MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 378

Episode Date: April 24, 2017

Ariel Helwani speaks to Al Iaquinta (00:07:35), Chris Weidman (00:32:55), Rafael dos Anjos (00:59:10), Holly Holm (01:17:31), Aaron Pico (01:37:15), Pearl Gonzalez (01:57:44), Audie Attar (02:21:41), Mike Perry (02:48:46), Frank Mir (03:11:00), Robert Whittaker (03:36:22), Phil Davis (03:58:04), and then NewYorkRic (04:24:32) to recap the weekend in MMA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Feel the fun!

The meeting will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 18665330 or visit Comex Ontario.ca. It's the mixed martial arts hour with the mixed martial arts hour back in your life on this Monday, April 24th, 2017. Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani back inside our New York City studio. Great to be here with all of you. Hope you had a lovely weekend.

It was a really fun one in the world of MMA. And truth be told, we don't have a lot of time to waste right off the top because we, my friends, have a super snack show for all of you. 11 guests. I think this might be a record. I'm not sure if we've ever done 12. We've had 11 a couple times I know, but this is certainly up there. And it's a who's who. Some of the biggest names are stopping by today. So I am so excited. Next four hours, we sit down, talk to all of them with all of you, spend the afternoon with us, or evening or morning, wherever you may be. I'm very excited about today's show. So, of course, this past weekend, we had Bellator on Friday. I thought it was a really fun show, Patricia Putball. Now the featherweight champion once again. He defeats

Daniel Strauss in their fourth fight. Beautiful moment with his son. That was amazing. I actually started tearing up a little bit. And I thought it was a very good show for Bellator's younger stars. You know, this is vintage Scott Coker. This is what he did in Strike Force. Sign guys who are oh and no, one and oh, whatever the case may be,

from wrestling backgrounds, from other backgrounds, and groomed them the right way. And he's done it thus far with Ed Ruth, Tyrol Fortune. We saw both of them victorious on the prelims. We saw AJ McKee with a fantastic headkick knockout. So I thought it was a really good show for them. Also, Alimelae McFarlane remains undefeated at 125. And we just broke the news around an hour ago. Valer Littorneau has signed with Belator.

She's going to debut at 125. Could that be their inaugural flyweight fight? It's about time, I think, that they introduced that title. So I thought it was a really nice weekend for Bellator in Connecticut. And then the UFC was back in Nashville. I thought that was a really fun show as well. albeit very long, it felt like it dragged on forever. It was around seven hours long.

Main event, of course, Cub Swanson defeating Arden Lobov. And Swanson wins as most expected him to. But to me, I really got the sense that Ardham finally earned the respect of the MMA community. For the longest time, he was viewed as McGregor's lackey. The only reason why he's there is because he's best buds with McGregor. McGregor kept them around after those two early losses. but this time going five rounds with Swanson.

I thought he actually won the first round, Lobov did. And then, of course, as time went on, Swanson proved that he is one of the best featherweights in the world. Still going toe to toe with him for five rounds, I thought, earned him a hell of a lot of respect. So kudos stardom Lobov for that performance. And now we wait and see what happens with Swanson. To me, it comes down to that Frank Yedger versus Yaira Rodriguez fight at 2-11 in Dallas. Yaiir wins. He's probably next.

hard to go anywhere else after beating Frankie. Year loses, which is very possible. Maybe Swanson finally gets a rematch against Josealdo. Remember, he was knocked out in eight seconds many moons ago or gets to fight Max Holloway. So a good showing for him. Also, great to see the return of Ally Quinta. What a fantastic performance against Diego Sanchez. And you have to start wondering, where does Diego go from here?

That's a lot of knockouts and a lot of knockdowns for the veteran. The last remaining Ultimate Fighter season one winner. So I He's so much fun He's so entertaining But you don't want to see him Continue to take this kind of Damage

At least I don't But it was great to see Iaquinta back after two years off And certainly very entertaining In the cage on the mic After the fact On Twitter And we will be talking to him in a minute

So hold that eye quinta thought John Dodson Picks up a nice win Steve Uray with a very nice win Over Joe Lozon And Mike Perry With maybe the knockout of the year Certainly

a top contender as we sit here on April 24th, bludgeoning Jake Ellenberger with that elbow. I actually spoke to Jake yesterday. He says he's doing fine. He was checked out. No serious injuries and he was going back home. So that is very good to hear Brandon Moreno with a really nice win. I'd like to see him fight Ray Borg.

Now for a shot at Mr. Demetrius Johnson, but what he's done in his first three fights at 125, pretty damn amazing for the last pick on last season's ultimate fighter. Scott Holtman with a win, Alexis Davis coming back. and picking up a win over Cindy Dandwa in a somewhat lackluster affair, Brian Barbarina with a nice win as well. So I thought it was a really good card in Nashville, Grisham and Stan, I thought did a nice job. All in all, good times, good weekend. Let's get to the lineup this week because like I said, a who's who is stopping by, and we've got a lot to discuss with these people.

430, Phil Davis will be on the show. He is the Beltor Light Heavyweight Champion. He might be bringing some news with him as well. Robert Whitaker, you asked for him last week. You're getting him. He'll be joining us at 410. talk about the big win over Jacques Reh, where he goes from here. Frank Mirobeon at 350.

Talk about his two-year suspension from Usada. Got that late Friday. Ask him what's up with that and where he goes from here. Mike Perry, the aforementioned Platinum Perry, will stop by to talk about his big win over Jake Ellenberger at 330. We'll talk to Audi Atar, and I am so excited about this one. Audi is the headman over at Paradigm Sports Management. He is, of course, the manager to one Connor Nelson, Stephen Thompson, Chris Wyman.

Who's Who? doesn't do a lot of interviews, and this is a very good time to talk to Adi Atara, as you can imagine. We'll talk to him at 305. 245. Pearl Gonzalez will be on. Talk to her about her debut at UFC 210, all the drama surrounding it,

where she goes from here. Aaron Pico will stop by. It was announced late Friday. We reported it first that he'll be making his Belator MMA debut June 24th at MSG against Zach Freeman. Tough fight in his debut. We'll talk to Aaron Pico at 225.

Holly Home will be on at 205. Talk about her June 17th, main event fight against Bech Coheia. Also on that card, it's Hafelde dos Santos versus Tarrick Safedine. We'll talk to RDA at 145, a lot of changes in his life, so I'm excited about that. 125, we'll talk to Chris Wideman about

the controversy at 210 and and where he goes from here. And in a matter of seconds, we're going to talk to Reginald-A Quinta. I wanted to start the show with him, because to me he was the star of the weekend and the biggest news coming out of this past weekend. But before we get to Al, quick word from our sponsors. Of course, once again, the Marines,

part of the family. We appreciate their support. Very much. Here's a word from them. For a place, a people, an idea is a fight to win. See all the battles. Marines fight to win at Marines.com. That's right. Check them out over at Marines.com. Marines 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 Marines fight to win, as you just heard, whether it's a literal, physical battle, or even a figurative one. We appreciate their support. As always, great to have them on our side. All right, let's get to our first guest of the day. Two-year layoff. Thought he may have been done with the sport.

Thought he was going to retire. Comes back. Fights Diego Sanchez and absolutely annihilates him. And he was on point. He was fresh as a daisy. He looked like he didn't miss any time. We're talking to Al-I-Quinta right now. Always love talking to Al. And like I said, I wanted to start the show off with him because to me, he was the biggest story coming out of this weekend. I do believe he is joining us. via the wonderful magic of Skype. And there he is, Ally Quinta. Hey, Al. How are you, sir?

I'm doing good. Are you in a hotel room right now? I am. Where are you? I'm in Nashville. You're still there? Yeah. Why?

Why not? Why not? That is a great answer. Why not? Did you plan on staying a little longer? Yeah. Okay. And it's nice to be there after a win,

and I see that your hotel room is still relatively intact. That's good news. It is good news, yeah. Nothing got broken. So it's good. Unless you changed rooms. Nah, same room. Okay. Were you tempted?

No, not really. Okay. You were just teasing us on Twitter? If I was in my hotel room, I probably would have broken something at that point, yeah. Oh, where were you? I was walking around on the street. Okay. I left the and just went straight to the strip and just on. out, everybody there. So I was just trying to have a good time, you know.

Let's start at the beginning. How did it feel to be back? Did you miss it? Were you happy to be back or were you there kind of on a mission just to, as you put it afterwards, get the fighting out of your system and now you're good to go? Well, definitely get the fighting out of my system, but just enjoy the whole process. I just, yeah, it was cool, man. It was weird. It was weird. Everything worked out. so perfect. It was the weight cut was the easiest weight cut I ever had. So I was like, geez, you know,

that's kind of weird. It was just everything, I don't know, it just it worked out good. It was a lot of just a lot of thinking on my part for the last two years and everything kind of came together. It was it was really, really cool. It was a great weekend.

Did the positive experience renew your love for the sport? I don't know. I mean, there was never any I always had love I always my love for this sport is the reason why I do it

that's never changed you know so yeah everything's still the same it's just this it's just this you know the same thing

maybe it's the politics that I'm referring to that you don't like yeah yeah if anything I hate that even more now really and why is that

just because like I mean you know maybe just not winning the bonuses I don't know. Maybe, I don't know

whether they didn't give it to me because I really didn't deserve it or whether they didn't give it to me to kind of shaft me, you know, because they said in the past that I wasn't eligible to win bonuses

and maybe they're just sticking it to me. You know, the whole bonus thing is just retarded to be, excuse me, now, the whole bonus thing is just ridiculous. The fact that they're giving $50,000

bonuses, you know, it's like they're a little way out to control everybody, and I don't know I don't like it I don't like the way the whole thing happened Right do you feel like

If you didn't have that history You were a shoe in like Do you side with the idea That they were trying to And you know For lack of a better word Like punish you for what's happened Over the last couple years

Maybe I don't know I couldn't tell you But I did you talk to anyone I don't have is a No No No Everyone was actually

a little weird backstage, I can tell you that. You know, I figured, I figured, I don't know, something was weird. It was weird. After the fight or before the fight? After the fight, in the back, after the fight. What do you mean by weird? Like, were they avoiding you?

Kind of, yeah, it was like, yeah. It was weird. So is that when you knew something's up here? Yeah, I was like, something's not, yeah, there's a reason for this. And then I just, I left the arena. I just left and I was looking on my phone and I saw something maybe someone tweeted to me I didn't get the bonus or whatever and I was like shit it's like I don't know freaking I don't

know for a guy that puts it out there like me they should do they I don't know I never had a boring fight they come to fight every time I put on a show you know four four five fights in a row was it four knockouts in the last five no bonus money no shit shit, no, you know, nothing. They suck. Whatever. Off the top of my head, have you ever received the bonus?

No, I was on the Ultimate Fighter. I got, like, the Ultimate Fighter. Yeah, yeah. The fight of the season bonus, but I've never gotten a bonus. No, never. Ross Pearson, Rose Pearson, Joe Lozone,

who's the bonus king, right? Right. I got, knock out the bonus king, you get a fucking bonus, no. And then Diego Sanchez, who's the legend, guy's been around forever. bonuses he won, I beat him. I don't get a bonus. So, you know, fuck them. Did you hold back in the post-fight interview? I felt like you wanted to say a little more, but then, like, internally,

you were like, ah, this isn't worth it? Were you having that dialogue with yourself internally? Uh, kind of, yeah. There was certain people I wanted to just don't have to go fuck themselves. But it's not the right thing to do. Right. Should we pretend like this is the post-fight interview right now and you say what's on your mind? Yeah, right? Yeah, I don't know. But I was trying to go, I was just going to say, like, I don't want to be that guy, but we need to do something.

What are we doing? This is so dumb, you know? They got the NFL, they want the Reebok sponsorship because they want to be like the NFL, but they don't want to be like the NFL because there's no union, but you can't even ask them about a union. because they go right around the question. As being a white about a union. They come with the same answer every time. Oh, well, they can't unionize because they're independent contractors right around it.

You know, why doesn't he talk about it? Actually, he's doing an interview with Megan Olivie. Guarantee they don't talk about that, you know? Because, you know, he's done everything for the sport. Now it's time to do something for the fighters. Get the fighters together. Yeah. You know?

are you disheartened because it seemed like last year was all about the unions of you in the end of the year with that group led by bjorn and gs p and now you know four or five months later the whole thing seems to be d oa like there's no momentum behind any group yeah no it's it's sad it's it's sad to see i don't know it's sad to say we need it's gotta have how how how you know what is what just a $50,000 bonus is just i don't understand how that's Everyone just thinks that's like normal. $50,000 bonus. A bonus is like a little something extra, you know. $50,000 is like three times some of these guys pay. Yeah. It's not a bonus. That's like life-changing stuff.

And it looks great, but guess what? A lot of guys, and that's their little way to control you. You got to suck up to the man. You suck up to the man. You know, you get on the mic, you say you thank Joe Silva. You thank that. Thank you guys. You guys are the best.

Thank you, Dana White. Thank you, Loren. and those are the guys that get the bonuses. So it's their little way, you know, like kiss my ass and it'll give me a little scrap, you know. So, but I don't have to do that anymore. I don't care. I took time out of my life to set myself up to where I don't have to suck up to anybody, you know, and I can do it my way. And if I want to fight again, I'll fight.

And if not, I'm not the guys, you know, kissing up to the UFC. Oh, help me do a dude. I wanted to fight here. I want to fight there. Fuck you. If you want to fight, if I don't want to fight in Madison's, in the Madison Square going, I don't give a shit. I won't fight. I don't fight. I don't fight for the UFC.

I fight for myself. I fight for my team, my family. The UFC's done nothing. They have nothing for me. You know, they, they freaking left me high and dry. I had to beg them for freaking knee surgery, you know. They told me, their doctor said I would never fight again. If I had the knee surgery I wanted, I would never fight again. Last night, I got in the cage, and I freaking, two nights ago, whatever it was. shove it, you know,

told me I would never fight again. If I had the surgery that I wanted to have, I did all the research, I did all day. I would wake up in the morning and I was on the computer all day doing research about knees. I could think and do a knee surgery myself at this point. And they told me I would never fight,

but they wanted to send me out and get stem cell injection, take six weeks out of my life, six months, really, they give me stamp cell. They want to try stem cell injection. I said, it's proven, it doesn't work. Why are we doing this?

You're wasting my time. time. Well, we want to give it a shot before we pay $60,000 for a surgery. $60,000 for surgery is nothing, nothing to you. And you're going to cry. You're going to, oh, they only want to pay, they only want to pay fucking, what was it, $15,000. Because a normal, a normal surgery at a normal hospital, with, of course, $15,000. Because I wanted to go to the good hospital, hospital, hospital special surgery with the best

doctor in the world. I wanted that. And they said, oh, it's $60,000, but we're going to pay for the regular. You got to make up the rest. I said, I can't make up the rest. Are you fucking kidding me? How? How am I going to do that?

I can't even, I can't even, you know, I was going to say, listen, pay for the surgery and take it out of my next purse when I fight again. Because I couldn't, I couldn't freaking shell out money for a surgery. Go fuck you, so. And I saw it. I thought it was really cool that you gave your doctor a shout out on Twitter. It was like the first thing you did, right, from that hospital, SSL? Dr. Piazza from Sports Science Lab in Staten Island.

It's crazy how things work out. My father is, he's so into this stuff, man. It's awesome to see. When I started getting into this, he saw a machine called Dinavision. And what it does is it kind of like trains your peripheral vision. And I think it's going to be big. It's going to be kind of like how weightlifting was, like strength and conditioning back in the day.

No one really did strength and conditioning, you know? And then people started doing it and they started seeing good results. Vision training is like your eye is a muscle. You can work on this kind of stuff. Seeing shots come from your peripheral vision is, you know, it's huge. I think that's, you talk about like training your chin. That's not really, you know, you train to see the punch coming, you see it and you react. And even if you do take the shot, just seeing it.

a split second before it hits you, you're, you know, it's the one that you don't see that hurts you. Yeah. So my father's all into this. He's actually opening up a place,

he's in the process of opening up a place on Long Island that is going to train your, your vision. And it's, uh, so they have a machine that's this place in Staten Island. My dad just went to go check it out and I went with him. And, uh,

this doctor was, Dr. Piazza, man, he, the guy is, uh, the energy that he has is awesome.

He was just so positive. So, so motivated. and he just kind of he's a fan of the sport he likes you know he likes the sport his whole team you know enjoys watching fighting and stuff and they knew about me and he said listen man he said why don't you just come three days a week and we'll help you we'll work on like my knee was shot still you know and this guy uh you know this this guy really helped me get back in the cage get me get back to where i needed to be mentally physically um i was there for like four hours a day

They would have me do physical therapy, strength and conditioning, vision training. They would have me go in the cryo chamber. They'd have me just, the guy must have spent an insane amount of money trying to help me. Just because he heard my story and he knows, you know, how it can be tough sometimes. Wow. Yeah, it was just, I can't thank the guy enough. Wow, that is great. How many fights now do you have left on your deal?

Is it three? I think two. Two. I think the Maserol was the first one out of four. This one was second and then two more. Do you think if you were done after this? I mean, do you think you would feel a little better? You can go talk to other people, see what's the best fit for you.

Is that kind of like what your dream scenario would be? What do you mean? Like let's say this past fight was the last fight on your deal. Would you feel like, oh, okay, at least now I can go out and kind of control my own destiny and see where I am most appreciated where I feel the most comfortable. Would that be like, if they said to you, look, you're not happy,

go find a better deal and we'll talk about it. Would that be the best case scenario for Ally Quint at this point? Yeah, that'd be, I mean, yeah, that'd be great. That's what you would like. If you... Right. No, what I would like is to just be financially, like,

you know, set to where if I get hurt and I'm out for two years, I don't have to worry about, you know, teaching private lessons to pay my money. mortgage, you know? Yeah. Maybe like something monthly, like, is that crazy? You know, like, I'm a professional freaking athlete.

I just was on TV. Fox Sports One co-main event. And $50,000 is what I walk away with. Are you kidding me? Like, what? I don't know. Is that, it doesn't, there's like NFL players are making real money. Like, I should be buying houses on water on, like, nice shit.

This is fucking. ridiculous. And these guys are making all this, they're making all this money doing nothing. They're sitting there watching me fight. I'm the man. You are not.

Dana White, you know, does not allow us for this sport, but he's got one injury from this sport. You know, and for him to say, the best part of my, the best part of UFC Brooklyn was the flight home.

You are a private jet, bro. Shut the fuck up. You're on a private jet. Most people, that would change, that would be the best, the highlight of their life. Forget the night.

You know, Private Jet, of course it's the highlight of your night. These guys fighting in the cage getting hurt. Jim Miller probably, who's the leg kicks? Someone got their fucking leg. Yeah, Jimil. Yeah. He owes the apology to all those motherfuckers.

That's some bullshit. Shut you fucking mouth. You got 26 and 26 for this one, right? Yeah. And next one does it go up, or is it stay at that? Goes up like $3,000. Right, right. Is it, is it, I mean, you know serious entries coming out of it.

this, right? Thankfully for you? The knee held up? No, yeah. Is it possible, though, we don't see you for another year or two now? Unless things change? No, it's probable. Probable, really. So you really did get it out of your system. You got the fighting, you got the, even though it was a short fight, you can now go and kind of be content for a while. Yeah. Yep. Does it kind of eat you up inside that you're so good at this? Clearly, I mean, you're, you beat Masvedal, who's about to fight in a number of?

one contenders fight in a different division. You beat Diego and all these other guys, Lozahn, as you mentioned, you're on this winning streak, and yet you have this sort of disdain for what goes around the sport. Does that kind of eat you up inside? Because right now you should be in that sort of, there's no real number one contenders after Habib and Ferguson at 155, right? There's no like clear, you should be in that discussion.

And yet all this other stuff is clouding your mind. Does that kill you? I guess. I don't know. One day Ray Long goes, going to write a book. And when you read the part about this fight, you're going to be mind-blown.

Can you give us a hint? Training camp was fun leading up to this fight. It was hysterical. The whole thing was hysterical. You enjoyed it? It's so funny. Yeah, of course I enjoyed it. I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

I don't know. I did enjoy it. I did. What are you referring to, Al? I can't, you got to read Ray's book. Okay. Are you guys on good terms? Me and right?

Yeah. Never been better. Oh, okay. Wow. I can't even imagine what you're referring to. It seemed like you were in great shape, like you were in a good spot. All going to make sense one day, Ariel. Oh, my God.

This is a big tease. I told you, I told you. I said, the last interview we did, I said, I got a plan, man. Yeah. you know. Is there anything more about the plan? You can tell us? What's that?

Is there anything more about the plan? Like, where does Ally Quinta go from here? What's the next step? That was it. That was it. Now I'm just taking it as it as it comes. I don't even know what I'm doing it. This is as far as I got in my thought process.

When did you leave Nashville? I don't know. Do you have a return flight home yet, booked? I do. It's supposed to be the. but I don't know where I'm going. I'm going somewhere else. You don't want to go home?

My birthday's on the 30th. 30th birthday on the 30th, so I'm going crazy. That's the, what is it called? Your silver and what is, there's a name for that when you turn. And by the way, I knew I always liked you. That's my first son's birthday as well, April 30th, 2012. All right.

There we go. It is a great day. So you don't, like, you might go somewhere else. You just don't want to go home, basically. You don't, you're not ready to go back to Long Island. I don't know. I don't know what I'm feeling. I really just like the fight just ended. I just slept for the first.

I just woke up. I was the first time I got some sleep. I just been enjoying Nashville. It's been fun, you know? The irony is that I feel like you've never been more popular, that people love, you know, it goes back to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon, right? People love the guy who sticks up to the man, sticks up to his employer because I think we all kind of wish that we could do that.

and, you know, with the way in which you're doing it, I feel like you're getting more support now than you ever have. Do you notice that as well? Oh, honestly, I, yeah, I kind of figured it would be like that, but I haven't really been, like, on Twitter too much or anything, you know. Did they boo you in Nashville? Is that becoming a thing? I don't know.

A little bit, yeah. I feel like now they just want to boo you to see your reaction. Yeah, they're going to poke me a little bit. Good, I don't care. But it's fun, it's fun. Yeah, no, it's fun. I have to say it hurts my heart a little bit because I feel like on the winning streak, the performance, we should be talking about, like, how close you are to cashing in and the title shot and all that.

And now it feels like you're further than ever away. Do you want to maybe try to sit down and clear the air, or have we already tried to do that and that didn't work out? I don't know. I mean, what would clearly, what would be like a pop? like apologizing? No, not apologize. I'm not suggesting that, but usually,

historically, I feel like when people sit down face to face with the brass in Vegas, I feel like good things usually happen. And maybe that's what's, what's missing here. Maybe that's the thing

that hasn't been done. Face to face, mono, miano, air all the grievances. Let's figure this out, once and for all. No, that would be nice. But I don't think they want to hear

what I have to say. I'd love, I'd love to talk to someone. Listen, I got a lot of, I get, like, I'm not trying to be like, I don't know, something. I'm just trying to, I got a lot of,

like I have a lot of good input. I think a lot of the fighters have a lot of the fighters have a lot of good input, but they don't listen to it. They don't, no one's asked me, no one's asked my teammates, anything. No one's asked us, it's, who's running this? Like, why are we just, like, nothing?

You know, the fighters have to have a voice in something. Yeah. Even just something like the Wayans. Like the morning Wayans, some guys love it, some guys don't but you know what? It should be up to the fighters, you know, or in some way,

in some capacity. There's got to be someone asking like, how do you feel like how do you feel after a morning way and how does it feel to cut weight all night and hold your weight and then weigh in the morning and then get a certain amount of time to recover you know, rehydration, these things, stuff like that?

You know? the fighters need to, you know, we need to be heard. It's got to be our time now, you know. What you're saying really is you need collective bargaining. You need a representative who sits down at the table where they don't say, here's a new Reebok deal and come July 1st, you can't have sponsors. You need someone to be like, okay, wait a second, what are the terms? What are we getting?

What's this? Here's a USADA deal. You need someone sticking, there needs to be like a players association head in the NBA, MLB. You have no one speaking on your behalf is what you're saying. there needs to be a bridge. 100%. I think Dana White is the one that should be put. You should want, you know, it's not going to be good.

It's not going to be great for them, but he should be the one pushing for it because if what he really wants, if he wants for the sport, you know, if he wants the Reebok deal, their whole thing with the Reebok deal is, you know, it's like an investment for the future. All right, so invest in the future and get this union, get it going, help the fighters out. And you know what? We can work the Reebok deal. We can make it so that everyone's happy. But when you show a piece of paper in my face, you say sign this or you're getting released.

You know, I want to say, fuck you, shut the way. You know, that's not how you do things. It's not the right way, you know. It's got to be done right. And the Reebok deal could be good. Some way there would be a way to make me happy, to make us, to, you know, I don't, are the rest of the fighters not seeing this? I don't understand how they just take it up the ass all the time.

It's fucking bullshit. It really is for what we do, for what the amount, like, fuck, man, Ellenberger got elbowed. He was unconscious for a while. I was like, fuck, I don't even want to fight. Do I even want to do this? I almost left the fucking arena. I was like, fuck this. And he's going to say that all the best part of is the bride home.

Shut the fuck up. Are you kidding me? Go fuck yourself. Don't ever talk about a fighter like that. You are not a fighter. You never, you don't do it. You don't know. All those guys.

The fucking whatever. Yeah. Last thing for you, Al, now that you have some time off, will you try to reignite the association talk? I mean, you're clearly very passionate about it. Maybe you can even be a big part of it. Is that something that you're interested in it, or do you feel like your colleagues,

for lack of a better word, your fellow fighters just aren't seeing what you're seeing? No, I think I would love, I mean, I'm like, I would love to do anything I can to help. Okay. You know? I'm not really like I can kind of

come off like an idiot sometimes I kind of just speak my mind but I think you know with the right people it can it can be it can be big it's what we need

it's not and it's it's is it I used to think it was just a matter of when it's not if but now I don't even know it's like what is you know

and so many fighters have reached out to me too and they you know it's like it's still having the same conversations around the table at the fights you know

oh, I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe that you're doing this. They're taking away that. They're doing this. Let me just sit there and everyone talks about it. But, you know, and then Dana White walks in the room and everyone's like, oh, hey Dana. Hey, do you know, like kissing his head.

