MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 407

Episode Date: November 7, 2017

Ariel Helwani speaks to Rose Namajunas (00:08:43), Freddie Roach (00:31:16), Sage Northcutt (00:48:51), James Vick (01:05:40) in studio, Urijah Faber (01:50:42), Joanna Jędrzejczyk (02:12:56), Kevin Lee (02:31:29) in studio, Randy Brown (03:09:38) in studio, TJ Dillashaw (03:42:20), and NewYorkRic for Ric's Picks (04:02:25) and to answer your questions during The MMA [After] Hour (04:40:54). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The morning 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 Comexontera.ca. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. It's the Mixed Martial Arts Hour with A mixed martial arts hour back in your life on this Monday, November 6th, 2017. Hello again, everyone. I'm Mario Hawani back inside our New York City studio.

I don't know about all of you, but I am still buzzing from Saturday night. I hope you've caught your breath. I don't know if I have. I keep thinking about Saturday night and people keep asking me whether or not it was the best night in either UFC or even MMA history and I don't know and quite frankly I don't really care

it doesn't really matter what I do know is it was one of the most memorable it was one of the most entertaining it was one of the most shocking and maybe that 90 minutes stretch from the first title fight to the last title fight from the Rose Namayunis win over Yawani on Jacek to the T.J. Dillishaw win over Cody Garbrand

to the George St. Pierre win over Michael Bisping. Maybe that 90-minute stretch was the greatest ever in MMA history. It's hard to top that. And we said going into it, it's hard to top those three fights at the top of a card, and they certainly delivered. Never in a million years did I think the second trip to MSG could actually top as far as excitement and buzz and results and the aftermath, the first trip. And it did.

It really did. Those three title fights, which we talked about going into it, actually outperformed last year's three title fights. Amazing stuff. Can't wait to talk about it all. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so excited that it was a home game. I'm so excited that it was at the world's most famous arena. It's amazing.

But the three MMA events thus far at MSG, 205, Bellator in June, and now 217 have all delivered. There's something special about that building. And it was on display on Saturday night. Rose Namu Yunus is the new UFC Straway champion. She finishes Yawani and Jacek in the first round. Yawanna taps due to strikes. I mean, who saw that coming? She was the biggest underdog of the trio.

And, you know, she just goes in there and she's calm all week long. She's unflapable. She's stoic. She does not buckle under the pressure. She does not wilt to what Yowana was doing to her, putting her fist in her face. And then she comes out and she does that. I mean, Rose Namunis, who we've seen almost like, grow up in front of our eyes. We've been on this journey with her. Essentially from the beginning,

she was just in the background on this show when Pat Barry would be on the show. Now she's the champion of the world in the UFC Straileweight Division. What a story and what an aftermath and what she said on the microphone. One of the most beautiful moments in UFC history. And she is so perfect for that role right now. And now we wait and see how you want to respond. And then how about T.J. Dillishop. There was one guy who could probably figure out Cody Garbrandt and who could derail him and give him his first loss. It probably was T.J. Dilloshok, considering the fact that they had trained for so long together

back when they were teammates at Team Alpha Mail. And he comes back from a tough first round and he's able to do what he did to Cody. What a great performance that was for T.J., who is now the champion once again and who is calling out Demetri's Johnson. We've never heard someone at his level call out DJ before and willing to go down to 125.

So what a fascinating time that is. And then, of course, George St. Pierre. And the best part about the George St. Pierre victory, in my opinion it is, finally people are reminded just how good this guy is. And it was amazing to me. And I talked about it on the beat. I talked about it on the hour. I talked about it everywhere.

I was shocked at how many people forgot how good GSP was or just didn't know how good he was. And I feel like everyone now knows just how damn good this guy is. Four years off coming back to do what he did to Michael Bisping to submit Bisping, which is no easy task, only been done once before. Bispink doesn't tap, rocks him, finishes him. That to me was maybe the most aggressive GSP that we've seen since maybe the second Matt Sarah fight. He went out there with a point to prove.

He was the smaller guy, the layoff, you know, the ACL injury after the Johnny Hendrix fight, which doesn't get talked about enough to come back and do that after that kind of layoff against someone like Bisping who's so durable, who's so tough. What more can be said? And now we'll debate whether he's the greatest of all time, whether that cements him. Certainly puts him in that conversation. just the fourth fighter in UFC history to now hold the belt in two different weight classes.

He does it at 185 now. He's the champion. So curious to see where he goes from here. What happens to Bisping? I was so impressed with the three new champions. Of course, never been done before. Three new champions in one night. And you have to say that there haven't been that many

three title fight cards, but still, for the belt to change hands three times. And so the way the champions all dealt with it was remarkable. and equally remarkable was the way the former champions now dealt with it, all showing up to the press conference, all handling their losses with grace and class, not making excuses.

That, to me, was the best that MMA had to offer. That's why we love the sport, because it's unpredictable, because men and women rise to the occasion on the highest of platforms. We see them at their best. We see how they rebound when they're at their lowest. No other sport provides that. And we needed that in 2017.

the sport needed that night. It has not been the best year for the sport. And then we get a night like that at the world's most famous arena. Again, still buzzing. Can't wait to get into the show. Let's run down today's lineup. And we have so much to discuss as it pertains to 217. And it's another busy week in the world of MMA with a great card on Saturday night.

So we've got a lot to get to here. Buckle up. It's going to be a fun ride. Five o'clock, we've got Rick's picks. 440, the new UFC Bantamway champion. T.J. Dillishaw will stop by. Can't wait for that. Can't wait to talk to him about the win.

We've got three in studio guests today. Randy Brown, who beat up Mickey Gall on Saturday night. He'll be sitting right over here at 4.40, excuse me, at 4 o'clock, at 320, Kevin Lee, who was in attendance, who long ago called GSP his idol, his hero. He got to see him win the belt once again and become the new middleweight champion. He'll be joining us in studio. Ioannio, Jacek will stop by, and I think that says a lot about her that she's willing to come on the show and talk about her loss.

Uriah Faber will be on at 245. At 205, James Vic, who had a phenomenal buzzer-beater win. over Joe Duffy. He'll be in studio as well. How cool is that? 145 Sage Northcutt who returns to action on Saturday in Norfolk, Virginia. He'll be on the program. And on 125, Freddie Roach, who cornered GSP. First time he's cornered a UFC fighter. He's now 1 in 0 as a cornerman. He'll stop by to talk about the experience. There is so much to discuss. Hey guys, it's New York Rick, bringing you a message from our new sponsor, Hymns. With the holiday season coming up, you obviously want to look your best.

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products are shipped directly to your door. Why is it affordable? HIMS passes big savings along to you. They offer prescriptions and generics for a fraction of the price. Does it sound too good to be true? Hymns treatment and prevention is backed by medicine and science. Look better, feel better, do better with hymns. So do your future self-of-favor this holiday season and try hymns today. Go to forhems.com slash m-m-a. That's f-or-h-h-i-m-m-s dot com slash m-m-a. Forhems.com slash m-m-A. Now back to the show. There was one way that I really wanted to start this show because I am still in awe of what Rose Nomi Unis did on Saturday night. I mean, again, as I said at the top, one of the most beautiful moments in the history of the history. of our sport, how she handled all the pressure going into Saturday, how she performed,

and then what she said afterwards. Just an amazing moment for someone that we've been kind of on this journey with since it feels like, at least to me, the very beginning. And it is an honor now to welcome to the show, the new UFC Strawway champion, Thug Rose, Nama Yunus. How great is this? She joins us via the magic of Skype. And look at that smile. How about that? The new UFC strawway champion, congratulations, Rose. What does that sound like? Does that even feel real still 48 hours later, less than 48 hours later? I woke up this morning

and thought that I had to go to practice. I was like, oh yeah, that's right. That's right. I'm the champion of the world. I don't have to go to practice. What's that? You're the champion of the world. You don't have to go to practice, right?

Oh, you got to go to practice all the time. But I thought, I forgot the fight happened. Like I woke up. I was like, yeah. And I was like, oh yeah, it took me a few seconds to like remember that that I'm home and we're not going to New York like right now. So yeah. One thing I'm always interested about when a fighter wins the belt for the first time, like you left your home. It's almost like when you become a parent, you leave your home and you're about to go on this journey and you're nervous and you're anxious and you're wondering what will it be like when I come back.

And to come back to your familiar surroundings, you know, your tomato trees, your plants outside and all that with the belt, accomplish. accomplishing the goal on the biggest platform possible. You actually rose to the occasion, pardon the pun, and did it. What's it like coming back as champion? After all those weeks leading up, you're nervous, you're anxious, you're getting ready for the fight mentally. What was that moment like when you walk back home with the belt? It's definitely a decompression that, you know, has to happen and take place.

You know, it's almost like, you know, ripples in the water. You know, like some, after you dive in the water, that's pretty much what the fight was. there's just all these waves that come after it. And so, you know, that was the big moment, but, you know, it doesn't stop here. You know, we got to, you know, just regroup and enjoy ourselves for a little bit. But, you know, yeah, we definitely got to, I don't know, think about it. Have you watched the fight? Yeah.

How's that? One million times. Yeah, after, like, after a fight like that, you're definitely going to be. watching it many more times but yeah we've watched it a few honestly as you were preparing as you were visualizing you know you're you're in bed you're thinking about the fight did you really think that you could finish her that quickly and like that yeah I didn't I thought there was going to be a chance in the first round like that wasn't on the top of my list like I thought all these different scenarios could play out it could be my top scenario was each three rounds and each

round is she's going to come out with like a like I have to switch it up on her each time. And then I was eventually, she's going to get desperate and I was going to knock her out probably or get her like stun her and then choke her out in the third round. That's what I was expecting. That's why I really thought was going to happen. But I thought there was a slight chance that I could get her in the first. If I, you know, jump on that opportunity and kind of like the way that I fought Angela Hill where, you know, maybe she makes a mistake and I take her back and choke her out. Then the other, you know, possibility was it just goes to distance and it's just a really hard, you know, battle.

That was kind of on the lower end of the spectrum. But, yeah. But, I mean, the first round kind of scenario was in the realm of possibilities. As we were observing you two all week long, and especially after the ceremonial weigh-ins, I noted to a colleague of mine that her demeanor was reminding me a lot of Ronda Rousey prior to the Holly Home Fight. Like she was trying to get under your skin. She was trying to rattle you. And the more you ignored it, and the more you were just kind of shutting her off,

the more kind of got her off her game. She was trying too hard. Did you sense that, especially after Friday when she was saying things about Pat and just trying to make this so personal that she was kind of, she was kind of cracking a little bit and she didn't know how to react to how stoic you were. Yeah, I mean,

this was a, this was a fight of mental warfare, you know, you know, that's, that's, I beat her at her own game, you know, uh, I think,

I think each time that, uh, that I wasn't given her, you know, nothing, like it, she needs that, you know what I mean?

Like, she needs somebody to fire back and, um, I just wasn't going to do that. that and I stuck with it, you know. It definitely took a lot of restraint on my end. You know, it took a lot of control, a lot of, you know, it took a lot out of me to do it. But I knew that's what I had to do. I knew that's the way to beat her is to shut her mental game down. So you wanted to respond? Like deep down inside, you were getting riled up, but you couldn't show her?

Oh, man, I had so many good, like, I know you are, but what am I? You know, your mama, like all kinds of, you know. But at the same time, it's, it's really like, when I really think about it, that would have just, it would have made her not look so bad. You know what I mean? And, yeah. You know, that face off in the ceremonial way and it's, I may have watched it like 45 times.

And particularly because of you, like, when you're just whispering to her, it's almost like you're putting like a voodoo hex on her. her. It was so intimidating, just watching you. And I know you said to Joe Rogan that it was the Lord's Prayer, but could you tell us exactly what you were saying? Yeah, the Lord's Prayer. And then towards the end, I was like, I was having trouble, like, because it takes a lot of control to, like, say something in your own head while somebody's talking all kinds of crap, but, like, seriously, like, trying to get you, like, like, personal stuff and, like, things that, you know, to try and touch you and rattle you. And not just, like, you know, if you, you know, if you,

you try and talk while somebody else is talking that's already distracting, but when somebody's like, when they're trying to confuse you and, and it's even more difficult to stick to, like, focus on what you want to do, you know, what you're saying.

And so towards the end of the prayer, you know, there was moments where I could feel like my focus was like, kind of wavering a little bit or it wanted to, you know, and so I just kept rehearsing. I think I, like, repeated the end of it a couple times just to, like,

you know, just stay strong. And just say like, amen. I mean, that's my point in. I was like, amen, amen. Damn it. Part of my ignorance and maybe it's because I'm Jewish, I don't know what the Lord's prayer is. What is the Lord's prayer?

It's so our Father who are in heaven, hell will be thy name, that kingdom come that will be done. On earth is in heaven give us to stay our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. It leads not to temptation, but deliver us from evil for that is the kingdom, with power and the glory. forever and every I'm in. Wow. So you're saying that as she's like yelling at you like getting in your face. You're just reciting that. Was that something that you planned on doing or was it a spontaneous

thing? Well, all my life I've had I've had a wayvering moments of my faith and like my spirituality. It's kind of funny. You know, I was raised Lutheran initially but my mom works for the Catholic church. And it's actually a big part of, you know, my Lithuanian heritage and stuff. Like Catholicism is like really big there. But also the pagan religion, it's kind of a weird mixture of the two. And like just paganism and respect to nature and stuff like that. So, but Catholicism like really kind of deep rooted into my, you know, my history. But I, there was a moment in my life where, you know, there, there was a lot of, um, I was kind of, I was kind of. I was kind of. I was kind of. confused for a while, you know, whether like my faith was, you know, my faith wavered in my life

in many different times. But the one thing I've gotten through very tough scenarios in my life was just by saying the Lord's prayer. You know, whenever like, you know, I don't know if I believe in this, but I'm just going to say it until I do believe in. It's going to help me somehow, you know, and that's, it's always carried me through tough times. And so, you know, even in those moments where I haven't, my faith hasn't been so strong, I still would say it, you know what I mean, just because I didn't know what else to do. So I think there's been moments where I've had like, I've let evil into my life and surround me, but I still had, I still held on somewhere inside of me of my faith. So yeah. And now, you know, some of my losses I've realized that I just wasn't right. And that, like, that was one of the cups that wasn't being filled. my life, my spirituality, just being, you know, I just wasn't the best person, you know, or I was allowing other people not to be the best people around me as well. And, yeah, I learned from those mistakes and I realized that that's, you know, what is needed, not only just to, just to be

successful and happy, you know, because I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore. No, I love it. That's an incredible answer. Yeah. random. Yeah. It seemed maybe on stage and I know you did some media afterwards that you were getting a little bit emotional on Friday. What did that represent?

Because I saw some people saying like, oh, look, she's crumbling under the pressure. It's getting to be too much to her. I didn't view it that way. Maybe because we've, you know, we've been talking to you for so long. I know that, you know, you're an emotional person, you know, while you're fighting. But what did it? Why were you on the verge of tears or maybe even tearing up? Yeah.

You know, just because it doesn't mean that I don't, like, even though I might have an expressionless face, I still have emotions, you know, but I'm controlling them, you know? And that moment, I felt like, I don't know, that's my almost honest self, you know, I had to, I felt very like almost, I felt very like almost, I felt kind of a sadness, you know, at that moment, like, like, dang, like, she's really like trying, like, try and hard. hard, you know, like, I almost felt bad for her in a way, like, I don't know, it's weird. It's kind of hard to explain. But it's just the process that I go through, you know, I, I'm a crybaby, man. That's just what I do. That's just who I am. If I wasn't crying before a fight, there'd be something wrong, you know.

Okay. As a fellow crybaby, I respect that because I'm one of those as well. The reaction to your victory was a process, you know. Yeah. No, and again, that's part of your process. It was interesting to see people try to say that that was you, you know, kind of cracking. But I think people who have been following you for a long time didn't view it that way. And more to that point, the reaction to your victory was fascinating to watch, especially on social media.

Because I feel like, as I said at the top of the show, I feel like people have been on this journey with you for a very long time, long before the UFC. We were introduced to you a long time as just kind of Pat's girlfriend, the young fighter, who was training out of Milwaukee. And now, of course, you know, you're the queen of the. the division, but it's not like someone like Yawanna who just kind of appeared in the UFC and we're like, oh, we're learning about her. I feel like people have been there with you from the beginning. Do you think that's why so many people root for you and were so happy for you because there was genuine joy when you won the belt? You could just see how people, they feel a connection to you. I feel like the fans, the fellow I'm going to make me, like people have this connection to you.

And I think it's because of that because they've been on this journey with you for so long. Do you share that sentiment? Yeah, I think so. I felt a lot of, um, um, I felt a lot of love. Definitely. Yeah, a lot of love. I don't know. It just seemed like, you know, good prevailed for once, you know.

I feel like we've been in a kind of a dark, you know, time these past few years. And, you know, there's always going to be good and bad. And, you know, we need the villain sometimes, you know. It makes very interesting story. But, yeah, I felt. especially just with, you know, I think people can relate. You know, people love a rocky story. You know, they love the underdog.

Right. And that's what happened, you know. It was just was, you know, all three of the, you know, for lack of better, like, no disrespect to any of the, you know, Michael Bisbing or Cody Garbrandt or Yawanna, but all the shit talkers lost. You know, it just seemed like that. And, yeah, it was, it's definitely, it makes, it makes for a great story and nobody's ever going to forget it. What was your reaction when you saw Justin Gachie's video, your teammate, openly weeping after you won? How do you digest that? And that's another thing.

You know, he's one of the just like seriously, he's one of the most like innocent dudes ever, you know? Like he's just very like he has such a big heart, very sincere. And that's, that's Gatian. He's one of those that's going to shake the world too, you know, like just, wait. He already did, you know? He's just on his way, you know. Yeah. Do you feel almost like a duty now as champion because there's a spotlight on you to put out the right kind of message? I mean, that's what you were talking about in the cage, about being nice to people in the press conference. Do you feel that responsibility? Like now you have to use the belt to try to make good in the world?

For sure, you know, it can't just be, you know, something that I said. You know, it is something that I believe in. And this is going to be a very big test for me, you know, to make sure that I say true to that. I already got, you know, like decisions that I got to make, you know, and make sure that I'm making the right ones. That's true to me, you know. And so, yeah, it's definitely going to take some, you know, a lot of team meetings and a lot of discussions and clarity on things. And, yeah, it's, I don't want to do it like everybody else did it, you know. I want to do something different. I want to change the world, man.

Do it my way. Yeah, that's right. What's it been like the last two days? Because I feel like you just get flooded with things now, right? Like different opportunities. They want you to go here. They want you to do this. They want you to talk to this person.

How has it been for the last two days or so? And how do you think you'll be able to handle all of that? Are you up for the task? Do you dread this sort of thing now? Like the aftermath, the parade of things that are coming your way? how do you feel about it all? Oh yeah, you know, it's definitely, it's, it's tough, you know, because I'm not, I don't like stepping up people's toes, you know what I mean?

And I know that people are, people aren't going to, there's going to be people that won't like what I want, you know, or they don't, they don't want what I want, you know, they want, you know, they want, yeah. So it's going to be tough, but at the same time, I think not really, you know, because I've, I've had experience already just making these tough decisions before the belt. So everything is, you know, all these experiences is what's going to help me going forward. And just, you know, my team, making sure that, you know, we keep having good communication and making sure that, you know, my goals and my values are being met.

I remember after you beat Michelle Waterson, you guys drove home, right? Right afterwards through the night. and after the biggest moment of your life, you go straight to the airport. You fly home at like 5 a.m. or something like that. Why don't you want to sit and sort of celebrate the moment? Why do you want to get out right away? You know, like just not even like the first flight possible

or the first opportunity possible? Yeah, celebration's home, man. That's my vacation. You know, I, every day is a vacation here. Like I don't need to go to some fancy island or some. you know, some fancy place. Like, it's, it's just not who I am, you know. I like being with the ones that I love.

And I like being comfortable. I'm the most comfortable at home, you know, and that's what I love. And, yeah. And it's not- Like that, goddamn. We got to sit down a few days, man. Did you see that fight? Did you see that?

Hey, Bray, it's not just, it's not just did you see that. It was the whole week. You know how much restraint Rose had to, Bray, you know how much, like, mental, mental, right? Because she's mental, right? You know how much mental energy and power she needed throughout that entire week? This was emotionally draining.

It was a, who could party after that, man? We still haven't really gone to sleep yet. We went straight to the airport, and we didn't fly at 5 a.m. Our flight was at 9 a.m. We got to the airport at 2.30, and we just sat there like this. Wow. Yeah. We just sat there.

Yeah. My coach needs a break. Yeah. Mainly every, all my coaches need a break. I need a break, man. I need a break. Yeah, everybody get back. Okay, and so we'll end with this.

I'll leave you guys be, but like I said, you know, you guys just a couple of months ago, both you and Pat, like, open your heart on this show, and we really appreciate that. And I think that's why people have this connection. Did you have a moment together, maybe at the airport? What was that like just kind of sitting back and be like, holy crap, we did it? And I remember seeing Pat on Friday, he was so confident. I mean, he was so sure that you were going to do it, and you were the biggest underdog of the title fight. So just you two together, you've been on this crazy journey, the ups and downs.

Have you had a moment to just be alone and just be like, holy crap, we did it, enjoy it? A little moment. Yeah, we've been, yeah, we, oh, yeah, still settling in, but. This is what it looked like. Yeah. And we did it. We haven't really, like, kissed that much yet. we're like we look

eye contact we did it like that happened did it that happened all right and it happened like that I mean it did

and I knew it would but then afterwards it's instantly kind of a like yeah one of my favorite moments is just looking in the back at Pat with his jacket

tied around his waist with his hands up like he knew we've seen the celebration after all your wins but on that stage after that victory to seem like right behind you in that shot was just a beautiful moment it really was it was so great to see yeah it couldn't be more beautiful than that i mean it the fight

like the fight uh ending in three minutes and three seconds crazy 303 training center like what i mean seriously it all around it's just like magic you can't write a better script than that like this is the best movie ever i my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my career has actually for a while now, it's ruined my ability to even watch movies or like enjoy TV show. Like people like, oh, did you ever catch this TV show?

I'm like, no, I, my life is a movie, man. I seriously go through Netflix all the time and like, nature documentaries is the only thing that does it now. It's like because it's everything else is just kind of lame. Right. No, I know. It's an unbelievable story. By the way, do you think that you'll have...

303. Yes. 303. It's insane. Do you think you'll have to fight her again right away? What's it? Do you think that they're going to make you fight her again right away? Immediate rematch?

Not. No? I don't think so. I don't know how that could, I mean, anything's possible, right? Sure, sure. But I just, I don't think that, I mean, at first round, knockout, and she tapped due to strikes. Yeah. Like, it wasn't, like, I mean, even though she was so.

stumbling afterwards. There was still some part of her that tapped. You know? That was, yeah, not a fluke. Like, yeah. I don't know. What is your perfect scenario for your first offense? Have you thought about that at all? You know, I thought about the idea of the rest of the division and like who, I wonder who's going to call me out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't really thought about who I want to fight yet. No, I'm thinking about how like all I've been thinking about the next step, obviously is, you know, decompressed, blah, blah, this and have a little fun. But, and see the rest of my friends and family is, is just making sure our team is tight and solid, you know, and making sure that we're ready, like, regroup to keep going forward. Okay.

All right. Well, enjoy it, Rose. Thank you so much for doing this. I couldn't be happy for you guys. I mean, it's just an amazing, one of my favorite moments covering the sport. You know, you and this journey that you guys have been on and you're doing it on the biggest stage possible, winning like that. It's amazing. It's amazing. I'm so happy for you. Congratulations.

Enjoy being champion. Enjoy the belt. Enjoy your time off. And thanks for carving out some time. I know you're tired and probably wanting to decompress. I really appreciate you coming on and talking about it. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks, everyone watching in the back. Pat and everyone, thanks so much. There she is. The new UFC Strawey Champion, Rosnam Yunus. how could you not be happy for her? What a beautiful moment that was. And we'll talk about it a little later on in the program. Also very thankful that Yawanna will be joining us as well. Of course, Saturday night, an amazing, I mean, it was just a slew of great moments. It started with Rose. Then it went to T.J. And then the big one, George St. Pierre returns after a four-year layoff. He becomes the UFC middleweight champion. And how about this? Freddie Roach now one to know as a UFC cornerman, one of the greatest boxing trainers of all time, right there in George's corner, celebrating with.

him an amazing moment. Wanted to talk to him about that experience and he's kind enough to join us on the phone right now. Freddie, are you there? Yes, I am. How are you? Thank you so much for the time, Freddie. Congratulations to you and the team. So what was it like? What was it like being in your first UFC fight as a cornerman and it's George St. Pierre four-year layoff and he becomes champion like that with, you know, the big punch that leads to the submission? Just as a guy who has been around the fight game for so long, countless title fights and boxing, first UFC experience. What,

was it like? It was great. I mean, it was really a great promotion. And, you know, like the big girl fight before it, she did tremendous. And, you know, we had to watch it from the locker room. And, you know, and her knockout loss got us to get warmed up a little bit early and make sure that we're ready, ready to go for our fight. And, you know, George fought a really, really good fight.

He'd listened very well. And I'm really happy with the performance. worked really hard for this fight. I've been up to Montreal. I made about six or seven trips up there to work three days a week with George. And then, you know, I had to come back home and work at my gym also. So it was a lot of work, a lot of flying and a lot of your time. And then the last two weeks I was with George the entire time.

And, you know, from Montreal to New York and then that's a big show. and the mask guard in the best ring in the world. As a cornerman, the experience of being there for a boxing match with the ring and how it's configured as opposed to an MMA fight with the cage and I think you're a little further back.

I would imagine it's different. Did you find it harder to corner someone in an MMA fight as opposed to a boxing match? No, it wasn't really good. It was actually a bit a little bit easier because there's two people allowed into the cage and it was being

for us and I know for us he's just he was just he was the lead guy

and you know I'm used to being quiet and I listen to for us and for us and for us we give

him instructions and then he's pretty year up and then he so then from that point I knew

was my job to give George the best instruction I could I didn't want to give him too much

like I don't do with fighters I gave him one thing to do each round and he listened very well and pretty everything worked out great. I mean, I told him the old hand right was looking good for him

but now he shot the opponent's counter with his right hand so you've got to come back with the left hook and the left was the key. Usually when you're cornering one of your many champions you're the lead guy but in this case as you said Faraz was the lead guy was that difficult for you to be essentially number two and to kind of step back

a little bit? No, you know, I know that he knows a lot more about the ground game and so forth and, you know, Georgia's stand-up was great in this fight, yes, but the thing is I still know where

his best game is, and I would never take that away from him, so I would let them discuss that and they would give him, I didn't really understand the instructions he gave so much because they're mostly in French and so

and uh you know but I just gave him what I saw and uh you know I only give him one thing at a time and just something he can absorb and uh you know he would grab the water and uh give himself a drink of water

and then pour some on his head a little bit so it was a very you're right in there with the fighter you're into the cage so you get him you get his attention really easy so it was there a good environment to be in. George looked great in the first round.

I thought he won the first round. I thought that Michael won the second, and it seemed like he was getting a little tired going into the third. Did you see that as well, and were you getting concerned? I was getting a little bit concerned. It was obviously a fast-paced fight,

and he did box very well in the first round, and I was very happy with it. And, you know, Bisbyn is a very good. tough opponent. He came back in the second and made a little more difficult with us and started countering our right hand with his right hand. And that's where I saw that would be left hook with work because he's a little bit lazy and bringing it back. He brings back a little bit too low. And so I just, you know, told her, Georgia was fresh enough to absorb that and to listen

to the corner. You know, again, you know, the fight five, five in a round is very demanding. and we did that in sparring and so forth. And he was ready for it. But the thing is, he was getting maybe a little bit tired, but he is, I think, you know, just going into the fight and moving up on the weight division. I'm not sure that that's his best weight division or if we'll fight there again. But we'll see how it goes. Yeah, I was just going to ask you, did you think it was because of the layoff or because of the added weight that he was getting tired?

because George isn't necessarily known as one of those guys who gasses, especially that early. Yeah, I think it was the weight that got to him a little bit. You used to carrying that much weight. I think it could take them a little bit quicker than usual. But, again, we'll work everything out, and we'll all get together and discuss what's the best move next for George. Prior to the fight, one of GSP's longtime men's,

mentor is a guy by the name of Christoph Medu did an interview saying that George was not looking good and sparring that he was not in favor of this fight. From what you saw, were you confident going into the fight? Were you happy with George's preparation given the layoff? Did you feel like he was ready for this, doing the right things in training? Yes, I mean, the thing is I don't remember him being in training camp. For sparring is over the night. I was at the last three sparring sessions, and he was sparring.

really, really good for this. I think that was the key behind it. And his stand-up game, you know, we weren't supposed to be the better boxer than Brisbane. He was supposed to be a better box than we are. But George proved that to be wrong in the first round. He outboxed him really, really well. And, you know, the over-hand right was working really well. And I told him he's counter with the right hand on the open-hand right. If he come back with the left hook, you'll have it and he went out and that's what finished

it was about finished his opponent and then you know obviously the show card at the end was that your first time attending a UFC event I know it was your first time as a corner man

but was that your first time actually in the building for a UFC event? For UFC yes that was my first time it was a really exciting show it was a lot of fun even in the locker room

watching the other the other fights we had them on and so far, I think. We did some great fights on that show. It was really, really promoted well, and I think everybody left enjoying Johnson. I mean, they promoted the show very well.

Yeah, of course, I remember when you cornered Andrei Arlowski against Fyodor Emilianenko and Affliction, but I was just curious, like, as someone who's been around countless boxing events and we're often comparing the two, do you feel like the UFC show is more exciting than your typical big boxing events? event or is it hard to compare in your opinion?

Or maybe are you just, you know, biased towards boxing because you've been a part of it for so long? Well, the thing is, I think the boxing boomers maybe get a little bit lazy and doing it so long and so forth. You know, I think the UFC fight, everyone enjoys some part of the show, the music, the other fights, the undercard, you know, sometimes when we go with a real high-profile main event,

and then the end of the card is kind of weak, but like this show was a high profile main event and a great undercar I think everyone enjoyed the show so I think this was a very good show you were one of the first people associated with George who said yes

I believe he should come back I'm in favor of this I'm going to corner him etc will you be in his corner from here on now like the next time he fights regardless of weight opponent etc are you part of the team now are you going to be a fixture there in his corner for all his fights until he retires You know, he'd been asked me to be in the corner for a long time now, and I guess I was always busy.

I always had a very busy schedule, but for this time, you know, when you made me to come back, I made the time and I made it work and, you know, flying, oh, again, flying three days up there, three days back in my gym. And I have, you know, Miguel Cotto getting ready for a big fight coming up and so forth, there's three and a half weeks away. So I'm back in the gym right now with him. But I think, yes, I'll be in this corner for a here and out. Yes. If you had your way, would you prefer to see him go back down to 170 now? Well, I want to just map out everything. And I think we all need to get together as a team.

And I think we made a decision as a team decision because I'm not the only one there, and I want to see what everyone else thinks and so forth. with them, what their thought patterns are on it. And, you know, there's always, there's always, there's always plus as a minus negotiation. And, you know, we have to work this out with Dana, of course, who's, you know, the promoter of the show. So, yeah, I think that would, we, I won't make that decision myself. I think I need a little help with it with the other guys.

I need to hear their input also. and Jewish's input is the most important to me, though. Sure. Do you have, though, obviously I know you're not as entrenched in MMA as you are in boxing, but do you have a scenario like, okay, I'd love to see him in this fight. Of course, the Conner fight is always talked about.

That would have to be at a lower weight. But if you had your way, if George said to you, Freddie, what would you like to see? What would be your response? I think I would like to go to the lower weight division, you know, back to the way that he's more comfortable with it seems like you're more used to. But the thing is, you know,

possibly that might not be available at this point. So the thing is, you know, we do have to work that out with the promoter and with everyone. And, you know, because one thing about UFC, usually what they say goes. And so, you know,

Connor McGregor wants to be the boss now. You know, wants to be the promoter or a co-promoter from what I've read about him and so forth. And, but He does have a contract, and I'm sure he has to follow it like everyone else. Considering the success on Saturday, are you interested now in working with more MMA fighters? I'm always interested in working with anyone that would come to be

and wants to improve their boxing ability. I mean, I've learned a lot about the ground game, and I've learned more all the time, because this I have to study, because it's part of the MMA work. your UFC world, you know, and part of Georgia's world, and I have to work a little differently, yes, but, you know, I do work with a lot of UFC fighters, and I've done a lot of work in the past. I've worked, I've worked with over, like, 30, 30 or 40 M.A. fighters in my gym, and, you know, I have a couple of kids in my gym right now, actually. Aaron Pico. trained chair every day.

And he's one of my better students at this point. When you're working with a Pico or GSP and MMA fighter, is the technique that you're working on that you're focusing on, is it different than when you're working with a Coteur or Apakial because they have to be cognizant of knees and elbows and takedowns, kicks, things like that? Is it the same kind of boxing technique, or do you have to adapt it to MMA because they have to worry about

so much. I have to adapt to to the MMA because that's why I have to. I've learned the sport a lot more in the ground game and what's acceptable and what's not, you know, and the boxing world. I don't think the two sports makes that well because I think whoever's rules you go by is going to be the winner, you know, unless maybe someone gets lucky and lands a shot early. but the thing is I do have to train them a little bit differently, yes. Okay.

There is a difference. And by the way, I mean, like, so right now with George and, you know, I know you've been a part of his career for some time, but never like this entrenched in the training camp, is there something about, like, I think he's the greatest of all time now considering what he did. And to be, you know, around a guy who comes back after four years and does, you know, what he did on Saturday is nothing short of remarkable. Was there something about his preparation about just being around him as an athlete as a pro that surprised you, that really stood out to you, you know, just being around someone at his level,

of his stature? Is there anything that really jumps out, you know, as far as the experience of training a guy like him, arguably the goat in our sport? Yeah, you know, it was a great experience working with him and being that close with them. It was really, really fun. There's a lot of them. And I learned a lot of new things and being with, you know, Foras and top guys with John Donahara. You're just a really bright, bright guy in jiu-jitsu and just being around these people.

It was a great experience and I hope to keep it going. Yes, it's a lot of fun. And it's a little bit different from boxing. Yes, but the thing is, it is a combat sport. and I like to help people. And the thing is, if I can help George, I will always do my best. Last thing for you, Freddie,

you know, it's such a great moment. I know George was a little bit banged up. He went to the hospital. Can you tell, is he okay physically? And did you guys even have a chance to celebrate afterwards? Yeah, we went, we went, make sure everything's okay.

