MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani- Episode 424 (Part 5)

Episode Date: March 6, 2018

Ariel Helwani speaks to Mike Goldberg (01:32) and NewYorkRic for The MMA [After] Hour featuring Ric's Picks (26:05) and the answers to your questions (1:05:23). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hope you're enjoying this week's episode of the MMA hour. Here's part five. 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 start of the show, but worth repeating very quickly. The passing of Bruce Connell, 61 years old, long-time producer of UFC broadcast, long-time 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, 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 his passing aerial and he let me 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 it happened a few days afterwards. I just, I don't even know how to describe it. Shocked, disbelief, just absolutely. 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. Probably the doctors as well. Last week was really, really difficult on multi-platforms. I mean, personally, I mean, of course, without saying this. that guy's is my best friend. I mean, we've been in the trenches

since ESPN 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 Morton to Scott Fishman, who has led us on Spike and now Bellator Paramount, Fis was very, very close with Brucey.

There were a bunch of tears 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 John Stap. 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 telecasts 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 talkback. 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, Wills in ESPN Hockey guy in the mid-90s. And I got on the talk back right before the show. And I just said, you know, hey, it's for Brucey. Let's kill it.

It's like, no prisoners. Let's have a great show. This is for Brissy. 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 jailed a ton of credit because as I was delivering that trip, you know, and I started to say, it was really, once I said, and personally, I was going to lose it. Chair 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 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 to 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 two professional. You did Bruce Lee right. And it wasn't about 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 happen 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 brusies 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 um but joe you know joe pre-blazed the first part of it and he was losing it pre-blazing it and so jill and i were texting all day on Saturday, Ariel, just like, man, like, life is unfair. 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 bites. So I thought the UFC guys and Joe delivering it, I thought they did an absolutely tremendous job as well. I really, really enjoyed those with you. 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 a format meeting where I was like, hey, Brucey, this might work a little better if we switch that and do the graphic afterwards, and there were 100 times where I'd be like, that's good call, Goldie. And there are 200 times we said, shut off and let me see the format.

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 hit pay-per-view aerial, nobody's going anywhere. There's no commercial. I mean, it became legendary when I would leave to know the bathroom.

I think 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 her flagged 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 meal, let's be better as you 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 Goldio always make it so smooth. Well, multiply that by 100 to what Bruce is dealing with in the truck.

And how he's guiding Anthony Girogano, our director, and audio and tapes 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. 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 kooky,

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,

Bruce 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.

You've got to take a jihitsu class. Just almost the guy I did happy with at ESPN. It 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 Giordano, 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 pods and you're as well as they come.

So it's an absolute honor area. We all to talk about Brucey. So Bruce would reach out. Goody, go to, go, 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 it like that. I was writing.

I was doing whatever. So Bruce would call, right? So I hit decline. 15 seconds later, the phone in my hotel room was ring. Okay, who uses the phone in a hotel room anymore? obviously Bruce does. I'm getting answered. That Paul,

nowhere to 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 there? I open a door. Hey, Mr. Goldberg, hotel security. We had a call.

We made sure that you were okay. There was somebody concerned about you, so they called security, and they wanted to make sure that you were okay. Bruce sent security aerial 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 fiancee 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 to my room, Ariel, to finally hunt me down because, It was time to talk to them. 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 is saying, hey, let's remember, Mr. Calic. 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, and it was Saturday. It was show day.

And all the way, I always do my cards alongside the format. And then I kind of put the format away. So, Percy calls me about... I don't know, 11 in the morning, he's like, holy, golly, golly, grab your format, grab your format. And I'm kind of like, Bruce, I don't even have my format anymore. What, right, come on, I've got to do some changes. I got to do your change.

I'm like, Bruce, I can pull up my cards and this night's like, Goldie, 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 awful! And he comes back in the phone, I go, Brucey, I think he's forgot to hit. Luke.

Oh my God. It was absolutely vintage Bruce. He moved a phone away. Call me, you know, shrimp and asshole or whatever I was at that time.

