MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 379

Episode Date: May 1, 2017

Ariel Helwani speaks to Dominick Cruz (00:06:52), Valérie Létourneau (00:34:54), Artem Lobov (00:54:16), James Gallagher (01:14:35), TJ Dillashaw (01:39:23), Megan Anderson (01:56:24), Antonio Tarver (02:18:05), Anderson Silva (02:49:44), and NewYorkRic (03:31:19) for Ric’s Picks and a recap of the week in MMA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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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, May 1st, 2017. Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani back inside our New York City studio. Hope you had a lovely weekend. I sure did.

Thank you all for asking. You know, it was a relatively quiet one in the world of mixed martial arts, but I was okay with that. a lot of fun things going on for my family, my brother and his sister-in-law, welcomed into this great world their first baby girl on Thursday. So that was very exciting. And then my oldest son Oliver turned five yesterday. And as I think I've said on this show before, I kind of make a big deal about my kids' birthday parties.

I kind of go a little crazy. I can't even fathom what I'm going to do when they turn 13 bar mitzvah or, I don't know, 18, something like that, because 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, I go crazy. Yesterday we had a nice science theme party. I was never a big science kid growing up, but my son seems to be into science. And it was a lot of fun. We made

all kinds of experiments. It was a great time. So I enjoyed that very much. I love giving out the loop bags, cutting the cake. I got a huge cake. Ninja Turtles cake. Pay $250 for this cake, but it was all worth it. My wife thought I was crazy, but I loved every second of it. So that was

this past weekend. Of course, MMA as I said, quiet, but if you are a fan of combat sports, and I'm guessing if you're watching the show or listening to it, you are a fan of combat sports, even if you're not really a big boxing fan. I hope you took some time out of your day on Saturday afternoon to watch the Anthony Joshua v. Vladimir Klitsko fight, Wembley Stadium, 90,000 fans.

Unbelievable. And I want to talk a little more about this fight later on, not so much breaking it down what it all means for boxing necessarily, but it's so funny to me when I hear people say that boxing is dead. And you hear this all the time in the buildup to this potential Floyd Mayweather, Khan of McGregor fight, you hear this from people, oh, boxing needs this fight because it's dead. Any sport, any event that's drawing 90,000 people, even, and you can say, oh, it's a one-off. Okay, big deal.

90,000 people. And I can guarantee you the next time Anthony Joshua fights, if it's against Tyson Fury, it will draw the same. If it's against Deonté Walder, it would draw similar. What a performance, what a fight. What a moment in the 11th when Joshua finally won. He is a star. He is unbelievably talented.

Very exciting to watch. It was great to see the crowd, the theatrics, the lighting. And it was so cool that it was live on Showtime. And then it aired in prime time on HBO. So to see those two entities who haven't always gotten along come together. Great night for boxing. Great day for boxing. Really great.

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that boxing is dead, that it's irrelevant, no new stars. This weekend, we've got Canello versus Chavez Jr. The thing about boxing is they have to recognize when it is, when it makes sense to put a fight on pay-per-view and when it makes sense to put a fight on HBO or Showtime or somewhere else. That's been their problem. I don't know if boxing right now can draw all that much on pay-per-view,

even with the best of fights. I mean, there's obviously the Floyd's, and maybe not even the manis of the world, but that's pretty much it. Even, you know, like Andre Ward, when he fights Kovalov, that doesn't draw on paperview. But they're still putting on big fights, relevant fights, exciting fights. There's a lot of stars. And look at the MMA world.

UFC's not doing all that great on pay-per-view either. There's a handful of fighters, MMA boxing, that could draw on pay-per-view. Connor, Rhonda, we'll see about John Jones, we'll see about GSP, Floyd, maybe Manning, maybe Triple G. But that's pretty much it. So it's no knock if they're not doing great on pay-per-view. Great night for boxing. And the big lesson, as I said on Saturday, is take a fight to the best market possible, to the biggest market possible for that fight,

where it will succeed and come off as a really special thing, as a big deal. Take it there and watch the people come in in droves. And I know that 211 is great, but I still can't understand why it's on happening in Cleveland. Miochich comes across as a star, a superstar in Cleveland, a massive star in Cleveland. Why is it happening in Dallas? What do Steve Miochich and Junio Dostanto and Jessica and Drudge and Ewanio and Jacek have anything to do with Dallas? I want to see the UFC do this more. You announce an event in Edmonton.

Well, who's on the card as far as the headlining act that's going to relate to the Edmonton fans? Now, the first time you go to a market, I get it. It makes sense. It'll usually draw well. But second, third, fourth time, you got to take a fight and put a, the best market possible for that fight. You saw what happened. Anthony Joshua versus Vladimir Klitschko in, I don't know, Boston or Florida doesn't draw 90,000 people. It's not rocket science. Anyway, we'll talk more about that later on in the show. Let me run down today's

lineup. It is stack once again. We have a super late edition. I'm so excited about today's show. A lot of great characters and people we haven't talked to in a while. It's going to be great. Okay, this is the lineup. Just announced moments ago on Twitter at 3.30. We're going to be joined by Anderson Silva, what's going on with him? Is he fighting in Rio? What's happening? What's going on with the whole middleweight division? It's somewhat of a mess.

Anderson Silva is going to be on at 3.30. Do not miss it. 310, we're going to be joined by Antonio Tarver. There's a lot to talk to him about, as far as boxing is concerned, boxing MMA, and even his connection to MMA these days. Former light heavyweight champion. Antonio Tarver will stop by at 310. 2.45 will be joined by Megan Anderson.

Looking forward to talking to her. She is the Invicta Featherweight Champion. and she's in the news these days as well. What is going on in that featherweight division? Is J. Duranemey going to vacate the title? What is happening? Is Cyborg going to fight before her contract is up? What is going on?

T.J. Dillishal will stop by a 225. Talk about a Tupacob, Kodi Garbrand, all that and more. Looking forward to talking to him. James Galaher will stop by a 205. Talk about his Beltor 180 fight against Shenzhou Machita. Always great to talk to James. His teammate, Artem Lobov.

We'll talk about the main event lost to Cub Swanson at 145. 125 will be joined by one of the newest members of the Beltor roster, Valerie Latourneau. She's fighting a 125 pounds, and they just announced a whole bunch of other fighters in that division as well. But now, first off, right off the bat, let's go to one of the best guests we've ever had. And it's been a while since we've had them on the program. I've been trying to get them on for quite some time. But the time is now, my friends. The time feels right.

Four months removed since his last fight, we're now joined by the former UFC Bantamweight champion won Dominic Cruz. Dominic, are you there? Well, I think I hear him. Dominic, are you there? Yeah, I'm here. Can you hear me? I can hear you just fine. Thank you for joining us, Dominic. I appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me, Ariel. How are you doing, man? I'm doing great. It's been a while since we've had you on the show, and I've been trying to get you on for a while, and I feel like this is a good time. We are essentially exactly if this was a 31-day month, four months removed from your last fight against Cody Garbrand, from when you dropped the title.

What is life like without the belt? You've had experience with this, and you've seen. spoken very eloquently about not being champion, but it had been a while since you actually suffered a defeat in your sporting life. What's it been like? Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's like, if you think about it, it comes down, it comes down to losing as part of this game and you got to, you got to eat it and just move forward. You know, one of my favorite quotes is, for success, like happiness, cannot be pursued. It must insubes. And that's by Victor Frankel. And I love to quote just because you can't count on one thing to be happy.

You got to, it's a constant thing. Win, lose, or draw. Everything comes into the same circle, depending on how you view it. And so I'm happy either way. It was a learning experience. It wasn't fun to lose. Losing sucks. I'm a prideful individual that hates losing like anybody else.

at the next level I would even say I hate losing but depending on how you view it depending on how you wrap it up it can also be a gift and it can be something that you can be happy about in the end if you focus right and you can key on the real things that need to be keyed in on

the experience that you had with the knee injuries and the time off do you think that prepared you for the loss in other words had you not gone through that and still remain undefeated for all those years and then suffered your first loss in 10 years do you think you would have took it even harder? Well, I don't know. I've always been a pretty fair sport.

I just haven't lost in 10 years, so nobody got to see it. The last time I lost was to your eye of favor, and I wasn't the nicest about that because he's a prick, and he runs his mouth and told a bunch of lies about me, and so I was after him from then on. But now, at this point, I've had plenty of opportunities to get my own life out there,

my own personality, my own mindset, and I think people have a better understanding of what's going on in my life and who I am. And I said it a million times, the loss doesn't define me, a wind doesn't define me, it's just how I live every single day, trying to move forward. So it is what it is. I think that the irony in the matter is that my knee injuries, while they prepared me for life outside of losing in the loss column, like it kind of helped me understand the things

I can't control and all that. All the things I learn from my knee surgeries, I think, are possibly some of the reason why I also lost. So that's irony in the matter. You know, I didn't kick for three years. I didn't have all my tools in that fight that I think I've shown in a lot of my fights prior to the knee surgeries. And so that's what's been focused on since the fight is just, you know, getting my old habits to be habits again. instead of coming off a three-year layoff, year layoff, few ACL injuries, and then making do with what my body gave me at that point.

And thank God I was able to win a world title under those stipulations after the layoff, not kicking in three years, not wrestling in three years, being out of shape, all that stuff. And again, this is no excuse. This is just the path I had to take. So I think that the things I learned through the knee surgeries are also some of the reasons why I wasn't quite as fluent as I could have been on that night with my kicks. And I think that that made a big deciding factor in the outcome of that fight as well. If the Dominic Cruz who fought Demetrius Johnson in 2011 was 100% healthy,

let's just pretend you're 100% healthy, you don't go through the knee injuries at that point. What are you at against Cody Garbrand? Do you feel like you're at 80% that you'll never get back to where you were? No, I think I'll get back there. I think that the problem was not that I can't be or won't be back to where I've ever been. In fact, I think in a lot of ways I'm better than I was against Demetrius. It's just certain weapons you can't utilize with certain injuries. So you transfer your exercises to different portions of your body and different techniques and different martial arts.

You focus on different martial arts depending on what's injured on your body. If my hands are broken, then I'm going to throw a thousand kicks a day. If my ankle hurts, then I'm going to throw a million punches a day. It goes back and forth. And with my knees the way they were, I was not able to throw kicks. And so it just changed my game a little. But it didn't make it worse. And it's not that I'm worse than I was in.

It's just that I had to fight a little bit different. Now it's just a matter of getting those habits back. Like I said, they're there. I know how to use them. It's just a matter of getting my body to react instead of think. Are you ready to start training for another fight, or do you want to take some more time off? No, I've been training. I don't really stop.

I just had to give my body a little rest from the beat down to martial arts for a couple months. I fought those three fights last year. That's three title fights against some of the best guys in the world, back to back. After, you know, at the layoff, I had, that was a good year for me. I put a lot of work in. And so I took a little bit of time, three, four months of taken to just heal. You know, I've been training. I shot stem cells into both of my feet.

I shot stem cells into my shoulders just to make sure everything just I take a second and I marinate and heal, marinate and rest and just, you know, let my body get 100%. And then I'd like to come back and fight for the title. That's my goal. You know, there was nothing that was just complete. I wasn't completely out of that fight come that fifth round. I was still in the fight. I was still in the fight.

I was in the fight the entire. at times. So I definitely want to get another shot at that. And that's what I'm looking for and focused on more than anything is fighting the winner of TJ goes shot 40 Garber. That's what I want. Okay. I think that's what the fans want. So the plan is wait for that fight to play out July 8th and then probably, you know, if everything goes well, you would only return in around December, January, just given how these things play out, right?

Yeah, I mean, if you really look at the big picture, I fought three times in one year when I fought Cody, Cody fought 30 seconds against Mizugaki, which is a guy knocked out in a minute before he knocked him out. So this is a game of inches, and every single fight you have, every single camp you put in is something your body sees and feels. I put in twice the work that Cody did in that year, and that's in camps, and that's in fights, and that's in media, and that's in everything in the sport. So now he's doing it.

Now he's got the title and now he's doing the media and now he's fighting T.J. Delsan. He's got the workload and he's got the responsibility of defending that belt against the best in the world. And I'm right here knocking on the door, just like he was knocking on the door, just like T.J. was knocking at the door, just like Faber was knocking at the door. I'm right here knocking on the door and I'm not giving that due to any space. I'm not going anywhere. Is the UFC on board with this? In other words, have they asked you, okay, what do you want to do? You've told them you want to fight for the belt.

You want to fight the winner and they're down? Well, I told him, I told Sean Shelby what I wanted to do. John Shelby is like, well, I don't know. I don't know if that's necessarily, you know, he doesn't know. He's saying he doesn't know. I'm saying this is what, this is what? This is the fight that wants that needs to happen at 135 pounds. I mean, there's three people in this division that people know, and it's me teaching and Cody. And the reason why you know us three is because I've been fighting these two people.

And I've been talking about them, and I've been building them on Fox and giving them a lot of shine. And I've also been bashed on them too. But the mixture of the entire thing has built the three of us. And I think that between the three of us, we could probably fight for 10 years and always have a good fight. But realistically, that's the fight that makes sense to me. It doesn't make sense to me to go down in the division. I'm the number one contender now. And to fight backwards in the division after the amount of title defenses I've had in the past

just doesn't, it doesn't even resonate or make sense to me. I'm here to fight the best in the world, to fight for the title. And I think that I've earned that position. And if I got completely, you know, to where I wasn't even in that fight, I could understand, but I was in that fight from beginning to end. And in that fifth round, I'd even say that I won. So there's still a case for me in this matchup. with Cody or T.J. either one of them.

There were some points in the fight where, I guess for lack of a better word, he was kind of mocking you. I mean, he was kind of playing around a little bit, and his confidence was growing. What do you make of that? Is that all fair in love and fighting, or do you think about that a lot?

Is that motivation for the rematch against Cody? How did you digest that? Yeah, you got to understand that it's all in how you look at it. That, to him, is entertaining to the people. That to him is entertainment, which is his, that's his prerogative. That's the type of person that he chooses to represent himself as.

That's fine. That's his choice. Me personally, rather than mock in and during the fight, I do it before, after the eight weeks before we fight, because in that octagon, instead of mocking, I'd rather try to do work to get the person out of the octagon to try to get him out of there and finish him. So, I mean, he had opportunities where he had me hurt, and maybe if he wasn't, trying to fool around and joke around, maybe he could have done better with me and got me out of there. I don't know. But the bottom line is that mocking didn't get him to finish. That mocking got him to

win, but that wasn't even what it was. That was just him trying to show how tough he is. And that's fine. It can't affect you, you know? That type of stuff can't affect you. You watch Anderson Silva do it for how many fights until finally Chris Wydenman shut him down. Right. So you can only do that for so long before it just gets annoying to the fans, annoying to the athletes. And it doesn't show, to me personally, that's not a championship mentality, but he has the belt so he can represent himself as a champion however he chooses to. And I have no and nothing to say about that.

That's his choice. Who do you think wins between T.J. and Cody and who do you want to win? I think Cody wins because I think that what's happening with that whole situation, being involved in tough talking, seeing what's going on, talking to Ludwig, talking to Dillard. I'm talking to Cody, talking to certain people as I move through the sport and do this analyst gigs. I think this beef really is Faber's beef. I mean, and I think Cody will pretty much listen to Faber, if Faber told him to jump off

the bridge head first, he would do it. So he's fighting Faber's fight for him, plus TJ's up for the belt. So it makes it easier for Cody to just say, FUTJ, plus my favorite mentor, coach, dad, uncle, whatever you want to call him, hates you too, so I really hate you. But I think really that the whole problem stems from Faber being upset because Ludwig was teaching good stuff and it was taking some of the shine from Faber in Faber's own camp. And so they had a separation. That caused problems with T.J. And realistically, in my opinion, if Faber was, you know, cared about T.J. as much as he said he did, then he would have let him leave and do what he needed to do to better his career as a friend and a coach.

Eric has told me several times If I ever need to leave our camp at Alliance and go anywhere, it wouldn't matter He would still manage me, he would still be my friend He wants to see me do best Wherever I think I need to go To be the best in the world And Trayor would never

My coach Eric Delferro would never disown me We would never have a problem We'd have this talk If you need to go, go Well, Faber couldn't do that It hurt his ego That his guy would go somewhere else and train with somebody that that TJ thinks is better than Faber.

And it hurt him that Ludwig was getting all the shine while he was at Faber's Camp because that's Faber's Camp. So that all being said, T.J. isn't just fighting Cody. He's fighting that entire camp. He's fighting Danny Castillo. He's fighting Faber. He's fighting Cody. He's fighting all his old coaches.

He's fighting all his old friends and family members. I think that mental strain and the loneliness that he's feeling on that show, and over this period of time is wearing on him, and I think that the mental aspects of that are what get him beat against Cody, not the technical aspects that TJ has. I think stylistically, TJ has the technique and the tools to beat a guy like Cody. He kicks slowly. He mixes and punches and kicks.

I think Cody has the edge and the power in the pocket, but TJ can make up the pocketwork with kicks, movement, and angles. And he's kicking a little bit more than I did against Cody, so I think that will play to his advantage. Um, but as for the mental game, I think that the fact that TJ is facing that whole camp, not just Cody Garbrandt, I think that's really wearing on TJ. I think it's going to keep wearing on him. I think the mental is what gets him beat against Cody. And is it fair to say considering Cody has the win over you that you're kind of hoping he wins so you get that rematch? Yeah. Realistically, me and TJ's fight was very competitive. It was a good fight. I won it fair and square in my opinion. But I could fight him again. be happy with that, but I lost it, Cody.

Of course, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to fight him immediately as soon as possible and get that loss back. I couldn't go right back into the octagon immediately because I needed to heal my feet a little bit. I mean, anybody who's had this thing that I have, Planner, Fash, Tenonitis will tell you, it's, it ruins runners careers, it ruins, you know, football players' careers, soccer, basketball, tons of sports. And I had to sit out, let my feet completely rest for a little while. and try to get them back to 100%.

You know, they're feeling better than they have in an entire year. So I'm pretty optimistic about this upcoming fight that I'm getting ready for next, whoever it is. I'll never forget that Post-Fight press conference when you showed up and you stood up the whole time and you, you know, you again, to me, like I go to a lot of birthday parties with my kids and people ask me what I do for a living. And usually they're like, ah, you cover cage fighting. What is up with that? and I've told parents time and again over the last four months, Google this. Google Dominic Cruz Post-Fy press conference UFC 207, and you'll see how great these individuals are, what kind of professionals they can be.

I mean, that to me is something that I can play for my kids when they lose a soccer match. Like, you just put out the blueprint how to deal with a tough situation. And I was more impressed with you that night in that moment than anything that you have done in victory as far as your MMA fighting career is concerned. And it was fascinating to see the juxtaposition of you. losing, showing up, and Rhonda losing and not showing up. How difficult was it for you to do that? And does it bother you when other fighters who suffer some kind of tough defeat don't come and at least address it? This is me, Ariel, and this is why I am the way that I am. It's a proven scientific

fact that unless you get to be yourself, act like yourself, say what you want, you have anxiety, you have stress, you have depression, you have all these things that are just driving you crazy every day because you're not you're holding yourself back after that loss to be honest it was it was something i looked forward to doing was standing in front of everybody and letting that out and the reason is i don't have to answer any more questions everything i needed to say about myself that fight losing winning just being me was said at that press conference and it needed to be said so i didn't have to sit on it and marinate in it and think about it and let it eat me away. I had to say that stuff.

Everything I said was from my heart and from my mind and I don't hold anything back. I just said it. So I think that's why it worked is because I meant it and I wanted to say those things because that is the way it's supposed to be. I think that we see so many people fight loss, fight when things don't go the way that the world perceives they're supposed to go. They fight it and they don't. flow with it. And then you're not learning from it. And the whole loss becomes a curse instead of,

you know, you never really could see a loss as a blessing unless you choose to wrap it up as a blessing, you know, and you have to learn from it. Because what else can I really do with it? Just sit and be sorry and sad about it. And then it does nothing for me. I might as well, make the best of it. And that's all I can do. Those are my two choices. Make the best of it or let it ruin me. And I choose to not let it stop me. I got to keep going forward. I got to keep moving, moving, moving, moving. And that's what that was about. It wasn't anything other than that and expressing myself. And I'm glad that it could come off in a way that people could understand. I mean, that's just, I always ask God to speak through me when I go speak. And whether you're,

whether you believe in God or not, it can be your higher power. But he's my higher power. And it keeps my mind sorted out sometimes. Then you had a soccer player for Arsenal, Hector Bellarine. I'm probably, butchering his name, but he's even tweeting out the video a couple days later after his team suffers a tough draw in one of their matches. You're being used as this inspiration in defeat. Does that kind of blow your mind that people, like, I feel like if someone says to me, tell me about Dominic Cruz. First things first, I'll mention, you know, the knee injuries and the fact that you were able to come back and win the belt. This is probably the second thing that comes to mind.

Is that crazy? Is that fair to you and what you've done in your, in your fighting career? Because this to me was so damn impressive what you did up there. Took so much courage. What's crazy to me is that the six world titles that I owned in 10 years' time and never lost doesn't even get brought up ever by anybody. It's always, you've had any of you're blown out, you've always, you've had a lot of injuries you've gotten through. Thank you for being an example of that for me, Don, and the way you handled that loss, and your Joe Rogan podcast was amazing. That's all I hear about. I don't even hear about any win I ever had, any title that I, beating Faber twice, fighting TJ coming back after three years, beating Demetrius, Johnson beating Scott Jorgensen to become the very first UFC Bannonwit champ ever. All these

things, never, because it's almost like it was perceived to happen. Like people expected that to happen. Nobody expected me to be a good at, be a fair loser, I guess. I don't know what people expected from me, but it's clear to me that the one thing that wasn't expected out of me was to be a fair minded individual through loss, through being beaten, because I've been successful for so long. And I was blessed to be successful for so long. I always said that. I never said that I deserved anything. I said that I earned it. I worked for it. Nobody deserves a thing. Everything we got can be taken from it's just as fast as it's given. Nothing's ours. That belt doesn't belong to me, no matter how many times it defend it, doesn't belong to Demetrius. It doesn't belong to Cody.

That thing is up for grabs every single time we win it. Nothing we have is ours. It's It's just, that's all just a facade. Amazing. Have you ever considered doing motivational speaking? Because the way your mind works, I feel like would be perfect for it. Yeah, I've heard that from people. And it's something that, you know, it's an avenue I think that I could possibly move into just because the things that I've been through, I've had to, I've had to motivate myself

for so many years, Ariel, coming from, coming from nothing to trying to move into something, this is self-talk. These are, these are things that I've done, mindsets that I've given. into myself to try to be successful coming from an area that thinks about a lot of negative. So this is just me being me and me sharing it with people as I move forward through the things that I've experienced. And really the opportunities to get to fight in front of so many people on the stage and test these mindsets out is what's made me who I am.

So I'm fortunate to have that too. And just a couple more things, Don, before we let you go, you're doing the broadcasting now and you've been doing this for a while, but now you're getting to be on the paper views sometimes alongside Annik and Rogan. And again, I'm not blowing smoke up your butt. I've told you this privately. I think you do a phenomenal job. I love listening to you, break things down. But it's also funny how at times it feels like you're kind of challenging, Joe.

Before it was sort of his sort of playpen to paint whatever kind of picture he wanted to paint as far as the broadcasting is concerned. And you've even been critical of it in the past. And at times, I feel like you kind of come back and say, well, not quite. You know, I don't really. And I love that. I love that sort of conflict. Is that something that you consciously do? or is it just coming up and have you noticed that conflict as well?

I don't really notice the conflict because me and Joe, to me personally, and I think Joe would agree, have a good chemistry. Great chemistry. I talked to them first. I talked to him a couple times. And what makes it cool working with Joe is he doesn't shut down when you do challenge. He doesn't get mad. He doesn't get offended.

He doesn't say he has a problem with it after the show ends. He's perfectly okay with everything, and so am I. And I think that's why the chemistry works with him and I, because he doesn't always agree with what I say. either. He's a jiu-jitsu-minded strategist when it comes to grappling. I'm a wrestling-minded strategist when it comes to grappling, and I mix the jiu-jitsu in with my wrestling. So he doesn't have the wrestling. He didn't focus on that. He focused on jihitsu and the finish, and that's his focus. So it changes the understanding of grappling completely when you have two styles mixed

into one compared to one style to be dominant. And jih Tjitsu is dominant in Joe Rogan's mindset. And to me, it's a mixture of wrestling and jiu-jitsu that makes jihitsu favorable in these fights these days with control. So as we discuss this during the fights, it just comes off as a good discussion to me. I'm not trying to challenge him. I'm just, he says certain things. And if I don't agree, I say I don't agree. I tell the world in my opinion. Now instead of just one opinion, you have two.

