MMA Fighting - What the Heck: Episode 51 | Josh Emmett, Leonard Garcia, Adrian Yanez & Manel Kape

Episode Date: March 23, 2021

This week on What the Heck, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck chats with Adrian Yanez (11:44) following his impressive third-round KO victory over Gustavo Lopez at UFC Vegas 22 this past Saturday. Josh Emmett (37:07) provides an update on his recovery from injuries suffered in his unanimous decision win over Shane Burgos in June and when he expects to return to the octagon. Leonard Garcia (1:03:46) reflects on his career following his unanimous decision win over Joe Elmore in the main event of Friday night's BKFC 16 fight card and subsequently announcing his retirement from combat sports. Finally, Manel Kape (1:36:32) reacts to his controversial split decision loss to Matheus Nicolau at UFC Vegas 21 earlier this month. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What the Heck with Mike Heck on MMAfighting.com. Now here is your host, Mike Heck. What the heck? Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of What the Heck here on MMAfighting.com. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for checking out the program this week.

A lot to get to, as always. A lot of great conversations for your listening and watching pleasure. But before we get into any of that, allow me to reflect, wax poetically for a moment if I could. So today, as this officially drops, it is Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021, which marks exactly one year since I joined the team over at MMA fighting one year. And my wife told me this last night. She basically said, you know, tomorrow's one year since you got your new job. And that is freaking insane to me. It really is, especially thinking back on what has gone on in the world,

like what was going on in the world when this all started. Literally the entire time I was here, I mean, I got a little, I got a little emotional thinking about it because I am a lucky dude. Like, I really, really am. Like, coming on right when a pandemic shut down the entire world, all the upcoming cards were getting canceled. and then it was just like a whirlwind from there. Like the UFC was trying to keep UFC 249 in April.

Remember that? That was when it was going to be Habib Nirmagameda versus Tony Ferguson. We were finally going to get it. And then a pandemic struck. Fight was out of Brooklyn. Then they were going to do it to Tachi Palace in California. Remember that whole thing?

And then Disney and the governor of California shut it all down. And then it got pushed back like three weeks later in Jacksonville. And then boom, it was just off to the races. just off to the races. We haven't stopped since. What have we had, like, three weeks off, three Saturdays off since then? And those are all made up because we had like two or three weeks where we had like three cards in one week, which is just crazy.

It's just been unbelievable. That's why I can't believe it's been a year. It just went by so fast. But I was thinking about it the other day because my wife was like, do you remember the first thing you did with MMA fighting? Like I wrote a couple of articles. I remember Tyson Chartier, who manages and coaches Calvin Cater and Rob Font. He was like my first interview.

It wasn't like a video interview. Just a regular interview. And we were talking about Tachi Palace and UFC 249 because Calvin Cater was supposed to fight Jeremy Stevens on that card. He ended up fighting him on the new date in May, got the finish and it started this crazy year for him. But the first video I did with enemy fighting, it was like upstairs on the third floor and the renovated house that we got it all out. It was my office for the first few months. Now it's like a it's like a guest room that no one's. slept in it all, but kind of looked, eh, people kind of gave me crap for it, and I get it,

but I did what I had to do to get some work done. But I remember it was right after John Jones got arrested for the DWI and the gun charges. And, you know, it led to this soundbite because I was reading off like fighter tweets reacting to this. And Diego Sanchez said some, said something in his tweet. And the sound bite has followed me ever since. But it's been, man, It's been like nonstop working and grinding and hustling and busting my tail, trying to live up to the standards that this website, the readers of this website, have expected. And I know that there have been a lot of changes over the years. There have been some giant shoes to fill. And I'll be honest.

I'll look you're right in the face. I know I'm not everybody's cup of tea. and that's fine. Nobody is. I'm the sit at the bar, talk to you about fighting kind of guy. And that's how I approach the interviews. That's how I approach the shows. I'd just like the talk with like a game show enthusiasm.

You know, like that's just who I am. And there were some very talented people who used to work here. And they were here before me. And there's some super talented people that work here now. And not easy shoes to fill. But for those who have given me a chance, I truly appreciate it. I am blessed. I'm beyond thankful.

And to talk to these incredible people, do this show for you, to have between the links, to be able to be a part of onto the next one with A.K. Lee, my best friend, the preview shows, the post-fight shows, the pre-fight Q&As that we just added a few months ago. It's an honor to be a part of that. And I just want to say, you know, from the bottom of my heart, how much this is all meant to me, how much you all have meant to me in good times and in bad, compliments to being called Dana White's nephew or little brother or son, what have you. It's all good. Whatever you have to say.

Thank you again. Here's to many more years. One year in the bag. On to year two. That's that. So all the sappy stuff is out of the way. UFC 260 coming up this Saturday. headlined by the heavyweight championship rematch

between Stepe Meachich and Francis and Ganu. Huge, huge fight because not only is the heavyweight strap in the line, not only is it a rematch, I was there. One of the first pay-per-view events I ever covered was UFC 220 in Boston at the Garden. That first round between those two guys, insane. Steepa after the fight, refusing to let Dana White wrap the belts around his waist,

talking to the media afterwards. John Morgan wasn't there that night. I had the first questions for Steppe Mietich, and I thought the man was going to jump off the stage and punch me in the face. Not just because I had bad questions, because I didn't think they were bad questions, but he was just not in the mood to talk to anybody, and I happened to be the first one,

and it was intense. It was an intense moment in my career, but heavyweight titles on the line to rematch. A lot of people asking how much has Francis and Ghana improved since that first fight? Because he's just gone out there and just blasted everybody in the first round. We'll find out, but the titles on the line, line, the title of Baddest Man in the Planet's on the line. And also, the looming thing, a date

with John Jones is also on the line as well, because John Jones moving up to heavyweight, he's putting on that size. Dana White has said it many times, the winner of this fight will defend against John Jones later on this year. And I can't wait to see it. I cannot wait to see heavyweight John Jones. The next step towards that happening happens this Saturday. And it is a very fascinating fight, of course. We got some bad news on Saturday. We lost the featherweight title fight. the co-mate event between Alexander Volcanovsky and Brian Ortega after the champion Volcanovsky tested positive for COVID-19.

They'll rebook it for later in the year. It's unfortunate. I was looking forward to that fight. But hey, still going to be a fun card. We get Tyron Woodley. Absolutely gigantic fight for him is must win as it gets for the former Walterweight champion. He's got a tough task ahead of him in Vicente Lucke. We have the return of Sugar Sean O'Malley.

How does he bounce back after his first career loss to, Cheeto Vera. He's going to take him Thomas Almeida. We got Kamowworthy versus Jamie Malarkey. William Knight, friend of the show. He's been on a few times. Had some great conversations. My back was itchy, sorry. William Knight versus Alonzo Meadowfield. That rebooking

goes down on this card as well. There's a lot of good fights on this card. It should be a good one. And we'll be there. So get excited for that. But we're also coming off of UFC Vegas 22. Derek Brunson gets a big win over Kevin Holland. That's four straight for Derek Brunson.

And here's the thing that kind of irks me about this whole situation because the whole narrative coming out of this fight is Kevin Holland talked too much. A lot of people discrediting Kevin Holland. It's the Kevin Holland show and the loss. But not a lot of people are giving credit to Derek Brunson. Why? The man is so underappreciated to 185 pounds. And was it the most aesthetically pleasing fight? Was it Rockham, knock, Rockham Sock and Robots?

That's what it was like for Rockham Sockham Robots? No. But he did what he needed to do to do. to win the fight. This is a much different guy than he was three years ago, four years ago, five years ago. He's learned a lot. He's gotten much wiser. That second round where he got dropped or kind of dropped or dropped to a knee, clipped. Three, four years ago, Derek Brunson, probably would have got stopped in that moment, but he was able to bounce back, kept his composure, got back to what was winning him the fight. Much wiser. I'm impressed.

I'm impressed. I hope he gets that fight with Paul Ocosta that he wants. It makes sense. And he deserves a fight like that after beating Shabazzian, after beating Kevin Holland. He deserves that fight. And I hope he gets it. And as far as Kevin Holland goes, I will say I have been trying to get him back on the show. We'll see if we can make that happen this week. We'll see. That's all I can say.

I'm working on it. It is what it is. But I think he will, I think he probably will make that move to 170, unless something pops up quick that he can jump on at 185 just to keep them, you know, just keep fighting. He just wants to fight as often as possible. But the moral of the story, to make a long story short, is give credit where it's due to Derek Brunson. He deserves it. Holland will be back. There you go.

We'll be speaking to, in my opinion, the biggest star of that card a little bit later on. In fact, it's going to kick us up. But let's run down the lineup. Let's get to the first guest. I've been yammering long enough, taking strolls down memory lane. You don't want to hear any of that crap. Wrap us up this week. We're going to speak to Manel Cap.

Okay, not Manel Cape. I thought it was Manel Cape. I mean, I was going to clear that all up at the end of the show. But I will say that the former rising champ, not a happy camper, since his most recent fight less than two weeks ago, lost a split decision to Mateus Nicolao, a fight that everybody, let's be honest, besides Nicolao and probably his coaches and his family,

and two judges in Las Vegas, thought Manel Cape won. It was a fun fight, but pretty much everybody, like almost unanimously. scored it for Manel Cape. He's unfortunately off to an 0-and-2 start since signing with the UFC at the beginning of last year. We'll check in with Starboy to wrap up the show this week. Leonard Garcia will join us this week for the first time. He just defeated Joe Elmore in the main event of BKFC 16 this past Friday night and then announce his retirement from combat sports.

We'll speak to the former UFC WEC vet, a man that was part of a lot. of tremendous battles over the year. Leonard Bad Boy Garcia, excited to speak with him a little bit later on. Hosting on to the next one, there's one name that keeps coming up anytime we talk about big fights at 145 pounds in the UFC. Josh Emmett, where is he? When is he coming back? How is he doing after the litany of injuries he suffered in that crazy fight with Shane Burgos last year? We're going to get an update from him in around 20 or so minutes. Kind of a crazy story. You'll hear all that coming up soon.

But first, let us check in with the show stealer from this past Saturday at the UFC Apex, 2 and O in the UFC. Now he has two finishes, two bonuses. Adrian Yanez, one of the bright, up-and-coming prospects at 135 pounds, kicks us off right now. All right, let us welcome back to the show, in my opinion, the biggest star of this past weekend from UFC Vegas 22. What a performance stops Gustavo Lopez in the third round,

and now he's hoping to get right back in there, May 15th, in Houston at UFC 262, right in his backyard. Adrian Janus joins us coming off an incredible performance. How are you, man? Man, I'm doing great, man. I'm still on Cloud 9 from this, man. It was pretty cool, man. I just fought a tough opponent and, you know,

was able to put a really impressive, really impressive performance and getting the stoppage, you know. So I'm feeling great. I'm feeling really, really great. Yeah, I mean, it's, first of all, it's great to have you here. Congratulations on the win. But, you know, just everything you were just saying. Like, you were the freaking bell of the ball, man.

I mean, you got the attention of the whole UFC roster. I mean, Teddy Atlas is tweeting about you. And pretty much anybody who's a fan of combat sports, like, what is that all meant to you? Like, what have the last 48 or so hours been like for you? Man, honestly, it's just been a lot to take in, honestly. It's just been a lot, like, especially, like, the Teddy Atlas. The Teddy Atlas one was the one that was getting me choked up, you know, because, you know, me and my dad, my brother and my family, we'd be sitting back watching boxing and we'd hear Teddy Atlas all the time. So to me, like, getting the praises from Teddy Atlas to me is like it brought me back to like a good memory and good memories, you know, because there's like a family pastime for us to sit down and watch some boxing.

So, you know, we would like just steadily just hear about Teddy Atlas, you know, and just seeing his score cards and everything. So to me, that, that, like, was making me choke up a little. It made me feel really, really good to be like, man, dad, I got Teddy Atlas commenting on my fight, saying how good of a fight this is. Like, I was saying that in my head, and I was like, man, I love it. It's amazing. So it's been cool. It's been really nice to get the notoriety from everybody.