Everything's great. You know, he had a couple cuts, one across the nose and one high-endous poor head and they took care of them and everything's good. And then I went to the airport and flew home and right now I'm in my gym right now getting ready to try to come with my fighters. Well, I'll let you go do that. Congratulations, Freddie.

Really appreciate the time. It was so cool seeing you in his corner, you guys celebrating. It felt like, you know, you were gracing us with your presence and that was a really cool thing considering all that you've done in the world of boxing. Appreciate your insight on this. Monday morning, Freddie. And again, congratulations on the victory. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. There he is. The one and only Freddie Roach. How about that? One in O'No now as a

UFC cornerman. He was in George St. Pierre's corner on Saturday night. And alongside, of course, for Azabee, who has been by George's side for quite some time, was really cool to see his inclusion in the quartet of cornermen on Saturday night. What a night UFC 217 was, of course, There's plenty more to talk about as it pertains to Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. We've got James Vic coming up in studio, Randy Brown, who had the big win. Of course, T.J. Dilshah, the new UFC Bantamway champion. There is so much going on.

But as you know, the train always rolls along in the UFC. There is no chance to really catch your breath. And I must say, Saturday, this coming Saturday's UFC fight night event in Norfolk, Virginia, is one of the best fight nights of the year. I mean, this thing is super stacked. in a time where it seems like the fight nights are usually a little top heavy, that is not the case with this one. Of course, the main event is Dustin Porier against Anthony Pettis, Matt Brown versus Diego Sanchez, in what's Matt Brown's retirement fight.

Junior Albini, remember him, his great story back on Long Island, his daughter, you know, not getting paid for around nine fights, the shampoo bottle toys. I mean, just an amazing story fighting on Girolovsky, who's in desperate need of a victory. Siza for Hara against Nate Marquard, half-fell, Sunsau, against Monsal against Matthew Lopez, Clay Guida against Joe Lozahn. How about John Dodson and Marlon Morais on the prelims? Nina Anseroff and Angela Hill. And then also on the prelims was shocked me when I was looking at the lineup.

Sage Northcut is on the prelims. He's back. Sage Northcutt is back. We have not seen him in action in quite some time. We missed him. We haven't seen him in 2017. Last time he fought, of course, was back in December against Mickey Gall. But he is back against Michel Quignones.

And he joins us now via the magic of Skype, right before he heads off to Norfolk, Virginia. There he is, Super Sage himself. How are you, Sage? Good to see you. Hey, I'm doing great. Thank you. Good to see you too.

What a pleasure this is. So you're just about to head off to Norfolk. You're squeezing us in. I really appreciate that. You did your camp at Team Alpha Mal and I was talking to your eye about you. And he just glows when he speaks about you. I mean, he just absolutely adores you, your energy, just everything about you. What has it been like training over there at Alpha Mal in preparation for your return?

Oh, thank you very much. Thanks for having me on your podcast. I appreciate it. And also, training a team Alpha Mel is awesome. So everyone's kind of like brothers and sisters there. They're like family. And sister favorites help me out every single day pretty much going out for the past few months I've been there. And all the coaches Alex Munoz, another coach of mine, Danny Cascio, Chris Holdsworth, everyone there and so many more to list.

All my training partners, it's been amazing. I've been learning so fast and getting better. Have you found a home? Are you going to stick with Team Alpha, now? Yes, sir, yes sir, absolutely. I think Team Appalemal is, like I said, they're like family, and Mr. Favors, he's so incredible. He's in the UFC Hall of Fame.

He's so smart. He's teaching me the best techniques. He's piecing it together all the transitions, and it's amazing. Team Maffirmil is incredible, Jim. You could have gone anywhere. You had the pick of the litter. Everyone wanted to train you.

Ultimately, why did you feel like that was the best place for you? You know, I feel like if you've ever been a team alpha mill, everybody is so positive. The atmosphere is so positive. And it kind of takes after the coaches there too. So you think of Mr. Favere being the owner of Team Alpha Mill, him being the main coach team outfamil, how it takes after his personality pretty much. He's so happy. He's so outgoing.

He's positive. The rate of learning is so incredible and how everything's structured. I think that's the biggest thing, the structure of the gym. So it's great for me to actually be able to put my time in and actually be. at one place and train for the whole camp at the same place. So I'm looking forward to this fight too from it. Also in the past it seems like you've kind of been the main focus wherever you are, but now that you're part of this larger team gym where there's a ton of great fighters, champions, things like that, you know, getting ready at the same time. Do you like that environment where

you're more part of a team as opposed to, you know, all eyes on you? You know, I absolutely do. And you know what? It's actually a little bit of both because I get Mr. favor helping me one-on-one. I have mother coach Alex Munoz helping me one-on-one. Everybody in there is like I said, they're like family. So you're in the environment with the team like for instance Cody Garbrandt and he's over there, I'm over there training on the mat. He's over there helping me out. He's moving the bag around for me, show me techniques,

helping me out, piecing things together and just everybody in there is just they all work together to get better. So how do you split your time? Because I know you're there obviously in Sacramento training but right now you're in Texas. So do you just go over there for your training camp, or are you planning to actually move to Sacramento? No, yes, sir. I've been over there for, I think,

about two and a half months straight, I believe. I did fly to China for a little bit over a week, and then I flew out to Las Vegas to film a commercial with Cynthia from actually Team Alpha Mel, too. So that was pretty fun. But I've been staying with some friends of mine, actually, the Jeremiah,

they're super nice. Mr. Faber introduced me to him, and it just worked out great and I'm looking to move up there in the future and stay there all the time so what were you doing in China so actually I was up in China for LaBrada Nutrition for a Feebo Expo

so that was pretty cool me me Mr. LaBrada went up there and some of the team from LaBrada Nutrition went up there and it was pretty neat and the FIvo Expo was huge so you can imagine how many people there are in China just everybody like tuned in was there and it was like kind of like a fitness expo

but with sports and stuff too So it's pretty fun. What did you think of the culture? Just being over there. I'd imagine that was your first time, right? Yes, sir. First time. So first my flight stopped in Beijing.

Wow. From Beijing went to Shanghai. Shanghai was where I finally was there for a week. But the culture was amazing. It was so different. Like, I tried about every possible food you could think of from like jellyfish to cuddled fish to like every piece of sushi you can think of like everything, these little fruit things that.

I don't even know what they're called, but they were really good. It was pretty neat. And then you're going down the street and you see just thousands and thousands of bicycles. So it was definitely different. Did you do any training there? You know, I did. I got a little bit of training up there. Not at any gym specifically, but I had some of the guys there train with me and help me out,

went over some techniques. And then while I was there actually at the Expo, there was some cool stuff going on, like some of the contestants from other stuff and fitness expo and some of the body. body boulders and stuff came up and they tried to wrestle with me live or try to do jitsu or do do some boxing punches at me it was it was pretty fun by the way what's going on with the hair these days i saw you tweet out something where you were kind of uh this the photoshop of ivand drago are we going for that look now what's happening you're looking a lot like him i must say you know what actually yeah so you know what actually uh yeah the new the new uh creed two movies

coming out so i actually was going to audition for that did a little audition tape so hopefully that goes through and that would be that would be pretty neat being Ivan Drago's son in the movie that would be pretty fun so yeah I just had the hair a little bit different

and so you actually were trying to look like him it wasn't just a coincidence yeah for the audition for the day so that was pretty cool and yeah so hopefully Sylvester Stallone

seems like a really cool guy and Dolph Lunger and seemed awesome I think I think me and Mr. Dolph Longer look kind of alike. Yes, yes, you look like his son. So you actually met Sly Sloan and Dolf?

No, I haven't actually met them yet. So I actually did that while I was out in Sacramento, but hoping to meet him soon. That'd be incredible. How did you get hooked up? How did you find out about that and know that you had to audition? Who brought that to you? You know, I had some friends of mine, and they were just were talking about it with me. And I just kind of got leaked up

And there was actually a few people Mr. Fabret mentioned something too So it was a really cool how it's all coming together When do you find out if you got it? When do you expect to find out? You know I have no idea So right now I'm focusing on my fight coming up And just a few days

But I'm hoping to hear soon So hopefully it goes good Of course it was a very big weekend for Team Alpha male Did you watch UFC 217? Yes, yes sir, I did What did you think of what happened with Cody and TJ? What was your assessment of the fight?

How did you feel about it? Man, you know, Cody's a champ. He's an awesome champ. And, I mean, Tita Dilloshaw is also an incredible fighter. So that's a hard opponent. I don't know all this stuff between the two of them, what's gone on before I've been to Team Alpha Miller or whatnot, but I know they're out there and they fought their best.

So, I mean, Cody's definitely going to come back. And he's great. I see him training the gym so hard all the time. and I know that he's definitely got that fire to come back and get the belt. Yeah, to prepare for your return fight alongside him as he was preparing for a title fight, I'm assuming just like by osmosis, the environment in there must have been great, right? I mean, what a perfect way for you to come back, like the timing was just perfect, right? Absolutely, yes, sir.

Also, we have Clay Gwita fighting on the same card, me and him, so we've been getting training in together, Team Alpha-Mille. Wow. He's super cool. I'm looking forward to being in Virginia fighting on the same cart with him actually, so that'll be fun. I'd love to see you and Clay Buita going toe to toe to. I feel like as you were coming up,

you were a big admirer of George St. Pierre. Is that accurate? I feel like he's your kind of guy. Is that true? Yes, sir. You know, he's accomplished so much. And I watched him actually fight Michael Bisbing. Yeah.

And he's, he definitely fight very smart. It was, oh, man, it was smart. He landed a perfect hook, a perfect left hook, dropped Michael Bisbing, and then snuck in that choke. how we set it up with that punch underneath the chin and then got the choke sunk in.

That was, if I remember it right, that was super smart. And he's just so smart, smart fighter. I think one of the greatest, if not the greatest MMA fighters, is when you watch someone like him come back and win and just the night of fights like Rose and everything, as you're about to prepare for your return fight, did you feel on Saturday night? Like, you were ready to go?

Like, did you feel a little extra motivated, a little more amped up? Because you're on deck now after you have to follow up that amazing night of fights, one of the best ever. How were you feeling after it was all done on Saturday? Oh, you kidding me? Definitely. Yeah, I feel. I was feeling so pumped up. I'm watching the fights. I'm over here like thinking I'm being calm, thinking about like what I'm going to be doing out there, what punches, what kicks,

if it's a fin and take down, doing takedowns. I'm trying to like figure out everything that I would be doing out there if that was actually my opponent fighting. So yeah, during the, during the fights outside, I actually watched him with my family and I had to friends over too. And that was, that was definitely a fun to watch. And yeah, definitely pump me up for sure. I'm so excited to fight. Did you have a chance to watch Mickey Golan, Randy Brown? And if so, were you surprised that Brown won like that?

I did watch them, yes, sir. And that was an interesting fight. I guess wasn't really surprised. It was definitely interesting to see how it played out. But, I mean, Brown was a better guy during the night. So they both went out there and fought. considering your history with Mickey, were you happy to see him lose? No, you know, that doesn't really work with me like that.

Like if I had fought someone previous, I'm not happy to see if they lose or if they go out there and win. It's not like a pride thing with me. I was just watching how they fight and seeing what all the things I could do to them now. Now that I'm getting better and more experience and what I can accomplish now of them, getting all my transitions down and becoming a better fighter. So the last time, like I said, we saw you was in December. are we going to see a different Sage Northcut with the new team, with the layoff, you've had a lot of time almost 12 months now.

Do you feel like we're about to see a different Sage Northcut on Saturday? Absolutely, yes, sir. You're definitely going to see a lot better version of a Sage Northcutt out there. And I feel like I've been improving so much. You can ask Mr. Faber, my other coach, it's been there, Alex Munoz. That's going to be coaching me in the Oxi-on along with my dad. But I've been improving so much my transitions and have been better. the people that I'm training with in the environment,

which create UFC fighters, fighters that are the top of the other leagues that they're fighting in. Their environment is so incredible. So I've been getting better and better every single day that goes by. You never have a chip on your shoulder, but I'm wondering, do you feel like you have something to prove on Saturday? You know what?

I don't feel like I have something to prove on Saturday. I'm going back down to my weight class, which I can normally fight at 155. So I've been blessed. I'm undefeated at 155 in the UFC, and I'm looking to go out there, have my fourth fight at 155. So this is, I'm stoked for it. I'm excited. And I'm, I'm so excited personally to go out there and, and do all this stuff that I've been working on. So,

excited to show how much I've improved, how much I've gotten better. And I just imagine, right now for me, I'm just imagining what would it be like if it was another year down the line or if it was, it's only been a few months, but if it was, if it was a year down the line or even six months, how much better I'm going to be trying to get some out of mail with Mr. You've only just scratched the surface. By the way, is he's, is, he's, is, Is he going to be in your corner, Yeraya? Yes, sir, he is. Oh, wow.

I'm looking forward to it. Wow, what a scene that's going to be. What a guy to have in your corner. That's amazing. I love it. I love the partnership. I love the pairing. I think it's a perfect place for you.

And truthfully, he just glows when he speaks about you. I mean, he just absolutely loves you and admires you. So I'm really happy to see that it's all worked out for you over there in Sacramento. Thanks for squeezing us in Sage. I know you have to head off to the airport now to catch your flight. I really appreciate it. Great to talk to you. great to have you. And by the way, I had strep throat last week, and it was the worst thing in the world that I was thinking about you. I can't imagine fighting with that. I don't know how you even did that back in Newark two years ago. I mean, it was the worst. It was worse than any flu, any food poisoning. So kudos to you, my man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

You feel healthy. Everything's okay. Right. You've turned the corner. Oh, yes, sir. I feel great. Yeah. I've actually got training an actual fighting camp, getting a train. no school, be training the whole time for the few months, the whole entire camp. Being healthy, too, no tons. So no sickness. I'm feeling great. I'm feeling ready. Awesome.

Very happy for you. Best of luck in Virginia, Sage. Thank you so much and looking forward to seeing you back in there on Saturday. All right. Sounds good. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. All right.

There he is. The one and only Super Sage Northcut stopping by. He's about to head off to the airport. So great to have him on. What a great guy. And it's true. I was talking to Uri Fabor on Saturday. on Friday at the at the at the ceremonial wanes and he was just like man this is my kind of guy I love this guy he is just amazing

just glowing about him and the energy that he's brought to the gym the positivity really great stuff and the perfect I mean your eye is just the perfect guy to have as a mentor to to to have you know there as as you're trying to establish yourself in the UFC and pretty cool to hear that he will be cornering mr. Northcutt on Saturday night as well. It's a great card. It really is. I mean, this is the problem with having so many events and this is what I said going into well going in and going out

of Saturday night at UFC 217. I mean, there's just so much. There's so much MMA. There's so much UFC. They're essentially relying on five days of promotion now. I mean, what have you heard? And rightfully so, because 217 was such a big card. What have you heard about

Norfolk? Nothing. They're going to start promoting it probably now. As they transition from just basking in the glory of 217, there's just not enough time when you go week to week to week to week. But this is a phenomenal card. It really is. And I don't say that often about the fight nights.

Cort McGee on the fight past prelims. Porier versus Pettis is just an amazing lightweight fight. The retirement fight for one, Matt Brown, against Diego Sanchez. Really curious to see how Junior Albini looks against Andre Alofsky. I can't believe that Marlon Marais and John Dotson are on the pre-ims. I mean, it's all on FS1, so it doesn't really matter. But, I mean, that's a pretty damn important fight at 135. John Dotson against Marlon Marais?

That's amazing. Tatiana Suarez coming back. Super Sage Northcut back. Been so long since we've seen him. And looking forward to that on Saturday. Okay, let's go back to our UFC 217 talk. We've got a trio of in-studio guests coming up. two of which were victorious on Saturday.

First one had an amazing performance, and what was so amazing about it was he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder going into Saturday. James Vic has been making all kinds of noise, wanting respect, wanting the bigger fights, wanting to get ranked, wanting the ranked fights, wants to be put in a position

to really make some noise at 155 pounds. He is now 8 in 1. He did not get that, you know, super highly ranked guy, but he got Joe Duffy, who's very popular, who's a known opponent. Of course, has the history with Connor McGregor, who's looked very good in the UFC,

and what did he do? He went in there and stopped Joe Duffy, and he stopped him at the buzzer of round number two. An amazing uppercut led to the finish. Four minutes and 59 seconds. That's when he stopped him. What a great TKO win for one James Vic on Saturday. And now he's making a lot of noise.

You heard him on the microphone. He said that he wants to fight Anthony Pettus. He said he wants to fight the winner of Pettus versus Dustin Porey. And how about this? What a treat it is to have the executioner in studio. Here he comes, James Vick. And I have a great story about James Vick. James, my man, how are you?

I'm good. Congratulations. Thank you for coming in. Have a seat, my man. I asked James to come in studio last Monday. No, I asked you to just be on the show last Monday. And you said, you know what? I'm going to win and I'm going to stick around in New York and I'll be in studio.

And I was like, damn, this guy's got balls. This guy's confident. And now here you are coming off the win. Sir, just like you visualize. When you visualize stuff, it tends to happen that way. What's it like having a win like that in a place like MSG on a card like that? Like a less than two days later. Do you still feel like you're on cloud nine?

I do. I do. I'm not going to lie. I'm super excited still. It didn't seem like a big deal when I found out I was on the card. And then when I got here, it wasn't too big of a deal. But as the week progressed, I started filling it. And then right there, right before the fight, the media day was big.

and then went to the arena, the way-ins, and then when I got there, I just felt it in big time. And just like being in the locker room, I mean, that arena is legendary. You know some of the big names that have formed there, not just in combat sports, boxing, but, you know, acts like, you know, concerts, basketball, hockey, just being there backstage.

Like, could you feel like you're in a historic place? Yeah, it was different. It was different, for sure, and more special. Yeah. And then it was funny in the back. We go in the locker room and there's, there's like big claw marks on the side of one of the lockers and they said someone some hockey player got mad and really and hit it with his shoes and cut the cut the locker up and stuff and it was big locker room bigger than usual one it was a special event okay so let's talk about the fight first round

you can see that he have have you watch the fight by the way I have so did he win the first round it was close and like I thought before when I when I was in the fight I came back to the corner and I asked my corner I said hey did I win that round and I and they were like My coach's like, yeah, I think so, but it was close. He's like, he might have got it with the takedown. He might have got the points. I felt like I did more damage because I had cut them already in a couple of different spots in the first round, but he was throwing enough volume that I thought potentially I lost the round.

Okay, and what are they telling you going into the second round? Did you make any adjustments? You used the jab. Can you start using the jab more. I can hit them if I just unload the hands, I can hit them whenever I want and just keep the movement. It was given them problems, and they could tell, where we all could tell, you know, he was fading a little bit.

And did you know the uppercut would be there? Yeah, you know, that's what I said after all my interviews is we study a lot of film. I study a lot of film when all the guys I fight. My coaches watch the film and everything. And I saw all the front attacks, the knee, the front kick, the uppercut, all the front attacks because he stands real heavy with a good boxing base and keeps his chin tucked real well, but that's not going to help him against my knee coming up the middle or a front kick or uppercut. and I knew that those middle attacks would be open.

And I tried the front kick in the first round, and it connected a little bit, but just grazed them. And then I kept feigning the knees and, like, faking them out and trying to go for them, but never committed to any of them. And I knew it was going to be open. And I heard my corner say it, and I threw it in, like, right on cue. Yeah, more to that point.

You said afterwards in the scrum that you could hear your corner better than most arenas. I couldn't believe it because I fought in some smaller arenas, way smaller arenas, even in the UFC, and I could hear everything. It was like during the fact, I guess, maybe weren't being exciting. I don't know, but it wasn't, they weren't loud. Okay. And I could hear everything.

I could hear, this was probably the first time I, and I was so focused, the first time I could hear every time my corner would say, hey, 30 seconds, hey, a minute left, two minutes left, I could hear everything. And I guess I should have listened better if I could hear everything. I don't have that excuse, but yeah, I could hear everything. It was amazing. I was surprised how big of an venue it was and how easy I could hear everybody. So you knew there were 10 seconds left, but when you were going down, I mean, once you drop him and then you're going for the ground and pound, you must know, like, I got to squeeze this in, right? I mean, there's literally seconds left here now, right?

Yeah. Are you talking to yourself in that moment? Yeah. Basically, I knew that I had won that round. I knew I was up on that round, and I had pointed them pretty bad. And I knew when I heard that, I heard my corner say, it was, I think they said either 15 or 20 seconds, I heard that. And I started circling it. And I knew that he was coming in to try to land something big and try to steal that round.

So I was like, and I figured it was going to be a right hand Because that's, you know, his money punches, he comes in with the right hand I was like, all right, I'm going to throw it and beat him to the punch And I heard that clapper and he came in and I threw it And then I didn't really obviously when I go for the finish I didn't realize at the time there was two seconds left or whatever But honestly when I hit him I saw his eyes roll back in his head when he hit the ground He was I mean he was bad he was in a bad way

And I thought about not even going down there and you know just trying to get the walk off or whatever But then I saw him try to bring his legs in front like he was going to try to you know Shrimp and recover guard if I came down down on top of them. So I continued swinging and it worked out. But he was hurt 100%. And did you know, like was there a moment that? It was kind of unclear on television.

If you got it in in time, if the fight was over, did you know the fight was over? Oh, yeah, I knew it was over because the ref, the ref jumped in and he's like his, and then right after immediately the ref stood up, he's like his eyes were rolling back in his head. Okay. I read on your Instagram, you said that this was not a good training camp,

that you had a ton of injuries. So can you expand on that? What was wrong? What happened? So my, my, my, my, One of my best friends, my teammate, Sadiq, Yusuf, the one who loves your show. Yeah, he's just fan.

Most love. Yeah. Respect. Yep. Sadie, we need to get him in the UFC. Yeah. So he, so my very first day,

I came back to camp Tuesday. We spar, we spar Tuesdays and Fridays. I spar, everything was good. 100% we did six rounds. Me and him did. He's my number one sparring partner that I train with the majority of the time. And especially for a boxer because he's a boxing-based guy too. And everything was good.

And then so later that night, We start wrestling, and we're just doing wrestling drills. We're not even going live, and we were inside the boxing ring to them, and the boxing ring has, like, this metal rail on the bottom of it. And he took me down just on a drill, and we wasn't paying attention, and my hand hit the bottom of that thing. My thumb did, and I'm pretty sure it broke my thumb. Whoa.

And it was really bad, and I got acupuncture on it. And a lot of people don't believe in acupuncture, but the guy I go to is like a Chinese Olympic acupuncture. He was an Olympic team. He worked for the Olympic team in China for like 20 years. And he has a clinic there in Virginia, and he's a miracle worker. And I went there, you know, three days a week for two or three weeks. And within about a month, I was able to spar. And for a whole month straight, I just hit pads with one hand, hit bags with one hand, and didn't spar.

Wow. And then about, I sparred about three good sessions, about a week and a half. And then after that, one of my teammates kicked me in the forum really hard. Oh, no. And even with the shin pads, it felt like it was, it didn't feel broke or anything, but it was bad where I couldn't even really kick for another two weeks of sporn after that. So I basically only kicked about maybe four spawning sessions of the whole camp

and then box maybe like three or four. So was this the least amount of sparring you've done going into a fight? Striking-wise? I think so. Yeah. When I fought Ramsey Nidjim, I had a really bad leg injury as well and I didn't get to really train live for the whole month and that fight worked out as well. But

it's part of it. And you know, when you're in camp, you just, you know that you know that that other person is probably going through that too. Like I'm not thinking, oh, I might have to pull out of this fight because it's not a big enough injury. It may mess up the camp, but it's not going to mess up the fight. Okay. So I'm not. So you never consider pulling out.

No, not at all. Because in my mind, I'm thinking, well, what if Joe Duffy's going through twice as much? I'm not going to, I'm not that type of dude. And, you know, I'm not giving up that type of payday, you know, just for a hurt thumb or whatever. Actually, when I fought Abel Trehillo, I had some injuries as well. And I maybe only grappled like three times live that hopefully. camp. Wow.

And the rest of time was just drilling. And I felt better than ever on the ground. Yeah, yeah. I won that fight on the ground. So maybe there's a method to the madness.

No, for sure. My camps have changed a lot as far as the last couple years of, and maybe that's why I've been able to be healthy and fight more and I'm assuming it is. And I've been way more drilling and less live goes.

But when I go live, we go hard and we do lots of rounds. I was just going to say, like it feels like now you're consistently fighting more. There was a time where you were fighting like once a year because of injuries, bad luck, things like that.

So that is a direct result of changing things and training, like just being a little smarter about things? Somewhat, and what it is is it's not going live and hard as much. Okay. But like when we go live, we go hard. And when we go, when we go live, we do lots of rounds. Like we'll do 10, 5 minute rounds of grappling, you know, and we'll go 100%. Or we'll do six or eight five-minute sparring rounds and we'll go 100%. But it's just outside of camp too.

I've tried to be smarter with that. And I drill more and I only grapple back home when I'm going outside of camp. I probably grapple maybe once or twice a week live and the rest of the time it's all drilling but I still get a full two, two and a half hour practice of drilling and getting tons of reps because I kept getting hurt outside of camps.

Okay. And this camp, I was a little worried because I started to camp a little bit, you know, kind of sore, burned out a little bit because I thought I was going to get the fight in August and they couldn't get nobody to fight me. Like I asked the fight in August and then I wanted to fight in September,

couldn't get it. Then I wanted to fight in October, couldn't get it. So now I had to wait until, you know, until November. So just turning you down. I've been training twice a day. Oh, wow. Ever since that last fight, three days after that last fight, I've been training that.

So, I don't, I mean, it helps with your progression, but you've got to be smart with your body. And I've learned how to do that, though. So, you know, I was watching at you at the official way-ins. I mean, it's been talked about. I mean, you're six foot three. You're the biggest lightweight? The tallest, yeah, yeah. And, like, your, was this a tougher weight cut for you?

Or was this standard? This was the easiest thing I've had in three years. Wow. So, okay, so what happened is I've had, well, first of all, I'm not going to lie, I'm a little indiscipline with my diet. Okay. You know, I'm, I'm a sugar addict. I have like a serious sugar problem. Okay. And I can eat, like your Achilles here. Like, what's the like? Ice cream, just, and then I just, it's too, like portion size. Yes. Like my nutrition is sometimes after I train, it's funny, but he'll let me eat, immediately after training, let me eat a little bit of Twizzlers.

Okay. And but I'll eat, instead of eating just five little ones, I'll eat 20, you know? Okay. Yeah. And it's just, it's sugar, you know, it's just my problem. Okay. And so I was very disciplined on this camp because, for one thing, you know, I worked with George Lockhart and I was worried that he wasn't going to be able to come. Okay. Because, you know, he's so busy and been working with so many people. I was worried he wasn't going to be able to come. And then he had Tyler come out and help us, which Tyler was great.

That was awesome. Tyler Minton. Very good, yes. And I was worried about that. So I was like, oh, I got, and then about a month before the fight, I started having really bad tendonitis in my knees. And I've never had any problems in my life. And it's just nothing serious, but just. something I need to rest, but I didn't have time to rest.

So I was running to keep my weight down, and there was no more running. I couldn't run the last month, and I was like, oh, man, what I'm going to do? Because the last week before the fight is when I do a bunch of heavy runs to get the weight down. And I was worried about that. I was so worried, so I was super disciplined on my diet. And I normally get to the last two or three I've got to the event on Tuesday before the way in. I've got there at 176, which is big. That's insane.

And this time, but it's not, there's other guys that getting there that big, too, whether they're saying it or not. I mean, these other guys are walking around 190 also, you know what I'm saying? They're not, I mean, Kevin Lee openly admitted he walks around 195. Kiesa said they walk around 190. I mean, I'm not the only one. I'm just tall. No, no, no, yeah, yeah. But I got there this time at 172 and I was like, oh, man, this is going to be a breeze.

I was super happy. It wasn't easy, obviously, but it was way easier than usual. It still was. How do you feel in that moment? Like, on that Friday morning, are you, like, are you completely out of it? This one, I was good. I was looking at your head. It was a little bit sunken in there.

I mean, I guess that's just a product of... But it wasn't as bad as it wasn't as bad as some of the other ones. Like, probably the worst weight cut I had, which actually I think was probably one of my best fights. And it was definitely the worst weight cut I ever had was when I fought Glico Franca in Vegas. Okay. And I felt like that was one of my best fights because I showcased all my skills and I went to full distance and I looked very good. And that was one of the worst weight cuts ever had in my life. How bad was it?

It was bad. Bad? Bad? Like, I passed out. What's bad? Oh, really? Yeah, like it was bad. How did they revive you?

But, no, I mean, I was like, it just fainted for a second and then I came back. I didn't, like, die or anything, guys. But after that, it was crazy because then, but as long as, you know, I believe in George Lockhart, I believe in the system and everything. And I'm not going to blame him for me coming in heavy because I cheated my diet. You know, that was my fault. And I took responsibility for it, but I listened to what he said with the reload and I did everything he said and drunk and ate what he told me to after the way in.

And, you know, there's certain things he won't allow you. to eat before the fights. You know, after the way in and before the fight within that time period, there's certain things you're not allowed to eat. I listen to what he said. I don't know the reasons, but obviously he don't like no dairy products and no red meats. And, you know, he obviously wants a lot of soy sauce, salt, sodium, rice, you know, chicken, stuff

like that. But I listened to what he said, and it was, I felt amazing. Even though I had such a hard weight coat when I fought, I felt. good and my cardio was good, three rounds and tons of volume on my strikes. How much you weigh on Saturday? I think I weighed on Saturday about 178. Okay. Is that typical?

That amount of weight that you had? That's just amazing. Do you think eventually you'll move up to 170? Yeah, yeah. Eventually, you know, my goal is my goal is to be a world champion within the next year, which I got to get somebody to fight me to get that. My goal is to be a world champion by sometime around this next year, by this time next year, Okay.

It's to be a world champion, which is hard to do in my division because even if you're winning, you got to get people to fight you and then you've got to get fights, you know, they've got to fit it in. But, and then, you know, my goal is to win that and defend it once or twice and they move up. Okay. That is my plan. That's my plan. Yeah. Get rid of, okay.

So it's become sort of like a tradition now with you. You win impressively. Then you get on the mic and you call everyone out and you tell us how frustrated you are. And you took advantage of the moment. I mean, it was great. I love what you said. Like, you know who I am. Yeah.

This is ridiculous, I mean, these guys know exactly who the fuck I am. I have a better record. I feel like a douchebag just saying my record over and over again. Oh, I'm 8 in 1. I'm 8 in 1. But, I mean, how many of these guys are 8 in 1? I literally have a better winning percentage than 90% of the UFC. They know exactly who the fuck I am.

And they're acting like they don't because I understand I'm not delusional that I'm in the deepest weight class in the UFC. And I understand that I'm at a high risk, low reward situation right now. Like, I'm the highest risk they can take. because I'm going to whip them all. I'm going to beat them all. And of course, they're taking a huge risk on fighting me, but my name isn't quite big enough yet. So, of course, I'm not saying that they're avoiding me,

necessarily because they're scared, but they're afraid of losing their spot. They're not afraid of me, the guy, the fighter, James Vic, but they're afraid of what I could do, what losing to me would do to their career. 100% they're afraid of it. So you need now, like, you need the Soroni to your Darren Till. You need that veteran guy to step up and actually fight you, right?

So you set your sights on the Pettus-Poree fight. That's the one you want, right? The winner of that one? I do, but I don't think those guys are going to fight me. I mean, I just watch the countdown show with them, and Poriard is talking about, oh, I beat Pettis, I'm going to get a title. I should get a title shot. I mean, I get his logic.

You know, I'm not hating on any of these guys, man. There's a big enough pie for everyone. I just want my peace, you know? I get his logic that, oh, he realistically did just. just beat Eddie Alvarez and he should be getting a title fight because of that. That's his logic or whatever. But to beat Anthony Pettish, you get a title fight, a dude who's lost four out of his last five fights or four out of his last six fights and he comes in, which to me is a complete joke.

They rank me number 15 in the world at one point for a week. And then Justin Gachie comes in and beats a dude who's lost four out of his last five. Has one win in the UFC. Just against he has one. Matter of fact, he was talking shit about me on Twitter. Oh. Yeah, I'm going to go off on him a little bit too. Yeah, he started popping off before I got on the mic.

He's talking about, oh, yeah, this guy's about to get on the mic and say how everyone's a ducking him, everyone's afraid of. And well, what do you want me to lie? Yeah. I mean, you're talking all that shit, but you weren't saying nothing when I was calling you out on fight night. When he won't his fight, I walked right up to Sean. Show me, me and poor I both did, walked right up and said, we won't fight Gaichi. Uh-huh. And then two days later, the UFC says them next to me.

And obviously, we're not going to start any, you know, I'm not going to start any drama. I just now got on their good side where they're flying me places. Yeah. I'm not trying to start any. drama or whatever, and it ain't personal. But the dude's saying all that, but then you had, you, you've, you've beat one guy in the UFC and every other guy that you fought outside of this organization, wouldn't even be ranked in the top fucking 40.

Every guy that he beat outside of the UFC, these guys wouldn't even be ranked in the top 40 and you're acting like you're, you're the baddest fighter in the world. What a fucking joke, dude. You know, so he's talking all that shit. Well, fight me then. You know, you're sitting there saying, oh, well, of course, you're going to say, I'm, I'm not worthy to fight you. When I, I, I have eight, seven more UFC wins.

than you have. And the combined record of the guys you fought outside of this organization is probably not very good. I haven't looked them all up. But I obviously know that those guys wouldn't even be a top contender in the UFC. So the Pettus thing, you know, yeah, I want to fight. But I was talking about Pettis with how they ranked him. He beat Jim Miller, who was ranked 10 spots below me. And then because he's a former world champion, they rank him number 13 in the world.

When he's lost four out of his last six fights, well, out with the old and with the new. Yeah. You know, I mean, come on, dude. Out with the old and with the new. I understand you're a world champion. I understand this is a business, but, I mean, in my mind, I'm a world champion, and I perform me like a world champion.

And I'm beating, Joe Duffy hadn't been finished by, he was 16 and 2. That's a phenomenal MMA record. He hadn't been finished. He hadn't been knocked out by anybody, and I knocked them out. You know, all these guys want to say, oh, you haven't beat nobody.

