MMA Fighting - What the Heck: Episode 14 | Jon Anik, Khama Worthy, Maurice Greene & Julian Erosa

Episode Date: July 2, 2020

Check out episode 14 of What the Heck with Mike Heck on MMA Fighting. This week, Mike speaks with UFC lead commentator Jon Anik (4:49) to recap the promotion's crazy stretch of events during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a look ahead to 'Fight Island,' beginning with UFC 251 on July 11. Khama Worthy (28:08) recaps his third-round submission win over Luis Pena at UFC on ESPN 12 and discusses what he wants next and in the future. Maurice Greene (51:53) walks us through his wild third-round submission win over Gian Villante this past Saturday, and gives his take on Tanner Boser's call out. Finally, Julian Erosa (1:10:38) shares his story of getting another shot with the UFC on short notice and putting away the previously unbeaten Sean Woodson this past weekend in Las Vegas. Was he the first choice to replace Kyle Nelson?  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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What the Heck with Mike Heck on MMAfighting.com. Now here is your host, Mike Heck. What the heck? Welcome to a brand new edition of What the Heck on MMAfighting.com. My name is Mike Heck. Appreciate you check it out the program this week, especially since there's no UFC card this weekend.

A rare weekend off for the biggest fight promotion on planet Earth. It is Independence Day holiday weekend here in the United States. States and, you know, not that we can really go out and do much with everything going on, but between those five cards at the UFC Apex that started May 30th and then wrapped up this past weekend with Dustin Porre versus Dan Hooker, I mean, the timing is perfect for a weekend off to sort of let it breathe and then we can get ready for Fight Island, which kicks off July 11th, UFC 251, but a week and a half away, three title fights on that card. Headlined by Kamara Usman versus Gilbert Burns for the Welterweight title,

Alexander Volcanowski versus Max Holloway for the Featherweight title. And then Peota Jan versus Jose Aldo for the vacant Bannamway title. Main card is great. Undercard is great. The other three cards, July 15th with Calvin Cater versus Dan Igay. That's a great card. We got Joseph Benavitas and Davis and Figuato battling it out, rematch for the vacant flyway title on July 18th.

And then July 25th is headline by Robert Witton. Whitaker versus Darren Till. So a lot to be excited about when it comes to Fight Island. We'll be talking about Fight Island across the board later on with our first guest of the show. But like I was saying earlier, this past Saturdays card was ridiculous. It was ridiculous. UFC on ESPN12, got the all-time classic with Pori and Hooker.

To me, I talked about this in between the links. That's the fight of the year. No disrespect to Zhang Wei and Yuadi and Jaycheck. that fight was absolutely bananas. But the way I see it, if we're having a debate week after week like this about what's the fight of the year, is this fight of the year,

was that fight of the year? This is a great problem to have, right? I mean, that fight between Pori and Hooker was incredible. And the fight between Zhang Wei and Yano and Jacek, incredible. Josh Hemet versus Shane Burgos? Incredible. Justin Gage versus Tony Ferguson? Incredible. We've had a lot of incredible fights. We really have.

But Poria Hooker, kudos to both of you guys. We had Mike Perry back in the wind column. He was a huge story coming into the event and coming out of that event. Picked up a win over Mickey Gall, Maurice Green, crazy submission win, Kamowworthy, crazy submission win, Julian Arosa, crazy submission win. Kay Hansen, great submission win. We had some big knockouts from likes of Tana Bojure and Takashi Sato.

There was a lot to like about this event. We're going to talk all about it this week on what the heck. Let's run down the lineup. Get to our first guest. Wrapping things up this week, the aforementioned Julian Arosa. I mean, what a story this guy is. Two stints with the UFC. Released a total of three times in that span.

One in four in the promotion. He's on the Ultimate Fighter. He's on the Contender Series. And he gets another shot with the UFC on less than a week's notice to fight one of the featherweight division's top prospects. And Sean Woodson, a guy who was undefeated. and he finishes him via Dars Choke in the third round. I really, really, really enjoyed this conversation with Julian O'Rosa. I think you guys will as well, so we'll check in with Juicy Jay a little bit later on.

Maurice Green, the Crochet Boss, will join us following his out-of-nowhere submission win over John Valante and the featured bout this past Saturday. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about Tanner Bozier calling him out and much more. For the last couple weeks, people have been hitting me up. telling me that after his first appearance on what the heck, they are now big fans of Kamoworthy. The Death Star returned to action on Saturday. He took on Luis Pena.

Gets another finish this time via submission. And now he's back on the show. And I will tell you this, it is glorious. Ladies and gentlemen, Kamaworthy is fantastic by kicking us off. It has been a while since we have had him on, a fellow born and raised Bostonian. We're going to talk to John Anick. And I thought he was absolutely sensational on Saturday night with the calls, post-fight interviews. He knocked it out of the park.

And now he gets ready to head to Fight Island very soon. So let's check in with the great John Anick. All right, we move ahead to our next guest. In fact, he was the very first guest in the history of this program. And this is long overdue to get him back on John Anick, Play-by-Play Voice for the UFC, Annik and Florian podcast. and I don't know what was more of a talking point on Saturday night, Max Holloway's hair or the mustache of John Anick. It was all over social media, but John, good to see you, man.

How are you? It's good to see you, man. You've been killing it since joining MMAfighting.com, so I'm happy to see that. But yeah, the mustache thing, you know, us play-by-play guys, we're trying to sort of fall firmly underneath the radar. And I can grow a full beard in 48 hours. So I didn't really even notice that the mustache was a little bit thicker than normal. But now, certainly, we have to go,

E. Casey, Leidenstile, and go like complete mustache in Abu Dhabi. So that's the plan. There you go. And we haven't really spoken like this since before the April 18th iteration of UFC 249 was postponed. And you've got to call some big ones over the last couple of months. And, you know, I guess my first question is, what has it been like from a, from a broadcasting perspective, going from full arenas, capacity crowds to 15,000 seat arenas with no one to fill the seats and then to the UFC apex? Well, Jacksonville was a lot. different than Vegas has been. We did not have the hockey plexiglass in Jacksonville. So our every word was being heard by the fighters. It was interesting to talk to Dustin Porre after the fight to hear

from him that he seemed to hear most of what we were saying and said it was echoing off the walls. So that kind of is what it is. I mean, I am trying to be a little bit more measured at times when I'm relaying corner man advice or things that I think would be blatant in terms of a fighter wanting to hear what we have to say. But that's been the biggest part of the adjustment for us. Certainly when I got to go take a piss, it's a lot nicer that I don't have to navigate fans and things like that, but I miss the fans dearly. I've said to you and others that the fans are a performance enhancer for the announcers. It's not a crutch, right? But it's certainly something you lean into when you have the benefit of a live event audience. So I can't wait till we have fans again. But at this point,

in this climate, I don't think we'll see fans in 2020. And I think I speak for a lot of my broadcast partners when I say we've gotten pretty conditioned to calling fights in empty arenas. One thing that I've noticed, and I have three brothers and none of them were MMA fans at all. Like they casually watch. I have a little brother who just like watches it just because he likes to bet on anything. So we bet some fights, which I'm sure you can appreciate. But I think all three of them throughout this process because of the empty arena and getting to really hear what happens in a fight outside of the crowd, like from the breathing to the strikes landing to, you know, receiving a body shot, they've really grown to appreciate the sport a lot more

than they did before this all began. Have you sort of noticed that as well that people are really starting to, I guess, appreciate the sport more now that there's no fans and they get to really feel like they're in there in a way? Yeah, I think you hit on a lot of good points there. I mean, the Porier hooker numbers, the early returns are that we did a great number there. And my social media is a pretty good direct indicator when I get it off the air, depending on how many mentions I have. I have a pretty good idea as to what our television rating was. So I think there's been some fan retention. I think guys like your brothers who are maybe watching us in early May, watching UFC 249, now they're tuning in every week. So I think the question for me is how

much of that audience are we going to be able to retain once these other sports are back up and running? But it's hugely encouraging, obviously, and the fighters deserve all the credit. I think the 25-foot Octagon is getting more credit than it deserves. The fighters, I think, deserve a lot of the credit. Certainly the numbers suggest that there are more finishes in this little guy. But the athletes have really delivered. I don't think training camps have been compromised the way a lot of people felt like they would be. So you're still getting high-level mixed martial arts. And, you know, as much as I miss my kids, I've been thankful to have a front row seat for most of it.

And I have to say, John, you've been a part of a lot of events over the years. Your voice is synonymous with some of the best fights and the biggest moments in the history of the sport. And you always do a great job. But to me, I thought this past Saturday night was one of those nights for you that we're going to be talking about for a long time. Like from the calls to the post-fight interviews, most notably with Maurice Green and Mike Perry, I thought it was really incredible. So I don't know about you. I don't know how you feel about specific nights and specific cards. But when the night ended and you're like heading back to the hotel, did it feel like it was one of those special nights in your career?

Well, it means a lot to hear you say that. And yeah, I mean, I think it feels special. we can sort of have a tendency to not enjoy the fruits of our labor and just spin it forward to the next show and bury it as quickly as we can because there's so much work that has to be done sometimes two weeks in advance to get ready for the next show. But, you know, my boss, Zach Candido called me a couple days after the show and said how happy he was with the post-fight interviews. I don't always get that phone call. So that meant a whole lot to me. But a lot of it is rooted in the preparation, right, in knowing the stories intimately of guys like Kamaworthy and Mory's Green so that when they win a fight, you know what the context is.

And I didn't know that the Crochet boss was going to be that emotional after the fact, but I do know that him moving his family to New Mexico, Mike, was contingent upon the win bonus on winning that fight, right? So his kids are starting school in a month, right? I mean, these are big decisions, right? And it's not like his son is three years old. His son is eight or nine years old, right? There are lives that are impacted by the outcomes of these fights.

And so I was very happy with four Maurice to have that moment and that he was able to sort of, you know, share his, his story with everyone. And for comma worthy, bro, it's like his gym in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hopefully it gets a boost from this. But it was an inch away from closing during this pandemic. So these are the stories that mean a lot to me. A play-by-play guy is charged with a lot of things over seven hours of a live event. But number one for me is trying to humanize these athletes so that people out there give a rip.

And I think at least when it comes to more recent comma, their fan bases took a nice swell this weekend. So, yeah, it was a special. show and Porreier obviously, you know, cementing his Hall of Fame legacy in my mind. It was a great event. Yeah. And this will be the last question about broadcasting. I'm a broadcasting geek. And I love having those conversations. But, you know, you've been in the game for a long time now on the broadcasting side. It's been around seven or so years for me. And it's kind of a lost art in this industry. And I see it a lot with some of the up-and-coming guys that when these moments are happening and these stories are being told, whether it's in the fight itself or when you're just

speaking to the fighters, to know when to sort of like lay out and just like let the moment happen. The silence can sometimes be louder than your actual words themselves. You know what I mean? And I think you did such a great job at that on Saturday night, John. I mean, that's something that I feel is a lost art in this industry. Well, I appreciate it, man. Sincerely, I really do. Television and radio are different beasts, right?

This is a television call. And even if you don't have crowd noise, you have to let certain moments breathe and be comfortable in your own silence. even if you look at the interview with platinum Mike Perry, right? And thankfully, I got great producers who laid out as well. It's not like they were telling me that I had to intervene at any point during that interview, but we're witnessing gold. Mike Perry versus the tax man, right?