So it's really cool, man. And just on top of everything, man, it's like just to go out there and get a great performance like this, man. It's a cherry on top. Yeah, because he wasn't. didn't just give like one tweet he was like he was like live tweeting the whole fight it was crazy yeah so that that was the coolest part i went back and had a screenshot screenshot the tweets i was like man i'm keeping this that's amazing man i mean we talked after the debut obviously that was memorable for you with the head kick ko in the first round this one went to the third round and

like you obviously remember and you always will remember the ufc debut but considering the opponent the main card spot him talking a little bit of grecianness ahead of the fight the after the after the reaction from everybody. Is this win, like, way sweeter than the debut? Oh, yeah, for me, absolutely. You know, like, no disrespect to Victor or anything like that, but, you know, he did take it on a week's notice, and he's not, like, I'm not,

I don't want to disparage him in his record or anything like that, but he did come from Alaska, like, from Alaska MMA scene. And one thing about the, about MMA is that the Alaska and, like, the MMA community or, like, the MMA scene out there, it's not really that big and not really that predominant and like uh it's it's it's it's one of those that's like kind of like it's it's it's not the best it's not the best like scene you don't see champions coming out of there uh very much so it's so a lot of people can go out there and be like like exactly what gustavo said who is he beat everybody's like i think he's in an interview they were

like yeah like he fought victor Rodriguez and he was like who's that and i was like all right you know I don't ever want to disparage anybody that goes in there because they deserve to be in there. They're fighters. So, you know, just to go in there and fight someone like the stature of Gustavo Lopez, you know, he's coming out via the, uh, court, uh, the court, uh, extreme quator gym there in Vegas. So, you know, he was fighting at home. So he was, all of it was leaning towards him in his favor. He's fighting at home.

He has the big gym recognition and everything. And he's training with all those guys. And for me to go in there and stop all that, that to me was really, really cool. I don't know if you were like a pro wrestling fan in like the late 90s, early 2000s, but like I remember, you know, Kurt Engel had the three eyes. You know, he always talked about the three eyes and intensity intelligence. I forget the third. But he had three eyes. But you went to this fight with like the three Cs, calm, cool, and collected. I mean, you were just so relaxed, made. It was so noticeable. It was like you were going for a walk around the neighborhood, not getting in there for a potential

15 minute fight with another human being. Like, how would you, how would you describe like the hour 30 minutes before the fight. Was it the same feeling, just super relaxed? Yeah, I was just super relaxed. It was one of those things for me that I just knew what I had to do. I know one of those things that he's, I don't know if he was trying to round me up or whatever, but none of that stuff like kind of really bothers me, like especially like the week of he was talking mess or like he was in other interviews.

He was like, who is he fought? Like he was like, he was this hype guy. I'm going there and I'm going to drown this guy and everything. I know he was trying to do that for hype reasons to me. just never really bothers me. And, like, I know, like, one of the biggest thing that helps me be calm is just one of those that, dude, this, I love doing this. This is my dream.

I, like, every single time I go out there, like, right before I walk out and I'm just like, man, I'm about to go out there and, like, live my dream again. This is amazing. This is fun. Like, I was, like, like, it's just one of those things that, like, man, why would I be, like, nervous about living my dream? I was like, there's no fear in living dream. So to me, I was like, dude, this is fun, dude, this is really, really fun.

I actually had to calm myself down from being like, dude, about to go say, had some fun and everything. So I was like, cool, calm, collected, let's go. It's still a little bit, it's still serious. So you can still got to go out there and be calm. But even whenever I was in there, I was telling myself three Cs, man, cool, calm and collected, right? Right after that fight, because he was right in between rounds, I was telling myself, cool, calm and collected, because I saw that he was, like, smiling at me, doing stuff here and there. to the point where man I didn't even look him in his face during the fight I was looking

directly at his chest and again using my peripherals I was like super zoned in so it was just the hour or half of me just being me like before the fight and so just having fun on our post fight show a lot of people were talking about your performance and I compared your striking it was like watching a Peter Griffin fight on family guy because every time you landed on him it showed like a well to cut a mark some sort of discoloration like every single shot you landed meant something and it showed something. Like I know you weren't really looking at his face, but at different points, were you looking at his face and realizing like every time I'm landing, it's showing.

I was, I was looking. I saw like blood in the first round and I wanted to tell him like, you're bleeding. Like I was like, hey, you're bleeding. But it like it never came out. I was just sitting there. It's like, oh. But no, I did notice. His nose was red.

I saw that he started bleeding a little bit more, as the fight went on. They did a good job, but I guess I don't know if it was a nose bleed or what it was, but he, like, yeah, I just really didn't. I really didn't pay attention too much to that, honestly. I was kind of just, like, throwing, I was like, I knew where I had to land. I was just using my peripherals, and I just see blood kind of come down

every once in a while. But other than that, yeah, I just wasn't really looking at his face. second, but that's, that's pretty cool. It's pretty cool that you compare it to a pretty different fight because, like, I just remember him just fighting that chicken. Every time, they go out of for, like, a whole episode. You dropped him in the second, and, I mean, obviously, you were fully in control at this point.

You were wearing on him throughout the fight? Were you in your team, like, were you guys feeling confident between the second and third rounds on the stool that the end was near, that you were probably one more clean shot away from ending this thing? No, we, we, um, we, um, we never really kind of like tell, like, we kind of just don't, like, go finish them or anything like that.

It's more of a, keep doing what you're doing if the shot is in itself, you know, take it. And it was one of those things that my coaches, like once I came back, came back to the corner, he's like, all right, cool, look, he's lost two rounds. He's going to come out, he's going to come out very aggressively. He's either going to want to come out very aggressively and start looking to wrestle you, try to take you down

because he's not winning the stand-up. he's like so just just be weary that he's going to might take a shot get more explosive and try to come at you so immediately when that when that round started just took the center so it was just one of those uh it it was just one of those that we just like the shot presented itself and i just took it so um like i even told told my coach in the corner was like yeah he's like i'm starting to see everything that's coming like everything i'm starting to see his motions and everything is like all right cool like if you see the shot take it um But just be cautious because he's going to start throwing another wind. He's either going to look to knock you out or take you down. You're the other one. So just be cautious. And that's exactly what happened. Like came out there.

It was pretty cool that it happened like when the beginning, like like in 27 seconds. So that's, that was pretty cool. And it was also a good read because that's exactly what this corner of someone. It's like, you got a gun for the knockout. You guys started looking to take them down. You got to start doing something differently because you're not fighting. So it was really, it was really cool. Like we were pretty much planned and prepared for that.

exactly what happened. Best performance of your career? Oh, absolutely. I think it was really flawless. But at the same time, like, I look and I have a black eye and I'm like, yeah, no, I think I'm going to go back, you know, I'm going to go back to the drawing board and judge myself really, really harshly because I got touched up in the face a little bit. I got a little bit reckless in some, in some cases. So I got to go back to the drawing board and fix and add those, fix those things in my game. So I would say in my UFC, Yes, best performance, best performance, especially coming about like how tough the opponent was.

You know, he went 15 minutes with Marab and the guy that's the top 15. So to me, I best performance, hands down. But I still, I'm judging really hard thing on myself. So it's kind of hard for me to go up there and do that. That's hard to even see the black eye, man. Like you can barely say, I didn't even notice until you said anything. I feel like Saul Salis is starting to get some more street cred these days, man, like, which is crazy because he had a lot of it back in the day with like Tito and Rico and

Rampage and those guys. But now seeing what you've been able to do as of late, we're starting to see his name come up a little bit more. He's been flying under the radar over the last several years. But what does it like for you to see him start to get some shine again in 2021? He tries to stay out of it. He tries to stay out of it, man. That's the thing, man.

I tell him all the time, like, man, coach, like, you don't take credit for any of this stuff. And like he tells me all the stuff that he's done and everything, but he never goes out there and says it. I'm just like, man, I was like, whenever I get there, man, you're not going to hide behind the camera. Because he was on her championship run, he was behind Chris Seiborg. He was training her for all those fights. But, you know, he was the MMA head coach,

and he had Jason Perlow, the boxing coach and all that stuff. So he was there for Chris Seabor, for Chris Seaborg's title run and everything. so it was uh so he had like like he had he's like had some fighters up there now but man honestly like he just doesn't like to talk about it even in those abetted videos i remember seen a glimpse of him once in brazil whenever he was there with chris iboe it's like you could see him literally run out the shot he doesn't want to be in the video or anything like that so man he he he doesn't want to take the shine away from any of the fighters but i told him I tell them all the time,

like, hey, you're, you're going to get it from me, whether you like it or not. Like, I'm going to make sure

that people know who you are. You deserve this. I know you don't like it, but you, you to me have done so much for me. So I'm going to make sure you get it back and however I can,

whether it's giving you credit or doing what I can. So, 100%. Like, I'm loving that he's getting the notoriety, especially Michael Bisping, went out there and shouting him out.

You know, I remember my coach saw, I remember, I remember Saul telling me about the time that he trained, he trained him for the, uh, trained him for the ultimate fighter. So to me,

I was like, man, that's, that's big. That's huge. So it's pretty cool. So after the fight, you're speaking with Paul Felder and you basically say like,

hey, I want to get on that 262 cards in Houston full house on May 15th. That must have put a little extra pep in your step on Friday to find out that 262 was going to be in front of a big crowd in Houston. Did it not? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I, like,

I immediately knew what I wanted to say in the, in the post-fight interview. I wanted to say that for sure. I definitely wanted to get that. As soon as I saw that they came out, oh, 262 is going to be May 15th, Houston, Houston, Teoterson. I was like, yeah, hell yeah. I know exactly what I'm saying right after my win. Yeah, so I was going out there, like, I was planning out what I was going to say. Didn't come out the way I wanted to, but I definitely wanted to get out. I definitely wanted to get on that card. Yeah, you had a name in mind. You called out Nate Mainis, because he obviously called you up before, but he's obviously booked to fight Tony Gravely on April 17th. So, I mean, who knows?

Maybe he can turn around quickly after that fight, but I would say probably unlikely, if we're being honest. But listen, you're in this crazy division. There's a lot of 35ers who are really good that that are looking for fights, man. At the end of the day, I'm sure it doesn't even matter. You just want to be on that card, right? Oh, yeah, I absolutely want to be on that card. I just had a little back and forth with Nate just now before we got on. Really? But I thought, Twitter is complicated, man. I'm still learning the ropes. I'm not a social media guy.

I'll tweet something here and again and just leave it at that. But I thought he did a little tweet and delete. And I go back and like I saw that, I saw something. And then like someone told me. I went back and someone added me at the thing. I was like, oh, he didn't. I saw what I did. They had tweets and tweet and replies.

And I saw that. And I was like, oh, I'm an idiot. I'm a super idiot. So, yeah, I had no shame in my game. I'm leaving everything up. I don't care. But I saw that he was like, God, he's down. He's down for a fight.

So he even said, like, he's, I don't know, I don't know if he made it towards my fight or like May 15th, but he said he already, like, he signed the contract and ready to go, like, as soon as possible. So, man, maybe something happened. I don't know. Maybe he was, maybe that turning great of the fight didn't happen. because I told him was like, hey, like I even said,

like, well, people saying you already have a fight lined up, if you have a fight lined up worry about that one first, then we can scrap after it. That would be a good one. Honestly, the only reason why I really want to get that fight is just because he called me out and, you know, back, like, in the real world, when someone calls you out, you know, you got to answer it or else you're kind of a scared kid,

you know, you're kind of scared. You're not in those words, much worse. But, you know, so I'm just answering the call out. If you fights, he, and I just wanted to show him, hey, I'm calling you back out. So if anything goes differently, it's on you. It's not on me because I'll sign that contract all day, every day. But if that fight isn't there for May 15th, I definitely want to try to get that guy at. It's a great fight.

