MMA Fighting - What the Heck: Episode 49 | Laura Sanko, Dan Ige, Rob Font, Sean Brady & Tim Elliott

Episode Date: March 11, 2021

This week on What the Heck, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck chats with UFC reporter Laura Sanko (5:04) to recap the top storylines coming out of UFC 259, including Jan Blachowicz's win over Israel Adesanya, the DQ finish to the bantamweight title fight between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling, what Amanda Nunes has meant to the sport, and much more. Dan Ige (32:38) previews his upcoming matchup with Gavin Tucker this Saturday at UFC Vegas 21, discusses what he took away from his most recent bout against Calvin Kattar and becoming a dad next month. Rob Font (50:42) gives his reaction to Aljamain Sterling's title win via DQ at UFC 259, why he was upset by how it played out, and wanting a bantamweight super card in May. Sean Brady (1:02:22) recaps his third-round submission win over Jake Matthews at UFC 259, breaking into the top-15, explains why Demian Maia is a fascinating option for his next fight, and more. Finally, Tim Elliott (1:22:48) discusses his second straight victory this past Saturday at UFC 259 over Jordan Espinosa, the trust he has in James Krause, the bad blood with Espinosa before the fight, and what he wants next. 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. This is What the Heck with Mike Heck on MMAFighting.com. 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 hope you're all having a fantastic week. I don't know about you, but I still have that post-event hangover right now.

coming out of UFC 259. Like normally it lasts Sunday, maybe Monday, and then we're kind of on to the next card. Normally it doesn't last this long. Normally it fades away. But so much happens and continues to happen and continues to be discussed. And it's just crazy.

But that reminds me, it's Thursday right now. We had a little shuffle up this week in terms of the schedule. We did between the links on Tuesday this week. Move this show to Thursday. We'll go back to normal next week. I said, UFC 259 was wild. So many storylines. Everyone's still talking about what happened,

especially in the Bannamway title fight between Piotrion and the new champion, Al Jermaine Sterling, the disqualification. We've hit that from so many different angles here on the website. Our own gear may cruise spoke with Piotrion's coach. I spoke with Al Jermaine Sterling's coach, Eric Nixick over at Extreme Coutor. You can go back into the archives and check that out. Really fascinating stuff from his perspective since he was there. He watched it all go down.

and that was the first time he was in the corner of Al Jermaine Sterling. So really interesting perspective. Go check that out. And then Damon Martin spoke with Al Jo himself. And I know Al Jos has sort of done the media rounds and he's done other interviews. But I might be biased. But I'm serious. I've watched all of them so far.

Anything that's been out there since Saturday, this one with Damon is the one to watch. Trust me. Like no disrespect to those other guys and those other reporters. but uh damon got more out of aljo than anybody else there's a long relationship there there's a comfort level if you will between the two of those guys this was something else well over a 30 minute conversation and it was amazing aljo opened up like like never before if we're being honest but uh we also broke down all the major storylines on the post fight show on between the links onto the next one for the future stuff but uh we're going to dive into more of ufc 259 some of the

under the radar moments as well on the show this week. So let's get right into this. Let's run down the lineup. We'll get to our first guest. I think you guys will really enjoy this episode. We're going to wrap things up with Tim Elliott, who got a big win over Jordan Espinoza on Saturday at UFC 259 from a skills perspective, from a mixed martial arts perspective.

I thought this was Tim Elliott's best performance overall in his entire career. Of course, it wasn't the story. The victory wasn't the thing on everybody's minds. when the fight came to its conclusion. I think you all know what happened by now. We'll talk a little bit about that in the conversation, but it's a really interesting interview, really interesting chat with Tim Elliott,

the relationship he has with James Krause that the trust he has in him is just unbelievable. I really think you're going to dig this interview and what he's looking at next, especially what he's looking at next. There's some exciting stuff that's on his mind in terms of the future. One person who is watching the Banimway title fight of UFC 259,

very closely was Rob Font, the number three ranked Bantamweight in the world. He's road-tripping down to Philadelphia. One of his fighters is competing for CFFC later on today, as a matter of fact, on Thursday on UFC Fight Fast, so I wanted to get Rob's take on what happened in the Bantamweight title fight. Al Jermaine Sterling becoming the new champion, what he thought of everything, and where he fits into this puzzle, you'll hear that conversation a little bit later on. Sean Brady got himself a big win on Saturday.

he remains undefeated. He's four now in the UFC, submits Jake Matthews in the third round. Biggest win of his career, big statement win for the Philadelphia native. And now he's in the top 15 at 170 pounds in the UFC. We'll get his thoughts on that, the fight, what he's looking at next and more. A lot of interesting options could be on the table for one, Sean Brady. Dan Ege returns to action this Saturday, UFC Vegas 21, takes on Gavin Tucker first fight since the loss to Calvin Cater on 4.

Fight Island in July. Second opponent for this card, as you recall, he was supposed to fight Ryan Hall before Hall suffered an injury. And also his last fight before becoming a dad. So we'll hear from Mr. 50K himself in around 25 minutes. But I wanted to bring back one of our favorite guests, one of our favorite people, and get her perspective on the major storylines that happened on Saturday night in Las Vegas at UFC 259. So let us kick off what the heck this week with Loris Sanko. All right, UFC 259, still at the forefront of our minds after Saturday. A lot transpired. And here to discuss it all as somebody who is in Las Vegas this past Saturday.

Happy to have Laura Sanko back on the show. Laura, welcome home. How are you? I'm good. I'm still exhausted. That was a really fun, wild, wild night with a lot of fights. But yeah, happy to be home for sure. Yeah, I mean, it's great to have you here.

Obviously, there's a lot to discuss. But before you get into specifics, you know, this is a big one. you said, there were three title fights, 15 fights total, some great performances. So unfortunate things along the way, but overall, if you're looking for an event to, I guess, invoke emotion and create conversation in the aftermath, this one provided that and much more. Did it not? Oh, in spades. There was controversy.

There was dominance. There were, you know, razor close fights. This card had a little bit of something sprinkled in there for everybody. So, yeah, it was a good night for sure. It was capped off by Jan Blyovych, who hands Israel Adasanya, his first professional MMA loss. He remains the light heavyweight champion of the world came in about a two to one underdog, used a wrestling and heavy top game down the stretch to get it done.

I thought the scoring was a little bit off in terms of the numbers, but I thought the right guy won the fight. Do you agree with that? I completely agree with that. And that's the right way to put it, too. The right guy won the fight, Jan Buehovic clearly, especially those last two rounds secured it with all the top time. And I do, if I'm trying to remember right, it's a little bit of a blur.

I think it was round two where he had another really, a really good showing in that round. Izzy was in the fight, clearly, but the big question going into that fight was, is the weight going to be a factor? And the answer is yes, especially when it comes to those grappling exchanges. And, you know, I know Israel-A-Sania is good on the ground and he was very excited about his purple belt. and I'm sure he knows his way around, but Jan Boehovic is a black belt. He is so fundamentally sound, and he's a big dude.

I mean, it was funny to hear, I think Dana made a comment. He's like, well, you know, Izzy's taller. Izzy might be taller, but Jan Buohovic, I'm telling you, I've stood next to them. He is just a broad, thick, strapping man. I do think that that played a big role in it.

It was a good fight, though. And while it wasn't like, you know, I wasn't necessarily on the edge of my seat every single second, it was like watching a really, really violent chess match. And there's something pretty cool about that. It was one of those things where, I mean, obviously the story was seemingly built around Adasanya and his chance at history. Boehovic continues to play the dog role to perfection. But considering what happened in the Bannonweight title fight, which we'll get to in a moment, I've said this before.

I feel like the MMA gods who can be very evil. times. I think they came around some good karma at the end of the night because we got a competitive made event. Behovic gets the biggest win of his career. Adasania took the defeat like an absolute legend. So both guys, stocks rose in my opinion, and Glover Tashara at 41 years of age is going to finally get his title shot. So it seemed like everything played out as good as it could have, didn't it? Doesn't it just feel good when the right guy wins and the guy who doesn't win still feels good about how he did and is still so classy and, you know, you're still going to want to watch him fight next time he fights. And then like you said, the right guy is next in line. It's kind of,

this rarely happens in MMA. And it's, it is, it's just kind of a feel good story all around. Like, and, and I think you nailed it again. I mean, Israel and Asanaa, in my opinion, took that loss the perfect way. I've always appreciated how Connor McGregor handles his losses. and I feel like Israel did the same thing to go out there, to talk, to be open about it. And he's right. I mean, you can't, you got to try, right? You can't fault someone for trying. To try at greatness and not succeed at it in your first attempt is totally fine, right?

I can't wait to watch him continue to dominate the middleweight division. But I do believe, I really do believe that he could potentially take another staff. at light heavyweight with the right opponent, the right situation, and you might approach it differently. It was just a good way to wrap things up. Odyssey is going to go back to 85. Things are really interesting down there. And then before all that went, all that went down, co-main of Anna Manna Nunes defends

defends her title against Megan Anderson. Of course, you and Megan have been tight for a long time. She gets her first opportunity to become a world champion. It didn't go her way. Can I just ask what Saturday was like for you on that end? because I know you've had friends and teammates fight quite a few times. In fact, it happened earlier in the night with Tim Elliott. But what was going through your mind on Saturday when it came to Megan's fight with Amanda?

Was it difficult for you? You know, it's really not. I mean, it, I shouldn't say it. It's always, it's always extra when you're watching a teammate fight. But I know that she had put in the work. She had done everything she could to be prepared for that fight. And, you know, when I'm working a fight night, I'm very much. in that mode of like, I'm watching the fight to report on it and all of those things.

So it's not, I don't know, it's not overly emotional for me, but it is, you know, there's always there's always that little something extra there for sure. And, you know, Tim Elliott probably even more so because he and I, he used to be one of my my main training partners. So that one probably even actually had a little extra spice on it. You know, Megan, Megan prepared and she did what she needed to do. And I know that she'll be back. A lot was made on social media about Megan's body.

language heading into the building. And that was something I thought about as well. But when she made the walk to the octagon, I mean, she looked ready to go. She had that look in her eye, like she wasn't just there to paraphrase Conne McGregor to take part. She was there to win a championship. It didn't obviously work out that way as Amanda Nunes did what Amanda Dunes has done so many times before. But were you kind of seeing the chatter about the body language walking into the building

and people reacting to it? I think what people don't realize is that a lot of times those arrival shots are taken two and three times. Like, and I think that happened with hers, where she walked in for real, and then the camera crew didn't quite catch it right. And so they had her do it again. And yeah, it didn't look good. But I think, honestly, what you saw on her face was more annoyance than anything. Like, you know, like, can I just please get to my goddamn locker room and warm up? You know, like that part of it, I understand why people thought that and they're not wrong, but I think that there there's more to it than maybe people realize.

I think it was the second time she had to do it. Yeah, I can't imagine. Like, you know they're there and you're like, okay, I'm ready. And then we, oh, no, we're going to do it again. No, we got to do it again. You go out of the building and just come in and pretend it's the first time again, you know. That's, yeah, it's got to be super frustrating when you're preparing to fight freaking Amanda Nunes of all people.

And, you know, to kind of watch what Amanda has done in her career. Now she's a mom, dual champ, all-time legend in the sport. Like, for you specifically, like, you, went from Fighter to Broadcaster, what has that been like for you to see what she has done for the sport and for women anywhere, everywhere, honestly.

