MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 384

Episode Date: May 30, 2017

Ariel Helwani speaks to Yoel Romero (00:12:29), Cody Garbrandt (00:31:49), Gökhan Saki (00:59:44), Mike Perry (01:19:04), Roy Nelson (01:41:10), Sage Northcutt (02:01:24), Georges St-Pierre (02:21:06), NewYorkRic (02:51:32) for Ric’s Picks (with a surprise appearance by Daniel Cormier at 03:13:03) and then concludes the show with a preview of UFC 212. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

The meeting will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 18665330 or visit Comex Ontario.ca. It's the mixed martial arts hour With The mixed martial arts hour Back in your life On this Tuesday, May 30th,

2017 Hello again everyone, I'm Ariel Hawani Back inside our New York City's studio Tuesday is the new Monday Just for this week only Don't worry, we're back on Monday next week But we were off yesterday As you may have heard or seen

Because it was Memorial Day here in the United States, a very important day, time to remember, time to give thanks, a time to pay our respects for those who sacrifice their lives for this great country. So always important to take that day off and reflect, and we were more than willing to do so. So we're on Tuesday this week. And as you know, I sometimes feel guilty when I leave you hanging, when I don't give you. I like routine. I like when things stay the same.

so I feel bad. I know some of you feel bad. So I like to make it up to you with a great lineup. And I think we did that this week. Also, last week we gave you an hour extra. Hopefully that held you over for the one day in which we were late. So a lot to discuss this week. Of course, a very busy week at MMA.

Last week, a lot of news, a lot of things happening. UFC was back in Stockholm, Sweden. What a performance by Alexander Gustafson. Not only does he knock out Glover Tashara with a series of uppercuts, maybe his best performance, certainly as of late, but then he tops it off with the classic proposal to his girlfriend, the mother of his child. I love the way he said it.

Thanks for having a kid. Nothing in my opinion will ever top macho man and Miss Elizabeth way back in the day. But this was fun. This was a nice moment in front of his home country. The second proposal in a UFC Octagon this month, The first, of course, at UFC 211, not that long ago. No, excuse me. Wait, wait.

We had Pennington and Tisha Torres. That was the first. And then we had another one recently. But that was in the octagon. This was in the octagon. Which was the one? Something happened recently where someone proposed to a loved one in the cage. Or maybe I'm just imagining these things.

I know what happened recently. Anyway, Alexander Gustafin, great moment for him. Great moment for his now fiancé. a nice return for the UFC to Stockton. Volkan Ozedimir with the shocker of all shockers knocking out Misha Sarkinov in the first round. In a matter of seconds, who saw that coming? And now somewhat justifying that fifth ranked spot that he's in in the light heavyweight division. I didn't understand it.

I don't think a controversial split decision win over OSP, if we're going to compare it to Sarkinov's record going into that fight, equals four straight impressive wins inside the octagon. but now he picked up that win. He wants Jimmy Manuel. Let's see what happens there. Of course, UFC 212 is this weekend. It's UFC's return to Chio de Janeiro, Brazil.

And it features the featherweight. Oh, of course, Sean Alshari, my man, reminding me, Jessica Andrudge. So we actually have three proposals. We had Andrudge in the, I knew something happened earlier this month, Andrudge at UFC 211. And then we also had Raquel Pennington and Tisha Torres off the grid in their personal lives and now we have customs. That's three proposals in one month. A lot of

love in the air in the world of mixed martial arts. Thank you very much to Sean for that heads up. I blanked on that one. And Drudge in Dallas just a couple of weeks ago after her lost to Yoni on Jacek. So UFC21 is this weekend. It's in Rio. It features the featherweight unification bout between Josealdo and Max

Holloway. Also a great home main event featuring Kauja Gedelia versus Carolina Kovalkievich. There's a lot to discuss there. There's a lot of news, as I said. What's going on in the flyweight division? What's going on in the welterweight division? What's going on in the women's featherweight division? What is going on all over the place in the world of mixed martial arts?

As I said, we have a lot to discuss. We've got a great lineup. So let me run down today's lineup. Get it into our first guest of the day because he's actually related to one of those hot topics. At 305, we're going to talk to GSP, George St. Pierre. In case you missed it, he was at a conference in Montreal on Friday. And he finally revealed why he can't fight in the summer. time. He's dealing with an eye injury. And so obviously wanted to talk to him about the eye injury.

What are the specifics? And when is he planning on coming back? What does this mean for his plan, middleweight title fight against Michael Bisping? Just what is going on? What is happening? I even have a message from one Tyron Woodley to GSP. So stay tuned for that. 245. We've got Sage Northcut. It was announced last week that he'll be returning to action on July 29th at UFC 214. Also recently had that tonsil surgery. So we'll talk to Super Sage at 245. 225. We'll talk to the newest member of the Bellator MMA roster.

One, Roy Nelson. How about that? Big country. Headed to Belator. A lot of people didn't know that he was a free agent after his loss to Alexander Volkov in April, that fight in Kansas City. His contract ran out. Some people like to talk about it beforehand.

Others don't. Roy Nelson is one of those. and he recently signed with Belator, hoping to debut later on this year, an interesting signing, an interesting addition for their heavyweight division. 205, we'll talk to Mike Perry, platinum Mike Perry, always a pleasure to talk to Mike Perry.

He's been in the news as of late as well, Ally Quinta, looking for a fight, all that stuff and more. 145, we'll talk to the newest member of the UFC's light heavyweight roster. Gokan Saki, the Rebel, O-in-1 in his MMA career, and he left glory recently and now he is a part of the UFC.

Who saw this coming? How bizarre? Very surprising. And very exciting news and you know what? It's not your typical UFC signing, to be honest. Oh and one. Of course, he has a long history in the world of kickboxing, one of the very best to ever compete in kickboxing,

former champion, all that stuff and more. But this is a division that needs names. This is a division that needs some draws. This is a division that needs some draws. is a division that needs some new blood. He's not that old. He's only 33. Just one second. And so we'll talk to Gokansaki at 145.

I am looking forward to that. At 125, we'll talk to Cody Garbrand in his first interview since pulling out officially of UFC 213. Cody Garbrand was supposed to fight T.J. Dillishaw on July 8th, had the back injury. They officially pulled the plug on that fight, which is unfortunate. it, but hopefully he'll be able to come back in relative short order. I know that he already started his physical therapy. And so we'll get that fight hopefully sooner rather than later,

although the UFC is trying to book T.J. Dilshaw versus Demetius Johnson, which I have many thoughts about. You may have heard some of them on the M.A. beat last week. And so it's a bit of a mess of a situation, but I'm looking forward to talking to Cody at 125. Now, in a matter of seconds, we are going to be joined by Yuel Romero, one Yole Romero, I was going to say, who was a bit of a little tardy on this Monday morning. The story with him is that he is now replacing the Cody Garbrandt

T.J. Dilleshaw fight. How is he replacing that fight? Well, it was announced last week that Yo-O. Romero is going to fight Robert Whitaker for the interim middleweight title at UFC 213 on July 8th in Las Vegas. So the new main event for that card is Germaine Durandami.

Germain Durandini is Amanda Nunes versus Valentina Shevchenko. Duranemi is on my mind because she's involved in her own mess of a situation. But no, it's Amanda Nunes versus Valentina Schofchenko for the UFC women's bantamweight title. So the co-main event is now Yol Romero versus Robert Whitaker. And that's for the interim middleweight title. And of course, the introduction of interim belts, very much a hot topic in the past year or so in the UFC because they've been handing them out like candy,

but this is actually one of the only times in which I believe they kind of got a right. The division needs to move along. Michael Bisping said that he can't move his knee, he's still banged up, he wants to return at the end of the year. So you institute an interim middleweight belt between the top two contenders,

and now things move along a little bit And hopefully there's a trickle-down effect. Hopefully you get Luke Rockhold on board. They're trying to sign Gaggar Musassi, although that's taking a little longer than they hoped. And to be quite honest, his exclusive negotiation period is up relatively soon. And so that means Beltor might come into play

if they can't get it done before then. And at this point, if I'm Gaggard, I might as well just wait. I mean, you rolled the dice on yourself this long. You might as well just wait to see what's out. there for you as opposed to signing before anyone else. I mean, what's the point of testing free agency if you're not going to actually test free agency? He was supposed to, they were very close. They were almost there. They almost scored that touchdown a couple weeks ago at

the retreat. They had a meeting on the Friday night and they just couldn't get the deal done. So let's see what happens there. But I think doing the interim middleweight title fight makes a lot of sense. You get the division rolling and you can still salvage if you really wanted the GSP Bissing fight. Now, we'll find out how serious GSP's eye injury is. We'll also find out soon rather than later just how serious Michael Bisping's knee injury is. But I have a feeling that if GSP is able to return in November, maybe at MSG, which the current plan is November 4th, that's a fight that makes a lot of sense. Close to Montreal, close to Canada. He's trained here in New York for many, many years. That's a big fight for round two at MSG, especially when you

consider the fact that Connor McGregor probably if that Floyd Mayweather fight gets done probably won't be involved. You don't have, you know, Ronda Rousey, of course. GSP is probably the next best thing. And why I like keeping that fight intact

is simply because they promised it. They had the press conference. They made the, you know, they made the announcement. Whole hull-bulu. You promised the guy. They've been talking about it for, you know, well over half a year

at this point, might as well get it done. And it's amazing. We are approaching this weekend, the one-year anniversary of UFC 199 when Michael Bisping shocked the world and defeated Luke Rockhold feels like so long ago. And it would be great to see him, you know, get that big fight as champion. And again, this isn't a fight that he asked for. It's a fight that GSP asked for it that the UFC wanted to do. He didn't ask for the Dan Henderson fight. They wanted to do it. And of course, he obliged. Maybe he didn't have to. Maybe he could have done what, what DJ did. But he took the fights And now he wants to wait for his money fight

As he is rapidly approaching the end of his career And I think that that's a great fight for For Madison Square Garden So it's going to be UL Romero God, it's going to be UL Romero versus What? Robert Whitaker for the interim middleweight title What is going on?

Is it we have Skype? What is happening? Let's go to Skype. Is there something going to? on here? Is anyone sitting in the chair? I'm sitting in the chair. Let me see you. What's going on here? You're trying to muscle your way on this damn show again, Maliki? Where is Yoel?

No, I don't want to be on the show, but I need another minute because Ray's is running a little late, so I apologize. Where is Yoel? You all is here, but raised a little bit. So you translate for him. You've done it before on this show. Stop playing around. What are you guys? I got a show to run here. You're the one. You're the ones who told me he's got to be done by 125. He's got training. He's got this. I'm trying to get you out of here. I mean, really. What, Ray's going Hollywood on us?

We're trying to do this in English. Yoel, my brother. Yoel, last time you were on the show, you were talking to Anderson, Sylvan, English. Don't be shy all of a sudden. Oh, how are you? How are you? Shalom, shalom.

Shalom, shab. Last time you were on, you were talking to Anderson in English. You don't need these guys. They're holding you back. Talk to me in English. You know, I want to speak it very well. Yeah, see?

Okay, all right. Now you're shot. Okay, well, let's get into it because we don't have a lot of time. I know you have to get the training. Are you happy with the way things turned out? You're fighting for the interim belt against Robert Whitaker. I know you were a little frustrated. Are you happy with this situation?

Yeah, for sure. I'm very happy, you know. In the finals, I have a fight, you know, for the title. That's what I want. I want to fight for the belt, you know? It's an interim belt, but it's a, it's a very important too when you fight it for the belt, you know, because, you know, you train it for something, you know. Does it matter to you that it's interim and not the real belt? Does that bother you? No. No, I take the interoper, you know, I fight for the interim belt.

And then I wait for Bistin, for Mr. Bismithman, you know. Do you believe, do you believe if you win the interim belt that Bisping will fight you? I believe in that. That's what I believe. I don't care. Yeah, I said, I don't care if Bishbin, I'm a fight, you know? Are you disappointed that your next fight isn't against Bisping? Or did you kind of just move on from that whole situation?

You know, I'm mad to say this guy or not. You know, I am very much a bit of God. You know, I'm mad to say he's a high or not fire or not. You know, I am very flexibility with God. The time. That's what I said at the time. You need it. You need a.

The translator is here. I'm out of here. Ray, what happened? Ray, all of a sudden, Ray got famous on us, and he's showing up late to interviews. Where's my man? What's happening here? Ray, what happened to you, Ray? You got famous on us. You got famous on us.

Now you're showing up late. Never me, man. Never famous. Well, it's good to see you. Good to see you, too. How you been? I've been great. Thank you. Well, you know, last time Yuel was on, he jumped on the show and he didn't need you.

He was speaking in English just fine, so I thought that you got the boot. No, I'm still here. I'm still here. The question I asked Yuel right before and he seemed to have a little bit of trouble with was, was he disappointed that he, like, title or not, seemed like he really wanted to fight Bisping. Is there a part of him that's upset that it's not Bisping next? I was satisfied Some of the Malactia of that

TITU or no You know, you know, you'd be able to with Bipin and if you're You know, the satisfaction That's not, I'm going to be Bipin the same answer. No, no is no Why? No.

Okay. Because I'm going to play for the title. If I've always had in my that you have to go and the next time in this moment

is to play by the title. I've always had in my head I'm not dissatisfied I'm okay. I've always out in my head that you have to go

step by step and the goal right now is to fight for the title and that's what I'm going for I'm going to get the title. No is a person in specific.

It's not one specific person. No. No. The food, al-a-since-savid a bit more if it's been Mr. Biscuit.

But it's safe to say that the food would have tasted just a tad bit better if it would have been Mr. Bispie. What? And everybody knows why. Yes, yes, of course.

He said recently that he injured his knee and it's clear that he still wants to fight GSP and GSP still wants to fight him. I just have to ask, do you believe that he's that he's injured, that he can't fight. He said that recently

he lestimed, he's lestined his legioner the but he says he still still wants to do that with GSP and GSP says that he also he wants to fight with a

hip-pink. You know, my man, he said, you know, man, he's, he's to believe to the man.

You know, I guess you've got to believe the man, you know? He says, he wants to know. Romero wants to know if you believe that. Oh, that's not for me to answer.

No, I do believe it. I do believe it. I mean, look. Yeah, we believe it too. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. Yeah, he says that not even Bisping herself believes that. Okay. Okay.

What do you make of Robert Whitaker? Have you been impressed with him lately? He's coming off that big win over Jacques Re. What do you think about him? What do you think about him? What do you think of Robert Whitaker? He's impressed with him. Sure.

A great attrera. He's doing very well in all of what you, I think the major the major, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, He's a fact that he could have made all the athletes in the anti-Witts, he's a tremendous

threat. He's a great athlete. He's doing everything that he needs to do to become even a greater fighter. And the worst mistake that any fighter can make in front of Wittaker is to underestimate him. He's a great athlete. You all, do me a favor. And can you go smack the Kawa brothers and tell him to be quiet? We're doing a live interview here and they're speaking and I can't hear you. Can you do that for me? slam them to the ground.

Go, do it. Do it for me. Malki, keep it quiet, all right? It's not all about you. Nobody talk. Yes, please. Thank you. Thank you.

You know, you're wearing that Cuba hat over there, and it reminds me, you said you're only going to go back once you became champion. If you win the interim belt, does this qualify or will you wait until you win the official title? You have the sombrilito of Cuba There's He says That you're To go back

To go to When you If you're If you're Now you You're You're going to You're going

No no No No This qualifies As a It's a A minute About

I'll say To be He'll hear me He'll He'll Marno to And And

And Well, Yeah The time T' Tumpumpr You I'll do all what is

like you're going to do what I've always done. And then, after the play, with the favor of God. And yeah. No, this fight qualifies as a title. So as soon as this is over,

you know, just an hour ago, I spoke with my son in Cuba, and, you know, he wants to see me and I want to see him, and as soon as this is over, I'm going to do everything that needs to be done so I can head to Cuba and see my son. see my son.

Wow. When's the last time you saw him? When you said myelowice? It's been 11 years. Wow. Do you FaceTime with him? Yeah. Wow.

Does he watch your fights? Yeah. That's amazing. Does he wrestle? No, no, no, he doesn't want to know any of those points. Really? Interesting. How old is he?

12. 12. Wow. So you haven't seen him. That must be the greatest motivation of all, right? I mean, win this fight, bring the belt back to him. I can't imagine anything being a greater motivator than that, right? No, there's more motivation. Until there's a motivation more grand than I. Gagne to get him. Right now my hands are sweating. Wow. Do you have your trip booked already, your flight booked? Yeah, you have your whorlo? No.

No. No. But will it be short? Right now my focus is the fight. Okay, fair enough. And this is happening in, what, five weeks or so. Is this enough time for you for a title fight? They just announced it. It's July 8th.

Do you wish you had a little more time to prepare? The battle is in five months, more or less. This is sufficient time for you. It's just a sufficient time for you. It's about to announce. Pelagued by typical. you'd have had a little bit more of time or be done with this time?

No, no, perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Really? Because usually you get two months, two and a half months.

This time you're getting a little over a month. Normally, go to two months, more than two months. Perfect. Perfect. And just out of curiosity, which opponent interested you more?

Whitaker or Anderson Silva? What opponent did you interest about you? Whitaker or Scylla? Right now, I know what I'm interested in is the title. Right now, let me see. Right now, the only thing I'm interested in is the title. Okay. It can be Anderson.

It can be any of the five that are in the ranking. It can be any of the first five in the rankings. As long as it's for the title. Now, Anderson is Anderson. Now, Anderson is Anderson. Yeah. No. It's the legend.

Have you allowed yourself to dream about what it will feel like after everything you've been through when they put the belt around your waist? Do you think about that? You've permitted to dream and think in how it's going to feel after what you've transposed in your life when they're amarraing that cinto after your cintura? First I think of in pedial in my battle.

First I think, let me fight. my fight. I don't think in a thing that I don't know

how to do it's I don't even want to think on on something

that I have no idea how it's going to be emotionally or I can

prepare something when the things come spontaneously sound they're

not improvising I can't I can't explain something that is going to come out of

my heart It's something that you can't improvise. It's just going to come out spontaneously. Now, what I can say is, how I'm feeling now that I'm preparing for the title? Oh, what I can't tell you is how I feel the way that I'm preparing for the title. Me Siento bien, me shen

has been at my side of diktri and sinister. I feel good. I feel blessed. I feel that the Lord is on my side, you know, good and the bad. So you're 40 years old now, right, Yo-L?

Quentin. What is it? How has it been possible that you've remained? I mean, I know you had the next surgery, not that long ago, but did you ever think that at 40 years old you'd be fighting, you know, the highest caliber opponents possible? What has been

the secret to your success here? To not just stay successful, but to be this age, to have this kind of longevity in a sport that's rather brutal. We don't see 40-year-olds usually fighting for a belt. How is it in this moment, having 40 years,

not see in the quarantines playing for the cintos, are a strong, brutal, and strong, how is that you feel, how are you? I know, I know that with the age

I have been, and I'm over there are very little that have played, and if I can't look, and the memory not me fail, I think I'm going to be the first person of 40 years

that's going to be a title I don't know. I think that and if my memory doesn't fail me I think that I'll be the first 40-year-old you know for a bell for the first time

because it's not the same that you've been a champion you'll be able to discuss the title it's not the same if you've been a champion and you lose it

and then you try to gain the belt back but I'm having from the bottom and at the 40 years that I'm going to to discuss the title. When I started from the bottom, and at 40 years of age is where I'm going to, you know, fight for the title.

There's where I, I live a relation day-a-day, those that are with me, that are that day-a-day with me, can tell of how I've been deced of God. And that's why, you know, the guys that are with me day in, day out,

um, they can tell people that are with me every day, can tell how I've been blessed you know, by God. I also live a very healthy life. But, no, I don't know to recognize that the blessing to live this day.

But I never neglect to recognize that God's blessing has always been there. All of what I do, me bendice, me care, even with the lesion that I have a lesion that I'm,

and I'll give. Everything that I do, he blesses me, he takes care of, of me. And even with my injury, you know, I'm still fighting. I'm still winning. And not only to play, but fight and fight and fight well. You know, winning battles.

Do you think about, oh, go ahead, go ahead. I've got 32 years as a threat and from 1996, I'm in the elite of the military. That's a great mission. Since 1996, I've been in the... You know, the world-class, elite athletes of the world, and that's a great blessing in itself. Is there a certain age that you want to go until? Do you think about that?

There's a young age. No, I don't think of any age. No, I don't think on any age. Okay. My dad made a boxer. After one, she's having to come in Cuba, so, for those kids, for Cuba, no? to do not even Cuba

now in Cuba was a reality of 38 years amateur boxing now the people pay for the people pay to lose much rapid

and my father played until the 18 39 years my father box in Cuba and most people saw boxing at 36 37

my dad was fighting till 8, 38, 39 wow okay so it runs in the family last thing for you Yoel I know this has been

a bit of a frustrating year for you because like you didn't know what was going on after the Wyman win once you found out, okay, July 8th, it's happening. You have an opponent. You're fighting for the belt. And I know you're the kind of guy who stays in shape and goes to the gym regularly. You don't take breaks. Did you sense a

different, you know, like, did it feel like, okay, you had a greater pep in your step, some, some more drive, some more excitement? Did you notice a difference once you actually had a goal, a date, an opponent, all that stuff, as opposed to just kind of waking up aimlessly, no idea what was going on with the division? Iron, um, you know you know

train, that you always are in a gymnaso, that you do you really don't go for the

time but when they were the day, Julio 8 and you put that

met, sent you a shot more in your more, a type of a

of a thing for sure. Changes everything, right? It's a beautiful thing.

It's a change. It's a much. It's a lot of the change, and, and particularly in the stomach or the heart and the same

and the two are both have a same connection and you have a same sense. It's a rarro, it's

something it's something like if, you know, your heart and your stomach and it's everything your soul just all

binds together and you feel something beautiful it's just that goal that I need to reach Well, I'm very happy for you. I'm looking forward to it. July 8th, UFC 213, U.L. Romero versus Robert Whitaker for the interim middleweight title.

Finally, we get to see him back in action. Finally, we get to see him fight for the belt. I think the UFC got this one right. I'm happy that they actually did it. I'm excited. I can't wait. It's on my birthday. It's a very exciting time.

So thank you, UL. Thank you to the Cowah Brothers. We'll see you in Las Vegas. Muchos, gracias. Good luck to you. All right, guys. We'll see you soon. Thank you so much.

There he is. Yo, Romero, fighting Robert Whitaker on July 8th. Of course, the reason why that fight is happening is because Cody Garbrandt versus T.J. Dillashaw, at least for now, is not happening. Cody Garbrand out due to a back injury.

We've been wanting to talk to him for quite some time. And I do believe this is the first time that he talks about the injury, so happy that he's on the show. Unfortunately, under these circumstances, but I appreciate him taking out some time. He joins us now on the phone. Cody, are you there?

I'm here, brother. Thanks for coming on. Cody, I really appreciate it. So tell us, when did you first injure your back? You know, it's been a few years, to be honest, and I dealt with it all last year. I kind of had a, you know, progress. You know, I had four fights. A lot of people forget I went from unranked to a world champion in 11 months.