It's a great fight just because of the style matchup. You got that Davey Grant. I think he just had a spectacular knockout not too long ago. I saw some people saying his name. So, you know, if that's a fight, that's a fight I'd like. He's coming off a big knockout. I'm coming off of two big knockouts in my U.C. career. So I think that would be a great fight.

I think it would be a really great fight. I was the initial conductor of that train for you and Davey Grant. But unfortunately, when Davy fights, he breaks something in that fight. So he broke his foot. So that probably is still there, but just everybody. But let me, but the beauty of, of, My job is I do a bunch of different shows, and one of them is a matchmaking show where after these events, me and one of my colleagues, we jump on here the next day and people give us ideas of who they want to see you fight. And the most popular name that has popped up thus far is Montel Jackson, who fought on the card.

You got a quick knockout, and he's probably looking to turn around quick. And I get to tell you, just because I'm a fan of both of you guys, that fight, the idea of you two guys getting after it, that scratches me right where I hit you, Adrian. I'm not going to lie. What are your thoughts on that matchup? Man, honestly, any matchup, man. Honestly, any matchup. I don't care who it is. You can't run in the UFC.

You can't run from anybody. You can't. You can't. Honestly, there's a lot of people that say you can cherry pick in the UFC. No, you can't. Everybody here's tough. So you really can't pick your next opponent. I'm down for anybody.

Like, man, I said it in the, I said it like whenever my UFC career started. And I said, anybody can and we'll get it. So, man, hey, anybody can't get it. Anybody can't get it, man. Let's go. It doesn't matter who it is, man. Respect Montel Jackson. Respect to him.

Some food accidentally got sent to our room and it was his. He's a cool guy. He's a real cool guy. So, yeah, so anybody, man. It doesn't matter. Yeah, the division is just amazing right now because, I mean, what a busy week for the division and for, you know, big events because we found out that Dillishaw's coming back. He's fighting Corey Sanhagg and May 8th. We still get the title

fight rematch between Sterling and Yon to look forward to. Rob Fons fighting Cody Garbrandt May 22nd. Van Waite's just cooking right now, man. I mean, these upcoming fights in your world will be exciting. But once you crack into the top 15, man, it's only going to get better and better and the tests are going to get stiffer and stiffer. Like, when you think about the future, man, how excited are you for some of these matchups that you could potentially get? Like, man, I said it once and I'll say it again, dude. It's a, it's a, it's a, it's, It's a bunch of killers, man. It's a bunch of killers.

And it excites me because this is like, this is really, really cool because we have a wave of like new, like, 35ers who are all tough, all tough killers. And like, we got a wave and you have to separate yourself from that pack. And that's what I plan on doing. Like, I want to be the killer of the killers, man. That's exactly what I'm trying to be. So seeing all those guys up there, you know, it just excites me, man. I'm like, like, I want to get better. I like, I want to get better.

And it's like, so whenever I fight them, it's super easy for me. Like, I know right now I can go up there and compete with those guys, but I want to be able to go up there and make sure they can't compete with me. You know, that's my goal and that's the biggest thing of what I'm trying to do. So, oh, man, it just excites me. And I just know I have so much more to improve. And whenever I improve, they're going to be in trouble. How?

You mentioned, we talked about the three Cs in the octagon, and I'm curious, like, how that translates outside of it because it's got to be a very important thing to have when thinking about the future, like staying calm, cool collected, you're coming off a big win like this. Everyone's ready to like throw you into the top 10, the top five, like, give this guy a top 15 guy after two fights. And you take it if you got the chance. But how important is it just to maintain those three Cs, enjoy the ride, move up the ranks, kind of maintain that composure through all this hype that you've rightfully earned? man i i just see what's already been done before me you know like i can go back and name a lot of great names like you got like max holloway look how long it took for him to get into the top 15 to even get a title shot tony fergusonorenton's another one of those guys look how long it took for him just to get up there and get to a title shot steeping me oh just look how long it took for him to work to get up to a to a tautosote look at dust and forier to like finally be like the guy It took him, took them such a long, long time. Like, in Donald Seroni.

Like, we got a lot, there's a lot of examples of, like, fighters. Like, not that Donald Serroney took his time. He fought anybody on any given week, you know. But, like, look how long it took for a lot of these fighters, you know, to get to the position they were at. So, like, it's just one of those things that whether if they rush me, they rush me. But if not, if not, I don't mind being a workforce. You know, there's a lot of fights there.

There's a lot of opportunities. So there's never going to be like a need for me to have to get a fight at the top 15. In the position that I'm at right now, I can easily like fight somebody in the top 25 and the next fight get a top 15 guy. Or I can fight a top 50 guy, top 50 guy who's still a really good killer. And next thing you know, I'm fighting a top 40, top 30, top 25, then top 20, then top 15 if it takes me that long. So to me, it's just, you know, like, I'm just, I just take it as it comes, man. If it's going to come faster, faster, or if it's going to take its time, you know, I don't care. Like, it's one of those things that I take it as it comes.

Just keep getting those bonuses, man. Then it doesn't matter. Oh, yeah, that's exactly. That's another reason why I'm like, hey, you know, keep me fighting at the end for sure. It's going to get tough of the top. 50 Gs, man. What are we going to do with this bonus? Saving it, man.

That's my biggest thing. man that's my biggest thing i don't want to be become another 30 i don't want to be a 30 for 30 man that's the biggest thing and i want to save it i want to invest it i don't want like after this is all said and done i don't want to have to work that's uh and also i i don't want to have to fight for money i want to have to i want to be able to fight for fun like that's that's the thing you know i so just imagine me there's no stress on me right now with work like no stress on me right now with work. You know, I can go out there, fight, fight freely because I don't have to worry about, like, man, if he checks one of my kicks, I'm limping for three, two or three weeks.

You know, I did, like, my job is going to be a lot harder and this and that, but now, where me not having to worry about money going out there, you're like, man, I can go out there and just go nuts. I can go nuts. You know, so that's what I want to get to, man. That's exactly what I want to get to because I love I love fighting man I love the I love the I love the sport I love martial arts and you know if I had to worry about if I don't have to worry about money you're gonna start me seeing me start throwing a little bit a little bit crazyer last thing what will fighting at Toyota Center mean to you I mean to you I mean I've talked to like tons of fighters who get the fight in their hometown and

it's like a dream of theirs you know fighters talk about MSG all the time what will fighting at Toyota Center mean to you man it it would mean like a lot man. This is where I started. Houston is where I had my first fight. Houston's where I've had like a lot of ups and downs, you know, it's like it's, to me it's home

and it's like, man, like it'd be just crazy that I would be able to fight at the Teotas Center because, man, I'd be telling my dad almost all, like every single time he took me to go train. Like we'd see, we'd be exiting,

we'd be exiting and hitting the exit on Scott, I'm 45, Interstate 45, we're going down, we'd take an exit at Scott, and whenever we take that exit, you see directly straight across, you see the Toyota Center. And I'd always be telling my dad is, like, one day I want to fight there. Like, I want to fight there in the UFC. And my dad looked at me as like, in due time, you stay consistent, keep doing what you're doing, and you'll be there. Like, I believe in you.

So, like, to me, it's just one of those things that, like, it would mean a lot. It would mean more to me than just fighting anywhere else because that's one thing that I've told my dad like I'm going to fight there. So another promise to keep, man. I got to go out there. Hopefully I get it. I really want to fight May 15th. Definitely a guy to keep an eye on.

I'm stocking Adrianiananas. And it would be an absolute travesty if he is not on that UFC 262 card in Houston. A travesty. This is a no-brainer. brainer of all no-brainers. That man should be fighting on that card. Of course, that piece of business, finding out it's in Houston, dropped over the last few days. And we also found out that the main event for that card, we're going to crown a new UFC lightweight champion. Charles Oliveira is going to fight Michael Chandler. We'll have a new champion. Habib stays retired,

which, let's be honest, everybody knew, except Dana White apparently. But I also understand that he had to try to get him back. If there's any chance, he's going to try to make. He's going to try to make it happen. I didn't think it was going to happen. I don't know. I actually started to buy into it a little bit more. Probably for like a week. I thought it was possible. And then everything got shut down. Didn't happen. Habib moves on as he should. And we're going to have a new champion on May 15th. And we got a lot of big fights coming our way of the next few months. So let's get excited for that. But let's move ahead to our next guest. Let's get an update from one of the top 145 pounders on the planet. Emmett. All right, let us say hello to a man that a lot of people have been asking about for the

last several months here on M. May fighting. So I thought, let's just bring him on. Let's get the answers from the man himself, the seventh ranked 145 pounder in the world. Josh Emmett joins the program. How are you, man? I'm doing good. How are you doing? I'm doing great. It's great to have you here. And the last time we saw you, you had that incredible performance, that incredible fight with Shane Burgos is a unanimous decision win. And you did so with the litany of injuries. I think it was a like a torn ACL, you had a slightly torn MCL. I think there's a fractured femur in there. And I know I'm missing a few, but I know you had a bit of a chip on your shoulder heading into that fight, but to have that type of performance and to do it on one freaking leg essentially, like, what does

that mean to you and your confidence overall moving forward? Yeah, no, I, um, man, I, Shane's a, he's an awesome guy. He's a good fighter. Um, I knew it would be a tough test, but I just feel like, um, you know, I, uh, I just know my capabilities. And so I wanted to go in there. I wanted to show the fans, kind of new things that we've been working on and just a completely new game. And that all went out the window 15 seconds into the first round. So I just kind of, I couldn't move that well.

I had to put on a poker face because it hurt like hell. And I had no stability. And a lot of people, you know, it's funny because they're like, all the adrenaline, you must not have felt that. I'm like, oh, I felt it. there's a reason why you don't see NFL players, you know, playing the last, uh, the last quarter after they, they tear their ACL. But yeah, no, it was a good, uh, a good fight. And, uh, I was just frustrated because I, I knew I hurt my knee and then it turned out to be worse than I expected. Plus, um, yeah, I was just frustrated about the whole knee and I didn't get to go out there and like,

implement my game plan. But, um, in hindsight, I got the win, um, and got, I got a bone. this. So, you know, I got three checks, so I can't, I can't complain on being a lot worse place if I, you know, lost that fight. It's interesting because, kind of hearing your perspective on it, because to a lot of people, that was like an eye-opening performance. And you mentioned it, like, after the fight, like, people sort of had the narrative heading in that, you know, you were the, you were the knockout guy, you were the one-shot guy, but Shane was the more well-rounded guy. And, you know, if you don't stop him and land that, that solid one punch that you've used so many times, before, Shane's going to win the fight. And I know you saw members of the media sort of paint that

picture themselves as well. Was that a little frustrating for you? Or did you kind of use that as fuel for the fire, so to speak? Yeah, it was a little, it's a little frustrating, but I'm always the underdog. So I feel like, you know, my last three fights, four, maybe four or five fights, I've been the underdog, you know, big underdog. So I just, I don't know, I just, at the time, I was just like, man, when are they ever going to give me credit? But everyone thinks I'm just like a short stocky guy with the overhand, right? But I come from a wrestling background. I feel like in a lot of different, you know, facets of the game.

I feel like, you know, I feel like I'm better here, I'm better there. And I do that with a lot of my opponents. But no, yeah, of course I use it as like fuel to, you know, fuel to fire. But at the end of the day, I just kind of focus on what I need to do to, be victorious. It's interesting just seeing you, like you come into the UFC and I believe it's your first fight. You had the thing with the finger and then you became the overhand right guy.

And now I feel like people are starting to see you for who you really are. Like, and I know it was on one leg, you couldn't show everything. But are you starting to feel like a little momentum now after that win? Yeah, no, definitely. And I feel like me and my career, it's been like I've had some momentum and then I get sidetracked. But before that, five, You know, Dana was even talking about, you know, Burgos and I, the winner of that was going to be in talks of like a contender and being the likes of the guys in the top three, the top five.

