MMA Fighting - What the Heck: Episode 58 | Brandon Moreno, Calvin Kattar, Alex Morono & Dustin Jacoby

Episode Date: May 11, 2021

This week on What the Heck, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck speaks with Brandon Moreno (6:56) ahead of his flyweight championship rematch with Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 263 on June 12. Alex Morono (27:53) recaps his first-round TKO win over Donald Cerrone in the co-main event of this past Saturday's UFC Vegas 26 event. Calvin Kattar (1:03:39) talks what he took away from his UFC Fight Island 7 loss to Max Holloway and timeline for a return to the octagon. Finally, Dustin Jacoby (1:14:35) discusses his UFC Vegas 25 draw with Ion Cutelaba and why he was unhappy with several things in regards to the fight this past 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

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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. Thanks for checking out the show once again this week, back from my first road trip covering an event in around a year and a half or so. It's out on the road covering Bellator 258 at Mohegan Sun. And man, it was a great event. It really was quite good. Sergio Pettis becomes the new Bellator Bannamweight champion.

Great performance against Warren Archiletta. Unanimous decision victory. I scored the fight 4946, but I had absolutely no issue with the 5045 scorecard. So kudos to Sergio Pettis on his first major title. What a performance from the little brother. of former UFC lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, who was there. And, I mean, I got to tell you, I was in the back while Sergio was doing his post-fight scrum and everything. Anthony Pettis was just the proudest, big brother I've ever seen.

He was calling everybody on the phone, FaceTime and everybody. He was just so happy. And it was really fun to watch. Really fun to watch. The family coming through in a big way. Co-made event, we saw the return of Anthony Rumble Johnson, his first fight in a little over four years, got the knock a win over Jose Augusto and wasn't without some problems along the way. What a wild fight that was that first round.

Both guys were hurt. Augusto clearly had a hand injury and he was basically fighting two-thirds of that fight with one hand. And he almost finished Rumble Johnson in the first round. But Rumble eventually was able to get his wits to him. And in the second round, just delivered a piston to drop Augusto. Finally got the finish in round two. He was not happy about that performance. Scott Coker thought he's being a little too hard on himself.

He was out for four years. So it is what it is. Before that, Peter Cuelly got a big win over Patricky Pitbulls, a doctor stoppage win due to a cut. I thought personally was stopped a little too soon, but nonetheless, big win for the teammate of one Connor McGregor. Of course, James Gallowher was in his corner, and the whole freaking card was calling him out.

How about MVP, Michael Venom Page? That was some showing against, Derek Anderson just looked sensational on his feet, shattered his nose with just a vicious headkick. I was in the arena watching that happen. I spent a lot of time in the back because we were doing so many post-fight interviews, but when that kick landed, it was like, ooh, especially in that kind of a setting. It was wild, but the fight was stopped between the first and second rounds. And now it appears Scott Coker is lining him up to fight the winner between Lima and Amosoff next month for the Welterweight title.

So great event. I mean, the prelims are great and a lot of fun as well. Another big win for Rafion Stotz. He is a title contender for sure. Another title contender at 135, patchy mix, had a great win over Albert Morales. He looked phenomenal, even though he said he had one of the hardest weight cuts of his career. Didn't really show. Kind of had a battle back through a little bit of adversity in the first round,

but he looked sensational the rest of the way to get a submission win. Eric Perez gets his first Bellator win. How about Johnny Campbell scoring the big upset with the submission one over Henry Corralis? like I said, a lot to like with this Bellator card. They're off this weekend, but back next weekend for Bellator 259. That event headlined by the featherweight title fight between Chris Cyborg and Leslie Smith. And the UFC, of course, was back at the apex on Saturday. Big win for Marina Haderieges over Michelle Waterson in the five-round main event.

Big things are coming for her. Where she goes in this division, how much of a leap she'll get? Not really too sure, but definitely somebody to keep it. eye on in this loaded 115 pound division. Alex Morono, biggest win of his career. He stopped Donald Seroni in the first round of the co-main event. Huge win for him. And it was a pretty good night for the UFC.

But now it's on to Houston, Texas, UFC 262 this Saturday, where hopefully a new lightweight champion of the world will be crowned as Charles Olivera takes on Michael Chandler for the title that was vacated by the now retired Habib Mammagamah Madoff, Tony Ferguson. Jason versus Benile Darius is the new co-made event. Now that we lost Leon Edwards versus Nate Diaz, that is now taking place at UFC 263. And earlier this week, so you'll hear this on Tuesday. So on Monday, we did lose one fight from that main card on Saturday.

Jack Hermanson and Edmund Shabazzian will take place next Saturday. I believe we'll be the co-made event for that card headline by Rob Font and Cody Garbrandt. No real reason given why, but it's just not happening this. It's a little bit of a blow, but the card's still pretty fun nonetheless. But Jose Young's, I believe, is in Houston as we speak, and we will have all sorts of coverage for you throughout the week. But let's get to this show. Let's run down the lineup for what the heck and get to our first guest. We're going to wrap things up with Dustin Jacoby.

He had that pretty wild fight with Iwan Kutalaba a little less than two weeks ago. That fight was scored a split draw. He was not very happy with that. And you'll hear all about it as you wrap up the program this week. on Saturday after the Bellator event, woke up, ate some breakfast, got on the road, had the chance to visit the folks at the New England cartel. Big thank you to Tyson Chartier for allowing that to happen.

We got some good stuff with Rob Font, ahead of that fight with Cody Garbrandt, but I also got the chance for a few minutes to speak with Calvin Cater, is the first time him and I have had the chance to speak since his loss to Max Holloway. I think it's the second time him and I have had the chance to speak one-on-one in person.

The first time was UFC 2. 20 that media day before he knocked out Shane Burgos in the third round of that crazy fight. You'll hear that chat with Calvin Cater. It's a little less than 10 minutes, but it was great to catch up with the Boston Finisher. The aforementioned Alex Marono will join us to recap his big win over Cowboy Soroni on Saturday. But first, there's just no other way to kick this off. We go to a man who has become one of, if not, my absolute favorite fighter to interview over the last year or so. He is back June 12th.

The rematch for the flyway title against Davidson Figuedo at UFC 263 in Glendale, Arizona. I will just preface this by saying, I was in quarantine on Wednesday at Mohican Sun, covering the Bellator event for a long time. So I was in my hotel room, locked away, but luckily had the chance to speak with this man. You'll hear that right now, one Brandon Moreno. All right, so here in beautiful Uncasville, Connecticut is where I, sit right now. Let us say hello to one of our favorites on the show, just making

the funniest faces on Earth. He'll be back at it. June 12th, UFC 263 in Glendale, Arizona, and he will challenge Davidson Figurato for the UFC Flyway title in a rematch from their absolute barn burner in December that was scored a draw. So excited for this fight and so

excited at Brandon Moreno back on the show. How are you, my friend? Hey, what the heck with my check? Hey. Man, Nice to talk with you again, bro. Absolutely. Casey, make sure you clip that what the heck out of there.

We'll use that dump more. But it's good to see you, man. It's been a minute since we last spoke. It's been far too long, if you ask me. But listen, we have a date. We have a location. And you got your rematch at Davis of Figueroa. Life's pretty good, Brandon.

I'm sure the excitement levels are through the roof right now. To be honest with you, I'm so tired right now because I finish my training. I'm so freaking tired But yes, actually, yes, I'm so excited, you know Glendell Arizona June 12 Against this ugly guy, Davidson I'm ready, I'm ready to shock the world again I mean, you mentioned Glendale

You get to do it in front of fans this time Like the first fight would have been amazing If there were fans there But you get them back for the rematch How did you react to finding out That you'd be fighting in front of a crowd this time? Man, you know, it's an ingredient extra to this fight.

