, I love to stand there, I love to start, I love to bang it out. And with these guys, you don't have to worry about the rest. You don't have to worry about the take-down. They may try something, but they're not notorious for it, you know? And I just think it would be really exciting, really fun to prepare it for.

And, you know, Robbie Lawler has definitely helped the title for a long time. And I just hope he seems healthy because you haven't heard a whole lot from them, you know. Since the tyrant fight, you're in Carlis, Condon, so, you know, I think those guys, you know, top five guys is what I'm looking at. I know Damien's got a fight with Mons Vidal. It's been a while since probably Lawler's fought, so, hey, man, let's get this thing going. Have you floated this idea to the UFC? You are your management.

Oh, definitely. I definitely floated that to my management company. I know there was some talk about, you know, Gunner Nelson calling me out, but, you know, he wasn't on my radar, just the fact that, You know, the top 10 guys that he's faced so far, he's, you know, beat him. You know, Damia, I think it was Rick Story, beat him as well. So he wasn't on my radar. It was those top guys who, you know, who's had the title is, you know, Carlos Conn is the legend in the game.

They would be awesome to fight him. But Robert Lawler said, you know, I think that would be fun. That was the guy I was originally wanting to fight when he had the title to win with. Yeah. And, you know, I was looking forward to that, never happened. So now it would be a possibility. So I was throwing that name out there by management. They were cool with it.

So hopefully they'll get in contact with one of his management, see where he's at, where his mind's at. Hopefully he's healthy so we can get this thing going. So you haven't heard back. You don't know if this is something. Because I know he's back to training. He's now training with Henry Hooft in Florida. He changed teams.

He's no longer with ATT. There's been some videos that have surfaced of him. So it sounds like he's getting back into it. But you haven't heard back from the UFC if they're on board with this idea if they like it? Nothing yet. No, it's kind of fairly new. Right after the surgery, I just kind of threw it out there. And that's something I was thinking about to you.

you know, directly after the fight. He's like, hey, man, you know, and there was a lot of talk on social media saying that would be a cool fight. So you don't know that's a good idea. So let me pitch this to my management company and so if he gets something going to UFC. So I know they were looking to contact his management. I don't know if that's been done yet. Okay. But, yeah, man, it's a possibility.

So I think that would be a really exciting fight. And, you know, Robbie Lawler is the type of guy who presses the action. He's not afraid to step out there and just let it fly. And those are the fights I love. Are we officially poo-pooing the Gunner Nelson idea? Are you not down with this? You know, as right now, it just wasn't on my right. Yeah, he did great against, you know, was it Alan Javan?

Yep. So he's ranked number nine, I believe. But yeah, at the time, even right now, he just wasn't on my radar. The top two guys that he's fought that were in the top 10, he's lost to. Yeah. Yeah, man, I was, you know, I'm still ranked number one. So some of those top guys, top five, would definitely be it. I think, you know, in the future, I believe we will face each other.

I really do believe that. I think he's an amazing fighter, made very well-round, good great jiu-jitsu and good striking. We do have a very similar style, you know, that karate style, that blitzing movement, hands down. And so I do think that it could be a possibility in the future. Now that your title fight is over, is there a part of you that feels bad for Damien Maya? Like, don't you feel like he kind of already earned his shot at the title? I think so. I mean, Callie. He's a lot. being, I mean, I'm gonna do Carlos Konda. Right.

Just destroyed dudes. You know, once he got, went back to Talley, how he used to fight. You know, a lot of the grapplers, they get a little boxing. They're like, oh, man, you know, I'm gonna go out there to use his boxing, knock these dudes out. And it's just not what they, you know, what they're known for, what they're good at. And once he came to the 1-7 division and got back to his grappling with Jutzer Rouge, he's been crushing dudes. Yeah.

And I thought it was kind of weird that he took the fight with Mokzada. I figured he would wait. But I think, you know, I don't think. you know, I don't think he expected the draw between me and tiring, which means he would have to wait, you know. So I think he maybe, that definitely threw him off a little bit, and I think he wanted to stay busy, so why not fight again? But I didn't expect him to do that because he would wait. Now, you're a good friend, essentially family member, Chris Wybman, your brother married his sister. So that doesn't technically make you brother-in-law, or him your brother-in-law, does it?

Or does it? I don't know. I don't know. I bet it is. I don't know. We call each other brother-in-law. We're very close. I won't take it away from you. I just didn't know. Technically. Yeah. Technically, it's called you're, you know, my brother-in-law because my brother married his sister. I don't know.

We just know that we're famous, so we just call each other. That's cool. Yeah. We're very close. And let me tell you, this guy, he's so focused, man. He's, uh, I mean, I don't know if you saw the picture of him on, on, on Instagram. The guy is looking phenomenal, man. He's like, he's ripped.

He's shredded. He's ready for next week, and I'll be there for a row cheering him on. Okay, so that was my question. Are you going to the fight in Buffalo? You're going to be there? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Me, my brother, Colleen, his wife, his honey,

my brother's wife, obviously, is going to be, you know, out there. Okay. I mean, looking forward to it. You haven't, I mean, early in his training, like, did your training camps coincide at all, or did you guys not work to you? I know now you can, but did you, like, before your fight, did you work with him? Excuse me. Excuse me.

I'm sorry, but I think there's a tornado coming my way. Legit? Yeah, I'm in South Carolina and it's getting pretty crazy. They're having everybody run in the building. Okay. I'll stay on with you, though. Yes. A legit tornado is happening right now.

I'm pretty sure, man. Wow. Everybody's running in. Are you safe? Crazy. Yeah, I am. I'm like actually picking up kids. I'm on the bus talking with you, man.

Holy Spirit. They're like, everybody running. Come in the in the, in the, in the, uh, in the, uh, in the, uh, in the, building, so. Can you give us a play-by-play, or is that irresponsible? I'm running in now. I am running in now. Is this a common thing? No, to be honest with you. Actually, you know what? It's crazy. As long as I've lived in Simpsonville, there's never been a tornado, but like this year, there was like three that hit down right in front of our school, to be honest. He didn't do any damage, but it was pretty crazy. So they haven't run into the elementary school right now. Oh my gosh. That's wild.

It's kind of crazy. What is it like outside? Is it very windy? Oh, man, yeah. I mean, it's pretty much black. It's dark out right now. Like, it's nighttime. What are you supposed to do when it's a tornado?

Like, we don't get those in New York. No, I bet you guys don't. It looks pretty crazy, man. So now I'm just sitting here chilling with some kids that are sitting in the hallway. Are you nervous? Nah, to be honest with, I don't know if it's that far away. I mean, that close. Okay.

We'll see. We'll see what going on. Wow. Okay, let me ask you one question and I'll let you go, okay? Oh, maybe we're going to lose him because of the tornado. Can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. Did you know, let me ask you, did you know that Josh Donaldson was going to leave spring training and fly to go see your fight and then fly back from Florida to Vegas? Did you know that?

We did, you know, I did a workout session. Yeah. He's like, hey, I want to be the one to put the... So he actually left spring training. Flew there. He literally flew there. He was going to be there from the fight and fight right back. And which is kind of crazy. The guy had to go out of the guy.

I think he was going the other way. But man, let me tell you after the first time I met the guy, this guy's super cool, very relaxed. He's loving the M&A game. And he actually is doing some cross-training, doing some striking. And he wants to get some more training in with me, which I think is pretty cool.

So yeah, man. I knew he did that and that was definitely put a smile on my face, man. Amazing. Amazing. I hope that you go to one of his games, do some batting practice. Oh, it's already planned. It's already playing, my friend. Okay.

When are you going? We're going to be doing it. Well, after, you know, once the knee gets healed up and I can pivot pretty good on it. He's going to give me a call which game exactly to go to. It's going to be a home game so I actually get on the field and do some practice with those guys maybe even take the whole team through an MMA practice. Wow, that is great. All right.

How's the look outside now? It's going to be fun. Actually, I'm inside. I have no idea. Do I have no idea? But I can hear the range is coming. Oh, my gosh. Going on the window.

So as of right now, they're two kids to be flat. I'm sure what's cold. What a... I'm not keeping you. Okay, well, be safe out there. We're thinking of you. You're the consummate pro. I expect nothing less from you, Stephen.

Thank you for doing this. and for continuing with the interview. But go be safe and take care of those kids. They're lucky that they're with you. Of all people, I want to be with, I want to be stuck in a school with Wonderboy Thompson during a tornado. That's the guy that I want on my side.

Thank you. Get well soon and looking forward to your return. All right, thanks, my friend. All right. I'll talk to you soon. How about that? Wonder Boy Thompson in the middle of a tornado. Honestly, I mean, is there a more professional person

in this sport than Stephen Thompson? I mean, the guys in the middle of the middle of the tornado. little bit tornado. He says, excuse me, and then runs inside into a school with kids. I've never been in a tornado before. Like I said, they don't have a lot of those here in New York or I'm originally from in Montreal, but how about that? I hope everyone's okay. Severe weather chance of tornadoes on Monday. This according to, who sent me this? Shiz de Splic. W-C-N-C. This is in Charlotte. We'll wake up to the charlatans will wake up to pleasant temperatures Monday morning, but incoming severe weather is causing concern in the region.

Strong and severe thunderstorms. Tornadoes were tracking across Louisiana Monday morning and heading west. Well, I hope everyone's okay out there. That was the first. That was the first for the M.MA hour. Stephen Thompson versus Robbie Lawler. Of course, you'll recall that after Stephen Thompson beat Roy McDonald back in June, he said that he wanted to fight Robbie next

and Woodley was not too happy about that but I think that was him just you know if I'm being honest I think that was him just kind of saying oh you know this is the fight that interests me a little more based on the styles matchup and he sort of alluded to that once again

in saying who he wants next so anyone who was hoping for that Gunner Nelson fight which I certainly would love to see sounds like he's interested in seeing it as well and being a part of it. Right now he has his sight set on the former Walterway champion, Robbie Loller, who we have not seen in action

since he was knocked out by Tyrone Woodley back on July 30th, UFC 201. He has resurfaced. He has resurfaced with Henry Hoof. A couple of videos of him, working out with the combat club, and it sounds like he's getting his feet wet again. Sounds like he wants to fight again.

So maybe they'll do that, maybe for later on this year. Interesting stuff. stuff. Not the kind of fighter that we usually hear callouts from Wonder Boy Thompson. He says he wants to fight Robbie Lawler. And again, I hope everyone's okay out there. Amazing that he's stuck with the interview. I would have said, you know what, guys? It's time to go. But he doesn't do that. All right. Let's move along. As we said at the top of the show, June 25th, Oklahoma City. They now have their main event. It's Michael Keeseo, who you heard from a couple weeks ago on the program against Kevin Lee. The Motown Phenom has been killing it as of late coming off that win over.

Francisco Trinaldo currently on a winning streak, getting a big opportunity now against one of the top-ranked lightweights in the UFC. Never had him on the show before. Wanted to talk to him. And he joins us now via the phone. Kevin, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. Hey, Kevin, how are you? What's going on?

I'm all right. Good to have you on the show. Congrats on the big fight. Did you, what was your reaction when you found out that they were putting you in a main event? Did you think that this was coming after the Trinaldo fight? Did you think he had a couple fights, you know, to go? before getting an opportunity like this? No, no, I thought, you know, when they approached me with, you know,

I was chasing like the Khabit fight or whatever, but when they approached me with this, when they just sounded right. So, you know, yeah, it's just about right time. I'm built for five pounds anyway, so it was a perfect fight for me, so I took it. You've been in the UFC for quite some time, but this kind of feels like your first big push, like your opportunity, like you're coming out party, so to speak. A lot of people are going to see and talk about you more.

Do you feel the same way? I mean, I guess a little bit You know, I gotta let you know, though I don't really like You know, I don't know, Ariel Like me, you got problems, like Oh, okay You know, we let's hash this out

If I requested to be on your show, you know Like, wait a second To these dudes that ain't really fighters, you know So I gotta, you know, I gotta phone to pick with you Okay, let's do it I love picking bones So there's a guy on Twitter Who I was trying to ease my way into it

I was gonna get there but there was a guy on Twitter who told me that you were on MMA junkie radio a couple times, and you were talking smack. Is that accurate? I haven't heard it, but is that you were saying things... I mean, I really talking smack. I'm just letting you know how it is, you know? I'm just letting you know what it is at the top of the hour because, you know,

it's been a couple times. Like, I tried to be on your show, you know, I hit you up, I hit you on Twitter or whatever. You know, I'll get on the fuck, but, you know, you're not hitting you right away when I get a big type. And then, you know, it's just like, it should just don't rub me the right way, you know? Okay, so you haven't felt the love in the past and you feel like I'm kind of a Johnny come lately. Here I am calling you to be on the show only when you get a main event. Is that what you're saying? I mean, you kind of are that, you know, which we both know,

you kind of got to be. I ain't going, look, I ain't going to knock your hustle. Like, you got to, you got to go where the headlines is that. You got to go with make money. Like I get that part. But, you know, as far as, like, you promote, like, guys that aren't fighters or, you know, that say some, like, some dumb shit. Like who? Not the real fighter. So, I mean, but at the same time, bash, like, the UFC and shit for, like, putting together these fights. But, you know, if you're going to be the main guy, you know, you're kind of the guy

that people look to as MMA media, you know, you the guy with the bowtide with the shoot, you know, standing in front of the camera, if you don't want

that airtime to get behind the camera, you know? Okay, okay, but who am I putting on the show that you don't think is a real fight? It was that whole,

it was that whole Mickey Gall, uh, stage thing that, that, like, really just got underneath my skin, you know, I was like, how you're going to be promoting

that fight, like, at the real fight, when, you know, at the same time, I've been calling them off for years, you know what I'm saying? And I don't get no airtime on it. Fair enough.

Although, I mean, I don't think it's... But Mickey Gall gets it and it's fought a real professional fight, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's just doing the right way. Well, Mickey Gall, though, you don't feel like Mickey Gall deserves to be in the UFC? You don't think he has those skills? No, Mickey Gall has never fought a professional fight, you know? Before the Sage... Sage was the first real fighter that he ever fought, and even Sage don't even deserve to be there.

So, you know what I mean? He ain't fought no pro-fight. Like, why give him... the airtime over guys that, you know, already got like eight, nine, ten UFC fights and their real fights against real fighters that don't get as much airtime, you know what I mean? He just got these big fights and just because people hear his name, they think about it. I mean, it's bullshit, you know? Isn't that the name of the game, though?

Isn't the name of the game to get people emotionally invested in if you have to take a shortcut, if you get people talking, some buzz, some hype? I'm not going to, I'm not going to knock the hustle. Yeah. But people are going to talk about what you put out, you know? Sure. You make 10 articles about Mickey Gaul, and you don't make a single article about nobody else,

and of course they're going to be buzzing about them. Of course, they don't be talking about him. You know, he ain't doing it on his own, and I know you tell other fighters to promote themselves and blah, blah, blah. You know, everybody should, you know, get on there and get to Connem or Gregor it up. And I'll get on Twitter and, like, talk about the shit, blah, blah, blah, but that ain't really going to get you nowhere if you don't get the airtime, you know?

Well, I feel, okay, so I talked about this. Who gets airtime? So I talked about this after your last fight, which was a great win. And I said there's a fine line, between like, you know, shooting too far in your call-out and calling out the right person. And when you said, you know, people want to see me and Habib, I was like, I felt like you overshot it

because I just hadn't seen, like not taking anything away from your win, but I felt like I hadn't seen that kind of talk out there. Habib was about to fight for the belt, and it sort of fell on deaf ears. And so I wasn't trying to knock you. It's the same thing with this Khabi thing, you know, like everybody think Kibib is the number one contender. And I'm like, how?