And, you know, I was there. I beat the number three ranked guy. My second fight at featherweight. I was ranked fourth. I just had a minor setback. So I took him the long route to climb my way back. I'm almost to where I was at a few years ago. But, yeah, there's only one thing in my sight, you know, that I'm coming.

kind of gunning for. So, yeah, I just got to keep working. I got to first recover, heal this knee up, and then, man, I'm working every day to get better. And I think the fans will be in, you know, they'll be in for something when I do come back. You know, I'll get it, I'll come back stronger than I was before. I'll get to implement that, that spectacular showing that I wanted to with Burgos that I didn't get to. So, so I am excited for the return when that comes. So I was going to ask you about that, like, how has the rehab, the recovery been going? Like, how are you feeling around nine or so months later? Like, where did you kind of gauge the percentage at with the knee right now?

Man, it's hard just because I've had, it's just been like, I feel like a roller coaster ride. I feel like I'm almost at the bottom of the roller coaster. Just because I've had so many issues. I did the ACL reconstruction, and I used the Pateller attendant. So I've had tons of anterior knee pain where they took. the graph. And with me, I was doing really well in PT. I started physical therapy the next day after surgery. I stayed in Vegas for a little shy of two months. And I was doing like two days. I was working with Heather and Bobby out at the PI twice a day doing physical therapy. I was working with Vaux,

doing strength and conditioning. And they said I was like way ahead of the game. I wanted to be, you know, the Adrian Peterson of the MMA. I was like, I'm going to come back. I'm going to be the the first person she clears under six months and I'm going to fight and then for whatever reason maybe at like the three month marker when I was back here I was doing things and I kept complaining about pain in the the patella and I talked to the surgeon and he said that's just let's see if it goes away in a month or so so at the four month marker it was it was getting even worse and so we did MRI and where they took I don't know if you know how they they take the graphs or they take they like slice down your patella tenant and they go bone from your patella bone from your tibia and then in the

center is your your patella tenant so they take that out for whatever reason my patella tenant did not heal together and my my patella was just had a big piece of the bone out so he's like well you have a fractured patella and a torn ptell attendant he's like no wonder why you're having so much pain but i kept just going through all the workouts and stuff because i would ask the pt's i was like like there's pain here and I can I can trust me I can deal with pain so I'm like as long as this is not affecting my ACL they're like no that that's not affecting your ACL I was like okay so I just kept doing it until I got the image and then we had to kind of taper down kind of figure out another game plan I have a friend and doctor here in Sacramento that um is big into you know stem cells and

he does a lot of research out of UC Davis and things like that and so uh you know I did ultrasound with him and we set up a game plan to do the stem cell. So I went into his clinic and he, you know, he drilled into my, my SI joints on my back on both sides, literally with like a power tool, like a drill, and then extracted the bone marrow, and then they spin it like they do PRP and then injected it into the, into the Patela. So right through my kneecap, right all into the Patel attendant to hopefully create some type of growth factors. And it did. So it's been three months tomorrow since I did that procedure.

And I have responded well to that because I went and saw him six weeks after. And before it was like a complete like circle, just a whole black. There was no healing. And then when I saw him six weeks after the procedure, it was like a like almost like a zipper shape. So it did heal and there was like some speckles in there. So that's a good thing. So I do that another MRI tomorrow. and then next week I'm going to go do another ultrasound.

I don't think it's healed completely because I still have pain in it, but I can do things that I couldn't even do a fraction of that. So I am getting better, but it's just too soon to tell. I kept saying I want to fight in July or August, but as I'm kind of still dealing with this, I'm like, that's not going to happen. So in my mind, I will fight this year. I just, I don't know yet. It's a little too soon still.

So how so would you say like that the whole thing with the Patella probably knocked you back like three or four months? Yeah, I would I would say so because I did be yeah, I'd say about three, four months. You're right. Because other than that, my ACL is strong though. I know that. It's super strong, but it's just I can't do a whole lot with that anterior knee pain. And there's really nothing I could have done for whatever reason I didn't respond well to the surgery. And I just didn't, you know, because he.

The surgeon I went to, he did not suture that attendant. And some don't. They just think it grows back together. And for whatever reason, mine didn't. So I think it is now. But I'll find out more tomorrow and next week for sure. It's crazy, man. And since you've been gone, there's like, there's been some big fights at 145.

And, you know, there's the title fight, like a month after your fight between Volcanovsky and Hollow a super close fight. Then we saw Brian Ortega beat Korean zombie. earned his title shot, and then in January, Max Holloway and Calvin Cater headlined the first ever MMA event on ABC. And I could see, you know, Muhammad Ali behind you. ABC has this long history of combat sports on their network. What has it been like for you watching this division since your fight with Shane and everything you've had to deal with, man? Man, it's, I don't know. For me, I always try to find the positive. At first, it's super frustrating,

but then I'm, you know, I truly believe everything happens for a reason. So I feel like, like, you know, maybe when I do come back, you know, everyone like that you said is they've been fighting each other and they're going to kind of weed themselves out and then I'll come back to something bigger than I would have if I would have just kept fighting because even when I was out in Vegas, getting ready to fight Burgos, Sean Shelby was already talking to my manager and he's like, hey, we need Josh in August or September, something like that. And I was like, hey, let me win this fight first, you know, so I know I would have fought already again. And that's only, the frustrating thing is I feel so good besides my knee.

You know, even though I was like, I had some black eyes and some cuts and stuff, but a week after the fight, I literally felt so good. And then I'm just like sidelines. So I'm watching all these fights. I'm a huge fan of the sport anyways. I always have been. So I watch every fight religiously, every card that I can. And yeah, they've been some amazing fights, you know, and everyone's looking really good.

and I'm itching to get back in there, but it also motivates me in physical therapy and training. I'm hitting mitts with my boxing coach. I'm doing strength and conditioning and doing PT, you know, four or five times a week. So I'm literally working super hard every day but Sunday. And, yeah, you know, that fire is lit, that's for sure. What did you think of Max's performance against Calvin Cater? I had John Annik on a couple weeks ago, and he said that was the single greatest performance he had ever seen sitting cage-eyed watching fights.

What did you make of his performance? And where would you kind of rank that one overall? Yeah, no, for sure. It's like, how can you argue with that? It's like, it was an amazing, amazing fight. And then, you know, what he did to Cater, because Cater's been doing so well and looking so good against everyone. And then Max just went out there and completely outclassed him.

And, you know, several times I thought they should have stopped the fight just because, you know, I'm thinking about Cater and just all fighters, like longevity of the sport. You know, if you're, you're clearly losing a fight, you know, and you're taking that much damage, it's, you know, it's, it's not good. But, yeah, it was, yeah, I'd have to say it was up there with one of the best performances as well, you know, it was, you know, I think everyone was saying just, just how great of a fight that was. And it was awesome that it was the first one ever on ABC and, you know, the history there. And, yeah, he went out there and outclass him and performed, you know, great. Yeah, it was just wild to even like look at the numbers and just being like, wow. Yeah, he set tons of records, right?

So crazy. Yeah, I remember talking. I spoke with Calvin's coach and manager like right after the fight. It was probably like a month or so later. And obviously he took a lot of heat for not stopping the fight. And the thing he kept saying was we wanted to. Like we were so close. Like we thought Herb was going to stop it.

And then right when we were about to throw the towel, like Calvin would land a big shot. Like Mac to light him up and then Calvin would land a big shot. And then he went into the corner and I talked to Calvin. He's like, what's up? I'm fine. I'm all here. I'm good to go. So like he's like, I just couldn't.

Basically in a way you were saying like Calvin earned the right to get that ass whoopin. You know what I mean? And still had his wits about him. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's got to be tough too because, you know, I've talked to, you know, to Joey. That's my boxing coach, Joey Rodriguez before.

And he's told me several times like we actually watched that fight together. but that fight in other fights he was telling me too like years and years because we've been working so long together he's like if you're ever in this position you're doing this and this I'm don't in the towel I'm like don't you dare but but in the end he's you know he's looking out but I would be so pissed and but at the end of the day you know I know he's like looking out for what's best for me even though I'm like all fighters were like focused just on what's going on in the moment you know we're not thinking about you know a year five 10 15 years later you know but it's, yeah, it'd be tough.

So I would hate to be in, you know, that position of Calvin's coach, too. You know, it's, what do you do? You know, regardless, you throw it in, you're going to get all this heat. You don't. You get all this heat. It's like, but the people that are doing that don't know shit about it. So 100%. Yeah.

So I know, like, your normal, like original timeline you thought maybe like July, August, you'd be able to get back in there. You don't think that's going to be feasible. So you think it maybe like October, November maybe? Like, is that best case? scenario? Yeah, possibly, yeah, October, November, possibly best case, you know, like, I feel like even just talking my physical therapist, he was thinking like somewhere towards the end of the year. So, um, with me, I'm always, I'm like, how about this? And he's like,

we'll see. I think he, I think he was just putting it in my head, um, a while ago. And, and I was just like, I'm glad you said that just because I, you know, I've been thinking about it. And I'm like, I can't even, I can't do a whole lot. And then there's no way I can't, I can't, hop in there and fight. And knowing me, I'm always rushing things so I can get back and fight. And he's like, you don't want to rush this. Um, so, but I'm like, I will fight this year. Um, I'm just not sure yet. And unless the MRI comes back and they're like, oh, it's 100% healed, then I know it's just a mental thing. And I'll push through whatever to like get it going. But I, I don't think that's the case because when I do certain things, I, I feel a lot of pain in my knee.

How has this affected you mentally? And sometimes like, Especially with the pandemic and stuff, like it can, your mind can actually get sharper. Like you're doing other things. Like you're taking your mind off of fighting in some way and focusing it on other things. Like, how has this stretch of time been for you from a mental perspective? Yeah, it's been tough. Like, I could say for sure, you know, the two months, I was in Vegas and I was doing so well. And I was doing, I was way ahead of the game.

So I was like, I was feeling great. And then when I got the MRI and her, I was starting to feel tons of pain, like three months, four months. It limited me from doing a lot of the exercises and just PT. You know, I'm doing PT every day and I can't do things. So it starts to get kind of discouraging and then I get an MRI and they're like, yeah, no wonder why. And I'm one of the lucky ones. You know, this doesn't really happen to people. And so it happened to me. So I'm like, all right. And then I'm like, I go down the rabbit hole and I'm doing all my research and I'm seeing different people that I talk to. So I think that mess with me a little bit more. And then, you know, even doing the stem cells, that, that, that

was a long procedure to kind of recover from like they drilled into my back so technically I had fractured back on you know and then it was so painful I was in a cat or a brace no weight bearing for a week and then I was in a straight leg brace again for another like two three weeks on crutches and I feel like I lost all the mobility again I felt like my quad atrophied again and so I had to start over so it's it's been it's been it's been tough, that's for sure. And then, you know, just, yeah, I just think, you know, I sometimes I'll think like bad things like I'm not getting better. I'm getting older. You know, I start, you know, just thinking things I shouldn't like, my knee's never going to get better, like things like this. Like,

my career is over. But I know it's not. And but yeah, it's been tough. That's, that's for sure, my mentality. I haven't really, you know, done a whole lot like, because the pandemic, everything shut down and I'm so focused on recovery so I'm I'm working every day like I said six days a week multiple times a day doing different things so I solely focused on this during this time still you know so it hasn't really taken my mind off I'm I'm just like nonstop I'm I'm eating good I'm working out I'm trying to do what I can so when I do get back to practice and 100% I'll be able to just like accelerate like no other and then it'll get me back into a fight do you even think of about like matchups, potential opponents. Like I know like positionally there's, you know, you want to get

to the title and that's where you want to go. But are even allowing yourself to like think about who you would fight next or who you would want to fight next and like how things might line up by the time you're ready to return? Yeah. No. Yeah. No, of course I thought about that a lot. It's, it's tough though because all these, everyone keeps fighting. You know, I'm like, I'm going to come back here and then everyone fights and then people are losing. And, and then, you know, I had this other setback. So I do want to fight up. The funny thing is it's like every time a featherweight fights and then and then someone gets a knockout or something, it's always like, oh, they need to fight Josh him. And I'm like, well, if they have a, you know, a one through six in front of them, like, okay, then let's do it.