It's amazing. It's truly, truly amazing. And it was funny because I was having this conversation with my husband. And he said, you know, I remember, because she and I fought on the same card in Invicta.

And she's like, he said, I remember seeing her, you know, sitting on a bench in this, where we fought in Victa back in the day, was this shitty old building in Kansas City, Kansas. And, you know, especially back then, there's not media. There's nothing fancy about it, right?

Like, it's, Invicta has always been super special, but they don't have the UFC budget. So it feels more regional, uh, MMA-ish. And she's sitting there and like doing her thing. And you got to remember, too, like Amanda Nunes was not the goat when she was fighting back of the day. So to me, that makes her ascension so much more special. She had ups and downs and downs. She had ups and down. She's lost to the Sarah DeLelios of the world. So for her to pick herself up, dust herself off, and really be coming into her prime at, I think she's 32 or maybe 30, I can't remember now, but early 30s, to be coming into her prime at this stage of life, to be a mom and just literally be on top of the world is so, it's just so

freaking cool. And honestly, I've had, she's a wonderful human. being. Like what you see of her in her interviews, what you see of her on her Instagram or whatever it is, is her. She is as wonderful a person as she comes across, so genuine, so caring, and I just could not be happier for her to continue to dominate these two divisions. It makes the future interesting, but I'm thrilled that she is kind of the one holding the flag these days because it just couldn't be held by a better person. So what do we do with Amanda Nunes now, Laura?

That's the question because Giuliana Pena has been very vocal. She wants the opportunity. She was supposed to fight Holly Holm. Reports her out that that fight is now off. You know, Juliana looked great in her last fight. The only woman in the top five right now on a winning streak is Yonakunitskaya. So you also have Jermaine Duranemi who submitted Pena last year. And I spoke with Jermaine after that submission.

She said she wants to fight Nunes one more time. And if she goes in there, fights her and loses, she's done. She will put her career on the line to fight. Amanda Nunes for a chance to be champion one more time. What do we do with Amanda now? It's so hard, right? She has, she's cleared out two divisions. And it's tough to say, I wouldn't mind the Giuliana Pena fight.

I actually wouldn't mind the Duranina fight. It's an interesting thought that she puts out there because, you know, normally if you were just going down a list, she's already fought her, she beat her, you know, you scratch that one off. But that was a good fight. and if Germain can approach it differently, you might see a slightly different, you start making these straw man arguments, honestly.

Like, there is no clear, good answer. I wouldn't mind a third fight with Valentina Shavchenko. To me, she is the person who has come the closest to beating Amanda Nunes. And a lot of people argue she did beat Amanda Nunes. Was it the first or the second one? The second one. The second one.

Yeah. A lot of people, feel like she got that fight. So for her to be the one who has come the closest, to have equality in terms of like their status as fighters, I think makes the fight way more interesting. No offense to Giuliana Penninga, no offense to Jermaine Durandmi or any other worthy contender. But for in terms of like paperbue pull, Shevchenko versus Nunes three, I think, you know, makes a lot of sense. Although normally you don't get that third fight when you've beaten someone twice. That's just the situation we're in.

Yeah, I mean, that's probably like the brass ring, so to speak. Like could be, you know, maybe the last time we see Amanda, like if Amanda wants to do one more time and challenge yourself at best, it's probably that one. Of course, Valentina's got her hands full of Jessica and Drudge coming up in April. So we'll see what happens there. And I think Amanda wants to spend some time just being a mom. I don't think we're going to, I know they said they wanted to,

turn her right around and certainly money changes when he changes everything but from the sound of what everything she was saying she wants to see her family she wants to spend time with nina and just enjoy being a mom yeah and Amanda should have some clout right now too she should be able to whatever she wants she should be able to fight whoever she wants to at this point she's earned that but before all that happened of course we have a new bannamway champion and it happened in a way that nobody wanted to see it. Piotr Yan looked, at least in my eyes, to be heading towards a title defense.

Who knows how the final seven minutes or so would have played out, but he makes definitely the most costly error in UFC history. He leans that a legal need, Al Jermaine Sterling. He gets disqualified, and he loses the title on top of that. As you're watching this play out,

like, how are you reacting to this? I just couldn't believe it was happening. And I was going to say again, because of the whole John Jones Anthony Smith situation, And it was so bizarre. The whole situation was so bizarre because it was like not, it was not close to being legal.

Like not even a little bit. He wasn't even in some sort of transitional up or down. He was clearly on the ground with, I think, five points. I mean, I want to say I know he had one leg down, one foot down, and his butt was pretty close to touching. the canvas as well. He was clearly down. And then to go back and when they showed the cornerman, this is what I thought was interesting. So you had Pahumpa from ATT clearly only punches, only punches or something on those lines. And then the other guy, and I don't know the gentleman's name,

who I believe was speaking Russian, when Piotr lands that knee, he goes like this. Like, good job. And then, and Pahumpa goes like this, you know. So clearly he was getting, some sideways information from his corner, and that was kind of what we heard on the broadcast that Habib was indicating as well. So while it was obviously a foul, and I think that the right thing happened, I don't think that Peodorion is some dirty fighter who did it knowing that it was illegal in that split second. You know what I mean? Like he doesn't want to give up his title like that, and Al Jemaine Sterling doesn't want to win the title like that either. It was just, it was so unfortunate because

Piotr Yan was winning the fight and I thought he looked great. I thought El Jermaine Sterling was still very much in the fight though and now we'll never know. But I think it opens the opportunity to potentially, I would like to see them run it back. Would be immediately my thought.

I mean, I know it sucks for Corey Sandhagen to have, oh great, now I've got to wait even longer potentially to get in there. But you have to run this one back as soon as possible. We talked about like, good about how the card ended and sort of the aftermath of people and what people are saying. But we've seen a lot of ugly come out of this situation because I've seen fighters and fans, even members of the media claiming that Aljo was faking, he was acting, and, you know,

he could have kept going. But listen, as unfortunate as it was in the way it played out, Algebra and Sterling is the band-and-weight champion right now. It's a tough spot to be in because you're the champion. You worked so hard to get there. And if you celebrate it in any way, people just hammer you for it. I mean, you've got to feel for Aljo in this situation right now, even though, let's be clear, he doesn't write the rules. This wasn't his fault at all.

He's the champion, and he can't even enjoy it. Exactly. And that's exactly right. I mean, how crappy is that? Something happens to you completely out of your control. It happens in a negative way to you. He was clearly hurt by that knee. That was not one of those ones where you're like, I don't know if he's playing this up a little bit.

That knee hit him hard. and square and that was a fight changing strike that was illegal. So all of these things are completely outside of Al Jemaine's control. And God forbid he spends some time with his team holding the belt and take a picture. I mean, my gosh, I love this sport and we do have some good fans, but we also have some fans that I just want to ring their necks sometimes. You know, it's just a, unless you've been in there, like, I just feel like you don't, can't have an opinion on that, right?

Like, it's so wild. Like, he didn't even post the pictures. Like, the one that got, you know, that's on the spotlight now, Maraub de Wallis really wanted to take a picture with the guy. He's helped get to that point. Here, put the bell on your shoulder, man. Post the picture. And they're like, oh, look at Aljo.

He's sitting there saying, I'm the champion. He had nothing to do with it. And, I mean, you saw how he reacted in the octagon. He took it off and threw it on the ground, you know? It's not like he grabbed the belt and hoisted it in the air and was like, I did it, you know. It's just, it's really unfortunate that someone would give him a hard time about it because, you know, the fact is he won the fight. Now, he won through DQ, but he won the fight. He is the champ. And nothing about that is incorrect. So we need to see them fight again, absolutely, and then we'll know more then. But at the moment, the right thing happened, and he's got the belt. And good for him. I mean, if there wasn't enough heat between these two guys already, I mean, the rematch is going to be ridiculous. And like, I'm a silver lining. guy, it stinks at the fight ended the way that it did, but now we're going to get it again

with both guys already seeing with the other brings to the table. There's really no mystery there. We could get five more rounds and depending on how it plays out, we could get maybe 10 more rounds of this. And I'm okay with seeing these guys fight every week if possible. This is wild. Yeah. And I think, I will say that I think Al Jameen Sterling will come into this next fight really focusing on his strength, conditioning and cardio because I do feel like he was starting to fatigue a little bit. He, you know, he came out that first draft. out hard. I mean, pressuring right from the bell.

And Piotr Yan fights kind of like he is in real life, which is this stoic sort of like icy, stays the same pace. And you could see the momentum in the fight really shifting toward Jan as he kind of took that momentum over and had the better gas, it seemed like, toward the end of in the fight there. So I actually love a second fight because, like you said, they've felt each other, they've had their hands on each other, they've had, you know, Al Jermaine Sterling has had the experience of trying to manage a five-round fight and maybe he can

approach it a little bit differently next time. So I look forward to that fight again and it might look different. I mean, the name will definitely look different. It might look a lot different too. How scary is Islam Makachev? Oh my gosh. And to hear D.C. about that guy, I mean, we've all heard it on camera, but to hear him talk about it behind closed doors and the stories he tells of the things that that guy has done in the gym and to whom he has done them, that guy, Islam Machachev is going to be a big deal on that division. He is terrifying. And to put it bluntly, he's Habib with already good striking. You know, Habib has good striking now, phenomenal striking in the Justin Gachi fight, but imagine if Habib had started with

that striking. That's what you have in Islam Machiv. Of course, we did see your guy, Tim Elliott, have a great performance. We saw a little bit of everything in that fight, some trash talk, which we don't really mention here. But, you know, we saw Tim Elliott at the advice of James Krause wiping his blood all over Jordan. Savage. His face is such a savage. What did you make of Tim's workman-like win on Saturday? I was so happy for him. because workmanlike is the exact word for it. And I know that some people would not find it like wildly exciting and he didn't get the finish.

But for Tim to go from what he used to do to what he did in that fight was exactly what he needed to do. Because the thing about Tim was like he was too wild. He was too offensive sometimes, particularly in those grappling situations where he would go for a low percentage submission because he saw it and then he'd fall out of position and end up winning or losing the fight that way.

Tim has always had the skills to be the champion of this division. And I'm being serious about that. I mean, you remember what he did to Demetrius Johnson in, I can remember the first or second round, but he has the skill set. He has always struggled with the fight IQ and not fight IQ in the sense of like, you think of it with guys that are green, fight IQ in the sense that he just, he has needed someone like James to organize him,

to create a system to all of these skills that he has. and put them in a way where Tim can pick and choose in the fight and control the fight a little bit better and not feel like he has to be looking for a finish all the time. So it seems weird to say that I'm like extra proud of him to get to not get a fit. Kind of like Derek Minter, honestly, a lot like Derek Minter. There's like a certain level of pride in showing, okay, you have grown. You can listen.

Okay, now we can start to, you know, feedback in a little bit of that, that finishing desire. and I think you're going to see good things from Tim. And I just can't say enough good stuff about James as a coach. And I think people are starting to catch on. And they're going to see it more and more and more because I'm telling you what he really is something special. And I can't wait for James Gallagher's fight coming up because I think you're going to see it there too. And his fight coming up in Bellator.

He's been out here for several months. He moved from Ireland to Kansas City, if that tells you anything about what James has going on. So, yeah, just super excited. excited and when he told him like bleed right in his face, I was like, yeah, that's what we do in Missouri. We bleed in your face. Right, guys! You're all savages over there.

