MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 405

Episode Date: October 23, 2017

Ariel Helwani speaks to Gegard Mousasi (00:07:08), Michael Page (00:54:59), Jesse Taylor (01:14:43), TJ Dillashaw (01:31:59), Georges St-Pierre (01:46:31) Rose Namajunas (02:04:17), Scott Coker (02:30:24), Colby Covington (03:00:30), Darren Till (03:30:58), and NewYorkRic for Ric's Picks (03:47:11) and to answer your questions during The MMA [After] Hour (04:24:34). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The meeting will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 18665330 or visit Comex Ontario.ca. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. It's the Mixed Martial Arts Hour with... The Mixed Martial Arts Hour. It is back in your life on this Monday, October 23rd, 2017. Hello, and everyone, I'm Ariel Hawani, back inside our New York City studio.

Hope you had a lovely weekend. It was a fascinating one in the world of mixed martial arts. And let me just say apologies for my voice. somewhere along the line this weekend. I wasn't partying hard. I think a combination of my three children are sick. I took a little bit from this one, from that one, from the youngest one, and it turned into this.

I don't feel sick, but somewhere along the lines, I lost my voice. So you'll have to bear with me this week. We will fight through it, my friends. So I want to tell you about that right off the top. Do not adjust your headphones or your Apple podcast app, which I just found out this weekend is horrendous. What do they do with that thing?

They ruined it. But thank you to all who suggested overcast, and I think pocketcast, I'm starting to play around with those things. Anyway, you don't care about any of that. You care about what happened this past week in an MMA because I think that two really important things happen. On Friday, Gagard Musassi made his long-awaited, much-anticipated, Belator MMA debut. And let's be honest, it was a lot closer than we all expected. He was on this show.

He was sitting right there on Monday of last week, and he predicted a second round finish. and Alexander Schlomenko ended up being a hell of a lot tougher and those of us who've been watching him for quite some time, especially in Beltoir, knew that he was tough, no kickwalk. And he proved to be just that. In fact, a lot of people thought he actually won the fight. People like Roy McDonald's who know a lot about the sport. Then on the opposite side of things,

people like Big John McCarthy said that Gagard won. It was somewhat controversial. I don't think it was a robbery. It was close. Big overhand left in the first round that Alexander Schlamenco landed, ended up essentially closing Musasi's eye and he had to fight the ensuing two rounds with one eye

with just his left eye, I believe it was. He ends up winning via decision. So that was really important. That could have been a disaster for Bellator, especially after Heather Hardy lost in a bloody affair to Christina Williams. And so now they can set up that title fight for Musassi. On Saturday, perhaps even more notable, more exciting,

and maybe even bigger news, who would have thought this? Darren Till annihilated Donald Soroni. Darren Till went into Giddansk, Poland, and thoroughly beat down Donald Soroni. He finished him in the first round via TKO, and he said all the right things going into the fight. He may have exceeded his own expectations.

I think a lot of us thought that the undefeated Darren Till was a prospect to watch. Maybe not everyone thought that he had arrived this soon. Well, he has arrived. He has a star in the making. He is a name to remember. on the flip side, where does Donald Soroni go from here? Does he need to evolve?

Does he need to change? It was just weird observing Soroni throughout this entire fight, claimed to not know Darren Till said he didn't prepare. And that's not really notable. But little things like just his hair being longer and his demeanor, I don't know if he was as motivated. I don't know what it was, but something just felt off to me. Whatever it was, Darren Till went in there and just starched Donald Seroni.

What a performance. And then afterwards, the scene with Mike Perry, Perry jumping on the cage and them barking at each other. Just great stuff. Carolina Kolakavich winning. She's back on track. That was a fun card Saturday afternoon in Poland. So there's a lot to discuss. Of course, we are inching closer to UFC 217.

That's in less than two weeks. This weekend, the UFC is back with a show in Sao Paulo features the return of one Leonardo Machita against Derek Brunson. Also, Colby Covington against Damien Maia. there are some names to look out for on that card as well. Let me run down today's lineup. We have a stack show. There's so much to discuss, so many big names. I'm so excited about today's show. This is one of my favorites of the year. And I know I say that a lot, but I'm actually being serious. This is one of my favorite shows of the year. I love this lineup. So let's get into it. 425. It's the MMA After Hour. I urge you to send us some questions, comments using the hashtag the MMA hour.

We'll answer those exclusively on Twitter at around 425. MMA fighting. Twitter.com is where you can get that segment. And as I said, there's a lot going on. So please do hit us up. 405. It's Ricks. 345. Colby Covington is on. And if you follow Colby Covington on Twitter, you may think, wow, Colby Covington is on. He does not seem to be a fan of Arial Juanis. Well, I'm looking forward to this. He's got a big fight. He's in Brazil, just days away from the biggest opportunity of his career. He's fighting Damien Maia. He is not a shy one on Twitter. That's for sure. So I'm looking forward to talking to Colby Covington at 345, I should say.

325 will be joined by Scott Coker, the Belltor president, talk about Belator 185. This past Friday in Uncasville, the Mohegan Sun, the win for Gagar Musassi, where he goes from here, the loss by Heather Hardy. They've got Belator 186 coming up in a little less than two weeks. Got the return of Ryan Bader defending his Belator title for the first time. Also, the return of Phil Davis. going to crown their first women's flyway champion, a lot going on in Belator.

So we'll talk to Scott Coker. It's been a minute since he's been on at 325. 305, Rosnamu Eunice will stop by, preview her upcoming title fight against Ioannia on J-Cheg. So in the last few weeks, we've had Bisping, we've had Cody Garbrandt, and we've had Yowana, so it only made sense to have their opponents, and all three of them will be on today's show.

So at 305, Rose Namuon Unis will be on at 245, George St. Pierre will be on. What to mention to this guy, George St. Pierre, has calls me last night and says, hey, Ariel, I just want to confirm that we're good to go for 245. No one does that. And I said, yeah, for sure. And by the way, Georgina, I really appreciate you coming on. I know you're busy less than two weeks away. He said, hey, my friend, if you ask me, you're a big part of this fight happening. I was like, wow, this guy is unbelievable. So he'll be joining us at 245. 225. Michael Venham Page will stop by. Won his boxing debut on Friday.

Talk to him about that when he's returning to M.A. It was vintage Venom. page in England and I'm looking forward to having him back on. Jesse Taylor will come on at two of five his first interview since he was suspended for a year by Usada. So we'll talk to JT Money about that. 145 T.J. Dilsha will be on. Preview his upcoming title fight against Cody Garbrand in less than two weeks. 125. The aforementioned Darren Till will be on. I'm looking forward to that very much. Talk to one of the brightest young stars in the UFC after the win on Saturday. Dana White referred to him as the quote unquote future. But first, let us start today's show. show with a man who was in studio last week, one of the big stories of the weekend, the man who won

his Bell Tour debut on Friday in Connecticut, the one and only Gaghar Musassi is joining us right now. Gagart, how are you? I'm good, Ariel. How are you? I'm doing great, and I really appreciate you doing this, Gagard. I know you're flying out in a matter of moment, so thank you so much for squeezing us in. And most importantly, congratulations on the debut. We're a few days removed, and we'll get into all the details, but just overall, you know, complete

picture, are you happy with your debut? No, not at all. You know, but he punched me right in the eye in the first minute. So I was fighting on instinct, you know, one eye for almost three rounds. So, yeah, didn't go the way I

want it, but a win is a win, you know, to the haters, they can suck it. I have a pretty long one. They can all get in line and suck it. Well, do you feel like a lot of people were hating on your performance? Well, you know, I fought with one eye. I don't know what people want me to do.

The guy is a former champion. He has 56 wins. It's more than maybe four or five combined champions of UFC. So I wasn't fighting a bum or something. And I also hear he's saying stupid shit in Russian. You know, he should speak English. You should learn English. I don't know what he's saying, but whatever, you know.

I won't, I don't care. He was talking smack or saying something to you in Russian throughout the fight? No, no, no. Later on I hear he was saying stuff in Russian, but no one understand him. You know, he should learn English. Okay. Have you ever been in position like that in your entire career? I mean, we've talked last week how long you've been doing this for,

where you were punched in the eye and then the eye completely shut and you had to fight with one eye. Have you ever experienced that before? No, I never get damaged that much. I broke my, or, what is the? name of the Orbiter. Yeah, right away I broke it. And once he hit me, I was all shut down, and I clinched him and took him down.

I did what I had to do to win and, you know, not take any damage. I couldn't train, I couldn't take risk. So it was a complete different fight that I wanted. So it was a, he couldn't beat me with one eye. I don't know what he's talking about, about rematch and whatever the fuck. It was 2-1 and whatever they're saying, you know. It was two to one. So I don't know what he's talking about.

So Beltor said that you went to the hospital after the flight. They confirmed that you did, in fact, break your ober bone? Yeah, and I need an operation now once I go back. Oh, wow. What is the time? Yeah, he broke his finger. His hand on my eye. What the fuck?

People don't understand. He caught me. What can I say? What's the timetable there after surgery? What are they saying to you? How long will you be out for? I don't know. I could go back in the...

three, four, five, you know. Screw everyone. You know, like I told them, haters can't hate, you know. And you're okay to fly home this afternoon with a broken orbital bone? Well, the doctor said it's okay. I'm going to take a bunch of...

Okay. So that's going on in the first round, like you said, very early in the fight, the overhand left. Going into the second round, you sit on the school, Stool, were you afraid? They came to talk to you,

the doctors, they came to talk to you a couple times. Were you afraid that they were going to stop it? because they're doing like the one, the two in front, and it looked like you couldn't see out of it. No, I couldn't see, but there was two doctors. The female doctor wanted to file a cell doctor, he gave okay to continue. Stop, you know.

And what are you thinking inside? Like, is this your worst nightmare? Oh, well, yeah. He was walking in New York. I was stumbling. I couldn't even walk, and, you know, I fought three rounds. I don't know what people are talking.

In the cage. Don't do that, you know? Is there a specific kind of criticism? that you're, I mean, obviously you're a little fired up and I can understand. Well, no, even this, I don't know, this Armenian Belato fighter, you can suck it too,

you know? Uh-huh. And do you think that you won two out of the three rounds? And if so, which rounds do you think that you decide something? It was obvious. One and two was mine, third was his. Okay.

Yeah, because I was talking about it. It was unanimous, unanimous decision. So all three judges gave 29, 28. So the fans, having a different opinion, you know, What are the experts? I heard from Big John McCarthy, who agreed with that scorecard.

On the flip side, Roy McDonald said that he thought Alexander Schlomenko won all three rounds. What do you make of that? Roy McDonnell can get it to himself. Let him win him talk. He's an idiot. It looks like a mass murderer. He should shut his mouth. Was Schlemenko tougher than you expected him to be?

Obviously, he was tough. The third round, I can't put any offense. I'm injured And of course it's the third round He's going to push it He can't do anything I wasn't hurt at all He didn't hurt me

He didn't rock me He didn't do anything Tough For those of us That have never been in that position before And this may sound like a very simple And stupid question But how do you fight with one eye

I mean and not completely I don't know Instincts Instincts Instincts You don't get hurt You don't see it Yeah

Obviously you're trying to stop. You're not there to demolish the guy. Did you have to change anything in terms of your attack, your stance, the way you looked at him? I didn't understand anything. I didn't know what my corner said in the between the round. I said in the interview after the fight, you know. Everything was a blur at the interview in the cage.

So, yeah. Is that because you had a concussion? No, I don't have a concussion, but, you know, it happened so fast. Once he punched me, he, I grabbed him, took him down the first... You've watched the fight since, right? You just said that, correct? I just seen in the hospital.

100% I saw that. One time I watched the fight. Was there anything that you were really happy with? Like, okay, you know, this is something that... No, I'm not happy. This is not the way I want to win. At the end of the day, I take it's a win because I will fight for the belt.

Sure. So nothing else. Your post-fight interview was relatively short, of course, but you had mentioned that you had a lot of pressure, and we talked about this last Monday. In hindsight, was that a different kind of pressure than you felt in your career because so much was made of the signing

and jumping over from the UFC, did you feel like any of that got to you? Yeah, probably a lot to actually because there was a pressure of me going to battle. You know, this is the opportunity for the, you know, for the idiots, and that's what it's all about. You know, people sitting at wrong

so they can just, you know, so they can say stupid shit, you know. They don't have any respect. Yeah. And he doesn't, get that much shit as I get. Every time I feel like they talk about

I lost two years. I won't also both both of those guys. So every time they go back and they always discuss if I'm a good fight or a bad fighter, after four or 50 fights I think I prove I'm a good fighter. What are they talking about?

Stupid. And so you read these comments? Like you go on Twitter and actually read I was curious what people were saying but like I said, people are very quickly to kick you down. Yeah, and you're pissed off. I'm not pissed off. Who cares about these guys?

I made my money. I have a better life than all of these bombs. What did the Belator official say to you afterwards? Did you have any conversations with Scott Coker about the fight? Well, you know, I don't know if you know fight, but what can I do with one eye? Yeah. So let me see the next fight is a title fight.

And that's how the memory of this idiot's, work. They have short memory. They're like goldfish or something. Do you feel like you let him down? Obviously, I didn't want to win, but like I said, I don't know what people want me to do. You know, I'm not fighting

a former champion with one eye. I can do anything. So who's who, what, what, I don't know. Was this one of those situations where you're happy they don't have five rounds in the main event for Belator? Well, he got tired. He gave his all in the third.

Because he knew he was back and he had to come back. It wasn't like a five, I don't know. But... And when they're doing like the one finger, two finger in front of your eye, what are you saying to them? Because to me it looked like, oh, man, you're just going to have to guess at this point. Well, I don't know.

I was trying to move my eye what they were saying. But you couldn't see anything. Like, you couldn't see what finger they were holding on. No, I didn't see anything. I just was trying to open my eye and then follow the fingers. Wow. Was part of the game plan, Gagard, to try and submit him? I felt like you went for more submissions in this fight than usual.

No, no, because, you know, once I had this back, I felt like maybe I could get a top position, whatever. But, you know, once your eyes closed, you're like, okay, I was trying to get the submission very badly because I thought, okay, if my eyes is shut, I can't do anything else, of taking different position, trying different stuff. You know, you don't have that option. It's very different.

It's very different when you feel like, okay, I can take chances. And it was just more not letting go of the control and possible. Otherwise, take any other risks. Now that the experience is over, your first fight week with Belator, your first time fighting in a Belator cage, overall, what did you make of it? Still 100 times better than UFC. 100 times. Yeah, 100%.

Why? Why is that? They took care of me. I don't know. I'm not going to complain. It was good. I had a good experience. Nothing. UF.C. is also good. I don't know. Sure, no, but what did you...

How was it different? What did you like about it that you maybe didn't see before? Oh, they shoot me with respect. You know, talk shit about the fight with this and that. You should have done this and that, you know. How do you feel about the circular cage

as opposed to the octagon that you've been fighting in for the last? Same shit, different toilets. No difference whatsoever. the mat, none of that. It's all the same. Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's not going to change the outcome of the fight. Sure, yeah, no.

Sometimes people say they like the angles and things like that. Well, you know, I don't know. No. So here we go. We're leaving New York now. How would you describe your mood? Like, you're leaving a little bit like, ah, this is not, like, I can't quite, part of me feels like, all right, I did my job.

I'm going back home. I got paid. It's great. part of you, at least in my seat here, feels like you're annoyed a little bit. You're annoyed about how this whole thing went. No, of course I'm not happy. You know, I have a clean performance. You have a down and a performance.

You want a clear victory. So I didn't get it. So I'm not happy. I'm disappointed to your chance. I get my chance to fight for the ball. So it's a win and a loose situation. A little bit better. I'm not going to cry about it.

Fighting is not my job, but it's not. my life. Fighting, you think people gonna talk about me or after three fights, they're gonna talk about this fight? No. It's fun, you know, who cares what people say? Is it possible that you're being a little too hard on yourself? I mean, you got punch, it wasn't like you

slipped and looked bad, you got punch, you took a punch, and you survived, and you went up to win the fight? Like, is it possible that you are just being too hard on yourself right now, Gagard? And is that kind of the way you always are? Well, I have to be hard, because I want to, you know, if you want to have perfection, the champs, but I take a win for the title so let him win his fight

Do you have a preference between Carvalio or Sakara as far as who you fight? No, I don't care. I don't care. Will you even watch that fight? Yeah, I'm going to watch the fight take some time off and then whenever they give me the fight. I'm not in any hurry. Has what Rory said about the fight

made you want to fight him more? Because I feel like that's like... Roy McDonald's, I don't know. He's a weird guy. Let him talk. He doesn't win his fight. He has his own bad performance. He said, I gave Schlamenco all the rounds for damage, back control, shouldn't win people fights.

Damage... I gave him... I thought Canadian, I was more polite than that, but it looks weird, you know. Let him change his face before he talks. So you go home, what are you going to do to celebrate with the family, Gagard? This is a big deal.

You won your belt to our debut. You should be smiling. I'm going to go to the doctor. right away. Get the eye fixed. When is the surgery? You know, I'm going to a holiday, ski holiday, maybe.

I don't know. When is the surgery? Wednesday. Okay, wow. Did you consider having it in New York or you'd rather do it at home? Well, I'm not just to do it here, but they kicked me out of the hospital

because I don't know. What? They kicked you out? I don't know. Yeah, but if I had to do it here, I wasn't allowed to fly for two weeks. So whatever. I don't want to stay here.

Yeah, you're done. You've had enough. Yeah. Enough's enough. All right. Well, I appreciate you checking in. Any final words for your fans or your haters out there, Gaggard? Anything you want to say to the people?

They all can suck it. Take a line, take a ticket. I have enough for you all. Thank you, Gaggart. Safe travels, and I appreciate you squeeze against. All the best to you. Oh, my gosh. That was incredible.

Wow. Oh my God. Gagarin Musassi. What was that? They can all, channeling his inner Degeneration X is Gagard Musassi. No time for the haters, the critics, the Roy McDonald. Oh my God. What a way to start the show this week.

They fired up Gagar Musassi, who I would venture to say is being a little too hard on himself. It was clear that he won the first round, regardless of the punch, which was not not one of these like freak things. It was a punch. It landed. It broke his orbital bone. And these things happen. And then it was clear to me he lost the third. So now I have a situation where the first and third are pretty, you know, they're pretty clear cut. And then the second round. And when I was watching it, at first I thought Shlamechle won the second, but then I watched it again. That one is up in the air. Which leads me to say that it was not a robbery, that it was not some big crime. It was just a very close fight. Interesting to note that after the fight,

Belator President Scott Coker said that they are considering going to five rounds. And I do kind of feel like with their main events, I don't know, upping in stature a little bit, the quality of them getting a little better, I feel like they should go to five round main events for non-title fights. I feel like it's time. That's my opinion. But anyway, how about Gagar Musasi coming out swinging. Holy smokes. Never seen him like that before. What is Eric talking about here?

What's going on? We are efforting to call Mr. Darren Till here, but I don't know what's going on. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Get Darren Till on in a second year. But that was incredible. Holy smokes. What fire from Gagga Musassi. What a way to start the show.

Bell Tour later on this year, they're going to book Alessio Sikari. versus the champion Hafeel Carvalio, and the winner of that fight will hopefully fight Gagga Musassi, and who knows, maybe Rory MacDonald beats Douglas Lima on January 20th in Inglewood, California, and maybe we see that champion versus champion fight. But once again, as we were talking about last week, these things happen.

These guys come over to Belator, and they think that they're going to steamroll through the competition. And you sit back and you think from Belator's perspective, I think in this case, as I said last week, they really needed Gagarmusasi to win, and it would be great if he looked good. He won. And that's most important.

You know, there are some situations where, okay, they, you know, they bring a guy over like Benson Henderson. He fights a Michael Chandler. If Michael Chandler wins, I still think that there's a lot you can do with Michael Chandler. But Alexander Scho-Michael's been in Beltoe for quite some time, and I don't think that he would have the same impact

fighting in a title fight as he would or as Gagard would fighting in a title fight. So I think that they really needed Geigard to win. Sometimes when the Bellator mainstay wins, it's not the worst thing in the world.

But in this case, I think it was good for them that Gagard won. All right, in a second, we are hopefully going to be joined by Darren Till, who as I said at the top, I don't understand.

What's going on here? I said at the top had this incredible performance. Apologies. It's hard to do this on the on the fly while we are alive trying to connect with them i guess there's some sort of connection issue here darntill went into poland went into dansk and defeated donald taroni it's one of those performances that you know i said before the fight i love this fight because here you have a guy

who is young who's undefeated who hasn't fought in a main event before but is getting just stand by sorry oh my dear okay just stand by my friends just give me a second as I try to figure this out. This is when it's good to have commercial breaks. Okay, we're going to get him. I'm talking to him on WhatsApp, but there's a discrepancy with the phone numbers. It's a long story and you don't want to hear it, but we're going to get him. Anyway, he goes in there, he gets an opportunity of a lifetime, he gets to fight Donald Soroni, and guess what? He completely starches him. It was an unbelievable performance, and now all of a sudden, he's a name. All of a sudden, now, you know, we're talking about main eventing shows,

Liverpool with the guy. All of a sudden now we're talking about going to England and him continuing to main event. Like there's no going back from here. So you make that massive jump. You've never fought anyone with the sort of name value that Donald has and you get that opportunity and now here you are. Dana White going on Instagram afterwards and maybe we lit a fire under Mr. White because he was all fired up. First he called Darren Till the Future, which I agree with. one of the polls that I wanted to put out was do you think that Darren Till is a future UFC Welterweight champion? I would strongly suggest

that he's got that in him. Whatever that it factor is that we always talk about in the fight game, it feels like he has it. Does it not? The way he speaks, the way he fights, the way he finishes, his confidence, he was calm as can be, goes in there. You hear from Gagher Musassi, who was about to make his Bell Tour debut, he said he was more nervous than usual. Darren Till in his first UFC main event, calling his shot,

saying that he was going to start him, saying that he was going to finish him, looked like he was fighting on the fight past prelims. It was unbelievable. And then afterwards, all fired up, doesn't even give himself a chance to admire the win, instantly calls out Mike Perry. Mike Perry jumps on the cage.

They go back and forth. And Darren Till was right. I had heard going into the fight that there was some talk of them getting matched up against each other. there. And then for some reason, they went with Ponziinibio versus Mike Perry. I'm sorry to Santiago Ponziabio. And maybe it'll work out. This is one of those things where like it comes out of nowhere. It's organic. It happens in front of you. I feel like you have to run with it. I feel like you got to say like, Santiago, there's a litany of welterweights that you could fight

at this point. But this fight seems like it has to happen now. Like you don't get those moments often. How often do you get those moments? That was magical stuff. And then they go, to the broadcasters, John Gooden and Dan Hardy, standing Cajside, Mike Perry standing with him. It felt like 1970s pro wrestling. It was incredible. It was one of the best finishes to a card this year. And it all happened by itself.

Of course, you had to have Mike Perry there. And so that was part of the secret to the success. But them doing it on its own. I mean, I highly doubt that someone told, you know, in the UFC, Darren told to do that. And conversely, I highly doubt that someone told Mike Perry to do that. They just did it themselves. Once again, proving that if you want something, you got to just go do it.

And then the UFC will follow suit. And so they're jawing at each other. If you missed it, it's on their YouTube page. If you don't have a fight pass, you missed a very fun scene. They're going at each other. They're screaming at each other via the cage. It was amazing. But Mike Perry is booked against Santiago Ponce de Nibio.

I threw out a poll earlier asking the people, who would they rather see fight, Mike Perry's next fight. And 74, there's over 5,000 votes. 74% say Darren Till, 26% say Santiago Pontinebio. Which I know some of it is people getting excited about the moment and all, but that is the fight to make. I just don't understand what's going on here. Should I call him on my phone and I'll just do it like this?

I mean, I'm chatting with the guy right now. I don't understand. So that was in the main event. And hopefully we'll get Mr. Till on the horn sooner rather than later. Also, as I said earlier, Karolina Kovalkavitch picking up a big win over Jody Escobel. And then afterwards saying that she wanted Jessica Androge next. And so I think that that's the fight that makes sense. Like you have to book these fighters who are fighting against or who have fought Yawani on Jacek.

You have to kind of match them up together. And so I feel like Carolina versus Androge is the fight that makes sense next. So we'll see what happens. It seemed like Carolina was upset about some rumor that she was fighting Androge. And then they had to go back and say that that fight was never offered. And she went at the press conference and she said, I'll take that fight. Anyway, Androge looked great in her last fight against Claudia Godelia, who was the last person to beat Carolina before this fight.

I feel like that's the no-brainer fight to make next. You had the Jan Blachowitz's rear-naked choke, which was more of like a sleeper hold. That was pretty impressive, like a standing rear-naked choke. choke, went from the back, the amount of strength that need to be on display in that moment was just unbelievable. And so that was a big win for Poland's own Jan Blachowitz. Marstein held with a victory on Saturday, finally picking up his first UFC win, looking good in Poland. And how about our friend Brian Boom Keller said on Monday that he'd be flying out to Poland listening to the program and picked up a nice win himself.

Brian Boom-Kelleher getting back on track. Of course, Andre Feeley defeated Ardum Lobov, and that was a very intense one. That almost felt like a main event. You had Connor McGregor there, and he was walking around the cage, shouting out instructions to Artim Lobov throughout the fight,

and in the middle of the fight, the referee, Mark Goddard, had to tell Connor to stop yelling or he would punish him. Never really seen a situation like that before. That was a weird one. Andre Feely ended up beating Artem Lobov, and I spoke to Artem briefly afterwards,

and he said that he's not necessarily thinking about walking away from MMA. He is going to look at his options now. Perhaps he goes to boxing. Perhaps he switches things up. He's not quite sure what the future holds. if the UFC wants him back. I would venture to say that the UFC will definitely want him back.

He's got that name. He's got the connection to Connor. You see every show, someone's calling him out. Someone asks to fight him. It's a guy winning. It's a Zabit. He's asking to fight him. I would be shocked if the UFC said goodbye to Ardumlobov.

Afterwards, he put out a tweet that he wasn't sure if he was going to keep going, but I reached out to him afterwards. And after the tweet, and he was saying that he was kind of talking about, like looking at his options within combat sports, but not necessarily retiring from combat sports. Wasn't the best night for him. You got dropped early on. Feeley ends up winning the fight.

And that was a great win for Andre Feeley. He needed a high profile win like that. Zooted confidence as well. Walked into the cage, mocking Connor McGregor doing the billionaire strut. And even was talking smack, it seemed like to Connor afterwards. Connor was very fired up.

Kudos to Mark Goddard for stepping in there and saying, yeah, you can't, like it's one thing to be, and he told our Mark Romandie about this, and it's a great call. It's one thing to be sitting in your seat, standing up, yelling, shouting, you know, giving up instructions. It's another thing to be walking around the cage. It's another thing to be, you know, following the action. And now you're on the other side and, you know, yelling out things. So I think that Mark Goddard made the right call by telling him to, you know, to back off saying, you don't got to. to go home, but you do guts to get the heck out of here. So that was a big win for

Andre Feely. Also, Aspen Ladd with a big win as well. All right, let's go to the phone lines. We have finally, it took us long enough. We have finally tracked down Mr. Darren Till. Darren, are you there? Mr. Darren, are you there? Hello, I'm here. Yes, hello, Darren. How are you? Good to hear from you. Are you there? Yes, hello. Okay, sorry about that. We had some connection. issues, my friend. But I appreciate you joining us. Congratulations on the win. Yeah, hello, Ariel. I'm here. Oh, man. Darren, can you hear me? Yeah. Thank you very much. Oh my gosh. This is a, this is that kind of delay. What's going on? Darren, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you, Ariel. Okay, let's try to do this. Congratulations on the win. Lesson two days later. Biggest performance of your life. Yes. I don't know

What's going on with this delay? Should we reconnect? I don't think we could do an interview like this, guys. No one's telling me anything. But I think that we are going to reconnect here. Let's reconnect here with Darren Till. This is going swimmingly. This is great.

You guys got to talk to me. You're leaving me out here on an island by myself, guys. You got to talk to me and let me know what's going on. We're going to reconnect with Darren Till in a second. And we'll get him back. You do see there that he is alive, that he is speaking, is communicating and we'll get him in a second. This kind of thing screws up our plans because it's

a domino effect. As you know, there's a guest after a guest after a guest after a guest on the show. So we started out well with Mr. Musassi before he went out to the airport and now we're a little bit delayed, but we'll make up for that time. So anyway, Aspen Ladd with a big wind. Do you see her video she was yelling? I feel like that should be like her thing. Sort of like Daphne. Remember Daphne in WCW where she used to yell? she was like the scream queen. I think her name was Daphne. I feel like that should be Aspen Ladd's thing.

Just yell. Just be like the crazy woman as you're beating up your opponent. Little bit of an early stoppage against Lena Landsberg. But all in all, a very good win for Aspen Lad who did not get to fight in her debut back in, when was it, July, the day before UFC 213 at the tough finale against Jessica I, She was raining blows on Lena Landsberg and was like screeching. It was great.

I enjoyed that. And also, there was a fight between Anthony Hamilton. And I want to get the guy's name right. Anthony Hamilton, what's his name? UFC? I just wanted to get the correct pronunciation here. Anthony, Hamilton, and Adam. I'm going to mess this up.

