MMA Fighting - We Got Next | Robert Whittaker, Adam Borics, Mads Burnell, Tim Elliott & Johnny Eblen

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

Robert Whittaker hopes to have a quick turnaround to take a step closer to a third fight with Israel Adesanya. The former middleweight champion (4:40) kicks off this week's edition of We Got Next to reflect on his unanimous decision loss to Adesanya in the main event of UFC 271 this past month, discusses his takeaways, the aftermath feeling much different the second time around, how he would feel if he didn't get a third crack at Adesanya, hoping for a summer return, why Marvin Vettori makes the most sense for this next fight, and more. Mads Burnell (21:47) previews his Bellator 276 featherweight headliner with Adam Borics, talks signing a new multi-fight extension with the promotion, getting his first main event bout with Bellator, Borics as an opponent, the importance of defense in his fights, potentially fighting for the belt next, and why he feels A.J. McKee will have a repeat performance against Patricio Pitbull next month. Borics (34:51) also joins the program to give his thoughts on the matchup, the disappointment of only being able to compete once in 2021, his thoughts on how McKee vs. Pitbull 2 will go, and feeling like he and former opponent Aaron Pico have a lot in common despite Pico calling him out for a rematch on numerous occasions. Tim Elliott (48:27) recaps his upset win over Tagir Ulanbekov at UFC 272 this past Saturday, discusses not feeling like he was himself in a great first round before head coach James Krause gave him that confidence in the corner, feeling like he had Ulanbekov well scouted, why he chose to admit he grabbed his opponent's glove in the fight and doubling down on it, if he heard Khabib Nurmagomedov's reaction, when he'd like to return, and thoughts on a potential matchup with Cody Garbrandt. Finally, Johnny Eblen (1:06:31) talks his biggest fight to date this Saturday at Bellator 276 against John Salter, why he has an issue with his opponent, the vibe at American Top Team after Colby Covington defeated Jorge Masvidal, signing a new contract with Bellator, Gegard Mousasi's two most recent title defenses, his thoughts on the Marshall Rogan inu coin, and why he turned the company down for a sponsorship. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of We Got Next here on MMA fighting. I am Mike Heck, excited to be back with another episode of the program, another busy week in the world of mixed martial arts. Eagle FC has a card on Friday. UFC and Bellator both back on Saturday. Belator, if we're being honest with ourselves, probably has the best fight of the weekend in terms of matchmaking. with their main event between Adam Borch and Mads Bernal. UFC is countering with Tiago Sanchez versus Magamette Ancolaev.

Eagle FC has Kevin Lee versus Diego Sanchez. That's probably the most star power-built fight, but that fight gives me a hell of a lot of concern, if we're being honest. And I think a lot of you share that sentiment. Hopefully I'm proven wrong, but I've talked about this anazim at this point, but these types of matchups lead me to a lot of the questions I have about Eagle Fc's. about this promotion. There's just,

I don't like the fight. I don't like the fight. There's a whole bunch of other questions I have as well in terms of how this promotion is being funded, the payouts for these fighters, more specifically towards the fighters representing one management group in particular. Listen, I hope they have all the success in the world,

but hopefully everything is on the up and up. These are valid questions. that we're just not getting answers to and probably won't get answers to anytime soon. But anyways, I'm getting off topic with the ranting. Again, we'll see what happens. But Kevin Lee, I'm looking at it right now, and it's not on all the sites yet,

but minus 800 favorite. And that line might be a little light if we're being honest. You might be looking at a minus 1,100 type of scenario, excuse me, but I don't know. I can talk about this for another hour, but let's talk about this show. this week because I told you last week that this would be a loaded show and it's actually more loaded than I thought it was going to be five guests. A lot to discuss. So let's get into it. We're going to wrap things up with Diamond Hands himself. Johnny Eblen, huge fight on Saturday at Bellator. 276 takes on John Salter. Biggest test to date. He has some issues with Mr. Salter. He'll discuss that. He'll also give us some insight on the Marshall Rogan stuff because if you watch you have. 2.72, every

fighter that had a microphone in their face was talking about the Marshall Rogan stuff and he has knowledge of the financial game and some of the things that I have no idea about so I wanted to ask about that and he gives his opinion on it and it was a pretty strong one so stay tuned for that.

Speaking of UFC 272, Tim Elliott is going to join us after a massive win over to gear Ulan Bekhov gets a unanimous decision and my new nickname for him is Honest Tim, which you probably understand why. If not, you will. If you felt that way, you'll feel more so after hearing this conversation. We're actually going to have both competitors in the Bellator 276 main event this

weekend on the program. First, we'll hear from Mads Bernal, then we'll hear from Adam Borch. I will say, just to give you a quick heads up, the audio in the Bernel interview, it's a tad tough. Zoom likes to randomly just boost audio, like just occasionally. This has happened maybe two or three times over the last two years, but this is one of those things. But it wasn't too bad. It's not super bad, but just want to give you a little bit of a heads up, a little precursor, if you will. But huge fight right there at 145. The winner is probably getting a title shot against the winner of Aegee McKee versus Patricio Pitbull 2 on April 15th, more than likely. But we'll see. That's a really exciting fight. But first, if you missed it on the MA fighting YouTube channel on

Saturday before UFC 272, we dropped an interview with the former UFC MFCM. middleweight champion of the world, Robert Whitaker. And some people just would like to listen to these interviews and listen to this show all in the car. Maybe you miss it. So if you did, we're going to kick us, kick things off with Bobby Knuckles himself. Robert Whitaker, he will be welcomed to We Got Next for the very first time. He kicks us off. We're going to take a short break.

Then you'll hear that conversation with Robert Whitaker. Thanks for listening, everybody. And enjoy the show. We record this. We are a couple of days away from UFC 272. the build to this main event has been a bit ugly, if you will. So I think myself and everyone else in the space needs a little bit of positivity in our lives. And who better to give that to us than this man, Robert Whitaker,

who had himself a super competitive fight with Israel Adasagna, less than a month ago at UFC 271, drops unanimous decision but seemed quite happy with the performance. And I am happy to have Robert Whitaker back on. Robert, how are you, sir? Good thing. You might have you. I'm doing great. It's great to have you here.

And a lot was made about the build to this fight with Israel, comparing it to the first one, about how you felt about everything after the fact, after that first fight. You grew quite a bit from it. You went sort of to that dark place, found the light. The aftermath of this one, yeah, you don't have the belt, but it's a night and day comparison to October 2019, is it not?

Yeah, definitely because, yeah, it's not even close. because after that first fight, you know, preparing for the second fight, there's always that level of hesitancy, of caution, of doubt, not doubt, like, of what ifs. You know, and that's always present throughout the camp, throughout the training, and especially present during the fight. You can see it kind of come out in that first round. And then in that second round, like a bolt of lightning hit me, and it's like, it's not going to happen.

It's not going to happen like that. I've come too far. And you can see two, three, four, five, I just get better and better and better. And then leaving that fight, I feel like I've come full circle finally. I've completed the cycle. And I've left that fight so much better than when I went in. And as you've seen the progress of my evolution and skills and getting better, mate, the future is limitless.

There is no ceiling. And, you know, I was focusing on that because I'm so excited. for that. I'm so excited for for what's to come and me me at a sudden you're going to cross paths again and I think the next fight will be very very different was the question you asked on social media how is the serenity it seems like you've you found that in in a number of ways right yeah but that was also that was also a take from the the Australian movie the castle right but I mean it was nice to put on yourself you're looking look so, you had the slow mo, the beer. It was just a nice relaxing thing.

That's what you got to do. Absolutely. The Fight Week itself, it seemed like you're really enjoying yourself. We saw the embedded series, you're playing video games with your dad. Press conference was super laid back. You relaxed. You and Izzy seem to enjoy yourselves. And you have, of course, when you have Derek Lewis and Tai Tuvaas on the stage, how can you not have fun with all that personality up there? It just seemed like it was just so much better of an approach on Fight Week. as good as it can be on that aspect? Was it better than you actually thought it would be? Yeah, definitely.