Unbelievable. What other performances really stuck out to you from the undercard? Like, who would you say like had the highest rising stock coming out of Saturday? Oh, gosh. Help me out with some names here because this is what happens to me after fight night. It just comes a complete blur. But I remember, um, I'm going to throw one.

Let me throw one name at you that I don't feel is getting enough credit. Amanda Lamosh. Yes. Yes. How did she not get a bonus? She's a savage. Because I've seen Lavinia suit as a fight many, many times in person. And that girl is an absolute gangster.

And for her to do what she did, man, Amanda Lemosch is the real deal. And you might look at her record without really looking at it. And she has the loss. But if you tell that that loss was at Bantam, weight to Leslie Smith, if I'm right. So scratch that off. I mean, she is untouchable at strong weight right now. I feel like that.

She's going to be problems in that division big time. Yerosh Medich. Unbelievable stuff from that guy. I'm seeing a contender series and thinking that he seemed very composed for someone so young in his career and not just composed, but a really well-rounded. his skill set. You never know how that first fight in the UFC is going to go. And man, did he deliver?

It looked great. One more name I'm going to throw at you because I've been touting this man for... I thought of one, but you go. Oh, go ahead. Maybe it's the same one. It might be. It might be Kennedy and Zichukwu. Yes.

Well, that's a good one, though. Kennedy and Zichukwu had a great showing. He has struggled in the past with really being able to just pull the trigger, you know, like it was you always had the sense like like come on like he just was never in the fight and that's kind of the sense you had in that first round i mean he was getting clipped by carlos oldberg but for him to go through that fire stay in the fight and you could hear safe i love listening to safe so i would go je's so intense uh just scream at him and then you could see him come alive and man can that kid take a punch another situation where if he can find that trigger a little bit earlier in the

And I think this fight is going to give him a lot of confidence moving forward. If you can find that trigger a little earlier, he's going to be promising in that division. He is a very big light heavy weight. And he can clearly take a hard shot from another very big light heavy weight. So that's that's a dangerous guy. Who were you going to say? Sean Brady. Oh, yes.

Thank you. See, I meant to have a card in front of me. This would have been like incredible, incredible stuff from Sean Brady. That guy is something special. and his, man, his submission skills are wild. And so are his tats. Those are impressive. These first team, all-team tattoo in the UFC is not about it.

Totally. Totally. All-American. Yes. Last thing, kind of putting UFC 259 on the back where we got Leon Edwards back this Saturday against Bala Muhammad. Quick turnaround for Mr. Remember the Name. Really interesting matchup with Edwards on the sidelines for almost two years, taking out a super underrated guy in Muhammad who finally gets his big operative. to make a move in this division. What are your thoughts on the main event this Saturday?

Massive opportunity for Bilal Muhammad. And I'm so glad that they even considered him and that he stepped right in and stole the spotlight because this is a huge opportunity for him to leapfrog his career in a way that would not have been possible otherwise. But Leon Edwards is the real deal. I know we haven't seen him in so long. And he's one of those guys that for whatever reason doesn't always get the shine. The fights are always falling through. his opponents are always getting whatever it is he is the real deal leon edwards can get it done anywhere he has phenomenal wrestling he'll clip you up on the feet um i'm most under guys at the top of that division so ball's got a big task on his hand but that's the perfect opportunity right um belal stock does not go down

one iota if he loses and he has the potential to go in there and kick down the door of that division so I'm super excited for that one. Y'all must have for God versus remember the name. It just sells itself, Laura Sanko. It sells itself. Like right from it was Mike. I like, I know, it just popped in. I was like, oh, maybe I need a new career and just, you know, putting these posters

together. I can't draw, but I can put words together. But, Laura, you're the best. Thank you for doing this. A lot to discuss. A lot to talk about. When are you back on the broadcast? I'm back for UFC 260.

I think I've got LFA coming up in a couple weeks. And then my next UFC will be UFC 260. You'll see me back on the way in show, the new way in show that we've got for pay-per-views, as well as the social media quick hits on Facebook and TikTok and like literally everywhere. So yeah, you'll see me. She's a treasure that Laura Sanko. I got to tell you, I cannot wait to see where she's at from a professional level in like a year or two. Because listen, she's crushing it right now.

but I mean, and I know a lot of people talk about this. I would love to see her get a shot on the broadcast calling some fights for the UFC, you know, the contender series at the very least. I mean, she does an amazing job with Invicta when she's in the booth. Now she's in the booth for a lot of the LFA cards. She's such a talent. It's always great having her on. Her perspective is just outstanding and that's why she's one of our favorites.

Big thank you to Laura Sanko for coming back on the program. We move to our next guest back in action this Saturday. UFC Vegas 21. That one headlined by Leon Edwards versus Belaw Muhammad, a fun one at 170 pounds. Big opportunity for Belaw Muhammad. Let's welcome the number nine ranked featherweight contender in the world to the program for the first time, Dan Ege.

All right, we move ahead to our next guest. He returns to action this Saturday at UFC Vegas 21. A very fun fight, 145 pounds. Taking on Gavin Tucker, let us say hello to Dan Egey, kind enough to join us in the middle of fight week. Dan, how are you, man? What's up, Mike? I'm good, man.

I'm feeling great. Excited to be here. Excited to be competing. Yeah, it's great to have you. This is long overdue for sure. You and I having a conversation. But there's a lot going on in your life, man, including a big fight this Saturday.

Gavin Tucker is a very good fighter, but your original opponent was Ryan Hall, which was a fight that got everybody's attention. Unfortunately, he was forced to pull out due to an injury. You remain on the card. But I'm curious, how did you react when you found out that Ryan was out of the fight? You know what? It is what it is.

And it was a little bit unfortunate because I wanted, I was the guy. I wanted to be the guy to, he said no one wants to fight him, right? So I wanted to be the guy to step up there and go out and shut his game down. But unfortunately he got injured and he sent me a message when it happened. And it's just an unfortunate event. And, you know, that's the sport we're in. You know, we can't control everything in our lives and in her training. So, you know, it is what it is.

But my mindset was set on competing because, you know, obviously I'm going to become a father. And so it really doesn't matter who shows up Saturday night. I'm going to face somebody and it happens to be Gavin Tucker at this moment. So that's what I'm prepared for. Yeah, because, I mean, Ryan Hall, there's like this oar to him. There's that puzzle, which is very fascinating to try and solve. And, you know, like you said, you've been at this for a while. Injuries happen.

Substitution's happen. But I'm curious, like at this point, your career, like going from a guy like Ryan to Gavin, these are two very different guys in terms of strategy, what they bring to the table. Did you have to make a lot of adjustments because of that? Or did everything relatively stay the same? To be honest, mostly everything stayed the same. Even with the Ryan Hullfai, I didn't want to get too caught up on bringing in specialists, bringing in all these guys focusing 100% on leg locks because I feel like that's what everyone's done in the past. And it just doesn't work out for them. And my whole game plan for Ryan was,

I was focused 100% on my training and myself. So with the change in opponents, it really doesn't change anything, to be honest. You know, Gavin Tucker's a solid fighter, and it's going to bring the best out of me. And it's actually a fun, you know, it's a fun, intriguing matchup because he's going to engage.

Ryan Hall was a little different, like you said, a puzzle. And I was excited to go out there and, you know, figure out the Rubik's Cube. But we got a different puzzle ahead of us on Saturday and Gavin Tucker. And I'm excited to solve this puzzle as well. Of course, the last time we saw you compete, it was the fight against Calvin Cater,

main event spot on Fight Island. And it was an entertaining fight to watch. You gave Calvin a hell of an effort, but unfortunately it didn't go your way. Life was a bit different back then for you. But I'm sure you took a lot away from that fight, nonetheless in that experience, what were you able to take away from that fight with Calvin? You know, the fight with Calvin was a great experience.

Actually, my whole year of 2020 was a great experience. You know, I have fighting Mersad in February and then going into the pandemic and getting the opportunity to fight Edson Barbosa on a two-week's notice and coming away with that one, victorious. And then the opportunity came along to fight Calvin Cater. and it was just crazy times and I don't regret one thing, you know, anything that I did. And I came in there on my best and I fell short, but, you know, I took a lot away from that fight. And I feel like what I took the most away was throughout my whole entire UFC career.

I never really, I was on the go, go, go. I was always in camp, always grinding, fight after fight after fight, went on a six-fight win streak. So I took the fast road to the title. You know, that was my goal, obviously. And it still is the goal. But for once, I had a chance to take a little break and sit back and focus on building my skill. Because in camp, you're just focused on game planning and getting in good shape. And but like I said, for once I got a chance to focus on just improving everywhere,

everywhere in my game and my boxing, my kicking, my wrestling, my jiu-jitsu, my press, pressure, my cage control, my mental aspect. And then everything outside of fighting too, my family life, my spiritual life, everything is, I just feel like this is a great time for me right now. And everything's on point. You're going to see a much better fighter come Saturday night. One of the things I really enjoyed about that fight was, I mean, the fight was great, but kind of the aftermath because that fight kind of brought up the best in everybody in a

strange way, like the respect between you and Calvin, Eric Nixick and Tyson Charterier, your team and his, it was just really cool to watch, like, the photos after the fight and whatnot. Like, although it stinks to go home with the loss, being a part of like that positive, like that positivity, that respect in a sport where things can get pretty ugly, that must have been pretty cool for you and everybody else involved, was it not? Yeah, I know, I agree. You know, this, what it comes down to is martial arts and martial arts is all about respect. We could trash each other, bad mouth each other, do whatever, you know, to promote the fight.

But at the end of the day, it's about respect, you know. Win or lose, I'm going to go across the ring. I'm going to shake my opponent's hand. Bitter or not, you know, you have to accept what happens. And it was a cool moment. It was a cool experience. And, you know, Calvin was a great opponent and a great test for me. And at the end of the day, we all came together, shook hands, showed respect.

coaches showed respect and we move on. I actually spoke with Eric last night as a matter of fact. You record this, obviously he was in Al Jermaine Sterling's Corner on Saturday. We talked about you. By the way, that Randy Couture, like life-looking dummy in the gym at Extreme Couture, like that is like the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Is it kind of creepy? Yeah, it's like it's real life, man.

You walk in there every day and see Randy Cotor. Oh, what's up? Oh, that's just about. But we, you know, we obviously talked about you in this fight coming up and, you know, how you're about to become a dad. And, you know, we talked about how motivating becoming a parent can be, especially like when you're a parent. But he says that motivation, that why, it's already there for you.

Like, he sees it in you already in the gym, training. He feels it every day. Would you agree with that? Like, are you already feeling that extra oomph that comes with being a dad? Yeah, 100%. I mean, it's hard to tell, right? Because, you know, I don't have a kid yet, but I feel it. I feel like I'm already a dad.

And I feel like just that aura, that energy is there. And, you know, coming home every single day after a hard day of training or a hard day of work and then see my wife pregnant carrying her child, like it just gives me a little extra energy to go out and compete every single day and get better every day. And, you know, it's not like I never. had a why before because I did I had I'm a you know big man of writing down goals and you know having a a plan to attack but now I I really feel like this is uh this is my calling you know this is how I provide and just I really can't wait I can't wait to be a dad and you know I can't

wait to be a you know a fighting dad it's a you're having a boy right I am, yeah. When's the due day? Is it next month? The due day is technically April 9th. She's 36 weeks Friday, so technically that's full term. So, I mean, it could happen this week. It could happen next week.

