MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 402

Episode Date: October 3, 2017

Ariel Helwani speaks to Dominick Cruz (00:11:10), Alistair Overeem (00:36:19), Volkan Oezdemir (01:05:27), Frank Shamrock (01:24:01), Andrea Lee (01:43:11), Ali Abdelaziz (02:00:52), Rafael Natal (02:33:10) in studio, Mackenzie Dern (03:07:52) and NewYorkRic for Ric's Picks (03:26:48) and to answer your questions during The MMA [After] Hour (04:07:39). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello again, everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani, back inside our New York City studio. So today, my friends, we say hello once again with a heavy, heavy, heavy heart. by now you probably heard about what happened in Las Vegas late Sunday night early Monday morning here on the East Coast country music festival mass shooting the largest in United States history I think by by the last report I saw over 50 people killed over 500 injured this this is this is horrific stuff And anytime you hear about these things and they've become all too common in our country, in our world, your heartbreaks. This one feels a little more personal. I consider Las Vegas to be somewhat of a second home. Probably spend more time there than any other city outside of where I live. Go there multiple times a year. And in fact, this particular festival last night was exactly where.

the media center for Mayweather McGregor was. They have like this open lot. They built a tent. There's a stage there. All the shots that I'm seeing online, all the footage that I'm seeing online and on television are very familiar right across the street from the Mandalay Bay, the Luxor. That's where we were just a little over a month ago doing this show on the road. And I mean, it just, it doesn't really feel normal speaking about MMA right now, especially because Las Vegas is sort of the unofficial home of mixed martial arts. And there are so many people that we know there, probably know more people living there than anywhere else outside of my hometown of Montreal. And so I just want to say that we're thinking of everyone in Las Vegas, have had the opportunity to

reach out to a lot of the people who live there. And thus far, glad to hear that, that no one that I know or that's affiliated to the world of MMA, at least as of right now, and I pray that remains the case, has currently been affected, but many, many people have been affected, and I can't stop thinking about them right now. You know, when you hear about these things, especially when they're so close to home, they affect you in many different ways. I have found, since becoming a father, they seem to affect me even more. And especially as, you know, I say goodbye to my kids, this morning and especially after what happened. I mean, Sandy Hook changed me forever, and I think about it all the time. I even spoke to my wife about it recently, and we just talk

about it a lot and how unimaginable that tragedy was and how I can't even begin to fathom and don't want to ever fathom what those parents went through and what they continue to go through. and now there are other parents and other siblings and other friends who are going through it again and I hope that this leads to more conversation. I hope that this leads to more dialogue. I hope that this leads to change once and for all when it comes to firearms in this country, but I'm not going to get on any kind of soapbox and talk about that right now, even though I do think it's entirely appropriate to talk about it right now. No better time than now. But my heart just my heart just really hurts for everyone in Las Vegas and everyone that we know. And even if we know people who

weren't affected, they're still affected. Their kids go to school there. They go to work there. They have parents there. They have friends there. They have siblings there. I mean, this is an area that I am going to on Wednesday morning to cover UFC 216. And some people have asked me how this affects 216. At this time, we don't know. And I don't know if we will find out anytime soon. I don't know if it will affect it at all. I will say that I am a little uneasy going there, but we'll address that at a later time. I did see a couple of tweets from the MGM resorts that I think are worth sharing. One tweet said, we are in need of certified trauma counselors. If you can volunteer your time, please go to Circus Circus, Ballroom D, where you will be given an assignment.

As for Tommy Corbel. We are grateful for the support of our community. Also, we are in need of certified trauma counselors. If you can volunteer your time, please go to Circus Circus, Ballroom D where you will be given an assignment. As for Tommy Gorbell, we are grateful for the support of our community. Also want to give a nod to our friends over at the Las Vegas Police Department. There's a longtime friend of this program named Bill Steinmetz, who's a proud member of that department who gave me this patch several years back.

very proud to, to represent it on, on the screen today. And those men and women are very brave. And, you know, Bill has been a great friend of the show. And so I was talking to him briefly. Thankfully, he's okay. But I want to let those men and women know that we're thinking of them. And of course, all the, the medical staff, the first responders, everyone who's donating blood, you can find a lot of contact information online. I've tweeted a bunch of if you're in the Las Vegas area where you can donate blood

to those who have been affected and hopefully that number doesn't rise but just waking up to that this morning and seeing Las Vegas just feels very personal and especially then seeing where it was and where we were just a month and a half ago and knowing that people are there

just going to enjoy a concert and have fun and then you see that video and you hear the shots, I mean, it's just, it's absolutely horrific. It's heart-wrenching, it's heartbreaking. And just want to say to everyone, I mean, MMA, again, I feel like I just said this, but this is an escape. It's hard to do the escape when you are feeling like this, but, you know, we'll, we'll do our best. But I don't want anyone to think that we're not thinking about you today. We're not thinking about Las Vegas. We're not thinking about every single person who's been

affected by this because, you know, it's just, it's gut-wrenching. It really is. And it's hard to kind of just move on and, and talk about, you know, mixed martial arts when, you know, people are, I mean, struggle. This just happened, what, 13 hours or so ago, if my math is correct. Just, just an absolute tragedy, terrifying, horrific, a horrible scene, a horrible turn of events. Las Vegas is a great city. I love going there. It really does feel like a second home, and it absolutely breaks my heart to hear what has happened over there. And it's such an important city for our sport. So many members of the MMA community live there. Again, I've had the opportunity to reach out to some of them, thankfully, as of right now, none who have reached out have told me they're affected. But I just

want to say one more time that we're thinking of everyone and that we hope that these kinds of tragedies can stop happening in this country and around the world. Someway, somehow we have to figure that out. So we move along with the show again with a very heavy heart. I'll run down today's lineup for all of you. Of course, it is UFC 216 week. And my original plan was to start off by talking about how excited I was for UFC 216. I think it's a card that is flying under the radar, but I am actually really excited about the main event, and I'm excited about the co-main event, and there's some interesting fighters competing throughout the card. And so we'll be talking about 216 and other news.

There's a lot that's gone on since we last spoke last Monday. So let me run down today's lineup. And then we'll get to our first guest of the day looking forward to talking to him as well. 405 will have Rick's picks. 345 will talk to McKenzie Dern. She returns to action next weekend at Elfay 24. It's been a while since we've talked to her. Hafeel Sapo Natal will join us in studio.

he'll be making an announcement that's at 305, 245. Ali Abdel-Aziz, the manager for the likes of Fabrizio Verdum and Habibna Maghamagamadov, among many others, will stop by. Andrea Lee will stop by, KGB Lee, just two weeks after she was just on the program, and she's been in the news over the past week. As has Volkan Ozdemier, no time has been in the news, and we'll talk to him about his quest to become the UFC light heavyweight champion. Frank Shamrock is returning to action, not MMA action, but grappling action.

He'll be competing against Kazushi Sakuraba in Risen that was announced late last week. And we'll talk to the legend Frank Shamrock himself at 150. At 1.30, we'll talk to Alistair Overeem. He's fighting Francis Ngano at UFC 218. And in a matter of moments, we'll talk to Dominic Cruz about his upcoming fight against Jimmy Rivera. That's at UFC 219 announced late last week December 30th. Before we get to Dominic, though, let me tell all of you that today's episode of the M.A. Hour is brought to you by our good friends. over at Toyo Tire's.

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It was announced late last week, midweek, that he'll be returning to action. We have not heard from Dominic Cruz or at least seen him in action. We've heard plenty from him over the past years. He works for Fox but we have not seen him in action since late last year when he fought Cody Garbrand. Well, he returns on December 30th

to fight Jimmy Rivera at UFC 219, a very important fight in the UFC Bantamweight Division and Dominic is kind enough to join us right now via the phone. Dominic, are you there? Yes, I am. What's up, Ariel?

I'm doing okay, Dominic, as I said at the top. I have a very heavy heart today after what happened in Las Vegas. I know you think very highly of Las Vegas. You're competing there in two months' time. And so it's tough, but I'm very happy to talk to you and happy to hear that you're coming back. Yeah, I mean, that was the first thing I was going to mention my heart and prayers, condolences go to anybody in Vegas. I thought there's six times alone in my career. That's a big chunk of my life of my career, I should say.

It's just, I've been all around that area that all this terrible stuff happens. So all I can do is just send my prayers and positive wishes out for everybody. It's a miserable thing that everybody's going through right now. Yeah, it's unbelievable. And it does sort of feel close to home because, you know, we've been there so many times for the UFC. And so it's hard to focus on other things, but we will do our best. So like I said, very happy to hear that you're back. Were you surprised by this offer?

Were you holding out hope? because I remember talking to you in April, you said that you were hoping to fight the winner of the Garbrandt Dillischoff fight. Of course, the fight then got delayed. Were you hoping to just wait for the winner and did something else happen along the way? Well, the delay kind of threw off the timing.

I thought that Cody was going to get to go right back in. He's a young champ hasn't really had too many other five-round fights other than that. So I thought he would be able to get right back to it pretty quick. He wasn't. Unfortunately, he's been hurt, and I know exactly what that's like. So Dilshaal gets the next shot, so he's been waiting.

He deserves it. He's had some great fights and he's been active. So, you know, Dilsha's got that next shot. And I said that that was cool with me. I understood that because he had been waiting patiently. But, you know, now those two are getting ready to fight. And, you know, that's that. So I got to just kind of sit back and wait now.

So I was like wanting to wait for that title fight. to come back around and once those two fight, you know, just jump right back in there and face the winner. It only made sense because I faced TJ and everybody would want to see me rematch TJ, I think, if he won. And I'd face Cody and I think everybody would want to see me rematch Cody if Cody won. So I just think that the fans would have appreciated it. But the simple fact is this.

It doesn't really matter. I mean, I remember I posted this Jimmy Rivera fight and everybody's like, why aren't you fighting for the belt? I think people were just shocked, and it was pretty interesting to me to see that. But what it comes down to is I'm not the king of the Bannamweight Division. Cody's not the king of the Bannamweight Division either. Sean Shelby is, and he makes these decisions on who fights who. And he said, you know, if you don't fight Jimmy Rivera,

you know, Jimmy Rivera, Austin Sal would fight, and they would get the next title shot, not you. So he would end up giving me the loser or something probably of Cody, T.J. So that being said, it's just whatever it is. Sean Shelby makes the decisions of the matchmaking in this division. And so I listen. I've never picked a fight in my whole career. I've never said this isn't right. This isn't that.

This isn't, you know, I'm not here to complain. I enjoy fighting. I want to fight. So that's when I'm doing it. When I started this thing, I was paying money to fight. I was paying, you know, 350 for medicals and then getting a $50 check rate to me. So I just enjoy fighting, you know, and this is the next matchup that creates a title shot for me. And the reason the title shot's important to everybody, most for everybody to hear is

mostly money. That's how we really get paid. That's how we get what's due to us as athletes who put the work in, the time in the years in, the show's in. You know, we get paid by getting these title shots and earning the title. And that's why the title shot's important. But if Sean Shelby doesn't think I'm right up. for it right away. That's his decision. That's his job. He's my boss right now. And I don't really, you know, he works for UFC and I work for the UFC. So that's just the way it goes. And it doesn't matter. And the honest thing in this matter is I get to fight and I'm healthy and I'm excited to fight because I'm healthy. I've had a lot of foot problems over the past year, two years with

right as I get ready to fight TJ. And now that feels great. I've taken this time to really heal up, roll my feet out, you know, loosen up my legs. I did some stem cell treatments in my feet, and I feel really healthy and really good, and I'm ready to go into a strong camp, and I'm ready to beat down, you know, Rivera, that's the guy that's in front of me right now, and it's exciting to fight again, to be honest, Ariel.

It really is. How did you feel initially when you got that ultimatum from Shelby? He didn't put it in those exact words, but it's the game, you know? He doesn't really say it outright. He just goes, well, I can't. I can't guarantee you'll get the title shot if you wait, Dom. And this is the fight we want to offer you. And I said, well, okay.

And that's a fight I'm getting, you know? It was a clear cut. Like, we don't really want to give you the title shot right away if you're going to wait for Cody and TJ to fight. And what am I supposed to say to that other than, okay, you guys are the bosses. If you think that makes more sense for promotion, the UFC's one of the best promotion industries in the world, am I wrong?

So for whatever reason They probably think that that makes more sense And who am I to say that they're wrong Other than, you know, a good fighter If you did have to come back with you are Do you agree with the choice? Do you agree that Rivera is the guy That makes the most sense for you?

Because Rivera actually said after the fight was out That he was shocked that you accepted the fight Yeah, he shocked I accepted the fight Just because I should be getting a title shot next I think that everybody in the world believes that So the fact that Shelby's putting me in that scenario, it is what it is. I don't mind fighting Rivera because, like I said, he is good. He is a champion-level fighter.

He's the top three in the division for a reason. You can go on to him versus Almeida, and I was very square, very honest on what I thought of his performance. And, you know, I've read everything about his style, so there's nothing I don't know about the guy. I'm very well prepared for it. Come fight time. I've fought a ton of people in his stature. with his similar style. And, you know,

this is a job that I enjoy doing, Ariel. You know what I mean? I'm here to fight. It's not all about the money for this thing. It's just, it might not be the greatest business decision in the sense of Dominic Cruz, but it's the best business decision in the sense of the UFC. And that's what matters for them right now.

it's because the only reason it's that's why Rivera is saying he's surprised I took it just because I'm giving him a shot we all want the bigger name am I right aerial as fighters yeah um you you you've you've interviewed a million of us we all want that fighter that's a that's a little bit either on our level or got a name bigger than us so that we're telling our cell building the division coding fights and making montivision um and, you know, Jimmy Rivera got that. That's why he's shocked because he's got a fight that's a little bit higher on the ladder than him. And that's what we all want.

That's why I wanted Cody. That's why I wanted, you know, the rematch of the champion because I want the guy higher on the ladder than me. I'm ranked number one in the division as the next guy to get the title shot. So that's what I wanted. Naturally, that makes sense. And that's why Rivera shocked because it makes sense for me to get a title shot next. I'm fighting down the ladder. It is what it is.

That's just the way that this promotion thing works. You were Cajside when he last fought on Long Island, and you had that little exchange, and it didn't seem at the time like you were super keen on fighting him next. Have you been at least impressed with the streak? I mean, this is a pretty long streak. He's been some name guys, like, you know, Uriah, of course, not that long ago.

Have you been impressed with him overall? I mean, the guy can fight, Ariel. I've never said he couldn't fight. It's never a question to that. It's a question of who knows Jimmy Rivera and who knows me and who knows Cody and who knows T.J. I mean, I put the work in building these fights with Cody and TJ to get, you know, people watching and then nobody knows Jimmy Rivera. So that's not being me being mean. That's he's had great fights, but that's why everybody's shocked.

It's like they figured I'd get one of the names that I've been promoted with as a rematch. So it's not about what I'm impressed with with his fighting. All these guys in the top five are extremely good. Jim Rivera is extremely good. He's a high-level athlete. It's just the promotion that's different with each of these guys. That's the only thing that you can really relate to make a difference in the matchup. He's, you know, he hasn't, not a lot of people have heard of him or know of him,

and that's because he hasn't fought a lot of big-name fighters, other than Uriah. Do you feel like you gravitate towards fights where it gets a little personal, where there's some conflict, where there's some friction? He's not really known to be one of those guys. And in the past, you've had a few of those, of course, with Uriah. You had it with Cody, of course, to a degree with T.J.2. I mean, that got personal a time.

Do you feel like you sort of thrive and get up for those kinds of fights? And are you worried that this sort of fight won't present that opportunity for you? I'm like what everybody's got to remember about me is yes I'm a champion um and all that stuff but I came up in the ranks fighting everybody just like Rivera's doing so it's not that I'm not hyped up for this fight I'm hyped to fight the business decision to not fight for the title it hurts my money that's all it hurts it doesn't hurt my want or need to compete there are two different things There's a business aspect, and then there's just the fighter. And the fighter and me will fight any of these guys.

That's not the situation. It's on fighting Jimmy Rivera for three rounds, and nobody's heard of him. That's the only thing that confuses people. It's not. Is Jimmy Rivera a good fighter? Yes, he's a good fighter. Can Jimmy Rivera, you know, does he deserve this? Why not?

Why doesn't he deserve it? He's in the top three, top four, top five of the division. Any of us can get mixed up together. I get all that. that's not my job. My job is to show up and fight, and that's what I do. And if somebody's really concerned that they're not going to be able to get hyped up for a fight,

then I need to get out of this thing now. I don't fight just because I get a bunch of money. I fight because I enjoy fighting, and I get up for this fight because, you know, that's what it is. It's competing. I'm here to compete. This will be just your second non-title.

fight since 2009 based on my research and you've you've obviously been out for a portion of that but you fought a lot. Is there a big discrepancy when you're fighting for the belt and not fighting for the belt? Is it because we've heard this recently from fighters like, you know, the reason you don't want to take a risk or the reason why you don't want to, you know, take a fight when you're sick or whatever because there's a big drop off if you lose that belt for you. Is there that same scenario? Well, what's the drop off that you're meaning? Meaning a drop off in pay. I mean, I think that that's common sense. You can go online and see what we're all paid, can you?

Yeah, but you know, those numbers are always accurate. Okay, well, if you go online and see what I'm paid, you could see just inaccurate or accurate. You could see how big the drop-off is from my last fight when you see this fight no matter what. So, of course, there's a pay hit. And that's what I mean by the business side of things for Dominic Cruz. That's the only thing that doesn't make sense.

Right. It makes sense for the UFC, but that makes sense to me, right? Like, why would, you know, why would they be building my business? They're building their business. And we have to understand that all as athletes, that without their business, we also don't have a business. So the UFC is doing what they need to do to keep their business the strongest that they believe it can be the strongest.

And if that's Jimmy Rivera matchup, that's Jimmy Rivera matchup. And that's not my job to decide what's wrong and what's right. It's my job to show up and beat the crap out of these guys off. fight night. And Rivera is the guy who's getting beat up next. He's five foot four. He boxes, kickboxes and wrestles. It's nothing that I haven't seen before. And he's athletic guy that's very hungry. And so am I. So it'll be a fun fight to watch. Nonetheless, it's just you're asking me paying all that. And it's common sense, Ariel. Of course, we get a pay hit if we don't fight for the title. You know that. Everybody on earth knows that. That's why we all want a title.

fight. And it also builds up our promotion. If you win that title, you know, promotion for you as what also goes up, which means your business gets grown on your own. So the only way your business for Dominic Cruz or Cody Garbrand or T.J. Delsha or Jimmy Rivera gets built is if you have that belt in your hands because the UFC has to build your business to build their business at the same time. And that's what fighters got to understand, too, when it comes down to promotion is you got to promote yourself. You got to do all this stuff. That way, when you get up there, UFC isn't the only one doing promotion. You're also doing it with them. And I think that that's something that, you know, Faber did really well, that he understood really well when we were fighting back

in the days was the promotion aspect of things. He might not have won every single fight, but he got like six or seven back-to-back title shots because his promotion was through the roof. The guy promoted and talked, kissed butt all the way over and over and over, and he also earned it. I mean, he fought well, no question about that. I never took that away from favor. But that is a part of the reason for six consecutive title shots is that, you know, the way that you promote, the way that you talk.

And that's what something that all of us in these divisions can learn from favor is, promotion is key for these title shots. And by the way, did they explicitly say, okay, you beat Jimmy, you will get the next tell shot. I mean, it seems like it's a no-brainer, but was that actually said to you? Of course not. That'd be too much, no, that was not said to me.

Of course not. I mean, it seems like a no-brainer, but... It does, but it seems like a no-brainer that I would be fighting the rematch anyways, doesn't it? Yeah. So I don't know what to say is a no-brainer anymore when it comes down to the boss of the division. In May, when we had you on the show,

you predicted that Cody would beat Dillishaw in July, the fight of course has been moved. Is it safe to say that you still think that Cody beats Dilleshaw? Or have you changed your pick? No, I do think that Cody beats Dill Shaw. The reason is, I don't know if you remember why I said that. It's because I think that he's kind of in the head of T.J. with the whole team.

Yeah. You're not just fighting Cody. If you were just fighting Cody, it wouldn't be near as, he's got a good support system. It wouldn't be as difficult for T.J., but he's fighting that whole team. team who knows everything there is about him. So they know how to get under his skin. They know what to say to him when he's in there to piss him off and get him off track.

They know what to say before the fight to piss him off. They know, they know his weaknesses, they know his strengths. And TJ knows all that stuff. So I think that that's, that's what makes it so tough for TJ or those facts, not necessarily his skill set. If you look at the skill set skill set, skill set, T.J. absolutely has everything he needs to go in there and beat Cody. He kicks. He's fluent. He's got good. movement, all these things. He doesn't seem to be rushing as much. He calmed down a lot since the fight with me.

He kind of sits back weights, uses baseball that will help him. His patience will help him in that fight against Cody. Things like that will help him, and he has the matchup. I honestly think just the mindset is just going to get to him a little bit when it comes down to his former teammates, his former, as they put it, literally brothers, you know? Like you're going and fighting your brother in battle. I don't care who you are

it's going to affect you in a different way the question is how right by the way just curious I mean you've made a name for yourself as a broadcaster you're one of the very best

in MMA regardless of promotion Brian Stan has left does this mean more opportunities for you as a color analyst man that's a good question Ariel that's again not really up to me is it

I hope I can do I hope I can do as much as I could with with the color and all that in the future just because I think that I can teach a lot to the fans to get better and I I learn from it and I enjoy it so of course I'd like to do more of it but currently right now I won't be in there for the next few months you guys won't really see a lot of me on TV I'm very focused for this fight against Rivera he's he's uh he's not somebody you take lightly and so I'm

all my eggs are in one basket just like uh just like every other time I got a fight coming up I'm here to win and fight and put on a sick show. And like you said, I haven't gotten to fight three rounds in man, what is that? Forever, 10, over like eight years. That being said, it's like, last time I fought three rounds, it was one of the best performances I've ever had in my career because when you take 10 minutes off of a fight, the rate, the work rate can change. And that's what's going to be exciting for me is I haven't I don't get a lot of three round fights and that's literally like taking a 60 hour work week and dropping it down to a 40 hour work week and saying all right enjoy and literally it's it's a it's somewhat of a gift for a guy like me to have three rounds because I've fought five rounds so long the camps are so difficult um that that's the hard part it's not the fight it's the work you put in to prepare for the five rounds of the title fight this is three rounds so my work rate is now going to shoot through the roof come that fight time I'm going to be like that's like taking weights off of me and letting me run sprints after I've been running sprints with, you know, 30 pounds of extra weight on me.

I'm just looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the matchup. I'm looking forward to a three-round matchup. I'm looking forward to fighting Rivera, who's hungry and ready to put on a show. I know he is. So it's going to be good. I know you have less than a minute left. Leah, who is the best in the business, told me that you must leave by 1030 Pacific time.

But I just must say I think Joe Rogan is a pioneer when a comes to color analysts, but I love when you guys are on there together because you challenge him unlike anyone else, and it makes for very entertaining viewing. So please keep that up. Not because I want to see Joe Rogan proven wrong, but I just, the conflict is fun while you're sitting there watching a seven-hour broadcast. Yeah, good. And I think the best part about that is that me and Joe aren't scared to contest one another. Yeah, both of you, both ways. Yeah. I can contest him. And it makes it fun for me too, because now I'm learning. I'm not just sitting there talking to people. I'm also taking things from him. So we have a good, good connection and good understanding of one another.

And more than anything, the eagle kind of gets set to the side when it comes to me and if I could have that with more people, I think I'd have a lot better work relationships with everybody. All the best to you, Dom, thank you for checking in. Looking forward to your return December 30th in Las Vegas. Big fight for you. Appreciate your time here this morning. Thanks, Ariel. All right, we'll talk to you soon. There he is, Dominic Cruz, stopping by, hard out of 1030 per his team, his right-hand woman. Dalmondia, who in my opinion is the very best in the business. So I wanted to respect that. And there we go. It is 1.30 p.m. Eastern time. As I said, I would stay true to my word. There goes Dominic Cruz. He returns action. It always has an interesting take on the business side of things and his take on the matchmaking and the next fight and all that. Very interesting, as always, from Dominic Cruz. He returns in, what is it? A little over two months. It's kind of interesting that they announce that fight so early. But there you go. almost three months away, December 30th in Las Vegas.

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from face cheeks to butt cheeks. There's no better time to try the club. Now back to the show. UFC was very busy last week announcing a lot of big fights. They announced that

Dominic Cruz-Jem-Rivera fight. Another big fight that they announced. Francis Nganoe versus Alistair Overeem in Detroit, Rock City, Detroit, Michigan, December 2nd, UFC 218. Very excited about this one, a very important fight in the heavyweight division. We're joined now by our old friend, Alistair, Overeem, the Ream, who's here to talk about that fight,

and more he's joining us from the Netherlands. Alistair, are you there? You know, the Ream is online, man. How's John? Hello, Alistair. It's good to talk to you. How are you? Yeah, I'm good.

I'm a good. I'm a little bit shocked by the news of Vegas today. Very sharp action. Me too. So hearts and prayers got to all the victims, everybody affected. And yeah, I mean, it's been dominating the whole news, right? It was last night, Vegas for them? Yep.

So. It's hard to think of other things. So what, who, because still a lot of deepas are not known, right? But maybe you know more. Sure. Who is familiar? Who is responsible? Who did it?

It was a 64. They don't really know. A 64-year-old man apparently did it according to the reports. He was in the hotel, the Mandalay Bay, which has hosted many an MMA event. Since September 28th, I believe that is this past Thursday, had an array of weapons, was on the 32nd floor, according to reports. There was a festival, a music festival. Tons of people were there.

And I don't know if you've seen the videos or heard anything, but it's just, it's, it's horrific to listen to it. It's like a machine gun. And so the last word that I got was that 58 people have been confirmed dead and over 500 injured right now. So just a very, very, a very scary thing. The Mayweather-McGregor Media Center when we were there a month and a half ago was on that exact lot where they had the concert. So a very, a very, a very, personal thing for all of us. Yeah. Yeah, it's terrible.

Just mess up your whole day. I kind of, because it happened like 10 p.m. right? 11 p.m. or something? Yeah. Vegas time. Yeah.

So I woke up to the news. Actually, when I woke up, it was like, hey, something happened in Vegas. And it's been kind of gone all day. Terrible. Yeah. As I said at the top of the show, we do our best to go on, but we continue to think about them, and I hope that that number

doesn't get worse. A lot to talk to you about, and I appreciate you coming on, as always, Alster. And first, I want to talk to you about something that happened this weekend that I wasn't expecting to talk to you about. You were at the glory event in the Netherlands. You were sitting there in the front row with your brother, Valentin. And I do believe that you didn't have a run-in, so to speak, but you did address Rico Verhoeven on Instagram. You didn't like his comments about you. He said, who's Alastair over him? And then he invited you to come over to Glory. What's going on there between you and Rico Verhoeven?

Well, yeah, I don't know. It's like Glory wants me to fight kickboxing again. Okay. And they're kind of playing with the idea, approaching it. And to me, I've been very clear to those guys. Talk to the UFC. I'm a fighter. I love to fight, but go talk with

the UFC and then come back to me. But they're just talking and nothing's coming from it. Rika's just talking. I was coming from it. So stop bothering me and let's get something done or let's not get something done. Yeah, because it's just nonsense. It's just hyping something which is not there. And yeah, growing up, you know, everything is a hype. I understand it.

But it has to, you know, Floyd Maynoy had a half hype to it, but the man is undefeated. The man is making millions. I got to give it to him. There's a big fact. If you compare that to other promotions or other hipes, it just doesn't live up to the hype. So to me that's a little bit with the RICO thing is

You know they don't have a strong Contestant Field over there That's not their fault I mean glory shows I love the shows I love the the atmosphere that I know a lot of people working there But yeah it's like kind of King of a Hill Not of a mountain if you know what I'm talking about So did you actually see

I saw there was a shot of RICO talking about a Hari there Did you and RICO actually speak in person on Saturday? We didn't speak and we're not friends. Yeah. He was working at my camp. So good.

Yeah, we're not friends. What's the beef there? There is no beef. But my whole thing is if somebody wants to fight with me, then sign with the UFC or do something. But don't talk about it all the time.

It's just silly. He's just being silly. And I get it. Listen, this is the old thing. I totally get there's nothing going on. There's nothing going on. for him at Glory. There's no opponents for him, right? He's not selling out stadiums. He's,

he's a tremendous athlete. He's winning his fight. Not by CO. They're mostly by decision, mostly boring fights. But he's working hard for it. And he is kind of creating a sort of marketing for himself. But yeah, it is what it is. So has Glory actually come to you and try to make you an offer? And then you're like, look, guys, I'm exclusive to the UFC. But have they gone that far? They're not. They're not. They're talking about it.

We want to get you in this ring. My, my approach is, as it should be, listen, guys, I'm on the exclusive contract with the UFC. I'm extremely happy the UFC.

The UFC is the number one combat sports promotion in the world. Go talk to them. Go talk to them. Because I, you know, I'm very happy. I'm hunting for my for my UFC belt,

creating my own legacy. Yeah, and they're keeping bringing it up, but they're not falling up, if you know what I mean. So it's just being known. And my whole thing is, I don't want to talk to anybody about it. Like, you're bringing it up. Sorry.

