MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 394

Episode Date: August 8, 2017

Ariel Helwani speaks to Ian McCall (00:08:32), Luke Rockhold (00:38:29), Andre Berto (00:55:57), Gilbert Melendez (01:29:25), Volkan Oezdemir (01:51:51), Paul Felder (02:15:06) in studio, Pat Barry (03:11:24), Paulie Malignaggi (04:03:11), and NewYorkRic for Ric's Picks (05:04:59) and to answer your questions during The MMA [After] Hour (05:18:54). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. It's the Mixed Martial Arts Hour with... A mixed martial arts hour back in your life on this Monday, August 7, 2017. Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani back inside our New York City studio. Hope you had a lovely weekend. I sure did. It was a nice one here in the tri-state area.

Not such a nice day today. It's raining outside, which means it's a great day to be inside. to be inside talking a little mixed martial arts with all of you. And boy, oh boy, do we have a lot to talk about. Of course, over the weekend, the UFC ended its stretch of 11 fight cards in 11 weeks. Exhausting stuff. And it comes at an interesting time. Interesting time in the calendar because I'm reminded around this time of the year, every year, that distance makes the heart grow fonder.

Around this time, if you don't know, the NFL is back. Training camp starts, preseason game stuff. and people are literally foaming at the mouth. Like I see people walking up and down the streets here in New York, foaming at the mouth at the idea of the NFL being back. Their fantasy league, they're watching preseason games in record numbers, more than the NBA finals. I mean, it's just crazy stuff.

People miss it. They have not seen NFL action since February. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Now, I don't think that the UFC will ever take a five-month-long break But I guarantee you, by the time September 2nd rolls around, that's the date of their next event, I'm excluding Mayweather McGregor. By the time September 2nd rolls around, and let's be honest, that event in Rotterdam is sort of on equal footing to the one that we just saw in Mexico City, quality-wise, depth-wise, talent-wise. I guarantee you, mark my words, I guarantee you that you will be a hell of a lot more excited to watch that card. Then you were this past Saturday, and that's no knock on Saturday's card.

In fact, it was one of the most exciting cards of the year. The prelims in particular were incredibly entertaining. Quick finishes, great performances, main card, pretty much the same thing as well. But 11 fight cards and 11 weeks is just a lot. You need a break. And so now you get a month-long break, and I guarantee you by the time Rotterdam rose along when September 2nd, as I said, you will be a health. a lot more excited because distance makes the heart grow fonder. It's okay to miss the product. It's

okay to have a break. It's okay to catch your breath, get excited about the fights. So I think this is perfect timing for the UFC to take a bit of a break. It's also perfect timing to really focus all their energy, promotional muscle, put it all behind Mayweather McGregor. Dana White wore the t-shirt. Biggest fight in combat sports history. It may end up being just that as far as numbers are concerned. pay-per-view buys, ticket sales, gate, all that stuff and more. But I think this break is coming at a perfect time for them. Mexico City was a fun card, as I said. Main event, Sergio Pettis defeats Brandon Moreno.

It was interesting on Monday. Pettus said he wants a title shot next. He wins the fight and he's less confident in fighting the champion. Now the champion is Demetrius Johnson. He defends his title for a potential record-breaking 11th time. on September 9th in Edmonton against Ray Borg. But I thought it was interesting to, after saying on Monday that he wants a title shot after a win over Marino in Mexico City to then fight, win the fight, look very good in the fight, I thought.

First main event of his career and then not really asked for it. Now, I don't blame him. He just won a five-round grueling fight first time in his career as far as the UFC is concerned that he's been a part of something like that. headlining act, fighting at altitude, you're tired, you don't really want to talk about what's next.

You kind of want to enjoy the moment. I get that. But I just, I mean, there is no other choice right now at 125. He has the name. He's on a roll. He's looked very good as of late.

I thought it was interesting to hear him say, you know what? I want to work on my striking. Not really going out there and saying, you know, give me that title shot. I'll be the guy to beat DJ. I'm going to be the one to, you know, revolutionize this division, I thought that that was very interesting.

Alexa Grasso with a hard-fought win on Saturday, she gets back on track, she defeats Randem Marcos. And of course, one of the biggest stories of the night, Sam Alvey defeating Rashad Evans. Now Rashad Evans has lost four in a row, just continues to not look like himself. It's not like he's getting knocked out by the Sam Alvies of the world, but for some reason, just not pulling the trigger, just looking like a shell of his former self. And it's hard to watch. and you hope that he is at peace with whatever decision he makes next and that he makes the right choice

for not only himself but his family you know forget about the legacy stuff you know just make the right choice for your health should you be fighting is this the right thing for you right now Evans has been competing for a very long time not just in MMA but prior to that in amateur wrestling

it's hard to watch a champion fight like that not get starch These are close fights, but it's not against the competition that he made his name off of. It's just a completely different ballgame. So we will talk about Mexico City. Of course, we'll talk about the McGregor, Polly Malinaji drama that exploded last week. What a story that has turned into.

I'll tell you this much. Malinagi McGregor is going to kill it on pay-per-view come 2018. They would sell out Madison Square Garden in 10 seconds, and they would, right now, at this point, I probably would set the line at like 1.5 million for a pay-per-view headline by those two boxing. It's all great for everyone involved. Showtime, Polly, Connor, the UFC, there are no losers in this drama. Let me run down today's lineup and then we'll get to our first guest of the day. I'm very excited to talk to this individual. At 5 o'clock, we'll have our usual MMA after hour segment. That's exclusively on Twitter. So go to the MMA hour.

com, use the hashtag the MMA hour. Hit us up all show long, questions, comments. That's when it's just you, New York, Rick, and I, answering your questions via Twitter exclusively. It airs exclusively on Twitter. We'll replay tomorrow on YouTube. You know the drill by now. So that's at 5 o'clock. So hit us up.

There is a chance at 445. We're going to be joined by Pauli Maenaji himself. He has a very big. busy day, but he is trying his best to squeeze his sense. We'll keep you posted on that. Of course, we'd love to talk to him about everything that happened. 425 Rick's picks. 405 Pat Barry. It has been over three years since we've had Pat Barry on this show as a guest. He has appeared when Rose Namibunis was on, his girlfriend, but he hasn't appeared as a guest, and he has a lot to say. So I'm looking forward to talking to him at 405. At 305, our streak of in-studio guests continues.

We'll have Paul Felder in studio coming off that win over Stevie Ray, broadcast work, Dan, White's Tuesday night contender series. Very excited to have the Irish Dragon, Paul Felder in studio. Great story. Volcan Uzdemil. We'll stop by. No time coming off his big win over Jimmy Manuel. A lot of you wanted to hear from him on the show.

First time he comes on, that's 245. 225. Gilbert Melendez will join us. Talk about his move down to 145. Working on a potential guest for 205, so I'll leave it at that. Stay tuned. 145. Andre Beirdo will stop by.

The last man to fight Floyd Mayweather. curious to get his thoughts on the fight. Did anyone cross the line last week? How do you fight Floyd Mayweather? All that stuff and more. 1.25 will be joined by Luke Rockall, talk about his main event fight against David Branch, September 16th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, UFN, Pittsburgh.

But first, let us start off with a man who knows a thing or two about the flyweight division. They were in focus this past weekend. Also, really want to talk to him about his career. I've been trying to get him on the show for quite some time. The time is now, my friends. We are joined via the Magic of Skull. by the one and only Uncle creepy, Ian McCall.

There he is. The bearded one. Hello, Ian. How are you? Yeah. Don't want to talk about that. Don't want to talk about what? How I'm doing. What's wrong?

Just a bunch of stuff. None of your fucking business. No one's business. It's just a bunch of shit going on. It's not not, not, um, Not good. I'm doing brain treatment down in San Diego that's helping. But yeah, it's just, they, Jeff Niviski set me up with, uh, called transcranial magnetic stimulation. It, it really does help my brain.

So that's, that, that's a plus. I saw a lot of bad signs. Um, still seeing a lot of bad signs as far as, you know, like, um, just the C-P-E type stuff, TV eye stuff so it scared me I went down there and I'm trying to fix it fix you know like the depression and all the stuff that comes to it and we'll see I've got another month left so did you just get some bad news or something that

has you down feeling blue did something just happened this morning? Yeah I'm just not I'm in a shitty mood it's it's this whole thing that I'm doing it's yeah anyways don't worry about it well I care I do worry about I got I got I got a new job. What's your new job? I help run the marketing and advertising for a cannabis brand

called Habit. Okay. The A natural where we're the company that wins all the awards. I mean, if you look at a habit crafted is our THC line and Habit CBD is our CBD line and pushing our CBD line over social media through a bunch of fighters and athletes and singers and stuff like that that I know and you know just just trying to get word out send out some you know these little ornate boxes of stuff we're doing some I'm actually doing a contest on my

I'm doing two contests on my Twitter okay or on my social media we're doing one where the first 500 people who buy or use my promo code will get a free box the boxes are awesome to it I've seen you tweet about this they are

they are cool little ornate boxes. We've got a bunch of our products in them, CBD water. Oh. Teen-shirts, isolate, lotion, all kinds of shit. So, yeah, I'm helping on that brand, which is cool. You know, I get to go from fighting to drug dealing as two honorable careers in my life. Legal drug dealing, though, right?

Legal. It's legal, though, right? Oh, yeah, it's legal. Sorry. The volume on, for somebody's my phone is tiny. I can barely hear you, but it's, yeah, it's legal. I'm not doing anything wrong. You know, we do everything above board.

Like, everything's pharmaceutical grade. We don't, this is not, when you look at the industry, it's a bunch of dumb stoners, honestly. It's a bunch of gangsters or, or doctors, or Cheech and Chong, Bob Marley. We're trying to show that there's stoners like me. Stoners can get a lot of the shit done. I'm a fucking world champion fighter. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, I'm a different kind of stoner. I started smoking at a very young age. I've been smoking for 25 years and I'm only 33. Wow. What? You've been smoking since we're eight? Yeah, and people want to, you know, say bad things about stoners and stuff. I made it.

So, fuck you. And I just, I don't know. You know, that's, that's it. I'm just trying to show a different view of stoner. I'm trying to change the view of stoner because, everyone smokes now our parents are in charge now and they all smoke you know it's it's becoming okay for people to realize that this is medicine you know my wife has has epilepsy um you know my daughter's had r a rheumato arthritis for three years and they they use it and they're fine you know

my it's it's a miracle drug that that um that i'm trying to get out there yeah that i can help people with especially especially fighters i mean it's a it's a neuroprotecting it. That's all I should have to say. You know, ocular swelling, like, all these different things it does. And it's, it's, it's, it, fighters should be taking this product. I mean, whether it's our products, which would be nice, if they all bought just that. But there's a million good products out there. It's not like, summer shit.

If you see CBD water, that is clear, okay? Everyone is big on this, this clear CBD water. It's bullshit. Okay. CBD water, from a scientific standpoint, from a, you know, has to be, a biological standpoint, however it would be, sorry, it's earlier, has to be,

it has to be, it has to, it has to look like this. Okay. This is what it has to look like. It can't be clear. That's fake nanotechnology is bullshit. Like, people, that, I see a lot of people being sold on this, and it's, it's, it's silly because it's not real.

We tested ourselves. We test our own product free terms. But it's, it's a really strange industry now that I'm getting into it. and I'm really passionate about it. You know, I've got that, and then which actually makes me money. And then I still, of course, have my podcast, which I stopped doing for a while because of just some personal issues. And then now I'm going to start doing it again. Okay, so, wait, there's a lot to unpack there.

First things first, are you done fighting now that you got this job? I don't know. I there's just a couple things out there that that need to change um you know I I I need more money I'm they still want me to fight for 16 and 16 like that's my contract from years ago and I'm sorry but that's never going to happen again I I tried over the last year to fight and and get past this contract just so I could do it I tried what four or five times and they all fell through and I ended up in the hospital twice I could have died. I'm not fighting for 30 could be 16 grand. You're going to wave a $50,000 bonus in front of me. That doesn't work with me anymore. So

I heard that Russia, you know, the Chechen dictator guy, all hail Chechen dictator guy. You know, he's, sure, it's blood money, but from what I understand, he offered me $100,000 flat. I mean, then again, I heard my agent told me

later that that wasn't to him, so my agent fucking lied to me. I don't know. That's true anymore. To do what? To fight? The fighting game is not working from... Yeah. The fighting game isn't what it used to be, for me at least, and I would love to fight.

That's all I want to do, but I can't make money fighting. So I'm going to take some time off, make money, doing other things. And if I can come back, then I will. You know, it's nothing against the UFC. They, they, they're running the business. They don't want to pay everybody a bunch of money, you know? They want to make money. They just bought it for $4.2 billion, but I'm sorry, I will never fight for $16,000 again, ever, ever.

And to think that maybe if my, unless my agent really wasn't lying to me, which that's the first all I ever heard of tell, then fuck it. I'm done. I don't know. I'm in a weird place. My body's ruined and my brain is starting to go. I don't this isn't this isn't fun you know I just want to be uh I just want to get out there to all the younger fighters you can be careful it's it's otherwise you can end up like me and it's not cool well I I'm genuinely sorry to hear that obviously you've had some bad luck over the last two and a

half years I'm assuming that has contributed to your your stance right I mean you've had an incredible I've had bad luck for five years okay five years You gotta think this. When in my life spiral out of control? The moment I lost my fight to beat it. How many people can say they saw the moment when their life took the shit on them and spiraled out of control for good? And sorry, my daughter is in here.

Hi, baby. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll be kissing. I love you, baby. I'll be right out. Sorry.

I'll read it. busy. So, what was he talking about? You said, when you fought DJ, I believe

the second time you lost to him, you said you remember that that's the moment that things got out of the, no,

no, no, the very first time I lost. It's no one else's fault with my own, but you see our hands raised

and you see me run off. How many people have the time, did they have the exact moment in time where they

watched their life fall apart? Since then, my life has systematic. automatically falling apart and it's only gotten worse and worse and worse. Daddy? Maybe I'm on the phone, please.

Pinky's for it. Pinky's where I'll be up for. Here right now. I'll be off right now. Stop bugging me. Wow. You're bugging me, Cook, beat it. No, I, sorry.

At least I know I'm still good dad. Yeah, man. I know I'm good at. Are you still with your parents? Out. I'm on the baby. I'm doing something. You got him.

I know how it is. What were you saying? Are you still with your parents? Last time you were on a few months back, you said that it was easier for you to take care of your daughter. No, I bought a house. Okay. So it's you and your daughter?

Yeah, I was able to buy... What was that? So it's you and your daughter living at this house? Yeah, myself. Myself, my daughter, my wife, Alicia. Okay. When did you get married? And then, you know, her sons.

We never had a real wedding, but we're not going to have one. I don't need to spend a much money on. a bunch of people I don't like praising me from how cool I am. Sure, sure. It's so, weddings are so, but we wear rings.

She said I could call her, or remind my life, so I'm married now. Perfect. That's good, and you save a lot of money. So have you expressed, have you expressed this to the UFC

saying, look, I'm not coming back or, you know, this is not. No, they, they talk to my agent.

Okay. And the only time I get a call from UFC, they usually send Reed Harris because me and Reed have a very personal relationship and I love Reed. But, you know, I don't want to say anything bad about UFC. The UFC has taken care of me since day one. They've never wronged me. They've never done anything bad. Yeah.

This is my own fault. This is my own doing, you know. How so? Picking the sport. Picking the sport as a profession. you know, putting myself in the coma snowboarding when I was a kid going too big, thought I was going to be a pro, overdosing on drugs when I was down and out. There's a lot wrong with my brain.

It's not just the punching. And then on top of that, you know, 15 years of fighting professionally isn't good for you. So I don't know if I'll fight again. I have to figure out these issues. We still have no idea what's wrong on my stomach. So I, I, I, doctors haven't been able to. to figure out anything really. So it's,

I'm on my own. I'm sitting here trying this brain stimulation stream in for six weeks. And hopefully it works. Did they say to you, we want to send you to this place, or did you reach out to them for help? You mentioned Jeff Novitsky, who worked for the UFC.

How did you get involved with this brain stimulation? Me and Jeff have been talking about a lot of stuff. Jeff has been, become a very, pretty close friend of mine. It's weird. Wow. That's great. He's a great guy. Yeah. And, and, you know, just through text, like, we're always checking up on each other and stuff. Very helpful, and he's the one who set me up with it. Okay. And why are you doing it? Are you doing it? Does your brain hurt? Are you doing it to try to save your career? Are you

wondering, like, what is, what, what are you trying to get out of this experiment, if you will? It's, it's, you know, I was just forgetful, the bouts of rage, the bipolarness, the, you know, like, out of nowhere crying. Like, I don't ever cry. Like, like, and people are like, you're willing to talk about this? I'm like, yeah, because there's a bunch of other people that are either going through it or are, that need help, you know. And I'm, I don't give a fuck about my career. Honestly, whatever. I'll be fine.

This isn't going to hurt me. People are going to think of a pussy because I'm trying to fix myself. I don't care. Yeah. It's just, this is supposed to realline my brain waves and stuff and, you know, the electricity, all this stuff I can't explain. Okay. I'm not going to bro-science you because I don't understand it, but it works the first day. You call me at the worst time possible.

apparently you have a little bit of a breakdown at two weeks and I'm right after two weeks, so I'm not happy. Okay. But that's life. It's just part of the medicine. I'm sorry for being shitty. No, no. I'm just not in a good mood.

So, uh, what kind of medicine? But I know, like I said, what? What kind of medicine are you taking? I'm sorry, I can barely hear you. What kind of medicine am I taking? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, no, no, no, the only medicine I take is this.

Okay. Okay. and the medicine that they're they're the electricity whatever okay okay okay if you look at my Instagram feed there it's always on there they just put this metal with this magnet on my head it shocks me at some frequency and that that that that I guess is medicine I don't I don't know and and I'm not going to get on a bunch of other a bunch of other medicines you know it's it's like doctors want to put you on all kinds of stuff and no there's no way I'm going to do that but that's the same

disgusting. Like those drugs are so bad for you. I'm just incredibly healthy. I don't work out anymore, which sucks. I'm going fucking crazy because I haven't been able to work out. You know, it's, it's just, it's cool. And thank God the UFC gave me this opportunity to do this. Are you in pain all the time? Is that why you can't work out? No, I don't have time. I have to drive an hour from my house. I have to drive 40 minutes to my office and then another half an hour to the facility and then drive back to my office and then drive back to the facility and then drive back to the facility and then drive back to my office and then drive home. Okay.

I don't have time for that. I have kids. You know, I've got I've got stuff to do. I would love to train. Maybe I'll find some someday where I can train. I can train in the mornings. but it's, it'll come around. You know, I would, I would give anything to be able to fight again,

but it might not be in the cards. I don't know. What's interesting is if someone was just listening to this interview and hasn't really caught up with what you've been doing as of later, or at least, you know, followed you on social media, they'd think, oh, you know, Ian may feel bitter towards the sport of MMA, but if you follow you on Twitter, like, you're tweeting always about the fights, and you're saying, UFC is the best and MMA is the best,

and these fights are the best, So despite everything that's happened, because I feel like you just said, like, you regret almost getting into the sport to begin with. You don't hold any bitterness toward the sport. Is that accurate? No. It's very accurate. I do this myself. I didn't have to do this.

You know, I'm not some kid from the ghetto or from the favelas. You know, I grew up on the beach in a nice, very nice house. Like, I've been spoiled my whole. life, there's just something inherently wrong with me where I like to fist fight. You know, I like to fight and I'm good at it. And all these fucking people who, oh, blah, blah, blah, you're spoiled, you're this, you're that, you're, you know, I grew up in the ghetto in a hard life. Guess what?

I'm still better than you. You can fucking be as tough as you want, grow up as shitty as you want. Guess what? I grew up in the lap of luxury with the best trainers in the world with everything. living on the beach. So I'm still better than you. It's called hard work. That's all it is.

I'm a wrestler. It's about hard work, and that's what I did to be the best in the world at one point. And granted, injuries have kept me out a lot. You know, I've had seven surgeries and two bad infections from being in the UFC, you know, like foreign hip and groin, probably knee. And I've only been in not that long, So it's, I don't hold any bitterness towards the EFC or the sport.

It's the sport that I kind of help build at some certain level, I guess. Well, certainly you got the vision. Yeah, it's a sport that gave me everything I have. You know, I am the black sheep. Yeah, sure. My family hates what I do. My family fucking is, you know, the achievements I've made in this sport, which is a lot.

I was the best in the world at one point, you know. Like I've been on TV, whatever, whatever else I've done on, done in the sport. All the charity and stuff mean absolutely nothing to my family. They don't care about this sport at all. They don't care about what I've done. I didn't follow up with every business. So you've got to think how that makes me feel. You know what I mean?

Right. Like, this is something I wanted to do. So I have to take the repercussions of what I've done. And they're finally here. They're finally happening. It is what it is. I really can't complain. You know, it's just, I've got brain damage probably.

I'm a fighter. At least I'm not a boxer. Boxes are so much worse. You know, and boxers are all fucking uneducated usually. You know, they come from the hood. Like, it's a hood sport, it's a poor person sport. It sucks because you see someone like Floyd Mayweather, who is a phenom, a prodigy at boxing.

The guy's incredible. He's obviously intelligent. but he can't read and write. He can't do any of that. So that part of the part of you makes you want to call him a moron or an idiot or anything along the lines. And I'm just talking about that. Nothing else that he's done.

That's obnoxious. It's a being a product of his environment. Boxers grew up in a worse environment. It's just a weird thing. But I love boxing and the MAA so much. I'll never stop talking about it. I know too much about it. And I can't not sit and watch and not say something.

You're not point out the wrong that someone is doing. I've never been able to show how good I really am in the Octagon. I think I kind of did in the first EFC fight with Demetrius. But nowhere near. I'm so much better than all my performances. It's just it's here, or it's my shoulder or my hip or my hand that I have. That doesn't, you know, I can't fight. I can't really punch with it.

Like, it's just the roll of the cards I got and it sucks, but it, whatever. Are you, are you scared about what's to come in like 10, 20 years? For once, I am. Yeah, actually, I am. How do you cope with that? Working out, hanging out with my kid, hanging out my family, my, my wife. You know, watching my son play sports. Just stuff.

just trying to be normal. A lot of a lot of cannabis. You know, like, like everyone knows I'm a stoner. Everyone is always knowing that. And I,

I, it helps me. It's my medicine. I'm not going to take Xanax or painkillers or anything like that. I'm going to take, I'm going to use cannabis. I'm sorry.

I'm not, you know, I can smoke and function throughout the day. I'm just one of those, one of the people. It's just, it's, and there's,

it's not just smoking anymore. You have teen churs and all this other stuff with essential oils and there's a lot more to it now. There's a lot more science to it that we're learning. But hopefully science will make a breakthrough soon and

try and fix our brains. You okay? I'll let you get that drink. It's my Dr. Rhonda Patrick micronutrient shake. Okay. I'm really, really, I eat really healthy. Keto fridge sends me meals.

Life is still good. You know, I just picked up a, well, in the process of picking up a fashion sponsor for my whole family. I like a lifestyle sponsor for my podcast and for all the other stuff I do. What's the name? What's the name of the podcast and where can people get it? Storytime with Uncle Creepy. It's all the normal places you can get. Okay, iTunes and stuff.

Google. Yeah, iTunes. It's cool. Lately, we've only been talking about sports, which I promised I would never, ever throughout MMA in my podcast. But like I said, I stopped doing it for a while. And now that I'm back, I'm trying to figure out this mobile unit. But it's, I just, I'm so bad with technology. I'll have it figured out soon.

I'll have guys like Matt Shadows, the singer for Avenge. That was with him last night. that they play with Metallica and he'll be on the show soon. You know, the guy that did his security for 10 years, it will be on my buddy who toured with Stone who's a chef or athletes and, you know, probably more playmates and porn stars and comedians and fighters and all kinds of people. Okay.

Last thing before I let you go, just curious, and I really appreciate the candor and, you know, I'm sorry to hear. I didn't know that, you know, you were kind of going through this. at the moment. If you don't fight again, will you be okay with that? Will you be okay?

Like looking back with your career? Do you feel like in 10, 20 years, you'll have a lot of regrets about DJ, about not being UFC champion, whatever else? Do you think you'll be at peace with the way things ended, or do you think it will bother you? My whole career is a regret.

Okay. So, yeah, I won't be happy with it. I just, I love the sport so much. That's why I'm still here. Otherwise, I would run off and you guys would never see my face again. Let's say I make a lot of money through whatever business, you probably won't see me again. Because I just, I don't know. I don't hold any of will towards a sport.

It's just, yeah, I don't know. It's a weird place that people at my, at the end of their career kind of go over. And no one talks about it. know, people fight it. I'm not going to fight it. You know, like people make Chris Benoit out to be a, I believe, I thought he was a fucking monster growing up for what he did, honestly. And then, and then, you know, being with Alicia and being around wrestlers and the stories

you hear about Chris and a bit of a person he was, how amazing he was, all this stuff. And it's, it's, you know, it's the TBI or drugs, or I'm not saying he was on drugs, or steroids or whatever like that stuff drives people crazy and me for me to think that through hurting my brain I can hurt someone else like the people I love sorry not going to happen I'm I'm I'm not going to ever ever let that happen so I'm at least going to hop on it now and try and fix it before it gets worse and if I can fight again then cool if I don't fight again yeah sure my whole career is a regret but whatever, I had a lot of fun. Well, I appreciate the time.

I hope for your sake, we don't see you again because that means that you became a multimillionaire off this new job and that you're in a good place, happy, secure, but I always love talking. I've always got other business stuff going. It's just not just that, but we'll see. I would love to ride off into the sunset and delete all my social media

and just be with my family, but it's a business. now. I turned it into a business. I don't know. We'll see. I wish you the best, Ian. Let's keep in touch. Good luck to you. I hope you start to feel better and the best to your family as well. Thank you. All right. There he is. Ian McCall stopping by. Illuminating stuff from him was not expecting him to be in that state. And I do sincerely wish him the best, one of the greatest of all time at 125 and hope that he will feel better and not live with that regret. Let us move along. Let's make that transition now.

to one of the best right now at 185. He has a fight on September 16th against David Branch. His name is Luke Rockhold. They're fighting in Pittsburgh. He joins us now via The Magic of Skype. But before we move along with the show, let me quickly remind all of you

that we are 19 days away from the biggest fight of all time. The fight to end all fights. The biggest fight in combat sports history. Connor versus Floyd Mayweather in a boxing ring, in Las Vegas, T-Mobile Arena.

you don't want to miss it. And the word last week was, there are still some tickets left. And people have been asking me, I've gone to one of my son's birthday parties over the weekend, had a get-together with some friends. There are really tickets left, they asked me. You can actually buy tickets to go watch this in person? I said yes. And there is only one way in which to buy said tickets to said boxing match.

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way, I'll see you in Las Vegas, August 26. Now back to the show. Mr. Rockhold, are you there? Luke, how are you? I'm sorry. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. I was not expecting that from Ian and was hard to kind of say goodbye. So I don't know if you heard any of that, but it's difficult stuff to listen to. You are nowhere near that point in your career, but I feel like that's something every fighter has to deal with at some point. Hopefully not every fighter, obviously. Has it other issues with his brain and everything. Everything's correctable. You just got to put the time in and the effort to heal things.

So I wish him the best of luck. He's a good dude. Yeah. Let's talk about you. I think the major question that everyone had when this fight was announced was, why David Branch? Why is Luke Rockhold fighting David Branch? He wasn't someone that was necessarily on the Rockhold radar.

How did you end up with David Branch? Really? What it comes down to is I can't wait anymore. I had the thought process of waiting for that fight in June, you know, it was Anderson Silva in Rio. He wouldn't take the fight. Then he moved on to Gaggard Musassi. Gagard Musassi couldn't get him to sign the fight.

I mean, I went to 205 to Shogun to try to get Verdum. I've tried to get everybody I could possibly think about to get a fight that really, you know, got me up. But no one would take a fight. And now we've come down to David Branch was the only guy in the top 10 that would take a fight. And, you know, from June, July to August, it's September, and it's time. It's just, it is time.

Are you okay with it? Does this fight excite you? Is this the kind of thing that gets you motivated? Are you at peace with this fight? How would you describe how you feel as you're less than, what, less than two months away now, a little over a month? I'm excited to fight. It's been too long.

I'm glad to get back in there and to show what I'm all about. Obviously, I've been out of the cage for a long time, and I'm not happy with the last fight I had. Obviously, I gave away, you know, I think I gave that fight away, and now it's time to go take it back. You just did a tour, right, like a PR tour last week in Pittsburgh? Correct? I stopped through Pittsburgh and did a few social outlets.

Why were you alone? Well, you could imagine. Branch is, I don't know, he's new to the game, and I don't think he's going to do much at this point. So I guess it's up to me to sell this fight. He's a tough guy. You know, I give him credit. He's going to show up.

He took the fight. He's going to step up. So we'll see, we'll see what's to come up, Branch. You know, come in the coming weeks. How, how, so he just, they just didn't ask him to come? They just said, you do this by yourself? I went to Australia by myself if they expect jockey

to sell tickets so I'm out there doing what I have to do whatever the circumstance I've always played ball I've always worked hard okay that's where I'm right so I'm assuming you're somewhat familiar

with Branch right I mean he has been accused of not being at times the most exciting fighter is there any concern that this won't turn into an exciting fight? I always bring the fight. I'm not worried about.

Branch is a good fighter. I think he just questions himself. You can't question yourself at this level. I'm going to eat him up. I'm going to push him to that breaking point, and he's going to feel the pressure. You can't keep up with me. You can't think you're going to do something.

You have to know. I see Branch. He questions himself. He's good everywhere. He's a third-degree black belt. He's a decent boxer. But there's questions in his head, and it's time for me to go, you know, make those a little more doubtful, you know, as the rounds go on. Last time you were on the program, you were obviously very upset, and you essentially asked all the middle weights to strike, to say, like, enough is enough, we need some clarity in the division.

Were you happy with the aftermath? Did anything come of that in your opinion, or did you feel like it was all for nod and you were left on an island? We have an interim champion, don't we? Yeah. I think a lot of the other ground and we had some momentum and then things changed for the better. But, you know, obviously things faded back a little bit. But it doesn't matter anymore. It's just just go fight. Everything will fall into place.

I just need to go out there and go whoops some ass and take back this division. Well, I'd love to know your reaction whenever you got the word on your phone, someone told you when you found out that they were going to, In the end, do Michael Bisping versus George St. Pierre, how did you react to that? After everything that's been said over the last few months? It obviously doesn't sit well. We'll see what happens. Nothing's official until it's official. We'll see.

You still think it won't happen? I know that I have a, I know. Hey, who knows at this point? George has been out for a long time. I can only control what's ahead of me. And that's September 16th, I'm going to go do my job and put myself in line. Okay. All right. So you still think if someone's buying tickets to New York to watch this fight, you know, not a sure thing in your mind. You've seen crazier things.

There'll be a fight. There'll be a fight in November. We just don't know who. Oh. You never know if it's George. Who knows George is going to make a fight at this stage in the game as all the things he's been through? You can't expect that he's going to show up to that date. His bodies might fail. His mind might fail. There's a lot of things in question. with George too. What a story, and I'm not rooting for this, but just what a story. You get through September 16th. That fights book, something happens.

Here comes Luke Rockhold on two weeks' notice. Could you imagine that after all this? September 16th is what I had. September 16th is my day. September 16th is it. All right, all right. Does it bother you that it's the same night as Canelo, Triple G? Do you feel like there won't be all that attention on you?

like I said timing wise I just I needed to fight and this works perfectly I chose this date I chose this this this I chose it you know I couldn't wait around I tried to get the big stage I tried to get the big fight yeah I was tired of waiting there's nothing nothing in August I wanted August and this is this and you know it is what it is I'm just going to go out there I'm going to show you know who I am and and everything will work out fine the the initial word was that they were trying to do you versus Gagher Musassi. Were you surprised, disappointed? How did you react when you heard that he ended up signing with Belator? Gaggard was a fight. You know, I was looking forward to. It was something I'd eyed him down since, you know,

dream and strike force. And, you know, it would have been a fun fight to have. But he chose otherwise. I'm not sure his, you know, intentions. Just on principle with the UFC or he's, you know, getting an easier paydays, whatever it is. good for him, go for it.

I'm focused on what's in front of me here and who I have on my plate. Did you watch the... I mean, Anderson, Gagard, everybody else, you know? Yeah. Vitor. I tried to get everything that made any bit of sense, and no one would step up and fight. Yowell wanted to delay and get a three-round fight as much as he could.

We all know his issues with fighting a real fight. Last week, UL Romero's manager, Malki Kow was on the program, and he mentioned the Romero Rockhold fight. It's a very quick clip. I just want to play it and have you react to it, if that's okay. Here's the clip. Luke Rockhold taking the other fight again instead of YOL kind of messed things up. That was in the works? Yeah.

I mean, they offered us Luke. We said absolutely. And Luke wanted it, September, whatever it was. And Yowel had a deep ankle sprain. He said, no, let's just do it in October. But apparently he wanted Yoel five, you know, for a five-round fight, you know what I mean, as fast as possible, and he wasn't 100% able to do it. We told him we'd take the fight, and we just asked him to wait a couple of weeks, and Luke said, no, he wanted David, but he wanted David Branch from the get-go. He didn't want to fight, Yowel.

Is that accurate? I wanted a fight. And, like I said, from delays, you know, I was ready to go. Yowel wanted to delay into a three-round fight. I mean, let's let's call it what it is. I was more than happy to fight you well. I would have loved the opportunity to end all the talk and show his mouth.

It's a fight I'd be all fine here shortly, I'm sure. In other words, you think that if the September 16th date was a three-round fight he would have taken it? Do you believe that? I think it would have played to his favor and his team's favor. I think they know where the strengths are. And, you know, I know where my are.

And a five-round fight, there's a reason why title fights are five rounds. It's a real-man's fight. It's a real fight. It's not, there's no if-ans or buts. There's no, you know, the likelihood of going to the judges and getting decisions is far less, you know, going to the wrong man. So I'm done forcing fights. I'm done, you know, giving away fights. I'm going to be tactical.

I'm going to be who I am. and I'm going to take back, you know, this division. Did you watch the Romero Whitaker fight, and if so, what did you make of it? Whitaker's performance, Romero's performance. Whitaker's a tough dude. You know, I thought he could do what he did. He put it on him. Yel all hung in there to some extent.

You know, he hit his block, you know, in the third and the fourth, but still push through. But, you know, Whitaker's a tough dude. I think it was a good side. stylistic matchup for him. He's there for a reason. He beat Jock Ray, he beat YOL. He's a viable opponent. But, you know,

I'm sure I'll find him too. Do you consider him the real midaway champion? I mean, I think he's the best. You know, right now, I think, I think he's probably the best out there, you know, other than that, of the two guys who have a belt, I'd say he's the better of the two.

I see you doing your thing on social media. You're doing all kinds of modeling still. You're in the Hamptons. You've got robes on and things like that. Was there ever a point where you thought the hell with all of this? I'm just not coming back. This life is too good. Not getting punched in the face.

Being pampered, photos taken of me. Or were you always planning on coming back? I'm a fighter. That's what I am. That's who I am. That's what I do. I'm not going to stray too far from that. But, you know, it's setting myself outside.

studying myself up outside the cage is crucial in this game. And getting pushed around by the heads of the UFC is not fun. And any leverage you can to combat that plays to your favor. So I encourage more people to do what they do. I'm not relying upon anything. You know, the UFC has. I'm a made man at this point. And the fighting is, you know, it's easy now.

It's fun and I don't have to rely on it. and I can fight, you know, when I want, how I want, and who I want. So, it is what it is. How would you characterize your relationship with them now? With the brass? I'm good. I'm good. Everything is fine right now, but, you know, we'll see.