Wichorek. Anyway, that fight was moved. They were supposed to walk out for the ceremonial wands. And apparently there were some, there was a group of soccer fans. I don't really know what to call them, but they were fans who support a team that Adam doesn't support. And so for security reasons,

I was told that they didn't allow them to walk out. And then they actually pulled the fight on Saturday and rebooked it for Sydney. A very unique situation. I know in England they would refer to these fans as hooligans. I don't know if they are as such in Poland. but there was a pocket. I was actually sent a video of them

who showed up to the ceremonial weigh-ins and they were chanting all kinds of things in Polish. And the UFC security staff came to the conclusion that it wasn't safe for both of the fighters to walk out. And so they pulled them from the ceremonial way-ins because at that point, they don't really need to weigh-in. That's all for a show.

They already weighed in earlier in the morning. So they pulled them from the ceremonial weigh-ins, but still we're planning on proceeding with the fight. and then a few hours later they announced that the fight was getting scrapped altogether after they both weighed in, they were both set the fight. They didn't provide a reason for it, but they just said that it was getting rebooked for Sydney.

But that was the reason. Crazy situation. I didn't know it went down like that. Well, I knew that there were some, you know, there's a very passionate fan base as far as soccer, football is concerned, but like that they would get that intense. to where they had to pull a fight.

So I guess Adam supports a rival team and this group isn't happy with that or so, I don't know, it's a very strange thing, but they rebook it. So imagine you're a guy like Anthony Hamilton, even Adam, who's from Poland, you're flying over there, you're good to go,

and now you have to go to Sydney in a month, all because these fans were getting rowdy in attendance. That's a crazy thing. So if you were very much looking forward to that fight, it got moved to mid-November. Well, I'm killing some time here, and I think we're going to move on from Darren and bring him on later in the show.

He's still going to be on. Don't worry, but maybe give us a little more time to connect with him and go to T.J. Dilleshaw. I told you about Heather Hardy losing. She loses in the second round to Christina Williams. Christina Williams. This is Beltoar on Friday.

Looked fantastic in that fight. The head kick in the second round, connected. Hardy made the mistake, dipping her head and Christina connected. It was almost like her no, I think it was her knee that connected with her, with Hardy's nose. But it wasn't a knee, it was a kick. But that's just the point of the leg where it connected.

And then it was just instant blood, just gushing from her face. Very intense stuff. And eventually they stopped the fight. And they had a lot invested in Heather Hardy. And it's no knock on Christina Williams, who seems to be a very exciting fighter, who is making her debut, who seems charismatic and marketable and all those things that you want in a fighter. But if Belator is going to, you know, this has happened to them before, they need to balance the promotion a little more. You know what I mean? They can't all be on one person

so that afterwards it looks like, oh, you know, there's egg on your face. That's the problem here. It's no knock on Christina. Christina could be just as marketable, if not more. We don't know, because we weren't told much about her. There wasn't a lot pushed about her. And so that's why when that happens and Musassi almost loses, Belt is in a position where they have to build stars. And their fights, you know,

it's okay if they're, you know, if they're designed to build the stars. That's fine. That's something that we're not accustomed to in MMA. You know, I was watching the 30 for 30 on Tommy Morrison on Friday. And Tommy Morrison's like first 20 to 25 fights were all designed to put them over. We're all designed to make him look like a superstar,

to make them look like, you know, the greatest heavyweight in the world, the future champion, all that stuff and more. That's okay. But I feel like in MMA and in particular, in the day and age in which we live, things like this can happen, especially when you're matching up a kickboxer with the boxer.

So it's okay to push one over the other, but I still feel like you have to push the other a little bit. just as plan B so that you're not left with a situation where you've got nothing. You know what I mean? And that's what I feel like we were left with here. Hopefully they regroup.

We'll see what happens with Heather Hardy. She still has the contract with Lou DeBella and she could still go back to boxing. And it was clear to me, I was a little surprised when she came in the studio. When did she come in around July and announced that she would be returning to M.A. So soon.

I thought that she was going to take a bit of time off, maybe go back to boxing. She's been doing MMA a lot less time than she's been doing boxing. I mean, that's very clear. And I don't think that the matchup was the wrong one in the experience department because they're both relative newcomers to the sport. But it does seem to me like the fundamentals as far as using all the tools that you can in MMA and also knowing how to defend them are a little four. to her. And if you have someone who's coming over from the world of boxing, even with 20 fights,

but isn't used to kicking or defending kicks, fighting someone who's a newcomer but was brought up as a kickboxer, the advantage is always going to be with a kickboxer. And you saw that in this fight on Friday. So a tough situation for Heather Hardy on Friday, she loses to Christina Williams and we'll see what happens there. Her face was, I mean, as gruesome as it gets, she posted something online afterwards she seems to be in good spirits and we will see what happens there. Also, Neiman Gracie winning a nice one. So it seems like I completely jinxed ourselves because now we are trying to find T.J. Dillishaw, who is M. I.A. It's almost amazing that this stuff doesn't happen more often on the show because we are alive because we don't take breaks.

But eventually we will get to all these people, I am hoping. We're trying to get to TJ. If not, we'll go on to the next one. That's the beauty of having nine guests on the program, right? Anyway, Neiman Gracie with a win on Friday and Bell Tour as well. Some other news as we effort to get somebody to talk to on today's program. MVP, Michael Venom Page, as I said, won his boxing. debut signed to

David Hayes promotion as I said at the top vintage Michael Venom Page he was doing the killer crossover he was moving all around he was dancing it was all kinds of fun stuff for Michael Venom page

Belator says that he will return in December that he will probably fight on their Newcastle show he beat a fighter named Jonathan Castano who is now 212 and 1 so obviously not the best fighter out there.

But this was his debut and it was okay. You know, it's all right to build yourself up. You don't have to fight someone who's 25 and 0. It was a four-round fight. MVP ends up winning in the third round, big right hand, dancing all over the place. And so now he's got some options. I asked Bellator why they let MVP do this,

if he was allowed to do this, if there was any kind of issues there. And they said, no, we just, We're cool with our fighters going out there. If they have an opportunity, if they're in between schedules, in between fights, we're cool. If they run it by us, we're okay with it. Maybe the opponent, you know, they're not going to let him go out there and fight a guy who's, you know, 15 and 0. But they let him do it.

He was successful and maybe ups his value just a little bit. Reported last week that Camaro Usman and Emil Mech scheduled to fight UFC 219, December 30th. This was first reported by Farah Hanun. Hopefully I'm pronouncing her name correctly. Strong young journalist out of the Middle East, I believe it is. This is a fight that I think some people raise their eyebrows with because Kamaro Usman is on a role. He was calling out RDA. He wants to fight a top dog at 170 pounds and he can't find anyone. His manager told me that they just couldn't find anyone. And now they're going to Emil Mech who said, yeah, I'll fight him. No problem. So that's why. It wasn't part of the plan for them, but

that's what they had to do. So look out for that on December 30th. We'll talk more about the news afterwards. But now let's go to the man who we were just talking about, who's kind enough to join us a little early because he is punctual. The one and only Michael Venham Page is joining us right now. Michael, are you there? Yes, I am. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks for coming on a little early, Michael. I appreciate it. And congratulations on the boxing debut, the successful boxing debut on Friday. How much fun did you have out there? You look like you were having a great time.

But now that it's over, now that you got to go in there and actually box, how much fun was it? Yeah, yeah, thank you for that. Yeah, you know what? I think it's very apparent from all of my fights that if people get to see that I enjoy, I enjoy what I do and boxing is no different. I enjoyed the preparation as hard as it was. But yeah,

and when I finally got there and stepped into the ring, it was just as enjoyable. So, yeah, I'm glad it went the way it went. What do you enjoy more now that you've done them both? Boxing or MMA?

It feels this. Obviously, it's just a different rule set. But obviously, I'm a kit boxer and I enjoy being able to use my legs as well. So I feel like I can be a little bit more creative in MMA. But I just enjoyed the spotlight.

So I did have a blast doing boxing, and I'm definitely eager to do some more boxing. But yeah, I still love MMA. Okay, so how did this come about? David Hayes, your promoter, correct? Yeah. So did he approach you about doing this? Did you approach him?

how did it all come about and when? So about David A's a very good friend of my coach, Alexis. Alexis, Paul Amari. They're all very good friends. They've done work together before. He's actually done some fitness work for some of his bouts

with my coach before as well. And he used to come to the gym. A lot of times, you know, just to socialize and talked and talked to his friends. And obviously he had the chance to watch some of the fighters are in the gym. And probably about five years ago now, he came and watched me spa and I was doing boxing rounds at the time. And he was like, man, you should come over and do some boxing.

Like, you're really good at it. And from way back then, it's always been something that I kind of wanted to do anyway, even if it was like a similar to like a Nebraska, like a one-off, just spectacle, just so I can experience, you know, the boxing world. But, you know, the more he kind of came down and the

more we spoke about it and the more boxing round that I did with some, you know, high level boxing athletes, then that's the more it kind of made me think, yeah, I'm actually capable of doing this, but I don't just want to switch over. I want to be able to do both.

Okay. And so, then you go in this situation. Was it hard to get Bellator to let you do it? I mean, from my conversation with them, they didn't seem to have that much of a problem, but you are a prized possession for them, and this is not under their banner, this is not under their umbrella.

Was it hard to get their consent, their green light to go out and do this last Friday? So this one, no. I was actually supposed to fight beforehand. when David Hay first foot, Belly, we was pushing. The turnaround was extremely quick.

I think Belator wanted to play or just be a bit more involved in it. So when we spoke to them initially about wanting to do it, they were happy for us to do it. But then when we started, you know, producing licenses and this and that, they were like, well, this is actually going to happen quicker.

And we called them the date, it was a very, very quick turnaround. round and they weren't happy at that time, but more, not necessarily for me to block, just the way and how quick it all happened. So they wanted to be a bit more involved. So we had to kind of postpone that. And so we knew from the beginning they were in full support, but we just had to kind of, you know, work more with them, which makes sense.

So we waited a little bit longer and then obviously the opportunity came for the show this time round and, yeah, they've been in full support. Is your next fight in MMA and is it December 15th in Newcastle? It's what everyone's saying. I haven't actually had a conversation with anybody. And obviously, it wants to expect to jump back into MMA. And if I can, my aim is to get another boxing fight and another MMA fight in this year, which is there's not much time.

So I literally straight after Friday, I was training Saturday, just working on my wrestling and jiu-suitzzi trying to get straight back into it. I'm still not sure exactly what's going to be happening. Nothing's been confirmed yet, but by, I'd say, in over the next couple of days, by the end of this week, I'll definitely have a better idea of where we're headed next. Okay, so it could be boxing next? Potentially, I don't know. I think that's the good thing about me opening this door to box,

because it allows me to be a bit more active throughout the year. Obviously, I've been very inactive this year for a lot of different things, but now I'm capable of fighting so much more. Now, so for me, I think the focus is always going to be MMA. I've still got a lot to prove, and a lot I want to prove in mixed martial arts.

And, you know, Belator, they've given me the chance to box, so they're always going to have, you know, third day, it was going to be first priority. But if I'm able to, I would like to be able to box as well, one more time, as well as a mixed martial arts fight. So, yeah, hopefully you'll see me twice this year. When you were supposed to fight a few months ago and pulled out,

what was the injury? Oh, oh, sorry. My knee's gone, my knee went again. I had a neck injury as well. That was pretty bad. For me, I still kind of wanted to. do it. It's always the same thing as a fight. You still kind of want to do it. My coaches are just not happy if I'm not going in. You never really go in 100%, but if you're not,

if you're not going in properly. And, you know, he's like, if you lose because of a, due to an injury, you're not, you're going to be equally as, as frustrated. And I was, I was so eager to fight that time. It was in my hometown. A lot of people that come over to support me. like I was absolutely female I didn't even want to go but I had a had a teammates fighting on the show as well

so I was like I gotta make sure that I turn up and support support them but it was good for me to be there but yeah it's it's the same old same order

and this is what I find with them the mixed martial arts training it's so much more rigorous on the body and you are really beating yourself up a lot and I'm

constantly, because of my style as well, I'm constantly getting, twisting my knees and my neck and stuff. So, it is what it is, but I'm eager to get back in there. And of course, when you were at that event, that's when the whole thing with Paul Daly

escalated a little further. I saw that you did a scrum after the win on Friday, and you were like, oh, who's Paul Daley? I never heard of this guy before. Why is this so hard to make? Why are we, why are we tempting fate here? I feel like we're playing with fire.

This is such a great fight. This will get the world talking, especially England. I mean, this is the biggest fight in between two English fighters, maybe of all time. And I feel like we're further apart than ever. What's the issue here? Do you not want to fight him?

Does he not want to fight you? What's the problem? Well, you can only ask for a fight so many times and it not happened. And for me, I'm just losing interest. He's losing fights, calling me out, and then not wanting to take the fight, and then he's winning fights calling me out and then not wanting to take the fight.

I seriously just have, I don't have any, I just don't care anymore. It's legit, dislike. I felt he was very disrespectful in one of his interviews when we were supposed to be quite, you know, cool. and obviously not the best of friend but we've always been able to sit down and talk and have fun

multiple trips in promotions together and stuff so I felt disrespected then so he was like you know what the best way to sell it is in the cage and it just feels like it's about to even get the fight to happen I can post pictures

of contracts with me signing it was signing his name there and then again there's just excuses as to why he doesn't want to fight for me I know how big of the fight could be but I genuinely don't care anymore it's just not I'm just not interested

they're kind of tired of this this whole back and forward thing if it happens then it happens but for me I'm not chasing it anymore is what it is

wow this is depressing news Michael I can understand where you're coming from there's no doubt about that so is it is it fair to say that you have officially moved on like you you are not entertaining this fight, even if it's brought to your attention, even if they say we want to go to the O2 in February and have you guys finally fight.

Like, you're done with it? You're not even going to entertain the idea of fighting him? Well, if they get the paper signed first, and I'm going to be, I'm being very specific with this one as well now. I'm saying the only way I'm going to fight in is if he puts his whole paycheck on paper. And I'll do exactly the same. Winner takes all.

I'm not, if I was to lose that fight, I don't want a penny for losing that fight. And if I win that fight, I don't want him to get paid. I don't want him to be able to do anything. But the best you're going to get is your sponsor. So hopefully he's doing well on the sponsorship side. But put your whole paycheck up

and then I'm happy that I'll happily fight you. But outside of that, I'm genuinely not interested. There's so many big names and big fights out there anyway. and I know for me he's going in one direction I'm still growing and I don't feel to say he had a great win in his last fight

but I think he's trying to be a bit too tactical about things and I'm just not interested Wow so I mean in other words the fights I mean there's no way they're going to allow that right we've heard people throughout that stipulation oh give up your person I don't think they'll ever agree to that

I don't think he'll agree to it so it's safe to say it's... Yeah, but, you know, it's down to the fight. For me, like I said, this is how much I don't... I don't like him. My thing is, I do not want a penny for losing that. I'm being dead serious. I don't want...

Not one pound, not one dollar, for losing a fight like that. So he should feel the same. If he's, you know, he's the one that keeps calling me out right now. I'm not even interested anymore. He keeps calling me out, so there must be something to it. So if you're that confident, about yourself, put your purse up. Because if both fighters are happy to do that,

I don't see why the promotion wouldn't. There's no reason for them to say, no, no, you guys shouldn't do it that way. You know what I mean? It's both of us. So if he's happy, if he's that eager to come and find me, let's make it a bit more interesting. Put your purse up.

Have they brought up the subject again since Friday or in the last week or so? Have they said, we want you to do this? What do you think of this fight? Has his name come up to at all? No, not yet. because after his last fight, he called me out again. Bellator approached him then, supposedly.

They already approached him saying, yeah, let's get it the time, and he changed his mind in the back office. So again, even, I think even Belator, I getting a bit annoyed with hearing him call me out and they're not actually wanting to follow through. Wow. Now everyone understands what I am getting frustrated.

not for me I'm not I just I don't care like you haven't seen me post anything about him that's why I was like I don't even know you're talking about it's only for you I don't even mention anything I appreciate it I appreciate it no

it's just there's magic between you two it's a magical thing when you get two fighters you know especially from the same country and you're such exciting fighters I think everyone wants to see the fight it kind of bumps me out that it's seems like we're further than ever. Yeah, well, you know what?

For me, it's down to them to try and make it a lot of happen. I'm just saying, right, Adam, at this moment, I'm just not chasing it. There's, like I said, there's those other fights to make. So I'm just, yeah, I'm just not chasing this fight anymore. It's been one-sides the whole time. I've pushed and pushed. You've seen the post, you've seen all that. That was me trying to entice him to take the fight away back from where

and he ended up changing his mind and going towards Royal MacDonald. And again, I was very... Like, again, I understand what he tried to do, and I didn't take it personally. I was like, cool, but we still need to make this fight. And then again, straight after that, he decided to go somewhere else again.

Because the first excuse was, supposedly he was going to go into boxing... Not a boxing, sorry, kickboxing and do a little kickboxing fight. So I was like, well, if that's your reason. And me and you can kickboxing. Let's go who. Let's both of us go over to do. Both on Belichobano.

Let's both of us get box. Then he changed his mind again and said he's, you know, he's got business to deal with him or something, that personal business. So I was like, okay, fine. And then all of a sudden I'm here and he's calling out Larkin and say, you know, yeah, I've already signed the class. So I don't understand what's happening. So it just feels like anything I tried to do to get this fight was just being, you know, sidestep. So again, I just, I've just lost interest. I don't even have that kind of fire in me anymore in the same way.

Like when it first happened, I was like, man, I really want to punch you in your face. And now I just not even bothered. I just see you with a joke and I've lost all respect for that person. Anyone in the Welterweight Division that does get you excited, that does peak your interest, that you do want to fight if you return later on this year? Remember, for me, like, this is the first time I've ever had, like, wanted to, you know, even called somebody up. And I've been the same since I've started in MMA.

I've never actually called me, but yeah, I just enjoy doing what I do. And I feel like I'm an entertaining fighter, and, you know, my name keeps growing because of what I'm capable of doing in a cage. And this is just the first time because I felt personally disrespected. And if it was anybody,

I get called out all the time. I get people, you know, criticizing my style and criticizing me all the time. But because it was someone I, you know, I always spoke in a very respectful way towards, because I felt we had a certain relationship, a certain friendship, that's where I felt a bit more disappointed and disrespecting.

And this is the only reason why there was even that fire there in the first place. So, yeah, this is the only reason I've called him out. Everybody else is just, yeah, just the big names. Everyone's doing, the World's Weight Division is a very competitive division right now. like the Royal McDonald and Douglas Lehm, I think Douglas DeM is very underrated and he's just, he's, even though he's the champion, people will seem to believe that he's going to lose.

I think he's an amazing athlete. There's so many, the 10th fight, yeah, I'd love to be in the cage of and test myself. So, yeah, I'm just looking forward to those kind of big fights. Okay, yeah, because I got the impression after the fight on Friday, people are like, this is great, we've seen this from Michael before, he's so entertaining, but I want to see this.

see him against the name now like I want to see him against someone that I know um and and no longer in these showcase fights and I would assume at this point you feel the same right like you want to take that that step up as well yeah 100 percent 100 percent are these there's everyone's uh there's like I said there's a lot of big names in that division and I would love to I'd love to just prove to everybody that it's not just um it's not just a flashy style that can't work against uh you know high level competitors, I actually know or believe that I actually when I'm sparring

more technical guys I'm actually capable, a lot more capable of pulling off some of the moves that I that I'm able to pull off so yeah, I look forward to to proving that.

By the way, I like that you hit him with the killer crossover in the match on Friday. Is that what you did there? Were you doing the killer crossover? Were you kind of put? That was incredible. I never seen that one out of you before. It's actually something I've been practicing in this camp, in boxing. I was really just inspired by, I remember watching when I was younger,

and probably around 15, 16, I was watching a lot of the annual basketball. And I just, I just caught up on a video that I had seen the other day, and I started watching a lot of it. And then when I came into training to spa, in the next couple of days, I was just throwing it in my sparring, and everyone was like, what the hell are you doing now? Well, that's what I've been saying from the beginning. I always get, like, inspiration from random things,

and I'm really enjoying, actually you really enjoy it in my game. So you might see it in the MMA world. I loved it. I popped for it hard. Congratulations again, Michael. You never cease to entertain and amaze. I'm a little sad. I'm not going to lie about the Paul Daley development here,

but who knows? Maybe they all agree to this stipulation, and we get to see this fight sooner. rather than later. For now, enjoy the victory and looking forward to your return to the Bell Tor Cage in the near future. Yes, definitely. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me on the show again. Pleasure as always. Thank you very much to Michael Benham Page. Great to talk to him. And again, congratulations on his successful boxing debut. He did hit him with the killer crossover, by the way, and it's amazing that it was inspired by the N1 mixtape. All right, let's move along.

Great to talk to Jesse Taylor right now. I said earlier in the year, one of the best stories of the year, his return, his victory on tough 25, redemption. We had him on afterwards. I mean, one of the feel-good stories of the year. Unfortunately, since then, he was booked to fight in November in Sydney, but he was pulled from that fight against Bilal Muhammad after an out of competition, drug test came back positive for clomaphene, which is an anti-estrogen agent. A couple weeks ago, or a little over a week ago, the United States anti-doping agency said that he had accepted a one-year suspension and he's on the program now to talk about that and where he goes from here. Let's welcome in Jesse Taylor.

Jesse, are you there? Hey, I'll be yes, right here. Good to have you on the show. I appreciate you coming on to talk about this, Jesse. So when did you find out that you were provisionally suspended that this drug test that was taken on August 22nd came back positive for the anti-estrogen agent clomophene? Yeah, I found about all this about September. 14th, I remember because it was my brother's birthday.

And, yeah, I was pretty shocked and surprised by the whole debacle as you guys are. And it's kind of a bummer. But I kind of just want to, you know, it's a good time to kind of talk about kind of really what went down. Yeah. So you had no idea. I mean, you could say here, matter of fact,

you did not knowingly take this. When it came back, you had no idea how this got in your system. Is that correct? No, well, from doing research, we're trying to figure it out. We're kind of, we think I see this holistic doctor, and a lot of fingers are pointing towards him. But just to let everyone know, when things like this happened, the main thing is what you saw, it says,

and I actually do agree with it, you're responsible for what goes into your body. So even if we fight this and we win, it comes down to it, we're responsible, and what we know goes into our body. So they would still usually do a little suspicenture for it. But the whole process, even if you win it, you're going to be out six to nine months anyways, plus about 20 to 40,000, 20 at the lower end, 40 at the higher, with lawyer fees.

The tested supplement cost $2,000. Long story short, we kind of have an idea of who it is. I don't want to fill this guy's name under the bus because it's not, you know, a guaranteed, because I never tested the supplements and all that. But anyways, yeah, I was doing a holistic doctor. I'm guessing it's coming from there. But, yeah, I never took knowingly any clomophene, antestrogen, or any kind of thing of that nature.

Had you ever heard of clomophine before? Before you found out that you had tested positive for this? I sure have. When I found out, I was like, well, that's strange. It's the same thing. John Jones, Brock Lesner. those are the two big names, of course, I know some others have gotten in trouble with.

And so when you're provisionally suspended, you don't get the full one year. There's that period there where, you know, I believe you decided will work with you and they'll look at supplements, things like that. Are you happy, you know, with the process? Did you feel like they were working with you? Did you feel like, you know, they were listening

to what you had to say? Or did you feel like, okay, you know, now that I've been through it, this could have gone a little differently. This could have gone better for me. Um, like anything, they, I guess they will hear all that out. Uh, so they give you, you know, they let you know, they kind of give you a month, um, you know, because I found out September. And then they give you like a month or so until recently, you know, what you want to do, either accept the suspension or start fighting it.

They definitely hear you out, but they don't really start hearing you out until you tell them what to do. The problem is once you tell them what to do, you're in a fight, you know, that's when you got to pay lawyer fees. You got to test all your supplements. You've got to do an arbitration, archibration, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Arbitration. You know, it's a whole, yeah, yeah, archipration, a whole process.

And when it came down to it, even if we fought it in one, I'm looking at the lowest in on, around 20 grand I'm spending, testing all the supplements, getting lawyers and fighting this, and I'm still out. Then they've got to book you a fight.

So I'm still out about nine months, let's say. I set the low, even if I come back and they say, hey, you're cool, you're clear. They already pulled me from the November fight. I think what you saw this doing, I like, I actually like what they're doing, but I think what's going on is they're starting to burn a lot of guys. They're not, I think they've got to look at some, you know, other outside circumstances. They got to look at out of competition stuff, which this test was, and they got to look

at the drug, which was not a steroid, it was anti-estrogen. And they hear all those facts out, but they won't really start listening to them in case you actually fight it. You know what I'm saying? If you actually go through the whole process. So is that why on your Instagram, you essentially wrote like, look, I had to accept this one year suspension, like because the alternative was that time frame and more importantly for you, all that money you would have to pay to fight it? Is that why it seemed like you were kind of accepting it begrudgingly? Exactly. That and even, if you fight it, again, the main thing, I'm talking to Jeff and, you know,

being a part of you, Sada, the main thing they stress on you is irresponsible for what you put into your body. It says it in there. So these things are kind of hard to do it. Even if you win it, you might get a lesser suspension, but you're still responsible for what you put in your body. And, you know, this goes to tell everyone. You know, even, you know, I take Trader Joe's, I take a pretty all-erbal, all-natural, even this holistic aisle thing was supposedly all-natural herbal supplements, but I'm not testing

these supplements before I take them. So it's crazy, you know, and it's a hard thing to fight. Let's just say that. And if I fight it, I'm still out almost just as long, yeah, and out some money. So you're kind of stuck in a rock and a hard spot on this thing. So right now you think that you know why

it was in your system, but you're not like a thousand percent sure, is that accurate? Like you feel like you know what the supplement is? Yeah, I mean, I can pin, I'm pretty sure. I know where it's coming from, who it's coming from. I'd never tested the supplement, though. You know what I mean?

I could send it in, test the supplement, cost a little bit of money, track down the doctor. But I'm not going to run his name through the dirt, you know, in case I was 100% of case, and there's legal things showing that. So I don't have that information, though, because I never, I never followed through with it, but I'm leaning towards like 90% that, yeah,

that's coming from this guy and this doctor in this herbal so-called supplement. Why do you think... Go ahead, sorry? I'm thinking because what he prescribed it before, it helps with, you know, as you said, it helps with athletic performance. It's an all-natural herbal,

what's it called? It said, rodeola and all that, you know, Chinese herbs that I know of. So that's why I didn't, you know, I didn't feel that there's anything else in there. But it all... No, why do you think it even was in there? Like, why would they have put it in there?

Yeah, what I was saying. It helps with, they said, the doctor said it helps with sex and a vigor and all the kind of men stuff, you know. It helps with energy and just all the stuff people were saying. It wouldn't surprise me, you know, if there's some of this, you know, trace amounts. Because that's what it came back for, too. They never, you know, said the whole story. It was very low, low trace amounts of chlorophyan. So when it comes back, stuff.

stuff like that, you know, if it was going off the charts, I could understand the suspension, but first off, there is very low, low, low amounts of it. And also the same stuff that it helps for is what this doctor says all naturally. It helps for. So I was kind of just putting two and two together. Wouldn't surprise me, you know, like all of a sudden you feel good, you have all the same results that the herbal stuff says it provides, but also colomavine provides. So that's why I'm thinking it was that. Are you going to move ahead and try to test this and find out, if in fact this supplement does contain chlomaphene,

or at this point, are you done with it? I really kind of sort of move forward with the whole thing. I was just as frustrated, upset. But the thing that's kind of giving me some hope, I'm sure you guys saw, what's his name? Good. I'm in Good. Yeah, I was just going to ask you about it.

In a situation, and he won the whole thing. So I'm talking with my management team. The only issue is now we already kind of, unfortunately, accepted it all. So it's kind of like, yes, this would give me, like, peace of mind. You know, maybe I could roast this doctor that's doing this, but it's not going to do me any good. I already accepted the Bussauder terms. Okay, because I was just about to ask you by Lyman Good, who is suing a company after he tested positive.

This particular multivitamin came up positive for one antro, which is an illegal antibiotic steroid, and this is what TMZ reported last week that he is suing them. and so I was going to ask you if you were going to go that route, but it sounds like you're not. You're just going to move on from- that's-Cquito-Kinetti as well. That's crazy. I read that.

You know, we're kind of not decided yet. I was kind of just going to move on, but then when that came up, talking about management team, we're like, you know, this could not only clear my name, we could go after this guy. So I really don't have an answer on that part yet.

We haven't really decided, but when that Lyman-Gert's decision came to light is when we're like, you know, hey, we might have something here too. So I don't know what we're going to do there yet, though. And of course, this is coming just a few weeks or months, I should say, after your victory on tough 25 and the feel-good story of the year, I mean, it was so great, spoke about it afterwards.

Has it been tough to process this? Again, on your Instagram, you talked about, you know, people trying to kick you while you're down and proving them wrong, and you've been through the ups and downs before. You're no stranger to adversity. But to come back to the UFC, to win like that, the feel-good story, you get the check, all that stuff. you know, exercise the demons, so to speak,

and then this happens. How do you process this? It's kind of like, man, can I catch my break here? Yeah. I don't know. You know, it's kind of still all setting in. I was pretty bummed. I was definitely bombed, you know,

but I've been here before. The only thing you could do is move on and keep proving people wrong. The thing that kind of frustrates me when things like this happen is, especially in the fight game or is a smack talking. Of course, someone like this happens. Everyone's burning you at the witch's stake.

You know, the guy was supposed to fight is for all the same, you know, talking stuff. And what really got to me was when some former tough people who were on the show of me started saying stuff. That's when I was just like, come on. I was on the show, Christoppe, a drug test. I was drug tested for the finale fight as well. And the clomaphim comes back in your year.

So it's ridiculous they're saying some blood. They don't even know what they're talking about. They have none of the facts, you know. So you try to backtrack it and say I was taking the stuff. It's just ridiculous because they drug test you both. And then they search you too when you go into the tough house. You know, you got what you got, you know. You can't.

