MMA Fighting - What the Heck: Episode 44 | Petr Yan, Joanne Calderwood, Mike Davis & Tyson Chartier

Episode Date: February 2, 2021

This week on What the Heck, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck chats with UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan (3:34) to preview his first title defense with Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259 on March 6. Mike Davis (17:53) recaps his "Fight of the Night" earning win over Mason Jones at UFC Fight Island 8 and his hectic 2020 that kept him out of the octagon. Joanne Calderwood (53:44) discusses her UFC 257 win over Jessica Eye, wanting to be as active as possible, and thoughts on a potential matchup with Lauren Murphy. Finally, Tyson Chartier (1:44:03), head coach of Calvin Kattar, gives his first interview since the UFC Fight Island 7 main event between Kattar and Max Holloway. 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

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Now here is your host, Mike Heck. What the heck? Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of What the Heck here on MMAFighting.com. I am Mike Heck. I am wearing my coat right now because it is freezing in Command Center 2.0. We're in the middle of a Nor'easter. about to get a foot, foot and a half of snow. And yeah, welcome to New England and welcome to the winter.

And this past weekend, we got a little bit of a reprieve from UFC action after an insane eight-day stretch in Abu Dhabi, capped off by UFC 257. So we got the chance to stretch our legs a little bit. Yes, there was some good combat sports action, some great combat sports action. KSW was crazy. Glory event was crazy And now we get the UFC back this weekend And every weekend through March

There'll be three paper views in that stretch But it all continues this Saturday UFC Vegas 18 That'll be headlined by Alistair Overeem versus Alexander Volkov Plus you got Corey Sandhagen versus Frankie Edgar We get the UFC debut of Manel Cape against Alexander Pantoja

Diego Faheda versus Benil Derrouches is on that card This is a pretty fun card. I know there's been some switchups, some changes, some injuries, some positive COVID tests, things like of that nature. But off to bottom, it's a pretty darn good card. And we will have you covered on that event throughout this week. But as far as this show goes, some good chats on the program this week. And we're not going to waste any time.

We're going to get right to them. Here's the lineup. We're going to wrap things up. And if you haven't seen it already on our YouTube page, We're going to replay that chat with Tyson Chartier, the head coach of Calvin Cater. We're going to discuss the fallout of the fight with Max Holloway, why he didn't stop the fight. His thoughts of the night, the event, Cater's performance, overall, how Calvin is doing. All of that good stuff.

You will hear that. It's his first and probably only interview that he's going to do on the subject. So if you missed it, we will replay it to wrap things up on the show this week. Joanne Calderwood got a big win at UFC 257 over Jessica I. She wants to keep getting after it. She wants to stay active. She wants to stay busy. And she has somebody in mind that gets her a little fired up to possibly earn another title opportunity.

We will speak with Jojo. What a joy she is. And we'll do so in a little while. Mike Davis took part in one hell of a scrap on Fight Island against former Cage Warriors double champ, Mason Jones. Super entertaining battle. Got fight of the night at UFC Fight Island 8. That was the Wednesday morning card. And as crazy as that fight was,

the year Mike Davis had in 2020 was much crazier. And if you don't know the story, it is absolutely wild. You'll hear all about it from Beast Boy in around 15, 20 minutes. But first, let us check in with the champion. The UFC Bannamweight champion of the world ahead of his first title defense. It's going to go down and a little over a month's time at UFC 259. Let us say hello once again to No Mercy himself, Piotr Yan. All right, let us get to our first guests of the program this week, his second

appearance on the show, but his first as the reigning UFC bantamweight champion. He will defend his title for the first time on March 6 against Al Jameen Sterling at UFC 259. The champ is here, Peodor Yan, along with his manager and translator, Syatt, Abdrakmanov. Piotr, thank you for doing this champ. How are you, sir? Thank you. I'm glad to see you, bro. Everything good. I'm glad to have you here. As a lot of people know by now, you are in the United States, training at American top team in Florida. When did you come to Florida? How long have you been in the United States for? In Florida, everything good, good climate, good food, good gym.

I will hear seven weeks. Now we're here, now we came here three weeks ago. And how are you enjoying the change of scenery? You know, change of scenery is good. You know, it's good to get ready here and kick some ass after. So this is the first time we've had the chance to speak since you became the champion, Pioter. We talked about how badly you wanted to win that championship, and you did so by finishing Jose Aldo in the fifth round at UFC 251.

What was that moment like for you when the referee finally stopped that fight? You know, at the time, I really enjoyed the moment. You know, it's very cool to defeat such a legend and a killer. himself like Jose Aldo. But Matt, right now I'm not really thinking about that anymore, you know. Right now all my focus is on sterling and how to destroy this man. One last thing on the win, because your job is to keep on fighting until the horn sounds or the referee pulls you off.

And the referee in that fight let things go for a very long time. You landed several unanswered strikes. It seemed like the fight lasted for probably a minute longer than it needed to. What were you thinking in that moment? Did you feel like the referee took too long to stop the fight? The task of the clets of cletka does work until the moment, until not amissuehers or not to sound gong.

Yeah, just like you said, my job is to fight until the referee stops me or until the horn sounds. And, you know, in this fight, I was doing my job, and maybe referee could have stopped it earlier, but right now there's no question who is the winner in this fight should have maybe he started earlier maybe someone will protest it

but right now there's no question left I would agree with that what is it like being the champion Peodor I know you have a big title defense coming up on March 6 but you are the champion does it does it feel different do you feel like your life has changed at all? Be champion

it's very very very important being champion is a very big responsibility you know but just winning the belt

wasn't my ultimate goal my goal right now is to defend this title multiple times and I'm completely focused on that and Aljerman is just next step

on achieving my ultimate goal and defending my titles many many times This fight was supposed to happen in December at UFC 256, but a few weeks before the fight was supposed to happen, you withdrew from the fight due to personal reasons. Are you able to talk about what happened there and why you weren't able to compete in December?

