MMA Fighting - What the Heck: Episode 5 | Marlon Moraes, Douglas Lima & Aaron Pico

Episode Date: April 30, 2020

This week on What the Heck, Mike Heck speaks with Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima (5:47), no. 1 ranked UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes (18:43), and Bellator featherweight prospect Aaron Pico (39:41).  Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now here is your host, Mike Heck. What the heck? Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to a brand new edition of What the Heck on MMAFighting.com and all of our broadcasting platforms, YouTube, podcast networks, and wherever you're listening to the show, we really appreciate it. My name is Mike Heck. is starting to get a little warmer here in beautiful Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

We got some snow earlier this week. The last two days has been 60 degrees, so I got my Red Sox polo on, but it's starting to feel like baseball season out there, even though we can't really watch it on television right now. So I have my polo on, but it looks to be officially fight season for the UFC. As we have another fun show today, we have an upcoming UFC event headliner. We have a world champion and one of the bright prospects in our sport coming on and joining us this week. And this seems to be a theme right now week to week kicking off the show. But a lot has happened since the last time we spoke. Not only is UFC 249 going down on May 9th, which is

nine days from right now on next Saturday night. Like I can't believe I'm saying this right now. Like this is how close we are to having fights once again. The UFC is tripling up for that week with an event also on May 13th and another one on May 16th, all taking place in Jacksonville, Florida. Of course, UFC 249 is stacked. You got the two title fights, Ferguson versus Gaichi, Suhudo versus Cruz. We got Inganu versus Rosenstrike. We got Stevens versus Cater. Hardy versus De Castro.

Soroni versus Pettis is on the freaking prelims. That's how good this card is and much, much more. And listen, you can say what you want about the media and the questions we may have about health and safety, but on a personal level, I'm kind of getting that old feeling again, that sense that a big night of fights is coming up. during this crazy time in the world. I'm not gonna lie, this is gonna be a breath of fresh air for me, but as long as everything is good to go

from that health and safety perspective, we still don't have many details on that. I'm just as excited about this, probably like most of you are right now. May 13th, that's a Wednesday night event on ESPN Plus. It's gonna be on ESPN as well from what I understand, but that's expected to be headlined by Anthony Smith taking on Glover to Cherra.

We just found out Alex Hernandez is gonna fight Drew Dober on that card. Alex Hernandez is going to go from beating COVID-19 to maybe beating Drew Dover like a few weeks later. I don't know if you can find a better, you know, wind streak than that in the history of MMA. But that's a great fight at 155. You got Oven St. Peru jumping up to heavyweight to fight Ben Rothwell, Sejar U-Banks versus Sarah Morris. Some of the fights announced for that event off the top of my head.

And then May 16th, that's going to be headlined by Walt Harris and Alster Overeem. And that event's starting to take shape as well. Some fights being agreed upon, Edson Barbosa, dropping to 1,000. to fight Dan Igay, Song Yandong versus Marlon Vera. That's a great fight. We get Eric Anders versus Christoph Yoko. These are all confirmed at this point.

So get ready for just a whole bunch of events, ladies and gentlemen. And moving forward, Dana White mentioned May 23rd. Not a ton has come out about that event. I assume May 30th is probably on the radar. June 6th is a pay-per-view. And that was the event, I believe that was supposed to be held in Perth, Australia. And from what I've been told, the UFC is working on a couple of big fights for that June 6th event. A title fight is one of those fights.

An interesting fight at 170 is being really discussed right now, but nothing is done as far as pen to paper at this point. But it sounds like the UFC is going to try to stack the deck for that pay-per-view as well. And June 13 looks to still be in the cards as well. The biggest fight, of course, we're going to discuss later on in the show. All I can say is buckle up. Things have been crazy. And it seems like this is just the beginning.

So stick with us at MMAFighting.com for all sorts of coverage of these events, interviews, pre-impost shows. We're not sure if we're going to be in Florida covering any of these events with there being limited media. But if we can, we, of course, will be there. If not, we will still make things happen the best we can for you. So let's run down the lineup on this week's edition of what the heck. Later on the show, we will check in with Bellator Featherweight, Aaron Pico. It's been a real interesting start to his MMA career.

He's already had eight fights, only 23 years old. He's experienced winning streaks, highlight real finishes. He's dealt with losing streak, a losing streak. Highlight reel finishes on the wrong end, but he got back on track in January with another nasty knockout win over Daniel Carey at Bellator 238, so we'll check in one of the sports bright prospects a little bit later on. We're going to check in with Marlon Marais, the number one ranked band-away contender in the UFC. He got a title shot last year against Henry Sohudo. He came up short in that fight. He just had that fight in December with Jose Aldo.

And regardless of how you may have scored that fight, Marlon Marais picked up a split decision win, and now he's scheduled to face Piotr-Jan in the main event of the UFC's June 13th event. Is that fight still happening? Could it still be happening in Kazakhstan? We'll get the latest on that and more from Marlon Marais. We're going to kick things off with the reigning, defending, Bellator, Walterweight champion and Walterweight Grand Prix winner Douglas Lima. He was scheduled to fight Gagard Musassi for the vacant Bellator middleweight title,

coincidentally enough. On May 9th at Bellator 242, that event was postponed, as is every year. event from Bellator through June 6 at this point. We're going to check in with the phenom and see if that fight is still the plan. We're going to talk about Roy McDonald moving on to the PFL and much more. So here's my conversation with the champ, Douglas Lima. All right, we have the reigning Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima on the show. This man was scheduled to face Gaygard-Wsassi for the Bellator middleweight title on May 9th. But unfortunately, with the COVID-19 pandemic, Bellator 242, and a bunch of future events are now postponed.

But we're happy to have the phenom here for a few minutes to talk about everything that's going on with him. Douglas, how are you, man? I'm doing great, but how are you? I'm doing great. Thank you for asking and thank you for jumping on. First thing, there are things way more important than fighting right now with everything going on in the world.