Like, dude, say, like, say, you know, I don't know. I'm here. I'm saying what I need to say. This is how I feel, you know. So, I don't know. If he wants to reach out to me and anyone wants to, I'm here. We're open. You know?

Well, appreciate your candor, appreciate your honesty, Al. Thank you, as always, for coming on. And most importantly right now, congratulations on the wind. Try to enjoy it. Enjoy your last few days in Smashville. I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it. Okay.

It's great. Good. And good luck with your travels, and thanks, as always, for stopping by. Always great to talk to you. If you are looking to buy, sell, or rent a house anywhere in the United States, I can help you out. Raging Al Realty at Yahoo.com. Serious inquiries only.

And is that Rajin or Raging? Rijin, right, Al? R-A-G-I-N-G. Got it. There it is. Thank you, Al-L-I-R-A-N-G. All the best. You got it.

Thanks, Ariel. There is. All-I-Quinta, the one and only. There is only one, Al-I-Quinta. Great to talk to him and catch up. And hopefully some way, somehow, we can figure this out and keep the man happy. So we'll go from one Serolongo member to another. Chris Wyman joining us on the phone right now.

Chris, are you there? Hey, what's up, Ariel? How are you, Chris? I don't know if I want to come on right now after here and out. That was awesome. I want to just keep listening to him. I know. He is something else, and I'm sorry I lost a little bit track of time there, but he is a

captivating guy. I'm not going to, you know, ask you to defend or, you know, make sense of what he's saying. But that is your friend. To see him upset kind of like that after a fight, That does have to kind of, I don't know, make you feel a little funny, right? Yeah, I mean, I just literally caught the last, I don't know, three, four minutes of it. I haven't been on MMA news in like almost like the last year. I used to go on MMAfighting.com's app on the iPhone, which I told you about,

where it doesn't work anymore, where it stopped working, and I deleted it. So I'm kind of, and I used to go on the MMA forms like the MMA. TV on the ground and then it got way too sloppy with some losses and I'm like you know what I think this is better to stay off this type of crap so I haven't I haven't been following any of any new so I didn't know what was going out out out other than then you know going back and forth on text with him but yeah to hear him right now it just uh you know he makes a lot of sense and I feel for him and I feel for all the fighters it's a sometimes a tough spot um okay let's talk about your situation because you you have your your own stuff going on where do we stand with this appeal with

New York State. Of course, we saw you fight just a couple weeks ago, didn't go your way, controversial finish, all kinds of confusion. You appealed. Where does that stand at the moment? We sent an appeal. Really, my management team, I'm just relying on them. My trust is in

them. They came up with a thing to send over. I looked at over, my wife and I, and they sent it over in New York. I think they might have got a reply back today. I know you have Audi coming on later. knows more about what's going on with the appeal. As for me and my hopes, I mean, to win an appeal in New York, especially they're so fresh,

I mean, they're going to fight this into the death. At the end of the day, it doesn't make a huge difference for me personally. I know what happened in there was chaos and not right, and I got the, I was on the losing end of it. It sucks for a lot of reasons, but then the end of day, I can't control any of it. it's over and I got to just look to the future and so whether they make it a no contest or not I'm not focused on that I'm letting my management team deal with that and hopefully the right thing happens but I'm not putting in much time and effort into thinking about that at the end of day it just it was a sucky situation that I was a part of and it wasn't what I wanted to happen

at all. I don't think it was even what Masasi wanted to happen. So I just happened to be a part of it. Are you... Have you watched the fight again? Yeah. I watched it. I watched it that night and maybe the day after

and that's all so far. So this idea that you were playing the game, the hand, like, do you feel in hindsight like you shouldn't have done that? Or was that just, were you just flowing in the fight? Let me explain. Again, I don't listen. I don't watch MMA.

I don't really go on MMA news. I don't. I really don't. I haven't been on one website. But on my Twitter and stuff, I'll get, I'll see things every once in a while. Yeah. And, yeah, me playing the game.

Let's just rewind a moment to the time where I, I, I, first of all, I hit five of seven takedowns against the guy. I shot a take down. He snapped me. As I shot the takedown, I, as I shot for the leg, he kind of sprawled. And he locked up both of my arms. So not just, not. it wasn't a front headlock position.

Let's be clear. This is not, this is going to be over the heads of most MMA people, but for the fighters, it wasn't a front headlock position. He had both of my arms stuck in there, okay? So I go right away, my initial reaction of playing the game is to come to my feet and work my way out of that position. And as I come up to my feet and I'm trying to put, you have to realize I'm in a position where all of his ways dragging my hands towards the mat.

And I'm trying to come up and avoid that situation because he wants to pull me down to the mat to go behind me, to spin behind me. And obviously, I want to come up to my feet. As he's putting my hands down to the mat, I'm coming up. And as I come up, I get knead in the head. I'm like, oh, look at that. I got a need in the head. Now I'm in a position where am I going to keep getting neat in the head,

or am I going to put my hands down, which I went over. I know if I put my hands down on the mat, I'm good. So I put my hands down. And this is in a split second. Yeah. Maybe I should have put my knee down, but I was in a really bad situation. I couldn't, I don't know if I could really have blocked the knees of my hands because he had my arms fully extended straight. He had my lock down the shoulder joint, so maybe I should have just went down to my knee and waited for him to try to spin behind me and then capitalize off that moment, I guess in hindsight.

But I'm working off instinct at this point. And the rules is not something I've ever really put a lot of thought into. All I knew is that, all right, I'm in this crappy situation. My hands are, all my weight is now going on my hands. I know he's not supposed to need me here. So then all my weights on my hands and all of a sudden I get knead in the head again. And right away, they break it and they tell me it's illegal.

And obviously, I don't think Musashi was fighting it. The whole time, I think I saw a video of him being very confused when they actually told him it was legal. You know, he asked like three times, it was legal? Legal? Like, he thought it was illegal. Of course, the ref told him it was illegal. And I thought it was illegal because I do remember

of putting all my weight on my hands the fact that I came up as he's like he pulled me up as he's throwing that knee I mean it was one of those things that's hard to tell that actually happened until you go back to insurie but but it was just unfortunate and then you know obviously he told me I don't want to really run through the whole thing

unless that's what you're asking but basically it was just a crappy situation from there I thought it was illegal I was told multiple times it was illegal from the ref he said take your time take your time take your time actually when he went out and looked replay, which you're not supposed to do in New York, look at replay, which I heard from one of the commissioners is definitely illegal. There's no replay. You can't look at the replay. He came back in and said, I have three more minutes still, knowing it was legal. So he said, all right, Chris, it was actually illegal name, but you still have three minutes. I said, okay. So he was confused, I think, at the same, everyone was confused. You know, you don't get any time when you, if it was illegal near, you know, we should have just restarted right there and then if that's something they would have done. But at this point now, it's almost like, I don't know, like, I don't know, like, five minutes and I think they realized we wasted so much time thinking it was not knowing it was

illegal or illegal and then when they realized it was legal they were like oh we're not he's not he wasn't even supposed to get time right oh should have just continued so then they just he just he walked outside the cage and came back in and waved the fight off and i was like are you joking there there were a lot of people telling me um that there was some audio that you didn't know what day it was what month it was but i haven't seen this audio i heard sarah and long goes saying oh kind of joking that you would know what day of the week it is or a month on a regular day. But did they ask you questions? And did you not get the answers right? Do you know about this conversation? Yeah, yeah, definitely. I guess right away they asked me what month it was. And I think I, I guess

I said February because I heard the same, I didn't hear the audio, but I saw the same transcript of audio that you did from the thing. But I remember very clearly telling them what date it was after that. Like, they asked me multiple times when the second doctor came in, I was telling me the correct date. But they were, they were, I guess, I don't know. But I don't know. That's one of the questions. Did they stop the fight because they thought I was unfit to continue? Or did they stop the fight because Dan came back in and realized that I had over five minutes and I wasn't even supposed to have time to begin with?

And the whole thing was already supposed to be stopped. you know so I don't know I don't really know what the the answer is there I know that as far as me as a fighter I could have continued 100% yeah I was definitely I was definitely neat in the head twice you know I was definitely a little little out of it for a second but I remember my leotumachita fight I don't remember the fourth and fifth round at all the fifth round that dominated him so he hit me with some good good stuff in the fourth and the fourth and fifth is kind of was out I was definitely out of it for that fight but I definitely dominated him still at fifth round. So I think I would have went on to dominate Musassi and even finish him. Now, this is all, you know, my opinion, and you could argue this back and forth because we'll never know. I expect for that one event, but I do want to rematch. I felt like I was dominating the fight. Even the second round, when he came forward and I was doing the backpedal in, he's throwing punches,

he didn't really land anything. Like, he was missing. I was very coherent. There wasn't any, I wasn't rocked. For some reason, I think maybe the crowd went off, and he just started thinking I was rocked, and he started throwing crazy punches. I was covering and I was fine. The rest of that round, that was the round that took him down

and mounted him, and then I took his back. So, I mean, that round was a close round. And the first round, obviously, I dominated. So I felt, I feel really good in that fight. I know Musassi wasn't happy with the result, judging by him pulling down the flag and telling his coach to stop to celebrate. Yeah.

Stop the celebration. I know his tune changed when he got into the, When he got into the post-fight press conference, and he was coached into the way he should be talking at that point. But at the end of the day, his instincts were right. It wasn't a fun spot for anybody being. As a fighter, you don't want to win that way. It was a debacle.

And... Does this now... Sorry, go ahead. No, that's it. Everyone thought when they announced this card on Long Island in July that you would be a shoe-in, after this, does this now make you not, you know, you know what, maybe I don't want to fight in New York? Because the main thing with New York, as you know,

is they don't get enough experience. It's too expensive for promoters not named Bellator, UFC, essentially at this point to run events in the state. So their only experience comes when either Belator or the UFC come, and they're not doing local events to try to get experience with doctors and officiating and weighing and all this stuff. So you guys are essentially the guinea pigs. Are you hesitant to now fight in New York again?

Or does it mean a lot to fight? fight 10 minutes from where you train essentially and you're able to look past whatever happened in the last fight and go for it if you still want to fight in July? I don't know. We'll see what we'll see what's offered. I haven't got offered anything. So I'll take it. I know a lot of people close to me don't want me fighting in New York again. There's a lot of things even in the backs and the scenes in the back where it's just, it's very, you know, they're very new and amateurs. And you saw that a couple of times, even look at the way of the Cormier way in.

And there was a bunch of things even, you know, that went unreported, just the back scenes where you just could tell they really are still have a lot of learning to do. Yeah. When you compare it to like, all my fights were mostly in Vegas or Jersey. These commissions have things done right. You know, they take things very seriously. And, uh, they call me right now.

Hey, I don't we just end that? I mean, really? Wouldn't you know? He just came back from vacation, right? If he's not watching the MMA are right now? Come on. You got two of his friends back to back. Unbelievable this guy.

He don't care about me anymore. He just cares about, he's a champore. Whoever has the belt. Wow. Right now he used to train with me all the time when I had the belts. And then the next day I know, Steve A wins a belt, and he's out in Ohio all the time. He's a champore. He's fighting on that card.

So are you saying that you haven't been offered anything on that card just yet, right? Nope. Right now, do you want to fight? Would that even make sense timing-wise after a fight in April? Is that too soon for you to come back and fight on, what is it, July 22nd, I believe it is? No, definitely not too soon. No, it just depends on, I want a rematch from Musassi more than anything. I just think that was a big fight for me to get back up into contention for the title.

He was on this winning streak, and it was a great fight for me to showcase my skills and to go out there and dominate him. And that fight got pulled for me. So I just, I would like that fight back. I don't want to fight, you know, a no-name guy who is, you know, everyone thinks I'm going to just run through. And I don't want those, I don't want those fights, you know. We'll see. We'll see what happens.

I have no idea what's going to happen. I've been out of the loop, so we'll see. I must say it was a little hard to listen to your post-fight interview in the cage, because you can sense the disappointment in your voice and you're apologetic to the crowd. Can you describe what was going? Like this was so big for you. You talked about it being the crossroads fight, right?

And this was your chance to get back on track, in your home state, big fight against Musassi. Everyone said you should have taken a tune-up. Here you are winning the first round, and then disaster strikes. And then you're apologetic to the people. What is going on in your mind? Like, how is your heart dealing with this in that moment,

that the fight is just called off and you have no idea what just happened? Um, man, I can't even tell you. I think I just tried to really, I was as frustrated and upset as you could possibly get. I'm a good poker player. I could keep like, you know, do the poker face thing. I was, I was distraught. And I think my defense mechanism for me was just a turning off on my mind.

I just tried to just forget about what was really happening as fast as possible because the understanding of what really just went down and how much it meant to me was too much for me to bear. But to think about it, I just went on, I went on to other planets with my brain. Wow. I didn't want to think about it, man. It's just really, really, I put a lot into this fight and I felt great. And for it to end up that way was just not in the cards,

It's not anything I could ever imagine. So it still hasn't soaked in really what happened. I just, it's a very weird thing. At some point, did it hit you and did it hit you really hard in the back the next day? Yeah. You just want me to cry right now. I'm just kidding. Are you kidding me?

Jesus. I just. You thought I was crying for a second, you loser. I'm not doing it. I don't want you to cry. I just, it was very clear that you were... You wanted me to cry right now. You wanted me to talk about, like, when your son asked you in the next morning, what happened?

What did happen when your son asked you, by the way? That is a great question. Well, I didn't know that the, my son, I'll answer that. Please. I'm not crying right now. Okay. But I will say, like my son, obviously, he's very involved. He woke up.

They fall asleep for the fights. We make sure they get the best. so they're not up watching the fights and, you know, I don't like them. It's still too young. My daughter's seven and my son's four. And my son's really more, I think, involved with this than my daughter and he's four. But the next morning, my mom, my wife slept with them and I slept in my own room. And my wife, like, woke up and right away, I mean, my son woke up and right away, the first question was like, what happened with daddy?

Did he win? He win, he went, and then my wife had let him know, well, he didn't. nobody nobody really won the you know the ref messed up and like he we tried to do we did that way you know because it is a very controversial weird thing to try to explain to a four-year-old but I don't feel like I really lost that fight okay I'll stand by that and I don't think uh that's yeah so we we let him know that way and then when I saw him he's yeah but then I actually showed him the fight I showed him the fight and uh Because he started getting, like, crying.

He was like, did they raise his hand? He started asking that question. I said, well, yes, they raised his hand, but the rep messed up. They might change it, blah, blah, blah. And so they go back. I mean, so then I start showing them the fight to let them show them that, you know, I was winning the fight, blah, blah, show him the whole fight. And they get to the end and he wants to see whose hand was raised.

Oh, man. So he's so, yeah, he won't let me, yeah, you won't let me, you won't let me just get off of it. So we watch and I'm going to explain, you know, I plan on it. kind of walking them through why, you know, they're messed up. And you see my hands were down or, wow, you can't see it. And then, um, and then he saw, they raised his hands and he started like, he just started crying. He said, I can't believe, you lost three in a, you lost three, he lost three fights.

I didn't want you to lose. I want you to win. I'm like, oh, my God. Oh, kill me. And, uh, I'm like, I'm going to get a rematch. I'm going to beat them. Don't worry. They didn't really win.

This is bullshit. Oh. Man. Yeah. Now I'm going to cry. This kid's sweet. Well, I'm not tearing up now. You did it.

Yeah. I'm a little tear going. I'm probably sparkling. I'm almost looking. I'm not tearing. It's not coming down on the cheek or anything. Still counts. As honest, I could be.

Still counts. Yep. Yep. You did it, man. You're the best reporter in the world. Is it fair to say, Chris, that you're not expecting them to change anything? That would be a shocker, right? Yeah, definitely.

I mean, If I was to walk through it all and explain it to somebody, I feel like they definitely should change it. But I'm not putting any emotional attachment to what they do with that because really I have no idea. I mean, I really don't know what's going to happen. And I don't really care. At the end of the day, no matter what they say,

I feel like this was a shitty position for me. And also Musassi. And especially for me, though, because I'm the one who lost at the end of the day. But I just want to, I want the right thing to happen, but I'm not going to cry either way. I just got to focus on the future. I'm going to fights. You know, it's just, unfortunately, this is part of the growing process of New York, and I got, and I became part of it.

Yeah. And I don't know. It's just a weird thing. And as far as, you know, this happening and obviously you were upset about it, and the losses before, does this at all, these losses and this experience over the last two years,

does it at all change the way you view your career and your place in the sport? In other words, are you still as confident that you will one day regain a title and be the man and enjoy the success and the, you know,

the spoils that you did just a couple of years ago? Have you altered in that view at all after dealing with all this? Definitely not. No. I'm 100% on track. to do everything I said I was going to do.

So I'm going to win the belt that middleweight, and then I'll go up to 205 and win the belt there. Oh, yeah. After dominating the middleweight division for a little bit. So that will happen. But one step at a time. First, we have to fight whoever pretty soon, hopefully Musassi, get that done.

Hopefully he steps up, realize he doesn't want to win that way because he's bullshit. He was getting beat up. He knows it. So hopefully we can run that one back. and he could prove that he won the fight if he could do that. He has the opportunity to prove that, and I have the opportunity to prove my side.

I'm a better fighter than him. So we'll hopefully get to run that back. Last thing for you, when do you think you'll decide if you'll fight on that Long Island card? I mean, is it really up to me? Let's see what, I mean, I haven't been told. No one's brought anything up to me about it yet. Okay.

I feel like it is kind of up to you. I mean, you are the draw in that area. But damn right I am. Yeah. Now we talk. How far do you live from that arena? I grew up like 12 minutes away from that arena. I went to NASA Community College, which is literally right around the block.

I mean, I haven't right out of the block. You literally, I mean, you cross the street. You're there. Then I went to Hofst University, which is literally across the street, you're there at NASA College. I live behind the McDonald's on Hempstead Turnpike right there in Uniondale. for two years, which literally you walk out the front door, you look at Nassau Calusium. So I'm, my whole life I've been, my gym is literally one minute from Nassau Calcium. It's in Garden City.

So my everything I do every day, I pass Nassau Calisium for my entire life. I've never not been around it. So that's my, that's my home. Well, selfishly, I'd love to see you in that setting. It's even cooler, in my opinion, than you at MSG, but I can certainly understand why some of your family members, circle members, if you will, don't want you to fight there because if I'm a fighter, I'm hesitant to fight in New York just because they don't have that experience.

You can't just learn on the fly on the biggest stage possible. You need to get your feet wet with the smaller promotions and then be ready for when the UFC comes and they're doing it backwards because of how expensive it is to run events in New York. So I wish you luck with the appeal. And of course, good luck in the next step, getting that fight that you want against Musassi. Hopefully he does resign with the UFC so that can be possible.

And I appreciate you coming on. I know you don't like MMA media anymore. So it means even, and that's kind of a revelation on this, on this, in this interview. I didn't know that you felt that way about it. First of all, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me, let me,

I mean, I said that, man, you said that. You said that, you don't go on, on, on, on, on the news sites. Don't know dirt on my name. All right. You better say my name will respect. Okay. Well, it's good, it's good to hear that. Now, you don't feel that way because 20 minutes ago.

Yeah. 20 minutes ago, you had mixed it on my, words. I said I don't look at MMA. I don't go on the MMA forms. I don't go on the MAA websites anymore. That doesn't mean I don't like you guys. Okay. I like all the reporters. I don't have any problems. You know my

one problem I have with MMA reporter and everybody knows what you know about it. Your old colleague. I had a problem with one guy and I put him in his place and I told him why and he rebuttled and I was fine. Now you're good. But if I had a problem with it, if I had a problem with a journalist, I told him.

Like, but I mean, I just don't feel like seeing, I just wanted to step away. I've stepped away. I don't want to see negative stuff all the time. No, I don't blame me. But that weight cutting video, that was good stuff. You saw that. That was awesome. That was good.

If it's on Twitter, if it's on Twitter, I'm not like erasing myself from the world. I go on my Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. I do all the normal stuff, but I just don't go on my computer and go to MMAfighting.com anymore. I used to go on my phone. You guys took the app away or did something what happened with that? I don't know. It's a big problem. We're going to work on it, though.

I told them what you said. I said, freaking Chris Wyman is upset. We need to fix this until they're working on it. Yeah. Yeah, hopefully you guys could fix that. All right. Well, thank you, Chris. I appreciate it.

Good luck. Thank you. Take care, buddy. There he is. Chris Wyman stopping by. Great to hear from him, as always. Okay, let's move along now. June 17th marks the UFC welterweight debut of the former

UFC lightweight champion Hafeld dos Sanjos. But before we get to RDA, let me quickly tell you about my good friends over at Blue Apron. Talked about them before, great people over there, and we remind you once again that not all ingredients are created equal. Fresh, high-quality ingredients make a real difference. So it's important to know where your food comes from.

Thankfully, for less than $10 a meal, Blue Apron delivers delicious, quality food, courtesy of over 150 local farms, fisheries and ranchers across the United States, straight to your door, supporting a more sustainable food system and setting the high standards for ingredients. Plus, with Blue Aprons, freshness guarantee, you can be sure that every ingredient in your delivery will arrive, ready to cook, or they'll make it right. How great is that? It's no wonder they're the number one fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the country. I've tried them, done it with my family. It's a great time.

It's actually a really fun time with your whole family, your spouse, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, whatever. It's a cool thing to do because it's very easy to follow all the steps. Now, here are some of the meals available in April. Spinach and fresh mozzarella pizza with olives, bell peppers, and ricotta salata, sweet and sour salmon with buckchoi, carrot, and ginger fried rice. Parmesan-crusted chicken with creamy fetichini and roasted broccoli. And finally, baby broccoli and Fontina. paninis with hard-boiled eggs and arugula salad. Can you beat that? You can't beat that. My mouth is

watering just saying these dishes. Okay, so this is what you need to know. Check out this week's menu and get your first three meals free. That is free with free shipping by going to blue apron dot com slash mMA hour. You will love how good it feels and tastes to create incredible home-cooked meals with Blue Apron. So do that. not wait. Free. First three, free. That's blue apron.com slash mMA hour. Blue Apron, a better way to cook. Now here's my conversation with Hafeel de Sanjos. He meets Tarek Safedin in Singapore. He joins us right now on the phone. Hafel, how are you? How are you? I'm good, man. Great to talk to you. It's been a while. And I'm really intrigued by this fight for many reasons.

First things first, why are you moving up to 170? Essentially, what is the reason for this move? The main reason is my help. You know, I've been having such a hard time to cut that weight. And I think for the past, when I was on my run for the title, I had five fights in an 11-month period. And that changed my body completely. You know, I was just having such a hard time to cut. And my first title defense against Donald Serroney,

was really rough, but I still was able to win the fight, and then against Eddie Alvarez was very bad. And against Ferguson, you know, I was okay, but I feel that affect my performance. And I just want to have a healthy life. You know, I had my run. I had my run for the title. I'm a former lightweight champion, and now it's time to move on, and you have new challenges, you know, and be happy.

enjoy what I'm doing, you know? That's the main reason. After your fight against Tony Ferguson in Mexico, Joe Rogan said that he heard that you collapsed backstage because of the weight cut. Is that true? No, man. I was like, after I make weight, I'm kind of, you know, I'm kind of, I took maybe 30 minutes lying down on the floor of my room because I couldn't stand up.

that that was like I was I was about to miss the time after waiting because I was lying down my room because I couldn't stand up I was feeling busy but you know I finally I got it I stood up and then I went there make weight but was it was really hard but were you ever in danger of not you know making weight or maybe not making it to the fight like was your health in you know a seriously bad spot and maybe that's you know why he thought that you had collapsed or were in a tough position? No, no. Like, against Eddie Alperis was way worse, you know?

Oh. But against Quirgroson was, you know, wasn't that bad. It was bad, but wasn't that bad. Against Eddie Albury was terrible. How bad was it against Eddie? Yeah, man, I passed out. You know, I passed out on the bathtub, on the hot tub. And I was out for like almost three.

minutes. Wow. My coach's day was, like, they kind of was about to call 911 and cancel the fight. Whoa. Because I was like, I was out on my bed and they kind of put some ice on my chest. And then like, almost three minutes. And then I, I woke up and I made weight. And then I stay on my bed for like for one hour. And like, we thought about cancer the fight. But, you know, man I'm a fighter, you know, I don't want to upset the fans, so I want to go there and make my, I made my weight, but, you know, but if I think back right now, I shouldn't, I shouldn't make that fight because we see today's guys all the time, they kind of, they don't fight because

they have some weight problem. Even Kabib the other day, he didn't make the fight against Ferguson because they have some issues, but it's fine. That's the past, now a new division, new new life. Wow. And I should, I actually just looked it up. Joe was talking about the July fight against Eddie. What happened there?

So he didn't get the story mixed up. That was my mistake. That's a very scary thing. Why, after that fight, after that experience, did you not then decide to go up to 170? Why did you continue to stay at 155 for one more fight? Yeah, because, you know, I thought I couldn't, you know, made some changes.

Okay. And some small changes on the last cut, you know, because for the fight against Alvers, I put my, the hot tub all the way to my neck, you know, like my whole body. And I thought maybe that could make me feel, you know, worse. But, you know, against Tony Ferguson, I put my hot tub by all my waist, you know, kind of. and I put some cold towels on my head. It took longer to make weight, but even with that, it was kind of harder, you know.

And, you know, man, it's too much. I'm a big guy, man. I had 180 pounds when I was 16 years old. You know, I'm 32 years old right now. It doesn't make sense. I cut all the way to 155, man, especially with how much I'm making right now, it's not worth it, you know. It's my health first.

Yeah, no, absolutely. after that fight against Ferguson that night, did you know that that was it for you at 155 or did it take some time for you to make the decision? No, yeah, after that fight I knew. You know, I had, I say, man, I, God makes everything on the right time, everything perfect. You know, maybe if I won that fight,

I would still be like killing myself to make 155. Right. So then I lost two in a row and then I decided to change it. But like after that fight I knew, you know. And it didn't win the way that I won. I got the huge I poke on the second round. I don't try to make excuses, but, you know, I know that. I know if it didn't get that eye poker, I would win that fight.