But time is about to hit the view button. Oh, 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. Um, he's funeral service is actually this Friday, which would have been with 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 want it 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 first like Karen because you know they're

they're grown up they're not in the house and so I'm there and I'm family I've been family and I will be family and you know I'm going to help with whatever is needed to be not just this week, but for the rest of my life, to 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 will never really know how great Bruce Conno was. Because we're never 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 deal. 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 longtime 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 the table and they pass out, you know, these production sheets and the rundowns, 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 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, she was like in charge of commercials, but this truck is super small. Like if you've seen this studio, it's maybe even smaller than this studio. It's, 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 broadcast, 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 way-ins, very, very rarely, as you know, if you watch, did I make it on the actual broadcast, right? We were kind of, you know, in a lane to ourselves pre-post, way and 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 Northcutt 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, 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 Arrell you're ready you're going to do this like he 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 right now. I could hear him saying like, all right, we're going to do this

and you count 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 and and and and and and and and the UFC TV family um loses you know their leader bruce connell so uh you know i give a lot of credit to mike goldberg and john annick and and and

and uh joe rogan daniel cormee for for being able to power through i thought the the tribute was beautiful um Zach candido who's one of the top producers at the UFC um is is the one in my opinion who deserves a lot of the credit for putting that together uh putting that tribute together and some 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.tweter.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. time a rick's picks and your minds m m ms 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 some water

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 Cyborg to Gagher Musassi. That's just how we do it around here.

Almost rhymed. That whole thing just almost rhymed. No, there's a lot still to unpacked. There's a lot going on. Let us 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? 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. One king to another?

This packs a real cake. Spicy Introducing the new Spicy crispy chicken sandwich Only a burger king Oh And by the way Thanks for all the trash out guys

You just put Connor Jr. Truth 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 for the actual execution Not exactly the most innovative commercial, but... Listen.

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, you know, there are no sponsors in the UFC. Because it's just cool to have like a Burger King logo on your show. 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. The Jets 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's 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.

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 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 as 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 importantly, at least for us, and this is huge.

Congratulations. It's great to see fighters. you know, GDPing outside of the world of MMA. Nice commercial as well. Look at that. Yeah. Right? A 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? Bisping idea. 2.05 pounds. You don't like it, huh? Is that really what I want to see? For Bisping. 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 middle-weight 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 a very emotional fight. Do I want to see two career middle-wates at 205

doing it for the third time? Not that interested, to be honest. All right. 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 at 205. Clearly, he has trouble cutting down to 185. I just don't know if Bisping 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 Otto, but you got what I'm saying, like a title contender or a 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 them 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. What? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. No, that's talking about there are lower level middleweds who are not just knocked them out.

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

I, I'm over the saga. All right. And especially because it's two career middleweights being at 205 now. It, it doesn't make much sense to me. I, 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 Byrd 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 Barr, I'm sorry, but I'm just not It is, I mean look we'll have rosanna 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 see the trailer for the new rosan show that aired i did it premiered uh 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 credit credit it. 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 a war. Okay, we'll talk about that later. Crazy. Turned it on. Kobe Brian 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 0, 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 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. Oh, M.G. Hi. Smiley face. I think when he said hi to her. She turned into a 16-year-old.

Mom's got a crush on old Brian Ortega. I don't blame her. Have you seen his eyes? Can I? 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. Did he have a statement or something that he came out with?

Yeah, I don't recall off 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 Dostan 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. Yeah. 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 and risk. 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, 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 McGregor 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. 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 choices 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 heart 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 beat 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 saying... 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 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 Connemaguerger. 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.

I respect him for it. It's always the Connor McGregor show and good for him. Also, we had a statement from Frankie Edgar after the phone 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 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. 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?

Yeah. Ortea. 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 out-muscled and, you know, now at 35-11 opportunity.

This has been the Frankie-Egger 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 Ortego, who's on one right now and Jose Aldo, Frankie Eager 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 Edgar shot Frankie Edgar's done. No. It's a case of meeting a very game, Brian Ortega, younger, hungrier, Ortega. But I think Frankie Edgar 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 Frank. Yeah, I'll go ahead and smack you then. After everything I said about Frankie Edgar, clearly hate the guy. Max Holloway, the featherweight champion, also having something to say about Frankie Edgar.