So I think that that's just the way I'm looking at it. I'm not looking at it like Joe's wrong and I'm right. It's more, let's see what, let's let's let the world bite onto these two opinions instead of this one opinion. And together, everybody can come up with what they think at home. Remember, the point of that job is to be bigger than yourself. It's not about me being right or Joe being right or trying to say, I'm the best. It's about putting the fighters out there, explaining what they're doing for them, explaining why they're fighting the way they're fighting, why their style makes them move this way, why they do what they do, and getting their stories out there.

there. This is their one stage for five to 25 minutes. And if I'm making this about me and I'm right, then what am I really doing? Then you're not doing your job. And then you don't do as good of a job as you can't. The reason why I think me and Joe work well together is because it has to be bigger than the fighter. When I speak, I'm speaking for the fighter on the fighter's behalf. I'm speaking for all fighters and to get the style out there so people can understand. And when you make something bigger than yourself, good things happen. Passion gets behind it. And it's, it becomes selfless and it becomes good. And I think that that's why it works out. And for

the record, I'm not suggesting that you guys don't get along or that you don't compliment each other. In fact, I think that you're the perfect yin to his yang, and I think it works beautifully, and I get the impression that Joe is an ego-free broadcaster, which is a rarity in broadcasting, and that's why I think it works so well. I love it. I love the dynamic.

One last quick thing before I let you go, Demetrius Johnson moves up to 135 right now and is in the conversation with you, Cody, T.J. Can he hang with you guys? or is the discrepancy too big? Should he stay at 125 in your opinion? Realistically, and I mean this because I've fought him. I think that he does great against both Cody and T.J.

Because I've seen their styles. And I think that I beat him against. I love the guy. I do. I think that he's probably one of the nicest human beings I've ever known in my entire life. And I have nothing but respect for him. there's not a lot of people that I've fought that are still cool with me after I fight him but certain people are he's one of them we have neutral respect me in that guy doesn't mean

we won't fight 10 times for you people out there watching but it does mean that there's respect there you know now other people we don't really get along like that mean Cody just can't get along like that anytime I talk to him he tries to challenge me and I can't give him a second so I got a challenge in that next thing you know he's throwing a temper tantrum so it doesn't work with guys like Cody it only he works with guys like Demetrius who are level-headed, calm, cool, collected, see the bigger picture. And that's one thing I like about him, and that's why he's been such a dominant champion. He doesn't get emotionally overridden ever.

He stays very calm and he's always good. So I think that he'd be, with all those reasons and the style that he fights, I think that he'd be too quick for both T.J. and Cody. Now, do I think that they have more power and they're stronger than him? Yes. but after watching the way Demetrius fought Wilson you can see the difference

and he can change his style up according to each style that he faces and make the best win scenario for himself and that's something I focused on my whole career and I think that the speed that he has and how tough he is to hit and the fact that Cody or T.J.

don't really wrestle or grapple at all in their fights I think that that makes a good matchup for Demetrius. Now, real quick, TJ did fight, or did grapple his last fight, right? We saw him take down Linneker and grind him out. The problem is, Linneker is a stationary power throwing target. Demetrius Johnson moves his feet, floats nonstop, never stops moving, never sit still. The takedowns won't be the same, and he's much quicker than Lineker.

So that would be the problem with those two gentlemen trying to wrestle Demetrius, whereas me, I have a different game plan when I fight that guy and I'll never give it away. What a treat it is to talk to you, Dominic. I really appreciate it. I know you have to go so we'll let you go, but thank you for squeezing us in. And great to hear everything's going well. Keep up the phenomenal work on television,

and I hope that we get to see you in that title fight sooner rather than later. Thanks so much, Dom. Me too. Make sure if you guys want to see that fight, throw the word out there. Let's get it, let's get talking about it because I think that's a big fight

coming up in the Horizon Me versus the winner of that Cody T. And I think that can do amazing things and it'll be fun to watch. hard to disagree with that thank you dom i appreciate it thanks ariel all right there he is dominic cruz gosh what a pleasure it is to talk to that man it is just so fascinating you could talk to him for hours we do have to let him go he has to go train

um all right let's move along as i said at the top beltor has been very busy these days and they've zeroed in on their 125 pound women's division they've added some big names over the last week or so none bigger than valerie latourneau former ufc title challenger she was in attendance a couple weeks ago out in a belator event and she has officially signed with the promotion. Let's get her on to talk about signing with Bellator and her future in that division. She is on right now. Valerie, how are you? Hi, Ariel. I'm good. How are you? I'm very good. Thank you for standing by. We appreciate your patience. So congratulations on the big news. How long prior to signing with Belator were you in talks with

them? Oh, since I got released from the UFC, I would say even before that, it's something that I had in line for a while, even before my last flight in the UFC. I felt like I couldn't keep making 115 and I still have five fights left in my contract, so I just realized that there's no way I can make five more time 115. I'm just, this is just not possible. And every time I'm making it, it takes me so long before I can get back at training and gain my string back. So I wish we would have had the 125-way class in UFC, but it was just not happening. So did you ask them to get released or was it just perfect timing that when you were feeling you couldn't make the way anymore, they parted ways with you? Well, there's a distinction that I had with them after the last fight.

They even told me themselves that they don't want me to make $1.50 anymore. It's just dangerous every time I was doing it. We were more concerned that something really bad happened to me. So they offered me to fight at 135 and I was not interested to fight at 135. I've lost so much weight since I got down to 115. My body has changed so much. I was already a small 135er, and then I just got smaller. So it makes no sense to me.

So this is when I said, like, just didn't release me. If you cannot make me fight at 125 and I don't want to fight at 135, what's the point to get stuck in the contract? So after this fight happened at 145, I think they just told me they were not ready to open 125. they release me. So that gives me a chance at least to keep to keep fighting. When you posted the message on your Instagram, I think some people thought that you were maybe retiring.

And I'm wondering if you didn't get this opportunity with Bellator, would you have retired? Yes. You know, I didn't want to say it like that, obviously, because it's good for a negotiation or whatever. But in my heart, the only promotion I was interested to fight for and motivated to fight for was Beator. and I think it's a great opportunity that I have

that they want to invest in that flyway division they just sign a couple more girls and I know they're going to promote these girls so that was a really good time for me to jump into battle. Why do you think the UFC is so hesitant to start a 125 division

and do you think that it is a big mistake that they're sort of skipping over this division? You know, I don't think they're going to get in trouble because they're not fighting, you know, they're not heading this way, They're doing great. But, you know, the problem is I think a few girls fighting at 115 would go to 125. A few girls fighting at 135 would go down to 125.

And they don't, they already don't have enough girls fighting in those both weight classes. And I think that was just a big mistake to have 145 before. They don't even have girls to fight at this weight class. So now they're stuck with this. They need to build that weight class. And I think this is what they're going to find. focus on for the moment, probably maybe next year and two years, and they're going to open 125, hopefully.

We had Hafeld Dosangos on the show last week, and he said that prior to his fight against Eddie Alvarez in July, when he was fighting as 155-pound champion, he passed out for three minutes, and it was very scary, and they were close to calling off the fight. And you've talked about some of the issues that you've had cutting down to 115. Did you ever get to the point where you thought that you were going to die as well? the worst was when I thought Yohano and I think you can talk to Bigfoot I think you can talk to

Mark Hahn because I was sitting between them but really I had to take me to the hospital right after we in I couldn't even I couldn't even drink I couldn't even eat I couldn't even speak I couldn't I don't know if you remember but we did an interview as soon as I walked out yeah the stage and I couldn't stop shaking I couldn't stop shaking and then I didn't even walk I just make it to my chair and then after that I was done I couldn't move I was so cold so cold inside I feel like all my bone was knocking on each other and uh they had to give me IV I was going to die you know you're not supposed to have IV but you get to this point I had to push so my blood pressure when I started cutting away was 80 over 35 wow this is how low can you just imagine how I was feeling

try to have a conversation just try to even think properly you're using I was losing my voice voice, vision, I couldn't even ear properly. So you just think your heart is gonna stop. And it's really mentally just stay strong and say, okay, I'm gonna make it tomorrow, talking to my buddy, talking to my legs, we do this, you know, we're gonna do this. I'm talking to my buddy like it's not even the part of myself, like it's a machine and you just keep going,

you keep walking, you just keep doing your thing. But how many time I can do this. And the more you do it is just you so, I think, traumatize every single time we do it that you're more concerned of, let's say, a week of the fight. I was thinking more of how much I was going to suffer again to do this, this 115, everything that had to go through to make 115 than the fight. And it's not even, I think, we all ready to push our body to a point. We don't care about suffering to make it. But it's disgusting when you feel at your best. And then after you do all that weight cut, you just lose your speed, your cardio, your strain.

And you did all that for nothing. All this work is just, you know, you just kill it in the last 24 hours. So we've seen so many fighters do so much better, you know, going up in a weight class. I'm looking at George Madsie down in my gym, Dustin Poirier, and even going there happy. They're happy with their family. They can still have a life besides fighting, even if they have a fight coming up. And then, yes, it's serious. I mean, you diet and everything, but you don't have to have that struggle of not eating

and then cutting water and all that. Do you think that it's only a matter of time before something truly tragic happens to one of these fighters who's cutting a lot of way? Because, again, you're fighting in a UFC title fight and you have resources available to you. There are people who are just coming into the UFC or Beltar. who don't have those same resources, who don't make as much, and they're pushing themselves to make weight as well because they want to live out a dream. Do you fear that it is only a matter of time before something bad happens? Even in the UFC, okay?

I was thinking, because I passed out a couple of times. I was, you know, falling, I felt like I was falling asleep in the bat, and then I was, imagine if I just stopped breathing over there. By the time to get a nurse or a doctor, somebody to save me, I'm going to die. there's nothing they can do even if you fight for the USC. Anything can happen at this point. And we don't have the doctor next to us the old time we cut weight.

We don't have a nurse next to us the old time we cut weight. It is super dangerous. And it's surprising that not more things that happen yet. What do you think can be done as far as the promotions are concerned to help the fighters? Is there anything or is it on the fighters to surround themselves with the right coaches who tell them not to go down to this extreme? weight class and to stick at the more natural weight. Is the fighter responsibility to fight at their weight class?

You want to push yourself at this point, then this is your fault. But in my case, even if I put it all together, my weight class is 125. You asked me to go all the way up, which these girls today are bigger than when I used to fight at 135. And then go all the way down, it's 20 pounds different. In boxing, they have three pounds, you know, difference between weight classes. How does that make sense? Three to four to five pounds. So, but for the guys, if you have 10 pounds between weight classes, then just go up in a weight class.

Is it worth really to risk your life to fight, you know, 10 pounds lower? But they need more weight classes for women, this is for sure. And I've heard from many guys that even. 15 pounds between, let's say, you know, 155 and 170. I remember Seroni was saying, you know, 155 is five pounds too small for him, but then 170 is almost too big, and I believe him on that. Because to me, I could be, I could be even signing at 120, I would be fine. I would make 120 with my diet and everything.

But those five extra pounds, I'm scratching. Imagine every pound Take an hour to an hour and a half to lose Of sonar of hotback So at five more Five to six more hours Of struggle This is where you kill your body

So we just need more weight classes And we need the fighter to be more responsible Like you make that decision to make that weight If you cannot make this weight then just go up It's an amazing thing when you actually think about it This is what I'm doing right now Yeah and I give you a ton of credit for doing it but it's amazing because you prepare all these months for this big fight

and you think that you're in tip-top shape once you get to the city and then you have to almost like kill yourself to get down to the weight. And it's almost like the most dangerous thing that cage fighters are doing is actually getting to the fight. It's not even the fight, which is super dangerous in its own right, but it's getting to the fight. And no other sport are the 24 hours before the actual sporting event more dangerous and more taxing on your body

than the actual athletic endeavor that you're about to perform in front of millions of people? You get what I'm saying? It's like the fight to get to the fight is crazier than the actual fight itself. It is. It is. Crazy. And how much your body's hurt after this weight cut, you just go there and then can you really behydrate properly without IV?

After cutting so much water, your brain doesn't function properly. Your liver, there's so many things. You just don't feel the same at all in a normal week of training. So. I'm just so glad. I'm not going to have to deal with that no more. I bet. When you start your training camp, how much will you weigh?

I don't want that heavy. I'm seriously between 138 and 140. And I'm going to be honest with you, when I make 115, every time I'm setting the octagon the day after, I'm 135. So it's not because I'm not taking this seriously. Even between sides, I always stay really close from the way my body change. I get softer. I'm moving muscle.

but I mean, I don't go super high in weight. It's just for me to get my weight under 130 pounds. I'm solely not at 130. Then I need to cut 15 pounds of water, 14 pounds of water. That's a lot of weight for 115. So, but I've seen some girls fighting at 115, you walk at 150, but if you walk at 150 and you have something to lose, you know, you have fat, You get more chubby.

Okay, you can cut on that. But when you already went 40, pretty lean, where are you going to cut that from? When you were in attendance a couple weeks ago, was that the first time you saw a Baltor event in person? Yes, it was. What did you think of it? I was really excited. The show. That was great.

And honestly, I mean, they had, well, they had really good fighters on that card. So I loved it. And I was looking at it in a different eye, obviously, because I know I was going to fight for them. And I'm pretty happy that we closed that deal finally because we've been talking back and forth since I got released. And see that they really want to invest in that weight class. So I'm very excited to be part of it. Do you know when your debut fight will be? And if so, do you know who you'll be fighting?

Yes. Oh. So I'm going to be fighting. Yeah. My first fight is going to be July 14. Okay. That's our 181. I'm signing Emily Ducote.

All right. Yeah, the fight's going to be in Oklahoma. So I'm signing my training camp next week, and hopefully they keep me busy. Okay, so Emily is one of the more familiar names. She's had a few fights under the Beltrower roster. She's coming off when she did lose to Lima-M-Lay McFarlane. Was there any talk of you fight? Because I was thinking maybe they put you against.

McFarland maybe in an inaugural title fight. Was there any talk of that or do you like sort of easing into it? Well, I would be definitely looking for a title fight that is a goal, but I don't think I would be respected by any girl by jumping into Beilator

and just get straight to a championship fight. I still feel like I need to prove myself. Emily is a really good opponent and I'll get the win and hopefully I can fight for maybe the belt after that. We'll see one fight at the time, but I know, I don't know how to say her name.

McFarly. Yeah, McFarlane. I saw her fight and not, yeah, McFarland, sorry. So I'm definitely open to fight her for a championship fight. That will be pretty exciting. What did you think of her? Like you said, you saw her in person. She picked up another one.

She's still undefeated. Were you impressed? She's great. Yeah, she did great. I mean, that was so quick. So it's hard to judge a fight. You know, we didn't see much, but she did what she had to do. She did great.

And, I mean, I'm going to start looking more at the girls standing in Belatorna. Obviously, I need to start watching more of their fights. But that was a pretty close fight also with Amy Ducote. How much you know about Emily? I'm just starting paying more attention to her, obviously. Yeah. But for what I've seen, she has good hands. She has a good jiu-jitsu.

She looks pretty complete. Have they told you, okay, by the end of 2017, we're going to bring in the belt? Have they given you sort of their plans of what? they're going to do with the division because it only seems like right now they're finally going all in on it. But like 2017, that means they're going to open a championship fire for the girls. I don't know what's the plan. If it's going to be a, I don't know when they're planning, but I would believe probably September, October. Okay.

November. Okay. So they're probably going to make us all fight, all these girls that are just fine. And then see how we do. you just celebrated if you will your 10 year anniversary in the sport

you've been doing this a long time and you know you're reaching your mid-30s you've been through a lot your body's been through a lot how much longer do you actually want to do this for I give myself another I would say year and a half

and I wanted to make the best year of my career and when I signed with Bell at tour to me was really I was looking for a place to finish my career I'm gonna I'm gonna finish with them and my goal is to get that

belt or Belator and probably defend my belt a couple times and retired. I don't think I'm going to fight over 36. Okay. I should be done by then. I mean, I love training and still, even I have no fight coming up. I'm still trying two, three times a day. This is my passion. But obviously, my body's going to start feeling it.

I've been training for over 19 years now. My first amateur fight I was 16 years old. So it's been a while. It's been a while. Do you have any fears about the kind of damage you've done to your body from weight cutting? I was, but honestly, I would say, a month from now. I feel like my strain got back. I feel healthy.

I feel like everything got back together, got back to normal. But I really, I'm absolutely not interested to go back to this weight cut anymore. So I can just focus. I know 125 is going to be easy for me. After everything I went through, I can only focus on my training. I have so much more experience. I know when to, you know, chill out, when to push. And I start knowing more my body, obviously.

So, yes, I was concerned, and I think it was really the time for me to switch. I couldn't do this anymore. What do you think, you know, when that time comes to walk away, what do you think you'll do? Do you have a plan what you'll do after fighting? It's funny. I think I would like to keep giving seminar and expression. and stuff like that, but I'm not seeing myself necessarily working into, I'm interested in real estate, you know, buying properties and stuff like that. This is what I'm looking for for next

when I'm done fighting. But I'm going to stay around, but I'm not sure I'm going to work full-time into, in my sport. I feel like I want to try something else. Well, the good news is that time hasn't come just yet. You now have this new chapter. I think it's a fantastic signing. I'm very happy that you're fighting a 125 healthier for you. And it's great that now there's another place for women to go. And Victa was obviously home to most of the best 125ers, but I think it's huge that Beltaur is doing this because it's one of the few divisions. The UFC doesn't have.

So this is a chance for them to build their own stars and kind of break free from the UFC as far as that division is concerned. So great signing. Very happy. Congratulations. Felicitation, as they say in Quebec. And thank you for breaking the news on the show. I really appreciate it. Good luck on July 14th.

We're looking forward to it. Thank you. All right, we'll talk to you soon. There she is. Valééé Letourneau, the pride of Quebec, the newest member of the Bellator 125-pound women's division. And she just announced that she will be making her Belator debut on July 14th in exotic Thackerville, Oklahoma against Emily Ducotte. Great stuff. So no title fight off the bat.

Looking forward to seeing what they do with McFar. but they recently announced a signing of six female fighters. They're doing a lot at 125, and I think it's great that they're at least focusing on that division, because like I said, it's one of the few the UFC doesn't have. So a good opportunity for them. All right, let's move along. Not this weekend, this past weekend, two weekends ago.

As you know, Artem Lobov fought Cub Swanson in the main event of UFC Fight Night Nashville, ended up losing that fight, but as I said, last Monday on the show, thought he gained a hell of a lot of respect from the MMA community. A lot of people who are unwilling to give him

respect going into the fight. So a week removed, I wanted to talk to him about that experience and his thoughts on the fight and where he goes from here and he is now joining us via the magic Skype.

There he is. The Russian hammer, the prospect killer himself, Artem Lobov. Artem, how are you? I'm good. Thank you very much, Errol.

Thanks for having on the show again. A pleasure as always. Do you mind moving your camera down just a little bit because I see like sort of most of your face but not all of it, so I like to see. There we go.

There we go. And I get to your chin as well, that famous chin of yours. So like I said, Artem, you know, nine or so days removed, do you agree with the, statement that, yeah, you did lose that fight, fair and square. It was a fun fight fight of the night. But in the end, your stock almost went up. It feels like the MMA community no longer views you as Conner's friend, Conner's lackey. You're now your own person. You've finally earned that respect from the community. Do you feel that way as well?

I don't know, to be honest. I mean, I'm just kind of, you know, obviously upset, you know, I lost. I don't really see it probably that way. To me, you know, I was going into the fight, you know, to try and win, obviously. That's why I called for the fight. And I genuinely thought that I could win. Obviously, I didn't. So, you know, I'm still trying to get over that. So no moral victories for you, right?

You're not taking, no silver linings. You're not looking at it like us. No, never. I would never look at any fight like that. You know, to me, if I'm going in, I'm going in to win. If you don't win, well, that's it. I have to, obviously, I'm not going to dwell on it.

I'm not going to, you know, cry about it. You know, like I said, I'm an earner and I'm a goal-getter. So I have to look over the mistakes, have to fix them, and I'm going to keep moving forward. And hopefully one day I meet Cup again. Have you re-watched the fight on television? I've watched some bits of it, and me and my coach have been in contact as well.

So, you know, kind of talking about some of the things that I did wrong and some of the things that I did right as well. So I have seen bits of it, yeah. Well, I'm just curious how you scored it. I thought you won the first round. Some people disagreed with me. And then I thought he won the rest. How did you score it? No, I definitely thought I won the first round.

I felt very comfortable in the first round. And kind of if I was to take any of the positive, that would be it, you know, that when our energies were. level, technique-wise, I was able to hang with him, no problem. Now, I have to address me getting tired. I felt that I kind of blew my gas very quickly, even though my preparation was very, very good. I'm not sure whether maybe the occasion got to me or I spent too much energy or something. I don't know what happened there, but I seem to have slowed down pretty quickly.

So it's something that I have to address in my future fights. Now, I will say that I did come into this fight bigger than normally, because my last weight cut was quite easy against Ichihara, so I thought why not put on some muscle and, you know, get a little bit bigger, which I had done. And I've been the biggest I've ever been before whilst being the leanest as well.

So maybe I was carrying a bit too much muscle. But, you know, that's just kind of me thinking for my own personal things to work on and improve on. What was it like being in your first UFC main event? You mentioned maybe, you know, the moment, getting to you or things like that. All eyes were on.

on you, you were on the poster fighting last five rounds. In hindsight, do you feel like you handled it well, or do you think that it did get to you a little bit? Now, to be honest, like in coming up to it and everything and even walking out and all, I felt very, very calm and it felt, it felt very natural. It felt like this is, this is where I want to be and this is where I feel quite comfortable. So, yeah, it felt good. You mentioned your coach. John Kavanaugh wasn't in your corner. How much should you miss him? To be honest, you like I always say,

you know, at that stage, you know, it's about fighting, you know, at that stage, if you've cut the corners, if you didn't put the work in,

then it doesn't matter who you have you in your corner. It's not going to help you. And I did put the work in. So, you know, it also didn't really matter, you know,

who I had there. At that time, it's just fight. And to be honest, I had Owen Roddy in the corner. He is just as good, you know, he is very experienced fighter himself

and a very, very experienced coach. He knows my style well. He knows what I do well. So, you know, it was great having him in the corner. So I don't feel that that had any impact at all on the outcome of the fight. And for those I don't know, apparently according to his social media post, John had planned a trip a long go to Australia.

And then you got this fight. And I guess he couldn't change his plans. So he couldn't be there in Australia. Were you in contact with him in Nashville, things like that? Or once you got there, you're there with Owen. You're there with the rest of, you know, your team. and you didn't, even though he's been your head coach for so long, did you not need to talk to him because he wasn't there physically?

I know, we're always in contact, you know, with him. And anything I need, you know, can always message him and then he'll get it sorted for me. But, you know, like I said, I fought without John in my corner plenty of times. The whole ultimate fighter, I fought without John as well. True. You know, it's not something that is a must for me. Yeah. Of course, I like having him in the corner, but if he is not there,

for whatever reason he's unable to make it. It doesn't impact me in any way. It doesn't hinder my confidence or anything. You know, I feel just as fine. Was Cub tougher than you thought he would be? Yeah, one thing was that kind of, I guess not surprised me, but one of the things that I can take away from the fight is,

you know, at some point where we kind of both felt tired, he just kind of pushed through it. And I guess I just decided to maybe, take a little break or something, you know, it's a weird, it's a weird state of mind you have when you're in that octagon, you know, it's, you have to think quickly and it's very easy to make the wrong decision, you know, maybe at some point I thought, maybe I can get a little breeder here, but he really capitalized on that and really pushed the pace and that made me even more tired. And so that's one thing that kind of surprised me a little bit about him

was his ability to just kind of push through and just keep going and going and going. going and keep the high pace. Because he kept a very high pace, I felt. Did he say anything to you after the fight? I don't think it was anything, like maybe just the usual, you know, like good fight, whatever. Thanks for the fight the same as something that I would tell him as well. Yeah. But there was nothing serious exchange.

