MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani - Episode 424

Episode Date: March 7, 2018

Ariel Helwani recaps the week in MMA (00:07:33), then speaks to Sean O'Malley (00:29:23), Brian Ortega and Rener Gracie (00:47:32), Holly Holm (01:12:41), Jon Fitch (01:34:30), Gegard Mousasi (01:56:30), Georges St-Pierre (02:14:21), Luke Rockhold (02:44:47), Darrion Caldwell (03:00:12), Nick Newell (03:15:54), Mackenzie Dern (03:33:19), Cris "Cyborg" Justino (03:58:50), Mike Goldberg (04:16:27), and NewYorkRic for The MMA [After] Hour featuring Ric's Picks (04:40:46) and the answers to your questions (05:19:57). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The mixed martial arts hour back in your life on this Monday, March 5th, 2018. Hold on everyone. I'm Ariel Hawani back inside our New York City studio. So happy to be back in New York. Had a great trip to Las Vegas. It was nice to be back in Sin City. I did. in case you are wondering and didn't see on social media,

I did attend the Vegas Golden Knights game on Friday night. And let me tell you, if you are ever in Las Vegas for any reason whatsoever, and the Golden Knights are in town, do yourself a favor and check them out. Live at T-Mobile. I have said some not-so-flattering things about T-Mobile arena in the past. I maintain that it is not a good MMA arena. I maintain that it is not a good boxing arena because I saw it May with the McGregor there. I also maintain that it's a little soulless and they could have done a much better job of, you know, dressing it up and giving it that Vegas feel.

However, the game ops for Vegas, Vegas nights, and I hate that name, Vegas, it should be the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Las Vegas Golden Knights, not Vegas Golden Knights. That's the real name. Let people, you know, let people give it a nickname, but have an official name. The name of the city is Las Vegas. Anyway, it's a phenomenal time. had a great time with my man, Sean Al-Shadi. We enjoyed it very much. They really put on a great show. So I suggest checking it out. Of course, I was there for UFC 222. I told you last week, it was a fun card on paper. I told you last week that pretty much every single fight on the card had some kind of hook to it, some kind of nugget to it, some kind of story to it that made it intriguing. And I maintain that it was a very fun card. Now, we can argue all day it was a worth 65 bucks. Who knows in this day and age? that being said, if you sat down and watched all 12 fights,

if you sat down and watched the main card, the FS1 prelims, for the most part, I think you were entertained. There's a lot to unpack as far as UFC 222 is concerned. A lot that happened on Saturday night in Las Vegas. It was another busy weekend in MMA, not only the UFC in action, but pretty much like 90% of the major promotions put on events. KSW had a great show.

Cage Warriors had a great show, of course. Bellator had a great show as well on Friday. Everyone was putting on great events this past weekend. Also, it was another newsworthy week in the world of MMA. The big news, of course, John Jones getting his punishment from the California State Athletic Commission. He gets a 40% fine of his purse for the second Daniel Cormier fight last July in Anaheim. And so he is fined $205,000 because not only did he get the 40% fine,

fine. He also got a little extra for conduct detrimental and pay-per-per-view. If anyone thinks that John Jones made $500,000 for that fight, I have multiple bridges that I'd love to sell you because that's just not the case. And I don't know why they stick to this, but I guess they have to. I have some thoughts on what transpired during that hearing. We'll talk about that. Talk about a whole lot going on. Belator 200 continues to grow in front of our eyes. Mirko Krokop has re-signed or actually signed with Belator. There was a rumor, many moons ago that he was close to signing with them but opted not to. Well, he is officially in Bellator and he's going to rematch Roy Nelson. So Roy Nelson gets, he gets, he gets rewarded for

the performance, the loss to Matt Mitrione. He gets another fight before Mitrione and he's on a pretty big card, a card that will air via tape delay here in the U.S. Go figure. I don't understand that one. But we can weigh in on that. So much going on. Let me run down today's lineup. And then I'll give you some thoughts on UFC 222. We have a stack show. my friends. Holy smokes. 12 guests, some of the biggest names in the world of combat sports, in the world of mixed martial arts in particular. I love this lineup. This might be one of our greatest lineups of all time. This might be the goat lineup. 530 is the MMA after hour. We'll hear from Rick's Picks. Take your questions and comments. 510, we will talk to Mike Goldberg, the voice of

Bellator now. And of course, we just had him in studio a couple weeks ago. But the reason why we're having Mike Goldberg on this week is for some not so good news. Actually, if you heard him in studio a couple weeks back, he talked about his friend, the longtime producer for the UFC, Bruce Connell, being hospitalized after suffering a stroke. Unfortunately, late last week, Bruce passed away at the young age of 61. And if you watch Bell Tour, and hopefully you did, and if you watched the UFC, and hopefully you did, you saw some wonderful tributes. And in particular, the UFC one. The way they pay tribute to him was very emotional, but it was very well done. Even the touch of hearing his voice, people don't really, I think if you're not in the TV

business, you may not understand the role of the producer and the relationship that he has with the talent. He's really the guy who is talking to your favorite broadcasters. So on Saturday, it's Annick, Rogan, and D.C., he is talking to them throughout. And typically, the producer is the only one who is talking to the talent throughout. And not only that, of course, he's putting together the show. The director is executing it and is responsible for everything that you see and the camera changes and everything, but the producer is the one who is putting that whole baby together. Bruce Connell has been the UFC producer, like the UFC producer for 20 years.

And if you like the UFC broadcast, if you like the product, it's his vision that you are liking. And it's a massive loss not only to the UFC, but, to the world of sports broadcasting. If you saw online, I retweeted a lot of them, you know, giants from the world of sports broadcasting. People like Barry Melrose and Dick Vital and many, many others were paying tribute to Bruce Connell. And this is just devastating news.

I saw him not that long ago. I mean, he was a fixture for 20 years. I would love to see the UFC put him in the Hall of Fame. It's unfortunate that these things tend to happen, these, you know, these celebrations and paying tribute and honoring people who, you know, are doing a great job. It's unfortunate that these things tend to happen when they pass. But it would be a very, very nice gesture, I think, to do that

because he played such an important role in the growth of MMA and the UFC in particular. Very cool of Belator to pay tribute to him because of his relationship with Mike Goldberg, also his son's work in production for Paramount Network. So obviously it hit home. And when the UFC was on Spike TV, a lot of the same people, were working back then who worked now on the Bellator product. So just a massive loss and I feel for the crew. It's a very tight-knit crew that works on those shows.

They travel from city to city almost every single week, country to country. And this was a tough one. So I wanted to have Mike Goldberg on to talk about his relationship with Bruce and just how great of a producer he was and why this is such a devastating piece of news for the entire world of mixed martial arts. At 4.50, we're going to talk to Chris Seiber,

By now, you probably know that Chris Cyborg defeated Yanakoumetskaya on Saturday. She cracked her with a big shot right off the bat. And Yanukunitskaya said before the fight to M.A. Junkie that she doesn't believe Chris Cyborg has knockout power. That was obviously wrong. And a bit of a crazy statement. But hey, you know, shoot your shot. It looked like it rocked Yana. Yana actually did, in my opinion, a great job of adapting and not standing toe to toe.

and of course not quitting after that big shot landed. And actually, you know, in the end, prolong the inevitable. However, the game plan was the right one. Stay close, clinch, take her down. It was working for a minute or two. But once Cyborg separated and was able to punch her a little more, that was all she wrote. So Chris Cyborg wins once again.

She's undefeated for almost 13 years now, 20 in a row, the most dominant female athlete in the history of the sport, one of the most dominant fighters in the history of this sport period. And again, she's fighting someone who is overmatched, who is not prepared. Like I said, all week long. It's one thing to debut in the UFC.

It's one thing to debut in a main event. It's one thing to debut in a main event that happens to be for the title. It's one thing to debut in a main event that happens to be for a title against the most dominant female in the history of the sport, and that is Chris Cyborg.

And this was a tall task for Yanukunitskaya. she appeared to be game. She got paid more on Saturday than she had in her entire career combined. So props to her, hopefully she's not too injured. She did show up to the press conference afterwards, so that's a good sign. And again, it's one of those situations where it feels like it's a lose-lose for Chris Seiborg because she doesn't necessarily get the credit for being so dominant because she's not fighting true 145ers. And I like this scenario way better than her fighting 140, her fighting at some arbitrary weight class for, you know, a belt that doesn't exist.

This is much better for her, and it's safer and it's healthier. But it's high time that the UFC, if they want to be in the cyborg business, which they do, and I think it's a lucrative business, it's high time that they invests in this division. This is nothing new. But I'd love to see, look, you have UFC Fight Pass. Take a page out of WWE. Do a mini tournament. Do something like how WWE does the May Young Classic or the Cruiserate thing.

Like do a tournament for fight pass only. You know, go to Invicta, go to LFA, sign up, you know, six, seven, eight, 145ers, the best around the world. And if you don't want to have them under the UFC umbrella, I get it. But give us a hook somewhere. Invest in these 145ers because you're essentially, it's, you're putting Chris Seaborg on an island and she's, she's fighting these lose-lose battles. Even the Mandanunas won, there's an out there. Mendenunas isn't a 1-45er. She used to be, but she's clearly not one anymore. That's the best fight to make now because there's nothing else going on.

Megan Anderson can tweet all she wants. She's not eligible to fight. One day, she will hopefully explain why. That day is not today. So I don't understand why she keeps tweeting that she wants Chris Cyborg. She can't fight. Trust me, if she could, they would have booked her against Cyborg long ago. That's the reason they signed her last year, remember? But there's no one else out there. And I would just love to see because there are some prospects. They just aren't ready to fight cyborg. So instead of just throwing in the next, you know, unknown featherweight, who probably is a bantam weight in there, why don't you cultivate them? Why don't you give them experience? Give them at bats. Give them opportunities to fight, get more reps, and then maybe in a

year or so they could be ready for a Chris Cyborg because this problem isn't going away. And Chris Cyborg isn't going away. And she is a star, in my opinion. She has drawing power. She has that it factor. Let's invest in this. easier said than done perhaps, but I would love to see that happen. It's still a pleasure to watch her fight. Of course, you'd love some intrigue. But once again, she does what she has to do. She wins, and in very dominant fashion,

and Dana White's saying afterwards that he'd love to see her fight. Amanda Nunes in Rio, that would be kind of a blow to Raquel Pennington. They didn't officially announce the Raquel Pennington fight yet, but all signs point to that happening, it has been agreed upon. And we know that Raquel Pennington is a favorite of Dana's. Maybe they pay her to step aside. just have a hard time believing and the chatter behind the scenes is cyborg fighting in two months

on a card headline by her versus nunes isn't something that she's she's loving right now she wants to fight in july she's been vocal about that we could talk to her about all this at 450 430 we're going to talk to mackenzie durn and you may have heard that she made her long-awaited much anticipated ufc debut on saturday she defeats ashley yoder via decision she goes the distance of course. You can't go to the decision if you're not going to distance. But she had her moments, clearly still a work in progress. Anyone who's talking title shot from McKenzie Dern is completely, you know, wrong. I mean, that's just not the direction that they need to go. And she said it herself afterwards in the Post-Fight press conference, she wants the slow track. No fast track here.

She wants a slow track. It's my first time interviewing her in person, didn't realize how short she was. 125 is not the weight class for McKenzie Dern. She's in the right weight class. And yes, it got, at least it appeared to be a little hairy for the way. And she was the last one to weigh in. We had to wait around 45 minutes for her. We appreciate the intrigue. But you'd like to see the weight cuts go a little smoother for her.

And maybe it's, you know, working with one of the top nutritionists. I know she's worked with Lockhart in the past. Maybe it's working with, you know, someone who isn't a big name. But just having someone there by her side, I think would be very important. She's clearly someone who the fans are interested in. But I'm happy to hear that not only does she want the fast track, it seems like the UFC is going to put it on the fast track. Yoder was game.

It was a tough opponent. She's a very, I mean, Yoder is super tough. And she's been in there before and she doesn't mind getting bloodied. But in the Mackenzie Dern wins, it was close. But I definitely thought it was the right call. So we'll talk to her at 430. We'll talk to Nick Newell at 410, who's coming out of retirement. He's fighting for the first time in around two years.

Remember, he walked away around two years ago. On a two-fight winning streak, he lost to Justin Gaci on NBC, but he followed that up with two straight wins. Said he was too banged up, but he's coming back on Friday at LFA 35. So one of the good guys is coming back. Nick Newell, we'll talk to him at 410. At 350, we'll talk to Darion Caldwell, who won against Leandro Ego on Friday at Bellator. Darren Caldwell is the Belator Bantamweight champion. He is very talented.

he won via guillotine against a very tough opponent in Leandro Ego and afterwards talking about some other opponents, but it seemed as though he had his sights set on the Pitbull Brothers. The Pitbull Brothers always seem to be involved in some kind of controversy. And oftentimes with guys who aren't in their weight class, it's a very bizarre thing. This time it's Patricia Pitbull. They seem to be talking back and forth. He even flipped them off. Is that a fight that's going to happen?

Is it going to be May Day McDonald, who's coming off that broken hand? or is it going to be John Dotson who won on Saturday at UFC 222 against Pedro Munoz. However, that was the last fight on his contract. It does seem like Dotson is set on resigning with the UFC. He wants to stay in the UFC, but could that be a name that Beltar goes after?

We'll see. So we'll talk to Caldwell at 350. 3.30. We'll talk to Luke Rockhold. First time we talked to him since his loss to Yole Romero at UFC 221. He also has some news regarding sponsorship outside. And he's hinted at it on this show. Remember, I brought it up, the Ralph Lauren sponsorship,

the campaign with Ralph Lauren. It finally came out late last week. It looks great. It's well deserved. There you see him. Look at that guy. I mean, look at that face. Who want to want to have that face,

sponsor, or at least rep their brand? I mean, look at that. What a mug. Anyway, it's a very cool deal for him. Congratulations to Luke Rockhold. Will he go up to 205? will he fight Alexander Gustafin? Will he fight Michael Bisping?

We'll talk to Rockhold about all these things and more coming up at 330. At 305, at 305, my friends. We're talking to arguably the greatest of all time. The one and only George St. Pierre will be back. His first interview on this program since he gave up the middleweight title. Remember, just days after UFC in New York,

Madison Square Garden, he defeats Michael Bisping. He comes in studio, talks about the health issues. that came with moving up to 185. Shortly thereafter, he drops the belt. And now we wonder, will he ever come back? How is he feeling? All those things and more will be addressed at 305

by the one and only, the pride of St. Isodor, Quebec, the pride of Canada, George, Rush, St. Pierre. It's always special when he's on the program. Can't wait to talk to him at 305. 245. We'll talk to Gagard Musasi about Bellator 200, fighting Hafa'al Carvalio,

on the card for the middleweight title. As I mentioned at the top, we're now getting Mirko Krokop against Roy Nelson 2. Rematch of a fight that happened at UFC 137. How many people remember that fight? I just have a fundamental problem with this card because it's Belator 200

and it's taking place overseas and Belator is owned by Viacom and it airs on Paramount and it's going to air on tape delay here in the United States. And this makes no sense to me whatsoever. It's a major mistake. I don't care how they slice it

a signature show like Belator 200 should not be airing via tape delay in the United States, your home base. A Belator 199, Belator 201 would have sold just as well in London. I don't get it. I just don't get it. Anyway, that's neither here nor there for Gagher Mousasi

is fighting for the belt and we look forward to talking to him. Remember last time he was on the program, he was all kinds of fired up. He was super fired up about the aftermath of his debut against Alexander Schlamenco, so we'll see if he's calmed down a few months later. 225, we're going to talk to one of the newest members.

I can't say the newest member because Mirko just signed, but one of the newest members of the Belator roster, the one and only John Fitch will stop by. And they announced late last week. We reported first that he signed with Belator. That is the case. And not only that, he's going to debut on May 12th against Paul Daly. So they patched things up with Paul Daly,

and he's getting John Fitch, which on paper doesn't seem like the most favorable matchup for Mr. Daly. but I think this is a nice signing. It's a nice little piece to that welterweight division, which I think is their best at this point. And so how about it? John Fitch, back on the big stage. He leaves World Series of fighting as the

World War II champion. Did not want to wait for the PFL tournament, it seems. Now he's back in San Jose, right? That card is taking place in San Jose. His team, AKA, has long had a great relationship with Scott Coker, and this one

seems to make a lot of sense for all parties involved. That's at 225. 205. We'll talk to Holly Home. It's taking me in like 30 minutes just to get through the damn lineup today. 205 will talk to, I'm not complaining, by the way. This is phenomenal. Holly Home at 205 will talk to her about her teammate, Yana Kunitskaya, losing to Chris Cyborg, about her lost to Chris Cyborg at UFC 219, about what's next for her. Is it 145? Is it 135? The one and only Holly Holmes stops by at 205. And I do believe this may be her first interview

since that fight at UFC 219. So it's always great to talk to Holly, the preacher's daughter. That will be at 205. 145. T-City. What can we say about T-City? Brian Ortega, coming off that big win over Frankie Edgar. The first man in Frankie Edgar's almost 12-year career to stop Edgar. Not only does he stop Edgar, he does it in the first round, not only does he do it in the first round, he does it via strikes. And it was just incredible to watch. There are moments, and I've talked about this on the show, where I feel like I am just in awe, especially when it comes to like a young fighter who gets the opportunity of a lifetime and is able to rise to the occasion and then some. You know, I felt it when T.J. Dillishaw beat Henna Burau. I certainly felt it

on Saturday night. I felt it when Rosenemunis beat you on it. You get the point. Someone that you've been watching for some time, take that next step and almost become a superstar in front of your eyes. And Brian Ortega is on the cusp of superstardom. I mean, obviously Saturday night was gigantic for him and now he's going to fight Max Holloway for the belt. And that's incredible. And everyone is so excited about this fight. A part of you feels for Frankie Edgar. I can't, I don't know a single person who says anything bad about Frankie Edgar. He is a credit to MMA.

He is a fighter's fighter. He is a fan favorite by everyone, even if you're, say, a BJ Penn fan or, I don't know, a gray Maynard fan or a Cubs fan. How do you not respect Frankie Edgar? He takes this fight when there was a lot at stake, when there was a lot to lose, when it was super dangerous to do so. It's heartbreaking. I know he was very proud of the fact that he had never been finished. Nothing that happened on Saturday takes away from his legacy. He's still one of the best fighters in the world. I would echo the sentiments of his coach, Mark Henry, who has long said

that he would love to see him fight at 135. I would love to see him fight at 135. Brian Ortega weighed according to Ortega around 20 pounds more than Frankie Edgar on Saturday Brian Ortega was clearly much bigger than Frankie Max Holloway

would have been much bigger than Frankie we'll see what happens I know he wants to get right back on the horse maybe even come back as soon as Atlantic City a knockout like that you know first the elbow

then the upper cut which lifted him off his feet would lead us to think that he would want to break that everyone around him would want to break, but I get that he wants to get back on the horse, make up for lost time, fight in New Jersey, all these things and more.

We'll see what happens with Frankie Edgar. But the story on Saturday, more so than Chris Cyborg, more so than, you know, Dern and O'Malley, the story on Saturday, in my opinion, the biggest story was the arrival of Brian Ortega. And yes, he arrived. I know he's been here, but that was gigantic.

To do that to Frankie Edgar, this is a kid who has been through so much who still sleeps on the floor, who represents everything good about humanity. Everything this kid says is just inspiring. My freaking mother is in love with him. She won't stop talking about him. After the interview that we did on Thursday with his brother,

he just has this esprit. He just has this joie de vivre. He's just, I don't know, he's a breath of fresh air. And it's a really cool story to see a guy who came from, not much, who's had his own trials and tribulations, guy who, you know, the Gracie family took under their wing. He couldn't afford to train at the Gracie Academy. Henry Gracie, you know, essentially putting him through, you know, the university, so to speak, and paying for him as long as he stayed out of trouble, grew up in households that had, you know,

15, 16 people living in it, still sleeps on the floor because he was used to sleeping on the floor as a kid, wants to change the world, has started his own foundation, is starting his own Gracie Scholarship Fund. And now here he is coming off a win over Frankie Edgar, the first ever person to finish Frankie Edgar is Brian Ortega and now he's going to fight Max Holloway for the belt. I put up a poll about who people are leaning towards right now. We'll see what happens, you know, when that fight takes place, how they match up all that stuff more. But to me, this is like, you know, a lot of people were saying that that Saturday night was the dawn of a new era for the UFC. I'm not sure if I'm ready to subscribe to that notion just yet because, you know,

let's be honest, that's an event in a vacuum. There's an event coming up, you know, with an almost 40-year-old Fabrice over Doom fighting. And it's just, I don't think that Saturday night, UFC 222 is the Donovan New Air, but it does lead us to start thinking about the fact that, yeah, the UFC does have some people that are worth getting excited about. At the top of that list is Brian Ortega. There are young guns.

I wish we had some time to breathe and let these people sort of bask in their glory and bask in their victories. Thankfully, this weekend we have a break in the action. we'll have a UFC-less weekend for the first time, this coming weekend for the first time since the first week of January. That's two straight months. Who remembers Jeremy Stevens and Josh Emmett? Like that feels like it was three months ago at this point.

It was just last week. That's how quickly the news cycle turns in mixed martial arts. We'll get a minute to celebrate Brian Ortega and company, and that's great. They had a bunch of guys aged 23 to 27 who did phenomenal. nominal on Saturday. I mean, how about the fact Alexander Hernandez takes a fight on short notice

on literally a week's notice and knocks out Benil Daryush in just 42 seconds? How impressive was that? And I know a lot of people are talking about that he, you know, he faked it. He claims that he didn't, you know, the opening touch of gloves. He says that he was just sort of, you know,

gauging the distance. But that was a, I mean, that's a guy to remember. That's a big name right there. Caitlin Vieira, another one. Of course, as I said, Brian Ortega, Cody Stamen. I mean, there are some

good young fighters in the UFC, and now it's up to them to book them in the right fights, to move them

along slowly, to push them quickly when needed. But there's a lot to like. And UFC 222, you know, I think signified all that.

Also of note, how about the old dog Andreilofsky who's pushing 40? Not only does he tie Frank Mears record for most wins in the UFC

heavyweight division. I love this stat. The best part is that he scored four takedowns, this according to fight metric, scored four takedowns in that fight against Stefan Strouv. Prior to that, in all his UFC fights combined, he had three.

He's been fighting in the UFC. He took a break, but he debuted 18 years ago, and he had three combined, scored four on Saturday night. Mike Brown and the coaches at American Top Team have, it seems, added years to Andreelofsky's career. This is a guy who was just on a five-fight losing streak now in a two-fight winning streak, and he's hoping to fight in Chicago for the first time in June, and I hope that the UFC, I hope that they oblige.

Also, there was some controversy as far as Hector Lombard and C.B. Dahlaway go. I suggest reading an article by our own Mark Romney, he interviewed Big John McCarthy about this, and he, you know, if you missed it, Dalloway lands a kick right as the horn sounds, and then Lombard lands a one-two. And the second one, the left, is what drops Dahlaway. Dahloway can't continue. The ref, you know, he waves off the fight and Dahloway wins via DQ, and he's carted out on a stretcher. You see him there.

He's very, you know, disoriented. He's all out of sorts. As John McCarthy, and who better than John McCarthy to talk about this, he said that the referee did 90% of the things right. He called time. He said it at the right time. just a little slow to actually break up the action and fighters are programmed to wait for that. And so I feel for Lombard, I still feel like it was a little late. One punch, maybe second punch

and how impactful it was. I think everyone's hands were tied and I think DQ was the right call. So a very unfortunate turn of events for both men, especially for Hector Lombard, who was on that losing streak, excuse me, who had not won since 2014. And, you know, you'd like to think that the UFC gives them another chance. Again, in MMA, you never know what you get as far as as the rules are concerned. But in the end, while I thought the referee was a little late to jump in, I do think that the right call was made. I really do think that that should have been a DQ.

A tough one, certainly a tough one. And it was, you know, a pretty good fight up until that point. That was at the end of the first round. But unfortunately, you know, that's just, that was just way too much after the bell. And I know people talked about the Germaine Durandumie Holly Home fight, but these were way more impactful. I mean, you know, Dalloway says he couldn't continue and he was dropped. So a tough blow for CB Dalloway and, of course, Hector Lombard as well. Jordan Johnson wins against Adam Milstead.

As I said, Cody Stamen defeats Brian Carraway. Zach Otto retires Mike Pyle in Mike Pyle's retirement fight and gets his black belt in the process. I mentioned Alexander Hernandez, McKenzie Dern, Caitlin Viera, defeating Katzengano, and is calling for a title. shot, Andrei Alofsky, I mentioned. I mentioned Brian Ortega. I mentioned Chris Cyborg. The one person I didn't mention yet is our first guest of the day. The one and only Sugar Sean O'Malley making his UFC pay-per-view debut. What a performance against Andre Sukumtat. He talked a lot going into the fight. He backed it up. He got injured in the process. And not only was it a fun fight, was it an entertaining fight. The first round in particular was just amazing to watch. The post-fight interview

was equally entertaining. Unfortunately for Sean, he couldn't stand up. He injured his foot, but he was just as entertaining as if he was standing after the victory. The UFC has something with Sean O'Malley, one of those great young, up-and-coming stars that we talked about

at the top of the show, and he didn't get a chance to meet with the press afterwards because he was in the hospital. The good news is, according to Dana White, he did not break his foot, but let us hear from the man himself, the man who heads up the sugar show, the one and only Sean O'Malley is here.

in the car driving, I do believe, to the doctor's office. Is that right? You are right. How are you, Sean? Sean, let me ask you a question. You may be holding onto your phone and covering the speaker. So I can't hear you, maybe the bottom of the phone. So just make sure when you hold onto the phone like this or something like that. You feel me? Oh, that better? Yeah, that's much better. Thank you for doing this. And I told you on Thursday, I would write the wrong despite the worst efforts of your manager. Danny Rubenstein and have you on the program on Monday. So I'm glad that you're able to do this.

Could you tell us off the bat? How are you feeling? How was the foot? Thanks. The foot, it's been hurting pretty much nonstop since the fight. They said it wasn't broken. They said I had a previous fracture in there before the fight. So I'm going to go figure out what's wrong with it.

It's hurt pretty much nonstop. So I don't know. We'll see. Did you know that you had a previous fracture? I didn't. I always, every fight I get in, I throw a lot of kicks. I land with my feet a lot. I've had a lot of foot issues because of that.

And I wasn't surprised. I've had a lot of foot injuries, so I wasn't surprised. Did the foot bother you? You know, they pinpointed the one kick where it seemed like it really bothered you and afterwards you could hardly stand. But was it bothering you throughout the fight even early on? No, I think I landed a few, I think I landed a few kicks. with my foot on his knee on that first round.

So I think I heard it kind of a little bit in the first, a little bit of the second, then finally just kind of couldn't use it in the third. Have you ever felt that kind of pain in a fight before? I mean, you could not stand up. No, that was, that, that was super weird feeling. It's like my whole foot was like, no, I couldn't feel it. Like when I put on it or put it on the ground

and put pressure on it, it like wasn't there. It was super weird. it was yeah just down this left one it sucked but it's not broken is that 100% like or I guess you had the previous fact it's not broken worse how would you describe it right now what I understand is like if it would be better if it was broken because uh it'd be here to heal and all that rather than ligament tears um so I think I would almost rather it be broken but we're gonna see it there I'm gonna go get

checked out we'll figure out what it is from there so it's pointless for me to say right now okay could you walk on it right now or are you you on crutches? I'm on crutches. I tried putting a little bit, I couldn't even put a little bit of pressure on it on the ground. It just, it hurt way too bad. Okay. Were you surprised, you know, Andre's taking a lot of heat for his game plan, especially in the third round. Were you surprised that he was down on the mat with you and didn't try to get you to stand up? I was down to strike with one foot. I was even trying to get back up to my feet because I didn't

want to, you know, I end up somehow losing that fight by being stuck on the ground. So I was, I was trying to get back up and fight out of bottom. with one foot. I was trying to stand back up and fight him. But yeah, I guess his game plan or whatever that was going in the third, that was not smart. Were you thinking that? Like, oh, this is great for me? Stay on the mat?

It was weird because I knew I was like, I couldn't put any pressure on my foot. So I was like, this is probably best, but I didn't want to somehow lose the fight because I was stuck off my back. So, but yeah, it ended up being perfect. I couldn't even really hard to get up with someone on top of you with both feet, let alone try to do it with one foot. I was getting my butterfly guard back. A lot of pain there, too. So it worked out perfect.

Did you think that you had won the fight once it was over? I mean, it seemed like it was a little bit up in the air before they announced the judge a scorecard. How confident were you? At the time, I wasn't even, I wasn't just so much pain. I wasn't really even thinking about, I don't know, it was weird. Going back and watching the fight, there's no doubt I've whooped his ass. I mean, you know what I mean? I won that fight 100%.

I've seen that he almost tried raising his hand like he won. I would definitely won that fight. Like, there's no question about that. Other than the injury, of course, and now you've watched it. Are you happy with your performance? Is that the kind of performance that you wanted? I wanted to get the finish, obviously. Ten more seconds in that last, in the first round, I think I finished that kid.

Um, so kind of disappointed. I didn't get to finish. Same as last fight. I thought it was a good performance. Just not completely satisfied. So unless you're getting finishes, you're not completely satisfied. 100%. Um, he said afterwards, you know, much respect, you guys had some, some words, but he said that

your corner was talking shit to him throughout the fight. Is that accurate? Yes. I mean, we're going to, we're, a little bit. We were, we were both laughing at him. I like chat with my opponent. My corner does too. It's another mental warfare game.

It's another tactic, and it obviously got in his head enough for him to bring it up. So I don't know. It's just something we've always done since he's been in my corner. It's always been something. It's a little game we do. We talk and we have fun in there, so. What are some of the things that you and your corner are saying to your opponent or said to Andre in particular?

Could you tell us? Can you share some? Just telling him. We're laughing at him when he misses me, telling me slow, just being real, kind of like saying real stuff. I tell everyone I fight before the fight. You're not going to be fast. I'm going to be too fast for you. And you're going to feel that in there.

And no one ever believes me until we get in there and you can tell. They're like, damn, okay, serious. I take it right up here. So I tell everyone they're too slow and I tell them that before the fight, I tell them that whenever I get a chance to do. And it's always true. How much did it bother you that he hit your hand when you guys squared off at Media Day? Not at all. I was glad he did that.

I could tell he was emotionally invested. And he, uh, that was good. I liked that. It felt good. I didn't fire me up in or anything. It was perfect. He got into it too much. And what I saw from him, I go, he's nervous.

He's the big stage from me. He knows he shouldn't be here. He knows I'm the, like, I'm the man right now. And he just got a little nervous. So that's, what I saw from that. You know, fighting on pay-per-view and having a performance like that, you know,

they reserve those spots for people they believe in and big names and you're certainly getting the push and it's well-deserved. Do you feel like things have changed now? Like, does it feel, okay, I just won on a UFC pay-per-view in my second fight officially in the UFC. Okay, like this is a big step that I just, you know, I just took, I just crossed this hurdle.

Do you feel a difference than winning on an FS1 card like you did back in December? Yeah, for sure. It's obviously just such a bigger stage. So many more people saw. My Instagram blew up again. I went from 80,000 to 160,000 or something. Wow.

Less than four days or five days or whatever it was. So, you know, I got a ton of eyes. And Andre, he was a pretty tough opponent, 12 and 5, never been finished. I thought it was a very good performance. Were you able to go to your after party? Yeah, I was. at the hospital.

They did an x-ray. They said they were super backed up on their, at the hospital or something. So we ended up just getting in a splint and being able to go. I know if the people throwing it for me put a lot of effort into it. So I really wanted to make an effort to get there. But now we're back at wherever we're at to go get checked out. So hopefully you got what's wrong with it.

You have a few more minutes or do you have to go? Um, no, we're, what time is it? No, we're good, we're good. Okay, yeah, I'll be less. I'll be seven minutes. Um, did you get to try your, your, uh, your, your, uh, your marijuana? Did you get a chance to check it out? And, and if so, how is it? Yeah, the sugar show OG It's unreal It was easily Like obviously It's my strain or whatever

But easily the best marijuana I've ever smoked It was unreal And I'm Yeah I'm hoping we can get it out And do a couple different states And get going on it Because it's good stuff

That's good And where can people get it? I think it's only at Atrium in California right now I need to kind of talk to them today or sometime this week and figure out where it's all going to be and get that info out. You know, I have to say... Are you going to smoke some? I can smoke some, Ariel.

You know, I'm not much of a smoker myself. It's been almost 20 years since I even tried something of that nature. And, you know, I just feel like I'm kind of past that point. But maybe one day if we ever meet up, how about that legally, you know, under... In Nevada. Sounds good to me. Okay. Do it.

You know, speaking of which, I thought you guys stuck together, but here's Nate Diaz criticizing you after the fight. Did you see that tweet? Yeah, I just pictured Nate sitting behind his phone pissed off tweeting that at me. Like, I don't know. It's funny. I don't see where the hate comes, where it's come from, but it's all good. I can care less one way or the other. I feel like you guys would be friends.

I mean, I was a little surprised. That was, too. But it's all funny. It's fine. Were you happy with the open workout, how that turned out? I thought it was phenomenal. I personally, if I could be critical, I thought you should have stayed up there and just done it up there and not gone on the official stage. But overall, were you happy?