But I'm hoping it doesn't happen this week. Have you had like every person in your life that's apparent around you try to give you advice, give you things to like to look at and think about? Yeah, literally everyone. I have a lot of everyone has their two cents and you know I and I take everything with consideration but you know I this is going to be a journey of for me and my wife and our family and it's going to be an exciting one and it'll be nice man I I really can't wait and I'm super fortunate that I have a you know a flexible job like fighting that even after this fight I can just sit back and be with my wife and supporter and as we welcome this child. into the world and, you know, take care of it and then get back to work. Is there like one piece of advice you've gotten where you're just like, huh, really? Like that's the advice?

No, I don't know. The big one is sleep. Everyone's like, get the kid on sleep training and, you know, for sure, it's going to be crazy. And I'm ready for the grind, man. I've grounded my whole life, but this will be a different grind for sure. Absolutely. I'll give you one more piece of advice. Don't listen to anybody.

because your story is different than anybody that's given you advice. Everyone's unique. And I guess the other piece of advice I give you is just enjoy it, which it seems like you're already in the mindset to do. But I'm an almost eight-year vet in the dad game. So I can't give you advice on fighting. That's the best piece I can give you. But you get Gavin Tucker this Saturday.

And like you said, interesting, different puzzle than Ryan Hall still creates some great challenges for you. How do you like the matchup from a stylistic perspective? stylistically it's a it's a great matchup and it's a fun matchup because you look at Gavin and you look at myself and we're pretty similar especially in our attributes or strengths he's almost a mirror of myself he's a he's a solid paul he's a pressure fighter he's a black belt and jihitsu he's got great striking great boxing great kicks and it's going to be fun it's like for once i get to fight someone my stature i've i feel like every time I fight someone, they're like six foot five.

And it's, yeah, for once I get to fight someone, it's actually a little bit shorter than me, and I have a reach advantage. So that's going to be awesome. Nice. I mean, he's looked really good in his last three. Of course, he had the two finishes, but I thought the Billy Q win, his last fight, that was the one that really opened up a lot of eyes because you got to see the full arsenal. We got to see 15 minutes.

What did you make of that performance in particular, seeing him go the full three rounds and looking as good as he did against a really tough guy. Yeah, his last fight, he looked great. He looked great in all of his fights. You know, aside from the Rick Glenn fight, he came back strong, and he's been on a tear ever since. And his last fight against Billy Q, a very tough, you know, promising up-and-coming prospect.

You know, he went out there and put a pace on him. Billy Q tried to set the pace, and Gavin was able to match the pace and just be a little bit better in every exchange. So, you know, that's why I'm excited because I'm a pace setter. So I have a guy that's going to be willing to match my pace and be willing to go blow for blow and take down for takedown and strike for strike. So it's going to be a fun match. It's going to be a fun fight for the fans. And, you know, I look forward to competing with Gavin.

I was talking to Eric about this last night. We talked about like Casey O'Neill and the performance she had in her debut. and also Julian Orosa, because I think Julian orosa is one of the more underrated, feel-good stories over the last year just to see him come back and get a couple of finishes and look as good as he had. As a teammate, you know, a fellow 45, you know, seeing what that guy has been able to do, seeing the ups and downs, the adversity he's had overcome. Has that given you a little extra pep, like some inspiration, seeing him come through like this?

For sure, man, Julian's, he's been a great training partner. And watching this guy's career, I was watching this guy's, I, you know, obviously when he was on the ultimate fighter, I got to watch him compete there. And I was a fan back then. I'm a fan now. And getting to train with him every day and see him battle through adversity, get cut from the UFC, make a comeback. He cut from the UFC and make it comeback. And now he's doing good.

And now he's winning. And I feel like everything is coming to fruition for Julian. And, man, that's one of the toughest guys in the room. He's such an awkward style. and he's such a competitor. So it's great to have a guy like Julian in the room. He definitely pushes me and motivates me. And for instance, he fought on Saturday 1.

He was in the dream 9 a.m. on Monday morning drilling. So that's inspiring in its own. So I'm super happy for Julian and he deserves all the best. Yes, like I said, such a great story. your story continues on Saturday. Your last fight pre-fatherhood, man. How do we get this thing done? Dude, I know, right?

I'm definitely, I'm going to go out there. I'm going to put it all on the line. And I just talked to my wife before I got here in quarantine. I told her I'm coming home with both paychecks. And a potential $50,000. So that's the goal. I wanted to touch on one last thing. I appreciate the time.

I know it's Fight Week, but I saw the other day, you posted a video of your MMA debut, and you talked about having no striking experience, but you're watching old Mike Tyson highlight videos, and that fired you up. It kind of molded your game plan for the fight. And also, I think your opponent told you at Wayans, he had a wedding to go to,

so you took it easy on his face and dug into his body. I mean, that's pretty wild that in your first fight, you have the wherewithal to look out for your fellow. man like that. This was what in 2011? Yeah, that was my amateur MMA debut. It's actually funny because I got a new opponent the day of the wayans. I showed up to the

way in my original opponent, whoever I was supposed to fight, didn't show up. And there was another guy there and this guy, he was known. He fights on like every single card. He's probably had 40 plus amateur fights and loses a lot of them. But they came to me and they're like,

hey, we got this guy. And actually his name was Micah Ige. He had the same last name as not related at all. But I asked my cornerman and what they thought about it and they're like, you know, I think you could take this guy. And like I said, I had zero striking experience whatsoever. I wrestled a little bit in high school, wrestled a little bit in college. And I think I was a blue belt or purple belt at the time in jihitsu. So, you know, I was confident because I was competing in BJJ competitions. and stuff and I was doing good. You know, I had that fire in me to compete.

And yeah, at the night of the fight, I remember, you know, I didn't even know how to be nervous yet. Like, I wasn't nervous, but I just remember not having any striking experience whatsoever. And there was people at the fights, whatever, I don't know if it was my cornerman or what, but there was literally people like telling me how to throw a right hand. And so I was watching Mike Tyson, turned on some. some highlights and right before the fight got pumped up and went out there and got to finish. What did your quarter say to you after the fight? Like, you know, you're sitting there just

throwing those hands. I don't even remember, to be honest. I just, like, I felt like I was Tyson. I finished the guy and I didn't jump on the cage. Like, I just cracked my neck and walked away. Like, yeah, I'm the man. And it was from that day that I knew that was my path. At the time, I didn't know if I wanted to be a fighter. But after that day, I knew for sure that was a, that my calling. So wild, man. I'm curious, like 10 years later, seeing where you are now in the UFC, you're a top 10 guy in one of the craziest divisions in the sport, you're about to become a dad, if present Dan Ege could go back in time and talk to like that guy, the guy who had no striking experience, going in there watching Mike Tyson highlight real videos before his MMA debut, if you go

back and talk to that guy, what would you say to him? Honestly, I wouldn't change the thing about me. I feel like I've always had the dream. I've always had the vision. I ignored the naysayers. Here I am now. I had 11 amateur fights. I'm on my 17th, 18th professional fight. I'm a veteran, man. I have a lot of experience in this game. And from day one, and for any up-and-comer listening to this or anyone that has any type of dream, it's just like stick to the game plan. Don't listen. to the naysayers because I don't know for how long I had to listen to, you know, even close friends, close, close relatives, my parents just like, I'm not making a dollar. I'm not getting fights. People are pulling out of fights and you just have to ignore all that, you know, have the vision

and mind and keep attacking the goal and take a step by step by step. And here I am today in the UFC. And it's a dream come true, man. I'm living my dream. As we head to our next guest, we're going to check in with the number three ranked Bantamweight in the world. He was watching the title fight at UFC 259 between Piotr Yan and Al Jermaine Sterling very, very closely. So let's get his reaction, one of the founding members of the New England cartel, Rob Font. All right, with everything that happened on Saturday night in the Bannamweight Division, I wanted to check in with this man, the number three ranked Bannamweight on the planet. Let us say hello to Rob Font, who is kind enough to join us in the middle.

of a New England cartel road trip. Rob, how are you, man? I'm doing good, man. How are you doing? I'm doing good, man. Big week for the squad. You guys are heading to Philly. The whole founding crew is in tow,

as well as the surging prospect that's going to be competing later on this week. Let the folks know why this road trip is happening, and what's going on? Yeah, you know, we're heading to Philly. Looking like, you know, get a knockout with my boy in time bags. You know, he's up and coming

and making his pro debut on short notice, so we're jumping the jeep and flying out. I mean, we're riding out there now. There you go. So the last time we spoke, Rob, it was a couple of days after the Naka went over Maro Marius. It shot you into the top five. And since then, you've already bumped up two spots to number three. It doesn't get much better than that, man. How does it feel to be a top three guy in the world right now?

You know, obviously it's a great checkpoint, but, you know, the job's not done yet. know, you said I've got to get to that belt. But, you know, I'm not combining number three guy in the world. So, which all that means to me is I have options now, you know, I have options to eventually get closer to that belt. So I'm excited. Can't wait to find out who we don't fight next. But, yeah, I'm excited.

Obviously, like you just said, with that number next to your name, the road to a title shot in the UFC gets a little bit shorter. Of course, there was a big title fight on Saturday at UFC 259 between Piotrion and Al Jermaine Sterling, which ended in the title shot in the UFC, you know, the UFC, you know, the most unfortunate way that you can draw up. But before you get into how it ended in the aftermath, that at all, what did you think of the actual fight? Like, was it how you expected it to play out,

or were you surprised with the first 19 or so minutes of the fight? No, I figured it would play out like that. I was curious to see how Al Jermaine would do in the first two rounds. And if he could be able to keep that pace up. And, you know, he was doing all right. You know, wasn't, like, landing much, but it was definitely busy. I would definitely impress with how patient Jan was. So, you know, I also saw some holes, saw some good things.

Overall, the fight was okay, I guess. But then obviously you had to end it, you know. So, you know, I wasn't, you know, I wasn't definitely, you know, how do I say? Like, I wasn't, like, too impressed with Al Jermaine, except for the fact that he can keep pushing the pace. And then, if anything, you know, so I was a little more impressed with how slick Yon was with his takedowns, little tricks, I mean, little trips and all that. So, but yeah, you know, a tough fight. They did their thing.

I just want to, I want them to hurry up and do the remand so they can get out the way so I can, you know, get myself in there. So, though, I mean, I'm sure everybody watching this knows what happened. There's like 30 seconds left in the fourth round. Sterling's on the mat, knee down, points of contact down. and then Jan drill Sterling with the illegal knee, puts Aljo in a very bad way. Referee gives him some time. The doctor comes in, the doctor leaves,

and then the doctor comes back in, and the fight is finally ruled a DQ, and Sterling is the new UFC Bannamway champion. What are you thinking watching this all go down? I'm just thinking, like, man, I'm going to have to wait a lot longer, man. That's all I'm thinking. I'm going to have to wait a lot longer,

but I'm going to have to do the rematch. And then, you know, I also, obviously, I was a little confused on what was going on. And then once I feel like once like it got to like that two minute mark, I like, he's no way he's getting back up and fighting. So it's all right, well, how to just play out. And then, you know, it played out the way it played out. Again, that's how that means.

