MMA Fighting - What the Heck: Episode 42 | Uriah Hall, Diego Ferreira, Merab Dvalishvili and Mike Trizano

Episode Date: January 19, 2021

This week on What the Heck, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck chats with Diego Ferreira (7:15) to preview his upcoming fight with Beneil Dariush on Feb. 6, Michael Chandler signing with the UFC, and thoughts on a potential lightweight tournament. Merab Dvalishvili (30:15) discusses why he will no longer be facing Cody Stamann on Feb. 6 and when he hopes to be rebooked, Uriah Hall talks (53:21) his upcoming UFC 258 matchup with former champion Chris Weidman, why he felt 2020 was one of his best years, Anderson Silva, Israel Adesanya, and more. Finally, Mike Trizano (1:41:43) discusses his return to the octagon after nearly two years away when he faces Rafael Alves on Feb. 20. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What the Heck with Mike Heck on MMAfighting.com. Now here is your host, Mike Heck. What the heck? Hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of What the Heck here on MMAFighting.com. I am Mike Heck. Thank you so much for having us on as we are in the midst of a three event stretch for the UFC in Abu Dhabi. one down, two to go as we're on the heels of a very successful, in my opinion, debut on ABC

this past Saturday. That event capped off by an incredible jaw-dropping performance from Max Holloway, defeating Calvin Cater. And it was a matchup between two of the toughest people on the planet. Because one, we all know how tough Calvin Cater is after Saturday. It was just a ridiculous amount of punishment that man took and he just kept fighting back. But I think one of the more underrated aspects of that fight is I don't think Max Holloway's getting enough credit for his toughness and his durability in that fight because Cater landed some massive shots in that fight. Shots that, let's be honest, would have put away most guys in the featherweight division,

but Holloway took it all in stride. He ate them all. Kept coming forward. And Cater, I mean, Holloway did as well. landed a record amount of strikes like UFC record, but Cater also landed his career high in significant strikes as well in that fight. So it just goes to show you how tough these guys really are. But geez, Louise, what else can you say about Max Holloway?

John Anick, multiple-time guests on this program, said it was the singular greatest performance he had ever seen sitting Octagon side. And in my opinion, definitely in the conversation, but you can't really argue with the man who is sat in that seat and called many of big fight, called many of big performance. And if he's saying that about what Max Holloway did on Saturday, who knows better than John Anick, if we're being honest. But I mean, seriously, I was so, and still am, so impressed with what Max Holloway did on Saturday.

I mean, he, I will, and I've said this before, on Friday, I was like, If Max Holloway beats Calvin Cater and Alexander Volcanowski beats Brian Ortega, it's going to be a hard sell for me for the third fight. But after that, Max Holloway is fighting for the belt no matter what happens at UFC 260 on March 27. He's earned that right. We'll see what happens next, but it would be absolutely absurd if Max Holloway's next fight is not for the Featherweight title. Unless he wins the Habib sweepstakes, I'm not even going to get into the whole announcement. slash decision thing.

I'm sure we'll be talking about a lot this week, but how he deserves a massive opportunity, title fight or not. If he wants to go up, it doesn't matter. That guy earned whatever he wants at this point. Absolutely impressive stuff. Calvin Cater had a great statement,

delivered his first words on his Instagram page saying he's not going to quit. He learned his lessons. He'll be back. Go check that out. Classy statement from the man who suffered a pretty, a pretty humbling defeat on Saturday.

but kudos to him for taking it in stride. But of course, you can get the rest of our thoughts on that card with our post-event programming. We had our post-fight show with Loris Sanko. You can catch that on our YouTube channel or wherever you find your podcast. AK and I did on to the next one. Matchmaking for that card. That is up on the podcast network as well as we look ahead to this Wednesday, tomorrow as this episode drops. UFC Fight Island 8, early morning prelims 9 a.m.

Eastern time on ESPN Plus, the way-ins. Already happened. They just wrapped up not long ago. Main card will kick off noon Eastern standard time. That's headline by Michael Kiesa versus Neil Magni. Wire to Wire on ESPN Plus. Very good main events between Kiesa and Magni. You really like that fight. And if you look at it in its entirety, it's an under the radar sneaky good card too. So that should be a nice appetizer before UFC 257 on Saturday. Headlined by the fight everyone's talking about. You all know what's going down. Dustin Porier versus Connor McGregor, too. Just a. massive, massive fight. We'll be talking all about that card throughout the week as well. So keep it locked in to MMAfighting.com for all that. But what that said, let us run down the lineup for this week. An eclectic group. No doubt about that.

And then we'll get to our first guest. We're going to wrap things up with Mike Trezano. He returns to action for the first time in almost two years. The winner of Season 27 of the Ultimate Fighter. He's going to take on Rafael Alves. On February 20th, of course, he's entering the fight in unfamiliar territory for the first time in his professional career. He will enter a fight coming off of a loss. So we'll check it with Mike Tarzano.

He'll preview that matchup, talk to the long layoff and much more. Uriah Hall, prime time. He's going to join us a little bit later on. And I have to say I was a little nervous heading into this one, admittedly, because as you guys and gals watching probably know, it is no secret that Uriahal's relationship with the MMA media has not been tremendous over the years. So I felt like I needed to be on my A game.

I got some extra sleep. I went to the gym this morning. I had to be ready. But I have to say, we shot the breeze for around 40 or so minutes, and it didn't seem like 40 or so minutes, but we talked about everything you can possibly think of as he prepares to face Chris Wyven at UFC 258 on February 13th.

Big fight, 185 pounds. It has not been an easy road to get to this fight, as you will hear in this interview, which in all honesty, it's going to go down as one of my all-time favorites ever. And you'll hear that coming up later on in the show. In around 20 or so minutes, we're going to check in with Marab de Wallis Willie, the number 12 ranked Bannamoy in the world. He was scheduled to face Cody Stamen on February 6th, but that fight is no longer happening.

Truth be told, I spoke with Marab on Thursday. Stamen is going to remain on that card on February 6th, and I confirmed multiple sources. This was first confirmed by my good friend Cole Shelton of BJPen.com. Cody Stamman is going to face Andre Ewell on February 6th, excuse me. What's next from Rob? We shall see, but we'll speak with the machine in a matter of moments. But first, let us check in with another individual who we haven't seen in a little while. When we last saw him compete, he became the first man ever to submit Anthony

Petis, he did so at UFC 246 one year ago. He's back in action in a little over two weeks time in a big fight, 155 pounds. We're going to talk all about it as kicking us off this week. Diego Fajeda on what the heck. All right. It has been over a year almost since we've seen seen this man competing on February 6th in Las Vegas. As we just found out earlier this week, he will look to make it seven straight wins when he faces Benile Darius. Happy to welcome back. Diego Fajara to the program. Diego, how are you, man? Thank you.

Doing good, doing good, brother. Just here, getting back from Dados, you know, after a great, great session over there. Now back to the valley and, you know, healthy, ready to go. There you go. It is good to have you back here. It's going to be good to see you back in the Octagon. It's funny because 2020 started off so good for you. You became the first fighter.

to submit Anthony Pettis. You did a UFC 246 on that massive card with Connor McGregor on it. And then a rough year of inactivity, the pandemic, the ups and downs. So you go undefeated for the year. You have this massive win. But in your eyes, would you call 2020 a successful year for your career? No, really. Now, really.

Now I have so much a dream for my career on 2020. You know, I was looking to at least have like three fights. on that year. But it was not the way I was planning, but, you know, things we cannot, you know, we're not in control, you know, we just have to look for the bass. At the end of the day, you will be known unless something crazy happens as the last guy to beat Anthony Pettis in the UFC. It's going on, obviously, to the PFL.

One is last two fights. The most recent one, obviously, it was against your teammate Alex Marono. But, I mean, is that something that's going to be pretty cool to think about or will be later on your career when you reflect back on everything? Like, I was the last guy to beat Anthony Pettis in the UFC. Yeah, it's something like I have, that's the thing I think the way the match maker is looking right now for me, you know, I think they did look to, to put me against somebody to really, you know, it's going to, he's going to deserve to be on that place, you know, from Anthony Padis, because I took his place on the rank. And I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

really focus to do good and see that can climb a little bit more on the rank and get a spectacular finish like the way he did, you know, and that's what I'm in looking right now. You're supposed to fight Drew Dober in May, and then that event got canceled because of the pandemic. We spoke not long after that happened, but you were hoping to come back maybe in the summer, but you just wanted enough time to prepare and have an actual camp before you got back in there. and, you know, you were hoping they would rebook you against Drew. They did for November. Was anything offered to you before that?

Because it seemed like it took a long time to get you another fight. Yeah, they, they, I was having a little bit of problem with, not the way of FC, but to, to book my, my, my, my fight. Because I was, I was getting ready to, to get married, you know, like, not be, I was, I was married already, but I was married. with it, but I was getting married to the church. I have a lot of dreams to do that, but we, we, all the pandemic happened, you know, we could have, we have to, we have to push back a little bit of all the, the dreams we have, but, you know, I was really looking

forward to to get a better camp to, so really get fighter with Dober, put a good show because he have a good finish on all on the on the on his last fights and I was really looking for to fight a hand and and get more a another spectacular finish too for myself but nothing nothing going to the way we we we expect but uh was hard you know it's hard for me because a lot of things happen and now I was having a dream to to finish how finish it up with my house You know, I was building my house with all this happening. I have to stop a little bit on that, too, you know.

And we are, while we're waiting for another baby, too, you know, and we lost, you know, things go really out of control around that time. And it affected me a little bit. You know, I was not because I was, I was getting, trying to get into my, you know, to my feet, everything, but a pandemic happened and, and then I got sick, you know, I was one thing, one thing behind, another thing, you know, like really, really difficult for me, but now I'm here, now I'm back on the track, you know, better than ever, and I'm really looking for get a good a good start of the year again better now it's not the beginning the year the way i wanted

you know but is the second month of the beginning of the year and uh i've just got to be focused on this fight now wow sorry to hear about all that stuff what a geez louise what a crazy year that was it was crazier than in a lot of other ways so when when when the fight with drew dober didn't happen i mean there were some conflicting reports with that one some folks said that you you tested positive for COVID. And when I asked you about it, you said you had an arm injury. So I didn't really know what I just went with that. But which one was it if you don't mind me asking?

Or maybe it was both considering the year you had. No, no, I was not first because I have my own business. I have my gym and Regan Valley. And I was afraid because I was afraid to affect my, my, my gym too, you know, because that's the only, you know, what only, Only thing I can get money to support my family, you know, like besides the WFC now, besides the fighting opportunity I have. And I wasn't afraid to tell me about, oh, I got COVID and now my students. I did my, you know, two weeks, you know, my quarantine.