That would have been pretty funny. Yeah, I wanted to walk out, walk down with my robe on, but one of the higher ups in the UFC said I couldn't because it's not Reebok. Which I felt was kind of an excuse because like none of my out, none of my closed media day were Reebok either. So I don't know. but it's whatever. I thought the open workout itself turned out good, though. It was fun. Anyone from the UFC higher-ups come up to you after the fight

and congratulate you tell you their plans for you, and any feedback afterwards? No, I just went straight to the hospital. I didn't talk to anyone afterwards, but I'm looking forward to you. I know hopefully I'll be able to renegotiate my contract again. I was told not to ask for it. I asked last fight

But, you know, I think I'm worth it I think for sure I've put on the performance And I'm bringing in the audience So I think we'll be able to work something out When you asked after the last fight Did you get what you wanted? Yeah, ish, you know, not quite But you know what?

I just got to keep on there and perform And I know I can perform like that And I know what's, I know like People are going to love it and want to see it But I just got to go out there and prove it So I'll get, you know, hopefully we'll be able to renegotiate and get closer to what I wanted, but we'll work it out.

I noticed you went with the cornrows for this fight. How come? Yeah, I did it a lot during sparring. My girl just can whip them up at home, so I tried it for sparring, and I really liked it. They're not bouncing in my eyes, and I'll probably, I don't know, I liked it a lot. It was nice, but it made my head feel a lot faster. Okay, so you're going to stick with that. Yeah. Probably, I don't know, we'll see.

Okay. I know you have to find out about the foot, and again, I'll let you go in two minutes, but in a perfect world, what do you want next? Do you have a perfect scenario next? Honestly, let this foot heal up. That's 100% where my concentration is going to go is doing physical therapy on my foot. You know, eating healthy, making sure my body's, making sure my body's healing right, and just get healthy and get back to the training. So I'm not really going to think any more than that. And no opponents either, knowing you want to get your hands on? Or who makes sense? No, we're going to have to look at that roster, kind of see who's winning and who's losing and check out and stuff

and figured out from there. But honestly, I have no idea how long my foot's going to feel or anything, so it's hard to even say. But I'd like to fight in Vegas again, for sure, obviously. That's my favorite place to fight. You enjoyed the experience once again? Yeah, I did. It was awesome.

It was cool. It's funny that Andre and I got five to the night I feel like I gave him an extra 50,000 He didn't even really do much I whooped his ass the whole time And I would have finished him in third If I didn't hurt my foot So it's funny that he got an extra

I'm glad he did though you know He seemed like a Seems like a good person He can go back Give it to his family and his kids and stuff So that was cool He got to experience a pay-per-view event So I'm sure he had a lot of fun too

What will you do with the extra 50K Do you know yet? I'm probably going to get a, I want to get a condo in Vegas. I really do. So I'll probably do that. I had some realtors hit me up via email. I heard my embedded. So I probably do something like that. Wow. That's incredible. You say something unembedded and people are actually hitting you up. Yeah. So that worked out. Cool. I had to go look for one. So. And so the tattoo is real. It's still there. Unfortunately, it's not real. It was a fake one. But I am getting it. I was just kind of seen. I would just kind of see. I would. I would look. I'm like, you know what, I like it.

Fuck it. So I'll probably get it. What is it? So what did you do? What is that? Like a henna tattoo? I don't even know. We were on the strip, just walking around.

I think it was a day before media day. Yeah. And I wanted to go to get the real one because there's a 24-hour tattoo shop. But we decided, well, let's just see if we like it. If we don't like it, then we don't have to keep it. But I like it. So I'll probably get it. long does it stay for? Because I'm assuming you've taken a shower since then, right?

Uh-uh. No, it's jokes. Yeah, it stays, it's supposed to stay for a couple weeks, but it looks like it's rubbing out. Okay. Do you hear from Snoop Dog after that fight? He did. He actually messaged me. Messed me on Instagram. He said, uh, good job, nephew. Thanks on Snoop. That was cool. What a life you have, man. I mean, like a year ago, you're not in UFC. Now you're getting DMs from Snoop Dog. Congratulations you on winning in the UFC you're getting bonuses. This is incredible. What a story. Yeah, it was awesome. It's crazy. Not even a year ago. I was going out and doing the contender series, the show, doing the medicals for that, and trying to get in the UFC. So now I'm, you know,

going to be the main draw here soon. Amazing. Well, congratulations, Sean. I appreciate you checking in on the way to the hospital. And if you can, keep us posted on your foot. I hope it's not too severe and that, you know, you have an easy recovery and that you'll be back in there. It's a pleasure to watch you fight. Congratulations on a great fight. Awesome. Thanks so much, Gerald. Thanks for having me on. All right. We'll talk to you soon. There he is. Sugar, Sean O'Malley, the Sugar Show, on full display on Saturday night. They're behind them, and usually when they find this kind of talent via one of the Dana White outlets,

whether it's looking for a fight or now the contender series, and there's something there, they'll get behind them. This is someone. who's worth getting behind, in my opinion. If you saw that first round, it was a phenomenal, it was a phenomenal five minutes. He says now that his foot was fractured going into the fight.

You saw the kind of pain that he was in after the fight still delivered a very entertaining post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. This is the kind of fighter that, you know, in the day that we live in today, the era that we live in today, the Reebok era,

if you will, where everyone unfortunately is starting to look the same and at times sounds the same, these kind of guys stick out. And someone who's going to put in the time, put in the effort to go the extra mile, to show up unannounced when he's not scheduled at the open workout, those kinds of guys stick out. So a great performance there from Sean O'Malley. Hopefully as he heads off to the doctor now, he will get some good news about that foot and that it's not too seriously injured because don't want them to be out for an extended period of time. All right. Let's move along.

As I said at the top of the show, one of the great stories on Saturday, in my opinion, the top story on Saturday coming out of Saturday night was Brian Ortega. T-City finishing Frankie Edgar, the first person to ever finish Frankie Edgar in a mixed martial arts fight. And now he is without a doubt the number one contender at 145 pounds. What a story. He finishes all of his opponents in the UFC. He remains undefeated.

Of course, he's undefeated in the UFC. this time though he does it via strikes. And again, in this day and age where everyone's a bad boy and everyone's trash talking, this guy, the good guy, who's talking about foundations and scholarships and still sleeping on the floor and having his brother at the open workouts and his family there supporting him

loud and proud. What a breath of fresh air. As I said at the top, my mom in love with him. And how about this? There he is. T. City with an old friend. An unannounced guest. So, brother. What's up? Hennar, what's up? Hennar. How about this is great?

Here, you guys. You get the two for one special. What's up, brother? I didn't pay for this. This is amazing. How are you guys? Brian, Penner Gracie. Thank you so much. Congratulations to you both. Thank you, man. Thank you. Okay. Let me start with you, Brian. 36 hours ago, it seems like your life changed. You finished the guy who had never been finished before. You're the number one contender. What is life like on this Monday morning? Does it feel different? Yeah, it feels different. We just got back from doing a show with Brendan Schaub right now. And we literally just got to the office. So, I mean, I could feel the change for sure. Did you do Brendan first or me first? Brandon first because it was earlier.

Wack. That is whack. He got the exclusive. That is whack. Brendan's won't air till whatever tomorrow. So it's not live. Oh. We did arias first. Don't tell him. Yes. We didn't yours first.

Awesome. Thank you. Brian, at what point did you know that Frankie had never been finished? Like, do you remember someone telling you that? And do you remember saying to yourself, this is something that I want to accomplish that being a goal because you talked about it leading up to the fight but it wasn't something that was very publicized when did you find out and when did you make this a goal of yours it was about a week and a half before the fight where I mean the whole camp started fast

everything was at a fast pace taking the fight on short notice so that all these things were going on and I think like a week and a half before the fight when all these you know like these hype things started coming out like Frank Yeager has been the man that had the most time ever in the UFC Octagon came up. That was, as like facts about Frankie. It was like a photo of him and all these facts. And I said, never been finished. And I was like, wait, he's never been finished.

And then kind of when I seen that, I realized I said, you know what? I always want to make a different kind of stamp. And I always want to finish. And because I'm a finisher and he's never been finished, it was almost like it was a test to see if you can get through that or not. And, I mean, that challenge accepted. I took it from my own self. But honestly, were you thinking?

submission finish? Were you really thinking via strikes? No, I wasn't thinking via strikes. I wanted to hurt him via strikes and I wanted to submit him. Me and Henry and myself, we've been working on a lot of stuff lately and pretty much sniper's jiu-jitsu shots

we're calling him. And he got out of the first one and then after that I said, you know what? That's banging out a little bit more and I realized that my strikes were actually hurting him. And once I felt him slip up and we will wobble. That's when I said, you know what?

This is how we're going to finish it. Yeah, what's crazy is actually going into the fight, going into the fight, the training for this one, as many people know, it's only three weeks of training, right? So one week of media, you know, the fight week, the lot cut, weight cut week, and being there for the fight. But three weeks of train, three weeks of real training for this. And for his training partners, for the crew here at Gracie University,

and, you know, Coach James, Jette was a huge help, all the crew that we had pulled together great sparring partners. Everyone who was watching him in training was like totally blown away by his precision on the stand-up as well, though. You know, his submissions are always on point. They've been that way since he's 14 years old. But from the stand-up perspective, we're like, wow, look how relaxed Brian is right now. It's almost like the fact that it was such short notice, the fight was almost a good thing

where it was like, yo, fighting tomorrow, go, do what you do. And there wasn't even time to really let it get in your head. So in training, he was the most fluid. he was the most relaxed and the most precise in the stand-up. So I'm like, well, this is not really, you know, the way the world expects this to go. But if he fights in the cage with Frankie, the way he's fighting right now, sparring in the training, he's going to, there's a really good chance that he knocks him out. Like that was not off the table at all because of how precise he was.

And in fact, you know, they have been working the uppercut, right? So Coach James had been nailing it. And then Mike, Sufi, the nutritionist, personal trainer, one of Bryant's coaches as well. well, Mike Suppye was like, yo, he's the one who called it. He says, man, you know, Brian is so relaxed and he's very effective. Even while he's backing up, he's landing on his training partners. Like the movement is like the matrix. And Mike just really pinpointed at this camp and said, hey, it's a different level right now.

I don't know what happened, but it's different. So then as we get to the fight week, I'm like, man, whatever we got to do as a team to keep Brian so that he gets into this fight on Saturday as if he's in training. That was the whole mindset. We have to get him in the cage at the same relaxed T-Case. bundle, as I call it, just totally relaxed. Nothing matters. Just go in there and spar with this guy.

If he fights like that, Frankie's in trouble standing and on the ground, and it was the fact. Brian, would you agree with that? The fact that it was a shorter training camp actually, you know, played into your hands and made you more comfortable going into the fight? Absolutely, man. I felt like right off the bat, I felt like I did a lot of work, but then once I realized it's three rounds, things just really got easier.

like the sparring was I mean we did I've done so much sparring just in one camp than I did in my other camps it was like we're sparring Monday Fridays Saturdays

and we're actually had a first I got a schedule for the first time I had meal preps you know for the first time I had recovery sessions for the first time and and I feel like I mean because there's short notice

and I had like I said my friend Jettesh helped me with with the planning I feel like it was it was one of the best training It's pretty interesting. Even in the short notice.

Well, it's because it was short notice, everything was like, all right, let's all get dialed in. Boom. And we kind of got everything real serious real quick. To be honest, when you have three months to prepare for a fight, you're like, all right, we're good. You know, let's go surf a little bit. Let's train a little bit more like, let's just pull it together, more relaxed. But it's true. Like, Jitesh came in with the training schedule.

Mike and La Tapataria. What's the guy's name over there? The guys came in with a whole meal plan. A lot of things were first for this fight where it really became serious because, you know, know that, you know, Frank was in line for the title. So I told Brad, I said, this is the undercover title fight right here. This is the one, you know, so let's go win this one, pull it all together, and, you know, it couldn't have happened in a more spectacular fashion, you know, and I believed in a knockout or, you know, submission, both the possibility, but not in round one. You know,

we were ready for a three-round war, and I was fighting for it to be five-round fight. I was like, five rounds of Frankie because Frankie's cardio is so off the charts that three rounds won't be long enough, but that didn't happen because we ended up at Comain and they made it three rounds. By the way, it's such a trip to see you guys together talking because every time I hear Brian speak, the first thing that comes to mind is Hennar Gracie because I feel like you guys sound exactly alike.

So now, like, closing my eyes, I don't know. Now you can finally see the difference. Yeah. You do hear the similarities though, right? Yeah, well, he has similar cadence. I know he grew up on the green mat, so he learned without a teach jiu-suitism. I've been with him for 14 years. probably over half my life.

Listen, and almost every almost every single. I couldn't be more, and I couldn't be more proud of him in terms of how far he's come, you know, and people always see the, you know, the jih Tjitsu. And when I see Brian do chokes on people, I'm like, that's Hannah Gracie with that tight choke right there. So I see my, I see my chokes in him, but when I see his character, when I see how he's

interacting with other people and the humility, even at the spot where he's at, that's what I'm most proud of. And I have no responsibility in that because I didn't come from where he came from, and I'm not where he's at and where he's going. And he's an untreaded waters in terms of in terms of my experience you know i'm not you know fighting for the title of the ufc so to see the humility with which he's kind of taking this role and the good things that he's

trying to do with his spotlight right now it's uh you know i'm i'm in admiration as much as everybody else and we'll get to that in a second but as i told you via text brian my mom is in love with you she won't stop talking about you so now you got the moms following you as well that's that's a whole other you know that's a whole other sector of the world um have you ever landed a punch like that it looked to me like frankie actually went off the mat like you like he like shot up like a cartoon. Have you ever landed a clean punch like that before? Never, never. Only in training

like I said, my boxing coach, James Larson and I really trained hard. And we even called it. We said, we're going to catch him with this uppercut. I said the way he is and he comes in, he goes, that uppercut's in the land. And I can remember during the training camp, we would go and train, just me and him and we'd do

10, 5-minute rounds and just drill the hell out of these things. I mean, to the point where I'm like, come on, dude, like, that's enough. uppercut left hook. Like, we can't do 10 rounds of uppercut left hook

later, do something more. Like, and as a coach, now I see, okay, you were right. I always, I always hate saying,

you're right, but he was right. And I've never, every single find I've always, I've always tried to land something, but even especially my uppercats, they just fall short. And this time,

I feel with, I don't know how many rounds that we did of training that with my coach, but when I seen it, it was, I could just imagine just of the mitt versus his chin and I just threw that upper cut in time they're right

Well let's not forget the perfect elbow of the century The perfect elbow, yes I mean that elbow That elbow, you know, from the distance And this precision of that I mean this is this is amazing Could you tell when you landed When you landed the elbow

Could you tell that it was the beginning of the end? So when I landed the elbow We realized that he might have Insecurities about his orbital because I know I felt the same way every time I've had injuries when I come back to training I'm always very insecure about it

I always baby it a little bit so for him to have that problem and then try to jump right into training camp and do all that I knew for sure it was going to be a factor there and I realized and say you know what let's attack that and let's kind of bother him a little bit with it

and then when I realized he was being in my face and he was because of the size difference he was able to be in my face and when I wanted to hit my arm just so long I couldn't so I looked for the elbow and then that's when I said

okay this elbow is gonna land to run on the orbital and then I'm gonna I had bad intentions with it and everything fell through and after wobbled him you were like for a second you didn't know if it was

yeah I thought it was maybe like another Frank E Edgar Gray Maynard type situation because I wobbled him and I seen him wobble and I was like yeah right like this guy's gonna come back like a bad out of hell

like you did with Graham Maynor. But I said, I'm still going to pursue him and I'm still going to attack. And then once I've seen him not, he didn't really come back from it as well as I thought he was. And when he leaned on me, that's what I knew. Okay, this guy's in survival mode. Let me, I have, I don't know how much time I had, but I knew I was running short of time. So I said, at least if I'm not going to finish him, let me just finish and get this round back. And that's what I was aiming for.

And when I seen that opportunity, I took it and I'm happy. When he threw that uppercut, like he threw, like, he threw the entire kitchen sink in that upper guy. That was the most, when you watch him back, the windup where Brian's hip rotation and full connection, I mean, that's, Frankie literally flew off the ground. And it's, yeah, it's spectacular. The job we've done. Hennar, how old was Brian when you met him? Brian came in for his first class at 13, just around 13 years old, end of 12, early 13. and yeah, stuck around for one year.

It was super dedicated. It was like the most, every class didn't say one word, even if you spoke to him, his little face, he would look just in his little blue eyes and act like you didn't know what you were talking about. And then you put him to train with people and he's choking everybody out, just absolute savage, took to jihitsu like 100% like anybody I've ever seen.

And he became the enforcer. When you came in, there are many people in the building today who are black belts who teach with us and work full time with us who were like, yo, Brian was the guy that when I rolled with him, I believed in the possibilities of Jiu-Jitsu. Because rolling with me and Hito on 6, 4, 190 pounds, it's like, great, you guys are giants. But Brian, 13, 14, you know, pretty blue eyes, you know, 125, 130 pounds, sinking triangles from everywhere, you're like, I want to be able to do that to someone else.

So he was very much an enabler. And then after one year, that's when his dad came in and was like, yo, you know, we love the training. And, you know, I had become closer to Brian by that point. but he's like, hey, you know, we love the training, but, you know, we can't afford it anymore. We can't afford classes anymore. It's too tight. And I'm like, hold on. This is not happening.

What you're saying is happening. And they say, we have to pull them out. And I said, no, no, no, no, no, don't worry about it. I'll take care of them from here. And that was it. That was the last time he paid for class. And since then, I'd be in 100%. And at the time then, it was like, yo, Brian, pull these towels, clean this mat, do this

laundry. And he was sometimes sleeping the mat over there and, like, come over, sleep on my couch and get up and work and assisting teaching kids classes. He became an amazing, it is an amazing instructor. But it was just pay off your tuition by just being around and doing anything. Anything was necessary. Move those boxes over there. And then little by little, he's coming up and he learns all the ropes. And, you know, he learned how to teach. He became a spectacular teacher by 16, 17 years old. Then we're traveling all over the world. And I'm like, come on, let's go. We're going to go teach these cops in, you know, North Carolina. We're going to go teach these cops in Oklahoma, teach this seminar over here. And he was just my sidekick for so long.

and, you know, he just learned all the ways. And then, you know, 18, 19, 20, 21, got his first couple of professional fights early there. And that's when we saw him in the fight, and you said, wow, even in the most difficult fight search situations, this guy is totally calm. Nothing would kind of face him, you know, whether he got hit or, you know, adversity.

That was from the beginning. That was from his jiu-jitsu days. And that's what people see today. And they go, man, the guy walks in there, stone cold, it's 100% clear, relaxed and present. And it doesn't matter if he gets punched or rocked. He's still in the fight 100%. And we were talking about it this morning,

or we're going to be talking about it later this morning with Brennan Chob. That's why he's so excited. Relax. We're talking about crazy. People are like, well, where does this come from? This ability to be absolutely calm and turns nothing into something. And I thought, wow, this is his whole life. Yeah.

You know, the adversity, the challenges, the upbringing, all the difficulties that he dealt with in his youth, which is pretty public, you know, now the world kind of knows his story, and if not, you can look it up. And then to turn that, you know, that trouble, though all those troubled circumstances into what he has created for himself, that's what's most exciting to watch. People are fans of T-City the Fighter today because he wins in spectacular fashion,

undefeated, you know, all finishes against tough opponents. That's like 10% of what there is to be exciting. They need to know because you're not going to do this about yourself. All he asks was like, like, what age is that he started to say. Yeah, I know. Ariel, you know how we do it because he's not going to do it about himself. So the world needs to know that. Sure, sure.

No, I feel you. Turned it into something amazing. And we're just excited to be part of the ride. Brian, once upon a time, Hennar Gracie, and it still stands has the record for the longest answer in the history of the show. I think he went like 13 minutes talking about like avocado. One question answer. Yeah, it was unbelievable.

Oh, no, no. No, no. We know, we know, Hennar. It's all good. Blackmail Interviewers.com, you guys. You mentioned this kind of in passing on. Saturday, but I just want to give you the opportunity to talk about it a little more. So you have officially started the Brian Ortega Foundation after the win over a Cub Swanson,

and you're going to pay it back by, you know, paying for kids, like in a scholarship way, to go train at the Gracie Academy. Is that accurate? What is the Brian Ortega Foundation? Well, the Browner-Taker Foundation is to cater and helping people all around the world and all different kinds of situations. And the first steps that we are going to take is we're going to start doing what's called the T-City Scholarship, whereas we're going to be sponsoring kids, I think from majors right now, six to 16, and we're going to give them one full year of training. And we realize that, and especially realize that if we only cater to our own city, it's, we're limiting ourselves. So we're using the Grace University and all the schools that we have

affiliated with to where anyone who was around a university can go and we'll sponsor a kid to go train there for free for one year. And I mean, I've been working on this since last night. You know, like, because we took this fight on short notice, we were working on the foundation.

And if I had it, my other way, it would have been Frankie and Holloway fight. And after the win, I get the winter in the summer. And by then, I've already accomplished and done the foundation,

set it up properly the way I wanted to. But because everything happened so fast, we're, you know what I'm saying? We're kind of just trading water and we're going with it as it goes, and we're trying to pretty much keep up with the pace that the career and success is going.

That's amazing. And the limelight, really. That's amazing. So he came, yeah, so he said, you know, let's do the scholarship one year, full paid tuition, you know, at any certified training center. We have about 150 schools around the world. And, yeah, they just go online to graceuniversity.com

slash Brian Ortega Foundation. And you can actually submit an application. Tell us all about your story. Tell us through the challenges that you're dealing with. for you or your child or the child, a child can submit it for themselves. We just want to hear the stories. And then, you know,

we have a great team who will help us kind of sift through and choose, you know, the ones that needed the most, obviously initially, and has more resources and Brian partners with more of the influential, you know, influencers that he has access

and friendships with and we do through the Gracie University here, we'll be able to hopefully sponsor more and more kids as we go forward. I mean, you know, and what's crazy is that it doesn't need to be for a pursuit of a professional fighting career for a kid. The benefits of having Gracie Jiu-Jitsu

and the lifestyle, that an entity like this provides go without saying, you know, how much it's way beyond, you know, your aspiration to be a fighter. It's amazing. So now your sites are set on Max Holloway. You know you're getting... Did you...

You said at the press conference that no one kind of came up to you and told you that this is happening, but it's obvious that this is happening, right? Did you have any discussions with Dana White or anyone after? I've talked to my manager at Sauris, and we pretty much... He sent me some text messages and we talked. And it's in discussion, but I wanted to hear from Dana's voice and I didn't get to see him

that Saturday you know so I just want to hear from the horses of mouth something makes me feel a little bit more better you know but he did say from all my main sources and everything he did say it after right but at that night at the time I

you know there was so much going on that I didn't really I didn't see them or hear him and I respect that and you deserve to hear that you deserve I mean that's that's part of the fun of getting the title shot I know you haven't had a lot of chance you know a lot of time to think about the guy because you just did an amazing thing on Saturday, but early on, what are your initial

thoughts on fighting Max who's looked really good as of late? I love the style. I feel like this is one of the people who said it and I'm saying it again, it's that I feel like this is one of the biggest fights in the UFC featherweight division since Connor

and Aldo. And I mean, this is going to be a great pay-per-view. You got two young guys who are hungry. I feel like we have similar backgrounds, you know, he's always stayed with his team. from the beginning. So did I. He's got his group of friends.

I got my group of friends. He loves surfing. I love surfing. You know, like Hawaiian versus Mexican, we both like to scrap. I love this fight. I love this is the fight. These are the fights that I look forward to, and I'm happy that I'm going to be able to be there

for a full 25 minutes this time and fighting for the world's idol. I love that story that Ed said to you before the Cubs Swanson fight, you know, on the Sunday before that your life is going to change now. and he was 100% right. Boy has your life changed. How are you dealing with the newfound fame? You know, because people are going to come out of the woodwork now. Everyone's your best friend.

Everyone wants to talk to you. Everyone wants a piece of the pie. I mean, life is going to get crazy. You're in L.A. I mean, you're living the dream as a 27-year-old. How are you dealing with all this? Do you like it so far? Do you like the attention?

Is it a little weird? How would you describe it? It scares me because, like you said, I kind of shot up pretty fast and everything's like, who was just, you know, like all eyes on me. But I'm still the same, man. I have my team, and I always said that these guys, the guys that I've already had around me since the beginning,

they're like, I call my lawnmower. They mow all the lawns. They cut the grass short, so I see all the snakes in the grass. And at the end of the day, I don't care what happens to me. As long as I have them on my side, I've already won because people in life look for friends that have their back from right or die friends. I've already have that. Since the beginning, they've been with me.

And I don't really care what happens. You know, as long as I have them in my life, my life's going to be all right because life is bigger than fighting. After this, we have lives in. And I've seen a lot of situations where people fall hyped to it, and then they get let down by this world, and then they have psychological problems after because of all the things they have, they endured and the ups and the downs and the letdown.

So I'm sticking to my team. I'm saying to myself, and that's it, man. As long as I have these guys around, I'm going to be all right. They're always going to tell me what to do. Yeah, they're always going to tell me what to do. They're always going to tell me the right thing. They're not going to, you know, kiss bud and say, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They keep me grounded, and I'm already grounded as it is.

So I feel like I've got a really great team with me. Yeah, and you have great people around you. By the way, last thing, was your brother in attendance? Did he go to the fight? My brother's mom and dad, let him go to the fight. Brought him to the fight. He still cried at the fight. But, dude, my little brother loves you, man.

He was like, I was on the team. I was on the interview. I had the camera. And then, I mean, after that, he blew up, man. Honestly, he feels like, I think, yeah, he won the title. Yeah, he won the title shot. It was all about him this last week. Like, forget who I am.

It's all about my little brother. Chris Portega, he's, I mean, man, I love this little kid. And I'm glad that, like, I'm glad that this light on me, it allowed me to show the world who he is so he can shine. because he's got his own dream, his own goals, and he's 13, and didn't have to go through what I'm going through. So now I'm going to try to coach him in a better way where he doesn't have to make the same mistakes I did.

I can't wait. Yesterday, obviously, it was the Oscars. I can't wait when he wins his Oscar in like 15 years. People go back and say, oh, that was his first interview. He did some M.MA interview that we could say that we talked to him, you know, before he was a superstar. It was great to meet him. Exactly.

And it was with you, bro. Yeah. We actually got a call about him possibly being on some kind of movies. They already talked. They gave me a school already, so I got to call them back, and they love the kid. They love him. So we're going to talk about it, and then see my manager can probably jump down the Ortega ladder and manage the little Ortega kid.

But, you know, I know my boxing coach is the guy who really say, hey, bring your little brother to the open workouts that the world see who is. And this whole week, he was like, don't forget who's representing you. Don't forget your agent. Coach James said that. Coach James said that. It was crazy, man. The energy was fun with him this week. Actually, before the fight, right before the fight,

he was with me all week, sleeping in my room and everything, just hanging out with me. And he fell asleep. Like, you know, he fell asleep on me. I told my dad this yesterday in the car. And we're both sleeping, and I'm getting my rest before the fight. And I looked down, I woke up, and I looked at him, and I go, you better not effing fail this kid. And I remember telling myself, like, you better not effing fail this kid.

And, I mean, he was a big motivation for me this weekend. What a beautiful story. Congratulations, Brian. Congratulations, Henner. Well done to both of you. So happy for you and so happy that you're using this platform to do good in this world with the foundation and giving back to kids, you know, who can't afford to do something like that. It's a beautiful thing. Really, I'm really so happy for you guys.

Enjoy the victory. Enjoy the time off. And, of course, you know, good luck whenever you get that title shot. Whenever you get that call from Dana, hopefully he does call you and actually says it to you so you can hear it. and hopefully we'll talk to you beforehand. But thank you so much for doing this. I really appreciate it. Thank you, both.

Tell you how much, say hi. She's texted me like eight times during this interview. I see it blowing up on my phone. So she says hi as well. Thank you so much. Thanks, guys. We'll talk to you soon. Hennar, great to talk to you as well, man.

There they are. What a great duo. Hennar Gracie and Brian Ortega, what a great story. That is what the fight game is all about. And, you know, again, your heart breaks for Frankie because he was there and he's one of the true good guys in the sport. but you're also so very happy for a guy like Brian Ortega, a young kid,

27 years old, doing what he's doing and getting that opportunity to a beautiful story that unfolded on Saturday. And we'll see how it continues to unfold the coming months against Max Holloway. All right. Let us move along to our next guest. Great to talk to her, as always on this program, a lot to talk to Holly Home about. So let us not keep her waiting any longer. Let's go to the phone lines now and say hello to the preacher's daughter, Holly Home, who's standing by. Holly, are you there?

I'm here. How are you? I'm doing great. It's great to talk to you as always. Okay, so there's a lot to talk to you about, but first, I'd be remiss if I don't ask you about Saturday because you had a connection to both fighters, Chris Seiburg, who you just fought, and of course, Yana Kunitskaya, a teammate of yours.

What did you think about the fight? You know, I mean, we all know that cyborgs is a strong fighter, you know. She hits hard and she's always kind of aggressive. And Yonna, I mean, until the end of the fight, you know, Yana was, She had some good moments, you know. She had a takedown, got on top.

She was kind of controlling the cage and took her back. So it's not that it was, you know, all bad for you. And I think that she had some moments and things she's going to learn from the fight. And, you know, just go forward. When a fight's over, all you can do is learn from it and move forward. So, you know, I have respect for both of them. And I don't know. It's one of those things like I think about all my fights that I always want to avenge my losses.

and it's something that I want, you know, I want that fight back. I know it's a lot of work and the biggest fighter in all the women's divisions of the USC, but it's also one of those that I feel like I can do it. And I want to do it again, but I don't know. It's not, you know, like I said, Friday's fight, I don't have some moments in there. and I know that she'll be able to learn that's a big fight to take on your UFC debut. Did you, I mean, did she come to you a lot?

It wasn't a lot of times to prepare for someone like Cyborg and I feel for her because, as I've said a bunch of times, you know, it's just, it's such a tall task to debut in a title fight and a main event against someone like Cyborg. You know, you could fight in front of 800 people at Invicta, but this is a different beast, as you know. Did she lean on you a lot going into this? Did you try to help her out mentally, how to prepare for this experience?

We're mostly just real good training partners, you know. I just tried to be there every day, be a sparring partner for her, be a grappling partner for her. Just, you know, there's not a lot of girls our size, obviously. We're the only two girls at that, you know, weight. So I just tried to make myself accessible to whatever she would need to help, you know. And I just, I had a whole, her whole training camp. I was a variety, so it was kind of different type of training. to just be like a ritey the whole time, but it was kind of fun and, and

helped me to evolve as a fighter as well. You know, I tried to give her the best look I could. But, you know, we have a lot of teammates at the gym that she, you know, trained with as well. Just trying to give her a good look. And, you know, like you said, it is a big fight to take just to be a main event on pay-per-view for your first UFC fight alone is a big deal, much less against, you know, the big unbeatable fighter that's out there and up in a weight class

it's not even your normal weight class you know et cetera et cetera there's a lot of a lot of things that you kind of have to mentally overcome to even get in the cage there and you know she still had some good moments but I know that she'll be a better fighter for it going forward

and you know we'll see what happens with her future it sounds to me and correct me if I'm wrong like here we are a little over two months later and the cyborg fight is the one that keeps your fire going? Is that a dream opportunity for you? Is that the number one sort of thing at the top of the list?

You'd love that rematch? I would definitely want that rematch, you know. But I'm not, it's not something I'm putting, you know, all my thought into. I don't even think that could be my next fight. I bet you it'll be something else, you know. I don't know what it might be maybe 135, maybe 145. I'm really not putting too much into it thinking it's got to be one way or the other. I don't know.

I guess it's just one of those things that I have just... I always want to beat the unbeatable, I guess. And so, yes, that always kind of drives me a little bit. Have you thought about which weight class you'd prefer fighting at, 145 or 135? Well, whatever. I mean, obviously I feel like I'm a bigger fighter at 135, but at 145, it's, like, so much less stress about, you know, worrying about every, you know, meal, diet and cutting weights, like, super easy

and, you know, it kind of takes that stress away. But, um, so honestly, there's, like, pluses and minuses with either one. I'm open either. Have you watched the Cyborg fight yet? Your fight against Cyborg at 219? No. You haven't? No.

When I get back into training camp, I probably will. I mean, I've seen clips here and there. I know that a lot of the clips are just, you know, highlights. of her hitting me because this is hyping for this fight. But I know I had some good moments, you know, and there's a couple times, I know that there's a couple times that I hit her with some good solid shots, and I do felt like, you know, like in the clinch

that I was doing some good things, and there's always something to build on, but it always takes me a little while to go back and watch my fight, too. What do you, without watching, I'm sure you remember so much of it, What do you wish you did differently in that fight? Well, I can't tell you all of that, because if I get a rematch, I'll be able to do it.

But, I mean, you know, there are a couple things. Like, I mean, just basic things. It's just, I just wish I would have been more active in situations that I maybe was controlling. And every fight is different, too. And there's things that I have goals of what I want to get better on, but I definitely don't want to just think of. about that either because even though it would be a rematch with this, you know, if her and I

got a rematch, it still would be a different fight. No two fights are exactly the same. Even if it's, because people go back the second time thinking, well, this is what I'm going to change this time. And so a fight really doesn't go the same way every time.