So they can't really say you're on anything during the show and during the finale fight. And for them to say that this is an issue that's been ongoing, it's just super frustrating. It's just ridiculous. I've completed my whole life. clean and natural and you get like this from nothing but a hard work from training four to six hours and going back to the gym and lifting more weights and you can ask anyone I put in my time and uh for someone like this to come up yeah it's kind of like almost the same almost not not unbelievable when I first heard I was like you know come on and then uh that that's the most

frustrating thing I guess just hearing people kind of downplay my victories and uh because nothing nothing I've got has it easy nothing but hard work Yeah, so what are you going to do for the next year? I think it's like 11 months or so now. Yeah, you know, it's until August or I know, I'm sorry, September, right? Next September, yeah. So, all right, you know, I can't sit out. I'll do a bunch of jih Tjitsu stuff, a bunch of grappling super fights.

I got to look more into boxing and kickboxing matches, but that might even be an option too. I know I'm allowed to compete in the grappling super fights. I want to do that. there's a fight to win, you know, there's no key world. There's a bunch of stuff coming up that I want to be a part of, you know, stay busy, look at holes in my game and just keep getting better. And when I come back, keep shocking people and come back a more, new, improved JATI money. That's the goal here.

But, you know, I was bummed out, but I can't let this get me down, you know. It's like, like I told you, we kind of don't know where this is coming from. People could say what they want, but they do the research and see that there was a result. very low amounts that came up in the drug test, which they don't say anything about. But it's one of those things. My hands are kind of tight on this one, and the only thing I did do is that I owe it to the people and myself and my family is just keep getting better and come back and prove and come back a stronger and better person.

By the way, are you allowed to do boxing and kickboxing while you're under suspension? That's the funny thing. I actually don't know. I know, like I said, I know the grappling super fights I'm allowed to do. I got to look into the contract. That's what I talk to my manager. if I'm allowed to do boxing and or kickboxing

fights just because, you know, that would be a good area for me to improve on as well. And I just don't know the contract and the rules of that as of now. Okay. Upon returning, and I know a lot can happen in the next 11 months, do you want Belal Muhammad? It seems like

he kind of bothered you with some things as well, some comments. Is that who you'd like to come back against? Yeah, as of now, definitely, Belaw. I haven't fought him. I think I proved a lot with all the... I'm kind of over what these other guys are saying.

I'm definitely focused on the law. There's no respect or honor. He didn't know any of the facts over him. You know, I'm surprised how he acted. What was he saying? Again, I want him to do well. You know, I want someone who's good and a contender and a tough guy. So I'm actually, as much as I don't like the guy,

I'm pulling for him to win now for, I think, Tim Means replaced me. I'm pulling for him to kind of win. I hope he keeps doing well. And when I get off suspension, I could shut his ass up. What was he saying that surprised you? He first said someone like, oh, he got, oh, that's what he said. That's not all he needs or something. He said, that's not all he would need.

But it's it. You know, I don't care if someone said it once, but I guess he kept with it on social media. I keep hearing him talk smack. Like, he put a picture of M&A up. people laughing. It said like when J.T. says he's clean. That's fine. I kind of like people think that, you know.

Let them think I've been shooting this whole time and that I'm this strong by not natural ways. You can't get this strong by even taking stuff. I've been working out since I was 10 years old. When the training sessions are over, I continue to train. That's always a moral philosophy. I've always enjoyed being stronger than people.

And I'm just excited to get back to them. to be a long ways, but I want to train every day. And the more he talks, the more I enjoy it. So you seem to be taking it as well as possible, trying to put a positive spin, going to look for other avenues. You're not, I mean, again, you've been through, you've been through more than most. You're not going to let this get you down. Just kind of reading, you know, your voice and trying to decipher your body language as we're

speaking over the phone here. It sounds like you're not curled up in a ball. in a dark room and crying. You're trying to move on from this. I definitely want to move on, and again, it sucks, but like everything, if you all look at the blessings in disguise, I did away from my kids a very long time.

As much as it sucks, I'm going to spend a little bit more time with my kids. I got to work on some holes in my game. I get to kind of reflect, take this whole thing in. It's still not a good thing. And now I got some fire, you know, Now I'm pretty, I got some more fire to keep on fighting. I got this allegation against me. So, yeah, I got that fire.

And I feel like everything happens for a reason. I think it's a blessing in disguise. You know, I think the universe is trying to tell me something. And I want to use this as motivation. And I hope it will all keep talking to slack about me because I want to slap his ass. I want to get back in there and do some damage. And when I get back, I got six, seven more years left in me. And I want to go to the top.

Thank you, Jesse. Good luck to you. Sorry this happened, but I really appreciate you coming on and addressing it. And good luck, you know, dealing with the suspension, doing other things, and looking forward to seeing you back in 11 months. Thanks, Daniel. Thanks for having me on to let me talk about it. Appreciate it. Pleasure. Talk to you soon. There he is. Jesse Taylor suspended now out for 11 months. As he said, hoping to do some grappling matches and return in 2018. Okay. We are less than two weeks away from UFC 217. earlier today, I put out a poll asking you which three title fights on the card are you most looking forward to right now

the overwhelming favorite is Cody Garbrand versus T.J. Dillshaw. We spoke to Cody a few weeks back. Now we're lucky enough to talk to T.J. Dillshaw, he's on the phone right now. TJ, how are you? I'm doing great, man. Thanks, check on me on. My pleasure. Did you know that? Did you get the sense of the three title fights? Like, even at the press conference,

you guys weren't getting asked the most amount of questions, but you guys are, I did this poll on the few thousand people, voted like you guys have like 70% of the votes over gsp bisping and of course you Juana rose are you getting the sense from people that the fans are most looking forward to your title fight among the three absolutely I've hasn't been found out a bunch you know I thought we didn't get asked as much at the press conference as much because you know my and Cody's deal has been very public now for the last what six months you know to the ultimate fire and all the drama leading up to it.

So it's an old talk, but I'm excited to see the fight, you know. Is a part of you, obviously you're excited to fight. You know, it's a big fight for you, another title fight, but are you almost looking forward to just getting it over? Because as you said, it has, I mean, this has essentially been talked about since the night both of you won last December. Are you kind of just hoping, you know, to move on already and move on with your life and get over this rivalry, this feud, if you will?

Oh, sure. You know, I guess it's not my biggest concern. You know, my biggest concern is getting my boat back and working my way back to where I believe I should be. But, yeah, it's going to be a plus as well. You know, I don't always want to deal with all the job up. But, you know, I feel like the longer this has gone, the more it's actually paid off for me. You know, the easier it has been to deal with it. Five weeks can be a whole lot easier for me with just knowing everything that it involves. and, you know, letting them show how foolish they are on national TV and continuing to act at fools throughout this media and talking trash. It's actually my job a whole lot easier, you know, ever since Cody became a champion and got attention, it became a tool. You know, he became one of these guys that acts the way he thinks he needs to act. You know, all these young kids coming to the UFC that think they need to be these flashy shit talkers when really, you know,

that thing has been a lot longer to be a, the composed professional. So I think really it's kind of made this whole journey easier, the longer it's gone. But it'll be exciting to get across me because I'll have to throw my waist. Do you feel like it benefits you as well because maybe you're less emotional now? If it would have happened in July, it would have been closer to the show. And now you've had some time to have some separation. Absolutely.

Absolutely. I mean, I guess I tried to stay at least as emotional as possible. I know that's something I've always had to control in the past. You know, even with my fight with Dominic and really aggressive with that fight, you know, it's something that I've gotten under control and something I've had to learn to deal with, you know. But yeah, this is. You still there, TJ? I may have lost you. Oh, do you got me?

Oh, yeah, there you are. We lost you there for a second. Yeah. No problem. We're actually, we just looked at you guys squaring off a couple of weeks ago in Vegas and you were talking to each other. What was being said there between the two of? of you? Well, kind of the usual nonsense, you know, like, I'm going to beat your ass or something

like that. Okay. You know, and I was just kind of telling me, I can't wait for nothing, nothing like out of the ordinary. Okay. And just to be clear, where are you, like, where's your team now? Because you're, you're in California, right? You moved from Colorado?

No, I didn't move from Colorado. I still lived in Colorado. I just finished building my house out there. I continue to train with Dwayne out there, but I've been doing my fight camps in Southern California, down in Orange County. We are starting our own gym called the training lab. We've had, I don't know,

the last five, six weeks of practice is out of there. You know, start our own professional fight team. It's a private gym. It's not a public gym. It's not nothing that's going to try to make money, but it's going to be something that we're going to start a team and family. Pretty much learning from our muscle

partner and trying to recreate the way that MMA is done, the way that athletes are treated and the percentages that coaches get and really trying to create a team family unity that we're going to do any kind of money we bring in is going to be given back to the coaches and try to get the best coaches in the world under one facility

which is going to bring the best fighters in the world of my eyes. And so who are the coaches at this team? Well, right now we got Mark Munoz coaching. We got Daryl Christian, Sam Calvita, DeWan Lutterwick's been coming out three, four days a week right now through my training camp. But we're looking for a striking coach to fill his spot on a normal basis, you know, because Dwayne's been coming out three or four days a week, which has been amazing that he's been willing to do that.

So it's still a thing that's growing. It's still a gym. It's just starting getting our feet underneath us. We've got some great guys in the gym. You know, we got Warnerx-Rex-Rezza. We got Cubs swamps in. Aaron Pico's been working out with us doing our strength conditioning

and being in the gym Oh yeah, Felipe Delmonica is also a jihitsu coach I forgot to mention him He's a head instructor at Gracie Baja and Irvine He's been amazing for my game I've grown loose and bound to my jihitsu I'm excited to show that off as well So is Cub no longer with Jackson Wink?

Cubs just had a child And so he's trying to do whatever we can to stay stay in town and be a family So yeah, I think his plan is to do his camp here at the training lab in Southern California. And speaking of fatherhood, you are expecting your first child and congratulations on that. When is the baby due? Baby due December 28th. Oh, wow.

Okay, so we're getting there. Boy or girl? Yeah, boy. Okay. Bronson, Jack Dillash. That's amazing. Congratulations to you and your wife. So to find out that you're going to be a dad in the midst of this incredibly important training,

camp, has that changed, do you feel like a different person? Or do you think that will only happen once you become a dad? Do you feel like, you know, you're, I don't know, the way you attack things, the way you think about things, your prior, do you feel any different at all now? Well, I guess a little bit, you know, I've been sure become a little bit more, uh, one with the baby, even more than that way once the baby is born. But yeah, I mean, kind of how you want your legacy to be seen. I mean, I've already thought about that in the past, but even more so now, knowing that

you're going to have a child that's looking up to you and learning from you and who you are as a man. You know, so I guess I think in that aspect, but when it comes to training and my, and all that, it's been the same, you know. I'd say that I've been, I've got, I've got some new fire of being down here in Southern California and doing some new things. But other than, other than sparking some interest in some new areas, the baby's just kind of, like I said, just kind of holding me to who, whoever I really want to be.

It's kind of wild that both of you are expecting babies in the midst of all this, connected and into a crazy way. We spoke to Cody a couple weeks ago on the show, and one thing that he said that really stood out to me that you don't often hear in the buildup to a fight is that he said that you're not a fighter, you're an athlete, and in his mind there's a difference there, and he's going to sort of expose that in the fight.

What do you make of that sort of trash talk, that criticism that you're an athlete? Yes, give you props in that regard, but you're not a fighter. you're not tough like a fighter. I find that hilarious because it's actually more of a compliment. I mean, I'd rather be an athlete than a fighter. An athlete's going to go out there and figure out the ways they're winning and see the holes in the game. I do treat myself more as an athlete than I do as a fighter.

As a fighter, you're a street thugs. You know what I mean? You went out there lying on your hand or trying to knock someone out and being overly aggressive or what it may be, you know, I'm going to go out there as an athlete just as he said and pick him apart using that. Do you feel like he's more of a fighter than an athlete? Oh, no, he's, I mean, he's done, no longer than he's wrong. He's very athletic.

Okay. He's quick. He got some great athletic attributes. I think, yeah, maybe his downfall is. He relies maybe he didn't be more of a fighter. You know, he could be more of an athlete. I just don't know if he's smart enough to be that way, you know? So the team has thrown out this pretty big-time accusation saying that you're essentially

responsible for the retirement of Chris Holdsworth, that you need him, and he suffered a concussion. You have refuted this, correct? You say that this never happened. You have nothing to do with it. Do you feel like that was a line that was crossed? Like, it's one thing to say you're... Go ahead. There's been lots of lines crossed with their trash talk and their accuracy on me. Throughout these last, however long since your eye, I was trying to get the fight with Cruz. I mean, there's been a lot of trash talks across the line in it. I will never... ever be able to forgive the guys that have crossed the line, you know?

That is complete bull crap. I mean, even just the way everything has gone down, it will prove that to you. So if I, from the way it went down, they said that I got submitted by Chris Holsworth and then I need him in the back of the head while he was grounded in between the round or whatever may be. So you're telling me that I'm meeting people in the back of that in between rounds and ruining their careers, but you want me to stay on your team? You're not going to kick enough team.

you'd rather fight to have me stay on the team and your anger that I left. How does that make sense whatsoever? You know, if I'm a loose canon like that, how would that make any sense whatsoever? Why would you be angry there? If that was the case, if I was doing those kinds of things, I should be kicked off the team instantly. I mean, there's no way that that would be something that is acceptable. Yes, have I been overly aggressive in some splying sessions? Yes, I have.

There's things that there's punches and things that I've thrown and gotten too aggressive. to where, you know, I've had to, like, tell myself, yeah, I shouldn't have done that, you know, kind of thing. But I've never blatantly ever meet someone in the back of the head or tried to end someone's career. You know, I've got maybe aggressive and sparring, which we all have. You know, I got thrown into the Lions Day when I first got the alpha male.

You know, I mean, my first sparring session was against Joseph Benavillas, Chab Mendes, and all the guys just bleeding from my face. And it's like they took it easy on me. You know, it was one of those things that we sparred three, four days a week and just got thrown in there. That's what made me as tough as I am, you know. Not making any excuses. I definitely needed to control who I am as an athlete and as a competitor,

but never ever would I ever step to the lines of what they were saying I did. So you said that they've been crossing the line a lot. Do you remember when it officially cried, like when it just got too personal, when it got maybe uncomfortable, when you felt like there's no turning back now? Not an exact line. I mean, it's been so long now, you know. just all the Bullcraft stories, you know, talking about PEDs

now, being a guy that's choosing someone else everyone actually got kicked off the team for going back and forth between the camp, just, I guess just creating all these lives and try to make themselves look good, you know, and trying to hinder my name however possible.

Especially when you spent, when you spent six years training with guys and thought you were true friends and then, you know, and I still have true friends on the team. that back every move I make, that they understand where I'm at in my life, and that will continue to be friends

for the rest of our lives. But the guys that are not that way whenever my friends begin with, and that's just kind of what you learn, you know? Obviously, don't want to look past Cody. It's a big deal. But are you still hoping to get the Demetrius Johnson fight? Yeah, man.

I would love that. I mean, I wanted it when it was, I felt like it should have happened. You know, he's the Palm Town, Kington. He's the guy that is on top of the world right now. You know, and I definitely think he's a winnable fight. I think that I could have stopped him from breaking the record, and it could have been something great, you know, a big money fight for himself.

And, yeah, I'd have something I would love to do, you know, especially knowing that I can make the weight, knowing that 25 is a very doable thing. You know, I was waking up at 140 pounds in his week. So that's definitely something that would be in my crosshairs, but like you said, there's no way I'm overlooking Cody, one step at a time, and that's getting my original belt back. Is the plan when this fight?

and then fight DJ next, would you like to do that right away? Yeah, I mean, that'd be great, man. We'll see how it goes down. But yeah, that would be definitely something I'm interested in, you know. I feel like that would be a huge legacy fight, something that needs to be done. Were you impressed with what he did a couple weeks ago? Did you watch it? Absolutely, yeah.

He always looked super calm and collected, obviously in great shape and never really makes a mistake. You know, he breaks guys in it. and finished him in the fourth and fifth round, and he looked really good. You know, he did what I expected. Kind of just picked him apart until it was time to finish him, and that arm bar he finished him with was very nice. You know, it was like a wrestling suckback to the jih T.I. It was pretty slick.

Oftentimes we hear T.J. guys say, oh, I expect to fight my opponent, you know, two or three times before it's all set and done. Considering the rivalry here, regardless of what happens on November 4th, Do you feel like this isn't the last time you'll see Cody? Do you feel like you're going to be stuck in this sort of marriage for at least two fights? Oh, I mean, he's absolutely going to be towards the top of the echelon. So, yeah, I expect him after I beat him to get right back up to the top, you know. So I'm definitely expecting to see the guy around.

He's young. You know, he's the guy who's going to continue to be there. He's made the rides fast, and he'll be around, that's for sure. Looking forward to it. Thank you, T.J. appreciate it. We'll see you next week in New York. Absolutely. All right, there he is.

T.J. Dillishaw, number one contender in the Bantamweight Division fights Cody Garbrand November 4th at Madison Square Garden. All right, it is always a treat. It is always an honor when we speak to, in my opinion, one of the greatest ever. He returns finally after a four-year hiatus on November 4th in the main event of UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden.

We've been talking about it for so long. For over a year now, we're finally less than two weeks away. Great to have George Rush St. Pierre on the phone right now. now. George, how are you? I'm good at you, Ariel. Do you hear me good? I hear you perfect. Thank you. Okay, good, perfect. I had like a funny headstuff, you know, I never used before, so I wanted to see if they did the thing that's fine. I'm in the rest of the right. So, it's good, perfect.

You're the man, George. Thank you so much for being on the show. It's always great to talk to you. So we're about to complete your first training camp in four years. What's it been like? Has it been tougher than you expected? Easier than you expected. How would you compare this one to the last one four years ago. It's more fun. I mean, it's more fun. And I know what I have more experience now. The infrastructure of my life and training is much better than it was before.

So, I mean, I train really hard, but I do more specific to what I, it's more specific to what I need and less. There's a lot less destruction, so it's a lot better. So is it safe to say that you're enjoying the process more than you were as you were preparing to fight Johnny Hendricks? 100%. It's a lot more fun. Mentally, I mean, a much better place. There's nothing, there's no other place in the world that I wish to be never before than in the Akkadden place.

I can ask you, how much do you weigh right now, George? I'm about between one. 195, 200 times. Okay. And when you get to New York next week, how much do you expect to weigh? Like, how much weight do you think you'll have to cut? About the same.

Okay. Okay. About the same. 199 to 200. Then I will run like a very easy way cut. Now that you've been face-to-face with Michael a few times, do you feel like he's that much bigger than you? Not that much.

He's getting big bigger, but he's not like a huge higher difference. let's need to come down the 185. We're going to be big of those, but I don't think it's going to make a difference in that life. We've seen you guys face off a few times, and a few times it's been a little bit out of character for you. You've put your hands on him, pushed them away. We saw you guys backstage going back and forth.

Has he gone under your skin? Are you annoyed now? Do you feel like you've kind of, you know, you've let yourself go a little bit in the sense that you got a little too worked up in these exchanges? I put my hand on him, pushing my word because he took him before. I don't want him to touch me. You know, like, you can't say whatever you want, but when it gets physical, you want to get out with it.

I'm pushing. I'm pushing him back, you know. Like, I'm not, you know, I mean, like, I'm not going to let myself laugh back. It's okay, you know, like you can talk as much as well. But when you touch the person, you just miss him, you know, push him back. because I want you by this. I don't want to hear this because of the fact.

I don't want him to touch me and make fun of me like this. You know, like when it's me to call. I would say some other things. Don't think as much as you want, say whatever you want, but don't touch me. So that's what I push him because he touch me. He catch me face. So if you will not have touched me, I would not have done anything.

Throughout this entire process, George, do you feel like he's crossed the line with anything that he said about you? I mean, he continues to say that you've used steroids. He's called you a fraud. You know, all kinds of things he said about you. Do you feel like he's ever crossed the line? No. No, I don't take it personal.

You bring always the same song. He's terrified of me wrestling. He's terrified. In every interview that he's begging me to stand and bang with him. And every other thing, he's like, oh, I'm going to avoid the fight and go on the floor and blah, blah, blah. I mean, if you don't know ground, you shouldn't be in a night. you should be a kickbacker. Go get to the other.

Go pass your and blue bat. You know, it's called you present in the jitzy. Right. I mean, you know, it's fighting on the ground. It's part of the game. So it's terrified. So you want me to be like, oh, okay, I'm going to stand and bang with you, like a baby or something.

Like, I never thought like this. I'm a guy that moves. I have a very big variety of personal to hurt my husband. And that's why I do. And then they use all my tools. not only one tools that I have. That's a mind game that he's trying to play with me. In the past, he's talked about training with you

and how you got the better of him. Do you remember these training sessions? And what were they like? I don't think I get better at it. I don't like what people say that. When I train with a guy, I'm never going to go out and talk about the training. Training is training.

Sometimes you're at a good day. Sometimes you're at a bad day. I don't know if they have us better than you get it better than here. When I train with a guy that happened in the gym, playing the gym, they're going to take 100 moves. I don't like when guys talk about that. I think it's lack of respect. There's a rule.

You shouldn't talk about this. What happened in the gym, it happens in the gym. We all get out, as sometimes I know, about his own. And we all get a different situation that we get our ass kick. I've done my ass kick in the gym all the time. That's normal. That's why training is for, you know. More you sweat in the gym,

but let you bleed in the fight. Speaking of which, I don't know if you heard this, George, but I would be remiss if I don't ask you about it. A couple weeks ago, your mentor, Christoph Medu, did an interview with Patrick Cote, and he had some very critical things to say about you and said he was not happy with the training and didn't want you to come back,

wasn't going to go to the fight. And I know he's been a big part of your life. Did you hear this interview? and if so, what did you make of his comments? No, I didn't hear it, and I heard about it, but I don't know what to say. I mean, there's something like my person at birth that I started with. So I see it as a chance for me to prove him wrong. And I don't know why he says this thing.

I see it as a challenge as a motivation to prove him. wrong. So trying to prove them that you think I did it, man. And the time person, I know a lot of my hands, a lot of people

in my life. I've said, uh, shouldn't do black. Even before when I, when I lost my failure and all these, I always proved them wrong. You always prove them wrong.

Once again, but I don't think you really believe that. You don't think, are you disappointed to hear this? I mean, to have someone so close to you, doubt you publicly like that? Does it hurt you?

Do you feel let down? No, because he was there in my last silent session, and he was very happy. He was like, oh, wow, but he was very good, so I don't know why. What did he say? Maybe he was different when he took the other than what he thinks now, or maybe he changes mine, or maybe something he doesn't want to tell me. He seemed to say Matthew. He was all right.

I don't even know where he is. I have a matter of fact, I know. He's very mysterious person. A friend of mine is a man, though sometimes I feel like I don't know what he thinks, I don't know what he does, I don't even know where he is, I don't know if he's been in Montreal

and you can be gone because he was in my apartment and stuff are gone now. I don't know. Okay. I don't leave, I don't control these things and I don't let these things get farther before the fight I stay just on the political and stuff

but I come back to it. Right. We saw that recently you were training with Jake Shields, who you fought at the Rogers Center in Toronto. What was that like to train with a previous opponent of yours? And why did you bring in Jake Shields? Right, that's subjection is amazing. I've been training together for a couple little bit. We can both learn from each other and both grow together, training with each other.

It's an honor to be able to train. They gave me a lot. I have a lot of help. He's on a modern fighter. He's incredible tools. The pressure that he puts on the ground is just unbearable. It's great. It is great.

He's very, very good and very specializing that he does. Who's going to be in your corner on November 4th, George? It has a heavy. Yeah. John Donahill. Or head and cool. and Freddie Roach Freddie Roach, wow, that's going to be something else.

What a team. You were back in Montreal just a couple of weeks ago at the Bell Center. The ovation was amazing, and I have to admit, I kind of wished in that moment that you were fighting at the Bell Center just because of the love that you received from the people.

What was that like for you to return and hear them chanting your name? And did you feel the same way? Did a part of you say, oh, I wish I was fighting in front of these people on November 4th? Yeah, yeah, of course, But maybe in the future, I'll fight in Montreal, you know, we'll see what's going to happen.

I can't fight in both places in the same time. So there is a possibility, too, I go and fight in Montreal again. I hope so. We'll see what's going to happen. George, a lot can happen in four years, and a lot has happened in MMA in four years, with Ronda Rousey and Connor McGregor, and there's a lot of new fans. And throughout this sort of build to the fight, I have felt like maybe a lot of the fans currently have forgotten. how good you were or maybe

weren't watching when you were the king of the welterweights when you were on that winning street. Have you gotten that sense as well that there's a lot of new fans who maybe don't remember that you were one of the greatest ever and that this is a really big deal that you're coming back? Do you pay attention to these things? Yes and no, I do not control what

people think I need and if people remember much, that I can control everyone. I go out there and deliver the best performance that I can do and the outcome will take care of itself they're talking out of you. And I truly believe that I'm going to be a special night.

I'm going to be a special night. I like, I'm going to work to be back. Is there an outcome that keeps on coming back in your mind? Is there a result that you think will, you know, come to fruition on November 4th, that you're confident will happen? Yeah, and then I'm much more, I guess, much more important than I was before I changed. A lot of things that's changed in four years. People say you can't be in advance yourself.

I'm going to prove that you can. Oh, wow. I'm going to prove it to everybody. How do you expect to finish him? The same. I'm not the same guy that I was when I fought the last time. I have a lot more views. I'm a lot better in the real aspect of the game.

And I'm specializing different things. I have a lot of new treats that I'm going to do to the game. Oh, wow. How do you expect to win the fight? Do you feel confident about one result? Yeah, I'm going to finish him. That's what I do. So we do not help us a mission.

Wow. What a scene that will be. George, I can't thank you enough. I know you're extremely busy for you to take out some time really means a lot. Best of luck to you on November 4th. Can't wait to see you in New York next week at Madison Square Garden. It's going to be a lot of fun. Really appreciate the time and good luck in the last few days of training.

Thank you, Ariel. And thanks to the family, for all the support to give me to the time. And I'm very happy to be back and they won't be disappointed. Can't wait. Thank you, George. All the best. I'm good time. There he is.

The one and only George St. Pierre says that he has reinvented himself some new tricks, predicts a finish on November 4th. The consummate pro, one of the first people to wear a suit at a press conference. Now it's, you know, pretty much done by most fighters, especially the fighters that don't want to wear the Reebok gear. But I do truly believe. and I have started to feel this way for quite some time that there are a lot of new fans in the MA

and this is no knock on the fans of today. Of course there are fans from way back when. Of course there are fans who watched George, you know, win the belt against Matt Hughes at UFC 65, win the belt again against Matt Sarah, UFC 83. I know that those fans exist, but there are also a ton of new fans, a ton of fans who were introduced to mixed martial arts

when Rhonda came on the scene. A ton of fans who were introduced to mixed martial arts when Connor McGregor came on the scene. And those two fighters in particular really made a name for themselves. I know Rhonda was around, before Connor was around before as well. Rhonda came into the UFC

a little bit before Connor, a little bit before as well. But, you know, they really became the stars that they became, the household names that they are, post-GSP. And I feel like there are so many fans who followed them to the sport

who don't really recognize how great GSI. is who don't really recognize how big of a deal this is. We can nitpick about the feud. We can nitpick about whether, you know, this fight should have been made. We can nitpick about the buildup. We can nitpick about the delays and the press conferences and all that stuff. But to me, any time a legend, a living legend, like one of the true legends of the

sport, one of the very best to ever compete in any sport, we're talking baseball, basketball, you know, Jordan's hiatus was shorter. Big deal. Anytime someone comes back who's that good, it is a big deal. And then when you add MSG, and then when you add the fact that

he has a chance to fight you know, for another belt in another weight class and be one of four people to hold two belts in two different weight classes, Connor McGregor, B.J. Penn, Randy Couture, And then when you add the Bispick, like I really don't know what's going to happen in this fight.

That's what I love so much about it. You can sit here and tell me, oh, Bispings too big. Yeah, but Bispings been out for a year and change. Bisping is banged up. Bisping hasn't fought anyone. One of the things about GSP that I've always respected, we could criticize and nitpick again in the past.

Some of the fights haven't been the most exciting. There's no doubt about that. And he may be one of the first to tell you that. But his fight IQ, his game plans have always been second to none. The way he's been able to pinpoint his opponent's strengths and weaknesses, exploit them, fight fire with fire. He's done that against all the opponents that he's faced.

And so I'm so curious to see how he looks in this fight. I'm so curious to see how he adapts, how he looks after the layoff, how he looks at 185. It's fascinating. Unbelievable. I can't wait. All right. So that is coming up in less than two weeks on November 4th. Appreciate George for stopping by.

Still got a bunch of guests left. Rosamma Yunus in a matter of moments. Scott Coker, Colby Covington. And we haven't forgotten about Darren Till. We were supposed to talk to Darren Till now. But apparently New York Creek is telling me that his phone just broke. What in the world is going on here? His phone just broke.

this is just wild Ariel this is a message from Darren told that I just received two minutes ago Ariel my phone is broke I'm going to buy one first thing tomorrow morning it's the same phone from the last time with the crack screen

can we reschedule sorry for the inconvenience what in the world this has to be one of the weirdest situations of all time does that mean we can't do Skype okay all right

well yeah, we'll see about that. That is unfortunate news. But in a minute, we will be joined by Rose Nami Yunus, who meets Yawani on Jacek at UFC 217.