Well, just because, you know, concerning the fact that, you know, you were sort of calling him out and then he said he's going to teach you a lesson. So there was a little friction there. do you feel like you earned his respect? And do you even care at this point? I mean, I guess you'd have to ask him what I earned his respect or not. But, you know, yeah, there's always friction, you know, like, where are you going in to fight each other? You know what I mean? You have to be in a certain mindset.

And my goal is to give the fans a good fight. And for me to do that, I have to be in a certain mindset. You know, I couldn't be, you know, going in there holding hands with the guy. You know what I mean? I have to have a certain mindset. I have to have a certain expectation from the fight. I have to be waiting, preparing for a war. I can't be all nice and nicer to the guy if I am going to do that.

But once it's all said and done, there is nothing but respect. And I spoke about it before. I know, Cub, he always shows up. He always brings it. And he did once again. So he had my respect before the fight and he has it after. He apparently broke his hand in the fight. Did you sense that at any point?

Not really, but to be honest with you, this is from a guy that's broken his hands, you know, a few times in the past. And even I have accepted fights while having a broken hand. It's not a big deal, honestly. Broken hand is nothing. Like in there, when you're fighting, it's honestly, it's absolutely nothing. Wow. You don't feel the pain.

You only feel it maybe when you get to the back or the next day? well when you get into the back and actually one of the times I because I had previously broken my hand and you know you keep punching so the bone was a little bit like crooked oh my so when I broke another hand I was aware of it as soon as I took my glove off I got John to straighten out the bone got him to push down on my hand and that actually got it really nice and straight because after when I got an x-ray the doctor told me that my coach had done a very good job straightening it and as a result that I need surgery and it just healed itself. Wow.

That's unbelievable. Yeah. When was that? I think this one was, I remember I broke my hand against when I fought Saul. One of the first punches I threw, I broke my hand. And then I broke my hand as well against another Polish guy that I fought. I forgot his name, Camille Gnattuck, his name was. Okay.

And that was the second time. So that time, John straightened out my hand. I just took the glove off quickly and I placed my hand on a table and I got him to kind of push down with a little bit on the bump. And he straightened the bone out pretty nicely. Wow. That is it. Who knew? Who knew John had those skills?

Speaking of your career, Artem, you know, so you just proved that you can hang with the fourth best featherweight in the world in Cubs Swanson. I know in the past you've talked about, you know, taking fights that you probably shouldn't have. take in above your way and all those kind of stuff just to try to make it in your career and eventually get to the big show now that you've proven this but yet when someone just looks at your resume and like oh this record this is in a hall of fame record this isn't a hall of fame record this is in a record to write home about it's essentially a 500 record do you have regrets you almost wish that you didn't take those fights because you're not that fighter that your record doesn't necessarily tell the story of who you are but you had to take fights for for various reasons

as you were climbing the ladder not really no because I mean to me that's just your record is where you've been, but it's not necessarily where you are or where you are going. You know, so that just shows that I had a tough road. You know, I've taken fights that when others wouldn't. And that's that. But at the moment, you know, like you said yourself, I showed that I could hang with, you know, the number four guy in the world. So, you know, I guess that that shows where my skill level is at. And I guess that's what, if you're a true MMA fund, you should have.

assess somebody by their skill rather than by where they've been or how they got the skill. And so now where do you view yourself in? Perhaps where do you think the UFC views you because there's a big gap, as you know, between the Cub Swansonsons of the world and the Chrisavillas of the world? You know, like, do you think you're going to have to go back down there and work your way back up? Do you think you'll fall in the middle? Do you want to remain in that, you know, sort of cub territory?

What do you think happens next now? Because it's a very unique thing for a guy who's unranked to fight someone who's that highly ranked and go toe to toe, not win, but still, like I said, gain a lot of respect, have your moments, win around, et cetera. What do you think happens? I don't know, to be honest, one thing I will say, I don't feel I'm in a position now to obviously ask for fights. Sure. So I'll just take whoever I'm given. Okay. You know, I'll message shown and I'll say, look, I'm ready to fight. And that's what I always do. I say, whoever you want to give me, I'm ready to go. You know, obviously, I asked for a cup before because I felt I was in a position to ask for

someone and I thought if I'm going to ask for someone I might as well make it count. Yeah. And ask for somebody really good. That's why I ask for Cubs. But I'm not in that position anymore. So now I'm just going to go back to accepting whoever they give me. Okay. And that's going to be really up to them, you know, wherever they want to give me. It's a yes from me. I know typically you'd like to return relatively quickly. How about now? Do you want to take a break or do you want to come back fast? Yeah, probably come back. Fine. You know, my own. the only issue is, obviously, I have to see what this corner Mayweather situation is at. Okay.

Because, you know, if that's going to happen, that's going to be a very big training camp. It's going to be something that I'll take very seriously. And I wouldn't want to be distracted during it. Okay. With my own fights, especially if it's MMA fights, then we're getting ready for boxing. So that will be a factor, obviously. So I have to find out what this situation is with that. I don't know yet.

What do you got? Break some news for us, Ardham. Tell us what's happening. What's the status? What's the latest? What do you got? Well, like I said, I didn't talk to the corner about that just yet. You know, last, last I knew when I was leaving to go to Nashville, when I was going to Nashville, it seemed to be very close and it seemed to be, you know, in the pipeline.

That seemed to be the next move. Okay. So, you know, that's what I was getting ready for. And what role would you play in a boxing training camp? probably the usual role we're going to do a lot of sparring you know there's always every camp there's supposedly

all this new guys coming in specifically to mimic but I end up sparring corner every damn time every time the only one camp I didn't spark him was the the D.S fight that's it every camp it's always been me

the second Dias or the first Dias? Both of them Oh really why? Why is that? Well, I guess that would be like, you know, normally guys around my height at least. And I can fight both stances so I can really mimic anyone. But Diaz, I mean, he would be, you know, very, very tall, obviously, and a lot more rich than me. So he is quite a unique style. So I guess that was the reason. This video that came out of you two, you were, I guess you were sort of, you weren't really sparring, but he was kind of holding myths, but there weren't myths. I think he

just kind of sticking out his hands. He was wearing gloves. And then you were sort of reciprocating outside. You were somewhere. You were on the street or something. Where was that video of you and Connor? It was just outside Conner's house. That's what it's come down to.

You don't get time with him in the gym. It's only outside his house. We just, no, it's more, you know, you get to concentrate more because there's no distractions there. Right, right, right. It was just, you know, out in his house, in the carriage, you know, the weather was. nice. We don't get spoiled with the sun

over here in Ireland. So when we do see it, you know, you got to enjoy it. So we just done it. Why not? You know, on the street, no destruction. Nice weather. Fresh air. What else do you need? I'd love to be like the 60-year-old neighbor

of Connor who comes out, you know, for a walk with his dog or something and sees you two going at it on the street. No one stops you at all while you're doing this? No. No. People are quite understanding. and they, you know, well, he lives in a closed office state. Sure. So it's, you know.

But there are people around, right? There are some other houses. Yes, there are people around here. But, you know, he's been there for a while now, I guess. So the neighbors know, you know, it's work time. It's work time. You got to work. You know, this is what pays the bills.

So you got to put the work in. I know you said that you're not in a position to call anyone out. And that's what I'm asking you right now. But in your mind, is there some fight that makes sense for you? that you would say, oh, you know, I hope they offer me this? Maybe, maybe I can take the Doho on Choi now. Oh. The Korean Superboy.

Wow. I mean, why not? I mean, he was one of the guys that I called out originally. It was a Rahima Cub. Now, we both lost the cup. The two of us went the distance. The two of us got the fight of the night. So why not?

Okay. Makes sense, no? All right. I like that one. I like that one a lot. All right. Yeah. Well, I'm happy you said it.

By the way. It's all about good fights, you know. That's right. Robert Whiteford was tweeting you today saying, tell the people about some kind of date, some kind of plan that you guys have. Do you know what he's talking about? Yeah, I've seen online.

He obviously wants to fight me at the UFC Glasgow. But I don't know. Is he back in the UFC or what's the story with him? I don't think he's officially back just yet. I think he's pushing for it. If Sean Shelby sends me his name, it will be yes for me. I don't turn down fights.

But, you know, I'm like back in the day when Rob was making his way into the UFC, I remember talking to Sean Shelby and he said to me that, oh, he's looking at Rob as one of the potential guys from Europe that he would sign. So then I really wanted to fight Rob. I was like, well, I got to get my hands on Rob. And I was even talking to the matchmaker in Dean, Cage Warriors, where Rob had a fight schedule between him and Fishgold. and I remember messaging him saying

look this fight is not going to happen one of the guys are going to pull out I want to be a stand in for that fight and sure enough that fight didn't happen one of the guys got injured I offered you know to step in but you know the fight didn't happen at the time

they wouldn't accept the fight but right now you know I'm not a big guy on you know accepting guys that are outside of the UFC right because I had to make that way into the UFC myself myself and I would never really call out a guy that's in the UFC while I'm not in the UFC unless it was a short notice replacement that they needed. So if he makes it back in,

if they sign him again and they send me that contract, it's a yes from me because I'm telling you I don't even look at the names on those contracts. I just signed them and I send them back right away. Wow. That's how it is from me. I love it. Well, kudos to you, Ardum. I thought, you know, great showing. and it was really cool afterwards to see a lot of people who had doubted you, who had sort of mocked the fact that you were in a main event against Cub Swanson, come out publicly and give you those props. And I know that doesn't mean anything to you.

It's not a W. And you're not in for moral victories, but I thought that was a really nice gesture. And it's great to see that people are seeing you for who you are as a fighter, not just as Connor's training partner. You are your own guy, and you certainly deserve to be there. So like I said, kudos. Looking forward to your return whenever that may be

and appreciate you coming on, as always, even coming off a loss. here and talking about what, you know, in hindsight, it wasn't the most memorable night of your career, but still I thought a nice little feather in your cap. Thank you very much, I don't. Thank you very much for having me. All right, we'll talk to you soon.

There he is the Russian Hammer, Ardom Lobov coming off that fight against Cub Swanson. I like the idea of Du Ho Choi. That would be fun. That would be a lot of fun. Got to respect his take on fighting. Doesn't even look at the name on the contract. Bout Agreement just signs it.

Pretty amazing stuff. Always appreciate him coming on. Always love talking to Artem. someone who knows Artem very well is his teammate over at SBG. Young James Galaher who will return to action on June 24th,

Madison Square Garden against Shinsomechita. I love this fight. This is on these Spike TV prelims. A lot of people have been asking me to have James back on the program. He was on several months ago. He is in the news.

Not only as it pertains to Shenzhou Machita, but another young gun in Bellator has been talking about him a lot as well. So I wanted to have James on to talk about all that. He is joining us right now on the phone. James, are you there? Yes, there are a lot of things. Things are going great, James. How are you?

Nice. I'm good. I couldn't do better. So couldn't. Well, it is good to have you on the show again, James. Like I said, we have a lot to talk about. First things first, I had heard that there was some talk of you fighting in London, and then they quickly realized maybe this is a good spot. MSG, New York City, our debut there. Good spot for you, so they moved you. What was your reaction when you were told that you weren't going to fight close to home in London, but you were going to fight on the biggest stage possible for Belator. Yeah, it was straight after my last fight

when I basically headlined the show in Belfast in February. Straight after Scott Coker came up to me. I was like, well, maybe it will do London again in a few weeks because it wasn't so long. It wasn't so long. I had a few fights back to back. And then I was like, yeah, perfect let's do that. So then I got a contract out for London.

And then I just seen on Twitter one day, I was like, I seen Bellthor just announced that they're holding an event in Madison Square Garden and then a friend's lying as well, a boxer from Arden, the McCona. He was coming up to his fight and some Paddy's Day and it was all building. And I was like, I seen that and I text it, I just text Bellthor and I was like, to get me on the MSG card, you know what I mean? I basically headline two shows in Arden's, do you know what I mean? so do me a favor now and get me on the MSG card.

And they were back and they're all over to see what we can do then a few weeks later. Then they came back to me with Shenzhou Macchita and I had the contract back with him in about 15 minutes. So that's how it really came about. This is a very intriguing matchup because of the stage, because you're doing so well on Beltor, but also because of Machita.

Machita has looked good, famous family, of course. Did you like the matchup when it was offered to you? Perfect. I'll fight any one to pit in front to me. I don't really, it doesn't matter it doesn't matter to me, I'll just go in and fight, you know what I do, it's my job, it doesn't matter who it is,

but this one really excites me, you know what I mean, it's style and stuff and his brother is something I really looked up to when I first got into MMA because I started off and showed of Kang Crotty. So when I first started watching MMA and stuff, he was one of the Crotty guys in the UFC

and it was the UFC champion at the time and it was really, he was just really, one of the guys that I looked up to and liked his style and stuff like this. So it's really exciting for me and I'm still only young and 20 and fighting one of the most historic venues in the world. And it just feels right. Do you know what I mean? I just feel the good matchup when we work hard. I've got, I've got a hard task at hand, but I don't feel like it's going to be too much. I feel like I'm going to go in and walk through this fellow and show people what I'm really capable of.

do you still feel like people aren't quite sold on you i mean thus far as you said i mean two finishes in bellator you've you've essentially headline shows for them um do you still feel though that there are some doubters yeah and they will they always will they're they're never going to go away so they won't they they're going to be there but the people that that i focus more on is my own people and that I'm just one of the lads from Stravan, do you know what I mean? And that's the way it is, and all the lads got my back and I got theirs. And I just focus on people who want to see me do good, and I want to do good for them.

Do I mean? So I don't care if I sell myself the doubters or whatever people say, because I'm just doing me and I'm just focusing on me. And I'll let other people focus on me as well if that's what they want to do. I must say after your last fight, after what you said on the mic, how you said it, I was all in on you versus A.J. McKee, and then he comes on the mic after his victory a couple weeks ago, and then I'm even more excited, and then you respond to him on Twitter. And so here's what I want to know.

First things first as far as you and AJ are concerned. Where did this issue come from between the two of you? Well, I fought as team team. Not me, Taylor, in Dublin. AJ was a prospect, I'll start blowing him up, blah, blah, blah. He looked good. I never, I never spoke to the guy.

I never met him in the life, and I didn't know what he was like, but he looked good. And in the gym, it's had like a confrontation kind of thing, and AJ didn't say anything. He just kept his head down and whatever. Then he was walking past me,

and I just looked at him. He was like, you're fucking next. I said this to him. And he just looked at me and walked on. He walked straight out of my gym, and the next day we were going to a press conference, and he was just there with his teammate, and he came up to me, and he shook my hand,

and he was all, I don't want no beef. I was all, I want to be cool or whatever, and I was, well, that's fine. Like, you know me, if that's what you're into, that's what you're into, I shook his hand. And then he came up, and he was sitting in the hotel directly across, like, he's standing in the room, the hotel room, directly across from me, and he was knocked in

and he was trying to be my best mate and then he goes and he do you train us but first of all this he started telling me about what Anthony's game plan was he started telling me his teammate's game plan

what? And I was sitting looking at him and this, yeah exactly that's what my reaction was I was like this is the biggest pussy I've ever met in my life so he started telling me about his teammate

he doesn't really train if he's no fights and started telling me his game plan so I just kept quiet I'm letting him wrap all this off I'm just gathering up all this information I said nothing and then so he was blabbering on

and he goes do you trim as Connor and I was yeah I do he's trim him every other day and he goes I would smash that guy and I go no you wouldn't Connor would knock you out holes I thought wouldn't in the contest

like this to him and then he kind of looked at me and like realized that I'm not like that do you know what I mean I stick up for the people who got my back and he's not he's a little bitch

but that was nothing he just kept going on and then he left and he seen each other then again he left and got on the plane and soon as he got on the plane then he just started doing all this tweeting and talking sign the contract and I'm like

yeah no problem but before I sign a contract I need to have one and he was like sign the contract you don't want to sign the contract and I'm like Here, Paul, wait a minute. Send me the contract first and then I'll sign it. Do you know what I mean?

And it was just, it's weird. He baffles my brain a little and I just think he's an absolute pussy for what he doing. So you guys are kind of in a quiet area and, in your opinion, he's trying to cozy up to you and he's ragging on his friend, his training partner and sort of disparaging his training to endear himself to you. Is that kind of what happened here? That's exactly what happened. I was like nearly like trying to like avoid him in the hotel room. He was trying to be like my friend that much and I was like, you know, I don't know you. I'll be nice to you, I'll be friendly, but I'll not be your friends, you know, I met you three

seconds ago, your potential opponent. I'm not here to make friends with anyone, you know what I mean, I've got enough of them. So that's basically what happened and I just think he's an absolute pussy for that, but whatever he's, I've got, I've got my eyes focused on someone else. so he's not really in my thoughts at the moment. And that would be Shinto, right? Yeah, exactly. He's next to my line.

I'm putting all my focus into this, and I'm going to come out to winner. I'm putting everything I've got into this. I'm leaving no corners cut, and I'm going to put in work here that I've never worked before, and this is a big opportunity for me to showcase what I'm capable of,

and I'm looking forward to go out and do my whole town of Strabah. and where I come from and just all the people that support me all the way and be like it's going to be nice. It's such a big step up and no one from Straban has ever made it to like anything like this before, do you know what I mean? And Bar-Connor, he's the only MMA fighter in Ireland to ever fight in MSG. And so all my focus now is on this and I'm going to put everything I'm capable of into this here and go out and put on a show for the crowd and mainly for myself.

I'm doing this to me, so I'm looking forward to this, and it's going to be a big moment for me. And just back to AJ for a second, were you impressed, though, with his victory? I mean, the head kick over a pretty solid prospect.

Yes, Dominic was fighting in a weight class above, but, I mean, that was pretty impressive stuff. I thought, what did you think of it? Yeah, he threw his leg up. His legs looked stiff, to be honest, and he just caught him behind the glove. It wasn't bad. It was impressive.

he just threw one kick and it caught him and your man went down you know i mean it wasn't to say they he put on an impressive fight or anything it was a nice highlight really to k-o do you know but that's about it i don't they don't got much opinion on it so you didn't say okay yeah you know i don't love the guy but i got to give him some props there that that didn't give you any kind of pause no not really i don't think it's he threw his he just threw his leg up but your man even blocked it. It went through his gloves and your man went to his leaf. His leg looks stiff.

His leg looked stiff. It didn't even look like a nice fluent kick. He looks stiff and unfexible and he threw it up and he has power. And he knocked your man out and that's it. I didn't think it was any great technical setup to the kick. He just winded that thing up and threw it and it connected. What did you make of what he said on the mic afterwards? He looked like an absolute fool.

That's what I thought. He looked like, shout it to my Irish fans, and especially James Geller. How are you doing, baby girl? Like, that's whatever. Do you know what I mean? Each to their own.

Each to their own. And so with the buzz that you two are creating for yourself, do you feel like if all goes well against Machita considering what he just did that they have to make the fight now, or do you think it's smarter to keep this going for a while and build it up even more? Yeah, I don't know.

I guess we'll just see after this one because I'm going to have a very, very fashionable statement. So I'm going to make a very fashionable statement in this fight and maybe the title shot for me next. That's what I'm thinking. I'm not, I haven't got my. set in AJ. I'm my set in goal.

That's what I want. I don't want to beat AJ. He doesn't mean. I beat him. Well, happy days. He beat another guy. That's the way it is. I want to fight for the title. I want to fight contenders. I want to fight for the bell. That's what my goals are.

So actually, I'm going to be calling for next. I'm not going to be calling for AJ. If they give me him, I'll sign the contract. No problem. I'll sign it today. If they give him the contract, But I want the belt. Let's have made it clear since I first got into the belt, or that's what I'm coming for.

I want to be a world champion. There's no world champions. And from Stravon, I want to be the first. So you want to fight Patricia Pitpo who just won the belt if you get by Machita 20 years old, you'd be 7 and 0. You think you're ready for that. Yeah, I think I would stop him.

Wow. Actually, I don't think I would stop him. I know it was. It is all very amazing. I mean, I was looking at your Instagram, and last week you wrote that, seven years ago, you were 13 years old,

and you fought in your first MMA fight, an amateur fight. That's insane. 13 years old? Yeah. Back in some Pat's Hall in Straban. I was 13 years old and had my first amateur MMA fight,

and that's a moment that I remember, like yesterday, you know what I mean? Especially in fighting in Straban. It's something I never got to do too often. I fought there twice. And I know I'm fighting in MSG in a couple of weeks, but I don't think it's going to top fight in some past haul in Stravann.

How's that possible? How's that possible? That's true. And this is, it was something else fighting there, you know, I mean, just being 13 and coming out, and just one of the local lads and had all my friends from school come out to support me, and now it's the same kind of thing

only we're all going to New York How many people do you think will be there supporting you? In New York I reckon there'll be got to say about 1,500 to 2,000 people will be flying over

so they will hopefully I get good crying and then I've also got a lot of support in like Boston and stuff and ice guard to New York and a lot of

friends, family friends who have moved over there that I haven't seen since I was a kid so I'm really looking excited to go over and see these people again

who haven't seen in like years and it's going to be nice to be able to go out and fight and represent where I come from and try a good performance for my people because I'm just one of these

that's what everyone kind of thinks so like oh you're fighting at MSG or like a different kind of I don't know people who kind of pitch you on a pedestal or something but I'm not I'm just one of the lads going to fight you know what I love and that's the way I feel about it you know I mean it's going to be nice to be able to do it

but it's no different it's no different I'm just happy to go out and put on a show for everyone coming over to support me have you ever been to New York no it's my first time that is insane I've been to Vegas before so I'm looking forward to going over to the opposite side and seeing it.

That is insane. First trip to New York, you get the fight at MSG. Going back to when you were 13, were you crapping in your jocks? I mean, a 13-year-old James Gallowher in the back about the fight in an MMA fight. What is going through your mind? When I was 13, I mean, just crossing the street used to make me nervous. I can't imagine actually fighting someone in a cage. What was going through your mind then?

No, I wasn't, I wouldn't, I wasn't shit in the job. or anything going out to that. That was what I'd done, do you know what I mean? I wasn't like, I was so excited to do it. It was what I thrived of. It's what I wanted to do. It wasn't, maybe I was even too young to get nervous for it. Do you know what I mean?

That kind of thing. I definitely wasn't nervous, but I remember there's just priests from Straband called Father Boland. And any time if I'm ever, they get a christening or my mate's christener, and he always like stands up and give me a shout out over mass or whatever but he's real like priest like holy kind of guy and before the fight he came up to me and he calls me jimmy he's he now i want to give you a blessing he's all it's not really like me to say something like is but go out and knock his block off so that was funny coming from a priest to do this and it was in a so that moment just or just remember that moment from it and then i remember ronel now

This is right before I was about to walk out and they call my name and all and then I remember all my friends from school, we're just there and just watching me and cheering me on and with all my family and stuff in Straban and it was amazing, do I mean, that's what I love, and I'm a performer.

I go out and I get better under the lights. I don't crumble, I get better underneath it, and it's a rare thing to find in someone like that. Do you know what I mean? That performs, better outside of the gym than to do you inside the gym.

And I feel that that's me. How old was your opponent that night? I think he was about 15. He wasn't much older. He was young as well. But in my second fight, my second amateur fight, I fought a guy who was 21. Wow. And I was 13.

Now, that one I was shipped my jocks first. Oh, okay. I was wrapping my jocks for out with that one. How did that go? Had that one go? Yeah, I won. I won by decision. So I did it.

It was an absolute bar. It wasn't as easy as the first one, but I got it done. But being honest now, I mean, 20 years old to fight an MSG, undefeated, like I said, your headlining shows for Beltoire. Is this happening a little sooner than you thought? Maybe sooner than I visualized or whatever, but I feel perfect. Let's rush on. Just keep it gone, you know what I mean? Don't let the momentum slip.

People get caught up in, like, the kind of own kind of hype, I guess, or something it's called, but that's not me, Jim. I mean, I don't even see that kind of hype to get caught up in it. I'm just loving it. I'm just doing me. I just wake up every day and go to the gym and train. Doesn't, no what I mean? Doesn't matter if I'm fighting Madison Square Gardner

or if I'm going back to East Chuban and fighting some Pat's Hall. I'm still going to wake up every day and put in the Saxon work, and I'm going to be as hungry to fight, be a world champion as ever. Do you know what I mean? I just want to become a world champion, and so it doesn't matter if I fight anywhere, I'm still going to have that desire. And that's just, but I feel like it's going good,

and it's going the way I've planned it, and that's just all down to putting in the work every day in the gym. Did you have, when you were growing up, I mean, you're still growing up, but when you were a little younger, did you have teachers that told you're wasting your time with this MMA stuff? Because I saw you also kind of send them a message as well about how much am I making, how much are you making? Did you have people who were telling you you're making a mistake by going down this path?