We will see what they do, you know, at each stage in the game. Right now, you know, I've got a fight. I'm happy. I'm getting back in the cage. I'm going to do what I do, and we'll see what's to come next. Have you been told that if you win this fight? It's always going to say that again? I haven't been told anything.

Oh. But I haven't been told anything. I'm fine. I'm fine, and I'm going to go out. I'm going to let my performance speak for itself, and so we'll see. I know you were Caged Side, or relatively close to Caged Side, when Chris Weidman beat Calvin Gasselam. Were you impressed with his performance?

Do you think at some point you guys will meet again? For his sake, I hope not. Wyman looked better than I've seen him in a long time He's definitely He got something back together and we'll see I mean he did fight Kelvin Gaston and he did fight a 70 pounder so Yeah, we'll see Okay, see what's to come with him

He's got a long ways to go He's a bit delusional at times with the He just lost three in a row so For him to think he's the champion is pretty Pretty far from But he looked decent Okay You weren't overly impressed.

I said he looked good. He looked good. We'll see. We'll see what he bounces back and fights today. There's an intensity about you right now that is a little bit frightening, I must admit. Like I feel like you can't go through that screen and strangle me, but if you could, you would. I'm just ready to fight. You're like a caged animal.

I spent my leisure. I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. I'm ready to get in there and put it on this, dude. You're in Florida now, right? I'm starting things out. here. Okay. Just, you know, I think it's nice to get a change and to mix things up. Always keep growing and keep learning. Things are a little stale back home. I have some family

things and it's nice to get away from and just clear your head for a bit. So I'm going to start my camp out here and then maybe I'll bounce back to finish off. Okay, but that's not, there's a chance you may spend the whole camp there? I'm, you know, things are going well right now and then I'm checking back in with my people with Bob and Javier and, and, and, uh, everybody back at A.K. But, you know, we'll see it. I mean, who's around.

A lot of guys are injured right now. Keynes, you know, still injured. D.C. is obviously taking some time off. And some other guys, you know, are astray, I'd say. So my relationship here with Henry Hooft and the team is good. Everybody knows I've been training out here

for quite some time. Yeah. And there's a lot of good guys my size. So I got to do what's best for me right now. and, you know, Javier and Bob Cook and Cormier, they're always going to be in my corner. And so this is just, it is what it is right now. I'm training my ass off.

I'm trying to be the best I can be. Last thing for you, there's obviously a great amount of concern about your friend and training partner, Daniel Cormier. Have you talked to him since the fight? And is there anything you could say about just how he's feeling and, you know, handling the loss? He's sulking a bit, but, you know, his spirits are coming back. and I think he's got his family.

He's got everything going for him. So he's got, he's got, you know, he's got a lot of bright future with anything he wants to do. Cormby is a sharp guy with a lot of things going on. So we'll see, we'll see where it all falls. But I think he's, you know, like anything, that was a big stage. That was a big moment.

And it was a big fall. So give him, give him some time. He's got a big heart and he's got a lot of things going for him. So time heals all. Yes. Well said. Thank you, Luke. Good to have you back.

Welcome back. Good luck on September 16th. Wish you the best. And nice to talk to you again. This time, shirtless. It's always great to see you and those blue eyes. Are they blue or are they green? What are they?

Hazel? I don't know. Okay. You tell me. I'll leave it at that. Thank you. I like you thought. I like you, I hear you.

Thank you, Lou's from Florida. Appreciate it. There he is. Luke Rockhold, one of the top contend. in the middleweight division. He is back on September 16th. Okay, let us move along. I've been wanting to talk to our next guest for several weeks. He has intimate knowledge of what it's like to fight Floyd Mayweather. In fact, he was the last man to fight Floyd Mayweather. And I actually saw him on the LA stop of the World Tour, the first stop, and have admired his boxing skills

from afar for a very long time. So it is an honor to have one of the best in the game, Andre Berto, on the program right now. are you there? Yeah, I'm here. I'm here, I'm here. What's going on? Oh, and not much, my man. Thank you very much for the time.

I really appreciate it. There's so much to talk to you about, but is it accurate? You were at that L.A. stop, right? I think I saw you in the crowd. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was there. You know, just going to just support the event.

You know, I've known Connor for a while as well. So he's really just going just to support the event. And, you know, we just see all the, you know, see all the craziness. So when you say you are there to support the event, some people in the boxing industry were not in favor of this. Is it fair to say you are in favor of this fight? You're not offended by it?

No, I'm not offended by it. I mean, I understand it. I understand when it comes to the boxing purists. You know, I mean, they really see it as a joke or they just get a little offended by it to the fact that their sport, I mean, that our sport would be kind of dragged into and somewhat of a, of, like, a, like a WWE type of, you know, type of atmosphere.

You know, so I understand on that aspect. And plus, and plus just a fact of a guy like Floyd, you know, they feel some type of way, I believe, because of the last, the last big event that he had when it comes to the Packyard Fighter, it didn't really, it didn't really, you know, really go like everybody wanted to go. And it ain't just the fact that they probably see that this is kind of like another type spoof. Just make a lot of money.

So I understand. I understand what they're saying. And just the fact that he's fighting the MMA fighter. Yeah. But, you know, right now, here, his life and his career, right now, I believe that he really probably just doesn't have any much more to prove. So now it's just about getting the money. So if it makes money, it makes sense.

Okay. And how do you know Connor? You said that you've known him for quite some time. How do you know him? Yeah, I've known him for, I don't know, probably three or four years, probably three or five years now. You know, actually me and him were in a rehab, you know, together, I think probably like three or four years ago, right before he really popped off. you know he tore his ACL I think I believe it's ATL MCL and I was in rehab as well for for torn shoulders so we got a chance to see each other every day for Bobby about uh about seven eight months wow so uh you know that yeah so I got a chance to really uh you know just joke around just know each other man and just chop it up and and and and um you know and the and just relationship after rehab just continue just to just to

Yes, and stay solid, man. I was able to come and check them out. You know, for his upcoming UFC fights after that. We always stayed in touch. And then it was always a good situation. I am sure that you've been asked this question a million times, but you've never been asked on my show. So let me ask the most simple question out there.

Does Connor McGregor have a chance to beat Floyd Mayweather on August 26th? I mean, you know, I tell people all the time. I mean, you know, this is a fight game. We didn't think that happened. And at the same time, And I'm one of those guys that I really, you know, I see something in Connor for some reason. It's, of course, if you're thinking about skill-wise, you think about, you know, just boxing in general, and then you're fighting one of the best, you know, to ever do it in our era.

You know, boxers, you know, defensive fighters everywhere else around the board. But when it comes to Connor, and I tell people, I mean, you know, he's a star. Now, for some reason, he, you know, like under that pressure, under those, and under those lights, under that atmosphere, you know, he knows how to ride through the occasion. It doesn't matter what the situation is. Like, he's one of those special guys that really can thrive in these type of environments, man. And I just don't put nothing, I don't really put too much past to my mouth. I've been able to see and able to go to fuel his fights and really see how he really soaks up that atmosphere

and he gets energy from it where a lot of people really break down or a lot of people in a lot of them fold. You know, he gets energy from that, man, and he knows how to thrive. So, you know, like I said, you know, if it was a guy in the UFC or MMA that can do it, I believe he would be doing it for sure.

Wow. So you actually think he could do it? If there's a path to victory, do you see one for him? I've been told something like, okay, the first four rounds, he's so unconventional. You know, he just attacks differently. The first four rounds are his key in terms of trying to do the most damage. And then Floyd is going to start to pick up any tendencies that he has. Do you subscribe to that theory as well? Like he has to just throw the kitchen sink at him in the first four rounds

and do so in the most unconventional way possible? No, I believe that he has to, I believe, I mean, of course, the first three rounds are definitely going to be very important for him. Other thing with Connor, he's very awkward. You know, he's very elusive on what he does. You know, but at the same time, I did with somebody like Mayweather. You know, he's a professor in there. And he's going to be able to pick up on things very, very, very quickly.

And he's going to be able to adapt very, very, very quickly. You know, but Conno, like I said, I mean, he's not, you know, he's not a conventional, you know, know, he's not a conventional boxing, man. He really counts to file ways to find angles and trying to make things very awkward and very, you know, to the unconventional for his opponent. But as like you guys say,

I believe he's going to have to work that. He's going to have to work that early and put it into effect early. Or Floyd will pick up on it, and it probably will, you know, probably turn into a bad night for him. There's also a theory out there that Floyd has a lot of trouble with Southpaws.

South Falls. Of course he's 49 and no. I mean, we're talking about a few moments here. But do you think that the Southpaw has the best chance? And if so, why? I believe in a past. I believe in a past that was the case. You know, because he has shown, you know what I mean? Like trouble with South Paul's in the past. With Demetri's Chow Chauhawley and the few other fighters in the past. But it really seems like, you know, he's definitely, you know, working a lot of things where they doubt in. you know, when it comes to South Pauls in general, man. I mean, he looked very, very, very sharp, you know, against Robert Carrero.

He looked very, very sharp against Pacquiao. And Victor Ortiz, of course, he knocked Victor Ortiz out. I mean, I believe at the beginning, you know, he had a lot of difficulties when it come to South Falls, you know, Shaoambei Mitchell as well. But within the last couple years, man, I believe he's definitely down there. And, you know, he was able to really really work that. the Southport stands and really start picking that situation apart. So I don't think it's going to be as troublesome as everybody believes so.

You know, we have a tremendous right hand, and that's always a key weapon when dealing with the softball, you know, a lead right hand, left hook. And like I said, like he's shown that in Rao Guerrero fight, the Victor Ortiz fight, and the Paci-Yal fight. You know, he has the laser precision on that right-hand left. hook and being able to get out of the way. If someone asked you, what is it like fighting arguably the greatest of all time, arguably the greatest defensive boxer of all time?

Like what makes him so special? Like the frustration involved with fighting him, the uniqueness. What is it like actually being in the ring with Floyd Mayweather? You know, with Floyd, I believe the wrong way that a lot of people go or just fighters in general. I mean, my camp I have with him it was ridiculously intense like ridiculously intense

to a point that I was just ready just for just anything and just so and you know such an intense fight but Dylan with Floyd that's not what you're going to get you know you're going to get somebody

that's very very patient and it really knows how to slow the pace down and it's very aware that's one thing that I really really really notice being the fight with him and he was a very very, very, very aware of everything that was going on. Like, I mean, in, you know, almost like obsessively.

I mean, from knowing every position of their ring, movement-wise, to looking at the referee, to looking up at the clock three or four, you know, times around, just know how much time he has, to be able to look at the position of my hands, to, I mean, to sit, And then in between the rounds of the corners, just looking over his dad's shoulder, looking at me to see if I'm breathing, see if I'm breathing hard to throw in one punch and grab me, clenching, and taking deep breaths, you know, inside the clenches. I mean, everything is just, you know, it was really weird for me to see, to be able to see that.

He was very observant, very aware, and it almost feels like he almost consed yourself. out of every round. He doesn't waste energy that he doesn't want to. He just really wants to do enough to get those points or to win that round, and that's it. That's all he needs, and he's out. Wow. He does it every round.

It frustrates you because you're so, because you want an intense fight. You want to hit this guy. You want to make it feel like a fight. But he just calculates himself through, every round and it's just and it's weird it's very weird to to really being there with a guy like that and and at the same time throwing punches at him he's very slick you know how to make himself very small you know with his side angles and and the shoulder rolls and and with these and with these punches that you're missing you know you get to a point that you start feeling vulnerable

by throwing all these punches and you're missing and out of like your side peripheral vision you see that he's looking at you why he's throwing these punches. So you start feeling vulnerable like you're hanging out there. So it kind of makes you hold it all in a little bit. You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a different feeling for sure. This is fascinating insight. Wow, amazing. Have you been following this whole story with Pauli Malinagi? Yeah, yeah, you know, yeah. What is your take on this, Andre?

Because it seems like T. McGregor got annoyed that he started talking about the sparring sessions. And then they posted pictures. And Polly's upset. He said, this is unethical and he leaves the camp. Do you believe anyone broke a rule here? What is your take on this? This is crazy stuff. I mean, it's crazy, of course.

I mean, you know, I mean, you know, no fighter wants to get embarrassed. No fighter wants to. I mean, you know, when it comes to rules of, you know, boxing, I mean, we really don't try to speak too much on what's going on in, you know, in training camps, you know, when it comes to the sparring. I mean, we pay these small partners to come out here and, you know, and we kind of keep, you know, just try to keep everything in the house. You know, if it goes good or if it goes bad, you know, we want to be able to pay these guys to come and try to give us the best that they can for those eight to nine weeks. and just keep everything in the house. So, so, you know, but of course, in any, in every type of situation, you know, I mean, you know, I mean, just information goes out. And, and this is the type of situation, I believe, that they didn't really like each other from the start.

Yeah. So, you know, so I believe it was more of a fight than any type of sparring situation, try to help each other. but, you know, but just like a lot of information came out, and there's a lot of, you know, he says, she said, of course,

you know, it's probably felt better that went a different type of way, but of course, you know, Connor has the upper hand because he has, you know,

he has his guys in there taking pictures and, you know, he didn't make it look good. You know, it didn't look good on Polly's part at all. So,

but, but like I said, only, you know, only the people in there really knows what happened. I know right now, you're not, are you retired?

What would you, how would you characterize the state of your career right now? I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of just hanging out right now. Okay. You know, everything's going great, man. I've, you know, I've, I've, I've been part of this less than one percent that have able to, you know, accumulate, you know, you know, millions of dollars in this game, you know, from going to the Olympics to, to, to, to, you know, like to be in two or three-time world champions and fighting the best of our area.

I mean, you know, I had a nice ride, you know, so I believe right now at this point, of course I'm on the back end of everything, even though I'm still, you know, pretty good in age. Yeah, I'm on the back end, and I really just want to try to make the most of everything now. You know, if it's me getting back in the ring me and performing and trying to go after, you know, one more title before I hang it up. or if I decide to just leave it where it is, I believe, yeah, I mean, just either way, I mean, just everything will be good.

But like I said, we're just keeping the options open. Okay. And just see what's what. Anyone from, you know, since you have the knowledge of fighting, Mayweather, anyone from Connor's team reach out to you to gain any insight? You know, of course, I mean, like I said, we've been friends for a long time. So, of course, you know, I got calls in that aspect, but, you know, I kind of wanted to, I kind of wanted to kind of play the backseat.

I kind of wanted to play the backseat on it. You know, of course, I, I got my support, you know, what it comes down to it. But this whole situation, this is this kind of situation that I kind of wanted to, I kind of wanted to stay away from, you know, somewhat because, you know, it's always been. It's always been a rival between, you know, boxing and, in the whole MMA world and, you know, who's better. And, you know, we have more fans here. We have more fans there. So, you know, I believe, you know, like this boxing game in general, you know, it's a fraternity. And so even if a lot of people don't like Florida or whatever the case may be, we have to ride with, you know, with our sport.

You know, by the same time, you know, with a lot of support. support, you know, for Connor McGregor. Like I said, I spoke to him a few days ago as well. And it sounds like everything is going great, you know, over there on that side. So, you know, so I'm just going to be sitting back as a fan, man, really just looking forward to the match. So with that in mind, do you think it would be disastrous for boxing if Connor beat Floyd? It'll be, it'll be, it'll be, yeah, it's going to be tough.

a real tough pill to swallow for the boxing game. Especially, especially, you know, for one of our top, top guys. Probably one of the best in the game. I mean, I'd be a tremendous pill to swallow. Of course, like I said, we've been going back and forth with the whole MMA thing for a very long time, you know, boxing the MMA. And with this, if, you know, I mean, just if this were to be an upset, it'll definitely be a big blow to the boxing game, for sure.

Wow. For sure. Definitely, definitely. I mean, it's going to be a big blow to, to, by the Floyd's, you know, I mean, legacy as well. I mean, you know, just being undefeated and being able to, you know, let some guy, you know, upset you. And he's an MMA fighter. and he talks probably a little bit more shit than you talk you know I mean you know it's going to be tough for him to swallow

that word of happen but it would be a blow to the yeah I mean just to the it's to the boxing game in general I mean I love both you know I grew up with both of course you know I always grew up boxing but my family's always been heavy into the MMA you know my brother's sisters my father you know my father was in I think UFC 3 or something like that So I was able to, yeah, I was able to grow up with both, man. So I love, I just love just combat sports in general.

Yeah. Yeah, but if he takes the hell, there'll definitely be a huge, huge blow. Huge to the fight game, for sure. Your sister tried out for tough. Of course, we know Edson Burdo from your brother from Elite X. Were you ever offered to come over to MMA? Did anyone make a run at you? You know what?

You know what? I got off a few times. We talked about it a few times. And you know what? I actually, my last conversation, had with Dana White. One out of the last one, probably the one before that. You know, like I said, I've known, I've known Dana for a while.

And I asked and I said, hey, has there ever been somebody to win a world title and boxing? Like a real, a real sanctioning world title and boxing? And win the UFC title. He's like, no, never. I said, okay. I said, all right. I said, okay. I like challenges, man.

That might, I said, I might make a run. I don't know. We'll see. But, yeah, I definitely got a lot of, you know, people reached out and just, and just try to bring them my attention. That's because they know that I grew up with it. I grew up with a, you know, a house full of, you know, MMA fighters, grapplers, you know, I mean,

jih Tijuana, champions, wrestling champions. So we definitely have it. We definitely have it in the blood. And that's something that I've always, like I said, I told that in a while. If I was to even try to make that type of play, that's what I would probably go after. It would be the first fighter to win a legit boxing title and a UFC title. And you can ride on the sunset. Yeah.

By the way, what is Ed Sinberto doing these days, your brother? Edson, he is actually My dad has a huge In May School on the central Florida It's called Tiger's World Martial arts, so he's just pretty much He's running dad I mean, he kind of fell back a little bit

Because he had some kids He has some twins And he really is going to spend a lot more time With the family And he's really just managing You know, my dad's gym You know, right now And then just training fighters

And then you know Going through that whole field Okay. You mentioned that you've made a lot of money in the game, millions of dollars, things like that. Does it blow your mind how much more money a top boxer can make as opposed to a top MMA fighter? I mean, obviously, Connor is on a different level. But generally, I feel like the boxers are making still much more the upper echelon, you know? For sure, for sure. I mean, just to hear about it is, you know, it sounds kind of ridiculous. But like I said, yeah, I mean, that's the structure that they have over in New York. FC. You know, with us, you know,

in the fight game, maybe you're part of the top echelon. You know, of course, the money, the money,

you know, difference from boxing to the UFC is, is, is just such a tremendous leap, you know, but I think, you know,

but I think with this aspect, you know, what Connor, you know, Connor's doing, he's really, uh, he's really opening up doors,

man, he's really, uh, he's really, you know, I mean, just, trying to transcend the game

when it comes to making this type of money in the UFC. I mean, it's underheard of. I mean, he's already been breaking records left and right. You know, before this fight even went down, he's already been making a good amount of money, but to be

able to really take it to this level, you know, I don't think you're going to see anything like this. You know, just probably in a very, very long time. Especially in the UFC, you know, aspect. I guess they have different rules on how they

pay their fighters or whatever the case may be. And plus, like, UFC is, that's the UFC. It's really no other, there's really no other type of competition, you know, out there. So they really can kind of do whatever they want to do, you know. So they're giving these guys a huge platform, you know, in the MMA world, you know, so they can kind of structure the pay however they want to structure.

Right. Are you going to the fight? Uh, yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think I'm going. I've got to go and check it on out, man. I got to see the craginess. I got to see the, uh, see I got to see the circus, man. I mean, it's definitely going to be a circus.

It's going to be a great event, I believe. Of course, for the boxing purists, they may not be trying to, you know, to an end or come, but, but, you know, this situation is an event. And this situation is the event. It's going to be the boxing world, UFC world, just come together and collide. And they're going to be able to, you know, I mean, just root for their guys in different sports. They're going to have a lot of people come and smile and all over the world. And then, and you see how this right here plays out.

I mean, you know, I'm just seeing how it plays out, man. Like I said, anything that happened, you know, but it's going to be more about a huge event. You know, people can just see that's one of the best fighters in this sport. Just try to make it happen. Floyd said last week that he wanted to drop down the glove size to eight ounces. Do you think he's BSing here? Is this just classic Floyd trying to make some hype? No, man, I think, I mean, he's just fighting the eight ounces.

I mean, anything, you know, in the boxing world, anything 147 and lowers eight ounce of gloves. So, you know, that's never really been an issue. I mean, he's fought in eight houses, you know, most of his whole career. I mean, just any time that he went up and weighed, you know, he fought cold or some other guys like that, 154, you know, that's the registered, you know, 10 ounces. But, but no, I mean, an eight-ounce situation is, I don't believe there's no type of ploy or anything like that. I mean, I mean, he's far in eight ounces, you know, pretty much his whole career. So I don't think that'll be any more of a difference. I mean, it'll make them faster.

It'll make them a little bit quicker. But at the same time, you know, it's going to, you know, for Conner, if he lands one, it's going to be a lot more effective. Just before I let you go, I want to ask you, because I know that you tweeted about this over the weekend. Clarissa Shields look fantastic once again on Friday. And I feel like there's a bit of a women's revolution going on in boxing. We also saw Michaela Mayer debut on Friday.

And there's, you know, there's people like Katie Taylor. I mean, I just feel like for some reason now all of a sudden there's an influx of talented, promotable female fighters and promoters are finally getting behind them, the top ranks of the world, et cetera. Why do you think this is? Why is this happening now? And do you share that, you know, that sentiment as well? Do you feel like maybe, you know, Bob Aram talked about this last week, you know, the UFC kind of put out the blueprint with Ronda, maybe now all of a sudden the promoters are getting behind them and, and, you know, off we go. Do you feel like this is the beginning of something big with the female boxers? Yeah, I believe so.

I mean, I believe every couple of years we kind of have a wave. Yeah. Kind of have a wave of it. You know, but Clarissa, you know, she's a beast. She's a beast. She's something different. I believe that she is the perfect young fighter that I'll be able just to carry that. I believe the last time we really seen that type of hype or this type of

you know, female movement was, of course, you know, Lela Ali, but I believe one of the best to ever do it was, I mean, at the time was what's the name? Chrissy Martin. Yeah.

Christy Martin, she, she, you know what I mean? Like they built her up, you know, fighting on, you know, Mike Tyson's undercarts. And she was vicious. And she was somebody that everybody wanted to see. Everybody wanted to watch. I mean, she reminded us.

of a little Mike Tyson. She didn't take, yeah, she didn't take any remorse in there. And she wouldn't have just handled business. And if anyone of these girls are here now, they continue to perform at this high level, like Clarissa Shields. I believe that we can kind of bring that wave back. And, you know, get these people interested and get these promoters to really put this money behind these girls

to really push out there. I mean, you know, just like you said, the UFC really pull out the, the blueprint with Ronald Rousey and just turned her into a megastar and she continued

to perform she continued to perform and I believe just a lot of boxing game right now has the same capability okay and of course the big question

before I let you go is how does Andre Berto think this fight plays out what's the prediction what's the path how do you see it playing out drop us drop us with the knowledge

it's either it's either it's either it's either I see it going I see it going two different ways I see Connor coming in there really

really showing that vibrato showing that cockiness and showing that he's really here to fight and to and someone who I try to steal the stage from Floyd just with his antics.

And he kind of gets Floyd into a mind game situation. And, you know, it has him, you know, pulling to some type of mistakes and gets caught with a big shot and gets hurt. And he can stop him. Oh, whoa. Or I see, or I see Floyd not playing into any of these antics. and being who he is to stay poise and to stay and to stay sharp and use these boxing skills just to pick Connor apart and either lay rounds, you know, stop Connor from just the accumulation of shots and maybe cuts or just or just being just beat up or just out boxing for 12 rounds and just trying to make them and just trying to make them. look silly. Wait a second, Andre.

That's a lot of possibilities there. You've got to pick one. You can't sit on the fence here. That's three. That's too many. Three possibilities. I got to pick about three,

man. You can't pick one? No, I can't pick one. Like I said, it's a fight game. Anything happens. Like I said, it's either, you know,

Connor catches them early. You know, Casey's Murley finishes him or Floyd. It's going to outbox them. and just make them look silly and just try to embarrass him. Or like I said, or you can't just sit there and just fucking touch him all night and just try to build up just a rack of punches and beat him up

and swell his eyes up and get cuts, whatever the case may be. Because when you're in there those 12 rounds, you know, you feel those 12 rounds, but those 12 rounds aren't easy to just get through. And just by looking at pass, you know, We had the past performances by Connor when he fought Nate Diaz. He got a little winded after in four or five rounds. But like I said, but now it sounds like he has a tremendous, you know, team, you know, conditioning team. And, you know, it sounds like he's in tremendous shade bad.

So it might be a lot more exciting than everybody to believe it can, you know. And everybody believes it might go. So is it fair to say, though, that you don't subscribe to the theory that he won't land a punch and you don't think that it will be a dud like some other people? You feel like he will land punches? It could, though. It's a lot of different ways, man.

Like I said, people just don't know. I mean, like I said, one thing with Floyd is he's a master at hyping up a fight and not fighting. I mean, you know, hyping up the fight. Yes. And he's a master at slowing down the pace.

And so I tell people all the time, it's not even the fact that he's not fighting. he's a master at slowing down the pace. If it's somebody like myself, everybody knows that it's all action. A guy like Canelo, Paciow, and they notice when we've been in the ring with him, like the pace drops tremendously because he's a master at slowing down the pace. Master's slowing down the pace. You can have your mindset on what you want to do it.

To press him out and do that, do that, do this, do that. He's a master at slowing down the pace. You know what I mean? So when it comes to everybody else, of course, everybody would be bored just to see him move around and just look at you and just try to throw these little shots. But that's always his strategy. He doesn't care about anything else. Just coming out with the win, that's it. Even if he lands one to two punches per round, he's going to want to slow down that pace.

He's going to want to frustrate you and get out of each round winning that round. That's it. That's it. That's it. And, of course, with the fight game, you know, as, you know, We're supposed to be entertainers. I mean, right now, at this point in his career, he probably doesn't really care too much about that.

He wants to get paid, get his money, and get that out. So, you know, there's what it is. Man, what insight. Don't be surprised. All right. Well, I like that you're a realist, even though you didn't give us the official prediction. I appreciate this insight very much, Andre.

What a pleasure to have you on and to pick your brain for a little bit. It was really cool seeing you at the World Tour stop in L.A. I wish you the best. Thank you for the time today and enjoy the fight on August 26th. No problem, my man. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, there he is. Andre Berto. How about that? The last man to fight Floyd Mayweather. What knowledge, what insight. Great stuff. I didn't know he had that connection with Connor McGregor. By the way, thus far, there have been two episodes of All Access. They've aired on Showtime. They also are online. I was disappointed with the first episode. I thought the first episode was just a rehash of the world tour. And by the time it

aired, it kind of felt like, all right, I'm over the world tour. I don't want to relive this anymore. And the thing about All Access in 24-7, specifically in the past, has been like, we're picking up when the show airs. So like the week before the first episode. And this felt like a, I don't know, a little too much of a rehash. So first episode, I kind of just was like, eh, I've seen this. second episode was a lot more current in the moment, new stuff, and I suggest checking it out. It ends with Pauli and Malaghii coming to the gym, so a lot of suspense leading up to episode number three on Friday. By the way, I am going to Las Vegas Thursday morning to cover the media workouts on Thursday and Friday. Thursday is Floyd. Friday is Connor, so that should be interesting.

We'll have plenty of coverage for you over on MMFunding.com. For now, let's move along. very excited to talk to our next guest. It has been a while since we've had him on. News came out just a couple of weeks ago that he'll be making his featherweight debut on September 9th in beautiful Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,

UFC 215 against Jeremy Stevens. He is El Nino, Gilbert Melendez, and he joins us now on the phone. Gilbert, how are you? I'm doing great. Thanks for having, Mario. Pleasure. Great to have you on. By the way, just to wrap up the last conversation I had, Have you been following this whole

Connor, Polyma Anaji, sparring, drama? Have you been keeping up on that? Actually, I have. I was a little interested in it and actually intrigued in the whole scenario and how it went down. So, you know, I followed along. I heard him do an interview on Showtime,

and yeah, I did. It's pretty intriguing. I'm always interested in a fighter's take on this sort of thing because I feel like there's like a code in the gym. Like you don't talk about sparring and things like that? Do you feel like either man

broke that code with the interviews, the pictures? Do you feel like, I mean, Polly's talking about ethics and things like that, do you feel like this is just a bunch of hype leading up to the fight? Or do you feel like someone crossed the line? I think it's a little bit of both. I don't know about crossing lines. I think there is some sort of gym etiquette. And I think it's more outside the fighter's hands at this point. You know, I mean, you know, it's your camp and you want to kind of dictate what's going on.

But I know Connor's just focusing on kicking butt and winning a fight. I don't think he's really concerned with who's posting what pick or who's saying what. And, but also, you know, that might have rubbed off on Pauley the wrong way, how things were going, how sparring went. And I could see his perspective and how he's a little upset. But, you know, maybe some things are kind of a gray area. You know, do I want to talk about sparring or does sparring really count really matters as the fight? But, you know, I think it's going a little both ways there. Okay.

Andre Beirto was just on, and he said that, like, the boxing community is pulling for Floyd. I'm wondering, I mean, you have that connection to Nate. You've been there very close with Connor. Are you pulling for Connor? Or are you, I know you're an officianto of boxing. Like, where will your, A, will you watch and B, who will you be pulling for come August 26th? Yeah, A, you know, first, absolutely I want to watch them. Okay.

To me, this is super entertaining. You know, what I feel like is going to happen is Floyd's going to be successful and he's going to win. Yeah, I want to see an MMA guy do well, regardless of who it is. I want to see the MMA fighter. Am I cheering for Floyd? I wouldn't say no. Even though Connor is not trying to represent the MMA community, he kind of somewhat does.

And I want to see him be successful because I want to show that MMA guys can box and spar at the higher level. Do I feel like this is the right matchup for it? You know, talking about Polymogonaghanji and Connor, like that would have been more of an ideal boxing fight for us to really represent our boxing skills. It sounds like they went 12 rounds,

and if we could have saw that on TV, you know, Connor may have lost that 12 rounds, but it would have shown that MMA guys can really box with some of the great boxers. So do you feel at this point like, like, Connor, if he wins, it opens the door for someone like you? You've talked about wanting to box. Nate has talked, Nick's it.

Do you feel like, okay, if he does well and shows a weekend hang, who knows? Maybe I'll get some opportunities too. Yeah, absolutely. My biggest fear is, you know, like to me hanging is everyone's like, if Connor goes, Connor's going to go 12 rounds and probably get stuck in move, or Connor's going to last six and get knocked out.

If he goes six rounds of Floyd Mayweather, if he goes 12 rounds and loses every round of Floyd Mayweather, that is quite an accomplishment and pretty amazing to me. And I've sparred pro boxers, not nearly on the level as Floyd, but some high-level pro boxers, and they can make you feel out of place sometimes. You know what I mean?

And my biggest concern, my biggest concern is, you know, someone like Connor getting completely embarrassed and making all the boxers, all the MMA guys is not looking like we can box at all. This is a very tough task that he's taking on. So again, like I said, him versus Polly, you know, maybe Nate versus, you know, Chavez Jr.

These are fights, I think, you know, we can do well and win and really, you know, show our skills. Taking on the best fighter of our time, that's a tough task. And that could make us look worse than we are is with my biggest concern, you know. But am I cheering for Connor? Yeah, I'm on the MMA side. I like to see him do well. You know, I want to see a good fight.

I really don't care who wins, but I want to see an MMA. guy represent pretty well for the MMA community, whether he's representing us or not. Right, right, right. I appreciate that. Okay, so I'll talk about you. Why are you dropping down to 145? I'm dropping down to 145. I feel like, you know, guys are getting better at cutting weight. I don't feel like people are doing it unhealthy. I just think the sports evolving. There's better techniques to it. I used to be a 145, and I was doing just fine at 55 and, you know, guys just got bigger and stronger and a little bit more tough. And, you know, guys like, you know, I was fighting guys like Benson, you know, Frankie, and, I mean, I didn't fight Frankie, but Frankie's the guys at 55 before.

And, you know, I think I'm looking to reinvent myself, be a longer fighter there, and, you know, and do something different. These 55ers are big. I can't really push forward like to. I'm not scared to. I think at 45s I'll be longer and be able to impose my will more. And that's my goal there. So we're a little over a month away, like what? 33 days away from the fight.

Five weeks. Yeah. That's a five weeks. Yep. Like right now, what do you walk around at? You know, I woke up this morning at 160 pounds. Oh, wow. Wow.

Yeah, that put me a 14 pounds over, you know. But I've woken up bigger than that, and I fluctuate from, you know, I've seen myself as low as 57, and then I get back to its height of 170 pounds. You know what I mean? It could fluctuate with water and athletes. So it's happening. But I've also known I was going to go to this weight class. So it wasn't a gradual, hey, I'm eight weeks out.

Let me start cutting from 178 pounds. It was like, okay, I know I'm going to make this move. Let me get to within striking range. And let me get used to my body and acclimate. So I've been really getting used to my new body. And at first I lost a little strength and a little leverage. But now I found that leverage and strength. And I believe I've added some speed.

So five weeks before a lightweight fight, how much are you typically weighing? I think I, you know, like I said right now, I woke up, you know, 15 pounds over or, you know, 160, but, you know, I went to bed 164, that's 18, you know, I'd like to, you know, I'd like to, you know, that's not, I wake up at that every day. I don't wake up at that every day, I think within three weeks out, you know, you start dabbling a little closer, you know, I like to wake up, you know, anywhere between that 155 and 160, you know, I like to wake up, you know, anywhere between that 155 and 160. see from that, you know, three weeks out, you know, and then the one week out, I'm, you know, I'm looking to hover from that. Are you working with a nutritionist? You know, I've spoken with, um, with a dual-shed back in the past, and I picked up a lot of things from everyone, and, um, I work with some people, but not, no, I'm not working

with the nutrition day to day. Okay. And, um, and I feel like nutritionists are great, like I do my research, um, but the best nutritionist to me is someone who's there every day and day out making you your six small meals a day perfectly and right on time and to me it's been about you know the amount you put put in your body and the timing of it and uh and just organization and i feel like that's what i've done instead of just not eating or the old school ways you know um thus far i know we're still not quite at the point where you have to make the serious cut but like do you feel like your life has drastically changed

having to cut those 10 extra pounds or you're not really feeling it just yet um it's It's definitely a challenge going into it, but like I said, I've been prepping for this not for eight weeks, but for, you know, five, six months, it's been on my head, you know, so I've been changing my lifestyle, I've been changing my diet. And I like the fact that I have to go down because sometimes you can do a short, intense workout and call it a day. But now I'm doing short intense workouts, then you do an extra hour on the bike or some, you know, some extra hour of conditioning to bring those extra calories to put more in your body. So, you know, I'm an optimistic guy. I feel like this weight cut has been a challenge, but it's built me. mental toughness and has forced me to do more work. And, you know, and that's a better output for me. It'll translate better in my fight. You haven't fought the last time it was July of 2016, so a little over a year ago. Why were you out for so long? Well, I had an injury.

I had an injury and, you know, I had to, you know, go through, you know, a surgery and all that stuff and, and recover. You know, I wanted to bounce back in. I felt pretty good. You know, it was good to get my feet wet after the Barbosa. the fight, it didn't go out the way I wanted to, but I had a good time being in there, and I definitely know I can compete with the best, so I wanted to jump in, but unfortunately, I was injured, and, you know, I don't have much time left, so I want to make sure I'm 100% healthy, so I did the necessary steps to get better. So recovering from an injury is why

it was out for so long. Do you mind saying what was wrong? I mean, I'd rather just keep it out, but yeah, I put it out there. You know, I hurt my knee, and I had a hit, you know, and that was it. Okay. Okay. And so now you're like you're you're you're coming back after a year the barbosa fight was after a year Did you feel like ring rust? And we've heard from some guys Dominicru says it doesn't exist other fighters say it does exist Did you feel like it affected you in the Barbosa fight and are you worried at all that it will affect you again in this fight? Because it will be another year since you've been out.