You know, I was constantly grinding in the gym, you know, no days off. I was fighting, training, and that's what it was last year. My body just didn't, you know, didn't hold up to it. I had the injury. I had a fracture in my back when I was, I was. 17 during football, you know, I had some herniated disc. So I kind of dealt with it on an offer, you know, since I was 17 years old. And progressively, you know, I started incorporating more, you know,

Muay kicks and different, different body motions. And I just didn't hold up last year. You know, like I said, I had to kind of really schedule my training around my injury, you know, during camp. I mean, there's a gawki fight. Like, I almost thought I was not to pull out of that. one as well. It was like two weeks where I couldn't even walk, you know, let alone train. So I went in there, you know, on a not so good training camp, but, you know, to fight then

the day, how to do, I had to do the UFC was a man. It was keeping me busy and giving me an opportunity of a very thing before I couldn't pass up, you know, and I worked so hard to be here at the, you know, the highest level to fight the best. So I want to be 100% when I go in there. I step in the training, you know, I love fighting. I want to be excited about going to training every day and pushing myself and getting better. So, you know, that's where I'm at right now with his injury. And, you know, I'm doing everything I need to do to get back. You know, so is the UFC.

I'm very thankful for Dana. Dana and the UFC for, you know, doing the stem cells for me here in the States and flying near Germany and doing the therapy over there. So I'm feeling much better doing a lot of rehab and doing rehab almost every day, you know, six days a week with my conditioning coach. and kind performance out here in Sacramento. When did you start to think that, okay, this is problematic. This might preclude me from fighting on July 8th,

because I know you did the initial treatment here in the United States, and then you flew out to that specialist in Germany. How long ago did you start to really get worried about it? So we did the stem cell in Las Vegas. It kind of went to a couple of doctors, x-rays, and went from cortisone to think about it, epidural, to, hey, you're getting stem cell, all in, like, a day's time, you know, like, real quick. So I'm like, all right, kind of, this is what I have to do to get, you know, heal me.

And I spoke with the doctors, and they're like, oh, yeah, you should be, you know, should be good. So I was trusting the doctors, you know, and I did what they said. They told me to, you know, take four weeks off of no, like, no, nothing. I couldn't move. Treadmillow, I couldn't do anything. So that was, you know, hard within itself, especially when you have, you know, you defend your title. You have a flight scheduled so you have that. On top of, you know, getting healthy,

you have to worry about the fight and getting ready for that and you have all that, you know, what if single back's going to be healthy? So I just kept positive, you know. So I gave them positive. I came up with my coach, my teammate, my fiance, my family, you know. So I did the recovery. I did the, you know, rested, and they said that I'd be clear on March 1st. And I got clear on March 1st.

They said that it would be good to, you know, start training. And I said I talked to the doctors throughout, you know, you know, the month of, you know, the rest, resting. I say, you know, when I get the clearance, you know, March 1st, I'm going to go like a bad out of the hell and train, you know, how I trained. And they're like, oh, yeah, they said, yo, you'll be good for the fight.

So got home soon as I got off the airplane, Vannick still picked me. I went and trained that day. Then I went and sparred six rounds straight Wednesday. By Thursday, I woke up and it was, my back was in the worst pain the worst pain that it's been since the stem cell

and I rested and recovered I think I just got so excited you know trying to get back like you say when you have a deadline to fight you have to get ready for it you know and that in my mind I only know one pace that's you know all out so

you know and I was listening to the doctor's like oh you'd be good you know the hip heel the chair and you'll be fine so you know I went there and I tried to push through my mid-session with buckles on on that day And, you know, it was just something that bothered, man. I was speaking to my fiance, I was like, I don't know if this works.

My back feels like it's worse. They kept locking up where I couldn't even walk, getting out in and out of a chair. Like, it was just, it was miserable. And it was really debilitated, man. It's not funny. Anyone that knows, you know, has back injuries or neck injuries, you know, you know, know how, you know, painful and just annoying it can be because you can't do, like, your daily functions.

So I, you know, I ended up reaching out to my manager, Ali. You know, I was like, hey, you know, I don't know about the stem So I don't know what we can do elsewise if we do like I was thinking about just getting epidural numb in the pain. But then, you know, I'm just thinking about the quickest route that I can still, you know, fight. I've never pulled out if I never had to pull out of fight. But also I've never had a serious injury like this. And at my age I'm 25 years old. I'm thinking about longevity and, you know, not in an hour right now.

You know, so I have to take a little bit of time off to heal and recover. That's going to, you know, set me up for the next, you know, five years, 10 years, how long I want to pursue, you know, you know, this career and this lifestyle. That's what I was looking at, you know. So I got to sit back and think about the future outside of fighting because really this is a small window of, you know, a small window frame of my life that it's only going to be a small part, but it's going to set up the rest of my life.

So I have to, you know, do it smart. I have to think about my future. And that's what I was thinking about. So I hit him up and say, hey, it's not working on. Talk to Dea. Sean and Shelby actually hit me up and say, okay, when can you go to Germany? And I'm like, hell, I'm not thinking they're going to fly

me out like the next day or so I flew me out a couple days later but I was like you know we want to get you to go to germany and do this and she out goes so went over there and did the therapy with germany and germany and danie castile went with me we had a good time in germany and uh got the procedure done the doctors were it was amazing um and got back and my back the the pain's gone from the uh basically it was basically uh it shot anti-inflammatory they took my my blood out mixed it, manipulated it with proteins and anti-inflammatory to help heal my back where the chair was at where I'm having this kind of like sciatic pain going down my leg. And that initial pain is gone, but it's still, you know, it's still time, takes time to

make sure that it's not just the initial. That's why I felt with the stem cell. I took that time off and rested. And I'm like, okay, the pain's subsided, you know, substantially. So I feel like maybe, okay, maybe it is working. I was in such, you know, horrible pain that any bit of relief is like, oh, I'm getting better. That's what I felt. So I'm not going to rush this one.

You know, I'm doing rehab, like I said, you know, six days a week and strengthening, you know, fixing and correcting my body. You know, when you go into MMA and you train, it, it's a different training. And a lot of the fighters know this and coach and people in the MMA, but the casual fan, they think we're, you know, nothing against other football players or baseball players or baseball players, but we come adapted to our sport, because I'm a specialist in our sports, you know, and our body starts to go to that. So if you're just doing M.A. and not

correcting your movements and your patterns and your flexibility and all that, you know, your body's going to start to wear it down. That's unfortunate what happened to me, you know, and it's unfortunate at the time that it's happened. You know, I was very excited with the fight with T.J. You know, I don't want to prolong that fight.

You know, I want to give that dude an ass-whip and the whole time I was around them, you know, for various reasons. You know, that's the last I want to do is prolong a flight, you know, because of an injury, you know, a T.J. has ass whoopened. I want to be 100% so I can give T.J. 100% ass weapon, you know. I want to be satisfied with me going there 60th sprint and still whipping his ass. And I only give him a 60% ass open. Now I'll give him 100% ass what he deserves. So we're doing it right, you know.

First and foremost, I'm focusing on myself, just getting healthy and then getting back in the gym and then testing it back out and then we'll go from there. You know, I'm constantly keeping Dana updated, like how I'm feeling. I'm excited to get back in there. I'm just getting started, you know, with Dominic Cruz fight. You know, it's unfortunate, but, you know, this is part of the sport. It keeps you hungry. Even when you're at the top, you know, there's always adversity and things to get over to.

So this, for me, keeps me on my toes, you know, keeps me, you know, hungry and focused, you know, to get back. And, you know, I got that drive back at the end. You know, it's a different beach, you know, come back from the injury and then getting the fight camp and, you know, go to defend the belt. chance you'll need surgery. I go to Dr. May. He's a doctor in Germany. And, you know, some of the doctors here had a, you know, different methods or ideas they thought that we could go, you know, if option A, option B, option C didn't work.

And some of them were, you know, towards option C and D were surgery. But this doctor doesn't think so. You know, I think that back with these shots and me doing rehab and correcting my movement patterns and my flexibility and mobility, which is it's something that we all need to work on as fighters. Like I said, we come so adapted to our sport. But he doesn't think, you know, unless it's, you know, I don't give the right amount of time to heal, then it would just be like throwing all this out the window. Okay. I'm not traveling all over the world, you know, to rush this. I want this healed so I don't have to go through that again. You know, it's something

that I want to take time off, something that you love, you know, it takes your happiness. way, you know, I love going in there training, push myself every day, and, you know, working towards a common goal. And that's my common goal is to, you know, create a legacy. I got the belt, and now it's what you do with the belt. Doesn't matter how long you go on with it, it's what you do with it. I'm trying to go out there and, you know, T.J., he's, you know, my next adversary. And, you know, I'm going to finish him, and then I want to go play Demetius. And that's my, that's my, that's my, that's my legacy that I'm creating, you know. And it's funny because PJ is just, you know, a generic version of everything.

He's just a generic, generic, generic dominant crews. He just rides off everybody. He tries to take, you know, I want to fight the futures. Now he wants to fight the futures, you know. So it's just, yeah, I want to get healthy. And as I'm saying, no jump into a play. I'm trying to get healthy as I can. He knows I'm trying to get back as soon as I can.

Like I said, I'm talking to Dana, let him know, you know, my progress weekly. My camp is going to feel good. I feel good. You keep telling me, you know, just take your time, you know, take your time, don't rush it. And he's right, but this is a fight that I don't want to let go. And that's my fight with Demetrius after I smash PJ, you know. And we'll get to the Demetrius thing in a second, but I'm just wondering a couple of weeks ago, did you feel any extra added stress or pressure when they had that press conference?

You were on route to Germany to get this done. And it seemed like they were still kind of pushing the fact that this fight was happening July 8th. And even Dana said in interviews like, you know, I'd be shocked if this doesn't work. it kind of felt like in an indirect way, at least to me, like there was pressure being put on you to fight on this card. Did you feel that way? You know, a little bit, you know, I'm pressured myself because I wanted to fight. You know, it's a hard thing I had to do to pull out of a fight,

but this was like, to say, it was a serious injury. And, no, I mean, that's what they want. They want fights, and that's a huge fight, you know, and a huge opportunity for me. You know, it sucks. I had to let that one go, but, you know, there's going to be more and more opportunities. in my career

that I'd have to be smart with it so I didn't you know like I said I just try to say positive about the whole situation you know the whole situation I mean it's out of my control you know entries happen all I can do is do what I'm supposed to to get healthy and that's what I'm doing

and if I can't fight I can't fight you know there's always going to be added pressure and in this and that with fighting you know and so what did you think when you started to hear that TJ was campaigning

for the Demetrius fight and that the UFC appears to be on board with this idea. What was her reaction to that? Fuck it. You know, they want to fight? It's whatever. T.J. wants to fight. Go ahead. He's training hard. You know, go ahead. He knows it's an easier fight

fighting Demetrius. So, you know, I got hurt, but I'm going to put out of a fight. It doesn't matter. You know, now whatever I say, like, oh, you pulled out of a fight. Well, fuck it, I'm hurt. You know, so if they want to go down and fight, go ahead. I talk to Demetri. Demetri's doesn't want to fight TJ. TJ's not a draw.

Teague don't deserve it. You know, it don't matter. You're going to go to 25. Okay, that's fine. TJ, you get beat, I will never fight you. I'm going to go down and fight Demetius at 25. You lost that chance. TJ, you go in there and beat DJ.

I'm going to jump down at 25 and steal your belt. So that's what I told Dana. I texted Dana. So that's the way it plays out. That's the way it plays out. It's out of my control. I'm not getting healthy. But them two want to fight each other, go ahead.

I'm fighting the winner at that weight class. you know, that's my vision to win that belt. And right now, that's what I said, you know, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to fight T.J. in July and fight Demetrius in November. And, you know, and unfortunately got injured. So, like, I really can't say much about it right now.

The UFC's a business are going to try to, you know, make fights that make money, but I'm sorry, that's not a money fight. You know, and they both know that I'm the big, the bigger draw for them both to fight, you know. You know, that's how I look. at it. That's how I look at it, man. When do you think you'll be able to fight again at this point? It's really hard to say, me, and the way I'm feeling right now, I mean, I feel good.

I just, I'm not getting too excited. I feel like, you know, I'm a 12-year-old kid. I'll try, you know, kind of climb fees again. You know, that's how I feel like I want to go deal in my mind, but, you know, my coaches and my physical therapists are, you know, keeping me on track where I'm not, I'm doing enough to feel good. I'm not over-exerting in and prolonging this injury longer than it has to be. I have a lot of assholes to give out in 135-pound divisions and, you know, I'm going to stay true to that,

get healthy, and make it back. So I can't tell you a time frame. I can only hope, you know, I can only hope. Hey, if it was a perfect world and everything worked great for me, I'd fight on, I would fight, I'd look T.J. Dash, what was that, July 28th? In Anaheim? Yeah, yeah, July 29.

29, yeah. You're trying for that? And I'm tracking my progress weekly. Okay. I'm not trying to prolong this fight with T.J. I don't want to. He wants to go around and deal with his dickhead for this long. You know, the guy's a cornball.

You know, he just keeps telling lives on top of lives, not the lives. Everything that shit's over with, hey, we're fighting. Now it's the fight. Now I want to focus on the fight. You know, the fight's right there. The fight's already going to be there. The fight was already there once the TJ left. I knew I was doing on a team.

I knew I was on the face T.J. I knew I was on face TJ when I stepped on the blue mat the first time on alpha male. You know what I mean? Like, I knew that was a fight that was on the horizon. And, you know, and so that he, that's why I felt threatened by me the whole time out.

So that's a fight that I'm excited to get to. He can go on there, talk as much shit as he wants, and whatever you want. Just my first interview I've done because I'm focused on the fight. You know, I'm focused on, I'm focused on getting healthy. I don't want to talk about a fight. It's hard for me to get in that mindset.

said to talk about a fight when I'm injured you know what I mean that's why I was like I'm not going to the press comments I'm you know I'm going I'm over to Germany I'm hurt I only want to talk about a fight I'm not doing any interviews I don't want to talk about anything I'm worried about focus on the flight I don't you know I'll talk about my injury but I'm like I'm focused on talking about the fight now I'm in rehab I'm feeling better and I can track my progress and I'm I'm hoping like hell I get in there as soon as possible you know Lord willingly you think this year you're hoping for this year right for sure this year

okay yeah for sure what I mean you know the the study show that it's supposed to be you know super you know super certain I mean I'm a good friend with Tyson and I was messing back and forth

he actually went out the week after he has really bad black problem he's been doing epidurals and all kinds of other things and he actually went out the week after the doctor and it's the best the best go there and you know they're one of the best

and that's what you know with. So I'll be, you know, super optimistic that I'll be back before the year's up for sure. I don't want to sit out. I mean, I have nothing else to do. I'm sitting in Sacramento, you know, watching everybody train, you know, and it's nice. I'm helping the guys out, and it's good to be around those guys. But I'm a grinder, and that's what I want to do, and I embrace that shit. I can't wait to get back. And so just to be clear, because a couple of weeks ago, we had Dominic on the show, and he said that he was hoping to fight the winner of you versus TJ, and of the year, but you're saying you want to get this

TJ fight out of the way, and then you're planning on going down to 125 to fight Demetrius? That's what you hope? Yeah, fuck Dominic, dude. I gave him the rematch right after that. Now he wants to come out and say that all these I was injured, I had my foot, I needed to recover. Dude, I don't care

of that guy. I don't even care about fighting that dude. I gave him, you know, I gave him the the rematch right after the fight. He did not want to take that fight. So now he wants to come out, but I don't with the winner. Okay, cool. I'm not waiting on him. He doesn't, you know, he doesn't serve. I gave him automatically rematch. T.J. took it. T.J. should thank Dom, you know, for that. But I'm going to go down and fight Demetrius. That's my goal. I spoke to Demetrius numerous times, and that's my goal

after the T.J. fight. T.J. first and foremost, but I'm wanting to go down and fight Demetrius after that. You feel like you can make 125? I can easily make one time, I don't know, cut to 35. Wow. You know, yeah, I don't, I, shit, you see me on embedded. Yeah. I'm, I skate and eating s'm s'm, you know, hot chocolate, toast cheese, sandwiches, I mean, I'm eating like that the week of the fight.

I just watched, I just watched a week, you know, I kind of, you know, here and there, water load. Yeah, you know, I do it right, diet down. I'm young right now, I'm 25, up to 26 in July. So I'm young. younger than I do it rather than older that I am, it'd be easier for me. So that's why at times now, but just the injury set things back. Like I said, I can't control that.

It's not my control. And I'm just looking forward to getting back, getting it back in there and putting on, you know, entertaining performances. You know, I'm just getting started hitting my groove. And, you know, you guys all saw that with a Dominicruz fight. You know, I'm going to pick up where I left off. I'm going to be better. I'm going to be healthy. I'm going to be not hurt, you know.

I was fighting like that all last year. injured like that. I just couldn't couldn't do it no more, you know, especially once the back tour, you know, I had the disc problems, but one of the ones had the annual tear was, you know, that's one thing that I just couldn't, I couldn't bear that one

and I'd do what I had to do. Have you been watching tough, and if so, are you enjoying it? Yeah, it's funny. I mean, it's, PJ's playing, you know, their rash. You know, the other, he's playing the, uh, the peach hide

be the peacemaker. He knows going into the show he had to do that. They probably perform them. And then, you know, what is it? Dwayne, uh, formally at that plan and probably sat down and at his academy in Denver, right? Why they're selling peanut butter rations. Uh, and probably is like, look, man, they knew that we couldn't go, they're going to go against, yeah, they're not only going against me, they're going to get to the whole team so they know it's a lose, lose for them. So they're going to have to sit quiet and just, you know, let's go on our tire and, you know, that's what we are. We are who. We are who.

we are. I'm not going to change for anybody. You know, that's, I've always been. I've always been, I've always been like that, you know, so people are going to say this and that, but it's a fight, you put us in that environment, especially with the, the backstory with PJ and Dwayne and all that. And, you know, you're going to have that. You're going to have that explosion. And, you know, especially, I don't care how it may portrays me. You know, I know, I know who I am, you know, and I'm always going to keep it like that. I don't, I don't, I don't like disloyalty, you know, people out of respect, you know, especially the people that brought you up, you know what I mean.

T.J. started his career out here. You know, they've been able to a world champion. Dwayne comes in for, what, a year, and he just leaves. You know, I don't know. Is there a part of you hoping that he doesn't get the DJ fight because if he loses, that might, you know, ruin the chances of you getting your hands on him? Like, are you kind of praying that they don't go that route? Yeah. You know, if that's what the UFC wants to do, that's fine. You know, I feel like DJ will beat PJ. TJ is slow. You know, PJ's very slow, you know. I feel like I went with them, you know.

I know that guy like the back of my hand. So I feel like DJ would win that fight. And whatever, you know, whoever went. If that's what the UFC wants to do and go on that route, cool. They're a business. They want to try to make these super fights, but they all know that I'm the money fight. I'm the big fight at the lower weight classes. And, you know, I'll wait and see how that plays out. But like I said, for me right now, I'm just worried about getting healthy and getting

back to my mindset and my mentality and, you know, going in and enjoying training, you're not being hurt. So that's where I'm at. And I'm starting to get, you know, a glimpse of that, that feeling, you know, with the rehab. So that's all I can focus on. If that's what they want to do, go ahead. I'll say that DJ will beat TJ. And I'll fight DJ at 120. five pounds when I am cleared ready and healthy. By the way, I, go ahead.

The DJ don't want to fight T.J. Right, he doesn't. He and he's right. He don't deserve shit. TJ cries and whine, just like how he was saying, finally the next title was shot, UFC's rigged. Yeah, yeah. And then he was

going out there and, you know, campaigning, you know, $100,000 you know, he's like a Girl Scout. You know, he's a girl scout goes on top of cookies. He tries to get the green badge on his best. You know, that's what he wants to do. He wants to be the bestseller, you know.

So he's trying. He can't hurt him for trying. But yeah. And he doesn't deserve that. He's gotten beat by Dom. He events his loss with a sensile. Dodson knocked him out. You know, so, I mean, that's the thing.

He's the second ranked, Banaway. He don't deserve that. He doesn't deserve to go on there and just skip over those guys. He's not even the champion. You know, he's not even the champion. He was never the champion. He was an interim champ.

He never beat Dom. Dom left. You know, he was injured. Dom was still the champ. You know, he was fighting for the interim. You know, the interim title. So that's my stance on it. God is my witness.

I was not going to ask you about this, but people keep asking me to ask you, what is going on with this bodybuilder guy who's trying to fight you? Is this a real thing? What's happening here? Oh, man. I don't know. that guy just trying to get me Twitter followers.

But, yeah, some Twitter or something, I don't know, the guy's talk shit. I'll talk shit back. It's funny. You know, it's funny.

You know, those comical guys are, you know, cornballs. That guy definitely is a cornball. Oh, my gosh. He is such a turd. But I think he has bigger breast implants from my fiance, you know?

But he comes out here. I'll definitely titty fuck him. That's a thing. But no, he's considered that he wanted to come out. I'll say, give him the gym address and say, hey,

you want me to buy your flight. and he proceeded to go make flight posters and try to sell a pay-per-view and tell him he's going to bring his camera crew out here and I do come down here and he'll get a soft-up one way or another what's his beef? I'm not even entertaining it. Because he said some shit to me on Twitter and I replied back with him. He didn't like it.

He got out of butter. He was a fat dude that lost a lot of weight. He got on much of a steroid. He's just really sensitive. That's what it is. But yeah. And you know, you know, when you go on Southwest, he did a Southwest ticket and screenshot it.

You know, and that dude knows anytime if you can't go to Southwest for no penalties, don't play yourself, dude. All right. So that's what that is, man. Everyone's acting tough on it and it's funny. I love it, man. When you have to talk me, there's more and more haters, so. Yeah, I see you fending them off left and right on your Twitter,

but it seems like you're enjoying it. Yeah, it is funny. You know, half the people that talk shit are, you know, Have you ever left a YouTube comment? No. On our video? No, exactly. You know what I'm saying?

You never? You never do that. I'm surprised you know about those people because I've been dealing with them for almost a decade now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I have two, but now it's just more and more. It's the plasma, which is cool. It's funny, man. I already know what it is.

By the way, congratulations to you and your lovely fiancé on getting engaged. Do we have a date yet? Not a date yet I told her I proposed to her I mean it was awesome with the Sedona a really good time

I proposed her and then we you know started talking you know I had planned on hey like we'll start planning a wedding

you know after I plan to playing two times this year and then we'll you know the beginning and extra start trying to plan a wedding and seeing what we're going to do with that

and she was cool with it she's my ride or die man she really is so now that you know the fights are up in the air kind of maybe prolong everything but it'll get there hopefully you know we'll start planning

and you know it just thinks everything you know in my life resolved around fighting and you know you're planning everything and that's why I was such an amazing woman I couldn't be more blessed for but yeah hopefully we'll start playing Mayerai next year and go from there well I'm happy you guys are staying together because I enjoy

the way you document her obsession with eating on your Instagram. It's a lot of fun. I'm going broke. I can relate to it personally. I'm going broke, man. She loves to eat.

She eats way more than me. But yeah, I know it's good. And the old lunchbox. Wish you the best, Cody. Thank you for coming on. I know you said you didn't do many interviews, so I appreciate you coming on the show again. It's been a while.

We haven't talked to you all year. So good to get the update. I'm happy things are looking better, sounding better. Get well soon. And we hope to see you back in there. rather than later, my man. Hey, thank you. I appreciate it.

Doing everything that I can to get back and go out there and put out some entertainment performances and spend the title and show everyone why I'm the king of 135 pounds. We look forward to it. Get well soon. We'll talk to you soon. All right. Thanks. There he is.