I mean, I beat him. You know, I'm not going to get up here and try to fight McGregor and all that. I know that's unrealistically. I can't even get a number 15 guy to fight me. How am I going to get McGregor to fight me? I'm not going to be stupid and say anything like that. But Joe Duffy beat him.

You know, you got Tony Ferguson. In my mind, I'd whip Tony Ferguson's ass. Tony Ferguson, look at our competition. We fought. They're going to say, oh, you haven't fought. I mean, I smoked Abel Trujillo twice as easy as he did. I mean, Abel Trujillo took him down three times and dropped them twice. And to say that I'm not worthy and skill level-wise,

because all these people, their whole saving grace where they don't have to fight me is because I got a top-10 fight before and I lost. That's their whole thing. Well, first of all, most of these guys have. have got multiple top 10 opportunities. Or they lose and then they're grandfathered in because they have names and they stay there. It really is a joke. I mean, it's time, that's my third finish in a row.

It's time for another chance. If I, God forbid, I get another chance and I blow it, then I'll go back to the back of the ladder and I'll lose, and I'll win two or three more fights and I'll come back and say something after that. But it's time for me to get another chance. I mean, this is a joke, man. It is.

Have you ever looked at who ranks, like who's part of the UFC rankings? I have no idea. I don't know who it is. With all due respect to those guys, I don't even know what those people are. There are people who don't go to events. The whole thing started because Fox wanted

when they promoted the shows like, oh, number three versus number two. Like, they just wanted another way to people. Like, the UFC has always been against rankings because they didn't want the fighters and the managers to start, like, you know, squabbling. And so they asked all the media to do it. But most of the media said, no, I don't want,

because it's a conflict of interest. like they would take Nate Diaz out because they were mad at him, but they'd keep Dominic Cruze in for three years even though he was injured. It was just a weird thing to be a part of. So only like 10 people have remained. And I don't know if they know anything about MMA. So like I feel bad for someone like you who's getting so worked up over the fact that you can't even crack it. When the people who are determining this, again, with all due respect to them, you know, they may be nice people, don't really know the sport that well. And that's just the truth because I don't see them at events. I don't see them covering the sport. I mean, they're like

radio people, not like actual MMA media. And it's messed up that they're that, that, fighters are using this against you saying like, oh, you're not ranked when you should be ranked. You know what I mean? I should be ranked. The whole system is broken. This is another thing. A lot of people, I guess people watching and tuning in right now, if they don't have it follow my career, they don't remember is I grew up in the UFC.

In my mind, I've earned this right more than most of these people have because I only had four pro fights when I got in the UFC. I was professional for eight months when I got on the ultimate fighter. Eight months, that was it. And I had four pro fights all within three months. And then I got a little injury and I had to chill. And then I tried off with the ultimate fighter. I made the show. And so that was my eighth win in the UFC, my ninth fight in the UFC.

And some of these guys coming in, you know, don't have half those many fights in the UFC or half those many wins in the UFC. So I've earned this right to be here. It's been a long five years. You know, I've had a lot of injuries. I've worked a full-time job half the time I've been in the UFC. Just this last couple years have I been able to finally train full-time and do stuff. I hear all these people, you know, talking about, oh, I just need a can. Well, guess what, I did it? I was beating all these guys. I mean, realistically, I've been fighting for, probably a good half the time some of these guys have. I mean, I've been fighting for about 10 years now,

but I've had four major surgeries. I've had, um, uh, what were they? I've had two shoulder surgeries, hand surgery and hip surgery. Damn. So I had four, yeah.

How'd you injure your hip? I don't know, man. I think it was just accumulation because, wow. Before I fought Jake Matthews, I started feeling a real, like, pain in my groin. And I thought it was, I thought I pulled my groin. It was like three weeks out.

And I just kept kicking. I was like, well, what do you? do you got to go through the camp and after the fight was over I came back home and I uh I got an MRI and they said it was my hip and I was like oh man they see got to have surgery I wanted to cry wow that was my that was my fourth surgery yeah yeah and then you know I've so I've had the surgeries I've had bunch of other injuries they didn't require surgery but injuries and everyone has injuries but not everyone's had major surgeries like that either though I know a lot of fighters that haven't had any you know and I've worked a full-time job half this time what was your job I mean I've made me yeah

oil fields I've worked in oil fields. I've worked at clubs. I've worked security. I've worked unloading trucks. I've did everything. Which was the worst? Labor-wise? Or just you didn't enjoy it? You dreaded it? Yeah, I didn't enjoy getting up working at a factory and doing, you know, just, I felt like I was meant for more, you know? I didn't enjoy that. I felt like a lot of people got stuck in that, you know, because some of these, like the old ones, they pay good money. So people get stuck because the money's so good, you know, and it was, the money was phenomenal, but I just, I just didn't,

I just didn't feel like it was for me, you know? So when did you decide no more jobs? I'm going to do this full time? Well, it wasn't a decision I made. It was, it was, it was, I finally got paid enough money to make it work. Okay. So, um, basically, how long ago was that? When I won the bonus against Jake Matthews. That was it. So I had to win the bonus to finally, you know, because the ultimate fighter contract isn't very good, you know?

Are you off that now? Yeah, I'm off that now. I actually, uh, did, you re-signed recently, right? I re-signed a new deal right before this fight, and after that win, I only had one fight. I really wish I wouldn't have a sign. Because I would have a little more negotiation room, obviously. Why did you sign? Well, I only had one fight left,

and I was thinking I should be getting one. You want to fight it out? I got a good, good raise, you know, compared to what I was making for sure. Yeah. A very good one. You know, almost double. Sure.

But the leverage I would have had after Saturday night, I should have been more patient, but you live and learn. Did you think about just right? Duffy did the exact same thing, right? He fought out his contract When in testing his water I thought about it 100%

But then I was like After that last fight I had one fight let then I want to be in the UFC You know UFC is I mean I'm not hating on the other organizations And I'm always open to looking into it You know but I mean I want to be a UFC world champion And you're an expecting father as well

Yeah I have yes Right congratulations Now when is the baby due? In April Your first one Yes sir How do you feel about this? I'm excited

It's a little nervous we're actually doing a gender reveal. That's right. Saturday. November 11th, right? I saw that on your Instagram. So this Saturday. So you know what it is?

I've never been a part of a gender reveal before. No, we don't know. Okay, you don't. But we could have found out like a month ago. Okay. But we chose to wait until after the fight and after the camp. Okay. We don't know, but in my heart, I'm having a boy.

Okay. I'm having a boy. I spoke that into existence. And I'm having a boy. And you're big into that sort of thing, right? Yeah, I'm very big into self-help and personal development. Who introduced you to that? You know what?

When I was in the ultimate fighter, we had a strength of condition a coach named Doug. Okay. And the last, you know how they don't give you no books? The only book you can read is the Bible. And, you know,

I read that the whole time I was in there. Wow. And you, are you religious guy? Not super religious, but, you know, somewhat. Okay. But not, I mean, not die hard with it or anything.

But I read that. So I read the book. So I read the Bible and everything. And then the last week, he gave us this book. And it was just a bunch of different stories and quotes of, you know,

personal development stuff helps. stuff and I read it and I was like, oh, this is amazing. And then I went and trained with my trainer and then Lloyd Irvin and then I saw all the books that people are reading, you know, the think and grow rich and all the the finance and the self-development, you know, personal development and self-help books and stuff. And then I just started studying it on my own and I started watching stuff on YouTube and I started watching all these seminars and studying this stuff. And I like just consumed it with my life. For like the last five years. And it is like, really changed my life. You feel like it's changed. Oh, totally. I mean, and it, you know,

it talks about everything. You know, it only takes five years. Some of the stuff I study like Earl Nightingale and stuff. It talks about how you can get to the top of your field within five years of study and hard work and start doing things the right way. And here I am, it's about five years since I've studied this stuff and my financial life is taking off. Everything is just taking off for me. Wow. And in my personal life, having a baby, you know, relationship with my girl, everything, my family life, everything is just going, just how I've visualized it. Wow. So why are you willing a boy into existence? Why? Why? Because I want a boy. What guy doesn't want a boy? I want James Jr. We're going to call him James. Is that it? Is that set?

And what if it's a girl? Then it's going to take me a week to get over it, but I'm going to love it. No, I just had a girl myself. Yeah. I have two boys and a girl. Okay. The boys are the best. I love them. It's been amazing. Two boys at the top and then the girl was last. There's something about the girl, man. It is special. See, that's a good order for you, though. Because then you've got to do brothers, they're able to protect the system. Yes, it is. I'm very happy. So that's what you're hoping for.

I know my girl, you know, she wants a girl. And I want a daughter or two, obviously. Hopefully I have two or three kids, kind of like you guys. But obviously, I want a boy first. Okay. For sure. Would you want your boy to be a fighter? If he wants to be, yeah.

I mean, I'm going to, he's going to train all the time. I'll tell you that. He's going to train because I'm, I think society, there's too many victims and too many, too many people allowing themselves to be the victim. them and they need to be taught how to stand up for themselves. Bullying and stuff like that is exist. This is the beginning of time. And you can wear a t-shirt and try to prevent it, but that's not going to prevent it.

So the best thing is to be prepared for the bad people, you know, and stuff like that. So is this your first fight camp and fight knowing that you're going to be a dad? It is. And May you didn't know. When you fought at 2.11? No, sir. Didn't know. My girl didn't get pregnant until July actually.

Okay. So, I mean, just as you prepared, I'm always curious about this, like a father for the first time. Did you feel like things were different? Like now you're fighting for just, you know, more than you and your girlfriend. You're fighting, you're about to be a dad, right? It felt a little different only because I'm like, only because the motivation of that win bonus. Right. You know, you want that money.

You know, you want security. You want a cushion. And that's why we went ahead and decided to have the, you know, to have a kid is because I did get to fight twice this year. And I made some decent money. And I, you know, I'm very smart with my money. I'm really, all my coaches, all my friends, everyone calls me real cheap. You know, I'm very frugal with my money. And that's why I, I.

keep it, you know, and I have it. And I made some decent money this year and I saved, you know, I saved the majority of it. And I was like, okay, well, if we're going to have a kid, this is, we're not going to be any more financially set than we already, this, the best we've been up to this point. So we need to go ahead and do it. And so it's definitely motivation from a financial standpoint, for sure. Now, what are you going to do about living? Because you live in Texas, right, but your, your training is in Virginia. Yeah, but I mean, obviously, I train back home year round. Yeah, yeah. I train. Once you become a dad, will you still spend your camp? For sure. I'll still We do my camps up there.

And what I'll happen is I'll probably maybe go, go up there, maybe a week sooner. And then instead of my girl flying up for a few days, like I'll probably fly home like a week, week and a half in the middle of camp and do half, not half, but like middle of my camp there. We're still do it at least six weeks there in my camp. Okay. Something I learned about you recently, you used to play basketball, right? Yeah. You were pretty good.

I was pretty good. Yes, sir. Then you got kicked off the team. I in college. Yeah, yeah. Why? Fighting. Fighting?

Fighting? Yeah. What happened? It's just, just drama, you know, like teenager stuff. So who kicked you off? The coach? Yeah, it was like, yeah, I was like basically, basically both come in and it was just a thing that happened, a situation that happened. You don't want to get into it?

Not too deep. What school was it? It was just a junior college. Oh, okay. That wasn't nothing made. Could you have gone far? Realistically, not, I mean, not like. Not like I am now.

And obviously it wasn't, I think basketball really, to a degree, I kind of regret putting all that time into it. Really? Because it didn't really get me anywhere in life. I felt like, but in the town I grew up in, I grew up in a town of, you know, 3, 3,500 people in Texas, a small town. They didn't have wrestling, all in New Texas. Okay.

They didn't have wrestling. They didn't have boxing. They didn't have all these other things. So I didn't start fighting until I was 20 years old. And a lot of these, like I said, some of these guys, they've been fighting their whole life or training in something, their whole life. You know, when you're training wrestling or taekwondo or boxing, what that is training, whether you want to say, oh, I've only been doing mixing martial arts for X amount of years,

you've been training your whole life. Right. And I didn't start until I was 20 because the town I lived in, we didn't. We just didn't have that stuff. So I played basketball. And it was something I could do on my own all the time. So, I mean, I would practice five or six hours a day, but I kind of regret it because it almost, like, it basically, I mean, I guess it helped teach me work ethic and stuff like that. But I met some great people and I had great coaches.

but it was just, I felt like it was a waste of my life a little bit. So, so, so, is that why you got into fighting? Because you got into a fight and then you were like, I'm pretty good at this. When I quit playing basketball

and I got into trouble, I, you know, I'd been to some street fights growing up, you know, I was kind of, you know, my dad raised this kind of rough, you know. So, um, he encouraged you to get into street fights? No, he just occurred. No, but we never got in trouble for getting anyone. Okay.

Like, never was I punished for that. Like, never. It was like, yeah, if someone, you know. You have brothers? Yeah, I do. But, but, My family, I'm the youngest of six kids. I still have a twin brother.

Oh, wow. But we look nothing alike. Okay. But we're just, there's different age groups. So my parents are their late 60s, okay? Okay. And my older siblings are in the early 40s, and then me and my twin brother and my sister, my youngest sister are all in our, we're 30, and then she's like 33.

So we're lower 30s and they're the early 40s. So there's like, my parents had three kids. and they waited 10 years and then had three. Wow. Are you guys close? Very close family. Very close family, yeah. Okay, so you guys are getting into fights and your street fights? You're a bit of a, a bit of a troublemaker, if you will.

No, it's just, I mean, I didn't get in trouble a lot, but it's just, and then I got out of some trouble a couple times because I was good at basketball in high school, so that helped me a little bit. Oh, they gave you a pass? A little bit, yeah. But it was just, you know, you were, you know, I was taught to stand up for myself. And we were, you know, when you grew up in a small town, everyone knows your business. It's different than growing up here. Sure, sure, sure.

Nobody, you know, you can't imagine any more than I can imagine before I came here. Like, you, we drove this big, ugly van, and it was like just embarrassing. It was like a hippie-looking van, but we were dirt poor. I mean, we were, young as six kids,

we were, we were broke. It was, it wasn't a hard life upbringing as far as, I don't want to act like I was, you know, deprived of certain things, but it was, I mean, we were, you know, we had food stamps, but we were broke. We were very poor people.

And part of the time we didn't, you know, that we hunt and fish, a lot and we, you know, eat what we, what we shoot and stuff as well. But it's, it was, it was, you got picked on a lot when, when, you know, when you're, you come to school and your mom, we walk to school most of the time, but people would see, oh, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, uh, parents van, and they're laughing at my van making fun of me, you know, for driving this, for my parents driving this thing, you know, so you're just going to take that, or you're going to say something, you know? You say something leads to something else,

and, you know, and stuff happens like, so who gets you into, like, actual organized martial arts fighting because it's one thing to do it on the street or something like that, but like, how did you actually get introduced to it? So in 2005 was the year I graduated high school. That was the year the ultimate fighter came out. Oh, yeah. And I was like, oh my God, this is the... You saw it on TV? Yes, I was like, dude, I could do this. You didn't know anything about the MMA, UFC, nothing. This is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. I was like, I could totally do this. And I remember growing up, we had, we had a movie store down the road. Okay. And I said we were really poor. So we had the two VCRs and we, you know, we copied the... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I

had one of those. Yeah, it's awesome. And we would go down there, and I remember we used to always, around Christmas and Thanksgiving, they would do a charity fundraise. If you brought a canned good, you got a free rental.

We would steal all my mom's can goods, and we'd go down there. And we rented some, they had the old school UFCs when Vitor Belford fought Tank Abbott, Don Fry, Scott Farozo, all of them were on there, right? And I watched this.

And we started watching it. My dad loved it too, because you know, my dad was a big street fighter and stuff. And so he's like, oh, this is, he loved it. So we would record those things from one tape to another and keep them.

I watched them, you know, all out through growing up and stuff. And then when I was 18, the ultimate fighter came out when I graduated high school and I was like, oh man, and I realized it was about to be big. I was like, dude, they're on TV now and this is crazy.

And then my mind was always with it. Always with it. Then I went to basketball and didn't work out. And then after that, I went to school for a semester and I didn't have any competition. I was like just depressed. And I went and got a job, you know,

a couple different jobs and I was really, I was like, this sucks. I was just depressed. I had no competition in my life. It felt like I didn't have a purpose. And then I kept looking for a gym and I lived in a small town outside the city of Fort Worth, but it was far enough way, you know,

I'm from a really small town, so I was scared to drive around in the city. I was, you know, I was young, and I found a boxing gym in Weatherford, Texas. And that's where I first, and so I went out there and I was like, okay, I just want to learn how to box because I want to do MMA. I don't care about boxing.

and then I love boxing as soon as I started competing. I had my first fight three weeks. I was supposed to fight like three weeks after that, and luckily no one showed up because I wasn't ready, but my coaches didn't care. He just threw me in. Three weeks? Yeah, three weeks.

It was a novice beginner fight, but still, three weeks of training. Yeah. So then I fought three months later, and I won three fights in one weekend and won the novice golden gloves. And then a year and a half later, I won the open golden gloves.

So I had 20 amateur boxing fights all within, like a year and a half. Wow. And then how do you get at MMA? And then from there, I moved to a different city with my brother, and I lived with him, and there was Jitsu school there,

and I started doing Jitsu. And then after that, I just tried to schedule everything I could around these trainings, and I wasn't able to go back to the gym and spar, I mean, to work out a lot at the boxing gym because it was like 30-minute drive, and back then the gas was, you know,

I was broke and stuff, but I would just go over there on sparring days. I would spar and I would hit bags in my garage, and then I devised the plan. I saved up a bunch of money and I moved to the city to start training. Wow. What a story. And now here you are on the cusp of superstardom.

Yes, sir. And that's why you've got this chip on your shoulder. That's why you want your damn shot. Yeah, I feel like, man, my journey has been a lot harder than a lot of these guys. And I'm not, like I said, I'm not trying to act like my life has been so hard and all that because it has. And I've been blessed and I've made, you know,

I've made my life what it is too, you know, through hard work and smart decision making, you know, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't party, I drink maybe once or twice a year. I don't party, I don't, I don't do, I didn't do that when I was 21 years old. I trained. As soon as I started this sport, I just consumed my life. I don't, I think we talked about this before. I don't watch a lot of TV.

All I watch is fighting. Yeah, I know, you watch boxing. You know, I'm 100% consumed in this, and it's caught me up to these guys. Because a lot of these guys have a lot more years of experience. I don't think people realize this, but, like, realistically, I shouldn't be being guys like Joe Duffy and Abletra Hillo. I mean, Abelcher Hill has been wrestling since he was five, years old and I never wrestled a day in my life until I started doing MMA and I took him down

when he fought. You know, that shouldn't be happening. You know, Joe Duffy has been training for probably 10 years longer than me, but I'm catching them through hard work and, you know, consistency. I just, I train twice a day, year round and I believe here I'm stronger than the mind than all these guys. I really believe that because I believe when I see guys, I remember they were talking about a few years ago Anthony Pettis won the world title. And winning world title is a phenomenal accomplishment. I'm not trying to discredit this. guy. But in my mind, I'm thinking, well, you should be a world champion. You've been training your whole life. Had I been training my whole life, I'd be a world champion also. You know, so it took

me a long time to get over that, that, that in my mind, that mental block of, man, how am I ever going to catch these guys? And how I was trying to catch them as I was overtraining. And then I kept getting injured and having surgeries. Like literally, three out of the four surgeries I've had, the two shoulders and the hip were all just from overtraining. Wow. The hand just happened. Now it don't Makes sense. But I was like, man, I didn't start until I was 20 years old. I'm working a job, you know, and you're working a physical labor job, you know, lifting boxes or lifting old-filled equipment, lifting heavy stuff, and you're doing all this stuff,

and you're trying to train two or three hours a day on top of this and just go at it. And you think in your mind because you're, you can handle it, the soreness on your body and stuff because you're young. When you're 21, 22 years old, you can handle it. But you don't realize the damage you're doing. And then, you know, a year later you have to have surgery or whatever. That's kind of what happened with my first shoulder surgery. and I just wanted to outwork these guys because I thought that's the only way

I could catch up to them and now I figured out I can outwork them by, hey, instead of me going hard the whole time, maybe I can drill an extra hour more than they do or I can do this an extra hour more than they do or whatever. So it's worked out. I finally found a balance

and only took four surgeries for me to figure it out. Better late than ever. Yes, sir. So the perfect scenario is Austin in February. That's what you want, right? Texas. Yeah, I want a main event. I think I deserve a main event.

Hell yeah. On a fight night, it's not asking for no pay-per-view. I mean, it's a fight night, it's in my home state. I'm going to bring some people out. Yes. And, yeah. You want the winner of that? Is that the perfect scenario?

The perfect scenario, yes. And I just actually, I talked to Sean about it. Oh, what happened? And he was, well, he was just like, I talked to him after the event. He was like, he goes, you know, I got, uh, he goes, we got to find you the right dance partner. Basically, you got to find someone big enough to help headline the car. So he's down.

And then, then I just got a text from him while I was here in your studio. He's like, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to touch base with you next week. We're going to sit down and talk after this Norfolk card. Okay. Oh, wow. So we'll see. So he's down with the idea of you headlining. I'm hoping.

I'm hoping. Seems like it. I think so. I'm hoping. They're finally waking up here. They're finally coming around. Yeah, I mean,

how many do you out more? I know, how many do you have to be a little vocal, right? I mean, it is working. I feel like now that you're kind of coming out there and saying what you want. It's helping. And, you know, I'm always a confident person. I'm very confident in my mind.

I'm the best fine in the world right now. But I'm not, I really don't try to be a shit talk. and anything like that, but I've kind of had to be. You know, I've been trolling a lot of these guys on social media. And I'm not, it's not necessarily out of my personality, but I was just raised not to be like that, you know, but at the same time, you know, this is life. I'm 30 years old. I'm trying to be a world champion.

I mean, and when I say I'm 30, I'm a young 30. I don't take, you know, look at my fight. I didn't take no damage in my fights. I didn't take my damage in my last three fights. When I fought Abil-Trial, I got hit like maybe eight times. You know, I fought Marco Polo. I took like maybe two punches. I haven't taken no damage.

So I'm a young 30 from that sense. of fighting-wise, but I'm worried that the older I get, the less likely the UFC is going to be behind me thinking that they need to build up more stars, you know, younger stars or whatever. So I'm trying to get my push right now because I'm like, you know, I can't be 31, 32, 33 years old and then finally give me a push or maybe they decide that I'm too old and that they're not going to take me serious because they think I'm going to, you know, win a couple of fights and be out, you know, or whatever. So that's why I want this push, man.

You know, I'm trying to be a world champion. I saw a lot of fans saying they wanted you to fight Kevin Lee, who's going to be in studio a little later on. You like that? You seem to like that. Yeah, 100%. You know, me and Kevin Lee are cool. You know, it's like he said it before, too. This isn't personal, man. This is business, you know.

100% I would love that fight. Matter of fact, after my last fight, I said I wanted to fight the winner of Kevin Lee Kiesa. And then, you know, he got what he got, which is, you know, I'm happy. Like I said, I'm not, this is what I said when I talk to Dana and Sean and them about negotiate my contract. You know, I'm happy for Kevin Lee that he got a world. I'm not a hater, you know, but there's a big enough pie. I just want my fucking piece, man. You know, I've earned my piece. I'm not, I'm not a two and oh guy in the UFC or two and two or three and three and whatever asking for all this shit. You know, I'm eight and one. That's literally one of the best records in the

whole organization. You know, I just want my peace. And what I, would I love to fight? Yeah, of course I would love to take that fight with him. I would love to fight him. 100%. And I, and I said that after, you know, after my last fight, that I wanted the winner of that fight. And then, you know, obviously he got, or the World Title fought, you know, props to him for getting it, you know, and I'm not hating on him, but, you know, now that he's, he just lost, maybe he wants to fight, so let's set it up. All right, I'll ask him about that in our moments. You're killing it, man. Congratulations. I appreciate it, bro. Thank you, man. It's been a lot of fun watching you rise from the tough live show and just, like, steady. You had the one little setback, but now here you are just on the

biggest stage, like to do what you did to Joe Duffy at MSG of all places. Nothing short of remarkable, and you called it, man. You really did. So I feel like the next one is going to be a big one for you. And I hope they give you that main event slot. You deserve it. It would be great in Texas. By the way, everyone okay back home after what happened yesterday? I don't know. My geography of Texas isn't great. Yeah, that happened around San Antonio. Yeah, okay. Okay. Yeah, we live in Fort Worth and around the Fort Worth area, so probably like a four hour difference. Horrible. Absolutely horrible. But I'm happy to hear that. Thank you for coming in. Enjoy New York. Enjoy the victory. The pizza here is amazing. Tremendous, right? I got it. I got it. And I was like, it was everything

that I dreamed of. Wow. It was just like, it was so much grease on it. And it was just dripping and it was just amazing. Wow. What a weekend for you. You went at MSG and you experienced a New York pizza for the first time? Yes, sir. This is the first time in the city. Well, oh, wow, really?

First time, wow. How about that? Well, thanks for coming in. Thanks for supporting the show. I really appreciate it. Thank you, James. Joe over here is going to walk you out. So we appreciate you coming in.

Congratulations. Enjoy the victory and keep us posted on what's next. Yes, sir. All right. Hope you get it. There he is. James Vic. The executioner stopping by with a massive victory over Joe Duffy on Saturday night.

What a great performance. Eight and one now in the UFC. and boy does he deserve it. Boy, does he deserve that big fight, especially in Texas. It'd be amazing to see, let me be little texting me here. Boom, boom, boom. Yeah. It'd be amazing to see him get that opportunity next and we'll ask Kevin Lee about that potential fight in a matter of moments. Speaking of a matter of moments, I do believe we're going to be joined by the one and only California kid. I had a nice little chat with him at the ceremonial way-ins. A big weekend for him. He was in Washington, Lance Palmer, successful at the Professional Fighters League event.

charity event there. And of course, he was in New York for the Cody Garbrandt, T.J. Dillischoff fight. He's going to be joining us in a matter of moments. Wanted to get his thoughts, of course, on what transpired, a personal fight for him, a personal fight for the team. And as we found out earlier in the program, he is going to be cornering one Sage Northcutt in Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday for the return of Mr. Sage Northcut. We haven't seen him in quite some time. Still to come, of course, Joani. And Jaycheck is going to be joining us. Can't wait to talk to her. We're also going to have two more in studio guests. Kevin Lee is stopping by.

The one and only Randy Brown, who had the big victory over Mickey Gall on Saturday and the new UFC Bantamway champion, T.J. Dilshaw also stopping by. We're also going to be taking your questions in the final hour of the show exclusively on Twitter. MMAfighting.com is where you can get those. We'll be answering them. You've been hitting us up. I do hope via the hashtag the MMA hour. And there's so much to discuss.

And of course there's Rick Picks there. You see it right over there at the MMA hour. There's so much to discuss as far as 217. Belator had an event this weekend and of course the Norfolk event. But for now, let us talk to Mr. Faber, as Sage Northcut called him. He would not calm Uriah. You notice that the utmost respect for the one and only Uriah Faber. He joins us now via the phone. Uriah, are you there? I'm good.

Were you just on with Sage? Mr. Sage? Yes, we had Mr. Sage on. And he spoke about you a bunch of times, but would never refer to you as Yariah. He kept saying Mr. Faber, Mr. Faber this, Mr. Faber that. I told him you spoke glowingly of him and he returned the favor. He is very excited to be a part of the team. Only said good things, shockingly, about Team Alpha Male.

Was that shocking for you, Ariel? That was just me. I just threw in that word because you said that I was passive aggressive. I'm still a little sensitive about that, my man. Before we go any further, okay, yes. Can we let your fans know that your brother's like a high-end designer? Wow. And the instrument and sacks and stuff like that.

Wow. We're going to do this. He's got a crazy, he's got an awesome clothing line. Was it 20? 20 T's. Okay. Instagram is 20. Yeah. This is incredible. How do you never talk about you, bro?

Are you jealous of your brother? Be honest. I mean, no. I mean, I'm very proud of him. Yes, the company is. 20 Ts. They're killing it. They had a collaboration with the great Odell Beckham. He's in all kinds of stores. Yes, thank you for the shout-out for the Instagram. I'm just, I just didn't expect you to do this. I mean, what a mention you are. You're actually giving a shout-out to my brother, David Halwani.

I'm challenging you to mention your brother's clothing line once a podcast. Maybe we can get a collabo, a Faber-Hawani collabo. My mom would be so excited about this. This is her dream come true. I don't know about a clavo. His stuff's pretty awesome. I was checking it out on the plane ride home yesterday. I'm like, why is it real not get his MMA buddies in some of these clothes and talk about his brother's website more or whatever the deal is?

You're right. Give your brother some love, man. He's doing some big things. He is. Big thanks. Yeah, you know, I should be less selfish. I don't know. I don't want to, you know, make it a conflict of interest because, like, putting you guys

together, I have to keep it neutral. You know, I'm very, I'm very into that. sort of thing. Being professional, distance, you know, not fraternizing with the fighters. What's more professional than talking about your brother? That's true. I don't know. What is more professional? But yes, thank you for the shout-out.

20 T's David Halwani. They are killing it. Check them out, Twitter, Instagram. All that and more. And the most comfortable stuff. Our mutual friend, Jace Lipstein, the brother of one, Skylar Aston, was wearing it at the Ceremony Williams, right? Grungy gentleman in his clothing design also. He's got some awesome stuff.

I'm like, you guys are all doing big stuff out there, man. And I will say that what I liked about it, because, you know, Jason's wearing some of your brother's stuff at the UFC way in was it looks like he was dressed up in a suit, but it was like sweatpants material, which is right up my alley. If I wear sweatpants or no shirt like most of my life, I'd be happy in. If I go get all dressed up and just be wearing sweatpants, like, man.

What a dream. Yeah, that is the life. It's sort of like wrapping yourself in, I think, Valour, George Costanza once said, if it was socially acceptable, he would love to do that. But anyway, enough about fashion. We have a lot to discuss, right. I feel like you're kind of trying to change the subject on me here. We're less than 48 hours from the Professional Fighters League,

Lance Palmer, the big win on Thursday at the charity event, of course. Okay, so this was deeply personal. There's a long history here. The fight starts great. And then, of course, we know how it ended. T.J. Dillashaw beats Cody Garbrand. What are you thinking in that moment as Dillishaw finishes Garbrand? What's going through your mind?

Wow, I mean, disappointment, obviously. That's our guy, Cody, at the moment, you know, losing the title. So that was hard to watch, as you can imagine. You know, wanted to get backstage. afterwards and was happy to find that Cody was in a great place mentally and, you know, being kind of self-reflective and things that he could have done better mistakes that he made, asking for opinions of his coaches, and just all around in a pretty positive mood, considering what had just happened, you know?

So, yeah, it was disappointing for sure, as you know. That's a long history. I mean, we knew what we're getting ourselves into with TGs. It's a super competitive dude. I mean, work ethic is nothing he's afraid of and willing to do anything to win, obviously. But yeah, Cody was having an awesome first round and got caught in the second, man.

So it was unfortunate. In hindsight, was TJ almost like the worst opponent for Cody just because he had trained with him for so long? I mean, he has that intimate knowledge of how he fights. So if there was one guy who's going to be able to give him his first loss, should we have suspected that maybe TJ could have been that guy? I don't think it has to do with the training together necessarily because in all honesty, you know, Cody, even back in the day

was competitive right from the first day he stepped into our cage, or into our room. But, you know, you really are looking at the two of the best fighters on the planet in that weight class undoubtedly, and we knew that. So when you have two of the best fighters going, Being undefeated is a hard thing to do. I was 8-0 before I lost my first fight. I think Chad was maybe 10-0.

I can't remember how many fights T.J. had. He was something like that as well. But it's a difficult thing to be unblemished when you're going against the best fighters in the world. And Cody was having an incredible, in my opinion, Cody was having an incredible first round. Yeah. And I think he was very elusive.

and kind of a pinpoint, like make them miss, make them pay type of situation in the first round. And in the second round, I think because he had him hurt so bad at the end of the first, I think he let his guard down just a little bit and was a little more inclined to do a 50-50 exchange, and that's where he got caught in the end. So, you know, Cody says, hey, I had my hand down. It was, he caught him with a, he actually caught a clean left hook on T. T.J. that did not put T.

down and then T.J. return with a right hand right over the top. And so, I mean, there's not much more to it than that. It was unfortunate for us, but, you know, congrats to T.J. Early on, was the fight going as you expected it? Was that the kind of fight that you were thinking was going to play out? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Cody is very fast and he's really precise.

We thought we'd see T.J. missing a lot and in pain with big shots. I feel like you got caught with quite a few big ones in the first round. And, of course, the last one, the end of the round that really wobbled in. Being in great shape helps you recover. We've seen that throughout the years. T.J. came back strong and landed a couple massive shots. You've experienced the highest of highs, the lows of lows, and you know what it's like to lose that first fight.

Given your experience, you've been in many of those locker rooms. how is he handling it? I mean, he showed up in eating pizza. He seemed to be in good spirits. But backstage, are you surprised with the way he's handling it? Did anything stick out? It's always fascinating to see how someone handles that for the first time. What was your impression of it all?

I was really, really impressed and kind of worried to get back there because, I mean, Cote's type of guy in practice. And it's kind of, T.J. was a little bit the same way. Like, if, you know, I remember even in this camp, we did a wrestling practice. and Cody lost his temper and then came charging at me in a wrestling exchange and put himself kind of in a bad situation and then, you know, then the next day he had a kink in his neck and he was like, you know, and it was like, oh, that last round I got my kink in my neck and just, you know, talking about little details that happened, but he was just in a great place

after that, which is a hard thing to do, you know, and we know that we're in a fight. It's somewhere that he's been before. It's, you know, as competitors, he's been a wrestler since he was four years old. He's been a boxer since he was, like, nine or ten years old. I mean, it's not like you don't experience losses, so it's not something unfamiliar. It's just unfortunate because there was so much on the line. There's so much buildup for that one and such a storyline. So there's a little, adds a little more to the loss, but at the end of the day, this is

the fight game, and you're looking at two of the best to do it, really. So considering that, did it sting? Did it hurt a little more, the fact that it was T.J. And this was so personal for you guys? I think it would be more, it would be more, not necessarily. I mean, the crappy part is, obviously, that there's going to be another buildup with the same type of tension. But it wasn't fun for me. I didn't watch the Ultimate Fighter.