Do you take some solace in the fact that you were the first person to go the distance with her in around nine years? Like, is that a feather in your cap, or do you not really care? Well, one thing that I I guess it's not the five rounds I went with her it's that I gave her a competitive

five rounds. I think that is more something that I know that I'm proud about I guess I know it's her toughest fight really I guess but the way I look at it I still

when I think about my fight I still walked away with a loss so there's really not that much pride I have about it, you know what I mean? And I should know. I mean, it's pride. Go ahead, sorry? To me, the win

is the pride. It's, you know, I didn't take the fight just to make it five rounds. I took it because I wanted to win. And so, yeah, I know that I was a tough of fight, and it's like, well, I know I did that. And so there's like a little bit of, okay, well, I know I was a tough of fight, but that's not

what I wanted to be. I wanted to be the one to beat her, you know? And I should know, first one to go five rounds. she hadn't gone the distance in nine years but that was in a five-round fight so that's another you know a little feather in your cap as well but I understand what you're saying about the win I asked you this question before that fight in Brooklyn

a little over a year ago and I'm sure and this is not a concern or at least a great concern to you but is it a little surprising that other than cyborg they haven't really built out that division like there's really no other true 145ers who are actively competing in the UFC do you think that's a little strange

yeah I think they're you know maybe they don't really want to, I don't know, but I think that maybe they don't really want to have to promise that many fighters, you know, and add more to the roster. I think they just kind of want to do, just kind of one at a time. I mean, cyborgs obviously, the one that everybody wonders will ever, will anybody ever beat her? And so I think they just kind of keep it based around that and try and see who will take the fight.

But I think that it'd be, you know, when you start to build a, division around it and you actually start to bring people in that's going to create a competition and a goal and that can change a lot of things you know um rather than just keeping like the one person there and just kind of like singly bringing in one from opponent from here or one from there one from there i guess there's not really a 145 pound division there's just every now and then there's a title fight for the 145 pound belt right exactly it's the chris cyborg division um she you know we we haven't heard much from you. You've kind of laid low since the fight and understandably so. But I'm just wondering, you know, considering you've been fighting for so long, did what happened at

219 force you to sort of evaluate your career and how much longer you want to do this? A lot of people are asking me, they thought, oh, you've had four out of five losses, you know, four out of five fights or losses and, you know, you're 36 and are you going to retire now? And it's like, I mean, it just, I still want to fight. That's the bottom line. You know, there's some people that say, oh, wow, you're the only one that actually took her that far. And then there's others say, oh, you're going to return? And I'm like, well, why don't want to retire one?

I just gave her the toughest fight she's had, too, you know what I mean? And in a weight class, it's the heavier weight class from what I usually fight and against the biggest, you know, person. Like, I was still the one to give her the toughest fight. So I don't really understand the retirement. you know, people think should you retire? Maybe it's just because of the way that, you know, the four fights have gone. But it's, I don't see it that way. I know that I still am competitive and have a lot of capabilities and I still want to do it.

So I definitely don't have this, you know, obviously every year gets like a little bit more like, well, maybe I see it kind of coming closer. I'm 36. I'll be 37 this year, you know. but I feel like I'm strong and in competitive shape. I don't feel 36, you know. I feel competitive and I feel strong and I feel like I can really do well still. So I'm going to keep going with it.

The retirement questions, I get the sense they annoy you. Absolutely. Okay. And I don't blame you. It's like imagine someone coming up to anyone who's working in any industry. Are you thinking about calling it quits? It's not like you're, you know, 60 years old, so it's a bizarre thing in sports. I think it depends on how they say it too.

It's like, like, oh, how much longer do you think you're going to do this? Like, that's different. But the ones that are like, gosh, you're 36, like, are you going to retire? Are you going to do this? It's like, it's like I remember my sister-in-law, you know, like three kids. Sometimes people will be like, wow, they're on their third kids. Like, yeah, that's what they want to do with their life. Like, what's wrong with that?

You know, because she had three kids, like, in a row. Like, all her kids are going to be, like, buddies and be able to grow up together and be friends together. But a lot of people are like, wow. Like, my mom said the same thing when she was pregnant with me. Like, a lot of people are like, wow, you're having a third kid already. Like, why would you do that? Like, why are you asking someone that when they're already pregnant?

They have their baby on their way. Yeah. So I'm so fighting. Obviously, this is what I want to do. I think that it's weird. that there's so many people out there that look at people's lives in that list. Okay, just actually just last night, one of our teammates just posted this quote from Heath Ledger.

I'd never seen it before and I love it. Okay. I'm looking it up right now. Okay, please. It's exactly how I feel in life with everything. So I have it right here on my phone and I kept it. I don't keep many quotes. That's how much I like this one.

All right. So it says, everyone you meet always asks if you have a career or married or own a house as if life with some kind of grocery list, but nobody ever asked you if you're happy. And that's totally how life is sometimes. Oh, are you married? Oh, you have a house here. It's like what it is. It's like, is it a grocery list?

Like, oh, you just checking stuff off. Like, I want to live day to day and I want to live by passion. And right now I still want to fight. So that's what I'm going to do right now. I'm not promised to even live tomorrow. You know, anything. happen in life. So I'm just going to do what I feel like doing right now. So let me ask you, are you happy?

I am. There's always things in life that are like struggles and things that are frustrating and in my career life, yes, I'm very brokenhearted right now because I'm coming off of a loss. But with that being said, I can't ever feel anything but blessed. I have so many good people around me in my life and I still have this team that's awesome and I still have gold and drinks that I want to shoot for. You know, I think a lot of people in life don't even know what their passion might be. And I feel fortunate and blessed

to have a passion because I feel a purpose. So that makes me happy. Just curious, has the UFC even contacted your management, like saying, oh, we have this plan for her next? We wanted her to do this. Has anything been brought to your attention since the fight? Lenny's talked to them a little bit, and I kind of just told them, yeah, I'm going to be ready

to fight pretty soon, but usually I'm like, what's next right away? And this is the first time I said, you know, I think I probably just need like a month or two to just kind of not stress about a fight. I still want to train, enjoy training, all that, you know, but there's some fighters that are really active, some that aren't, you know, I'm usually a pretty active fighter, and I'm usually never like, oh, just let me. I was like, you know, as a, it's not just, it wasn't said it was because. of the last fight, it was just, I don't know, I just felt like, you know what, give me like a month

or two to not have like that deadline, the goal, you know, that weight on my shoulders. It's not even that long, just, you know, two months to just kind of take care of some things and kind of catch up on my life outside of fighting. And, you know, I'm already getting kind of that ache again, you know, I was in the gym a lot since my last fight already. You know, I was back. Within two weeks, I was already back training because I just wanted to keep evolving and getting better and then sure enough. You know, after a little bit of time, you don't know how to fight with Cyborg. And I was training with her anyway because they had talked of an earlier fight card with her that she possibly was going to be fighting a girl that was actually a lefty. and so I was kind of in there just for that purpose.

So I've kind of just been in the gym anyway, but it's been nice to train for fun. Yeah. And without training, I always enjoy training for the most part, but getting close to a fight when you have to go in and really focus on your opponent and the deadline and your diet and everything like that, it's like, I like to eat healthy anyway. The diet's not that stressful, but I'm just saying it's just a lot of different elements when you're actually in training camp to when you're not. And so I just kind of been enjoying my training.

Do you enjoy, like just based off your Instagram, your social media, it seems like sometimes we have you guys in boxes, like your fighters and you're always hanging out with fighters, but you obviously have a life outside of fighting and you have friends outside of fighting. And sometimes it's like, wow, Holly likes to cook or Holly, you know, like you're not, you know what I mean? Do you sometimes need that break from the gym to not be sort of flooded with all things

fighting. Is that healthy for you? You know what? If I'm not in a there isn't a week that goes by that I don't at least go to the gym, but right now I guess and always in between fights I kind of just try and

change it up a little bit. Right now I'm doing a little bit more yoga and strength training so I can go see different bases and get a benefit from different types of training because I may not have time for as much of that when I get back into a fight camp.

And that way, I don't ever feel, I think mine is more, I don't ever want to feel like my training is too monotonous to where I don't get up for a fight, you know? I don't want to feel like burnt out by the time I even start a training camp. But kind of try to keep a little bit of a different schedule in between. Yes, I still will do something MMA related once a day. Okay. But it's not like I might just spar in the morning

and then go back in the afternoon and grapple and go back for another private. It's like I'll probably go to practice in the morning and then maybe instead of going back, you know, to the gym for something else, I might go for a run and go to yoga or go, you know, I've been doing, I only do like two days a week of strength training when I have a fight coming up and even the closer to a fight, I actually, some, it was the last couple weeks I don't really do any more strength training. At that point, you know, lifting weight your last week of hard training isn't going to make. you stronger for the fight. It's probably just going to break your muscles down. But right now is the time to try and maybe build some strengths a little bit. Not that I'm trying to get bulk. I just want

to have some, you know, just inner strength. And so I've been doing, I don't know, just a little bit more of that, little yoga, little Pilates, just changing it up. And by the way, I have to ask, have you been compelled to watch Ronda Rousey and WWE? Have you checked her out? I don't watch anything yet, but I will. Why not? A lot of people ask me, too, like, would you ever do something like that whenever you're done fighting? And I'm like, why not? It's like in life, why not go ahead and take on every, you know, possibility that you have

and any kind of like experience you can get? so Ronda going to do that, why not? I'm sure why having fun with it, you know? So is that something that you will try to, like, do you have an interest in pro wrestling? Oh, who knows? Okay. I never really know what, gosh, I look at my whole career and it's like,

you know, when I very first thought, I just kind of wanted to see what it was like. I didn't ever think I'd really be pro, and then when I turned pro, I didn't think I'd really fight for a title. and then when I fought for a title, I didn't think I'd defend it so many times. And then when I was doing that, I didn't really think I was going to do MMA. And then when I was in MMA, I thought, you know, I had these, like, small goals that I look back at, like, the journey that these small goals have taken me on. Who knows where I'll be. So when people ask me about it, I guess I'm not going to say I'll never do it, but I'm not going to say that it's something that is in my plan right now because my goals right now still are just in MMA.

So Holly Holm is going to go out of her way and watch Ron. Ronda Rousey's WrestleMania debut in April. Is that accurate? I'm going to do it. Oh, wow. That's amazing. That just shows the kind of person that you are. That's great.

I'm happy to hear that. And good to catch up with you as always, Holly. Thank you very much for stopping by. Thank you. Do you have a month that you want to come back? Is there a time frame yet? Or you haven't even thought of that yet? Oh, I definitely don't want to be like too, too long.

You know, speaking of age. It's not like I got, I will be 37 this year. So look at Andre. He's 39, I think it is. He just had a big win this last weekend. So I guess it's all how you take care of your body too. But, you know, I don't know. Maybe in the summer.

I hope so. I mean, we're already in March, so hopefully it'll come soon. All right. Well, we wish you the best, Holly. Thank you so much for stopping by. Thanks for taking the time, as always. Yep, we'll talk to you soon. There she is.

Holly Holmes stopping by. Great to talk to her as always. Still very much, play. Still very much one of the top draws. In the UFC's women's division, there's absolutely no doubt about that. Just look at the pay-per-view buy rate for 219. And I'm curious to see this one with cyborg kind of carrying it. It's kind of not being a household name.

I'm very curious to see what this one does on pay-per-view. All right. So that's 222 talk. We'll have more later on in the program, but one of the big stories late last week was that John Fitch has signed with Belltor. How about that? The longtime MMA veteran. of course, former UFC title Challenger

just recently was the WSOF Welterweight Champion of the World. He has been a let go from that organization. His own doing, his decision. They're rebranding into PFL. They vacated all the belts. And now he is in Bellator and he'll be debuting

on May 12th against the one and only Paul Daly in his backyard, longtime backyard of San Jose, California. So a perfect place for his Belter debut. He joins us now via the magic of Skype. There he is. John Fitch. John, how are you? I'm good. How are you doing, Ariel? I'm doing great. Great to talk to you, and congratulations

on the big news. Could you explain what happened with, you know, WSOF slash PFL? You were their champion. They rebrand. How did you leave that organization? How did that go down? You know, this is prize fighting, and I'm in the business of winning titles. And, you know, I think there's more competition and better people to fight in Belator. And I just wanted to chase another title. And it was more appealing to me to jump ship and go to Belator and track down another title than it was to enter a tournament, fight five times in six months and, you know, win a title and then lose it in the same night. Okay. So you asked for your, you still had fights left or did everything kind of start at zero once they rebranded?

No, I mean, they have to honor the contract. And, you know, there are some parts of my contract that, you know, the thing I was most worried about is not being active. You know, it's the worst thing for a fighter is to be healthy and ready to fight and then not be active, not be offered fights. So I had some provisions in my contract that said they had to offer me certain fights and certain timeframes. They failed to do so. So I just held them to the contract. They either needed to provide the fights, pay me for the fights they didn't give me, or release me. And they chose to release me.

Okay. Was Bellatory your top choice? Is that where you wanted to go? Yeah, I think so. It's my hometown. They do a lot of shows here. I really like Scott Coker. I'm sorry, Scott Coker. And I think he's the best promoter in the business right now. Why? You know, I think he's been doing this for a very long time. And he's done it very well. I think he puts together a better show. And I think, you know, if it wasn't for the U.S. he's monopoly, he would probably be dominating the market.

You've never fought for Scott before, obviously, but of course, a mainstay in the San Jose region, and as you mentioned, been doing this for a long time, did you have any kind of relationship before, you know, this negotiation? Yeah, we're friends. We've talked. We've hung out before. I've had dinner with the man. I know people who worked with him intimately and have for many years people I'm friends with, and nobody has anything negative to say about him. And you're back at AK now, right? Yes, we moved back to San Jose.

Vegas was great. One kick Nick was amazing. I still work with Nick. The guys I got a train in spar with and everything, Cheating and Jiguani, especially, a lot of great guys at OneKix gym. But we just didn't have the family support that we do here in San Jose. And with two kids, it was difficult to manage, I think.

when we're in Vegas. Okay. So you get the Bellator deal, you're on this big stage, you're fighting at home, and you're fighting Paul Daly, and these are two marquee names. I think the Walter Divided division

is the best division in Bellator right now. It's the deepest in Belator. Right off the bat, it seems, this is a tough style matchup for Paul Daly. Historically, he's had trouble with wrestlers. Did you think the same? Were you surprised that they gave you daily, or maybe, given his troubles with the organization,

maybe this was a punishment for speaking out. I don't know. What did you think? I think I'm a bad stylistic matchup for everybody. Okay. That should be my nickname. Bad stylish stick matchup. Right.

Fair? There's not too many people who are like, oh yeah, that's a great matchup for them against Chantfish. It just doesn't know. I have too many tools to my disposal, and I'm a cardio machine, and I'm just meaner than most people, and it's hard to beat mean. How far away do you think you are from the Roy McDonald orbit? I don't want to look past

you know Paul Daly he's tough and there's other tough guys out there you know but I think by the end of the year if things go well if I'm healthy if he's healthy it's a possibility for sure of course we all remember UFC 87

is this your chance to write that wrong you can't fight GSP but maybe he's the next best thing is this part of your motivation I'm in the business to fight the best guys in the world I'm not here just to talk trash and be on TV. I want to challenge myself.

I want to fight the best. You know, it's one of the reasons why I kind of wanted to go to Beltor. There's not really many people or anybody left for me to fight in the PFL. Jake Shields is probably their best guy. You know, I beat Ocami already. There's not a lot for me there. Right. And, of course, Ocami is in the UFC now, so he's not there as well.

you are obviously always vocal about the state of MMA and you're doing great work trying to help the sport evolve and I see you're wearing the MMAFA shirt. How do you feel about the state of MMA in 2018? It's slowly getting better but it's still not a free market. We have no free market. There's no leverage for the fighters. Just like a Mighty Mouse, he tried to leverage his position and they threatened to get rid of his whole weight class. That just goes to tell you there's absolutely zero leverage on the fighter's side,

and there's no way to have leverage until we get to own our titles in our rank. And the only way to do that is an independent sanctioning body. So when you say there's no free market, I mean, like when you were released, you could sign with whomever you want, right? Isn't that a free market? I mean, is Rory McDonald considered the best welterweight in the world? Is Tyrone Woodley going to leave the UFC with his belt in front? fight Rory to prove that he's the best.

Right. But isn't that the case in every sport? If I'm signed by the Orlando Magic for four years. If you're, if you're, you know, if you win a championship in the NFL for the bills or whoever, you can go to another team the next year if they bid for more money. Well, not if you have a contract. It's not ever going to happen. But you have a contract.

You sign a four-year deal. never end. The contracts never end in the UFC. If you win the belt, you must defend it under contract. That's one of the issues. Right. So you have a problem with like the champions clause because every fighter signs for like X amount of fights, but you're saying the term, there's no term usually, right? It's not a two-year deal, so it'll expire after two years. You have to fulfill those six fights or eight fights, whatever. And if you win the championship, first off, you won't even get a title shot unless you have more than one fight on your contract. If you don't have one fight in your contract,

you'll never get a title shot. They will force you to sign an extension. And then once you win the title shot, you're forced to defend it. In boxing, you can go free agent the second you win a belt. Did these values, did this come into play

when you were deciding where you were going to go next? In other words, do you feel like Bellator doesn't have these restrictions contractually? Everybody does, but I mean, I have to feed my family. And it's either I don't feed my family or I dive headfirst into an exploitive environment. And we don't really have a choice. It's either fight and make money under these conditions or retire and go somewhere else and maybe make money or not make money.

I'm sure you heard about... It's just not a free market. Right. The new Project Spearhead Group headed up by Leslie Smith, what, if anything, do you know about it? And more importantly, how do you feel about it? I mean, a single entity labor union will not work in a mixed martial arts. If you have no leverage at all, then there's no way for you to have a CBA that's going to do anything. When the promoter can willy-nilly strip belts take your rank, I was fired when I was ranked number nine.

Somebody else was just given that rank. I mean, if you look at the WWE, the WWE could eliminate their entire roster and continue forward with no problems with a brand new set of people. There's nothing stopping the UFC or any other promotion from doing that exact same thing. So you feel like something like this, it's a mistake for them to just be a UFC only. Even though would you not agree that the UFC fighters and the Beltor fighters are sort of playing under different rules like with the Reebok deal and you side of, there's different things that apply to them that don't apply to you in Bellator. So isn't it hard to get everyone on this uniform playing field? I mean, the Usada and the uniform is not an example of those fighters being employees.

That's a demonstration of the Mansopany power of the UFC. You know, the uniforms are not evidence of employee status. They're exhibit one of Mansopini power. UFC athletes have no say. These terms are imposed on them precisely because the UFC is a dominant monopoly and monopolies. The athletes have no negotiating power whatsoever. But isn't that exactly what an employee, like you just tell an employee you have to wear this, you have to do this, you have to be, isn't that exactly? Again, that's not evidence of being an employee.

That's a demonstration of their monopsony power. That's a part of our class action lawsuit. Right. How is the lawsuit going, in your opinion? well we uh we're waiting for um the status of being uh they're going to rule on our class we're going to get our class status uh if they find that we've all been damaged in the same way all fighters from 2010 till present day if we've been damaged in the same way we'll we'll get the class and then we'll move forward from there there was a revelation that came out um as far as the lawsuit is concerned

from the ufc's lawyers saying essentially that uh it's it's impossible to compare the the fighters to professional athletes of the four major sports because they're unionized and these guys aren't, meaning you guys. And at least it read to me, like he was saying, it's a mistake for the MMA fighters, UFC fighters, to not be unionized because you don't get certain advantages and, and of course you don't have a seat at the table. Did you see that and did you feel the same way about that response? I mean, why are they only stating the UFC's experts? We had the we have the premier leading economist,

uh, expert, uh, Zambolist. Um, he did his statements too. And he talked about, yeah, he talked about why they have their monopoly power. Why, why is that quote stated? Um, what do you mean?

By who? Another, another, another, another, another, the media and, uh, the other organizations out there. You don't, the fact is if, uh, the league sports, the league sports, or league sports, because they have 30, the 32 owners and entities. You're talking about a single owner entity. There's no negotiating with the single owner entity.

They have all the power. They can just take away your rank and title at any time they choose to. They can create a new rank and title any time they choose to. They can fire everybody on the roster that has a loss and replace them quite easily

and just give new ranks to new people. Right. But in boxing, if someone is, if I'm signed by Lou DeBella, I can't just leave Lou DeBella either, right? I mean, you can't, you can't just go willy-nilly. Well, that's a manager, that's a manager, not a promoter. I would say, no, Lou Debella, I would say is a promoter.

Like, Ludabella, Bob Aram, Bob Aram, Oscar Delh. These are promoters, right? I'm sorry. You know what I mean? They are promoters, yes. But you have legitimate promoters competing against them, and the athletes can promote themselves if they choose to. So if you don't like the way the promoter is doing something,

you could actually go to the other promoter and still compete for the top belt. You can't do that in the MMA. We're not really a sport. You can't say, oh, this promoter is doing a bad job of promoting me. This promoter isn't doing a good job. He's not giving me good splits of the money. I'm going to leave this promoter and sign with another promoter. You won't have the same status.

You will not have a single MMA or a UFC fighter leaving and be respected on the same level and have the chances to make the same amount of money if he goes to anywhere else. and he can't promote himself. I mean, Roy McDonald did that, and he's probably making more money in Bellator than the UFC. Because the U.S.C. was suppressing his wages, not because he had the chance to fight for the highest title there is to own, and then use that as leverage to gain more of the percentage of the revenue made. Okay. I mean, I guess that's arguable, but I get your point. It's not arguable. It's a fact. That's a fact. And economists have come forward and made statements in our case. proving that. But I mean, our next

guest, too, Gagar Musassi left the UFC on a winning streak, went and signed with Bellator because they were paying him more, and seems to be enjoying... And he still will not maximize his profits the way he wouldn't have free market. Free agency and free market. He wasn't a free market. The only thing to drive up pay.

He wasn't a free market. It's not a free market. He can't fight for the UFC title. The UFC title is the belt that pays the most money. No matter how much he gets paid by Bellator, he's never going to make as much money as if he own the UFC title, ever. I don't know how you can say that. And the you and the you, I can't because I can say because our economists is saying it.

Well, I mean, you're comparing. People who's job it is to know to an. You're comparing one organization who's seven years old to another who's 25. They're not playing under the same. I'm comparing a company who's monopolized the market and controls 90% of the market share, who only pays out 17% to its athletes. Back in back in the early 1900s, When boxing had its monopolies team going on,

they were paying their boxers 25%. NCAA athletes today make 22% of the revenues made. U.S.C. fighters make 17%. Listen, we're coming from the same place. I talk about this almost ad nauseum on my program. I do disagree with some of the things, but I appreciate the passion and the inside. I want to ask you quickly before I let you go,

it seems because sometimes I get tagged in the tweets, you're not a fan of the MMA media as well. Is that accurate? Do you feel like we're not doing a good enough job of reporting on this? I feel that your hands are tied. I don't want to attack anybody. I don't attack the managers.

Don't attack any the promoters. I don't attack any of the sports media. You guys have your hands tied. When the problem's in place, they have control over the entire market. And if you end up to them,

punish, you face it yourself. You got fired a job in reporting. Oh, no. And that's That they do those things to scare people. They do scare people to ensure no one else tries it. I know that the media gets handed talking points and told who to cover and they cover them. That's not secret. And I don't know anybody for it.

It's a symptom of the disease of a monopoly. Everybody else is suffering through this. And even even promoters who exist in this market, they have something to do with it. The pretitas are gone. They're out of here. They cashed their checks and took off. They made a vast and they left. Now, the rest of us have to do with it.

Right. Do you see a light at the end of this tunnel? Do you feel like in your career? When we go to D.C., when I've been paying out of pocket to self-lobbing in D.C., push for the ALEA. When I talk to politicians, there are lawyers and business service. When we show them contracts, when we tell them the situation, they cannot believe it, it's gotten as bad.

They can't. Something like this happens in this day and age. And they're easily jumping on to support. I feel that we're going to pass Aliyah through this year. And within two years' time of 2020, we'll have a free market. We'll be able to see who's really the best fighters in the world. And fighters will actually get to negotiate for real contracts and health care and all that stuff. Until that happens, you have no leverage. Absolutely zero leverage.

No TVA will ever do anything in a Siegel entity monopoly. But do you agree, though? that it is important, at least in this structure, to have a seat at the table. In other words, if Bellator came and said... What seat at the table? It's a kid's table. It's a kids' table. If Bellator came to you and said,

for your fight on May 12th, starting April 1st, you cannot have any sponsors anymore and you can only wear what we tell you to wear, and we're going to drug test you 24-7-3-65. Would you not at least like a say in that? They would be... They would be guilty of Montempany, and that's illegal, and they would get lawsuits against them.

Okay, well, that's happening in the UFC, and that's why Project Spearhead is probably And they have a lawsuit against them. Well, not, but you have a lawsuit against them. You didn't suffer that. The current fighters are suffering that. So why, why not be for the Project Spearhead in addition to MMAFA? I didn't have to deal with the Reebok deal, but I did have to deal with them taxing my sponsors, putting my sponsors out of business, because they forced them to pay hundreds of things. thousand dollars just to sponsor me three thousand dollars yeah yep it's the same scheme it's the same

controlled scheme as someone who is deeply invested in this are you in favor of project spearhead uh what i don't understand is uh everything that we have been pushing for and trying they seem to be adopting except um leslie smith especially could not get support for any of her views in our group And she continually broke our trust with speaking about, confidentially spoken about things in our private chats. That's something that's not okay. We had secret private chats that were made public by her. That's the number one reason why she was asked to leave.

But she seems dead set on creating a single entity UFC monopoly. And that's a death wish to everybody. You cannot have a successful CBA under a single entity monopoly. It only works if there's multiple owners who are on a same playing field. And there is nobody at the match of the UFC. Nobody is on equal ground with the UFC, not even close. Nobody is knocking down the door to leave the UFC to go to Bellator because their title is going to bring them more money. If you want respect and you want the most money possible for you as a fighter, you have to go to the UFC.

You do not have a choice. we get to i i would love to talk about this uh with you for hours i love this topic um i think it's it's somewhat ironic that you say that it's being gagar musasi who literally just did that but i respect where you're coming from and more importantly i appreciate how passionate you are about this he left because of frustrations he left because of frustrations and he made me making more money but it's more money on a on a on a on a restricted level the pay scale is restricted like he's never going to maximize his profits. He's never going to get a real piece of the pie.

He's not going to get a real percentage. And the fearmongery that people put that the Ali Act is going to turn us into boxing is BS. Right. We have different fan bases, right? You're never going to have a card where you just put the two top fighters like the McGregor and Mayweather. You're never going to get a card like that. The fight fans won't stand for it. We're never going to make 85% of the gross revenue.

But if we may make 60 to 70% when we'll have a fuller card just like MMA fans won. That's our future, not a CBA under one single entity monopoly. It's not going to happen. You have fight careers in the UFC, the top guys who are the main event, it's two and a half years, less than two and a half years, the top guys. That's not even the minimum, league minimal in the NFL to join their association. And that's removing people who've had only one fight. How are you going to have those guys pay into a pension if they don't even, the top guys don't even fight two and a half years.

What kind of pension? What kind of health care? Where's the money going to come from? Are you just going to take the money from the guys who have been there from 10 years and they're going to pay for the health care for guys who have one fight? How's that going to work? Yeah, it's fascinating. Thank you, John.

I really appreciate it. We'd love to invite you back on to talk about this, but we were at a time. Congratulations on the new deal with Belltor and looking forward to your debut. Make sure if you guys get a chance, I have a blog series coming out on, I started a week ago on Medium.com, Medium.com. backslash at John Fitch. I'm going through old journals, is talking about a lot of my old stuff

that I went through in college and through the fight career. I'm actually just putting out my journals for everyone to read. So you can see what actually is going on. This is very personal and a little embarrassing, but I think you guys will really enjoy it. Also, official John Fish on YouTube.

I do shake breaks every day at 10. Check me out. Okay. Thank you, John. A man of many talents. We appreciate it very much. I will check out that journal. That sounds really cool on it. Thank you, Ariel. Appreciate him stopping by and congratulations on the new deal with Belator. Okay, so as I mentioned, speaking of Belator, speaking of someone he was just talking about, essentially. Let's go to our next guest, Gagarin Musassi is stopping by.

He returns at Belator 200 in May in London against Rafael Carvalio for the middleweight title. Gagart, are you there? I'm good, Ariel. How are you? I'm doing great. By the way, did you hear any of the stuff John was saying? Did you hear any of that at the end of the interview? Yeah, just a little bit. hurt. Yeah.

Do you have any thoughts on what he was saying as far as, you know, the free market and not being paid as much as, you know, if you're not in the UFC, you're not going to get paid as much as you're worth? Well, UFC, how many percent of the fighters are making good money? I think that's maybe the champions and ex-champions. So if you're not one of those, you're not probably going to get paid as you, as much as you should, you know? So for me, you know, as a good, as a fighter,

you want to be paid what you worked. Not saying, okay, because you never know if they're going to give you a title shot or not, or they're going to give you a fight as long as until you lose it, and then you won't be able to fight for the belt, you know? So it's only one or two guys that are fighting for the belt that make good money. So, yeah, of course, if you're a UFC champion, you're going to make good money.

But if you're not, you go back to your old contract. Yeah, then you're going to make less problems. Yep, that is true. You are happy in Belator, though, I'm assuming, right? I mean, for the most part, even though you're not in the UFC, things are going well, right?

Yeah, 100%. I have nothing to complain. I'm fighting in London. Pro Cup, I heard, is fighting too. And you have already a great card. Phil Davis is fighting on that card, you know. You're going to have some English local fighters.

You know, it's going to be a great. great cars, especially for a European market. That's right. That's Beltor 200. You're fighting for the belt. I have to ask you, though, Yegar, the last time I spoke to you was the Monday after your debut against Alexander Schlamenco, and you were very fired up. I mean, that interview, people still come up to me and talk to me about you telling the haters to suck it and all this stuff. I know it's several months later, but have you calm down a little bit?

Do you still feel the same way? When I bring it up again, do you still get fired up the way you did on that Monday? No, listen, I went to watch the fight. If I thought I would have lost that fight, I would have said, honestly, I lost that fight. But it was obviously two rounds to one round. So I clearly won the fight. You know, it's a point system how the judges score. So, you know, there's nothing, there's no discussion about it.

You know, of course, some fans, you have some Russian fans. Of course, they're going to pick the side of the, of Alexander. But it is what it is, you know. I take this victory to my grave. So whoever things I lost, you know, they have to live with that. Fuck them. What can I say? When you watch the fight again, overall, I mean, you had to overcome, you know,

the adversity early on with the eye, but were you happy? Like, was this, okay, you know, this is not as bad as I thought. Were you happy overall with your body of work? No, no, of course I'm not happy. You know, after one, the first shot that landed, I, you know, I broke my overtow and then it was just holding on, grabbing, taking down, controlling. I still won two rounds of the three with one ice. So I believe I'm the better fighter then.

I believe I'm the better fighter now, but I did what I had to do with one eye. And if I thought, if I didn't have that injury, I probably would have won also the third round. if not I would you know but yeah sometimes things doesn't go your way or way

you know it's fighting it's you know the case closed everyone has a chance and he caught me what can I say you know

shit happens you you've laid low since that fight I mean I haven't heard much from you what have you been doing since you since you went back home

and took some time off well all the doctors uh After the fight, you know, there was some confusion. I don't know. I thought I lost my eyes because my doctors were talking and they were so mysterious, you know. You know, people don't see what's happening after the fight.

But now my eyes good. I'm healed up on training. Training is going great. I have no doubt I'm going to win that low. But people can judge me because of my previous fight. But, you know, I never had two bad performers in a row. and I'm not planning to do that for now. Did you have to have surgery?

No, the doctor didn't help. I need a surgery. My eye looks a little bit different now. So maybe after fighting, I get it fixed just for cosmetic reasons. What do you mean looks different? No, well, you know, the shape is a little bit different. So yeah, it was a big impact. So yeah, but whatever, you know, I'm not...

Did we lose him? Gayguard, are you still there? They've just lost them. We shall reconnect. Okay, we're calling him back. Just kind of faded away there. But that is a pretty massive revelation. I want to ask him again, it sounded like he said he thought for a minute that he was going to lose his eye.

remember all the I don't know the criticism afterwards some people thought he won the fight some people thought he lost the fight he was all kinds of fired up he said to the haters you can suck it

it was great stuff and he hasn't really talked since then the Belltor 200 lineup is as follows at least as of right now May 25th it takes place um hey Gaggart are you there yes I'm here

okay I was just wondering I want to make sure I heard you correctly did you say that you thought for a minute that you may lose your eye? Yeah, because, you know, I had my physician. I had also, I had my doctor, and I had also my doctor that surgery on my leg, they were both with me there. So they were talking and it was like very mysterious, you know,

doctors coming in, coming out, you know. You know, those things, you know, it's part of fighting, you know. I could have easily also lost the night, you know. Were you worried? at that moment yeah so yeah it was not a good thing are you medically

cleared now to resume sparring to get hit in the eyes is that all okay yeah yeah everything is fine you know the doctor that I was seeing was one of the best in Holland he talked to the commission

he made sure them that everything is fine I got clearance and so I'm we're working towards the you know to the 200 baltore fight. What is it like when you get punched now? Like, do you feel some hesitation?