You know, it's got a fight. He ain't got no fights. He's got, you know, in a span of him having three fights. I've had 10, you know? So, how is he the number one contender? The only person he's ever beat that that was even in the top five was Raphao Dosangos, and that was before Dosanjos was really winning fights, you know, he thought Dosanjos was like a number 10 or something like that. And he's just riding that coattel and the media is like picking up on it like, hey, Kabib was the number one contender, but at the same time, they'd be being fought nobody, you know? And, you know, I mean, and that goes

for guys like Tony, like Tony. Like Tony has fought 10, 12 times in the span of that same period, you know what I mean? So it's like the media is. that's promoting him as, I mean, he's got a huge following. You know, I mean, the Russians are fucking crazy. Like, they go crazy for him. So I get that you all want to stick with that because he's got the following, blah, blah, blah, but to promote him as a number one contender, you know, that's the kind of thing that I'm talking about. And by the way, you know that the job of the media isn't to promote.

Like, I don't make money off of these fights. I know, I know. I know, but you do, though, you know. What do you mean? You can money off the clicks or whatever it is, you know, I don't know. I don't know that's good nor I work. I don't. I don't, I mean, I don't.

If my website, if no one's going to my website, I'm not going to have a job. But if 10,000 people watch this show or 10 people watch this show, I'm still making the same money this month. So I don't get more money off the clicks. I just go where the interesting stories are. And the UFC, if I'm being honest, I feel like your anger is misdirected here. The UFC hasn't put you in a big fight. They put you on prelims.

They put you on fights against guys where there's no story there. You know, you have to be emotionally invested in these fights. Punk and Gall was a fight that people were emotionally invested in. And he didn't overshoot his shot. he went after a guy that was actually attainable. I felt like you may have overshot your shot, but here, look where it got you, got you in a main event,

and now you're on the show, you're fighting a top-rank guy. So I feel like maybe the UFC hasn't been pushing you, as opposed to the media not pushing you. You get what I'm saying? How many fights have you had in the UFC, like 10? I'm just saying that, I'm just saying, you know, I think as far as like the Khabib call out and everything,

if I don't ask for it, they don't give it to me, you know? Sure, fair enough. It was the right time for me. The only reason that fight didn't happen is Khabi, just don't want to fight. You know, he want to sit out on the sideline. He just don't want to fight. You want to hold on to that oh, he don't want to fight nobody, really, unless it's for a big fight, a title, so that he can say,

oh, I lost, because, you know, it's been a year, whatever, so I fought a top fighter, however he wants to stroke his ego or whatever. I feel like that, you know, it wasn't necessarily overshooting a shot. If I don't ask for it, they don't give it to me. Fair enough. And at the same time, I don't get the air time if I don't ask for, you know, because if I say, you know,

I take whoever to you if he gives me, then you know, guys like you and whatnot is going It's not bashed me for it. So, you know, I got to do, I got to pick the middle ground between that. Okay, well, look at you now. Now you're in the main event. So are you, are you saying that these guys like, you know, Habib, these guys are overrated, that we in the media overrate them for whatever reason.

And that guys like- You definitely do. You definitely do. And it's understandable, you know what I mean? Because that's where, that's what's going to bring the money in for y'all. No. It has nothing to do with the money. It has nothing to do.

You know, I don't know the family as you're really not. But, you know, you the guy with the, with the bow-tine shit. 24 and 0 24 and 0 undefeated I mean how could we not pay attention to him because he and he pulled a top fighter you know what I'm saying

When is the last time Have you seen him fight I've seen a fight one guy You know he brought Michael Johnson Yeah he's currently ranked 6 He saw those Sanjo So yeah those are top fighters You know what I mean

To promote him over the guys like Tony Ferguson And these guys that are real fighter That are real like it don't matter Like if you're in the UFC, you're taking a top fight. None of these fights are easy. I don't care for the top five guy or a top 50 guy. Like, the point is you got to fight in order to come up in my eyes, you know, because

I'm a fighter. I'm not a, I'm not a fan. Like, yeah, maybe fans, like, pay attention to the rankings and stuff like that. Like, for me, like, I don't. You know, if you're taking a fight against anybody in the world, we're all professional fighters. We can all win. We can all go.

Like, oh, especially that lightweight, you know, any of the top 25, top 30 guys to all be be camping in the moment. So, you know, if you're not fighting, I don't give you to respect. Tony has been on the show, by the way, a ton of times. He was on back-to-back weeks just a month ago. So what's your theory? Why do you think that, you know, people like me don't talk about you enough? Oh, because I don't bring in the numbers.

Like, yeah, I get that. Why is that? So is that on you or is that on me? Whatever. Is that on you or is that on me? It's all whatever, you know? I'm just saying it like this is what it is. It really don't matter to me.

Like, either way, I'm still making the same, like, he said, like, whether 10 people listen to the show or 10,000, you know, make 10 more money, it's the same thing to me, you know, when I show up, if I fight on the prelims or I'll fight on the main depend, I'm still making a 10 amount of money, so it really don't matter. My contract is already signed and done, you know, I'm mostly just doing the show just to, you know, just to help out, but it really ain't going to do nothing for me, you know? You'd rather not be doing. Like, I'm just being a real.

Damn. Like, I'm, you know, it ain't going to boost me no rankings. It ain't going to give me no money. And they don't do nothing for me, really. So, wait, you're confusing. me here because on the one hand you're saying you're mad that I've been ignoring you and not putting you on the show and by the way I don't recall you because that was I'm saying that was during a come up you know what I'm saying oh and now you feel like you're there and the come up yeah and I'm like

I'm past that point now I don't really you know like I mean I'm not past that point but I'm like okay if you're not going to help me then I don't really need to help now you know but isn't this part of the come up I mean it's your first main event we haven't had the fight yet you're not what are you at number nine or something in the rankings last I checked right right Is that what you're at? No, actually, you're, what are we at? We're 11 right now. UFC rankings, although I don't think that those are legit.

Whatever. So you feel... I don't even pay attention to the rankings at all. Like, I feel like I can fight the number one. I feel like I can fight the champ right now and beat them. So I don't really pay attention to the rankings or whatever. I'm not really, like, you know, people are sweeting me and texting me and all like, oh, you're in the rankings.

I don't give a fuck about that. Like, if I ain't got the gold value, it really don't matter, you know? Like, my paycheck don't say the same. But isn't this, how many fights you have left on your deal? I just signed a new deal, so I got three fights. You have three fights left? Two fights, two fights left. Oh, wow.

So, okay, now we're talking about something interesting here. I mean, you're about the main event to show, and after that, after this fight, you've got one fight left? Yeah, like, my plan is already set in motion. Like, you know, I'm going to take this fight. Yeah. The U.C. is going to come to Detroit later on this year. I'm going to take that fight. I'm a headlined, I'm against whoever, like, you know, if somebody shows up or not,

like, I'm a headline that fight, and then I'm going to sign a new deal regardless if, you know, the media is behind me or not. Like, it's, you know, and my plan, that's what I mean. Like, my plan has already set in motion. Like,

before my plan wasn't, you know, my plan was a fight, like, a guy like stage, something like that and, like, actually get,

like, you know, the, that boost up. But, I mean, not only, you know, I kind of already got my plan set up.

I already, I already got, if you're saying, F these people, you weren't with me before, if you weren't riding with me before, it's too late now. The bandwagon is full.

Yeah, I didn't kind of already said, truck it and like, you know, skipped over it, so. Damn, just like, I, but I didn't get the memo, but if I'm being honest, I don't recall you ever telling you.

You don't answer, because you don't answer, none of my, you know. When? When did you tweet? Show me a tweet. Show me a tweet. Show me a tweet. When was it?

I'm going to do it right now. 2010? When was it? Before you're in the UFC? No, no, you know, it was there in the, the whole thing. You know,

Mickey Gaugh said something about Savior, whatever, and that was all over it. And I'm like, Like, what the fuck? Like, y'all's gonna really talk about some high school shit. He's talking about his hair.

You know, I called Sage's dad a drug dealer and a liar and a cheat. And instead, the articles is, oh, Mickey Gold called his hair crazy or whatever the fuck it was. You know, and just before that, like a couple fights before that, like, I call out stage. So, you know, it's whatever. No, I remember when you did that. And if I'm being honest, that was a good call out. But don't we take cues? Do you think that we take cues as media from who the UFC is pushing?

if they're going to push Sage, if they're going to push Mickey Gauls, CM Punk these guys, that we kind of have to... Definitely. I mean, I have the same... Look, I have these same conversations with the U.S.C. Like, I'm just letting you know... Yeah. Because I'm talking to you right now. But I have these same conversations, you know, I let them know how I feel, too.

I'm just just how I am. Like, I'm just going to let you know... I respect it. How I feel, like, right off the back. I'm not going, like, I'm not one of these dudes that's just on, like, pussyfoot around and, like, six foot. Like, again, you have seen, like, me and Joe have gotten into, like, full, like,

plan the arguments because I'm like you know you call me a bunch of names I call him a bunch of names like you know I'm just I'm just talking to you right now so this is what I'm talking to but yeah I had the same argument as you see for all the time do I even I even understand like the same reason why I understand why you do it I understand why he does it you know because it's hard to promote like the black a black fighter you know they haven't broken into the African American market yet oh they don't want to go all in on it because you know they don't know if they don't get their return it's a business just like any other. You know, they're not racist.

They're not none of this other shit. Like, they bought the money, you know. They want the groom more than this thing. So, you know, Detroit, Philly, Chicago, St. Louis, you know, they just don't bring the money in for the UFC to really go all in on it, which I understand, which is wholly respectful, you know. Do you think that's why you haven't been pushed? I mean, it's maybe part of it, but, you know,

and probably the way I, you know, because like I said, I will get into a couple arguments here now, you know, I'm just like a, probably, probably like a mixture or anything. Because, you know, my first couple of UFC fights, you know, I came in to UFC like real young, you know. Yeah. I just had a whole lot of experience and, you know, I came in, like, I was one of the youngest guys that they signed.

So, you know, my first, I think four or five UFC fights were just kind of me, like, trying to get that experience and really trying to get more engaged time and, like, you know, kind of, kind of built myself up. So the U.S. like, saw that, you know what I mean? And they didn't want to go. which I understand. You know, they don't want to go on in or somebody that's ready yet,

and I wasn't ready, but, you know, these past couple of fights I have met, so, you know. Okay, so a couple people, a couple people have sent me some, some tweets that you send me. Maybe now Ariel Halwanica talk to me.

Fair, but I, wait, wait, wait, just for the record, these tweets are three years old. They're from 2014. We're talking about three-year-old tweets. I don't remember what happened last week.

Three-year-old tweets, come on. Where have you been? Okay, and it wasn't even that. It was like, I think I fought Jake Matthews, right? July of 2000, okay, July, you said this tweet out, July of 2014, you were one and oh at that point because you were coming off a lost ally at Quinta. So your winning streak was one at that point.

Okay, but that ain't the only. So I'm going to be knocking at your door for beating Jesse Ronson? I'm about to, I'm about to really say, when I fought Jake Matthews here in Las Vegas, you know, you showed up, you did the little, you know, you didn't make you do a little post-media scrum or whatever. You came over. I was there. Hey, ask me like one question.

I ain't really give you no sound bite, so you got up and walked away. And I was like, all right, bro. Like, I guess that's how it is. Oh, man. You're a sensitive guy, right? I respect that. Like a year. Are you sensitive?

You're sensitive. I'm just letting you know how I feel. Okay, I respect that because I'm very sensitive. Like, you have thin skin. Admit it. You remember? No. You remember...

Look, have you seen some of the, someone with these worshipers have been calling me? Right. And, you know, hell, I ain't got no thin skin. I'm just going to let you know the truth of it. You know, I'm just going to let you know how I feel it. I'm feeling some type of awake. Damn, I didn't know. People are finding all these tweets so quickly.

I didn't know that we had this long... I don't stay up at night boiling with hate for Ariel Hwani. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, you know, I'm going to make... You know, I'm going to make sure you have a good show. I'm going to let you know. There's a good interview. I like this interview.

Why did you agree to come on the show if you felt this way? I don't really even know. Like, I really don't. Like, when I'm out of her post, and I was like, oh, I'm going to have a real one probably. first I told him no, and then I was like, okay, you know, I guess, I guess, I, you know, we got agreements just to air, so I'm going to let him know. So I guess I will, but really, I wasn't going to. Like, I don't know why I did.

Well, I like your manager very much, the great Stefan Patsch, maybe because we're both from Montreal, he didn't tell me about any of this. He was shielding me from, from this venom that you've had towards me. Yeah, because I told him what time it was. Oh, he never, you know, you know, he's, you know, he's, that's what I mean. Like, he's keep a professional. Like, I really don't have to, you know, so I'm gonna let you know I have to really you. I'm just not that type of dude that'll, that'll kind of smile in your face and like, and talk shit about you afterwards. Like, no, I'm gonna let you know. And if you got, you know, you feel some type of way or you want to defend it and then let me know. I respect that.

So does this mean this is the last time I'm allowed to talk to you? No, of course not. If you, if you, you know, look, this don't be, that'd be the last time I reach out to you. I'll tell you that, but, you know, uh, well, you haven't reached out to me in three. years. A year ago. Where have you been? No, I'm saying after the whole Jake Matthews thing, I was like, okay, well, I guess I ain't not for aerial no more. Oh, come on. I was there. I did the scrum. They don't let me do one-on-ones anymore. Again, the UFC is to blame here. They don't let me do the one-on-ones. That was a big win, by the way. That was a really impressive win. I was there. I asked you questions.

I don't know about leaving early. It sounds like you're a little sensitive. And I get that. I mean, it's fine. I'm sensitive too. But let's, what's the biggest fight you've had up until this point? Michael Kesa, what's the biggest fight? Like the biggest, highest stage possible. for sure, Francisco Yeah You know This last flight Yeah

And I wasn't there Definitely you know The folks You know I talked to Brian For a little while afterwards And he said That was the loudest

That they were Other than for the main event You know So You know I was gonna go And I try to haul them up And I did the same thing

In them I told the Brazilian How I felt Yeah You flip them off Yeah Yeah And I'll tell

Some of them You know Backstage how I felt But you know They don't really Speak English So they couldn't really go back and forth with me, but, you know, I still did the same thing.

Were you worried at all for your safety? No, hell no. But I'm from Detroit. I mean, you know, they got some novellas out there, but I'm going to be. Like, I don't really, you know, I went down there with the intention of trying to walk around and see how dangerous it really is. So, no, not really. I mean, they carried me out the back.

They kept some security with me, the whole thing. Oh, wow. I really wasn't even, I really wasn't even nervous. Like, yeah, they kept two big security guards with me at all time. And they was kind of cool. I was taking a picture of that shit with them. So, you know. Why did you want to go there?

I ain't worried. Look, I want a fight. Look, when I get this fight with the beat, I want it to be in Russia. And if they need to carry me out the back through a private jet or whatever they're going to do, but I don't want the fight to be in Russia more than anything. When they fought Kabilaba, or when I was pushing for the fight with Kabilabao, I wanted that to be in Russia.

So, you know, I ain't worry about none of them. Okay, so you tell me now that your biggest fight, biggest stage was the one, the win over Trinaldo. that was less than a month ago, March 11th. Here you are April 3rd on the show. I feel like we are responding accordingly. I suppose. I suppose.

You finally have a big fight on a big stage, and here I am. Listen. You're right, but I was just saying, like, I was feeling some type of ways. I don't let you know. Listen, man, I don't have time for no fight past prelim. You know, you got to make it worth our while, Kevin. You know what I'm saying? I'm just saying, if you were to make, you know,

if you were to put out an article at least one about the whole station, saying we would already been on box. You know what I'm saying? Okay. So, you know, you get these fights. He gets, all these dudes, they get these easy-ass fights. And, you know, we got to come up through the struggle. And I got to take all these tough-ass fights because, you know, I don't get no airtime.

That's bullshit. That's fair. That's fair. By the way, is the Detroit card? Is that official? Is that happening? I want to go back to Detroit. I can't say, I don't, look, I'm already in enough trouble.

Here you are. You come on the show. You come on the show. You know, me. Like, I can't, you know, I'm already. in trouble with PR as it is. They're going to call me. Oh, trust me. They love this. Oh, yeah, they know. They probably put you up to it. You know, of course, I can't confirm until they confirm, so. Okay. Is it going to be at that new arena that they're building?