I didn't watch the countdown stuff. I didn't watch anything until like the two days before. maybe it was like three days before when I was out cornering Lance and, uh, and couldn't sleep. And so I started watching some of the stuff, but it's not a fun situation. You know, it's a bunch of drama. Uh, you know, you're reminded, you're hearing, you know, I'm hearing a guy that I know for a fact is saying things about me that, that aren't necessarily true. So it's like, you know, hearing this kind of stuff is not, is not a fun situation.

It's going to happen again, absolutely. I mean, Cody and Teesier are going to fight again. We're going to have to go through it again. It's not the fun as buildup. So, I mean, there's a little bit to that. It is a little bit more. I think it would have been probably worse had he lost to Cruz, to be honest. Do you regret anything that was said?

Do you cringe at anything that was said? Or, you know, Cody afterwards said, I stand by it all. I don't like him as a person. He's not a good person. I stand by everything I said as far as what happened with Holdsworth, the steroids, all that stuff. Are you regretful of anything? Do you feel weird about anything that was said?

Said by me? As the head guy of the team, you know, you're the face of the team, maybe by you, anything at all? Was there anything that you're like, man, I wish it didn't go there? You know, for me, the only thing that I ever bring up is an issue is the fact of one simple thing. T.J.

saying that I kicked him off the team versus him just leaving the team because that's a lie. And I don't like to have people lie about me. So that's the one thing that I, you know, stand to keep true. I mean, that's the thing that bothered me about the whole situation.

We could have been fine friends just gone on. How did he not try to, you know, switch the roles and say it how it wasn't, you know? So that's the only thing. And as far as, you know, Cody saying the steroids, thing, et cetera. These are conversations that, and I've heard conversations that have gone in between, you know, within the team that I wasn't a part of. So I can't say my thing about it. If you guys want to know the details of what Cody's talking about, you have to get that from him

because, you know, I'm, I was kind of like, you know, patriarch of the team where there's something shady's going on. No one will tell me about it. And so I've heard some things that made me lose some respect, absolutely, but it's not my place to say about conversations that were had or things that were said or things that were done when I'm not, I wasn't actually there in the know, you know. Are you considering coming out of retirement to fight TJ? No, I was in a Metro PCS Q&A and someone's asked me what it would take to bring you out of retirement. I said, you know, the biggest dollars. And then a girl said if TJ calls you out after this fight, you know, would you, would that bring you out of time?

And I just said, that sounds like fun. It's unbeknownst to me if anyone's asking for that, calling for that, or offering that. I haven't heard it. I would have to consider that if they came and talked to me. You know, there's one thing I know for sure is I'm not afraid of a good fight and I enjoy it. And I like making money. But I would hate for that to be the focus rather than Cody get back in there and getting his shot to redeem himself because he's been the guy that

has been on the front lines. He's been the guy that's putting in this time to be the world champion right now, and I've retired. Afterwards, though, Dillishaw was really pushing for the Demetrius Johnson fight and going down to 125 to fight him. Do you like his chances in that fight? Do you like that idea for him? I mean, I like the chances for both Cody or T.J. in that fight with Demetrius, because in all honest,

I've been a big 135 pounder, had to cut a lot of weight, especially the last few years. And both T.J., at least the T.J. that was on our team, was not massive. And then Cody is not massive for the weight class, probably similar in weight to Demetrius. So I think it's a good fight. Absolutely. I think both guys would match up well against Demetrius with the wrestling and with the power and things like that. But you're also talking about Demetrius Johnson,

who's proven to be one of the most, you know, consistent and improving guys in the game. But, yeah, I think it's a good matchup. I'm curious how the weight cut would go. T.J. has looked a lot bigger as of late than he has in the past. So I'm curious how that weight cut will go. Do you think that they're going to give Cody an immediate rematch or do you think he's going to have to work his way up? I doubt there will be an immediate rematch. If T.J. is not talking about it.

and, you know, it was a finish in the second round, even though there was a close finish in the first. I would love to see that immediate rematch, but there's no rush. Cody's just turned 26. He's just getting, you know, stability. He's just buying his house. He's got his wife and his kid on the way. I don't think there's a rush. Would he be ready and willing and excited to have a rematch right away?

Sure. But, you know, either slow played or do it right away. They're going to fight again. I think they both know that. what's going on with the team? Because there was some drama last week with Justin Buckholes saying he wasn't the head coach anymore and maybe not the best time for that.

I don't know if that actually affected the fight or anything like that. He didn't seem like Cody was bothered by it all. But as the Patriarch, as you said, can you tell us what is the state of the coaching staff? What's going on with Buckholes's comments and just the state of everything there? Yeah, it was kind of weird that he had come out and said that. We were actually having a team send-off for Cody at the time

when he had a new time-slotted podcast where he talked about all the things he had done, et cetera. Buckle was done a great job. He wasn't asked to step down or anything like that. He was gone for, I think, almost 11 weeks. He was cornering guys for five or six weeks, and then he went to Alaska on vacation because he felt he was really stressed out, et cetera, et cetera. We didn't really know the exact date of when he was coming back.

You know, he took a fight in that time, et cetera, et cetera. We've had the, you know, the fortune of having a great sponsor behind us with Mountline Aviation, and it's allowed us to expand and grow and hire more coaches and be able to bring more to the team. We have like 60 team members on our team, and we've got about 16 active fighters in the UFC, and we have a lot of different individuals that do individual. things for for different fighters uh like a joseph morales for example he's been with her since you nine years old he had me and danny and uh and uh and uh coach joey in his corner and cynthia has fabio and and and justin and uh i can't remember who else in her corner um you know it's it's it's a lot

of different moving parts and a lot of people have head positions so i've always been the head of our team obviously along with fighting and and everything else and we've always been able to bring our resources together to pay one coach. And now we have the ability to have so many different eyes on our guys. We try to get as many coaches as possible to each practice. There's three pro practices, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have a kickboxing practice on Tuesday. We have a drill session on Thursday. We have jihitsu Monday and Thursday. We have boxing, sparring on Saturday. And a lot of different coaches are wearing different roles for different guys. It's been incredible. So I think maybe, I don't know, maybe felt like feeling certain if he's not the only guy,

but no one asked him to be just the kickboxing coach. I mean, I want him to be in a lead role if he wants to be. But if he doesn't want to be, you can't handle, you know, multiple coaches working with multiple guys, then, you know, that's up to him. We'll have that conversation. I didn't address it or talk to him or anything because I didn't want to shake the boat before Cody's fight. but now you will yes

okay you think you'll stick around I would hope so I mean okay I know that Cynthia Cavillo is

is really really loves him as a coach and you know he's done some great stuff with Darren Elkins and Alex Sandoval obviously as well these are guys that depend on him

so I'd love to see him stick around and and be a part of it I, it's really, it's really, I mean, it's dealt with, with, uh, buckles for a long time. He's been a part of the team's a long time. And, and, you know, the unknown of having him gone for, for five weeks and taking a fight without kind of really letting us know, he came back and classes were covered that week.

And so I said, hey, we got classes covered this week. And then he went off and started saying that he was fired. I'm like, or moved from a different position. I said, no, we've got a lot of coaches in here. We're all pulling our weight, man. an important fight. And that was, you know, three, four weeks before the big fight. And Lance had his big fight.

So, yeah, I don't, I want to really sit down with him and, you know, let him know that we value him. And make sure that moving forward, we have everything firing on all cylinders. Last thing for you, Mr. Faber, I got to ask you, your corner, you don't often corner. I mean, we see you from time to time, but there's, there's a lot of times where I feel like you're there in the front row. but not in the corner, but you are cornering Sage. What has it been like with him, and why are you so high on this young man?

You know, it's crazy. Everyone I talk to, you know, it almost comes off as like unbelievable how kind and what good energy Sage has. Yeah. But, you know, you can see it in her room. Everyone loves Sage.

He's like a bubbly, outgoing guy. And for, you know, like I said, we have a lot of different fighters in different, areas and I cornered Joseph Morales. He's dealing with him since he's nine years old. Obviously, I'm present more as a team leader and as a coach than I am as a fighter for the first time. And Sage's skill set, I think the thing that he needed to work on the most are my bread and butter. So we've been, you know, really working one-on-one on getting him, you know, to fill

and the things that I feel like are kind of the missing link for him. So it just makes sense right now. And I love, you know, the guy's energy. He's a great addition to any room, any team. Just positivity. He's always having guys go out and do fun things, going out, hiking, and just like an all-around good guy.

I mean, he's like, as close as you get to, like, leave it to Beaver. Yes. Well, he's got that mean streak, too. So, you know, just he had asked me if I was, I would corner him, and I said, yeah, absolutely. And I always corner whenever someone asks. And now that I'm going to have a little more presence on the team as less of a fighter and more of a team leader, then it'll probably happen more and more.

But it's not going to be my sole thing. We've got a lot of great coaches with Justin and with Danny and Goldsworth and Joey and Fabio and Felipe Grasio. We've got so many different guys, Dustin Akbari. All these guys are contributing, Owen Carr. It's been an awesome time for our team. Good luck on Saturday. Appreciate you coming on your eye.

Thank you very much. Sorry, you didn't go the team's way. Tell your mom I said hello. Oh, my gosh. And sorry, giving your brother some love. I will, I will. Already everyone's 20 T's. Thank you.

What a mention. Let's work together. Let's collaborate, okay? All right. Thank you, right. And say hello to Mr. Faber, by the real Mr. Faber, by the way. My biggest fan, Mr. Faber, you're dead. Please say hello.

hello to him. What great taste he has. There he is. Jariah Faber stopping by. Great stuff. Looking forward to Sage's return on Saturday. Okay, let's move along. I can't tell you how appreciative I am, how excited I am, how much respect I have for our next guest. Typically doing this show, you don't reach out to someone who loses in a big fight. You want to give them some space. You want to be respectful of their time and space. Give them some time. But for Yawani, I'm Jacek to agree to come on this program to talk about what happened on Saturday, I think says the world about the kind of person that she is, the kind of character that she has, just how special she is as a person and as a champion. She is a champion at life and she is joining us right now via the

magic of Skype. And I'm really looking forward to this conversation and so very appreciative that she would come on the program. There she is, the one and only, Yowana, you know, Jacek, Joanna, thank you so much for doing this. I can't thank you enough. It really means a lot. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to talk to you. always and I keep my I keep my head even higher than before I'm bigger than that I'm bigger than the last night so and that's it that's why I'm here you know that's why I went to the press conference and I I I talk to media you know so I'm bigger than that how does it feel two days later how are you dealing with everything it's a new territory for you how are you doing it doesn't

feel you know like you know I'm kind of sad I was sad I was a champion yesterday today I'm not a champion but definitely I'm still a professional athlete and I'm still the same person as I was before. Like I said, I'm bigger than that, I'm bigger than the last night. I'm talking about Saturday, like it was yesterday, you know. I felt like in the fight I was somewhere else. I don't know really what happened.

Like it was an amazing camp, 13 weeks of great preparations, you know, like two days before the fight, like I was more than ready, you know, to step into the appagon. I don't know exactly what happened, like there was no pressure, It was not about taking this fight personally or some other bullshit. I don't know what happened. It was a big mistake. It happens to the greatest and it was a mistake.

It was a mistake during the work, you know. That's the thing. That's the thing. The big mistake, are you speaking about a moment in the fight in particular that led to the finish? No, I'm not talking about this one. I just remember that I couldn't reach the right distance and I was like, just take it easy soon we will get their right distance and we will take over the fight. But no, the shit happens after her.

So, yeah, big congrats to Rose. She is a champion now, but I'm trying for my belt back and people can say whatever they want to say. But I made a strong division big. I built this division. I was a champion for such a long time. And I know that when you get to the top, people want to see you, see you fall, and they saw me.

But my comeback is going to be stronger and bigger than everything what I approached for the last few years in the EFC and us and athletes. And believe me that it was a mistake. And I felt like I was not there. And, you know, like I got, I got cut, she cut me off, and I just felt like I was standing next and I was watching this. I was like, let me go, what just happened, you know?

I didn't feel the punch, the power of the punch. She didn't punch. She didn't hit hard, you know, but right to the point. And I don't know what happened, you know. I just remember that during the warm-up, I was a little bit more slower than usually. I don't know why. I must go through the fight week. I must figure out, but like two days ago, two days before the fight, I was like super ready.

full impact everything was there I don't know what happened I felt like little bit my head was like was slower like I was thinking

slower and my body was slower than usually I don't know what happened but I will figure I will find out and figure out what happened

and you know I'm the greatest for myself I'm still a champion and I take this as a movie as a part of the movie

she's a champion now but I let her I let her be a champion you know but I'm coming back soon. I'm coming back soon.

You were the last... I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to hide. I want to talk to people about that, you know. And there is something about me, you know. There is some desire in my body that nobody has this, you know. Do you have you looked? I mean, it was very interesting, I must say, because I

full disclosure, Joanna, I had mentioned on Friday that I thought that you were getting too riled up and I was like, oh, maybe she's... No. No. None of that. But, but then you came out on Saturday and you said, I'm not Ronda Rousey. Don't compare me to Ronda.

I'm here to talk to you. I'm not going to hide from this. Have you looked at the way people have handled losses in the past and said you're not going to be, you're not going to run away, you're not going to be afraid of dealing with this publicly? Of course. I take care of my business from the beginning till the end, you know.

That's it. And it was my work to do. Go and talk to people and go and talk to media. Even you saw me crying, you know, even you saw me, you saw you saw me sad and mad but you know this is not how i handle the business you know i'm i'm a hundred person in person into my life and everything what i do in my life obviously those who have been watching you for the last few years we know that you get you know your stare downs are legendary they're very intense but when you were you know getting up in her face putting the

fist in her face and she was not moving at all she was not doing anything did that kind of mess with you because usually you see your opponent react a little bit try to get a no no is that no no Nothing. No. She's like this. No, she's having a problem with being like with so many people. And I know that she, she's kind of like a person who is standing always like in the back. How we say?

I don't know how I say this. Like, you know, she's very like, she's not open-minded. So that's why she was acting like this to, to, to, she had to do this to hold the pressure, you know, to handle the pressure. Because the atmosphere was amazing. I want to just say thank you to all of the fans to the EFC. and like I said at the press conference we cannot blame anyone for this you know it was a mistake

it happened and I will be back stronger and like people said that the UFC put too many obligations on me isn't true you know but I'm very happy that the atmosphere at the way is amazing the fight

I saw so many people in the red t-shirt with the Polish flags I know that even these people were not from Poland but so many Polish people Vice Minister of Poland came to watch this fight like former, my sponsors and other people. But, you know, these people understand what I have to go through because they know me.

And that's the thing. That's why I said so many times, don't judge Rhonda Rosie. Let's be happy for what she has done, you know. And I think, I know this, that I have done so much for myself. I have done so much for this division. And it's my division. There is only one throw away.

queen and it's me and the champion even the prox champion right now. I don't care about this. How was the weight cut, Joanna? Was it more difficult this time? I don't want to talk about this

right now. I made my weight. I was on point, on time. Everything was super. I was on point and on time. I don't want to talk about this right now. Okay.

You know, you talked a lot about the record, you know, tying Ronda's record. You said you, had a big surprise, you had a big plan, you wanted to move up to 125. In hindsight, did you focus too much on that stuff? No, no, no, man, I take my job seriously. And I was only focused on Rosna, my Yunnan, and I was very respectful.

I worked my ass for this fight, you know? Like I said, so many times, it was the best camp of my life. And I'm in this business for 14 years already, you know. I've been in this business for 14 years. So it was a big surprise. I'm supposed to finish this fight like this. I don't know what happened, but I will figure out. I will find out what happened.

You are the most dominant, Strawaway champion, obviously, one of the most dominant champions in UFC history. Do you think that you will get an immediate rematch? Is that what you want? I don't know. This is what I heard. I think that Dana said at the press conference. I don't know.

I don't follow media. I don't read anything on the internet. I don't follow because there is lots of craziness right now. But I don't care. I believe for what I have done for Dana and the EFC, I deserve the rematch. I will sit and talk. I met Dana on the way back from the press conference. He hugged me.

I wanted to leave him, but he was like, please stop. I love you so much. We love you all and nothing changed. We love you even more for this. And your comeback is going to be bigger than all of this, you know. And for myself, I said, like, I turned the page and I said, like, your comeback is going to be bigger than all of these records and then this, you know,

and bigger than this. So to be clear, that is what you want, though. If it was up to you, you'd want to fight a hurricane right away. Right now, right now I'm just training a car and I go for a holiday with my little nephew who I brought for the first time. We go to Disneyland. We're going to relax a nice resort

and we met my sisters on Saturday. I fly back home to Poland. I'm going to be pretty busy. I fly to China for the Victoria's Secret show. Then I will be a special guest at the UFC China. After that, I have so many obligations in Poland, and I will keep on busy. I want to spend some time with my family, friends in Poland, Christmas,

and I will be back to the gym, you know. I feel good. I have one boost on my face. That's it, you know. I feel great. I feel great and more than ready to go again very soon. I know you were obviously busy, But, you know, George St. Pierre fights in the main event.

He had a very famous moment, right, when he lost him at Sarah, and he came back, and he's never lost since. Did you take any inspiration from seeing him do what he did after the layoff and his story? Because that's one of the most famous, you know, upsets in the sports history. I want to be an inspiration in the future, and I will show to people that. I'm a really legend like Muhammad Ali, for example, you know. I will do that. I'm not going to compare to Muhammad Ali because he's the greatest, but I will do that. I will follow his way and I will do that.

I will be back strong. Do you feel a lot of support from the community sometimes when people lose the file on? Of course. Like I said, like it's amazing. It's amazing. It's amazing. There's lots of people probably commentating on the internet because the word is free. It's lots of hate. But I don't follow this before my fights. I don't do that after my fights. It doesn't matter if I win or lose. I don't do that. You know, people can talk. So sorry, shit, but they do nothing. They do nothing, you know.

And that's the problem, you know. I do something. I made a history. I built a destroy division. I was the champion for more than two years and it means something to me and to the people, to people who love me to all of my fans, the real fans. And I don't care about other people, you know. They can say whatever they want, but they see behind the computer, they eat chips and they

do Wayne Kau, you know. So I don't care. above them. Have you watched the fight yet? No, I didn't watch the fight. I haven't watched the fight. I will watch that. Catter showed me some short video and he said that it happened. But I really, I think like I was, I was not there. Like I was trying, like, when I saw this, I was like, I know for people who's like, like, I got hit, I went down. I got the tart. Someone said that I tapped. I never tapped. Are you kidding me? You know, like, it was probably I was trying to stand up. But I didn't control that.

It was like a piece of second for me, you know. But I know it took it took a while, you know, from the punch on the ground, when she did the grand and pan, when I had like a turtle position. But for me, it was like a piece of second. But I know it was like a few long seconds, you know. So it looks totally different than people think it is, you know. Oh, wow. So you, because on the broadcast they said you tapped.

You're saying that you didn't tap. It was a referee stoppage that he stepped in. Who said that? Who said that? I didn't tap. Okay. Okay. On the broadcast.

I heard this like two times, but I didn't tap. I didn't tap. Probably I was trying to stand up, but I must watch this, you know. I was trying to stand up, but probably I couldn't, I didn't know what was going on that time. Probably my body, I couldn't get the right balance, you know. I couldn't cover my body. So that's why probably, but I didn't tap. I never tap and I didn't tap.

Were you okay with the stoppage though considering you say you didn't tap or did you think that the stoppage was fair? Of course, of course, of course, of course. I was out, but I don't know why. Maybe there was something wrong with my brain or help, but I don't know. I will figure out what happened, you know, because it's unusual. I had almost 100 fights in my time in boxing and kickboxing. I had 15 fights in the M.A. And nothing never happened before, you know. So it was the first time that I got cut, someone knocked me down.

like you know put me down someone cut me off so that's the same two last quick things and again thank you so much Joanna for the time I know it's very it's very fresh but in your mind like you say oh I want to take off six months I want to like do you have an idea

and I know you're going on vacation do you even think about that or no in May I will be a champion again mark my words May I'm coming back and doesn't matter if Rose is going to hold the belt or not I don't care I will be back till May and mark my words.

You will be champion come May. Of course. Of course. I thought it was very interesting, Joanna, at the end of your press conference, you gave a shout out to Mike Brown, your coach, who it was the nine-year anniversary of him becoming champion. In the moment then, why did you think to do that? Why did that come to mind as you were emotional and just probably wanting to leave at that point? And why did you feel Denise? I'm planning everything.

People think that sometimes I'm crazy and that I have big mouth, but everything is for a reason. I don't talk shit when I don't have to talk shit. I'm kind of serious person. Like when I do business, I do business. Believe me, I meet like very high, like very big people from big business, you know. And I talk to them as a partner and I can handle this. But sometimes you must open your mouth.

and say something more like the things which happen during the fight with but I always plan everything I plan my life I plan my career I plan my I plan every year every month every week and every day of my life because I'm enjoying my life as a human being and as an as an act and I was planning to say that because I it was a perfect moment you know I found myself at ATP in Coconut Arctic. And I just want to say thank you to then Lambert, the owner of ATP, all of the managers and all the coaches, the sparring partners, my teammates, they've done an amazing job and they're very supportive.

I'm receiving so many messages right now from all of the world. But the other thing is Mikey Brown and Calcutta Cubis, they are my coaches, they are my masters. And there are amazing people and amazing coaches, you know. and Mikey Brown won WSC but nine years ago November 5th and you know it's a great anniversary

you know and what's more beautiful that he makes people better better fighters not only fighters but but but the human as well because he's an amazing person Yoanna I can't tell you

I can't tell you how much I respect you you're one of a kind I've been doing this show a long time and people don't come on after losses like you like you're in today. I'm not going to hide. Like I said, like I said, people can say that I was cocky and sarogam. I will keep my head even higher and I will talk louder because I spend my ground. I do what I want to do.

I say what I want to say and what I think it's right to say right now. And that's the thing. Be responsible what you are talking, what you are doing in your life, you know. This is who I am. I'm very honest person and people like to like to be around. fake people and like to do fake things but I don't like bullshit you know. Thank you Yana. Enjoy your time off

I really appreciate you coming on and I look forward to the comeback. I think it's going to be fun. Thank you. I just want to say please my friends thank you. Thank you guys for the support. You are amazing and I will be back I promise and the garden. It's my still my place I will be back to the city of New York and we're going to take over again. Good. Good. Good.

Good. Thank you, Yonah. Talk to you soon. There she is. Wow, one of a kind. You know, they call her Yohanna champion. She is a champion.

She may not be the champion right now. She may not be the actual strawweight champion, but wow, what an impressive human being. I've been doing this show for quite some time. I've been doing, you know, what is it, nine years now, eight years? and people don't usually want to come on

less than 48 hours after laws. And I don't usually ask them because, you know, you want to give them space, you want to give them their time, you want to give them at least a week or so to reflect. And, wow, that is an impressive thing. It's just amazing to see how confident she is and you heard her say it right there,

come May, she will be champion once again. They asked us on the MMA beat, which champion should they, they lose deserves an immediate rematch. We all said, Yawanna, given the fact that she had been championed for so long, and given the fact that that division still hasn't quite, you know, had the depth that some of these other divisions have, 155, 170, et cetera. Wouldn't be shocked if they run that one back.

I'd love to see it again. I'd love to see it again. All right. Thank you so much to Yuanian, Jacek. And, of course, Polina over at Perfecting Athletes for hooking us up. What a pleasure. What a privilege that was to talk. less than 48 hours removed from the fight.

All right. So we've had one in studio guest. Let me take these off. So I rest my years as we bring in Mr. Kevin Lee. We're going to bring in our second in studio guest now. What a pleasure this is. He did not fight at UFC 217, but he was in attendance. He is the Motown phenom.

And here he comes. Wow, look at this guy. Looking great. What a pleasure. Welcome. Welcome, Kevin. How great is this? I know, right?

This is amazing. Our relationship is really kind of taken. Less than a year ago, you thought I hated you. You were scolding me. You were going on other shows and talking smack about me. And now here you are. You still be tripping sometimes. For real?

I appreciate. You gave me the Soho hookup. I went down, did some shopping. What did you get? What did you get? Some Js, of course. Did you go to flight club? Did you go to the place I told you to go to?

No, no, I, look, I ain't listening to you that far. I went to Soho. All right. Hotels in Soho. You like some shopping. Okay, fair enough. You still be tripping. Really?

For real? Wow. No more Mickey Gaw. Don't ever mention Mickey Gaw's name to me. The man they laid on his back for three rounds. Don't ever mention the name. All right. You were there. You saw it. I was there. I saw you tweeting about him. Of course. You weren't impressed. With Mickey? Yeah.

Of course. I wasn't impressed with Mickey before. I wouldn't impress with him after. The only thing I'm impressed with is how is he he's been able to capture people and get the crowds behind him. And the crowd should have been behind Randy Brown. Randy Brown was the better fighter in that fight. And the New Yorker. And he's from New York. He was getting booed. How people were so on Mickey Gaw when the man's, you know, he's a jiu-jitsu player.

He's not even a real fighter. I don't really get it these days. Were you impressed with Randy Brown? Of course. Okay. You know, he did his thing. He went out there and he represented. Like I said, he should have just had more support, more people behind him because he was

a better fighter. But we'll come around. So what brought you to New York? Were you like a guest fighter or something? Did you come out of yourself? Originally I came down to meet with CIA. The meeting went real well. Okay. Management.

But then I also had to come out and I had to support George. You know, I got to train a little bit with George's before my fight. And he's just a huge, I've been a huge fan of him. So I had to come out, I had to support and I had to see him go out there and get that W. I was actually looking at your UFC.com profile. And a lot of it you could tell you wrote, as you were just entering the UFC. You list George St. Pierre as one of your heroes. Yeah, yeah.

He's always been. Why? It's no secret. George was the reason why I got into fighting when I was. 16, I saw his fight with BJ Penn, and that was like, that's what I'm going to do. I didn't know how I was going to do it. I didn't know what I was going to do at the time, but that's what I was going to do. And when I got to meet him, I met with him a couple of times, trained with him. He's the greatest human in the world, so I had to give it to him. And he texted me a night

before my fight versus Tony. Yeah, so you posted on Instagram. And he told me to keep your mind sharp, that's what makes a difference at the championship level. And I really didn't understand what he meant then. Okay. But I do now, especially after watching that fight. In the second round, you could see, you know, he was tired. He was a little hurt. A younger fighter, they would have broke.

They would have been defeated and then that would have been the end of it. But a real champion like that, he pushed through, he pushed through that adversity. And I think that's something like me, someone like me that, like I'm going to learn from that. I'm going to grow. And then I'm going to come back better and stronger. So when you're 16 and you watch that fight, like what are the circumstances? Where are you? How did you get in front of the TV to watch that fight?

So I'm still in Detroit. Okay. You know, we got a little box tube TV. Yeah. I kind of saw it and I didn't know what it was. I think like most people getting into MMA, you know, you kind of see them. That was your first time seeing a fight? Ever, yeah.

Ever. I had seen boxing before. Yeah, yeah, but not M.M.A. Wow. We had been big Floyd fans because Floyd's from Michigan. And I always watched boxing. My dad was a huge Mike Tyson fan. Okay.

But I never seen MMA. I remember seeing that fight. I went on and I showed. showed my dad the fight too and my dad was like what the fuck is this uh but then after that i went out i joined the wrestling team and then it's all history from there but i do have decredited that a lot to georgias well and and is this the first bj pen fight or the second bj pen fight i think it was the second wow so it's not that long ago i mean look you're a young guy yeah i'm still 25 right i'm 25 right yeah i'm 25 yeah wow that's crazy man you have c 94 that wasn't that long

ago. That's insane. To me it was. To me it seems like a lifetime ago. In an MMA years, it is. But, you know, this game is about a marathon. And you saw that on Saturday night? Sure. On Saturday night, too, it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. Did you think he would win? Because no one was picking him. I was kind of shocked by it. I was, I mean, look, that was a tough fight. That was a tough fight. You were picking against him?

Your guy? No, no, no. I'm just, look at you. I'm a realist. Okay. I'm looking at it. I knew it was a tough fight. That's a, that's a, that's a, a big hill to climb, even for a champion like that, to come back and try and fight somebody like Mike who's really hard to hold down, much bigger, maybe not as strong, but

it has the leverage points. And George has pulled it out. I mean, what can you say? What can you say? You can only learn from somebody like that. You can only give a man like that respect, and that's what I'm going to do. Okay, so since you like him so much, what do you want to see him do next? Personally, I would like to see him

fight Bobby Knuckles. I think he'd give Bobby the business. Yeah? For real, wow. I like Wittaker too. I like Georgia's. I like, I like Georgia's. Interesting.

If I'm betting, I would bet on Georgia in that fight. Unlike what you did in this fight when you went with Bispit. I would be more confident, honestly, with him versus Bobby Knuckles than against Bizzmi. Just because I feel like that experience. Especially at this game, you know, Robert Whitaker's still young. When he gets to that same hump, do I think he'll be able to come over it? I don't know. Not the same as George.

I don't like George at 185, though. It feels like he's carrying a little too much way. I got to train with him a couple weeks before my fight, and I'm a big 155 pounder. I don't see no way George's makes 155. Yeah. I've moved around with him. I've touched him. Sure, sure, sure, sure.

He's a big dude. But 170 seems perfect, right? He's a big dude. Even amongst 170 pounders. I've moved around with a big 170 pounders, too. He's a big dude now. You know, I don't know the time off, he's got to bulk up. He did it the right way.

And he really took a championship approach to jumping up that weight class. I think he's up there for now. Where did you train with it? My TriStar? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got to train a little bit of TriStar. How'd that come about? Wrestling Cup.

You just went there? I was there for TKO. Okay, yeah, yeah, your brother, yeah. My brother fought in TKO, so I was in my football. You're just able to come in. Of course. For the gym? Actually, Robin Black.

Shout out to Robin Black. Oh, he hooked you up. Yeah, he hooked me up with it. Oh, nice. Look, what can I say? Was that your first time training with George? Yeah, yeah. Wow.

Wow, what was that like? Someone who, like, this is the guy who got you into the sport. Again, it's like a dream come to. Yeah, it's like shooting around with MJ, right? And it was great going into my first world title fight to get around somebody like that, to see what, I try and pick those guys' brains, I try and pick those world champions' brains, see what makes them tick, see what makes them what they are. And I got to do that a little bit, not as much as I would have liked,

because I was only there for a short amount of time. But now, even more, now that I've seen them already, and I've seen them. fight too. Now I feel like I've learned even more from that. Was that the greatest night of fights you've seen? Saturday? Personally, yeah. I feel like I'm still buzzing. I'm still on a high from that. It was great.

I mean, it was no fight on the card that was born. It was no fight that was bad. I loved it from, I was there from the very first pre- or I think the second pre-lilom. I ain't going to take all the credit. I didn't see the obvious. I didn't show up for the first set. But I was there from the fights

on and I had a great time the whole time. the three title changes, which one shocked you the most? It was definitely the Joanna fight. Really? You know, I love Joanna. I got big ties to Joanna. I got big ties to Joanna and Rose, too. I love them both. I didn't want to see neither one of them really get knocked out, to be honest.

I thought the fight was going to be closer, more competitive. I thought that Rose would have the advantage on the ground and Joanna on the feet, but that's a MA. That's the way this game works. and she'll come back she'll bounce back Joanna and so will Rose and I expect a great fight

the next time they fight too we were just talking to Yohana and she talked about how of course I was going to show up to the press conference afterwards of course I was going to face the music you've been through that now you were very emotional

how difficult is that after the like you know that's the lowest moment of your professional sporting career right I mean of course you've been through a lot in your life but to then sit there and answer question from us schmucks you probably didn't want to be there right

It's hard. I got to give her a lot of credit. She did it before me. She did it the Monday before the after the fight. You also came to the press conference. I came to the press conference. That was very hard.

It is because you don't want to go? Of course not. Did they make you go? No, no, no. I asked to. But your natural instinct is to kind of clam up, kind of get away from it. And you've got to try and fight that,

especially when you're champion like her. I think that's why you've got to give somebody like that respect. And that's what I'm trying to do the same. You know, this is what we do. Sometimes you're going to take an L. Sometimes you're going to learn. And I think people, the real people, the real fans,

the real people that really see you, they respect that and they know that. I have so much respect. Like, I sometimes make too big of a deal about it, but like I have this picture right here because I feel like it represents it. Like this was Cruz, right? Cruz lost, right?

When he lost to Cody. And this is not like a great picture of a shop, Fire Esther Lynch. She's the best, but it's just the guy standing up. But I just love when, like, I gain more respect for the fighters who show up like you did, like she did, and just face the music and talk about it and don't run away. And it's like, look, crap happens, right? Life happens. There are big things that happen in life. There are tragedies. But the fact that you can just stand there for 10 minutes like you did, to me, my respect for you and Dominic and Connor who did it, right, and you want to, it just grows exponentially. And I hate the bag on

Ronda, but like she didn't do it. And she had two opportunities to do it. And it's hard not to lose a little respect when you see that, right? That's true. I mean, I don't know if I get back on her, because I don't know. I'm not in no same truth. Sure, sure, sure. But yeah, it is hard, but that's what we do. You talk shit before the fight.

And when loser draw, I'm going to act the same way. I'm going to be the same way. Show up to the press conference. Do the press. Tell them what, and tell the people, because there are people out here that really care about us and go through a lot more than we do. This ain't the biggest thing in the world. I think Joanna said it best.

Like, yeah, you lost. Okay, get over it. Right. Go back, get out there, do it again. Cody said it. Yohanna said it. Mike said it. And I'm saying it too.

Like, you get out there and you're going to do it again. All three of them on Saturday, I thought, handled the loss very well. And you don't often see that. Now, also on Saturday, there was a guy by the name of James Vic, who looked good. He was just sitting here. I don't know if you guys crossed past in the back. Did you see him? No, I seen them yesterday.

I went down to a Broadway show You know, you put out here Wow White people stuff What show? What show? Book of Mormon Oh wow

I seen him there We talked a little shit He was at the show too He was sitting up He was sitting up in the rapists Down on the flow He didn't mention that when I just spoke to him Of course he was

You know we I'm looking up at him screaming shit to Wow But I told him Enjoy your win Okay enjoy this Yeah Don't ruin your Christmas

Yeah He wants to fight me in February Yeah. Like, don't ruin your Christmas yet. Like, at least book the fight after. Enjoy your Christmas. Wow. Before Doomsday, if that's what you want. But I don't know.

Are you down? I'll take a little bit more time. I need more time than February especially. Okay. Well, I'll see. You know, it's been a lot of talk on what I'm going to do and all this and what they're going to do if they open up this 165 weight class. Right now, I'm going back. I'm playing with my diet a little bit.