But I'm not fighting behind me. Like I made that clear. I'm not going to fight anyone behind me because otherwise I, my last handful of fights, I'm always fighting back. Like I'm never going anywhere. I'll stay stagnant. And I do want to get closer to that title. I want big fights. I know what I can do.

I've been doing this for so long. So yeah, I definitely, I would like someone in the top three, the top five, when I do come back to a big fight. But then who knows, anything can happen with, you know, this sport. You know, injuries can happen and people can fill in. So as soon as I can do whatever, like, I'll be ready, you know, four week notice. That's all I need. I got the burgos fight four weeks. It was a little sooner than I would have liked, but, you know, I said I can't take a fight

unless it's at least four weeks out because the weight is, it's challenging for me to get down to. I remember a couple years ago we chatted. I'm trying to remember who you beat. I don't know if it was the Michael Johnson fight or maybe the one after that. And Jose Aldo was like on the top of your list. You're like, I want the Jose Aldo fight. He was kind of like your brass ring, so to speak. Like you wanted to get to the title, but Aldo was like the guy.

you really wanted to fight him it was after the bectic fight the be i beat i beat johnson in march and then beck in june and then i wanted to fight uh i wanted to fight aldo at msg in november that's right that's what it was that's what it was because he's a legend and so it's like that like i think you know i don't know it's it's hard for me like like i believe in myself my coaches my teammates friends everyone so it's like i want to come back to to a huge fight you know title eliminator you know i was so close in 2018 you know i was ranked fourth in the world in 2017 2018 i could have it could have there could have been a title eliminator fight but i had a setback and all this all these things happen you know but um if i would have thought about it more as a from a business standpoint like a lot

of fighters do i was just like you know i i've always said yes to every single fight i've still never turned a fight down even though i've seen people say i've turned them down i was never offered those fights. But every single Sean calls my manager or and hey we got this guy, yes, or we have these two guys. Who do you want to fight? I want to fight the bigger guy. The bigger name guy.

Yeah, so it's kind of I do want to come back to a big fight though. That's for sure. So now that like Aldo is down at 35 who's kind of like the new Aldo in this division? Like who's the guy that really stands out to you right now? Well, really everyone

is that, well, it's kind of It's hard because I don't know how it really works in the, you know, the top six. You have, okay, Cater lost, but he lost to Max, who's like arguably the goat, you know. And then zombie loss to Ortega. So would I match up with someone coming off a loss? Who knows? Or do I fight someone that's on a winning streak like myself that sets me in line for a big win? So anyone else, there's only five people or six people in front of me.

Yeah. And then there's like Zabit, who we haven't seen since November. of 2019 and other guys. Like we're just trying to figure out, trying to still piece this thing together. Because like last year, you know, I would put like you and Shane as like one of the big fights in this division.

It was like you guys, it was Cater and Ige. It was the title fight. And then Ortega and zombie. And that's it. Like those are the four big fights in the whole division last year. Wow.

Yeah. But now this year it's kind of, we'll see. So it's hard for me to even like, and I never call anyone else out. I just want to, whoever's going to get me closer to that title so it's like they told me hey fight it welterweight or middle weight for you know title eliminator i'll take the fight i'd still have to cut to make

welterweight that's oh really yeah what do you usually walk at like mid 80s you know that's why i could be a middle way i fought it welterweight you know on the regional scene i i fought at three different weight classes and yeah so it's a tough cut that's for sure obviously you know next saturday and it's sneaking up on us like i can't even believe that this fight's happening next saturday but volkenovsky ortega for the title we got two title fights everyone's still like hung over from ufccccni nine and then we're looking at 261 now that it was been a moscow headlining but we got this fight coming up next saturday how do you like that fight like how do you see that one playing up between volkinovsky and ortega

Yeah, it's, man, it's tough. Even, even like predicting fights, you know, it's like, because I can always argue how both guys will win. It's, you know, we all know Ortega, he has, like, he has the advantage on the ground. I don't think he'll get it to the ground. But he's also, if he's pressured against the cage, we've seen him, you know, pull guillotines and stuff and pull guard from, you know, a standing position. He looked great in his last fight, you know, when a lot of people were thinking zombie had the advantage on the feet. and then he came out, he came out and put it on him, you know, almost knocked him out one round, and then he was just kind of picking him apart.

He was implementing some takedowns. Man, I don't know, because I can see how they both win, but Volcanowski has not lost in Oseon, on a 16-fight winning streak or something like that. He hasn't lost in the UFC. He's undefeated. He's beat, you know, Max twice. He's beat Al-O. He beat Mendez.

like all these he's in my mind like whoever holds the bell and the people he's beat it's hard to to bet against the champion um especially when they're they're on you know such a high and they're doing so well um but but i'm excited for the fight that's for sure you know i'm not really i could see how both guys could win but if so i'm leaning towards uh olkanowski though and you know he's a champion he hasn't lost in the UFC um and i know styles make fights but you see he's beat max twice max beat ortega but ortega is also you know looking really good and proved that in his last fight after you know i think a few year layoff right it was um it was like a year and a half or something yeah yeah so he shaved his head he got when bald brian ortega and he was like a whole

different guy josh they and everyone that's shaving their head they're doing really well There he is Josh Emmett, and I'll be honest with you. I was hoping that interview would have provided a better, more positive update in terms of his return. But unfortunately, it looks like best case scenario, perfect world type of thinking. He's back at the end of the year, November, December. It's super unfortunate because he's excited and ready to come back whenever they're that time comes and that win over Shane Burgos, that crazy fight, one of the best fights of the year last year, that was kind of, that was like the fight that really made people appreciate

Josh Emin is not just like the dude who can knock people out with one punch, the guy with the overhand right, but an exciting fighter, a guy who can be a top five guy, top three, maybe in fight for a title. I think people really bought in after that fight and the injury just came at the worst possible time. So all the best of Josh, hopefully can get back in there sooner rather than later. As we move ahead to another guy who's had some exciting moments at 145 pounds

in his career, he also had his final exciting moments as a fighter this past Friday night at BKFC 16. Leonard Garcia joins us right now. All right, we move ahead to our next guest who on Friday night did what all fighters strive to do. Go out on top

after a dominant five round unanimous decision went over Joe Elmore at BKF UFC 16. He announces retirement from combat sports. Happy to welcome UFC vet, WEC vet, Erudcle Vet, veteran of a lot of different things. Leonard Garcia, how are you, sir? I'm doing great, buddy. Trying to heal up a little bit. My hands still look like Mickey Mouse hands and my face is still a little sore, but it was good, man. I feel great. When you lose, it hurts a lot more, but when you win, it doesn't matter. Yeah, absolutely. Congratulations on the win. I appreciate you joining us.

you know the memorable career man first off now that we're a couple of days into your combat sports retirement like how does it feel like does it feel real yeah it definitely does um it was funny i was watching i always watch boxing i watch all different things and i'm watching the guy slipping punches and we'd been working on that so much for this fight especially and i was like thank god i never have to worry about slipping another punch at least in a combat sports and we're going to be able to sport, you know, for training and everything. Of course, I'm still going to keep moving around, but at least I got ahead of gear then, but now I'm glad that I don't have any bare knuckles coming at me. There you go. I mean, you went five hard rounds with a guy. I believe that was,

he hadn't lost before in bare knuckle competition. And definitely undefeated. Yeah, not anymore. But one of the things you said is you took this fight with Joe to kind of prove that you were the, the top dog at 165 pounds. So I'm curious, did you know heading into the fight that this is going to be it for you, win or lose, draw, you were stepping in there for the last time? Yeah. When, I had been retired for two and a half years when I got the call from Bear Knuckle. And I was done. You know, I had retired and got this opportunity.

So it took about a week to talk my wife into it. The first fight was in Cancun. So that helped a lot. but like it was a spiritual search man you know i've been i've been super involved in church uh ever since i had retired and uh you know it was just one of those things man i didn't know for sure if i was going to come back or not i didn't know if she was going to let me i didn't know if my job was going to let me i didn't know how it was all it was going to work out so um you know i prayed a lot and really really sat down and thought about it he offered me a three fight deal

and I presented those three fights and I said, if I play my cards correctly, if I beat this first guy, I know it's for an international title, it could lead me to the title within these three fights. And I could be the rank number one guy. So I made the deal with her. I prayed about that deal.

So I had essentially made the deal with God as well. And then, of course, I went to the company and made the deal with the company. So it was like, it all worked out that way. It all made sense to just sue three fights. Of course, I veered away from the path and entered the 155 tournament when I fought Jim Mailers. And of course, that didn't go my way. And I think that was just a funny way of telling me, don't veer from the path, you know, keep going after it. And then I thought it was crazy that Joe Elmore was calling me

out when he was ranked number one. And I was like, I mean, this is it. all the cards aligned, everything lined up. The only problem was Joe Elmore was a scary individual, you know what I mean? So to say yes to that was like, holy crap, you know, like, is this really the path? You know, is this is, is this what it is. But after watching him fight and really Tom Schof coming down and helping me get ready for him was a massive help mentally. Like it really, really like Joe, Tom Schofhaus no idea what kind of impact he had. But for him to spend five rounds in there with a guy like Joe and then to come here and tell me,

you're ready, man, it just all fell together and it fell into place. And you never really hear about a guy losing a fight and then fighting the number one guy. So that's how I knew God had a little intervention in there and a couple things. So to walk away after that with that one deal being made, it was like a surreal thing. And I just, I'm a man of my word, man. And I've always held true to that. And I figured it was the best thing. And really after performing like that, everybody's saying, why?

Why would you leave now? You look better than ever. Like your movement was good. You never got over your feet. You weren't falling down. you were i mean you just stayed composed the whole time so uh i also think that's when you want to walk away when people don't want you to go you don't want to walk away when they're asking you to leave you know yeah so yeah it was the whole thing was like kisman man it was like meant to be

that's it man that's exactly what it was man it was meant to be um perfect fight perfect uh everything just felt so good man uh training camp was actually fun like i had I haven't had fun in a training camp for years. And it was like the harder I work, the better it was. We're in the back warming up. And he was like running me through all these combos, like trying to get me to blow my lungs out because it's always good for me to blow my lungs before I go out just because I'm like a second win type of guy because I'll get my second and third win and I get stronger and

stronger. So he was trying to get me to blow my lungs out. And he was like, I don't know what to do. go get in the hallway and run some sprints so i was in the hallway running sprints back and forth and i would get back and i was just like you know and he was like why aren't you breathing hard and i was like i don't know i'm not getting tired and he was like okay we're ready so uh everything like you said man it just it all fell together at the at the perfect time so it was good what did you take away from the bare-knuckle experience in general i mean you obviously like you just said you got

yourself in peak physical condition. You weren't getting tired before the fight, running, sprinting up and down the halls. I mean, it's obviously a different world than the MMA side of things, but what did you take away from those three fights, especially the final one with Joe? You know, every time you're in a fight, anytime you're competing, there's a feeling that comes on you that it's like chaos, it's happiness, it's sadness, it's fear, all these different emotions. In bare knuckle, it's intensified by, it's like

the hair on your body, you can feel it, like on the back of your neck, on your chest, on your sides. Like the little beady hairs that you can't see, you feel those, you feel more alive for some reason. And I think it's just the fact that it's the oldest form of combat. Like if you really sit back and think about it, I mean, those fist fights, you know, when Jesus was walking

there. You know, and, you know, it's, it's like our, our first line in defense and our last line of defense is your fist. And when you think about that, you get out there and you're competing professionally with only that as your only aspect, I think it's exhilarating. Like for me, and I always say it this way, but I don't mean it this way. But what I say is I feel more alive in there than I've ever felt before. And of course, that's hard to say because I'm married to a fantastic woman.