Right. You know, I've been in this game for a long time. You know, I've been fighting since 2003. You know, I've fought many fights. It's part of my journey. You know, it's like, hey, injuries happen. BS happens, things happen, you know, it's hard to look at that ring rest, you know, because I've been fighting for so many years.

But I must say, my Barbosa fight, yeah, there was a couple moments there where I feel like I made some poor decisions, you know, and being more active. Obviously, you won't make those little slight decisions that, you know, just these micro decisions. You know, it's hard to elaborate now, but just little decisions where, oh, I should have not went for the takedown. Should they continue to do something, you know? But I don't feel that way. I feel like I'm prepared, and I had different goals at hand going into that fight,

and I have different goals coming out in this one. And I really believe with preparation comes confidence, and that's something I quote I've been going by for a long time, and I'm preparing, and I'm feeling pretty damn confident right now because I'm doing what I need to do to get ready. When you say that you have different goals going into this fight, how different, because I'm assuming you wanted to win that fight, you want to win this fight, so how could the goals be so different? Yeah, you know, I think Barbosa was a tough task and, you know, I came back from a layoff and some adversity. And I just wanted to make sure I came back and, you know, and prove I could bang.

And it was a tough thing to come, you know, to bounce back from and to go against a tough guy. I was, you know, I just wanted to get out there and prove I could still bang. And that was kind of more of the goal, you know. Okay. I still belong here. I'm fighting a tough guy, a top five guy that most people say no to. fight to. And a tough guy to fight, engage with and everything as well. And I wanted to jump on that challenge and just say yes. And that was that. But now, you know, I'm reevaluating and it's deeper

than that. You know, it's more than performing. It's winning and it's going out in great fashion and really just putting it all out there, you know. And, you know, so yeah, the goal is all to win, Ariel, but sometimes, you know, your mindset can just be a little different in the camp. Wow. I appreciate that honesty. That's really interesting. And the Stevens fight, do you like that fight? Were you happy when you were offered him? Hey, man, I do love that fight. You know, I feel like, you know, I've had some tough fights, you know, and I'm one in four

in the UFC, but I feel like I beat Benson Henderson. I feel like I beat Eddie Alvarez. And I may have lost those fights on scorecards, but I feel like I own the center of the octagon. You know, I stand there and bang, and guys who have beat me have usually outpointed me, not really beat my butt, you know, they stick and move or change their game plan. And, you know, and Jeremy Stevens isn't one of those guys. He's a guy who pushes forward and someone I've been asking for, someone who's not a run or someone who's not a, someone who's a bang or someone who's actually going to fight.

And then I got someone who's that guy. And he's someone I respect. I like his style. And I think it's a good recipe for mixed martial arts. And he's also a guy, I believe, would be more successful in a smaller cage as so would I. So I'm guessing this is not going to be a smaller cage, though, right? Because this is a big arena. No, I'm just saying our fighting style

and aren't sticking and movers, you know, but that's what I was kind of relating to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, but I think him and I have been on the end of some lofts, not because we got our butts kicked, but because guys have chosen to stick and move us because, you know, they'd rather not stay in the center and fight. Do you think about that Benson fight a lot?

I agree with you, by the way. I do think you won that fight in San Jose for the belt. It feels like it was so long ago now, but do you think about it? Like, do you feel like it nags at you that you were so close to being that, you know, two organization world champion? Does it nag me? I wouldn't say it nags me, but do I have a couple times where, you know, you just say like,

ah, shit, if that just went my way, you know, it would have been great. Life could have been a little different. Life would have been whatever. But, you know, I'm a blessed man, Ariel. I'm very optimistic and I got to roll with the punches. And, yes, things would have been great if I got that win. I feel like I win it, but it doesn't nag me, you know. it doesn't nag me, but I still am not scared to bring it up and say I truly believe I won that fight.

You also mentioned that you know that you don't have a ton of time left. Do you know how much time you have left in this game? You know, I'm rolling with the punches, you know, like my heart is in it and my mind's in it at times. You know, my biggest thing, I'll be real with it is my body. You know, I have, I have, I wear my scars. You know, I wear my scars. I've been, you know, separated shoulder, busting knees, broken hands, you know, broken, you know, broken, uh, collar bones, you know, intercost the muscles torn, you know, broken nose, you know, scars in my face, bashed in my head. I mean, you know, these are things that add up after a while. And as much as you want to push, I'm a pusher area. I like to work hard like your body tells you, like slow down, you know, slow down. And that's one thing I've been doing is trying to listen to my body. So, you know, I can still compete. The hard thing for me is, you know, to get ready for a fight is

to really push myself sometimes and bang my body up. And I know I'm trying to to alter that a little bit to be ready and not bang my body up. But back to the question is, you know, as long as my body lets me and as long as my mind is in it, you know, but I don't enjoy losing, you know, and I've lost a few fights and I really want to get back on track, you know. And I'm not getting knocked out though either. I'm not just getting demolished and paying, I'm not feeling up in a corner. I'm fighting, I'm banging, and I'm not feeling like I'm getting dominated in the sport. And still some of these matches I lose on the scorecards, I don't really go home feeling like a big loser.

Earlier in the show and just a couple of minutes left with Gilbert, I really appreciate the time. It's always great to talk to, Gilbert. We had Ian McCall on, and I have to admit, I mean, it was a pretty depressing conversation about his body and the state of his career and his brain and how he's feeling. And I'm just wanting you, you mentioned wearing your scars and things like that. Do you worry about that sort of thing?

You're a father, your husband. Now that we know a lot more about, you know, brain damage and CTE, you're very smart guy, you're doing the media stuff. Do you think about that a lot? Do you do you get worried about that? The lasting effects of being in this game since 2003? I'm quite aware of them. I don't have really time to worry about them or I don't have um I can't put that in my head at this moment. You know, um, you know, have I heard of it? Have I seen it? Um, when there's something down my Facebook feed or Twitter feed about it, I whiff right past it. I don't got time to think about that at this moment right now. I'm, you know, I fight for my family. I fight for my team and, you know,

I fight for my future. And, you know, that's one thing that I, maybe it's, yeah, it crosses my mind aerial, but it's something I have to, I have to put under right now. I can't put that kind of weakness in my head at this moment right now. Right now, you know, I'm going out there and I'm banging and I'm doing it because that's what I do. And, you know, but I will assess it all afterwards. And of course, if I start slurring my words, you know, you'll let me know. And I believe I'll step out when it's the right time. How is your wife doing? And does she have any fight plans?

I know she was supposed to fight not too long ago and that got scrapped. Is she planning on fighting again soon? Yeah, you know, she is. And I'm so proud of my wife, man. She was on fire. But like the fight game is, she, you know, she heard her ACL and we had to have an ACL surgery on her in her route for a little. So, you know, it's a big curveball because that was my retirement plan right there, Ariel. But I'm just kidding.

But, you know, I was, I feel really bad for her because she was on fire right there. And I really believe my wife is talented and getting her better in an MMA game. But as a striker, I believe she could bang with the best of them in that department. So I was really excited for her. But it's all right. You know, I think she still has more time. And we'll come back across to this, you know, when she's, when she's, She's helping.

Okay. And the ESPN stuff that's going well, you enjoy doing that? I don't know for like a fighter sometimes and you're in the midst of this sort of lull in your career. I don't know if it bothers you to do it. I'm sure you enjoy getting paid and being on TV, but is it a part of you that's like, I just want to get in there and get back on track and win. How do you wrestle with the fighter and the analyst? Yeah, I know.

Real simple. You know, you put your goals on paper. And my number one goal is to take care of my family, you know, and to take care of my wife and my daughter and my team and provide for everyone out here. So, you know, you got to assess it all. And I have to have plan B. Obviously, I make good money in fighting, but is it financial freedom? Heck no. So I've got to plant my seats for the future. I enjoy doing ESPN. I love doing it. I love kicking it with Chale, my boss Glenn out there, my boy's Nick, everybody out there. You know, it's fun working with them and just BSing about fighting and it's good to cut away and do it.

You know, but as it gets close to my fight, yeah, you know, I do wrestle sometimes with, with working and training, and I've got that all in order. You know, but I was out there for the Daniel Cormier one. That was six weeks out of my fight, but I worked that into my training schedule, and I plan for it. But I do. I love talking about fighting. I love being in the game.

You know, do I like the drama? Do I like talking about other things? No, but do I really like analyzing fights and talking about game plans and how to beat someone? and, you know, I really loved how Teddy Atlas used to do it for boxing and still does it for boxing. And, you know, I'd love to be ambassador for the sport because I think every guy who steps in the octagon or any cage is a warrior and putting it all in the line. And, yeah, so I really do enjoy doing that TV stuff. It's great. And you are great at it. Can I ask you two true or false questions before I let you go? I don't know. Can you? Let's see.

True or false? Nick Diaz will fight again. True. True, interesting. Do you know a little... I don't know if it'll be in a cage. I don't know if that guy will fight somewhere one day. Okay. And you're not referring to the streets.

I'm talking about like a sanctioned fight, a prize fight. I don't know. I'm not too much. Nate Diaz will fight again. True. Okay. True. I believe it.

I believe we're all fighters in us and it's a long journey. You know what I mean? I look, we look at guys like Mark Hunt, you know, Dan Henderson, and I, Sometimes I say MMA is like a, you know, like one of those girlfriends you break up with. You're, oh, I'm sorry, baby. Come back to me. You know, I'm sorry I left you and come back and you wrestle with it all the time.

It's definitely, it's tough on the mental. You lose sleep over it, fighting, you know, and you're done with it, and then you miss it and you want it. And, you know, and you want it. Not the fame, not whatever, just the challenge and just the goal. Are you seen John Bones Jones when he walked in there, just walking away in, just, you know, he just talked about the energy and just the, you know, just being around it all. it sometimes you know sometimes you crave it you know and I know people crave it less and less but uh you know we're young man it's a long journey it's you can never say never last one true or

false Gilbert Melendez will be a champion again true baby true yeah I believe it you pause there for a second I got worried that was that was the easiest one true baby true all right I love I love it I love it great to catch up Gilbert welcome back really looking forward to this fight and and I believe it's your first time fighting in the great country of Canada. So all Canadians are very excited about that. Right, that is your first time, right? That will be your first time? It is.

Yeah, it is. I've been to the great country of Canada plenty of times. I've seen Jake there fight there a few times. You know, I've been to Vancouver, Toronto. I've been to Edmonton before, and I love the people out there. It's great. I'm looking forward to it. We're looking forward to watching you compete again.

Really appreciate the insight, Gil. Keep it up. Good luck in training the last five months. And, of course, with the cut, and looking forward to seeing you out there in Edmonton. excellent thanks for having me all right there he is gilbert melendez unbelievable stuff wow remind me at the end of this show to tell you something about this show and how i feel about this particular show um the the the term keeping it real comes to mind but i have a lot more to say about this particular show and the experience of putting together this show remind me someone out

there to to tell you about it but for now let us move along to our next guest very looking forward, very much looking forward to having our next guest on. They call him no time. This is a new nickname. Most importantly, he is taking the light heavyweight division by storm, completely blowing through everyone. Eight months ago, he was not even close to being on the radar. Now, he's probably one win away from fighting for the belt. He's coming off an amazing win over Jimmy Manoa, what, nine days ago in Anaheim, California. He is Switzerland's own Volcan Usdemier.

And he joins us right now on the phone. Volkan, are you there? Yes, I'm here. How are you? Did I get it right? Usdemil. I'm trying to put in the French. Can you say your name?

Because I hear different variations of your last name. Volcan Uzdemeur. Ozdemier. Yes. That's better, right? Ozdemio. Perfect. All right.

It is great to have you on. Many people wanted to hear from you last week, and we're very upset that you weren't on, so I'm happy to have you. And I just saw that you tweeted a video, this no-time video with the times of your recent fights. Who's behind all of this? Your social media game has really gone up a level

over the past couple weeks. You're up to date because I just posted that like 15 minutes ago, right? Yes, yes. So I'm working really closely with my best friend, is my manager now also. And it's just communication, you know. It's all about the message you want to pass by, you know. So also because of the new nickname, you know,

and we wanted to make sure people, you know, people know, people know that I've been used to finish my fight really quickly. And I think I got seven wins within the first minute. So, yeah, it seems crazy when you look at that. And so, and I think you may have talked about this after the fight. So the new nickname is no-time. The old nickname used to be cousin, right? Why cousin, by the way?

Such a strange name. Yeah, really strange. I mean, that was a joke first. I was training in the gym in Swiss Germany. And they were like making fun of me because, you know, I was listening to rap music. We used the word cousin like you guys use bro. And I think it just started like that.

And some people were calling the strings. Some people were calling it. Everybody has a different nickname, but the problem is the shirt dog updated my nickname, and then after you never went away, and then I just skipped it, you know, all this time. Safe to say, though, that you prefer no time over cousin. Oh, really much, yes. And how did that, tell us the genesis of that nickname, because I love how it ties into where you're from, which is Switzerland. Yeah, I mean, first of all, my friend was starting using that after my,

tournament in Denmark. It was like a three-fighting one night and all these fights were like within one minute and that's how I got the new name first and after we just, you know, decided we need to change it because I get the 20 seconds wins on Misha and they were all talking to me, hey, you need to change that name, you know, and it suits me well because also from Switzerland is we are a country of watches. Right. And we're supposed to be on time, which I'm trying to make an effort about it, but mostly all the time on time. So, yeah. Do you have any watch sponsors hitting you up now?

I feel like this is a perfect thing for you. This is the, I mean, it's all coming off together right now. And we get options now, and hopefully the first picture I're going to do with the watch will be a nice. Wow. Okay. Is it fair to say that 2017, thus far, Volkan, has been the greatest year of your life? Yes, absolutely, yes.

I mean, it's just unbelievable. Look, I follow the sport very closely. I will admit, you know, this time last year, I did not know who you were. And now you're, like I said, one win maybe away from fighting for the belt. Have you taken a chance to step back and say, wow, I can't believe how much has happened to me this year and how quickly everything has happened? No, really, because, see, I'm just trying to move forward all the time after the mission. I was planning the same night to the Manwas fight

so we're already negotiating and now after that last fight I'm trying to get all Jones or Gustavson so I'm trying to be proactive now and you know I'm up to my new objective okay so you don't take any moment

to sit back and smell the roses no I don't want to get comfortable actually okay is that a feel like is that something that you used to do in the past or is like is there a reason why you won't allow yourself to at least kind of enjoy what's going on around you? No, I think that the problem is that in the past I wasn't fighting enough. I had too much breaking between fights and plus also, you know, there was always consolation and problem, injury and stuff like that. So I think now it's time

for me to do something about my life. So I want to create something big, something great. And and I think I should just go away. I want to fight one more time before the end of the years and I want to make a great fight again. And so right after the fight, I think it was last Monday, you put out something on Instagram saying, hey, Alex, let's do it for Europe,

let's have this fight. I've tried to reach out to Alex and his management team have heard absolutely nothing. What are you hearing? Is this possible? Is there a chance that you might fight him? I think that's the best match to do. I'm pretty sure he's not going to answer that

because him answering this will be, you know, like, acknowledging me and kind of accept the fight halfway. Because if you start talking about it, then he's like almost on, you know, it's going to be, you know, it's going to be, yeah, I mean, it's going to be on soon. But I think you want to focus on Jones because I'm a dangerous fight. I think there is not too much data on me and I got a big knockout power. and I think, you know, I fight kind of kind of the same style of Aitchist fighting, and he has a tough fight against AJ, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't want that fight.

Do you think that part of your success has been that, you know, when you look at you, it doesn't look like you have a lot of power. You're not a very intimidating presence, and that your opponents may be looking past you. Like, I feel like maybe in hindsight, Jimmy was looking past you, talking about David Hay and fighting for the belt and things like that. Do you feel like that has worked to your advantage? that you look unintimitating, that you don't look like a guy who's going to come out there and knock you out in seconds,

and thus people have their guard down and are susceptible to being knocked out? You're telling me I don't look big? I think you're tall, but I don't think that you are an imposing fellow. Like, you're not intimidating. I hope I didn't offend you. I haven't been lifting weights since the beginning of the year. So since I found out of the U.S. here, I wasn't lifting weight at all. and I saw that in my last two fights,

and I was talking with my strength conditioning coach that I wasn't using, and we started doing a little bit more weight right now, so I did like once or twice a week, with him for the past five weeks before the fight. So, of course, I didn't gain a lot of muscle, but I'm going to put some more muscle also for the future. But it's true, I mean, I got his natural knock of power, and I mean, it doesn't mean that, you know, you have big muscle and stuff.

It doesn't mean you know how to use your body. And I think I get that instinct. Is it something about teaming up with the guys in Florida? Something about, you know, just learning how to use your power the right way that has, you know, made everything come together for you? In the past, were you not doing that? I mean, you've only lost ones. But these knockouts against the creme de la creme at 205, this is on a whole other level. Do you feel like now you understand how to use your power?

I think, no, I don't think so. I think it's natural in people's body also. They know how to use it. But training here, you know, under a Henry Oofke's the great, you know, it's something, it wasn't the best thing that happened to me because I got a great coach, you know, you understand so much fighting. I was about to say striking, but you understand fighting, you know. So it's, it's.

nice. I'm really appreciative of the team we have here. It's a really good energy there. The story that I heard was that you were traveling in the Netherlands and then you went to the glory gym, the Golden Glory Gym, and you teamed up with Alistair Overim. You didn't really have aspirations of being a fighter, but he took a liking to you and kind of gave you confidence and told you that you should go out and try to pursue this. And that's when this journey of yours started as a fighter. Is that accurate? Yes, it was like really easy. We were training together and then I was about to leave. I spent four weeks there and I was to go back home and he told me just a simple question.

Like it also like, why don't you fight? And I was like, I don't know. I never thought about it. I wasn't really interested. And say, hey, let's, you should come back here. We can plan like a six-week training camp and then you're going to fight at the end of the camp and so just let me know when you want to come and then the the one month after I was back there and I was living with him and that really helped me because I was training like exactly the way he was training. He was getting ready for his K-1-5. I think he was fighting with Donyasky or something like that. And I mean that was that was amazing for me. I had my first fight. He was an amateur fight. I fought a guy who was way bigger than me because my opponent dropped off so the same day

they replaced me with somebody heavier that had no opponent to and I did a first round knockouts with a high kick and I mean the feeling at that moment was amazing you know I scream I yell like a volcano and finally I just explode boom and then everybody was cheering and I was okay I want to do that of my life and so if you never met Alistair if you never had that experience with him What do you think you would be doing now? Listen, my life is all about fighting right now. I mean, there's nothing else in my life. I cannot imagine doing nothing else.

So that will be pretty tough. But when I grew up, I wanted to be an historian. So I wanted to do something with the history. So I guess I will be an intellectual. Wow. Do you still plan on doing that? No, no. I know I've all the plan.

It's more like business stuff. Okay. But, you know, of course, I love to read and get informed. And when you went to that gym and when you met up with him, you weren't, you had no fights under your belt. You had no kind of martial arts history. You were completely raw? No, I was doing your karate when I was younger.

And then I had three, I did three jihitsu tournament and like a white belt. Okay. Yeah, I was just, you know, getting started, but I did that for pleasure, you know. And how did you end up there? Why did you even go to that gym? Because I went a year before, I went to Thailand just for doing holiday, and I wanted to have pleasure and sports. So I went in Thailand, and I was doing some Thai boxing. And I wanted to go back, but Thailand was too expensive for me at that time, and that's why I went to Netherlands.

Oh, okay. And do you live in Florida full time now, or do you go back home to Switzerland? So I'm starting going back home after my first winning UC, and before that I told myself, I'm not going to go back home until I made it. And after I won, I let myself go. I enjoy it three times. I spent two weeks there. I did a lot of promo stuff, and now I'm trying to go every time I fight.

I'll go there after the fight just to do some promotional work and some networking. And so have you been back since you beat Jimmy Manoa? No, because now it's summertime. So a lot of people are in vacation. So I'll go end of August. Oh, okay. What, I know you haven't been there, but what's the word that you're getting back home? I mean, I asked you this question before the fight, the kind of buzz that you have generated in Switzerland.

It's not so, you know, common to see someone in MMA from Switzerland, do some. So, well, after the win now, the high-profile win against, you know, a highly ranked opponent, what's it been like? Are you getting hit up by the media there? Are you being asked to do interviews? Do you feel like things have changed for you back home after the win over Jimmy Manoa? Yes, it changed a lot. It's only improving.

The mission fight was great also because it had a lot of live coverage because he was on the same time. And now it's also amazing. I got a few front page in the biggest newspaper. Wow. So that was good. You know, like front page. I got one front page last fight, and that was another front page. And I asked many times the front page in a sports section.

But being the front page also, it's amazing coming from our sports, you know. The only front page people that are going to be there is going to be like the soccer player or the tennis player. Nobody else will be covered. the newspaper. Yeah, yeah. I mean, so we're not talking front page of the sports. We're talking front page of the entire paper. Yes, yeah.

Wow. What's the name of the paper? It's like 20 minutes. Oh, again with the time. Yeah, right? Everything's about time there. Time and chocolates. We need to know what time is it.

If you walk down the street in Switzerland, you, Roger Federer, who makes a bigger crowd? Who's more popular right now? You are the king of tennis? It's me, of course. Okay, that's what I thought. That's what I thought. No, Federer is a legend.

I think it's the greatest thing to play of all the time. And he's amazing, too. So I really love it, though. Have you ever met him? No, I want to meet him. I have some friends who know the Stamichlaz, Vagrinke, is one of the other big tennis. player.

Yeah. And so we'll see. Maybe it's time first and then we'll see. Would you say that Roger Federer is the most famous athlete to ever come out of Switzerland or am I missing someone?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is that a dream of yours to become more famous, more successful than him? Do you think that that is attainable? I don't need to be more famous,

but I definitely want to be successful. Okay. More than him. More championships. More victories. Exactly. By the way, last week on the program, I had Anthony Johnson on, a man you know well you've trained with him. Do you think he's going to come back, by the way?

I don't know. He wasn't really clear that he was done with it. But during your C-14, he said, like, he will be interested in money fight. So I didn't really talk about it with him, but we'll see. I mean, you know, money can change your mind. So I asked him about you fighting John Jones And this is what he said And I appreciated his honesty

He said John is still in another level John man for sure That's just the reality of it John would win I know that But Fulcan is not a P Star Star Star Y He can take a lot of punishment

And he can keep going How do you do like How do you feel about that That he's saying okay You're not you're not gonna get pushed over You're gonna hang in there But at the end he would side with John How does that make you feel

as his friend and teammate? I think it's just keeping his fight or so on the line. Because I think that's also a big money. Fights for him is going to be a huge return. People are willing to see that fight. I want to see that fight. So I think that's also the reason why. But it's also that people don't really know until you show them.

And, you know, I believe in myself. And, I mean, a five years of five, you never know what's happening. But, you know, I always go in there and I give everything. I give my best. And I'm pretty confident that I have the abilities to knock everybody out. So this is another point for me. Don't Jones is a man like everybody else. So, yes, two hands, two legs and the same team.

So I will see. Did you watch his fight against D.C.? Yeah, I was backstage after the fight and I was enjoying the fight. Were you impressed with him? Do you feel like he's back to his old self? Do you think that he can get better?

How would you assess his performance? That was John Jones. That was John Jones. That was his style. He was doing his stuff. I didn't see no new weapons yet. Of course, he didn't probably display

everything. But yeah, the fight was, you know, dominated, but D.C. had some good momentum, too.

So, you know, I wasn't that impressed. You weren't that impressed. How come? Because the fight was great, of course, but I was really waiting to see John Jones,

you know, like being different. But D.C. is also one of the best sponsor-pound fighter ever. So, so also the fight was between two of the best,

guy in the entire world. So that's also why, I guess. And I really appreciate, I thought it was really nice that you posted something on Instagram about DC giving him his props. I thought that was very classy on your part. DC was able to tag him. Even his mouthpiece flew out at some point. I'm assuming you think that if you get your hands on him, you can knock out John Jones?

Yeah, you saw the appropriate I did. I think you're going to be a different power. just this stance is not made for striking. The way it stands is not going to be generating a lot of power in striking. So this is different. I got another style. I'm also in another style to jump, so when my punch land is going to be different. Are you hoping to fight again this year?

Absolutely, yes. Okay. If it's not Alex, if it's not John Jones, are you willing to fight someone else? Yes, but the thing is, right now the division is really blocked. I mean, Shogun is finding OSP, but that's going to be in September. Yeah. Then they need time off, I guess. Yeah.

So now they just sign Glover against Nica. Yeah. And that's going to be UFC Brazil, which I don't even remember when, the end of the year. Yeah, in October. Damn. This is Glover is step two. D.C. just come off lost, but he still doesn't remember one, point four pounds. So that might be good, but he's coming off of loss, you know. And who else?

Discussion is the only one coming up for a wing and highly, highly ranked. So just thinking strategy, I want to fight, but I'm just thinking strategy. You know, it's all about what you're going to... Because I want, my goal is to fight for the belt as soon as possible. So I don't want to take too much time doing something else, but I don't want to take time off also. So it's something we have to think about. Yeah, I actually thought that if you didn't get Gus to send that they were going to book you versus Glover Tashara. And I know he's...

Yeah, well, see, that too. Yeah, that was never offered to you? No, and that's crazy because Misha is number nine right now. Glover is number four. Right. So Misha is being awful loss at the number four And I'm, you know

So I was thinking at least I'm going to get Glover as the number four But I mean, yeah, it's going to be a great fight I want to see that fight I know Misha is still one of the best In the division I believe he deserves to be in the top five So I got it I got the fight

All right Any luck with getting you and Tizarro in the same room I want to see this I want to see the picture of you two together Any update on that? I want to see that too. Yeah, I mean, he wrote about me on Twitter after my fight. Oh, really? I'm going to try to connect with him.

Yeah, what do he say? They like my haircut. I guess you had the same haircut. Of all the things to compliment you on, it was your haircut, what about the win? Yeah, man, you know, because we both liked some pretty boy. Yeah, that's true. That is true. And so yeah, I just say

Switzerland flag and Vulcan and congratulations and and PS whatever like I love the earth, something like that. Was it Swiss Day recently or something? What do you say? Was it like a Switzerland holiday, like the Independence Day? August 1st.

August 1st, what is that? August 1st, yeah. That was the day when the country was created. Oh, wow. How did you celebrate? I went here with the barbecue address. I came off the plane from California. I landed here in Toronto, and I went to meet some sweet friends. We did just a barbecue and some fireworks.

All right. Well, you have been all about the fireworks, my friend. It's been really fun watching you rise in such a short amount of time in the UFC. Continued success to you. Congratulations on everything that's happened thus far this year. I mean, right now you're in the running. I don't know if you know this or think about these things or even care, but I would say you're in the running for fighter of the year.

It's amazing. Wins over OSP, Misha Sarkinov, now Jimmy Manua in a matter of seconds. One of the best stories of the year. And it's really been a lot of fun to watch you climb that ladder so quickly. So, Felicitation. Congratulations. Keep it up. And I'm looking forward to the next one, my friend.

Thank you so much, Ariel. Thank you for having me in the show, too. Yes, absolutely. And we'll talk to you again soon. All right, there he is. Volcan Ozdem. I think I got it. You have to have the French.

de Mir. What a story. All right. We appreciate his time very much. Let me take off my headphones, because the new thing that I'd like to do is when we have in studio guests, I'd like to take off the headphones so I can hear them clearly. And I'm so excited about our guests at this time. I do believe he's there. Is he there? I'm being blinded by the lights. Yes. Let us welcome in the one and only Paul Felder, the Irish dragon himself. There he is. Wow. I've seen him on TV. And now I see him in the flesh. This is so great. Great to be here, man. I'm good. How are you? I'm doing great. What a Thank you. I wanted to have you. You're not that far. Where are you in Philly? Yeah. So how long did it take, door to door? Two hours. But then I took a little walk from where the

megabus dropped me off. It took the bus and strolled in this beautiful weather here. Is it raining? Yeah, it's just on and off. It'll be really heavy and then stop and then start raining again. Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I mean, it's no Tuesday night contenders. But it's something. It's our little place. I like it. It's cozy, for sure. I appreciate it.

Diamond cup in there, just in case we... A little trink. Yes. ...do some growing kick action. Okay, we have so much to talk about. First thing's first. How did you get this gig with the Tuesday Night Contender Series? Well, I made it pretty clear early on that it was something I'd be interested in that I've always wanted to kind of do something between the acting world and the fighting world and commenting and working for the UFC was right there.

and they flew me out to LA. I had to audition. I had to actually call the Singapore fights in studio in L.A. live. So it was like seven in the morning for us. If not earlier. If not earlier, yeah, it was horrible. But I knew I had to do it.

And, you know, there was like 10 of us that were up for it. And I got the job. Wait, 10 of you were doing it at the same time? No, well, they were doing them like every week or every couple weeks for different fights. And we would call them as if we were actually doing the commentary. Like a stand-up in front of a green screen. And it was a pretty full-fledged audition.

And I flew out there, stayed one night, filmed it, flew back and finished camp. I was right in the middle of my camp for Stevie Ray. Did you consider not doing it because it was in the middle of the camp? For like one second. Okay. I thought about not doing it. And then I just, you know, I talked to family and friends.

And they were like, if you don't do this, this is going to be one of those things that after your fight, when the fight's over, you're going to look back and you're going to be like, man, you should have done that. You know, you're going to regret that. And thank God I did. I ended up getting the job. Yeah, so I don't regret it in hindsight

Did you reach out to them or did they reach out to you? Well, they reached out to me and they asked me to come out and do it. And I was like, all right. And I was going to go back to Philly that weekend anyway. So it was just like, well, I was going to take that weekend to go see family, see my baby. And then instead I flew out there, went back for one day to Philly and then back to Milwaukee for camp. Wow. I was exhausted.

And the first day back to camp was Monday sparring. So we got right into it. And who did you do the test call with? Like who was your play-by-play guy? Oh, I forget his name now, but he didn't end up getting it, but me and him still talk every now and that. He was a really cool dude. Yeah, it was like a bunch of guys that do a lot of like sports for different cities and different networks and stuff like that that some have done ESPN, some have done like he, the guy auditioned with did like strong man competitions and did like arena football announcing. One of these sort of general sports. Yeah, everybody had some kind of connection to sports and commentary or desk work and stuff like that.

Was this something that you always wanted to do? be a color analyst? I wouldn't say it was something I've always wanted to do before I got more into fighting and then I was like, well, I have a degree in acting and I like to be in front of the camera

I like, you know, performing. And now I have a bit of knowledge about the sport of MMA, so it kind of just all came together, really. And I was just going to ask you about that because you have auditioned, obviously. I mean, you've probably auditioned maybe more times than you fought, right?

I mean, you try out for a lot of things. Oh, yeah, 100% I've auditioned more times than I fought, yeah. That's a very nervous thing to do, right? It's a very anxious thing. Do you think that that experience helped you perform well in the audition for this gig? Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah, 100%. Because I've had, you know, I've been in front of cameras where you hit your mark, you do your scene, and they film you the whole time. Theater auditions are even worse in a lot of ways because, you know, there's more lines, there's more dialogue, you've got to do four or five different callbacks before you end up

getting a job and things like that. So, and just having done so much live theater, When I get up there and have to kind of just wing it or go for it, it's no big deal. And I was lucky to get the portion of the Singapore card that was the main card. So I kind of knew every fighter on there. So I was like, I don't even need to do all that much research. I thought that was one of their better cards of the year, like with RDA and, of course, Holly Home and Andreolofsky, Colby Covington against Daniel and Kim. So, I mean, it's like very, even if you're a casual fan, you know who these people are. And that's what we were talking about the whole buildup to it was that a lot of these fights on this card could, or not too long ago, would have been.

headlining especially dos anjo it's like this guy's former champ and now he's like third fight from the last on the main card

in Singapore so it's like it's crazy what is the vibe like at the gym so you've done it twice now right? Twice. To me it's somewhat

I've said this on the show it's a little unsettling that shot where they go to the back and they're sitting there and they're kind of waiting for their fate and you're like oh you get picked

and I can't imagine and you talk about nerves and things like that it's an intimate setting right? Yeah. What is the vibe like in there. It's probably different than it comes across on television. For you sitting there as a guy

who's established in the UFC now, what's it like for you? That's where it's really interesting, man, because these guys want it so bad. You know what I mean? And you forget that. Once you've been in for a little while, you try to always remind yourself of how, you know, happy you are or, you know, how much you want to try to get to the top of the UFC. But when you see these kids that are, I mean, beating the crap out of each other. Some of these fights are really living up to what Dana White wants this show to be. they're going at it. So you can feel the tension when these guys show up

into the locker rooms, man, they're chomping at a bit the whole time that they're there. The nerves are through the roof. You can almost feel the sweat coming off and before they even start warming up to get ready for their fights. And then when they win, it doesn't stop there.

It's like, okay, well, you won, congratulations, but that's not what you're here for. You're here for that contract. And then when all the winners are in that room, it's just, and they're talking to each other. But you know they're being friendly, but at the same time, They're like, I want this contract.

And then they're clapping when the other guy gets. Yeah, oh, okay, guys. They want a pun. They want to strangle that guy. Of course. And you ever see any of the guys afterwards? Like when you got there off there? I always go off to the guys that get the contracts.

And I just personally want to say, you know, especially because those guys really are the ones that ended up performing. What about the guys who don't get the contracts? How distraught are they? I've talked to a bunch of those guys, too. And they are. But a lot of times they know, well, he still walked out of there with a win. Especially guys that won and didn't get it. It's like, it's not the end of the world.

You just won. and you were on fight pass in front of all these UFC fans anyway. So your name's kind of out there. Just keep winning. And now the UFC 100% knows who you are. So if you can go on and start stringing wins together and keep impressing, last minute call, they're going to call you. That's what I tell all those guys.

Don't go talking trash on Twitter to the UFC because you didn't get a contract because they know who you are now. If they see that, you'll be the first one. They go, okay, you're done. Right. Has it exceeded your expectations? I think so. Yeah. I mean, there's only been a handful, maybe not even since I called it. So out of the 10 fights that I've called, there's only been a couple where they were okay fights. And normally those fights, I wouldn't even say were bad fights on any given night, on any UFC card. I'd just be like, okay, that guy won, no big deal. But for these guys, you know, we expect so much out of them because there is, you know, the potential to have a contract on the line. And that, yeah, they're living up to it, I think.

Did you do the shot O'Malley fight? Yeah. Man, that guy cracks me up. He was on the show afterwards. forget about the personality and his gimmick or whatever you want to call it he's a very exciting fighter I mean that fight was phenomenal his fights the legacy I really feel like spinning hook kick yeah he alone I think has validated the show

like if you can get one diamond in the rough like that yeah oh yeah then that's the you know and it's only it's only eight eight episodes right so yeah like you said you got that one guy and then the guy that we just got the other not the night I called it with the elbows he trains in in Jersey a lot but the guys at Nick Coutones,

I forget his name off the top of my head, but he killed it too. And I think he's fighting in Virginia. I think they already announced it. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Is it Marquez? I don't remember. But yeah, there's been a few.