But it's fine. It's fast. Now it's time to move on and new division, you know, and I'm excited for it. And that's not the only change. You're no longer training with Heffel Cordero and King's M.A., correct? Yes, correct. Why did you leave the team? I think it's just, you know, I'm a very loyal guy, you know, and I think the thing got to the end, you know, like, I still have good friends at Kings, you know.

but right now I decide to do my own thing training with do my own thing you know like enjoy my time like going to evolve more often you know I've been training with Eduardo Pamplona he's the first guy

that I start training Muay Thai when I move to California even before Rafael Gordera I start training with Eduardo Pompana but he left to Mexico but now he's back here he teaches at Black House

and he drives like twice a week to Washington County to train me and we're really good friends and I think anything nothing left forever and that was a time to make change

and you've also been training I've seen some photos of you at the Wildcard Gym have you actually had a chance to train with Freddie Roach himself no no I had my box coach, Rudel my all, but he is

he's had a he had to have a full-time job now and he's kind of you know, cannot train me anymore for a while. And I've been training with

Jason Perillo and he's been helping with my boxing. We just finished his session now. He's a really good guy and have a lot of knowledge and we've been working together. Wow. So all kinds of changes. I mean, this is really a fresh start for you. at 170 pounds.

Also, you're no longer with your old management team, right? Are you managing yourself? Yeah, I'm at my own man. I'm a whole fighter now. This is something else. I mean, you really have changed everything. Did you feel like you needed to do that as you embark in this new chapter as a 170 pounder?

Like that is a lot of drastic changes. Weight class, management, coaches, everything's different. Yeah. For the past years, like for the past 18 months, it's been a lot of change on my life. And I'm trying to, you know, make good changes, you know. And the best way to start over to have success is start back, you know, have a fresh start. New division, new, you know, new everything. But don't get me wrong, Ali, is a great guy.

We still friends. We talk every week. but I just think I can be my own man I can be my I know what's the best of me The last time I spoke to you Several months ago You talked about how you learned a lot

After losing the belt Who's there for you who's not You know You feel like sometimes people were on your side When you were champion But then you really see the true colors afterwards Do you feel like now you have surrounded yourself With the right kind of people

Who will have your back regardless Yeah, yeah, sure. Like, when you lose the belt, you really see who is who, you know. And everybody wants to be, like we have a thing in Brazil, like, I don't know how to say, but we say something. Everybody wants to be a dad of a handsome kid. Nobody wants to be a dad of a ugly kid, you know. When you're the champion, you're the handsome kid.

Everybody wants to be your dad, right? But when you're not champion, you're an ugly kid. So nobody wants to be a daddy. But, you know, that's life. And I've been learning a lot for the past months, for the past years. But I'm pretty sure I have a lot on me still. I can make that run for the 170-pound title. I've been wondering about this for a long time

and I'm wondering if you do as well how often do you think about the the foot injury that forced you to pull out of that Connor McGregor fight and what could have happened in your life had you fought that fight and beaten him and how much would be different in the sport had you actually made it to the fight and avoided that injury do you think about that a lot?

No no really man you know I think like in life we have a you know I think we cannot We got to look ahead. We got a... I'm pretty sure big things still coming. What's fast is fast. Like, I didn't know.

I don't have a crystal ball, you know. You don't do some things. But for sure, man, if the fight happened, it did happen, you know. Like, for sure, Colonel McGreg will not be where he is today. You know, that's fact. You know, like, I'm a really bad match. for him, but I don't, I don't really think about it, you know, and, you know, I'm just, I was just, sad, upset because I never had to cancel any fight due injury, you know, my whole career,

I have 34 fights, and I always make weight, always make to the fight, but unfortunately, that fight I couldn't make it, I broke my foot, but it's, man, we can't, we can't live on the past, you know, it's time to move on, you know, and, you know, and, you That's why I'm doing. I don't think back too much. I saw you on social media. You were trying it felt for a long time to find an opponent to get back in there. But it seemed like it took a while.

Why did it take so long? Yeah, I think as a former lightweight champion, I deserve to fight a top 10, I rank a guy, you know? And a lot of guys, they were, like, calling me out for, like, next month. Okay, I want to fight those ones next month. I'm ready next month. No, I can get ready in four weeks. Calm down.

You know, this guy, they kind of desperate, and they kind of call me out for one month. I can get a fight with one-month notice. You know, giving me 10 weeks, 12 weeks, I can't get myself ready. And Tarek Safidine is a top 10 guy. I think it's a good, good start for me at Walter Wade. and I think our win over him can put him on that mix on top 10 mix.

What about this guy, Colby Covington? I mean, he's a great fighter, he's a young fighter, he's streaking, but he was really coming at you aggressively. Did you ever consider taking that fight? Well, man, first of all, when this guy, some friends, like, was telling me, oh, but I didn't know who was that guy, you know? And then when I had to Google his day, when I Google,

I found out he was a UFC fighter. I didn't know he was a UFC fighter. And I think, I thought he was a Peloton fighter or something. But, man, if I beat this guy, I beat nobody. You know, what can that can, you know, make it to me, you know, can do nothing for me. So I don't, that fight is a fight that he's a young guy, but, you know, this new generation guy, they're trying to get attention by the talk

by the media and how bad how trash talk they do about people but I think man my thing I do on the octagonal you know I won't get knowing by knock out people you know by beat good guys and this guy man he didn't beat nobody

his whole career he's trying to make a fight with me but I think he has a long way to go so you went to Singapore you've been to Singapore in the past training with Evolve. Are you going to do the majority of the training camp

for this fight in Singapore because you have ties there? Yeah, it will be half and half. So I'm going to Singapore on May 22nd and I will be there all the way to the fight. So I'm doing four weeks here, five weeks here in California, and the last four weeks I will do it there in Singapore. Was it just a coincidence that you ended up on a Singapore card despite the fact that you have these connections

or did you specifically ask to be on this card? Yeah, like my main goal, I was trying to fight in Brazil in Rio. I haven't fought in Rio for 10 years. And then I saw this card came up on the internet you know, like I saw online

and I thought it could be a good card. And then I was speaking to with son Shelby. He talked about this opportunity to fight in Singapore because I had good connections there. I have Teen Evolvon. I've been joined Teen Revol for over, you know, six, seven years. And I have really good friends there. So I say, why not? It would be great. So it's

evolve is my home in Asia. Singapore is my home in Asia. So why not? And then I really like the chance. And just out of curiosity, FL, how much do you weigh now? One 95. Wow. One 95. Is this, is this bigger than usual? Or is this usually where used to start. Yeah, usually. Usually I get like 200, 200, but I've been, I've been kind of, I've been training for over and a month. Actually, I don't stop training.

I'm always training. But, you know, as I train, I start training, I have to really diet hard because as much as I train, my body holds more water, you know. Everything that I eat, my body cap is. So that's why I decided to go up to weight. My body holds too much weight. Wow, that is unbelievable. 195, holy smokes.

Well, I wish you the best, Hafeel. It's great to see you back. I love this fight from a stylistic standpoint. It's pretty cool, of course, that you're fighting in Singapore, giving your ties to that area now and your training there. And it's good to have you back, and I'm happy to hear that you're no longer going to be cutting to 155 because that sounds like really scary stuff.

I don't want to hear any fighter go through that. So kudos to you for making that decision and looking forward to your Welchrate debut in the UFC. By the way, is this your first ever 170 fight? I feel like you fought a 170 prior to UFC, or am I crazy? Yeah, no, I fought, I think, three, four times. Right. But I still, I had on the beginning of my career, I had a 185 fight. Wow.

That's a little too big these days, right? Yeah. Okay. I was, let's do too crazy. I didn't know how to, like, to cut weight any day, and then I got, a week notice and then okay $100, let's make it. For $100?

Yeah. Wow. $185. Well, $1.70. Yeah, that is a lot. That's amazing. You fought for $100. That was at the beginning of your career.

Yeah, that was like probably 12 years ago. Wow. Okay. Well, I hope you'll make more money in this fight against Saffini. I'm a feeling that you will. All the best you have. It's great to catch up again. And good luck in the fight on June 7th.

Thank you. All right, there he is. Halfel Dosangos. Great to talk to him. It has been a while since he's been on the show. Always great to get his insight.

And like I said, a lot of changes going on in his life. So let's see how he performs on June 17th against Tarek Safedee. Now, main event that night is Betch Goya against Holly Home. I'm told Holly Home is a very big deal in Singapore.

They love her over there. And they said, we specifically, the people over there, the TV networks, we want her on this card. So let's talk to Holly Home, that and the upcoming fight. Holly, are you there? I'm here. How's going? It's going great. Thank you so much for joining us.

Did you know that you were that big of a deal in Singapore? Andrew kind of just said, you know, that they did say that if they did a card, they wanted me on it. But I still always just wait to see what really happens, you know. I don't ever really, I don't know, I just figured if it happens to happen. And I don't want to, oh, yeah, I'm on it right now. Sorry, I was Mr. Wicles on making sure that I made it to my interview at noon. What a great guy. I appreciate that.

So, I mean, that's what they said, but I still thought. I just figured if it really happened to happen and, you know, if not, I'd just wait until the next opportunity. Have you ever been there? Never, but I hear I can't chew gum or at least spit it out. I don't know. Yeah, that's going to be hard for me. Just don't spit it out.

Put it in the garbage. Is that a problem? I know, right? I don't know. I know. I never put my gum. I always put it in trash, but I don't know if I can actually even have it. Really?

Is that a... I don't know. Wow. I hear rumors. Rumors. You hear rumors. Okay. I don't know.

Well, we should look into that before you go. Yeah, for sure. How many days or weeks in advance do you plan on going, given the time change? I don't think I'm going to go out any earlier than, like, nine days. Okay. I don't want to miss my training here. You know, my training partners are, and my coaches are here, and I want to finish my hard training here,

and then, you know, I can just finish my, you know, my fight week out there, maybe just go out a few days earlier than I normally do. But, I mean, when I fought in Australia, I think they're only, like, two hours difference between Singapore and Australia. And I just went out, I think, eight or nine days in advance, and I felt good.

So I acclimated just fine, so I don't really feel like I need to go any sooner. There was some talk of you fighting some other fighters on this card, a UFC rookie, some other names were thrown out. Did that ever cross, you know, your desk, so to speak, or was it just Betch Gohaya? Was that all just kind of rumors? I don't know what really was offered or what really was set up.

You know, a lot of times I just let my management deal with it, and I just tell them let me know when you have a name. I don't really like to get too worked out on, you know, My last fight before it wound up being Germain was, gosh, we went through cyborg to Katzenegano to somebody else and then to Germain. So I don't know. I just, I told them, I said, you know, at first they had mentioned maybe a Korean girl and then it just didn't seem like that was really going to happen. I didn't really even put any thought into it too much. and then I just told them just, you know,

when it happens, that happens, and there's a lot of stuff on the internet, and I just, I always wait until I get the contract sent to me. I don't know, like, get too worked up and get my hopes up or get emotionally worked up until I actually have that contract in front of me. Were you at all surprised and or disappointed that your appeal of the last fight in New York

was not, you know, met the way you wanted it to? Were you at all, I know we talked about it a little bit, but was there a part? that was a little hopeful that it would go your way? Well, I didn't want necessarily a victory that way. I didn't want to win. I mean, who wants to win? It's not like I was, like, wanting them to turn it over,

but no contest maybe, or maybe just so it's not a loss on my record would be nice. But even then, it's like, whatever. I always want a victory just because I did it right. And I really don't hear of a lot of fights getting overturned, So I really didn't think, you know, I didn't get my hopes up on it. And I always just, I try to look in myself as usual and just see what I could have done to be better anyway. Instead of just putting it on her, you know, I feel like I could have done things better. And I just need to work on that.

Was there any talk at all about a rematch with Jermaine? I know that's what you wanted, but was it ever discussed? Yeah, I think we had talked about it. We said that we would like it. I don't know if why that went. I don't think that they really entertained the thought too much, whether it be them or whether she wasn't wanting to fight quite yet. I'm not really sure of the exact details on it.

But we did ask for that fight, but now with Betches, So that's just where all my focus was going to be. And did you consider at all remaining at 145 since it seemed like, you know, the fight week went well for you, the cut went well, you enjoyed being at 145. Did you consider that? Was that ever an option? I just knew that I would take whatever they sent, whether it be 35 or 45. They said 35, so okay. I'll make 35.

Would you prefer to be at 145? It's just an easier, easier weight cut. You know, I don't have to drop quite as much water, obviously, but my walking around way really isn't that much different, 35 to 45. So I think that really it does just come down to how strict that had to be that last week. And, you know, I'm going so far overseas. I kind of want to get my weight pretty low before I even leave. And, you know, so that I can just feel more comfortable. I'm flying that far.

I swell when I fly and I don't really want to get, you know, put myself too far back. So I definitely want to start working now. I'm just getting my weight a little lower. But I know I'll be able to make it. I mean, I've never missed my weight, whether it be 35 or 45. It does kind of seem like that whole situation on 145 is a bit of a mess. And I know you're not the type to really follow the MMA news and read up on all the stuff. But have you at all paid attention to that?

And do you, are you as confused as the rest of the rest of the? rest of us as to what they're planning on doing with that division? Yeah, I have no idea what they're going to do with it. I know there's not a lot of girls in it. Maybe they were just kind of feeling there out. Maybe they're going to start, you know, filling in, you know, some more opponents. I don't know. But I actually, I mean, I also don't want to waste some energy on it.

That's why I just like to fight and I'll let the promoters do their thing. That's what they're there for. I mean, they've obviously been successful and whatever, you know, they've been doing so far, so just let them take care of it. Betchko Head, to me, feels like the perfect match for you. I was talking about this on the show a couple of weeks ago. It's a style that is very friendly against your style. We know exactly what she wants to do.

Did you like this, like when it was brought to you, did you say, oh, this is perfect? This is the right kind of opponent to get back on track against? I just thought, you know what? I definitely want to perform well, want to do well, want to, I know that she's tough, you know, she's going to, she doesn't stop really at anything, and so I definitely want to be technical in this fight, and I don't want to make it messy. I don't know if that makes sense, but I feel like, you know, she's kind of the type that could, it's not like she does, she does use her jab and move around a little bit, but she can definitely

be just kind of scrappy style as well. And I don't, I don't want to make the fight look messy. I want to, I want to be a good technical fighter and I want to, you know, be able to implement all my, all my techniques. I want to be able to really capitalize on a lot of things in this fight. That's my plan. She said this to a member of our team, Guillermo Cruz, just a couple of days ago, about you, quote, she's overrated, unlike her, I'm underrated. There are a lot of holes to beat Holly. She's overrated.

She's a great athlete, but not as great as many people considered her to be, end quote. What do you think of that? She's entitled to her own opinion. Yeah. It really doesn't do anything to me. It doesn't affect me. I know that if she says I'm an athlete, that that doesn't even have anything to do with. my hard work. So there's a lot of people that can sit here and judge whatever they want,

but I work hard. I'm going to work hard just for her. Do you relish the fact that this fight is happening overseas, and maybe there will be a little less media, and maybe you won't have to answer as many questions about the three fights since the Ronda fight and the pressure and the losing streak and all that stuff. Is that something that appeals to you? Yeah. I mean, I'm glad I don't really have to worry about as much of it, I mean, there's a lot of things that come with traveling. I mean, you have to leave a little earlier.

It's different time to change. There are things that create, you know, a little bit of a challenge by going over there, but there's also some things that make it a little bit easier. And so I'll just, I'll appreciate the things that are easier. Not that there's not going to be any media. I know there still will be, but I know it's not going to be quite as much. and probably less distractions just be able to kind of just have my fight

league with my team and just enjoy the ride. Is this do or die for you, Holly? Yes, but I feel like all of them are. I mean, I definitely feel like my backstop on the wall a little bit. I feel like every fight, I need to feel that way anyway. Did you feel that same way against Germain? I did, but I don't know.

Every fight has its own kind of journey. Every fight has its own, like, During training camp, things happened. During fights, things happened. So it's hard for me to really compare a lot of fights. I feel like each one has their own thing. And yes, I had different expectations of myself for the germane fight, different kinds of, I did feel like it was a do-or-die thing.

But obviously, maybe not enough because I didn't do enough. so I do so I feel like I feel very motivated to go forward and gosh I mean I've got to I've got to make a stand and make a point here I got to do something and so I'm from the beginning of this training camp and I'm ready to put the work in as a as a human being not just as a fighter are you the kind of person who likes when it feels like your back is against the wall or there's pressure on you or people are doubting you. Do you relish that? Or do you prefer when, you know, things, you know, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

You know that saying. Some people get a lot of anxiety. I get a lot of anxiety when I feel like there's a lot of bad things or there's a lot of doubt against me. So what kind of person are you? How do you deal with that adversity? You know, I think no matter what it is, I just try to channel it to motivate me. So when you're the underdog, you're thinking I want to prove them wrong. When you're supposed to dominate someone, you're thinking, gosh, I can't be a white.

down. So I need to work hard for it. You know, I feel like it just, it needs to be a motivation, um, regardless. And so I just, no matter what it is, I try to turn it into motivation. And, um, that's what I'm trying to do here. I mean, a lot of people are really trying to see what I'm going to do now with this, you know, um, you know, um, you know, got, you know, three loss in a row, what's she going to do now. And, um, so I need to step up to the plate and I need to, I need to, I need to prove everybody why I have this opportunity and I want to do really well with it. I know you've talked about in your boxing career

you've never even lost a couple in a row. In any point in your athletic life and anything, have you ever suffered this kind of streak without winning? No. Here we are. I'm still going to come back. Yeah. That's my, you know, I feel like

maybe all those little things help me prepare for this moment. I definitely know it's not the worst place. I definitely know life could be harder. I definitely know the situation could be harder. And so I'm just going to take it and embrace it. It also kind of feels like to me that you're still just as popular. And one when I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but you're still very much in that mix at 135 for the belt.

And obviously you just fought for the 145. Are you still kind of thinking that, hey, maybe this time next year, I'm champion or I'm back in that position again. it's not a huge ladder to climb it feels like for you. Absolutely. I still feel like I'm in the mix. I still feel like I'm competitive and up in the top. So you never know when that next opportunity can come.

Are you doing anything differently as far as the training is concerned just to switch it up to get back on track? Sometimes, you know, we just had RDA on who's changed everything. And I'm not expecting that because, you know, the team you come from and stuff. But are you doing anything at all that's different from the last couple, fights. Really, I think I want to, I mean, I want to have fun with it, partly too. I don't want to just constantly be stressing out on everything that I've got to, you know, got to do this, I'm on my schedule. I've got to, you know, I want to have fun while I'm doing it. And I think

that I've been trying to learn so much that I've put so much emphasis on trying to do everything all the time. And, you know, I really just kind of want to let it, uh, what I have learned kind of just come together and pull it all together and that they're just, you know, kind of feeling like it's all pieced apart. And I don't know if that makes any sense, but... No, it does. I think that's where I'm at now. I feel like I've learned so much over my last three fights that it's time to just put it all together. You know, I think I've been keeping it in pieces rather than letting it be, you know, this combined arsenal, this combined set of skills.

In looking at your past fights, do you feel like you weren't having... enough fun in the lead-up, like, enjoying the journey to the fights as much? I mean, I always love my job. I always love training, but, yeah, sometimes I just feel like I, you know, I put so much pressure that it sometimes takes away from the most fun. And I've been having a lot of fun training lately, so I can't say I didn't have fun in my last training camp. I did have fun in my last training camp, but I still have a lot of pressure that I was

putting on myself. It was, I think pressure is good, but I think, Maybe just too much, you know. Do you feel at all like you took your foot off the gas in the first or second fight after the Ronda fight in hindsight? Yeah, I think after, you know, having the belt, I think it was one of those things I thought, wow, I only had two fights, you know, in the UFC before they even, before they gave me the final fight. Now, no, I feel like it's, I always felt like my career on a fast track. And I felt like it was even on a faster track. Okay, well, now everybody's coming and then it was like, gosh, I need to even get better.

And I need to, you know, maybe I just got a little too antsy with some of that instead of just, you know, taking each day at a time. Maybe I was kind of worried about everything rather than just what was going on at the moment. I don't know. hopefully I learn from those mistakes and unable to just kind of make it all worse something else. By the way, it does seem like your sources are correct.

Doing a little research here, it does appear as though chewing gum is banned in Singapore. This according to Wikipedia and other great online resources. So, yes, this is good that you found out about it. Who told you about this, by the way? I don't remember, but they just know that I chew gum all day

and they're like, you better be careful. Oh, my gosh. They know. Could you imagine, like, you're on your way to the fight or the Wayans and someone sees you outside, you're getting some pressure, and you're chewing gum, and you get arrested before your fight, and the whole thing is canceled because you're chewing gum? Could you imagine what kind of international drama?

That is insane. I need to read more afterwards as to why this is actually a thing. It seems a little strange to me, but, hey, that's why. It's known to be one of the cleanest countries in the world, by the way, so maybe that's part of the reason. Right. I think that they have, I mean, they've got like a ton of rules. I better figure them all out. By the way, there is an exception made for dental or nicotine gum, so maybe you can get a note from your doctor or something and get away with it. Hey, there you go. There's always a loophole, Holly. I appreciate you doing this very much after training. And again, I know you don't love to do interviews all the time. So it's always great to talk to you before you get into training camp. And looking forward to the fight and wish you the best in it.

Awesome, thank you so much. Have a good one. Same to you. There she is. Holly Home returning to action on June 17th. How about that? Gum, chewing gum is banned in Singapore. Who knew?

Unbelievable. Could you imagine if someone sees her chewing gum on the street, day of the fight, and she gets the old axe, the hook? I feel like it has something to do with people. It says, under the rule, no gum is allowed to be bought or sold inside Singapore, and there is a $700 fine for spitting out gum on the streets. That's the real problem here. Crazy.

All right. Let's move along. I have been wanting to talk to our next guest for over a year. Actually, I'm going to say around a year and a half. So I guess that is over a year. Almost two years. He was signed by Bellator on November of 2014. And so maybe it's more than that.

Maybe it's actually two and a half years. Anyhow, he is considered one of the best and brightest young prospects in the sport. he has yet to fight in MMA, but he is no stranger to actual martial arts competition. He's obviously, as far as his wrestling is concerned, that is, you know, that is well documented. One of the greatest young wrestlers in the history of American wrestling was also close to making the 2016 U.S. Olympic freestyle team. He would have been the first teenager in 40 years to make the U.S. Olympic freestyle team. Golden Gloves Boxer has been training at A.K.A. and other places for quite some time.

He is just 20 years old and on June 24th, he will be making his long-awaited, much-anticipated Belator MMA debut on the pay-per-view portion of the MSG card against Zach Freeman. I'm talking about Aaron Pico and he joins us right now on the phone. Aaron, are you there? I'm there. How's it going, Ariel? It's great to talk to you. Finally, I finally reached you.

I finally tracked you down. This is very exciting and everyone's very excited about your debut. Did you think, was this all part of the plan that you would date? debut at Madison Square Garden of all places on a paperview main card. Was this what was in the cards when you signed with Bellator? Definitely. I mean, I knew there was always going to be something big. You know, sitting down and talking about Bellator.

They always, you know, said that they had some big plans for the future, especially when Scott Coker took over. And I feel really good. I feel to be a Madison Square Garden, I feel that's where I belong. I mean, I've been competing on the biggest stages all my. my life. And this is how I envisioned it, you know, being in Madison Square Garden on a pay-per-view card. And I know what I have to do. I'll go get it done for 24. And like I said, they signed you in November of 2014. And at that point, it kind of felt like, okay, we're still a few years away

from you making your debut, although we all felt like this was a great signing. Good to have you part of the family. Why now? Why is this the time to debut? Is it because of MSG or were you debuting around this time regardless of where, you know, the June-July fight card was? Yeah, I mean, obviously, I was planning on on debuting June July. I mean, I had surgery like about 10 months ago, so it was kind of put on hold. But after Olympic trials, I knew I was going to fight. And obviously, when I had my surgery, I was eyeing for June, July. And Madison Square Garden came up, and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to go and fight.

why not debut, it's a, you know, a good venue and we're ready to go. What was the surgery for? I tore my ACL, my knees, so, you know, put me back. Put me back, obviously, a few months. But as I said, I think it was a blessing in the skies, honestly. I mean, I've been at it since I was honestly five years old, wrestling, boxing and all kinds of stuff. So I never had a big injury.

So I had this year to just kind of. You know, rehab my knee, clear my head, get ready to fight. And it's crazy to see my numbers go up as far as strength before my surgery and then see it now. It's just like, and my body needed time to heal. And I think it was the best thing that's happening. So now I think everything happens for a reason. Madison Square Garden came up and now I'm getting ready to debut. So it seems like you tore the ACL around last May, correct?

Yeah, yeah. were you at all worried? I mean, sometimes that's an injury that can really derail someone's career. At the time, was so much on the horizon, were you worried that this might delay things, or maybe you wouldn't be able to fight? What was going through your mind? No, I knew.

I knew to stay. I mean, you looked at all, you looked at some of the best fighters, G.S.P. McGregor, they've all gone through ACL surgery and come back from it. So I know not to panic. You start panicking, then, you know, stuff goes wrong. But I had a great doctor. I did my knee, a great physical therapist.

And I took it one step at a time. My family was behind me 100%, and they, you know, knew what I had to do. So I took it as, you know, day after day, I listened to the doctor, did my recovery, watched my weight. That was a big thing. And I was fit even during surgery. I kept my weight down, kept in good shape. So it was, like I said, I got stronger since the surgery.

And, you know, my doctor said, man, this is a good. craziest recovery that I've ever seen. Wow. And a lot played into it. A lot played into it. You know, like I said, my family really helped me out. I spent discipline on the diet. I knew what I needed to do.

And it all worked out good. I must say, I was a little surprised when I found out about your opponent because, you know, you've been competing for a long time, but never in MMA. And usually when someone makes their debut, especially with the name like yours, buzz that you have, you know, you'll fight another guy who's O and O, one and O. You're fighting a guy who's eight and two, is actually. Freeman, who just fought in his last fight for the RFA title, no cupcake. Were you surprised when you got Freeman?