Cody Garbrandt, no love, the reigning defending U.S.C. Bantamweight Champion. Hopefully we'll see him back in there sooner rather than later. So moving along, big news in the world of the UFC's light heavyweight division. You may have heard of this man. If you are a kickboxing fan, they call. the rebel. His name is Gokan Saki, one of the best ever to compete in kickboxing. He's coming to the UFC. He has signed a deal with them. He's moving over to MMA full time and he's joining us right now on the phone.

Gokan, how are you? Good. How are you, man? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for the time and I appreciate your patience as well. So this one kind of came out. It came out of nowhere. A lot of people didn't expect you to come over to the UFC. They don't usually sign fighters, you know, with your resume who are always. and won in M.A. You haven't fought in M.MA in 13 years. How did this all come about? Yes. You know, one day, like a couple of weeks ago, my old friend, old manager, my time de Young, she gave me a call, and we was talking about glory and about what's going

on and when is my next fight, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then out of nowhere, he called me one day later and he says, you're interesting fighting for the UFC. I say, yeah, why not? We are fighters and I love to, I love to, I love watching UFC the left year, one and a half year. And I was like, why not? Let's talk about, you know?

So he said, okay, let me talk with the boys and I call you back. A matchmaker of UFC called him for another fighter. And this fighter signed already for another organization. So Martin talks about me and they had the interest in me fighting for the UFC. So everything starts like this, you know. And so why are you deciding to leave the world of kickboxing where you've been so successful for so long and move into a world where, like I said, you only have one fight and it was 13 years. Do you feel like you have to do this because there weren't opportunities for you in kickboxing or is this something that you want to do at this time?

You know, for me, in kickboxing there was only one fight to do. And not to prove myself, but this fight I really want to do because the way how I lose from Rico for Hogan was not the way for me that I can say I lose that fight, you know. But also many things happen. I dominate glory. I dominate kickboxing for a couple of years. And after I was champion, I felt they didn't push me or support me, you know. I broke all the great records and no thank you. So I was not happy anymore with glory.

So after my fight with Tyrant Spong, everything starts with glory. You know, I still had a fight with glory. and the contract was some money I was getting and they was not allowed to pay that money anymore because the organization was not going good, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, okay, no problem, you know. I give something back and you come, you give me a little bit, you know?

So they want to push me down like 70% of my money. And I was like, no, I'm not going to do that. you know I'm a fighter that moment if people was talking about glory people was talking about me so I was the one who was making glory for from the begin together with couple of other fighters and yeah in the end these things happen and a lot of fighters stopped with glory and yeah there is no old-school kickboxing anymore so for me there is no challenge and anymore, you know? You wrote a long message on your Facebook page about your situation with Glory and your efforts

to get the Rico Verhoeven fight. In your opinion, why do you think that fight never happened? Long story, man. I put the story on my Facebook. Everything stays on my Facebook, you know? For me, Glory, it's like my ex-girlfriend, and I forget Glory. I signed with UFC and I even don't want to talk about it anymore, you know? Okay, fair enough.

Don't take me wrong. Why haven't you competed in over two years? Your last kickboxing match was in April of 2015. Why the delay in return to action? Because there was no other organizations. I fight GFC in Dubai, my last fight. And this organization paid me very good. Nobody paid me like this.

They bring also a very big sponsor to me. But they're only organized two or three times. And then I think sponsorship stopped with them. So they stopped the organization. After I was, I was some, I get some offers from small organizations. And I was like, you know, I'm not hungry at this moment. I want to take my rest. And when I come back, I will come back.

on a way like the best way you know yeah for me this is the best way to come back in your mind

are you done with kickboxing will you never compete in a kickboxing match again come on bro I'm gonna bring

kickboxing to the octagon bro kickboxing is my kickboxing is my thing you know kickboxing is my life and

I stopped showing it for two years and I can't wait to show it again, man. Fair enough. I really can't wait. Yeah. Did you talk to any other organizations in MMA or just the UFC?

Like, for example, I thought that maybe you'd be a perfect fit in Bellator as well because Scott Coker loves kickboxing and has his own kickboxing promotion. No, I don't talk without organizations. Like I say, when I'm going to make my comeback, I want to do it on the biggest. And for me, UFC is the biggest and most popular combat event in the world. So this is the best way to come back for me. In the press release to announce your signing, they said that you might debut in September and Rotterdam, which would make a lot of sense, since, of course, you are of Dutch descent as well.

Is that a done deal? Is that when you will debut for the UFC? I would love to. I would love to. Nothing is sure yet. but I would love to fight in Rotterdam, man. That's what I mean with a comeback like this. I'm born and raised in Holland. Yeah. Originally Turkish, based in Dubai. And making my comeback for the UFC in Rotterdam.

That will be amazing, man. Yeah, it would be amazing. But I'm waiting. Yeah, I'm waiting. I'm waiting. So I hope in the as soon as, possible we know when it's the first fight you know I'm ready so I'm just waiting for the car man do you do you have a dream opponent in mind for your

debut is there someone you'd love to fight in your debut no I don't have a I don't have a you know how can I say I fight everybody in like the biggest the smallest, the heaviest, same weight. You know, for me, I really don't care who I'm going to fight. I'm only really interested in myself. I don't care about other fighters sooner or later. I'm going to knock the fuck out of them anyway, so the other doesn't matter to me, you know? And you're going to compete at Light Heavyway, right?

Yes, I'm going to compete on Light Heavyweight. I noticed on Sunday when the UFC was having its event in Stockholm You tweeted this wow such an exciting match for 10 year olds Were you talking about the main event With Gustafson and Tashara because that's your division right You're going to be a light heavyweight Were you referring to that were you bored by the fight No it was a nice fight you know but it was it was

Texera was taking a lot And I think Gustafson can finish the fight earlier, but I don't know why he takes the risk to wait for so long, you know. I'm looking on a different way, maybe the kickboxing way only, you know? So it was a nice fight. It was a, I see a better fight, you know. Okay.

My favorite fight in the UFC is McGregory, you know. I love the way he fight. And that's the way. That's because I started watching UFC or so, you know. You weren't, you didn't used to watch the UFC a lot? Not a lot, but when Conners came in the game, I love this guy, you know. The way how we work, the way how we train, his history, I love it. You know, at the same, we also came from Holland from the better city

and we really fight for our life, you know, and he has the same sleeping in the gym, training so hard, and become this big, you know. I really respect that, man. I love that guy. Have you ever met him? No, I never, never met him, no. You also said that this is the UFC's best investment since signing Connor McGregor. That's a pretty bold statement.

Why do you feel that way? You know, I just want to give the people what they want. They want knockouts. They want to be entertained. Like my fan base is always a fanatic. If you look my fight in Istanbul, Holland, arena is full. People were screaming, name, and at the end, I give them what they want. And Colonel does the same.

And I know the kickboxing was never that big, and we bring kickboxing that far with our fighting style, our explosivity and everything. So that's why I know what I can. And I know if I want something, I work hard for it. I will make it. And I'm thinking already, I'm fighting next year this time for the title, you know? Wow. Yeah. That's soon.

ready, man. Yeah, that's ready soon, man. 100%. How many fights? And I promise you, next year, this year, whatever. After three, four, fights, I'm ready, man. We'll see. So when you look at the, you know, the division,

the 205-pound division in the UFC is a bit shallow these days. So when you look at the top of the division, you have Daniel Cormier, John Jones. When you see those guys, you think you can hang with them right away, right? Considering your background in kickboxing, no problem? I need to fight a couple of fights like I said two, three fights and I'm training for a while, wrestling.

You know, I'm Turkish. The wrestling is in our Turkish blood, you know, so I'm talent with wrestling and jiu-setsu I'm training. So the experience, what I have, not one of these guys have this fighting experience, what I have. So why not? That's the big thing, everyone,

was saying to me last week, well, what about his wrestling? How comfortable right now do you feel if the fight goes to the ground? Take down defense, off your back, things like that. I am, man. I'm not going to go to the ground. That's the game. I'm ready, man. I'm training wrestling.

I'm training jujuice, too. You know, I am, I was, when I was young, I was playing soccer. I was talented. And the same time, I was, doing kickboxing, I was number one. So, you know, I am somebody who is in love with sport, tennis, I can play tennis. So, wrestling, I learned things really fast. Jiu-sutu also, the guys was surprised, you know, how fast I was learning the jih Tzu and the resting. So like I said, if you're hungry, if you want to learn, and if you have something in your mind and you believe

in it, you will make it, man. I prove myself 100 times and I'm going to prove everybody again. Like, I'm going to show people here, like, the kickboxing world, if they believe they can make it in the MMA. And I believe if more kickboxes

are going to try the MMA and love it, do it with love, not only for the money or blah, blah, blah, blah. They will show them, you know, because they show other than they were kickboxing, so why not with MMA? By the way, I'll never forget when you fought Tyrone Spong

and he injured his leg, the way you went over to him and showed compassion. I thought it was, you know, in a really dark moment. It was a really, you know, lovely moment to see just how you were caring for your opponent. And I'm wondering just mentally, did that mess you up? at all? I mean, that's a traumatic thing to go through

for both you and him. Did you feel like it was hard to think about fight sports the same after going through that? You know, it was hard to... First time I see a moment like this, I was 13 years old. There was

Richard Pantz versus Floyd von Doms. K-1 fight was in Holland and I see the guy break his leg and I was like fuck, what is this man? Yeah. And then same thing happened in my fight with Tyran Spong and Tyran is like a brother. I know Tyran, we grow up together. He's from Amsterdam, I'm from Rotterdam, but I'm from Schiedam, close to Rotterdam, but the way we grow up,

like if there was a kickboxing event, always we see each other, we was on our way, the number one fighter, so always we have good contact, you know, and then you fight each other for the second time and then something like this happened. His family was there in Turkey and his mom was there and there was like 13,000, 14,000 crazy Turkish card. So for me, that was the best situation, the way handle the situation also for the family and also for him, you know. It was really out of my heart and the moment we fight and we fight us. animals. I want to kill my opponent, but when it's finished, it's finished, you know? And I like that way, you know, so that was the reason, man. Did, but did it mess you up at all afterwards? I mean,

did you not want to fight after that? I know you fought shortly thereafter, but then you took the long break. Um, were there any, you know, no, no, okay. I was okay with that, you know, uh, I mean, we are, we are fighters. That moment was nasty to see. what happened. But yeah, this is this sport, you know. This can happen with football, with soccer, with NBA, whatever. This is life. So I can't stop working because of this, you know?

Fair enough. Okay, so this is very exciting. A lot of people are very excited to see you debut in the UFC. I love that video that you did of you in the cage and you took off the T-shirt and it had UFC on it. Very well produced. There's some great buzz here. And I think the 205 pound division could use. use you. I love this signing by the UFC.

Really kind of came out of nowhere, but kudos to them for actually getting it done. And you're going to be training in Dubai, right? That's where you live now. That's where you train? Yes, I live here for three years, and I'm training here with my first thing I'm doing with Tamqam. Yeah. And jujuice, some good Russian guys and black belt, jukechie through a lot of black belts in

Dubai from Brazil. and from Russia also. So I'm doing my camp here. Mike is going to come over. Now it's Ramadan. Ramadan is a finish after three weeks, and Mike is going to come for two months. My strength and condition trainer is going to come.

So we're going to make a big camp here in Dubai, man. I love it. Well, I wish you the best, Gokane. It's great to talk to you for the first time. And like I said, love the signing. Thank you very much. And very looking forward to your debut. It's going to be great.

All the best, you. good luck in training and hopefully we'll get to see you debut in Rotterdam. Thank you very much for that. Take care and it was good to speak with you, man. It was a pleasure. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you, Gokane and best of luck to you. There he is.

Gokan the Rebel, Gokan Saki, one of the biggest names in the world of kickboxing now moving over to the UFC. Like I said, a unique signing for the UFC, typically the kind of signing that other promotions make. Belator, World Series of Fighting, etc. But they need some names at 205. They need some draws. Popular in Europe. Popular here in the kickboxing world. I love this one.

And yes, he's only fought in MMA once. And that was back in 2004. But holy smokes, the guy has, what, 80-something kickboxing victories under his belt? The man knows how to fight. So let's see what happens when he gets to the ground. But this is the kind of excitement that I like. This is fun.

And this is what the UFC was built on, right? guy comes in from another sport. Of course, it has evolved since then, but I'm still down to see it when the timing is right. The timing is right now for Go Kansaki. All right, exciting stuff. Let's move along to our next guest.

You've been hearing a lot from him. He was just on the show last month, but a lot has happened in the past month, so I wanted to catch up with the one and only Mike Perry. He joins us now on the phone. Mike, how are you? Yo, what's up, Ariel? I'm doing well, man.

How are you? I'm doing great. It's great to talk to you again. Thank you for coming back on the show. Like I said, a lot going on in your life. You were just in Vegas for that Las Vegas athlete, UFC athlete retreat. Did you enjoy it? Yeah, man, I had a good time.

Definitely, I get to learn some things. And because of it, events after and things like that, I learned even more than I expected to learn from it, you know. But, yeah, appreciate you having me back on. You know what I mean? next time maybe I could upgrade to the computer FaceTime or something. Yeah, what's up? Why are you avoiding us?

No, no, I'm not avoiding you. Not at all. I like to see her face. Yeah, definitely. Next time we'll have to upgrade to that. I didn't know what that entailed or what it took to do that. But every time we'll get that set up. But yeah, man, the athlete retreat was a great time.

And then after I took it after, and I did some interviews there and my management team talked to me and, you know, they felt like what I had to say and everything was all good, but I got to remember, you know, they try to remind me to remember where I came from and not let the, not let them cloud my judgment with all these nice things that they put in front of me. They're like, oh, would you rather have had that retreat or would you have rather had $50,000 at the India bonuses on your next fight or something. And I'm like, yeah, $50,000 would be great, but I'm still living good right now. And that athlete retreat was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that people aren't going to get

anywhere else or ever again. So, you know, I'm grateful for it all. That's all I got to say, man. What was the biggest lesson that you learned during that three-day weekend retreat, if you will? Um, um, maybe that, you know, I don't know. There's a couple that I'm not, not, I'm not necessarily just a UFC fighter. I'm a prize fighter. And I fight for, for me and the reasons I fight for, like family and taking care of myself and being able to make a living off of this and testing my abilities against the best other athletes in the world in my weight class.

But that the UFC is just a platform for that. And my prize fighting is even a platform for that. So I can take what I do in that ring and put it into these interviews or put it into a business or put it into taking care of a group of kids or put it into just something that gives back to the world. And then, you know, we're going to keep that circle flowing of the world given to me and me given to the world. and that's how you grow. So I think I took a lot of growth from that retreat. I even saw that you took a selfie with Ari Emanuel,

and I heard that the new UFC owners, Emmanuel in particular, really took a liking to you. He's a big fan. That's crazy. Yeah, man, that was great. It was cool. We had some breakfast together and we had some dinner together. Just you and him?

Different times he sat down. No, no, look, I was sitting at the table one time, and for 45 minutes I sat by myself, in this buffet area at breakfast and nobody wanted to mess with Platinum Perry, but I know a couple of the UFC fighters or whatever I was sitting down, I was comfortable.

And then after about 45 minutes one fighter comes up, his name is Dustin, his girlfriend and my girlfriend got along together, so he came and he sat with me. And then this woman, 30-something-year-old woman, sat across from me, asked if she could,

and then our Emmanuel comes up. And he comes straight to me, he taps me on the shoulder, and he shakes my hand. He says, hi, I'm Ari Manuel. I said, I'm sorry. I don't know that name. I don't know. I know I'm supposed to be excited to meet you, but I don't know who you are. Wow.

And he's like, I'm one of the guys who bought the joint. I said, oh, shit. It's nice to meet you then. And then, you know, we just had a little conversation there, just the four of us. Wow. Did you feel a little weird? Do you feel funny that you didn't know who he was? I mean, he is the boss now.

No, man, that's just it was the truth. You know what I mean? You can't be afraid of the truth. It is what it is. I don't read a lot or pay any attention to certain things like that, I guess. But then it came to me anyway. So, you know, if I'm supposed to know something, I think I will. Did he promise you any big things?

Did he say, okay, I've got these big plans for you? I mean, this is a big... No, nothing. No, no. That's not what it was about. like I'm making sure, you know, I hope you're having a good time. I hope you're learning some things. He said he has big plans for all the UFC and all the fighters in it, all the athletes.

But winners, baby, you've got to be a winner. That's right. Now what happened? There's all kinds of stories about an altercation that you had with Jeremy Stevens. Tell us the truth. What happened here? Altercation, man. I pushed him to the ground.

That was it because he knew. I mean, we weren't supposed to have our girlfriend there, whatever, but we did. And he walked up behind her. It was about a dance on her, man. So he was very disrespectful on his part because he knew what was up. So I shoved him, and he didn't want nothing to do with it. Wait, so he tried to dance with your girlfriend? Yeah, man.

Well, that's strange. Did he know that that was your girlfriend? He had to have known it. Wow. And that pissed you off. okay though he didn't want nothing to do with me after i pushed him what happened after he pushed him he would got up nothing i mean i sat there and i looked at him and i waited for a response if he had something to say if he wanted to get up quickly and rush at me none of that happened you know a couple

ufc fighters oh don't get suspended or don't get cut it's not worth i'm like man i'm fine i didn't do a thing you know what i mean he just he got to watch his my personal space and his personal space. You know, you can't be up in my stuff. And then I turned around. It was about a minute. And then I walked away because the retriever was over, Snoop Dog was gone. And it was time to go gamble or do something else in Vegas. And then, you know, I have to ask since we're on this subject, what happened with you in Ally Quinta? Did he square you with a water gun or something? Well, yeah, man, because, you know, and that shit did piss me off, but I'm a grown-ass man. and I'm not going to start a fight with someone

because he squirred me a couple of times with a water gun because I put him on Snapchat and I don't have the video anymore Every time I walk by Aliquinta He tried to like Get attention from everybody Like he tried to act scared like Oh my God

Platinum Perry's around And like he was scared of me And playing around and going to run away from me So then I got him on Snapchat Like look look how he runs away like a little bitch And then he fucking He pulled out of gun. So I played along. I was like, oh shit, he's got a gun. And he squirted me. It wasn't even in my face.

It was in the back of my head, though. He squirited me like twice. And did you do anything about it or just let it go? No, I let it go. Okay. Because after your last fight, his last fight, you guys were going back and forth. And I know you're in different weight classes, but all of a sudden I really had this strong desire to see you to fight just because you're so entertaining in and out of the cage. Do you think that's possible at all or probably not? I mean, why not? Yeah, he said something the other day on Twitter, like, oh, it's up July 22nd. So I tagged my manager.

He's always like, oh, why is he tagging his manager? Because my manager can get it done. He can make the phone call. He can make shit happen. So I tagged Sean Shelby, and I tagged the UFC. And I was like, what's up? July 22nd, I'm ready to fight. And then he's like, oh, I'm fighting.

I think he said something about El Ku Kooley. Yeah. So I don't know. I mean, I'm sure if I was in my take the fight with Elkoku-wee, too. Over you? Yeah. I don't know if that one's happening, to be honest.

Well, I mean, at the end of the day, no matter what we say on social media, no matter what we do, no matter what pops off, the UFC is going to call us, or my manager is going to call and say that the UFC offered this And whatever this is, is what we take. It's what the UFC has planned and we follow their plans because we're in their organization.

So, you know, I'm ready for any fight. You're very much, and I don't say this disparagingly, you're a company guy. Like, you respect the UFC, the process, you're not going to speak out of turn. You're happy. You feel like they treat you well. There's a lot of, you know, discontent these days, but that's not you right now. You seem to be very pleased with the way that they treat you. Yeah, man, because I just, I haven't been getting paid a lot of money for this,

and I'm getting paid like 10 times what I was, or maybe not 10, but, and of course I want to get paid 10 times more than what I'm getting paid now, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I am patient. I am happy with my management team, first round management. I might as well shout them out, you know, and I'm happy with them, and they're making sure that, you know, they wouldn't want me to do it. take any shit from the UFC.

The UFC got to watch their P's and Q's with me because that's my management team. And, you know, I guess I learned more about this union thing a little bit. And if you got, if you got a room with, they had a meeting at the retreat with like 60 UFC fighters. And I didn't know about it or hear about it until after. And, but those are for the people who are crying wolf, I feel. like the people who aren't winning necessarily and they're afraid of what their future looks like and they're like, oh, we're trying to get jobs in other places like commentating or, you know, anywhere.

And, you know, you guys took our sponsorship money. But I never went around picking up all these sponsors. I got some sponsors, but like, I mean, there are certain sponsors that pay $50,000, you know, and Bellator guys make $500,000 off of sponsorship. And, you know, what are they doing for that? Is it social media? I'm sure there's all types of stuff. So I'm learning about that too.

But I just always feel confident that I'm going to get mine and I'm just going to keep learning new things. And sooner or later I'll put them into effect and I'll get money every way that a champion should when I become champion. So there's been some talk that both you and Tiago, all of us want to fight each other. And this one's interesting for a number of reasons, but one of them is that you're both represented by the same management team, first-round management. Is this the fight that's next for you? Um, I don't know. I would say that

sometimes finding a location is harder than finding an opponent. Huh, why is that? I would love to, uh, I don't know. That's this, that's what someone told me. That's what management team told me, you know, so, uh, but like I said, we don't know who they're, going to call and for when and it could be a two weeks notice I'm always ready for those. That's how I got in the UFC. I'm always ready for that shit. Two weeks

I'm ready to go because more time I get sometimes it's like a little crazier and the buildup gets a little extra but two weeks it's like oh here we go. I'm about to go to work. I'm ready. You don't have to overthink it but this is a fight that you want Tiago Alves? Yeah man

that would be fun. That'd be a lot of fun and I think we both have good moitai, but I think mine would prevail. I think he'd start to shoot for a takedown and grab me and stuff, and he might be the first submission victory I get. Wow. Or I'd hit him with these clubs, and it all go night-night at the end of the night. But who knows?

You know, like that Misha Serkanaw fight, oh, my God, dude. that one was so shocking he just touched him and the man that was how Dustin Porey got hit by Connor McGregor there's that weird spot right above the year right that it doesn't look all that

you know devastating but it people just crumble to the ground it's a strange thing that's a soft spot um your friend Alex Nicholson was on the card how's he doing that was a tough loss for him yeah man that was rough you know who knows what's going to happen now

with them. We're hoping maybe he gets another fight with the UFC. If not, you know, if I just hope my brother listens to this, man. I've been thinking for him, you know, you I came on the phone and you

were interviewing some dude who lives in Dubai who was a great kickboxer. What's his name? Go Kansaki. Yeah, go Kansaki. I only know that name because of Dragon Ball Z. I was able to say it right. but maybe Alex should go do some kickboxing

and since he wants to stand with everybody, you know, stand and fight and, you know, we'll see where that goes or the UFC give him another fight and he'd do well. I didn't see the Alex that I know in that fight. I don't know why he's got or what happened to him, you know. We were just doing a 40-mile bike ride together the week before he went out there to do that. and, you know, he killed it that night. But a fight is not a 40-mile bike ride, yes, I trust me.

I understand that. Yeah. But it is, there are some similarities, like when you start talking to God, because you don't know you're going to make it back or not, you know, so. That is good. But we'll be what happens for him, man. I'm about to go hang out with him today, actually. Okay.