And the whole thing is, I had that, because Rico was kind of pushing it, and I had to address the situation. I had to kind of put him in his place, and I had to tell him and tell the world, I mean, yes, you are the king of the little small hill that you have called glory. no offense to the people behind glory but glory yeah is nothing

nobody's watching it it's small and if the man wants real challenges if he wants to really be recognized then you have to come over to the UFC it's just that simple and you know what the UFC is tough

the UFC everybody wants to win and the UFC every matchup is a 50-50 matchup you're not going to fight some other guy who's on a nine fight losing streak just because you don't have opponents and then I'm talking about this upcoming

fight against Bigfoot. Yeah, the guy Bigfoot never fought kickboxing. He's had a nine fight losing streak in MMA or let me rephrase that to nine losses out of his 10 MMA fights. Yeah. And that's then going to be your next fight as his nonsense.

Yeah, that to me is a shameful fight. That fight should not be happening. There's no reason for, I mean, the heavyweight champion is fighting a guy who has very little, if any experience in kickboxing and has suffered all that damage over the last couple of years. That fight makes me uneasy. But let me ask you, by the way, who's more popular these days in the Netherlands?

You are Rico Verhoeven? Well, I moved from living in the U.S. That's right. And he is still there and he's doing a lot of, he's doing a lot of Dutch media. I don't know. He is becoming a sort of a name. But let's be realistic. The politics still don't like fighting here.

Yeah. The media still does not support fighting here. And they will not support fighting here. It's not going to be the next soccer. Fighting is not going to be soccer. They've made it clear and distinct choice. We're going to support certain sports. Certain sports we're not going to support.

And then I'm not going to talk about the Formula One. We have Max, Max, Maastapa. The media is rallying behind him. They're supporting him. They're not going to do that with fighting. They're just not going to do that. It's something a realization. It's something I realized several years ago.

And that actually made me move to the States. So I've moved to the States. I live in the States. I'm very happy with that decision. I'm so often back in Holland. I love the people. I love the food. I love being back.

Missed my family, miss my friends. But Holland is a small market and nothing's going to happen there. So you can be all the famous you want here. You can be the most famous you want. Nothing is going to happen. Skillman is going to happen. And then that's a realization realization I have had. And that's why I decided I need to move on.

I need to expand. I moved to the States and we're doing appearances all over the world We're doing training all over the world Kind of a global presence And yeah If Rico wants to be famous in Holland Listen I fully support that

I like that idea He's doing these shows Yeah it's great So you return on December 2nd Yes go ahead Go ahead No I I like to see other

Fighters have success And I like to see other Dutch Fighters have success So that's all good good. Just not over my back. Yeah, of course. If it's over my back, it's become a fight, and let's get it on. Yes, then we have a problem.

You have a fight on December 2nd. Everyone's very excited. This is a fantastic matchup in the heavyweight division. It's very important. Did you like the matchup? Were you in favor of this matchup when it was offered to you? Again, I'm a fighter. I like to stay active. I understood

that Steve Pemioch had some contract issues, so he was not available. And to me, want to be active. I mean, I'm always training, I'm always dying, always staying in shape. There needs to kind of be a target goal, right? Because otherwise it's just staying in shape. So to me, it's good. It's good to stay active. It's good to have a plan. And let's not forget Francis is a worthy opponent. He's coming off of, I think, a nine or ten fight winning streak. The reverse from the other fight in the United States. But, no, but this is like a little

legit guy he's strong you can see he's strong as an ox he's motivated he's willing to fight i will be kind of his first big name uh test i'm very motivated as well uh and it's going to be a great great fight great matchup i'm sure you watch the competition at heavyweight you know do you remember watching him when he fought arlovski's last couple fights saying i may be meeting this guy soon in other words was he on your radar are you impressed by this guy is this someone that you're kind of excited to show everyone that he's not on your level Well, you know, again, everybody in the UCC has a plan. Everybody's coming to win.

Every matchup is sort of like 50-50, right, and maybe 45, 55. But this guy's legit. He's strong. He's coming there to win. It's going to be my job, my team's job, to stop him and to show who's number one, literally who's number one because I'm ranked number one. And then solidify my shopper title against this deeper later. in the belt. That will be

2018 now. Yeah. So have you been told that if you win this fight, you're fighting steep? Yes. Okay. Well, that's big news. That's exciting. You get another crack at him. Well, I need to be a little bit of logic thinking too, right? I'm ranked them over now. Yeah. So the way I'm thinking, I would be eligible to fight for the belt now. But I also stated that in previous interviews, if I need to run through somebody else before

then we're going to do that. And that is what it is right now. Again, I'm a fighter. I like to be active to me. That's the best. You know, some fighters, they're not fighting for a year or a year half. I just need to get back in every four or five months.

We're also considering, you know, I'm 30-7 years old. It's basically the final stress to my career. A couple years left. So, again, I like to stay active. It's been 20 years fighting now. So you don't want to have breaks, right? A year off or a year half.

Just stay active. I was actually just about to ask you that. Do you feel like this is the last run for you? Like this rise that you're having now, this run, you've won a couple in a row now. You've looked very good. Do you feel like this will be your last crack at a UFC belt? Well, last crack, never say never. Again, I love what I do, right?

But you notice you're getting older and you notice there's more things in life. However, still motivation is super high and we're still winning our fights. But you have to be kind of realistic too. want to you don't want to end up with too much damage to your body too you know what I mean there's a life after the sport I've taken very well very good care of my body up until this point so I'm still very injury-free but yeah you just don't want to keep it that way you look at other fighters like a big knock I ran into him in Tokyo and he had like I think 19 or 20 fight related surgeries yeah that's a lot that's a lot

You were just in Japan for that UFC event. You had a front row seat to Goh Kansaki's UFC debut. What did you think of his performance? Yeah, I think it was a very exciting fight, very action-packed. There, he needs some work. He needs to continue the path that he set in. You know, a lot of props to him for stepping into a other field. You know, I can always respect that.

Somebody taking a risk, somebody taking a chance. If Rika would come to the UFC, I would even support that. Hey, that is somebody stepping out of his conference zone. That's something I did. I went into the K-1, somebody stepping out of the Comper Zone, and accepting a whole new challenge. Because kickboxing, if you're doing that for 20 years, that's kind of easy. But if you're going into a new sport,

and there's all of a sudden grappling and submissions, and, you know, his competition field was hard, light, heavyweight. He might even consider dropping down to middleweight. All these new opponents, and they're all dangerous. Right? You're not even considering middle up. but light heavy. You have Cormier,

there have Volcan coming up. Then when you fall, John Jones, but John's still also. So it's like a very hard competition field, and it's not going to be easy for it. Yeah, and did you feel that? I mean, you kind of went back and forth,

but he talked about having to go longer with the five minute rounds, the fights are longer and just his cardio, and of course he didn't fight for two and a half years. But did you feel that pain as well when you were transitioning from one sport to the other? Yeah, definitely it's different.

But Saki's a clever guy. I'm sure he's going to adjust. I'm sure he's going to, yeah, plan on it. And then he's got a couple of good coaches around them, surrounding himself with good people. So I'm sure he'll adapt and he'll be stronger and better than next fight. Yeah, I think it's a good, you know, it depends a little bit on his matchups, matchmaking.

If he's allowed to grow or if he's going to be tested immediately, if you know what I mean. But, because, of course, he has a pedigree in striking, but at the same time, you know, obviously his grappling and his wrestling will be his weakness. So it depends if he's going to be allowed to grow for the matches and kind of grow in that, or if he's going to be fronted rules. So matchmaking is going to be really important.

You know, I love you, Alistair. I think the world of you, and I love how you respect the MMA legends, MMA history. From what I understand, you wanted to go visit Yoshihiro Takayama, who recently had spinal surgery while you were in Japan and who reportedly has been left paralyzed, but you were unable to do so. And so then you went to meet Hiramitsu, Keihara, who is a man that you know, who's also in the hospital, who's also dealing from a back injury I saw on your Instagram that you were in his hospital room by his hospital side. Is that what happened? You tried to go visit Takayama, but you couldn't, and then you went to meet. And then you found out about Kane Harat, so you went to go visit him?

Yeah, okay, so in Japan, we heard about the awful news of Takayama. So he kind of heard himself during a pro wrestling match. Yeah. And he's kind of parallel down. And yeah, so I shared a couple of cards, pride cards with him. So he's not a friend. We don't really talk. And Japanese are like kind of different culture anyway,

so it's like a little hard to communicate with them sometimes. But I felt like, you know what? We just need to go over there. need to see him giving a hug, just, you know, show some support. And then, so the management was talking to some of his friends, his people. And he was unable to receive visitors because he was on the respiratory machine. So he was kind of kept unconscious, kind of kept in a coma because he needed surgery cell.

It's kind of shocking. So, yeah, we said, yeah, there's nothing we can do. But we'll be back in Japan like six months ago before he was done then. At the same time, that management person said, but we were also going to meet with Kanahara, and this is an old opponent that fought with him in 2004. My brother fought with him previous in rings two times, and then I'm talking about 2000 and 2001. But he's like a former rings star, had many fights, fought Bignog, fought a Vandala Silva, thought Shogun,

kind of a super veteran. I spoke to him, he didn't even remember how many fights he had. A lot of his fights are not even on record or their own record on rings,

rings is not there anymore so nobody has records. So I mean, they was like, okay, let's go visit him. An old foe, but somebody I respect tremendously

because of, because of his history. But a lot of MMA fans don't know of this guy because, yeah, he has like over 100 fights. It's mostly in Japan, but I remember him

because my brother was dealing with him. two back four fights and then I fought him in 2004 so went to visit him he was very surprised

and this is also remember let's not forget this is also a fighter who is Japanese cultural difference maybe communication barrier anyway we never really spoke

but I just went there again give him hug show some channel support and then yeah there's what it is but to my big surprise when I walked in the room he spoke English

and we had the most interesting and funny talks about the history of the sport and about his career, of course, about my career and, yeah, his injuries and what he transitioned to do after his friend and career because he's retired for some being now. He's now a chiropractor. So I had the most nice talks, and it was actually a little bit, you know, we're all growing older. And at some point, you know, when I fought him, I was like 24 something. was just interesting and knocking him out and very basic thoughts and I'm going to destroy. I'm going to. And now it was more like, yeah, a lot of respect. That's beautiful.

Form of pose and now a lot of respect. It was like, I don't know, maybe veterans and wars have a little bit something similar. And it was a lot of, yeah, a lot of back and forth respect. And it was actually a little bit of touching moments for me to see him and to see him do well. because of course you never know how these, how everybody, how people are doing, right? Ten years after their career or five years after their career. But he was doing just, except from his injury, of course, he had something, he didn't know exactly what it was. It was something lower back, baby's kidneys.

But he said probably I'll be, I'm not going to get some antibiotics and then in two, three weeks, I'll be out of it. So he was not paralyzed, he never. He was just some lower back. He had, it wasn't in bad pain, though. But it was already going a little bit. It was on pain meds. So, yeah, a special moment. Special moment.

Well done. Well done. Congratulations, by the way, on the new baby. How's she doing? New baby's there? Eight weeks. Eight weeks? She's doing very well.

She's very different than my other two girls. This is her girl, of course. Very different baby. She's very calm. It doesn't make a peep. She's just sleeping all day, basically. She has my mother. eyes, very blue eyes.

Oh. And, yeah. Yeah, in the beginning, I was like, hey, she doesn't really look like me, very white baby. But she's kind of slowly. She's getting a little more color now. You're changing a lot of diapers?

Yeah. Nah, not really. If I'm honest. It's fun. You got to embrace it. We got a traditional household. Okay. And

do you do the diapers Oh, I love the diapers I'd bathe in the diapers If it was socially acceptable Or are you just saying that Because you're on air And you don't want to I'll put a

A security camera In my daughter's room Any chance If someone says Oh dirty diaper I run I lather myself In the soil diaper I love it

I have a hard time Believe in a guy You don't need to post Five days Instagram post videos if you're doing it and then off. Fair enough. Fair enough. By the way, before I let you go,

just two quick things. Verdoom, Derek Lewis, this Saturday. You know Verdom? Who's your pick? Berdum. It's my pick. Definitely. All right. And what about... Go ahead. Yeah, I was not done it. No, I think he's too clever.

I think he's too clever work for Derek. With all due respect, Derek is a beast. He's strong. but for them it's clever he's got the experience he's got the years and yeah he's still aggressive he's still going for it so I expect him to come out on top in that fight. You see him? Not to no go ahead please please

you keep interrupting me man I'm sorry I'm sorry because I'm so worried about your time I'm sorry please I'd love for you to stay as long as you want I'm sorry I'm sorry but not to mention that it won't be a back and a four fight and a tight fight I mean, you're still dealing with Derek. He's still a super strong guy.

But I see, I see Verdum coming out on top. And there's several different ways you could actually come out on top. I'm worried about Derek Lewis coming back so soon. I feel like he just fights too often. I wish he takes some time off to just heal up. This is a, I mean, this is a big step in competition, I feel like, and he's coming back very quickly. So I don't know.

I'm a little worried about that. Why? Because he's been battling so many injuries, and he's incredibly actively active. I mean, he's fighting every couple of months. And if you recall, he retired after his last fight. He retired after he lost the Mark Hunt. And he said he had all kinds of injuries.

He injured his rib. And he's been banged up. And so he just wanted some time to, as he put it, you know, press the reset. Now here he is coming back against for Doom. But listen, you're fighting a five-rounder with Mark Hunt. Of course, you're going to have injuries coming out of that. You're fighting a guy who's 200, what is it, 265 or 270? 75 pounds, K1 champ, and you're going four, five rounds?

Of course, you're going to have injuries. Yeah. But he said that going into it. He said going into it, he's been beat up. That's the thing. You know, I'm going to tell you something. He might say I had all these injuries, blah, blah, blah. I was the other day, actually around that time, I remember this.

I was checking out his Instagram and he was doing a backflip in the pool, and this was a day before the fight. So if you have all these injuries, your ribs, you lower back, you're doing a backflip in the pool. Why are you doing that? I'm not doing a backflip in the pool, and I really don't have injuries. Fair enough.

People say a lot, is it true? You don't know, right? But I saw the backflip. That's true. I see somebody doing it. So that is happening. And somebody saying then later, that was after the way-ins,

and then that's sort of Friday. And then Saturday I have the fight, and then you lost the fight, and then Sunday, yeah, I had a lot of injuries going into the fight. Yeah, of course, because there's going to be some real. reason, right? You have to, you got to think of something. But who are you trying to fool?

Derek Lewis? Who are you trying to fool? I saw that back. I like this investigative work on your part. By the way, speaking of online, like social media, your videos, your social media game has really gone up and not. You make these videos like a picture here and then a picture there and a picture there and then there's a video within the picture. How do you do this? Are you the one doing it? Tell us the secret. I'm not going to tell you the secret. Okay. All right. Fair enough. you still owe me an iPad No I believe the deal was that if you become UFC champion

which you seem to be on your way to fighting for the belt then we would discuss No It's all good It's all good But listen, Aaron Yes

Wait wait wait wait I had one last thing Tell us about the new episode of the Ream When's it coming out When's the new episode of the Ream coming out? We work. Okay, so I actually don't know. Come on.

I actually do not know when the part of the arena is coming out. No, I don't know. It's kind of, okay, I'm leading the whole operation, of course. Yes. But I don't have an update on that. It's a little kind of sloppy, I know. But it's coming.

There's, when was the last one? After the fight, right? Post-fight? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It should be time. Yeah. I think it should be a company. I'm Jonzing for it.

interested in Alsaven.com documentary. There's some old episodes. Yeah. But now, the whole social media thing and the whole documentary thing, it's a lot of work, but like it, it's good to be colorful, to be different, to be, you know. And sometimes that just needed to be oval. Sometimes it's just going to get better.

So that's something that we did with the social media, and that's just something we did with the documentary as well. Right, from going to color and then now with the short episodes. You do a great job with that. You understand the marketing side of things. You've put a lot of time. You've invested a lot of resources.

You do a great job with that. So I'm always a fan. I watch every episode. So I was just curious. That's all. And by the way, next up, we have a guy who you're kind of responsible for his success. Volkan Ozedimir coming up.

You're the guy who essentially got him into this. How about that? Isn't that crazy? Do you expect him to be knocking people out in like 10 seconds? Volcombeenzimer. Yeah. He's like, I would say he's like, like, my nephew slash cousin.

And I'm very, very proud that I was able to contribute to his success. But let's not forget one thing. I am not responsible with his success. He is responsible for his success because he came to me. He has put in the work. He has done that multiple years. He fought on shitty promotions. He had a lot of things turned against him in his career in life.

But he finally made it. And I'm very proud of him. for this. So yeah, and of course, you never know how somebody is going to do. I just know that I was in my training camp, so I was doing my thing, and I got a message from Volcom. It's kind of fun. I think it was 2006, seven, or eight.

Hey, I was to come train. And at that time, I was like, oh, yeah, sure, come over. And then this guy, ding-go, was standing in front of the door with a suitcase. And he stayed up over me for, I think, over a year maybe. And we always stayed in touch and back and forth. and then he came again for a couple months, and then he was out of it. So, yeah, and then he had some fights.

I never did his management. I never was his coach, but he just trained with me, and he kind of did his own thing, and he got along with the crew. It's a very nice, humble guy, very, very gentle guy, and I'm very happy to see him to succeed, because this was always one of his goals. He's succeeding in a magnificent way, right?

Because he's right up there for a title shot. So, yeah, very happy, very proud. Alster, you're a Minch. Always a pleasure to have you on. I appreciate you taking some time out. Thank you very much, and I look forward to seeing you in Detroit on December 2nd.

Hey, thanks for having me, Ariel. Thank you so much. In a couple of years. Yes, sir. There he is. The Ream, Alster Oveream. Always great to talk to him

so much to discuss. He's one of our favorites on the program. And great to hear him talk about Volkan Usdemier, his friend, we spoke to Volkan about this. The last time he was on the program about how Overeem kind of helped kickstart his MMA career.

He is rolling right now and a lot has changed since we last spoke to him. So I wanted to have him back on the program to get an update on and all. He joins us now via the magic of Skype. Time for no time. There he is. Bokane, how are you? I'm doing great in you. I'm doing great.

You hear Alster throwing all that praise your way? I was listening to it. Yeah, bring me some nice smile on my face. Yes. He loves you, Alistair. That's great. It's great to hear. Yeah.

him too. By the way, when is the last time you actually trained with Alster? I think that was for his fight against that was after Roy Nelson or that was who wasn't his last fight? Was it Royal Nelson or... His last fight was Verdume? Or Cigano. No, no, I know, but between those two.

Sigano or Ronald Nelson, I think. One of, one of, one of, one of this one. Okay. Maybe I came one more time there. I was in New Mexico. Maybe one more time with him. I'm not sure.

So it's been a couple years. No, it was, I think, last year. Roy Nelson was in 2015, and then as was JDS, and then he fought Arlofski and Stipe. But it's okay. Arlovsky, sorry. Arlovsky. It was Arlovsky.

Okay, okay. So we have a lot to discuss Volkan because the last time you were on was after the win over Jimmy Manua and you were calling for Alexander Gusfusson at the time John Jones was the champion DC had just lost you wanted Gusufson but it appears as though Guseson has just kind of gone MIA I've tried to get him on the show and I hear nothing back did you ever hear anything back when you called them out

nothing I mean the other day after everything see a lot of stuff is happening right now and after DC called me out I saw live from Gustafsson. I was, oh, Gustafsson is going live, so maybe he's going to say something finally. And no, that was not even for this. So I don't know what's happening with him, but definitely a lot of things are happening with me. And I can't wait to talk about it.

Okay, so on September 28th on Thursday, Daniel Cormier tweets you. He says, I asked, and people want to see you and I scrap. So you got it, man. Let me figure out a date now. They chose you, bud. Congrats. So DC did an informal poll And apparently the people picked you

Were you aware of this? Of course I was looking really closely That was something huge I mean I'm really humbled I feel honored Cormier is somebody I respect a lot

And the fact that he That he called me out Made a poll And also that the fans What for me That's something that means even Even more for me Because if the fans chose me

it means, you know, it means a lot for me. So I'm really happy with everything that's happening right now since the beginning of the year. And the year, you know, 2017 is a great year for me, but 2018 is going to be even better for sure. Yeah, this is a dream year for you. So when you got that tweet, then what happens? I mean, it's one thing for him to say it.

It's another thing, like the UFC has to actually go ahead and say they want to book you in a title fight. Do you know if they're on board with this? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we're going to talk soon, but right now we're promoting the fight, trying to promote the fight more. And that fight is going to definitely happen. That's for sure because I won it 100% and Comey and won it also. So, yeah.

I heard that Gustafin's a little banged up. Have you heard that as well? That's why he's kind of not in the picture right now? I didn't even know this. You didn't know, okay. So what does he have? I don't know. I just heard that he's dealing with an injury,

and that's why he's been quiet as of late, and his timetable is to be determined, and that could help you get in there. Makes sense. Yeah. Oh, I mean, you know, my path has been, I've been blessed because I was even growing without fighting. You know, I was climbing rents,

and then John Jones got pulled out. I was number two. You know, that's crazy. I think I was really blessed this year. What was your reaction when you found out about John Jones? That was a very delicate situation. I was shocked. I was shocked and I didn't know what to think about it first.

Because also since he really wanted fights in a really impressive fashion, that was a good performance from him. good performance from him. So just made the two or five division was on shock. You know, everything is different now and they had to choose a new champion.

So I didn't know if the belt was going back to D.C. or if they're going to make the belt available and somebody has to fight for it. So after John Jones popping out, so I didn't know what to expect because first of all

I want to hear something from him. I don't want to judge first or say too much stuff because he didn't really explain anything yet and the judgments didn't really, there was no judgment yet. So, yeah, I don't know. Are you the kind of person, are you the kind of fighter who feels like you'll only truly be light heavyweight champion if you beat him? In other words, do you hope that he comes back sooner rather than later so that you could beat the king of the light heavyweights or do you feel like because of this issue,

If he's disqualified, he's disqualified, he's disqualified, D.C.'s the champion, and that's the belt. No, no, no, no, no, he's going to come back. I know for sure he's going to come back here. It's going to be, worst case, he's going to be 34 years old, and he's going to be still on his prime, I guess. So if he, if you keep all this training for, like, for him to improve, it's just going to be a beast, you know, no pressure, no, no need to, no need to fight, just need to, just time to improve. So you can, you can come back and be in even more beasty, you know, that's not. the problem for him. So I know I'm going to be waiting for him also and

I'll be waiting for him with the belt around my waist. Daniel Cormier said recently that he has a hard time coming to terms with the idea that he's champion. Of course he was just knocked out and then he's given the belt back and the fight has turned into a no contest. The result has turned into a no contest. If you fight

him and beat him, will you feel like the lie heavyweight champion? Definitely. He beats everybody else in the division. Then he lost against John Jones but then John Jones got popped out, you know,

got tested positive so, you know, you don't really know the importance of the win. You know, it's a as I say, it's a shady situation. So, but he's definitely the champion. He beat everybody in

heavyweight. He beat everybody in life heavyweight. So he's, I mean, he's the best fighter in the division right now for sure. It's also a very unique situation because it's very rare to fight a champion after he just got knocked out. And DC is known to have one of the strongest chins. He takes a very, very, very good punch from the likes of Rumble Johnson.

Do you feel like this is the perfect time to fight him? Like he's now at his weakest because of what happened in that Jones fight, PEDs or no PEDs, he was still knocked out. So it's not going to be the Not going to be the best situation for him Because I got knock at power That's for sure And I hope his brain recover well Because I'm going to bring the heat

When do you think that this fight will happen When do you suspect you have any kind of idea I think early early 2018 Maybe February I don't know March I don't even know I didn't check the I didn't check any

Fight card yet Yeah for last year I'll look maybe more closely during the next day so I can maybe give more information about it, maybe what I want to do. But right now, I don't know, but definitely I saw him tweeting about next year. So let's give him some time to rest. You're okay with that? You're okay with waiting a few extra months?

You know, I was pretty busy and I didn't have time to enjoy myself. So that's also good for me. I got time to improve, and I'm going to bring a different volcano into that fight. Yeah, what do you mean by different volcano? How could you, like, it's working so well. It's working well, but I'm not going to change my game. I'm going to improve in every aspect, every situation.

Also, I'm building something big, bigger right now. I'm surrounding myself with a great team and great coach, and I'm trying to put on the next step right now. So definitely it takes time also, time off my training, but at the same time I keep my eyes on training and my mind in there. I'm really focused on my training right now, but I'm doing stuff different right now. So it's definitely going to be a different volcano.

This is in Florida? Yes, right now I'm in Florida, but I've been traveling a lot, and I'm building a team with people from back home and from people also in Florida. So, yeah, something is going to be, you know, the future is going to be great. I read an interview that you did recently with the Independent,

and you talked to them about a couple years back, you took a break from MMA, and you were very, very close to retiring. And then you kind of said, okay, I'll give it one last shot. I'll go to Florida and see what happens there because it just wasn't working. You didn't have that fire back home.

How close were you to actually walking away? I did, actually. I wasn't training anymore. I tried to fight. Actually, I fought three times without preparation. I wasn't training anymore. And I just took some fight in Q-boxing and one fight in MMA. And I wasn't training.

I got fat really a lot. I gained some weight. And somebody proposed me a fight and I was, okay, let's do some quick money. And then I thought, somebody told me, I don't fight there. You know, you're not ready. The guy is good and stuff like that. I didn't care. I was like, or I make some money right now or I just leave.

And then I fought three times, four times in two months. And one MMA and three kickboxing. And then after I still stopped everything. And I concentrate on my life back in a day until somebody just somebody that was training with me for a while. I just told me, hey, man, you have something. You know, you're really good. You should not give up right now. And that's something also that is true.

When everything is fine in your life and everything is beautiful, it's easy to say, I don't give up. I don't give up is something so easy to say when everything is beautiful in your life. But when everything is dark and times are difficult, that's where those words means different, like something different. That's when those words are really strong,

it's like when it's really difficult, and then you're giving up and then you're not giving up anymore and you're going back at it and that's that's when those words means a lot so you're you're actually going into fights with zero training whatsoever you're just taking fights and and not going to the gym not doing anything i did like i did like that a lot yeah train three times before my third fight because also i got after some of my keyboxing fight i got injured in my in my leg you know too much kick and the next week the next Saturday i was fighting again so So I was just resting home and waiting for the next paycheck.

But I don't need to train too much sometimes. You know, it's holding in the head, I guess. You've got technique, you've got a strong mind. And as long as you have a strong mind, you're capable of accomplish a lot of stuff. So you think if you don't go to Florida, you're probably not fighting anymore? Like if you just would have stayed home and we're presumed.

Yeah. Or maybe something different will happen. But definitely everything turned out really well for me. and T-Slice is, I love my life right now. I love America right now. It gave me a second breath. I'm really happy with everything that's happening. I have a great team.

I have a great fiancé. I have a great family around me and everything is great. What do you think you'd be doing if you weren't a fighter right now? I don't know. Fighting is all my life right now. Do you have any other interests? I always wanted. Yeah, I love them.

First of all, I wanted to work with the, I love history. So I wanted to work, be an historian, how you say that? Historian. Historian. Yeah. And historian. And then that's something that was really, really, that's something that was really motivated me also before back in the day.

And that was probably the road that would have took. What kind of historian? Like what kind of history are you interested in? I love the medieval age and Renaissance. Yeah. But Renaissance. Yeah. And yeah, I just love to read a lot and to learn about civilization and, you know, how the people create civilization or they all they fall apart and stuff like that, you know, definitely.

So you like Les Chrumf? You know Les Chrumf? The anime? The book? The spurs. I was reading that. I was reading that. Yes. I was reading a lot.

Like in the day. I like that. So when you're done fighting. It's good. It's good, definitely. You go on to become a history professor and teach the youth of your time. Maybe do it like Rich Franklin, right? Yes, yes, yes.

He was a math professor, I guess. But you do it the opposite. He was the fighting first. He was the teacher first. And then I'll pass. Exactly. Right, right. I love that.

I loved a lot. Yeah, of course. I love the rich country. And I hear that things are booming in Switzerland as far as the MMA world is concerned. There seems to be some excitement now because of you. I met a friend yesterday that I haven't seen for two years, I think. And he was with one of his associates here in Miami. And he told me, like, even like people are talking about me, like even kids and like people are like,

regular people. And that's really, that's really huge because even people that are not interested in fighting or MMA, they talk about me or UFC, like it's a big thing right now. So that's really,

that's really impressive, I think, yeah. You've, you know, made a name for yourself by knocking out guys like Sarkhanov and Manoa in less than a minute. Surely you don't think that you'll be able to do that to D.C. It's going to take a little longer, right?

No. Less than a minute? Yes, I think in the first two minutes. This is my goal anyway, so I'm going to make all my training, you know. So I'll be able to knock him out really fast. Wow. You have no time to waste, right? You got to get in, get out.

No time for this. I don't want to get injured and stuff. So I'm just going to knock him out really fast. The perfect way to go. Any new watch sponsors? Anyone come to your, doorstep now with opportunities? We're talking with a different company, but right now I'm trying to see who's the best

fit and who's going to be the best representation for me. So it's also a world that is really difficult to enter because if I'm going with the watch company, I need a really nice thing. So it's also all the houses and those old houses are really maybe they have a client's base like maybe all the people that are not in too much fighting anymore. So I still, that's also the thing. I still want a big, you know, like a big, like a really luxurious brand. Sure.

But so that's why it's all about, you know, now finding the perfect fit. Yeah, I believe Floyd Mayweather was sponsored by watch company, Hubello, I believe, for his fight against kind of. Hubero, yeah, Yublo. Yeah, Yublo also, yeah, yeah. Yublo is, it's all about, you know, there is luxury and luxury, you know. So there is luxury into the luxurious world. So it's all about this.