Yeah. Oh, wow. Which is a horrible man. Wow. That's pretty exciting, though. That'll be big. See, I thought the head on that bad boy. So you beat Keesa then, what makes sense next after that? The beat, you know? If Kibbee, you know, if Keeb want to get down, it. To be want to really fight somebody, you know, like, he should actually take a fucking fight, but when they're not going to make Tony again, you know, that fight is just dead in the water to me. Like, he don't want to fight

Tony, obviously. Why he keeps pushing again? I don't see who else he fights. You know, they're doing to put him in a fight with McGregor, you know, no other fight makes sense to me. Who else you going to have a fight except for me? If you have to fight somebody like Barbosa or something like that, but I don't think he don't take that fight.

He don't want the problem. Wow, okay, so, I mean, this is good timing. see it all works out. Everything works out for a reason. Habib on the show later today, I'm going to ask him about you. We'll see what he has to say. Yeah, don't even ask him. That's Daniel or whoever tweets from him or ex-a-Ali, whoever tweets from him. You know, Thabee don't really even talk much.

He barely speak any English. He barely understand what I be saying. You know, he comes around and scream all the time. He won't say a word to me. So I don't think he really do much of the talking. You've got to talk to his representatives. All right. Fair enough.

I'll ask them as well. Well, I have to say this has been an eye open. experience. This has been one of my favorite interviews on the show, and it wasn't even an interview. It was just two people yelling at each other. It was great. Well, you welcome there. This was good. Where have you been, Kevin? Where have you been over the last few years? In your goddamn DMs? You've been sliding into my DMs? That was you this whole time? The rest of the request that you don't answer. Well, look, if we've learned anything here today, you got to, you got to bring something to the table. And clearly you have brought it, but let the

record show, I came to you. I reached out to your management. I booked you on the show. you came a little bit with thin skin, but I think in the end, we've gone somewhere very special now, and I feel like now you're in the wheelhouse. You're part of the family now. I feel like we've gone over that hump. Do you agree?

I like it. I like it. I'll give you the respect then. If you in Oklahoma City, I'll buy you a beer. Wow. Well, I don't drink, but maybe we can figure out something else. I'll buy you a beer. You can pour it on somebody else.

Now, just for the record, one last thing. I mean, before you go on other shows and talk smack next time, come in. You know, call up, you know, I'm right here. You know where to find me, Kevin. All right, I got you done. All right. You know, I got you.

Don't disrespect. You know, don't do that and give me the snub again. You know, you're harder to talk to another life sketch. It's really good news these days. All right. Well, Kevin, this was fun. Let's do it again soon. And good luck on that big fight, June 25th.

And congrats on getting the fight and actually making it worth our while to talk about you. This is great. My man. Thank you, Kevin. We'll talk to you soon. All right. There he is. Kevin Lee, the Motown phenom himself, coming out strong. Wow. That was fun. Didn't expect that. But I enjoyed it. All right. How do you top that? You top it with Ray Longo. Been a while since we talked to Ray Longo as well. Where has he been? He's on the phone right now. Ray, how are you? I got to tell you, I thought I did something to offend you. I really did. Are we friends anymore? Well, this is the problem. I mean, I feel like those guys over at the Anacin Floreen podcast, I feel like they kind of got you on an exclusive deal. And I didn't want to be. I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to nudge my way in there. So you're being respectful.

I'm being respectful. I'm typically a respectful guy, yes. Very good. Okay, that's great. How much they're paying you over there for those spots? Let's see. I'm going to say more than zero and less than zero. Okay, fair enough.

But you're doing so many things these days. Movies, I see you doing shows. How many things outside of fighting do you have on your plate these days? Like outside of coaching guys and being at the gym? Well, I'll tell you, I did, I really purposely slowed down because I wanted to concentrate on that, obviously, the fights that are coming up. But, you know, a couple of little things here and there. Nothing crazy, nothing that takes a lot of time. But I did get to do what, a Kevin James show, Kevin Koway, and that was a lot of fun.

But it was one day, you know, so it's not a big deal. But, again, it's a lot of fun, and it really helps me decompressed from what I'm doing and go out on a limb and try something else. and, you know, takes your mind off of, you know, just training and working out, which, you know, I've been doing for a long time. So it's really been a lot of fun for me, yeah. Are we slowing down as far as the training is concerned as well? Like, are you not bringing in as many young guys these days? No, we've got a couple of guys that I expect to see in the UFC. But I'm going to say slowing down until somebody else takes the reins and maybe goes after some people.

I'm really, honestly, just concentrating on Chris, Aljo and I. I have obviously I got a lot of people that are still kickboxing and tie boxing or glory rules fighting and we got a really great kid from Georgia the Republic of Georgia Marab Dashiaveli who hopefully I got

hopefully he'll swing into the UFC soon he's going to be a fan favorite this kid comes to fight he's tough as nails and I'm looking forward to that but not a lot of people now so for you as a coach and as a mentor to these guys, you've been with them for so long.

This has been an interesting period. I mean, not that long ago. You guys were riding high. You know, Aljo coming off, a couple losses. Chris, a couple losses. Iiquita just trying to get back into it. How would you describe this time for you and the team, like the mood, the vibe, the atmosphere? Well, I'll tell you, listen, Ariel, if you think about it, man, I mean, there was only one way to go.

You know, you can't just keep going up and up and up. So we plateaued a little bit for sure. And I think that's going to be, you know, the mantra. that's behind us and we really got to go back to what got us there and really just move forward and everybody, you know, I mean, life throws a lot of things there. You got family, you got kids, you got, you know, other stuff happening outside and, you know, all work and no playmates, Jack a dull boy. So, you know, you want guys to entertain things that could, you know, they could be successful maybe after their career is over. But again, the mantra for this was really

just exclude, you know, I mean, just really just focus on what you have to do. And I think that's what I loved about this camp. I mean, Chris really wanted to go to Brazil with his friend Valante, but he didn't. He wanted to be in Wonderboy's Corner in Vegas. He did it. He really, you know, this was the time to get selfish and to just concentrate on your training. And the kid really went beyond, you know, where we've been in a while. And I think it shows in his, even if you talk to him, I think you'll see a different guy talking. And if obviously if you look at him, the hard work just pays off, you know, to the point where people are accusing of being on PEDs,

which I'm very proud to say how he's clean as hell. But yeah, he definitely, you know, we had to, you know what I mean? Like, again, there was only one way to go, and we had a plateau a little bit. It can't just keep going up and up and up and up. Nothing in life works that way. And I think we learned how to accept that and move on. Okay, so you said something, a really interesting word there, and I appreciate the honesty very much.

I expect nothing less out of you. Plato? Yeah. That's the word, plateau. You don't hear that. You don't hear it. Why do you think that happen? You know, again, I think, you know, look, it's always, you know, exciting, you know, working your way up to the top.

You know what I mean? And then it's really hard to hold that. And I think, you know, who knows? I mean, I think we all maybe got scattered a little bit. But we're all back, man. We're back and I mean, I really put a lot into this camp myself as a coach, and I got a lot of help from a lot of other people, which I appreciate. And I'm really psyched for this fight. The road to Madison Square Garden for you and your team, this was something you guys talked about for a long time.

In the end, you only had one fighter on the card, and it was Chris, and it obviously didn't go his way. How do you look back on that night? Was that just a weird night? Because we all thought, you know, you'd have five or six guys. You're such a big part of the New York MMA scene. It ended up being one guy, and maybe that was good. in the sense that you could focus on one guy, but the aftermath wasn't obviously what you were hoping for. Do you look back? Like, is that, is that just a weird night for you in your career? Or can you now

say, oh, it was great. It was great to finally be there. Coach, how do you look back on that? Well, I mean, look, honestly, man, I really like to win. I'm, you know, I hold it together good, but I think I'm a sore loser, but I really don't want to lose. So I think the experience was great. I'm happy to see MMA in New York. But, I mean, nothing would have made me more happier than a win. And, you know, it didn't go one night. But again, that's life, man. You got to pick yourself up and move on else you're never going to go nowhere in this life. Does it kind of blow your mind that it's been almost two years since Chris last want to fight? If you would ask me that, you know, like two years ago, yeah, I didn't think, I thought, you know,

yeah, it surprises me a little bit. Nobody hasn't fought that much either. Sure. I mean, he's been, you know, between all the injuries and everything. And that's another thing. You know, you really got to get through these camps, you know, one engine. And that's becoming a, that's becoming a, you know, something that you really have to look forward to. So everybody's healthy. I'm happy about that.

That's what you can expect. But yeah, no, I would have never thought we'd be in this position, but we are and we're ready to tackle it and really write his comeback story, man. Do you like this matchup? Is this one that you were kind of saying, okay, this would make sense for us if we can get Musasi

get back in the mix? Yeah, you know, I thought originally, I liked, I liked Whitaker because Whitaker beat Brunson, and I thought he was on a role. So I needed a guy like Whitaker or Musassi, I think, is a good matchup. I think, you know, Whitaker obviously doesn't have the experience of Musassi, and that's what I think, one of the things Musassi brings to the table, he doesn't rattle easy. And, you know, the guy's got, well, 45, 50 fights. He's fought all over the world, and he's very comfortable fighting. He's looked very good as of late. You know, it feels like he's really kind of...

He's on a role, man, you know, but again, you know, I don't think Chris got into this sport to take easy fight. Yeah. You know what I mean? So he'll fight anybody, any place, any time, and that's what he's doing. You know, this is not an easy, an easy task by no means, you know, so... But I don't think any of his fights kind of the last six or seven have been, so I think he's going to meet...

I really, really believe you're going to see a different Chris Wyden a week from tonight. or no Saturday. He's really looking good. His head's in the right spot, which to me is more important than anything. And, you know, we got rid of the distractions, and he really did be. I mean, he worked his fucking ass off of this.

What kind of distractions are we talking about? No, just anything. You know, guys call him a movie part, you know. Yeah. Maybe, you know, something with the kids, the family. You know, it's a lot of responsibility. Ariel, when you're married and you got three kids. You know, I mean, you know that.

from being a married guy. But I mean, even like years ago, man, I'd be training Matt. I'd have an argument with my wife. And he's like, dude, can you just pull it together? I mean, you just, it's normal life. Life stuff that gets in the way of what you're doing. But it's perfectly normal. And, you know, I think like it, like, again,

they think everybody did a great job on this. He's got a great wife. I mean, great family. You see those videos. And you've got to love those kids, man. and I think he's fighting he's fighting for those kids this fight. I remember when this fight was announced,

people were like, man, you know, after the Romero knockout, like maybe, you know, this idea of tune-up fights isn't really a thing in the UFC. In boxing, we see it much more often. A guy's out for a while. He gets a tune-up fight. He's coming off a bad loss, gets a tune-up fight. You don't only see that in the UFC,

and people were saying, ah, you know, and I subscribe to that notion as well. It would be great just to get your mojo back, your confidence. Yeah, without a doubt. Why? Yeah, I mean, I would have loved to, you know, had an easier fight. Yeah.

But, like, again, this is the sport we, these guys chose. There is no easy fights. Is there a lesson for Al Jermaine to learn in all of this as well? He signs that deal and hasn't won since. What's happening there? Well, look, first of, I really believe he won the last fight. You fair. It was a split decision.

I think Carroway definitely beat him because he controlled it more. towards the end, but you know, he almost had Carraway out in the first round. I think he learned a lesson from that, and I really did think he's in a totally different spot because he's never been beat up or anything, you know what I mean? So he's, he really thought he won the last fight, you know, so in his head, I think that's a totally different dynamic than, you know, what happened with Chris. Okay. So he's, you know, his thing is, you know, I, you know, I don't know.

I mean, you know, it's just a totally different vibe, you know. It's like, again, he really thought he won the last fight. And I'm not saying it was a blowout. And I thought, you know, it was a close fight. But I really did think he was winning that fight. And if you really go back and look at the stats, they're going to back up Aljo's claim. But he's got to regroup from that feeling like, you know, he got slided and that type of stuff. So, you know, I think that two totally different things.

So when someone loses a couple of fights and gets beat up, gets knocked out, as far as as being his coach is concerned, it's a different approach now because when you have a guy who got knocked out as opposed to a guy who maybe got robbed, you're there, you're just not getting the nod, it's a few tweaks. When you have a guy like Chris who got

knocked out, do you have to kind of start over, reinvent the wheel? How do you move on from that? Yeah, like again, you have to really analyze, you know, each one of the camps and, you know, see what he did, and if he was healthy. And, like, I want to start talking about injuries and

all of that stuff. And I think Chris, you know, he suffered maybe a little lapse in concentration. And he paid the price for it. He made a couple of mistakes. And that's really kind of what we worked on, just, you know, stay in focus for 15 minutes. Aljo's, Aljo's a different thing. Aljo's like, you know, at this point, they just don't like the style of, they don't like a lot.

I mean, the guy threw over 100 kicks in the last fight. I guess they just don't like kicking. You've got to start end in fights or, you're going to, you know, we're going to suffer. for this again. With Iaquinta, it's a whole different ballgame now because he was on the show and he was like, yeah, I don't even know if I'm going to fight. And I couldn't tell if he was kidding or not. Like, he was back.

Let me tell you some. Yeah. Let me tell you something about Ia Quinta. I think Quinta is going to fight you, whether he's walking down the street, you're in the octagon. That guy, once he steps in that octagon, he's fighting. I don't think anybody's going to disagree with that. And I think that's why they're excited to see him come back because you know what you're

getting with that guy. I mean, he's coming to fight, so I don't even care what he sounds like. Because when push comes to shove, he's fighting. So you never believed that he was actually going to remain retired? Oh, I wasn't, I don't

know about that. I wasn't sure. You know, he's always in the gym training. But, you know, I don't know. If he struck a rich with the real estate, who the heck knows? I know, you know, but you know, I think some of these guys are just, You know, they get tired.

They're getting banged up and they're young. And I think they're looking, you know, 10 years down the line. Am I even going to be able to get out of bed? So, you know, I'm sure, you know, he's got family surrounded by him that maybe makes him, you know, think of a different career here and there. But at the end of the day, that kid wants to fight. Did that make you say, like, did you feel like he had more in him or would you have been at peace if he never came back? Oh, man. That's a guy I would miss.

I love training that guy He's really just He's just a good kid But uh You know He's got to do what he feels is right for him Those those are questions for him I would

Look The way I call I support these guys And whatever they do You know what I mean So if that's what he wants to do I'll support him in the real estate thing It doesn't you know It's the same same thing to me

I'm not there to say you know You got more in you got a fight you know There's a tough sport They're not getting He's not at a point where he's getting compensated, where he's going to be getting life-changing money. You know what I mean? So you really have to like the fight at that stage.

And are you sensing a different? I mean, that fight is coming up in, what, 19 days? You're now kind of reaching the tail end of the training camp. Does he feel, does he look different? Does he act different? Does he train differently? Has this break changed anything about him? No, I think he's coming out guns blazing.

Okay. Like he always does. Yeah. You like this matchup for him? That's a pretty good matchup, yeah. It should be fun. Yeah. I think those guys, I think it's a good.

I mean, look, on paper, you know, the way Diego is another guy likes to throw it out. I think it's going to be an entertaining fight. Something just occurred to me. You're going back to back to back, right? 8, 15, 22? Yeah. How do you feel about that? It comes in waves.

You know, it comes in waves, yeah. And then I got my daughter graduating college, so I'm leaving a couple of weeks after that. Yeah, it's crazy. I remember when she just started college. She graduating already? Yeah. Yeah, she's coming out. Wow.

That is what, what's she going to do? Well, I think you met the little one. Oh. Okay. The older one, the other one's graduating next year there, so it doesn't matter. But speech pathology, you know, she's looking at NYU now and I think Columbia, two schools she got accepted to. I think she's going to make a decision soon.