I've already many times about this, I've already, yeah. Well, first, with first, so with this, pandemic, that's Yeah, I explained this already on a few different occasions, you know, the whole pandemic thing

affected me, affected my camp, the visa, and you know, it's not really important when I will beat Sterling, important things that I will beat him, so it doesn't matter when. I'm a champion, he can wait

until his beating will come. In a fun way, you and Al Jermain have like built this fight up so well over the last several months, even before you won the title, you and Al Jermaine were attached to each other, and everyone has been excited about this fight ever since. Do you consider Al Jermaine Sterling at this point in your career,

kind of like your arch nemesis, your biggest competitive rival, or is there somebody else that sticks out to you? You know, I cannot say that he's my biggest rival. You know, he likes to talk a lot. He's a big mouse. and sometimes I just happen to answer for his tweets or something like that. So for me, you know, he's just another opponent, but I understand that he's a challenger. You know, he needs to attract attention, attention that he needs so much.

But as I started training and preparing, you know, recently he's gone quiet. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened to his big mouse. Were you having fun? Oh, go ahead. You know, Aljima also have his teammate, Mirab, Georgian, Judoka Samba fighter. You know, I have my training partner, Dennis with me too, who's also decorated judoka. You know, if they have guts, we can do it like two-on-two.

I'll fight Sterling. and my training partners, Dennis, will fight his guy, Mirab. And we will show them what's no mercy team is looking like. We're slumay them. We're going to break them. So a little tag team match, you and your teammate against Al Jemain and Marab? I love it. Yeah, Al Jemain already gone quiet.

When he hears that, he's going to be gone for a while. One of the interesting things that you said the last time we spoke before you won the title is that you believed strongly that no matter who else was there in this division, you felt that Jose Aldo was going to be your toughest test compared to Aljo and some of the other guys. After sharing over 20 minutes with Jose in July, do you still feel that way? Do you feel like your fight with Jose Aldo is actually going to be tougher than the fight you're going to have with Al Jermaine Sterling? You know, ALDA is one of the toughest fighters in M.A. You know, he punches hard, he has an unbreakable heart. He's a very, very strong fighter. Sterling, on the other hand, I don't know what he's hoping for when he's going to fight me.

Is he hoping just to work his jujitsu on me? You know, I don't understand. You know, I'm working and training with black belts and it's not a problem for me. You know, I'm training to break him and destroy him. And I cannot see what he's going to offer me. And I'm determined to prove to everyone that I deserve to be a champion. And I'm going to defend his belt for a long time. Do you feel like Al Jermain presents any kind of challenge to you?

I mean, you feel very confident that you're going to go in there and do it and dominate in this fight. but anything can happen when that cage door shuts, it's a fight, but do you feel like Al Jermaine presents any sort of challenge to you whatsoever? You know, I hope there's not going to be much of a challenge from his side. You know, right now mentally I'm so strong and I believe and I have no doubt in my mind that I'm going to beat him in every aspect. And, you know, I believe that, you know, the thoughts are materializing, you know, whatever things becomes real.

And from myself, I just need to be focused, cold-blooded, and just go forward and get the things done. You mentioned one of your teammates that you've been working with to get you ready for the fight, the tag team match and all of that. But any other sort of new looks you've gotten over to American Top Team? Any training partners that you've been working with, some new folks, so to speak? You know, American thought teams, there's no shortage of sparring partners.

There's many Brazilians, fighters, there are many champions of different organizations, many black belts. I'm working with everyone. I don't feel any trouble working with anyone. And in my head, I'm so focused and so determined and confident that I'm going to be sterling. So right now, I'm really. I would say really intense and maybe after the fight I'm going to relax a bit but not right now is a focus time so we're a little over a month away from this fight Peuter you seem intense you seem ready to go how do we get this thing

done against Al Jermaine Sterling I know you're expecting to go in there and dominate but is there a certain way that you're visualizing this fight playing out well I want to to be able to Yeah, I want to finish him. You know, every time I fight, my goal is always to finish the opponent, and this time going to be no different.

So as you have seen since you won the title, the division looks a little bit different. Like we've seen Frankie Edgar fight and win. Now he's fighting Corey Sanhagen on February 6th. T.J. Dilleshaw is getting ready to come back now that his suspension is over. Cody Garbrand looks to be sticking around at 35 for the time being. And now Rob Font is in the top five

after knocking out Marlon Mariah. So obviously you don't want to look past Al Jermaine Sterling, but you are the champion. You got a bullseye on your back. Do any of these guys sort of stick out to you if all goes well against Al Jermaine or are you not even thinking about that right now? You know, you're going to find out in my post-fight interview in the Octagon.

I will call out my next spray, and you're going to find out who's going to be next, who's going to be with it next after Sterling. Fair enough. I do want to touch on one thing real quick. I know you've done some interviews. You've talked about T.J. Delosha, and you said essentially that if all goes well, you beat Al Jemaine.

If the UFC wants you to fight T.J. And the price is right. You're into that fight. But I am curious, from your perspective, do you think that T.J. deserves an immediate title shot after the suspension? Or do you think he needs to get another win, fight somebody else and earn that title shot first? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know if he deserves to fight for that or no, you know, it's up to the experts, matchmakers, organization. You know, if they're going to choose him as an open, I'm going to fight him. Last thing, Pioter, what is your, what's your favorite part about being in Florida?

Like outside of the training and getting ready for the fight? Are you doing anything fun out there, doing anything with your free time, enjoying the warmer, weather, like, what are you, what are some of the things that you like about Florida that maybe you weren't expecting to like? Bro, when we have time, we spend its time for relax, for recovery, yes, it's going to beach, to swim, to massage, yes, it's only a relaxed time. I talk you, I know 100% focus, only prepare, yes, for my next. fight.

So we're just enjoying. We're training. We're relaxing, recovering, all things focused on Al Jemaine Sterling. Yes. Yes. There you go.