No, no, not at all. You know, I can take it, you know, it's as good as it was. Of course, anything can happen if you get an impact punch like that. Of course, it gets, uh, how do damage, but it's, it's the same as it would, if I would have operated. So it's not going to make any difference. By the way, sometimes Bellator doesn't put the title fights on last, and they just announced this Crowe Cup fight against Roy Nelson.

Are you going to be the main event, or is that going to be the main event? What are you hearing as far as what goes on last? I don't care. For me, it's the same. Main event, go main event, who cares? You don't feel like traditionally the title fight usually goes on last? Yeah, you know, For me, it's not important.

You know, I get to fight. People come to see the fights. The promotion does whatever things is the best. My job is to go and fight. You know, I don't care. Did you watch, I know you had some, you know, responses back to Roy McDonald after your fight. Did you watch his last fight when he won the belt against Douglas Lima? No, I just, you know, I skipped a little bit.

He didn't have a great performance either But, you know, I'm not the one that's going to go on Twitter and say stupid shit, you know So I like Rory MacDonald actually I think he's a nice guy probably, you know But yeah, after this fight Hopefully we can get it done and then He can come his show his own skills

But he will come short, you know His style is perfect with me He's smaller We're going to get his ass kick probably Is that the dream scenario for you, win the middleweight title and then fight Rory? Yeah, it's easier fight for me. I like easy fight. You think that Rory is an easier fight than Carvalio?

Yeah, no, no, no. Carvalio's tough. Rory is tough. But after Carvalio, Rory is the best choice, to be honest. How do you feel about Carvalio? It's kind of hard to gauge, you know, where he is as far. as like the top middleweights in the world are because he hasn't been fighting the top middle weights. You've fought everyone under the sun,

UFC, outside of the UFC. Where do you rank him based on what you've seen? He's a... If he would fight the UFC, it would be on the top five probably. Let's say 10 to 5, it would be ranked somewhere between there. But, you know, he's tough.

He's the champion for a reason. you know, he's skilled, he hasn't lost since 2011, I believe. So he's confident. So, yeah, I'm not underestimating. He's a champion for a reason. But I'm coming to get that belt. Was it a blessing to not fight for the belt in your debut? Is it almost better to get the first fight out of the way and then fight for the belt?

Yeah, I think I have less pressure now. First fight, you know, coming in, you feel like, They brought you and you have to beat everybody, but you know, at the end of the day, you realize a fight is a fight and anything can happen. So the pressure is off a little bit. So, yeah, I don't know. Maybe if I would have fought for the belt, maybe I had a better fight, you know. Any fight, every different fight is different. So I don't know, but I think the nerves are a little bit gone.

So I think I will do better. The UFC middleweight division is still kind of a mess and after what happened And you know prior to the last fight a lot of people were like oh if only Gagar was around he would have gone in that title shot and stuff Do you do you pay attention to what's going on over there at all? Well, I watch the big fights You know as a fan I like to watch fights too, you know But You know

I don't know I don't know if I would have got the title shot maybe if I'd be even Luke Rockwood or something like that, maybe. But, you know, you still had Joe Romero there and then I would have to wait again, you know. You never know with those stuff.

Okay, so you don't feel like, like there wasn't any part of you that was remorseful. If, you know, if this would have played out when I was there, I would have finally gotten that UFC. You don't think like that. No, you know, nothing is given, nothing is written.

Yeah. You know, what can I say? You know, I made the best choice for me. me. And, you know, I'm fighting for the Bellator belt. So for me, I'm still fighting for the belt. Sure. And like if I bid the Carvalio, you know, doors open, I can go up to like heavyweight. I can accomplish a title there, you know. Those are things that, you know, it's different. So if I do well in that title fight, I win and, you know, I can achieve bigger things. So that's the goal. just wondering if you've spent a lot of time on your farm

in your time off and if so how has that been well I was just training in my where you milk the sheep's still yeah I don't know where you know where you put the cows and stuff that's where you just were no no I made it into a gym you know

I trained in my backyard let's say And now I'm home. So it's easy. I train three weeks at my own house, and then the rest is in Amsterdam, other places. What did you do with the sheep and the horses that were there, or the cows that were there, the stable? Well, I gave him away to the old owner of the property. Oh, wow. I don't have any.

I'm not that good with animals. Okay. So you don't have any animals. No, no, no, no. It's empty. Around me, I have a lot of animals, like, you know, because it's a village. Sure.

But you don't have any that are, like, your responsibility that you have to look after. No, no, no, no. I can't even take care of myself, let alone with animals. How many people are living there right now? How populated is it? Well, my house, my brother lives next to me, so one, two, three, four.

I think with six, seven people in the house. Amazing. It's like a Musasi compound, just for you. Yeah, yeah. Everyone comes here, and then at the end of the night, they'll go to their house. And are there any neighbors in sight or is it very... A musasi mansion. Yes, Musassi Mansion, exactly.

Are there any neighbors in sight, or is it pretty isolated? Well, I have a neighbor. He's pretty pretty into partying and stuff, so it comes handy sometimes. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? After the fight, it's a good thing. What kind of partying are we talking about, Gagard? Well, last time, it was a party with masks and I don't know. Kinky party.

Does he do it for you? Does he do it in honor of you? No, no. He just invited us and we went there and we had a good time. What do you say us? Like your mom is going to, your brother, everyone's going, your whole family? No, no, no, no. No, no.

No, no. It was my brother and my cousin. We went there. Wow. Yeah. A mass kinky party. This sounds amazing. Yeah, not much happened afterwards because we got into a fight and then we had to go home.

A fight with who? Well, no, some discussions. What do you mean? Other topic. Oh, that's important. Okay, wow. I mean, this is the most interesting part of the interview. you. Was it with the owner, like the neighbor himself?

No, no, no, no, no. Just my brother, he wanted to go home and so he went home. Oh, okay. Interesting. Wow. There's so many layers to, Gagard. You know, I just try to, I just try to sort of chip away. People don't know me. I'm kinky. I'm not. I had no idea. Okay, I think the interview is going the wrong direction, area. Okay, this, that clip right there. Last time you gave a suck it, now it's, people don't know me, I'm Kinky. That's the headline. No, no, no.

I regret the already saying that. Okay, all right. Well, Gaggard, I'll let you go. This has been a great... It's been great to catch up. I'm very happy that you're getting this title fight. Finally, we get to see you fight for a belt. It's been a long time. When's the last time you fought for an actual belt, Gagard?

It feels like the Strike Force fight, right? When it gets King Mo? Yeah, strike. Yeah, I think, you know, I have five belts, so... Yeah. is going to make six belts. And, you know, I think, you know, that's a pretty big accomplishment in the MMA because, you know, I thought in the, you know, I would get, yeah. So, we see how it goes and then maybe like everybody after this.

But first, you know, let's get this one. All right. Well, I wish you the best, Gagard. Thank you so much for the time. And good luck in May at Beltor 200. No problem. Thanks, area. All right.

There he is. The one and only Gaggar Moussasi, the kinky, Giger Moussassie. put it in his own words, returning to action in May at Beltar 200. All right, my friends, no time to waste. Without further ado, as I said at the top, it is always an absolute honor for me to say hello to our next guest, to have our next guest on the program. Last time we spoke, he was sitting right over there in studio, just days removed from becoming the UFC middleweight champion defeating Michael Bisping at Madison Square Garden at UFC 217. And just days after that, he was no longer the middleweight champion.

He voluntarily vacated the title. He talked about some of his health issues on this show and in a press release, but we've been dying to know what's up with George St. Pierre. He is the pride of St. Isidol, Quebec, Canada, and he is kind enough to be joining us on the phone right now. Always a pleasure. George, how are you, my friend? Yeah, I'm doing very well, Ariel. Thank you for the nice introduction.

Always, my friend. It's always an honor to have you on the show, and I thank you so much. I know you're so busy. so thank you so much for joining us here today. So first things first, right off the bat, George. How are you feeling? How is your health?

Yeah, it's a lot better. Ariel, I start doing, I'm on medication, but I start doing intermittent fasting, and it helped me a lot. And a lot of my symptoms are gone and I feel a lot better. However, I lost a lot of weight. And, but I'm very, very ripped, you know, like, it seems like the cause of that was probably the fact that I tried to eat so much and force myself to eat, to elevate my weight and, and with that stress and everything, I don't think it was a good thing to do for me. I learned from my mistake.

So how much do you weigh right now? Well, I'm about in between 180, 185. Okay. Like one morning, what I do is I do one, I do an intermittent fasting. So I do one 48 hour and one 24 hour every week. So, and I keep, I train. So what I do is I drink only water with Himalaya salt. And it helped me a lot to get.

get rear of my symptoms, like all the stomach aches and everything. So for people we don't know, I had like, I was diagnosed with what they call ulcer colitis. So I think with the medication and the intermittent fasting, that's the way to get rid of it. Are you still on the medication now for the colitis? Yeah, I'm still on the medication. I have to remain on it because the doctor said that to me. However, I'm going to have another appointment with the doctor in a few weeks to see, but I'm still on it. You know, he told me to stay on it, but I do feel a lot better.

Because if you remember, when we spoke during my training camp and after the fight, I was having blood, like chunk of blood. And when I used to go in bathroom, it was so bad I had to go get checked up. I thought I had like a cancer or something. I was very worried. And plus, I had like very bad stomachache. It was very bad. Like, it used to wake me up during the night. I couldn't sleep much.

And now I feel a lot better. All the symptoms, most of the symptoms are gone now. Have your doctors told you that this is directly related to you putting on that weight and fighting at 185? In other words, if you never came back and never did this and never put on the weight and fought at 185, that you never would have gotten sick? Well, they don't really know. It's like, what is called medically, it's called ulcer colitis. It's a condition. They don't really know exactly what it caused it.

They believe it's the stress and also the fact that I try to eat so much that, of course, did not help. But a lot of people that doesn't fight who doesn't try to force themselves eating has the same condition as me. So they don't really know what caused it. You know, one thing, though, for sure, is the, you know, the fact that I, that I'm doing a program now from another doctor, Dr. Jason Fong from Toronto, he gave me a program. He's a doctor that treat diabetes and people with cancer with these type of treatment. It's a fasting program. And he said to me that he had very good result with athletes, that people that are athletes

and do the same program. So I was curious, and I use it as an experimentation, and it does feel very good. all my inflammation are gone in my joint when I train, and it feels much better now. However, I'm not as heavy as I used to be. I used to be in between 190, 195. Now I'm in between 180, 185. When you were in the studio a couple of days after the fight,

after you on the belt, you're doing media, did you know already that you were going to vacate the title? Was it just a matter of time in your mind? Well, the thing is, I'm going to say it like it is, I could have kept the title for one year and walk around with it and, you know, take the sponsors and be on the spotlight and say I am the champion. And the truth is I don't know, like I knew I had a condition. I knew I would have probably to lose weight because I was forcing myself to eat. eat like crazy. This is not the way I eat naturally. And I felt like I was, I had a lot of water retention. I was like, I felt like I was a little bit in flame. I was not in my natural weight.

And it's not an healthy way of living, you know. So the reason why I vacate the title is I didn't want to put the division on old and I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to make people wait for me, you know. And even though I could have done it, I didn't want to, I didn't want to, I didn't wanted to be that guy. I always been very vocal about the fight, being for the fighters condition, you know, try to improve it and everything. And I didn't want to be the guy that stole the division. And because everybody tried to make money, tried to make out for a living, you know, and I didn't need to do that. You know, I don't, my life doesn't depend on fighting. I don't depend on fighting. I live very well. I have a few business on the side. And I didn't want to be

the guy that stole the division. That's why I vacate the title. That's exactly why. But as far as if I will defend it or not, is I don't know where my weight will be when I will get back. You know, I don't know, like, if I would be 185 or 170 or maybe 155, you know. So you say when I get back, does that mean do you plan on fighting again at some point? You just don't know when?

Is it accurate to say that you will fight again? I think so. I think I will fight again. just depend on my health condition and everything is too soon to say now. But I feel much better now. I feel much better now as we talk than I used to back in a day when after my fight. And I was very worried. You know, like I always said I would prioritize my health over my performance.

And I was worried about my health. I was like, man, it's something wrong with my body. I don't feel good. I don't feel right in my own skin, you know? Do you want to keep fighting? Would you be disappointed if that was your last fight back in November? No, I will not. I will not at all because I want to, if I fight this, like I said,

it's for something that excite me. It needs to be something that elevate me. Like I said, the fight with Michael Bisping was a big risk, but he had the potential to elevate me, Elevate me as a fighter, as my legacy. And that's why I took that fight. I think it was a great opportunity. It was a win-win opportunity.

I could have lost, and it could have been a disaster, of course. But I was confident that I would have put the work on, and it would have been a win-win. I had a lot to risk, but had a lot to win as well. If I come back, it needs to be a fight that I have a lot to win. Not only a fight that I have a lot to lose and not much to win. So as of right now, has the UFC even come to you or your management and said, okay, where are you at?

What are you thinking? What can we plan for you? You know, where's your heart? Have there been any discussions about your future at all? There were not discussion now, not that much very seriously, that I have to took seriously because I need to wait for my condition to see where my weight will be at, where my health will be at. I'm still on medication right now, so I can't fight right now.

as we talk, you know. Because I'm sure if I go back, even though I start feeling better, I go back fighting with the stress and everything, bang, I will probably go right back into it. So I need to wait a little bit, see how it feels to be stable for a longer period of time. It seems like every time Dana White has asked about you, there's some sort of, I don't know, tension or resentment where he says you just came back for the money, which seems to me like a strange thing to say about

a prize fighter, a person who literally fights for money, that's what you do, that's how you make a living. Do you see these comments? And if so, how do you feel about them? Well, it was for the money. The money was there. And also, it was, like I said, it was a win-win situation. It was a situation that I could have lost a lot. You know, I put my legacy on the line. It was very risky. It was an idea that started first with my car. coach John De Nauri. He said, you've been fighting at 1-70 all your life. One of your main criticizes was that you never went up a weight class. Why don't you try to take on the champion at 185? And I thought it was a great idea to shut down one of the criticisms and had

a lot of time to put on some weight. And that's what I did. And I changed my way of training. I try to make myself more excited as a fighter, more opportunistic, someone who can finish fight, you know, actually not winning a decision. That was my other criticizes. I wanted to win by finish. And I believe I answer both of these criticisms in the same time. That's why this fight, I'm very happy about the result of that fight because for me it was a win-win. situation. However, if I would have

lost, I would have lost big. It was a risk. I took the risk. And Dana maybe he's not happy about it because he doesn't control me. Maybe he's used to deal with people that he control, but he doesn't not control me. I don't

depend on fighting. I don't need the UFC to live my, to live. I have been there than that, but I don't depend on fighting. I have other stuff on the side that has nothing to with you see and I don't need to fight for the rest of my life that I don't want to.

George, what do you say to the critics who say that you never were planning on defending the title? Regardless of your illness, that was never something that you wanted to do. That's not true. I was supposed to fight with Robert with Ecker.

In a fight game, you never know what's going to happen. Even Robert with Eker, you saw that he had an injury. You know, like, you saw it some stuff, sometimes that happened that you don't control it. You know what I mean? You never know what's going to happen.

I don't know what's going to be with that problem with the ulcer colitis. Because for many months, my weight was up, and I felt good. You know, I was like I was walking around 195, almost 200. I was feeling good. But I believe it's the stress of the fight that made me feel bad. like all the train camp, the interview. Because when I'm in, when I got a fight coming up, I'm the type of person who get very emotionally involved.

And maybe that's what gets to me and it got me sick. Do you regret coming back, George, considering the aftermath, the sickness. Yes, you won. Yes, you made history. Yes, you made a lot of money. But considering your health, which you said is most important, do you regret doing this? No, I do not regret it.

Like I said, my health right now is, it's much better. My condition is much better. It's under control. And I do not. I think it was worth it. It was a win-win situation. If I would have lost the fight, I would have maybe regretted, but I won the fight and I'm very happy. I, even if I would have lost Ariel, you know, I had this idea behind my head that I wanted to go back.

I wanted to fight again. and, you know, at least if it would have been for only one more, or I wanted to do it again, you know, I felt great, and I felt like I had more to do, and I'm very happy. I know I did not regret it. I don't regret it. One thing that I really wanted to ask you when you were in studio, but unfortunately we ran out of time so I can ask you now,

after the fight was over, you were caught on camera just in the middle of the octagon, and you sort of stayed there a little longer. you looked around, it looked like you were taking it all in. Why did you do that and what were you thinking while you were doing that? Well, it was in New York. I had a lot of family and friends coming to see me. And a lot of them, they were like taking picture of me in the octagon. And also, a lot of them, I told them to come see me after the fight, to come close

because after we would get together to talk and to, you know, to get together. So a lot of them, what they did is they came down and I wanted to see where everybody was at and had a different group of people coming to see me. So that's why I spent a lot of time. And for me, it was very special moment. It was like four years. It was fighting for a new title. It was a very special moment for me.

And I was in New York for me. I always wanted to fight in New York. You know, it's like my second home because I trained there for like, like, I was in New York. like a big part of my life. So it was very special. That's why I took so long to leave the octagon. Considering all your great accomplishments in MMA, where does that one rank? Now that you've had some time to digest it, are you most proud of that accomplishment?

Is that number one for you? I think is my number one, yes, Ariel. Definitely because many, after four years, I shut down a lot of the critic. and I you know it was in New York and it was just like it was like a fair retail you know for me it was a great a great moment and and I had to go over many obstacles and during that training camp and it made me very proud. To me if you come back George there are three great options for you. Of course the champion at 170 Tyron Woodley there's always the Connor McGregor's super fight and I think a fight against Nate. Diaz would do incredible business because of your history with the Diaz brothers. Do any of those fights interests you? The fight with Nate Zias doesn't really interest me because I beat Nick Diaz. And logically, it's not a risk worth it to take for me because if I beat Nate Zias, it's like normal for me.

You know what I mean? It's like people expect me to win. But if I lose, I lose a big part of my legacy. I lose my name. I think it's not worth it for me. Logically, it's not worth it. What is the other one? Tyrone Woodley? Yes.

Tyrone Woodley, in the beginning, before I wanted to fight Tyrone Woodley, like a few months, a few years ago. I wanted to fight Tyrone Woodley. We even text each other. However, the idea of coming back at 185 was put in my head, and then I thought it made more sense. So that's why I chose to go at 185 because I fought at 170 all my life.

And if I put my legacy against someone, it need to be something great, something that, like the guy needs to be accomplished something special. goal. Like, if I put it, if I put my legacy, it's a risk, I want it to be worth it. You know, if I fight against a guy who's fight at 1-70 Tyrone, he's a great champion, but I feel like if he, if he fought the one the boy, he won the fight, but his last fight were not, we're not fight that made, that made history, you know, they were not, the fight, he won the fight, it was great, but it felt like it was not like a special,

like a special fight. You know what I mean? So for me, that's why I choose Bisping. I had a lot more to gain fighting Bisping than fighting Tyrone with Lee. That's why I choose that fight. And what was the third one? You said to me it was the third one.

I'm sorry. Yes. The third one was Connor McGregor. That's the one that continues to come up that people think would do the biggest business in the history of this sport. and I know I asked you about him in studio but here we are a few months later

be honest George is that on your mind do you think about fighting Connor would you like to fight Connor the thing is Connor money-wise I believe is the one that can put the more money on the table

however I think legacy wise I don't think is the guy that legacy wise I mean money wise for people who are not a huge fan of M.M.A. They know who's economic rigor. Who he is. He's the main guy.

He's the guy that he brought the sport to a different level. You know, like he's the most, I would say the most charismatic guy. He sells. The biggest seller in the sport. If you talk about legacy, if I

come back, for legacy, that's what interests me the most. More than the money, money. Yes, it's good. But if I would come back, it would be more for a legacy match. You know, let's say, I don't know, you talk about the Diaz brother.

I know Diaz's been offered to fight for the title. Let's say, Nick, come back, fight for the title, or let's say, Diaz, for me now it's not a good fight because it's not a risk to take. It's illogical, but let's say he come back and he win a title or he accomplish something great. Now his name is higher, his brand is higher. Now it may be more worth it.

You know what I mean? Sure. That's how I see things. So what do you think the chances are you fight in 2018? I don't know. A real, because it depends on my condition now that I have. I have to wait to see if it's stable, if it stay in good condition, and we'll see after that.

But it's fair to say that you are interested in fighting again. It depends on your health, but you haven't closed the door on your career. You haven't retired. Yeah, I haven't closed, I have not closed the door, and also it, I will have to think about what weight, you know, and like 185, 175, 170, 155, or what would be the weight. I've won the title at 170 many times. doesn't mean I cannot go back and try to go for the title, but for me, now as I'm at the end of my career,

if I do something, it needs to be something that excite me, something that is a win-win situation, that you know, that can elevate me. I've said it many times. I know I repeat myself, but it's the truth. Sure.

Is there anything right now that excites you right now as we speak? Well, right now, I can't fight right now. And things in the MMAs change very rapidly. Ariel, you know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know who, like, maybe in a few months, a guy will win a title and will, he's going to be the new big, the new pound-for-pound king. And maybe that will excite me.

You know what I mean? Who knows? The only thing I see sometimes, I see some guys that have opportunity to do great stuff and they don't, they don't take it. You know what I mean? Like, and then, and. What do you mean? Like who?

You tell us like who? Well, I, I've learned, I've seen through the internet, like there's a guy, like, I think Nick, Nick Diaz, they offer him a fight, I think, for the title. But Nick, Nick right now, I've been, they've never been talked to fight for me to fight against Nick. For me, fighting Nick now, it's not, I have nothing to gain, because I've beat him, he lost many of his last fight.

it's not worth it for me and he's a pain in the ass you fight a guy like this he's a very skilled fighter he's a big pain in the butt and it would be a risk not to take for me it would be stupid for me

to go fight him let's talk about this way in a smart way however on this from his side if he comes back and he achieves something great like I don't know a title

or whatever and now he make more sense you know what I mean it's a lot of the guy they want like a lot of guy they want to fight me or they want to fight Connor or they want to fight guys that brings them the money, but they have not accomplished anything special.

Like, I mean, they have done certain things, but they need to accomplish something that will excite us to go fight them. You know what I mean? I understand. I understand. Before I let you go... That would be worth the risk to put the legacy on the line. Right. I completely understand where you're coming from.

I would be remiss before I let you go. A lot of guys in this business are real, like, when we talk, they're like, oh, he's a coward, is this, he doesn't, like, man, if you, if you, if you, if you plan your career with that sort of mentality, you're going to finish broke and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, physically broken. Like, a career, it's not a straight line. It goes, sometimes you have to fight sort of. guy, then you go, then you come back, oh, you're fighting this guy. That's how it is. That's why having a good manager and a good manager, it's important. It's not a straight line. It's not about who got the biggest balls. It's not an ego sport. People think, oh, it's an ego sport. If you fight like this, sometimes, even if you're the best fighter, doesn't mean you're going to win every time. Sometimes you can fight, you can lose. even though you're better than that guy, but that particular night, he will beat you.

So that's why you need, especially when you got a lot to lose, you need to measure the prongs, the prone and cons. Is it worth to take the risk? It's calculated. That's how I took my career, and that's why I make a good living out of it. I never, I'm not a kind of guy who, oh, this guy said that about you. I can put him in the ring with me. I'm going to fight him right away. That's not how it is, you know.

A lot of the people think that way, but they're not going too far. The people that are behaving this way, of course, they will say it in front of the fan, oh, I'll fight anybody anytime, but it's not the right attitude to have. And I'm saying it from the younger fighter that are listening, this is not the right attitude to have. It's a sport that you, man, you need to calculate your stuff and make good living with it. Sort of on that note, George, before I let you go, I'm just wondering, and I know that you took a break and are taking a bit of a break,

but have you heard about this new group called Project Spearhead that are trying to get the fighters to maybe unionize led by Leslie Smith, Cajun Johnson, who trains at TriStar as well as a part of it? Have you heard anything about this group? Are you interested in what they're doing? I have not heard anything. I'm sorry. I've been busy doing a certain other stuff that has also, I've been training, but I've been also doing stuff that has nothing to do with fighting on the side to assure me of my future.

Sure. I've not, I've not, I've not, I've not hear about it. Okay. What are you doing, like, for the next few months, what are your, what's at the top of your list? What's most important for you to do right now? Well, my health, I'm in good, I keep, stay, I, keep myself in shape and my health, and I'm doing a bunch of stuff on the site. Like I said, like, for business stuff, like, real estate, other business, I'm, I'm, I'm

going to launch different stuff, companies. I'm involved with different projects that has nothing to do with fighting that are there for business on the side to assure me for a future. You know, and I think it's important. Every fighter should have something on the side, so they don't depend on fighting. You know, if they get hurt or anything happened, they have something they can rely to. And last thing, because he's calling me out right now on Twitter, he is saying that I

I am not doing my job if I don't ask you this question. Do you have anything to say to Ben Ascran, who has been very vocal about wanting to fight you? He continues to ask for this fight, even though he's not in the UFC. So please, he's going to come after me if I don't ask you about him. He's tweeting me right now saying to do my job and ask you about him. What do you have to say about Ben Ascran's challenge to you? I'm glad that you brought it up. And Ben Ascran, I don't understand why he's not in the UFC.

because he's one of the best Walter White in the world. And I think it has to do with maybe a problem that he has with Dana White, you know, but he's one of the best fighter in the world. And if there's a guy that in my career, I would have, you know, for my legacy, I would have been good to fight. It would have been Ben Asgram because he beat everybody. He beat all the guys at Bellator. He beat all the champion outside of the UFC.

but unfortunately, I think he has a fallout with Dana and he never had a chance to fight in the UFC. And therefore, his stock never went to the value that is supposed to be yet. You understand? He's a guy who's extremely, extremely talented, very dangerous guy, but nobody knows who he is because he never been exposed to the public. but he's very good. And in order to have a fight, to have a fight with me,

I would have, I would have liked him to be exposed to the public. So if that goes up, so if I fight him at least, it's a win-win situation. You know, otherwise you fight a guy who extremely dangerous who nobody care about,

who nobody knows who is itself, but that's the real way to look at it. And the reason I'm saying that in your interview now is because I want him, I want people be aware of who he is. I want him to have a chance to fight in UFC to go and fight against the big dogs, the big boys of the sport.

And I think he's in certainly in the top five, maybe the top three in the Waterway Division. So are you saying, George, if the UFC signs Ben Ascreen, this is a fight that interests you? Is that what you're saying here? It's not a fight that will interest me now because nobody knows who he is. Nobody knows who he is, but if they would have given that chance to fight,

to show his skill in the UFC, I'm sure he would have, maybe it's in an apathetical way, maybe he would have lose, but I believe he would have beat a lot of the good guy, and his name would be up there, yes. Wow. So maybe they sign him, he fights a couple times, and then he fights you, in Montreal Olympic Stadium. What a scene that would be?

A great scenario. But Ben Ascran is, it's unfortunate because he's a guy that he's extremely talented. I don't know what's going on with him and Dana White. I know they had a fall off, but he's very, very good. He's a guy that for sure, I'm sure he, and it's sad. I don't know what he did to Dana or what's going on, but maybe I think it's because he has a bad temper and he answers back. Sometimes you just have to learn how to let go, you know,

if Dana said something bad about you, you take it and you don't piss them off. You know, you have to roll with it a little bit. And I think he didn't do it. So that's why he's there. I'm not sure. A good lesson for all of us, George. We will leave it at that.

Thank you so much. Again, I can't say it enough. Such an honor to pick your brain, to have you on the program, George. Thank you so much. I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better. Hopefully, if you want, we'll see you back in there this year. the sport can use you around.

It's always a little more exciting when you're around. So get well soon. Enjoy your time off. And whenever you're ready to announce something, you always have a home here on the MMA hour. Hi, man. Stay tuned. Thank you.

Thank you so much, George. There he is. The former UFC Walterweight champion, the former UFC middleweight champion. In my opinion, the greatest of all time, George St. Pierre, stopping by dropping knowledge on a whole bunch of stuff. So great to catch up with him.

All right. Let's move along to our next guest. We've been keeping him waiting, and he waits for no one. He is the face. of Polo Ralph Lauren, for God's sakes. He is the face of Polo Ralph Lauren Cologne. We're talking about Luke Rockold. Look at that face. I mean, holy smokes, that is a face worth advertising. There he is. Luke Rockhold. How are you, Luke? I'm doing well. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting.

No problem. No problem. Some good stuff by George. Yes, he's all kinds of fired up. but let's talk about you. So, congratulations. You've been hinting at this. I noticed that UFC 221, you were wearing polo shirts. You looked very nice and clean, but now it's official.

So tell us, what is your relationship with Polo Ralph Lauren. It is what you've just said. I'm the new face of Polo Blue fragrance, amongst other things that I'm sure will be to surface soon. Oh, there's more.

Like George said, like George said, diversify yourself. I've got this sport. You can't rely on these people. And in this sport, it's not always there. So you work out, you know, you take what you can get.

So there's more to come. We haven't heard everything. Yeah, there's always more to come. This is a big deal. How difficult was it? How difficult was it to get this? This is a big deal. It's a big deal.

I mean, it shows how far our sports come. It breaks down that door. A lot of people have no understanding of our sport. And, you know, that was the big turnoff in the first place. You know, it wasn't that that led me into that, it was that which almost scared them away from me. So I went to, I had a lot of interviews and went back and forth between me and quite a few different actors and public figures.

And Ralph liked me. You know, I had the meeting with Ralph and, and I got the green light. You met with Ralph himself, the Ralph Lauren? Ralph himself flew me out. and flew me out first class accommodations everything and uh you know they prepped me for a meeting with ralph and uh it was pretty pretty legendary meeting me in the old life myself were you nervous super super nice quiet you know i'm i fight on the biggest stage in the world so i'm prepared for many different meetings and by the way what about that commercial you're with the girl

you're on the balcony what was it like to shoot that did you like it uh it's not a bad thing to do. Hold on one second, sir. P.I. Okay. We're pulling up to the P.I. Institute. We're a little late on the travel with you. I'm sorry. Doing some recovery workout here while my last couple days in Vegas. Okay. So are, are you going there for the first time? This was my first week here. So I'm working with Heather. I'm doing a lot of some rehab on my legs, which are pretty, pretty messed up from the fight. So it's doing what I have to do. So let me ask you about the fight. have you watched it since it went down a couple weeks back? I have.

I caught it, yes, a couple times. What went wrong, in your opinion? There's a lot of things. I'd say I could see where he was coming from. And then I just got tired of getting pushed back, and I decided to plant myself and try to you know catch him in the moment and and i got caught i got caught by big shot he was he was coming hard no this is it sir they've they blocked us off here at the p i don't know what's

going on here because maybe because you're talking to me i don't know yeah it's probably you no no they've uh they've conned off the the entrance somehow some way um but um no i just i got caught man i thank you sir Let me get going here one second. Okay. Go ahead. Frozen there. Hold tight, area.

Hold tight. Okay, I'm holding. I'm holding. We're talking to Luke Rockhold as he enters the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. They better open that door up really fast. This is the face of Polaroff Lauren after all. There he is. Walking in as we speak.

Do you want me to ask you questions or should I wait? Ready to go when you are. Okay. Do you feel like him missing weight played to his advantage? Do you regret taking the fight under those circumstances? It is what it is at this point. I don't know what his process was, but I don't know how hard he really tried and pushed,

but I put myself through it. It always plays a factor. The whole weight cutting process in Perth was pretty annoying. They haven't conformed to the new rules. it's a new commission they don't understand the sport yet they they they don't conform to the people that have been doing it for fucking decades so for the better health and performance of the fighters and so you know we had to make weight and stress out through the staging process like the old days and definitely it's not it's not the best situation we stayed depleted for a number of hours

through medical checks and staging. The weigh-ins are part of the hype. It's part of the interest. You want to get the people excited and to see us on stage depleted. It's never a good look. It was pretty upset on that whole process. But who knows?

He felt strong. He felt big and I didn't feel my best. One last thing. Like I said before, the weight cuts are... Go ahead. The weight cuts are getting. to me these days. Yeah. Okay. So let me ask you about that. You talked about 205. Alexander Gustafson called you out afterwards. Will your next fight be a 205? Looks like it.

Looks like it. Do you have a fight? It looks like it. Then we also had Mr. Michael Bisbing opened his mouth and say that he was willing to fight me at 205, 85 or anywhere. And you know that's a fight that if it's on the table, I'm going to have to have to fight. to jump that to the front of the line before I do anything else. So if he can back up what he just has said, I'll be very willing to take that fight anywhere, anytime that's obviously where I'm permitted to fight. But I have a little time, a little break I need to take about, but they say I should be cleared by, I'd say, international fight week, early summer.

Okay. Something like that sounds about right. It's a good retirement stage for BISBing, and it's a good return for me. So why don't we do this thing in style? Let's sign on the dotted line. Wait a second. Has this been brought your attention? Have you been offered this fight?

I know this is a fight that the U.S.C. is pursuing. Oh. So we'll see if BISBIN can back up his mouth once again. So you're saying the dream scenario for your return fight is International Fight Week. Same card as your friend Daniel Cormi against Steepam-Yochich, July 7th. Las Vegas, you versus Michael Bisping 3, the retirement fight going down, that's what you want. That's what you're asking for. Let's make it a little more intriguing.

Oh. Let's bring it to 205. Oh, another layer to the rivalry. The third fight at 205. No cutting weight. I like it. You like it? I love it.

Has that been brought to your attention? Has that been offered to you? This is in discussion. Wow. Do you think he's going to accept? If I heard correct. correctly. Oh.