See if I can shrink down a little bit more too. I carry a lot of masks on me. How much is to me right now? probably about 190ish, something like that, like 186. Okay. Between 186, 190. So I'm going to play around with my weight a little bit, walk around a little bit lighter, and then we'll see. Do you have a nutritionist?

No, I don't, you know, I use the UFC's nutritionist, Clint. At the Performance Institute? At the Performance Institute, but yeah, no, not really. I've kind of, you know, I'm a biomed major, so I took a lot of nutrition classes. Like, I understand nutrition a lot. my body just didn't respond well. I was fighting a little bit too much, a little too much stress on me,

and my body just didn't respond well, especially when you're trying to battle sicknesses and the immune system going down. It's hard. So right now I'm going to get myself a little bit of time, let my body heal up, let it get back to normal, let my endocrine system get normal,

and then see what we do from there. Have they said anything about 165 to you? Because it doesn't sound like Dana's that into it. Yeah, I don't know. You're not really banking on that now, right? The squeaky wheel going to get the grease. So I'm going to keep, I don't know why more guys aren't talking about it. I don't know why more guys aren't stepping up.

When I stand next to James Vic, he's taller than me just as big. You know, I know he don't want to make that weight cut down to 55 anymore either. I don't see why more guys ain't talking about it. But look, at least if I got to be the singular in this and Dana just hate me for it, I'm going to keep doing it. He doesn't hate it. He loves you. I don't know. He loves you.

They love you. Dana love me. Me and Dana We boys. Yeah? You guys hang out? A couple of times. I was a couple of times. Really? What did you guys do?

Especially living down in Vegas now. That's right. Where are you guys going? Playing blackjack? Oh, no, no, no. I don't, no, I don't. You know, we're not wasting your money on that. I'm good, I'm good.

It's between like $100,000 hands too. I'm good. I'm good. What are you guys hanging out? A couple of times. Just around the PI and stuff like. Okay, okay. We'll see each other.

Break bread. I told him to give me a ride in his Ferrari. You know, he gave Connor a ride. Yeah, yeah. The first goddamn night. I know, right? I'm a sport for a minute. Yeah, what's up with that?

I deserve a ride. Did he give you one? A Ferrari? No, did he give you a ride at least? No, no, I'm just... No, he didn't give you... Not yet, not yet. But it'll get there.

And I'm going to get my own. I ain't even really about it. Yeah, and you're not going to rent it. Hell no. Y'all is in that bar. You're going to buy it. Exactly. Did you use the performance in suit a lot since you live in Vegas?

Are you really taking advantage of it? Yeah, I've been... I did my last two training camps there. I try and outsource for all my training. You know, I keep the terrain. trainers, but I go out and I find the training partners. And that's allowed me to like bring them all there and bring them in, especially with this last training camp. I feel like I actually felt like the camp went really well. I had great trainers. I had great training partners. I really didn't have

no complaints about it, especially using the performance institute. I feel like I'm using it a little bit more now, especially not that I had the time because I didn't want to change anything. But I'm going to play around with the camp. Like I said, I'm changing, I'm playing around with my management too. a little bit. Yeah, what's going on? You're free agent? Yeah, no, not right now. Okay. I'm still signed, but what we... You're looking around. Yeah, yeah. You're shopping around. Business is good? Business is great. Yeah? Business is boom. Really? Even despite the loss. I don't slow down. Okay. I'm a champion. I said that before the fight. Yeah. I'm saying after. Even though I'm not sitting up here with this gold belt, I still feel like a champion.

Okay. And I'm going to still treat myself like a champion. And I'm going to go back out there. And I'm going to be a champion. I feel like I'm only a couple wins away from that still. I'm still young. It might not happen when I'm 25, but 26 is the magic number. And how's this doing? Oh, it's moving. Is it gone? Oh, right over here, right? Yeah, yeah.

They had me on antibiotics for 14 days. Wow. Is it gone? But the UFC doctors have taken great care of me. Dr. D is the man. Yeah, yeah. He almost had to cut it out of me. Wow.

Really? It was that big? Yeah, it was getting bad. How does it look now? Yeah, you see? Yeah, you want to see? Oh, it's still a little dark. Yeah, it's still a little dark.

Yeah, it's still a little dark. Does it hurt? For the most part. No, no. Did you get punched there? Does it hurt? No, not. Not no more.

In the fight, though, was it killing? Yeah, yeah, of course. I mean, but you don't feel anything. Sure, sure, sure, sure. It was just after, you know, after, it was the antibiotics. I was on antibiotics for two weeks and those just murder your system. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But other than that, I'm smooth.

100% now, healthy, ready to get back to training, kind of fine-tune my game a little bit, fine-tune my team a little bit, and then we're going to go out there and we're going to win a world title have you watched the fight yeah yeah what's that like i brought my team over we all watched it oh uh kind of sat down we we we picked them uh chewed it up it was a lot of there's a lot of things for me to learn from that fight yeah i was a little too emotional definitely uh my adrenaline was a little bit too high i was ready to fight like two hours before as soon as i stepped into the arena i was ready to fight i was like already in a sweat. That was a little, I was just, my adrenaline was too high for the whole time. So I feel like

I'll do a better job listening to my coaches next time, kind of settle down a little bit more, and kind of just be smarter. Like I said, George texts me before the fight, he said, keep your mind sharp, and I didn't do that during the fight. I feel like the physical was all there. It just was the mental that I let Tony win. And Tony's one of the best in the game at that. I will give him that. I didn't take anything away from the front of the fight, and I'm still not. Tony won. He was the better man that night. But I'm going to come back and I'm going to whip his ass. So Tony, you think he gets Connor? What do you think? He should. He should. By all accounts, Tony is the real champion. Tony is the lightweight champion.

Hands down. Does Connor want to fight for that title? I don't know. I think, I don't know what Connor wants. If he can sleep at night, I said it before, if he can sleep at night and feel like the champion, then better luck to him. But if he's a real man, he'll go out there, he'll fight Tony. He'll lose to Tony. and then I'll fight Connor. Who do you think wins? Chabibibababab, or Barbosa? Habib picked a good fight. I'll give him that.

What do you mean? Do you think you like that matchup for him? I like the matchup for him. I think he might end up pulling off Barbosa. Barbosa don't like that. You know, if Khabi can close the distance like he's going to do, he might be able to ragged all him a little bit. But Barboza's got a lot of power.

So I'm looking forward to that fight. It's going to be a great one. I think Kabee picked a good matchup. I give it to him. After this, we'll see. How's the new house? Oh, it's a small. You know, I've got to...

Have you settled in? I've got to take the time. Okay. Decorated the way I like. I still ain't throwing a housewarming party yet. Okay. But it's coming together. Well, I get invited to the housewarming party.

You got it. Really? Because you said I was tripping. I'm kind of shocked by this. Or was it just because of Mickey Gall? Oh, it was just because of Mickey Gall. Okay, okay. No, no, we did work so hard to build the backup.

You're my man. No, you're my man. No. My hands are very sweaty. All right, you got it. It's very hot in here. I've been talking for like three hours. I didn't mean to leave you hanging.

One of my favorite moments leading up to that fight at 216 was embedded when your family came over at your house. And it was like, it was really cool to see how your parents were just so proud, right? Yeah, that actually came together pretty good. I thought it was a candid moment. It was amazing. They ended up just showing up the crew as my family was come in because I was the first time you were showing them your house that you just go. I literally had just signed the papers. Wow.

And it ended up working out pretty good. They love it now. They come over in all the time. But they don't live in Vegas, right? They live in Vegas, yeah. Your parents do. Oh, really? About 30 minutes from me.

Oh, when did they move? As soon as a month after. Really? So I moved out there a month after my fight with Ally Kent to my first UFC fight, and then I moved them out maybe a month after that. Why did you bring them out? People think that I'm a lot different. Even I got to give a shout out to New York because I've taken so many

pictures here everywhere I go like people want pitch. I love you here. Yeah but I mean but people think I'm different you know they come up to me and and I'm cool like I don't be people just expect me to be I guess a little different like family means a lot to me. You know like you see like my circle is real tight like those are the people that mean the most of me so I wasn't going to just leave and just lead them back in Detroit and and and lead them down I bring my family I try and make sure everybody's good even though I'm good. Okay wow I didn't know that. I didn't realize that. So do you still have family living in Detroit? Yeah, I got all my extended family. I'll go back for UFC 218. Yeah. And also to support my boy Max. But I'll go

back, enjoy it with them, still go out to my old neighborhood. I said it would have been better with the gold belt, wave it around a little bit. But I'll still throw a little celebration. We'll still get it in. Okay. And they'll still love it. What is that neighborhood like? I mean, you can come back with me if you want. I'd love to see it. Well, like, Is it, is it? Yeah, it's rough. It's rough. It's rough.

I ain't been in Manhattan this whole time while I've been to New York. But it's rough. And it's got to get better just because Detroit is such a big port between the United States and Canada. And it brings so much money. Sure. It's got to get better. But right now it's just, it's, all I can do is just try and motivate and get the people that come from the same background to get the young kids. and give them something to look forward to.

I wish I would have had that when I was a kid. When I was 10, the only people that you, 10, 11 years old, right in those peak stages, the only people I had to look up to were the drug dealers, where the, you know, the robbers, the murderers, the whatever. You're actually hanging out with these people. That's what you see. Like, they live next door.

And they're the ones with the cars. They're the ones with the money. They're the ones with the jury, the girls. Like, the ones that you want. So you figure that that's what you've got to do. and that's what I always thought until I changed my mindset. So I'm going to go back and I'm going to show the young kids, those 10, 11-year-olds, those ones that's coming up,

that you can do something better. And MMA is just another way. You know, you don't just have to rap ball or, you know, it's another way, too. You can fight your way out. How did you change your mindset? If it's like so much a part of the life there, the lifestyle, how do you, everyone's going this way, you go that way and you become what you become?

How did you do it? It's very, very hard. especially when you get so much peer pressure, you get so much, and you don't know any other way. You don't see doctors and you don't see lawyers and you don't see these people that are smart, that are doing it. I think I had to give a lot of credit to my parents,

and I think that's why I try and still keep them. Those are the people that when I was down, they were looking out for me. My dad did a great job. My mom did a great job. So I can really only give it to them. And to say when I was like, 12 and 13 years old

I just like I'm not gonna be one of these I already seen where that lead let down I already seen where you know drinking all day and smoking all day and doing all and just sitting around doing nothing and getting into trouble like I seen where that led so I just made the decision like I didn't know what I was gonna do I just was gonna be different okay and then when I saw that fight when I saw George and when I just saw him in May I was like that's what I'm gonna do and and does George know this not not to the extent you never Not to the extent. You know, I don't get, I don't get, like, star struggle bottle, a lot of people.

Like, we keep it cool. You know, I text him after the fight. He text me after my, like, we keep it cool, like, on respect. Maybe one day, but, no, I mean, that's a pretty amazing thing. He completely altered. Like, he gave you that, that light at the end of the tunnel, right? He gave you that vision. This is something that you wanted to attain.

Did you, were you ever on that bad path? Oh, yeah. You were? Oh, definitely. I mean, look, I ain't know, I ain't, I ain't sitting up here preaching. I ain't none of that. Like, oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, it could have been many times in my life

where just one wrong move and everything would have changed and everything would have been different. Wow. So, I mean, where can I give that to? I don't know. I'm not really like that spiritual. I don't know. I don't know what that is.

But, yeah, it's many times where I could have definitely fallen off the path and gone down the wrong road. And like I said, I just got to give it to my parents. And, you know, I kind of always been a smart guy too, so I was able to go to college and get away from, from, you know, my situations and I still go. So I don't know. I don't know who I get at to, really. How's your brother doing?

Oh, he's doing better. He's been out for a little bit. Oh, nice. He's staying with me. Oh, really? In Vegas? Yeah, the boy still. That boy still.

He's another one, but. What do you mean? You know, he's just young. He's just young and dumb. He's 17 now. Okay. He's just young and dumb. So you're the guy who's taking care of him?

You're his caretaker? For the most part, yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's just you two living in the house. No, no, no. I got two younger brothers, so it's three of us. All living in that house?

Yeah, yeah. Wow. It's me. I got my younger brother's 21 and then the youngest who's seven. A 21 year old is the fighter. Is the other fighter. Yeah. He's three and one.

Okay. He's doing well. Yeah. You don't have to worry about him as much. He's amazing. Like I say, I think honestly, he'll be a better fighter than me. Wow. Keith, right?

Keith, yeah, Keith Lee. Yeah. Right now, we're stuck in the path. We see him where we want to take them with, especially with this PFA thing and all these. You know, he's got a lot of opportunities at 135 especially. You know, see if we go overseas. See what exactly we're going to do.

But as far as a fighter and a fighting talent, I mean, he's amazing. I think he's going to be huge, especially in these next coming years. And then the youngest one, we're going to see. We're going to get that boy. I'm going to whip him into shape. I'm going to whip him in the shape. I don't know if necessarily fighting. Fighting ain't for everybody.

Fighting ain't, it ain't the only route to go. But he's got a lot of different options. He's a really talented kid. We'll just see where he'd take him. What was it like when he came out? Like you had to sort of reintroduce him to the world, right? Yeah. What was that like?

He was supposed to come out before I fought Mike Keyes. He ended up staying a couple weeks extra. But then I got to see him before I fought Tony and he came out. I mean, it was amazing to see that transformation. You know, he grew up so much from 16 to 17 and just those 10 months that he was there. It's amazing to see the transformation. He still got a little bit of growing to do, but I never been through anything like that. So it's hard for me to relate a lot, but I just try and even learn from him and try and learn from his journey and his struggles.

So he actually came out a better person. Yeah, for sure. Really? Really? One thousand percent. Wow. You're a much better person. Much smarter, much more mature.

And I think that's what it's all about at the end of the day. And it's not just my brother. It's a lot of people's brothers that go through the same thing. And it's a lot of people's sons and uncles and whoever they are to them. They go through the same things. And it's just about progressing, just about getting better. Yeah, you're going to take an L. Yeah, you're going to get knocked down.

And he's going to get back. And he's going to be back better too. By the way, did you see Keisa here? He was at the fight as well. Yeah, no. Somebody told me that. But no, I didn't see him. He probably saw me like, you know, yeah, ducked off.

What do you think what happened if you cross-passed? Do you think it's over between you two? I think it's cool. I'm cool. I mean, he's cool, too. He don't, like I said, after the fight, Mike said a lot of things. The only thing he didn't say is that he wanted that fight again. And he don't want that smoke again. Come on, a lot of the guys bark, they don't really want the smoke.

You know, right now, I'm looking on the bigger and better. We'll see. What's the ideal scenario for the return? Have you thought about that? Honestly, I still, I think it's a lot of legs still today. I kind of like the Eddie and Justin fight. They took my spot. I'm still kind of...

Ultimate Fighter? Yeah, yeah, I'm still kind of feeling some type of way about that. So we'll see. We'll see who wins that fight. We'll be front and center. Yeah, I'm there. I'm there. So we'll see who wins that fight.

Who knows? I might jump to cage, do some WW. Oh, wow. Like Mike Perry. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's right. You saw that with Darren Till? Yeah, yeah.

You jumped up, yeah. Yeah. I mean, we'll see. We'll see. So I like that fight. I think it's real interesting. Like I said, I feel like I'm only still one, one, two fights away.

Again, we'll see how, how Connor, if he ends up fighting Tony, he's going to get his ass whoop. So then that's going to throw another little... No chance. You give him no shot. I give him no shot. He's going to throw another little wrench in the system. So we don't see...

Are you kind of hoping that that happens so it kind of keeps things moving a little bit at 155? Because it feels like it's a little bit stagnant with an interim belt. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, It's not a whole lot of moving parts right now, especially. I feel like it's going to pick up, especially after Khabib fights, Edson, that's going to get some things moving.

And then once Eddie and Justin fight, and then if Tony and Connor fight. But like I said, I think the division is going to be totally different in a year from now. And I still got my eyes on Tony, too. I think that's a fight that I'm most looking forward to. That's where I want to get back to. So if I got to run through Eddie, then Justin, then Khabi, and then Khabi, and then Khabi. and then Connor to fight Tony, I will. That's the one you want.

You think he's champion a year? Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. So that's what I'm most looking forward to. I'm hoping that, you know, the man is a little old now. I'm hoping that he can still stay in his prime for just a little bit longer. Let me get that win back.

By the way, big fight at 155 this Saturday. Pettus and Porier? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know. Who do you have in that one? It's a tough on a call. I got to go with Pettis. Okay.

I think Pettus is going to be slicker, especially on the feet. You know, have a little more firepower. You know, they're roughly about the same size. So I think that the wrestling will kind of negate itself. And I think Pettus is just a little bit slicker. And he does much better versus Southpaws. So, you know, we'll see. I think if I'm going, I'm going Pettis by a body kick.

Really? Wow. Where are you talking title shot? Yeah, it ain't going to happen. It ain't going to. Come on. Like you said, this division is, it's a body kick. a little log jam right now. So it's a lot of titles being thrown around. It's a lot of title shots being thrown around.

Like, let's, if you get a title shot, let's just make some money. How about that? Right. And you're happy, you said. I'm cool. I'm cool. Like I said, I went to a Broadway show yesterday. I know, man.

I'm walking around a financial district. I don't go. Like, come on. I don't go to Broadway shows. I don't have the means for Broadway shows. I'm not a prize fighter like you are, but I'm just saying. You just, Walt, it's not your first time in New York, is it? It's my third time.

Third time. But I'm getting to do a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of anything. Some Broadway. I'm trying to do, you know, some childhood dreams. So, you know, let's say, from here on, I'm going to get better. I'm going to put out a little bit more content too. We'll see. Oh, interesting.

Especially with management. You know, I was thinking about maybe doing like a podcast or something. Oh, look at you. So, you know, expect big things. You were the guy who told Tony, you know, could we get another analyst up in this? Yeah. Are you, you want that? You never know.

Fox is interested. I'm sure. Look at that smile, that million dollars. I go down to L.A. next week. Oh, you're doing something? Yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. L.A. next week. What's the fight next week?

Are you doing like one of those? Okay. You brought it up. All right. By the way, I noticed you took a break from social media. Like this weekend was kind of like your return. But after your fight, you were kind of gone for a month. Yeah, yeah. Why'd you do that?

It was the antibiotics, too. Oh, okay. It just got you up. laying in the bed not doing much. It's hard, you know, so, and I just wanted to get away from everything. Okay. It can be, it's just so much. This past year. This past year has been really tough, and it's been a lot, and I think it all came to a head during the fight. Yeah. And I think you can kind of even see that and see it in my body language and my face. It's been a lot, so it's been good for me to kind of get away, kind of reset, you know, get back around my family, just enjoy them for a little

bit. Before I got to get back on that horse and keep it going, because it's about to be a new year. Yeah. New year, new year, new year, Ariel. I'm ready for it. When do you think you'll return? Like, what's, what's a, I know you said you want to give your body a rest and everything. I like the July date. Oh, wow. Okay. So we're talking about a bit of a break here. Yeah, they throw a big, you know, international fight week. That's right. It's always in Vegas. Okay. Vegas is the city. So, uh, we'll, we'll see. We'll see where it goes. Wow. That's in like, that's in eight months. Yeah. I'll miss you. I want to play around with everything, you know what I mean?

I'm going to give a long time for my diet to play around with. I'm going to get back in the ghee a little bit. Oh, interesting. I'm going to do a lot of grappling, a lot of jih Tzu. I've been kind of neglecting it. I'm going to get back to my roots and come back and be even stronger. Wow. And I think my next fight, I'm going to be a completely different fighter.

I think I'm going to show a whole lot more. I still haven't even began to peak yet. So next year, when I come back, I'll be a lot of. stronger. And I'm going to show the people a lot more. The people will be really excited, I think, to see my return. Why get back in the key? Like, how does that benefit you as a main player? It just, it slows down the game. And that's what I used to do. It's hard to do that when you're in training camp. It's hard to get better in training camp. I think that's what fans don't really understand. When I'm in training camp, and I did four fights this year, so I kind of went back to back to

back each time I would take two weeks off and then I'm right back in training camp. And it's hard to learn while you're in training camp because you're preparing for a specific guy. You're just mostly just getting into shape and making sure that the weight is great. And on all this. So it's much better to learn outside of training camp. So I'm going to learn. I get to try new things.

I get to try spinning shit and all this and come back out. And I'm going to show a completely different game. I feel like even during these times, these last four fights, I've shown a different game each time I went out and fought. And I think this time you're going to see something completely different. And it's going to be great. Are you going to stay with the same team? Yeah, yeah.

I'm going to make it, of course, of course. I stay with the ones that brought me there. I'll make some changes to it. We always improve. I'm just going to make some improvements. And that's it. I'm going to come back and we're going to whoop some ass. How long are you seeing in New York for?

Till tomorrow. Until tomorrow. What else are we doing? Until tomorrow, I leave to Oakland. Then I go to L.A. What's in Oklahoma? Then I go down to Detroit. Just some family stuff.

Okay. What's in L.A.? I almost got you there. Interesting. All right. Any other big plans in New York while you're here? Any other shows you're going to? No, no.

I mean, what should I do? Look, this is your city. I gave you suggestions, flight club, and you just kind of... I'm on it. Now, what time they close? Flight Club. What time they close? It's a pretty, I mean, it's 4 o'clock.

You still got a time. I got you. Supreme. I told you to go to Supreme. Yeah, yeah, I know. I know. I know. I look. I give you advice. Did you go to the meatpacking district? Okay. I'm on, I'm on a me packing. It's, it's been a lot. It's been a lot this week. I'm trying to see a little bit of everything. You're just lucky I'm not a fake until you make it because otherwise your boy have a couple of rollies. Like, I've been walking down so. Like they got Rolex. Everyone right on the street. Two for ten. I know, I know. It's nice. And no one notices.

And you could get a Louis Vuitton bag and it looks just like the real thing, right? Look, I never Go to Canal Street Never been a fake until you make it You go back and see Before I start making money Like you know Look I wore the Reebok stuff

I wore it Like I'm a look When I do it Like you said I ain't gonna rent no Lamb Bowes That's right When I do it Buy that house right

You got damn right Yes well done Kevin great to see you man Thank you for reaching out Thanks for stopping by I really appreciate it And you know It's nice

I got worried there for a second My heart stopped for a second I thought you know Because this this this this This budding friendship has been one of my highlights of 2017. And so I feel like this is just another step. We had you in Vegas when we were at May Mac, right? I mean, you can't complain anymore.

I'm showing love. We getting on. We get on. Just no more Mickey. No more Mickey. And you bet not bring up Sage to me after this next week until a boy. Why? He's back.

He's back. All right. I know. I forgot. That's where it all started with us. That's where it all started. Our next guest, I think, has a bone to pick with me as well. So I'll deal with that.

But for now, we'll say goodbye. Thank you very much, Kevin. Thank you so much. Enjoy New York. If you have any more questions, if you want recommendations that you're going to ignore, please. I'll text you. Don't worry. I will.

There he is, as he walks out. The Motown phenon himself, Kevin Lee. Usually someone's there to walk you out, Kevin, but I guess not. But, oh, there you go. Thank you so much for stopping by. We really appreciate it. Great stuff from him. And he says July or so he's going to be back.

We look forward to that. me just alert the masses here that we're going for our third in studio guest in a matter of moments. I do believe Mr. Randy Brown is going to be joining us coming off that big win over. Oh, Eric's telling me that he was just in the bathroom. Randy Brown is going to be joining us in a matter of moments. And then after that, we're going to be joined by T.J. Dillshaw, the new UFC Bantamway champion.

How cool is that? So Randy Brown coming off that big win over Mickey Gall on Saturday. at Madison Square Garden. What was interesting about that was when I saw him at the Media Day, his coach had reached out and said, hey, you had Mickey on the show. Why don't you get Randy in studio?

And Randy's a New York guy. And that makes a lot of sense. For whatever reason, the timing didn't work out. And I'm going to take that, you know, I'll take that L, as Mr. Ali just said. I'll put that on myself. And I could feel when I saw him at the Media Day, like, you know, maybe there was a little bit of, I don't want to say animosity, but maybe a little bit of tension.

You know, maybe that's just me being overly sensitive, being the neurotic Jew that I am. And so after the win, really wanted to have him in. I do believe he is coming in right now. There he is. Mr. Touch and Go himself. Randy Brown is here. Is that him? Yep, there he is. Randy. Randy, in the house. How are you? Randy? Thank you for coming in. I appreciate it. Have a seat. Welcome to the studio. I apologize for not having you in. earlier, but here we are. We're all good, right? Yes, sir, we're good. We're all good. Congratulations. Thank you. I feel like you should be happier. Did you just wake up or something? No, I'm good, man. You're just chilling. I'm chilling.

You're just right here. Yeah. You're not like celebrating. I'm always right here, right? Nothing gets you really excited? Um, a few things. You were pretty pumped up after the fight, like right in the moment. Yeah, naturally, you know, I got the adrenaline pumping and all that. So, you know how that is. What did Kevin Lee say to you out there? Did he say anything to you? Um, on his way, I didn't see him on a way. When I got here earlier. Oh, okay. Good dude. He was rooting for you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of people was, the real fighters were rooting for me. Really? You felt that? Yeah, you know, I felt like everybody was, they wanted me to do well, you know? Right. Have you watched the fight? I watched it a little bit, yeah.

Was that your best performance of your career? Not of my career, of my UFC career, probably. Okay. You know, but there's much more to come, man. Which was the best performance of your career if someone wants to go back and look for it? It was back when I fought a dude. man, this guy, I don't remember his name, but I know it was in Philly. It was like in one of them Philly organizations. Okay, now Ring in Combat. No, no. Before that.

Yeah. Best performance of your career was that early in your career? Really? So how come you haven't been able to top that or recreate the magic? I'm not sure, man. I'm not sure, you know, just experience and, you know, styles make fights. Right. Depending on who I fight, you know, see how it goes next time. It was interesting. I was going back and looking at your social media in the days and even like the weeks leading up to this fight. You were super confident going into this one. Like the stuff that you were saying, like, oh, you know, just everything. Everything was about how you were, like, there was no doubt you were putting it out there.

Why were you so confident? My experience, man, my experience and just the things that he's been saying and all that, we've grappled before in the past, you know, but I knew that we grappling is grappling, you know what I mean? Fighting is fighting. Right. I knew that he's just banking off of the fact that we grappled or something. But I know how good I am.

I know what I'm capable of, you know. and a lot of people kind of brushed me under the rug, I feel. You know what I mean? Look past me. Why do you think that is? I don't know. I don't know. Maybe my last performance.

Right. You know, my last performance. I didn't have this. Some of my performances weren't the best, you know what I mean? And some of my performances were great, you know? But people are only going to judge you off of your last performance. Right. You know.

That was the one back in Brooklyn. Yeah, yeah. What happened there? A lot of things went wrong, man. And me, I could just say, underestimation. You know what I mean? You underestimate people last. last minute opponent changes that type of stuff

but you learn you know and that's what I said about Mickey you know I said he'll learn after this after we fight every fighter has that moment and I told you you know yeah that everybody has to go through something every fighter that was sitting there went through something to make them a better fighter you know what I mean and I feel like that's that's what's gonna happen to Mickey now

I was that fight for him and Belaw was the fight for me okay um did you say anything to him after the fight well Mickey yeah yeah yeah I told him um I told him that he proved he belonged here. You know what I mean? Really? Yeah, I think, you know, he's a lot tougher than people, they're going to give him credit for it, you know, just because the way I handled him. Yeah.

But Mickey's Jiu-Jitsu is amazing, and he's actually, he's really good, you know, being the fact that I grappled with him in the past and all that, you know, so I felt him. Mickey's a tough dude. Like, he's a really tough dude, you know, and he's going to give people a lot of problems because what happened is now people are going to underestimate him. Same way he underestimated me based off of my last performances. Did you say that to him in the game? cage or in the back? I said that to him in the back. Oh really? Okay. Did you go out and try to find him? No, we're in a green room eating, you know. Oh, really? He came up to me, congratulate me or whatever, you know, and I just told him, you know, I was like, hey, you know, you show people you belong here.

Even though it didn't go your way, he went the distance with me. Right. You know, that says a lot. I'm a finisher, man. Yeah. That says a lot. Was it awkward at all being in the green room with him after you just fought? No. No. No. This is this is a business, man. This is business. I'm not, you know, he said those things that he said he had like I said before he had to do that he had to do that to do that to make it seem like he's this person you know what I mean because of his track record right you know what I mean he's billing himself but that catches up with you when you're not trying to when you're not being yourself you know what I mean so I knew so it's a business it's all like for me it was nothing personal for me I knew what he was doing you know what I mean I've been there but I've learned from

those things and I learned to just he'll keep it real you listen to any of the like like he was on the show and he was saying that he's he's the best striker in the welterweight division things like that. How do you when you hear this stuff from him and you obviously think that you're better, how are you reacting to all of that? Have you ever been this pumped up, this motivated for a fight? Because it did get a little

personal, I felt that time. It did get personal, but again, you can say these things. Yeah. But you're going to, I told them at the waynes. I was like, it was here now. You're going to have to face me. You know what I mean? So you could say whatever you want to say. You know what I mean? It doesn't matter. He said he was the best striker in the game. I was like, all right, I'm preparing for the best

strike in the game. I took him just as serious as I would anybody else, if not more, because nobody wants to get embarrassed. I want to lose, you know what I mean? Come to someone with only four fights. Right. You know, I mean, I know that he's good because I grapple with him. You know, I know he's talented.

But there's levels, man, and then the steps that I had to take to get here, you know what I mean? I've been grinding my whole life. I've slept on mats, you know what I mean? I've been grinding, man, I've lost fights, you know what I mean? I've defended my title as a champion on the local scene.

You know what I mean? I've been doing this. You know what I mean? I've been through it. he hasn't paid no dues you know what I mean he ain't do none of that so his levels did you feel like the UFC wanted him to win um I wouldn't say the UFC you know I wouldn't I wouldn't I wouldn't put that on the company okay but a lot of people a lot of people would like everyone rude for him man everyone I'm in New York this is my city yeah they booed you they booed you actually hear that I heard booze at one point every fight every

fight what I like to do is I go in the middle of the cage and I just I just pick my hands up like this and the crowd goes yeah yeah yeah I like that that feels like that good, you know what I went there. It was quiet, you know what? But, but I will say this, you know what I mean, the tickets were very expensive. Yeah, they were. So a lot of my people, you know what I mean, my people from the inner city or whatever, they weren't, they weren't be, they wasn't going to be able to make it, you know what I mean, just based off that. So I know they were home watching and cheering me on, but he's a rich kid from across the bridge over on Jersey. So, you know, everybody sold out for him. They're going to buy those

tickets, you know what I mean? That piss you off in the moment? Like, oh, man, I'm not going to let this guy actually come in here with these people cheering him in my city. The whole week, he was saying, you know, this is my city, my house, my house. Yeah, I saw him say that. I was like, okay. It kind of gave you this look when you guys squared off at the media day on Wednesday. Do you remember that? Your phone went off.

Yeah. Who called you? For real? Who called? Who's calling you? Which bill collector? No, so when they call, it's like they have like scams that call people. They always call you.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they use the first digits, the first three digits of your phone number. Yes, yes, yes. You ever seen that? That's been going around a lot, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They call me. They're always calling me, and they're telling me about, you know, some, I need to, it's like fraud about my insurance or something.

And it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, great. They're the ones who called you in that moment? Yeah. Damn. He gave you this look like, like, I don't know if you saw it, but it's kind of like, he's, he's like, dismissive. Yeah, that's what he said. He said, he said, he was like, come on, man.

You know what I mean? Like, oh, like, I'm unprofessional or something. Like, like, come on, right. Keep it together, you know, that type of thing, you know? And I'm like, we'll see. he was talking to me the whole time during the fight he's a guy you know before the fight started you know

what he said he across the he's like it's here now it's here now you know now you got to deal with it and I'm like bro I said that to you at the way and he's yesterday you know what I mean and then you get pressed and then you start running you're talking right up until the moment the refs says fight I meet you more than halfway

let's do it you rocked him early yeah did you think were you surprised that he survived it? No, I knew he was tough. I knew he's game. Mickey ain't no bitch, you know what I'm saying? He's a tough dude. He's going to give people problems. People are going to overlook him. I'm telling you. But the thing is, the thing is he just knew how to, you know, how to just get

away and how to run and survive. And I think I wanted to prove to him like, I'm not afraid to you're grappling, bro. I know you have good grappling. He came up here and said, all brown bills, was it up here on Matt Serra's show something? But he said, all brown belts and not created equal. You know, he said that. You know what I mean? And I was like, all right. So let's, let's see. You know, all fighters are not created equal. You know, it's not a jihitsu match. I love jihitsu. You know what I mean? I'm a brown but myself, you know, we all, it's a part of the game. It's just a piece of what we do. We do so much, you know what I mean? You know, you can't, you can't just bank on that and think, you know, because you got me in a

jihitsu training session one day. I just finished training with six other guys, you know what I mean? And I come to you and me and you're going at it and you happen to catch me. So, can't do that, man. Perhaps a false sense of confidence based on that. So you moved to New York when you were 15 from Jamaica.

Yeah. But you weren't born in Jamaica, right? You're born in Maryland? I was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Massachusetts, that's right. And how old were you when you moved to Jamaica? Tyler, probably not even one yet. Oh, really?

Why did your family move there? My mom, long story, long story short, my mom got deported, you know, ended up being in Jamaica. Wow. Is she Jamaican? Yeah. Okay, so she was here? Mm-hmm. Didn't have the proper paperwork or something?

That's a lot, you know, I grew up a certain lifestyle, you know what I'm saying? My parents lived a certain lifestyle. Really? You know, family lived a certain lifestyle. So I just ended up in Jamaica, you know what I mean? Are they still around? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

You know, my dad, my dad is in, is upstate, you know, and my mom's, My mom's always, you know, she's around back and forth from Jamaica and all that, you know. Okay. They're not together. No. Okay. So were they together when you moved back to Jamaica? No. Okay. My dad was in jail since I was like four. Oh, really? Is he still in jail? Yeah. Oh, what do he do? If you don't mind me asking?

He even want to get into that. There's a whole lot. As a whole lot I can't even get into that. Wow. And are you in contact with them? Yeah. I suppose I talk to him every day. I talked to him before I came here. How do you talk? He can call me. Call me. Oh, really? Just like that? Yeah. Oh, wow. So he watched him. your fights and everything.