Or did you want this kind of competition? Well, I wanted this competition. You know, I train every day to be the best in the world. And I told everybody around me, I said, I don't want to go out there and fight a guy I wanted to want to know. I want to go challenge myself. And I know what I can, I know what my abilities are. My trainers know what I can do.

and a lot of people know what I can do. There is the thing. A lot of people always say, oh, well, you haven't had any MMA experience. He hasn't done all this. Well, I was doing pancreation. I probably had over 50-60 pancreation fight. I had a bunch of amateur MMA when I was like 10-11.

I went to the European Championships for fighting. I had like 30 boxing fights, thousands of wrestling matches. So I've always knew MMA was in mind. I know I haven't had a professional fight yet, but I've been groomed and ready to fight, and I don't feel comfortable just going and fighting a guy one and two. I'm going to put on a good entertaining fight for the fans,

especially in Madison Square Garden. And they said, Zach Freeman, he's 8 and 2. He's spot for the RFA title. I said, let's do it. Let's do it. I feel confident. I know what I can do. I know what my abilities are.

I know you can't take me down. I know you can't stand on his feet with me. You know, you can't grapple with me, so I feel good. You are a legit prodigy, and you don't hear about people like you with your background. Most people we hear about, like, okay, they just did wrestling and then they're going to transition. I mean, you were really doing it all as a very young kid. What is, you know, like 11-year-old, 12-year-old Aaron Pico like? You know, like your friends are going to birthday parties and playing like in like rec league soccer,

and you're traveling the world competing in those competitions. Did you have any friends? Did you even go to school? No, no, but sure. I went to school and I had friends. I got to do it all. I mean, like I said, I come from a normal family. My mom's an RNN. My dad sells medical products. I mean, I got to do whatever. I got to ride motorcycles as a kid and do all kinds of stuff. But my dad actually wanted me to ride motorcycles. He's like, he wanted me to be a third bike rider. But I tried it out for a little bit, but it just, it wasn't my thing. I loved the combat, the combat sports. I was boxing, was wrestling. And I told him, this is what I love to do. use. So I'm very supportive. I had my, you know, my parents and my brother to just back me 100%. I had, you know, most part thing, too, I had coaches that were there for me every day. And they knew they saw, you know, the fire in me. They wanted to do good and, and go to practice and put everything I had into it. It's just something that I've always loved to do. It's always driving me to wake up and just,

I knew I always put training first. And I know a lot of kids and a lot of parents thought like I was crazy, but now I'm older and the things that I'm doing, everybody's like, man, that's crazy because you just always do that practice. Now I can't go because I want to go to practice. But it wasn't, honestly, it was never like, oh, my parents are forcing me. It was like I wanted to be at the boxing club. I wanted to be sparring. I was sparring all over and going wherever I needed to go, traveling the world,

trying to find the best competition. I thrived off of that. And it's paying off. When you were a youngster, did you have, have a singular dream or goal, like you ask a young kid playing AAU basketball, what do you want to be when you grow up, NBA superstar? But since you were doing all these different disciplines that can lead to different things, wrestling, you know, go to the Olympic team, get a gold medal, boxing champion, UFC champion. Did you have one singular dream or were you thinking about

many different things that you wanted to accomplish? One thing I used to always say, I always tell my mom about that. I want to beat the champ of the world and fight on pay-per-view on the biggest cards in the world. I think that's a That's what I would always tell them. And I said, you know, that's what I'm trying to be, to be the champ of the world and boxing, MMA. So that was always my boy. I always, you know, launched the biggest, the biggest fights.

And I used to always, as a kid, I used to always remember when there was a big fight on. And, you know, it was a big boxing match, a big MMA, the feeling in the air, like, man, there's a big fight on today. I said, I always want to beat that guy when there's a kid like me saying, man, Aaron Pitchell is fighting tonight. You can shield the tent. in the air, like the excitement, ready to watch it. So that's what I've always wanted to do.

I mean, I've always said I want to be on the pay-per-view when it's like the night of the big fight and the air and everybody's tuning in. So that was always that drove me, and it's kind of crazy to see. Now you're on pay-per-view, on a big card, and it feels normal because I've envisioned it in my head, and I've always dreamt about it. I woke up, did what I had to do.

And now, it's true. And Madison Square Gardenball, It's pretty amazing to hear you, you know, tell that story and to see what, what has become of your, you know, fighting your career. You're at your debuting at MSG. Very few MMA fighters in the history of the sport can say that because, of course, New York is only new to the scene. But that is, that is amazing. That is amazing to hear. Now, do you still hope to become a boxing champion as well?

Absolutely. I would love to. I mean, I'm sparring with some of the guys that you see on the HBO's. Top boxers there. a wild card and I'm doing good right there. I'm doing good with them. I'm seeing some of the best boxers in the world and my hands beats coming up

and I would love to do that one day. Absolutely. And I feel like I feel I can do it. Now at the same time, do you feel like that's smart to do both at the same time or would you like to have a run in MMA and then go to boxing especially considering how young you are? Yeah, no, for sure. I forgot the time to develop. I want to focus on my MMA career. at this is this is what I need to focus on getting and uh we'll take it we'll take it a step out of time

like I said the first thing first is Zach Freeman in June 24th go from there and and just at the end of day I just want to keep progressing as a fighter all around spiderhood whether it be the best baffler boxer MMA kickboxer just always progressing and keeping an open mind and uh if I keep doing that, you know, the cards will align for everything, but take it one step at a time. Are you going to try out for the 2020 Olympic team? We'll see. I don't, I'm not sure yet right now. I mean, like I said, there's so much, I'm still wrestling, obviously, because I need to keep those, those skills sharp, but the first thing is first right now is just focusing on my MMA. There's so much, so much to learn

in this game. You know, that's what a lot of people don't realize. It's like, I'll do another cycle and then go at MMA but this sport is evolving so much there's so much to learn you got the kids that are like me that are starting six seven years old because they want to be MMA fighters so there's so much to learn I got you know jujitsu kickboxing so I got to focus on

that right now and then we'll see but it'll be kind of hard but like I said MMA is evolving so you better keep your skills sharp at all times because you know you have these kids that are coming up nowadays that are that are wanting they're gunning for guys like you know.

Considering how close you were to making the team in 2016, would you be okay if you never get that opportunity to compete in the Olympics or do you think that that's something that is going to eat at you when you're a little bit older? I mean, definitely. I mean, you always have like, man, you're so close to doing it. But I'm doing right now I'm doing what I love. I mean, I love fighting. I have a deep passion for it.

And I'm having the time of my life being able to box. and training and do all this stuff. So honestly, I haven't even really thought about it. I think with the, with the MMA and all the stuff that I'm doing, like I just said, the passenger that I have for it, it's, I'm doing what I love. So I haven't really thought about it too much. But maybe when I'm down the road, I was, it was so close to making it.

But like I said, my dream as a kid and everything has always been fighting on the pay-per-views, being the champ of the world, holding the belt. That's always been a big, big dream of mine. So now it's here And now I'm going to go get it Did you have a favorite fighter growing up? Yeah, sometimes I'm in Boxer or MMA

How about both? MMA first MMA GSP, I've always really admired GSP I love I love As a kid I was always You know I always liked the way he

He approached MMA He was always very professional about About everything About even the clothes that he wore to the training going around the world to get the best training. And I've kind of always, emulate that, and I've always done it. I've gone to Russia to train up the best wrestlers.

I've gone to Ukraine, everywhere you could possibly go to, you know, find the best training partners. So GSP growing up, I really, really liked his approach to MMA, and his mind is just open to learning and learning and learning. I think that's what you do. And I've read his book.

I really love his book. I always tell people that it's something. I always tell him, kind of try to keep it a secret because his books is so good. It's like there's a lot of knowledgeable stuff in there, but GSP for sure. Yeah. Have you ever attempted to train with him? I would love to.

I've seen him at a couple of Bellator events and stuff like that. I've never met him, but I would love to train with him and pick his brain. And, I mean, I could help him with wrestling. You can show me a bunch of stuff. And it would be great. It would be an honor to do it. And I feel one day we'll link up somehow and do some training together. I'd love it.

And as far as training is concerned, I know you're somewhat of an A.K.A. product, but I've seen you train with other people as well. Where will you train for this fight? Well, my training is kind of different. I mean, it's kind of just tailored towards me. What I need to do. I mean, Bob Cook is my M.MA coach. Bob's been coming down every week for like three, four days,

and spending time with me reviewing M.A. stuff, getting some things. and I've been doing my grappling with Eddie Bravo. I've been doing my striking with my coach Dominic and been out wild card a lot sparring over there. So if I have to go up to A.K.A. and get some few sessions in with Bob. That's what I'll do, but Bob's coming back and forth. And I have a lot of good training down here in Southern California.

I have that great conditioning. So everything's, you know, being at home especially, but I got a lot of good stuff down here. Oh, so you're actually going to stay. I'm not like at what in SoCal. I mean, if everything goes well, you won't actually go to San Jose to train there at the gym. No, no, I'm going to stay home. I mean, I'll make a few trips up there to train with some guys and Bob Cook. But Bob Cook is probably going to be sharing a lot of time down here as well and helping me get ready for this fight.

Someone like Daniel Cormier, I would imagine, would take you under his wing. And I know he's spoken very highly of you, but considering the path that he went on as an Olympic wrestler and everything, has he been someone that you've, are you the kind of guy that is, is going to go up to the veterans and ask a lot of questions and try to get some advice from it? Are you that kind of guy? And if so, is he one of those guys that you've leaned on? Oh, absolutely.

I mean, I've liked the way that, you know, Dan O'Karmé's been able to transition to the M.M.A. I mean, he started it so late and for him to become champ of the world, like in the short amount of time that he did. Absolutely. Whenever you're around those guys at A.K.A. why not pick their brain and

figure out what does work for them, what has worked for them, it's all part of the process because I sure don't know everything. So whenever I get the opportunity to ask somebody for question, whether it be Luke, D.C., can anybody there?

Absolutely. I love to pick their brain and show me. I've gone, I've actually moved around with D.C. a few times, but man, that guy's pressure is so insane. It's like a semi-truck

just coming at you and it's like nonstop, you can't even breathe. They're just always on you. And he enjoys that. You get the kick out of that. Freaking making people tired, but it's cool. Like, because I sort of have the same style. Go pressure, ban, the way he, you know, delivers his punches into takedowns.

So I enjoy it. Anytime I get to be around those guys, it's always a pleasure. And you're going to fight on 155, right? Yeah, 155. I can go down to 45. I can, I don't, I'm not that big, but, 155 is good for me right now. I don't have to worry about my weight,

cut a lot of weight. I just focused on my training. Follow my nutrition program and I'd have to worry about all the time. How's your weight? How's your weight? I can focus on my ability, getting better.

And do what I do. Last thing for you, Aaron, if someone asked you, okay, what's the perfect scenario, the sort of storybook ending to your MMA debut at MSG, a kid who's been dreaming about fighting on pay-per-view, the big fight, all this kind of buzz, it's all there for you.

Is it a knockout? Have you thought about the perfect ending? And if so, can you share it with us? I think that's the question that a lot of people have wanted to know. I think you tune in June 24th on pay-per-view and you'll find out. That is a good salesman right there. You've got it. Even before your debut, you know how to keep us guessing.

Now I want to, I will say this and I won't just say because I'm talking to you, I am as if not more intrigued by your presence on that pay-per-view card than anyone else on the card. And that includes Chale and Fador. There's just so much buzz, so much intrigue surrounding you to finally see it all unfold. That MSG of all places is pretty damn special. So I can't wait for it. I love the fact that they put you on the pay-per-view against a non-cupcake-like fighter. And I'm really excited.

I won't lie. I'm very excited about this. Everyone's been talking you up for so long. This is really cool stuff. I wish you the best. Great to finally talk to you. Good luck in training. and looking forward to seeing you out here in New York on June 24th.

I appreciate it, Ariel. Thank you for having me on and talk to you soon. All right, there he is. Aaron Pico, remember the name. You've probably heard us talk about him. When they signed him in November of 2014, it was a really big deal. It's an even bigger deal now.

He's finally making his debut, and this is something that Scott Coker and company have been doing for quite some time. Locate talent, pinpoint talent, not quite ready to make it to the big dance, but we'll be ready in a couple years or so, build them up, give him the right kind of opponents,

the right kind of platform, and now here we are. He's about to make his debut on pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden. If you talk to anyone from AK, Bob Cook, Javier Mendez, Cormier, Rockold Kane, they glow when they speak about this kid.

He really is a prodigy. So let's see. June 24th, 20 years old, debuting at MSG, pretty amazing. Looking forward to at him versus Zach Freeman. And Freeman's no joke. I mean, he's a younger fighter, of course,

doesn't have a stellar record, but 8 and 2 just fought for an RFA title. Certainly not, you know, some kind of can that they're using to build up Pico. Very interesting stuff. Okay, let's move along now. Looking forward to talking to our next guest. She made her UFC debut just a couple of weeks ago at UFC 210 in Buffalo, New York, April 8th, to be exact. And it was, it was an interesting one because not a lot of people knew about Pearl Gonzalez going into that fight. She, of course, fought Cynthia Calvillo.

And I recall being at the media day. on Wednesday and right afterwards Calvillo and Pearl were the fighters that were being talked about the most. If you looked at our social media numbers, they were getting triple the amount of views that Wyman and Musasi were getting. It was crazy.

And then of course we know what happened on the Friday before the fight. New York for just a few hours pulled her from the fight and then the UFC worked on it and then she was back and then she does the press conference and unfortunately things didn't work out for her in the fight itself. but she has a very interesting backstory and certainly another name to remember so wanted to have her on to talk about that debut and where she goes from here i do believe she is joining us via the magical Skype right now there she is pearl gonzalez on the screen pearl how are you I'm amazing. Thank you, Ariel. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you for asking. You know,

not a lot of people actually ask me how I'm doing, so I appreciate you doing that. It's great to have you on the show. So, wow, there's a lot to talk about here, but let's start here. If I, you know, ask you, how would you describe your UFC debut, considering everything that happened? You come in, you know, relatively unknown and how it all unfolds. Do you have good memories, not so good memories? How do you look back on what happened just a few weeks back? So the coming into it, Fight Week, was absolutely amazing. It was everything that I had ever dreamed of as far as the media day, the way the UFC treated me. They were awesome.

The fight itself was not ideal for me. I think I made a lot of mental mistakes and therefore I did not get the decision that I wanted out of that. So that's tough to deal with. That's been hard on me for the last couple weeks dealing with that. But other than that, overall the experience was everything that, I had ever dreamed it to be. It was absolutely amazing. It was so great. I'm so blessed to be here in this position and to be able to fight for the UFC. So you mentioned the mental mistakes. Do you think

the moment got to you, the bright lights, pay-per-view, all that stuff? Was that a little too much? I don't know if it was too much. I think that I felt great going into the into the octagon, but then Bruce Buffer bat. I was mesmerized. He is mesmerized. But I think that moment I was just like, wow and it was all like a wow moment for me and before i knew it the fight had started and i kind of got lost in that moment and so i don't know if it was too big for me i think i underestimated how important that moment and that that particular those 15 minutes were in that moment and so going against a very game opponent who did such an amazing job of capitalizing on that you know i I definitely did not show the performance that I have the ability to show.

And here we are like two and a half weeks later. Does that still eat you up inside? Are you over the loss or will it take more time? It does eat me up. I think that I have allowed myself and gone through it enough to forgive myself for it to accept the reality because the reality is that I lost two weeks ago and I was beat at something that I think I do the best at. And so moving forward, I'm taking the emotion that I felt from that fight, from that loss, from that moment. And I'm putting that into my training.

And I'm using that emotion that I never want to feel again as fuel. And I've been in this position many times in my life where I just feel like I've been beaten to the ground. And I always get back up and I am always stronger. And so I'm going to utilize that experience, like, worst case situation ever. That was what it felt like a heartbreak. And I'm going to use that to just come back and be better and stronger and sharper. Cynthia has been some kind of a revelation. I mean, we didn't know much about her before she debuted at 209. Now she's 2 and 0, two pay-per-view wins. Did you underestimate her? Was she better than you thought she was going to be? No, I think that she just did a great job of capitalizing on the moment. She fought exactly how I

thought she was going to. I just was not mentally present and able to do what I needed to do to win that fight. Okay. So I really felt for you on the Friday, you know, when I found out that you were off the fight, of course, but even when you were back on, and I remember being in that big media room, not a lot of people were there, but this was like a really long media room and we were all there waiting to speak to John Jones, and then we're told that you're going to talk to us first. And it was just, you know, I mean, this is very, this is very unique. Fighters don't usually come and talk to us in a press conference setting 24 hours before their fight, let alone their debut, considering the roller coaster of emotions that that day presented to you, do you feel like

any of that? I'm not trying to set you up to make an excuse here, but that would be, you know, very understandable. Do you feel like all that stuff that happened on Friday affected the way you fought in the fight on Saturday? I think so. I think that mentally it kind of pulled me away from the task at hand and the task at hand is always to win. And so not that it at all is an excuse. it was a lot for me to kind of take in and to go through like seeing my article or seeing the story on CNN, seeing you tweet it, like seeing all of these media outlets, you know, pushing this out. And of course, I've got a million and one phone calls coming in. So it was a lot to take in.

I thought I did the best that I could to kind of put that to the side. But I realized today after the outcome of the fight that I could have done a lot more to stay focused and completely. have that tunnel vision for that fight. Easier said than done, though, after the fact, right? I mean, you're being swept into this whole thing, and it's crazy. Like, if you Google your name on Google News, the outlets that covered this story, and I can understand why, you know, it's a very clickable thing. But I really felt for you in that moment, and I was very impressed with how you handled it,

at least as far as what we were seeing and the way you were talking to the media. But internally, like, was that your idea? Did you want to come address it? Or did the UFC say maybe this is, you know, in your best interest to do so? you know, just suck it up for 10 minutes and then it will be over. Yeah, the UFC asked me to go speak with the media. And I had no problem. I wanted to let the world know that, you know, that I am dealing with it and talk to the media.

I didn't say anything on my social media and wanted to wait until the UFC had kind of taken care of everything. So that was my opportunity to kind of give my opinion on what was going on the Internet and stuff. Do you blame the New York Commission at all for how they handled this? No, I think they were doing their job. I think at the end of the day, the lady, the head commissioner, was just doing what she thought was best. And did they look into it enough before they jumped the ball? No, but, you know, what can you do at the end of the day? There was nothing I can do about it. I don't blame them. I think they did jump the gun, but, you know, we all do that at times in our life, I believe. Yeah. Did you, like, while this was being brought your attention for the first time, did you ask them why? this wasn't brought your attention maybe on the Tuesday of Fight Week or a week or a week or so before the fight, why on the Friday after you cut weight, made weight, all that stuff? Yes, I did. I was sitting there.

I was still kind of like out of it. I'm just getting water in and rehydrating. And she's like, you're not fighting. And I'm like, what? And I'm a little slow at the moment. And she's like, well, she told me the reasons why. And I'm like, I put this in my paperwork. Like I don't understand why you're saying that today.

day. And she was like, there's nothing I can do. And I was just like, okay. And I kind of like ran out and went to talk to my coach. I was pretty emotional about it at that moment. And, you know, I kind of just, I dealt with it. I think I ran out and I started telling my coach out. And I think that that was where I made the mistake. I should not have ran out and like was crying and emotional and telling him, I can't fight. They're saying I can't fight. You know, I have breasted blast. And so I had jumped the ball myself. I kind of reacted, overreacted. in that moment in front of the public. And so it kind of like transpired and went everywhere from there. Yeah. Although, you know, who can blame you? It's a pretty drastic thing to hear and a crazy thing to hear after you just cut weight, made weight and are essentially 36 hours away from your, from your UFC debut. Do you understand why that would even be a rule?

Like, do you feel after, I'm sure you've done some research now a little bit because you're probably a little inquisitive as to why this would be in the rulebook. Does that make sense to you? Do you feel like it could be a potential health risk to someone? No. Before I got my procedure done, you know, that was my biggest concern is, can I do this as an athlete and as a competitive athlete that's in combat sports, being punched, kicked, elbowed, et cetera.

And my doctor told me, those things are stronger than you. Let me tell you can run those over with the car and nothing will happen. And I was like, oh, all right, right on. So they're all right. And I think that the commission that has that law, I've never seen that. I've never heard that before. I think that they do need to kind of do some research. I know that they contacted my doctor in order to kind of resolve this.

And so my doctor had to call. He was in the middle of surgery, came out of surgery and called like the New York General and the commission. And basically told them this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Wow. There's no reason for this to eat for us to even have this conversation and went about and told him, told them, you know, how this is not a risk and stuff. So, and kind of shut down the New York Commission, right, in between surgeries.

So I'm very grateful my doctor did that for me. But yeah, they are safe. I did that research before I got the procedure done. Is it a silly rule? Absolutely. I can't change others' roles. Hopefully other states that had this rule will use me as an example to change that role. So that's how they salvaged it.

It was essentially your doctor speaking to the commission and convincing them that there's no risks involved. Yes. Wow. Between that and Dana White's lawyer, they had all kind of resolved and reversed their decision on not letting me fight. Safe to say you're not going to jump at the next opportunity to fight in New York after all this? I don't know. I don't know. I love New York.

It was fun. The people were really good. The commission's a little crazy. But hopefully, like, I fixed the problem. There won't be any issues there anymore. You're a pioneer. Not a lot of people can say they actually changed a rule. Like there's Will Chamberlain in basketball.

He changed some rules in MMA. Maybe you changed a rule for everyone involved. And this kind of thing, I mean, this is a crazy thing to go through, especially in your debut. Had you gone to Buffalo, made the weight again, cut weight, all that stuff, and then flew home without a fight, without getting the release, without getting the moment. How do you think you would have dealt with that? Like mentally internally, that must have, I mean, I can't even imagine how that would have felt. Yeah, it was tough. It was tough to sit there and kind of in that moment think about because I have been waiting to fight in the UFC for a long time and been hoping and dreaming to be on that stage and in that octagon. And so sitting there, I was like, is it my dream never going to happen? This is what this is helping me. You know, I was going through those emotions. And then I would say about 10 minutes afterwards, I looked over at my head coach, he's very, him and I are very close. I live with him and his family. his wife while I'm in training camp.

So I'm so close to him and he's in tears, crying his mind out because we weren't fighting. I mean, that's how emotional this was. And so I just kind of took a few minutes to deal with it. And then I looked over at him and I was like, there's no way this is happening. We've worked way too hard. We're fighting. Just let's stay positive. Let's stay focused.

They're going to fix this. Let's just wait it out and see what happens. And so from that point on, I had made the decision that I would be fighting. and I kind of left it at that. I went to my room and tried not to think about it in a negative way and knew that somehow some way they were going to make the fight happen. All this as crazy as it was pales in comparison to what you've been through as a human being growing up. I mean, you come from a pretty tough place in Chicago,

and you still have family that lives there. You, correct me from wrong, I read a great story on you in the Chicago Tribune, which was pretty cool to see them write a story on someone who wasn't in the UFC at the time last year. you were actually involved in, you know, some crime growing up, right? I mean, you were hanging out with the wrong people, right? Yes, I come from a tough neighborhood in Chicago. I was exposed in the beginning of my life to drug addiction, to, you know, gangs, violence, dysfunction, complete dysfunction.

My parents were actually homeless when I was a baby and young. And so, yeah, I was exposed to a lot of that. And most of my life, that's all I knew. was that environment was was gang banging I was gang banging unfortunately at 12 years old and and um that was the only lifestyle I had knew and so at 18 I did I got into some trouble with with the police and um and committed and the law and that was probably the lowest point in my life I think for me because I had so much ambition I knew that I was meant to do something great I didn't know what at that time but I felt like I was a complete failure.

And so it was a very low spot, but that low place actually brought me back to the gym, brought me back to MMA. I was enrolled in MMA at 11 years old. And I started competing at 11. And I had left it to hang out and be on the streets and act of full. And that place in my life was what I needed, unfortunately, to go through to be where I am today. And so being there, I, you know, was very low and had to fight my way out of a big hole I dug myself into. And so that's kind of what I've been doing is ever since then is just changing my life.

And I've literally gone back and reprogram my brain and how I think what I was taught and have come this far. Wow. So, yeah, it is, it's a big, a long journey I've been on. Yeah. Nothing certainly has come easy. Did you actually spend time in jail? Yes, I did nine days in the county and it was the worst night days of my life. Like I cried every second I was in there. I was begging, begging the Lord and everyone, the women in there were like, we can't be near you. All you do is cry and make us cry. And I'm like, I don't belong here.

I was like calling my dad every day multiple times crying my eyes out to my dad, get me out of here. and like my bond was no joke man my bond was like 20,000 to get me out what did you do and uh so at this time my ex-husband i was married to a drug addict okay figure a heroin addict at that i was never addicted to drugs but unfortunately this was the kind of people that i allowed myself to be around but he robbed someone and i was with him and and and when he got caught i i was with him we were fighting and arguing about the whole situation i was so up upset about it that he was doing it couldn't stop him and when the police came they wanted me to to tell them tell on him and i wouldn't i was that ride or die girl at that time you know and you can't

you can't snitch no snitches in the hood snitches get stitches is what you know i grew up knowing and so i did not tell on him and for that i was charged myself oh no as an accomplice to his crime and so yes and so because of that you know and and even going through that whole process. It wasn't enough to kind of even tell while we were going through court. It was a year-long court system that we had to go through. And even through all of that, I still would not tell on this man. And so we were divorced very shortly after. And I realized today how big of a mistake I had made and paid for it. I have paid for it. But again, I needed to go through that, unfortunately, to be where I am today, to be the woman I am today. You mentioned that your parents were homeless

when you were younger. So did you live on the streets as well? Yes. Wow. I was, my parents were both addicted to drugs. Like I said, I come from a very dysfunctional family, and most of them are addicted to drugs, unfortunately, and in some sort of craziness. And so, yeah, they were, we were homeless. My mom was living in a Salvation Army and in a shelter until we got a place in Madison, and then when we were in Madison very young, we were kind of back and forth. And then at one point, the state came and took us away from my mom. And so we had to move back with my grandma back in

Chicago. And from there, me and my two sisters at the time were split up and kind of went to individual family members. And so at the age of nine, my father ended up getting to getting his life together and raised me from then on as a single parent. Oh, wow. And do you still keep in contact with your parents? Yes, my mom. My mom is clean now. She's been clean for many years. She's got a master's degree. She's doing amazing. Wow. Yes. It's such a great story. She's such an inspiration in my life. She bears a lot of guilt for her mistakes in the past. But to be honest, if I didn't have my mom the way she was growing up my whole life, I would not have an example of true perseverance. And so I'm very blessed for the stuff I went through in my life. My father, I'm still close. I'm still

close to. He is, he's doing well. So, yeah, they're, they're good now. Masters in what? She has a master's in, uh, telecommunications, I believe. Wow. That is unbelievable. And did you not sort of adopt your younger sister, um, at least one of them when you were younger? How old were you and how old was she? My sister was, uh, 15 years old. Okay. She had just dropped out of high school. She was getting into trouble, getting into drugs. gang banging and grandma kind of had enough she was in and out of group we were in group homes also as kids but uh she was in and out of the group home got kicked out of the group home and so my grandma was kind of didn't couldn't do much anymore for her and so i was 18 just turned 18 i had already

moved out at 17 so i had been out of the house for a few months so i took my sister and i you know i knew how important it was to graduate high school i knew how important it was to get that education and and I could not allow my sister to just not do that. And so I brought her into my, my, I got us a place. I worked hard, worked three full time, or three jobs, full time and two part times to pay the rent and get us by. And I got my sister through high school. Wow.