And then the guys that lost, or the one guy that lost Ornette who fought Davis on the last Tuesday night, when the guy got split and believe. I was saying the whole night that I even think that kid almost deserves a contract just because of almost like a Forrest Griffin-Steven -Bondner situation,

where you needed two of those guys to make that fight go the way it did. And that one hurt me to see that kid not get signed. At first they were really pumping up like the snoop cast thing. Yeah. I feel like I want to urge people to start listening to you guys more. How do you feel about that, by the way? Like there's competition within the broadcast. I think it's fine because we chime in with them every now and then we have a little banter.

But I think it's just to keep anybody interested. The audience more broad because. When you got Snoop and your eye who are having more fun, you might get, you know, people that wouldn't even normally listen in to the UFC or watch the UFC are now like, oh, I want to hear Snoop. Right. Call these fights and be, you know, hilarious and ridiculous. And then they might want to, you know, switch over. But either way, they're still watching those fights. They're watching these guys.

I saw this interview. I know I Quinta spoke about it. Snoop apparently spoke to TMZ and he called the scene. I just saw that today. Now that I've done with that. There's no respect there. Come on. that. I mean, now I hate to say, I know you're Snoop Dog, but you are working for the UFC.

Yeah. Well, and I think you'll realize that. You imagine if you said that or Stan? Yeah, I'd be right. You'd be in a lot of trouble, man. But also, you wouldn't say that. Because you have respect for your fellow fighter. I know what a guy like DC and I don't know what he's going through on that level, but as a fighter, I know what it's like to really, you know, train your butt off and want to win a fight and then just meet that guy that you can't get past. It's, it's, yeah. I mean, I've cried after fights. I've been there. So I mean, anybody that's been through an ordeal,

like a fist fight in front of thousands and millions of people understands that it's, I mean, people start, if you ever had a street fight as a kid, half the time kids are punching each other with tears coming out of their eyes. It's an emotional experience. It blows my mind that people aren't, like, that people are surprised that you guys get emotional. Like, there's so much that goes into this. You were literally planning for months and months and months for 15 minutes.

To meet this one guy that you've been thinking about for two or three months. Yeah, it's horrible. And then it all comes out. And then if it doesn't go your way, it's devastating. You know? And I just sometimes I'll be like, oh, I wonder what's going on. You know, I wonder, you know, social media. And like, I just, it blows my mind that people actually will go and write to you and be like,

you're a bum and things like that. Oh, man. How do you handle that? It's hard because you want to write back to every one of these idiots that. Yeah. You want to. But that's all they want. That's all they want is, oh, so-and-so respond to me.

If it was Cormier, for instance, oh, man, DC response. to me called me an asshole it's like well it doesn't it doesn't help the situation but man you just want to if you could jump through the computer and just strangle some of these guys and they're in their mom's basements they're they don't have any lives and if they do they're even sadder right because at least if you don't have a life and you're sitting in their basement doing this yeah okay you have nothing better to do but if you have a real job and you're not a fighter and you go on and call somebody a crybaby or whatever or a bomb it's like what that's why you see some of these fighters like I know car brand and castillo were calling that one dude to come to the gym you yeah yeah you kind of can't

blame them at a certain point it's like all right just show up then yeah yeah yeah just show up and see how tough you are the best is like you see a guy with like two kids and he's like proud dad christian like and then he's writing that stuff yeah yeah yeah yeah you have a daughter yeah what do you just said all this stuff to me what kind of yeah it's infuriating for sure so how would paul feldor describe 2017 because i feel like you've had some massive highs with the job now yeah the win in Scotland, you're on a roll, change camps, but you also suffered, you know, a great personal loss. I mean, it's a roller coaster, right? It's been a, it's been a crazy year because, I mean, everything with my dad, but at the same

time, I had just had one of my biggest wins in Canada when I had that up elbow knockout, but then he's sick, and not soon after that, he passed away, so it was, it was crazy. And right when he passed away, I just signed the contract to fight Stevie. So it was like, for a little bit there, I almost wanted to be like maybe Glasgow's not going to happen. Maybe we should, and it just pushed through it. And, you know, we're just trying to do it for him now at this point. I just try to, it's, I know I said this before, you know, right after the fight that it still doesn't even feel real. And it still doesn't because I'm doing so much with the Condender Series and flying all over the place that it's, some things will trigger it every now and then I'll hear a song or something.

And I'm like, oh, man, you know, it's, I go to visit a visit. my mom and it's like you forget that he's even you know it's almost like he's just not there for a while and then it slowly starts to to sink in that were you guys close yeah very close yeah oh yeah I'm close with with my mom and my dad yeah I was um you know go home and visit at least once or twice a week bring the baby out there so she you know my mom only lives like 20 minutes from where I live now so it's not like it's yeah an adventure to go and visit my parents so I would see them all the time we would have macaroni and cheese after every fight. So when I got back from the airport,

I'd go out to my mom and dads and they would cook like homemade baked macaroni and cheese. So this was the first fight where my mom had to try to make the macaroni and cheese. He did a good job. He did a good job. Usually your dad was the one, man. Yeah, he was the cook.

He was the cook. He's the one that got me in the Food Network, which is why I torture myself and watch cooking shows nonstop when I'm cutting weight and all that stuff. Bobby Flay. And so many guys do it, right? Yeah, yeah. Dustin Borgier famously did in that.

that documentary about it. He's sitting there watching. I do the same exact thing. Really? Yeah. Why? I don't know what it is. It's just like you can't have it. So I just, I kind of almost get by by seeing people cook it or, but I'm not one of those people that likes it too much when somebody in front of me eats it. Okay. Because if it's there where I can almost get it, then it's like, all right, maybe. It's a little too close. Then there's, then there's some restraint that has to come in. So when you're cutting weight, all you're watching, it's, it's, the guys in the gym joke by because if this is the gym at rufusport, my room kind of opens up into this little back

office that got turned into my little apartment. And you can see my TV on the wall. And the guys joke around all the time because I'll leave it on sometimes with the door open. And there's the Food Network, Cupcake Wars or, you know, donut throwdown or whatever. What did you watch in Scotland? Were there cooking shows? There was. We were watching a Food Network and theirs was different. I remember there was shows that we don't have over here in the States and they weren't as good. I wasn't impressed with the show is over. The variety. TV over there sucked.

I couldn't find anything to watch. Going back to your dad for a second, how long did he have? He got diagnosed right before I fought Darren Crookshank. Okay. When I first found out. I remember we did an interview about it then. So a year and a half, I think pretty much. So that was January, that fight was January of 2016.

Yeah, so January to January was a year. Okay. And then he passed away. in May. Okay. And was there a point where you thought that he'd be able to... There was like maybe a month where they said the tumor shrunk and his cancer levels were lower. And then I'd say, I'd have to ask my mom, maybe a few weeks later, he got a really bad stomach infection in like the lining of his stomach. And from then on, it was just, that was it. It was just one thing after the other. And then he couldn't do chemo because he was in the hospital for

this, this, or this. And he was having all these. surgeries to fix his stomach. Then he started getting fluid in his stomach, fluid in his lungs, fluid around his heart. And he just had all these tubes. Anybody's had somebody that's had at least pancreatic cancer. It's just, it's never the pancreatic cancer that kills you. It's everything else that kind of just swarms you. I think cancer in general is like that a lot. It's just your immune system and the chemo doesn't really help any of that. A part of me almost wishes he would have never done any of it. And he said, all right, let's have as much fun and see the family for what three to six months and then because the way he

went out it was just oh man i don't i don't wish that on anybody seeing somebody go through that terrible he passed the week before you went to milwaukee right well i had to go to Vegas so he passed away oh for the retreat went to the retreat oh wow came back she was after yeah okay spent and that actually because we had his services and everything so it wasn't like right after he passed away. So I had a week with the family preparing for his, it wasn't a full funeral. He was cremated. So we had like a nice big viewing at a funeral home and everything like that. And then I went to Vegas and then I came back, spent like five days with the family and then camp. Did you consider canceling the fight?

Yeah, for a little bit, I just thought maybe postpone it a little longer. So maybe not Glasgow, maybe a month later. And I just knew I wouldn't get that fight with Stevie Ray. I knew it was going to be a big fight. so I was like man if I do this even though I had the circumstances to do it I didn't want anybody thinking anything of me so I was like you know what it'll help me keep my mind on something else other than

him passing away so what was it like doing that camp so soon after I think it was it was good for me because I got to kind of just have you ever been the roof of sport have ever been in there gym have I? It's like down in the basement yeah I'm walking in the middle of it so many times

with like the punk series and all that. So you've seen the yellow and black and all that. Of course. But when everybody's gone, that whole place was mine. I lived down there. So I would have a lot of days where I would, especially Saturdays and Sundays after classes where I could just sit on the mats,

listen to music and think about everything and kind of process it all on my own as opposed to if I was home, I would have not love my family, love all my aunts, uncles and everything, but they would have been around to the point where I was like, okay, I don't, you know what I mean? I mean, I don't need that to deal with my dad's death.

You know what I mean? I think being on my own and training my ass off and Duke, you know, his mom, during camp, his mom passed away of cancer. So me and him kind of really, I think, bonded on an even stronger level for that. And he would just be able to say the right thing to me during pads or sparring that would get me like, you know, really, really pumped up, especially right before the fight, you know, whispering in my ear. You know, this is for your father, go out there. Wow. He's with you.

Yeah, he gives you chills, right? Yeah. You walked out with his ashes, right? Yeah, I got him on here, too. Wow. They're in this little thing here, and this is even his, he had this, like, before me and my brothers were even born. What is that? It's like a Jesus head.

Oh, wow. And not really religious, but, you know, he had that from when he was probably in his 20s. Wow. So walking out with him around your neck? What was that like? It really helped, and I got to take it off and hand it to my brother. brother was in my corner. And he doesn't, he's not a fighter.

He's just been a big fan and supporter of mine since I started. Help me out when I was up and coming when I was making, you know, no money bouncing on the weekends. I lived with him for like three, three years, maybe a little longer. And so that, that was just like a reminder that, you know. And he was so, he was so nervous, man. He tried to keep it together backstage, but I'd look over at him. And I'm the one fighting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd be like, you good? Are you okay? What's he doing? He's just sitting there. I can see him get a little red, and he's trying to, he doesn't know what to do with himself. And he's never been in a locker room before a fight. He never cornered you before?

No. Wow. So why'd you bring him for this fight? Just to be for family. Wow. And it was in Scotland, and he was going to be there anyway because he was going to go. Okay. So it was like, well, I've got Duke and I had my teammate and training partner who was a Southball, just like Steve, Craig Eckleberg, who's a fighter.

So it was like, well, I have everything I need advice and coaching-wise. I don't really need it. You don't always need a third or fourth guy. That's usually just, if you can get it, okay, but I wasn't flying anybody extra just to have somebody extra there. Do you know what I mean? I already paid for the people I needed to be there, and my brother was going to be there anyway,

so I was like, you want the job? And it worked out. What was his reaction when you offered it to him to be in your corner? He was, he immediately said, yeah, that would be. But he was also like, do what you have to do. So he was definitely not like, yeah, yeah, yeah, let me do it. You know what I mean? He wanted to make sure.

We were going to have everybody we need first and foremost. And we did. I mean, I had my sparring partner who'd been my guy the whole eight weeks, and I had Duke. I mean, really, I could do it all with just Duke there, to be honest. But it helped have a grappler, too, with me, because we knew Stevie was going to try to shoot. So he loved it, man. Did he, in the locker room, whatever, did he say anything, you know, like, was he trying to be a coach, or was he just kind of staying back? And I told him, I said, don't feel like you need to do anything.

As a matter of fact, I was like, don't, don't do anything. You know what I mean? If Duke says, hey, Tommy, say something or yell this to get him motivated. Then I was like, then you do whatever Duke says. It's pretty much what I told him. And he didn't need to really be there that long in the end for the fight. But backstage, you know, I just kept checking in on him. And he kept out of the way and watched.

And I think it was a really cool experience because he's seen me fight every single fight and then to finally see what goes on, what goes into the warm-ups. and just the nerves and guys going out, coming back, beat up, and guys coming back off a win, like when some of the guys came back losing, you can tell it starts the freaking mal, like, well, maybe this whole locker room is going to lose tonight. And it's just, you know, you learn that that stuff's got to just let everything kind of ride off you a little bit. So now that you did so well with him in your corner, is he going to be a fixture?

That's what we were talking about. He's like, I'd love to do another one. I'm like, well, we'll see. You know what I mean? We'll see. We'll see. Maybe you're a good luck charm. You tweet it.

I don't remember off the top of my head, but you said something like, I'm going out there into enemy territory for you, Dad. When did you tweet that? Were you in the locker room or were you back in the hotel? I think that was in the hotel. Okay. Yeah, it might have been on the bus ride

or right before we left for the arena. And it was, man. You know, everybody that whole week was really nice. Okay. And coming up to me and getting pictures and getting autographs. And I'm like, man, this isn't that bad. And my teammate Craig was like,

yo he's like don't don't let any of that get to your head he's like we make that walk on sunday night yeah those people are going to boo you and they're going to scream for yeah and i was like all right yeah you're right and man unless you were in that arena watching it on tv does it no justice sure sure it was loud i mean i've never brazil with chernaldo nowhere near as as in as intense as it was in in scotland yeah those Scottish fans are incredible. Man. And then, you know, I won them over when I gave the speech and I, you know, gave respect to Scotland.

And they were great in a hotel afterwards and everybody was, like, violent or aggressive towards me. Everybody was like, you earned our respect. You know, you came in, you beat our guy. And you were, you weren't an ass about it, you know what I mean? And what a performance? Holy smokes. Would you say that was your best performance in the UFC? Yeah, I think so.

I think that or was a one way. Did you do anything wrong? Did you do anything that you didn't like? I mean, it was the finish. I did get punched in the face. I don't even think people will realize that when you watch it again, I ate a left hand early, but it didn't catch me where it really rocked me or anything like that. But that would be pretty much it.

Yeah, I mean, we deed him up on the fence, which is something we knew we were going to have to do. We trained for that. And we did what I like to do, which is when we're in close. We land elbows, we land knees, and then he let me control his head for just one second, and I felt it. And that's when I threw it. It was literally one second that I felt him kind of. to just accept the position. And as soon as you accept that clinch position,

it can be lights out. And it worked out. Yeah, man, those elbows, holy smokes. I felt them watching them. Yeah, I, you know, and that was one of those things. I didn't realize how hard they were until I saw the replay. Oh, really? My whole body is like going into it.

Yes. And they were like tied in on them. Yeah. Camera. Yeah, it was right. You can hear his head and getting off the canvas and everything like that. So that was a big fight for him, too. I mean, it's a big fight for all of you, but he rolled the dice.

That was a big risk. And everybody kept asking me about it leading up to it. I didn't want to talk about it because I didn't want to think because it's pressure for him. But then that transfers over to me too because I know that he's extra motivated to get a new contract and get a better deal. So I'm thinking like I can't think about that kind of stuff. I'm sure they'll make him an offer. I don't know what they'll offer him now coming off a loss. But I've been there.

When I lost to Trinaldo, that was it wasn't my final fight. It was the fight before my last one where he needs. when you can usually renegotiate. And I did. I took what they offered. I want to stay with them. I didn't want to test the free agency because I knew it could be worse.

I was like, well, let me just string together a few wins and here we are. So it's definitely following the plan that we want to for this. How many left? Technically two. So hopefully just one more and then talk to the guys. And hopefully we can get another big win

and talk to that money. Yeah. You know? So it used to be a mainstay in this sort of region, the New Jersey, you were traveling a lot with Mark Henry and those guys. guys, Coton, Frank Yeager, Eddie Alvarez, and things like that.

When did you leave? After Trinaldo fight, I was still training with those guys here and there. And my management was like, look, I really want you to focus somewhere where you have a head coach that can focus on you full time. Nick was my head coach at that time. And Nick is the man. I love Nick. But I was traveling to him and he's got his gym. So it wasn't like he could meet me and work with me here and there.

So I was only really seeing Nick two or three times a week and then hitting pads this day, wrestling at this spot this day. I was getting all good work, but it was here, go here, go here, go here. And my manager, Butler, was like, all right, let's go out there for a week and see what you think.

If you want to go back and do your training camp back home, okay. Go to Rufus. Yeah, so I bought a one-way ticket, and I was like, okay, if I don't like it, I'll buy a ticket back. If I like it, I'll stay. So I brought all my stuff as if I was going to stay. But I was still like, a long conversation with Duke. I liked his attitude. I liked him as a person and a martial

artist, but I was like, what if I don't jail with the guys? What if they're like, who's this guy coming in? You know, there's already Anthony there. There's Eric Koch there. Guys in my weight class. But it was the exact opposite, man. They were happy that they had another guy at their weight. They took me in. And after a week, I was like, all right, I'm staying for the whole seven weeks. And I did the whole camp there. And we were supposed to fight in Brooklyn. And then I had an extra week because we moved back a week to Canada. Yeah. So yeah, that's kind of how it went down and then.

So this was your second. Second full camp with those. And why'd you pick them? Well, we had talked about a few options. One was going out to Hawaii and trying to train with Max. And I was like, man, that's really far. Yeah, yeah. I love Max.

His team's amazing. Those guys are great. That's far. Hawaii? Yeah. And he was like, you know what? Yeah. And he was like, I'm pretty tight with Duke.

Let me talk to him. And Duke was like, I love it. We were just starting to, about putting an apartment in the back of the gym. Okay. And I was like, perfect. I mean, I talked to him for an hour, and then that was that. And there was one other spot in Chicago, Kern's gym.

They wanted me to check out, too. But I went to Duke's first, and I never left. And so the story is, as you said, you live in the gym. In the gym. Why? Well, for the first one, it was just all so sudden. I mean, I got asked to go there a week before I started training camp. I was going to do my camp right in Jersey and Philly and

normal thing and stick to the same stuff. And he's like, just please do, trust me, go here, check it out. And I was like, where am I going to stay? Like, what am I going to do? I'm going to rent an apartment for eight weeks and I'm going to do that on a week's notice. It's going to be tough to even find something for that long of a period of time. He's like, no, he's got an apartment right there. And they kind of lied to me.

When I got there, Duke's like, all right, hang out, just put your stuff right here. They didn't even have a futon in the room yet. Oh, my gosh. So when I got there on Monday, the futon guy came in, delivered the futon. So over the first week, it was just a futon. There was no TV. There was no refrigerator. I had a hot plate of frying pan.

I went and bought groceries. The kitchen, there's a kitchen in the gym, thank God. So there was like a place to keep food and stuff. Yeah. But, man, that first week was as bare bones as you can get for a living situation. Did you consider leaving? No. I was like, well, let's, I can deal with it.

For me, it does. I'm crazy, man. If you ask, like, Cowboy and them when I trained to those guys, he thought I was a maniac because I wanted to train. Cowboy thought you were a maniac. Because I want to train too much. Oh, okay. Whereas he wants to be on the lake, drinking Budweiser's and doing his thing.

So, yeah, I mean, it worked out for me. I like to, when I'm in camp, you know, I'm focused. I don't drink. I don't do anything. So for me being the mental case that I am, and I like a routine when I'm in training camp. I like the schedule at Dukes. It's this, this, this, this.

and this, two, three times a day, every day, except for Sunday. And I know what my schedule is. I know who my coaches are, and I know who the guys in class are going to be. So it's like the consistency was just brilliant. I loved it. So you went from traveling all over the place. To literally walking out. It would be as if this was the door.

I'd walk out there, be a desk, I'd walk around the desk, and I'm on the mats. Wow. Yeah. What a luxury. It's great, man. But, I mean, just you didn't want that mental separation. you didn't want to be like, you know, almost like working at home. Get away.

Yeah. Go into a place and show up. For me, that was, I'd go for a walk. There's a bunch of cafes down the street and I'd go sit in a cafe for a few hours and, you know, FaceTime back home and stuff like that. And that's, yeah. But I don't live there full year round. So you know what I mean? So for the, if I was, if I lived in Milwaukee, I could not live in the gym.

Of course. Because then it would be way overwhelming. But since I get to come and go for camp, I think it helps. They kind of be like, all right, now you're ready. for war. This is what we do when we're getting ready for battle. You know what I mean? You live here. You don't have your family around. You don't have your daughter. You don't have a girlfriend.

You don't have any of it. You're getting ready to kick somebody's ass. Is the room, I mean, I don't know. It's not this big, but it would be like... It's smaller than this? Oh, yeah. What? Oh, yeah. I wish I had pictures for you, man. I'll have to send you some pictures of the room. I'll have Duke.

And is it clean? Yeah, I mean, well, I make it a mess. Sure, sure. But, I mean, they, you know, they clean. Well, it's a gym. kind of has a smell, right? I mean, the best gyms. I stink, too.

Oh, okay. I'm in camp. There's dirty laundry everywhere, and people back home can tell you I'm not exactly the neatest. I'm not dirty, but I'm definitely not neat. I'm a slop, which all brilliant people are. Right, okay. Is there a washing machine? Yeah, there is.

There's a washing machine in the back. There's a dryer. Oh, great. There's a refrigerator. And, of course, my brand new hot plate that they bought for me, which is, I forget the name of it, but it's one of those ones that heats up boiling water and, like, like 45 seconds or something like that. That's exciting. Do you pay rent?

Well, I pay a percentage at the end to do it. That's our deal. And now is someone there while you're not there? No. It's yours? No, and people can crash there or if Duke needs somebody to come in, for sure. And there is another room that they don't really use

and we have another futon that we can throw down. Like my one training partner was there for a week. And each camp just came and helped me out and helps me kind of do some meal prep stuff and just throw a futon down. This is why I can never be a fighter. It sounds like a nightmare to me. I bet.

I bet it would drive you nuts. I want to go to a hotel. Oh, man. This is, if your hotel is here, this is down over here. That's where you're going? Yeah, that's. And you prefer that. For fighting.

Yeah. Like, if I was here in New York and you were like, oh, we're just going to throw you over a church street and down to the basement of the gym. I'd be like, nah. I'm good. All right. So you do have some separation. Now, when you're not in camp, are you training?

And if so, where? Always, always training. I still have a lot of teammates and stuff back home. So you're still welcome? Was it a bad split? Yeah, no, no, not with those guys. No, not at all. So was it a bad split?

No. No, no. Oh, you mean not with the bad split? No, no, not with Nick. Someone else was there a bad split? Well, no, not really. I had a gym in Philly that I trained with for a really long time. And we're working things out with me and Daniel Gracie are talking a little bit again, too.

I think it's just, you know, it's one of those things. I had to go and do what I had to do for me personally. It was never anything against any of my coaches. and I've always said it from the beginning. Me going where I go has nothing to do with whether I think my coach is good or bad. It's just there's a lot of things that go into getting ready for a fight. And one of them I'm finding out is for me, even though it's really hard, going away, I think helps me. Going and being by myself and going through a lot of things on my own, I think makes me mentally stronger.

Because at the end of the day, when I get into that cage, it's freaking me in there. There's nobody else in there. lot more time to focus on the mental side of things when I'm at Dukes by myself, when I'm down there in that gym, I'll read different things, I'll watch videos that I would never watch. I have a lot more time to kind of just think about the fight in a positive way, not overthink. Like, oh, I'm fighting Stevie Ray and obsess over them to the point where it's, you know, making me exhausted. And what happened with, used to be like Cowboys right-hand man?

Yeah, and that too. And we just hung out this weekend. He was in AC for the CFFC fights. I saw him in Vegas. He came to the contender series. And me and him talked. And a lot of people asked me that out there. They think that me and him kind of had a falling out.

We didn't. I just me and him trained differently. Okay. That's literally all it is. And again, it was nothing wrong with the training of Jackson's or the ranch. These guys are fantastic. They're world class. They got world champs.

Yeah. This is not for me. Okay. Because you want to be 24th? You're a lot more regimented? Yeah. I just liked it. And when we're at the ranch, man,

Cowboy would be first to tell you. Thursday might roll around and be like, nah, we're not training. We're going to the lake Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Or we're going to Mexico a week before the fight. Now, what if I'm out there, and I have a fight two weeks after that? I'm going to go to Mexico? Not me.

I'm a psychopath. I'll think for sure that's it. I'm losing this fight. I can't be traveling. Has that happened? Were you faced with that? No. But it was getting to that point where I would have to convince people to stay back with me at the ranch

and train with me instead of going to the lake. And I just don't want to have to do that. You know, I don't want to have to make people feel I'm not, it's not my schedule. It's Cowboy schedule. It's his ranch. It's his gym. So I love to go back out there. I told him the other day, I want to go out there when I don't have a fight.

Sure. I can help him. We can, you know, have fun, spar, beat the crap out of each other. And if he wants to go to the lake or he wants to go drink and get something to eat, I can because I'm not worried about, that's the other thing, weight cutting. I mean, now he's up at 70. Yeah, he doesn't have you. That's right.

Man. And the way I cut to 55, we. we could not be in the same room eating the same things. It would be my bowl of avocado and lettuce and him eating whatever he wants to fight at 170. Any signs of Mr. Punk at Rufus Sport? Yeah, he's around. He's trained. What do you see?

He's still just trying to get better at this point, man. You know, he's taking all the classes. He's doing jiu-jitsu. He's doing everything. And he's still recovering from some injuries and things like that. But he's trying. I don't know what, and I don't know anything. I don't know if he's got any fights or anything like that.

As far as I know, there's still nothing offered. So he's just trying to get better, and he just likes doing it. He's just one of the guys. He really is, man. And he's a really, really cool dude, and we get along really well. And he works his butt off. I'll give him that. And, yeah, he's still got some room to grow.

Have you seen improvement? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, and I've rolled with him. You know what I mean? He's strong. He's tough. He's just coming into it late.

He knows that. So he's got to work his ass off more than anybody else would at this point. The most admirable thing, I think, is that he's, he still is doing it without any fanfare spotlight. There's nobody out. Yeah, there's nobody filming him right now. He's there, comes in, me and him, drink a cup of coffee. We mostly don't talk about, well, what's next for you.

I talk about his dog more than anything. You've ever seen his dog. Larry, legend. Dude, it's classy. Yeah. Oh, my God. Hilarious. Yeah, one of the kind.

We actually did a video. Our team has a series called Mix Marshall Arfs, and it's about fighters' dogs. And we did one on Larry. So punk and his wife and Larry, it's great. You should look it up on YouTube. If you are a fan of Larry, you like- I am indeed a fan of Larry. He is a character.

He's a wolfman. And so I'm assuming you don't have your next fight yet. No. Okay. You're just kind of chilling. Do you know what you want? I want something in like November, December. Okay.

MSG. Man, of course that's what I want. Everyone wants that. Yeah. You know, and I'm hearing it's already getting, I don't know who, but I'm hearing it's getting filled up. But if they can squeeze me in, I love it because it's a perfect date.

It's November that gives me time to still do some light training like I am now. And then come September, just start getting into it and then go out to Dukes. Perfect opponent. Who is it? What's the next step? Because you kind of went out with Stevie Ray. You guys were going back and forth and you kind of went out and grabbed that. Yeah.

What do we go? What's on your mind? Well, you know, I want somebody above me. I do want somebody. I prefer somebody ranked. Are you ranked right now? I'm not. Okay.

Interesting. I know. And that was one of the. things. Don't pay attention to those rankings. I don't. And I, you know, I finish fights. I'm exciting.

The UFC likes me. I'm not, I'll get a number next to my name when the time's right. Sure. You know what I mean? But more importantly, I'd rather just keep getting Ws and making money and getting bonuses. Sure. Sure, sure, sure. I don't go out there just to win.

I want, if I can go out there, win and collect. My next one, I want to get the double bonus. I want to get like Justin Gage you just did the other day. Okay. Okay. That's on the bucket list. I've gotten four bonuses so far, but I haven't gotten the double. double bonus. Meaning performance and

fight of the night. So I need a partner out there that's able to push me to the limit but then at the very end I'm going to like spinning heel kick him or something fabulous and then I'll get the $100,000 bonus plus my bonus. So anyone comes to mine?

I mean people out there that excite me that not that I'm going to get that like Alia Quinta is an exciting matchup I think stand-up wise I think that guy's throws down Dustin Poyer, Michael Johnson and are guys up there that I think are good dance partners for me. You know what I mean?

I think they're guys that aren't afraid to scrap, and I feel like I can beat them. Can I tell you one that comes to mind? Yes. James Vic. Yeah. Yeah, here's the only problem with James Vic, and I agree.

And that's a guy that me and him actually ran into each other at the retreat and said, no, not bad. Just being like, I like your style. He's like, yeah, I'm watching you too. So we've kind of been working our way up at the same time. But for both of us, we're kind of looking for that guy. Sure. So we'll see.

We'll see what they offer. Anything they call and offer me, you guys know. You don't want to say no. I'll say yes. But as for the fights that excite me, those guys. Evan Dunham was one I wanted, but I see he's fighting B'Neil. So I'm looking at guys that aren't matched up.

Anthony Pettis? I know, I train with Pettis. You know what's funny, though? As soon as I won, that's what everybody said. And I was like, no, I can't fight. Yeah. What about whom I got to spar with? Right, right, right.

How about his brother? Did you watch on Saturday, Sergio? Yeah, I did. That was a great performance. Yeah, man. And he fought through some adversity early on in that fight. Absolutely. Had me really nervous there for a second.

I'm like, oh, my God. Not what I want. So, yeah, we're killing it. As a team with Rufusport, we've had our downs. We've had our losses this year, but I think we're like 10 and 2 as a team in the UFC. Yeah. Do you do any acting anymore? I haven't.

Other than the always sunny appearance. Yeah. I was offered actually to do one flew over the cuckoo's nest in, Cleveland. Okay. But it was a very small theater company and it was kind of right in the middle of all this. So I'd be doing the contender series. I'd have to be flying from Cleveland out to Vegas back.

And it's a big role. How do they reach out to you? It was a director I've actually worked with years ago, like four times when I was doing theater in Philly. And he randomly got a hold of me and he's like, I don't know what you're doing. I see you're fighting in the UFC. He's like, I don't know if you're even acting anymore. He's like, but I got a role that I think you're perfect.

for and it was uh it's it's uh the main the main guy in uh oh really wow is that lucrative no you just do it for the love that would be because okay he even said that that was the first thing he said he's like look i don't know how much we could even pay you i mean it would be equity it would be a union job but it wouldn't it's still like a couple hundred seat theater okay really small and how long would that be that would probably be for about three weeks oh really but you rehearsed for four weeks did you consider it yeah You did. When's the last time you acted, like when you had a gig like that?

I did a play in Philly. It was in between a couple of pro fights, and it was my last show. It was, oh my God. Hurley Burley. Herly, really? Yes, yes, yes, yes. And I played... What was this, like three, four years ago?

Yeah, probably about four years ago. Okay. And so... Maybe four and a half years ago, yeah. Was there a point where you're like, okay, I can't do this anymore? That was it, because the whole time I was doing it, and I was in, in it, you know, and I worked my butt off in it. But the whole time I was like, when can I?

I want to start training again. Okay. When's my next fight? Who am I fight next? And, yeah. So I literally fought my fourth pro fight for that one, knocked the guy out. My director was in the audience to make sure that I was still going to be able to go

to rehearsal. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. Do you feel like you will go back, like, when you're done fighting? Absolutely. Is that the fallback? Yeah.

And working hopefully with, you know, a network or the UFC or something like that. So that's the dream. Yeah, oh yeah, 100%. That's always been the plan. And then fighting really took over. I mean, I never really expected it to, you know, you don't, it's like you don't expect to get in the NFL. You don't, you want it, you work for it,

but you're not 100% sure if it's going to happen. And I wasn't, you know, I was just like, I'm going to go for it as hard as I can because it's a dream. Something I've always wanted to do is be a fighter, fight. I've done martial arts since I was a kid. And then when it happened, I was like, okay, I got to go full.

on for this because I can always go back to acting. I can be 70 years old and decide, I'm going to go back to acting. I can't be 40, 50 years old and be like, I really want to be a pro-MMA fighter in the UFC. You know, I just, I had to make a choice. And I gave up a lot of stuff. I gave up a lot of auditions that, you know, people, it was in Philly mostly, so it wasn't like super high paying, but, you know, it was, it was work. And I was like, no, I got a, I got a fight. Is there a part of you that? One theme that has come up today is just the trauma that you guys take. Yeah.

I mean, you have to memorize a lot that goes on there. You worry about that? I do. Yeah. And, you know, my style is not exactly safe. Yeah, conservative. I'm not like a grappler. I'm not a wrestler per se.

So I do get hit. And it's the same in sparring. So I'm sparring two, three times a week and taking those shots. I've been checked out a couple times. So far, everything's obviously I'm healthy. But yeah, I can't even remember sometimes what I have for breakfast. You know what I mean? And I don't know if that's me getting older and just genetics

or if it's something to do with how much we get hit in the head as well. But yeah, when they offered me, when the director Bill offered me the one flu over the cuckoo's nest, I was like, shit, I don't even know, like, that role to come back. You know what I mean? That would make me nervous. Opening night I'd be really nervous that I'd just blank and then it would never come back to me. And that was something that never happened to me. So I doubt it would.

Have you tested your brain? Have you tried to memorize things and see if you could do it at the same? Because that's a skill, right? It is a skill. I haven't in a long time. I haven't, not to that extent. I mean, I've done shows where there's this play, this is our youth. It's really good.

Kenneth Lonergan is the playwright. Okay. A bunch of really famous actors. done it in London and in New York years ago. But there's a monologue that the character Dennis has that I had in that, that's probably about four pages long. Oh, my gosh. And it's just a rant because one of his friends

that he was getting drugs from just OD'd on the drugs that they had just bought, and he didn't take any yet. Oh, my. So, yeah, it's like, you know what I mean? Like a guy that just comes in and doesn't even know how to deal with it, so he just is running his mouth for four or five pages. And I memorized it. And I probably memorized it.

four days. It's just like, and I haven't done something like that. I mean, if they gave me that monologue now, I'd be like, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do. So when you were, you said that like you didn't really think that this would happen, right? Not to this, you know, not to be, you know, doing stuff like this and being on your show and working the contender series. Amazing.

It's crazy, man. Did you think that you would just be an actor? I did. And that is something I think about sometimes. I'm like, well, yeah, I'm doing well, I'm doing well, I'm doing well, I'm doing well, see, I'm getting a lot of attention, I'm loving it. But what if I really committed to acting? Where would I be, where could I have been if I just went to New York or I went to L.A.

and I just tried to get in the film. I'm curious about where I could have been in that venue, but that's the next step. What was the dream as far as acting? I always wanted to live in New York. I always wanted to be here. And originally it was theater, but obviously anybody that's an actor out there knows that we do that for passion, we do that for fun. But really, you want to either get in the commercial work or you want to get in the film. You want to make any kind of any real money.

So that was really the come here. So not TV. Commercial or film? TV, television. Okay, yeah, anything. If I can go out to L.A. and, you know, get a pilot doing something like that. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, doing movies.

Being a movie star was definitely the... Wow. Who was like, you know, your inspiration? Who's the man? Who's the greatest of all time? Ah, man. I would have to say, I mean, people that I definitely, old school was, I was, oh man, what's his name?

Well, Daniel Day Lewis nowadays is, is a freak. Yeah. Have you seen the film? I'm not a big movie guy. Yeah. You know what? I'm not really either, believe it or not. I just, I have kids and I fall asleep and I don't have patient.

I don't have time to go to the movie theater, et cetera. But in the name of the father, have you seen that? Yes. Yep. Maybe my favorite movie of all time. Yeah. I love that movie. And there's an Irish connection to him as well, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's incredible. More than Ireland and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Daniel Day is number one in your opinion right now? Yeah, I'd say for people that are committed to what they do and going all in. Okay. I don't have the same approach.

Like, he's method pretty much as you can get. He lives the life. He lives as the character, which not how I was trained, not the school of thought that I came up in, but I always respect anybody that can be as committed to something like that. Yeah, like when he did Lincoln, wasn't he like Lincoln? Yeah, his wife's like, you know, I get to sleep with a new man. every couple times a year or whatever. It's like kind of funny.

