MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 417

Episode Date: January 16, 2018

Ariel Helwani speaks to Luke Rockhold (00:09:16), Douglas Lima (00:31:08), John McCarthy (00:51:48), Chael Sonnen (01:14:22), Scott Coker (01:45:07), Brian Kelleher (02:20:19) in studio, Cris "Cyborg" Justino (03:10:36), Daniel Cormier (03:32:04) in studio, and NewYorkRic for The MMA [After] Hour featuring Ric's Picks (04:19:28) and the answers to your questions (05:07:09). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The meeting will begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly concerned by your gambling or that if someone close, you call 18665330 or visit comex Ontario.ca. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. It's the mixed martial arts hour with... The mixed martial arts hour back in your life. I came in a bit hot there and I'll tell you why in a second, but first let me tell you it is Monday, January 15, 2018. Last week I said 2017, but it is in fact 2018.

Hello again, everyone. I'm Mario Hawani back inside. our New York City studio. Great start there. You know what happened. I was just getting a little comfortable there with my mic and my superhuman strength actually took the mic off the little riggy thing here. But guess what? I was able to multitask and do the intro while also strengthening the mic. So we are good to go, my friends. Welcome back. It's great to be here. We have so much to discuss. I've been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time, my friends. This is a very, very fun weekend coming up in the world the mixed martial arts. We have the UFC in Boston, UFC 220. Of course, Francis Inganu versus

Steepamyotich. Will Steepamiyoogic become the winningest heavyweight champion in UFC history? Or will Francis Nganoe get that goal that he's been searching for and knocking people's heads off en route to this title fight? And of course, Daniel Cormier against Volkan Ozedemir for the light heavyweight title. There's so much to discuss as far as that event is concerned. But there is also a very important event across the country in Inglewood, up to no good California. We've got Bellator 192 on the soon-to-be-rebranded Paramount Network. Officially it gets rebranded on January 18th.

So that is Thursday of this week. And this is a big one for Bellator and for the soon-to-be-rebranded Paramount Network because it's Douglas Lima versus Royne McDonald. At least we thought that was going to be the headlining act. But they switched it on us on Friday. And I got so fired up about this on Friday, my friends. It's probably good that I did. do a show on Friday because I was really upset about this.

The main event is Chil Sunnan versus Quentin Rampage Jackson. That's the new main event and that's part of the heavyweight tournament. And it's no knock on them. But I just, I couldn't hate this decision more. We'll talk about it throughout the show. But I just, here you have a title fight that is worthy of a title fight between two of the, that's arguably the best title fight in the history of Bellator. You got your big free agent prize, Roy McDonald, former UFC title contender.

against, you know, one of the mainstays of your organization for the last few years, Douglas Lima, company guy. And what do you do? Eight days before the event, you knock them down to the co-mate event. Very bizarre. Very bizarre. And then you put, you know, two older guys in a tournament, three-round fight in the main event. It makes no sense whatsoever to me. And it really fired me up. The belt has to be important. The belt has to feel like it is the most important prize in the organization. And by doing that, you're telling us the viewers that that is not the case in your organization. And don't tell me about UFC 196, Connor McGregor versus Nate Diaz

because that was a completely different situation. Connor was supposed to fight RDA in a super fight champion versus champion. RDA gets hurt 11 days out. Connor's still in the main event. You're not bumping him down and he's fighting Nate Diaz. But they don't book those fights. Like that's what I heard from everyone. Oh, what about 196? How come you're not complaining about that? Because it was different. Nothing changed

with the Belltor fight. No injuries happen. Nothing changed. Nothing changed at all. Someone called an audible. Anyway, we'll get to that later on. Tons of news since we last spoke. Tons of things went down. UFC 221 has a new main event. Things got changed up there.

There was an event in St. Louis last night, headlined by Jeremy Stevens versus Dujo Choi. Stevens wins in impressive fashion. That's two in a row for him. And he continues to look very good since going back to Alliance. And he's putting it all together. Arguably two of his better performances throughout his entire career. Also, Jessica Rose Clark.

overcome some adversity back home. She's able to block that out to a degree and beat Paige Vanzant, who broke her arm in the early portion of that fight. So a big win for Jesse Jess, now 2-0 in the UFC. Kamaro Usman defeats Emil Mech, not the greatest fight of all time,

took some heat afterwards from the fans and Dana White. And how about Darren Elkins? Darren Elkins, six in a row now. The guy is unbelievable. He just keeps winning. Now he's talking about fighting for a belt or a number one contender spot.

He submitted Michael Johnson via rear naked choke. So that was on Sunday. As I said, so much has been going on since we last spoke. There was an Invicta event this past Saturday night. Of course, Sarah Kaufman was the headlining act for that one. And she returned in, I think, pretty good form. She looked pretty solid. Should be in the UFC, in my opinion.

I've long maintained that. But good to see her back on a big stage winning and also getting paid because she didn't get paid for her last fight. And oh, by the way, tons of drama when it comes to weight cutting. There was supposed to be a Vitor Belford v. Uriot-Haw fight on Sunday in St. Louis. Hall doesn't show up to make weight. In fact, according to all the people I spoke to, fainted, suffered a seizure, went to the hospital, stayed overnight. Of course, no mention of this from the UFC on Twitter, on the broadcast, nothing. It's just so he failed to make weight.

Thank God he's okay. But again, shining a spotlight on how dangerous weight cutting can be. be and Zach Cummings slips in the bathtub while trying to make weight and suffers a cut, goes to the hospital, and he's out of his fight against Tiago Alvas, that could have been much worse as well. Weight cutting, continuing

to just rear its ugly head. So now there's some talk about Vitor Belford versus Michael Bisping. Bispeng says, hell no, I want nothing to do with that guy. So we'll figure out what's going on with that situation. There's Chabib versus Tony Ferguson talk. There's Ally Quinta versus Paul Felder, is off to Bellator. Jimmy Smith is off to the UFC.

So much going on in the world of MMA. Let me run down today's lineup and get to our first guest because he was very much in the news this past weekend as well. I'm looking forward to this show. Very much. Okay, let me run down the lineup.

Round 5.30, we'll do the after-hour. Rick's picks your question and your comments, of course. And how about this? At 4.30-ish, 4-30. I've been talking about this with Daniel Cormier for years now. at 4.30, Daniel Corbyier, the reigning defending UFC light heavyweight champion is going to be in studio.

He is here from Boston, came over early this morning, doing some media, and you want to talk about a Minch. You want to talk about a pros, pro. Typically, the UFC does these media tours here in New York the week of their paper views. Well, you know, we're a show in New York, an MMA show that speaks to their audience, but they don't usually bring the guests here. Daniel Cormier found out he was coming to New York and said, wait a second, where's Halwani's show? Where's the MMA hour? And he said, I must come by the studio. And that's why he's coming by the studio. How cool is that?

Francis Ngano is here, but I didn't know about that. But Cormier went out of his own way to say, I must come by the studio. Amazing. So he'll be coming by at around 4.30. At 4 o'clock, we'll talk to Chris Cyborg. There he is, Daniel Cormier, the Mention of Menches. Chris Seiberg will be on at 4 o'clock, talk about her last win. And what's next? Amanda Nunes, all that stuff and more.

Another in-studio guest today, Brian Kelleher will stop by. He'll be on in-studio-5 at around 305. He got a big fight last week against Hennon Burrow. Looking forward to that. That conversation, longtime fan of the show. You may recall he tried to go with New York Rick to UFC 205 and got denied, got rejected, and now here he is in studio. How cool is that?

245. We'll talk to Scott Coker, about 192, about John McCarthy, about Jimmy Smith. about the main event switch. And also, five years ago on Friday was the last ever strike force show. How about that? Pretty crazy. Yol Romero will stop by at 225.

He is now fighting for the interim middleweight title at UFC 221. Robert Whitaker is out. Y'O. Romero's in. Fighting Luke Rockhold. Hold that thought. 205 Chale Sunnen will stop by. Talk about the fight against Quentin Jackson.

145, the aforementioned. Big John McCarthy. He'll stop by. Talk about his new broadcast. casting gig with Beltor walking away maybe from MMA refereeing and then 125 the reigning defending UFC not UFC Beltor welterweight champion Douglas Lima will stop by and that's his first time on the show I do believe that's at 125 but first let us go to the Skype machine and talk to a man who is very much in the news can't wait to talk to him get his thoughts on what went down we found out late late

late Friday night that Robert Whitaker is out of UFC 221. He is injured. We don't know what happened. It's all very secretive. But what we do know is the new main event for the event in Perth is Luke Rockhold fighting you O'Ramaro for the interim middleweight title. So let's go to the Skype machine and welcome in the one and only Luke Rockhold. There he is.

Hey, Luke. How are you? Doing well? Just trying to. Did you just burp when I said your name? Was that just a burp right on cue? I just forced a meal down for my chef, having some tea, and just sticking to the program, Mario.

It's a tight schedule. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't mean to bother you. There's a lot going on, Luke, and I appreciate you squeezing us in. So when did you find out, Luke, that Robert Whitaker was out of the title fight? When did you find this info out? I found this out.

What was it, Saturday night? Friday, Friday, Saturday night. Friday night. I think it was Friday night. Sorry. Yeah. What was your reaction? It's not an ideal situation, of course, obviously.

I'm going across the world to fight a guy that I could fight down the street. I wanted to fight Whitaker. It's a fight I've been seeking for a long time. I thought it was a good time to make it happen, but obviously he's got some health issues. I wish him the best, and I know Whitaker's not a man to run away from anything. I respect that kid, and I wish him the best. I hope it's not too serious.

Were you super pissed off when you found out initially? You know, I'm not, I don't really get pissed about things like that. It's just, you just have to adjust. That's what fighting's about is about making adjustments and whoever can make the adjustment wins. That's what I'm going to do. Was there any talk of removing you from the card and doing something different, or were you always going to be on the card

it just now depended on who you'd be fighting? We didn't really get into it. What was the optioner off the back? and I'm ready to fight. Okay. And as long as there's, the money's right, the belt's on the line. You know, I had a good conversation with Hunter Campbell and we worked out the situation. And, you know, we have an intern belt, which, you know, is a good situation for me.

Robert will be out for, you know, over a year now. And, you know, the champions have to stay active. And when you're not, you know, I think, I think it's a justified situation. so UL is as tough as they come. I mean, no one beats you well unless you're a champion and that's what I am and that's what I'm going to do. Did they give you any insight as to what happened to Robert and how long he'll be out for it?

Because it's all been very secretive on my end. Yeah, I don't know. I've heard multiple things. I've heard Whitaker is out with something serious. I heard he could be potentially hospitalized. Hold on getting a call here. No, no, it's okay. It will unfreeze,

you know, yeah. So, I mean, I don't know. I've heard he's been dealing with something for weeks now. So it's just, I'm trying to wrap my brain around what it could possibly be. And so we'll see, man. I just wish him the best. And I'm just moving forward. I'm focused on what I have now.

And, you know, you're well, what had happened now or later, one of the other. So it doesn't matter to me. I'm sure I would have fought him after Whitaker. and so either order, you know, it doesn't matter the order. You all first, it's a very similar fight, very explosive,

athletic guys, and so just contain them. I think Yowel can expose more holes. Did you, what do you mean, exposed more holes in who, and you? No,

I think, I think Yowell has more holes to expose in his game. I think, I think Whitaker's tighter. I think he's easier, he's harder to get to, whereas the O.L. will kind of leave himself open.

So very similar fights, but I like this matchup. Did you push for maybe getting the official title online because it seems like he might be out for quite some time? Like, how do you feel about fighting for the interim belt after this long saga that you've been through to try to get back in the title fight? Yeah, you know, it's it's... It is what it is at this point.

I think, I think beating YOL will speak for itself. I think it'll speak to who the real champion is. You know, if Whitaker is a stud, and I believe in the kid, but he couldn't put you all away. So I go out there and I put you all away. I think it speaks volumes. So I'm just, I'm set to do what I think I can do. Yoel's been on your radar for a while because you mentioned last time you're on the show,

they tried to book this fight for a while. So you've obviously thought about him. How do you feel about going five rounds with him as opposed to maybe three, where in the past, you know, cardio has been, has been, at least from our perspective, his Achilles heel. It seems like he gets tired as the fight goes on. Do you agree with that assessment? do you feel like going five rounds benefits you?

I think five rounds always benefits me with anybody I fight. As long as I'm relaxed and I take my time and I'm technical, I'm going to pick apart anybody I step in there with. I'm not going to be outdone. I'm not going to be outworked. I think Yowell has his body is suspect. I think his body can only go so. The way he fights, I think he can only push so hard for so long.

Mentally, I think he got, I think he has it. I mean, he has the will to win. Even when he's tired, it's about making his body quit. And that's what I plan to do. He's got limitations. He's got holes. And so, you know, I'm going to pick him apart. I'm going to push his body to that breaking point.

You know, I know he's going to come forward. I know he's dangerous. I know he's not going to quit. But I know his body will give out. And I'm going to push him to that level. Do you get paid the same for an interim fight as you do for an official title fight? I'm getting paid well. Okay.

Getting taken care of. We had a good discussion, like I said, and we're on par. Everything's in a good direction. Did you, I don't know how much you pay attention to this stuff, especially like a month out, but did you hear from a lot of Australian fans who were maybe disappointed that Whitaker was out, but thank you for staying on the card, anything like that? What kind of feedback did you receive, if any? I don't know if you checked any of it. I try not to tune in too much right now. I'm tuned into myself and focused on what I can control. Australian fans, of course, I'm sure they're bummed,

but they're going to get a world-class fight. And this, it's going to be a good fucking fight. I promise you that. This guy's going to bring it, and I'm not going to go nowhere. I'm going to be right there to fight them every step of the way. I'm going to put them away just like I would, Whitaker. So, you were just not going to be as bummed. They're not going to be as bummed.

That's right. Because I'm not being a home man. Right. You know, I owe Australia a fight. I owe them a fight and they're going to get a fight. Good man. I'm ready to go. You were just there, right?

Not that long ago. Right after we spoke, you went to Perth. What was it like? Perth. Perth was nice. It's a beautiful place. And I love Australia in general. First time to Perth, but it's awesome.

Everything's great, but the taxes. So as long as we work things out on that end, it's all good. So we're in good shape. How far in advance do you go out there? I'm going to go out there about, I don't know, 10 days, something like that, 9, 10 days. I fought in 2015. I went there about a week in advance, and I felt like I was just a couple days short. I felt like I could have adjusted a little better, so I'm gauging from that.

I'm just going to do what I did. Although you had a phenomenal performance in that fight against Michael. I did. I thought well. I felt well, and I planned to do the same. So it's interesting because of the switch because you're in Florida now, but you have a teammate, back home who's fighting on Saturday, Daniel Cormier, who could probably emulate

Yowell's style very much. Are you going to stop by California at all, or are you just going to ride this thing out in Florida? I'm doing what I'm doing here. I'm in good hands. I'm focused. Sometimes you get stuck and you get complacent in your ways, and I was too close to home, too much family and everything.

And I needed to change for the better. I love my team and my everybody, you know, I built my foundation and championships with. And they'll they'll be by my side. I support them and they support me. But I got a great thing going here.

The team's awesome. Cormier, he's got tough wrestling, but it's, it's, it was a bit different than most people. You're going to fight. And so I'm just focused on what I can, myself. And, and I know,

I know what I have it takes to put this guy away. Who will corner you? Do you know yet? It's going to be Henry Hooft. Javier Mendes, Bob Cook, and we're working on some fees issues, but probably Greg Jones and call me. Okay. Barzini. Wow, you can get five?

We're working on, it depends on these issues with call me and Greg, but everyone will be there. You know, my coaches, Javier Mendez and Bob Cook, I've been there for, I've built with it for 10 years. You know, they know me through and through, and they'll always be there for me. So that's, I'm, I've got AK in my blood and they're, they're part of my, part of me and I'm part of that family. So they're always going to be in my corner. So even though you're not doing day-to-day stuff with them, you're still part of the team. You still want them there. We talk.

We talk and we, we bounce information, and they know my style. I mean, they know what we've built on together. And so, you know, I love the coaching staff and the system out here too. But, you know, it's just, you have that comfort zone. And when it comes to fighting, you know, we, you know, we know. know certain tactics to work on and certain things. But the vibe is great. You know, overall, I feel, I feel good. All the pieces of the puzzle are together here. Are you looking forward to this weekend being over? Because I saw even Chale's son and talk. I don't know if you saw this

clip of Chale talking about you being in Florida with Volkan and stuff, this little drama story of you being with that camp and Cormier. Are you kind of looking forward to all this ending? I didn't hear anything about it. I don't know. Chale runs his mouth. He loves to talk about drama. He should have his reality show. I mean, he's a wrestling fan. He's a guy that tries to tie in the drama and to build on these people's like a perception of what is reality.

And the fans are pretty stupid and manipulated D.C. I support D.C. He supports me. And I'm not here to tell anything. You know, made the best man win. Yeah. It hasn't been awkward?

Fair play. Fair play to Vulcan, you know, and, you know, there's nothing, there's nothing to tell here, you know, D.C.'s coming to wrestle. Vulcan's coming to take his head off. It's fighter versus, you know, grappler. And I talk to D.C. fucking all the time, I'm not fucking, there's nothing to say about information giving. The fight is what it's going to be. Have you been told that if you win this? I don't really train the Vulcan anyway. Okay.

I train alongside, but I mean, obviously we just sit and we do our things. Right. Have you been told that you win this fight, you're going to fight Robert next? Or as you head into this fight, like you don't really know what's the status? Have they kind of laid out something for you here? How do we know? You don't know anything, Ariel. If you don't know anything, I don't know anything.

Well, I appreciate that. Come on. I know how you are. and the information is very tight lip. No one has spoken about it. So until we know Robert's health status, I'm sure we're not, we're scheduled to go anywhere. But for what I understand, I think he'll be ready by early summer.

And, you know, I go put you all away. And I think we're right in line to Unify. Okay. By the way, before I let you go, I was perusing social media. I was on Instagram recently, and I stumbled upon this clip, which we could play here in a second,

courtesy of my friends, my friends over at Polo Ralph Lauren, and you're in the freaking clip. Can we play that clip here for a second? It's like a commercial, and at the end, it says coming in 2018, and it's clearly a commercial for Polo Ralph Lauren, and I know you've dabbled in the fashion. Well, there you are, right there,

wrapping your hands while wearing a nice little white polo shirt. What is this all about? What can you tell us? Ooh, I don't know. Yeah, I've got a nice working relationship. relationship with Ralph Lauren, and there may be some things to come. I'm not obliged to talk at the moment. Oh. Even though they put that out?

We have a nice working relationship at the moment, and I'm sure it will be something to come in the future. This is blue-chip stuff. This is big-time stuff. Yeah. Will they be, wait. Say hello to my chef, Roberto. Hey, Roberto. How are you? Oh, we lost. There you go.

Killing it along the way. Yeah. I hear great things. Roberto's on fire. What's for lunch? What do we just have for lunch? Roberto, we had a little chicken piccata, two potato, kale, and some quinoa, some carbs. Yeah, we had a little carb base.

I got another workout here shortly, so we're on point. Does Roberto live with you? Or he just comes in and cooks the meals? Roberto comes in, cooks the meals, and traps me out, and we go to work. Is he part of the whole? George Lockhart team there with Tyler, Daniel Leith, all those guys? No, no, he's not. He's a local chef here in Florida. And I know my nutrition and I bounce information. I'm always talking to Dan Leith.

I pretty much know my nutrition and what it takes to get my body where it's at, you know, at this point. So I give Roberto the information and he adds his twist and makes everything taste quite good. And so we're healthy and ready to go. This is big time stuff. I'm looking forward to it. Rockhold versus Yoel Romero. It's a fight we've talked about for quite some time. Who would have thought throughout all this drama that you'd end up fighting in Australia of all places for an interim title?

Like they tried to make you on the Fox Guard. You know what I mean? It's crazy how this thing has turned out. What a roller coaster your life is. So much drama. Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. But everything is meant to happen for a reason and Australia. So be it.

Let's do this thing. Last last, last thing. Five year anniversary of Strike Force's last show on Friday, Luke Rockhold's favorite strike force moment. What was it? I feel like I know what it was, but give us something a bit off the grid. What do you got? That's where you started.

That's where you were born. Strike Force Challenges. I mean, there's nothing better than the Strike Force Challenges. Off the grid, was the, when the cage, did you remember when the cage broke? Yes. Cage broke mid, yeah, mid-show. It was like right before I was like the co-main event for the night. Oh, wow.

And I was the main, I think it was the main event for the night I was supposed to fight. And I was getting all revved up to fight. and then the cage broke and they shut down the fight. That wasn't a highlight, but it was a down moment, but we bounced back nicely. I think I, then I got the Paul Bradley fight. That was like my big breakout fight. Yes.

My first knockout. So that was a fun one. So nice little, that was back when the old corrupt California commission. Yes. What do you mean? The whole corrupt California commission. What are you talking about?

Just back of the day, if you know, you may, you should know what was. what was going on when the old commissioner ran the show. There was a lot of interesting plays they pulled together. Okay. And of course. They shut down the vent anyway. It was a fun times back in the day.

I see you still buddies with Scott Coker. You play golf with them all the time. I see it on social media. Me and Scott are tight. We've always been. And he's always been a golf buddy of mine. And so there's no harm in playing a couple rounds together. Oh, I love it.

Luke, pleasure as always. Thank you for doing this. I know you're very busy. So thank you so much. And good luck, you know, for the last month in preparation. Of course, good luck in Australia. Thank you much. I'll see you.

All right. There he is. Luke Rockhold, stopping by. You see that commercial? Look at him. He's got that, you know, one of our guys in the back, big Luke Rockhold hater, but he just told me in my ear that now he loves him. You see, you got to work hard to get Luke to open up.

And now he has opened up. he's in a great mood he's in a polo ralph-loren commercial I mean he's wrapping his hands while wearing one of those nice little white polo shirts you know he's got the little guy on the horse life is good for Luke rockold real title fight or interim title fight

but I do feel for him and I especially feel for the fans over in Perth a lot of people said that this is a nightmare situation for the UFC and it is and you have to feel for everyone including Robert Whitaker because Robert Whitaker is the local guy right first ever Australian champion we start to fix this mess.

I was saying to someone, just a couple of days ago, I was saying if there was one pay-per-view that can't afford to lose its main event, and especially one guy, it's that pay-per-view. I mean, let's be honest, the rest of the card, a little weak, but it all kind of makes sense with Robert Whitaker, the Australian coming back, fighting Luke Rockhold for the belt, and we're cleaning up the situation at Middowade.

It's been a bit of a mess over the past year and a half, right? It's all kind of figuring itself out. And then, boom, late Friday night, Robert Whitaker out. And the fact that no one's talking about his industry, injuries and I've tried. The fact that no one's talking about his timeline and I've tried is a little concerning. I'm told some information is going to come out in the near future hopefully, but that to me is a little concerning. So it's a bummer, but it would have been an even bigger bummer had they not sold the tickets yet, because now you have to figure out a way how to market

this to the people. Well, the good news for the UFC is they've sold a lot of the tickets, the majority of the tickets. Now, will a lot of people refund those tickets? That remains to be seen, but I have a feeling because Perth isn't a usual stop and a frequent stop on the UFC calendar. In fact, this is the first time that the UFC is in Perth. They've been to Australia, but never to Perth. I have a feeling most people aren't going to refund the tickets. That's usually how these things go.

So the crisis somewhat averted. It's just, it's a blow from like the perspective of building up Whitaker, giving him that hometown fight, which I talk about so many times, country fight, putting him over, getting the division back on track. We went from having a champion to an interim champion to a new champion in 185, to the interim champion, becoming the official champion, back to having an interim belt. That's a mess of a situation. I just, it's like, I think we were just talking on the beat how it feels like, or maybe it was last week on the show,

how 185 is just kind of opening up finally, right? It just feels like, all right, things are getting back on track. Nope. Not back on track. Make no mistake about it, though. That's a great fight. Luke Rocco versus Yo-O. Romero is a fight that we've been talking about. It's a fight that we've wanted to see for quite some time.

It's a great fight between two of the very best at 185, especially as of late. It's just not the real title fight, but, you know, I feel for Whitaker. I feel for Luke Rockhold, you know, happy for you all, Romero. I feel for the fans in Australia. oh, by the way, how about the fans in Orlando? Tickets went on sale for that UFC on Fox. I think it's 28 event in Orlando

and there's no main event. Much like in St. Louis, it seemed like they were going to bump it up, right? They were going to bump up Yoel versus David Branch. YOL lives in Florida, you know, top contender coming back. Branch just made event at a show in Pittsburgh.

Okay, fine. Maybe not your typical big Fox show, but hey, hey, what are you going to do? And now, Yowell's out. And last time I checked, no replacement for your well against Branch. So now you've got a situation where you have a big Fox show in a little over a month and you lost the main event there as well. That was a tough break. That was a tough break. Tough 24 hours or so for McMainer, the matchmaker for the middleweight division.

So we'll see how that all plays out. Now we know UFC 221, early February, February 10th in Perth is going to be Luke Rockhold, Y'O Romero, Interim Midway title. We certainly wish Robert Woodick could have best reached out. they're not talking at the moment. All right. So now let's talk about this coming weekend. Of course, UFC's in Boston, Bellator making its debut on the brand new Paramount Network. And it's Belator 192. It's at the Forum in Inglewood. And up until Friday, we thought that the main event was going to be Roy McDonald versus Douglas Lima for the Belator Welterweight title. We find out Friday, it's not the co-main event. The new main event is Chal Sunnan versus Rampage Jackson. That doesn't take anything away from that title fight. It's one of the best. if not the best title fights in Bellator history. We're very happy that the champion is able to squeeze us in on this Monday morning. He's joining us right now.

His name is Douglas Lima. Douglas, how are you? How are you? I'm doing great. Douglas, you're one of the nicest people in MMA. You don't talk trash. You're very respectful. You don't believe in that sort of thing.

But I got to ask, and I hope you'll be honest. I have to ask, what was your reaction when you found out that you're no longer the main event, six days before your title fight, eight days before your title fight? I was a little bummed, but I mean, it is what it is. It's business. Maybe, you know, they're doing that for, you know, business-wise.

You know, I was pretty excited, and I was going to be the main event, you know, heavy rampage fight, a cold event to me. You know, I told my brother there, I was happy with and then I was bummed out that they changed back to call me. So, I don't know, man, it is what it is. I mean, I think the fight still one of the best, you know, a lightweight fight.

ever in Bellator, you know, like I said before. And, well, it is what it is. Not going to change a thing for me. You know, and I'm just focusing on a fight. And, you know, it happens. What was the reason that you were given for the switch? Yeah, I found out through Internet. Nobody told me anything.

Come on. Are you serious? Yeah. I didn't know. You know, happened the same thing in New York, you know. I thought my fight was going to be, know, before the two main events there, and it was actually,

ended up being the first fight of the night, you know, in pay-per-view. But, man, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. You know, anybody said anything, but, you know, like I said, it doesn't even bug me. I know, you know,

hopefully it doesn't take anything away from the fight, you know, like the spotlight and stuff. You know, hopefully it'll be like a double main event or something like that. Yeah, I don't know what happened, but, you know, I don't really care, honestly, man. I'm just happy with the first.

fight, you know, fight week is here, you know, all the training is done, you know, it is what it is. Just last thing on this, after you found out online, did you reach out or did your management team reach out to Belator and ask them what happened? Why the switch? Not really, man, I really didn't get into it. Wow, you're too nice. Yeah, I don't know. I don't like, you know, I don't like, you know, dealing with stuff like that, man, honestly, like I said, I was really just focus on my training and my fight, you know, I was just joking around about it with my brother and stuff, but I didn't really get into it.

You know, you know, his business. I don't really understand, you know, business when it comes to that stuff, so I stay out of it. I just don't want anything in my head right now

with the fight, you know? Fair enough. I can understand. I know it's so close to the fight, so I won't harp on it. But let me ask you this, about the fight itself. I mean,

you have been, as I said, at the top of the show, a mainstay in that division. You have fought every single, you know, top welterweight that's come through the division. But, you know, if you have the sort of following

and resume and stature that Roy McDonald has. Do you view this fight as one where, okay, I win this fight, I beat this guy, I could take the next step in my career like this. Those guys that you fought take nothing away from them. They're some of the best. Lorenz, Paul Daly, Koreshkov. But Rory is Rory. Is this a chance for you to let everyone know that, yes, I am, in fact, one of the very best Walter weights in the world.

You take the fight that way? Do you think about it that way? Yeah, I do. I do. You know, I can say it's Rory. He's been around forever. You know, he's beating, you know, the hues and holes of the welterweight, you know, a tough kid, you know, I know this is a fight that, you know, that can change my career for sure. You know, I took this game very serious and I understand that this is going to be, you know, a really tough fight. Yeah, where is the man, man?

I'm honestly a fan, you know, of him. I've been watching him for a long time. But I know I can beat him. You know, this is a fight that I've been waiting for a long time. You know, get the name out there, man. give people to know who I am. You know, I said this before. You know, I've been delivering a lot of good fights, you know,

fight, you know, fans friendly, fight that, you know, fans likes to watch, but no attention yet. So I'm hoping, you know, after, you know, I win over Warrior here this week, and it's really going to put my name out there and show all this waterways that I'm here for real, and I can beat anybody on the sport, you know? You usually say the right thing when asked about this,

but just the fact that you kind of brought that up and harped on it, it has to bother you a little bit that you don't get the same kind of attention, right? Yeah, it does. A little bit, a little bit. But really, I'm not going to keep crying about it. You know, I just keep fighting, you know, keep working hard, doing my job. And, you know, hopefully the promotion is going to be a lot, you know, a lot better for me after this. Or even this week, you know, or so on.

Yeah, man, it's just a way to get my name out there a lot more. You know, it does bug me sometimes that, you know, I don't get the recognition, you know, that I deserve. You know, I've been fighting for 10 over a decade. You know what I mean? I've been fighting some tough competition. Like you said, they're not known. But, man, it's tough competition. You know, guys that can compete with anybody.

So, yeah, this is my chance, just a big opportunity. And I know I'm making the most of it. I'm going to make the most of it. Is Rory one of those guys? You never fought in the UFC, but maybe when you were watching him fighting the UFC, that you set yourself, man, I wish I could test myself against them. I'd love to fight someone like him. Have you been watching him for?

for some time thinking that. Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. Not just worry, you know, I think about that, you know, St. Pierre, when he was in the top, you know, as fighters, you know, you want to test yourself with the best, you know. So definitely worry something, he's somebody that I've always wanted to fight. Man, I'm a fan of the sport as well, you know, if you're well-to-wait, you know, you're a good fighter, I'm watching.

You know, I've always visualized, you know, me competing against them, fighting them, you know, all the best, you know. People, who people call the best, that's who I want to fight. And who are the guys, you know, people say that what is the best in the world today? You know, he's got this, this good win over Woodley, you know, who's the number one right now? And yeah, I look at this as the number one spot, you know, the number one lot to wait fight, you know, for sure. When Woodley left the UFC, I think there were some people who were trying to put out the narrative like, oh, he's not the same. You know, he lost a couple in a row.

Robbie Lawler took his soul, all this stuff. Did you feel that he had lost a step? And based on what you saw against Paul Daly, it's just been one fight since. He hasn't been very active. He had to get better. And then he's been waiting for this title fight. Do you feel like he's back to the old Rory? Or do you think that there may be still some questions about him,

whether or not he can get back to the dominance that he showed a few years back? Well, I didn't think so after he fought one. You know, that fight, he didn't really look like himself. You know, I felt that he was a little out of it. You know, but he's showing against Daley that he's back. You know, so I'm expecting him at his best Saturday night. You know, he's young, man. He's, what, 29 years old?

He's one year younger than me. So I think he's still in his prime. And, you know, I think I'm going to get the best of him, you know, coming this week, you know, I can't wait for it, you know. I'm at, you know, at the best of my career right now myself. And so, you know, it's pretty much. fighters at their best, you know, giving it all. So, man, I'm looking forward to this fight so much.

I've been waiting for this shot for a long time. And here I am, you know, defending my belt against one of the best ever, you know what I mean? I can't wait to prove, you know, to everybody, you know, that I belong on top of this division. What concerns you most about Roy McDonald? Nothing concerns, you know. He's just, I mean, he's just a complete fighter.

He's a good striker. You know, he's a high-voyant fighter, you know what I mean? He fought the best, so, you know, he's, you know, he's tough. But, man, I've seen it before, you know, fought great strikers before, fought great wrestlers before, you know, great jih Tijuana. So I've seen it all, you know, we just put everything together really good, you know, and that's what's, you know, special about him. But, man, I've seen it before.

Like, Korskhov, you know, just an example here, I don't see any difference there, you know, between him and Koreskhov. I think Korskav is the, you know, same type of fighter, you know, he's good everywhere. and I fought him before, beat him before, you know what I mean? It's not going to be any difference, we worry. Of course, I respect him. I respect his skills, you know, I know what he brings.

I know he's going to bring the fight. You know, he's going to be ready to fight that anytime. And I respect that. But, man, I know I can beat him. You know, I know I can beat him. Do you think Warren McDonald respects you the same way that you respect him? He's talked about trying to get two belts. He's talked about trying to fight in the heavyweight tournament.

Do you feel like he has that same kind of respect for you? Because, as you may know, we've seen a lot of people come over from the UFC. You know a guy Lorenz Larkin. They think that they're going to go through the organization and things don't go their way. It started out very nicely for Rory, but do you feel like he has that same kind of respect for you?

Maybe not as much. My mom has been talking about, you know, even going heavyweight, you know what I mean? He's got a big fighter ahead of him. He's talking about heavy weights, middleweights. But, I mean, he's just confident. You know, I feel that he respects me. You know, maybe not.

as much because, you know, he hasn't fought me yet. You know, he thinks he's going to be a walk in the park, you know, he's in for a long night. And I'm pretty sure he's aware, you know, of what I bring and how dangerous over fighter, you know, I can be in there. But, you know, we'll see. We'll see. If he doesn't respect me, he's going to be, he's going to respect to smooth the fight start, because I'm going to bring it to him, you know, I be, you know, like I said, he's really hard for this, you know, this is my shot. And, uh, man, I'm not going to let it go away. You know, took this very serious. You know, hopefully he

did as well. And, you know, just ready to bring the best fight ever in battle toward history. I know you've been around them a little bit. You had the now famous face off. He's wearing the turtleneck. You did some media next to each other. Do you think, honestly, do you think that

there's something just a bit off about Roy McDonald's? We call him the Canadian psycho. And when he says things, like certain things about like the way he wants to annihilate his opponent, it's almost like a little bit sinister. It's just different than your usual pre-fight talk. Do you think he's a little different? Do you feel like he's just kind of,

he's not the same kind of guy that you usually fight? No, man, not really. He's just, you know, that's just the way he is. You know, it kind of, you know, doesn't show any emotion, you know what I mean? It's just, yeah, I mean, I don't see, you know, anything. You know, I don't think anything of it. You know, I think it's just the way. he is, but

yeah, I can say he's different, you know, he's different, he's quiet, you know, he speaks softly, but, you know,

at the same time, he's telling you he's going to kill you. So, I don't know, just a little different, but it doesn't bother me at all. You know,

it's just, you know, people have different personalities, you know, and that's the way that he is, you know, he's a quiet guy,

on his own, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't talk much. Kind of reminds me, you know, of myself, you know what I like to keep it to myself.