Well, keep it up, Volkan. I look forward to this fight. It's a fresh matchup. We've never seen it before. Very cool to see you and D.C. interacting. Hopefully, for your sake, you get that fight soon rather than later. And we'll see if you're able to back up your words and knock out the man in less than two minutes. What a scene?

What a year? You've had. Wow. Yes. Yeah, really impressive years. I'm really blessed. So, yeah. So if you also want to.

help me for this fight guys you can also follow me on social media you know my instagram and twitter and facebook that's for sure is going to help a lot all right all the best you volkan keep us posted thank you so much all right salu there he is volkan ozdemir one of the rising stars in the light heavyweight division one of the rising stars of 2017 certainly a strong candidate for newcomer of the year as far as the ufc is concerned all right let's go from one of the rising stars in the United Heavyweight Division to one of the legends, the great legends of this sport. Frank Shamrock's name came in the news

last week, late last week. It was announced that he'd be returning to action, not MMA action, but he'd be competing in a grappling match against Kazushi Sakuraba on October 15th in Japan for the rise in promotion. This is fascinating stuff. If you're a long-time fan of the sport, you know that these two flirted with each other, never had an opportunity to fight. And now here's Frank

Shamrock returning after years away from the sport. We won't say his age specifically, but he's no spring chicken, and he's getting back in there, and if you follow him on social media, you'll see that he's in better shape than all of us. It's unbelievable. Frank Shamrock joins us now on the phone. Frank, are you there? Thank you. I have things. Long time, no speak, Frank. It's great to hear from you. Things are well over here. This is exciting stuff. It's not an MMA fight, but just seeing you back in action against Sakarab of all people is pretty cool, especially for long-time fans of the sport. How did this opportunity come about? I know,

Raka Raba was supposed to compete against Dan Henderson. He suffered a neck injury, but how did they come to you? How did this all come about? It's honestly, absolutely out of no-law. I was, you know, I'm producing television, launching plans, doing all the crazy stuff that I do and my charity work. And I got a call. And I've been waiting for that call for 18 years.

I've carried my age. I'm 44 years old. I started to sport when I was 21 years old. I helped bring it to network television. There was one thing I missed, and I was wrestling on. fighting Sakaraba and I get it. And so if this is anyone else, any other legend, you say no, is it only because it's Sakaraba that you said yes?

Oh, yeah. I've said no to every person and everybody for every amount. But I address to Sakharaba for free. And I immediately said, yeah. I said, I just have to go trust my body because, you know, I've worked out in like seven or eight years. And so why does Sakuraba mean so much to you? Well, we have the same lineage.

We have the same style. The reason I always wanted to fight him is, you know, once I beat everybody in the sport, I mean, it was little to do, and that's one of the first reasons I retired. And, you know, he's of the same running. And so my teacher, you know, was taught by his teacher. We literally have the exact same style in running the gym.

I've never faced that person. I've always wanted to, I've always wanted to test myself against, you know, my style. Because my style, I just crushed everybody. And I always needed to feel that. It didn't happen. I still dream about it, you know, every once in a while, but honestly, I thought it would never happen for it. To me, it didn't come true.

So if we did an interview and this wasn't coming up and I said to you, like, what's one of the big regrets of your career? Who's an opponent that you wish you could have fought? Sakharaba was the no-brainer answer right up the top? There was Sakharaba, and then I wanted to fight Ken, but I've softened up on that stance. Sure. But, yeah, I mean, I got to fight every single person I ever wanted.

And part of that was because I became free aging. and fight it was because I, you know, I'm on strike force and I, you know, choose my opponents, I can create my own future, but, you know, it was very specific, you know, there was one guy on this, you know, one guy, and that's him. Everybody else at here. But like I said at the top,

you guys have kind of flirted with each other in pride, I believe you were in the same ring at one point. You went to Japan to kind of challenge him. There have been moments where it seemed like this fight was going to happen. In the past, how close did it actually get? Well, we got to, you know, deep and contract. We went to Japan and right back for certain, we would close our contract.

You know, at the time, soaprabba was the most valuable and biggest star in the, you know, in Japan. And I know there was a lot of risk in it facing. So that contract was never an equal or fair contract. I never signed it. Um, but I, you know, one of my regrets, I, you know, I wish we could come to terms online because I just wanted to go there to fight soccer out. I didn't want to fight anybody else. I didn't, you know, care about the pride championship in tournaments. I just had this mission, and, you know, we couldn't figure it out at the time. But, you know, all things come true when we keep faith.

Now, does it, you know, does it feel fulfilling that this is a grappling match, or does a part of you wish that this could be an actual MMA fight? Well, I'm too well to do MNM. I don't get punching the head anymore. You know, spent a couple thousand dollars in my nose and teeth. Everything's been readjusted, so I don't want anybody hitting me. Okay. And honestly, I haven't trained much at all, but this is something I can't pass up because in my physical days of competition, I've done in all areas.

But you can wrestle, you can grapple, you can train in this style forever. And, you know, this was my first story, a submission wrestling. So I feel like I'm a young man in the ordinary body, you know, back in the day. And by the way, you said that you would compete against him for free. I'm assuming you are getting paid for this, right? right? Oh yeah. Okay. Pretty good amount? I wouldn't tell them in that, but yeah, of course.

You know, I can play unless I could pay. No, I know, but you did say, I mean, that's, isn't that like the number one rule not to say in the world of business? Never say you do something for free, even if you really would? Yeah, but I've already closed that agreement. Okay. No idea of my intention, so, you know, I'm already getting paid. But the truth is, if they had called me and said, listen, will you come Russell's off, Robba? I'd have done it for free.

Wow. That is unbelievable. And for those that don't know, what are the rules here? What are we playing with? We have a 10-minute match and all holds but heel hooks. Because I think we're too old to be doing heel hooks on each other. Okay. And that's it. Straight time.

We go for it. First guy to, you know, slap a hold on and make somebody to turn it like for the game. Just like old school, you know, say uncle. I'm going to make him say uncle. And is there like an overtime or if you go to the discise? is it just to draw? Yeah, it's just to draw up and go to the distance. You know judging or...

Okay. Just to... Yeah. Does it take place in the ring? Yes. Yeah, it takes place in an event in the ring as a special match. And then the difference is, now that I'm not competing,

you know, I'm using this physical event and this promotional event to raise money for charity. So all my sponsorship, everything I put on my shirt, I'm putting all the money into our charity and launching a national mental health campaign and awareness campaign it's been the last couple of years. So this has deep meaning for me

besides the wrestling. I'm in a position. I'm in a unique position to make a change in the world to really make an impact. I spend 60% of all my time doing charity work. To me, this is a moment to make a stance to take a stage

and do something really powerful. What's the name of the charity? The name of the charity is the Sham Rockway. It's our family charity. But the mission is launching a mental health awareness campaign can be a national PSA, both in Canada and the U.S. is targeted to anybody affected by mental illness and law enforcement and school-age children.

So this will be distributed through all the major networks and to the schools and directly to the law enforcement community. Oh, wow. And how long have you been doing this for? I have been working on it for about seven months. And we just put. pull the board, our strategic planner and everything else. We'll go into production in 2018 by meaning shooting.

You'll see it everywhere. We've got tons of celebrity. We have a giant social media campaign. And all of these companies that are sponsoring me will also be marketing, promoting, and pushing this campaign. And then next year is Mental Health Awareness Month, which is May. We have a future film coming out about Larry Raynello and his stance and stage into the mental health awareness team.

So there's just a couple of really powerful moments coming up. And, you know, I get to wrestle, which is a little important thing to me. But on top of that, I get to do something just amazing. I think they have huge impact in the world. Obviously, you're a long-time friend, and now you're involved in business with Moro Rinalo. And he's a proponent for this cause as well. He's been very open about his battles and what he's been through. And I think a lot of people appreciate that.

Is he involved with this? He is. He is a scow. And he's going to use this as a platform to take a stage as an activist. And, you know, he's giving me the courage, you know, with his, with his outspokenness to really be outspoken about, you know, my illness. I mean, I was locked in closets as a kid and, you know, made them live in the backyard and all kinds of horrible stuff. And, you know, you don't come out of that like a normal kid. Like, it really, really messes you up.

And a lot of what happened to me was just nobody. knew this stuff was going on and nobody knew what the results would be of locking a kid in the closet. But, you know, I found that through speaking about it, through taking activism, you know, we can get rid of this stigma, we can bring attention to it. And, you know, it's, to me, it's what I'm supposed to be doing. How old were you when you were locked in a closet as a kid and why? Jesus. All my aunt found me hanging upside down by the back of my when I was two years old in the closet. And then my first memory was about seven or eight.

Bradget locked in the closet. My parent and her mom, as a disciplinary child, would lock me in the closet. And that's what her mom did to her. So she was, you know, doing what she thought was the right thing to do. But, you know, when you're a super athletic, super energetic, you know, really, you know, active child, I guess that was her solution. but it was terrible from my mental state. Wow.

And you still battle that today. You know, it doesn't affect me anymore today, but I'm affected by depression. And I'm affected by, you know, social issues because I feel it. I feel it. I was that kid. You know, before martial arts, I was messed up. I'm going to start working crime.

I'm going to really, you know, took myself off the streets. So they weren't been there. I got my father. My father still be. in prison or doing all that stuff. But, you know, as far as to have both Bob Shamrock, martial arts, a successful career,

and now I'm blessed to take a stage and share my story. And it helps people. I can tell. I can see them in the rides. You know, they're secret. They don't want to talk about them. You know, when I tell Murray, it gives them power to step forward.

And you're also Morrow's manager, right? Yes, right? How did that come about? And do you manage anyone else? It's very unique to see the ex-athlet now serve as the manager for the broadcasting star. It's very strange. And, you know, I had Bob Cook and I and Alvia had a bend of us together.

We had every fighter in the world in a contract. And then I retired, I thought, gosh, I can't serve these people anymore. I'm not doing it. So I just gave everything out and stopped managing people. At the time, I was broadcasting for Showtime, and I'm hanging out with more over an hour. And I realized about, you know, six, seven months in, this guy's crazy. And he needs a little care. And business wasn't cared for his branding.

You know, the stuff wasn't done because there was nobody doing it. So, you know, I've really got to like him. You know, I've done that about his illness. And, you know, his bravery just inspired me. And I said, let me help you. I mean, I've built, you know, strike force, Jamrock brand, Zico. And I've built some massive brand. Let me help you.

And with his talent. And my, you know, knucklehead ability to put stuff together, and he's just, you know, literally taken home from the past, you know, five years. That's all here. It's all focus. You know, it's all dedication. I understand the paperwork and lying stuff up for them. I love the idea of Frank Shamrock going in there and negotiating with the McMahon's on behalf of Morro and Alo.

Are you enjoying this? Yeah. I'm actually, I'm actually, I actually pay with it. You know, I do what's right and I do what's good. And so, you know, that's a sign I'll pick up any day. If we're almost happening, if it ain't good, you know, put me in. But when it comes to being, I'm a fair business, man. You know, I understand the give and take.

But, yeah, I mean, more is my boy. Like, I protect him, you know, because he's a real talent. Like, I was a real talent in fighting. You know, I would have given my life in the ring at any moment. Like, I was all in. And that's real dedication in talent. And that's moro to broadcast. He is over in every time.

And never faltered. and, you know, with a talent like that, you can't help with be successful if your manager's got half a brand. Are you looking to grow this stable, or are you content with just representing Morrow? Sure, I never thought about it. Did he just happen?

And now he was like Uncle Morrow from my family. We just pulled him in. So I considered it. But to me, there was a need, we took care of it, and now everything's better. You know, both of the sports theater, like Westline,

everything's better, better. So I'm not opposed to bringing in more people but we did it for more because we love them. You know, he's a real deal.

And I wouldn't feel right in my heart if I left them without that care. Okay. Now, as far as this match is concerned, what kind of training are you doing for it? I'm back on two days. So that's conditioning cardio in the morning

and wrestling and technically at night. And I mean, I'm going 15 minutes super hard continuous flows and chains so in the Macarama has suddenly become deuce cardiovascular and strongest man on the planet

I am going to destroy him and you're okay with it you like you don't have enough respect for the guy that you're going to take it easy you're going in there to destroy him oh they didn't hire me to come in and make him look good okay they're in and poposacralia

with submission men all right and are we bringing the band back together here as far as training is concerned. Any old faces coming back to help you out? All right. Smith is in my corner. Okay. I'm trying to get TK. But he's actually broadcasting that right. Who's that? Who'd you say that? Who'd you say? Chester Pococke. T.K. Okay. Okay. They're going to be able to Lance back together. Wow. He's a broadcaster now. So he's broadcasting for Risen for Tokyo Broadcasting Station. and so we're trying to work to get in our corner

and bring your Marines back together. Do you know where this will air here in North America? It'll be on fight TV. Okay. There's all the times because I don't know that works with the whole Japan thing. So I'm trying to get all that stuff today. Okay, okay. And by the way, just before I say goodbye,

I mean, you've been outspoken about the sport. How do you feel about the state of the sport? Do you like where MMA is in 2017? Do you wish things could change? Are you content with the progression, the evolution? How do you feel about it? I mean, I don't watch it. But what I watch is business and the television distribution and the numbers and everything else.

And what I can say is, this is growing. The numbers are increasing. You know, fellow companies to grow market share as the, you know, when I see and everybody's growing. And that's a good thing. Why don't you watch it? All right. Well, probably I have a nine-year-old. daughter and she doesn't know she's now. So, you know, there's no time to watch it.

Most, you know, most of my current is doing with charity work. And also because I'm not training actively, I don't have that, you know, sporting connection. Okay. It's a television show. And when I watch a television show, I'd rather watch Marcos than on Netflix because it's more entertaining. So when you hear about a big fight like a John Jones, Daniel Cormier, like a fight like that, you're not saying to yourself, oh, I got to make some time to watch this tonight. Oh, sadly, I catch it on the replay, or I have you know, someone send it to me.

Okay. Because, you know, that time, you know, Saturday night, prime time, what's my date time? Yeah. It's my only time. Right, right. Okay, you know, hang out with these guys who I, you know, created and did all that stuff, and hang out of the way. And, you know, the wife wins.

We've always done this stuff. Yes, yes, of course. Well, it must be nice to go back to Japan. When's the last time you were there? I went about three or four months ago, I was morning, actually. We called The Rising Show. That's right. And that's all the whole kind of thing starting.

I kind of got back into the communications and everything. Yeah, so that was the last time, real quick, real short. But it was, you know, tomorrow and I hanging out and having a good time. And so was great. But I'm really excited about going back on competing. It's just been so long since I've stepped into the Ring in Japan and, you know, performing for the Japanese audience. They're so giving and it's so cool.

And you really appreciate the effort. and, you know, the story. And then the heck of the story. I've been waiting 18 years like this guy, like literally 18 years. I love it. Yeah, I love it. When I saw the headline, when our own Dave Meltzer reported it, I just thought, like, this is amazing. Like, for a long time fans of the sport, just seeing both of your names in a headline.

And back in Japan, I think it's your first time competing there in around 17 or so years. I know it's not an MMA fight, but it kind of feels like it's, I don't know, it's fitting to see you in this kind of matchup against someone like him. So I think it's really cool. And kudos to rise in. for putting you guys in there and not making you actually punch each other in the face, lying you to compete, but, you know, in a sort of safe manner so that no one gets seriously injured. Really fun to catch up with you, Frank. All the best to you in. Keep up the great work. Everything that you're doing outside of the combat world, it's really cool. And congrats on all

your success with Morrow and with everything else with the charity. Best of luck in launching that as well. Oh, thank you, man. All right. There he is. Frank Shamrock. Great to hear from him. Appreciate him stopping by. He returns to action on October 15th in Japan. Risen. competing in a grappling match against one Kazushi Sakuraba. How cool is that? All right, let's move along. A couple of weeks ago on the program, we had a young fighter by the name of Andrea KGB Lee, the flyway champion for LFA. She was on the program talking about an upcoming title defense. I also talked about the ultimate fighter, which is featuring the flywates right now, talking about potential move at some point in the future to the UFC. We talked about a whole

bunch of things. Since then, she won, successfully defended her title, she signed with the UFC. She was supposed to make her debut this Saturday at UFC 216, but just hours after she actually signed the contract to fight Kalindra Faria, she was pulled from the card because of an issue that she had that she spoke about on this program. She failed the drug test around a year and change ago a year and a half ago for a diuretic and per the UFC USADA anti-doping policy, if you have a prior offense on your record outside of the UFC and are assigned to the UFC, you have to go into a six-month testing pool, clear that, and then you can debut. If you don't have any issues on your resume, you need just one month or the UFC can

bypass that one month if it's a short notice replacement type of scenario. That's what we initially thought this was, but then this new policy was brought to light, six months, so she's not fighting at UFC 216. She is signed to the UFC, but now has to wait six months and go through that testing, that random testing, to be able to fight mid-year, next year, inside the octagon.

So I wanted to talk to Andrea Lee about all of this. She is kind enough to join us via the magical Skype, and there she is. Her Skype works this time. Hey, Andrea, how are you? Yes. Good. How are you all?

I'm doing great. Thank you very much for joining us. So a lot has happened since we talked just two weeks ago. Let's start here. You win that fight at LFA. You successfully defend your title. When do you get a call that the UFC is interested in you and not just interested, interested in having you fight on October 7th in Las Vegas at UFC 216?

Well, I got the official call the next day. And they were asking if I would fight Jessica I, you know, since Paige, Paige Van Zant, you know, heard her back and wasn't able to. I agreed to take the fight, but then that, that whole thing fell through. And then they ended up finding me clendro foria because they wanted to save the card. They wanted to, you know, have a female in the main card, I guess. That's what I'm assuming. You know, so I, of course, was going to jump at that opportunity.

I mean, it would be crazy to turn that down. And so why did the initial opportunity against Jessica I fall through? I think it's just because she didn't want to fight anybody else except for page man's in it because that's who she trained for and she didn't want to accept a fight on short notice with someone she hadn't prepared for and I completely understand that. Okay. All right. So then you get free, but you're talking about getting this opportunity, getting this call the day after you're fighting LFA. That's a Saturday. This news starts to get out on Wednesday. Then we get the news that you're out of the fight on Thursday. What's happening

between Saturday and Wednesday? They're finding Faria? Well, we didn't find out about Faria. Like, they were trying to find me somebody. Kalinda Faria wasn't found until I think probably Tuesday, either Monday or Tuesday. And as soon as she accepted the fight, like, they flew her in immediately. So, I mean, she was there when we found out that I wasn't fighting. Okay. And so, during this time, you know, two, three, four days, does it ever come up that, okay, because of the diuretic issue that you may not be able to fight, that there's a six-month testing period per the USADA, UFC anti-doping policy?

Does this ever come up? Is this on your radar, UFC's radar, anyone's radar? No, it didn't come up until Wednesday, I guess. Yeah, it was Wednesday. The day that it was announced. And then, you know, I was, I was, trying to send in my walkout music song and then I got a text from

Donnie saying that I wasn't fighting. Oh no. And it was just crazy. So what was that like? I thought that because, you know, I already served my suspension that all I needed to do was pay the fine that I still owed to the Nevada Commission and I figured they would just take that out of my

purse, you know, whatever I fought, whenever I fought, whenever I thought, I figured they'd just take it out and then that would be it. But then I got, you know, I'm surprised you got to go under a whole six-month. You saw a testing pool. How did you react to that? You're now, like, getting prepared.

I mean, your fight is in a little over a week. You're getting mentally prepared. You're excited, clearly, and then it's taken away. How did you react to that? I mean, I was kind of, like, rolling around on the floor, like, throwing a little tantrum. I was pretty upset. I was like hitting my head with my phone and I'm just like no.

You know, I mean, I was, I was, I was being a big baby. Okay. Why did this fight have to come under these circumstances? Like, why initially was it such short notice? They just really wanted to fill. I mean, there's, I think there's still 12 fights on the card. Did you ask, you know, even before the USADA thing came up, did you say like, why do I have to make my debut on less than two weeks notice? I just fought.

Can I fight in November? Can I fight on, you know, another card? I mean, and none of it completely makes sense to me. I don't, I don't understand it. You know, I mean, I've already fought four times this year and I've been tested in every, you know, in every single fight. And if I had known that this was, this was part of the whole, you know, the whole ordeal, you know, whenever I came off my suspension, I would have started that whole you saw a testing pool immediately. You know, I wish I had have known. But I think it's, I don't know, I don't. It feels kind of like double jeopardy, you know? I mean, I've already served my suspension time. And now, I mean, you know, I kind of got to do it again. It seems. Are you bothered by the fact that, you know, we talked about the issue

a couple weeks ago on the show and what happened and you saying that, you know, this was a mistake. You're not a PED user, et cetera. And now, like, this kind of comes back to light and you kind of have to address it again and pay for it again. And this is sort of your introduction to the UFC fans. Does that bug you? Does it feel like you're kind of being, you know, punished twice here? You're getting embarrassed for it all over again? Yeah, it really does. You know, it's like opening, reopening old wounds. And, you know, that's finally been to me, you know, I thought that was like brushed under the rug, you know, nobody was really talking about it anymore. And, you know, I've never used, I've never done drugs. I've never done steroids. And so,

you know, when people hear that, you know, a fighter has been suspended or was pot for something, you know, they automatically assumed it's drugs or it's steroids. And even though they've heard that, you know, it's a diuretic, they still automatically assume, well, like, you're trying to mask something, but that's not the case. It's just, it is upsetting, you know, that, you know, I'm having to, like, just ignore all the negative feedback. It's not too bad, though. But I mean, you know, there's some haters out there.

And it definitely, to me, it feels, you know, it looks bad. And I try to sign, you know, my UFC contract and, you know, a whole, like, huge light, you know, is like being shined on me. And, you know, everybody was talking about this, you know, me fighting on UFC 216. And then, you know, that gets kind of stripped away. And then the whole testing thing pops back up. I don't know. Yeah. It kind of, it does chat my hat a little.

What was that? Chap your what? Chap your hide. I've never heard that one before. What does that mean? I love that. Sorry, I guess that's a little. I love that.

That's great. Chap your hide. It means like it bugs you. It's a pain in the butt. Yeah. Okay. That's a great one. I'm going to use that one.

And no one will understand what I'm talking about here in New York. Removing yourself from the situation as someone you say you've never taken a steroid, you've never done PEDs. Do you like this rule as someone who competes in the sport? If you do have a prior offense, you do need to go through this process for six months to make sure that you're not abusing anything, that you're not cheating, and then you could come fight with the rest of us in the UFC? Do you under, even though I know it's tough and it's embarrassing and you're upset,

can you remove yourself from the situation and say, oh, I do like the fact that this is actually in place in this organization? I understand it. You know, I mean, like I know why they're doing it. It's, you know, to protect all the fighters and, you know, they want a clean sport. And I appreciate that and understand it. It does suck when it's happening to you. Yeah.

But I do. I mean, I agree. And I think that it, you know, some things, you know, there should be some testing on fighters that might have done steroids before. But I haven't. And so now you are signed to the UFC, right? Well, I haven't signed the official contract. As soon as I get, I mean, as soon as I get to all that paperwork, I'm going to, like, you know, I'll make a big post and take pictures and stuff.

But that is the plan. And so you'll have to go through the six months. And then that means if we are in October, then you can return. If all goes well, as it expects, as you expected to in around April or so. Is that the plan? Yes. And I've already filled out on my paperwork for the USADA test. pool. So I'm enrolled in that and that's that time has already started ticking. So I'm just

waiting for, you know, the random moment when they're going to show up. Have they tested you yet? Not yet. Okay. And just out of curiosity, I mean, six months is six months. Can you be in the testing pool? Can you be signed to the UFC but also fight for Invicta in the interim or defend your LFA title? Is that something that's being discussed? Is that an option? I'm not 100% sure. I think that I might could still fight for Invicto or LFA, but I'm like, that's something that I think I, I still need to, to address with, with them. But also, you know, we're not, we're not sure if, like, my coach is also, you know, I'm a husband and manager and he does everything for me. He, you know, he's saying, you know, he doesn't necessarily want me to fight, you know, if I'm going to be

signing this UFC contract because, you know, he doesn't want me to risk losing outside the UFC now. Okay. So the chances are you probably won't fight in the interim. Probably won't. You probably won't see me until I make my UFC debut. Okay. And by the way, how does this happen? Like, how does this fall through the cracks?

Are you, like, have you come, have you gone to the bottom of this? Like, I know it's kind of new, but shouldn't this have been known before you were signed? I mean, they don't know, I guess. The UFC doesn't know what all, I guess, what tests and stuff the fighters have gone through. I've heard that it's happened before, I think, with like Anjali Hill. I'm not sure what her circumstances were, but it was a similar situation

where she got, you know, UFC fight, but then I couldn't take the fight because she had to do some testing, something like that. Yeah, it's a little different now, but I get your point. So obviously it's not the first time. Okay, okay, fair enough. I think your situation is a little different

because they changed the rules since the Angela Hill situation. So I guess they're kind, you know, this relationship is somewhat new. I get it. I was just wondering if it kind of fell through the cracks, if anyone apologized to you for making you, you know, get your hopes up and then getting the opportunity taken away. Are you content with the way this has been resolved? How would you put it into words?

I know it's tricky to want to piss off anyone, but how would you verbalize it? I have been apologized to you. And I'm content. I'm fine with going ahead and having, you know, six more months to train and prepare for my next fight. You know, it's just going to give me more time to get ready and soak it all in. What's that UFC sign that you have? It looks like you're in a bar of some sort. What is that behind you?

Oh, oh, that's a little. You have the butt light? Yeah. Well, we've had that for a long time. A friend of ours gave it to us and it's just kind of like on our wall. Wow. I feel like I see that at events. Oh, that's in your kitchen?

Well, yeah. Well, this is our little dining area. area. Okay. And you have like a random LFA poster right, right under it. I think that's LFA. Yeah, we got some other like flat stuff up there and cooking machine over there. Yeah. Okay. Kind of like a little party room, but it's... What a roller coaster of emotions that must have been. Like the word gets out and everyone's congratulating you and then it's taken away. Strange 24 hours, right? Are you getting over it?

Yeah. I mean, it was... Yeah, I'm still trying to check all my messages and respond to everybody. because like you said yeah we got a lot of congratulations and then a lot of like apologies you know people say like hey congratulations and they're like oh I'm sorry you know but still congratulations yes it's kind of weird in that sense

because you are in the UFC but you were supposed to debut are you going to watch 216 or is it a little too personal now nah I'm still going to watch it okay fair enough and do you want Faria as your debut or you don't really care It doesn't really matter to me.

I was looking forward to, you know, fighting with her, but it doesn't matter to who I get for my debut just as long as I get an opponent. And now that you have six months to prepare, can we also put in the request to have you walk out with the cowboy hat and, you know, have your personal style? Because I feel like you have to put in that request early. Have you done that already? We're working on that. Okay. We're working on that. Like, we have to, like, fill out a bunch of paperwork and we have to explain, you know, what the hat means to us, you know?

Oh, okay, so you've actually started the process? Yes. Oh, my. Okay. We have. We just haven't signed the dotted line on the actual contract. Okay, this is exciting because some fighters in the past have expressed some disappointment that they couldn't wear their personal items. Are we going to be able to rock KGB on our tire as well or is that pushing it? I don't know. That might be pushing it.

Okay, all right. Does everybody get to use their nickname? That's a good question. I think some of the Brazilians get to, but I would have to pour through the, you know, the data. I'm just a big fan of personalities and being unique and looking different in the fight game. And I think that your look with the hat and the logo

and the nickname has made you stand out a little bit. And so I think it would be a shame to lose that in the UFC. I know. I think it would too. You know, I mean, it's part of me now. Yeah. It's my whole persona, and I would hate to not be able to use the KGB. But as long as I let me use the hat, I'll be happy. Okay, fair enough.

That's a good compromise. Well, I should say congratulations on getting to the UFC. I know you haven't signed yet, but it's, I mean, it looks like it's imminent. I'm sorry this happened. I was looking forward to seeing your debut in person this weekend and, you know, get through this six months, and we'll see you in around April or so. That sounds great. Thank you. All right. All the best, you, Andrea.

And we'll talk soon. Yes, absolutely. And kudos to, you know, you for how you handled this. I know it's unfortunate. You were very upset and probably were very emotional. But, hey, handle it like a pro. And you will be back. I'm assuming sooner rather than later.

So we look forward to your debut in early 2018. I hope so. All right. I look forward to it. All right. There she is. Andrea. All right.

Take care. Learned a new phrase as well. Chat my hide. Right? Chat my hide, I think that was it. I almost sounded a little Texan. And how about Daniel Cormier, weighing in on the Volkan Ouzdemeir prediction

that he would stop him in less than two minutes? I like that, saying that Volcan has officially lost his mind. Well, you know, when I speak to, Rob, our director asked me if I was just riding a horse. When I speak to Angrily, I feel like the, you know, the cowboy in me comes out. I don't have a lot of that in me. But when she says, chat my hide, I like to say, well, I'm doing whale.

And so I like Andrea Lee. I was excited to hear that she was going to make her debut this weekend. But unfortunately, it was not meant to be. She will not be making her debut. She goes through that six-month testing process due to the fact that she has that prior infraction in or out of the UFC. If you have it on your rap sheet, on your resume, and you're assigned to the UFC, it doesn't matter who you are,

you have to go through those six months. And if you don't, you know, the Angela Hill situation was different. She was just a late replacement and they had a rule in place that you couldn't jump in on that short notice. They have since changed that rule, but if you do have that prior infraction,

regardless of who you are, and you have to be happy that, well, you know, they didn't make an exception in this case. As much as I think most people want to see Andrew Lee compete in the UFC, I think most people would agree that a diuretic isn't necessarily a performance enhancer as far as the fight is concerned,

but it does help in terms of weight cutting and things like that. So it is somewhat of an enhancer in that regard. You don't want to see any exceptions being made for anyone. That's how we got into the mess with Brock Leffs there prior to UFC 200. So they are sticking to the rule. The rule is there in black and white. They're sticking to it.