And you see, that's another thing going into this second one. It's like, I knew how I would be and how far I had come. But after that first fight, that first presser, that first conference, that first scenario just leaves such a bad lingering tasting mouth, you know, like almost, yeah, almost like PTSD sort of. You know, you're like you're, you're kind of just, it's always there. You're always remembering it. So to see everything play out the way the way it did was really, really, yeah, it was really nice.

How did you feel Saturday morning of the fight? Like, how would you describe the feeling of waking up that morning in Houston knowing I have this big fight coming up? Like you said, it's going full circle. I prepared for this. I put so much into it. I mentally put myself in the best place possible. Like, what was the day of the fight like for? you.

Day of the fight. The day of the fight is like every other fight. Just stress, nerves, focused. It's, uh, yeah, doing whatever you can and try and take your mind off it until later. How much fun did you have in that octagon over those 25 minutes? Because you seemed like you had a blast in there. Yeah, it's, uh, there's not a lot of time to actually enjoy yourself. It's kind of just, everything's happening so fast.

And it was such a chess match. It was kind of stressful, to be honest. I'm glad it looked like I was having fun, but it was anything, it was anything, but it was like, it was a hard, it was a hard fault fight. How so? Like, what was so, I mean, obviously, Adasani is such a tough piece, like, puzzle to solve and the movement and the faints and everything that he does. What was, what was probably like the thing you remember most about the fight?

Like, was there, like, sort of a vision? Maybe it's like a slow one that sort of plays out in your mind that was consistent throughout the fight that you recall more than anything else? No, you know, I guess the overwhelming thought was just like how well what it, like the game plan that I brought into the fight was executed, like how well it worked, how well it was like I executed it and how effective it was against him. You left that cage feeling like you won and I think you might still feel like you won the fight.

How would you grade your performance overall? Like sharing those 25 minutes, how would you grade? how would you grade overall? Are you even able to do that? Yeah, like it was a good performance and I executed the game plan that we spent weeks to fight and I come a hell of a long way

since that first one. But I'm not happy with it yet. Yeah, I'm not happy with it. I didn't win, you know, even if I felt like I won, even if a lot of other people think I felt like I won, I didn't win. And that, like I, that sits with me still.

Like the next day I woke up not feeling happy, you know, like it eats at me still. I'm not happy to lose. That's not, otherwise I wouldn't be in this sport. It's, yeah, it's, so performance wise, like, whilst I'm proud of what happened and the way I conduct myself in the game plan that I executed, I'm not satisfied. And, you know, I can only make amends with that by taking it out and the next guy and then getting back at Izzy one day. I'm glad you brought up the word satisfied because that was a word that stood out to me

in our first conversation like heading into the fight. And I know you were asked about the press conference and you kind of know sold it at the Moe, which I thought it was kind of funny. But that was like what you were looking for more than anything. You were like, yeah, I want to, you know, winning would be great. Winning the belt would be great. And now I know how to, I'm better prepared to win the belt. But I just want to leave that octagon feeling like I left it all in there. And that feeling of satisfaction was more important to you than anything else. Does it feel different now? Like now that in like hindsight 2020, does it feel different now? Like you may be maybe, maybe you're not satisfied. No, I know at this point in time,

I left, I left it all there. And that's the only reason why I'm not much, much sadder than that I am, right? It's, I know that I left it all there. And, but I, I didn't get that, that feeling of satisfaction, like I just mentioned, because, uh, well, so. I was, I think it was a great fight from my half and everything. And I took so much from it and that I don't like losing. Like even, yeah, I don't like losing. And I know I can bring more of myself out. And maybe maybe that's part of my drive.

It's just seeking that satisfaction, but it's not there yet. And, you know, all I can do is just keep hunting for it. People were fascinated by the fact that you have never watched the first fight with Israel Adasania. Even at the press coverage, like people were gasping when you had said that you'd never watch the fight. But you also said that, to be fair, you don't really go back and watch many of your fights in the aftermath. Very few with memory serves incorrectly.

You watched this one back, right? A fight that close, you had to have watched it. No, not yet. You haven't? Nah It's too long, mate 25 minutes bloody hell

I'm shocked that you haven't watched it like I know the first one I get it and like some of the other ones but fight that close A fight you felt like you won I'm sure I thought you'd go back to your room And watch it right after

Nah I am No No No No How do you score the fight When you think it

Think back to it When you go back round by around in your brand. I thought I won three or five. You know, I did. It's every punching exchange we got into I won. I had takedowns. You know, I don't know.

It is what it is. That's why I was fighting the way. I was confident with the victory. And I don't want to sit here and see I'm butt hurt about it all, you know, because there's always been too much debate about it already. It's old news anyway. It's, it is what it is. You know, in close fights, the decision usually leans towards the champ.

So the only thing I can do is get better again, which I've been doing every fight, and make sure the next fight isn't as close. The video of you arriving home and going to the car and opening the trunk with your kids there to greet you, I mean, that was just heartwarming stuff, man. That was amazing. What was, what was that like after everything you had? gone through to get to that fight to travel and then sharing the cage with Izzy and just to see your kids faces like that what was that moment like for you yeah that's that's the reason why

I do it yeah that's my drive and because you know with it with the pandemic and everything they haven't been able to pick me up from the airport in the longest time because normally I go straight from the airport to a hotel quarantine so um to see them at the airport or picking me up and so excited to see me And yeah, and they're at an age where they actually miss me now, you know, like they feel it when I'm gone. So, yeah, it's special. It's special. What was your favorite moment of Fight Week? I probably just sitting down and playing games with my dad, like 12 hours a day.

Like that's such an bonding. Well, any moment I wasn't forced to do something else. I just sit in there playing video games and just like, I don't know, it's such a good bonding moment between me and him. Yeah, yeah. Is that the most amount of time playing video games with him like through those consecutive days that you've ever had?

Yeah, well, that and then the last fight, the fight before that, like it's, yeah, like we, it's just, yeah, we both like video games, but I don't know, going away with him to these special trips, just, yeah, it's special. Mike's it special. What was, what, what's the setup you have, the, the game setup that I saw on, on Instagram.

And you said, might be the greatest day in my life. Sorry, kids. I know you were joking around. And then you unveiled this, like, this whole setup. Yeah. I'm not a huge gamer, but I know it's getting very popular. Could you, like, explain why that's so great? And, you know what I mean?

Like, kind of walk me through it. So with the help of InVideo. They ordered a custom-built desk. So you know your PC tower, okay? That is in the desk. The desk is the tower. What? Okay.

And all the pieces of the computer are in the desk. And it's just, it is just such a nice setup. Not to mention the thing is an actual spaceship. Like, it is so powerful. But it's just so clean. Like the tower is beautiful. like and it's got it's got room to make it even better it's easy accessible the yeah it is just a gorgeous piece out it felt like my birthday it's unreal that's amazing

as far as your fighting career goes because it seems like you took so much away from this fight with israel in a much different way than the first one that you are hungry you're ready to come back and you want to go full circle you want to try to earn that opportunity to get in there with him one more time when would you like to get back and do it again like if you had a choice UFC called you right now and said, Robert, when do you want to fight again? What would you tell them? I think June, July is a good time. Just get straight back in there.

Didn't walk away too many injuries, just bumps and bruises. So, yeah, if we can organize something for that, that period, be good. And I think my guys are already speaking to the UFC. We're organizing something soon. So, yeah, it should be a bit of fun. What stands out to you? I think Vittori's an interesting matchup. There's Strickland, who's on a tear right now.

there's Derek Brunson, he might only have one fight left in his career. You know, maybe he wants that one back. Paul Costa is always an interesting name. What I'm saying is that there's options for you, Robert, and lots of them. Which one stands out to you or does it not even matter? I think Vitori's the only one in the top five haven't fought yet. So I think that makes the most sense. We're both chasing the same thing as that third fight out of Sania.

So it makes perfect sense to have a dig with him. I like that fight. I think it makes all the sense in the world. Last thing I wanted to ask you because you've said it here and you said at the press conference and it hit me like a ton of bricks. You said the word inevitable. It's inevitable that you and Israel Adasani will fight again, that you guys will get back in that octagon and do one more time. There's talks about him maybe moving back up to 205 at some point. So maybe that clock is ticking.