This was perfect, right? There's no reason for me to say anything. And I do think if you're able to check your ego and be a good listener, then it can pay off in a live TV setting. So to have someone like you acknowledge it a few days after the fact is not lost on me. But yeah, I would be lying if I said it's not on to Fight Island. I mean, I do have no choice but to bury these quickly. I'm doing July 11th and July 15th, two shows in five days.

So we have turned the page, my man, to say the least. Yeah, I do want to ask you, we'll go on a fight on, I promise. Oh, of course, of course. Yeah, because the last time you were on, we discussed briefly about Jean-Wea Lee versus Yanni and Jacek, and you said that was the best fight that you've had the privilege to sit Cadeside for. And since then, we've seen Justin G. H.E. versus Tony Ferguson, what a wild fight that was. And as good as that was, not sure if it really eclipsed the Straway title fight. But Dan Hooker versus Dustin Porre, that one might have done it for Fight of the Year for me. Like, I watch both of those fights back to back on Monday. And I'm leaning towards Porier Hooker, maybe just because both guys are so close to being finished. That could change tomorrow, John. But you called both of those fights. Do you think Porre versus Hooker surpass that one?

All right. So I will answer that question. But first, I just want to say for Josh Emmett and Shane Burgos. right, a three-rounder versus a five-rounder. Had that fight been a main event over 25 minutes, which it easily could have been, that fight might be in the conversation as well. But I think it's hard. Even Vicente Lucay versus Nico Price, a three-round fight that ends quickly. It's hard to hold up in the fight of the year conversation. I think, excuse me, Mike, the biggest difference for me was that when it went to the

scorecards for Zhang Wei and Yuaniannean J-check, we didn't know who won and there was a belt on the line. And even though I thought Zhang Wei Lee probably won the fight, it was wicked close. whereas in Porreier Hooker, over the final 10 minutes, Dan Hooker really did fade. And it was all heart for him to power through that exhaustion and see the final horn. So I didn't know that we had the ebb and flow over the final 10 minutes in Pori Hooker for me that makes it hold up with Zhang Wei Lee and Ioanna Yom Jaceek. And I can't get past Yowana's forehead and her fighting through that.

So the ladies have not been dethroned in the fight of the year conversation for me. And again, I have more respect for Dan Hooker than anybody almost in the fight game. that dude I put on a pedestal. But I just think that after the war with Felder, just that round five man, he just had nothing left, you know? Yeah. And what's great about a fight like that is that although Dustin Porier won, I feel like Dan Hooker's stock rose quite a bit in that fight. And having a guy like Justin Gage is saying, great fight, you deserve a seat at the big dog table. That's got a, that that's huge for a guy like Dan Hooker, even with the loss. If there's a silver lining anywhere, there it is. Yeah. No, I agree. And I think some people suggest that maybe Dan Hooker doesn't have a

championship ceiling now. I'm not willing to go that far. He has fewer miles on the tank than Porriere. He's still a guy who I think is a force to be reckoned with in this division. I just think that when you go through a fight like he did against Edson Barbosa, his team made him take eight or nine months off. Then he goes through the war with Paul Felder. He was willing to turn around and fight Porier May 16th, right? Thankfully, it ended up being June 27th, but I do believe when you go through those type of fights, the more time you can take off in between the better it can be. So I think a Hooker-Pourier rematch down the line would be super competitive. And again, I think Eugene Bairman will make some improvements and modifications with Dan Hooker. But the cardio abandonment

to me was really just pure exhaustion and maybe just turning around a little too soon after that Felder War in late February. Absolutely. And now it is on to fight Allen for you. It all kicks off July 11th, UFC 251. And, you know, talk about a guy who stock rose during the Vegas residency. Gilbert Burns gets a big win over Tyrone Woodley. He jumps up to the top contender spot at 170 and now has a chance to become a world champion when he faces Kamara Uspen in the main event. And I think it's so crazy that like a year ago,

I think it was August of last year, he's fighting Alexei Kunchenko. And now he's about to go to Fight Island and fight for a world title. Like Doreno has a huge task ahead of him. But man, he's become one of the best stories in the sport. Is he not? Dude, I mean, absolutely.

What an improbable run to Welterweight prominence, right? This is a guy who got knocked out by Dan Hooker in the summer of 2018, and had that not happened, maybe he wouldn't have put his focus into the welterweight division. It's hard for me to talk about this fight without just thinking about the friendship between Kamar Usman and Gilbert Burns, right? Because Kamara has cornered Gilbert before. Like, their teammates, their longtime teammates, their friends, and I do think that it is a part of this fight. When Kamaworthy knocked out Devante Smith last year and turned in what was on paper the biggest upset of the year, I think part of that was a byproduct of familiarity that he was so comfortable with Devante

Smith that he was just not at all phased by the environment or the pressure or the UFC debut. He felt like it was a sparring session. So for me, that's a disadvantage for the incumbent, for the champion, right? Some people would say it's neither here nor there. It's not an advantage for one guy or the other. But I think for Camaro, who's 11 and 0 in the UFC, he was untouched before the Colby Covington fight. Now he's fighting a guy that knows his every move.

So I think it was hugely smart for Kamara to get the hell out of South Florida, to go to Trevor Whitman, who is the consensus best in the game, right? And really try to get a change of scenery and focus on turning Gilbert Burns into an enemy. Because every time there's been an enemy in the UFC, Kamau Usman has dominated that party. I think it's going to be a kickboxing match. You know, I think Kamaru probably doesn't want to mess around too much in the guard of the great Gilbert Doreno Burns. And some people say Burns is the better striker. I'm not so sure.

But I think it's going to be a kickboxing match. Yeah, I can't wait for that fight. Three title fights total on the car. We got Usman versus Burns. We got Volcanowski versus Holloway and a rematch for the featherweight strap. And then we have Piotr Yan versus Jose Aldo for the vacant Bannamway title. All of them have very interesting storylines attached to them. But if you had to pick one, John, which one of these three title fights, I guess, fascinates you the most?

Definitely the rematch between Alexander Volkinovsky and Max Holloway, because when we sat down with Volko before the first Holloway fight, he sort of had this feeling like a lot of guys do coming into their first UFC title fight against a long-reigning champion that he was going to have to beat Max Holloway twice. Now, I'm not saying that Eugene Barman and the city kickboxing guys held back necessarily the first time around, but they knew they were going to have to beat this guy twice. So perhaps a lot of people are focusing on the Holloway adjustments and not thinking about Volcanovsky's game plan and how he might approach a second fight differently. So fascinated to see what the consensus greatest featherweight of all-time Max Holloway. can do to try to force the issue and make this a different fight. Because even though he did rally late, one of those judges had 50 to 45 for Volko. He gave Volkinovsky all five rounds. And I kind of

saw it that way too. I mean, maybe there was a round for Max in there late. But I saw an argument that Volcanovsky had a clean sweep that night. So Holloway's got to make a lot of adjustments. I think Volcanovsky will come with a tweaked game plan as well and just absolutely fascinated by championship rematches anyway. And then, of course, for Peodor Yan, what a stud. man, you know, if he can beat Jose Aldo to begin the Jan era, no better way to do it. So, yeah, as much as I have to do hurdle-wise to get to Abu Dhabi in terms of nasal swabs and everything else, as you can see, I can't wait to get there and see these fights play out on the island. Yeah, the whole card's really good. Get Androge versus Nami Unis, too.

We got Amanda Hebas versus Paige Van Zan. The featured prelim on that card, Vulcan Ozdemar versus Yuri Prahashka. Good Lord, man. You get to call that fight. I'm so excited for that one. Yeah, there's a lot of hype behind that young man. And Volcano Oostimir is a totally different guy than he was a couple years ago, physically, mentally. So that's a great fight and really is one of our deeper paper reviews.

I think we're all going to look back at UFC 249 and think, man, how is that not at least on paper the card of the year? But again, you're talking about five main events on this paper view. Three title fights. Championship triple headers are pretty rare in the UFC, I think six or seven times all told. And then He Boss Van Zant certainly is a head. line worthy fight for an ESPN fight night. And then the rematch between Nami Unis and Andrage feels like a title fight to me. So we're absolutely loaded.

The weird thing for me, Mike, and I know you'll appreciate this. Dude, my call time is 1 a.m. local time in Abu Dhab. Right. When we went in September, we catered to the Abu Dhabi audience, right? So it was in their realm. This time around, we're catering to the American TV audience, 10 p.m. Eastern Paperview. So 3 a.m. first fight, bro.

So we'll be sleeping all day, wake it up in the middle of the night. and cracking a mic at 3 o'clock in the morning. Caffeine's a powerful thing, but it's going to be interesting at 305 a.m. I can assure you. There you go. True or false. The most under the radar fight on Fight Island is Davidson Figuerreiro versus Joseph Benavitas. I think so because I could sit here and talk to you about Calvin Cade or Dan Ege until I'm blue in the face.

Because in some other media I've done, I've been asked, you know, what's the off-the-radar fight that you're most exciting for? I feel we're mentioned a main event. but Cater Ige is a great fight and to see two featherweights who are willing right now to put their candidacy on the line against each other with all that momentum. I just have a lot of respect for those guys because the loser, two-year setback potentially in terms of your championship aspirations. Anyway, you slice it. Shane Burgos loses to Josh Emmett two-year setback in terms of your championship aspirations. But yeah, Benavides, Figureto, I think it's more competitive than the odds makers suggest. I saw Benavides as a two-to-one underdog.

I think he deserves more respect than that. And even though he was the guy who is probably guilty for the headbut happening, it was a factor in the fight. So we'll see if Figurato can make weight. Hopefully he can. He's an absolute monster at 25. But there's an asterisk. You have to make the weight to be the monster at 25 and cautiously optimistic that he will. Yeah, Cater's hilarious.

I spoke with him the other day and he shot me a text like right after the fight car was announced, it was like, when you post everything in the start times, is that right? Does that mean I'm fighting like 6 a.m.? Yeah. I was like, I guess I'm right. I'm like, that's what the thing showed on the broadcast when you guys are announcing the card. But yeah, there you are. Get ready, man.

But obviously very exciting stuff. And honestly, John, to see what the UFC has done over these last few months, because let's be honest, there weren't a lot of people overly enthused at the beginning of this all that they were even doing the right thing. And I didn't, you know, I didn't go on Twitter and start slamming the UFC or anything like that. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my reservation. They proved me wrong. They proved a lot of people wrong. So to be a part of this train that is just

kept on moving during the craziest year that I'd been alive for, what has that been like for you? It's been a wild ride. I mean, I would be lying if I said there wasn't some anxiety for me in early April when I was wrapping my head around getting from South Florida to Lamore, California, given what the climate was back then. But if you're Dana White in the UFC brass, you have to be bullish. You have to not fear failure. managing risk the whole time, but you have to be willing to fail to try to execute in this climate. And I sound like a broken record when I talk about the UFC as this well-oiled machine that deals with all these different global challenges and variables wherever we go, losing a fight day of, Amanda Nunes,

you know, pulling out a Robert Whitaker a few hours before were to go live. People have no idea the live production ramifications that we've dealt with in the past. And even though this, this global pandemic is unforeseen, I just felt like if any organization was going to figure out a way to get shows off the ground, it was the UFC. And even though we don't have some of the obstacles that the other sports leagues have, it's still a challenge to get a show off in this climate. And we've done 20% of our live event schedule. We've done eight of 40 events from May 9th to June 27th.