How are you, the family, those around you doing during this uncertain and pretty rough time in the world? Yeah. It's tough, man, but everything is going good. You know, staying a lot more with the family, you know, my brother's family as well. So I know it's tough out there, but we can't complain. Everything is going good for us here, you know? Belator still is offering up some cool programming during these times,

including the debut of Bellator Recharged on the CBS Sports Network, the debut show on Saturday night. They went back to revisit Bellator 192 in January of 2018. and it was the first time you had fought Roy McDonald and you had lost that fight via unanimous decision. And it's not always the most fun thing to talk about a loss. But, you know, in the grand scheme of things and where it's taken you since that point, how important to your career was that night in Englewood, California, despite not coming away with the decision in a crazy fight like that? Yeah, you know, it's so good. It's still a good fight to show. A lot of fans really enjoyed that.

fight. It was a good back in for score. You know, even though I lost the fight, you know, I still got a lot of good feedback from it, you know, and it's a good fight. It was definitely a fight that I needed, you know, I guess I needed to lose that fight to learn, you know what I mean? I really learned a lot from that fight and I'm thankful for it, you know, and I'm sure a lot more people are going to enjoy it still. You know, it was still a good fight. What specifically did you take away from that fight to set you up for this incredible run you're on right now? You got to extract some revenge and you got to become the Bellator champion again. Definitely like the mental, mental part of the fighting.

You know, that's what I learned the most from that fight. You know, I mean, Roger was pretty much done, you know, after that fourth round. And then he still came back, you know, got a quick take down in the beginning of the round and, you know, going to fight. You know what I mean? So just being able to push through those sort of barriers, you know, through a flight, it's not for everybody. You know what I mean?

I really learned that from him that night. You know what I mean? It's just the real to keep fighting or better, no matter what the circumstances, you know. So very thankful for that moment, you know, it was a growing fight, you know, especially for him with that crazy, you know, injury from the leg kick. So it's good to, it's good to people see, you know, what he went through the fight. field came off the war he was going to move against me.

You know, it was just, you know, a lesson that he taught me that night, you know, in that area. We know that Rory has since moved on from the promotion, and you guys are one-in-one, and I know you're moving on to other things, a chance to win a second title, but is there a part of you that wishes you could run that one back, get that third one in there to see who the better man would be

in a three-fight series? Yeah, yes and no, you know, because, man, we had, you know, 30, you know, 15 minutes already in the case. You know, I definitely learned, you know, from that fight, and I don't think I'll ever lose to him again. If I'm being honest, you know, just my take, you know what I mean? But he would definitely be good to have a trilogy to really, you know, make sure, you know, who's the better fighter.

But, no, I'm happy for him, you know, I'm happy that he's moving on. you know, he's looking out for himself. I'm definitely very shocked and surprised, you know, that he moved over there. But I guess he got a better deal. I don't know. Something was better for him. You know what I mean? But I'm just happy for him.

And I'm happy we got to share, you know, those 50 minutes. But you never know what happens in the NMA word, you know. You might, you know, cross each other's past again in the future. Who knows, you know? Yeah, it's very true. And this is a crazy sport. this mixed martial arts, as I'm sure you know by now, but this has been quite the stretch you've been on since that Roy McDonald's fight.

You went through the Bellator-Walterweight Grand Prix. You had some great performances. You reclaimed the Walterway title. And you want a million dollars to boot. It's going to be pretty tough to top that, is it not? Yeah, but, man, looking forward to your mother run. You know, middleweight title. And then, you know, the same day, go back in the same hour of 70, you know,

there's always something bigger out there, you know what I mean? But let's start out with this fight of middle weight. You know, I think this is a huge fight. You know, such a big name, you know, moving up in a weight class.

Man, this is, you know, we got everything to make it even bigger. You know, I just got to stay focused, you know, and train hard and keep winning in this fight. You know, and make the most out of this time.

You know, I got to enjoy this health, you know, this moment that I'm living, everything is really good. So, you know, make the most of it. I'm sure we got bigger things.

copy. So despite everything going on in the world and everything being postponed, at least for the foreseeable future, is that still the plan? Like, once things get back up and running, you and Gagar Musassi for the 185 pound title, is that what you and your team have been told? For sure. You know, that's the plan. You know, the next step right now is the middleweight title.

We're just going to postpone the final, I'm pretty sure. And see what happens there. I think that, of course, say they should start to show these why. I don't have any details on every team, but hopefully we're one of the first fights, you know. But the play it is, you know, from the middleweight goal. Obviously, we can't control what is going on in the world, but, you know, you're getting ready, you're getting mentally prepared to make history and fight for a second world title. Was there a part of you that, I mean, you had to have been bummed at the event got postponed,

even though you understood what was going on, right? Yeah, I was definitely bummed, but at the same time, you know, safety, safety comes first. You know what I mean? Very disappointed, of course, but I know the fight is going to happen in the future, so that made me a little more calm, you know. I was, man, I was so looking for us for that fight. It's just such a big and exciting challenge, you know.

You know, it was just, you know, happy times, you know. But I don't care. I was just training, you know, as much as I can, you know, one of the ones with my coaches, you know, a lot of private, you know, You know, four guys in the training room. We're still putting our work, you know, as much as we can for what's going on, you know. Because I'm fortunate to have my gym, you know, so I can open the doors whenever I want. Just wipe everything off, you know what I mean.

Don't put more than four people what I've been doing this past crazy month, you know. So, I mean, I'm still going to get some work. You've seen how this is being handled throughout the sport with the COVID-19. And Bellator is where, you know, waiting for this all to turn the corner. This is how your promotion is handling it. And there are other organizations like the UFC. They're doing everything they can to move forward

to input these events on for the fans and for the fighters. What is your take on how things are being handled by these promotions during this difficult time? I mean, yeah, they're trying to do as much as they can. You know, as long as they, you know, taking the same steps, you know, thinking, you know, not just speak about, you know, whatever the money that's going to bring, you know, but also, man, they're trying to, you know, give the fighters their job, you know what I mean, as much as they can.

It's not easy, though. It's not easy for them. It's not easy for the fighters. You know, a lot of the fighters depend on the fight money to survive, you know. So on that part, I'm really glad that they're trying to make it happen. You know what I mean? So we can't get a paycheck, keep working. but at the same time, it has to be safe.

You know, what good is it if, you know, somebody got infected, you know, doing one of the things, you know what I mean? So it's a lot that they got to think about, you know, a lot that they got to do. But as long as they try, you know, the safest way is possible. I'm happy with it and I agree, you know,

they offer me a fight. So I'll be the first one to say yes. So you think by the end of the summer, July, maybe August, do you feel like this middleweight title fight between you and Gagard Musassi will have already happened or worst case be booked?

I pray so. I'll really hope so and I'll be ready by then. You know, they give you six weeks. Get ready. I'll be there. I'll be there and ready to go. I know this is kind of hard to say because you don't know when you'll fight again, right?