But I'm curious, would you be okay if you never fought him again? like in a sense that he's still in the middleweight division or he goes to another division like if your career ends you know five 10 years from now and for some reason we can't get this you two guys in that octagon again if you never get the chance to fight him a third time would you be okay with but the problem is like 10 years from now and if he's still the champion middle-way division and I haven't had a chance to go with him, what's going wrong here? Like, either I'm getting stitched up or I'm fucking need to make some improvement somewhere or some changes.

Like, something's gone heinously wrong. Like, you know what I mean? If he moves to 205 and I say middle-way and we never cross-pals again, I'll live with that, you know, it is what it is sort of thing. but if he's in the middleweight division at the top and I don't get a third fight with him one day then I've done something wrong. So if he stays a middleweight,

retires as a middleweight and you guys don't get to fight again. It's inevitable. I'd love to see it. If he retires, he retires, he retires. Right. But no, yeah, if everything like is kind of looks like it is now, the landscape is very similar than this today. The fight's not personal for me.

Like, it's not personal. I don't hold it in my heart that I don't want to fight him again, you know. He's just, yeah, it's not a, it's not a, it's a competitive thing. It's something that you feel, like you feel like you can meet this man. Yeah, well, he's, he's the path to progression, right? He's the next step. He's the next big boss. And that's what I'm hunting.

Yeah, I would like to see it again, honestly. I thought the second fight was very close. I thought, I thought you might have got the split knot on. I thought you were going to get it, especially being in Houston. those judges could be a little finish. I was waiting for it. I was waiting for Ann New to come, but it didn't happen. Izzy gets the Duke, and now you get your chance to head back.

And it's just so cool to see the way you're handling it, man. It's just unbelievable just to see how far you've come and the progression and all the interviews you did in the buildup to the fight, just to see how you're handling everything now. It's really unbelievable. And now literally as we record this, I have to go watch a press conference with Jorge Mazinol and Colby Covington, just shouting off horrible insults at each other.

for the next half an hour. So I'm glad I got to talk to you before I got to check all that out, man. I appreciate it very much. Great performance in that fight. And hopefully we do see you back there June and July, maybe against Maravittory, but definitely against one of the top middleweights in the world sharing that octagon with you. I appreciate the time very much, my man. Thank you very much, Mike. Have a good one. All right. Let us say hello to Mads Bernal, who will return to the Bellator Cage Saturday, March 12th to face Adam Borch, five round main event and a big one and 145 pounds. Mads, welcome back to the program, my man. How are you?

Thank you. I'm good. It's good to have you here. How about this, Matt? We're getting into main event slots, seven wins in a row. You're on the marquee, the big poster. There's your face. About time, right? I feel like this is a long time coming for you. Yeah, yeah. It's super cool and It's something I'm super proud of. So it's cool finally being a main event. Did you expect this, Mads, after the win over Manuel Sanchez? Because, I mean, when we spoke right after the fight, you were down for whatever. You figured something fun was heading in your direction.

But did you expect your next fight to be in a main event spot like this? I wouldn't say I expected to be a main event fight per se. But I expected like either I was going to get like, yeah, I don't know. it was going to be like a Pedro Caravio or something like that or a vicea or it would be like me and Borix. Because I was like in my mind, I was like because AJ had been talking about moving up. So either AJ moves up and then they have to slide somebody into fight Pitbull for the title or something. Or AJ and Pitbull fights for the title and then they need to get the new contender going. so then it's probably going to be me and borax because we've been on a tear.

So, yeah, that was what happened. Yeah, and it works out great because this is such a fascinating fight. I'm very much looking forward to it. Well, we spoke after your last fight. You were at the airport getting ready to head back to Denmark. How long did you get to stay there? Did you get to enjoy some time at home? Yeah, I got to enjoy some time at home, went to a little vacation in Greece as well.

So that was good. I've been back here in America. since December. So it's been good. You've been getting ready for a little bit then. Yeah. Yeah. And you've been busy in between all of this,

including signing a new long-term deal with Bellator, MMA. Congratulations on that. How does that feel knowing you have a home for the foreseeable future? It is so nice. It's really cool. I'm super happy to work with Bellator. The promotion is really cool all around, like the shows and the staff and everybody. So I'm just happy to be with Belatoria.

Was the Sanchez fight? Was that the last one on your old deal? Or did you still have another fight and you just renegotiated before this one? How did that work? I think it was the last or second to left. Okay. And then, oh, so that worked out great for you. And how many fights?

How many fights did you get, if you don't mind me asking? 38 fights, no. Like, they just, they just renewed my contract to, like, a couple of fights. So it's, it's cool. 38 fights, that'd be, uh, that'd be amazing, be fighting there for 20 years. I figured, I forget as much. You were in Dublin for Patchy Mixes fight, right? With James Galler.

That was actually fun because I was supposed to just go there and enjoy the show with, with my, my coach, Mikhail. And, uh, because Patchy's coaches, apparently it's harder for you to go from America to Europe, especially Ireland, if you're not vaccinated. So I was vaccinated and my coach is vaccinated. We went from Denmark to Ireland. Then Patchy calls me like, yo, bro, like my coaches, they can't get into America because like the vaccine, like all this and that. It's like, can you corner me?

Like, oh, okay. So it ended up being me and my coach and one of Patchy's friends that was cornering Patchy for his fight against James, even though we were just supposed just to go and enjoy the show. all right. But it was cool. That was some crowd right there. That's crazy, man, because, like, when did you get that call? When did you get the call? Like, how many days before? I think it was like me and I think we went there, like on Thursday and the fight was like Saturday or something, like two days before. I can't even remember because he talked to me about it a couple a month before, but then he seemed to figure it out. And then we really didn't talk. And then I actually think it was when we landed in Dublin, me and my coach, then Patchy saw him, oh, can you

corner it? Like, yeah, of course, man. That's amazing. Did you mention the crowd, but I mean, just the overall experience being with Patchy, he's obviously the, the enemies and enemy territory. The crowd was just crazy. I mean, what did you think of it all? Just kind of soaking it all in, seeing both guys come out, the entrances and how the crowd was. I mean, and the patchy going out there and silencing everybody. What was that like for you? It was cool. It was really cool.

And I was impressed about like how composed patchy could be like throughout and all that. He just went out there and did what he was supposed to do. So that was cool. And now it's your turn, man. You get this big spot against Adam Borch, 17 and one. Lone lost to Dary and Caldwell. got some big wins on the resume like yourself. He's beat Aaron Pico and Jeremy Kennedy and Pat Curran, to name a few.

How do you size up Adam Borch as an opponent and how do you like the matchup from a stylistic perspective? I think for every fighter says that when a reporter asks, how do you think this matches up with a stylistic, like stylistically for you? Yeah, I'm beating him everywhere. That's what every motherfucker say. But like I think he's a good kickboxer, like, Eastern European. type of kickboxer and he's a pretty athletic but I'm not underestimating him in any way. I think he's a good fighter and he's in the position he's in because he's good obviously,

right? But I don't see him as an all-round like mixed martial artists. I think he has some pretty big holes in his game and yeah, I'm going to expose him. The reason I asked you that specific question is because one of the things we've spoken about in the past that really stood out to me is how important defense is when you fight, but how sort of unimportant defense is in the scoring of fights as a whole, because defense doesn't score points on the scorecards, but it's super effective in the fight.

And that's why you explained it so well when it came to the Sanchez fight, because a lot of people thought it was closer than it actually was. And if you go back and watch the fight, and you told me to go back and watch it in slow motion, and I did, and I saw everything that you were talking about, how missing a lot of the shots. but when you things moving so fast and the crowd reacting to everything, it's hard to really see.

So how do we fix that? Like do you see a world where the scoring changes where I mean, I don't even know how to fix that, how to score defense? Because there's a chance you could have got robbed in that fight. But going back and watching it in so motion, it was actually a more dominant win than it may have looked like. Right. But I don't think necessarily you should get,

it shouldn't be like defense should be scoring you. It should just be like if you throw a punch and you hit my guard, it doesn't matter if you throw 110 punches and they all hit my guard. You shouldn't get one point for that. You shouldn't get anything for it. It's just like then the fight is neutral. You know what I mean? So where a lot of people, they just like score activity.