So there have been a few positive tests here or there, but I think the promotion deserves credit. And I'll admit, and maybe you saw this on my Instagram this morning, I'm a little bit surprised that the other sports leagues not only haven't solicited opinions from the UFC or followed suit with the UFC. But how about acknowledging Dana White and giving the guy and his executive some credit for getting shows off the ground in a climate where other people have been massively passive and have had their trepidation maybe getting the way of getting off the ground? You know, I just, I think these other organizations need to look at the UFC and say, man, I know we have teams and things like that. But why are they having success and we're still trying to figure out how to get one show in the camp? Yeah, it's just it's crazy to see what they've done.

And, you know, like we talked about earlier, more people are watching now, which is great. And hopefully as these fight cards continue to go on because they've up, there hasn't been a dud event yet. I've all been really good. Even the ones, you know, a lot of people were poo-pooing the Calvio versus I card. But that turned out to be really, really good at the end of the day. It's never judge a book by its cover, John. I think that's what we've learned through this whole thing. Dude, you're so right.

We could do 25 minutes easily just talking about the prelims from that Porreux hooker card. You know what I mean? You got all these guys. these underdogs, the Julian Erosa story, you know, riding his bike in Vegas, hoping to get a call one and four in the UFC and goes out and beats a guy as a plus 400 underdog. It truly is the land of the unpredictable, the theater of the unknown. And the NFL better get back soon because you know me. You know the NFL is king. But the greatest sport in the world might be taken over if football doesn't come back soon.

Yes, perfect segue. Cam Newton, New England Patriots, big news. Very interesting move for both. What do you think? I think the Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, was always going to try to get a really mobile quarterback once the Tom Brady era was over. So we'll see if Cam Newton can beat out Jared Stitton for the job. I think he'll win the job if he's healthy and ready to go. And I also think Cam Newton can be coachable and can fall in line and can adhere to the playbook and be a good soldier.

And if not return to the MVP level, certainly help the Patriots win the AFC East and be viable. the one thing you knew about Bill Belichick that he was not going to punt on the season. And when Brian Hoyer is your backup, you're punting on the season, right? He's the worst backup at the NFL. If anything happens to Jared Stidham, Brian Hoyer is your quarterback. And that puts you in a position where you are not going to be making the playoffs. So I couldn't be happier. Hopefully Cam Newton is healthy.

And with respect to his fellow Auburn guy Stidim, I hope Cam Newton wins the job. Yeah, I hope he can check his ego at the door, you know. Just keep an open mind. you know, we've seen some of these big names come in, and then like two weeks into camp, they're just like, nope, can't do this. Well, it's low risk. And if they cut him early, maybe I wouldn't be totally surprised. If you're asking me today, do I think he wins the job?

I think it's like a 55-45 proposition. I'm not sure, you know, if he's going to beat out Stidim, but we'll see. I think he's the opening day starter and then go from there. Oh, let's go. I hope you're right. I hope you're right. Me too. But I can't thank you enough, John.

You know, we could do this, like you said, for another couple of hours, no prize. but you get some traveling to prepare for. So I want you to enjoy the time with your family before you head out. Safe travels and can't wait to hear you on these broadcast, man. All the best to you. Thank you, buddy. I'll be in touch when I got boots on the ground and continued success, man. Nobody happier to see it than me.

Great stuff from John Anick right there. And like I said, as a guy who loves broadcasting, kind of a broadcasting geek, really into it, John was incredible on Saturday night. I wasn't just saying it because he was sitting across a computer screen for me. I really thought it was top-notch. It really, really was. So big thank you to the great John Anick for coming back on the program. Coming up next, we're going to talk to Kamow Worthy.

He's going to join us to discuss this big win over Luis Pani over the weekend, and I will warn you ahead of time. It doesn't really surprise any of an interview in Kahnworthy for a long time. Kamo's doing some multitasking. He was doing the interview, and he was teaching a fitness class at his gym simultaneously. It's actually pretty hilarious. always a blast chatting with The Death Star. This one was no different.

Here he is. Comma Worthy. Back on what the heck. All right, we have Kamaworthy back on the show coming off his impressive third round submission win over Luis Payney this past weekend at UFC on ESPN 12. Huge win for the Death Star who's multitasking right now. He's doing an interview and teaching a class at the same time. How are you, man?

No, I'll be back on Monday. I'm joking. It's Tuesday. I'm doing good, man. Can't complain. Well, it's good to see you, man. Congratulations on the win, and I'll be honest with you, sir. You winning the fight wasn't very surprising at all. You came into the fight winning six straight, but submitting Luis Pena, that surprised me a little bit and surprised a lot of other people. Maybe we're just casuals after all, Kama, but that that choke was absolutely nasty.

The setup was brilliant. You're not just a knockout artist, are you? No, I mean, like, I got to say, like, I just, I train in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania has some of the best wrestlers in the world. I've done my whole career here, fighting in Pittsburgh and Ohio. So I've known me D1 of the wrestlers I've run into. Like, there's a D-run restaurant every fucking corner where his ears are all fucking messed up and shit. So they're all over the fucking place.

So you don't, you have to learn how to deal with high-level grappling fighting out of PA. Even if you are a high-level striker like myself, I still have to learn how to deal with that. So I have a couple of tricks that work on, and that's one of them. Yeah, it wasn't like a catch-as-catch-can guillotine choke. Like there were some modifications to it, a little bit of a different angle, a different grip, and different position. Like, how long have you had that particular choke in your arsenal? So I have, there's, I have like three different ones, depending on what the person does and stuff like that. But I have my man, like I said, my fight, my man, Isaac Greeley, he, he's a MMA coach.

here he runs out. The Matt Factory, they have, they have, like, world-class wrestlers and grapplers up there and stuff,

world-class fighters as well. That's for Chris Dempsey, Don Mazzata, Dalton, they all train out of air. And they're like, our sister gym and stuff.

I've been going there for at least, like, three or four years now, probably five years, actually. And he showed me that a while ago, because I was stopping it, I was stopping take down

a certain way, and he was showing me if I was really, instead of just pulling guard, like a lot of people jump for a guillotine and pull guard. Like,

that guilline is, It's just used to make it that people don't feel comfortable applying pressure for the takedown and forcing to stand up. But if they keep pushing forward, then I just lock it up. And actually, like, what he did was actually the right thing to do that should get you out of the submission. But to get it's like backwards. Like, and it's on the wrong way. And it's like, oh, it locks up. And then, like, you either tap or you go unconscious more or two.

So it's pretty impressive type of joke. Yes. You have to come up with some kind of nickname for that. Like Al Jermaine Sterling was able to pull up the Sulev stretch on Cody Stamen, and he called it the Funk Strudle. Do you have a game for that you've been playing around with it all? Oh, shit. There you go.

Oh, because that's what everyone's seeing when I happen. Everyone was like, oh, shit, what the hell was that? So it's called the oh shit. Even though, like, who did it? Jordan Griffin, his last fight, he fought the cards as well. His last fight, he did the same thing. He did the same exact, same type of geek team, where they're press and press and friends and.

take down, you trap them, they think they're safe, but in reality, they're going to end up choking themselves unconscious or tapping. It's a push for the wrestler. Hold on. That three. I get clean and press now with the weight, same weight. Yep. Same, same slow motion. Sorry. You are the multitasker after all. I know, I know you were asked us at the, at the media day, but I spoke with Luis, like 10 minutes after I spoke with you heading into the fight. He shared your enthusiasm for the matchup. He shared your enjoyment of Feeley v. Jordane. And it was on this very program that he said that he was going to meet you in the middle

and see who would drop first. And in the first round, kind of seemed to be the plan. But the second round, plans changed a little bit. Did anything at all surprise you in that fight? No. The only thing I kind of beat up myself for, because I should have, I kind of like got into, like, I was trying something different and that's how he was able to get the takedown off me

and I was really like I made a thing on Instagram today and I gave myself a C plus for that performance because I was so worried about his dars that I didn't trust my own jiu-jitsu so when he got the side control I didn't dig for the underhook and look the pressure up I was trying to think about

what not to do because I didn't want to get like if I didn't want to go in the side control I didn't want to go for the underhook and he like pushed my head down and get a dars because his darses are wicked and I was worried about that and as I'm worrying about that

the motherfucker climbs the mountain like fuck so I'm like and I was like and then I went to blow out of it and I'm like okay I'll give me my back I'm cool with that

I know my back defense is solid I'm okay with him being on my back I'm like I'll just letting wear out but he was such a weird his body was so weird like the lymph and stuff

like the pressure he didn't apply the pressure where everyone else applies the pressure on my back that allows me to turn he applied it to my hips and I couldn't really move the way I wanted to, so it took me a lot longer to roll over and stuff.

Like, he did exactly what I thought he was going to do. But I knew, like, I don't, I mean, I think there's maybe like two or three guys or four, maybe five guys in the UFC that when I say, let's go strike. All right, motherfucker, let's go. I mean, like, I mean, I know everyone sees, they watch and like, oh, he doesn't look like he hits hard. It's not like, I mean, I've said it before after my last fight, I said, I'm not like, I'm not like everybody else.

Like, I'm just the way that I strike, and like, I'm a thinker. I was so happy because Dominic Cruz said it, you're like, oh, you're a thinker fighter. Like, and Dominic Cruz was just giving me praises to my strike. I'm like, yeah, that's fucking cool shit. Because, like, the way the setups and the traps that I set standing up and my comfortability of, like, being in danger at that time, like, I just, like, it's wearing a fight. And I think that that goes back to my training part. Like I say, if you come into my gym, the academy, you're going to get fucked up. and you're going to get used to being fucked off

because we're going to go out to you. So if you get used to that feeling, then when you're in the fight, it's not a foreign feeling for you. Like a lot of fire, I see them in fights. They get pushed to that point where I got trying to take their hair off.

And they're like, oh, shit, I've never been here before. I've been there like every twice, two or three times a week. My man's trying to kill me. It's just the way it is. Yeah, it was mentioned on the broadcast, like the way that you were planning your feet

in that first round, counter striking. Like, you weren't bouncing back and forth. If you just had your feet planted and whatever he threw, you were already ready to come back with that. Yeah, the problem is he's picking 6-4. And if I disengaged too much and did he blitzes, I'm on the outside. And he can just keep hitting me. It gives him the advantage. So I was like, fuck that.

Me and my coaches were like, be smart about your movements. Be like, have your allies on. It's like being an alert. But he's like, just stay there. Make him come to you. Like, well, I try to hit him and didn't disengage. If I disengage, I can't hit him. He can definitely hit me because he's much longer.

So I'm like, I played the medium. range instead. Like that's why his kicks couldn't really get through his jumping knees were really awkward because instead of playing back trying to play the far back range, which I normally do, I played the idea, but most people tried to do to me when they fight me. I played the inside range and made him, like I made him miss a lot. Like that was a big thing making miss and making feel really uncomfortable trying to punch me. That was the big thing I wanted to make sure I did because like people don't really know, but when you like punch and miss, like you're ready to double in ball and it's, but in a fight when you hit a double in ball that motherfucker

or punches you back. Like, that's a big thing Dominic Cruz kept saying. He goes, every time he makes him miss, he hits him. And that's discouraging. Like, that's my head coach

to master white fang. That's the biggest thing that he preaches is strike and return. Strike and return. Strike and return. If you make them miss, you should make up, you should hit them.