I did everything home. But I was afraid to affect my business. And I was afraid to like get this, you know, social media is in time to get like overwhelming everybody now. And I was afraid from there, but I got the COVID, you know, and I had to pull out of the fire. I was not feeling like 100% still, you know, I was like three weeks, I think three weeks before the fight, you know. But I still got to want to fight, but I say, no, it's going to be better to pull out. But, you know, I don't want to affect my gym. I don't want to affect my business.

and that's what I got at a gun I decided in that time you know and it hurt me you heard a lot because I was so focused mentally you know to to to fight over

and this happened you know things happened for a reason in my life but uh you know it's it's it's good to

let this go you know it's good to tell everybody I I was not hurt. I was just like, you know, getting sick, getting through all of this. It was more difficult for me. We're feeling good now. We're ready to go in a few weeks, right?

Exactly, right there. I mean, how excited were you for January 1st between like the fighting and everything that happened, the wedding, that not being having to postpone the church wedding and everything? Like, how excited were you to take that 2020 calendar and just throw it in the trash, man? Now, for me, it's going to be great, bro. Like, it's going to be, you know, it's a great feeling just to be, just to be training, you know, the way I wanted, you know, the way I really, I'm really looking for this fight, you know, more cautious, you know, more focus, prepare myself as much as I can, you know, with my team,

you know, and I'm really like just, I'm just waiting to step. on that case and do everything I wanted to win to that fight. By the way, I know we had spoken before the RDA fight against Paul Felder because Islam Makachev had to pull out of the fight and you were like, oh, I want it, I want that fight. Did anything, did it even get on the UFC's radar? Did they talk to you about it or? Yeah, they talk.

I was like, I was like 178 on that night, you know, like I'll say, no, like why we don't put this fight 170? you know, just to make sure I got to be healthy. I got to be, you know, in a good, good form. And I got to miss weight. I'm going to do anything. And so, no, let me see. I have some people who want to make 155.

And I said, all right, sounds good. And but don't happen, you know, I was not, I was, no, I was not sad. I was not like, you know, but, you know, Paul Felder took me, 155, you know, he did everything he could to make 155 jump on it. But I don't think he, damn, he has two losses, I would, you know, like on the division, switch for another thing, you know, change for the ranking. I don't think he, like, damn, we lost twice on the road and he's still on the rank and in front of me, come on.

And it's something like really bothered me, too, you know. It's something like I really happen to. Exactly. I have to show my job, too, my work, too, you know. I think this is the opportunity, the opportunity to. to step on the occasion now, you know, 2021 and show that I deserve to be in the front of those guys where you've been losing, you know, twice in a row of ones

and it's still in front of me. But, you know, since the time, 2021 is a promise for me. There you go. And now you get to fight. B'Neil Darius, a man you have faced before in 2014. UFC 179. You lost a unanimous decision that night. First loss of your career.

and now you get a chance to come back and avenge that loss in 2021. I got to ask you, were you happy with the matchup when you saw it because you got that chance to avenge that first loss? Or were you hoping to get a guy that was ranked above you? No, I'm happy with that. You know, it's my first loss way I've been telling everyone, you know, it's my first loss. I have a, I don't have no, you know, how I can say,

I don't have no weights on my shoulders, you know, like, I have to go and destroy this guy because the first time he don't submit me, you know. No, I got to take this, like, I was one more fight on my career, you know, and I have a, I have a one more opportunity to fight him again, you know. But I take this like a one more chance to go there and redeem myself, you know, and put a good show. put everything I have about everything I've been waiting for 2020 to 2021 to put a good show for for my fans and my family to see how much I I I improve how much I got better to to to to on that day how much do you remember about that first fight with baneo like is it one that you think about often or have you sort of totally moved on from it because you're a completely different guy than you wear it back then.

I don't remember too much. You know, I know I got really exhaustive, you know, all the two weeks, two weeks notice on a fight, you know, he had the same problem, you know, because he, he accepted the fight, you know. We are just two newcomers coming on the scene. And for me, it was more like exhaustion. I was more like tired because I didn't know fight.

camp, anything. I was just in vacation at the time, you know. And my, my manager called me, hey, do you want to fight two weeks? And I was in New York, you know, having a vacation with my wife. And I said, no, why not? I'm going to see my family, you know, in Brazil. It's going to be great. From there, I'm going to go to Manow, see what I can do. Why not? And I jump in. I made the way. I still made the way, but it was not good performance for me. But this time for me, it's just more, it's just more focused, you know, be more focused. I know he improved too, he improved so much as a fighter, you know, the same way for me. He improved.

And now we're going to be facing each other. Both of us is going to, he's going to put the show, you know. he's going to be really he throw he throw down he want to go do the brawler i i'm going to be doing the same way you know try to get the finish and i'm excited for this one is it like the first one and we're not taking anything away from baneal is it like the first fight doesn't even count in a weird way because of all that like you can't compare the two right yeah i don't know I was good fighting. I think I could do a lot of more things, you know.

But I did a lot of wrong stuff too. Now, I got really wrong. I recover wrong, you know, the way I doing now, you know, the way I do all my preparation and the recovery after the wake up, you know, it was a little bit rough for me. But this time, I think it's going to be different. You know, it's going to be more focused. Have you been impressed with what he's done?

I mean, ever since the knockout loss to Alex Hernandez, he's won five in a row, four straight finishes. Have you been, you know, you've had to watch the last couple from the sidelines, unfortunately, but have you been impressed with what he's done recently? Oh, yeah, I've been impressed in his last two, you know, his last two finish. Damn, who's not going to be impressed, you know?

That makes much art. Others, like, we'd be impressed with each other. I'd be impressed with him, you know? Like, the way he finished all those guys, it's really good, you know. And that's what it makes me be more in my toes, you know, be more prepared than ever to fight somebody like that. Because now he's not a grappler only, you know. He's a finisher. He's going in there to, you know, to try knock you out, you know.

And that's what I'm looking right now. That's how I'm really training to be faster, to be stronger, to be smarter, you know, because that's the way I prepare myself every single time when I have time to prepare for a fight. When you fought Anthony Pettis in January of last year, the lightweight division looked like a very certain way, right? Like we're going to see Habib fight Tony Ferguson. And then we saw Ferguson fight Justin Gage. And then Gaichi fought Habib, Kabib submits him, retires, Charles Olivaera beats Tony Ferguson, the UFC signs Michael Chandler, who's fighting Dan Hooker next Saturday.

This is like a completely different division that you're coming back to, right? Like, how crazy is this looking at it now compared to what it was a year ago? Exactly. That's what that's what you tell. I, for my personally, how changing in a one year complete the division in, for the last, last five years, it's been that way we've been seeing Kabib and Tony Ferguson, one, I'm fighting, all that. But now is a different way to see. And I'm really excited, you know, because it's open the doors for all of us, you know, open the doors to can have a chance to get there and make the change on the division, too, you know, and make the change to, I can't

climb up the ladder and be, you know, be getting close by the belt. Can I ask you this? And I know, I don't want you to talk bad about your employer at all. But did the UFC make a mistake by not doing a tournament here? Like, they should have done a tournament. Everyone said they should have done a tournament. I know Habib is still the champion technically, but I kind of hope he just stays retired. Like, he made a promise to his mom.

Like, you should probably honor those things. Like, I don't want to see him come back unless he really, really wants to when she approves. They should have done a tournament, and you should have been a part of this tournament, Diego. I think so, you know, especially because I, the way I see, like, the most wins are like, it's me, Charles Olivera, you know, and who more? I got to put, like, another, another fighter. Just a poor year, you know, just to engage it. Like, I think it could be in between those guys, you know, but, you know, it's not, that's my opinion only, you know. but I really could have a chance, but, you know, Mikey Chandler jumping in front of us.

That's, that's, sorry, my language and everything, you know, but it's a bullshit. And I'm like, Duwait, he's jumping on front of all my fucking whole work, you know, all my really hard work. And I don't like, you know, I don't like at all, you know. But it is what it is. I want to get this fight. if I have a opportunity to one day face Mike Chandlerler, I want to make, mix it up my

my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my his and see who's going to be the best if he really deserve to be there but first you have to pass you know then Hercer is not a you know he's not a easy fighter but I'm still

going for Dan Hooker get this this win next week and see how he got to take that one do you think Dan do you think Dan wins that fight I think Dan's going to take that fight. I think so. What about Dustin and Connor? I got to ask you about that.

I'm still going for four years because, damn, he's one guy to knock me out, you know? Yeah, he's the other guy. He's the other guy who beat me, you know, have my only two loss in my career. And I still go for four years. And then I don't know if you saw this, but Dana White was speaking to, I forget who we were speaking to, but he said that Nate Diaz is going to come back down to 155.

So who knows, what are your thoughts on that? I don't know if this is the first time you've heard that, but another, another new name at 155. I don't know if you're happy about that or if that frustrates you even more because Nate's a big name. And when you throw in a guy like that, he's probably going to get himself, I'm sure he's going to get a big fight, right? Yeah.

It's like that's more hard. You know, like that's just you can see. Damn, it's hard to say, but the UFC just looking for the, you have seen. the fight money now. It's hard to say, but, you know, it's not more skills by skills. I know this is not more like that. It's a five money. But it's just getting me more upset, make me more hungry to get there and really put a good show. And if I have the time to like find ideas, I want to fight a hand too, you know, like if I have the opportunity, like, do everybody have the chance, we have to get there and improve my work and to get on a cage with hand.

I'll be glad to fight him too. I feel like you and Charles Olivera. Like you're the two guys that are just going to like sneak in there and just ruffle all of these feathers. Like you're just going to quietly come in and just flip this division upside down because even after Charles Olivera be Tony Ferguson, like I feel like he's just, he's in the conversations. Like Dana's talking about him fighting Justin Gaichy, which I think is the fight to make.

but almost like it was forgotten about for some weird reason. Like, isn't that, isn't that weird? Like, he just dominated Tony Ferguson and we're not hearing about him. Yeah, and that's the thing. Like, that's the thing. I don't know why the guy pushed so much effort. And the way he dominate Tony Ferguson now, like, damn, it's, it's not fair. You know, and it's not sure for the guy too, but it is what it is.

I'm not the boss, you know, but I wish you could, I wish he to put a handle with somebody like just the gates, you know, like, that would be, that would be a good fight. That would be a good fight for the, you know, they get the next person for the title shot. Yes. And then you're obviously on your way up to that point. But we first, we got to take care of business on February 6th. The rematch against Spaniel Darius, big fight at 155. How do we reintroduce yourself to this division after over a year away?

Like a new guy, you know, a new guy just going there trying to get something he deserved. And that's how I can look at the new guy just getting there to take the chance and getting the most finish as I can. Do you feel like you get a chip on your shoulder heading into this one with everything going on in a way? No? No, no, no, not really because I'm just the way I say, I'm just on. New guy jumping into the rankings, you know, trying to get, you know, as much wins I can to get close the bike to title shot, and that's how I'm looking right now.