But, no, he doesn't bother me just the way he is, you know. But I know that when the cage shots, he comes to fight. So that's what I like, you know what I mean? Quiet guys that can go and fight, you know, and that's my style as well, you know. So, yeah. Any truth to the rumor that you will be wearing a turtleneck on Fight Week just to try to one-up him? I don't know. I don't think so.

I don't think that feels me too good. You're not a fan? I don't know. Maybe I go. Maybe I'll stop by zero and you try to pick myself from Oh yes When you when you said that line about

You know Maybe he was trying to sell me an iPad That was like wow Douglas Lima I didn't know you had that in you I didn't know you had those jokes in you Where have those jokes been Honestly I didn't

I did it My wife Oh you blame your wife Yeah that was my one I didn't even think anything I thought I didn't even know I didn't even know

I didn't even know a turtleneck was. I didn't even know he was called a turtleneck. I'm not going to lie. And then my wife said something about Steve Jobs that it looked like him. So I was like, huh, maybe I'll say something about that. So there you go. Blame my wife for that.

Blame the wife. Okay, fine. When in doubt, blame the wife. So when he came out wearing the turtleneck, you didn't even think anything of it, right? You were in the zone. No, yeah, it was only, you know, I didn't think any of it, and then everybody started talking. I was like, hmm, I should have said something like that to Jimmy, and then he

ask my question. But I don't even know what it all. It's his father. I got nothing against, you know. That's amazing. Speaking of your wife, by the way, Bellator is about to release right after our interview,

an in-focused piece where they followed you around. We're going to show a quick clip of that in a second, but your wife's in it, your kids are in it. I know you're kind of private, but how do you feel about having the cameras on you, following you and coming into your home and speaking to your family? How do you like that?

I like it. You know, I don't mind it. all, you know, just show the different side, you know, of how it is, you know, the family, life and the family, life and kids. I thought it was pretty cool. The wife, you know, likes it as well. It's a very nice piece, man. They put it together so well. And it's going to be good to show that side, you know, the family side, you know, the train and stuff. So it was pretty interesting, man. I love to do it again. You know, I don't mind it at all. I heard these guys, you know, I don't mind. I don't mind.

I don't mind. I'm here. You know, to do whatever. I enjoy it. Well, this is a very big fight for you, a long time coming. I wish you the best. It's great to have you on the program, and I'll maintain it. I'll say it a million times throughout the show, and I'll talk to Scott Coker about it in around an hour. You should be the main event. You deserve to be the main event. And I am offended that you're not the main event.

So I can't imagine deep down how you and Rory feel. It's ludicrous, but they claim to know what they're doing. So prove them wrong on Saturday. right? Well, good. That's the goal. I'm here to deliver, and I can't wait. In the event or not, make sure you catch this fight with me, because I'm going to deliver it.

Thank you, Douglas. All the best to you. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it, but I. Thank you. All right, there he is. Douglas Lima, stopping by the reigning, defending, Beltor Welterweight Champion. We talked about that in-focused piece that's coming out. They provided us an exclusive teaser, if you will, about the piece. Here's a little snippet.

It's a great look at the Beltor Welterweight champion, who a lot of the casual fans don't know a whole lot about that may change come Saturday. Coming in the house, you turn off the fighter mentality. Concentrate, you know, on a better things in life, you know, the family. You pego, eh, this is mine. Everything that I do most of them for them, you know, work hard for them, you know, just trying to give them a better life. It's fun, man.

I love being at there. I love being with them. I don't know, they just give me motivation, you know, to wake up every morning. When you're tired, you're sore. I'm not sure. Time to go train. You know, people that love me from outside can never call me a fighter. You know, because I don't know, I don't act like it.

You know, when it's to step inside the cage is different. That's when you got to turn on that. The little killer instinct, you know, and fight. So that is Douglas Lima in focus. That will be out on the Bellator YouTube channel, and they do a great job with that. They really do. They do a great job with those videos. Social media, YouTube. They do them a little different, but they put obviously some time and effort in them. And speaking of Douglas' wife and talking about the more personal side of the game,

heroin Guillermo Cruz did a great piece last month on the first ladies of Brazilian MMA. I spoke to like 10, 15 wives from RDA to Aldo, Douglas Lima, many others. I believe Junior Dos Santos, a whole list of them. and it's a great look at the other side of things. It's always fascinating to read that perspective. We have no idea what goes on at home, especially when you're trying to balance fatherhood and marriage while being a grumpy fighter and cutting weight

and the pressures and just goes on mentally and just the preparation, the physical preparation, the mental preparation for a fight. So I always appreciate those looks at the fighters from a different perspective. You know what I mean? It's a different kind of look, and it gives us, especially for a guy like Douglas

who doesn't have, you know, the gift of gab like other fighters who's not going to go out there and really promote himself and put himself out there and talk smack. I mean, even the idea of him not being the main event, you know it has to bother him. And he said it, but he didn't want to really say it

because he's just not that kind of guy. And so, you know, you always appreciate those looks. So that's the Douglas Lima side of the story. Later on in the program, we're going to talk to Chale Sunnan, and he is now the new main event, and I'm curious to get his take on it all. And of course, at the end of the day, these fights are, these fights are going to happen regardless.

So I know that there are some of you who will say, why the hell do you care about this so much? And maybe there is a case for that. But some people sat down and decided that, look, this is better for our product to put the non-title fight in the main event slot over the legit title fight that we've put together, that we've invested a lot. We signed this guy from the UFC, free agent. We've built up Douglas Lima. And, you know, I've talked about the posters and the marketing and promotion. and selling fights and things like that. Say what you want about it.

That stuff interests me. That's a very important part of the fight game. There's prestige to being in the main event. There's prestige to fighting last. There's prestige to fighting for a belt. And I feel like we need to hold on to those things. I feel like those things are still important in our sport. And if we start tinkering with them,

well then why don't we start a show with a title fight? Or put it as the opening, you know, the opening fight of the night. The curtain jerker. Why not? I mean, at the end of the day, belts are just toys. They're just props. But if you make them feel important, And if you put them over, so to speak, then I think the audience gets excited about them.

And that's what's important about fight promotion, right? You have to distinguish fights. What is rampage chale? It's a tournament fight. There is a belt, so to speak, on the line for that fight as well. It's just a pass to the next round. You need these little things. And so Douglas Lima versus Roy McDonald is a phenomenal fight.

It gets elevated because there's gold on the line. I think it's important. I think it's very important. And so that kind of stuff just sort of gets me fired up. But at the end of the day, important to know, both fights are happy. happening. They're both happening the same rounds that we thought they were going to happen in, you know, three rounds versus five rounds. So none of that is changing. I just feel like these things are important. That's all. Anyway, all right. Let's stick with the Belator theme here

for a second because some massive news. It was around six days ago came out. So last week on the show, we spoke to Jimmy Smith. And at the time, Jimmy Smith, of course, was gone from Belator, but we didn't know that he was going to sign with UFC. Although if you actually listened to to the interview, he pretty much said it. and all signs pointed to it, I reported it. And it came out on Friday that he did in fact sign with UFC. He'll be making his debut on the desk in LA for FS1 for 220. But we didn't know who would replace him.

And I know there was some talk of maybe Frank Mears and Chil Sondon is going to be doing some of that work. Of course, he will continue to do it. But he's fighting on Saturday. So who would replace Jimmy Smith? Well, we found out on Tuesday. It's a name that everyone knows if you're an MMA fan, if you're a casual MM fan, if you've watched two UFC fights, you know who best. Big John McCarthy is. He is the MMA referee. He is the pioneer of MMA referee. He literally

wrote the book on MMA officiating. There is no greater source. No one has greater credibility in MMA as far as officiating is concerned than Big John McCarthy. He is the man who will be replacing Jimmy Smith. This is a fascinating move. I can't wait to dig into it. He is kind enough to be joining us, what, five days before his Bell Tour television debut. We're talking to Big John McCarthy right now on the magic of Skype. There he is right over there. I thought it was phone, but it's Skype. Big John, how are you, my friend? Good to see you. Good to see you. Good. Good seeing you, Ariel. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Wow, this is fascinating stuff. And you know what's interesting about this? There's a lot of new fans. You know this. I mean, you've been there

from day one. I got the sense last week that a lot of people forgot about the old fight network days. People talking about how big of a switch this is for you and everything. It was like deja vuo all over again. I remember this. You did the press conference, the conference call. It was Huerta Guida. You were walking away. You were going to be the John Madagie. and we've been through this together with you. People forgot, it seemed. Yeah, kind of a little bit different circumstances, thank God. But, you know, it is, I guess, a second coming of it.

But it's a completely different situation and why I'm leaving is completely different. So, you know, this is a new thing for me and I can't wait to get started. Why is it different this time? Oh, my God. You know, first of all, I want to say, I'm not leaving for any. other reason that I look and say, man, you know what, I had a, I had a scare, you know, this year, and I got hurt really bad, and I was gone for a while. Some people didn't realize, and that's kind of cool. I kind of like that, but it was, you know, I'm not the same person, and I'm not

in a position. I used to be able to, you know, do things that I could grab someone and just pick them up. And those days are gone for me. I hurt my neck really bad. I actually got paralyzed on one side of my body and it taught me a lesson and it made me realize how fast I could absolutely lose what I love doing and it was a matter of this you know I had no idea that I was going to do this until 2018 as far as you know I went and did the UFC December 30th and you know hey I was getting ready to do shows for 2018 I was supposed to actually be refing at the Bellator show in Los Angeles and then the next week in Pichanga and I got a call from Scott Coker and he asked me if I would be interested in auditioning for the slot of what Jimmy Smith did and did

with such, you know, great skill and such flair. He gave me the opportunity and it was I looked at it and it was something that's like, I can't pass that up. Let me go see if they even think I have the ability to. So I went out and I did the audition and and, and, uh, I looked at it and it was something that's like, I can't pass that up. I'm, It all worked out. What happened in the past, I was, you know, I was mad and I was angry at people. And that's why I left. And this is completely different. You know, I want to tell everyone, man, I am so happy with everything that I've been able to do in the last, you know, 10 years of refereeing with the people I've been able to work with, the promotions that I've been able to work with.

You know, the UFC is, you know, phenomenal. I love them. I'm going to miss a ton of people there. At least I get to stay with, you know, the people. at Bellator and I get to see them because they're phenomenal people and just great to work with. So I'll be, I'm going to be losing a lot in that, you know, I don't get to see a lot of the people that I really consider, you know, friends and people I like working with. But, you know what, you got to, you got to take chances in this world. And there was no, there was no place for me

to go, really, in the officiating world. I mean, I loved what I did, but I didn't want to be the guy that hung on too long. And I didn't want to fall. I didn't want to start going down. And I didn't want someone telling me, man, you know, you need to get out. You're not doing things right. So it was a chance for me to get out on my own terms. When did you injure your neck? I injured my neck July 11th of 2017. I know the day well. Wow. And I didn't know it until by 12th, but that's when I heard it. What were you doing? I was teaching. I was going over a dars choke and I was having someone that wasn't doing it correctly. And, you know, we were all rolling and doing stuff.

And I let them put me in it. And they weren't doing it correctly. And they were doing it more. It was more of a neck crank the way they were doing. So I'm inside the choke and I'm talking to them telling what to do to make it right. And I was probably in it for 90 seconds or so. And, you know, finally they get enough pressure and they do all the right things and they sink their hips. And I say, okay, and I tap and I get up and I was fine.

And the next day, I was in trouble, man. I had fire shooting down. If anyone's ever played football or hockey and slam their head into someone and get that stinger, that burn that goes down your arm, I had that and it would not go away. Oh, wow. And I went for all this time trying to, you know, do all these things to try to get it to go away. Finally in, I want to say September, you know, I went in and they had, you know, I had surgery done and that didn't work completely. so I had a second surgery done.

Wow. And finally it went away. But I'll tell you what, for a while, I didn't think I was ever going to get rid of that burn. Wow. So how do you feel right now? I feel great right now. You know, look at, my neck's never going to be the same. I've got problems, you know, that I can, you know, feel it's not going to move.

It's been fused. I already had one operation before. So this is the third neck operation I've ever had. So, you know what? It's just, hey, somebody's telling me something. So that's really why, you know, this whole move came about it. And like what exactly, when you were doing that, Darstoke, when you were in there for 90 seconds, like what happened? Like what led to you getting, you know, into this kind of pain, half paralyzed?

Like, do you know what happened in there? Well, I know now what happened. But at the time, you know, like I said, at the time, I stood up, there was, I didn't feel anything. It was fine. It didn't hurt me. It was the next day. And then what I found out is, you know, I'd already had two disc replaced before. My C3 and C4, I'd actually crushed the disc before, and they'd gone in and put fake disc in.

They put like this cage thing around it. And I went and I destroyed the C5, 6, and 7, and actually broke the disc apart. And it was pinching down and crushing the nerves. There's nerve bundles that come out from obviously your spine and lead down into your arms and legs. And the ones that were leading into my arms just were crushed. and so my numbs my excuse me my numbs my my thumbs were going but were completely numb my fingers were numb i had that burn that went down from my shoulder my shoulders were what was killing me because i had this constant burn and it my wife was when you know you could see it was every day you would

see it muscular atrophy because wow my signal was just crushed and it wasn't doing anything and it just was a serious problem so they went and fused that and then the second one they ended up putting in spacers and stuff to try to take the pressure off of the nerves and that eventually works. So I'm back as far as that. But rolling is something I'm probably not going to be doing as much up. Wow. And when did you come back to refereeing? This happened July. You said in September of the surgery. When did you actually come back? November 4th for George St. Pierre and Michael Bisping. Wow. Wow. So you come back for essentially two months and now you say goodbye. And it hasn't been, you never said in the release retire

and I know you did media last week and you never said retire why haven't you retired from MMA refereeing because you know it's something I'm not going to sit there and say I'm retired because you know there's small shows that are out there that you know what I do charity work

I go and I referee for free I've done it all over the place and you know I'm not going to sit there and say I'm not going to do that so that's not retired if I wanted to go in my contract if I want to go and I want to work internationally or something like that, I can go and work as a referee if I want. Obviously, the thing that people are looking at is they're looking at, well, can you do the UFC?

And no, I can't do the UFC. That would be ridiculous for both Bellator and the UFC. But it's, you know, I've had a great run. I've had 24 years with the UFC, basically. And it's been something, you know, I'll treasure forever. And those people are phenomenal and I'm going to miss them. But, you know, it's the same as you. you've got to make choices and you never know what's the right choice you don't have that crystal ball

but you try to make the choice that you think you know what this is something that i can attack i can work hard at you know i'm doing more work right now trying to get ready for one show with bellator as a color commentators and i have worked at trying to get ready because i'm so comfortable refereeing you know i watch fights and you know i do some homework that way but that's about it here i'm doing a ton because I don't want to be a failure. Right. Did you hear from any of the commissions? You know, California, I know you're close with Andy Foster,

Nevada, another notable one. What did they say to you after this news came out? You know, everyone's been really good. You know, California came out and Andy was great. He says, I think that's a great opportunity for you. He says, you know, you should definitely take that. He goes, but you're really screwing me as far as now. I don't have my main referee that I use.

And it's like, you know, I, I, I'm going to miss it. Nevada came out, you know, Bob Bennett came out and told me, you know, congratulations. He tried to give me some advice even, which I appreciated. And everyone's been really good about it.

You know, you don't owe the sport of MMA anything in my opinion. You've been doing this long enough. You were there. Like I said, you wrote the book, right? We are very thankful and we should be very grateful

that there ever was a big John McCarthy in MMA. Did you feel at all any responsibility? Like, gosh, you know, like, did you ever think, like, is, are the refs in good hands, is the sport in good hands? Ten years ago, maybe that wasn't the case when you did the fight network thing, but guys have emerged, right?

There's a lot more competent and veteran referees now than the word 10 years ago. Like, did you think, okay, I need to make sure that everything's cool because you've invested so much in the sport and you were the guy, you were the very first? Like, we throw around the word pioneer. You are a pioneer. Not how many people can claim that. Did you have that internal discussion at all when you made this decision? Yeah, only the really old, old people can claim pioneer.

It's a feather in your cat. You know what? I don't know about that, but it's a matter of, I have thought about it. And I've worked towards making certain things happen. MMA is a different sport. It's so hard for people to understand when they're really not part of it. But, you know, with athletic commissions, the way we have them, we have all of these separated, you know, entities state to state.

And the problem that we have is in disseminating information out to officials and things like that, it's not a smooth system because it's not like the NFL brings everybody together or Major League Baseball brings everyone together. We don't do that. So one of the things that I set up is, you know, I have my command program that I've been teaching and I go and I teach for the ABC, which is the Association of Boxing Commissions. And I've set up other people to be instructors in that and to carry on. on putting out the proper information for other officials, putting out the proper information for the actual athletic commission. So things move on in the right direction. So we're going in a direction that people are still learning and they're getting the right

information. So everybody, our whole goal when you're looking at, you know, referees is we want everyone to be in that same box. We want everyone in a given situation. Everyone's going to make basically the same determination. They're going to make the same call because we don't want people being outside of the box because then the fans and the fighters are in a position of, well, what's right? Who's doing it right? Well, I like what this guy's doing. The other one, I like what this one's doing. You can't have that.

You've got to have everybody on the same page. So I'm not leaving as far as teaching. I will still teach. I will still be there to help out with athletic commissions. I'll still be a pain in their ass. I know, you know, there's ones out there that hate me and that's great because, you know, I look at it. This is not about the athletic commissions. It's not about, you know, who is the best commission. it's about doing what's right for the fighters. That's what's important. And when we get all the athletic commissions together doing the right things for the fighters,

then I'll be the one that walks away and says, okay, you guys are doing great. So I said at the top, this isn't your first rodeo as a color analyst. Of course, you did the Fight Network gig, although there's a big difference there. This time you're working for the promotion as opposed to working for a network

covering other promotions. So obviously that's one distinction. Do you feel like... Huge difference. Huge difference. Yes, and so I'm wondering, like, for you, like, do you think about, like, maybe you can't be as critical? You know, you know how this game goes. You know, like now you're working for the promotion, you're paid by the promotion.

Do you worry at all about that? Because we remember, remember back in the day when you're working for Friday Network, some people got mad about comments that you made, Nevada, Keith Kyle. I mean, we don't need to go through all that. Is it different now? You can't be as critical. Are you worried about that? Because you're kind of a straight shooter, you know, you like to tell it like it is. I believe that you know what you tell the truth.

You know, if someone doesn't like the truth, the best part. the best part about the truth there, it doesn't change. You know, if I say something and goes, oh, yeah, that's wrong, you can sit there and say it's wrong all you want. But if it's the truth, it's not going to change. It will be what it is. It's going to stand on its own legs. And I look at, no matter what, if I'm talking about what athletic commissions are doing or what officials are doing or what fighters are doing, I'm just going to put out the truth. The funny part for me is, you know, I've had, you know, 99.9% of people have been great about, hey, congratulations. you're going to do great, all that stuff.

And I'll get the ones out there that say something to the effective. I wonder if he knows what he's looking at and stuff like that. And it's like, it's so funny that people think that, you know, I'm so hard on referee. And I'm so hard on them knowing everything that the fighters are doing and going and putting yourself in places and positions to learn what is the new element that's coming in. Because as the referee, you've got to know everything.

If you don't know everything, you're going to get caught in making a mistake. You're going to caught behind a situation. The more you know, the slower the fight goes for you. And so I think it's kind of funny that some of the people are wondering if I actually know what fighters are going to be doing. So that's kind of cool. I like that part. I'm going to enjoy being able to talk about things. I think I'm going to be able to talk about some things that are different than other analysts

because there's certain things that I know that they're never going to know because they were never in my shoes and never able to be part of what I've done. You're obviously very good friends with a lot of referees. If someone blows a call or something, you feel comfortable critiquing them. saying what they did wrong? Yeah, I think the thing is, you know, you don't sit there. We have, if you go back and you watch when we have controversy as, you know, comes up, a lot of it's because the analysts doesn't know what they're doing. And they don't understand what the referee is doing.

And it doesn't make sense to them. So then they're saying, I don't get this. What is he doing? And they're starting to talk where, look, if someone makes a mistake, like I said, I'm going to be honest about it. Okay, that's a mistake. and I'm going to say, well, this is how the mistake happened. And I'm going to explain it to people so they understand exactly this is what the referee mechanically should have been doing.

This is what would have kept that from happening. And this is where now it's led. You've got to be honest about it. But I think I'm going to be able to actually cover more officials in what they do. I'm going to be able to cover the judges in what decisions they come up with because I'm going to put out the information that is what is the criteria for the judges to go off. to judge this fight. I'm not going to sit there and start to get into, oh, he's going for a takedown in the last 10 seconds.

That's going to steal him the round. I hear that all the time. And I just look at the TV and I slap my head and go, what the hell is wrong with you? That is not what is going to change this round. But that's what's put out there and so people believe it. So hopefully I have a voice in educating the fans so they actually start to enjoy the fights even more.

Beltar has a pretty loaded schedule. It starts on Saturday for 2018. Will you be at every event? No, I will not be at every event. I have a contract that gives me a certain amount of events, but that's also flexible. They've said, this is the least amount of events you're going to do, and we might want to move you into more events and stuff,

because you have other people that have contracts, and they have deals with Bellator. So, you know, I know Chale is going to be doing a lot of commentating, and sometimes, you know, it might be just Chale, and sometimes it might be a three-man, booth. And if it is, that's awesome because Chale's great to work with. I'd imagine you've known Mike Goldberg for quite some time. You guys, you know, growing up together and you see what's it going to be? Yeah, so, I mean, he's, he's your partner, right? On Saturday,

what's that going to be like for you? Does it make it a little easier concerning the fact that you have this relationship with him, your friends? Oh, absolutely. It makes life so easy for me because, you know, look at, Mike has been, you know, a friend of mine since early in the UFC's. and it's like working with your brother. And so, you know, the one thing is, I'm going to rely on Mike. Mike is, people have no idea, you know, the fans sit there and they think they, oh, it's so easy to talk. They have no idea how much is going on and how much Goldberg actually does. And when Goldie is on the mic, look at, let's be honest, if you're going to ask about who's the voice for play-by-play of MMA, it's Mike Goldberg.

And I get to work with that guy. And so I'm just absolutely ecstatic. You know, we also have Morrow Renalo, who is unbelievable. He's a freaking genius in some of the stuff he does. He's incredible. I get to work with him at times too. But how could you not love coming into a situation where you're working with the two freaking kings of it? John Anick over in the UFC, I love him.

He's awesome. He puts in the work to be phenomenal. He does a great job. And, you know, those are the three, you know, bases you're looking at. I get to work with tool. You'll still be refereeing boxing, correct? I will still be working with boxing. I'm still going to be working in California.

The day after, on the 27th, I'll be doing judging for boxing and stuff. And, you know, there's people that are probably going to look at that and go, well, that's not right. That's ridiculous. There's no crossover. What's the only crossover? McGregor and Mayweather? Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's no crossover in boxing. Favorite MMA fight that you refereed? What comes to mind? What's number one? that's impossible. I get asked that all the time. Okay, let's think about it. I think in the last, you know, seven, eight years,

I've probably done five of what was considered fight of the years. So how do I sit there and say, how do I sit there and say that, you know what, the trilogy between Randy Couture and Chuck Ladell, I'll throw that to the side because there was some huge moments of that. Take a look at UFC 43 with when Randy beat Chuck, No one expected it. Okay, it was not going to happen.

Everyone said the UFC was setting Chuck up for, you know, this light, you know, heavyweight belt and stuff. And didn't happen. You know, Randy comes in there and just, you know, absolutely dominates the fight. And then Chuck comes back and I think it was UFC 52 and wins the title. And not got great. John Jones against Alexander Gustafson in Toronto. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Unbelievable.

Bory McDonald against Robbie Lawler. I mean, how do you pick between those? All right. I would tell you, look, are those some of my favorites? Those are some of my favorites. Then you got Michael Johnson against Justin Gachie. Look at that one. That's going to be fight of the year this year.

Yeah, yeah. You know? Okay, fair enough. You can't pick one. It's like your kids. Exactly. And it's exactly, you know, they all have their special moments to you. Yeah, all right.

Fair enough. Well, I think this is great. I really do. I'm sorry to hear about the neck. I'm sorry to hear, but I'm happy to hear that you're feeling better. And, you know, it's crazy how things work out, right? I mean, it's amazing. What do you think would you, like, would you have just continued refereeing or just step back?

What do you think would have happened? Something would have had to give, right, with how you're feeling and the travel and everything. What would have happened if you didn't get presented with this opportunity? No, actually I had three opportunities for jobs, different jobs. Oh, wow. I offered a couple of jobs. But I wasn't sure about taking them because I was happy with refereeing. And at this moment, I'm good.

I mean, I've worked myself back. I'm not near as strong as I used to be, but I've figured out ways to do things a little bit different. And I would have been fine going on with the refereeing. The only problem with the refereeing is all the travel that I do. That gets to you after a while. But I would have been fine just continuing on with the referee. It's just that when you look and you go, look, if you're going to go to any place to do color commentary, in the world of MMA, there's two places that you pick.

And, you know, the UFC and Bellator. Those are the two you're looking to say, man, I'd really like to be the person there. I was given an opportunity to be that person. That's hard to turn down when you look at, you know, the long-term effect of it. If you can make it and do it right and get people to appreciate the work you do, you know, that's a place that you can stay and be happy with with the people you're working with, the fighters you get to call, all of that is, it's, that had a huge consideration for me. Very happy for you.

Congratulations, John. You've truly given a lot to the sport now. I'm very excited to see what you do on the other side of the fence, so to speak. I think it's a great call. Can't wait to hear you with Mike, with Morrow, with Shale, three-man booth. I mean, I think it's a really nice sort of out of left field. You weren't on the radar as far as rumors were concerned, and there you were. So it's pretty cool.

It's a nice job by Bellator. Best of luck to you on Saturday. And thanks for always being a friend to me, always through the ups and downs. You've always texted me and reached out, and I've always appreciated that. So it won't end here, but I just want to say that publicly. Thank you so much. and I wish you nothing but the best come Saturday and beyond with this new gig. Hey, thank you so much.

I want you to know you have been phenomenal. People have no idea how much that you actually know at times and you never put out. You're a class act. You're a quality journalist. Thank you for everything you do, Ariel. Thank you, John. Looking forward to it on Saturday. Appreciate it.

Look forward to it too. See you then. There he is, Big John. One of the newest voices of Bellator working on Saturday, Belator, 192, in the future. one of his TV partners will be a man who will be main eventing Beltor 192. Let's go back to the Skype machine and say hello to the bad guy.

There he is. Chale Sunnan. How are you, Chale? Tadda. Here I am, Ariel. Here you are. We've talked to you very recently, but there's so much to talk to you about Chale. So I had to get you back on. Here we are, Fight Week. You're about to head out to Los Angeles to fight Rampage Jackson. First things first.

What do you make of the decision? Big John McCarthy going to be a partner of yours, calling the on Saturday. What do you make of this call? Yeah, I love it, man. I had no idea either. I wasn't filled in the loop on that. So, yeah, that was great news. My first concern was, is he done ref and I read that he's not, thank goodness. But yeah, good for him. I mean, how about a guy that's been everywhere, seeing everything, has an opinion on it, man. I've always wanted to hear from John. That's one thing when you're dealing with referees is you don't have a whole lot of dialogue. You know, they're kind of a separate

entity and they need to be. But a guy like John that's seen everything, I mean, you just had him on your show. It was one of the best speakers I've heard on the MMA hour in a meaningful period of time. Has he, like off top of your head? Once the last time? That sounded like a backhanded cop. Yeah. I meant only as a compliment of John, but it really was really well spoken.

And, you know, let's get him in a booth. But you know what's interesting? I wanted to specifically have you after him because usually when I come to you after a guest, like you're sleeping, you're snoring. You couldn't do that with him because he's a call. of yours now. So you can, even if you were bored, you couldn't do the gimmick where you were sleeping. You see what I did? You did get me on that one. Well done. Yes. You made me change. You made me dance. Yeah. So let's get into it. Howan. You said you've got some questions for all to feel.

Let's dig into a few. Okay. I have to say, I have to say, Chale, I was so fired up on Friday when I got the news that they bumped Lima and Rory down from Maine and people took that as me taking a shot at you at Rampage. I love you guys. I mean, it's going to be a great fight in your legends of the sport. But I just feel, and I know you're an old-time guy, the belt has to go last. It has to go last, right? I mean, isn't that an important thing? What do you make of this switch?

Can you be objective here to remove yourself from the situation? The belt has now been demoted. Well, yeah, I would never, I think I'm always objective. I want to say, I didn't get it. Listen, I mean, I fight whenever my music hits those speakers, that's when I leave that locker room. So I don't know that one had anything to do with the other, I hear your point on that. And traditionally, a title fight does go last.

Let's see what happens moving forward. Again, I haven't been filled in on this. I think every fight, every quarterfinal and every semifinal, and then the championship of the tournament for the coming calendar year will always be, you know, the feature match or the last match of a card. I don't know that to be true, but I think that that's what it has to do with. And I hear your point that that's a world title fight. this is a world title fight tournament.

I don't disagree with you, but I think that was probably the thought going into the decision making. Did you reach out to them and say, hey, why did you make this call eight days out? No, I found out from Mark Romandi. He tweeted something out. And the reason it mattered to me, I was never told where I was on the card.

I just always assumed I was co-made event for one reason, which is I saw the poster, and had Douglas and Lima and big photos on top and Rampage and I underneath them. So the reason it was relevant for me is because in California, if you're the main event, you get four cornermen as opposed to three. So I had to have a talk with a cornerman and explain that, you know, you're the odd man out on this one. And I was able to call him back and go, hey, change of plans. You're back in.

And so that was really the only thing that changed in my life, but I had to get clarity on it because I, no one ever told me. I found out from Mark. Wow. If you're, if you, if you, if you were, you know, uh, Douglas or Rory, would you be annoyed or do you, like, at the end of the day, is this just people like me making a big deal out nothing? Yeah, I think it's probably people like you. I mean, just as a fighter, that's not something that ever factors in, whether you go first or last or you walk out first or you walk out second. It's not something that ever, ever factors in. I don't think that anybody would care. I mean, the job's the same. And I don't even know what the reason was for why they did it. You know, I saw your comments on it where you said if they'd done it two months ago and be fine.

And, you know, maybe that would have been more helpful if it was two months ago, you know, in terms of the marketing and who got what dollars and who got pushed where. But I don't know what the reason is behind doing it. I don't think you get more viewers. It's the same guy's fighting doing the same thing, just 15 minutes. apart. So I don't know. Maybe I could learn something through this. Saturday is a fascinating night in the sport because you're going up against a UFC pay-per-view. I told New York Rick in the back before we went live that I think that Belator being

on quote-unquote free TV, cable TV will hurt the UFC pay-per-view more than the UFC pay-per-view will hurt the Bellator ratings. Do you agree with me on that? Because one is technically free if you have cable of any kind. The other one you have to pay 60 bucks for and it's not the deepest card of all time. It's really a top heavy card. A, how do you feel about going head to head with the UFC pay-per-view. And B, do you agree that the Belator show will hurt the UFC pay-per-view buy rate more so than the buy rate will hurt the ratings? I would think that that makes sense logically. I'm such a fan, man. Anytime this has happened, I've always had both. I've always, you know, even if it's a boxing pay-per-view, the UFC

had some car, I think it was an FS1, the night that Triple G fought Alvarez. I just went back and forth. So it's hard for me to relate because I take them all in. So, But I think what you're saying makes a lot of sense. And I mean, look, we've got our share. We've got our share of the market. We've got head to head with them before and done great. And they've got head to head with us. And they've done great too.

It hasn't really turned into this Coke or Pepsi, you know, Ford Chevy situation where everybody thought that they were going to have to pick one. So, yeah, I would agree with that. And what's the second question? I'm sure it was a good one. Well, I guess the question was you sort of answered it. do you like this? Like as someone who's competing in one of the cards,

it's kind of like the Monday Night Wars of the past, right? Sometimes a rising tide lifts all boats or sometimes, you know, it hurts one of the other. Yeah, I don't mind it at all. I mean, I love competition as much as anybody. And the dates do just fall that way. I think in a perfect world that, you know, they would jockey and not do that.

But, you know, both companies are doing so many shows. UFC doing 53 shows in 2018, Bellator is doing 23 shows. in 2018. I mean, there's only so many dates. So we've got head to head before. We've got our fans and our viewership and some of them are crossover fans and some of them are just loyal to us. But, you know, we'll have our place in this market for sure.

How much do you expect away come fight night? Well, I would like to be 214, but, you know, that's not like a hardened fast. It could be 212. It could be 2.17. But somewhere right in that range, somewhere, you know, under 220. I think I move my best. So I'm 220 right this second. But I'm drinking a lot of water and doing some stuff.

So, you know, the scale kind of lies a little bit. But you're somewhere right in there. Yeah, 214, 215. I think I move my best. And how much do you expect rampage to weigh come fight night? Well, let's see. I saw him two weeks ago. He was 260, but he said he was trying to get to 245.

And for King Moe, he weighed in it. 253. So I would think he'd be somewhere right around there, somewhere between his goal and what he waited for Mo. So, you know, 253-ish, 251, somewhere right in there. Do you like that for him or do you think that's a little, like, is that your advantage him being that big? Geez, I haven't really thought about that much.

I don't know. I don't know the difference in any of that stuff. People talk about it. I don't know an easy fight from a hard fight. They're all the same. I go out and go as hard as I can go. until time is up. I'm exhausted every time. I feel like I get hit by a car every time. So I don't really know the difference. So whatever he weighs, it's not going to stop me from

doing my output. I'm going to go out there and go as hard as I can, leave everything out there. And one guy I'll win. So I've never really bought into the size advantage. I know announcers and sports guys love to use the term size advantage. They use reach advantage as well. But it's never been true in history. We've never seen a bigger guy. go out and have an advantage. We've never seen a guy with longer arms have an advantage. But no matter how many times the fans get proven that, they keep talking about it. You know, that whole bigger guy, I'll give you a couple examples, but Muhammad Ali in his prime

was 198 pounds. Mike Tyson in his prime was 220. Mike Tyson never had one single fight where he wasn't smaller or where his arms weren't shorter, but commentators still like to talk about a size advantage and a reach advantage. It's just not true. It all came along because some guy's kid got his ass kick. one day and when he had to explain it to his buddies the next day on the job side he well you know junior he lost but the kid was bigger it's it's really hasn't ever proven to be true and fighting

what if anything did you gather from rampage when you were around him for that media day did you did you sense anything for like what was your takeaway from him uh well he was a very nice guy which i which caught me off guard he was very pleasant to be around and uh you know the reality is in in these tournaments is, they're not about animosity. You know, they're just not. It's a straight line bracket. I had somebody asked me if you beat Rampage, you're going to call out Fador.