What were your jobs? I was a vet, vet tech at that time, veterinary assistant. I also did alcohol promotions. Wow. And is your grandmother still around? Yes, grandma's still around. Wow. So this, I mean, you making it to the UFC and just being in that cage meant a lot more than just, you know, someone making it to the UFC.

I mean, that was quite symbolic of everything that you've been through. Did your, I know you said your family is a little bit, you know, all over the place and dealing with a lot of stuff, but did this kind of rally them together? Do you know that they kind of, you know, got together, watched you, supported you. This is the kind of thing that can inspire others, especially when a family member is able to, you know, achieve, you know, a dream like that and make it to the pinnacle. of their sport. Did that happen with you? Yes. My family is so supportive. You know, they do. They live vicariously through me. I love to fight growing up. I was always fighting in the streets. I was just so I love to fight. It did not come to a surprise to them when I wanted to be a professional fighter. And today I have 11 nieces that cousins. I have one niece, but I consider them my nieces.

I have 11 of them still in that same neighborhood, still in that same environment that I grew up in and and to me this is why I'm here today. This is this is my purpose to to sacrifice what I do for this sport is to show them that it does not matter where you come from. It doesn't matter your mistake of yesterday because today is a new day. You know, it doesn't have to define you. And as long as you just work hard and you dedicate yourself and you educate yourself, you can be anything you want to be. And so it's a, the response that I get from my nieces is really heartwarming. And I get a lot of messages on my social media from younger, younger kids. I go talk to the kids at my high school.

I try to go at least once a year and speak with them. And really, like, for my community, be that example for them because it doesn't matter where you come from. You just have to work hard and believe in yourself and you can be anything you want to be. And where is home now for you? So I'm back and forth between Chicago and San Diego. I do all my training camps and camp, spike camps, in Chicago. I'll actually be moving back there full time.

But my husband is active duty Navy. We are stationed in San Diego right now. So I train here while I'm not in fight camp. And then we're actually in transition to Virginia. Okay. So that's going to be your home. Yes. Wow.

And this is a new husband. Yes. Okay. Well, that is good. Everything. Hopefully. Just making sure the other guy didn't resurface, if you will. Do you know, I know it's been, you know, relatively, you know,

a short amount of time since your debut, but I have to ask, do you know when your next fight will be yet? I don't know yet. I hope it's soon. I don't, I don't want to not fight and I want to stay active. I want to, you know, get back in there and prove myself. I didn't get that opportunity to really showcase my skills a couple weeks ago. And so I do. I want to show the world my skills. I've worked very hard on my skill set, and unfortunately, I wasn't able to show them. So I want to get back in there and not only prove to other people, but more importantly, prove to myself that I belong in that octagon with those girls. Do you have a preference and opponent? No.

No, I'm just ready to get in there. All right. Well, great to have you on, Pearl. Really, so much respect for you. What an amazing story, everything you've overcome, and the kind of role model that you are for not just your family, but people in general. young women in general, people who have made mistakes in their past, really impressive. And I didn't know much about it when I was talking to you at the press conference that day. I was just so impressed with how you were handling this ludicrous situation with such poise and, you know, with grace and class.

I mean, it was really a sight to see, especially for someone making their debut. So much respect to you. Kudos on how you handled everything. And I'm looking forward to your next fight, number two in the UFC. And hopefully it will be a little less turbulent getting to the fight. and you can just focus on the task at hand and actually perform at the best of your capabilities. But great to have you on.

All the best to you, and congrats on all your success. Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. My pleasure. The dream comes true, so thank you. Okay. Thank you.

I appreciate that very much. We'll talk to you soon. Okay, thank you. All right, there she is. Pearl Gonzalez coming off her first fight in the UFC. Obviously, did not go her way, but as we just learned, she has been through a lot in her life.

and kind of gives you an insight as to how she was able to handle all that craziness. It's a crazy thing for a young fighter, especially making their debut to deal with. I thought handled it very impressively and looking forward. They're very high on her. They've had her on Sean Shelby, that is the UFC's matchmaker for the 115 pound division on his radar for quite some time. So let's see what she does in her second UFC fight. Okay, let's move along now. As we continue this stacked episode of the MAA,

I've been trying to get our next guest on the program for over a year, bothering him almost every week. Is this the week? Is this the week? Is this the week? He has been avoiding me like that Heisman trophy, you know, that stiff arm? Boom, boom, boom, stuffing me. Left, right and center.

Finally, we have located one Adiatar, one of the top managers in the sport. He is the manager for a who's who. Of course, none bigger than Connor McGregor, but his stable is second to none. And he has finally obliged. He is finally here. He has finally squeezed us in. He has finally granted us a few minutes of his precious time. He's on the phone right now.

Adi, are you there? Hey, yes. I'm tap too my horn, Errol. You're making me blush. It has been a while. How long I've been trying to get you on this show? Over a year. It hasn't been over a year?

It has. I've been on it a lot sooner. Time flies. But always appreciate the interest and never stiff-arming you. If I do, it's just kind of like muscle memory. It just happens naturally. Sure. Of course, in a previous life, you were a great football player,

so I know that comes natural to you, but now you are making deals. You are a deal maker. And so let's start at the top here. I would be remiss if I don't start here. Connor McGregor, Floyd Mayweather, it's what everyone's talking about. Where do we stand on April 24, 2017?

I mean, hey, listen, I think there's fan interests. I think, you know, that's kind of what's brought us to a point where this, thing possibly may happen, but we'll see. I think, you know, nothing set in stone. And I think it's one of those things where it's a work in progress, but it's definitely trending in the right direction. How did we get, Audie, in a very short amount of time? Because you know, back in the day, it was like, oh, it took Manny, you know, and Floyd four years to get it done. In essentially five months from MSG till now, how did we get from this being like a crazy pipe dream to now, Dana White actually openly talking about 75 million, 100 million.

How did it progress this quickly? I mean, I think, you know, first and foremost, it's just the fan interest. Floyd and Connor organically just going back and forth, and that just kind of picked up the fan interests and credit to Dana and the UFC for recognizing a huge opportunity and wanting to be involved. And so I think that's really the, I would say, the evolution of this whole thing. and in today's age where

you know social media and media pick up on storylines and banter that's also you know people could quantify and measure the actual viability of something like this

from a business standpoint so you know I think it's just it's all happened organically which is good when did it seriously become a thing like when did you start to believe that this actually had a chance in happening I mean to be honest

you still don't know. It's not happened yet. But we're certainly a lot further along, right? I mean... I mean, but you've got to believe and think and dream about anything you want to do. So, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all dreams come true. So I think that that's... As it relates to that, it's not done. Okay.

So that's a pretty mature question to answer. Fair enough. Let's say we were playing on a football field, you know, your former home. And, you know, you have to go from the zero-yard line to the other side of the... the field, the end zone. What point are we talking about as far as where we are in the negotiations? Are we on the 50-yard line, 60, 70? Are we in the red zone? Are we on the goal line? I really don't know. And because there's so many different moving parts and stay closed. I don't know. You can theorize and say 50-yard line, what have you, but it's just something at this point.

It's just, again, too premature until the ink dries and even beyond that, the fight happens, you know, still don't know. But nonetheless, it's still all trending in the right direction. Is it a good bet that this will be his next fight? I don't know. I'm not a betting man. He seems, I mean, everyone's talking, his whole team talks about it like it's a foregone conclusion. He's talking about it himself. I know you don't want to put the cart before the horse, but it does certainly feel like

an announcement is imminent. I could tell you that, you know, Conner's a type of athlete and individual when he fights. focuses on something, he works towards it, and a lot of his focus and visions end up becoming a reality. I think that's something that he's always subscribed to in his career. So, you know, I think it's all trending in the right direction, you know. The latest we heard from the UFC was $100 million for Floyd, $75 for Connor. How do you feel about that? I think it's all trending in the right direction, you know?

But at the end of the day, when you talk about those types of unprecedented numbers in our sport, you know, you feel good about it. So I think it's just one of those things now you just have to wait to see if it becomes a reality. One thing I and others have brought up is how is Connor, let's say this fight happens, and let's say he makes over $100 million. How is he going to go from that to, you know, what he was making before in MMA? It's going to be tough. Is this a situation where as we haven't even got we haven't even gotten to that thought because we haven't even got to the other premature thoughts. So we have to essentially go through things and and can't get ahead of ourselves thinking about

things that don't even exist right now. So I understand that the fans and the media speculate about things like that, but it'd be very unprofessional of us from even for even, you know, thinking about something that's not there. Right. Why not focus on things that have a chance of really become. a reality as opposed to theorizing on other things that are not even before us right now. Let me ask you this.

Connor has four fights left on his UFC deal, right? Connor is still under contract with UFC. With this fight? I can't answer about that. I can't go into detail. Would this fight count as a UFC fighter or is it kind of like a special thing? That stuff, again, whatever is it relates to anything that we discuss, I can't share. But I don't fault you for trying.

That's why you're at the top of those. You were just about to say you are the best and then you, and then you, and then you went back for a second. I felt the B and then you went back. It was there. I was going to say thank you. And then you went back. Let me tell you. You said I was one of the best managers. So I'm just reciprocate here. Fair enough. Do you have a deadline? Do you guys have a deadline? Like if this doesn't happen by X amount of time we have to move on? No, why would we do that to ourselves? Kind of our nose in spite of ourselves, right? So just work. sure that's all we approach everything

when I spoke to Connor in January he said that he envisioned this happening end of the year early next year but since then there's been some talk of September that has been brought up what is realistic in your opinion so look I'm not a betting man as I just told you but if you were to look

at Mystic Max track record what would you say that's what I would tell you okay that's what I would tell you he hasn't had the baby yet right No. Do you sense that he is going to want to take a long break after? I mean, he's taking a break now.

I know he's still training and things like that, but do you sense that he's going to take a long break or everything goes well and then I'll get back to work? He's back training now. Look, he's enjoyed himself. He's had, you know, his sister got married. You know, he's had obviously some friends are about to get married, bachelor parties, etc.

So, you know, he's obviously enjoyed some time off with friends and family, but he's back training already. And I think he's really excited to bring his son into this world. He's really, really just kind of enjoying the journey, so to speak. And when that happened, he's going to enjoy it and ensure that he's present. But at the same time, I don't think it's going to take anything away from his training, you know, because he's something that he loves, he's passionate about. So, you know, I guess define time off. I don't think he's going to take any time off.

He's already training. You know, the main thing that people brought up was too many cooks in this kitchen. You know, you have to get the Mayweather side on board, the UFC side on board. You know, you guys have to be on board. What TV network is going to produce all this stuff? Thus far, I know you can't go into details, but has it been relatively smooth sailing or has it been one of the tougher? I mean, you're trying to do something that's unprecedented, right? this has never been done before.

Major boxing guy against the major MMA guy and not just major boxing MMA, we're talking about the two biggest combat sports stars on planet Earth and there's a lot of egos involved. How would you describe this experience from a managerial standpoint navigating those waters?

Well, I would tell you that don't always believe everything you read. And, you know, anything that's, you know, that's great in life and business, it's always going to have some challenges and complications, but nonetheless, I think if you work, keep your head down

and don't bitch and moan about how tough something is, you don't really focus on that negative energy. So I have it. And everything has been organic, as I said, and nothing's done yet. So we'll see how it all plays out. If it happens, obviously it'll be an amazing thing for all parties involved. Are you guys big on this whole A-side, B-side thing? It's a very boxing-like discussion, but it keeps coming up.

Does this matter to you? No, not really. I mean, numbers don't lie. Obviously, I think we know the relevance in today's market, but nonetheless, I think you've got to give credit what credits do. But ultimately, too, it's a competition. And if it does happen, then you see who the true A side is, right? Yeah.

We don't focus on all that. I have to ask, what's it like talking to the Mayweather people? Do you deal with that? the UFC and you go with the UFC and the UFC like Heyman and Lerby these characters that we hear so much about what's that like well we're we're dealing with the UFC okay and and and and and you know that's that's the extent of of that situation so um I know I left you cliff hanging with yeah but that's all I had to say okay I was waiting I was waiting do you think this breaks Pachiao Mayweather as far as pay-per-view is concerned

You hope it does, right? If it happens, you hope it does. I think it has every bit of the ingredients needed to do so. But again, it has to happen first, and then we'll see. How do you, I've never asked you this, how do you feel about Connor no longer being the featherweight champion? Do you understand why the UFC did what it did? I don't, I don't necessarily see it that way.

I see him being the featherweight and lightweight champion. And, you know, I think just someone has to beat him in order to really claim that from him, in my opinion. But I understand what the UFC did, and they had to do what's in their best interest, and it is what it is. So do you foresee him at some point actually going back down to 145? I foresee him definitely challenging himself.

So I think that, you know, in the future, see how this all though Holloway fight plays out you know obviously I think there's other matchups in the 155 division I mean there's so the rematches are always interesting

right but we'll see I mean for him I think he goes by whatever he wants to challenge himself with and every fighter's different every fighter you know is doing something with regards to their career that helps them achieve their goals

whether it's from a challenge or whether it's from a monetary standpoint so I think it's definitely plausible you know it just depends and again you can't necessarily theorize about stuff that's not right before you you know

is that part of the reason why we're going down this road because nothing really is tickling as fancy as far as MMA is concerned I mean look you just said it Dana said it, there's 75 million reasons why this makes sense. And it's also a challenge from an athletic standpoint, going up the guy that's 49 and no. And the fact that now this is, you know, it went from banter, Floyd's, you know, essentially become out some banter to serious

stakeholders having serious conversations. So, you know, I think that that's the main reason. You know what mean? Yeah. And I think that when you look at the numbers that if it surpasses, then it's good business for everybody. Has the UFC at any point try to entice you guys with another fight, another opportunity within the UFC world, say, hey, you know, let's just not go down this road.

We have this big fight or on this state. I love you to death there, but I'm not going to comment on anything else in relation to any counterfeitations to UFC. Okay, fair enough. Let's pivot here for a second. Like I said, you have quite the stable. Two members of that stable are Gunner Nelson and Wonderboy Thompson. John Kavanaugh, who's Gunner Nelson's head coach, as you know, has been asking for the Wonderboy fight.

Wonderboy seemed a little lukewarm when I spoke to him about it. Is this a possibility? Or as a manager, I know you're trying to do what's best for your guys. Do you like to move away from having your two clients fight each other? I think as it relates to Gunner, Gunner, Holly, his father, John Kavanaugh, they've all voiced the interests of fighting Wonderboy. They wanted to try to do something this summer. I know Wonder Boy is going to be out until the fall. So that's, that answers that question for that team.

As it relates to Wonderboy, he wants to make sure he's healthy and not rush when he comes back. So he's actually 100%. So he started to train. but he just wants to make sure he's ready completely. And he's at his eyes that are a few guys that are now matched up, but nonetheless, there's still a level of interest from some discussions that have taken place. So that doesn't necessarily match up right now from a timing standpoint. As it relates to my own, you know, opinion of clients fighting,

this is not the streets or war. This is a professional sport. All these guys are really good people that are doing it, for the same reasons, which is because they're passionate about the sport and they want to provide for their families. My job, for the business standpoint, is to make sure that they are maximizing their careers professionally. Do I like when I see clients that are about to fight? No, it's not necessarily something on a human level you want to see, but you remove the emotion, it's business, it's competition, and that's what it is. At the end of it, there's a huge respect

from one another, although there's probably a lot of buildup and banter leading up to a fight. you know, it wouldn't be the first time or the last time that clients potentially will fight one another. You know, and as I've said this before, I probably won't go to those events. I'll probably watch it from home because at the end of the day, there's still an emotional investment that you make in all your clients. And there's a respect. You know, you don't work with people that you don't respect. And so with that being said, you know, I think, again, it's Wonderboy and Gunny are two of the top well. to wait to the division.

And, you know, I can understand why Gunny wants to go for Wonderboy, and I understand why Wonderboy has his eyes set on specific individuals that he's interested in matching up with. Time will tell, we'll see kind of how that all shakes out. So that hasn't been offered yet to either guy.

Okay. We had Chris Wyman on earlier, and he actually teased your interview because I asked him about an update on the appeal. He said, you would know more. Do you have an update? he said he might have gotten a response today but wasn't sure. So we filed the appeal and got an acknowledgement of the receipt of the appeal.

The statute doesn't set out for any specific time frame when they have to respond. I know that I've had my team reach back out today just to touch base and kind of see when we should expect the response. We haven't got one. That whole situation was just unfortunate. And it's actually laughable. You know, you look at New York. Yes, it was, let's call it the last state of the MMA union, so to speak, that became legalized. But, you know, they have such a rich history with combat sports that when something like this happens,

it's just really unfortunate. And it leaves them with a stain, so to speak, because, you know, there's no replays in that state. And I was there front row at that fight in Buffalo. And the way it all went down was just really unfortunate. and unfair to Chris because he was fighting such a good fight. And then for it to know, it was a fight to be stopped for what the ref called in live action as an illegal need given five minutes

and all these different back and forth out of the ox ground looking at replays, changing his position, medical team thinking he's not fit to continue. And then essentially what would have been a no contest then changed to TKM stoppage, that wasn't the right call at all. And, you know, it's one of those things where I hope the New York State Athletic Commission really looks at the findings and the appeal

that we file to see that there's strong merit for overturning this from a TKO stoppage and a loss on Chris's record to no contest. Chris is in the mindset like, I don't care, whatever comes, I'm going to go, but he wants that rematch. That's what he wants. And I think that if you look at Musasi, I mean, he was acting appropriately because he wasn't celebrating that victory because he knew it wasn't right, you know, and he He was shushing his corners to stop celebrating.

He was pulling the flag down when they were trying to put it over him while they were celebrating. And he just, you know, you could see that he knew that was not the right decision. And he should not celebrate a victory like that when, quite frankly, Chris was winning a fight. So they got to run it back and I'm hearing rumblings that he's close to inking his, you know, a new deal with UFC. I don't know how true it is, but obviously that's just stuff that you hear. and hopefully he does come to terms and he's back in the UFC and if he is, I think he does get a great one

to kind of run back and shoot, you know, international fight week or something, you know what I mean? Like if he inks the deal soon, that'd be perfect for the summertime, you know? And he said publicly that he'd give Chris that rematch. So hopefully, you know, he stands by his word, you know, hopefully the New York State Athletic Commission

comes back and does the right thing and then the fans will be treated to a great rematch between those two. And I'm just kind of going rapid fire here on your guys because you have so many big names, as I said. Jimmy Manoa was, I thought, doing a great job of campaigning for that title fight. I reported late last week that it's all but done that they're going to do DC versus Jones 2 in Anaheim, July 29th. If that comes to fruition, as we expected to, barring any unforeseen roadblocks, what do you do with Jimmy? Well, I think it'd be great to get that title fight for Jimmy. Obviously, I trust that you're deep in the game,

and so I don't know how credible sources you're talking about. Wow. Are you questioning my sources, Audie? Is that what happening here? No, no, but you know what? Even when you confirm stuff on our clients, I'm like, where do you get that information from? But it's always right. It's always right. Except if it's a fake Twitter account, which got you last week, but we won't talk about that. Fake news.

Hashtag C's news, right? But what I would say is, you know, obviously if the UFC decides to match Jones versus D.C. up, I mean, that's an understandable matchup. And I think for Jimmy, and he has, as I said on show that next, if he doesn't get the D.C. fight. So I think there's been some talks about that behind the scenes. So we'll see. You know, ultimately, it all shakes out. And what really does happen. but it's an interesting time in the heavyweight division, and Jimmy Manuel right now is on a role, so I'm excited for his future.

What interests you more? What do you want to see happen? Tony Ferguson versus Habib finally, or Tony Ferguson versus Nate Diaz, I've heard him talk about Nate a lot on many different outlets, including this one. What do you like better for Tony at this point? You know, look, I think for Tony,

he wants what was originally scheduled for him, which is a chance to fight for the interim title. And I think that, you know, Khabib was such a great matchup because there was a lot of competitive spirit going back and forth between those two. And then obviously it was supposed to happen once before and it didn't happen. So there was this like, you know, build up and fan interest to want to see those two go at it and compete. And unfortunately, what happened to Khabi, you know, was serious and canceled the fight the night before. And the way it all just played out was just so anticlimatic and disappointing and disheartening. So, you know, one end, you say, okay, well, that's what it would be great.

But, you know, the history of what has happened, whether it's due to injury or what have you, has really left obviously some doubt, particularly in Tony. He doesn't want to just go through cancer and all that money and energy, and then all of a sudden that fight doesn't happen again. And so the Nate Diaz fight interesting, you know, quite frankly, like Nate's sitting on the sidelines, and you got to get Connor excited. So if you want Connor to be excited about you, you got to go in there and fight, you know, if you want to fight him in the future. So the thing is, is Nate Tony for the interim title, that creates narrative. And so if Nate really thinks he's worthy of it, he, A, gets to fight for a title, and B, essentially, if he thinks he's worthy of it, one of those two guys that's come out, Victoria,

and both of them want to make kind of excited if they want to fight. That's kind of going back to what we were talking about earlier, right? Right. If this thing happens, you know, looks Floyd, you've got to get kind of excited to get back in there with you. That's just the reality of it, right?

So I think from a opportunity standpoint, Nate will be foolish not to consider taking Tony on an interim title fight. And obviously, it'd be great if Khabib stepped up, there were some assurances, but to wait to September, it doesn't interest, Tony. I can tell you that right now. He wants to fight this summer,

and he wants to get back in there. I mean, he's been sitting and being left kind of hanging the way he was. He's just ready to get back in there. And have they offered that fight? No, but I can tell you that that's something that I know Tony's very keen on continuing to campaign for. Okay. So, you know, we'll see.

We'll see. I mean, from what I understand, you know, Nate doesn't necessarily engage like he probably should or, you know, make some demands and essentially breaks down conversations too quickly. So, and I don't know who his representation is, but, you know, I could tell you that that would be a great matchup. As a fan, I'd love to see Nate versus Tony Ferguson. I think the fans would want to see that.

It would definitely be fireworks that night. if those two are matched up. And just quickly, what's more likely to happen? Bisping versus GSP or Bisping versus Romero? Bissing versus GSP. That's happening. Okay. You know, everything I've heard, even as just yesterday, from BSP's camp,

is that, you know, it's happening. So talking to Mike, you know, that's something that's still there. in Thailand right now film in a movie. We had already kind of anticipated that that fight wasn't going to happen to a late fall, early winter. So he's been, you know, working on his post-athletic identity endeavors, which include acting, you know. But, I mean, it's just like everything else.

You know, it happens when the ink drives and they show up fight night. That's just the way this game works. Scale 1 to 10, what are the chances Floyd versus Connor? happens. I can't. If I were to give you the same analogy of football, I could tell you five, but I still don't know

what happens. But we're on the 50-yard line. I mean, you could say that. And you're saying it's 50-50. That's not bad. I mean, it's better than 10- and 90. Sure. Okay.

Fair enough. This was fun. Thank you, Audie. Well, you forgot about one more title fight. Oh. To discuss. Which one?

Lorenz Larkin. Lorenz Larkin is fighting June 24th at Madison Square. Lorenz, we've got Megan Anderson. We've got a lot going on. Rico Verhoeven coming back. There's so much. You got any news about Lorenz for us?

He's going to win the Bellethor title. First fight with the organization. That's the news. And, you know, look, I'm not a, again, I'm not a betting man, but I'm very bullish on that idea. I'm excited for him to go out there and show what he's made of and he's really excited to showcase his skills. Keep up all the great work.

You guys are doing a great thing. You're stable. It continues to grow day by day. And let's do this again, not maybe in a year. So maybe two or so months before the fight, before it gets done, you know, you come on, you announce it to the world. It would be fun. I think it would be nice.

Thanks, man. Appreciate you having me on. It's an honor to work all with all these guys for sure, you know? And we'll continue to pound the pavement, so to speak. I appreciate it. Thank you very much, Adi. All the best. All right.

All right, Arrow. Thanks, man. All right. Like I said, there are many, I mean, there's tons of other guys that we could talk about, Verhoove and Megan Anderson, Lorenz Larkin, Rick's story, he's got quite the stable, good to get an update on the whole situation with Auditia. Okay, let's move on. It was amazing on Saturday. After Mike Perry knocked out Jake Ellenberger, I was flooded, literally flooded with people saying, you better have. It wasn't just can you have. It was a demand. You better have Mike Perry on the show. And thankfully, he is obliged, and he's on the phone right now. Mike, how are you? Yeah, I'm doing all right, Ariel, how are you? I'm doing great. It's great to talk to you. Sorry for keeping you waiting a little bit.