And actually, I fall in, not in Glendell, but I fall in Phoenix, Arizona. Like, actually I fall like three times in Phoenix and two times in Tucson, Arizona. So I have support there, you know. I was a champion in WFF, a local promotion there. So I know the people there and I'm so excited to go again there and, and, and, and, and, and share my time and the octagon with this guy, with all this guy from Arizona. So this is going to be like in a weird way,

like a hometown fight for you? Maybe. You know, obviously it's so a long time ago. I think my last fight was in Tucson in 2016, in 2016 before to go to the ultimate fighter. I fought there and defend my title in WFF. So yeah, I'm excited to go. I go there again.

On top of that, you get to share the card with Israel Adasanya. And I feel like there's a lot of common ground between the two of you guys. I feel like putting you two guys in a room would be a lot of fun. And he defends his title against Mark Vittori. We also found out earlier this week, Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz will also take place on this card. So this is a big event, Brandon. Are you all in, are you happy to be on this card? Or is there a part of you that wishes that you and Davidson were fighting in the main event?

You need to forget UFC 261. Forget that. UFC 253. The best event in this year, I promise. No, man, obviously, yes, Israel-I-Sanja

against Marvin Vettori. I'm excited for that fight, you know? I'm a huge fun of both guys. Obviously, I love the work of Israel and Sanja. And then the five, between Leon Edwards and ADS, man, this car is better every day. So you're saying it right now.

UFC 23 will be better than UFC 21? Easily. If that's the case, we are in for quite the treat on June 12th. And I know after the first fight, we spoke a couple days afterwards, and you wanted to take the family on vacation, you wanted to rest up a bit and spend some quality time with them before getting back into a training camp. Were you able to do that?

Man, to be honest, obviously I spent some time with my family, not really vacation because I don't, I feel like I have like unfinished business with this guy for the title. You know, I feel like I need to finish this job first and then I start to feel free to do something more. Obviously, yes, I spent time with my family. we went to some places. But I promised to my family after this fight, we need to go to some place. I don't know, like far. You know, I want to go to the flight,

to the airplane and fly like 10 hours. I don't know, you know. How is the shoulder right now? Like, I know you dealt with that late in the first fight. You were basically fighting with one arm in that fifth round. So how did it heal up? How long did it take for you to get back to using it the way you wanted to? No, right now it's,

100% is right now my shoulder is amazing. After the fight, in that week after the fight, we went to the doctor and she put like stem cells. I don't know what is in Spanish, but I think for you is very normal, like stem cells. I don't know what is that, to be honest. But yeah, that helped me too much. It was very painful, to be honest, but that helped me. You've known about this fight for a little while. I think it was late February when the fight was confirmed and everyone started talking about it. And I know when we last spoke, you were hoping to get the rematch in March or April. Now it's happening June 12th.

And you talked about the unfinished business. Are you happy with the timing of this fight? I mean, this is a mega card. You said it's going to be better than 261. But like for you, do you wish it was happening sooner? Actually, I wanted the fight in the UFC 261. And actually, UFC over the fight to the Figuero and his team in that date. But he said, no, he wanted to fight until June.

Obviously, I understand he fought too much in 2020. Maybe he did have some rest, or maybe he need to make a better plan. for me now. So yeah, man, it's fine. It is what it is. Obviously, at the same time, I have more time to prepare for this fight. I have a better game plan, a better training camp. Just that matters right now. Yeah, it's better than what? Two weeks? Two weeks for the last one? This is way better, right? Exactly. More rights, I think so. So I remember when we spoke like when the fight was booked, you were like, I like, I like just getting right back after it. I don't have to like really cut a whole lot of weight.

I don't, you know, I could just pretty much just do a couple of things and I'm right on target again. That was nice because I don't have any injury for the fight against Roybal. My weight was very light and I went to the fight obviously light. the cutaway was easy. Obviously, everything comes with the training camp, the game plan against Figuero, but all that stuff with no injuries, with my way cut. That was nice, but good. When did training camp actually start for you? Because like we said, we knew about this fight for a while, but when did you actually like start training camp? Man, I'm starting to training in December.

I take a little rest like one and a half weeks because I have like my, a lot of pain on all my body, my shoulder, obviously. But after a lot, I'm starting, you know, obviously no full training, but I'm starting to make a game plan even in December. but my official training camp starts March. Oh, I don't know why this popped in my head, but I wanted to ask you. I saw a photo on your Instagram a few months ago. I don't know why this just recently popped into my brain, but it was you in front of this mural of you, like of you. And there's like massive image of your face and baby assassins written next to it.

Like, how cool is that to see and take pictures in front of? Man, I think I'm a little bit famous here in my city. You need to wait just a little bit more, and I can be a mayor here in Tijuana. You never know. No, I don't like the government. But man, it's awesome. It's amazing. You know, when the people recognize you and try to make those kinds of gifts, I think so.

Man, actually, when I see, when I saw the mural the first time, was amazing. It was an amazing experience. I'm very grateful with my city. And that's why I love this place, you know, because it's amazing and the people, it's amazing here. So that mural is in Tijuana, Mayor Moreno? Yeah, it's very close to the house of my parents where I grew up. After that first fight, I mean, it was universally praised. everyone was talking about how good it was.

In many people's eyes, it was the second, maybe the third best fight of 2020 behind Zhang Wei Li and Yanni and Jacek. How many times since the fight have you gone back and watched it? So in that moment, I had a problem

because I was living in Vegas. I get an Airbnb in Vegas. In that moment, my PFI POS account was just for Mexico so I can watch the fight in the United States so I went to my house here in Mexico and started to watch the fight

and man I was very excited watching the fight you know obviously yes for me the fight of the year was obviously Joanna against Sean Wei but man was very excited watching me fighting against this guy A tough guy, obviously. That's impressive.

You know, I'm very durable, I think so. So you enjoyed your handiwork? Yep, definitely. So how many times have you watched? Did you watch it once or have you watched multiple times? Like too much. At first, just to watch, you know? But right now, I'm watching the fight to try to learn something more, you know,

to watch some pattern, pattern is the word, I think so. With Figuerreels, you know, so I'm working on that. So have you taken a lot away from it through the multiple watches? Definitely. Yes, you know. Actually, Five Pass has the options to put the fight slowly, slow. The motion? You know, you can watch a little bit more some details between the fight.

So, yeah, I mean, I'm an analyst, too. You know, I'm part of the broadcast for UFC in Spanish. so I know my job. I know my job and I enjoy watching fights. So obviously more my fights. Yeah, we saw you, you were interviewing Jorge Mazdaal before UFC 261, right? And I'm going for your job. Don't take my job, Brandon.

Take it, yeah, have the UFC bring you on. Don't take my job. Just kidding, it's funny. I know after the fight when we spoke, you know, we talked about Figurado because he spoke about being hospitalized before the fight, that he was very sick. And you didn't really buy that too much. You thought he was making excuses. And so I'm curious, like five months later, after watching the fight and, you know, the time has healed the wound, so to speak. Do you still feel that way that he was making excuses?

Man, yes, definitely. you know, I went to the hospital before a fight too, you know. It's not good, but it's normal. If you ask to some other fighters, they can tell you the same. Some guys win, some guys lost, but it is what it is, you know. Again, I went to the hospital too in other fights before the fight. So, man, the guy looks impressive. look like hard, you know, powerful.

I understand. I understand everything around Figaro is like, oh, this guy is powerful. This guy is amazing. This guy is a god. But some little skinny kid from Mexico comes and show you you're not a god. It's hard to swallow, you know. Do you feel like you took a little bit away from him, sort of that mystique, so to speak? Yes, definitely, I mean, right now my confidence is here.

It's very, very high. I need to be smart. I understand he's powerful. He's real. He's a real opponent. He's a real fighter. That's why he's a champion. But my confidence is very high.