You don't have to kill them, but you should hit them because now their brain is like, just the brain is setting a pattern of like reflexes. It's like, it's like you've ever been walking down your steps? It's how it's playing it to my students.

You've been walking down your steps at night and you think there's a step there and it's not and you go to step you there. And then you stop because your brain's kind of like, oh shit, let's recalculate everything. That's what I like to have people have that type of feeling in the fight. And you don't really have time to re-calculate

because I'm still hitting you. I'm hitting you. You're worried about getting hit. So I try to create that type of like distraction in your brain and stuff. So it's more of a mental thing and everything. Because again, I'm 33. He's younger.

He's like 26. He's younger. He's faster. They have nowhere near as much energy He doesn't have much stress and wear and tear So I have to beat him up here rather than physical A C plus though Like listen

You fight it are all the same man You're humble and you're so self-critical Is this a legit C-plus or is this like a humble C plus? That's a C-plus C-plus It can't be a being Like he did he cut through my guard twice like butter All because I was worrying about shit

And then when I knew he in his last fight He got that fucking Omipata and I worked on it. I said I'm going to limp arm. I was supposed to limp arm stepped back and throw a straight up knee because he shot right in just like I knew he would

and I didn't. Instead I went and tried to push the guillotine. I almost got fucking Von Flucho. That was me being greedy. I knew the guillotine wasn't going to come until later and I didn't quite have it so I still tried to push it. So it's a B, it says C++.

C plus. C plus right now. So is it fair to say that the Devante Smith win was more satisfying? I mean, did you grade that one a little higher, or is this one more satisfied? The DeVarthe Smith fight, I got a B, a B plus in that one.

That was a B plus. B plus rate. Like, that was good. Like, I mean, I did, I jumped in a little bit of time. I didn't check the lake. It's enough for my liking. But that was a B plus. All my traps were working and stuff.

You know, I did everything I wanted to do in that fight. But I really didn't even get started in the Devante fight. It just happened to happen. Like, he kind of ran into the trap early than I thought he would. So that was a bit, but yeah, that, I need, I didn't like the display, like, my grappling. It kind of looked like I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. I did know what I was doing. I was just overthinking what he was capable of.

And I have to have a little bit more faith than myself when it comes to being on the ground and stuff, which obviously I have, because then I pull out of the submission, everyone sitting there all, like, fucking caveman sponge bob and shit. I'm like, shit. I don't want people looking like that, like thinking I'm a one-dimensional fighter because I'm not. I just enjoy hurting people, you know. you give me a submission, I'll take it. Like, I have, like, you give me your back.

If I get to your back, you're fucked. Like, you can't put me on your back. You can't let me get a triangle. You can't, like, you know, I mean, I have mad submissions that I like the, I just, usually, just a time if I can see something, like, I, for a second, I was kind of upset with myself for not rolling him over and punching him out. Because I like finishing, because I like punching people better. But I know, I knew it was so good.

I was a little bit tired, too. We were both tired of the third round. So I was like, now I'm going to go for this. All right, hold on. One second. Hey, guys, so each of y'all grab a dummy. We're picking up on our shoulder. Ten slams.

No, they're both the same way. Go ahead. So you posted a video in your social media the other day. It was of your kids watching the fight, and they were going absolutely bananas. That has to be like the best feeling in the world, right? Yeah, man. I was at my man, my man, Kirk, Kirk Brady. He's like a big brother to me.

He takes care of the family while I'm going for the fights and stuff. And he had my girl and the kids and my little baby, little Marley, she's acting like a maniac just because everyone else is like bringing all the kids and Kirk's kids. Yeah, it was fun, man. I like seeing that. That makes it worthwhile, seriously, like it makes it really worthwhile. One thing I had no idea about Kaama was the fact that you were a model in the past.

Like you're a good looking guy, but I had no idea that you were modeling, bro. Like, when was that? That was way before I even started training. I moved to New York just to check. And I was in Pittsburgh. I was bored. I didn't want to go to school. And I got offered some modeling stuff here in Pittsburgh.

I did it and I liked it. And then his lady said they had a model house in New York. So I moved up there and I moved to a model house. It was like me, like 12 other people. And she said it was mad fun. He got going castings, get some stuff. It was cool. It was an experience, you know.

And then New York was an experience in itself, like, just to see people different. Like, coming from Pittsburgh, New York is just different. There's different culture, different people, a lot of different ways of seeing things. So I think that helped me out a lot as well. When was the last time you modeled for anything? Do you remember? It was a long time ago. Like, really fucking a long time ago.

But I'm not against the whole idea of it. I'm like, yo, if there's any companies out there, you want to get me on your thing? you know what I mean, you can like kind of double up your market, you know, hit it, get at me, get out my management team, Jason Howson, them. You contact me personally. I'm all about bottling. I'm cool. Like scars, girl ticks dig scars, right?

I mean, there's precedence, so we get some fighters doing the modeling thing right now in the Oh, yeah, fucking Rocco, man. Rocco is, he'd be on Ralph Moore, he'd be doing serious modeling shit. You got to plant your feet and you get it up. At the bottom? Do you want to push your feet on? You said something to the media that you've been saying since you beat Devante Smith, and that's, you don't fight because you have this, like, dream of becoming a world champion.

I mean, if it comes, that's cool, but you just want to be in exciting fights. And you said on Saturday night during your scrum, like, you want Robbie Lawler versus Royer McDonald type of matchup. So I guess who in your line of vision can give you that kind of crazy war that you're seeking, comma, what makes sense to you? Definitely, like I said, I definitely, I definitely, definitely want to get Asatara, as a tar. I mean, because he has, he has a 90% knockout ratio. I'm like, oh, really?

Oh, fuck. Oh, really. Okay. Like, that's the shit that gets me, it gets me up in the morning to go jog 20 miles or some shit. So I'm like, yeah, that's, that's, that's, all the way on your sword, guys. That's, that's what I want. That's what I want to see.

like I said, Yancey. Yance, I've, like I said, I'm for Yanty, he says, anybody that, like, fucks with the Dias brothers is a fucking savage, like. Like, I mean, I know Nate, or, he's, um, he's now, he, I don't think he'd get back

down to 55, but I would love to family or Nick, Nick, the wrong one, right? Yeah, Nick. I'm like, if he's fucking huge, so there's no way he's getting back down to 55. I got to meet him at my last fight, been a fan of his forever. I'm like, this motherfucker never making a 55. But, like, I just, they're fun fights, man. You know what I mean? Like, and like, of course, everyone wants to win,

but I don't want to win, like, there's some fires are just boring as fuck, man. Like, dude, who wants to watch that shit? Like, like, how do you go home after winning a fight like that and, like, the crowds booing you and shit? Oh, man, I can't. I mean, I'd rather, I'd rather fight guys or are fun fights. And I want to take my time and, like, get my proper place in USC, but also get some interesting fights. So, I mean, like, as a talk, I have two fights. He has one fights. Hopefully they can make that fight freaking happen. I know the Kibib versus Dachy cards coming up.

I think that's going to be on a fight, Alan. I mean, I know he trains with him. I mean, we could be on the car. It's another high-ranking lightweight as the main event. And I think that would be a good way to do it or something before that. I know Yance was supposed to fight and his fight got canceled. So if we can mix it up in there, like either way, I think it would be a lot of fun. Yeah, like one of my rules for,

the website, I have to do a matchmaking column that drops like the Monday after the card. So I suggested Lando Venada because one, it's a little bit of a step up in the rankings and it gets you close to the top 50. Not that you probably particularly care about that, but Lando's a guy. He's been known to get in a war or two throughout his careers. He's a highlight real finishes, man. He's definitely a fun, a fun fire to. And like, it sucks because, like, all the fires I'm looking at finally,

I would respect like hell. I wouldn't have any dislike against, even like with Pena, like, I don't have. So it sucks, and I don't even like sharing my, like, fight videos afterwards. Like, I don't want to share like me being up on, like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm telling my students and my fans, I'm like, yo, don't be talking shit on them.

Like, don't be, don't be talking on it. I'm like, especially with the Devonte thing. I'm like, don't talk like, that's my man. Now, Pena was so cool from the beginning to the end. There's nothing but respect. So someone wrote something like on one of my posts the other day, and I made him take it down. I'm like, you know, he wasn't disrespectful at all.

You don't be disrespectful. Like, I'm like, we already fight it to pass and we move on from that shit. Do that again. Is there, is there someone, like you mentioned Diaz, is there someone in that division that you hope that you get to fight someday? Because it will give you everything that you're looking for in that department besides Diaz. Like, it's someone that can make 55, I guess. I mean, like, like, I don't really like calling. I'm like top 10, 15 guys and shit being shit like that.

But of course, like the guy who's a fucking savage who I've been a big fan of forever was Kevin Lee. Kevin Lee's a fucking monster. That guy's a complete monster. That would be one hell of a task, like, once I was to get to that point to like prepare for him. And like, I'd have to like go into the mountains to prepare for Kevin Lee. Because like a lot of people, I don't think a lot of people give Kevin Lee a credit he does that. That motherfucker's an animal. Like he's a freak of nature.

like he's wicked like and then obviously like poor year and hooker like those type of guys like you know you get near at one of them like somebody's fucking

gonna die tonight and I like like those type of fights like I like engage in those so now I'll just look at the guys at my more my level to I get there and shit

but again if I get two more wins you know I can make that jump again it's just all about making sure I make that jump with the proper financial stability because like

after that like like that fight with poor year and you're like dog yeah i'm pretty sure they made like 10 times when i made so they're like you know that that's that's okay to do that kind of shit like so do you are you on like a you're on a four fight deal i assume right right now yeah okay so one more fight you're close you could probably get to the renegotiation table and then we can uh we can start messing around with the kevin lees man i'm like yeah man whatever i'm just looking to get some corporate sponsors monster energy drink i like i love my man has and run once i'm like yo i'm like i'm gonna

I'm going to make a whole thing for him. I'm like, yo, get at me already. Let's go. He owns triumph as well. I'm like, somebody needs to. And also, I forget what interview it was, but I've made a talk to 50 cent and told 50 cent to bring back goes. You ever watch Power? You watch Power?

I haven't watched Power. I appreciate you heard of it. But they killed off my mad ghost in power, and I told 50 cents. I made a public service announcement. I'm going to make it here again. Yo, 50. Fast and Furious brought back. 80 motherfuckers.

Like seriously. And the one that just came out, they had to be canceled because of Corona. They brought back the ancient dude. They obviously burnt in the car crash. So they can keep bringing people back. You can bring back freaking ghosts

and make some more power. We don't want to see no spinoff shit. That's garbage. I want to see power come back with ghosts. And you can bring back Angela too. And those are my characters. Those characters had a place in my heart. When they both died, it pissed me all.

You can ask my girl. I was mad. hell like that's garbage i've never had been so connected to a character because like just just watching that show really gave me a little bit more drive and i think it kind of led me to this point in the ufc i talk people out all the time so when they killed him off it kind of fished me off the 50 cent see this tag 50 a everyone tag 50 cent in this shit until he responds i want to see goes come back i'm not playing dude there we go i have a feeling i have a feeling this part would be clipped out for social media, but a hell of a performance, man.