That was some kind of victory. Have you ever knocked out another man like that before, like out cold, especially with an elbow? I don't think with an elbow, but I have knocked people out like that. But the elbow was special. I mean, to do that, that short elbow like that, boom, and he was out cold. Did you like, did you enjoy that feeling? Did you enjoy that sensation? Because it took him a while. show it on TV, but it seemed like it took him a while to actually get up and out of the cage. I mean, that doesn't matter to me. I'm not excited about how long the guys are asleep for. I was excited to have one against one of the top athletes in the world and one in a

winter's fashion, you know? Yeah. So I was excited about that, but his health and things like that, I've seen him the next morning in the hotel lobby, so I'm glad he's doing all right. Did you talk to him? No, I was just, I think I was like, you know, how are you or, you know, how are you doing? And he, I think he's good, so that was all.

Nothing else needed to be said. How enjoyable was this win for you, especially because after the Joe Band fight, it did feel like the, man, maybe not the general consensus, but there was some talk like, okay, maybe we need to slow our role a little bit on Mike Perry, maybe he wasn't quite ready for Joe Ban. You just beat a guy who was also close to fighting for the belt not that long ago in that kind of fashion. I mean, that's the contender, I think, right now for a knockout of the year. Did that feel like considering some of your other victories in the UFC and what happened in your last fight, did that one feel a little bit better

because now you can shut up all the critics? It doesn't matter who's talking at any point in time. I could have been, you know, it was the same with Jobanna and it was the same with Ellenberger. There was things to overcome and it was a good night for me. And I learned a lot of ways to make sure that I have a good night when the time has come to get in there and it's all down to do or die. So I know how to do that a little better now.

I get smarter every time I get in there. And, I mean, I try to get in and get out with as little drama as possible. That was the Joban fight. That was the first professional loss of your MMA career. How did you handle it to suffer defeat for the first time? What was that like for you? I think I handled it well, I mean, considering how I came back. But it was fun.

and it just lit a fire under my ass or excuse my language. You know, I got ready to stop messing around. You know, I don't know. I paid more attention and I got things done right. And I didn't slack on my diet. And I didn't not go run when I was supposed to or should have and went and did those things no matter how comfortable I was. Was that the case in the training camp leading up to the Joban fight?

Maybe because I was moving quick and like my weight cut at that time. There was nowhere near the weight cut I just had. There was a lot of suffering involved for the Joban weight drop. And there was none for this one. Wow. So you were better prepared going into Fight Week? Yeah. could have fought the day of wanes.

That was your third fight in the span of what, four months in the UFC? In hindsight, was it a little too much? No, because I'm going to try to surpass that. How many times do you want to fight this year? How many months we got leavened? We'll see every month and a half. Every month and a half, okay, so four more. Wow.

Every month and a half is ideal for you. Yeah. Well, that is impressive. So if you get four more, that would be five. I think that would tie a record for a calendar year, if I'm not mistaken, five. I don't think anyone's ever done six in a calendar year. So, well, you're on. I could have fought again.

I could have fought again Saturday night. But, I mean, of course, that would have taken toll on my body. But, I mean, I was in the back saying, what if this was the NBA or the NFL? What if our sport worked that way? and it was just a set of games. I mean, I spar in the gym every other day. Sure. So, you know, why can't I take someone who's actually trying really hard

and still not let them injure me? So I can. And I showed that. It sounds almost like your ideal scenario would be one of those, like, one-night tournaments where you can fight like three, four times in one night. That's a dream for you. I mean, those were things that I seen when I was growing up. And I always, you know, it kind of dumbfounded me because there were times when I was an amateur when I fought.

And like, I would win in the first round and been okay and not got hurt or hit that fight. But afterwards, being pain from the adrenaline. And I think I'm getting better at controlling that. all the pressure and those things. So it's more of like a regular day as much as possible, you know. As I said at the top, after you won, I mean, it was like people were threatening me if I didn't get you on the show.

I mean, they wanted you that badly. You have a very loyal following. You're almost like this cult-like figure where your fan base seems to be very much in your corner. And like I said, I think the perfect word is loyal. Do you sense that as well? And if so, why do you think that is? Real, recognized real.

That's why I just, I keep it real, man. And I guess, I mean, that's great to hear that people understand. It wasn't a fluke the first two times. It wasn't a fluke Saturday night. What happened with Joe Ban was just, it was one athlete against another. And one was a little smarter that night. He was a little smarter than me that night. I give that away.

That's what happened. I gave it away, so it's my fault. But I can live with that. I can deal with that because if you want to come and grab me and get me, you know, if you want to finish, now we're talking my language. You're going to have to stand in front of me for long enough to me to put my hands on you. I saw you respond to Ally Quinta telling him to comment. down, he didn't seem happy with the allocation of the bonuses.

Did you feel like he was criticizing you? No, but I was trying to offer this man some advice. The way I put it may have seen disrespectful, but didn't he hop over the cage? Yeah. You can't, you get fined in other places for doing things like that. You think you're going to get a bonus when you just, run around disrespecting

somebody who's paying your bills and things like that you work hard for this and then conduct yourself properly you say

fuck you to the people who are setting this up for you know what I mean if you have a sour attitude towards these people

who are giving you the opportunity people dream for then you need to fix your priorities you were just saying to him you know man you're probably

not going down the right path here by saying F you to the UFC. You're actually looking out for a brother in a sense. Yeah, to be honest. And I'm watching out for the UFC. You can't just be bad mouth and people that are doing the same thing for me. I got their back too because they got mine. Right. You feel like the UFC has your back? Yeah. Now, I remember when I spoke to you the first time, this was coming off your UFC debut at 202 and you got a bonus that night and I believe

correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this is your second bonus in the UFC so this is the first time since right? Well I guess I got it technically it's the third Oh really? Yeah I got a bonus for Ungu Lim I got a bonus for Danny

and those were a lot smaller though Oh this one is the big, well, this is 50,000, right? I don't know. I don't know if I got that yet. Was that, that was announced? That was announced.

That was on Twitter? Is that legit information? Well, the UFC announced it. Okay. Well, then, yeah, I'm happy about that. I just, I don't crack my eggs or I don't hatch. What is that saying? I don't hatch my eggs until they crack or something.

Yeah, right, right. I don't crack my eggs until they hatch. Right. I don't get that shit. I'm not saying it right, my bad. No, no, no, that was it. You get the gist of it. Sure.

You're not going to celebrate the check until it's in your hand, essentially. Yeah, man, you know? Although, that being said, one of the most memorable moments in the history of our show was when we were talking to you right after and you said that you had the money

from the fight in your pocket. Have you changed your ways as far as money management is concerned or is it still kind of the same thing? I have cash and I have my cards on me. That's good. I spend money where I want. And I technically I bought everything that I wanted.

So now I don't need anything else or want anything else. And I'm just going to save all the money I get now. There's nothing to buy but food now. Right. What are some of the big purchases that you made? Um Now I'm going to buy a house Just a little bit

Like a little bit more I've been really saving up for that And uh I just I bought a car I thought I said something about that last time we talked And um So that

That set me back a little bit And I just did my taxes Oh yeah So I got to pay that And you know Things like that Important expenses that things that have to be done.

That's what I spend more money on, things that I'm going to. Can you write off your taxes in your taxes next year? Can you write it off now? What do you mean? No, meaning like, when I pay my taxes this year and I go to do my taxes next year, can I write off my 2017 taxes too?

To be honest, I'm not the best when it comes to finances, but I don't think you can. It was a little bit of a joke. Oh, okay. Honestly, I'm still reeling for my own tax situation. I mean, really, it's a lot of money that you have to spend. People don't realize how much money goes to Uncle Sam. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of people out here and we get to live pretty comfortably.

Yeah. So it's worth it. And so do people, I feel like a lot of fans would come up to you and say, like, show me what's in your pocket. these days because you said that on on on on air do you get that a lot no man i don't get that at all people ain't crazy what's in your pockets mike perry it might be your fingers but they're not going to be attached to your arm oh man that night that night that i fought i was snapchatting uh the champ right before I think he did his little news interview

and I sent him a video talking about belts and collecting them who uh Tyron Woodley yeah what'd you say to him as I seen his little thing that he said get a ticket and back lunch I told him I was ready for my field trip you're ready for Tyron now

Yeah Is that the ideal scenario I mean I feel like with all due respect It might be a couple more But if you had your way Yeah absolutely Respect to him

I have to get a couple more Before I even earn that I'm ready for him Yeah But But I gotta get a couple more But it'll be fun I'll just beat a couple guys up

And It'll be fun I know you said that You know You'll take anyone You know Let them throw out a name anyone that they want me to hurt.

But do you have an ideal opponent next? I mean, I really don't care. Okay. You know, like I said, who's life to y'all want me to ruin that? Y'all, y'all want the entertainment. You know, who am I to say to take money away from a family? I just I just deliver You know

They order and I deliver Do a lot of people Are you getting a lot of suggestions Is there one that has been coming up a lot Yeah I mean there's a lot of names Everybody Neomagnan, Safed Dean

Or Also You know Robbie Lawler Or Tiago Alves or I mean

any one of them I saw you kind of allude to Gunner you said that you wanted to maybe fight the guy who beat

your last opponent that would be Gunner and that raised some eyebrows that would be something yeah

let's do it whatever they offer though you're not the type to say no no I'm not going to say no

I'm going to get the job done any any new tattoos planned you you You also made some headlines with the one above your eyebrow.

Are we going to get another one? Not on my face. That's it? Not on my face. Yeah, I'm probably going to get something on my stomach. I got a little yin and yang on my hands, but you can't see those with my gloves on. What do you have?

Just a little yin and yang on my hand. Oh, the actual yin yang logo, the symbol? Yeah. Oh, I thought you, I was thinking like two days. two different sides of the coins, so to speak. So you have one on one and you're going to get the other, or you don't have any of them yet? I have both of those on my hand.

Oh, okay. Yeah, separated one side and the other. Okay. And by the way, who was the teammate that you were saying that you wanted Dana White to sign? Oh, that's my friend and coach. Your coach? One of my, yeah, one of my ground coaches, man.

he's really like an MMA coach and I go to his gym for sparring with other teams and things like that and I drill with him a lot and he gave me my blue belt so what's his name? I'm working towards my purple

his name is Julian Williams he won an NFC organization that night same night as me so do you think you'll get him in do you have that kind of pull-in?

I figured, you know, I thought that he would earn it on his own for sure, but it couldn't hurt to shot him out because I believe in him. I mean, I'm in here winning, and, you know, I don't win every day. Or else I wouldn't be this good. Pretty damn close, though. Pretty damn close. Yeah, I got to get beat sometimes, though, and the people that are doing it, you know, helping me beat other people.

He deserves it. I hope he gets it. Well, that was cool of you to do. I always like to see that, you know, kind of teammates sticking together and using that platform to, you know, try to get your friend and training partner some shine. So, kudos to you on that. And kudos on the K.O. That was something. I mean, I feel like that's the knockout of the year right now.

I know we've got some time left, but do you agree? Have you seen anything better than that thus far this year? Um, no, not that I mean, in my head, I don't see, I can't see something other than that right now. Ficious, just amazing. I don't even remember. I don't even remember other knockouts, man. Well, when I came on, I know who you were talking about. I wanted to interrupt and jump in there, but who am I to get a fight with those guys? And they're, you know, they're small.

They don't want to come up here. was fight with me. Oh, you mean with the manager, Adiatar, with the likes of Gunner and all those guys, Wonderboy. You were talking about Floyd and Connor and...

Yeah. And Bigging and GST, yeah. You want to be in that conversation. That one lady was hating on my windmill, too. I forgot about that. I wanted to say something about that. Who is hating on your windmill? She was like, oh, maybe

Mike Perry doesn't need to break dance. The girl, from the Fox News. Oh, don't pay attention. Don't pay attention. You know what they say, Mike? Haders are going to hate. I have to say, I mean, I thought that

that was fantastic. That was almost as impressive as the knockout itself. The spinnerooney that you did? The breakdance? Who could do that? It was better than GST's windmill. Hell yeah. Let me tell you something, Mike. I don't know about you, but where I come from, white boys don't do that sort of thing, all right? All right.

man. Where do you come from? I come from the mean streets of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I've never been there. I don't know if I'm allowed to go there. Because of the stuff in the past? Yeah, but I'm all for that. That would be cool.

We'd love to have you in Canada. They are strict when it comes to border control, but for now it seems like you're doing well in the United States, so let's stick to that. Yeah, looks good, sounds good. walks like a duck I'm fucking duck great stuff Mike

good to catch up especially after victory you're back and what a statement you made on Saturday congratulations on the win enjoy it and I'm glad to hear

that now we're saving some money we're doing things a little more fiscally responsible this is all very good I feel like we've come a long way since our first interview

yeah man thanks for having me on I appreciate it I gotta do some TNZ stuff later. Oh, look at you. Don't let them bait you, all right? Those guys can be a little tricky with the questions.

Don't let them bait you. Yeah, they won't get me. You tried to get me. No. They're smarter than you? No. I just feel like, you know, there's a mutual respect here.

I would never do that sort of thing to you. Oh, that's great. Thank you. All right. All the best, Mike. We'll talk to you soon. Congrats again on the win. Appreciate it.

Thank you very much. I have a blessed day. Same to you. There he is. Platinum Perry, great win over Jake Ellenberger on Saturday night. In my opinion,

the knockout of the year thus far. Okay, let's move along. Some news came out on Friday regarding Frank Meir, the United States anti-doping agency, handing him a two-year suspension. Does get a year for time served.

So essentially in a little less than a year from now, he will be clear to come back. But there's a lot to talk to Frank about, if you will recall, we had him on around early July, I spoke about this a bit, but we didn't know where things would fall and what his future would be. So I really wanted to talk to him after the news came out to see what he thinks about it and where he goes from here.

He's kind enough to join us on the phone right now. Frank, are you there? Yeah, man. How's it going? It's going great. Thank you for joining us, Frank. So first things first, why did it take so long for this announcement to come out? Like I said, this happened over a year ago. And here we are, I mean, it's almost 14 months. it happened. Why, in your opinion, did it take so long? I was because I was trying to test all the supplements, you know, the things that I knew that I came in contact with from February until March, or when I took the test, because they first came into my home

when they told me and notified me about the failed test that was during the fight in Brisbane. They said, well, you were clean in February when we randomly drug tested you. So obviously it's something in between that period of time. And I thought it was going to be fairly easy to narrow down because once you saw it got involved with the UFC, I really kind of had a whole cabinet full of different supplements. You know, for a while that I was heavily into wanting to get into power lifting to boost up my strength. But the list of all the stuff on their agenda that could possibly cause a false positive was so big. I'm like, look, you know what? I'll take a multivitamins, some aspirin and fish oil.

Call it a day. I threw everything else away. So the few things I did take, I went ahead and had them test, and it takes a long time to send this to the lap. It's all out of your own pocket. It's not like we saw it helps you try to prove that you're innocent and whatever. They're not in the business of that. And so then I find out just more recently that my test in February, that the one that they said was negative for anything, they came back and said, well, we resented to a different lab, one of our labs, and retested.

Now it's also saying you have this metabolite your system. So the problem I'm having with that is I'm like, all right, guys, you told me I had an eight-week period to focus on. And I've been spending a lot of money trying to figure out what happened. Now you're telling me that it can go back years before this when I was taking all kinds of supplements, all legal over the counter. But now I have to be in the same situation with other athletes, testing it, running through to make sure no one put anything in there

that would spike their, their, their product to increase performance. And now I'm kind of stuck in this quasi-lamp where I don't know. And then on top of that, I'm getting a lot of feedback, finding out, and it's something that I showcased on my podcast, Boundboo Fighting, that I received, the doctor that basically invented this new test that they're using, he's being sued by several athletes because they're finding out

that this test comes out with false positives all the time. the deputy prime minister of Russia said that they found it after someone drank coffee. I'm like, okay, so is this test that I failed, even though legitimate test? Hmm. Did you know that they had the ability to go back and test a sample that they had once said

was, you know, all well and good, all cleared? Oh, no, because I figured that once they came back and said it was clear, that was one of my initial arguments. How can I be clear in February and have a low level of metabolite that you said your science due to half-life and the amount of time it takes to break down in my system, basically for me to have these low-level amounts, you would have found the drug itself in my system. I'd taken it right after that clean test. But instead now, you said that it was clean. I'm like, well, that's impossible.

You're like, well, it is what it is. Basically is the answer that I received from them. Then they go back and sure not if I was right, it's not possible. And they rechecked their own narrative, finding out that they were wrong in the first place, that either A, which I thought was kind of stupid, I'm like, you guys were in my kitchen, Usada, and told me that the other test was clean. Well, why did you send it to another lab?

And now you're telling me that that lab never could test for it in the first place. I wouldn't have just focused on only eight weeks of my life. I would have went, oh, okay, well, now this new test shows his metabolism. my system, how far back can go? Years. Okay, shit, well, let's break out the notepad and let's get this process started. But instead, because you guys failed the test at the first time, told me that you tested it, basically, because, I mean, why else are you going to tell me I'm

clean if you didn't test it? That makes no sense to me. You can't sit there and go, well, hey, you passed the test. Did I take it? No, but you didn't fail. I'm like, but that makes no sense. What are you trying to, you know, is this a wording from an attorney where I have to sit there and go, All right, did I fail the test? No. Did you test me for it? Well, no, but you didn't fail. That to me is a very childish logic.

So now that's basically the situation I'm in where now I'm like, all right, now do I spend X amount of money more going after the supplements have taken for the last three years ago now, because it's already a year afterwards into the first test? Or do I just write out the rest of the suspension, but kind of like, I don't know, it just doesn't sit well with me. It angers me to not be able to figure out what's going on. And in one sense, the wife and the management's like, look, let's stop throwing money at this. You know, just write it out. You'll be fighting in the year. But that's not good enough for me. And to be clear, what Usada is saying you tested positive for was a long-term metabolite known as D-H-C-M-T.

It has a much longer name, but I will probably botch it. So that's the shorthand for it. You do better than I do. Did you consider? Yeah, there was some long-level metamolite, which could have been in any supplement that I've taken, because as we've seen before, with guys like 10 means, guys like Joe Ribeiro, companies will come out and they'll create a supplement, and they'll put things in there that shouldn't be in there,

so the supplement gets great results. And then, you know, they'll take it out eventually if they get caught. Like, for example, that happens all the time with mail enhancement pills. You go to any of the gas station, and they have these. mail and has been pills, you know, for 20 bucks you can buy. Come to find out, the more research I've done into companies not being tested by the FDA, like the supplement company is, they'll actually have a real Viagra, real Cialis in these pills. And then when they get caught, a year later, you know, finally it comes to the, you know,

they just close shop and redo it under a different name. And supplement companies have been known to do that. We've seen our own athletes in the UFC unintentionally ingest things that they shouldn't have ingested, but not knowing it because the supplement company, but he put it in there. So now I don't have the same, well, I'm not being given the same opportunity at this point that other athletes were to go back and test

because of the fact that you saw it first tells me, well, you know, you were clean in February, the metabolites introduced your system into March. That's your window of opportunity that this occurred. Focus on that, Frank. Now I'm being told, no, it could go back years. I'm sorry. We probably should have tested that to begin with to find out,

but we didn't. We waited until later because eventually it did sound, stupid that, you know, how do you have these low-level long-term metabolites in March, but you have nothing in your system in February. And now I have to be told that, well, I'm already over a year removed from it farther back than I even have to go, which only makes it that much more difficult. Are you planning on appealing this or by them coming out with the final sanction, if you will, is that an indication that you are not going to appeal this? No, at this point, I don't know how I could even try to begin to appeal. Okay. Because

Is this impossible to know when it happened because there's such a long shelf life for this metabolite? Correct. So it could have been something, some supplement company that I took three years ago that I would even begin to go out how to figure that out because, I mean, before Reebok, I got sponsored a bit by different companies. Yeah. And I've had, you know, a cabinet full of supplements. I mean, most professional fighters can tell you that, well, up until recently, you get sent things all the time. Hey, try this out. They try this if you like, it will pay you X amount of money at months to represent our company.

But once who thought it came in in July, I knew they were taking over, you know, I looked at it and go, you know what, even though these are all from supplement companies, why take the chance? I threw a lot of stuff away. 95% of everything in my medicine cabinet. And I just picked it up, threw it away, go, well, why take the chance of something, you know, giving me a false positive or something being in other, shouldn't be in because ultimately the athlete's responsible for what he puts in his body. So I just narrowed it down very simply. I'm like, all right, I'll just take these two or three supplements.

We know where they come from and just, well, you know, that way I can play a much safer game. How do you feel about the two-year suspension? Were you hoping that it would be less? Honestly, I'm hoping to figure out where it came from. The time of suspension doesn't bother me as much as not knowing when it was introduced to my sister. That truly is a frustrating part. Yeah. You're being told you're like, well, you're guilty of this.

Like, well, when? Well, we don't exactly know. How? We don't exactly know. But we know you're guilty of them all. Well, that's kind of infuriating. It's like to not know where it came from how I was exposed to it, that pisses me off. The lack of knowledge.

And then also to the lack on their part that this test is so new that they don't really know either. And then I'm sitting here going, all right, well, you guys don't know the test is so new. But to find out that the guy that created the test got fired from the, the labs in Russia, and now he's being sued, and they don't even think that the test is even accurate to begin with. I'm like, okay, so maybe I don't even have to, so, I mean, all this money I'm spending, chasing down supplements, I was just pissing away, like the test itself's not even accurate to begin with?

I mean, what does that mean? Is someone going to come back and reimburse me for my wages and money spent chasing on a witch hunt that never even existed in the first place? Could you give us a rough estimate how much you've spent thus far on this? so far just testing supplements alone has been close to $30,000. Whoa. Wow. Wow. I've tried to send something to a lab and have them break it down. It's not cheap. It isn't like it's like a couple hundred bucks and we'll go ahead and run your,

this compound through the gauntlet. Yeah. Wow. It costs money. And it's money again that as a fighter, who thought it doesn't help us with that at all. We're really kind of left alone. And then talk about that. I know, and that's his business disclosure. I know the kind of money that John Jones spent to contest us and go to arbitration.

And it's a lot more than what I've spent so far. So what do fighters do in these situations where we're finding out the guys are innocent who sought us finding metabolites and supplements and find out that we weren't intentionally cheating, but we're getting caught up in the net anyways? How does a fighter who's only making six and six ever begin to even have an opportunity, opportunity to faces. Really, honestly, I mean, without us not having a union, kind of in this situation, like this is the first time I've ever sat and went, damn, dude, we actually need someone on

our side to help us, whereas a baseball player, a football player, a basketball player runs into this situation. He has representation from a player's union to help them out. We don't. We're pretty much on our own. And thankfully, I've had a successful career that I have a little bit of money to try to fight this. What about the guys that don't? What if a pre-lim guy gets falsely accused or take something from a supplement company he wasn't aware of? Where does he even begin to finance

to be able to battle this? It's a fantastic point. It's one that's been raised many times, including earlier on our show with Ally Quinta. Are you one of those guys who maybe two years ago didn't feel this way now? Is this something that you're going to try to focus on? Do you feel like, you know, as one of the older fighters, veterans who's now experienced this, do you think, do you think that it's imperative that the fighters in the UFC have some kind of association, someone backing them when this kind of stuff comes up?

I think so because right now, I mean, you have the promoters and obviously they have their objective. You have, you know, Zahu Sadu has their objective, and you have a fighter. There's really nobody in the middle that's trying to bridge that gap. I mean, you have a manager, but the management's on

your side. They're not being looked at as a neutral party. And from what I understand in other sports that have a player's union, and that's why they have it. You have to have that third group that comes in and goes, all right, you know, we're going to do what's best for the sport and what's best for the athletes. Let's try to bring both groups forward

and not at the detriment of one or the other. Last time I spoke to you, you said that you were hoping to get released to go fight elsewhere. Is that still your hope? You know, I think so. I don't know what's going to happen, to be honest with you. I'm looking, you know, that maybe leaving, you know, And especially since this metabolite, I have no guarantees that it's not still in my system

unless I go and spend the money now to go get tested for it. But what is that going to do for me? If a sodic comes in, you're still in the testing pool. I can't imagine. I've done this now for two years, not fight. I go and take a fight, and this metabolite in low levels, they can't tell me that it's not still in my system because this test doesn't show when it finally gets out. Do I get a pass?

Do they say, okay, well, we don't know when it leaves. So if it's still in your system, we'll go. ahead and give you, do I get a, a CUE or some kind of exemption because we don't know how long it takes to extreme out of my system? Or am I told that I don't fight till it leaves my system? I don't know. So I was told that they actually have in their statute. They can go back 10 years and look at things. Did you have any idea before? Like, did you read the fine print? One thing that's come up when talking to people in the UFC about, you know, you saw it on Reebok, said, yeah, you had to sign a waiver and if you didn't you weren't going to fight and in hindsight maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to

sign that waiver do you do you kind of feel the same way absolutely i do i think that comes down the fact again with us not having any kind of union some kind of middleman um i mean what are you going to do if you're going to implement this new rule everybody's going to wear the same shorts if you don't sign the paper you can't fight do you think anybody didn't sign the paper i mean like really, I mean, who doesn't sign? You know, like, don't sign or don't fight? Right. What kind of really choice is that?

Like, well, now you get to be held by these standards. I was kind of put in a situation of duress. It would be like, your employer coming to you and saying, if you don't start wearing this or this hat, we're going to fire you. Yeah. Okay. Well, like, sign this and say you're okay with it, I'm all. But I'm not.

I'm just doing it under duress. You threatened me. You know, you said you're going to take away an opportunity for me to make a lot of, livelihood, and that's why I'm signing it. You know, like, I can't imagine too many court documents would actually stand up in the court of lobby. You're like, well, did you sign this free will? Not really, man.