And that is one of three title fights on the card. Of course, George St. Pierre, Michael Bisping, the other one being T.J. Dillishaw versus Cody Garbrand. Let's go to the magical Skype now and welcome in. Thug Rose Namiunis. Are you there? There she is. Hello, Rose. How are you? Yes, I'm here. I'm good. You're a little quiet, though. Let me see if I can, um, oh, shoot. As a loud as it goes. Okay. Can you hear me now? How do I sound? Yeah, can you hear me? I can hear you.

Uh, it's still soft, but I can understand you. Okay. How are things? When we came to you there, you had like a bit of a frown on your face. Are you okay? I was so upset. Oh. Damn. No, no, I'm, I'm good. You're good? We're less than two. We're less than two. weeks away now. Are you at the point now where you just wanted to happen already? How would you describe your mindset? First title fight in the UFC? Yeah, I've pretty much been here for about the entire training camp. I've been wanting to happen. So yeah, I've been, I've been, uh, ever since seeing, you know, you want to become champ. I've been wanting a fighter ever since and, and, uh, become the best myself. So it's, uh, it's been a long time coming and, um, you know, I'm just, uh, tired of waiting, but, you know, I got to say patient.

I want to go back to a couple weeks ago in Las Vegas. They had this press conference and you know, you, GSP, Bisping, T.J., Cody, Yawanna, you're all there. And you and Yonah kind of stole the show as far as the faceoff is concerned and your demeanor was just so fascinating because she was trying to intimidate you as she likes to do in the face off. And you were just stoic. Like I rewatched it last night. You didn't even blink. You didn't even move. You were just like, I mean, you were stoic.

That was the best way. what is going through your mind during that? Do you just block it all out? Can you put us in your head at that point as you're staring at her and she's trying to rile you up? Yeah. You know, it doesn't matter. Like as much of a great champion as she is, as much as, yeah, I'll take those. Oh, my bad.

Oh, there you go. Yeah, maybe they'd be better. There we go. Yeah, it just doesn't matter who I'm standing across from. It's, I'm going to be me every time. I'm going to be, you know, I'm not going to let nothing rattle me, what's going on around me. It doesn't matter. All I can control is myself.

And no matter what she's doing, whether she's, you know, trying to give me a high five or whether she's trying to spit in my face, it really shouldn't have any effect over me and my emotions. What was she saying to do you remember? I think she started out by saying like mentally unstable and she said something else that, I kind of just, like, once she said that, I think I just, like, blanked out. Like, I don't remember what she said in the middle. And then I think towards the end, as she was, like, walking away, she said, I'm going to fuck you up or something like that. And I don't know, kissed her hand.

But I couldn't make out everything. But I wasn't, I was kind of like in this weird trance state where I was getting, you know, a few weird tier in there. But, yeah. Do you do that? Like, do you do that? We were even looking at another picture where you had your hand, your head on your, you know, you're on

your hand, you're just like, you look like you were kind of like bored or maybe not wanting to let any of it sink in. Do you put yourself in that mindset so that it doesn't rattle you? Yeah, you know, there's no room for of course, fighting is one of the most emotional

things that you can possibly do. You have to constantly deal with your emotions, especially myself. I have so many that that's where I get my energy from, but it's a matter of controlling them. And yeah, I just don't let nothing affect me. What do you make of her trying to do that? Do you find it silly? Do you understand why she does it? Do you have any take on it? No, it's just a script, you know? It's the same script

that she's been playing over and over again. So it's, to me, it's kind of played out. But, you know, that's just who she is. That's what she does. So, you know, I don't know. There's nothing really, no, no thoughts on that. Okay. Of course, last time we spoke to you was, during Pat's interview a couple months ago and you made a brief cameo and you guys really put a lot out out there. What kind of feedback did you get after that about wearing your emotions on your sleeve? I know you're not really on social media these days. Maybe you didn't get any feedback at all. But if you did, what kind of feedback was? Yeah. I think that Pat actually got a lot more feedback than myself. I think he got a lot of people that were really inspired by his message,

you know, because, you know, a lot of people can relate to that story. And, you know, drug addiction and all this other stuff, that's a real life problem, I think. And I think, you know, just mental health is definitely like something that I think needs to be brought to, needs to be talked to a little bit more. And I think that people are struggling with a lot nowadays, especially with, you know, tragedies that go on and stuff. I think that there's a lot.

that people want somebody to say, you know, or talk about it. And I think one of the, instead of focusing on the problem, you know, we can focus on the solution. And that's kind of what I'm fighting for right now is, you know, martial arts to me is, it is answered to all those problems, you know, to me, you know, Yonautica say I'm mentally unstable and this and that, but, and she might be right, you know. I have a history of it in my family, you know, but I think that's what makes me so great of a fighter, you know, I'm crazy as hell.

So, and fighting, fighting helps me with that. And I think that if more people would hit a bag and more people would train martial arts the right way, and then there will be less tragedies in the world and less, you know, fucked up things that would happen. We saw how it affected you leading up to the Carolina fight. So how are things at home leading up to the most important fight of your career? Yeah. This training camp has definitely been, you know, no training camp comes. without its challenges or struggles.

This training camp, everybody is on point, you know. Pat is, I don't know how to describe it. He's just amazing, you know. He swings to the fence for me every day. And, you know, Tony, Trevor, everybody's just in such a great state of mind. You know, like, no matter what is in our way, we're just, you know, we just keep trucking forward. We just keep pushing forward. And it's not, you know, I don't know.

everything's been great. You know, my life, I can't complain. I have a beautiful house that I work so hard for, you know, beautiful animals and family and friends. And this is just what I've created for myself. And I'm going to continue to do so. Since that fight at UFC 201, you had the one fight against Michelle Watterson. You looked fantastic in that fight and now you get the title shot. Does a part of you kind of wish that you had a couple more wins before the title shot, you know, for the confidence or not necessary? No, it's all internal, you know, no fight. No matter how many fights you have, you're always going to be nervous stepping in the cage. You're always going to have those jitters and stuff just, and not because of the other person. It has nothing to do with Joanna. Of course, she's, you know, she can, sorry, she has certain strengths, you know, like her intimidation factor, this and that, you know, but all in all, it's just,

it's all the same, you know. Everybody that I fight, they end up doing the same thing, you know. They can't figure out what's going on the outside. I have a, you know, I have this movement that's just really hard to figure it out. And then, you know, eventually they try and grab me, you know, one way or another, whether they be take me down or try and clinch or whatever, but it's all the same. And I think that, I think Yawanna is going to turn to be her version of the same chick, but she's going to be the same chick that I fought every time.

Have you watched a lot of her fights? Are you the kind of fighter to do that? I try and catch what I can You know that's not definitely something that I focus on We take like a smaller portion of the training camp To kind of like you know figure out what are the likely scenarios You know let's prepare for those let's prepare for their strength And let's also keep in mind their weakness too

Like where could we also potentially attack But really in all the same formula goes for everybody You know you I just be the best version of myself dedicate maybe a week or two to preparing for whatever they might bring and then bring it back to me and you know kind of I guess put it put on the finishing

polishing touches and and just get ready to fight you know whether that be and you know that's another thing too like of course you know you watch your opponent just to see what's the likelihood of this or that happening but you have to be ready to adapt to any scenario

I mean for all we know Yon might pull out you know and then it could replace with somebody else, you never know what's going to happen. Not saying that's going to happen, but you just got to be prepared for anything. I mean, even maybe it is her, but what if all of a sudden she has this crazy wrestling skills that she's been

hiding this whole time? You know, you don't want to sleep on nothing or nobody. She has obviously been undefeated in the UFC. Not many, you know, slip-ups, but maybe if there's one criticism, maybe it's that she starts a little slow, right? Against Claudia Godella. She started slow. She had to

come back, maybe a little bit against Andrage. Do you agree with that assessment that she starts slow and are you going to look to, you know, expose that? Are you going to look to try to start really fast to counteract the fact that she starts slow at times? I don't know. You know, I think that is definitely kind of a habitual thing that, you know, you kind of see. And whether that be because of her or whether that be the other person, does they start really fast? I don't know. To me, I think maybe it's just because of her composure in there and she just like really, you know, takes a few to,

kind of like snap and turns on. I don't know. Really, it's all speculation and stuff. But for me, I'm going to do what I do regardless of, you know, what her pace is. You know, I'm going to set the pace, you know. So I'm going to, everything that I'm doing, everything that she's doing is because I'm making her do it, you know. Did you think that at 25 you'd be fighting for a UFC belt? Did you think this would happen so early in your career?

Actually, yeah. I said a while back that I wanted to be a millionaire by the time I was 25. So I don't know if that meant become a champ or that become, you know, I don't know, like find a treasure of gold. I don't know. But I knew, but it kind of makes sense, you know. And I, like I said, I've created this for myself. I've done all the steps to get to where I'm at right now, you know.

And I've kind of just visualized. I said I wanted to have a house by the time I was 25 and make a million dollars somehow. So, well, we'll see. And, you know, I make this mistake all the time. I always do this. This is your second UFC title fight. For some reason, the Carlos Sparza fight, to me, I don't know why I always make this mistake when it comes to that fight. And that one was different because it was after the show.

Maybe it's because I feel weird about the ultimate fighter, but that's a different story for a different day. But it leads me to this question. How would you compare this rose two weeks before? to the one who was fighting Carla. Like, does it feel different as well for you? Yeah. Definitely, like, there's some similarities, you know, like with every fight preparation,

I always go, oh, this feels kind of like this time or that kind of feels like that time, and you start getting all these, like, superstitious thoughts and stuff, and it's kind of like, now you just tell yourself to shut up. But at the same time, if I go off of, like, things that matter, like everything is almost kind of like opposite, you know? I'm way more stable. Way more, you know, just in tune with myself.

Yeah, I'm like, I don't know. It's just way in more control of my thoughts, too. Do you get nervous before big fights? Of course, you know. That was funny. You know, a friend of ours was like, you know, Texas was like, oh, man, did you see this or whatever? They look scared.

They look nervous. And we're like, yeah, so are we, you know? But it's just, that's the name of the game. I mean, we're getting in there, you know, half-naked in front of thousands of people, all the world's watching, like, everything's on the line, all this stuff. And then at the end of the day, it's just a fight. It's just another day in the office. And literally one day we're going to look back at this.

And, you know, it's just going to be a memory in our, you know, our scrapbook. Yeah. So maybe, like, because this one's obviously a lot more magnified, it's bigger than the one on the tough finale. Madison Square Garden, pay-per-view, GSP and all that. Do you feel like you're enjoying the ride a little more than you were going into the tough finale fight? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think that there's just like less pressure, you know?

Less pressure that I put on myself. Less pressure, I think, and expectations from other people. I can, you know, shut out, like, just kind of dumb stuff that, you know, other people, that people that don't really know the fight game or, you know, you know, the typical people that come up to your like, are you ready? Yeah, yeah. Is that the worst? Just those kind of things are easier to shut out.

Yeah, it's like, that's the worst. Or like the other one is like, are you excited? Yeah. Like, I don't know. Excited ain't the word to even describe it. So. Right. Yeah.

My favorite thing was when people would ask Nick Diaz, are you excited? He would go on like a 10-minute rant about why he hates that word. It was classic. I learned that very early on in my career. Have you ever seen him talk about the word excited? It's great stuff. No, no, but I'm definitely going to look that up now because that sounds hilarious. What about the-

It used to be like a huge like just pet peeve of mine. Yeah, I can't imagine. I can't imagine if someone, you know, asks you, are you ready to? I mean, I just can't imagine. It's like, are you excited to die? You know, it's like, stop. What about the break from social media? Are you done with it?

Are you enjoying life without it? I don't know. It's just something that I'm trying out right now. See if it, you know, has some type of, see, just doing a, yeah, doing a social media social experiment. I don't know. I'm like in a silence and, you know, and just kind of focusing on what's going on in my personal life

and just my day-to-day, you know, personal interactions. Yeah. So there's no part of you that feels like, oh, I need to promote this or anything like that. Oh, man. Yes, please. What? The light's not on, is it?

What happened? Okay. I was going to say our tomatoes are somewhere bigger now. Okay, yeah, let's see them. But I don't know. Our Girl Tent light isn't on though, so I don't know if we can see them right now. We're so excited. Let's try.

Can we try at least? I know. I got so excited. Let's see. I got so on? Yes. Okay. Okay.

Yeah, bring one out. Oh, he's going to bring him? Are you going to go? Yeah, he's going to bring one out. Okay. No, I'm going to just sit up real quick. I had these, uh, these like, I don't know if you've seen these before, but these leg boot thingies.

Oh, yes, yes, yes. And they, like, squeeze your legs? Yes. What does that do? Oh, it just, like, pushes out the lactic acid out your legs and stuff, and it just feels kind of good. I don't really know what the scientific applications are, but I like it, because especially, like, after, I just did, like, a nice fast, quick run. Here we go. Oh, wow.

Look at that. Yeah. We got tomatoes. Look at that. Looks great. Are you eating them yet? How do they taste? Not yet.

They're still green right now, and so those are like the first ones that popped up. So we're still waiting. I'm kind of like, yeah, I'm kind of wondering if they're growing a little slow right now or what. I don't know. But they're a beef steak to me, huh?

I know. Pat says they're getting a lot bigger every day. I just like, I guess I need to keep working all my perspective. Yeah. Who's like in charge of the of the garden? Like who takes the lead? Is it you or Pat?

I definitely like I'm the overseer of a lot. Okay. And Pat has been helping me a lot with like watering. Okay. And he's gotten really good at, because we even do like our little pH stuff sometimes. And so he's in charge of the pH. And then I'm in charge of like kind of making decisions.

Although we can, I don't know. We just, we like work as a great team. Like, it's kind of like, bike camp in a way. Yeah. By the way, are you eating a brownie? We both work together equally. No, there's a, um, a banana bread that my mom ate for me.

Wow. How lucky are you? Banana bread is the best. I know, right? You don't have to cut a lot of weight? This time I'd say this probably the most that I've had that I'm going to have to cut. Yesterday I was like 126. Um, but it's kind of like the same as last camp.

I was a little bit bigger. as well. Okay. I think I'm just like one pound heavier than last count. By the way, did you guys see each other in the hotel and did she try to like mean mug you or something? What happened there? Oh, yeah.

When you were in Vegas. I was like talking to, yeah, yeah, we were for the media thingy. We were checking into our hotel. I was talking to Chris Bovino and he was saying something that like made me laugh or something. So I was already laughing. I was like smiling. and then I felt something. I was like I could feel her energy.

You know? I was like, I looked. And I was like smiling at her. Oh, no. And then she was like scowling with her hat like this. And she had her little baggie or whatever, like her little roller bag. And she's like, she rolls to the line like behind us. Like with a skull.

I was like, oh, it's starting already. Yeah. Did you guys say anything to each other? She was looking pretty hard with that. With the rolling lugging. She was looking hard with that roller bag. Did she say anything to you? Um,

no, no. He was just watching me. Okay. Madison Square Garden. Does that mean anything to you, Madison Square Garden? Like, do you feel like this feels different, or is it just another place for you? Um, I mean, everybody is saying how great of a, how great of a venue it is and how important it is and all the best have, you know, performed there. so I'm just waiting to just

you know kind of feel it out in the moment I know it's a big deal at the same time you know arena is an arena you know it's it's uh I don't know I'm not I've been to New York a few times

I'm kind of like getting used to it or whatever each time I get there but it's kind of just like every typical like city except just way more packed in then, you know, from what I'm used to. But this is a, I mean, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, the fight of the century, the Knicks, the Rangers, Elton John.

I mean, the greatest of the grade have competed there. You could win the UFC title in just the second UFC event ever there in the most iconic and famous arena in the world. Yeah. Incredible. You can't write a better script than this. Yeah. It is true.

And it's where you want to fight. it's uh you know she's that's i feel like i'm going into you know devil's territory i'm i'm going to take the flag you know a lot of polish people in new york are there a lot of lithuanian people here as well i don't know is there a big lithuanian community do you know i think i'm not sure in new york but i know that they're like heavily concentrated in chicago okay um i'm not sure about new york though do you have a big entourage coming i'm sure there's some, like, from what I know, not that I'm aware of. I think that, you know, my first title fight, my mom and everybody was there.

And I think that, I think people understand to, like, give me my space now. Okay. There's a little much. There's still some people that were letting me know that they're coming and stuff. But I think that, not like the typical people that used to be coming to all my fights and stuff. Okay. Yeah. What about Mishka?

Is she coming? Oh yeah. Hell yeah. You wouldn't leave her she's the good luck charm. What's your record? Yeah, yeah. She's a,

let's see. Uh, one, two, three, three and one. Three and one, all right.

Yeah. Looking to go four and one. Do you have a finish in mind? You've had some pretty amazing finishes throughout your career. the flying arm bar, the waterson finish was made. Do you have a finish in mind for this one? Every

fight, the mentality is punch them in a face, take their back, choke them out. So that's what I'm looking to do. Wow, what a scene that would be at MSG, choking out you on Jacek. I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to this fight. Happy for you, good to see that you're in good spirits. Appreciate you doing this. I know it's hectic. I'm getting close to the fight, so it's great to check in with you, Rose and looking forward to seeing you in New York in New York next week. Yeah, see you there.

Okay, thanks so much. All the best to you guys. We'll see you next week. Thank you. All right. There she is. Thug Rose, Nama Yunus, stopping by. What a trifecta. What an amazing trio fights. Not to mention, I mean, the rest of the card is great, but I would argue once again, as I said in my little rant a couple weeks ago, I would argue that this trio as a collective unit better than the trio last year at UFC 205. I would argue that. I really would. I'm looking forward to it.

Rosemnum Eunice against Ewanio and J. Chek. T.J. Dilleshaw against Cody Garbrandt, George St. Pierre versus Michael Bisping. Come on. As far as three title fights go, they haven't had a lot of them. But this one is pretty darn good. Let us just pray that it remains intact, that everything's good for the next, what is it?

eight, 12 days. And there were some reports, and I heard Joe Rogan talking about this, about ticket sales and them being a little slow. Man, the tickets are priced high. And it's a balancing act. So we'll see what happens. I think I saw a report in the Wrestling Observer last week that they were still a couple thousand off at least. So we'll see what it looks like. Of course, the first time that they were at MSG, $18 million gate, that's the most ever in the history of the arena.

doesn't matter what it is. Boxing, Knicks, Rangers, concerts, most ever belongs to the UFC. That is insane. I would love to know what that gate would have been with Connor and without Connor. Would it have been the most ever without Connor? Like just the fact that it was the first event

in MSG's history, MMA event? I would like to know. Of course, we'll never know the answer to that, but I'm curious. I'm very curious how much of that had to do with Connor. And I guess we'll find out next week, you know, what round two looks like, what the second foray looks like. But I'm very excited about it. Of course, excited always that there's a home game and that it's relatively close to where I live.

But anytime you can cover an event of any kind at the world's most famous arena, home of the 2017-2018, NBA champion New York with Knickerbockers, it is always a very exciting thing. It's always a very exciting time. Speaking of the women's strawweight division, UFC announced last week that Michelle Waterson is returning December 2nd, UFC 218-218 in Detroit, Michigan. So I'm looking forward to that. And that card is really shaping up to be a very, very solid one. UFC 218.

Sometimes these random pay-per-views end up crazy stack. Sometimes they don't end up stacked. It's very strange how it works out. But that's a solid fight in the strawweight division. Michelle Watterson versus Tichita. I mean, there is no clear-cut number one contender at 1-15 after Rose. So perhaps that fight will produce the next contender at 115 pounds. Also, speaking of UFC 217 in less than two weeks,

Corey Anderson was supposed to fight Patrick Cummins. And now he's fighting Ovincent St. Prue. of insane Peru, replacing Patrick Cummins after Cummins battling a staff infection. So that fight has been added to UFC 217 as well. All right. A big weekend this past weekend for Bellator in Connecticut

at the Mohican Sun. We spoke to Gagard Musasi earlier. Now let's talk to Belator President Scott Coker. Wanted to get his take on the card. And of course, Belator 186 in less than two weeks as well, crowning their first women's flyway champion, the return of Ryan Bader, etc. at Penn State. Let's welcome back our old friend, Scott Coker.

Scott, how are you? Doing great. How are you? I'm doing great as well. It's great to talk to you. It's been a minute. By the way, how nervous are we about the Warriors? Is this just a product of going to China and everything? Or are we getting a little nervous about their slow start? Yeah, don't worry. Last year, I went to the opening day, and they lost that game as well. So I think it's just something that they're used to, and they'll bounce back.

It's a long season. but I think that we have a really good shot to repeat this year. Yeah, I would agree with you. I think everyone does as well. Okay, so let me ask you about Mr. Musassi. We spoke to him earlier. He was very fired up about the critics, about the fight, about his eye. What did you make of his performance in his debut?

I mean, you know, J.R. came in, you know, fought his butt off. I mean, to fight with orbital fracture for two rounds, I mean, the guy's a warrior. You know, a lot of people could have just quit. And at one point I thought the doctor was going to step in and stop the fight. But he thought that Gaguer could continue. But it just goes back to, you know, we've got great fighters in Belator and Semenko. After 59, you know, 60 fights, the guy's a killer. And, you know, he did what he had to do.

And at the end of the day, it was a close, close fight. I think Gagard won the first round. I think Gagard, I think Semenko won the last round. It was the second round that was in question. and, you know, the judges saw it get his way. So if he would have lost that fight after the, you know, the doctor looks at him and says, no, you know, we can't, we can't let him continue. Would that have been a disaster for Beltor, considering how much you invested in him,

how big this debut, the name that he, that he is? How would you have described that if it would have, you know, if it would have ended up in a loss due to the doctor's stoppage? Yeah, I mean, listen, those things happen in fights. and, you know, we would just go on to the next event and the next event, and Gaggar will come back, and I think this definitely rose Slovanko stock when lose or draw. I mean, I think he had a great performance, and people see how great of a fighter he is. But, you know, is it devastated to the league?

No, there's not one fighter that, you know, just says, hey, this is what Bellator is. It's not just built on one fighters. It's built on many fighters. And we have a lot of great fighters that can fight anybody in any league in our company. and Gaggard is, you know, I call him the prodigal son returns home. And I think he had a great performance.

And, you know, he was in a tough fight with a tough, tough guy. And I think people should give credit to Shilenko. Has, you know, some of these free agents that you've spent money on that you've brought over from places like the UFC primarily, and there are maybe slow starts in Bellator. Has that made you think twice at all

on your strategy as far as free agency is concerned? No, not at all. I think it's quite the contrary. I mean, you know, when I was in Strike Force, you know, they always tried to send the propaganda. You know, UFC fighters are better than Strike Force fighters. Well, I think Strike Force proved that, and we can just leave that door shut because, you know, we had some of the best fighters in the world, and they proved it. And, you know, we already know all the names that we talked to them past about, had great careers.

And, you know, and I think that that's the same thing here. It's like, look, we got some of the best fighters in the world, and they can beat some of the best fighters in the world from any league. It doesn't matter. It's not about the name of a league. It's about the players. It's about the fighters. And that's how I feel.

So, you know, that's kind of a debate that we were having last week. In a way, you know, when, I don't know, a Patrickey Pitbull beats a Benson-Henderson or Slamang. It almost proves that, okay, Belator is here to stay. It's no cakewalk when you come over here. But I think we can't deny that Gagra Musassi coming over and the amount of money that you're paying for him, it's probably behooves the company that he is successful and that, you know, he almost makes it worth the investment. Do you look at the fights that way? Like, okay, you don't maybe have to win, but you have to at least prove that it was worth going out there and paying you all this money to come over and fight for us.

Yeah, I mean, I think that, look, you know, he, you know, he's a great fighter. And, you know, does his stock go down if he, if he lost? I don't know. it depends on the fight. I mean, it was, you know, it was a great fight, and they went back and forth, and like I said, it went down that second round. But, you know, as far as bringing over the best fighters that we can, that's still my job, and that's still going to continue. And if you're a free agent, I mean, give us a call, you know, and we're going to continue to sign the fighters that are available that go to free agency. And that, you know, so it's my job to make sure that we continue the free agent pool and to grow our free agents. But at the end of the day, it's up to the fighters to fight. And, you know, it's something that they have to go in there and do their best. And if win-lose or draw, look, we're in business with them. You know, that's how I feel.

We're in business with Gary Moussachi for years. We're in business with Benson-Henderson for years, with Ryan Bader for years. So it's not just going to be based around one fighter. And win-lose-or-d draw, that's just how, you know, it rolls out sometimes. So to put a bow on Musasi, is it fair to assume that his next fight will be for the middleweight title? Well, I think that, you know, we have the fight in December in Florence. And, you know, we're going to wait to see what happens there.

If Gagher is healthy, I think he has to have surgery on his eye when he gets home. So who knows how long he might be out for eight months to a year. So a lot will depend on his health. And also, we don't know what's going to happen in Florence either. So, you know, let's wait to see what happens in Florence and then get the doctor's report from Gagard maybe in a two-weeks. weeks after the swelling goes down and then we can we can have a more you know current conversation about that that belt and and that title fight is halfel carvalio against a lesiasa

car that you're referring to in in florence by the way i saw that you were asked about this and i'm wondering if uh your your stance has changed at all since friday will bell tour be moving to five round non-title fight main events do you think that that's the way to go after you know the ufc has done it now for four or five years would you you like to see that in your organization as well? You know, it's something that we debated internally, and, you know, like I said, at the press conference, it's like, once you do it, you can't go back. Yeah.

And so there's been, you know, some thought on both sides, but, you know, right now we are going to continue with the three-round main events and five-round title fights, but, you know, it's still being debated internally, and I think it'll be a matter just of when it happens, but I think eventually we'll head in that direction. Do you have a stance? Like if there was a vote right now, what would you vote for? Five round or three round main of heads?

You know, I'm not opposed to three rounds, to be honest, because it's something that, you know, when you go in there and you know it's three rounds, you're going to fight your, you know, you're going to fight your ass off for three rounds and go at it, you know, and, you know, that there's, you know,

like you can't pace yourself. It's going to be much quicker-paced fight than a five-round fight. but, you know, I have people debating me here, and, you know, so it makes a lot of sense because if this fight was a five-round fight, clearly, you know, I think it would have went to Semenko's way. Right. So, you know, it's, you know, you're kind of in the middle here,

but we'll see what happens. I mean, it's being debated, that's for sure. The general consensus on line after the Heather Hardy fight was that it was a disaster, that you have a lot invested in her, that you've been pushing her, and here's this little known Christina Williams, who's making her debut, and she completely, you know, she breaks her face.

Her nose is busted, bleeding, all that stuff. How would you describe the fight? And more importantly, the outcome? You know, like I said, you know, it's our job to put the fights together, and then, you know, it's up to the athletes to perform. And, you know, Christina Williams, that was her pro debut.

And here was this, you know, young lady in the middle of this, you know, big arena on national TV. And it looked like she had probably had 40 or 50 pro fights already in major stadiums. I mean, nothing rattled her. I was really surprised. And I was

talking to Rich, I go, oh, I think she's going to run out of gas. I think she's getting a little nervous. But she didn't. She just kept bringing it and bringing it. And, you know, Heather did take a lot of damage. And I know Rich talked her over the weekend. And, you know, she said, I'm Irish. I'll be back. I'm not going to go out like this.

so, you know, we are expecting her back, but, you know, we can only see up the fights and make the fights happen as far as a disaster because you put so much time, energy, and marketing, and listen, it is what it is. I mean, you know, we can't, we can't, you know, fight for the fighters as well, but we can only put the best fights that we can on. And whatever happens at that point, I feel that, look, as a promoter, we just let it unfold as it unfolds. That's certainly the right kind of approach. Do you know what kind of injury? Like she broke her nose, right? That's fair to say? Do you know what kind of injury she's saying?

Yes. Yeah, she has, I think the only thing structural was just her nose was broke. And she has some, you know, some pretty black eyes. And it was, I saw her in the hallway or the lobby when I was on my way up to bed. And I ran to her and I gave her a hug. I said, you know, hang in there. How are you feeling? And she's like, I'm fine.

You know, I'm fine. and, you know, she was looking to go get some rest, and she'll be off for a little bit, but I believe she will be back. Okay, so you don't think that she's going to go off to boxing now? Well, listen, you know, Lou DeBello was there, and we had a great conversation. We sat down and talked for 30, 40 minutes,

about just the different possibilities of, you know, with Heather, with his other fighters that he has in his stable, someone want to come to Tama, and, you know, I think that, you know, we'll do some business with Lou, with some of his other fighters as well. So, you know, we have a good relationship with Lou. And, you know, if he wasn't supportive of this, you know, it definitely wouldn't have happened.

And, you know, Heather, if she wants to go box, and, you know, then that's what it is. It won't go to box. What other fighters are we talking about here? Well, he, we didn't get into specifics, but he's got a couple girls that want to come over and test themselves in M.A. and I said, well, I encourage that to get into an MMA gym as well and do both and, you know, kind of, you know, learn to become a mixed martial artist and not just a boxer. Sure. And, you know, and he said that he's going to give me a call this week.

We're going to talk in a few of the detail. But as far as working together, I mean, the door is wide open for Lou and I to do some fun stuff together. Amanda Serrano, one of those names discussed? We didn't mention any names. Okay. I think he has a couple of other female boxers that he represents or he promotes that

that want to get into M.A. Speaking of boxing, one of your brightest young stars, Michael Vennepage made his boxing debut on Friday and I was talking to someone in the organization to say like, why would you let him do this? And the response that I got was we let guys do things. If they want to do

them and they clear with us, we don't have a problem with, you know, standing in their way and guys going out there and testing waters elsewhere. As long as, you know, they're part of the organization, but if they do well, it's good for the brand. Did you have any issues with this? Like, if he gets brutally knocked out, I know he wasn't fighting the most experienced opponent, but it's still a new venture for him.