All right. Hey, you're the champion, man. That's what it's all about. You're the champ. You got to do things your way. But very excited for this fight, Pejord.

I think it's a really fun matchup. It's all going to culminate with Algeman and Sterling. rivalry that has gone on for so long. Really looking forward to it. Thank you very much for the time today. Piotr, all the best to you for the rest of camp and in the fight itself. And Syatt, thank you for your time as well.

I truly appreciate it. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, thank you. Piotrion, ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, he's ready for Al Jermaine Sterling. Sounds like he's very intense in nature, as you can see there. Honestly, I cannot wait for that fight. Should be a barn burner. March 6th, the UFC 259, as the year was ending last year,

I had that fight circled for a couple of months. Could not wait. We're finally going to see it in around a month's time on March 6. Speaking of Barnburners, Mike Davis had a barn burner with Mason Jones at UFC Fight Island 8. Let's hear from Beast Boy himself right now on what the heck, crazy story alert. All right, let us say a little to Mike Davis. It had been a little over a year since we had seen him compete. I believe it was October of 2019, and boy, did he deliver an entertaining scrap and a win over

Mason Jones, UFC Fight Island Aid. Mike, welcome to the show, sir. How are you? Yeah, what's up? Not too much. I'm excited to be here. It's great to have you here, man. First off, after well over a year away, just to get back and make that walk and just get back to competing again. I mean, they say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I'm sure it went beyond that for you, you know, considering the 2020 that you had. Is that accurate? Oh, yeah. 100%.

It's been a... I don't know, man. I can't even explain how bad my ear has been. And then to finally start 20, 21 off with a beautiful, beautiful start, beautiful set. Like, with everything that's happened over this fight island, I'm set for the year already. And I still got 11 months to go. Man, what a great way to kick things. off. So kind of going back to the layoff because you were scheduled to face Giga Chacazza

on a couple of different occasions. You were forced to withdraw from both those bouts for different reasons. So I guess like how difficult was 2020 for you? Like what were some of the things that you've had to overcome? Because I know you talked about you got a little bit emotional at the post fight press conference after your win. But I don't know if a lot of people actually know what you had to deal with in 2020. But just going by some old social media posts that I saw from you, you did a, you went through a lot in 2020. Oh, yeah. I've been injury after injury after injury. Every month of 2020 brought some kind of new adversity that I had to overcome, starting with the broken ribs. Then the infection in my cheek, some weird infection in my cheek. COVID, I got, I'm going to say it was COVID. I never tested positive. I got tested while I was sick too and it wasn't positive, but I'm pretty sure it was COVID. I'm going to say it was COVID. I never tested positive. I got tested while I was sick too and it wasn't positive, but I'm pretty sure it was COVID.

because everyone who's had it states they had the same symptoms, same whatever's. Got hit by a car. That really messed me up for a while. A couple months. When I healed from that, my legs were good. I started running. Tore my meniscus. Tore my groin.

Tor my labrum. It's kind of healed now, but after that fight, it's driving me nuts. So I'm getting that checked out. I got forced out of my house. I couldn't afford to pay rent. I didn't make any money all 2020. So at the end of 2020, I ran out of money and it couldn't pay and had to leave right now on the couch. This is pretty much where I stay right now.

So I'm currently in the midst of looking for a place. I do have the money now to finally put a roof over my own roof over my head. So I'm excited to move into a place. I believe February 1st, I just got to find one that really sticks out to me. There you go. Now you have options, right? Yeah. You're a bonus winning fighter.

Yeah, so this fight really, really saved my life because I was in a bad spot. I was in a bad spot mentally and physically and financially. Now I'm just, I feel saved. I really do. So you were hit by a car? Yeah. What happened? I was riding my bike down the beach.

A lot of traffic, a lot of people there. And I went to go cross the crosswalk. And when I looked, there was no cars, but a car was pulling out as I was looking. I didn't see that car. And he just sped up to try and beat traffic. And I guess he didn't look forward and hit me, just teabone me off my car, or my bike. I'm sorry. Oh, my God, man.

That straight, teabone me right off my bike. Jeez, always. How did you, like, how did you react to that? Like, are you, I mean... My adrenaline spiked so fast. I was so mad and I guess he pulled over and he saw me lifting my bike up with one hand and throwing it. So I guess he thought I was okay and took off. Ah, geez.

Did they ever catch a guy? No. Oh, that's so ridiculous. Unbelievable. When, um, were you, when you were dealing with all this, were you beginning to think? Because I know in your post-fight press conference you said like, that this fight saved your career in a way. You felt like it saved your career.

Were you beginning to think that the door in fighting because of all of this, that it was closing? Like, did it ever get to the point where it became like, you know what? I just can't do this anymore. Because, like, physically I could get back there, but financially, maybe even like from a mental and a spiritual perspective,

I might not have any other choice. I thought about, because fighting, I have to be healthy to do. And because I was injured literally every month of 2020, I was just thinking to myself, like, if I can't be healthy for even a month, I don't think I can be a fighter. And I'll never be able to fight. I'll never be able to get in the ring. So I might as well just call it quits and go back to school, finish my degree or start coaching or do something else.

I thought about it. What kind of got you back? What kind of made you turn the corner? It was kind of like a do it or fail. I was like I'm going to take a fight healthy or not, which I wasn't healthy at all in that fight, but felt decent enough to fight. And yeah, it was either take this fight,

whoever it is, doesn't matter, win, lose, you have enough money to sit down, recover, and then get back into it. And I just thought that's what I'll do. So you weren't healthy at all? Like on a scale 1 to 10, like where would you rate your health overall in that fight? Oh my God.

One to 10? Five? I don't say like a 5. You were 5? Yeah. Joking. I would say like a 5. Oh, my God.