It's like, well, it doesn't work that way. Whoever advances takes on the guy that advances on the other side. So, you know, I didn't really feel a need for it. And on top of everything else, era, we weren't the main event. The pressure wasn't on us to sell tickets and bring in eyes. It was on Rory and Douglas at that time. So, you know, we really had a fairly pleasant day. it was pretty matter of fact.

We're going to fight. We're going to fight on this day that this weight class as hard as we can, and one guy's going to try to advance. Does the mindset change now that you are the main event? Do you feel like in this last week you have to promote more? Yeah, maybe a little bit. I mean, only in this regard. And my ego was more attached to it before it was put on those guys.

So, you know, my ego is directly related to the number of people in that arena that night. And the first thing I do on Monday morning when I get up is I check the ratings. So, yeah, I think I do feel a little bit. differently. I like it. I agree with your point. I wish I would have known and had a little bit more time. But I mean, let's do it, man. We're going to fight in the forum. You know, don't forget this is a hot spot of all of MMA. You know, you get Vegas and Dallas has done a good job. New Jersey's always been good. But you got California. You know, they're very smart. They're very avid fans. They're from a disgusting city with very little else to do. So,

you know, where I come from, it just wouldn't be Saturday night if there wasn't a fist fight going on somewhere. Do you feel like you need to exercise the demons in said forum? Because we all remember what happened the last time you fought there, right? You fought Tito Ortiz. I know that was a very disappointing night for you. Do you feel any of that going back there? I destroyed. I destroyed Tito Ortiz. Don't try to mislead the fans. And ask yourself one question, Errol, who are you going to believe? Me or you're lying eyes? So no, I don't know that I feel that way, but I'm going to go and compete hard. I expect to beat Rampage. I expect to compete very hard and I expect it to be a really hard fight. One thing about Rampage, man, is he never quits. Every fighter quits. Every fighter has quit and we

hate it and we're ashamed of it, but we've done it except for Rampage. No matter how tired he's been, no matter how hurt he's been, I've never seen that guy just flick it. You know, he's got a fighter's hard. He's a big competitor and he's a big guy. And it's a big challenge. There it is. Do you already know when the next fight would be if you win? Have they given you like the dates? No, the only dates that have been announced are for the quarterfinals. Semifinals have not, and I know they would like to do the entire tournament within a calendar year, either possibly December of this year, possibly January of next year,

but that is tentative. Okay. Just want to ask you quickly about some teammates before I let you go. Page Vanz-Fault last night, I believe it's the first time that she competes under sort of your team's umbrella. you make of her performance? I thought it was great. I thought she won that fight and nobody booed. Nobody seemed to agree with me.

So maybe I have to rewatch it. I wasn't like, but I thought I thought the judges might give it to her. I thought it was a very close fight. So maybe I missed it or watched it with some rose-clothed glasses. But she fight really well. You know, she pushed the pace.

She comes forward. She got held down in a couple positions. I thought her opponent did a really good job too. But I was impressed. I was impressed with her pace. She broke her arm. She hit a spinning back fist and snapped her arm. I got a shot of the x-ray sent to me.

I mean, it's a clean break. It was pretty nasty, and she pushed through. I think she should be very proud. New weight class. And none of those are excuses. I'm just assessing her performance. I thought there was a lot more positives than there was negatives. I mean, sometimes they don't go your way.

It's a two-man sport. You can do everything right. In MMA, 2 plus 2 doesn't equal 4. You can do everything right and still not get the result you want. I thought she did a lot of things really, really well, and her opponent did too. By all accounts, Uriah Hall found himself in a number. a very scary situation this past weekend. Not much info out there from the UFCs or anything you can tell us.

I mean, where I heard he fainted. He had a seizure. He was in the hospital overnight. He was released yesterday. This is scary stuff while weight cutting. What can you tell us about him, if anything? Yeah, I've heard those same things. I believe them to be true.

I didn't talk to Yari. I reached out to him a couple times. I finally heard back today by text message. Things are looking up. And he's either going home or he just left in his, you know, He's either just about to leave or he just left. I'd have to go back and look at the text again. But he says he's feeling good.

And I don't have the details. There was a lot of fighters that saw it. Somebody had even said it was in an elevator, you know, with fellow fighters there. I said it was pretty scary situation. There was definitely no embellishment here about what happened. You guys miss weight. And there's always some backstory. I guess he was on weight.

He was headed to the wayans even and collapsed. Wow. Do you feel like anything needs to be changed? as far as weight cutting, the early wanes need to go back to the afternoon or change those same day. Is there anything that like any kind of take you have on way ins or or how to fix him or is it just a matter of guys being

better at it? Yeah, I mean, I think it's just a discipline thing. I get a little bit of a cold heart when it comes to that. Just because I've done it my whole life since I was nine years old. So I'm a little bit calloused on that. I don't like that somebody could step in

and tell a guy how much weight he can lose. You know, you're talking about a government agency, telling a grown adult how much weight he can lose. That's beyond reach, in my opinion. You know, just purely politically speaking, that's way out of bounds. But it doesn't mean they're not going to do it. You know, the NCAA, in 1998, I was in the NCAA. We had three wrestlers die.

Nobody had ever died from cutting weight in wrestling. Three died in the same year. And they all had one thing in common, which is they were taking a supplement that was very popular back then called creatine. But either way, nobody, nobody. could tie it to the creatine or the weight cutting. They just knew these guys were cutting weight and diet. So the NCAA made very strict regulations at that time. They added seven pounds to every weight class. They did not allow anybody to change weight classes. So in other words,

everybody immediately got a seven pound allowance. You then had to do what was called a hydration test. They tested your body fat and then you had to pee into a cup to make sure you were hydrated when you did that and they calculated how much weight you would be able to lose. and this was for the next season, for the immediate season, they just added seven pounds. Then, and this is the real trick, this is where the NCAA, there's the best thing that they did. They made it an hour weigh in, meaning right now we have what's called a 24-hour waiting, and then as you just alluded to, now we're even doing the morning, which turns into about a 32-hour way, meaning you weigh in and you're not competing for another 32 hours.

The NCAA made it one hour. So you weighed in and one hour later you're on the mat competing. Well, nobody can compete dehydrated. You just can't do it. So that is what stopped weight cutting. It wasn't the P test. It wasn't the fat body composition test. It was the one hour way in.

I offer that to you because that's the one thing that's ever been done to stop weight cutting that actually stopped weight cutting. And everybody just had to fight at the weight that they wrestle at the weight that they weighed. And it was a level playing field. You know, so many people, the psychology is really simple era. People would go, well, let's just add 10 pounds to every weight. then guys just cut to a lower weight. It doesn't change anything.

One hour way in, the NCAA has proven it since 1998. That ended weight cutting. But again, I'm only offering that to you as a historical fact of what ended weight cutting for the sport of wrestling, and there's only two sports where you have to weigh in in the amateur boxing and wrestling. So it's a great example I just offered you, but I'm not saying that I think that somebody should go to that. I mean, these are grown men, tell them what they can weigh.

For me, that's overreach. If you are looking to do something, there is a historical president set by the NCAA in 1998, and that would be it. Wow. Okay. One last thing before I let you go, Chale, some horrible... You should say, wow, that was brilliant what I just told. That was great stuff. That really was brilliant. Your fans can't get that insight anywhere. So there you go. And the NCAA is very respected. Aside from being the scum of the earth, they are a body that has been out there for a long time, and they are respected. respected might be a stretch but that was great insight i mean it's high time in my opinion that the athletes get paid but that's a different argument

for a different day i don't want to keep you too long it's like when you go out by the way do you go out tomorrow i go today i actually talk to you my my mother i can see her through my my office window right here she's waiting and we're going to head to the airport right now so uh so i go today i don't do any today it's just a travel day and it's real easy for me it's in i'm in l.a i'm in portland so i got about two hour flight and uh And that's in and start to get a fight mode. You want to know what's been tough for me, Ariel, is getting into fight mode because not having this weight cut, you know, having that weight cut and that discipline and that that hunger and that anger from all of that. That's what lets me know I'm going into a fight as opposed to going into practice.

So I don't have that this time. And I don't know that's a good thing or a bad thing. I won't know until after the match. But it is something that I've missed and I have to keep reminding myself, I got to fight this weekend. I got to fight this week. I've got to start feeling nervous. I got to start feeling scared. I got to start feeling excited.

Whatever it is, without having this forced discipline of the weight cut, I don't know. I keep forgetting it's happening. That's amazing. Yeah, because you're almost like torturing yourself. I remember talking to you at 117 before the Anderson fight and like the pain you were in.

Of course, you were sick that particular day on media day, but there is sort of like a torture process that you go to go through on the way to the way and then, of course, the fight, the fight before the fight, if you will. So that is interesting insight going into this big fight. but I want to ask you just quickly before you go and I know you have to run and please say hello to your mom. She is such a lovely lady. But last month, we had some horrible news about the passing of Robert Follison and you knew him way back when. You started out with him.

Do you have a great Robert Follis story that you can share with us? Anything that comes to mind when you, I know I'm putting you on the spot here. I didn't prepare you for this, but is there anything that comes to mind? I think that's very sweet of you to do that. Thank you. And I hope you continue to talk about him. He's a really great guy. I have a number of Robert Follis stories. And, okay, Errol, he was such a optimist at all time.

He really believed in the laws of attraction. He used to go to Anthony Robbins' seminars. I mean, he paid $10,000 to just sit in the crowd for three days and hear Anthony Robbins speak. But he loved it. He loved that positive talk, you know, just infused him with energy that he'd bring back to the gym. He tells us all the stuff he learned. I mean, he was just this really positive guy at all times.

and I was I was commentated for the World Series of fighting and Justin Gage was going to fight him in my hotel room and it's an all white bathroom and I have a Q-tip I just showered him I have a Q-tip and I hear it snap oh no and I think so I look at the Q-tip and it's broken off so I've reached my ear I can't feel it so now I'm looking on the bathroom floor the relevance to the floor being white is I thought maybe my eyes were playing a trick on me and I just couldn't see it it was white on white I couldn't So I'm down on my hands and knees. I'm going, hey, I got to find this thing because if I can't find it, it means it's in my ear.

And I'm about to go get an earpiece stuck in. I'm going to shove this thing into my brain. I mean, this is how I think this is going to work. So I'm on my hands and knees. I can't find it. I'm so panicked, and I can't feel it either. I'm so panicked. I call my wife on FaceTime, and she helps me look.

So I get to the arena and there's Robert. And even though, you know, he went to Vegas years before, but when a guy is your coach, he's your coach forever. So I go up as a coach, here's what happened. He tells me that I need to think positive about this and that he loses stuff all the time. And he told me some story about his keys, how I couldn't find my keys. I knew they were on my bed. I searched. I took all the betting off.

I put it all back together. The keys weren't there. An hour later, I walk in, I found my keys. I have no idea what that has to do with the fact that I might have a Q-tip in my ear, which is what I told him. but he insisted to me that I just think positive about it. Normally that would have worked, but it's like, no, coach, I have to, one way or the other, it's either in there or it's not. I had to go get the fight doctor who had to look in my ear, open it up,

going to these really long Q-tips or, you know, forecept type things and pull it out. I don't totally know where I'm going to that story other than it was just Robert being positive. And it's like, coach, positive doesn't always work, man. I got to get this thing out of my ear. And it's just a fun story. So it actually was in your ear? It was in my ear the whole time. That's why I'm saying.

I can't just think, I have to know. I have to know one way or the other. This isn't like keys on a bed that just mysteriously, you know, I have to know if this thing's in my ear. Chill. And it was. I love you, buddy, but you can't be cleaning your ears that aggressively. I mean, the fact that you broke it and stayed in your ear,

you're doing this all wrong. You know this, right? Apparently, you know, and I wasn't even cleaning it. It's the scratch that. It feels good. Scratching my ear. Yeah. Broke on.

Wow. Well, that is great. What do we do from here? Who else do you have on the show area? Are you got anything to kind of pick things up around here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've got your former colleague, Daniel Cormier, coming in studio. So that's very exciting.

He's off to Boston, but he's stopping by. Yeah, yeah. We've got Chris Seiberg. The great Chris Cyborg is stopping by, the featherweight champion of the UFC. Of course, your boss. Scott Tucker. I said hello. Yeah, I know she's a big fan.

Oh, Comber hasn't been on yet? Not yet, not yet. Oh, I thought he was already here. All right, well, good. I warmed everybody up for him. Y'all Romero stopping by as well, big middleweight fight coming up next month against Luke Rockhold. So all kinds of actions still to come.

We go six hours here. People take this day off, but we're honoring, you know, the great Dr. Martin Luther King by giving a service to the people here. That's what we do. We don't take days off here. Wonderful. I'm not sure the spin that you just put on them and you've got the right to go to work. I don't know that you had to qualify it,

but all right, good enough, No, it's here. No, it's here. Everyone's away. Last, muzzle tov, to you and your lovely wife. You had a child recently, right, a baby girl. So I'm so happy for you guys. Good, little for you. Little Priya. That's amazing. Thank you, buddy. How old? I appreciate that. Five weeks right now.

Wow. Sleeps all day and parties all night. If I could just switch her schedule around, everything would be a little easier at the old Shale household. But we'll do it her way. We'll do it her way. That's amazing. And Big Brother, being nice to her, not jealous or anything like that? Well, he's being very nice. He's being very nice. But I think that it's because we always tell him, oh, you know, good boy.

I think he likes that praise a little bit. But he'll come around. He's only two and a half. Plus he has a trial coming up. So what do you mean? He's got to focus a little bit. Well, I'm getting him ready for his pending trial. So he's two and a half.

I would guess I'd probably got about 15 years before he's got to take the stand. Okay. What are you talking about? Life in the streets. That's what I'm talking about, Harold. You wouldn't know anything about it, your little penthouse with your view. Things are tough out here in Westland. Chil, I wish you the best. The new headliner for Bellator 192 this Saturday against Rampage Jackson, two of my favorites. I'm a little sad that I won't be there, Chil. I have to admit, I feel guilty about it. But alas, I can't clone myself. Would have loved to be there, but I can't be there. Where are you going to be? You're going to be the WMG alphabet it's just it's closer to new york less of a flight that's really what it comes down to it's weak i know

do your thing i want if we're on tv something called the paramount network maybe you've heard of it formerly known as spike tv which i wish they would tell people they're so big in branding this paramount network and i get the whole thing but just remind people it's the same channel that spike used to be on i know i know don't leave that out people still know where to go to m m m a thank you errol i got to tell you Can I tell you something? Those were very nice of you to give nice wishes to my coach. A little shout out to Dr. King there and to bring up my baby. I do appreciate that.

I will tell you, I'm a little down. I feel great. I think it's just maybe the stress of having to fly. This was possibly my worst appearance on your show. No. And still the best guest you're going to have today. With that, Halwani, kabo. There he is, the one and only.

Chil Pete. Oh, my God. You got to love it. You got to love it. That's great. stuff. Oh, crying here. There's nothing like having chill son.

And I disagree. That's one of his best appearances, I thought. You know, it's always, you get a different guy when he's preparing for a fight, fight week Monday. I typically don't like to have a lot of people who are preparing, you know, to head out, to travel, you know, to get on a plane. They're mentally, but what a fascinating little tidbit that was, right? I mean, he's, he has to sometimes remind himself that he's, you know, going to fight this

Saturday because he doesn't have to cut weight. He's funny. at heavyweight for God's sake. Is it for God's sake or for God's sakes? I think it's sake, yeah. I think I got it right. Thank you very much. Yeah, great stuff there. NCAA, a little tidbit.

It's always something with Chil Sondon. Okay, so that is the headlining act on Saturday at the forum in Englewood. It's Chale Sondon versus Rampage Jackson, the first fight of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix. They don't call it a tournament. They call it a Grand Prix over there. And the co-mate event now is Douglas Sondon. Lima versus Roy McDonald. The fascinating question is, which is the better five pack of fights?

So the Bellator five pack is Henry Corrales versus Georgie Karanian, Shane Crutchin versus Aaron Pico, Michael Chandler versus Goichi Yamauuchi, Douglas Lima versus Roy McDonald. And as we just said, Chal Suna versus Quentin Jackson, that's at 9 p.m. on the rebranded Paramount Network, formerly known as the Spike TV Network. You just mentioned that. Or you're going up against this five pack of fights. That's. on pay-per-view, Steve Miochich versus Francis Inganu, Daniel Cormier versus Volcano Osdemir,

Shane Burgos versus Calvin Qatar, Francimar Bahoso versus John Volante, and Thomas Alameda versus Rob Font. The better five-pack. What's the better five-pack of fights? I don't think it's a easy one. I think it's a pretty fascinating debate. The good news is,

if you're watching both, the Beltor show should end before the Vulcan DC fight maybe not the Vulcan DC fight but certainly

the main event so if you're watching both I'm always fascinated how people have it set up a lot of people these days have two TVs up there they'll bring in a laptop

the problem with bringing in the laptop yesterday I was watching the end of the Viking Saints game and I was watching Fox Sports Go his first time I watched Fox Sports Go before

and it's actually really good the quality is really good the stream is crystal clear. The problem is if you have Twitter up, I came to find out very quickly that it's quite delayed. So I actually tuned into the football game, the Saints Vikings game with like, no joke, 20 seconds left.

And the first play that I saw was the touchdown. But I saw on Twitter like an explosion of, wow, wow, oh my God. It was just those words. like, holy crap, I can't believe it, Vikings. And I kind of assumed, based on the fact, maybe I thought that they screwed up, you know, maybe they fumble or something, but it seemed like something good had happened for the Vikings. So it was a little bit delayed, so you can't watch one of those and be on Twitter. That's the problem.

There's a bit of a delay there. Otherwise, a lot of people, I saw Bill Simmons on Instagram had like three TVs mounted on his wall. Three TVs, like his son was watching something, he was watching something. That's a lot of work. I'm old school, I just have one. But sometimes I'll break out the phone, break out the computer, that sort of thing. So I'm curious to see what the fans will do on Saturday.

I'll be at the UFC event heading off to Boston on Thursday, and it was a tough decision because I like both cards very much. Alas, it's the closer card and big heavyweight title fight. So there I shall be. So in a matter of moments, we're going to be joined by Scott Coker. After that, we'll have you all Romero on still to come. Kelleher in studio, Daniel Kormier in studio, and of course, Chris Cyborg joining us as well. But for now, let us go to the phone lines and welcome in the Belator president.

Manu was a very important, very busy day on Saturday, very busy week to come. The one and only Scott Coker joins us. Scott, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm doing great. And Scott, right off the bat, I want to thank you. Not only for you being on the show today, but you've given us a lot to talk about on the program today because you have this event.

it's a stack card, you're switching networks, but you've given talk radio, whatever you want to call what we do, we like to look for little things, we like to harp on things. And when we're talking about a fight card for a long time, the storylines start to dry out, but on Friday,

you gave us a whole new storyline to talk about because you put the Chale Sun and Rampage Jackson fight in the main event over the title fight. And this, I will admit, I'm not going to hide from it. I was fired up, and I don't think it's the right call. Can you explain to the audience

why this is the right call? Because I am 100% against this. decision. And for the most part, I think you make the right calls, but this time I think you got it wrong. Well, listen, you know, we never came out and said that which fight was going to be forced. So in all fairness, I think that you have to give us that pass. Okay. And then I think that, you know, that you guys said that, well, this fight, or you would assume that that was going to be last. And I can't win either way. But you know what? There's a lot of people

that do, you know, a lot of, I don't know, I want to say analytics and things like that up at Bicom and it came down saying that, hey, we failed that this should be the last fight. So, hey, when TV says, that's what they want, then that's what they get. But, Scott, I'm a traditionalist. I'm old school, and I feel maybe we assumed, and maybe that was wrong on our part, but the title fight I feel should always be last, and especially when you have Rory that you paid so much money for and Douglas, who did so great, isn't it kind of just a no-brainer that the title fight goes on last?

And it's maybe the best title fight in Bellator history. Well, I can tell you this. The beauty of this event is, look, you get to watch both fights, and it's all free live on Paramount Networks, right? So you can sit there and watch both. You don't have to, you don't have to decide which one you want to watch first. And so, you know, at the end of the day, you get to sit there and watch both. So to me, it works.

I mean, to me, I'm happy with the decisions. We're going to move forward. And by the way, both fighters, you know, like I'm talking about Lima and and Chale and the rampage. And, you know, they were like, yeah, it doesn't matter. You know, to me, they just want to fight. You know, they want to fight, you want to have a great showing. and, you know, like I said, you get to sit there, and you'll be able to watch both fights for free,

and you know, you don't have to worry about which one comes first. With all due respect, I think they were being nice to you when they said they didn't mind. I think deep down, I think they were being sort of, you know, respectful of the fact that you're their boss and they don't want to make a big stink. Well, here's a thing, you know what, when I think about your lineup today, Carol, come on.

It's like a strike force reunion, man. should have had me on earlier. I should have been before some of these guys. Wow. I mean, it's like, no, joking. I'm joking. It's like, look, I'm so proud of some of the accomplishments of the guys in Strike Force that made throughout all the years, but it's like a strike force reunion. It's true. You know, I didn't even think of that. DC, Rockhold, Chris Cyborg. I mean, it's really a who's who, and it's kind of fitting. I'd even plan it this way, but it comes just a couple of days after the five-year anniversary of the last show. Did you remember that? Like, did it cross your mind? January 12th?

2013, the last show in Oklahoma City? Well, I tell you, that's something that was, you know, that was a tough day for me, man. I love strike for us. That was like, you know, that was on my baby good. And, you know, we, you know, we had the last day. I know it was in January. I didn't know the exact day, but, you know,

I know that Ryan Grave was on there, our guy right here at Beltor. And, C.G., I think he was probably, you know, he was probably, I don't know. He was in his diapers. 18, 19 years old at the time. Yeah, he was diapers. So, you know, but, you know, at the end of the day, it was, you know, it was a great run, man, I love that company.

But think about all those great fighters that we came out of there, it was a fight factory. And that's what we should call a fight factory. You know, it's interesting because I went back and looked at our last interview at that show, and you had a smile on your face and you were saying all the right things. But deep down, like, how would you describe how you were feeling? Were you sad? Were you kind of happy it was over because it was a bit weird at the end with Zouffer running the show? Like, can you put yourself back, you know, five years ago in Oklahoma City?

What was going through your mind as, as, I think we were the last ones in the media room. Honestly, yeah, honestly, it was like a, you know, once, once, you know, Supertookover, strike force started taking out some of the fighters. It was never the same company, in my opinion. And so, you know, there was a certain amount of, you know, like, you know, like, it's time to move on down and move on with my life and move forward. But yeah, you know what? When we sold a company, it was a tough day, man. It was a sad day.

And the last fight, it was something, you know, I'll never forget. It was like a historical point where you put a period in your life. And then, you know, then there was, you know, the fights or not the fights, but the time that was post the last event. And, you know, it was something I was proud of. Because, I don't think about all those great fighters we came out with. I mean, half, three quarters of the guys were on your regular show, say it was from strike force. Even your old

O'Mara was on from strike wars. That's right. Even your old Amaro. That's right. So, you know, to me, it's like, we're proud of it. I think we were a great star identifiers, with great star builders. And that's what we're doing over here at Belator. And that's what you're going to see the Saturday night. And Bybant-Frey, it's Free on Paramount Network.

Tune in. How do you feel about the switch to Paramount? Are you worried at all that there's a rebranding going on, that it's not the same network that Belator might get lost in the shuffle? Like, honestly, now, are you a little bit scared about this? I hate change. I get nervous about change. What about you?

No, listen, I'm actually very excited about it because when you have, you know, the ownership group that we have in Bicom and the things that they're doing around the world, not just domestic people around the world, I mean, they are buying up networks, you know, buying up, they just bought a sort of a new network in Italy. We just bought a new network in India, and they're buying networks around the world. And so to me, we're always going to have a home. in different countries around the world. But, you know, the way I look at it,

it's like it's going to be a premium channel to do some great original programming. And, you know, when I think about the program that's going to be on there, the creation of content, the movies that they're going to run from Paramount Studios. And just the overall, you know, scheduling, it's going to be like a showtime at HBO

where, you know, you'll see Homeland, you'll see, you know, different entertainment products. So then twice a month on a Saturday or Friday night, here comes the Volatory of Maine. We're the only sports property on Paramount or owned by Biacom. And I think you'll see play with on the Paramount Channel moving forward. Okay, so let's stick with the TV theme here for a second. Some big news, Jimmy Smith, gone, replaced by Big John McCarthy.

And of course, you still have Mike Goldberg and Morrow doing play-by-play. Che will still do his thing, and he'll split that time, or sometimes there'll be a three-man booth. Can you tell us why Jimmy Smith is no longer with Bellator? Why the decision to not extend that contract? You know, that was really a TV decision. That's something that maybe you should come to the press conference on Thursday and John Suss will be there and you could ask them.

But, you know, it's really, it was a network decision. It was, you have no saying this? I mean, look, when we were with Showtime, I think he'll ask David Dickens all, can so and so be a commentator or a play-by-play guy, it was like, hey, here's the team. And that's who it is. And the TV traditionally handles, you know, the broadcast part of that.

And I'm happy that they do. It's like something that they're very good at. And, you know, they felt that they wanted to move forward in her direction, and that's what they did. I have a hard time believing that they don't ask you for your opinion. You are the guy. You're the head honcho. You run that place.

come on oh arrow you know what it's like listen honestly it's uh you know I don't think that uh you know when you're when you're at HBO or you're at showtime you're asking you know Steve and S for those I want this kind of be a color commentary guy or or play by the network

the network basically dictates you know who the guys are okay okay so then let me ask you about the decision to bring in big John did you have anything to do with that and if you didn't have anything to do What do you think of it? Well, what it did was, they said, well, you know, who the likely candidates?

And I said, hey, there's this something you can actually look at because I saw Big John at the, at the Flitchin show back in the day. And he did a great job. And I always stuck in my mind. And I said, who has better credibility and respectability and knowledge? And firsthand knowledge and knowledge of other, you know, color commentary candidates. wouldn't have and that's somebody that's been in a cage that has seen all different sides of it

and uh and it's like it's like a rules director for the for the sport i mean you can't get you can't get uh than the credentials that big john has and we're really proud to have on board and and i'm looking forward to uh him doing his thing on saturday night in a perfect world scott would you rather not be on the same night as the ufc or do you think that this plays perfectly in in your favor because you're on cable television so So for most people, you know, free because Spike is or Paramount soon to be Paramount is available if you just have basic cable and they're on pay-per-view so you can affect their pay-per-view buys. Do you view it that way or would you rather be separate, you know, Friday, Saturday type of thing?

I mean, I think if you look at our past history, we have traditionally done almost to 80% of our shows on a Friday night and having to do shows on Friday night. It's just that, you know, we have a business to run. They have a business to run. And this is a fight that just happened. conflict. And we didn't know we booked the date that the one that they did have a date or they had a pay-a-pary date. We just said, hey, this is the date that's only available that's open for a paramount. And it's a launch of the network. It has to be on this weekend. And, you know, the venue was

available. And the venue happens to be in California, which we're not going to go on a Friday night in California, which, you know, be a terrible mistake. And so we said, hey, it's just going Saturday night. And it ended up being going hit-to-head. But listen, that was something that was I'm not that company where we're retargeting different events. We're just going to go through our own thing, run our own business. And this will just happen to have a conflict. I'm curious as to why you said that going on Friday in California is bad, because I remember historically I went to many Strike Force shows on a Friday night in California.

Or do you mean Los Angeles? No, no. The fights that you saw on Friday night were like the Strike Force Challenger fights. and Saturday nights for all these the championship fights. No way, Scott. What do you tell you?

Old age has gone into your memory. Are you kidding? I saw Bobby Southworth fight for the belt on a Friday night. I'm talking old strike. Josh Thompson

versus Gilbert Melendez was on a Friday night in San Jose, my first ever strike force. Oh, no, no, no. I'm talking about once we came up to Showtime. Oh, okay.

I'm talking about the old days. I'm reminiscing here. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's tough on a Friday night in L.A. trying to get to the traffic to get to the venue. Oh, I see.

It's a tough day. Okay, because of traffic. Okay. Same thing with the Bay Area. They're trying to get anywhere in the Bay Area on a Friday night. It's really, really tough. And, you know, I think prior to us becoming a TV property, we would get some dates on Friday night. But once we went on Showtime, Showtime, we look, Friday nights are Challenger dates,

and that's where Luke Rockhold, that's where Daniel Cormier, that's where Rwanda, that's where, you know, Cyborg. That's where all, that's where all these challengers will fight for us, you can believe it. That's right. Yeah. I'm just throwing some things out there. And the championship fights were the fight sharing much of the world, the NICDians of the world, you know, the Congolese of the world,

and Cyborg actually fought on there, Regina. You know, those were all on Saturday nights. So traditionally, that's kind of how it landed off when we became a TV property. I'd be remiss if I don't ask you about this because I'm being flooded with tweets from fans in Europe asking me, how can they watch the show on? Saturday. What can you tell these fans in the UK, especially who seem to be very upset that they can't get the shows live? Yeah, you know what? I have to look at it because I don't even know really what time we're going live there, but I won't do that information to you. I will circle back with Adela at Bicayton International, and then I'll circle back to you guys and see what the best way to watch it because it's going to be exciting. It's going to be a great night.

Is that a big priority for you to fix the TV situation there? Because I always hear from the fans who want to watch you live, but they say they can't. The answer to that is 100%. We need to fix that. And, you know, it's complicated because you have a network that has the rights to it, and they have a certain day slot that they want to use it for, and they want to do it on a certain day. And, you know, and sometimes that takes delay 24 hours.

So that takes a late, you know, 12 hours. but fans want to see it now. And so, you know, we're talking internally and we're trying to work it out. It's on a case-by-case basis, like I said, because a lot of the networks have already tied up the rights to a lot of the product.

A few more things before I let you go. The lightweight division will be in focus on Saturday. You've got the former champion Michael Chandler against Coach Yamachi. That's a big fight, but I think a lot of us expected it to be an instant rematch between Chandler and Brent Primis. They've had some back and forth. Can you clear it

Why isn't Primus fighting Chandler for the belt next? Yeah, you know what? We actually were talking to try to put that fight together. And my understanding is that Primus, he and his wife had a baby, and that he wasn't available for some amount of time. And Michael wants to fight now, so we're going to put the fight together. And then the winner will fight Primus in the next fight, which we're going to try to make that happen within a short amount of time.

It's not going to be six, eight months down the road. Okay, so the winner of Yamauchi and Chandler is going to fight Permis for the belt. That's correct. Okay. Since you're in a giving move, what other news you have for us? Anything else you can share? Everything else is top secret. Everything, it's all about the fights this Saturday.

I mean, live and free on Perma. Don't forget that already? Sorry, I did. I didn't know if I remember just say that. Like, it's going to be a great net of fights and there's something really proud of, top to bottom. It's a stack card. And I can tell you this, the ticket sales this year, compared. to Tito versus Chale.

We've already beat the ticket sales record we had last year. So ticket sales are going extremely well. And, you know, I think Saturday morning I got a report. And we already beat the Tito Chale fight. And we're expecting maybe, you know, the record banking night for us. So that squashes the theory that you made the switch because of slow ticket sales. Because I heard that as well of some people hypothesizing. You know, it's, come on, that's silly.

I mean, you know, we have a business around, and we're going to stick to what we know to be, you know, some business practices. We're not going to react to, you know, things here and there. And, you know, it just proves that the fight card that we put together, people want to see. And ticket sales are going extremely well. I think this will be the first.

I think Massa's core garden was our biggest date. I think this will be number two. Wow. And both owned by MSG, right? So I'm sure they're very happy about that. But you understand why I'm fired up. but I'm not just trying to be a stickler here. Like, I like when title fights are last.

You get that, right? Yeah, but we're not the only company that has done that. I mean, you have to be fair and talk about all the companies that have done that before the past. And so maybe that's, you know, that's something that we can have an offline conversation about that. Sure. I brought up the UFC 196 thing that some people in your company brought up to me,

but that one doesn't fly in this discussion because McGregor and RDA was the original main event. There was an injury, and then it got switched. no injury here. Come on, details. Details, little details. Okay. Before let you go.

Listen, you get to watch both fights. Yes. Both fights. Yes. And you don't have to worry about which order they're in. And people are going to love it. It's going to be great fights. And, you know, Roy gets to sit down, fight and then sit down and watch the other fight.

I mean, it's going to be a fun night, man. You know, I, I'm really, really excited and to have Roy fight this fight against Lamar a champ. It's something that I've been looking forward to for years since they signed him. Actually, you're the other one that took me into it. I remember calling you.

I said, hey, what do you think, Garo? And you said, hey, this guy is the real deal. You need to get him. And that's what we did. Wait, a second. This is top secret stuff, Scott. You're giving away all my secrets.

Well, sharing is caring, that's the way I look at it. You called me up and said, what do I think? You guys were kind of on the fence, since you're bringing it up. You were on the fence about Rory, and I said, you're crazy if you don't sign this guy, right?

That's exactly right. You know, it was something that we want to reach out to you because I know you guys are friends and I knew him on the show along, and you really knew him well. I didn't know him that well. And, you know, I'm glad I reached out, and he came with a high recommendation,

and we went out and we got him. And how do you repay me? You demote him from the main event. There's nothing motion here. It's cool. It's cool main event. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Last thing for you, Scott, before you let you go, give me a great all-time strike force moment. Is there anything, a five-year anniversary we're reminiscing from the old days, the first ever show, Caesar Gracie, Frank Shamrock, when you think of Strike Force in its heyday, is there anything that comes to mind,

any moment that we haven't heard about, anything that you really remember that really stuck with you? Oh, boy, there's so many great moments and great thanks and just great stories. And I know that you can't be on your show, so I'll share this on with you. Okay, okay.

You know, Bob Cook calls me, and says, hey, I want to meet with you. I got this new, I got this guy, and he's going to be your new champ, and heavyweight champ, actually, at the time. And so we met at a place called Willow Street Pizza in downtown Willowland, and Bob walks in with Daniel, and we're talking. And again, Daniel's not in his shape. He's not, you know, insured for fighting or anything.