But, you know, how do you see this year playing out for you? What are some of the goals you have for yourself from a professional and a personal standpoint? Yeah, I mean, first thing in the gym, you know, I just open my gym, everything is ready. You know, I got an American top team here in Georgia, you know, in Lawrencefield. First thing is just to open a gym, you know, it's just waiting on the goal, you know, and seriously, a lot of us to do it in real and fight two times. I don't know if I'll be able to do it, but my goal is to fight two times.

Wind this belt, you know, maybe the same. to defend a lot to wait, you know, end of the year, December. That's the plan, you know, but who knows, who knows what's going to happen, you know, how long this is still going to go on, just playing for the best, and hopefully I'll be able to do two fights this year. You know, and open the gym, you know, without being some good growth for myself. So like we said, you were featured on the debut episode of Bellator Recharged

this past Saturday looking back on Bellator 192, which even though you didn't come up with the victory, it ended up being an important night in your career in hindsight. But what other fights, what other fight cards that you were involved in, do you recommend the promotion put out there for people to see on future episodes for Wednesday nights, 8 Eastern on CBS Sports Network? What's the, what are the golden fights for Douglas Lima that everyone should watch? Sure, there's a bunch.

I mean, all the knockouts should be, right? NPP would talk it, you know, that empty-kered knockout, A lot of people love it. You know, I think my third class was a really good one as well. And, you know, all of the other finishes. You know, people like finishes, people like knockouts. They can just show all my 10 knockouts here. Just to a whole Douglas Lima Bellator Recharge episode, the top 10 knockouts in Douglas Lima's Korea.

How about that? It writes itself. That sounds amazing. That sounds amazing. You know, all finishes, all finishes. People like that. There you go. I think we made something happen here.

Ratings are going to shoot through the roof, Douglas. I appreciate it, man. You've obviously been a part of some big moments on some big cards in Bellator history. So I think we're going to be seeing some more of you on future episodes of Bellator Recharge. And probably some big moments coming your way in the future of this sport as well. I hope this fight with Gagar Musassi happens for you. And thank you again. Hopefully we'll talk soon before that fight happens, man.

I really appreciate it. All right. Big thanks to Douglas Lima for the time reliving those fights with Roy McDonald, especially the first one, the decision loss. But that loss has really flipped the switch even more so for Douglas Lima, as he looks like he's going to have a big opportunity to capture a second title simultaneously, possibly later on this summer, against Gaygard Musassi. Now let's check in with Marlon Marius.

This is actually the first time I had the chance to speak with him, and I'm glad that we did. And I'm not a fighter, but it's always great chatting with fellow parents. fellow dads, especially during this pandemic, because as you could see, there's toys and trains all over my office right now, which you just realize looking into this camera. But, of course, the fight talk is great, too, as he prepares to fight Piotr-Yon. But I really enjoy this conversation with Marlon Marais. All right, we have the number one rank contender in the UFC's Bannamweight Division.

And as of now, he's scheduled to face Piotr-Jon, June 13th, at the event in Kazakhstan. but we're in a very interesting time right now. So let's get an update and check in with Marlon Marius, Mr. Magic himself. Marlon, how are you, man? I'm fine, I'm doing fine, you know. Tough times right now we are leaving, but we are making everything possible to get a good training and get prepared for the fight.

Fight might not happen in Kazakhstan, but the UFC confirmed the fight's happening. We're just waiting to hear where, you know, and let's see what's going to happen and where we're going to go. We'll get into that a little more in a minute, but first things first, how are you and the family doing right now

during this pandemic and with the quarantine and everything? We're good, you know, everything's fine. I'm with my family. We're staying most of the time home. Nobody's going anywhere. I'm the only one. Sometimes I go to the gym and I go grocery. I'm doing everything right now.

And I'm just trying to keep them safe. And I'm doing everything possible not to get anything and keep myself healthy to, you know, just to keep this just going. Like you said, you're trying to train as best as you can with everything being pretty much closed off right now. There's no big gatherings or anything like that. You got to do what you got to do. But during these times, like I feel like, and I go through this myself, we take a lot of these things for granted. So how much do you miss like full on training sessions, big group of teammates, sparring that whole group mentality? How much do you miss all that right now?

Yeah, I miss a lot. You know, I was just telling some of my training partners and let them know how I feel. You know, I was telling them that I miss the people in the gym, the energy. Of course, sometimes we want to be by ourselves, especially us as a professional fighters. You know, we go in there, we fight, we go, we fight in TV, we represent everyone. But sometimes you go to see different people, you know, in the gym, blood, talk with different people. that don't talk about fight, you know. And right now, actually at the American Top King, you only see fighters, and the only people that have fights coming up and small groups,

you know, they're taking care and they're watching everyone and making sure everybody can get some training, you know. So how many people are usually in the gym with that one time? It's just like one or two people plus yourself? Yeah, we are in like different parts of the gym. you know, small groups and not many people, not group training at all. Who are you working with specifically or does it kind of mix and match depending on the day? I work with my coach and I got this guy, Paolo and other guys for wrestling, but we are trying to stick with one or two maximum of guys. So this fight's going to happen with Pietrean on June 13th.

Location, I guess TBD right now, Kazakhstan. Have they told you that it's probably unlikely that it's going to happen there at the this point. So where we kind of at as far as the location goes? Yeah, they said 100% is not happening in Kazakhstan. This has been a really interesting year for you, Marlon, has it?

I mean, from the fight with Suhudo to the Aldo fight, where the entire story heading into that fight wasn't even really about the fight itself. It was about whether or not Jose Aldo would make weight. He does. You win that fight. But then Jose Aldo ends up signing to fight Henry Sehudo for the title. And we heard

Dana talk about it after you beat Aldo, Nobody really believed that this could happen. But when you found out that the man you just beat was scheduled to fight for the title, how did you react to that? What was going on in your mind? Man, to get a fight done, you just need to have two guys. And the main guy right there is Henry. Harry is the champion.

And Henry wants to fight him. And that's why he got the title shot. He didn't get the title shot because he's out. He didn't get the title shot because he's all resume because of Dan. because of Dana. He got the title shot because Henry see behind this fight a lot of things that

Aldo was bringing in and Aldo Zalajan and everything else. But to be honest, he doesn't deserve. I think that's other guys out there that serve this fight more than he did. I actually was reading an interview with Piore Diorian prior to jumping out with you and he kind of commented on that. He thought

Aldo and Cruz, which we'll get into in a minute, he thought that it's just such a bad look for the UFC to make those fights. Do you agree with him or did you kind of see this coming with Sohudo asking for it? Man, to be honest with you, I see as Aldo, I didn't like it because I see Peter Young, I see Cody, Sandy Hagen, I see Sterling. That's guys out there, you know, and these guys, they should be fighting. Aldo just lost a fight. It was a close fight. I think I won. but you know you don't get a title shot coming off a loss

and let's be honest Sterling is a good streak Sandy Hagen is a good steak and Peter Young is being impressive lately so one of those guys should get it and they didn't but Dominic Cruz

he's out there he's working out the guy being hurt forever and he did a lot for the sport he did a lot for the division and he just can't get going you know, he can't stay healthy. And at this point, they probably thought, let's do Sterling, but Sterling is hurt.