When I arrived in Abu Dhabi, I had tingles going up my arm. And then four days out from the fight, I got something called a trigger finger, I believe it is, where I was just, it was so painful. It was the most, like, I didn't think I was going to be able to throw jabs the whole fight. Or if I did, I would just hurt everything, like even just the motion of throwing a punch hurt in my room, shadow boxing. I was just moving around lightly. It hurts so bad.

My hand hurts so bad. And it's the hand I broke. So it's definitely still, it wasn't good in the fight and I broke it. Jeez, man. Yeah, it was not good. I was like just forcing adrenaline to throw punches because this hand, my left hand hurts so bad. And now it's broken.

So it kind of just shows that it wasn't good to start with. Like I said, that Labrum, it's painful now since the fight, after the fight, it really hurts. But before the fight, it was okay. I would give it like a six out of ten, not a ten out of ten. So throwing my crosses, when I would connect with him, and he wouldn't move back and it would jam my arm, it hurt instantly. It's so bad in the middle of the fight.

And I would just forget it. I'd be like, oh, well, whatever. I just keep going. So this was like, I mean, this was just like all heart and will in there, right? Because, I mean, you're all heart and will. Oh, my God. Like, how do you deal with that? Like, do you just not feel it at all in the fight?

Like, even in the third round? Were you starting to feel everything more? No, I didn't feel anything. I'm like, I don't until the fight was over. When the fight was over and my adrenaline's cooling down, I'm realizing I won. And I look over at Paul Felder and I was like, oh, shit. He was like, damn, good fight. And I saw him.

And when I was walking to the back and I sat down, the minute I sat down, everything just sank into me. And I was like, holy shit, my body hurts. Then my hand was fine. but then when they started looking at it, they're like, yeah, they moved it and it hurt so bad, and then it instantly swelled up. Instantly.

It's huge. How relieved are you just to, that you got through that whole thing? Win or lose? Just getting through the whole fight. How relieved were you? I was so relieved. I was,

that's why my post fight, the win, when they called my name, I was cursing and I was just overly happy because I was like, dang, I really did that. I did not, I went into the cage,

not thinking it was going to go that way. I really didn't. My number one fear going into that cage during Abu Dhabi was the fact that I don't think my body is going to handle this fight. I just kept pacing back and forth. And I was like, something's going to happen.

My arm's not going to work. My hand's not going to work. My legs aren't going to work. Something's going to... Because I was getting work done too, and I had weird pinching going on in my left leg. So nothing was happening. Nothing was going right for me.

I didn't sleep at all. made two hours every night. Was it just, like, we had a colleague out there. He had a hard time sleeping too, and he wasn't getting in there and fighting and wasn't dealing with the pain that you were going through. Was it like the pain itself, or was it, you know, just the thought of the fight?

Like, was it a combination of things? It was the pain. It was the time difference, the climate. I just, I was out of it. Like, I was not 100%. percent at all, not even close. Like I said, I was five out of ten.

Good God, man. This is why I'm on this side of these interviews and not on that side of those interviews because of everything you're describing right now. Did you know much about Mason Jones when they offered you the fight? Obviously, you know, hardcore fans know who he is, great run in a cage warriors, two division champion.

But when you got the name, I'm sure it didn't even matter to you. You're just like, I'm fighting. I don't care who it is. But did you know much about Mason at all? Like I said, But when I got to the point in life where I was like, if I don't fight, then I'm going to be homeless. I'm going to be on the street. So I messaged Abe and I was like, look, I'm at that point where it's fight or I'm not going to make it.

So whatever name you got, my answer is yes. At first they off, he gave me some name. It was like Jones Mason or something like that. And we looked him up and he was like on a three fight losing streak, doesn't even fight for the UFC. I was like, this can't be the right guy. But then I was like, yeah, sure, whatever. It's perfect. It's an easy fight.

But then he says, oh, they got the name. Sean Shelby got the name wrong. It's Mason Jones. And he sent me his profile and it's like 10 and no. Perfect. Doesn't matter. Let's go. I said yes.

I didn't know who he was. Didn't know he was a Cage Warriors champion. Didn't know anything. I honestly, when I saw 1010 and O, I was like, he's just one of them scrubs that was fed fights. And he's 10 and 0 for nothing. And now he's getting a UFC debut. just going to walk through this kid like I do everybody else. So I never thought anything of it.

And then all the way up until a week before the fight, four days before the fight, Mike Brown, he was messaging me. He's saying, Mike, you want to, let's do some MMA training. Let's go over some things you want to do in the fight. And it's like, I don't know what I want to do in the fight because I don't know how this kid fights. So I sat down, opened up the laptop, looked up on YouTube, and I was like, oh, oh, so this is who I'm fighting. And it was interesting Because I didn't know that he was He fought all good people

Like everyone had a plus record 12 and 1 12 and so Blah blah blah Really good people And I was like oh he wasn't fed He just walked through people And I watched him fight And I was like he's really walking through people

So I was like all right I got a fight in my hands This is whatever does I do this So I went from there That's when I learned about who I was fighting And yeah four days later I beat him was it a good thing that you went and looked at that stuff because there's fighters who are just sometimes they don't they just focus on themselves they don't want to know any of that stuff so they just go in and they just do their own thing but are you happy that you went and looked at that stuff did it enhance anything for you or did it not change much um i don't think it changed much because my training i can't really alter my training in the middle of cutting weight so anything that i have learned or that i needed to learn was already done the only thing that we're doing in abdubiz was focusing on

the weight cut. So when I was working with Mike Brown, it was literally just back and forth mitts where I was breaking a sweat and we just do that for like an hour or so. And that's it. All it was focused on was making me sweat so I can get the weight off. Looking at his fight, it definitely prepared me for, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to finish him in the first round. I just had an idea or a gut feeling that he wasn't going to fall in the first round. When I found I he didn't fall in the second round, I was like, all right, it's a war then. And then the third round, I had

to come out strong, which I did. And I just dug down to whatever I had left and let it all out. Getting to the fight itself, I mean, you mentioned everything, you were worried that your body may not even get you through the fight. Your music hits, you walked to the octagon after all this time.