But he could talk. He could talk. I said, God, you know, wow, I really like him. I think he could talk, but he doesn't look like a fighter. Are you sure he could fight? He says, well, you know, I know he could wrestle. But we're going to get him in here, and we're going to, you know, we're going to make him a striker, and we're going to teach him to J-Jitsu.

And Bob goes, yeah, okay, well, I'll be back. So, Dania and I, he had a chance to try to lump for about 10, 15 minutes, and then we made a deal right there. Wow. The deal was, you know, quite, quite like a very conservative type deal, very beginner, you know, entry level. And then, you know, we said, okay, let's fight this guy. And, man, then he went on a tear.

And then it became like a kickboxer. And I'm like, wow, this guy is an amazing athlete. So I'm proud of everything Daniels accomplished. And it all started at Willis Street Pizza. He'll tell me. Wow. What a great story. I love that.

I'm going to share that with him when he comes in. Yeah, tell me he always is a cream barbecue when he gets back from his fight. Oh, wow. You guys have a standing date? Well, we hang out once in a while. You know, he's busy. I'm busy. But listen, these guys, I know these guys from a while time.

Yeah. And I see some of Luke Rockhole. You're still golf with Rockhold. We were just talking about that, right? He's a golfing buddy of yours. But he is actually quite a good golfer. It kicks my butt. Wow.

Fascinating. All right. Well, we'll leave it at that. Great memories there. Wanted to reminisce a little bit. But I certainly wish you the best, Scott. I'm looking forward to it this Saturday. Paramount Network, the headlining act, as we've talked about, ad nauseum.

It's Quinton Rampage Jackson versus the one and only Chale Sun-in. Co-Mane event is Douglas Lima versus Roy McDonald for the Walterway. Are we doing some kind of big, you know, reveal? I know you did a great one in New York. I remember I was there for the Strike Force Grand Prix where you brought out all the guys. Are we going to do that sort of thing in California this week? Oh, yeah, you'll see all the guys.

All the guys are coming in from the tournament, and we're going to have a great reveal as far as we've already announced a match-ups. We'll have the dates and locations, and, you know, it's going to be a lot of fun. We have a lot to talk about this weekend. Alternate fights? Will you bring those out as well?

Will you tell us who the alternates are going to be? The alternate fights are, you know, I mean, we have some and we will reveal them on Saturdays. You've got to turn in. Okay. Less we forget, the last time you did one of these, the alternate, Daniel Cormier, won the whole thing, right? That's how it works. I mean, you know, with these tournaments, you never know. Amazing.

All right, Scott. Thank you so much. Best of luck to you guys, looking forward to it. And thanks for coming on and explaining everything. We needed your sound judgment here to make sense of it all. we'll agree to disagree on this one. Well, listen, I'm happy to be on, and I've always, you know, bunch of your show and blood your growth, and really proud of you, man.

You're doing some great things and chip it up. Wait, is this it? Are you never coming back on? Oh, no, no, I will, but that was just my giving you a nice plug. Oh, thank you. Thanks, Scott. I appreciate it. Good luck on Saturday. All right. Thanks. I thought he was saying goodbye for good. I thought that was it. I always enjoy talking to Scott Coker.

former Belator president, now the former Strike Force president, now the Belator president. And who to thunk it, five years ago on Friday, January 13th, January 12th, 2013, Oklahoma City, we were the last ones in the media room. He said goodbye. And by then, you know, Strike Force had run its course. It was kind of like a slow death and guys were jumping over and it just didn't feel the same. But there was a time when it felt the same. And I always, I always held, you know, strike force in high regard and a special place of my heart because back when I couldn't get credentialed to UFC events, they were credentialing me. Michael Frommowitz, the PR guy over there.

The first event that I ever went to was, as I said, Josh Thompson versus Gilbert Melendez. That was tremendous. So they celebrated their five-year anniversary on Friday, not much celebration, but on Saturday, they start things over again on the Paramount Network. And I think that they've done a pretty good job. I've seen some commercials about the event on Saturday being on the new channel and switching over all that stuff. So I think it's always tough. But I think people are kind of more accustomed now to just going to a channel.

Like I know on DirecTV, I think it's channel 241, right? I think it's 241. So I think people just go to the channel 241 and they kind of move on with things. All right, so that's that. So we've talked about all the switches. We've talked about the main event now being the co-main event and the co-main event now being the main event. We've talked about the switch from the television standpoint.

Big John is in. Jimmy Smith is out. Jimmy Smith now working for the UFC. And he's making his debut as far as UFC TV programming is concerned on Friday for FS1. He's going to be part of the whole 220 package on FS1. and as far as his color analyst work is concerned, that's TBD last I checked in,

which was on Friday, but he's going to be in the mix. And they have, I mean, I was a little bit surprised only because they have such a great stable of color analyst. The UFC has done a phenomenal job of developing TV talent,

and sometimes it's guys just being thrown into the deep end. you know, like a guy like Paul Felder and people are surprised by Paul Felder but we shouldn't be surprised by Paul Felder because he is a thespian. I mean, this is a guy who studied acting and knows what it's like to perform and to speak and just beyond the spot

when that red light goes on. So it's not quite being on stage. It's not quite theater, but it is performance, it is speaking, it is being confident. So his success thus far doesn't really surprise me. It's a great addition to their stable.

They lost Brian Stan, but they haven't missed a beat. Dominic Cruz, great. D.C., great. Felder, great. Dan Hardy, great. Joe Rogan, still Joe Rogan, great. So they have a very strong stable. Now they bring in Jimmy Smith.

I like the move very much because he's not a UFC guy, never fought in the UFC. And typically they've kept it in house. So I like the fact that they're bringing in someone from outside. I was just a little surprised just because they're so loaded there. But maybe now that they're going to use them on the desk, you know, have them go out there and break down the cards and things. like that, I think it's, um, it's certainly important to have someone who's retired, who didn't fight in the UFC. I, I think it lends a lot of credibility to the broadcasts. And it's something

that they haven't really had in the past. I think that's very important. Um, okay, New York, Rick, giving me some updates here. What in the win? Okay. We're trying to connect with, uh, Yul Romero earlier today. His management team told me that he was going to be on the beach training during the time that we agreed on. So I think that there's some wind involved. Do you remember the last time we had someone on the beach, Dustin Poirier, it was like a storm. It felt like through the telephone, all kinds of wind,

so it wasn't very pleasant. But I just want to check in with the guy and talk to him about the switch. If we could do that, yeah, it's a problem. This is just, but I did want to mention one more thing before we move on. The UFC did a beautiful gesture on Sunday night in St. Louis. It was very emotional. It was perfect the way they did it.

And they were in St. Louis. And in the middle of the broadcast, the main card, a package played about Matt Hughes and his accident and his recovery. It was very well done. It was well edited. It was the right tone. And then they went back live in the arena and the lights were out. And then his music hit.

Matt Hughes' music hit. in a case you forgot, Matt Hughes was in a serious accident. He was hit by a train. He was in a car hit by a train back in June, June 17th, I believe it was. And at the time when it happened, he was in a coma, and there was some concern whether or not he would survive. And of course, one of the greatest fighters of all time, as tough as they come. But that is certainly serious stuff. Pat Militch was on the show talking a bit about it.

He talked about the scene and thinking that he could get past the tracks and eventually getting hit. I mean, just think about that, getting hit while you're into car by train. Just insane stuff. And he survives. And so yesterday, which is, you know, they're in St. Louis, which is pretty close to where he lives. He was in town. They brought him out. He made the walk. His music plays and his song, very famous song. He always came out to the song. A country boy can't survive. Fitting. What an amazing title for someone like him, especially what he's been through. He walks down. by himself, no help. Obviously, you know, still not 100%, but smiling, high-fiving the fans. It was very emotional. And one of the nicest things that I've ever seen on a UFC broadcast.

Like, I mean, they hit a grand slam with that. It was just so nice to do something a little bit different, deviate from the norm, honor a legend, and a guy who could, I mean, I'm sure there was a time where his family didn't think that he would ever be able to walk, let alone do something like that. So it was just amazing to have him come out and hear that ovation from the crowd. A great crowd, by the way, in St. Louis on a Sunday night and honor a legend like that. It was really cool. And we know that Dana White and Matt Hughes have had a very strong relationship, very good friends over the years. Dan Lambert, who's one of the founders of American Top Team, a longtime friend of his. He was in attendance as well. So it was just really cool stuff. I thought that they did a really

nice thing for Matt Hughes and I'm sure it really lifted his spirits and it was just really nice. The reaction on Twitter was beautiful as well. People very emotional seeing Matt Hughes come out and I was one of them. It was great. It was really nice to see. It was nice to get some sort of update, if you will, on his condition and to kind of see with our own eyes how he's doing because that was that was scary stuff. I remember when Pat was in studio like a month later, that was really scary stuff. So very happy to see that and very happy to see that the UFC did that for Matt Hughes and very happy that the St. Louis crowd gave him that kind of love. They showered him with praise. That that ovation was great. Really nice stuff. I love that moment. It's funny, a lot of people

were tweeting me as it was happening that it was the very early frontrunner for feel good moment of the year. It's going to be hard to top that one. Maybe when he comes to. out and speaks in the middle of the cage or something. But like, that was just amazing stuff. That really was. Well done UFC on that one. Very cool stuff. All right. So where do we stand here? It sounds like we don't stand anywhere getting an update. If we don't get it. Yeah. All right. Let's effort to check in with Mr. U.L. And I had a feeling and I'll take this up with his team later on. but I still feel like we'll get him, just not when we planned on getting him.

Let's move along to our next guest. Shall we do that? Is that good for you guys? Yay, nay. Yay, nay. Okay. All right. So in a matter of moments,

we're going to be joined by our next guest. His name is Brian Keller, her. They call him boom. You may have found out over this past week, and I can take these off because we're going in studio now. last week we found out that Brian Kelleher is going to be facing

Hennon Burrell in Orlando UFC on Fox 28 It's nice to take those off Brian Kelleher has been a long time supporter of this program You'll remember a little over a year ago when York Rick did his little campaign for

tickets for the opportunity to join him at UFC 205 to be a guest of his at UFC 205 Rick's Tix was the name of the campaign. Brian Kelleher sent in probably the best submission of them all.

He wrote a song about it all. He was playing the ukulele, and some way somehow I still don't understand how. New Yorkerick didn't pick him. Incredible. And now here he is a UFC fighter. He could have said, I ran a promotion for this show.

I took someone to UFC 205 and I ended up taking a future UFC fighter. And not just any UFC fighter, a pretty damn good one. Missed out on that opportunity. What a feather in his cap, that would have been. He ended up taking someone else. Who remembers that person?

It's almost like the, what is it, Wally Pip? Wally Pip and Lou Gehrick. That other person is Wally Pip. Brian Keller, her, is Lou Gehrick. Everyone remembers the Iron Horse. No one remembers Wally Pip. In any event, it's been a good run for him thus far in the UFC, one in New York's own.

remember last year made his debut in Brazil ended up fighting Yuri Alcantara submitted him via a guillotine choke and just a little over a minute 30 minute 48 to be exact followed that up with a loss

on Long Island to Marlon Vera but then he followed that up with a win over Damien Stasiak in Poland and that ended up being the fight of the night now in a little over a month he's fighting Hennon Burrell in Orlando,

and what a massive opportunity this is. And this is a guy who's been asking for these opportunities. He's been calling out these guys. He says he wants to fight him. He's been asking. Remember when the whole thing with Marlon Marais and Jimmy Rivera happened, he was on Twitter around Christmas time saying, look at me, I'm at the gym, I'll cut the weight, I'll fight him.

I'll fight Jimmy Rivera on five days notice. I'll fight him on four days notice. He was actively campaigning for that fight. He's been actively campaigning for that fight. He's been actively campaigning. painting the fight. Who is it? John Lineker in the past.

He's wanted all these guys since coming in. And he's been doing this for quite some time. Since 2011, to be exact. By the way, someone on Twitter keeps telling, and this is the second time has happened. What does this person say? Please stop saying deja vu all over again.

It's redundant. No, it's not. It's a line that was said by the great Yogi Berra. Look it up. Learn your history. Yogi Berra. all over again. It's not redundant.

It's a famous yogism. I said it on the beat and I had someone tweet me about it and someone just tweeted me about it again. Please stop saying deja vu all over again. It's redundant. No, it's not. Learn your history. American history.

When you see the fork in the road, take it. Remember that one? There was another one about expensive luggage. Why spend money on luggage? You only use it when you travel. Yogiism. Legend. Yankees catcher. Learn your history, folks. Anyway, that's my history lesson for today. Let us welcome in our first in studio guests of the day.

Here he comes. The man they call Boom, Brian Keller in the house. Yes, there he is. What's up, Brian? How are you? I know you don't like the germs. See, that's why I love you, Brian. You pay attention, my man. Wow, you came with gifts. I came with a gift for you. Wow, look at this. A boom hat.

A boom hat. Is this your own? Yes, it's my own, yep. Let me try this on. That's my logo right there. A really big head. Yeah, you might have to fit it to your head. It looks good.

Dare I say it's never looked better. My head, that is. That's great. Thank you very much for that. And what's that? This is some CBD oil that I have for. This is a sponsor called the Turp House. Okay.

And this is just my supplement company. Not mine, but my sponsor, the supplementing. All right. I like it. Yeah. What's the CBD stuff do? The CBD has, like, many different benefits for like, you know, CTE, anxiety, you know, inflammation, stuff like that.

There's a lot of different benefits to it. It's just coming out. These guys actually were like trying to, you know, do a show at some point and try to push their product and talk about CBD further, you know? Wow. And how do you like consume that? It's like a little drop-a-thing. This is like a tincture. Yeah, you just do like one millimeter and you just drop it under your tongue and that's it.

And they have like lotions and stuff like that too. When I put lotion on like my knee or like if something's hurt, you just. How often do you put it on? A lotion I only use if I have, if something's sore, but this I use every day, twice a day, pretty much, like morning and night. Really? Yeah. Okay. Like, when you wake up, you put it in, how do you feel?

Like, do you get high? No, no, no, no. Okay. There's no high. Like, there's no marijuana in this. Like, it's just, it's the hemp plant, but it's the non-psyactive. Okay. It just has all the benefits that the marijuana plant has, but you don't get high.

Okay. I'm a little naive when it comes to all this stuff. I don't really partake. You know, are you, are you a marijuana smoker? Here and there, I would, you know what I mean? You see the benefits? I used to back in the day a lot more, but then, you know, it led to like some kind of like paranoia, anxiety type shit. Really?

Yeah, I was like, I don't want to keep doing this. I want to clear my head. And like that was before I was in the UFC and like maybe like six, seven months before I just cut it out. Okay. So you started to think like people were watching you or not even that. Just like you lose your mind literally. It just kind of races, you know, racy thoughts. And I'm like a, I'm an overthinker to begin with.

So it would enhance that pretty much. You know, and some days it wouldn't. Some days it would. Wow. So it's unpredictable, you know. And this stuff is cleared by Usada. All good. Yeah, this is cleared by Usada.

But starting now, 2018, I believe, they just took it off the ban list. That's right. That's right. That's huge. Yeah. So a lot of fighters are using this stuff. So this would be your first time fighting using this stuff? Yeah.

Because you're good to go. Yeah. Now I can use it fight day and there's no issues. And what a fight it is? Yeah. And freaking barrow, man. That's crazy. This is nuts.

Yeah. This is a big deal. Yeah. What was your reaction when you got the call? You know, I was really. really pushing for that Rivera fight. I'm one of those guys that's just always training, staying ready. My weight's never too far off.

So I'm like, you know what? I'm going to jump at any opportunities. I fought them in the past, you know, in Bellator. And, you know, it was a close fight, competitive fight. You know, we both got a lot better. And I was like, you know, I'm going to throw my name out there. And, you know, it was close. But the UFC didn't, you know, seem to want it.

So I was like, you know what? We'll see what they offer me next. I think that they like me. You know what I mean? They like that I'm that kind of guy that's willing to do that. So my manager calls me. I'm at the gym. He's like, I like, I like, I like, I like, they got your hen and brown.

And I'm like, yeah, of course. Like, this is what I'm here for. You know, I was like, number 10, you know, it's going to, I'm going to fight this guy and, you know, make my way up in the rank. So I was, I was really excited. Were you surprised that they gave you, Burrell? Like, were you expecting someone like him? It was, you know, I go through the list.

I look at guys. I honestly thought, like, Pedro Muñoz was going to be someone because, you know, he fought Damien last and beat him, and then I fought and beat him. So I was like, maybe they'll match us up. But then I thought of Brown. Like, you know what? Brown's coming off some losses and he's moving back down. Yep.

And I was like, you know, he's training an American top team now I see and stuff. And I said, you know what? He's probably a guy that wants to get back in there too. And I guess they want to, you know, give a new guy that's up and coming a good chance, you know, which I really appreciate it. What do you make of Henna Brow right now? It's kind of hard to like really gauge where he's at in his career, right? Because he went to 1.45 now he's back down.

As you said, he changed teams. Yeah. What's your sense on where he's at? You know, it's like I never want to overlook like his last fight against Aljo I saw. And he just looked off in that fight. You know, it just looked like he was hesitant. Not the same brow, you know. But I'm going in thinking it's the same barral as old.

You know, he's at American top team. Maybe he's making changes. You never know what to expect. But, you know, I believe in myself. And I came here to fight the best. So this is my chance to prove my worth. So when you say that you watched him against Alja, he was a bit off. Like, what do you mean by that?

What kind of off? Like, when I seen him fighting Uriah Faber and those guys, I see a more aggressive guy that, like, really wants to take your head off, you know, and I'm expecting that guy, but when I've seen him fight Aljo, which Aljo is a tough guy to fight, he's very elusive and tricky, and I think it threw Barow off, but I just see a guy that, like, a little bit lazy in there, you know, he's not really trying to finish the fight, he's getting out positioned, and it looks like he kind of breaks towards the end of the fight, you know, at like late second round, he starts to fade, and he

starts to lose his cardio, and I think that's something I can definitely take advantage of. There are some people who throw it like a couple weeks ago. We had someone on the show who was like Jeremy Stevens, who was talking about Aldo. You know, Usada got to him. Yeah. People have said this about Borrell. Do you believe that?

I can never throw accusations out there. You know, I don't know for sure. But you see changes in his body for sure from the, you know, the older days without Usada and his performances too. But I, you know, who's to say, you know, you really don't know what he was doing or what he was taking. But a lot of people do say that those guys were taking some stuff. That's right. Do you feel like you're catching him on the way down?

It seems like that, yeah. I would say he's more so on a decline and, you know, I'm more on an up climb. So I think it's a perfect matchup right now. So you're here first time on the set of the MMAR. Yeah, it's crazy right now. You've been watching? I might be more nervous than my fights. Get out of here. Did you see New York, Rick? I saw New York, yeah. What did you say that? First time you met him in person? I got him a boom hat. I got him a boom hat. He didn't have to do that. He didn't give you anything.

No. He spit on you when you tried to go to UFC 205. I know what it was? It was crazy. Like, I remember. I remember I was big fan of the show for years, you know, and I would watch the show and kind of get, like, envious, like, seeing people on the show, like, trying to manifest. Like, I'm going to be here one day. Like, I know it. I'm going to get there one day. But I was, you know, fighting in the regional scene. I was on a good win streak.

And I was taking any fights I could. Like, I wanted the best guys, you know, I fought Julio Arce was my last two fights that I won before. And UFC this weekend. Yeah, you know, fighting this weekend, which, you know, I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be a good fight. And, yeah, I was just like, you know, one day I'm going to be there. And then I met you at 209. at McGregor Diaz 2.

Was that 209 or no? 202. 202. I met you there. Really? Yeah. You were in Vegas? You probably don't remember.

I was in Vegas. Yeah. I met you at Wayans. I was like a fan boy. I was looking for you. I was like, where's that real? Wow.

Yeah, I saw Sean Alshadi and he sat between you. That's hilarious. I have no recollection of this. Yeah, I have a picture of us for that day. And then like, I was like just, you know, starstruck. Like, I've been a fan and everything. But I knew I was going to be here one day. I've been like, you know, just manifesting this for years.

and now here I am, it's just crazy, like just feeling myself here, you know? That's awesome. Well, I'm happy you're here. Why did you go to 202? I went with my brother. My birthday was August 19, so it's like a birthday thing. We just, me and my brother who's here with me, we took a trip out there and we just, just as a fan, yeah. Was that your first UFC event?

No, it was my second or third, but it was funny. Like, when I went there, like, I was, I went down at the bottom, you know, where, like, Shelby and Dana walk out. Like, I was like hounding them. I was like, listen, I was like, you got to sign me. I was like, look, I had my name. knockout on Dana's show. Oh yeah, this is after. I'm ready.

Yeah, this was after. I was like, I'm ready. Please sign me like, me and Sean Shelby had a conversation, but he kind of was like, eh, I get this all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like so many fighters want to be here, of course. I'm like, eh, I don't think that worked, you know? Wow, so this is during the event?

Yeah, during the event. You went all the way down there. Went all the way down. No, no, stop you. We got there, like, early. He just went all the way down and I was, like, waiting, just waiting for him and Dana to, like, you know, make my case, like, to be in the UFC, because I was on six or seven fight win streak at the time.

And I was like, man, like, how have they not signed me yet? Beating the guys I beat lately, I'm like, these are guys who are talked about to be next. You know, so I was like, I got to be next. And did you feel kind of bummed that they sort of shoot you away? Yeah, I felt like, you know what? Either way, it was a win-win. Like, I put myself out there. Like, now I'm in their heads a little bit.

But realistically, it's up to the management. You know, my management team, sucker punch entertainment. Like, they did a great job of pushing me. And that's when I got that short-noticed fight against Yuri, you know, which was a shocker too, like to get cold. I knew it was going to happen to short notice. That's usually what happened to a debut guy, you know. Which I always hated because I feel like the short notice guy, like the debut guy,

excuse me, should not be short notice. That's the case to not because there's so much involved, his nerves and all that stuff. And it sucks at your first, in your introduction. Remember Max Holloway, short notice against Dustin Porier. Like, that's his introduction. It's hard to make that first impression the right way, especially on short notice. And more often than not, guys like you come in on super short notice against super tough guys. you, you know, luckily, you pass with flying colors, but I've always hated that thought

process. I don't know why it is that way. I don't know. I think maybe it's like them trying to test you to see like, are you really ready? Like, are you staying ready for this? You know, is this your life? You know, because for me, it's my life. I don't know anything else but fighting, you know? And I was working hard, keeping my weight down. My managers kept telling me. And this was like for months and months. I was waiting like seven months, you know, for this to happen. Yeah. And I hadn't taken a fight because in my head, I was like, I did enough. I spoke with my managers. They're like, listen, you know, trust in us. You did enough. We're going to get you in. They got their eye on you, just waited out. And I was like, all right. You know, I'm waiting it out,

waiting it out. And there it was. I was doing a swim workout. And I was in the pool and I see my brother. And that day, he was like, I can't train. He's like my main training partner, my younger brother, Mack. He fights too? Yeah, he fights also. And he wasn't supposed to be at the gym. And I'm swimming back and I see Mack. And I'm like, what's Mack doing here right now? Like, this is weird. You know, something's up. So he's like smiling, you know, and he's like, you got to get out. You got to call your manager. Call your manager. Oh, man. Oh, man. I'm like, my heart starts beating. I'm like, what's happening? And that's when I got the call and they're like, Yuri. And I was like freaking out. Like I just went back in the pool and just swam like 50 more laps. Wow. Yeah. I'll never

forget that. No, I'll never forget. I was in the sauna like crying, like hoping no one walked in. Wow. What does this guy do it? You know? That's incredible. Yeah, it was surreal. And it's, I mean, what a journey you've had. I was reading a little bit about it yesterday. You, you you moved to Ithaca. You're from the New York area here. You moved to Ithaca to go train. And there was a time where you're at the gym. What was the gym called?

It was called Ultimate Athletics. Okay. And you're sleeping at the gym, air mattress. You're taking a shower where the janitor supplies is. There's like a little corner and like where the mop bucket goes. And that's like our shower. And like that's where we would go and shower. I was like I was living like a poor life.

You know what I mean? But up there. But fortunately I have a great family. They were helping me out. but it was just a whole different life. Why didn't you get like an apartment or something? I just didn't have the money at the time. You know, I was kind of like working my way up.

I knew the gym was free to stay and just had to pay the coach, the management fee, whatever. And I was like, I'm going for my dream. I was working at Walmart at the time. I was doing security. And I just remember feeling so unhappy. And like my biggest fear in life was like to not be free, you know, to not live the life that I love, the life that I want to live. And fighting was it. That's all I wanted to do.

I was a huge fan. And like, it was my dream in my head. and I knew being an athlete my whole life, I was like, I could do this. I know I could do this and be there, but I just got to put the time in and find the right team. So actually two guys, Anthony Leone, who fights for ACB and Kenny Foster,

those two guys were like a pivotal, you know, pivotal people in my career because, like, they were pushing me. They're like, you got to come out to Ithaca. We have a solid team. You got to come train with us and take it to the next level and go pro. Like, you're ready.

And I listened to them and I was like, I saw that they were doing really well. They were like, six, seven and oh. And I was like, I got to do it. I got to follow these guys' footsteps and just see what happens. And I was there for like a year and a half. And it was rough, but I really became the fighter that I was, you know, through that process. There was no point in all that.

We were like, man, this is not worth it. Or like, this is not going to pay off. No, there was. I actually moved into a college house. There was a bunch of college kids. I would say like seven college kids living in this house. Like a dirty house. Kitchen had like bugs in it.

Oh, man. Nasty, you know, lifestyle. But I was just like, I need a, you know, I need a room. better than the blowup bed in the back of the gym. It's freezing. I'm like, I'm just going to go and pay this cheap rent, you know, because it was divided by like eight people. So I went there and I was sleeping and these college kids, you know,

they're living a different life. Like you're trying to be a professional athlete and be disciplined. And they're like partying up above me, like stomping on the floors, music loud. I'm sleeping in my fights in like three days. And like that was like, I got to get out of here. Like I got to go back home, you know. Like that was too much.

Okay. So then you left the team that you came to Ithka to join. Yeah. That must have been tough, no? Yeah, that was tough. But you know what it was, man? There's other things in life, like your personal life, your love life, things that you want to improve on that. I was losing out on while I was up there.

We're just riding my mountain bike to the gym, coming back a house full of all dudes, you know, college kids. And then I had no social life, really. And I was just like, you know what? I got to get back home, maybe get a job, you know, until I get in the UFC and try to, you know, make some better money, maybe get an apartment move out, which still hasn't happened. I still live home with my parents. Wow. But I'm saving a lot of money and, you know, I got two bonuses this year, which was really

helpful. Yeah, I'm trying to make that move next. Wow, wow. Okay, and why did you want to be a fighter? Like, why were you so invested in this dream? Yeah, it's such a weird thing for me to think about, to be honest, because I was the kid that was, like, afraid of fighting. Like, every one of my friends will tell you, like, I was the guy that ran away that

didn't help them, you know? Like, that was like, I was the guy where, like, when the friends got into, like, a, you know, a brawl or like there was a fight somewhere, I would like walk away. Wow. Yeah, and I was scared, and I was always like that. And like, but I had a fire in me, you know, since I was young. I just always had just a lot of passion, you know, to win. Whatever I played, I was like, I got a win.

I just was like burning fire. Like, I remember I was playing soccer when I was a kid and I got subbed out. And just for getting subbed out, like not being able to play, I would flip out. I would cry. I would hit the ground. Like, I wanted to play that bad, you know? And that kind of transitioned into fighting, like my desire. to win to be the best.

And I rushed into fighting. I went to a gym. Who introduced you to that? Like going from a guy who, you know. Really just TV. Just TV? Yeah. Watching UFC?

Watching UFC, yeah. Do you remember the first time you were exposed to it? I remember the time frame. I remember watching Hughes and Chuck Liddell and those guys. And that was really like, all right, I like this. You know, like this was awesome. Like, I just needed a gym. Like, this was before the Ithaca days.

And I was like, I just needed a gym. And I got to find an MMA gym. And it was really a time. thing. Like I was watching, I was thinking this, and then a gym opened up. And it was like months later, and I was like, oh shit, there's a gym down the road. Like, it was like extreme couture. Then it was like

Varners, you know, Jamie Varnes. It was like a chain with those guys. Okay. And I went there and the coaches. Yeah, it was on Long Island. Yeah, it was right near my town, like a town over. Okay. I went there and like the guys, the coaches there were like rushing us into a fight. Kind of like they were excited too to like start a team.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you guys are ready. Like let's go. We're going to put you in. Like, so I fought my first amateur fight with like two months of training. Wow. That was it. Like just being an athlete, you know, just getting in there, training, trying it out. How to go? Two months in, I won.

It was like a TKO where I knocked the guy down in three times in one round. That was at Mohegan's son. Yeah. And that was like, it hooked me. You know, like just winning like that and the feeling, that was like what made me carry on. Wow. What did your parents say about it? My parents are like ultra supportive.

Like they've been behind me the whole way. They've been to like every single one of my fights besides a few that they couldn't. but like my dad came to Brazil. He was the only one in the crowd. He was yelling, you know, he had, like, people surrounding him. Like, you know, it's crazy. Like, but my parents have always been behind me.

And I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. I mean, 30 years old, 31, it's like, get out of the house. Like, you got to start doing something, you know? But I got a full-time job, and I was, like, trying to make ends meet. And I just wasn't happy. Like, I was like, I can't live this life. Like, my fear is to just work for someone to have to be, like, a slave to a boss, you know? Right, right.

So I was like, I got to do it. I got to go for it. You know, I got to make my dream happen or else. I'm going to be unhappy for the rest of my life, you know. And so I'm grateful I'm here. So, man, it's crazy that you're like, you're on TV. You're fighting these top guys, hand and brow. But you still have it home.

Yeah. And you're cool with that. And you're proud of it. I mean, I'm not, I'm cool with it. I got my dogs barking in my face. Like my parents. I love them to death, but they know. Are you in the same room that you grew up in?

Oh, yeah. I'm in the same room. Same room. Same room. Holy smokes. I got my girlfriend. She still live with her parents? She still lives with her parents.

She's younger, fortunately. She's 25, so, like, I kind of made that, you know, you're 25, so you're not going to push me until, you know, the three, four years. It's like, I had a girlfriend in the past that was really, like, bashing me for this, you know, for going for my dream. Oh, really? Yeah. She's not supportive. Not supportive at all. I got to a point where, like, because I'm one of those guys that are, like, do anything for love, you know what I mean?

You're romantic. Yeah, I'm a romantic. I'm, like, the softest fighter, like, you love with me, pretty much. So I'm with this girl and I'm like, I'm just like getting stepped on and like talk down to and, you know, you need to get a serious full-time job or it's done this and that. I'm giving you to like March. It was like, you know, the beginning of the year. I'm giving you a couple of months. If the UFC doesn't happen, then you got to do this.

And I'm like, I got to get rid of this girl. Like I'm either going to like for love for this girl who doesn't even, you know, doesn't even really care about me is telling me don't do this. Thank God I got out of that. And now I have a girl who who's like, the most. most supportive person ever. I'm like, I'm so thankful, you know, that I'm in the situation. When was that when you dumped the other one? That was like, probably like a, maybe a year, year and a half ago. That's not a long ago.

Oh, no, no, no, not a year and a half, no, like two years, I'm like so bad with times. Does she know you? Does she know that you're in the UFC? I don't know. I have no clue. You never heard from her? No, never heard from her, you know. You did kind of want to, you know. I kind of hope she saw me on that festival. That's right. Or at least heard that you're now, you know, doing well, fighting on, you know, big cards and things like that.

I wish the best to anybody. As bad as a person could be to me, like, I still wish the best. I don't really wish any harm. You know, I hope everything works out with the person. But, you know, people have problems and, you know, that's it. And that's done. And I'm just happy that I got out of that. You know, I could have lived that life where I had a kid with someone who just wants your child support.

Like, just leaves you in the dust, you know. So how long do we plan to stay at home for? Like, do we have a timetable here, a five-year plan, something like that? You know, I like to just manifest good things. And, like, you know, I try to finish fights. and I really foresee myself, you know, winning more bonuses, putting on big performances. And of course, Barow is the only thing on my mind. But from him forward, it's like, you know, more money.

I just signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC. I got a little bump. Thanks, yeah. And that was good. But you know us fighters. We always want more money. Sure. You know, if I beat Barow, I feel like it's one of those things where, like, I'm fighting a guy who, of course, earned his pay.

But he's getting paid a lot more to fight me. If I could take this guy out, like, I want to make a guy. case like all right i'm gonna fight the top 10 guys now and make a run let's bump it a little more and you know make it worth it you know make things you know fair here the debut was phenomenal but then there was the slip up on long island yeah devastating how did you react it was crazy like it was weird because i never fought home my my whole career has never been legal in new york you know jersey was close enough but always booed always the the away guy yeah yeah yeah and so when i was home it was just really weird the whole process, you know, because

I go to the Coliseum, I'm driving there with my girlfriend, I'm like, this is weird, you know, and then I drive back home, I'm eating food in my kitchen, that felt weird, then the morning of the fight, I'm like, on my front lawn shadow boxing, you know, just getting some sun. I'm like, this is like so different, you know, like

this feels weird, but... You didn't do the hotel thing? No, I didn't do the hotel thing. In hindsight, do you regret that? Not really, because deep down, I'm a guy who likes to be comfortable, you know, if I can. I'm going to choose the more comfortable situation. But maybe that is a fault of mine because I go to Brazil, I go to Poland, and I do big things. I think there's something about traveling and being in an uncomfortable situation might bring out the best of me.

I just don't, you know, no one likes to be uncomfortable. So I was on my front lawn. I felt weird, but I think maybe the pressure got to me that I was home, you know, that I had all my people watching me. I had people tailgating, you know, trying to, you know, so many people, the most people that's ever come see me fight. And I think I just felt that. Like as I was walking out, I was like, everyone's here. Everyone's here. I remember feeling that and thinking that.

And I was like, man, why am I distracted on that? Like, I got to focus. Yeah. But hats off to Marlin. You know, he's a great jiu-jitsu guy. And, you know, I shot in a stupid takedown and he caught me in a beautiful submission. And that was that. Wow.

Would you rather, next time not like, if the opportunity comes to fight back in New York, will you say no? No, I won't say no. Because I love it here. And I think I want to actually redeem myself, you know. I think I just slipped up. And now I know in my head what I need to, you know, how I need to approach it mentally. And that's it. You know, now I, you know, I'm not going to say, like, where I was is why I lost, you know.

What was it like after, though, facing the family? Oh, my God. I literally walked to the hotel, walk to my car, just drove home. And I was just texting. I was like, I don't, if I lose a fight, my life's over. Yeah. Like, I'm devastated. So you didn't see anyone.