So we're all happy for her, too. I'm really proud of her, you know, just to get into good schools. And, you know, I just hope it works out for her. But good stuff. So you like, I mean, it's kind of weird because here you are, you're going to go to Buffalo. When do you go to Buffalo?

Well, Wednesday. So Wednesday, and that's the tail end of Aljo's camp. And then you're with Aljo, tail end of Iquinta. You'd rather not have this, right? Back to you'd probably rather all have them on this. I'd rather not have this, yeah. Yeah. What a weird thing.

We have all the people in the gym, so, I mean, it's not, I'm not going to sit doing nothing. There's a million people helping out. Right. And what about the movie, the movie career? What do we got? What's on the table? Not too much.

I did, I just, I did, I had a little spot on Kevin Kewit. Yeah. Probably in next week, so that was cool. And that was it. I did a short movie. They just did up in the, I think it was up in the Toronto. Short Film Festival came in second. And I don't know what they're going to do with that,

but that was really good. You like it? That was it. You enjoy this? You know what it is? I like it when I don't have to look for it. It's kind of coming to me. And the studio with Kevin is literally down the block from my house,

so that works out great, you know. And this car that they just announced for Long Island later on in July, what's a bigger deal? As a Long Island guy, what was bigger for you, MSG or Nassau Coliseum? I got to tell you, man. I think the Coliseum is big. You know, I think nothing beats the Garden,

but the Coliseum is definitely trumped in the Barclay Center by far from Long Island. I think that's a huge, huge thing. But I don't think you could ever get over the ambiance of Madison Square Garden, just with all the great fights that have been there over the years. And, you know, for me, I was always a Nick fan. And, you know, whatever.

But I think the Coliseum is the next best thing. And, man, it's literally walking distance from the gym. So that's pretty cool. I haven't really wrapped my head around that yet, but I'm sure the closer that gets, and we get a couple of guys on that, it's going to be fun. Yeah, they renovated it. I think it opens officially in a couple days.

Have they, I mean, it's a little early, but do you know of any of your guys yet? I probably have to get through these fights, right? You don't have anything. Yeah, I have no clue. How far is that from your gym? Isn't it just like minutes away? I'm saying you could literally walk there.

Really? I mean, it'd take you about a half hour. Sure. Wow. I'm saying it's got to be two miles maybe, I don't know. That's amazing. Well, I hope they rectify the situation. I mean, it just kind of felt weird if I'm being honest.

It's like I wanted all the guys. And I know there were some things that happened, but I don't know. I wanted all your guys to be at MSG. It can only control the things you can control. We had no control over that, you know. All right. Just like, you know, I hope we're on the Coliseum. I think that'll be great.

It would be amazing. Any new training day with Ray's shows coming out? We put that on hold just until after April. Okay. All right. They're asking me to do it. And I'm like, I just, I really had to focus on what's going down. All right.

Well, let's get through this month. First things first. Good luck in Buffalo. Then good luck in Kansas City. Then good luck in Nashville. It's a little world tour. There you go. World tour.

I look forward to seeing you out there in Buffalo. Great insight. Thank you, Ray. And it's good to have you back. Don't be a stranger, okay? I mean, we're just a stone's throw away from your gym. You know, you can pick up the phone sometimes. Awesome.

You've got it, buddy. Thank you, Ray. I appreciate it. I'll see you on Buffalo. All right, looking forward to it. There he is, Ray Longo. Big month for him coming up. Just occurred to me in the middle of that interview.

He's got Buffalo, then he's got, Kansas City, Aljo, and then he's got Ally Quinta in Nashville. All right, big fight this Saturday. Very much looking forward to talking to our next guest. You've all wanted to hear from him. It's obviously been a month since we talked to him

right before UFC 209, and everyone been wondering how Habib Nirmagamayev is doing, and I do believe we have him on the phone. Chabib, are you there? Yes, Adel. Salam al-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a. What happened to our Skype? Usually we have you on Skype.

Where'd you go? I'm driving now. I'm on my way going to home. That's why I cannot talk to Skype. No problem. I can talk to home like this. I'm happy to talk to you regardless. Thank you very much for coming on the show.

Okay, so we have a lot to talk about, Habib. First things first, how would you describe the last month for you? What has it been like since you were forced to withdraw from UFC 209? You know, like, I think this is my hardest mouth in my life. And, you know, feel a little bit bad because, you know, because I pull out before my biggest fight in my life. that's why I saw that but you know

there's not fun time for me when did you realize because we spoke to you midday Thursday and there was some footage of you training Thursday night

when did you realize that something was wrong that there was a chance you might not be able to make weight you know like Thursday midday day

when I have a last day midday day I began a bit a little bit I feel like, like, different. I never feel like this. I think, well, I, one day before we're in, of course, I don't feel good all the time,

but I think this is like something like different. And when I go home and good night before we in, I feel like crazy, you know. I'm cutting wet with my, with my cream, and I don't remember how I asked me how I make, like I don't remember a lot of things, you know. And, you know, like something going too wrong, but I don't think this about my diet.

I don't think this about my cutting weight. I think this is like something different. Huh. And so you started to feel a lot of pain, but you were out of it. Like, are you saying like you were just kind of, I mean, you were unconscious. You don't remember going to the hospital checking in, all that stuff? Yes.

Of course I remember when I'm going to hospital, but not a lot of things. When I, you know, like I feel like so bad, you know, I never feel like this. Sometimes this happened, you know. Sometimes you cannot control what happened with your body. Yeah.

And, you know. What were the kind of pains that you were feeling? Like where on your body were you feeling pain? stomach pain. Okay. I never feel like this. In hindsight, do you think that you were cutting too much weight? I don't think like I'm cutting too much weight, you know, but you know, I'm a

weight 155.0.155. And I fight with Michael Jones and I feel like very good. I feel perfect, you know. And this is like, this is like, I make weight in November and no problem. And after much, I can't make weight because this is not about diet. I think this is about my health. Like your overall health. Your overall health, like outside of fighting, you think that something was stopping you from making the weight?

Yes, you know, but. You know, I'm just coming from Germany. You know, I need like three or five months for make my body sane. Three or five months make rehab. And end of this week, I'm going to Germany. I'm going to fix everything. You know, this problem, this is not about cutting work. This is about my health.

And I have to make her a hub three, five months, and I'm going to come back maybe. I think I can fly the end of September. Now, what's happening in Germany? Germany, I'm going to check my body, what happened, everything. And I have a little bit problem with something, but I don't want to talk about this, but I need a couple months to fix everything. Okay. Is the UFC sending you there or are you going there on your own?

No, I go with myself. Did they tell you to go there? No. Okay. I go with myself. Okay. When you were at the hospital, did you know that the fight was off or were you still trying to save the fight? Were you still coherent enough?

Were you still going to try to cut the weight? No, I still, I still serve this fight. like maybe I can but my weight always 160 you know yeah I can fight you know like I can come to weigh in and so my weight

like 160 and USC can make like a fight catch weight or if I'm fighting like you know like last time when Tatek's fight versus Holloway they make like if if Tatek's win no title if Holloway win

type, you know, like this. Yeah. But doctor said, no way. You cannot fight because you, you feel so bad, you know. And, you know, like something like this. Dr.or said you cannot fight. You almost die. How you fight?

Wow. How you can fight if you almost die, you know. They said you almost died. Well, no. No, we talked about, like this is something. What are you talking about? Yeah. Your body is.

It feels so bad and you want to fight. You can know, we, we, we, we say no fight. 100% no make weight, no fight, no nothing. You need to stay hospital seven hours. We have to make sure your body is good, you know. But I feel, I feel like I almost died. Wow. You know, and, but it's okay.

You know, sometimes, sometimes, When I have injured or when I have a bad situation, I all the time come back strong. Now I know a lot of people are upset about this. A lot of friends have said about this because this is like very big fight. U.S.A. promote this fight, very good. We promote this fight. A lot of people waiting for this fight. I know a lot of friends upset about this.

And I understand this, but, you know, I want to say sorry about everything. I come back I come back I'm gonna come back I'm gonna come back I'm gonna now I feel like different motivation everything I'm gonna I'm gonna check my way

check my body I'm gonna fix my body everything and I'm gonna come back I know for sure and so I'm gonna come back after the fight Dana White said oh you know it could have been saved that they they went rogue they went to the hospital

they didn't call us was that fair did you guys try to I mean do you think was fair to say that or maybe he didn't know everything about what was going on? You know, Ben, of course, you know, like, because this is like, you know, I pull out very big fight. Of course he upset, but it's okay. He support me. He called me after this. He sent me a message very good, you know. When I have MCL, when I have ACL, when I broke my ribs, and all the time,

Dennis still support me, you know. And I want to say thank you for him. I know sometimes we go like crazy when somebody pull out, but I understand. I understand everything. I am professional fighter and I have

to make great and I'm going to this is my job, you know, but sometimes you cannot control your body. Right. And, you know, you do everything. I know I don't have a lot because, you know, like, because this is my fault. I know 100% this is my fault,

but we'll see what happened next time. I'm going to come back. This is not finished. This is not, like, this is not finish my career. I'm going to, I'm going to fix my body and come back. Did you read some of the comments afterwards from Tony Ferguson? and at first, I mean, he was very, it felt like he was very respectful and he was saying, you know, get well soon, tweeting at you. But over time, it's become a little more, you know, I don't know, adversarial, if you will.

Is this still something that you would like to see happen, you versus Tony? Do you want to move on? How do you feel about it? I don't know, you know, like, when I, when I pull out, he, he supports me like, oh, I feel better about him. good luck, blah, blah, blah, blah. And sometimes, now he's still trash talking. But I know understand, you have to talk, like, you have to talk good or you have to stay still, you know,

like you have to stay still like what you say. But I know understand which position he has, but I don't think too much about him. You know, I have to fix, I have to fix my body, you know, because I pull out. Of course people are going to talk about this situation, but it's okay. It's okay.

I understand everything. I understand. He upset. I understand. Friends upset. Like then, all you see that, you know, this is not finished.

I'm going to come back. This year, I'm going to come back, for sure. Have you considered fighting at 170? Do you think that would be healthier for you? No, I never fight one seven. Why? This is my principle.

Because I can make, I can make, I, I make 155, like, all my career. I make all my amateur career 155. You know, like all the time I can make, and I make 155. Of course, before I think about, oh, maybe I fight 17, super fight something like this. But I want to say, I never fight 170, never. I know this. Okay.

This is my prince. I'm going to fight only 155. And I'm going to, now I have different motivation. I want to show a world how I can make one fight and how I can become U.S. like a champion. This is my different and new motivation. Anyone in your circle, your father, your coach,

are they, because there's all kinds of reports about you, and that's why I'm happy that we get to talk to you. Is anyone trying to get you to retire? No, nobody. Nobody, nobody's trying. I know my father talked about this, but with Russian media and the U.S. media make, like, a different translation. But how I retired is I have to fight for the title.

You know, now I have a very big name, and now a lot of big fight is coming. how I retired. I know I understand who talked about this. Okay, so for the record, you're not considering retiring. You have many years that you want to keep fighting. Is that accurate? Sorry, the connection is lost.

Oh, there we go. Connection is lost. We'll get him back, hopefully. I mean, I think I was just trying to reiterate the point there, but it sounds like any talk of him retiring is at least, as of right now, premature. Good to hear. I mean, he is owning up to this

and saying that it's his fault. Going to Germany, in case you missed us, he's going to Germany to get his body checked out, hopefully going to fight again in around September, which is in five months' time. As we've talked about before,

Ramadan is coming up end of May, so we're getting a little close and he says that he'd like to get his body checked out. And when he does fight again, he does not want to fight. at 170 pounds. He wants to keep fighting at 155 pounds, thinks that he's close.

And I appreciate this because I saw a lot of people say on Twitter when we announced that he was going to be on, oh, he's going to fire back at Tony, he's going to talk about this. I mean, this is a very sort of subduit. Let's not forget this happened. What, a month ago, less than a month ago at this point, around 30 days ago, right? So this isn't the time to do that.

I think we haven't back. Habib, are you there? Yes, I'm here. Okay. So I was just asking again, just to clear it up, you're not considering retiring and you're fighting for the foreseeable future, right? Yes, of course. I'm going to fight. First of all, I'm going to fix my body and stay healthy.

Because the last three years, I don't remember when I train or when I'm going to fight. I'm healthy. I don't remember this because. now I'm going to fix everything and come back stronger, you know. But about Ritter, I don't think about this. I don't think about this. I know you said that you don't want to really talk about what you're doing in Germany, but when you say fix yourself,

is it like a problem with your knee or your leg, or is it sort of an internal issue kind of health-related? Do you get what I'm saying? No, this is not about my knee. This is not about my stomach. Okay. Wow. Do you know what the issue is? Yes, I know. They told me. They told me.

And I'm, because I'm just come back from Germany. Now, today they give me a hanssel, what I have to do. Now I'm going back to Germany like a couple days. Okay. And, you know, after the, after the incident of, you know, having to pull out, did you even watch UFC? Like, what did you do when you were in, I was told that you were in your hotel room, you were getting better? Were you completely out of it? Were you able to even, you know, understand what was going on?

What was that like for you? You know, after this happened, like, one, one week, I don't understand, like, you know, I feel so bad, you know, like, mentally, this is very hard for me, you know, like, you know, like, everything can happen, you know, and everybody, everybody, everybody, I will, somebody can sick, you know, like somebody can die, everything can happen, you know. And, you know, God gives me a lot of things. And, you know, thank you for him, like, for everything. But last month, this is not one, not my month, you know.

Sometimes this happened, but it's okay. I feel about this, like, a little bit better, but now, you know, right now I feel good. And I'm going to Germany. I'm going to fix everything. Like, you know. And now that you know what's wrong, do you feel a little bit better? Like mentally, you feel like, okay,

there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I know what's wrong. I'm going to go fix it. Do you start now to have a little more hope? Yes, of course. Yes, of course. Now I know why happened, what happened, everything. And they say for me,

like we're gonna see this you have to come here stay here a little bit and come here recovery everything and you can fight and you can you can everything that you know we know we know we know like what interesting we know a lot of times like when you're cutting with you can die yeah and i know like a couple one month ago somebody died in brazil before somebody die in in Japan you know like we know sometimes this happened

but this is can happen with me too you know but if we still cutting weight and if we still like force my my body

maybe I can die too you know like this is very good we're going to hospital and like I don't want to talk about this too much

okay can you clear something up for us Chabib, people keep saying that you were eating cake, Tiramisu, before the fight. Is this true? What's going on here? Why do I keep seeing this? I don't understand why people talk about this. I don't eat this.

You know, we're going to rest home and we chill together, everything. But cutting went only, only me cutting weight, you know. But other guys don't cut it. And everybody eat everything. But I don't eat in this restaurant. I eat only my food, you know. I don't, I don't understand. people talk about this.

Okay, so that never happened. Somebody order cake and somebody order cake and somebody eat cake. Of course, somebody eat cake. But I don't eat nothing. I don't eat this cake. I don't eat nothing. But I don't understand why people talk about this.

You said that you want to return in around September. Do you think that you will be in a title fight again or do you think you're going to have to work your way up? This is a very good question. This is a very good question. You know, who fight for the title? I don't understand. Who deserve this?