But activity don't mean anything if you just hit an air or like hidden a guard or whatever. It's it's like in everything you rather want quality over quantity right. So I don't I don't necessarily think like like I said like defense should be a scoring factor because then you could just be on your bike like the whole fight. Let's do a thing and then win and the fights wouldn't be be like entertaining to watch then right. But like it should just like if you punch it me out of us or whatever you don't you don't get any points even though you throw 200 punches and out of 20 yeah i do feel like overall even though watching it back and studying it and seeing it a little more closely it was more dominant i still feel like the fight as a whole was criminally

underrated in terms of how exciting and how high level it was do you feel like this fight could match or maybe even surpass that or do you feel like this is more one-way traffic for you? I don't know, but I do that the way Sanchez fight is like almost impossible not to have an entertaining fight when you fight with Emmanuel. That dude, he is a freaking madman. He just, he throws 200 punches every 10 seconds, you know? I don't think Adam is the same kind of fighter. He's like a more calculated. If I could, if I could like, what do you call it? Compare him to like a gun or something.

Adam would be like a sniper and Emmanuel would be like AK-47. That's a great comparison. That makes all the sense of the world. You know, he's just holding that, holding that triggering, that just firing off where Adam is a little more calculated and picking his shot. So, yeah. I don't know if that answered your question, but. No, I know what you're saying.

So do you think part of your strategy might be to try to take that sniper and turn it into an AK-47, try to get him out of his comfort zone? No, I'm, you know, I'm just going to go into me. I'm not going to give anything away with my game plan. I'm just going to go in there and do me, you know, control what I can control. Yeah, and that's been very successful over these last seven fights for you. So how do we make it eight? How do we take that seven and ramp it up to eight in a row for you? This is a boring-ass answer, but I'll just go in there and do me.

Fair enough. Fair enough. I know that in the past, like, even after the Sanchez fight, you've been indifferent about fighting for titles and fighting A.J. McKee and all these guys, I'm sure you've been asked about that at nauseam. But we do have this fight on the books, like you said. They're going to rematch in April. And if McKee wins, that's a wrap. We move on.

And if Pitbull wins, they're probably run. run it back a third time. But if you beat Adam Borge on Saturday, your next fight has to be for the belt, right? Like, you're at least in the conversation, depending on what happens in the rematch. Like, you don't care. You're a little indifferent about it, but you have to feel somewhere that a title shot is coming, right? I mean, like, me and Adam is already in the conversation. You know what? I mean, they just need to get this out of the way. Like the pit bull and AJ, they need to get that rivalry done. And then it's like, yeah, me and Adam is in the talks.

Like, it's a number one contender fight. So if you win and AJ wins, you're fighting for the, you're fighting AJ for the title. I would think so, yeah. But, and I do think AJ wins again. Do you think it's a little more competitive this time? Or do you think it's kind of similar to the first one? No, I don't think so.

Because I've said, and that's, that is no disrespect to people. I really think he's a legend of the game and I really like his style, but I just think stylistically, AJ's a nightmare for him. Yeah, it's going to be. Because people, people is that like patient type of guy waiting until he can put that right sledgehammer in your face, drawing people in. But AJ got the length, speed and power not to engage. Like he needs to, he can have people engage and he can stand from distance and like sniping people. whatever he wants to, so people will have to fight a little bit different style than you do and I don't think that work.

Yeah, it's going to be a great fight. Just like your fight's going to be a great fight against Adam Borch, made event of this upcoming Bellator card in St. Louis. Back to St. Louis. Comes Bellator in May and you're on the marquee, you're on the billboards that people be driving down towards the arena to see and pretty cool stuff, man. So congratulations on earning this fight, man. And we're really looking forward to it. Anything else you want to get off your chest before we wrap up here. No really, not really anything else than tune in March 12th. It's going to be a banger of a fight and yeah, that's it. Awesome, Mads. Thank you for the time and all the best to you on March 12th. Thank you. Have a good day, man. Let us say hello to Adam Borch.

Big, big opportunity coming up this Saturday. He's going to face Mads Bernal in the main event of Bellator 276 in St. Louis, Missouri. First fight. in over a year for Adam Borge. Welcome back, man. How are you? Or almost a year, excuse me. Almost a little bit less than a year. It's a long time, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, you've been a pretty active guy these last few years. You've gotten to fight at least twice a year. 2020, you fought three times. That was one of your more active years. Last year, you only get the one fight. I mean, you were scheduled for a second. It's supposed to fight. He's supposed to fight J.J. Wilson.

He misses weight, big time. Fight gets pulled. How tough was that being? Pretty healthy, but only getting to fight once last year. It was really tough, special dead camp, because I did that camp later with my wife. She was at home, so I did all sacrifice, you know, like 10 weeks. And the fight didn't happen.

And after I went back to Hungary, and I supposed to fight December. So I was rushing back again. So I am in camps since October, you know. You were supposed to fight in December, or they were talking about it? Yeah, but not about this fight, you know. So I cannot tell you anymore, but...

You're good. You've done it up for these interviews to know I was about to ask you, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know it's been a while, but now we're back, right? And you get this big opportunity and a title shot is on the line, more than likely for the winner of this fight when you face Mads-Burnal. This guy's been on a role. Can I ask what your reaction was to not only the matchmaking, but getting a main event and fighting Mads Bernal?

What did you think of the matchup and just the stakes for this fight? Were you excited? You know, I am always excited when I get to fight. I mean, I don't feel extra pressure about the main event or something. You know, I'm happy, you know, I can fight against like high level guys. I don't want to fight a guy who's like, you know, five and ten. or something. So I was happy for Metsburner.

You know, I like the challenge. And I think it's a really good matchup for me. How so? What stands out about the matchup for you? You know, his tie, he's not a full wrestler, finally. So, I mean, he has a good grand game, but, you know, his takedowns are not like, you know, not like the highest level or something.

And he likes to bang a little bit also. So finally, I can bang a little bit. And I like that. You know, he has a good boxing, good head movement, and he likes to fight. And I like to fight also. Five rounds, too. New main event guidelines for Bellator this year. We're catching up at them.

All main events, whether they're title fights or non-title fights. They're all potential 25-minute bouts. Do you like that? Are you a fan of the five-round main events? And how excited are you to be part of one of these, like one of these new non-tileged? title main events. I think you're the second one of this year. Yeah. For me, I think it's really good because it's a, I can say this is the test before the title fight. So I like that. I mean, I fought already four rounds when I was 21, 22, but it was in early my career. So,

you know, I always training. I'm always in shape. So I think the condition is not a problem for me. And I really train hard, but this camp was great. You know, I'm ready. I can feel, and I know I am ready to go five runs. So I'm ready for whatever, but I think it's not going to be a five runs. You watch Mads' last fight with Emmanuel Sanchez. And if so, what did you think of it? Because that was a crazy fight.

Yeah, it was a crazy fight, but I see a lot of opening, you know. so where I can catch him. And it was very, very close fight. I wasn't sure he won that fight, honestly. It was split decision or I don't know. I don't remember. Yeah, I think it was unanimous, but it was still very close. Yeah, it was very, very close.

So, but, you know, he's a new generation like me, you know. Emmanuel Sanchez, football, Baker. Daniel Shaus They fight They fight They fought each other like Long long long time So it's time for the new blood

You know Me, Barner, AJ Yeah You guys So you and Mads This is the new The new wave of 45ers We're turning the page so to speak

Yes I like where you're coming from Mads I remember I interviewed Mads Probably like a day or two After that fight And I asked him about that because a lot of people thought Emmanuel won.

And he suggested that I go back and I watch the fight again, but in slow motion. And I was like, all right. I was like, challenge accepted. I'll go back and watch it again. And what you realize when you watch it back in slow motion at him is that his defense is incredible. He's really good defense. Like a lot of those shots that you're watching live that you think Emmanuel is landing,

he's actually not landing. He's either got the guard up and they're hitting his guard or he's able to slip the punches all together. And you don't really recognize that unless you actually sew the fight down. And when you slow a fight down and watch, you realize that this guy is incredible defense as a striker. Yeah, he has really good boxing and good head movement. You see, I like this fight for a number of reasons. And one of the reasons why is Mads is kind of like, Mads has good defense, but he pushes a really high pace.