Kind of weird as well. But maybe that's what she's into. Maybe she's like, who's he coming home as next month? You know what I mean? So they do call you the Irish dragon. Your family's from Ireland? Well, down for the years.

Yeah, of course. So are we pro-Connor? How do we feel by Connor? Hey, man, you know, I've always, I really, really liked him early on. Okay. And then it got a little over-the-top for me, to be honest. Okay.

But I've always respected him as a fighter. And I've always been one of the guys it's like that this guy's better than people are giving him the credit for ahead of the time. Okay. And I don't know, man. I'm curious to see what's going to go down. Oh, yeah. Yeah?

Oh, yeah. Are you pulling for him because he's the MMA guy? I think so, yeah. Okay. I feel like come fight night, everyone's going to be doing that. Either you're the MMA guy or the boxing guy. Yeah, and even guys that maybe aren't Connor fans, I think they're going to find themselves. If he starts landing some left hand, you're going to be like, oh, my God, is he going to do this right now?

Because if he does, holy crap. I know. The world will explode. What happens to boxing? If he knocks out Floyd Mayweather, what happens to boxing? What kind of chance you give him? I don't know, man. Maybe 20% out of 100?

Okay. That's not bad. It's better than zero. Oh, yeah, I don't give him zero a chance. I was hoping we'd talk to Pauley. Oh, yes. I'm hoping to as well. The show's not over.

I know. I'm hoping you get to talk because I want to know. I want to be able to go back. How do you feel about that? I agree with him on that. There should be nothing that's going to make one person look one way or the other, especially a guy that's established as him in the boxing world, and he's coming in.

Even if you guys had bad blood going into it, he's still coming in as a sparring partner. He's not one of your old teammates or something that you're cool with. He's a guy literally brought in to give you work. And then you post a picture of him on the mat. I do think it was probably a push-down. Okay, yeah. Because the way the ref is coming in.

There's a lot of space between them, right? It's true. So that's why I feel like it is... A push. But who the hell knows? Who knows? Yeah. And Polly, of course, is saying,

released a video. Yeah. That, man, that would be great if we can get some of that. I kind of feel like at this point, the Polly Malinaji, Connor McGregor fight would sell over a million. Like, there's so much... Just that alone.

Yeah. I feel like they're kind of... I don't know if they're doing... I could probably take the footage and sell tickets to it at movie theaters and people go and watch that. But do you feel like a line was crossed? I do. I do.

I think, yeah, man, if somebody was posting pictures of me, getting hit with an uppercut and you posted online, of course it's going to look like you kicked my ass because it's that one photo. Sure, sure, sure. That's not, you know, we don't, there's, of course, no photos of Pollyland

and body shots like he talked about or any of his work. So it's like, yeah, they could have posted them, you know, sparring and going at it or somebody in mid-punch, but that one uppercut and then the one on the floor. You know, I do think it's like, all right. So they're saying, like, he went out

and talked about the, the sparring and kind of broke the NDA rules and things like that. But he's saying that was because they posted a picture. That's right. So who's, who's, honestly, I think for Showtime, for Connor,

for Floyd. This is all good. This is all good. Everyone was talking about this fight last week, three weeks out. Nothing bad has come of it. Yeah. Right?

Yeah. And it's brought up some interesting things about like sparring ethics and, you know, what stays in the gym and, you know, he's the showtime guy coming in. Like the whole thing is kind of like this reality show.

Yeah. That has been fascinating. I don't subscribe. I admit, I'm going to be, I think it couldn't come soon enough. You know what I mean? Like, when it comes, it'll be great, and then we'll enjoy it, and then we'll move on. But I don't subscribe to the theory that this is bad for any sport or that, you know, this is, I mean, sure, they've gone low a couple times and it was uncomfortable in Brooklyn and things like that. But the circus is fun sometimes, right?

It's a show. It's, at the end of the day, we're making money. This is to make money, and they're doing all the advertising and all the hype that you can possibly do for it. So I think it's kind of at the point, especially with this fight, it's not like two boxers will hype it up. It's not like two MMA. It's a show. They're really going to box at the end of it all. But we've got the best, you know, boxer and the best MMA fighter.

It's happening. These two guys are fighting. This is something we've always, you know, everybody, this is the beginning of what MMA was. Well, what if so-and-so fight so-and-so? Now we get to see at least in box. I mean, it's not MMA because we know how that would go. Sure. Embrace it.

Yeah. And any fighter would take this payday. I do it right now in here with it. That's right. I'd fight Connor right here. One hour's notice, right? Yeah. Yeah, of course.

So when's your next contender series? Next Tuesday. Not tomorrow night the following week. And do you like that you get a break in between? I do. I mean, I would, obviously, I would love to be doing them all, but it would be a lot of travel. If I lived on the West Coast, it might be a lot easier.

But since I'm coming back and forth from Philly every time, it's a... And having a daughter, is it tough? Yeah. But I'm only there. I literally leave Monday, fly in, get Monday night, do the show Tuesday, get on the red eye, go home. Oh, wow. You leave after. Yeah.

How old is your daughter? Two and a couple months. Soon you might think, I mean, it's tougher when they get older. Yeah. You move the family to Milwaukee? Is that possible? Yeah, we talked about it. Yeah, we're in a lease right now with our landlord where we're kind of just, we're still looking.

at places. So at any moment, really, as long as I give him a couple months notice, we could be out of there. So, yeah, it's something that's been talked about. Okay. It's been talked about. Well, I wish you the best, man. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm super excited that you brought me on. Long overdue. Yeah. Long overdue to have you on the program, and it's great to have you in studio. It's always more fun when you have someone in studio and can open up. And, I mean, what a year you have had the highs and lows, and you've handled it all incredibly well.

Congrats on all your success. Thank you. Grats on that win. Thank you very much. I was watching it again last night, knowing that you were coming out. I was like, damn, those elbows. Holy smokes.

Felt good. My elbow was sore still until a couple days ago, yeah. Wow. Did you injure anything? No. Okay, good. Just the littlest baby cut, they gave me one stitch. Wow.

They gave me one stitch. I was like, you guys say, can I put a band-aid on? I'm like, no, it wants to open up. Okay. I hope you get that fight in MSG, since you're so close, so local, you can have a ton of people there. I appreciate you coming in. Thank you so much, man.

So that is Paul Felder. Felder Paul, right, on Twitter? Yes, sir. And Instagram. And Instagram. And he is on Dana White's Tuesday night contender series every second Tuesday, but you should probably watch it every week.

Watch it every week. I mean, the fights are still fantastic and even the guys are doing a great job too. All right. Joe will walk you out over here as we continue to roll. But thank you so much. I appreciate you making the trek. One of the very best at 155 doing his thing.

He is on a roll. these days and looking forward to watching him climb that ladder. Thank you, Paul. We'll talk to you soon. Paul Felder stopping by the Irish Dragon himself. How about that? Always so fun to have people in studio doing their thing as I take a swig of my drink and put back my headset. I enjoyed doing that interview without the headset. It's a whole different world. It's a lot more personal, you know what I'm saying? And so New Yorkerick is sending me G-chat messages in the middle of the interview like I'm looking at my G-chat. nice message here from CM Punk saying

Paul Feldor is the best. Hard to argue with that. Great stuff. I really appreciate it. And if you did not see that fight against CV-Rae, I do suggest checking it out. I thought his best performance of his career and certainly since moving to Rufusport, he is on a role.

All right. Let us move along. I am so excited to talk to our next guest. It has been quite some time since we had him on as a guest. Now, you've seen him pop up in interviews on this program, but we have not had him on as his own guest, and I've been trying to have him on for at least two years. We have a lot to talk to Pat Barry about, and he is joining us via the magic of Skype. Mr. Barry, are you there? There you are. Pat Barry. Hey, what's going on, man? Where have you been? Where have you been? Over there. Yeah. It's over there for a bit.

Holy smokes. I've been asked... It was happening, man. I've been asking you to come on the show a lot. You've been ducking me. You pop up when Rose is on, but you never want to come on by yourself. Why is that? It wasn't my time to come back out yet. It wasn't me. It was her interviews, man. Even though I would add my part here and there, but no, that was for her, not my time. So can we start from the beginning? Sure. You were supposed to be on this show around two years ago, and I was bothering you to come on. There was a lot going on. And I'll never forget this. and I told you this on Friday. I have a list of people, like a running list of people I want to get on the show.

And every so often I'll come back to those people and say, oh, you want to come on and I'll get a yes. You know, once in a while, most of the time I know. And you were on that list. And you were so, it's been so long since I've been trying to get you on the show that you were like at the very, very bottom of the list. Because like over time, I've been eliminating people. And so you were supposed to be on a couple years ago. And I woke up in the middle of the night on a Sunday night going into a Monday because, of course, I was, you know, doing the show on a Monday. And you sent me a video via text of blood going down

the toilet, being flushed down the toilet. And you were like, I'm not coming on the show and I'll explain later. And you never told me what that meant, what happened, why you sent that. And that was pretty much it. And so what the hell was that? I'm mysterious, man. You are. Well, I've never, oh, hello, Rose. How are you? The tables have turned. Hey, what I'm not. Yeah, she is now. How are you?

I like this. This is going back to the old days when Pat was the UFC fighter coming on and you were just in the background. We were getting to know you. Oh, yeah. I mean, there you are. Are you fighting, Yonna? We haven't gotten a call yet. Okay.

We haven't. Oh, can you grab the charge of battery? Yeah, I got to. Oh, hey, hello? Yeah. Yeah. Hello? We're right here.

Yeah. Yeah, no, we haven't gotten the call yet. We're pretty sure that that's going to be next. I mean, who else is it going to be? It's Rose's time to fight next, but we haven't gotten the call yet. I've gotten word that, yeah, that's the fight that they want, but we just, we don't know when yet. We haven't gotten told by, no, nobody's, no one's called me. Okay, all right.

And you are her manager as well now, right? So you would know. Yeah. It's right. Yeah. It's just carried on. Yep. Fight or no fight.

We're at practice, man. We're getting big muscles regardless. So when the call comes, we'll be ready just because we're always ready. Okay, stop changing the subject here, though. What about that text message? All right. So back to the video. Yes.

Yeah, back to the video and then the disappearance for a little bit. I don't know how many people they know me and just the, I'm not, I haven't had too much of a, I haven't had, I'm not too ridiculous when it comes to a lifestyle. I'm a pretty modest guy, but I'm also HD Barry. So it was all in nothing, hyper die, yada, yada, yada, yada. But having, you know, I live in a being a fighter one, being a fighter, being on the road all the time, all the training, all the things that come along with training. Just a lot of fighters go through a lot of similar experiences in our own ways. and a lot of it eventually, eventually, and I was one, had no idea of like, I'm not a drug addict,

who wouldn't do that, doctor prescription pills, lots of them. That's what it turned out to be. Lots of prescription pills on top of whiskey and other things like that without even, not intentionally, not like, you know what, I'm going to get trash on pills and drinking a night, nothing like that. But it just starts off and then next thing. You know, you're doing way more than you're supposed to, and it's been years, and it's affecting your relationship, and it's affecting your career, and it's affecting your performances. I was, man, I'm not going to say I was high in all of my, not high, but whiskey, pain pills, anarol, who, lots of it. I had all of it.

And then, and this, have I ever offered you any? No, you haven't. No, you have not. Okay. All right, cool. That's because I'm your friend. I appreciate it. I would never give you that because I'm your friend.

friend. I appreciate that. But no, it just, it just, it just, it just, it just, it, it started. And then, and then it just, it was never a thing. It was never a thing. It was a conscious thing. It was never like, oh, this is a, this is a problem or anything like that. But it had been to the point where I had prescription pills all over the place, man. And it's just bottles of whiskey all over the place, not big ones, but little small little shooter bottles. And then not live in the right type of lifestyle and that kind of stuff equals eating bad. And then eating bad equals not training good which equals losing fights i shouldn't be losing and not being performed and all of a sudden looking a lot older than i really am and just all these it's just and then all of a sudden i started bleeding out of my butt oh my for about two years two years

about two years what yeah for about two years straight every time why why every time it was a business. Yeah, every, I don't know, dog, I mean, I went to doctors eventually. I had a, what happened? What happened? I had polyps. I removed out of, uh, somewhere. I don't know. I never saw them. But, uh, anal fissures or something like that, like hemorrhoids, especially if you're heavyweight, man, heavyweight and whiskey and a lot of pills, boy, that'll make you dry up pretty quick. So, no, I just wasn't living the right type of lifestyle, man. And it wasn't, and it was going on. I was getting away with it.

I was getting away with living a very unhealthy, emotionally unhealthy, like spiritually unhealthy, just actually physically unhealthy lifestyle. And it was right around that time when I was supposed to do an interview with you. Yeah. Yeah. It was right around that time where it actually just got too out of hand. And that's when it became like more obvious. Like not not obvious because it was always obvious. But that was when it started the beginning.

process of okay some shit's really going on like I'm I can't lie about it anymore or pretend that it's not happening I have a problem and I've been having a problem

for like years you know wow that kind of thing it's one of those stories I had no idea you never told I tried I tried to talk to

you know off the record so for anyone who doesn't believe me I had no idea um were you were you in pain like because of fighting was your body in pain is that why you took the pills

oh yeah I mean yes Yes, yes, and no, I mean, I would think it's more just mental, emotional pain. You know, just the body's not reacting the way it used to, and then, oh, oh, is this what they call the end? I'm losing fights that I shouldn't be losing. Like, I'm performing at a level that's way beneath where I should have been or where I've been or where I should be. Like, I'm not supposed to be, there are a lot of unhealthy people at a certain age that don't need to be. that unhealthy. I mean, if you know what I mean. Like, just I was living the wrong, the wrong type of

lifestyle. I'm not saying that. I'm 38 now. I'm 38. I feel 38, but I don't feel the way I felt 38 when I was actually 36. 36, I felt 45. Like, it was, it was just everything, just body becoming dependent on, it was mental too, man. It was just, a lot, I'm not, I'm not saying medicine doesn't work. I'm not saying that. I'm saying just pills and that, just all that, it's just not for me. It's not for me because I want all of them. Wow. Yeah. Does that make sense? It's not for me because they don't have enough.

Damn. Like they don't, like, because one, if one makes you feel like this, then what does 17 make you feel like? Right. You know, that kind of thing. But he kind of ruins things. It ruins it like any type of other experience that you might like, because it's like the highest of the highest, like, of just crazy things. you could possibly do. I mean, there's other crazy things like skydiving and stuff like that, but those

type of activity. Not even skydiving. There's nothing in the world that can compare to getting in the ring and fighting another person in front of everybody. You just can't do it. And then when you're not in the ring fighting or then when you do get in the ring and you fight and you're not performing to the way that you know you can. I'm not saying, hey man, I know yeah, shit happens. You get older and you slow down a little bit, but not that. It's just I'm performing at a level that is way beneath me. Like, I'm better than this. And I know that there. The only reason why I'm like this right now is because of me and it's all my fucking fault. And it's me.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to get out of here for a little while. I'm going to go away. Not because I want to clean myself up for fighting or anything like that. It's I need to get the fuck out of here so I can save me. My marriage. My relationship with my dog. My relationship with my family with just my relationships with. strangers, just people in general.

I was living the wrong type of life and didn't know it. I wasn't intentionally. I was never intentionally trying to be that type of guy, but you really can't get lost in it, man. You can't get lost. You can't. You can't. As Courtney McGee's been a guy I've talked to a lot over years, I haven't spoken to him in a bit, but we talked a lot.

Everybody knows Cord and his story. We've talked a lot, and he's seen a lot of similarities in myself, and we've talked a lot. I give him a lot of high-fives, man, because he opened up a lot of thoughts and ideas in my head. And more than anything else, he said, yeah, you are whenever I said, no, man, I'm cool. Nothing's good. Everything's fine. I'm not. I got this.

Yeah, you are. You're just like me, Pat. Get off that shit. Get off it, bro. Wow. And that's what I did. I got off it. When Rose, like, the whole thing with her cutting my hair, cutting the shit.

That's what I've been doing for the last two years. I've been cutting the shit out of my life. Cut my hair off. because it was shitty. I was cutting out all that. How long has it been now? I'm a little over a year. So sober.

Wow. No drink, no pills. Wow. Congrats. A little bit over a year sober. Yeah, man. And not only is that, not only a little bit over a year sober, I'm getting abs again. Oh, oh.

Whoa. Was there like a rock bottom moment? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hell yeah. Rock bottom moment arrested in Alexandria, Minnesota when I was helping Brock train for Mark Hunt. What?

Yeah. Yes. You were arrested? Gail. Owee, I'm not going back. When was that? When was Brock? Last July.

Yeah, before the Mark Hunt fight. What happened? I was the main training partner for I got arrested. I was trying to order a pizza and this guy was getting out of the hand and I'm in a little ass town. There's, I'm the, okay, all right, let's start off with saying, I'm the, black as nigger in Alexandria, Minnesota. Now, I'm going to say it like that.

I'm the blackest nigger in Alexandria, Minnesota. I'm the darkest guy in Alexandria, Minnesota, me. Right? So every time I go anywhere, everybody's like, who the hell is this? What the hell are you doing around here, man? You know, there's a lot of that in Alexandria. But it's just out there for weeks on in, getting body slammed by Brock and training hard

and making sure every day I wake up, like the way Rose is now with Valentina being in town. Every day, Valentin walks in the gym, Rose is already jumping around and going, today you'll be a world champion, motherfucker. Like, it's been all day and night, weeks away from home and just nonstop. And then when you're out there by yourself,

in the middle of the woods, by yourself, me, I pass the time by doing dumb shit, like drinking whiskey. Wow. Lots of it, lots of it. So just one night, I came up with an excuse because I was lying to Rose about it.

I came up with an excuse to go and get a drink. I was hungry and I went to going to get a pizza and that's what I was going to do. I really believed I was going to go and get a pizza and I go to this place. I'm not going to have a drink tonight and I'm going to get a pizza. And while I'm sitting there, I don't know if it's because I'm recognizable or because I was my size or what. But there's four people in this bar and are five. There's these two girls with these two guys are across the bar and they're sitting across from me. And I don't know if someone made a face.

But then some guy, he got one of them got out of hand. And when he got out of hand, I was like, oh, I'll buy a drink. I'll buy a shot. Don't worry about it. Buy a shot. And then he kept getting out of hand. So I just buy more drinks, right? So in my head, he probably wasn't getting out of hand.

He just, I was like, yeah, you know what? That guy's getting out of hand. I should buy everybody drinks. Like, so he was getting out of hand, and I kept buying them shots and shots and, you know, and it's fine. And then everybody's drunk. And then the pizza comes out. And now he wants the pizza, but I can't give you the pizza. You can't have it.

That's mine. So not a fight breaks out, but almost a fight. breaks out. I didn't know that the one lady in the bar called the police. I didn't know that. So when he wasn't looking, I get off the side door and I run to my car and I get in and I pull off and as I pull off, I get pulled over. And the cop says, are you drunk? And I'm like, oh, very, very. So they took me to a cell. I got arrested and sat 15 hours in a jail cell. Now, that's not the bad part of the story. The bad part of the story is that before I left to go and get a pizza, I told Rose that I was going to sleep. That was it. Good night. Good night. We get off the phone. I'm supposed to be sleeping.

30 minutes later. I'm at a bar, getting drunk, ordering a pizza. And Rose... And I knew it, too, the whole time. I knew something was wrong. I know it. Wait, this is my interview. It's my name. I do it. I know when this is lying to me. Hey, so, hey, uh, so, uh, so, uh, she had a, uh, a, uh, she had a, uh, a, uh, uh, she had a, a, uh, a, uh, feeling. She had a feeling something was wrong. I called Marty Morgan. So she called my phone and it didn't answer. And I always answer when Rose calls it and it didn't answer. And then she called Marty Morgan. He didn't know what was wrong. And it's like that. And I wasn't able, they didn't give me my phone back until 12 o'clock

the next day. Oh my. Rose has been calling all night. She's in another state. She doesn't know what's wrong. She's terror. She's like, she knows something's wrong, but doesn't know what. And, uh, yeah, they let me out. Wow. and then after they let me out, Brock Lezard told me, go home. Wow. He did me a favor and said,

Get the fuck out of here. Wow. And how, how, how much time into the camp was that? Was that towards the end or at the beginning? It was, it was,

it was the, it was the last 10 days. Wow. Right, like the last 10 days. And is that why you weren't with him in Vegas? Yes. Wow. And how did,

This never got out there, right? I mean, this was never in the news. No, nobody knows anything. Wow. That was the moment. That was the, okay. That was the, that was the moment. That was it.

That was, I realized that I can't get out of this cell. If they don't let me out, I can't get out. I can't physically, I can't fit. I'm finally me, me, gorilla pat, I can't physically break out. I can't talk my way out. I can't sit. Sweet talk my way out. The one person I called hung the phone up and didn't answer.

Who's that? Rose. Rose. It's just disappointed. I'm just, I mean, you're like how, how, that's, I don't need to figure out. This doesn't need to go any further. Okay. Shit needs to change. Shit needs to change.

It needs to change now. And how did you change it? That's where I've been for the last two years. I don't have a long it's been. A year, a year and change. Yeah. How did you change it? How did you pull the plug on the,

And just, did you go cold turkey? I said, stop, cold turkey. That was it. No more nothing. Wow. No more nothing. And I know that I'm not saying that that's the way to do it, but that's the way I do it. That's the way I do it.

I'm not going back. No more nothing. They cut it. It is all over. Everybody get the fuck out. Don't nobody come around. Don't talk to me. Don't eat this.

Don't go here. And it was a bunch of habits. And if anyone out there, if this sounds familiar to anybody, it was never, man, drinking is a problem. And it wasn't that. It was my reasoning behind drinking. Why are the following? Why am I doing it again? And what led to this?

Going to McDonald's, not problem. No problem. But not going to McDonald's three days in a row. We go to McDonald's three days in a row. Now I feel kind of shitty. And now it's going to lead to this. And next thing I know we're drinking on Saturday. And just no more of that.

It's all over. Done. I never went. But not turning back. This isn't one of those. All right, it's going to be a hard strong. And it was. And it's been.

It's been, but it's a constant. But it's not. It's no longer this thing that I've, got a struggle with. It instantly was like, okay, so this is just how life is going to be for now on. Pat, don't drink no more, no matter what happens. I don't even eat rum cake. If it doesn't even have rum in it just because it's called rum cake, I don't fuck with that. I don't dream nothing no more. Energy drinks, get off it. Just get off it. You just, that's saying that was all I've been doing forever. Pain pills, don't do it. Don't do it. Why? Because nope, don't do it. Don't do anything that

requires needing that. If I have to, if I can avoid it all costs, just stay off of, stay off of it, stay away from the things that lead to it. There's a bunch of habits out there in the way. There's a bunch of patterns. Like I said, if you, myself, if we eat pizza three days in a row, man. If I get on, I've been on, we've been, we've been, both of us have been off social media for about seven weeks now, strong. Wow. This is the beginning of week seven. No Facebook, no Instagram, no nothing, no just give. off of it. Why? Because if you sit on Facebook long enough, eventually I'm not going to want to do shit for the rest of the day. And you want to just order a pizza and if we order of pizza, we can just

continue to just sit around and I really do. Do you want to walk today? I don't want to walk. I just sit here. I mean, and it's just that type of, of a lot, it was just a bunch of sad shit. Every time I pull up, you know what the last thing I saw on Facebook? I saw a close-up of a popmarian puppy and it was so cute. And all of a sudden out of nowhere a bull constricted. a blast onto his head. And that was the last, that was the last thing I saw. And I was like, no more of this. No more.

No more of this. No more of this. No more of this. No more. Shit's got to change. We got a house, man. We're homeowners now, right? Congrats. We didn't even, where can I even turn out?

I don't even know how to do this anymore. No, don't sell our street. Oh, yeah. This ain't our street. I'm looking at that. I'm going to climb this tree. As soon as we get off the phone, I'm going to climb this tree. I want to show you my tomato plants.

Oh, wait, we've got tomato plans. Oh, wow. Yeah. And, and. Now that she's down here, man. Yeah. I stopped because that's not a good example. That's not a good example for her.

She can't be a world champion. She won't be a world champion if I'm living the shitty lifestyle that I'm living. So you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to lead by example. I'm going to change up everything. Whether she knows it or not, I'm going to stop my shit and I'm going to get big with it. and I'm going to get strong on everything. And when I do that, she's got two choices.

Either divorce me or keep up. And if she keeps up, she's going to be a monster. That girl's going to be a world champion. Wow. That girl's going to. Yeah. Look at that. Wait, hold on.

Hold on. Who's this? What's this? What's this? What are we looking at? Look at that. Look at that. Oh, from seed.

We grew it. Well done. Yeah. Bravo. We got more of these two. That's Kevin. That's Kevin. Oh, my Lord.

Can I ask about this? You know, you don't have to be, you know, a detective to figure this out. But you talk about UFC 200. And of course, two weeks later was Rose against Carolina and you weren't there. Is that why you went there? Yes, sir. Did she say to you, you're not welcome? Yes.

Oh, man. And I agree. You're not welcome. You're right. Good call. I'm going to get the fuck out of you. Where did you go? When I got back from Alexandria, huh?

Okay, keep going, yeah, when you got back? I got back to, from Alexandria, Minnesota to an empty house. You know? Uh-huh. I knew that. There's nothing in the world I touch in it. She left? She left?

In my opinion. Oh, yeah, she, yeah. It was gone. Gone. The dog, too. Everything. Gone. Wow.

Gone, but not in a, I'm going to take it. Nope. I'm getting about it. I got to get out of here. And it was understood. Yes, you're right. I came home and was like,

ah, I knew it. I wouldn't be around me either because I'm a fucking liar. I'm just a piece of shit. And I'm not living the right kind of life. And you know what's not fair is that she started becoming me. Go back. I go so far as to say this. Go back to any of Rose's performances that didn't seem quite right.

My fault. Huh. It was me. I'll tell you, it was me. I was the outside distraction, this guy. Any performance, any, I mean, I mean, I'm not talking about just, just fighting. I'm talking about any interview that seems off and weird, any time, any post that seems often weird.

If anything seemed off and weird, it's my fucking fault. So I said, I'm not doing that no more. It was me. It was me, bro. It was me. She should have been a world champion two years ago. It was me. I didn't know it was me

I knew it was me but I didn't know it was I didn't know it was I didn't know it was me that much but it was me so yeah the me not being at the Carolina fight yes that was a that was a that was a that was a that was a that was a great call and it was it was just at that moment in my life no I was I was only negative I was only bad I was no good I just I wasn't I was just it just wasn't good man so I came home to an empty house and if if you anything like i am there's nothing worse than that nothing nothing nothing there's nothing worse than that you know i mean how bad do you want to get drunk bad enough to have rose and mishka going no no where did she go no and it's not even

that it's not even just that that's not even anymore it's literally me i'm not doing it for me which is what's best for everybody else. It's just not, I'm off it. I'm off it. It's an actual 180, kind of, you know? I'm just not, I'm not that guy that everybody got to know

back then. Where did Rose go? Oh, okay. Oh, wait, no, it's not, not at the, you mean like, oh, no, just, yeah. Oh, man, right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, um, oh, what's, oh, coach Tony's house.

Okay. Jizu coach. Okay. Wait, didn't you like move to like New Mexico or some shit? Oh, no. Yeah, that was something else. But just over to Tony's house. Because we have, you know, three coaches, me, Tony and Trevor, and she was staying with Tony.

And Tony and Trevor just handled everything. I wasn't a part of the training camp. I wasn't, no. I was all the way out. I was all the way out of the picture. No phone calls, no nothing. alone just me how how difficult was it to see her go off to Atlanta to see her fight not be there it didn't go her way that was hard man that was tough that was that was that was hard to watch

that was hard to watch because uh like I said I just I know the role that I that I play in um in a training camp or just in Rose's life period or the fact that look at what she's doing like it was just all the right it was hard it was hard to watch good it was hard to watch good it was hard to bad. It was hard to watch. I was like, oh my God, look at this is amazing. And at the same time it was like, oh my god, look, if I was there, she would never have that haircut, you know, like,

it was just, even watching the fight, it was like, oh man, I think that the moments in the Carolina fight where Carolina was doing her thing, I felt like as if a lot of those moments were moments would not, like, those

were the parts that I'm good for in those, like in the moments where Carolina was, like, there were moments in the fight where Carolina was doing really well that were moments that if I was in the training camp wouldn't have happened because that's the part that I

handle. You know what I mean? That kind of thing. Well, she also had a better reason for being an avidst too. Yeah, but no, no, no, I'm not saying no, I'm saying, she's the shit. Yeah, no, she's great. She's great. I'm not saying against her. I'm just saying that there were moments in Rose's performance

by the following as if the part that I would have contributed to the training camp, it would have been a little bit stronger if I was there, so I feel bad about that. I'm thinking, but then does she want me there? Does she not want me there? What did I do to put us in this situation, to put her in that situation? How big of a piece of shit am I to be, you know, to be causing this in her life? She doesn't deserve that.

She needs better than that. She's more valuable than that for me to be living a lifestyle like this. You know, so that was it. No more. So you're alone in the house. She goes off in fights. How do you get her back? I don't even know.

Well, because I knew, like, I knew, like, the, the approach that I had in the, like, I knew that Pat was the missing link for that fight. And not to say that, like, also my reasoning behind, like, why I was fighting. At that moment, it was just, like, a distraction for me. Like, it's just better than facing my own reality. But, sorry. I don't know. I just love this guy. But I don't know. And like, I just realized that if I, if I'm not doing it with, like, we've been bouncing around a lot.

And I've never really had a place to call home. And I feel like I have a home now, not just with, you know, an actual house. But, you know, my coaches and this guy. And, like, if I can't do it with them, then I don't want to do it, you know. like because it's more about the journey and like just the experiences that we have with each other and that makes it all like the best the best roller coaster ever you know and I don't know I love fighting I love my coaches and I love this place so you know I knew that um I know that that's a good person I know that um and I believe you know in forgiveness and um just

Just having a strong faith and getting back in touch with my spiritual roots, help me get through the situation and help bring Pabby clean. Like I never thought back when he was doing all this stuff that I never thought I would see the day that he would be like not taking pills or drinking. Like that, that was or even energy drinks for that matter of fact. Like it was not even in the realm of reality. and the fact to see him not like seriously just not even want it like just disgusted by alcohol um it's it's like a miracle and i just thank god well how soon after that fight did you did you reconcile was it right away when you got back home or was there a long break i mean we were

talking during you know it's just like because regardless of our like you know uh intimate relationship, like, I'm, you know, I still love him as a person as a friend, so, like, I was still talking to him throughout the entire thing, you know, but he was, it was kind of hard coming back because, like, he just wanted to, like, talk to me, and I just needed to break this for everything, like, not just, like, just, I just needed to recover from the fight and, like, just be by myself for a little bit, let alone, you know, the rest of the world, obviously, to deal with me. We spent a month with like not, no contact seeing each other and talking to this and that. And then she goes off to the fight and the fight was all crazy. And then she comes back for the fight. It still don't want to talk for like two weeks. Yeah. I was like, come on, man.

Oh, man. Just right after. We went for a walk. Okay. And you got her back. A good hand holder. And I'm assuming you apologized. and said that you were going to be clean.

Yes. Yeah. You've kept your word. And it was the, it was the type of apology that it's not just, I'm sorry,

never do it again. I mean, there's no way of saying it that'll make it believable. Because I'm sorry, I'll never do it again. And even though that is completely impossible to believe

right now, I'll show you. approve it. Okay. Like having a fight again. I should never do that again because I don't train right. Because I train soft and I don't train right. And I come up with a bunch of excuses not to train.

So, so would if, would if I had six months to train for a fight and could prep for it? You know, what if I had six months for it? If I had six months, if I can't get ready for a fight in six months, then I can finally stop talking all this shit.

I can stop. I can finally just go, all right, continue coaching and I'm not going to talk about fighting anymore. If I can't get ready for a fight in six months, that's crazy. And guess what else? No one would believe me if I said I wanted to fight in six months. Because this is the same thing I've been saying for years.

I'm going to take a fight. And everybody's like, yeah, all right, cool, man, whatever. You're just, you're going to blow it off. You're going to come up with excuses not to train. You're going to drink the whole time. You're going to just do everything. You're going to talk all this shit. But you're not going to be ready for it.

And you're going to get into the ring with that same, I'm not ready. Look on your face. and you're not going to be ready for it and something stupid's going to happen and you know what's going to happen after you get knocked out or you lose the fight you know what's really going to happen

you got to want to fucking drink something so why would you get in a ring and fight again you're just talking shit there's no way you're going to prep for it you wouldn't do it there's no way three people I've got to convince if I wish to ever do that again Trevor Tony and Rose

four people I've got to convince myself too because in actuality like I don't yeah I can't trust me. I know exactly what to do in order to fuck this up. You know? I'm talking about just metaphorically speaking. Just, I

know exactly what to do to make everything bad right now. I definitely know that. So we don't go that route. We just stay away from the that way. We have been doing different shit. We have been doing different shit, man. We're growing tomatoes. Man, it's been working. It's been working. Valentina is here for

the third time. Valentina never goes to the same training. She don't train the same place twice. She don't train girl she only trains the guys she's a no man she's was that no man is that the wrong that's yeah that's right no man or is it a ron in it okay all right one of those one of them one of those man she's like walking the lands and training and everywhere and she's back for the third time not only is she back for the third time she brought her big sister too because her big sister's got an mima fight the week after me why they coming back why because

rose shows up every day ready to make that money rose shows up every day that's what we've been doing different we changed it up we changed it up we changed it up we changed it up we changed up some things, man. We changed up some things. We found a different lifestyle. We found a path that we like a lot better. Not only do we like it a lot better, I think everybody likes it a lot better. It's more fun. It's more

healthy for everybody. It's just, it's not dark anymore. It's light now. I'm not saying it was I don't mean it to be that extreme, but it's just that route, the way that we were going, because we're still going forward, but we were going this way forward. Now we're going this way, and this one's

this route's a lot more fun. Taste better. Wow. Things taste better. That's a perfect segue. I love cooking. They taste better. What you just said before about, you know, six months and proving to yourself that you can do this and taking a fight and going through with it, all that stuff.

That is the perfect segue, right? That's the perfect segue. What do you got? 18th. Six, five, 300 pounds. Big, big guy. I've got a kickboxing match with MMA gloves in Miami, Florida. I can you tell you one second.

Let me find, what is the name of it? It is the mixed striking championship four. Really? Yeah, yeah. We're back. Mixed striking championship four. Yeah, mixed striking championship four. November 18th?

In event, kickboxing match with the M.A. gloves. What's the date? Eric Prindle. Yeah, Eric Prindle. Eric Pringle, and what's the date? Brock Lesnar's friend. Yeah.

November 18th in Miami. Okay, first, there's a lot there. Kickboxing with M.M.A. gloves. I don't know if I've ever seen that. Me neither. Why? I've never seen it either. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know what it was.

It's because things have been enjoying the right type of way. We've been living the type of race. The right type of lifestyle, things have been going. Like I said, leading by example and this and this and that. Brian My manager called me from Sucker Punch He phacetime me

And I picked up the phone And he was like Hey man What are you doing And I remember our sponsor No it was a regular call Yeah what are you doing I was like yes

To whatever you call it about I'll do it I'll do it I'll do it He was like all right And I was like Hold on Would I just agree to?

What did I just agree to? I'll do it But not everything He said a kickboxing match With MMA Gloves in Florida Against Eric Prendle main event I said yep Just tell whoever

it is, yes. And why is it kickboxing with the name of the promotion? I don't know how many rounds is going to, huh?