Very fun, yet extremely important fight at 155 pounds coming up on February 6th. No inches can be given with all the traffic going on up the top of this loaded division, especially with what's going down on Saturday at UFC 257, Diego Verena versus Benil Darius. That's a fight. that's pretty much going to determine who is the man that's just on the outside of these conversations as all this is being worked out. Really, really love this matchmaking, love this fight, and I cannot wait to see how it all plays out on February 6th. As we move ahead to a man who is supposed to face

Cody Stamen on that same card February 6th, and that is no longer the case. Let us find out why with Marab de Walsh Willie. All right, we move ahead to our next guest, the number 12 ranked Bantamweight in the world. and a lot of people have been asking me when this man is going to be fighting again. And the answer to that question is still up in the air, it looks like. But let's hear more from the man himself. Marab de Wallis, Willie. Marab, good to see it, man.

How are you? Good to see him. Mike. I'm good. How are you? I'm doing great. So right off the top, my man, let's talk about the here and now because report surfaced last week that your fight with Cody Stamen was that was supposed to happen in December,

was going to happen on February 6th, I believe, but that is no longer the case. for those who may not be aware of your situation what happened yeah i was supposed to fight uh december six i was getting ready i was ready good shave and uh my manager called me and he told me uh cody got uh covid and then uh he he's not but that was like uh like five week, six weeks before, and then we still have a time, but he said, even he will get better, this fight is not happening. I said, okay, but then next day, Cody said some interview, he never had a call he has some back injury, and he asked UFC to move fight little back, and the UFC don't want to do it, and then that's why I fight cancer. And then I was ready for

fight anybody and yeah and that was an opportunity to fight Brazilian killer Ryani Barcelona Arioni Barcellos so and yeah fight I accept fight I signed a contract and

medical suspension he cannot fight me and yeah and then the SA UFC said we only we only want to you fight to only top 15 so I mean and this point nobody was terrible so and I was ready but I got injured like my my I had my back and I wasn't training like two weeks like I was only like just I was making appointments with doctors and check my my back if it was okay and then finally

in my back pain goes away and I was feeling good and I and I started training gym again and everybody like lots of people would get the COVID like same time and I was sick too like before I wasn't believe this COVID like because like I was I was saying this is paid bullshit like so in the COVID situation but and then I and the one. One day, I feel like my throw was dry, I was a little coughing, I was chill, and I have a headache, and I said, this is the COVID, I feel it. And next day, I was worse, like I was feeling like I have a fever. And Monday, I go to doctor, and then they test was positive. I had COVID and I was

feel sick. It wasn't fun, like wasn't something crazy but I was weak, I was coughing too much, I was and then I didn't know. At that time, I don't know how it affects me because I was coughing, I was weak, like no energy.

And I tell my manager to like, it's only one month left and I don't know how I can how it affects me like after COVID if I can still training or how my loan is going to be so I think we need

more time and manager say yes let's move this by little back because like and and yeah so we we ask to move a little maybe one week later or two weeks later move back a little bit

and it looks like Cody don't want to move. He wants to fight same day, February 6th. And they said UFC save, so they will give me a new opponent. They work on this. So did about agreement get signed for the February 6th fight between you and Cody?

Yeah, I signed the contract. I signed a contract before I get COVID. Oh, man. Yeah, so that's, that's, So you're a believer now. Yeah, now I believe COVID and now I respect. Before I was wearing mask only like when it's necessary go supermarket or like just and like just aware, but now I have respect like even I'm not taking nowhere.

Like now I have even though I'm not getting like COVID like at least six months or three months. I don't know. But now I understand. It's an effect. It affects old people and like if somebody has a health issue. It's really real effective. Yeah. Well, the most important thing is you're feeling better now, right?

Oh, yes. I was gym yesterday and I feel good. Thank God it no affect me. Like I don't feel anything like crazy. I'm okay. I will get better and shave. and that's it. Yeah, I survive.

Are you back training yet? Are you still quarantining? When do you think you'll be able to get back in there? That's it. I tested and then test was negative. No more COVID and no more quarantine. And yeah, I'm good now. There you go.

I find this interesting because Cody, like you said, Cody wanted to push the date back. And when you guys were supposed to fight in December, and he had to withdraw from the fight due to an injury, he said he wanted to push the fight back. And, you know, he would be good to go. I mean, it's just weird. What a weird circle this has been.

Like, you know, different circumstances, but both of you're like, ah, can we push it back a couple weeks? And it didn't get pushed back at all. Yes. Yeah. So Cody off the table at this point, right? Yeah, I guess.

I was actually, I was thinking about this the other day, Marab. It's a little crazy because despite everything that happened in 2020, you still fought three times. Like, I don't know if everybody remembers that. You fought three times. You went three and O last year. And I don't know how you feel about it. But nobody was really talking about the fact that you went three and O last year.

You beat Casey Kenny. You beat John Dotson. You beat Gustavo Lopez, who was a replacement on like a couple days notice. I think you might have been the most under the radar fighter in the UFC last year. Do you agree with that? Thank you. Thank you for your word.

I don't know. This is, I am who I am. I know that I have whatever, but yeah, I win three fights. That was really big, big for me. And now I'm just ready for whatever is next. Yeah, I win. I'm ranked 12 for, I think I deserve it,

whatever I am now and but I don't care I'm I'm happy I'm happy whatever and I'm happy I'm happy who I am where I am now I mean I just yeah I mean it's just the sport the way that it is and all that stuff I just have to prove more and I just have to keep fighting keep winning and yeah so and then everything will come right time I probably like throughout 2020 had like five or six of my tweets actually make the broadcast because you know how they put all the tweets up there during the fights. I think like five or six of them actually made the broadcast and two of them were like the exact same thing I said about you. I said after the Lopez fight and after the Dodson fight that there isn't going to be a guy in the top 15 that's

going to be excited to see your name on the other side of the contract. And for some reason, that both made it. But after you beat Dodson, everybody was talking about this guy is the next. contender at 35. And then you see Casey Kenney get two wins on Fight Island and he grabbed a bunch of that momentum. And now he's going to fight Dominic Cruz on March 6 that UFC 259. So I'm sure that that would have been a fight you would have loved to have had. So I'm wondering, has it been frustrating watching some of these fights getting put together when you've won five fights in a row? Yeah. Yeah, but same time, I'm happy for Casey Kenney. Yeah, even I want to fight with Tammany Cruz.

I want to fight him. Of course, I have big respect to him, but he's my way class. He's the biggest name. And like a former champion. Of course, I want to fight him. But I'm happy for Casey Kenny. And every time the guy who I fought and I win,

I'm rooting for them. Like I wish him best, Casey Kenny. And I hope he can't. I hope he can win this fight. And, yeah, I will, yes, but a little bit persuaded, but I'm still, I'm still okay, stay positive, you know. Whoever, I'm ready for anybody, UFC, who you have to give me, I'm ready for fight. And like I said, I have to keep prove it and I have to keep winning it. So your time, you're just in the mentality that my time is coming.

It just may not be right now. it's coming, right? Right, yeah, exactly. Whoever, I have to just winning, and finally I will get the fights with big names, you know, because now we have a lot of former champions in Wakelessly. We have a T.J. Dillishow, Cody Garbrand, Dominique Cruz, even 45ers,

like Josie Aldo, Frankie Edgar, and, yeah. It's a whole different division. it was like a year and a half ago, right? Right, right. Well, yeah, go ahead. Now, now, like, now my friend, Al Jemai Stirling will win the title, and he's got a long time, long time. He's not giving it no money.

Yeah, I'm sure he's very excited to finally get that fight rebooked. But, you know, despite the way 2020 ended for you, there is a lot of good stuff to talk about. You mentioned Alderman and Sterling, but first the state of MMA in your home country of Georgia. Things have changed quite a bit since the last time we talked. We got you, Giga Chikadzei, he had a big year. Alia Tupuria is a force to be reckoned with.

We saw Guram Kutatalazzi step in and get a big win. Roman DeLidezay got a big win. A couple of big wins, actually. It has been a pretty big rise for Georgia in MMA as of late, hasn't it? Yes, yes. This is really big moment for our country. and then everybody's so excited and like, I mean,

like now even we always have a support from our country, but now even we have more support and like, of course, the Iliotopuria, he's young, he's hungry and good talented and I'm happy for him even, Guarang Putatelagia.

He always been working hard all his life. He don't have a life. He has the only fighting and training. and Roman Dolizze, he's like being our big guy Of course, and then he's a gigatikika, Chica, a five and now UFC,

and then he's really talented and like former glory fighter. And even we have a one lady, Leanna Jojoa. Yeah, so now Leanna Jojoa Jojo wants to come USA and he wants to keep training and he wants to get better and then he was, he wants to,

you know, she wants to stay UFC long time. So, and then I'm going to try to help her to like move here and share my experience to how to emigrate here and how to live and how to training and I'm going to try to help her. That's great because I mean you're essentially in a way the guy who got this ball rolling here in the UFC. So to see all these like other athletes come in and make this noise, how proud does that make you? Of course, makes me so proud. Like I'm happy more than myself.

I'm happy for them. I'm so happy. Maybe I'm not happy like this when I win. When they fight and they're winning, I'm so happy more than happy because we are patriotic people and of course we are small country and we are proud people. And we want to show world how warrior we are. and we always want to represent our country.

When was the last time you got to go back to Georgia? I know this is obviously a really tough year with the travel and the pandemic and everything. Have you been able to get back there recently at all? Yeah, actually, I was lucky after winning against Casey Kenney. That was February. After my fight, I go to visit 10 days. I spent a great time there. I was like, like, I was doing interviews, like, and like have met people and eating.

And like, then then there's like COVID situation starts and I get, I get lucky. I come back and then everything was locked out. So, yeah, like, I was like nine months ago, maybe. Yeah. Oh, yeah, something. A, 10 months ago. So, yeah, not bad. Yeah, not too bad.

not too bad. So in terms of, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, but when I immigrate here, like five in a half year, I don't have a, I wasn't able to go back to Georgia. So that was hard. Like first couple years here in the United States, I cannot go see my family or friends. But I was working hard.

I was focused here. But thank God. I'm able to win when I want. I can go. No problem. Yeah. Luckily, technology. is so much different than it was like 15, 20 years ago.

Because then like you just, you know, long distance phone calls and stuff. And now you can do like video chats and Zoom chats. It's so different now. 100%. Yeah, exactly. It's like every, I sometimes say I think, I think so crazy goes is. Everything is online. Like before, before like when I immigrate here, everything was online, but I was still missing. like my

see my my my community then I was going to Brooklyn that's where like most like I live Long Island

so Brooklyn is like most like emigrate Georgian lives and I was going there restaurants and there is supermarket and some stores

and I was I want to see the Georgian talk like and then get the motivation and then like like

like you know like talk about even the politics or everything. I was missing them. But now everything is online.