And you can push a really high pace, but for the most part, you're more of a, you're a very intelligent striker, you're very calculated, you have a very powerful approach to things, but you're very patient out there. Do you feel like the way you typically approach fights, you could slow him down a bit? You could slow down his activity and this can play right in your hands. You think that's a possibility for you? It's possibility, but, you know, depends how the fight goes. So, you know, if I have to go high pace, you know, I go. But, you know, I like to see the things during the fight. So I think I have a good fight IQ. So I'm using that and we will see, you know. You like to learn, learn on the fly, right? First, first round, you play it out, computer basically

in your brain, puts all the pieces together. Yeah. Yeah. Or, you know, if I see an opportunity, you know, I can go hard in the first round. You definitely can. So you, you're saying that this is not going to go five rounds, even though it's potential five rounds. Do you have a prediction? for this one? Like, how do you see this playing out in your head? I just, you know, I don't like to say nothing like, oh, I'm going to finish him in a fourth round or something. But I can see a couple of things. How can I finish him? But I am ready for five rounds also. So it can be five rounds, but I don't think so it's going to be. I think I'm going to catch him, you know. I saw on your Instagram, not too long ago. There's a photo of your.

with the champion, AJ McKee. And you're basically saying, listen, me and this man, we're going to get in there. We're going to fight for the title. So his next fight is booked for April 15th. They're going to do the rematch with Patricia Pitbull. Do you think AJ retains? Do you think the fight is very similar to the first one? I think so.

Yeah. This is my opinion. Yeah. Is this part of like just the new generation? Because Pitbull's been around a long time. This is kind of the, you had a great run, but now it's our turn. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And, you know, the sports are changing, you know, you can see like AJ, how big is he, you know, and football.

So you can see the size different. So, yeah, I think it's a big fact, you know, the size is different. He's talked about moving up to 55 because that's a big weight cut for him. He's admitted it. He's got the title. Yeah, I mean, you probably have to deal with the same thing. So do you feel like if he goes out there and beats Patricio, I would say there's a, there's a high likelihood that he's going to try to go up and fight his brother.

If obviously he's got a title defense coming up potentially soon as well, do you feel like you'll get this? If you win and AJ wins, do you feel like that's the next fight? Or do you feel like you're going to have to wait a little bit to fight him? I don't feel, you know, I should fight somebody else if I win this fight, you know. So, yeah, I just, I can see me. So, AJ or Pitbull, I don't care, but I definitely want to, I want the title fight next. So I don't care who.

So, but I really want to fight for a title for next fight. But honestly, I'm not thinking about too much now. I have a big fight coming up. So I have to focus on that, you know, and maybe see after. I have to ask you about this because I saw that you attended a rodeo. Is that accurate? You went to the rodeo? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've never been to the rodeo. And you seemed like you had a blast, man. What was it like? Tell me about it. I mean, that was my first time also, but I really liked that, you know. So I always watch on TV, but I never been in the show, you know, but it was great, man. It's just crazy to see in life how they jump so high, you know, and those people are crazy, man. It's fucking dangerous, you know.

Could you see yourself ever doing something like that? Not really. But I really want to try horse riding, you know, because this is in my culture. But I didn't have time, but rodeo no. No, no rodeo. Where was this? Where was this rodeo? Here in Florida, like a week ago.

Okay. What was the best part of it? What was the best part about it? Is there a particular trick or a portion of the show that that, that, that, that, that, you remembered more than anything else? No, everything was great. I was just surprised the white horse, you know. So they tried to ride them.

And they were like jumping more high than the bulls. And like, wow, that was interesting. Yeah. So you want to get into horseback riding, right? You want to. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Do you think you'll have a horse someday, like your own horse?

Yes, like once you're the champion, you get started getting that championship money? Yes, definitely. definitely, you know, this is our culture, you know, Hungarians. You and your, you and Aaron Pico can ride horses together. He's got horses too. I mean, I think me and Aaron Pico, he would be of great friends because he's a fucking hard worker like me who likes dirt biking, me too. But, you know, I mean, I don't have a problem with him. But, you know, we are. the same way Krasna.

I agree with you. I think you and Aaron would be tight. You guys have a lot of common grounds, but he keeps calling you out after all of his fights. He goes and wins and he says, I want to fight Adam Borch, but I mean, you got things to worry about yourself, but he keeps calling for fighting, call him for a fight with you. Of course he wants, but, you know, I really wanted my rematch against Darien Kodwe, you know, but I couldn't get it. So, of course, I already understand.

that everybody wants his rematch, you know. So, but I think maybe one day, I think if I'm in the champion and he wants to fight with me, that would be a great matchup, you know. Okay. Yeah, because, I mean, oftentimes when you get into that situation, especially the way you finished him, I mean, it was in spectacular fashion. It was a highlight reel. I mean, we still see that highlight of you finishing Aaron.

And sometimes when fighters get put in these positions, it's tough to get up for rematch. Because you think to yourself, like, how can I do it? better than the first time but it doesn't seem like like if you're the champion naren's an next man up doesn't seem like that'll be much of a problem for you yeah but you got your own but we have uh other business we got to take care of first big fight with mads bernel this saturday yeah i'm just saying he's very underrated fighter i mean mads burner i could i completely agree with you i i'm as soon as the fight was booked uh i was a big fan of it this is the best main event of the weekend right i mean there's a lot of events going on but this is the best main

event of the weekend, right? Yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yep. I think you're on this, not that, Adam. But thank you so much, my man. I really appreciate the time, especially on Fight Week. That means more than everything. So safe travels to St. Louis. All the best to you in this fight with Madsburn, my man.

I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. Thank you. Take care. Black Friday is here at IKEA, and the clock is ticking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves to cozy at-home essentials,

all the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. All right, let us say hello once again

to Tim Elliott, ladies and gentlemen. Wow, what a performance this past Saturday. UFC 272 gets a huge win over to gear. Hulan Beckoff. He proved a lot of people wrong. It's made some headlines since the win, and we might have to change his next. name to Honest Tim. How are you, my man? I'm doing good, man. Never better. So you were telling me

before he record that it is Tuesday as we're reporting this. You just got back from the gym. So already back in there. No time off, no nothing, no smelling of the roses whatsoever. No time off. Trained yesterday. Did all my live rounds. Train today. Sparred today. Shins are a little sore. Feet are a little sore. My neck is a little sore. But I didn't take any damage on the fight. I want to stay ready, get a quick turnaround, hopefully. So you win the fight on Saturday. You basically, I'm not sure what you did after. Like, how did you celebrate the win?

And then was that just basically like, okay, we celebrated time to turn the page? You know, James Krause told me a long time ago and multiple times, like one thing that he regrets about his career is that he didn't really take time to enjoy his wins. And, you know, I have a bad habit of doing that as well. After the fight, me, James, Gina and Kevin Kroom went to All You Can Eat, See, sushi ate dinner and then went back to bed, went back to the hotel, went to bed, and flew to Kansas City the next morning at 9 o'clock and then right back in the gym for all of us. So, you know, nothing changes. Everything just keeps right on moving. Did you even, like, go back and watch the rest of the card or anything, or you were just done

all together with it? Well, we watched it at the sushi restaurant on James's phone. Did you watch the main event, too? I did, man. Impressive. of, well, that's a, that's a tough way to fight five rounds. That's a, that's a hard, that's a hard road. Yeah, that's crazy, man. I'm glad you're back. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Congratulations on the win. You've been at this for a long time, Tim, and there are certain fights in your career where you walk into that octagon. You're a big underdog. Not a lot of people are giving you much of a chance to win, and then you go in there and you get the job done. You ruin some betting parlayas while you're at it. I think you ruined a bunch of them.

How satisfying was this win for you? Can you compare it to any others like it, where you proved a lot of people wrong like you did on Saturday? Man, at this stage in the game, every win is just so important. But for us right now, it's super important because, you know, you only get half your paycheck if you lose. And this was a long training camp. I had two different opponents back out. Like, if I needed this fight, if this fight didn't go through, like we were going to be

in a bad way financially. So it was super important to get the win and to get. get our to get our money. Because like I said, the first fight didn't happen. So this camp got stretched, you know, twice as long.