It feels like, you know, the more popular you get, you're kind of one of those guys that everyone wants a piece of. even I saw this veteran Gerald Harris, who's been around for a long time going after you on Twitter. Everyone wants a piece of Mike Perry. You feel that way? Yeah, man. I've always had a loud mouth. But that's because when I do that, I'm looking for someone to stand up and say something about it.

Because I feel like the things I say, I mean, sometimes I can get carried away. but I've cleaned up my act a little bit. There were some tweets between me and Sam Malvey, and I was coached through that situation to come out better than that. Yes. So I've been working on that with my words and things like that and trying not to just totally go zero to a million and try to actually be witty or something.

But, you know, it's just people overreact about. a lot of stuff and you can't just you just got to keep doing you at the end of the day. That's true. At first I feel like it's a bit jarring when you have all these people coming after you out of nowhere but the longer you're involved you know how to handle it a little better, right?

Yeah. And then fighting is always the easiest way of handling it. That's I think why I fight because when people want to run their mouth and I just don't even want to waste energy talking to them it would be funner to just hit them one time. You know, don't worry.

I'm not out here attacking people. Okay. UFC fighters not on the loose, just running around crazy. And I think about things before I do them. Yes. Well, it seems like it's good to be you these days. I mean, you're living comfortably. You're getting paid well, it seems like.

Things are going well. You're handing your money a little better, right? You're not walking around with 10. 10k in your pocket anymore? No, I just shot off 10K to my manager, though. Oh, what, for that commission? Yeah. Was it deserved?

Yes, it was. Well deserved. Any big investments coming up? Man, maybe I want to invest into the marijuana business. Okay. You like that? No. Yeah.

I think that it's going to. going to be huge. I mean, obviously it's going to be huge. It is huge. Yes, it's huge. Now there's possible ways to invest into it, but I don't know a damn thing about investing. I'm learning my numbers, you know. You look like you're pretty good with numbers. What are you trying to say? What is that supposed to mean? You look like Michael Schofield from prison break. You look like you can... That's right. You said that one time on Twitter. I did. I said that on Twitter. That's cool. I'll take it. He's a good. He's a good looking guy, right?

Yeah, sure, why not? Yeah. No, no, I'm just saying it seemed like you were giving me a compliment, and I appreciate it. To be, to be honest, I'm actually not good with numbers at all. I know I'm Jewish, I have a big nose. I fit the bill, so to speak, but I actually am very bad with all that stuff. So, you know, that's why I talk about MMA for a living. Hey, that's a pretty good living.

Yeah, it's not bad. It gets to talk to people like you. You never get in the gym and spa or train? Well, I mean, have you seen this nose? just one punch and I'm done. So I like to stay away from that kind of stuff. Man, well, do you hit the bag at all? You don't work out?

Oh, I do work out, yes. I jog a lot. I do things like sit-ups and push-ups, play basketball. I like to play basketball. I used to train a lot more in the combat sports, but these days not so much. You know, I'm a dad of three. You know, I can't be getting, I can't be getting roughed up like that. They need me around.

Right, right, absolutely. But I feel like I have no kids. that you know of, right? I'm just kidding. No, I don't have any kids. I have three puppies. Oh. And that's it.

Care of my dog. Are you offering me? Would you like to train me? Is that what you're getting at? Yeah, man. That'd be fun. What a show that would be? Definitely.

Where are you? Are you in New York? I love, yeah, New York. Yeah, I'm about to go to New York this weekend. I'll be there Thursday night. What are you doing? Just going. going, just going to see the place.

I've never been. Just for fun? Yeah. Who are you going with? My girlfriend. Wow. My friend lives up there who moved from down here. She moved up there. I'm going to try to get some training. I'm going to hit up Matt Sarah. Maybe me, you and Matt Sarah can do a little work. Matt Sarah's a bit of what we like to call in the business, I hate her, so to speak.

So I don't know if he would. No, I'm kidding. But that would be fun. You've got a ton of places here. You've got Matt Sarah's. That's on Long Island. But here in New York City, you've got Marcelo Garcia. got Henzo Gracie. I mean, you've got a who's who here. Yeah, man. I wonder how they'll feel if I walk up in the building and try to get some training. I think they'll feel pretty good. Good. The Matt Serra thing might be a bit weird because of Ally Quinta,

you know, but, you know, maybe they'll be open to it. Oh, are they together? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Matt Serra's his coach, one of his coaches. I didn't even know that. I was actually kind of cool with Matt Sarah when he was in on the show. No, when he was in Nashville, when I fought. Elberger. That's right. Yeah. He does train him.

I mean, that's not to say, but if Al's there, maybe it might be weird. Well, no, because I was, I mean, maybe we'd fight, though,

this time. That'd be nice. Well, no, no, not for, no money. You need to get

in the business of fighting for money. I mean, I told him I'd go to the gym, but he said he doesn't spar. Oh. Well, that kind of ruins that.

All right. Yeah, he's like, I haven't sparred in four years. Well, I guess that's how some fire is doing. I do this shit. differently. I love this shit so much that if I don't spar or work out, I wouldn't say workout, I don't look working out, but if I don't like grapple or spar or punch somebody or kick somebody

in like a week's time, I start itching like a fiend, like crackhead, like ooh, I got to punch something. I love it. You're one of a kind, Mike. Me too. Thank you. You too, bro. Good to catch up with you. It's Michael Schofield. Well, no, I guess not. It's Michael The Goldfield looks. Well, the look, but the soul might be one of a kind. You know what I'm saying? Yes, very good. Good to catch up, as always. Good luck getting that next fight and we'll talk to you very soon. Yeah, man, I appreciate you guys. Everybody have a blessed day. Same to you. There he is. Platinum Perry, the one and only stopping by. Good to hear from him. As always. Okay, big news last week. Roy Nelson, he's headed to Bell Tour. Who saw this coming?

This is very exciting. How exciting? He's actually joining us via the magic of Skype for the first time ever. When he was in the UFC, he couldn't be bothered. He would just pop on the phone, give us a couple of answers here and there. But now he has gone out of his way to join us via the magic of Skype. Is that true? A bit of a delay here. I was trying to build up to it Is he there? What happened? Oh, we lost him for a second. He's calling in.

Oh, okay. He's calling in. Wait, he's not doing Skype? What is happening? Someone's laughing in my ear. Oh, is that Roy's voice? That is Roy's voice. Oh, but no video?

I want to see you. Oh, there you are. Hey, Roy. How are you? Pretty good. How are you doing? Congratulations. This is very exciting. It is very exciting. I have a lot to talk to you about. First things first, you know, free agency, contracts expiring, all this stuff. It's been a hot topic. And most guys have been saying it before their last fight. You didn't tell anyone about this. And that's why I think the news was so big on Friday when it came out. No one knew that your contract was up. Why didn't you talk about this beforehand? Because in MMA, anything can happen. Okay. What do you mean?

just how it is. But your contract, you had one fight left, right? Yeah, no, I think it's kind of one of those things. You know, it's what's best for my family and, you know, not what's best for anybody else. Yeah, I feel you. So you didn't want to talk about it beforehand. And, you know, I was talking, that was a strange fight,

the Volkov fight. You know, it just, it never felt, and correct me if you feel otherwise. It never felt like you could really get going. And, of course, there was a height and reach advantage. And I'm wondering if in your mind were you kind of, checked out at that point. Did you, did you, like, did you feel in hindsight that you weren't all there? Yeah, no, it's just, there's a lot of, there's a lot of stuff, you know, that happened during that fight, um, and then like, fight camp and stuff. So for me, it was just, you know, kind of just,

you know, I just wanted to fight and, you know, as, as you saw, you know, Volkov didn't want to fight. Um, and then, you know, it's just one of those, just kind of one of those things. Were you, were you frustrated? No, not frustrated. Uh, I think it's more the making sure because the fans there, they just wanted, you know, I was just put on a show for the fans. And I don't know how it worked out at home, but in their arena there, everybody knows who actually won the fight because it's a fight. If you're going from the sport aspect, it was just, you know, a tag.

Because if I don't mind getting hit by your punches, it's like getting hit by my sister. So who really cares? Right. So you actually feel like you won the fight. fight. If it's a fight, yes. Yeah. It's definitely a fight. I ran out of, we ran out of time. Okay. When you left the cage that night, was there a part of you that that kind of knew that your UFC run was coming to an end? Not really. I think it was more of a more of, I think, just kind of understanding, you know, what's best for my family. I think I went back and talked to my wife

and then we kind of went from there to see what we needed to do for quality of life. Okay. And usually... Sorry, go ahead. You know, just quality of life. Just, you know, things that would improve our life from stress to, you know, just the stuff that I've been through, you know, because you look old when you start, when you start this MMA game.

Are you stressed? Not right now, no. No, but were you stressed in the UFC? Yeah, no, I had always I had always have stress, I mean, everybody complained about my weight, I was a stress eater. But maybe in belt or you'll see a skinny guy.

Oh, wow. What did that be something? You finally fighting at 205, right? Let's get rid of that stress eating, you know? Usually when contracts expire, as you may know, there's a three-month exclusive negotiation period, but it doesn't appear as though that was the case with you because you fought in April and we're only, you know, end of May, the three months would be July.

So how were you able to sign so quickly with Bellatorre? Easy, you know, you know, pull some strings, you know, you put some, you know, an MMA, anything to happen. There's just a lot of things that just went in through a whole bunch of things in turmoil. And for myself, you know, I wanted to work with Scott Coker and made that happen. Why did you want to work with Scott? I was sorry, what? Why did you want to work with Scott? The one thing about working with Scott Coker,

I've never heard a bad thing about Scott Coker. And that means a lot, especially in our sport. You should know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So did you actually sit down and talk to Scott before signing? No. I haven't. It's just one of those things like my, you know, like, you know King Mo.

Like, I've had other guys definitely worked with Scott in the past from Strikeforce from like, Nick and Nate, or actually Nick, to Gilbert, you know. So everybody that I know that's worked with Scott has never had a bad thing to say about him. And, you know, and I've been doing this for such a long time. And I'm like, well, this is my chance to work with Scott. Let's do it. And so did you even consider resigning with UFC or did you really just want to go to Bellator? No, the thing about, you know, working with the O.C is, you know, definitely you just,

there are under new management so there's a lot of different things that go that that are happening I mean did you go to the the UFC summit I mean there's a lot of things that happen so yeah so I just do want to be a part of I wanted to be part of something different that would uh make quality of life much better okay yeah I know I wasn't invited because it was for the the athletes only so I wasn't I wasn't a lot to be there yeah that's never stopped it before well you know I like to respect boundaries, Roy. So if they tell me I'm not allowed, I actually did ask if we Yes, why. What are you implying? Oh, wow. I don't go where I'm not allowed. I thought you always wanted that support.

Well, I mean. Well, I think, I thought it was, isn't it like at a, a regular, wasn't it at a hotel? I think it was. Yeah, but you know what? If I'm not wanted somewhere, I'm not going to go there. It's different than a story. I guess. I guess. Yeah. Plus, you know, I've worked with Mike Kogan before. That's right. And he's a man of his word. So I always appreciate a man of his word and, you know, stick him by it. And that's kind of my philosophy is because your word is your bond. Since you started with the UFC, what a run it has been? Almost what, eight years now since you debuted in 2009. From the get-go almost, you butted heads with Dana White. Do you leave with any regrets? Do you wish things could have been done differently? Do you wish that you could

have fought for the belt? How do you leave? How do you leave? this chapter of your life? I think the biggest chapter I could say I left with the UFC is I've given more time to the UFC fans than any other heavyweight that's been on the roster. Wow. That's one of those things record books. 19 fights, right? Well, that but timewise.

Like if you talk about how many minutes and seconds I've been in the cage, I give more than any graduate in the um on the i think just in the ufc ufc roster i think the only person right behind me is junior dos Santos do you feel like this this this this this new chapter signing with beltor has this reinvigorated you do you feel like you have a new lease on on your career do you feel differently do you feel like you have okay this is a fresh start you needed something new to get excited again um i think i'm definitely excited the one thing i'm excited about is being back with a spike and Viacom because they're the ones that actually launched

MMA in the U.S. Yeah. So, you know, basically your roots. I think that's the... Plus they have the crossover appeal. The one thing, Fox Sports One doesn't really have the crossover appeal just because that's like just being on ESPN.

Okay. So you mean crossover with just like regular guys who aren't sports fans? Yeah, basically just fans that want to watch our sport that basically what got them into watching MMA. Are you excited about getting your own sponsors again? That's one thing I'm very excited about. That's best, definitely a plus than being in the UFC versus being an employee and getting a wear this uniform.

Do you feel like the sponsorship game in MMA is still a thriving one? Is there money to be made out there for you? Uh, for me, yes. I don't know about anybody else. Okay. Well, because you're, you're, I mean, you're an icon, right? Big Country. No, I think, I think, um, it all depends on who you are and, uh, how market a bit, how, I mean, because sponsorship is about markability. Sure. If you were the guy, like, well, would you just use UFC, if you were the guy making, you know, you're on the Reebok deal and you're making $15,000. And you, you were, nobody knew who you were.

just like, I've been fighting, you know, here for the last five years, blah, blah, blah, and you make a 15 grand, and you're like, oh, yes. And then there's people that were names, and you hit 15 grand, you're like, you just took my salary away. Like, I made more from sponsorship than I actually did fighting. I did that for the longest time. You did? I did.

Wow. So, like, when you were more from sponsors, then you were from fighting, then there's a, usually there's a problem. Yeah. What's the most you ever made in sponsors for a fight? Do you remember? What have I ever made? What's the most you made?

What's the most you made for a fight? A lot. Okay, all right. Enough to buy a house. All right. Well done. From that one sponsorship? One fight?

From the sponsorship? Actually, yeah. It'd be a cumulative sponsorship deal. Okay. sponsorship deal yet. And so do you have your debut date yet? Do you know when you're going to debut? Do you know who you're going to fight?

It might be June, what's it, June 24th? You might see me just pop up in there. MSG? I don't know, maybe. I've always wanted to fight in Madison. Is that being discussed? I feel like we're, I mean, we're less than a month away.

I feel like it's a little late for that now. Why? I don't know. I feel like the card is full. They just have such a huge reach in the MMA fighting. Well, you want me to get you booked? No. Well, you don't have, I mean, I can call up Kogan or Omm.

Yeah. What about opponent? What about a opponent? No, no, no. I mean, like, as far as you actually fighting, what about opponent? Who do you want to fight? You know, like with me, I never, the one thing I've, I've always been

at 4 is you know whoever I fight you put in front of me I'll fight the one thing about like when I was with the UFC I'd ask for once

and I'd get no they don't want to fight you they're scared you know or they don't want to fight you like so yeah for me it's it was that was really a frustrating thing because I thought we were in the sport of fighting

but there's a lot of people it's gotten more towards like the boxing where it's like let's go 30 and oh or let's fight once every six months or actually once every two years or whatever it is to keep my record going and then I'll fight the same guy 12 times.

If I fight anybody again, I'd beat them up because it's like one of those things you kind of know their number after you kind of first time. You just run out of time. Yeah. And so as far as like, I think when this was announced

when we reported it first on Friday, overwhelmingly the reaction was positive. But I did see some people, as you usually do say, oh, Roy's over the hill, he's taking too many shots, things like that. What's your response to those people? Actually, I didn't see any of those. Maybe you got a different fan base than I do. Well, it was just a vast amount of people.

I'd say overwhelmingly it was positive. People were very excited about this. They thought you were a good fit in Beltor. But you do see that. I mean, you know, some big shots lately, some, you know, the Volkov fight, things like that. So people, I think, aren't sure what to make of your next step. Who's the 10% that doesn't pay for that actually watch the fights? Well, man, so what, okay, fair enough?

All I count the people that actually watch. Either way, if they're haters, they're going to watch, if they watch, that's all I care about. And so you're fans. You felt like it was a very strong response, a very positive response to the news from what you saw. Yeah, no, there's, you know, I haven't had one bad thing.

thing, you know, from the only person that's being bad to say was you. Oh, stop it. What's all, what's with all the hostility, Roy?

I thought we were friends. I'm not feeling the love today. Oh, hostility. I'm not, that's bringing up bad stuff. Well, I just wanted to know if,

I mean... Like, you started, you started the interview with a bad, with a phone call saying, I've never Skyped in because I was never asked.

This is the first time I've ever been asked. For, I mean, I feel like it's almost assumed on the show, like you could either do phone or Skype, but, uh, maybe that's,

That's true. I mean, you've been on the show plenty of times. Right. And then the first thing you're like, well, Roy Lively had time. Like, no, it's just you've got to ask. If you ask and say, hey, could you skate and I'm like, yeah, sure. Okay. I'm sorry. I was actually trying to put a positive spin saying like this is a brand new Roy, new era. Not only is he coming on, he's coming on via Skype. This signals, you know, it was just a thing to say, really. Gotcha. Okay. I thought it was a brand new era.

It is a brand new era. And I think everyone's... Oh, we start with the whole... Oh, wow. You are something else. What? You stir the pot worse than me. You got to remember everything.

What? You stir the pot worse than me. No, I don't stir the pot. I might cook. I don't stir. I wanted to ask you this. I haven't talked to you in a very long time. That thing in Brazil with Big John,

and then you came out and read that apology. You didn't really want to do that, right? I mean, I thought that that was silly to make you do that. I thought they were trying to embarrass you the Brazilian commission. I didn't think that that was appropriate at all. What did you make of that? The Brazilian commission or UFC commission or whatever it is, they just wanted a couple bucks.

Oh. I think that's all. And then they just, it was their way of doing it. And for me to reduce, you know, whatever to make things. Like, for me personally, it was one of those things. like we could have just not ever went back there and called it a day and never fought in Brazil. But the one thing about the Brazilian fans, they're either hardcore or hardcore the other way. Like I had people going, I love you, really?

You walk out here, I'm going to kill you. So, like, it was definitely a different experience. But you didn't really want to sit there and read that, right? I mean, I've never seen that before. It was like they were treating you like a kid. Well, I guess that's The way I look at it is You know, the things you just have to do

To kind of just move forward And I'm all about moving forward Do you have an issue Of Big John refs another one of your fights? Do I have No, because we've talked about exactly Exactly We have better communication now

Okay, so you won't protest or anything Or file some kind of complaint If you see that he's referenced you or something like that or assigned to your card. No, usually I don't even know until the day of the fight. Sure. It's not a, it's not one of those things. Then I go, oh, and then I have to back in the mental state of a fight.

That's annoying. That's kind of a bummer when you're there at the arena and you're trying to get ready for a fight and you have that reaction. It does, but, you know, life goes on. You just put on a show for the fans and just rock and roll. Well, I'm excited about this. Like I said, I think the vast majority of of MMA fans are as well.

This is fun to see you go back on Spike TV. The highest rated fight in the ultimate fighter history, you versus Kimbo Slice, still stands. That plus that's the highest rated show ever in Spike history too. How about that? Still got it. Still got it. After all these years.

Good to talk to you again. It's good to see your first. face, Roy. Thank you for doing Skype. I appreciate you, you sort of, you know, celebrating this moment with your first Skype interview on the show. And I look for... Well, I appreciate... Yeah. Just if you wanted to know my future, all I got to do is ask. I will. And so, and by the way, because you said June 24th promotion, but you don't have a debut yet? No, I do not. My biggest for debut, I mean, I don't even know when the next fight card. are for a bell toort.

I think, you know, just getting the first step first was to, you know, get a deal done and then after getting a deal done, then for me, you know, do an interview with you. Of course. That was the next step. Okay.

We got to start with baby step. Kind of work your way up. Thank you. Well, Mazel Tov, to you and your lovely wife and your son on the new deal, this new chapter. It's a very exciting time for the Nelsons. I'm looking forward to your debut. and thank you for coming on.

It's great to talk to you again. I appreciate it. You can call it anytime. All right. Thank you, Roy. I appreciate that very much. There he is. The newest member of the Bellator heavyweight roster,

the one and only Roy Nelson stopping by. Great to see. Thought it was a nice signing on their part. Some options for him at heavyweight. Of course, Matt Matrione, who he once beat, not that long ago, is fighting Fador Emilienenko on June 24th. they've got some names. And so we will see when he debuts.

He doesn't seem to know just yet, as you just heard on the show. Okay, in a matter of seconds, we are going to be joined by Sage Northcutt. Found out earlier in the week, last week, that he is returning to action. It's been a while since we've seen him in action. Late last year was the last time.

He is fighting Claudio Poyas at UFC. 214 looking forward to his return there's a lot going on in the life as always of one sage northcutt and he joins us I saw him there from the corner of my eye via the magical Skype there he is super sage himself hey sage how are you what's up mr. Hawani I'm doing good it's great to talk to you I appreciate after that last interview having you on so it's it's always good to have you on the show stage and it's great to see that you are coming back have you ever heard of Claudio Poyes before when when they offered you him uh No, sir, I haven't.

I do know he is from Prude, I believe, and he was the finalist and the ultimate fighter. So that's very interesting. I think it's going to be a great fight. I'm looking forward to it. Were you intrigued by the matchup? Did you have any qualms about it, or did they offer you him and you said yes?

I said yes, sir, and I think it's both interesting. We're both very young. And I think it's been an exciting fight, so I'm training hard, and I'm ready to put on a great show. And are you fighting at 155? Yes, sir. 155. Why did you go back down to 155 after your last fight against Mickey Gall being at 170? You know, I just went up to fight that fight at 170.

Okay. I think 155 is my weight class for now that I'll be at. I'm walking around a little bit lighter, so that way I make the weight easier. I'm stronger. I should be faster and not have to struggle to make that weight cut at 155. So that should all work out great. I have my tauntas removed about four and a half weeks ago. So that's all healed up.

I should be better than ever. than ever, shouldn't be getting sick anymore. So I'm excited about that. So this is kind of a crazy story. I was talking to your dad about it. We remember that you had the issue with strep throat prior to the Brian Barbarina fight, and this issue has kind of bugged you for quite some time. Tell us what you were feeling and why it led to you having to have your tonsils removed. What happened? Yes, sir. So during my first loss in UFC, I did have really bad strep throat. And as Mr. White announced, you saw the picture. It was very horrible.

But then throughout that, actually, after the fights, the next few fights that I did have, even though I didn't have stripped up the day of the fight, it might have been a week before the fight or two weeks before the fight. But throughout the fight camp and throughout the different camps from my fights that I had the last few fights, I was very sick. So I would get sick. I would heal up, get sick again, and there were still strains of bacteria left in my tons. So the only resort was to get my tauntas removed. And you can ask Mr. Woodley too, because I was up there training with him for his last fight against Wonderboy Thompson when he retained his belt. And I was up there and I got real sick.

And he quarantined me in a hotel for about a week. And then he goes, all right, Sage, now you're good. He goes, you've been on antibiotics for a week. He goes, come train with me again. So I train with him again. I got very sick, unfortunately again. Came back to Texas, got sick again. And then after that last one, three in a row again, they just said we have to remove your tonsils.

So that was the best thing. Wow. And so what were you feeling when you were getting sick? You know, it's your whole body's fatigue. If anybody's ever had stripped throat, it's like strep throat, but the worst kind of strep throat. It was actually eating holes in my tonsils. So if you looked at a picture, there was like little pits in my tonsils. And what happened was the different antibiotics would kill off the bacteria, but it wouldn't kill off all 100% of it.