I know I can make some really good damage in this next fight against him. I can be more aggressive because all my game plan, you know, a game plan in two weeks was like, hey, be careful, take the advantage in the counters, and take care of his power. And that's it. But right now, I feel his power. I know I can support the damage and I can be more aggressive. Because the sport evolves so much and things move so quickly, how different is the guy

we're going to see on June 12th compared to the guy who fought figure eight on the first time in December? Obviously, everything is just worked, but you need to see the next Brandon Moreno. Actually, I'm trying to stay focused very in my conditioning. You know, I want to be stronger than ever. I want to be with better cardio than ever. So you need to watch the next fight. Obviously, I'm working in my body. I'm working in my conditioning too much.

Yeah, because I mean a lot of people The reason a lot of people didn't give your fight fight of the year was because of that fifth round Because both of you obviously were super tired You know, you were dealing with the shoulder and everything So I assumed that you were going to put a lot of emphasis on your cardio for this fight camp Yes or not, yes, I obviously I started fifth round and you know the fourth round Was a crazy round But then we went to the fifth round and everything go

slow more slow yes so yeah i understand so i'm working on that i'm working in my conditioning i'm working in my power i'm working and and be aggressive i be aggressive from the first round to the fifth one everyone's looking at this fight like this is the great sequel to like a great film like they want to see the sequel they want to see if it lives up to the first fight my prediction is you're not looking for a great sequel you're looking to do things a little bit differently so how How do you get this thing done on June 12 in the rematch? In this kind of situations, some of the people,

maybe is waiting for a trilogy, maybe, you know, but I need to finish this rivalry with this guy. I need to finish this guy. Man, I want to be a champion. You know, I'm working so hard for the, I mean, I'm junk. I have 27 years old, but I have 10 years like a professional.

I have 50 years in this sport working so hard. Man, I'm just a dream all day, all night, sorry, in the bell around my waist. Man, I just need to finish this guy. Does the vision look more clear now than it did in December? Man, of course. Man, every single training, every single aspiring sessions, I can see how I can be this guy. So if you go out there and you finish this guy and all goes according to plan, do you think there will be a trilogy fight or do you think that this ends the rivalry altogether?

Depends the way. Depends how I can finish this guy, you know. Obviously, the fight is so hard. We go to the fourth fifth round, but I get the knockout. Obviously, maybe the people want to see the truth fight. But if I can finish this guy in the first one, in the second one, we can finish the rivalry right there. Yeah, because in a weird way, you could spend the next three fights with him. It's just, it's a weird situation because you fought to the draw the first time.

So it's almost like we know the fight happened because it was awesome, but in a weird way in the record books, it's like it didn't happen. We can fight five more times if he won. best of seven seven, eight, even ten? I don't know. You never know.

You guys just fight each other every time. It's only going to get better and better. You know what I mean? Then you have to, and if you finish him in the second round, you want to go back, you want to try to finish him in the first round. Why not?

Man, I'm so fired up right now. Like, I cannot wait for this, but what a fight this is going to be. The first one is amazing. And I am, from a technical standpoint, I am so fascinated to see this rematch, especially in a full arena of screaming fans on June 12th, Brandon.

I can't wait. You got, I had goosebumps. See that? Goosebums. That's what you gave me right there, Brandon. Oh, man, I need to wait, obviously in the first round about his game plan, you know? I don't know what he saw in the fight he can fix. You know, that's why I told you, I need to be smart in that fight.

But I know my personal goal in that fight. So, man, I'm excited. I'm ready. Actually, I mean, I'm so tired right now, but I know I'm ready to make a better fight even right now. We need to wait a little bit more, you know, one more, one more month. But I'm working very hard, very hard even right now. Let me ask you, since you're trying to take my job, Brandon, Who do you like in the Michael Chandler-Charles-Elever fight?

Oh, man, hard question. You know, I'm impressive for this Charles Alibata, you know. This guy with better hands, with amazing submissions. And Michael Chandler, an explosive fighter. This is not for UFC, so amazing ex-former Bellator champion. I want to see if Charles Rivera can do something about the explosion of Michael Chandler and he's wrestling, you know. But it's a fight I want to see definitely. How can you not smile after listening to that guy?

Even him saying he was coming for my job, I will never be mad at him. Even if he takes my job, I'm still not going to be mad at him. But very excited for that fight. Moreno challenged in Davis and Figurato for the 125. five pound title coming up next month. That first fight was insane, wrapped up the year. A lot of people had that number two, number three as the fight of the year in 2020. But that whole card is ridiculous right now. We got the two title fights. Both are rematches. We got Israel Adasani versus Marvin Vittori battling it out in the same arena that first fight happened,

which is wild to think about for the middleweight title. We got the flyway title fight. Now we got Leon Edwards versus Nate Diaz getting pushed to that card as well. It's a loaded up one. that. The fans in Glendale, Arizona, look like they're going to be in for a treat. So knock on wood, hopefully everything stays intact in the way it's supposed to be. It was a lot of fun on Saturday night for our next guest. Let's discuss that and much more with the Great White himself, Alex Marono. All right, let us say hello to a big winner from this past Saturday night in Las Vegas, stepped it on short notice to face Donald Cowboy Seroni in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 26. And he picks up a huge win. First round,

TKO with a big flurry, huge win for Alex Marono, who is kind enough to join us less than 48 hours later. Alex, how are you? Good, man. It's good to be back on the show. Absolutely. Congratulations on a huge win. This was some performance, especially on short notice.

Opportunity knocked. You answered in a big way. How does it all feel less than 48 hours later? Man, it's still kind of surreal. Really best case snare. I was talking to my striking coach guy named Matt Wald. He's been in my corner for every one of my fights since I was like, like 17.

And we were just talking out. It was kind of like a perfect storm of everything kind of working out the right way. And it was just good. You know, getting the fight was awesome. But then winning the fight was the big goal. You know, it was kind of like similar scenario, fighting Anthony Pettis and this time I'm going to make sure to make it work. And I did.

It was cool. And there was a lot of really positive takeaways for that. This came together, obviously, very quickly after Diego Sanchez was released from the company last week. And I know Cowboy kind of had a list of names to sort of view. year through and not sure how it landed on you getting the shot. So I'm curious how this all happened. Like when did you find out this is a thing and that you had the chance to fight Donald

Donald Seroni in a co-man event? Yeah. Honestly, I'd be curious to understand like the logistics behind us well. Like, you know, I'm curious if there were other names out there and who those guys were. And, and yeah, so it was cool. So Wednesday, I won't forget Wednesday, right around noon is when I think the news broke that Diego was released. And one of my best friends

from back from high school and someone who actually got me into MMA way back in the day had sent me a text. And just as soon as I saw my phone, I saw it and I called my coach before I could even respond. And I was like, coach, you know,

Sanchez is out, let the guys know at the UFC know that I would take this fight. And my coach was like, Marono, are you sure? Like, are you in good enough shape? And, you know, Saroni's going to be fired up

and ready for this fight because he was going to fight Diego and like especially if he knows he can win he he would train hard for him like you know there was a couple videos of him training and I was like coach trust me I can do this and then safe safe was like all right bro no I'm gonna I'll trust you I'll let him know and it was cool just like so then I'm already I already have a little pressure going to this because if I did get the fight and lose coach you never have let me

you know here the end of it so so we let him know Wednesday and we get like a thumbs up like okay cool we got the information and so I kind of assume I'm fighting just in case. So I'm already, I'm already trained super hoc. I didn't like train much harder, but I started doing things stylistically a little bit different. You know, so usually when I'm not in camp, if I'm training with guys,

I'll try to like emulate their opponents as much as possible. I stopped doing that. And I started working on what I'm good at. You know, so I train, you know, a little bit in the week, you know, normal, but I don't really hear anything back. And Saturday is one of our hardest training days at my gym. We grapple for an hour and a half really hard, nothing but

live rounds. And then we do in a M.A. but that Saturday we had a really big local tournament to grappling games and I had over 80 people from my gym signed up which was outrageous the most I've ever had before was like 40 and we doubled that there's about 50 kids and 30 adults and man we crushed at the tournament so all day

Saturday probably from like 9 a to about 16 I'm coaching and I still don't hear anything so I'm like I the fight's probably not going to go down so you know I come home eat finally and uh and uh I'm playing war zone it's about 1230 and I got a call from Coach Safe, which is super unorthodox. It's really late. And as soon as I see my phone light up and I see its coach, you know, calling, I'm like, oh, shit, this fight's going down.