Yeah, a lot of that is like there was one or two, like, one or two who deliberately, like, they would have been like, oh, you think you're something else now because you're doing this fighting. And then another one is going to, told me, because I missed, school to go away and train. I think I went to Iceland and then I went and done a jujitsu competition. I went and did the European Nogi Jiu-Jitsu Championships

in London and I came back and I'd missed a few days at school and exams were coming up. One of the teachers physically said to me, you're going to be living the dull life, as they call it. It's like when you're not doing anything productive and just claim social benefits, that's what that's what he meant

and I just looked at him and I was like I hate you like I really do you hit you you know you're so like he's just brainwashed do you know what I mean it was very

sad to see a grown up man brainwashed and I was like I feel smarter than you when you're meant to be my teacher just by what he said and that was the only real things that ever happened but teachers were good to me as well

I made a lot of friends with teachers as such as well, do I mean? But there was one or two that tried to pit me down and tell me that I wasn't going to make anywhere. And that kind of thing drives me on. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? I should come up from a teacher and get me down. I'm like, all right, I'll make prove this kind of wrong. Do you know what I've done?

Last thing before I let you go, James, as I've been talking about over the last few weeks, Beltor has done a great job of signing younger talent, building them up, putting them in the right kind of fights. Obviously we know about you. AJ, Ed Ruth, some of the names come to mind. Another one is also making his debut on June 24th. His name is Aaron Pico, same age as you, and relatively same way class. I mean, yeah, maybe he's going to get bigger, you're going to get bigger, but you're kind of in the same vicinity. What do you think of Aaron? Do you know anything about him? Are you excited about his debut? Is he on your radar? What are your thoughts on him? Because over here, I mean, we've been talking about him for quite some time, and I think a lot of people, including myself, are very intrigued to see how he does

in his debut. Yeah. Yeah, well, he's a lot of hype. So it is, I heard there's a lot of hype. He's another one of the guys. You're just solely focused on me, never mind focusing on themselves.

Do you know what I mean? Every tweet is saying I'm scared, and I'm like, I'm scared of what? You know what I mean? I'm not scared to bite you. If you want to fight, then this fucking fight. You know what I'm a, I'm a,

like, that's what I don't get. Some guys, they'd be like, oh, you're scared, scared to sign the contract. Well, first of all, I'm not scared to fight because that's what I do for a living. I don't fight. I can't really live. Do you know what I mean? I can't pay my rent. So, and then sign the contract.

And I'm like, sign what contract? Do you want me to sign a contract? Tell the authority, send me the contract, and I'll find it within 10 minutes. And that's how they work, do I mean? And I don't, these guys are just looking at a few followers online or something or whatever, I've heard very good things about Arne and I hope to fight him one day after he gets gains a bit of experience and do you know what I mean

because I want the title and if I beat him it's not first of all he's a different weight class and that's not going to pit me in any position up to fight and get the title in my weight class and then second of all he has no fights at all like he hasn't got one MMA fight so if I go in and fight him it's not going to do anything for me You know what I mean?

So I want the belt and I want to fight guys who are going to get me towards that belt and performances that are going to put me towards that belt. So he's not really, not really. He doesn't fill that criteria to get me to the belt. Does it bother you that he's on pay-per-view and you're not? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it is the way it is. I'll just have to be, you know what I mean? is they give him the pay-per-view,

they give him the first fight or whatever. It does not matter to me because I'm just focusing on me. I'm just trying to better myself every day. Every day I wake up, I just try and get that bit better. Do you know what I mean? So if he's on the pay-per-view,

if he's on the first, if I'm on first on the pay-per-view, it doesn't make much difference to me because I know in a few years time that I'm going to own the whole game and maybe he'll be opening up one of my cards. Keep up the great work, James.

Looking forward to your fight on June 24th, MSG, Shenzhou Machita, Spike TV. Going to be a fun one. You're doing great stuff, man. So keep it up. Good luck in the next month and a half as you prepare for the fight. And looking forward to seeing you out here in New York. Thank you so much, Charles. Maybe we'll have an end studio one.

Yes. When I'm in New York. I would love that. You're always welcome. I'll see you. I'll see. Thank you very much. I'll see you when I get to New York.

All right, looking forward to that. There he is James Gallowher, the 20-year-old phenom, undefeated, returning to action on June 24th. Okay, let's move along now. Very excited to talk to our next guest. You're seeing him on the Ultimate Fighter. He fights for the Bantamweight title on July 8th against Cody Garbrandt. No shortage of things to discuss with T.J. Dillshaw. He's kind enough to join us right now.

TJ, how are you there? Oh, sorry. I had you on mute. Sorry about that. Yeah, I said, things are good, man. I'm just out enjoying the day and playing a little. big golf of family. So yeah, things are good in there. Well, I really appreciate you squeezing us in and we won't

take up too much time out of your day because I know you're there with family. So thank you. I'm just wondering off the top, TJ, ultimate fighter going on. Your team is doing well. Do you even watch the Ultimate Fighter? Do you want to relive all of this? You lived it all. It's somewhat sensitive. There's all this drama.

Are you taking time out of your week to actually rewatch the episodes? Yeah, I'm watching it. I'm definitely watching it. You know, I had a real big interest in the show and I really enjoyed coaching and you always want to see how it's portrayed and how it's all all viewed after it's all done and said, you know, so yeah, I've been watching. Thus far, early on, do you like the way you've been portrayed and the way everything has been

portrayed? Yeah, man, I mean, they, you know, when I was on the show, you always worried about how you're going to come off. And, yeah, so far, it's been portrayed the way it's really gone down, you know? So, I mean, there was so much, so much drama and so much going on with the show that they didn't have to add anything or add a storyline because it was always, already there. The drama and the storyline of me and Team Alpha Male and them so worried about me in my life was already there. They're their insecurities and then being worried about me created the

plot line for the opening fighter. So it's gone the way it went down, you know. I have to say, and I know we've been talking about this a lot longer than the show and they have to kind of build up the show, but it's somewhat uncomfortable watching it only because I feel like, you know, we've been talking about this to death. At the end of the day, what happened? A guy went out and followed his coach. I really feel like it's being made out to be something larger than it is. I know some people might think, oh, here's Ariel. You know, they think that I'm the drama queen. But like, I feel bad for you sitting there and having all these people gang up on you and then they show you in the locker room and you're kind of just like, what is going on here? I don't know.

The whole thing kind of, it rubs me a little bit the wrong way. And I think that you're handling it so well with a lot of class and as professionally as possible. But I feel like we're beating this horse, you know, past death. Like, it's just like a little too much now. Do you agree? Yeah, 100%, man. I agree with everything you're saying. I really appreciate you seeing it that way because that's how I felt about it for a while. I know, now, you know?

I mean, I've talked about it. I've tried, you know, defending myself for whatever reason. I don't feel like I even should have to be defending myself because it isn't, and I'm a grown-ass manchville to make my own decisions. But, you know, I've been defending myself from all these attacks. And, you know, I get to really show the world some true colors, you know. I get to show, you know, what's really been going down. And it's kind of nice.

I've always wanted to coach the ultimate fighter. I thought it would be something I'd really enjoy. But when I got the call and they asked me to coach against Team Off Mill and Cody Garbrand, of course there was a hesitant of thinking like, I don't really want to deal with all this drama. I've done everything I possibly can to avoid this drama in my life, and now I'm going to put it back in. So it's something that I've been trying to avoid,

but ultimately I knew the best decision was to take the show and show people who I am and tell my side of the story once again and be done with it. six or so weeks to go to that gym every day and deal with that tension and that drama, what was that like for you? It was stressful. You know, I mean, it was definitely a stressful situation, but, you know, I feel like a handle the way, you know, I mean, I just kind of laughed it off, really. You know, I mean, just continue to be professional and give all my guys as much as I possibly

could. I was there to be a coach. I really enjoyed coaching, and I really was there to push my guys as far as they possibly could. When I felt like the other team was there to try to make them. themselves look cool and try to make me look as bad as possible. So I think the best thing about it was just that I stayed level-headed and, you know, kept to my business for the most part. Here's something that I never quite understood. Joseph Benavides is no longer a part of Alpha-Mail, right?

Yeah. Why does no one... He's not part of Alpha-Mil anymore? Why does no one talk about that? Like, why do you get all the hate and why are you the guy who betrayed the team? And yet no one talks about him in that light? You know, I think it was just some insecurities with me leaving. I left, I left, I had the belt, you know, there was a lot of attention coming back to the team about it being kind of on a downward spiral that, you know, coaches left. They couldn't get another coach to stay, you know, Camman moved back home. And so I was the one coach in practices and just kind of knew that that isn't what I needed for my career. So I feel like there was just some insecurity

there was always going to happen. And also maybe away for your eye, I think you can be able to push for a title fight when I had the belt. But I'm not sure, man. You know, I mean, I guess I guess I can ask himself that same question. I mean, I always give those same answers, but they don't really make sense, so I don't really know. And I'm also just curious, didn't a couple fights ago, Justin Buckholtz corner you, even when you

were a part of the, you know, when you left Alpha Malam were a part of the muscle farm team. Didn't that happen very recently? Yeah, I mean, he cornered me against my cruise fight when I was out of, this all started. You know, that's when I told you right, I was going to do my full camp out in Colorado.

And that's when I got the ultimatum and left. and, yeah, Buckles continue to coach me. You know, and he was actually the one who told me that I made the right decision, that me leaving was the best thing that, you know, Faber was running that team into the ground and that, you know, what I did was the right thing to do. I mean, even after my fight, telling me that, like, you know, so a lot of things have been flipped,

and they're going to say what they can to make themselves look however they're going to. But, you know, he was there in my corner, being my friend, told me what I did was the right thing, and now he's going to do nothing but try to back Team Alpha Mill because they put money in his pocket, you know? I'm only bringing that up because I heard him say on the show that you're the one who broke up alpha male, but he still continued to corner you and the team is still around and they're thriving and they're doing well and they have a champion and they've got up in comers. So I just feel like this stuff is just being piled on and it's it's a little uncomfortable now to keep watching it. Yeah, man, it's definitely, I mean, it's uncomfortable.

It's uncomfortable for you. It's definitely uncomfortable for me. You know, I can't think about the situation I'm in. But you know what, man, I mean, like I said, true colors will be shown. own and, you know, I had a great experience. That's all I can take from it. I can do what they'd like, but ultimately I had a great experience. Earlier in the show today, we spoke to Dominic Cruz about the fight, and he says he wants

to fight the winner of you and Cody. And then I asked him who he thought was going to win, and he's leaning towards Cody because he thinks all this drama, you know, you feeling lonely, being ganged up on is going to be too much for you to take. What is your response to that? I think it's kind of funny, man I mean, because I don't live my life that way You know, it's not going to

It's not going to bother me I've actually, it's done nothing But reassured that what I've done was the right thing, you know? I mean, ultimately it's showing me that I've made the right decisions And that I'm happy with life I'm making, I'm making big boy decisions I'm building my dream house

Trying to start a family And I'm not worried about all this Soap opera drama You know, it's old news to me And I'm excited that I got to do the show And even get it more past me, you know? Have they told me? you that you're the main event. We don't know if there is a main event yet. If you're the main event for July 8th, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. You're still fighting a five-round fight. You're fighting for the belt. But are you the headliner for July 8th? I was told I was the co-main event when we were getting put on the card. So I don't know. I was told that there was going to be another big fight. You know, I was I heard, but I don't know if it's possibly GSP and Bivingsings. You know, I don't know if BISB are GSP's going to be ready by that day, he's saying, so I'm not really sure. Okay. And I've noticed recently I saw you. I saw you. I saw you. I don't know, and I've noticed recently I saw you. I saw you. I saw you. I

you spar with Lomachenko. I saw you tweet out stuff about Terrence Crawford. These are some big time boxers. What is your connection to these guys? And are you working out with them a lot? Yeah, man. Friends of friends. So I have a buddy that manages both Terrence

Crawford and Lomachenko and just a connection we got to be able to work out with them. So yeah, I've been trying to work out with whoever I can't travel the world and train with the best martial artist and then being great boxers. I think it'll be great for my next fight and be able to pick their brains and learn as much

as I possibly can. I mean, I'm a big fan of boxing and I want to expand who I am as a fighter. How do you feel when you're in there with those guys, these high-level boxers? Do you feel confident? Do you feel like you're hanging with them? I feel a lot more confident now that I have gone in there and done it, you know? I, is Lumenchenko. I went to a spot Lomacheco was completely out of shape and on a bunch of antibiotics. But, you know, for the movement I had, it was different. You know, it's different for a boxer to kind of pick up on. So it's, uh, yeah, it's definitely confident booster, but you also feel sport, too, you know, they want a different distance and, uh, different pace. And, uh, yeah, I mean, I've gotten more comfortable, but super nervous beforehand, you know, because I mean, this guy in

my mind is, I'm found the best in the world and I'm trying to hold my own, you know? Right. Um, I noticed last week that you wish Cody, uh, congratulations on, on getting engaged. Why did you feel compelled considering everything that's going on to do that? Um, you know, That's just a big step. I think I know it was a big step for me in my life and for my career. It kept me level-headed, kept me grounded. And I knew it was something that just kind of, it's a big deal, you know? And, I mean, I had a friendship with Cody before all this bull crap.

I mean, not like super close, but, you know, with all this petty drama going on, it's just something to congratulate, you know. I mean, it is a, I know that he's been with her now for a little while, so it's a big deal. Did he respond to you? Oh, I believe so. I'm not into checking social media all the time. I was just told about it and then put a lot of it. post out there, but I don't live my life on social media, but I believe so from what I was told by my

managers. Okay. You don't look at the mentions, essentially, right? Yeah. Yeah, I don't really, yeah, I post on there and I'm active on there, but I don't really go through and live my life through it, you know? Do you think once this fight is over, are you hopeful that maybe things can go back to normal a little bit that you can be friends with these guys? Is that something that you would want to happen, or has that ship essentially sailed? Um, you know, I could care either way. I could care that's either way. You know, I mean, you guys have kind of burned me pretty bad and, you know, acted like fools. So it's all on their plate in my mind.

You know, everyone thinks they're always doing the things correctly. But in my mind, it's on their plate how our relationship's going to be after this, you know? Where do you stand with the whole association stuff? We haven't heard much. I keep getting questions asked about it, but no real updates. What's going on from your perspective? I haven't heard much from it either. So really, I've just kind of stayed out of it.

I don't know if I was led down the wrong path or what, but I'm just kind of keeping my nose of the ground, getting my belt back and worried about that, really, you know? So are you no longer a part of it, whatever it is? I don't even know if there is a part of it. I have no idea what's going on. You know, I was told that there was something bigger and more into it, but, you know, I haven't heard anything about it,

so I don't really, no, I can't really tell you much about it, you know. Did you recently change management? I have not, no. Okay, so you're still. with the CAA? Yes, yeah. Oh, okay. And as far as

Cruz's thing that he wants to fight the winner, would you be down with that? I know we're kind of getting past July 8th, but is that kind of what you're thinking is going to happen? Is that something that you want to happen? Is that the goal because he did beat you ever so closely? I know, we'll see if we'll get there. We'll see how bad I can make him beg for a fight.

I'm going to get my bill back and he knows that I deserve that rematch, you know, and so I'm going to see how bad I can make him beg for it. We'll see if he's deserving and if he he wants to put up some money for that fight. You know, I put up a lot of money trying to bet to get that title fight, and that guy was not heard of. So we'll see.

We'll see if I'll grant him a rematch when I get my bill back. There's always bets with you in your fights. Now there's the bet with this footage. What is going on with that? What is happening here? I don't know, man. I'm not really sure. Is that actually going to...

And why are we going down this road? Aren't there certain things that should stay sort of sacred? I don't know, man. I mean, you think so, you know, I think it's another little petty childish act by alpha male. You know, it's just something to create drama. But, yeah, it is what it is, man. Okay, last thing. Hey, I'm, yeah, go ahead.

Last thing, do you have any interest in a super fight with Demetrius Johnson? Oh, that's, I would love that. That's definitely something I would love to do. You know, I've wanted to do it for a while. I think he's found out of the best fighter in the world. I admire his style. And I also admire his sportsmanship in who he is as a fighter, you know? that's someone that I can look toward

and I would love to do that fight, yes. Thank you, T.J., appreciate it. Absolutely. Yeah, you guys have a good one, huh? We will. Thank you so much for taking the time. All right, thank you. All right, there he is.

T.J. Dilisha, thank you very much to him for squeezing us in. I know he was a little busy today and very kind enough to come on the show. And I do see all sides of the story. get me wrong, but I do also kind of feel like we are banging this drum a little too much. I mean, at the end of the day, someone left. And if he got paid, cool. And if you didn't get paid, cool. And if you went to go follow a coach because he felt like that was the best move for his career, this happens every day all across the world. In every walk of life, people leave jobs.

They leave teams. I mean, these things happen. And it's just kind of going on. And I get it. it's the ultimate fighter and this hasn't been discussed on the ultimate fighter and it's a new thing and they're building up the drama and it's part of the intrigue there's no doubt about it the intrigue going into this fight on top of them just being great fighters um and a great matchup is the backstory the drama right the friction i get that 100% i mean i'm not going to sit here and say oh you know i'm not into that and i will say also that the ultimate fighter i think has done an actual good job of building up the fighters um it's not so much the drama in the house it's more you know they go to eddie Gordon's house and they show him with his kids. It's actually been a good, a good season thus far.

The ratings won't reflect that. But if you actually take the time and watch it, it's, it's creative, at least. And they're doing a nice job. And we know who these guys are. But the back and forth, I feel like has reached its limit. And we still have, what, 10 weeks left? I'm not sure if I'm verbalizing my thoughts on it perfectly, but it's just like at the end of the day, what are we talking about? No one cheated on their, you know, T. J. Dillshaw, and go and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and you know, um, you know, lie to him about, uh, some arrangement and went back on. I mean, at the end of the day, he went and followed his guy and he, you know, I don't know. I just feel like it's, it's reached

this point. Maybe for us who covers the day to day minutia of, of M. M.A. and we had, you remember we had your eye and T. And Dwayne on a year and a half ago to talk about all this. At this. At this point, 2017 May, you know, we kind of want to move on with our lives, but I get it from the ultimate fighter standpoint. Let's see what even happens to the ultimate fighter because as I said, the ratings aren't doing very well. The contract is coming up. We might be reaching the end of the road for that show, which is on its 25th season here in the United States, not to mention all the other shows, Brazil, the Canada one, Latin America, et cetera. Nevertheless, final point on this, I will say, I think TJ is coming off very well in the way he's handling it because he's in a tough spot.

they're all coming after him. He doesn't necessarily have the beef with them. He's the one who left. So they have the issue with him. And I think for the most part, in large part, he is coming off very well. And I believe he's 2 and O thus far. Muzzletov also to Cody and his girlfriend on the engagement. I can't wait for that fight.

I mean, stylistically, it's one of the best the UFC can put on. And it goes down July 8th, my birthday. All right, let's move along. As I said at the top of the show, the women's featherweight. division is in flux. We don't know what's going on with the champion, Jermaine Durand to me. Is she vacating the title? Is she retiring? Is she coming back? When is she going to fight? We've got Chris Cyborg banging her drum saying that she's not getting any respect, that her contract is coming up in October. Two fights left, but it would expire in October if we don't get to that point.

The UFC is signing fighters like Cindy Dandwa to fight at 135. There's the Invicta women's featherweight champion, Megan Anderson, who wants to get in the UFC, but thus far hasn't been signed. They haven't signed any other featherweights. It's a whole big mess. So I wanted to talk to Megan. She was on the show a few months ago after she won the interim title. She's now the full-time champion after Cyborg vacated the title to see what the heck is going on to try to make sense of this whole situation. I do believe she is on Skype, standing by, and there she is. Megan Anderson. Megan, how are you? Hi.

Good. How are you? Thanks for having me on again. It is a pleasure as always. So I will ask you the question, and it's not a very eloquent one, what the heck is going on? What is happening? I have no idea. I think it's all being pretty crazy. There's a lot of drama considering there's only two people in the division, which is crazy. I think a lot of things need to be cleared up with Jermaine and go from there, I guess. Do you know anything about Jermaine's status?

I have no idea. Like, we all read articles, you know, we all hear things. I have no idea what's going on with her. So I think her being silent is not helping her. I think she just needs to come out and kind of tell her. Tell everyone what's going on. So either Chris can say, okay, well, you know, she's got shit going on at home or whatever. It is.

That's fine. Well, then it lets the division move on because we've all been waiting for that fight. That fight's not happening. So what next? And here's also an important question to tackle. Do you have your next fight, even if it's four in Victor? Do you have anything lined up right now? No, I don't.

We have spoken to Shannon and she's kind of told us when she would like me to fight next, but nothing is said. I don't have an opponent or anything like that. When's that? When does she want you to fight next? I think it's July 15. Okay. And are there interesting options for you in Invicta right now?

I have no idea. I'm interested. Yeah, I don't really pay too much attention. Like, I'm, there's a few, there was a few, uh, the one or two fight girls that fought on the last card that, you know, in a few fights time would be interesting. Um, I'm interested to see how Ediana Gomez goes. Uh, she's fighting on the next card.

Um, but after that, like, I, I have no idea who that they would match me with. We saw you at UFC 209 in Las Vegas. That was your first time at a UFC event. Um, and, And you spoke to the media, you did a great job. I'm wondering if afterwards, did you speak to anyone in the UFC about their plans for not only you, but the featherweight division as well? No, I did not speak to anyone in the UFC. I think my management have.

And as far as I'm aware that they were sorting some stuff out. So we haven't heard anything since. And now here's the big issue. Cyborg for the last couple of weeks has been saying, okay, you know, Germain, let's fight July 29th. I know the UFC wanted to make that fight on July 29th. Featherweight title fight, it's the fight as far as the belt is concerned. Everyone wants to see Cyborg fight for the belt. But here we are.

No word from Germain and her management is saying it's not looking like she's going to fight July 29th. And they don't have many answers as far as when she will return. And now it seems to have shifted to you and there's some dialogue there. would you be interested in fighting Cyborg on July 29th, this date that she wants to fight on? Because, of course, she lives in Orange County. It's, you know, it makes a lot of sense for her. Is that something that interests you, you know, two and a half months away? Yeah, it definitely interests me.

I feel like that's the fight that should have been matched for the title. You know, she, you know, was the head of the featherweight division in Invictor, and she moved up now on the head. So I think that, you know, why not? Let's fight July 29th. You know, the UFC, that's the thing. The UFC have to come to us and start negotiating, but, you know, we haven't heard anything since. But I would definitely love that fight.

I think it's the fight the fans want to see. And I think I'm the only one that can beat her. If she's calling you out and you want to fight her, why not pick up the phone, your management, you, whoever may be and say, let's get this fight going. There's no reason not to make this fight. Is there anything stopping the UFC from making this fight happen? You guys are literally the only two featherweights in the world right now who people are talking about and people want to see you to fight and you're the champion Invicta.

She was the champion and there's some buzz there and you're doing well as of late. I mean, I just can't wrap my head around why this isn't happening unless there is a reason for, I don't know, whatever it may be. I'd love to hear it if there was stopping this fight from happening. Do you know of any reason? I have no idea. I've always expressed interest in, you know, taking the next step up to the UFC. And we haven't been approached about doing that.

So I think really it's on them to come to us and say, hey, let's start negotiating. Let's get this fight going. Because I feel like this is the fight that should have happened. And I think now's the time. You know, if Jermaine isn't going to be able to do it, let's crown the people's champ. Are you worried that the featherweight division in the UFC is kind of hanging on by a thread that you almost have to salvage this thing because if Germain for whatever reason goes away and maybe the cyborg deal doesn't work out, then there wouldn't be a home for you in the UFC anymore because that division would cease to exist. Does this worry you? Yeah, definitely it worries me. And I think I think that I'm the person to salvage it. I could be the face of the division.

You know, I'm marketable. I bring Australia. I have a cool accent. And, you know, I go in there and I finish fights. That is true. What is it like for you to see other Invicta fighters? You know, recently we saw Cindy Dandua, who you know. There are reports that Aspen Ladd has signed with the UFC and will debut in July. You know, Lauren Murphy in the past. Angela Hill.