Sometimes. He got to see this one. He only saw my fights on Fox. He can't see anything else. Because it's a fight pass or whatever. He doesn't get that. Wow. This is the third fight he's seen.

So you actually, I mean, that must be great, as opposed to like fighting on pay-per-view. Yeah, yeah, because he won't watch, right? Yeah, yeah, so he's able to see this, you know.

And it's good, you know. You visit him? Yeah, yeah. Go visit him some time. He's extremely proud of me. He's always stressing the fact that, you know, I'm living my life in a positive way,

you know, and not doing the things that, you know, that can take me off track and all that. Were you ever in danger of going down those wrong tracks? People ask me this all the time, naturally, naturally, you know what I mean? From just surroundings, you know what I mean? People that I'm around, you know, it's just, it's what it is. But, again, I'm not stupid.

You know what I mean? I was a kid of common sense. I've always had common sense, you know? But you're just young and dumb, you do shit. You know, you do stupid stuff, but, nah, I know, I know better. Did you have siblings? You have siblings? How many?

Brothers? Like eight brothers, seven? Eight brothers? Wait. I got a lot of brothers, man. I was maybe like seven, yeah. Seven brothers. Any sisters?

One sister. One sister? No, two sisters. Two sisters. Yeah. All from the same parents? My dad? Only one sister from my dad.

Okay, wow. Are you close with them? Yeah. All of them? Wow, do they live in New York? Some of them in New York. I have a brother in Cali. I have another brother in Miami, one in Colorado.

Any of them fighters as well? No, I'm the only fighter. Why did you choose fighting? How did you get into this? I was the youngest, man. I'm the youngest. You were the youngest of all of them? Yeah, yeah, the youngest.

I'm always getting into stuff, you know what I mean? Were they picking on you? Oh, naturally. But I was good. I always wanted to, I was just feisty, man. I was like a little kid always trying to get into something. You know what I mean? My mom put me into boxing.

So I started off boxing. Boxing for a long time, did the gloves and all that few times. And in Jamaica? No, here. Okay, once you moved over. Yeah. Okay. You know, and that was it, you know.

How do you go from boxing to M.A.? Now, that's when I'm going back and forth from Jamaica now again, right? There was a school that I was going to in a city, right down the street from Henzos. Oh, wow. And the first fight that I saw was Joe Stevenson versus BJ Penn. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I saw that fight and I was like, I was like, I was like, what's this? I think I could, I like this. I think I could do this, you know what I mean? So I was looking for a box. I just said that. You know what I mean? I'll try that. I'll do that. And then I'm looking for a boxing school.

I can't really find any gyms or anything like that, but they're around, you know. And one day I just wandered in Henzel. It was like down the street from my school. I was like on a break or something and just wandered in there. And the rest is history. Wow, so you were training there. Yeah. Any of like the pros there?

Any of the big names were there at the time when you went? When I just started, I don't think Sapo was even in the UFC yet. Okay. When I just got there, just someone I looked up to at the time, probably there was like Dave Branch was there at the time, you know, coming up. A few guys, man, a few guys, you know. That's the thing, too. I started off doing BJJ, you know, over there, you know, so people like going with Mickey, people are like, oh, he might get submitted. I'm like, I wrote it.

John Donahe is someone that I, you know, my teacher's a black belt under Hensow, you know what I mean? Like, I'm in the mix with top, top jihitsu guys every day, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not worried about Jiu-Gitzu. I'm good. So when you watch that BJ Penn Sevenson fight, like what about it interests you? I mean, it was a great fight and BJ looked like an amazing... BJ had hands, man.

BJ was putting hands in. Yeah, I was like, yo, this is crazy. You never seen MMA part of that? No, that was my first MMA fight. That's interesting. Yeah, and I was like, yo, this is crazy. How did you come across it? Scrolling.

Okay, it was on Spike that fight. You just saw it on TV? I just saw it on TV, man. Wow. And I liked it. And, you know, rest is history. man. That's amazing. So do you think if you don't see that fight, if you don't get attracted to

MMA, you go down the boxing ground? Definitely. Definitely, without a doubt. Did you ever, you never fought pro boxing? No. Amateur? Yeah, just amateur. Do you still have aspirations to do that or no? You never know. You never know. But for now, you like MMA. Yeah, for now, I like MMA. But, you know, I'm sparring

with great amazing boxes, you know, good talent, you know. A lot of amateurs coming up that you're going to hear a lot about in the future, you know, once they turn pros. So, yeah, I've been getting it in with some top boxes, so I wouldn't mind. You never know one day. How old were you when you moved back to New York? Or when you came to New York from Jamaica? 15. 15. Okay. And then you've stayed here since. Yeah. And I've just been going back and forth, back and forth. What would you like better growing up in Jamaica? Because you kind of came in the

middle, right? Of your adolescence, what did you like better? New York or Jamaica? I love Jamaica just because of food, my people. You know what I mean? I just love being, you know, in Jamaica is just fun, you know. But being here, you know, it's more. I feel like it's more luxuries, you know, it's more safer. You know what I mean? You know, like, just running water. You know what I'm saying? It was like that for you.

Yeah, yeah. No running water? Where I grew up, no. Wow, what did you do? We had to go down. We lived on captured land, man. Captured land is like, captured land is basically like, it's kind of like squatting. You know what I'm saying?

Wow. Really? You just, you go and just build a house on a piece of land or something. So we had, it was like a little community house. here, house there, house, there, house, there. Okay. And there was a pipe that came on, like, once, everyone, one time every day for about 30 minutes. Okay.

Like, down the hill, way down the hill. And we used to go down and catch water, walk back up the hill. So you see, like, people just going down, catching water and coming up. Wow. Throughout your time living there, all 15 years. Wow. And who builds the house? Like, you just go on the land.

You just build it yourself? Yeah. You just go there and build, you know. But not, not. It's not legal or anything. That's not what you should be doing. But no one comes? No one comes and tells you know you can't be here?

No, because it was like a community. It became a community and what happens the government might come in and they say, all right, you guys have been living here. You don't know what I mean? Pay us such and such. And then you're on it. They just pay something cheap or whatever.

Did that happen? To this day, not yet. Really? Yeah, so many people there now. It's like a little community. There's like nice houses up there now and everything. What's the name of the town? How do you mean?

tech food, tech food, tech food in, um, in Old Harbour. Wow. Yeah. I hear your, uh, your accent come out when you say that. Yeah. You speak, uh, was it, Patua? Yeah, I'm on. You speak, yeah, you speak, yeah, oh, man.

Patua, patua, very well, very well. I love it. I used, I was, like, obsessed with Jamaican culture as a kid, believe it or not. Like, I, I would do projects on Rastafarians. You get the dreads and all that? So I had the fro, I had the fro, but I couldn't quite do the dreads. But my favorite athlete, uh, ever, till this day is, Patrick Ewing. And of course, he's from Kingston. And he was doing his thing in New York. And so, like, I love, I mean, cool runnings was awesome. You know, everything about Jamaican culture I love. But I feel like, you know, us, we only know a certain side. I mean, like, that's a whole different side of Jamaica that, you know. Yeah, but Jamaica, all and all, even growing up like that, Jamaica is beautiful. You don't even know, you don't even know. You don't even know that. It's just part of life. It's just what it is. But Jamaica's beautiful, man. Like, I, I'm just, I

I love Jamaica. I wouldn't trade Jamaica for anything in the world. You think you ever go back there? Oh, absolutely. Like to live full-time? It's possible, yeah. Okay. Maybe in my retirement or something, you know.

And so how big of a deal? Like when you, now that you're in the UFC and doing well, are you getting some attention? Yeah, man. I was in a paper a few times down there. You know, I was on a talk show one time, you know, after, what fight? After I fought back then, after I fought graves, you know, they, I went down. I was on Smile, Jamaica. Wow, that's amazing.

Yeah, I'm down there a lot, been doing a lot of things on that. Yeah. So you got signed obviously from looking for a fight. Did you know that day that Dana was there? Yeah, no. You knew. Someone told you beforehand? Yeah, yeah.

So in your mind were you like, okay, this is my chance? Did you say to yourself, I had to do something? No. No. Really? I was in a different mind at that time, too. Okay. I mean, so for me, it was more go and do what you do,

and if you do what you do, you'll be noticed. Okay. I just knew it because I was just finishing people back to back. I was just getting crazy finishes at that time. And I was like, oh, nobody could stop me. I don't care whoever they put in front of me. If I think Dana White, Dana White, did I have stress to perform and do something out of character? Right.

You know, but at that I didn't think about any of that. And I just focused on the fight. I focused on doing me as best as I could. And I knew wholeheartedly that I'll be noticed. And I was. So you win the fight and then they bring you to the back to meet him? What was that like? You knew who Dana White was, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. You never met him at that point. No, no, I never met him at a time. I was excited, man. At the time, that's probably a highlight of my career. You know, he came backstage and he was just, he was like, hey, man, I'm interested. I'm interested, you know, and I was telling him, I was like, yo, I'm brash. I'm, you know, I can light this division up, man. Just give me a chance, you know. And he was like, yo, I'm interested. Let's do it. Then he gave me a call, like maybe like a month later.

A month? Personally? Yeah. He actually called you. Yeah. He took your number? Yeah. Okay. What happens?

He gave me a call and he was just like, my coach was just, we're coming from Henzos actually. We're just training. And my coach stepped out the car to go get something to eat. We were stopping at the store or whatever. And I stayed in a car, phone rang and he was like, hey, what's up, man? Is Dana White? Is it a day, number? I think so from Vegas number.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's like, what's up? It's Dana White. I was like, what's up, man? He's like, you know what this is about, right? And I was like, yeah. He's like, I'm here. He said, I'm here to fuck up your holidays because the fight was January.

Oh wow. You know, I was like, hey, let's do it. Were you pissed? Nah. No. I was excited. It's my UFC debut. Yeah, that's right.

How did you react? Like, did you celebrate? What did you do? Your coach comes back in the car and you're like, hey, I just booked the day in a while. That's crazy. Celebration was, I was just hype, man. My celebration was just to get in the gym, motivated more than ever, just to grind and just crush whoever I fought. That was it.

And so has it gone the way you imagine? Because there's been like a couple of hot. You win a couple. then you have a setback. This, I feel like, is the most high profile, even more so than your debut. Because it was MSG, because it was Mickey Gall, would you agree? Like, now I feel like, okay, this is like the next chapter. This is the beginning of something new.

You feel that same way? Yeah, definitely. Okay. Definitely. You know, the way Sage blew up from the show, you know what I mean? I thought that it would be just like that. But it's very different. It's very different than people think, you know.

My path is very different from Sage's path. Sure. My path is very different from Mickey's path. So I had the realest path. You know what I mean? And I feel like it's better. I wouldn't trade, trade it for anything in the world. You know what I mean?

I fought real competition. You know what I mean? And I'm sticking to that. You know, and it makes me a better fighter, real fighter. Was that hard to deal with that for like that, you know, like Sage starts off? He wins a few in a row. You know, to suffer the setback and things like that? Was that hard?

Like, oh, man. Nah, man. This is part of the game. It's part of my story. You know what I mean? It's part of my story. you know and and things happened in my life and in my career for a reason to make moments like this that much better you know what I mean it provides because I told you before man when we were on that line I said everybody here has experienced something everybody man you know

every fighter has been through something and something I went through it changed me in those fights you know it changes you it does you know a loss changes it sounds cliche but you learn from it but it's so true man I lost and I just didn't have the mind I watch back to fight and I'm like, yeah, what am I doing? My mind's not right. You know what I mean? I'm looking at people outside the cage during the fight. You know, I'm like doing just stupid stuff because, you know, sometimes in your mind and you think you're better than someone. So what happens you fight down to their level sometimes?

And sometimes even that, you just, you need to just stay focused. You know, I remember walking out, seeing all my friends. I'm in the apocalypse center. You know what I mean? The crowd is loud for me. I'm like, yeah, you know, I'm thinking about too much things that's not important. I needed to be in that moment. fighting at MSG what was that like that was amazing it was amazing other than the other than

yeah but just like being there in that building yeah that was huge I was in my my one more prune was um the Knicks oh get out of here really that's incredible that was cool wow lockers all tall yeah yeah logo in the middle yeah oh man that's amazing and I took when I took a shower the showers are like yeah yeah I'm a big guy you know what I'm saying yeah yeah but the showers uh I had to stretch all the way up just to get the shower head you know had Ewing spirit in there. Yeah, yeah. I feel like he was playing.

You obviously knew of him, right? When you moved here, was he already gone? I'm not sure. I'm not, I don't even. You never watched him? I'm not into basketball like that. Patrick Ewing? I play basketball, but I'm not.

I know who he is, you know, but I don't, I don't keep up. Fair enough. So, okay, so you're there. You fight early. Did you stick around and watch the other fights? Yeah, definitely. In the back or in the arena? I tried to go to the arena.

They wouldn't let me. Ah, yes. Who let me out? Of the three title changes, which shocked you the most? Joanna, absolutely. Really? Okay. That's what everyone's saying. You didn't expect that?

I don't think anybody expected that. Especially like that, right? Like maybe win a decision, not knock her down. Yeah, she, I don't know, I can't. Rose was just a beast. Rose was just focused the whole time I saw her. Every time I saw her, she was just quiet. Yeah.

You know, and she was just, you know, she had her head on straight and she knew what she was there to do. and that comes with experience, you know. Did you think GSP would be Bisping? No. You didn't? Nope. Wow.

Were you calling for him? Or were you neutral? I was neutral, but I just was, anyone that asked me about it, I was like Bisping. Yeah. Yeah, I was like Bisping. It's crazy to me. No one was picking GSP. Because it's hard, man.

You come back from four years. Four years. You know what I mean? A guy that's been active, even though he's old too, but he's been active. He's been in it. You haven't really been in it. Hey, but he was in it. He was throwing hands.

I feel like people forgot just how good GSP was. Yeah, definitely. He's just on another. I mean, I think he's the greatest ever now, especially winning another belt in another division. But to do that to Michael Bisping, who doesn't get submitted, I mean, he's only been submitted once in his entire career. He's like, Bispin's greatest trade is just how durable he is, right?

Yeah, he's hard to hold down. Yeah. He's squirming. Broke him. Didn't even tap. Nah. Unbelievable. It's a warrior, though.

Yeah. I think that was one of the greatest, if not the greatest cards. And that, like, those three title fights, the best. Do you agree? Four title fights. Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot about you. You get an actual belt for that,

the looking for a fight belt? No, I need to. Yeah. He's the one who threw that down, right? That was his idea. I'm the champ now, right? I'm looking for a fight champ, so. So what do you think?

What makes sense next? You said on Saturday when you spoke to us in the scrum, you're like, we have something, we're time, but now's not the time. Why is now not the time? Why is Saturday night not the time? Isn't that when you get the most attention? Yes, but I got to go over it with my team

and make sure, you know, you know how it is. You know, got to go over, make sure everything is aligned. He said he had a name already that he was going to call out. That's the problem, man. He was looking past you. That's the problem. You got to, this is the fight business, man, one fight at a time. Right.

You know, and he'll learn that moving forward. You know what I mean? I've learned that now. I've looked past people and then they, boom, and I was just like, oh, shit. I didn't expect him to beat me. You know, I didn't expect this. This is the game. You've got to be focused, man.

To who's the name? Tell us now. Who do you got? What do you want? For me, there's a few things. A few things we're working on. I like Neil Magny. I think me and him put on a, oh, you know, a great show.

And he's spending Condit next. I saw that. I saw that. So, you know, I was like, uh. He's a little tied up. He's a little tied up. But we'll see. You know what I mean?

Anything's possible, you know. But I'd like to get somebody. If not Neil? If not Neil? I don't know. We'll go over with my team and see what they want. And then we'll move forward from there. That's two New Yorkers fighting.

I know, man. I know. But just stylistically, I think it puts on a show. for the fans. Right. You know what I mean? Him and Condit will be,

you know, that'll be a bar burner too. But I feel like me and him would do it up. Who do you think what's that fight? I don't know. Magny or Condit? I don't know.

Condit also coming off a layoff. Yeah, I don't know. I feel like Magny's hit a bit of a rough patch lately. Yeah, he's trying to pick him off. He's in a weird. I'm not trying to pick him off,

you know, it's not really my style. It's just personally, I think it's a great matchup. I think it's a good fight for me and for me, him and the fans. I'm sure he'd be interested, you know, but we'll see.

I'm not really sticking to that. One thing that Rose said after the fight, I don't know if you saw it, she was like, you know, and I'm paraphrasing here, like, you know, there's been a lot of crap talking in MMA. You know, I want to try to bring back some honor to martial arts and things like that. I feel like you're someone who would get behind that. You're not down with all the crap talking. No, man, I'm down with just being yourself. You know what I'm saying?

Be who you are, you know what I mean? Don't try to, since Connor has done a lot for the sport, the sport, you know, it's good. Connor has he did that that's his way man he did his thing you know what I mean everybody's like oh this how you get the money this how you do you know it's like that's fine you know I mean defend yourself speak up for yourself speak to truth when people getting out of line and saying like stupid shit that's like what that don't even make sense you know I mean speak up for yourself and speak the truth but don't be don't be asshole you know what I'm saying don't be asshole this we this is martial arts this is martial arts you know I mean we got into this through you know

through through some type of traditional way you know I mean we like everyone here everyone in here Has we seen like Bruce Lee movies? You know what I mean? This is how we grew up. You know what I mean? We watch like, everyone has done karate at some point. You know what I mean. You know better.

You know better. You know what I mean? I had a boxing background and I'm still more, you know, I'm not coming in here while and out. You got to have some type of respect and honor for the sport of what we do. You feel like there's pressure because of the success that some of the, you know, the legendary crap talkers have had? In the beginning, yes.

In the beginning, yes. You have felt that? Yeah. That you had to speak up? But then you break. character, then you're not yourself no more. You start to be someone else and every time camera comes on, you're trying to like, you're doing too much, you know what I mean? Now, I don't do that anymore. I did that. You know what I mean? I tried. Didn't work. You know what I'm saying?

I'm like, yeah, what am I doing? Be yourself and just do what you do. Okay. And here I am, I'm just doing what I do, man. You know, I'm not really for the, if you want to take it there, though, you know what I'm saying? If you want to talk crazy, hey, we're going to take it there, right? But at the end of the day, you got to face me. And when you face me, let's see you, how it goes. When do you want to return? I'll take some time with my family, you know, over the holidays and all that, you know. Who knows? Maybe March

sometime around there. Okay. No real rush. No real rush, man. I just, I had a nine-month layoff. Yeah. Since I went pro in 2014, I fought every two months. Wow. Since 2014. Wow. Yeah, never stopped. So this nine months was the longest. Yeah. This is the longest I've ever been out.

But I felt great. I took the time to work on my my holes. Everyone had holes. You know, I had some holes for, and I filled them up, man. And I filled them up, man, and I had a great time doing so. You know, I was able to just focus. I did some jihitsu matches, tournaments. I did a super fight on Rise Invitational. How'd that go?

That was great. I won. I won via darts. Oh, wow. Yeah, so I got a chance to wrestle. I'm in the wrestling rooms now, you know what I mean? So I get a chance to just develop my skills, man. You know, skill development takes time.

Did you enjoy having his blood all over the place on you? Oh, yeah. You like that? Yeah. Really why? Yeah, chop session, baby. Okay. Chop session, you know?

We always talk about that, me, my teammates and my friends, my brothers or whatever. We got this thing we talk about, man. It's chop session. Chop session. What does that mean? Cut them up? Chopping people up.

Okay. That's why I could ever be a fighter. I'm a little too much of a hypochondriac to have some blood all over me. You could have paid homage to your guy B.J. Penn and lick the gloves after it. I didn't think about it. That was a perfect opportunity. It would have been full circle after that. Yeah, right.

Would you ever do that or you draw the line at that? I think I draw the line. I mean, I tasted his blood in my mouth at the end of the fight. Why? Why? Because it was just all over the place? It was just all over the place. He asked before the fight, he did say he hope he gets to bleed. Okay.

Yeah, so he got to bleed. You gave him what he wanted. Well, congratulations, man. Great victory, great performance. You backed up everything that you said. And I'm really happy that we can have you in studio and talk about it, all right? Thank you, Matt. You can tell Matt, your guy Matt, that, you know, no hard feelings.

Yeah, man. It was my bad. He called me out, but we made it happen. I was a little slow, but I'm happy that you're here. Everybody loves a winner, right? That's what they say. So that's how it goes. I get it.

That's how it goes. It is what it is. I'll take the L. I'll take the L. But no, congratulations. It was great and it was really cool to see you in New York. I think you were the only New Yorker on the card, right? Yeah.

That was crazy. And they booed you, that New Yorkers or the New Jersey people. Yeah, they came over. He gave me this. Oh, yeah? Throw it out. I'll give you another one.

Okay. You give me a New York one. I give you a New York. All right. All right. Thank you, Randy. Joe will walk you out over there. I appreciate you coming in.

Congratulations. Yes, sir. Enjoy the victory and looking forward to the next one. There he goes. Randy Brown, stopping by a big win over Mickey Gall on Saturday night. Mickey said a lot. He was sitting in this studio. Randy Brown had a few things to say in response, and he came out on top, and now he is the looking for a fight champion. Mickey Gall throughout that stipulation. Mickey will be back. I think he's one of the bright young stars of the UFC. He will certainly be back. And as Randy said, sometimes he has, have to go through that stuff and sometimes you suffer that setback. We saw it with Yawanna. We saw it with GSP. It happens. You come back. You learn from it. You become a better fighter. Someone who knows a thing or two about that and who has come out better after some adversity is the new UFC Bantamway champion. He is once again the UFC Bantamway champion. It was one of the big stories on Saturday night. T.J. Dillishae, once again, the king at 135 pounds. He finishes his former teammate, his

rival, if you want to call him that, Cody Garbrandt, in a fantastic performance, one of three title changes on the card, and he is kind enough to join us on this Monday afternoon to look back on it all. TJ, are you there? I am here. How's it going? It's going great. Congratulations on the victory.

What's it like now to be called champion? Has it sunk in? Does it feel, maybe it felt this whole time like you were the champion, but on this Monday afternoon, less than two days removed, what's it like? Yeah, man. I kept saying that I felt like I was still camp, you know, so I've been telling myself that for a while. But, you know, it's nice to actually be vindicated

and me actually have the bell back, you know, and have some legitimate seed to it. So I feel good, man. I feel real good. You've had some big victories, obviously, the first one against Braille, the rematch, etc. Did this one feel different because of how personal it got, because of the backstory?

Um, you know, I guess there's a little bit of excitement right away as soon as I finished him just because of all the, all the drama, you know, but there's nothing that will ever surpass being brow the first time, you know, being such a big underdog, the first time me being in front of all the lights and being part of the main event, you know, that'll never ever be surpassed. But this was a great feeling. What was going through your mind in between the first and second round? Because it seemed like he won that round that he might have even rocked you.

How were you able to regroup and readjust in order to finish him? Well, I definitely got rocked. You know, I heard the 10 seconds time. So my mind, I knew the round was close. He was dodging a lot of my stuff, you know. And so every time now that I've been in a fight coming from those decision losses, I want to try to win every round. And that's where I get myself in trouble.

You know, I try to get a little bit too aggressive into that first round and try to want to make a little statement the last 10 seconds and try to steal every round I possibly could, you know. And that wasn't part of the game. And the game plan was to not get overly aggressive, you know, know, let him throw his big hooks and miss, stay long, you know, and don't play where he's good. So I let Kyle like caution go over the wind and he got a little really aggressive in his last two seconds. And I got, he countered my straight right, you know.

My hands were up and I threw it clean straight right, but I stepped right into his right hand, you know. So I got a little rocked on that. As soon as I stood up, I was actually on the single leg, I was kind of back mentally, stood up. My feet really wanted to get underneath me, but they did walk back to the top. corner, you know, and I heard their corner man being jerks, like they've been in the whole camp saying they got my number.

We go to your F number, Dilla Shaw, got your F number, you know, I heard that. And as soon as I heard that, I turned back to the corner, it was like, all right, let's get our shirt together. Sorry, sorry, sorry for swearing, but get her stuff together, you know, kind of hit my hands together and I was like, all right, I got to, you know, I got to change it up. So I sat down the corner

and, you know, just listen to Duane. He's the one looking from the outside end. That's why he's in my corner. he's got great eyes and, you know, change up the tempo. You know, decided to come out of the second round, a different fighter. Wow, so they were actually talking to you

during the fight, his corner was actually speaking to you. You can hear them? Yeah, I can hear him. I can hear him talking shit the whole time, actually. Wow. What else were they saying? Yeah. Oh, you know, stuff like when I'd miss a lake kick or something,

like, too slow. People are too slow. Like, all you got, like a right hook, like all this stuff, you know? just try to just continue to break me you know so obviously you've trained

with him in the past being in there with him in an actual fight is this the same guy or did he get better since when you trained with him not same guy you know he relies on what he had

you know he's not going to be able to get a lot better I mean he'll get more experience you know and stuff like that but no to me he was the same guy so you don't you don't think he evolves from

here, you think he's plateaued as a fighter? No, I'm not saying. I mean, you know, the sport when it's one of the things you're going to be very well-rounded, and I think that's the need doesn't have. You know, I think more people will take advantage of it. You know, as he continues to fight, we'll see more and more of that.

You know, he's really good athletes. He's good at what he does, you know, and the guy that he fought and his fought had played into his game, you know. So I'm not saying he's towed, but you know, I just don't think he has grown up. The team much growth in me. He hasn't showed me anything else there than what he just did at, you know?

When he posted that video of the training session with him knocking you down like 48 hours before the fight, what was your reaction? It finally came out after all this time. Like you see that for the first time. How do you react to that? It was too expected, kind of. You know, I didn't know that video was to be expected, but something was to be expected. I knew that some sort of drama was going to try to get started either if it was going to be them trying to fight with the cruise or like when they did with Cruz or there's new something was going to happen the last couple days before the fight and it happened to be the video, you know. And it's funny that though they decided to stop the video when they do, they don't continue it.

Because I do remember him talking about this video and I told him that I never got knocked out because it's the truth. And you got called out on the Rogan podcast where, you know, he does knock me down. You know, and I get up and I guess I yell at him and I continue to spar. You know, I mean, I got caught with the right hand being lazy circle in the wrong way. You know, that that kind of stuff happens in practice. But it's funny that he has this one video that he can rely on. You know what I mean? Like it actually almost looks like it's almost almost looks worse for him to continue to talk about this one time, this one time, this one time.

Because if it was a regular thing, why do you need to post this one video? You know what I mean? this iconic moment afterwards where you got up right in his face did you say anything to him in that moment or were you just yelling at him after you beat him oh just yelling and I didn't even at first I didn't even like mean to like yell in his face you know when I stood up and just started screaming you know just hulking out and screaming in every direction I turn one direction to turn the other direction I go to turn the other way the way and he's standing up stumbling you know and kind of stumbled forward and I don't even think

he was mean to come towards me would just just standing up and I just saw him coming at me so I didn't yell what in his face as as loud as I could, you know, just because I was just overly excited, you know? Yeah. Did you see him in the back afterwards? Did you guys exchange words? Um, not in the back, but in the octagon we did, you know. What'd you say? I told him, I told him good job, you know, this is probably only the last was either. He's young. You know, be in this, me in this game, so we'll sure we'll see him again, you know.

Did you see Yariah or any of the other teammates afterwards, and did you guys exchange words if so? No, the only one I did with was Justin. You know, even like during the fight, the only one that was like, I saw it, you know, where we were like Danny and Bob and stuff. I heard the same stuff during the fight. So that's the only someone I said something to.

I was like, as soon as I wanted, I stood up yelling. That was the way when I started walking that direction, I decided to yell at the corner and tell them what, you know, like, what motherfuckers? Because I heard him yell at him the whole time. during the fight. So those guys are kind of, you know, we need some frustration on.

But in the back, one guy that was willing to come up to me and shake my hand was Justin Buckles. You know, all the other guys are still seeming pretty bitter, you know. They put a lot on this, you know, they put their whole legacy of team off male behind Cody, you know, they put a lot of pressure on that guy to live up to what they wanted them to be, you know, and I didn't feel like that was really paired to him either. but, you know, they put all their eggs into Cody and, you know, I smashed them. I smashed their dreams.

I smashed who they were. And so they're all bitter about it. What did Justin say to you? Oh, I can say congratulations. I know he wanted to seem like you even wanted to talk to me, but, you know, I haven't really got out of my way yet. You know, I mean, it's not like I'm, you know, eager to. I'm out enjoying time with the family right now. I'm walking around Central Park and stuff.

Oh, you're in New York still? Yeah, still in New York, yeah, enjoying the city. My mom's birthday's tomorrow, so going out to dinner tonight, celebrating in the city. And so, correct me if I'm wrong, when Cody was up at the press conference on the day is, you were in the room, right? You were listening to him? Could you hear everything that he was saying?

I didn't hear everything. I had to go to the bathroom and stuff, but yeah, I heard a lot of it. So when you hear him say, like, look, I don't like him, I still don't like him. I don't take back anything that I said. Did you hear that stuff? And if so, like, were you kind of hoping that, it would get squashed a little bit after the fight? Yeah, man, of course.

You know, I'm not one that looks for the drama. You know what I mean? I'm not one that, like, to want to hate anybody. I'm not one that, like, I didn't leave because I hate anybody. I didn't want all this, like, bull crap. So, yeah, I was hoping he would get squashed a little more than it was, and it'd be a little bit more mature about this whole thing

and be professionals, you know, where, you know, I was hoping it up. But, you know, I guess that's how it feels. So whatever, man. I'm not too worried about it. He's going to have to fight. We have a very tough weight division, you know. Right.

We'll be around, but he's going to have to have some tough fights to even get back to me. So, you know, who knows if I'm showing his weakness? You know, I don't think he actually has a chin, you know. I didn't see him and cruised him a couple times. It would wobble him and cruises no power puncher, you know. So I think if people aren't as scared as, you know, he drops his hands, always dropping his hands. They're real low.

You know, that's why I caught him with a head kick. Every time he throws a punch, he drops his opposite hand. you know, he gets away with being fast and has power. So, I mean, I think he's got a long road ahead of him. So do you think, you know, confidently that your next fight will be against Demetrius Johnson in the back? I mean, Dana seems to be on board. Were there any discussions? Do you feel like they're really going to push for this?

Absolutely, man. Like, why not? This fight makes sense, you know? He doesn't have anybody, you know, and this thing should happen in August. He wants a big money fight. You know, he wants to prove that he's the pound-for-pound king. This is the step. I can make the weight.

You know, I wanted to stop him from breaking the record, and, you know, he wanted to break it first, you know. So he got that out of the way, he got to do what he wanted to do. He could be in the record, Brooks. But now it's time to man up and get this fight going, you know. This is a fight that the fans want to see, you know. They keep hearing him saying it, you know, and everyone's loving it. So get this done.

No reason to be scared now. You get to break the record, you know? Would you stay at 125 if you want? I mean, you'd be just the second person in the history of the UFC. to be a champion at the same time in two different weight classes somewhat uncharted territories and Connor didn't really do much with it

because he was stripped surely thereafter. What do you think you would do if you'd go down there and win the belt? He's never defended the title. No. He's never defended his belt ever. I'm not one of those guys. I'm one of those guys that's a hard worker.

I'm in the gym nonstop. I'm always in shape. So, you know, I'm willing to do what it takes. You know, I'm still let me defend both. I will. You know, it's something that I'm willing to work. You know, I want to be, I want to, I want to,

I want to prove this is how you'd be a champion, and this is the way to do it. Wow. What an opportunity that would be. And in a perfect world for you, when do you want to return? Do you want to take some time? I know you're going to be a dad soon. So what are you hoping as far as the schedule is concerned? I definitely going to get through this last eight weeks of pregnancy from the wife's fight camp.

You know, I've got to, she's been taking care of me. It's my time to take care of her. And I was super excited for the birth of our child. So I definitely want to get through that before I even start thinking about it. but, you know, I'm always going to be in the gym. I'll be being ready and I'll be making sure I don't eat too much New York pizza. I don't want to blow up too big if I'm going to really be serious about this cut down in 25. It's going to be a cool little process, man.

I'm going to have to do some serious work, you know, and I got to prove to myself that it's a real, real possibility because I was only down to 140 pounds, very healthy with nine weeks to go still. So, you know, this is something I don't know. Sorry to run around your question. I don't know exactly. You know, I guess the first thing's first is to get to his pregnancy and get this thing lined up. I could see it coming. You know, Jimmy Rivera, Dominic Cruz says, hey, you know, you need to defend it against me.

What would you say to those guys, you know, who might be upset that you'd go down on 125? Cruz can suck it, man. He's the one that made me way forever. He knew he could have given me that rematch. He was scared. He thought he was cherry-picking that picking toties, you know. he was trying to hold on to that belt if he was drawing as much as he can

so if it's up to me he can wait he can wait as long as I did I could care less you know I mean I do want to beat that guy you didn't want to smash him because I know that I can but I don't care what he says you know what I mean I'm going for the fight that makes the most sense

for me right now and that's ametius Johnson you know and I'll do whatever it takes to do it did you see Demetrius in the back I know he was in attendance did you see him at all I did he came by when I was taking photos with the bill And he said that I did the first step.

So in my mind, that's him saying, like, let's get this on, you know. Wow. I did the first step of, because he told me, or he didn't tell me, but he said to the media that I wasn't worthy of a title shot, that I needed to be a champion. You know what I mean? But he wasn't going to fight because I wasn't a champion. He came by and said that I did the first step, you know?

So I think in his mind, too, this is a fight that makes sense. Wow, okay. He got to break, you know. Yeah, full disclosure, I actually asked, him to come on the show to talk about it and he said respectfully that he did not want to so I wasn't sure really where he stood on it all. You think that

he will take the fight? You think he's never done that by the way and I'll give him his space but I was a little surprised. You are confident that he will accept the fight? I'm not 100% confident he was scared the first time so I imagine he's still scared now too. I respect

him as a human being. He always acts like a professional he's a nice guy, but that doesn't mean I can't say that he's going to fight me. I do respect him. I respect, you know, his choices, and he's got an awesome little family and stuff. But, you know, it's time to man up. You know, this isn't about life and or dislike. This is about the fight that needs to happen. Last thing for you, T.J.

I mean, at times, this got really personal, right? I mean, they threw a lot your way. For the most part, I felt, and maybe correct me if I'm wrong, like you never wanted to stoop to their life. level. You didn't go back with accusations. You were responding, um, as you should have, but you never felt the need to air dirty laundry. How difficult was that for you? And do you feel like you have been validated, like your character, you know, your, your, your decision to leave, whatever the case may be, because of what happened on Saturday, you've been validated.