I think you proved to a lot of people that you're a threat in a lot of different ways. You're on a role right now. And I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that we're excited to see what's next for you. And your team, like you pulled a Uriah Faber and use your time to put your team over on Saturday night. My boys are the shit, man, like they are. And like I said, because we're in Pittsburgh, like I don't think we get the proper recognition because we're a smaller gym.

Like, I mean, I'm in my gym now. My gym. Oh, shit. You can, like, walk for one edge to the end of my gym in, like, a good, like, 30 seconds, you know what I mean? But we come in here and we do fucking work. Like, we do serious work. We put in work. We have a small group of guys and we have one-on-one coaching.

I think that's what makes us more dangerous. Like, every big gym start off. It's a small gym. And I try to tell fires that. I'm like, like, American top team just didn't start off with 80 freaking guys. Yari Favirr, team out with him and, like, two other, you know what I mean? Like, that's how it's how gym started off. So you don't have to go to it.

a big gym. Just get the proper coaching, get the proper training and like make it happening. And here in Pittsburgh, we have some of the best grapplers in the world. Like we do. Like, we have some of the best wrestlers in the world and we can adjust and we have what it takes. And then like with myself and a lot of other striking coaches around here, I mean, like, we got it good. So you don't have to go to big gyms. If you want to train, you want to be a professional fighter, come on down to my gym, the academy. I'll put you in with the right direction. If you can't make it out my way and then, kind of me, I'll put you in the proper

direction for a different gym that I know. I know all the gyms around here and stuff. So Pittsburgh, we got it out here. So time for Daniel White to let us in. You're the man, Kamala. Congratulations on the win. All the best you, sir. Thanks, brother. There you go.

And there's certain fighters that when their management team reaches out to me to see if I want to interview certain fighters, there's certain names that get me fired up. Kamaworthy, one of those fighters, and he has been for a long time. And one of the cool things that I enjoy the most being a part of the MMA fighting team and being able to broadcast on a platform like this is I'm glad that people are starting

to see what I've been saying for a while now. Like, Kamauworthy, I've been telling people, is just an incredible interview. He's just a lot of fun. He's very energetic, very intelligent, has lots of great things to say. just super funny guy and now you guys get to see it and you got to see it again second time in three weeks I believe

that he joined the show so big thank you to the Death Star for the time hopefully he gets another fun matchup on the books sooner rather than later another big winner for Saturday night was Maurice Green who was on the brink of being finished in the third round of that fight against John Valenti

or at best looking at a draw but he comes out of nowhere and gets a test Tap. Like, no one saw it. No one saw it coming on the Brockhouse. You just saw Valante's hand tap. We're like, what? What the heck just happened? But it goes down in the book as an arm triangle choke. And the crochet boss kind of has a different bit of a take on it. So let's get the answers to those questions right now with Maurice Green. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, joining the show right now is the Crochet boss himself. Maurice Green following a third round submission win over John Valon. and the featured bout at UFC on ESPN 12. Maurice, good to see you, man.

How are you? Oh, man, you know, you fight big tough guys and hurts. So I'm good, man. The body feels good for the most part besides just the average things that hurt. And then we're going to heal up. Got some stitches in the face. We're going to heal up and get back to it. Well, congratulations on the win.

It's been a few days for you to sort of let it all sink in, and smell the roses a little bit. Outside of the, you know, the normal wear and tear of a fight, do the roses smell a little bit sweeter today? Yeah, all this hurts so good. Yeah, man, went out there to get a W, and we got the W. You know, anything extra added would have been a bonus. I just went out, need to go out there and get W.

Stay active, look good, fight good. Yeah, I had some opportunities in the fight. It's a place that were we could have done things a little different, could have done things much better. We got that every fight. It was definitely an interesting fight to say the least. Most of it took place on the feet as expected. You were moving around a lot.

You were very light on your feet. You looked in really good shape. How are you feeling early on in that fight compared to maybe the last couple? It wasn't. My cardio was never a question, to be honest with you. I felt good, breathing wise. But men, those leg kicks added up over time. And, yeah, they paid different.

evidence later on the fight for him. I tried to do a Superman punch and just didn't work out for me, as you can see. He got the drop of me, it countered me, which is the reason why he saw me on my bag, but you know, I heard my corner saying get to the cage and get up, but he kept leaving that there for me.

So I was like, hmm, I could try to squeeze down on it. I think he gave me the best that he had in that flory, I didn't remember I was cut at the time to be honest with you. Before I had that had that mean lumps on my head. I didn't see he landed that many, but that's had adrenaline. First round, you won all three judges scorecards. Things got a little dicey when John landed a nasty body shot. Pain was visible on your face, but you're able to fight through it and get through the rest

of the round and continue forward. How badly were you hurt from that shot? Probably worse than my face showed. I was a good body shot you know kind of wanted me to curl up like I was like no

we can't do it and where he stand up it's like he they were trying to get him to follow up and he wasn't following up so gave me some time to recover

in between some of the shot I'm gonna lay this all out here I'm gonna try to do my best my best surveying of the scene because the second round is more of the same. You're landing consistently. He lands a couple big shots, but you're able to win that round again

on all three judges' scorecards. And the third round, you sort of alluded to it. It's a little bit of a different story. There was the accidental eye poke, but as soon as the action resumed, you know, Volante counters the big shot that drops you. You're doing everything you can do

to stay in there to get back on your feet, looking very bleak for you at the moment. It was looking like best case scenario for you. You were going to fight to a draw. But then, then Maurice, it happened. Nobody even saw it. Like, you shook up the whole MMA community. The entire UFC roster on Twitter was in disbelief.

And total shock, Maurice, from your back, you slap on an arm triangle, and he taps out. Like, holy cow. Like, we were all collectively blown away by this submission. Can you walk us through the finish of the fight? Like, what is going on in your mind here? Um, if I, if I'm correct, which I think I am, he just hand on my neck. I always put a lot of pressure. I was starting to move my breath.

If I didn't do that, I need to get that pressure off my neck. So the first time, I'm trying to get the pressure off the neck and hold him. And so he put the back of the next time, I'm like, you know what? Let's go for it. What happened? This is what I think happened. I don't think it's like an arm triangle.

You kind of can't get that pressure down because you're using your weight on top. When you're doing an arm triangle, kind of. but given the circumstances I heard he had asthma it just blew his tank I'm assuming right and then his nose and his mouth

is in my in my armpit guy not really in my armpit but it's being smothered he couldn't breathe I mean I've been choking him per se but he couldn't breathe so that's the only way

I can think about him submitted As he couldn't breathing, his head was jammed to my sweaty, sweaty, sweaty arm. I mean, everybody was shot. Just having a soft cocktail. Oh, God. It's just, everything was just so shocking. Like, when he tapped, everyone in unison was like, what the hell just happened? Were you, when you felt the tap, were you like, were you saying what the hell just happened?

or did you know it was coming? I got up like, yeah, what's up? I mean, that can be finished from the bottom. Very rarely. So I had a half guard. He tried to train this in the mouth. What you guys don't see is that this is the shit to. You know, I'll get him to strip my hips out and keep that leg.

If he would have got them out, I wouldn't have had nothing. You know, I couldn't roll to the left where I had his arm trapped, right? Couldn't roll that way. I had to roll to his post and he probably would have stopped me. It's just wild, man. I know it wasn't like a choke per se, but there has to be like some sort of name for the submission now. Like, let's christen it here. Like I asked, I spoke to Kamilworthy a little while ago.

I asked him to name the choke he used on Luis Pena. He's calling it the oh shit. Like just quoting him. So I suggested on Twitter call it the slip stitch. What do you think? I like it. I don't like it. It's closed. I like it.

Closed to Slip Stitch. Yeah, I call the Slipstitch. I like that. You go with that? All right. So you are announced the winner via Slip Stitch. You're strutting, dancing to the backstage area, and then all of a sudden, a motion just catches up with you. Like everything that, at least from what I was seeing, everything that had been kind of built up, pushed to the side leading into the fight, it just kind of all came pouring out. It's really incredible to watch. you know, how would you describe that moment as you getting ready to talk to John Anick? Man, I was good.

I feel good. Anything about what was crying and all that and stuff. It just hit me. Like, man, Grace, you just saved your job. But not only did you save the job, I think I had a pretty good performance all around. I went back in Washington fight. For that little dog cage we fought in,

I'll say that from a very humble place, from a little dog cage we fought in. I was able to really move and figure out a way to, you know, get around a lot of that. But John Volante was also not moved with some of these other heavyweights can move. So, you know, we got to get better. You get better. And, you know, when you go back and sit down with John Aneck, like, I just couldn't hold it back, man. I tried so hard.

Just try and start to... trying to gut it out, and they just came, it came, he came, so I told him to give me a minute. John was going to say, all right,

stay free time, peace. Let us. I got to say something. I got to play some. So, a lot of stuff going on leading up to this fight,

and we were able to get it done. I mean, a 24-hour drive to Albuquerque straight with two kids, that's already. That's how fast we got there, 24 hours. I got to get to it.

I got to train. And then we were there, we train, train, train, train, train, train. And they come out and win like this. I'll tell you. One thing. There's so much sweeter. Yeah. I would say one thing you said during your post-fight media scrum with the members of the media

after the fight was something that I've been wondering about you for a while because you and I have spoken a lot over the years. And I feel like a lot of times you, I don't know what the correct word I'm looking for is, You downplay a lot of the things that are happening heading into a fight. Like if people ask you if there's extra pressure, if you feel like your job's on the line. Like you downplay it all. But it seemed, but you said to the media after the fight that you were feeling that the whole time. Is this typical for you?

Is this different for this one? I'll feel a lot. I feel that. Your job's always on the line. I feel like nobody's safe. Everybody's replace. We're thinking how many fighters want to fight the USC. You don't want to fight?

We'll get somebody who will. Oh, you don't want to fight. I got somebody out too well. So, yeah, you downplay, because nobody, you don't want everybody to know that because they can make excuses for you,

you know? Yeah. So, we chose to do this. Camps don't go. All camps aren't just easy, breezy, right? You know, it's just, you get through it, man. Get through it.

I got to feed my family that day of the day. that's where a lot of this comes from. I got a few from my family. Are you able to talk about some of the things that were happening leading into the fight that were on your mind? I won't go into detail, but, you know, personal with my family, my kids, you know. Just from real, just some real shit, man.

Just some real shit that was going on. Can nobody help me even me? You know, so, you know, it's just a fight at the end of the day, man. Going there's two guys that fight. We got set of rules, the rules of engagement, and we fight. And that's what I went out and did. And I felt like I left everything out there. And, you know, I got maybe questionable, controversial win.

But guess what? It's going down on my record of the submission victory. Was it a minute left in the fifth round? Or, no, middle left in third round. I didn't even know how much time I had left. That's even crazier. I had no idea how much I couldn't see a clock. Usually you see a clock somewhere.

Couldn't see a clock. I didn't know how much time I had left. But they said there was a minute left. I'm like, ooh, kind of close. You know? I won't try to dive any deeper to what you were saying

with the personal stuff but can I at least ask if everything's better now like you're in a much better place now? I mean, yeah. This helps. Yeah. Yeah, man, just almost

normal things, man. It's stressed with bills and you've been out, I've been out since January. I mean, half a check in January. You know, and yes, stuff helps, but we're trying to get ahead. So they can have to check, though, they don't do it for me. I need the whole thing, you know.