Like just, you know, it's easy when I talk to my parents and everybody else and online is texting. You know, like change. World change. Everybody's sitting home. Before we was outside walking,

like it was like different people. Yeah. Like 20 years ago was lots of different. But now it's, yeah. We all just. Yeah, who knows? Like in another 15, years, you might be able to, like, just push a button and end up in Georgia without even having

to do anything. So in terms of, so February 6th, off the table for you. So what do you think seems like a safe bet to get you back in there? You think we'll see you maybe late February, March? What do you, what do you kind of thinking right now? So, okay, now, like, New York is really luck, lucked out, like Jimmy's clothes and we only professionals go sometimes and sneak out in the gym and like um and just about we're not getting good training because i exhaust how like this quarantine is so but and i'm i'm planning to go

in like 10 days to Vegas to get to good training and i'll be ready for uh even February they have something for me short notice like any fight i will jump in I will fight or if not March, I'm ready. I'm going to start training and I'll be ready for February or March. But that will be great. Aljo has the fight on March 6th, and there is a couple of bantarweids there,

and if I get the chance to fight there, that will be great if I fight with Aljo. Yeah, that would be cool. So he's in Vegas now, right? Aljo? Yeah, he's vacation here now. At this moment he's here in New York But yeah, he moved the Vegas, he

Buy a house, and he's getting good training And, you know, and PI, UFC, PI, UFC, PI, and it's blessed and we, we are take care of from UFC, it's good. But you only feel

you are UFC fighter. When you are Vegas, you feel you are UFC fighter, and you are tech, you have a PI, you have like, you can order food and they give you healthy free food, so, which is good. you know something, but you don't have to worry about cooking or buy food. And it's like, you know, like when you're cooking, it takes all day.

Yeah. You have to go shopping and you've got to bring back and cook. And they give you good food. And then if you have any injury or whatever, they don't massage and like P.I. everything. Yeah, I'm just in Vegas now. but he's vacation here and

yeah I'm going to him like I will stay his house and training with him and I think our coaches Metcena very long ago will come little early over the year or so and then we will train together

and then if I fight March 6th that would be great do you think at some point you might make the move permanently to Vegas as well or you just you're so happy in Long Island that you don't want to go anywhere

yeah i just buy house here long island oh there you go yeah so i love it here but yeah but definitely for training career is everything for me i move from i live my country to come here and fighting and training and i go like takes six years to get the UFC and like i i i get better like a fighter and person and strong and mentality everything so but now even even i have to move or even like stays like let's say three months there or five months for fight or training and like if it's i think it's important now that this moment how we are this uh las vegas is good

place to be training and to be so i think yeah i will i will spend more time there now i think yeah i mean but we're not moving there you got the house no need to move but you can go there as long as you want. You got friends to stay with, so you're good to go. Last thing, last thing, I wanted to get your take on the big fight at UFC 257. We got Dustin Porier versus Connor McGregor, massive fight at 155. I know you'll be watching. Who do you like in that one? Who do you think wins that fight? Yeah, it's a tough fight, but I think Dustin Forrieri can win this fight because I think he learned

from the fight before and now it's going to be much different fight I think he's going to do more smart than he is warrior and it's a five round five minute rounds and it's going to be much different fight I think he's mentally more strong

he's hungry now and it's a rematch So, really much, it's not always same, whatever it was first fight. I think, big respect to Conan McGregor, he's, he's, of course, best fighter. But I think after this, after the loss, Dustin, he grew up and he was, he was, he was, he was winning lots of fights and he's, I think I'm going with Dustin this time. that's a bad dude at 135 pounds a tough out for anybody and without a doubt one of the nicest guys in the UFC. Marab de Walsh Wally,

glad he's feeling better and hopefully he can book something late February, early March. But like I've said many, many times, and in that interview with Marab as well, there are not a lot of guys in the top 15 of the band and weight division right now who are going to be celebrating seeing Marab de Walsh Williswili's name on the other side of that contract. He's a tough out, and he could definitely be a player at the top of this division at the end of 2021. And his good friend could very well be the champion. Al Jermaine Sterling by the time the year comes to an end. Of course, he will challenge Peter Yan for that title on March 6th at UFC 259.

That card is just ridiculous. We'll be talking more about that for sure. As we move ahead to our next guest, happy to have this man on the show. It has actually been years in the making. And finally, in 2021, we are making it happen. he is scheduled to face Chris Weidman on February 13th at UFC 258. Here he is, in my opinion, one of the best interviews ever. Let's say hello to Uriah Hall.

All right, let us move ahead to our next guest. He returns to action February 13th at UFC 258. It's going to take on Chris Widman, the big fight at 185 pounds. It's also a rematch from the regional scene from over a decade ago. But I love this matchmaking, and I'm happy we joined by primetime Uriah Hall. How are you, sir?

Pretty good, man. How are you doing? I'm doing great. It's great to have you here, your eye. Before we get into the fight, I do want to discuss some of the cool things going on in Dallas at Fortis MMA, because I've talked to a lot of fighters over the last several months who trained there, and they've told me how pivotal your presence has been at the gym,

helping to sort of mold this team environment. And now we're starting to see, like, the next generation of Fortis fighters get their opportunities. Fighters like JP and Cheyenne Bayes, who just got contracts. We just saw Austin Lingo get his first UFC win on Saturday. So how exciting has it been for you to see your teammates, these up-and-comers, start to get some of that notoriety and make some waves at these opportunities? Honestly, it feels really good because the last time I felt like I was really a part of the team

was before I did the Ultimate Fighter. And, you know, the team I was with, you know, it was that camaraderie base. And just to kind of be one of the, I guess, experienced one or veterans, if you want to use that word, to kind of see these up-and-comers or, you know, younger generation in the sport, like Cheyenne. I remember meeting Cheyenne, like, way back at Extreme Couture. And before she even was a top notch, and I just remember her being a beast. And she went over to Africa.

She married JP, and they lived there for a while. And I remember when she was telling me she's coming to Texas, and her first session apparently, Safe said, hey, man, you kind of felt like you're right. So it was kind of cool to, just overall see that growth. And of course, her husband, too, because I've been training with him, you know, I saw what he had to go through and he couldn't really get his paperwork finalized properly

because of COVID. And he was supposed to fight so he didn't really get his paperwork properly. And, you know, they went through a lot and they stayed focused. And we stayed focused as a team. And overall, we just improved. Especially seeing like JP go through all that as a young guy, especially in this sport. He handled it with such composure. I remember interviewing Cheyenne after she got the contract and JP was driving the car.

And they just have such good vibes. But to see him handle all that the way that he has and kind of come through on the other side with the contract, what was that like to see? Oh, man. They're mold for each other. They're probably one of the best couples I've ever. I mean, I hang around him a lot. They just fit each other. I can't describe it.

You have to kind of be around him and see how they just. made for each other, you know, just the way they interact with each other. They're a perfect team in and outside of training. You know, I've hung out with them, of course. I've trained with them and they push each other. But man, it's just mesh. You want to talk about the perfect puzzle that just fits. That's them too. Yeah, I would agree with that. Obviously, a lot going on at Ford is. So one of the other reasons I'm glad you hear your eye is because this chat in a weird way, it's like five years in the making because I remember I was probably like a year into the sport doing interviews. And I got a DM on Facebook from a gentleman by the name of Arshae Cooper, someone who you know very, very well.

And he reached out about possibly doing a conversation with you and unfortunately, weren't able to figure out logistics. But Arsha and I chatted, yeah, chatted several times about like a lot of the work you were doing in the community for the kids, which was just really amazing to hear. But I know how important that is for you. So I'm wondering with like the pandemic and what 2020 was like for everybody, things being shut down and whatnot. are you still able to get out there as much as you would like in terms of getting out there for the community?

Like what has that been like to navigate with everything going on? Well, first off, Arsha Cooper, my best friend who was actually, he's been in the hospital for a while. Man, this is one of the most outgoing person I've ever met. You know, he's very vibrant. Brings a lot of energy to the table. And he's been in the hospital for a while. And, you know, I would say a couple weeks ago, I phacetime them. And he couldn't even say one sentence.

And it was so weird to see that because of COVID. You know, he was on a, I believe he was an ICU. And I wanted to fly there. You know, he had his newborn baby. His wife is there. She's, you know, she's calling me every day. I remember losing sleep because I told him to call me anytime. And it was even before practice or after practice or doing practice.

She was constantly calling me because, you know, she's freaking out. You know, that's her rock. And, of course, we're all just trying to stay positive. And there was a couple of scary moments where it was like, this is it. And I'm not going to lie, I had a couple of moments where I was like, you know what, I probably have to cancel this fight to go out there and beat my best friend. But he's doing a little better now, thankfully. I spoke to him yesterday, and he's actually, you know, finishing his sentences.

So it's really cool to see overall. But we haven't really got a chance to really do much because I'm out here training and I'm getting ready. And it was like right after the last fight, which Danison, and Silva, I had a little bit of downtime because I was literally training for an entire year straight. I mean, I didn't take any to end time off. I locked myself in the gym with the whole pandemic. I stayed focused. A couple of fights didn't happen.

But usually when I'm in New York, you know, he'll invite me to speaking gigs to go to schools and we talk to kids. We work with kids. He's a part of the rowing team. He has a beautiful show on Amazon. It's called a beautiful thing, actually. call. And it's about the first black rowing team, which is in the south side of Chicago. And it talked about their story. And, you know, each group was in, each person was individual and how they kind of came out of that, which you never really hear of, you know, it's Chicago. And it was the

first black rowing team. And if you look, a lot of rowings, you hardly see any black kids in there. So it's a very inspiring story. I definitely think everybody should check it out. But he's been doing that, you know, and he's been making waves with that. He wrote a book. But it's usually when we're around each other. We brainstorm and he invites me along and I love it because I'm all about kids. Wow. I'm sorry to hear that about Arche. I had no idea, honestly.

I know, I mean, he's such a good guy. Like, I know just based on what he's been doing, like he's written a couple of books. I remember he actually sent me a copy of Sugar Water. I read that. It was amazing. And then a most beautiful thing, obviously, like you talked about. And I saw a clip that, you know, you were a part of that. There was a scene where you joined the gym with those guys and you passed on some words of

wisdom. Like, what was that like for you to be a part of that and to see the story get the attention and the rave reviews that it's gotten? It's a beautiful thing. So, I mean, I kind of grew up with our show, you know, we met each other a long time ago. It was weird how we met each other, how we both kind of came out. I was coming out of my office. He was dropping off one of his friend's kid and we just had this like weird stare down. Like, who the hell is this guy? You know, we literally had that look. I went now where he's. went his way and then we ended up meeting at the party and you know we've been inseparable um not but just uh you know being around him and and and just hanging out with him and uh

with everything that's happening it the main thing is just staying uh focus i mean there's not much to say it's just staying focused and positive i kind of lost track of the question what was the question again it was just being in the documentary and and being part of the story and seeing it'll go up So he invited me because the guy is, he wanted to pump him up a little bit, getting a little motivation and stuff like that. You know, you've been out of the segment for a while, 20 years. So especially for athletes, so even if you're not, your body is going to be changing overall. I mean, every second we're aging.