What a statement, huh? Saying you had nothing to gain from taking that fight, Frank Yeager, which is actually true. I mean, Frankie, other than money, of course. 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. after. Max 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, Bet. 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 to. and who you were yesterday, bro. Hashtack Tarra. 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 featherweight. Let me tell you something. The UFC has a crop of youngs. And it's not just about UFC 222. There were a few on display, but 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 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. At the UFC 222 open workout, the Maskman revealed to be the one and only BJPen.com. I said the one and only BJPet.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 stance here as she's boxing with Perillo. Yeah, and of course the common connection is Perillo, long-time 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 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 is. Yeah, but it also looked like he was doing Calm Me. I don't think he was doing Call Me. I was joking 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. It was a shock. 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, negotiation stall between UFC and HTA regarding Holloway title defense. With the stars aligned 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 set 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 incentive. 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 an event to Hawaii. However, sources close to the 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. You need to do Brian Ortega versus Max Holloway and you can do it in Hawaii. How crazy would that be? Watch them go to Hawaii for like UFC Fight Night 223 headline by Jimmy Manoa versus Alito Latifia or something. 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 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 well I mean not so fast you know Sean O'Malley is making a That's true. That's true. Strong run. I'm not ready for a Sean O'Malley, Nate D.S. 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 Coop. Yes. Posting this to Facebook from his phone, apparently, mobile uploads.

Very nice. Bellator logo. Yes. Which led to Miracle Crocop versus is Roy Nelson slated for Bellator 200. Story by Peece Carroll. Yes. For MMAfighting.com.

Your thoughts. I'm not feeling it? Yeah. Look, if this can be a way for 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 Fador makes it to the final somebody drops out on the other side of it and we get Fador versus Crow Cop now you're cooking now there's 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 Crow Cop Love that fresh different striking right yeah you know why why is that

not the fight I think there are you guys Actually, there's a report that came out of Brazil today that they're looking at doing Rampage Vanderle. I like this better. Okay, well. No, I like Rampage versus Krocott better. No, no, no.

Really? Number four? Do you want to see number four? You want to see Rockhole Bisbeck 3, but you don't want to see Vandrlea versus Rampage? I didn't say, by the way. 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 Rokhol, 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. 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 Vanderlake, give it to me a hundred times. Forever. Until they're both in wheelchairs smashing into each other 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 when 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 Vanderle 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. He's the Daniel Cormier of the tournament. It could be. Look, Miracle versus Fader in the final. I'm in. Bellator also announcing Paul Daly versus John Fitch,

who we had on earlier today for Bellas Tour 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 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 guest 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 disagree. I don't think his facts are correct on a lot of things. Yeah. And 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. 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's, he's, he's, he's, he kind of got, he's, he's, 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 okay Paul Daley 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 it to like scratch my head a little bit and say is paul daly being punished for you know his comments recently about the belator brass don't love it stylistically for paul daly yeah but hey i like i like the

idea of fitch fighting in belator a i like the idea of fitch fighting in san jose b of course um i mean daly signed up dotted line he's well daily wanted it he's called in fact i think as early as february i know he wanted 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 Bellator 199. Still can't get over 200. I still like it.

It enrages me that Belator 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.com. 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, Mizuki, replacing Janesa Miranda, Morandon, facing. Vernon Jandy Roba for the vacant strawweight title and Invicta FC28. I'm not sure who runs the show over at Invicta, but they have an amazing ability to release 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 Bellator 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 530 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 news. Definitely not ideal. Neither is the injury. You know, you've got to move on.

Would a Monday afternoon, you know, 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, there's not, it's not to me, but I'm just saying, 530 on Friday. I know you're not talking about yourself. No, no, no, no, I just a 530 on Friday. Look, I mean, I know you were reviewed notes with Aunt Evans, you know. No, no, no, no, this is 100% me. Um, I don't even know who Aunt Evans is. Neither do it. How dare you

mention that name on the show? How about this name? Okay. Ennis Cantor. Oh, yes. This is great. Uh, teaching Chris Wydman. Sorry, no. And I would, you know, be... Look at those punches. I'd like to see Ennis Cantor actually teach his vitamins. But Chris Wydenman teaching Ennis 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 Wyedmans. Why? What's the... Widens was a tweet to address to LeBron James.

I didn't even... You didn't see it. Weidman 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, but it'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, look, I mean, looking at this, you know, LeBron could just figure you follow them on Twitter. You see when I tweet stuff, I guess. Not all the time. The press releases. Yeah, exactly. I got things going on.

Look, I mean, I mean, I mean, I'm. 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 EA UXC 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

he don't wait to go through the end screens so he just I love this Demetri is 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.

Oh, that's good. 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 Dalseam, 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 be.