And, you know, I just, I felt like it was a good thing, though, a blessing in disguise. We had a lot of times to still build to beat this particular guy.

And, you know, everything worked out the way that it, that it was supposed to. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense because you had done

some interviews leading into the fight. And you knew how good to Gears wrestling was, and he was a really tough guy. But you also believe that you could go in there and he wasn't really going to hurt you at all. Like there wasn't a lot of danger there. And that confidence showed right away. Like you went right after him. You're talking to him. You egged him on. You took him down first. And then you dropped him at the end of the round.

Like it was a super impressive start to the fight. Like how much confidence did those first five minutes give you? You know, it's weird because I did during the fight while it was happening, I did, I felt like I was like, like forcing things and getting a little rush. And I can't in between rounds. I was like, I don't, I don't feel like, you know, I don't feel like, you know, know, I'm doing well. And James like, dude, shut up. You're pitching a shutout. Like, you took him down. You dropped him. Like, you're fighting perfect. But I need that. I need somebody to, you know, bring me back to reality. And like, whether I'm thinking I'm doing good or thinking I'm doing bad, it doesn't really matter. Like James knows and I just need to do what he says. And yeah, man, it gave me confidence after hearing him say that he thought that I was winning and pitching a

shut out whether I thought I was or not. And so that obviously helped a lot going into the later rounds. You really didn't feel like you had a good first round? You know, I just, I felt, it's weird because in a Nicolao fight, I felt so calm and so relaxed and I felt so good. And in this fight, I just felt rushed and rigid. And then afterwards, James was like, good. He was like, if that's the case, he was like, I want you to feel rigid. I don't want you to feel relaxed and smooth anymore because he was like, this is how I want you to fight every time. It's so crazy to kind of hear you talk, not that you've gone with James, because I remember, like, the first time I talked to you when I came over to M.A. fighting, it was after the Ascarat, or it wasn't

after the Ascarat fight, but it was before maybe the Royval fight, maybe, and you were talking about the Ascarat fight, and you talked about how you didn't remember most of it. Like, you got dropped a couple times, like, you didn't remember, like, half the fight. And it was just such a weird thing. It was almost like a little bit alarming. And just to hear you, like, two years later, talking, like, this and being so in the moment and remembering all these different moments in the fight, like remembering how you were feeling in between rounds and having James tell you otherwise. Like it just feels like so different now. Like how different do you feel now than you did maybe two years ago?

It's just like night and day change. Yeah, it's totally different. I mean, I was just training so hard. I always train hard. But like now I'm training just regular hard. And then I'm skill building. Like we're literally, I'm doing privates every day like working. just nothing but techniques.

And like James says, I'm one of those guys like, I can't just drill it until I get it right. I have to drill it until I can't get it wrong. And we knew Tigger was going to be really good on the fence. We knew he was going to be really good in the clinch. So we just worked that tirelessly. And there was just no surprises at all.

Yeah, I was going to say because it looked like you, you knew everything was coming. Even if he took you down, got you gets to fence. You're like, okay, we knew this is all coming because second round. Yeah, go ahead.

That was James too, because we knew he was going to, take me down. And usually I like to try to play a little jujitsu and do my own thing, but James had none of that. He was, if you hear him right when I get taken down, he's like, scoot your butt to the cage, cut the whizzer, belly down, stand up. And I literally, as he was saying, I just did what he said. And, um, Tegir's other two opponents, they did make those extra steps. They would scoot to the wall and then they would play jiu-jitsu. And you can't do that with Tegu, he's too good on top. Um, you have to get to your feet and make them work to try to put you

down. And, uh, you know, of course, James is right as usual. And, and that was the game plan it worked really well. Second round, the gap kind of closed a little bit. Third round momentum swung in his favor. And then we go to the old judges, Tim, those Nevada judges, they can really make things interesting. There were some really awful scorecards throughout the card. Bryce Mitchell getting a 3027 makes absolutely no sense.

I felt it took away from his performance because he was so dominant. How are you feeling after that third round? Were you feeling like a thousand percent? I'm winning this fight. I'm going home with that second check or were you sweating? it out a little bit. Man, I was sweating again because I was fairly certain in the Nicolaal fight that I'd won. And in this fight, you know, I thought that I was up, but I didn't want to be too confident. But, you know, James seemed to think that I won. And at the end of the day, like, I can't help what the

judges do. All I can do is try to go out and have a good performance. And I was okay with my performance. I was happy with how I performed. I didn't take any damage, you know, I'm healthy. Just getting the win is just It's one of those extra things where it's like now I get to have both my paychecks and my coaches get paid a little bit better and you know my daughter will have a little bit extra money in the bank. So it's just, uh, it's all part for the course. It's just kind of the way it goes. Way it lifted off your shoulders, big side relief like you would believe. It was a great win and, you know, social media is what it is. Some people thought he won. No one was crying robbery or anything like that. Like it wasn't, it wasn't to that extent.

And some people scored it for for to gear, but no one was like, oh, my God, this is the worst decision of all time. But I mean, tremendous performance. There were some moments that caught some eyeballs on the broadcast. And I think you know where I'm going with this. The glove grabs are discussed and shown. And you go back and you speak with the media and you're asked about it. And you're saying, yeah, for sure, I grabbed the gloves. I sure did.

You could have easily been like most fighters in the UFC in that situation and said, oh, man, I don't remember. there's so much happening in there. You know, if I did it was an accident, and you said, yeah, I grabbed the glove. Why did you approach it like that? I mean, look, at the end of the day, if Tagir would have beat me,

nobody would have said shit about the glove grab. Nobody would have said anything about the cheating. The only reason why people are upset about the glove grab is because they lost. His team lost, and it just makes them look bad. They wouldn't have said anything about anything had they won. So, you know, I don't know. It's one of those things if you've ever been in a fight.

And maybe I'm just different, but I'm trying to win, man. And it's the referee's job to step in there if I'm doing something wrong. He was telling, he was saying all kinds of shit. He never, I think he told me, don't let go of the glove. I let go of the glove. But for me, it's not that big of a deal. I'm in their fist fighting and people are going on and on about the morality of the sport and the warrior spirit and all that bullshit.

But I don't fucking care. Like, I'm not a, I'm not a martial artist. I'm a fighter and this is my job. And I'm trying to make money at this job. And that's what I did on Saturday. So, you know, for me, it's not an issue. The bosses don't care. Dana White doesn't care.

McManor, I'm good with all those guys. You know, they had no problem cutting my checks, cheating or not cheating. So I sleep fine at night and, you know, a lot more comfortable now that we have money in the bank. I love the reaction to the knee question. that you got in the scrum because it was very close. And upon the replay, it wasn't an illegal knee, but your, your answer was, was, was awesome. It was, I can't be the fighter and the referee at the same time. Like I loved, I loved that answer.

I was like, oh, that's, that's really good. I mean, it's, it's tough, man. Like, you're, you're trying to win. And especially in this book, because like, we talked, we talked about this pretty soon after your fight. We did like a live stream on Twitter spaces. And there was every fight seemed to have something like there was a low blow. or an eye poke or something like that.

And we were just basically, and we came to the conclusion that especially with some of these referees, if you scout them out correctly, we're like, why wouldn't you go in there and fight like you did? Like if you go forward, like the judges are going to go for you in Nevada. It just seems to be the way if it's a close fight. And if you not cheat purposely, but if you go in there and you maybe you poke an eye or go low if things are wrong, like you're not going to get a point taken away until like the third time it happens.

It's just weird. Like it happens all the time. And the thing is, is it, like you said, it happens all the time. And it's going to happen. Like, I sparred today. I got poked in the eyes. I got my glove grabbed. I got headbutt.

I got scratched. And like, these are my friends and teammates. Like, it happens. And everybody knows that. They're just, I don't know. I mean, even in basketball, if you slap the hand, that's part of the ball. You can't tell me you're not in there trying to grab everything. I don't know.