Did you have any issues with MVP going out there and boxing while he's still in their contract with you? No, not at all. And I talked to Richard Schaefer about it. I talked to Bruce Pinkow about it because they were co-promoters with, I think David Hay, David Hay over there in the UK. And I said, look, you know, as long as it doesn't interfere with his, his fight schedule with us, then, you know, we're fine with it. And so, you know, they put this fight together. Michael really wanted to do it.

You know, we talked about it. And I said, look, if it's important for you, then go ahead and do it. And, you know, go go do it. Go try, you know, boxing and see how it works out for you. And if you enjoyed it or not enjoyed it. But at the end of the day, you know, he's continued to train boxing something that if he gets better, you know, going to be better for him when he fights in the cage for us. He's just going to up his stock over there in the UK and keep building his brand there.

And we had no problem with it. I'm very sad, Scott, because earlier today, Michael said to me, he said he's kind of over the Paul Daly fight and he's moved past it. And the only way he does the fight is if there's a stipulation that if he beats Paul, he gets into the entire purse. And he will also put the same stipulation on his contract. if he loses, he wants to give up his purse. He doesn't deserve any money.

And I feel like that's not going to happen. So to me, I feel like the fight's not going to happen anymore. Is this possible? Could we possibly be seeing this fight just kind of go away? It has to happen, right? It's magical between these two. These two English fighters, they don't like each other, exciting fighters. Are we really going to let this fight go away?

Come on, you know we do the big fights. Yes. We're going to make that happen. I mean, at the end of the day, that fight should happen. And winner take all is what he's proposing. I mean, to me, that's not, maybe, maybe that's what we propose to Paul and say, hey, you know, here's a winning-take-all scenario. Let's do it. Let's get it on.

I love this. Oh, I thought you would for sure poo-poo that idea, but you're into it. No, listen, if they want to put it on the line, you know, we're going to pay somebody. We'll just pay the winner. That's incredible. Okay. So you're not over the fight. No, I want to see that.

Personally, I want to see that fight happen. I think that's a fight that needs. to happen. And, you know, I think that, you know, Michael's probably over it because Paul's called him out twice and then reneged on the callout, right? So, you know, I don't blame me. He's probably like this guy's just nuts. And, and I want to get away from him. But for me, as a promoter and, you know, as President Belator, that's the fight that needs to happen in Belator. And I think that it'll be something that will, you know, drive great attendance, great TV ratings. And I think whole world will be watching when those two guys fight.

The next time Paul Daly and MVP step in a bell toadour cage for a fight, will it be to fight each other? I feel like we're playing with fire here. Would they need to fight each other next? I mean, to me, this is the first I've heard that, you know, that they want to just, that MMP is willing to give us purse. I'm going to get off the phone with you. I'm going to call Paul Daly and say, hey, he's willing to give up his purse, you know.

Step up. Let's do this. Let's do it. Yes. When are you going back to London? I feel like we should do it in London. Yeah, it has to happen at London. Yeah, that definitely has to happen at London.

And, you know, the beauty about London and having Viacom ownership is that they own Channel 5, which is, you know, like the main station there, and the whole world, the whole country we're watching there. And the whole world will be able to watch, you know, through all the distribution channels we have. But, you know, it'll be on Channel 5 and it'll be a big, big deal there and everywhere else. But we've got to make it happen. That fight's got to happen. You know what? I'm going to tell me, I'm going to hold over my team after this thing, and we're going to,

we're going to create a timeline here. Oh, really? Okay, because you're actually talking about, like, you're saying, like, present, like, it is going to happen. It seems like you're very confident that it will happen, despite the fact that literally an hour ago, MVP said he had moved on from it, that it wasn't going to happen. Well, he moved on unless the money goes, you know, on the line. So we're going to go put the money on the line.

Let's go do this. This is like, you know, let it ride. And come on, Paul, you could, you're, if you're that confident, you could take MVP's first too. This is great. Okay, we're getting things done here. So let's, okay, so we got that done. Now let's move on to the heavyweight division.

What can you tell us about the heavyweight division? When are you going to crown a new champion? Well, I think that we'll probably crown a new champion. I want to say first quarter of next year. And then we'll start, you know, having a lot more fights in the heavyweight division. Oh. You know, we've got some great heavyweights now. There's a lot of matches, so I can't wait to see.

and, you know, I'm excited about 2018. I think 2019 is going to be a very busy, a year, a big growth year for Bellator, and the headway division will be a big part of it. Could you tell us about title fight contender or something like that? Well, I think you could kind of, you know, put the names in the mix. I mean, I think of, you know, Mitch Rion, who had the victory over Fador. I think of, you know, Roy Nelson. I think of, you know, there's a lot of guys that,

I think even King Moe, who could be, he beat Crow Cobb two years ago, and then he lost last year, but he's beaten Congo, and he wants to stay at heavyweight. So I think there's somebody that, yeah, that will stay in the headweight division in 2018. One of the last great things that you did in Strike Force was the Grand Prix. Any chance you bring that back? You know what? I would like to have a crown the champion, and then we'll take it from there. But I think, listen, outside of the pride,

pride tournaments in Japan. I think that the Strike Force tournament was one of the, you know, the greatest tournaments in the history of our sport. And I had such a great time for more of that. And who was the first person I told? Me. You, that's right.

In a hotel room in St. Louis, December of 2010. Yeah, that was an amazing tournament. Come on. That's when they had young Alasster Overeem and it was, you know, young Fabrizia doom and Fader was, you know, was in his prime. And it was just just great, great stuff.

And, you know, we always like doing a lot of fun stuff like that. And who knows, you know, but let's go crown the champion first, and then we'll go from there. Is there any chance that you guys bring back Rampage Jackson? I'm not sure. I mean, you know, I'm understanding that he's, you know, that he's with

Zufa now and that he's fighting for the UFC, but I'm not sure about his, you know, his contract status. He was on my show a couple of weeks ago, and he was kind of up in the about where he would fight again. So I was wondering how you ended things off with him. Yeah, I mean, we honored our agreement with him, and we fought his fights out.

And I'm not sure if he's a free agent or what, but maybe we should give them a call. But, you know, as of right now, I thought that he was already, you know, headed to UFC. What could you tell us about Dylan Danes? Is he ever going to fight for Belator? I think he will. I mean, I think that he's, you know,

just training and trying to get, figure it all out and and I think it's just can be a matter of time because you know everything that I've heard is that he does want to fight MMA but he's something that he's somebody that I did read about over the weekend there's an article

and I just flashed at the head on I can't remember exactly what it was but you know I said hey we should reach out to that guy and see what he wants to come in and step in because you know evidently he's got an amazing judicious game and you know hopefully he's working on his stand-up and his you know take downs and

all the other stuff and it takes to become a great MMA fighter because he's going to need it when he steps into the cage because it's not just about grappling Are you going to book Chandler versus Brent Pimmis 2 after what happened

at MSG is that the next fight and if so when are they going to fight Chandler was complaining recently that he wanted to get back in there a fighter complaining? Come on that never happened there oh geez come on you know that No, we're working on that.

We're working on a couple things that we're not ready to announce, but, you know, hopefully so. Do you believe, Scott, that there's, that it's possible to have too much MMA? You know, between last weekend and the end of the year, there's 11 UFC events, only one weekend off Christmas. There's seven Bell Tor. So between the two of you, there's 18. And that's not to mention all the other ones, you know, the, the, the, the FFLs and the ones. Is it possible to have too much MMA? are you ever worried about over saturating the market?

You know, all I can say is this. It seems like a lot of fights, but you know what? Our ratings have been solid all year, and our ratings are going up, and our sponsors are extremely happy, the network is extremely happy, and, you know, the quantity of fights

are really driven by the TV stations or TV networks. So I'm thinking that, you know, all these networks are pretty happy, otherwise they wouldn't do that many. but, you know, I can only speak to Bellator and, you know, Spike loves having the fights and and probably wish we did more than 24, 26 a year. Oh, really? Wow. Okay. Speaking of which, I saw a commercial on Friday during your broadcast for the Paramount Network.

So in 2018, Spike becomes the Paramount Network. How does that affect Belltory, if at all? You know, we're just going to be on the Paramount Network. That's it. It's just a Spike turning into the Paramount Network. I work in. And I'll tell you, it's, it's going to be a great, great time because it's going to be rebranded. They're pouring a bunch of resources, a lot of money into the rebrand. They're going to pour a lot of money into original content. And, you know, the premium shows that they're going to

create and with big, big stars are exciting. And we're going to be a part of that. And our budgets are going to go up. Our, you know, free agent budgets are going to go up. Our, you know, free agent budgets are going to go up. And so we're excited because I look at it like this. It's going to become like HBO or Showtime in the sense that you have all these great shows. Then twice a month, you'll have this, you know, our, you know, Bell to our May will be the sports block instead of HBO boxing or Showtime Boxing. And that's really, I think what you'll see. You'll see, you know, Homeland, Game of Thrones. Not to say on Paramount, but they'll have all this original programming that's going to be, you know, really real premium. And Bellator is going to be

the only sports content on the premium network. Okay, so no, no, no, no, no, no cost for concern. This doesn't mean that they're completely rebranding and getting out of the MMA business. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not going to happen. No, I mean, if you, if you heard that, that's totally false. I mean, no, I didn't hear that, but I was just curious, it's a totally different logo, it's a different feel. I didn't know what the direction was going to be. Yes, I'm telling you, we're going to have more resources and more premium shows around us. And it's going to be, it's going to be great. It's going to be, to me, like I said, it's just going to be like HBO, running all these great shows.

And then Saturday night twice a month, here comes instead of HBO boxing or Showtime boxing on Showtime. It's going to be Bellator MM. Okay. We are itching closer to Bellator 200. Are you going to make that into a big deal? Belator 100 wasn't really. a big deal. What do you think about Bellator 200? Boy, where was Belator 100? I don't even remember. I wasn't around, I think, at the time. Yeah, it was a nothing event. It wasn't even that big of a deal.

I'll tell you where it was. It was at Grand Canyon University Arena on September 20th, 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona. I knew that off the top of my head, Scott. That's how much I love Bellator. That's how much I've invested in the brand. That's what I want to hear. That's what I want to hear. That's what I want to hear. Listen, you know what? I wasn't around for that fight, but I can tell you this, Belator 200 will be a much bigger deal than the Grand Canyon Arena show. So you are planning on making it's like a special thing?

Well, it'll be, you know, it'll be one of our tent pole events, obviously. We'll be in a bigger stadium. We'll put out some great fights. And, you know, it'll be a special night because, you know, when you hit that 200 mark, that's an accomplishment. Yeah. And really, it's a, it's a, it's a, a testament to, you know, Viacom and Spike and Kevin Kay's continued commitment to drive this

sport because it's something that they love. Yes, they have been there since, what, 2006, so over 10 years now. Belator 186 is a little less than two weeks away. It's the night before UFC 217, so it's on November 3rd. Would you prefer to not be on the same weekend as the UFC? Do you feel like it's better for the brand if you guys can separate, or it's impossible? now with so many events. Yeah, I mean, listen, we have a business to run. They have a business to run. These dates are not scheduled, you know, to kind of go against each other on either side, I believe.

They just happen to fall where they fall. Traditionally, we like to go on a Friday night instead of Saturday night because, except for the West Coast, which is tough because no one can get to any venue here in the West Coast on Friday night. So it makes it very, very tough. So we go on Saturdays on the West Coast. But traditionally, we like to go on Fridays just to stay kind of in our own, our own date and let them do their thing. But you know what?

Sometimes they have crossover and sometimes they're on the same weekend and that's, listen, that's a big fight. We have a big fight. I think that it's going to be a great weekend for MMA fans because they get to watch, you know, the great fights that we have on Friday and then watch it on Saturday. So what a great weekend. Ryan Bader defending his title for the first time. Phil Davis returns, Ed Ruth, both back at Penn State,

but you're also crowning your first ever women's flyway champion. I'm wondering, you know, with, again, with UFC bringing in flight, how do you feel about the current state of women's MMA? In some people's eyes, you are a pioneer when it comes to it. You put, you know, women's MMA on a stage when other promoters weren't, most notably the UFC. Do you feel like the talent depth is there to share a 120? Because the great thing I thought about Strikeforce was the one thing that you guys had that they didn't have were the women. So you had all the 135ers that you wanted, all the 145ers that you wanted. Now you have to share, and there's also Invicta in the mix as well.

Do you feel like there's enough for at least three promotions to have pretty deep rosters? Yeah, and you know, I don't even know they're full rosters, but I'm happy with the roster that we have and that we're developing. And when you talk about the history of this female fighting, you know, we were the first ones to do it in California. And we were doing kickboxing 25 years ago, female fights, that is. And, you know, when I think about, you know, the sale of strikeful to the UFC, basically, you know, had UFC going into the female fight business. But if it was

ever sold, because we were already doing it for years, Gina Kronova fought Elena Maxwell in 2006, and that was our inaugural launch of the female division for MMA. And, you know, but, you know, UFC was not in the female business until we sold them the company that had all these contracts to fight and then, you know, and then Ronna became a big czar and then the rest is history. But, you know, that's really the history of the support of how it unfolded. And so, you know, as far as the first to do it and support it and really embrace it, it was strike force. And now, you know, there's enough women. Believe me, there's women all over the world.

We get emails, you know, every day, you know, maybe 10, 15 emails from fighters, male and female coaches all over the world. with, you know, sometimes the next best thing, the next greatest fighter. Last question for you, Scott. One name that comes to mind, Rising Star, is someone that maybe the casual fan hasn't heard of. You're very excited about. You have a lot of them right now. I mentioned Ed Ruth. AJ McKee fighting next month.

Unfortunately, James Galaher got injured, but hopefully he'll be back in mid-2018. Is there one name that hasn't quite reached that, you know, that big time, that main event status, but you think could be the next big thing in Bellator? Who comes to mind? right off the top of your head. Wow. That is a good question. I mean, listen, everybody's heard of Pico and AJ McKee and, you know, and Gallagher, you know.

But it's hard just to name one, right? But I think that, you know, besides the guys that already know, the three guys that I just mentioned, because they're kind of on their way already, I look at a guy like Terrell Fortune as a guy that has a lot of potential. And don't underestimate this guy. I think he's going to do a lot of great things. Okay. All right. A name to look out for. Thank you very much for the time. Scott. We look forward to Beltaire 186, November 3rd, Penn State, the return of Phil Davis, the return of Ed Ruth, and two title fights on the card. Ryan Bader defending his title against Linton Vassell, and of course, Al-A. McFarlane against Emily Ducott for the women's flyweight title. First one in Beltaire history. Looking forward to that. Thank you, Scott. Good to catch up. And I'm happy to hear that you're not sweating the Warriors. It will all work out. I'm pretty confident about that. And also, don't forget, Friday, November 17th, the fight in Tel Aviv, I want to see you there.

That's right. Yes, I will be there. I will see you there at the wailing wall. We'll do Sabbath there beforehand and go over to the arena. You got it. I'm there. Okay. Thank you, Scott. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate the time. Also on that card, by the way, Zach Freeman returns. Remember, he shocked the world against Aaron Pico at MSG's fighting Sa'ad Awad and Ed Ruth, by the way, fighting Chris Dempsey, a big step up, I think,

in competition. That is a solid card the night before UFC 217. All right. Before UFC 217, it's the UFC in Sao Paulo this weekend. They are back in Brazil. The main event is, of course, Derek Brunson against Lyoto Machita. The co-main event is a fascinating one at 170 pounds. It's Damiena against our next guest, Colby Covington, joining us via the magic Skype. There he is. Colby. I appreciate it, my friend. I appreciate you coming on. We've been moving you around. We've been jerking you around. And thank you very much for the patience and for being flexible. means a lot. Thank you, my friend. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me, I appreciate it, buddy. Are you surprised, be honest with me, Colby. I feel like you were a little

surprised when I reached out to have you on the show. I feel like you and I have gone off on the wrong foot. Is that accurate? How would you describe your emotions when I reached out to have you on this program? Yeah, a little bit surprised. You know, I just, I've seen some prior interviews you did, you know, with the fake Woodley and, you know, you just, and guys asking what you thought about me and you just kind of always shrugged me off and didn't really believe in me. or thought I had any potential, but, you know, it's all good. You know, everybody has their favorites. Everybody has the guys that have the hype on them, but, you know, I'm earning my way around

this business. And I feel, by the way, I feel like that's not 100% true. I think what really put us over the edge was someone asked me if a win over Maya would allow you to cut the line. And I said, I didn't think so, just given some of the other welterweight fights in the mix right now. And you tweeted this to that person and to myself last week. You said it's a good thing.

Nobody who matters cares what helps. Awani thinks. He is the mouthpiece for basement dwelling world of Warcraft virgins. That's what you tweeted. And I was like, when I read that, I was like, well, now I have to get Colby on the show. This is perfect. So you don't really believe that, do you? I mean, come on.

Basement dwelling world of Warcraft virgins. What's that all about? No, man. It's all just fun and games, man. You know, we know how this business is, you know? It's nothing personal to you, Errol. You know, I respect you and what you do as a person, you know? And I got nothing but love for your work.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And same here as well. You've been doing a lot of good things. But you have, there does seem to be like lately, especially on social media, even, you know, the past couple days, SBG and all, like you have up your trash talking game. Did you feel like you weren't getting noticed? Did you feel like, okay, something has to change here? I need to rattle things. I need to poke a few people. I need to pick some fights because for whatever reason, whatever I was doing before wasn't working. Because it seems like there's been a shift over the last few months. Yeah, definitely. I want to get people interacted. I want to get people engaged. I want people to watch me fight. So if they want to see me get knocked out, if they want to see me get some mooted, good.

As long as they're watching me fight, that's all I care about. So, you know, I'm just speaking a lot of truth. A lot of things I'm saying, it's a lot of truth. You know, I'm not saying things that aren't true. So, you know, if I have to go on social media, I'd be a little bit more vocal to get the big fights. That's what I'm willing to do.

You've talked about Woodley, who will get to in a second, but you've also talked about RDA. You end up with Damien Maya, who some still believe is the toughest guy in the division, and you're getting him in his home city, in his home country. What was your reaction when you got the call, when you got the offer?

Maya in Brazil. Oh, man, I was ecstatic. I was really excited, you know? I know that he only wanted to sign the dotted line to fight me if it was in his backyard where he could have the judges and the crowd on his side, but you know, it's okay. I'm willing to come to this dump and fight him. It doesn't matter. You know,

title shots, champagne and caviar on U.S. soil after this, Helwani. It's not nice. I've never been to South Paulo. What's it like? Is it a dump? Oh, dude, it's a dump, man. The AC is not working here, man. I'm sweating my nuts off out here in the Amazon. But it's okay. They'll be extra sweaty for Damien Ma when I drop him on his face on Saturday night. Wow. So do you believe that you beat him? You get a title shot? Do you really think you'll cut the line with a win on Saturday? Yes, I do believe I will cut the line Saturday. You know, I think that Robbie Lawler, he wasn't competitive in the fight versus Woodley. So why redo that fight if he beats RDA?

It doesn't really make sense. That fight didn't sell in the first place. And, you know, RDA, you know, the UFC knows that he was ducking me and he didn't want to fight me. So, you know, I think that I will duck the line. His wins haven't been impressive. And after this Saturday, the UFC will know that I am the uncrown king of this division. To the best of your knowledge, did they reach out to RDA about fighting you?

Yes, they did reach out to RDA several times. They wanted us to fight in UFC Singapore, but he didn't want to fight me. He turned me down multiple times. And this is when no one else in the division had anybody to fight, so it only made sense that me and him fought. But he didn't want to fight, and that's why he got put behind me on the Singapore card, and I got a bigger fight. I got at the time, Duncan Kim, who was number seven in the world, and they put me ahead

to him, and he got a guy that was on a losing streak, Terak Safetting. So, you know, I think the UFC knows that these guys are ducking me, right now. You know, it was interesting. I remember watching that and I remember what you said on the mic afterwards. And I remember the talk, you know, you put that picture of him behind you or you behind him at the press coverage. And I was like, wow, I thought it was a missed opportunity. You could, you were there in the same arena as him. You could have said, look, you ducked me. Now we both won. You have to fight me next. But you chose to go after Woodley instead. Why did you do that? I did that because, you know, I'm past RDA now. He's, he's a thing in the past, man.

He's got a couple of fights left in his tank and he's going to be done. If they would have given me RDA, I would have been the guy to put the stamp on his career and send him into retirement, but since they didn't, you know, I'm look, I was looking for bigger fights. I wanted Tyrone Woodley, Damia, Stephen Wondergirl Thompson. I wanted a top five fight. I feel like I had earned it. So, you know, I wasn't, I didn't really care about RDA after I beat Dung Hum Kim. He was number seven of the division.

So why would I want to go backwards? Fair enough. It's very rare to see two teammates involved in something like this. And, you know, to be fair, he's. not the one doing a lot of the talking. I asked him about you, Tyrone Woodley, that is, when he was on my show a couple months ago, like he wouldn't even say your name, he didn't really want to go there, and yet you're very vocal about him, and you say a lot about him, you write a lot about him, you tweet a lot about him. What's the genesis of this issue

that you have with him? When did this all start? Because you don't often see two members of a team involved in something like this. First off, I don't consider Tyro Woodley a teammate. He trains at Duke Rufus, you know? Rufus is in his corner. every fight, you know, so he's been doing his training camps at Rufusport. He has an ATT affiliate in St. Louis, but, you know, okay, whatever, just because he branded an ATT so he can make some money and he had an investor, I don't consider that a teammate. He comes to our gym maybe once a year, and that's just to make cool with Dan Lambert. You know, he just wants to stay on his good side. I mean, who wouldn't want to stay on Dan Lambert's good side? The guy's one of the

greatest people in the world, so, you know, besides that, you know, Tyrone Woodley, he's an easy fights. So that's why I'm calling him out. You know, I'm in his nightmares. You know, the reason he don't want to say my name is because he knows what happened last time we did train together a couple years ago. And let me tell you one thing, Hwanii, it wasn't pretty. He quit in the gym. What happened?

Tell us what happened. What can you tell us? Yeah, so we were supposed to spar like five rounds that day. He was getting ready for Rory McDonald. He wanted the guy that was going to pressure fight him, you know, back him up. And he did his typical ways, you know, back up to the cage, try and do that. And I put him up against the cage. and within two rounds he quit.

He said, no, I'm done for the day. I quit training. His coach, Den Thomas is like, okay, you're done for the day. Kobe, I said, hey, man, I thought we're going five rounds today. He's like, Tyrant doesn't want anymore. Two rounds, he's done. The pace, the pressure, he couldn't handle it anymore. And that's what's going to happen when we fight.

He's not going to be able to handle it. Wow. So, like, when you see him, do you ever see him in the gym? Do you guys ever interact? Or are you always, like, is he never there when you're there training in South Florida? Because I think his last camp was there, right? he came for his last camp for like three or four days maybe a week max but that's the only time he's been in the gym in the last two or three or two or three years so you know i don't really

i don't really i don't see him in the gym at that time when he was in the gym i was still just coming home from singapore so i went from singapore to my home in Oregon and i didn't get to see him in the gym so you know i don't know what he's saying about this stuff oh he's shadow boxing under my poster all these lies he just manufacturing lies the media like he always does and that's why I call him a fake champ. Did you watch his fight against Maya? And if so, what did you think of the fight? Yeah, I did watch it.

It was one of the worst welterweight title fights in the history of the UFC. It was an embarrassment to this division. And that's why I'm here to resurrect this division. Because Tyrone Woodley's not going to resurrect this division. It's going to be me that resurrects this division. The least strikes thrown in a title fight, that was a joke. Once I beat Damia and Maya, Tyrone Woodley's going to make up these preemptive injuries, why he can't fight me.

But it doesn't matter because I'll just, bitch slapping with my interim belt. Do you think that's possible? You think they'll give you an interim belt? I mean, he is one of the more active champions in the UFC. I think that he's going to make up some injuries, you know, and start saying, oh, I want the money fight. I want Bispinger, St. Pierre, but, you know, he's not a money fighter.

He couldn't sell 100,000 pay-per-view buys if his life depended on it. So, you know, it doesn't make sense to give that guy a money fighter. He's always pulling this victim card. Oh, everybody's racist because they don't want to watch me fight. like no no one wants to watch you fight because you just back up and you don't do anything in fights so you know I'm just sick of him playing the victim and I just want to expose him

I hope the UFC gives me the opportunity very soon how does Dan Lambert who owns ATT feel about this situation you know Dan he kind of stays out of it but he understands you know he had Robbie Lawler and Tyrone who were both kind of under the ATT banner

and they had to fight and this is the fight business this is no team when you're in an individual sport we all want the same common goal. That's the world title. I think Dan just stays out of it and he's not worried about it, but you know it's a feather in his cap. Having the two best

fighters in the world fighting for each other under his American top team brand, I think that says something about Dan Lambert and what he's doing in the fight business. Walterway might be one of my favorite divisions right now because you have the guys at the top that we all know about, but there's this crop of youngsters that are coming

out and really looking great, including yourself, Kamaro Usman, has look good as of late. Santiago Ponziabio had a big win recently. Of course, Mike Perry with a big win. And then just this past weekend, Darren Till with a fantastic performance I thought against Don Soroni. However, according to your Twitter,

you didn't seem all that impressed with it. Is that accurate? Yeah, I wasn't that impressed. I mean, he beat an aging vet who's worn out. Donald Seroni's had a lot of fights. His chin's not the same. You could see in that fight, he got touched, and he was already asking for a way out. He didn't get put out in conscious.

You know, that's an aging worn-out vet that his time's up, his time's been up, you know? So, you know, I'm not that impressed with that win, you know. In this sport, you got to be well-rounded. I don't think that kid is well-rounded. You said something like he went from being an utter nobody to just a nobody? Come on. Darren Till, he looked great, undefeated. Finish Seroni.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, he finished Soroni. But, you know, Seroni, he's not getting those lucky vitamins from Jackson Wink anymore. His body's dramatically changed since Usada came around. So, you know, I don't think that victory is that impressive. And if you look at the way cowboy fought, that's a completely different cowboy than we've ever seen in the years past. So, you know, I don't really think that victory is a very adequate victory. But what do you think of the exchange between him and Mike Perry afterwards? I thought it was good, you know.

I thought those two young kids can fight for the gatekeeper of the division, you know, they could be the outsiders looking in. I mean, I think it's a good fight for them. I think they should fight for that type of fight. You know, those guys in the 15 range in the world should fight for that opportunity. But I'm on to bigger and better things. I'm on to Damien Maia and Tyrone Woodley. You know, I'm out here in this dump. They called South Paul Lowe Damia's home.

It's a joke, man. They got me out of here, man. It's like hell out here, man. I'm just ready to get home to U.S. soil and fight for a title back home in the U.S. Are you worried about calling it a dump while you're there? I mean, you could be upsetting some of the locals. Does that concern you at all? No, I don't think the locals are going to like me anyways,

once I beat Dad Bodmaya You know So at the end of the day It is what it is South Paulo is a dump That's a known fact They fucked up bringing me down here Ariel I'm a problem

I'm sending their hero to hell Shit he might thank you Hell's probably an upgrade From this place Did I mention this place Is a dump yet Ariel Yes you did you did Um

SBG you seem to have an issue With SBG You're tweeting a lot about SBG What's your problem with them Um I don't know I just think that they claim to be bigger than they are. They're claiming to be the best gym in the world and everybody knows

American top teams the best gym in the world. So let's just make that clear. They're not winning fights. They haven't won a fight in years. I can't even remember the last time they won a fight. I mean, I think it was Connor about two years ago. But besides that, they're not winning fights and they're claiming to be the best gym in the world. So, you know, if you're going to claim these unlawful lives, then I'm going to call you out on it. Okay. Well, they have one, like James Galaher's won and Bellator. Connor won at MSG last year. They've got guys coming up. So, you know, I don't think it's been years, but maybe Ardum losing this past weekend and, you know, some of the maybe more gunny, but that was somewhat controversial poke in the eye,

right? He got poked. You saw that, right? Santiago, a teammate of yours, isn't he not? Yeah, yeah, Santiago was a teammate. That was a unfortunate ending to the fight. You know, you just never know what's going to happen. I did see the eye pokes. It was unfortunate. You know, maybe they should run that back and they should put Till versus Perry. Okay, I like it. By the way, speaking of best team, you're involved in this angle for impact wrestling where Dan Lambert, and I must say Dan Lambert is killing it on the mic. You're in the ring. He's got all his old belts there.

And it's you guys, ATT against the impact team. And it seems like you're having a blast. But I have to ask you about this angle. Is it not weird that Stefan Bonner is on the impact side of things? I mean, he's an MMA guy. Why is he defending pro wrestling? he should be, or is this all leading to him turning on the impact team and then siding with American top team? Is that what's happening here?

Did you see me choke Stefan Bonner unconscious last week on national television aerial? Yes, I saw. You seem to be in fine form. Yeah. I mean, I had to expand my brand of violence to impact wrestling because nobody in the UFC at the time wanted to sign the dotted line. So, you know, that's why I'm over here in impact wrestling, you know. Shout out to impact wrestling and all. all the pro wrestlers out there. Also, make sure you all tune in to Bound for Glory only on pay-per-view November 5th.

We will have American Top Team's own, Dan Lambert, the greatest manager, you're extraordinary there ever to face on Earth. He will present two of American top teams' finest, King Mow Lawley and Bobby Lashley, versus Moose and Stephen Bonner, only on pay-per-view November 5th, Bound for Glory, baby.