He better back it up. Wow. This is something. Okay. This excites you. It excites me very much. Okay. And any health concerns after the knockout?

Do you feel okay overall? I felt okay. Yeah. Just obviously I'm bummed out and took some time to decompress. And my legs pretty jacked up, you know. Man, man felt like cement. I thought I could really take his movement and I'd force him to wrestle more

and it wasn't the case he caught me on the first check but then I kept kicking and I don't know the man the man felt like cement that's all I got to say okay what do you try what do you apply legs and I had to

I had to work around my kicks and I just didn't put it together like I should have and could I ask you just what did you think about afterwards the kiss and I don't know if you heard what he said about you afterwards, about why he kissed you that you were on his hit list.

How did you feel about that afterwards? And that's a state of mind. You're not really, you're trying to gather the information. And for him to come across the cage like that, it's just, it's ridiculous. And for them to let him come do that, you know, I'm not a big fan of how he carries himself. He's a bit fake. He's not really saying how he feels. I am who I am.

and like it or hate it but it is what it is for him i mean i heard what he said and hawaii's coming after me and i opened my mouth i said something but guess what you know he's the man who opened his mouth and was talking shit when i had the title and then he went and get the pop for uh steroids so yeah he got he got by that somehow but fuck off you know you know what you're putting in your body don't you know, I'm tired of people like this just trying to find loopholes and ways around these things and all these guys. Anderson Silva, Roe Romero, John Jones, these guys know what they're putting in their body. You know, I'm sick of them. There's so many loopholes in the sport.

You know, if you win, you can always find a way around it, it seemingly. I don't know why you get a pass in this sport. A lot of guys are getting these passes in it, which I'm not a fan. I've always fought clean. I've never cheated my way through the sport. I've done everything the right way. And unfortunately, not everybody follows that path. Very last thing for you, Luke, and I appreciate it.

Sorry for going a little over. Do you have any message for Alexander Gustafson, who called you out after the knockout, said he'd like to fight you, introduce you to 205? I know it seems like Bisping is what's on your mind and what's being talked about, but anything you want to say about the Gustafsson callout? Hey, I like it.

I like it. I think it was pretty petty coming after me so early. I don't know if he's trying to get under D.C. skin, but I'll be coming. I'll be coming to 205. I'm going to handle my business with Bisbing, and then better to be damn sure I'm coming for that ass, too. Okay, so are you done at 185? Have you fought your last fight at 185? I don't see it coming back, man. The weight cuts too much on me. Wow. As you get older, your bones get bigger. It's just, it's not.

The last couple of cuts have been pretty brutal on me. So I couldn't, I had trouble regulating my body temperature and all this shit. It's just, it's not fun. It's not a fun cut anymore. I like to, I like to be faster, stronger. I'm a different fighter at 205. That way cut is, it's taken a lot out of me. Wow.

Okay. Well, some big news there. Also big news about your Polaroff-Lornd deal. Congratulations on that, Luke. Very happy for you. Enjoy the riches and spoils that come with being an international superstar model. we're seeing the picture once again. I mean, look at that punum.

It's something else. Good luck over there at the P.I. And thanks for doing this. I appreciate it very much. And good luck getting that. This is great. Please tell us. Please keep us posted on that.

That's pretty big news. Let's do it. It'll be coming soon. You can back it up. Let's go. All right. Thank you, Luke. All the best.

There he is. Luke Rockold. How about that? Nuggets galore in that one. Last fight at 185 was the last one. seems like he's moving up to 205, says that a fight against Michael Bispeng has been discussed, is on the table for July 7th,

international fight week, bring it Alexander Gustafson. And I know what everyone's thinking right off the bat. Well, what about your friend Daniel Cormier, who's the champion right now at 205, but less we forget, Daniel Cormier said, on this program, not that long ago,

that he'll be done come next March. That's at least his plan. So let's be honest. Cormier's fighting heavyweight come July 7th. Let's say he wins that fight. Well, maybe he defends the heavyweight title. Maybe he doesn't. But if Rockhold fights, you know, July 7th,

basically the point is, by the time Rockhold is a contender, he'll have to probably fight at least twice, at least at 205. Cormier, if he stays true to his retirement talk, and we all know how, you know, retirement in fighting go, will probably be gone.

So I don't foresee that being an issue as much of an issue as Cormeier fighting at heavyweight with his friend, you know, Kane Velasquez, still a player despite not fighting since UFC 200. So that is very interesting. Do you want to see Michael Bisping versus Luke Rockhold July 7th?

Is that a fight that you like for Michael Bisping in what would be probably his retirement fight? Interesting. All right. Good stuff there. From Luke Rockhold. Plenty more show to go, my friends. Plenty more show to go. Still to come on the program.

In around an hour and change, we're going to be joined by Mike Goldberg, the voice of Beltor. Talk about the passing of Bruce Connell, the longtime UFC producer. I think it's very important to honor him and to talk about him and for people to understand

just how important he was to the UFC broadcast that we watch almost every single week now. At 450, Chris Cyborg. Talk about her big win. At 4.30, McKenzie Dern. we'll stop by, talk about her UFC debut 410, we're going to talk to Nick Newell, but now

let us go back to the Skype machine and say hello to the reigning, defending Bellator Bantamweight champion, the man who is victorious on Friday, the one and only Darion Caldwell stopping by. How are you, sir? What's up, Ariel? How you doing, bud? I'm doing

great. Thank you for coming on. Congratulations on the performance. I know you were very confident going into that fight, but be honest now. Did you think you'd finish him that quickly and that way via guillotine? I mean, that was a one-sided dominant performance. Were you expecting that? Actually, no, I wasn't expecting that, you know.

I thought he'd be a little bit more of a challenge, but you can't really gauge when, you know, you just watch someone's film, you know? It's hard to gauge. Once you get your hands on them or watch you out there, you start flowing. You just, something just, it's a little different from that and watching a guy fight, you know, so.

So are you almost disappointed? Are you almost disappointed that he wasn't as great of a challenge as you expected? Absolutely, you know. Especially after that first fight, you know, when I won the belt, you know, I went from a five-round dog fight, you know, what Don says to, you know, pretty much just dismantling this guy. But that goes to show styles make matchups, you know. you know

that kid still got a lot of juice in his tank you know so big ups to him for coming out there and you know trying to fight but you know these 35 pounds aren't just aren't big enough you know he's just not ready

is this also maybe a product of you just getting more comfortable as champion in Belator and now we're we're really starting to see how good you can be does that come into play at all you know definitely that K's savage

this, you know, being in there, you know, multiple times a year, you know, having just done four, five months ago now I'm back out there, so I just felt, felt at home, you know, being in that cage. As you mentioned, you are a big, uh, bantam weight. How much weight do you have to cut typically? Like, how bad are those cuts? Honestly, the cuts aren't bad, you know? Okay.

But I do cut a lot of, you know? Um, I mean, in college, I'll wrestle at 149, you know, so, um, I'm, um, I'm, um, you know, You know, obviously when you're wrestling and cutting wait for a fight, they're completely different where you're only getting that hour to replenish and rehydrate, you know, before you got to wrestle. You know, that 24 hours, you know, is just a lot more things you can do with that 23 hours, you know. But, yeah, I'm obviously, I'm a big 35, you know, I can get anywhere up to 175, 180, you know. so, but, you know, the only thing is just trying to stick around as close to the 60s as possible, you know, so the cut isn't as bad, you know.

You don't have to go through a weight cut before a way cut, you know, where you're trying to get yourself down from 175 to, you know, fight can't wait, which is about 55, 60, you know, and then having to get down, you know, that last week sort of cut, you know. So it just makes everything easier the lower you are, but, you know, it's doable, you know, at 24 hours give it easy time. But I'd like to go, you know, eventually go test myself, obviously, at 45, you know, once we finish, you know, with the rest of these guys. But, you know, if whatever's clever, man, I'm ready to scrap, you know, I don't got no margues and no bruises.

You know, it was a pretty easy fight, so, you know, ready to get back after it, whenever. So let me ask you about that because during the post-fight interview, it was very interesting to watch, because in the middle, you're talking about what's next, Chales asking what's next, and then all of a sudden you're flipping the burden, and it seems like you're talking to Patricia Pitbull. What was going on there? What was he saying to you that led you to react that way? Yeah, man, he was just mad, you know?

Obviously, his fighter just got dugged out, you know? And then, you know, obviously there's been some shit talking over, you know, back and forth from here his camp in mind. So, I mean, it just seemed like for him to, you know, even say anything while I'm interviewing is disrespectful. You know, if you want problems, you know, let's negotiate that. Let's get our management and Velator involved and let's make it happen. You know, I'm all four fighting this guy.

You know, obviously I'm a huge 35 or, you know, I fought five times at 45. I rested at 149 in college, you know. So going up to 45s for me, it wouldn't be a big deal to go ahead and take this guy out. Is that what you want next? If negotiations, you know, get, you know, gets, you know, taking care of, then why not? I'm all for that fight. Are you interested in staying at 135, or do you feel like there are greater challenges for you at 145-155? Well, I just want to fight everybody, you know?

I don't want to keep fighting the same guys at all right. So, you know, but be honest, that whole patricki people, there's nothing. really on my side against the Patricio brothers or whatever they, the pit bull brothers, whatever they call it. I just want the belt at 145. So if he ain't got the belt at 145, he can keep it pushing. Like, you know, it's

no fight for me. Like, I just, like, it's really, like, he's standing in a way of me and my goals, and my goal is to be a two-division champ, you know? So let's make it happen, bro. I'm down for that. Like, you know, again, I already said I'm down for it. You know,

it's nothing really against him. but he's in the way of my goal. So if he's still there when it's time, let's make it happen. It's not going to go out of my way to fight him. When that's not really the goal, it's the fight of Patricio. Like, you feel me?

I can care less about him. Like, you know, he's just in my way. And by the way, Darren, if you don't mind, can you just sit back a little bit because you went forward and now we only see your mouth? There we go. That's perfect. So you don't, so you're saying you don't want to fight because wouldn't fighting him be for the belt?

Absolutely. Well, it just depends. Like, you know, let's say, I thought he had a fight. Apparently, he doesn't have a fight lined up. Oh. I thought, you know, I don't know. I thought he had a fight against the guy who had him against the ropes and he wound up, you know, sleeping him or whatever, you know. Whatever.

I forgot that guy's name, you know, maybe more white or something like that, right? But I thought he had, I don't know. I thought he had a fight lined up. So if you don't got a fight lined up, let's make it happen. All right, champion versus champ. What I'm saying is, like, you know, if he's not the champion when it comes time, if he loses, like, somebody, like, I don't care to fight him. Like, he's not in the way at that time.

But he's in the way right now. So that's what I see. I stand in front of me with that 45-pound belt, you know, and I need that. I see him tweeting about you. Do you see him tweeting about you? Yeah, man. I just feel like I can make myself clear, you know, saying what I got to say. Sure, sure.

You have problems we can make it happen. Like, you know, it's not that big of a deal. Like, you know, it's just another body to the closet. He said, it's funny how these guys talk shit, and once there's a real possibility to fight me, they become cowards in front of the cameras and try to make people believe I'm after them. Caldwell, Chandler, the list goes on.

Look, man, we're in a fight game, man. If his words got to be said for shit to happen, then that's so big. but look, I'm ready to fight whoever, you know, if it's the right thing for me and my camp, like, if it's not the right thing, you know, I'll stay at 35 and continue to beat these guys up. But again, I'd rather fight as many people as possible, rather than go back and beat Baby Joe up for a third time. Sure. Baby Joe Tamunglo, who also fought on Friday and was victorious.

Let me ask you, there was a fighter on Saturday in the UFC named John Dodson, who's a contender at 135 who fought the last fight on his current UFC deal. I know you were busy this weekend, but I do understand there's some interest there. Is that a fight that you would love to have? Would you like to see Belator sign John Dodson so you can fight him? I think that would be an awesome fight, honestly. Obviously, I watched John Dodson growing up, you know, and coming up in a sport, you know. So for him to be a softball as athletic as he is, as fast as he is, you know, I've kind of, you know, obviously try to learn his game early on, you know? So a fight against John

Dodson, that'd be cool with me. Belator, bring him in, let's make it happen. You know, I'm down to beat all these guys, you know. If he's on a list, we'll bring him over, let's make it happen. And they should get an immediate media shot, if anything. I agree with that, wholeheartedly.

Have they said anything to you about Michael McDonald? I know he broke his hand, but is that someone that they're targeting if he can get back in relative short order? Have they said anything about him? Uh, Michael McDonald, after his last performance, I don't think he really proved himself that he can beat these top, top guys in Bellator. Joe, he's going to have to fight a Joe Warren. Like, I don't think he could beat Joe, you know.

I don't think, and that's my opinion, you know. Yeah, I don't think, obviously, I don't think he could beat the ego, you know. That's just my opinion. But, you know, he's got, if they want to give him the fight, let's make it happen. Okay. I'm down to fight. whoever else, you know, I'm just... So you, but you weren't all that impressed with his debut in December?

Not so much, you know? Okay. I just feel like you've got to do it a little. Fair enough. When do you want to return? How soon? As soon as possible, you know, this summer. June, July, August, anywhere after that, you know, that's pushing it. I want to be active, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's amazing to watch your evolution, your maturation. Dominic Cruz in your corner. They're really getting behind you over there at Alliance. And it seems like Bellator is really getting behind you. Are you feeling the love? Yeah, I'm feeling in love, man. You know, the hard work is paying off, you know. Yeah, it's amazing. By the way, what's... I'm grateful for that. What's going on with that? The one thing that always comes up when, you know, people talk about you is the backflip and the camera woman and all that. What's going on with that?

Yeah, that's, you know, that's something I'm letting my management. work with and deal with, you know. We're just going to take that day by day, you know. Okay. Is she suing you? Yeah, she wants to sue me, you know? Okay. For, you know, not doing her job correctly, I guess, but, you know.

All right, for not doing her job correctly. I don't, I mean, I don't think you should ever be in the vicinity of the fighter when, you know, there's so much emotion around, you know. Right. Most cameramen, camera ladies, you know, they give a little bit more space. You know, I don't know why she felt the need to come under me while I was, you know, getting on the cage, you know, on my back facing, facing her. But, you know, that's for, you know, that's for another, that's for another story, you know. Okay. Are you hoping to put that behind you soon?

Yeah, absolutely. All right. What's that? Yeah, let's put that. behind us, you know, and move forward, you know? It would be nice if Beltaur put you on one of those big tent pole shows, right? They really give you the rub, like one of those big ones on the Saturday that they do with the big dogs. Is that what you'd like?

I think I'm due for that, you know? Yeah. I think, you know, with a title defense, you know, people want to see me fight, you know. And fans want to come out and enjoy it, you know, themselves, you know? So, let's get out of Oklahoma, man. What are you saying about the good people of Thackerville, Oklahoma? You're not a big fan of them? I love my, I love my Thackerville, Oklahoma fans.

You know that, like, they can hold me down, what, five fights in a row, they held me down, you know? Damn, five fights there? I didn't realize it was that many. Sheesh. You know, them back to the back, maybe Joe fights, you know. Damn. It's all good, though. I love Oklahoma.

you know, but I definitely want to start venturing out into the other states in the M.A. world. Yeah, I'm looking at your list of names here where you fought. Mulvane, Kansas, Temecula, Hidalgo, Thackerville, Mulvane, again, Thackerville, Thackerville. You're due for like in L.A., a Chicago, a New York. You're due for one of the big markets, I think. I think you've earned that.

And that's what's up. Yeah, me too, man. It's going to happen. All right. Well, congratulations on the win, Darren. It's another impressive one. I would argue maybe you're most impressive, considering who the opponent was. And, you know, the idea of you going up to 145 is super interesting as well. So good luck with everything from here on out. And again, congrats on the win, enjoy it. Thank, Ariel. We appreciate you for having me on, man. As always, for sure. There he is. The reigning, defending, Bellator, Bantamweight champion. His name is Darren Caldwell. He's one of the very best at 135 pounds. just 30 years young, and he's coming off. You know, Leandro Ego may not be the biggest name in the world, but man, he is a tough son of a gun,

and he, I mean, two minutes and 36 seconds, submitting him in the first round via guillotine. That is something to be proud of. So we'll see what happens next. They are gathering some names at 135. They recently signed Michael McDonald, as I said. Didn't seem all that interested, but I'm very curious to see.

There's not a lot of big names that hit the quote-unquote free agent marker, at least fight out their contract. And John Dotson is one of those names. He said on Saturday that he's kind of set on staying in the UFC. He wants to stay in the UFC, but you never know how these things go. And so we'll see. John Dotson versus

Darryon Caldwell fight would be very interesting. And by the way, Cubs Swanson, who was seen at the broadcast, on the broadcast, I should say, seen at the event, still hasn't signed yet, but there is interest there as well. Will he head over to Bellator? So once again, an interesting time. Don't tell John Fitch, though. Don't tell John Fitch.

Okay, let us move along now and say hello to our next guest. And it has been a while since we have talked to our next guest. It has been, I think it's been like two and a half, three years since he's been on the program. And there's good reason for that. Not because we were shunning him. It's because he walked away from M. You'll recall that back in 2015, Nick Newell announced that he was walking away from the sport for various reasons, injuries being one of them.

He was a mainstay on the WSOF scene. He fought for the belt back at WSOF 11 in 2014. He fought on NBC till this day. That's his only loss. 13 and 1, he followed that up with two victories. And he announced recently that he was coming back and not only is he coming back. He's coming back on Friday.

He's coming back at LFA 35. It's great to have notorious Nick Newell back on the scene. And there he is. Via the magic of Skype, the one and only Nick How are you, Nick? How's it going, Ariel? Long time, no speak. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's great to be back on the show. It's great to be fighting, man. I feel phenomenal. You know, I'm really happy to have this opportunity and to, you know, have people interested in me again now that I'm returning back to mixed martial arts. I remember we spoke to you now to your retirement, and it seemed,

I don't know. And correct me if I'm reading this incorrectly, there was a little bit of sadness to the interview because it felt like here's this young guy who still has a lot to accomplish, who didn't make it to the UFC, who was good enough to be in the UFC, and the injuries caught up to you. And I don't know, it felt like there was like this cloud hanging over it all. And now to see you coming back is a great thing. Why did you decide to come back, though, considering all the things that you said when you were walking away two and a half years ago?

Yeah, I mean, I honestly, I really, really meant the things that I said. And I felt like my last four camps in a row, my body was just shutting down and I wasn't able to train the way that I wanted to train. And now, while no fighters come into a fight 100%, you know, I was at a very low percent. I was feeling really bad going in these fights. And honestly, it was hard for me to train for them because my back, my neck, my knees, everything. So what I needed was I needed some time off, you know, and the thing that sucks is if you're a fighter and you need some time off, then you take time off, but you don't get paid, you know, and you can't really make a living. So I wanted to focus on something that I can make a living off of. So I opened up my own gym, Fighting Arts Academy, CT, in West Haven, Connecticut. And once that got established, I started getting some, some good training partners and people to go with. I decided that it was good to come back,

and I'm still working with my same team that I worked with before. I'm just a little bit busier, you know, owning my own gym too. So at what point, how long ago did you start to get that itch again and start to think, you know what, I can actually do this. Everything's good in my life, the stars are aligning. When did you start to have those thoughts? probably honestly like a year ago oh wow i was i've just been i've been training and i've been training since the last time i fought i just had to kind of figure out my body and figure out ways to do it

smarter and what i can handle and and i just really needed that time off and and it was a good thing because i i feel great now and i'm actually better than i've ever been you know uh teaching I've kind of put an emphasis on my technique. It has gotten a lot better. And the only reason why I haven't fought earlier than I have now is because I got married. So I didn't want to do that to my wife. You know, she lets me do whatever I want pretty much.

So I kind of thought it would be kind of rude to take anything away from getting. So once that was over, I decided that it was a good time to, get back out there. Congratulations on getting married. How is married life? Are you enjoying it? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's awesome. We live together for a number of years before we got married, so not much has changed. I'm on her insurance.

You know, other than that, you know, things are the same. I like it. I like it a lot. You still have your cats? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. you know they're getting old they just uh they just turned three and then i still have my cat uh that i had growing up but she is at my mom's house she's 20 years old um so i'll always be a cat guy i got my little three-year-olds cats and and now i'm i'm killing it you know i love those things so you can make fun of me all you want for it but those are my uh those are my babies now you know

and how did you end up with lFA because uh i'm assuming you weren't taught to anyone, given the fact that you were retired, how did you, or why did you end up with them? There's a few reasons, you know. One is the opportunities they give me and the freedom and everything that they provided and how they build fighters. I really like that, you know, they offered me a good contract, a good fair contract, and, you know, I talked to my team and we decided that that was the best move. Did you even reach out to the UFC?

Did you try to go that route? Obviously, I'd like to fight a UFC. I feel like I've earned it, you know, but life's not fair sometimes. And, you know, I think maybe after this one, I don't know. But who knows? So that's still a goal of yours. That's still something you want to accomplish? Well, when you're good enough and you know it,

and you know you could beat these guys out there that are fighting. It's kind of difficult to just kind of sit back and watch, you know, when you want to be the guy out there. So at the end of the day, yeah, that's always the goal and that's always been the goal. And I feel like now more than ever, I'm ready. I'm ready to go out and make a name for myself, even more so than I already have. So did you or your management talk to anyone at the UFC when you were planning on coming back

and is there a reason why you didn't sign with them? Um, they didn't give me an offer. Um, you know, that's, that's it. They didn't give me an offer. So that's the reason why. And it's fine. I'm, I'm happy with LFA right now. And I'm just ready to go out and make a statement and kind of do my thing and take it from there. Have you been watching a lot of MMA in your time off? And when you watch the top dogs at 155, are you saying, like, I, I can hang with these guys. Like, you, you think like that as you watch it? No, I absolutely know that I'm world class. I know that I belong and I know that I, um, that I could do well even in the UFC, you know, uh, I'm a black belt in jihitsu and I'm a college wrestler and my, with my striking, my, my footwork, I'm always in the right spot. Maybe I don't have the multi-punch attacks that everyone has, but I, I'm, have very good range. And, and now that my body is working as well as it is. I really feel like I could take a fight with anyone and be fine.

Not only hold my own, but win. Do you find yourself keeping tabs and maybe even rooting for Justin Gachey, considering what he's doing in the UFC because you shared that time in the cage together? Yeah, I mean, I always like Justin, and we always had a good relationship. We're always friendly with each other. I mean, at the end of the day, it's just business. It's just a fight. and obviously he beat me

so the more he wins the better it makes me look but aside from that he's a good dude so I always root for him you know he's he's you know I'm just a fan of his so

now he's fighting I mean I don't want to get on that but he's fighting who I also know and like a lot so it's it's good I'm just a fan of the sport you know um so I I have not stopped watching MMA.

No, that's not a question. I am obsessed with it. People ask me my hobby. I tell them this is my hobby. Yeah. I do it every day. Did you consider entering the PFL tournament? You know, my manager really handled all that.

And it just didn't come up. I don't know what they said when they reached out to them. But LFA was the best offer we got, and that's what we went with. You know, it's so interesting that we're talking on this Monday of all Mondays. I don't know how much you pay attention to other sports. And I'm sure you're very focused on your task on Friday. However, there's a football player, a college football player who's making a lot of noise and a ton of news over the weekend who obviously reminds me a lot of yourself. Are you familiar with, and I may be but quixing his name, but Shaquem Griffin, have you seen what he's doing in Indianapolis? Yeah, I'm going to be 100% honest with you. I didn't know who he was until this week. I don't really watch any other sports besides MMA. Yeah.

But I train with a lot of football players. I train with a lot of guys in the arena football league for strength and conditioning. And I'm impressed with how athletic these guys are. And they're not in the NFL yet. I mean, I've been hearing this guy's going to get signed maybe first round. You know, I could be wrong. That's just something I heard. You know, but all the power to.

him, you know, I just like to see people be successful. And he kind of went through a lot of the same things that I went through. And it's good to see someone making a name for himself. And aside whether how many hands he has, man, that guy is fast. You know, he's impressive. He's a specimen of an athlete. And I'm sure he busted his ass to get to where he is. So obviously I'm a fan of his.

I liked his Facebook page. I started following him on, on Instagram and Twitter. So, you know, I wish them all the best. It's really cool to see. Oh, it's unbelievable. And not only is he killing it in the 40-yard dash, but bench pressing.

What he did? Did you see that clip of him bench-pressing? I think he hit 20 in a row. Did you see that? No, you ought to send that to me. Oh, my God. You have to send that to me. Yeah.

It happened over the weekend, and I've just been so insane, but I definitely saw him running. I'm sorry, I cut you off. No, no, no, no, it's okay. It's just, it's amazing, you know, now that we're talking, he's been all over the news this past weekend. So, you know, reminded me of what you've overcome and how you are able to defy the odds, given what you are born with. And I think it's just such a great thing to have you back. You're an inspiration. And, and I wonder if that

continues to be part of your motivation to show to other people that they don't have to let this, you know, stop that you could do anything that you want? You can be like everyone. Do you still think like that or do you feel like you're past that at this point in your career? No, I've always felt that the power of the mind is a very powerful thing. And your work ethic is not, your work ethic will allow you to achieve things that other people could never imagine you could achieve because they don't have the same hustle. They don't have the same work ethic you have. So for me, I've always busted my ass at everything I do.

You know, I started off not good as a wrestler. and I worked all year while everyone was out partying doing what, doing God knows what. I was in the gym, training, training, training, and I got good that way. So I appreciate the value of hard work. And I really believe that anything that you want, you'll never know how good you can be unless you try.

You know, so I started this M.A thing kind of as a hobby and it took off. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I only have one hand. It has everything to do with the fact of, how hard I work and how determined I am. You know, I'm, I look at myself and I think of myself is like the most badass dude that there is. And it doesn't have anything to do with me having one hand. It's not because I have one hand.

It's my attitude. So the thing that makes me different isn't that I'm this one-handed guy out there fighting. The thing that makes me different is, is mentally, I'm, I'm ready to do whatever it takes to win. I'm determined. You're never going to see me quit. You're never going to see, um, me give us. up. And obviously, like anyone, I have my moments where mentally I get broken down and I, I have my

high highs and my low lows, but I'm a determined guy. And I am where I am, not because I want to prove something to anyone, but myself. Last thing for you, Nick, and what a great answer. I appreciate that. I've never experienced this. I'm not a fighter, but I'm certain that there's a feeling that comes with Fight Week, right? It's different. You're about to go, you know, into battle in a cage, locked in a cage with another human being. Did you, and I'm sure there's nerves that come with it, even if you're the most confident fighter and some anxiety as well. Did you miss

this feeling on this Monday as you're probably about to head out soon? Did you miss the feelings that come with getting ready for the fight on fight week? I mean, making weight always sucks. So I don't ever miss that. This is fine. I always make it just fine. I'm a good size 55 pounder, and it's not a big deal. You know, this one's actually

had a catch weight, so it's easier. What's it at? 160? You know, the nerves, everything. 160, yeah. Okay, okay. I can make 155, no problem. It's just, I don't know, I just thought it was a good idea, maybe to just have a little more fun with the fight this time,

and my opponent agreed with it. So here we are. And, you know, I, of course, you get nervous when you fight. Of course, there's always that little bit of fear, but that motivates you, you know, that motivates me. me to fight, to challenge myself and to face that and to go out there and really show why I'm different, show why I'm special and show why I deserve to be the guy that people talk about. I deserve to be known as someone that's a skilled martial artist, a good fighter. I really believe that I am one of

the best in the world and I am incredible at what I do. But I'm also a very humble man. So I don't really like to talk about it that much. I like to just go out there and just kick people's asses and collect heads. Looking forward to it. It goes down this Friday at Arena Theater in Houston, Texas. It's LFA 35.

Co-main event is Nick Newell, returning to action at 160 pounds against Sunny Lucay. It airs... Main event. Main event, no. You're the main event? What happened? They moved me. I don't know. I don't know. These two girls are supposed to fight for the title. Yeah.

They moved it on the main event. Oh, all right. I'm upset about that because I kind of wanted to sit back and watch that fight. It's canceled? You know, I think so. I think they've been saying I'm the main event. And since I don't know, so I guess it's canceled. Maybe unless they moved it to the co-main, but I think it's canceled.

Yeah, I'm the main event. All right. Look at you. Breaking News on the show. Thank you for that, Nick. Appreciate it. Welcome back. It's good to have you back, Nick.

I wish you the best on Friday. Thanks for taking some time. And looking forward to checking it out this Friday on Access TV. Thanks. After I win this fight, I'm coming to New York. And you're going to have me in studio. Deal. It's not far.

Anytime. Anytime I got the seat for you right over there. You've got to check out our news. You've been to the old one, but it's time you check out the new one. So that is a deal, my friend. I'm coming. All right. Thank you, Nick.

All the best to you. Thank you. Yeah. So there you go. Notorious Nick Newell, he is back. First time fighting since October of 2015. And I was just going to say the main event is for the vacant women's flyway title, Sabina Mazo, who's a big-time prospect competing.

But apparently Nick just broke the news that that fight isn't happening. We'll check on that just to make sure that that is accurate. But that is big news, having him back in the swing of things. And it's clear that he still wants to fight in the UFC. And if you did not see the one-handed, the congenital ampute chakwerex, Quim Griffin. Wow, what a story that is coming out of the NFL combine in Indianapolis, 20 reps, bench pressing. It's just, it's a marvel to watch. You can find it anywhere online. The 40-yard dash, just incredible, an incredible athlete, as is Nick Newell. So it reminded me,

and it's kind of wild that we have him on the show, just coming off the weekend where Griffin did all of that. Okay, so that's this Friday. Let's go back to our discussion of UFC 222. One of the big stories, of course, over the past weekend in Las Vegas was the much anticipated, long-awaited debut of one McKenzie Dern, and she picks up the victory over Ashley Yoder, hard-fought victory. She had her moments,

almost had her submitted in the closing seconds, but in the end, most important, she improves to 6-0. She is still undefeated, and she's one of the bright young stars in the UFC.

We wanted to check in with her and see how it all went down. She is kind enough to be joining us via the magicist Skype. There she is. Mackenzie Dern. How are you? Hi, I'm good. How are you?

Thank you so much for the time. So I see you're a little beat up. Is this the most damage you've ever had on your face on the Monday after a fight? Yeah, for sure. I never like really had this much. So they didn't try to put makeup anything. You know, you guys saw my fight. So I think it's like good to see and then I tried my best.

Yeah, I think it's important to see. How do you feel about it? Like, do you feel comfortable with these? like the cut on the lip and the black eye? No, I want to put my glasses on, you know? But no, it's okay. And I know it's part of the game. Like I say, my goal is to try to go in there

with the less amount of damage as possible. But, man, I tried to be striking with her, so I knew that like I could get punched in the face, you know? So it's part of it. So on Thursday, when we spoke at the media day, I asked you about if you had any nerves, if you're the kind of person who gets nervous, you said that not really and quite frankly you said that you kind of rise to the occasion on the big stage

you prefer fighting on the big stage but now that it happened now that you're in the locker room team mobile arena Bruce buffer saying your name pay-per-view all that stuff there's a big crowd right you're the headliner for fs1 were you more nervous than usual how did you how did you feel in the closing seconds before the fight man I swear it felt so normal felt so relaxed felt just like I was ready to I didn't, like, hear the people, you know, like, I felt Bruce was talking with me, like, when he was saying my name, but I was just looking at Ashley, you know, like trying to focus on what I want to do. Like, I felt like I was meant to be there. I didn't feel any nervous at all, you know, so the whole, like, UFC, like jitters or the butterflies, you know, I didn't feel

anything. Wow. It felt great. It felt great to be there. Have you watched the fight yet? No, I haven't. Is that on purpose, or you just haven't had time? I just having a time, you know, just trying to, to spend time with my family, you know, like, my phone's just going off, you know, so I turn everything off, you know, trying to like take my mind. After I'll probably see, I'll go to watch, you know,

but I'm excited to see, like, just how it was to be fighting with Ashley, you know, because I felt like a little bit hard to get some distance sometimes, you know. So, like, I want to see, like, if I was moving my feet on the file, You know, like the little things from the pictures that I see, sometimes I see my head is down a little bit, you know, when I'm punching, you know, just kind of like go, you know. So I'm excited to go back and do the homework and see what I need to get better at. But right now I'm just, you know, having time taking my mind off the fight and spending time with my family. Based on what you remember, are you happy with your performance or do you feel like you could have done better? No, that's like a mix, you know, because I'm like very, I always say I don't feel like.

too much the pressure from other people, but I put a lot of pressure on myself, you know? So it's back and forth, like, I'm happy with my performance. I think it's always better for me to fight three rounds, go to three rounds now, than to have never been through three rounds and

go to the belt and, you know, I have to get pushed to five rounds and, oh, my gosh, this never happened before, you know? So I think the time in the ring, there's nothing better than experience like that. Of course, I wish I got the submission on the end, you know, like, tried to, but it didn't have enough time. So I feel really happy that I was able to do, like,

standing up and, like, practice my stand-up and do, like, take-downs and ground and cage work. Cage was something I really wanted to work on, you know, so I really tried to not be my back on the cage so much and be able to control the cage better. So there were so many things that I'm happy with my performance. But then at the same time, when I see, like, my black guy, I think, like, man, maybe if I would do the takedown and go to the back on the first round, maybe I would finish, you know, and be done, and maybe that would have been better, you know? But so it's like back and forth, you know, like, okay,

if I would have really tried to take down on the first round and maybe got the choke in the beginning, maybe that would have been better than to stay and try to stay standing up. But I think it was good too at the same time. So I don't know. It's like both. I think it was a great first fight, you know, I'm happy with the performance. You know, so I can go either way.