So I answer and coach is like, hey, you know, I hope you didn't do anything weird because it's looking good. We still got it. We didn't get a hard yes. But I think it took a few days for Soroni to deliberate about what he was going to do. I don't know if he chose of the list or the UFC chose or he was just like telling him he was down to. fight and then Sunday is when I get like the official the fight is on so you know I try to train pretty good Sunday I had to call a few guys just to get some rounds in and then I that I train really hard Sunday or Monday I do like several three five minute round sessions like three five

strength conditioning three five super hard no ghee three five in the May I take a break I come back in the evening I do a bunch of kick boxing rounds honestly felt great like all my all my fresh you know teammates were kind of getting tired because I was just really trying to put a pace on them and man it was just it was cool it was also sudden I almost prefer you know like a two or three week notice

camp if I'm already in shape because there's less stress there's way less wear and tear on the body and then especially you know the fight ended right at the end of the first round and like I'm never tired at the end of the first round but I'm starting to fill the fight fatigue and I felt maybe better at the end of that fight

than other fights I had full fight camps. So I'm probably going to end up doing this more often, maybe not taking such short notice fights, but not like hitting the really, really hard aspects of fight camp until maybe like three weeks out. Because I'm always training. So it's not like I'm ever out of shape.

Yeah, because this is the second time in a row. You essentially had short notice fights. You basically just went in there and fought. I know Pettis was a little bit longer in terms of like the notice, but it ended up being the final fight of Pettis's run in the UFC. I mean, that fight didn't go your way, but, you know, for them to come back your way and go with you for this opportunity against another legend of the sport, the UFC obviously see something in you. So that had to make you feel pretty good despite coming off of the loss.

Did it not? Yeah, I've always been super grateful. The UFC has given me a lot of opportunities. Grants, I got a decent winning record of 8 and 4 with one note contest, which isn't bad. But even like when I was on the undercard, I would also be like the featured prelim. I was the pre-featured prelim for like maybe four or five fights. And they always gave me opportunities. Now, to be fair, my debut was taken on short notice when I fought Josh Berkman.

That fight was put together pretty short notice. And what people don't know is my first contract, I went two wins and two losses. But one of those losses got over turned to win no context, but it doesn't matter. And I did not immediately get me signed. And like, I was sort of in limbo. So they actually offered me Bobby Nash and China. on like two weeks notice and I took it, but the visa didn't work out.

And then they offered me Diego Lima and I think North Carolina in January of 2016, maybe 2017, I forget, but I took it as well, and then Lima's the one to turn down the match because he didn't want to a short notice of a bonus change. So like the fact

that I had taken two pretty, you know, risky fights on short notice, then there on, Sean Shubb was like, hey, thanks for helping out. We'll get you that fight in Austin. So that's when that Berkman fight came to be. and then, you know, I had two fights in Houston in my hometown with super favorable matchups, one against Shelton, Westcott, who I would have freaking blazed through. And I don't know what happened.

He just doesn't really fight anymore. He was one of the least active fighters on the roster. But then I got a random young Nico Price, which was hard to deal with. And then I fought again in Houston against Diego Lima, and he pulled out. He had to get neck surgery. That was legit. And then I got a very unknown chaos. So I've never turned anything down.

I've always really tried to show them that I'm like down to work with them and fight for them. I think they know that and appreciate that. Plus, I know they like my style of fighting. I usually won't go in for takedowns or try to clinch or do much. I usually stand there and trade. So I know they like that and other fans like that. Most importantly, I enjoy doing that. So it all works out.

What did you make of this whole Diego Sanchez release? Like everything going on with him, the coach being such a prevalent part of his story, Joshua Fabia, the bizarre training videos that were leaked. Like, what have you made of this whole situation? Like, obviously it led to a good thing for you, but, you know, just outside looking in, what have you thought of all of this? It's weird. You know, I got a cool black belt coach.

My gym guy named Joel, real serious, really good student. And he actually bought a school of self-awareness t-shirt, just kind of as a joke. But I always wanted to fight Diego because he was like one of my favorite fighters and he would like run to the middle of the octagon and just start throwing down. And I always wanted to fight him for that. But then when he got says, we could coach, I, I, I, kind of wanted to fight him to let his coach know that he's just wrong what they're doing it makes me feel bad for Diego like genuine i still like jane him especially watching his interviews he's he seems like

a sweet guy and he just seems like he's being led astray and it's one of those things where everyone around him's like hey this guy's bad news you need to get away from him and you can just you know that guy's in this ear telling them they're all wrong we're here to protect you but dude this stuff is weird it's the weirdest coaching i think anyone has ever seen scene kind of at this level that's gotten this kind of spotlight. I'm sure you watched the videos of him kind of going off on Paul Felder and Megan Olivie. It was funny watching Paul Felder bite his tongue for a few minutes and then tell him to go F off.

But even when Stefan Bonner was filming it, you can tell Stefan Bonner's like, oh, this is weird. But it's just weird. I mean, weird's a good word for it. And sad is another good descriptive word for, man. It's strange. And, you know, it really, if we really bring. it down, like I can thank Fabia's weirdness for getting me this fight and opportunity. And this has been by far the biggest thing I've ever done in the UFC.

It's just crazy how the butterfly effect works. And it's just, it's still wild and I'm still kind of absorbing all. How was the weight cut on this for such a short notice fight? Like you ended up making it, but was it miserable or because you're always training and you're always in really good shape, it wasn't as bad as it could have been? No, that was one of the biggest factors I, I've been. doing, I don't know, I don't know, I say I don't know why. I've been doing a lot of rounds of training. And like, I, I, I, I, I, I, I never really spar that hard. And, like, when I

spar, my primary goal is to be defensive in terms of not absorbing shots to my head. I can tell you, I've been doing this for, like, 14 years. I can count on two hands the amount of times I've had, like, a headache after sparring, very, very rare. I really try to be defensively sound. And, uh, And just so I'll give you a rundown. So on Tuesday, I drove to Fortis just to train, which was great. I did an hour of Ghi Jiu-Jitsu. I did an hour of no-gi. Then we did an hour of five-minute rounds.

I mean, I must have, I don't know how many rounds I did. And then after the hour, I had stayed after, and I had given some guys like their hard rounds. So I had done several rounds of sparring. Then on Thursday, I went to a war and train with Trevind Giles and did like 10 rounds of MMA sparring, just fun, five bigs and five little. and then I met up with one of my guys who I do boxing with.

I did five threes of boxing. And then that evening I did five-fives in MMA, prepping one of my guys for a title fight. So when I went one day alone I had done almost 20 rounds of sparring. So the weight was good. So that Saturday night, as soon as I got the call from coach, I went and weighed myself and I was 188 pounds, which is a pretty average for like not in fight camp.

When I'm in camp, I try to be right about 185 and I try to stay there so I can keep durability. And Sunday I did a 24-hour fast. Last Monday, I trained really hard and ate super clean. And then I left for Vegas right around 184, which is a pretty average weight cut. The morning of the fight, or the morning of Wayans, I should say, I just sweat about five pounds out, which wasn't bad. I can sweat it off really easy and felt good. It was like a one pound above average weight cut.

And I made it easy. I almost kind of prefer it because I rehydred really well. And if you guys don't know, the UFCPI is there. and they actually like supply meals for us and give us like a rehydration process. And I followed everything to a tea and felt better than ever. That's good to hear. You know, heading into the fight and with Cowboy, and he touched on this at the media day,

he's touched on it in many interviews leading into the fight. He's not a fast starter. That first round is always pretty tough on him because he needs those first five minutes or so to get going. And I'm sure you were very well aware of that, especially since this is a fight that came together very quickly. wasn't important for you to really get after him in that first round, put the pressure on him, try to get him out of there quick? You know, yes, but not focused in that way specifically.