In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, I do believe. Will you be there? Yes, I should. be there, Ariel. Wow. Did you grow up a pro wrestling fan? Yeah, I did grow up a pro wrestling fan. I'm a big advocate of it. You know, I loved, I love back in the day, you know, it was a lot more enthusiastic and a lot more, there was a lot more attitude, and it was a lot more enjoyable back then. You know, it's a lot watered down these days. Yeah. You know, but that's what we're bringing, we're bringing life back to pro wrestling, you know, the angle we're running with the American

top team, the MMA versus pro wrestling side. It's a lot more enjoyable, and that's why we're doing this. Will you wrestle as well? Are you going to actually be in a match? You'll have to tune in. I can't give away that secret information. Unless you got information to King Jung's Ill strike codes, then I'm not going to give you that information. No, no, I don't. I don't have that kind of. I have other information, but not that information. Do you have to get UFC's clearance to do this? How does that work? Yeah, I had to get UFC's clearance. Dan Lambert had to reach out to Dana White and ask if it was okay and you know I thank Dana White and the UFC and everybody for giving

me this exempt to kind of go wrestle on the pro wrestling circuit with impact wrestling and you know I'm thankful for them kind of letting me do that since I'm in contract with the UFC last thing for you Colby do you feel like a win is not enough against Maya do you have to do something spectacular you know sometimes people

say oh you know it's not the most exciting fights the Kim fight was kind of criticized as well do you have to you know put on a show here do you have to finish him do you have to do something out of the ordinary to really people's attention. Are you thinking that way? No, I'm not thinking that way. You know, I'm just thinking about destroying Damia Maya and sending to the retirement home.

Luckily, we're in South Paulo, Brazil, so it won't be too far for him to get stretched off to. But, you know, I don't think I have to perform. I just have to do what I always do, and that's win. I'm a winner. I'm a proven winner. Look at my track record. So, you know, I think when I finish Damia Maya, there'll be no clear evidence that I am the champ, and I will get the next towel shot. All right. Are we cool next? now? Are we buds? Yeah, we're buds, Ariel. I got a lot of respect and a lot of love for you, man. I appreciate it, my man. Thank you very much. And by the way, I have no problem with

basement dwelling World of Warcraft Virgins. I mean, they're fine people as well. And I didn't take it as an insult. For the record, I thought it was funny and that's why I wanted to have you on the program. One of the many reasons. Every life matters, Ariel. We know that. Okay. Thank you, Colby. All the best to you. Good luck on Saturday. I'm looking forward to it. liar. I appreciate him, man. Take care. All right. There he is. Colby Covington stopping by. Big fight for him against Damien Mai on Saturday.

He has certainly been making some noise, much to the chagrin of many people online. A lot of people get upset by some of his tweets. In particular, I see about the SBG team and some of the other fighters in the Walter 8 Division, including Tyrone Woodley, who you'll recall was on this program. Several weeks ago, we asked him about Colby. he did not want to

to get into that and so he is making some noise and I do believe this Welchway look at Welchway these days we know what's at the top we know Woodley's there Madhvedal's fighting Wonderboy

Lawler's fighting RDA but I'm really excited about those you know that that group of six or so Ponsonibio Perry Darren Till

Usman Colby Covington I'm still not counting out Gunner Nelson still think he's in the mix there. I mean, they really have a nice little crop of young guys. And not the youngest guys, but guys who are very hungry, it seems,

to get noticed. Emil Mek coming back. Really like what's going on at 170 in the UFC these days. And so I still believe that the fight to make, I really want to see that Darren Till versus Mike Perry fight. If they do Till versus Ponziabio and have Perry fight the winner, excuse me, Perry fight Ponziabio

and then have Till fight the winner, great. But, God, after what happened, I mean, that scene was just so much fun. I enjoyed it immensely. Speaking of Darren Till, it does appear as though his phone has just died, which is just heartbreaking. You heard him there, right? We had him on the phone, sort of. But it was like he was in a cave somewhere, you know, like millions of miles away.

And it was on it, like the worst kind of delay that I've ever had on this show. And so, you know, we still have a little bit of show left. He has gone MIA, which breaks my heart a little bit because I really want to talk to him. and I really enjoy speaking to him, and I was just so excited about that performance. I was in such awe of it all. But for now, he is, like I said, he is missing in action.

We'll still work on it. And you know we like to deliver. As far, we've had eight great guests. It's been a fun show despite the issues. Now you understand it. I hope there's no hard feelings. But we'll, oh, wait, wait, wait, look at that. He just popped up on WhatsApp.

Breaking news just now. It just said online. Let's see. You ever use WhatsApp? have the check marks, that means someone read it. But his doesn't have that. Is he back? Oh, no. The online went away. Damn it. He said he broke his phone. My phone is broke. Going to buy one first thing tomorrow morning. It's the same phone from the last time. Remember the last time he was on the show? He was in the gym and it looked all blurry. It's because his phone was broken. That's why it looked

like he was using a webcam from 1999. Oh, blue check. Blue check. Typing. He's typing. Come on, Darren. Come on, Darren. Do it for all of us.

Do it for Liverpool, Darren. Come on. Do it for the Echo Arena. Now it's it online. Then it went back to typing. Come on, Darren. Here we go. Typing, typing.

Oh, he gave me a new number. Wait a second. Hold the phone. Breaking news. Wait a second. Wait. I would have been, come on. Come on, Darren. New number. New number. Wait. Hold the phone. Don't count us out just yet. Let's go, Darren. Could he do it? Will he do it? Can he do it? Can he pull off his second upset of the weekend? Everyone was counting him out. No one thought he'd beat Donald Seroni. No one thought he'd show up today.

See, the thing that confuses me about the English, there's a lot of numbers, and it's not like the American numbers. You understand? Do we have an update? It's all very... He says he's got his phone, in me hand. In me hand! It's a lot of numbers to type.

I told him to please stand by. See, is it... Do you add the zero? Do you not add the zero? it's very confusing. Maybe you don't. What do we got, New York, Rick? Come on, I believe in you, New York, Rick.

Father to be, where are you? Talk to me. The show wouldn't be the same. Yes, we've had George St. Pierre. Yes, we've had Rose Namibunis. Yes, we've had T.J. Dillashaw. We've had Scott Coker. We've had Musassi.

But we need Darren Till. We must be talking to Darren Till. We must hear from Darren Till, one of the brightest stars. The future, as Dana White put him. some of Dana's best promoting was done this past weekend Darren Till has woken up the sleeping Dana White he has woken him up he's back where are you is it ringing

I believe in you what's happening how could this be he says the phone is in his hand I see the blue check we're typing to each other what is going on am I writing the wrong thing here what just happened he just called me he's saying it's not ringing you're calling the wrong thing It's so confusing with these international numbers. Well, I can't have, it's a problem with having him call us because then it's a long distance call for him.

You see what I'm saying? I could send him a check. I'd be happy to send him a check. A PayPal message, something like that. But I don't want the guy to pay long distance. How could it be? What's the problem? He's holding the phone in his hand, he said, did I give the right number?

Oh no. I wrote the wrong thing. I wrote the wrong thing I wrote the wrong thing hmm see this is what happens I'm going to lose them now because of my stupidity uh

boom do that do that quick I wrote the wrong thing that's the wrong he says I haven't got a clue mate wait wait this is riveting did I get it

an extra number What do we got? Any update? Where's Darren Till? Where's the future? Where's the future champion? Where's the pride of Liverpool? Where's the scouser himself?

Okay? No, no, no. Drop the zero. Drop the zero, someone tells me. Drop the zero. Do you understand what I'm saying? Ah, how is this possible? Okay, we're going to get this.

We're going to get this. How is this so difficult? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Any luck. We're going to get this.

What do we got? Any luck? Okay. What do we see? What do we see? What do we hear? A whole lot of nothing. How is this possible? Is it possible he's giving me the wrong number? Okay. Breathe, everyone. Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe. This. We're going to get this. Everyone pray. Pray to the podcast gods. Pray to the podcast gods. Okay. Wait a second. he says he's going to call us. Okay.

He says he's calling us. Let's see. I hope you gave us the right number. Okay, we're going to get this. We're going to get this, everyone. Who believes? Who believes in me? We're going to get Darren Till.

I believe it. And we wouldn't go through this effort for everyone. But this is a big deal. Darren Till, we must speak to him after the win on Saturday. We must be the ones to say that we spoke to him after he, rolled through Poland, rolled through Cowboy Soroni, and cemented himself as the top dog, the man to watch, the name to remember at 170 pounds. I see that he read it. I don't know about you, but I'm sweating.

I'm sweating like I just ran a marathon. I was going to say something else, but I'm not. Wait a second. Do we have him? Is he on the line? Oh my gosh. Is he there? Darren Till.

are you there? Yo! Oh, this is unbelievable. You are a jet. Oh my gosh, Darren. I would have, you know, Darren, we've talked to GSP, we've talked to T.J. Dilleshaw, Rose, Namedas, Gaggar Misassi, all on the show today. I would have gone home so depressed if I didn't speak to you this afternoon. I would have been so sad after what you did on Saturday.

I was telling my producer this day has been the worst day of my career. I was so mad and you come through. I love you, Darren Till. Way to go. All the time, brother. Oh, my God. And I'm sorry. I'm going to send you. Did you call us or did we call you here? What happened? No, bro. I called you, but don't worry at all about it. I would have called you from the start. You just needed to tell me. Oh, I definitely called you guys. I didn't want it. I didn't want you to pay. Oh, my. What happened to your phone?

It's, you remember last time when you spoke to me and it was the crack screen? I think my phone's just on its way out. I'm just too lazy to buy a new one. I just need to buy one now. Oh my gosh I think you won on Saturday You beat Donald Taroni It's time for a new phone My friend you deserve it Yeah

Yeah I think I do deserve a phone I have to beat a legend like Charoni So I'm gonna buy one Okay So let's talk about it Because we don't have a lot of time to waste here I don't want to keep you on forever Yeah

Two days later Darren You have a performance like that You go through a legend You called it And then some In my opinion you exceeded Your own expectations That you put out there

I mean that was a star-making performance Dana White is calling you the future Everyone's talking about What's it like two days later? Does it feel like your life has changed? No, Ariel, I've visualized this for a long time now. I'm just living in the moment. I'm not taking anything for granted.

One thing I do know is that MMA will not be the same when I've finished with it. I know I'm going to take over this whole game. I know that's a fact. What was it like just being a part of the event as the main event, the headlining act? Like all eyes are on you. This was your show. This was your opportunity to take that step.

Like the whole experience last week in Poland, what was that like for you? Was it like you dreamed of? Yeah, it was incredible. Yeah, I've seen it. I've seen it many times when I've been training. I've seen it many times and I've been sleeping. It was incredible.

It was such an opportunity. Cowboy gave me the opportunity. He did not need to give me that opportunity and he did. And, you know, it wasn't the best decision from himself because, you know, he didn't know me when he took, He took this fight, but the thing with me is, you know, you might not know me, but when you get in that cage against me and you look across and I'm standing there, you know that it's fucking real and my confidence is real.

And as soon as he stepped in the cage, Sati, I knew that he was a broken man and I knew that he was mine. He was mine. He was in my world because my confidence is not faith. It's 100% real. And, you know, that's what it is. How did you know that he was broken? He just walked in the cage. He wasn't a cowboy I've seen fight Bobby Lawler.

He wasn't the cowboy I've seen fights all these years. He just, he looked at me and he could just see a 24-year-old monster in front of him. He was trying to make himself, like, get hyped while he was in the cage. I had to see him walking mad. And, you know, I'm just standing across him, just looking and smiling and just confidence that I was going to take him out in a few minutes. Do you know, I just knew me? You know, it's weird, because when I saw him as well, and he didn't. cut his hair. I just kind of felt like

he was kind of going through the motions as well. I didn't have the same experience that you did, you know, standing next to him. But it didn't feel like he was incredibly motivated for this fight. And even what he was saying about you before, and I know that's kind of his MO, but I felt like he was just kind of going through the motions. You got that impression as well.

Yeah, at the end of the day, Ariel, he's been around for a long time, and what does he expect? Does he expect to just keep fighting and beating guys and, you know, beating kids like me? You know, I'm a kid at the end of the day. Everyone keeps calling me a kid, and I am a kid. But I'm different.

You know, you can't come into the cage with the attitude you do against other guys, what he has done. I'm different. I'm not there. I'm not here. I'm not in this fucking world to mess about him. If you give me the opportunity, I'll do what I've done on Saturday to Cowboy. You know, my past few fights, people said I look too relaxed.

I'm, you know, playing too many games. That's true. I was not playing any games with Cowboy Sati. and my next competitor will be a top competitor and I will not play games and I will not play games with the champion when I knock him out. I know you were confident going into the fight,

but was it almost easier than you expected it to be? It's never easy. It's just what I state, I know I am the greatest fighter on planet Earth. So, you know, when I beat all these guys who they say are the best, it doesn't come as a surprise to me because I know I'm the best

and it's very simple. It's as simple as that. Keep saying it. And it just keeps coming true. And I'll just keep coming through. I know I am the greatest fight at all this. I know this. There's no denying that, like, you jumped over a lot of guys by fighting Soroni, now beating

Seroni. Is, like, when you were envisioning your career, and I know you're exuding confidence, your oozing confidence, 24 years old now, headlining a show, doing what you did to Seroni, Dana calling you the future. Is this sooner than you expected? It is. It is. Ariel I have to say, it is sooner than I expected.

You know, I know one other guy, you know, in Conor McGregor, who, who rose so fast. I think he had like three fights and then was main event in his hometown. You know, there's not many of the guys who've had fights. Like, I've only had four fights in the UFC and then I was main event in my fifth. So, you know, it did come very soon, but it's not on what I didn't expect. Like, you know, Cironi was saying that he had more performances of the night than I've got fights. But has he looked at how many fights I've had before M. because I've had probably more fights before him and made

than he's had fights in his life. I'm after the truth. So, you know, it's only what I've envisioned. So then after, so not only was the performance amazing, but the post-fight stuff was equally as entertaining. You call out Mike Perry right away. Like, you didn't even allow yourself to enjoy the moment. Why did you go straight to Perry?

Why did you get so worked up about the guy? Well, I didn't, no, I didn't work and worked up. I don't care about Perry. I don't give a fuck about anyone. They're all worked up about me. The thing is, you know, they're all trying to hype themselves. I could see him Perry's eyes.

He's trying to hype himself for me. I don't give a fuck about him. I'll get in that cage and I'll fucking shut his lights straight out. You know, and I respect Perry. This is the thing. You know, we're hyping this fight. I respect the guy. He comes to fight.

He's, you know, he's a fucking good fighter. But, you know, he said that Calbby was going to beat me on Twitter, and I said he wasn't. You know, we went back and forth a bit. And I didn't even call him out because he's matched to fight Santiago. So I'm not going to call him out. You know, he needs to get past San Diego. A guy I wanted to fight,

who I think is one of the best guys in the UFC World War II Division. But, you know, I just said that, you know, you talk shit and I'm going to say your name. He jumped up on the cage, and then I just went over to him and, you know, just let him know that my presence is there. You know, he's all doubted me.

Every motherfucker doubted me, and now they're all tweeting about me. So, you know, it is what it is. What were you guys saying to each other when you were yelling at each other through the cage? It was incredibly entertaining, as I said, but what were you actually saying, remember? Well, I was just telling him that he's a lightweight

and he needs to get in his own division. Don't be coming in this welterweight division that I rule already, because I ain't no welterweight. I'm a light heavy way, fighting at welterweight. Just get back to your division and stop trying to make a fight with me because I'll shut his lights straight out.

And, you know, he was saying that no one's hit me like he's hit me. And, you know, he's giving it, he's giving back where he's getting set. We're both just going back and forth, which was fun. I enjoyed it, you know. he's a crazy guy, I love it.

It was phenomenal. It was incredibly entertaining. By the way, how much do you weigh? Like on Fight Night, how much did you weigh? 90 kilos. 90 kilos? What is that? Do you know what that is?

I'm going to do that right now. About 200 pounds. Holy smokes. 200 pounds? That's insane. 190, yeah. I ain't no welterweight. I'm a light heavyweight fighting in the welterweight.

It should be illegal. What I'm doing, the UFC should ban it, but the car, because I do it naturally and I do it professionally and no one can do a fucking thing about it. So fuck them all. How's the weight cut? Well, I had a glass of coke before, so what do you think it was easy?

How do you do that? How do you cut so much weight and how do you gain it all bad? The week of the fight area, I see every other fighter moping around, doing 20 minutes on the treadmill and jumping off, saying to the coaches the tired. The week of the fight area,

I was still training three hours a day. I was training in the morning. I was training the night. I was caught on that weight. You know, my coach is the best coach in the early. He's so scientific with everything, and he keeps me grounded, and that's how I made the weight.

I didn't have to sawner this time. I literally cut the weight, training hard the night before. Do you think eventually you'll move up to 185? Yeah, I'm definitely going to move up to 185, and then I'm going to go to light heavy weights. I've got plans, and that's what I'm going to do. You know, Connor took Storm.

He took the feather. He took the, lightweight. People might take this as arrogance now, Ariel, and it's not arrogance. It's just confidence in me. I know I'm going to take every division higher than me by storm. I know this. I can see it already. Wow. That is, so what do you think? Okay, so now you're a welterweight. What do you think is next? What do you feel like is the next move for you? I just, I just want to wait for what the UFC gave me in Dana. Obviously, I want to make a lot of money with the UFC and I want to make them a lot of money. But I would really like them to bring it

to me hometown Liverpool, where it's never been. Yeah. Echo Arena, right? That's what you want? Yeah. I want the Echo Arena. I think Dana thinks that his best atmosphere was in Dublin. I think the Echo Arena will top that twice. Have you talked to Dana since the fight?

No, I've just seen his boast on their Twitter, on Instagram, which I was truly inspired by, you know, him calling me the future. you know, he's the boss of the UFC, he's the president, you know. But I haven't spoke to him, you know, hopefully he reaches out and we will have a chat. You know, that's what it is. Who's the perfect opponent for Echo Arena? For the debut Echo Arena, you headlining, Darantill headlining, Liverpool's own, the Scouser comes home. Who's the perfect opponent?

Who do you dream of fighting there? If Mike Perry gets past Santiago, me and him can get all at the Echo, but, you know, I just think a guy who brings it aerial, a guy who doesn't want to be a boredom fighter, you know, there's many boredom fighters in the division. A guy who comes to actually try and kill someone in that cage, knock someone clean out. A guy comes like that to fight with me, and I come with the same mentality. You can only expect, you know, fight of the year.

Everyone thought that me and Calvary were going to be fight at the year. I knew we wasn't because I knew I was going to kill him straight away, knock him straight out, and that's what I did. but you know, we need a, I need a tougher competitor. I need someone who's very strong at welterweight because I am too big for these welter weights. So, so Mike Perry's fighting in December. Are you going to wait for that fight to see what you're going to do next?

Do you want to take the rest of the year off and then you'll have to wait several months after that? What are you thinking? Or is it possible that they just... Go ahead, go ahead. I believe that what my coaches told me was true. This year I've had an active year. They think I need a rest now, which is true.

So, yeah, I'm going to see Christmas. I want to see what happens with San Diego and Perry. I believe San Diego beats Perry because I believe San Diego is one of the best guys in the Welterweight Division. And, you know, Perry beat them, hats off. You know, good, good luck to him. I hope they both. They both come off with a good fight, but I'll wait and see what happens.

But the UFC could ask me to fight Christmas now and who am I to turn them down? You know, my debut area, I came in nine days notice. They didn't have a main event for Cowboy. I said I'll be main event. If they asked me again, I will say yes. Are you hoping that they remove Santiago from that fight and that you get put in there? If they do, I'll definitely do it.

I'll show petty straight out first round. Simple as that. I would love that fight. By the way, I got to ask you about this. Kobe Covington tweeted, I've changed my mind about Darren Till. He's no longer a complete nobody. He's been upgraded to nobody. What do you make of Kobe Covington?

what he's been saying. I just laugh, Ariel. It's fully, you know. Colby's a good guy. He's a good guy, but he needs to worry about Damian Meyer because that guy, after May, is the best world to wait in the division. So Calby needs to stop worrying about me. I'm worried about Damien, but I laugh, Ariel.

None of these tweets get to me. I just laugh. I don't give two fucking shit. Speaking of people coming after you, it seems like some people accused. accusing you of steroids? I saw you addressing these people. What's up with that? That's what happens at it when you work hard as a motherfucker. People accuse you to taking steroids. So, you know, I hope that you saw the turn up at my door every day.

Because the only thing I'm eating is donuts. Are you back in Liverpool? Yeah, I'm back in Liverpool right now. What's the scene like? How are you received back home? I can't move in the city everyone's just support me. It's so overwhelming photos, you know, people saying

how much they think I'm going to be champion. That's why I really want to bring the UFC to them to my hometown, the support on my feeding. Is it like a little overwhelming all this happening to you? You know, overnight you've become the sensation. I see everyone talking about you.

That's overwhelming, but it's not that I can't handle. A lot of guys, a lot of people always say how are you dealing with the pressure? If I couldn't deal with the pressure, I would just not fight. As a fighter, you don't need to fight. You need to be able to handle everything pressure, media obligations, fans coming up to you when you have them through to take photos. You need to handle all this shit.

I can handle everything that's thrown at me. I might be 24, but I haven't got the head of a 24-year-olds. How old do you think you'll be when you fight for your first UFC title? 25, 26. 25, 26. Okay. year, year and a half. Yeah, definitely.

Did you ever get that beer with Donald afterwards? I saw you guys greeting each other. You went up to him. I thought it was very classy. Did you ever get to drink with him? No, I didn't. He went off to the hospital and then he went straight to his room, which, you know, he's probably down.

But I'm definitely going to see Donald in the future sometime. I just want to buy the guy a beer. The guy's a... The guy gave me the biggest opportunity in me of life, you know. He didn't need to. give that to me. Donald is who he is. I'm a fan of Donald and, you know,

fighting's fighting, but every fighter doesn't matter if it's Donald's Roni, Mike Perry, whoever, I respect every fighter and I respect Donald. Great stuff, Darren. I'm so happy that you came on, you have no idea. I really appreciate you going the extra while. I hope that you get

that phone fix soon, my friend, and just so impressed. I'm blown away by what you did on Saturday and how you handle yourself. The UFC has a new star. You the future, my friend. Enjoy it and looking forward to what's next for you. Thank you very much for having me on the show. Take care. All right, we'll talk to you soon. There he is. The one and only Darren Till stopping by. What a mensch. What a gent. What a class act. Goes the extra mile to be on the program.

Calls us long distance. We got it done. At the 11th hour. You all doubted us, but we got it done. Now it's time for everyone's favorite segment. Now it's time for... And now it's time to open up your ears and your mind. Now I'm happy. It's time for Rick's Picks. I am so happy. Rick's picks are lots of fun and his hair is in a bun. You have no idea how happy I am. You already know what it is. I was going to be so mad if he didn't get it done.

Boys and girls, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. You got to do the slow reveal. I don't think Rick was ready for his close up. There he is. Live from the Vox Studios in beautiful New York City. It's time. I don't smoke. I've actually never put a cigarette to my lips,

but I feel like I need a cigarette. How about you, Mr. New York, Rick? I'm feeling all right. Can you tell us what it was like when everyone was doubting you when no one thought you'd be able to call long distance? And in the end, you actually didn't figure it out. He called us.

There was nothing to figure out, my friend. What was the problem? The numbers don't work. you're just take out the zero which I also got on Twitter I professionally do this I didn't ever include the zero every zero that the zero in front of that number

that you put in I never dialed the numbers didn't work I would have been so sad if we didn't get them on the show you know it's not really only about Darren Till I hate when we promote that someone's on and they don't show up you know what I mean We've had a pretty good track record. We've had a good track record.

There's no doubt about it. But this was a big one, you know? No, of course. When I say that someone's on, I want them to be on. Because I don't want people to think I'm a liar. We're not some of these other programs baiting you. The people have to understand. There's things that are out of our control.

Darren Till having a Nokia brick phone from 1994. It's out of our control. I am so happy right now. But he made it work. Your Rick's picks could be the worst ones. ever and I'll still be happy. What do you got? Fortunately for you, though, the best one. What do you got? What do you got? Let's celebrate.

Nine guests promoted. Nine guests arrived. That's a lot of guess. I mean, we also had, you know what, we won't even talk about it. What happened? Oh, we had to switch TJ and. There was a lot, but that's why you get paid the big bucks, right? Shout out to the god Michael Page, who just comes on. Just filled in right away. Called them first minute. No problem.

ready to go. No worries. Okay, what do we got? What do we got? No time to waste. We start with The Man of the Hour. Too sweet to be sour. One, Darren Till. Sending this picture, interestingly enough, sending this picture to you, Jess. Yes, just to me. See, we have that connection, Darren and I. I'm able to pinpoint the future stars.

Long before he came to life. Did it arrive via carrier pigeon? How did he exactly get this to you? Was it a fax? No, what do you mean? I'm wondering his technological... What he talking about? His phone broke, for God's sakes. give the guy a break. Oh, now all of a sudden,

wait a minute. No, I really believe. You don't believe that his phone, bro? No, no, of course I do. But what I'm saying is. No, but it actually explains the last time he was on. You remember how it looked? No, yeah.

And it also explains why calling it doesn't work. Yes. We were able to Skype. I Skyped with him 30 minutes before that new time. And then after that, it was no good anymore. But let's not harp on it because we got him. We made it happen. So happy.

And now we're going to move on. Yes. Darren Till, sending Ariel this photo of him eating a little tiramisu. Yes. But see, this is the difference. He did it after the way. It's not before the way. It's a big difference.

You can still, I mean, you can still mess yourself up with that. Got to be careful what you're eating. Tirmisu? You're kidding me? That's God's food. I would eat Tirmisu before a fight. Only my mom's though. I don't touch that other stuff.

Top-notch, my mom. I told you about my mom, right? You've said this before. Yeah, your mom makes the best. I used to have it for breakfast. Like, legit. I used cake for breakfast. Well, Darren,

ate the lucky tiramisu and got the job done. Well, thank you. Thank you, Darren. Here we're going to, let's bring the audio down just a little. We have Darren calling on Mike Perry. I love that. This was so funny. The best part was Mike Perry punching himself in the face.

I'm a real well-de-way. Look at this. And now we had the post-fight. And now we have the post-fight with him. That octagon. I love this. This is my favorite feud of the year. So we got to be professionals about this and we got to sign the paperwork.

And we're going to make it happen. I'm pretty sure that it's going to go down. I look forward to it. But I got work to do first with Santiago Ponsonivio and Winnipe. The matchups coming up. I'm sure you'll be here. That whole scene. That has to happen.

With like the back and forth. And then him showing up on the broadcast afterwards was like straight out of wrestling. And I love this. You see like guys have to create their own destinies. Create your own feuds. Create your own stories. got to do it. No one else is going to do it but you. Don't rely on the UFC. This was phenomenal. And kudos to Gooden and Hardy, who kind of let the moment breathe. You know what I mean?

Like they didn't get all over it. They didn't get in their way. They kind of just let it all happen. Well, when you're wearing that jacket and you have that haircut, you just let it ride. By the way, I reached out to Mr. Perry. He's currently traveling throughout Europe with his significant others. So he was a little busy, but we will get his. They need to make this way. His thoughts on the show soon. Yes. Oh, my God. Do not, do not bouch What do you do for them? Do you remove Ponsonibio? We will, let's talk about this later.

As you can imagine, there are quite a few questions about this. One more from this, or related to this fight, not Till and Perry, but Till and Soroni, the fight that happened. Cowboy with the Instagram post saying basically, great job to Darren Till, broke the F out of his nose, doesn't make excuses, and just post a photo of himself getting mashed. That's just, that's just awesome. I'm weird when it comes to these things, right? I'm weird when it comes to these things. But when I saw Donald... That can apply to a lot of situations.

Yes. But when I saw Donald with the long hair, I really thought like... This is where you're going? I swear. I swear. I wish someone was there that I could... I was with my kids at a,

at like, a fall festival. That's how I was watching this fight on my phone. Shout out to Fight Pass, by the way. Who allows me to do this. Yeah. And I saw the long hair and I was like, man. Like, when you just kind of, You know what people say?

Like, you know, you look good, you feel good, you fight good. I just felt like he was phoning it in. I felt like in this fight he was phoning it in. I could be completely off. I could be reading too much into it, putting too much stock into the hair. But it just kind of felt like, look, you've reached a point. Like Donald Seroni is in 25, right? Yes.

Let's find out how. Accurate. How old is Donald Soroni right now? Donald Seroni is 34. Donald Serroney turns 35 in March. So he's closer to 35 than he is 34. or 33. And when I heard, like, he never heard of Darren Till.

He's not going to look up Darren Till. That's kind of his schick. That's his M.O. And we all love him for. We respect him. But at some point, should the question be asked that, you know, maybe you need to evolve? Or maybe we don't believe him. Maybe he does know who Darren Tilling is.

Maybe that's all part of the cowboy person. Like, at 34, 35, with the fights you've been in, with the wars you've been in, with the damage that you've taken, with the punch. you've been hit with, you can't go into these fights against these guys who are 10 years younger than you and not knowing what to expect. I just don't think that that's smart for the longevity of your career. Maybe not for chasing title opportunities. How about just for winning? But if that's, I mean, it's kind of who he is. It's kind of the, it's the gimmick. It's the, but does the gimmick need to change? It's the essence of what he is. Or, or how about this? Maybe

170 isn't for him. I'll say this. I'm sure his coaches aren't not looking at tape of the fighters and not knowing who they are. I'm sure the team at Jackson Wink knows exactly who, you know, Darantel is. Are the 170s maybe too big for him? Robbie Lawler, Mosvedal, Darantil. I mean, but besides the factor here, I just think Darantel was hungrier and got it on that. He didrentel weigh 200 pounds, he says. Sure, but that's insane.