I'm not too like, oh, I wish I got the submission in the first. run. I think also too I had like not a struggle on the weight cut, you know, but a lot of people were like nervous about my weight cut and thinking that, oh, you know, like she's not going to recover good, you know. So I think the fact that if I would have submitted fast, they say, oh, like, she's lucky that she's so many fast because otherwise she wouldn't have handled the whole. Like I had the weight cut and I still went the three rounds and like, of course I had some knees to the stomach, so I got a lot tired, but I was okay with my cardio, you know, I felt good, you know, on each round. I felt okay, you know, so I think it was.

good to show like, man, okay, I had a weight cut. You know, my weight cut for 115 is always hard. I had, like, I felt good during the three rounds, you know, so I think it's good for people to believe a little bit more in me. Well, since you bring it up, I have to ask, you were the last one to weigh in and we waited for you for a few minutes. And it made for great drama. Everyone was wondering, you know, if you were going to show up. So I appreciate the theater. But how difficult was the cut? Were you nervous at all that you may not make 115 or 116, actually? You had the one You had the one pound allowance. No, I wasn't nervous.

You know, I was nervous. Like, I think you get to a point where, you know, in your mind, you don't really, like, understand how bad you are or how good you are, you know? So, I had, like, three pounds left one day before. I think around like 9 p.m. You know, so in my mind, I was like, okay, no. Oh, no, I'm sorry, two pounds. I had two pounds left the night before. So in my mind, I was like, no, I'm going to make.

1-16, my manager called me, you know, like, was, like, stuff was happening. I didn't even know what's happening, you know, I saw like, man, no, I'm just going to go back to the sauna and lose my weight and then the morning, you know, they did that little sauna, little room sauna thing, you know, like a new thing. They'd touch the room and they did that. So the whole time, I don't know, maybe because I was so, like, just, I want to get this over with. Maybe I didn't realize really how close I was, you know, but I went there and like I really, I waited on the check one with, with no clothes. And then they, and I was 116. And then they put on the little like bikini, the top and the panties. And then they went in, they said, okay, you can go with the outfit, you know?

So I said, okay, like it's better than you have to do the thing, you know? So yeah, the hoop shame. Okay, so that's what I like to call it. And I think they should use it for the men, by the way. I don't know why they just use it for the women, but that's neither here nor there. That's not your problem. It was amazing to watch the closing seconds because we know how good you are on the ground and it looked like you didn't have your arm under her chin, but still we've seen some people tap to that just given the pressure on the chin and the neck. Did you think that you had it close? Yeah, you know, like a lot of people tell me about that like, oh, it's on the chin. Man, like, I know from all the chokes I do like, man, we have the air choke and then we have

like the blood choke, you know, and the air choke is usually what they're defending, when they put their chin down. Even like my last, with Mandy Polk at 125, she had her chin down. But with Ashley, I could feel like I was squeezing on the sides, you know, like I wasn't squeezing here. So I felt that she was like breathing, but I was feeling her like more that she will pass out than to be out of breath, you know, like cut the blood off like they fall to sleep, you know? So they have two different types of chokes. You know, they have the one that the people can't breathe and like stop to breathe and then they have the ones where they don't feel it and then when they see they just pass out you know so i was feeling like was really tight i was squeezing more like to the sides

and you know i was just like trying to go like man i hope she taps you know i wasn't thinking how many times left and it was close to the end uh you know my last fight with cali me ediros i got the submission like 15 seconds left so i was like hoping that that was going to happen again uh but you know she was she was able to release the pressure and everything so it was a good fight you know I'm excited. I'm happy with how it was. Was she tougher than you expected her to be? She did. It seemed drop you very quickly in the middle of the fight. Were you expecting her to be that tough? And how hurt were you when she dropped you? No, not, she wasn't like tougher than I expect her to be because I knew she was

going to be tough. You know, she wasn't, I didn't think she was going to be easy fight. But for sure, she was like a little, like, not longer than I thought, but I did have like more trouble to understand distance and to like, I don't know, to believe like in my takedowns and stuff. Like sometimes I was thinking to go to take down and I saw her like lifting her knee up, you know, like, oh, if you go, I'm going to do one knee to your face, you know? So I kept thinking like, maybe I'll stay more, standing up a little bit longer, you know? And so in just sometimes like, okay, now I'm going to go to do the combination and then she would hit me first. And I feel like, okay, I need to keep my leg outside her leg, you know, like some, so little.

things like that, you know, but she was tough just like I thought she was going to be, you know, I know she wasn't going to, you know, be like scared to fight or anything. Like I said, she came from some losses. So I know she had like the fire in her eyes to win. And honestly, like the, the, the, when I fell down, I don't remember. I don't remember like when I, my coaches, they always tell me, like the ones, the punches that hurt us are the ones that we don't see coming, you know, and I really didn't see where it came from, you know, like when I saw, I was, I was just on the floor and say, okay, get up, get up, you know? So I got up fast.

I didn't really, like, know if it was a punch or it was a side or what it was, you know? So I just feel like she didn't, like, come at me, you know, when I was on the ground when it came up. So I was able to, like, recover fast. You know, I didn't feel pain or anything, you know, it was just like a click, you know? So I said, like, okay, good. Let's get back into the fight. To me, it was pretty clear that it was 29, 28 for you, although it was a split decision. How nervous were you when you heard her name when, when,

Bruce Buffer said her name when he was reading the scorecards? You know, I was surprised, but I wasn't nervous, you know, because I know, like, if you live to the judge's hands, can be anything, you know, and especially, like, when I'm fighting. And, you know, like, my coaches, each round, I ask my coach, like, did I win this one? Did I lose this one? You know, and they said to me, like, the first one, you won. Okay, the second one, they say, okay, it's one, you know? And then the third, they say, okay, you need to win that work.

So, but, you know, sometimes I think, oh, maybe the coaches, they, like, not on purpose, but maybe they're biased, you know? Like, maybe they think, like, with emotion, you know? Like, you know, so I don't think, like, if when I heard they gave splits, they're like, okay, maybe it'll be to her. But I wasn't nervous, you know? Like I said, like, I want to be defeated. I want to win everything.

But I know it's a part of the game, too, you know, like to lose. I try my best. You know, it wasn't, like, scary for me. I just think, like, okay, let's hope that they choose was me, you know? Was your dad at the fight? No. Did he watch it? Yes, he did they watch it.

What do he have to say about it? He's scared. Yes, he's so little scared, you know, like, oh, that was scary, you know. But he's happy about it, you know. He's waiting for me to get back to Arizona to go see him. So, but really, that's the whole thing. I think, like, everyone asked me about him, but he's been my coach for so many years. We really just want to, like, preserve the relationship of father or daughter, you know.

And I think just my whole weight cut, you know, like you're kind of tripping out a little bit, so many sauna, you're saying things, you don't really know what you're saying. And to see me like go through a fight where maybe I get knocked down, you know, and have to fight out of it and stuff. That stuff is kind of like, I don't know if a father wants to see that all the time, you know. So I think it was good that he saw that from his couch with my family there with the dogs, you know, all comfortable. Oh my gosh. I have a one-year-old daughter. She, like, slips and just, like, falls, and I, like, have a heart attack and run and hold her. I can't imagine seeing her get punched in the face and the black eye and all that stuff.

Is it fair to say that he would prefer that you didn't do this for a living? Oh, yeah, for sure. My dad is definitely, like, he supports me, but, Ariel, if you see us, like, at lunch or something, he'll be, like, you know, so you should go compete jihitsu next month, you know, always, like, trying to do a little, you know, clues to get me to stuff. staying in jih Tzu, you know, I say like that. I have M.M.A. fight, you know, this day. He said, oh, okay, you know, he definitely doesn't want to see his daughter getting punched. This experience, though, did it reinforce your love and interest in MMA? Because, you know,

the question is always, are you going to stick with MMA? Are you going to go, you know, full on with MMA, no jiu-jitsu, all that. Did this reinforce that for you, that decision? For sure. For sure. When I was, like, going back to think my post that I want to post, like, on Instagram, you know, like to thank everyone and just to feel like to share how I felt, like really was like, man, I felt like I was meant to be there, you know, like I know that each fight I would be a better better fighter, you know, like really in force, like, yeah, this is what I meant to do. I made the right decision to stop Jiu-Zitsu now and focus on this, you know, so I'm excited

for the next fight. Hopefully I can be like you've seen Rio. I'm like ready to get this black eye away and come back to training. So you did say that on Thursday that you want to fight on the Rio card May 12th. Is that still what you want? For sure, yeah. Okay. Do you have an opponent in mine?

No, no. Okay. You just want to fight anyone? Yeah. No, not anyone. Sure, sure, sure. But someone, you know, like that the next level just keeps, you know, the process going. Definitely.

And you know what's so crazy about, It all went well and you win and everything. But again, this sort of infatuation with your accent continues because here's George Griselle who comes in, the translator. Now everyone, I've gotten more questions about the translator being in the cage at the end of the fight than anything that you did in the fight. People are, why does she need a translator? From my understanding, I'd love for you to speak on this.

You didn't ask for him to come in. I think he just came in because, you know, he wanted to help you. And Rogan went to him. You didn't need the translator there. You didn't ask for him. Is that correct? Yeah, I don't know. People thought that I asked for him.

I didn't ask for the translator. I didn't ask before the fight. I didn't ask after. Like Joe was telling me, like, you want to take out my mouth protect, you know? So I was finished the fight to have my mouth protect in my mouth, you know. Like, I didn't even remember I had the thing in my mouth. So for me, when I saw the translator, like, I don't know, obviously, but I have a lot more fans in Brazil than I have the USA. So for me, my first, when he brought the translator,

I thought that they wanted me to speak Portuguese for all the fans, you know, and him to translate for everyone in the U.S., you know. But just for me to speak to everyone in Brazil, you know, to both. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, not to understand what he was asking. You know, I thought that they just wanted me to be able to speak to all my fans in Brazil, you know, like, because I finished the fight, I didn't get to say anything to anyone in Brazil, you know?

Like, you know, so when I saw, I thought he just wanted me to speak Portuguese for every, one in Brazil, not because I couldn't understand the question, you know? So I said it was more like a fan than me speaking Portuguese. So when I asked, I said, like, do you want to speak English or Portuguese? I don't know which one you want to say, you know? Then Joe read that, oh, I think she understood then. I said, okay. So I was not confused, but I didn't understand what was happening either. You know, I don't know what people thought that I asked to translate. I didn't ask. Well, I'm happy we cleared that up. And it's understandable. You're just in a 15-minute fight. So it's okay to be confused.

but it's just amazing how people are nitpicking this sort of thing with you. It's crazy. Last thing for you, McKenzie, and again, thank you so much for the time. I know Dana White was there. I know Ari Emanuel, who's a co-owner in the UFC was there. Any of the big bosses come up to you afterwards and talk to you about how much they like the fight, having you on the roster, things like that? No, I mean, I got messages from Mick and Sean. You know, I know them from even the beginning when I first started in MMA. They've always been supporting me. So they send me messages just saying, like, was a really good job and that they hope to see me soon. And that's about it, you know?

So I know, like, the card had so many great fights, like Brian Ortega, his knockout, his knockout, Sugar-Shan. He had, like, such a good fight, you know. They had so many great highlights this card, you know. So it was just good to be part of it and to finally get the whole debut out of the way. Yeah. Well, it couldn't have gone better. You passed with flying colors. Congratulations, McKenzie. It was a real pleasure to watch you finally in there after all this time talking about it. Enjoy the victory. Enjoy your time off. I hope you heal quickly. And hopefully you get that fight in Rio. That'd be really cool to see. Yes, thank you so much. Ariel. Always great to talk with you. Thank you. All right. We'll talk to you soon. There she is. McKenzie Dern now 1 and 0 inside the octagon. Her debut is out of the way. Everyone talking about it going in. And now everyone's talking about it.

about it going out. Who will she fight? She wants to fight in Rio. She has the connection. Of course, her family is Brazilian. She is of Brazilian descent. And of course, she lives in the Arizona area. She was in Los Angeles, I do believe. But that would make a lot of sense. You put, you know, a rising star coming out of Brazil on the Rio pay-per-view. I think that that would make a lot of sense. I find it interesting. She said it. Brian Ortega said it. Others have said it before. like this is this is a blue chip prospect this is a blue chip prospect and no like the brass isn't coming to the back and shaking i feel like that was that was a part of the routine lorenzo's in the back dan is in the back shaking your hand um no one's going up to mackenzie durn after the fight and and shaking your hand and saying welcome to the ufc no

there's nothing of that congratulations brian ortega congratulations you're getting a title shot like is that i don't know am i nip picking is that asking for a lot but i just feel like that's the sort of thing that's always been done. Like that, like, that's, that's, that's, that's just a part of combat sports. Big win. You come in. Backstage. Congratulations.

I mean, the days of, you know, the, the, the, the bonus, you know, the, the, the discretionary bonus that they used to give out in the, uh, the little envelope. They would, they would give out this stuff. But I don't know. I find that, um, I find that a little surprising. How about this? Um, just saw this come up on. TMZ. Canel Alvarez test positive for banned substance blames Mexican cows. I'd like to see who

first reported this. I just saw this out of the corner of my eye on on Twitter. Let's see. Let's see. Anyone else have it? All right. I'll read. I'll read this. Next up, Chris Cyborg is going to join us, but let me just quickly read this. This is according to our friends over at TMC, our good friends over at TMZ. Canel Alvarez has admitted he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, but he's blaming the dirty test on contaminated cow meat. The boxer was tested in advance of his upcoming May 5th rematch against Gannadi Golofkin and says results show he had trace levels of clenbuterol. FYI, clenbuterol is a banned substance, often used by athletes to cut body fat while retaining muscle mass.

It's banned by every major doping agency. We've seen some MMA fighters get pop for this as well. let's see what else he believes the traces of clenbuterol are consistent with meat contamination that has impacted dozens of athletes in Mexico over the last years end quote

Canelo says he will immediately move his training camp from Mexico to the United States and will submit to any number and variety of additional tests that the voluntary anti-doping association VADA deems necessary head of the fight quote I'm an athlete who respects the sport and surprises me

and it bothers me because it had never happened to me before. Canello says, I will submit to all tests that require me to clarify this embarrassing situation and I trust that at the end, the truth will prevail. Canello's team notes he has tested clean dozens of times over the course of his previous 12 fights. So it does appear, according to this, that the fight is still on. I'm trying to, okay, there's a press release from Golden Boy saying as part of the voluntary testing program, that Canela Avers insisted on ahead of his Mayfate fight.

This is a press release from his promoter, Golden Boy. One of his results came back positive for trace levels of clambuterol consistent with meat contamination that has impacted dozens of athletes in Mexico over the last years. As Daniel Eichner,

director of the SMRTL, we actually heard from him during the John Jones case, the WADA accredited lab that conducted the tests stated in his letter today, these values are all within the range of what is expected

from meat contaminants. Upon receiving the information, Golden Boy immediately notified the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Ganada Gilofskins promoter Tom Loeffler. As has been planned, Canello will immediately move his training camp from Mexico to the U.S. And will submit to any number and variety of additional tests that Vada deems necessary ahead of and after May 5th. Added Canello, I'm an athlete, okay, that's the quote. Canello has tested clean dozens of times. So it seems like, fascinatingly enough, he tested positive for Clanbuterol, all tested by Vada, but the fight is still on. And they came out with the test. I mean, it's interesting because what's the point of the test if there's no ramifications for the test?

Right? But it did come. So I appreciate, you know, I appreciate the transparency. It did come from Golden Boy, but what's the point of the test if there's no punishment for said failure, unless I'm missing something here? I mean, we've seen some UFC fighters get multiple years, Francisco Rivera's careers essentially finished because of something like this. Right? Francisco Rivera, Usada, he received, according to the Usada website, received a four-year period of ineligibility for his anti-doping policy. Yeah, he tested positive for a claim of uterol. So in an out-competition test, interesting.

I guess fight fans would be happy that the fight is still on. but why oh why do the tests if there's no ramifications for it? All right. Well, that's some big news coming out of the world of boxing. This is bizarre. All right. Well, just trying to figure that out. That is late breaking news, as they say in the TV business, my friends.

We still have a lot of show left. Coming up, we'll be answering your questions and comments. You have been hitting us up using the hashtag the MMA hour. We're also going to do Rick's Picks as per usual. And we are also going to, okay, well, I should note this because I do recall, but thank you to Mark Romandhi for letting me know. Augusto Montaño and Brandon Marano both popped for a clambuterol and got cleared. Mexican meat contamination is a real thing per Wada, which I know, but they did have a period of sort of being provisionally suspended. It doesn't appear, at least from what I'm reading, that Canello will be facing any kind of sanction here.

But let's give us some time to digest this. will also be joined by Mike Goldberg but first we've talked to Brian T. City Ortega, we've talked to Shugashano O'Malley, we've talked to McKenzie Dern the headlining act on Saturday. Of course it was Chris Cyborg. She defeats Yanukunitskaya in the first round,

arguably her most dominant performance in the UFC. She is still the reigning defending UFC Women's Featherweight Champion and she is kind enough to be joining us via the Magic of Skype. There she is. Chris, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you, Adia? I'm doing great. Congratulations. Nice.

Parabins Congrats on winning the fight Overall I'm assuming you were very happy With your performance It was pretty much a flawless performance Out of you right You know

I'm really happy You know I was You know It'll be five rounds I always say that But you know I took my heart

I was so great To the fight And Yeah not you You know I think Didn't make The performance

I really happy It seemed to me Like you landed A big punch very early And she had to adapt and then she went to her wrestling and her clinch work and that maybe prolonged things a little bit. Did you feel like you connected with that punch? Like, did you feel like she was on the verge of going out after landing that first punch? No, her interview, she's always said,

I know, have a CO power. And I said, well, she's going to fight me, know, instead of my share dog. You know, before you go and check it out the share dog. You know, I don't know, I was, of course, I always had a plan to fight, but when you go in the cage, you do. just have to feel your opponent. And when I punch, she fell to first punch, and then she decided to be disdespair if I go to the ground. Were you frustrated that she was able to prolong things, the way she did with the takedown, with the clinch work?

Was that frustrating for you? Were you disappointed? You know, I work in my stand-up, use the cage for the stand-up. I work a lot of wrestling with Petito, and I work a little bit of my guard. I think she tried to heal hooks too. You know, I was

just patient. I know she's in panic there and she used a lot of her strange photography down me and I just relax and it's different and I knew after she's doing all this when she's doing she's going to be tired. She said

afterwards that she was very nervous. Our photographer Esther Lynn has a picture where it looks like the fear of God is in her eyes. Did you get the sense that she was afraid in there that the moment was a little too big for her? I really don't check it out, really. A lot of people talk to me,

oh, you see her face, she was scary. I never looked like this. I look at her. I don't see anything in her face. I just remember, remind me about feather. Like, feather no is mild. Feather don't make any sense in the face. I was just thinking,

my impression, let's go to the war. You know, but I really respect Jan, you know. She's the talk to fight like three weeks like me, those, you know, and then for sure she's going to have other opportunities. And her first fight and see, of course, she's going to be a little bit nervous, you know. I think it's normal.

Would you say that that was your best performance in the UFC thus far? I don't think so. I think it's all right. I think any fight has a lot of challenge for me. The two fights more 40. I think Tony Everga, you can see a little bit patient and fight. I'm hardly with a very struck with training.

And, you know, I really, I really go patient and fight. this fight is getting a little bit crazy, you know, violence, it reminds cyberg, real cyborg again. And I think each fight you have a specialty. So I remember not that long ago when they were talking about you taking a fight on short notice, Dana White said, you know, if you can't make weight in eight weeks at 145, what are you doing at 145?

Here you made 145 in three weeks. So were you, was that kind of, you know, something very important to you to prove to people that 145, you don't have trouble making that way? you can do it on short notice. No. It was crazy because before I fight to a heart, I had a injury in my hand. And my right-to-hand had to injury. And because I worked too much, and then I was injured in my hand.

And then I was, for a holiday fight, I had to have the injury. Yeah, I did a lot of sparring, a lot of sparring, a lot of sparring, like six months straight, spars, sparring, sparring. And after the fight, I told I need me, I need break. I don't punch. You know, I have two breaks. and I continued just work, like a conditioning training. I was doing stairs, but I was not working like as far as me for my hands in the cover.

And I was really don't think when I was going to fight, you know. I would say I was going to fight in July because I have to do a lot of things about my knees, everything. And I was in Europe, you know, doing community service seminars and doing Mexican art work. I was never thinking about those fights. But I was dead and wanted to call me. I just first think I did I check my weight. And I checked my weight, and I did the one training, and I did sparring. With Fartu, one guy in Europe, he had a fight from Angola.

And they said, man, first fight I went to do sparring, you know, for see how I was the feeling. And that's still great. And I text my man to me. I know I think I can do it three weeks. But the first thing I did, I checked my weight. But I was really happy because now I learned work with my body, and my way to stay very closely the ways I fight, you know, like, better for me. It's bad.

It has damage. How is your hand after the fight now? No, my hands are great because I stay like one month after a holy fight and just do ice and physiotherapy and nothing hurt. Okay. Great.

Is my real apple. Chris, do you get tired of after every win? We can't just celebrate the win. We can't celebrate the performance. We have to talk about the division and are you fighting real 145ers and stuff? It's not just like any champion. Oh, Max Holloway beat Aldo?

Great. He's great. we celebrate, but with you, there's always so much that goes in with it, and none of it is your fault, but it's because of the division that you fight at. Does this get tiring for you? About what? I understand the question. That it's never just Chris Seiborg won, two minutes, etc. It's always there's no one for you to fight. It's all 135ers. You're the only one. You're not fighting the toughest competition, all this stuff. There's always all this other stuff that comes with it. You know, now it's changed a little bit. I think now the girls try to show up, you know,

don't want to fight me. And I think they have the big opportunity they want to fight. And now I think it's changing a little bit, you know. Soon after the fight, McGahnster sent a Twitter for me. And after Hollywood,

you know, after a lot of time, you know, I think the girls start to show up. But I really want my decision growing. And I'm really happy, Holly Homers going to continue 145. And I think this is going to be better and you have more girls going to stay one for the fight.

Okay, so let me ask you, because it was a bit confusing afterwards. It seems like they're doing Amanda Nunes versus Raquel Pennington in Rio. However, after the fight, Dana White said that he'd like for you to fight Amanda Nunes in Rio. Is this of interest to you at all? Will you consider this? Have they asked you to fight her yet, officially? Do you know, after my last fight, I said I would like to fight a month of July. and, you know, I did three fights in seven months.

And Amanda going to be in one year. She's going to, like, almost no fights. Her last fight is this September. And she really defend her belt. And they have Caleb Vieira. She's fighting me in semi-card, beat from Captain Gunna. She's the next line to my fight 135, 10-0. And, you know, have a girl for Amanda fight.

She's happy to defend her belt. But I'm open for fighting her, you know. I keep training. and then I know for a fight to hurt but probably it's going to be July. I'm not going to fight in Brazil May. I have a lot of things to do and the three fights in seven months and I really have to take the break.

Have they even offered you the real fight? Have they tried to get you to take it? I've been asking a little bit, but you know because I was, I'm going to Brazil now end of the month I have to do something about my niece and I really I was no one. This fight

beginning of the march is perfect. I was ahead and have it ticket for go to Brazil and the March for making all my stuff. And, and then, you know, yeah, and then I said I have to fight her. But of course, now she has to defend her best to get her to win, you know. I never fight Amanda before because she's the ones alone 45. She never keeps her winning her for fighting, you know, once she's fought to 1.45. Because this fight never happened, you know, it's nothing.

It's nothing because she's never getting close. And, but now I think if you're fighting people would like to watch, But, of course, I think the girls have to respect and make them defending her belt. I don't know. But she doesn't want to wait until July. It's cool, you know, from this school. Okay. What's wrong with your knees?

No, no, because I'm going to adopt my knees. I'm going to bring her to her back. Oh, your niece. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. I thought you said your knee. My missus. Yeah. My mistake.

No, no. It's perfect. No, I don't have any injury. I feel great. I feel perfect. So, are you adopting two nieces? No, just one. Just one. Wow. How old is she?

Yeah. Now she's 12, but when I make the promise for her, she's five years old. Wow. They take a long time, but, you know, today's coming true. Wow. Who does she live with now before you actually adopt her? She lives with my mom. You know, when I went to my, when I live in Brazil, I live with my mom. And then I always take care of her, and she's like my daughter. And then when I came into America, I told her to come bring her because, like, I was going to speak in English.

I really have to work for this somebody in Britain. And I start to work. And I told her when I have everything fixed and everything prepared, I bring you. And the days because now it's a wedding, you know, I'm ready for bringing her. I think it's going to be a good opportunity in her in living America. and I feel very happy and blessed because it is probably going to come in truth. That's amazing, and congratulations on that. If you don't mind me asking, where are her parents?

No, her parents are my brother, but my brother when she's born, he's still young, and then he's had like a brother, everybody like a brother. But her mom, she never met her mom. Oh, wow, okay, okay. Okay. Okay. Wow, that's a beautiful thing. congratulations on doing that.

Yeah. I just want to ask you also, Holly Holm was on our show earlier, and she said she would love to fight you again. Does this interest you at all? You know, Holly, Holly, she's heavy one and four. She's having to be the last five-fight. Okay, we did, like, amazing fight, you know. I won the decision.

But I think she still have some fights. She's have to get a win for the fight again. You know, I don't have any probably fight her again. But, you know, I think she's having to get a win. I think she's going to fight against in Gunnar one 45. I think she can help me invest my division in 145. You know, I think she can do this. But I have two fights left.

And if the goal is two fights, it's Amanda Nunes and Meg Anderson. If Amanda Nunes, not be ready, or she lost her last next fight, or not be ready for International Fight Week, I already told my manager I want Meg Anderson. Okay, and do you think Megan Anderson will finally get cleared to fight you? Are you confident? You know, she sent Twitter. Yeah. She sent Twitter for me today in my fight.

Congratulations, I want to fight you. I don't know. I don't know. She's like to play like this, but I don't know. But maybe she's supposed to be ready. If she tweeted me, maybe she's going to get clear soon. Okay. And you say you have two fights left on your deal.

But I go ahead. Go ahead. I never take the table about Santa. Oh, Eddie, really. Before this fight, after Holy Home, I contact Valentina. where she could help my campus Amanda and she's going to be part of my team for Amanda Valentina.

Wow, Valentina Shafchenko. Yes. Wow. Have you ever trained with her before? No, no, no. I just hear about this, man, she's had a lot of fights. She's had a lot of experience. And she fought two times with Amanda.

She stayed a long time with Amanda in the Uttargon. And then I talked to her. Ray is her friend. They like know her. And she said, yes, Chris. I mean, it'll be great. It would be great. Last, two quick things for you, Chris, before I let you go,

you said you have two fights left on your contract. And are you saying like that? And that's it? You're done? Or then you're going to renegotiate? What are you thinking? No, I'm not done. But probably we want to renegotration.

I don't know. But I've no done. You know, and I have more fights I was to do. Because I remember... My division and it's true. I remember when you were talking about retirement, you know, a long time. ago, this was around the time, so I didn't know if you just had two fights, period. No, no, I have two fights left in my deal.

Okay, gotcha. And then after... Yeah. And I love the story of you and Dana shaking hands after the fight. You guys are your buddies now. Hey, I don't know if your buddies, but I told him, well, now we're friends. I get it to fight three weeks notice for help. You know, for them asking me, I did one favor.

But, of course, favor for me, too, but... You know, I prove it like anywhere at any time and we're going to be ready. And you guys, I always say that, but I never have the opportunity. And this time I have the opportunity. And I told him, now we're friends. You know, it's funny, but, you know, he's getting, I think it's cool. But I don't know. What do he say to you?

I think he didn't happen. What do he say when you said that? He just smiled. He just smiled and he turned his red face. He's shy. Yes, he's a very shy guy. Shoot a box style. I loved it.

Shoot the box style. I was trained when in the beginning of my Korea, and I was here. I didn't need to be ready. You need to prepare for any situation. But I was never thinking it happened with me. And this time it happened when I say, I fight. No, I feel like, oh, it's cool. It's a shoot box style.

And then all my partner in Shooterbach is really happy because, like, before, we can only see YouTube who you're going to fight. You just have to be ready for any situation. Just go over that and fight. And I feel like that just fights like this. Chris, what a performance once again. It's a pleasure to watch you compete. Congratulations on the victory.

Enjoy it. And also congratulations on the upcoming adoption of your niece. That's an amazing thing. And hopefully we'll see you back in there in July. Okay. Thank you all my friends. Thank you, Ariel. So opportunity.

Thank you for CyberNation, everybody in Vegas. And I hope you'll see in Vegas again, five week. Thank you so much. Looking forward to it. There she is. Chris Cyborg. Thank you so much to her. Parabins.

Obrigo. Appreciate her stopping by. the most dominant female in the history of this sport. She is now undefeated in her last 20. And, man, hasn't lost since her very first fight 12 years ago or so. It's an amazing story. And she continues to fight whoever that they put in front of her, continues to beat whoever they put in front of her.

Unfortunately, there isn't the talent depth at 145. She said Megan Anderson, hopefully that that fight can happen. Mandanis would be interesting. We'll see what happens. She can only do the, you know, the talent. that are put in front of her. So credit to her. And what a great story that is her adopting her niece. I totally watched that. I thought she said knees, but she said niece. My bad. All right. Last guest of the day. And this was a very important one for me. And I hope for all of you as well.

If you've been following the sport over the last few days, you have undoubtedly heard that the sport and the MMA community suffered a massive loss late last week. I talked about it at the the start of the show, but worth repeating very quickly. The passing, Bruce Connell, 61 years old, longtime producer of UFC broadcast, longtime sports producer, has worked in college sports, college basketball, football, USFL, the NHL. You saw, as I said, giants like Dick Vital and Barry Melrose

paid tribute to him online after the news came out. If you are a fan of the UFC and a fan of the UFC product on television, you are a fan because of his work. He is the UFC producer. He's been doing this for 20 years or so. And as I mentioned at the top, he has that intimate relationship with the broadcasters that we love.

He is the one in their ear talking. He's the one planning and producing and putting the entire broadcast together. Personally, a great guy always was very kind to me. The staff, the crew, everyone loved him over at the UFC and just a hugely important figure in our sport

and it's just a horrible loss. I could tell you about him. But I didn't think that that was enough. So I wanted to have Mike Goldberg back on the program to pay tribute to his friend and colleague for the last 20 years or so and to talk about just how big of a loss this is and how special of a human being, Bruce Connell, was. So he is kind enough to be joining us once again on not the best of terms, but I really appreciate Mike Goldberg for giving us some time here on this Monday afternoon. Mike, are you there?

Yeah, yeah, I am here, brother. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for the time. first off, my condolences to you because I know you guys were much more than just colleagues. How are you doing a few days after hearing the news of his passing? And of course, you mentioned that he was, you know, in

a tough way on the program when he was hospitalized, but how are you doing now that you found out that he had passed late last week? No, excuse me, sorry. The finality of it and Tyler, his son kind of gave me a call

a few days prior to he's passing aerial and he let You know that Bruce had suffered a second aneurysm, and this one was certainly going to be life-ending. So it wasn't, unfortunately, if it was when. And, of course, you know, it happened a few days afterwards. I just, I don't even know how to describe it. Shock, disbelief, just absolutely gutted. Because you and I talked about it when I was on the show that things were looking good.

It was going to be a long road back, but things were looking good. There was going to be a recovery. Bruce would be back with us. And then, boom, a turn for the worst that I don't think anybody expected. Well, I know nobody expected it. I believe the doctors as well. Last week was really, really difficult in multi-platforms. I mean, personally, I mean, it goes without saying that that guys is my best friend.

I mean, we've been in the trenches since ESP and hockey in the mid-90s. And if you're going to rally up with what I said, you know, it's your comrade. You're going to do it with your producer. But he was more than that. He was more than that, not just to me, Ariel, but to everybody. He was my friend. And he always had my back. Hey, Goldie, you know, careful they're looking for this.

They're looking for this. I just want you to know. I just want you always there for me as I totally was there for him. And when a guy protects you and has your back. I mean, for real. We're talking for real, Ariel. That is a rare, rare. commodity. That is just extremely special because I'm of the mindset that you only get about

five or six people that you can truly say that about. And Brucey was one of those guys. From John Norton to Scott Fishman, who has led us on Spike and now Bellator at Paramount, Fiss was very, very close with Brucey. There were a bunch of peers from a lot of different people last week because we had a show Bellator on Friday and of course the UFC did that great tribute to Bruce Yon Saturday. How difficult was it to not only do the show, but I thought it was incredible that you guys pay tribute to him. And obviously I know, as you mentioned, his sons worked for Viacom and he worked for Viacom

on the UFC telecast on Spike TV for so many years. But just overall, how difficult was it a day later to have to go and do that broadcast and pay tribute to your friend? It was a lot of different emotions. Obviously, there were, you know, a number of things that were extremely difficult. But I think as anybody would tell you that new Bruce, once the light went on, once we were on the air, Bruce wouldn't want me to be sulking. Bruce wouldn't want me to have a bad show.