I still got to wait a little longer to finally find out who I'm fighting. And, and, obviously, they got to do this again. I'm not sure when they're doing it, but they have to do it again. And, yeah, man, I'm just like, I'm just a little upset, man, because it's like shit, man. Like, hurry up, man. I'm, you know, smooth as division on. I mean, nobody, obviously, nobody is happy with the way this all played out.

You have your own perspective on it. But, you know, even Al Jemaine being the champion right now, he's gotten a ton of heat from all this, even though he did absolutely nothing wrong in this situation. Have you seen the amount of, like, negativity thrown his way by fans, even members of the media, even fellow fighters in your division? Yeah, man, it's tough. You know, it's tough when you, when you were in the,

John Jvain's position, you know, he, uh, you know, he's always out there. He's out there. He's always, uh, he's very opinion it, you know, so when you don't like, you know, when you, when you kind of, that and then I think, how do I say, like, you have the Anthony Jones, I'm sorry, Anthony Smith and John Jones situation. So when there's, like, a situation that already played out and he had something to point at, and it's just, I feel bad for them as far as, like, you know, like the, the critics and the media are definitely going to roast them, but, you know, technically it probably wasn't the worst move either.

So yeah, I mean, it is what it is. I kind of feel bad for him, but, you know, it is what it is, man. I'm not sure if, like, this even jumped into your mind at all, but have you thought about what it would be like if you were in Al Jamein's position? Sort of. You know, I don't know. I don't know how I would make that decision, you know,

just getting in the face. That's a tough decision. It's, you know, he's on the spot. financially makes sense, right? So definitely a smart move. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know how it would do with that. I don't know how he was.

I don't know how tired he was. I don't know what he was feeling like that. But it's definitely a shitty situation, you know. And if that's in the title fight, but if I had a chance that should know the rules. There's been some debate over the last couple days about whether or not Jan should even get the immediate rematch because of the mistake he made.

Like he lost the title. you know, if they run it back, Al Jermaine's going to get the extra money, is going to get the pay-per-view points, et cetera. So I'm curious to get your thoughts on this. Is that enough punishment in your eyes? Or do you think because of how it played out, not knowing the rules, making that big mistake, that Jan should have to maybe get in the back of the line, so to speak,

and work his way back up? I don't know. That's tough. I can see that playing out, but I definitely did they do the rematch. You know, he definitely, he definitely was the guy, I mean, sorry, Yon was definitely, you know, yeah, it's tough, man.

It's tough because, like, I want to see the rematch. You know, I want to see the rematch and get it over. But, you know, if I was in his edition, I definitely would want that rematch as soon as possible. But if he waits, like, what do you give him to wait? You know, he's the ex-champ. So it's tough. I don't really know, honestly.

When we last spoke, you were hoping to get something cooking sooner rather than later to kind of keep this momentum going, and the division has gotten really interesting. of course what happened on Saturday. Corey Sanhagan's knockout of Frankie Edgar. Of course, we got T.J. Dillishaw coming back. I know you want that fight. Corey wants that fight as well.

We got Garbrand, Aldo, Yon and Sterling are probably going to be matched up. What do you think happens here? Like, I feel like there's going to be an unfortunate odd man out of this equation, unfortunately. But if you had the Mighty Pencil, how would you kind of book this division if you could? I say you do TJ versus San Hagan, book three match, and then give me Cody Garbrand. and, you know, make a supercard for the 35ers. I like that idea. Any thought as to when you'd like to get back in there at this point?

You know, the rumor is, you know, May, May. Looking at May, hopefully, you know, looking at a guy like Cody Garband or he holds the old old, but looking at May, just waiting for that contract. There you go. Life's pretty good, man. I mean, it's supposed to be 50 degrees in Massachusetts today, 60 tomorrow. Spring is coming. Cold weather looks to be going away.

Yeah? Hopefully the Patriots can make some moves in the off season. Life's pretty good right now. You bumped up two spots without having to fight. When this comes out. What did you think of the main event on Saturday, Israel-A-Sahia? I can't complain. Boat them two spots without having a fight.

What did you think of the main event on Saturday? I enjoyed it. I just wish you would like it. I definitely enjoyed it. You know, Dion and I can't even pronounce it. How do you pronounce his last name? Lojovich. My whole bitch.

Yeah, I think, you know, he shows some, you know, Rubber Strike and definitely show that he can wrestle and stay on top. But, you know, Izzy just showed that he's a little bit more work off his back, especially moving around with a big guy like that. So it was fun and entertainment and definitely learned a little bit off. Yep, yep, can you hear me? Okay, yeah, I lost you for, like, the last probably, like, 30 seconds of what you just said. Freezing up by here.

Freezing out by here. So you're road-tripping. There you go. Yeah, it's just a wild world right now. We got disqualifications and title fights. We got Tom Brady getting hammered at victory parade. Just wild times indeed, man. Yeah, man.

It's all over. It's wild right now. We're going down in the field to get a big W, so I can't complain. What can people expect from Tom Paggy Lurlo on this week for CFFC? I know there's, like, especially here in New England, it's been tough. He hasn't fought since 2019 because of the pandemic and everything in New England being shut down. I'm sure he's itching just to get a fight. So when the full call came, I'm sure he was jumped out of his seat to take it.

But what can fans expect from him this week? Yeah, you know, you can expect the long-ranging professional. You know, long-range professional. It's going to be well-rounded everywhere this fight goes. You know, the kid trains like a professional. He's around a bunch of professionals. And, you know, he finally gets to prove that he's a professional not amateur tomorrow. It's going to be long-ranging, smart, educated prospect.

He's only what? He's 23, right? Yeah. So definitely somebody to keep an eye on. Yeah, I mean, I know a lot of people in New England are very excited to see what he can do at the pro level. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, he has nothing behind him. He has the cursor behind him.

Yeah, he's going to shine on Thursday. There you go. There he is, Rob Fon, interesting perspective on what happened in the title fight. And I love the idea. of if they can swing it. I mean, of course, Al Jemaine Sterling being cleared is the most pivotal part of this equation all forming. But if Aljo could be cleared and they can turn around Jan Sterling for the rematch in May and then they load up a whole bunch of Bannemweight fights on that card, I mean, that's amazing. That'd be like my dream pay-per-view event. Get font on there,

get T. J. on there, Corey Sanhagen, Cody Garbrandt, Josay Al-Lars. though. I mean, just load it up. Just do a whole night full of Bannonweight fights. I love that idea. I hope that happens. Makes a lot of sense. So big thank you to Rob Fon for that suggestion and make me very happy about what could happen in May. Hopefully we see that go down. And a big thank you to Rob Fon for joining us. As we continue on with Saturday night and what transpired, let's check in with the UFC's newest ranked welterweight contender coming off his 14th straight victory on Saturday night, Sean Brady. All right, UFC 259 went down on Saturday night, as you all know by now.

And one of the big winners in the prelims is this man joining me right now who improved a 4-0 in the UFC. He's 14-0 overall, second straight submission win this time over Jake Matthews and has now entered the top 15 in the Walterweight division. Sean Brady is here, the man with the incredible back tattoo that people just cannot shut up about. How are you, man? I'm good, man. Life couldn't be much better. Big win. Got in the top 15 yesterday.

So I'm a very happy man right now. How often are you asked about the back tattoo, man? It's between you and Alexander Volkov when it comes to like the viral back tats in the UFC. These are the ones that get brought up the most. Like how often is the tattoo brought up to you? A lot. And it's crazy because I like my back tattoo, but like I have other tattoos that I love so much more than my back. Like other Japanese style tattoos.

I'm actually getting tattooed on Tuesday. So once I'm done fighting, I'm getting work added on. So I'm trying to completely cover my body. But the back tattoo, because it's just so big, you know, so that's the first thing people see. With a lot of my other tattoos, it's a smaller space. So you have to look and, like, really see what it is with the back tattoo. And people think it's a big devil mask, but it's really a Japanese Hania mask.

So a lot of people just look at it. They're like, oh, look at the big red devil because it's just so big. But I get asked about a lot, but it's all good. Who's this better? Yours are Drago Bullcafs? His is done good. There's a page I actually follow on Instagram. They post all Japanese stuff.

And the guy is actually a big fan of MMA and UFC. He posted vocals when he was fighting. And then he tagged the artist and I was looking at the artist's stuff. And I was talking to my tattoo artist about it. He was like, hey, the guy's actually really, really good. So it's done well. It's a good tattoo. I actually think that's a cover-up as well.

So it's done well. It's a good tattoo. It is a good tattoo. You can't take your eyes off of it. What are you going to get this time around? So I have my right leg is fully open. I'm starting a samurai versus tiger on my entire right leg. But the bottom of my right leg has tattoos already. So I have to get it lasered to get it lightened up a little bit so I can get it covered. So we're starting the upper part of my thigh this coming week. So I'm trying to do as much as I can before I start camp again. How long is that all going to take? It won't be done for a long time. I actually, sleeves, and it just depends. I have really big thighs, too.

So my left leg sleeve, which is a dragon, took over a year just because of training and stuff like that. So it's going to take a while. But it's an ongoing process. So I enjoy getting tattooed and I enjoy the ride. So it's all good. We could talk about tattoos for hours, Sean. You have like 7,000 more than I do. But listen, another great performance. Congratulations on the way.

And heading into this fight, I felt like people still had some questions about you, Sean. Like they weren't completely sold for some reason. But fighting a guy like Jake Matthews, I think people felt like this would be the one to answer all of those questions. And you did that with Flying Colors. You were obviously the betting favorite. But did you feel like maybe you weren't getting the respect from the MMA community heading into this fight that you probably should have? Yeah. I mean, Jake's a super tough guy.

Jake's literally been in the UFC since he was like 19 years old on the ultimate fighter. I turned pro when I was 21. It's rather similar time, but he was in the UFC. So all that experience definitely plays into it. But I honestly didn't see anything too negative. I seen a lot of people had me winning the fight against Jake. And I don't really pay attention to that stuff anyway. But yeah, Jake's super tough, and he's a big 170-pounder.

He hits hard. He has really good jiu-jitsu. So it was on paper, it was a good match. And for me to do what I did, I think it proved to everybody who I am. And I'm a problem in this division for a lot of guys. Yeah, I mean, I love the fight on paper. It was one of those fights in my eyes, like the more I looked at it, it was one of those things, like the longer it went, the better it was for you.

Because he likes to come out fast. Yeah. But he does have the tendency to sort of fade down the stretch, especially if someone can put him on his back, which you can do. Turns out you're able to get going right away and start building that momentum early. what did you make of the way he came out, his game plan, and how you were able to execute it for as long as the fight lasted? So my entire training camp, we had a little bit different game plan going in.

So my entire training, say, at camp's 10 weeks long. For eight weeks, my camp was, I was kicking the lead leg a lot because Jay kind of has a karate stance, you know, like, just kind of sideways, his knee points in. So my game plan coming to the fight was to hammer his lead leg. two weeks out from the fight, I kicked somebody's knee, and I honestly thought I broke my foot. I couldn't walk. And then it started to feel a little bit better.