What did it feel like when your feet finally touched the canvas? You're in the octagon. It's been 15, 16 months. You're back where you belong. What's that feeling like? Did it take the pain away almost in a way? It felt different this time. I don't know why, but when I've gotten to the octagon,

there's something in me that was comfortable. Like this isn't anything new anymore. So I think with the exposure, being in the UFC, this is my third, essentially a fourth time stepping on a UFC canvas. I'm just used to it now. I've just felt so comfortable. And that helped me, like, bring out the best version of me. I feel like you could not have gotten a better opponent for this situation.

One, because the hardcore fan base was all over this fight. It was like everybody's under the radar pick. Like, I usually post out, like, the morning of an event, I say, what's the fight that's not getting enough love? What you're under the radar pick? Everybody, like, it was like unanimous. It was this fight. And two, because he was so tough and so durable,

it made you work that much harder and go through these different stages as a fighter that you have to go through. Plus, you're dealing with all these injuries and stuff. I feel like this is absolutely perfect. Do you agree with that? Oh, 100%. With this fight, it definitely showed that I wasn't just some fighter who got an easy fight last one. I've been, I don't think Sean Shelby likes me, to be honest.

But I've been fed to absolute monsters since I've gotten to the UFC. It started with Sadiq, then Gilbert, Thomas Gifford. didn't ask for, well, he wasn't like planned for me. So that, that doesn't count. Sean Schaubby didn't pick that guy. They just gave it into me because they needed someone to fill an empty slot, which I was ready. And then now Mason Jones. Like these three fighters, I think, will be, Mason Jones can get up championship level, 100%. That kid's a championship level fighter. And he proved it. He's the only other two-time champion cage warriors besides Connemar Greger. And I think there's one more.

But who, Connor is number one leading on MMA boards. He's the most popular fighter in a way. But, man, yeah,

I don't think they like me at all. He gets Gilbert Burns in his first UFC fight. And now Gilbert Burns, Gilbert Burns is fighting for a champion, for a world title in like two weeks from right now. It's craziness.

And that was your debut fight. I think he's going to win. And if he does win, that just makes me look even better. There you go. You look like a million bucks if he wins that fight. If he beats Usman in the first round, I'll look ten times better. So watching that fight this past Wednesday, I scored it for you. I'd say the majority of people scored it for you.

I don't know if you look at MMA decisions. It's a website where, like, media members give their scores. 12 out of 20 media members scored it for you. Four of them gave you all three rounds. One media site, a very popular one, scored it 3027 for hit. which, listen, I'm not a judge, but that score seems absolutely absurd in my eyes. So it's interesting, while many believe this fight were super close, you didn't seem to think that way.

Why is that? 3027 for him? 3027 for him. No, I posted a little thing because I was getting a lot of messages from Welsh people saying that you lost that fight and blah, blah, blah. And I just wanted to send a post out there that it wasn't a close fight. Because if you look at the fight, one, you can look at my face. I have zero damage.

And he is still jacked up. Two, they look at damage, okay. But two, not only did I score three or four takedowns, I stuffed all of his. I evaded 50% of his significant strikes. He doubled my output. But yes, he threw literally like double the amount of punches I did. But my accuracy, my connects, my significant strikes were way higher. There's way more accuracy.

And he's just flailing his limbs around and not connecting with anything. So that has to be judged. It's like you can swing all you want. If you're not hitting me, who cares? And then I believe that's just it. Those just those two things based on that. he looked like the busier fighter i was yeah i was on my back foot the whole time but i was countering moving takedowns better significant strikes i definitely won every single round

you were cracking him man i want you were cracking him i was so surprised he did not fall it's a tough dude thomas gifford man these people i don't know what it is he hit me with some good shots. I definitely, one of them, the one that gave me that little cut that was bleeding, that one, like, closed my eye in the middle of the fight. My eye was open, I can tell, but I couldn't see out of it for a good, like 15 seconds. And I saw him coming forward. And I think that was one of the shots in the second round. I shot in on him. I missed the shot, and then I threw a spinning back kick to keep him back. Yeah, that was the point where he hit me with like a left hook or something, and it gave me this cut. And he, and he gave me this cut. And,

And in the middle of the fight, this whole eye went blurry. And I was like, oh, I need a second. I need a second. I was trying to find some space, but he was still on me. So I threw a spinning back kick, and he stopped coming forward. And my eye cleared up. And I was like, okay, I'm back. Let's go.

There's some good wherewithal right there to throw a move like that. And it seemed to work at that time. I'm curious, how would you grade your performance overall? And I asked this because, one, everything you've gone through in the pain and all of that stuff. But two, there's been this debate in M. about, you know, ring rust being a real thing or not. Like some people say it is, others say it isn't. Some have won, some have lost and felt both ways.

So how would you rate it? And do you think it's real? I think ring rust is real. I did see a bunch of people saying that ring rust doesn't exist. But it's different because, yes, we're in the gym and you're fighting every day, especially if you're at top high-level gym. I'm going in Tuesdays, Saturdays. We're kind of like cracking at each other.

It's like a 90% sparring. So yeah, it's like a fight. But you don't get the lights. You don't get to walk out to your song where everyone's focused on you. You don't get the tension, the weight that's put on you. It's not just you in that room. You don't get to step into this canvas where you know if you lose, it counts against you. Like at sparring, it's just you spar, you lose the match who,

cares you're going with someone new right now anyway it doesn't matter but here you lose it really counts against you you can get you can potentially lose your whole career so it's a different way different feeling and if you're continuously fighting you're more um sure of yourself that you are there to stay especially if you're winning like kevin holland kevin holland loves to fight and that's because he's winning every fight but if he stopped fighting for a year or so and then came back in and he'd probably have a bad performance. I honestly think he'd have a bad performance. And it's a real thing.