I got a beautiful family. So I don't mean it like I feel alive, but like my senses, my everything inside of you is awake. Like you're, I don't know if it hits different electrodes in your brain or whatever it is. But I definitely, it's a definite sense of your, you feel for you. Like it's crazy, man. it's it uh if i could bottle that drink i'd be a billionaire you know so uh that's that's the only way to explain it for me did you get that same feeling with m mma or just was this just a new thing altogether close um you you definitely

feel it because there is that um i guess i mean it's the closest feeling to i don't know if it's like death, kill somebody with your bare hands or what, you know, what it is. But it's like that fear. Like, man, I almost lost my eye in my second fight. I don't know if you knew that. I took a knuckle directly to the eyeball, the very first bunch of my second fight against Jim Ellers. And this fight against a guy like Joe Elmore, who's way more power puncher than Jim

Ehlers, I really wanted to prove that my time. chin had never been compromised. Like with the Jim Eilers fight, you can see it. I just couldn't see anything out of my eye. I couldn't see a thing. I seen like a red blob was all I could see. And my pupil is actually dilated half the size bigger than my right side for the rest of my life because of the damage that I took in that one fight. Thank God he didn't detach my retina. but the way the doctor explained it to me, I had a hickie on my eyeball after that fight. Like it was, it was, you ever seen a guy that gets that surgery when they get their retina

reattached? It looked just like that, like a red eyeball with a black pupil inside of, basically a pupil this big. And that's how my eye was for like three weeks after the Jim Aller's fight. But I wanted to prove to people that. He never compromised my chin. He didn't hit me to where I never knew where I was at. I knew where I was at the whole time.

I just knew I couldn't see anything. And I panicked. I went into, you know, they say fight or flight. All I've ever known is fight. And everybody kept telling me, why didn't you just run away for a little bit and get to your corner and sit down? Because everything in my brain was saying, you can't see hit this guy back right now. So I kept running right at him.

And every time he had punched me on this side, it was like getting sucked. punch. I thought the referee was punching me. I was like, somebody else is in here hitting me because I can't see this guy's fist coming at me. So anybody knows who's taking a cheap shot, which it wasn't a cheap shot, Jim landed a very fortunate punch, and he finished the fight. And, you know, of course, I give him all the respect in the world for that. But I wanted to prove, like, Joe Elmore was the number one guy for five months straight. They kept ranking him number one. He was crumbling people with every punch. He was just,

I mean, if you touch you, you were going down. So I made a deal with my coaches when we're in the back. I said, I'm not going down one time, and I'm never going to show him if he hurts me. And I'm going to put him down. And in the first round, I don't care what anybody says. I put it back. That was a knockdown. I don't know why.

What ref said what he saw when we were in there? But that was a definitely punch. It's like that big cut on his forehead from this right hand. And him being on the ground, that was a knockdown. So, and, you know, of course, respect to Joe Elmore, he never was like out of it or anything else. He took everything I could give, but he did go down, you know. Yeah. What's interesting is that the sport has really taken off over the last couple years, like, especially some of the names that have been brought over, like, Knucklemania, the Card Page debuted on.

That was super fun, man. And a lot of people got to like experience bare knuckle for the first time watching people. page fight and we got to know Britt and Hart a little bit more and her crazy personality, which is just infectious. And the fan base just continues to grow. So I'm curious, how big do you think this can get? I think the sky's the limit, man. I really do. I feel like I'm super excited to still be a part of it. Maybe as a commentator or, you know, a fighter that does interviews with other fighters. Like, I know what emotions are going through. I know what questions they get asked and what questions get on our nerves and all those little insights.

So I'm grateful that they're going to keep me around and hopefully give me one of those platforms to continue to help the sport grow. And I know what fans want to hear from us because I talk to, I conversate with fans all the time. And as a fighter, knowing having that insight, I think I do a much better job than some of the guys that they have on there now, which they're doing an amazing job. but anything I can do to help grow it doesn't need help growing. That's the crazy thing about it.

I really feel like it's, like you said, the infectious personalities that are in it and just the combat aspect of it. It's like the modern day gladiators. You know, it's not like it's to me, and I hate to say this because I was in the UFC for so long, but I think it's better than the UFC. fight people still show up to MMA fights and they still say why are they wrestling? Why are they on the ground?

Like people are not people want to see a fist fight. If you don't believe me, go to a boxing match, go to an MMA match, go to a baseball game, go to a football game. If there's a fist fight in the audience, everybody in the crowd is like this, watching that fist fight. You know, people want, I don't know what it is about a fist fight, but people love to see those. And, you know, the, the gore and the knots and the way people look and the, you know, we're professional athletes. So we take these shots and we keep going. They're like, oh, my God, that one would have floored me. And, you know, we're still out there.

So I think it's just intriguing to people. And I really feel like Dave Feldman is a genius, man. I wish I had come up with this idea way before he did. And essentially, I kind of did because in the back back there, when we're in the UFC, they used to make me pick my gloves out. This one made Dev Feldman call me. They would tell us, pick the glove size that you want. And I was like, give me the extra smalls.

And they're like, well, you got to wrap your hand under that. I was like, I don't even care about wraps. Give me the smallest gloves that we got so I can hit them with these. And that's it. And I would always say, why do we wear gloves? You know, we're protecting our knuckles to keep hitting a guy as hard as we can. I get it. But why not let us just go out there and be smarter, you know, be a little more technical.

Land punches a little bit better. And that's what bare knuckle is, man. So Dave heard about all those things that I used to say. So he reached out to me. He sent me Bear Knuckle 1 with Tony and Beltron. I can't remember Tony's last name. Anyways, though they're two big heavyweight guys when they fought each other. He sent me that and I was like, oh my God, I have to do this.

So like I said, a week later, I talked my wife into it and made a deal with God, made a deal with the company. And here I was, man, so it worked out. Unreal. And it's funny you say that about, you know, what sticks and what doesn't because, you know, a lot of people who used to complain about wrestling in MMA, people would just be like, well, go watch Glory or go watch Lion Fight, like watch Moitai kickboxing.

But the kickboxing game and the Moitai stuff never really hit in the U.S. Like, no matter how much they try and how many different organizations, it just doesn't work. Do you think it's just the name, bare knuckle, like just that thought, that kind of feeling that makes it so popular?

No, you know what I think it is about Bear Knuckle as well? Watch me and the Elmore fight. Just watch that fight and you're going to see non-stop action. There is no low in the fight. There is no sitting back waiting trying to set something up. Think about kickboxing,

it's an interesting game, but when you get a chess match between two great kickboxers, they set each other up with their legs. They really don't use their hands unless they can follow up on something. And people don't necessarily, when they watch a fight,

that's what they're there for. They want to see a fight. and bare knuckle is just that. I mean, that's all that it is. And when you take a guy like me and Joe, and you put two guys in there who don't know how to back up, who don't know how to retreat, who don't know how to surrender,

because let me tell you, I've seen blood gushing out of this man's head. Like, it was squirting in the air, like a fountain. And he was looking at me like, I don't care. You know, I'm coming. coming after you. And I was like, I wanted to like sit back and tell them like, hey, man, you have good blood gussing out of your head. But, you know, it's a great thing. And that's what people want to see, man. That's what it is. I have to ask because, I mean, you've been here

before and we've heard retirements in combat sports and they don't often stick. And it's an itch, especially when you've been doing this as long as you have, it's hard to ignore. can you confidently say with 100% vigor, this is it, we absolutely unequivocally saw your last fight? Yeah, absolutely, man. Because of the way that it happened, because of the way that I felt, because of God kept every promise to me,

so I'm going to hold my word and keep my promise to him as well. And maybe people won't understand that. And maybe they'll say, well, you know, one guy told me, man, you look like you were in your prime. you're crazy to walk away. And that's when you're supposed to walk away. That's when you're supposed to do it. Like I said, leave when they don't want you to.

Don't leave when they're pushing you out the door. And I still have all my cognitive tissue in my brain. I still talk well. I can still see well. I feel good. So, yeah, why risk that? When people talk about you, you'll forever be tied to the Korean zombie rivalry,

especially that first fight you guys had at WC in 2010. One of the all-time great fights. And for new fans who haven't seen that fight, when this interview's over, go watch it. It's absolutely ridiculous. But you got the split decision there, and he got you the second time around with the Twister. Is there, I don't think you necessarily are considered,

I would say you're not a guy who, like, lives with regrets at all. But is there, like, a part of you that wish you could have that third fight with him to kind of answer the question, once and for all who the better guy was? I always thought about that. And if you look at the numbers on our second fight, we were identical on punches landed and everything else. So it's always been a crazy matchup between me and him.

I think stylistically, we make sense for each other. Our styles just blend so well. I thought about a third fight with him for years. And of course, he was climbing the ladder and I was falling down. And so, of course, for me, it made way more sense to try to fight a guy who was on his way up. And for him, it didn't make sense to fight a guy that was on the way down. Our pats did cross tight twice.

We are one in one. I'm comfortable with that. I think he is as well. We're actually pretty decent friends. We have a speech difference, but his commentator tells me good things. So hopefully he's telling me the truth. we uh or his translator i'm sorry uh we we're actually pretty good friends and and seeing his uh his last couple fights have been saddening to me i always want guys that have beat me for uh to to to go

higher and higher um but uh yeah no i i i don't know i thought about i thought about that when i first got in a bare knuckle bringing bring you know calling one of those guys out trying to see if we could do a third one there uh i think they're up there so uh i don't know man i i i i don't have a taste for it anymore to be honest with you um really happy with the way that this one ended uh i think you know i'm uh being awarding an award in belfast you know in for uh the bare knuckle stuff and uh i'm just happy with the results right now, man. And after really this hat last year and a half preparing for this last fight, I'm at peace, man. I feel really good about the decision. And really at 41, I mean, the clock's working against me no matter what. So I just, I heard a lot more. I had

to do an ice bath last night. Now I went and sat in the sauna afterwards. And I felt it, man. I felt all 41 years piling up. And, you know, it's just I'm comfortable. I'm happy. And like going out on top is the best way. And I think that's what's going to keep me out. And I'm just that that's where I'm at now. And I don't know if you've seen my wife, but she's a tough customer, man.

And that would be a hell of a fight too. So I don't want to do that either. Yep. I understand where you're coming from. I'm a married man myself. When you kind of like, when you look back on this career of yours, is it the first zombie fight that sticks out to you as like the go-to memory? Like what are, like, if the Leonard Garcia biography comes out, you want to hook him

with the first chapter, right? Like what's the first chapter going to be about? You know, I would like to, I hate thinking about one fight being more important to the other. when when I look back, I want, somebody asked me this question a while back and I sat and thought about it and played it out. I would love to have a library of all of them, you know, without the stories,

without the clips, without everything, to watch the rise, the fall, the rise, the fall, the rise. And I got lucky because I rose quickly in NFL, and then I rose quickly again, and then I fell, and then I rose quickly again. if you watch my career throughout every single organization that I fought for, I either won the title or competed for it, every single one. I never fought for an organization and didn't challenge for the belt. Never.

Like I always reached the highest point of every organization that I work for. So I think that's the story. You know, strive to be the best, you know, and that's what I always did. And I always wanted to be the best at anything that I did. And now that I'm doing oil, you know, oil-filled automation out here in Texas, it's like I want to be the best at that. And that's always my goal is to be the best at whatever it is that I do and teaching my kids to do that now. I think now it's going to be more of a focus on them than myself. I think I've accomplished several things.

and now to see them grow and to see them go out and tackle their goals and help them along the way, that's my drive now. That's a good way to look at it, especially with the kids and everything. So, like, outside of striving to be the best, I mean, that's, that, that, that'd be, like, a great piece of advice to give to anybody. But if you could give, like, this next generation of fighters, you know, a very valuable piece of advice, a piece of wisdom that you could pass on from, you know, your years experience in MMA, bare-knuckle, the combat sports world in general, what would you say to them?