I couldn't just like get there and start to flurry because I didn't want to gas. Like the last thing I wanted to do was gas. And I know he had just trained really hard for that. I think it was submission underground, but his match against Rafael and Sonias. So like I know his wrestling and grappling, pacing was really strong. And like what I could not have allowed was to get taken down and held down. So I didn't want to risk, you know, stepping in too much. So what I wanted to do is I wanted to keep breaking his rhythm.

I know Muay Thai guys need to find rhythm. And like if you watch his fight against Alia Quinto, one of my favorite cowboy moments because he was an underdog in that fight. And he just took it to him, five fives with such beautiful striking. But I tried to really break his rhythm. So a lot of side-to-side movements. and I tried to really hit a lot of fakes and faints and not be predictable when I was going to enter

and enter him really fast. And most importantly, when he came in, I had to like keep a tight guard and come in myself. So breaking his rhythm in the beginning was what I believed was most important. And I think I did that to perfection. That was maybe my best performance in the octagon. And I'll tell you, I felt so comfortable.

I kept visualizing a walkout. I knew I was going to be walking out first. And it's just such a consistent feeling being inside the octagon. Like the canvas is very rough. And the mats are very soft. They almost feel like gel. And the lights are very hot. There's no other feeling like being in the octagon than being in the octagon.

So I tried to really put myself in that position and visualize seeing them across. Mean mugging me, which he was, which was cool. Hearing the Cowboy Song was also cool. but I just felt so very comfortable and like in the fights in training it's not the same because it's not so violent or volatile

but like in the fights it feels like the striking exchanges there's a bunch of collisions and I feel like I've gotten really good at timing those collisions and then moving my head off so I'm not getting collided on in the face you know trying to keep it elsewhere and so man it just worked out so well

I felt so comfortable I love being in the octa I got two plus hours in there already, so I hope to double that time eventually. Yeah, you landed that sort of like duck under, counter right hand over the top. It was beautiful. It was like a, it was just a beautiful shot. You had them badly hurt. You came in hard, but then it seemed kind of going by what you were saying before. It seemed like you backed off a tad, like you became patient in the approach, like rather than just flurry in and just release everything.

You looked for openings. That's where you landed that big body. shot and then you went on to finish the fight. Like it was a blitz for sure, but there were, so I'm curious, like, was there some inner dialogue with yourself when you said like, you know, this dude's hurt, but he's super durable. Don't blow out all your energy and this flurry.

Let's be smart about this. Yeah, yeah, I was telling myself, I was like, pick your shots because I had hurt them initially and then I had just like, I'd flurried hard. And a lot of the shots were starting to win. So then like I took a step back and that's when I threw that really hard shot to the bottom. I've been practicing that a lot, especially like, because I know I spam my right hands in the head, a bunch of fights, and I'll get guys to block high.

And so I timed that one well and hit a hard body shot, which got him to kind of curl in. And I've been working a lot of really tight rear uppercuts. I feel like guys in MMA throw really wide rear uppercuts. So I've been really practicing, like throwing it from my like brow and like moving my whole body with the shot and releasing it a lot later. And then, yeah, and I just, I didn't want to waste a body. bunch of shots and let him recover by like hitting over the top of his guard. So I just tried to be accurate. And yeah, after the first floor, I was like, I picked your shots, but stay on them without, without covering too much distance. And I feel like I did that really well.

Are you like Mark Carter? Come on. Let's go. Pull me off. Let's let's end this thing. I'm glad Goddard stopped it when he did because he was covering and like I think had those uppercuts that got the finish. They weren't really getting through flood. I know his defense got really narrow. And I had actually been working spinning elbows after watching near he hit him. So I think that's what would have come very shortly after. And it's cool because, you know, like the TKO was as legit as they get, but there wasn't that much damage.

I don't think his nose is broken, it was bleeding but not broken. And the shots were kind of hitting him in like the ear and temple and chin, nothing too crazy. And I wasn't really thinking about this before the fight, especially after, I'm just glad there was no damage. And, you know, I'm pretty sure he'll be healed up in a week or two and be able to get back to it, back to what he likes. And not that I didn't want to hurt him.

That's not, I'm trying, you know, if you're fighting someone, you better try to hurt him. That's the goal. But I'm just glad neither of us got, like, truly damaged. That was, that's always good to see, especially after, you know, Dominic Reyes. What a fight, I got to say, man, I've always enjoyed watching him fight. That year he's fun to watch.

like a broken orb, man, that's just tough. You know, like, it sucks. If you, if you, like, get damaged with a victory, it's worth it. But if you get something broken with the loss, it, like, compounds the, like, the toughness factor, like, the difficulty factor. And again, I'm just, I'm glad Cal was okay after that fight. And as if the night couldn't have gone any better for you, you got yourself an extra 50 Gs. This is your first bonus. Like, you've gotten a fight of the night before, but this is your first performance bonus, wasn't it?

It is. And my fight of the night got heavily taxed in China. So like in that fight, I made right at 100 grand. I got like 25 to show, 25 to win. And then fight of the night. And they took about 40% off the top. It was that was hard to stomach. So I mean, I got the bonus. But like the bonus effectively mitigated the taxes that would have gone to the fight and show win. So this was like my first true untouched bonus. And granted, I know I got to pay taxes here, which is cool. But I mean, I made a big chunk of change. That was. a six-figure overhand right. So, like, I'm getting paid. I'm going to definitely pay my coaches out. That was cool. There you go. And there's a, there's a lot of talk about Seroni's career veering towards the end of the line.

And I know Dana White has said in the past that he may need to have, quote, unquote, that conversation with Donald about stepping away. While I feel like that day is coming, I also feel like he's not in the same boat as a lot of these guys. Like, Donald just likes fighting. Like, it's a thrill-seeking thing for him. Like, he doesn't have to fight. He just likes fighting.

So I feel like the UFC will probably give him another chance. Do you think he fights again? Man, I hope he fights again. I'll tell you, I can't imagine him at 155. I know he's a bit leaner, but he was a fair-sized Walterweight. I remember looking across the cage from it. I was like, huh, it didn't look like a 55er. But, yeah, I mean, he's definitely game.

Like, you can see it. I could see it in his eyes. When we were exchanging, like, when I would like, when I would land a punch, he, like, would double down and kind of grimace back. And, uh, and yeah, I hope he drops down to 55. I'm sure he will. And it would be cool. Like, I know Miller and Greta drop down to 45, if I'm not mistaken.

Um, but like Lozahn, I hope they give him a veteran, you know, you know, I just hope they give him another vet. And it'd be cool to see him do at least one more. And so long as he's not getting like put to sleep, like even his McGregor knockout. even his gaitchie knockout. He wasn't like unconscious. He got hit and stunned and kind of like fell or blocked, even kind of like he did against me. But those,

I know those don't take a huge toll. And like his fight with Nico was competitive. His fight with Pettus was competitive. I mean, I always enjoy watching cowboy fight. If that wasn't me fighting him, I would have definitely been tuning into that card. Granted, I had two teammates fighting,

so I'd have watched it no matter what. But I would have certainly stayed and watched that cowboy fight. Like, he's the man. I'm excited to see what he does next. Yeah, I actually, we do a matchmaking show for the site. And I said, if Donald's got to do one more, let's run on the back with Miller because he's got the win over Jim. And that fight was seven years ago.

And if he's going to go to 55, Jim, it doesn't strike me. Jim's not a guy that's going to knock him unconscious. It's just going to be a fun fight between those two guys. The scrambles would be fun. I just feel like it would be a good, you know, a good story and a good, like, last fight to fight a guy like Jim one more time just because he's got that confidence already. Yeah. Also, Joe Lowe's aren't you cool.