What do you think has been like the biggest lesson you've learned about yourself over these past like 15 or 16 months because, dude, you could write a book based on your 2020 alone. What do you think has been like, I mean, the perseverance alone is a story, but what do you think the biggest lesson you've learned about yourself between your last fight and getting the win this past Wednesday? All the conversations that I've been having since the fight

how um they've given me wolves they've fed me literally to the best of the best and not only do I hold my ground I either win

yeah I either win or I hold my ground the whole time and the thing with that is they said from my last I'm four out of my last five fights I think

four wins at the last five and the previous two wins, three wins were me pretty much the same, like the opponents are really tough, but I'm dominating them the entire time, clear domination, one-sided. Now I fought Mason Jones where it was competitive. It wasn't a one-sided fight. I had to really fight, but I still, in a sense, dominated that fight in every aspect of MMA. It was an MMA fight. I made it gritty.

learning that I can not only win like a domination, but I can win when I'm overcome with adversity or I'm really put into a challenge. It showed me that I'm ready to be at this level and that I need to step it up. So it really opened my eyes to the fact that I am a UFC fighter. Because honestly, before this fight, I was worried that this could be my last fight.

Like Thomas Gifford, he had two. fights in the UFC and they cut them and I didn't want to be cut because I lost to Gilbert. I won against Thomas, but then if I lost to Mason, that would be two fights out of my contract that I lost and I was just fearful that I wouldn't sign another contract. Yeah, I mean, especially after the year you went through, I could see how you feel that way. I feel like if you ask most fans, they would probably disagree with you because you are an exciting guy. I think we could, I wish we could erase the Thomas Gifford fight in a way because you beat up,

you beat them up really badly to say it as nicely as possible. But can I just ask you, how the hell did you get to 145 pounds? I mean, you fought, Sadiq. I can still make 145. You could still make 145. You seem massive on television. Yeah, I can make 45. Is it like a huge cut for you?

For this weight cut, nobody asked about my weight cut. Before the weight cut, I showed up at the venue in Abu Dhabi. I was like 165, I think. I was eating, drinking, drinking two gallons, three gallons a day. I was eating three or four meals a day. And every single morning, I would run three to seven miles. Every single morning with Dustin, they would join me, Justin and Mike Brown. And just the days, as the days go by, my wake gets lower and lower.

Now it's the day before Wayans and I'm 161. Or the day, yeah, the day before Wayne is, I 161. And I go in, dressed in my sauna suit. I hit pads with Tiago Alves for five three-minute rounds. And then I do, I think it was 35 minutes in the sauna. And I was on wait. I was 154. Yeah.

I was like 153 and a half. So in the morning, when I woke up, I had, I forgot what I ate. Some, some, a donut. Oh, a donut. Yeah. I had a donut. It wasn't really like a donut. It was weird.

It was some Abu Dhabi donut. But it was a donut and a bottle of water. And I weighed in 154.5. Wow. So you can get to 45? I think I can get to 45. Especially since we had a sauna. Dustin requested a personal dry sauna that no one else had.

So it had made weight cutting really easy in that as a dry sauna. Oh, there you go. It's good to have good, it's good to have championship fighting teammates, right? Our main event teammates? That's massive. That's so massive. So like in your world, I mean, it's nice to be able to have both options if you need them, especially if you want to stay active. But do you prefer one weight class over the other? I mean, 55 obviously getting there is as much easier to getting to getting 45. I can eat and I don't have to eat. I don't have to kill my body. And cutting to 1.45, it takes a lot of mental power, like willpower. Sometimes like the first couple of times I did 45, I was crying. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It's un- pleasant and then sure like the next day my body recovers I drank a bunch of water I'm my physically I'm back up in weight I got some of my strength back but mentally I'm I'm not going to be

there like I'm not 100% ready to fight I'm not happy I'm not excited anymore my body's just thinking like wow I just cut all this weight and now I'm back to normal but my body my internal like functions aren't back to normal there they just significantly treated a bunch of toxins and prepared my body for starvation. So I'm not ready to perform. So 1.45, yeah, I can make it. But I don't feel as good as I do at 155. That makes sense.

You mentioned Dustin Porier. Obviously, this is a big week for ATT overall. I mean, it wasn't an undefeated week, but your win. Then it was all capped up by Dustin Porier knocking out Connor McGregor in the second round. And listen, from everybody I talked to, common theme when it comes to Dustin Pori, it's been, couldn't have happened to a better guy and he's a teammate of yours. He helped you cut Wade.

You guys did it together in a way in Fight Island and Abu Dhabi. How did you react to seeing Dustin put Connor away the way that he did? I honestly, I didn't call it that. I thought Dustin, because Dustin, Dustin has crazy cardio. So I thought Dustin would bring it into

like the third or fourth round where Connor wouldn't be able to go because I don't think he's ever really been there. And he would TKO him in that four. fifth or third, fourth, or fifth round. For him to completely handle Connor like he did, it took him around. I saw that he was a little tense and that it was, he was like probably thinking about what happened in the past.

Honest, as a fighter, he fought him already. He's probably thinking about how he got knocked out in the past. He was a little hesitant. But going up a weight class, he gained so much weight, so much power that I think. when he was fighting in the first round and he noticed that Connor through everything he had and he took it. He noticed that this was his fight. Like he's a bigger and better person now. So the second round, he turned it up and really took him down.

I was not surprised. I was very very ecstatic for that because two fighters fighting two people from Europe with essentially both the same like credentials background. two time champion cage warriors. And I was so happy that we both beat both those people. And we're both in the same gym, same place. It's incredible. It showed me a lot that because I train with Dustin and we're both really good partners for each other

that I can be in that level. And that's really, it's eye-opening, true. That's great. That's great. The confidence is rising, Mike. You can see it in your face right now. So perfect world, you know, I mean, you get you got some healing up to do, but when do we think we see you back in there? What's kind of the target date for you?

I'm hoping my hand doesn't need surgery or anything. It's definitely coming back. So I would say as long as my suspension, because I am pending suspension right now, so as long as my suspension isn't 180 days, so I don't want that, hopefully it's like 60-day suspension and I can get back in in April.