Darren Till is going to outweigh a lot of welter weights and he's not going to defeat every, well, let me not say that. Maybe he will. Maybe he will defeat every single one, but they're not all going to be like this. So when one eight in a row going into that RDA fight gets starched by RDA and then comes back as a welterweight and had three wins. It has well. Had four wins. Excuse me. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I think age is the undefeated opponent, right? I mean, it always wins. I think age is much more significant than necessarily the, you know, lack of preparation. Because, you know, who knows how real that is? Who knows how little he does or does not know about the opponent?

But I'm sure his team prepares him properly. And it's, I'm thinking it's, it's people will be very quick to say that this is, you know, the sign of the decline and jump on that. I think a better fighter won that fight that night. obviously better younger but I mean I'm not reading too much into it just okay has the fall happen quicker than you expected with

serone I mean it seems to happen with everyone because of the nature he's going to take a fight against it and it's the same way the title shot wouldn't come as quickly and when it came maybe he wasn't in the best position to to capitalize on it

just because he's going to take a fight whenever he needs one it's not necessarily like his career is not exactly calculated um no yeah When those fight opportunities come up, he jumps on them regardless. And so I think, you know, who knows if he was even healthy? Like, there's so many factors that could go into this.

And I'm not ready to say this is a sign of something. Fair, but that was the first time, and correct me if you felt otherwise, that I watched a Soroni fight and thought to myself, he's just getting older. That was the first time that it was noticeable to me. Yeah. I mean, that could be accurate. That could definitely be accurate. You know, in his last fight, the law. I promise you

he will win his next fight and everybody will forget. Against two. That's a good question. Who knows? But anyway, the point of this was to shout out that Instagram post. Never makes excuses. And he's a badass.

Speaking of not making excuses, Artem Lobov, having a frank conversation on Twitter here saying not sure what the future holds, don't want to be retiring and coming back a thousand times, which as somebody who has long rallied against the MMA retirement, I greatly appreciate this. He's going to think about the future

and update everybody. So I did speak to him, as I said, earlier in the show. And I didn't get the impression that this is it for him in fighting. Maybe looking at a boxing match, maybe looking at other options. And maybe seeing what the UFC is going to do. Correct me if you feel otherwise.

I don't think the UFC is getting rid of Artem Lobov. For no reason. I would see no reason to. He's still a viable. I got the impression that he was wondering. He was wondering if they still have use for him. If they would cut him. And I don't think they are.

I really don't think they are. He gets called out almost every show. He's only lost two in a row. Feeley is no joke. And then prior to that, it was Cubs Swanson. You know, like I don't think that he's... I mean, I'd say he's in a very valuable position, in fact. Because typically the fighters with this type of name recognition

who get called out like this and have name value we're probably carrying a higher price tag than him because he's up and down, he's not exactly putting together huge win streaks. I would think that he's actually in a very advantageous position in terms of getting fights. So I would think that he's secure, but who knows? What did you make of that whole scene with Connor?

We'll talk about that later too. I know Gerald Harris says we don't, Show him love. Can I just say something about Gerald Harris? Sure. Gerald Harris. Okay, go, no, no, no. Give this, it's due.

I'm sorry. I didn't see the clip. Ugh, I don't want to see this. Jesus Christ. No, no, it's not that. It's not that bad. It was horrible. Weston Shepard sending this to World Star is classic.

No, actually, so don't bury Weston. Somebody was trying to send it, and he was just, you know, help facilitating. But what I was going to say was just, Gerald Harris is very mistaken. I've shown him he's very mistaken. A ton of love on this show. He's kind of gone like into the territory of trolling, I feel like,

and like he's coming at me and he had these weird tweets to me. When was it? UFC 216. What did I? I wrote something on Twitter about, oh, I wrote about Kevin Lee crying. I said it was very emotional after the fight.

Like not editorializing, not making fun of it. trust me, I respect the crier. I have no problem with criers. And he's like, bro, for a journalist of your stature to make fun of a fighter for crying. I was like, what the heck are you talking about? In fact, I even tried to mute him. That's how much he was annoying me. And he's unmutable.

What do you mean? I tried to mute him, and it just wouldn't mute. He kept coming at me. And then he was getting into arguments with other people. And I was like, you know what? I don't want to see this anymore because he's in the verified tab. The verified tab on Twitter is my safe haven. That's where you don't see any of the annoying, you know, riffraff.

And it's very rare for someone who's verified to be annoying. And so I see all the tweets. And I was like, you know what? I can't deal with this right now, Gerald Harris. You're accusing me of making fun of a guy crying. And then you're getting to arguments with other people. I'm muting you. And guess what?

You couldn't. Unmutable. Are you, were you using Darren Till's phone? Unmutable. He is unmutable. Kudos to him, but he's unmutable. Look, the reality is, I featured all his slam chaos, always have.

I think they're incredible, giving him to do credit, and it is what it is, we'll move on. Listen, I feel bad. I feel bad for Gerald Harris. I think he was supposed to be a part of the redemption series, got injured. Yep. You know, he's had some bad luck.

I didn't think that he deserved to get cut when he did from the UFC. He had the slam, David Branch, all that stuff. I don't know what happened, but don't take it on me, man. I had nothing to do with it. Well, congratulations. Gerald, good win. And congrats on being unmutable. Highlighting this slam. For the record, he's not muted right now, by the way. I know, you couldn't do it. You've told us. I think he, I think he's got four of these,

if not more. But it's become a thing. Okay. Here, we weren't able to show this earlier when we had Michael on, but we have Michael's TKO victory over Jonathan Castano. in boxing. Let's see it again. Did you see the killer crossover? It's not in this. How cool is it that it's copied from N1?

It's amazing. And 1 is what I grew up on. I know. Bang, look at that right hand, boom. And then just leaning over the ropes. He knew that one was done. Now again, worth repeating Mr. Castano 2, 12, and 1 now after the fight,

but still, wins a win. Pro debut. Look, what were you expecting from him to make his point? Boy, Mayweather. people who are getting all up in arms. Look, if you said another fighter who's 0 and 0, 1 and 0, sure. I'm not going to argue against you there. But a guy, were you expecting him to be in there with a killer?

Or you're expecting him to be in there with a guy who's 5 and 0, 6 and 0, 7? Like, what's the line here? This type of matchup happens very early in boxing careers regularly. So I'm not too mad about it. congrats to Michael Venom page on his boxing pro debut. Okay. Mixing of worlds here. We've got Francis Ngano posting a picture with David Beckham.

Yes. From the UFC Performance Institute. I don't know what, there's not much of a story or a reason I picked this other than the fact that David Beckham and Francis and Gano are together in a picture. That's the summary of why this is Rick's pick. Well, it's funny because Francis Sanghanu is always at the Performance Institute, right? That's his home gym.

Yes. And Dana White said that he's like his neighbor now. He's done so often. And so it was funny that this picture was taken at the Performance Institute. Now, why was David Beckham there? Well-dressed, I mean, clearly not working out. Very interesting, but... You just mean that moment, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you're not editorializing on David Beckham's physique, right? No, no, no, no, no. Clearly not working out. No, no, I mean, like, in that, in that, but he didn't catch him between sets, you know what I mean? But I think David Beckham is involved in the soccer ownership, MLS. Doesn't he have a team with Miami?

Something like that. So maybe he was looking at training, you know, facilities, things like that. Who knows? But yes, good on Francis Inganu. I can't believe Francis Ngano beat Anderloffsky in January. And he's going to finish the year of fighting just twice, hopefully. You know what I mean? Like, if you would have told me he beat Arlofski in January, he's a heavyweight,

he's injury-free that he'd only fight twice and it was on the first month of the year, the last month of the year it feels like it was kind of... The issue is the timing though. If you're holding out for that title fight and rightfully so, you're at the mercy. It's not easy to fill these slots in.

We highlighted a few of these last week. The GTA-inspired posts by both Connor McGregor and Tony Ferguson. Now we've got our third update. No caption. which is Nate Diaz looking down the barrel. Wow, I didn't see this one. Of a gun here.

I'm guessing he has somebody in his sight, somebody in his targets, but who that is? Do we know? I don't know. Got nothing? I mean, oh, I thought you were like being facetious. No, I'm asking you. Clearly, it's Darren Till. God, how much fun with Mike Perry or Darren Till versus Nate Diaz being.

Mike Perry versus Nate Diaz being. Mike Perry versus Nate Diaz might break... My dear guy. My dear, dear God. Although I feel like that might be a scenario where, like, they kind of respect each other and don't go over the line initially. And then at some point, somebody does something that pisses the other off enough to get them to get heated. But I feel like they're both each other's type of fighter and probably wouldn't... Like, their personalities, I think would mesh better.

Yeah. I think they'd be on the same case. I'm just so into that. little feud right now. I just love it. I love it. That scene where he's punching himself, do you see him punching himself in the face? I'm a real well to weigh. I'm a real. And Darren Toe making the point that he's actually a light heavy way. Yeah, I love it. He skips over middleweight. Here we had a tweet that picked up a lot of steam. Oh, oh yes. From a guy named Edge. Oh, no, I skipped it. No, you did. No, you did. KFC. KFC follows 11 people.

Oh, you just skipped it now. Yeah. KFC follows 11 people. Five of them are the spice girls. And six of them are people named herb or herb. The joke being that they have 11 herbs and spices. Yeah. Herb Dean, our very own MMA referee, Herb Dean, is one of those 11 herbs.

And he tweeted out after this became popularized, he tweeted out, my commitment to be one of the 11 herbs and spices has never been stronger. I will continue to do all I can to promote flavor. Okay, so I have a few things to say about this. It's phenomenal. It's brilliant. First of all, KFC social media, uh, incredible. That guy Edge who figured it out. I don't know if he works for them or it was, it was leaked him. I don't know. Tremendous. Two things to say. Is that like a known thing for KFC that they have a lot? That's like they're 34 flavors or 31 flavors. Exactly. Basket, I never knew that. A. B, I want to take credit for the Herb Dean thing. I'm the one, I was the first, and correct me if you saw someone earlier, but I looked at who they follow because I was curious. And then I saw Herb Dean and then I tweeted our own Herb Dean and then everyone jumped on the bandwagon. So I kind of feel like I didn't get the credit for that one, for that discovery. Well, we'll give you the credit now. Thank you. Ariel Hawani, the first to report.

I was at Herb D. I loved it. Although it was unfortunate that Herb had a typo in his tweet. That always killed it. Yeah, that's okay. We glossed over there. People don't need to know. If you're watching, forget about it.

If you're listening. I read it and I was like, damn it. Damn it, typo. But it's great. And now I'm wondering, is Herb an ambassador, like, officially? Like, you know, I'm wondering what the nature of it is. But keep promoting flavor, flavor, rather. Well done, Herb.

Yeah, that's great. Bill Steinmetz caught my eye with this. quick Photoshop of a PWG wrestling show. Yes, I see everyone tweeting about this PWG.

Yes, I have to admit, I'm not super familiar. I'm shocked because it seems like it's like the hipster thing to like and progress. I'm not a hipsster.

You're usually all over that bandwagon. You're still on the NXT train. It seems like all the hipsters have moved on from the next. I've never been to a

PWG show, but I'd go if I was invited. But you're still stuck on NXT, which seems to be very 2015. And it was amazing. Oh, stop.

Well, I did go in like 2015. Yeah, I know. That's why I said it. It was good. But anyway, Photoshop by Bill Stein Metz with the whole MMA fighting crew. I was actually there. I'm not a Photoshop, but everybody else photoshopped in. Has anyone?

Was anyone actually there in that picture? I'm pretty sure Esther, Casey, Mark, all of them went. Yeah, yeah. Not in this exact picture. Oh, okay, okay. But I'm pretty sure they went. By the way, did you see that Kurt Angle returned yesterday? I didn't.

Well, you didn't hear this news? I saw it on Twitter. I didn't see the thing. No, no, yeah, yeah. Of course, I didn't see it either. Yeah, no, I know that Kurt Engel was lacing him up at 40 plus years old. 17 years to the day that he won the WW Eve title. That's right.

You tweeted. For the first time. I missed one. I should have put your tweet. That was, I couldn't believe it. Every October 22nd, I send four friends an email wishing them, a happy anniversary, a happy no mercy anniversary. We drove to Albany from Montreal to watch No Mercy in 2000 in Albany to watch Kurt Angle

meet the rock and become the first, to become the champion for the first time, WWF champion. Also on that card. Were you a fan of Kurt Engel? Why was this so special? We loved Kurt Angle. He was hilarious. Okay. But we also just went because it was a pay-per-view nearby.

But also on that card, Rikishi was revealed as the driver who hit Stone cold Steve Austin and it was a big reveal and ended up being a dud. But it was just fun to go to a pay-per-view. Let me ask you a question here. Yes. You send an email around to people every year. Every year. Four friends. How did we get to the point

where you are so out on professional wrestling? How did we get to? My friend, MMA history today said, will you even like try to find the clip? I couldn't have less interest in it. I don't know why. I don't know what happened. How did we get here? I don't know. Honestly, if I'm being honest, the Chris Benoit thing really

turned me off. At incident, I just kind of felt weird about it. I worked for Spike TV. I was backstage at a T&A event and just walking around and seeing these grown men and women dressed up and like just the vibe backstage, seeing behind the curtain kind of turned me off a little bit. It's understandable. It was just a gradual thing. I used to watch Monday Night Raw when I first moved in with my future wife and she was like so baffled by the idea why I would watch this that like slowly but surely I just kind of got less and less and she's never the one to deter me from doing anything but like

Monday was really I felt like if I stuck with it might have been an issue I don't know you sound like good reasons to me I was just but October 22nd 2000 I remember that that is such a that is such a like significant like in thing to be doing and now fast forward evolved I'm out of that you got no love for him

my son has actually asked me about John Sina I think one of his friends was dressed up as a or something. So, you know, if he gets into it, I'll get into it with him. Fair enough. You know, sort of like my Yankees. We're all in on the Yankees now. You know, fell short in game seven, but I got to tell you we went to... If you're all in on the Yankees, we're not... All in on the Yankees. Love it.

You really know how to pick winners, Ariel? Baby Bombers. Yeah, I'm the bad luck charm. But anyway, October 22nd, I send an email, and then I see this thing that he's coming back and I'm like, wait a second. It's close to October 22nd and it was 17 years. Now, did you send this one early? No, I saw the tweet, and that was... was, yes, yes, I said that. Not before the tweet. Yes, I saw, usually I wait for the 20 second,

but this time I had to send it out on the 20th when it came out to tell all my friends how exciting this moment was. And there was some brief discussion about coming together to watch again, but of course I don't live in Montreal, so that was not possible. You could Skype in. I have to say, though, I felt a little weird about, you know, angle with the neck injuries and the way he looks these days. I mean, he can't even move his neck. Have you ever seen him in person? He has to move his whole body. And by the way, You know what crazy this is? 17 years to the day that he won the belt,

but also exactly 10 years to the day that my Jerrypark.com website launched. I launched it my, you know, my 4-aith of the world of journal. And my first guest on October 22nd was Kurt Engel. Now, did you do that on purpose? No, I swear. I couldn't believe it. Because you would have been how many years deep into the emails by that point?

Seven years. Well, that was 2007. So it's been eight years since. No, what am I talking about? 10 years since. No, I'm saying, when was the anniversary that you said? 2000. 17. So you were then seven years into that email.

You had to know, you're posting this on October 22nd with Kurt Angle. I really don't remember. You know, you're right, maybe. You have to think, you had to put that together. I know how your brain was. I'm going to go back to the one that I sent on October 22nd. Yeah, go back to that. You're like, guys, I'm posting the Kurt Angle interview.

Oh, my God. Our last clip here is from Matthew Heath Let's put the audio up Yes This guy's a legend This was

Wait can we pause it Or is it too long Oh Jesus This is it This is the promo That was not me live This is the promo that I talked about That I wanted to see for Deuce of a deed

We have all been wondering What is going on with George St. Pierre He came on this program said that he was itching to get back. And he was ready to resume his fighting career. I'm not going to be the old GSP. If I come back as the same Jacques St. Darii, I used to be when I was very successful.

I think it gets pretty serious after this. Yeah, it's great. So a couple weeks ago, remember when I went on the rant, I said that I wanted... It's official, I'm back. Yeah, it's hilarious. But you see, fans didn't get it. They were like, no, the other one was better.

These are two separate ideas. This was the one that I requested. No, but the other thing wasn't a promo. That's what I would have done had I been at the press conference. It's totally different. This promo was what I said, hey, video editors out there. Yes. Get on it.

Yes. And guess what? Matthew Heath. The sound effects. And guess what? Matthew Heath got on it. Wait, there's the ending. Oh no, there's one more.

Getaway champion of the world. It's so great. By the way, this is way better than the promo that he paid a million dollars. I believe right now I reach the perfect peak of athleticism knowledge and wisdom as a fighter and I'm going to prove it to everyone. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. The saying is not, if at first I don't succeed,

I'm going to fucking run off and cry like a little bit. Yes, thanks to my promos. Well, Matthew, you're a value for credit to the MMA world. Now I want to see my Winnipeg one. Where's that one? Listen, you can't just demand free work out of this guy for the rest of time. Oh my God, this is great.

By the way, speaking of anniversaries, you know what happened seven years ago today? Kurt Engel or something or other? No. What? They actually sent it to you. It might be too late.

Casey and Esther, have you seen it? Have you seen the clip on Slack? Oh, no. Let me look now. Seven years ago today, it might be hard to... Ah, yes. Can you put that up there now?

I can. Let me see... Seven years ago today... was UFC 121, Anaheim, California. Few notable things happened that night. A, Daniel Cormier and John Jones met each other for the first time backstage at the pond. That's when they first met. And that's when John Jones said to him, oh, you're the Olympian.

I bet I could take you down. Remember that? That's the genesis of the whole damn thing. Also of note that night, Kane Velasquez became the UFC heavyweight champion when he defeated Brock Lester. Remember that? The scar on the cheek that's still there.

It's kind of under his eye, under Lester's eye. Remember that? Anaheim, California. And also, moments after this happened. Hawaii, Potsfighting, UFC 121

where Kane Velasquez just beat Brock Lester and we're here with The Undertaker, sir. What are your thoughts on what we just witnessed? Okay, this is fascinating. I'm a little bit shocked, you know, I thought Brock was going to come out Michelle McCool back there, you see her?

I thought Cainz's chance would be better if they went in studio the fourth or fifth round. Okay, so pause for a second. Can you pause it? Yeah. I thought Brock might have got to... Okay, so right here I'm like... Wait, could you pause it? Or we're going to lose it? Okay, right here I'm like, okay, Taker's like shocked. He came to

support his friend, Brock Lesner, you know, he's kind of sad. He's, you know, I'm catching... Like, this was when the UFC would let us go out there. Jim Byrne is right there. You know Jim Byrne. You are extraordinary, man, right over there. You see him, he's looking down, pretending to be busy. I think he was really doing nothing.

But I give him a ton of credit because he used to work at the WWE, then the UFC. And I said to him, Jim, could I talk to the Undertaker after the fight? Win or lose, I want to talk to him. Goes up to Mark Holloway. He's there with his wife, Michelle McCool. And he says, will you talk? He says, yes, I have no, I just want to talk to the guy.

So you see there in the first answer, he's just like, yeah, I'm a little bit chock. Okay, keep going. James, a hell of a fighter, and he did a hell of a job. Do you think considering the size difference that he'd be able to manhandle him like that? No, I didn't. I didn't think so. I think Brock's strength and size. We're talking.

Okay, now look at his eyes. Look at his eyes right there. You see? Pause, pause, pause. Pause. You see his eyes right there? Now he sees Brock. But here's the most fascinating thing about this.

When someone leaves the cage, they usually go the opposite way. We were on like Dana's side of things where the celebs are, but that's not where they leave the cage. So at this point right now, Brock Lester is actually walking out of the cage. And they lock eyes. You see his eyes right there? he's looking off and he's kind of pausing and he's wondering what am i going to do what am i going going keep going i watched this a million times look at the eyes look at the pause look he's moving over he's moving over to talk it's like you're at a loss for words here look at this you want to do it

there was brock lester right there okay pause it pause it pause you just say to him pause it you see that moment right there so he's so he's moving over to him he sees him and he goes you want to do it and i'm like what there's mc hammer by the way you see mc hammer off is It's like this is like the Zapruder film of MMA interviews. And so it's like a who's who in the background. And all of a sudden I'm like, what? But I didn't hear him say you want to do it. You know how loud it was in there?

It was crazy loud. They're playing, what are they playing? California likes to party, right? So it's crazy loud in there. I didn't hear him say you want to do it. So I just see him. I'm like, wow, I can't believe Brock just walked over. I'm not looking at him.

My back is towards the whole day. I can't be Brock just walked past us. And look at, look at MC. You see him? See his eyes? See him right over there? Bottom right. There he is.

Okay. So I say, what did you say to him? I didn't know what he said. I thought like, hey, better luck next time. Okay, now play it. It's kind of a personal thing. What? I'm like, wait a second.

I think maybe he needs to. Now he's talking smack. He needs to train a little harder. What? Are you guys cool? Now I'm like, what? Personal. Whoa.

Who are you rooting for? Okay, so pause it, pause, pause. So then I'm like, okay, he doesn't want to talk about it. He says it's personal. So I have to take a step back and just kind of assess, like, who are you actually here for? I thought you were here for Brock. But no. Play, play.

You know what? I got background with Brock, but, you know, that just showed you something right there. Wow. Are you fan of this sport? Okay, so now I have to take a breath. We're one of the first guys to actually introduce MMA to pro wrestling. I needed to buy some time to assess what just happened because my mind was just blown. And I like to.

So we're talking about M&M. things that I can bring from MMA into what we do. Obviously, there's not many people prepared for it. You know, and, you know, it's, I just, I'm a big fan. Perhaps 20 years ago, if this sport was as popular as it is today, you think you would have done it? Safe bet. Real safe bet. I'm blown away at this point.

It's a little late in the game for me to start now. Yeah, I mean, this is just surreal stuff. The freaking undertaker. Thank you so much for the time, sir. Very much appreciate it. So after this, I get this interview and I'm like, what the hell? And I'm walking to the back. And who do I see?

Paul Heyman. And Paul Heyman is there for Brock Lester. And he's like, did that just happen? And he wouldn't tell me what just happened. And I couldn't understand. And then I found out that Undertaker was going to go. I still don't know if it was a work or a shoot. Do you know?

What do you think? Yeah, I've got the insight. You do? All these years later. I've cracked the case. I have never gone in the answer as to whether or not it was a work or a shoot. I mean, the fact that Brock seemed to not know what was going on in that moment, now, granted, he had just gotten beat up in a cage.

Possibly concussed. Possibly concussed? The fact that he had the presence of mind to walk past us. Yeah, but it seemed like he wasn't really in on it. You don't think? He was walking past us. He didn't have to walk out that way. He looked confused.

My God. The fact that Taker, and then people thought that I was in on it. You know what? TMZ did a thing saying that it was all work. And I've never said this before. I actually called Dana White. I personally called Dana White and assured him that I was not in on some wrestling angle. Because I didn't want him to think like they let me go in there.

I'm a credentialed media member. I don't want to be a part. I went home that Sunday. And I remember logging onto Twitter and seeing that Bill Simmons had tweeted the clip. I couldn't believe it. It had like four or five million views. It was insane. The whole thing was nuts.

I still don't know what it meant. One of the great regrets of my life is that they didn't bring. I thought they should have brought me in as like a special guest ring announcer or timekeepers. I mean, like I don't want a referee spot, but just like someone who's sitting off to the side when they finally met at WrestleMania all those years later. Or I think it was SummerSlam. I got to do something with Paul Heyman in a video about it. But that was, I mean, seven years ago today, we were there when it all happened. You want to do it.

The most famous, you want to do it. The phone's famous four words ever uttered in MMA history. Okay. Thank you for sending that, Casey and Esther. That, yeah, that one was a... It's a great moment. A great moment in MMA history. Seems like, you know, October 22, 3, 4 has been good to you.

That's true. That was it for Rick's picks. Okay. Thank you very much for those picks. Stand by, sit tight. Now what we're going to do is pause for a moment. If you've been watching us on YouTube, if you've been watching us on Facebook, If you've been watching us v.mmafighting.com,

we are going to switch on over to mhmapighting.com. That's where we'll be answering your questions for the next 30 minutes or so. We call it the MMA after hour. It's when we really get freaky. If you think this show has been nuts, just wait for what's to come. So go to mhmap fighting. Dot Twitter.com. It's called the MMA after hour, and it starts right now.

Yes, we are back. Time now for the MMA after hour. And by the way, say hello to my three new friends. on the desk. Over here we have Fador with his infamous sweater. We've got Hoyce Gracie wearing the ghee, black belt, as you know, and the newest member of the squad. We've got Randy the natural couture. So we've got America. We've got Mother Russia and Brazil. Of course, we've got the Canadian flag here. We've got a nice little United Nations things going on. And of course, this is all courtesy of our friends at Beltaire. They've hooked us up with these bobbleheads.

They are giving the Couture one out November 3rd at Penn State. And this one has been met with mixed reviews, I think. A lot of people unhappy with the fact that they're going with Couture, that maybe they should be doing a Roy McDonald one, perhaps with a turtleneck, perhaps with a suit. Do you think that they should be pushing their own guys like a Michael Chandler, a Roy McDonald, a Douglas Lima, you know, one of those guys. What do you think?

A King Moe, a Ryan Bader. or is it fun to do the legends? I feel like you got to stick to the legends. Even though, like here, Randy Ghter is wearing Belator gloves and shorts. He's never fought for Beltor. He will never fight for Beltoll. Yeah, but it's like,

these guys are Mount Rushmore-esque faces. These are forever. You're okay with that. Whereas, you know, a guy who's like a current fighter, who knows where that goes, you know? These are safe. These are safer options. And also, you'd be able to be a lot of,

And also you pay homage to those that have come previously. I think it's a little too new to do the bobblehead. Who would you do next? Kimbo couldn't be bad. So, you know, I think Kimbo is the best one because he has like the coolest look and everything. But do you think that that's inappropriate because he passed last year? It's respect. It's tribute.

All right, all right. So I would go to Kimbo. I mean, maybe you wait. I don't know. But in my opinion, I think it's respect. I don't think it, they're not making these bobbleheads to go to laugh at them. No, I know. It's a, you know.

Yeah. It's a tribute. By the way, speaking of Twitter, which we're on right now, I'mafeiting.com. Doyle Chandler. What's up with your voice? My voice is just... Are we done? Are we almost out here?

I mean, it's been a roller coaster of emotions and the voice hasn't helped. But Doyle Chandler writes on Twitter, that guy, Edge, who pointed out the 11 KFC followers is my friend and probably noticed the 11 followers while pooping. I mean, you do have to question... Do you think someone just found out on their own? Well, you have to question... how somebody knows who KFC follows. I've never once in my life been inclined to find out who KFC follows.

Yeah. You have to wonder how somebody stumbled upon that. Right. So Edge, let us know if you've got a story. Yeah. I'd like to hear. Okay. Questions. We'll start this the way we start this every week.

Yes. With Ariel Hawani's questions. I mean, you're getting liberal with this. I mean, it's almost like two questions every week. Next, we're going to be having five questions. You give them a little rope. Yeah. Okay.

A lot of questions. First, first question. of this week. Who do you want to see Mike Perry fight next? Options were Darren Till. Notice I didn't say who do you want to see

Darren Till fight next. Right. And well, Darren, yeah, I mean, you could have done this. No, because Darren,

he's got more, well, Darren's not booked. Perry's the one who's booked. Yeah. 76% in favor of Darren Till, 24% in favor

of Santiago Ponziubio. Now, I'm not one to take away an opportunity, but like, that is just too much magic between those two.

It's kind of like MVP and Paul Daley. Like, you can't let these things linger. You don't know what's going to happen. I agree. What do you make of that whole MVP thing? With the purse, he's saying, I'm not going to fight him unless my purse is up versus his purse. Coker said it'll do it. I know.

Are you surprised? No, that's awesome. What a great stipulate. What a great gimmick. Yeah, it is a great gimmick. Do it. So, yeah. So what do you think about this poll?

Who would you pick? You have to do Till and Perry. But apologies. You do it in Winnipeg? like this fight should be in Liverpool. That would be an insane... Like, Darren Till's next fight needs to be in Liverpool. Having Darren Till fight...

Maybe you're the batty on the bottom somewhere. Gosh. Having Darren Till fight in Winnipeg against Mike Perry is the utter definition of promotional malpractice. Is it not? Yeah. So I don't know. It's a tough call.

No, it's not a tough call. Do that fight. Okay. In Winnipeg? No. Take away. Perry and Ponziabio from Winnipeg? It's not fair to the Manitobans.

For the love of the game. For the love of the game. Got to do it. Maybe there's another fight that they could put in there. Yeah, maybe you give them a make-good. Okay. But you got to do it for the love of the game. Okay, question number two. Yes.

Which two of, sorry, which UFC 217 title fight are you looking most forward to? Yes, so it's Bisping, GSP, Garbrandt Dillas, young Jacek, Namunas. Those were the options. And the reason I asked this question is because I was starting to feel like people, like I said before, like weren't recognizing how big of a deal this was.

And lo and behold, 62% in favor of Garbrandt Dillashaw, 27% in favor of Bispang GSP, and 11% said, Yoani, on Jacek and Rosnam Yunus. Are you surprised? No. You're not. The bad blood. It's there. Okay.