And that's unfortunate for Andrea Lee. But as she said, she expects to be back in mid-2018, early to mid-2018 first. quarter or so. All right, let's move along. Plenty to talk to our next guest about. There's a lot going on in his world. He's got a loaded stable of fighters competing at UFC 216, one of the deepest rosters, if not the deepest roster, as far as MMA management teams are concerned. We'll go back to the Magic of Skype now and welcome in. Longtime friend of the show, Mr. Ali, Abdel-Aziz, who joins us now via the Magic of Skype. Ali, how are you?

What's up, brother? How are you? I see your mouth, but I don't see your face. Huh? Oh, there you are. I see your mouth, yeah. Okay, there you go. You're scolding me for being late? You are late.

I know, I'm sorry. Where are you? Are you at the Performance Institute right now? What happened? Yes. Look at you. You pretty much run the UFC at this point, I feel like. No, man, I was just,

we're going to start training here, help with Benil. Okay. I'm some weight and just gets, you know, I work out here like a couple times a week. Just. Must be nice. Nice place. Must be nice.

Before we get into things, Ali, I have to ask you, you're the only guest on our show today who currently lives in Las Vegas. And so as I said at the top, we're thinking about everyone who's there. How are things with you, everyone that you know, all your loved ones, all your friends, anyone who was affected by last night's horrific shooting? Yeah, man, it's horrible. I'm okay. Actually, I was right next to the shooting when it happened.

I was on my way to the airport to pick up one of my fighters and I went to the air and I hear something I was driving on a strip but I didn't know what it was and when I went to the airport they said his flight they sent it to Arizona

and I guess they shut down the airport and it takes me almost two hours to get home. Wow. Which fighter was this? It was Beavala, Macbalot. Okay. Okay. Right. Wow. And everyone that you know safe and sound, no one was affected?

Everyone is good, man. Just this four people, you know, they didn't have to die. It was just such horrible. People come to Las Vegas to have a good time and enjoy and just, here you go, 50 people died, 500 people injured. And he's just, this word is a fucked up place we live in, I guess. And what's the vibe like this morning in Vegas right now? To be honest, man, like, everybody at my institute, I walked in, like, is different.

It's really different. But everybody's like, you know, very down, no energy. Like when you walk in this place, everybody's laughing, joking. People are not doing that today. People are not doing that today. And like I said, you have five guys on the card, right? On this Saturday's card? Yes, yes.

UFC 216, I have to do five guys. Do you have any idea if this will affect the car? I mean, we haven't heard much. You're there right now. Do you have any idea if anything will change as a result of this week because of what happened yesterday? I think as far as I know everything is all right, just now I know some fighters supposed to fly in today.

Yesterday they send him to Arizona. And this guy's supposed to land caught away last night. I don't know. He's not here yet, but he's in Arizona stock somewhere. Okay. But we'll see what happened. But the card will proceed as far as you know, right? Yeah, I'm sure it's going to be.

Yeah, it's going to proceed, but I'm very sure it's going to be extra. security and right you need to be there's a lot that I want to talk to you about but the first

thing I want to ask you about is and this was the main question that I got when I said that you were going to be on the show

the interim lightweight title is being defended or at least it's up for grabs I should say there is no interim lightweight

champion it's Tony Ferguson versus Kevin Lee we were supposed to get a fight for an interim lightweight title

back in March Tony Ferguson and Habib Nirmaga Medov your client Chabib has been relatively quiet since

then he was the show, but that was a long time ago. Everyone wants to know what's the latest with him. Is there any update on his return? Kabir right now is he training two times a day. He's 133. He's 183 pound. He's, you know, he's ready for all this clown.

Keep talking shit for the last four, five, six, whatever, how many months. And they will have a problem on the hand when he comes back. Because this is why he said, you know, I'm not going to say nothing. Everybody can say whatever about me, you know. He's underfeited for a problem. reason. He's underfeiting the UFC for a reason, but now, you know, everybody gets, you know, if you think about it before Tony Ferguson will fight Kabib. Tony Ferguson was irrelevant. He's fighting on Fox Sports 1, you know. But when he was going to fight Kabib, he was going to, you know,

to fight for a UFC title. But now, even he's fighting Kevin Lee, Kevin Lee gave him a push because he can't hit line by himself. He need somebody because he's irrelevant, be honest with it. I'm not, not being. I think it's the A side here, Stephen Lee, is not Tony Ferguson. Really? You think Kevin Lee is the bigger star? Oh, 100%. I think Kevin Lee, the guy talked to talk, walk to walk, listen, Kevin Lee didn't, you know,

almost got knocked off by a junior, you know. I remember that. Like, you know, Tony Ferguson is a good fighter, but he doesn't have a persona. He doesn't have a charisma. he doesn't have the you know the Connor charisma he doesn't have Kevin will really have a great charisma he doesn't have the Kabib charisma he doesn't have the

he doesn't have that this is why I think he's a good fighter but when it comes to Mark Krability and UFC pushing him they're not trying to get behind this dude well Sean Shelby matchmaker for the lightweights

they put out a video where he said that he offered this fight to Khabib and Khabib turned it down that's why they went to Kevin Lee is that true Did they offer this fight to Khabib? And if so, why did he turn it down? Sean, you know, Sean, in a way he's, you know, he's, this is what happened exactly.

For everybody to be clear, uh, actually, Sean reached out to me, um, about fighting Tony Ferguson, fight Kabeep in Massachusetts Square Garden. Uh,

you know, I was good with it. And I think Kabeep and then have a conversation without me and Sean. And very much Kabi, as Kadena, hey, can I make this December 2nd? Because people who doesn't know this, and this is probably for the first time people are going to know, Khabib, have a back surgeon,

a full-blown operation on his back, you know? Wow. And everybody said, Habib this, Habib this, but people doesn't know, but the guy doesn't, he doesn't have to disclose his life story, he was everybody. And I don't think a lot of athletes do, because this is their private life,

and they deserve to be private about it. He have a full blown operation in Germany. He went to Germany, you have an operation. The UFC is aware of it. And listen, the UFC have a business. They need to put on fights. And Kabib asked Dana, you know, can I fight December 2nd? And him and Dana went back and forth.

And Kabib said, okay, and Kabib called me. And he said, if I can fight December 2nd, I can't find November 4th. Anyway, I went back to them, but at the time, they was trying to make Frankie Edgar versus Max Holloway, October 7. But they couldn't. And this is now how this whole thing play out. And if Frankie Edgar would have fought Max Holloway, the main event, Kabe would have fought Tony Ferguson and Tony Ferguson in Madison Square Garden. To be fair to Sean. Yes, Kabib did say, I need more time.

But he come back and said, oh, I will. But the UFC have a problem on the hand. They need the main event. And, you know, and they use Kevin Lee versus Tony Ferguson. Okay. And I, you know, Sean is right. You know, Kabir, he wanted five December 2nd. In a way, he said he wanted five December 2nd, not November 4th.

He backed up and said, okay, I would do it. I will rush back. But on the end of the day, it was too late. to see, like I said, they have a business. They need to run. And, yeah, some make the right statement, for sure. When did Habib

have back surgery? Man, I don't remember off my hand, but I think I believe July. Okay. I compete a little bit, but I believe July was in Germany.

And when can he return? Kabib, he's trading, he's healthy. You know, we're waiting for some of this dude to win. Probably the winner we tried to make it happen for December 30th. This is the plan. Okay.

So not Connor. The winner won't fight Connor. You think they'll fight Khabib first? No, listen. Connor making a statement. His coach is making a statement. You know, for God damn sure, Connor is not fighting Tony Ferguson.

He's not fighting Khabi. This is fact. He's not fighting these guys. The statement, Connor's name. This is, he's the same. He's the same.

same tactic the UFC did for years. But he very much doing the UFC work for them. He's shaking the media. You understand? He's shaking Nate. He's making them nervous, but I don't think Nate is going to get nothing. And you're smiling, you know, I'm right. He's very much shaking Nate.

You know, you hear all this report, Conner, said, I'm going to go to Rastam Tai Kavid. And there's a reason why Dana White, pound, pound, the best promoter in any sport. Because the motherfucker, he's just, when it comes to this he's God like he promote like he he's the Mike Tyson

you know and when you say that he made Connor start go up oh wow he want to go to Rastown fight this guy he used to fight bear you know he fought in lions and stuff but at the end of the day Connor is very very smart

business and you have a good team behind him and the UFC is very smart why the hell this guy brings you millions and millions of dollars we'll have him go fight someone like Kabib is going to take his ass down for five rounds and beat his ass and you know he he would just every fun it's like a punch machine every time he punch him that's the money go down the

money go down like the video game and after that when Connor finished with him it's going to be no money no more money left for anybody to grab it will be a stupid decision for Connor or the U.S. serious team even thinking about five cabin and so it's make no sense if I'm the motor, I'm going to keep Connor way the fuck away from Kabib, not even close to him. I wouldn't even mention his thing. All right. But you already see in the excuses, oh, he can make way, blah, blah, blah. Listen to me.

I'm going to predict this on me so. Okay. I will see Connor fighting Justin Gasey before fighting Ferguson or any of this or Kabin. And there's a reason behind that. Why? He will fight Justin Gase before that. What's the reason? Well, because Justin Gage is going to stand up with him.

He's not going to try to take him down. He's not going to take him to his weakness. Because, you know, Connor, the Jidot is, he's amateur. The Jitu's amateur, he's a great striker, but he's a white belt on the ground. You know, you know, he's, he has no, he has no Jiu Jitsu. You know, maybe he has some, but not compare to Khabib or Ferguson's his guy. He's a world champion. He's a world champion, he's a world champion by now.

people out, not by 10 million people. Every time he's him went to the ground, he tapped to somebody. And it's okay because he's a great striker. And he's winning with it. You've got to give him respect. But this dude, he's too smart, man. I would see art from fighting Kabib before our Connor do.

Oh, wow. Throwing all kinds of shade. Conor's way. Okay, so let me ask you about this. It's true, though. Okay, okay. Go ahead. Please. You want to say something? It's real. Hey, a lot of people probably fucking send him matches now. I'll get these tires off your show on. They go back to your country, but hey, you like it or not? This is the truth. You know what I'm saying? I don't think Kevin Lee will get a

title, I thought of Connor either. Even if he wins. I think NAPS will get okay. Even if he wins. Because Kevin Lee, I believe can take Connor down and beat his ass too. You know, I think honestly, if they're smart, honor have more chance versus Tony Ferguson and than Kabib than Cavaliy and Kabir

because Tony Ferguson he's not he's a stupid enough these trades of people like he's him he fought the junior what's his name

the guy he fought he makes him dance like chicken what's his name Tony Ferguson Vanada Vanada oh Lando Vanada

he fought somebody yeah yeah yeah yeah he Lando yeah my man Landau Landau he makes him dance like chicken but

He's, you know, Kevin Lee's too smart. He's not going to stand with him. Okay, so let's address the Tony Ferguson situation, because you and him have been going back and forth for quite some time on Twitter. I mean, it's just constant. You and him back and forth. What is the issue here? When did it start? And why is there so much bad blood between you and Tony Ferguson?

Bro, I'm saying something. I have no bad blood we just do. Come on. Actually, I do. He even mentioned you. He mentioned you when he was going and we're going to get to the Verduem. thing in a second, but he even brought you up in the midst of all of that.

Listen to me, I'm four years old. I have four children. You know, I have, you know, all I'm trying to do, just do my business and I take care of my guys. My guys with me, they would me, and I'm with them wrong, right, I'm going to be with them

100%. Tori Ferguson is a loser. I'm going to tell you why these guys are losing. I'm going to tell you the story behind that. When he was fighting Khabi, he was talking a lot of stuff back and forth, back and forth. I wasn't involved in any of that. Anyway, it was on Wednesday before the fight, it was doing

media stuff, and the whole bunch of Russian guys saw him and his trainer, I believe. Or maybe him, I don't remember. And they surrounded him in a circle. And they was making a joke. And me and Khabib was standing far, and they surrounded him, but they were there playing

with him. You know, they, you know. And this do was there for like three minutes or two minutes couldn't get out of the circle. They surrounded him. You know, and I was like dying. And after that, I think he's been saying a lot of stuff. And, you know, listen, he's, you know, he's good. It's good when Tony Ferguson talking stuff like that. But the guy is an idiot.

And the reason he started talking shit to me, because Kabeep very much ignored him. And he wanted to get somebody to answer back. And that's why he started talking to me. Because realistically, I'm Khabi's manager. I'm not fighting Tony Ferguson. You understand? But the guy, I have beef with everybody. You have beef with Cote Garberant.

Now, he has beef with Verdun. You understand, but let's be real. The guy walked by me. It was me and Cody Gorbred. It was after the last year of C in Vegas. Walked by me. I didn't say nothing to him. And he blew me a kiss.

And Cody's like, do. He's blown it to me. And I was like, no, it's to you. And be honest with you, where I come from? We don't do that. A man doesn't try to kiss other men. This is like, and I went off on him. And after that, he didn't say shit.

You know, but at the end of the day, like, I'm 40 years old. I'm not going to start a problem with nobody. But if somebody's going to start a problem with me, I have to say some bad because if I go home, I can't sleep. You know, and the whole thing is, just let you know. Tony Ferguson is a fan of Kabee. One fucking 100%. Last time before they fought, they saw him.

He saw Kabeep in the back and asked him, hey, champ, how's everything? How's your injury coming along? Can I have a picture? And he take a picture with him. You understand? And the reason Tony Ferguson redid his deal, because Tony Ferguson should be kissing my ass. I'll tell you why. When he was acting up, Dana and this guy just fell up with him.

They offer us, say, fuck Tony Ferguson. Let's fight Jose Algo. Now that's not, no. You remember that, right? Yeah, I do. That's what. If it was not me, Khabib would have been who weapon on Jose Algo, but we wanted to fire Ferguson because he's the number one guy or the number two guy. You know, now Ferguson, that means he owe me.

He owe me for negotiating his deal. Because if I say, Father Joseo Aldo, his ass would make him 40 on 40, fighting on five, five, pass somewhere. But we stood, we hold our ground to the UFT, and he can ask anybody about this. It was, Jose Al do was offered. Jose Albu was not lying when he say that.

Yeah. Correct. But we said we're going to give my man Ferguson. Now he turned on the media, oh, I'm here. You're not going to love. like me, you're not shit. You're not even a world champion acting like this.

You think everybody's going to be cool with you? Bro, I'm going to tell you something. The UFC can't stand him. The media can't stand him. He blocked your ass on Twitter. I know that. I know, but now he unblocked me. It's great news. He unblocked me recently. He's a witchwash. He's a fucking,

he's a baby. Honestly, bro. I don't think this guy is a very smart guy, man. I don't know. Honestly, I have no beef with him. Oh, man. if you I don't I don't because

at the end I can fight with you now one day later I'm good I don't hold grudges because if I hold grudges I must have hain every motherfucker in sports

because everybody talk shit but we can fight today tomorrow we're good I don't care about that but yeah well they're at

they're at the media lunch on Thursday and he's talking and then he gets mad of Redoom and then there's a back and forth Verdum is one of your guys and he has since

apologized for saying some homophobic slurs. Were you disappointed in Verdum in that whole incident? Let me explain to you about this. Actually, Verdum and Tony Ferguson always been cool, and I didn't know that. Okay. I always been cool, like shake his hand, stuff like that. When Verdun went there and he tried to shake his hand, he gave him like an elbow and even look in his face. It's how this thing started. But you know, and I know, area, when you want to meet your lunch, Yeah.

You get answered, you get questions by, by, by, by media. And Fabrizio's getting answered by Spanish to other media. And at the same time, Tony Ferguson was getting asked questions. And Fabricio was answered, and he was answered. And the motherfucker has the audacity to tell the ADCC champ, the world champ, the former UFC champ, put his hand in front of his face. A, you interrupt me. and in the way, honestly, I'm so proud of Burdoum not to fold his ass and beat his ass. And the reason he didn't do that, because probably he don't want to use the UFC main event.

And he respected Chris Castello. That's what he told me. But if I'm a normal day, Fabrice would have beat his ass. And the whole thing is, he tried to play it off. He acts off, oh, I'm going to ankle pick you or single leg you. And oh, you want to pick on a lightweight? I wait 155 pounds. a bitch, if you think he would

like wait and you can't hold your own why even talking shit to a guy he didn't do nothing and let me tell you about this homophobic thing you know personally I said some before and I didn't even know

listen we live here I speak very good English you understand but every I'm not making an excuse for nobody I know a lot of Spanish people and I know a lot of Brazilian people and they call me

this M word I don't know can I say the word or it will be told if I say can I say it? The M word in Spanish? Yeah, you could say it. I guess Maricone I don't want to insult anybody. Marikorn I know a lot of they call me there but in a way

and Brazilian guys if you go to Henzo Gracie Academy people say Viabo that means if you Google translate this it means the F4. I'm not going to say that. Okay. But it's really like bitch.

It's 100%. And even I I, you know, somebody who works at the U.S.C. higher up. He also, you know, but in the way, if he translated in the society you live in, at least insults

other people. One hundred percent. I don't think anybody to be discriminated again about his gender, race. And this is something I suffer from every fucking day my kids who suffer from, you know, it doesn't matter if you, your race, your gender,

your sexual choice, this is your business. You know, as far as I know, God only judge people. Nobody should be judged other people. You understand? But I can guarantee you this. Fabricio is the most unbiased, and racist,

and homophobic, and I know. He said that before on social media, like Maricone, like he He said that. But in a way, let me like bitch or something like that. Like, or, or like, it's like, it's like,

it's like, I'm telling you something. The way he said it. He said it before on D.C. is Instagram and people make me get out of it too. You understand? And he got all this clown-ass reporter. Some of them on your side, straight up, I'm not calling him clown.

This is a leg bait. You understand? Because they know. I'm being honest with you. Listen, I'm here. Yeah, but I got to defend my guys. There's nothing click. There's no click bait there.

Words are words. But I know. Hey, even fucking MMA donkey too. Everybody's gang again. I get it for me to see. When I see him, we will talk. But at the end of the day, we will talk because this is how we respect you. We talk like me and you will go out of a lot.

But at the end of the day, I respect you. I think you're the best in the game for a reason. Because you don't kiss nobody's ass and you always fucking, sometimes I feel like you want to fight me when I'm talking to you know. I will beat you. The Arabic and Jewish is coming out. But the man meant no harm. I personally, you know what?

I said some before and I apologize about it because, like I said, if you, nobody should be judged. And after that, they try to link into other stuff and this and this. Let me ask you this, Alie. This response is much more passionate than Fabricio's response. Fabricio had like a two-word thing on Twitter and then that was it. why are you so adamant on defending him

and passion, I know he's your guy, but it seems like he has used this word before and doesn't recognize that it could be offensive to other people. Why not just stop using it? To be honest with you, he feels the same way. He's actually sad.

People, you know, he's like, I have different. I have different. He's like, I know the guy. I know more than anybody. He beats you. He was a fucking jokster. That he has heart of gold.

And I listen. Yeah. I, like, you were hear from him. You guys will hear from him. Okay. You understand? But at the end of the day, too, let me stop for one second. Okay.

Tony Ferguson used the same exactly word, and nobody said shit about it. That's why all this motherfucker media, if you're going to judge one person, he said Maricon too. He called Fabricio Maricon too. Why everybody talked about, huh? In an exchange, yes. Okay.

But he still said it. Okay. He still said it. Why I don't see everybody worrying about it. Guess what? One wrong doesn't make two wrong doesn't make right. Sure, sure. You know, if he's going to try to fry Burdum, what about this motherfucker saying?

He said the same thing too, you know? And he's, guess what? He lives in America all his life. He understands it. But the whole thing is, guess what? You know, if you want to be fair, be fair, but at the end of the day, I said, the word, I agree should not be used publicly. Now I think Fabrizzi, you have a clear understanding.

Yeah. But I'm telling you something. A lot of people call me that. A lot of Brazilian call me that. But I think I think I think I think to it. But now, if somebody call me that, I personally not going to think I think to it. But I'm not going to like it. But I know what's the meaning behind it.

But at the end of the day, I want to apologize to everybody out there worldwide. I will apologize because I use this word. I'm admitted. I used this word before because nobody should be like, you know, like discriminated against. You know, if your gender, your race, your color. I think it's a horrible. What happens? Something.

Fabricio, he meant no harm with nobody. I'm telling him, man, the guy is the most unbiased, unracial, any race, any gender. And I'm not trying to make it's a truth for him. But I really mean this from bottom of my heart. What happens when if you see Tony this weekend, this week in Vegas? You're surely going to cross past. I'm brother. The guy is a joke.

Tony Ferguson is a joke. The guy, he wear a $5 sunglasses. You know what I'm saying? Some cheap ass suit. You know, he make enough money to look like decent. And he, you know, you want to see somebody? You want to know the true color? Give him some power.

Give him some juice. You know, now he said, oh, you're not going to. like me. Nobody gives a fuck about you, dude. You understand? You know, he'll have to live by example, man. Like, the guy, it's a, he's a joke, man. He's a clown.

He's undercover. He wants to be like Connor McGreg. He'd say, he doesn't, but everybody wants to be Connor, but it's all right. But the guy, he wants to be the crazy guy. He don't see his eyes. The mysterious guy. Get the fuck out of here. You're a fucking joke.

He's a fucking, he's a clown. If I see him, I'm not going to say nothing to him. but I'm a respect the UFC enough not to say something but if he says something of course I'm going to respond back then I know a whole bunch of Russian motherfuckers here too

they don't like all the shahis you talk about Kabib you know but everybody's cool man everybody's cool he's fighting for a world title he should be focusing on Calv Lee I'm rooting for him for Kevin Lee to win but Kabib is rooting for him to win

I'm rooted for Kevin Lee yeah but Kabib said I want Tony Ferguson twin so that he can fight him. Yeah, he's, bro, listen, all this motherfuckers talking shit about Kabib. You know what's so funny? Kabib and Fath even fought in November.

And Conor has mentioned Kabib's name. Kevin mentioned Kabib's name. Tony Merit's name. You know why? Because the motherfucker is relevant. You know what I'm saying? You know, Kevin Lee is a very smart kid. I respect Kabbali.

And even I have a conversation with him, he just want, he, he wants to promote himself. But I'm telling you. Connor even talking about them, but they all want to fight Kabib because they know they're not fighting Connor. You understand? They're talking about Terry Masu, this, Terry Masu, that? Yes. Go ahead. Let me ask you, Frankie Edgar, is he fighting Max Holloway in Detroit?

Well, that's the plan, but, you know, I got to see some contract about agreement and stuff, but, you know, we got guys fighting main events to end of the year. You know, we're taking over this business. You've got a ton. I mean, you've got Cody coming up. You've got Derek Brunson main event. You even have Ray Borg. Is Ray Borg going to make weight? Is he going to do it?

Is he going to actually fight on Saturday? He will make weight. He will make weight. I think it was, you know, listen, the kid, you know, he had strikes before. And when he got sick, people kind of blame him down the weight. But he will make weight. He's going to come here probably at 131 today, 132 max.

And he will make weight. And a lot of people all the time. And Kabit didn't make weight. They blame you for it. I'm the manager. I do train with my guys, but I'll end the day. If guys got sick, I got sick. You know? But

it's all right, man. It's going to be a great year. But Tony Ferguson straight up, you can see it. I feel, I feel like... I know, but the guy's honest to the guy's, yeah. I have like 50 other questions. You have so many fights. How many fighters you have in the UFC right now?

Close to 50 or 45, something like that? Unbelievable. Do you have any news you could break for us? Anything big? give us something before we go to your next our next guess is one of your... I just signed Henry SaHudo's fighting. Wow. I just signed Henry Sauduio by credit.

Congratulations. You know, I got Rayborg, Fox for the title, Frankie fighting for the title. What's going on with your old friends at World Series of Fighting? PFL.

Are they going to get a TV deal? What's going on? What could you tell us? I don't, bro. Honestly, man. You're not affiliated. You're not affiliated.

Of course I'm not. But I have faith in one man of their race. suffer. He's my brother. Allah. That's your guy. And he's my guy. Allah is my, this man is honorable, he's honest.

You know, sometimes he's going to confuse the fuck are you, but whatever I tell me, I'm going to always stick behind him and I'm going to respect him and support him. I think these guys have good intentions. You know, but at the end of the day, too,

they have almost 100 fighters. They need to fight. It's got four, five, close canceled last year. This tournament's going to happen. A lot of people, say this one they need a TV deal

don't they need a TV deal? They need a TV deal. They're not an NBC. These guys, I'm going to tell you something. These guys have a whole bunch of billionaires and buy invested money. This billionaire didn't become a billionaire

because they're stupid. I'm sure this guy's going to try to get on the internet or something. And let's see what happened. You know, at the end of the day, we need work, we need,

we need, we need these guys because if we don't have them, where's all this fucking fighter are going to go? You know, but I think this tournament is going to happen. I don't know when, but it will happen. Because if it's not going to happen, they're going to be out of business. And I know these old guys, they're very smart guys that bought the company and they have the fun.

Two questions I cannot answer. When is the storm going to happen and how long is going to last? It's going to be up to them to make it successful. Last one, last one. Rumble Johnson. Is he going to fight again? well rumble johnson we plan on him fight you have to make sense for him you know me and him been talking he's he'll come back as a heavy way oh wow we want him to come back as a heavy

way okay yeah we'll come back as a heavy way when you know and listen but he's the he have six months for us i think you know this we meet in this with the ufc this week uh you see what he want to do uh you know they know why they and a wife really love anthony john how you cannot love Anthony Johnson. He's terrifying, you know, but we'll see what it happened. All right. We've covered a lot of ground. That's some good news there.

That's some big news. I appreciate that, Ali. Stay safe out there in Las Vegas. Way to ruffle some feathers with Tony Ferguson. I want to ask a question. What's your prediction? Tony Ferguson, what's your prediction? Oh, I don't make predictions.

I don't make predictions. Are you kidding me? Come on. Why are you always do that? I'm going to get blocked if I pick against a guy is going to get all upset. I don't need that kind of trouble. If I was you now, If they save your face for your Jewish people,

black, blog the motherfucker. You block him back. You block him. No, I can't do that. Yeah, you got to have some prize. All right, man. Thank you, Ali. Appreciate it.

We'll see you out there. There he is. Ali Abdel Aziz, one of the top managers in the game, spinning some fire. Appreciate him stopping by. He represents a boatload of fighters. As you heard, we were just talking about a bunch of them, and he actually represents our next guest at this time,

who is standing by. He's been patiently waiting while his manager has been throwing all kinds of shade all over the place. One of the greats, the middleweight division. Hafeel, Sapo Natal is here. How about this? Sapo, my man. How are you?

Good, you? What a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. I appreciate it. And sorry for keeping you waiting. You know, Ali, he likes to talk a lot, that guy. I know very well.

He's causing all kinds of trouble. He's picking fights with fighters. He's amazing, man. He always have a lot of news for you, right? Yes, of course. He's a very special guy, but I appreciate you coming by. You live in New York, right? Yeah, I live here for almost,

for nine years already. Wow. In Manhattan? In Manhattan. Wow. I didn't know you actually lived in Manhattan. Yeah, yeah, man. You like it?

I teach in Manhattan. Of course. So I love it. I love the city, man. I love the atmosphere. I love everything in New York. Okay, let's not beat around the bush. You actually have an announcement to make.

Yes. What is the announcement? I'm stepping out of the cage. I'm coming here today to announce my retirement of the MMA. It was the toughest walk in today to come to your studio. because it's hard to make this announcement, but I talk a lot of my family, my friends, my friends, my coach.

And that's the time. You know, I have new focus, new things to do on my career as a coach. So that's the thing to do in the moment. So you are officially retiring from MMA. Yes. Today. It is official.

How hard is it for you to say that? It's very hard. You know, it was a long journey. I love the MMA. I love training, cut weight, but I'd have to have some surgeries before on my retina on my eye, do you know. I'm focused on that 100% of my life during this 15 years. So it's time to step back.

My mom asked this for me for a long time, you know. And that was a hard decision, but that's the thing that we have, you know. I think it was a smart one. So you were kind of encouraged, you were pushed to do this, you didn't really want to do it? some circumstances bring me that. Okay. Right? I just opened a huge school in Brazil now.

Oh, wow. Yes, I plan to open here in New York, too. So now I come from three loss. You know, the last two was really bad because I feel something in effect for my surgery on my eye. Oh, wow. You know, my eyes 100%, thank God.

But that's that's behind of my mind, you know? So it's the good thing to do now. You know, I think it's a good decision. my mom are happy with this decision. She asked me this for a long time. And I talked to my coach and everybody, like, I agree. Say, okay, if that's what you want,

and I think I'm happy. I'm going to be happy with this decision. What do you feel in your eye when you're fighting? Like when someone punches you, does it feel a little different? No, no, I don't feel nothing. Okay. Which eye is it?

The left eye. The left eye. And when did this happen? In a fight? We never know. We don't know. Over time. Yes, yes.