I would like to fight whatever card happens here in Miami in April where Mazvedal I think is fighting Kobe maybe Is that done? I think so. I think it's being made right now. In Miami?

If you look around, this isn't me with personal information. Okay, okay. I don't have secret information. I'm just keeping tabs on Twitter and Instagram and everything. but yeah there's talks that it's mazadol versus colby in miami with full fans or half fans Florida is a good place to be for that yeah so that's literally from me right now it's 30 minutes

so it's perfect it's better than Abu Dhabi right so much better you won't see a failure in my cardio from lack of sleep and climate change so I'll be able to push all three rounds here in Dustin describe Fight Island It's like It shouldn't be called Fight Island

It should be called Fight Island. Like we're just stuck in a hotel the whole time Do you agree with that? It's prison. It's five-star prison.

It is. You can't leave that building. You're brought mediocre food. It is not like crazy. And then after you're done

cutting weight, you get to go and enjoy the good stuff. But, no, it's, It was bad. It was, it was boring. It was so boring.

Good thing you had a teammate, right? It's sitting in your room and watch TV or work out. There's literally only two things you can do. So let's keep you in the States this time, so you don't have to do that again. Yeah. I mean, I like the adventure, the trip was fun. The plane had the best steak I've ever had was on the flight. I'm not a joke.

It was the best steak I've ever had. there you go living the lavish life Mike but getting back in the wind column getting the bonus I mean you knew you're getting bonus right like you walked out of that cage knowing I'm getting 50 Gs for fight of the night you didn't feel that way no I never think that because it'll it'll let me down if I don't get it

which happened to me on Thomas Giver fight I was like that was performance of the night that was knockout of the night I got this yeah that's 50 Gs let me plan some 50G vacations and then I got literally nothing I got ridicule instead. How did you get ridiculed for that? It's not your fault. It's not my fault. The whole match got ridiculed. It's saying, you know, it should have been stopped earlier that I didn't feel remorse for beating someone so bad and blah, blah, blah, and it just went on. And still,

even today, still I get messages about, like, how did you feel beating up Thomas Gifford? I don't feel for you emotionally. I don't care anything about you. I'm working. and I'm preventing you from hurting me. So until you stop, I'm going to hurt you. That's it. That's all I feel. That's the fight game. Mike, listen, man, you have gone through a lot over this last year. I'm glad I was very happy to see you get back in there and get a win.

Your post-fight scrum was awesome. So if you guys haven't seen it, go back to the MMA fighting YouTube page and check that out. I'm glad you're able to get here, man. Hopefully April, maybe in Miami, maybe somewhere in the United States, you see it back in there. And hopefully your hands are open. and we can get you back as healthy as possible. I want to be on, I have to fight before July.

This is personal. I have to fight before July. So that way I can fight again. I want to fight at least three times this year because fighting once or twice last year, or zero times last year, I'm sorry. And then twice the year before that, I feel like I'm so far back where I could be doing so much more.

So I want to fight three or four times this year, regardless of my injuries. because you see I took this fight with injuries and I'm not opposed to doing it again. Is there going to be a point where we can settle you down and we could fix all these issues and then get back or just there's no time for that. Yeah, no, there is. And I don't know. I need, I want to be 100% guaranteed that I'm set and nothing like the last year will happen again before I sit down and let my body heal. So I think one more fight, a win, one more win will set me in a good standing where I can take a few months off and recover.

There you go. You got it all mapped out. You get it all mapped out. You're ready to go. Let's get you another win, maybe another bonus, and then we get you all healed up, or at least as much as possible as a fighter can get. Another bonus, then I will heal my body 100%. I'll just sit down and heal until I'm 100% ready to go. Man, that guy went through the ringer on multiple occasions.

What a story to get back in the octagon, back in the wind column, and what a fight it was. Mason Jones will be back for sure, but definitely looking forward to seeing what's next for Mike Davis, especially after that conversation and finding out how injured he was even heading into that fight with Mason Jones. Just crazy. Just absolutely crazy with these men and women do for our entertainment.

It's unbelievable. Speaking of entertaining, speaking of fun, speaking of just all the good things you can possibly say, let's say hello to Joanne Calderwood. Big win over Jessica I at UFC 257 led right into Michael Chandler and Dustin Porre's big wins. What is next for Jojo? Let's hear what she thinks about it right now. All right, let us welcome in our next guest. Of course, UFC 257 was a memorable event, a lot of bright spots.

And one of those bright spots came from our guest at this time. Joanne Calderwood, who earned a unanimous decision win over Jessica I on the main card. Joanne, how are you? Awesome. So buzzing. So buzzing. So smiling. It was just a great performance.

Congratulations on the win. I know in the buildup to the fight, there was a lot of talk about the Jennifer Maya fight. And in hindsight, you regretted that decision, but you had to pick yourself back up and try to get back in the win column. try to get yourself back into the place where you earned yourself a title shot. Did that win over Jessica? Did it sort of get that bad taste out of your mouth,

kind of put that other loss behind you in a way? Yeah, it definitely made me feel a little bit better. There's, you know, there's always pressure going into a fight, but I feel like there's a little bit more when you're, when you've just lost your last one and not had a great performance. So, yeah, I was, I was happy to kind of be like, Okay, guys, forget about that one here. Here's a good performance, and I'm glad everyone enjoyed it,

and everyone gave me great feedback that it was a great fight, so happy with that, and I got the win. You had spoken with my colleague, Damon Martin, before the fight, and you said something that was kind of interesting. You essentially said that right now in your career, everything is coming together for you, but you wish that you had your crap together earlier in your career, and you said that if you could find ways to not do something,

like not train or do something beneficial, you would go with that feeling. When did that switch sort of flip for you? Like what change to get you into the place you're at right now? I still feel like it's still going on. But definitely, maybe like the past couple of years, you know, syndicate is being a big, big, in the UFC Performance Institute as well.