I was kind of a little bit threatened of my job. So have you actually spoken to Dana White and asked for your release? I've tried to make a few phone calls, and I actually just called Dana again a couple days ago. I've never been able to get in contact with him, and a few times he's reached back to me. he's reached back through Reed Harris has spoken to me because I thought that when I was getting the doctor into the Nevada Hall of Fame that I was going to have, you know, I thought having Dana there

because of most of our careers correlating with the UFC so greatly, I thought that would be great to have him as far as one of the presenters. When I called and put that forward, I never spoke to him. I never got to have that conversation. Wow, so when's the last time you actually talked to him? Before the fight. before all this happened. I haven't spoken any UFC official besides Reed Harris has called me,

but as far as Lorenzo or Dana, no, I haven't spoken anybody. I tried. I called personal cell phones and whatnot, but I haven't received any word back. Considering what you've meant to that company and the shows that you headline, does that bother you? Very much so. I think that we all, you know, people get into binds all the time and situations arise, but I thought not only from a business point of view, but as far as, friends because I've gone to Dana before in the past. I've had issues and things come up, you know,

throughout my career and just personal life. And he was always open arms before and invited me in the office. And I've sat down and talked to him and said, hey, I'm dealing with this. I'm dealing with that. Can you help me out? Kind of from a big brother point of view. And I thought maybe this was another situation like that. And I guess not. So I don't know. Do you feel like he's kind of like washing his hands of you? Like he wants nothing to do this or want to help you at least hear you out? That would be making me an assumption on his state of mine and without me talking to him. I really don't know. I don't know if he was told not to speak.

Okay. They have a whole legal team there at the UFC. I don't know. Well, now that... I've wrapped my brain on it. I wouldn't have called him again just this last Friday if I thought there was a reason why he wasn't talking to me. You know, obviously, I don't understand or I would stop calling. Now that the sanction is out, do you still feel like there's a chance that they might release you?

Do you think that, you know, you're a year in, less than a year left? They're going to keep you around and see what happens. I really don't know how it works because right now I've been able to try to survive because of my broadcasting, you know, doing seminars, but not fighting is difficult as far as, you know, with the, you know, I have a wife, I have kids all in private school. You know, it's not been easy, but obviously, you know, as a man, you have to figure it out, you know. I can't go to my kids and my wife and say, well, I'm sorry, but we're moving into an apartment, and this is just how it is.

So I've made men, you know, too, we're working with ACB, the XF fan there in Oklahoma. Now, like this weekend, I'm flying out to fight night global to help them out with the broadcasting. So I've tried to just to make things work as well as possible, but I don't even know if I'm allowed to discuss things with other organizations and find out if I can fight for them or not. So I'm kind of in this limbo. But at the same time, I don't know if they can really hold it. hold me under contract. I actually reached out to a different attorney that doesn't just deal with, you know, the Uffata issue as far as on a business and looking at it going, well, can UFC

also tell me that I can't fight for anybody else, but they don't allow me to fight for them? So essentially, you're basically causing me not to be able to make a living now. How does that work legally? I mean, if I was a musician and I made music, you tell me, okay, well, we're not going to let you know, we're not going to pay you for your music anymore. Can you keep me under contract where I can't make music for somebody else? Or because of the contract, you basically can tell me, well, if you make music, it's only for us. That's kind of I thought the UFC contract works. It's like when you fight, you fight for us.

Okay, so I can't sit there and tell you're not allowed me to make a living. If I'm able and physically able to fight, you guys allow me to fight. But now through your guys as regulatory, you know, basically your policy, because Usada isn't an athletic commission. I'm not banned by Nevada Athletic Commission, the New York Athletic Commission, California Athletic Mission. I fought out of the country. So this is purely a sanction coming from the UFC.

They're the ones that actually have the actual power to sit there and tell me I can't fight, but they're also the ones I have a contract with saying that I can only fight for them. So I'm actually now, because of the recent events, really starting to push that issue and find out, like, well, what are my rights? What can I do? considering how this all has gone down and you know the aftermath and trying to reach out and all that stuff do you even still want to fight for the UFC let's say the the time expires and you're free like is it still you know something that you want to do do you would you still want to fight for these guys my feelings have been hurt yes if that's what you're asking I don't feel the same about the company as I felt years ago I feel and I'm seeing that even with some of the way that they're handling things that that they handle now you know like there's been several times I'm like wow I'm Lorenzo was still there at the office.

You know, Dana still was in full control and not just, you know, a minority. Sherald. Wouldn't that have ever happened? You know, like, I'm like, I don't know about that if they would have done it or handled this situation particularly like that. And in the news where I'm like, I started with 15 years ago. Yeah, I mean, what is a very unfortunate thing. At the very least, I would hope that you can get a phone call when this all comes out.

And maybe there is a legal reason for that. But to be clear, if they did give you. the okay to go elsewhere, you're ready to fight, you'd like to fight, you want to keep fighting? Oh, I do, I'm only 37, I'll be 38 next months, I like martial arts, I like competing, I mean,

going out and winning titles or trying to have esteem, like, that's a great side effect, but I like living like a martial arts. I like that my job is to go to the gym and train and hang out and talk other fighters, and that's the environment that I've had, and I don't know, I want to prolong that as far as possible. I see guys

like Randy, Coutor, guys like Matt Henderson had fought well into their mid and late 40s, you know, even in boxing. Guys like Bernard Hopkins, are you going to always build a vibe for championships? Like, you know, some of the, I don't know, you know, that's difficult. But, I mean, regardless of I lost every fight for the rest of my life, I like fighting. Fighting is fought. I like training for fights. I like competing.

I think that I'm in the same category as 99% of the world. A lot of guys go down to the local jit-tichu or kickboxing gym and train, and they pay someone else to do it. and they're never, ever going to get paid to live that life. I happen to be lucky that I get paid to, but that's not my motivation for doing it. There's tons of people right now that are at a gym lifting weights that are never going to step on a stage. But you enjoy that lifestyle. You like to lift. I like the fight.

I enjoy martial arts. I just happen to be lucky enough that through my talents and abilities that people wanted to pay to watch me do it. And finally, are you officially turning the page on all of this, or is there still that fighter in you that's going to keep poking around, trying to figure out how to clear your name. Oh, no, I'm always going to be constantly consumed. Once somebody accuses you of something, I'm never going to be completely clear of it. That's just three. And even if I come back and they find out with irrefutable proof that I'm found in my name,

I acknowledge that. But for me and for my family, I want to know what happens and how it happens. You know, that's for me. I want to, you know, who wants to go. I mean, I'm kind of a knowledge kind of guy. I don't know if people will gather that for him, but I'm kind of a deep sinker about a lot of stuff. I like to know why. It's probably why I got kicked out of church when I was a kid.

You know, that's that guy. And I questioned it. Why does it have to be that way? Or why did you do it this way? And so that this not knowing, my wife even told me that. I was sitting there. It was a couple days after the initial thing, and I was freaking out, trying to figure out what was going on. And she told me, she goes, I feel so bad for you.

I'm like, why? It was because I realized you not knowing how this happened is worse than you than death. Destroy me. I can't. I have to know. Well, I certainly feel for you, Frank, and I wish you the best, and I appreciate you coming on and talking about this. And I want to remind people that if they want to hear more on your situation, your side of things, they can check out phone booth fighting. That's your podcast, phone boothfighting.com. I do believe you have a new episode up talking about this in greater details. So I suggest everyone does check that out. And keep up the great work on the commentary side of things. Great to see you back with ACB. I know a couple weeks ago you did a show, and it was great to hear you again. Miguel Torres' recent retirement reminded me of how great you were on those versus broadcast back in the day.

So I hope that you get more opportunities to do that and keep up with the podcast stuff as well. And I hope that we get to see you fight again. If that's what you want, I hope that at some point you get to continue your career in fighting. Appreciate it, Frank. All the best to you, and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks for coming on. I appreciate it. Thank you for the platform.

Thank you. All right, there he is. Frank Meir. Of course, the former UFC heavyweight champion has his own podcast. like I said, phone booth fighting him and Richard Hunter do a great job

over there, so do check them out. Okay, let's move along. Last week, you all wanted to hear from him. Couldn't get it done because he was traveling,

and this week he is kind enough to join us at 6.30 a.m. Local time, Tuesday morning in Australia. How cool is this? Robert Whitaker is joining us via the magic of Skype, and he is a true mench

for doing this so early over there in Australia. Thank you so much for joining us, Robert. We really appreciate it. Honestly, I appreciate it. you. And by the way, in case you don't know, the word mensch is a Yiddish word, it essentially means like a fine gentleman, a great person. So you may not have heard of that word in Australia, but that's a great compliment, the fact that you woke up so early to do the show.

Thank you very much. I didn't know that. Now you do. Okay. What has life been like since you shocked the world and beat Jacques Grey? You're back home now. What's it like? Yeah, you know, a lot of people want more media for me. You know, a lot of people are interested. rest of the money has to say enough than they were before but, you know, from my perspective,

life's the same. You know, I got a straight back into the program I went to my family and my two-year-old son did care. And yeah,

you know, life is normal. Is there a part of you that says, including to someone like me, hey, where were you when I was coming up? Why, you know,

you're a Johnny come lately. You're just jumping on the bandwagon now, now you're finally giving me attention. Is there a part of you that feels that way? You feel like,

to me, too nice of a guy, think that way, but I feel like I have to ask. The thing is, you know, a couple of years back, I decided I needed to make my inner circle and the people that surrounded me really close and tight-knit. So, you know, when everyone's trying to jump on the bandwagon now and then, you know, I get there two cents now that, you know, I'm doing kind of well, it doesn't affect me because I already have that tight niche of people that I stick to.

Okay. This was such a big fight for you on such a big stage against a guy who many thought should already be fighting for the belt. Ultimately, what drew you to this opportunity? Was it right away? Oh, yeah, Jacqueray, I don't care how good he is on the ground. I don't care how fear it is. This is a big spot for me to leap in the rankings?

Or did you have to kind of, was this one of those where you had to kind of sit down with your team and think about it, pros and cons, that sort of thing? No, this was a fireout jump, that I've been trying to top five of the opponent for a long time. And, you know, they offered a name. and you know respect to all of jacquerade skills but i think everyone in the top 10 top five is a kill us there's no easy fight there's no there's no easier fight in the next and you know jacques is a great scale you know if it has to be said and i wanted that fight i wanted to test myself and see where i had to grow the guy who works in the back for us here producer on the show his name

is new york rick he's a big jacqueray fan and i texted him right before the fight started and i said there's an upset coming here. Just from reading your body language and Jacques Grey's body language, there was just something about the way you were conducting yourself, your poise, I don't know, there was just something kind of oozing out of you. I was like, oh, Robert Whitaker is going to win this fight. Did you sense anything out of him? I didn't feel that sort of confidence coming out of him as well.

And I'm not the prediction type, but I have no problem saying that right when I saw you both in the cage, I was like, oh, this is very clear in Robert's favor. He seems a lot more confidence in the, confident in the cage. Did you sense that at all from him? You know, I like to say this, but it's a funny thing because it's not measurable, and it's not something I can say, oh, this is how it is. But when I square up to someone and I look at them in their eyes, I can tell how this five can play out.

And, you know, I went into that octagon, Tamsate, with undoubtedly confidence in my training, my preparation, my ability. And for me to take that level of confidence into the octagon with me, there's a person in the division that can stop me. Wow. Do you mind, Robert, if we actually call you on your cell phone because the connection, it's like a little muffled and I want to hear everything that you're saying, of course. So is that okay? Do you mind that? That is 100%. Sorry, right.

Oh, no, no, no problem. We're going to call you right now. And we'll get Robert on the horn here because I obviously want to hear everything that he's saying and I want people to enjoy the interview and obviously make it worth his while for waking up so early. So standby. and we'll get Robert on the phone. And again, I'm not trying to be that guy as New York Rick accused me of being last week, but the truth is I did text him.

He has the proof. I texted him right as they walked into the cage. There was something about Robert's demeanor and Jacare's demeanor in there. I don't know what it was, but I just, my big nose smelt it. I smelt upset. And what a performance it was for him.

Amazing win over Jacare. And now, you know, we've seen him talk about potential title shot. The problem with 185 is there's such a long cue there of guys waiting from obviously Musasi to now Robert Whitaker, Luke Rockholds certainly in that mix, but it's hard to deny what he's done. Since his loss to Stephen Thompson at UFC 170 in February of 2014, he's won against Mike Rhodes, Clint Hester, Brad Tavaras, Uriah Hall, Sappho Natal, Derek Brunson, and now Jacques-Ray. That is pretty amazing. Is he back? I think he's back. Robert, are you there?

Yeah, I am. Okay. Is that a little bit better? That's much better. Thank you. I appreciate it. This may be a little too, you know, over-analytical, but it did also cross my mind. Did you see the news that Jacquet was a free agent going into your fight?

Essentially, he had one fight left. And then the day before he signed a new contract. And I was wondering if that was almost a gift and a curse for him in the sense that, yeah, he got the new deal. But maybe now he takes his foot off the gas a little bit. it. Did you see that news and think the same thing? I did see the news and, you know, I thought it was funny. When I go into a fight, I lock myself into that room that whole week and I don't return calls. I don't talk to people. I don't go out and see the city that I'm staying at

because I'm there for work. I'm there for business. I'm there to do a job and I don't know. To me, they're the 1% that, you know, start to take away from the fight night. Yeah. So when you saw that he had signed a new deal and he was celebrating, you felt like maybe his eye was coming off the prize a little bit. Yeah, maybe. And, you know, I may be far away off the mark to say this, but this is a personal opinion of mine that when I see someone doing that, when I see someone celebrating or not thinking about the fight for even one second, no, that's good. You keep doing that. And I think twice as hard. Wow, wow, that is interesting. I was just going over your record there in the streak that you're on. How would you explain what's happened? I mean, is this just you coming into your own or have things changed around you that have led you to go on this streak? I definitely made some changes around me. You know, after I had that second loss in a row to Stephen Thompson, I had to really assess where I was going and where I had started straying off the track. And, you know, I just said, back to basics and I went home and did a lot of changes with my family so I stopped going away overseas. I stopped leaving my family because I was draining emotionally for me to be away from home

all the time. You know, it's hard to, it's hard to take a fight and it's hard to fight with everything in it if you're homesick, you know, and all you want to do is just get the fight done and go home. Right. And that was the first part. And then the next part was me surrounding myself with coaches that genuinely cared for me and wanted me to succeed. seed in my career for their care for me rather than their own hidden agendas. And was it hard to find these people? It's funny, you know, I truly do believe in natural attraction and like attracts like. So I think once I started doing the right things with the family and started sticking

closer to home, I kind of fell in with my coaches that I have today. You know, I kind of, I met them through natural means and everything just kind of happened organically. At what point did you start to feel like, okay, things are clicking here? Because, you know, you did win a couple of fights before that two-fight losing streak. And then you come, you know, you come back and you had some nice finishes, a couple decisions. But, you know, then you start fighting the Brad Tavaruses of the world and Sapo and Derek Brunza. And of course, Chakray, was there a point where you start to feel like, okay, there's something clicking here? This is working.

The changes are clearly working. They're clearly affecting me in the right way. And now we're on our way. Do you have a moment or a fight when you felt like there was a shift in how your career was progressing? Yeah, I think it might have been after Tavares that, you know, I guess I moved over that, that Markov, just trying to win fights and just trying to win my next fight and really starting to decide and come with the idea, you know, why can't I be champion? You know, that's where I want to go now.

I want to be the champ. and then it goes up to where I am today that I don't want to just be the champ. I want to be one of the best ever. Wow. I think I may hear your child in the background. Has fatherhood changed you for the better? Definitely. A lot of people is very cliche to say so, but it definitely changes here.

It puts a lot of things in perspective. Yeah. It just gave me a better reason to why I'm fighting and who I'm fighting for. And so I've seen you speak to the press in office. Australia about what you want next and it's clear that you want the belt and it's not so much about Michael Bisping you've said you just want the belt if if his neighbor had the belt you said I read this you'll go after his neighbor but unfortunately there's a bit of a log jam as you know at 185 do you think it's realistic that you will get the belt and or are you willing to wait um even

if it takes several months to see this whole situation play out because that's what you want next Yeah, well, you know, it's funny you say that because I think I, with my last performance, I I showed the world that I deserve a shot. You know, I did something that no one else in the division has done to, you know, a fighter that hasn't been stopped in that way since, you know, it's been a long, long time. And, yeah, you know, a lot of the dudes are trying to just scrimp their way

to having that shot by waiting, but waiting it out, by sitting out and by doing these little political maneuvers. But at the end of the day, they're running at a time. I am not. You know, this is the beginning of my run. This is the beginning of my first run.

This is the beginning of my career just about. And, you know, if it's a time race, they're not going to win. Yes, you are just 26 years old and born in 1990, which kind of blows my mind. But so does that mean, in other words, that you are going to wait?

Because let me tell you, we spoke to Michael Bisping's manager. He was on our show earlier. And he said that he thinks that that fight, Bisping versus GSP is going to happen fall winter. So we're talking about at least what, you know, six or so months, if he's correct, before the fight actually happens. And then you have to wait for the guy to get better and all that. So this could be a year.

Do you really want to sit out for a year in the prime of your career? Well, it's, you know, it's, um, it's not, if you've had to look at my last, my past fight history is I don't, I don't seem to take fights on a rush anyway. Yeah. I like doing things and taking fights when my body's ready. I sit in the program. I train and I'm just making huge skill jumps. And that's the biggest point for me right now as a fighter and as for my longevity of my career is that I need to make these skills, uh, these skill gaps for all these high caliber dudes. Okay. How can I try to catch up with the Jacalais Jiu-Jitsu

at my age? I need only more time to do things. Okay. So the time doesn't phase me because I'm always staying active. I'm always trying to get into competitions and I'm just further in my training. And in between every fight I'm making huge skill jumps.

But it's it becomes a thing where why shouldn't I wait? Because the champ has called me out. Yeah. To have that in my pocket and then to have the time that I have

and the fact that he called me out and the fact that I just come off an upset win, a very strong win in devastating fashion. You know, everything says, you know, you should just wait for that fight to write out. Yeah, that is right. Michael Busfing did kind of say

that he thinks you deserve the the title shot over Yoel Romero next. And I'm sure you're not going to argue with that. Good to have the champion say that of you. Do you think that he is saying that because he views you as the easier opponent? How do you take that? I'm trying to think and work out the machinations of Michael Bisman's mind is a bit beyond me. But, you know, I think he does see that he owes me a fight.

and what I did on the weekend, he's not looking past, you know. But whether or not he, you know, I think he might think I'm an easier matchup, you know. Yoll's got a lot of hype and then right behind him as well at the moment. And, you know, I'm sure some part of him does think I'm not an easier matchup, but, you know, I love surprising people. And just curious, if they come to you with the YOL Romero versus Robert Whitaker number one contender fight, would you even entertain that at this point? I don't see why I should. It's a, it's, it's, I think, because I think I've lined myself up

and I've set myself up perfectly for that, for that next shot. You know, I, um, and the fact that Bisping has called me out on top of that is, it's just, it's just cards in my favor. Yeah. Cards in my favor that I, that I should just, you know, sit tight, do what I'm doing and, and be prepared for that title shot. So at this point, here you are 26 years of age and you just pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year.

A lot of people were counting you out. Would you say that your career is progressing quicker than you imagined even when you won the ultimate fighter and you start in the UFC? Is this all happening a little sooner or is this as you planned? If you're going far as when I got off the ultimate fighter, I didn't even entertain thoughts like this one. I had just gotten off the show.

You know, my ambition were a lot smaller. But if we're collectively looking at it from a few years ago, there's no doubt in my mind that this is where I belong and this was where I was going to go. And this is just the starting block, honestly. A greater moment for you, a more memorable moment, pulling off this upset beating Jacquet like that on Fox or winning the Ultimate Fighter getting into the U.S.

UFC? That's a tough one. This fight was very, this fight was very special to me, you know, it was, probably this fight. Probably this fight, you know, the only fight is a big thing, but it's hard to enjoy things when you're so skinny. Yeah, amazing, right? I mean, I'm assuming you're never going back down, never even thinking about 170, especially considering the success.

Do you wish that you did it earlier in your career to move up? You know, it's funny. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I always knew that I was going to have to go up. It wasn't a doubt in my mind. But whether or not I think I should have done it sooner, because if I wouldn't have done it sooner, I wouldn't have done it sooner, I wouldn't have had those losses to McGee and Stephen Thompson.

And I think those losses were vital to my growth as an athlete and as a, you know, for my career. Between you and Tyson Pedro recently, and of course, Mark Hunt is still around. This kind of feels like the great, greatest time ever for, you know, Australian slash New Zealand MMA. Would you agree with that? There seems to be something brewing over here. Yeah, definitely, you know, and I'm really, I'm really proud and happy to see grow. MMA's been just been growing in the, in the countries for a while now,

but at a trickle, and I think the fact that there are now some athletes getting in their top 15, that top 10 position, and we're starting to make some serious waves is only helping the sport grow. So what do you do now? You're kind of just like sitting back, waiting to see how things, you know, how things, you know, how the cards fall and how the dominoes fall and how everything's playing out. What is the plan now as you wait and see how, you know, what happens with the division and what your next fight is? What's the plan of attack? The plan of attack stays the same as it always has, mate. Firstly, I need to get my hands a little, you know, checked out.

After every fight, my hands bloody sore. I think that just has something to do with throwing them so hard at people's faces. But the plan stays the same. I get back in the program. Yesterday, which is Monday for us, I got straight back into training, and I'm just working on those skill gap, just making skill jumps, and I'm just getting better as a fighter. I had heard that you may have broken your hand in that fight against Shakur.

Have you checked it out yet? Do you know the status? I haven't managed to get to a doctor as of yet. You know, the first week was super gnarly with a lot of media and stuff. All my next friends now. But I intend to get that checked out probably this week. I don't know. You know, it might be broken.

It might not be. It's just one of the things that happens every fight. Does it feel broken right now? It's hard to say. You know, yeah, it's hard to say. I don't think I could play the piano right. now, though. And do you feel like this is something you have to figure out as you progress in your career

to stop injuring your hand? You know, I've got a pretty worked out at the moment. Okay. I don't injure any other period except for when I have to put on those small gloves and, you know, I'm really trying to throw it at people. Yes. Well, I hope it's not. So you're getting it checked out this week, you said?

Yes, yes, I am. All right. Well, good luck with that. Good luck with everything. And good luck getting that big first. fight next and most importantly right now congratulations on on the the amazing win it was it was it was a beautiful thing to see i mean you were just so on point so confident i thought the finish was a little funky there for a second not that i disagree with it but the timing was a little weird would you

agree um it's hard to say because um the stoppage i meant when i was when i was yeah you know when when i was um i thought the the stoppage could have been even a little earlier because you know as I was landing that ground in town with him. He was going out, he was going unconscious and then coming back and then going on conscience and coming back. And, you know, I could, like, every time I would hit him and I was landing some flash shots on him on the ground,

he was, his eyes were rolling in the back of his head and then come back and then, you know, it was a weird thing to see. And I'm like, and in my back of my mind, I was thinking, you know, stop this. Yeah. Oh, I want this to stop.

And then, you know, as he went to turn away, from me. The rest stopped it. And, um, you know, I, I, I support the rest call. You know, I know I was hurting him and I know there was no way back for him at that point. He just would have got hurt, but um, yeah. Oh, and just to be clear, I was saying I thought it should have been earlier as well. I thought it dragged a little too long. I wasn't saying that I thought that it was a controversial finish or one that was a little premature, quite, quite the opposite. But in the end, you got the victory. It was a fantastic performance, well deserved. Enjoy the victory. Enjoy being back home. and again, thank you so much for waking up early and doing this.

We really appreciate it, Robert. My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me on the show. All right. There he is. Robert Whitaker will talk to him very soon. I am guessing what a great guy. Wow, it was great to have him on for the first time and no better time than now coming off that big win over Jacques Reza.

New York Creek, by the way, you don't see him, but he is still very torn up about the whole situation. We'll see what happens them next. A very interesting, there he is, very sad. Crocodile tears. There's your New York Creek fix for the day. we'll see how that whole division shakes out. They've got some tough choices to make. Okay, one last guest today.

We've had 10 so far. One more to go. And this is a big one, my friend, my friends, because our last guest of the day, I'm told, has some breaking news. And he's actually joining us from Stockholm, Sweden. It has been a while since we've talked to Phil Davis, Mr. Wonderful, they call him,

the reigning, defending, Belator Light Heavyweight Champion. And he is kind enough to join us right now. Now at almost 11 p.m. Stockholm time. What a great guy. Phil, are you there? I'm here. How you doing? I know it's almost close to your bedtime over there, so we appreciate you staying up late for us, Phil.

Thank you. Yeah, yeah. No worries. Anything for Ariel. Oh, well, thank you. That means a lot. So let us not waste any more time. I am told from the powers that be that you, the champion of the Beltor Light Heavyweight Division,

has some breaking news. The floor is yours. What do you got? Well, you know what? I am actually really excited to tell you that King Moe is not going to be able to fight Brian Bader in New York City, where you live. I will be replacing him to fight Brian Bader in New York City. Whoa. In Bellator.

I don't even know what number it is. I don't even know what number is. That's how brand new the news is. Belator 180. That's the one. Bell to 180. So this is official. You are going to fight Ryan Bader now.

Is this going to remain? Is this going to be on the pay-per-view? Or is this going to be on the Spike TV portion? Because originally Bader was fighting Moe on the sort of featured prelim, if you will, before the pay-per-view. I have no idea. I have no idea. I haven't even gotten the details. News came to me.

They called you. They said, Phil, you tell Ariel, and here I am. Okay. So I inquired because I'm a very inquisitive person. I'm a little nosy. and I was told that this will be in the Spike TV sort of headlining act before the pay-per-view. That's what I was told. Oh, okay.

Cool. How do you feel about that? Perfect. I'm great with that. You know, Spike TV, first of all, the whole car is freaking stacked. Yes. And Spike TV gets a lot of eyeballs. And, oh, you know what?

I did. I also check. I think you're right. I think I am on that one. Okay. Because I was asking, I was, no, I'm sorry. I completely forgot. It's the whole first pay-per-view thing.

Sure. Anywho. Right. Yeah, so this one is going to be completely live everywhere. Sometimes there's a delay between East Coast and West Coast. Yeah. On TV, but there will not be this fight. So I'm pretty pumped about that.