Why is it with MMA gloves and not kickboxing gloves? I have no clue. You're in though? I don't know. I didn't research anything. I just said, yes, I'll do it.

November 18th, I'll be there. Wow. I'm going to punch somebody in the head, November 18th. And Eric Pringle, as you mentioned, is a friend of Brock Leszner's, or a training partner, at least. Have you ever trained with him?

I don't know. I think he's his former training partner. went to school together or something. Eric Premble, this big dude, big, big guy. Yeah, I remember him. And they fighter,

I think he was in the UFC ever. I think he's mainly been a guy, but, uh, he's fought for Belator. Belator, that's where it is. Yeah. Bellator, big. You ever train with him?

Wow. Nope. Wow, this is amazing. No. Did you feel like you needed this? No, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I almost did.

the first time I was out there with Brock that was him the first time that was him I was out there with Brock the first time when he was training when I was out there for the first time I was training for the fight with Kane and I remember Eric Prindle

they flew him in and he went from the airport straight to the gym and he got to the gym matched up with Brock and Brock come forward his arm off his body he went from the airport to the gym to the hospital back to the airport flew home because he was in and out the same day wow

Yeah, that's him Yeah, I saw him for about three hours Do you feel like you have to do that Like is this part of the story? But I was in the same room with him When I was in the same room with him When that happened That was crazy

Do you feel like this is part of the story Like you need to do this fight To tie everything together To prove that you are all the way back Is this a one-off in your mind? Is this the beginning of something new? How do you approach this? There's a there's a bunch of different ways

this movie can go, you know? There's a bunch of different. This movie could end with this fight November 18th, and I go, all right, you see, I could do it. All right, that's it, everybody. I'll see you all later. You know, this, I mean, anything could happen.

November 18th, the Duke could punch me in the head. And all of a sudden, you're like, oh, you're right, I'm going to sit my ass down. I ain't coming back. I'm going to go sit out forever, all right? That very well could happen. It's not, you know, that's not the plan. But with, with the way,

with the changes that have been made in this household, there's no reason not to. There's no reason not to. There's no reason not to continue fighting. There's no reason not to drop down to 205 and actually give that a shot, even if it's just an experiment. There's no reason not to.

Jiu-Jitsu's awesome. That's been great. Competing and grappling has been pretty fun. It's actually, I've been grappling for the last, however many years for so long, but actually committed to it. I've got a purple belt somehow, and I've committed.

Like not thousand percent, all I do is grapple, but actually, actually give fuck. I actually care about it. To where now the idea of being in a fight and falling on the ground doesn't,

now that, that, I don't think I've been in a position on the ground that's unfamiliar. You know what I mean? It's not like, oh, I'm on a ground. I guess I'm going to lose. now.

Right, right. Not that. But it's just, it's exciting now because I don't think that other than, I guess, getting punched down, but not even, not even that. I don't think that there's been many positions on the ground that are unfamiliar now to the point of where even the thought of hitting the ground does, that's no longer, that's no longer, that's no longer like a, uh-oh, whatever you do, don't go down because, you know, that's just how I let the world say that and me believe it, too.

was true. You love J Jitsu. I don't love Jitsu. I don't. I don't. You love Jitsu. I don't. I don't.

I love Jitsu. I don't. Jits. Just own it. You know, Oma Plata's words. Wow. But,

but I don't know. I mean, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to stress this house out. Yeah. I don't stress this. I'm not going to stress this house out.

I'll tell you that. And if any time between now and November 18th, I even, if I even if I even slip a little bit and start slowing down I'm gonna call it off okay I'm not gonna stress this house out right now right now I've uh I've figured I've found something right now I've gotten on a certain lane a certain lane a certain lane a certain gear where I wake up in the morning excited about waking up and getting up early and making sure that roses be ready for the day and we're gonna get muscles today and you're ready to go and kill it today because Valentina's here you gotta kill it like I'm and this has been really fun and waking up every day, going to the gym and pushing the pace on people. That's it. Just pushing the pace.

Everybody's, because everyone would get into the habit of, you know, the same thing over and again. So I started going to practice and actually, like, just, I'm going to change it. I'm going to change it. I'm going to make sure everybody's getting abs today. We're all going to get tired. We're all going to make it uncomfortable, take it to a different level. And I've actually been paying attention and learning. And then it's got to the point where, like, like, the curious questions or it's not just go through the motions anymore now, man.

is show up, just show up to practice. You know why? Because showing up to practice years ago was the funest thing in the world. It was so fun, I didn't do anything else. You don't have friends. You don't talk to family. You don't do nothing.

You need to eat. Stay in the gym all the time. Just go to practice. Going to practice solves everything, I think. I think that's a way of solving everything. And if it doesn't directly solve the problem, it'll help you figure it out, man. Just go to practice.

And that's why I started doing. again. I stopped going to practice years ago. I stopped. I got to go to practice. I have to go to train. I've got to go to class. I have to and I stopped just going to practice. And we started making just going to practice not just a thing we have to do, but now a thing that just happens that we don't even talk about anymore. You know, you don't tell me that you had breakfast when you woke up. I know that. I just assumed that. We don't talk. We don't have to talk about going to practice. 10 o'clock. What are you doing? We fucking think I'm doing practice. We're in practice. Getting muscles every day. All the time. Pushing the pace on every.

helping everybody. We're teaching kids. Everybody, everybody's learning. Everybody is, there's this big, the thing that happens in gyms, man. The magic that happens in a gym, like a magic that happens in a barbershop. Just go hang out in the barbershop. Oh, heads, just sit back talking all day and night. Just go to practice tonight. You go on practice tonight. Shut up. You know I'm already at practice. We practice every day is like walking around super saying all the time. Man. You know? Instead of powering up.

just be powered up always and if that's a lifestyle then it doesn't matter who you're fighting or win or where because you're just that's the life you live yes having a fight is natural

having a fight is expected having a fight on a certain data it doesn't matter where it's at of who it is whatever is it a fight yes I'll be there I'll be ready are you worried at all about and then yeah go ahead about what

about slipping right Do you feel like you're on that path that you don't think about the pills and the alcohol? Are you ever worried about slipping or do you feel like you're past that? No, I'm not going. I mean, the slip worry, the slip worry automatically has to always be there. You know, sure. You just have to be. It has to always be there, even though I'm not fucking going back.

But it also, you never, it's forever. It's never forever, you know. It's just for now. Just today. One day to kind of what A&E is just today. That's right. So the slip is always there.

It's always lurking around a corner. Hey, man. Okay, so they went 10 to 1.30 the other day, then 10 to 1230 the other day, and then today was 10 to 1245. Of them, Rose and Valentinia just punch each other in the head. They go hard for three hours straight.

And today, I decided a few last, a week ago, I was jokingly saying if I threw 10,000 power kicks on a bag, power kicks, like committed, fully committed 10,000 of them, I'd have to have new ad muscles. And then Rose says, do it. And I said, ah, shit, you heard that? No, man, our case, and now I'm going to give it a shot, right?

So I decided because the fight is so far away right now in my coach, my boxing coach, Trevor, he's in Las Vegas right now. uh, Gaichi and the, what he's doing out there. So he's going for six weeks. So I said,

if I can achieve 10,000 kicks, which is a ridiculous, I've never been counted 10,000 in my life. I've never done that before, 10,000. This is crazy, right? If I can get 10,000 kicks and actually do it and commit,

every kick is, ah, give it to it, just go, boom, no matter how long it takes, just not 100%, 71% kick. Effective, power kicks on a bag.

Um, Then what is that? Then you got to have some kind of new, new, new, new, new laceration somewhere. You got to have something. I mean, that's a good way to maybe get to a lot. I don't know what I'm going to do, but 10,000 kicks, right? So today I got to, we got to, what was today, 600? So 1,000 last week.

Saturday hit 1,000, and then today we hit 600 in three hours, 600, power kicks. Damn. That's a really good way to go get a beer. It's a great way to go get a beer. That's a great way to go get a beer. That's a great way to go have a shot of whiskey and order a pizza. I'm exhausted right now. Like, honestly, we're on the phone.

As soon as this is over, I'm going to do that. I'm going to just collapse right on the floor. Just like, that's where I'm going right there. All right, man. But, no, it's just, it's, it's, I don't know, man. I don't know if it's, you know what, too. It's having a house now. You know?

Yeah. That too. It's, I don't know. I don't know. It sounds so cool. No, you have something the flag for. Like, it's not that, but, but it is that. You know?

I don't know. I don't know what happened. I don't have any explanation. I don't know how to explain it. Even, even, even Trevor, my coach is like, hey, dude, own your why and what your, what's your purpose. And the only answer I can come up with is, I have no idea, but I'm going to go get this dude. I'm going to get him. I'm going to get him.

And then after that, then, then, we'll talk about, you know, but as of right now, I'm kind of in this trance where I'm going to go get this dude. If he survives the first two punches, he's not going to survive the first two kicks. I'm just go get him. After that, we'll come back and we'll re-evaluate everything, and we'll actually have a real discussion on, you know, what are you going to do next? And are you going to try to do this? And are you going to, or whatever the next move is, I don't know. Only thing that matters right now is November 18th and throwing 10,000 kicks before I get to it. I'm going to attack this dude. I'm going to attack him. I'm going to attack him when a bell

I'm going to just attack. I'm going to try something I've never done before. I've never just, I'm just go at them. Wow. I am very thankful for you today, Pat. I didn't know that you guys would open up like this, and it really means a lot that you would because I've been bothering you for so long. Well, thanks, man.

Well, it means the world to me, really, that you would do that. I told you a while ago. I told you a while ago that I would tell you. I didn't think it was going to take that long, but I couldn't. It's just. I'll tell you any day now. But I'm really... But yeah, thanks for being patient with me, man.

I don't know. There's a lot. There's a lot more, there's a lot more, bro. But it's good stuff. There's nothing... It's good stuff, man. There's good stuff. Any of this...

And I would even go so far as to say this, that what I said today isn't unfamiliar to a lot of people out there. a lot of people listening it's not unfamiliar man there's a lot of fucking people that drink way too much damn she's just

all right hold on man go to sleep it's there there's a lot of people that understand what I'm saying and there's a lot of people that hear it

and there's a lot of people also out there that hear it that don't know that they hear it but yeah it's it's out there I'm not it's just I know

I know what it was what I had to change about my lifestyle and that I think is beneficial in every aspect of my life is just things have to change

and they've been up and up ever since now I'm not saying this is the answer but I definitely know like I said I know how to fuck everything up and as long as I don't do that

then we'll see how things keep rolling well I wish you nothing for the best man I'm really happy for you that you've gone on that path, as you said. I feel like on this show, you've been coming on and so kind with your time for so long. I feel like we've kind of seen you both as a couple grow up in many ways. I mean, you've been coming on for like six, seven years now. So to open your lives up to us here and tell us a bit about what you've been through is, I mean, I'm at a loss for words.

So I really have a lot of respect for both of you, and I wish you both nothing but the best. And how about this scene? November 4th, Madison Square Garden, you're fighting November 18th. Rose showing up to your fight, you know, as a UFC champion, wow, what a story that would be. What a story that would be. That would be a really cool story. That would be a really cool story. That would be a really cool story.

Yeah. We got a lot of cool stories, man. That would be a cool story before, right before, the same night, two weeks after. It doesn't matter when it is. We'll do it on Tuesday. She's ready. Don't matter. She's ready.

All the best to you guys. We got it. keep it up stay in touch there's lots more to discuss but for now we shall say goodbye take care rose thank you for the time as well you guys are awesome thank you so much i really appreciate it we'll talk to you soon take care guys bye later bye pat barry rose numbing unis what can you say that was uh wow that was something else i don't know if we've ever experienced anything like that i had no idea that that happened i had no idea that he would open up like that I had no idea about any of that.

So very thankful that they would open up and tell us a little bit about what was going on in their lives. And yeah, that got me emotional. As you can imagine, I'm prone to getting emotional. That was heavy stuff, but I wish him nothing but the best. One of the great people in the sport, Pat Barry, and I wish him the best on November 18th. And if that fight is happening November 4th, Rose Namibunus against Ioanni, I'm Jacek. I certainly wish her the best as well. All right.

How about this? The fun continues. everyone's been asking me all show long, are you going to get Polly Malinaji on? Is Polly Malinaji going to come on the show? Why don't you have Polly Malanaji on the lineup? Why aren't you speaking to him? When's he coming on?

I've been bombarded ever since everything blew up last week. Everyone asking me, please, please, please, please talk to Polly Malanaji. I'm very happy to say that he is kind enough to be joining us right now. He is on the phone. We are being joined by the one and only, Polly Malinaji. The talk of the combat sports world is on the show right now. Polly, are you there? Yeah, what's up, Ariel?

Oh, my God. It'll be on your show again, man. Thank the gods. I'm so happy that you did this, really. I can't thank you enough. I think I would have been kidnapped out of the studio if you didn't show up. No, no, I intended to try to get on and just had a busy day running around. But I always was trying to hope to make some time for you, man.

So I'm glad I'm glad to be back on. Thank you so much. So how would you describe the last five, six, seven days for you? Has this just, I mean, what has your life been? like ever since everything kind of turned upside down? You know, it's something that I really didn't ask for. I showed up with the best intention to camp, you know, and at a certain point you start to realize that you're being used as a pawn

where somebody's trying to get ahead at your expense and not through your help. You know, my intention was to try to get Connor ahead through my help. I intended with the best, I had the best intentions to get him ahead helping out in camp in the best way I could. I realized, you know, pretty early and especially this week, that it was always going to be at my expense. And, you know, it kind of left me no choice.

I had to leave this. It was like, his guys got all the photographers in the gym. The way he treats people is not going to change. He doesn't let anybody else in the gym to the point where I can't even bring a trainer into camp or anything. So it was like, you know, it's an uphill battle. You're always going to be fighting. I just decided I got a goal because, you know, no matter what happens in sparring, I could throw him a 10 or 12-round beating

I could get to that point and he's still going to have pictures and photographers you know, photograph, photographer taking pictures only for him so shots will land on his behalf as well. You know, it's a little bit frustrating and it was a little bit disappointing

more thought or anything because I really really came in with the best intentions to have an interesting experience and it was an interesting experience just not in the way I had really envied it. What was fascinating about this this partnership or union or arrangement, if you will, is that, you know, we remember back in December you talked about, you know, a potential fight against him, and you were somewhat critical

and you were working for Showtime and you were on the tour and then all of a sudden Word gets out that you're being invited and he says that you're going to have to pay for your words. And so the whole thing kind of felt a little bit different than your typical sparring partner. And you're on the show here and you say that you're going to go out there and you're going to see what's going on and we're getting some feedback about how things are going. did you realize right away that this was going to be different, that this would be a little contentious? Did you get that feeling right away? And if so, were you a little bit on edge the entire time? Once I got there, I kind of did. But all the time before that, listen, I've called out fighters in the past.

The fighters even called me out in the past during my championship rings. And sometimes the fights happened. Sometimes it didn't happen. If it didn't happen, when we saw each other, we were cool. You know, I didn't explain that on my podcast, which I just filmed Brooklyn to the World. I just was explaining the situation where, you know, when you see each other, if you end up not fighting, you're all brothers in the same line of work. It's a combat, sports world. It's a tough way to make a living. So you're all brothers, and you all understand the hustle that it is to try to get big fights and whatnot. So if sometimes you guys, fighters fresh each other, if the fight happens, okay, the animosity develops and it grows and it's competition and sometimes competition gets doubled.

If the fight doesn't happen, you see each other and you just pound each other up and, you know, you're just friendly, you know, you're just friendly, you know, you're going to be a competition. you're all brothers in the same competition, the same life, and it's not an easy way to make a living, you know. It's always the way it's been, be it if I called somebody out or be that they called me out. Whenever I saw them,

I'm cool to this day with guys that I've had words with, but I never fought. You know, I'm cool to them with them because we all know it's just business at the end of the day. So in the moment when Connor got his boxing license. I think a lot of the boxing world,

you know, raised an eyebrow was a little skeptical how much of this guy can this guy really bring to the table as far as ability is concerned. What we do know is he can bring a lot of money to the table because he's very popular. So, of course, any boxer was tried to use their name to try to jump in.

I thought I fit the bill. I thought I fit the bills. I was going to try to get under his skin as more as I could as much as I could because I felt like, okay, this guy's going to come in, but he's not going to fight somebody in his prime. You know, he'll get crushed, absolutely crushed because, you know, somebody in their prime, I guess the guy was never fought. It's not going to be a pretty thing. But maybe we'll try to take on a name fighter past his prime, you know, a little bit past it.

So I thought I fit the category very well. So I said, let me try to trash him a little bit and see if he gets his attention. He ended up going up against the fighter who's passing. prime and had a very big game. You went up against the best one of all with Mayweather, you know? So obviously I never had a chance. You know, there's always more money in that fight. But once the fight didn't happen with me, I was like, whatever, you know, I mean, it is what it is.

You know, I thought, hey, maybe he'll stay in, you know, in boxing and maybe, you know, off me a fight later. But then I retired and whatnot, so it was like, I just kind of just forgot about it, you know what I'm saying? Just like I forget about it in the past when I've had words with fighters I never fought, you know, I see them and I say, what's up? were all cool, you know. So I, I thought it would just be like that, especially when I was called by his team to work with them. I thought, hey, you know, it's going to be cool. When I heard him say what he said in L.A. at the interview, after the L.A. Staple Center press conference, when he said,

I'm going to have to pay for what I said, I thought it was just for promotion. I thought it was just for media. Plus, at days end, every sparring is hard and every sparring is very physical. You know, I've sparred friends who were trying to knock each other out. But, you know, that's how you make each other better. You want to raise not only your tactical level, but also you want to raise your mental level. You know, you want to raise that minstry, you can have that edge about you, and the only way you do that is if you spar very violently. So I don't know how it works in MMA, but in boxing,

when you're training for a fight, you spar very violently and with very, very mean intentions. So a person doesn't have to have anything personal against you to have that kind of sparring. And so I've had that kind of sparring throughout my life with people that I'm totally cool with. So when he was saying these things about how it's going to be rough and, you know, or

even Tiernan Bradley's interview when we was talking about before I ever came to camp, Connor had mentioned in the camp that when Paulie gets you, it's going to be a fight. I mean, I didn't even think twice about it because that was kind of normal for me anyway. I mean, whether it was cool with a sparring partner or whether of them not cool with a sparring partner, sparring is always the same thing, and that is, you're going to try to knock each other's heads off and, you know, even try to hurt each other, you know? It's just the kind of sparring. It's always been in boxing, so it didn't even really affect my thinking

pattern, you know. It just, once I got to camp and I saw the way things were, my antenna's gone up a little bit. So how many times did you actually spar them twice? We sparred twice, yeah.

When I got the camp, before I, when I negotiated everything, I mean, I didn't negotiate a price with him. I took their first offer because I wanted to let them know through my actions that I had the best intentions and it was an act of genuineness. Now, I'm not going to go there for free,

obviously. At the time, at the time I first got the call, I hadn't even been training, you know? I had been retired. So obviously it's work and I want to be paid, but I didn't negotiate a set price. I mean, we had a set price, but I didn't negotiate. I just took their first offer. And I didn't ask for any special accommodations.

I just figured they would be moderate with the rest of the team, the sparring partners or whatever, and it'll be fine. You know, I didn't think he would be as cheap as he was, you know. So I just expected, you know, whatever it is, if it's your basic hotel or just a decent house or whatever. You know, it'll be fine. I don't need special treatment. I just want to be, I don't want to be a burden to the team. If I'm going to be part of the team, I want to be a part of the team, legit, you know?

So I thought in an act of goodwill, and I thought they would understand that, and I thought they would see that. I didn't negotiate anything. I just took what they offered, you know? And so when we finally, when I finally got to camp and they picked me up from the airport, when we pulled up to the house, it's in a like a dilapidated neighborhood. It's a rundown house. I mean, yeah, it works, but it's not really what you expect.

I thought, like, that's a little weird, you know, but I, Again, I had my own room in the house. There's no cables, no nothing. It's just, like, bare necessities, shipped, painted walls, like, the floors. Like, it just, it was just a, it reminded me, like, some kind of crack house that had, like, barely, like, been renovated a little bit.

You know what I'm saying? It was just, like, I don't know, it wasn't really for me. But, again, I'm a part of the team, and I'm not going to complain. And sometimes people have a budget for camp. So when you have a budget for camp, I'm cool with it. You know what?

I'm not going to answer your budget. Even if it's $100 million fight, hey, man, you know what? You have a budget. And sometimes people are very strict about that budget. So I didn't complain. Again, I didn't say anything, you know. But, of course, they told me that I was going to go eight rounds the next day

after I got off a flight. And, of course, eight rounds is kind of a lot when you're not in great shape. Plus, I got off a flight. So I was like, yeah, I was like, all right, you know, I was like, it's fine. I didn't complain again, but I thought to myself, that's kind of a lot of rounds. But it was fine, you know, because I signed up for it. So it was cool. I wasn't, like, angry or anything at that time.

You know, I had been told that I was going to come into the camp that first week and I was going to spot Thursday and Saturday, you know, because I told them I had to leave Monday to work for him Garcia, and then I would return the following Monday. Also, in an act of goodwill and gesture, I told them I would have showtime pay for my flight leaving Vegas on the Monday, and my flight returning to Vegas the following Monday. So that way it wouldn't cost them anything if they flew in when they needed me.

The only would have to pay for my first flight. And then when I left and came back, I would have showtime paid for it. So I thought, again, I'm showing my goodwill because I could have easily just saved showtime the money and just tell them, no, but I got to go to work. So if you guys want me this week, you've got to pay my flight back to New York and then fly back home. You know, so, so, you know, another thing is I fly first class all the time. I didn't ask them for a first class flight, you know what I'm saying? I, I let them fly me in business, uh, in a coach, not business class, you know.

Again, an act of goodwill, fine, you know, I didn't ask for any special treatment at all. And, uh, I thought like they would understand that I, my intentions were as to be, to help the team in my, and do my part, you know, Thursday we boxed. I'd say, you know what, so we got the best. He probably got the better of it a little bit because mainly on conditioning. It wasn't anything tactical really that he was better than me at. But conditioning-wise, he could push the issue a little bit more than I could. And he went any rounds.

And, you know, he was able to work a little harder than me, you know. But I saw during the sparring, I was able to do certain things as far as give him a lot of illusions, make him feel like he has to work in certain moments when he doesn't really have to work. But if I give you that illusion a lot of times, put you in certain positions, how you react to it, making you throw punches when you really don't have to, making you work when you really don't have to. I generated a lot of work out of him. which does two things. For me, it shows me that he needs to sharpen up his intelligence

a little bit of his instincts in the ring, the experience. But also, even if he threw those punches in those spots, I say, hey, you know what, I'm getting, I'm getting to work harder. You know, I'm getting to work hard. Even if I'm not working as hard, I'm not able to punch in those spots because I'm trying to condition, my body's conditioned only to throw so many punches around at this point. I was like, you know, I gave him the work you need, you know, and that was it.

You know, the next day he had the picture where he put his hands behind his back. I had done that to him, too. So I was a little tick-old, but I wasn't like, all right, it's his blanket of offensive, you know? But I had done that stuff to him, too. And I already knew that he had his own sparring partners, I mean, his own photographers there, you know? So I already knew that the only people out take pictures work,

his photographers, the UFC photographers, on behalf of him. I didn't think he would, again, at the beginning of the conversation, I didn't think he would use me to try to get me at my, try to have the success at my expense. I thought he wouldn't try to get him the success by using me to his advantages,

but not at my expense, and I'm trying to roll my image. So I wasn't like too unhappy. I wasn't happy, but I wasn't too unhappy about that first sparring picture. But the next day on Saturday, when we had to work again, he skipped me. And they had told me I was going to work Thursday and Saturday because I was leaving Monday. And that first checkmark went off in my mind like, all right, bro, you know, I don't know how much character this guy has. You know, I've heard the rumors in the past.

A fighter to me is not a fighter just because he gets in the ring on the octagon. And round one, we're all strong. We're all strong around one. Everybody, even the guy on the corner talking about his street fights is tough when he's fresh talking about them. He's not tired. He's not hurting. Everybody's tough in round one. Everybody, even non-fighters are tough in round one.

To me, a fighter, a true fighter, the definition of a true fighter is how do you react when you're tired, when you're hurting, when you're fatigued, when you're just uncomfortable, you know? So for me, him not boxing Saturday was a bit off for me because I was leaving Monday. you know, now if you don't box me Saturday, you're not going to have me for 10 days. For me, it showed a little bit of lacking in character, but I didn't say anything. I said, you know what, we're just going to work when I get back. But I remember telling myself, the room was a true about this guy. He's a frontrunner. He has no character.

He only likes it when he has the advantage, and he's winning. He's all talking, he's all this when he's winning. But as soon as things don't go his way, as he saw an Atea's fight, he's trying to shoot and take down a Brazilian jizzo black belt. He wants to be put out of his misery. I remember thinking that when I saw that fight, you know? He looks for a way out. He doesn't like to deal with adversity.

But a lot of people don't. Most of them beings on earth, when they're going to that kind of adversity, look for a way out. Even a lot of fighters look for a way out. Special fighters look for a way in when they're very uncomfortable. It's a very, very rare trait to have. But whatever, I didn't, I wasn't mad about it. Whatever, let's work for me. You know, he didn't box me.

He boxed one of the amateur kids. I left Monday. I was home all week Monday because I was in New York. In New York, I was working at Brono Garcia Fight Week. You know, so I had to work at Borno Garcia Fight Week. Well, one thing I remember, I made sure I did. I made sure I jogged every single day I was home because I needed my conditioning to get better, you know? And I jogged, I got home Monday.

I jogged every day from Tuesday to the following Monday when I flew out. I even jogged the morning I flew out, you know? So I conditioned myself. And I even got one day of sparring. It was a few rounds, but it was with a sharp little young contender named Young prospect slash contender named Thomas Lamano, so a 25 and two record, you know? I got some sparring in with him as well. Just to keep my eyes sharp.

You know, like I had the first sparring with Connor and I had the second sparring with Lamana. Even if it was just a few rounds, my eyes were getting sharper and I realized even in the Lamana sparring, my reflexes, my counterpunching was coming out a little better, you know? So I said, you know, just because really when I left the first time,

they just didn't rub me the right way, you know what I'm saying? It wasn't like I was mad, but I said, just something fishy about these people, you know what I'm saying? It put me in some kind of crackouts. They had me spar eight rounds and I just got off a plane, day after, He put up this picture.

I wasn't mad, but I was starting to get become guarded, you know, so that's why I made sure sure I prepared during my week off. And sure enough, I was right. I get off the plane the following one day, I get landed in Vegas, and they tell me you're going 12 tomorrow. Now, for people that aren't familiar with a boxing training camp, no sparring partner has ever expected to do 12th straight. No sparring partner is expected.

The fighter in camp does 12th Street, but the fighter in camp does 12th Street. He'll do like four with one guy and alternate him and bring him the other guy for five and maybe the last guy for three, or so on and so forth. You break them up, so that does two things. It keeps the sparm partners, you're getting the spark partners all at their best without over-fatiguing, and then you're getting each guy fresh while you're tiring. So it puts you in situations where you have to be what, as I said, uncomfortable. You have to start getting comfortable, being uncomfortable.

A lot of times when you get to the third guy, especially if they can all fight, because I always had training games where I use prospects or guys who are on the rise, all of them can fight. So by the time you get to the third guy, you're tiring, you're uncomfortable, and this guy's fresh, you're gonna beat the crap out of you, you know? So,

you're developing in campus I'm trying to develop your tactical stuff as well as your character, you know? Character is important in fighting, but you're not, it's not just about A, X as and all is in tactical stuff.

You're also there to get to a point where you're uncomfortable. I'm not talking about being uncomfortable or jogging the extra mile or bicycling in the extra couple of miles when you're biking. Nothing like being fatigued in our situations and having somebody coming there

kicking your ass too. Nothing. You're being, Fatigued in running the extra mile, or you being fatigued and biking the extra five miles, that doesn't compare to you being fatigued and having a fight against the guy with in the fresh. You know what I'm saying? So you will, you build that character in camp as well. Because you're not, you don't, it's all inside you, but you have to bring it out,

especially when you're living comfortable for a couple months in between fights, you know? So these are things that I think are important, you know? And so, uh, him not having sparred the second day stuck out to me. And also when I got back here now expecting me to all 12 stuck out to me, except for the one thing. In my mind, I was smiling because I said, I said this time I came ready. This time I made sure during my week off, I kept ready and I kept working my conditioning and my sharpness. In his mind, looking back, he probably thought, Polly had a tough time getting through the eight.

I'm going to set him off for 12. And he's going to have an even harder time doing 12 because last week he wasn't here. He was working. So he's probably not in the best of shape still. And last week, he wasn't here with me. I was working out all week. That's probably what he's thinking. I mean, it's what I'm assuming he's thinking based on the way he acted.

They put me in for 12. I get to the gym the next day. He's got all kinds of dignitaries there. He's got Lorenzo Fertita there. He's got Dana White there. He's got his agent there. Adia, his name is Adria. He's got a couple other people I don't know there, you know?

Another thing that checked off in my mind because usually sparring was so private that I couldn't even bring in a trainer from my corner. You know what I'm saying? I had to just have the sparring partner who broke my corner, you know? So I couldn't have a catch my own any of my trainers. camp. It was so private, nobody was allowed in. It was so private that when you walk into the gym, you have to leave your phones in a box so then nobody can take sneak pictures or record. It was this private. Yet he was having some dignitaries coming on this particular evening. Again, I thought to myself, this guy thinks he's going to stop me tonight. He's banking on catching

the guy who could barely go eight and had a tough time doing the eight the first time. And now he brought in all these dignitaries so they can speak about how great he looks. And at my expense, once again, I can't say the key phrase, at my expense. It's always at my expense. I was angry, but I knew I came ready this time. And the sparring starts. Another thing he has about every single sparring. He wants Joe Cortez, the referee, wants him the referee like, it's a fight, which is fine.

I understand you don't box. But you also want stair downs every time because you've got to use to boxing. Buddy, you come to the center ring and get instructions as stair downs. that happens in mixed martial arts too there's nothing about there's no difference there with boxing and mixed martial arts so when it comes to these stares down

I was like it's all about his ego this guy is all about his ego he's actually not trying to get better he's got a bunch of yes man in his corner who's telling he's doing good even if he's doing bad it's all about that he always thinks he's doing good even if he's not

it's just about him and cheerleading just bring your pom-pons in you know you don't because there's no there's no reason for anybody to actually be there you know what I'm saying it's not for being a cheering having a cheering section you know

so whatever sparring stuff we go through instructions stare down whatever in the sparring starts. And I'd say, you know what, he hung tough off the first five rounds. I came out with more of a purpose, but he hung tough to first five rounds. Even landed a couple of big shots. But I was starting to, you know, take over. My

work was more consistent. My style was more consistent. My counter punching was sharper. My jab was sharper. It was just more consistency on my part. Because here's the other thing. People asked me that he get better from the first to the second time. He did. Honestly, Ariel, he got better from the first time to the second time. The thing is, it's still something

new to him. So he's growing, these increments at which he's growing at are still smaller. I've done this for 20 years of my life. So from one sparring to another to another, the rate at which I progress is a lot faster because the muscle memory comes back. The reactions and timing started to come back at a faster and faster rate. So even if he got better from the first sparring, I got way better from the first sparring. And the third and fourth one would have got better and better and better. So by the end of the camp, this guy understood after two sparring, that Adidas was going to get beat the rest of the camp. Because the way sparring went on Tuesday was this.

He hung tough for five rounds, but he had to work more than he wanted to. But he hung tougher five rounds. I was having more purpose. I was sharper. I was hitting the body. He was landing some good shots, too. Especially in those early rounds, he was hanging tough. From about six on, he started becoming very hitable.

Started becoming so hitable that I was putting more weight on my shots and thin down more on my shots. And, of course, the body shots started affecting more and more and more. Of course, I'm talking the whole time. because the first time he made sure to talk the whole time. I'm talking more and more, and I'm letting him know he can't hang. These body shots feel good, right? You know, I used to you taking these body shots in the MMA. Because in MMA, the body shots aren't the same as in boxing,

and there's a consistency for the body shots in boxing. It's a debilitating breakdown to the body shots in boxing. Little by little, you steal the air come out of you. The fatigue increases. You can't throw as hard. You can't have enough snap on you. You don't have enough snap on your shots anymore. You can't throw as often as you want to.

The body shots and boxing do this to you little by little. They increase the rate at which you fatigue. And I started understanding this, and I started seeing it in his face. And what did I say about character? What did I say about a fighter who really shows that he's a fighter during what moments? During these moments. Connor got to this moment now. He stopped talking.

He wanted to save as much energy as he could. He stopped throwing his many punches. He caught a nice one for about five rounds. all of the nights when he caught the whole time while I was talking. As a matter of fact, and this is where you know he's a yes, it is yes, man. After seven, which is one of the worst rounds, he sits there and he tells me, seven zero me.

And I remember walking back to my corner, yelling back in him, I said, whatever school you went to, and they didn't teach you at a count, huh? I went back to my corner. I was feeling so good, I started yelling at Dana White, ringside. I started yelling at him, and I started saying,

this is the bitch you brought me here? I said, I said 24 hours ago, I was on a plight. Then I lied a little bit. I said last week I didn't do anything. I was just working. I did work out last week, but of course I wanted to pump myself up. The last week I didn't do anything.

I was just working. I was just trashed. I was just trashed about Dana. I was talking to his face, but I was yelling, making a point. And I knew the yelling that Connor heard me across the ring. And Dana didn't acknowledge it in any kind of emotion. He didn't say anything. But he was looking right at me as I was saying it.

You know? So he basically let me know I'm listening to you, but I'm not going to react to it and I'm not going to say anything. But he heard exactly what I was saying. I was looking right at me. at him. And then we went back out for 8, 9, and 10. One of those rounds was the pushdown round. Now, the funny thing about the pushdown round was this, that he tried to play with a knockdown. It was during one of his worst moments. He pushed me down on the floor to try to catch a break.

The instant I went down, I got up. And I remember, as I continued to trash talk, I said, so, buddy, you need a break? I said, you needed that break? Because, you know, a couple of Cortezza step in, you have to wipe off my gloves. And I started taking it right to him right after that. I said, there's no breaks here. They don't get no breaks. And I said, take those. I said, I said they don't feel good if I started hearing a whimper with the body shots too. I was going to take those, eat some of those, get used to those, you know, because now the work is more consistent on my part. I got to say, there's question marks here from me because at about 10, the fatigue started coming from me. So after about 10, I was spent.

And I said, now I got to do 12. I told me I got to do 12. I'm going to stay in there for 11 and 12. I flew across country the day before. You know, I'm still not in the best condition, but I'm in better condition in the first time. Conner impressed me that in 11 and 12 he came on strong

and he played in some really good shots in 11 and 12 I was starting to fade out in 11 and 12 I remember thinking if it's probably the last time I'm going to fade out so these are his last two

free rounds he's ever going to have against me but I remember thinking he did show character I remember saying you know he caught a mean one from me for about five rounds in a row and then he you know

he showed some character and coming back to what he did in the last two but the question you mark in my mind was this if I had been as if I had been as consistent as I had just been, would he still have shown that character in 11 and 12,

or did he show the character in 11 and 12 because he saw the fading and there was less, less activity from my part? That was what I wanted to find out the next time, because there was no more free rounds starting the next time around. There was no more me flying in 24 hours before. Both times I sparred, and keep in mind, I just flew cross-country 24 hours before. Both times I sparred. Even the first week, I stayed eight rounds.

They didn't use me the rest of the week. They could have used me Saturday and gave me a couple of days to get into the get, recover from the jet lag, but they didn't, you know what I'm saying? So my thing is this, one of my things is this, don't you want your sparring partners to be at the best they can be? Don't you want your sparring partners to be at their sharpest, so they give you the best work? I mean, Floyd is going to be at its best.