We just age like, what, five minutes ago? So as that progressed, you know, it's important to kind of understand your body, the mechanism behind it and how to kind of easily go up that ramp so you don't. plus her in, you know, you hear of New Year's resolution. Everyone's like, new year and new me, every gym in America is rich for the first month, right? We all been there. So it was more of just like, okay, what's the delicate factor of this? How do we gain some of that physical attributes so we can, so they can, you know, get better with their sport?

But at the same time, mentally, you know, they wanted me to speak to them a little mentally to kind of tell them that, you know what? This is the second chapter, and it demands a better version of you. And it's what you do with it. And I basically told him, listen, what are you guys going to want it more than the other? But I think in this whole realm, you're going to figure out who really wants it. So use the opportunity to get better physically and mentally and grow from it. Yeah, shout out to Arsha. Great guy.

We actually shared the same birthday, which coincidentally enough is the day before your fight with Chris Wyman, right? Oh, that's right. He's February 13th. No. He's 12, 12, 12, 12, yeah. So there you go. Wonderful human being, tremendous storyteller. go check out a beautiful thing.

It's really good stuff. Your story, your eye, it's going to continue on February 13th against Chris Wyman. But I want to go back to 2020 in a way because like we referenced earlier, wild year. You actually had four fights on the books. Only one of them happened. But it ended with you getting a big win over Anderson Silva on Halloween. So I guess in a way, all's well that ends well. But when you look back on 2020 in the future, how will you describe that year in your career?

Probably the best year of my life. I think every, and I'm just speaking personally, every chapter demands a better version of you. And I feel like that was just a very uncomfortable chapter in my life. There was a lot of uncomfortable personal stuff that happened with me. I'm sure we all have our own problems. For me, it was literally sitting down with all my demons and just give them all instructions. You know, we all have demons.

And whether it's bad attitude, bad way of thinking, or just overall, negativity and I had to kind of compromise with that. So once I decided to step into the gym and live in the gym and become isolated, you know, with the pandemic happening and how everyone was just freaking out so easily, I was able to gain that focus. And I realized the importance of my focus. It's mental. It's kind of like COVID.

You know, I had COVID last month. And, man, I had to crawl out of hell. I've never experienced that before. It hit everyone so differently. And even when my buddy Arshae was sick, I told him, listen, it's going to take everything away from you. It's going to take your physical, everything. And the last thing is going to leave is mental.

He's going to leave this. This last thing's going to leave. And I remember being so sick, like, holy crap. The only thing I had left is my mind. So it's just important overall to keep that positive and focused mindset. And I picture it like having blinders. you know, there's my goal, there's I want to go, and I have to just focus on that. You know, once in a while I can peep out, but it doesn't mean I'm to peek out and follow that direction.

It means I'm going to peek out to make sure I'm good, and I'm just going to go forward. So it was very important for me to stay focused. When you say give instructions to your demons, like what do you mean by that? I'm curious. It was just pretty much, you know, I had to really dig deep and look inside myself and say, okay, What are the negative things, the things that are not helping me to get to where I need to be. I have to be really honest at myself. You can lie to everybody.

But the one person you can never lie to is yourself. And I encourage just a lot of people to literally sit down having one-on-one with themselves. Because a lot of people are like, yeah, I have a lone time. And I'm like, what's a long time? Oh, you know, I read a book. I want my dog. I'm like, that's not a long time. A lone time is literally sitting down one-on-one with yourself.

But like, all right, man, these are your bad habits. what are you going to do? And we all know our bad habits, but it's attacking them. It's digging deeper. I mean, I have to go so far back to figure out that there was a little Uriah that I didn't fix that was being picked on

in junior high school. I had to go, you know, talk to that guy. I didn't, I forgot he was there. So that's what I meant by like really sitting down with your demons, the negative affirmations, the negativity, the bad habits. Even if it's something simple, is eating fucking ice creams at 12 o'clock at night.

And I had to sit down with those because I had a long time. I had nothing else to do. I'm in a big ass gym. It was scary. And with everything happening, it was like, shit, I need to make some friends.

All right. Tom, Luke, Dick and Harry. And I kind of be like, all right, why are you here? This is what you're doing. You're messing up. You need to go. You haven't paid rent yet.

I kind of gave them all the instructions. And at the same time, I'll learn a little bit more about me. So spending time with yourself was very important because look at the world. these days. I mean, honestly, what the hell is going on? What is going? Right. So I have to say, go ahead. I was going to say, like, it's so interesting to hear you talk like that, especially when you going back and finding little Uriah and talking about the kid that got bullied in middle school

and stuff. Like, how freeing is that after like having those conversations? I'm sure you still have to deal with that from time to time, but like how freeing of a feeling is that after having those conversations with yourself. I would say it's liberating because it was a problem that I didn't see. I mean, you know, there were surface problems, but I had to really dig, dig, dig, deep. And sometimes, you know, you have people talk to therapists or whatever, and they found out when you were five years old, you, something happened to you. So I did it for myself.

I was like, okay, well, why is this affecting this? Okay, no, what's affecting that? Okay, but how did this get affected? So I kept going back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back. Until I realized, like, oh, shit, it was a Liorariah. I got to talk to that guy. You know, he was all cramble up, scared and shit, credit of the world, and, you know, stuck in that lost place where he, you know, he just fell trapped.

And that's a personal thing that I have to do for myself. I'm sure a lot of people are going through it. A lot of people don't want to talk about it, but I gained enough confidence to do that. And if I can reach out to anyone, I encourage it. what did what did present eurya say to young eurya president eurya president eurya said it's okay it's not your fault i got you back i'm going to protect you and that's what i'm doing well said i appreciate you sharing that um as you probably seen anderson sylva is no longer with the ufc which is probably a good thing for him because if you want to

wants to continue to fight, he can. And I feel like that's his decision to make and not anybody else's. But, you know, you're going to go down in history as the last guy to fight and the last guy to defeat Anderson Silva in the UFC. So I'm curious, what means more to you, being the last guy to share the octagon with him or being the last guy to defeat him in the octagon? Because I know that was a pretty emotional contest for you. Well, first off, when I saw him, what, maybe back in 2010,

10 or 29, 2009, I remember looking at him saying, I would love to train with this guy, you know, and people were comparing. I didn't really know who it was. And then I was like, wow, I guess I'm kind of similar in a way. But I started to watch him, of course. I idolized him so much. I had so much respect for him because he made me feel like I wasn't alone. I was crafty. You know, I was creative. And his creativity is just something you have to feed. Of course, a portion of my career, I forgot about that creativity because, you know, when you start to listen to people. You start to listen to these negative affirmations or things or comment or opinions. You slowly forget who you are. And it was a perfect quote that I heard by Les Brown that says,

you know, someone's opinion of you should never become your reality. And I think that I've probably done that. I have to be really honest with myself that I've chosen to listen to others. And, you know, you hear people say all the time, which your eye is going to show up. And I started to believe that, oh shit, which you ride is going to show up. But you got to understand how certain things happen dynamically. It's like no one's really the best

fighter in the world. You're the best fighter that day, that time, that moment. And that's what I love about MMA because anyone could be beaten. But, you know, a lot of times, whether it's media or other things that will change

the principles of it, you look at the old school ways of the UFC and stuff. It was more about honor, integrity, and all that stuff. It doesn't exist anymore, which is I get and you know you have to evolve with the game so now trash stock is the thing is good and bad it's good because it sells is bad because then is that really you so I used to struggle with that because I'm like well why do I have to be fake to be something I'm not I don't want to be

fake I was taught to be myself my the martial house background I was taught was to be honorable especially to me so I had to struggle with that especially in the limelight especially when there's a camera in front of you all the time following your daily activity So now everyone gets to see you and they get to form their own opinion and they don't really know the real you. So now you start to be like, well, I guess that's me. Oh, no, that's not me. Oh, that's me then.

And then you slowly forget who you are. But I don't think being the last guy to beat Anderson Silva or knock him out, it doesn't do it for me. For one, I respect him too much to even claim a title like that. I think the best thing for me to say that I've accomplished

just to be able to train with him. And I did text them after. You know, I hit him up on Instagram. I'm like, listen, I don't know if it's my place, but I've always wanted to train with you. That was actually initially my first goal. I would love to have the honor to train with you if you let me. And he was like, absolutely, brother.

I love to. And he was at vacation at the time. So hopefully after this, I can get to move around a little bit with the legend. That's really cool. What a moment that will be for you when you actually get to, to do that because it's going to be a totally different experience, right? Like you spent, you know, several minutes in the octagon with him,

but being able to take some of that wisdom home with you, that's going to be a whole different ballgame, is it not? Oh, yeah. I'm excited about that. That's fun for me. Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things I was curious about is one of the fighters you were scheduled to fight last year was you all were marrow and that one didn't end up happening

and now it looks like it won't because he's gone on to a other organizations with Bellator now. And you don't strike me as a guy who has a lot of regrets in this fight game that we're involved in. But is there a part of you that that's a little bum that that fight may not happen anytime soon? Yeah, I mean, you never know. But a great analogy I was told was like you hold on to like a glass of water. Even if it's half or full, you hold on for too long, you know, it's going to be painful. It's going to hurt.

So how long can I hold on to it? the opportunity didn't present itself, things happens for a reason. And, you know, my mom told me, I think right after the whole thing of flights being canceled, and I'm not going to lie, I lost motivation because it sucks to isolate yourself and put yourself to that rigorous training

and cut weight twice, and then it's not happening, and then you have to readjust your mind. It was like, and I think the worst part about that is the support system, if you don't have the proper support system, and it doesn't mean like, hey, it's going to be okay. You've got to have those people

to kind of still keep, that rhythm flowing because that rhythm is flowing and then it goes down if you don't have that rhythm picking back up again it's going to be hard and I remember times I had to call my coach Clayton hires and I was like I can't do this because I can't I'm I'm I was Airbnb my house was in Vegas at the time I was in Vegas for like maybe six seven months Airbnb I'm spending money both ways it was like I can't do this I'm wasting and luckily you know he was dare you encourage me that listen man this is not going to last forever and i'm telling you at some point you're going to look back and like man i'm glad i didn't quit so you know i'm glad i didn't quit

i'm glad i stuck to it and uh there's more work to be done yes and that work continues february 13th you take on chris wyatman you guys actually met in your fifth pro fight i think it was for ring of combat and chris got the win i mean that fight must have seemed like a freaking lifetime ago, man. But when you saw Chris's name on the other side of the contract, how did you react to that? Initially, I didn't, you know, listen, I love challenges. That's why I'm so creative.