And let's do Peter Young. He's out of the country. He can get here in a month. He needs a little bit more time. I think he only can get here in June. This is what I think. And Dominic Cruz probably raised his hand, and he said he'll fight him. And who would say no, you know?

And Dominic Cruz is a big. name. I think it's good for the division, have him back. Oh, he gets hurt in this and that. Okay, man, I'm a big fan of Dominicruz. I think he deserves anything in this sport. And if they're giving him a fight for the title, hopefully he make it. And maybe his last one. We don't know, you know. He's always hurt. We never know. And if he's healthy now, he said yes, he signed the contract. Let's make it happen. You know, who's not going to watch this fight, to be honest, I'm going to watch. Yeah, it's a very interesting matchup on paper.

So kind of going back to that, when, you know, the information was coming out with the coronavirus that it seemed like Aldo not only wasn't going to be able to fight in Brazil, but wasn't going to be able to come to the states to fight. Was there a part of you that thought you might get tagged in here, even though you had a fight book that maybe you would get another crack at Henry? I wasn't expected to be the next, you know. That's guys on the line. And me, I'm not going to keep begging.

But of course, I called Ali. And I said, Ali, if anything happened, fight weeks, two weeks to the fight, you can let them know. I can fight. I can make weight. I'm training. And I'm never going to let the UFC down, you know, if they ever call me. And if they ever think I deserve a fight or I'm here, you know, I'm fighting. I'll fight.

I'll fight Henry or I'll fight Cruz if I have to. If anything happened in that fight, I can get ready and I can fight. Ahead of this fight with Piotr Yan, he's been on a long winning streak. He's won nine in a row. He just finished Uriah Fabor. He did it right before you stepped into the cage to fight Joseoaldo. You said you've been impressed with his run, but kind of going through and dissecting the fights. You know, what do you think of the matchup on paper between you and Piotr Yon?

Because this is a really interesting fight in a lot of different ways. Yeah, to be honest, I have a fight with a high-skirts. guy, you know, tough fighter, like you just said, everything he brings to the table. And I can even think about the title shop right now. I'm focused on this guy. I'm focused what I have to do to beat him. And I'm working hard and I'm trying to get better everywhere and bring June 13 my A game, you know, be the best I ever been.

And this is how I can beat this guy if I get there and I do everything I say, I know. and he just said he's in a good streak he beating guys he finished a couple guys UFC is talking highly about him and he's almost there like I told you I think he's one of the next for the for the title shot and so if he's next why not take a fight with him and maybe take his spot you know it's something that I'm aiming for I'm training hard and we'll see hopefully this fight happened June 13 and I can't take his chance take his shot. Have you seen holes in his game?

Because he's, you know, he's had his moments where, you know, there's been a hiccup or two. But I think all fighters go through that. But he's come through on the other side and gotten his hand raised. Have you seen any holes through throughout the fights that you've watched of him? Everyone that swing hands got holes, you know. If you want to swing one, you can get swing back, you know. And that's what happened. That's, that's fight.

That's the fight business. If you want to hit someone, you can get hit. too. And in the fight, two tough guys, two tough fighters. We are both good strikers and we know the ground. We know the wrestling game and we can blink. And this fight, you can blink and you can make mistakes. And this is what we're working. We're working on getting there. Don't make a mistake and get the hand raised. It's got to be his first UFC main event and you've been in the spot a few times already competing in fights scheduled for five rounds. Do you see your main event experience, that big fight experience? Is that going to be a factor heading into this fight, do you think?

It's a fight. That's true guys, you know, 50-50. And going to this fight is 50-50. You can win or you can lose. And I'm going there and I want to hit him first and be the win. Where do you think this fight will end up happening? Do you think it happens in the U.S.? Do you, maybe even on this mystical fight island that we keep hearing about? Like, where do you think? To be honest, I think United States, I think by June, he'll be able to get his visa. And we will fight in June for sure. I know you guys got a little bit of a ways to go to get here.

And I don't know if you've even thought this far ahead. Like you said, it's two guys going in there. Whoever makes a mistake is going to pay for. But how do you sort of envision this all playing out on June 13th? this way whatever miss and get hit back he's going to go down

and that's it you're not looking past Peotre Jan but you're probably looking a little bit ahead here are you confident that if you go out there and beat Peotrean and have a great performance that you will get another shot at the belt in your next fight or do you think you're going to have to win

a couple more? I think it's a great chance a great chance you know you're on the mix we just got to get this ball going You know, we got to, this is something that pissed me off almost every day. We don't see that bent and weight belt on the line more times. We got to see that belt four times a year at least, you know. And we got so many guys, you know.

Every one of us want to be world champion. We just got to get that belt on the line more times. And we'll see everyone fight, everybody at home will be entertained. That's only tough guys. good fighters and why not, you know, keep active, you know. People just, just want to hold the belt and say they were champion, you know. You got to be world champion and put on the line, put them on line two, three times, make the, give the UFC shows, you know, that's it. That's what I think. I want to get there and I want to get that ball going. Do you think 35 is the deepest and

the best division in the UFC right now? It's one of, you know, I see at least eight tough guys, Eight tough fighters that can beat each other in any given day. And abandon weight. It's tough to do that. Knock people out, finish. And in our division, we've been seeing this all the time. So I think it's one of the best out there, definitely. Selfishly, and I've been saying this for a couple of years now,

I need to see you fight Dominic Cruz at some point. Like when you sign with the UFC and you started running off some wins, I was like, oh man, now we have to do Marais versus Cruz. And like you said, he just couldn't get back. But I think that's the fight to make at some point. I know you have a lot of respect for Cruz. He's a legend. He's a long champion.

Is that a fight that you've had your eye on as well? Is that kind of like a dream matchup for you? Yeah, we've been working for this fight a couple of times, but he didn't accept. I don't blame him. He wants to get there. He wants to fight for the title. But I believe that he should get on. None of the horses on the line, too.