Plus Miller and Saroni have a tie for the most appearances in UFC. I think it's like 38 or 39, which is cool. I don't know if I'll make it to 38 or 39, but like making it to 10 was my initial goal, which I beat. That was number 13 or 14. So getting to 20 is a new goal. And then if I make it a 20, make it to 30 would be a new goal. You know, I actually had a question for you.

When you heard that Sanchez pulled out, did you think Sroni was going to get a replacement fight? Yes. Who did you think it would be against? I know, I mean, it was super open water, but did you have an idea? I didn't really know. Like, I knew there was, he had like a list of six guys. So I think they landed on somebody.

I'm not sure exactly who, but for some reason didn't work out. And then it was just, it kind of got to the point where, you know, where are we going to go? Like, is it going to work out? and then it was just kind of getting cowboy into the mindset, like you were talking about. Like he was fighting Diego. There was some heat there.

It was kind of a personal fight for him. And there was just a matter of like taking that energy and putting it in the right place against the right opponent. So I had a feeling we would see him on the card. But it was weird because like a week prior watching that other card, there was no mention of this card whatsoever. We didn't know what the main event was. We didn't know what was going on at all.

So I'm like, damn, like is, is Cowboy going to fight? Do we have a main event? Is this card even going to happen? and then it all started coming together like a couple of days later. When they announced that I was fighting and what were your initial thoughts? Good damn fight.

Oh, cool. Hey, okay, that's good, man. I know a lot of the MMA fans kind of knew it would be a banger. But cool, man, that's good. I'll tell you that main event in Dillishaw versus San Hagen. I was really looking forward to that fight.

Really looking for that fight. I'm a big fan of San Hagan. He's done so good for himself in the UFC. I had gone to elevation back in like 2016 just because I was like looking. for just like high-level guys to work with every once in a while before I found Fortis. And I trained with San Hagen. And he was great in the training room.

But man, when he shows up to fight, he fights, man. He's like the spinning wheel kick against Marlon Morays, like blew my mind. And then when he hit that flying knee on Frankie Edgar, just every fight before that, like even when he fought a Sunsal, when he fought Lenker, I was like, man, these are tough fights. I hope he does well. And he would beat him and he would beat him and he would beat him. And he's put himself right into that title picture. And that was a really cool main event.

And then like Jeff Neal and Neil Manuel on the card and Gregor Gillespie and Carlos Diego Fiera, it was such a crazy fight card. Then when the main event dropped out and then when Sanchez and Sony dropped out, I was like, oh, man, this awesome card is starting to diminish. I just never knew I would be able to save it with being co-made against Cowboy. That was cool. Yeah. And it really was a perfect storm for me. Absolutely. And, you know, you mentioned Diego Fahedda.

he had that crazy fight with, I mean, that fight was insane with Gregor Gillespie. He ended up losing it. Jeff Neal dropped that decision to Neil Magni. I know they're your teammates and you probably did watch, but do you watch it with like full intent knowing that you're about to fight in a co-main event? Or do you need to somehow like separate yourself from it in case, you know, they lose or maybe it affects your mentality? Like how did you sort of approach that? No, I fought a lot of alongside teammates a lot of times, a lot of times.

And if anything, when I have teammates lose, I'm like, all right, I have to, I have to wave our flag. Like, I'm the only soldier left with our team's flag. I have to run up the hill. I don't want to say it motivates me by any means because, like, seeing your teammates win is more motivating. But it's okay. Like, when I was an amateur one time, I had myself and three other teammates fight on a old school legacy card. It used to be called Lone Star Beat Down. And I wasn't like getting our guy's fights.

It was our coach. and he was kind of a, he was a little laxed with who we would let fight. And the first two guys who fought got TK in the first round. And I was like, oh, those guys. And they didn't train that much. And then one other teammate fought in one, and he also didn't train much. But I trained my ass off. I was actually fighting for an amateur championship.

And like, I went into the fight knowing I prepared and knowing I was going to do great. And with CDF, I know he had a tough weight cut. And his fight with Gregor was great. I love watching CDF fight. man, he is a scrambling beast. Talk about a guy. He does great in the training room, but he shows up and fights well.

And like with this fight against Gregor, they like both left it all in there. You know, you can't be mad at that performance. And I also, when I saw the Jeff Neal versus Neil Magny matchup, I knew that was a good fight for Jeff. I know he,

he had some internal problems, like not mentally, but I think physically going into it. I'm not too sure I need to talk to him. And I did rewerews. watched that fight. So I was warming up while that fight was going down. So I was watching clips of it. And every time I looked over, I saw Jeff throwing a quick one, two, and then pressuring in. And he put Magnis back on the cage. And I thought he had the first two rounds pretty locked.

And the third, like, could have gone either way. I wasn't watching it super intently. But when they were reading the judge's scorecards, and I heard him say 30, 27, I was like, okay, cool, Jeff's got it easy. And the way announced, no, Magny, I was really surprised. but I also didn't watch their fight for every minute because I was warming up so I maybe saw a quarter of it and that one was just odd Neil Magny's got like a neutralizing style it's a strange style it works for him he's got a lot of wins but I mean how did you score that fight 29 28 for Magnum did you really what's the what you give in the second and third I gave magni two and three yeah okay okay again I can't sit here in arguing be baffled but I didn't really really do you have to what you really?

watch it super thoroughly. But I also am so biased. I think so highly, Jeff, and he's the man. I know he's going to get his stuff sorted out. And I'll tell you, I've trained with a lot of people, a lot of professionals in my day.

Before I found Fortis, I would, like, go around town finding the best pros to give me the best work. And Jeff is something special. He's good, man. I can't wait to see him back, especially with the vengeance. Yeah.

Good things to say about the boy. Yeah, he released a statement not long after the fight and said that he's going to take some time off. And I mean, the guy almost died, like less than a year ago. I mean, he's gone through so much. So like him taking some time, obviously that's the best thing for him at this point. He mentioned, like he was dealing with some sepsis issues as well. Like the guy has gone through a lot over the last year.

And he's obviously one of the bright prospects at 170 pounds. So, you know, to see him lose too straight, even though losing a Wonderboy and Magny is, you know, it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's still, you know, to see his momentum kind of halted like that, it's kind of rough. So hopefully he takes that time. Like you said, he deals with some of those internal issues with his health. And, you know, he comes back 100% no matter how long it takes. And because he's legit, man.

He's the real deal. As legit as they get, yeah, Jeff's the man. So we mentioned the matchmaking show and listeners like to throw out their suggestions on matchups. And you obviously were a very popular guy to matchmake for. And I think the two most popular picks were. where Randy Brown, who just got that quick win over the other cowboy. And the other, because you're on this quasi-legens tour right now, was Carlos Condon.

So does anybody stick out to you at this point? Hell yeah, or Robbie Lawler. Or Robbie Lawler. That's good one too. I love, I've thought I would have fought Randy Brown already by now. He and I kind of got on the roster at the same time. We've had similar success. And he's fun to watch.

I would certainly take that fight. Man, a fight against Cond. awesome and he's coming off two wins which is nice because he had a bit of a tough tough skid there and then or robbie i know my coach tried to get me the robbie loller fight on the pay-per-view houston card but i believe the card was already filled up before they even announced the location so that that was quickly kind of a thrown to the wayside but yeah any either of those two fights would be awesome um either one of them would be awesome guys are coming off wins Carlos Comet especially would be cool to fight.

I like fighting the vets just because, I mean, I only started training because I was a fan. So to be able to fight these guys is just cool. It's just so cool. And like when I fought Pettis, I was, I wasn't like all like, oh, this guy's a legend, this and that. I was like, man, I got to fight this ex-champion. Is he really, are like, are these guys really that good? Are they that high above everyone else? And again, I think I answered this well.

because I'm not going to say no, because that would be kind of a mean, well, that's just a shitty things to say. But it's not that they're not that good. It's that I'm at that level in the game as well. And I can compete with them. And, man, I'll tell you, that Pettus experience was very valuable going into the Soroni fight because I had no, I had no doubts or there were no unknowns. I was certain that I could stand there and trade with the best of them. And I proved that to very much so be the case.