My next sparring session, I kicked somebody's knee again, so I could barely walk. And so my game plan had to shift a little bit, and he stayed a little bit further away than I thought he was going to. He likes to leap in with punches, so I thought he was going to be a little bit closer, and I'd be able to kick that leg. But I knew if I kicked one time, and if I hit his knee, I wouldn't be able to walk. So that game plan kind of went out the window, and I had to lean more on the grappling. And honestly, I really thought he was going to be a lot stronger on the ground. I've seen him grapple with a lot of high-level guys and do very well. It just shows how good my grappling is and how good my wrestling is.

So, yeah, it went very good for me. I'm happy. How bad was the foot? Did it get to that scary place where you almost weren't going to be able to make it? Never, man, this camp, like the last month of my camp was crazy. I got COVID a month out. So I had a quarantine for eight days at my house. Luckily, I have a treadmill and I have weights.

And I wasn't affected too bad. I lost my smell. I lost my taste. And so I was running just five, six miles every day on my treadmill. A buddy of mine recently had COVID, who's a jihitsu guy. He's actually a blue belt under me. So I was beating him up in my garage for an entire week until I could go back to training. So I got COVID.

I came back to training. I hurt my foot. And then a week out, I have bulging disc in my back. My back locked up. I could barely get out of bed. But never once did it cross my mind that I was pulling out of this fight. You know, maybe when I was a younger guy, I just like, oh, I'll just pull out. But I'm at the point in my career.

I need to rally off these wins. And I knew once I got in there, as long as I got into the cage physically, I could win the fight. So the entire fight week, I was just kind of trying to heal my body up and just make it to the cage. Man, fighting's easy, right? Yeah. Fighting wasn't. That was the easier part, for sure. The second round, that's when, like, you really took over the fight.

You even got a 10-8 on one of the judge's scorecards. So, like, between the second and third rounds, when you're sitting on the stool, you must have felt confident that the finish was near. I felt great, man. And even the third round, I hit him with a left hand, and I dropped them to a knee. And I feel like I'm just so composed now, like, where other guys might have tried to rush it. And what Jake has a good overhand. So I dropped him and I was kind of looking at him like, all right, maybe I'll go in.

But I knew he wasn't fully out of it. So I feel like I showed some good composure there and just kept my cool. And yeah, man, he, once I was on top of him, it just, he wasn't getting up. And I knew the finish was near. I think I looked up in the third round. There was two minutes left. And I was hitting him with some good ground and pound. I was like, I can probably finish him.

And once I folded his wrist over, I felt the arm triangle. And that's actually my bad side, my good side, my right side. So, but I heard him gargling, I squeezed and got the tap. That was your first arm triangle submission, right? And it's my first third round finish. So I stoked about that. To be able to finish guys in the third round is a good thing to know. Yeah, especially a guy like that.

That's a good name to have on the resume. Yeah, 100%. I feel like your striking's gotten a lot better too. Yeah. Have you noticed that? Like, does it feel a little more comfortable in there? In the room, bro, if people could see, like my training partners, know, my coaches know, I light people up on the feet. Like my standup is really good, my boxing,

my kicking. Most people can't handle my standup in the room, but fighting, actual fighting is a little bit different and the range always feels a little bit different. So once my striking catches up to my confidence of my grappling, I think I think I'm going to beat a lot of these top guys. And I'm just getting more confident with each and every fight. This is a, like we kind of alluded to earlier, is a statement win kind of by definition, right? Because you're, you know, you're a matchup with Bilal, the fight fell through, and you've been wanting to fight top 15 guys. I know the last time we spoke Robbie Lawler is a name that stuck out to you. And while you're, you were probably on their radars, this win had to have put you over the top and gotten the attention of not just like, you know,

10 through 15, but everybody like they're looking at you now. Like, do you feel that way as well? Like that this was the one to get you over that hump, so to speak? Yeah, for sure. And especially being ranked. I knew there was a chance like fighting Jake. He's 6-1 in Baltimore. It was 6-2 now. But I knew there's a chance, even since we weren't ranked, there was a chance. Whoever won this fight was going to get ranked.

So Tuesday, yesterday, I was sitting in my son and I just looking at my phone. I seen someone put something on Twitter, and I went and I looked, and the UFC's page was an update. I was like, ah, I didn't get ranks, whatever. Then I went and looked again, and it had me ranked, and I was like, man, that's going to open up a lot of people's eyes. So they had me at 14. I'm looking at all the guys right there.

And I'm even looking at the top 10 guys. You know, I know Damia doesn't have a fight. I know Michael Kiesa doesn't have a fight. I'll fight any of these guys. So it's just now it's just a waiting game to see who they want to give me. Damien Maia is a really interesting option because it would be his last fight. Yeah, he doesn't have a fight. He hasn't fought in almost a year.

They still have him ranked. So I'm assuming he still wants to fight. I would love that fight. So we'll see. That would be something. Yeah. That'd be a really interesting test for you. Because he's still, I mean, listen, he's like he's a, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's

up there in age, but, you know, he's such a specialist. If he crimes on your back or gets you on the ground, he'll strangle you. So I definitely would, I definitely would like that fight. There's so many matchups I can do. So we'll see. It's only a couple of days after the fight. I want to let my body heal up a little bit more. But I'm already back training and striking.

I have really bad matburn on my knees from the canvas. So I'll probably try to start jiu-jitsu within like next couple of days. I'll let those scabs heal up. Would Maya be like your top option, perfect world kind of scenario? No, anyone in the top 15. Like, they have me ranked now, which is cool, but I need to show that I belong there. I know I belong there, but I need to fight a top 15 guy to show everybody what's up. The first thing I thought of when I saw the rankings was now he's ranked higher than Robbie Lawler.

So based on the numbers and ranking, et cetera, like that fight becomes much more enticing for him should you want to go that direction. I know you mentioned Lee Jing Liang as an option. And I'll tell you, I'll tell, go ahead. I think that'd be perfect. Him, he fought Jake. Jake beat him and Jake beat him pretty significantly. And I just did what I did to Jake.

I would like to, he's ranked number 12. I'm 14. I think that's a good fight too. Yeah. Like we host a matchmaking show on the website. And the popular name thrown out was Neil Magny. A lot of people want to see you and Neil Magny. fight. But just nice. Like you wake up, it's, it's, it's a Wednesday as a record. And there's a lot of

doors that could be open for you. It's got to feel good. Neal is, I was actually just training with Neil. Neal's a good, good buddy of mine. I, I don't want that fight. I like Neal a lot. And we've been training together a decent amount lately. And I would like to, to keep that going. So hopefully that's not the name they send me. There's so many other options, but we'll see what happens. But yeah, you know, many doors open. It's, it's exciting. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Outside of typical post-fight annoyances, I mean, you're good to go. Didn't see your name in the medical suspensions. You know, you got some lingering injuries, nothing crazy, but... I'm hurt. I'm not injured, you know? We're always hurt. There's always little dings, and I'm just going to let some of these things heal up.

But hopefully, I'm thinking like June timeframe, you know, a couple months from now. So we'll see. I'll have to sit down on my manager, see what Sean Shelby and the guys want. But yeah, there's so many options. I'm excited. Yeah, you go in, you get a win. You're in the top 15. Come out relatively unscathed. And the one thing missing on Saturday was the bonus. I mean, 15 fight card.

The odds are kind of against you anyways, but still, was a part of you hopeful that an extra 50 Gs might hit your bank account? You know, I'm always hopeful an extra 50 G is going to get by a bank. But the prelands were going. Like, we were in the back warming up. And I actually took like an hour nap in the back. And I woke up. and we were watching the fights, and I'm like, man, it's finish, finish, finish, finish.

And after I fought, it kind of slowed down, you know, and the card on paper was insane. It was a good card. I don't think it lived up to what it could have been. So at the end of the night, I knew I wasn't getting it, but I thought, like, it was going to be nowhere close. I was like, all right, like, I got a good submission. I was like, but these next fights are going to be insane, and they weren't as crazy as as I thought it was going to be. So it was lingering in my mind a little bit,

but I was just happy with the win, man. I got both of my paychecks too, so a bonus is a bonus. I got paid and full, so I'm happy. What did you think of Amanda Nunes's submission? Because not a lot of people are talking about. They just expect her to go in and do what she does, but the submission was ridiculous. I believe that people aren't talking about, like, how hard that,

a triangle from the back is, especially against a girl who's competing for a UFC title is very hard thing to do. You know, triangles from your back are crazy, but she literally got a triangle from having her back. It's not an easy thing to do. Like, you don't see that too much in the room. So people are, like, talking about her overhand and everything.

I was super impressed with her, with her submission. She's a beast, man. There's no one, there's no one messing with that chick. So she's such a nice, nice girl too. Like, I seen her. I said hi to her. She said hi to me. She's very nice.

And she's a, she's a killer. What did you think about the Bannamway title play? I know, you know, you and Aljo, you both have that CFFC tie. And it was just unfortunate, man. Like nobody wins in that situation. It sucked. I mean, and there's backlash everywhere. And it's unfortunate that this is the big story heading out of a card of that nature.

But what did you think of that whole situation watching it? Clearly, the knee was super illegal. I don't know why Peter would throw that. You know, it's, Aljo was. clearly down, but I don't think it should have been up to Al Jard. It shouldn't be up to a fighter who just got need in the face as to what's going to play out. Like, I feel like there should be rules in play for that, you know, like, if you get hit in

the NFL, you don't, like, Tom Brady doesn't get to decide, like, what's going to, like, there's just rules in play. And I think there should be, I don't know, it's, it's very unfortunate the way it happened. Clearly, a super illegal need. I don't think Al Jermaine was faking, you know, he's coming. out saying a lot of stuff and he has to defend himself. I mean, I don't know what I would do in that situation. It's easy to say, oh, you could just man up. You don't know how he was feeling. Most of the people were saying, oh, just manned up, probably never even been slapped in their face, let alone

need by a killer like Peter Yan in the mouth. So it's hard to say. Yeah, it's crazy to watch. I'm curious to get your take on Saturday because Leon Edwards, Bilal Muhammad, that's a big one at 170. It's in your division. Belal's ranked, I think one spot above you right now. Well, I'll could shake some things up on Saturday, but Edwards is a tough out, man. Who do you like in that one? I don't know who's going to win, but I think it's going to go all 25 minutes. I don't think either guy is going to, neither one of them are two crazy finishers, you know, but they both set a high pace and I think it's going to go 25 minutes.

I think Ballaw's got better at wrestling. So maybe if he throws those takedowns, put Leon on his back. But I was just watching Leon versus RDA, and he was taking RDA down. I just haven't watched Leon in so long because he hasn't fought in forever. So people forget how good he is. I think it's going to be a good fight. And I kind of called out Ballal after my fight. And I seen Big John McCarthy saying it was a bad call out because I was asking to get him off of a loss.

And now, like, when I heard it back, I was like, it does make sense. I shouldn't be calling somebody off a loss. But if Ballal wins, he gets ranked number three. He's not going to fight me. So I would just mean like, he would be closer to my ranking, you know, and that's, that's, that's why I meant by that. So we'll see. I'm excited. Big John's just poking and prod at everybody these days.