Okay. Over time. So I don't have nothing. The doctor said that I'm 100%. central fight. Okay. You know, but when you have a search,

Andrew, you always scare a little bit. Yeah, of course. And this affects me on my last two fights a lot because I have a search after, after the interim champion, it's our,

Eichker. Yeah, you know, and after that, I really feel a lot, you know, so it's, I think that's the time, you know, I need to focus on another thing,

move on, you know. I have another focus now. So when you fought back in July on Long Island against Eric Anders, Did you know that that was going to be your last fight when you walked out of the cage that night? Did you know that that was going to be your final fight? No. After Team Boisje, in the Madras Square Garden,

we start to talk about, you know, because I have a search like a few months before of this fight. And then we see, listen, let's fight again. Let's see how it's going to be. You know, this fight was tough. Andre is a really tough guy. But my opponent changed like for four times. So that's hard, you know.

It's changed to regular to softball. but that's not excuse me, but I really feel a lot. Who's watching for a long time? I know that I never give up on my fights. I always fight forward, you know, and this fight was different. We really scared about getting hit on my eye, you know?

So that's affecting my performance for sure. And after this fight, we have a big meeting, we talk a lot, and that's the decision for we have now. Wow. So you were surrounded by people that are part of your career who care about you and you guys kind of came together and at the end of the meeting, you decided that it was time?

Yes, yes. When was that? Like one week ago. We talked about that like the last few months. I was in Brazil. We talked to my family. Then I come back. Talk to my coach.

Talk to my manager, Ali Abdaaziz, a big friend of mine, Hansel, Dracolino. And they say, man, if that's where you feel now, we are with you. We believe in you a lot. You can make a lot of noise with this division. But if that's why you want now, we are with you. And I think that's the smart decision to do now. So you had a four-fight winning streak. And then after that three,

losses in a row. Does it bother you that you end on a loss, that you walk away on a losing streak? Does that bother you? Yeah, no, for sure. Of course, bothering me, I'd like to be different, of course. But with this thing about the eye affect my performance, I can't say, I'm going to make one more fight to say goodbye.

I don't know, that's hard for me. I don't want to be like that, don't know, don't give my, like, an easy opponent because I have no easy opponents, but I'm very happy with my career, you know, very happy with my performance. I have a lot of lot of things that I really want, you know. So I'm happy. I'm happy with this decision. You know, I have one main event in the FC against Cin Kennedy. I have a fight of the night. I have a submission. I have a knockout. So I think it was a great career, you know.

It's not because I come from three loss in a row. That's going to be making me feel bad, or feeling worse. But no, it's not about that. You know, I'm very happy with anything, everything that I have, everything that MMA gives me on this life. Are you going to continue to compete? I mean, of course, your background is jiu-jitsu. Will you try to be active in jih Tijuana? Or are you going to retire from all active competitions? No, I can't. I'm going to keep compete.

Okay. A lot of people, I talk to a few people with my coach, Dracorino, say, man, let's compete in Jiu-Gitza. The Panam, the world champion at the end of the year. I said, no, coach. I need at least this year. Let me rest a little bit. Yeah. But I want to compete.

You know, I want to keep compete. I want to keep training. I talked to like two or three training parts of mine about that. They say, man, we need you keep training for us. I will. I will keep training. Box, my Thai. I'm not going to stop because I love that.

I love training. I love cut the weight, you know. So I'm going to keep training, but I'm going to keep competing in Jiu-Jitsu. Okay. You know, I love that. I compete in Jiu-Sih Tzu for a long time. I'm world champions. So I'm going to, next year I'm going to come back to compete in the Jiu-Jitsu for sure.

You've been fighting professionally since 2005. 2005, yeah. And so now you're a free man, right? You have no fights attached you. You're not tied to any promotion. What is it like not having a fight on the horizon in your mind, on your calendar? Oh, I need to get ready for December 15th or November 4 or something like that. What's that like for you mentally?

Man, that's, I feel lighter now. Say it's true for you. I don't know. I never feel like that. Since the day, one, they decide to be a fighter. I say, I want to be a fighter. I was 20 years old. I said, mom, I want to be a fighter.

I want to be a professional. I focus everything on that. You know? Even when I was a vacation, when I have a surgeries, I have a three stories on my hands, I say, man, my focus always was my career. You know, I have a relationship. And I always my career. career. And now, like a few weeks ago, three friends of mine and my girlfriend come and say,

listen, you look light. You look like something happened. What happened? I said, well, nothing. And I think it was that, you know. I can watch the fights now and don't think, oh, I want to fight with this guy or if you're going to put me against somebody else. Like, nothing like that now. I don't need to worry about cut weight. I need to worry about with somebody. I just want to have fun now, enjoy my retirement, you know, and next year I'll go back to, to compete and start to watch the guys, but in Jiu-Jitsu, not in M.M.A. So you mentioned that you decided to become a fighter when you were 20. Why did you decide to become a fighter?

I started to train Jiu-Jitsu, and I started to watch some fights, like Mark Kerr, like the Holf, Hansel, Roy, and then I say, man, that's what I want to do in my life. You know? I was in Jiu-Jitsu for one month, and I started to watch this guy and say, man, I want to be an M.M. A.M.A. fighter. I want to be... So you're only training for one month in Jiu-Too. month and then I decide that

Wow Yeah because I trained in Capoeira before I started in Capoeira I have a 14 years old And I have a lot of fights in Capoeira Right And then some guys from Jiu Jitsu start to beat me up under Campoera

and then I started training Jiuizu and after one month I say That's what I do of my life Was fast decision So who got you into Jiu Jitsu Was it just guy You were training with some guys My brother

Okay I was in Capuera And my brother started training Jiuira My brother always respect me a lot And then after he got his yellow belt He was like one year training. He started to look me up like that, have some attitude. And say, man, this kid looked different, you know.

And then I say, I'm going to start to train him. And then I started to train Jijit. So I getting love. And I said, that's what I'm going to do with my life. And I was my debit, my first MMA fight. I was a blue belt. Okay. The beginning of my blue belt, you know?

And were you an MMA fan, even when you were just training Capoeira? Were you watching MMA? Did you know about it? Or only once you started training in M. Only when I started training Jijit. Okay, really? Yeah. Where did you grow up in Brazil, right?

In Brazil, Belarusian. Okay. And so were there any famous guys that came out of there that you were able to be in contact with or look up to? Yeah, no. I have some guys like Dracolino have an MMA team, like Marcelo O'Rapuru, Eric van der Leigh, Mamucci. Have some guys that fight already. Okay. Eric fought against Shogun, you know.

So when I watch this guy say, man, that's what I want to do on my career, you know? What did your mom say when you told her you wanted to do that? She said that I'm out of my mind because I worked with her since I was 12 to 20 years old. my mom have stores, sell clothes, shoes, and I used to work with her. I have my own store. When I was 18 and I was turned 20, I said, Mom, I don't want nothing.

I don't want nothing. I'm doing it. She said, you're crazy. You have your career here. You're doing so good. I say, yeah, but it's not about money. It's about, that's what I want to do, you know. And she said, you're crazy. You shouldn't do that. But I say, Mom, I want to doing something that's making me happy.

You know, I want to fight. I want to be a fighter. What's crazy because you imagine that like 15 years ago. Of course, yeah, yeah. But on the end of the day, she agree with me. She gave me a lot of support, my father, my girlfriend, you know. So I have a lot of support on my career. Everybody supports me, you know, all the doors that I come, they open for me.

They give me a great, great way, you know, to do my career. And early on in your career, you had a couple of times where you fought in the same night, right? Yes. That was my first fight of the first fight. In 2005, right? Dracolino had one tournament and somebody called him and said, Dr. Dr. Colinio, we did somebody 205, two fights in the tournament.

You have somebody, and Dracolino asked a few guys that he had there. And I would just start to train like a three, four months, MMA. And then he said, man, I need somebody to fight the Grand Prix, somebody up, and nobody says not. They say, I can do. You know, and Dracolino said, really?

I say, yeah, I can do. And then I have this, this was my first experience. I won this tournament, and then we... Did you have any amateur fights? No. You just went straight into it. It's fair to it. Two fights in one night.

Yes. I did that twice. Twice, yeah. Yeah, yes. You like that? Like, looking back, do you like the dual? It's good, but it's good. I think that's the ultimate M.A.

No, then I think it's not good anymore, you know? But like, the last, the second fight that I did that, I broke my hand on the first round. Oh, wow. First fight. Okay. And then I broke my hand, and then the promoter come and say, oh, we need your gloves to give you a guy, and then they're going to give you a gift to you to fight the final.

And then I call Draclion and say, Dr. My hand is broke. I can't take the gloves out. You can. So you're not going to fight. So no, I'm going to fight. I need this fight. I'm going to do.

And then I have a hard time to take the gloves out. It hard for me a lot because my hand was slowly already. And then we take the gloves out, give to promote. I say, don't say not. I want to fight. And then put my gloves again. And then I fight and won the tournament. Which hand?

Which hand did you break? The right one. Wow. So how did you do that? Because it's not like you have the adrenaline, right? Because you're in the locker room. The adrenaline comes out. Yeah.

I have to wait like a two hours Oh my gosh Did you throw the right hand at all On the fight? Bad, yeah I have one guy there He says Stopu, you have a great Jiu jit

Why do you do Jijit on your second fight My hand was broke I couldn't hold nothing because it was bad I just fight with the left one And so right now I can understand Because I saw say Saooo have a way better Jish than that You know

Because my right hand I almost did it It was nothing It was just one round of 10 minutes Oh my God 10 minutes Holy smokes In a ring or a cage ring. In a ring.

Which you prefer? I prefer the cage. You prefer the cage? Because you can use the wall. Yeah, no. Cage is way better. I really prefer the cage. And that was funny because that time,

Paulo Filio was there. Okay. It was a bigger for me. And after my fight, he comes and said, man, you fight very well. Congratulations. You look like between Minotaur and Arona because of your takedowns.

You always walk forward. Congratulations. And that was huge for me. That was the beginning of my career. I hear that from Paulo, was a big deal. It was a great night for me, you know. He recently gone into a car accident, right?

Yeah, yeah. Is he okay? Do you have contact with him? No, I don't have no contact. But the last time that I hear from him, he's okay, keep training, you know? Okay. Just have some problems, but he's okay. Okay.

Like those one-night tournaments, how much you get paid for that back then? I remember the second one. The first one was like $1,500. Okay. And the second one was $1,000. but they promised to me if everybody that won this tournament

is going to fight in Japan so that's the big deal but this never happened it never happened never happened maybe tomorrow I think the guy can come yeah yeah yeah

never happened so you got a thousand for two fights dollars for two fights wow yes that is unbelievable and I promise that you're going to fight in Japan

you're going to have a contract for you but never came any particular organization was it pride no no no they didn't say any organization

okay Did you ever, I have to remember off top of my head, did you ever fight in Japan? No. You never got a chance. No, I have a chance, but because the flight is too long, do know, and then I'll say so. I think it's better to fight in Vegas.

We have the option to fight in Japan or in Vegas. Oh, when you were in the UFC? Yes, yes. Okay. Now, I remember you were on a card called Musen. Remember that? It was headline by Marius Puginowski and Tim Sylvia. And it was a pay-per-view,

I think on a Friday night it was a disaster of a pay-per-view on it was in Massachusetts right? You remember this promotion? I think it was

the, I think so. I remember this promotion for sure. That was the fight that got you into the UFC. That was your last one. What his name? Was it Travis Luter?

Travis Luter. Yeah. Perfect. What a show? Do you remember that event? I remember, of course. It was a great night I knocked him out

in the first round. It was great. That was the one that got you in. Yes. That's the bringing you to UFC. Did you know that that was the fight like if you had a good performance then that you would get into the UFC?

Ali called me and say, Sapa, I have a big fight for you. If you beat this guy well, I'm going to put me a FC. I say, yes, I have a three month to prepare for this fight. And what was one of my, the best performance. Remember that fight? Pugianowski, the big guy, the bodybuilder. Yeah, yeah, he still fights, right? He still fights, yeah, for KSW in Poland.

No, I remember this fight. I remember this show. So when you knocked them out, you knew in your mind, this is my ticket. I do. I call my mom, my father. I said, this time, I'm going to be UFC. I say for them, but I just really believe when I have the contract.

Yeah. You know? And you ended up fighting 17 times, I believe it was in the UFC. Did you exceed your expectations? Did you not think that you would last that long? Yeah, man. I say my dreams should be a champion. But I never imagine that I'm going to have this out of these fights.

You know, that's for me was great. You know, I always look on the shared dog and I see some guys with a lot of UFC fights. I say, man, one day I'm going to have this on my share dog. And it was amazing, you know, 70 fights, I think is a lot. I always say that being in the UFC is not hard. Hard is to stay there. You know, and I have, I think it's almost a five contract with them, you know, was great. Seventy fights was amazing, you know, especially because my fights was, most of them was a decision.

Yeah. So I have a lot of fun inside of the cage, you know. So you say your initial plan was, and your initial goal was to become champion, are you disappointed? Do you leave with regrets that you never got to fight for the belt? Of course, I think that's going to be a jiu-jitsu. I always want to be our champion. I get that. In the UFC, since the day one, I say, man, I want to be the best in the world.

I want to see the, want to be the number one. And of course, that's a little bit frustrates, you know, but it's a part of your life. You can have everything, right? So for sure, I'd like to be a champion. I'd like to have the belt on my wall, on my academies, on my place. But it's part. I think I believe in God. I think God have a plane for everyone, you know,

and that's what he has for me, and I'm happy with that. The closest maybe that you got to that was that fight against Tim Kennedy, and you took that fight on short notice after Liota Machita pulled out, and I remember Tim Kennedy being so grateful and thankful towards you that you stepped up because that was a very meaningful fight for him. It was on the military base. What was that like for you? In hindsight, do you wish you had a little more time?

I mean, that kind of came and went very quickly for you, and it was a fun fight to watch. I mean, it was a very, you know, frenetic fight. In the end, he won, he got his moment. But did you regret not having enough time to prepare for Tim Kennedy that night? Yeah, of course. An opportunity like that, of course, I'd like to have more time.

I fought in Brazil, have the fight of the night. Yeah. And then I travel with my mom. We have some, like, 10 days on vacation. And when I come back to New York, then I always call Ali, say, Ali, I need to fight, stop against, fight against Tim Kennedy. He have, I think, like a 15 day or 10 days.

Yeah. And then Ali calls me and say, Ali, man, but I'd like to have one. more time to prepare. He says, Sapo, have no time. That's your time. You always looking good, brother. Let's do that. Let's see what happened. And my coach believes, he said, man, we believe on you. You can do that. You can beat him. And we did. Of course, like to have more time. Do you know, I was doing a good fight in the first round. You know, I gave him a hard time in the first round. And then he knocked me out on the end of the first round. You know, the only

points that he gave me the fight, he knocked me out. You know, I remember on the press conference, the only thing that he came to say he said guys a lot of people excise me to put to make this fight but he was winning the fight until the last second of the first round so he did his job

you know and then he left but of course like to have more time the Nautzincennes is amazing guy I thank him to give me this opportunity to fight against him too was a pleasure to replace Lioro Machida you know legend

so it was great man that's one of the thing that makes me very happy with my career to fight them in the main event. The military base was a pleasure to fight there. What was it like going in there knowing that everyone in attendance, all the military men and women wanted you to lose, right? Because they wanted their own guy to win, right?

What was that like? A lot of people say that, oh, maybe you feel depression because I never feel that. You know, say true for you, I feel very confident to fight on the enemy's base, you know? I never have a problem with that. They treat me very well. They respect me a lot there, all of them, you know?

It was amazing performance. That didn't affect me nothing. Okay. You know, it was amazing experience. Favorite moment of your career? What's the one moment that sticks out? Is there one maybe in the cage or ring, out of the cage? Is there one moment when you're 60, 70, 80 years old,

when someone talks to you about your career that will really, you know, really make you happy and fond of what you did? My fight in Belorizonte, my hometown was a great one. I have to perform for the night. I have my family there, my students was there. It was a great night. these main events I have a lot of good moments

You even put the main event Even though you didn't win Yeah I know It was great Really? I think a few people Can't have this opportunity To find the main event

You know When fight against King Kennedy Inside the military base I respect these guys a lot Because they are the true heroes You know Was an amazing experience My fight in Newark

With Hansel Gracie team Was there to support me And I have amazing victory I have a lot of moments I can't say one moment You know One moment Moment was magic

when I have the contract, the FC. I was in my mom's store, and I checked the computer, check my emails and was there in 2010. Ali said, man, we have your contract. That was amazing for me. Oh, my God. You know, we make a huge party.

So I have a lot of great moments. God give me this, this. So I don't have one, two or five moments. I have a lot of great moms that I can remember. Was there one opponent that you wish you could have fought? One guy that you always wanted to compete against? No. I always want to fight against the champion, you know?

Yeah. No. Even when it was Anderson? even of course the legend everybody went to fight against him so I always

I don't have one particular I have no problem with anyone sure you know so we have no one one person I like to fight

and so now you're an instructor at the Hentel Gracie Academy here in New York City right? Yes it's what is it on 30 30 between

7 and 8 yeah number two to four so is that because I know you were also an instructor in Brooklyn for a while

so where is your home base now as far as teaching is concerned. In Manhattan. I teach them Monday and Fridays. Maybe now I'm going to talk to to him. Maybe I can teach more. Yeah. Open my school here in New York. Is that going to be a Henzo Gracie school or a Sapo Natal? We're going to talk yet. I have an academy in Brazil. I have affiliates there, a Sapo team. Okay. But here probably going to talk to Hanso, you know, I have a partner. Probably I'm going to open with Neiman Gracie, but probably going to open

as a Hansel Grace. But I need to talk to him yet. Okay. And you want to do that in Manhattan? No, not in Manhattan, but in New York. In New York. Yeah. You don't want to compete. No, no, not in Manhattan. Manhattan. I can't. That's his territory. We respect this a lot. Legend.

Hands make a lot for me, do you know? Sure. But we are going to open in New York, but not in Manhattan. One guy who trains there a lot is George St. Pierre, right? Yes. And he's fighting for the middleweight title against Michael Bisping. Have you seen him in the gym yet? Has he been there?

Yeah, he's been there. Yeah. I was in Brazil like 10 days ago. Before of that, I saw him frequently there training, you know? He's standing up, his Jiu-Jitsu. You're training with him at all? Because I feel like he wants to train with bigger guys. You're one of the bigger guys.

Yeah, we train Jiu-Jit with him. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Man, he's one of the best guy in the world, you know. It's unbelievable. He's very talented, you know, he's going to be ready for this fight. Because I ask you, because Connor McGregor just in an interview and he said it's crazy that he's fighting Michael Bisping.

Michael Bisking is so much bigger than him, he's going to get whooped by him. Do you think that this is a mistake? No, I don't think so. Man, Jerry's a very talented guy. He always has a great game plan for the fights, you know. I think it's going to be a great fight for him and a huge victory for him. Yeah, okay. Wow.

Do you want to coach fighters? Do you want to have a fight team as well like the Henselgrates team? Or do you prefer coaching like regular people, kids and things like that? I prefer to coach the regular people. I just brought some students off my phone tournament last week.

Fugent tournament was great. I took like a six of them, five was gold medal. Wow. It was a lot of fun. But of course, if somebody needs me to coach, to teach MMA, I will be open for that.

But let's see, let's see what the things happen. for me, you know, but I'm still in the MMA community, I'm still going to train at the hands, I'm still going to make MMA training and no, I have a lot of training parties and everything that they need me, I'm going to be to be careful. One thing that always happens in combat

sports, like I just saw Kyle Noak, he announces retirement and then he announced just a couple of days ago he wants to fight again. We see a lot in fighting guys retire, and then a year or two later, they come back. Do you think you will get that itch again, or are you the kind of person, you're done, you're done,

you're not going to look back? Until yesterday I was this kind of person, I don't know, but now I really, that's my decision now. Yeah. I learned on this sport to never say never. Sure. You know, you never know what can happen tomorrow. One thing that I was worrying a lot about my eye, but my dog said, listen, you can fight forever. Don't worry about your eye.

You have no injuries. I don't have an injury on my body besides that. Okay. You know, I'm really healthy. But that's my decision now. I don't know what can happen tomorrow, but I need this time off. I need to rest. I need to.

if later in a few years, if I feel that I want to come back, maybe I can do, but that's my decision now, and I think it's going to be difficult to take me out of my retirement. Did you inform the UFC? Because now you have to tell you Sada

and then go out and no more testing, right? So they don't bother you anymore? Yeah, no. I have no problem with Uzziah because I never use nothing. Sure, sure, sure. You don't want them ringing your doorbell at 6 a.m. now, right? I never have any problem with them, you know?

But here, besides my two coats, three coaches and my family. You were the first guy that I mentioned that. Thank you very much. Pleasure. Now we're going to talk to FC. My girlfriend, of course, no. A lot of people didn't know that. A lot of people, oh, when are you going to see your fight?

Yes, I received a lot of message. Oh, man, when are you going to fight? We're going to see a fight again. I didn't even if you didn't answer. Some guys want to make interview with me to talk about my future. I didn't give the interview yet. Oh, wow. Thank you.

So now we're going to talk to FC. Ali going to talk to the people about that, you know, but that's... Was it hard keeping the secret and not telling people when they come up to Yes, it's very hard because they ask me, oh man, where are you going to fight? You can't wait to see you again. You're going to be back better. I say, yes, yes, yes. But, you know, I don't want to see nothing.

Right. Do you think, you know, we just had Frank Shamrock on the show. He's a legend of the sport and he said he doesn't really watch him and May. Do you think that you'll still be a fan, watch all the events and things like that, even though you're not competing? No doubt, of course. Okay. I watch. I love to watch, you know.

I love to watch. I love to watch, keep watching. I love this sport. I really love that, you know. Some people retire, say, I'm tired to training, I'm tired to cut weight. I'm not. I love this sport. I'm going to keep watching because I love watching.

I love training, you know, but I need to focus something else now. My academies, my family, my girlfriend, you know. So it's because of that, but I still love everything. I still going to be around, you know. Everybody that needs me, I will be there to support. By the way, Sappo is Frog, right? In Portuguese, why did they give you that nickname? I never asked you that.

When I started in Capoeira, I have 14 years old. And then my master say, what's your nickname? I said, I don't have. And then he has a book. And then he opened a book, have a lot of animals, and then open their own dog. And they said, that's your nickname. That's it.

No other story. I thought maybe you competed like a frog. I jumped, right? Yeah, yeah. People ask about that. If I jump, you know, I don't know. It's because it was just. Are you a fan of frogs?

Do you have a pet frog maybe? I have a lot. People give, you know? People give you frogs? Give you a lot of frogs. Really? Yeah. Having Brazil, my place have a lot here.

It's funny. That's hilarious. Wow, people actually come to you and give you a pet frog. That's amazing. How many do you think you've been given throughout your career? I have no idea, but it's a lot. Really? Yes.

That's unbelievable. Is there a dream jiu-jitsu match for you that you would love? Do you frog? No, no, no, for you. Like now that you're going to do jiu-jitsu, right? Then you can go back to competing, grappling, things like that. Is there a matter, like, you know, when you want to compete against a certain guy on a certain stage, is there one, you know? No, no, no, nothing there.

No, I can make it like a big fight. Super fight. I can make for sure against the MMA guys, you know, but I'm open for everything now in Jiu-Jitsu. Right, right, no fighting. No fighting.

No getting punched in the face. No, no. It's enough of that. Any concerns about that, by the way? I mean, you know, we learn a lot about brain injuries and things like that. Do you have any concerns

about later on in life, about the damage? Of course. We always think about that. You know, my mom, that's what she's worrying a lot. My girlfriend, you know, especially because my last two fights.

But I make a lot of exams and no, I use nothing. You're all good. Yeah, I'm all good. Any message for the fans? You're Brazilian fans, your American fans, who have supported you, anything you want to say to them. You know, it's, man, I have a lot of people to thank.

You know, I'd like to take all my coach, you know, Dracolino, Hansu, Phil, Roman, Eric, Owe, a lot of guys that support me a lot since I'm in America, you know. Ali Abda, Aziz, that's not just my manager, but my big friend, that's one of the guys that most support me when I moved to New York, you know? My family, my girlfriend,

UFC for me give me this amazing time there A lot of people talk about UFC, about Dono White, about this and that But I love everything that they give me You know, all this stuff have gives me a great support Joyce Silva All these guys, you and the guys, they always give me a great support, great time I'm very thankful for that So a lot of people say, how you make your career?

My career was one thing When I decided to be a fighter Every door that I locked, the people open for me. You know, every support that I asked, people give me support. So it's easy to make a career like that. You know, everybody gives an amazing support. And the only guy that I have a problem in my own my fights was,

I have a problem with him in the 2018. That's his name. An opponent? Yes. Oh, when you had. Ryan Hall. Yes, Ryan Hall. Yes, of course.

The only guy in my mom always says, listen, you're so good for everyone. What's happening between you and his? He said, Mom, you know was me. was him. That's the only thing that I regret on my career. And when we have to see, make the meeting there in Las Vegas, the huge meeting in the beginning of the year, this year. And he looked to me and come to me and say, stop, I apologize. I make the mistake. I have some misunderstood about you. Everybody talks so good about you. And I say, man, thank God. I have no enemies on this sport. Do you know, we talk with each other. Everything was... What happened? I don't know

this story. What happened? Some people say some bad things about me for him. Okay. And then he came to fight with me and was very angry on the way he was. He was. push me. Really? Where was that? At a UFC fight? He pushed you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Where backstage? No, no, no. In the 18. Really? Yes. Okay. This makes a lot of noise. You know, so a lot of people say, man, Sapa was a good guy. What had to happen? I say, well, it was me, you know? And then after maybe two years now, he came to talk to me and say it was a misunderstood, you know. Some people say some light to him about me. And thank God, I have no problem with anyone.

Everybody support me a lot. Draculino, that take me since my blue belt until now, he always believed me a lot. All of my coats always give me a great support, you know. So I'm thankful for everyone. That's the message that I have to the people. All there are my fans that support me a lot. Everybody always believes me that I can fight always better, you know. So thank all my fans, all my family, my coach, my students.

It was an amazing journey, you know. it was an amazing time, but now it's time to move up and do something else. You're a class act, Sapo. I appreciate it very much. I appreciate you coming in. I congratulate you on a great career. I know it's hard to say goodbye, right? It is.

Yeah. It's been such a big part of your career for so long. But I really appreciate and you've given us some great fights, some great memories, and it has been an honor and a privilege to cover your career. And I'm happy that you're still sticking around in the sport, especially here in New York. We can use some good people covering the competing in the sport and training and helping the younger generation. Thank you.

I feel so bad about the people, what happened in Las Vegas, right? Yeah. Yesterday, I'm very thankful because I come from my country, from Brazil, we live here, and the people always treat me very well. Yeah.

I feel I'm a home here. A lot of people say, ah, you have a lot of problems with you're present now, but the people always threaten me very well. All the Americans give me a great support, a great time. Here's my second home.

A lot of people ask me, oh, when you retire, you're going to come back to Brazil, you know, I want to stay here. You know, I want to open my academy here. New York, the USA, give me a lot of things, a lot of things.

I'm very blessed with that. You know, thank God for my amazing career. Thank God for my, I have a great time here. For all the Americans, stress me very well, like I'm American, you know. So I just have to thank all of them,

and I'm open to help everyone that need them. I'm always going to be here. I'm always going to be here. around the MMA I'm going to be proud. Yeah, I wish there were more people like you in this sport. You've always been a class act with the media and with the fellow fighters. And I share your sentiments as far as Las Vegas is concerned.

I think we all kind of feel a connection to Las Vegas. And so today is a very hard day. And I know there's a lot of emotion involved, especially for your career. It's always hard to say goodbye when you've been immersed in a sport for so long. So hang in there, my man. Thank you, you have a lot to be proud of. You've had a great career. You have a lot to be proud of as far as your country.

your family, they should be very proud of you. And you've represented the sport of MMA with class and dignity. So congratulations to you. Thank you very much. Good pleasure. Thank you. Enjoy it. And good luck opening the school.

Thank you. You're in New York. And let us know. Yeah, let us know where it is. Yeah, you're going to hear a good news about that. And we'll hopefully be able to stop by if it's in the area and go check it out. Sure. Okay.

All the best to you. There he is. Thank you. Rafael, Sapo Natal, saying goodbye to MMA. We wish him the best. And congratulate him on a fantastic career. Out of advance, my friend. Thank you very much.

There he goes. One of the greats, one of the very best from the world of jiu-jitsu coming over to the UFC in the world of mixed martial arts. And I appreciate him coming on and making that announcement here today. He walks away from the sport with a record of 21, 9, and 1 overall. Had some big wins over the likes of Uriah Hall and Tom Kong Watson, Chris Komozy. Kevin Casey had that four-fight winning streak back in 2014. into 2016, had those big wins, had other big wins in the UFC against the likes of Sean Spencer, Paul Bradley, and like I said, I'll never forget that fight in Muson when he knocked out Travis

Luter in 2010, that pay-per-view in Worcester, Massachusetts, headlined by Marius Puginowski and Tim Sylvia. I remember watching that fight and seeing that amazing knockout and then shortly thereafter finding out that he had signed with the UFC, and I thought that that was a really cool moment. So congratulations to Sapo. I really appreciate him stopping by one of the great guys in this sport. Wish him all the best and congratulate him on a fantastic career as well. All right. So we'll go from one jih Tijuana who is saying goodbye to another jih Tzu legend who is just starting out her mixed martial arts career.

Let's go to the Maghka Skype and welcome in Mackenzie Dern, who I know a lot of you are very excited to hear from. Mackenzie, how are you? Hi, I'm good. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you very much for standing by and for your patience. We appreciate it very much. So we just found out that you are returning to action LFA 24 in Phoenix, Arizona in two weeks.