Who deserve this? I pull out, maybe I'll do, I don't deserve. Now we have Turner. He's going to fight with Mayweather. He thinks he want to fight with Mayweather. And Tony Ferguson, who? Now this is the biggest fight in the UFC, right with the division, Tony versus me.

is the biggest fight. And, you know, like, I don't understand. I hope I fight with Tony. Now, this is my dream fight. You know, this is like my dream fight. If you used to say, hey, you want to fight with, you want to fight for the title or you want to fight with Tony Ferguson, of course I say, give me Tony Ferguson. Wow. I want to fight again. And, you know, like, this is my dream fight. I hope I'm going to fix everything and I come back, I come back and I'm going to fight with it. This is like my dream fight. you know if you if you ask

what you want you want to fight for the title or Tony Ferguson 100% I want on Tony Ferguson even if it's not for the belt even wow

have you have you heard him say that he wants assurances if he's going to fight you he's laid these out in a few interviews have you heard this I don't hear this

he said that he basically wants some assurances from the UFC if he's going to to accept a fight against you. He wants to be guaranteed certain things from them as far as pay is concerned because he doesn't want to have to go through

a training camp and, you know, hopefully it doesn't happen, but something like this happened again. He can do this, why not? Yeah. I don't talk about his game. I don't talk about what he wants. This is his problem. But I talk about, like, I want to fight with him

like so badly. This is like crazy, you know, like, This is my number one dream fight. And why September? I know Ramadan is coming up, right, so you can't fight during that month. Is it more because of Ramadan or is it because of your health issue that you can't fight until September? First of all, I think Ramadan and the health, you know, like, I need like three, four months, fix my, my, fix my, and like July, like, middle of July, I, like, middle of July, I,

I can train 100%. I hope that doctors, you can train like middle of July, you can 100%. And I need for come back like 70 to 75 days. This is like September.

I can come back. Okay. Are you even able to work out now and things like that? Or do you have to completely be, you know, on the sidelines and relax? No, no. Relaxing.

Now I'm just being a little bit moving but no heart. I cannot try now. Okay. And as far as the support is concerned, have you, do you feel like you've received a lot of support from the MMA community? Have you been watching this?

Have you been reading about this? I don't think somebody now supports me. You don't feel that? No, I don't feel this. You feel like everyone's against you? But it's okay. I agree with these guys. Yeah.

No, but it's okay. My family is me. No. my brothers, my sporting partners, my teammates, my team, my management team, everybody with me, of course, because these guys know me very well. These guys know me, these guys know how I train, like everything, but other guys I know, like, crazy. Friends upset very badly, you know, like, but it's okay. I agree with these guys.

Sometimes, you know, you know, a lot of friends no understand. you can seek anytime, anywhere. Right. But that it's okay. So now you kind of feel like you're on an island by yourself.

What? Now you kind of feel like you're by yourself, right? Like everyone's against you? No, I feel like a lot of times against me. Wow. I feel this. But it's okay. I need like a little bit time.

Fix my body, come back, make weight, and smash somebody. when I come back and everything becomes like perfectly. It's okay. So sometimes you lose, sometimes you cannot make way,

this is game, you know, and this is an MMA. And you have to understand everything can come. And but now I feel good and what happened, and I happen and I'm gonna fix everything. think and next time I'm going to do everything perfectly. Okay. Well, I wish you the best, Khabib. I'm happy to hear that you have pinpointed, you know, what's wrong, and I hope that

everything goes well. Are you going to have to stay in Germany for a long time, or is it in and out? I don't know. Next week when I'm going to Germany, I know. Okay. Now they say you have to come back. Now I'm going to come back after a couple days, and we're going to figure. lose and come back.

Okay, so good luck out there. And I know you'll be supporting your friend Daniel Cormier, right? Fighting in a big fight. You won't be there, but I'm sure you'll watch the fight, right? Of course, of course, I'm going to watch this fight. I want to say good luck, D.C. because I know,

you know, like, you get trained more than 30 years, you know. He took an Olympian, he striped for his heavyweight champion. Now the U.S. a white headway champion. These guys, like, you know, like, we are a legend.

You know, he is truly captain of AKA. And, you know, everybody loves him. I want to say good luck. Everybody knows this, like, it's a very hard fight for him. You know, and Anthony Johnson is, like, crazy, you know, like, he has, like, crazy. And I want to say good luck for him, for his team, for everybody, and you want to support him anywhere, anytime. know, he has a very big heart.

He helped me a lot. When I come to U.S., you know, like, we everybody love this guy. I want to say good luck for him. And last thing, Khadib, did you just open a new gym this past week? Yes, we opened a new gym in Moscow. Eagles and Amiens gym, and now we're going to open in four big cities in Russia. We're going to open gyms, you know, like Eagles and my team.

this is one of the biggest thing in the world. I am president of this thing, you know. We have a lot of things coming and, you know, like this. And I want to say thank you for my brother, Ali Adelaidez, he's support in the last three and a half years. You know, when I work with him, I have ACL, MCL, and I finally come back 2016, and I fight two times. Now I have a little bit problem with my health.

know he stay with me all the time. He support me. You know, I love this guy. And, you know, I want to say thank you for him too. All right. Well, I wish you the best, Habib, and you've overcome a lot. I have no doubt that you will overcome this as well. Good luck in Germany.

I hope you get well soon. And thank you so much for coming on the show and talking to us. I really appreciate it. It means a lot to us. And I hope that we can talk again soon when you're, we have happier things to discuss, your return and your good health. Yeah, no, like, thank you, Ariel. I don't talk with media, like no interview, nothing,

but when I say, hey, Ariel, want to interview with you, I say Ariel is loyalty. I'm going to give him an interview. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate that. Salamalakum, feel better, and we'll talk to you soon. Al-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a.

All right, there he is. Chabibibhneurmagam-Av. You can hear the pain in his voice. My heart goes out to him. that is a tough spot. No one that close wants to pull out with so much at stake. He's been through so much. He's overcome so much.

And then, I mean, just the worst luck possible to have to pull out. And it's not just pulling out. It's being in pain, being in the hospital, missing weight, all these things and more. These are things that athletes have to overcome mentally that just so hard when you're not just, quote, quote, failing. you're failing in front of the world. You're failing in front of the public. And now you have to deal with in this day and age, social media, people going on your Instagram,

your Twitter, writing you messages, wherever it may be. It just makes it worse. You think this guy wanted to pull out. If you think that Habib wanted to pull out of that fight, I mean, come on, to get to that point. And it just makes it worse because it's one thing for, you or I to mess up day-to-day life. You move on, no one really knows about it.

I mean, if I mess up on this show, maybe a little more. people will know about it, but you get my point. This guy messing up in front of the world, it's a tough thing. And then you have people reacting and people trying to pour it on. It is a very tough thing to overcome. I wish him the best, one of the very best fighters in the world, certainly deserving.

I disagree with Kevin Lee, deserving of all the attention that he has received, has a very passionate fan base, undefeated, 24-0 that is nothing to sneeze at. And I hope we get him back, and I hope we get him back healthy. You know, it's funny, he kind of, in a way, I'm a Knicks fan, as you know, and this past weekend we found out that Derek Rose has another knee injury and he's done for the season and you kind of start to wonder, what if, what if this guy was healthy, what if he never got injured the first time, never tore his ACL, one of those classic what-if stories, you hope that Habib doesn't become one of those because you saw that he was, I mean, he was a talent to, you know, to definitely,

pay attention to and he was backing up everything and again undefeated and he was so close to a title shot so close to so many big fights. I hope that this isn't a string of injuries or bad luck or health issues that are going to follow him for the rest of his career. Speaking of the New York Knicks, some exciting news that I saw earlier, my favorite athlete of all time, Patrick Ewing, getting a head coaching job, a head coaching job, I should say, with Georgetown University. How exciting is that? That's very exciting. Finally becoming a head coach, Patrick Ewing, my favorite athlete of all time.

Growing up, I idolized Patrick Ewing. I used to draw his jersey all over my school books. Number 33, that was my favorite number. When I turned 33, that was a great birthday. I wanted to be 33 because of Patrick Ewing. Now he is the head coach of his alma mater, Georgetown University. How cool is that? That's amazing.

Great to see. I don't know why the Knicks never hired him but that's a different discussion for a different day. All right, we have a bit of a break in the action here. I think our internet problems have been resolved. Is that accurate? We're back.

Wow, great timing there. I mean, I only worked a month to try to get that Habib interview. I mean, could we have not done it during the Kevin Lee interview? Maybe that would have been more up or pro. Kevin's about to go on junkie radio and lay the hammer down.

Well, that was great. Which one? Kevin Lee or the internet. Oh, yeah. No, yeah. The internet going down was best. What happened? I jinxed us. I said, oh, ever since we moved to this new office. You got to learn. You can't do that. Damn internet. It's all unpredictable.

Yeah. No, that was good with you and Kevin. Well, if you missed any portion, I think it was the back end of that Habib interview. I saw some tweets about the front part of it. That was where the real news was. But if you missed any portion, we should have the replay up or the audio on iTunes in a matter of moments, correct? Correct. We will have a clip for you on YouTube and we will have the full show up on iTunes audio.

Now, when I say about our moments, I mean like in the next couple minutes, right? Yeah, we're going to go forward in time, complete the show, go back in time, post it, and everything will be hunky-dory. What did you make of Kevin Lee's? I'll say this. Vibe, if you will. I'll say this. Yes. a lot of times when people have a gripe

they don't really know where it comes from they can't really point to specifics they can't really bring the evidence sure oh wow you're actually backing him Kevin Lee made a compelling case for what

narrative he was trying to tell I think that honest to God I've never seen his tweets never seen now they're there though they're there I mean look I get so many tweets How can I see them all? He is citing an event, an occurrence that happened at one of the shows that you thought of completely differently, and he thought of as a slight.

Now, that's where the ambiguity comes in, because I can't imagine you would do that and cite him on any, you know. No, but look, the show is on once a week. I'm trying. I try very hard. If people only knew how hard it was to book this damn show. I'm trying to get the most interesting guests, relevant guests, biggest names possible,

each and every week. I try my hardest. I can assure you of that. And he just hasn't been in the biggest fights. Now, personality-wise, I love his personality. And maybe it's on me.

Maybe I should have had him on after the Jake Matthews win. Maybe I should have had him on a month. I don't remember, you know, like before the Trinaldo fight, right after the trial-o fight, fine.

I don't remember him, like him saying that I walked away, the scrum. I don't know. I'm actually usually, this is what happens in the scrum. So we're backstage. They don't let us do the one-on-one interviews anymore. So now they bring everyone back and it's, you know, a scrum.

And for the most part, when I'm there, I take part of these scrums. Sometimes I either miss the fight or there's not much of my opinion to talk about. Like when we were doing the interviews, we didn't interview every single fighter. And I get the sort of puppy dog eyes like, oh, you're not going to come to the scrums. So I go to the scrum, even though I don't have any questions asking. And then sometimes something happens. I have to go talk to someone. I get a text.

I don't know. And so I just kind of quietly sidestep if I'm not, or if I've already asked my questions, we're still recording it. I'm going to watch it. I just can't be there in that moment. So maybe that happened. But quite honestly,

I don't remember it happening. And I'm kind of surprised that he still remembers it. But maybe he was offended. I don't know. He's a sensitive guy. He's got thin skin. What can I say? All I'm saying is that he at least,

he at least, sure. He wasn't just coming out with nonsense. Yeah, he wasn't saying, you don't like me because of this and that. Although he is confusing, like, our role. Like, my role isn't to necessarily promote him. I mean, I know having people on the show is a promotion. You know, we're shining a light on certain guys.

But the UFC really hasn't gone out of their way to push this guy. I mean, how much do we really know about Kevin Lee, courtesy of the UFC? How many big fights has he been a part of? How many, like, top two co-main or tri-main or main? You know what I mean? I could go through his whole record now, but how many times has he been on the main card? Yeah. So is it really, I mean, is it really on me?

Is it, you know, kind of on them as well, the promoter? It's on all of us. It's on all of us. It was fun, though. It was good. It was fun. It was good to hear from Habib, and I appreciate him coming on. In around 25 minutes or so, we're going to be joined by King Mo.

He has that win now over a rampage Jackson in his back pocket, so he gets to avenge that loss to him, the controversial loss. A lot of people thought he won the first fight. Now he beats him on Friday night. And now he's fighting Ryan Bader on June 24th. A couple things to run by you while we have this break in the action. Hit me. Before I get to the things, let me say one more time.

Thank you very much to the Marines. You were supposed to remind me of this. Where were you? I mean, you're just blaming everybody. Did you know that every Marine has the willingness to engage and the determination to defeat any adversary? Failure is not an option. Every value tradition and lesson learned from battle are imbued into every Marine. It's what they are all made of and how the Marine Corps develops quality citizens.

Marines don't fight for glory, Eric. They fight for honor. They live by a code that isn't written or spoken. It is lived. Shout out to the Marines. There's no call to action here. No Marines.com or anything like that. I think people know where they can find them.

I'm just spray. Where do you find the Marines at your local shopping mall? Where did they hang out? Well, I know the one thing. You can probably go to Marines.com. Let me make sure it's Marines.com. Good call. Or USMC on Twitter.

Hopefully their internet works. Okay, a couple other things. RDA versus Tarek Safedin. So RDA, 170 pounds. It appears as though, according to several reports, it's going down in Singapore in June. Do you like this fight for RDA

and his Walter Waite? Is it his Walter Waite debut? I think he may have fought a Walter Wade way back when. I also but anyhow in his return. He'll call him fighting at Walter Waite

obviously. So yeah, great fight. Good stylistic matchup. It will kind of kind of show us where he's at now. Colby Covington was campaigning for this fight. He even put out this picture

of a Gmail and even took a shot at me in there. Did you see that? I didn't see the shot at you. What was it? I don't know. It was something about my nose. It was something about my nose.

I mean, isn't the Photoshop Gmail? Isn't that kind of like a 2011 thing? I like it. I still like it. All right. I think it was solid trash talk. Okay. Would you have preferred that fight over the Safundian fight?

No. This is a bigger fight. This is a bigger fight. It's a nice, I didn't want to see him fight a top, you know, a top 10 guy at 170. I mean, I don't know. Top five. I mean, I know early on there was some talk of that, or at least he was pushing for that.

I think this is a nice entrance back, and it's a big fight for Safini as well to get some momentum at 170 pounds. What about Fabricea Redume and Alastor Overim? That was reported, not officially announced. Number three, you like that one? I love that fight. Some people were saying, oh, I would rather see Overim

or Verdume fight a Nganu type. Nah, this is the fight. Love this. Remember their second fight. Why do you love it so much? Because I remember the second fight very well, and I feel like it had a lot of unanswered questions. I feel like there was opportunities that Verduem didn't really capitalize on. Yeah.

I want to see it. It's amazing how much more confident Verdoom has become in his striking. That was kind of the turning point, to be honest. That fight, I thought he was getting, if not equal, the better of Overeem when he was striking. But he did too much butt scooting. And if he hadn't, I feel like he would have had a good case on winning that fight. 2017 Verdum isn't doing that

That's the most fascinating thing about all this And it's amazing It feels like right after that fight He started to get a lot more confident I think that was that fight I think he realized he could hang And or you know I'm not about to pretend to be in his head

And you know Think about his motivations But it seemed from that fight Onward we had seen A much more confident Verdum and much better on his feet Now what do you make of this Michael Bisping ultimatum

Did you hear about this? He said GSP hurry the F up. If not, I'm fighting Y'O Romero. Do you believe this? You're buying this? Are you selling it? Sure. You believe it? You believe he's being serious? He wants to fight. I don't think he's got... He's so close to that payday. Let's just say that GSP is

staying true to his word and saying, I can only fight in September. Bisping is saying, I want to fight July 8th. And I feel, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here, but I feel like someone is kind of nudging him to say this. The UFC needs a, you know, a big fight on that card. Do you really think that he's going to come back two months earlier and risked that payday

after all these years never made a million dollars? Yeah, probably not. He's probably just trying to nudge him. Yeah, probably not. I wouldn't want to rush into a fight with Yoh-Romero, anyway. It's not really rushing. I mean, it's still three months away, but I just don't, I mean, we're talking about two months difference. Yeah. Not that big of a

difference. Probably not. And then this whole thing with him and Tyron Woodley. I mean, this is nonsense. No one's asking for this fight. Let's not even talk about this. No one's even asking for it. Do we have a winner? We do. Oh. What do we got? So not like two minutes after we said it.

Jeez. The first person who posted on the website got it correct. 14 fighters. You ready? Should I list them? Please. Alistair Overeux. Correct.

Mark Hunt. Mm-hmm. Vitor Belfort. Mm-hmm. Anderson Silva. Gaygard Musassi. Gilbert Melendez. Josh Barnett.