Are you? Man, GSP. Yeah, but it's the matchup. It's not, you didn't put, are you excited for the return of? of GSP. I still feel like they would have picked this fight. I mean, the bad blood. And it's funny, right? Isn't it funny how everyone's always like, oh, you love the drama and you love the crap talking and this and that? And look, they're all picking this fight. Well, it's a great fight on paper. But part of the reason why I think we're so emotionally invested in this fight is because

it's teammate versus teammate. And we've been talking about it for the last few months, if not year. Yep. But this is GSP. GSP versus this cup excites me. I mean, that's a big deal. It's freaking GSP. Bisping is versus Bispin too. Bispin as champion. I mean, there's a

anyway. You know, the, the beauty is you don't have to pick. I was just curious where everyone's interest. I am most excited for that fight, though. Which one? Garbranded Dillel. Are you going, by the way?

They're in their prime. Likely, very likely. Are they hooking you up? I'll very likely be there. With a guest? No. By the way, you can't go to that. Why not?

Your wife's going to give due, give birth. any day any second now can leave. Not exactly. Later that month though.

You gotta be home. She's due. This is from you of all people? You gotta be home. What are you talking about? When my wife is due, I take like a two-month break.

The only time I leave her sight is when I come to do this show. But you just said to come do this show. Yeah. So you're not there. Well, due to give birth.

Yeah, neither's mine. Oh, okay. Not yet. Is this a surprise all of a sudden? Is this a secret? No, what? You showed us the sonogram on the show. No, what I'm saying is she's due in late November.

Yeah. I'm not, I can't not leave her side for a month. Have you ever heard of early deliveries? Look, if I need to leave, if you're asking me if I will leave, first of all, I'd be closer to where I need to be hospital-wise if I was at the event than if I was home. but if you're asking me if I would leave UFC 217 for the birth of my child, the answer is unequivocally yes. Confirmed here.

I would jet. By the way, I was not asking that. I would jet out the door. I was just saying, do you feel comfortable going out on the town, watching M.A. Going out of me. By the way, my wife was seven months pregnant. Yeah. Two months away from giving birth.

Yeah. And I wanted to go see the Knicks and the Lakers, Jeremy Lynn against Kobe Bryant. Remember that Friday night game on ESPN? I don't recall it. What are you talking about? That was like the greatest one. Oh, this is game winner, right?

Game winner? No, no. Jeremy Lynn? No, that was Toronto. He dropped like 40 or something. He dropped like 38. That was the one where Kobe was like who. I've never heard of this guy.

It was a Friday night on ESPN and he just completely went insane. Lin Sanity was a moment. Yes, and I could have gone and I chose not to go to be home with my wife. And that was two plus months away. So I'm just saying, not to compare. My wife watches the show You are really ruining my life Really ruining my life here

That's her first mistake Don't watch the show My wife certainly doesn't She could not care less She has no idea where I am My family thinks I'm at the grocery store or something My wife, my mom, my dad, you know this They're hardcore fans

They're hardcore fans Okay From Liam Joyce Should the UFC alter their welterweight matchups and make Kamaru Usman versus Santiago Ponsanibio And Perry versus

in there until and then throw in Seroni versus Amil Mech. I'm not ready to talk about Tarani right now. But Usman stepping in for the fight with Ponziabio and then you get Perry versus Till. Do you like this?

I like that idea. Yeah, you give him a game opponent, somebody who's also a name at the moment and can advance it. I dig it. As long as, you know, it's obviously what we're not saying, but we should.

It's pretty explicit. whatever happens here is either going to be fair or unfair to Ponziadio. He's kind of the third party in this who's either going to get the fight that he signed up for or potentially not. You know, and that's, you know, that's unfortunate, but there's too much heat here. Yeah. It's just so great. I'm a real well-to-wait.

If promoted properly from Cody Spurling, do you see Daryntil, reaching the heights of possibly a Connor McGregor or Ronda Rousey? I think obviously too early to tell. But do you see the makings of a star here? I do. I really do. I really do. He's entertaining. He's fun. He finishes. He's got like a nation behind him. All these things help. Yes. I agree. He's doing it right.

Remember that clip of Patty last time he fought in Liverpool, How insane that was? Yeah. I feel like this would be 10 times bigger just because it's you have seen all that. I wouldn't have said that before. It's crazy how quickly Darren Till is now becoming that guy, right? Like Patty would have been the one I would have pinned for, you know, the maximum exposure there. Now, Darren Till is quickly growing.

Who is a more exciting prospect? Mickey Gall or Darren Till? How about right now who's got the, who's got more cachet? Till is further along. He's got to be Till, right? Yeah, he's further along. I mean, he beats Seroni. I think, you know, Gall lost some momentum there.

But I think he could get right back up there if he picks up a win over Brown and then, you know, something in the top 1510 range. I'll say this. I kind of just forgot that Mickey Gall was coming back. It's next week. Yeah. Big fight, Randy Brown. Yeah.

Mickey Gall. He invented the callout. Mickey Gall invented the callout. I don't know if you heard. I heard it. But he claims to have invented the callout in MMA. It never happened before him. Thank you for the cup.

You got to give him the do. Yeah. Do you think the fans This is in relation to Connor Letting some language slip In a moment with Artem Lobov after the fight Do you think that the fans defending McGregor's use of a slur

And the U.S.C. silence Unlike with Verduing and Cowboy Soroni previously Is a bad luck What was this? Oh, was that the one with Daniel Kormier, right? There was something. Yeah, I think it was the one Oh yes, he talked about Anderson Silva

when he was on the stage was CM Punk and it looked like he was a little inebriated. I remember that. That was after UFC 200. I don't remember how many days after the Verdume thing. I'm not ready to say that, you know, it's been less than two days. So I'm not ready to say that they're completely dropping this. So, okay, for those that missed it, Connor McGregor was at the fight on Saturday in Poland

and he was there for Artem. And then there was a clip shot backstage by either a UFC. or BT Sport, someone shot it, of them going into the medicals, and it's Connor sort of consoling Artem. And in this clip, it sounds like at least a couple of times he utters a homophobic slur, right? The F word. Yep. And some, I think someone tweeted it. I think one of those accounts tweeted it. People picked up on it and then it was removed and it was passed around and it has been written about and the responses that I've heard or read, I should say, some people were like, well, you're clickbaiting,

which again is not the definition of clickbaiting. Clickbaiting is when you say like, you won't believe what Kim Kardashian did tonight or what she wore to the gala. That's clickbaiting. This is not really clicking. Came up with that rather fast, but that's kind of my go-to one. Other people are like, this is in news.

And then other people were like, well, he said this in the, you know, he didn't think that he was being recorded. He didn't know that he was being filmed at the time. It wasn't like he was at a press conference and said it's a little, it's a little different so cut him some slack. Oh man, it's, this is the heavy one. You know, I'm kind of reminded of the Kobe Bryant situation. Remember the Kobe Bryant situation when a camera caught him mouthing that word to a referee? I do, yeah. He was fine for that. He was punished for that. And so I believe that when you're, look, first of all,

I believe you shouldn't use that word, period. Right. Like, if I said that to you outside as we're walking, like, oh, man, like, that's just not a thing. And this does not fall in. Like, there's just certain words that I feel like should be deleted from our vocabulary. It's like, I hate when people use the word retarded.

Hate that word. I get, I get, like, it enrages me when I hear that word. I hate when fighters say it on the show and it has been said before. And of course, that, that's not, like a slur necessarily, but it's insensitive. It should not be used as an insult, right? Same goes for this word. And so, yeah, it's disappointing to hear it. You don't want to hear, especially Connor, as our own Dave Doyle pointed out, this was a guy who openly advocated for gay marriage in Ireland. So, you know, it's disappointed to hear that, you know,

do I want to see him get punished or fine? I don't know what the approach. appropriate thing to do here is I don't think that Verdum got punished he still got the fight I don't believe he got fined he said that he was going to do some outreach stuff maybe we'll get the same thing from Connor um I don't know what the right answer is the only the only thing that comes to mind is I don't want to hear that word it's disappointing when you hear someone in the public eyes say it and they're caught on camera saying it whether they knew look Donald Sterling got in trouble right owner of the LA Clippers. Did he know that his comments would be made public?

No, but you're still a public person and you're caught using a bad word. There's a price to pay. And so, you know, the excuse that, like, he didn't know, it's just, you're still in the public sphere. Like, the doctor, you know,

who's treating Artem may be gay and offended by that. It's just not a word that you should use. Like, there's a million insults that you could say about Andre Feely in that moment. Oh, he's a coward, he's a chicken, whatever you want to say. why do we have to use that word?

It's just like there's, there's enough hatred in this, in this, in this world. So it's disappointing, will anything happen? You know, I highly doubt it. It's the UFC. It's the fight game. It's not like the NBA and a team. The structure is different. So it's hard to to vouch for that sort of thing.

But, you know, important to say, like, let's not forget what he has done for for gay rights in Ireland. And I don't think he's used, I don't think he's been caught using that word before. So you want to give people the benefit of the doubt the same way. wanted to give, redume the benefit of the doubt. But yeah, it is a bummer to hear that word. I guess that's the thoughts that came to mind.

Yeah, it's not appropriate. At any time, private, public doesn't matter. And hopefully, two things. One, Demand-MAC community

obviously came together to point it out and disagree with its usage, which is important to think about. Well, there's a lot of fans who, I mean, I'm getting people right now tweeting to me. Like,

it was said in a personal, conversation. That's no big deal. And that is true. It was said in a personal conversation, but it was caught on camera. That's going to be some people, regardless, but the fact that it didn't just pass by or become a thing that nobody thought about or addressed is good. We want, or, you know, I'm not trying to say it's a good situation, but what I'm saying is it can be a learning experience. People are talking about it and now addressing it and saying, like, I guess not unequivocally, I was going to say unequivocally, saying that we shouldn't be using it, but hopefully we can get there and yeah learn from this you know the the truth is like as i said

a million things could be said in that moment to make artem feel better to insult andre feely it's all good um i get what he was trying to do he was trying to control his friend he was being there i mean the loyalty that he has to art him and ardom has to him it's all i love it it's a great thing to see um use another word that's it's just it's just not the best word to use and and i know it was a personal conversation. And look, I'm not, I'm not busting out the pitchforks. I just, you see it. You're like, oh, man, you know, the same way, if you would have said a bunch of other

different slurs is like, I know he wasn't trying to put down. Yeah. Homosexual people or anything. I just, I just use another word. And it would be so much better. And the excuse that, like, he didn't know that he was being recorded, I get that. There's a million positives about being. a celebrity about being Connor McGregor.

Like, life is good. There's a few things that you have to watch out for, right? With cell phones and cameras, it's a different age. You just have to be careful. Unfortunately, got caught and this wasn't a cell phone. Could you imagine? Like, could you imagine all the things that athletes and celebrities have to worry about with cell phones, clubs?

I mean, we've seen this happen a million times, right? People recording you. You get caught using a word. You know, there's going to be some price to pay, some backlash. got to deal with it. Do you think Sam Alvey should have been deducted part of his show purse for missing weight on short notice fights?

I think this is the way that this question could go. How heavily do you weigh the idea of missing weight against people who are stepping in on short notice versus somebody who's gotten the full fight camp and misses? By the way, one last thing about that,

it's not up to us to say what is offensive or not when the word doesn't pertain to us. You know what I mean? So, like, I can't really weigh it. Like, that is an offensive word. And I can't say it's not offensive because it doesn't bother me. Well, no, it's not meant to be about me.

You know what I mean? So remember that when you're defending, you know, slurs or these kinds of insults. Yeah. Do you think ZAMLV should have been deducted part of his showpers for missing weight? Do you weigh a miss on short notice as heavily as you weigh a miss when you have the full point? I kind of just wish that he didn't take the fight. This guy just beat Rashad Evans. He's coming off the best, biggest, most high profile win.

did you take this fight? Well, like, why did I get coming back, but like, why'd you have to come back so soon on short notice? Fair enough. As it pertains to this, yeah, when a guy misses weight on short notice, are you, are you affected the same way as when somebody misses weight generally? I feel like if you sign up, you got to, yeah, that's what catch weights are for. Yeah. If you didn't think you'd make it, you should have vouched for a cat. I have to admit, naturally, my disposition is to have more sympathy for that. You certainly have a little more sympathy, but I don't think that The weight is the weight.

There is something to that. I mean, if you signed up for it, then I mean, because it's not fair to your opponent. I mean, your opponent is fighting someone who's now heavier and there has to be some, but yeah, it does suck. What do you think about using the word lovely in commentary?

The quote, Lovely knee to the midsection by John Gooden. Okay, well, this is a beautiful word. I agree. I love that word. Can I just say, I thoroughly enjoy Gooden and Hardy? and it's not just about the accents and things like that

but it does bring something a little different to the table it's clear their friends it's clear they have a great rapport it's clear they have great chemistry it's clear that gooden you know trains and understands MMMA isn't just the setup man Dan Hardy is a wealth of knowledge

I really enjoy his post-fight interviews and the kinds of questions and just his demeanor. I don't know. I just enjoy them. And so, yeah, I mean, a word like that is use more in, you know, in England, British people. And there's nothing really, I love the way they dress. I just, I enjoy them.

I love the European shows. I like them on Fight Pass. They kind of go by quickly. Not a lot of breaks. I enjoy them. And let me just say, like, I think John Anick is the number one guy. Right? He is the number one guy, in my opinion, then it's good in.

And then I was going to say Todd Harris, Todd Grisham, Todd Harris used to be with WC. And they've got a slew of great analysts, but I really enjoy them together. When I hear that they're calling fights, I enjoy it. I love how people try to get me riled up now and say, like, that was violent and, oh, you've got to love the violence. You're not bothering me again. I know what MMA is. Could you not, like, get it through your skulls?

What I was saying was, I don't agree with using that word, part of the way. of the promotion. I know it's violent. I know it's dangerous. I know it's brutal. I know it's somewhat barbaric at times. I know that it's any other word that you want to use

that is a synonym for all those other words. But to say, this is violent as a promotion, to me, is short-sighted and is a mistake. And that's all. Case in point. Sometimes MMA is lovely.

Thank you, John Gooden. Thank you. Yeah. Don't put that label, the violent label on everything, because sometimes it's lovely. It's a great point. Shout out to fan of the show, John Gooden.

Yes. Okay. With Mark Hunt being removed from his fight, how many other fighters would be removed by the same standard based on the history of head drama? Essentially, are we going to see more of this? Are we going to see other fighters removed for something they say potentially in the media?

We had an example with Kane Velasquez before this Mark Hunt incident, but will we see this happening more? Well, both those situations very interesting because both of them were involved in little issues. with the UFC, if you recall. King Velasquez with the MMAAA. A week later, he does this interview with the SPN, and then he gets checked out by the NAC and they pull him.

And then the Mark Hunt situation, which we talked about a couple of weeks ago, I think the big thing is, like, they have to do the interview. You know what I mean? There has to be like some kind of comments that raise a red flag. And so, like,

I don't think a lot of fighters are going to get in the habit of saying, yeah, I can't wait for this fight against T.J. Dillishon. And I've got to tell you, I've been having a lot of concussions lately and headaches. Sure. But life is great. I'm loving life. It's just not going to happen. I think Mark was trying to paint a picture of his entire career and tell us what he's been through and what he's overcome and how he still loves it and all that stuff.

And, you know, given the fact that he's currently involved in a lawsuit with the UFC, kind of forced their hand. Yeah. So I think it's a very, very, very unique situation. Sure. I mean, I think the reality is if you're saying the things that Mark Hunt is saying, even if you're not embroiled in some kind of lawsuit, I have to imagine that there's going to be particular attention paid to that. And that if we start seeing language like that,

if people start talking about their difficulties with memory and things like that, there's a possibility. Why open that door if it's not a door you want to open? Can I say one more thing about the McGregor thing? Because I have to allow myself to gather my thoughts. If you recall, Floyd Mayweather used that word

in the midst of the whole world tour. And I think that he was publicly admonished for it. I don't know if anyone was like calling for the fight to be canceled. Like it's, again, it's just, and I don't know how that word is used in Ireland. Here as Americans, Canadians were reacting to it.

I mean, I didn't go on like a tweet storm about it or anything like that. But like that word, I don't think was acceptable when Mayweather used it either. Like you can't say like oh, nothing. I don't think anyone's calling for Connor to be cut or anything like that, but it's okay to say like, yeah, it'd probably be best if you don't

use that word. It's not the best word to use to describe other human beings. And that's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Agreed. Should fighters have a right to challenge a ref ruling by using replay and if they lose it, a point is deducted?

Essentially, do you want to see other sports replay system in MMA. It's kind of hard to sit. I mean, in the flow of a fight, especially... If I get poked in the eye and we're sitting there in the five minutes and I go, that was, you know,

intentional or I did or did not get poked in the eye. I like replay being used when there's like a moment where they don't know, you know, if the hands are down, you know, with the illegal knees and things like that. I think this is what they're kind of getting at. I'm okay with that. But instituted by the fighters rather than instituted. Oh, I see. Or like the.

corner man. Yeah, somebody to offer it. No, I feel like let's leave that to the way. And I think the easiest context to probably understand would be like in a case like Ponziadivio. Yeah. You know, some way to kind of. I don't know if they noticed that in the moment, to be honest.

They may not have. And I think this would be very difficult to execute with the fighters in the cage or the corners implementing it. I like the rest. I would like to see replay used to get things correct. I would like to see that. myself. Excuse me.

Do you believe UFC 217 is more stacked than UFC 205? You've said this. I believe I've also said this. Do you think that it is a bigger event and how many pay-per-view? Okay, so my colleagues don't like the pay-per-view conversation. I am fascinated by the paper-view conversation. I really don't know what this pay-per-view will do. John Jones did great.

That was the three-title fight show. I really don't know. I don't know. I really don't know. I have no idea. If it does 400,000, I wouldn't be surprised if it does 800,000. I don't think it does a million. I don't.

Top to bottom, I don't think that 217 is as stacked as 205. Really? Yes. Top to bottom. Top to bottom. Now, top three title fights versus top three title fights, like as a collective unit, I think the 217 title fights are better

Of course, no one trumps McGregory's the biggest name in the sport Biggest name in the history of the sport That will always trump all But as a collective unit But then the McGregor effect Kind of puts it on top So it's not a clean response for you

But look, look I just want to break something down here Okay, this is 205 This is 205, you ready? So first fight 205 Liz Carmouche versus Kate Lynch Kagan. So right now, 205 has one less fight or 270 has one more fight. So Kaelin Chukagian, okay, so this is the extra

fight. The extra fight is Amon Zahabi versus Ricardo Ramos. Zahavi's a great young prospect. Okay, so that's one for 217. Now we go to Ovin St. Pruev versus Corey Anderson versus Liz Karmuzt versus Kethin okay, I'll give the nod to OSP versus Anderson, especially OSP that low in the card. He's taking the fight on short notice. I think that's why we might have run into issues is comparing Wait, wait. Alexi Olenik versus Curtis Blades against Jim Miller versus Tiago Alves.

Name-wise, you got to go Miller-Alves. Right, on that one? Quite wise, you probably go the other way, though. What do you mean? On paper. Relevancy, I think, Alinic and Blades is more relevant. Fair, given what they've done. But name-wise, I mean, Star Power, I think.

Randy Brown versus Mickey Gall versus Vincente Luque versus Bilal-Mohamed. I give it to Randy Brown, Mickey Gall. I'm almost like toss on that. one. Like I think Lucke and Muhammad was a great fight too. So I'm almost like in the middle somewhere there. But okay. But you got to talk about on paper, not what happened in the fight. No, I mean. Okay, okay, okay. Look, Muhammad's a contender

and Luke was, that knockout was incredible. Yeah, but don't talk about, I'm talking about on paper going into it. The potential for that knockout was also. What fight were you more excited for? Mickey Gall's return or Luckei, Baham, don't be a liar. Mickey Gall. Stop it. I won't do it because you're going to whine and call me a hipster, but equal.

Shut up. Ian Kuchelaba versus Mikal Olex Jewel-Jewicz versus Tim Boch versus Saponatal. I mean, if I can't pronounce the guy's name. Yeah. Okay. Okay. This is where it gets interesting. Okay. Yeah. Walt Harris versus Mark Godbear versus Michael Johnson versus Habib Narim de Mardemadoff. Yeah, but here's the issue with going in the order. You're going this fight versus this fight in this order. It's fun. But there's some.

fights that are better that are low. Like OSP, is OSP versus? Nothing beats Trump's Chbiby versus. Sure, but is OSP Cori and a certain

not going to be more comparative. James Vic versus Michael Joseph Duffy versus Edgar Stevens. I like Duffy and Vic. Okay,

okay, okay. Johnny Hendrix versus Paulo Bohagina or a title fight. No, not title fight. Raquel Pennington versus

Michette. Yeah, I like Pennington Tate. Okay. Wonderboy, Masvedal, Romero Wideman. Romero Widman, for sure. Janjechek, Carolina, Janjachuk Rose.

Janjah Rose. Yes. Woodley Thompson, Cody Dillishaw. Cody Dillishaw. And now GSP versus Bisping or Connor versus Eddie. Not over Connor versus. Okay, so it's a fact to toss up. I like 217 better.

That's where I ultimately end up. I say the top three fights are better. I think the, like the fact that Habib is on... You picked more 217s, I'm pretty sure. No, Habib. Or at least equal. No, Habib, Pennington, Romero, those three, I gave to 205. Those three.

Well, I'm talking about... And Miller Alves. That's half. That's like half. I'm going 217. I think it's the better card top to bottom. All right. I'm excited.

Who cares? Who cares about this? I know. 5 was great. 217 is going to be great. Okay. Best city in the world. Yes.

Bringing the best fight cards in the world. Yes. Be there. You've seen Ariel's promo. I mean, you don't need me to sell you on this. Yeah. That one paled in comparison. It's simple.

Be there. Okay. Neil Magni. Yes. Is this the right fight for Carlos Condick? Sure. They asked for this fight. They wanted this fight.

It's good fight. I like it as well. I think people want to Mike Perry. Like, let the guy ease his way back in. I mean, I wouldn't be mad. No. I would not be mad. It's a year and a half.

Who is the best nickname in the UFC? Let's go MMA. I think that's more appropriate. Jesus, I don't know. I feel like Paige back there is going to say Patty the Batty. She loves her, Patty the Batty. Green Zombie.

I mean, there's a ton of them. Axe murderer. Anyone come to mine? Prodigy, great one. Yeah. Votorius is pretty good. Formerly Beast in 258. Yeah.

Wonder Boy has always been a great one. Right? Wonder Boy? You like Wonderboy? I'm, eh, I'm Luke War on one. Really? The Mexicutioner? Not in the UFC anymore.

The Mahler is pretty good. No love is unique. Yeah, Cody's is good. There's a few. You don't have like a personal favorite one. Metroborn killer. Not that comes to mind right now, but I have to think about it. Does Darren Till need a nickname?

No. Okay. Interesting, though. I mean, I was going to say Connor McGregor doesn't have a nickname but he kind of does. Of course he does. But it's not used as much as... Well, he's all the time.

The notorious Carmen Greger all the time. I feel like Conner's on the first name, no last name basis, more so than anything else you'll hear. It's Connor. But it's used. It's Ronda. It's definitely used.

Ronda has a nickname too, but it's Connor. Yeah, fair, but it's used. Routy Rhonda is a great one also. It's good. It's a good nickname, but I think they've risen above nicknames. Darren Hill, if he got a nickname,

maybe one day he'll be there where he doesn't even need it and they just go, Darren. Is there another Darren? Not really. Darren Uwey Noiyama. Nobody who's ascended to really that, yeah, he could be Darren.

Okay, who's winning the World Series? I'm so bum my Yanks. I mean, talk about how gross this is. Yankees Dodgers would have been great. I've told you this. You're worse than Kormier. Yankees Dodgers, the old subway series, Brooklyn, New York would have been fantastic.

I think Houston's going to win. So Houston is now your new team? No, no. I'm off. Ruding for the Astros, huh? I'm done. They beat my Yanks. They beat my Yanks.

Oh, yes, Badu Jack, the Ripper. That's a good one. Batu Jack is a good. Rampage. That's boxing, though. Yeah. Batu Jack, by the way, is the best name. Like, the real name alone, right?

Batu Jack. I just want to say it all day. Batu Jack. Oh, Black. Beast. Black Beast. I mean, I liked Beast in 258 before it went away, but. Oh, yeah, Astros. I got Astros in

7. You? I don't care, don't know. I don't follow baseball. It's the best. It's really not. Really. Not better than the NBA, but I still enjoy it. Really not. Touchy-feely. Touchy-feely. Really good. Of course. That might be the best.

Joby-1-Kanobi for Joe Benavides. Okay. Ariel, when is it time for you to get reading glasses? You're doing it now, in fact. You're squinting. People are starting to notice. They are. Can we explain the squint?

So this is the thing with my eyes. Left eye, can't see far, completely blurry. Like I'm looking at everything in front of me here. It's completely blurry. I don't see a thing. Close, fine. Right eye, completely blurry in front. Far, fine.

Do you understand how weird this is? Can we get contacts? I do have glasses. I wear them at home, but I just feel like for the show, it doesn't look good. I guess I could wear contacts, but what do I need glasses for? No, people are just noticing the squint. Yeah. I'm getting old. What can I say?

Question from years past. How old were you and you decided that the plaid shirt would be the wardrobe stalwart? That's a great question. When did this begin? I know the early videos, we see T-shirts. When did we go? No, those were very rare. I seen it?

Day one. We just went to the Playboy Mansion and I believe that. No, I was wearing a black shirt. Yeah, you're right. You were wearing it. Come on. I want to wear a T-shirt. And Playboy Mansion.

Got more class than that. I think early, I always enjoyed a good plaid. You know, I'm Canadian, so it's kind of in our blood. I always feel like it fits all different kinds of occasions. You know, you can go to a fancy dinner wearing a plaid or a casual night out, wear the plaid, and, you know, you still fit. You fit in perfectly, I've always thought. And, you know, early on in the career, I was like, well, I got to get some shirts.

I enjoy a plaid. It's a little more, you know, ambitious and memorable than just a solid color shirt. So I was like, you know, this is going to be my thing. And I'm just going to stick the plaids. But I had a lot of plaids, you know, it wasn't just like I decided to be an MMA journalist and I went out and bought, you know, a plethora of plaids. It's not what happened. Would you consider me, New York, Rick, to be the Baba Booie of the MMA world?

Of the MMA world? Jesus. I mean, I feel like it can't extend beyond the show, can it? Like, what else? This is the show. That's a pretty big. It's a pretty big title to give yourself. I didn't give it to me.

I'm asking. No, no. I mean, yeah, I mean, this is the premiere show and you're that guy. So, sure. You're the fafo-fohi. You complete me. That was amazing. That was it.

Is New York Rick a hipster? No. I mean, clearly not. No, no. You have to be a certain level of cool. I feel like I'm more hipster than you are. Is that possible? Definitely not.

But I don't think either of us. Who's the biggest hipster that works on the show? Danny Sigura, for sure. Is Danny Sigura a hipster? He said Joe. No, he's not really. I was just messing with him because he's... What?

Is hipster an insult? No, but it's just... There's a certain, like, characteristic. There's a certain... Who's the biggest hipster on MMAfighting.com? It's not an insult, by the way. I want to be a hipster. I'm a hipster wannabe.

Definitely, Casey. Yeah, maybe. I mean, have you seen that mustache? I feel like there's more to it, but... No, I know. There's more to it. Also, people conflate hipster and contrary. Contrary.

Yeah, being contrary to anything. Casey is a contrary to, too. You're a hipster. You're a hipster. I know. No, just differing opinion. That was it. Best nickname in M.A., courtesy of a war of nutrition.

Gerald the unmutable Harris. Yeah, but that's not official. Yeah. I mean, if we can get Sherdog to update it, maybe. Do me favor, Gerald. Enough with the tweets, all right? Oh, more. See, now you're feeding the trolls.

You can't ask. You can't say no more. Now he's going to double down. Shout out to all the world of Warcraft fans out there. Shout out to Gerald Harris. And shout out to Gerald Harris. Thank you very much. Appreciate the time.

We will see you next week. Thank you to all of you. You can hit my music. It has been a fun day. It has been a taxing day. I am exhausted. I am exhausted. I need a nap.

I need a throat lozenge. Is that what they were called? Lozinger. Something like that. What a fun show. What a fun day. Remember I said at the top of the show, many moons ago, it feels, many hours ago.

Remember when Gagar Musassi came on the show and told everyone to get in line? that was incredible. I was worried that Gagra Musassi going over to Belator would sort of mute him a little bit. You know, he had gotten in the big contract, nothing to really fight for anymore, nothing to get worked up about.

Boy, was I wrong about that. Anyway, I said I was excited about the lineup. The lineup delivered. It took a few twists and turns along the way, but we ended up getting it done. I appreciate everyone in the back, including New York, Rick, of course, for tracking everyone down.

Thank you very much to Gagra Musassi. Congratulations on the win. Hopefully the eye isn't too bad. Hopefully he has a safe trip home. Appreciate him squeezing us in. Thank you very much to Darren Till. Congratulations on the big victory this past Saturday. Star is born.

Dana White has woken up. How exciting is all this? Thank you very much to T.J. Dilleshaw. Good luck to him. UFC 217. Thank you very much to Jesse Taylor. Good luck. One year suspension.

Thank you very much to Michael Vennon Page. Congratulations on the boxing win. Thank you very much to the legend. George St. Pierre, good luck in November 4th. Thank you very much to Rosamma Yunus. Good luck in November 4th. Thank you very much for Scott Coker. And best of luck to win Kobe Covington this Saturday as well.

Back next week, same time and place, until they say patience. Somebody out.