Bruce would want me to gut it out, suck it up, and have a great show. And so that was absolutely 100% my focus. And I got on the talk back. I mean, John Norton grew up in television with Bruce Connell, as many of the guys on the crew have done. But Norty, who's now our Belator producer, was in ESPN hockey guy in the mid-90s. And I got on the talkback right before the show. And I just said, you know, hey, it's for Brucey. Let's kill it.

It's like, well, prisoners, let's have a great show. This is for Brucey. And Nordy, right back in my year, absolutely. 100%. And so I was focused in that way to honor Bruce in all those years. she was my producer, but I was getting nervous. The closer I got to the Tribunal, I started to get nervous because I just wanted it to come off properly.

I wanted it to come off, fortunately, the way that it did. And just took a deep breath before I did it. I wrote it that afternoon. Scott Fishman and John Martin, we looked at it together, and we tweaked it a little bit. And I got to get jail, a ton of credit, because as I was delivering that trip, you and I started to say it was really once I said and personally I was I was going to lose it um

chale put his arm around me and you know kind of looked at me and it was like thanks brother I need to pick up right now I was able to deliver it and then we we literally had a three and a half minute commercial break after that not just for me ariel but for everybody because that moment was so emotional for all of us who love Bruce so much that we had to all sit back and go wow. And then everybody was coming up to me and just saying, man, what a true professional. You did Bruce me. It was about Bruce. But I'm really, really pleased the way that it came out. Because that's just a small example and a small tribute to a guy who has literally changed sports television in the mixed martial arts world over the last two decades. I'm wondering, and I don't blame you

if you didn't, but if you happened to see the UFC's tribute, I thought just the countdown that they had with his voice, how the broadcast would start, at least in your ear, was just a beautiful tribute. And then, of course, going on camera with Joe Rogan talking about him, who has been there with him for

so many years as well alongside you, if you saw that and how you felt while watching and listening to that. I thought it was tremendous. Of course I saw it. I actually saw it before they went on the air. You know, as we all, you know, the close-knit family of Bruce's, we were, we were sharing the tributes.

I saw it. And, you know, the thing I noticed most, and I did love the countdown. That was so freaking cool. That was awesome. I love how they did that. Joe, you know, Joe pre-voiced the first part of it, and he was losing it, pre-boising it. And so Joe and I were texting all day on Saturday, Ariel, I'm just like, man, like, life is on there. Like, explain this one to me. I don't get it. All the things that, you know, we question from the big man upstairs when something so unexpectedly happens to somebody who's such a wonderful human being. I thought it was wonderful. Joe's emotions were no different than mine. You know, Tom Rads again, Anthony G. O'Donnell and Brucey and Joe and I, we've been in that bunker,

man. We've been in that bunker with Brucey, you know, pushing 300 fights. Absolutely 100% pushing 300 fights. So I thought the UFC guys and Joe delivering it, I thought they did an absolutely tremendous job as well. I really, really enjoyed their tribute. You know, it's interesting the words that you're using to describe the relationship

and that's really one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on because, you know, myself had the cup of coffee on TV. I know what it means to have a relationship with a producer. But I don't know if everyone, you know, fans, they watch the product, they enjoy it, they go about their way. But you use words like

bunker and trenches, and especially on these broadcasts that sometimes, you know, goes seven hours or so long, could you explain what that relationship is like, especially with the producer who's in your ear talking to you through the ups and downs of the broadcast? What is it like and what made your relationship with Bruce so special? Bruce always challenged me, and he always made sure, you know, that I was the best I could be at every opportunity. And, you know what? I challenge Bruce. because when you get that far into a relationship production-wise, Ariel, kind of everybody has to say. I mean, Bruce is the final voice, you know, before you get to the executives.

Bruce is the final voice, but when you do that, man, he shows together, there's many of them at that meeting where I was like, hey, Brucey, most of me work a little better if we switch that, do the graphic afterwards, and there were a hundred times where I'd be like, that's good call, Goldie. And there are 200 times we said, shut up and let me see what for you. Just say what I want you to say. We have time to say it. So every pay-per-view show is literally like doing two Super Bowls.

And think of the length of it. We're in Super Bowl Sunday with all the pre-game festivities. And once you have pay-per-view aerial, nobody's going anywhere. There's no commercials. I mean, it became legendary when I would leave to know the bathroom. I mean, that's how evident it is that you never break away from the pay-per-view. So not only does it take a huge command from a guy who leads us like Bruce, but it also takes some endurance and patience,

some understanding that if I had television, stuff's going to happen, move forward, can't fix it, you know, lose the rearview mirror, let's be better as we go forward. And, you know, the thing that Joe said about me, and it's not about me at all, area, but I showed this with you when I was in studio with you about, hey, nobody realized how good Goldie was, because you never realized what was going on in the background

because Goldie always makes it so smooth. Well, multiply that by 100 to what Bruce is dealing with in the truck. And how he died in, Anthony Girovano, our director, and audio and tape and replays. And, I mean, it is absolute controlled chaos with an event, the magnitude of ours. And you don't put on good television like that

with a Super Bowl-type production, with all the bells and whistles, without a break for the last four hours, or so if you don't know what you're doing and you're not one of the best in the world. And so at the end of the day, everyone top to bottom on our crew aerial knew the Bruce was the backbone and Bruce he had it. Bruce was in control and when things got a little cookie, everybody just took a big, deep breath and Bruce said, I, this is what we're doing coming back or this is what we're doing out of the feature. And everybody reset and we forged on and move

forward and I am proud of every single UFC production that I did for 19 years and 98% of those shows Brucey was the producer and I am absolutely 100% proud of everything that we were able to accomplish together. The guy was the one who called me Ariel I've shared this story many times. Holy, golly, golly, I've got to give for you. It's in Japan. They'll pay you this got to take a jihitsu class. Newfoundles, the guy who I did hockey with at ESPN, he got me into this sport. And for us to be able to, you know, do what we did for 20 years,

unbelievable, unbelievable. He's one of the best in the world, plain and simple. One of the best in the world. And the production team is very close. You guys are like a family because you are essentially traveling every single week all over the world. It's the same people. You see them at every event.

They're all great, hardworking people. He, in many respects, was the, leader along with Anthony Grodano, the director who you mentioned, would love to see them one day get into the UFC Hall fame. They certainly deserve that. But I'm just wondering if before we let you go, because I know you have an appointment to get to, do you have a favorite moment at an event, outside an event with Bruce? Maybe it was when he called you, and that certainly is a very valid and good one. But is there another memory that you want to share of your time with him? Yeah, I'll give you two. And I want to thank you for allowing you to have this

forum. I said you're one of my best buds and you're as loyal as they come. So it's an absolute honor. I all to talk about Brucey. So Bruce would reach out. Golly, gody, go to go to go to go to go to go. So Bruce would call me on my cell phone. And once in a while, you know, I admit I looked at it and I hit, you know, decline. I didn't want time to him like that. I was writing. I was doing whatever. So Bruce would call, right? So I get declined. 15 seconds later, The phone in my hotel room would ring. Okay, who uses the phone in a hotel room anymore? Obviously, Bruce does.

I'm getting on, so that call, no word of the lie. And it happened more than a dozen times. About 10 minutes later, Ariel, I get this on my hotel room door. I'm like, what's that? I open a door. Hey, Mr. Goldberg, hotel security. We had a call. We made sure that you're okay.

There was somebody concerned about you, so they called security, and they wanted to make sure that you were okay. Bruce sent security, Ariel, to my room. That was his thing. I mean, it's really comical. Because it was like a game replay. We're an absolute game replay. And then after a while, he would call, you know, my fiance Fernando and go,

hey, is he going to be there? Yeah. Can I talk to him? He found ways to find me when I was trying to hide from him doing my prep. But, I mean, I swear to God, the guy sent security into my room area to finally hunt me down because it was time to talk to him. And I'm going to say 70% of the time that that happened. It wasn't even time sensitive. It was just, you know, Bruce's way and saying, hey, let's remember Mr. Cali, I'm still your boss.

Yeah. I mean, control. And take it one step forward. We had a show and Bruce had me actually answered when it was Saturday. It was show day. And I have a way, I always do my, my, my, my, you know, cards alongside the format. And then I kind of put the format away.

So, worst he calls me about, I don't know, 11 in the morning. He's like, golly, go ahead. Grab your format. Grab your format. And I'm kind of like, Bruce, I don't even have my format anymore. It's what, right? Come on. I've got to do some changes.

I got to do you change. I'm like, Bruce, I can pull up my cards. And this night is like, holy, come on, grab your format. And I was just like, dude, I'm trying. Give me a second. And all of a sudden I hear this, what an asshole. And he comes back on the phone, I go, Brucey, I thought you forgot to hit you.

Oh my God, it was absolutely vintage Bruce. He moved a phone away, call me, you know, fricking asshole or whatever I was at that time. But kind of about to hit the view button. Oh, my. That was mine and Bruce's relationship in a nutshell. I thought it was absolutely awesome. Absolutely awesome. You know, I love the guy.

We are all headed to Connecticut. His funeral service is actually this Friday, which would have been his 60-second birthday. I'm excited about this week, and I think you can understand why, Ariel, because this week is going to be all about celebrating Bruce's life, and a lot of us are going to be there from all facets of Bruce's journeys for, you know, nearly 40 years in the broadcast business, probably the more. I mean, if he said he won, you know, he started in his teens. That's when his son Trevor started, pardon me, Tyler started coming around pulling table. This is going to be a really enjoyable week.

Not the reason we wanted to be enjoyable, but it's going to be a really enjoyable week. It's just going to be, things are going to get really quiet, especially for us like Karen, because, you know, they're grown up. They're not in the house. And so I'm there, man. I'm family. I have been family and I will be family. And, you know, I'm going to help with whatever is needed to be done, not just this week. But for the rest of my life, to, you know, continue to be a member of the Connell family and support everybody in the best fashion that I can.

Thank you so much for doing this, Mike. I'm going to have a lot of stories like the one I just told you this week. And thank you very much, my friend, for having me on. Bruce's people don't, people won't. never really know how great Bruce Connell was because we never were in the trenches but trust me everyone listening

there is no producer in the world better at what he did in Bruce Connell and that's why the broadcast of the UFC are so, so good because they have a great good. I'm happy

we have you to tell us about it. Thank you so much for doing this, Mike. I really appreciate it again. I'm so sorry about the loss. Of course, sorry for his family and all his friends and colleagues, but it was great to have you on for a few minutes to honor him. Safe travels out to Connecticut, Mike. And again, thanks so much for doing this and way to go on Friday honoring your friend. Thank you so much, my brother. I'll talk to you sooner. All right, there he is. Mike Goldberg, joining us paying tribute to Bruce Connell. You know, I worked for Spike TV for a month and a half.

I've told the story. I think I even told it very recently on the show. I worked at Spike for a month and a half, as I said, in 2007, while I was working in TV production, my goal was to go to Spike because Spike was the home of the UFC. And I thought, all right, I'm going to have a career in TV production. Might as well go work on the network or for the network that has the UFC on its channel. And so at the time, the UFC was on Spike, that's the place to be. That's where I wanted to go. And on my third day there, I was sent to Las Vegas. I think it was maybe just the second time I had ever been to Las Vegas. Now I've been there, I don't know, maybe 40 or so times, if not more. And it was for a fight night card headlined by Kenny Florian versus

Dean Thomas, September 19, 2007. I was wide-eyed. It was surreal being a part of Spike at a UFC show after watching so many on television, of course, and being such a long-time fan of the sport. And I didn't really do much, but what I did was kind of just shadow everyone, and they brought me along. And I will never forget. Two things about that trip. Number one, going to the format meeting. And again, 2007, 2007, I'm 25. It just turned 25. It's my third day there. I'm at the format meeting. And for those that don't know, all the producers, director, everyone kind of sits around. around the table and they pass out, you know, these production sheets and the rundown of the show and they go over the show. And who's leading the charge? Who's running that meeting? It's Bruce Connell.

And he had a certain kind of energy to him. Obviously, he's been doing it for so long and ended up doing it for another 11 years. But it was just sort of, it was awe-inspiring to watch it all go down because these were professionals and they had it down pat and just to see what goes on behind the scenes we don't really appreciate it as we're watching it at home but so much goes on with so many talented people so many great people and watching that was mesmerizing but then even more so was actually sitting in the truck during the broadcast i was sitting in the truck next to the person whose job it was to it was she was like in charge of commercials but this truck is is super small like if you've seen this studio, it's maybe even smaller than this studio. It's a very intimate setting and it's a very

chaotic setting. The director, the man who's directed, I mean, if you watch the end of the UFC broadcasts, you see them the names. And whether it's Mike Goldberg or John Anick, recently, you know, Brendan Fitzgerald, whoever's the play by play guy usually lists off around 10 or so names and then you see the rest of the credits. Anthony Giordano's name is always mentioned. Bruce Connell's name is always mentioned. They're obviously, that important to the broadcast. And to be in that tiny truck and seeing the chaos and seeing what the producer does and seeing what the director does and what everyone else does, the tactical producer, it was

just fascinating. As a fan of the sport to gain this appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes. And when I was working on the broadcast, this is something I'll never forget, the last thing I'll share. So when I was working for Fox and I was working on the broadcast as well, the pre-fight show, post-fight show and the Wayans, very, very rarely, as you know, if you watched, did I make it on the actual broadcast, right? We were kind of, you know, in a lane to ourselves, pre-post, way-in show. But then there was the actual broadcast. That was the big dance, right? That's where I

wanted to be. Very rarely. But a few times, maybe, I don't know, a handful of times, they threw it to me for a quick report, for a quick interview. I remember the first show interviewing Pat Barry in the locker room. And there were a couple, I remember one time breaking the news about a Sage Northcut fight against Andrew Holbrook, which never came to fruition. Anyway, when I was on the real broadcast,

the main broadcast, if you will, at that point, I have a different person in my year. There's a, there's a whole other production team for the pre-post shows, and there's a whole other production team for the actual broadcast. And so when I would get to the big broadcast for a big spot, 30 seconds, 40 seconds,

it's never more than a minute. Now I had Bruce Connell in my ear. And that felt like I made it. And he would always say, you know, all right, R.L. You're ready. You're going to do this? The job of the producer in many respects is to kind of like pump up the talent, bring them up, feed information, just be there. And it's the only one that you're interacting with. You don't hear anyone else in your ear.

And just like I would hear it all the time. And it was like a jolt of energy and it would give you goosebumps like, all right, I made it. Here I go. My heart's beating. It feels like it's coming out of my throat. and it just felt because he was talking to you. Like I could hear it right now. I could hear him saying like,

all right, we're going to do this. And he counts you down. A similar countdown to what you heard if you watched the tribute that the UFC did on Saturday night. It's just, it's a horrible loss. It's a massive blow to the MMA community to the UFC product. And again, I just want to wish the very best to his family and send them our condolences. You know, not that long ago they lost snacks.

Geller, my friend Adam Geller, who I've talked about on this program, and now the UFC TV family loses their leader, Bruce Connell. So, you know, I give a lot of credit to Mike Goldberg and John Anick and Joe Rogan, Daniel Kormier, for being able to power through. I thought the tribute was beautiful. Zach Candido, who's one of the top producers at the UFC, is the one, in my opinion, who deserves a lot of the credit for putting that together, putting that tribute together, and some of the other tributes we've seen as of late. So I wanted to give him a nod as well.

So overall, I thought they did a really nice job honoring one of the important figures in the history of this sport. All right, that does it for today's interviews. We shall take a quick break here. If you are watching the program on MMA fighting or YouTube or Facebook, the usual places,

What you need to do is go to live.com slash mMA fighting. If you follow me on Twitter, you've seen the link. If you've been watching this show for several months, you know where to go. We're going to do the after hour now. We're going to do Rick's picks. We're going to answer your questions. I still haven't given you my verdict on the John Jones hearing last week. So stay tuned for that.

I have some very strong opinions. I was very upset that I couldn't do the beat last week because I really wanted to weigh in on this. So I hope that you'll stick around for that. We'll talk a little more. 222, some 223 promos that came out. Very interesting stuff. Maybe a little Amazon talk, maybe a little Deontay Wilder talk, maybe talk about how we're going to spend the off weekend. There is so much more to discuss. So go to live.twitre.com slash m.m.fighting or go to the links that I've been tweeting throughout the show because the MMA after hour, my friends,

starts right now. All right. We are back. Time now for the MMA after hour. And that means it is time for everyone's favorite segment. It is time for Rick's Picks. And your minds, MMA fans, it's time for Rick's Picks. Rick's Picks. Rick's Picks are lots of fun

and his hair is in a bun. Does it? You already know what it is. My lips. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's the moment you've all been waiting for. It's the new craze taking the world by storm. Live from the Vox Studios in beautiful

New York City. It's time for Rick's Picks. Boom. Mr. New York, Rick. Hello. Rocking that North Face. It's a little chilly. Bang. Is it cold in there? Yeah. Not cold. No, but I'm much more comfortable with it on.

Okay. Do your thing, bro. Do your thing. What's up? Oh, not much. You know, just interviewed 12 people in a row for the last four hours and 41 minutes. but what a great day it has been. I mean, really, from GSP to T City to Chris Seiborg to Gagarmusasi. That's just how we do it around here.

Almost rhymed. That whole thing just almost rhymed. No, there's a lot still to unpack. There's a lot going on. Let's not waste any time. Let's get to some damn picks here. I hope you got some good ones because I still have a lot to get off my chest.

Well, between the combination of Rick's picks and the questions, I think we'll get to most of it. All right, all right. Here we go. Okay, we start. in the world of sponsorships. Oh, yes. This one here.

Yes. From Burger King. Yes. Can we hear it? Try this new spicy crispy chicken sandwich. From this king. There's no doubt I'm going to destroy this thing. It's so spicy and crispy and juicy.

It just doesn't stand the chance. Committing to the bite for sure. For one king to another, this pack's a real kick. Spicy Introducing the new Spicy crispy chicken sandwich Only a burger king Oh

And by the word Thanks for all the trash out guys You just put Connor Jr. Troop College GDP baby Yeah GDP Get that paper

What do you think Scale of 1 to 10 What do you give it? Seven? Seven? Ten for Getting the deal done Seven?

Seven for the actual execution. Not exactly the most innovative commercial, but doing the job. Man, I got to say, this is one of those times where, again, one of the many times where it kind of bumps me out where there are no sponsors in the UFC because it's just cool to have like a Burger King logo on your short. Oh, for sure.

You know what I mean? It's just a cool thing. Connor's in bed with the King now. That's a big deal. I thought it was great. The way they captioned, it, Connor McGregor, the king, a private jet, and the all-new spicy crispy chicken sandwich. Have you had it?

I have not. Is that really a new thing? I feel like I've heard of the spicy chicken sandwich. I mean... Are you a big Burger King guy? No, I'm not. But you would think that spicy chicken sandwich is like a common thing amongst all fast food chain. So whatever's new about this one?

It packs a kick, I guess. Would it have been a bigger deal if he signed with McDonald's? I feel like that's like the hate that he's getting like, oh, you didn't sign with McDonald's. No, that's lame. That's lame.

Don't get me wrong. Signing McDonald's is a big deal, but it's lame that this can't be viewed as an accomplishment. Is that something that people are saying? I was just kidding. Oh, you were joking. Well, then, no,

I haven't seen that. I just feel like that's something that people would bring up. Like, oh, that's great. Call me when you, you know, you sign with Donald. I haven't seen that, but if it is true,

I mean, that's silliness. Yeah. this is a prestige brand. He's doing big things with the king. Big things. Okay, speaking of doing big things in the sponsorship world.

Oh, yeah. How about that? There it is. Right there. Boom. All over their social channels, but this from Instagram, Polo Ralph Lauren,

saying they're excited to announce Luke Rockhold is the face of their iconic fragrance Polo Blue. We showed some commercials for it earlier. And he says more to come. More to come. Exciting times.

Okay. More important. at least for us and this is huge congratulations it's great to see fighters you know gdping outside of the world of m a nice commercial as well look at that yeah right little hug little girl little balcony easy little girl let's rephrase that you know what i'm saying little this little that that's what i'm saying sheesh anyway what do you think of his bisping his bisping idea 205 pounds july you don't you don't like it uh is that really what i want to see i for bisping for either guy like for either guy like for either guy

I'm kind of over that fight Damn 1-1 There's history there It's what got us into this Middleweight mess to begin with I never got to see the second fight Because I was in the process

Of getting kicked out of the forum So for me it's You know it's a very emotional fight Do I want to see two career middleweights at 205 Doing it for the third time Not that interested To be honest

Hmm All right I don't I don't hate it for Luke I don't hate the idea of him fighting Bisping a third time I don't hate the idea of him fighting a 205 clearly he has trouble cutting down to 185

I just don't know if Bissing at this stage look I'm all about the retirement fight I'm all about like I thought you know Mike Pilesack Otto okay cool on the same level like we're not putting him in there against you know a young stud at 170 right in the sense I'm not taking anything away from from auto but you got them saying like a title

contender, our former champion. Give the guy an opportunity to go out on top. This isn't that scenario necessarily, right? I mean, Luke Rockhold is a very, very tough fight. As far as like the history, the story, I mean, this gets the blood boiling. This is exciting. This, to me, has more depth to it than Derek Brunson or one of these other fights that are being thrown out there, right?

Like even the Rashad fight, there's not much there even though I know they fought, but like we and their buddies. We see them on the set all the time. So there's that, but I just don't know from a health standpoint. from a competitive standpoint, if it makes a lot of sense for business. Well, if that's the case, then don't put him in there at all.

No. If he can't compete against somebody who he's faced and not only faced, but knocked out, not that long ago, then I don't think there is an answer for that.

Like, I think, if this is a fight that's not okay for him, then there's not a fight that's okay for him. What? That's the craziest thing

I've ever heard. No, talking about. There are lower level middleweds who are not, he just knocked him out. He just did it. This is not,

This is not ancient history. It's going to be, if they fight, it will be two years. This is not a lifetime ago. Yes, it is a lifetime ago. He's been knocked out twice since then. Yeah, it's, I don't hate the fight on that basis. I just, I'm not interested in seeing them running back. I'm over the saga.

All right. And especially because it's two career middleweights being at 205 now. It doesn't make much sense to me. That's actually my favorite part of the whole thing, the 205 part. Down with weight cutting. They're both on the same level. Roseanne Barr

weighed in. Okay. Wow. What a transition. On Saturday to remind everybody of this basic fact that just a basic rule of thumb for all you new combat sports fans, disregard any scorecard from Judge Adelaide Bird. She still thinks fighting is scored

similarly to golf where the lowest score wins. And she tagged you and Brett Akamoto of ESPN. I'm still not sold. that this is the real Roseanne bar. I'm sorry, but I'm just not. It is. I mean, look, we'll have Roseanne on and she'll clear this all up. I'm just not sold. I believe it. I buy it. But I'm glad that you... Did you see the trailer for the new Rosan show that aired? I did. It premiered last night during the Oscars.

I did not see. I didn't watch the Oscars, so I didn't see that. I heard someone as you guys were getting prepared saying, I can't wait to hear Ariel break down the Oscars. Was that you? No. said that. Swear to God. They were joking. Because I'll break it down. No, I didn't see it.

Why? Did you watch it? I actually turned it on for literally five minutes. And guess what happened when I turned it on? The Roseanne? No, Kobe Bryant wins in and water. Oh, okay. We'll talk about that later. Crazy.

Turn it on. Kobe Bryant wins. I'm like, all right, I'm good. That's all good. You tuned it right at the right moment. I mean, first he scores the big body armor deal with the UFC and then he wins an Oscar. What a life. We also had another celebrity weighing in.

this time Rosie O'Donnell Noted MMA fan Rosie O'Donnell Posting here a picture of Brian Ortega

Captured from MMA Fighting actually Saying 13 and O Yes this man is it Tagging Joe Rogan And then watching Sat Night Live UFC Watching on Saturday night

The luminaries were On Twitter I had to tell you My mom sent me Maybe like Let me see how many texts now Oh my gosh

I can't believe you have Brian Ortega on With eight exclamation points What a treat She loves him With a with a With a screen grab And then she sent me like This hard emoji thing

This thingy? Yeah See this? During the interview And then there's more How cute is this guy with his brother Amazing guy Omg hi

Smiley face I think when he said hi to her She turned into a six 16 year old Your mom's got a crush on old Brian Ortega. I mean, have you seen... I don't blame her.

Have you seen those eyes? Can I just bring up one thing? I mean, there's so much to like about Brian Ortega with the foundation, the winning, but isn't there one fascinating part of this story? Tell us what it is.

Not that long ago, Brian Ortega failed a post-fight drug test. That's correct. Yet he doesn't get labeled with the same kind of vitriol and the same kind of negativity that a say Chris Cyborg does. Why do you think that is?

A few things. Okay, please. One he owned up to it immediately. Okay. Except a responsibility for it. And two, people are operating under the assumption that it was used as a weight-cutting mechanism and not performance enhancement beyond that. But I think more than anything, the former is what people latch on to it, and is that

he admitted making a mistake immediately and then moved on from it. I don't remember the initial statement. a statement or something that he came out with? Yeah, I don't recall up the top of my head. I'm sure somebody can point us to it. But in everything he said from that moment and since, he's always taken full responsibility for it and not tried to blame it on anything else

or not tried to brush it away. He's always openly addressed it and admitted he had a wrongdoing. Oh, and how I remember. I remember. And actively did this and didn't try to create circumstances for him doing it. So I think that that goes a long way in people's minds. Fessing up and admitting it was a mistake,

vowing to not make that mistake again and moving on. He doesn't shy away from it. And again, I also think what you test positive for also matters as well. In preparation for my UFC debut, I used a banned substance called Juston Alone. It was an irresponsible decision that I will regret for the rest of my life. I apologize to my family, friends, fans, the UFC and everyone else

who was affected by my selfish actions. It should be known that my coaches were totally unaware of my decision and I am ashamed that I let down the people who believed in me more than I believed in myself. That might be the greatest... I mean, holy smokes.

This was from, by the way, August of 2014. He also said, going forward, I'd rather lose a fair fight to any opponent than defeat myself the way I have done. Yeah, done it right. Damn. I forgot the way in which he handled that. It's no surprise that he was able to move on very quickly from it.

Yeah. And people were willing to forgive when you handle it that way. Wow. And since, that's the first statement, but since he's, every time it's been addressed, he's had the same regret. I don't know if anyone's owned up to it that cleanly, like to any infraction. It was well done. when you don't have to maneuver the facts and finesse things

and can say, look, I messed up, it makes things easier. And he did it the right way. Amen. Speaking of people who have done it the right way, Frankie Edgar throughout his career has done it the right way. Connor, paying tribute to Edgar.

Now, what did you think of this? Saying Frankie's career deserved for that to be against me tonight. Respect Frankie, love and respect always a true fighter's fighter. The first part is Connor McGregor seeking the attention. The second part is genuine

professing of admiration and respect and love for Frankie Edgar, which hard to be mad at that. I mean, it is your account. You probably want to get some shine on it. And I think a lot of people feel this way, at least the second part about Connor McGregor. Did it deserve to be

Connor McGregor? I mean, come on. Let's be real about the chances of that happening. Could you put that up for a second again? Frankie's career deserved for that to be against me tonight. Okay, let's just forget that line for a quick second. Respect Frankie, love and respect, always,

true fighters, fighter, and even the hard emoji I thought was endearing. But the first line is the part that I read a few times, and I was like, all right, fair, however. Fair. However, maybe there's some remorse, but however, after the Aldo Chad Mendes fight weekend, you remember Frankie B. Chad Mendes on a Friday? Yeah. Connor beat Aldo.

that fight was there. That fight could have happened easily. So is he saying, I messed up, I should have given him this chance? Because if he's saying anything but that, then the only reason that fight never happened is because of him. He's talking about that he... Or is he said UFC that he wanted to jump in. Man, I don't know. That fight should have happened after 194. Yeah, that's why it's not... You said fair. It's not fair. It's... It's ludicrous.

No, no, what I'm saying is like, okay, I understand it. I get the sentiment, but the only reason the fight didn't happen is because of Connor McGregor. Sure. It's absolutely insane. That coming out after, I was like, I just wish he didn't include that line because that kind of ruined the whole thing. No, but that's who Connor McGregor is, and I respect him for it. It's always the Connor McGregor show and good for him. Also, we had a statement from Frankie Eager after the fight saying Saturday did not go his plan.

Congrats to Ortega. He definitely got me with some good ones. I think that's an understatement. Thanks to all my peers, my team, my friends, and my fans for their nice words. They don't go unnoticed. All I can do now is dust myself off and get ready to put it all on the line again. As we would expect classy from Frankie Edgar. One of the truly most underrated fighters of all time, in my opinion.

Absolutely. One of the greatest of all time. Of course, former champion, all that. We don't have to go over his accolades. But just a guy who receives unanimous praise. When do you ever see this? Like, who talks crap about Frankie Edgar? I can't think of anyone.

You'd be hard pressed. I hope he doesn't mind me mentioning this, and I won't go too into it, but I happen to sit right next to Mark Henry on the flight home. To say that he was devastated would be an understatement. This was like a 5.45 a.m. flight, so we were both kind of tired. But he was so devastated. I mean, like, the hurt that he wore on his face,

he was so sad for Frankie, you know, those guys, I've talked about it with him on this show, Like the way the Ali's and the Mark Henry's and Eddie and Etzen and Marlon talk about Frankie as being the leader, they all live and die with this guy. So he was in so much pain. He was so hurt. And that just tells you a little bit about, you know, just how special when his teammates and his coaches just like love him like a son. So yeah. I'd love to see him at 135. How about you?

I would also like to see him at 135. Especially like Max is big, man. Max is big. Ortega's huge. Right? That was the discrepancy there. Standing next to Ortega, that was not two guys similarly sized matched up. Now, Frankie's made a career of beating people bigger than him, stronger than him.

So I don't want to turn this into a pity party for Frankie Edgar by saying, oh, he was so outmuscled and now at 3511 opportunity. This has been the Frankie Edgar story. He's always been able to compete against people who are bigger. and stronger than him. But I think at 35, he'd be more similarly matched on that basis and probably do pretty well. But I don't think, I mean, the guy is elite at 45, too. Let's not forget, like, you know, just because he lost to Brian Ortega, who's on one right now and Josealdo,

Frank Yeager is still among the elite of the elite. And I wouldn't be surprised if he hopped up to 55 if he was still able to hang. The guy is just all toughness and could hang anywhere. but if it's up to me, I'd like to see him take a crack at 35 just because I think there's new challenges there. Whereas 45 and 55 have kind of exhausted themselves as far as Frankie Eggers, you know, new matchups, fresh matchups. Sure. But I think he'd be successful in any of those divisions. In my opinion, this is not a case of Frankie Eggers shot Frankie Eggers done. No. It's a case of meeting a very game, Brian Ortega, younger, hungrier, Ortega. But I think Frankie Eggers still has some fights in him.

I don't know if it's fair to say hungrier, just a hungry, a younger, hungry opponent. Fair enough. All right. Don't be taking shots of Frankie. I'll go over and smack you that. After everything I said about Frank Yeager, clearly, hate the guy. Max Holloway, the featherweight champion, also having something to say about Frankie. What a statement, huh?

Saying you had nothing to gain from taking that fight, Frank Yeager, which is actually true. I mean, Frankie, kudos to, well, but kudos to Frankie for taking a fight against a Brian Ortega, who I can imagine that not a lot of people wanted to face, but you took it and defended what you already earned. There's no belt for sacrificing everything but true fans and Jersey, this is New Jersey, knows no belt can outshine what you bring to the sport. Chin up, brother.

Yeah, that was cool. Nice message. Right after. Hanois Holloway. You know, I keep trying to talk to Max Holloway, but they say he doesn't want to talk. Well, Nathan Thorpe on Twitter wanted to talk to Max Holloway, saying, remember when Connor McGregor destroyed you in Boston?

Oh, yeah. That's still his belt, and he said that. Oh, yeah. Still his belt, Max. Yeah. To which Max Holloway spoke and said, The undercard on Fight Night, we were kids, we got injured and made 12K.

I do remember, but it doesn't define who I am today. If you were hurt as a child, and it defines who you are today, don't let it. I believe you can be better today and who you were yesterday. Bro. Hashtack star. Max Holloway just out here dishing. He's amazing on Twitter.

He's very good on social media. And he's also very inspirational. Yeah. I mean, you could really get into your feelings there when somebody's bringing up Connor McGregor dust in you and he took it another direction being positive.

Shout out to the positive feather weights out there. We've got some good ones in this feather weights. Let me tell you something. The UFC has a crop of youngsters and it's not just about UFC 222. There were a few on display, but if they could just get to a nice little sweet spot as far as the number of events per year is concerned

where they can let these personalities breathe and build them the right way, I for one am not as down on the UFC's future. They just got to do it the right way. You know, these UFT 223 promos, a nice little sign. You know, you got to do things special. You've got to make events feel big. So on display with Max, Ortega, and some of the others we've talked about today.

Yeah, speaking of the young feather weights, here we see Chris Cyborg, grappling with another young featherweight. Oh, yes, I see what you did here. UFC 222 open workout The Maskman revealed to be The One and Only BJPen.com I said the one and only BJPetn.com The one and only BJPen, the goat

getting into it at the open workout. I thought this was pretty cool. Yeah, it was cool. Running in, we'll see it here, it's going to replay this video from our website, MMAFighting.com. Cyborg is going through the open workout and BJ comes from the stands here as she's boxing with Perillo.