If we had a, if we would have bonus, that would have been much better. But that wasn't my goal. You know, my goal was give W and I got to W. So did you move? Like, are you officially moved to Albuquerque or is that coming, like, down the, down the pipe? Coming to. When is it happening? Within a month.

Oh, there you go. Pack up the U-Haul and off we go. Oh, it's real. That's real. That's real. I mean, I have to. I have to. I want to be a warm chain.

I got to be out there focusing. Here, here, I just can't. I lose focus too easy. It's got to be surrounded by killers. It's part of our big bodies, too. We got all of them in Africa. There's a ton out there. Wad Adams, you know, he said, you said that he was a real pivotal person

and helping to make this happen, right? Yeah. And I think you're hit by Wally, hit by John Volante. It's two different things. The one that John John John saw me with, that was just flushed clean on the button. It don't get no better than that. It really don't get no better than that.

For sure. As you know by now, seeds for your next fight were planted before you probably even got to the building on Saturday by Tanner Bozery, knocks out Philippe Lins, gets on with Anik, cuts a promo about some sort of run-in at the pool between the two of you guys. You said when you spoke with the media that wasn't really a run-in per se, more like just a couple of words exchange.

He said, Fight Island, Crochet Boss can come get some. Are you happy with this call-out? Does this make your life a little bit easier? Yeah, I'll fight Tanner any day and a week. He's a little relevant now. You know, he beat the PFO winner, impressively. I don't think he I don't think he

I just think they didn't favor him to win because I was going to lose yeah it's a good call I was a good fight for me you know I was the last time that I even heard Tanner Bowers name I don't know if he was from my manager or who but

it's trying to get me to fight with all three and O to UFC but I was trying to hit the top 15 he was debut when I was trying to fight him you know so no hard feelings, but why would you fight me at a debuter when you three-in-on to UFC? You want to move up the rankings, right?

You don't want to stay stagnant. So he got a good win behind him. I got a good win behind me. I don't think we're going to make it the final island. So if he wants to go to the island, so you better pick somebody else. Look, I got a fucking final. Yeah, right there.

That's all I got. Some little stitches. So I got to sit for a little while. I'm going to heal his body up, getting in there with Mike Buckeljohn and Greg Jackson and Jackson Week and learn how to become a champ. Yeah, most of those cards are full anyways. So unless like they just booked it last second and just three on there, you know, that probably doesn't get the proper build that it would deserve anyways, right?

Sure, true. Yeah. So what did happen at the pool, if you don't mind me asking? Uh, nothing, man. He was just sitting there with his corner, and I'm sitting there having a casual conversation with him. But he, you know, he kind of looked like he was a little standoffish. And I see why.

Now I know what. Now I know why. But that's all right, though. You know, he just wants to fight probably. It makes sense to talk to, you know, to call me out. nothing really happened at the pool so he kind of overplayed it a little bit

um I mean maybe in my he did but you know his head he could have been he could have been something totally different I'm also good point

that that's a good point oh it's all good I got my son down here too he's like oh you're talking to somebody I'll try to stay quiet he's watching

something on his computer mind don't do that he'd be like damn Jack, I'm on the phone. That has happened to me from time to time doing these interviews, no doubt about that. So great stuff, man.

Congratulations. I know it was a hard battle. I'm sure there's a million other things you'd rather be doing than talking to me right now, trying to rest up and recoup, man. If someone told you, I'd be packing up. So thanks for a little break. There you go. Well, hopefully we get to see you back.

August, maybe September. I feel that's more of an appropriate. timeline for you? I'm thinking September. September? And if I would be completely honest with you, if I come back in August, I'm rushing it. Okay. Yeah. That's what you got to do. You got to make sure you're ready and be healed up and get a camp in with the new team and all that stuff. So

Mori's congratulations, been. Appreciate the time very much. Looking forward to seeing what's next with you. Hopefully you and Tanner Bozier can line it up sometime in the fall. They'd have been a good fight, absolutely. Between the two of us, we can make it a real good fight. You got a mullet. I got a Mohawk. Let's get a crack. there you go thanks man all the best to you thanks mike it's always a pleasure there he is maris green obviously in a little bit of pain after that fight and the training camp and everything that goes on

when when you fight a guy as powerful as john valante but i appreciate him coming on and taking the time to join us this week as we head to our final interview of the show what a story julian erosa was and i detailed it at the top of the broadcast we'll get into the story more in depth when julian on, but the Cliff Notes version, got his one and four in the UFC, is released after his last two fights in the promotion. Not just after the Huli Arsay fight, he was

released before that fight too. They brought him back, gave him another chance. And then he gets another chance after a win on the regional scene, gets a short notice call to fight Sean Woodson, and as you'll hear in the conversation, he wasn't the first choice. So following an impressive third round

submission win and a performance of the night bonus, let's say hello, to Juliana Rosa. All right. Last week was a crazy and a very memorable week for our next guest, who returned to the UFC on short notice, and he finished the previously unbeaten Sean Woodson via Darshoke in the third round this past Saturday in Las Vegas.

What a night it was for Juicy Jay, Juliana Rosa. How are you, man? Man, that night was absolutely the best night I've had in a long, long time. You know, I went from not thinking I'd ever fight in the UFC again to, uh, winning a bonus in the UFC and being a fan favorite of the night within four or five days. So, you know, it's amazing how things can quickly turn around. It's crazy, man.

I was just going to say because you've had that was your 24th professional victory in the sport. I can't imagine any of those other wins were anywhere close to this one, right? You know, absolutely not. You know, there's a, I've had some good battles before and some good wins. but man you know it's just like uh this this last fight really felt like my back was against the wall and uh um and all i've ever really wanted to show uh everybody was just uh the true juicy jay and i think last that last fight really showed it you know i've i've always been one of those guys who uh who's ultra aggressive and can put the pace on anybody and and uh and take damage and give damage

but I've always been one of those like, you know, dig deep and I see who can, you know, let's see who will last it out. And I've always been one of those guys in the gym that just kind of outworks everybody. And I just really wanted to showcase that. And I felt like I was able to do that with, you know, just brawling with the guy for the first two and a half rounds and then able to finish him on the ground after that and just showcase, you know, all levels of the game. And, uh, and just really show my pressure and my aggressiveness. And, you know, especially when people thought, probably thought I was coming off the couch or something.

You know, I'm always in good shape, but having it safe five days notice, it definitely gets people thinking that, you know, I'm going to be lazy or I'm like, Carter's not going to be there. But I tell you what, I train hard every day, whether I have a fighter, I don't have a fight. So I was ready to go 100%. So I do want to go back a little ways because you and I had spoke back in January, I think it was before your fight in February. You won that fight via submission in the first round. It was Cage Sports 60, I think it was. And it was a really fascinating conversation, but a lot of things stuck out, but there are a couple things that really stood out in that conversation. One, the fact that you were released from the UFC in back-to-back fights.

Like you said you were released after the Dawson fight and they brought you back for the Julio Arce fight. And the other thing that really stuck out was you told me that your manager, Jason House, told you that essentially, look, Julian, you're not in the UFC anymore. But I don't think the door has like slammed and locked behind you just yet. So you spoke with the media after and you said, I didn't think this call would ever come. But on a scale 1 to 10, where did you sort of rate your chances of getting another shot at the UFC, whether for this fight or any time down the road? Well, you know, that all depends on, you know, and on when you, you know, asked me that question. You know, like obviously right now it's a different story. But or even like even the last week or the last couple of weeks, that number would be a lot higher because, you know, Jason was always on my phone line.

and he was telling me, yo, man, these things are coming. These short-noticed fights are happening. The UFC needs these guys. They need your local guys. You got your medicals done in shape, can make weight. They're getting these short-noticed fights. But, you know, so the last few weeks, I've thought that, you know, it was a high possibility that I might get this short-notice fight.

But, man, when I talked to you last after the Julio Arze fight, man, you asked me that, I would have said there's a zero chance, absolutely zero chance. You know, the only thing that made me had kind of a little bit of a hope was Jason, you know, he's always a man of his word and he never kind of bullshits me and he told me, you know, I know you're not in the UFC and I don't think, I know, I know you don't think you can get back there, but I wouldn't tell you that you could unless I knew for a fact that you could. And he's all like, Sean likes you, man. He's talking about Sean Shelby and he's like, Sean liked you.

And even though you lost the Julio, he liked the first two rounds that you gave him. You know, you're aggressive. You know, even he thought you were winning that fight at that point until you lost. And so he didn't. close the door on you man you know it's uh you know anything's possible and after you told me that i had a little bit of hope but still in my mind i'm like i'm one and four in the ufc come on man like like even if i do get another shot people are going to be talking crap you know it's going to be you know difficult for me to to overstep some other guys

that might you know also take a short notice fight you know like obviously i was thinking in my head if it's a short notice fight there's got to be guys above me or you know guys that they're willing to give the shot too because they've given me so many shots as it is uh i think uh you know I've just been blessed with having a good manager like Jason. I've really learned through this whole process that it's not necessarily, you know, what you know, but who you know a little bit as well. And I've always thought hard work's going to pay off. But you've got to have someone push your name as well and working just as hard as you behind the scenes.

And Jason does that. So, yeah, you know, the last few weeks, I figured it might happen. And luckily it did happen for me. And especially before Five Island, this was the last weekend before Fight Island. And I figured there's no way I was going to get taken to Five Island just because it's you know, it's such a long way to go. And I'm here in Vegas. I'm local.

I got my medicals done. You know, I'm in shape. I can make weight. You know, I just had to wait for that call. And so it worked out my favor this time. So when were you actually, like, made aware that a fight with Sean Woodson on that short notice is actually a thing? Like, we found out Kyle Nelson wasn't going to be able to travel to Las Vegas. You could, like, when did you know that you could be the guy to replace him?

Or did it just happen, like right away? Like, hey, you ready? You in? Like, how did that all go down? Well, so Jason had been messaging me probably like Sunday and Monday saying that there's a fight and it'll be a 150 and just if I could, and he asked me if I could make a hundred forty five pounds this week. And I was like, well, I could for sure make 150. But I'll do every, I'll do, I'll give it a shot. I'll try to make one 45.

And not necessarily try. I would have made 45. But I was just, you know, it would have been a little tougher. But he told me on, I was actually going to get my blood drawn. and it was kind of still up in the air and Jason's like, let's just get your medicals done. That way you just, just in case. And nothing was for sure.

I was sitting, waiting to get my blood drawn and the number to get my blood drawn that got sent over, wasn't over yet. So they couldn't blood draw, they couldn't bring me in the back and draw my blood yet because the, the, whatever they needed to have me do it, whatever it is,

wasn't there yet. So I'm just sitting there in the lobby, and he's like, hey, man, I'm sorry, but they went with this other guy from Texas. And I was like, all right, man, that's okay. And then I ended up taking off because they didn't have the confirmation code to get my blood drawn. And so we took off. And then he calls me back. He's like, hey, man, you should just go get your blood drawn anyway.