I didn't want to see anybody. I told my girlfriend, like, meet me home, like, because she took her own car. It was separate. and I drove with my brother and I was like I just I gotta get out of here like I can't be around the arena the people like I can't face people you just went home no I went home yeah and I watched I watched a little I watched in seldom so it was like 40 minutes and so you by the time you got home like Chris Wyman's fighting you're on TV you're watching on TV yeah yeah I just watched on TV yeah how long did it take to get over it um a couple weeks you know I get I get I'm pretty sensitive

you get depressed about it a little depressed about it a little down on myself but realistically like the only solution for me is the next fight. Like, victory is the only way out. So it's like, it slowly fades. I'm feeling shitty. I get back in training. I start getting momentum with my training again. And then a call comes for Damien.

And that's when I'm like, all right, new focus. Like, I'm ready to go. I got to redeem myself. And I went into that fight with like really mean intentions. You know, I was like, man, I shot in on Marlon Vera just because I thought in my head his wrestling was weak. But that was a mistake because, In retrospect, I'm like, I didn't have enough self-belief in my striking to just do what I was doing and keep going.

I was successful on the feet for the short time. I felt fine. But I just rushed in on a shot because in my head, I'm like, oh, I could take this guy down easy. I saw Brad Pickett take him down on the cage. I got this. But I shouldn't have done that. I should have just believe in myself in all areas. And I took that into the Damien fight where I was like, you know what?

I'm getting in this guy's face. I have power and I'm going to make it happen. I'm going to take a CO this guy. I even talked to John Gooden before the fight. And like, that was my prediction. I was like, I sense a late TKO because he's really tough. He doesn't go away, but I'm going to put it on. I'm like, I'm going to be in his face and put a lot of pressure on him.

And that's what you got? That's what I got. Yeah, third round, right? What was, uh, dance like? It was, uh, it was interesting. It was like kind of colorful buildings, you know, different scenario, like different kind of buildings and architecture, structure. But the people are kind of standoffish a little bit.

Okay. I feel like kind of like Russia, like similar feel. Like cold people? Yeah, kind of cold, like stoic, you know? Right, right, right. don't want to really engage, but the fans were surprisingly respectful. Like, even on my way out, they were clapping. And then after the fight, they were cheering me on.

They were, like, really respectful people. It was nice. You know, I remember the first time that I came across you was after the spinning back fist, because you were always, like, hitting me up. And it was, I still can't believe till this day that Dana was at, like, the show was at your fight, and you nailed a finish like that, a spinning back fist, chaos, and they didn't sign you. I know, it was like, and if you go back and look at your reaction, I feel like you

thought that you were going to get it. You were just freaking out, right? Yeah, I ran out of the cage. Like, I knew that this was the moment, right? I'm like, Dana's here. Who were you fighting again? What was that? I was fighting, it was a replacement fight.

Actually, funny thing was it was, it was Josh Robinson. Okay, yeah, there it is. Josh Robinson. And he was from, like, North Carolina, South Carolina. November 2015. Yeah. Yeah. Julio was supposed to fight him, Julio Arce.

He got hurt. I stepped in, and I was like, I got to take this. Like, Dana's going to be there. I got to put it on a show. I got to finish this guy. And the funny thing is, the fight was kind of like, I was winning, like I wasn't trying to finish the fight. I was like, all right, I'm better than this guy.

I'm taking him down. Seems a little easy. I'm just gonna ground and pound him and like see what happens. And then third round when I came out, I was like, I can't do this. Like Dana's watching, like I'm never getting signed if I don't perform right now, if I don't do something. I threw this thing, you know, the spinning back fits

that I work all the time in the gym, this exact way that I set it up, and it lands perfect. Perfect. I was surprised, you know, I was in shock, I ran out, got his face, and even with saying so many good things, like, I love that show. shit, this guy's got passion.

You know, he's in my face, beautiful knockout. I love it. And I was like, oh, man, he's going to sign me. It's going to happen now. And it didn't happen then. I had to rematch Julio after that. Were you devastated? I was just like, you know what? I got to do what I got to do. I got to fight again. I just got to keep winning. But like, in your mind, I put so much time into this.

I moved. I'm sleeping on the match. And like, you, like, that's, I mean, like, you can't pick a better finish, a more beautiful finish, you know, clean. In front of the boss who's there to sign talent and they don't sign you, you don't start to rethink things. What am I doing? Am I wasting my time? Is it ever going to happen? I did. I was rethinking this a lot.

You know, like a couple times, you know, doubt would creep in and I would think about, you know, take the firefighter test, do this, do that, you know, and try to, you know, make ends meet a different way. And I just could never give up on my dream. Because like I said before, it was like, I can't live that life, you know. I know that inside me. Like, I'm not meant for anything else but this. Anything else I do, it annoys me. It bothers me. I can't take it. So I've quit so many jobs and I've done it in ways where I've just walked out.

Wow. Like, because I just, I'm so unhappy. And I'm like, I'm done. Yeah, I'm just, I know I'm done. I just leave, you know, I don't even tell the boss. Like, I'm just like, I'm not doing this. Wow. What kind of jobs?

My last job was at a chemical company. It was like a manufacturing area with like kettles and you would mix like batches of chemicals for like, it was like skincare products. Wow. How do you get that? Yeah. Just random. My buddy worked for Sintas, which delivers like uniforms.

for everyone and he delivered uniforms there and like hooked me up with the job. Did you like that? I just took it. No, I didn't like it at all. I would even, me and my boss were pretty cool. Like, he was a cool guy. And he knew I fought at this time.

And I was like, I was so bitter towards the sport because I had been winning, like you said. I wasn't getting signed. Yeah. So I was getting bitter towards the sport. And I was so, like, mad and I was taking it out in my fights. Like, and I wasn't happy working. And it was really like a big reason why I was winning my fights,

you know, because mentally I was like, if I lose, this isn't happening. I can't lose. I just have to keep winning. And that's when I went on that winning streak. And that was a mental switch that I hit that I was like, there's no losing. There's no selling myself short.

Like I'm going in to finish every guy. Were you dating that girl when the Dana White thing happened? And he didn't sign you? I believe we were like shaky, like on and off. Because I'm wondering if she ever played the whole like, look, he didn't sign you after this. Get a real job. Oh, yeah, 100%.

Yeah. After that, after that, it's brutal. Yeah, after that it was still like someone doubting me, you know, like it's been this amount of time. It hasn't happened. When are you going to give up? I want to do this. I want to start a family. I want to do.

And I understand that. She was older too. Like she was 31 at the time. Okay. So she was like, you know, she had sisters that had kids and that pressure gets to you. Right. You want to start your life. And it just was like bad timing.

But she was also, she had a lot of other issues with like, you know, pills and Xanax and drinking. And that would alter her personality. and like stuff would just get out of hand you know like it was just toxic was randy brown the guy who got signed from that one yeah randy brown got signed yeah how did you feel like like when did you start watching his fight and fight didn't hope that he lose like were you pissed at him oh yeah

envy such a shitty emotion to have but i had that for so long for so many things you know i just was like man what do i have to do like randy was impressive like he had a great fight but like i'm like i just had some spectacular knockout like six wins in a row matt sarin at the time he was really tight with my coach who was from Max and BJJ, which was my last gym that I trained at. His name is Joe Monaghan, who I'm very grateful for.

He was like a second father to me, and he took me under his wing, and he was a really good guy, really good coach. But, you know, things fell through there. Now I'm at Long Island MMA with LaFlair and all those guys, which has taken my game to another level. But sorry, what was the question? The question was, did you feel envious, as you said?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I saw Randy. I saw him get on and I was just like, I don't know what's going on. Like, what else do I have to do? You know, and like, at that point I had to come to grips with like just keep winning. Like, that's it. There's no way of it. Like, did you watch his debut and you were like, this fucking.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I was just like, come on. I was like, let me in this thing. I was like, I'm ready, you know? Like, I really believe in myself that I'm going to be the best.

Like, I know I'm going to get up there. It's just a matter of time. Did you, you know, when everyone thinks of Long Island, MMA, they always think of Sarah Longo. Did you ever go change there? I've trained with Aljo, of course. You go here and there. We've had sparring sessions. Aljo was up in Ithaca at that time with me.

So was Jared Gordon. That's right. But was John Jones there? John Jones was there right before me. And he left. And I didn't see him up there. But they had a staple of guys. They had a crazy amount of guys.

They had this one guy, John Franchi. And I remember training with this kid and thinking like, this is the scariest kid I've ever engaged with in the training room. He was just one of those guys who never took it easy. You know, like when you went with him, you're like, I may get knocked out today. Like, here we go. You know, I was like so nervous. But I think those moments really helped me, you know, because I was like, I got so nervous for spar days there, which I don't spar like that anymore because now I train a lot of smarter.

Yeah. But we would go hard up there, like the small gloves and just whatever happens. No head gear or nothing. No. Like you could wear head gear, but a lot of guys didn't. And it was like one of those things like, oh, he doesn't have head gear. I don't want to look like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now everyone is way more caution. You have to be smarter, right? I don't want this CT. I don't want that. That's right.

Are you worried about that stuff? Oh, yeah. I think about it sometimes, but I think thinking about it kind of will, it'll mess around with your head a little bit. Like going into fights, you don't want to be like, oh, no, don't get hit. Because you won't perform. I'm sure fighters have thought like that.

Like, oh, man, I'm worried about my future. But you will not perform if you have that mindset. I just try to do the best I can to train smart and to fight smart. aren't, you know. So, so, like, you have have the fight, the spinning back fist, you don't get picked, and then, and then Newark Rick does the thing. There was no part, like, there was no, like, ego. I was going to bring the ukulele.

I know, you know, I wanted to ask, I wanted to ask, but I'm going to get to that in a second. But, like, you didn't feel at all like, man, you know, like, I'm a fighter. Why am I asking for tickets with this, like, shmucky guy? Who is this guy? Like, I'm going to go out there, put a song, like, you didn't, you weren't embarrassed or anything like that. It was awesome that you did it. And I wish he would pick you, because it would have been great for this

shows history that he picked a fighter, a UFC fighter, a future UFC fighter, but why did you do that? I was desperate to get my name out there, like, at any cost, you know? And I was like, if I sit next to New York, Rick, who knows who he knows? Yeah, that was the thought process. Yeah, and I'm going to, you know, talk to him about my life and my fighting and maybe, you know, someone walks by and they'll see me with you guys or whatever. And like, I just was just like, I'm doing anything to get my name out there at this point, you know? But I was a fan of the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, by any means necessary.

Yeah, I was just like, I'm gonna, you know, whatever I can. And I was like, I must be annoying the shit out of these people. Oh, it was great. Did you see that episode when Aljo and John Volante weren't sitting in picking? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They were talking about you? Yeah. They knew who you were.

Yeah. But they didn't, like, were you pissed at them for not quite, like. Not really. I know that guy. I've trained with that guy. Yeah, you know, I thought for a second, like, they could have pushed a little more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gian doesn't know me as well.

Like, I've come across him at Belmore kickboxing. That's right. But, like, he was just kind of like, you know, whatever. Like, this guy wants to fight at this show. Like, he's nobody. Like, he did. Aljo kind of put me out there a little bit. A little bit.

He said some good things to me later on, too, to, you know, Brian Stan and guys like that. So, but, yeah, I was, like, surprised because he was just like, yeah, I think he struggles with weight. And, uh. Did he say that? The weight cut. Yeah, he said that, whatever. But that's true. Like, I did struggle with the weight cut a few times before the UFC.

And that was, like, the talk. Like, maybe that's why you're not getting something. Oh, okay. So, like, that lit a fire on a. my ass. How did you figure it out? I just, I just made little changes pretty much like, for me, it was like dieting for longer, like getting my walk around weight, like solid four to five weeks out. Okay. Where I need it, you know, which is like right now I'll be like 150, 149. Like, I don't really walk really, you know, really heavy at all. Because now I'm like worried about that.

So I'm like, I'm going to, I stay disciplined all year round. I'm the guy that like shows up at the Christmas party. Like, I pull an Irish goodbye and I'm out of there. I go train. Yeah. Like, I don't like doing anything else but this really. Speaking of Christmas, during Christmas you're sending out tweets and stuff, you really wanted that fight. I really wanted it, yeah. I was like, I was ready to, I was like 153, you know,

and I was like, I could do it. Like, especially 140 if he's willing to take the catch weight. And I saw him proposing with Marlon. Sure. And I had a feeling Marlon was baiting him just like kind of toying with him a little bit. And I was like, it's not going to happen. Like Marlon's probably huge right now.

A guy looks big. Yeah. And he just want a fight, which is when we go nuts. You know, we just start eating everything for like a week or two. So I know how that works And I'm like, he's not gonna show up But I'm like, you know, I got you You know, we were talking whatever

And then Rivera was telling me You know, he reached out to me personally Which I respected a lot Yeah, what do you say? He called me, he was like, listen He's like, I really respect you stepping up He's like, I didn't turn down that fight But the UFC gave me, you know, a couple of people

Who I could choose out of and that was that And I was like, well, no, I respect it I appreciate it. Was it ever close as far as what? Fight you in the future. Yeah, in the future. Did he did it? Yeah, he took this out.

Yeah. Really? Yeah, I'm keeping it until I get them. Then I'm going to put a gold tooth in. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. You don't want it?

Like, you like the way it looks? I don't care. Yeah, just a reminder. My teeth are crooked. I'm like, whatever, you know? Like, yeah, it's just like, it's just memories to me. Okay.

I don't really care about it. It's not motivation or anything like that. Yeah. Does he know that? He knows. Yeah, I've joked around. I'm like, I'm like, I'm going to get you back. That's what?

Did you get the sense it was close at all or not really? I did because because you really. I'm like, all right, this is serious. You know, I'm like, they reached out, his management reached out to you and, like, mentioned interest. So I'm like, that doesn't happen unless something's for real. So I'm like, okay, that's what I got butterflies at the gym and I just turned it up a notch. And I'm like, this is, I think this is going to happen, you know. And like I said, I'm trying to like manifest this.

Like, it's going to happen. I'm getting the call soon. I'm going to be heading to Vegas. No Christmas. I don't care. Like, and then it didn't happen, which was a bummer, but I understand the business, you know. For me, it was like a long shot. Number three, fighting a non-rank guy.

Like, it doesn't make sense. sense business-wise, but if they look at the past, we have history, maybe they would look into it. I think they like me the UFC. I think offering me Burrow is a good sign. Huge sign. Huge sign. They don't put, like, I mean, this is, look, sometimes the UFC likes to make those fights

where it's like the older guy against the up-and-coming guy. This is that fight, right? Like they're trying to make a new name off of the old guy. Yeah, exactly. And it's no knock on him. It's just the way combat sports works, right? But they don't always give the young guy those opportunities. Like, they pick and choose who that young guy is.

So I feel like that's a huge vote of confidence that they're giving you. So it took them a while to get on board, Sean Shelby and company. But I feel like now they're really on board. I mean, is it on the main card, you know? I don't know yet. With the website, it seems like they're behind with everything. Yeah, they're very behind. They don't even have a main event for that card.

The main event, and then what's it where Yuel is moved? Like, that was going to, that was like almost the de facto main event, but now it's no longer even a fight on the card. I think that might help me, actually, that that happened. Who knows what they're going to bump up, you know? but I would imagine with Burrell's name they wouldn't put me fight pass, but who knows because I'm a newer guy and he's on some losses. So it's like when it's like that

you don't have much say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm hoping for that FX or Fox, right? It's both. I think it's Big Fox and then maybe sometimes the prelims for cards like that are on Fox as well. I haven't really looked into it or it could be FS1.

Yeah, but there is a fight pass. There is a fight pass. You're not going to be on. Fight pass? I don't think so on. I don't think I would be FX or whatever the prelims are. I don't know if they would bump me main card. I feel like you might have a chance.

It's not the deepest card of all time. Not the deepest. Yeah, that always helps me, so we'll see what happens. Okay, so what about the singing? Because I go on your Twitter, I go on the Instagram, and you're just like, you're doing a little in sync, you're doing some, like, some pop stuff. Yeah. You fancy yourself a singer. I've always love singing, yeah. I mean, like, I like to

write a lot of lyrics. I write my own stuff. Love songs? What kind of songs are we writing? Just anything, life. You know, just, I like to just get lyrical. A little rapping, too, I've seen. Yeah, I like to use my brain, think of, like, cool ways to you know, rhyme schemes and stuff like that. I like to rap. I like to sing.

My dad sings. He plays guitar. I kind of grew up around music. My grandpa played trumpet. And he actually played with Jackson 5, like way back in the day. Wow. Before he passed. Yeah.

And he did some boxing too. And I have like a very deep spiritual connection with him. So I feel like a lot of that came from him. Okay. But I love music. I write a lot. That's like what I do on my downtime. I'm like writing.

I'll go on YouTube, listen to like some beats, write some stuff. It just like just record it, you know? And like I get. reached out to by people, but like, you have to put more time into it, you know, like, fighting is my life, but, like, I really would, you know, I consider, like, you know, meeting up with a producer and, like, try to work on some stuff. Like, I've always thought about it. What kind, like, if you could make the, the boom art, uh, album, like the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

singing, rapping, mix together. Who, who's some of your inspirations, your influences? Well, I, I, little wayne was, like, a guy that I listened to growing up. Okay. You know, I like Drake. I really like a lot of guys. Like, new school, not as much. I kind of listen to more of the old school stuff, like Biggie, Tupac, those guys. I'm like a mixed guy with music, too. Like, I can listen to, like, the softest girl song

and, like, sing that in my car. Yes, I've seen it on your Instagram. Yeah, I'll listen to anything. I'll listen to, like, smooth jazz, or I'll listen to, like, old school emo music I used to listen to. Like, I just love music. Can you give us some a cappella here? Can you do it?

I do that. I do that. Can you spit some bars for us. You know what? Next time I'm on the show, I'm like, I'm like, I'm going to have something for you. You can't do it off top of your head, a little insane? I could, but I wouldn't, like with the pressure.

I don't know. What pressure? You have to perform. That's what you do. You walk into a cage for a living in front of people wearing your underwear and no shoes. I'll tell you what, it blows my mind that I do this because of who I am. Yeah. You know, in my heart.

You're a soft guy. I'm a soft guy. I'm a nervous person. I don't know how I do this. But at this point, it's the only thing that I'm like comfortable with. Are you like super nervous backstage before the fights? Are you freaking out? I know how to deal with it because of so many times doing it.

For me, it takes a lot of consistency to find comfort. So, like, here, I'm, like, just as nervous as a fight, I'd say. Like, it's pretty close. Like, when I was back there waiting. That makes zero sense for you whatsoever. That makes how I am. Like, I think fighters possess a gene in their body. There's something in you that I just don't possess.

Because in a million, like, I would faint before walking into a cage. Yeah. I just couldn't do it. There's just no way. Locking the door and it's me and another human being, I guess if someone said, like, if you don't do this, you'll die. Yeah. Or something will happen to your family, I'll do it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, like, just for fun, you know, for my career. You're just on a different level. You don't fight. You don't save your mom. Yeah, is that what you do? Sometimes I do that when training, I'll, like, pretend I'm running for that. Wow.

Yeah, it's like, just good visualization. Like, all right, it's going to push me further. I can't let my mom. Sure. Yeah, sure. Have you always been one of those guys? Like, like, with the, you talk about manifestation. Yeah, very psychological person.

I actually have an interesting story about, like, my debut, which nobody knows this, and I didn't even tell the person who was involved, when I got on the plane, I had, like, crazy anxiety. And I don't know what from. Like, I've been on planes before in the past and never had an issue.

You know, I've flown to different places and comfortably, whatever. But it took over my mind, and I had got off the plane. And this was on my way to my debut to Brazil. Wow. Oh, UFC debut?

Yes. Oh. And I was, I almost ruined my career over anxiety. Like, I just didn't know how to do it. I was like, I don't know what's happening to me, but I'm freaking out right before I go take off. Yeah. And I didn't know if I should tell this. Like, I wasn't sure about it. I was like, you know what? This is my story. Like, I'm just going to be honest. But like, which I was like, I was on the plane and I was with my brother, my dad, whatever. And I was just like, I got to get off. Like, I got to get off. I was like, you know, my breathing

was getting restricted. I was getting crazy anxiety. And it wasn't even like the fear of the fight. Because I knew I wasn't afraid to fight because this is my dream I want to fight I didn't know what it was from It was like really weird You know, it came out of nowhere And so the second time I got on

It happened again And I was like If I get off this plane My career is done Like UFC's They're gonna be like This guy can't even get here Like forget this guy

So my dream was like close to be ruined And it was crazy Because I'm walking off The plane again And my brother's like Stop stop stop You gotta stay on this is your dream. What are you doing? I'm like, I'm freaking out. Like, I don't know. I don't know

what's happening. And there's John Morgan from Junkie. You know John Morgan. Right? Yeah, of course, of course. And he was like an omen. And I never told him this story either, but he was an omen to me that day because because I saw him, I was like, oh, I know that guy. And it took my mind away from freaking out. And I sat, they moved my seat because the lady, I was talking to the flight attendant telling her I'm having anxiety, like I think I might want to get off the plane. Like, please don't take off. Like, I might want to get off right now. She's like, well, you got to let us know now.

You got to let us know now. She's like, I'll do whatever I can for you. I'll move your seat. You want me to move the seat? My brother's trying to help me. And he's like, please, you know, can we move our seats to a more comfortable spot? Maybe up there. Maybe he'll feel better.

So we're moving up to that seat. And it was right in front of John Morgan's seat. Wow. And because he was there, I saw him and struck up a conversation. It went away. And because of that, I actually. stayed on the plane. His presence saved your career. Yeah. And it was a really weird thing because I'm like a very spiritual guy.

And when I got in the cage in Brazil, he was the first person I saw. Oh my gosh. The whole crowd's going nuts. I get in the cage and I just see John Morgan. That's it. Right after that all happened. And it was just like, I belong here. Like I'm going to win this fight. It was like such a weird spiritual thing. You mentioned him on Twitter last night. Yeah. You saw him case. That's why you mentioned him. Yeah. So now he means something to you. Yeah, it's something special to me, which he didn't even know. So I have to tell him the story, but I've been, you know, shy about telling it because I don't know, you know, if people. No, I think a lot of people would relate with it.

I mean, I'm a very nervous person as well. Yeah. You walked off twice? I walked off twice, yeah. And they didn't tell you like, hey, but we got to go. The plane, people like, they did. They were like, listen, like we, they left. The first one left.

Oh, the plane left. Yeah, I never made the first one. Yes. Get out of here. Yes. I had to go back. I had to go back to me. Where are you?

My mom was freaking out. came back because she dropped me at the airport. What airport is this? Is it JFK? So JFK, that's the first flight out. Yeah. My mom, it was, yeah, it was the last flight. It was late at night. It was an overnight. You went back home? Yeah, I went back home that night, devastated, like,

what am I doing? Did the UFC know? I had to let them know that I had a personal issue, you know? Oh, my gosh. And I actually went into Brazil on a Wednesday, and they were kind of confused. They were like, why, you're here Wednesday? usually Tuesday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fly the fighters out. So I just kind of like played it all. Like, yeah, I felt embarrassed, you know.

I didn't want to, you know, tell people that's why, you know, because some people don't understand that. Sure. What do you mean? You freaked out, you know? Like, what happened? And your brother and dad were they with you the first time? They were with me.

They left. They were devastated, yeah. They left with me. What was that drive home like? I couldn't want to play. It was just, it was just like awkward, you know, silence. You thought it was done? Sad.

Yeah, I was crying. I was like, I'm about to ruin. I had you ever experienced anything like that before? I have experienced stuff like that, but with the marijuana. You know what I mean? And so I thought that was it. And I hadn't smoked in so long. I stopped for that reason.

You know, like, anxiety and paranoia. And I'm like, I can't do this anymore. I don't want to, it's unpredictable. Forget it. So I stopped. And then this was not related to that. So I was like, well, what is happening? Like maybe I'm, this is a very intense, you know, foreign situation.

My first time traveling overseas, like, for the biggest fight of my life. Like, I didn't know what it was. Because I knew in my mind I had 100% belief I was going to beat Yuri and go there and take care of business. So it was just, it was a really, weird thing and it eventually went away but it was just a crazy thing that I thought this could ruin the rest of my life, you know, like the rest of my career.

And then the second flight next day, you walk off again? No, I go to walk off. Oh, and then that's when you see him. Wow. And that's when I see Morgan. God. Yeah, and I stay on. Last second. Literally walking off. And that was going to be it. They weren't going to give you another flight. No, I probably would have ruined my career. Oh, my

God. So that's why he's so special to me in that moment. Wow. You got to tell him this. I mean, maybe now he'll find out. Yeah, hopefully he's I would love to tell him, you know, like after I see him. That is amazing. And then once you got to Brazil, were you, like, freaking out? Or were you calm down at that point? No, no. After I took off, I think it was the anticipation of taking off and leaving.

And having, you know, there's no turning around. So maybe it was that thought. And I just had to get through that. And once I took off, I was on YouTube watching, you know, sweet old Ariel. Yeah, yeah. Wow, that is amazing. And that makes your win and that debut. with those odds against you, you know, you were a huge underdog, even more impressive.

Oh, yeah, yeah. You didn't want to say the story back then, right? I didn't want to say it, you know, but inside, I knew how special it was to had gone through it and got it done, you know? That's amazing. Yeah. Well done, man. It's crazy.

What a story. I can't compare to Jared Gordon, but that's my story. Jared Gordon has quite the story, man. After he was on here, I was like, what am I going to say? Yeah, it's funny. He ended last week with, like, people talk a lot about Matt Brown. He only overdosed twice. I overdosed three times.

I'm like, how do you top that? And then you end with this. It's like, holy smokes. It's funny, too, because I remember back in Ithaca, like me and Jared, we would like smoke at the practice or whatever. Like, we were hanging out a little bit, you know? And then, like, I never knew he went down that path. Oh, you didn't know.

No, and then I heard about it. And I heard his full story on your show. And it was touching stuff. Like, I'm like, wow, man. Like, that guy's, that's why he's never going to go away in a fight. You know what I mean? Like, he's got so much heart in there. Like, no one's taking that guy out.

Yeah. It was really cool to see over the past week, like, people saying, like, I had no idea who. who you were. I didn't really like, you know, I didn't have a thought on you one way or the other. And now I'm all in on you in your career. Because I feel like that's what the fight game is all about,

being emotionally invested in guys, picking your guys and then following them, you know? And so now I feel like people are, you know, like, that's a great story. I'm really happy you stayed on the plane. I know, me too, man. Like, that's life changing right there. Like that made the rest of it.

And now I'm so happy because I overcame that. Yeah. And it's gone, you know, and now I'm like, you didn't feel that when you went to Poland. No, I felt it a little bit before, actually. But I, it wasn't the same. You know what I mean? It wasn't going to stop me.

As long as you fly with John Morgan, you're all good. Yeah. Just ask if you're good. Get John Morgan on my flight and I'm out of here. I hope he's in Orlando as well. He'll be your guy. You're a good luck charm. That's great stuff.

I appreciate you coming by, Brian, really. It was a surreal experience. Long time coming, man. Yeah. You know, blame New York Rick. You know, he's the one who chooses who comes on the show. So he's the one who's kind of been giving you the old highsman. But I said, no, Brian Keller has got to be on today.

And I was so happy. I was so happy when you got that fight, the brow fight. I was like, this is awesome. This is a guy who deserves it. It's a big opportunity. The UFC clearly believes in you. And I know you wanted that Jimmy Rivera fight, but this is better, better circumstances, right? You get more time to prepare.

Dude on your terms, big platform, former champ. That's awesome stuff. Thank you so much for doing this. I'm so excited. Thanks a lot, man. Next time you... I'm going to take Fado over there. That's right.

I will beat you down. No, Fader's okay. But although this is signed Fader. I don't know if you saw this sign for. You know, it's funny. Like when she took that, when Tiffany took that? Like, I felt for you. I was like, Ariel thinks she's joking.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I totally thought she was just going to drop it off right over there. And I was like, she really took that shit. I was like, I hate that bully shit. I'm going to get Tiffany. But I got a sign one, so everything's good. And they gave me a Kimbo slice as well. But you owe me a song next time, all right?

I got you. You totally like, you did a great job of dodging the song request with that story. So like now I can't put you on the spot. I mean, that's a good way. But like I want the song because I see it on your Instagram. I love ukulele is my favorite instrument. It's so nice. Yeah.

But I got a, you know what it is? I'm a freestyle guy. I just play for fun. I don't read music. Okay. But I'm just like, I pick things up quick. So, like, I know a few little tunes, but, like, I don't know a lot of, like, music. You know, like, I can't play, like, 10 different songs on there.

I just make stuff up. I have a jambaya. Like, I just love music. I just do it for fun. Next time, we'll get a whole little, like, orchestra for you here. We'll get a band in here. That would be great. You could be, like, you know, the Tonight Show, we have a band.

It could be Brian Keller and the Booms or something. The Boom Band. The Boom Band. Perfect. Thank you, Brian. I wish you the best, my man. Good luck. February 25th in Orlando, Florida. Looking forward to it.

Boom. There he goes. Boom, Keller. Thanks, man. In the house. What a story there to end things off as I drop my headphones here. But that was amazing stuff. Wow.

Incredible. Long time coming. I'd like to have him on the program, Brian Kelleher, one of the top bantam weights as I put my headphones back on. In the UFC, phenomenal stuff there. Wow. All right. Great stuff there from Brian Keller. I really appreciate him stopping by.

And now you're invested, right? At least I am, certainly more so than I was before. That is amazing stuff. Okay, in around 15 minutes or so, we're going to be joined by the reigning defending UFC light heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, in studio. The fun continues today on the program. But first, let's go to the Skype machine and welcome in the reigning defending women's featherweight champion of the UFC. The one and only Chris Cyborg is joining us right now.

There she is. Chris Seiborg, wow, with some toys. How about this? I love it. Chris, how are you? I need to save the one for you. my toy, put your toy. Oh my God.

I would love that. That's a Chris Cyborg and a Boss Ruden over there, right? Yes. Got the UFC title, the Strike Force title back there. You got it all? Is this your home? Yeah. I don't know what I'm in the back.

Oh, there it is. Yeah, there it is as well. Okay. Well, this is great. Thank you so much for joining us, Chris. It's always great to have you on the show. And congratulations on the win just a few weeks back against Holly Home. How did you feel about that win?

When, like, now that you're removed, Are you happy with your performance? Are you happy with the way the fight went down? Do you know, I think I want to fight the Holy Home challenge myself a lot because I was never fight somebody in South Pole, you know. And then I really changed my train. And then for like after the Tony Avergan fight, I go to Thailand. And I really focus for fight in South Pole, you know, and the train is nap on there.

And then when I come back to California, I start, I bring you Don Magic. He's having more to 100, my time. fights and he south pole too I really focus and you're worried about because you know I'm I'm improved my game and I never have the South Pole in my career you know I'll fight girls and third oxen and then for me it's like it's a like big challenge and then because of Holly have like 17 boxing fight she's the war champ seven times and then you I really respect all my opponents but she challenged her because turning me better fighter because you know I can't fight any any any girl's South Pole now you know because I focus so much so much.

much and learn, you know, how's fight with Dan. And I feel very confident, you know, I'm happy with be five rounds of her. One thing surprised me when I touch her, I feel her face, she's filled the punches, but she's don't quit. She keeps going, you know?

This is show why she's 17 times were champion boxing. Yeah. And then fight her. Fight her show like the real fighter, because almost a girl I fight, I touch them, then stop, you know, then feel the punches, and then stop.

And then I show like my game 30% because I have a ground game. I have a wrestling. But I haven't showed the standard, but I show cyber patient, see the time right for a punch. You know, defense myself too, no, just getting crazy.

And then I mean, I'm really happy about the, you know, the fight. You suffered your first ever bloody nose in an MMA fight. What was going through your mind when you felt the blood coming down from your nose? you know i don't feel i don't feel i don't feel i don't feel i don't felt punch at home hard like i think because she walked and the punch same time okay and then one thing he was don't train in the camp it's this i think the man my friend did the match he don't did one time he run and he punch same time and then i think this is only not training after the fight i told him this is you know did

Punch and they run the same time. Then he laughed together. You know, and then it's very difficult, different. You know, when you run, you punch, you get it. You don't see a lot of people do this, fire. You don't get empowered when you do that. You don't have your base. And I don't feel strong punches.

And then when I feel my blood in my nose, I was thinking water and I touch it. And then I say, cool, you know, and never does happen. Never nobody take blood from me. And make just excited, you know, just excited about. One time I cut here on top of my nose, but it's sparring and the sparring. But I never have this feeling. I like, I like the feeling. I like it's a war.

But by the way, before the fight, a video came out of your coach, Jason Perillo, slapping you in the face in the locker room. What's that all about? Do you know, I started working for Jason. I think it were going to be six years already. And all the fights, his dude's same, you know? Wow. And then it's like this.

He's coming, fix my hair, and then fix my, I never know when he's going to do that. Oh. And then, but the first time, then make tape, he's doing this. But he always did this before the fight, but he doesn't say, Chris, I'm going to slap her face. No, he's come, talk to me about fight, and he fixed something in my hair, and boom, my face. And then all the time you do this, I mean, hold for no punch his back. Wow.

laugh, me say, aha, you're ready, you're sharp, you know. Because like when you punch, you need punch back, you know. Somebody punch your face, you need to be sharp and he punch back. This is, he's getting like, I'm prepared, you know. Like all the time he punched me, he's slapped my face. I look at him like, ooh, almost is he punching him back, you know? Like you do laugh each other and yeah, but he has slapped my face really hard. It doesn't piss you off.

You don't say like, yeah, maybe I don't need to get slapped in the face. before my fight it doesn't bother you? It doesn't bother me. I think in the fight before hours I punch my nose, I punch my face. Because you can only have a surprise in the fight. You know, the fight, you don't do the touch you first, and then you'd be like this shock and somebody punch you back, you know. This is part the game, you know?

And then when you slap your face, you make sure you're there. Because some point you go to the fight and you know you're going to fight, but you're not there. And then when you're somebody's like your face, if you go anywhere, your spirit, go anywhere because you worry about the fight, you're going to go back. You're like, for be a ready. You know, you go to war. You don't go there for, you know, for somebody going to kiss you, nothing. They're going to point your face and they want to see your wall. And then you have to prepare for that.