Man, he gives me a lot of love. So it gives me a lot of love. And everywhere, every media thing I've seen, I've been getting a lot of love. So Paul Fowder was super happy for me. He hit me up and he said people were blowing him up about how excited they are for me. And yeah, it's, it's, it's, I'm getting a lot, a lot of. of support. So it's awesome. Yeah, I spoke with, uh, with your man Eddie Alvarez about a month ago and he couldn't stop singing your praises. So I phoned him yesterday. He's, uh, he's getting ready to head

out soon. So I'm just, I told him if he needs anything before he had to. He's fighting a guy a little bit taller than me. So I'm not the best look for him. But, uh, yeah, he's getting ready to go, go do his thing. Eddie's like a big brother to me. So having his support, he facetiming the day of the fight. It's, I got a lot of good people in my corner. Eddie's the man. I've been telling people about this kid for years, and people are starting to see it play out. What a win. What a performance for Sean Brady. A lot of fun options.

That Damien Maya option. It's interesting the more I see it. Like, if you listen on to the next one, I know that was thrown out there a couple of times. I didn't love it at first because it's a risky fight. And if you're going to continue to build these contenders and prospects, Damien Maia is a scary proposition because he can submit anybody on any given night, like anybody at 170 pounds right now, he could do, he could do it. But the more I think about it, the more I'm intrigued by it and hearing Sean Brady talk about it, it's interesting. I'd love to, I'm fascinated by it. I kind of want to see how it plays out.

I don't know if that's what's going to happen, but I'm down. I'm in for it. So either way, a lot of options for Sean Brady, especially in this division. And congratulations to him on another big win. As we get ready to put a bow on this week's edition of what the He's, one more big winner from UFC 259 coming up in a matter of moments, but I just wanted to thank all of you for watching the program this week. This is episode number 49, 50 shows in the books once we get to next week. Just crazy. It'll be one year with MMA fighting coming up the week after that.

March 23rd will be one year. I've been with this amazing team, and it's just been wild. I can't believe it's been a year already. Things have just flown by even with the pandemic. It's wild. but we're just getting started here. Like a lot of work to do. No doubt about it to get this where I think it could be.

But for all you hardcores out there who have been there since day one, it means a lot. So thank you very much. Big shout out to Casey Liden, my hero, the production wizard. He's the one that makes this thing happen on the ones and twos, makes this thing look as good as it looks, makes me look as average as I look. Makes the show roll smoothly.

I appreciate that very much. He's the man. Jose Young's cool out, and the graphics and the social stuff all the time. You all rock. And that's that. We're going to leave you with my chat

with the number 10 ranked flyweight in the world coming off his unanimous decision went over Jordan Espinoza on Saturday night at UFC 259. Mr. Tim Elliott. Enjoy that conversation. And as always,

have a heck of a week, everybody. All right, if there's a way to describe this man's performance on Saturday at UFC 259, I tend to go with workman-like, a dominant unanimous decision win for Tim Ellis. Elliot over Jordan Espinoza, two straight victories for Mr. Elliott.

Great stuff. Tim, good to see you, man. How are you? Good, man. Thanks for having me. Still up here in Vegas, hanging out, trying to get my house ready for rent. There you go. Adulting is tough, man. It's what we got to do. I'll tell you what, man. You have had a lot of crazy fights, great finishes and victories in your career. I got to tell you, I think from top to bottom, this was the best performance of your career. In terms of like mixed martial arts and staying paid. and like staying within yourself. This was a great showing for you, man.

Are you as impressed with your performance as I am and a lot of other people are? I wasn't super happy with it. James Krause said the same thing, though. He said my best performance to date. He's trained with Jordan in the past. He knows how good he is. I'm almost never satisfied with my fights.

But I've had some issues in the past where I just want to do all this crazy stuff and be so, oh, shit. And be so excited. And, fuck, I lost the back of Gina's phone. Hold on one second. But I've just, I've wanted to really work on being exciting and stuff. And it made it, fuck, it made it almost impossible to stay consistent.

And consistency is key. And in this fight, I was able to do that. The whole time I stuck with a game plan, a game plan that we had worked for a long time. And James actually changed twice in the fight. So I'm just lucky enough to have a coach like, him that can pick up on those different things that I'm not even able to recognize. And he can see it and I can make those adjustments in between rounds. And if I can keep doing that, I can keep winning.

Yeah, I mean, I was curious because, like, when you fight a certain way for so long, like you're so fast and furious in that exciting style. I mean, it has to be a challenge at this point to, like, turn that gear off, right? But it seems like you said, like over these last couple of fights, you've done that. And James has been a great influence on that. How would you describe that transition? It's just It's doing less almost

I would overdo things I'll go in I'll work my ass off to get a takedown And then I'll work my ass off to pass Or get them out And then I would do that And then I would scramble somehow To get on bottom

And I would have these 50-50 reversal Flops and now I would go from winning To being on bottom And then I have to do extra work To get up and undo the shit That I did to myself And so it's just doing less Like going and getting the takedown

And then once I'm in a dominant winning position, stay winning. And James is like, you're always getting a hurry to stop winning. Like you did the work to get on top. Like it's not my duty to be exciting for both of us. Like if I get the guy down, it's not my duty to let him get up so I can take him down again. It's on him to do that. And that's what makes a guy tired.

And that's what it works to my style, even though it's not exactly what I want to be doing. It's still it adheres to my style in the sense that I'm controlling and still having fun because winning is fun. So you want to be exciting or do you want to be consistent and win? And I'm going to always have that little exciting factor. But at the same time, I need to add some of that like winning, you know, James Krause shit. And I'm able to do that. I trust the guy.

So he's easy to listen to. I'm a soldier. I'm not. I shouldn't be in charge of anything. But if you tell me what to do, I can take orders well. I could do anything if I have somebody standing over me telling me what to do and how to do it. And James has no problem being that guy. Yeah, I felt like you guys, like, shared a brain on Saturday, you know?

Like, you were in tune with everything he said. But at the same time, like, it was still very personalized instruction. Like, he's still, in a way, let you be you. Even, like, when you got cut in the third round, like, when he told you to, like, bleed on his face, you just flowed right into it. It almost seemed like that's, like, almost exactly what you were thinking in a weird way. Like, can you explain, like, that moment, that flow you guys have, that zone that you just seem to be in with, with each other at certain points. Yeah, man, it's, again, I think it's trust.

Like, I've, I haven't had control of anything this whole entire camp. Like, I, when I got to Kansas City, first it was just, hey, come down for two weeks, get ready for the Benoit fight. We don't have a lot of time. I came down. And I was like, yeah, I'm going to come back and forth through my camps. And James was like, no, you're not. He's like, either you're going to come down here and you're going to be on the team

or you're not going to come here. And so, like, of course, I moved there. And as soon as I got there, I drove from Las Vegas to Kansas City. I got to Kansas City at time for 10 o'clock practice. And when I went into 10 o'clock practice, James is like, this is your schedule. These are the practices I want you to do. This is the strength and conditioning days. These are when you show up for your privates.

And this is your nutritionist. This is who you're working with now. So, Mike, I'm like, okay, perfect, no problem. So I had everything structured and laid out for me to win this fight. And all that comes with trust. And then twice during the fight, the game plan changed. We worked staying left-handed the whole time, Southpaw, trying to shut down his jab hand. and we worked not shooting open mat takedowns,

putting them up against the wall and taking them down up against the wall. In between the first and second round, James is like, yo, the wall shut's not working. I want you to take an open mat, takedown. So right away in between first and second round,

bam, open mat, take down, I'm on top. In between the second and third round, he says, hey, we need to close your stance. You've been saying Southpaw, that head kicks coming. That's the only way he can beat you now is a knockout, something crazy.

So I need you to close the stance, turn to right-handed and fight from there and still with your open mat to take down. made that adjustment got to take down right away uh it's it's so easy to do what he says because you know that he knows what he's talking about not just as a coach but as an athlete he's he's he's the hardest working guy in m mb a he's training he's he's he's a dad he's a husband like he does it all and like he's he's the ruler in the gym and and and everybody looks up to him and everybody stays in line and it's just it's a culture there like we're a bunch of soldiers following our

captain into battle and it's it's no problem for all of us to like just get the reins over and let him take the wheel this sport in particular it's kind of hard to find somebody you can trust like that right like you've been at this for a while and i'm sure you've had great relationships in the past but to like you know put your trust in somebody like this and have it sort of reciprocated that's got to be a freeing feeling at this point in your career is it not it's so freeing and it's it's not easy like you said that's a lot putting, I mean, I'm putting my career and everything, not only that, like, we moved out of a place that we loved in a city that we loved with a team that we love down here in Vegas and coaches that we loved. And it couldn't have been a better, smarter move for us. Like, we're, we're with somebody that that's, it's, the proof is in the pudding.

Like, he's, we're seeing the work, not just with us. Like, guys like Jeff Molina, when I left Kansas City, Jeff Molina was, I don't even know how many fights he had, but now Jeff Malina is one of the baddest dudes on the planet. That dude tears me up in practice. Like there's some days in the gym. There's five or six fly weights in there, several professionals, but even the amateurs. Some days I'll go in there and I'm the fourth or fifth or six best guy in there. And like, it was hard for me at first to go in there and have that happen. And then closer to the fight that it happens, I'm like, good, man.

If I'm the best little guy in the gym, then it's time to like find other guys to come in or have to bring little guys in. And our little group of guys is so good that it just alternates. who's better that week, who's better the next week? And, you know, rarely am I the best guy in there. And it's awesome. Jordan is a talented guy. Like, he's been trying to break out for a while now, but it just hasn't happened for him,

despite being a great athlete and having a lot of skill. Just putting it all together is a very different thing altogether in this sport. I mean, it's just how it is. I know he used to train at Glory and James worked with him, but had you trained with Jordan before? I never have. And honestly, when the fight first got brought, to me, he was training with James. And I called James, like, yo, I'm thinking about fighting this guy.

And James was like, oh, he's here training with me. So I asked for the fight. And the fight was as far as I knew it was going to go through. And then it didn't happen. So I assumed he, you know, just turned it down. And then when I went to train with James after the Benoit fight, he was like, yo, we're going to go after this kid again. And I was like, well, if he's going to come here and train, like, I don't need to fight him. Like, I'd rather have him as a training partner. And James was like, no, he had his chance to come here and train. And that's a good fight for you. So I feel like I had some inside a bunch of guys that had already trained with him. You know, he was in Kansas City for a while.

The other coaches worked with him a little bit. And, you know, everybody has the opportunity to come train with James Krause. And for me, I feel like it's a cheat code. Having my manager and my coach is almost a cheat code in the game because we automatically get respect. And I get put on the level because he's on the level. So like just trickle down from him like my life is going better and Gina's life is going better. And we're both winning fights now. And it's not a coincidence.

And it's, we just, we had to give up everything and change everything in order for that to happen. And it's, anybody can do that. It's just, it's hard. It's hard to risk everything, you know, on a coach. I've, I've done it before. I did it with Robert Follis in the past. And then the guy killed himself. So once before, I had already moved away from a coach that I loved to go train with a guy.

And I gave up everything to go train with a guy. And then he committed suicide. And it was, it took a long time for me to get over that. And then to give up again and give up a house that I love and move and do all this over again is it was a scary thing. But again, like everybody has that opportunity and you just have to jump on those when they come. And I was lucky enough to have a wife that was ready to pack up and go as soon as I said. And now we're there and things couldn't be better. Of course, you know, the performance was great.

The win was great. But you get yourself a winning street cooking for the first time since the ultimate fighter. And before that in terms of like fights actually kind of. counting on your record since you were in Titan FC, and I remember that run you went on there. How does it feel to have a couple of wins under your belt, like consecutive victories? Like you said, it's new to me.