Two last quick things. Are you going to be attending the pay-per-view on Saturday? No. So actually, my wife was, she loves going to these fights. We were going to get tickets, but they sold out super quick. So I'll be watching it at home for sure. But actually, there's some fights the day after Fury Fighting Championships having a card on-fight pass. So it's cool.

I actually got to talk about it in the UFC because it's, you know, because the UFC airs it. And I'll be doing the commentary for that. This will be the third time in a row. I've been doing commentary for them for a while. and the first show myself and two other guys who have both fought before one of them is an ESPN host radio host in Houston the other one's a really decorated local pro fought shi-ochi fought in WC guy named Todd Moore and like Todd Moore was one of my first coach is one of the first pros I trained with thoroughly AJ Hoffman ESPN guys also the other the other commentator and I cornered him in like three or four fights so we all know each other very very well and we did such a good job we had such a good dynamic on the first show that the fight pass like production guys were like hey they did great so eric garcia the promoter for fury hired us on full time and dana white's going to be there and actually one of my guys is fighting he's one of the three title

fights he's nine and three as a pro cameron graves his last his last fight he defended his belt with the head kick knockout the fight before that he won the bell with a straight left knockout he's a super prospect with a victory he'll be signed of the ufc so like prepping him for that is my main goal this weekend who wins the title fight on saturday oliver a chanler Man, I really want to see Oliver Nguyen. I really want to see it. I'm not a fan of Chandler. I just didn't follow him that much in Bellator.

He crushed it in the UFC in his debut. I didn't realize how much of a jockey was, like how crazy of an athlete he is. Like, Dan Hooker is obviously the better striker. I mean, like, credentialed. Like, he's a striker by TradeRest Chandler's wrestler. And for a wrestler with great striking and crazy power, like I believe it was his athleticism

that allowed him to bridge that gap in the striking difference. And I'm a big fan of Dan Hooker as well. I really like his handiwork. His fight with Dustin Poilley is one of my favorite fights in the UFC. And for him to put Hooker away like that, it goes to show how dangerous he can be. And then to see Charles Olivera, again, you know, he trained out of Houston with McCauco for a while. So I always kept an eye on him. And to get so many submission finishes is crazy. But he was always so in and out, like Soroni finished him. He just had fights where he would like not lose easy but he would just get finished but then he's gone on this rampage of just finishing guys like his fight with kevin lee is one of my favorite fights in ufc as well

just because his off his striking is all offense and his submission is like super offense of a submission game he's really fun to watch but uh he's got a really explosive fighter and chanler i think that's a tough fight and it's a weird fight for the belt too and like obviously it's not the guy's fault You know, they were given the title opportunity. And even Chandler said he thought the call was weird. But I think Gaichie Poillet is like what the fans wanted. I can understand why Poetier is fighting McGregor. I mean, who wouldn't fight McGregor?

I just don't know why Gauchy wasn't thrown into that mix. Like, I think Gaichy versus Olivera makes a little more sense. Or even Gaetchi versus Chandler, which would have been a banger of a fight. But I'm not too sure. I mean, I know there's a lot of good matchups at lightweight. Tony Ferguson's an all-time favorite to watch. And, you know, he had that. I figured title eliminator fight against B.H.

Which was a fantastic fight. So that's just a good part all that. There you go. The dog is all fired up, man. But, uh, I wish I might have a little bit. You know what? We're going to make sure that's not you, Sata. I'll be back in one second.

We're going to wrap anyway. So you're good, man. You're good. Let's finish up. Thank you. All right. Listen, congratulations on the huge win, man.

Incredible performance. And just enjoy the win. And hopefully that's not used out already. My man, thank you so much. You guys take care. Whether it's a pair of running shoes or a new car. You check how well something performs before you buy it.

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Funds and ETFs are not guaranteed. Their values change and past performance may not be repeated. Such a great mind for the sport. No doubt about it. Alex Marono, a huge win for him. And to hear him kind of break down his approach to the fight, especially taking it on less than a week's notice. Pretty fascinating stuff.

And if you listen on to the next one, that's the matchmaking show we do on the podcast network. myself and Alex K. Lee, we just, we match up the main card winners, some wild card picks. The listeners come in and suggest match. He was a very popular guy. And you could check that out, like I said, on the podcast network. We'll see what's next for him. A lot of momentum right now coming off that win against Donald Seroni. But let's move ahead to our next guest on Saturday. Got the chance to speak with Calvin Cater face to face. Rob Font had his last sparring day ahead of his fight with Cody Garbrand. So the New England cartel was kind enough to let me come out and see them.

and we're going to have some cool stuff coming on MMA fighting over the next several days, probably early next week with Rob ahead of his fight with Cody Garbrands, some good footage of him training, some sparring stuff, and had the chance to sit down with him for a few minutes and talk about the fight. But I also got a few minutes with Calvin Cater, and here it is right now on what the heck. Mike Heck here at Haverill Inner City Boxing and Youth Development here with, you all know this man, UFC featherweight Calvin Cater,

getting Rob Font ready for his big fight against Cody Garbrand on May 22nd. And Calvin, it's been a long time. Of course, you had that crazy fight with Max Holloway. How are you feeling after those five rounds with the former champion? I'm ready for round six, man. I feel great. You know, like I said, credit to him, he fought great. But I'm hungry to get back.

And when I don't achieve my goal the first time, I just come back hungrier. So I'm ready to go. What did you take away from that fight in particular? Uh, just, I mean, Max is as tough as they come and he's at that upper echelon and when you come to that top three, you got to be ready. Um, you know, I just got to pick things up. He did a couple things real well, things that I'll take from here and, you know, improve on and come back. I know I'll have a tough test ahead of me, uh, whoever's next. And that's exactly what I want.

There are, there's a big storyline heading into your fight with Max that maybe he was still kind of fixated on the loss to Alexander Volkanowski that he was. you're still focused on, that it was still part of his strategy. And you kind of took that as, well, he better not be overlooking me. Were you surprised by anything he put together in that fight? No, if you also remember, every reporter was saying he's on a three-fight skit, if he loses to Calvin, who's Max Holloway. So you guys are real quick to change the narrative. And like I said, you know, I'm expecting the best Max Holloway to step foot in the octagon.

He did. And I'm going to pick up what I learned from there, move on. It is what it is. And, you know, he fought like a true champion. And he's one of the best in the division all time for a reason. And I was happy to get that level of experience. And I can't wait to put on the next guy to step in there with. What was that between the fourth and fifth rounds like for you?

Because I did talk to Tyson about that because there was a lot of talk about the fight should have been stopped. And Tyson took a lot of criticism for that. But he answered it head on. He basically said, you know, and he's standing right over there. But he basically said like, listen, Herb Dean, he looked like he was going to stop it. And every time we were thinking about the running the towel, Calvin gave us a reason not. to. He was throwing big shots. And then he said between the fourth and fifth round, like, you were ready to go. I even talked to Max. He said, looking across the octagon from you

heading into the fifth round, you're jumping up and down. You're, you're full of energy. And he was like, oh, man, we got ourselves a fight ahead of us. So what was the between the fourth and fifth rounds like for you? Yeah, Tyson gets a lot of slack no matter what he does. So he could have, you know, threw in the towel. He would have got a lot of slack from me. If he, if he didn't, he's getting a lot of slack from everybody else. But, you know, just to the fourth and fifth round, I mean, it's not what I took aside from the things I did, I think a lot of people just realize, you know, kind of the things that I'm talking about. Like, I'm not going to take a knee for anybody, how bad I want it. I know how tough I am. I know, you know, I'm not going to take a knee

for anybody. And now I think everyone else was able to see that as well. And I hope I don't have to show them again anytime in the near future. Hopefully I put another guy in that position. And, you know, like I said, the bonus isn't the thing you're really chasing in there. It's trying to get out and be healthy. So that's my goal in the next one while putting on a great performance for the fans. In a strange way, even though you hate to lose, do you feel like your stock rose in that loss because you were able to show how tough you were?