Nick Diaz. Robbie Lawler. Shogunhuah. Fabricio Verdume. Big Gnog. Little knock. Oh, sorry, Little Nog. I had big gnaug on the brain

Yeah Hector Lombard Takenori Gomi Boom That's all of them And there were quite a few people Who got them right How did these people get it?

In fact, one person Had the same thought as me And the second reply that we got Who also was very quick Same timestamp Mentioned Rampage Who I also thought So he's kind of like that tweener

Yeah because as we know And we've seen the stories lately he is now owed to the UFC if he comes back to fight he has a contract. Wow. So who's the winner? It is

the username is Ramsey T-K R-A-M-S-A-Y-T-K. So he just has to send us his email address. Let me find out here. I'll figure out a way to connect. Okay.

But how about this? We've got runner-up prize Uh-oh. We've got... I forget what it was. It's like, what? There's a lot going on here. Two months.

I think it's two months. So that guy gets three months. Three months. But second and third place. Is there a second and third place? Second place was the one who listed Rampage as well, but got the other 14 correct. What's his name? Let's give him a shout out.

Hey, who? H-E-H-U-42. Hey-who, 42. Okay. And then our next one after that was Balal C. who also got them all correct. Obviously, I don't think there's anybody who put wrong answers. I'm surprised that everyone got it so quickly.

It's the type of thing you can Google. Can you? Can you actually Google like active fighters? There's probably a list somewhere of like fighters, active fighters who fought in pride, and then you just have to weed out to the UFC ones. Especially if you give them a number. It's easy once you get to, you know,

once you get to that number you know you've got them all if we had said how many are there then I feel like there could have been some things that were misrepresented but all right so there you have it courtesy of fight pass 14 UFC fighters

currently on the roster have once fought for pride there were a couple that I thought people may not get like Lawler maybe Melendez I don't know but yeah I guess I underestimated our audience now I have a boat to pick with you talk to me this is going to get awkward.

Late last week, you know, you have another job. I do. I get a press release from you promoting another podcast and not just another podcast in our sphere. Time out. This has really been. Time out. Not a press release. It's really been a sticking point with me.

It's like, I've been tossing and turning. I haven't been able to go to sleep. I'm like, is New York Rick, Benedict Rick? Benedict Rick. You want to try that again? Benedict Rick. Okay. Is that the new name here?

I mean, is this knife yours? Yeah, not. The one in my spine? Not just in my back, in my spine. I get a press release from New York, Rick. A press release. touting this podcast with Cody Garbrand and I guess the owner of On It. That's correct.

Aubrey Marcus talked to Cody Garbrand. Some big news. Yeah. Here's a guy who works on an MMA podcast, and he's out there promoting a different MMA podcast. podcast? Yeah, you know, got to pay the bills, buddy. You didn't feel like this was a strange thing to do? No, not at all. How many people did you send this email out to? 10, 11, 12? That's even weirder. If it was personal, if it was just to me, then okay, fine.

Hey, I think you'd find this interesting. You know, we sometimes Woj does a podcast. I send it to you, vice versa. But you're actually going out and promoting another podcast. You don't feel like that's a conflict? No, I don't at all. It's my job. In fact, When? When do you promote other podcasts? I've never seen you do this. When a client has one. First time I've seen you promote this one or any. Is this a new podcast? It's a new podcast. It was time to promote.

Jeez. Are we going to continue doing this? Like, is this a thing? It depends if there's news. If there's news to share. Jeez. This hurts. I don't know how I feel about it. Sorry, I'm a little distracted. What's happening? There's a different winner. Somebody got theirs in first. They brought it to my attention.

Wow. Abdel Riff, he got it in first. On the site? Yeah, on the site. Were there that many? It was just sloppy. Yeah, I mean, there were quite a few, but it was like he didn't list them. He, like, wrote them as one long stream of consciousness.

Also, he posts like, you know, seven times a day. So there was a lot to sift through, but. Don't hate on him for that. We got it. No, no, he's a big fan. I love that guy. He's one of the, he's, he's picking up the mantle from James Glory, who I hope is well, but we haven't seen it in the conference a while.

Yeah, I don't know. I miss him. Look at you changing the subject. Okay, so who's the new winner? Abdel Riff. Abdel Rift, and then the other guy who you thought was the winner is now. He's a runner up.

And then there's another, so one guy isn't getting it. Yeah, unfortunately. Maybe we can get him like a 10-day. It's good. Balalsi. He didn't list Melendez anyway. So forget that guy. I mean, not only are you out there promoting other podcasts,

you're messing up our prize. How dare you? So what's, I mean, honestly. How do we fix this? How do we fix this? I mean, here you are. Yeah, talk to me. Should I pull it up?

Hey, this is, I mean, and the weird thing was, is that you were sort of presenting yourself as New York Rick of the MMA hour fame to try to. I don't recall that at all, actually. In fact, I didn't use any emails not related to my job with Jack Taylor. Let me know if you disagree with me, anyone out there in the podcast, fear. Do you feel like I'm being overly sensitive? Am I pulling a Kevin Lee here? I'm going to have to be Kevin Lee soon. Or, you know, is there sort of an understanding that, yes, you do have another life

Tuesday through Friday or Tuesday through Sunday, if you will. But I mean, podcast feels like, or maybe, you know what I would have said if I were you, maybe you say, look, you're not a podcast. You're a little more than a podcast. There's a video component. Streaming usually, you know, there's a video component to this as well. Oh, to that one? Yeah. It was a video. It was on YouTube. You saw it? Or did you not click it? Because you were so hurt. Are you kidding me? I won't touch that with a 10-foot pull. And by the way, can I just say, I'm not sure I buy this whole thing. I'm not sure I buy this whole idea of Cody Garbrandt fighting. That's for you to decide. I mean, well, here's the thing. I felt like it was a bit of a publicity stunt. I think. Is Cody Garbrandt really going to go down to fight DJ? What's the point? How does that make any sense? What's the point from what perspective? From Cody's perspective? Or from DJs? from Cody's perspective it's not a money fight it's not going to sell

a million pay-per-views so why are you going to go down holding the two belts is important these days I feel like that's something Okay then on the flip side DJ is going to if he wins tie the record right

Yeah and then he's going to break the record if he fights again in say September or so do you really think that he's going to risk it against a bigger guy down the line Cody still has the T.J. Dilloshal fight to get through

so he has to win that first of all before he thinks about holding any belt simultaneously. There's plenty of time to kind of make that work. I think it's interesting. I mean... Look, it worked. From a promotional standpoint, it worked.

I think it was an opportunity to get the word out, have you send the press release, you know, New York Rick of MMA Our Fame, but... I signed it, New York Rick, MMA Hour of Fame. I'm not sure if I'm buying it. By the way, my mother just texted me and she says she agrees with me 100%

that it was... I don't know if I believe that you're relaying that message. She disagrees. You know, quite frankly, I don't really understand what she wrote here. she said, I do disagree totally, but maybe she disagrees with me. She does disagree with you. Let's get clarification on that.

Get her on the phone. Just kidding. All right, well, maybe, you know, next time you send out the press release, don't include me. How about that? Yeah, that's fine. I'm not going to click on it anyway. Yeah, we'll leave you off the list. I'm very territorial when it comes to these things.

Look, you don't want to hear the latest from Cody Garbrandt? I do. I love Cody Garbrandt. You're not going to get it. I just feel like, you know, there's an understanding here. Oh, she clarified. She agrees with me. So for the record, she's got my back.

Disappointing. Anything else you want to say about it? No, I feel like we over-covered it. A couple of things I wanted to say about World Series of Fighting, if I can, while I'm on this little hill of mine. Yep. Soapbox, if you will. So last week I reported that Justin Gachie is in free agency period.

but they have an opportunity to match any of the offers that he receives. So I guess you can play the semantics game and say like, oh, you're not technically a free agent. Although you are, if you follow the sports, there's like restricted free agent and non-restricted, and we can get into all of that. And I've talked about how the term free agency doesn't really apply to MMA. I know it's a fun thing to say and talk about,

but it's not quite free agency. But anyhow, then I had Ray Cepho, president of World Series of Fighting, go on Twitter and say, check your sources, this isn't true. And I was like, oh, really? Because I actually had three sources confirm this. And, you know, I take a lot of pride in this sort of thing. So I actually texted Ray and said, oh, hey, Ray, you know, hope you're well. What was inaccurate about the story? And he said, he's not a free agent. And I said, okay, well, when's his next fight? Didn't respond. I said, is it, here's exactly what I said to him. You know, I thought that that was interesting. So you're

going to say, and then I had another member of the World Series of Fighting senior team, if you will, say to me, yeah, you should probably reach out to us because your story was inaccurate. So I said, okay, what was inaccurate about it? He's not a free agent. All right. Well, why are other people telling me he's a free agent? Why am I hearing that he's involved in talks with another organization or other organizations, plural? No response. The inaccurate part is that Justin isn't a free agent. He's still under contract with us. I mean, I guess you could say that because there's that matching period, but it appears right now he's not going back to World Series fighting. And I've been reporting this since November. So I took umbrage with the fact that he's tweeting to the world

that my sources are wrong, that my reporting is inaccurate. And he won't actually clarify what's the real inaccurate part of it. I mean, yeah, you want to play the semantic game and after the fact say, oh, he was under contract and we had the right to match and we just, decided not to match fine, but let's not pretend like his next fight is going to be at World Trees of Fighting. And I know that they're in a tough spot. I know that they are about to lose Marlon Marais. I know they just lost David Branch, middleweight and light heavyweight champion. And they're on the verge of losing Gai Chi. And we don't know what the status is of John Fitch. So let's take John Fitch out of the equation. That's 50% of their champions right there. Have new

investors. I get what they're trying to do. But I don't appreciate calling me a liar. And then not even clarifying. What's the part that you really think I'm longing about? And then when I ask you, okay, when's his next fight? Okay, is it not true that you have the right to match until May? And if you don't match until May, then he can actually just walk away with no right to match. Is that not true?

No response to that. I don't know. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I feel like World Series of fighting when they first came out and you could say all you want. There was a major conflict of interest going on there. Ali Abdel-Z's manager, acting as a matchmaker, as an executive. That couldn't continue. That thing doesn't fly in boxing. And if we're being honest, it continues to happen in mixed martial arts. It happens with other organizations, other managers. Can't continue. It's a big problem.

The promotion was a lot more relevant back then. I mean, that's just a fact. Anthony Johnson, Andre Arlowski, they found Marius, they found Gaichi, they reinvented David Branch's career. Now, I don't know what they are. I mean, they're just kind of there. They don't make any money off this NBC deal. And I just kind of, it just bothered me that they would, I mean, in your position, you're trying. And if I was in their position, I wouldn't make enemies with the media. I would try to, you know, get on good terms with them. And you're going to call me a liar and then not even say what you think I'm lying about. Gichi's a free agent.

And you can play the semantic game all you want. You could say that, oh. And I know, I know I probably just lost the audience here. None of you care about this. I'm sorry. but this type of thing kind of gets under my skin. Don't come out and say check your sources, you're wrong and then not even explain what your stance is.

I mean, you can't do that. That's just not right. And I have it from multiple sources. Anyway, I hope we see Justin Gatchee in the UFC. I hope, I think if I'm Belator, I think we, you know, if I'm sitting here, I'm like, wow, we should go make a run for this guy. Justin Gachie versus Michael Chandler?

Justin Gage versus anybody. The Beltaur lightweight division's a bit thin right now And Chandler's kind of gone through You mean, Pipple and Benson He's fighting Brent Premis But can you imagine Justin Gatchee versus Michael Chandler Can have his own sponsors Would probably get pushed

If I'm Belator I go after him as well Okay last thing before I go get King Moe Uh huh Daniel Cormier, the underdog versus Rumble Johnson Oh yeah

I want to ask you about that I know it bothers him Yeah Keeps mentioning it I don't think it's I think it's accurate I don't think it's on point This is what I'll say

And I hate the term Puncher's chance I hate the description of guys who have You know One hit or quitter power And if they touch you It's you know they can end to fight at any time And I hate that kind of thing

But it's hard to avoid with Rumble Johnson The man is just so powerful, like kicks, punches. He has all the tools, and he damn near ended Daniel Cormier last time. I could, it really is true of him that if he touches, if he touches you, it's going to be a rough night. So his power is hard to overlook when you're thinking about this because Cormier has to kind of dance with him for at least a few rounds. just because I don't think maybe he can submit him early but I think more likely

it would happen in the later rounds I think he's gonna have to dance with him for a certain amount of time and that is playing with fire Wait are you saying right here that you're picking Rumble? No, I'm picking Cormier but he's the type of fighter that can end a fight

in the blink of an eye like it's just So you think it's justified? I think it's justified What is it now? More than anything I would just be I would be hesitant to bet on Cormier more so than I'm

you know gung-ho about Rumble so right now at five dimes one of the one of the sports books Rumble is minus 120 Cormier is plus 100 and not for anything that Daniel does I would say that about about anybody against

Anthony Johnson except maybe John Jones John Jones is the only exception to this to this rule because I'd pick John Jones over anybody pretty easily but it's hard to discount Rumble's power. So I understand it, but more than anything, I would go away from betting on Rumble Johnson opponents,

more so than picking him out right every single time. Is he a big favorite? No, minus 120, very small. And what's... Dan Ayra-pickum. Plus 100 for a corner. Oh, okay. What about in the Weidman fight?

Let's see what we got. And then I'm going to go get more. That one is very interesting. Weidman plus 115 Usassi minus 135 Wow Weidman underdog Yeah I mean

It's hard If you're looking at the last couple of fights Gaygard has been Very impressive And Wyden has not been So it's hard to go against that I think that those odds are pretty Close to where they should be

If they were flipped even I wouldn't necessarily think it was So terrible But that would just mean that I think an underdog play on Wideman is reasonable and justifiable but it's a close one. All right.

How about Gagher Musassi telling Luke Thomas on his series show that this is the last fight on his UFC contract? This is a guy that has had a relationship with Scott Coker in the past. He's looking very good. Could you imagine big win over Chris Wyman and Buffalo? I would have to think

Scott Coker and company will be interested in him. He says, show me the money. Another interesting storyline. I really love these two top fights. The rest of the main event, or I should say the main card, is Cynthia Calvillo. So they're bringing her back a month after her win at UFC 209. She's fighting Pearl Gonzalez. Patrick Cote, fellow Montrealer, fighting Tiago Alves.

So Tiago Alves is done apparently at 155 pounds. Curious to see how he looks. Big fight for Cote as well. And really big fight for Will Brooks, Will Brooks fighting Charles Olivera at a hundred and 155 pounds. That's the main card. Buffalo. I've never been to Buffalo. Lifelong Buffalo Bills fan and I've never been to Buffalo. I wonder how far Orchard Park where the bills play is from the arena over there where the Sabres play. I know it used to be the HSBC. I think they changed the name. I'm excited to go to Buffalo. Short flight. Good people over there. Never been. It's an exciting time.

So that's a Saturday. This past Friday, our pal, King Mo Lawal, big win over Rampage Jackson, and then he went straight from Chicago to Orlando to take in WrestleMania, and he didn't stay true to his word. Unbelievable.

What a shocker. I could have called that one a mile away. He's joining us now on the phone. King Mo, are you there? Yeah, man, come on, man. What happened? Look, Goper gave me tickets. Gopher gave me tickets, man. I was in the sweets. I had to go.

Goldberg himself gave you a ticket? Like, yeah, he can. He left the tickets for me, my boy, Etwine, um, Hartley and his brothers. Wow. And then Robbie Wall was there, too. Like, you know, with his, but this, uh, so, you know, we had a, you know, we had a good time, like,

there, because we met people there. You know, I saw Ron Stromen. I saw, um, where I saw, um, Kevin Jones and sitting at the same place with his family. It was, everybody was there, man. You know, Haxel Jim Duggan. Jake the snake. I saw some of my former TNA co-workers,

Bobby Rood, you know, EY, I saw them all. Wait, so did you leave Friday night or did you leave Saturday morning? I left Saturday morning. Wow. And then you went straight. And, you know, I just stumbled upon your Instagram. And this is the funniest thing. I mean, the whole thing is just you posing like a fanboy with all these old wrestlers.