You know, that's a couple tough guys. And you see, man, if he doesn't win or if he wins, I just hopefully, and I just want to see that belt on the line more times. Do you suddenly become a Dominic Cruz fan on May 9th? Because you have to think if he beats Sohudo and you beat Yan, your chances to get back to the belt just got much better. Is that how you're looking at it at all? Or are you just focused on June 13th and whatever happens happens?

I didn't even think about that. You know, I just want to win my fight, put on a great performance. And after that, keep fighting. Like I told you, I said, I want to sit the belt on the line. But I'm an active fighter. I want to keep fighting. You know, I want to fight at least two times this year. I think everyone wants.

Everyone, no. Some guys just want to be a UFC fight. That's not my goal. You know, I want to keep fighting. And that's it. What other things have you been doing during this quarantine time besides training and getting ready for a fight? Is there things that you've done that maybe you've been putting off for a while and now that you have a little bit of extra time that you've been able to do? I always stay with my family, but right now I'm trying to do more things with my kids, entertain there.

I have two kids and it's tough. It's tough. They have a lot of energy. And I got to teach my son how to ride a bike. It's five years old. And it was something that I accomplished. We did some repairs in the house. I did some painting, cleaning, cleaning every day. I washed my car, my wife's car a couple times, just looking to stay busy, you know.

It was fun. Long time I don't wash my car and I wash after probably a year, maybe more than one year. How excited was your five-year-old when you let go of the bike, riding, did it all by I did it all by themselves. Like, how cool was that for you and how excited was your kid when that all happened? He couldn't believe. He couldn't believe. It was cool.

It's good. We keep thinking about when we were there, you know. Time flies. We just got to enjoy every second and have passion. Have passion with the kids and put the time in for them. Absolutely. My kid wants to be Spider-Man right now. So I'm always running around.

I have to be the bad guy all the time. So he just, like, beats the crap out of me. and I have to let him do it to make him feel better of himself. But that's what you got to do his parents, right? My son wants to be every day a different superhero. So he doesn't have a go-to. He just, every day is a different one. Every day a different one, especially with Netflix.

Every day he watches a different one. And every day he got a new one. Yeah, I've watched Spider-Man 3, like 500 times over the last four weeks. It's been unbelievable. I'm trying to get him to my world too. I tried to watch some movies that I watched back in the days when I was young. And my son, he's five years old and he likes, he wants to be a police officer. Maybe for two years he keeps saying that.

And I got into the police academy. We watched the whole thing. We watched from one. up to seven and it was fun good times you know every day we watch one and I was telling him about it we go on the bike every day

he calls himself one of the guys it's cool it's cool so he liked it he loved it he loves he loves it he thinks he's Michael Whistlow you watch right you watch right I watch them I haven't seen him in years though yeah it was fun me too

I saw Netflix and I was flipping movies and wow, they have the whole season from one to seven. So I got to watch it was fun. It was fun. I'm going to have to check those out with him and see if we can sit through one. I tried to watch naked gun with him because that's kind of a cop movie and it's just ridiculous. But he was just, he did like 15 minutes of that. And he was like, no, I want to watch Spider-Man. And, you know, I have to- How old is your son? He's seven.

He's going to like police. Police. The X-Qalesis Academy School. Yeah, I got to get him into that. So trying to find some common ground. I got in front of me now all my son's Legos. He come up with the idea to put it together. Every white, black, blue, yellow, we have to separate all the colors.

And now we are putting all together and stuff. Yeah, my kid just got into Legos too. So I'm dealing with that. It's a big mess. He dumps all the stuff on the floor and it takes forever to clean. But it's fun putting that stuff together and watching it build and seeing the look on their face. You have only one. Just the one.

Okay. I have one. I have one. It's 16 months. And the big one drop all the legs on the ground. And I have to keep watching because the other one want to eat them. Yes. Yes.

I remember those days very, very well. It's a, you know, it's a tough time in the world. But, you know, you're staying as positive as you possibly can. You're enjoying this extra family. time. So that's obviously a plus for sure, Malin. And I'm glad we were able to chat and as we get ready for this fight on June 13th. But before we let you go, is there anything else you want to get off your chest for everybody as we get ready for this big fight? Man, I just want everyone to stay positive, you know, help each other, give good energy, you know, because that's the time

we got to all stay together, stick together. Because we're going to go over this. We're going to win this battle and at some point this is all going to be a bad time that we leave it that we overcame you know that I think that's all I was even telling someone that of course I want to fight now of course I want to go to a camp now that's an experience you know you as a fighter you have to fight in every atmosphere you know this atmosphere right now it's tough it's hard we can get the best training possible, but this is going to make us stronger for the next fight and for the next. And that's it, man. We've got to fight and we've got to win every day, day by day.

Well said. At least you're not Frankie Edgar right now who had a tornado hit his house. Did you hear about that? I saw that at least. So crazy, man. I really appreciate the time, Marlon. All the best to you over the next several weeks in preparation. Great matchup, man.

So selfishly, I hope we get to see it. but I hope you and the family stay safe. Enjoy that extra family time. We'll talk soon. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mike. Have a good night. All right.

Great stuff from Magic Marl Marais. Very positive, very happy guy. And it looks like that fight with Pieterian is a go for June 13th. Location, TBD somewhere on Earth. But could this be a Fight Island event? I mean, Dana White did say that he could bring in fighters from the states to go to Fight Island. Pietriyad being an international fighter, perhaps we could see some Fight Island action on June 13. But more on that coming soon.

But let's get to our final guest of the week. One of the bright up-and-coming prospects in our sport. Let us check in with Bellator Featherweight, Aaron Pico. All right, we move ahead to our next guest. He got back on track with a second round knockout win over Daniel Carey at Bellator 238 back in January. Happy to be joined by Aaron Pico. Aaron, it's been a minute, man. How are you?

I'm good. I'm good. Everything's well. Just kicking it, hanging out. Not too much. So I'm happy to do this. It's going to be fun. Absolutely.

It's great to have you here. How have you been holding up during this quarantine and this pandemic that's taken over the world for the past couple of months? Yeah, it's been tough, but it's been bittersweet. Of course, it's cool to just be able to hang out and do things that you're not usually able to do during the week. But, you know, of course, I want to be at the gym. There's a lot of goals I set for myself.