So it would come back stronger, come back stronger and stronger again. And it would just affect my whole body, my strength, my speed, my card. my breathing, the amount of pressure that you have on your throat, the fatigue of your muscles, just everything. So if I had it for the day of the fight, that was horrible, or if I had it weeks before the fight or a month before the fight, it would take me out for weeks of my training and just affect me all around. So getting it removed is the best thing.

Before knowing that you needed to get them removed, were you kind of getting worried, like, you know, what's going on here? Why am I feeling this way? Am I never going to be the same? How are you reacting to it? Definitely. I was a little worried because I would train very hard. I'd be feeling great. And then all of a sudden, I'd know where I just get kind of sick. And then all of a sudden, I would, of course, as anybody would do, that fights.

And as professional UFC fighter, they would try to train through it. So I would train through it, and then it would just run my body down more and more. So the only thing the doctor said I could do was get him taken out. And I was out for multiple weeks after that. And then now I'm healing up. I'm training again. And that's good. Do you feel a difference already in how your body is feeling? Definitely. It's kind of like a car, if you think about it.

You have an exhaust pipes on a car, and imagine having, like, restrictor plate, and you have a tiny hole, and you're trying to breathe. The engine's trying to breathe and has all the air coming through the engine. And that restrictor pipe on your plates that goes through your exhaust, there's no air getting through there. It's like a little straw on those. Now all of a sudden you remove that. Now listen to how much louder your car is, how much better it can breathe, you add horsepower, you have, torque and improves the fuel economy, the whole entire car. So kind of the same thing.

I feel like I had these huge tonsils. The doctor said it was one of the biggest tonsils ever taken out. I actually put them in a jar and have a picture of them. Put him in a jar for me. Wow. Imagine having these huge tonsils in your throat and you're trying to breathe through a little tiny passageway and then you get those taken out. And for a few weeks, it's going to hurt.

A few weeks you can't do anything besides drink protein shakes, eat some ice cream and try to recover. But after that, it's all better in the long. long run. You didn't eat ice cream, though. I had, I had a little bit of ice cream. Some chocolate and peanut butter ice cream. Oh, yeah. I did drink, I did drink my favorite protein shakes, the RTDs, my Labrata. Those, I had that for two weeks straight. Which is that, you a USC fighter? Yeah. Hi, man. Nice to meet you. Look at that. You're getting good one. I just, uh, cool. Have a good one. Where are you now? I just, uh, I just,

I actually just finished training some training just across town actually at the gym I'm training at Paradigm. Okay. Here in Houston, Texas. So, and I just came over to pick up some products right before I got on Skype with you. And so is this your home gym now? Because I know you're with tiring for a little bit. You've been at some other gyms. Is this where you're going to train for this fight?

Yes, sir, it is. Okay. Paradigm Training Center, training back in Texas. That's my new gym for this fight. They have great grappling coaches, great coaches. and I'm looking forward to it. Whatever happened with you training at TriStar? I train up a TriStar for just for a short period of time for one of my fights.

Yeah. And then I came back to Texas. I just figure for this fight, I'd rather be back here. Okay. And I'm training with Santos-Won-Claire as one of my grappling coaches. There's a lot of great grappling coaches, a lot of great coaches here for me to train with. And Paradigm Training Center is a great place for me. I'm sticking here for this fight.

Were you sad that you couldn't fight at 2-11 in Dallas? You know, that was a great card. And I was really looking forward to fighting there. It worked out the way it worked out. I was going to fight. But then again, after training with Woodley, I came back here to Texas, and I just kept getting sick. And then finally, we told the UFC I had to get my tonsures removed because it was, it was just affecting me so much.

So I got that taken out. I think it was for the best. And now UFC 214, John Jones and Cornier for the main event. that's I'm excited for that Are you going to be on the pay-per-view? Do you know where you'll be on the card? You know, I have no idea yet but I'm excited to be fighting on UFC 214.

So I can't wait to see. All I know is I'm going to put on a great fight and put on a great show for everyone. So train it hard. Do you feel, considering how your last fight went and you've been out for a little bit now, do you feel like there's some extra pressure for you to get people back on your side

the things make people into believers again? No, no extra pressure. Just for the fact that it's going to make me want to go train harder and be so much better. So I'm going on there. I'm training super hard and I'm going to make sure that I go out there and I'm going to be ready for this fight. And are you still

going to train with Tyron at all or was that only because of the Wonderboy fight or fights? You know, we might train to get in the future. We still text and talk and everything or just Snapchat and just yesterday. or two days ago. So yeah, we're probably link up and train again,

and I guess we'll see, see what the future brings. You were just at the Las Vegas athlete retreat, right? Yes, yes, sir. I saw him there, actually. Oh, that's right. And his wife. Yeah, so what was it like? Did you enjoy it?

Definitely. The new facility is amazing. They had this cool, it was a treadmill wrapped around with this bubble thing. And I walked in there, and they had this guy that was running on the treadmill, and he was floating like on the moon. Oh, wow. It had this air that gets like pumped into there and it was like a, they called an anti-gravity treadmill.

So that was kind of cool. They had a room that stimulates no oxygen. So it takes you 10,000 meters. They said Mount Everest is 8,000 meters. So it sucks the oxygen out of the room and it makes your cardio better. I was like, wow, that's pretty high tech. They had these force plates there

to test your punches and your kicks, your knees, all sorts of stuff. The whole place is amazing. So will you try to use that Performance Institute if you're ever in Las Vegas? for sure absolutely definitely and i think it's i think it's so cool the ufc did that for for us fighters and uh to allow us to come there anytime we want if we're in a camp if we're not in the camp or we just happen to be in town so that's that's really cool now here's what i want to know

did you go to the snoop dog concert oh yes uh i was there snoop dog came up you're singing that was that was pretty funny i was actually playing uh before he shut we're playing beanbag toss. Okay. And me and Chris Wyman, me and Chris Wyman, we were playing and we beat some guys in Beanbag toss. That was pretty fun. Wow.

I didn't know you and Chris were buddies. He's cool. He's really cool. You Reebok guys have to stick together. But what do you think of Snoop? Are you a fan of his music? Everybody knows Snoop Dog, I feel like. That's right.

And everybody in the audience was out there screaming and yelling and he had a pretty cool show that he did up there and singing and everything. everything. Did you go to the classes like Kobe Bryant speaking and Michael Strahan and if so, did you find those to be useful? I did, yes. I think they're very smart.

They're very smart how they what the things they did not only how successful they are, but the things they did to get there. And then also, for instance, Kobe Bryant, what he was already playing out his future, while he was actually still doing the basketball, still competing, but he was playing

out what he's going to do afterwards after he retired. I thought that was very smart, and it was really nice to them to come out there and speak to all of us. So I had my little notebook there, the USC gave me. I was taking notes. Oh, really? And it was definitely useful. They had social media classes. They had these speakers come speak to us. They had all sorts of stuff. Reebok had a deal with that graffiti shoes. I wish I had them on right now. I have a different pair of Reebok shoes on, but they had these shoes, solid white shoe.

Yes, yes, sir. We got to tell them, like, we want our name on there or what we want. and they're graffiti them for us. So that was cool. Kind of like you're back in school. And by the way, what's going on with your school life? Are you still going to take classes at Texas A&M, right? No, sir. Actually, I withdraw from school.

So for now, no more classes. I'm just going to focus full-time on fighting, going out there winning, playing a great show, doing my best I can be. And later on, if the school doesn't, and I want to do the school later, then I can. But for now, I'm going to take this seriously and make sure I can make the most of it. How'd your parents feel about that?

They think that's smart because you only get, you only get, it's such a big opportunity. You only get a chance for this and to do two things at once. They know how hard that is to do the school, patrol them engineering and fighting at the same time. Super tough. Yeah. So put all of your effort into one and you can be much better at that one for sure. Do you think that that was an issue in the past that you were trying to do too much? You know, that could have been a little bit of an issue, but there's no excuses.

Just, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to put all my effort into this and make sure I'm the best I can be all around. And I hope you don't mind me asking this, but I'm a perceptive guy on social media and it seems like you're involved in a relationship these days. Am I right? Oh, yes, sir. You're off the market. This is exciting. Oh, thanks. That's funny. I feel like a lot of women are very sad now. I mean, I see you and this lovely young lady tweeting things and posting pictures. and things like that. It's a beautiful thing. Oh, thanks, Mr. Elwani.

Yeah, how long has this been going on for? We'll see. I've met her at school, actually. I've known it from school, but we'll see how everything goes and where it takes this. Is it tough to balance all of this? Like, you know, your personal life, dating, things like that, the fighting, do you feel like it's easy to balance, or is it a little tricky?

No, I think you just, you can't, obviously can't get too focused on one thing. Yeah. You have to make sure that everything's in, I guess, in proportion. So it's got to be smart about everything. And speaking of exciting news, your sister is going to make her MMA debut in just a couple of weeks, right? In June for LFA, Colby, she's going to fight a 135. Yes.

This is long overdue, right? She's been talking about this for quite some time. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. June 23rd, I'm super excited for her. So that's going to be awesome. Is she with you right now? Oh, no, she's not actually.

She just flew back to California. She was with me. She flew on Thursday, super late at night, and then she just flew back this morning, actually. Are you going to help her train for the fight? I was for a few days just hanging out with her, but she's going to come back here again before the fight. The fight's actually here in Houston where I'm training, so we'll see. She's training up there in California, and I can't wait for her to come back. How do you feel?

I feel like just a couple wins, and we might see her, you know, in the U.S. UFC. Do you feel like she's good enough right now to do that or wait and see? Let's not get too crazy. No, definitely wait and see but she's awesome. She's this much taller than me. Wow. She's crazy. She fights at 135.

She can fight at 135 or 145 and she has incredible karate, incredible stand-up. Her jistis is good. So it's going to be awesome. It'll be a first pro-imm-mate fight. She's submitted I don't know how many girls she's submitted in the amateur MMFights, but she has a fight. in two years. So she's still been training, but she was focused on school for two years.

She just finished up and graduated. Now it's time for her to fight. And what about your younger brother? Is he going to fight soon? He actually might. He just turned 18. He actually had knee surgery. So we're going to wait until he heals up and see what he feels about it. But that'd be really cool. I know he's got the skills too. Is it strange for you to watch your sister fight? Because you know, you love her so much that's your sister. Does it feel strange when you're sitting there watching her compete? No, it doesn't actually. I kind of have a confidence for her. So I know when she goes out there, what she can do, what she's ready for. And I'm just, I'm more excited for her. So definitely not worried or anything. Just really excited. Okay. Well, I'm excited to see you back, Sage. It's been a while. It's been what, six or so months since we last saw you compete. And so it's going down July 29th, UFC 214, U.S. 214, U.S. of the Ultimate Fighter of Latin America, as you mentioned. The return of Sage North God. People are excited.

they were missing you. Did you feel that? Yes, sir. I was missing it too. I wanted to be out there the past months and months and months. I wish I could have been. Yeah, that's right. But now I can't wait. And now you're feeling healthy. So did you actually post that on social media, the tonsils? Do we have a shot of that on your Twitter or Instagram? Actually, I never posted the picture. I can post it, yes. They have a little jar and they have both my huge tonsils in there.

So I could actually post that. Where is that? Like, where do you keep those tonsils? You know, they didn't actually let me keep the jar. They actually handed me the jar for a picture. Oh, okay. When they made me, it's my first time. They actually, they put a needle in my vein.

And then I'm sitting in the chair. They brought me back. And they go, they said something. And I was like, so where am I going to pass out? I've never, I've never been passed out by a drug. And they're like, well, you should be passing out here in about 15 seconds. I was like, 15 seconds. I was like, I don't feel anything.

And then I remember the last thing. last thing I remember before passing out was, I was like, man, somebody in this room smells really good. And then I just passed out. And then I woke up. I woke up and I was like, did we do my surgery yet? And they were all done. And they gave me a popsicle and I had a popsicle in my hand. So I was like, this is a weird feeling. That's amazing. And who was the person that smelled good? Did you find out? Yeah, I asked them. It was one of the nurses, I think. They said they were wearing lavender. They washed their clothes in lavender and lavender and it was like a lavender, lavender deodorant or something. Like, oh, natural, yeah. Sounds like a great

hospital. You want people to smell good, you know? Before you go. And how long were you in the hospital for? That was a quick surgery. I think, well, overall, maybe, maybe I don't know how long I was passed out, but the surgery only takes about 30 to 45 minutes, they say. Oh, okay. But mine was, mine was about that long, but then they had, I guess, the time before, like 30 minutes of me sitting in the chair. They're giving me like an IV, like with fluids and stuff before I pass out. You didn't have to sleep there, right? You didn't have to sleep over.

No, I didn't. Okay. Well, that's good. No, sir. They did it really early in the morning. Okay. That was good. Well, I'm happy it went well.

I'm happy you're back on track. Happy that you have a fight. Looking forward to your return. Looking forward to seeing you fight as always. Appreciate you squeezing us in Sage. I know you just trained and you're out and about. So thank you very much. Always great to catch up with you.

Oh, definitely. All right, thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right, we'll talk to you soon. There he is. Sage Northcutt returning at UFC 214 against Claudio Poyez. Always great to talk to one Super Sage. So that's in what, less than two months, two months from yesterday, right? All right. So thank you very much to Sage for stopping by as he joins us from that supplement store, vitamin store, nutritional store. in a matter of seconds we are going to be joined by the one and only George St. Pierre. Always a pleasure to talk to George St. Pierre, always a treat. He was in the news once again.

Late last week, he was at a conference in Montreal talking about why he is unable to fight Michael Bisping in July, on July 8th, and really shed a lot of light on the delay for the time. for that particular fight. And so obviously, once I found out that he opened up a little more about this, really wanted to have him on, and he is kind enough to join us once again. We are now being joined by the greatest welterweight

of all time, one, George St. Pierre. George, how are you? I'm doing very well. Thank you, Ariel. I hope you're doing well yourself. Always doing well. Always great to talk to you, George. I appreciate the time very much. So, as I mentioned, late last week, you were at this conference in Montreal,

all and you opened up. And a lot of people are wondering, okay, this fight was announced against Michael Bisping, why can't it happen in July? What's the delay? What's the reason? There's been all kinds of drama, all kinds of news, but we haven't heard much from you. And you talked about an eye entry. So what can you tell us, what are you feeling?

What's going on with your eye? You know, when the fight got announced the press conference, we knew that we couldn't fight in the summer. UFC knew as well that I couldn't fight in the summer. They knew that had an eye injury. But we still did the press conference. And I felt very uncomfortable during this all time. You know, as an athlete, I wanted to tell what was going on.

But, you know, if you look at every sport, if you look at hockey, for example, when an athlete is injured, he never mentioned this. entry. So he's injured the upper body part or lower body part or he doesn't say anything at all. He's got a cold. As an athlete for people that doesn't understand why we don't want to talk about injury

because this can be used against us. But now with this whole thing going on, it turns out to a very negative effect on me. So I needed to come out and tell the truth that I was talking with my agent. First, they advised

me to not say anything, but then the more the more this thing was was getting more and more negative and as people thought I was like just willingly just to not want people thought I didn't want to fight in the summer

and I was just joking and I made them understand and I said look I got that on my chest man I need to say what's going on because it turns out to a very negative thing because I know people you know it's a business people cannot afford to

to wait months and they have a family to feed and everything So I wanted to come out and say, and they advise me to not say anything. I understand why. But second, they say, like, yeah, you can talk about it. Yeah, so it's a nigh injury. And it takes, it's a long healing process. I had a surgery done.

And everything is okay. It's just I need to, there is a lapse of time, minimum time that I need to wait before I go back and train, especially if I take a risk to get hit on my eyes because it can damage because it's not, it's not, my vision has not recovered 100% yet. It will be fine. Everything is fine. It's just I need to wait for the lapse of time that the doctor asked me to wait for. And it's in September I can start sparring again.

So you said that you told the UFC about this. Why were they so insistent on doing this press conference and trying to get you fight in July if they knew that you were dealing with the injury. I don't know. Maybe it's contractual reason. I have no idea. Even my agent and I were not very excited about that. It's better if we wait a little bit, but they decide to do it. It was the first time, if you remember, that they announced a fight.

I think it's the first time in history. They announced a fight without a date. Yeah. That's for that reason. Because they didn't, we couldn't put a date yet because we didn't, we couldn't put a date yet, because we didn't know. I didn't know that I was able to spar, when I would be able to spar.

I knew the fight would definitely not happen in the summer. This I knew for sure, but I didn't know what, I knew it would be during the year, but I didn't know which month exactly when I could be back in competition. Yeah. And that's why. Was it frustrating for you as this story kept, you know,

kind of going on and on and on, and then they were trying to get you to fight in July and the interviews and stuff? were you thinking like, well, you knew about this? Because even when you were on my show after the press conference, you didn't talk about the eye, but you did say that you couldn't fight in the summer. You said you were hoping September, October. So why was there so much confusion?

It was frustrating because first the negotiation took a long time to the point that at one point I almost lost hope. Then when we agree, we agree on everything. We agree on the opponent and everything. we shake in and we, you know, we sign and we agree on everything for the new contract. I was very happy. Unfortunately, when this happened in parallel, I had the bad luck that happened to me to my eyes. So I need to get surgery done.

And yeah, so it's just a bad luck happening in the wrong time and it sucks, you know. But, you know, I believe it's for a good reason, you know, It's an eye. You know, you don't want to play with your eye. I don't want to be blind. You know what I mean? Elk, I always been my first priority, and then after his performance,

but else is always going to be my priority. Is there any doubt in your mind that you won't be able to fight again? No, I believe it. No, it's fine. It's just, it's a matter of time. Okay. You know, when you get an injury, and when you get a surgery,

you need a matter of time before everything heals. So I just need the time. When the window is past, I will be fine. You know, but the earliest I could fight would be after October. So now I know I'm the target, you know, like the whole industry is going crazy. Yeah. You know, Connor is out now. There's Connor McGregor.

He's a target. He's the number one target because he's the biggest draw. He makes the most pay-per-view. So everybody want to fight Connor. Everybody want to fight Nate Ziaz as well, because it's the biggest draw. Everybody want to fight me. Everybody want to fight Nick Diaz.

So I don't take it personal. People say, oh, he's a coward. He's a D.C. I don't take it personal. It's business. People want me to turn... People want that I turn my eyes on them to choose them, to fight them.

So they're going to make more money out of it. It's not a secret. People who knows the game, they know what's going on. But people who doesn't, they think, oh, he's a coward of this. And it's not normal for Michael Bissing. I understand the situation,

but he's got a knee injury as well, you know, and I'm still hoping that the fight will work. For me, Michael B. Spring is the best opponent for me. Because I always said that if I would come back, it would be to do something different that I haven't done yet, something that I've never done. And also, the sping for me is the, I always said that if I come back also, it will be something that I, that I can elevate me.

And that's for this reason. I choose Michael Bresbyn, also. You always, he pays dues in the organization. He never cheat. You know, that was important for me, someone that is lawyer. You never cheat, never, never use performance and using drugs. So for me, I'm proud to, you know, because it's always a risk. When you fight, you take a risk, you know.

So it's a win-win situation for me and for him. Have you or your management been told personally that the Bisping fight is off? Because you know that there were some interviews where Dana White said, the fight's off, we're not doing the fight anymore. Yet it still seems like you and Michael Bisping are hopeful that the fight will happen later on this year. So have you been told otherwise? No, no. I mean, it's just what I've heard in the news.

But Dana is a very emotional person. He's a very emotional person, you know, and I'm the... understand that. You need to be emotional in this game. The way he is, Dana is the best like I said, he's the best promoter pound for pound of all time. Man, he can sell you

every fight. It's crazy. He's the best. He can sell you anything like he's so good at it. And I'm sure if he if you still want to make this fight, he can, we can make it. You know, it's up to him. He said recently that you're going to fight next

at Walterweight. That's when when you return, that's where he wants you to fight. Is that not accurate, in your opinion? I want to fight Michael Bisping. For me, personally, that's the man I wanted to fight, you know. As much as I respect him as an athlete, you know, even though he's been very arrogant and caught you with me, I respect him as an athlete, but if I fight him, I'm going to hurt him real bad.

That's, I can promise you. Do you not like him anymore? Have you changed your thoughts on him? but he said a lot of a lot of stupid stuff you know and uh well i not that i don't like him his business you know after the fight is going to be done but uh i think i get i got some issues to resolve with him uh as it is right now um and so you know so the the delay in telling people why you couldn't fight and the ufc didn't tell us that led to a lot of middleweights being unhappy as you may have heard like luke rockhold was unhappy a lot of these guys came out anderson Silva

Was that strange for you, you know, to hear all these people sort of complain? I mean, there should be such great excitement surrounding your return. And now you're kind of being blamed for holding up the division and Bispings being blamed. How are you reacting to all of this? I understand their position. I understand their position. They're angry. Everybody's angry.

And it's normal. But they're angry also because they want what I have. They want my status. They want my money, the banking account. They want the popularity. So by beating someone like Bisping or beating or beating me, they think they're going to win that automatically. But it takes more than that. It takes a long time to build up stuff like that, you know.

For example, if you go in an autograph signing and you're an asshole to people, you don't give them attention. And in everyday life you're an asshole, you don't expect to have a nice phase. fan base, you know what I mean? I think you need to stay authentic. People think it's just by winning a fight, you're going to be a star. It doesn't work like that. It helps.

Of course, the result helps. But if I make the success, the success I have is because I've been working on over my life, you know. It's hard sometimes, you know, you try to be nice to people. You don't always have a nice day in every day's life. But the fans that come to see you, they deserve, 100% they deserve your attention, 100% that they deserve that you treat them with respect. And this is something that is very important.

It's something that I have on the stem all my life. I think that's one of the reasons why I was a big draw when I was fighting as a wealth of weight. And I still am. And that's something a lot of fighters, they don't realize. It's not only fighting and that's it. Your job doesn't stop at fighting. It's an entertainer. It's everyday life.

you know? What happens, you know, they're doing this interim middleweight title fight between Romero and Whitaker on July 8th. What happens if that fight happens and then they say, Michael, you have to fight the winner of that fight. And we're not doing the GSP fight anymore. We want him to fight a welterweight. What are you going to do then?

I don't know. You know, in MMA, there's so many things happening. It's up to Michael. You know, if Michael want to, you know, as what I've heard, I think Michael, this thing is interesting of fighting me more than everybody else. And I'm more interesting of fighting him

more than everybody else. Because we have each other, we have more to gain. You know, it's a win-win situation. It's not only a win-situation for UFC. It's a win-win situation for us. So we put a lot of underline. We can lose big, but we can win big as well. You know, if I come back to fight anybody,

I can lose big, but I win, but not as big as this. You know, I try to come back to re-revelling. write history to get the biggest fight as possible. And Michael, the spring for me right now is the guy that have the highest stock. Is it because he's the champion? Like if they strip him of the belt for whatever reason, are you less interested in fighting him? You know, the belt is an object. Yeah, of course, if you lose the belt, he lose the title.

But for me, he's still the champion. He's the one that he works hard, you know. He's a hard worker. He's a guy that pays dues in the organization. he's got the most successful UFC career. He's got the most win, and he beat the best. So for me, right now, he's the main guy.

And he's also, he represents another challenge, something that I never attempt before to fight outside of my weight category. And it's something that now I have time to try to put on some weight. I did. Of course, it's still going to be bigger than me. He's going to have the size advantage.

But what I want to do doing this fight I want to prove that technique and skill can over, over, can beat size and strength. Yeah, he was even making fun of your physique. Did you see that? Yeah, I don't know. I saw that, that picture. I'm like, it's disgusting. Oh, my God.