You're back in MMA. You took a bit of a break over the last few months. Why did you take a break from MMA since your last fight, I believe, was in March? Yeah, I was, I fought like in March. And then I wanted to fight a couple more jihitsu tournaments. Like a lot of people wanted me to like make that choice, like, to focus 100% on MMA. So I wanted to like fight the world. and like kind of say goodbye.

But then I ended up saying like a ligament on my knee. So like the world didn't go the way I wanted it to go. And then I had to have knee surgery. But now I'm back and I'm really excited to get another fight in MMA. And so you say that you kind of wanted to say goodbye. What do you mean by that saying goodbye? Like are you now that you're going back to America, are you done with Jiu-Jitsu? too?

Like, that was my idea, but since it didn't go the way I wanted it to go, you know? Okay. I don't know. I'm not ready. I don't know if I'm like able to say really goodbye yet. You know, like I just felt like Dave CC like two, one week ago, I think. So like I'm still wanting to like, you know, like you always want more, you know? So like my goal was like to win everything this year and then like, okay, go. focused on MMA, but it didn't go that way. So, like, I want to, like, keep fighting yet, you know, but we'll see. Okay, I respect that.

By the way, can I ask you to just pan up your camera just a little bit so we can see, we just see your nose and mouth and want to see your eyes. Is it possible to move the camera up just a bit? Do we see? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Is that good? Is that comfortable?

Yeah, that's much better. Okay, that's perfect. That's perfect. Okay. Do you feel like it's hard to keep going from MMA to Jiu, like going back and forth and do you feel like that contributed to some of the performances in jujitsu because you're not able to focus on one entirely? Yeah, I think, yeah, I think so.

Like, not that it's like, of course you need to, I think anything you do like in life, you know, at least why I always learn, like, you need to dedicate yourself 100%, you know? So, like, I think you can do it, you know, like I was able to do it for a little bit. But sooner or later, like, even just the body, you know, like I start to my body getting like so beat up and just like to beat training everything so often you know um with hard and like just to keep your mind sharp you know like maybe you can do it like okay if you like really good maybe you can um get good results maybe like 70 percent but you know like I don't want to just like pass by you know I wanted to be able to like submit all my fights and just like perform the best

I can you know so I think like that's what's hard is like you fight or something and you know that you could give even more, you know. So I think, like, you can do it a little bit, but, like, to really be, like, an Excel, you know, to get to the best you can be, you know, you think you need to focus 100%. That's for sure. Do you enjoy them equally now as far as training is concerned? Or do you enjoy MMA because it's a bit of a new challenge?

How would you compare the two? Oh, training for MMA sucks, man. It's so hard. It's so hard, like, to get signs in the face, you know? And just, like, for me, really, the sparring and the training is way worse. then the actual fight, you know, like the fight is the easiest part, you know, like training every day and like every day getting punch in the face, at least for me, I'm not used to that, you know, like, so that it's hard to the training for me. I definitely prefer the training for Jitsu more, you know.

But like you said, like I like the, like I like to be learning new things and like I feel like I'm getting better with him and they like that's good. So I really like that part. So why do you do it? You're so good at Jiu-Zitsu. You don't like getting punch in the face. don't blame you, I wouldn't want to get punch in the face as well. I have a very big nose too, so it would probably break after the first punch. But why would you even consider, like, why do this? Why even go into this world if you don't really love that? It's like, for me, it's a challenge, you know? Like, I think I like the challenge, you know. And I don't know, like, I'm an athlete, you know, I'm a father. And I think just, if I can, like,

With Jiu-Jitsu in M.A, you know, I think, like, that's a, like, a really good goal. I would love to do that, you know, like, be able to represent J-Jitsu in the MMA world and, like, try to make J-Jitsu more, like, famous, you know, in the world, you know. I think, like, it's a good way to, like, make J-Gi-Jitsu, like, if I can prove, like, I can be a champion coming from J-Jitsu world, you know, then I think, like, that will help to promote J-Jitsu and, you know, like, my heart's always with J-Git-Sih-S, you know. like, of course, like, I'm an athlete and I'm in this, like, MMA, of course, I'm going to take, it's important to me. I would like to, like, have a really good career in this, but if I think, like, for me, I feel like I'm representing Zidu in MMA. So, like, always I want to, like, say true to my Jitsu.

Like, if I come away too much for Jitsu, I feel like that's my strength, my biggest strength fighting the girls. So if that gets, like, a little bit my timing off or, like, like, sloppy, then, like, my best, my best aspect is going to be like not so good, you know. So I feel like that's kind of hard for me to like stop competing because I feel competing. Like my digits is about the best, the best timing, the best everything. This fight on October 13th for LFA is a flyweight fight. And this has become a point of contention when it comes to your story.

First, before I ask you about the decision to fight at flyweight, do you feel like the media and the fans, the MMA community have been too hard on you, have been unfair towards you? Do you feel like they attack you? They're like they're too negative towards you. In regards to all the weight cutting and, you know, some of the issues that you've had as an MMA fighter. No, I mean, I totally understand, you know, like,

I understand it's like for my opponent, you know, like it has to be like respected and like I understand that it's a big deal. You know, so like I understand like people have their opinion. and I just like tried to not think about it too much, like think about it, whatever one, like staying all the time, you know, like, like, I don't want people to think I'm thinking it's like, oh, no problem, you know, because I know it's a huge problem.

But for me, I'm just trying to, like, take care of me and do the best I can, you know? So when they offer me, like, $1.25, like, we accepted it. It's a fight here in Arizona, you know? So we thought, and I'm just came off like a jihutsic camp, you know, so we thought like would be good for me to do this weight. Everyone like is asking about 125, but I don't know, like, I feel like the girls we have like Lauren Murphy, she was just an ultimate fighter house and she's like way bigger than me.

And she felt like 135 and not she went down to 125. So I feel like the 125 girls are way bigger than me, you know. Okay. But 115 is like so hard, so hard for me to make, you know. So we're, I'm excited. I'm excited to see 125 and see like how I do there. see how I feel there. But it's definitely not like 100% if that's like the way cross how I want to stay at, you know.

I feel like if I can figure out how to be continuing on 115, that would be like better size-wise. But who knows? Okay, because when this news came out, I think a lot of people thought, especially with the UFC, introducing the flyweight division, that this was your new path. But you're not, you're not going to, you know, commit to it 100%. You're still open to maybe going down to 115? Yeah, definitely like still open, you know, like, like I said, you know, I feel like the girls at 125 are just like so much bigger than me, like taller and lengthier and bigger. But like I'm still like a little bit stuck in the middle, I know.

But like if I feel good at 125, I'm definitely not against to go into Disney Division. Like when I saw that they opened it was like kind of like like happy, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a little bit weird off my chest, you know, like, oh, yeah, okay. but I don't know if I can figure out how to like just keep my weight like a lot lower all the time you know I think then maybe like 115 would be good

but if not like then I think always to make the weight to 25 is good too how difficult has it been getting down to 115 I mean we've heard about some scary situations have you really had to you know put a lot of stress on your body has it really been a nightmare trying to get down there the last couple times

yeah it's it's so hard you know um i think because like like fighting just like fighting jih Tutsu and going up and down up and down like uh it's hard to keep my weight so low uh all all year around you know what mean so uh like after i have a fight we go up and then like i felt like i felt like when i go down for once a team with a lot of like dehydration and it's different than what we do in jihidoo you know we don't dehydrate you know like we like weigh in and then we like we like weigh in and then go straight to the mat, you know, and it may, like, lose, like, I had to lose, like, more than, like, 12 pounds, like, 24 hours, you know, it's, like, crazy, you know? So I feel, like, just not used to it, my body, and, um, I don't know, like, it's definitely

hard, but, uh, you know, I think with the right people and just, like, trying and getting used to it and trying to figure out, like, outside of camp, how to get it better, um, instead of just focusing on, like, the six-week camp, you know, I think that will help in the long run. Have you considered working with one of these, you know, nutritionists, having someone help you cut the weight, cook for you, live with you, things like that? Have you considered that? I haven't considered, like, to that extent, you know?

Okay. I worked with George Lockhart, you know. Oh, yeah. He's really good guy. And, like, he really knows, like, what he's talking about and everything. I think just to figure out, like, which diets and which style I, like, he's really good guy. like best for me, you know? So, definitely like looking into like

nutritionists and just figure out which which is the best for me. But I haven't like looked to that extent, you know, like living with me and cooking and stuff like that. Fair enough. Fair enough. I know some fighters do that, but I can certainly understand if, you know, it's a little bit much to go to that extent.

So you have this fight coming up and your 3 in the, in the, in your MMA career, I was going to say in the UFC, but my question is about the UFC. Is there a path now to the UFC? Is there, I mean, You know, I've talked about you have a relationship, I know, with them, and they certainly would be foolish not to want to sign you. Has it been, you know, discussed?

Okay, next fight, you're going to the UFC after five fights. What is the path? How soon do you think we'll see you in the UFC? I mean, I definitely think that we need to make, something will happen by my fifth fight, you know, for sure. Okay, okay. whether, you know, if I'll go to a fifth fight outside of the UFC, I don't know, you know. But I think definitely for sure, like, by the fifth fight, we'll know, like, if I'll be in the U.C. or not.

I think, like, what was kind of just holding back is I think, like, Cyberg got so much, like, in my opinion, like, cyber got so much pre-cyborch. She got so much attention and so much, like, for her to make the 135, you know? And it was, like, a really long time, like, for the UFC and everything to work with her to the 135. division. So like I understand like it's hard for them to like me to go fight the UFC when like I only made one 15 one time. You know what I mean? So being like able to make the 125 now. I don't know if maybe they want to see like maybe how I do if I can make a 115 again for me to fight 115 in the or maybe will will like for me to go in the UFC at 125. But I think like if if I want to go in the UFC at 115 I think for sure like the UFC like to see me make.

115, you know, one more time, you know, before they, like, would sign me at 115, you know. So I totally understand that. And I think, like, if I could have made that on my last two fights, maybe, like, the fourth fight, I could have been in the UFC already, you know? So, it's hard, you know, but, like, I totally understand, you know. Was there any talk of you going on the ultimate fighter for the 125ers? My manager, he had, like, asked me if I was interested in it, but I didn't want to, like, I didn't want to, like, I didn't want to stay. like so long inside inside a house

Yeah, I don't blame you. You know, I think I prefer like to be outside and like I knew I had like some tournaments I wanted to do and stuff like that. Yeah, I don't blame you. Who wants to live in that house six week with those girls? You have those cameras in your face.

Not that much money. It's a nightmare. I don't blame you at all. Are you eager to get to the UFC? Do you hope to expedite this process? Are you excited or you're happy taking your time? Yeah, I wanted to get in, you know, fast, you know, like, like my, I said like already before, you know, like my goals was to get in the UFC by 2017, you know, so definitely

like that didn't change. You know, I think the soon I can get in, like, more and more with these girls and, like, starting to feel like that experience of being, like, in the big events, I think the better. Of course, like, more and more girls are training and the categories are getting harder and harder and harder. So if I can get in there like sooner and like be used to it and not getting too late, I think that would be better like for my career in the long run. But at the same time, like, I think everything happens at the right time. So I'm definitely not against like taking my time getting slow or getting better slowly. Do you think that once you get to the UFC,

you won't be able to do the jiu-jitsu competitions anymore? And and is that maybe part of the delay? Yeah, I think for sure, like when I'm in the UFC, like, like, of course right now it's like serious. I'm taking this very serious and everything. But for sure, like the UFC, you know, you don't want to get hurt or, you know, something like that. Like have to pull out a fight or anything like that. So for sure, like when I'm in the UFC, I think like I won't be, I'll be like my Jigitsu fights will be like way down. You know, only unless I have like no fight planned or anything, then maybe I can do like a super fight in Jigitsu or something. like that, you know.

But I don't think like was preventing me to go like try to go to DFC but just like it's a little bit like oh I'm going to miss Jiu-Zi but just trying to make weight and and when I'm ready hopefully we can make that transition.

You see I like this McKenzie there very much because you had so much success in your jiu jitzu career and as you said 2017 didn't go your way for various reasons and you know there there are people who are doubting you whether or not you can make the way and now i feel like you've got you know you've got something to prove and you're going to prove the doubt is wrong and you know you'll go in there as a flyway we'll see how that goes do your thing get back on

track and and you stick it to all the haters stick it to all the critics this is fun you know sometimes when things are going so well you know you kind of just cruise by now you got this chip on your shoulder and and you get you get to give everyone the big f you i like it yeah I'm not so good at, like, the FUs, you know, but... Well, you don't have to give them the actual FU. I'm just going to, like, try and, like... I'm going to try my best, you know? Like, that's all I can do.

And, like, I think, like, it's definitely different. I'm not used to, like, the MMA fans, you know? It's really different, like, just to see, like, how they can switch so fast, you know? Like, one minute, they're, like, love you, and then the next minute, like, you're the worst. You don't know how to fight. You, you know what I mean? Like, you know, so, like, it's different. your jih Tijuana is not so much like that, you know, but also too, like, they do have a lot of fans that are like with you till you die, you know?

So it's good. It's like a learning process. You know, I'm new to the sport. And I'm going to like try my best. And you're training at the lab for this fight on the 13th, right? Yes, the MMA lab here now. Okay. Well, I wish you the best, McKenzie. Thank you very much for coming on the show. Looking forward to it. It's on Access TV, LFA 24, October 13th. it's McKenzie Durham against Mandy Pogue. Mandy Poke, by the way, very fit fighter, very strong fighter. I mean, they're not giving you a cupcake here. You've seen her in action, right?

I haven't seen her in action, but I do know that she's like a wrestler, I think. And I seem like that she's like fitness, like really fit, you know, really lean. So I'm like, man, you know, like I know push it's going to be a tough fight. Well, I wish you the best. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thanks for addressing everything this past year. put it all behind you, looking forward to the fight on October 13th, and I wish you the best as you continue this journey,

hopefully eventually, to get to the UFC Octagon. Thank you so much, Ariel, for having me, and thanks for the interview. It's great talking with you. Thank you very much. We'll talk to you soon. There she is. Mackenzie Dern, returning to action on October 13th, Access TV, LFA 24, two LFA fighters on the show today. for all those people that say we don't have a lot of LFA fighters. I mean, I know Andrea Lee is kind of moving on,

but she's still kind of LFA. Still technically, I think, the LFA Flyway champion. So speaking of Flyways, you got McKenzie Dern, returning to action on Friday, October 13th. That's in a little less than two weeks' time against Mandy Polk. All right, that does it for the interviews today. And as I kind of looked at my Twitter feed, side of my eye, as I was talking to,

Mackenzie Dern, I saw some more depressing news, saw that Tom Petty had passed away, and that just really bumps me out. I love Tom Petty. And he has been the soundtrack to many a UFC fighter walkout, a many combat sports walkout. Tom Petty, of course, Chris Widman's song, won't back down. That's a bummer.

What a day. All right, let's go to everyone's favorite segment. Let's go to Rick's Picks. And now it's time to open up your ears and your minds, MMA fans. It's time for Rick's Picks. Rick's Picks are lots of fun. And now it's time to open up your ears and your minds. MMA fans, it's time for Rick's Picks.

Rick's Picks. Rick's Picks are lots of fun and his hair isn't a bun because it's, you already know what it is. Rick's Picks. Ladies and gentlemen, boys, and girls, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. It's the new craze taking the world by storm. Live from the Vox Studios in beautiful New York City, it's time for Rick Spitz. There he is. Everyone's favorite sidekick, Mr. New York Rick himself.

I'm proud of you for not talking through it. Well, you know. Look, I tried to anticipate you cutting it off. And so we replayed it. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Just in case. Just in case you decided to open your yap, we pressed it one more time. For all the times that I've talked over it, I deserve having to. Yeah, well, look, I don't know if it's even a punishment. This is the best song in all of MMA. Actually, the producer, the originator of your theme song. Yes, Mike Heck.

Mike Heck told me that he's working on a shorter version. Is that true? Yeah, but I mean, it's only 60 seconds. How short could our attention spans really? think we need a shorter version. Yeah, I don't think so. If anything, let's work on the outro before the shorter version of the intro. You sent me an outro that I, that have yet to debut yet. Why? What are you waiting for? You don't like it? Look, we have a lot of, you know, we have a lot of things baked into the show already. We have the transition into the after hour. Let's just, you know,

slower roll a little bit. Okay. We'll see how it goes. But, thank you for not stepping on the No problem. The intro. It didn't feel right today. I appreciate that. By the way, Before we get into Rick's picks, can I ask because someone just literally tweeted this to me like 20 seconds ago, the Shefchenko Nunes bet? We've never really addressed this. And you, you throw out the emojis, you throw out the innuendo on Twitter, but you never actually address it. So you can't make it seem like I'm the one avoiding it. I legitimately forget. You want to talk about it or what? Also, by the way, you won. Yeah, look. So the way I like to handle bets is if somebody's not going to come up and start asking you what the, what the settlement is. And this happens a lot with bets with Ariel Hawani because we don't establish the terms ahead of time.

Okay. That's the perfect way to go, by the way. So, yes, but it also allows me to just kind of continue this. Like, I can hang this over your head forever. So forget I brought it up. No, you know, we could talk about it. I don't know. There's nothing at stake.

Remind people what happened. We made bets on what fight card was it. International Fight Week? Yeah, what was that? 211. 13. 2.13. We ended up tied.

The tiebreaker was Nunez Shevchenko, which was scrapped due to Nunez having to be forced off the card, and then delayed to when they fought later. I picked Nunes, Ariel picked Shevchenko, Nunes got it done. Therefore, I've won the bet, but what is the stakes? What is the wager? Bracking rights? you wish there'll be something

I'm gonna hold that chip I'm gonna take that chip put it in my pocket right here and one day pull it back out okay but don't worry I have not forgotten that I've won that bet

and Ariel has I have forgotten but we will continue to remind him as will I alright give me some Rick's picks what do you got what do you got first there's no other way to start this other than

to feature at least some sort of tribute to the people of Las Vegas this one here because we're in the MMA space, I think obviously appropriate to say, can we kill whatever audio is bleeding through there? To say that we're saddened by the senseless act of violence and offer heartfelt condolences to all those affected. So a powerful message from the UFC here, who has their headquarters in Las Vegas, obviously,

and so many fighters and executives and staff and everybody involved in the fight game. is there in Vegas. Our hearts go out to them. Absolutely. Now, moving on to... Oh, yes.

Other news that happened in the week since we were last year together on the MMA hour, Hugh Hefner passing away. A lot of tributes to him coming out. One, from USC FightPass, they actually had a full strike force event that was hosted

at the Playboy Mansion. I was there. available. I covered it. On USC. TV, you can get that on USC.

TV or USC FightPass and watch the full event. But what we have here on our next one, there we go. Back in 2008, Ariel covered a strike force event

at the Playboy Mansion. I was there. It seems like there was more than one. Yeah, there was two. Two. Yeah. It had some boxing as well. Were you on the,

when you covered it, did you go to the first one or the second one? So the second one, the same is the one that you can watch in full on UFC Fight Pass. Ariel walked around. and talk to people. Here's that video here.

There we go. The late great MMA rated.com. I was at the... Yes, there we go. There's something bleeding through there. Yeah. There's another clip that seems to be trying to find its way through. It's okay.

We don't have to hear my awkwardness back in 2008. But I'll tell you. There's a few great moments in this video. It was so exciting to go there. You have to go through this whole process to get on this shuttle to get the credential.

and like that's the mansion right behind us. And the great thing about it was, I thought that they would just seclude us in one little small area and you couldn't move. I just got to roam anywhere. As you could see in the clip, which I tweeted a couple of days ago, like I got to walk into the grotto.

I got to walk, you know, here you'll see some shots. Like you get to, there's just like random playmates walking around. You can just walk up to them. It was crazy. I mean, there wasn't that much media there. There's Cecil People's just chilling. I'm asking him about being there.

Now, it was a lot of fun. Would you have expected to not be able to talk to the playmates? I feel like that's kind of the appeal. I feel like that's the thing. Like they say, oh, welcome. But like when I go cover a UFC event or any kind of event, like you can't just roam around. No, sure. And there I was just able to roam around.

Like there's a shot. I'm in the grotto. And the grotto, by the way, just for the record, it was like, it was really gross. It just didn't. This, you know, the Playboy Mansion has seen better days. Especially, I mean, we're talking 2008. I can't imagine what it looks like now. or maybe it's had a revitalization, but, you know, Playboy has gone through some ups and downs over

the past decade or so. I feel like this was kind of at the beginning of that. Still, it kind of felt like it had seen some better days, but no, it was great. I'm sure it's seen some great days. Oh, yes. Some even, I mean, like the greatest of days, but I'm just saying it didn't, you know, it wasn't the brand by then. And by the way, I didn't, I didn't, did you do that? What's that at the time? I took a trip to the, I, I, I, no, that that must be your caption from the YouTube. I didn't write here

is what happened. Did I write that? It was a much longer. I mean it's 2008, so I don't wait, no, no, right there. I know, but what I'm saying is I think that is the copy from the video itself. Oh, really? Oh, interesting. Anyway, I saw it. Not exactly a wordsmith on the

Well, Playboy, I mean, I misspelled it. There you see us talking to some peacocks. Yeah, there's a lot of great stuff in here. Cameramron. I mean, all that is to. say, let's not lose sight of the fact that all this is to say, rest in peace to Hugh Hefner. I mean, a pioneer, an icon, a legend, an American institution. He was the face of, he launched.

And by the way, I mean, I don't need to go on a whole diatribe about Hugh Heffner and Playboy, but their publication was a leader as far as journalism. I know there's jokes about articles and things like that, but you go back and look at some of the interviews, the sports interviews with the likes of Joe Namath. I mean, they did some fantastic journalism, you know, 30, 40 years ago. And so, and he was really at the forefront of all of that. So, yeah, I was very sad when I heard that news. I think his son, one of his sons is taking over now. Sure.

And so it'll be interesting to see, but he was always a big supporter of MMA. So may he rest in peace. He had a great life. May we all have as much fun as Hugh Hefner did in his time. Rest in peace. Remember the time that Fresh Prince and Carlton went to the, Oh, of course. To the Playboy Mansion because Hillary was going to be,

and I think the issue came. And there was a whole thing about nude or not nude. And then they covered it. And then the dad opened it. Yeah. Yeah, it was great. What a time. I love that that is your reference for the Playboy Mansion.

Well, because at the time. A, MMA event that you went to, be the Fresh Prince. Well, at the time, I was like 12 or so, and you're not really exposed to that sort of thing. Hmm. Okay. I mean, at least me and my. sheltered Jewish Montreal home, okay?

Stop it. Okay. Speaking of some beautiful artwork, we're going to transition to Floyd Mayweather on Twitter. This was a hot topic. Posting his exclusive timeless artwork in his Beverly Hills home, him on the left, featured in the photo,

he's in the middle in the photo. On the left is a piece of art featuring him. On the right is a piece of art featuring Connor. How do you feel about 12-foot high posters or pictures of Connor McGregor? in Floyd. Okay, so there's a couple of thoughts I have on this. First of all, there's the actual, like, creative aspect. A friend of the show, Chris Rini, had a long thread on Twitter. I don't know if you have that, but just talking about, like,

the issues with this particular piece of art, my main issue right off the top, right off the bat, my first issue was, it's kind of annoying that Floyd's left bicep is in the Connor's shot. Like, could we have not just gone too clean shots? You know what I mean? Like, how, like, that's just weird, right? I have to think that that was intentional. Because this doesn't look to me, maybe I'm wrong. This doesn't look like a shot from them together.

Well, I mean, the only time that they were topless like this, both of them, was at the Wands. But do you think, was Connor, is there a photo of this, like where Connor was right behind Floyd like this? I don't think. Maybe, like, upon facing to, you know, towards the crowd, The point is, it just looks sloppy. Yeah, it does.

So that bothers me. Second of all, having a Connor piece in your house, his new mansion that he keeps talking about, does it not feel to a degree like this was some kind of a work? It does. And I'm super, super happy about it. I love this. You're happy about that he's acknowledging that? I love that he has this in his house.

It's basically laughing at all of us, right? He's saying this man and myself partnered up and made all this money. I'm going to pay tribute to that. And I love it. We ponied up willingly and he deserves every ounce of that. The romantic in me wants to believe that that wasn't the case. But Floyd did say leading up to the fight that at Harvard Business School, they'll be talking about this fight and the making of the fight.

And he's right. I don't know about that. I don't know if they're going to have courses on Mayweather McGregor. Why? This is the biggest pay-per-view ever. here's something that I said to someone last week. Anytime I see someone for the first time in a couple of months says to me,

oh, what do you think of the fight? Were you at the fight, et cetera? Like people who don't really talk to me about fighting, right? Dads of friends of my kids, et cetera. And I said this to someone that seeing this photo kind of made me start to feel even more. I spoke about the fight, the night of the fight, the Monday after the fight, the week after the fight.

I enjoyed it. I thought it exceeded expectations. It was the time of my life as far as my career. It was so much fun to cover. It was like the Super Bowl and steroids, right? I mean, it was just like Isaiah Thomas, the shows, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff.

It was a fun fight. It was entertaining. Cavalier legend, Isaiah Thomas. No, no, the other one. The NBA legend. Anyway, I don't know if Mayweather McGregor is going to age well. I think over time,

the way we felt, on that Monday, the way we felt on that Saturday, August 26, will change potentially for the worst over time. There's no doubt about it. I don't know if it's going to age well. I don't know if we sit down in five years and watch that fight if we feel the same as we did that night. Maybe it's because we had such low expectations. That's it. And then in hindsight, we look back and we're like, all right, you know, I just, I fear that this fight will not age well. That was a fight that the bar was set at the ground level. It exceeded that. And we were happy about it. And we were happy about it. it. It was not an all-time fight. That was not some great fight. I don't know if anyone said that.

I don't know if anyone called it like an instant classic. You know, that it's one of the great fights. But it was not even a great fight. It was a fine fight. But will it not age well in the sense that people will start to think as witnessed by photos like this and the reaction to photos like this. Did Floyd really let him win those rounds? It will, I think it will disappear more so. what will disappear? The aura, the allure of the fight. Mayweather Pachiao is a fight that people will be mad about for years. It's a fight that people will be upset that it didn't happen five years earlier.

We'll be upset that it happened in the way it did. Pachial being injured and it just wasn't an exciting fight. People will be actively mad about that fight. This fight, people outside of the pay-per-view, people won't discuss it. It just wasn't that great a fight. It will be a footnote of Connor McGregor, you know, making his boxing debut. It will be a footnote of the biggest pay-per-view ever.

And it won't be more than that because the fight itself was mediocre. It was fine. It was down the middle standard boxing fight. So I don't think that people will look back on it negatively, but I just don't see it being something that the fight itself becomes a topic of conversation. Yeah, I wonder. And it is because the bar was so low. And it got exceeded and we were happy about it, but that's about as far as it goes.

We'll see over time, but it got me thinking a little bit. Anyway, overall, I was all right with it. I can't, you know, I don't have that eye. I'm not a painter or any kind of artist. And so I just thought the arm bothered me. It was a little weird, you know, romance. Yeah, I don't understand that. But whatever.

I'm not going to lose sleep over it. But I like Floyd's thought process on it. Speaking of Connor McGregor, Peter, Carol was in Glasgow, I think it was. This is the tweet that you chose? Of all the tweets. This is the best one. For Connor McGregor sitting down for another intimate evening.

And the tweet I've selected from Pete C. I just hope Caroline Pierce got paid for this one, or at least what she was over. Hopefully it's a different company. Yes, it is a different company. And therefore the odds are higher, but hopefully things work out on that end. From Pizzi, McGregor's jacket just burst. and McGregor quoted as saying I'm not fat, I'm just having fun.

I love wealth belly Connor McGregor. It's probably my favorite development to happen in the Connor McGregor saga and I'm tracking it and looks like PT is giving me all I need on that front. Okay. Look, wealth belly Connor McGregor is

his wealth belly is Floyd Mayweather's picture of him and Connor in the house. It's showcasing the decadence, the luxurious. and I'm all for it. Can we talk a bit about those comments? Yes. The more important comments or are there other tweets?

No, let's let's that was the only. This was the only one worth feature. Okay, well, he said a lot in the hour so conversation. And by the way, I thought it was interesting that they were kind of sitting on the ring. It was very reminiscent of my interview with him before the fight. It seems like they liked that vibe. I don't know if they especially ripped it off, you know, specifically from that scene. But it did seem eerily similar.

the most interesting thing that I thought he said was that his new challenge is to shut up the critics who say that he doesn't defend his belts and he feels like there's there's a mission now to legitimize the titles and I say titles because I know he sort of considers himself a featherweight although he's kind of a featherweight champion but I think he's kind of moving away from that

he was really talking about the lightweight title and I thought that he gave the UFC a gift I thought that he gave them the best piece of promotion they could possibly dream of for UFC 216. UFC 216 is headlined by an interim lightweight title fight and it's a fine fight. And in fact, as I said,

I was going to open the show today talking about just how excited I am for Kevin Lee versus Tony Ferguson. I think they've both done a fantastic job of selling the fight. I think their story is fun. I think their back and forth is fun. I think they're great promoters. I think it's great that the UFC is pushing someone. like Kevin Lee. I think he has potential star power written all over him. I like this new heel,

Tony Ferguson, who doesn't give an F, who writes every single word with a capital at the beginning and is just like crapping on people on Twitter. I think I'm happy that he unblocked me so I can now see and enjoy his Twitter feed as weird as it is. It's very entertaining to me. I'm really excited for this fight, but I wasn't quite sure what the stakes were. Were the stakes just both of them are getting paid more because they're fighting for an interim title, that's great. I'm happy to hear that. But like when you're fighting for an interim belt, I want to know that you're going to fight the champion. That was not clear. And it seemed to me like Connor and his team were trending towards wanting to fight Nate Diaz. Well, Connor shows up on Friday and says, you know what? I want to see how

this fight goes. I want to see if someone can seize the moment. I want to see if someone impresses me. I want to see if one of these guys inspires me to come back and defend my title against him. And just that possibility raises the stakes for this fight. Those two guys are not fighting for an interim title. They are fighting for the opportunity to grab the lottery ticket that is Connor McGregor. And now that he has just thrown out that possibility, now we've got to fight. Now we've got to fight with real stakes, with real important stakes, a fight that matters, a fight that's tied to the biggest star in the sport, a fight that's tied to Connor McGregor.