Why would you want that false into security? You try to put your sparm partners in a tough situation. You know, sparring is always at 9 p.m. every sparring day, but they tell you, like, randomly he'll change it to 3 p.m. They'll change it to 12 p.m. They'll change it to 5 p.m. So you always got to be, like, on edge. You can't even go to the mall and buy a pair of sneakers on sparring day

because you want to have the ego to tell you. you to show up at any time, you know? So, like, why would you want, wouldn't you want to give your spawnporn as you? In turn, they can bring out the best in you. Why, Ariel? Because he's a bitch. He doesn't like that. He doesn't want to be put in those positions. He wants to be a fur runner. He wants to be the guy who always has the advantage. Because when he has the advantage, he's a big man. When he gets tired, he wants out of a fight. Again, an example, an APS fight. He's shooting down. He's trying to shoot at a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. The character always comes to play, Ariel.

In combat, character, the most important thing. It's more important than any talent. It's more important than any skill. It's more important than any power. Character is always the bottom line, because it starts as character. And then the other thing is to build off that character. With no character, you have nothing to build off of. You have no foundation.

So I'm going to go into that. Are you still there, Ariel? Yeah, I feel like I'm talking forever. I am still here, my man. I am still here. Okay. All right. Thank you for this.

So the next day, after that sparring, I talked to him, I thought we were buried the hatchet. After that sparring, we took a picture in the ring, everybody gave us a hand, you know. You just threw the 12 hard rounds. If all those who got the better of it, there's a respect factor in spending 36 minutes in a ring with a guy and you're trying to beat the shit of each other, you know? At least for me, there is, you know? So after the sparring, we took a picture together inside the ring.

Everybody gives the hands. You know, we go change and we go to the dressing room. In the direction of Connor, I pay us by Connor, and he says, hey, man, you know, good work. And I said, yeah, good work, Connor. You know, I do it again, looks out. Seems like, maybe we buried this hatchet. Maybe I don't have to be as guarded anymore. Maybe I don't have to feel this on edge in this guy's camp anymore.

You know, I was always hoping that, again, because I came with those intentions. And I still didn't get that comfortable feeling yet. But maybe after these 12 rounds, I thought maybe I'm going to be more comfortable, you know? And he says good work. I say good work back to him. And then I said, Conner, just do me a favor, bro. No more these crazy pictures. Because what happened, Ariel?

The week before, when I worked Bronner Garcia, the media is there at that fight week. He's all big fight in boxing. All everybody wanted to know was about these pictures. So I tell, Connor, it becomes very hard. for me to not the school of the NDA, what I have with you, I mean, I don't want to talk about sparring anyway. If you look at my track record, I never talk about sparring in 20 years of boxing. You know, you won't find much about my sparring sessions, you know? So, like, I said, you know, I don't want to talk about sparring anyway, but it's hard to not

to school of the NDA. When you're putting up pictures of me, I am not one of the other sparring partners. Nobody knows who the other sparring partners are. Everyone knows who I am. So when you put up a picture of me in sparring, the rush, the media rush is going to come to me, and I have to answer questions I don't want to deal with. I have to try to make you look good. I want you to look good.

I want to say things that make you look good. I want to promote you. I want to help you out. But not at my expense. I also have to figure out how to do it without making myself look bad now because you're putting me in contradicting positions with these pictures.

And at that time, only the hands line in the back picture come out, which again, like I said, it hadn't taken me off. But by the time I got the media reaction the next week, I said, you know what? I probably don't need this in my life, you know? So I had this conversation with Connor after a second sparring in the dressing room. and this is probably where I realized what a dickhead this guy is. Because at that moment, you just, you know, there's a, there's that respect I'm feeling at least, you know.

And he looks at me and I expected like, all right, Paul, you got it. You know, you're right, man. Let's just keep this good work going, you know. Instead, he looks at me and he gives me like his smirk smile laugh at me. And he starts walking away from me and he puts his hands up in the air and he gets my back, give me his back, or he's walking away towards the showers. And he's like, ha, I don't know, Paulie. We got some good ones those last two rounds.

I don't know about that. And like, at this point, Ariel, I'm waiting for actually, and coach her to walk in the dressing room and say I got pumped. So I thought it was like a joke. There's no way this guy's as much of an asshole. Or I expect Connor to turn around and be like, I'm just kidding, man, you got it. Let's get this hard work and let's finish this game from. I'm expecting one of those things.

The last thing I'm expecting is he's got to just keep going, open to the sunset, open to the showers, and just not say anything. That's what he did. that's what he did. So I was just like, wow, what a jerk off. Like, what a jerk off? So I go up to my bag and I started out of my bag because I got to get ready to shower too.

And I yell back towards the shower. I said, all right, bro. I said, I didn't answer anything on social media last time with that picture, but I said, you put up something again. I'm going to put your post against you, bro. I'm going to post some stuff after you. I need to answer me, whatever we,

that's it, the night ended, get ready, and we left, you know? This day, I wake off. and the M on my Twitter. And it's not him writing anything. It's from Connor McGregor, but it's not anything writing. It's just two pictures. It's just two pictures, and he didn't write anything, you can caption them.

And it's two pictures of me on the canvas. It's the pictures of the pushdown. And he's basically showing me them. And I said, at that point, I went to my timeline, and I said, let me, let me check my timeline. Let me see if these have gone public, you know. And I realized they hadn't gone public. I realized it going on my timeline.

They just had the pictures of me and him posing off, squaring off. in that weird picture that he had put up the next day, but it wasn't like anything damaging. So I thought to myself, how do I take this? Because he didn't write anything. It's like stuff for me to translate it. So again, I look to think the best in people, right, Ariel? I looked at him the best in people.

So I think he's showing me that he has the pictures, but he respects the conversation we had yesterday. He's not going to post him. That's what he's showing me right now. It's cool. So I just kind of wrote him back like, ha-ha. I was like, too bad to the count of the knockdown. Yeah, a punch you have to get thrown.

I said, it was a good push, though. and I said, ha-ha, like, you know, kind of laughing. And then I just put something smart, like something stupid, like, damn, you wake up mad early. It was like, it was like, I'm looking at this measure one eye open, you know? So that was it, you know, and I thought like, okay, it's cool. That day I didn't see him because it wasn't a sparring day, and I didn't train at his at the time he did. And that was it. Again, I'm thinking like, okay, because he didn't answer me, though, I still was like a little bit on edge.

Because I like, how do I react to this guy? You know what I'm saying? like I still like I still like was like contradicted on how do I take this guy because he didn't write me back on at the end he just sent me that picture

and that's it and uh and I uh I was it you know like that was it for that day you know I still had this like surprise element inside of me like feeling a little bit guarded

but whatever the next day was a sparring day and we'll see you know what I'll see the next day Thursday is a sparring day and Thursday I uh is one of those days where again

you have to have a 9 p.m. schedule but it could be earlier You have to be on call all day long. That's the way sparring is. You know, the ego maniacs over there want to control you all day long. They want to run in like a boot camp, and that's what you do.

And, you know, all my sparrings, personally are all in my training camps, we had a set schedule every day for the week. You know what I'm saying? And you don't change it because I wanted the best out of my sparborers. I don't want them come in surprised. I wanted them to give me the best work they could, you know?

But this is the way he works. And it's fine, whatever. You know, I'm not my cup of tea, but I wasn't going to say anything. 2.m., everybody in my house, the crack house that I call it, gets a group text saying that we have to be at the gym at

at 2 p.m. We have to be the gym at 3.30. I got the text at 2 p.m. It was a mass text, group text. So I said, all right, well, I guess this is one of those surprise days where we're going to be at the gym and he said, be at the gym at 3.30 for sparring. I said, be at the gym ready for sparring, everybody. So everybody gets our stuff ready by 3 we leave.

We get to the gym a couple minutes early. And I start warming up. I wrap my hands up and I start warming up. You know, and I start warming up. up with a bit more purposeful because I'm a little sore two days before I went 12 rounds. So I want to get a good warmup in and give my blood flowing, you know, because I, just the case I get picked, you know. I want to get a nice warm up. And I feel like some little sharper as I'm shadowboxing, you know, even though I'm sore, I definitely feel like I'm getting sharper every day.

That's cool. And, you know, you still don't know what's going. And Conner has he walked in and they tell us, listen, Connor is not going to box today. And again, the check mark goes off in my mind. Oh, do we lose them? Damn. Got the text. Connor is not sparring. Did we lose, Polly?

This is my voice, by the way. All right, we'll get him back. Holy smokes. That is riveting stuff. We'll try to get him back. I appreciate him taking the time and laying it all out there. Of course, that is Polly Malinaji talking about what happened yesterday, or at least I should say last week with Connor McGregory. Are you there?

Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, man. I'm in a building and I don't know, the connection dial. So I'll say, yeah, so what were they? What was that? It was like that character part again, you know? So he didn't box me. He didn't box anybody that day. Yeah, you said you got a text. You said you got to text, Connor's not sparring today. Connor does, no. By that point, we were in the gym. I didn't get a text. By that time, Connor came into the gym. Okay, okay. And Connor and his team came into the gym. The text was that we were sparring. We got the gym. I started warming up good. Okay. He gets to the gym, his team gets to the gym, and they let us know they know he's not sparring, you know?

And I was like, okay, well, you know, in my mind, I'm thinking he probably should spar, but it's not up to me to decide that. Even if it's a few rounds, just to keep his eyes sharp, but whatever, it's not up to me to decide that. It's up to them to decide that they run their own camp. But I'm just going to work the floor. I'm just going to work the bag.

You know, I'm going to work something. I don't know if you've been to the U.S. CPI, but the first floor is, like, conditioning stuff. It's rehab stuff like cryotherapy and on treadmills and the ropes for conditioning and whatnot. And the second floor is the cage, the ring, the bag. You know, the combat sports part of the facility. I'm sure you're familiar with it.

Yep, yep. That's the way to, for everybody that's not familiar with it, that's how it is. That's how it's set up. So I'm going to, I figure, I'm going to hit the bag. I'm going to hit the bag, and I'm going to stay sharp. You know, I'm going to get my bag on my bag. I'm going to hit the bag. So I take my bags out of my gloves out of my bag, and I tell one of the trainers,

I say, hey, can you glove me up and he's going to hit the bag then. And he says, no, no, no, no, you guys have to go downstairs because he has to work the pads or the myths today and he has to work on some shots that we want him to hit you guys with. We don't want you guys to see. A little bit too analytical for me, but

Ariel honestly, I get it, I understand it, sometimes a little more anal with that kind of stuff. Me, I always used to hit the pads of the mitts in front of my sparring, partners, I don't sparring these. I didn't care. But, you know what? I can give you the benefit of the doubt you might be a little more tactile or analytical. Fine. You want us not around. But I got pissed. Why do I get pissed,

Ariel, because you made me come to the gym at 3.30 when I could have came at any other hour. I could have came at any other hour, but you made me come to the gym at 3.30 just to tell me I couldn't work out. Man, that pissed me off. Man, was I heated because now it's every little thing. Now, even all the other little things that weren't bothered me so much came to the forefront. You know, the crack house. They're taking me off the plane to do 12 rounds in front of his personal audience. me not being able to have a trainer in camp, all this now was bothering me more. Instantly, all the little things started bothering me more because now it was this added thing.

You know, so I was just red-hot pissed. I didn't say anything, but I was red-hot pissed. And I said, all right, I got my stuff, and I went downstairs, you know, all you have downstairs, basically the treadmills and the conditioning stuff. So I just kept shadowboxing downstairs and then ran a little treadmill.

But I remember venting to everybody else because all the other partners couldn't stay up there either. And I'm like, what are we jerks? I said, what are we guys? I mean, we just get brought in, And then you just talked to can't work out. What kind of? What is that?

Like, I could have came later. We could have came this morning. We could have came at any point. It's not like they decided when they got to the gym. They're not sparring. You knew you weren't sparring when you woke up that morning. Who are you kidding? You didn't just get to the gym and decide you're not sparring.

You didn't know when you sent that group text for us to show up to the gym to spar. You knew he wasn't sparring. Who were you kidding? That's not how it works. Who are you kidding? So I was aggravated. I was aggravated. I was aggravated.

I was aggravated. Everything else had happened before aggravated me. So I did my workout. I'm pissed. I finish my workout. I go in the dresser in the shower. I take myself out of my bag. My phone is buzzing like crazy.

I mean, it's like I'm a buzzing like crazy. Like it's going to blow up. I check my phone. I'm like, what is going on here? It's like, is all you hear. You know? So I get it.

I check. Bunch of text messages, bunch of tweets, like too many of you can check. Like, what's going on over here? And suddenly I realized everything had been released. Everything again.

And the reaction was, Pauli Malinagia got knocked down. So I'm like, wow. I was like, you really, really did shit. I said, I'm fighting an uphill battle here. Even if I spar him, the rest of camp, and I start to beat on him more and more and more, he's always going to have these photographers there,

doing his will. And in 10, 12 rounds, he's always going to get a couple of shots of him landing shots, and those are going to be the ones he's going to post. He's always going to try to get ahead at my expense and not threw me and not with me. You know what I'm saying? I said, this guy's just a piece of shit. I can't deal with this.

His team is a bunch of piece of shit cheerleaders. Then I made, they're not improving him. They're not getting him better. They just told me he's doing good, even if he's not. I don't need to be around these people. It's not like they brought me in for anything tactical like a lot of people thought they would. You know what I'm saying?

They're doing tactical stuff. And all the tactical stuff is, it's cheerleading. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, I said, I can't stay here. I think it's only going to get worse for me. It's not going to get better. I can't win this battle. I mean, I didn't even know I came for a battle,

But at the point, I realize it's a battle, and I'm just not in a position where I can win it. This is always going to continue to happen. I can, because every time I'm sorry, I'm going to throw him all the beat. I'm only going to get sharper and sharper. And like I said, he can't rise his sharpness level at the rate. I can rise my sharpness level because mine is just muscle memory. He's going to come back at a fast rate once I'm in the gym every day. Cays is all stuff he has to learn.

So I'm always going to get exponential amount of time sharper than he can, you know. but regardless of what it's going to be, it's always going to be this with this social media stuff, with this games, like they just made a show up to the gym and not be allowed to work out. Like, it's always going to be this.

I always have to be guarded on this. I have to be until 20s with these guys. No way. I can't live like this. I have to go, you know? And that was it. You know, I decided at that point, I decided I'm leaving.

And I didn't say anything. I just got changed. I went in the car with my spawn partners and the rest of the team, that part of the team that was in my house in the crack house. And on the way home, I kind of vented. I mented to everybody and said, you know, this guy, you know,

they made a show up today like we're a bunch of jerkles, you know, show up to the gym and we told us we can't work out. I said, he takes me off a plane to do 12 rounds Monday. I get there in his audience. He's trying to set me up to fail. He's trying to set me up to look bad at the expense of him, for himself to look good at the expense of me looking bad. He's trying to stomp me, you know what I'm saying?

All of this because of trash talk before any fights who ever signed, like these are things that I've had with other fights. and we've always been cool. You know what I'm saying? Really? It's about ego. It's about that I'm not an ass kisser, and he wants ass kissers around him

and only ass kisses around him. I said, this is not a battle I can win. I said, guys, I say, he's got you guys in a crack house and some dilapidated neighborhood. And I'd say, you know what? Budget is budget. Maybe sometimes you have a budget.

You guys, maybe you never experience this, but I have. I've never been a part of a hundred million dollar camp, but I've been part of multiple fights where there was a million dollar camps. You know what I'm saying? Multi-million dollar fights. You know what I'm saying?

These are all, I've been a part of them all. So I know what it's like to run an expensive camp and a real high-level camp. I know what it's like that spawn partners, house them, get them food, all this stuff, make sure they're comfortable. I know what it's like. This guy could care less, and he's fighting for a ton of money. And still, I would respect his budgeting issues, except that he rented himself a green Lamborghini? You might do yourself a Lamborghini and put your team in a crack house, part of your team? because, you know, his main trainer's staying in the ninth house.

Really? But it shows what he thinks of you guys. It's all about status with him. He's a scumbag. I said, it's all about who kisses his ass better. You know, he looks at your status. And you guys in his mind have no status. So he can throw you in the dumps.

He doesn't even care. Doesn't care what's going on. Me, I had asked for any special treatment. I came here on no special treatment. Asked for no special money. As for no special accommodations. But for me, it was about he had it out for me. But for you guys,

He doesn't care. He doesn't care for anybody. But they're in a camp. They're in his camp. They're in his camp. They don't want to give me a reaction. But I'm just venting at this time. I'm just venting because I was angry.

You know what I'm saying? I said, it's not the way you treat people. It's not the way you treat people. I said, you guys have to deal with it? But not me, man. The same for me. You know what I mean? I'm not in a position where I have to deal with this.

I came here out of the goodness of my heart. I think, again, I wasn't going to come here for free because I wasn't even in a shape when I got the call. You know, it still worked. You know, the bit of my heart, though, as far as my intentions were, and this is what I got. Maybe you guys got to live with this, but I'm not staying here, man. And that was it, you know? And, you know, I had to leave, man.

I had to pack my stuff up. And, you know, I called some friends I had in Vegas to pick me out. And that was it. That's kind of how it ended, you know. And, yeah, it was disappointing. But, you know, of course, I was angry as well, you know. You try to, you know, people are going to have their speculation about what happened, how it happened, all this stuff. But for me, I just, I have my own life, Ariel.

You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't need this. I don't need to be a part of this. You know, I didn't ask for this, you know? I went into it with the best intention. And, yeah, I knew it would be competing and I knew it would be, like, high level. But I was also excited about that. You know, I was excited to make new friends.

I was excited to be a part of something. You know, I always get excited about new adventures. It's just the kind of person I am, you know? And, yeah, it was definitely an experience. It just wasn't the experience I thought. and so after that that was Thursday are you back at you flew back home on Friday yeah I stayed in the MGM Grand on I got myself a room in the MGM Grand on Thursday night and then and then on Friday morning I booked myself a room of flight for Friday morning I flew back to New York on Friday

anyone from his team reach out to you try to clear the air try to figure out how to salvage this nothing no no no no nothing only Andre Berto called me Andre Berto was friends with him yeah And Andre Berto was going to come in to spa one day on Saturday. He was going to be in town. And Andre Berto was for the M.M.A fans who don't watch boxing. He's a two-time boxing champion. He was on the show earlier today. Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, he gave me a call.

And he said that, I guess he texted me to call him back. And I didn't answer him that day. I didn't answer him on Thursday when I left because I figured like that Connor's friend, he's going to try to make issues from something. I don't want to hear anybody at this point, you know? Because once I broke it on social media, it broke all over ESPN. It broke all over Fox Sports, everything. So I didn't want to deal with Andre.

I didn't want to deal with anybody. I thought Andre was going to call me to, like, tell me to chill out and, like, you know, and I always didn't want to deal with it because nobody went through what I went through. Nobody could understand what I was going through. Like, it's hard to explain it, you know? So I was mad. I didn't call Andre back, but on Saturday I got a text from some people I knew that told me Berto never went to Vegas Saturday. Berto was going to spar, Connor, just Saturday, you know? So I returned his text on the next day, you know, I said, yo, it took me a few days to get back to you, what's up?

and we spoke on the phone and basically he wanted to know what was up and he saw what happened with me and he said this guy's gonna just make me go there and look bad and he said at that point Andre said at that point

I'm not going man I'm like beat the shit out of this guy and then he's just gonna make me look bad regardless because he's photographers there's everything because he got the same thing I got he told Connor he told me he told Connor if I come to camp

I don't want those photographers that I don't want no pictures and Connor gave him the same wise ass answer he gave me about the pictures that he kind of gave him I don't know, I don't know, these are my photographers, like, give him the same bullshit, you know? So Andre knew better at this point, you know, so he's like, yeah, so Andre, like, he told me, like, at that point, I wasn't going to go. So he's coming out, he's coming up his nose by his face at this point, you know?

He had two people that were going to help him, high-level fighters, and now he's got nothing. How he's got just basic shit, you know, and he's got his basic training camp with basic trainers who basically cheerlead. God bless. So the impression that I'm getting is, oh, you did a lot of information. interviews in between those first two. This was kind of brought upon, you know, by yourself. There was an NDA. You shouldn't have said anything.

And so, you know, here are a couple of pictures. And so it's like quid pro-cro type of thing. Did anyone say to you stop talking? Did anyone say to you, you know? No, nobody told me to stop talking because I didn't, I wasn't making him look bad in the picture. You know, but a lot of the interview requests and an interview marauding of me was because of the damn pictures.

It wasn't, I wasn't, I had no problem not giving interviews. if you don't bring this on to me. The social media pictures brought it on to me, and that's what I tried to explain to Connor. I am not the other sparring partners. I am a public figure in this business. If you put up these pictures, I'm going to be assaulted by media,

constantly barraged. And it's hard for me to do a certain kind of into you, try to make you look good, which I want to, but also try not to make myself look bad, because not because of these pictures, automatically the assumption by everybody is that I look bad, so they want to hear more about it. And I have to defend myself,

but also trying to make you look good. So don't put me in these positions And I don't have to even do this Because I get no pleasure in doing this I don't want to do this I just want to be in camp Enjoy the experience Chill out

And that's it You know I'll have stories The rest of my life About how cool this was You know Like I said I'm always up for new adventures

I wasn't up for this though So Okay so so at this point You know you go And that's it Like do you are you Do you think the NDA Like are you gonna talk more

I mean you've said a lot here But you haven't talked about No no no no I just talked about my experience The tactical analysis I'm going to leave out because the tactical analysis is for fight night. You know, maybe Connor has no ethics, but I do. You know, and honestly, I want to at least save the integrity of the fight.

You know, this is still an interesting event. It's still an interesting fight for a lot of reasons. The tactical analysis, though, I have a lot of things about Conner's analytics and all this stuff. And I'm going to save them for fight night because I'm going to break them down. Because either thing that I wanted to discuss with this team and I wanted to help out. But I'm not going to because now I'm not there. Sure. know, but there's a lot of things in his tactical stuff.

And I'm not going to give it away because he has a style all his own. And I don't want to, I don't want anybody to kind of know that and then, you know, jeopardize his game plan, you know, so I wouldn't do that. But also there's things I agree with, don't agree with, things that he can be effective with, things that he might be effective with, things that are going to hurt him. And I want to just get into all that, you know, parts of his arsenal where he's lacking, parts of his arsenal where he's good. I want to get into all that on fight night because I think on fight night, it's important to bring that stuff out tactically. And at that point, you know, the train camps over, nobody can prepare for anybody. You know, you guys are going to fight. And I think the viewer probably gets a better experience of the event that they've ordered on pay-per-view.

If I break that down, I'll fight night. So this, the story that I'm giving now are basically just my experience. You know, it was my experience in camp and why I left and what I went through and I was treated. And these are not good people. You're just not good people. I've met a lot of people in my life. I've met a lot of good people in my life. You know, if you're in multi-million dollar businesses, you're not going to meet everybody that's great as a great person or honest.

Definitely. This guy is one of the biggest dirt bags I've met in my life, bar none. Bar none. I was just amazed at what a dirtbag this person is. So I don't care if we never speak again. We're not friends or whatever. It doesn't make a difference to me. My life is fine if I never see Conne McGregor or speak them again in my life. It's totally cool.

I was just dumbfounded by the way things were, you know, and not just how he treated me, how he treated others. It's just about status with him. he's become all this Hollywood thing. It makes me doubt if you ever really went through a tough time in his life like they try to say he does, because somebody went through that tough of a time in life as they say he does just a few years ago wouldn't treat people who were not as fortunate in him as him that bad.

It just doesn't happen if you've really been through the mill as far as property and all this stuff. So I also think it's the stories that they tell about him are full of shit. And somebody should get to a really good investigation on those stories as well. But I think he's full of shit with those two. And just to be clear, as far as the NDA,

the original one was concerned because I even reached out to at the beginning of all this and you were like, you know, I can't really talk and I totally respected that. Did anything preclude you from talking on air? Because, of course, the interesting thing about this relationship was you work for Showtime. You're going to be the analyst. Yeah, they knew that when they hired me. So, I mean, it was obviously they knew that you could talk about it.

But of course, like I said, the NBA really is about tactics. You know, that's why it's there. You don't want to give up the guy's game plan. And honestly, that's an ethical thing I've never done in the past anyway. I mean, you can look me up for the past 20 years of my boxing career. Sparring almost never comes up in any interviews and anything I'm talking, this is the only time it's ever come up. You know, so I naturally, I'm like this to begin with.

I mean, I didn't even need the NBA to not bring it up. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just the way I am. It's just there's a code there. So, yeah, I'm not going to bring it up. But, of course, fight night when it's all over, yeah, it's going to be cool. You know, I think it's going to be cool to discuss breakdown the tactics. I'm the kind of commentator and analyst that discusses X and O's more than opinions anyway.

I think anybody can give an opinion, but not everybody can break down X as an O's. I think that's where I'm going to get a little bit more in depth about the style on fight night because at that point the fight's over. I mean, the fight's not over, but the fight's going to happen at night. So really, none of the opposition can benefit from that. My theory was that this is great for the fight. This is great for Showtime. It's building buzz.

I'm sorry, you know, I don't think anyone wanted this to go down like this, but last week, everyone was talking about this story and all day today we've been talking about it. Anyone from Showtime, your boss is there, say, you know, pull back. We don't want you to get so involved. No. No. Is your job in jeopardy for the fight because of any of this? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, listen, like I said, I've never been a kind of analyst that is opinionated. I'm the kind of analyst that gives you accidentals. Like I said, I think anybody can give opinions, but not everybody can break down tactics and accidentals like me. I really take pride in that. So fight night, that's what I do. If you watch any of my word, is what I do. I don't sway towards one guy or the other more so then I'm just breaking that exit and owes

and what's happening or what should happen or what changes if this happens or what's changing because of this, or what's the reaction you can get because of this. let's expect to see this, this and this. And if you see this, this and this, and that will happen because of this, this and this and this. Or if we don't see this, this, and this is and this, will happen instead. And look for these things. And then some of the things may happen and break down, you can kind of follow along.

I break down, because then always, and that's the kind of commentator I am. And, of course, none of this ever affects that. And so at this point, what I'm hearing from a lot of people, and I even kind of joked about this earlier, is that, look, Pauly versus Connor at this point, sells over a million in a lot of a heartbeat. You sell out to MSG in three seconds. Is there any part of you that is hoping to now fight him? Because of all of this? Are you hoping to get that fight now?

Honestly, honestly, I retired in March. I don't know. I mean, it wasn't, this wasn't, I didn't intend for anything to happen. I don't know, man. Obviously, the one thing the training camp told me was even out of shape, I can start kicking his head. So me through a full training camp, even

now, I don't think, you know, I don't think I have a problem with him. But, you know, I don't, the intention wasn't there to start talks about a fight, the intention was there for me to just go to be a part of something cool. And I enjoy my retirement.

I am happy with my retirement. I like the job I do on TV. And I, you know, I hope to continue to enjoy it for a lot of years. I like to be able to eat. I like to not have to make weight. I like, then I have to beat the coach one of the training camp.

But, of course, I don't know. Yeah, some of that talk I've heard as well. People now say this fight would be so big. It was what I wanted six, seven months ago. I mean, it's what I talked the way I was talking back then. I stopped doing that. Once I retired, I stopped pursuing fights in general. I stopped even putting myself in situations while I would get fights. And I didn't think that putting myself in this situation would put me in the discussion for any kind of fights. It wasn't the intention, but it was what it is. In hindsight, do you regret saying yes? Do you regret going? Do you wish this never

happen? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I do. I regret everything. I regret all this. I don't have to be famous in my life. You know, in my 20s, I definitely wanted to be famous. I think where everybody goes through that phase, you know. But, you know, I come from a time of my life where I was barely paying bills when I was a kid. You know, I came to this country and an immigrant, with an immigrant family. I was born here. We moved back to it and then came back. So, you know, I know what if I have to struggle a little bit. And the fact that I can pay my bills and not have to worry about that is more than for me. I live a comfortable life. And that at one point in my life was in doubt. So the fact that I got a little comfortable life, I'm happy for what I have. I don't need to be famous. I didn't need

this just to gain some social media followers or just to try to gain some fame off it. I didn't need this. I can live with that. I'm totally fine. I'm a good job. It's on TV. I don't have a boss that is over-exerting with a nine-to-five kind of job. You know, like I live a pretty carefree life, and I like that.

You know, I didn't need this. I didn't need this to make me happy. This is actually something that brought stress on my life. I could care less about it, you know. I wanted to just be a part of a new experience. so I could, you know, have a new experience in my book of memory to my mind, because I have a lot of memories in my mind, and this was just going to be another part of it.

It's certainly in my book of mouth, but it's not the experience that I initially intended for it to be. Are you hopeful to bury the head? Like, do you want to talk to him? Do you want to try to clear the air here at this point? I don't care. You don't care? I don't care.

I don't care. I don't care. If I never talk to him again, honestly, it's not, it's not going to, it's no issue for me. Okay. And how will you proceed now between now and August 26, because I'm sure, I mean, you've said a lot. We've been talking for almost an hour now.

Are you going to keep talking to people? Are you trying to let this die? What do you want to happen? Yeah, I mean, I took a few days from the media. I didn't want to talk to anybody. Now I'm going to get myself of the story out to a few people. And that's it. Yeah.

And you have your own podcast, right? Yeah, I have my own podcast, and Welcome to the World. It's on, well, play that it. You know, and iTunes. People can find it on iTunes. And, you know, I have my own podcast. We're going to release that tomorrow. And that's it, you know, it's basically the, just put my story out there to a few networks and whatnot.

And that's it, because I think there was a lot of assumptions after I left camp. My social media was buzzing like crazy. I didn't really put out my story like that, you know. So I wanted to just defend my own honor and my own image and whatnot and all this, you know, because there was a certain way it went down. And I know Connor has a lot of fans, kind of a lot of groupies who just want to believe anything that happens or, you know, I want to make up their own reality of things. And, hey, you know what?

You can't stop them from thinking what they want to think. but at least my side gets heard too. And then if you want to believe it, they believe it. If they don't want to believe it, they don't believe it. It's fine with me. But I at least just feel better about just being able to play out my side because it was an experience all onto its own, and it was more to do it than just a boxing.

It's just the kind of person he is, how he treats people, and just the entire aura of the entire camp was just very shitty and very, very sherry people. Yeah, I can't imagine what it's been like on social media. You've been responding to some, but like looking at your mentions and stuff, it's probably a little suffocating, right? Yeah.

Yeah, it's a bit extreme. Yeah. Do you feel like you've gotten your story out there? Is there anything else that you want to say about it? Do you feel like you've said your piece? The only thing I'll add is that Joe Cortez was the referee. You notice Joe Cortez, after our first sparring, was able to give an interview, and he said that, you know,

it was very rough, and we would do a lot of trash talk, and he had to kind of get in between us and let us know that, you know, he had to keep the clean. I'm sure you've seen that interview at this point. That's our first sparring. that one public. This time I've been approached by several different reporters in media, and they've told me that Joe Cortez is not a liberty to speak to them.

How was Joe Cortez allowed to speak after the first sparring, but not after the second sparring? They gagged him, okay, because they know the main question people want to know is, was that a knock guy or not? And he's the guy that's going to answer no. You know what I'm saying? So in order to prevent that, in order to keep this stupid image going, that he knocked me down, you know, they've gagged him.

And so because of that, all of a sudden, And Joe Cortez went from giving an interview after our first one to all of a sudden he's not allowed to get an interview. That's kind of a big clue as to what really happened, you know. It's kind of weird because I don't think Joe would ever sit there and tell you Connor got a death kick, you know, because, you know, he's not going to pay that kind of thing. But he's going to at least tell you that was never down or not. And that's kind of what people want to know. And the fact that he's not even allowed to say that, I think is pretty interesting on their part.

They're very sneaky people. I should have known when the Chris Sanhed in his situation happened. they're just very sneaky, like snake-like people, like real dirty people. And you go through life and you meet some people like this, but they're not common, you know? Like very, very, you got to be shitty to your core to be this kind of person. And that's what these people have been. And by the way, I reached out to Joe Cortez. I got his phone number.

Oh, you did? Yes. And I asked him if he would come on to talk about the experience. And he said he wasn't at liberty to do that maybe after the fight, but because of the NDA, it couldn't be. and others have told me that as well. It wasn't about the NDA, Ariel, because he gave an interview two weeks ago after our first sparring. And that interview was public.

They shut him up after our second interview because of this whole knockdown, no knockdown, knock down situation. You know what I'm saying? This whole thing that is like this, they want to just keep up in the air and have a lot of idiots believe it and fall into it, you know, and that's what they've done.

So Cortez is a guy who can easily just shut that all right away if you guys can, but of course, that's the way it's been. last thing for you Polly any part of your frustration over the fact that maybe you wanted to be more involved you wanted to be in his corner

you want I've seen people say this as well that you wanted more and you were disappointed is that that play at all here I went there I went there and I actually people were asking me that's such a smart thing for Connor to do he's intelligent to have your brain in the in the ring and the gym and I said

you know you got a smart team around them if you look at my answers to the idea question before I went to camp before I ever stepped playing camp was kind of got a great team around him. They've got him this far, and if they want my help, so they can have my help. But he's got a great team around him, and I'm going there to spar. That's the same answer I always gave.

Khan has got a great bunch of cheer leaders around them. I don't know if they're great. They got him to this far at this point, because he's a great mixed martial arts fighter, but he's got a bunch of shield leaders around him. Because he's, you know, it's very obvious. He thinks nothing he's doing is wrong, including when it's wrong. So, but whatever. Again, it wasn't my place.

I never intended to be a trainer or in my life. I mean, I've never intended for that, but, you know, as far as them not including me in that, it didn't make a difference if they were just treated me right. You know, what I was fine did being a farm partner. And I keep seeing people throwing the screen gab at you where you said, like, they can release whatever they want. Yeah, because I thought they would be respectful at it. I didn't think like they would be to this point. You know what I'm saying?

I'm giving it the benefit of a fighter to fighter. I thought you're going to be respectful at this point. I never expected to get railroaded. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're trying to railroad me. I'm stupid. here. You try to do it, but

it's just this time he learns when heard in situations but everybody walks into the internet and I have to drop their phone into a box. Nobody's allowed to have a camera or phone aside from his own team, you know? So, you know, you get screwed.

You still there? That said it back. Hurry up. Yeah, okay, sorry, we lost you there when you said you get screwed. Yeah, no, what I'm saying is he gets screwed because, you know, like, I said he can use his own,

he can have his own photographer and stuff. That's fine. I was okay with that. I thought he would keep it on a respectable level, fighter to fighter. I never expected this. But again, he's the kind of guy who will try to get ahead at your expense, not through you, but on top of you. You know what I'm saying? Polly, I can't thank you enough.

Really, this means a lot. I appreciate you coming on. I appreciate you telling your side of the story. I appreciate you giving us an hour of your time. And I urge everyone out there to check out Polly's podcast from Brooklyn to the world. It's on iTunes, everywhere else that you can check out podcasts. And I've listened to it before, and I enjoy it very much. looking forward to your call now.

More so than ever on August 26, again, I think Showtime has to be thrilled because this is great for their broadcast. The insight that you are going to provide on August 26, because you're one of the few people in the world that's actually boxed. Connor McGregor is invaluable at this point. So this is fascinating stuff. Appreciate the time. Polly, we'll talk to you soon.

And again, all the best. And I hope that this storm kind of goes away and that you can focus on the job as far as TV is concerned on August 26th. I hope so too, man. Thanks for having me on. I all. It was a pleasure. Thank you.