Uh, I've hit a nail on the head perfectly. Yeah. I mean, I didn't want to let, uh, air out dirty laundry. You know, there was even things in the press conference where, you know, they would ask, questions of Cody, you know, and every time I got asked the question, I got interrupted by Cody trying to answer it, you know. And he's going to answer to ask the question where stuff that I could just run on forever about, you know, with coaching and all this stuff. And, you know, I decided not to, you know, I just don't want to get into that back and court battle. This is something that I'm trying to squash and get past anyway, you know. I've been trying to get past it since the day I left. That's why I left, especially with all that stuff, you know?

I mean, immaturity and all the craziness, you know? If I were to air out dirty laundry, this thing would just go on like, oh, he said, well, no, no, she said this, and then back and forth, you know? Like, it's like a little kid's game. I just don't want to get involved in that. So, yeah, I do feel vindicated from the win. I do prove to everyone that, you know, acting like a professional was the way to be, and that the lead, the me leaving from off-mill was vindicated, you know?

Like, I'm being trained by the best coach of my eyes, and that's why I left, you know, and it happens all the time, and it's just crazy that even after the fight. It's so crazy. I can't imagine how you're feeling on this Monday. You're about to be a dad. I remember seeing you in Boston after the cruise fight. You've so disappointed. All this drama of the past year.

It must feel really nice to be T.J. Dillishaw on this Monday, right? Yeah, man, it does feel good, you know. But I don't know. I guess I kind of easily forget those times, and I'm just hanging out with the family. And I'm just, for me, I'm never going to change. You know, I feel like I've always been an open book. I'm going to continue to be the same guy.

He's got me to where I'm at. You know, I'm a family guy. I'm hanging out. And that's that. You know, I mean, it feels good when you say it. You know, I have you hear you say it and talk about it. Like, yeah, I don't have to deal with that. Now it does feel good.

But, yeah, man, it definitely feels better than getting screwed out of your belt. I'll say that. Congratulations, T.J. I really appreciate you coming on. I know you're very busy. Probably wanting to get away from it all. So thank you very much for the time. Enjoy the belt.

And good luck to you and your wife with the birth coming up. No better, no better moment. No greater excitement. greater joy, so enjoy every minute of it. Thank you so much, man. Means a lot. We're pumped. All right. Good luck to you guys. Thank you, T.J. Talk to you soon. Of course. Have a good one.

There he is. T.J. Dilashaw, the new UFC Bantamway champion. I remember being there in Boston. I remember seeing the disappointment on his face. That was a close fight. I was talking to New York Rick about it earlier. I mean, you could have made a case that he won that fight. It was super close. It came down to a moment here or there. almost two years later, right?

I mean, it's been almost two years since that fight. It's amazing. Had to claw his way back, and now he defeats Cody Garbrandt. Something tells me they will fight again. Something tells me Cody will be back in that title picture. Something tells me he may very well be a champion in the not too distant future. But right now, T.J. is the guy. And I have to say, right now, to me, the fight to make is him versus DJ.

Before, with Ray Borg, with the record, just a win away. The circumstances didn't feel right. They feel right now. Champion versus champion. T.J. Dilleshaw is on the verge of being just the second man. The first guy not named Connor McGregor to be a champion at the same time in two different weight classes. Think about that. How crazy is that?

How amazing is that? And that's the fight. I mean, there really isn't anyone at 125. If Sergio Pettis wins, let's make the case. I don't feel like Sergio is really chomping at the bit right now. maybe that changes if once he beats Henry Sehudo on December 2nd. But I feel like the fight to make right now in this day and age. I mean, it's not even forced, you know.

It's funny to hear him say suck it to Dominic. I would feel for Jimmy Rivera, especially if you get a win over Dominic, but like I just feel like we've been building to this. And now that the record is out of the way, and now that they're both champions, that's the fight to make. So sign me up for that one. DJ versus TJ.

125 is a little, it makes me a little nervous. He seems incredibly confident that he'll make it. So give him the chance. By the way, if he, you know, if he doesn't make weight,

it's really no knock on DJ. I mean, he doesn't get that, um, that defense, but it's not like he's now on the verge of making history. It's just adding to it. So that's why I feel like it's different than going into the Borg fight.

Um, and by the way, I'm not against, hey, just do it at 1.30. Let's see who the better man is at 1.30. They both keep their belts. It's tough having a guy roam,

reign supreme in two different weight classes. I'm down with that as well. But now I want to see the fight. Like hearing someone like TJ call out DJ in the middle of the cage, you just don't see that, right? A foil for DJ has just never been in that spotlight on that stage. It got me excited. I'd like to see it.

For Demetrius, I want to see him get that big fight for a TJ. Let's see it. I think it's time. All right. What a great day. a who's who loved every second of it, but we've got an hour to go. I'm going to answer your questions in around 20 minutes or so,

so keep painting us up. Hashtag the MMAR will go exclusively on Twitter. But now, my friends, it is time for everyone's segment. It is time for... And now it's time to open up your ears and your minds. MMA fans. It's time for... I didn't know TJ was in studio.

Yeah, there we go. Not in studio in New York, I mean. Yes, they are. You already know it. I think he was at Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls 217, I think he was at MSG Front Row.

What a great day it has been. Three new champions in the UFC. Wow. There we go. Woo-wee. There he is. New York's own. It always seems like we're interrupting you.

What could you possibly be doing at 5 o'clock, four hours into the show? Your time is now, my friend. you are no longer on deck. You are in the batters box. I'm ready. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Did you go to 217? I did. Did you enjoy it? It was incredible. Greatest night ever? I'd have to say so. Greatest 90 minutes ever. I mean, that's like, what more do you want than the top three to be the greatest ever?

Amazing. It was got to be the best. After the Rose fight, I was emotionally exhausted. I was like, oh my God. And then we have to get ready for TJ versus Cody, which was a very emotional fight, right? A very personal fight. And then that happens. And then George comes back. Of the three, which shocked you the most? Yawanna, clearly. Biggest favorite, longest number of title defenses.

I think that was the one that really shocked everybody the most. Okay, what do you got? What do you got? No time to waste. No time for chit-chat? What do you have? So we're going to run through quickly just some of the posts from the six people involved in the top three fights. Oh, interesting.

Yoanna. Looking forward, here she is. On Instagram saying, I'm looking forward. I know I'll be back stronger than ever and sooner than you all think. And we heard from her today. How cool is Joanna? Coming on the show? Cool is the other side of the pillow, taking it in stride and really not, you know, obviously upset,

but not hanging too hard on this one and ready to work toward the next chapter. Yes, sir. Rose Nama Yunus, keeping it short and sweet like she would. Like butter, she says on Instagram. How cool is Rose Nama Yunus? Also cool as the other side of the pillow. Maybe even a little bit cooler than the other side of the pillow. But great picture here from Rose.

This one, I'm interrupting the flow just to, can we get a little bit of audio on this one? Oh, Rose is my fucking hero and idol. Oh, my God. This is the best. Getting super emotional. Oh, my. God, I'm fucking crying right now. God, believe it

in your fucking... Brer! Oh, Roses my fucking hero and idol. Oh, my God. Fuck yeah. Oh, my God. Can I just say something about this clip? I mean, it's obviously incredible.

Do you know what time it was posted at? I don't. Was he in the car during the fight? I have to guess maybe he's coming back from somewhere. Let's find out. Hold on. Because to have that kind of emotion, you would think it would be in the moment.

right no your teammate just won a world title it doesn't have to be right that second and also it feels like it's who knows who knows you know if he had it recorded it and then posted it later who knows

you know what I don't think Instagram there's no time stamps that he didn't tweet it specifically let's see if I can get it on his Twitter but just engage you with the realist reaction in the world

It's amazing So on IG I've got that from See no he posted it to Twitter After Oh okay We won't know Unless somebody was

Hawking at the time But Justin proud of his team Yes He's up next Clearly Okay We roll on with the other competitors

Cody Garbrand Posting to Twitter Live and Die by the Sword I will be back Thanks for all the love and support Congrats to TJ Dilashah I was so impressed with the three former champions on Saturday.

Absolutely. All came up. I mean, Class. Cody walks up, eating pizza, makes a joke. Bisping was just the best.

I mean, just very self-deprecating. Yawanna, I mean, really, I'm a broken record, but I'm so much more impressed with them in defeat

than I am in victory at times. Yeah. I was in awe of all six of them. You don't get to that level. You don't get to that championship level without learning those types of lessons along the way. some people

fall short of that but these three in particular did a great job we're seeing it more and more yes I also think fans and media at times don't we it's impossible for us like could you imagine

you lose in front of millions of people in front of 18,000 on a stage like that and then you have to sit at 2 a.m. Like that's the last thing you want to do is reflect on it and answer our insensitive questions at times

poorly worded worded questions you know like it must be the least enjoyable thing that they could possibly think of in that moment and so

to show up there and to answer the questions is that's fair enough but then we can't be too critical of the people who don't which I feel like we are

we can't simultaneously praise the people who do show up and then bury the people who don't there's a middle ground some people are going to do it some people are not

and if that's the case and we acknowledge how difficult this is, I think we should more focus on praising these people. Fair. If somebody doesn't want to, if somebody doesn't want to do it,

look, it's hard to be upset. It is a very fair point. There's no doubt about it. But I'll also say that, look, if you're going to talk everything leading up, it sends the right message,

especially if you're going to tell the world that you'll be back to show up for 10 minutes and to, quote, face the music. It's, I think, more so than taking your medicine, I think what this is important for is speaking to the fans who supported you, speaking to the people that were there along the way and the people who accompanied you on this ride to say, look, I'm still here and this is what's ahead, much more so than anything about what technique did you get right or wrong.

I'm here to say, this continues and thank you for supporting me. 100%. And these three did that. And as you mentioned, it's become the norm to show up now. And now it's becoming... I feel like in the past it wasn't as... And I say understandably, look, this is going to be for some and not for others, but these three showed what they're made of.

And I feel like you're referring to my criticism of Ronda. I think a lot of people were critical of Ronda. But I stand by it. I think that she couldn't have handled her losses any worse, especially the second one. The first one... I don't disagree. The first one, you know, maybe she was messed up. you know, like,

Cormier didn't show up after he lost to John Jones. Like, if you're concussed, if your jaws messed up, like, what are you going to do? You can't speak, right? That's fine. Even the aftermath wasn't great.

The post, the S&L appearance wasn't great. But the second one against Amanda Nunes, I felt like, you know, I mean, let's not even speak of not speaking leading up to the fight,

which was, I think, a huge mistake to not at least face the music in some respect. Look, I, covering MMA, I've never seen someone handle it worse. She handled it horribly.

I'm on the exact same page as you on that one. I just think that there will be people like a Cormier. Look. Well, yeah, but there'll be a Cormier, like, no, that's crazy. To crap on someone who's concussed is crazy or seriously injured. Whatever the circumstances of it are, not everybody who loses is going to show up to these pressers. And especially in one of the lowest moments of their life. Yeah. And we can't, we can't operate from that being the baseline.

We should be worried about or more focused on praising these champions that do. Okay, speaking of champions, T.J. Dillishaw, new bantamweight champion. Heard of them. Saying, back where it belongs, thank you to all my fans for the support. Now let's go celebrate tonight

at Jack Doyle's NYC. drinks and food till 4 a.m. So, TJ getting it in after the fight, but congrats to T.J. And by the way, congrats to Bang Ludwig. You know, he's, I feel like he kind of got forgotten. in all of this and I feel like he's somewhat vindicated

as well. Absolutely. Bisping. What a great post. We get to the last two competitors from the top three fights. Mike Bisping saying, I'm sorry I didn't win, but I'm still a winner. Much love here with his lovely wife. Good short and sweet pulse also.

I think he's right. He's not the sappy type. One of my favorite moments of fight night was him seeking out his family, kissing them before he walked. On the way to the ring. I love Callum. Calum's the man. We'll get to Calum actually a little bit.

Oh, really? Wow. Calum gets a specific mention. Wow. Okay. George St. Pierre, the one last into the octagon on the night. The atmosphere last night at MSG was unreal, feeling great today. Thanks everyone for making this the best night of my career.

And then I imagine the same message in. And very great great. Thank you to all my supporters of Quebec. A big thank you to all my supporters from Quebec. I'm very excited to go back home. By the way, a lot of people upset that Mr. St. Pierre did not join us on the show today. As if we didn't give you enough, all I'll say is, for now, I'll tease it. All I'll say is stay tuned later this week.

Maybe even face-to-face. We'll leave it at that, but stay tuned. By the end of the week, there's a very good chance you will hear from Mr. St. Pierre. Continuing to talk about George. Prime Minister Oh boy, did this warm my heart Canada, Justin Trudeau Yes

Saying felicitations How do you say that? Felicitations Felicitation Same shit Yeah Placations Oh my gosh

He says like you never left You made us proud once again The clip was just George You know from the USC And then he also had a French one I hope you have that one as well None This is the freaking prime minister

of Canada shouting him out By the way, the official Canadian Twitter account at Canada gave him I think they deleted that one no no no I did see that initially they no no they only wished him luck leading up to the fight they didn't give them I saw something from the Canadian yeah they wished them luck we didn't get a we didn't get a follow up but I mean this is the freaking at Canada

could you imagine Donald Trump saying at T.J. Dilisha you've made us so proud it's just a whole other level man I heard from so many friends so many people I've heard from people who work in bars like this was a really big deal this was a really big deal it's great for Canadian MMA we're back baby

and a little more from fight week for USC 217 we see the basketball skills of some of the competitors Cody Garbrant bricking his first one did he airball the second then looks like an airball maybe he grazed

rim um Rose got skills right I don't think she actually shoots the ball though I think she was a little shy. I think she just minds. And then TJ, boom. Nails it.

Actually, TJ was the first. Like, Connor made it. And so, like, the next guy was TJ from last year. If you make the shot. You win? Win. Oh, no. If you make the shot, you win.

Here you see, Yohanna. She missed. Yeah. She missed a second. She makes this one. One-handed. If you make the shot, you win. Or Rose may have figured out a way around it all together.

If you don't shoot. I don't think GSP shot. Well, then so much for your theory. What do you mean? If you don't shoot, you can win. Oh, fair enough. Okay. I was very jealous.

Listen, we're all, you know, trying to work through this basketball thing here. Speaking of basketball. Oh, is this the pick? Is this the pick? Oh, my God. We've got from the New York next Twitter, the unicorn emoji and the mouse emoji. God, was I jealous? Chris Daps, Prazingis and Demetrius Johnson, who looks to be a full Demetrius taller than Demetrius.

He's like not even at his lip, nipples. Yeah, you double up Demetrius and you've got Chris Daps. immediately upon seeing this photo I texted him Demetrius that is I wish I had Chris Depp's number asked him how he smelled how he looked

how he felt I was so jealous I don't know if this went noticed but I'm gonna say the most impressive thing in this entire photo The jeans No

DJ Chris Staps is holding the body Oh yes I noticed Super subtle Yes he was all about that What a killer What a killer Promo King

I can't really put it to words how I feel about this human being at this juncture, you know? Well, while you gather yourself, how about we get another picture? Yeah, Keesa. Michael Keesah getting a picture with Chris Staps. On Friday night after, at the time, one of his best games ever, although he had 37 points on Friday, falls that up with 40 on Sunday yesterday with a great comeback win over the

Pacers, over 500, by the way. Are you upset that these fighters are getting his photos? No, Cormi, I told me backstage, he was hanging with him. Freaking guy. Can I say hello at least? The whole team was there. Did you get that picture? I guess not.

I guess no. Jeff Hornacek, looking all cool with his cool shirt. I mean, I'm really only worried about Chris Staps. Man, it was kind of interesting that Chris Staps was in the front row and the rest of the team were up top, I guess somewhat symbolic of the hierarchy on the team. Yeah, I think that's about Chris Staps. Come on, Michael Gessa. What do you know about Chris Staps, Prasings? I mean, how are you feeling about this? A little jealous.

A little jealous would have been nice. Of course, I met Chris Daps. You know the story, right? I've said it on this program, I think. 33rd birthday, JFK. You were there, you took the picture. I took the photo. You took the freaking photo.

And I sat in front of him on the plane. This was before he ever shot a ball as a Nick. So I feel like at the time you were more of a fan of Jerry and Grant. Fuck that. No way. I knew right away. Talking about how trash he was. No way.

I was on the bandwagon from day one. I went up to him and said, shove it down Stephen A's throat. You said, listen, Langston, Galloway. You're my favorite player. see Langston too. You were very excited about. What is happening with KP is. It's just amazing. You have to show love, right? I mean, give them props. Remember before the season. Stop it. When you said the Knicks were going to be absolute trash, you were all pessimistic. And I said, they have Chris Staps. He's going to take them further than you think. And lo and behold, I was right. And further than you

think was to the bowels of MSG to meet Michael Kiyasa and Demetrius Johnson. And not Ariel Hohmani. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. One day I'll be doing post-game interviews with him and you'll all laugh. I'm whole for that. Okay. I said I'd feature some Halloween costumes. Unfortunately, I have to tell you, the MMA world really botched it on Halloween costumes this year. They did not, they duffed it.

They did not do well. Really? That was a pretty good one right there. Well, this one is the one, shining example. Yeah. And we have Amanda Nunes and Nina Ansarov dressed as Beauty and the Beast. That is pretty damn good. Super solid.

The rest of them, you know what? Step the game up next year. Wow. Not impressed. What did you dress up as? I was, um, Elliot, listen. Elliot, what?

I was going to say Elliot from Mr. Robot because all he does is wear a black hoodie and that's kind of my normal thing, so I wouldn't have to change. I didn't dress up as anything. Mr. Robot, is that the show on USA? And we do the after show. Yes, I know. I was trying to give a plug. I've never seen it.

Is it really that good? No, I didn't dress up. I love that show. I didn't dress up. Last year, I killed it. And maybe I'll bring that back. So here you are crapping on the MMA fighters for not dressing up, and you yourself did not dress up.

I don't need to. I'm the arbiter. I'm the one choosing. I'm not the one presenting. I'm not here highlighting my own Halloween costume. You're too busy tweeting out about your video game exploits. Oh, we'll get to that too. Don't worry.

Oh, my. I'm only the conduit. Oh, I can't wait. Okay. Not a Halloween-related costume, but a costume. Oh, this is the best. We had Alimala McFarlane at Bellator 186 Wayans, dressed from Moana.

Moana. Have you seen this film? I haven't, no. Oh, my God. You're about to. Yeah, I mean, I'm, you know, I'm sure that's going to get in the rotation at some point in the next couple of years. One of the all-time grates.

The soundtrack is just phenomenal. Is this like replaced Frozen or is Frozen still? You know, my boys are a little bit older now, so they're kind of turning their back on the Feroons of the world. But they do like Moana, you know, usually like young boys are like, I don't want to support a film

or like the main character. They feel pressure. So like my oldest son has a friend who has an older brother and my older son doesn't really think in like male-female terms, right? So he'll watch Frozen gladly or Moana gladly.

But then the kid with the older brother is like, I won't watch that because it's a girly movie. You know what I mean? So then he gets confused. Should I be watching? this, is it okay? I'm trying to keep them innocent and not think of those. You got to tell them

yeah, it's okay. Yeah, of course. Rep it. My favorite color is pink. I'm proud of it. Hmm. Okay. All right. From that same event, Bellator 186. Oh. The number one knockout of the

Speedy Claxton, baby. Not to be confused with Flaxton. Update. Air Claxton. Oh, we've changed it? He has changed his nickname. No, no, no. Go with Speedy. Nope. Eric Claxton? Eric Claxton.

I don't know how I feel about that, but that is an incredible flying knee in his debut. In his debut. A black zillion. We have to see this again. It's incredible. Let's let us roll for a second.

Oh, here we go. Oh, my God. The crazy part about it is that like he pushes him, right? Well, I mean, the body was falling already. I think the momentum was just taking him there. Gave him a nice little push for good measure. Oh, man. Oh, man.

One of the all-time grades. Is that knockout of the year? This is knockout of the year. You know, I was, I was high on the Pico one. Oh, this is better. I think this one's, I think this one's it. It's hard to top.

Belters had some good knockouts. Belter's had some good knockouts. Okay, onto some serious matters here. We'll look back and then we'll look ahead. Connor McGregor. His body health is, apologizing, explaining his mentality. For fights to give my brain health and my body health

to entertain the public. So that's, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the fire I was going to to watch and support. And I witnessed him lose a fight in a manner that, and a career, a potential career defining or a career ending fight in a manner where the opponent was stalling and running away. And I was upset.

And I was whispering in his ear and I was speaking on that. And I said what I said. And I meant no disrespect to nobody of any, like the LGBT community. You know, I didn't mean no disrespect. I wasn't even, you swear I was talking about or screaming at two people, two people of the same-sex prison. I campaigned when it was, when we were

trying to get same-sex marriage legalized, I was campaigning for that. I mean, again, it's another one where things just get blown out and they love to just, they love to just, any chance they get, they love to throw me under the bus, so. So with those two things, I just have to say, I'm just say sorry for what I said and that's it and try and try and move on,

move on from it. from the Lay Late Show apology by Connor McGregor using homophobic language I think it was an important thing for him to do in one of his early appearances since that I thought it was sincere

he seemed very heartfelt I don't think as I said and by the way shame on those there are some people in Ireland I really like the media over there but Pundit Arena balls.i I'll call you out shame on you guys for your BS articles saying that I'm demanding that he get punished.

And I saw that crap. And that was BS. All I was saying was that, you know, the UFC's in a tricky spot. And we debated it on the beat. You know, what do they do about these situations, right? There is no, they're not the NBA. They're not the NFL. So it's different how you police these guys.

Dana White came out and said, look, we have to educate them. And that's the proper thing to say. And all I was saying was, look, he's very famous. He gets a lot of attention for a lot of great things. unfortunately he got caught on camera consoling a friend he's done great work in the community he's campaigned for gay marriage

in Ireland I don't think anyone considers him a homophobic he hasn't shown those tendencies and so I thought that he seemed very heartfelt and it was you know I mean look again as I said this didn't affect me because I'm not homosexual but as someone who's kind of on the outside looking in

watching it he seemed sincere and it was it was good enough for me I don't know I can't speak for anyone else but it was good enough for me. Exactly right. I mean, I think he was able to make a very compelling and impassioned case for not being homophobic. I think a little bit of it gets lost if you try to say, in this context, I was trying to use

it this way, that way. It doesn't matter. Don't use the word, period. Absolutely. But clearly, he came down on the side of, look, I'm not homophobic, and I think it was important for him to apologize for that. And from that same interview? I am relatively own damage.

I have never been dropped. having equity in the UFC promotion. In the Maywater fight, it was fatigue. I wasn't wobbled. I didn't see stars once. The only time I was ever wobbled once in the contest was in the Diaz one fight. And that's it. It's the only heavy shot I've taken and I've been able to climb.

So I'm very young in the game. Although I've climbed to the top, I'm still very young from a damage-taking standpoint. So I will continue to go and see where it goes. I have multiple world titles in the UFC. I have multiple contenders that are clung. morning at the top trying to get at me. So we're in negotiation stage and we'll see where we go. But I most certainly will compete again for the next couple of years anyway and then I'll see where it is. Do you have a cutoff date where you say, I'm not going to give it 35, 33?

I mean, I could cut it off. Tomorrow. I could cut it off exactly. I could cut it off yesterday, you know, so I don't really have like a date and an age because I use it like from a damage-taking standpoint. How much? How much many blows have I taken because that's the true danger in combat sport. Like let's say you have a lot of time and you're sitting home and whatever and you're thinking you're sitting on a pile of an enormous amount of cat. That's what you're worth so far with more coming down the line. We need better shows like this in America.

Would it affect your motivation to fight because you don't need it? You don't need all that. You could make the money somewhere else rather getting hit. Like I said we're in negotiation stage. A new deal is being talked about. Yeah. Things that would interest me now is longevity, equity in the company. To be a part of the organization as a whole post-fight to promote. I was a promoter for the Mayweather fight. I was on promoter money and fight money, which was the first time I was on that. So now we're in a new stage and we're in negotiation stage.

We'll see where it goes. Everyone has a price. Yes, it reminds me of this. The great million dollars. man Ted DiBiase once said Every man has a price Oh God Always

Gets his way That's Connor McGregor for you And he's right Speaking of the USC Yes And things ahead Tweet from you here Revealing

Their upcoming schedule Wow I make Rick's picks Yeah you know every once in a while Wow I don't know if you deserve it, but every once in a while. I can't actually see the dates. I remember some of them. What do we have?

January 14th. January 14th, fight night in St. Louis. Which is crazy to me. You're actually going to St. Louis for the first time and you're not going to do it with Woodley? Come on. That is crazy. That is insane. Why do it without Wood?

You have a champ from St. Louis who rep St. Louis all the time. Yep. Followed by 220 in Boston, TD Garden on January 20. Then January 27th, fight night in Charlotte, North Carolina. February, fight night in, I don't even know where. What do you mean? Bellum, Brazil, I could see that. You can read that?

No, but I remember. Oh, okay. And then it's Perth, right? Perth for 221. Yeah. Austin, Texas for a fight night on February. The James Vic coming out party? February 18th.

February 24th. And then Orlando. and then it's early March, Vegas. And what's that last one? Does it have a city? Allegable. Okay. Well, there you have it.

Every weekend in February. Again, people asking for the schedule to get reduced. It's not happening until the Fox deal is done. Similar dates that they usually run. A, the St. Louis thing, which doesn't make sense. B, they're going head to head with Bellator in Englewood, Rory versus Lima. So that's going to be

very interesting on January 20th, right? Yep. And then of course the pay-per-view in Perth, which was announced last week, a perfect place for Robert Whitaker. Yep.

I mean, I would be shocked if GSP goes to Perth to fight Robert Whitaker. I would be absolutely... I mean, Bisp being said it before, I'm not going. I would be super shocked. I wouldn't be shocked

like if GSP fought in March, maybe, you know, in that Vegas card. But again, it feels kind of weird not to have Whitaker fight as champion there. I don't know, maybe he defends the interim belt. It's going to be interesting. Interesting times ahead.

Remember when he was asked about it, GSP, in the cage, he didn't really fully commit to it. Oh, leave your options open. Sure. Don't jump at it. One pay-per-view a month in January, February, March. Okay. Go watch the video of Volcan Ozedimir speaking at UFC 217.

But what was interesting about that, which you just mentioned at the top, Daniel Cormier at UFC 220 could be where that lands. Seems like that's the direction they're going in. Also from this week. Oh yeah. Great photo here by Esther. Francis and Gano guzzling the big old body armor.

Yes, knockout punch. Off to the left, Kobe. And the back of Dana White and Cynthia Calvio. Yes, thanks for dressing up for the occasion, Dana. Just kidding. Knockout punch is very good, by the way. you know what? I had it.

I'm surprised because you're a tough critic. I'm not surprised that it would be good but I'm surprised that I had two body armors and I'm not just saying it because KP is a member of the team. I had two.

I had banana, strawberry and I had knockout punch and I must say as one of the owners on stage said it felt a lot more authentic than your Gatorades and your power rates

over the world. You are a creature of habit as people know by your yellow juice. Yeah, I liked it. You, vouching for the new drink. is a step. Come on.

Come on, body armor. You'd look really nice on this desk right here. We've got empty water. We've got my kids water bottle. We'll get the Photoshop and put the body armor thing on there. Would be real nice.

And by the way, people asking me how this affects the monster deal. There's different silos. So they're sports drink. Monsters energy drink. So they actually don't affect each other. So sports drink, energy drink. and the body armor deal is just in the United States.

And oh, by the way, the one that we couldn't read, thank you to our friend, Sam Millage, is the London event, which is also kind of crazy because that should be Liverpool. Yep. You see, you get stuck with these dates, and I know you have to book them in advance. You can't just call someone up and be like, hey, we're coming, but that should be Liverpool. Transitioning also regarding Francise. our own Casey

It's great Photoshop Wait a minute Are you calling him a liar Well it says Francis 679 On the Punch machine And it says I mean he's just standing

Right next to it So you're seeing somebody else Punched in Where's the footage? And he jumped in Where's the footage bro? I mean he's punching You can take the footage

Well someone else could Hey Here's my phone That's his special Here's my I don't know Camera that I use You are casting aspersions I'm just saying

Where's the footage. Okay. I mean, I'm impartial. I wasn't there, so I can't, I can't say that. I was just going to shout this out to say I was impressed, but... I was there. I didn't see it.

Oh, wow. Saying. Coming for the neck. Okay. Freaking. You need to see the footage, I guess. This one from Derek Lewis, McDonald's sending him a team McRibb, like, gear.

Yeah, I didn't get this. I mean, it was hilarious, but like, were they trying to make fun of it? I don't understand. Why? Just because he's a big supporter? Yeah, I'm guessing that that's it. I mean,

why not? It's, you know, akin to you're a big, whoever, Blue Jays supporter. Yeah, they send a year from them.

I just don't see him tweet a lot about the McRamp. Yeah, I mean, I don't see you tweet a lot about the Blue Jays either. You're a Yankees fan, you're this fan,

you know, you get six different baseball teams, but one of them wants to show you the love. It's nice. It's a nice gesture. By the way, did Derek Lewis change his, his avatar?

Yeah. It's a great photo. it. It's a great photo. The button down, sunglasses. He's class. Classing it up. Yeah, it's class.

With the McRibb, with the McRib gear. I thought that was hilarious. Okay. I was sent this by two different people. Oh, this is great. So we've got Dan Lambert. Cutting promos, Bobby Lashley in the back. And Colby.

And Colby. M.A. fighter who the game passed by. You know why that game hasn't passed us? Lambert's the best. It's phenomenal. I don't, look, I don't profess to watch Impact Wrestling, so I don't know what the, I don't know what the story is here. I'll tell you what the story is.

Tell me. It will not be at the hands of a couple beach-muscled spray-tanned professional wrestlers. Nice job, guys. Look at Kobe here. We're going to lose. We're too good. Look at Kobe. Otto was a dub. His new catchphrase, Kobe.

Okay, so the story is that they were there in the front row, and then they got into it and now they're coming to defend MMA but there's a major flaw in this story is great. ATT with Bobby Lashley and King Moe's phenomenal and they're

defending MMA against the pro wrestlers but the problem is one of the quote unquote pro wrestlers is Stefan Bonner so it doesn't make sense he said a couple of you know beached up whatever tanned up yeah spray tan Bonner's not a wrestler

why is he so either he's going to turn on that like it should be two wrestlers It's like they're almost there. This is classic TNA, by the way. This can't get me. Although I'll say this. Lambert is phenomenal. It was a good promo.

Lambert is phenomenal. Remember he was on the show talking about all the belts that he... Yeah. And you know how it started? You know how this whole thing started? No. He was at the Nashville event in April. He told me on Friday at the Wayndt.

He was at the Nashville event in April. And he was sitting next to Jeff Jarrett. And he was like totally marking out. Matt Hughes was sitting next to him before the accident, of course. And he was ignoring Matt. And Matt's like, geez, like, you're acting like, a 12-year-old girl here. And he essentially just, like, was throwing all these ideas at him.

And Jeff Jared, who was a part of impact at the time, called him just a couple days later and said, what do you think of this idea? And he's like, yeah, I'm all in. And that's how it started. It happened at the UFC event, the Artem Lobov Cubs-Swanton event. Well, now it's- Amazing. Progress. It's great.

Just get, I mean, Bonner should be on the other side. Okay. Let's bring up audio for this one. Oh, they have. Shout out to zombie profit for putting this together. Yes. How about that voice? The Ariel Hawani, Marilyn Monroe.

It's kind of creepy with the video. The zooming in video. Also stretching. Yes. It's not just zooming in. Why didn't you just zoom in? Yeah, I don't know. This was just the shortest clip of this.

This is what you miss when you miss our way in broadcast. I was talking about some of the more iconic moments at MSG, so I brought up the fact that once upon a time Marilyn Manson serinated our president, John F. Kennedy. I hope it was Marilyn Manson. Not Marilyn Manson. Not Marilyn Monroe. What?

Yes, Marilyn Monroe, excuse me. That would be really weird and even creepier than me. Now I want to see it. Yes. Now I need to see it. Why do you know why? Because someone tweeted that I sounded more like Marilyn Manson than Marilyn Monroe. That's pretty good.

And so I was just, you know, paying off. homage, that's all. Well, the pipes are working. Fantastic. Glad to have you back after the strep throat. Sorry. Yes, they are working. Oh, man.

Is that it? No, that's not it. There's one more thing. We're going to see video here. Oh, wonderful. Cut by bloody elbows, Michael Hutchinson. Shout out to him. He clearly has no time on us.

No free. Nothing better to do, I should. say. There is nothing better to do. What we see here, for those of you listening, is Danny Sigurra, our very own, MMA fighting sitting somewhere in the back over here. Kicking the game-winning goal in the 90th minute. Was it tied? Against Sean Chien.

Yeah, it was tied nil-nil, as they say in football. So what's the backstory here? You can't just like throw out the stupid clip. Listen, I'm introducing the clip. The backstory is. Sean Chienn. Yes. The legend.

Went on. went on Submission Radio. Yes. Shout out to those guys as well. Yes. Fantastic. Went on submission radio

and put his foot in his mouth. He offered an open challenge to anybody to beat him in FIFA. Guess what? They tagged me in this. Oh. I tagged Danny, because I don't play FIFA.

I don't play video games. I knew Danny played FIFA. I knew he's very good. I tagged Danny in this. And then we started the promo. We started the buildup. As his manager, I got him a deal.

And Danny stepped in. and got the work done in the 90th minute, scoring the game's only goal. Wow. Who's next? That's a question. That's a good question. I don't know if there's anybody out there

in the MMA media sphere who has the skills to handle Danny. You know it would be good about this if you guys could tweet about it just a little more because we didn't get enough tweets about it yesterday. You got more. I mean, holy smokes. I mean, one, maybe two.

Did we need 48 tweets about this? 48, I'd say that's too low. We need a full fight week. You create a new account so I don't have to follow that. I'm going to get Danny a spot, you know, a media day on the Wednesday in the lead-up. I'm going to get Danny Thursday an open workout on the FIFA. Maybe he's just playing around on the sticks. That's right.