I don't want to get into these arguments at the end of the day. like I'm out there to try to put on a show and try to win and I was able to do that and man the coolest part for me was everything that happened in that fight James Krause and I worked on specifically like there was not a moment in that even even him having my back we knew he was going to be tough on the back we worked a ton of back escapes although I didn't get away like that that that choke was tight he may have gotten me that with that choke you know had I not have this camp that I had so again couldn't be more happy with the results or the or the the camp and my team and man, what a good weekend.

Last thing about the glove. Did you hear Habib freaking out? Because he was screaming. I mean, screaming his head off. I've seen some memes, but no, I can't. I mean, I'm, I'm really good at pinpointing James Krause's voice. I feel like I can only hear him in there. It's just him and I.

We got a good chemistry going right now. It looks like you ruined his night because even when he got inducted, he got the Hall of Fame nom and got the big. video and he was didn't even smile. I think he ruined his night. Yeah, he'll be fine. Yeah, I think it'll be all right. He'll be okay. So you say you want to you you want a quick turnaround. So that means first thing that pops up, you're hoping you're the first call. Like we, we're ready to go back like ASAP as soon as possible or do you need like a month, two months? What are we thinking? I'm training like that. I'm training like I'll be ready for anything at any time.

But realistically, my fiancee, Gina Mazzani, has a fight coming up. And I'll, I, I am not going to do anything to get in the way of her fight. Like right now is her time. So all our focus, all our efforts, everything that we're doing right now is so that she can get the same results that we had last weekend. How's she doing right now? She's doing good. She's right there.

Hello. Hey, Jada. How are you? What's that, bud? She's prepping. So she's good. We love this life, man. We live the fight life.

We eat, sleep, drink, breathe this every day. This is, we live for this shit. Glory MMA, I mean, it's been slowly rising, but now we're, I think, I think James is starting to really get the credit he deserves, especially now. Now we're seeing guys like Jeff Molina and we're seeing him come out and do his, David Onama is becoming one of the more exciting fighters in the sport right now. And the list goes on and on. Like what, what has the vibe been like, especially you coming home with the wind? Like, what has been the vibe in the gym today, yesterday since you got back? Man, like you said, David Onama, like, I'm feeding off of his wind.

and he's already got another fight. We just, we have a bunch of momentum going with the gym right now. And I feel like it's not just with the winning. It's, it's performing going out there with the FAC fights. We had a couple guys get contracts for looking for a fight. One of our guys got a contract with the milk brothers. Like, you know, Brandon Moreno is coming down here to train. Just everybody wants to get a little piece of James Krause.

And like, selfishly, I'm like, you know, I don't necessarily want these people to come here. Like, I want, I want all the James Krause I can get for myself. But then you have guys like Brandon Moreno coming to gym and then all of a sudden practice is different. The whole gym is elevated. Everybody's going harder. Everybody's working more. Everybody, you know, Brandon Marano is the champ. But when he came into the gym, like we had championship practices now and like then Brandon

Moreno left, but he didn't take that championship practice shit with him. Like it stayed here. Like the buzz is still happening. Like we know what we're doing right now is the right thing. Otherwise, guys like him, you know, they wouldn't be coming here. So we're all just feeding off of that right now. Is he as delightful in person as he is in his interviews? He is, man, and a super great person.

We were on the ultimate fighter together. He fought the very first fight of the show. He was the number 16th seed. And he lost that fight. And I gravitated toward him because he was off the show. I knew I wasn't going to have to fight him. And then after the show, I called my dad first thing and was like, yo, man, this kid is going to be a UFC world champion.

I told James Krause that. and James was like, you're stupid. I didn't know what was going to happen that quick, but yeah, he's the real deal and just what a good kind person. And he, like I said, him being in our gym made us all better. That's great. Is there anybody that's, unless you get the short notice call, then it does really matter at that point.

But is there anybody that stands out to you that you want to get back in there with? I know you mentioned some of the guys that you were booked with previously and the fights didn't come together. But, you know, if those don't happen, what are you kind of looking at? It's just pretty much open season at 125 for you. know, Bazi, I think he's ranked one above me or right next to me. I like that fight. We were already scheduled to fight. But man, like right now, it's, it's a good time to be a flyway.

There's only 20, 15, 20 guys. They're all really good. You could literally, you could throw any of those two guys together and make fireworks. So it's just a great time to be a flyway. We have the fourth Brandon Moreno, Figuero, like those guys can fight 100 times. It's always going to be exciting. It's always going to be good for the division. The flyways are, starting to make money now. So it's just anybody, man. James, James is the guy. He just, I don't even think they asked me. They just tell James who were fighting and then he signs a contract and we go. We host a matchmaking show on Sundays right after the cards, especially after pay reviews, you go live, like do it the next morning on like no sleep. And you were a very

popular name that came up amongst the listeners and the viewing audience. And there's one name that that took precedent over all of them, Cody Garbrandt, though everyone's Tim Elliott versus Cody Garberant, what do you think about that? Yeah, man, I love that fight. That's a good, exciting fight. Yeah, is he staying at 25? I don't know.

That, that, uh, Kyra France fight was, that was wild. But no, that's a fight that excites me a lot. And, you know, I liked Cody a lot. And at one point when I was cut from the UFC, uh,

Cody had a guy not show up to Wayans or something, and I was there. And Cody actually tried to help lobby for me to get the fight with him so that I could, get resigned to the UFC. So yeah, man, great dude, great opponent. That would be a fun fight. Wow. Imagine that. Like that'd be like a full circle kind of thing for you. For sure. After that that'd be an amazing thing. But congratulations, man. Well done. I thought A plus in the in the octagon. I love the post fight media scrum. Honest Tim, just just making waves in the

UFC flyweight division. So thank you very much for the time, my man. Anything else you want to say? Get off your chest before we wrap up here. No, man. Just thanks to my team, my wife, of Gina Mazzani, James Kraus, Gloria Mabomann Fitness. Thank you guys. All right, let us say hello to Johnny Evelyn, one of the top up-and-coming middleweights in the world. Big fight cut up a Saturday, Belator 276 against John Salter, big one at 185.

Johnny getting a haircut right now. Looking sharp, my man. How are you? Yes, sir. Looking sharp for my fight coming up Saturday. I'm ready to put John Salter in the ground, bro. There you go. It is Monday as you record.

It is fight week, but it's also a very important day at American Top Team, right? It's Mako Monday. Did you take part in that today, or did you take that one off physically because it's fight week? But maybe you went for the insights and the quotable things he likes to say on Mondays. Yeah, of course. Makko's the man. He's the guy that actually got me into the gym initially. But, yeah, I actually took part in Mako Monday today.

I did a little boxing with my boxing coach, Diet Davis, beforehand. and then I jumped in and did some drills with Josh, the Sylvia. And then after that, I jumped in a sauna. I got some weight off and then now I'm getting my haircut. Busy day for you. Can I ask what the gym is like today, sort of the mood, the aura, if you will, because obviously UFC 272, there's a lot going on. Marina Morose got a massive win for the team, obviously,

but it ended in a way that probably wasn't so tremendous for the gym and for the team. What was the mood like in ATT today? We were all a little bit bummed, you know. Things didn't play all the how we wanted to. But we just try to keep a positive energy at the gym because we got other people that have fights coming up. You know, just another day at the gym. Things didn't play out the way we wanted it to.

So, you know, a little bit, you know, people kind of coming in, kind of bummed, but we got through it. We were all good. did you watch the card on Saturday? And if so, what did you think of the main event? Oh, I did. And, man, Colby just really wanted to wrestle, huh? And in the fourth, I saw George clipped him hard.

I was hoping that he would finish him. But ended up not playing out that way. But it was a good card. It was a good main event. Definitely think, I definitely think, I don't know, it's a little bit weird, though, too, how it all play out. Colby looked like he wasn't himself a little bit, or maybe he's getting worse. I don't know what it is, but George seemed a little off as well, too.

But I guess that's, you know, it is what it is. Speaking of your career and what you're about to do, we last saw you fight in December. You had a quick finish, 71 seconds, but then, like maybe two days, three days later, you signed a new deal with the promotion, multi-fight, exclusive deal to stick around with Bellator. congratulations on that. I assume you are quite happy with this new deal. And obviously, you're getting a big fight. So everything seems to be playing out pretty well for you. Yeah, I'm super happy with Bellator. I'm glad they decided to resign me, give me a new deal, more money, championship language in it, too. So I think they know where I'm headed and I'm headed to go for that Bellator gold. How many more fights did you get, if you don't mind me asking?