I mean, the list goes on and on. The whole straw white division essentially at one point was brought over. See all these other fighters continue to be brought in. But for whatever reason, when it seems like they could really use you, it's not happening for you, at least right now. I think it's great that these girls are getting the opportunity. I think that's what they need, and it's what the sport needs. I'm a huge Aspen Lad fan, so I'm very excited to hear that she's going up, and I think that's a really good fight for her, and I wish her all the best.

On the same time, it can be frustrating because I feel like there's girls like myself, Charmaine Tweet, other girls in the featherweight division who, I guess, should be on that stage as well. They kind of, I think it's just they don't know what they're doing and girls like us who deserve to be there are missing out. And they're missing out on building already proven stars in the division. Yeah. it's a bit of a head scratcher. There's no doubt about that. And now you're in this position where you're like tweeting at Dana White, I see and you're a lot more, I think, active and aggressive on social media. Are you comfortable with this or do you feel like you need to do this to try to get their attention? I feel like you kind of need to do it these days. I'm not a fan of it. But, you know, I guess I would call it like the Connor McGregor age where people feel like they need to. you know, call people out on social media or like say outlandish comments or stuff like that. And I understand that you get noticed that way. But like, so I guess really it's just all about

getting your name out there and making them notice. Did you go to the Kansas City event? I did. I did. I watched my teammates at Cummings and Tim Elliott come away with the win. What's it like for you to be there? You seem to be oh so close. I mean, does that inspire you?

Is it frustrating? What are the emotions when you're at these UFC events? It was exciting. I think it was a huge step forward in the right direction for MMA and Kansas City. It was amazing to be able to be there and feel the atmosphere. Everyone really came and supported. It was phenomenal. Even better.

Tim and Zach got the win. I couldn't be prouder. They've put in so much hard work. I guess, like, I'm happy that is happening, but it's kind of like I'm almost there, but I'm not there yet. You know, it's very rare to hear fighters say, I definitively want to fight Chris Cyborg. You don't hear this.

You hear people try to sometimes make an excuse not to fight her. Why are you this confident? Why do you go out of your way now to say, again, I want to fight this woman. I'm ready to fight her in two and a half. months. What is it about Chris that actually makes you want to fight her? I think like she's looked, she's looked devastating against girls who aren't in the division. And, you know, both Leslie Smith and Lena Lesberg, I take nothing from them, but they're not

145ers. They're coming up against, against a bigger, stronger girl. And that's the thing. I walk around the same as her. I have to cut the same amount. I'm as strong as her. I hit hard. ages on my side, you know, I think most girls sign up to fight her because they want to get a contract with the UFC at 135. Like, I'm not a while. There's no way that I can physically make 135. So, you know, it's not like it's a segue for me into a different division. Like, this is my division. And I feel like Asia's on my side and I'm the only one that has the skills and the ability. to beat her. So in other words, you're saying she's looking impressive against essentially 135ers.

She's not fighting true 145ers like yourself. Yeah. So you won't believe this, but, well, you may know that Chris Seiberg is very active on social media, right? You see her tweets?

Yes. More active than you. I do know. She was tuning into this interview and actually called into the show and wants to talk to you. Do you want to talk to her? Sure.

Why not? Chris, are you there? Hi, Ariel. How are you? I am doing great. Thank you for calling in. Thank you for tuning in. Welcome. I listen to the show. I know I decide to call because I don't want Megan think people talk about from me and I want to talk to her and I'm very excited for this fight. I call out this fight a long time because I think she's a 45-pounder and then this

fight support happened a long time ago and then not happened because her manager talks to and talk to her and I don't know and they said she needed more time need more fights but I think this is the real fight you know there's a real fight for a belt what do you think Megan hello yes yes we're just taking it all in I can't believe you actually called in so so Chris wants this fight as well clearly you just heard it we now have both fighters saying that they want the fight does this make you does this make you feel at all confident megan that this is going to happen now what do you think how do you digest all this

Let's make it happen. She wants to make it happen. Chris, a lot of people don't say to you that they want to fight you. People go in the opposite direction. Now you have someone that actually wants to fight you. What do you think of this? You know, I hope Megan, when she talks, she spoke with Chana. You know, I don't want to.

She's about this fight. She's, you know, just make for growing her name. I would like she say, want to fight cyber. And this will happen because people like to go in media. I want to fight cyber. But behind, when you go talk to the manager and in the room, and then no change in game. And I really want this fight happen.

If she's agreed with the fight happen, man, haven't you put the hands in the promotion if we can do this fight? Right. And Chris, we were just talking about you, but maybe you can update both of us. Where do things stand with you? Are you going to fight July 29th? And do you have an opponent?

If not, if Germain is not available, do you think that opponent will be Megan Anderson? Man, I think it would be great. I think it would be great. She's 145 and she bigger than me. And I think my fans really would like to see I fight somebody bigger than me. You know, it's my division. And I'm really happy back to my division to fight.

Do you know what's going on with Jermaine's belt? Man, I really don't know. I don't know what's going on. I really want to fight. You know, I not just called her, but I supposed to fight her before, but my health is no okay. And now I'm healthy, you know, you can do this fight. And she's new.

When she gets a belt, she knew she'll have to fight me. you know, it makes me upset because this fight don't going to happen, but, you know, I can fight Megan before, and maybe you can fight again, I don't know. Chris, why don't you or your management tell the UFC, we want to fight Megan Anderson, Invicta Chan versus InvictaChamp, people want it, true 145er, this would sell well in Orange County. Why don't we make that happen today? You know, I really always ask for her, because I think the first five-145 ballot to FC is supposed to me and her. You know, because Rahal and Holam, she didn't fight 145, and Raineyman don't fight 145 too.

You know, they make this fight, but then support this fight me and Megan because we fight 1 45 pounds. You know, I hold the belt 145 pounds. I gave to her because I had to vacate my belt to Indicta, but we support fight for the bell 145 pounds. Megan, I think this is very promising. What do you think? I mean, here you have Chris actually saying she wants to fight you. This is the fight that needs to happen. I think this fight should have been for the title in the first place.

Yeah. I think that the UFC should have waited for Chris until she was ready to fight, and then they should have matched this fight. If Jermaine can't fight, let's do it now. Well, this is exciting. I don't know what we do from here, but I feel like we've actually made a fight on the air. What do you think, Chris? I think we've actually done something good.

Man, I think you can do a great show July 29, you know. I hope Megan's train really hard. are spending really high. They think people strike and there'd be an amazing fight. I think you're all excited to fight for the fans and you really want 45 pounds. Chris, are you impressed with Megan Anderson?

Have you watched? Have you studied her? Do you think that she is on your level as a fighter? You know, I'm really happy if this has happened. You know, I was really happy because we really need the people who have courage for coming and say you want to fight cyber, want to fight someone. I don't think you can choose

their opponent. I think if you were a champion, you cannot choose your opponent. If you hold the belt, you have to fight anybody where to fight. And for me, really hard to understand people. I don't want to fight cyber. I want to ducking cyber. For me, I can understand this because in my gym, shoot a box. I learned you have to be at any situation.

And for anyone, you can all choose who you're going to fight. And this is man. Show me really has to fight her July 29th. Last thing for you, Chris, before we let you go. And again, thank you so much for calling in and updating us. What do you think is going to happen? Do you feel confident that you will fight on July 29th? and do you feel confident that it will be Megan Anderson?

You know, if she's for her manager call, I don't know, ask for this fight, I think then looking for someone, if the German will be ready, and maybe this fight going to happen, you know, man, I'm a positive this can happen. It'll be nice because one-fifty-pound fight real, you know, it's not someone's a month-35. I don't have to cut for 140. You know, I know Megan cannot drop for 135, 1-40, she's bigger than me. And then, no, you do amazing fight, 1-35. Anything you want to say to her directly?

You know, I hope you train hard, you know, and that's it. I want to make my best there, you know. I want to do my best, and she knows my game. She knows my game. I go kill people, and she likes to kill two. And let's go to the death. Meekin, anything you want to say to Chris? So let's make the best 145 fight in the history.

Yes, I love it. Yes, it's great. It's a great. It's, man. I really want to do this, and they showed people respect, and they start respect for five-five pound. Thank you, Chris. Thank you for calling in.

That was great. I appreciate it. Okay. Thank you, Megan. Okay. See you. 25 July. I hope.

Wow. Bye. That is something. What do you think? What do you think, Meein? It's very exciting. I think we both want this fight. I think it's up to the UFC now to make it happen.

And just to be clear, she says a lot of people come out and say, I want to fight Chris, but then behind the scenes, they're like, yeah, I need more time. Are you one of those people? No. I think if the UFC comes to us and we can, we can sort everything out, that fight will happen. I don't need any more time. I'm fine for July 29th. You know, let's do it. Does it have to be for a belt, in your opinion?

Does it have to be for the UFC belt, or do you want to fight her regardless? How do you feel about that? Because the belt is in limbo. I'll fight her regardless. Wow. I think, you know, with other divisions, like if the champion doesn't fight within a certain time, they are putting interim belts up. I'm not too sure if they would be willing to do that because there are minimal people in the division at this stage. But that's the thing.

You know, Jermaine, she signed up for the fight knowing that she could be a world champion. like when you're a world champion you don't get to choose who you fight you choose the best you choose the number one contender and if she wasn't ready for that then she she shouldn't have took the fight so you know Chris and I are the top feather weights in the world like it should it should have it should have been us but it wasn't that's fine let's do it now hard to argue with that logic great stuff megan I hope it happens. I respect the fact that you are calling out like the boogie woman. It seems like not a lot of

people are signing up to fight Chris Cyborg and you're actively putting your your neck out there and saying that you want a fighter. And I do hope that this happens sooner rather than later, hopefully July 29th. Kudos to you. You wanted to say something? No, I guess thanks for having me on. I was interesting to have Chris on, but I hope it happens. No, everyone's beatable. You know, they didn't think Ronda Rousey could be beaten. sure they didn't think Jose Alito could be beat you know everyone's beatable and maybe I'm her kryptonite

wow thank you Megan appreciate it hope you get it done and appreciate you being a good sport with talking to Chris thanks for that no problem thanks for having me on all right there she is the Invicta featherweight champion Megan Anderson she wants Chris Cyborg let's make it happen

what are we waiting for I feel like this is a fiddler on the roof matchmaker matchmaker do we have to make it for you? It's a no-brainer. Germain's not available. Cyborg wants it. Megan Anderson wants it. Don't tell me that they don't bring fighters over from Invicta. It happens almost every day. Great fighter. Young, marketable, game, wants to fight Cyborg. If we're going to be in this business, and I do think the UFC should be in the Cyborg business because she is so damn good, and clearly the ratings speak for themselves, and she hasn't fought in her natural weight class, and she hasn't gone in that real push.

and we could go on and on about all the issues that have happened over the years, but she is someone that I think they should keep around. Here you have someone that wants to fight her. And could you imagine if Megan Anderson actually beats her and then the rematch? Co-mate event to Cormier and Jones? That's big time stuff. That was really cool. Thanks to Chris Seiberg for doing it.

All right, let's move along. A lot of talk these days in the MMA world about boxing. One of the best to ever do it is Antonio Tarver, Mason the line, Dixon. You may recall him from the... second to last Rocky film, if we're going to count the one with his, with the young kid doing the right, but you know, like the real last Rocky, you know, in the ring film. And he is still active. And he actually has a really interesting new connection to the world of mixed martial arts.

So I wanted to talk to Antonio Tarver on the program today about that and a whole lot more. He joins us now on the phone. Antonio, are you there? Yes, I am. How you doing? Thanks for having me. Oh, it is a pleasure. Wow. This is really cool. Longtime fan of yours from way back of the day. I'm not trying to date you or I, but it's really cool to have a boxing legend on the program here. So let's cut to the chase. Of course, you're still active in the world of boxing. I know you have aspirations, but you're now tied to the world of mixed martial arts.

Tell us what you're doing. Oh, man, it's been a process in the making for some time, but Glenn Robinson reached out to me about, I'll say, three weeks ago, man, and we sat down and we chopped it up. and the next thing you know, I'm the head strike coach for the MMA Black Zillions out of Pompano, Beach, Florida, and it's exciting, man. I'm glad to be working with these guys,

and it just shows me that there's still something there for me to make, I think, a big splash and impact on. And I never knew it would be MMA. I thought it would be the heavyweight division, but it is what it is, man. And it's like right now, I'm just following my dream and footsteps of just doing what I know I can do. And that's really helped fighters, man.

I think when I look back at my career, I've always seen myself in this position. I just never knew it would be MMA rather than boxing. But it's still the same thing. I think I have a great opportunity here to really make a difference in these young men's lives and help them reach their goal and pinnacle of becoming champions. and really getting the success out of their career. And, you know, not only showing them and teaching them the sweet science, but really also just giving them the confidence also because I've been there,

I've done it at the highest level. When you look at five-time champion and some of the biggest nights in boxing, there's some things that these young fighters are just not going to be able to be aware of unless they go through it and experience it. So, you know, to allow them to mentally approach the game and to fight the right way, I think, goes a long way. But what I want to do is just create some very exciting knockout punches, man, that really know the skill in the art of boxing. And, you know, once I can incorporate that into their everyday, you know, training and MMA training, it automatically makes them a more complete, overall well-rounded fighter from the ground all the way, you know, standing up.

So that's what I want to see. I want to see more and also want to help the Black Zilias become a more complete fighting team and a bunch of fighting machines. How did you get in contact with Glenn Robinson or vice versa? How did this actually come about? Like I said, man, you know, I've been planting seeds my whole life. It was a seed that I planned about three years ago through a good friend of who was a confidant of Glens and you know J.P.

brought me to the Black Zillions Gym at the time and I met all the guys then and they were doing a television show at the time and I had a segment on there where I was you know just trying to show them a few of my tricks and everything. It was real cool man and I appreciate Glenn opening the door for me and it wasn't until like two and a half years later that I got the phone call in Texas and you know I'm not totally aware of their purpose. personal situation, you know, but the great, the

original strike coach that they had, I think his name was Henry or Harry, I'm not mistaken. Henry Hooft. Henry, right, right, right. So, you know, they needed the position to be filled. And, uh, man, for Glenn to really consider me, uh, it speaks volumes on, you know, uh, the relationship

that we built and the, the confidence that he has in me to make a difference. Because at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. He wouldn't bring me in if he didn't feel that I can make a difference and allow his fighters to become better fighters, better strikers, and all around much better fighters, you know, competitors. So that's the goal here is to create champions and to create superstars in the world of MMA. And, you know, I think I'm up for that job. As you know, MMA boxing, two different sports. And one knock on MMA fighters in the past

has been that they lack basic boxing skills. You know, they don't use their jab effectively. They don't move their head. They don't move their feet the right way. What have you seen thus far from the fighters as far as their boxing skills are concerned? Do you think that there is truth to that? Of course, it's truth to that. But at the same time, that's something that is not anything that they can't learn.

But, you know, you have to be taught. And that's the key. You have to be taught. It has to be someone that can get through, someone that has great communication skills, someone that's passionate about what they're doing. And I feel like this, if you're taught and trained by a winner and champion, how can you lose?

I mean, that's point-blank period. How can you lose? I mean, so my thing is this. I'm going to let these fighters know what it takes and I'm going to see who really wants it because it's all up to them. You know, I can teach them everything I know, but it's up to them to execute and carry it out.

But I'm going to give them the weapons. And I think I've made a difference so far. And just a few times that I've had an opportunity to work with guys like Tewan Claxton, who I think it's going to be a real shining star in the MMA in the MMA sport, in the MMA world. And Yuri Vorford, I believe, he's fighting coming up in Walter Gazzata. He has a fight, a world championship fight in England. I've only really had an opportunity to assess these guys the last two weeks.

Now, this week we're going to want to really take a look at a few guys and do some one-on-one-one training and really, you know, hone in on the things that I think I can tweak and things that I think I can improve them on. And, you know, it's all about the skill of boxing, the sweet science and just really letting them know that it's a certain way and the right way to do things. And, you know, you know, my whole thing is this, just because, you know, we're fighting or in a fight doesn't mean I necessarily have to absorb punishment. And, you know, it's longevity that I've been blessed with, and it's because I think I've learned the game of boxing the right way. I've had some of the great training, some of the great coaches, and myself, I believe I'm going to eventually be considered a great coach before it's over. And that's my goal, because everything I've ever done, I strive to be the best at.

And, you know, I've done it. So this is just another arena that I'm just, really running as fast as I can with, because God has blessed me with another great opportunity, and who knows where this can go. But it's kind of, I'm in a catch 22 because I know I still can get it done. But, you know, I don't know what I'm doing now. I think my personal career is on reset at this time.

It's just been so long, man. I've trained. I've had three training camps, four training camps, where fights have been postponed, push, back, just canceled all together. And it's been just too long, man. Almost 20 months now going on two years. And, you know, sometimes you just have to look at the big picture and say, hey, boxing

didn't retire me because no one beat me at heavy weight. I never lost my title in the ring. But it's only me. It's only one of me. I cannot control anything outside of my body. And with that being said, there's, you know, there's. There's energies out there and things that I can't control that, you know, they got me blocked out. Come on, man.

You know, when you look back at the last 10 years, I've had some of the most unbelievable night in boxing. And for the boxing people that's controlling the sport to think that I don't have anything to offer still. I mean, it's just dumbfounded to me, man, that, you know, I've been put on the shelf in a lot of ways. You know, come on. Okay, for instance, Bellew, okay, Tony Bellew just had a great fight. He defeated, he defeated, uh, shit. His name, he loses me right now. Uh, who's the cat, David Hay.

He just stopped David Hayaker. He's fighting in the U-K. Yeah. Come on, man. He moves up to heavyweight. Now, okay, who is he going to fight? Like, who is he going to fight now? He didn't win a title.

He just had a good fight. He won a good fight over a guy that has been a chance. but was no way in championship form that night. So he still got a lot to prove, but for some reason they think he's won a title or something. And me and Tony Bellew talked a couple months prior to that fight with David Hay. And the man told me straight face to face. When he beat David Haye, he felt like a fight between him and I would make sense

because both of us starred in the Rocky movies. You know, he was calling, I believe, and, you know, everybody knows me as Mason Dixon. and that makes sense. And with me being five-time champion, with him having these big wins, come on, man, I just feel like I can never get the fight that can really, you know,

really stamp my greatness on boxing. It's like, you know, these fights are continuing to elude me because I don't have a manager. I can go on record. I'm a free agent. I don't have a promoter. It's just me.

I don't have the backing or the support, you know, because I had worked long, years with Al Heyman, you know, ever since 04 and we didn't, you know, we felt like we had gone as far as we can go together because I just wasn't getting the opportunities. And I just worked too hard, man. And, you know, I still work hard every day at this age. And it's like for them not to even believe in me or giving me a chance to fail, you know, a lot of great fighters have been knocked out. I just haven't been one of them. And, you know, let me go out on my shield if that's what it takes. But I believe. I believe, man, like nobody else in myself and my abilities, you know? And, you know, I don't look at power. I don't look at all that because I personally know that boxing is much more than that.

You know, and what makes a great fighter is not his physical attributes. It's what's between his head. And when I look at that, I'm like, okay, I feel like this, man. You know, just like I told the world that I would beat knockout Roy Jones. I didn't say I would knock him out after the fight. I said I was going to knock him out prior to the fight. Right. And we're talking about the Floyd Mayweather of our times, no matter what nobody says.

So I've already did the impossible. Shit, I knocked out Superman. So you think I care about King Kong or Godzilla? Shit, I already did it. So all I want to do is repeat it so that I can tell my story and I can take my rifle play. amongst champions. But for some reason, I can't get no push

or no momentum to even get back in the ring. And that's what really leaves a bad taste in my mouth about boxing. So are you accepting this job as Black Zillions coach because you have retired from boxing? I'm accepting this job

with the Black Zillions because if I'm possible, have had had my last fight. Okay. I possibly have been in the ring for the last time because I can get no support to allow me to get back in the ring and then, you know,

either win it all or try my damnness, you know, either write my last chapter or rewrite the whole fucking book. And that's, it's going to be one way or another or let me go out on my shield like the great champions before me. And if I feel like if I retired today or tomorrow, my career is unfinished and unsatisfied because I didn't go out like I know I can go out. I was forced out.

I was pushed out and I was locked out. And that's how my career ended. It is the last time you've seen the Magic Man in the ring. But who knows what tomorrow brings because like I said, I can put together the right team that has the vision and that believes in me. and we can go out here and make it happen all over again. But I thought I had that team. It wasn't to be. And now I'm in a process of resetting.

And you know what? I'm accepting the fact that if it is the last time I fought, then, hey, I can truly say that there's only really one man that beat me. And that was Chad Dawson. He happened to be 14 years, my senior. In a weight class, I had overgrown and outgrown six years prior to. And so, you know, shit. 20 years in the game, I've never been cut, never been on my back in a boxing,

and never been knocked out, and they want to force me out the game of boxing. And it's ridiculous. And I'm one of the biggest face, you know, and one of the most, you know, shit, personal, biggest personalities in the game, but I just don't have no support to push me to that and give me that opportunity. I can't do it on my own. Everybody knows that. But like I said, I'm still putting six. in the ground and hopefully they grow just like this seed grew three years ago.

Right. So, you know, I'm going to just keep planting those seeds, man, like I've always had and continue to stay ready. But Tony Bellew, we got a big fight right now. A big fight right now. As you may know on Saturday, everyone was talking and watching Joshua Klitsko and not that long ago you were talking about wanting to fight Anthony Joshua. What's it like for you to watch 90,000 people?

come together in England to watch a heavyweight fight for the longest time. People are saying the heavyweight division is dead. It's irrelevant. And here we have 90,000 filling up Wimblede Stadium. What are you thinking when you're watching that? And if I may, what were your thoughts on the fight itself? Oh, man, I was excited, man. My voice is actually hoarse because of it.

Wow. You know what I mean? I'm still trying to get my voice back. It was an incredible fight, man, because, you know, you saw the great Cliscoe, who's, you know, for the last 10, 15 years, has been the man on top of the hill. And you see a young, both guys, Olympic gold millers, you see a guy like Anthony Joshua.

You know, I feel like, man, I should have been, I should have been commentating that fight. I felt like I could have gave something to that fight from the commentating spot. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. Because I think the things that I see, I don't think nobody else can see

in how I respond to things and how I see things happening right before it happens. I don't think anybody out there has that knack. But, you know, for some reason, I can't even get commentating jobs anymore. I don't get it, man. It's happening. No boxing. I've always told, I was always told that boxing is all politics.

And, you know, but I never believed it until I see it. Now, I know it's all politics, man. But not to take anything away from the great Anthony Joshua. It's his time now, man. And I think he's going to do some big, big numbers when you look at what he's already done. And to be 18 and old with 18. knockouts, man. It's incredible. I mean, I think we're watching greatness right now, and I think everyone needs to really, you know, soak that in. And so he's the man on top. He deserves

everything he gets. And I'm just proud to see that the heavyweight division is cracking again, but I'm nowhere to be involved. And, you know, that's the bittersweet, you know, in my mouth. But, you know, like I said, he's an awesome fighter, unbelievable. He's intimidating. He's big. I mean, He's powerful. You know, but like I say, when I look at, when I look at him, you know, of course, you know, to beat Anthony Joshua, if I'm thinking about myself. Right. I mean, I couldn't get hit with nothing serious, you know. I would have to be on my best game.

And, you know, I would have to land a perfect punch, you know, to shock the world. And, you know, if anything less than that happens, then shit, I can go out on my shield and say, you know what? I fought them more and I did. You know, I think I was very successful when you look at my career. But, I mean, can I see that fight happening? I don't think so, man, because I was in, I had the relationship with the biggest, you know, broker in boxing. And nothing happened for two years. So, you know, I don't know.

I can't really speak on it. But like I said, man, you know, Tony Bellew, he can get it. You know, any heavyweight can get it. I was training three months for Washington, Gerald Washington, and when Wilder's opponent pulled out, shit, they inserted Gerald Washington, an unproven heavyweight that ain't never beat nobody, ain't never won nothing, to do a football player, and he'd get more consideration

than a five-time champion, Olympic bronze mellas, and a legend killer. He gets more consideration for that fight than me. so you know I don't think it's anything I'm doing I just think that it's just the sport right now is really trying to push the old guys out

and trying to set it up for these young guys who haven't really you know you know outside of last night you know the other night Joshua you know he was just all I think marketing all hype

he had the Olympic gold melons and with the heavyweight division being so depleted And when you're looking at Tyson Fury and we got, you know, Clisco, but Clisco didn't look great his last fight. He looked much better against Joshua. But his last fight against Tyson Fury, man, I didn't know who the hell that was in there.