And you put a big opposite in front of me, I will figure it out. If you ever watch Dragon Ball Z, my favorite cartoon character is Goku, and he's one of those guys where it's like, the bigger of the challenges, the bigger reward. But I love that excitement. And for a lot of fights I didn't happen when I go, my way, you know, I wasn't motivated. I'm not going to lie to you. I wasn't. And the mine is a big deal in this sport. There were tons of fight I didn't want to do. I did not want to take those fights. And it was either forced on me or pressured on me. I'm like, all right, whatever. But

shit happens. I learned from it. I took what I can and I move forward. You know, if I live in the past, I'm just going to get depressed. And if I go too far in the future, it brings anxiety. So I'm trying to be here and take what I can. But when I saw it, I was like, all right, it's cool. Just like Antonio Carlos Jr. I didn't want to fight him. I remember getting that call and I was in Sweden. And my coach, you know, safe, he was like, hey, man, this is what we're going to do, Boboblin. I was like, oh, me and Carlos, we're kind of homies.

He's like, what? So I had to separate those emotions. I mean, you should have seen this, bro. On Fight Week, we're all hugging each other. And my coach, I'm like, what the hell are you doing? Why don't you find this dude tomorrow? What are you hugging him for? I'm like, we're buddies.

But I had to separate those emotions. So seeing Chris's name, I was like, I didn't want to fight. I wanted to fight till. because I would be motivated to destroy him. But it was like, okay, you know what? This was an old thing that I always wanted to do. So let's get a cracking. You know, I'm sure he's thinking, I'm, you know,

I already know what he's going to do. There's no way this dude will stand with me. I encourage him, but there's no way he's going to do it. So we're prepared for it. But it's a motivation. You know, I'm training hard. But the main thing is I'm staying composed and focus. And when I have those two, man, I'm dangerous.

Do you remember, like, anything about that first fight? I know you want to make it a distant memory. You don't want to dwell on things from the past, but do you think about that one at all? It took me a while. It took me a while to even watch that fight because I've never lost before. It was my first loss. And I was like, shucks. When it happened, prior to it happened, it was a crazy story about the organization I was working for.

You know, corporate, there's a corporate place in New Jersey. one of the front desk guy or I don't know what his title was at the time this doucheback just kept saying he's a great wrestler he's a great wrestle I'm like dude I don't give a shit like it never bothered me whoever you are it's fight as a fight but he kept saying it

and for some reason I remember one day just got in my head and I was like shit what if he takes me down so that was the window of that opened fear that's my kind of first window of fear and I remember going to like shit don't get taken down don't get taken down and then I focused more in his attributes than my skill set

and I got clip, you know, I got clip. I wasn't out, but I got clip, and, you know, the rest, they're like, oh, he's dying, let me save him. And they stopped the fight. But I just remember dealing with that loss, and it took me a while to get over, and I just said, you know what, I'm going to dedicate myself to go to wrestling practices, school, whatever, get comfortable with the uncomfortable. I went to a bunch of wrestling gyms. I ran with Martin Yunos at the time, stream the tour. I wanted to get so comfortable to get rid of that fear. And I'm not going to lie, man, I welcome it.

Because I know guys like that, you know, I know what they're going to do. Listen, wrestling is very important for the sport, you know, to control. Look, it can be, man. It's so important, but it's not my forte. I'm not going to go in there and hug you, for what. I want to beat you up, the old-fashioned way. But that's what I love about MMA because you never know what's going to happen. It's the challenge.

It's the puzzle, right? Putting it all together. The challenge. Putting it all together, right then and there. So I love it. man. So you're entering this fight on a three-fight winning streak, and now you have the opportunity to notch wins over back-to-back former champions, back-to-back first ballot UFC Hall of Famers when that time comes. First fight with Chris aside, what does that mean to you to get put in this position,

to have that opportunity to fight guys like that and see where it takes you? It's great. I think overall it's been the best thing to even come to this gym. You know, I've traveled around all over to a lot of gyms. I was the last gym I was at, was with, I feel Kodaro. I was trained with Kelvin. Kelvin and I, like, you know, best bud, so I still wanted to find that home. And I remember having a conversation with him one day. And I was like, man, I love the fact that they treat you like this, you know, person with,

I don't know, I just told him that this is your home. And I want that feeling, but I didn't feel it. And I have nothing bad to say about it. I mean, some of the best thing I've ever done. I mean, those guys are really animals. And, of course, me and Kelvin, we literally beat each other up every. time we spar. And that's what I love about it, because we can literally destroy each other like, hey man, tacos later, yeah. You know, so we have that connection. But I didn't feel that home environment.

And at the time I was dating someone who invited me down here. And I fell in love with it. The Strength of Conditioning Program is what sold me because as an athlete, you know, it's like a car. You've got to fine-tune it. You got to look at the tires. So I rotate them. So I change the oil. Should I do this? So I feel like as I'm getting old in my body is doing that. and I have to train differently. So it's like, all right, my workout should be hard, but my recovery should be a little bit higher, you know? Back when you were younger, it's vice versa.

So I'm learning all these things. It's very structured because my background is structure, man. When anything is structure, I'm in. Because structure brings discipline. And with discipline, I can succeed in anything. So, of course, with, you know, Safe Saoud and Mike's Keisha and, you know, our recovery program, everything's just fit. And I was communicating with everybody.

And I wanted more. and then, you know, he was like, hey, man, make the move down here. And I was hesitant because I'm like, I'm moving no damn, Texas style I looked like. But, you know, you think of a place that you've never been. And everyone thinks everybody out here wear cowboy boots and Texas, you know, the hat. But it's not true, man. It does not. That's like way out.

But it's a great move. And I'm happy I made it. And I'm still growing. You know, I'm not done. I realize that I'm getting older into sport. And it's your mindset. I'm 36 years old and I feel like I'm Benjamin Button. You know, I feel stronger.

I definitely feel fast. And I'm utilizing that. I'm learning so much more about my body, how to use it, how to manipulate it, what works but don't, what to emphasize on, what to take energy away from, what not to give energy. It's amazing. So I think everything happens for a reason. And looking back, just like Steve, Steve Jobs said, you know, you look back and everything kind of makes sense.

You're like, oh, okay, that's why I went that way. oh, that's why I fell off the cliff. You kind of look back and everything just kind of folds into the way it should. And listen, at the end of the day, I got to be the one to go out here and do what I do. So I can bring my coaches and everybody, but they're at the end of the octagon. So I got to put it all together. And it's a challenge, man. I love it.

I wouldn't trade for the world. When I was younger, I wanted to be a businessman. I don't know what a businessman was. I thought I saw a guy with a briefcase and a suit and I thought that was cool. Thank God didn't do that shit. But, you know, my office is an octagon. I get to beat people up for a living legally. So it's fun.

Chris, obviously, you know, former champion, he's had a little bit of an up and down run as of late. He's coming off the gritty win in his last fight against Akhmadoff. The Dominic Reyes fight up at 205, probably a night he doesn't want to remember. But still, even like in a lot of his losses, he's very competitive. Like, even in a lot of those, he's probably winning until the fight gets ended or he gets stopped. Like, what have you seen or made of his recent run? Because, I mean, he still has eyes on regaining that title. And that third round against Akh Madoff showed he still got a little bit of pep in the step.

I mean, it's all about your mindset. I'm not going to take anything away from me. He was a champion. He will always be a champion. I just want a taste of it. Most of these guys got a taste of it. And that's what I'm doing. For a more, he's an athlete.

He's been an athlete for hard of a long, you know. And there's ups and downs in this sport. But it's how you count them. are they really ups and downs or are they really lessons in progression so if you change the way you look at things the things you look at will change and you know i expect him to bring his bets he has to i'm going to bring my bets and if you don't you know it's not going to be a good at a night for him but i'm determined you know i mean i'm working my ass off man i mean i literally just crawl out of hell from covid i'm working my ass off and there's no excuse there's really no excuse so there's battles of being fight outside the octagon there's battle fighting in there. Unfortunately, the world don't see that. That's the age we living right now. I was like, who was that kid the other day that won against that Bucky kid?

Buckley, Bucky? The guy with a ninja kick. Joaquin Bucleetio Alessio de Cherico against Wachian Buckley. Yeah, that guy. I saw his press and he said something about he doesn't want to do the interview because, you know, he didn't appreciate the fact that we only, I interview only winners. I get it.

I totally get it. I mean, that guy is kind of woke. He sees what's happening. I get it. I got respect for him. I get what he's saying to a certain degree because I'll talk to anybody. I don't care.

I'll talk to an amateur who's never fought before. I'll talk to a UFC champion. I'll talk to everybody in between. I get where he's coming from. I just felt like in that moment, it's kind of a tough place because unless you're like in a main event, or in a title fight or something like that.

I don't think Joaquin Buckley was up for having a conversation with John Anick after that. I mean, maybe he was. I'm not Joaquin Buckley. I have no idea. But you know what I mean? Like, do you know, I respect the hell out of what he did, though. It just seems kind of... That's exactly what I'm saying.

I mean, some people are going to get it. Some people are going to not... But as an athlete that competes and been on both ends, I'm probably going to get it more than someone that doesn't really take it to that level. So I totally understand it. Totally. I mean on both ends. And I looked at it too.

It's like the Super Bowl. You lose. No one gives a fuck about you. But that's the world we live in. But I get where he's coming from. I understand it. I totally understand him. That's all I'm saying.

Yeah, no, I agree with you. It was quite the stand-to-take. It got a lot of attention. And in and out of the media room in 40 seconds. So good on him. He gets to go and celebrate the victory after that. But a couple of weeks ago, Dana White was doing a virtual Q

and A with Laura Sanko. And he was asked, like, what he thinks is, like, the deepest division in the UFC. And he thinks the middleweight division could be the deepest in the UFC right now because you got, you know, Adasani is the champion. He's about to move up and challenge Blahovic for the 205 title. You guys got the rest of the guys at the top. And then, like, rounding up the top 10, it's yourself and Derek Brunson and now Kevin Holland's in the top 10.

Do you agree with Dana? Like, when you look at the up and down, the landscape of this division, do you feel like 185 is the deepest division in the promotion right now? I don't think so. I mean, yeah, there's some big and good guys, but maybe he's saying that because of the publicity that Homeboy is getting right now. I think the lightweight, man, the lightweight or any lighter weight,

the 35, 45, the 55, fucking 125. Cepchenko, man. Jesus Christ. Like that chick. I actually, you know, we were talking on Instagram, I was like, hey, I would love to move around with you. I think she took it the wrong way that I want to spark. I'm like, no, no, no, I'm not trying to spar you.

I just want to, I want to feel your groove, man. You know, I see her groove and I'm like, yo, that groove is awesome. But that's the type of guy I am. You know, I spar with, like, the 125ers under 135 or is 45 because those guys are fast. And they're like three, four steps ahead of you. It's called challenging. I like that stuff. But I think the lighter weights, man, they, they, there are some.