So when you can't go to the gym, it's kind of hard. But I'm getting my workouts in when I can. but for the most part, just ride my horse, cleaning stalls. Just doing that, like I said, just getting some workouts when I can, but I'm not putting pressure on myself. Like, I have to be doing something every single day and push my body. A lot of people, you know, always tell me that, man, you need to chill for a little bit, you know, just relax.

So, you know, now's my time to do it and just let my body recover because I go pretty hard during training camp. So it's all good. Have you always had a horse and had stalls and things like that throughout your life? Or is this something new that's happened over the last couple of years or so? No, I've always ridden horses. I started riding horses when I was a young kid. I took lessons.

I worked at the stables doing like trail rides and things like that. And I got away from it for a little bit because I was shopping the world so much wrestling and doing all kinds of stuff like that. I couldn't really, I don't have time. I didn't have time for a horse. But when I turned pro in MMA, I bought myself a horse and I was kind of, I wasn't doing as much traveling. And back in L.A., like I had a stable that I'd go to and keep my horses there. But here in Albuquerque, I'm lucky enough to be able to have two stalls in my backyard for the horses, a little arena. And I can ride out my front gate, go out on trails.

And it's pretty cool. So I'm enjoying it a lot. But I've ridden horses a lot of my years growing up. So it's good to go back and kind of relive those days and helps you relax as well. Put your head in the right place. Yeah, yeah, it does. I really, really enjoy it. I just have had a passion for horses since I've been a kid.

It's just been, I can't get away from it. I've got away from it for a few years, but I was always, I was always researching horses and watching YouTube videos. So I'm very fortunate now. I can have my, I can have two horses. So I'm in heaven. There you go. It's, it's been a wild start to your MMA career,

from the Freeman fight in your debut, to going on that streak of highlight real knockouts to, you know, you had a couple of setbacks, and then you bounced back with the big win back in January. We'll get into that last fight in a moment. But man, how would you describe this first, just under three years of your Bellator career? Yeah, that's, I mean, I'd be lying.

if I said it wasn't crazy, yes, it's been really crazy because I've come from wrestling, you know, you lose a match or whatever, you know, you take second up the world championships, take third, but there's always like, you know, there's always a tournament to go and like get your confidence back and redeem yourself.

With MMA, it's a little bit different because you're not fighting every weekend, you're not, you know, it's every couple of months. So I think the biggest thing is waiting. You're waiting and your mind's constantly going, and then now, obviously, with social media and commentators, they always have their two cents of what's going on or what you need to do. So it was a roller coaster ride, but luckily for me, I, you know, I don't, I don't, I'm a wrestler.

That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, you know, all, all kinds of things. You know, I, I, I, I, I'm pretty strong in that aspect, but there are nothing to it. I just picked myself up and got back in the gym. Like, people ask, oh, it's so crazy. It's so hard, but, you know, shit happens, man. in business and life. And if you're going to let one, two, three things set you back and not pursue your dreams, then they probably weren't your dreams in the first place.

It's interesting you say that people are putting in their two cents because as you're going through that four-fight winning streak and you're having all these viral moments on social media at all, you got MMA fans and media members all over the place saying, well, we'll see what happens when he gets tested by a veteran. And yet they don't keep in mind that you knocked out Leandro Higo, who was a veteran in his own right. And then after the Corralis fight, that fight was absolutely wild and bonkers. You know, you know, became Bellator moved him up too quickly. So it's kind of, it's got to kind of be tough being in an almost can't win situation so young in your career, right? Did

that start to get to you at all? Yeah, I think, I think the biggest thing is just like, there's so many people like that, uh, that, that, that you meet or this or that. I have no problem taking criticism. That's not, that's no problem, you know, by coaches, by other, you know, even fans sometimes, but it just gets really old when you constantly, like, you meet somebody and then, you know, they start to tell, oh, well, maybe you should have done this. You need to do this. It's like you have no clue of what's going on in MMA. You don't know what's like to be in a cage.

You know, there's so many things. And you get reporters, you get people that say, well, you need to do this. You need to go train with this guy. I need to do this. It's like, slow your role. Just let me do my thing. I can figure this out. You know, I won, you know, a lot of things growing up, and MMA is a whole completely different beast.

You know, it's not wrestling. It's not boxing. And I'm still figuring it out. But, I mean, that's what makes the sport so crazy is one, there's so many disciplines that you need to train. There's so many, you know, variables that go into a fight. So I just, I take people's criticism. Sometimes, you know, I take a little bit of what they say. say and very, you know, I'm very appreciative. And then sometimes I just goes through one year and

out the other. So everybody's got their opinions. But I've got a strong team. I've got great coaches around me. And that's the people that I really need to listen to. So at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what outsiders think, reporters, doesn't mean shit. After that Corales fight, you took on Adam Borch and MS. And you were looking really good in that fight. Like, You were wrestling. People were like, oh, he's wrestling. Look at him. And, you know, you were winning pretty much every second of that fight until you got caught

with that flying knee. And I'm sure it was frustrating to lose that fight in the manner that you did or just to lose in general. But what were you able to at least take away from that night against Adam Borch at MSG? Yeah, I think, you know, I was winning that fight. I even laid the groundwork on how to beat him. You know, he's great, great striker. great, but not a very good grappler, not very good at wrestling, anything like that.

It means a tough fighter. He beat me, obviously. But I just, you know, I just can't take a blind shot. I think the biggest thing for me is I was so hesitant. I just wanted to wrestle, you know, because that's what I was working on, just wrestling and grappling. And I forgot about my hands. I didn't really throw a lot of accommodations like I wanted to.

I just was so focused on just getting the takedown. And I won't make that mistake, especially if I want to get the take. I got to put my hand, you know, I got to mix up my punches a little bit into the takedown and throw with some force like I usually do. I don't think in that fight I didn't really throw any, you know, hard punches. And, yeah, I just worked. I worked on a lot of grappling after that fight. I worked on so much grappling and it's gotten so much better since, since that fight.

I can't tell you how much jiu-jitsu, grappling, wrestling, ground and pound I did after that fight. So it was a wake-up call that it didn't. needed to, you know, figure out some things as far as my entries on the takedowns. Would you say that's probably the biggest thing you've changed from the Borge fight heading into that last fight? Was there something maybe even from a mental perspective that that clicked that you maybe hadn't quite tapped into prior? What do you think were those biggest changes for you coming out of that MSG fight? Yeah, just not getting your mindset

on one thing. You know, I was like, before that fight, I was just like, oh, I got to get the takedown. I got to get the takedown. And I forgot about what's, you know, I forgot about even my hands. I probably should have used my hands a little bit more and to get myself into the takedown. But I think the biggest thing is just not focusing on one thing. Just let the fight happen. Be aware, be cautious and just let the fight happen. A lot of eyes were on you at Bellator 238. Like despite being on the prelims for the event, anybody that I talked to about the event, if you asked them, what were the big storylines heading into that event? You were right at the top of everybody's list because of what had happened in the last couple of fights.