Friday, we're going to have him weigh in just for shits and giggles. Maybe he flexes a little bit, takes off his shirt. Everybody is down for handsome Danny to do that. And then Saturday we get the big match against whoever, whatever sucker wants to take the challenge. Okay, can't wait. last thing poster oh my god

for the rematch who made this but we don't know Aaron Cullen shout out to you but we don't know if that's going to happen yet oh really

negotiations there may be a rematch but we're negotiating promoter cut all that and more yeah who knows but call me people people know where to find me

well I'll tell you what a piece of Danny if there is rematch I'd love to have it live on this program I think I think the world would love that as well

maybe we fly them in studio yeah that'd be great sponsored by X Body armor look would be nice EA not me hey EA look it's video games would be nice new EA 3 coming out yeah UFC

honor on the cover I've got faith in Danny across platforms across games doesn't matter all comers are welcome okay well thank you that's it for Rick Spicks thank you very much we'll take a quick break here

we're going to go exclusively on Twitter now MAPFiting dot Twitter dot com a little more show to go. We're going to answer some questions regarding 217. Maybe you want to talk about the great Norfolk card coming up. Maybe you want to talk about Belator, Phil Davis, Victoria's, of course, Ryan Bader successfully defending his title on Friday. What else happened? Sad Awad with a nice victory. Of course, Al-A. Malay McFarlane, as New York Rick said earlier, becoming the first ever Belator flyway champion. By the way, Belator back in Dublin this weekend.

AJ McKee on the car, baby slice on the card as well. So whatever you want to talk about, we've got a few minutes. A lot going on in the world of MMA. As we decompress here, we like to call this the MMA after hour. It's exclusively on MMAfighting.

Dot Twitter.com. Exclusively, I said. So if you're watching on YouTube, if you're watching on Facebook, if you're watching on M.A. fighting, say goodbye to those. Fire up the old Twitter machine. MMAfighting.com.

I've been tweeting it all day long. The link is there. The link is on the M.A. fighting site. We call it the MMA after hour and it starts right now. Yeah, we are back. MMA after hour time. Time to answer some questions. No time to waste. So let's fire up the first one. What is going on in the world of MMA? What isn't going on? Is the real question? What do we got? What do we got? Any good ones this week? Sometimes they're a little subpar. I'm sure there will be good ones, but we'll start with how we always start. Ariel Hawani's question of the week. Which U.S. 217 title change

surprised you the most, considering the results and finish. The options that you offered were St. Pierre, Dilloshaw, and Nama Yunus. So, with over 10,000 votes this week, 75% picked Rosed Nomi Yunus.

Wow. The biggest surprise. Dillashaw second with 13% and St. Pierre last with 12%. Which is funny because no one was picking GSP. Yes, but I think it's hard to be surprised with the unknown.

people wouldn't pick George because he's been off for four years. Yawanna has been here dominating and Rose was able to disrupt that and upset her. I think there would have been a lot more people willing to pick George. Had we seen the preparation, seen the body of work, known what he's been doing for the last four years. And, you know, this was his second fight back or third fight back. But with Yohanna and Rose, we've seen it. And that was my most shocking fight of that card. And I think the betting odds reflected that as well.

So most of you... What a moment. Most of you... I want to sit down and rewatch those fights from start to finish. I mean, they were like, I cannot think of... If you want to convert a fan, I was talking to someone about this, UFC 73 at a birthday party at a place called the Mean Fiddler in Times Square. And I brought all my brothers,

my friends, anyone who lives in New York, my girlfriend at the time, yes, my girlfriend at the time, which is a weird thing to say, who of course then became my wife. And we sat around at this bar and we watched UFC 73 and it was called Stacked and it was named Marquard against Anderson Silva. It was Sean Shirk against Hermes-Franca, Rashad Evans against Tito Ortiz.

It was stacked, right? It was in Sacramento. And the card sucked. And I felt so much pressure and I was so stressed. This great sport that I had been talking so much about did not deliver. That was the card, by the way, that Kenny Florian got bumped to the end and fought Alvin Robinson after the Anderson Silva fight because they went long. And he annihilated him and he said, who wants to see fights finished at 155?

That was the best. One of the best moments. Yeah. Anyway, save the live event. If you want to convert a fan, just pop in those three fights. I don't know if you could pop in things anymore. People don't pop in things because they don't have VHSs. but just fire those up or turn on the fight pass thingy and just put on those three fights.

I mean, it was just amazing. Like the stories, the emotions, the history, you can't top it. You just can't. You really can't. Beautiful stuff. Okay, our first question from Kiro, where does UFC 217 rank in the best UFC events of all time? Is it in the discussion? It is.

100% is. Because A, there's only been. UFC 33 UFC 205 UFC 214 and this one 217 those were the only three title fight cards

and then never before has the belt changed three times I wonder how many times it's changed twice you know there's been a couple that doesn't happen either so I mean just that alone

the fact that two undefeated champions lost their belts the fact that GSP comes back after the four year layoff just phenomenal and then the Wonderboy Mazvedal fight was fun. Yeah.

Paulo Costa, aka the eraser, aka Bojasinha. That was, I mean, that was a beatdown. I felt uncomfortable. I hated that fight.

I don't think that fight should have happened. Johnny Hendrick should not be taking that fight. I think his team did him a massive disservice. I get why the UFC did the fight. I get why the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, Johnny Hendrick should not be fighting that guy. I mean, I said it. Go back to my tweets.

I said that, anyway, it was action, right? Great. James Vic, with the the buzzer-beater finish. You had the wacky fights, you know, the Walt Harris fight,

and then the Alexia-Lylinic fight. By the way, New York State Athletic Commission got them both right. One time with the help of replay, but those were wacky fights but had nothing to do with New York, they actually got them right. Randy Brown with the win.

I don't know. It was just a great night. So was it the best ever? I remember Dana White saying that about UFC 116 with the Brock Leicester comeback. There have been great nights. But it's certainly in the conversation I feel confident saying it's top three

and I feel confident, very confident saying the top three fights were the best three fights in a row at the top of a card ever. I mean, it's damn near impossible to top that. Hmm. What was the... This one probably won't.

So I guess the question is, what are the other ones in the running, I'm sure? Yeah, I remember vividly Dana saying 116 was one of the best nights. $199 was fantastic. Yeah, that was a little weird for me, but yeah. Oh, sorry. But no, no, no, I mean, obviously it was a great night.

The great thing about Saturday, the best thing about it was just how unpredictable it was, right? I mean, who would have predicted all three champions losing? Who would have predicted Rose winning that way? If they did, they made a lot of money on it. That's for damn sure. They sure as hell did. But that's the thing, like, oftentimes in sports, it feels like you can see the result coming a mile away. You know?

Even the bills, you know, the bills were playing great. At Thursday, I remember telling Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review Journal. I could see this result coming a mile away that they were going to crap the bed. And they did. everyone thinks that the calves and warriors are going to play in the finals again, although the Cavs don't seem to be holding up their end of the bargain. But you get my point. It feels at times sports is somewhat predictable.

Yeah. This sport never. It's just so freaking unpredictable and that was on display. That's the main reason why I stopped watching pro wrestling and I went all in on MMA long ago because pro wrestling became so predictable. You have no idea what's going to happen in MMA. And, you know, I will say this. Early last week, I was feeling like, man, there's just so much of M.

And it feels like there's oversatuation and overload. And it's just, it sometimes feels like a chore with all the nonsense. And, you know, just little things about the sport. I don't like the way in which it's going with the uniforms and, you know, the pay and the TV deal and all this stuff. And then a night like on Saturday night just, you know, makes you fall in love with the whole damn thing all over again, you know? So it was just great. it. Two cards at MSG.

Hey, three cards at MSG. Throwing that wacky bell tour card. That was a great one too. There you go. Fader getting knocked out. Maybe it's the karma

of having not had it for so long. We waited so damn long for it. You know, we can throw away the Brooklyn cards. Yeah, no, we're talking about MSG. Yeah, like Barclays Center. I forget all the can. Barclays Center of the acoustics.

Remember the sham that was the Mayweather? Okay. Yeah. From PDNGIA. Did McGregor partially inspired GSP's return with Connor taking his spot as the pay-per-view king, capturing two belts. Was GSP motivated to get back and reestablish himself as the best ever?

I think Michael Bisspin winning the belt inspired his return. I remember walking down the street. I don't know if I've ever told this story, but I was walking down the street. It was around June. It was right after he beat Rockhold and I got a text from GSP and he said, call me. And GSP doesn't, you know, reach out like that very often. and I called him and he said, I'm ready to come back. And I said, wow, this is incredible.

I can't believe that you're telling me this. And I had to keep it under my hat for a bit. And I said against two. He said, guess. And I remember throwing out Nick Diaz and Nate Diaz, maybe BJ Penn. I threw out some names. And he's like, nope, Michael Bisping. I wasn't even thinking 185, but Bisping had just become champion, winning his fighter.

He wanted that shot. Look, Bisping's right. Yeah, Bisping. He saw the opportunity. he saw the opportunity. For whatever reason, he wanted that fight, he saw the opportunity, he thought it was a good matchup,

and so I think Bisping beating Rockhold got the wheels really in motion, and you're wondering, okay, well, that was 199, that was like a year and a half ago. Well, remember, there were so many stops and starts, he declared himself a free agent. Remember on this show?

Yep. He said he's back, then free agent, then the MMAA thing. By the way, crazy stat from Tim Kennedy, two out of the five guys who were at that, you know, initial press conference are now champion.

Yeah, Dilashon, GSP. Not like they're doing much with it, but kind of funny. So anyway, I think that's really what got the wheels of motion. And Bissping outlined that himself like all throughout the fight. He said, George picked me as an easy win.

That's why he's coming back and I'm going to prove that it's not. By the way, credit to George, though. He said that he was going to go for the finish. He said he was going to be more aggressive. And I think most of us thought, yeah, right. You're going to try to just do the old. I did roll my eyes.

Yeah. First round, super aggressive, gets the, I mean, we haven't seen George that aggressive, probably since the second Matt Serra fight. And maybe for a good reason. He did look a little bit spent in the second round. He was blowing out the gas tank there,

but no doubt about it that this was a much more aggressive, George. Would GSP's return a success? Are there other retired fighters who could still come back and compete at this level? No, because he's the freaking goat. People don't do that. And also, he walked away at a young age. That's the thing.

He walked away to young. hired as a champion. It's not as easy to outlet. Most people don't do that. That's the reality of the situation. Except for maybe Connor McGregor who said thanks for the cheese and then left. So maybe Connor. But no, there's it, I personally, I don't think there's

anybody out there who, you know, is just laying in the wings and ready to kind of come back on that. George is a very specific example of this. Yeah. Great if ever? We'll get to that later. Should GSP help bring the UFC out of the money fight era by

at middleweight or should he be seeking fights that potentially make more money rather than facing the number one contender at that division. Look, he said it himself on this program. There's a clause in his contract that states he has to fight Robert Whitaker. And I feel like that's a winnable fight. That's no knock on Whitaker. And by the way, I saw some people say, like, why don't you give

Whitaker love? I tried to get him on the show. He's flying back to Australia so all of you can, you know. And we spoke to him before the fight, which, you know, Whitaker's the nicest guy in the world. And the problem with that fight from a money fight standpoint, they're just going to be so respectful. Did you see that clip of Whitaker going up to him after the fight? He's like, I don't want to fight.

This guy, I love him. Everyone loves GSP. Everyone grew up watching him. Everyone grew up admiring him. So there's going to be no friction there. Yeah. And you see how GSP kind of clams up leading up to a fight. Like Bispink did all the selling.

If that fight does as well as it does, Bissing deserves a hell of a lot of credit because he really did a great job promoting it. I'm talking about on pay-per-view. If it does the million that Dana is saying it does. Yeah. Or did. So, I don't know, I'd like to see him stay at 185 and defend that once, but I do think that there are problems to come against the rockholds of the world, the Romero's of the world, the Jocqueries of the world, the Wyatmans of the world. These guys are just much bigger.

Who would be that fight if it wasn't one of the contenders? Would it be Connor McGregor? No, I do not want to see that fight. I'm quite adamant about this. I want to see Connor fight Ferguson. He just fought at 185. Conner fights at 155. I know he fought the 175. I just don't want to see it right now. I don't. How about a tyrant? Tyron versus George.

Okay, so there are two fights that I want to see for George. Whitaker or Tyron Woodley. Yeah. That's it. And him fighting for the belt. It has to be for the belt. I think Tyrant and George could be great for two people, you know, whose dance card is full.

By the way, it's a phenomenal fight from like a stylistic standpoint. Like, I want to see Woodley against him. Do you want to see it more? Whitaker? I don't love the idea of Whitaker, you know, sitting on the sidelines, Whitaker, you know, defending the interim belt. I don't even love the idea of vacating the title

and making Whitaker the real champion. I want to see the belts mean something. So it's the tough one, but... I have to admit, I kind of want to see Woodley and George do it. I also want to see Woodley Covington. I definitely want to see that. Yeah, but no, those are the two fights. I don't want to see the McGregor fight

because that just feels like we're now like bastardizing the whole thing. I want to see Connor defend that title against anyone, really. He's not going to defend the 155 belt against George. George's not going from 185 to 155. Kevin Lee saying he's a big boy these days. He's not making it down to 155. Listen, at some point, fine. Like at some point, sure, but not next.

That's what I'm saying. Like, I'm not doing it out. I don't want to see that. I don't want to see George try to get the 150. No, no, no, no, no. It would have to be a 170. Yeah. We have to.

Okay. This is a question, GSP versus Demetrius. Johnson on paper view who's the greatest. Let's not say that. But is GSP the greatest? You ask this. The resume speaks for itself. The nine straight title fences. He walks away. I'll say this. Everybody was riding this Demetrius

thing. The greatest ever. The greatest ever. Greatest ever. That was all we were hearing about DJ. GSP comes back in one fight. Yeah. And reclaims that clown. It makes history. I mean, one of four men. That clown? That crown. By the way, I don't know if I was ever saying that. I often said that the biggest knock on DJ

is he's a victim of his resume. He's a victim of his opponent's records, right? Like, he just hasn't had that guy. That's why I'd love to see him fight TJ. Not one person or the other, but there was a lot of, this was the thing. I'm the one who's been saying for the longest time that George, look at that promo that I said.

How are you people not excited? George, he walked away as champion, but he could have broken Anderson's record. He walked away, right? Is a win over Bisping at this point in their careers? Coming back after four years, and becoming a champion when that's only been done three other times prior is a pretty damn big deal.

Look, at the end of the day, we could all debate. I don't, I feel comfortable about this because it feels like I'm not DJ and I'm not because I have so much damn respect for the guy. And if you want to say DJ, more power to you. It's a very messy kind of thing. It kind of comes down to two now because... John is taking himself out of this conversation.

I'm fortunate, but he has. And Anderson, I do think, has as well. Yeah. And so I feel like those are the two guys. right now. And you want, it ain't a bad list to be one or two on that one.

No, no, it's one A, 1B. I think DJ and George. I think George gets the knob because of the second belt. Yeah, that matters.

That matters. You know, Demetrius went. This is like the fight of, you know, the greatest fight card of all time debate. Like,

there's really no right answer. And it's a fun debate. But if you're, if you're to use that, if you're to say George got that belt in that second weight class, you know, remember that DJ fought in that way,

in a higher weight class first and wasn't as successful as George was moving up. So there is a feather in Georgia's cap that he does have over Demetrius in that case. That's a good point. But, I mean, I agree with you that this is 1A and 1B. Would you be interested in Bisbing versus Romero

as a farewell match and you said where you'd like to see a fight card in Manchester? Or would you like to see him against somebody lower? I think a lot of people are saying that he said one more. I don't know if he said one more. He didn't say one more. People are thinking that this is one more and done, but maybe that's not it.

We're trying to make that happen because of the London event. I thought that he was going to say I'm done in the cage. I really did. And then he flips the script on us. I love that he didn't. Yeah, yeah. Well, he said, you know, I'll be damned if I'm going to walk away after getting choked out on national television.

So as they say in England, fair play to you, Mike. If you want to keep going, go ahead. But, you know, the next one is going to be interesting. Where, who? I think it has to be in London, right? Does it have to be Romero? I don't think it has to be Romero. I'd love to see that Wydenn't fight once and for all.

Oh, yes. I wouldn't mind seeing the third Rockhold fight. I would not mind seeing any of those. I think Michael Visping has a lot of options here. Of course, he'll always have options because of who he is. He could sell a fight against anybody, so... I think it comes down to those three probably. I'm in for any of them.

I think the one I'm most excited about would potentially be Romero and Bisping. Yeah, there's a great story there. there. We need to see them get their hands on each other before it's all set of done. You know, Rockhold, there's genuine dislike there, but we've seen it twice. I'd like to see him at at least take a shot at Romero before both of them walk away. It would be great. Is Bisping's son the MMA Oracle? He chose his dad to win this time of Bisping lost. So that's on Callum, by the way. This is his other son, Lucas, right? Yes, yes, yes. The youngster who's on embedded, yes. Man, I don't want to put that on the little kid.

I mean, it's pretty incredible, though, that... He did pick against George, because he said George's name was funny. The whole thing is great. I love the... Interaction. Yeah, I love the embedded looks into Bisbing's life. The best.

It really is... It really is the best. His family seems super solid. I think it's just fun. Yeah, yeah. No, no, I'm not saying bad. I'm not saying bad. He's like a big kid.

Yeah, it's great. Constant entertainment. And the funny thing is that his son, Calum, seems like a shy, sort of mild man. Yeah, yeah. Like Bisping is the life of the party. It's great. He walks up to the days.

He's like, come on, let's hear it. It was great. Okay. Did Dana give out the number of paper view buys that he did to gain leverage in negotiations with Connor? What is the reason behind pumping these paper views up? It's hard for me to read. I mean, he also said it was the best year ever. And I still, look, we'll get to that.

I don't know. I just don't know. I just don't know. You could say that, you know, the Meltters of the world don't know. historically. Show us. Show us the numbers. How about this? A lot of people talk about the pay-per-view numbers.

A lot of people talk about it. I think this card's going to do X number of pay-per-views. I think this and that. Does that influence anything? Is there an importance to saying, I think this card will do huge pay-per-view numbers? Leading up to it? Leading up to it?

Is it a fear of missing out thing? Yeah, I think there's something to that. I think there's something to being like, this is so big. It's going to break records. You must watch it. That's promoting. motor speak, fine.

Yeah. But saying that this was their best year ever, that to me was just eyebrow raising. I mean, unless their cut of the Mayweather McGregor card was greater than we all thought, unless they got like 95% of it, I just don't see that possible. Yeah. Just go down the list. 208, 209, 210, 211, 211, 212, 213. Where's the $500,000, 500,000 pay-per-view by show?

It only comes at 214. It certainly wasn't 2-15. It wasn't 216. 217 looks great. Awesome. I'm hoping it did great because what a card it was. Yeah. If you were able to watch that.

218 is phenomenal, but I fear that it might do like 211. Like it's a great hardcore fight fan, you know, um, card, but does that break through? I mean, that's why GSP coming back is a huge deal for the company,

not just for Canada, but he's a big star. He's a big deal. Dana was saying that this did better than Mayweather McGregor in Canadian. Yeah. And I'm not surprised by that, by the way. No.

He's a massive deal. They haven't forgot him there. They should go to the big O and Montreal sell that join out. I'm thinking that this will do better than we than we may be anticipated. Yes, I do believe so. So I do believe so. Yeah, it picked up towards the end. How big of a chance? Do you think there's a chance that Connor gets his co-promotion wishes? I don't think that he gets a piece of the company, but I do think that they would make the concession and put his name on the thing and give him more. Yes. He has four

fights left. Could you have conceived of this from anybody years, like, as early as... So much I wouldn't conceive, I couldn't have conceived the Mayweather fight, you know? Yeah. And all by different rules. Connor doing it all? They, just like they made the Mayweather fight and they made concessions there that Lorenzo never would have made

in the old days, they'll make a concession here. They need Connor. They need Connor. There's no value in having him sit on the sidelines. He is too popular. He is too good. He's too powerful. what are you going to go to court with the guy? No, they'll figure it out. I have no doubt about it.

Do you believe that this is the best year ever? I mean, no. Last year was incredible. Last year had five million by pay-per-view. But we're including Mayweather McGregor, right? When we say that. Okay. This year. There's only been one then. But it's a big one. Yeah, it's a massive one, but they didn't get, they weren't racking that all in. They were sharing that with Mayweather, with showt time, right, with Connor, I guess. But now we're talking about the UFC's best year. Like, we're just talking about, like, from a product standpoint, right? Yeah.

I mean, I think there's a lot of ways to go. Maybe it's not all a financial thing. $200, $202, 205, 207. How do you top that? It was a huge year. It was a gigantic year. They sold the company for $4 billion. No coincidence that it was that year.

There was a lot going on. Yeah. They were at, I mean, that was peak value. I think the answer for this is, like, it's impossible for us to say definitively on any of this. I feel pretty confident in saying that this year isn't as good as last year.

Last year was massive. How? I mean, just look. Just compare the shows. Yeah. Compare the cards. Forget about the numbers. Just compare the cards. The fights just haven't been as big. They've had bad luck. Outside of the one. Yeah.

Connor wasn't around. Connor fought three times last year. Yep. That's a big difference. He hasn't fought once in the UFC this year. Rhonda fought. Two biggest stars in the history of the sport fought in the same calendar year. Rhonda hasn't fought, right? So, and they had 200, which is the only number that would sell itself, right?

Big year. Yeah. It's going to be a hard one to top regardless. Okay, MMA retirements don't tend to stick very well. Your eye favor versus T.J. Dilleshaw, are you interested? I'm good. I'm good. Wow. I'm good. For now, I'm good.

I like your eye in this role. He's doing big things. let him focus on that. T.J. versus DJ. Bantamway kind of figures itself out. I'm good. I have to admit I'm interested. I'm good.

I'm good. I'm good. He retired. He had a nice moment. Let him be. Stop it. I want to see. Let him be.

Okay. So let's assume it's not Yariah. Yes. And it's actually DJ. Should DJ go up to 135? Should T.J go down to 125? Where do they mean? meet in this. It's either 130 or 125.

I'm down with 130 by the way. Why do you say that? Because no belts are at stake. So then if TJ wins, he doesn't hold up two divisions because it's hard to defend the belt, you know, they need champions fighting. No, not why do you say 130 as a possibility? Why do you say it can't be 135? Why can't DJ go up to 135?

I don't want to see that because he's the king of 125. The whole thing is, the whole story here is, you know, coming down there and stopping him. Chasing DJ. Sure. I don't want to see him going up. We saw that already. So it's either 130 or 125. Obviously, 125 is probably the sexiest because it's part of the streak and he's going to come down and stop it.

That's the most sellable thing, I think. I'm into it. I'm so into it. That's what I want to see, 125. I don't want to see the catch weight. I don't want to see a 130 pound fight. I'm so into it. I'd be interested if DJ says, you know what?

I'm coming up and going back to correct my wrongs at 135. But as long as they can meet at some championship weight, I'm into it. 125 then. Has DJ found in T.J. Dilleshaw, his most dangerous adversary so far, would you be excited about this fight? Yes. And yes. I agree. Certainly the most accomplished. Yeah.

I'm in. Which was the bigger upset? Holly Holiehom versus Ronda Rousey or Rosnami Yunus versus Yawanna. Wow. What was bigger from a betting standpoint? I think Holly Holm. But let me just double check on that. I'm going to say the more shocking one was probably home because Rhonda had been so unstoppable. She's knocking people out in 30 seconds, this, that. So it's funny because home was the more accomplished fighter.

She had done so much. But I feel like the one that just was like seismic and felt like the whole world had exploded was the Holly Home one. It's about the same. The odds were pretty much the same. I'll give it. I'll give an odd to the Holly one. I think that's the bigger one. And I think it was more impactful just from a...

from a moment, a culture perspective. Oh, for sure. I mean, yeah, because Ronda was just such a big deal.

Yeah. And the way Rhonda was finishing everybody to that point, it was, it was a moment in time. Okay. Would you like to see

Yohanna's next fight be at 125 versus Valentina for a shot against the tough finale winner? Or would you rather see her stay at strawweight? Look, I like that idea

had she won. I like the idea now Valentina fighting the tough winner. I don't think that page was telling the truth when she said that she was fighting the tough winner.

I kind of feel like, I know Rose was dismissive of it, but I kind of feel like that's the fight. I mean, there's the Michelle Waterson versus Tisha Torres' fight, but Rose has fought them both and beat both of them. And so I don't really feel like that's a really sellable fight. I feel like they're going to do

the immediate rematch. When you're a champion for that long and that dominant, I kind of feel like that's what they're going to do. Am I crazy? And I don't think it's unwarranted. I think it, you know, Man, she got me super excited for her talking about, you know, to be championed by May and all that. There is a part of me that goes, look, that was not an inconclusive finish.

That was not a decision. That was a door shutter. So there is a part of me that goes, I don't know. But at the same time, with what she's crafted in that division, what she's been able to do, I'm not as upset about it as I would be in the case of an instant rematch that was finished that way. but I wouldn't mind seeing another another one or two

and then doing it again Don't forget about Cynthia Calvio coming up she's fighting Carlos Parza and boy do they like Cynthia they are pushing her so I wouldn't be surprised if she gets in that picture sooner rather than later they like Michelle as well she beats Tisha Torres she'll get some love they're still Jessica Androge they're still Clydeo Gadalia so this really

opens things up at 115 but they love Yowana as well and I feel like she'll get that immediate rematch could be wrong but I feel like she will. Should Rose keep the Oasis song as her ringwalk? Yeah, now that there was a mistake, right?

There was a mistake and they played the wrong song. What song was it? How do you mess that up? I saw it on Twitter, but now I forgot. I love Oasis. Yeah, sure. I would say don't rock the boat. Don't upset the karma.

Use the story and keep that going. It was interesting hearing Rose talk about how everything was going wrong last week. And I felt like she was just, so calm, cool, and collected the whole week. I mean, that face off with her saying the Lord's Prayer, which I just learned, it really was like she was doing some kind of voodoo on her. It was amazing. It was chilling to watch. It doesn't do with the voices. Opposite personalities. Yeah, no, I agree.

She was talking about everything going wrong, including this, this song. Yeah, crazy. Can you imagine? What do you make of the, of the stop in Blades in Olinic. Yeah, I thought it was the right call. A weird scenario though. Did it touch? Did his foot touch?

I don't know. It was impossible to tell. And they said that they looked at the replay. I'm happy about that. And they made the right call. And it seemed like he was surprised. They thought that they were going to, I think he thought that he was going to get DQed.

I don't know if Olinic was trying to play it off. If it touched, it grazed. And I know how weird those things could be. Like sometimes it looks like a grayed. and it ends up hurting more, I don't know, but it's, to me, given the angles, it looked like it was the right call. He said he couldn't continue afterwards.

I ultimately agree with that, yeah. And then the same thing in the, the Walt Harris Godbear fight. I thought that was the right call as well. Well, that, I mean, that one was very, like, clearly a DQ there. You cannot step over the referee or around the referee

to land some strikes. Do you have any commentary, anything to say about Paulo Costa? Oh my God, I'm so happy. Yeah, I was about to just interrupt you. It was amazing. First of all, one of the best-looking human beings that I've ever come across in my life. I mean, he is just unbelievable.

That chin, that jaw line, you know, I mean, he's just the guy, the man is gorgeous, you know. Let's just call it like we see it. He is just an unbelievably good-looking person. He is a star. Kudos to Eric Al Barasin, his wrestling coach, for rebranding him. I love saying Bohashina because it's fun. but I think a lot of Americans might have trouble with that one. So going with Paulo, the Eraser Costa, makes a lot more sense.

He's calling out Derek Brunson. Derek Brunson's accusing him of steroids. I want to see the fight. Yeah. I mean, he's a phenomenal fighter. Yes. He comes up to me. He shakes my hand.

He's so nice and respectful. I'm getting lost in his eyes. He's something else the guy. He's got Valid in his corner, cutting promos left and right. Yeah, I think we have the makings of a... He called himself that, right? He's like the next Brazilian legend. Let's see him in Brazil next time.

And Bellum should be headlining that show. That is the future right there. That guy's awesome. Speaking of the future, maybe a future for Daniel Cormier, do we think more commentary from DC will help him with the fans in his fighting career? Yeah, I think. Do we think that more exposure to Daniel in that capacity? I think he's fantastic.

He's infectious. He's excited. He's knowledgeable. He doesn't take himself seriously. He's having fun out there. Yeah. He's having fun. You know, calm.

down everyone. Yeah, DC's great. And I think that group worked really, really very well. That's a great group. This is supposed to be fun. What's the people's main event for Norfolk? Wow. I mean, Matt Brown versus Diego. I mean, Matt Brown retiring. Got to give him props for that. What a great card. It's a fantastic card. Too bad it's going to go up to like 2 a.m. But it's a great card. I'm surprised you didn't go with the main event. Like you're No. I'm going Matt Brown, Diego Sanchez. It is a really good card. It's a phenomenal card. Sage is like the second fight on the prelims.

He is. Yeah. Angela Hill and Nina. Yeah. It's a great card. Kicking off the Fox prelims. Wow. What a card.

Good event coming up here. Yeah, too bad. They only have like five days to tell us about it. You know? My people's main event, I think I'm going to go with... I love how this is subjective, by the way. It shouldn't be, by the way. No, well, no one asks you what your people's made of it.

No, yeah, but nobody should ask anybody what the people's main event is. It should be decided by the people. I think they'd pick Diego versus... Dodson and Marius. I've got my eye on. Yeah, yeah, that's a great fight. I think that one's going to be pretty damn. It's a great fight.

I mean... Super good card, top to bottom. Okay. Where's the footage of Sage's Adventures in China? We're missing out. I think that is what we need to work on extracting from Sage Northcutt over the next couple of weeks. We need to figure out how we get that. Sages travels through China.

Coming to fight past. Do we have a link to the photos on the background of the MMA hour set? I'm curious about them. We do have links to them because they're all pictures taken by our very own Esther Lint. All those photos there. That over there is my favorite photo of all time, the one on top. Mayhem bowing over Kazushi Sakuraba. That is the best.

That one below it is Chris Widman knocking out Anderson Silva. The one next to it is GSP after the Johnny Hendricks fight. His face is all lumped. Then, of course, we have Holly Home knocking out Ronda Rousey in Melbourne. There we have the Champchamp himself at Madison Square Garden last year with the duo belts. And then we have my personal favorite, Gina Carrano, just watching over us. And we also have on front of you. Still yet to appear on the show, by the way.

And then we have the great Dominic Cruz over there and Demetri's Johnson. Supreme. There's a few other ones in rotation. There's a Daniel Cormean one, a John Jones one. So, yeah, we do have... So the answer is, where can you find them? You can find them at MNAFighting.com. Don't be ripping them off and then, like, putting them on your website. Respect people's work.

I mean, really. Since you mentioned Andy Kaufman on the MMA hour, that was last week, not this week. Do you have any favorite comedians that you'd like to share? Well, clearly you don't watch the MMAB because I actually was asked this exact question last week. I wonder if it was the same guy. Maybe. No, I don't watch the amendment. Yeah, thanks a lot. I said Jerry Seinfeld was one of my favorites. What? That's your answer?

F is your problem. He's incredible. His stand-up is phenomenal. I actually saw him once in the city. He's incredible. He is good. Louis C.K. I like very much. Chris Rock was great. I was a huge Barn Lawrence fan back in the day. His stand-up was great. There was one, we was running the big leather outfit. He was phenomenal. Richard Pryor I enjoyed back in the day Those are some that come to mind

Oh I love Patrice O'Neill Yes Late Great Patrice O'Neil He was hilarious That's a poll right there There you go Yeah How about you?

Patrice for sure makes that list There's a lot of guys Big fan of stand up A lot of the same ones you mentioned Andy Kaufman Doesn't make the list for me But Carlin Pryor

Kind of grew up watching those Eddie Murphy contemporary like a Hannibal Burris Louis C.K. is great. I picked his own. I wish. I wish we could claim that. But yeah, there's stand-up comedy's in a good place right now. Okay. Our last question.

Yes. From Kristen. Yes. Is it lame that Kristen looks forward to Mondays just because of the MMA hour? What is your answer to this? No. Of course not Christian.

No, as John Beer would say. Wow. Wow. shout out to John Beer. Thank you to all the fans who tune in and who are excited and who always ask me, why don't you have this person on? I love those people. No, stop.

Oh, stop it. Great show today. Everyone in New York was so nice last week. Show me on the phones. I watched the show. I listened to the show. And look, we give you five, six hours. You watch it for the entire week.

And then we come back for more next week. But is it possible we'll be back this week for an extra special edition? Stay tuned. I mean, stay tuned. You'll find out. You'll find out. But the answer, Kristen, of course not. You're the coolest.

You are the coolest. Thank you. And every Monday. What a day. What a day it has been. Hope you enjoyed it. Thank you very much, New York. Thank you very much to everyone in the back.

What a day. What a week here in New York, as we say, kind of good night. I feel like we'll be talking about 217 for many, many, many days, many weeks to come. Card of the year, no doubt. Fight to the year. Finishes of the year. Stories of the year. It had it all.

But now we have to say good night. hit my music if you can. What a fun day it has been. A who's who. By the way, shout out to OSP. We didn't really mention him. Great victory. Knocking out, beating Okami at Saitama Super Arena.

And then 42 days later, going to the world's most famous arena and knocking out Corey Anderson. How about that? Ed Ruth with another win. Didn't mention him. And how about our good friend, Goyito Perez. Goito Perez signing with Combat America as they have a tournament this weekend as well.

Another busy week, Belator Combat America is with their tournament on NBCSNN and of course the UFC in Norfolk, Virginia this weekend. So another busy week of MMA coming up but for now we shall say goodbye. Thank you to everyone who tuned in. Thank you to everyone who stopped by.

An amazing who's who guestless today on the program. Thank you very much to Rosenami Yunus. Congratulations to her. Sincerely from all of us. to her, Pat Barry, her whole team. Trevor Whitman getting a UFC champion. Great story there. Thank you very much to Freddie Roach.

Congratulations to him and the team on the big victory for George St. Pierre on Saturday. Best of luck to our good friend Sage Northcutt. Looking forward to his return on Saturday night. Thank you very much to James Vic for stopping by. What a great victory for him on Saturday against Irish Joe Duffy. Appreciate Uri Fabor for coming on and for shouting out my brother's company, 20 T's. Thank you very much to you on and J-Chek. I can thank her enough for stopping by as well.

She will be back. And of course, thank you very much to Kevin Lee and Randy Brown for stopping by. Congrats to Randy Brown. And finally, congratulations to the new UFC Bantamweight champion, T.J. Dillshaw. Appreciate his time as well. Back next week, maybe sooner. Until then, say Prick. Samaria.