I don't see a lot of middle weights, like, unless it's myself. You know, posing like a real coolness of dynamics. but I like the lighter weights. I like watching those guys. What's like sparring with a guy like Miles Johns? Because that dude is, I mean, that guy for a 135er is a tank, man. Like, what is that like sparring with a guy like that? I don't sparred him that much, but the one person I spar with, and I'm like, bro, this dude's a real problem is JP Bytes.

I mean, he's good. He's really good. I was like, if you were my weight, I'll be done. I see the way he's throwing guys around on his, and I'm like, man, is he really that strong? But I kind of imagine if I was his weight, I was like, man, I'll be done too. He's really good. I think he's underrated. I think he's going to surprise a lot of people, man.

And he's very dedicated. He's one of those guys where we have to be like, bro, stop training so hard. You know, you have to tone down his training. But it's good to have that mindset, you know. His wife, Jesus Christ. Cheyenne just had this sweet. wag. It's like she beats you up so what's that they used to call it for

club song, beautiful destruction. That's why I call her. Something like that. She's like beautiful destruction. Yeah. I love watching her fight, man. She's dope. She's a savage. She debuts in March. I'm excited for that. What do you make of Adasani making the jump up? I know it's just going to get me in trouble. I think this dude is just picking fights, man. He's picking fights. fights and maybe he has that leverage but maybe because i want to fight him so bad i really want to

the last time i wanted to fight someone so bad was just a man on the ultimate fighter i i want to fight him so bad because i get him he's dynamic and there's not a lot of dynamic people left and for those that are dynamic and not winning they're trying to be flashy there's like There's dynamic with fluidity. And I have that fluidity. It's coming out. I lost it for a while because I was like in La La Land, but, man, I'm putting my shit together. But good God, I want to fight this fucker so bad.

But you know what? With the freaking everything, the politics, the media, it's like someone saying, well, you're not worthy yet. Or the ranking system. We here think you're number eight. We feel that you're number eight. We've never competed. before, but we think you're number eight. Get the fuck out of here.

Who comes up with this ranking system? It's a joke. So you're going to tell me what number I am? I feel like a little slavery is behind that. Anyways, I think in my mind, just like a lot of people, they have to feel like they're the best. Number one. Yeah, you have flaws.

Yeah, you have ups and downs. But they're your ups and downs. They're your lesson. Last time I check is called, my life. Not your fucking life. You live in your own fucking life. I'm living my life. How the fuck are you going to come here

and tell me what I should do? Get the fuck out of here. I'm not telling you anything. It's politics, man. It's politics. It's politics, but you got to play the game. And when I was younger, I was like, yeah, I'll fight anybody.

Like when I fought who he was the champ. Robert Whitaker. I fought four times that year. I didn't want to fight. I just, I think I just got off a fight with Gayguard. And that was like in a three-week, because someone pulled out and I had to replace someone. And I already trained for a bunch of camps. I think I trained for six camps. Maybe one didn't happen. I remember one didn't happen. It was Jodco. Jodco didn't happen. I was mentally, physically tired. And my dumb-ass manager made me do it. And I was like, dude, I'm tired. Like, I'm tired. and there was one of those

I was like fuck it I gotta suck it up and the worst thing that happened to me when I fought Robert Rico I caught a staff when I landed I had a staff on my toe a big freaking hematoma thing on my toe and I got on antibiotics

I never been in antibiotics and if anybody known what antibiotics it makes you delayed it's like I'll get hit him I'll block after you know so it may be delayed but I'm like man I shouldn't make any excuses but I'm like fuck

I fucked up. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have done that. I'm not taking anything away from him. He was a champ. He's a stud. I have nothing bad to say about Rob.

I love the kid. He's a cool dude. But there's a lot of decisions that I made in my career that I did not want to do. Most of those fights that I've lost, I'm telling you right now, I did not want to do them.

But you got to play the game. You got to be a yes, man. That's what they do to you. So this, you wanting to fight out of Sanya. Yeah, this is a purely competitive thing, like the flow, the way he fights. I really want to fight this guy because I'm very competitive like that. You should see me playing video games, man. I'd be cursing.

If the audio could hear what I'd be saying, they would delete my account because I'm cussing my ass off. So I'm very, I'm very competitive. It could be the simplest thing. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to win. Yeah, I'm going to do it. And, yeah, it's just coming. from a very pure competitive side, you know, but you got to kind of weave through the politics

and all that to get to him. I got to do what I got to do to get to him. That's what I want. I was hoping he would leave the title because I want to beat you. But even better, I'll get there, grab it, and I'll come to you. I'm just very competitive like that. And he's one of those guys that I know would bring the best out of me. I mean, they thought an Anderson fight with him was cool.

Wait till you see this shit. It doesn't matter of time. I hear you. First things first, February 13th, how do we get this thing done? Are we passed, like, to prediction part of your career, Uriah, or do you see this going a certain way? Man, I'm not good at looking in the future. I mean, I'm not good at staying in the future. I can look at it, but I've learned to not stay there. But I just personally feel that I'm going

to expect a really, you know, competitive fight because I know he has to bring his best and I'm going to bring my best, but it should be good. If it's not good, he's probably going to hug me. me to win, but I'm making sure that doesn't happen. But I'm going out there to beat him up. That's my game plan, my mindset, my mindset. And I'm sure his mindset is the same thing, too, because we're athletes, you know, like I said, I got nothing bad to say about Chris. Every time I've met him, he was like, hey, how are you good? I'm actually really good friends of Matt Serra. So it's kind of a bit of sweet, but it's just business, man. We've got to separate those emotions. A part of me is like a little bit of payback. But, you know, I'm just,

way and I got to get to homeboy over there. So I just got to be like, I'm sorry, bro. I got to do what I got to do. Fair enough. Last thing for me, your eye, and I appreciate you giving me so much time today. What are you hoping? Oh, I appreciate it. What are you hoping 2021 brings you from a personal level? Like not just with fighting because obviously like there are certain goals you have in the octagon, but like outside of the cage as well. Like what sort of things are you hoping happens in 2021 for you from a personal standpoint? Wow. That hit me. That was good.

You don't have a lot of, I have a lot of personal goals, small ones. But from 2020, I didn't make any predictions. I didn't, you know, have any main thing in my mind.

It was just, all right, get to this, get to this. But I've learned to just let go. it's probably one of the best things I can do just to let go you know let go of that control

I mean there's things you can control and there are things that are out of your control and I've always tried to control things whether it's things or my opinion towards people of what I think they should do and listen to me everyone has their own story it's kind of hard to explain but I think the older you get for me at least I'm realizing

real value here like real value is time time whether you wasted time you've invested time you've invested time that you've given to someone time that was either taken away it's so crazy i i've been more in love with myself and put myself first to blossom from that you know as an old saying you don't you don't need someone to complete you you need someone to accept you completely And what that taught me was, we all got shit. You got shit. I got shit. You got shit. Sometimes you got to get it with some of your shit. Sometimes you got to handle more shit.

You know, we all got our shit. So it's just finding someone to put up with your shit. No one's perfect. But to separate that, of course, and, you know, going to the octagon, that's a different type of goal. I'm trying to become champion. I'm trying to fight the best guys. I'm in a perfect place to do that. But outside, I'm just trying to become a better version of myself.

and for me personally it's just letting go of that control. I was trying to control 2020 as much as I could, but I got to a part where I was like, dude, did I need to do all that? I just need to kind of go with the flow. But at the same time, be creative and know what I want, and know what I need and know what's necessary. And of course, doing what's right.

Because that's always hard doing what's right. It's like someone talking shit to me on Instagram where I'm like, I'll find you, motherfucker, and they won't find you when I'm done with you. You know, I'm that guy. I can't tell you how many time my friend's like, bro, don't do that. And I've had a couple of stories where I met up with dudes. I'm like, so what's up?

You want to talk shit? You forgot I'm from New York? You forgot. I'm right here. You can't talk shit now. What's up? Got your time. You can't talk?

Thank God I'm not that guy anymore. But the right thing to do is, you know, you don't have to ignore it. You can acknowledge it and understand that this is this person's livelihood. And maybe they're suffering in a different way that this is their way of expressing themselves. But should it affect you the way it does? Absolutely not. So if you know where it's coming from, the right thing to do is how you handle it in a positive way. Maybe, hey, man, I give our free hugs on Sunday.

Let me know if you need some, you know. But not taking the negative route of saying, let's go, motherfucker. Because that, you're holding on to that anger. It doesn't really serve any purpose. So maybe that's one thing I'm really working on to not hunt motherfuckers down. That's a goal we should all strive for, Your Honor. Don't be hunting them ever sound. After what you just said, shout out to my wife for putting up with my shit.

How about that? Thank you, all. I appreciate it. We all got shit, man. We're just going to find somebody to put up with your shit. That's it. Never has the word shit been used so eloquently, Your Eye. I appreciate it very much, man.

unbelievable. Thank you so much for the time, man. It gave me way more than I could have possibly asked for. It was great catching up with you. February 13th, Uriah Hall versus Chris Wyman, the rematch over a decade in the making UFC 258. Looking forward to seeing a man. Anything else you want to get off your chest before you say goodbye?

I want to get his mouth off my chest right here. No, I got none to get off my chest, man. Listen, if I can give a message to the word right now, maybe America. Let's stop being so sensitive. You know, you can't even call people the pussies these days because pussies are strong. Pussy can take a beating,

he can take a pounding, a baby could come out of a pussy. So a lot of us are balls, just sensitive balls. Let's not be balls. Let's be pussy. Let's be strong. I mean, there's not much more to say after that.

Thank you and I. I appreciate it, man. No problem, brother. Unbelievable. stuff right there with Uriah Hall. I know there was a little bit of inside baseball early on, but if you Google the name Arsha Cooper, that guy

is the man. The documentary, a beautiful thing, is phenomenal. What a story. The book is great too. Glad he's feeling better. But man, Uriah was on fire in that conversation. I hope you all enjoyed that one as much as I did as we get ready to put a bow

on this week's show. One more chat to come, but before that a couple of, I mean, it's probably more than a couple of quick programming notes because this week is going to be absolutely bananas as as you would expect. First, we're going to have the UFC Fight Island 8 preview show dropping at some point today. Of course, we dropped this on Tuesday. It'll be January 19th. I had a look at my phone. I'm cheating. I'm not going to lie. As we're getting ready for that card on Wednesday morning, so keep an eye out for that. Wayans are already in the books. If you missed them, right here on this

page. Go back and check them out. We'll have our pre-show live Q&A tomorrow morning, Wednesday, January 20th at 8.30 a.m. Eastern time. So get your coffee and your breakfast ready to go. We got post-fight show, of course. Press conference streams, all that good stuff. We have you covered all things UFC Fight Island 8. Between the links, we'll be back on Thursday. We're doing it live. Some breaking news. Jedmishu called out Stephen Morocco. Wanted a little MMA fighting versus MMA fighting action. Stephen has accepted that challenge. He gets his wish. That goes down Thursday where we will have so freaking much to talk about, it's not even funny.