How would you describe the way you approach that fight in January? Did you feel any extra pressure at all knowing that you had lost those two previous fights? Yeah, that's a good question. Now, looking back, I didn't really even think about, oh, man, I have to win this fight. I have to do this. I just was, you know, seven months since the last fight, I just was training on getting better. That's all I was, you know, focused on. And working with the coaches here in New Mexico, Greg.

And Greg, before the fight, especially was just saying, don't put any pressure on yourself as far. as you need to do this, you need to do that. Like I said, just let the fight happen. You're really, you're well prepared. And I just felt confident going in there. I knew, the thing is that we studied him to a T. We knew everything that he was going to throw, especially with the leg kicks.

I knew the leg kicks were coming or, excuse me, the kicks were coming. And I knew I can get the takedown, use my ground and pound. And the first round, a lot of people were like, oh, well, you don't, you know, a lot of people get messages like, oh, you need to use your wrestling more. Absolutely, I do. But the last fight I did use my wrestling, I think I ground and pounded him like the whole first round.

And the second round, I hit him with the left hook and he was out. So that fight I felt like it was a progression to, you know, getting my confidence and getting cage time. So that was a good fight for me and in my team. What did it feel like when you landed that left hook? Because you've had some great knockouts in your career to this point. But, you know, coming off those two losses to land that left hook and have the performance that you had, like what did that all feel like once the ref pulled you up? off. It felt good. It felt really good just to finally get a win. I mean, I think I didn't want almost a year without a win and, you know, battling stuff just like trying to figure the game

out. Can I, you know, I've always knew. I always know I can do it. It's just knowing like, you know, just want to get back in the cage to get that to get a win. And it's, it was a good, it was a good stepping stone for us for sure. Like with my coaches, I got to go. The thing is I really liked, the knockout was great. I really like the knockout, of course. That's always, but I really liked going back to the corner and hearing what the coaches had to say. Just because it's like it's experience, I never, you know, even the Madison Square Garden fight, I think I went back to the corner. And I don't even really remember what Greg was saying or Six Gun.

In L.A., I remember going back to the corner. I was calm. I listened to the coaches. I knew I can tell you everything that they were said right now. And I think that was a big stepping zone for me. It might sound kind of dumb, but it was just a good, like, man, I get to go sit down on the stool. I get to hear Coach Greg, what he asked to say, what Coach Gibson has to say, what

Tusa has to say, and I think that was a big stepping stone for me. That's huge. I mean, a lot of fighters tell me over the years that, you know, that's a turning point for them. They hear their coaches, they hear even like instructions in the corner that they never heard before. Do you feel like you've found

something with Jackson Wink and those guys? Because I know you bounced around, you bet it's to some different places. What specifically about Jackson Wink made you feel like, this is it? I feel like I'm home now. Well, from the first time I walked in there and like working with Coach Greg and I just felt I just felt a good connection. I like how Albuquerque, I love Albuquerque. I love the city.

It's not a lot of driving like L.A. I have to go here, go there, it's kind of hard for me. And for me, it's not about like having, it's about learning how to fight and learning and putting it together. So I'm around coaches that give me a lot of time. and I'm eager to learn and figure this thing out. So it's just being in one spot, two, three times a day. I'm in the gym just, all right, working on this, working on different aspects of MMA.

And that's what I really needed to be in one location and just learning how to fight. So I think I know this place is the place for me. With everything going on in the world, Bellator, obviously, has postponed events indefinitely. And Scott Coker hopes to be back up and running in the summertime. time and there's talks about hosting events at some sort of Hollywood sound stage or something over the summer. I know you can get some work in when you can, but with the gathering bands and limitations, it's not exactly the same like you alluded to. But if you had it your way,

when would you like to return? Is there any sort of time frame you've had in mind if all goes well and it's a perfect world? Yeah, I don't have a, I don't have a perfect time. The thing is, is I'm always in shape. I'm always, you know, staying at. active and watching, not watching what, I eat pretty clean all the time. But for me, I can fight whenever, but I like to, I want to be able to have an eight, 10 week camp with my coaches. You know, that's the most important thing. You know, a lot of people will take fights on short notice and that.

And I give them a lot of problems, but I like to be, I like to be prepared going into a fight. And I like to be on the same page with my coaches. And that's something that I have to sit down with my manager, Ali, and the coaches that I have here and figure out when is the best time for us because I'm young in my career to be honest with you. I mean, I don't need to take a fight to, you know, because I need to feed a family or this or that. I'm good. I, you know, live within my means. And I don't need to fight right now. Like, oh, I need to fight next week because I need to feed my kids or something like that. I'm here in Albuquerque just training. I've got everything dialed in. And I want to make sure I'm on the same page

with my coaches, the 8, 10 week training camp going into a fight. I don't think I'll feel a little bit of anxiety. If it's like, oh, you're fighting this and you only have three weeks to prepare, that's not me. So we'll sit down with the coaches when this quarantine is over with, and we'll see what they have to say. And I got to spar. I got to see where I'm at.

I got to, you know, how I feel with the grappling and with the sparring and so many variables that go into it. So we'll see. So you'd probably want to wait and see once Bellator actually puts an event on then you kind of know like, all right, at least we're back up and running. Then you can start thinking about a fight and putting it eight to ten week camp together, correct? Yeah, yeah. I haven't heard anything from Bellator, to be honest with you.

So I don't even know what's going on. So it's kind of hard to train for anything. If you don't, you just stay in shape, but I'm not going to go beat myself up and run up a mountain and try to go crazy with the conditioning. Because you don't know, man. Yeah, shit. I might fight in September. I may fight in October.