Train, like, take training as seriously as possible. But the biggest piece of advice that I can give them and the reasons that I felt so hard is don't drink the Kool-Aid, man. Don't, when people start to tell you you're the best, when people start to make you feel like you're the best, when you're beating everybody up at the gym and you start to think you're the best, don't start going out there and showing that

because yes, men are the most dangerous people in the gym. I think when you have coaches, when you have training partners, when you have people all around you that are telling you, oh, man, there's nothing better than you. You're going to hit somebody, they're going to crumble, you're going to do this and they're going to fall. You can't lose.

When you believe that, you're in for it. And I've seen that in my opponent this fight. You know, and I remember that guy in 2010 that faced Mike Brown, which was me. I remember Leonard being that guy. I remember being in the gym, and I remember training, and they're like, oh, man, as soon as you touch Mike, he's gone. Doesn't matter what you hit him with, he's falling. People in the gym were falling all over the place.

My coaches were telling me home. They were holding pads for me, and they'd take the pad off. Like, my hand hurts. You're hitting so hard. And I believe that wholeheartedly. Mike Brown went in there and ripped my head off with that right hand. And they told me, you can't be hurt. You can't be hurt.

Nothing. I mean, he can hit you with the kitchen sink. He hit me with way more than the kitchen seat that day. And that's that's the best advice I could tell anybody. Don't ever drink the Kool-Aid, man. Don't ever believe that you're the best because there is a young man or an old man out there training and busting his butt. And if you run into that guy that's getting ready, you're going to lose. So if I've got the best advice I could give anybody is prepare yourself like you're nothing.

every single time always look to improve never look to be the best always look for improvement man keep finding the way to get better all right well I'm gonna take your advice right now because you said you said earlier that if BKFC offered you a position to do interviews that'd be something you'd be interested in because you know what fighters like to be asked you also know what fighters are annoyed to be asked so let me ask you what what kinds of questions annoy fighters oh man is this the best preparation? Are you, are you, is this the most ready that you've ever been?

Or those questions drive you nuts as a fighter, man. You hate, like, what do you want me to say? No, I'm not ready. Like, well, you know, I didn't really train yesterday. I ate McDonald's today. like I mean you know ask serious questions man hey man you know how how are you feeling we're always going to lie we're always going to say I feel great feel fantastic I had a broken jaw once going into the tachaya fight and they're like how do you feel I feel great you know I feel really

but you know fighters always lie they're never going to tell you the truth they're never going to tell you where their weight's really at they're never going to tell you how they really feel. So play into that a little bit. You know, always asking questions like with not a definite answer. Are you going to win this fight? Yes or no. Like, of course they think they're going to win, you know? You know, questions like, and when reporters ask us, what's your game plan or how do you see this fight going? Like, I'm not telling you, you know, I'm not going to tell you how I'll see this fight going because he's listening, you know? As fighters, man, that's all we do. We're searching the internet. You put a picture

with the training partner on there. I'm looking up that training partner. I'm seeing who he is, what he does, why he's there. What does he do that's similar to me? What's he getting you ready for? We study everything, man. And fighters that

don't do that don't make it very far. But those are things, man. Just not don't ask definite answer questions. Ask more roundabout stuff. Like man, you know, you look real good in your last fight. How do you plan on continuing that growth, you know,

into this fight? Is that, you know, they're never, I mean, we always lie. Like I said, we always, we never tell the truth. We always say, yeah, you know, I did this or I did that. We never tell you, I brought in this world champion to help me get ready. This coach right here has the best insight on this or that. We never say those things will on our opponents, no. Great stuff right there from Leonard Garcia.

Happy trails to him. Good for Leonard. Going out the win. Wish him nothing but the best. But seriously, for you new fans out there, do yourself a favor. Go back. I don't know if it's on fight. It's got to be on Fight Pass.

Go back into the archives on Fight Pass. W.E.C. 48, April 2010. The main event for that card was Uriah Favor versus Jose Aldo. Go watch that and go watch Leonard Garcia. versus the Korean zombie one. It is an absolutely ridiculous fight. It is insane. It is one of the craziest fights of all time.

There's no doubt about it. Highly recommend you go back and watch it. WEC was great anyways, but that fight kind of exemplified why WEC was so great. Why the UFC needed the lighter weight classes to come on in. And, man, that fight was just unfreaking believable. Go watch you. We'll not be sorry.

But we're going to wrap things up. We got one more interview to get to, but first, again, big thank you to all of you for watching the show, checking us out this week. Once again, it's on to year two, everybody. On to year two for your pal, Mike. And I am looking forward to it. Rest of the week here is going to be a very, very busy one. Back with the A.Side live chat tomorrow, my best friend, A.K. Lee will be in the guest hosting chair.

So make sure you check that out, get your questions in. And the reason A.K. stepping is, because Jose Young's will be in Las Vegas for UFC 260 fight week. And with that, we'll have Media Day on Wednesday afternoon. We'll have the press conference with Stipei and Francis and Ghanu on Thursday. We'll have a live between the links right after that. And everyone's been saying, where's Jed Mishu? Where's Jed Mishu?

Jed Mishu back on the program this week. We'll have number one contenders bout. Opponents, TBD for Mr. Mishu. But that's going down. We get the Way-in show on Friday. We'll have preview show. Then we'll have all of your fight day stuff in cover. Pre-fight show, post-fight interviews, press conference, post-fight show.

Just buckle up and strap in. It's got to be a very busy week. We got you covered. And you guys know this by now. Nobody does these fight weeks like we do. And you'll see why throughout this week. But until then, thanks again for checking out the show this week. Big thanks to Casey Liden on the production.

Big thanks to Jose and cool Alex on the graphics. Have a heck of a week, everybody. We wrap things up this week with UFC Flyweight, former Rise and Champ, Manel Cap. All right. let us say hello to UFC Flyweight, former Risen champion. Manel Cape coming off his second Octagon appearance, split decision loss to Mateus Nicolao earlier this month, but that's not really the story coming out of that fight.

Happy to have the Starboy back on the program. Manel, how are you? I'm good, thank you. I'm very good. It's good to have you back. First things first, you have been, in my eyes, Manel Cape for years now. Even, like, once you sign with the UFC, you've been on the show many times. You were Manel Cape, but since you made your Octagon debut,

the broadcast team say it's Manel cop, is a cop or is a cape? Cop, cop. It is cop. A cop. All right. Now we know. I apologize for that. I've heard it said both ways, but mostly cape, so I'm glad we got to clear this up. Manel Cap. Now we got to figure it out. So let's

discuss your last month, month and a half or so, because it took 14 months to get you in a fight for the UFC. You debuted in February, took on Alexander Pantosia. you lost a unanimous decision. It just, to me in that fight, it looked like you just had a hard time

like getting going in there. Like how would you describe that fight, that performance? What were you feeling in there? You know, I don't have any skills, you know? I don't make any excuse. And for me, I learn everything, every fight. Doesn't matter if I win or loss.

I lose. I take a learn, you know, a big lesson. Yes, it's been a hard time for me, you know, because in Japan I was fighting with my boot, my shoes. And fighting without shoes for me is very difficult because the problem what I have in my feet, it pretty draws because I sweat a lot. and I don't have my stability. I don't feel too much comfortable. But yeah, this is what we make no go forward for the fight.

But it's okay. It's okay. I've been learned how to fight now in Cage. And I think that in my second fight, I show much better improve. movement. And yeah, that's it. It is. Yeah, I mean, clearly like not having the shoes on was a big difference. I mean, feeling the octagon, you're in a cage. So, I mean, from like a mental perspective, did it, did it feel different like actually being in there, like being in

the apex, no people? Like, did it just feel different like mentally? No, you know, probably, you know, I've been talking to Javier Mendez. He helped me a lot mentally. about no focus in too much negative, not focusing too much negative, like if I have this problem, just focus on go forward and let the fight go, you know. Doesn't matter what happened. Just don't focus on your feet and focus on better strike and more combinations and be and show more more. my skills, you know.

Yeah, I would agree with that, especially you coming back about a month later against Nicolao. First round, it was kind of similar to what we saw in the Pantosia fight, but second round, man, you got rolling, you started landing some big shots, you had them in some big trouble. What changed in that second round? Like, was it Javier Mendez speaking to you between rounds? Did he say something to get you going after that first round?

Yes, of course. And everybody know that my first round. every time it's bullshit. I know I need to I need the start my rounds like more more aggressive. It's like it's my style, you know. It's really my start.

I just start to feel very good on second round. I don't know why, but I need to figure out this. I think this is mentality. I have a lot of these problems, you know. I think this is mentality. My first round never was good. was good never in my life that I fight my first round never was good just my second third four and five rounds I'm very very very good you know so you know

you know but in first round like he won he won the fight but it's not like so dominate you know even touch touch too much in my face just a win because the taken downs and in the ground I was trying to work my jiu-jitsu my mission attends and he was very very smart he see everything on first round but on second round I I kill him I kill him 100% you know I smoke him and I smash him I seen his eyes I saw his soul you know that he's so afraid on second round I was close to knock out him But he stayed very composed after my striking attempt of him. And on the third round, I was thinking I have this fight already win.

You know, I always have this fight. Everything what he threw, I throw more and more effective. This is not me. This is the numbers. And the numbers don't lie. This is a fact. And I throw more, more punch. all punch effective, I stop all his take down attempts.

And everybody saw in the last seconds that drove the needs, the big needs that should give me this fight, you know, should give me this fight to win. But, yeah. Were you surprised that he survived that second round? because he has been knocked out a couple of times in his career. A lot of people thought his chin was a little bit questionable. I was surprised. I was very surprised. You know, I was very surprised.

Very, very surprised. You know, I throw very hard punch. I was through very hard punch. I still feel my fingers on my hand super painful. And I was surprised. I really was surprised. And Matteo's, he was. It was tough. It was tough. It was tough. Because I threw very, very hard punch. I feel like open his eyes, you know, make his face with a lot of blood, you know. I feel the smell of his blood. And I always think like he filled the blood, you know. And when somebody feels the blood like animals, they are scared, you know. They give him do nothing, you know. He feel his blood. I saw his eyes, you know.

And he was very, very, very, very, very tough to survive in second round. Yeah, you mentioned the third round. UFC stats, you actually outstruck him with significant strikes, 31 to 27 in the round. So when the final horn sounded, I assume you guys were feeling quite confident you had done enough to win the fight. So when the judges read the decision and they award it to him, like, what is going through your mind? You know, I was very, I was very composed and tranquil. Like, I get this win.

I get this win. And you can see that Nicolaou, it was the feeling that's somebody that lose the fight. When the fine finish, he can even

stand his hands in hair. His coach scream, Hey, Nicolao, stand your hands in the air. You know, this is the This is when somebody win the fight. When somebody win the fight, this is the signal of the winner. Stand up the hands in the air.

All winners, all winners, when they feel the win, they stand his hands in the air. He can even stand his hand in the air when this coach say, Hey, Nicolas, stand your hand in the air. He feels, you know, he feels. I have the feeling the winner. You have the feeling of the loser. You know, this is the true. This is the true.

And when they told the result, like in final, I was surprised. And he, he too. He was surprised. He was surprised, you know. And his corner man's was make a lot of party because they know, they know. And they feel, you know. On MMA decisions, I don't know if you saw this. Like, I know you posted the verdict MMA numbers.

uh, MMA decisions is a website where like media members, they score the fight as they happen. And a hundred percent of them, 22 out of 22, all scored the fight for you. How frustrating is this whole thing for you? Because,

you know, who understand MMA, who understand MMA, of course, they will give me the win, the, the, the fight.

Like, it's not my opinion. It's all opinion. Everybody. Everybody opinion. He can't fight against this. He can't say like, oh, DC make a commentaries, wrong commentaries, like, because everybody's a talk. It's not just DC.

It's everybody, you know, is everybody. When they ask you, if you think that you win the fight, he say, like, I'm not to judge you. This is not my work. Like, no, you know. Of course, it's for the straight. I feel I won the fight, but. in the end of the day is the judge, the decision, the judge.