And then we have the UFC 257 Media Day. Press conference goes down Thursday morning with Dana White, McGregor, Porier, Hooker, and Chandler. We got way in's early Friday morning, preview show Friday afternoon, then fight night on Saturday, pre-show Q&A right before that, post-fight shows, it will not stop.

It's going to be crazy. And I am proud of what Jose Youngs and the whole MMA fighting crew has done for this trip to fight island. It's absolutely amazing to see this team come together. But with that said, we will say goodbye. Excuse me. By the way, I cannot believe it took me this long into the episode to mention this.

How about the new graphics? New year, new look. Party on, right? What the heck? Moving up in the world. I love it. So a big shout out to Casey Liden and Esther Lynn for their help on that. Casey on the production.

Shout out to Jose and Alex Savis, as always, for dealing with me being an absolute pain in the rump. Shout out to you guys and gals for watching every week. And as always, have a heck of you. week, everybody. We will leave you with my chat with the lone wolf. All right. By the time our next guest steps inside the octagon, it'll be nearly two years since the last time that happened. It takes on Rafael Alvesz at the UFC's event on February 20th. Let us welcome the winner of season 27 of the Ultimate Fighter, the lone wolf himself, Mike Trisano. Mike, good to see you, man. How are you? I'm doing great, man. It's good to see you, too.

It's good to have you here, man. A lot to catch up on for sure. But first off, outside of having your first fight of the year on the books, how has the new year been treating you so far? Better than last year, that's for sure. Everyone can say that. I would agree with that for sure. But the last time we saw you fight, you suffered the first loss of your career to Grant Dawson. It was May of 2019.

And unless you're Habib or John Jones, it's almost impossible to go through this sport and go through an entire career without suffering some kind of loss along the way. So what did you take away from that? fight with Grant? Don't fight injured. Make sure they, I mean, you're always going to have bumps and bruises, but I had a nagging injury

that I just kind of was stubborn about. And I lost him. And it is what it is. You know, I'm not going to take anything away from Grant. You know, he beat me. But, you know, I definitely could have been closer to 100%. And I wasn't.

Was this the knee? that you just had surgery on? Or is it a different injury? Yeah, no, it was my knee. So how long were you dealing with the knee for and dealing with that injury? A while, at least a year. At least a year?

What was the actual injury? So it was weird. It was a meniscus, which shouldn't have been as serious as it was, but the way my meniscus was injured, it wasn't torn. It was just completely separated from where it was supposed to be connected to.

And because of that, the recovery process was like six months instead of six weeks. Because normally if you had like a torn meniscus, they just shave it down. You're good in a few weeks. But that wasn't the case. So it ended up being a lot longer than I expected. And then obviously 2020 hit everybody hard. And I was trying to return sooner. like in the beginning, like March 2020, I was doing well.

And then all of a sudden I, you know, obviously quarantine and everything and everything shut down for a little bit. And then I started having complications to my knee again, having to get another knee surgery. And now here I am. For the same knee, same injury? No, it was more, I had just a lot of scar tissue and I couldn't bend it again. And it was giving me a lot of pain.

so they went in there, clear it out. Now I'm good to go. So it's probably good timing. It happened then. Yeah, for sure. You know what I mean? Like it would have been way worse if it happened like three weeks before a fight, right? Oh, yeah.

No, that would have been terrible. So what of these, obviously outside of the rehabbing and trying to get back, what have these two years little less been like for you? Because, you know, ever since you got into the sport, you've been a pretty active guy. 2019, just the one fight with Grant. You went through all of 2020 without a fight. Like what has this time outside of just rehab, maybe more from a mental perspective, what has it been like for you? It was real nice to have a mental break from going from training camp to training camp and be able to learn new stuff and hold my skills and just improve overall my whole entire game.

I've never not been active. So it's like I didn't know what it was like until I actually was forced. It was almost like a sign like chill out for a minute and let your body catch up to you. So, you know, it was I think it was a necessary thing and it ended up being a really good thing for me. And I was able to just improve on a lot of things. And I'm excited to get back in there now. It's nice to get a fructive on things, right? I'm sure sitting back and taking that time.

A lot of fighters would lose their minds. You took it as an opportunity to just kind of relax a little bit. Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong. I was itched and fight the entire time, you know, but I had to almost teach myself how to chill out. And don't get me wrong. I mean, I was training, I was working out the entire time I've been out. So it's not like I'm not doing anything, but, you know, not being able to step in there. actually compete was a tough one, but again, necessary.

So if this injury didn't happen, would you still have to teach yourself how to chill out? I mean, I probably would have fought five, six times by now. Did you have a little bit of the fomo watching, like, your teammates fight, like seeing Jimmy Rivera had to fight Island and such, where you're like, ah, damn it, this sucks. This should be me. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I was definitely, every time they stepped in there, I was like, God, I want to be there. I want to be there. I'm jealous.

I remember talking to Rob Font before his fight with Marlon Marius. And, you know, even though it was a little stranger first, and your injuries are different. He said it was like fighting with a new knee. Like it was a better knee than he had before. It's like, he almost compared it to like a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery. Like you just kind of clean the crap out. Then your arm, your elbow, all of that. It's like better than ever.

how you feel right now, like after a year of the injury, a year of dealing with it and then rehabbing and going through a couple of surgeries? Absolutely. I didn't realize how much it actually affected the way I trained until I was actually 100% and able to do things. And like, I noticed that I would constantly favor one side. Like, I wasn't doing certain things. And, you know, you don't realize it until it's actually fixed. And you're like, holy crap, I could. do all this extra stuff now. So yeah, I mean, in a sense, it is brand new. And, you know, it's, I don't have to think about it and have that in the back of my head like, oh, if I turn this way, it's going to hurt. So I got to make sure that I don't go that way. And, you know,

it was kind of holding me back in a sense. And I don't have that anymore. So it's great. Did it take any time for you to trust it early on? Or was it, did you feel like mentally it was good to go immediately. You could push on it hard. You could do all these different things that now that you used to do before it came on. Yeah, I mean, I definitely had to like get that knee injury part of me out of my head. You know, I mean, especially since I've been dealing it for years. So it's almost like my body was like automatically just favoring it. So I had to almost retrain my body to not favor one side or the other, you know. So it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, It's been a long road, but I'm where I'm at now and got a fight lines up and I'm excited.

Yes, you are back. You're fighting Rafael Alves on February 20th. His Octagon debut after earning a contract on the Contender Series. What did you think of the name when it was presented to you? Did you know anything about him? No, I didn't. I think I did know he fought on Contender. I wasn't sure if that was his only fight. I wasn't sure if he had fought in the UFC. after that. But I was just excited to get somebody, man. I'm so tired of being on the sidelines. So you didn't care who it was. No, I really didn't. I just want to get in there. I mean, once you got the name, like, you've been so active and you fight, you fought so often and you're at a different point in your career. But I know a lot of fighters view this differently, but do you go back and watch old fights and watch old footage? Do you do you kind of engulf yourself

and all that, or do you stay away from that stuff so you don't drive yourself crazy with all fight stuff? Are you talking about leading up to this fight? Yeah, like when you found out that you were fighting Alves, did you immediately like start watching footage on him? Or do you just stay away from all that stuff and let your coaches deal with that? A little bit, you know, but I kind of just let my coaches deal with it and they come up with the game plan and start training. That's it. Did you watch the contender series fight? I saw like clips of it.

Did you see him botch the, did you see him botch the Ozzy Smith Cartwheel flip combination thing? I know he's explosive, so I just got to make sure I get out of the way. Yeah, there you go. I don't know how deeply you even like look at this kind of stuff, but you know,

you come in off the Ultimate Fighter. That show was part of like the surge of this sport. Like without the Ultimate Fighter, who knows where we would be right now, there's a history, there's a lineage behind it. you got the Contender Series where, you know, one night, one fight, you can go in there and have, have a good night and get yourself a contract. The roads, obviously, for the two shows are

so different, but is there a part of you that's like, I'm on team tough representing against the Contender Series kids for combat sports, intergalactic supremacy? Like, are you looking at in that way or is this, you don't even care about any of that stuff? No, I don't really care about it. I don't even think of myself as like a ultimate fighter guy anymore. I'm just another UFC fighter looking to make a name for himself and put on that strap. That's it. It's nice, man. What's the vibe like at Tiger Schulman's right now? Oh, I mean, it's rocking. A bunch of the guys, we all got fights lined up. So it's just everyone's training hard and everyone's ready to go. There you go. Jimmy's got a fight coming up.

I know he just got pushed back to February 13th. Albeit enough, Shane Burgos just texted me like a couple seconds ago. I know he had a fight lined up and then that got taken away, which is kind of a bummer for him. But I'm glad to see everything's going well over there. I know kind of a tough stretch with COVID like it was for everybody else. But when did everything sort of get up and running again for you guys? I mean, we've been pretty solid since, like, June of last year.

So, I mean, we've been rocking. Obviously, you know, it's been limited, you know, just the main guys training for fights and stuff like that. But, you know, it's been relatively normal. so we haven't really had too much of like a hard process. Are we rocking the full-on mullet here? I've been looking at it. That's been like my quarantine hair. Look at this crazy.

So I'm growing it out until my wedding. Oh, when's that happening? July. Oh, so, man, we can still get six more good months of the mullet. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's going to get crazy. My hair is so curly. Like, when it's wet, it's even longer than this.

It just, like, froze up. What does the fiancé think of it? She like it? She's counting down the days still in time. Is this the first mullet? Yeah, yeah, for sure. I got six months to try and convince her to let me keep it for the wedding. That's hilarious.

How do we get this thing done on February 20th? A lot of time, a lot of pent-up stuff to unleash inside that octagon. What can we expect in a little over a moment? month time. Hopefully as soon as possible. You know, we don't get paid by the minute. So, ASAP, so I can get back in there, ASAP. I want to try and fight as much as I can. So got to make up for lost time.

What do you think? Three, four times, at least? At least. There you go. Do you still, I know you're not, you don't consider yourself like the ultimate fighter guy anymore, but do you still, do you still check in with some of those guys? Yeah, I mean, every once in a while. I haven't talked to anybody recently, but yeah, no, we still keep in touch here and there. There you go, yeah, because I know Pena, you fought Pena, obviously.

So you guys did your thing. And Joe Gianetti, I know you're tied to him because you guys fought in the finale. And we've seen Bryce Mitchell kind of make a surge. So, you know, seeing Bryce doing. Yeah, that's got to make you feel good that like a couple wins, you're right there with them. Yeah, no, I'm excited to finally get back in there, man. Like I said, just itching. I can tell, man.

I can see it in your eyes. And with that mullet, you're ready to get in there and fight, man. I appreciate you joining me, man. It's been too long since we've seen Mike Trisano in the Octagon. That's all going to change. February 20th against Raphaelho should be a lot of fun. Mike, I appreciate the time, man. Hell yeah.

Thanks for having me, brother. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.