Okay, so I have a lot of questions about this, Phil. Why was this fight not booked originally? because I feel like if you recall, I don't know if you remember this, but Bader signing with Bellator was actually announced on the same day that this pay-per-view was announced and everyone thought,

oh, this is a natural fight. I mean, this is one of the few times, if ever, that Belator can book two top five guys for a belt. They haven't had that opportunity and here they have it with Bader coming over to Belator. Plus, you have the history

of the first fight in Sweden of all places, which is where you are right now. And also, sorry, there was something in my mouth. We need some title fights for this card. I mean, it's perfect. The timing can work out. better. You guys were going back and forth on Twitter. It all seemed to be working out, and then they went with

Bader versus King Mo. Why wasn't this the original plan? You know, that much I haven't even had a chance to talk with Scott Coker about. Okay. I was a little bit heated, not going to lie, I was a little bit heated about it,

and I was like, ah, you know, maybe he's up to something, and then I thought about it, and you know, around me, there's a three-way rematch. There's three rematches. There's Liam McGeeery, there's King Moe, and then there's Ryan Bader. And no matter what, you know, no matter what I have three rematches.

So I kind of figured maybe he wanted to, you know, put the best contender in front of me. Yeah. So I was like, you know, I'm kind of okay with that. And it was going to be interesting because I was, the other reason I was pissed about it, though, is because I honestly think Mo would beat Brian Bader. and I didn't want him to beat him before I got the chance to beat him. Wow. You were that confident in Mo?

Why is that? You just think it's a bad matchup or you don't think Bader's as good as Mo? No, I actually think it's a bad matchup for Ryan Bader. Interesting. So you wanted to get Bader first? And now you got what you want it. Absolutely. Exactly.

Now, I want to put that loss on his record before, first and foremost. And then, see, it works out better this way. Now I can put a L. on his record and then then Moe can fight him next. And what a story this is, because that was your last UFC fight, and now you get to be the guy

who welcomes him to his new home Bell tour, and now you're the champ. I mean, it just seems perfect. Oh, poetry almost, isn't it? It's a beautiful thing. It really is. Now, when's the last time you watched that fight, the first one between you two

in January of 2015 in Sweden? I think I watched one round, got pissed and turned it off. I don't think I ever watched the whole fight. You haven't watched it two and a half years later You've never been inclined just at late night one time Let me just see what happened here Did I really win this fight?

Because it was controversial Well I tell you what What to me it wasn't controversial Only because I mean I'm not gonna Protest it You know what I mean A loss is isn't doesn't

I mean once they say it's a loss I'm like alright cool Trying to move on and get better There's no There's no to me there's no like Oh I didn't really lose Forget that. Just, okay, you lost. Now what are you going to do? Right. So that's, that also went into me not watching it again. But now, now I have the opportunity. I'll check it out.

Oh, you know what, Eric, I'm going to make that promise to you. I'm going to check that video out this time soon. I think that's important. Now, let me check that out. But you say it's not controversial. Are you saying it's not controversial? No, no, I didn't say it wasn't controversial. I just said it didn't matter to me. because I had the loss of my record. That's all I care about. But to be clear, to be fair, you think you won that fight, though, right? You know, I don't even like to say that.

Okay. Because I like wins and losses. When you lose, there's no excuse to lose. And I don't want to say to, you know, Ryan, oh, no, you didn't really win, I really won. You know what, you won, and now I'm going to punish you for it. That's how I feel about it. when we spoke to Ryan when he when he signed with Bellator he was saying that we're going to see a different Ryan Bader now because his contract is different he gets paid differently he doesn't have to fight for a win bonus now he could just you know let it all out he knows what he's getting paid the second he steps in that that that cage and and there's a different kind of sense of urgency when when you know what you're getting paid as opposed to you know getting half of it to show up and half it to win the system that the UFC has made famous are you expecting to see a more aggressive Ryan Bader?

different kind of fighter on the 24th of June? What's so funny? You know, that could go both ways. He could say, now I'm comfortable to go out and fight the style I want to fight, or he could be showing up to take, you know, comfortably and take an ass-whiping. I mean, I mean, it goes both ways. once you know the money is yours, then maybe there's less incentive.

But we'll find out which one of those guys he is. So what you're saying is you're not buying what he's selling at this point. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it. Are you buying it, Arrow? I can see, I mean, look, I like that system better, if I'm being honest. So I like the fact that you know what you're getting paid regardless of outcome. And yeah, sure.

I mean, I could see someone saying, all right, I'm getting paid. I don't have to, you know, put forth my best effort, but I feel like he's going to want in his debut, new organization, big stage, he's going to want to impress. You know, he's going to want to put on a show. So yeah, I'm buying it. I assure you, he will put on a show, but it won't be the show he's thinking of. Right, right.

Well, it's great that this fight is happening. I'm sorry to hear that Moe is inactive and had to withdraw. Do you know what happened to him by any chance? I don't really know the whole story. I like to get those sort of things from a horse. his mouth, not the rumor mill. Yeah. So I don't really know, but all I really know is that he's out.

Okay. That's for sure. And so now this will be your fifth Bellator fight. You had the two-in-one night, and then you had the King Moe fight, and then, of course, you had the Liam McGarry fight. Thus far, I mean, you seem pretty happy. Any regrets? No.

No, no, no. I'm a happy dude. I mean, like, you look at some of the. complaints and issues going on in the UFC, we just had two on this particular show. And I know not everything is rosy on the other side of the fence. The grass is always greener, blah, blah, blah, but it seems like, you know,

this is a place that people are looking at these days. Fighters, big name fighters, like Ryan Bader, like Roy McDonald, you know, others, we can go through the whole list, everyone knows them. Do you feel like, okay, this, I mean, wow, I kind of got lucky here ending up here. I'm champion, life is good, I have my own sponsors. Is that how you're viewing everything?

that's how I'm viewing it. Yeah. You know, it's, some things are different, and I can live with that. But the things that are the same are the things that I care about. So, you know, I'm happy where I'm at, and I'm so very thankful to Spike and Bellator and Scott Coker. In the rest of the staff, the Bellator staff, they're freaking, as a team, they're just, they're awesome. Really? Okay. Yeah.

Why are you in Sweden? I'm here training with Alexander Gufferson. He's getting ready for a big fight with Glover Tashara. Right. And I got a couple tricks up my sleeve that I used on Glover to Cheshire. So I'm out here showing him some things. We're working on some stuff. And it's just good to be with my brother from another mother.

Yeah. I mean, this guy, I love training with him. It's just a great experience to be with him. Wait, is he right next to you right now? it sounded like you were like hitting something. Oh yeah. No, he's not. He's at home in bed.

I thought maybe you guys were bunking up. It's 11 o'clock here. I know, I know. You also have experience. That would be great though if we had bunk beds, huh? Oh, what a show? That'd be a great reality show. I don't know where it would air

because I was going to say Fight Pass. You can't be on that. I was going to say Bellator. That'd be a little weird for Alex. But somewhere someone should put this on television. Now, how long are you going to be? We need a non-biased network.

Exactly. Hey, MMA fighting.com. Whereas non-bi says it gets. At least we'd like to think so. There you go. How long are you there for? And would you have gone to Sweden had you already known about the title fight against Bader? I'm in Sweden for I guess another week. Okay.

Yeah, I mean, right now I'm on, I'm here for Alex, you know. this is help get my boy ready, send him in battle, prepared. So, yeah, I'm here for him. Okay. And how do you feel about these young guns coming out of Penn State? Got Ed Ruth, right? Taryl Fortune also. Is Trial Fortune from Penn State or Arizona State? No, he's not from Penn State, but we'll take him, though. Yeah, sure, sure. We love him.

Ed Ruth, I mean, is this someone that I was saying earlier that what I love about what Bellator is doing right now is that they're taking these guys who are oh no from college or other places. Aaron Pico, another one debuting on that same car, June 24th and building them up. Of course, I'm sure you know who Ed Ruth was before he signed with Beltrar, and I'm sure you know that he won on Friday as well. But have you been able to watch him and how do you feel about his progression as a fighter? Oh, absolutely. Ed's on his way, man. Ed's on his way. He's just, he's steadily improving and he's at a good camp. He's he's comfortable and he's just

taking little bites and learning the game he's going to be a super super stud in this sport pretty soon I'm super impressed with him Tyro Fortune too he's a stud he's a stud already man yeah I feel like they need to go to Penn State do a show headline with you there put Ed Ruth on the card I mean I feel like that would sell out in seconds

huh huh huh you know Ariel what I swear that's a great idea, man. That is a great idea. Have you pitched this? What should we call that? If you were going to theme that card, what would you call it? Oh my.

Bellator, let's just say 185. Let's just guess it'll be in that range because you have to fight at 1.80. It's probably 190. Nittany Lion. Okay. That doesn't work. What would you call it? I don't know This is your show

I don't know I'll just I'll just say Bellator I'm coming home Hey I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna take that up to the boss Please

And let's see if we can make that happen All right Let us know By the way When you beat Liam McGiri And afterwards on the mic He was kind of like saying Oh you didn't fight me

And you Phil Davis me And all that stuff Did that bother you? No No it didn't bother me That one single bit You know The worst thing

you can do as a loser is lose and not really know why you lost. He thought he got wrestled and everybody who watched that fight saw him lay on his back trying to do jujitsu that didn't work. And so, you know, part of me was like, well, he's throwing shade. You know, you should say something bad. And I was like, ah, he's already lost. He's very done. He's very done. defeated right now. Just let the man live. He's angry right now. So, you know, he really didn't upset me. He made himself a little bad because he's like, oh, I got wrestled. No, you laid on your back. There's, there's no way to win laying on your back unless I do something stupid and I didn't. Right. So you got mounted. You got mounted

more than 15 times. Like, you know, if you're a black belt, which I think he is, and your coach is Tenzo Gracie, which I think he is, that should be mountain escape should be something that you should know. You know, so something has to happen. Either you have to come to grips with the fact that, hey, I'm a BJJ black belt and getting out of Mount and Neon Belly is something I'm supposed to be good at or defending myself on the ground is what I'm supposed to do because that's what I do. Or you're not that. You're not that good. And that is not your game. Damn. that's what I would have said but I didn't say that I'm happy you saved it for this show are you expecting that at some point

they're going to try to make that rematch between the two of you and is there any part of you that thinks it won't go the same way that it did the first time yeah you know what I'm down with that they can make that fight any weekend they want would it go any differently I think part of me wants to say yes, it would go differently.

But I also think that he has gained so much confidence fighting off of his back and submitting guys off their back, off of his back, that I'm not sure that he can make the necessary adjustment because it's a paradigm shift. He's not talking about, we're not talking about a move here or there. He didn't shrimp, okay? You take a white belt, put them in class. You learn, first thing you learn, lay on your back, shrimp, okay? That's what you learned.

Day one. He didn't do simple, basic things. Wow. So he would have to go back to foundational skills. And I don't know if he's willing to do that. So that's what he's looking at. Wow, day one stuff you're saying. Day one.

You took Jiu Jitsu. Yes, yes. I do remember that, yes. Shrimp. Of course we know. And you shrimp. You shrimp with the best of them. Hip escape.

So if I did knee on belly, all right, and you're flat on your back, what's the first thing you would do? What? Get my knee off your belly? Well, given the kind of player that I am,

I would probably go for a go-go-plata, but I'm not, I'm a little unconventional. Conventional wisdom says you shrimp. Couldn't even say that with a straight face. All right. 24 minutes later, let's just say you're still,

bottom and you still have it escaped. Yes, yes. Knee on belly. What would you do a 24 minute mark? Yes. I mean, first I would probably go one last ditch effort arm bar, but then I would do the hip escape. Or maybe like a toll hold, you know, a knee bar.

You know, you always got to go for finishes. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I hear it. Well, I'm happy that everything is going well for you over there. It has been a while since we've talked. I feel like ever since you won the bell. you got a little Hollywood on us.

Oh, you better stop. Oh my God. I mean, here you are. You're right. I'm coming back on next Monday. Next Monday I'm coming back on. Every Monday up until the fight. Every Monday up until the fight.

Have you ever competed when you were a wrestler? Did you ever compete in MSG or will this be the first time? No, I never competed at MSG. It was, I think the national championship was held there either a year or two after I graduated. So I missed out and all the fun, but I heard it's an amazing thing. Wow, yeah, I mean, to put it mildly, it's only the world's most famous arena.

Amazing is actually an insult. Yep. By bad. You know, the one thing that I do appreciate about you is that you recognize that, look, at the end of the day, no knock on the pay-per-view. That's just the day and age that we live in. Same with the UFC.

more people are going to watch the cable fight. And so your fight is probably going to be watched by more people than any fight on the pay-per-view. So it doesn't really matter, right? Unless you have pay-per-view points and you want it to be on the pay-per-view. Exactly. And I mean, exactly. I mean, it really, it really, and there's other ways. There's other incentives involved, too.

But either way I'm taking care of. Okay. You're happy. Life is good for Mr. Wonderful. I'm happy. Well, that's most important to me. Yeah, it'll be a good night for sure. All right.

Any final prediction? I mean, because let's be honest, a lot of people didn't like that first fight. They thought at times it was a little slow. What's the prediction here? How are you going to get people to, you know, to change their opinions on Ryan Bader versus Phil Davis as the kind of matchup that it is? Well, I would tell you this. To anybody who thought that I am sorry, I will also tell you.

that that fight was aired live in the United States, and we are nine hours ahead, which means that the pay-per-view started here in Stockholm, Sweden at 4 in the morning. You shouldn't do anything at 4 in the morning, okay? If you're driving home at 4 in the morning, don't. Okay? If you're checking emails at 4 in the morning, don't. Don't do anything except sleep at 4 in the morning. Okay.

That's what everybody should be doing at 4 in the morning. So you actually didn't get acclimated to the time change? What's that? You didn't get acclimated. It was just, it was a weird night for you. Right, right. So here's what happens. So you could, there's two schools that thought.

And it's a, it's a crap shoot either way. So you can either come out early and get acclimated to the time and then get up and fight it four in the morning, which is still dumb. Right. Which I just want to preface this with, it's still dumb. Okay. But, so we tried to stay on California time, on Pacific time. Okay. And we were getting up every morning at 3 a.m., training at 4.

No, I think we were getting up at like 2, training at 4 and trying to stay on Pacific time the entire time until the fight night. So, and here's what ended up happening. So throughout the week, you have to do, you know, different media obligations and this and that, local TV radio and just media scrums, all that stuff, normal stuff. Yeah. But that's all, that's all at like a normal decent time, 11 o'clock, 1 o'clock, 10 o'clock. But that's during my sleeping time. Yep, yep. so it just it was just a ridiculous

and the whole thing okay if I could redo something I would have remove myself from that fight card it was just if I could it was just hard if you try to I try to explain it to people getting ready for a fight is like planning a wedding

outside in Seattle you know what I mean anything can happen sure most likely it'll suck Well, the good news is the rematch is happening on the eastern time zone and is happening MSG. This is pretty damn cool that you're getting a chance to fight there. Going from the Stockholm Erickson Globe Arena in the middle of the night, I was there. I remember it. It was a very bizarre situation to be in as far as covering a fight.

I can't imagine actually fighting in the fight at 4 in the morning. This time, that won't be an issue. So that is great news. And I'm happy that they put this title fight on that. big card, the big MSG debut. Of course, hope that King Mo's okay. I actually reached out to him to find out what happened exactly just so we can get an update, but I haven't heard back yet, so we'll let everyone know when we hear from him.

And I appreciate you coming on so late there. Do you usually go to bed at this time in Stockholm? Is this when it lights out for you? You know, I'm still a little bit jet lag. Oh, okay. Yeah, I've been here for a little while, and I'm still jet lagged. It kind of takes a while to get yourself on this time, at least for me. We kept you company. This was fun.

So we kept you company. Well, I was going to say that I've been taking Tylenol PM. Okay. So you're very tired right now. So, yeah, so you delayed my, you delayed my. I'm sorry. When I take my pills, but that's all right. Okay. We'll let you get your pills.

Good luck in the fight, and I'm looking forward to seeing you. And I'm happy that, you know, you finally squeeze us. in that you're no longer too big time for us now that you're a champion. Ariel, I'll see you next one day. Don't you start this again. Thank you, Phil. Good luck. All right.

Thank you. And thank you everybody else. All right. There he is. Phil Davis, the reigning defending UFC, I should say, Belator, light heavyweight champion. He is, as he just mentioned, defending his title on June 24th against

Ryan Bader. headlining act of the spike TV portion of the card. And so what they're doing is they're calling that Bellator 180. And then the main card, the pay-per-view, is Belator NYC. And that has been set now. We know the five fights. It's Chale-Sullin v. Van der LeSilva.

It's Fyodor Amalienenko versus Matt Matrion. It's Douglas Lima versus Lorenz Larkin. It's Brent Primus versus Michael Chandler for the lightweight title. The Lorenz Larkin fight is for the Walterweight title. and as we talked about earlier, it's Aaron Pico versus Zach Freeman. Now we're getting King Mo versus, excuse me, Ryan Bader versus Phil Davis. And we're also getting James Galaher versus Shenzhou Machita,

among many others. The reason I was a little bit off there was because Mo was actually texting me as I was talking. And so I'm trying to get some clarity. It seems like he had an injury that was bothering him for some time and it finally officially precluded him from training. So it's hard to talk and type at the same time. All right, that does it for the interviews today.

I want to thank the Marines for all their support for being a part of the show. Once again, thank you very much to the Marines. Marines.com is where you can learn more about them. Every Marine has the willingness to engage and the determination to defeat any adversary. Failure is not an option. They will keep battling until they win. Every value tradition and lesson learned from battle. are imbued in every Marine.

It's what they're all made of. And it's how the Marine Corps develops quality citizens. Marines don't fight for glory. They fight for honor. They live by a code that isn't written or spoken. It is lived. Marines.com. Check them out.

New York, Rick? You've been very quiet today for some reason. Did I do something? Did I say something that offended you? He hates me so much. I gave him 11 guests to track down. And it all started on the wrong foot because our first guest went long

and essentially that's a domino effect to where he has to call everyone and delay them by 10, 15 minutes. So you really you really got your money's worth back there, right? I mean, we certainly put you into overtime, overdrive.

I want to thank all the wonderful guests of our show who made it very easy to do. They were all very accommodating. They were all very kind, all very nice. Is there anything you want to say to the people before we say goodbye? I do.

Okay, go ahead. The floor is yours. I've talked enough today. Happy birthday, Mom. Today's her birthday. It is her birthday. Wow. 24, 25?

Now, she told me she was watching, but I don't know if she's still with us at this point. Okay. What are you trying to say? It was a long one. Hey, the viewers, I mean, they stuck around. Look at the numbers. Numbers never lie, my friend. Happy birthday to your mom.

24, 25? Yom hulead et Saméééch. Oh, she'll appreciate that. Yeah. Well, that's great. That's it. That's all I got. Well, King Moe says he has a nagging injury. So that's the update from King Mo.

I do have something to say about Mr. New York Rick. Next week, we will be debuting a new segment on this program. It's called Rick's Picks. You may have heard of it. And essentially what this is, it's the return of Rick's Picks, but it's with a different spin. What this is is, what this is, is, it's a lot of is. A lot of things happen over the span of seven days.

in M.M.A. And Mr. New York Rick, unbeknownst to me, I will have nothing to do with this, we'll pick out three things that really caught his eye over the past week. An interview, a fight, a finish, a signing, a betting line, anything. It could be a quote. It could be a video,

a wacky video. Whatever you want, it'll almost be from the mind of Mr. New York, Rick. What has caught his eye over the past week in MMA? And back in the day, we had something called Rick's picture. with the gambling and all that. This is a different variation on that. Are you excited about this?

I'm super excited about this. Will it be sponsored right off the bat? I mean, the people at SB Nation and Vox get on it. Yes. But what I want to say is I'm not all knowing and all seeing, although at times it feels that way. I need people to send me stuff. So over the course of the week,

if you think you got something for Rick's picks, send it to me. I want to see it. A prospect, an up-and-comer, you know. Anything. A person, a video, a quote. The fact that CM Punk is going to be on the challenge. Yes, what's up with that?

That would have... That would have been... You know what? Made the cut? No, it already made the cut. Rick's pick for this week. You're going to watch the challenge with CM Punk on it. When does that debut?

May 24, I want to say. Did you know about this? I had no idea. As people may know, the challenge is my favorite thing. I think it's the four... the fourth major sport in America, coined by Bill Simmons. And I can't believe that the worlds are colliding.

Now, I don't imagine there's going to be much MMA involved in it, other than the fact that CM Punk is now an MMA fighter on the show. But this week's Rick's pick is the challenge with... It's an extra. It's almost like an exhibition. This is the perfect week because there's only one

when it involves the challenge. That's it. Now, here's the thing. I saw Victor Cruz's hosting. What? We need T.J. Lavin. T.J. Levin is the host of the challenge. So whoever is over there at MTV

messing things up. By the way, isn't the challenge usually like real world versus road rules? Yeah, it is. It is. So he's not a special like celebrity one. Oh, so it's all celebrities. Yeah, apparently. I mean, I don't recognize many of the other names.

Sure. He's the biggest name by far. CM Punk, I mean. Dang. They're bringing out the big guns. But that's it. Watch the challenge. It's the best show on television. Sure.

I used to be a big real world guy, but, you know, I became a father. I think you just pitched real world Stockholm. Yeah, that's right. Alex, and it did really seem like Phil Davis was sitting right next to him because he was like this guy, and then you heard like a little bang. He's slapping him on the knee? Yeah, I don't know. It felt like they were hanging out.

Maurice Smith is in the Hall of Fame. Miguel Torres retired last week. As I said, D.C. Jones, it's going down. on July 29th, Chris Cyborg, GDR, Germain Durandami. They want that to be on the card in Anaheim, but it's not done. Seemed to have a hard time locating Germain, who is also celebrating her birthday today I saw on Twitter. Sage Northcutt's sister, Colby Northcutt, is going to make her pro-MMA debut for LFA, Legacy Fighting Alliance in June. What else do we have?

Oh, yeah, World Series of Fighting became the Professional Fighters League. I don't know if they're going to be sad that we didn't talk about them or mad or happy. They're a very sensitive bunch over there. And I kind of feel like, you know, all press is good press at this point. But they don't like when I talk about them for some reason. Yeah, maybe we'll talk about that tomorrow. Next week, I spoke a lot about them on the MA beat. So if you want to hear my thoughts on this new organization that's going to revolutionize the sport,

you can check out the MMA beat. John Volante versus Patrick Cummins is happening on Long Island, Korean zombie, and Ricardo Llamas were talked about for that card, but it's not official just yet. The Ultimate Fighter debuted last week, but didn't do great ratings. Elias Theodore versus Brad Tavares and Teruto Ishihara versus Gray Maynard added to Tough 25 finale.

Five years ago, yesterday was Guillermo Cruz's debut on the M.A. Hour. He informs me on G-Chet. And last but not least, I wish I had some music for this. Travis Brown and Ronda Rousey. Our time are not. Now, here's my question regarding Travis Brown and Ronda Rousey as we approach the four and a half hour mark when I completely lose my mind.

Are we allowed to ask them questions about it now or is that still a taboo thing? I mean, once you're getting married, is it okay to talk about it? Or are we still crossing the line when we ask people about their relationships that they are open about on other outlets like TMZ and whatnot? But apparently when it comes to the MA media, it's a no-known, a faux point. huh. I'm not, do you know the answer to that or are we not quite? I think we're okay now. Oh, we are okay now.

They broke the news themselves, I guess. How stage was that whole thing with them just kind of walking? There's no one else on the street and the questions. I mean, it almost felt like it had been rehearsed. Did you see the video? I did not. But go back and watch it. Well, next time, somebody sent me that for Rick's picks.

There you go. That would have been. Last thing before we go. Confirmation here from T.J. Lavin. Saying that. Did you actually tweet? Cruz is going to be awesome as a host on the show. Did you tweet him?

Somebody tweeted me and was like, yeah, but where's T.J. Levin? I was like, that's a great point. And they tagged T.J. Levin. And I said, is not going to be the same. He said, Victor Cruz is going to be awesome. Just now, breaking news. So we heard from the godfather of the challenge. That sounds like a guy who has left the show amicably or not and is trying to put a happy face on the whole situation.

That sounds like a guy endorsing Victor Cruz, New York's own, Victor Cruz as the host. So you know what? If he gets the stamp from TJ gets the stamp from me. Sure, sure. Sure, sure, sure. And hopefully he gets the stamp from CM Punk, who's going to be a competitor on the show. All right. Okay, so that is something to look out for next week.

We have stayed far too long, so we have to say goodbye now. But in all honesty, Mazel Tov, too, the happy couple of Travis Brown and Ron Rousey. It's always nice to see love in this crazy world, and we wish them nothing but the best. You can hit my music. We are out of time. 11 guests, my friends. 11 guests on this show. I'm not going to say another word to anyone, including my own family, for the next

24 hours. It kind of feels like this whole room is spinning right now, if I'm being honest. We talked to a lot of people. We found out a lot of things. And, uh, wow, did we start off with a bang with Ally Quinta earlier today? Getting all kinds of text messages about Alia Quinta. That was something. That was an MMA hour moment if there ever was one. And how about my Utah Jazz? How about them? Tying it up. I so Joe. Thank you very much to the Utah Jazz PR team for giving me a shout out. I'm feeling the love. I don't feel the love for my other basketball team, but I am all in. We are going to win game five, and then we're taking it back to Salt Lake and winning game six, and then we're moving on to the next round. And we're going to play the Grizzlies, by the way,

and yes, I'm calling us we. I'm all in. Rudy Gober is back. This is good stuff. Playoffs are great. I'm a little sad about the Canadians not being involved anymore, but the senators will get it done, and the James Dolan-led Rangers will be going home sooner rather than later. for now we'll say goodbye. Thank you very much to Ally Quinta for stopping by. Congratulations on the victory. Thank you very much to Chris Widman. Interesting stuff from him. Looking forward to seeing what's next. Thank you very much to Hafeldos Santos. Good luck, June 17th. Good luck to Holly Home on June 17th as well. Thank you very much to Aaron Pico. Great to meet him for the first time. Thank you very much to Pearl Gonzalez. How great was she? Great stuff. Thank you very much, Adi Attaar. Congratulations, Mike Perry. All the best of Frank Meir. Thank you very much to Robert Whitaker. for waking up early. And thank you very much to Phil Davis as well. Back next week, same time and play still today. Peace, I'm out of you.