I just feel like everything has came together and then obviously meeting my fiancé and I don't know, I don't know what, the turning. You know what? Actually, it was probably when I had made that decision to come to Vegas. And before I came to Vegas, I was in Australia for three or four months

and I basically had turned my back on the sport and was like, you know what, I need to focus on myself. For those months, I just, worked on myself. I was, yeah, just kind of had me time. And then I felt better from then.

And then I made better decisions. And yeah, then I went to Vegas. And then the rest started happening. And I feel like I was just a better mindset of, okay, no, I'm going to give this another goal and I'm going to give it my all. And I'm not going to make excuses. I'm not going to,

feel sorry for myself and you know life is not hard life is hard for everyone and you just have to get on with it and never give up so yeah I think that that would be the turning turning point when I came to Vegas after those months of save my soul it's funny because your career is based on getting locked in a cage with another woman and going upwards of 15 minutes maybe even more if you get into a main event or a title fight, but sometimes in this world, your toughest opponent is yourself, right? And I feel like, you know, from what you just said,

I feel like you had to kind of beat yourself in a way to get to this place. Am I kind of on the right wavelength there? For sure. People are fans and people that are looking at us, they're just seeing those 15 minutes that we're in the cage in the octagon, you know, so it's like there's so much, There's so many other things going on training and in life and all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, there's a lot of things that go in the background that people don't realize.

But, yeah, it's a crazy world, crazy life we live, but it's great. This fight with Jessica had a lot of build to it. It was categorized as a grudge match, although she said there was like no beef on her end. But you said in that conversation with Damon that you never really fought anyone. that you really, really wanted to punch in the face like this. So let me ask you, did it live up to the expectations? Did it feel as good as you hoped it would? Yes.

Yeah. Yeah, it was so good. And yeah, she, it's funny because she said she had no beef, but it's like, go back. Are you delusional? And I think she is. It's crazy. There was how lot of stuff she says, but she, genuinely believes that she didn't say it.

And yeah, it's funny. But yeah, it definitely felt good punching her and kicking her in the face. Right off the bat, you two ladies just met in the middle and you collided. It was a lot of clinch work, a lot of dirty boxing. This was just like one of those, it was like one of those like after school kind of fights,

especially in that first round. And I'm sure you expected her to come in and try to take you down. But, you know, her coming out so aggressively right off the bat, is that something you were, prepared for or do that surprise you? Yeah, for sure. I knew her watching my last fight.

She was going to do that and try and take it to the ground. It's a smart game plan for if you're watching my last fight. So we did think she was going to do that. And I just wanted to make it, I just wanted to make it known that I was not there to, I'm not going to be a pushover. You know, she may think that I'm fake and I'm quiet. and all that kind of thing. But that's okay.

In the cage, I am completely different. But that's not fake. That's me doing my job. And I don't have to be allowed now for anything. Like, I'm there to get the job done. And I just wanted to get in there and put my hands on her. And I guess it showed. The first round, you were able to do more.

It was very competitive for the first five minutes. But the second round, like, everything changed. The front kick to the fifth. face, it was just gnarly, Joe. It landed right on the button. And it seemed like whatever momentum she was trying to sort of build to herself, it just went away and went all the way over to your side. And you were starting to figure her out a lot more.

You were going to the body. Your counters were very effective. What was that conversation like with John in the corner between the first and second rounds? Because things really changed and you turned things up and not shedding into round two. Yeah, I think he was worried that I was going to gas out. he's like, yeah, let's calm it down a little bit. But I knew I had it and I knew that I wanted to go in there and throw everything at her.

And I wasn't worried about gas night, you know, it's a fight and I've been there before. And that's kind of my work effort. I just go in there and throw everything I can. So, yeah, and I wasn't scared of the takedown. You know, I wasn't. I was so confident. I just knew that it wasn't going to go in her way because I knew she was wanting to take me down

and I knew I just saw everything and I just knew it was, I wasn't scared and I knew that she was hoping that I would be. She was hoping that she was going to come in and maybe get the Jojo that fought the last time and run through me, but I was on the ball and I was not going to let that happen. You took her down,

which I thought was, was pretty cool because I don't think a lot of people saw that coming. It got right back to the feet, but were you just kind of giving her a little something more to think about, a little gamesmanship on your end, perhaps? Yeah, we definitely wanted to add that in. I think it was in the second or the third round. But yeah, we just wanted to get her thinking,

oh, wait a minute, why is she trying to take me down? But obviously I wasn't going to engage on going to the ground with her. just wanted to throw that in there. Can I ask you about the burp? How did that feel? What do you want to know about it if it was a smelly one or what? I mean, it was right there for the world to hear. I know.

I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't say pardon me, but I don't even remember doing it. I don't even remember, don't recall it happening. So it was funny that I saw that on Instagram. grandma was like, oh my gosh, that's hilarious but also embarrassing. Hey, listen, you probably felt better and you won the fight. So maybe that's something you have to do for every fight now. It's good, good juju, right?

Just part my way to victory. Well said. Third round, more of the same. You landed a big knee. That was kind of like the exclamation point for the fight. And it was pretty clear you were going to win. But coming out, if you followed social media and stuff, a lot of people felt like

that was the best performance of your career and you've had some really good ones, some finishes, but the overall body of work from start to finish, a lot of people felt like this was the one, like this was your showcase fight. Do you feel that way going back and watching that or do you think there's been some better ones

along the way? Yeah, probably because it's fresh in my memory. I'm sure if we go back and watch some of my old fights, that's my 40th, I think that was my 40th fight professional fight, so there's a lot of footage to go through, but yeah, for sure, there's been better

performances in there, I would say, but this one's fresh in everyone's mind, so let's just go with it, and it was a good opponent to beat. I'm sure everyone was on my side for that. How many times you've gone back

and watched it? Just once after when we were still on Fight Island, actually.