And Tyson Fury running around like he done did some, he beat Cliscoe in the worst performance of Cliscoe's career. And he just ran around here like he did some. You know, I felt like in the rematch last, the fighter that Cliscoe was against Anthony Joshua, beats Tyson Fury all day. Let me ask you this, Antonio. I'd be remiss if I don't ask you about Connor

McGregor fighting Floyd Mayweather. Do you think Connor has a shot to shock the world and beat Floyd Mayweather? Not a chance in hell. Why? Not a chance in hell. Why? Because Connor McGregor can't beat the top 20 in the division.

How the fuck you're going to beat Floyd Mayweather? Puncher's chance? not a fucking chance in hell because he's not punching with those four-house gloves on he's punching with 10-ounce gloves on big difference Do you think it's a mockery

that they're trying to make this fight happen? It's a money fight. I don't know if it's a mockery, but it's a money fight. Okay. That's what it's all about. Do you think Floyd knocks him out? Connor McGregor can't beat David D.

He can't beat Nate Diaz in a boxing match. Wow, you think Nate Diaz beats him in a boxing match. In a boxing match, he'll beat his ass. And a whole lot of other fighters out there beat his ass. Damn.

No love for Connor. Do you think... In a boxing match, unless there's one asterisk by that. Unless Conner McGregor can get with someone like Antonio Tarver that can show him

what it's going to take to compete, not beat, but to even compete with a guy that's a boxing genius like Floyd Mayweather. So even if he signs up with you, he just competes.

He doesn't even beat him. No, no, no, no. He'll know what to do to win. He'll know what to do to win. Okay. I can train him on what to do to win because he don't even know what to expect. Wow. Do you think...

When he's talking about fighting a guy like Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match. Do you think Floyd knocks him out? I think Floyd can knock him out because Floyd is a boxer. He's not going to know. what to do. He hasn't had the repetitions. He hasn't had the experiences. He don't know what is going to take shit. He gets tired in a five-round fight. Even though they're going five rounds and they're wrestling. What do you think is going to happen in round six, seven if it gets that far when he's mentally fatigued and tired? Because I've seen him in the octagon get mentally fatigued and tired.

He just need to be taught. Shorter rounds though, boxing. Shorter rounds, though, in boxing, three minute rounds, five-minute MMA rounds. So we have to take that into account as well, right? But you got to take an account, though, a lot of times, you know, these guys are just wasting time, too. I mean, boxing is a different, those three minutes are totally different than anything else in the world that you've experienced. So Connor McGregor, when he ain't got those four-ounce gloves on what's going to happen in round seven when those 10-ounce gloves start feeling like a pound on each hand. He's not used to that. He's not accustomed to it.

So he's going to have to have someone in there that knows boxing inside and out to teach him the intricate parts of what to expect from Floyd Mayweather. Somebody that knows Floyd Mayweather inside and out that knows the boxing game inside and out that can equip him with the things that he needs to know to have a chance to show. shop the world. And by the way, Antonio... It's going to take somebody special.

It's going to take nobody just catching fucking Mitch, looking cute on the Mitch, because that ain't what it's about. Wow. It's about anticipating, it's about reacting, because sometimes you ain't even got time to think. You just got to react, and your reaction has got to be on

point. So, you know, Colin McGregor, it's going to have to go through a school of boxing in a short period of time. It's going to have to take somebody that can teach him properly, even just with his movements, even with the little things. He may not need a lot, but he's going to need the right thing. And I mean, I can't speak on it,

but when they first started talking about that, he should have had the right person then, and he still can get it, but he can't continue to wait. He needs to know who he's going to be with, and he needs a consultant, a consultant that knows the game inside and out and can teach him what to expect, what to anticipate, how to react on it,

and stay in the game, teach him how to punch, you know, teaching how to make him miss and make him pay, teach him a lot of good stuff that he's going to need to equip himself with. But I'm going to see it because they're going to be entertainment at its finals, but as far as a competitive boxing match, I don't see that. I personally don't see that. You know, it's been very in vogue these days for MMA fighters and boxers to talk about super fights.

We have obviously Conor and Floyd. there's a guy named Jimmy Manuel in our world who's calling out David Hay. Our next guest actually, Anderson Silva has been trying to fight Roy Jones for a long time. You beat Roy. Maybe you versus Anderson is the fight to make. I don't know. I mean, my name ain't been

coming up with nobody because, you know, it's a good chance when the magic man show up. I'm going to make somebody disappear. So that's what it is, man. But I'm all about entertainment, but I don't want this shit to get carried out, you know, carried away. Okay.

Boxing is boxing. boxing is boxing and MMA is MMA now it's a unique opportunity with Connor and Mayweather of course and it's all about that bread I mean I wouldn't if you were there managers of course you would want that fight to happen but I mean I don't know if it's gonna do box and is it really gonna do boxing and service

or could it you know be a Manny Pachial type of fight and you know as much firepower as Manny Pachial has that fight was a dud so what the hell Cona McGregor is going to bring that many pack yow didn't bring you. Yeah. I mean, that's what I'm trying to think. I'm trying to put my head around that.

And when you look at Manny Pachial and Conner McGregor, and you think boxing, how far away are those plans? Listen, Conner McGregor has made believers out of many doubters. I'm not going to be the one to tell him he can't do it. I'm sorry. I feel you. I feel you. But like I said, come on, man.

When you look at Nate Diaz boxing Connor McGregor, that closing the show for me. Yeah. That closing it for me. There's just, come on, man, you're talking about A fighters versus D fighters. I'm serious, man. It's levels to do. You know, Connor McGregor could possibly get hurt if he don't prepare himself correctly.

It's a hurt sport. Mayweather is not a knockout puncher. Right. Conner McGregor ain't getting hit by real, real professional boxes either. Last thing for you, Antonio. What's the vibe like at the blackout? Lexillians. They've had a lot of changes there, you know, coaches left, fighters left. You've been there, I know a short amount of time, but you've been around a lot of gyms. Do you feel like

there's a good vibe there? Do you feel like it's going to take some work? How would you assess it? I mean, shit. Those guys work hard, man. I came in and I mean, I kind of like fit right in. I just have really been assessing the guys. But yeah, it's a winning mentality over there. And I mean, like I said, we're going to do big things. We're going to do big things, man, because these guys seem to have the desire and the dedication. And, you know, Tyrone, he ain't going to accept anything less from those guys. You know, Neil is not, Neil isn't either. And so when you look at the guy that's going to teach them the fundamentals of that stand-up game

and to really be precise and sharp, you know, shit, you're going to see the difference. You're going to see the difference. And that difference is going to be a statement made that the black zillions is, shit, we're here to stay and we're only going to get better. Because they got me right now. We're only going to get better. And I ain't never sign up to lose. So, you know, I'm looking to make all those guys better fighters, better well, all-around fighters.

And I think that spells trouble for the rest of the MMA world. Great stuff, Antonio. This was a lot of fun. Thanks for doing it. I wish you nothing but the best with the team, with the Blacksillians. And also, we're trying to reenter the boxing space and get that respect that you're looking for. So really appreciate your time here today. hopefully we can catch up soon and see how things are going with the team.

Thanks a lot, man. Have you ever down in Pumping No Beach, man? Swing through and you can shake hands with the Magic Man. All right. I look forward to that. Thank you, Antonio. There he is. The Magic Man, Antonio Tarver, Mason the Lion Dixon from the Rocky film.

Remember Rocky came out of retirement, had this fight against Antonio Tarver, who was known in the film as Mason and Lyon Dixon. That was interesting. You could see he really perked up when talking about the economy McGregor fight. Everyone has a take on it. That's why it's the ultimate barbershop fight, right? Every single barbershop in this country, in this world, at some point we'll be talking about this fight. Someone will say they think Connor has a chance. Someone will say you're an idiot. They will all watch it and it will break all kinds of records. And if it actually comes to fruition,

it will be great for all involved. Everyone will be rich. And the UFC isn't doing this out of the goodness of their heart. They are doing it to get paid as well. They want this cash, even if they have to play nice with others. And it was interesting. I was listening to Chris Manix's Yahoo boxing podcast this morning going to the studio on my commute. And he had an interview with the head of Showtime Sports, Stephen Espinoza. And Stephen said that, in his opinion, and they have that relationship with Floyd, he said that in his opinion, the negotiations were at a standstill. So what's going on? Last week, we had Auditarr, who's Connor's manager say that they were trending in the right direction. It's not dead. You have

Ardham say, you know, he's putting his career on hold because he wants to help Connor prepare for the fight. Conner is expecting to be a dad any day now, it seems. If you check out his social media, you'll see updates here and there on that front. And so maybe it's happening. Maybe it's not. Maybe we thought it was going to be easier. I don't know. But everyone has a take. And if you look at 2017 thus far for the UFC, even if they are sharing the pie, even if they are co-promoting, they still stand to make probably more money that night as far as pay-per-view, as far as gate, all that stuff. Of course, we have to consider how the breakdown is going to be, but there's a chance more so than any of their pay-per-views thus far. What timing Lorenzo

Fritia had, who just announced today for Tita Capital, his new venture, they already have 500 million. I'm not very smart when it comes to that stuff, but they put out a press release. We have a article up on the site about it. What timing he had to sell the company. I mean, this guy is the most brilliant man in this world. To sell the company when it was at its peak, UFC 200, with MSG on the horizon, with Ronda's return on the horizon, five paper reviews in 2016 alone did a million or more buys. Nothing's touching that thus yet, not even sniffing it thus yet in 2017. What timing? The greatest timing I've ever seen. I mean, we talk about buying the company for $2 million and then turning that into $4.025 billion.

Forget about that. That's just great on its surface. But to know when to say when, to know when to to hold them, when to fold them, when to say, all right, we're done. Is the skill in its own right? that's how you become very rich. And at UFC 200, when this whole thing culminated, you still had, you know, if you're buying this company, you're saying, wait a second, here's what we got. We've got, we've got Connor versus Nate 2 coming up. We've got MSG coming up.

We've got Ronda coming up. We've got all kinds of things. This is very exciting. Let's buy the company. Now, 2017, not as many things. What timing? Unbelievable. Okay.

One of the big stories recently has been, what is going on with Anderson Silva? We thought that he was going to fight, Gaslam at UFC 212, June 3rd in Rio, then Kelvin gets pulled because of his issue with Usada, the marijuana, you know the story. Then they have this press conference,

and Anderson is there alone, squaring off with himself, and now there's all kinds of rumors, and we don't know what's going on. And Rio is fast approaching, they could use him, obviously, we want to know what's going on. He is kind enough to join us. He's on the phone with his translator and friend, Derek. Let's get the answers from the man himself.

Anderson Silva, are you there? Yeah, you can provide. How are you? Good morning, my friend. Good morning. It's great to have you on. Thank you so much for joining us. I've been wanting to talk to you for a very long time. Okay, where do things stand with you right now? Are you fighting in Rio? Do you have a fight? Do you have a fight on a different car? Tell us what's going on. What's what's going on?

What's what? You're going to do? Good question. Good question. I am staying here in Rio for a long time. I start my country. you know and I'm very frustration because everything is happening about like fights in real I don't know

I just the guys don't talk to me you know because sometimes they say okay fights is calm and now nothing's happened you know and um

The guy's given the options for a fight in here from my people and my country, for my fans, you know, and I say, okay, I go fight for Will Romero because I know I respect Real Romero is a great fighter, being in number one in the rank. and but one thing why will Romero come to Brazil for five me and for nothing you know and well Hamer would say

I go to Brazil for five for uh entering Bell and the same I talked to my manager and I talked for my manager my my opinion for about this fight you know

because a lot of problems for me for a long time and nothing happened but first of all when I signed my last contract

Dana-Wai in Lorenzo say okay when I George MPA is back you go to fight super fight you and George of Day

I don't know what happened it's nothing happening George of Dan back to fight and back to fight for the bell is very very This is this is the don't make sense, you know.

I know it's a fucking business, but I'm working hard for a long time. I help with you a lot. I say with you all the time. And, you know, I just, I don't know what happened, you know. And I know Dana talked about this and this, a lot of things. But the more important now is that. my fight in Brazil. And I say for my manager, I fight for well Romero. I don't have problems for fight for well Romero, but put on the belt for the Indian belt for fighting

Brazil. Because one thing, this is a business. It's good business for the C, because never in the story the guy is fighting Brazil for the belt. The second one, talking about Weldon medal is the number one in the hang. And the second one, being like I'd say, the best fight in the world appears, you know. Why I know putting this fight in Brazil? I don't know what happened. I don't know. But I'm very disappointed, you know.

And when I talked to my manager at Twyadis for the last time, and my man said, I don't know, and the guy said, maybe you don't fight more. And the guy's disconcerated, you fight. And it's card in the jail. I say, what? Why do you don't talk to me? Why do you don't talk to me about what happened?

I lost my time. I lost my money. I lost everything. nothing happened you know I'm very disappointed for a long time for this year

I'm sorry but this is my opinion this is the it's happening now because I don't know what happened

I'm staying here for long time for training this is not my fault for the gas so go out the fight, this is no

my problem. My problem is training hard for fight in Brazil for my fans. What happened to my fans now? What happened to the people pay the ticket for seeing my fight in Brazil? It's the second time this happened. I'm tired

for this. I'm tired for talking about for my manage. I'm Are you still there, Anderson? Yeah, I'm here. Okay. We lost you right at the end there, but obviously we got the gist of what you said

and can clearly tell that you're disappointed. And so I want to try to clarify something. Have you been offered a fight against you, O'O, Romero, for Rio, for June 3rd? You know, the guy's given a lot of options, but the one point, I don't go fight for Well Romero and Brazil for nothing Well Romero no come to Brazil for fight for nothing

You know, I talked to I talked to the team The El Homer team Is it me and El Homer is the same page Let's go fight Yes, let's go fight for Uh, Inters Bell Because this makes sense Okay

You know You don't make sense Well Romero and me fight for nothing You know I know Ben, I have a lot of talking for all because beans and beans and things. Everything

will make sense because the real thing is the fans and the world think watching this fight is the make sense for in the bells, entering bells for me in

Royal America fight, you know? Yep. And so when they offer you this fight and you say to them, I want this to be for the interim belt. What do they say? Is this going to happen? Are they interested in this, or are they saying no to you? He said that's going to do, but that's going to do,

you know, it's the same all time. Oh, because this, no, because this, because this, because, oh, George, somebody I come back to fight, oh, these things, they stay good for fight. This is complete bullshit, you know? I'm sorry, but I'm tired for old times. Say, okay, we'll see, okay, I go to this. I'm tired for, say, the ass with the old time.

I'm so tired. Wow. Do you feel like you have been disrespected by the UFC? Thank you for the HIPC. I'm staying here in Brazil for a long time. I lost a lot of money in different opportunities for my, my outside the cage, you know, in a different job. I have the liar contract.

I put it outside my life for putting in the fight, you know. I put a fight in the first, in the first option in my life. In here, in the real, because I need to this fight for my friends, you know. I need to give back for my friends, how much. my friends giving the support for me. And there's nothing happened, you know. And then I say, oh, you go fight for this guy. Oh, these guys.

Okay. But why I come to fight in Rio for, as I, you know, make sense, you know? Well, Hamel, say, okay, I'd go fight for Anderson, but I put him the belt, including bells. And I talked to my men. I'm ready. I don't fight to Railhamara

for the interim belt. But nothing happened. Wow. Have you had a chance to sit down and talk to Dana White and tell him

how you're feeling and tell them why you want the Interim Belt and tell him that you feel disrespected? You've had a relationship

with him for, you know, almost a decade now. Have you had a chance to actually sit down and speak to him about this? You know,

you know, I think, you know, I think, you know, is a good man, but sometimes lose how much being a talk, you know, because they have a lot of promise if nothing happens. First of all, when I signed my contract, the guy said, the first fight, you in contract, when I signed this contract,

my last contract, Dana and Lorenzo say, you go to fight, super fight for George M.Den when George M.P.I.H. go back and fight for the bell. I'm winning my fight in London for beating. Why in no putting me for fight for beat me? You know, I don't care for the bell, you know. But I'm winning the fight in London. Why not put in the fight? Because George is no ready for a fight for, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, piece thing. What the fuck is going on? You know, I just, I'm fired for saying all the time. Okay, Lexi, okay, Ben, I go this, I go this. I save the ass, banalized, and who if you all the time. I'm tired.

I'm tired for this. It's all bullshit. What the fuck is going on for Jackarette? Yeah, got to win all the time and never put in the fight for the belt. Now, Jackarrette lose the fight. Never go back to it. talk about fight for the

belt. It's the same well, Romero, what the fuck has happened to me? I'm

win for a long time. I'm champion for a long time for years. There's nothing happened. You know, I don't believe

in nothing being stopped because I'm very disappointed. I'm, I'm fired, bro. I'm sorry for

talking about this, but I'm so tired. Wow. I don't think I've ever heard you this mad before. Have you ever been this mad about the state of the UFC and the state of your career? Yeah, it's more banged than that's. No, no, this is a fourth time because, you know, I'm tired. Trust me, I'm so tired. You know, I just talked to my team today, and I talked to my friends

and my family, you know, I'm, I'm tired. I just say, there's nothing happened. This fight no happened with you. I'm done. no fight more. I'm done. I know I need you more this. I'm very disappointed. I don't believe in nothing to Dana talks because nothing happens, you know. And first of all, when I, Dana talked to me for my new contract, then I say, oh, Dana and Lorenzo say, okay, when George Tump is back, you fight for George's a super fight. I said, okay, okay? You know, I just, you say this I know

I trust me when you talk but nothing happened I'm very frustration magnanimy the guy

say oh when I georg back you go fight for the

you go fight and super fight and one day I waiting for this fight

when he goes back and fight for the bell I say oh my God

it will make sense I know They know I'd say, oh, because when I, George, stop, George's win, George is the champion. It makes sense, George back to fight for the, the, the, the, fight for the bells and blah, blah, blah. This is perfect bullshit. I'm tired. I'm so tired.

I'm respect. A long time. Everything. I never talked about bad situations. with she because all times I'm trying to put in my horse and I I I couldn't uh for me with she all the time is my team I work into my team and a one day when I seen a in Lorenzo come to my team for talking about Reebok and in my contract I know have nothing in my contract saying about you and need you and rebook and I say okay

Okay, and Dana and Lorenzo come to talk to me in this. Please, let's go. Make sense. You help me, I help you. Let's go. I say, okay, okay. It's changed my color, change everything, and nothing is happening. You know, I lose my contract for Nike because we bought come inside with C, you know.

And when I talked about my fight, so why don't... We may have lost him there. fight for a better and I don't know

what I'm sorry to interrupt go back to what you were saying about Roy Jones I'm so tired I'm very disappointed I'm very

tired about this and I'm you know I'm training hard for a long time in my life

I put in all my my energy so fight for good fighting with you I have the

great story in this sport and I'm very disappointed And I just want to be clear about what you said. You said that if you don't get the Romero interim title fight, you think you're done? You think you're going to retire? Yeah, I don't consider that little bit.

Yeah, I think I'm done. I'm, you know, I just, I fight so long time in my life, you know. I'm tired, bro. I'm so disrespected. I have my legacy. I have my story. very frustration because this is the second time I'm not fighting my country, you know? Yeah.

This is, for me, it's a very frustration. I go to fight in London. I go to fight in different countries, you know, and never happened a few times. I talked about my fight in Brazil if nothing happened. You know, I'm very frustration. And for me, you know, I don't like more talking about this because I lose my time, I lose my money, and I lose my energy. And all my friends, when my friends talk to me about this fight in Brazil, I say, I don't know, I don't know what happened. And when I talk to my manager, my manager, that's why I think.

I don't know, Anderson. The guy is talking about, you know, fight more in Brazil. What? Why don't talk to me? Why are you not talking about this? I'm training hard. I lose my money. I lose everything.

My time. My time together in my family. And what the fuck is going on? You know? And I'm very, I'm very disappointing. The guys don't respect my legacy. Don't respect my story. this work and, you know, I'm, I don't know, I'm done.

I'm done. Do you think that the UFC has changed over the years, that it's not the same place as the company when you came in, when you were fighting for the belt, fighting Chris Leibman, those guys, do you feel like it's changed? I don't know, I don't know. You know, I just all time I put in my job and are working hard to with she, and I took all my energy for fight.

When I guys call me about five, I say, okay, I'm ready. And, you know, sometimes I see how much you see and move the money. I take my phone, I call to my manager and say, don't worry, I go help you because this is my team. This is my family. You know? And now this has happened. And, you know, I'm very disappointed.

I'm very frustration because this is crazy. I don't believe it is. You know, the guys don't respect my story. Don't respect my legacy. And, you know, everything doesn't make sense. You know, I don't believe it. I don't believe it. It's fucking crazy, you know.

I'm sorry I using this language. But I'm very disappointed. Sorry, brother. No, no, I completely understand it and sympathize with you. You know, we've had some success with trying to make fights happen here. And so we actually have Yel Romero on the phone right now. Would you like to speak to UL? Yeah, of course.

U.L. are you there? Oh, yeah. How are you? I'm doing good, my brother. Shalom. We have Anderson Silva. Shalom. Arguably the greatest of all time on the phone.

He wants to fight you. What do you want to say to him? You know, I have a big respect for Amazon, you know, it's the legend, you know. I think some of that is a very, very good chance, you know, for me, for my career. I can fight with him, you know. But I think so I can fight with him only for the championship, you know, for the interim championship. That is a good option, you know. This is a good fight.

I think some of this is a good fight for the people, you know, the people. in Rio, you know? You will. The reason that is good, it's very great. Yeah. Have you been offered a fight against Anderson Silva by the UFC? Come me again? Have you been offered a fight against Anderson Silva in Rio by the UFC?

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes. You have. Yes. Were you offered an interim title fight or no interim title fight? No, interim, interim. Intern. I want to fight with him in Rio for the interim title fight.

But if the UFC says no interim title. Hello, hello. Hello, I'm the Zoom. Hello, so how are you, buddy? I go, my man, I'm good. Yeah, I'm good, bro. I'm saying, I'm saying page, you know. I'm talking about you legacy and my legacy, you know.

And I respect you. And, you know, I think we're here and you understand. How much you're working hard. How much I'm working hard about this. Why do you come to be? Brazil for fight me for nothing, you know? Because you, the first guy for, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, you stay in, in, uh, in the, in the, hang for, fight for the belt.

And, uh, it makes it because I have my story. He's going to come back. No? Yeah, he's going to, his phone cuts out from time to time. It's great, you know. I, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what happened.

I know it's different situations for you, well, matter, but for me, I'm very disappointed for UFC because the guys don't respect my legacy, you know. I'm sorry talking about this. I don't know disrespect you, but it's no make sense. I fight to Andrewsville for no, the interim belt, you know? Yeah. Do you agree with that, Yuel? It doesn't make sense to fight Anderson in Rio if the interim belt is not on the line? You know, that's just That's only what I want, you know

What I want is If I hand for the title, you know That's it Wow, and so where do we go from here Do you think that this is going to happen, Yuel? What are you going to do? I don't know, you know I say maybe

You know, everything is possible in the life In life is everything is possible, you know I wait for God I wait maybe maybe Maybe I can find him, you know, that we don't know. Anderson, what do you think of Yowell as a fighter? Hello? Yes, Anderson, are you there?

Yeah, I'm here, bro. What do you think, Yowel, a lot of people think that, you know, he's very close to becoming the UFC middleweight champion, that he is one of, if not the most dominant fighters in the UFC right now. What do you think of him? Do you like him as a fighter? Have you been impressed with him? Yeah, well, no, it's a great fight.

In fact, all fighters, no. It's the same. There's no difference for Real Romero. You know? But the fight is a fight. But all makes sense is a fight. Me and Real Romero is a fight for the entering belt, you know?

Right. It's not happening. It's no interesting, you know. And, you know, I'm very disappointed for everything. I don't know. It's crazy. So crazy. Why not?

The belt, for each in the belt, me and railroad narrow. You know? It's the two big fighters. It's two great fighters, you know? And Yuel, I'm curious, which fight is more exciting for you? Forget about, you know, belts or whatever. Which fight excites you more? Anderson Silver or Michael Bisping?

Why not? No, right now, right now, for the city, situation, you know? Yeah. For the situation. Yeah. I can fight with now. I can, and that's the, the, the, the, the, the, the two options, the most important

for my life right now. Right. You know, fight him because, believe me, see, what I have the, she, that does not happen. Who? Everybody wants to fight Anderson in the division because it's the lien. Yeah. So you stay. So you fight.