So there have been reports over the past few days that the pay-per-view did very well, that it was the third best pay-per-view of 2017. How do you feel about this? Do you feel like maybe a point has been proven here that Chris Cyborg is one of the top draws? I feel like a lot of people, including myself, I've been saying it for a while that you're one of the biggest draws in the sport, that this was a big fight. Did you feel sort of vindication or validation given, you know, this number that has come out? You know, I'm really happy about the numbers, but I think the numbers can be really better if we have the promotion, like a really good promotion, me, Holly. You know, Holly's big name is. Holly beaten Ronald Rossi, and then she has a lot of followers.

and she, you know, we're supposed to have more promotion like, like we have C-214. If you see, they make a tour, you know, for promotion the fight. And I think if you did it better, because we just announced the fight eight weeks. And we know, we know, everybody fought for the fight, you know, have time for, you know, do all the medias and too close to the fights too. And, you know, have the explosions, same we're supposed to have. And then, and like, have more championship belt, you know, just we just fight one belt. and if you have three defense belt, three fights for the belt.

But, you know, slowly go getting there. You know, I think my fan base is big at you. And all my fans came from Strike Force, you know, again, Gina Karan did big numbers too. I think in little B, in Little B, we're going to be better and better. So very shortly after the fight, like you didn't get a chance to really bask in the glow of the victory. Dana White has come out and said, I want to do Chris Cyborg versus Amanda Nunes. now that we're talking, let's talk about it. How do you feel about this fight?

How do you feel about this idea? One thing, for me, Amanda, Amanda, I don't think she's on a big draw. You know, I'm telling you, I, when I start, I win a champion strike force. Amanda start training. He started to push the back. And then she said, ah, do you suppose fight 145? No. You know, Amanda never, never could get in close or fight for the belt to 145 in the

strike force. You know, Alex Davis beating her. K-O, getting gunned beat her. She's had a lot of fights she's supposed to do now, you know, for she's, when she's done, 135, okay, I want to step five side. But if she won't do this fight, it's okay, it's welcome to happen this fight. I have two, three fights in my contract. I don't have any problem with her.

But I want to invest in my division, you know. I don't want to only be the champion, the girl, be to all the girls 135. You know, I don't want to retire. And then I don't see my division. I see because they take out because they say they don't have a girl. And I have job there. You know, I make 1.40 catch weight. Now they have the weight.

You know, I think I did a lot for my division. My division is my story. You know, I want my story take out. I can fight Amanda. I think Amanda can have her opportunity for sure. But I think you can continue number one, somebody from 145, have, I think, deserve the opportunity first, to her. And if Amanda is super fight, I want to find her one big event, no big card.

And if you can say her pay her pay her pay her preview, Amanda, she better make almost 100,000 people view. She don't change in my Korea 145 anything beat her and she don't say her paper view. You know, okay, super fight. She's not McGregor. Okay, I want to fight McGregor and make her, you know, she's not, it's not changed anything. But if it will be big event, you know, big names and event, and I think you can be good fight. I think it's going to be a good match, but she's not safe for review. And probably if you'll be big big event, you know, we can fight.

I told the FCI already, but I had to give opportunity for somebody for the fight. I think I own this for them, you know. I think this is for sport growing, you know. I know I don't know what to make this fight. And Amanda, of course she won this fight. You know, Amanda, won the fight to win. Ronda Rousey. I'm going to make three millions this fight.

My mother makes her preview. She's fighting me, she takes, fight in Brock Lesnar card. And then she makes pay preview too. And then she makes a lot of money. And now she says she don't sell by herself. She can't make money. Okay, let's fight cyber. Okay, want to fight me, let's fight.

You know, but they have to be big a card. I'm going to be pleasure. I was respect her because she's Brazilian. But you call me out and prepare herself because I'm going to kill you, educate. We're going to be you. We're going to be fight. I very much respect the fact that you feel an obligation to build up the 145 pound division

that you want to see the division be not just you right that there'll be other fighters as well when you resign with the UFC did you have a discussion about what their plans were for 145 we're going to bring in X amount of females we're going to do this that were there any talks about the future you know I told them you know this is my goal is make it they know what my dream They know what I want to do, you know. And then the belt, 145 pounds, I don't have one year. One year will have the belt. But you don't see any girls fight each other, 145 pounds for growing the division.

And just see girls fight for the belt and 145. And then no, I want to do this for me. Because, you know, they say, I don't have girls. Have girls. Bellator sign girls 145 pounds every week. Every week. I see them girls going to sign a deal. with Bellator. Belator make my division.

You know, going to be very strong. You're going to be big division and my division. It's going to be in Bellator. And then, man, this is making me sad because now I'm not, I'm in the UFC, but don't have all the grounds from the fight. I can do super fights, but I think it's goal is make my division grow. And then all this is, this is I want to do. But then draw the line.

You know, if you didn't keep this line, I had three fights left. Yeah, I'm going to do these three fights. And then I'm going to be aware. have to be, enough for me the champion, have to beat the girls 145 pounds. So if it was up to you,

if the UFC came to you and said, okay, Chris, what do you want to do? What would happen in your next fight? Play out the scenario for us. What's next for you? What do you think makes the most sense for the division for yourself?

I want them sign girls 1,45, not just for fight me, but they fight each other. Yeah. And then for people know them. And then they make they make

the night season you know the girls like he go to the event to watch 145 pounds let's do that right find the girls 145 do you think girls 145 pounds don't want to go to the biggest event

UFC of course I want to do if you're going to pick where we're going to go 45 pounds of course you want to go OFC it's a big event you know and they have a lot of girls call me out in Twitter now because I start to say

about 145 Cindy Dendoise some India gums All girls 1.45 then text me Okay, ah, damn, they're not very good for fight too.

Man, who run the roads beat? If you check it out who run the rounds beat? The girls start growing to you. You know, it's not I know, like I don't want to say anything in bad girls, no.

You know, the man's fight. If you see somebody, very good jihits, beat somebody boxing, MMA and the guys. Like growing together. Somebody good you do. Fight somebody good. Muay Thai because growing now you see men's MMA it's amazing the guy is very good

everything but it's growing it's to be like this I'm gonna fight somebody very good Muay Thai or somebody very good Jiu-tizu but because if you never going to have the opportunity never there's going to be very good Memei fires you know we need to open the door if the girl's terrible the girls starting getting better but we have to open the door for that you know and then getting better each five like 135 pounds do you think he's coming out and talking about this fight so many times yesterday even after the event he was saying oh chris you know she says that she wants big fights here's a big fight she doesn't want to take this fight why do you think he's so adamant about making this fight

because i think it's just about money it's no about hunking and then amanda amanda she fought a long time on 45 so may say she may alex davis beat her cind dame she's my division 145 she beat alex david she she lost alex davis per points and thelex davis beat Amanda. And then, you know, I have a lot of girls, you know, the supposed to deserve fight for the Pelton on 45. And, you know, I don't have any problem for Amanda. You know, I don't have any problem.

But you have it put your amazing card, big names, because Amanda's no big draw. Mandas is not a big Gregor. You know, going to be an amazing fight. But let's see if you're going to save pay-per-view. I can fight in my parking law, and there I can say 100,000, 100,000 per view, you know, and then Amanda don't say, it'd be only me and her.

are going to be the same. I can fight anybody for making 100 per review. Yeah. Not have to fight. You call this fight super fight. If I fight anybody are going to make simple numbers,

you know? But okay, I respect to do what I want to do. But let's do a big event and big card. Let's do July. July and Las Vegas. That'd be perfect. Okay, so did you say that to them? And if so, what did they say back?

You know, it's always hard with me. But, you know, then talk, then talk each other. And, you know, then talk to each other. Let's see what's news. I'm down for fight, but they have to be good for me too, you know, and not just because not just fight for the fight.

If you're not good for my division, you know, you need to do something, something. Let's make change, you know, you do something for me and do something for you. This is I think it's who have to work together like a team. Right. So you are open, because in the past you have said you don't want to fight a fellow Brazilian. You are open to the idea, but you want it to feel like a big event. You want to sell pay-per-views. You don't want just some random card where you guys sell 150,000.

of pay-per-views. I know. You know, one thing, I always, I had no one to fight her before because I say it's Brazilian. Yeah. And then, and then she's no clean division for fighting, you know, but she wants to fight me okay. Man, two girls, 1-25, almost beat her.

Alex Davis, and then Katzenegun, and then she fought Valentina, and then she saw very close fight in Valentina and 125 pounds. If she wants step 145, she's going to fight a big woman, she never fights somebody like me. But it's okay. But let's do a big event. You know, it'd be nice. And then you can fight this, make this fight happen. Do you feel like you'll never get the respect that you deserve?

Because if you keep fighting people who fight at 135, they'll always say, ah, you're bigger than them. Ah, you were fighting people at 135. So part of the reason why you want to fight 145 is so that you could say, I was the best at 145 in this weight class, not the best at fighting people who are coming from other weight classes. I feel like this. And then I don't feel happy about this.

And like a lot of people say, ah, you beat girls just 1.35. Man, you know Clarissa Shields just fight 168. And then find girls where she fight. And it doesn't matter she do. The girls punching her one time. She punched the girls seven times. People really want to watch the shoes beat some girls. And then, you know, they have a lot of girls.

And then have girls my division. Belator sign ever grow every week. This is proven to have a girl. And then make me sad because I want to be the chairman. real champion 45 pound but if you keep like this I just hold the belt I've known the real champion right so what do we do from here what's the next step next step is keep training and then wait my manager talk to to the UFC and you see how is going to be the next the next I would like find somebody container number one if you make Anderson can not fight have a lot of girls 1 45 then sign it and can fight and then let's make the super fight after there all right

Pretty simple. I like it. And I don't, I don't, I don't disagree. Yeah. You want, like every other division, the way every other champion is. Yeah. Like, okay. The first fight ever for the belt, it's 1.45 pound when I fight Gina Karan. You know, this is the history.

And then, then I want to, you know, I support, fight for the first time for the belt, 145 FC. I was the real, the champion. and then then take out this opportunity for me. They say, ah, you don't accept. I was sick. I was kill myself, make 140. You know, I was cannot drop the weight two months after.

You know, I was kill myself. And then can wait. They don't wait a long time. How many years then wait for make my division? Then I wait for me. Okay, it's fine. Now I want to grow in my division. I don't want to finish my career.

And then my division and my history, then delete my history. Because if they delete my division, they're going to talk more about me and about my division. And this is not the goal. This goal I continue to fight and grow in my division. And after I finish the fight, I have girls 1.45 and they're happy because they fight their division. And then this is my goal. You know, it's not just about money.

I don't fight just about money. I want that I fight free. It's not about money. It's money. It's good. Okay. You pay your bills. You help her family.

But this is the goal. And in the end, you're no more famous. And then they're going to have the money. You're the type of money you're going to make. And then, yeah, I like help with the economy. I like help with the sport. I want people remember me, not just the girl beat everybody and make so much money and buy her boat and buy one island. No, I want to make something different for the sport.

Much respect to you, Chris. Keep fighting the good fight. I think a lot of people would agree with your stance. You want like every other champion has. You want to build a division. You want a legacy. You want to fight the top contenders in your division. And I think it's incumbent on the UFC to find those contenders for you.

It's not really your job to find contenders. but you're kind of put in that position in a weird spot. So we'll see what happens. But I appreciate you coming on and talking about this, Chris. I wish you the best. And again, congratulations on a great victory this past month in Las Vegas. Thank you, I'll thank for all my fans. I'm happy with everyone.

And let's see you one next. And thank for all support. All right. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate it very much. Thank you. All right.

There she is. The one and only Chris Cyborg, the reigning, defending UFC Women's Featherweight Champion, putting out a very strong. strong case saying that she wants a division, she wants to fight contenders, she's not against super fights, but she wants it to mean something. And for now, she's really interested in building a division at 145. And well, if you're going to have a champion, who can blame her? Right. All right, let me take off these things because my friends, it is time. It is now time.

This is months. This is more than months. This is years in the making. Years in the making. At the top of this show, I said that I've been talking to Daniel Cormier about him coming in studio. For years now, we've been talking about it. At least five, six years. But he lives on the West Coast. He trains at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose. And then casually, he tells me last week that, oh yeah, he's got to go to Boston, and then he's going to New York for a day of media, and then back to Boston. And then he said, New York. I'm coming to New York. And I look at my schedule, and the MMA hour isn't on that schedule. And so what does he do? The Mench of Mention is the champion. The reigning defending champion says, I'm

stopping by this show. I don't care what's on the schedule. I don't care what's going on. I am coming by my favorite show. So my friends, let me welcome in. Where do I go? The man. I'm a bit intimidated. Are you serious? This is like the tonight show. Let's stand up here for a second. This is a bit intimidated. I mean, years in the making of my name. I'm cut. Oh, look at, look at that. Look at that. Look at that photo. The champ. Some of the greatest moments in mixed martial arts history. There you go. And I'm glad that I'm on the wall. How about that? Welcome, my man. I made it.

You made it. Finally. Everything I've done up to this point doesn't matter anymore. Somebody come and take this phone out of the way. Wow, you're rolling deep. You got everyone here. You got Rosendo in the house, Tyler Minnan's out. I mean, what are we?

20 deep today? Tyler and Rosendo have been kind of getting into some issues here. Oh, really? Yes, it's been bad. It's been a long day, right? You know, Rosendo's like that little chihuahua, right? He nips at you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And if you kind of kick it, they kind of run away. But if you pull your foot away from it and give it in, he just keeps getting you. And Tyler, it's just kind of, he snapped. He snapped a little bit. Wow. I was in those biting him on his ankles the whole afternoon. Wow.

And it's been since 5 o'clock, right? 3 o'clock. Three o'clock you woke up. We left Boston this morning at 3.15 from the hotel. Damn. How many stops here in New York? Oh, I've kind of lost track, maybe 10, 11. Was it fruitful?

Like, did you enjoy it? You were always kind of, this was like the light at the end of the tunnel, right? This was always, this is what got me through the day. The day. Because initially. Yeah. We weren't, we weren't on the schedule. If this happened a couple weeks ago.

before we kind of squashed our beef Sure, we had issues I would not have been here. Right, right, right, you both have gone to bat. Once we squashed our beef and you apologized. I did, yeah.

You were good to go. Because I didn't want to, you know, drive a wedge between you and your teammates. I know you're kind of fighting for your guy. I get it. But this was nice. I appreciate you going. You went to bat for the show,

and that meant a lot. I wanted to come out of show. He's here. He's not stopping by. You know, he's been making the rounds. He's Hollywood now. He's been making the rounds doing this thing. You know, I don't want to talk trash about him.

He's a good guy. Okay. So it's been a good day. It's been a good day. You know, I keep harping on that, and I'm looking for the smile, because yesterday wasn't a good day. Oh. What happened yesterday? Why would you?

My heart. Every time I kind of get away from it, my, you guys bring me back in. Have you been asked about it today? All the time, man. Like, so. Where were you? I will set the stage for you. Okay, said it.

Let's see the stage. We get to Boston 448 in the afternoon. Game starts at 5. Yeah. Perfect timing. I'm watching on my iPad on the bus to the hotel. Once we get to the hotel now, we're down 17-0. It's halftime.

Okay. Starting to get a little bit discouraged because, I mean, there's a suitcase in my hotel with Saints gear for me, my wife, and my two kids, because we were going to Philly after the fight next weekend. if we were able to do that. You packed a whole separate suitcase. Yeah, we packed our Saints bag. You brought it with you.

It's with us. But it's just in the corner now. It's safe to next year. Right. And we're watching the game and we start coming back and I'm like, this might happen, right? They give us the ball back. With a minute something, I'm like, you give Drew Breeze the ball back with that much time. We're good.

Defensive plate is back into the half. My son's there, Ariel, my beautiful, beautiful boy. Dan Dan, Dan. And he's watching with intent. Okay. I don't know if it's because he knows dad loves it. I don't know if he knows that we're going to Philly. Okay.

But he's watching. He's, yes, yes, like at the end of the game. And that play, man, we're up by two. The guy, Case Keenum, who I absolutely hate now. There's nobody I hate more to Case Keenum. Like, I mean, there's been people that I've hated in this world for sports. Right. But Case Keenum is by far the person I dislike more than anyone else.

And by all accounts, he seems like a great guy. Like, he does seem to know. Doesn't matter. You cannot go past the action. Sure, sure, sure. The one action, he throws it up. He just threw it up. Yeah.

And, uh, that happened. And my kid goes, Oh, no. What? Oh, no. As the guy scored the touchdown, he got up. He just left. I kicked the chair, which I kicked the chair hard.

They're like, dude, calm down. You're going to hurt your foot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kicked the chair. I'm yelling. I'm on the ground. Like, how does that even happen? Because it seems so ridiculous.

My boy, across the hallway to his mom's room. Ten minutes past, I go check on him, and his eyes are tear out. Oh, no. The boy's crying. Damn. And it was cool that it mattered to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But also it kind of shows why kids don't get that invested because I don't know if they can handle the roller coaster of sports at that age. So, rough night for me, man. But as I look back, I'm like, you know, Marcus Williamsman, he had a great season for us as a rookie, played well, and he's going to have a long. great career.

So things happen. Kishan's nephew. I didn't know that. Yeah, things happened, and he made a mistake. That's really all that was. The guy made a mistake. He's a rookie. And you can't,

it's easy to blame the entire game on him because he missed the tackle. But we wouldn't have been back in the game if he didn't catch that interception. He had three past, breakups, five tackles. He's playing a phenomenal game. But that's kind of like a standard play, right?

I mean, like you kind of make that tackle now? And I mean, of course. And the game's over, right? There's no way they get the guy onto the field, line up, and kick a 56-yard field goal with 10 second left. They were at the 39, man. Yeah, man. And you make me, and I got a friend named Jason, and he loves the Vikings, man. And he sent me a text last night.

He goes, hello, brother, how are you? I hope you're having a wonderful evening. What? And I'm like, how could you say something like that to me knowing what I'm feeling? I got a lot of texts, like well-wishes Ariel, because people know that that. That one's real. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got a pretty cool little stick, you know, bandwagon jumping, but this one's real.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you ever feel that watching sports? Man, that one hurt. Just watching the Saints. That one hurt. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Steve Becker told me something good, though. Okay, who's Steve Becker for people that are now?

Steve Becker's, uh, the producer, the executive producer of UFC's night and everything. Yep, UFC on Fox. Everything. Yeah, he's a man. So Steve texted me, he goes, um, I was telling him how hard it was for Daniel. And he goes, tell him it can't get worse. Right? That says,

bad as it's ever going to get. So explain to him that even though you dealt with that gut punch, it could never get worse. And I had to try to tell him that and explain that to him. But yeah, he was mad, man. Dude's eyes were just watered up and stuff. I was like, shoots, I couldn't have been in there 10 minutes ago

because I wanted to cry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you the kind of guy who's like, man, this is like, you're not really superstitious where it's like this is an moment, like you feel that way about things? Like, oh, the week was going to start so good for me. Let me tell you so. Okay, tell me.

Let me tell you something. All right. The miracle. in Minneapolis can't save Volcano's DeMere on Saturday night. The miracle in Minneapolis cannot save Volcanoz Demir from what's coming to. All right, fair enough. Because you don't believe in like bad juju and all that. You get dead.

All right. Nah. Has he taken a turn on you here? Vulcan? Like, did you think for a second, like, oh, a nice little Swiss guy? Yeah. And then he puts out that thing on Instagram. He's giving chocolates?

Yeah. He better not give me chocolate. Smack the chocolates in his face. He'd get me chocolates after putting that up there? Not really. I take it all in strike. I've been here before. for, right?

It's just not new to me. Are you searching for something with him? Because it was so intense in the past with guys like John. Not really. I mean, I don't need that. You don't need it? No, I don't really need it. But it's like he kind of changed on me.

And I go, hey, nice burn. That was a pretty good one. Yeah. But you got him back. Quick point real quick. You're no John Jones by any stretching the imagination. And I got to be very careful when I talk about Jimmy Manoa, right? Because Jimmy Manaw is kind of a mean guy.

You know, so he'll be like, hey, man, what, yeah. Yeah, yeah. every time you lose. That's, so. Right. I'm no Jimmy Manaw. Right. So, pump you breaks young Swiss.

Okay. Little young Swiss boy. The little drummer boy, calm down, Volcan. Calm down, little drummer boy with your pictures. Yeah, I had to get him, though. Had to get him. You know, when you first fought Rumble Johnson, you said like almost essentially like once a quitter, always a quitter.

He has quit in the past, right? That's the tap machine. I call him tap machine. Do you believe that? Tap machine with Kelly Amison. Is this Amison? Yeah. Kelly Amundsen?

Yep. Yeah, he made him into a tap machine. Neck crank. Same team, too. Not at the time. Who? They were on the same team together? No, no, no.

No, no. Rumble and Vulcan. Like, you believe, like, once a quitter, always a quitter here. But I don't believe Vulcan's going to quit. You don't. Like Anthony. No. No.

Why? Because he'll try, right? Okay. I've heard stories of him going to the gym and just getting demolished by Rumble, but he kept coming back. That's a very key, that's a very good attribute to have is not to quit. So I don't expect him to quit. I expect him to just be overwhelmed and not be able to win the fight. But it won't be for him quitting. He just won't be able to win the fight.

In the UFC, we've never really seen him in deep waters. I mean, he went the distance with O'Vince, but like the going didn't get tough. You know what I mean? It got tough in the third round and he was getting blasted. As the fight went on, O'Vince was tearing him apart, you know, and a lot of people thought O'Vince won that fight. Do you think he won that fight? Have you watched it? It was last January. You know, I watched that fight in February. And it was close. I mean, it could have went either way. I wasn't super upset with it.

I mean, I thought Volkan won the first two rounds. I thought you got beat bad in the third, but I thought you won the first two. You know, this fight fascinates me because there's something so unique about this particular fight that we've really never seen in a UFC title fight before. And I'm hoping, and I know you'll be honest about it when you talk about the psychology. It's always very interesting to see how a fighter and in your case, a champion, responds after getting knocked out. Mm-hmm. you just got knocked out but you're the champion

and when you're a champion when you're walking into a title fight you're usually on a five, six, seven wind street here you have to kind of deal with those demons and get back and we don't know how you're going to respond and everything

what is that like? I'm the guy coming off of a loss yeah he's got a longer winning streak yeah how do you deal with that? It's a I have to rely on just my experiences from before I mean when I fought Rumble the first time

he was on the winning streak and I had just lost against Jones. And now it's the same situation. I've done it in wrestling, where I've been in the same type of situation. I have to just believe in myself, right? Believe in my skills and the things that I do well.

And I believe that as a mixed martial artist, I'm better than him. I mean, there's no, I don't believe, there's no if-and's what's about it. Can he win the fight? Yeah, but he has to knock me out. He cannot beat me over 25 minutes. He cannot submit me.

I can submit him. I can win me. by decision, I can knock him out. I can beat him in every single area of the fight. I can get to a W. I believe he has one way to win the fight, and that's to knock me out, and that's not as easy as he thinks it's going to be.

Have you sense a difference in yourself, this training camp, the way you think about the fight, the way you think about fighting? Is there any difference coming off what happened at 214? Yeah, you know, there's a, there's a bit of a sense of urgency, right? Like, I'm kind of like, man, July 29 sucks so bad. Like, I feel like I lost my entire world, you know, because I had built so long to that fight. And then I think to myself, but if I don't get prepared, I would feel a lot worse going through what I went through in July and then going through that again on January 20th.

Because it's easy to look at a guy like Volcanoz de Mir and go, I'm going to smash this, dude. but you got to prepare yourself. I got to prepare myself for all the things that he brings to the table, all the confidence that he has in his hands, all the preparation, right? Because this is their third, fourth fight. This is their fourth time, Henry Hoof, Greg Jones, all those guys, that fourth chance.

Rumble one, Rumble two, and I got hurt, and then the actual time that Rumble and I fought in Buffalo. It's this time number four for them to try to beat me. So they've got a lot of inside into what I do. Okay, so it's almost a blessing in a way, right? Because, I was just worried that someone was telling me something. It was those pesky embedded people filmed. Yeah, they're always wrong.

This is not making embedded. Are you kidding me? This is going to get to Dana's desk and he's going to cut it right out. I don't know if you make it embedded. I don't know. I got to be honest. I don't know if you make it embedded. You know what?

This is the best stuff of the day. So it's my gift to all of you. Sell those pay-per-views. You know what I'm saying? But in a way, Volkan is almost like him fight. Like you just said, oh, it's easy to dismiss of all kind, but because he's coming off a loss, like if you were on a four, five, six, by winning streak,

you'd be like, ah, it's another guy on the list. But he's coming at the perfect time, right? This particular guy coming off the loss. Where you're motivated, where you're saying, I need to get rid of what happened to me July 29th. So yeah, it's a perfect time to fight a guy like that. A guy that's very, very dangerous

and coming hard charging. You know, he's won some fights in ways that just seems odd and freakish. You know, that punch against Misha Sarkhanov was crazy. And then, you know, Jimmy Manawai, you know, he got him from the clinch. I love the clinch. That's why I like to fight.

So there's some danger in the fight, but I'm very aware of it. But I refuse to make him something he's not. I'm not going to make him King Kong. I'm not going to make him into some Mike Tyson of the UFC. I'm not doing that. He's a guy that can punch hard, but most of us can at 205 pounds of heavyweight.

I noticed something when you did the press conference in Vegas before 219 and I don't know if I'm reading into it, you tell me. When you faced off, you faced off and then when you turned to the crowd, they gave you the belt, but you just kind of held it down. Was there anything more to that? You didn't really show it off. It's not like I'm as proud of it because of the loss.

So that was, you did that consciously. Of course, like, I mean, I'm not carrying it with me right now. Okay. It's not on the desk. Yeah. Most champions come in here and they put it on the desk on display. I lost a fight. I almost feel like

I'm in the same situation as the Rumble fight. Fighting for a vacant championship. I get it. Trust me, I do want to walk in there as the champion because I get pay-per-view points. And as a financial incentive, it's very important for me to be the champ. But mentally,

I almost feel like I'm fighting for a vacant title again. And I can deal with that, you know, because I will feel better once I win and I get the bell strapped around me again. Okay. It's just me. You know, I can't change who I, I am, Ariel. I am who I am, man. Because of that, though, because of that mentality and all that

other stuff. Last time you were on, you talked about the nightmares. Do you still have them leading up to the fight or have they gone away? It's all my, it's all my, it's all my, my failures, right? All of them. All of them. They come, they come and go, they creep up. Really? Is there one that persists? I mean, obviously it's this Jones fight, the last one. And the Olympics, 2004, I remember the bronze medal match up to zero in overtime with a minute and a half left in the match and I give up three points out of nowhere. I was well on the way to winning the bronze medal and I blew it. You know, so those kind of come back to me, but not right now. Right now, the focus is what's at hand. You know, I can't, I feel like a lot of times those things come to

me whenever I have nothing else going on, right? I'm just like, ah, what the hell is just happen, you know, I lost. And it's like those losses, they stay with me. But they serve as motivation. You know, it's funny, I was listening to a podcast on the way here, a hockey podcast of all things. I'm very well-rounded. You know, I like all kinds of sports, Daniel. And actually, they were talking about a quote, and it actually made me think of you. And the quote was, there comes a point in your life where you have to decide whether or not to quit or to work harder. Like, even when a job, like you kind of get complacent, and I'm going to go do something else, or maybe I'll just take things up a notch and work a little harder. And I feel that kind of symbolize,

your life in many like you talked about the Olympics. Bronze medal quit or just work harder. UFC quit work harder with John Jones and what happened. This situation, I mean, did you ever think about quitting after what happened at 2014? Did that ever cross your mind? No, no, no. Because you reached them out to top, you lost to him twice. You were going to keep working hard.

That was a decision. I was going to figure out a way to try to get a third fight. You know, it's a, it's, I just, I had this quote in my phone. Who has my phone? I think it's very important because, look, and then, This may actually relate to you a little bit because it's from your bills. My Buffalo Bills. Your Buffalo Bills.

Okay. What do we got? What do we got? Whenever. Rzendo, thank you. Thank you. You're doing great. Hey, Rosendo just made his MMA fighting debut.

I know you guys love it. That was big. I just saw the numbers spike. Yeah, it went out way up. But no, man, I was reading, let me hear. Okay. Okay. What do we got?

So it's Winston Churchill recited. Oh, yes. And this was the bills lost in the first. Super Bowl, and I think I heard that the coach said, and he read this poem, he said, look, guys, you have to fight, right? And it was, fight on, my men, a little, I'm hurt, but I'm not yet slain. I'm just going to lie down, I'm going to bleed for a while, because you have to. You have to allow yourself to take it all in, and then I'll rise again.

So it meant, over the last six months, I just, I let it bleed a little bit. You know, I was never going to quit. I was down, but I wasn't out. And that's what that quote tells me, right? That quote tells me that I'm going to hurt and I'm going to let it hurt. When the time is right, I'll come back. So I never thought about giving up. I always knew that I was going to fight again.

I just didn't know when or in what way in terms of getting another fight with Jones. And Marbleevy said this to the team, and that was Super Bowl number. one, and they kept coming back. They ended up losing all those games. Sorry. Thank you. You did give me the Saints thing. But they lost all those games, but they kept fighting and kept coming back until that run

was over. So that stuck with his guys, you know, and it kind of stuck with me, too. And, yeah, I received that a while back, and I thought it was very, very telling. I'm going to cry here. Not only do you tell the UFC, I need to come on the other show, you come here and you quote, the great Marve Levy, one of the great Jewish coaches. in NFL history. My Buffalo Bills,

they just lost last week. I mean, Dan... I shouldn't have been in the playoffs. What? I'm trying to have a moment here with you. I am too. I know. Wow. That was beautiful.

No, it just, it was very... He always used to read that to him. Yes. It was very like... Because you're hurt, right? Like, you're hurt. Yeah. When you're losing the way that I did,

you're hurt, you're down. But are you out? Not really. Not really out, you know? Gotta take some time to. I'm gonna rest. I'm gonna let everything move around me a little bit. Wow.

And then I'm gonna come back. And that's what I feel like right now. Do you feel like all great athletes need to experience things like that? Like you're not truly great unless you suffer, unless you stumble. You know what I mean? I mean, does it make you into a better athlete? Do you need those experiences? I think it makes you a better person.

I think it makes you a better person. You know, you learn to deal with the ups and the downs. And again, you know, everything to me is all in perspective. Because I've experienced so many other things that are so much worse than losing a fight and mixed martial. parts. And when it feels like, I feel terrible, I'm never going to be okay, I think back to those experiences and go, you know what, it could be a lot worse. So I just get back on the horse and I get going again. Do you ever think about a movie about your life? Honestly, I think like you mentioned

these things. I don't know if people really know your story. Yeah. Like, your story is insane. It's crazy, man. Everything that you've been through. Yeah, it's crazy. You know, like, it's just crazy that I feel like all these things that I have been through and that I've had to do have made me who I am today. Because without those things, I wouldn't be where I am. I wouldn't be strong, right? The loss of the Olympics might have crushed me.

Yeah. Or losing the John Jones might have crushed me. Because of all my past experience and all the things that I've done, it can't crush me. I just keep getting up and just keep getting better and keep trying and trying and trying. It's always kind of been my thing, right?

From when I was a kid getting beat up and bullied and wrestling when I first started, like losing and losing, I always was a kid that just kept coming. So when we applaud Vulcan for that type of attitude where you're getting whipped in the gym, but you keep coming, I'm the same way. So then it comes on to a matter of skill,

and I feel like I have more. That's why you can make jokes about the crying. You can put out the gifts. On the scale of things that you've experienced, it's like... It's nothing. The basement. People put those crying things of me up,

and initially I was like, oh, that sucked. But then I look back, and I'm like, it's really not that big a deal, because I go back into all my pictures, every time I lost, I cried. It's just that it wasn't on this scale. Right.

So when people put that up there, I'm like, I've seen this my entire life. Everybody that knows me have seen this because everything I do, I give 110% of myself to doing it and being successful. So when it doesn't go my way, I cry. Yeah, you posted that picture of you.

It was high school, right? The podium. I was at the podium. Where'd you find that? There's a regional training facility in Louisiana and I was the first guy from Louisiana to make All-American in this tournament. Okay.

There were 120 kids in my bracket and I got to the finals and I lost. And the award ceremonies right after, 10 minutes and I was still crying. So by the time I got up there, it was all tears and that picture's been up in there since I graduated high school in 1997. So every time I don't accomplish,

I give so much of myself to my athletics that when it doesn't work, it really does hurt me. What do you think will happen when you're done? That time has come. You're talking a little bit more about it these days. Is it going to be really hard for you mentally? Because you like almost the crying, the ups, the downs, it's part of who you are now. It's your fabric. Competition, right? You won't have that, yeah. I won't. Between 2008 Olympics and 2009 when I started fighting, I played 900 games of NBA 2K because I needed something, right? I was just playing video games, playing video games, because I needed something.

I think I'll get that from my kids. Okay. My daughter's gymnast. She's just levels. Like she go from level one to level two, level three. It's like all just going so fast for us. And little Daniels been wrestling now. He's been in more bigger tournaments and he's starting to get a hang of it.

So I'll get that from my kids, you know, and spend time with my wife. And I still can work commentary. I'll be competitive in that field, I guess. Where do you get that from? Do you know? I don't. You don't know where? I don't even know, man.

It was something that was just kind of in me, I guess. And when I started to compete, it sparked it, right? At first, it's a normal kid, you know, growing up in Louisiana. But then when I picked up wrestling, I guess, it kind of sparked that competition side of me. And it's been just strong ever since. Are you surprised that John Jones's cloud is not hanging over this event? Like, I'm kind of shocked that no one's talking about John Jones. Like, I thought, like, oh, it won't be the same.

You know what I mean? But I'm just kind of surprised that he's not being talked about. Like, almost like people are like, I'm kind of over it at this point. You know, I think I've answered questions in regard to him as I always will. Yeah. But it's not as prevalent as before. Yeah.

Before it was like constant. Every second, third question was about him. And I just think maybe people are kind of waiting from to have his day in court and see what happens. But you just can't have unlimited opportunities or chances to do stuff wrong and not really start to feel people kind of go, I'm kind of over this, at least for the moment. Right. When he comes back, people will watch him fight because he's a great fighter.

But right now, I think it's easier to accept that, you know, he's ineligible for however long he's ineligible for. Do you expect him to pop up this week? Nah, I don't know. You don't care? I don't really care. Okay. I've let it go.

I had to. Yeah. And I can't let these guys control me anymore and let my emotions be tied to people individually. I'm going to worry about myself and go out there on Saturday, fight Vulcan, beat Vulcan, and just kind of move on to the next one. Have the pro wrestling guys? Have they laid off?

Have they laid off? What's going on? Guys, I don't know what's wrong with these dudes. They don't know where you've been. You're old school. Because I don't like dudes doing flips. Yeah. Like that was weeks ago.

The guys did a six-man drop kick. But there's legitimately two feet of air between each guy. I'm like, guys, care enough to make me think that it's real. You've been watching forever. You're probably more of an aficionado than half these guys. I've been watching since Rick Flair, Dusty. They were all kind of getting the blade. They were getting beat up.