I've never really put a street together in the UFC, and I think that had to do like a little bit with the betting odds. If you look, consistency has not been there. But that was always consistency with what was going on in my day-to-day life that affected my fighting. Now the consistency is I'm training, we'll have a set schedule. I know exactly what I'm going to be doing for the whole camp. exactly what I was going to be doing every single day.

There wasn't a day where I was like, oh, what am I going to do today? I didn't have that. I knew what I was going to do. And it made it easy come fight night. Like, I didn't have to think about anything. I just had to listen and do what I'd already been doing. So it just, everything just takes care of itself if you're doing the right thing and staying consistent.

And I'm doing that now. And that's, you know, like I said, I'm getting older, but I'm getting smarter and I'm getting better. And that's a problem for a lot of these little guys. the one sort of unfortunate thing about the fight is the win isn't the big story tim like it's what happened at the end of the second round the word you had for him and we're not going to like get into specifics here because you explained yourself in the media scrum i did have a couple questions like firstly like does it kind of suck that the story isn't about the win but about

25 seconds in the second round it does and like i said the worst part about it is for is that like the fight's not being talked about but the fight wasn't for me the fight It wasn't the banger that I really wanted, but that's not on me. It takes two guys to fight. And a big part of it was I lost my cool because I wasn't performing how I really wanted to. The things that I really wanted to work that I'd been doing this camp weren't really working. And I was getting frustrated. And I already had a little bit of bad blood toward the guy I don't like him, which is not new for me either.

Usually I'm friends with the guys that I fight and definitely friends after we fight. but with this one I just there was something there and I lost my temper and I took him down and I was talking shit but that was meant like between him and I was I wasn't trying to blast a guy I just wanted to let him know that I knew and get in his head and punish him a little bit but it sucks that that's what's being talked about and you know that's not my place I'm not the guy you know what I mean I want to be the company guy that the UFC can call to come in and and fight and make weight, keep his mouth shut and do his job, and then let it go and then go home and come back and do it again, you know, the next week. And I think I've been that guy in the past and, you know, hopefully it doesn't shadow, shadow me out and I can still be that guy for the UFC. I feel like people make mistakes and I'm no different than anybody else, but 15, 20 fights in the UFC, I haven't made very many and I've never caused the promotion any kind of embarrassment or shame. And, you know, I stand by all that. And I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm,

I'm proud of what I've done in this company. Yeah, I mean, it's a fight. Things happen in the heat of battle. Can I ask you what, like, the beef was before all of this? Like, what was the issue you guys you had with him? I received a couple different messages from people and, like, just saying, like, oh, this guy's not a good guy. And then he also trained with some of the guys in Kansas City. And there's just rumors going around about how he trains with girls and things that he does.

And I'm a guy. I'm a little guy. I train with girls all the time. my fiance, she fights in the flyweight division. I have a daughter. I just kind of lost my cool thinking about all those things. And that just shows my head wasn't in the fight. That's not things I should be thinking about during the fight.

I got to focus on, you know, fighting and winning and doing my job. But again, it's just I'm a guy who's surrounded by women that I love. And I just lost my temper. But I still get messages. People say things on the internet. You know what I mean? You can't really take it for truth. And that's on me.

I made a hash or a rash decision to talk when I shouldn't have. And, you know, it's something I'm going to have to deal with and figure out. But again, I was upset and there's nothing I can do about it now. Yeah, last thing on this. And again, we're not going to talk about anything specific. But like you said, you probably get messages all the time from fans and people. And there was like one message in particular that was kind of like the standout. Do you just wish like you never looked at it?

Like you deleted it or just. it where it was? I mean, the thing is, is whether you win or lose or talk shit or don't talk shit, every single fight, I get,

you get the same thing. It's like people saying, oh, great job, or you suck. And the bad part about what this one is, I think that it upset some of his fans. So I'm getting,

like, messages talking about my daughter and my fiancee and stuff. But again, I don't try to pay too much attention to it. At the end of the day, I'm here to fight.

and win fights and I got to win and I wish that was the story but it's not and all I can do is make the next one you know the story can be about the fight and I got my fiancee coming up next so I have plenty to occupy my time yeah and James is going to be pretty busy too over the next few weeks right always it's like he's in Vegas every Saturday yeah well he doesn't even take his luggage and shit home now he just leaves it here at the hotel he keeps his same room that's so crazy man have you spoken at all with jordan's and Saturday or is there just nothing to say say to him at this point? No, we don't talk. I mean, if he wants, if he wanted to call and have a conversation, we could. I'm still getting messages from people saying like he's a bad guy and stuff,

but the thing is, like, it's not my place. I don't really care. It's all I can do to worry about my own problems. And I have plenty, plenty of things that I'm not proud of that I've done. And, you know, I'm trying to raise a five-year-old daughter to, you know, be a respectable human being. And I have to hold myself to a higher standard. And I have to show her that level of respect. And and you know me talking on the TV and cursing to where she could hear you know she watches my fight so that's not something I want her to see out of me or think that that's that's who I am you know whether he did what he did or didn't like I have to control what I'm doing and you know I think there's a lesson to be learned there for myself and for my daughter and for my

family and for my team my coaches and I'm still learning in this sport and and no Saturday was no different well said so where do we go from here Tim I mean you jump up two spots in the rankings you're in the top 10 again at 125. No shortage of exciting matchups out there for you. There's a fun flyweight bike going up on Saturday with Mateus Nicolao and Manel Cape. Kai Kar-France got a good win on Saturday. Just so many 25ers out there. What kind of sticks out to you in terms of your next move, time frame, et cetera?

Man, as far as time goes, I'm good to go, minus genus fight. But you're right. There's some good fights coming up. Everybody in the division right now is good. There's no, there's no, like, lingers hanging around. All those guys already got fired. So it's, it's a bunch of killers. And being in the top 10 doesn't really mean anything.

The, that mano, Mano Kappa, like, that dude's a gangster. Kai Kara France, like, there's so many good, exciting fights. But those are the ones I want. I want the exciting ones. I feel like this fight wasn't a great stylistically exciting matchup. But I think Kai Kara France would be, you know, he's not going to stay down when you take him down. He's going to get up and try to knock my head in. And I do better with guys like,

that. When I'm getting hit a little bit and getting pushed backwards a little bit, it brings the best out of me. So guys like that are bonus money guys, and that's what I really like. So if I could get my ideal matchup, it would be Kai Kara France, the weekend after Gina's fight. Oh, that'd be a badass fight. Of course, the titles back on the line in June, the rematch between figurato and Moreno, and you've been in there with Figgy Smalls before, but the first fight was absolutely tremendous. So, you know, from a fan's perspective, do you see the rematch going any differently? Did you see things that maybe would lead you one way or the other? Man, I don't know.

With those two, they're so good. I told my dad after the Ultimate Fighter, Brandon lost the first fight on the Ultimate Fighter, so I kind of gravitated toward him and trying to use him as a partner because he was already out of the show. I knew he was good. Yeah, I called my dad right when the show let out,

and I was like, this kid is going to be the champion of the world. I kid you not, the 16 seed on my season of the Ultimate Fighter will be the champion of the world. And I still stand by that. I still believe that. not taking anything away from Figuero. I just think Brandon's a wild man, and he's young, he's hungry. His fight IQ will get better, and I think that will put him over the edge.

He almost, I see a little bit of myself in him. He almost wants to win so bad and do so much, like he almost overdoes it, and you can't do that with a guy like Figuero. He's so freaking good. He's going to make you pay. You make one little mistake, and he's going to make you pay for it. But I'm going Brandon Moreno on that fight. And maybe this isn't the one for him, but I promise you, that kid's going to be the champion one day.

He's good. Such an infectious personality, too. He really is, man. He's a great guy. Of course, you mentioned Gina back in May. Great debut at 125 against Rachel Ostovich. She gets Priscilla Kachua at UFC 262. It seems like the move to 25 is a good one.

You know, what have you seen from her? I mean, obviously, you guys trained together, you live together and all that stuff. But what have you seen from her since the fight with Julia Avila, you know, kind of leading towards the fight in November. Well, it's the same thing I was going through. We just had no organization in our game. And not only that, her diet wasn't the best, but she didn't have anybody that she really trusted

or respected enough to do everything that they said. She wanted to come up here and take, like, the body fat test to see, like, what was the lowest weight she could go down to? And then James Krause messaged me. This was before the Benoit fight. And he was like, dude, give me two months with Gina. And just give me two months. And like, you guys can leave if you guys don't like it.

and she came down there, and I talk about my camp and the organization that I went through. My camp wasn't nothing. Like, Gina did a 15-week training camp where she dieted the whole time. James said the hardest schedule that he'd ever put on any of his pro fighters. Gina didn't lift a weight or do a single crunch and had an eight-pack. But she trusts James. She's seen what he's doing is working. She saw it work for me.

I had two weeks to get ready for the Benoit fight. And when the Benoit fight got brought up, I wasn't excited about it. I trained with him before the both times Benoit and I sparred. I think he dropped me with body shots in the second round. So like when this fight came up, I was kind of like, oh shit, you know, this guy, this guy put the hammer on me and I told James that. But James like, yeah, I got two weeks. We got it.

No problem. And, you know, I just, I trust him and I listen. But what Gina did was amazing. Like I can talk about my camp all day. I could not have done what quality of life, man. I'm trying to still have a beer, you know, smoke some weed if I want to. Not Gina. She didn't do.

she didn't eat a cookie she didn't have a bite of anything that wasn't on the diet she didn't miss a single practice uh hers her camp was again like i wouldn't want to do it because my quality of life would be i wouldn't be happy like it was it was nothing short of amazing what she did in her camp and uh i just i feel like my old ass couldn't do that but you know she did what james said and it paid off and now she doesn't have to do a 15 week skill building training camp she's already knows James system. Like all we have to do is train to beat Prisola. And I think that she'll be put in a good spot to do that.

It's got to be pretty inspiring to watch all that playoff. 15 weeks of all that, you must have been, she must have fired you right off. Man, it was. Well, man, I was like bitching about my camp. Like, oh, I'm tired and shit. And then like, Jeff James and Gina look at me like, man, you don't know shit. That's crazy, man. I'm actually going to be speaking with one of your teammates right after this.

Grant Dawson who's fighting next Saturday. How's he looking, man? I know he's going up to 55, but I feel like the frame's perfect for him. How is he looking right now? Man, he's a problem. It's going to take a very special person to beat Grant. Like you can't just be good and beat Grant Dawson. You know what I mean?

You have to have either crazy, crazy knockout power, crazy, crazy jiu-jitsu. He's just, he is so like well-rounded and good. And I think him making 45 was taking away from him. I don't think he was able to really perform how he should. At 1.45, I think the weight cuts took too much out of him. They took too much time in his camp to get down to weight. And at 55, he's not going to have those problems.

And he'll fill right into it, I promise you. He's going to be a big 55er. And he's a problem in this division. He really is. The performance was amazing, man. I know you may not be as impressed as a lot of other people. I even spoke to Laura Sanko the other day. and she said the same thing.

She thought your performance stuck out, you know, more than a lot of people. So I thought it was one of your best. She felt the same way. James obviously felt the same way. And I think you're showing you like a fine wine, my man. You're getting better as you age. So congratulations again. All the best to you and to Gina and camp and in the fight in May, man.

All right, man. Thank you. We appreciate it. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.