So you're in the middleweight division and you never fight with Anderson, believe me, you don't do nothing. You know? That's it. Because Anderson is Anderson. The legend. You have to, if you're a middleweight fighter,

you have to fight Anderson Silva at some point in your career. That's what you're saying. Yes. Wow. And here we are. Anderson, let me just ask you this. Are you disappointed that GSP took the middleweight fight considering the fact that they can't make it happen

sooner rather than later, do you feel like he's kind of clogging things up at 185? I think it's a trapoling a little bit of category to turn to the category. You know, in my mind, this is my personal opinion, this is a disrespect for different fighters in staying in the category, you know?

Yeah. This is a disrespect every guy in this category. This is the bullshit. You know, this is no makes sense. You know, this is disrespect. Disrespect of all legacies, the old fights in this category. You know, I don't know what happened with Dana-wise. You know, I don't know.

Bro, I don't understand what I have for Dana-wise now. You know, I have my personal opinion for Dana, but now I'm so disappointed for Dana-wise. You know, I'm very disappointed. You know, I don't know. about blah, blah, blah. Then I have a lot of discourse about this and this and this

for, well, when I had a thought, I'm thought for different guys' talk. But this is real. This is all real. You know, I'm working for a long time in this fucking bullshit job. And nothing's happening. You know, I give my heart for this sport.

I give my legas for this sport. I give everything. I lose my time for my family for this boy. It's nothing happened. Now, I see I need to give them back how much I give for what she, you know? And why happen? Why couldn't all in them?

You know, this is fucking bullshit. Wow. Yuel, any final things you want to say to Anderson? You know, I have a big respect with this man, man. This man is the really man. You see, Anderson? Anderson is the really man. I when I come in for the sport

I come in for him you know because I see I when I stay in Cuba I see the video when he fights it's amazing guy you know this is the amazing fighter amazing man that's the the family man you know I have a big respect to him that is no

no personality you know this is only for the for the sport you know when it's like when you stay you you make a tongue and you say I want to do something, but I want to do it good. That's the point. So you want to do, so you stay in the middle way

and you know, fight with him, you never know what you do. You understand? That's the only. Because maybe I'll fight with him tomorrow. But I'm not a day. I have a decent respect for these men. That's the only. And you will, just to be clear, if it's not Anderson,

are you not interested in fighting anyone else right now? It's Anderson or no one? And that is my point. I fight only for with Anderson, for the interim bill. So I not fight with him. I wait for my time for my time for the bill. And who knows when that's happening? Anderson, any final things you want to say to you well?

No, I need to say thank you. Well, thank you for you. Welcome, my brother. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you, buddy. And God bless you. And thank you for.

and say you time for spending your time for talking for the fans, you know, because the fans I need you see the sabotage for you and me, you know? Wow. Thank you, Yowell. Anderson, stay right there. I just have two more questions for you but thank you so much, U.L. I really appreciate it. Okay. Bye. Anderson, are you still there?

Yeah, I'm here. Wow, that was crazy. We actually just made the fight. Both of you want the fight. So what do you think happens now? What do you think is going to happen? Do you think, are you confident that this is going to happen or not really? Really? This is good question. You know, this is good question. But for Dana-wife, you know, this is good question for Dana.

Why Dana is slow-putting now? Why is the discourse for Dana-like saying now? Why is the Dana say, sorry about this, you know? I'm tired, bro. I'm tired. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm moved my time for a long time in this sport. And I respect my fans. I give my heart for my fans.

And I'm working hard for my friends. For a long time in my life. And nothing happens. You know, I just waiting. You know, the guys don't give this fight for me for interim bills. I'm gone. I'm done. I go to my family.

And I'm done. And Anderson, we've heard, you know, there was some talk of maybe Rashad, Luke Rockhold, OSP. What happened to these fights? Why is it the Yowell interim fight? Why is that the one that you want so badly? You know, I just, it's my company. Yeah. I'm representing Anderson's football.

You know, my last fight, I'm win. Why is I go to fight for the guys no win the fight? it's no make sense. It's no come better for me. You know? It's no makes sense. Why I go fight for Luke Walker? It's lose the last fight.

Why I go fight for the different guys to lose the fight? Don't make sense, you know? And I don't know. I just, I thought my opinion for everybody now. And the people see how much I'm disappointed now. I never talked about with C, but this time I'm very disappointed. I'm so very disappointed. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry for my fans, but this needs to stop. You know, the guys need to stop bullshit and sabotage for great fighters in this sport. You know, it's just no make sense. I'm done. I'm tired. I need you talking about this because I'm tired. Wow. And last thing for you, Anderson, there's been a lot of talk about you recently, to end on somewhat of a good note. Demetrius Johnson just tied your record for title defenses, and he now has 10 in his next fight. He would break your record. But there's been talk of if he's had the same kind of road that you had. If he's fought the same caliber of opponent, what do you make of his record right now? The fact that he tied you,

Do you consider what he's done on your level, or do you not think that he has fought the same competition that you fought when you were a champion? It's a great type of your celebrity, you know. And I have a new story. You have a new legacy, you know. And now my focus is just waiting for the danger to the decision for who on this fight, me in Wilhelmero.

It's not happening. I'm done. I'm done. I go back to my home. I stay together my family and no more fight I'm done

I'm done because I'm tired for safe with the old time you know it's just talking about everything

but never I see the guys take the fight for three four days have a serious I take the fight and knee-seers, both knees-hires.

I take the fight and I save all the time with you. You know, I'm tired. I'm tired. The guy so much back my legacy and, you know, I'm tired. I'm done. I'm done. I don't care more bullshit in my life. I'm four-two-old and I'm done, bro.

I'm sorry, but I know I need to respect my fans. I respect my fans. And I'm sorry, guys. I love my sport. I love fight with my life. But it's too much bullshit. It's too much. Okay.

Anderson, are you there? Terrible situation inside this point. Any final things you want to say to your fans? It's very rare to hear from you on a show like this. Is there any final? You know, I don't think so. friends go see I fight again because

this fight me and where all the matter will happen I'm done I need to say thank you for my fans and my happening I go talk to my lawyers about my contract and I go talk to

with tea for leave me alone and done wow well we hope hope it doesn't get to that point. Hopefully today, the spark between you two, the conversation will reignite something and you can get what you want because I don't think anyone at this point wants to see you retire, Anderson. But I can't thank you enough for coming on and for speaking

your mind. I really appreciate the time. I know you don't do a lot of these interviews, so it really means a lot and I'm sorry to hear that you are upset. I hope it gets resolved for you sooner rather than later so that you can be content and go out on your own terms, Anderson. better, but I don't know. You know come better, despite no happen. I'm done. I'm done. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Everything, for everything for my fans. But this is my opinion now. This is my heart is talking about this is fucking sabotation, my life, and I'm done. Thank you, Anderson. luck to you. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you. Bye. Wow.

What more can be said there? I think he said, I'm done 30 times. Initially, when he said it, I asked him to clarify because I wasn't quite sure that I get what he said. I mean, it was very clear, but I just wanted to make sure if you don't get this fight on June 3rd, you are retiring, you're done? You heard him say it at least 20 times. I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. Sabotage, disrespect. F-and-bullshit.

He said at all. I've never heard Anderson like that. I'm sure he's been upset before. Never heard him upset like that in the media. Historically, he's been the guy who has kept it all in. Remember, UFC 112. He's at the press conference, right? He doesn't say anything.

He just keeps it all in. You know he was thinking a lot. Just kept it all in. Referenced an issue with the Reebok deal, had a sit down. This was before the Michael Biss. Bisping fight. I'd heard that there were some issues there, getting him on board. And this has clearly been brewing for quite some time, stepped up to fight Daniel Cormier at UFC 200. And now here we are.

Anderson Silva clearly wants to fight Yole Romero on June 3rd. Y'O. Romero wants to fight Anderson Silva on June 3rd. They both wanted to be for an interim title. They both say, if it's not for an interim title, thanks but no thanks. And now here is the issue that the UFC is facing. They booked this fight between George St. Pierre and Michael Bispeng. What, early March, right? So almost two months ago now. It's amazing how quickly time flies. And the issue seems to be that for whatever reason,

and I have reached out to try to have them on the show, to try to clarify the situation, George St. Pierre isn't ready to fight July 8th. They wanted it to be July 8th. And without speaking to them, my hypothesis is, let's get the fight signed, let's announce it, let's make a big deal about it, let's get people excited

and then it will fall into place then we'll book it then we'll put it July 8 that's when we want it that's when we need it witness the fact they don't have a main event just yet for July 8 even T.J. Dillshaw told us today that he was told he's the co-main event GSP is GSP. He has his plans

he's set he doesn't want to fight July 8 for whatever reason now you're left with a situation where you've announced the fight you booked a fight a fight that didn't make sense from a ranking standpoint, from a meritocracy standpoint, in the division that is the most stacked, that is the most active right now, where you can legitimately make a claim for Yuel, for Luke Rockhold, for now Robert Whitaker, for Gagher Mousasi, for Anderson Silva.

You've got guys that you can actually very easily sell in a title fight. And they're all being told, wait a second. and they're being told, wait a second, there's a fight that's happening in the fall. It's early spring. So if that fight happens in October, and again, I don't begrudge Michael Bisping for taking this fight, for wanting this fight, for holding out for it, this is his money fight. But if that fight isn't ready to happen, and it's only going to happen in October, think about the winner of the fight when he's going to be ready.

And if the winner of that fight is George St. Pierre, will he even be around to defend the title? he did not commit to that, neither did Dana White, when they had the press conference. So what is happening with the division? So you can understand where someone like Anderson Silva, who was the ruler of said division for years, is a little frustrated with the current state of his division and career. He wants to fight in Rio. He wants to fight for an interim belt. And they have made these interim title fights. They made one for the lightweight division, what, four months after Connor McGregor won the belt.

So there's a precedent. They made the featherweight interim title fight after stripping Connor in Toronto. There is a precedent. It is a tricky situation. When you have Anderson Silva essentially say, I'm going to retire multiple times. If this fight doesn't happen, this is a tricky situation. And it goes back to my point before this Anderson Silva interview, Lorenzo Fortita, man, oh man, did he know when to say when? And this has been an issue that I have heard from countless managers and fighters ever since the sale.

there's no longer that personal connection with the UFC. Where did that go? It used to be, hey, we have an issue called Dana Colorenzo. Now it is a media conglomerate. Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell are tremendously successful. They have a lot on their plate that does not pertain to mixed martial arts. Before the owners of the UFC were only in the MMA business. Yes, the Fortita family was a part of the station casino business, but he was all in on MMA.

That's not the case right now. So who's calling shots? Who's getting things done? Who do you turn to if you have an issue? And you can tell us all you want that it's the same company, that it's being run the same way, same priorities, same drive, we're going to be bigger.

Things change when you're $400 million richer. That's just life. Things change. The battle has been won. It's not the same. To hear a fighter like Anderson Silva, who historically does not verbalize his thoughts that eloquently,

to hear Y'L Romero speak like that. We had Y'O. Romero and Anderson Silva, talking to each other in English. Where did you go, Ray? We didn't need you. That was insane. That was unbelievable. Let's bring in Mr. New York Creek here.

Get his two cents on all this. As my cameraman, videographer, colleague, Casey put it on Twitter. We actually just booked two title fights for the UFC today. Yeah. Can I get a percentage? Now, Megan Anderson is still an Invicta fighter. Oh, stop it with that.

We booked fights. We got a verbal agreement from four fighters today. Four fighters, two fights. And let me just say, pretty big fights. Like, I'm not talking, you know, rinky dink fights. I'm talking big fights. Where's our cut? How do you feel about what Anderson said?

I say I understand his frustration. Now, I don't know if his record is worthy of an interim title shot. I think that's an important thing to probably think about. His current record. Yeah. Like what he's done lately? Yeah. Coming off a win. Two losses to Chris Widman.

Right. No contest against Nick Diaz. Sure. Lost to Michael Bisping. Lost to Daniel Corri-A. win over Derek Brunson. That would put him at four and one in his last six fights. That's not interim title worthy, in my opinion. What is interim title worthy at this point? What does that even mean?

Here's what I think the big issue is, if you're going to say that Anderson Silva is on the card, if you're going to bring him to the press conference, if you're going to sell tickets off his name, if you're going to tweet that he's on the card as recently as late last week, you've got to deliver him. At this point, you have to deliver him.

Yes. And now, from their perspective, my thought is if they say, hey, we want you to fight Yo-Romero, that's kind of okay in my book. I understand why. Sands' interim title. Sand's interim title.

That fight makes sense to me. for an interim title, I think he's pushing a little too hard. And here's the other thing. Here's the other thing to consider. It does kind of feel like the inmates are running the asylum here, right? Sure. In the past, this kind of stuff didn't get to us

because it was sort of squashed before. The fact that Anderson got to the point where he wanted to come on this show and talk about this speaks volumes, in my opinion. Yeah. For a guy who's notoriously kind of tight-lipped. Yeah. Trust me.

I know. position. I mean, I'm finding it hard to to think of what will happen from here just from the perspective that if I'm Yol Romero, I don't fight for anything but an interim title or the title against the winner of Biscan. Well, you understand where Yol is coming from, right? He has, there's no other position he can have other than I need to fight for a title. He's clearly earned it at this point. He needs to fight for a title, the title fight the winner of that between Bisping and GSP, or an interim. title of some sort. Which, by the way, if you all waits, given the current schedule, he's probably not fighting until early 2018. Yeah. And if you're your old Romero and you're sitting down and saying, okay, wait a second, Ferguson and Habib got an interim title fight after that

belt was defended four months prior, why can't I get one? Agreed. Completely agree. And if you owe Romero saying, the guy I want to fight, the only guy that I want to fight is Anderson Silva. And if you're selling tickets off of Anderson Silva's name, isn't that the fight that you have to make? they're in a tough position. They either have to make that or apparently they're going to lose Anderson. And that's the other thing. He says he's going to retire?

This is madness. This is madness. Could you imagine if that was Anderson Silva's retirement announcement? I hope it's not. Crazy. I hope it's not. But I brought this up.

I brought this up on the NBA beat last week. Should the UFC, look at the situation, look at the way the fight was received, look at the backlash, and call an audible on Bispink-GSP and say, you know what, we'll address the GSP situation when he's ready. We need a fight for July. Let's just make that fight, make the title fight, and get it going. And then maybe GSP fights Tyron Woodley, which I don't think, you see, the problem with this whole situation, what bugs me is GSP coming back should be a big deal, should be met

with great enthusiasm and fanfare, and it doesn't feel like that has been the case. because so many people are upset about him fighting for the middleweight title. If they would have announced on March 3rd that GSP was fighting the winner of Wonderboy Woodley, I think no one would be complaining. Right? Of course. And so now you have the situation where everyone's, you know, ho-humming about the return of top three, top four, greatest ever, top two. And so I wonder if they just need to call the audible and somehow try to fix the situation.

Do you think they should? Do you think they will? I mean, the game has changed. From this moment forward, the game has changed. If Anderson Silva saying, I'm going to retire, that's probably not been something that they had to factor in until this point. So if it's between losing Anderson and not losing Anderson, I have to imagine they'll do whatever it takes.

Yeah, I wonder. But you also can't set this precedent where... That anybody can just campaign for a title shot. But the precedent was set before this. The precedent was set before. this with the flimsy interim titles already. If those didn't exist, this wouldn't be in play. And that

was the mistake, the slippery slope that we've now arrived at. Is this all a trickle down effect of the Connor McGregor era? It is. Conner McGregor has completely changed the game and they let him. And they had no choice but to let him. In fact, it's not they let him. He demanded

it and... Well, here's the other thing. We talked about Lorenzo Fides' timing. His timing was impeccable as well. Because he knew that the greater he got the company's value goes up. And then once the new owner is by the company, you sure as heck want to have him on the MSG debut, right? Yep. So you let him, okay, we'll let him fight for the lightweight title. We'll make history. We'll have this great moment. And then we'll deal with the consequences later. And now we're dealing with the consequences. And guess what? It doesn't

only pertain to Connor McGregor. It actually trickles down to all these other fighters because they become empowered. These, they become more confident. Yeah, these types of things were always going to happen in sports and it's always going to shake up the establishment. You know, when LeBron and Wade and Bosch got together, the least happy people in the league were all the other owners. There's, there's, when the players take

control, and in this case we'll consider the fighters players, when they take control of their own destinies, things change. Things get shaken up and that's what we're seeing now. Wow, what a fascinating situation. And if you notice, go back on their Twitter, go to Thursday, go to Friday, they're saying Anderson Silva's going to fight. I think the last one I got was Thursday night, maybe even Friday. Anderson Silver's going to fight June 3rd. Well, now you see

what's happening behind the scenes. So you continue to put out that he's going to fight. Sand's opponent. People are buying tickets and then, you know, card's subject to change. You can't do that. At this point, we know that there's an issue going on. Why are you still tweeting that he's going to be on the card unless the left hand isn't talking to the right hand, which is also possible. We know that fighters get injured, fighters, you know, pull out, withdraw, fights get canceled at the last if this happens, but now we know, now we know that there is an issue, that they're at an impasse, that they can't agree on the fight, the opponent, the stakes. Why are you still advertising him as part of the card? Right? You can't be tweeting that. You can't get people's hopes

up like that. They're buying tickets to actually see this man fight. Now, if it's a first fight of the night, it's a difference. You know, it's kind of, we know that those things change. This is Anderson Silva. This is the most famous Brazilian fighter right now. There's no question. Even though he's not champion. He's more famous than Joseo. Right? No.

He's not? Are you insane? Anderson Silva is not more famous than Joseo Alto? Yeah, he is. Are you paying attention to me? No, you're ranting too long. Now, we're going to get your rick's picks. I know you're very excited about that, but there's a few other things we have to address. Germaine Durandumie has gone MIA. And now you have Cyborg and Megan Anderson kind of doing the same.

thing. What is happening to our UFC? What has become? And then you have Ally Quinta tweeting like he's Donald Trump and then they say happy birthday to him. Talk about the left hand not saying anything to the right hand.

Have you seen these tweets? No. You haven't? Of course I've seen those tweets. It's an unbelievable thing to watch this happen because Iaquinta just doesn't give an F at this point and he's just going on and on. gimmick. It's a great gimmick.

And he's pulling it off masterfully. I'd say second only to the Spanish ally of Quinta gimmick. Yeah, that is a great one. Which he still keeps up, by the way. Alejandro to UFC. El Alejandro or something like that. He has essentially become the Stone Cold Steve Austin that we've all been waiting for. It's an amazing thing.

Okay. You want to get to your Rick's picks. This is what I threw out there last week. I said people like to hear from you. they want to hear what's on your mind. Hopefully. Well, we'll see. So far not a strong showing today.

Tell you that much. Three things that caught your eye over the past week in the world of mixed martial arts. Anything. Quote, interview, fight, clip, signing, anything. Headline, whatever. What do we got? So I doubled it. I couldn't pick three.

Okay. And also because we got cheated last week. So I'm doubling it up. Six? Six. Get the F out of here. Yep. Sorry.

How about that? Too bad. The people will like it. Number one, Invicta turned five years old. Yep. Happy fifth anniversary to Invicta. Our own, Casey and Esther, did that video of the first behind the scenes. Tweeted that out.

Saw that on social media. I thought it was notable just because of how many different fighters have come to the UFC. and been an important part of female MMA in that five year time. Truly incredible, including Megan Anderson, current champ, featherweight.

And so if you haven't seen that video, go check that out. MMA fighting tweeted it out. Kudos to Esther and Casey. Great video. Any reaction to that, or do I move on to number two? Well, no, I mean,

it's obviously a strong promotion and they produced a hell of a lot of talent. It's amazing what they produced, who they produced. If you actually look at the UFC's women's division, it's incredible. But then there comes a time where it gets awkward where you have a champion who clearly doesn't want to fight there anymore, who wants to go fight in the UFC. And so you're kind of in this feeder league status,

but you're not, and you're on fight pass, and they kind of promote you sometimes, but they don't. They're in a tough spot. You know, they're in a real, real tough spot. I think some people didn't think that they, they'd make it to five years. But I hope that I can, I really feel for Shannon because like,

Megan Anderson is a future star and she's a big part of their organization. But I also kind of hope that she's not stopping this fight from happening. Because Megan Anderson versus Chris Seiberg is a life-changing fight for Megan Anderson. And it can happen in Invicta. It can only happen in the UFC. And maybe if she loses, she goes back to Invicta and does that decrease her value?

I don't know. but it's a tough spot for them to be in. And I have a lot of respect for them because they're kind of like the Montreal Expos of MMA. They continue to lose their top talent. Like they're maybe going to lose Aspen Ladin. Now it sounds like that's the case. She's going to fight Jessica I

and so many other great fighters over the, I mean, UFC literally took one of their divisions and they continue to produce new top talent. So that is very impressive. Happy fifth anniversary to Invicta. Mazel tov. Number two. Allaya Quinta.

The whole gimmick. Yes. We're going to show a few of these now. Alaya Quinta, pulling his best Donald Trump. What we're starting with here? Dana White responds to Twitter eggs, but not to Mike Perry. Sad. I mean, brilliant.

I think this was the one that kicked it off. I never knew that Mike Perry and Ally Quinta was a fight that I wanted to see so badly. Now I really want to see it, even though they don't fight in the same division. All right. Next one we have Mike Perry and Kevin Lee, Flint and Detroit, very high poverty rates. Think they are paid but are taken advantage of young and ignorant. I mean, these are so on point in terms of keeping with the Donald Trump theme. Yes. Next one is at Sage Northcutt. You're being cut. Sorry, kids.

Get some experience outside the UFC. Maybe we'll bring you back for tough. I didn't love this one because, like, Sage didn't do anything. Yeah, that's okay. He's an innocent bystander. but sometimes people get hurt. I mean, the poor guy just had his tonsils removed. Yeah, too bad. Cubs Swanson injured, very unfortunate. We'll be reaching out to Justin Gachie, tremendous fighter.

I mean, the tone. The tone is brilliant. Next one. Stitch Duran is incredible. We'd be reaching out to him, of course, allowing him to use the stitch tape, once again, great product. Next one, I think, is we were reaching out to Bert Watson. He had the best, he had the fighter's best interest at heart, incredible energy. next one

the hardworking employees of Las Vegas know the real story about Dana White tipping habits cheap Now this is where it turned personal Yeah you started going after Dana only Which is something that we would have never ever seen two years ago But I also think it kind of like

Got too personal? Yeah a little bit Oh wow okay But no who am I to question Al is the creative genius behind this And I'm loving it I think one more right is it so crazy that it will work though

or is he and then people say oh you know he's crossed the line well what's crossing the line are they going to release him doesn't he want to be released essentially what are they going to sit him

they can't necessarily just sit him for a year I think he's playing with house money here he's nothing to lose because he's already unhappy Reebok has great footwear and apparel they are not happy where you see OCD too much bad press by the way speaking of that

he is unbelievable did you see this page van Zan thing is this one of your picks It wasn't just because the video was taken down, so I didn't want to do something that was, you know, taken down. I was, I was alerted of this late last night. What was that? Yeah. Was that a joke? Was that a parody? Definitely not. But that, see, I saw some people call, if you missed it, I guess on her Instagram, Paige Van Zand put out these videos of her showing off new Reebok clothes. And some people called it an ad. That wasn't an ad. That was just like an Instagram story. Yeah, but clearly it was an ad.

Was it? Oh, you think it was one of those like, we're not an ad, but we're an ad? Yeah, clearly. Oh, really? I thought she was just excited about it. I mean, she was showing it off. Poor, Ariel.

No, no, no, no. So much to teach you about the world. I thought she was showing it off, obviously, to get people to buy it, yes, but it wasn't like Reebok said, okay, we have this brilliant idea. If they did come up with that, then that's even worse than I thought.

Poor boy. Ariel, after the show, we'll teach you about how social media works and how companies promoting. Why was she speaking like that? Now, now there's two things to say about this, though. On the one hand, we can't pretend like this sort of thing doesn't work

in the sense that like, oh, in MMA, when you are pretty, you usually get more opportunities and you get push more and you are more successful and you get bigger opportunities, etc., etc. But on the other hand, so like the MMA fans have responded to this. You know what I mean?