And people are asking me, like, are you, that you took this picture on purpose? I'm like, man, I have no idea when this picture came out. It's terrible. It's really bad. I have no idea. I must have been inhaling or whatever. It looked terrible. Terrible.

Like maybe the light make it look better. I have no idea. It's crazy. It is really crazy. So your belly isn't that big is what you're saying, really? No, no, it's not. I just did a photo shoot this morning, and it's nice. It's fine.

I'm in the best shape of my life right now. How much do you weigh right now? I'm about 195, 197. You want to get bigger before cutting? I'm actually bigger. Okay. I was 185 before, and now I'm 190, between 195, 197. So I'm much bigger now.

I gain compound. As a first time in my life, I got into a diet. I never diet in my life before. Wow. I got into a specific diet. I spend money, I invest on training and everything, just to gain wait for that particular fight. So for me, mindset.

I was already mined to fight Michael Bisping. So that's why I'm, and the people who knows me, I'm, you know, when I get minded on something, I'm very hard to distract. So that's why I shaken. I was really minded on that. I was still thinking about strategy and stuff and visualization. Everything was focused on Bisping.

That's why I wanted that fight so bad. So when I got to the studio this morning, I actually received a text message from Tyron Woodley, the Welterway champion. and he said he wanted me to tell you this. Tell George, quit playing all of us. If he's coming back, come back. If not, you are a legend and retire great.

Nobody got time for the emotional roller coasters. That's what Tyrone Woodley wanted to say to you. It's nice. I was expecting more something like, oh, you're a coward, you don't want to fight me. It's a nice thing for him. Tell him he's nice. This is nice.

Do you have any interest in fighting him? This is a different song than what you have said. in the earliest interview. Yeah. Which is nice. I appreciate. Do you have any interest in fighting him or not really? Yeah, but I do.

But now, like I said, I was focused on Brisbane. Yeah. And listen, it's nobody, I'm not afraid of nobody. It's not a, it's, there is things that I can gain from people and things that I can lose. People that are fighting, to be successful in this, in this business, it's not about who got the biggest ball. Isn't that what it is about?

You need to always think about what this person can make you gain and what you can lose. So you need to analyze what can you gain from that and what can you lose. I have much more to lose, much more to gain by fighting Michael Bispin than fighting Tyrone Woodley. I don't say that I don't want to fight him. I said like right now my next move, I have much more to gain fighting. Bissping. And Tyrone Woodley is a champion. Now, I don't know who he's going to fight next.

He said he had another fight coming up, like a surprise fight. Maybe his tuck will go high. And maybe after I'm fighting Bissing, maybe I will be like, no. Now it's time I go back Welter Way and then I fight Tyne Woodley, you know. And I go back and I fight Tyrr Woodley when he's champion, if he's still champion, you know. And he's still championing and he beat another guy, his stuck will go high, you know. Yeah. That's how it works.

You never know what's going to happen in this business. You know, like if you look at the biggest law, Connor McGregor, he didn't become Connor McGregor in one day. He came in a after a few wins. I think he really explode after his win with Joseo Aldo. You know, you never know. Maybe his next fight, Woodley would be an amazing fight, and then boom, like people, his stuff will explode, you know,

and he will be the man, you know, it will be the man to beat that everybody wants to want him, what wants his place. And that's how he goes in this business. You know, you need to, if you want to be successful, that's how it works, you know. You say, what can I gain from this and what can I lose? You know, I'm aware of what can I lose.

I want to see what can I gain. And not that long ago, you were at Madison Square Garden to watch a hockey game and you tweeted something like, oh, maybe, you know, I'll fight here. and I know that they're planning on coming back November 4th. That's the plan right now. Does that make most sense for you? Would you like your return fight to be at MSG in November?

Man, when I went to see the archie, all the people in MSG, they all came to see me, all the director, all the people that are in the marketing, they all came to see me to say, hey, November, I want you to fight here. I want you to come and fight in MSG. So right away, I couldn't stop thinking about Michael Bisping and I fighting in MSG. I thought for me that would be the best scenario. I don't know how it sounds to you and how it sounds to the sense, but it would be a nice scenario.

But when it happened at the time, people didn't know, I was advised to not talk about my eyes and my injury and everything, and it was very bothering me this whole thing. Yeah. Do you regret the way it all happened? In hindsight, you wish that the press conference never happened, that you were able to just come out and say what's going on, your timeline, your injury, so that none of this would have happened in the last few months? I am a fighter. I'm an athlete. I have people, have a team. Everybody has advisors, and I was advised to not talk about it, not talk about my injury. As an athlete, you don't want to talk about these things. Sure. If you know about it now, it's because this whole thing became out of proportion and it turns out to a very negative thing. You know, we all have, as athletes, all have injuries sometimes and we don't want to talk about this, you know, because it gives you weaknesses, you know, something that your opponent can explore.

And for your image also as your brand, you don't want to talk about injuries. That's something that you don't want people to be aware of. And that's, if I talk about it, because I was, I didn't have choice. Uh-huh. Do you feel like you need to talk to Dana White? Because he said he was not going to wait for you anymore and he was getting frustrated. Do you feel like you need to clear the air with him or is that not necessary? Yeah, maybe.

I, I, I don't know. Yeah, I guess, I guess, I guess, I should. I guess I should talk to him. But things with Dana is hard, you know, sometimes because I have people that, that, that, Their job is public relation and how they deal with the UFC people. And sometimes all the stuff that I heard from Dana is from the reporter. So stuff that I hear all the time are with the reporter. You know, like so it explode like a bomb.

I never, that I don't know, you know what I mean? So I guess it's the same thing for him on his side, you know. But he has, I think he's in contact with what, one of my agent, Nick, and he's in good contact with him, and that's how they talk. But maybe now it would be the time, I guess. I don't know. But to be clear, you didn't know when he came out and said that the fight was off. They hadn't told you yet, right? You found out, like, all of us, via the media.

No, but to his own defense, I put him, we put a video saying that they couldn't fight before November, like before the end of October. So we could, you know, what I mean? So maybe that's why this whole thing happened. Maybe we thought it would be a good thing to do that. But maybe, I don't know. Like I said, the way that sometimes when I went, when we talk to UFC, it's really business related to.

So you need to, before we talk to UFC, we need to be to talk to my advisors and say what they think or what we should say, what we should not say. This whole thing is a freaking. You know, like that's how it is. They all, that's, that's how it is, man. This is a business, you know, fighting now I start doing it. It was fun and it was competition.

It was, it was, it was, now it's for business. And that's how people should, that's how people should treat it. For sure, it's a business, you know. It's the same thing for, for everyone. And so to be clear once and for all, you want to fight again. You're planning on fighting again this year, October, November, and you want to fight Michael Bisping. Is that all accurate?

Yeah, no. It can't be in October. It has to be in November. Sorry, November. Yes, yes. And November 1 is the earliest I can do. Okay, and that's still the plan. You want to fight this year.

It wasn't to make an announcement, sponsors, all this stuff. You are very committed to fighting. Yeah, we were talking about Michael Bisping, and I was happy. When I met with Dana, we talked about Michael Bisping, it's a long time ago. And that was the plan. That was the guy that I agree on fighting, and he agreed to fight. me. And like I said, it was a win-win situation, and there was the fight that

I was excited to have. And is there any chance, lastly for me, is there any chance that again, if they take away the Bisping fight, is there a chance you don't fight again? Like, is it all about Bispying and that challenge and the belt and all that? If they really force you and stand their ground, could this be the end?

I don't think. So I do not know. I don't know. We need to talk to UFC and see what's going to happen, you know? Okay. I don't know. Huh, okay.

I always said if I come back, it needed to be a fight that excite me, a fight that can elevate me, that can, you know what I mean? So we'll see, you know, like things change in the MMA fast, you know. But on the other hand, I'm 36. I just turned to her 36,

so I need to make a move soon. Sure. When my eyes get fine, I need to make a move, and I need to make a move soon. By the way, did you see... One thing I can tell you for sure, area.

Yes. I can tell you for sure that if I I'm at one fight for retiring for good. This is I can tell you for sure. If I come back and I lose, this is it for me.

Really? Yes. This is it for me. If I come back and I lose, it's finished. Why? This I can tell you for sure. Because it's over.

I don't want to hang. I sell out of fire. I don't want to hang there to become a punching bike for the younger people. I do not believe I'm going to lose. I think I'm not my

My best. My turner think I'm at my best. If I come, I put a lot on the line. And I know that if I come back, it's because I believe I'm a much better version than what I was, and I want to go back to another shot and rewrite history. But if down the road I lose, I pass the torch, it's over. It's finished.

Wow. That's a lot of pressure. That's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of pressure, and that's why I will be fighting at my best, because I will be fighting like there is no tomorrow. Wow. that gave me goosebumps That's when I'm at my best

When I'm fighting Like there is no tomorrow That's when I'm at my best So your next loss, that's it That's it That's all I'm out Wow And you're not prepared to end it

Anymore Look at my record My records For it for itself I don't lose very often So I could be there for a while as well I don't know By the way

Is it true that you told the conference In Montreal on Friday That during your time away You partied like you've never partied before? Yeah, it's true. I live my life, man. It's true.

I live my life. You live a good life. It's not like I was sitting down. I was training, but I partying and train. I had pleasure. I traveled the world. I had a great time.

Yeah. But you're done with the partying. I live the life. No more partying. For now. You always party. You always try to mix pleasure, pleasure and business,

you know? So that's the key of life. That's my loss of success. That's right. One of the greatest moments in the history of this show is when you said that there are three things that you love in life. Do you remember when you said that? Yes.

Do you remember what they were? Of course I do. Dinosaurs? Dinosaurs. Women. Women and violence. I love it. We're in the greatest lines in the history of this show.

I love that line. Amazing. Are there still just three or have you added to those? There's three for now. Okay. By the way, George, last thing for you, Roy McDonald, did you see his debut in Bellator? And were you impressed?

Were you happy for your friend? Oh, it's fantastic. It's the best he ever looked. Yeah. So happy for him. He sang a new very lucrative contract. Good move for him. I'm very happy.

He's more happy now than ever. I saw him yesterday in training. He looked amazing. And I believe in his fight. He looked very elegant, fearsome, very, very, like, incredibly sharp. It was great to see that. You know, the best worry, I think, is coming back, you know. I agree.

I agree 100%. It was great to see as well. George, we appreciate you coming on, as always. Thank you so much for the time. I hope the eye heals up very quickly and that we finally get to see you fight. And I want to see it at Madison Square Garden. I think that's the perfect venue for your return. Madison Square Garden, you versus Michael Bisping.

Let's see it happen. So I wish you the best. And thank you for coming on and clearing the air a little bit. I really appreciate that. All right. Thank you, Ariel. Thanks too for everybody, and I'll talk to you soon, okay? Okay, all the best two. There he is. The one and only George St. Pierre. One of the greatest of all time, the greatest welterweight of all time, the greatest welterweight of all time.

So there you have it. Dealing with an eye injury, hoping to return in November, the UFC returns to Madison Square Garden. That's the plan. Last I heard, first week of November, what a perfect venue, what a perfect stage for the return of GSPN. And I do think that the interim middleweight title fight buys them some time. And I feel like now that it's out in the open, and I feel like because Michael Bisping is dealing with his own knee injury, that now people are a little more receptive to the whole thing. It was a strange ordeal. There's no doubt about it, and he admitted to it.

It was strange to announce a fight without a date attached to it. It was strange to keep delaying it. It was strange to see this public pressure. The whole thing was just a little awkward. And I feel like now, I mean, here we are in June. November is five months away. You know, now I feel like it's a little more digestible. And so let's see what happens.

In term title fight July 8th, and, you know, we'll see if George gets its wish. The interesting thing is, as Dana White has said, he wants him to fight a welterweight next. What if he stands his ground? Then what happens? And I thought George's response to that question was very telling. He kind of didn't really have a response. and I think that's going to be the next sort of hurdle to get over at this point. But if you look at the way the UFC is booking fights and the decisions that they are making,

I think that they believe that GSP versus Bisping is the fight to make. And I still, as I said when that initial interview came out, I still feel like that's the fight that they want to make. And I feel like because of the fact that they booked that interim title fight, it tells us that that's still the fight that they want to make. We'll see what happens. So much can change. So much has changed over the past few months.

All right. That's it for the interviews, but plenty more show to go. By the way, thank you very much to the good people at Facebook. This is the first time that we are actually streaming the show live on Facebook as well. So it's on YouTube, which you know, but it's also on Facebook. Actually had a chance to visit the Facebook headquarters last week. It was very cool. They're doing a lot of cool things in relation to sports in particular.

And I learned a lot about what they, they're doing as far as live streaming is concerned. So this is a cool next step for us. And so you can watch the show live now on YouTube and on Facebook. How about that? And again, I'll remind you that we're back next week on Monday same time and place. For now, though, it is time for everyone's favorite segment. It is time for Rick's Picks. Here we go. It's time to open up your ears and your minds. MMA fans, it's time for Rick's Picks. Rick's picks Rick's picks are lots of fun

And his hair is in a bun Because it's You already know what it is Rick's pics Yeah Ladies and gentlemen Boys and Girls It's the moment

You've all been waiting for It's the new craze Taking the world by storm Yeah Live from the Vox studios In beautiful New York City That's part of the show It's time for

Rick's Picks Yeah Hello Welcome back Thank you You were away I was away I was in Hawaii

with the Ohana. Wow. Look at you. Oh, come on, Britta. Easy now. Easy now, Britta. I watch Moana. Have you seen Moana? I have not.

Seen it maybe 4,000 times at this point. They're using some pigeon in there, I imagine. Actually, not much, but they've got the accents, great songs. The Rock is in it, of course. It's a big hit with the kids. We've got the hook. We've got everything. We've got the pearl.

You don't know any of these things, but it's actually. it's actually a great film. I like it. The music is just sensational. So you were there. Was it nice? Beautiful. What was the occasion again? Best place on earth. My half brother-in-law was graduating high school. Wow.

And let me tell you, they do high school right out there. They do it big? Oh, yeah. The ceremonies, the lays, you know, you trade lays with... Oh, you do that whole thing. With other classmates. They do it big out there. I was very impressed.

Okay. And where in Hawaii? He graduated in Maui. My father-in-law lives in Maui. And I also visited my sister-in-law in Oahu. Not a lot of social media posts about your trip. It was a whirlwind. I wasn't trying to make people jealous.

Is this like another vacation? Because you just took a vacation. Does this one count those vacation? Or is it more of like, okay, I have to do this for family. But if this wasn't going on, I wouldn't be taking this trip. Or did you try to kind of combine the two into one vacation? slash family business. If it's up to me, I wouldn't spend four days in Hawaii.

I'd probably spend a little longer. So let's just call this getting what needs to be done, done. Business trip. And seeing my family business trip. My brother, yeah. All right. So because you were away, were you even able to keep up with the MMA news? Do you have anything for us?

No, that's it. You only had like two things. I don't got nothing. Okay, wonderful. Now we can move along to the news. No, but really, do you have anything? Okay, of course. Of course I do.

Because I would have been fine just playing the intro music. You know, at some point we're going to have to stop doing this, but shout out to Mike Heck making that music. That's it. Last time. I think three might be the limit. Now, he sent me an outro song. Oh, wow.

We're not debuting it this week. Why? Next week. Not good enough? No. Make some tweaks? It's not that it's not good enough. It's that there were so much Rick's pick stuff.

I loaded it all in and that will have to wait until next week. Okay. But we now have an outro song as well. Mike Heck, the man. Okay. Let's start with number one, the first Rick's pick. It's going to be a clip from Instagram. This is from Matt Serra's Instagram.

Oh, great. I saw this a thousand times. Go ahead, yes. Wow. Here we see Matt Serra showing BJJ principles to Neil deGrasse Tyson. What? No love for. Who is the snore for?

Is it for Matt or is it for Neil deGrasse? Big Neil DeGrasse fan. I have a poster in my house. I get you off the men. Look at this. I mean, this is two masters at work here. Now look, as much, go ahead. The grass is that chef, right?

Oh, boy. Yeah, now you come around with. Yeah, now look at this. Oh, oh, oh, look this. Touching your head is a broken shoulder. And by the way, principles, leverage. Doesn't he have a podcast? He does, yeah.

So. What do you mean? Is this part of the podcast or is this like an outtaker? Yeah, no, I think this is just they had them. Look at this. I mean, that's just. UFC was promoting this clip more than their Stockholm fight last week. For a good reason.

Yeah. Those are two of the best at what they do, doing what they do. So I think it was worth highlighted. How dare you? Last week, you wanted me to go with things that happen in the broadcast. You wanted me to go with the actual fights. What are you talking about? You were asking for clips that happen in the fights that everybody watched.

And now one clip from social media, and we've jumped the shark already. Don't get all sensitive. I'm allowed to have my take on these clips, all right? I think it's disrespectful to Matt Serra, who you've thrown some shade at, who you've thrown some shade at earlier in the show as well. I mean, listen, we're trying to bill to a super fight here. I just have to gain 70 pounds. Oof.

Okay, moving on. Also from social media. This one from Instagram as well. It's been shown a thousand times, but it's still worth showing. No, this is money right here. Here we go. Wait, set the scene. This is from Mark Hunt's Instagram.

Yeah. We have his teammates, including Jason Mamoa, actor Jason Mamoa, Aquaman in the upcoming and from Game of Thrones. Everybody knows him. The sending Mark Hunt off the proper way with a hot. This is amazing. So let's play this one here. Now for those just listening, we have an octagon

filled with men doing the traditional Haka for Mark Hunt who's watching. And I think he was actually kind of emotional about the whole thing, right? I think he was, yeah. The Instagram copy would indicate that. For sure. Incredible.

Boom. Mark Hunt, of course, on June 10th fighting Derek Lewis. Look at this. How do you not get pumped up? Yeah. I'm ready to fight after that. Now, which one's the actor? I'm not a big...

A long hair right there. Oh, in the back. Look out. Look how intense. I wish I knew what they were saying. That's your next evolution. That's your homework. Look this guy.

He looks like you, that guy in the middle right over there. That hair? A bun? Nice. Yeah. When my hair's undone, it looks more like the actors, to be honest. The guy in the back? Yeah.

That was awesome. Absolutely incredible. Yeah. Mark Hunt sharing that was fantastic. Next up, we're going to 1FC from Friday. Oh yes. This past Friday. The highlight?

Yes, yes. For me, was not an MMA fight. Oh, yes. But this grappling match where Gary Tannen submitted Shinya Yoki in 1FCs only, I believe this is the only time they've done this, a submission only match last Friday. We'll play the finish.

This is from 1FC's Facebook, as you can see in the corner there. How do you feel about a grappling match in the middle of an MMA card? Yeah, there's something to that, but what I think makes it relevant and interesting is Sinha's past

in MMA. Sure. And if you saw the broadcast, they talk to Gary about potential to go to MMA after this. He's interested. And he's interested. He, you know, he needs a little bit of time,

but it's looking like he's going to transition to MMA. And, you know, if you're... Hey, there's John Danaher. John Dannaher. The man, wearing a rash guard. Who would have thunk it? If you're, you know, an O&O. MMA fighter, and you're potentially going to be matched up with Gary Ton

and you're going to have a tough day in the ring, in the cage coming up. So, congrats to Gary. submitting Shinya, who we all recognize as a very high-level grappler. I think something on the horizon for Gary Tonin in an MMA, for sure. Great Matt also for one-fc. We were talking about ACB. That's right. ACB sent us some tweets last week.

They loved it. For mentioning the Matt. Wow, so you're going with this over the Ben Ascran win and the Angela Lee win. Yeah, I just think, you know. Ben Ascran, chugging along, Ben Ascra, and Angela Lee. Both looked really, really good. But I think this will have more. But Chhatri Situ Tong, the CEO of one, posted something on his Facebook.

Did you see this about Angela Lee having pneumonia? And they thought that she was going to pull out of the fight. She was really under the weather and still kicked ass. So I thought that was very impressive. Absolutely. She's now, what, 8 and 0, and she's 20? It's unbelievable. And Aspen looked great as well.

So I thought it was a really good event for one. Absolutely. Thank you. You're welcome. now we're going to KSW39 Oh what an event What an event this was

Covered by our own Mark Ray Monday Yes Relevant and topical right now Because of the attendance That was reported Yes Of 58,000

Inside the stadium Now they claim it's the biggest event Right Or the second In Mark's article He's citing it a second Behind Pride Shockup Yeah

But you know You never know With those numbers Yeah, I mean, if you've seen the pictures, and a lot of people were sharing this for Rick's pick, for Rick's picks, rather, it damn sure looked like 58,000. Now, how close you can get, but huge event in Poland, and worth noting because, you know, typically when it's not UFC, it's not a draw, or at least as big a draw as that, cramming 58,000 people into the arena, no small feat. Polish MMA's on fire, and you've got to give KSW a lot of credit, because, I mean, if you look at their roster to us here in North America, it's like, wow, this roster, you know, this lineup is what drew 58,000 people,

but they know how to book to their market. Absolutely. Mahmette Khalidov, who's a big star over there. This was a champion versus champion fight. Also, Marius Prugianowski was on the card. And, you know, they have some other Europeans like Norman Park on the card as well. But, man, that is an impressive feat on their part. And plus, I mean, you see what's going on in the United States.

United States here with the UFC, Ioannianne and Jacek, Karlinna Kovacavich. Polish M.A. is doing really well these days. Marcheen Held suffered his third loss in the UFC. That was a crazy finish right there. Very, very crazy finish. But yeah, I give these guys a lot of credit. It's nice to see.

I mean, they can make a very strong case for being the biggest promotion in Europe. Obviously, outside of the UFC, regional promotion, if you want to call them that, KSW is killing it. And the Polish scene in general, as you astutely pointed out, moving along

more congratulations in order yes to friend of the show Daniel Cormier now I had a lot of different Instagrams I could have pulled this from not his own surprisingly yeah

well you know he kept it he kept in private I appreciate that keeping a classy but I pulled this from manager to the stars and friend oh wow Danny Rubinstein's Instagram

and the reason I pulled this was not because I want to shout out Danny yes but because I want to highlight one of the comments. If we have this full screen, you can see it right here. And, you know, I don't usually comment on Instagram. Yeah, you're not a frequent commenter.

You're more of a poster. Not even a liker. I mean, you're really just a very selfish Instagrammer. But what we'll highlight here. Ariel Hawani, too, Danny Rubinstein. Would it kill you to wear a tie, though? I mean, really. THO.

I'm sorry, though, spelled T.H. I mean, look at Corme. He's wearing a white. He's getting married. Sure. Yeah, but look at that. Tie. It's crisp. And Rubenstein just walks up to the joint like he's going to the club.

I mean, not even wearing a white shirt. You got to be flexible. I appreciate the open collar style that he's right. I guess it depends on what it said on the invitation, which, by the way, I was not invited to the wedding. I kind of felt like it was a bit of a slap in the face after everything we've been through. But nevertheless. And not even a Skype the Monday, now Tuesday after. Well, I wanted to give him some time.

Although he was very active on social media the next day, talking smack. Yeah, with Jimmy Manoa. Yeah. Double Cheeseburger, as he was called by Jimmy. The best line was Yo Mama when he just wrote back to someone, Yo Ma. I'd say double cheeseburger was better, but that was also good. But Manoa called him double cheeseburger. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

I just mean from D.C., but anyway, Rubenstein, I mean, this is not what a Minch does. And Rubenstein is typically a Minch. I mean, he's got a great Jewish last name. Mench's wear ties to weddings. No, but you meet a bridesmaid and you want to go out, you know, maybe you can take off the tie, but I think I approve, I approve of the... I'd love to know if there was a horror at this wedding.