I was like, all right, I went back and they were closed. It was like 7.30. The place had closed. And I was like, dang it. So I went back home. The next morning, I went and got my blood drawn. and while I was driving back from getting my blood drawn, Jason messaged me and he's like, hey, man,

I don't think this guy's going to be able to get a license or whatever it was. He was saying, I don't know what's going on, but they might need you. And I'm like, really? And he's like, yeah. And then hung up with me, call me five minutes later. He said, yo, we got the fight.

And I was all like, do we really? And he's like, yep. He's like, I'm going to set up your physical. I'm going to say your eye exam up. And I went and did those immediately. And then the next day, I did all the other stuff I needed to do. I had to go get corona tested.

I had to get my temperature checked, went to the hotel. And then the next day after that was Thursday. So I usually cut most of my way on Thursday night, Friday morning cut the rest of the weight, made weight, ate some food, and then fun. So everything was like back to back to back. But I really knew 100% on Tuesday that I was going to fight.

But I had an idea that it could be a possibility. I mean, you, every week, every single week leading up to this, you know, Jason messaged me like, yo, man, this pipe fell out. And you were on the list, but they went with a different guy. but just be aware, like, you were one of the top three guys. They were looking in the fight.

So just be aware that you might be next up. You might be next up. So every week I was having, like, having a weight cut week. I was kind of having a fight week for myself every single week. I was training hard, but I was also making sure my weight was low. I was just making sure I was checking all the boxes, you know. I just, I didn't want, you know, something my coach always says is, let's eliminate the nose. Eliminate the nose.

You know, is your weight on point? Yes. Are you in shape? Yes. Are you ready to go? Yes. Are you going to take this fight? Yes.

So you got to eliminate the nose. can't be sitting 25 pounds heavy, you know, and try to make that within three days. So the fact that, you know, I was eliminating the nose and making sure that I was available for this fight is what really, you know, set it up for me and also having really good management helped me out as well. Wow. So this is like much more of almost an emotional roller coaster than, I guess, previously let on. I didn't realize it was like that.

You were in and you were out and now you're back in again. Yeah, yeah. It was, man, it was back and forth. like uh and even my manager jason house was like yo man i'm sorry that it was such an emotional roller coaster for you and i was like you know what i'm super cool calm and collected as it is and it's funny because on tuesday i went to morning practice and then uh we have sparring on tuesday and sparring is my favorite day because it's like it's like a fight so i'm like i can't wait to get in there i've been sparring with dan ege and uh boston solman and uh both those guys you know

boston's not in the uc anymore but he was and dan's one of the top feather weights in the world And I was just excited to go spar because I love getting work with those guys. You know, they're like the best in the world. And I was basically going to go at a fight. Basically, I was getting ready for a fight Tuesday afternoon. And then because it was so back and forth. And so I was like, oh, yeah, I'm going to go spars, get my stuff ready to go, you know, get my bag ready. And he's all like, oh, we got to fight.

And I was like, all right, well, I got to put my bag away and go do medicals. So then I went around and do medicals. But, you know, for me, I love doing this stuff. I love being in the gym. I love everything about it. I love the process of it. So whether I had a fight or not, I was okay with it. You know, it really didn't sway me one way or the other.

I know how this game is. This game is, you know, cut throw when it's ruthless. And, you know, one day you can be all on top of the world. The next, you know, you could be, you know, everybody's Twitter feed talking crap. So I've just been really blessed that this opportunity happened and the way it did and was able to showcase, you know, my true abilities on Saturday night. And that's, you know, I'm just so happy about, you know, the situation and, and all the positive feedback from everybody as well.

Was it just like, do you feel like this is just the best case scenario for you? Just going in five days notice, you know, you have to do some work to get ready for the fight, the medicals and all that stuff and the corona test and everything. But all you have to do is you show up and you fight. Like, you cut the weight, you get in there and fight. Takes all the pressure off, takes, like, all the overthinking away from it. Do you feel like that this is the best case scenario for you to make your return? Oh, absolutely. I remember when the corona thing happened, they were all having all the fights at the Apex Center.

I was thinking, tell my wife, tell my family, and telling all my friends and all my training partners. I'm like, man, I so hope they put me in a short-notice fight at the Apex Center because the Apex is just like the ultimate fighter I was on, you know, it was like there's nobody there. I mean, there's a little bit of people, but it's like, you know, it's just similar where there's like hardly anybody, no, there's no fans, really. I had four fights in the ultimate fight, I had a contendous fight, fight, so had five fights in that exact same. scenario, you know, where there's nobody, you're walking out, there's no fans there. You're just, it's kind of silent and kind of weird and weird for most people, but not for me because I've done so many fights there like that. And so I figured that I would excel in that situation because anytime I've ever fought like that, it's always being good. All my ultimate

fighter fights were good. I mean, I got caught with my Artem, but my contender fight was really good. So I've got, you know, four really good fights minus, you know, four good fights and one bad fight, but, you know, Ardom just caught me. It's whatever, you know, that happens in the game. but I've had really good fights and showings in that kind of situation. So I knew that if I was able to fight at the apex with nobody there, that would be more comfortable for me than my opponent. And so I would have that little bit of an advantage on them. And then once I got that call, I was like, oh, man, here it is.

This is exactly what I've been asking for. And, you know, everything fell in a place perfectly. You know, all the medicals came back really quick and good. And, you know, weight was good. Weight came off easy. and then obviously it was good too because we kind of fought catchweight at 150 so that helped out but he's a big dude too so I'm sure he didn't want to make 10046 for him is probably pretty hard as well he's 6.3 with 79 inch reach I can't imagine how I mean the guy just built like a freaking alien I don't

know how he does it but a lot of people say that about me how they're like man I don't know how you can make 105 pounds of it I say this I'm saying the same thing about that kid and uh another more respect for him in his camp. You know, I know those guys over there at Gloria and, you know, his coach, James Krause is a real stand-up guy. And so was Sean. And so, you know, nothing but respect to those guys. But, yeah, it was my night and everything fell into place for me.

And it's kind of one of those Cinderella stories where, you know, you don't think anything is going to happen. And within a matter of 15 minutes, you can go from being, you know, the land that's going to get slaughtered to everybody, you know, jumping on my Instagram and giving me. positive feedback. So, you know, it's been such a blessing. And, you know, it just, it just really feels good to kind of give the acknowledgement that I feel I deserve, you know, and I've been doing this for a long time. And you and me have had a lot of interviews, you know, before and after wins and losses and stuff. And, you know, it's finally, it's finally good to be back where I belong with such a

big win and talking to you, man. Absolutely. And, you know, Sean is a guy that was having a very hard time even finding an opponent just because of the reasons that you mentioned. You know, built like an alien. He's a huge guy for the featherweight division. You got a really awkward but effective style on the feet. And you jumped right in there. And the first round kind of played out the way, you know, most people probably expected it to. Woodson was Landon. You were still pushing forward like you typically do. You're trying to make it a dog fight, pushing them up against the cage. And it was a fun round. The second round was a lot of fun as well. But you could start to tell, you know, midway, a little after midway through the second round,

that the momentum of this fight was definitely starting to swing in your favor. Were you starting to feel that as well, that things are starting to turn a little bit? Yeah, exactly. You know, and I can't remember if I was just telling you this or, because I've done a bunch of interviews today,

but I almost compare fighting to, like, dancing, you know? You know, there's a kind of, like, an unspoken bond that you have with somebody, you know, it's almost like, I compare it to dancing because, like, some people that don't fight, even if you don't fight, I'm sure you danced before, you know, and you can kind of feel the vibe and they could do something and you can just kind of go along with it because you just without even talking to each other, you know.

And the same with fighting. Like it's almost like a telepathic thing. Like I could start feeling him getting really frustrated and with my ability to take that damage. And once I could feel him doing that, I knew he could also feel my confidence getting higher and higher and then kind of the momentum switching over. and in between the second and third round, I thought it was one to one. I thought I'd done enough in the second round to win that round. One of the judges had it two for him,

but I'm glad I know now. I mean, I wish I would have known then because I would have maybe been a little more urgent on taking him down and stuffing him out because I thought it was one to one. I thought the momentum was switched over to me and that if I just keep pushing the same way, I was pushing the second round

and landing some good shots that it would give me the decision if it went all the way to the decision. Obviously, I'm trying to finish 100%. percent of the time, you know. But once he had dropped me, there was a switch in my head that said, okay, well, he dropped me in a round, and that looks bad on me. So I got to do something and something big. And so as soon as I got up, I went for a flying knee. Even Bisby and kind of went crazy for that, which was, you know, respect out to him for that. He's like, this guy just got dropped and he just gets up and does a flying knee. This guy's crazy. So, you know, I had to do

things to get, like, the judges to, like, kind of forget about him dropping me. And then, you know, know, I've been working kind of this like sacrificial take down where, you know, it's hard to take some people down with long legs like that against the cage, you know, it works to their benefit. And so I know that because I'm a long-lake guy myself. And so I knew that if I was able to kind of like, basically barrel rolled him over me and got him to the mat. And then he got up, used the cage, get up again, and was able to kind of almost kind of like

lift him up and throw him again and get on top and into a position that I really love to set up my darts choke. you know, I wasn't necessarily thinking about subbing him, you know, or really jumping on that opportunity until I got dropped. You know, I was like, I figured that I was winning the fight and that, but, you know, you can never be too sure. You always got to take it out of the hands of the judges. You know, we see some bad decisions all the time. And not even bad decisions, just like, you know, fights that are super close. And even though a lot of people might think you won that fight, they might have given to the other guy. And, you know, you can't really argue it because

if a fight's pretty close, then, you know, it can go either way. And I feel like that fight was getting, on the feet, the fight was close. You know, we were both landing good shots. And, you know, you can't just leave it up to the judges every time because you're going to be disappointed a lot of the time. You got a, there's only one person that can control that, and that's yourself. And, you know, when I got my hands around his neck, and I told my coaches in my, and my cornerman, my training partners, and even my wife, I was like, I've been doing so many dark jokes to everybody in the gym. I was like, if this guy gives me his neck, he ain't getting it back.

He's tapping for sure. you know, first, first attempt at any kind of grappling situation, you know, and it worked out good for me. I knew that that's where I would be, you know, a dominant and effective at. And, you know, I'm lucky that that opportunity presented itself. Yeah. When you pop, when you pop Michael Bisbing, he has this energy that is, like, so infectious and contagious that, like, when it pops him, it pops, like, everybody watching at home, you know, and that's what happened. There's just one of those scenarios where it was, like, the perfect right place, right time scenario for you. when you actually get the tap, after all this time, the ups and the downs and the releases, to come back and have a fight and a performance like that against a tough up-and-coming prospect like Sean Woodson, can you even put it into words, man?

Man, you know, it took everything of me not to like burst into tears because it was just like it was everything coming together, you know? It was all the, you know, the training that I've been doing, all, you know, all my training partners and you know it's it's such a you know it's such a long road and for me to lose three ufc fights you know it's it's it's not only draining on me but my teammates and my coaches and my family my friends you know i me losing it's whatever to me you know i i get beat up every day man that's what i love to do but you know the toll that it takes on my family my friends and everybody around me that believes in me that's the part that really puts a you know really like

you know makes me feel really bad it's just like how bad they feel if i lose you know And after I got that, once I had him locked in, all I was thinking was I'm going to squeeze everything I have into this and I'm going to tap him. And then as soon as I'm done, I'm just kind of, you know, get up and just look at my coach because he, you know, he's had it pretty rough, you know, the last, you know, some of my teammates are Tim Elliott, Gina Mazzani, Gustavo Lopez, Joseph Benavides, and all four of those guys just lost their last fights. Joe lost his title fight. Tim lost the fight after that, Gina lost the fight after that, and then Gustavo lost a short notice fight after that as well. And, you know, it really takes a toll on all the, you know, on everybody, you know, we needed something to bring us all up.