Bring it. do you not do you actually not know street fighter you know street fighter yes you've heard of this like losers play street fighter i'm more of a mortal combat guy myself oh really yeah name somebody from mortal combat uh emogen what there always used to be this guy who would be like hosian 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 uh i was i was a NBA Jam, Madden. Okay, fair enough.

I bet you can name some players from NBA Jam, so I won't quiz you on that one. Oh, yeah, hell yeah. But this is cool. Street Fighter is cool. Angela Hill's cool. It was a good costume. Good to see them shouting her out.

Paying tribute. And now, finally, we end with, and I have to give a special shout out. Okay. It's a PD1 shoe. Okay. A.k.a. Peeze, aka Peter Carroll from M.M.A.

Piddy. 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 street 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 The gym of one Gunner Nelson Yes He did the Justa 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 me? No, no, no. Not this one?

How come? Their video, I mean, look, their video, man. 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. It's Gunny in it. This is amazing. 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 gym, Neil near M.A. Oh, look at this. The whole. You remember, do 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, I 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 better than the other one What was it? So Connor Responded to the Max to Frankie tweet

Yeah, I didn't like it No, no, no Go ahead, tell me He said, kid, you bounced Leave it But then Max responded to that You saw it? I saw the response, it was okay

Oh, we're 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 the fans out there. But first, we're going to start. 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 Conner McGregor. So that does not surprise me, although I think we're at a situation where Brian Ortega. 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 I, you know, circumstances are what they are. What circumstance?

Maybe he couldn't, maybe he couldn't get to him. Look, it's a busy night. It's been done for decades, this sort of thing. I don't think Ortega's too upset. You got the phone call. He's getting the title shot. He actually seemed like it bugged them 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 227 in Hawaii. Yeah, I think my mom will be there, Cajside. Wherever he fights next, there's Mama Hawan. 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 Holme? Who should be the next opponent for Chris Cyborg? I mean, look, at this juncture, even if, 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? Whatever 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. Last year. What is your path back there? One fight. Get in. Get in, fight.

Versus 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 Kunitskaya

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 Raquel 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 or 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 Cyberg 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, you know, 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 opponents. I would take that fight now if granted the opportunity. Do you think Father Time finally touch 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. 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'd 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 full balls to the wall. I think there's no doubt though that look Frank as you said Frankie's been in there for a very long amount of time over the course of his title fights and not all of them

were one-sided a lot of them he took 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

brutal. Yeah, I'm 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 it would have liked to see, Andrew says he would have liked 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 could leeway to somebody? What are 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 asleep. What? You want him to just, what? You're advocating that all finishes have to be like unconscious chaos? No, you're advocating, 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. It's not 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 CO and a T-KO. I'm fully aware of the difference The difference between the K.O. and the TK.O. TK.O. is when the referee steps in and stops the action. Like what happened in the Cyborg Kunitskaya fight. There's a very clear TKO. A K.O is, I don't know, when Mark Hunt knocked out Chris Tosher. Right. Yeah. So what do we mean? I don't know the difference.

And in this case, what happened? Yeah, 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 he was 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 Arlowski 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 and 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 of 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 USADA 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 him 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 when 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 harmful 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 want to 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 is trying to,

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, 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, I don't see the guy cry.

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, young reporter, whatever the case is. it's just sometimes not true. And you know what?

On this particular day, I was like, I don't even want to deal with it. What I'm told from multiple Belvoir 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 the all, like, white, throwing shade. I mean, 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, win 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 King commercial? So what you're telling me, hold on time out. Yes. So to finish this, 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 McGregor 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. 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? No, because Kobe didn't act in that piece. That's what I'm saying.

Yeah. You've picked a bull. 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 this. It's 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. 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 an Oscar. I'm not sure if you've seen Entourage, the film.

Who was in that? Oh, Rhonda. Yes. Or, you know, WW programming as of late. I don't know if I would subscribe to that theory on your part. On that note, goodbye. God bless. Salamalam alaikum.

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 with 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. you dream about. And it's been fun. Everyone showed up. Everyone gave us good stuff. We talked a lot about USC 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 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, Henner 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, Gagar Musassi. And if he doesn't come out to that nickname, I will be very disappointed. 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 Darion Caldwell. Congrats to him on the win. Good luck to Nick Newell this Friday that Sabina Mazzo fight has been canceled, by the way. Thank you very much to McKenzie Dern. Congrats to her. Thank you very much to Chris Seabor. 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. Thank you.