I mean, did they do it up? I saw them shooting dice. Oh, boy. They did. We have DC on. Is he on? Yeah, here he is on the phone right now. Call him up. Where's my invitation?

Where is the invitation, Daniel? I love weddings. It's wedding season. Congratulations to DC and his ride, Selena. and they have two kids. It's a beautiful thing that they were able to get married

after all these years. And how about Alexander Gustafson one-upping him the next day and proposing in the cage? I mean, if that's not the makings of a fight now at Light Heavyweight, then I don't know what is.

He's... You think that's what he's doing? It's gamesmanship. Wow. And I appreciate it from Alexander Gustafson who had an absolutely tremendous performance

and credit to Glover as well for making that fight what it was. It would have been very easy to just go away and he did not. That's for damn sure. John Jones still engaged. So it seems like Dana Cormier went up to him. Right? Yeah. So Cormier is the leader in the clubhouse, followed by Gustafsson, followed by, or no, I actually think, if Jones is engaged,

then he, he's still ahead of Gustafsson, but Gustafsson has a chance to pull ahead. And now, finally, you knew it had to be done. We're going with a clip from the MMA beat earlier this week. Oh, here we go. Yes. Yes, yes. Everybody's all-time favorite episode of the MMA beat. Except for the one that I was on? It's your fault. Except for the one that I was on. This is all your fault. I have a feeling it's not all my fault that it stemmed from

something else, but I was involved. Okay, let me just set the scene here, all right? Yeah, why don't you set this up? We're sitting in the studio and they tell us, you know, to their credit, Nick, the great director he's not in today, says we've got a minute left. All right, a minute left. left, says it over the loudspeaker. But usually we'll get like a 20 seconds, a 10 seconds, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Well, I guess, I guess no one got that part. And so, and I didn't get it.

And so I start to see there's a little screen over there. I see that, you know, it's like the, the graphic is playing. And I'm like, oh, I guess we're starting. But the other guys didn't notice that. So as you can see, Chuck is fixing his hat. Luke isn't ready. And I start to laugh. And so that's what happened. And you could play that part, and then I'll pause and tell you why I continue to laugh after that. Let's roll it. And keep the mics up. I want to hear Ariel's reaction to this.

You see, well, you hear Luke, you hear Luke breathing. Look at Luke. Look at the MMAP. Yeah, Luke is breaking already. I didn't know we were going live. You see? And that just made me laugh. And the problem is, once I start laughing,

sorry. I'm sorry. And all of a sudden you started laughing. You know what? I can't stop. Don't dare call this the 18. My phone is ringing all time. New York Rick. In the middle of the show.

This selfish bastard starts calling me when we're live. Now pause it. Inside our New York City studio. I was going to say it's raining out. What, okay, why did you, there's D.C. again. Why did you call me when I was live? Listen, I was in Hawaii. I've been up since 4 a.m. local time.

My whole sense of timing and all that was thrown off. I didn't know what time it was. I didn't know there was M.M.A.B. I didn't even know it was Thursday. What do you mean? You didn't know it was Thursday? No, man. It felt like you were there for eight weeks.

Yeah, but that's a long trip. That's a 12 hour from East Coast. That's a 12 hour from East Coast flight and six hour time. It was very rude. What did you want? What did you want? I just wanted to say hello. I was just checking in on you.

I just wanted to say, hey, Ariel, you're one of my best friends in the entire world. How are you doing? I hope you're well. I've landed safely because you asked me you said please whatever you do as soon as you land please call me

so that I know you're okay and I wanted to make good on that promise to let you know that I was all right yeah well you ruined it and then I was distracted okay keep playing all right now let's let's roll out to rest I don't dare call this the 18

my phone is ringing all kinds it's New York Rick New York Rick this is a mess we're back hello again everyone I'm Ariel Haww inside our New York City studio. I was going to say it's raining outside, but it's sunny inside. Danny Seguer is saying that you were lit.

You were lit on that, uh, outside. On that Hawaiian stuff. He's Luke Thomas. He just ruined the intro of the show. He's of Sirius XM and M.A.Fighting.com. And so at all this point right here, I'm trying to keep it together. I'm trying to not laugh. I'm trying to keep it together. I'm trying to keep it together. I'm trying to keep it together. Is this the abridged? The man in the shirt. Abbreviated version. I can't recall the last time we did a show four of us. 18.

It's been a while. It's a little tight up here, I must say. But it's good to see you all again. We have so much to discuss. Let us start with the bantam weight and flyweight division this week. And now here we go. Now I lose it. Merging into each other, at least this week as far as... I'm losing it right now. I'm losing it. And then I look at... I look at Luke. And I notice that he has peptobismal on his beer.

Cody Garbrad is out of UFC 213. He's got a rapist smile. That's the brawl. That's a problem. And then he says that line And now I just lose it All right Let's see now I just Tiers coming down your face

Legit tears I'm sweating profusely I want to leave I want to run out I don't know what to do Because I know that I won't get it back I won't get back on track Has been offered to fight against T.J. Dillishal He had a piece of the Peptobisball

stuck on his beard You were just talking about his obsession with Peptobismol. He says he doesn't want to take the point. And I just can't. I can't get back. I can't get back. And I'm dying. I'm dying here.

I wanted to run out. I was so... That's it? I was dying. I wanted to run out. Anyway, you can watch the whole thing. You can watch the whole thing on our YouTube or on our Facebook. Why did it stop?

That was it. I kind of got it back on track. I don't even want to tell you... You, I don't know who really got it back on track. I say Jeff, but... He did a good job. He was very professional, but actually, I had to think about something to get back on track.

I don't even want to tell you what I had to think about. Do we have a special guest on the phone? No. But yes, that was very embarrassing, and I'm thankful that a lot of you thought it was funny. I appreciate you giving me a pass on this one. Humanizing whatever you want to say. I actually addressed some of it on the back end as well.

at the end of the show, but I was able to keep together. I was so for clement. I was like emotionally exhausted after that show because it was so hard to get back on track after all the laughing. It's never happened to me before. It's happened to me in life, but it's never happened to me before.

What is going on? I really thought for a second, maybe I should just run out of this studio and pretend like this never happened. There was like a wave of perspiration. engulfing my body at that moment and I was very afraid that I wouldn't be able to get back on track but luckily I did now I was just telling you uh we were we were talking about Danny Rubinstein's uh attire at that wedding it was a very big weekend there's a lot of love in the air in MMA right there it is

look at that look at that suit white tie white shirt crisp it's like one of those hotel uh those hotel sheets, right? A lot of love of an MMA, Alexander Gustafin, getting engaged, proposing. We've got Tisha Torres and Raquel Pennington, and Jessica Dredge. D.C., getting hitched, finally, on Saturday, and I must say, I was a little bit, you know, I was a little bothered that I wasn't invited.

A lot of people were asking, why aren't you at the wedding? What do you have to say for yourself, Daniel? I sense it. It may have gotten lost in the mill. At times, mail going over there, something gets lost. got a friend named James

Stewart. Okay. That Christmas card until mid March. So, you know, you guys have bad issues with your mail out there in New York City. Oh, okay, so I should be receiving it any day now. Yeah, you'll receive it sometime in July. That'll probably be wrong on the time.

Well, I got to tell you, I was so happy for you and Selena. I mean, we're looking at a picture of you right now. Be honest with me here for a second. Danny Rubenstein shows up in a checkered shirt, no tie. You kind of thinking like, come on, man, you can't dress up for the wedding? I told him, do better. Yeah.

Do better, Rubenstein. What? I mean, come on. Throw a tie on, you know. Make yourself look nice. You know, wear something nice and clean. You look at everybody else, and they look phenomenal. You looked amazing.

Rubenstein let me down a little. You had that skin fade going. You got that white shirt, that white tie. I mean, you never look better. You know, I think now I'm going to start dressing myself for Fox. Because I thought I did a pretty huge. job last weekend. Happy the day of my life, man. Was it good? Was it

fun? It was a great time. Got to spend time of my family. We danced and we danced and we danced and we danced. Danced the night away. Yeah, we had a great time and it was awesome. She looked beautiful?

Yes, she did. She made me cry. Wow. The moment I was trying not to look at her because I knew the moment I saw her and my son actually was who walked her down the eyes. and gave it to me. So I knew the moment they came. I would have a difficult time dealing with it.

And I sure did. You know, I teared up, you know, when the kids, like, squeezing his fist trying not to cry. Yeah. That would be the entire time as she was walking towards me. It was perfect. Was your daughter the flower girl? Yes, she was, and she enjoyed it, too. Oh, man, that's amazing.

I tell her mom, how beautiful she looked. It was a beautiful wedding. It's rare that you get to experience that with your kids. And so it was very cool that you guys finally did that. Now, I heard through the grapevine, is it true that Luke Rockhold was kind of working in the room? With the young and the old? Luke Rockhold looked for, let me say, the one thing about Luke Rockhold, he looked phenomenal. His suit was impeccable.

He was dressed to the nine when he arrived. By the end of the day, he did not look so good. but he had a good time. Luke Rocco is one of my best friends, man. He has fun. Okay, I'm glad to see that you guys cleared up because I saw you on Instagram writing him, so everything's good between you two, right?

Yeah, yeah, I was just giving him a hard time trying to get him back home, man. We got business to attend to in nine weeks. You don't get home, I need you. And then... He's a unique talent. I need him in my training camp. And then the best part was, like,

less than 12 hours later, you're talking smacked everyone on Twitter. You didn't even take a break. that never stops I like to shoot this venom because I'm watching Jimmy Madawa I understand you know you watch a teammate to be successful but at what point are you kind of saying

Alex don't look too good because I know you've already fought both of these guys super competitive if you look too good what if they let you jump me it's like come on just a little bit I understand wanting your teammate to do well

but do you want your teammate to do so good that he actually takes your title shot. So you thought it was a little weird? I think that's what happened to him. I actually think that's what happened to Jimmy Manoa. I think Alexander Gustaf, after looking that good, with his history with both John and I,

has now positioned himself to get another title shot. I agree. Did you see what he said afterwards? He said that he doesn't think John is a good person, and that's why he's rooting for you? I don't think that's a secret. I mean, everybody should feel like that. I don't mean, but what do I care if they do or not?

Right. Ariel, here's the thing. I'm done trying to tell people what to think and how to feel. I'm not worried about them anymore. Yes. Or what you want? Get the my button. That's all I care about.

And what about that Volkan Osdemeir? Did you see that coming? No. You didn't either. Because I saw you. I just don't get it. You know, Risha Circonov. The guy that trades in Canada, you know, you'd be in a homer.

Sometimes the homer gets you, you know? He's ranked number seven. He's four wins. Volcan O's Demir has only one win, and then 32 seconds later. Man, every... And, I mean, I like Circonov. He's a great guy. You know, I thought he was a...

I thought he was a better fighter, but, I mean, I guess Volcan O's Demir is the guy. How old is that guy? He's not that old. I don't know if the top of my head here. I can look it up, but, I mean, who saw this coming? Did you know anything about this guy? I know Lucas actually trained with him. Lucas trained with him.

said that he trains hard. I saw him fight in Houston when he beat Ovent St. Peruso. I knew who he was, but I don't know that. He's 27. He looks like the dude from, you know, the guy, you know, Cesarro. He looks like Czaro. He's good. That's good.

He's a 27-year-old guy. Circonald's pretty young himself, so got some young guys in the Light Heavyweight Division, though. Awesome. I know we kind of, you know, jump. into your life here, so I'll let you go. But two last quick things. My favorite tweet of them all was just, Yo Mama.

Someone said something to you, and it was just the response was Yo. That were just, they're just throwing out random things. That was the best. Don't's going to knock you out, your mama. Just so mama.

Nothing else. Your mama, your mama, what? My mama, what? My mama, what? They're like, my mama what? Just your mama. Maybe he's going to knock out your mama? I don't know.

Your mama. Beal with it. Did you guys do a horror at the wedding? What is that? You know, like, this is something that we do at Jewish weddings where you guys, where you dance around in a circle? Yeah, that whole thing. Did you do that? Yeah.

No, no, no. Oh. But we did do a second line dancing. Jamil and those guys wouldn't, they would not, they would not join. He said it was just too weird. They're like, you guys are all walking around in a circle waving napkins. They're like, no, I'm not doing it. Come on.

Like, well, you know, we celebrate, man. You celebrate life. You celebrate a person's life and death. You know, the people in Louisiana, Louisiana know how to have fun, you know, and kind of put a twist on things, you know. Great, happy celebration of wedding. And when people pass, instead of being so down and out, you know, even in your morning, you celebrate them too on their way out of this world, you know, so.

I like that. You do a dance. And a little dice the day before, right? I saw that on your Instagram. My basketball party, we shot dice on the floor. Wait, you're back? We had friends over there like, it's moving too fast. Some of my friends are like, it's just moving too fast.

They're like, well, that's just how it goes. They said, why do you guys have to play on the floor? I was like, I don't know. It's kind of like how it goes. When you shoot dice, you shoot ice on the ground or on the floor. It's just the way it goes. Your bachelor party was the night before the wedding? Yeah, I didn't do anything.

Wow. I didn't feel I needed one. My entire life's been a bachelor party. I'm good. Well, I'm very happy for you again. Mazel Tov, I just wanted to have you on because New York, Rick, my guy in the back was like, oh, you couldn't get Daniel on the show after the wedding. I was like, well, quite frankly, I wanted to give him some space.

I didn't want to have them on, you know. The thing is, like, I come on every Monday after I win the fight. Why not celebrate the biggest win of my entire life? Fair enough. I'm sorry. So I dropped the balls, what you were saying. A little bit. Oh, damn.

I don't want to overstep my boundaries. Last time you were on, you were on the plane. I felt like I was bothering you and all this stuff. So, you know, I didn't want to get too crazy. But you know what? I'm happy that you came on. You're always accessible. You're always kind.

29th, here we go. Less than two months away. How about that? Let's do it. Let's do it. Much love. Thank you very much. And again, congrats to you and your wife. Thank you. Bye-bye. All right, there is Daniel Cormier stopping by. And now Mr. Rubenstein weighing in on Twitter saying, hey, D.C., who tied your tie in every single one of your groomsman's ties, except for yours?

Except for his own, yeah. Exactly. Where was your tie? All right, well, how about that? You see, you call me out, and I get the champ on. I mean, what a misstep. What a misty. Second one of the week. Unbelievable. On me? Yeah.

What was the first? The MMA beat? Oh yeah, that's right. That was a big mistake. I think people enjoyed that. So don't be too hard on yourself. Thank you. And that's it for Rick's Picks.

Now, here's where that music will come in next week, but not this week. All right. Hey, we've got a few other things to talk about. Let's talk about the women's bantamweight division. Excuse me featherweight division. It kind of ties into the bantamweight division. It kind of ties into the bantamweight division. weight division. So, as you may have heard late last week, Germain Durandumee's manager came out and

said, GDR is not fighting cyborg. She's a cheater. She doesn't want to fight her. And then yesterday, apparently, Germain has a private account. And so I can't see this, but some other outlets reported that she said that, you know, I need to check out my hand still. And, you know, I always plan on going back to 135. And to me, this is one of the craziest stories. Like, I, I, I, I have fought very hard with myself to not comment on this on social media because things get taken out of context and you say things in 140 characters. But how the UFC has not come out and cleared the air on this situation to me is one of the most baffling moves that they've made in recent memory. Here you have a champion who clearly states that she does not want to fight the number one contender. Here you have a champion who is clearly stating that her plan is to go back down to 135.

Why are you not moving on with this whole situation? If you want to be in the cyborg business, get the title off of Jermaine Durandumie and make Cyborg fight for the belt against Katzengano, who seems to be very much willing and able to fight her on July 29th or anyone else.

Why is this dragging on and on and on? I can't understand it. Quite frankly, I don't... I have a lot of sympathy for Jermaine Duranami. she has been through a lot since winning that belt. It was controversial. She got a lot of heat from fans. People were mean.

Her account went from public to private, et cetera, et cetera. She's a human being. I feel for her. But at the end of the day, you are the champion. If you're not willing to defend the belt, you can't say that cyborg failed. She didn't fail her last test. She was given a TUE, a retroactive TUE.

So you can't say that she's a cheater. She failed once in her career. Absolutely. But that was in 2011. She's been tested a. boatload of times, maybe more than any other fighter in the UFC right now. Certainly up there. I know that for a fact. You can't keep calling her a cheater anymore. Either you want to fight the number one contender or not. And let's be honest, the only reason why they created this division is for Cyborg.

Now, that issue with Usada is what pulled her from that fight. In February, she wasn't ready. She's been through a lot, cutting to 140 all that stuff. But if you don't want to fight her at this point, I mean, the UFC doesn't have much of a choice. I feel like they are reluctant to book this featherweight title fight because they're reluctant to be in the cyborg business. Her contract is up in October. Two fights left. If it comes to October, she's a free agent. They haven't signed any feather weights.

They're not going to sign any feather weights anytime soon. There aren't enough feather weights out there. So just kind of move on at this point. But why is it dragging? I mean, it just, I feel like the longer they take to say anything, the worst position Germain is in, if they just come out and say we're moving on, we're abolishing the division,

it just didn't work out, whatever the case may be, great, we can all move on with our lives. But the longer they take to, like they should have commented on this weeks ago, I don't understand what's taking so long. It's baffling to me. Yeah. I mean, I think you've summed it up nicely.

There's a lot of questions because there hasn't been, you know, anything said regarding this, but it seems that the fighters are the ones doing the speaking on the matter. And it just gets to be too much, you know. Germain wants to go down to 135, and she should have the right to do that. But then that changes drastically how that division proceeds.

It's an unfortunate situation. Here you have someone who wins the belt. I mean, I don't necessarily buy the fact that she always wanted to go down to 135. The whole thing was handled poorly from the get-go. The cyborg signing was handled poorly. Why make her fight an Invicta? Why force her to go down to 140 and then 135? Why do this title fight if cyborg isn't ready?

The only reason to do this title fight is for cyborg. The fight itself was somewhat of a debacle with the punches after the bell. The post-fight interview was somewhat of a debacle when she starts talking about the hand injury. The aftermath has been a debacle. The way the cyborg situation has been handled has been somewhat of a debacle. The whole thing every step of the way, like this featherweight division gives me such a headache. Every time I try to make sense of the whole thing. At this point, it's just like make a decision and let's move on with our lives already.

ready. What is taking so long? What is taking so long? I don't understand. And I feel like it's putting her in a tough spot, putting Germain in a tough spot to continue to have to explain herself and let this thing linger and linger and linger. Make Cyborg versus Katzengano, make the fight. If you don't want to make it for the belt, let her ride out the contract and then decide what you want to do. If you don't want to put a belt on someone who might leave, I get that. Make her fight, write out the contract. If you want to be in the business, if you feel like there's enough fighters out there for her to fight her to fight her. at 145, re-signer, bring the belt back. Until now, I mean, she should be fighting on this card this weekend.

She should be fighting in Rio. One of the craziest situations in UFC history, at least in recent. And look at Katzengano's Twitter. She wants to fight cyborg. She really does. So it's unfortunate for Megan Anderson. I can share her frustration as well. I understand where she's coming from.

She thought that she would be signed. She's, you know, the top featherweighted in Invicta. It's clearly not happening. That, to me, speaks false. volumes. They don't want to be in the featherweight division business. And I don't blame them. There aren't enough feather weights out there. If you go, and I know people will say, well, you've been talking about the bell. Yeah, I said you should be in the cyborg business. She is a big enough star, a big enough draw to not make her cut to this arbitrary weight that doesn't exist, this

weight class that doesn't exist, 140. Don't make her cut to 135 because that's unhealthy. Just be in the cyborg business. There's nothing wrong with that. Just make cyborg fights. Until you don't want to make cyborg fights anymore. That's it. What's wrong with that? She's a draw. She's a star. The whole thing is just very confusing. And so that's the situation. It sounds like she's willing to get stripped. It sounds like they are on the verge of stripping her. They have not officially stripped her just yet. Cyborg is itching. Katzengano's itching. Megan Anderson is itching. And on and on it goes. Now let's talk about the men's 135 pound division. This is a bit of an interesting situation as well. Here we have T.J. Dilshaw versus Cody Garbrandt, this feud.

Great title fight between two of the very best of 135. They're on the ultimate fighter. They're supposed to fight July 8th. And as you heard, Garbrandt's injured, out of the fight. And T.J. starts campaigning for the flyweight fight. And the UFC likes this idea. Why do they like the idea? Because they want exciting, sexy fights. And thus far, Demetrius hasn't had many of those. No fault of his own. The competition has been a little bit, you know, a little bit thin. at 125. And so, TJ campaigns for the flyway title fight. UFC says that's a great idea. He's a bigger name than Ray Borg. This is an exciting fight. Let's make it happen. To me, this is a very short-sighted decision. And they're pushing it and clearly DJ doesn't want it. Why is it short-sighted?

Well, A, T.J. Dillshaw doesn't want to stay at 125. So what if he wins? Now you've just blown up another division. The talk of the past year has been 185 is stagnant. 155 is stagnant 145 is stagnant Why create another problem for yourself In the one division That has been rolling For quite some time

DJ is one of the most active champions in the UFC So you're gonna bring T.J. Dillashaw down He could win the fight And then have him go up And leave that division championless And with all due respect I don't think that

TJ versus DJ sells all that much more than DJ versus Ray Borg And that's who they were talking about originally booking DJ against in Seattle on August 19th. Great platform for him to break that record. The 10 straight title defenses that he has now,

which is the record that he shares with Anderson Silva. His next would break Anderson's record. Here's the biggest issue with that fight. TJ has never made 125. This is a very personal fight for Demetrius Johnson. If T.J. Dillishaw is booked against DJ and misses weight, it no longer is a title fight. So here you have a guy in D.

who makes weight like clockwork, prepare for a fight, it's ready to make history in his hometown essentially of Seattle. What if we get to Friday morning and T.J. misses weight. That's not a title fight anymore. Can you afford that? It makes no sense to me. If this was a fight that would drastically outsell the Borg fight, then of course you have to make it. You have to make money. Paper views have been down. I just don't believe it's going to drastically outsell the Ray Borg fight. I don't believe that Dill Schen. wants to stay at 125. He wants to go back up.

And I also feel like it's playing with fire because the guy hasn't made 125 before. And so what if he misses weight? Now you can't make history anymore. Do you disagree with anything that I'm saying here? I don't disagree with anything. Last week you asked me which fight I'd rather see. And it remains, I'd rather see Rayborg versus Demetrius Johnson.

The only thing I'll add, though, is your concerns about TJ making weight. Ray Borg is not somebody who's made weight every time. Yes, but he has made 125. He has done it before. And he made it in his last fight. No, I know he's had issues. You just have to add that to the mix that there is a possibility.

It's a bit of a clumsy situation. There's no doubt about it. Of course, he's not the biggest name. He's not on the biggest winning streak. I mean, there's guys in other weight classes who are on 75 winning streak, all this stuff and more, yes. But to me, if there was a big difference in the pay-per-view buys that the paper views that you can sell, in T.