Thank you. There he is. Polyma Anaji, wow. Brooklyn's own telling his side of the story as much as he can. Of course, seems to me like he is honoring that NDA, not talking about specific tactical things, specific game plan stuff,

if there was any of that shared with him. But some fascinating insight from Polymanaji in what has become the biggest story in combat sports over the past week, the sparring session, the aftermath, and it all leads up to August 26. In my opinion, this is all good. Of course, I've not read this NDA. I don't know what the finer points are, what the terms are, et cetera, but this is another fascinating subplot storyline going into what is turning into one of the biggest fights in

the history of combat sports. Wow, what a show. This is unbelievable stuff. What can we say about today's show? We have gone way over, and I sincerely appreciate everyone. sticking with us and that there are this many people still watching. More importantly, everyone in the back still working. So let us try to wrap up the show as much as possible. Catch a breath. I need New York Rick's help to give me some oxygen. So let us go to Rick's Picks now. There it is. There it is. Yes. It's time for Rick's Picks.

Rick's Picks. Rick's Picks. There is. And his hair isn't a... Yes. Because it's... You already know what it is. Wix Picks. Where's the doll?

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls? It's the moment you've been waiting for. It's the new craze taking the world by storm. Live from the Vox Studios in beautiful New York City. It's time for... Rix Picks. Bang. I didn't see the actual thing you pop up.

I don't know. I heard it, but I didn't see it. That's all right. All right. Nice shirt, by the way. Thank you. Oh, you know what? Let's do it nice and early.

How about this? Nice and early, yeah. Apropos. What is that? This is BossLogic and Reebok collaboration. Bang. How did you get that? Not sure if it's available.

Yeah, how did you get that? I have a homie who works at Reebok named Kevin Collins, who reached out and was like, hey, want to send you some swag. So shout out to those guys over at Reebok, specifically Kevin. but Boss Logic for putting this beautiful art on a t-shirt. Cool. Yeah. Where's mine? I didn't get one.

Listen. Anyway. I can't wear that. No, yeah, you can't wear that. All right. Rick's Picks. You got any for us? You've been keeping this around so long. I don't have anything. You don't have anything? No, I'm just... Oh, okay. I have to cycle through them. Hold on.

You didn't have enough time to prepare for this? No. Extra work going on back here. chewing me out for typing on no typing on G-chat to you when it was your choice to take off those headphones. How about that?

I don't even know what you were right. You were telling me, what were you even writing? Paul Felder goes, oh, the guy with the elbows, I'm screaming who the guy with the elbows on Dana White's Contender series was.

But you... Okay, while you get that stuff, can I just say this about today's show? Yeah. You know, I came in, I was very upset. I was down. I was like,

I have not been rejected this many times in the span of seven days, probably since high school. Just rejected, left, right and center. Not even going to touch that one. This was a tough one to put together. And I get down and I start to hate it and I shoot for the moon

and I land among the rats and I'm just like, ah, rejection, rejection, rejection. I was really down. Last night I was really down. I was striking out left and right. What happens? Maybe my favorite show of all time. I mean, the Pat Barry Rose thing,

I don't even know how to put that into words. Ian McCall? Pat's story was incredible. The guy got arrested. No one even knew about it. And he just drops that. The Ian McCall thing, Gilbert Melendez, and his honesty,

Pauli Malanaji, Felder talking about his dad. Maybe I am emotionally exhausted right now. And so I lean on you, but I just have to say, maybe my favorite show of all time. and keeping it real seemed to be the theme of the show.

Like this was the keeping it real show from a call to Rockhold, Burdo talking, Gilbert. I mean, just mind-blowing stuff.

So thank you to all the guests today and thank you to everyone who tuned in. I am emotionally spent but I'm so happy at how it turned out and a reminder

that even if you know, we don't have the biggest of the biggest like people every week get this guy, get this guy.

I think I know what I'm doing now. Just stick with me here. And I will be lying if I say that I didn't, you know, if I expected this, this kind of emotion. I was crying during the pat thing. I don't know if you saw, but I mean, I'm emotionally spent right now. And so I just want to thank all the guests for keeping it real and for giving us such a great show. Well said. Okay.

We've broken tag board at this point. What does that mean? So this first video is not going to play, apparently. Okay. So, we're going to move on to our next one. Pauli Malinagi, who we just had here featured, because I thought it was interesting, and he reiterated this in the interview,

that Connor McGregor whimpered like a girl when he got hit to the body, which got a bit of headlines, and I think was particularly interesting because now it's gone, it's gone very personal, as we can hear by that hour-long interview, where you said very little, and he just had to get that off his chest.

I think clearly I didn't say anything for the first 35 minutes Yeah I think clearly this This is a more personal fight to be honest Than Mayweather and McGregor And they've done a good job of making me believe That they don't like each other At the end of the day what we're talking about

Is a knockdown and a little ego bruising At the end of the day Connor is winning Polly is winning Floyd is winning Showtime is winning Boxing is winning T-Mobile is winning

UFC is winning There are no losers in this story right here for the record. Speaking of winning, Connor McGregor, winning this week. Oh, there's music. Yeah, this is a little video

from ESPN being announced as on the cover of the next ESPN, the magazine, the fighting issue. He continues to capture the media's attention. Now ESPN, the magazine's cover boy. This was written by Wright Thompson. There's a feature in there for the cover

written by Wright Thompson, yes. It is worth your time. he is one of the very best sports writers in America. His story on... You disagree. No, I was telling him to turn that video down, but Nick cut to me giving a thump. Yeah, very best sports writer.

No, Wright Thompson is incredible. His story on Michael Jordan, phenomenal. His story on Pat Riley as of late, phenomenal. But, yeah, this one... I don't know if this was his best, but still, if you're a Connor fan, worth your time. our next video, a little clip from the UFC for the ultimate fighter.

I never saw this. Tough 26. Promo. They rolled it out a few times. There's not much here because obviously they had to probably do this before the fighters were confirmed. So it's not like they're featuring any of the individual fighters. But this next one is all the individual fighters

who are going to be on this season of Tough, including the coaches as well. You have to put money on one. Who do you pick? probably Barb. Really? I think she's proven at this point

that she can be... Yeah, but she has that when's the last time she fought? Like two years ago? Her style is not a style that I'm too concerned about fading over time.

If I had to wager, I think money would be on Barb, Hancheck, former Invicta Flyway champion. I'll go Lauren Murphy. Also, I mean, clearly there's a lot of experience

on this cast, Roxanne Montefari. But I think smart money would be on barb for me. I saw John Crouch, who's her coach at 2.14, he was like, she's winning. Lauren. Yeah, she's winning. Guaranteed.

Chris Cyborg. Yes. From her Instagram, celebrating with Clarissa Shields. Super cool. After she won on Showtime. That was Saturday night? This was Friday night. Friday night. Yeah.

It's amazing. But we saw them sparring leading into this. We walked out wearing the belt. Now we've seen them celebrating together. Mear-esque. I think you're right about the swell of support for female boxing. It's not just support.

It's actual star is emerging. Yeah, and speaking of stars emerging. Good segue here. Queen of Spades. Shana Beasler transitioning into the wrestling world, even more so than previously, entering the May Young Classic for WWE. We can turn the audio up on this clip.

This is great. at that time for women to be. So she's in a tournament, right? She's in a tournament. And I think what's interesting about this is she's definitely playing up her fighting background, which I think is important. Competitive and active all the way throughout all these milestones. I told you, I saw her compete.

May Young is a trailblazer. Of course, I'm close friends and a training partner with Rhonda Rogers. It's great stuff. Got mentions of Ronda. At the end, she talks about Morrow, dubbing her a submission magician. checking out Shannon Bazler going for that.

Speaking of Ronda. Oh, yes. This was something that people may have missed or may not have missed but Ronda Rousey.com is now going to be

a source of Ronda News. What that means, we don't know, is it going to be BJPenn.com-esque? Is it going to be something else? Oh, I don't think so. But there is a trailer

and I think, based on this trailer, we're seeing probably more behind the scenes in Ronda Rousey's life. Yeah, the way to go is not BJPen.com

or a news site. It's all things Ronda. And she's somewhat guarded and mysterious. And I think people will enjoy getting to see more of her, especially because, as I said, at the very top, distance makes the heart grow fonder. We've missed Ronda. And what we see is not a lot of fighting

and more behind the scenes with Ronda's life. So teasing ronda rousy.com. And shout out to Lazy the Savage, who's a part of it. Yes. The man, the myth. Michael, Mardonas. just love this image Max Holloway

getting in there with sumo wrestlers in Tokyo because it transitions nicely to this next image or this next selection for Rick's

picks which is Tim Duncan a calm quote unquote calm MMMA fighter that has been called an absolute monster by his trainers

and we actually have a little bit of that here this was actually really impressive am I wrong I mean for a guy who's what

seven one or so. Do we have something here? Look at Timmy. Stoic. Not just stoic, but light on his feet. Agile.

Gets those legs up. Looking in shape too. Retired and not looking like he's put on some weight. He's not that kind of guy. Looking slim. Well, let's be real. He was never like the most freak

athlete. His physique was never what got him by in the league. I'm impressed. Tim Duncan versus is Stefan's John Jones. John Jones.

Well, that's crazy. And we're going to end with this. Interestingly, WME, IMG got another $1.1 billion

in investment. Interesting because, and as it relates to our world, because there was in the story, it reported that this would be used

to buy out smaller partners who had investment previously and try and take complete control of the UFC. Interesting times. It's never been a more interesting time to cover this sport.

I really wish this clip would work. What is the clip? This was our first clip. A guy named Gabriel, who trains in Entrom Gym in Tijuana, sent me this. What this is was one of Brandon Moreno's training partners or coaches or corners was in the hotel room, filming across the gap in the hotels. And in the window was Sergio Pettis, shades wide open, staring directly. directly across at at brandon as they prepared in their hotel room it was uh it was pretty interesting stuff because he didn't break you didn't break stair was just standing there like a like an

ice cold killer uh in the window really wish the video would work but find it on uh on facebook fernando amato's facebook here that's it for ricks um last thing i want to say on rick's picks people have actually been buying the ringtone and i couldn't be happier about that really um glad that that we're able to do a good thing for water for um shout out to everybody who's already bought it. There's people who have said, can't stand your ringtone. It's absolute shit.

Let me just donate money, and we're happy to take the money and send it over to Waterford. So really, really appreciative of anybody who's bought the ringtone or donated or done anything to make a difference for Waterford. So thank you.

Rick's Picks Ringtone on iTunes and one day on Google Play. One day soon. Get it. All the proceeds are going to Waterford. Well done, people. How much have you? We don't have the report yet

because it's too early But I have seen some people tweet I've seen people tweeting me And I'm trying to get back to them as I can Really really appreciate it Do a good thing Minches all of them Yeah

Love it That's it for Rick's pick All right thank you very much Rick's pics Now this is what happens I look at you here I tell you that we're going exclusively on Twitter TheMMA hour dot Twitter.com All show long you have been sending us

Your questions Your comments Using the hashtag the MMA hour There's a ton going on. Polly and Connor, Mexico City, Mayweather McGregor coming up on August 26. What else is going on? Who the hell knows what else is going on?

But a lot is going on. So what you need to do now is close your browser. We've given you a lot of time on YouTube, Facebook, all the other places, is MMA fighting. Go to Twitter. TheMMA hour.com. I have tweeted it out.

You know where to go. We're exclusive on Twitter, answering your questions for the next few minutes. Go there. Matter of seconds. be over there. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. The M.A.

Our After Hour is coming up right after this. And we are back. Hey, what's up? There he is. New York, Rick. Boom. We're back. The MMA After Hour Time, exclusively on Twitter.

What a show. What a day. Can let my hair down a little bit. I'm exhausted. I'm emotionally spent. But we have some answers to give out to some questions. Here's the first question, and I think it's apropos, and I think it's the question of the day.

Is Connor, once again two steps ahead of everyone, is the beef with Pauly Malinaji real, contrived, somewhere in between? Where do we land on this? Okay. He is always two to three steps ahead. He is always planning his next two, three fights. That's part of the brilliance.

That's what Chale did so well. That's what the greats do, right? The Polly thing, is it real or not? I mean, they were never the best of friends. They had their issues from the get-go. Yeah, I do believe that there is some reality to it. Is this a set... Here's my basic take on the whole thing.

Do we really care if it was a knockdown or a knockout or a push? I don't think anyone really will change their opinion on the fight based on what transpired in those 15 seconds. I think what's interesting to talk about sparring. ethics, the NDA, the secrecy, all that stuff and more. And oh, by the way, could this lead to a fight between the two? And clearly there is an incredible amount of interest in their feud, if you want to call it that, or in their story. So, you know, it's interesting. You look at the, the Twitter feed. Connor's not the one who tweeted those two photos. It was Dave Fogarty,

the troublemaker photographer. And let me give him a shout out because there was some talk about him coming on the show, but again, everything's being kept on the reps. At David GBD. He's Connor's personal photographer over at the MacLife. He's the one that actually tweeted the two photos that really, you know, really caused this storm. Connor didn't do it. I don't know if that was done on purpose or not. But I think someone said to me like, what do you think of this?

I think this is great for everyone. I think three weeks before the fight, people was talking about it. People were debating it. People were, I mean, Gilbert has a take. Andre Berto has a take. Everyone's talking about this story. It's another layer going into this week. Open workouts, Thursday, Floyd, Friday, Connor.

This is all good. And there were some reports of slow ticket sales. And I'm assuming that things have picked up. And I do think to a certain degree, they've overpriced them. And I think that the MMA fan isn't used to paying this amount for tickets. And I think the Irish fan flying over, it's expensive to go from Ireland to Las Vegas. It's asking a lot. But in the end, this is all good for the promotion, for the money.

the pay-per-view for the pockets of everyone involved. That's really my take on it. I mean, like, are we going to debate like, oh, knock down? No, sparring ethics, things like that, interesting. But what's the general takeaway? This is great for everyone. I don't think that there's a loser here. Polly gets to talk about this on the Showtime broadcast.

Showtime has Polly. Showtime is the pay-per-view provider. People are talking about Connor. People are talking. Floyd is the only one who hasn't really weighed in. and he's still going to make 300 million. Collect the checks.

Yeah. It's crazy. But I think it's all good. And it's all part of this story. When we look back, we're going to be like, remember that crazy tour that they went on and like the polar bear coat?

And you remember that crazy thing with Polly for a week where people were talking about if it was a knockdown and the pictures and all that? And who knows what's to come in the next two and a half week. Yeah, when they do Polly versus Connor at MSG, then we'll definitely be talking about that. And we'll be rolling back our clip from you and Pauley talking right after. after. Okay. Do you think anybody looks bad in this scenario? Do you think, okay, let's frame it this way.

If Polly actually did get knocked down, if that is something that becomes the case, does Pauley look bad? And then on the other side of it, if they release the full footage and Pauley is saying Connor looks not ready for the fight as he's asserting now, does anybody look bad in the scenario? Well, I actually said on Thursday's MMA beat that I was told from some people not in Conner's camp, people around that he was doing very well, that he continued to improve as far as sparring, that he was doing well against Polly and other sparring partners. If somehow the 12 rounds get leaked,

this fight, this sparring session gets leaked, and Connor is completely smoking him, and he does knock him down all this stuff, yeah, I mean, I guess that looks pretty bad. Like, I mean, that looks bad for Polly, for sure. And I also think, if, um, if Polly is presenting it. And I didn't get the sense that he was trying to downplay Connor.

I think he was giving him credit where he felt it was due. Obviously he was ticked off and obviously he has a horse in the race himself. But he was saying that, look, he was hanging in there for those first seven rounds. Or what was it, five rounds. He fully admitted that. And I think if it comes out that Connor is looking good, it could hurt. It could hurt Polly stock, I think. And I also think.

I don't think that footage is coming out. For everyone involved, I don't see any point of it coming out. Well, it's way better if it doesn't. Yeah, it's way better. I mean, unless they're going to sell it, you know, on McGregor, malinagi.com, what's the point? It's better to leave this. Unless someone steals this tape and leaks it to TMZ or something, I don't see how it. It's better for this to remain a mystery.

And everyone debates it. I agree. This is part of the barbershop. It's better for both of that aspect of this fight. I can see, you know, men sitting around saying like, oh, you see what Conner did you see how Polly, man, Pauli went out and did this interview and he spoke too much

and he had loose lips. Oh, but Connor put that photo out there and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it was a knockdown. Look at the ref where he's standing. I mean, people are debating this. I'd be happy to debate. I mean, it's just fun.

But all this leads back to that original question, which is, could they have calculated this? It seems very calculable. I'm not saying it is. I'm not saying it isn't. Together, like Polly and Connor coming together? Hey, you release a few picks. I do a few interviews.

We got ourselves. I don't want to, I don't want to accuse anyone. I don't want to accuse anyone. of like conspiring. Again... It's not a conspiracy. There's nobody

who gets hurt in this. But again, what I will say is I don't think that there's a loser. Yeah, looks good for everybody. For now. If anything gets out, then the story changes.

Sure, exactly. From our friend Jason Jones. My man. Wanted to talk about Smiling Sam Alvia. Seven fights in 14 months, almost, you know, a calendar year,

seven fights in. Is he fighting too much? And thoughts on him fighting Vitor Belfort. I mean, I like the fact that he called him out Vitor's responded. Yep,

Vitor's response is great. Unfortunately for Sam, the story of that fight was just, you know, Rashad Evans and not looking great.

And let's be honest, it wasn't the greatest fight of all time, but Sam did what he had to do and it was the biggest high profile win of his career. Yeah, sure. Go after Vitor.

Why not? Do I think he's fighting too much? I mean, he's not getting like brutally knocked out. He doesn't seem to be losing a step. Some guys like to fight. I mean, seven and 14 months,

that's a lot. It is a lot. We've seen it get done. He's like the classic FS1, one fighter. It's like I feel like they never put him on pay-per-view. It's always on like those fight nights. Somewhere in like the middle of the card. Find a niche. Be that guy.

He's a good. Keep racking him up. Great personality. But unfortunately for him, the biggest one of his career, everyone's talking about the fact that that guy lost as opposed to that guy won. That's just the nature of he was fighting. Here's our next question. Where does Rashad Evans go from here? Man, I always feel weird about, you know, yeah, you should retire and stuff.

And it's weird with Rashah because he's not getting knocked out at this point. He did get knocked out by Glover Tashara. Then he comes back against Daniel Kelly and then of course this fight. Glover Tashara knocks out everybody so I'm not I'm not too hurt. It's just this is a different one because like we saw with B.J where he was getting

beaten up and looking slow. But this one he's like he's not getting beaten up. He just doesn't look like himself. He looks like a shell of his form of himself. He can't pull the trigger. He's slower. So let's not go to retire not retire. Because I agree. It's a touchy thing. But

how about where would he match up? Who would be competition at this point? Where would we see Rashad next? Who's like a viable opponent? Honestly, I don't feel comfortable even talking about that. Look, I don't know what Rashad's financial situation is. He's working for Fox. I know he does a little work for CBS.

At this point, do I want to watch Rashad Evans fight? I really like him. I respect him. I think he's a good human being. I don't see a champion. in his future. I don't see big money fights in his future. So I hope that he finds peace and is able to kind of focus on the TV stuff and whatever. To sit there and look through the rankings and the division to me is just like, I mean, on a day where we're talking to Ian McCall about

his brain and Gilbert about, you know, seeing things on Twitter and scrolling through them because he doesn't want to face reality. You know, and Pat Barry, like, sometimes, I will be honest, you're sitting here and you're like, you know, what are we doing? What are we watching? What are we supporting? What are we, you know what I mean? Like, this is serious stuff. And, uh, you, there was a great line. I can't find it now, but in that, in that, uh, Connor McGregor piece, about flying over Sunny Liston's grave and something about Sunny Liston, um, and, and, and his death and what he said about, you know, old fighters dying. I, I could look for it when you're looking at the next question. But yeah, I don't know. You know, I'm not going to say,

oh, Rashad, you're making a mockery. But it's weird to see this happen in front of you. Rashad Evans was the champion not that long ago. You know? He was the guy, not that long ago. But I feel like this is a conversation we're continuing to have and not just Rashad. Like this is the type of thing that, you know, now the sport is old enough. The sport is at a point where this is a conversation to have.

There was a time where the fighters who, you know, we grew up watching were not on the down. side of their career. We're still in their primes. Now we're having to face that reality because the sport is so young, it's finally reached a point where some of these guys are now reaching the end of their careers. And I think, you know, there's no right answer. Like maybe it's not the time or place to look at a list and say these are people could fight. You know, Rashad could fight. But I do think, you know, there's viable options out there if you wanted to continue fighting with Bellator or, you know, somebody lower in the rankings. I don't necessarily think that we're at the point where I'm concerned for Rashad, but

clearly this is the twilight of his career, and I think he'll make ultimately the best decision for himself, but he's got a lot of other things going, which is great for him. I know his team thinks that he could still do it, but it is hard to watch. I mean, that's Rashad Evans. You know, tough winner, champion. This is what was written in that story,

Wright Thompson. He said that Connor McGregor's flight into Vegas took him directly over the Parched Cemetery where Sunny Liston is buried beneath fake flowers after dying broke and an alleged junkie. Liston said once, quote, someday they're going to write a blues song just for fighters. It'll be for slow, it'll be for slow guitar, soft trumpet, and a bell, end quote.

Yeah. Sonny Liston was a legend if you don't know him. And I'm not saying that this is what's happening to Rashad, but sometimes you think about, man, could you imagine like the highs of highs, you know, selling out arenas and top of the world, you got the belt and then. And Pat Barry spoke to that like pretty poignant about talking about how to replicate that high and it's impossible to do. That was some intense stuff with Pat.

Baby Assassin, Brandon Moreno. Yeah. Where does he go from here? And Alexa Grasso. I think if I was to encapsulate both of those, I would say that both looked decent, gave good accounts of themselves. Do you think Rhonda won the fight?

Random Marcos? Randallos? No, I don't. I thought Alexa won rounds one and three. Yeah. I thought it was a close fight, though. I think you could reasonably say that you could score it for Randa, but I scored it for Alexa. I also think you could reasonably say

that there was a draw in the Moreno Pettus fight. Because I think round one was 10-8. You know, right on the border of 10-8, 10-9, and you could give him that fifth round. He had top control for quite a bit of it. I scored it for Pettis, but I don't think it's the type of fight where Moreno is not going to be able

to bounce back and look at this. Still only 25 years old. And Pettis has been in a similar place where he looked this way against some higher level competition. He didn't get smoked. I think he'll be fine and great after this. I think he'll get right back on the course.

No one expected Marin let's even be in this position at this juncture of his career. He was an out of nowhere kind of guy. First main event in Mexico City. The division is still shallow. But look, the story on Saturday was don't give up on the flyweight just yet. We got some great performances at 125.

So, no, he's still going to be in the mix. And this is the problem. You know, everyone was like, oh, Pettus isn't ready. Who's ready for DJ? And that's the problem at 1-25. Like, Henry Toulodo wasn't ready. No one's ready for him. You know, like Ray Borg should probably have a few more fights.

Like, this doesn't happen in other divisions. You know, Chris Carrioso, this doesn't happen. It's very rare. Like maybe Benavides, maybe McCall. But for the most part, DJ has been fighting guys who aren't necessarily ready to fight him. And so part of me is like, ah, keep Pettis away from him.

him, but part of me is like, there's no one else. There's no one else, and Pettus looked good. Pettus overcame that first round and looked really, really sharp. We're not at a place where if you don't want to give Demetrius Benavides every time he fights, then you have to give him people who aren't prepared.

That's just the reality of the situation. It's DJ. It's Benavides, and then it's everybody else. So if you don't want to give him Benavides every time, you're going to have to give him a Pettis, you're going to have to give him a Borg. that's just the way it works. Speaking of Twitter, by the way,

Connor just tweeted. What did he say? Although I don't know if it's related. It was just the picture of him with Owen Roddy in the back in the background and it says you can run but you can hide.

I feel like that's kind of in line with what he's been tweeting lately. I don't know if that's... No. And then of course everyone's like, Dad, King. Yeah, the dad stuff for Conner. Which he is a dad.

Did you imagine? Yeah, that's true. That's true. Okay. 49 and 1. Contender Series. Have you been impressed with it as an alternative to tough? Luke Thomas, biggest fan.

I think it's great. I really like the contender series. I think that they are doing a great job of lining this up. So when their TV deal is struck for 2019 and beyond, this replaces tough. Tough is on its last legs. It is played out. But they need another avenue to offer programming to networks

and to develop new stars. this is a much more feasible way of doing that. I'll say this. I am interested in Tough Moore. Again, it's not going to get me to watch, but I'm interested in Tough More with a championship on the line. So I think that... Yeah, but you can't beat live.

No. There's something about live, right? No, I mean, there's no doubt about it. Live sports is the only way sports is meant to be done. Just knowing that these things happened, these fights like six months ago or whatever it is, four months ago, you can't beat live. also the package that they've put together

for Dana White's Contender Series is good like this isn't just hey we're going to throw out this little product they're putting the value behind it well this is also an effort like I want Sean O'Malley gets signed and he's fighting on fight pass

without this just from legacy you know it's just a fight yeah everything's just a fight these days now Sean O'Malley after that I want to watch him same thing for Sage Northcut on Dana White's looking for a fight if you can fight and like I said I think Sean O'Malley himself has validated this. Mickey Gall.

Mickey Gall. So this is a way of building stars early, getting people emotionally attached. I told you, the only thing I don't like about it is just it's a little uneasy. You know, when you see people begging and things like that.

That to me... But it's a reality show. There has to be an element of suspense. I understand it, but I agree. But great production, great talent on the mic, great backstage interview. Every part of it,

they've done it right. obviously I think there's been a bit of a swell of outrage in the MMA community against Snoop Dog who had some pointed comments for Cormier I mean come on is it not deserved absolutely deserved but my thing is like TMZ of all people

like the media that's so friendly to the UFC and the UFC gives them all this stuff come on yeah wasn't great out of Snoop but hopefully he can redeem himself Nick Diaz even too tweeting about Polyma and Aji and Connor now. What is the...

Soup's comments to me were so low and out of line and inconsiderate towards a guy who, I mean, enough with this. Not the time. Not the time. Just go away with that.

And kudos to Ally Quinta for actually saying something. Calling that out. Yeah. Yeah. Biggest fight the UFC could make on the year end card. What is it? Now obviously, let's go within reason. That's available to them?

That's available. I'll say this. Brock Lesnar, John Jones, counts in my opinion. You can say that. Well, they better do it really fast. You better come out of retirement. Now, I don't even think it counts because he needs six months.

Okay. So then what in a real life scenario, what is our number, what is headlining year end card? The biggest fight that they can make right now. What is the biggest fight they can make? Connor versus Nate 3. That's the biggest fight.

Still, is there a point where that changes? If Connor does really well, and doesn't even win, but does really well, on August 26th, that could do over $2 million, in my opinion. And I believe that there's a kind of a deal, whether it's verbal, I don't know, but they're not letting him do this without him coming back.

And they need him to come back. And so that's a massive one. Ronda returning would be massive, but I don't see that happening anything. If Connor doesn't fare well, does that change that? Of course. I mean, if he gets brutally knocked out, breaks his leg. I mean, that could definitely change.

No, no, no, not that he can't make it to the fight. Does the interest in that lower? We've learned, I mean, look at how he, how he got he got choked out by Nick Diaz. So, and look what the next one did. It broke the record. I think Connor, no matter what we'll find a way to bounce back, that's what he does. And he's very good at taking his medicine and then finding a way to put himself back into the conversation.

Can I just say this? October, November, December, lining up to be incredible for the UFC, without a doubt their best three months of the year, because you have at least these fight, at least, belts will be defended. Middleweight. They're hopeful for at least lightweight, if not interim. So I say at least interim, if not lightweight, featherweight. They're hoping for bantam weight. They are hoping for straw weight. They are hoping for women's featherweight, crowning a 125 women's chance.

Every title. So, yeah, I mean, and we're talking like, you know, Cyborg Home. We're talking about Cody Dilleshaw. We're talking Bisping GSP. Who knows? They can figure it out with Steepay. Stepe.

Maybe against Kane. Frankie versus Max Holloway. I mean, these are big fights. Chbibiborgharson. The one you didn't mention is the one that they specifically asked about in this question. Does John Jones versus Gustafson

happen end of year? And would they do that perhaps together with a Conner fight or do you spread it out? Do you stack the deck for a year end show and just maybe you try to stack the deck to try to recoup some of your losses from earlier in the year. Yeah. I could see, I mean, if you, you headline a show with Connor and Nate under that, you go John Jones and Gustafson.

That's the fight. That's John. Next. That's the one I want to see next. There's no doubt about it. What does GSP do if he beats Bisping? Does he stay at middleweight defend the title? Does he go down to 170?

I think GSP would fight Robert Wenderson. I really do. I think if he looks phenomenal and feels good. and feels healthy and feels strong and wins, I think he would fight Robert Whitaker. Robert Whitaker is a former Walterweight. I mean, he's not U.O. Romero, this, you know... You mean...

Yeah, former Walterweight, went up. And so, yeah, I think Whitaker becoming interim champ has opened the door for that. I think if he doesn't want to stick around and wins, I think there's an easy out, Whitaker becomes the full-time champ like they did with Jose Aldo. Yeah. I think there's a lot of options open for GSP, clearly.

He has to look good, though, in this first fight for us to explore them. Kane Velasquez, do we know anything further about him when he might return? Still on 100%. There was a report. And can I just say this? There are a lot of websites. There's a lot of young journalists trying to make a name for themselves, trying to break news and things of that nature.

I have no problem sourcing anyone. In fact, I want to source you. If you earned it, if you deserve it, I have no problem with it. if someone reports something about a fight, my job is to find out if it's true to confirm it. I can't just go off every single rumor that's out there. So what do I do? Kane Steepay, October 7th.

So I call Kane's people. I call Stepe's people. And then I report what is said. Yawanna Rose, November 4th. That's put out there by MMA Today. The first one that I mentioned, Kane Stepe was put out by B.T. Japan.com, Chris Taylor. And so Rose and Yuana. I spoke to Rose. You heard from her here. I spoke to

Yuana. And they told me what they told me. That's what they want, but not offered, not done. So I'm not going out there trying to poo-poo anyone, trying to call you fake news, trying to disparage you or embarrass you or insult you. I'm just doing my job. Like this is a big part of why I want the MMAA to be a thing. Like I want us to all respect each other and have this somewhat understanding that we're all doing this together the right way, camaraderie, of fellowship, all that stuff and more. And I think that sometimes other sites think that I'm trying to put them down or, you know, crap all.

No, that's not the case. Get all the scoops you want. It's not personal. We're all going to get our time. We're all going to get our stories. Do your thing. I'm not trying to put you down. In fact, every time I do it, I put the handle.

I don't do what other people do and don't put the hand. You know, like I'm trying to do it as kosher as possible here. So I just want people to know that when I'm going out and asking, It's just because that's what's required of me to go and confirm so that this news can be put out on the site. I'm not trying to call you a liar. Kane, not back just yet. What about Yaiyar Rodriguez, somebody who has been away from? He hasn't been away that long.

It was mid-May. I have not heard. I know that he's doing a little training with Israel Martinez, so maybe there's a reunion there, but I've not heard of any fights for Mr. Rodriguez. is. Another one from our friend Jason Jones. Open scoring.

How do you feel about open scoring? Do you think if we had open scoring I don't love it? Because if someone knows that they're up 3-0 and it's a five-round fight, they might coast. You know what I mean? At their own peril.

At their own peril, but honestly, of all the problems in M.A., I don't think this is one of them. Yeah, maybe not. I kind of fall somewhere in the middle on open scoring. I see its benefits. I see its,

downsides, I see, I see why the detractors would have a point. Ultimately, I could live with or without it. I would like to see when somebody's down or it's, you know, it's tied one-one. I want them to give a better effort. I think that would be an interesting thing to see, but I'm okay without it. I would also be okay with it. Yeah. I mean, look, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, you know, protest, but I don't think that it is something.

You don't think it's necessary, for sure. Okay. This is our last question. Okay. what do you and I do right after the outro music plays and the cameras turn off. Okay, well, you actually told me that I take

off my headset too quickly and it makes a little noise and the audio. So the second it's done where I say, peace, I'm out of here. I whip these bad boys off. Three beats for it. I do that. I usually go to the restroom

and then sometimes there's an ad that I have to read after the fact. Someone's calling me right now. Is there an ad today? There is. Damn it. So I'll read that ad. And then...

You mean, thank you to the advertiser for this week show. And then I will make the journey home. And one thing about Monday nights at home, the best night of the week. I know people hate Mondays. I love Mondays. Because Monday is like my Friday night for the typical, you know, 9 to 5. Because I don't have to worry about booking this show for the next, at least couple days. So Monday night, I eat like a madman.

I am so hungry. I've just been sitting down. talking for the last five hours and 40 minutes. I will thank Mr. Malinaghi. Yeah, cut some of that out for Paul. So I eat like a madman and then I usually fall asleep relatively early. I like watching the NBC News. Maybe I'm going a little TMI, but I tape the NBC News 630 every night and I'll watch that with my wife. I've been watching the defiant ones on HBO. I don't know if you have seen that, but it's not familiar with it. It's actually a recommendation of my friend Pizzie Carroll and colleague. It's about Dr. Dre and his empire and

Jimmy Iveen. I highly recommended four parts here. I definitely fell asleep in the middle of watching it on Friday. That's typical. But these are some of the things I like to do. And of course, try to make it home in time to see my kids. I don't know if that will be possible this time. But my son has been peeing a lot in the bed, my middle son. So it's been a little challenging, only because there's just a lot of pee in the morning in the bed.

So this is the second. I think they met like right after the camera shot off. But that was great. I said too much. That was fantastic. What a show. I think everybody got what they wanted out of that. How about Pat Barry?

How about Paulian Malinaji? How about everybody we had? I mean, I think we had a feeling that something was up when I'm like, hey, Ian, how are you? And he's like, don't ask me that. Yeah. Right. The first question of the day. It started with the right tone.

Gosh. What a show. All right. That's it, people. Thank you. Thank you, New York, Rick. Thank you to everyone in the back for staying. around a little longer. I promise I don't try to do this. I just, I try to put on a great show.

And I think we have done that today, an emotional roller coaster, an exhausting show. But this is a memorable one. This is one that I will never forget. You can hit my music. Yeah, I think it did start with that. Hey, Ian, how's things? Not great. Don't ask me why. All right. I did not expect that. Is there anything else I didn't get to? I have a whole list of things. I'm going to Las Vegas on Thursday, short trip, open workouts, media day. I've never been to one of these boxing ones, so I'm looking forward to that. Like I said, Floyd on Thursday, Connor on Friday at the UFC Performance Institute.

How fun is that? Glovertshire versus Misha Sarkinov was announced. Nate Marquard versus Cesar Munch. A whole bunch of fights added to UFC 216. You get the drill. You've been falling along. What a show. Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by. Thank you to everyone who tuned in. I love you all. Thank you very much, Ian McCall. Best of luck to him. Sincerely hope that he's able to find peace, health and happiness in whatever it is that he wants to do. And of course, good luck to him with his new business venture. Thank you very much to Luke Rockhold.

Good luck on September 16. Thank you very much to Andre Berto. How fun was that? Great insight. Last Man to Fight, Floyd Mayweather. And we just found out that he was asked. to Spar and he held back. Thank you very much to Gilbert Melendez. Good luck as he drops down to 145 against Jeremy Stevens on September 9th. Thank you very much to Volkan, Bosdemio. Congrats to him. Thank you very much to Paul Felder for stopping by.

Thank you very much to Pat Barry and Rose Namibunas. And of course, thank you very much to one, Pauli Malinaji. Can't thank him enough. Back next week, save time and place. Until then, I say, peace. I'm out here.