Emmy fans have spoken and they respond to this and they buy tickets and they watch, etc. but on the other hand you got to do with a little bit of good taste right I mean that felt why I thought that wasn't an ad because it felt like a parody

of that kind of ad yeah but if it was a parody it wouldn't be deleted now yeah I don't know maybe because it was just it would have been left what was that I was uncomfortable watching it

speaking of humor yes and sage Northcutt actually this one didn't make the list but the champions did Sage Northcutt? No, no, no. Yeah, this one's kind of like honorable mention.

Champions did a Sage Northcut video. That was pretty funny. A lot of people sent that in. Okay. Find that if you can. Number three. Yes. BuzzFeed did an interview with the COO.

Yes. Of Twitter. And we may potentially, on the next image right here, we'll see that they said that UFC may be one of the live sports that they're going after. Yes. What do you think of this? I think that's going to be super interesting. And I think it also speaks to the power of UFC

and how connected their fans are on online and socially. It's a game changer if that's the thing that happened because the sport that previously occupied, that slot was the NFL, was football. So that would be a sign of how far this sport has come. They're actually doing this a lot. If you go on the search part of Twitter, sometimes like last week I saw a baseball game.

Yeah. It was like the Cardinals were playing. They're investing in live sports in a big way. And so UFC is potentially a property that they might be looking at. I love it. I only started using the Twitter app recently. I was on Echo Phone and then I discovered the Twitter app. And I really like it a lot because of these little features.

But I will say this. If we're talking about more 10 p.m. Eastern to 1.30 a.m. Eastern time shows. Thanks, but no thanks. maybe the Twitter data shows that more people are talking about the sport because I think he mentioned in that interview that they get a lot of activity on fight nights so maybe they've seen that oh between 10 and 11 I don't know I have to imagine it's not a pay-per-view it's the broadcast

but fight night you know those are the those are the real problems the fight nights the paper views are the ones that will end like they'll go back to back to back those could end at midnight But for FS1, they try to stretch it out. Let's go back to the studio. And this is truly me genuinely asking. What time is like a fight night card ending these days? 130.

Oh boy. What do you mean? You don't watch? I watch it, but I was going to watch it anyway. So I'm not looking at the clock, really. I'm doing like what they do in those cartoons where I have toothpicks. I just can't stay up. I'm not used to staying up that late.

Call me an old man. No, I'm a complainer. I mean, there aren't. I can't go over this again. I went on a huge discussion on this. rant, if you want to call it on the MA beat. There's no other North American sporting entity that caters to just the West Coast. And you could say all you want, oh, at least you don't, you know, at least you don't have to stay up until 4 or 5 a.m.

Well, guess what? This is a North American sports entity. I cannot complain about the English Premiership start times. I can't complain about the Indian Cricket League start times. I can't complain about Japanese soccer start times because those are catered to the local market. This is a North American sports league. They are based in Las Vegas. They cater to the North American fans.

Witness the fact that they went to Manchester with a show headline by native son Michael Bisping, and they did the fight at 4 a.m., local time. Witnessed the fact that they went to Sweden with a show headline by Alexander Gustafin and Anthony Johnson, and they did it at 4 a.m. This is a show that caters to the North American fans. And yet, for some reason, the biggest fight

are happening when half the country is asleep, let alone the rest of the world. And oh, by the way, if they do the shows earlier, that would be better for the UK fans. It would be better for everyone. I don't get it. It's because FS1 doesn't have a lot of programming. Them's the facts.

It's not me being a hater. They don't have a lot of programming, so they want to stretch it out to fill up as much as possible. And you can't say, oh, the NBA has playoff games at 10.30. Well, first of all, those start at 1030 and end at once. You're only investing two and a half hours. Second of all, there's over 2,400 NBA games. a year, let alone playoffs.

There's 40-something events. So if you want to watch the best, you're being asked to do so when the owls are out. Yes, but much like the basketball comparison. Those events are seven hours long, the UFC events. Yeah, but like the basketball

comparison, they're catering to a West Coast audience. Maybe that will change, but it is catering to a West Coast audience. But that would be like putting the Cavs and the Raptors game one on at midnight. I get it. That doesn't make sense. But they only have the one show, not the two. The NBA game works because there's a seven game on the East Coast and a 10.30 or whatever.

When we get to the NBA finals, those games aren't happening at midnight. No, you're 100% right. So this is, you know, this is supposed to be the NBA finals, right? It's supposed to be the Super Bowl of MMA every time. It should be 9 o'clock and at 11 o'clock, 12 max. Not 1.30. Anyhow. our next item is the Diaz brothers and Gilbert Melendez on Parts Unknown.

I don't know if that's a show you... No, it just came out. Yeah, but I think this picture. This picture is old. Yeah, this picture is old because they, you know, TV works, they film it, then they produce it, they edit it. So the episode actually aired? The episode is out. How was it?

That part was interesting. I mean... Is this a show that you watch? Watch? Not like all the time, but I try to catch it. Anthony Bourdain is great. Okay. But yeah, catch the Diaz brothers and Melendez on parts unknown, Anthony Bourdain. What a great ad that was for the show. Yeah, look, you know. He sold it.

It was interesting. Does he roll with them? No, it's a... Because he's a big roller. Focus on foot. Yeah, jujitsu here in New York, Hanzo Gracie's. And were they in Stockton? Yeah, they were not Stockton, somewhere else in California. Maybe Stockton actually.

Wouldn't that be hilarious? Why? If they actually did the episode in Stockton, I mean, that would be doing, I mean, it's not just, it's not a metropolitan. You know, he goes to like all these, you know, big cities all over the world. He goes to parts unknown. That's true. That's a good point. Next.

Yes. Social media photo. That was circulated by Orange Ape. Oh, yes. Demet M.A. Photo. We had to show this. This is tremendous.

That is a good one, yeah. I mean, the picking of the rolls is nice. The actual photoshopping skills are decent. I thought they were really good. Yeah, well done, Orange Ape. But here's the thing. In this picture, Luke is Ron Burgundy. Yeah.

But I'm the host of the show. I think you have to kind of make it fit. And also, I think, can we cut back to that? Yes. He's clearly the tallest one or second tallest. It just fits. It fits with the hair. I'm Steve Correll.

I think Mindenhall is the best. I mean, he had to have the hat, right? Actually, Wagonheim is pretty damn funny. It's all great. It's all great. Good job, Orange, 8. Yeah. And last thing from the world of MMA.

Okay, here we go. Oh, my. The Mark Hunt. Yes. Anatomically correct. What was up with that? Supposedly figure. I don't even understand.

I don't know. What does the caption say? Mark Hunt posted this to his Instagram. it's a picture of him in all kinds of undress that says why would you do this to me mambus and penis on display

why do it now did someone undress him I don't know how they how they got the oh god how they got the dimensions and all that for this but God bless Mark Hunt

for putting it out there on and who makes this certainly not our old friends at round five. Yeah, no, I think the company is the one he writes in the caption, May Wendee, I don't know. This is just unbelievable. I don't know where you can get this, but I don't think anybody is rushing to the stores to buy this.

I would love to have that on our sets. If they're watching and if they're fans of the show, send us one of these. We'd love to display it on the set. I think we might have to blur it out. like we have to figure out how to take care of that genital area. But I think it's interesting that he also has hands that can be replaced for different action poses. As if you're playing with this Mark Hunt figure for more than a minute.

I mean, this is the display type, not the toy. Oh my God. Really? I wonder if someone undressed him and then posted the picture. Poor Mark Hunt. I mean, first he gets disrespected by the whole Brock Leicester situation, then loses to over it. I mean, my hope of hopes is that he's involved in the production of this in some way and he's making some money off it.

My hope of hopes is that Derek Lewis gets his hands on it. And then we really have some fun. Somebody send that to Derek Lewis. So that's Rick's Picks. If you want to send him more next week, we'll get some more. Honorable mention. Oh, even more. Honorable mention.

Okay. Justin Gaichi potentially fighting for the UFC. Oh, this is great. Do we have the tweets for that? No. Oh, come on. We didn't. What's wrong with you?

That would have been the best one. So a couple weeks ago, as I said on this show, Justin Gaichi, free agent. Then WSOF president, Ray Sefo says, Ariel, check your sources. And this is almost worse than saying your mama to me because I take this stuff kind of serious. It is my job after all. And so I said, all right, I'm going to hold on to this tweet. and wait until there is some news that he is no longer with WSWF and that he has signed with UFC.

Well, he hasn't quite signed with UFC just yet, but it is imminent. And actually, Ray Seffo was the one who broke the news. He actually congratulated him on signing with UFC even though he didn't sign with UFC yet. And so I then retweeted it. And then Ray said on Twitter, just because Ariel said he's a free agent,

doesn't make him a free agent. No, I reported because I had sources who told me he was a free agent. And guess what? I was proven to be right. Or are you just telling me that you guys wanted to release him just because? You thought it was a good idea to release your most exciting fighter just because you're good people? That was great. I didn't think it would happen that quickly.

But what a great addition to the UFC lightweight division. That would be. And I hear that the fight that they want to make is him versus Ziss in Barbosa. Seems like everyone loves that fight. When I put that out there and it's not done, not close to dumb, but I heard that they wanted to make it. as early as July, if they can get it done. Let's see. And that was pretty much

the most overwhelmingly positive reaction to a fight that I think I've seen in a very long time. I didn't see one person saying, maybe I saw one say like it's a little too soon for Justin, but for the most part, everyone loved it. Yeah. And that's why it's only an honorable mention though.

Okay. When it happens, it'll get the mention. Oh, I understand. then. Yeah, look, it's not done yet. It's not done yet. But I'm looking forward to potentially seeing Justin Gachey in the UFC.

Did you watch the Joshua Klitschko fight? I was watching Glory. I've seen it, though. I didn't watch it live, but I have seen it. The fight. What a scene it was. It was unbelievable. 90,000 people in a soccer stadium.

Yeah, and you don't typically see heavyweight fights that compelling these days. Yeah, going into it and then actually delivering. Yeah. Nothing drives me more crazy than hearing people say boxing is dead, heavyweight division sucks, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All these things are cyclical,

especially in combat sports. We know that to be true. But I guarantee you in the buildup to Connor and Mayweather, if it happens, you will hear this from a lot of the people online, a lot of the people on television who love to yell and shout and argue fake arguments say, boxing is dead. They need this fight.

Boxing is dead. No, they're not. They're selling 90,000 tickets. And let's be honest, if you were sitting up in the upper upper deck, it probably wasn't the greatest viewing experience of your life. You're probably watching the screen the entire fight. And you still want it to be there. Right. And now Joshua is a big time star and his next fight will sell a lot of tickets and his next fight. And it was just, what a scene. What a scene. I love that stuff. And I love the fact that it was happening at 415. And now we've got Canello and Chavez this weekend. Boxing is actually doing really well. Showtime in particular. Now it's 415 because you live in this time zone. Over there, it's not 415. Perfect. You don't hear me complaining.

Of course you're not going to complain. But yeah, I think there's no bigger sign of the fact that quote unquote boxing is dead is not a real thing than the fact that we've been hearing it for forever. And if that continues to be a thing, it probably means it's not true. Boxing must have died 10,000 times. it's been true for as long as it's been set. No, boxing's not dead. No, it will never die. It will go up and down.

Like the Kentucky Derby, I heard, only sold 35,000 tickets or something like that, and they used to sell 100. There will be ups and downs. Yeah. This is not a downtime, though. No, this isn't up. This is not a downtime at all.

It really isn't. That's it. And you had HBO and Showtime airing it. That's crazy. A couple more things before I let you go. UFC is going to Edmonton, September 9th, and I don't think GSP is on the card, by the way.

But I'm looking forward to going there. By the way, did you see the people in Edmonton last night prior to the Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton Oilers playoff game? No, I don't watch hockey. Well, you should see the clip because it was a beautiful thing. The guy who sings the national anthem, his mic didn't work. And so he asks the people, can you sing it for me? But here's the twist.

We're in Edmonton. Here's the twist. It was the American national anthem. And they knew it? They sang the whole damn thing. Now, is part of that when they go to sporting events, do they also do the American? the U.S. Anthem there? Or do they not?

Yes. Well, if an American team is playing. Yeah. If it's like Montreal against Edmonton, they don't play it. Oh, really? That's impressive then. That is really impressive. Yeah.

Because, you know, they'll do a Canadian anthem for teams that come here as well. Sure. I won't listen to it. Well, that's disrespectful. I don't know the Canadian anthem. Here's the thing. If they're in Anaheim and there's someone about to sing the Canadian National Anthem, and there might goes out.

Yeah, they wouldn't know it. No chance. Can we get a little credit here for the... Yeah, I'm very impressed. I'm saying the whole thing. And there weren't periods where they were like, they were singing that damn thing. It was unbelievable.

It really was. So I was very proud. And I'm looking forward to going to that new arena over there in Edmonton. Connor McDavid, killing it that are up to one. Vitor Belfort is fighting Nate Marquart on that card, June 3rd, apparent retirement fight. Wouldn't that be crazy if he's retiring on that card

and Anderson's not fighting? Do you like that fight? Do you care? I like it as a fight. but I don't the what you do afterwards doesn't really what do you mean sense like he's gone yeah so why not put somebody over oh you mean a young gun yeah like what good does it really do Nate Mark what do you want to see him get or what good does it do um do you want to see he's not to get a win over Nate Mark Ward at this one I don't think it really does much for either guy from this from the fight yeah but should he be fighting guys that age Vitor Belfort should he be

fighting 25 year olds? Isn't that the problem? I think it's more about level of competition versus age. It's not an age thing. It's a level of competition thing. There's young guys who are not as far in their careers and not

as good. But isn't that the issue that we have with the Yehira Rodriguez BJ Penn fight? He was fighting a guy. A guy who was too good. Too good, yeah. Too good. Not too young. Too good. I don't hate it.

It's a, look. It's better than him fighting the jockey people. continuing their careers, it makes sense. As a final fight, it doesn't really make sense to me. It's a fight for him to go over in his final fight. So you're saying he's going to walk over in Ney Markle? No, I'm saying it's a winnable fight in his final fight. He doesn't want to get his ass whooped in front of his hometown fans in his final fight.

I have no problem with it. Yeah, but they could find, okay, I guess we'll disagree on this. You're saying that you should book him in a fight that you can build someone off of. Yeah. And Vitor is probably saying, I don't want to be. built off someone else. I don't want to have... A winnable one,

but something that you can do something with after. What's Nate's path after this if he wins? What does this do for him? I mean, this is probably a winner-go-home fight for him too. Well, now that could potentially be interesting. I mean, they'll never bill it as that. If we sell that, now I'm in. Mark D. Casey against Drucker close.

Not exactly the high-profile fight that Mark was campaigning for. I was hoping to see something... Now he's fighting in July. He's fighting in Vegas. International Fight Week. Is the stage big enough? Or after all the Paul Felder talk, are you a little underwhelmed?

I would have liked to see him fight a step up. Yeah. Me too. Disappoint. Nothing against close, but he's been asking for it. So I want to see him get that step up. Yeah. And after you put on the performance that he had in his last fight, I think it's time.

Also on that card, Steve Bussig against Jared Canaeneer, which I really like. Yeah, that's a very fun fight. What else is there? Jack Ray Soza had surgery on his pectoral muscle, so he's going to be out for quite some time. Tony Ferguson, speaking to ESPN, still wants Nate Diaz.

Nate Diaz doesn't want to talk right now. Everyone asks me every week, get Nate on the show, get Nate on the show, trust me. You don't think I'm trying? Just doesn't want to talk. I don't know why. Well, I mean, we just had Anderson Silva and Y'O.

Romero on, I think, could cool their jets a little bit on the get this guy, get that guy. We'll do right by you. Every time, every time. Tyron Woodley, I hear he doesn't have a fight just yet. And who would hate if he fought GSP? He's going into champ camp though.

Listen, Damien Maya, have we forgotten that Damien Maia is fighting Jorge Mazzvedal in literally, what, 10 days from exactly now? Why do you want him booked against someone else? We were just upset about Maya getting passed over. Let that fight happen and then we'll get his fight. Right? Come on, think of it that way.

who is there for him to fight? There is no one for him to fight. If they book someone else before that fight happens, then all hope is lost. That should be the number one contender fight. Unless it's GSP and it's not right now, but unless it's GSP. Because I don't think anyone can truly hate

the idea of GSP fighting at 170 for that belt because he was the champ. He didn't lose the belt. He walked away. That makes sense. There's a story there. Right? Speaking of former champions,

Hennon Burrell, according to reports, considering a move back down to 135. I don't like this at all. I thought the new cool thing to do is to move up in wait so you don't have to cut a lot of weight. Every single guy who's forced up

comes back down. Yeah. Or wants to. Every single guy. Never sticks. I don't like it. And this is a clear indicator that this weight cutting thing

will never change. Ugh. Something bad is going to happen. Mark my words. And it has happened already, but I mean on the biggest stage is possible, if you get what I'm saying.

Gager Musasi is going on a PR tour for the UFC and I asked his management Has he signed? They said no He's going to a PR tour Why are you going on a PR tour if you haven't signed yet? Well, I guess that means he probably intends to at least Yeah Anyhow, if you're a Gager Musassi fan

And you want to see him stay in the UFC I think that's good news Yeah. Have you been watching tough? No, of course not. It's actually not bad. Stop. You're going to pretend like you watched it?

I actually did. How do you think I spoke to TJ all about it today. It's actually not bad. You know why? There's almost zero house interactions. Like, there are many, many documentaries on the guys. Like, they actually go to their hometown and follow them. It's actually not bad. The problem is the stakes aren't even that high. I mean, they're fighting for $250,000. I wish they were fighting for like a number one contender fight. Maybe not a belt, but like, here you have a chance to fight for the number one contender belt. And I know back when they did it the first time, tough four, things were different, weren't as

many events. You can do this sort of thing. So it's tough. tough. I get it, but it just, it feels like they're fighting for like a spot on the FS1 prelims. You know what I mean? Well, you keep watching and let us know how that goes. Fair enough. And I want to give a shout out to the family of Jordan Parsons. It is unfortunately the anniversary of his passing this coming week, May 4th. And the Palm Beach Post in Florida wrote just a heart-wrenching story about his mother and his family coping with it. So Bellator has done some nice things for his family, but I wanted to mention the, uh, the the late Jordan Parsons, who of course was a member of the Black Sillians,

a horrible hit-and-run accident, and there's still no resolution in that criminal case, just horrific stuff. And if you want to read more, I do suggest I tweeted that article out earlier this morning, the one about his mom in the Palm Beach post. Let me ask you one last question before I go. Oh, by the way, shout out to Tyson Nam,

who catoed Alibagabha. I thought that would be one of yours. I thought that was a shoo-in. No. Random fight, overseas. Tyson Nam, the return. No mention?

Not even an honorable mention? No, there's too many. I already got like 10 things. Putting you on the spot right here right now. Best fight in May. Oh, come on. What? May is stacked.

Yeah, I mean, that's impossible. Give me some contenders at the moment. Well, of course, we have Yane and J. Chek against Jeskand Raj. I mean, the whole damn UFC 211 is just phenomenal. Steepan Jr. Yeah, Steepan Jr. Yeah, Steve An Jr., Eddie Alvarez versus Dustin.

Yeah. Poyier. Frank Yeager versus Yarrow Rodriguez Maya versus Masvedal Sehudo versus Pettus The Return of Dave Branch And then we also have Alexander Augustusin versus

Slovritscherah Got Misha Sarkinov on that card And then, lest we forget one Royne MacDonald versus Paul Daly On May 19th May is nuts Best fight I'm gonna go

Eddie and Yair What? They're not fighting each other Sorry Edgar Sorry. Edgar and Yaya. That is pretty damn good. And by best, I mean, like, I'm most intrigued by it. Best, I don't know.

Like, ultimately, there's a lot of contenders for, like, you know, what could mean more in the division, and Maya and Mazadol is incredible. I think Andrage is actually a real threat to Yohana. Junior and Steepa, the last one was probably one of the best UFC heavyweight fights ever. Eddie and Dustin Poit is monstrous. But I think I'm most intrigued by Frankie and Yair.

Yeah, fascinating. Because I don't think Frankie is at that point yet where he's a stepping stone. I really don't. Yeah. I'm jazzed up for that one. There's also Angela Lee and Ben Ascran on that card later on this month. Ben Ascran, great story about him by our own. Sean Al-Shadi

late last week. Really great story. I do suggest checking that out. True or false? Last last thing. True or false. Megan Anderson, Chris Cyborg happens

July 29th. Does the UFC give in? I'm going to go false. I think not. Anderson-Silvio-O. Romero happens for the interim title on June 3rd. Now that one, man, my gut is saying false on that too,

but I'll go true. Just because I think the pressure. sure that Anderson could put on is greater than anybody else. But I also feel like probably false. My gut, I don't know. I really don't know. Well, what a journey it has been. Last thing. From Justin, aka Secret Moves, MMA on Twitter. Okay. Apparently the Mark Hunt figure started out clothed, but they make their figures anatomically correct. They're not just out there selling naked figures of Mark Hunt. See, that's what I thought. And it's by a company. and he called World Box.

So World Box. Get us a damn figure and get Derek Lewis a figure. That was a great idea by Ariel. Parts Unknown with the Diaz brothers, according to Demetrius, happened in L.A. There you go. And by the way, I see Demetrius Johnson

calling me out to sub to his thing. First of all, he didn't really make it clear that I had to actually pay for said sub. I mean, in this day and age, sub to a YouTube channel, sub to this, up to that. You don't have to pay, but that's fine. I'm willing to pluck down the $4.99.

It's very hard to figure out, out how to sub to these things. Have you tried it? Listen, I'm going to teach you about the internet after we go off the show. Holy smokes. I mean, this thing, I get on my phone and then I'm told all you have to go on a PC. I mean, really, you're supposed to be like new age Twitch. Let me just sub on the phone and get over with this whole thing.

That's fair enough. That's a great point. Let me do it on my phone. And then you have to pay for the sub. Now I know why he wants me to sub so bad. He wants my hard earned money. Good for him. You deserve it. If you want the content, you got to pay. You got a pony up. He's been on the show enough.

Damn. No, I say he's been on the show enough. He's earned it. I'm happy to do. Oh, I thought you were saying he's been on this show enough. No, no, no, no. Let me finish my thought.

It's a stereo. No, no, no, no. All right. DJ, Twitch, get on it. Yeah. Get on it for the phone. That's important. What a show it has been.

I am exhausted. It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions. And note the fact, by the way, that with the Anderson thing, I didn't say, oh, you know, he called in. No, I'm being honest. For those of you that don't believe it. I said we called Yoel. We make that happen. With Cyborg, she said it. She was listening.

Go on her Twitter. She's a very socially active person online, interwebs. She likes to keep up. Yoel without Ray. That was really impressive. That was super impressive. That might be the biggest news of the day. Both the dumb. They wanted it so bad that they dug down deep. Amazing. Great stuff. All right. Thank you, everyone. Thanks to the crew in the back for helping to make that happen. You can hit my music, what a day it has been. You could say this about MMA, no shortage of things to discuss. You think, oh, you know, it's a quiet time. We've got some fights coming up and then boom, hits you right in the face.

Imagine owning the damn sport. Wild. That's why we love covering it. Never get sold. And oh, by the way, I fail to mention part of what made this weekend, oh so great was the fact that that my beloved Utah Jazz eliminated the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday in

seven games. They are going to the Bay Area. They are going to Oak Town. And you heard it here first, my friends. They are going to knock off the Warriors. Seven games. This time two weeks, Utah Jazz will be moving on. You heard it here first. Gordon Hayward, George Hill, Derek Favors,

Rudy Gobert. The rest of my squad, take note. It's happening. You heard it here first. I'm calling me up. set. And your critic wants to perpetuate this myth that I jump on bangwagons. Go back two weeks ago. I called it. You want to attach me to the Raptors? I'm not on the Raptors bandwagon. I'm fully on the jazz bandwagon. I told you this. Stop attaching me to other teams that I want nothing to do with. So there's no bets. If you want to bet me on the Warriors and Jazz, I'm all in.

Take note. Thank you very much, Dominic Cruz. Thank you very much Valerie Litturna. Congrats on the New Deal. Thank you very much, Ardeno. Thank you very much, Arden, Thank you very much James Galaher. Thank you very much, T.J. Dilleshaw. Thank you very much, Megan Anderson and Chris Seaborg. Thank you very much, Antonio Tarver. Thank you very much, Anderson Silva. And you all Romero.

And thank you very much to all of you for tuning in. What a week. What a show. Back next week. Same time and place to the... Peace. Amadia.