And everybody knows how hard I work in this gym. We all work hard, you know. And, you know, I felt like it was a relief off everybody's shoulders, you know. It was like one of those things that it was just, it was beyond words, you know. And, you know, my coach started crying. And it took everything for me not to start crying, you know. Even right now talking about it kind of gets me teary. But, you know, it's just so much hard work that, you know, I've put into this.

It's like I finally get the recognition and I finally was able to finish a fight that I really wanted to. And no matter that I really wanted to, you know, I used to do that on the regional show all the time. And I'm like, man, I get to the UFC and I do this, these guys is going to be amazing. And it just never happened, never happened, never happened. And this was finally that fight that happened. And, you know, getting a bonus like that, just, you know, just, you know, you know, enhances it all, you know, or just, you know, just kind of shows that I deserve to be here. And, you know, I fought my ass off and, you know, it was a well-deserved win.

Yeah, it was an amazing win. It was an amazing fight. You get a performance bonus to boot. And, you know, for a long time, you were the front runner for fight of the night as well until Porre and Hooker got on that cage. And you probably knew after the first round that the double bonus was likely not going to happen, right? You know, I was, you know, it's so funny. because I was already hit my apartment by the time they started fighting because that's how quick they turn around at the apex. You just in and out and they just get you moving, which I kind of like that.

So I'm watching that Dan Hooker fight and Dan Hooker and Portia fight. I'm like, man, why can't this be the Curtis Blades and Volkov fight, man? Because then I could get a double bonus. And people were posting, like, give that kid 100 Gs. And, like, you know, I don't like to, like, you know, count my eggs before they hatch. but, you know, I was just happy with the outcome. And I didn't even know, you know, we went over to my manager's house afterwards and I celebrated a little bit and just got to hang out.

And I had no idea I won a bonus until I was at his house. And he looks at me and he goes, he's like, yo, we got it. And I was not like, what are we getting? And he's not like 50 Gs. And I was like, oh, hell yeah. You know, it's like, you know, life changing money. And I was fighting for 20G. I was fighting for $20,000.

You know, if I won, you know, I was getting 14 and 14. So 50 grand's almost double that. And so it's life-changing money for a guy like me and for upcoming finders and stuff. And, you know, especially guys that are, I mean, we struggle out here. You know, fighting is not an easy way to make money. People think that it's like, you know, some glorified sport. But it's, you know, this is the hardest of the heart. It's like wrestling.

You know, it's one of those things that you have to do because you love because, you know, it's one of the hardest ways to make a living. But, you know, I knew after I watched about two and a half rounds. of the hooker and poor a fight before we took off to my manager's house and and I was like, you know, I was actually hoping that one of them was going to get knocked out quick because then it would be like they would get a performance and then me and that dude might have got a fight of the night or whatever. But I figured, no matter what, I mean, regardless of bonuses or whatever, I just was happy to get the win and to probably get a guaranteed another fight in the

UFC. That's all I was really looking for. And all I was looking for was just to perform to my, you know, to my abilities. And I was able to do that. And that's what I was really looking for. But, you know, 50 Gs on top makes it a whole lot better. I tell you what. You get a couple bruises, couple stitches, extra 50 Gs. So that kind of bounces the scale a little bit.

But hey, I love this stuff. I love getting bruised up. You know, people, you know, some people don't like to get punched in the face, but I actually enjoy that kind of stuff. And, you know, it's not a big deal. I mean, it's all pluses to me. When do you want to get back? I mean, I know we don't let you save of the flavor for too long,

but, you know, when are you thinking to you want to get back to follow that up and try to keep this train moving? Yeah, you know, they've been really given out a lot of, like, suspensions for hard fights. And I got to cut over my eye. And so they told me 30 to 45 days for that. So that leaves me, like, mid to late August, possibly to fight again. But, you know, I've got a couple of bangs and bruises. and, you know, I want to, you know, I want to get into, if I'm going to start getting ready for a fight, I want to, you know, get over all the bumps and bruises.

So I have, like, a healthy fight camp, you know, I don't want to, I don't want to extend any of these injuries. And so, and nothing's injured, really. It's just more bumps and bruises. But I'm hoping maybe September, like mid, any, actually really any time in September, I think would be good. I don't know the UFC schedule. I know they're going to the Yaz Island for all of August and then July. or no July, yeah.

And then they're coming back here for August. And then I don't know what they're doing in September. If they're going to keep doing, it's here in September, if they're going back to Five Island or wherever they're doing. So, you know, maybe I'll just kind of see what's going on with that. But obviously I want to sit down with my coaches and my management

and kind of see, you know, certain opponents that we could be looking forward to and, you know, kind of setting something like that up. You know, I feel like I, I feel like my first run after the ultimate fighter, after I got cut the first time and got my second shot and I was 0 and 3 I felt like I was being desperate

you know I took Devonte Smith on 10 days notice it got knocked out and then I took Grant Dawson I had a fight camp for that but I had an ear infection I was on antibiotics and you know I just I was fighting desperate

I wasn't like being smart about things I really want to just take this this go of it a little smarter than before you know I want to pick you know pick my my, you know, pick my opponents a little bit better, pick my timing a little bit better. And if something like that happens where I do get an ear infection, have, you know, I need

to listen to people and just pull out, you know, I need to be, I don't need to be 100%, but I need to, you know, if I'm on antibiotics, I can't be fighting, you know, and, you know, that was a mistake by my part. I should have done that, you know, I should have sat back and just reschedule that fight. And, uh, but I was worried, you know, I was worried about getting cut. I got knocked out the fight before then. I was just jumping on it. And I felt like I was just being desperate in that sense. I want to take the desperate, the desperate acts out this time. I want to just be a little bit smarter about it and just enjoy it too, you know,

just really enjoy this win, move on, find a good opponent and, you know, enjoy my next fight in the process up to that. So I'm hoping maybe mid to late September or whatever. I mean, we'll see what the schedule is like and, you know, hopefully sooner than later. And then last thing for me, you know, kind of going back to that conversation we had in January, you had mentioned that, you know, you didn't really want to walk away from the sport, but like you had mentioned in this conversation, you know, some of your family members, friends, they were like, eh, I don't know, man, like we're worried about you. But at the end of the day, they all still had

your back. So what do you want to say to all the people who have believed in you, even when the trips are down? Because I think it's an important lesson in the sport for some of the up-and-comers, especially to know who is truly in your corner and who is there when everything is, you know, just coming up roses. And I'm sure that's something you've experienced. at some point in your career, you know, when you're winning, everybody wants to hang out and drink beers with you. And when you have a couple losses, you don't hear from again. So, you know, what do you want to say to those people who have been there since day one and haven't even wavered for a second? You know, that's what means everything to us, especially being like a regional scene, a regional scene fighter.

When you're fighting, let's find cage sport, we didn't get him paid big money. We ain't even getting paid media money. We're getting paid, you know, we getting paid for our. Oh, do we lose them? Oh, no. Oh, there he is. Sorry about that. Someone was trying to call me.

But, yeah, that means everything. So we're getting paid nothing on the regional scene. So it was literally those people were the only people that were really driving me, you know, giving me my drive and making me want to fight. I wanted to fight for the fans, you know. I wanted to fight for everybody that was stuck behind me and believed in the dream. And so that's why I went back to Cajport and fought, you know. It didn't make a difference where I was getting back.

I was doing it because of everybody around me who supported me. And, you know, it's amazing to see, you know, how many people will stick by you. You know, I'm from a smaller town too. Everybody knows who I am in Yakima. And, you know, they give me nothing but love. And, you know, obviously coming off a win like this, everybody kind of coming out of the woodwork again. But you know what? It's all love.

And, you know, I appreciate everybody. You know, there's a lot of people that messaged me. and be like, man, I didn't really know who you were, but I'm a huge fan of you now. You know, just the heart that you showed, it was inspirational. And I, you know, so even new fans, you know, if they're just trying to jump on the bandwagon,

it's all good, you know, positive vibes or positive vibes. And, you know, I appreciate it from everywhere. But, yeah, everybody that has supported me from day one, man, it just, you know, really goes to show that if you put the hard work in, man, you can make it back. And, you know, a lot of people give up if they get come from the UFC the first time. So, you know, for me to get cut multiple times and be back, just like, you know, it's just like I said, you know, it's kind of that Cinderella story, you know,

you just got to keep putting the work in. And I figured if I was in the gym training with some of the best in the world, there's going to be coaches seeing me, there's going to be managers seeing me, there's going to be people seeing me, and knowing that I deserve to be here. And eventually something is going to happen, whether it was any, you know, a different organization or whatever it was. And so, you know, I'm always just, you know, having a good time and enjoying the process. But, you know, I want to ramble on.

But, you know, everybody around me, all my friends and family have, They've stuck by my side, you know, you know, it's an unorthodox way to make, you know, make a living. And it's a weird career. But, you know, people have shown me to them a love in my town and all my friends and family have as well. So, you know, thanks to everybody, really. Congratulations, Julian. What really, what a story this is. I love the Cinderella story reference. I think that makes all this world. I am very happy for you. All the best to you, enjoy the victory. I'm sure we'll talk again soon before the next one, man. All right. Much love, brother. Take care.

Just incredible stuff right there from Julian O'Rosa. What a moment it was for him on Saturday night, and I'm really happy for him. I've been interviewing Julian for a long time, as he stated on the broadcast, after wins, after losses, in the UFC, out of the UFC. And it's just amazing to watch that all go down on Saturday night against a really game guy in Sean Woodson. Sean will be back. He looked pretty darn good in that fight until he got finished. He probably won the first two rounds. and Sean will take a lot away from that fight.

So he'll be back. Julianne Rose will be back, and he'll be back with a victory behind him and an extra 50 G's in his bank account. But that'll do it. For this week's What the Heck on MMAfighting.com, thank you all so much for watching, listening, for the words of encouragement.

I mean, it really means a lot. I'll be honest. It's been a bit nerve-wracking coming into this gig, trying to fill some massive shoes. This is my first real opportunity in this space after grinding away for such a long time as a freelancer, and it's been the best professional decision of my career, no doubt about it. So for those of you who have enjoyed what we've been doing, thank you very much.

For those who haven't, thank you very much. That's okay, too. I see you. And all it does is it makes me push even harder. But that's it. No UFC this weekend. Invicta FC is back tonight. Invicta FC 40.

Emily Takate versus Juliana Lima is the main event and then we found out earlier this week Invict has got another card coming up on July 30th that's gonna be a real good one as well but we'll have you covered with Invict FC40 on MMAFighting.com with results and all big news

that came out of that event and then it is on to Fight Island next weekend for the UFC and MAAfighting.com we will be there the entire time on Fight Island. Big thank you to Casey Liden on the production side.

Big thank you to Esther Lynn on the graphics and a big thank you to all of you for watching the program. And as always, have a heck of a week, everybody.