Barry Windham. Akeem. Slick? I mean, Billy Gunn? Which was the best one? Which one did you really mark out for? Oh, man. I came in slick. I wanted to see Bobby Eaton, but I came in his slick. And then, Ron Simmons is my dog.

Gilberg was cool. Gilberg was cool. Oh, yes. I was going to be there for the Saboicamaic. This weekend. And Gilbert was like, hit me up. Marjorie de Nadee. Everybody was cool. Marjorie was real cool. Where did you see on these guys? at the Russell Concox I had to do a signing there too so I was there but when I went there I signed I was like man I didn't get some pictures

to meet some people and just just you know be a fan boy a little bit you know what I'm saying how many of these guys knew who you were all of them did oh that's amazing that must be so cool now it actually was but at the same time I was like look I'm a bigger fan like as a Christian like listen Christian you know thing is super cool man He was talking to MMA with me. Like, he knows the MMA.

He's sent there, Shane Helms, that's my dog, Hurricane. I've been cool with him, you know. So many people already knew, but I just wanted to take pictures, newer pictures with him, you know what I'm saying? So it was a good thing. Yeah, Christian was on this show a couple weeks ago, and I was actually really impressed with his MMA knowledge. The guy knows his stuff.

Yeah, they know their stuff, for real. Damn, Akeem is big, huh? Yeah, he's big, but he's real cool. He's real cool. He's real cool. And then you, and then, you know, you went to the Ring of Honor show. Yeah.

And did it... Great show, man. Yeah, did it exceed your expectations? Yeah, well, I know. Because it's Ring of Honor, I don't expect good things for Ring of Honor, and it provided. I'm going to be real with you, man. It's going to sound bad, but...

Russell Mania was okay. Oh, here we go. Okay, AJ Styles versus McMahon. Shane was a great match. That was the best match. But the biggest pop and the best thing after that along with that was the hardies. But the bad thing about the hearties was

it wasn't the broken hardies. It was just a normal hardis. Just to see them back and when the belt was great. But other than that, like, like, you know, the rest of it was kind of like, you know, it was cool.

But it wasn't like, you know, after WrestleMania, I went to go watch the wrestle circus. And that was the top show that I went to. Russell Circus, then it was Ring of Honor, the Super Card of Honor,

And then it was a W.W.B. WrestleMania next. Wait a second. After the card on Sunday night, you went to see another card? Yeah, I didn't get a home site. The hotel's about 430. Yeah, but to go watch the Western Circus. What is that?

ACHH was there. Leo Rush, Moose. Weren't you tired? Wasn't it like a nine-hour card? Wasn't it like a really long WrestleMania? Yeah. Yeah, but the wrestle circus got me hype because, man, Joey Ryan was there, the king of sleeves. Okay.

Joey Ryan was there. Wow. You know, Willie Mack was there. You know what I'm saying? Suicide. Man, it was off the chain, man. Because it was a smaller setting and a venue, like, we were staying by the ring. So if people were doing like any type of, like, you know, high-flying moves, we didn't walk the way.

People are like, I do got super kicked and I fell out of my feet. I was right there, man. It was crazy. He was crazy. Can you explain the whole broken thing for me? I mean, what is this? The broken mad heart? I saw all these people. I didn't watch. I'll be honest. I'm not just being, I'm not just being you last week here. I'm actually being honest. I did not watch. I didn't plan on watching. I just wasn't interested. I just wasn't broken mad. I mean, of course I remember the Hardy boys, all that stuff. What is Broken Matt Hardy? And why wasn't he broken mad Hardy this time? Well, broken Matt Hardy is just a character. Okay. He's broken man hard

He's like broken He's like a different man He's like Bray Wyatt But then Then his brother was Brother Niro And he's like broken You know what I'm saying

And they speak different Yeah He goes like brother Niro There's no more Jeff His brother Niro Oh really Yeah they speak different They act different

You know Everything It sounds like Like a broken Like English type of I don't know It's weird type of accent He speaks in

But The thing is TNA is suing them for use of that character so they couldn't use that character anymore. Ah. So there was the broken hardies when they faced the gunbooks. When they went to WWE, I'm pretty sure

at WWE was like, you know what? We don't want no part of this lawsuit to go back to the Hardee's and we'll handle it from there. Oh, I see. Okay, so now they're just going to be Jeff and Matt, one of those things. Yeah, I know. You marked out hard when they came out, right?

yeah because I was going to be the broken party so I started chain delete you know what's in the obsolete why do people say delete what's the delete thing because that's what that's what um broken mat hearty says

he'll delete you or he'll eat you you know what I'm saying and then you'll become obsolete you know what I'm saying like it's just like it's weird stuff but it's funny though so um

I was saying delete of course I was too I was a man as a lot ago group being like a little eight-year-old girl, you know, so I was screaming. And then I noticed that they weren't doing the lead chance. And I was like, hold it, what's this? And then I heard the old Hardy music, and I was like, whatever, you know, they'd do something.

But I just, you know, I started to have no time to put together some music for them. So I was like, I was excited to see them. And then once I realized it was the Hardee's, I was like, okay, I'm glad to show them back, but I want the broken gimmick. I like that, but I want that back. But hopefully it comes back. We'll see. How cool is it that JR is back?

I thought he was back for one match. Oh, no, now they announced a two-year deal. Oh, that's great. You know what I'm happy for him, man. He went through it until a tough period. Yeah. With his wife passing, but, you know, it's good to have him back, man. He's a legend, man.

What are you thinking about... Go ahead. No, no, go ahead. No, just... What are you thinking about the top... The best time of WWE? He hears voice. Yep, absolutely.

I think, Greg, he's, he's back. How many manias have you been to? That's our first one. For real?

Wow. Yeah. It must have been cool with the ramp, that huge ramp, all that stuff. I mean, come on,

you must have loved it. Well, the thing is, I was crazy because I was so distracted because, like, I was in the VIP area, so I saw,

like, their guys that wrestle and came up to where we're at. Like, there's some NXT there. Wow. You know, Roger,

I saw Jake, you know, I saw Jake, you know, I saw Jake and St. George Roberts, I saw, I saw Jim Dudden, I saw Terry Diasey, so everybody, you know what I'm saying? And it was cool, so I was distracted,

meeting people, and, man, that was the main thing, but I feel like, during WrestleMania weekend, like, I'll go there, but I won't participate,

I won't go watch WrestleMania from now on, like, I'll like to hear of you, like that, but you're going back to us again, you loved it. Come on.

No, no, no, the shows, the shows that go on during that week, kill WrestleMania. Yeah. I'm dead serious. There's no

instance of blessed about it. You know, the wrestle searches, I'm a big fan now. Because there's so much if I've seen them due on that card

was ridiculous. Like, I've never seen before. I've often thought this. Don't you feel like MMA promotions should look at what happens

WrestleMania weekend? Like, you can't do it every weekend. But like, look at the Hall of Fame. Look how big of a deal that thing is. You know,

everyone comes dressed up and they make it into a whole big deal and they sell out all these tickets and then these other promotions like I feel like Invicta should always go where the UFC goes or at least once a year and they've done it a couple times

and even Bellator like why not? If there's a big UFC go that same weekend or go that Friday or Thursday get the media there, get the fans. Don't you feel like they should do that more in MMA? Well the thing is they would but the thing is like

the promotions in MMA that's how to bargain to the route. I'm here like with pro wrestling like they all like be like, all right, let's all make money, you know. We're going to make money, and then we're going to pass it down the rest of the rest of it for y'all. So if you want me to come hustle too, and that's what they do.

But in the main, it's like, I'm making money. I'm like, no one else's like, no one else's like money. I'm going to keep that for making money as well. Ah. So you think that they're not being inclusive. They're actually boxing out the smaller guys. Yeah, look at it. They look at all the contracts.

Look at everything is. Contracts like, like, you know, like, bellatory, like, you know, say, um, Daniel and Luke Walker Card. Bellator would show them on a TV screen, but UFC champion or memory champion, Dale Corp, May, Luke Rockaw, you know, UFC contender, Habib and our Mega Medov, or UFC champion,

common grader, whatever. But you, if you're a Belator fighting, you go to the UFC shows, they don't want to mention you. They'll try their best not to mention you. Even if you're corner somebody, they'll try their best not to mention you because they want all the money.

They don't want, they don't want, They recognize the UFC They only recognize MMA. Their brand is UFC. They don't care of MMA. That's all it is. I understand because they're trying to get all the money.

Didn't people use to say that about WWE? Has that changed? Well, I think people did say that, but I think that now that you have like Ring of Honor doing that thing, New Japan doing that thing, TNA's trying to do their thing now, and Russ is coming back strong

that, you know, it's hard to do that. Because now if you look at all the top wrestlers, you know, they're back in the WWE, they came from other organization. Yeah. Where they left, got their name stronger again. Like, the Hardy's left in like 2009, like 0-8-09, and went everywhere, you know what I'm saying, got their name strong, TNA, went to Ring of Honor, came back.

Same thing with, you look at, AJ Stiles. You know, he's a big name from TNA, Ring of Vondner, New Japan. You know, Kevin Owens. All those guys, they all came from different organizations. The big names came from different organizations that made names for themselves immediately when they got there. Are you sticking around for Raw? Isn't the Raw After Mania?

Isn't that a big deal? It's probably a bunch of rematches. For real, this time I'm going home. Okay. Did you go to NXT? No, no, I missed it because remember, I think NXT was on Friday, I believe. Oh, was it? I thought it was Saturday night.

Well, it's on Saturday night They compete against Ring of Honor There's no way They get my money A Ring of Honor Wow, your Ring of Honor number one Through and through Yeah

Is that where you're... Ring of Rensk number one West's Circus number two now Wow, look at wrestle circus Coming out of the woodwork You were hanging out with John Pollock and White Ting Yeah, yeah

Yeah man I was everybody man Damn Everybody It's hilarious to see you go from Like being a fighter I made a event on Spike And then taking all these

these pictures. Did you see Triple H, Stephanie, like any of the McMans? Nah, I didn't see them. You don't care to see them, right? No, I'm more, I'm more, I'm going to see people that, like, that actually help change my life for us, John, and they entertain me, you know what I'm saying? Sure.

Those people are the ones that matter the most. Like, the old school wrestlers mean the most to me. Like, Barry Windham when I saw him, I actually told them that I was going out to the West Texas Redneck, you know what I'm saying? I told them about that. What did he say? He started laughing.

Everybody thought laughing because that was a jam. I remember for a while, for a period. I was posting the videos of my jam for a while. It was the best. It was the best. By the way, you didn't give us the dance on Friday. I know, man. I was too tired, so I was quick.

Yeah. Okay, so I suppose we should talk about that. What did you think when you found out that he weighed 253 pounds? Well, I figured that he was going to be that big anyway Because I thought that maybe if he was bigger He tried to muscle me or something I have no idea I have no idea

I know he chose Bill Davis some other guys I know that that is I was expecting a different coin Jackson to come forward But did he even go backwards The lower stance threw me off And then I lost focus to take it around Because the fight broke out in the crowd I was trying to look at it

What? I don't know what I'll be yeah When we're against the cage, the fight broke out, and I saw the crowd stand up, looking to the left. And I was trying to look at the fight, you know what was on me, man. Why? I was... It happened to me a lot. I just was focused. I was not seeing things in the crowd, and I'm like trying to see what's going on.

Were you that bored? Oh, no. How are you even paying attention to them? No, I'm always like that. They're trying to be fighting out. I'll see somebody in the crowd. I don't know what it is, but I'll see somebody in the crowd. Like, oh, that's someone so.

First fight in Gokorkeye, I know it's Akiyama in the crowd. I don't know why I recognize them Why I noticed him, but I just did It was just weird Sexyama Sexyama Yeah He was at your fight in Belator

No, no Singoku Oh, San Goku Oh yeah, yeah Yeah And I don't know It's weird man I think from wrestling

Because of the wrestling Like you have to be aware of things Like the referees And you're looking at your corners And I don't know There's no side of balance line I said so You try to multitask a little bit.

Okay, so you're blaming him rocking you in the second round on you being distracted, looking at a fight going on in the stands. If that didn't happen, he would never have touched you. It would have been a 30-27 easy. Well, no, I think I lost focus. I'm not going to blame him. That's my, that's on me.

That's on me. I can't blame the crowd. This is me. I lost focus, you know what I'm saying? He got me. He hit me of the pew-ticket shots. You know what I was there, I was never, like, never close to me a fence.

Like, I was stunned. I was overwhelmed, but I wasn't like, I wasn't like, oh, I'm done for it. Because if you notice, like, when someone's really hurt, when the bell rains, they stumble back to their corner. When the bell run, I walked back back, like, that didn't happen. Like, it was nothing. How much did he hurt you? Like, how hurt were you when he landed those punches? No, I was, I was standing overwhelmed because, like, what's coming?

I was, like, trying to figure out where it's coming from. Because he gave me a good shot, a few good shots, but I wasn't like, oh, oh, I was. I'm, no, let me start to, I wouldn't like, you know, hit the stanky wagon like that, like that, doing those things downy in the type of crazy dances like that. But I was like, okay, he caught me, okay, let me get my bearings, like, you know, I was coming still, you know, that's about it. Could you feel those 40 pounds?

I mean, like, I mean, you were trying at times. Did you feel that there was a noticeable size difference between the two? I thought it more after the fight. Oh. Yeah Where? I'm sore You know

I usually I'll be sore like that But like I'm like my muscles Are kind of sore from trying to lift them Wow I can smother because I can get I can gauge because I also used to But all my spawn parts are coming forward And me fighting

Moving laterally and me Once I'll jam them But this time Like I thought I'd have to cover more ground Because equipment was backing up So I didn't want to jam them Really too much

Because I jams We can hit with the upper coat left hook. But, you know, it is awkward because it usually comes forward and he's more aggressive or he'll stalk you. But this time he doesn't stop me one big. Did you know that you won, though? Were you worried that it would be a controversial decision? I was like, I thought I went to to one. But I was like a show that I went to one, right? Two to one, me. Yeah. Like, yeah, I'm like, yeah, I'm cool.

Would you like to see his face? Yeah. You see his face. Yeah. You see his face. Would you like to see Belator have five-round main events like the UFC? Oh, I'm cool with that I've been saying, hey, make fun to go five rounds Let's do it But the thing is like

What Belatory They're all about, you know, rating so they don't want to have like a Like a five round fight that just like, you know Stinker Because it's not a five round fight The last two rounds Like Quinn was gas

I was gas in But I think I had more to get I recovered fast than he does So I think the last two rounds Could have been something Even more intense Because I was going to his body real well And I was hurting him with body shot

he's reacting to him. The fact that he shot on me said something because my pressure was getting to him. Because, like, when he ever seems quit nearly shooting to go to his knees? So you felt gassed as well? No, I didn't feel a lot. My cardio felt great,

but muscle, I'm like, my muscles started feeling fatigue, but in between rounds, like, I recovered fast, so I felt fresh between rounds. Like, after the second round, I was like, okay, I recovered quick. You know what I'm saying? Actually, walking to the corner,

I felt good. I recovered. I think that I could went two or three more rounds, honestly, because I've recovered well between the round. I noticed afterwards you guys were talking to each other and I noted that it was a nice

it was a nice change from, you know, after your first fight where it got a little heated. It seemed like it was kind of amicable. What were you guys saying to each other? What did he say to you and what did you say to him? He said, you found me like a man. You know, he said you came,

you threw punches, you mix it up, It's cool. And I said, I told him like, because you know how he's through the interview saying that

my biggest regret's getting to MMA. He said that. Yeah. But then when you broke it down, he said like,

you know, it's not my biggest regret was getting to MMA. It's like, a biggest regret in the MMA is not like for the entire

my family because one of that in the MMA, I didn't have chance to see my family and my sister growing and all that and I missed out

a lot of a key moments in my life. And I was like, man, I can relate to that because Matt got a 17-year-old brother I got family members, you know what I only spend time with

that I'm always busy training and prepare for something. So I understood what came from. I said, hey, man, but you said was real. So I had to get him proper to what he said. So that's about it. Wow, so it kind of ended on a good note. Yeah, you know, but I still fight him again if the opportunity presented itself. Did you know that they were going to bring in Bader?