That's all the UFC wanted. Just him throwing that out there. And I got the impression, my big takeaway from that Friday conversation was that the UFC and Connor McGregor are in a very, very good place. Compare what Connor was saying in my conversation with him in January of this past year to what he was saying this past Friday. And the most telling comment was the comment that Ali Abdel-Aziz referenced when he said that Nate Diaz may be overpricing himself. That to me is indicating that he is in unison with the UFC rank. now. And Nate, you better not mess this up. If you're going to play a game, this time I'm not on your side. If you're going to play a game where you're going to overpriced yourself, I'm just

going to go there. I'm going to fight Kevin Lee, Tony Ferguson. I might fight Chabeeb. I might even do an MMA fight against Pauli Malinaji. But don't overprice yourself. And you know the UFC is thinking the same thing. That to me told me that this time around, it's not F the UFC, it's not McGregor promotions. It's I'm working with these guys. I'm coming back to be a good soldier, to defend my title to fight the winner of Tony Ferguson versus Kevin Lee. Now, does that actually happen? Remain to be seen. But I thought it was a very pro-UFC stance, a very pro-UFC narrative. And just him throwing that out there, in my opinion, raised the stakes and made that main event on Saturday night all that much more important. It made it feel all that much more special.

And that's what the UFC. Remember I said on the show last week, if they can attach themselves to Connor McGregor, if they can attach themselves to the world as they promote this, to the world, that this is the Connor McGregor fight, now you've got a fight, now you've got six. Now I don't know what it does on pay-per-view, and I don't know what the gate is going to look like.

I don't know what the attendance is going to look like, especially after what happened on Sunday night in Las Vegas. But him just talking about this, him just drawing out the possibility that they're going to fight him, the winner is huge, is gigantic.

Cannot overstate that. Yeah, and if you want to see more of what came from that, I don't believe there's video out yet, but you can check MMAfighting.com. Peter Carroll covered it extensively with a few articles, He also obviously mentioned DS, even though he gave the rub to Liam Ferguson. He mentioned D.S. He mentioned Justin Gaei.

He mentioned Eddie Alvarez that he's watching that fight. So it seems like he's raring to get back against the lightweight contenders. And, you know, it's funny because I was on the MMA beat on Thursday, and I had a bit of a back and forth with Jeff Wagenheim in particular. And Jeff Wagonheim was saying, you know, we want to get back to the titles. We want to get back to the titles, meaning something we want to get back to the meritocracy. I've been the one who's been talking about this the most, how the UFC straying away from this idea for a short-term gain has affected them long-term.

The stance that I was taking was, I'm not trying to play in some kind of idealistic world. We knew at the time that they wanted to fight Nate Diaz. Why? Because Nate Diaz is the biggest money fight that the UFC could put on right now. Nate Diaz versus Cona McGregor is the biggest money fight that they could put on. I don't care who you want to throw out there.

It's the biggest fight. It's the fight that can get close to $2 million. it's the biggest mainstream fight. I was trying to put myself in the UFC's shoes. You have to remember right now that the UFC is about to get to serious negotiations for a TV deal and they need to be a hot commodity.

They need to be a hot property. Right now, they're very stale. Right now, they have had the opposite of a great year. They have essentially had a 180 year from the year they had last year. Last year, they had five pay-views that did over a million buys. This year, not one.

One has come close. UFC 214, and of course, What's the trickle-down effect? John Jones is now out indefinitely. Everything else hasn't come close. This Saturday won't come close. Maybe GSP comes close. I don't suspect it does a million buys.

And so the point is they need Connor McGregor back. They need to be making big-time fights. And so I was just putting myself in their shoes. What's the biggest fight that they're going to make to try to become a hot property? When you sit down at the table with these networks, you want to be in the news. You want to be talked about. You want to be a hot commodity. Making random fights that don't really mean anything.

that aren't really like catering to the mainstreams isn't the best way to do that. So the way that they've been thinking over the past year is let's make the best fight possible for right now. Future plans be damned. And I suspect that they'll try to do that as they try to negotiate this big TV deal. So I was putting myself in their shoes. Of course I'd love to see Connor defend that title. I think it's been a big black eye on his career that he hasn't defended the title yet.

It's going to be two years almost since he won the featherweight title. It's going to be a year since he won the lightweight title. And yes, that Diaz fight is going to be waiting for him at any point, champion or no champion. I think he needs to defend the title as Josealdo did against him. I think that's a very important thing for his legacy. I think he needs to answer those questions, needs to answer those credits. What I was doing on the beat on Thursday, and I apologize if I wasn't clear, I was putting myself in the UFC shoes and saying, okay, what's the fight that they're going to make? What makes the most sense for them right now?

Because as much as I want to see Connor defend that title, as much as I want to see him answer those questions, the fight that gets them the most. money is Connor versus Nate. Now, if Connor is going to go out and try to sell Kevin Lee, Tony Ferguson, if he's going to try to make that point, okay, now things are different. Now let's see what's going on. And he's in lockstep with the UFC and he's talking about Nate Diaz overpricing himself. This is very interesting. The next best thing that he can do is get him cage side on Saturday on Saturday night in Vegas. I doubt that happens. But just attaching him to this raises those stakes. And let's see what happens. Because if the most important thing that can happen on Saturday is Kevin Lee or Tony Ferguson wins impressively and then gets on the mic.

and pulls off a promo, now we've got something. Now we've got something. Look what happened with Nate Diaz. If he doesn't pull off that promo in Orlando after the Michael Johnson fight, he doesn't get that fight. He doesn't peak his interest. Kevin Lee and Tony Ferguson will be making a monumental mistake if they don't grab that mic after a victory on Saturday

and call out Conner Gregor like he's never been called out before. The fight is there for the taking. Do they seize that opportunity or do they play too cool for school? What a mistake that would be. And so it was just, it was like fascinating. to read between the lines. I didn't watch it. I was just kind of reading the quotes and the articles.

PC did a great job of covering it, the tweets. But all that was fascinating. Also, even throwing out the possibility of fighting Polly Malinaji and M.M.A., which I know. I think I need to get Polly back on the show to talk to him about that. I think the fans would love to hear him on the show. I think we need to call him, maybe call him in the last hour and get him on to... But you remember I asked Polly about that when he was on after the fight?

And it was like a crazy question. I always thought that that was the one avenue that wasn't explored. Connor fought in boxing now he's going to try to bring someone over to his world Polly's the perfect guy and I guarantee you he would take that bait Connor also talked about Adelaide Byrd and Robert Byrd

and their connection The husband and wife Adelaide Byrd The judge who was criticized For the Canel Triple G scorecard Robert Bird was referee I actually thought there was some moments Where Robert Wirt was like with the opening instructions When he was just focused on him That was weird

But I actually thought he gave Connor a lot of leeway Throughout the fight with the I mean I agree Let him get away with a lot of punches to the back of the head. I didn't really have an issue with Robert Byrd outside of what you mentioned. In the instructions, it seemed like he was very targeted,

very speaking pointedly to Connor McGregor. Okay. Okay, sorry. Number one most requested Rick's Pick video of all time. Oh, yes, there it is. Of all time. Of all time by a country mile. From full contact contender,

the first Boston Crab in MMA. Let's take a look at this Is this good technique, Ariel? Let's break it down. Okay, but you see, here's the thing about this. Do we have the full clip, like the setup from like 30 seconds? No, just this finish. So initially when this came out, I was like, holy smokes, this is the sub of the year, this is the sub of the decade.

This is the greatest thing I've ever seen. Let's be clear, this is a Boston crab. I know a lot of you nobs like to say that this is the walls of Jericho and Jericho is the man. I love Jericho. Winnipeg guy, Canadian guy. Love Jericho. But initially, like I grew up this. This was the Boston crap.

I was blown away. But then when you watch the setup, it's like, hmm, like, what's going on here? Like, did you see those clips? I have. You're saying there's a little bit of shady business going on here. Some people were throwing out the idea that this was a potential work. Now, I'm not a conspiracy theory,

so I'm going to take this for what it is and I'm going to enjoy it. Doesn't sound like it, but okay. One person was telling me that it's really, like, all it is is like a toehold, right? I mean like or some kind of foot like he's favoring I think he's favoring the right why do you think the opponent tapped here? Do you think

because of the pressure on the back? I also can't imagine having him sit back on you like that and crank it is very comfortable. How does this happen? I would why have we seen this? I feel like you're moving toward skepticism. I don't know.

No, no, no, no. I want to enjoy this for what it is. There's too much skepticism. The first Boston. crab. It's incredible. It's an incredible thing. I can tell you right now, there is no other submission that's going to win my award when we do this in late December, early January. That is the submission of the year. You heard it here first. You can lock it up. You remember Vince Carter in the done competition? Yeah. You said like, it is over. It is over. It is done. The submission of the year was that. I just want to know, actually, our own Mark Romondi, I didn't have a chance to read it because

of everything that happened this morning, but actually has an interview with him. on our site. So I'm going to read that afterwards. But yeah, I mean, what can you say? That's a freaking Boston Crab. That is a legendary, you know, the technical aspects of it. I want to know, you know, what he was thinking, who he was, you know, channeling when he pulled the Boston Crab. Maybe it was Jericho. Maybe he's going to say, you know what, Halwani? It actually was the walls of Jericho. Let's find out. So read Eminem fighting. He said, I loved and studied all the moves. I wasn't great at remembering the names as I was trying to do them on my younger brother. I mean, that's like, That's what I did, right?

I did that on my younger sister. What? Of course. You kidding me? We used to go in her crib and I would body slam her. What? Your little sister. When I took him down, he turned to all fours quick,

but I managed to chin strap him and was going to try to prove you necktie. But he tucked his chin, so I jumped to his back. Then the crab came into my head. Then during the scramble, I was going to turn it to mount and give it up, but I seen he covered up during my striking. Danny, is this legit? So I thought,

could somebody get tapped out by this? Why not I just try? And I was shocked. Danny has some grappling experience. He's saying, yeah. He's saying, look, if you bend a guy back like this, you can submit him. What does Danny think he tapped from?

The pressure to the back, or the knee, or the ankle? Is it the spine or is it him cranking the leg? No, I don't think it's the leg. He wasn't really getting that much torque on it. Yeah, he's saying it's. folding them on. I mean,

it's gotta be. When you see him sit back, he's really, you know, bending him in a half of. Shout out to... Unbelievable. Shout out to the first Boston crab.

Of M.M.A. I mean, there's been tons of Boston. No, I mean, yeah, we've seen some great ones over the years. Why is it called

the Boston Crab? That would be fascinating. Like, where did that name come from? We'll get somebody more versed than myself to weigh in on that. Where's Dave Meltzer

when you need them? Here we've got we've got a slam KO Here it's coming here Trying to lock up an arm bar Lifted slam knockout Always want to feature these ones

That looks like a hurt Vauxhi Rigu Lang TKOed Li Hyeong-Suk In the first round At Superstar Fight Shades of Gerald Harris And Dave Branch No, definitely not.

Gerald Harris is number one pound for pound slams. Okay. Even though all due respect to Rampage with the... That was actually... Yeah, I mean, that was actually more like a Rampage slam. The Harris one was cleaner, I thought. Yeah, with Rampage, you know, the stakes and who he slammed, clearly the best slams ever.

But in terms of the clean slams, Gerald Harris, number one pound for pound. Get that guy in the U.S. Okay, and now we're going to transition over to the world of kickboxing a moytai. Since there was no UFC event, there were a ton of knockouts in the kickboxing and moitai world. First one here from Cosmo Alexander. This one was

everywhere. Foot sweep. Yeah, Dana White posted in. Foot sweep into the knee. I mean, it does not get cleaner than that technique wise. Former MMA fighter, Cosmo Alexandria. Fall for Bellator. Yes, yes, yes. This was insane. Absolutely nasty

knockouts. I mean, it's painful to watch that. we also have here a head kick from Lodden Brestovach at Glory 45 against Hesdi Gurgis It's coming here Oh

Shut the lights out Took one on the arm And Hesdy gets knocked out Hesdy gets knocked out by Mladen Sam, look of Rico Rico can't believe it Hesty's a legend no Hestey's a really good

fighter But I know him Mauden's fought for the title as well He's very good Okay The Scorpion thing, Croatian. Amage to Procop. Oh, that was something. Left head

kick. What a knockout. Also from that same event, Glory 45 over the weekend, Michael Dute with two knockouts in under 30 seconds each. Was tournament? Yeah, he won two tournament fights. Oh, wait. These are two separate knockouts. These are two separate knockouts.

So this is the first knockout, then later he clips them here. That didn't even look like it landed. Bad angle. Believe me, he rocked them. Head vibrating and all that. That one in under 15 seconds. Michael do it with a really, really impressive, probably the most impressive tournament victories for a glory fighter

with two knockouts under 30 seconds. Damn. Also spinning back elbow. Kalilov Tagir, K.O's Supernay Chor, Chanathip. Oh my God, I'm going to get so many tweets about how terribly I'm botching these names, but I'm doing my best people. Oh. Spinning back elbow.

It was a great weekend for kickboxing of moitai in terms of knockouts. Yeah, there was virtually no MMA action this weekend, which was nice. It was like Saturday night and I'm like, oh, I don't have to watch it. You got your fix in the striking arts. Yeah. Here we go also to another highlight finish. So me on. Whoa, look at the ref getting in there.

Kio's Fongpat Chor Paul Chomni. The best thing about these clips is your pronunciation of their name. I'm doing my best here. Oh, what? The Verdume front kick to the face. Holy smokes. that was incredible oh

and shout out to obviously I thought that was the knockout and then he comes with the flying front kick here it comes ooh p'boh damn shout out to Joel Asanda

and Caposa how do these two guys they watch everything they watch everything what do they do how do they have so much time to watch all this they watch everything

and they and they gift it for our pleasure and video it for our pleasure. So thank you to both of them. Here's another one from Copposa. Switch kick, K.O. Jafar Tochev at Lion Fights. Oh, that is beautiful.

I just don't understand having that much. By the way, big news, Kaposa changing his avatar. No. Yeah. You had another one for a very long time. Oh, yeah, you're right. He did change it. But how does he have so much time to watch all this fighting? Now we have another spinning back

elbow here. Oh, can't wait for... Daghistan fighting championships 36 this weekend. Listen, if it leads to this kind of action, how can you hate? Followed by Indonesia, Cage, Warriors 37. Can't wait for that one. The truth is, you just need to follow Kaposa. Yeah.

And Jolasa. Okay. We're done with some of the highlights. Oh, yeah? Incredible week, weekend in Moyta and kickboxing. Yes. Here we've got a new Q&A series. Can we bring the volume up?

Let me see if it's going to have the other fight. We can still hear this. I think it's gone. So we've got Rory McDonald's and Diego Lima talking about the turtleneck. I don't know what's wrong with a guy that we're done nowadays, man. Interviewed by our very own. By the way, you said Diego. It's Douglas. Sorry.

Whoops. I think I'm going to play it up here and there whenever. I get a chance. Roy's the best. This was great. This was shot at the Panda Dojo in Ingowood. Yeah, by our very own Esther Lynn. That's their garage.

That is their garage, the Panda Dojo. I've been there. So that was just a small snippet, the full series, the full 18 questions with Rory and Douglas over at MMAFighting.com. Douglas throwing some shade. Yeah, he said, what kind of guy would wear No, he said, well, not in this, but he said in another interview that he thought that he was going to sell him an iPad.

It's a great, it's a, look, the memes, the memes were incredible. Yeah, yeah. The memes that came from the turtlenecking were incredible. Congratulations to Jeremy Stevens. Mazel Tov. And Mrs. Stevens on getting hitched. I'm still not quite over the fact that he used the pick. I'm trying to turn the tide here.

Last week we said a year and a half, it's actually two years and a half. I thought, I kept thinking about it all day. did he really sit on this picture for two and a half years? I'm trying to turn the tide and put Stevens back in good races on the internet. I still can't do it. Yeah, I can't do it. I don't know. I love Jeremy Stevens.

The reactions, I think, the video of our faces when we found out that it was that old, man, that's some priceless footage right there. But congratulations to them in all seriousness on getting hitched. And that's it for Rick Specks. I know you touched on it at the top, but rest in peace, Tom Petty as well. Okay, okay, wait a second. Wait a second.

There's a man by the name of, of course my computer freezes at this time. Anthony Dominic, who works for TMZ, who tweeted 22 minutes ago, were told at this time, Tom Petty is still clinging to life. A report that the LIPD confirmed

the singer's death is inaccurate. The hell. What's going on? What's wrong with these people? Yeah. That's why I interrupted you. You were probably thinking for a second there, how dare I interrupt you doing that?

But yeah. That's an important. So, I mean, that's, I mean, I'm trying to click on the picture. He tweeted a picture that had some text there, but something weird going on with the internet today here. Yeah. Anthony Dominic.

Oh, there it is. People taking advantage of, well, no, no, no. I mean with like the actual speed of the internet. Oh. I'm talking about all the false stuff that's kind of from TMZ sources tell us at 1030 Monday morning a chaplain was called to Tom Petty's hospital room excuse me we're told the family has a do not resuscitate order on Tom the singer is not expected to live much longer but at this time he's still clinging to life a report

that the LAPD confirmed the singer's death is currently inaccurate so that's the update on Tom Petty well that's better news yeah but but I love Tom Petty that's one of the great knockouts, knockouts, walkouts in... It is, yeah. In MMA, right? It won't back down

when Chris Wyman walks out there before a big fight. Like when he walked out Nassau Coliseum to that song, it just captured the moment. It told the whole story.

Yeah, his back was against the wall, but he's not going to back down. Absolutely. All right, great stuff. Rick's picks. Appreciate it. Stand by, my friend. You've been collecting some questions,

hopefully. I have. From the people out there using the hashtag the MMA hour. All show long. So what we're going to do now is we're going exclusively on Twitter. Now it's time for the MMA after hour. We're going to be taking your questions, comments, all that stuff and more. There's still much to discuss. You want to talk about

UFC 216, Bellator 184, perhaps CBD, soon getting removed from the WADA ban list. What else? RDA turning down, Kamara Usman, saying Thanks, but no thanks. Valerie Littourneau, getting her Bellator debut rebooked. Michael McDonald's, Belator debut. What else?

The Fresno card, Cub Swanson, Brian Ortega, Cyborg, Holly Home. I got an update on that if you want it. If you want it, Rashad Evans, saying that he wants to continue fighting. All that and much more coming up on the MMA after hour. If you asked us questions about it, we'll find out. What kind of questions did you ask us? So go to mhmap fighting. Twitter.com.

That's mhmapiding.com right now. Time for the MMA after hour. We'll be answering your questions, taking your comments, all that stuff and more. Hashtag the MMA hour. You know the drill. Let's hit it. MMA after hour time.

It starts now. Yeah, baby. Another show in the books. Time now to let our hair down. Time now for the MMA after hour. Time to answer some questions. What do we got? Any good questions today?

Or are they ho-hum? First, I want to read a comment. Okay. After Rick's picks, I had a comment from Isaac Caldani, who said, New York, Rick is pronouncing these names like a high school substitutes. Good job, though, homie. And he's not incorrect. It harkened back to Kean Peel's infamous Jay Quellen, A-A-Ron sketch.

I don't know what you're talking about. You got to find it. Jay Quillan and A-A-A-Ron. That's your homework. Did you watch Kirby Enthusiasm yesterday? I did. Incredible. I love that.

I taped it. I haven't watched it yet. Just a really good episode and good to have Larry David back and everybody else on curb, Jeff. So they're all back. The gang is back. Leon, the greatest. I mean, Leon is just... You know what?

Leon was one of my least favorite characters in the history of that show. Leon, I was not a fan of. I always felt like it was a forced storyline. They didn't love it. I was a bigger fan of the early curb days, not so much the back. end days. That's why I'm kind of a little bit weird about this return. Like, did I want it? Leon is critical and brings the fire on this episode. All right. Oh, I can't believe this. He's still a part of it. Oh my God. Leon, J.B. Smooth for the win. Shout out, by the way,

to the great Julia Louis Dreyfus, who announced that she is battling breast cancer. All kinds of depressing news. Yeah, what a bad week it's been. Let's try and move past it. Let's take our mind off with some MMA. Okay. Okay. I don't know this. Maybe you know this. Eric J. Ballute is asking, do you have any insight if and when, if and when and where the new Connor Q&A will be air? Do we know if this is ever going to video? I'm sure at some point it's going to pop up somewhere. Although the thing with these things is that there's somewhat, you know. Supposed to be intimate for the crowd. Well, not only that. It's like timely. You know, I mean, like next week, it's not as relevant once the Kevin Lee versus Tony Ferguson fight happens, right?

I mean, the leak P.T. Carroll is sending out all the info already. Yeah, but I thought that people would, you know, record it. I mean, maybe they were very strict about that sort of thing. So I don't know if it's ever going to see the light of day. You know, if I'm being... I'll say this. I think there's something to watching a video interview. There's something to seeing the actual interaction beyond the writing.

You don't have to tell me about that, right? The writing. So even if it comes out, I think there'll be an audience for it, but who knows. Sorry, Eric, we don't have any more insight into that, but... No. But it was good to hear him speak. and what timing for UFC 216, right? Yes.

Leptin Pitman. Do you think the UFC put Lee and Ferguson as the main event solely to start a potential promotional push for the unification bout with McGregor, sorry? I do not. I have come to the conclusion that they put it in that spot for two reasons. A, they were promised that spot initially and B, there is a lot more buzz, I think, for that particular fight than there is for the DJ Borg fight. I think that's no there's no brainer no doubt about it

I think the McGregor stuff surfacing is a cherry on top and who knows maybe they've had great discussions and maybe they asked them to give it a little push who the heck knows but he did more for that fight

and did more promotion for that fight just by those comments than anyone could possibly do in the next five days and now it's good to end on that note if Kevin Lee wins on Saturday what are the chances he has a quick turnaround and defends the belt in Detroit, possibly against Habib?

Well, the crime here, I mean, I wish this fight was happening in Detroit. It would be so perfect. It would feel that much more bigger in Detroit, especially considering the fact that not only is Kevin Lee, the Motown phenom, and has deep ties to that area, Ferguson is also from the great state of Michigan. I mean, it was just perfect for that state and for that card on December 2nd. But as Ali said, they needed a fight, et cetera, et cetera. Is it possible, sure, if he's the next guy to fight Connor, then I don't think he makes that quick turnaround. As things stand right now, as far as 218 is concerned, the fight that they want to headline that card is Max Holloway versus Frankie Edgar. There was some delay because of the Holloway contract stuff. It sounds like they're training in the right direction. Frankie is down.

Also on that card, O'Reemanganu announced last week. Sohudo Pettis reported last week. Gaci Alvarez slated for that card as well. And so that card is in a pretty good spot as things stand right now. I want to see them do away with the two, three title fight cards. It just makes the next ones afterwards a little bear. I think that one title fight is enough per card personally. So I don't think that he makes a quick turnaround if he wins.

I think he waits for the counter fight if he's able to peak his interest. If he loses, maybe that's a, that's a, that's possible. It's two months, yeah. If he loses, then I think that it's a greater possibility. Question from James Moore. Was Fabricio Verduem punished enough for his comments? Oh, man. That's hard for me to say.

I mean, I don't really know what was the punishment, just them putting out a statement, him putting out a statement. I'll say that Ali's statement was a lot more passionate. I know his was via video and Redooms was via tweet, but I mean these things are, I mean, what do we expect them to do? Like, remove him from the card? That's not going to happen. Find him?

No. Like, what do, I don't really know what we expected him to do. I don't know. I mean, it's hard for me to say, I would hope by now that he stops using those words. I would hope that now that he's learned his lesson. I know it was a heated exchange. I know it was a heated moment, but, you know, he has popped up on social media and he did with Cormier. I actually think, like, I know that Verdume has, um, some, some, some critics.

And at times, it's warranted. Uh, I, I think that he has good intentions for the most part, but I think he needs to, I mean, like, you can't just say, oh, it was a heat of the moment thing when you're posting it on people's Instagram and you're saying it, you know, a bunch of other times when it's not in the heat of the moment. So, you know, the only thing that you can hope is that he understands that it is offensive, that it would bother people, that it rubs people the wrong way and that he stops using it immediately. Yeah, as long as this can be a lesson learned and that this stops, then the punishment will be fine.

What is the possibility that Dana makes Whitaker, I think the premise being that Dana can do this, makes Whitaker defend the interim belt before Bisping GSP? Do we see Whitaker getting a different fight before? I believe I said this last week with Luke Rockhold. I wouldn't be surprised. Again, all bets are off now. they need to fill slots. And I hope that when they sign this new TV deal,

that they recognize that at least right now and in any kind of era, that they just don't have the kind of roster to fill this many slots. And that creates a thin product, that creates a time to stale product. So, you know, what if they're faced with a situation

on December 30th where they desperately need a title fight? I wouldn't be shocked or on January, whatever, that pay-per-view is. Right now, by the way, for December 30th, things are going well on the cyborg home front, but not a done deal. So don't get me wrong. Not a done deal, but things are going well. So that's a possibility there you have a box check. But who the hell knows what happens or when they need a title

fight? So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. Not at all. Did the UFC get it wrong by not having Engano face Steepa? No. I don't think they did for two reasons. Stipe's not ready. still has his contract issues that haven't been sorted. And Ganu could use another test. He hasn't fought since January. He was fighting an Arlofsky who's on the decline. And you know what? I've come around on the Overeem Steepay fight or rematch, I should say, if need be.

I'm not a huge fan of a challenger fighting a champion a second time if he lost the first time. but I rewatch that fight and it was very competitive and in fact we forget over time that Steepet was in serious trouble and so it is promotable

and overreams towards the end of his career and he's going on this run now I mean the worst one that ever happened was when Bigfoot fought Kane for the second time the first time was a non-title fight

but no one wanted to see that fight for the second time and Kane just blew right by him so I don't hate it it's not ideal you know maybe Derek Lewis wins this fight and reasserts him

a lot can happen in the heavyweight division i mean anthony johnson you heard that from ali that's interesting that is interesting i mean that's a name that is promotable and that's a a new figure in the mix so a lot can happen they just need to keep him active keep them going you can't have him wait over a year to fight stepe so i i was okay with it and what a fun fight holy smokes like title picture be damned those two guys in the cage together i hope that they reinful force that damn thing. I'm glad you've come around. Yeah.

I like that. Thank you. Match up as well. And Overeem had Steepa in big trouble. I'm all for that. Speaking of Stepe, our next question, do we know what the specifics of Stepe contract hangups are? Essentially, we're talking about contract issues.

What are the issues? What are we looking at and how long is this going to take to resolve? I mean, he wasn't, I think that there's been dialogue and I think that it could be moving in the right direction? I mean, he's been open about the fact that he didn't like the fact that the guys that he fought recently in title fights, Overeem, JDS, were making more than him, especially the Overeign one, I think, really bothered him because that was in Cleveland, and he essentially sold that place out. I mean, it was special that the UFC was there for the first time, but he was the massive draw, right? And so I think he wants to be paid accordingly. And I think that a big issue for a lot of these

champions are, especially the ones who can't sell as much without a belt, they don't want that drop off. massive drop-off, and Dominic Cruz referred to it, fighting for a belt or with the belt, defending the title, and then non-title fight. When you lose, having to work your way back up, there's a big drop. And I think that his is considerable. And he wants to, you know, work his, he wants to bridge that gap. And so I think that that's a big point of contention there as well. Hopefully by, you know, early January, we can get it back out there because he's healthy. He's ready to go. And it's a shame to see him on the sidelines because he's on the verge of making history. I made a strong case. Tell me what you think about this. I made a strong case,

and this may piss off Volcano Oudemir, that DC versus Stepe Miochich is the fight to make. Because it allows the heavyweight division to form a queue. It allows the light heavyweight division to form a queue. And also you have the storyline of DC being the uncrown champion at heavyweight, never lost the fight at heavyweight, only moved down to 205 because his friend was the king, Kane Velasquez. And also he gets to go in there against Steepay. He's always kind of been the underdog size-wise, but he gets to go in there. there against Stipe and try to stop him from breaking the record of becoming the all-time winner as far as heavyweight champions are concerned most title defenses and and that's kind of

in the honor of his friend. I love that matchup. And most importantly, it distances DC a little bit from the light heavyweight title because even he admitted it's a little bit awkward right now. So he gets to go win there's a light heavyweight champion, but he doesn't have to defend the light heavyweight champion. He goes in there, maybe beats Stipey comes back as a dual champion. feel like there's a lot of positives there. I feel like that's the fight. Great storyline, but I don't know if I want a division hung up with two belts, or

somebody to hang up two divisions rather in Kormier. Maybe vacating one. But there's a lot I mean, there's a lot that needs to happen at Light Heavyweight. Why not just you know what I mean? Like Gusasin's coming back, maybe have Gusin fight O's Demir. I mean, what

else is going on at 205? You're not creating this massive Q with him going up. Same with heavyweight. Yeah, maybe D.C. could be active enough to defend both, to be honest. I mean, he's getting up there a little bit. And the one thing I don't like, I'll concede that the one aspect I don't like about this idea is that D.C. is coming off a knockout loss. And so him fighting a bigger guy like Stepe, who obviously is known for his knockouts, I think it's four in a row in the first round, is a little troublesome. But just like the idea of the fight and a little excitement there with the big boys. And,

DC getting a chance to distance himself from 205. I don't know. I really like that idea. And also like kind of doing it for his boy Kane. Kane not coming back anytime soon. It's great stuff. You can't script this stuff. Fantastic. You book it Amen. Okay. Many seem to think we already got the answer

to this question, but I'll just read it anyway. Scott Wiley many seem to think that the fight between Cyborg and home is official. What do you know? Not official. You said that it's not official but it is moving in the right direction. It's not official but it is moving in the right direction and hopefully they get it done for December 30th I mean that's a fight right

I mean that's a headliner that is a headline how many pay-per-views can that sell can that do close to a million are they big enough? I don't know if it does a million Is she too removed from the Ronda fight Holly?