This is what makes me frustrate because I've been worked so hard. I know that my performance is not our experts and everybody expect. I know that. I know that. I need to improve myself for better performance like before, like I did in Japan. I need the show

the last manel inside Tama Super Arena I need I know that I need the be more aggressive but I did I did the work for me

and I learned in UFC doesn't matter doesn't matter if you give a big performance or if you fight bad the most important is win you know is the win

So this make me a little bit of frustration, you know. My colleague, Guillermo Cruz, actually spoke with Mateus last week. And let me just, I just want to pull up this quote. He said, the third round, if you watch it, I beat him for four minutes and he landed two good knees in the end of the round. And I took them well. Then I landed a spinning elbow. Watching the third round all five times, it's pretty clear I won. He wasn't landing anything.

I was landing in and out, scoring well and hurting him. I kicked his leg and he went down. I landed several punches to the body, many crosses to the head. On top of that, Manel, he feels that the biggest reason people feel you got robbed in the fight was because Daniel Cormier was on commentary, who was obviously over at AKA as well. They thought the commentary was biased towards you because Javier was in your corner. So I'm curious after hearing what Mateus thought about the third round, and hearing his comments about DC on the broadcast, what do you make of that?

Now I need to understand. How he says all these things like the punch in body, everything. So why in a third round, why in a third round I have more significant striking than him? Why? I know that everybody, I know that everybody throw more punch than me. But I have a big difference and throw and touch. They throw, but they can touch, they can touch, you know.

He don't touch. He throw a lot. You can see my fight against Pantosha, he throw a lot. But you can see the different. Pantosia throw a lot, but I throw the signative striking. You know? This would make people like work, make feel like work. But they don't work.

You understand? What should fight in my way there? People throw more than him. You understand? People throw more than him. But nobody touch him, you know. Nobody catch him. This is what MMA should be like the boxing.

Okay, they throw. But what is the most important? the signative strikings I tell you my all strike that I throw they hurt you know all strike that I throw they hurt and they feel

I don't feel nothing like you you throw look my face I'm good I'm very composed I'm very I finish the fight the same guy that enters in the ring you know you know and they know he feel all my my punch. You see, you see his face. His face was very ugly, you know, his face was ugly.

He can't even give me this reason that he win because he throw, okay, you throw, but like I defense all this strike. I throw the significant strike. This is my, this is my, my, my sport science is hit and don't get hit, you know. This is what I'm thinking. hit and don't get hit you know in the rising too I was not throw more than than one too but I threw

the hardest punch and I knock out people you know so when you talk about DC because DC is a fighter DC is a commenter but he's a fighter he has the eyes of the fighter he can see the fight it's not just DC is everybody on

Twitter when they finish the fight is everybody on Twitter that give me the winner he can say the DC, you know what he did? What he did when he said DC, he took all attentions. The

the real reason what he saw that he made this commentary is for take all attentions on the fight. He takes attention on fight and he victimizes yourself. I'm a victim, you know, you know what a victim,

you just try to hide the hide the real conversation is the fight and put all attention on DC for people feel like okay maybe he has a reason for Seda and people will feel sorry for him you understood he won't feel that people feel sorry because DC but the real reason what he did is just for hide

you know the real the real conversation and he can do this I'm more smart than him you know I'm more smart than him I don't know what mental games he tried to do, but with me this don't work, you know. He's don't work. My IQ is super high for him. And he cannot even have this conversation. You know, he can't even this conversation.

Because if you are really, if you feel like that you win the fight, when he asks you, you win the fight, he never should say, oh, this is not my work. This is the judge's work. I don't make the decision. This is what he said. This is what he say. If this, he asks me this, if you really win, if I feel that I win, and I ask, I will answer. 100% that I win. You don't see?

I throw. I hurt him a lot. And I make the significant striker. Even that I don't counter the numbers, but I know that I have the significant strikers. I don't throw for throw. You know, I throw for touch, you know, forget. for don't get hit and hit, you know what you try to do? This is, it's simple.

People can see, you try to hide the real conversation and put the tensions on DC because this is a big name, you know, and BC is my team, you know, and so people will feel like, okay, influence, you know, but it's not this, you know, it's not this, it's not the real conversation. He cannot do that, you know, not with me, because I pay attention to everything. think, you know. Yeah, I feel like it's kind of like the cool thing to do now to, to like throw it on DC. I feel like a lot of fighters do that right now.

Of course, of course, of course, of course, of course. But, but we need understood. This is a fighter. Right. You know, this is a fighter. This is a, this he has the eyes of the fire. And all fighters, they give me the, the, this fight that I win, you know. So, D.C. have the better highs.

that the judge, the judges never fight, you know, you know. But I don't know how they scored the fight, you know. I don't know how they scored the fight or how long time they watch the fight, but it's not the first time that everybody, everybody complained, everybody complaining about the judge. It's not the first time. Oh, no. Last time, last time they did a big different, like in a,

in the fight of Easy against the gen, like a fucking big different, you know? Yeah. How can't say that? Like, these guys don't understand about fight, you know? These guys don't understand about fight. This guys don't understand about the science of the fight when somebody is a smart fighter inside the ring.

And my philosophy is, hit and don't get hit, you know, and they, they score more that people that look that work, but don't work. So I will work like that, too. I will throw a lot, but don't touch, so they can see me that I work. Okay, they give me the victory. But this is not fight, you know. That's how you do it.

Like you said, you hit and not get hit. Yeah, because look, my family. My face was the same face, you know, my face was the same face. And all the numbers, all the numbers and the very deep, they show, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm not true more than him, you know, through the effective, uh, trackings, you know. So in your eyes, like, you're taking this as a win. Like, mentally, this is a win for you. You don't count it as a loss like up here. I mean, bank account wise, you don't get the second. and half of your paycheck, which sucks, obviously. Of course.

Of course, the money is motivation too. Sure. You know, the money is motivation too, you know. And of course, I win. I know that I win, but they don't get my money, you know, the winner, winner money. And okay. And then my share dog, on my share dog, they say one more lose, you know.

it's crazy because i remember i remember the first time i talked to you and you talked about this like very important moment in your life and your career is after the alka sasaki fight you like looked at yourself in the mirror and you said to yourself like no more i'm not losing anymore and if even if i win no more decisions like we're going to be a world champion no more decisions are finishing everybody so after being in two decisions in the ufc you get two losses on your record one, obviously everybody thinks you won. Like, have you had to have like another conversation with yourself? Yeah, I need to have this conversation.

You know, I need the respect to my body. I need respect to my body because I've been training for a while, you know, for a while. All full four camps straight. Any, any, any, any, any, any time to rest, you know. And I need to respect this. I get a lot of injuries, too. And I need to come back more strong. I need to come back more strong.

And I think this vacation, this big vacation will make me feel, you know, make me feel more strong and more composed and very healthy, healthy. This is the most important. Are you staying in California And like for the time being? Are you back home? No, no, no, no. Now I'm living in Vegas.

I'm living in Vegas. Okay. I will live here. And all my fight camps are I will train in California. I will be back in California and training there. Okay. So you're staying in the United States though?

Yes. Yes. I'm stay here. Okay. So you say you want to take take some time off, heal up, you did a bunch of camps in a row. like one are you thinking about getting back there like what makes sense for you to to get back in there and the vacation and get back in there and try to get your first win in the ufc give me four months

three or four months give me three or four months i don't know let me let me let me feel let me feel let me feel and feel uh and miss of course i miss all the time the the the training the the fight you know just i was super tired of the training you know i i was super tired of the training you know I was just go training just for training, you know, not because, oh, you love the training, you need the training, you know. I always feel this. It's a long, a long fight camps that I did. And I was just feeling boring, you know. Everybody that training with me, you know, that I just make a, uh, I wait seven or eight weeks of the, the full camps.

Then I have a fight and stop. But no, this time I was like, feel a lot. lot boring. I don't feel good training. And I need to feel miss. You know, I need to miss the training, the sparring. I need to miss this. And yeah. Yeah, it's kind of like being in a relationship, you know, when you break up, you know, you think you'll get back together and the absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Of course, of course. It's like a relationship. You give a, you give a big example, a big example, because I have this experience too in a relationship when everybody was together every, every, every, every day, every, every, every day.

And we was suffocate, you know, it was suffocate. It's true. It's true. You give me a good example because I passed for this. I was past this. You know, in beginning, the relationship is so fire. It's a fire. It's a lot of emotions.

It's a lot love and everything. And I think the relationship just should be three months. and then stop, you know, and come back again, and come back again. You know, these three months is when the love was on fire, you know, and then it's a lot of cater. So we need miss, we need to stay some weeks far, you know, and feel again the love and the fire. This is what I need to feel for my trainings, feel the love and fire of training, come back

with a big smile, not sad and boring, you know, because it's not healthy, you know. So like everything is about love. Everything is about love. Everything is about love and feel the missing. If you don't feel love, you can, you can give yourself, you know, for relationship or for the training. That's a good point. So would you say if fighting is like a relationship and the sport is like relationship. Is the UFC title like, like a wedding ring? Like you found the one. This is it. Like you've made it. You're married. This is forever

and ever, baby. Yeah. There we go. Yeah, 100%. I have to say there's a, I host a matchmaking show for the website called On to the next one. And there's a fight everybody has been calling for, Manel, that they want to see, they want to see you in Tyson

them, man. Both of you have like international appeal. Both of you guys like to stand and bang. You both like to knock people out. Can we make this one happen after the vacation? Manel, everybody wants to see it. You would make a lot of people happy if you signed a contract to fight Tyson Nam, June, July, whenever you're ready to come back.

Yes. That's the one. You like that one? Of course. Of course. Of course. But I want to, you know, I want to fight when I come back. I want to fight against Kai Kar. It's a fighter that gives me this motivation, you know.

I feel in Flyweight Division is the kind of, the fight that I want to. I like his style. And I want to prove myself who will have the best striking. You know, he knock out people out. Me too, you know. And I want to see who is the most complete fighter, you know.

We'll be a big fight and the ex-satid fight. That's a good one. Tim Elliott, actually, would like to fight you too. Like, out of all respect, he thinks you're a great fighter. I was a big fan of you in Japan. Would love the opportunity to fight you as well. Of course, of course, Tim Elit is a great fight, you know. What he did in Dimitri Johnson, not everybody did, you know,

and think it was more close. I don't know, but I always think that he was more closer to win the fight. It was very close. The guillotine attempt was very excited, you know. So, of course, he's, I have a couple of fighters that make me excited in the flyweight division 100%. And the Timil Elliott is one of them. So I just, yeah, so I just wanted to kind of get your take on Habib now that he's, you know, officially, officially retired and, you know, the presence he had for your training camp and just being around him,

what was that like for you? You know, Kabib is, Kabib is an animal. He's just a different fighter. When he's taking down people, believe me, nobody can move. I saw these guys. These guys from Dagestan, like Islam, and the Kabib brother too. And they are different, bro. They are different, believe me.

You need to feel, you cannot say, not have words for describe the power of what this guy have. And Kabib is, believe me, it's just a... He's a animal, the guy. He's a different fighter. And he's very good. He's very good. Stay close of him. He is very funny and give me a good advice.

And he motivates very very well the team. You know, he's a very smart guy. Where do you put him on, like, the greatest fighters of all time list? Is he right up there for you? Yeah, 100%. There you go. Well, 100%. I would agree with that.

He's definitely right up there. I think he's one of the most dominant champions of all time. And I don't even think he's as good. as he would have been, which is even scary. I think he actually could have gotten better. He's a dominate. He's a dominate fire, you know? He's a dominate fire.

He's a bad man. But I appreciate the time very much, Manel. It's always great when you and I can catch up. And we look forward to seeing you back in there. Take some time. Enjoy it. Fall back in love with the game. And we'll see you back in there, man.

I appreciate the time. You and Tysidam. I think that's the fight to make. But if they do Kai Kar, France, or Tim Elliott, or anybody, I'm all in. But I'll get on the horn. Abe and Malky. Make the Tyson N. Fight happy. A lot of fans will be happy, but thanks again,

man. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.