Guys were working stiff. I love when they said a guy. What about the Junkyard Dog story? Can you tell the Junkyard Dog story? Oh, man. What a story? The Junkyard Dog story was he used to live in my hometown of Lafayette. So when I was in high school, my ex-girlfriend was working at Sonic.

Yeah. The ice cream shop. And she said, there's a professional wrestler that's going to be signing autographs. I was like, who is it? She goes, I don't know. She was like, you should come. It's like 1 o'clock. So I go.

And it's J.Y.D. man. And I'm geeking, right? I'm like, oh, my goodness, the junkyard dog. You know, big chain, white tights, red boots, kind of doing the whole butterfly-looking thing. But as I drive up, something odd happens. I'm the only one driving up. It's only one driving up.

It's not funny, dude. It's very sad, but I'm the only one driving up for junkyard dog, and he's sitting there with a stack of pictures. And I walk up. and I go, hey, can I have a picture? You know, I'm a big fan, junkyard dog. And he gives it to me. But then nothing else happened. So then we're kind of just standing.

I'm standing right next to him. And I sat down. I was like, I'm going to talk to this dude. And then we just talked for like a couple hours, just talking about wrestling. Just you and him. Me and the junkyard dog. Not a single person came up to him throughout the day.

It was just me and him. But it was at a time that his life was kind of on the downturn. Yeah. You know, a lot of times they started. start to do drugs and stuff, all that other stuff. You know, stuff goes sideways, and it was at a time where things weren't going very good for him. Did you get a sense of that?

Could you tell that he was down? I could tell because nobody else came. Yeah. You could tell that everybody had become so familiar with them. Yeah. That it wasn't a big deal anymore, but it was for me. And I appreciated that because I got to sit and talk to that dude for a while. Yeah.

And pick his brain and learn a lot about the business and learn a lot about professional wrestling. And I remember sitting in not even a row. arenas, gymnasiums with folding chairs when he was in mid-south. And the big cat, Ernie Ladd was in mid-south. Like, I used to, I remember times

like that. So having a chance to really talk to him was amazing for me. Yeah, so don't preach to Daniel Carmier about pro wrestling. No, I love, I've always loved it. Right now, I'm not watching as much anymore because these guys kind of pissed me off a little. They turned me off the whole shit. You've

I mean, they've turned me off. I'm like, what is wrong with these dudes? You, everybody's not going to like everything you do. Right. Just so happens that I'm a professional wrestling fan. Right. That has a bit of a following himself, you know? And, you know, I got these, these, uh, the insults were like, the guys, the guys, the wrestlers themselves said some stuff.

And I was like, well, you got, first off, calm down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because, you know, calm down and initially just calm down. But then, because it, you know, you and you and all that. Together. Anyways, calm down. But secondly, it's like, you can't dictate the people.

And what really got me, what really got me, was when a guy told me, he called me a charisma vacuum. What? Meaning that, I guess, when I get on TV, it's like,

everybody turns off. You said this. Some guy on the internet. Oh, just a fan. Yes. Not a wrestling. Okay. You better go to the Performance Institute

or whatever. It's called. He goes because Cody Rhodes will whip you. He's a two-time. state wrestling champion. Because he would kick your butt. He's a two-time state wrestling

champion. Face, palm. My neck, you know your chin? You know when you get really upset, your chin touches what? Your chest? Oh yeah, chin chest. I was like, I just that's just too much. I was like, this guy's crazy.

So, yeah, it kind of turned me off of it right after that. I've never asked you about the walkout. It's maybe my favorite walkout in the game. because you have the shorts, the shirt tucked in, the high socks, you go like, you check everything. No, first you take a minute, right?

Then you check everything and then you sprint. Yes. What is going on? Can you tell us before the camera goes on you? Like when you know it's two, three minutes, what is going on? GSP was sitting here a couple of weeks ago. He told an amazing story that he goes up to the mirror

and he tells himself, like, you can do this, you're the man, he does his black belt thing. Like, he has to psych himself up. What are you doing? Can you tell us the whole thing? Because I love that walkout. It's one of the best. I stand there. Bob should have it on video or on audio.

You have that video at all of any of this? But try to find it up, Bob, but I talk to myself. You do? Kevin Jackson used to always do this for me. Okay. Let's go D.C. Let's go D.C. You can do this. You know, come on.

This guy has nothing for you. He always would tell me that. And Kevin Jackson is not there anymore. So now I tell it to myself and I go into the bathroom. You do. Okay. And I take a moment. And I try to hype myself up and, really get in the zone before I make that walk.

And when I get there, it's just kind of wake up the body. Smack, smack, smack, smack, face, smack. And then run. Let's go. We've waited eight, nine, ten weeks to get to this moment. Why are we walking? I don't have time to take this end. I want to get into the octagon and go and do my business.

My team, my family. We've all sacrificed so much to get to this moment. Why should I make you wait anymore? Let's go do our thing. Let's go fight. let's go do what we've been training so hard to do. So I run. And it's just adrenaline in this.

There's nothing like it. It's like a drug. And when you get there, because I feel like if you're walking and if you're not a person that truly, truly wants to absorb everything from the crowd, you're taking in all this stuff that you don't need. I hear them, I hear my fans clapping. I hear them yelling.

I love them for it. but I take in what I need and you only got a short period of time for me to take that in because I go from point A to point B. Once I get in the cage, I'm like, all right, man. I'm like, it's time to go. And the one thing that hasn't changed

in 21 fights, I'm in there and I'm getting ready to fight and I'm like, yes, yes, finally, finally. And your heart's thumping and you got all this adrenaline. And you, every time the guy, his name is actually...

Are you texting something? No, I'm actually... What's happening here? Oh, you did? Yeah. I was having him over here. Bob has recorded it before, but every time... Recorded you in the last?

Oh, that's incredible. My other manager, Dwayne Zinkin, loves hearing it because he wants to know that I'm okay. Wow, wow. But this guy named Ramble, I met him when he was working on the Ultimate Fighter. He puts the pen inside the octagon cage. Okay. And every time I hear it at pink.

You hear it? I hear it every time. everything I hear that ping and I'm like okay it's go time now nobody's gonna save me it's me and this dude right here and I love it man

I just get like almost chills every time what do you think when you make when you stop right there for that minute where it seems like you're praying or something what are you doing you know that one second right before you run out yeah I just kind of kind of slap myself and just kind of take that's why I take in my energy

from the crowd okay okay okay so when I first get to the arena Bob and I walk out a little bit take it in take a few deep breaths yeah feel the energy of the crowd. Then I take it in when I make that stop and then I get walking and I get running and I get ready to go. I'm going to put this right next to my microphone see if it

picks it up. Yeah, yeah. Or you could do it in front of mine. Oh. Wow. So Daniel is you may not be able to see this but he's walking back and forth. Wow, that is intense. Which fight is this? This was

this might have been Anderson Silver somebody. I don't know. Rumble Johnson. So you're really... But this is... Damn, you're turning into a different person here. You got to, right? Because I'm going to go and fight.

And that's when they come in, they tell me, they say, do you see you got five minutes? You're nervous? My thing. Competitive nerves. Okay. The good kind of nerves? Competitive nerves, good nerves,

but there is no place I'd rather be. Okay. Then in that arena, in that locker room, getting ready to go out and test myself against one of the best fighters in the world? Is the shirt tucked in a nod to the old days? That's an old days. That's a wrestler. I'm a wrestling coach. I love it. At the end of the day,

I'm a wrestling coach. High socks. High socks. Wrestling shoes, if I could wear them. Why don't you wear them? I don't have Reebok wrestling shoes. I just wear tennis shoes, but yeah, shirt tucked in, pulled up real high. Everybody makes fun to me about pulling my shirt up by my navel. That's great. It's great. At first, it helps to hide the belly. It's an old wrestling coach thing, man. Just, I want to get the business. I want to get the business. I want to get to business. I love to fight and I want to get to business. Why that song that you always play, the little Wayne Drake song. The lyrics to the song says, you know you're at the top and only heavens right above it. And that's, that, that, that, that's what I feel. I don't feel like anyone

is, is, is trying or anyone is, is, I got to have confidence in myself. I have confidence that I am at the top of this game. I'm at the highest level of this sport. No matter how long I've been here, no, no matter how many fights I've won, how many I've lost. I'm at the top of the sport. And I love the lyrics. A little Wayne's from Louisiana. It's just some of the words, you know, he said, the guy's in trouble, right?

Because he stumbled across a place where people are making gumbo. That's Louisiana. People aren't making gumbo anywhere else. You know, you stumble into Louisiana. In the wrong place, you're going to have a problem. So in that moment, you're in the wrong place. You're in there with a person that has grown up eating that gumbo and live in that southern swampy, dirty life.

And you're just in the wrong spot. I love the song. Before you retire, you have to fight in Louisiana, right? I would love to. But I don't intend to lose this belt. And I'm not sure if they would do a pay-per-view down in New Orleans. Why not? I mean, our economy isn't the best in terms of, you know,

I know it's been 12 years since Katrina, but we don't have the most money. You know, they're hardworking people around there in Louisiana, but it's not the most... It's not a really ritzy place. UFC has done well, but not like some of these other big places. So you may go and you charge ringside seats in Louisiana have to be a lot less than it can be in Vegas, Boston, New York. So you go to those places. Last thing before you go, because I know you've been talking a lot today and you're probably tired. You have to go back, right? Don't you have a flight?

I want to leave. My flight leaves at 730. I'm going back to Boston. JFK, LaGuardia. JFK. I think you don't have private plane? You know, we did last time, but this time it wasn't, it wasn't worth it. You know, my sponsor, Old Grove Technologies, they did it the first time.

Yeah. They would have done it again, but I was like, you know, I'll just take it. It's Monday. We're going to go early and we're back the same day. I didn't have to overnight it, which was good. Okay. Last thing, I want to tie this whole show together. We had Scott Koker on earlier today.

Oh. And I asked him, favorite strike force memory. This is the one he picked. I swear to God. This is the one he picked. He said one day, and you talked about Bob Cook. Bob Cook said, I want you to meet someone. And you met at a pizza place in San Jose.

Now I forget what the pizza place is. Do you remember? Does Bob remember? There it is. Little Street pizza. You walk in. He says there's an out of shape guy and he's like, who's this guy? Yeah.

And he sits down and he's like, all right, I'll take a flyer. I'll sign him. And then you blew him away. And he's like, he mentioned you so many times today, like how proud he was of you and how he's going to watch your fight and all this stuff. And I couldn't believe that that was the moment that he picked. Do you remember that? I do.

Bob and I walked into this place and he goes, I'm going to go here. I have to talk to Scott Coker. He goes, he's the man of strike force. And he goes, if you're going to get into this organization, it's going to go through Scott. So we go and we sit down. It didn't help that I probably ate almost a half a pizza by myself too. I walked in there, 250, 260, maybe. 260, 260 couple ate a whole freaking pizza.

Scott goes You're gonna be ready to fight in three weeks I go dude It's in Oklahoma I'll help you sell tickets I probably sold like five tickets I just said I was gonna help him sell tickets He gave me a shot

And I'm forever indebted to him I mean He believed him when we nobody else did You know I was Towing on my luck after the 2008 Olympics And just kind of starting this new career And This dude believed him and gave me a shot

Three weeks later I fought in Tulsa Oklahoma I remember Bike Force Challenges against Gary Frazier. And it was just, it just went crazy from there. Yeah, he's a great guy, man. And I'm so happy that he's doing so well at Bellator. He deserves all success in the war.

And occasionally, we'll get food together still. Yeah, yeah. Like, Scott, we go to this. You own Korean barbecue, he said. Yes. Yes. I do own one right now. Yes.

But he, yeah, we go Korean barbecue and we eat. He's a good guy. He's a fantastic dude. Yeah, it was amazing that he brought that up of all the stories. I remember writing that story that you were going to debut for them in Oklahoma at the Apple store because my computer broke. And I remember going on one of the public computers and writing it. I did. Let's not get crazy and act like you had a computer back then.

You didn't. Somebody called me and they go, you need to do this interview with Ariel Hawani. I was like, that girl? I didn't know. And then Heidi told me, she goes, no, she goes, he's good. And she goes, he's going to be one of the biggest names in the sport. Oh, wow. Thank you.

And I go, okay. So I did it. we were good for a while and then you did that thing and then we kind of went back now we're back now we're back we're back thank you so much we went bad for a minute

it's quick we had to tell the people that it's not always you know it's not always roses and strawberries sometimes I want to be sure lovers quarrel yes I know and last thing what's this all about oh it's just my necklace okay I feel like you've been wearing it a lot more of these

yes yes just my it's a St. Christopher traveling who's that he's the the The patron saint of travel, like long journey. Oh, okay. All right. We're just kind of, we came across the country to fight in Boston.

This fight can't have been a journey. Everything. Well, I can't tell you how much it meant, honestly, that you would come here before you went out and that you asked to come here. We've been talking about this for a while. Yeah, finally. I didn't expect it under these circumstances, but this is great. It happened.

Screw the saints. This is your good luck charm. Well, it's not getting crazy here. This is it. One thing before I go to. Oh, please, please. I want to say one thing real quick about the fight on Saturday. Please.

There's varsity And there's JV Have you ever heard of it? Yes, I have, I have. Henry Hoof is a great guy Greg Jones is a fantastic guy I don't know who the jih Tzu coach is down there They're all fantastic guys

They had a wrestle off Anthony whipped Volkin So Volkan became the training partner He went to get beat up They sent the A guy in there Got whipped They built him back up

He came back in there again And he got whipped Now he's gone So now they're gonna bring the JV guy What are you gonna do, Volcan? What can you do different? When you weren't even the first choice You weren't even the first choice

Volcan you weren't even the first choice To come out here and try to beat me That's like me telling Frank Munoz Hey bud I can't beat John Jones I need you to go do this for me Come on Come on Black Zillions Come on.

No chance in hell. Like the great Vince McMahon. Like the great Vince McMahon. May go on to have a fantastic career. Sure. This weekend's not as long. Not Saturday. No.

Not on your watch. Not on my watch. Like the Great Mar of Livy once said, when it's too tough for them, it's just right for us. It's just right for me. There you go. The old guard ain't ready yet.

I'm not ready to pass the torch yet. The old watchdog still on. This one's still, I'm going to get the job done this Saturday. I look for you. I was just joking. I'm just kidding. No, no, it's good. It's good.

You don't bring the JV guy. Come on. Amen. You get pinned. I'll see you in Boston. My man. Thanks, my man. Thank you for having.

Thank you so much. Daniel Cormier, really appreciate it. Safe travels out there to Boston. Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate it. Peace out. No one's rolled like this before into the studio, by the way. No one's come 50 deep. But the chant, styling and profiling.

That's right. There he goes. Daniel Cormier. What a pleasure that was. Unbelievable. Take care of guys. See you in a couple days in Boston. I'll be there.

No Bellator. for me, UFC all the way. That's right, baby. That might get you on a bit. That's right. I hope they got that on camera. Great stuff there. What a story.

Unbelievable. Look for me. This Saturday, returning. Take care, guys. All the best to you. Tyler, you're the man. There he is. Tyler Minnan.

We spoke about him last week with George Lockhart. Great team, great guys. It goes down on Saturday. UFC 220 TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. It's a big night in the sport

of mixed martial arts. UFC Bell Tour head to head We live for this kind of stuff Is there anyone better than Daniel Cormier at interviews? It's unbelievable. Great stuff. Great stuff there. What stories?

What stories? I don't know if you guys were able to see that, but it always fascinates me the way they get excited, the way they get pumped up as they walk out, right? As they get ready to walk out. That story that GSP told was phenomenal. This one also phenomenal.

I don't know if you were able to see that footage. Maybe he could post it online or maybe he wants to keep it private, it, but just like, it's almost like a cage animal. I remember one time seeing Fado O'Millianenko backstage, and the noises that he was making was terrifying. What these men and women do, we cannot dream of. We really can't.

They just have a different makeup, different DNA. It's incredible. I can't thank him enough. Thank you so much to his team to UFCPR. Nabi, she's fantastic for going out of their way and bringing them by. I would love to make it a, you know, a tradition on the Monday before the paper you, but we'll get there. We shall get there. Mr. New York, Rick, or anyone back there, what is going on

with you, O Romero? Is he out? Is he done? What happened to him? Should we move on with our lives? You're on. Oh, there he is. Hello. How are you? Let me get myself situated. Yeah, please. Yeah, I mean... What happened? Tell us what happened. Tell the people. Made contact. Yeah, you actually spoke to him. Spoke to him. Okay. Training on the beach.

Yeah. As we said. Can't do it. call me back in 20 and then no dice and then just disappeared we've got the world's finest people working on it

who's that not able to track them down all right well his loss but that doesn't mean it won't happen yeah we still got a little bit of time we still got some time

but I'm sweating back here I don't know about you it's just a lot of intensity in this room today boom DC the champ stopping by

shout out boom where else would you rather be than right here right now another Marvel-Levy quote. How about him breaking out a Marvel-Levy quote for all of us? I mean, that's incredible. What was Austin doing back there?

Freaking out. He plays to the crowd. Austin's asleep. He's sleeping? Austin's not even in the room. That's it. Wow. I thought he would be freaking out, marking out.

They gave him time off after he did all he needed to do. He left. What? Bringing in the guy and taking out the guy? That was it. He's done. He just quit. Well, I got to tell you, the hat looks good on you.

Did you and Kelleher make up? that's really the only reason why I wanted to have them on. Make up. Come on. We worked everybody. Oh, it was all you guys together. All right. Okay, so let us do this, shall we? Should we go to the after hour and do Rick's picks?

I think we should look. I mean, I think we can make an exception should circumstances change. And we need to bring in Mr. Romero. So, yeah, let's do it. And I'm standing by. Don't worry. I got my eye on it in case, in case we'll be. we need to. All right. Well, I'll see you on the other side. Let me regroup here and I'll let

everyone know what's going on. So in a matter of moments, if you've been watching us on YouTube, excuse me, if you've been, ooh, got my body armor here. Good people over at body armor. Fruit Punch. The Inganu flavor. It's good stuff. If you've been watching us on YouTube, on Facebook, on MMA fighting, take a break from that. Now we're going exclusively on Twitter. So exclusively on Twitter. There's the address right over there.

Live. Dot Twitter.com slash M.A. fighting. If you want to watch Ricks picks, if you want to see us answer some questions,

so some other things that we need to touch on, that's where it all goes down. It's called the MMA after hour. It's exclusively on Twitter. What a day it has been, my friends. Unbelievable.

Two in studio guests. The featherweight champion. The welterweight champion of Beltaire, Scott Koker, standing by or stopping by. Luke Rockhold, perhaps the future champion of the middleweight division.

And the former champion, I mean, it's been a who's who, but there's still plenty of show to go. Rick's picks coming up. Your questions and comments coming up. It's exclusively on Twitter. A good friend's over at Twitter. It's the MMA After Hour. It's coming up right after this. So here we go. Let's go. Let's go. M.m. After Hour time. Let's do it. Hey, go. Yes. Switch. Let's do it. And we are back. It's the MMA After Hour. It's the quickest break in the history of television. If you watch us on television. I mean, it's literally five seconds long.

But there's no time to waste today, my friends. UFC 220 coming up. Bel-Tor 1-9. It's a very busy time of the world of MMA 2018, starting off with a bang. So let us not wait any longer. Without further ado, it's everyone's favorite segment. It's everyone's favorite time of the week. It is time for... Rick's Picks. And now it's time to Ricks.

M.MA fans, it's time for Ricks Picks. Or some of that CBD. I want to try that stuff. Never tried it. I hear it works wonders. Rick's picks Ladies and gentlemen Boys and Girls It's the moment you've all been waiting for

It's the new craze Taking the World by storm You've been off today Hope you enjoyed the show The Great Country Of the United States of America Here he is the one and only

Rick's picks Now the kids these days They like to wear hats With a sticker on them Are you one of those? I'm not a hat guy Okay period I've got to be honest

I'm not a hat guy period I feel like it looks good on you The last time I wore, thank you, I appreciate that. The last time I wore hats, I wore them like backwards. And what did you say? I dropped a mixtape. Danny with the commentary back here. Yeah, I was real young.

I was rocking the backwards. I want to say like NBA hat. Not even a team because as United didn't really pick up a team until I was, how old was I? You know, seven, eight years old. So I was rocking the backwards NBA hat. well you look great thank you

never look better I know you I know you appreciate that I cleaned up the yeah oh yeah the main a little bit you look much better

thank you now if we could just work on the top no I mean work on people need to work on catching up but you do regret shaving the sides you've said that before

I do yeah I do because now I'm committed to it and can't grow the full length without it looking super goofy but that's okay I mean I'm still top of the game

still doing what I love to do My mom just texted me What she said? She said DC best interview loved it It was very good And I could have gone another hour But I could tell they were getting a little restless there We never really spoke about the fact that there was a flight coming up

So I hope You know No one's mad at me When he said 730 to JFK You know we're looking at the clock Maybe it was like 515 I'd admit I got a little knot in the pit of my stomach For real?

That's a, that's a track. Holiday weekend. That's the thing. And Pedro smartly pointed this out, likely not to be a ton of traffic on the way there. So you might be able to get away with that. Don't make me feel bad. But typical, typical 520-ish rush hour, that one ain't happened. Okay, so right now it says 51 minutes.

Yeah. So, no, look, he'll make it. Hopefully he's got the TSA pre-check. He didn't check bags. Yeah. Right? We'll be okay. We'll be okay.

You won't remember? Remember when Wyden didn't make it somewhere or something and you owed him Uber money? No, it's because he took a cab. Now I'm so nervous. I'm sweating. All right.

Listen, it's going to be great for him better. It'll be a story. Yeah, right. What are the chances, okay, can we put money on whether or not this actually sees the light of day as far as embedded is concerned? I'll say this.

Why send the cameras if it's not going to make it? That's true. You don't need to waste their time and energy. I think it can make. I think it will make it. Look, it's the most prestigious show in the sport. It has to make it. It would be nice.

Would be nice. Maybe they ask us and, you know, get the proper credits. No, no, we don't need the credits. All good, all good. All right, what do we have? I just checked in with Yowell's manager. He said he's fine, but he says he has no idea what happened to him. I mean, I've heard the same.

Yeah. All right. What do we got? We've got our top people. it. Okay. Okay. Number one, I think this is the only way we can start this. Here we have an Instagram post from one Tyron Woodley honoring Martin Luther King on Martin Luther King Day with a quote, this posted to his Instagram, the time is always right to do the right thing, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and then some hashtags paying tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on MLK Day.

Next, we move to a moment you talked about earlier today. Matt Hughes, I'm not going to talk all over it, so we'll tune in for a second. And so we'll tune in for a second. And so this trademark heart, perseverance and determination. Hall of Famer Matt Hughes fought back, survived and is improving each and every day. And that recovery is nothing short of remarkable. And so this was the package that rolled out yesterday. What an amazing gesture by the UFC.

it was incredible to watch. On Friday, 43-year-old was seriously injured. Matt Hughes is one of these guys who is a pioneer in this sport and has helped this sport evolve. It was like a monument. It was like a legend. He was a best fighter of all time. Matt Hughes was a winner.

In my eyes, he built me. He built George St. Pierre. He built us. I owe it to Matt Hughes. How sweet is that? People always ask me, you know, what's your favorite fight? And still to this day, my favorite fight is Hughes Trigg too. So what were your thoughts when you saw this video initially, when they started rolling this out?

Well, I saw a picture of Matt Hughes and Tiago Alves from earlier in the week in St. Louis. So I had an idea that he was there. Yep. And so I thought that they would just cut to him in the crowd, in the crowd waving. but I was really surprised to see him walk out because we haven't really seen much like we saw the one clip of him rolling on the ground and I saw the clip with the nurses

that you know like that sort of press conference was really a press right here this moment right here actually yeah and so obviously we knew that he was doing better and that he was up and then he was out of the hospital but to make the walk again and actually Chale Sondon had a great tweet about it how he did it the opposite, how he made the walk at the end after the tough fight,

was pretty amazing. And then, of course, when you stop and listen to the lyrics of the song, the title of the song, Country Boy Can't Survive, it's perfect. And so, you know, moments like, like, this is very rare. You don't see this. And his story is rare, right? I mean, this is not something that we want to see all the time. But I just thought it was just, it was perfectly done.

Could we get that quickly for a second? Can we put that back up? Let's bring the audio back up a little bit here. Yeah, this is the moment. So like now you get an idea. All right, he's coming out. How about the shirt too? Yeah, the shirt.

Of all shirts, he picks a ruthless Robbie Lawler shirt. Just amazing. I mean, man, if you didn't get goosebumps watching that. For anybody who's listening and not watching, you need to seek it out. UFC walkaway champion of the world. And one of the greatest. It's awesome. And then he greets in a way.

And then he sees his wife and he's emotional. Just great stuff. Well done UFC. Yeah. Nothing more to say. And well done, Matt Hughes. Well done Matt Hughes. Incredible.

What a great moment. I had no idea. I don't follow the kind of ends and outs of the fighters on social media. Caught me completely by surprise. But I have to have to be. Mick getting a little bit choked up. Okay. Can I bring the audio back up on this one too?

So this is from Invicta. Oh my. We see Invicta FC fighter Mallory Martin here doing a bit of a Kabib Narmaga Madov telling Tiffany Masters that she's done. Oh my God.

No one can save you. Oh my gosh. That is terrifying. And it does ultimately lead to the TKO in the finish. The rest of this goes into an interview with her. But well done, Mallory Martin.

Terrifying. That is terrifying. But congratulations. Great performance by her. Kind of been a little bit up and down. It was a real focused one for her. And a great, part of a great event on Saturday. Okay. Next, we move on to Pat Bam Bam Healy

stepping away from the sport. I couldn't quite embed the Facebook post itself. So I'm just going to read this tweet that he sent out that embeds it. Love Bam Bam. Thanks everyone for your support. Disappointing performance to say the least. I thought about this a lot recently. And this was my last fight.

I can no longer compete at a high level. It's been a hell of a ride. I've gone places and seen things. I never thought I would have a chance to make friends and memories all over the world. MMA gave me a life I can only have dreamed of. I will now focus on helping the next generation become successful and finally getting my BJJ Black Belt. So good luck to you, Pat, on that journey to be.

BJJ Black Belt, and thank you for a great career. Awesome fighter, veteran of the sport, been around forever, was royally screwed after UFC 159 when he got the bonus and the whole marijuana thing. Marijuana, yeah. It was 130,000, if memory serves me correct. And so always felt for him after that. But one of the good guys has been on the show before, multiple times in the past. And I know he fought overseas, I think, in Russia.

I think he fought for ACB this past weekend. That's correct. And you know, you gotta know when to say when, but great career. Nothing to be ashamed of. Another tearjerker here. This one,

Felice Herrig posting to her Instagram, a repost from a young lady named Monica who had been dealing with some things. She was hit by a car while riding her bike and suffered traumatic brain injuries. And Felice sent her a kind of gift box. It was a competition And you can just tell how much this means to her

It's nice to see people in the MMA community Kind of giving back to others Wow So shout out to Monica Congratulations on winning the little gift box And obviously kudos felice You've done a great thing here Okay

What? Alimalae McFarlane What the hell? You didn't see this story? No So Alimalae McFarlane was doing a celebration of her title. What?

And during the celebration, at the celebration, the place that it was at burned out. Get out of here. So that is the remains of her belt. Come on. Yeah, no joke. Wait, is this the same celebration where her dad met a guy

who ended up being his long-lost brother? Oh, I don't know about that. Yeah. That's a story I may not have been clued in on. Well, you don't read MMAfighting.com. Alexander Lee wrote a great story about. I don't know if this is that, but... Jeez, it's been very eventful for a Lima Lake McFarlane.

I do know that her belt did burn to a crisp. I'm sure Bellator will handle it and get her a new one. But you can check her Twitter, this next tweet here. There's a GoFundMe to rebuild the structure that had burned down. The link isn't complete on this, but go to Lima Lays. What happened? Twitter. I don't know about how it started, but it is safe to.

to say that it burned down and her belt was inside and she lost it. Yeah. Alexander Lee wrote a story on Friday. They had a party to celebrate her becoming the flyway champion and she ends up meeting her uncle, who she didn't know was her uncle. Dad meets his brother. Crazy. And belt gone, but.

And his name is Walter. Uh-oh. Great name. Speaking to you. Yeah. Okay, this one. This is a horrible story. Jesse Jess

who picked up a huge win yesterday. How she picked up the win in the midst of all this? Yeah, so she competed last night picked up the win against Paige Van Zandt, but unfortunately somebody burglarized her home and kicked her cat who had to be put down.

They didn't even take all the TVs. They took a bunch of my clothes and shoes and then figurines and stuff. So I don't know if it's someone that we know. I don't know if it's someone that's been in our house before. But like that cat didn't do anything. And the fact that someone's bathing now has to be put down that's messed up. Yeah, it's super unfortunate.

But highlighting this only to say if you're in the Vegas area, have any idea what's happening. Please contact the police. These people have made away with her belongings. And not only that, but killed her. the cat? Geez, Louise. Why?

Like, what was the cat doing? You know? That's the part that I don't understand. I'm sure it was just annoying the progress and they... But do cats really do that? I'm not a big cat guy, but I feel like cats are the kind of people

that are just, or people, kind of animals that just sort of stay on their own. Yeah, especially when there's some kind of ruckus going on. They're typically, you know, like, that's where a scaredy cat comes from, right? Yeah. Did you really have to do that on your way out? And how she was able to keep fighting,

like to stay on the car. I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine she found out on Thursday. The fight's on Sunday. Just awful. Your cat? Ugh. Horrible.

Just horrible. You know, good for her that she won. She gets some, you know, some positive news. But man, there's a number on the screen right there for Nevada. 702-385-55, if anybody has any info. Does that? Okay. Next Rick's picks.

Thought this was interesting, more so than good. bad, anything like that. But Rory McDonald is being sponsored by cryptocurrency. Yes. And then he actually followed up

our tweet to say it's called dash pay. Michael Chandler also being sponsored by a cryptocurrency. Michael Chandler here posting to his Instagram that he

announced a partnership with coinlyion.com. Although this doesn't seem to be a currency. This is a trading platform. Coin Lion is a trading platform. You know anything

about? A little bit. I mean, I know more than anybody who doesn't know anything, but I can't say, I'm a risk-averse person. So I'm not one who's trying to get involved in the cryptocurrency business. But I just found it interesting that crypto's currency is now coming into the MMA sphere in a big way. Rory and Michael are two of the bigger stars on the Bellator card. and cryptocurrency is kind of making its way there. I know nothing. It's having its day in the sun. Gives me a headache thinking about it.

Rory, I remember, had been talking about Bitcoin forever. On our show, he talked about it back in like 2014, something like that. Now, you know, I bet Rory's doing pretty well with that Bitcoin. Now that I think about it. By the way, Jesse Jess tweeted a couple of minutes ago. So the home invaders stole every single item of training clothes that I own all my training shoes, plus my UFC debut fight outfit. Throw an Aussie, a bone at Reebok, question mark.

I mean, yeah, that's probably something. You know the people at Reebok really well. Hook a sister up. So that's how this is going to go. Now it's my responsibility. What shirt are you wearing there anyway? Actually, I'm wearing a Reebok shirt. What is that, Vitor Bell for it?

This is the, no, I don't think so. This is the, although I can't see it by looking down, but this is the 219. Official T, I believe. Oh, who is it? Is that cyborg? Actually, maybe that is Vitor. Is that Vitor?

No, he's not on 219. Here, let's see. Oh, there you go. It's just generic. Yeah, maybe it's just, I don't know. But I'll find out. Crazy that once again, Vitor, trying, you know, here's another fighter saying,

can you please pay me, show win money, keeps happening. got to start putting it in those contracts, right? The UFC is under no obligation to pay. The days of them doing it out of the goodness of their heart are no more. You got to get that in your contract. Get it in writing so there's no wiggle room.

Keeps happening. Okay. Moving on to the next Rick's pick. Connor McGregor, stare down. What I love about this also, I'll get to in a second. Let me just read the tweet. Connor saying, face off with Mr. Branson, he has not a knighted sir on this soil.

you know entering the fight territory. What I love about this is the screen in the back makes this look like a real like way in stage stare down the way the fighters are kind of projected onto it. I buy it. Branson's in good shape. Richard Branson. Sir. Yes. Sir Richard Branson.

I feel like he could give Connor a run for his money. Yeah, he wants him award, like a lifetime achievement award. He's pretty young. That's pretty good at a young age. He just turned, what do you turn? 39, 30, lifetime achievement? Well done. I mean, he's achieved what many men

will not achieve in their lifetime, so I could justify it. So what did you want to say about him? About who? You said you wanted to say something about Connor. No, no, I was just going to say that the background, I like the way it's projected, it's reminiscent of the real way-ins where they projected onto the screen.

Could have passed for a way-in. It looks like Branson's wearing a wig there. Oh, I was one. He's got that hair. I was wondering if you were going to bring this up. Oh, of course I am. We're transitioning to, we're transitioning to more Connor talk. What's like the perfect example for this?

Like where it's like two people like doing something and the rest of the world is like, please stop. Pretty much anything that two people do together until it's like dead and in a coffin. But Floyd Mayweather posting a headline that says, Connor McGregor allegedly punched a member of the Irish cartel and may have a 900, pound bounty on his head, or no, sorry, Euro bounty on his head. When we first talk about that? Like, that's like a month old story. It is a very old story.

What are you doing, Floyd? To which Floyd reacts now a month later. I already fucked you up in 2017. Now they're about to fuck you up in 2018. You're about to start your new year off with a bang and then some very like ominous emojis, a knife, a hammer, a pickax, a bomb, a coffin. Just stop. To which Conner,

McGregor responded, I am the cartel. Which I think is the appropriate response. Well, can I tell you my favorite thing about this response is that he didn't quote tweet it. He just sent it straight to him. He's not a quote tweeter. He actually is. He quoted Chabeeb. Yes, but typically, he just responds to that. Does he? Because the people are of the

stature. Yeah. That people will be following them both. So he just avoids that. But then it kept going. The whole thing kept going. Oh, I didn't know there was more. What? Thank God. Oh, my God. It went back and forth. and forth. More tweets, more pictures. For me, it ended after

I am the cartel. Oh, man. If it would have ended there, then I would have been okay with it, but it did not end there. Did you notice those, speaking of Connor's social media, that there's been a lot more of him training, wrestling, jiu-jitsu. He did notice this. Yeah. Interesting. Very interesting. You have something to tell us? No, I mean, Dana, someone just told me that

the sound is dead. It's always good. That person's probably... Yeah. Never mind. Jesus. Gilemerme. Hey, Gilemerme, maybe you should plug in your speakers. Oh, Gilaireme.