I think it was a six-fight deal. Oh, nice. Very good. And the first one, it's the fight that seemed that you really wanted. Saw you on social media. I think John was kind of in the direction that this was probably going to go this way, too. You just fought for the title against Gabe Busasi. How did this start? Like, what about John stood out as the fight that made the most sense for you?

Actually, sound of bad agreement to fight him in Florida, but supposedly he didn't hear anything about it or his like management didn't hit him up about it or I don't know. Supposedly, I heard they got hurt. But he claims that he didn't get hurt. So I don't know. I don't know the whole situation behind that. But basically, I called him out for my fight and called him a pussy. And then he responded after that on, uh, on social media, you know, saying, Hey, man, I didn't know.

I, I wasn't contacted, but, uh, about that fight. Um, I would have signed it, blah, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, man, at least I got it to happen. I'm glad I called him out and glad I was public about it. He's down to, he's game to fight me. So let's do it. Wait, so you got a boat agreement to fight him, what, in that November card? At a Hard Rock there?

Yeah, Hard Rock. I was pissed that I didn't get on that card because I haven't fought in Florida yet for Belator. And Belator never comes to Florida. So, yeah, I was a little upset about it. That's crazy, man. What did you think of his fight against Gayguard? I'm sure you were paying attention to it. What did you think about his performance, Gaygart's performance in particular?

Yeah, you all looked good, but I thought it played out how it played out in my head. Or I played out in reality how I thought it would play out. That's exactly what I thought would happen. And I'm planning on doing the same, but in a better fashion. He was looking, he was on an nice little run before the title fight, the three wins in a row, had a couple submissions. Obviously, he's been around for a little while. It's a pretty big name in this Bellator division.

Biggest fight of your career, right? Like, no doubt about it. Yeah, no doubt about it. Yeah, he's number one. contenders. This is huge for you. Yeah, he's the number one ranked guy in Bellator, you know, after Austin lost him to Musassi, he's, they moved him back up to number one. I'm number three. So I'm looking to take that number one spot. Sometimes when fighters like yourself, you come up through the ranks of Bellator and we wait for that sort of step up in competition.

I feel like you've been, you progressed the right way here. But people always have these questions, especially fans like, is this fighter as good as advertised? Are they really that good? this fight answers those questions in every single way. Does it not like how important is it for you to not only just beat the number one guy, but to prove yourself right, maybe make a statement for those of those people who maybe doubt your talent, you can prove them wrong a little bit. Yeah, of course.

You know what? To be honest, I'm just going to go in, do my thing to the best, my ability, just showcase my skills and I'll let the talkers talk. You know, I'm not here to prove anybody wrong.

I'm not here to really do anything. I'm here to just show up, get paid, How do we get this thing done? What are you envisioning? Sprawling, brawling. You're going to have some fun in there, baby. Go to his body, beat the living shit out of him.

Make him pay for not showing up in November, right? Pretty much. Just making him pay in general, just because he signed a bad agreement. If you win this fight, I mean, do you feel like your next fight will be for the title? Like, I know a lot of times these are presented as number one contender fights, but hard to believe if John wins, he's going to fight for the belt. again, but if you win, I mean, you've got to be fighting for the bell next, right? I would guess so. If not, I'll fight all comers. I don't really care. I think my skills match

up with everybody in the division and they can all get it. How is Austin doing after the loss to Gaygard? I know you guys are pretty tight. You trained together quite often, at least that's what Austin has told me in the past. Obviously not how he drew it up, but you know, Gaygard is tough. He's fighting very well right now. He's on top of his game how does how is he doing after the loss honestly haven't I haven't spoke to him I haven't seen him at the gym or anything I'm just letting them lay low when I run into him at the gym I'm sure we'll talk about it but yeah man I just feel sorry for like I wouldn't want something to play out like that either you know it's unfortunate

but I'm sure we'll catch up about it I'm kind of focused on my fight right now I'm not too worried about you know talking to anybody anybody besides you know people that are get me ready for this fight. Understandable. I have to ask this question. I've been waiting for somebody since maybe Friday, maybe Friday night to ask somebody to the question. I feel like you're the right guy to ask, Joddy,

because the last time I covered an event for Bellator, it was Bellator 258, you knocked out Daniel Madrid, and you stood out to me because you had the QR code, the scannable link on your fight shorts, and you know, you showed them again during your scrum, and I thought that was super cool. So you saw you have, 2272 and every fighter on the card did a video or shouted it on the cage or with the media like this

Marshall Rogan coin thing and I have no idea about this world at all okay explain it to you what I need to figure this out but they contacted me they were going to pay me money to shield or coin like make a post and then say something publicly after I win my fight and I chose not to because fundamentally it has no use case it's it's it's anytime someone's paying you to show something it's a red flag for me so I I personally chose not to partake in that but you know it could be a pump and dump scheme I don't know cryptocurrency is the Wild Westman and and if it's not a blue chip thing or if I don't do my due diligence and really do my research behind something I don't

I don't invest in it. And I did my research on them, like not extensive research, but just a little bit of research on them. And I was like, eh, I don't really feel confident, you know, shilling this to my followers and making them exit liquidity. So I just chose to, you know, step off and not promote that coin. But I guess other people decided to take the money and promote it, you know, but it is what it is. They can do that. I'm not here to tell you what to invest in or what not to invest in. I just, I personally don't want to show it. Well, what are, because I again, and my knowledge of this of this world is, is very minimum. And I know as, as an adult, I got to figure this out a little bit more. But why is it such

a red flag in your eyes? Like when you saw the post and, and, and, and you saw the fighters talking about it, why, why was that initially a red flag for you? Because anything that's really, like, useful in this world doesn't really need to be promoted like that if that makes it make sense. Like if something's actually like competent in its job, like it doesn't need that much promotion. So it's like they're built, they're, they're trying to build off hype in in hype isn't really like a tangible like it does. How do I explain this? It's literally a meme coin. It has no use case. So it's like, and then they're paying fighters to chill it. It's just, I don't know, it's just a huge red flag to me.

If they were promoting something that was actually, like, useful and solving problems in the, and decentralized currency, like, okay, cool, I'd promote it. But that's not the case in this particular situation. Right. This is not a protein powder or anything. And, like, you know what I mean? No, yeah. It's kind of like a gamble, like, because people can buy it and then, like, they can get dumped on. Like that's what they can get rugged.

Like people promote it. Okay. Well, my favorite fighter is promoting this coin. I'm going to buy it. It's at 20 cents, but it started at like, freaking like three cents. You know what I mean? And I'm sure the people that are paying the fighters to promote it own a lot of that coin. So.

Not for you. They're paying these guys to shill it. They shill it. People buy it. They sell. it's pretty simple you know i mean um i'm not i don't necessarily know that's exactly what's happening um i think it's kind of cool that they're paying fighters like actual ethereum or actual money um like good for them like fighters need to make money but i just don't think uh you know turning

your followers into extra liquidity for these people that are paying you to promote it is uh you know morally right at the end of the day for me personally Yeah. So for you, I mean, for you, it's great to have extra money and stuff, but if, if you find something, you know, in this world, you do your due diligence, makes sense to you. It's something you would invest in. Then we'll see you sort of jump on that train and promote it to the fans and of the sport. Yes. If it's something I personally, like, something I personally agree with and I personally think that needs to be, you know, promoted. It's a good thing. I'll promote it. And if they want to pay me to do it, I'll let them pay me to do it. But if I don't agree with it, like, I don't agree with it. like you won't see me show it. That goes for everything. That goes with companies. That goes for, you know, quite literally everything. I want my name to attach to things that are, you know, good in this world.

Makes sense, man. I appreciate the time. I know you're getting your hair cut. You got a million things going on, getting ready to hit the road and head to St. Louis take on John Salt, their big fight at Bellator 276. Appreciate it, man. You're looking great. And we'll see you in that case on Saturday, man.

Appreciate it, man. listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.