I don't know anything at this point right now. I mean, it doesn't really affect you too much. But Bellator, obviously, they've made the decision to hang back and wait for everything to turn the corner. And then across the pond, you get the UFC. They're looking at it in a totally opposite way. Let's get back to normal, at least as best as we can, and try to get some fights going here. What is sort of your take on how things are being handled by these promotions when it comes to COVID-19 and everything that's going on? Yeah, I think

I mean, I think I can see both sides. I honestly can see both sides. I could see either UFC putting on fights. I mean, you know, at the end of the, there's a lot of fighters that need to make money and they

and they got to, that's what they do. They got to fight. And the, the UFC has a lot of resources and they're able to put on fights. More power to them. I'm not, I'm not hating on anybody because it's like, you know,

I have friends. I fight for the UFC and that's how they feed their family. And Bellator, I could see where they're coming from. They want to take the precautions and they want to, you know, whatever they feel is right. More power to them. I'm not mad at anybody, you know. But like I said, if you can minimize it, no crowds, no nothing, like what Scott was saying, hey, that sounds good to me. You know, that sounds good to me. Fight no crowd. So I could see both sides. I'm not, I'm not hating or like, oh, they're, you know, Dana's doing what's best for his company and Scott's doing what's best for his company. And that's as simple as that.

I'm fine. There's not much I can really say. I can't go on and say, oh, they need to do this because I don't know what goes on behind closed doors and the business side of that. It's something that's super, super new to me. And I know, like I said, I don't know anything about that. They have their ways and they have their company. They have their numbers that they need to meet and stuff.

And, hey, whatever they feel is best, that's. on them. Yeah, that's above our pay grade, Aaron. We don't need to be thinking about the business side of all of this. But you've been, you've been with Bellator for all eight of your fights, and I'm not sure what your contract looks like, but do you still have, like, a bunch of fights left with them? Where does that all stand, if you don't mind me asking? Yeah, I still, I still have some time with Bellator. So, yeah, I'll be fighting with them for a little bit, for a little while, like as far as the contract and things like that. I saw, I saw some time with them. So yeah, I'll be a, I don't know they, I got to go look and read like the exact dates

of when the contract ends, but I saw some time with them. So do you feel like you'd want to be with them your entire career? I mean, you're a competitor and you've, you know, you've been a part of wrestling and you've been part of boxing and now you're an MMA. You know, from a competitive standpoint, do you think you may want to explore and test the waters and other spots in the future? I mean, you're only 23 years old, so you have plenty of time to think about it. Yeah, yeah. Of course, I'm, I'm young. and as far as that question, my job is just to be able to put on performances

and put on highlight reels like I've done before. And I think when the time comes, that's why we have managers. And I think when that time comes, I'm going to sit down with Ali and my team and figure out what's best for us. But Bellator has been very, very good to me. I've had some ups and downs.

downs with them, so they've treated me very, very well. But, you know, like at the end of the day, it's a business. I got to sit down with my team and figure out what's best for us. And when that time comes, I'll leave, I'll let the negotiate and go with Ali and, and we'll see. We'll see. But my job right now is just to put on great fights, which I'm, which I'm gearing up to do, doing a lot of studying. And I can't wait to get back in the cage. I can't wait. Yeah, you've always been a line-em-up kind of a guy for Bellatory. You're not really the call-out type. You don't talk trash, really.

You just go in there. Like you said, you go in there and fight. But is there someone that sticks out that you feel maybe a good step for your next fight that can challenge you? And that, you know, maybe you wouldn't mind punch into the face. Or you're still just kind of kind of, you know, take whatever Bellator gives you and just do your darn thing. Yeah, that's the biggest thing. I mean, you can call out everybody, you can call people out. And it's obviously beyond your control, you know, with Bellator.

So, yeah, whatever Bellator decides to give me, I leave that up to my manager, Ali. I'm not, I'm not, he says, hey, you're fighting this guy and, hey, let's do it. You know, that's just kind of how I am. And I don't think I'm really in a position right now to be like, hey, I need to fight this guy, fight that guy. Because even if I do call them out, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to fight them with Bellator. So, of course, there's a lot of guys you want to fight. But we'll just take one step at a time and put on some performances and see where that goes. But yeah, we'll just, like I said, I'll just stay in my lane right now and get my cage time.

There's so many fighters out there who are in the sport that are trying to make it at a young age. And I feel like now, especially in 2020, it's a really interesting time because there are kids who at 10, 11, 12 years old, their goal isn't to be firefighters and police officers. They want to be Bellator champions and MMA professional fighters. They want to fight on television, maybe even sooner. That have been kids that have been training their entire lives since they were like six, seven, eight years old with dreams of being a professional fighter. What advice would you give to some of these younger fighters looking to make MMA their career choice over the next few years?

Like, what would you say if someone who's 15, 16 years old that wants to get into the sport came up to you and asked you that question? What kind of advice would you give them? The only advice I give them is just take your time. Take your time and work. And when you're starting off in your career, just surround yourself with a good team, good coaches, and take your time. There's no rush to be the youngest world champion.

If it comes your way, great. And you're prepared for it, great. But take your time and just work your ass off. That's the only thing I can possibly say. Work your ass off. and don't stop. Don't stop. It's very, very simple. But when you do turn pro, take your time and make sure your team is on the same page as far as everything and do what's best for you. Not anybody else do what's best for you. Well said, Aaron. Great stuff. I really appreciate the time.

And the last time we had spoken was right before the Lee Morrison fight a couple of years back. It was one that I remembered for sure. I think you got Dylan Danis's attention. after that conversation, if I recall. But it was great chat with you again, man. Stay healthy, stay safe. I wish you all the best during this crazy time in the world. Enjoy the horses. And hopefully you get back in that octagon or that cage sooner rather than later, man.

I appreciate, brother. Thank you. All the best to you and your family. And stay safe. Hopefully this is over soon. All right. Thanks, brother. Take care.

You as well. All right, there he is Aaron Pico, wrapping up another edition of What the Heck on MMAfighting.com. Thank you all for watching and listening. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast because, you know, especially the YouTube stuff. We're going to have some bonus interviews. We dropped the chat with John Wood last week is a little bit of a bonus. We get some other stuff in the works for this week as well.

Also, if you haven't checked out Eurobash this week, it is phenomenal. Pizzi Carroll and Nile McGrath always bring the goods. Their banter and their Irish accents are just something to behold. And they chat with Jack Herbanson, Leon Edwards, and Brennan, this week. A-side on Wednesday. day had Roxanne Mata Ferry. So we're trying to bring you the best content possible in a really crazy time in the world. And with the fight week coming up, expect a lot of stuff over the next couple of weeks. That is for sure. Big thank you to Casey Liding and Esther Lynn, the legends

behind the scenes making this show look as good as it does. All credit goes to them. And a big shout out to all of you who check out the show each and every week. Five shows down, hopefully infinity more to come. I am Mike Heck. Enjoy your last stretch. fights for a little while and as always have a heck of a week everybody the vox media podcast network