Yeah I think that's the case I think Cyborg has name and continues to have a name I think that's going to be tough to get close to a million but that's a big fight does a win over Ryan Ortega give Cub Swanson

the winner of Holloway Edgar essentially is Ortega and Swanson a number one contender fight how about Llamas how do you see the featherweight division shaking out by the way here's a just before I weigh in on that here's a statement from the UFC

courtesy of Kevin Ioli regarding UFC 216 quote our focus right now is on supporting the community and those affected by Sunday evening's events. UFC 216 on Saturday, October 7th at T-Mobile Arena will proceed as scheduled

until further notice. So there you have it. There's an update from the UFC about Saturday's event in Las Vegas. What was the question? Featherweight division. Yes. We've just seen Ortega and Swanson made.

Yes. Is that a number one contender fight? Are they next in line? How about Ricardo Lamas? What does that picture look like? So there was a report that came out that Lamas was slated to fight Jose Aldo, and now there's a report that Cub Swanson is slated to fight Brian Ortega in Fresno in December. Am I the only one who wanted to see the Cub

Aldo rematch before the Aldo Lamas rematch? Like, I feel like the fights to make were Cub Aldo Ortega Lamas. Am I crazy here? Lamas fought Aldo for the UFC title. Cub Aldo was in WC before Aldo was even WC champion and it lasted eight seconds. That's the fight I want to see. I want to see what's changed since then. I feel like we just saw Aldo Lama

at UFC 169. Am I crazy? Yeah. I mean, that's assuming, no, no, no, you're right. That's assuming that Aldo Lamas is the fight though because I have no problem with Swanson and Ortega. I think that's a fine fight. But if it does end up being Aldo Lamas,

I could pass on that one. Not one I was not going to see again. Yeah, you can mix that pile up. The configuration is off. Yeah. As far as the featherweight division is concerned, let's just see Holloway Edgar and then, you know,

it's hard to then predict afterwards. I mean, those are the top guys. There's no doubt about it. But so much could happen. If Lehman beats McDonald's, is he a top five Walter White? It's a good question. What about Roy McDonald talking about

wanting three belts, wanting two belts? I feel like this is a, story that we heard. A lot of the UFC guys come over to Belator and say that they're going to win all these belts. I want to see him get that first belt and then then cement that, legitimize the title a little bit,

give it some panache. You know what I mean? If Douglas Lima beats Warren McDonald's is he a top five Walterweight? I'd say yes. Why not? No? Beating Roy McDonald? Let's see the UFC's ranking.

Who we have in there. then I would throw Ben Astrin in that. Ben Ascran isn't fighting the kind of guys that Douglas Lima is fighting. Ben Ascran beat Douglas. I know, but I would put... A, how long ago, and B, he's not beating... It doesn't matter how long ago. I'm not picking Douglas Liam over Ben Ashton. Okay, fine. I mean, yeah, but he's not beating Roy McDonald's. Robbie Lawler, Stephen Thompson, Damia, Jorge Mazvedal, Hafeel Dosangios, and then Soroni at six, Condon did at seven.

Man, Dosangios made a big jump. Yeah, that is a very big jump. Does Douglas jump into Damia, Stephen Thompson, Robbie Lawler, territory? You know what? There's a case for that. There's a case. Roy McDonald is enough of a name that that's... Oh yeah, he's enough of a name. And competed with enough of these guys at the top, including Woodley and Lawler, to make that case.

I love the fact that the UFC is having a media luncheon right now with DJ and Kevin Lee. It's such a different vibe than Ferguson. and maybe they should have gone with DJ and Ferguson. Maybe not. I'd say that's possible. Yeah, it's possible. I think there's a case of... I would say you're crazy for saying Ascran's not in there.

You're like, Asking's not fighting the lever of competition. He beat the guy we're talking about. Yeah, but when? But does it matter? Are you taking... If you pick them, would I not take them now? And by the way, much left to Ascran. I said last week on the beat that he has put up the blueprint how you should have in an

MMA career. Take the most amount of money for the least amount of damage. I mean, it's been brilliant. It's been absolutely brilliant. I would take Asking over a lot of these guys. You beat Roy McDonald. That counts for something, in my opinion. Ascran, never fighting in the UFC.

That's going to be a shame. I want to see Ascran back in Beltaire. I want to see Ascran versus Rory. I want to see Ascran versus Lima, too. Forget the UFC at this point. Maybe we change these plans. Let's look, it's happening. Yeah, but MMA retirements don't mean squat.

They mean zero. They mean less than zero. They mean nothing. Ascran seems like the kind of guy who's going to stick to it. I will agree with that. Ascran seems like the guy, look, as you said, he did it right. He made the money and didn't take the damage. So, but look, I think he could fight without taking the damage in Bellator too.

The guy is, you know, very rarely touched. Okay. Does Nick Diaz come back? Is Nate, is Nate's fame keeping him relevant? Essentially, is all the talk of Nate Diaz keeping Nick Diaz in the conversation? Is he ever coming back? I don't think so. As far as the second question is concerned, I think Nate has surpassed Nick in terms of popularity

and fame. I think Nate is a bigger star. I think if Nate fought, Nate could headline a show right now and get close to a million, I think. Close. I don't know if you could get it. I think it depends on the fight.

I said that about the Tony Ferguson fight. Like, it could get in the 800 range, if promoted correctly. I don't know if Nick at this point has that same sort of connection. Look, Nate helped elevate Connor. Connor helped elevate Nate. They were great together.

You know, they were magic together. And I suspect at some point they'll do it again for a third time. I don't know if it's next, but I suspect at some point they'll do it again for a third time. Nick doesn't have that partner at the moment. Him coming back is a big deal.

But if you just follow Nick Diaz on social media, you get the impression that, A, he's not training very much, and B, he doesn't have much of an interest in returning to M.A. He always had a love-hate relationship with the sport, with the idea of fighting another man. You know, sometimes he hated. The one rule I learned early on would Nick Diaz never ask him if he's excited for a fight.

he would go on a five-minute diatribe talking about how much he hated that question, how much he hated that word, excited. He always just had this weird relationship with the sport, so I don't suspect that he fights anytime soon again. You know, who knows, needs the money, is enticed, great opportunity. He also has this issue with Usada, that we have to see how that plays out and how, or if that hampers him.

We'd love to hear his thoughts on CBD now getting off the water. Banless. Sure, we'll hear from Nate's name. Yeah. So, A, I think that Nate has surpassed him. And B, right now, I don't foresee any return for Nick Diaz. And I wish that the welter rates would stop calling him out.

I mean, at this point, I mean, like, come on. Can't just keep calling him out. Chris Rini, aforementioned, mentioned him earlier in the show. Why do the fighters continue to refer to themselves as employees and the U.S. as bosses? It's a great question. It's a fantastic question.

The great, Leslie Smith tweeted just a couple of days ago actually it was on Instagram she posted this this poll

that was sent to the fighters by Usada Usada is considering a new system to track the whereabouts of athletes under the system you would need to follow your whereabouts

only once or twice a year and you would allow the new system to track your location through a mobile phone application. If this system was adopted How likely would you be to use the application?

Very likely, likely, likely, neutral, not likely, not at all likely. And she checks off, not at all likely. This is an app that they're asking the fighters if they would be in favor of that would track your every move. And so one of the issues that has happened to the likes of Nick Diaz is you have to check in and tell them where you are every few weeks so that they can come and do random drug testing. It's a great end result, but the fighters don't like the fact that they're being asked who tell them where they are every step of the way.

This app would follow you every step of the way, no matter where you are, no matter what you're doing. That, I mean, on top of everything, seems like an invasion of privacy. But if Vox Media, who I work for asked to do that, I would say, thanks but no thanks. And I'm exclusive to them. You know what I mean?

This idea that the UFC fighters are independent contractors continues time after time, more often than not, to be less fact and more false, more fiction. I mean, just think about it this way. If my garage has a leak, I will hire someone, a plumber, some kind of contractor, if there needs to be like, you know, wall repair, things like that, I will hire someone to come do the work, pay them, and then they leave during that time. they can take 10 other jobs during that time they could show up wearing whatever they want

during that time they don't have to tell me what they're doing on a Saturday afternoon before the job during the job after the job the UFC fighters don't have that ability they can't go work for anyone else they can't wear whatever they want they can't go out there and do whatever they want without telling their quote unquote client or whatever you want to call them I mean that's their boss they are treated as employees but they don't get the benefits of being an employee. They don't get things like 401K and unlimited dental

and health insurance and things like that for your family and all that. They don't get the benefits of unemployment and all that stuff. So yeah, I don't know why they do that. To answer your question, Chris. I don't know why they continue to, again, the day that will be the most interesting, in my opinion, will be when this new TV deal

gets done. When this new TV deal gets done, and it will get done, of course. And by the way, who knows where it will be, right? I mean, does it end up on Fox? I'll say this, and I know Josh Gross has alluded to it, and I'm hearing the same thing. Amazon is going to be a player next year. There is interest on their side in getting in the MMA. I mean, they're doing a little bit of NFL. There was news that came out, that they're going to be very aggressive, I think, in the sports world. Do they end up on an Amazon platform? Who knows? I'm just throwing that out there. I don't know if it's with the UFC. Maybe it's with a PFL who's looking for a TV home. Maybe it's a deal with another upstart promotion.

I don't know. But the point is, once they sign this deal with any outlet, multiple outlets, if they continue to get 0%, I mean, then we could put aside, like this is the time. Right now is the time. We have become more educated as a community. The fighters have become more educated. If you don't recognize the fact that you are leaving money on the table, 0% of the pie for the North American TV deal, for the United States,

state TV deal. We could put aside all this talk of associations, unions, all that stuff and more. It's just not happening. But they continue to try to adopt policies where it feels like it's forcing the fighter's hands, like something like this. Like to have an app that follows your every step and to continue to say that you're an independent contractor just doesn't like they don't mesh. Okay.

It's not the same thing. Two things. One, you addressed our next question, which was, I'll just read it out. Tunei Porto says, what approach should fighters take to get their fair share of the upcoming TV? associations and unions don't seem to be working. You're at, you know, there isn't a solution ahead, but they, they need to get a piece of that pie is what you're saying. But the question, let's, you know, pivot to that app for a second. If they were employees, are you still comfortable with that app?

It's the app that's the issue. It has nothing to do with contractor or, well, no, because the app on top of the fact that they're not employees. But if they were employees, even if they were employees, I think that it's a little bit troublesome. That's the thing. But on top, like if they are employees and they want to bring in the app, that's a conversation that needs to be had. If they aren't employees, which they aren't, and they're trying to ask about this app, that's an even bigger conversation. Like it's a question if you're an employee, let alone, you know, independent contractor, which is essentially what they are. But you're called an independent contractor is what they should be, I should say.

You're called one. But at the same time, you have to tell them where you are. You can't wear certain things. Well, that's a problem. That's not an independent contractor. You're not independent. You can't go work for anyone. You can't, you can't go fight at USC 216 and then take a glory fight in November.

No, not without permission, which would mean that you're not really a contractor. But when I hire someone to go fix my toilet, he can go work for someone else the next day. No, don't disagree with you. You're 100% right. That said, on this app thing specifically, I think it's the app that's the problem. But I also think I understand the intention of it. The reason that we're having this conversation about Nick Diaz and checking in is because that's cumbersome. What they're trying to do in a way that I don't know if this is the right solution is take that responsibility and burden away from the athletes and say, look, you don't have to check in, but we'll be able to track that.

Now, you know, that's ultimately for everybody to weigh the pros and cons of and make that decision themselves. but yes, asking somebody who's supposed to be an independent contractor to enforce that is a different

conversation. I think if we ultimately want the level of drug testing that we have, there are some sacrifices in privacy

that have to be made. There's no way to simultaneously clean the sport and keep drug testing at the level it is. There will be

some privacy issues that have to come from that. And we're seeing that now play out a lot. There's a period in which there's no random test. I mean, there's things that have to...

Here's the bigger question. Or here's the bigger topic. Here's the bigger issue. The UFC fighters, for the most part, don't have much of a say in all of this, right? Or none, really? Well, they'll throw out a survey like this. And that was, actually, Lissy Smith's point. At what point are we going to have a seat at the table, have a representative who says, all right,

UFC says, hey, I want to drug test you randomly for 12 months, regardless of the time, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, it doesn't matter. You have to tell me where you are. UFC fighter representative says, well, you know, we don't really like that. How about nine months? And how about, you know, after a fight you can do this? You know, there's going to be a back and forth. It's not going to be clean. It's easy for us to say, oh, drug test them whatever they want. These are men and women who, you know, are fighting and sometimes not for a lot and who aren't. getting the benefits of being an employee. So basically, when is the point going to come where someone is representing the fighters at the table and says, you know, Reebok deal, let's talk about the cut that we're getting. You know, let's talk about how much we'll be making. TV deal. Let's talk about how much we're getting out of this. You know, you sought a deal. Let's talk about if this is, you know, really in our best interest. Or is this more of something that benefits you from a PR standpoint, etc. You know what I mean? Yep. When is that going to happen? That to me is what everything boils down to.

When are they going to have a say in these talks? Yeah, and even if it's contractor or not contractor, that needs to happen. Somebody needs to be able to speak on the behalf. By the way, courtesy of Adam Hill, speaking of Twitter, he just tweeted that UFC President Dana White tells me the organization will donate $1 million to the families of those affected by the tragedy in Las Vegas last night. So well done, UFC, well done, Dana White. Very nice to hear that. Two quick questions before we get to our last one that are not on the screen. People's main event for UFC 216 asked by UFC 480, Chris.

What's the people's main event? I lean towards Ferguson Lee, but I know people don't like when that's the main event. Sometimes it's just a no-brainer. Otherwise, I think Derek Lewis is the people. I mean, Derek Lewis is the man who went out there and helped the people of Houston. I like that. That is a man of the people. So I'll go with Derek Lewis for...

Both of those are the wrong answer because the answer is whatever the people choose. No, that's not true. you ask me, I tell you. I had this question a lot. I'll address it. When are you going to be on the MMA beat? I'm not. I have a very packed work schedule.

It doesn't afford me to do that. But you get great people like Jeff, Chuck, Luke, Ariel, Danny Seguera, you're in good hands. You asked to be out. I'm not, listen, I just said, I have a packed work schedule. I'm not advocating for it. I cannot do it. Just for the record. I do not have the capacity on Thursdays.

to do it. But I appreciate people asking. Let's go to this last question here. Okay, perfect. Just found this on Google. What was this encounter like? What do you have to end on this? What did you guys talk about?

Well, for those that aren't watching, that is a photo of me back in 2006 with Orenthal James Simpson. I was in Dallas. I was working for a production company. I was, so here's the story.

I was in Dallas working for a production company. And I was working for a production company who was contracted by SpikeTV.com to work on a show, I kid you not, called Spike's Sexiest Bartenders. And my job was to go to these random cities and find said bartenders. I kid you not. And so I'm in Dallas and I see OJ Simpson, 2006, before his arrest in Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, of course, post trial in California, in the lobby, and I follow him upstairs. I was weirdly fascinated by that whole trial, weirdly fascinated by all things O.J. Simpson.

And so I was just kind of fascinated by the fact that he was there. We go up and there's like a sky top bar and he's there with, I think, two other guys and two women. And we end up sitting right next to him. And it occurs. to me, I learn that OJ is there. The two women are ladies of the night. And he is complaining to me that he does not want to be there and that he wants to leave. And he's just like there complaining. And it's just kind of surreal that it's OJ and like, I don't really know what to make of all of this. And at some point in all of this, I asked him for a photo. I'm not a journalist at the time. I'm just a schmuck production assistant guy going to find quote unquote sexy bar tenders. As you can kind of see on my face, there's like a bit of like, oh my God, I can't believe

I'm standing next to OJ with his massive hand on my shoulder. Oh my God, his hand is huge. His hand is just gigantic. And as you could see, he's like a little bit, you know, disheveled and kind of, you know, winding down from a, from a long day, clearly. And at some point, he says, I'm going to go to the bathroom, gets up, goes to the bathroom. I guess. and never comes back. And we're kind of left there with his crew. So that's a great story.

Yeah. I love that story about the photo. Now, the question is, what is the end result of that sexy bartender hunt? Oh, man. I mean, I don't know if it's online anymore, but we found, in fact, we found some winners, and they hosted a thing.

And I was the host, and it was kind of a big deal. And it was a lot of fun, actually. I met some cool people. In fact, when I went to work for Spike TV in 2007, and this is kind of crazy that we're talking about this because I ended up leaving Spike TV and I started my website in October of 2007. October 19th of 2007 is going to be the 10 year anniversary of starting that Jerrypark.com website, which helped start my MMA career. They had the finals and we saw Vandulae Silva at a nightclub and that was kind of crazy. and I was with some of the winners. It was just a whole bizarre other time in my life.

One day I'll tell you all about those crazy days. It was weird. Like they sent me out. Then I had to kind of pick everyone myself and find the finalist. It was just so bizarre. And then at the end of every search, one second. At the end of every search, we had these parties at a bar. It was I think sponsored by Bud Light or Coors Light.

I think it was Coors Light. and I hosted them in front of these people and it was very strange because I wasn't really used to doing that sort of thing. Met some fun people along the way. So I did that job working for this production company called K2 Pictures and then they were going to do a second one but I ended up going to work at Spike TV

and then I ended up, you know, I was at Spike TV for like three days and then I went to go work at a UFC event for Spike TV in the truck it was an event headline by Kenny Floyd versus Dean Thomas and I was in the truck and I was so bored

because we did absolutely nothing and I remember talking to someone in the production on the production team and saying like what exactly do we do here? What is the point of us being here?

And the UFC did all the production. They controlled everything and they're like, oh, we just kind of, you know, make sure that nothing's gone awry but we don't really do much. And then so when I came back to New York on that Monday,

I went into the office of the head man at Spike and told him essentially that it was time for me to go, that I didn't like the job, that it was not interesting to me, and that I had to go pursue some other dreams and aspirations. He told me he was the biggest mistake of my life. He told me that I was going to regret this forever, that I was being a professional, et cetera, et cetera. And they made me stick around for a month until they found someone to replace me because I just started a week ago. And that's when I decided to start my own website, jerrypark.com, start interviewing fighters. I used to send out around 30 to 40 MySpace messages a day to different fighters. If I got two to three back, great.

I was posting an interview every single morning at 8 a.m. All I wanted to do is post one, get the word out there, let people know how I can interview people. And that just kind of started it all. I gave myself six months from October 19th. Kurt Angle was my first interview. It just was arrested for a DUI. And up until April 1st. And if I didn't get a job by April 1st, I was going to go back to TV production.

and thankfully March 28th, three days before my deadline, on my wife's birthday, my future wife's birthday, we got engaged in the midst of all that. In December, I ended up getting an offer from MMA rated. And it's kind of crazy how all this is coming together on this show because we showed a clip from MMA rated. We showed the OJ thing as part. I mean, that's just kind of weird.

Walked on Memor Lane. Yeah. And it's, I mean, the OJ thing has nothing to do with all that, but it just kind of put me back in that place. it was very surreal and of course he was released on Saturday late Saturday

midnight in Las Vegas right in Nevada and he actually surfaced he's a strange guy what a strange guy did you see that clip of him in the car

I did yeah I mean his story from start to finish has just been did you see the 30 for 30s of course yeah those were incredible guy we play basketball

that's right Iron shout out to Aaron Cohen that's it for the questions although give a call there again yeah yeah yeah just before we go for two minutes

yes someone on Twitter says Edwin Cam I love all the stories involving area Hawani with sexy bartenders Playboy Mansion and Girl Collection you guys have no idea there's many layers here many many layers to me

we have only scratched the surface my friends before we go I reached out to Chris Wyden to get his thoughts on Tom Petty as we reported via TMZ just moments ago he has not passed according to TMZ he is on life support but I know he's a big part

I was talking about the symbolism of the walkouts and everything so I just wanted to quickly have Chris on to ask him about this and he's kind enough to join us now for just a couple of minutes we have tracked him down Chris are you there? Yo, what's up Ariel?

Hey, Chris, how are you? I'm good. Good, how are you? I'm doing okay. It's been a tough day. There's so much going on in the world, so much to be sad about. And of course, with what's happened in Las Vegas and I know you fought there many times and you have great memories from Las Vegas. And then we get the news about Tom Petty. And initially there was a report, I think, from the LA Times that he had passed. But now TMZ is saying he's on life support, but it's not looking good. And so, of course, I just thought of you and and wanted to have you on to essentially ask you why that song means so much to you and why he means so much to you and, you know, your thoughts on him.

And I reached out to you when I heard that he had passed and now we got this news that, you know, there's some erroneous report. But happy to have you on anyway just to talk about the song and, you know, why it represents you so well. Yeah, well, it's crazy because I didn't know that he's on life support now. I just heard recently that he passed away to my cousin. That's actually been. So that's good news that he has a test. Hopefully he could fight through this.

But his song, man, it was the perfect picking for me because it was before my answer to solo fight, the first one. And I felt like the world was pretty much against me. You know, I had everybody doubting me. And I was going against the grizzles of all time. A guy who was undefeated and a guy who people really didn't think could be beat, especially by a guy who was 9-0. So I thought it was just a very fitting song that Won't Back Down team.

You know, you back at the Gates of Hell, and he won't back down. And that's kind of felt, I just felt like it was the perfect thing. And then since then it's kind of been Tom Petty and Won't Back Down, it kind of became like synonymous with me. Like any time a song would come on in somebody's car, I would get a tweet, you know? Just thinking of you, I just heard Tom Petty and, you know, you know, won't back down in the car.

And I love that walkout song. And, yeah, so it's just, it's been really cool. A lot of his songs are really cool. And then if you actually, if you got to know him, I didn't never got to know him on a personal level, but just listen to some of his interviews. He's just a very quiet guy. And especially being such a rock star, you know,

he's not like all flamboyant and loud and boisterous. He's very late back almost like, you know, One of my favorite, like one-liners or quotes is walk quietly but carry a big stick. And he's definitely one of those guys. And so I respect him a lot. And he's had a tremendous career. And I'm happy that I was able to have his, you know, that song to walk out to. Were you a big Tom Petty fan growing up?

How did you come across the song? I wasn't like a huge, I wasn't like a huge fan of. much as far as music. I wasn't like a big music listener. I mean, I listened to whatever was on the radio, but I came across a song. I was trying to figure out a walk-out song, and I came across Tom Petty's song.

At the time, I was trying to learn how to play guitar. So I started kind of getting into that style of rock. And so I kind of came across that Tom Petty's song, and I just thought it was a perfect fit. I love it. I've said to you before that I think it's one of the best walkouts in the sport. I've said it on the show. It always seems to represent it. Like it's funny because you're going into the Anderson fight and it's perfect. But even in the rematch it's perfect because like people were doubting you and people didn't think that it was a legit win and that he was climbing around. And like on Long Island, I got chills. I was not in the arena for a second that night. But I made a point just to watch the walkout and then I went back to watch it on television because I think it's a better vantage point. Like you going in there on a three-fifference. losing streak and everyone thinking that you're done, I won't back down. It fits so many different phases of your career, so many different chapters. I hope you never change it. I always feel like my, I always feel like my back's against the wool, and I think it does work. It works great with my career.

I don't think I'll ever stop using it. So yeah, I think no matter what fight it was, it definitely felt good. It gave me chills every single time, and the second it stopped giving me chills is I would have been done with it, and it never stopped. So that's why I continue to use it. Even after the loss, usually a lot of people will change their walkout song after suffering a loss. But I stuck with it because it still gave me this like a really good,

feel good energy, but also kind of amp me up at the same time to just go out there and knock back down, just give my best and don't take a step backwards. After Hurricane Sandy, I mean, you've been through so much. You represent that song beautifully. So I thought of you when I saw the news and we're all hoping and praying that he can pull through this, that statement that came out doesn't seem entirely positive at this point,

but it's better than the initial news that we got. Oh, by the way, Chris, since I have you, any news? What do you got? I know the cast came off. What do you got? Any good news that we can end the day on? No good news yet. I'm still healing up.

The hand is still not where I need to be to be. So I plan on, I plan on, I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to get to check that again. It's going to be a couple, maybe another few weeks actually, so I'm able to train again. And then once I'm able to train, let's get, I'll get a fight boat. But I'm not going to book any fight until my hand feels 100%. So when I'm in training camp, there's no, I don't want, I don't want any issues. Right. So safe to say, probably taking the rest of the year off, right? not safe to say we'll see it depends on it i mean hopefully it heals up tomorrow you know and it's better

and then i'll uh i'll get cleared and get and get the training but right now it doesn't look like that's going to happen but hopefully it does i see doing things for msg blowing up all over the place i mean you're doing all kinds of great things mainstream stuff sports talk all that um yeah man it's uh life is good i don't know i'm just i don't know what's i don't know how it's happening but um I guess, you know, I'm stronted by good people. My wife just discovered Instagram stories, and she was enthralled by your Japanese fighting fish on Saturday. She loved every second of it.

Your play-by-play? Do you try to get me in trouble with animal rights activists? No. I didn't know that that was even a thing. But we were just, we were captivated. It was a slow build. You put them together, and then one attack the other, and then you went back.

I didn't even know that that was an actual thing. I didn't know that you can actually have fish like that and had to be separated. It was great. Your stories are always very entertaining. You're not supposed to put them together, but I was cleaning the water out of the tank, and I'm like, you know what?

These fish have been stuck in one little, you know, like they have a tank and a little tiny tank and it's a split in half, and they're just going to live their rest of their lives, just swimming in a circle, but no excitement and never really being able to spread their wings. And those fish, when they get, like, angry and they want to, you know, intimidate the other fish.

They'd, like, spread real wide, and their gills open up, and they look really pretty. And I guess what they're trying to do is intimidate the other fish. And I was like, let me give them some excitement, and I wasn't going to let them kill each other, but a couple bites. It wasn't going to kill anybody, and give them something to think about for the rest of their life. Yes, well, done.

Well done. I have to say it's been a depressing day, a sad day. I'm happy to end the day with you, Chris. It's great to hear your voice. Oh, thank you, man. Yeah, it's been a terrible day. And I'm happy to do, I kind of feel like I'm just starting my day right now

but I've been engulfed in all the news all day but anyway it feels nice to talk to you All right, thank you Chris appreciate the minutes here on the show appreciate the time and get well soon, keep us posted on the hand as well

and please leave the fish alone all right, they didn't do anything to you I got it, buddy All right, thank you Chris There he is Chris Wybeman Never backing down, great to hear his thoughts on Tom Petty, certainly wish Tom well. And of course, one last time, wish everyone in Las Vegas very well.

Have been sort of shielded from all the updates and news. I haven't really seen much since we were doing the show. And we'll check back in with that. And it sounds like 216 is still a go. So it sounds like I'm headed to Las Vegas. And so that should be, that should be. a little, I don't know. I'm a little uneasy, but I'm sure it's going to be great to see Las Vegas coming together and I'm looking forward to going there. As always, second home.

You get the music. That was good. Thank you. I love Las Vegas. Not a problem. I love Las Vegas. I really do. I was actually just talking to someone about going to Las Vegas. someone, you know, anytime you tell someone about the fact that you have to go to Las Vegas a lot for work, they'll have two reactions. They'll either say, oh, that's great. You get to, you know, you get to, you get to gamble, you get to party. And obviously that's not the case. The other reaction is, oh, I hate Vegas. I can't stay there for, you know, less than 24 hours. Oh, it's a killer. You know, I can't be there for two days or a weekend. It's just, it's so draining. I always say, I always love going to Las Vegas. It's always very exciting. It's full of life.

it's very familiar. The people who work there, I mean, of course, they're working in like the service industry, the hotels, people like that. They're always great. It's always a pleasure. I mean, all my experiences in Las Vegas

have always been fantastic. And staying at the Mandalay Bay, have stayed there many a time, always has been fantastic. And so I look forward to going back to Las Vegas. And I hope that everyone's spirit is doing well and we'll get better and we'll get through this.

And again, hopefully we can have that conversation more about trying to make a better. place for our children, for America, for everyone who comes in this country, a safer place, a happier place, a kinder place, a more loving place. Today is not a day that we want to experience again. I hope that we don't have to do so anytime soon again, thinking about everyone who has been affected by this. Appreciate everyone who stopped by today.

Appreciate all our guests. Thank you very much to everyone who joined us. Dominic Cruz, Alster Overeem, McKenzie Derns, Sapon-Natal-Nat-Tal, Volcanozdemier, Andrea Lee, Ali Abdel-Ziz, Mackenzie Dern. Thank you to everyone. Thank you for watching. Thank you, Frank Shyamrock.

Peace. I'm out here. Back next week, same time and place. We'll talk to you then.