Nice of you to chime in, just like last week. Oh, nice of you to... Hey, Gilemerme, thanks a lot for the tip of the middle of the show. The sound is there. Oh, whoops. My speakers aren't working. It's me. My headphone didn't work.

Thanks so much, buddy. Yeah, thanks a lot. Maybe charge those wireless speakers of yours. What were we saying? Were we talking about Connor? You were talking about Connor training. Yeah. A lot more.

a little pickup in the actual fight realm Dana White said yesterday that Dana White said yesterday that the latest he heard was that he wants to return in September and if he comes back in September then he's going to strip him because that's too long

you know there there has been talk of April Brooklyn Habib Tony but I reported on Friday they don't want the interim belt so something's got to give

to standoff. Habib doesn't want the interim belt. I don't blame him. At this point, he's not injured. You got to make a call. I think, here's the thing that the- It's hard. Here's the thing that the UFC is facing.

Habib is a star. He's healthy. He told them, if you want me to fight again before the first half of the year, I have to fight before May because that's when Ramadan is. Well, they're going to Brooklyn. Guess who would be a massive draw in Brooklyn?

Habib Nirmagamadov of Russian descent. Trust me, I know. I went to this little restaurant. Brighton Beach, right? And it was insane. People loved him. They were mobbing him. And I think if promoted correctly, it would do very well.

The guy doesn't want to fight for an interim belt. He says, hey, you've got a lightweight championeer who hasn't defended the title. He's not injured. He's healthy. Give me the real belt. I'm 25 and 0. Why should I be fighting for an interim belt? So something's got to give.

Something's got to give. There was a tweet out there by Tony Ferguson where he said, back to work. so something's going on I mean that that's really what's going on so we'll see who wins out on that one but I don't I don't see and I made this case

on the beat on on Thursday there's a very strong case to be made I don't even know if you can argue a Gainesett at this point Connor doesn't need the belt right like Connor is selling the same amount of pay per views whether without the belt on the line

he's above the belt and so you almost get two for one in the sense that you get the belt off him, you get a title fight, and you just let him fight whatever fights he wants. If he wants to come back and fight for the belt, great. But if he wants to fight Nate Diaz or this guy or that guy,

jump around George St. Pierre, you're making a ton of money with him as well. I think it still means something to him, though. To who? To Connor. I mean, it does, but he's not defending it. I think it still means something to him, but in terms of perception of him,

in terms of does he need a title? Will that boost his significance in any way? Zero. Sure, it's nice to be called champion And I'm sure he still considers himself the featherweight champion He's the champ champ champ. Yeah, but the thing is If Connor goes out and does like a media tour, press conferences,

ESPN, car wash, this, that, and the other No one's like, ah, is it for the UFC lightweight title? The casual, casual fan that really boosts his pay-per-views Doesn't even know what the UFC lightweight title is. Maybe with her McGregor wasn't for a belt. You know what I mean? Like no one cares about that stuff anymore. They just want to see fights.

They didn't want to see fights. involving big names. So the UFC can get its division back and they can get Connor whenever he wants to come back and any fight that he's in, whether it's against a champion, an interim champion,

a legend, an up and cut, whatever he wants. You're going to make money off of it. And I really believe that at this point he doesn't need to be in a title fight and he'd make the same amount. It's all about matchups with him at this point.

Like he is making minimum, he is generating a million pay-per-views. Now, if he's fighting, you know, Nate and it's promoted correctly and people want to see it like that could do two million fine But I'm starting to wonder about that one like I feel like Yeah I'm Habib this that you know what I mean But I feel like he's still always gonna make a million

Like he's the only guy who could go in there against anyone and make a million He's the only one who could be on pay-per-view by himself And you charge 65 and and people are all in Even if there's one fight I think people are buying it So I don't think he needs the belt And that's why you know I feel like they're I think they would agree. I think they know that.

So get the division back on track. Of course, if he wants to come back and defend the title, that's the perfect scenario. But if not, get the division back on track. You've got a great fight with, you know, a lot of history tied to it, a lot at stake. Why not? The one thing I'm interested in, if they did book Tony Ferguson versus Habib, would tickets sell early? You know what I mean? because we've seen this before.

They've tried to make the fight before and it's fallen through at the 11th hour twice now. Would tickets sell or would people just wait? You know, I'm curious about that. I have to think they would sell. Yeah? Well, they're certainly more popular now than they were before. I have to think...

You can't go in with the assumption that somebody's going to get hurt if you're looking to go to an event. I think they would sell. some people might wait. They might say, you know what, I'm going to wait to see. I mean, I'll wait to see if the fight actually comes to fruition. I'll wait till the week of, five days out, whatever.

What if you put it somewhere else on... No, Brooklyn is a perfect place for that fight. Perfect. Or what if you put it underneath a heavier weight title shot? Maybe something that could kind of soft in the blow should... I think that's a made-a-bent fight. I don't disagree with you there. I'm just trying to...

Just look at the roster. There's not that many higher weight, you know, opportunities right now for that, yeah. Okay. Daniel alluded to this. During the interview, Volcan O's Demir, taking to Instagram,

posting a picture of him knocking out Cory Anderson. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Wait, who was it? Who did he knock out? Manow, sorry. And John Jones

knocking out Daniel Cormier, to which Daniel Cormier responded. Savage Post, Volcanoesdemier, but since no one knows or follows you, I'll send it out to the public. 3,000 likes for such a good post seems like a waste.

Quick point, though, you're not John Jones, and I'm no Jimmy Manoa, and I'm a lot better than Kelly Amundsen. Yeah. Tap machine. Bum. Bum. Bum is a great one.

Bum. LeBron made Bum great again. Bum. Make Bum great again, LeBron James. It is a great post by Ozdemir, but I feel like D.C. may have one update. It's tough to go toe to toe to with D.C. He's good on the social. And it is him, I believe.

So next we have an Instagram post from Michelle Waterson wrapping up the season of the challenge. Here with some of her castmates. She was on the final. Unfortunately, she did not win. Her team did not win. But it was a really good effort and a really good season. Wait a second, her team?

Yeah, you make the final with a team. This team right here. Michelle, Josh, and Justina. Oh. It's a three-person thing? It was a many more people thing, and then it whittles down as you go on. These were the final three from the celebrity side. Are those two from the real world?

So no. Okay. These are, well, because this is not the real-world road rule side of this. Oh. This is the celebrity side. Josh in the middle is from The Bachelor Okay And Justina is from an MTV show called While and Out

Ah yes But they did really good Michelle was great What kind of ratings does the show do? I have no idea Who cares? I watch it Where's Jedi when we need him

The ratings break down? I think he's posted ratings before And they do well Has he? In fact actually I need to go back I believe Jedi Goodman Showed me some

Premiere ratings or maybe Finale ratings one time And they were really really good Really? Strong. Well, congrats to Michelle. Great effort this season. I used to watch MTV all the time.

Real world, I loved it. It's not too late. This show is the best thing going. I never watch it anymore. Watch this. All right. Even when MMA fighters are on it? Never.

I mean, that's... What MMA fight? Oh, you mean like Michelle Watterson? Yeah, like Michelle Watterson and CM Punk. I just, I can't do MTV. Just can't do it anymore. I'm done with it. Different strokes for different folks.

But it was a fun season. Good job, Michelle. Okay, here, what we have here is a clip from Glory Kickboxing. Now, the date on this tweet is actually from December 9th. Here what we see is a kickboxer from the UK named Bailey Sugden. And the reason this tweet is relevant is because Bailey walked out to a song that may be familiar to many people listening. Maybe you even. If we listen in closely,

you walked out to a song. If you don't recognize it, this is a man's not hot by Big Shack. And this subsequent tweet is from one New York, Rick. Myself featured on Rick's picks. I've quote tweeted this tweet from December 9th. And I put a little hard.

Where's the date? It's okay. You can verify it. You can find it. A lot of work. That's okay. A lot of work. You see the little heart eyes emoji.

Yeah. On December 9th. Yeah. And what you'll see here is a handle. There's somebody tagged in this tweet by one New York, Rick. And that person tagged in that tweet, I'll give you a guess as to who that is. You want to take a guess? It's at Michael Dapper.

It is. And Michael Dapper is an actor. Is a rapper? Is a comedian. So I see where this is going. Who created the song Man's Not Hot and the character Big Shack. So if my mathematics work here, if the timelines all line up, this would imply that I know it's been secret internet information.

for a long time. But this would imply that maybe, just maybe, I knew who he was before the award show. Possibly. Maybe.

Still skeptical. Are you speechless? Because here's the thing. I don't see a date. I still don't understand the thought process behind pretending you don't know who

this guy was when you did the award. The award is supposed to be A reflection Have you ever heard of the term K-Fave? Oh, stop it with K-Fabe You're not in on the joke. Have you ever heard of the term K-Fame?

Again, if someone said to me, hey, did you see that interview with the guy dressed up as like the British Jamaican guy and he's interviewing Donald Trump? Have you seen that? I'd be like, yeah, L.E.G.? Yeah, wasn't that weird and awesome and funny?

Yeah, you don't know who Ali G is? He's a character that's played by Sasha Bronco. and then he interviews people. You didn't do any of that. So you were trying to work. Yeah, I was trying to work. You. And guess what?

And guess what? I did work you. I did work you. I still maintain. And guess what? I worked all these gibronies, all these marks out here. Why the heel turn?

Why turn your back on the people who brought you to this point? You know what? I told you last week. It's the same thing. They have the sense that they are the only ones who have this knowledge,

this widely available. internet information. This is not a secret. I don't know if you know this. It's not a secret. You're not informing me. You're not telling me a secret that only you know. I knew.

We all knew. Guess what? Everybody but who knew? Everybody but who? Well, no, I never claimed to know. Exactly. That's why I worked you. I actually believe that I'm the only one being honest in this whole situation.

I didn't know. I still don't quite get it. I mean, I get it. Let's just say this. But I don't believe you. I'll contact CJ. We're going to need a new Fador. Why?

Because I'm taking it off the desk. Get out of here. Oh, that's why my friend Jason Ryan Jones just tweeted, give up the Fador doll. Look, you know what? I'll be a good guy. I'll be a good guy. Where's the date? I don't see any date.

I'll send it directly to you. Where's the date? You want it? You want the tweet? You want it over G-Chap? I need the people to weigh in on this because I really don't feel it's very easy to go back. and create a tweet from December 9? Yes.

No, it's very easy to edit. Photoshop. I don't know what you kids do. I don't buy it. Fair enough. I don't buy it. Where is it? Where's the damn tweet?

You show me a tweet and guess what's not on it? No date. I mean, this is the route you're going to go. You really think I can't pull up a tweet with the date on it? Let's move this along, all right? Let's move this along. What else do you have? If you would, Rob.

I'm going to go full screen on one of the great stories. Someone found the tweet. Someone already found it. Oh, I'm sorry. Other side. Look at this. January 9th, 2018. Yep, I don't see it.

All right. What else do we have? Any questions? No, no. I got something still here. I wanted to put up a tweet on the screen here. I don't really see anything. We're going to such great lengths here to do.

this, right? If I could only get this kind of love for my, uh, you know, my, my, my actual show here. Here we go. What's this on the screen here? Let's go with this. Oh. Yeah. Okay. Again, of all people, of all people, really, this is more insulting than that whole little stick you did a couple weeks ago during the, so you see, wait a second, you're telling me right here you couldn't Photoshop this. Honestly, what, where's the proof? Here, you're, let's, you know, Let's press the refresh button on this one. What refresh? Oh, what?

There it goes. Ariel, I value your commitment. I really do. Yeah. Joey Sentosa says, those people aren't saying they're the only ones who knew. They're saying you didn't know.

You. And guess what, Joey? Let me tell you something. Well, this is going to hurt your feelings. No, I don't buy it. I still, if you really didn't know and maybe you're

presenting a case here if you really didn't know it doesn't make any sense it really doesn't make any sense see if I hadn't mentioned this if we never it's like it really is K-Fabe

we're breaking K-Faid now we've over-dissected this it was fun when he was kind of you know 177 million views yeah it's pretty crazy now

then you get into a whole conversation about at a certain point even though he's a comedian doing a joke song like it really did become a monster smash hit like he's touring and doing collaborations with like real musical artists

good for him Michael Dappah like well done well done buddy okay we've spent significantly too much time we're going to end on one thing here a gentleman named Scott sent me a tweet on Friday.

I was at Invicta. He sent me a tweet just kind of going in on me a little bit. Not unlike other criticism I've got in the past. Wasn't really a departure and didn't really stand out. But for some particular reason, when I clicked on it, I saw his profile picture.

And in his profile picture was a picture of his family. His beautiful family, by the way. And in order to kind of get one up on him, What I said was what would your beautiful family think of this of this terrible message that you sent to me? Yeah. I thought it was good. I was like, okay, I got, you know, I killed him with kindness. I got one up on him.

It was a great thing. Oh, no. He Instagram messaged me. Oh, no. To apologize. He said he was sorry. What have you done? And went into it and had a real conversation with me.

Okay. And during the course of that conversation, we kind of, you know, just started talking, having passing information. back and forth. And he's a huge fan of the show. And I told him, because he had mentioned this in one of his tweets, I told him that if he tweets the show, I'll feature it because the story is within his beautiful

family, Scott's daughter, May, had stage four neuroblastoma. Jesus. So she was battling, and he says it in the tweet here, she was battling the same cancer that Joe Lozon's son had. Yeah. And, you know, through this kind of interaction that we had, on Twitter, we got to talking as people person to person,

rather than kind of just like sniping at each other on Twitter. And I thought it'd be appropriate. Scott turns out to be a good guy, had a moment on Twitter. I had a moment on Twitter. Didn't mean anything. I thought it'd be appropriate to instead turn this Twitter thing into a way to highlight something good. So Scott wanted to shout out MSK and BNB,

these two organizations that helped his daughter when she was fighting this cancer. Wow. And so this tweet here is showing how people can support those two organizations. You'll see there the URL for BNB.org and the site for MSKCC who helped his daughter get through. And I believe he said for three years she's been cancer-free. So shout out to you, Scott. We got off on a sour note, but I saw that.

I wanted to turn it into something nice. And all the best wishes to May and the rest of the family. and stay strong. And, yeah, support MSK and support beat NB. And that's how you can do it. You can check out the links. Don't you feel like a name, huh? Look, I'm trying to do a nice thing.

Scott, you know, apologetic is trying to do a nice thing. And I think ultimately sometimes people lose their selves a little bit on Twitter. And I think that it's important to remember that behind those screens were all human beings. And Scott's a good human being. I try to be a good human being. Sometimes I'm full short. Actually, it was that tweet to Scott that kind of pissed me off as well.

What? Because I was trying to work with you on something and you and I'll tell the story quickly. So in your other life, you do some work for another organization and there was an interview opportunity that I thought would be good on the show. Sure.

I reached out to you on Thursday and you were like, yeah, I'll work on it. cool New York Grick works on the show I mean he's gonna get it done within minutes you know I'm I'm very neurotic when it comes to booking the show like it's something that I get a little crazy about other PR people can attest and then he knows

me knows the show and everything works on the show cares about the show Friday you know mid morning nothing tells me he just landed you're gonna work on it cool night nothing um

text no reply check on Twitter. I mean, usually you're on Twitter, you're on your phone. Typically, I see you're battling this guy, this guy, this tweet. I wasn't going to bring this up. Shout out of Scott. I'm like, wow, you had time to talk smack to a guy, you know, and not even text your colleague about the show, me trying to ask for some help. Now, you chose to do that over actually, like, texting me back, get a like sort of, you know,

a blasé response, going to work on it. And I'll give you an answer by Saturday morning. I said, when can you give me an answer? Saturday morning. Saturday morning comes nothing. Saturday afternoon, nothing. Saturday evening. I have to text.

Check in. No, no, no, no, no. That's not what happened. And I just like, oh, okay, okay. As they say, check the record, bud. Okay, don't even hang up on this little, okay. Saturday at night, he texts. By now the show's like done, booked.

It's 10 p.m. I'm half asleep. I'm watching the David Letterman, Barack Obama interview thing on Netflix, which was a lot of fun, by the way. I highly recommend. And, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yes. I can do it, but there's stipulations. Oh, okay, great.

Yeah, thanks a lot. Here you are 24 hours later with the worst response. Like, it's not even a response. And I'm like, this freaking guy works on the show, knows, you know, the kind of person that I am, knows how neurotic I get, and he doesn't even care.

He doesn't even care. He's too busy responding to people on Twitter. Now, I'm happy. accurate and fair. I'm happy that it led to this and I'm happy that you spotlighted this. But I must say... I know. Look at you. I was not very happy about it. Of course you're not. You're turning this thing that we're trying to make a positive

difference in the world. All about Ariel. I wasn't bringing it up. All about Ariel. It's the show. You bring it up. It's a tweet that made me remember about the feelings I was feeling on Saturday, how mad I was. And I was like, wow. I mean, you talk about a Benedict Donald move. Now, time up. Should I bring up the the email from 2011? Should I bring it up? Should we talk about it?

What we've done? You're just going to read this? Every? For your life? Has changed your life? Should we read it again? I mean, what needs to happen? Let me interview you for a second here.

There's no interviewing. People have to understand. Well, first of all, those things are not mutually exclusive. I can be on Twitter and still working on it and not have a response. You must acknowledge the text. You must acknowledge the receipt of said text. This is my texting style? No, no.

This is my texting style? I don't respond unless I have something to respond with. We've talked about this. You know we've talked about this. And you know I have said to you that I don't like this. Your neuroses is not my neuroses. Well, guess what? Adapt.

Okay. I have to have to have an update worth sending before I'm going to send it. Me saying nothing is not my style. I want something to give you. I'm on it before I. No, that is giving me something. That's reassurance that you still freaking care, that you actually take pride that one out of,

Every million shows when I ask you for something That you actually would be like, you know what? Wow, he's asking me for something for a show I'm going to try to get this done for him And I did try to get it done You know what I got back? I'm working, br-ah What are you talking about?

I'm not asking you for a personal favor I'm talking about this freaking show This is work too You're not working 24-7 Oh and by the way You have time to tweet back people Starky little remarks But you don't have time to actually say

Give me a second I'm working It's 50-50 It's 30-70 It's 40-70 give me something. I will make you a pledge right here, right now on the MMA hour. I'm coming back ever again.

I'm going to tweet you all kinds of delays and nonsense. Yeah. All that stuff that people give you the runaround. That's not a real response. No gives me the runaround. All the PR people I work with are infinitely better than you because at least they give me updates. They say I'm working on it. Give me a second.

Give me a day. Give me 24 hours. Give me 36 hours. Give me 30 minutes. Give me something. You don't even give me something. It's unbelievable. I'm thinking to myself,

I am so lucky that I work on a show where the guy who works on the show with me, who's been here longer than everyone, actually works in PR. And one out of every 10, 15 times, ooh, he has a guess that I'd like to have on the show. That's a no-brainer. That's a lamp.

Doesn't even come through for me. The guy doesn't even come through. Not only does he might even come through. He doesn't even send me a reply text. I can't even get a reply text. I can't even get that. And when I do get a text, it's a bitchy remark. It's like, oh, I'm working,

Brett. Oh yeah. Like I'm not working. Like it's Saturday and I really want to be hounding people for interviews on this God forsaken show. Yeah. You know what frustrating that is? You know what frustrating it is? Yo Romero not responding. You not responding.

People not responding left and right. You know what frustrating that is? I don't want to have to deal with it as much as you don't want to have to deal with it. I will work on it. Yeah. Work on you. I will work on my texting. New Year. New you. I will work on my texting. Responding. to the damn text. This idea that I don't respond to text, if you

text me, anyone, anyone could attest to it back there, anyone who works with me, I'm giving you a reply within 30 minutes, tops, a reply, anything. Even if it's a cool, even it's okay, even if it's a yes, if it's a no, I am responding without fail. This thing doesn't leave my

back pocket or front pocket. I mean, we need to have a talk about that. Yeah, we should have a talk about that. To a fault. Yeah. To a fault. But you need to fix it because you're in the of responding to people and especially when it has to do with this show. This is no joke right here. I was pissed. I was going to tell you to stay home. I was going to say stay home, you know, do the holiday and I'll see you next week. Suspension. First ever in the history of this program. One week

suspension. Good times. Okay, can we answer some questions? Yeah, let's answer some questions. Hope you learned your lesson. I don't know. We'll see. I don't want that person on the show. Anyway. That's not nice. Well, meant it. Okay.

We start the questions, how we start every week. Ariel Honwani asking the question of the week. Yeah. No sponsor. What the UFC and Bellator hold big events on the same night, as is the case this Saturday,

Belator 192 and UFC 220. Overwhelmingly, 11,000 people answered. Overwhelmingly, 75% say no. Yeah. 25% say yes. I agree with them.

Now, I mean, is there a reason to say yes? I'm trying to think of it. Is there a perspective where yes is the answer? Like, wouldn't you prefer to have your attention undivided? When I'm home, I don't mind it, but certainly when I'm working at an event, I hate it. Now I'm being 100% selfish here, and I'm asking people to be selfish. Like, I'm asking your opinion on this. What do you want?

When I'm home, I don't mind it because there's such long breaks between the fights typically that you can kind of squeeze them in and these days you can watch things at the same time. I really don't mind it when I'm home. But when I'm working, I hate it. I was just curious what fans thought about it. In a perfect world, separate nights. I think so. In a perfect world.

But I don't hate it when I'm home. Yeah. But I mean, you have to flip back and forth a lot of times or you have to... Usually break out the computer or the, you know, like... I like the attention being undivided, but I guess there's 25%. Yeah. Are the people that like it. But I'm not into it.

I want to pay attention. I want to... I'll tell you what I don't like. Bumping Lima and Rory, I was so far. fired up when I got that. I was so fired up. Yeah. You agree with me, right? I do. I think it's... The title fight has to be last. I mean, are you kidding me? I mean, way to tell the audience that, yeah, this thing is just like a promotional trinket. I mean, you talk about promotional malpractice. Trademark Mr. Luke Thomas. Actually, trademark

Mike Chippetto then gave it to Luke Thomas, but you get my point. That is promotional malpractice. I didn't... Finally have a title fight that's worth being a title fight and you say, you know what? Entertainment purposes, we're going to bump it down. What? A week out? Now, Chale is spinning it, but I didn't even consider this. That it is a tournament. It is a title tournament. There is a title.

It's at best a number four contender fight. It's not even like the finals of the tournament. It's not the semifinals to get to the finals. You know what I mean? I think it's, I don't like the move personally. And I think objectively we can look at these fights and say that Rory versus Lima is an amazing fight. It is so amazing. It's one of their best head to fight.

for Chale and Rampage. Look, I personally don't love the fight, but Rory and Lema are in their primes right now. This is the best fight on that card. It's not even close. It might be the best fight of the week. It doesn't make sense.

And like, what's the line of thinking? Oh, we want to end with the title. What? There's no title on the line. There's actually no title on the line. We want to end with a bang. Like, what are you talking about? You think Roy versus Lima is going to be bad?

under who's I don't even know what? No way. I mean it's like the biggest no brainer of them all Lima and Rory is your title fight it has to be last and Chale and Rampage is going to get you there co-main event. Yeah. And even if Chale and Rampage sucks let's just say there's a chance that it's a boring fight right? Who's changing the channel and not coming back to watch Rory versus

but by that point you're that invested in the night that you're not buying the UFC pay-per-view. What are you doing? I'm with you. I don't understand the thought process. I'm with you. Ridiculous. Put the best fight on. Put the best fight on last. And by the way, put the title fight on last.

It just happens to be a title fight as well. Especially, eight days out, especially when you say that the tickets are selling better than last year. So there's no reason to do this. Whatsoever, if it's a ticket buying thing, fine. If you want to do it two and a half months ago, you think the name, you know, uh, Elator 192, Rampage versus Chelle's going to sell.

All right, fine. There's a case that, but you didn't do that. Not with it as well. Dennis Hernandez asking, what's your opinion on page Van Zance performance yesterday at 125, considering she fought with a broken arm for over two rounds? I think we ultimately just have to... But that's the most important part, considering she fought with a broken arm. Like, don't take anything away from Jessica Rose Clark.

No. But she broke her arm. To me, I was impressed. Can you imagine? Someone broke my arm right now. I'd be on the floor fetal position crying. think what you want about pages push promotionally think what you want about her skills as a fighter

don't question there is no doubt about her toughness at this point I mean after what happened in the Rose fight remember that fight? She is tough and she is a fighter there's no doubt about it tougher than a $2 steak as Jim Ross tweeted I like it yeah she is super tough

tough break hopefully she's not out for a while I was looking forward to seeing how she would perform with the new team things happen it's not like a freak injury she injured herself in the fight. Yeah. Forming, you know, in the fight.

It was spinning back fist. She breaks her arm. That's what she said on Twitter. It sucks, but Jessica won the fight. It's not like, she's still on a banana peel. It is not mutually exclusive. Jessica Rose Clark could have had a great performance,

and Paige could have had an unfortunate injury without discounting one of them. I still want to see the Jessica Eye page fight whenever she heals up, Jessica winning. I think that'd be a good, I think that'd be a good comeback for Paige. Okay. our friend Anwar asking, isn't it great that the UFC and Bellator go ahead to head on the same day?

Look at the Monday Night Wars between WW and WCW. Those were the best years. Do you see an equivalency there between not? I do, but one's on pay-per-view, one's on cable, so it's a little different. I think that's big difference. A gigantic difference. But I could see, like, as a fan again, like these are great.

You know, invite your friends over. We're going to watch two, and it's going to culminate with Nguyen. Danumeoich, because Beltor's not going to go until 1 a.m. And you'll get the DC fight. And, you know, you'll get Volante versus Behoso. You know, you'll get some real great fights. And then you'll have, you know, Beltor and I think that their card is very solid, you know, main event switch or not. So I could see why you would really like this, have some friends over.

I'm saying, me, selfishly, that's why I asked. I wanted people to, because I just saw Jesse Jess tweet something about it and just came up again. It's weird. It's almost like she's like tweeting in response to the show. The standing count is now at three hands broken, one four arm broken on my head. So I could see making a night of it. I just, I'm bummed that I can watch it live. But I'm also super excited to go to the, the UFC card is great. I mean, you get what I'm saying, right? I do. If I was home, I wouldn't be complaining, but because I'm not home, I'm complaining. Oh, Jedi Goodman delivering the goods. Oh. Challenge Vendettas. That's the news.

season of the challenge. Episode two average 870k 8702K viewers. Episode 1, 8808K. And then the show that Michelle was on the last episode did 609K, 689K, the one before that. So yeah, they do okay. Wow. They do well. That's better than I thought. It's a hot property area. Yeah. Who knew?

You need to get on the train here. Okay. Do you think the fight between Stipei Miochich and Francis Ngano is win-win for the UFC no matter the result. If Steepay wins, he becomes the most dominant heavyweight champ ever. If Francis wins, you get a marketable superstar out of Africa and the scariest scariest UFC champ ever. Do you think that this outcome is good for the UFC no matter what?

Yeah, I do. I mean, it's been a while since the heavyweight division was like the stable division. It's rare. Yeah. So, yeah, I do like it. I don't think we've been in this position in a long time where the UFC heavyweight division has options after this fight. You know what they say.

Our job isn't to create champions, it's to create contenders. They being the UFC matchmakers. Should the UFC use one of the fights? This is from Stephen Chapman. Should the UFC use one of the fights on the Orlando card as the main event, or do they need to add a new fight?

I mean, what's the main event? There's this weird thing that they're doing lately where they put the card on sale without a main event. They did in St. Louis. and they're doing it with this one. And I think if ticket sales do well, they'll just bump a fight up.

And I think Branch Romero was in that spot. But now that Romero's gone, I really don't know what you do. I really don't know what you do. And that's a Big Fox show. That's not an FS1 show. We started off the Big Fox experience with a heavyweight title fight.

And now it's come down to this. I believe we have one or two more questions. If from Jalen, if DC goes undefeated from here on out while losing to John Jones twice tarnishes Hall of Fame career should it tarnish his Hall of Fame career. Hell no. You know how I feel about DC

and forget the person and all that stuff. I think he's one of the greatest of all time. I think if you want to say John Jones is number one, he's number two. If you want to discount John Jones, you can make an argument that he's number one. GSP's in that discussion, of course. I think he's one of the greatest.

I mean, certainly top five. No. no diminishment whatsoever. There's only two losses were to John Jones. One was turned into a no contest. He's incredible. And I'm so interested to see how he responds because this is fascinating.

He's coming off a knockout loss, but he's the champ defending the title. And I think his mindset going into this fight, I'm not the champ. Vacant title, don't hold up the belt, is the perfect mindset. That's the way he needed to approach this fight and he's done so perfectly.

I think Daniel Cormier is, possibly the second best fighter ever. So, no, I don't think that diminishes him at all. No, I don't know. Now, if he had won, does it make a strong case

for him being number one, clearly? 100%. But I don't think he should have anything taken away from him for not being able to beat the best. How likely is it that Joe Rogan parts ways with the UFC when his contract is up this year

and Jimmy Smith takes his place? I've been seeing a lot of these. People think that Jimmy Smith is coming in to replace Joe I wouldn't be surprised. Joe is clearly doing less and less shows. And I think Jimmy is the perfect replacement because he's not like the active UFC fighter or the former UFC fighter. People like to compare the two. I think they're different. But they do do certain things similarly. And I think Jimmy Smith is phenomenal. Yeah, maybe. Maybe it's a sign of things to come. But I don't see him like completely going away cold turkey. very soon, but he's the best one to answer that, you know. Yeah. It's just, you know, why not? They're doing

a crap load of shows, the more the merrier. Also, using him on the Fox set, I think is good. He's a season TV guy. He knows the sport. You know, sometimes, let's be honest, it's a little rough up there, you know? So, why wouldn't you sign him?

I mean, it's a no-brainer. One of the best in the biz. Ariel, this person's asking, Aline or a Lynn, Are you guys gamers at all? Would like a live UFC 3 fight between Ariel and Rick with custom fighters at heavyweight? Are you a gamer?

So I mean, this is a topic of the moment. There's a lot of Twitch stuff. Actually, great story last week. There was a big story with the Overwatch League. Do you know what the Overwatch League is? Overwatch is a game under... Well, I think it's a league.

They have a league. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, they struck this big-time deal with Twitch. I think it was for $90 million for $90 million. for two years and two pretty high up former UFC executives who were let go part of the layoffs

when WME, IMG came in, were very instrumental in putting together that deal. So I thought that that was very interesting. I have a lot of respect for the video gaming world. I'm interested in it. I'm fascinated by it only because of how popular it is. I'm not

fascinated by the idea of sitting down and watching people play video games. Not even Demetrius? When I, no, but I will support the Twitch stream. When I was younger, I used to love sports games. Mike Tyson's Punch Out and Mario Brothers, of course, Madden, NHL, NBA, all that stuff. Never really, I mean, once I was high school and on, never played. My oldest son, who is five and a half, is really into it.

Like, we expose them to we and I didn't want to expose them, but my brother gave us an old one. and we put it on and he just fell in love almost to the point where it's like too much like an obsession and he won't stop and now he does this thing where he goes on YouTube and watches

people playing game and he's like fascinated by it and he tries to emulate it not far oh my God and I'm like what is going on here I'm like what are you watching it's like a guy jumping around like what are you watching and it's almost like he's watching a cartoon right

and it's so bizarre to me and so I feel like it's just this thing that's ingrained in them now. It's generational. It's so bizarre. It's going to be on Twitch any day now. Yeah, he's really into it. And so what I did was I took that interest and I turned it into a reason

to expose him to the Super Mario Brothers cartoon from the mid-90s. You remember this cartoon? Yeah, yeah. I did. It's the Mario Brothers and Plumins, the game. So that was a great Saturday morning cartoon. You watched this thing in 2018? The animation is horrendous.

It is absolutely horrendous. I feel like nostalgia carries the day on a lot of things from our kids from our childhood they love it they actually love it so

well done suffice it to say we may not see this matchup or maybe we will maybe oh what's the matchup me versus you in the game but maybe

maybe they make it happen maybe uh EA can make me an aerial square off um I actually was playing while I was ignoring your text I did

I played NFL Blitz Oh, well, what's that? At the arcade. Wait, what? NFL Blitz? Is that like, NBA jam? Kind of a little bit.

It's the one where like the tackles were all like bone crunchers and get like body slam people after the thing. It was fun. Wait, so you were literally at an arcade? Yeah. The story just keeps getting worse.

You were too busy to text me because you were at an arcade. Wow. Were you at Dave and Busters? No. It's a place called Up Down in Kansas. Oh, wow. You're actually regressing.

and you're loserdom. You're becoming more of a loser. Like, you used to be like, you know. Just a regular loser. Yeah. Now you're just even more of a human loser. Yeah. All right.

Well, I'm happy for that tidbit. Are we done? We're done. Thank you very much. Not sure if I'll see you next week, but God bless. Oh, you're going somewhere? No. Suspension.

Boom. Here comes the boom. All right. You can get them off the screen. I'm sick to my stomach. I've had enough. You can hit my music as well. It has been a fun day, my friends.

I'm the kind of guy I get really annoyed when people don't show up, when they say they're going to show up. But I'm going to blame this one on the management team because I think that there was some kind of miscommunication and they're saying that they can't find him and all this stuff. Nevertheless, it has been a great day, my friends. It has been a great day as we prepare for one of the more interesting weeks in MMA, certainly of the year.

Yes, the year is only 15 days old, but it's going to be fun. It's going to be fun on Saturday night. You go in Belator. You go in UFC. You're going both. I feel for the people on the West Coast because they can't even watch it live. If you don't have like satellite, you have to actually wait three hours, which is kind of annoying. So it's not exactly truly head to head, but it's close enough.

Anyway, it's going to be great. I'm heading off to Boston, shipping off to Boston, come Thursday morning. So I'll be there for the media day. And then we'll do the way in. and the preview stuff and then the fight night stuff and the post night stuff and then we'll be back on Monday to do this show again

can't wait for it. I want to thank Luke Rockhold for stopping by. Best of luck to him UFC 221 and of course best wishes to Robert Whitaker still find it a bit weird that we don't really know what's going on with Robert Whitaker but hopefully we'll find out soon. Thank you very much to Douglas Lima. Best of luck

to him on Saturday. Big title fight for him. Great stuff from Big John McCarthy Glad to hear that he's feeling better. Good luck to him on Saturday in his Bell Tour TV debut. Thank you very much, Shail Sunnan. Best of luck to him. Thank you very much to Scott Coker. Good luck on Saturday as well.

Thanks for coming in. Brian Kelleher. Thank you very much, Chris Seaborg. And of course, thank you very much to the one and only Daniel Cormier for stopping by as well. And good luck on Saturday. Back next week, save time. Peace. I'm out of you.