T.J. and Borg, yes, you make it. But I just don't, like, do you really feel, you feel like TJ versus DJ does 500,000? No, I don't think it's, you know, enough of an improvement in paper views that it's worth bringing somebody down from another division. And as you said, you know,

the possibility of taking the belt and then going back for, you know, a fight with Cody Garbrandt, which would then leave that division championless is worth the risk. And that's a big fight. And that fight is worth waiting for. That fight is worth waiting for.

I mean, look, if Cody is out for a year, then you have a problem. Quite frankly, I think that TJ versus Dominic Cruz, too, would then be the fight to make, right? At this point, you have to wait for Cody to come back and you have to keep the, to me, you want DJ to break the record because now you have another thing that you can label him with. You can now tell people, this is the winningest champion in UFC history. This is the most successful fighter in UFC history. no man has won this many title fights more than this guy, right? This is the guy. This is the goat.

This is the king. This is the legend. This is the guy. And so I just don't understand why you would try to knock that off at this point with a guy who isn't a true flyweight and who, correct me if I'm wrong, has no ambitions of staying at flyweight. So now you have a whole mess of a situation at 125. It's just not worth it. And I feel like Demetrius Johnson at this point has kind of gained enough goodwill

to where he can say, you know, this isn't the fight that I want. To suggest that he is scared of TJ or if he's trying to duck TJ? No, the guy wants to fight a flyweight. He is the guy in this day and age of, like not that long ago, Dana was saying, stop looking for money fights.

This is the guy who's saying, no, give me the guy who's next. give me the top contender. Let's go back to sport. This is the guy who you've been asking for. And now you're trying to criticize him for not taking the fight. And look, I understand. Fans don't have to worry about the bottom line.

Fans don't have to worry about next year. They want the best fight possible on August 19th. And there's no doubt about it for that one night only. The sexier fight, the more interesting fight, is Dillussela over Borg. There's no doubting that. But what's the long-term effects here? Do the positives really outweigh the negatives, or is it kind of a wash? And if it's a wash, why would you do the riskier thing over the sure bet?

Yeah, and this whole situation has been compounded by the fact that Benavides is hurt. Suhudo had to pull out of his last fight is also hurt. It's a messy situation. I kind of feel like things are rolling along at 125. You got Borgnex. Then you have Brandon Moreno fighting Sergio Pettis. I think the winner of that fight, and that's a main event, so they're going to get a lot of attention. the main event, Mexico City,

winner of that fight, he'll be next. August, same time frame. I feel like slowly but surely things are kind of going back on track. Sure. I mean, I've said this, I've made the case for this,

and I won't repeat it too many times, but I think Benavides should be next. Now he's hurt, but I think he should fight Demetrius again. Yeah, but he has an ACL injury. He's not hard of the equation. He's going to be out for a while, but the point about fighting whoever's next,

fighting that top guy, That's the guy. So when he's healthy, that's what I want to see. Sure. You know, keep bringing in new guys. Whoever is, you know, the most timely at the top of 125 at the moment. Give him the shot. And I think Demetrius is game for it.

So I'm with you. Let's see Borg. Do Borg, DJ in Seattle. Treat the guy like a king. Hometown. You know, if he breaks the record, great. Now you can go out there and push him. You got that picture now.

I mean, I feel like, yes, that fight is good. It's fun. All that stuff and more. But what are the long-term effects if T.J. wins. And now you've just, in my opinion, annihilated a division that has taken some time to get on track. And having a king who's now broken a record that's a pretty damn impressive one, I feel like legitimizes the division to a certain degree. So we'll see what happens there. No real update since all the drama last week.

let's see what happens. Now, how do you feel, I've already said my piece, Romero Whitaker interim title, how do you feel about it? Love that fight. Okay. But what about the interim title?

Of course that was the fight to make. Are you okay with the interim title fight? In this instance, yes. Okay. The interim title between Anderson Silva and Yol Romero did not make sense. Now, Bisman being injured, you know,

him still at this point, you know, obviously plans can change at this point having a fight with GSP sometime later in the year this interim title makes complete sense and it's one of the only cases where it does Okay but if you do the interim title fight Are you okay with doing Bispink GSP

later on the year or yes? Yeah I mean Because usually when you do an interim title fight unless you're Hannah-Browse fight has to be Yes No I'm completely okay with that especially the way interim title fights have been instituted at this point

but there's really no prestige associated with one title more than the other. They've kind of been used interchangeably. So I think that the defense of the interim title should serve the same way. And Bisping and GSP can still be booked. Yeah, me too long. I mean, if it's February now, now these guys are sitting on the sidelines. Listen, I don't love that fight. I don't have two champions, you know.

I don't love that fight generally. Like, I don't think Bisping versus GSP is a fight that, like, really... You want to see Woodley GSP? If I had my druthers, yeah, I would. I don't really think Bisbing and GSP is that great of a... Like, you know, just stylistically, like, all... It doesn't do it for me as a fight, you know, stand alone on paper. So by no means am I saying, let's put the real title or the, you know, the current title on the shelf forever.

but I don't have a problem with getting one fight in and then joining them back up after that. Yeah. All right. We'll see what happens. But I do like the fight. I'm happy the division is rolling along. Romero fights, Whitaker fights. Give the guy something to fight for and then that buys you a little bit of time.

Get to see the GSP Bispink fight. It was promised. Okay. MSG, nice platform for it, big stars. Yep. And then we can get back to making some. kind of sense at 185. Roy Nelson signing, you like it? Absolutely. Makes sense at this point.

What was up with Roy? Was he mad at me? I couldn't understand. I mean, I know. He always mad at you? I don't know. I thought we're buddies. It's always weird with Roy. Like, you don't really know if he... But first Skype appearance. That was fun. Yeah, and I was he really mad about that? I don't even understand. Well, you should have asked him sooner. I guess so. Sorry.

Sheesh. It is a good signing. Yeah, it makes sense for that division. And I think there's interesting matchups there more so than fighting some of the middle and lower tier guys in the UFC. They'll build them up. Yeah. Have fun there.

Mitreone Nelson, rematch, Fador Nelson. Chekongo rematch. That one I can do without. By the way, so Alexander Gustafin, do you think that he should fight the winner of Cormier-Jones? Has he jumped over his teammate?

You've got to. What a performance, right? Upper Cut City. bang bang bang bang bang it just means more it means more than it went over kori enderson you know all due respect it just means more so my my idea was volkan osdemir versus jimmy manua july 29th because they said they wanted jimmy to fight on that card so make that you know i like when they showcase volkad getting a big boost huh that's what he wants i mean he was fifth ranked i like it no i like

it i like it are you are you on the bandwagon though or do you feel like let's pump the brakes there I mean, yo, he just smoked, he just, what was it, like 16 seconds? What a strange knockout. I think the Sarkanoff thing

was all circumstantial. Like nobody was claiming that he was the best or one of the best. I think there was a thing where, oh man, he's talented.

Hopefully the USC doesn't let him, you know, walk away. A win over Misha Sarkanov to me is not the one that, the same as a win over. It's impressive. No,

don't let me. I'm more impressed with that win than the OSP win. No. Yeah, he knocked the guy out in 16 seconds. The other one was a split decision. Yeah, flash knockouts to me though, like, you know, let's say this.

Jimmy Manoa is a very large step up. And I think it will be... But it's the only step up. But, yeah, no, granted. I'm not... I'm not poo-pooing the match-up. I like the match-up, but it's a big step-up. The only other one that I like is Shogun versus Vol-Kahn,

because I don't feel... And that might be more of an appropriate next step, but I think... Who's Jimmy going to fight on on July 21st? I think he's worthy of being in there with Jimmy. I just think that is a very large step up. Jimmy is a contender. I mean, by the way, Volkan was ranked higher than Corey Anderson.

I still don't understand how he had one fight in the UFC. But that's the thing. The decision and went all the way to five. Well, that's the thing. The ranking is interesting. I mean, that is something. Yeah, I'm in for that fight. Let's book it.

July 29. And then Gustafson gets the winner of Cormi-A Jones. Gustafsin's comments on Jones. Who, boy, those were something. I mean, it's kind of free, it's kind of free, free fire open season on John Jones. Everybody's taking their shots, but when he comes back. But there's no doubt about it.

This was the best case scenario for the UFC because Jones versus Gus II is money. My opinion, best fight in UFC history. Jones versus DC2, money. That was a great fight, very close fight as well. Are you talking Gustason? Excuse me, Gustason versus Jones 2. And Gustafsson versus Kormia.

Yes. Jones versus DC2. who's great and that's happening. But Glover versus Jones 2. No, no, no. And then I know Glover hasn't fought DC, but still doesn't really kind of have the same. This was the best case scenario.

They needed that next guy and they have Jimmy there, Volkan. Again, slowly but surely things starting. And Golkan's coming down. I don't know about fighting for the belt next year, but great, if he wants to do that. That's what he says. Yeah.

And it's good because Gustafin wasn't on the most impressive streak of his career. It puts him back in that conversation. I think people are thinking of him back as they did when he was coming off the Jones fight. You know, it was an incredible performance. He looked really, really good. Very impressed. What a finish.

What about the proposal? Are you okay with in cage proposals? I mean, you do it. Look, that's the biggest stage you've got. Why not? All right. I mean, there's something to be said about the reserved kind of, you know, outside of the public eye proposal. but if you want to make the young lady happy, that's the one.

Let everybody know. I reached out to Courtney Casey to come on the show this week. She has an issue with the Texas Athletic Commission, but she said that she was advised to stay quiet, at least for now. Very strange situation where they claim that she had elevated levels of testosterone, but Usada wasn't on board with this. Texas, again, I go back to them making the joke about New York and the way-ins. And by the way, New York has now changed their way-in rules to where you can't touch anything when you weigh in.

Of course, we'll now call this the D.C. rule. Texas is the last commission that should be cracking jokes about another commission. So we'll see what happens. Speaking of Women's M.A., Heather Hardy signed to that Belltor card. They also signed two other fights for that card. The Beltor card at MSG, I should say. Andre Koreshkov against Chidi and Joquan. No, that's, my bad.

That's Belator. 182. That's August 25th. Okay, ignore that I just said that. But that is a fun fight. Andrei Kershkov versus Chidi Angi-Angu Kwani. But the Heather Hardy fight, who's a great boxer, she'll be fighting and she's kind of a big deal on these parts at MSG on June 24th. Speaking of New York

fighters, New York base fighters, Al Jembourg, Sterling versus Hennon Burrell. Yeah. 214. And Ricardo Lamos versus the Korean zombie also added to that card in the O-C. Fire. Flames. You like that fight for Aljo. I like both those fights.

What about Browell going back down to 135? Is this a shock? Every single guy that is forced to move up comes back down. Every one of them. You know what? John Linnaker thus far has not acted on that. But every other fighter forced up comes back down. It's just they feel natural in that weight class.

They fought their whole career. No matter how tough that weight cuts, is they're going to do it better this time and then they're going to come back down. Just how it is. That's an important fight at 135. Great fight. Stefan Struh versus Alexander Volkov

was announced as the main for the Rotterdam show. Big boys. Big boys. That's got to be the tallest fight in UFC history. Where's our old friend flipped the script when you need it?

I know. He never feeds anymore. What happened? Got to play the Sad Hulk music. He's gone. What's that? You know, in the TV show, when Hulk was walking down the road, hitchhiking, there's a soundtrack that goes with that. And I also mentioned on Twitter late last week that they're considering doing Francis Engano versus Stefan Strove for later on this year, but that fight isn't quite done. A couple of hurdles for that one.

But how do you feel about that? No, no. See, this is what happens. Francis Angano versus Junior Dos Santos. Are you surprised? A little bit. That's a rough fight for Junior to bounce back on. Yeah.

I don't know. You don't seem to like it. I mean, it's good for Francis. You know, it's another fight against a big-name guy that, you know, can out of feathered to his cap. But for junior, I think you got to take something easier than that. Not the number one. Quick turnaround, too.

prospect that's coming up in that division who puts people out who's got knockout power that's a tough bounce back fight for junior do I think he's game in it probably but not the version that we saw against Deepe the version that we saw against

Rothwell I think is the one we'll need if we want to compete with Francis he's young he's hungry that's a tough fight coming back very tough but he wants to come back He said he wants to, you know, not wait on the sidelines. He says that he wants to remain active.

So there aren't a lot of options at heavyweight. So we'll see what happens. We'll see if the fight gets done. I want to remind you if you're a fan of mixed martial arts. My wife is FaceTiming me right now. But then she hung up. There's a show called Kingdom that premieres Wednesday, tomorrow, May 31st. It's season three.

Good people over there. And it's their third and final season. It premieres at 8 p.m. Eastern. 8 Pacific, and it can exclusively be seen on the AT&T audience network. And they've done some cool things with Greg Jackson, Joe Stevenson has been a part of the show, other MMA fighters as well. Matt Hughes did some work. One of the guys from Friday Night Lights has been on the show. If you're an Emmy fan, you like scripted dramas, things like that.

It's a great show. It's called Kingdom on the AT&T audience network. And it debuts tomorrow, May 31st, at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. UFC 212 is this weekend in Rio. How excited are you for this card? This is a pay-per-view. I will not be there. We shall have coverage.

Esther Casey will be there. The Brazilian Beast himself, Guillermo Cruz, will be there, but I will not be making the trip. What are your thoughts on this card? Scale of 1 to 10. I hate that. I don't know. What do you mean you hate that?

Are you hyped? Is it pay-per-view? excited? Aldo Hollow. There's a lot of matchups on this card that I really like. Okay. Like? Aldo Holloway, I really.

really like. Yeah. Does it bother you that both of them lost to Connor and they're fighting for the featherweight belt or should we move on

because he hasn't defended the title in almost two years? Time to move on. Okay, so this feels like a real featherweight title fight for. This is the championship as far as I'm concerned. Okay, fair enough.

Who's the favorite? I mean, is Connor going to compete a featherweight? I don't know. It's hard to reach. This is a... Then this is the real... This is the real belt.

This is it. Man, that is going to be fun. I think Aldo's going to take it, but man, this is one of the fights I'm looking for this year. I'm picking Aldo. I think. Great fight. Who's the favorite? I'm looking at the line. Who's the favorite?

Aldo small. Yeah, minus 107 plus 110. For max 110. Yeah, I mean, that's how it's going to be. I wouldn't be surprised if it flips a few times between now and then. It is a great fight. Can't wait for this fight. I also, I mean, actually, let me shout this one out. Okay.

Brian Boone Kelleher. Yes, this guy. Our boy. He was relentless. New York's own. Yes. Getting the shot against your Al-Contara. That's a tough one to make your debut.

So good luck to Brian. Yes. Submitted a lot of videos when we were giving away tickets to MSG. So shout out to. How crazy is that? Five months ago, he was trying to get free tickets to the MSG card. Now he's fighting in the UFC. Yeah.

Right? He was trying to be a part of that competition. That's right. You should have picked him so that you could have said that you went to the card with a future UFC fighter. Oh, boy. Wow, I don't know. I feel like that's a good story. Imagine he becomes UFC Bantamway champion. Well, all right.

Now... Don't be a dick. I get to go to the event with the UFC fighter. No, but you could have been the guy to say, I knew that this was the guy. I picked him. I knew that this was the guy a long time ago. Yeah, right. I don't know anything.

Aljo, Aljo vouched for him. He did. Shoe face on the card Oh a Sunsau and Marlon Marius That's the fight Don't be stealing all my points Marlon Morais is making His UFC debut

I kind of feel like this is flying under the radar here And it's on FS1 Marlon Marius flies under the radar He does That's kind of a thing How it goes And it's on the Who did FS1

Pay off to get this as the preliminary Headliner if you will This is pay-per-view stuff And I actually like it because more people will see it. Yeah, I think they're smart about how they distribute these things where, you know, some fights that would be considered pay-per-view worthy. I still feel like if you're asking people to buy a paper view for 65 bucks.

You got to stack it with the most you got. You got to put the best fights on there. Like this idea of spreading it out is a little... It's not a bad one, though. You know. What's not a bad one? The paper view? Look, I get it.

Marlon Marles versus Sunsal is infinitely more interesting than you know. Absolutely. I'm not saying it's not a bad fight. but this is his debut. Sure, and it could have used Anderson Silva, and it could have used Cyborg, granted. But I like this pay-per-view. No, no, no, it's fine.

I'm excited. Get to watch it at home. Very rare for me. Vitor, who was previously going to be walking away. Here's my problem with the V-Tor fight. Yeah, I mean, the whole thing has been ruined. The interesting thing is, how are they going to handle it? Are they going to call this his retirement fight?

When he is saying in every interview out there that it's not his retirement fight anymore? Like, Anthony Johnson retired, and now he's saying I'm getting that itch again. a month later. Vitor retired, didn't have the retirement fight yet, and is already having that itch. What a bizarre situation that is. Who's the favorite in that fight? Vitor. I... Slight. Oh, that was right? Okay, go. I was thinking about reversing it. Minus 147 plus 150.

That one's a hard... I mean, I think it's kind of who gets clipped first is going to win that... who is going to lose that one. Whoever gets clipped is in trouble. Both of those guys are kind of at the point in their careers where it can be a quick night. And I think Vitor is the rightful favorite, but it's very close. Yeah, I just kind of wish that he would have.

You know, I'm used to people. This is M.M.A. There are no retirements. Yeah, but it's very rare to say you're going to have a retirement fight and then go back on that. Is it? No. Before the retirement.

parliament fight. Before, yeah, maybe. That's the rare part. Like, at least go through with it, do the thing in the cage, and then come back. And then come back a month later. But to actually do it before the fight is a little bit rare, in my opinion. I'm very excited for the Marlon Mariah's fight, as I said. I'm excited for that fight.

I love the Claudia Goodellia fight versus Karlina Povacavich because, A, they both have losses to Yowana. But they're both, I mean, everyone thinks that they're, you know, two, three, if we count Yuan as number one, because Carlina, let's not forget, has a win over Rose. and I love Carlinna on Embedded. Everything is, This is amazing. Do you notice that she says that every time about everything? It's so amazing.

It's amazing. It's amazing. In the UFC is amazing. Then you don't have to ask her how she feels because now you know. This is amazing. She says that every time. It's great. But that is an important fight. And I guess they're fighting, you know,

they're kind of in that weird spot, especially Claudia's. Carlina can still get that. I mean, could you imagine? KSW is selling 58,000 Carlina versus Yuana and Poland

what could that do? Kaboom Kaboom. Yeah, that would be very well said. That would be humongous. As you mentioned, Shoeface versus Eric Spicely,

Johnny Eduardo versus Matthew Lopez, who was on looking for a fight. This is not low on talent. No, I'm excited. Sova and Yancey. Yeah. The great judo Jim Wallhead.

He's on the fight past prelims. Jamie Moyle is on the card. Who's the, the favorite in the Silva-Madero fight Mederos? That's a good one. Silva? No.

Madero's slight favorite. What do we got? Minus 110 plus 103. Yeah, that's razor close. That makes sense to me. Yeah. All right.

Well, so that's it. That's this Saturday. And it's on pay-per-view. main card. Prelims, half of them are on FS1, and then of course the early prelims, if you will, are on FightPass. By the way, dating back to Sunday, 11 UFC events in 11 weeks coming up. Isn't that wild? 11 UFC events in 11 weeks. That's almost a full NFL season. We've got Stockholm, Rio this Saturday. Then we've got New Zealand, the 10th. 17th, we've got to got Singapore.

25th, we've got OKC. There's a break on the first, but then we come back International Fight Weekend with the 7th and 8th in Las Vegas. That the 15th, Scotland. Leslie Smith versus Lena Landsberg was just added to that card. Hopefully Robert Whiteford gets on that card.

What's taking so long? 22nd we've got Long Island. 29th, we've got Anaheim. Fifth, we've got Mexico City. 11 and 11. And you'll be there for all of them. No, I will not. I will be there for 7-8, 22, 29.

That's four in July. Big. Great birthday month for me. All right. Thank you very much. I mean, yes. Before we go, maybe pop open one more button on that.

We want. Give me one more. What are you talking about it? Give me one more. Oh, yeah. I'm wearing a T-shirt here, bro. That's what we want. You have to understand.

I've been sitting here for almost four hours. It's kind of hot, although I asked for it to be. hot. I'm not complaining. This is true. Now, I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. You always like it warm in the studio. I like it cool. I like it very, very hot.

Is there like something technical to, yeah. Like, is there something behind it? I don't like to be cold. I'd rather be warm. I like to sleep in layers. I like to sleep in a, in a t-shirt, a hoodie, sometimes shorts and sweatpants over the shorts and socks. Is it like a thing where you feel something physically, though?

Like, do you feel like you're thrown up? off your game, you can feel the effects of it? I feel like I could focus more when I'm hot. Okay. I don't want to live in a cold climate anymore. If I can move, I would move in a second. I'll tell you, Hawaii is beautiful. Yeah. I would love to move there with the Bretas, the Oana. I mean, it's on the table. Is it really on the table? I don't know about that. Unless all of you want to move with me, that would be nice. But I don't know if I'd have a job if I move to Hawaii. Well, I could do the reporting, the event stuff and all that.

Listen, they got to bring that U.S.C. event to Hawaii should Max Holloway win. That would be nice. That would be nice. BJ Penn. Max Holloway. Brett Tavares. That's the fight. I hope not.

Oh, no, no. I just mean, they've got, I mean, now more than ever, they've got some names. Yeah. You know? Yancey, if he picks up a big win here. Yancey's on the guy. It's a big card for the Hawaiian MMA scene. They've been very patient.

So, all right. Thank you to everyone who tuned in on this Tuesday. Didn't really lose much of the audience. which was good. I always worry about that. And thank you. Now I seem silly. I'm a little self-conscious,

even though I am wearing a t-shirt in case you're just listening to this. I'm not one of those with the chest hair and all that stuff. You know what I'm saying? I do like to remain a little bit conservative, you know? And thank you to those who also watched on Facebook. We'll do that from time to time.

YouTube kind of our bread and butter. That's my home. They've treated us very well over there, so I don't want to turn my back on them. And thank you to everyone who stopped by as far as guests are concerned. You can't hear my music. We're out of time. Alex in the back asked me on Facebook, if you go more than four hours, the stream cuts.

So he bet me that I couldn't be less than four hours. And here I am at 358. So how about that? That's for all the haters out there. And Robert Whiteford checking in. Get this man in Scotland. What's going on? Here you have a homegrown talent, a fan favorite, who is ready, coming up.

a great win over a UFC vet. Just put them on the card. Sell some tickets. That's my man right over there. He gave me this haggis. He's the haggis hunter, Robert Whiteford. July 15th, we've got time. Give them anyone.

He'll blow right through them. Thank you very much to Joel Romero and Ray for stopping by. Yes, they were tardy, but we appreciate them stopping by nonetheless. Actually, if we're being accurate, Ray was the tardy one. Thank you very much to Cody Garbrandt for stopping by. Get well soon. Thank you very much to the one and only Gokan Saki making his

UFC debut later on this year. That's very exciting. Thank you very much to Mike Perry for stopping by. Best of luck to him. Thank you very much to Roy Nelson. Still not quite sure if he's mad at me or not, but I appreciate him stopping by and congrats on signing the UFC deal. It was great to counter that with Sage Northcut.

Welcome back, Sage. Good luck on July 29. Thank you very much to George St. Pierre. Best of luck to him. Best of health. And thanks for DCMMA. myself, Daniel Cormier. Stopping by. I appreciate that as well. Back next Monday, same time and place.

Until then I say peace. I'm out of here.