Yeah, and of course the common connection is Perillo, longtime coach of BJ Penn and Chris Cyborg as well. I have to say it hurt me a little bit to see BJ losing again. Look at this. Taps him out. A lot of people, you saw his appearance on the broadcast on Saturday, right? I did, yes. First of all, it's just great to see him at the events,

and I wish we would see him more in that sort of ambassador role. I don't do that very often, but it would be nice. he did the whatever that thing yeah but it also looked like he was doing call me I don't think he was doing call me I was joking when I when I tweeted that but it did kind of look like he was saying call me

right he put his hand up a little bit it was more of a like flex and shaka like a double I'm not going to read into it because my feelings would be too hurt if all of a sudden the phone starts ringing for fights and

it was a shaka okay just leave it there fair enough by the way speaking of Hawaiian greats, our friend Rob DeMello, who works out at K-H-O-N-2 in Hawaii, just sent me this.

Just sent me this. The headline is, negotiations stall between UFC and HTA regarding Holloway title defense. With the Stars Align for a megafite this summer, appears the negotiations have stalled between the UFC and Hawaii to host Max Holloway's inevitable

title defense against the undefeated Brian Ortega. According to sources close to the situation, a proposal sent by the UFC, to the Hawaii Tourism Authority in January to host UFC 227 at Aloha Stadium in August was countered by the agency recently. However, the two sides are said to be on opposite sides of the octagon regarding the price tag. Like the National Football League, who was paid $5 million by the state to hold the Pro Bowl, the UFC traveling to Hawaii would require incentives.

Sources tell KHON2 that the HTA's counter left the two sides millions of dollars apart and have stalled. The HTA does not need to be involved for the UFC to bring event to Hawaii. However, serves as close to situation field, the partnership will likely be dependent on the organization coming to the islands with high costs that the production would require for a large-scale event.

Ah, boo. Damn. Wack. Maybe this is posturing, and hopefully it is, getting the laundry out in the public, so that the sides can come closer. This needs to happen.

Yeah. You need to do Brian Ortega versus Max Holley. the way and you do it in Hawaii. How crazy would that be? Man. Watch them go to Hawaii for like UFC fight night, you know, 223, headlined by Jimmy Manoa versus Alira Latifia or something.

Like, you know, like how they went to St. Louis without Tyron Woodley? Easy. There's too many good Hawaiians for this not to happen. Nate Diaz over the weekend. Yes. Receiving an award from High Times Magazine. High times, baby. Most influential person in cannabis, 2017.

Now, it's interesting, it says 2017, so that doesn't take into account his appearance at the Fight Night Show in Austin. No, maybe he'll just win next year or two. I mean, I would think he's locked it up. Not so fast. You know, Sean O'Malley is making a strong run. I'm not ready for a Sean O'Malley Nate Diaz feud, by the way.

I don't feel like this is right. I was very disappointed when I saw that tweet. You know the one I'm talking about? Yeah, I'm not ready for this. I don't think the world is ready for this. Yeah. I mean, hopefully they'll get baked and just forget about it. Yeah, that would be nice.

Okay, Mirro Cop. Yes. Posting this to Facebook from his phone, apparently, mobile uploads. Very nice. Bellator logo. Yes. Which led to Miracle Crow Cop versus Roy Nelson, slated for Bellator 200.

Story by Petsy Carroll. Yes. For MMAfighting.com. Your thoughts. I'm not feeling it? Yeah, look, if this can be away from, a crow cop to somehow sneak into the tournament now you've got me a little more interested

if it's just a crow cop versus Nelson fight rematch UFC 137 was that a fight that you needed to see again no I actually kind of forgot about it yeah if this is a way for look all of a sudden fade or makes it to the final somebody drops out on the other side of it

and we get fader versus crow cop now you're cooking now there's that would be fun let me ask you outside of that Can I tell you what my idea was? Yeah. Rampage versus Krokop. Love that.

Fresh, different, striking, right? Yeah, you know, why is that? Not the fight. I think there are reasons. Actually, there's a report that came out of Brazil today that they're looking at doing Rampage Vanderly. I like this better. Okay, well.

No, I like Rampage versus Krookup better. No, no, no. Really? Number four? You want to see number four? You want to see Rockhole, Biswick, 3, but you don't want to see Vanderle versus Rampage?

That is an epic. That is an epic saga. I didn't necessarily say I wanted to see it. I told you why I liked it for Bisping and why I didn't like it for... Excuse me, why I liked it for Rackle why I didn't like it for Bisping. So I'm not really signing up.

I mean, it kind of came out of nowhere here so I sort of reacted to it, but, you know, I'm a fan of the guy going out on his own terms against someone more at his level. Anyway, that's... Rampage versus Vanderlay. Give it to me a hundred times.

Okay. Forever. Until they're both in wheelchairs. smashing into each other with the with the chairs. I'll take it, I'll take it all day. This fight it's good, look, it's good to see Mirko back in the fold,

but this fight in particular, not one I was dying to see, but we'll see what's ahead for him after that. Maybe there's a mini little four-man tournament there. Maybe they can match up Vanderlei or Rampage versus the winner of Nelson and Crocop.

Miracle Crocups winning this whole damn thing. watch. I mean, he has to get into it. Just watch. He's the Daniel Cormier of the tournament. It could be. Look, Miracle versus Fador in the final. I'm in.

Bellator also announcing Paul Daly versus John Fitch, who we had on earlier today for Bellator 199. Yes. What did you think of John Fitch's appearance on the show today? I thought he needs to

figure some things out. He needs to brush up on... I had some people say that like he ran circles around me. I mean, humbly, I would, look, I'm not going to get into an argument or a debate with a, with a, with a, with a guess, because I'm inviting him on the show and I don't feel like that's appropriate. That said, I disagree. Why are you laughing? What's so funny? Rob made a noise back here by accident. That said, I, I disagree. I don't think his facts are correct on a lot of things. Yeah. And, um, I don't know. I just, I was a little surprised. Also, just going to call it out,

he was clearly reading a whole bunch of stuff. Yeah. I think what I would say about this is... I don't need no script to debate this stuff. No. And by the way, I'm not on the UFC side. What are you talking about? I think Fitch's ambitions are good.

His heart is in the right place. He's trying to do things the right way and trying to fight for fighters' rights. So no matter how that slices, whether it's this group, this another group, his ambitions are noble and he's trying to do the right thing. But I think, you know, brushing up on who's a promoter, who's a manager, things like that. Yeah.

And then he sent me something about Lou DeBella weighing in, but it's like, dog. In this circumstance, you know. But even the free market thing doesn't make sense. No, it is. I mean, when you're a free agent, that's a free market. There's a free market, but it's a limited free market. Great. No one.

I think what he was getting at. Then how about the Super Bowl analogy? Well, what he was getting at was you can win a championship in football in American football and then go to another team. Yeah, but in MMA, if you win a championship with the organization, they will keep you in the contract. That's what he was, that's what he was getting at, was, you have a champion's clause. You have a champion's clause. He did not verbalize it. At the end, he kind of got, he got around to it and that's what I, what he was talking about was, you have a champions

clause. So if you're dominant in your sport, you're remaining with that organization, barring other circumstances. I mean, we've seen cases where people have been able to win their free agency as a champion, but that is what he was talking about, in my opinion. How about this, though? Paul Daly versus John Fitch, what do we feel about this matchup? At first I was like, oh, damn,

those are two, you know, marquee names. They've been around the game for quite some time. But then I started to, like, scratch my head a little bit and say, is Paul Daly being punished for, you know, his comments recently about the Bellator brass? Don't love it stylistically for Paul Daly. Yeah.

But hey. I like the idea of Fitch fighting in Belator. A, I like the idea of Fitch fighting in San Jose. B. Of course. I mean, Daley signed up and dotted line. Well, Daley wanted it. In fact, I think as early as February. I know he wanted it.

I know he was down. There was some time in February, mid-February, where he was calling for this fight and wanted it. So maybe Paul Daly knows something. We don't know. Two high-level guys and a big matchup for Belator 109. Still can't get over 200. I still like it.

It enrages me that Belthor 200 is going to air in 2018 via tape delay. This promotion is owned by a TV company. What the heck? 200. What? Come on. What are you doing? It's crazy.

Yeah. It just shouldn't happen. Offered online for free on Paramount Network. God, give us somewhere. I mean, what? 200? It's horrible. It's not too late to do that.

Yeah. It's not too late to revise and figure out a way to deliver it to people. Some news from the WMMA world, Invicta, Mazuki, replacing Janessa Mirandain, facing Verna Jandhiroba for the vacant strawweight title and Invicta FC28. I'm not sure who, like, runs the show or ever at Invicta, but they have an amazing ability to release. least news at the worst times possible. How do you figure? This one came out at 5.30 Eastern time right before the UFC weigh-ins on a UFC pay-per-view weekend with a Belator event coming up and all kinds of news.

I don't know, maybe you can weigh in, like in the mind of a PR person, but announcing news about an upcoming event at 5.30 on a Friday in the midst of all other kind of news regarding MMA seems like I don't know, not the most opportune time to release New York. Definitely not ideal. Neither is the injury. You know, you've got to move on. Would a Monday afternoon

release a 1 o'clock or 2 o'clock, maybe in the middle of an MMA show, something like that with that? No, because then you'll say the main event, you know, then you'll complain about it happening during the show. There's a way. It's not to me, but I'm just 5.30 on 5.30 on Friday. No, no, no, no, no. Just a 5.30 on Friday. Look, I mean, I mean, I

know you reviewed notes with Aunt Evans, you know. No, no, no, this is 100% me. I don't even know who Aunt Evans is. Neither do I. How dare you mention that name on this show? How about this name? Ennis Cantor. Oh, yes.

This is great. Teaching Chris Wydenman. I'm sorry, no. And I, you know, be... Look at those punches. I'd like to see Enis Cantor actually teach Chris Whiteman. But Chris Widman teaching Enis Cantor. How to punch.

Not terrible. Not terrible. I mean, we've seen some disasters. A little right action there. I mean, just, I thought it was interesting that you picked Cantor's tweet and not Wydman's. Why? What's the? Wyman's was a tweet to address to LeBron James.

I didn't even. You didn't see it. Wyman tweeted LeBron James saying, hey, you know, best thing twice. I've been working with my guy. That's right. I didn't see that. That's pretty funny. I saw this from Cantor,

but that's actually pretty funny. Yeah, that was good stuff. If I had known, I would have picked that one. How come you didn't text it to me and start talking all that ish? Then again, I mean, looking at this, you know, LeBron could... Just figure you follow me on Twitter,

you see when I tweet stuff, I guess. Nah, you know, not all the time. Press releases, man. Yeah, exactly. I got things going on. Look, I mean, I wouldn't be too happy about this either. Like, LeBron would still dust this jump. I don't know about that.

See that right? Boom. Power? Ugh. Just gross. Okay We now switch over to e-sports Oh, this is great

Let's bring the audio up on this Because Demetrius is As himself applying an arm bar In the new EAUXC thing Oh my god That just scared the crap out of me And then his opponent quit

If you're not familiar with what's going on here His opponent Disconnected Which is what like sore losers kind of do Like when you lose you don't You don't wait to go through the end screens so he just I love this. Demetrius doing a little salt

bay on him. How does he do this? How does he like do the thing with him sitting there and the screen? So he records himself on a green screen and then takes the feed of the video game and puts that. It's incredible.

On the back. A lot of a lot of technology at play here and well done by Demetrius but somehow we can very rarely get him on Skype. with all this. Yeah, what the hell? Well done to Demetrius.

We stick in the world of video games to see the Street Fighter Twitter account congratulating Angela Hill on her win last weekend, U.C. Orlando, saying congratulations to Angie Overkill on her latest win. Like Dalseem, she made every strike count.

So here from an Invicta way in where Angela was wearing the Dalseem costume. Angela Hill throws a lot of shade my way on Twitter. I don't know, you know, she says I don't get her references or things like that. Do you get this one? Do you know what this is? Yeah. That's Pebbles from the Flintstone.

Here comes, I mean, she's vicious on Twitter. She's going to slay you again. Listen, it's going to bring it. Do you actually not know a street fighter? You know Street Fighter, yes? You've heard of this. I'm only losers play a Street Fighter. I'm more of a Mortal Kombat guy

myself. Oh, really? Yeah. Name somebody from Mortal Kombat. Emogian? What? There always used to be this guy who would be like, Hoosian, you know, when he would, I never played those games. I had a life.

I was, you know, dating and doing things of that nature. Oh, yeah. Oh, for sure. I was an NBA jam, Madden. Okay, fair enough. I bet you can name some players from NBA jam, so I won't quiz you on that way. Oh, yeah, hell yeah.

But this is cool. Street Fighter is cool. Angela Hill's cool. It was a good costume. Good to see that. I'm shouting her out. Paying tribute. And now, finally, we end with, and I have to give a special shout out to Pity One Shoe.

Okay. A.k.a. Pizzi, aka Peter Carroll from M.M.A. Fiddy. One shoe. I never heard that one before. I mean, you wouldn't have. That's a street nickname. Only people who run on the rough on the rough streets would know about this. Oh, this is amazing. But what we have here is the gym of one. Yes.

He's done this in the past. Jim of one Gunner Nelson. Yes. He did the Justin Bieber. Remember that one? Doing. What is this one? This is Beat It. This is Beat It. Oh my God. Look at the production value. Incredible. Oh my gosh.

Is Holly in it too? Can we turn the volume up? Yes. Now will we get, will we get, you know, flag for this? What do you mean? Because of the music. You're always afraid of my phone? No, no, no. Not this one? How come? Their video, I mean, look, their video may. This is phenomenal. Is Gunny in it?

Is Gunny in it? Gunny's the star. There's Holly. That's Gunny's dad. Yeah. Oh, there's Gunny right there. Is Gunny in it? This is amazing.

You remember? Look at that. Who's that? This is incredible. I love these guys. All right, maybe, all right, let's bring the audio down. Go find the whole song on the account of their Jim Miel near M. doing...

Oh, look at this. The whole... You remember the Justin Bieber one? The I'm sorry? What's the name of the song? I think that is it. Sorry. Remember that one?

That one's amazing. And they're wearing like random... This is not amazing? Look at these moves. No, no, no. I just can't believe that this is actual like an annual thing that they do.

I thought that that was a one-off. Shout out to Peter Carroll. Yeah. Putting me on to this one. By the way, how about this tweet from Max Holloway that you missed? Maybe it better than the other one. What was it?

So Connor responded to the The Max to Frankie tweet Yeah, I didn't like you. No, no, no. Go ahead. Tell me. He said, kid, you bounced. Yeah. Leave it. But then Max responded to that. You saw it? I saw the response. It was okay. Oh, we talking about bouncing now? Don't like my tweet. Your coach did. Go ask him why. Maybe you'll find what you lost.

That's fine. That's fine. Oh, is coach liked his tweet? I'm still looking at some sweet moves from Gunner Nelson right now. All right. That's it for Rick's picks this week. Now we're going to do some questions from... Yeah, let's see some questions. The fans out there.

Okay. But first, we're going to start how we always start with the question of the day by Ariel Hawani. Yes, can't wait. Saying, yes, it's early, but who... Yes. Are you favoring right now? Yes.

The options we had in front of us are. Max Holloway and Brian Ortega. What do you got? With 14,000, let's call it 15,000 votes. Max Holloway, 62%. Brian Ortega, 38%. Oh. Are you surprised by this outcome?

I thought maybe it would be a little closer only because of the recency of the Ortega fight, but overall, no. What do you think? I'm not surprised by that. No. I think Holloway announced himself. last year in a way that I don't think many people would be picked against him

outside of maybe Connor so that does not surprise me although I think we're at a situation where Brian Ortega might not have even been in the conversation until very recently people would have been dismissive of his chances and now at least

38% of people would favor him but that's a fight that is going to be exciting Yeah, I can't wait. Speaking of which, by the way, Ortega was apparently on the UFC filtered podcast, and Dana called him and said that he is, in fact, getting the title shot. So in case you were wondering and worried. He finally spoke to him. Although, do you not agree with me that like a nice little handshake in the back would be apropos?

I mean, of course, but, you know, circumstances are what they are. What circumstances? Maybe he couldn't get to him. Look. It's a busy night. It's been done for decades. decades, this sort of thing. I don't think Ortega's too upset.

He got the phone call. He's getting a title shot. He actually seemed like it bugged him a little bit. You're not wrong that it would mean something, and I think he expressed as much. But he's got a title fight in front of him now. We're going to see him versus Max Holloway. Hopefully at UFC 27 in Hawaii.

Yeah, I think my mom will be there at Cajide. Wherever he fights next, there's Mama Hawani. Okay. Speaking of fighting next, who should be next for Cyborg? Is it Megan Anderson? Is it Amanda Nunes? Is it somebody else? Is it Holly Holie Homme?

Who should be the next opponent for Chris Cyborg? I mean, look, at this juncture, even if Megan Anderson is cleared, you know, her visa problems or whatever, whatever that Cyborg tweeted about, whatever the issues are, I don't know what the issues are, but she's not talking about it for some reason. It's clearly not an injury, right? Because we see her training, right? Yeah. her issues are,

if she's cleared in the next couple months, do you really want to debut against Chris Cyborg at this point? You haven't fought since January. But how... Last year. What is your path back there?

One fight, get in. Get in. First is who. I don't know. That's the UFC's problem. So, yeah, did I want to see that fight? Of course.

She was the Invicted champ. She was on a bit of a role. But now, after watching Kuntzkaya and seeing what it's like to debut in the main event, title fight against Cyborg, if I'm her coach and her management, I don't know if I want that. Now,

fighting Cyborg brings a lot of cash, so maybe you want to do it because you haven't fought, more power to you. I like the Nunes fight. I don't love the idea of taking a fight away from Rekyll Pennington. She's been promised that fight. I love the idea of that fight happening in Rio, but I understand it's too soon. It's just not

a great situation. And I have a hard time believing that Nunes is going to fight May 12th, if she wins that fight, is going to turn around and fight on July 7th. I just have a hard time seeing that. So my guess as to what would happen is based on the cards that we're playing with here, Nunes fights, and this is a total guess, Nunes fights Pennington, and then she fights Cyborg down the line,

August, September, you know, October, whatever the case is. I just don't feel like she's going to return in less than two months. Maybe Megan Anderson, you know, maybe something happens that she's able to fight in July and Cyborg gets her wish, but everyone wants to fight on that card. You know, you can't have like eight title fights on that. card. So she said she has two fights left on a contract.

It sounds like Anderson and Nunes could be the last two, but who expected Yanukunzkaya to get a title shot? I think if you've got one in the hand, take the shot against Cyborg. If I'm speaking of the perspective of Megan Anderson, I don't think you want to take another fight before you fight Cyborg. That is the money fight. The path back there is against similarly tough opponent. I would take that fight now if granted the opportunity.

Do you think Father Time finally touched Frankie Yeager or is it Brian Ortega's time in the sport Or a combination of both? I fall firmly in the both camp. Both, really? Father Time? Listen, one thing about Frankie that is worth noting No one has been in the cage longer than him. Yes.

And he has been hit. Not only in training, but we've seen him getting hit, right? So at some point it's going to catch up. The other thing about Chris, Chris is like she never gets hit, right? So who knows what this is going to do to her longevity, the fact that she's fighting opponents who don't touch her. But as far as Frankie goes, he has been hit. So at some point that's going to, and that's why I said,

I would love to see him at 135. So maybe it's both. I just think that, you know, sometimes these stars align, you run into this young gun, this locomotive, and everything's working on. And I do believe there's a lot of credence to what Henner and Brian were saying, at the top of the show, maybe having less time to prepare at times when you're a youngster and you're just kind of in shape

is better for you mentally and physically too, because you just get three weeks to go, you know, full balls to the wall. I think there's no doubt though that, look, as you said, Frankie's been in there for a very long amount of time over the courts of his title fights and not all of them are one-sided.

A lot of them, he took a significant amount of damage. That is going to catch up to somebody at a certain point. That said, Don't get me wrong. The shots that Ortega landed would have put anybody out. He lifted him off his feet. A damn uppercut. brutal.

So no slight to Frankie. Okay. Should a ref consider a fighter's past resiliency in their decision to stop a fight, especially a TKO? In this case, they're talking about Brian Ortega definitely winning the fight, but would have liked to see, Andrew says he would have like to see Frankie Edgar attempt to roll to his knees and shoot. So he's saying Frankie wasn't completely out. Do you want to see referees?

leeway to somebody. What do you talking about Frankie wasn't completely out? This guy has an issue with the stoppage? Saying Frankie is known for being resilient and known for being able to recover. What do you want him to die in there? He was out. He wasn't. What?

Being knocked unconscious is different than a TKO. He wasn't. He wasn't asleep. What? You want him to just, what? You're advocating that all finishes have to be like unconscious, his chaos? No, you're saying that it was, but it was not.

He was out on his feet, I would argue. But even before the uppercut, go back and watch it. Okay, but... That was a very clean finish. There's no controversy whatsoever. Stop trying to make controversy. There's not a controversy.

What the question is is... What are the all-time worst questions in the history of this program? You see... Okay, we'll move on. Sorry, Andrew. We can't have this conversation. No, we can't.

I don't even understand what he's advocating for. Well, that's because you're coming from a perspective of not knowing the difference between a K.O. and a TK. I'm fully aware of the difference. The difference between the K.O. and a TK.K.O. is when the referee steps in and stops the action. Like what happened in the cyborg Kuntzkaya fight. It's a very clear TKO. A KO is, I don't know, when Mark Hunt knocked out Chris Toucher. Right. Yeah. So what do we mean? I don't know the difference. And in this case, what happened? The referee stepped in, but sometimes it's not even needed. Sometimes when Mark Hunt knocks out Roy Nelson, it's not even needed, but the guy steps in anyway.

You get it? So it's more like that one than the cyborg one. Sure. What about Stefan Skyscraper? Do you think he's going to be relegated to the role of a gatekeeper or move to Belator? What is next for Stefan? It's been up and down, been some time off. It's amazing.

He has the win over Steepay. You know, Rogan was critical of him on the broadcast. And to a certain degree, rightfully so. He still hasn't figured out. how to use his length to his advantage. He is so tall, he is so long, he's over seven foot, yet it still seems like he doesn't use the jab properly, that he doesn't use that, you know, that advantage that he has.

And it's a tough thing to watch. You know, he's been through so much with his own health. Yep. If you're asking, do I think that you, if she should cut him no, I think Arlofsky was a good fight for him. Yeah. He was injured. I think that was a perfect matchup.

Yeah, he was injured in the Volkov fight. He had a shoulder injury, so it's a tough spot, but no, I don't think that they should cut him, that's for sure. What's incredible about this fight is also, Andre Arlowski, how many times has his back been against the wall, and he always finds a way, like losing streak, winning streak, again, putting together now two in a row, Arlofsky keeping himself in the conversation.

Man, it's amazing. Like I said, Mike Brown may have added years to his career, or at least fights. one that you've been wanting to talk on for a bit. So here's the opportunity. It seems that CSAC were more concerned with getting money than actually punishing John Jones for cheating. When a fighter does get fined, a huge sum, where does that money go?

So let's use that as an entryway into talking about this John Jones situation. But maybe answer the question first. It goes to the commission. It goes directly to the commission. Yes, but it's very sort of vague as to where exactly, you know, or what exactly they do with it, but it does go to the commission. Here's my two cents. I'll be very quick as far as the John Jones situation.

We could do a whole hour on this, but we've run out of time. My two cents on the John Jones situation is this. When the hearing started, Andy Foster, the California State Athletic Commission, came out and said that his recommendation was that John Jones should receive a 40% fine of his purse against Daniel Cormier and receive a revocation of his license, right? That should be his punishment. then we had the testimony from a couple of witnesses, but most importantly, we heard from

John Jones finally after all this time. His testimony went horrible. It did not go well. It was incriminating. There were no positives out of that. I mean, just one thing after the next, it got worse and worse and worse and worse. California, they were prepared. It just wasn't good. Okay. Then they take a break and we wonder, like, what's it going to turn out here? And guess what? He ends up with a 40% fine, plus the little added punishment, so $205,000, and the revocation of his license. So to me, that said, they already knew what they were going to give him going into the meeting or the hearing, and nothing he said in the hearing affected their stance. And I just don't see how that's possible. That makes me wonder openly whether or not Yusata already knows what they're going to give him.

And I wonder if his testimony, which was incriminating, which he admitted he doesn't take the tutorials and he has his managers, quote unquote, forge his signatures. I think he meant sign on his behalf, but those were the words that were used. You know, you would think that that would hurt his cause, but I don't even know if that's the case. If they already had their punishment in mind, and that's the punishment that he ended up with after that horrible testimony, then what was the point of all that? Why don't just give him the punishment and end it? Like, why did we have to go through all of that? So in the end, I actually feel like this ended up being a good day for John Jones. It started off very bad.

And in the end, some way, somehow, it ended up being good. And why did it end up being good? Not only because of that, because of this as well. Andy Foster, whom I have the greatest amount of respect for, you've heard me praise him on multiple occasions on this program. I believe that they actually were a little more lenient on him than they could have been. He said that revoking John's license was the harshest penalty that they could give him because if they gave him a suspension, he could just come back after the one year or two years, whatever the case is, and keep on fighting.

But to me, that is a flawed argument because his license is up for renewal in August. So basically, they revoked his license for the next, what, five months. So let's say Usada goes rogue and gives him a one-year suspension. dating back to last year, so retroactive to last July's fight, that means come August, he's free to fight. Had you, California, the California State Athletic Mission, who is not in some kind of business relationship with the UFC, put your foot down once and for all,

and given John Jones a two-year suspension, he can't come back in August. He can't come back until next year. So you are giving him a hard punishment. But now what you've done is we're revoking his license, and we're saying to you, Sada, you punish the man and once that punishment is over, then come back to us and then we'll talk about giving you a license.

Once you serve that punishment, whatever it is. Now, is it possible that California knows what the punishment already is and they want to just pay that respect to Usada? Maybe, but what if they don't? And what if Usada says, you know what? You didn't know, we believe you, we'll give you a one-year suspension. Well, then he's able to come back in five months. So I just don't know why they didn't take more of a hardline stance

and we've seen this from commissions in the past as opposed to just revoking his license. And now essentially he's able to reapply. And by the way, okay, fine. If California says, you know what, we don't believe, we don't think you've paid enough of a price. We don't want to give you back your license whenever his USADA suspension is done. Well, guess what?

Every other commission under the sun is going to be able to do it. And they're not going to have to be beholden to California because there is no suspension on them anymore. If they gave them a two-year suspension, every commission under the sun would have abided by it. But now they don't have to. So I just kind of felt like we'll see what the USADA suspension is. And there's not going to be a public hearing like this from what I understand.

That's not the way it's trending right now. We'll just kind of find out what his punishment is like we have found out more often than not with these USADA hearings. I just kind of felt like overall this was a very good day for John Jones, a day that could have gone way worse, that started way worse. And in the end, he didn't get the toughest punishment that maybe he should have gotten given the testimony and how harm. it may have been, at least from our perspective.

So two cents on it all. I think the immediate reaction was, this is horrible, he's screwed, he's going away for four years. I'm not buying that. I actually think it was a win for John Jones. I just would see John Jones fight. I just want to see him back. It wasn't a good day for him as far as his testimony is concerned. No, it was, it was, I didn't see it live.

I had to go back and watch it, but I did follow along on social media. And boy, was that rough. It was, I mean, it was just one bad quote after the next. And, you know, this idea, look, here we are in February from an incident that happened in July. And there's no alibi, there's no story. There's just, I swear to my Heavenly Father, it was hard to watch. And look, I appreciate the fact that he's not lying. What I mean to say is, I appreciate the fact that he didn't make up some crazy story about some guy who gave him this, that, and the other.

But there's nothing. There's no idea. There's no test. There's no supplement. there's no nothing as to what happened here. Doesn't that kind of play into the actual narrative, which is that John Jones is a bit aloof and doesn't really... And nothing has changed.

Yeah. And no, don't get me wrong. I'm on the same page as everybody else that this was not the way you approach this hearing. But it does kind of further back that idea that John Jones just doesn't have a good grasp on what's going on and is completely aloof of the circumstances. and if you're trying to portray that as the counter to somebody willingly and knowingly taking steroids, it is copacetic. It does make some semblance of sense, but you'd like to see a little bit of effort at least going to how this happened, whether it's going back and figuring it out.

It's not enough to just say it happened and I don't know how it happened. Some chain of events, something, and none of it was there. And look, I don't see the guy cross. I don't see any of that. But it's not the opposite, which is the, somebody spiked my this, I took this, you know, we've had enough of that. People are sick of that,

but at the same time, you have to give yourself the best chance. But as you said, I mean, all in all, ultimately not a bad day for John Jones based on what the potential ramifications are. There was a lot of talk about how he presented it, but ultimately the punishment seems to not have been as harsh as it could have been.

I really thought it was a good day for him, a really good day for him. How true are the Chuck Liddell rumors regarding him making an appearance for Bellator? Do you have any... Okay, thank you for asking this. People get upset sometimes when there are reports out there, and this one was first reported by Chris Taylor or BJPen.com, I want to give credit where it's due. When there's a report out there, my job is to go out there and try to verify the report from the report because that's my job, literally.

That's like an aspect of my... job. Sometimes these stories aren't true. They're not accurate. And I have to put it out there. And it's not because I'm trying to throw shade on a reporter, a young reporter, whatever the case is. It's just sometimes not true. And you know what? On this particular day, I was like, eh, I don't even want to deal with it. What I'm told from multiple Bell Tour officials at this moment, there's no deal in place. They have talked. It did not get very far. There's no deal in place. It is not imminent. It is not close, there's nothing on the table, essentially. And so people were going crazy. And I just, I didn't want to deal with all like white throwing shade. I mean, I just, I just didn't want to deal

with it. So I appreciate you asking. And there you have it. That's where it stands right now. And finally, after seeing an athlete, in this case, Kobe Bryant, went an Oscar last night. Is there anybody in MMA who could potentially win an Oscar? Who has the makings of Oscar winner now that we've seen Kobe Bryant cross over? Have you seen that burger? commercial. So what you're telling me, hold on, time out. Yes. Yes. So to finish this.

Yes. What you're telling me right now is Conner McGregor is going to win an Oscar, not for producing something, but actually for acting. That is what you took away from that Burger King commercial. You're picking Connor. Yes. To win an acting Oscar. Yes.

Oh, boy. Oh, boy. I mean, is there any other choice? I mean, it's the perfect way to end the day. Started with that, it ends with that. hey, aye. Here's the thing, by the way, here's the thing about the Kobe Bryant. Was acting in there? Does it have to be specifically acting? Because Kobe didn't act in that piece. That's what I'm saying. You've picked a bold choice, my friend.

Well, you don't think that a, you don't think that a sincere, dear MMA love letter animated short from Connor McGregor can win an Oscar? That's a different question. But you said based on the Burger King commercial in which Connor McGregor was acting. I just saw something there as far as theatrics and delivery. I'll say that. Obviously, it's almost impossible to predict somebody to randomly win an Oscar years later, although I'm sure The Simpsons have done it in some capacity, because they seem to predict everything that happens in the world. I could see an MMA product, like winning an Oscar of some sort,

like some kind of documentary or some kind of fictional account that was well done. because I really feel like to this point MMA is a little bit untapped when it comes to those things. Like it hasn't really it hasn't really seen the best of what I think filmmaking can be so I wouldn't be surprised

if down the line some kind of MMA story was written that you know the writing won an Oscar or the cinematography or something about the production aspect of it I don't know if we have any actors

who are going to be taken home Monarcher of you've seen Entourage, the film. Who was in that? Oh, Ronda. Yes. Or, you know, WW programming as of late. So I don't know if I would subscribe to that theory on your part. On that note. Goodbye.

God bless. Salamalalakum. Thank you very much. Thanks to all of you for tuning in. We are way out of time so you can hit my music. Sorry to everyone to the back for keeping you. Oh, coming in hot. that music. Boom. My poor ears. Thank you very much to all who stuck with us in the back and, of course, watching the program. What a day it has been, my friends. I mean, you live for these days. These are the kinds of days that you dream about. And it's been fun. Everyone showed up.

Everyone gave us good stuff. We talked a lot about UFC 222 and the other things going on in the world of mixed martial arts. And we heard from legends. We heard from up-and-comers. We heard from champions. We heard from potential future champions. We heard from them all. Former champions. What a great day it has been. I want to thank everyone who tuned in. As always, we appreciate it very much. Hope you like our new breakdowns on iTunes. Let us know what you think of that. And thanks for sticking with us if you're still watching on Twitter. I appreciate all our guests who stopped by as well. Thank you very much to Sean O'Malley. Hope he gets well soon. Thank you very much to the great Brian Ortega and surprise guest, Hennar Gracie.

Congratulations to both of them on the Big Victory Saturday night. Thank you very much to Holly Home. Good luck in her return. Thank you very much to John Fitch. Congrats on the New Deal. Thank you very much to Kinky, Gagard Musassi. And if he doesn't come out to that nickname, I will be very disappointed on May 25th. Thank you very much to George St. Pierre.

How amazing. Great stuff. Great to catch up with him, as always. Thank you very much to Luke Rockhold. Congrats on the New Deal. Thank you very much to Daryon Caldwell. Congrats to him on the win. Good luck to Nick Newell this Friday that Sabina Mazo Fai

It has been canceled, by the way. Thank you very much to McKenzie Dern. Congrats to her. Thank you very much to Chris Cyborg. Congrats. And once again, thank you very much to the great Mike Goldberg. Back next week. Same time and place.

Until they say, peace. So I'm out of hell.