Did you know that was on the table? I had the idea, man, because, I saw a face off with the Reds Larkin and Lima, and then I saw that one dude from Chicago or California call out, Carl McGregor's a train partner. And I was like, man, like, and then when the judge says, well, we have somebody, and I was like, bring them out. Because it just made sense.

Like, you know, me versus Bader just made sense. And I was like, Liz Bader and I'll find him. What about, like, I mean, you've been fighting a lot lately. you know, did you want to take a break? I mean, this is not the quickest turnaround, but it's still, you know, you fight three rounds, and then you have to come back and you're going to fight again, MSG.

Would you have rather than wait just to see how you're feeling a little more? I mean, you go to the back, get checked out, things like that. I don't know. Like I said, my goal is to fight. If I can fight four to five times a year, that's great for me.

Okay. The guys like to stay a bit, you know, like, you know, it's a job of the fight. The more you fight, the more you get paid. Sure. And the more when you get, the better, you only get better through competitions, I see it. So the more you compete, the better you get. And I like competing.

How do you feel about not being on the pay-per-view and being on the spike portion of the card? Oh, whatever. You know, I'll be on, I fight, you know, if it's on the internet, I fight, I don't care. If I'm a paycheck don't change. As long as I'm fighting. I don't care. People ain't got to watch. I fight in a dark room with that one person watch.

It don't matter to me. I was my paycheck to the same. And is the winner of this fight guaranteed a title shot? Have they told you that? No, I don't know. Once I beat him, I wouldn't mind fighting the winner of Matt Mitchell and Fedor. And after that, I'd fight. I'd love to fight Phil Davis after that.

Wow. So you don't want a Phil Davis rematch. You'd rather go up. I get it to Phil Davis rematch, but I want Fedor first because, The thing is, what I don't want to do is fight, and all of a sudden to look at the Faderowt, because Fader has a two or three-fight contract, so I'll try and get, make sure I get in there to fight him.

He ain't going to where. Right, right, right, I feel you. You didn't have to cut any weight for this, right? I mean, this must have been the, this must have been really like a walk in the park for you this fight week. Bro, I weighed 209 going to the cage. I lost three pounds to win somehow. Wow, that is amazing.

It's crazy. I don't know how. I guess because I work out, I work out every day, like, you know, on fight week. And, you know, I did, you know, I did mid, just grappling, wrestling, I did it all, but good sweats, but maybe I just did a little too much and went too hard. And, you know, going to, going to the venue, I ended down the, but down the water, ate a few times that day. It's your mo, stepping on scale, because we want to do, you know, want to do studies or want to do, like, some research that thing. Oh. And I step in the scale of 209.

And I was like, oh, you lost three pounds. I'm like, yeah, I guess I did. And Clinton, I don't know, Quinn, Quinn kept probably way 260 or 255. I have no idea where he weighed, but I know he was heavy, he was big. Wouldn't you like, I know you're a boxing guy, wouldn't you like if when they, you know, did the broadcast, they say what you weighed in at and then what you weigh on the night of the fight?

Don't you think that's interesting? I think it is. They should do that more. I wish they'd do that, and I wish they also put in those sensors. You know, it was those punch sensors to see how hard you actually hit. Yeah. That would be cool. I think that would be great, yeah, because I think that you get more of the insight of how hard someone got hit, how hard someone could really throw, you know what I'm saying, all that stuff.

You know, you get more of the damage to really being done. What do you think Rampage should do? Like, we were talking about this earlier. It's not like he's getting knocked out and, you know, like he's unconscious and stuff like that. I mean, he's still kind of hanging in these fights. And, you know, he had the winning streak prior to your fight. But it feels like he doesn't, I don't know, he doesn't have his heart in it. Like he doesn't care as much.

Do you think that he should stop fighting? What do you think he should do? Well, I would think that maybe you should bring Antonio McKee. I think that, look, I knew, I'm going to real sure. I knew I had to fight in the bag, but I knew it was a death thing, a deal once I saw Antonio McKee went in this corner. I think he needs to get back to Antonio McKee because Antonio McKee finds a way to get him in shape, finds a way to get him motivated.

Granted, he might not like it, but Antonio McKee, he's like a hidden secret in the MMA game. All his fight is come in tip top shape. He's a decent game plan. Like, I'm 0 and 2 versus him. You know what I'm saying? Really, I should be 1-1 against them, you know what I'm saying? Actually, I see me 2-1 because when you corner quitting, the first time he was in his corner, but somehow,

and I'm out in the second fact I won that. So I should be 2-1 versus him, but for some reason I'm 0-1-3 versus that man. Wow. Wow. You just put out the, like, like, Ryan Bader should now, I mean, you just put it out. Why would you tell your opponents that? It doesn't matter. You know what I'm always evolving.

You know, my key is good, but, you know, I'm getting smarter too. Sure, sure. By the way, when you were at Mania with Robbie Lawler, did you ask him about ATT? Nah, because he was busy talking about John Cena. You know, he's a closet John Cena fan. What? I was talking about John Cena. Yes.

I would never have guessed that. I would never have guessed that. Beard serious. Was he doing the You Can't See Me wearing all the stuff, all that? Yeah, he said for his next fight, if he gets a knockout, he'll do if you can't see me. Get out of here. I don't believe you. I'm dead serious.

I'm dead serious. His son glows with him too. I'm dead serious. Man, he loves John Cena. Wow. So was he, like when John Cena popped the question, was he freaking out? Like, was he crying? What was he doing?

No, I didn't, I, he weren't sitting the same area. But when I saw him, he said he was happy for him. He's like hoping things worked out He's like He's wearing a Johnson jersey Get out of here He wore a Johnson jersey Dead serious man

I'm dead serious And he had an orange towel Never give up Yeah Had that In his back pocket Robbie Lawler Robbie Lawler

What the biggest Justinna fan down Was he wearing like the The sweatbands And all that stuff No he's like He had some jeans on The jersey

And then The towel And the backer Oh my God. This is the biggest news of the day. We saved the best for last. Robbie Lawler is a closet John Cena fan. Who knew? I didn't think that was possible. Did you, I mean, you were surprised by that? I was disgusted. I can't stand John Cena.

Wow. You don't like him? You don't have respect for what he's done? I respect him, but I wish he would turn heel. Just one time. Just one time. We can turn him. Let me tell you something. If John Cena turned like disgusting heel, FU fan, I don't care about the kids, all that stuff. I would get back into it.

I mean, what are they waiting for? The merch? I don't know. You can tell Robbie that. Robbie is definitely anti-heeled John Cena. He'd be heartbroken. He probably, he's probably, he's first, at first, like, a month ago, he was like, yeah, my son and he watched him, so I watched it with him.

And then, like, one time where, you know, he was talking about John Cena, and I was like, I walked in on him. And he was just talking, like, a little bit too much, but, he was just talking, John Tender, new background and everything. This is unbelievable. Wow. I can't wait to talk to Robbie Loller about this. This is going to be great. He'll give me like four word answers as opposed to two, but it's still going to be very exciting.

You know? Wow. That is something. Okay, so the highlight of the whole weekend. What was the bigger deal? Meeting all these guys or beating Quinton Jackson? Honestly. What do you think it is?

You don't know what I say? I feel like it's meeting the guys, honestly. I know. It is. Oh, my God. I was good, but meeting, like, I had to fight. I had the stuff booked. So I was like, look, I got to beat quick.

So I can't come meet these guys as a loser. I was like, I got to meet, you know, I came and slick as a winner. I got to meet Teddy Long and Ron Simmons as a winner. I got to be Margini and Gilbert as a winner. I can't be coming here as a loser. That is amazing. Yeah, so it actually, it acted as like a source of motivation. this fight happening the weekend of all this stuff,

there was no way you were going to go to Chicago, excuse me, Orlando as a loser. This was great for you. Yeah, and the crazy thing is the first person I saw with Dilo. We said Dilo cut promo from me at Mo. After you win, the next day you'll find Orlando. I'm going to see a Russell Con. First person I saw I walked in the building.

Wow. Dilo Brown? Yes, my dog, Dilo. I haven't thought of Dilo Brown in so long. Wow. It has been a while since I heard of him. What's he doing? Oh man, he's in Vegas right now, you know, just working.

Okay. Not in the wrestling industry? No, I think he works a cheetah with a comma, aka gunfight. Okay. Working at a strip club? Yeah. Oh, wow. Dilo, who knew?

Did a lot of these guys watch your fight? Yeah, a lot of them all they'll talk to me like, man, boy, Clinton got big, but, man, you grind him out. that victory, man, you know, blah, blah. This is amazing. I was, yeah. I was like, well, it wasn't pretty, but they're like, hey, wouldn't pretty, but the boat was big. He had, like, 40, 50 pounds on you, man. You know, we couldn't expect you to stand in front of him, staying in front of him and bang, but, you know, he's a heavy hitter and he's a dangerous fighter,

but you're out there, he grinds him out. I was like, yeah, how to do it, how to do. There you go. Last thing for you, Mo, is this like a big deal for you to compete at MSG? I mean, being the combat sports historian that you are, boxing, wrestling, MM, I mean, is this a big deal? Is this like, a bucket list thing for you? I wrestled there before and the grappling garden, but

stepping down the scales and Ali and the step down, that's a big deal for me because I'm going to take a picture on that and flex hard. Flakes hard. I know I asked you this last week, by the way,

but like, can you, I love your breakdowns. What's the path to victory for D.C.? Is it the same thing as the first fight? Like, just kind of, you know, weather the storm and then he's got it what do you think no i think they just he just put the pressure on him

keep a smother him them to let him fight at range from at mid range or a close range smother him on them on your faint keep on balance keep him guessing um but him some few shots when he covers up take him down and submit him first round um no i think second you know because rumble fights are such strong energy and he's so aggressive

first round. Wait to stick around to where he's relaxed more and not as like, you know, aggressive. Okay. What about, what about Wyman and Musassi? What do you got? Man, I'm doing something. I always thought Lusatia's a danger striker. I don't know how Wyman bounces back from

it, it depends on how Whitehead bounced back from the feral fight. If he could bounce back, probably from the mural fight, he can win. But if Musassi comes, Musassi is a momentum fighter. So if Musassi gets the momentum going, he's going to win. Oh, wow. So you're going with Musasi? You know, I'm not going with either one.

I'm just telling you how. I'm just telling you how they both can win. All right. Well, who are you going with? Who's your pick? Oh, man. I'm going to go to American wrestler. I think you, too. American wrestler. All right. I'm going with, I'm going with Wydenman. I like Wydenman, man. All right, fair enough. King Mo, we appreciate it. Great stuff. Congratulations on the big win.

And I'm happy you came to your senses and went to your first WrestleMania at warm my heart. The pictures did as well. Always good to catch up with you and we'll see you in New York. All right, man, I see you, man. All right, there he is. Mohamed Lowell. How about that? No one could break it down better than him. He's one of the smartest guys in the game. Really is. Love's breakdowns, honest.

Great stuff, as always, from King Moe. Okay, we have to go. They're telling me we're done, right? New York, Rick? Everyone's mad? 430. I was thinking in my mind that I was trying to get back the 15 minutes that we lost from the stream, so I was allowed to go 15 minutes longer. Oh, damn. Is that fair? Is that fair? That's not fair.

To the hardworking people back here? No, but I mean, it's just like my audience lost 15 minutes, so I got to give it back to them on the back end. No appreciation for. Speaking of it, when's your next press release coming out, huh? Who's the pick-to-click, as John Anick likes to say, for 210? Like, who's the lock? Give me a lock. Can I get a lock?

Let me look at the full card real quick. But, man, you know I hate doing that. Who's the lock? I'll do it. Let's see. Give me a lock. can I get a lock? Huh.

No locks. I mean, I kind of like Brooks to smother Olivera. Okay. I feel like that's probably pretty safe. I think Olivera will make it dicey, but I think that's probably a safe one. Someone calling us? What's happening?

Hmm. Okay. I think Brooks should be able to get real close to Olivera and just keep him from getting the distance that he needs. All right. there you heard it. Also, Saturday,

Belthor has an event that's in Italy, but it's live. So you can get like, what? 11 hours of MMA action? There you go.

You've got Melvin Manhuff against Hafeel Carvalio for the middleweight title. What, you don't... I mean... The first fight.

That first fight was... You watched that one. You actually watched that one. Yeah, that might have been the worst fight I've ever seen in my life. Wow. I mean,

and I don't think I'd be alone in saying, that. Did you watch it? I did watch it. It was not good. It was not good. But they thought, you know what? Let's try to do it again. Let's run. This is the worst fight ever. Let's run it back. But it was controversial.

Right? Is it? I mean, who cares? Like, if there was controversy and something that nobody cares about, is that really like, is it worth settling? It's a good point. Like, who gives him? Maybe Musassi is fighting the winner of this. You never know. And also, their big prospect, Anasté,

Zia Yankova is fighting on the card as well. So look out for that. Another busy weekend of mixed martial arts. Before we go, I owe somebody a shout-up. Okay, here we go. Candy Ariano, hugest invictive fan in the world. Comes to every show.

Wow. Told her last week, I'd show her out. I told her last week I'd shot her out and I didn't. Wow. But this time I am. Not a man of your word. No, stop. I love you.

Does she live in Kansas City? No, I think she travels to the event. Whoa, that is a hardcore fan. Yeah, she comes to every show. It's a big deal. Okay. Shout out to you, Candy. Shout out to you, Candy.

Next week, the M.MA hours back, post-2-10, but it's going to be probably famous last words, a bit of a shorter show, because it's Passover. In fact, I was supposed to miss Passover and, excuse me, missed the show, go home for Passover in Montreal because it's the first night of the Seder, but I said, you know what, I can't leave the people hanging, can't let them down. I have to do a show and so I hope you all appreciate that

my family doesn't but I hope you have my back so we'll be back next Monday shorter show because I have to do the Seder and all but there will be a show nonetheless Is Kevin Lee coming to your Sater? No he is not

He has to make it up to me after the stunt he pulled earlier today No that was good stuff I love that stuff way to flip the script It was good I was planning on bringing it up the comments because people tweet me about I was planning on bringing it up.

I was going to ease into it. But you know what? He did it first, even better. No BS. He doesn't fake the funk. He brings it. On a nasty dunk. All right.

You can hit my music. Good to chat. Thank you very much to everyone who tuned in. Apologies for the break in the action. They hate when I bring this up all the time, but I have to. Especially in the middle of the Chabib interview. But I'm happy to hear from Chabib, and I'm happy that he's in good spirits. We're starting to feel.

in better spirits and feel like himself and getting his health situation checked out, feeling a lot better. This is good news. Fun show, great to talk to everyone today. Thank you very much to Angela Lee for stopping by. She returns to action end of May, May 26th, defending her one championship Adamweight title. A name to remember. Good first appearance for the 20-year-old. Still can't believe she's born in 1996.

That blows my mind. 1996. Unbelievable. Thank you very much to Antonio Hedrigo Nogera. Thank you very much to the good people at Fight Pass for the prize pack. Check out Pride Never Die Week on Fight Pass all week long. Some great things planned. And check out the third degree with Antonio Rodrigo Nogera.

Six episodes out tomorrow, Tuesday on UFC FightPass. Thank you very much to Wonderboy Thompson. I hope he's doing okay. just check back in with him. Hope everyone in South Carolina and all the cities around it are doing okay as well. Thank you very much to Ray Longo. Best of luck. Thank you very much to Kevin Lee.

Good luck on June 25th. Thank you very much to Habib and Mugamatov. Get well soon. Thank you very much to King Moe. And thank you very much to the Marines for their support. Once again, back next week, same time and play still the same. Peace, am out of you.