I mean, really, I just hold myself accountable to my own expectations. I feel like I should beat a guy like Max and anybody in the world on any given night. Just that night, it was Max Holloways and, you know, credit to him. But like I said, man, I'm in the gym improving every damn here right now, trying to keep up at Rob Fontz ass and he's peeking right now. So it's tough on these 35s, man, they move quick. But no, feeling good. He's got my energy in an all-time high.

I'm proud of my teammate for having, you know, his first main event. It's long overdue. And you're going to see the best Rob Fon. I'm confident May 22nd when he steps in there against Cody. What sorts of advice have you passed along to Rob? Because you've been in now two main events in the UFC, and this is going to be his first one. It's a big opportunity for him.

Have you passed along wisdom about how to prepare for a main event from a mental perspective? I mean, honestly, since I made my debut, Rob's been in the UFC prior to me, and he gave me a lot of good advice, leading into my debut. And we're constantly always trying to, you know, throw advice at each other's way, whatever sticks, so be it. And, but as far as, you know, he's concerned, man, he's, he doesn't need any pep talk,

man. Ruffont is ready to go. And I'm excited for it, man. Like I said, I believe it's long overdue, but things take time. And he couldn't be more ready for this opportunity. And as far as you go, you know, there's the, I know how hard it is for you to slow down. You're, you're go, go, go. That was the toughest part.

the last couple months was the slowing down part and trying to chill out but it is important like i said you know take a lot of strikes it's important to adjust and uh every fight you got to do that it's tough to prepare for the next one overlooked there everyone talks about that second matchup as if they're overlooking the first and this sport doesn't work like that giga chakazze had uh had some things to say about you he did out of all respect he uh had the big wood over cub swanson put him away in the first round and he said when Calvin's ready to come back, he would be honored to share the Octagon with you if Max Hollowe wasn't able to accept that fight. Did you watch Giga's performance? And if so, what did you think of it?

I did. I actually made my tweet saying I was excited for the Co-Maine, but I thought the co-main was the guys that pushed each other. So I didn't realize it was Cub was the Co-Main, right? With him, yeah, it was a good fight, man. He was a good kick. I mean, as far as a call-out, yeah, I don't think anybody respectfully, you know, can call me out in a way. I get it. It's It's what it is. But, yeah, I mean, in time, in time, you know, we'll see. Like I said, I think he's, to call for Max is a long shot, but, you know, you respect him for it, whatever. Reach for the stars, right?

But, you know, with me, man, whatever, whoever lines me out, like I said, I just stay in the gym, I put in the work. I let Tyson get criticism for who he picks her fight next. And I just go out and try to finish every one of them. You just say yes. Yeah, basically, that's pretty much what we do here. But like I said, I stopped picking fights when I got into the UFC. Now I'm just ready to take on the best guys in the world, you know, my last fight being that. And I'm just grateful for the opportunities that have in front of me.

And I'm just trying to work hard to make sure they keep coming, rolling in. Do you have, are you even thinking about timeline for a return? I know, I know you're excited to get back in there, but you want to kind of slow roll everything. And, you know, that's one thing to guys. I don't want to slow roll everything, man. How I feel, I'm ready to go. But when you feel good to go, you should probably give it a little more time is what they usually say and I mean we got cautious Tyson over there so whenever he says we're good to go we're good

to go do we're good to go do we feel like we'll see you before the end of the year yeah hell yeah I can't I'm trying like I said I'm being patient listening to all the right people but um I mean when I feel good to go is when I feel good to go and and I'm getting I'm pretty much right there man I'm feeling good I can't wait to step back in especially I'm hoping that there's fans in there because I was talking all that shit saying the fans you know I'm good without them whatever I'm here It's just a business trip. But when I saw that crowd packed in that stadium and the energy and how the fights played out, I mean, it was a crazy night of fights.

And I almost have to credit the crowd just as much as the fighters fell. It was just a crazy night. I can't wait to experience that again. And I hope to have that by the end of the year. You mentioned the shoving incident with Jeremy Stevens, who you just fought last year. Shoves the crowd close. It caused him to deal with a neck injury, some concussions, and he's dealing with that stuff right now. What did you think of that whole situation?

I mean, yeah. I walk right up to the line and then from there, if you cross the line, that's on you. I'm not going to cross that line generally. At least I haven't yet. But as far as the push is concerned, I try to save all that shit for the day of the fight. You know, you got all the opportunity in the world the next day and you got 15 full minutes to make the best of it. But, you know, things happen. People get heated in the moment.

And yeah, what a shitty situation. That turned out to be in hindsight, huh? Absolutely. And I know our American watchers right now are probably going to be like, Oh, why are you asking about this? But we haven't spoken since the Tampa Patriots won the Super Bowl. Tom Brady gets another ring. This is unbelievable, man.

Him and Gronk. What world do we live in in right now? Masks and Tom Brady in an early retirement winning Super Bowls in Tampa. Can't help but be happy for the guy, honestly. Did you see that? It looks like the Patriots in Tampa Bay are going to play each other this year? Good, good. I'm ready to see the head-to-head.

I mean, we know what happened, you know, playing the field. but I want to see the head to head. Now you're going to have to, like, root against Tom Brady. We'll get there, yeah. The game's got his play. I don't know, man. A lot of time whenever that kicks off. But I'm excited for it.

That sounds like a matchup. I didn't even know that, to be honest. But that's awesome. Last thing, I know you're not going to pick Cody Garber to win, but a prediction on Rob Fon's first made event against Cody Garbrant. How do you kind of see that fight all playing out? I just see Rob Font being Rob Fonk being getting the finish if it presented. itself definitely. Cody's ultra tough, man, he's really fast, but Rob Farn is just dangerous everywhere

the fight goes, to be honest. And yeah, I just think Rob Fomp by, at the least unanimous decision. I feel strongly about, you know, where Rob's at in his camp and in his career. And he's locked in, ready to go. I'm excited. Big thanks to the Boston Finisher, Calvin Cater, for the time on Saturday. very interested to see what his next move will be. If we're up to him, he'd be fighting tomorrow. But when I spoke to Tyson Charter, you guys saw that interview a couple of months ago, they're being very cautious with Calvin,

and they don't want to bring him back too quickly after that fight with Max Holloway. And rightfully so, I think that's a smart move. Calvin seems to be the kind of guy that's just on board. Whatever you need me to do, I'm going to do. And I'm pretty fascinated to see what direction he, his team, the UFC go. I know they have their eye on a couple of things. Can't reveal them right now, but all things considered, Calvin seems in a very good place right now after that lost to Max Holloway.

And of course, we wish him nothing but the best on the road back to the Octagon. All right, we got one more interview to come. But before we get to that, just wanted to shout out all the listeners, all the viewers. Thank you, as always, for checking out the program. And keep it locked right here on M.AFighting.com all week long. UFC 262, Jose Young's, in attendance, will be bringing you all sorts of fun stuff. And as you already know by now, nobody does fight weak like we do.

And Jose will be bringing you the goods from the Lone Star State. Big thank you to Casey Lyon on the production as always. Alex Savis handling the graphics and social media duty. Appreciate that very much. Both of them are saviors, Jose Youngs as well. But back here with all of you right here on the show next week, have a heck of a week, everybody. We leave you with my chat with UFC light heavyweight,

Dustin Jacoby. All right, happy to join once again by UFC light heavyweight Dustin Jacoby, also a fellow golf enthusiast, a little over a week removed from his entertaining matchup with Iwan Kutalaba at UFC Vegas 25 that ended up being scored a split draw. Dustin, wish we were talking about a win. I'm sure you would be wishing that as well, but all things considered, it wasn't a loss. So how are you? I'm good, Mike.

Thanks for having me on the show. Like you said, yeah, it wasn't a loss, but it certainly wasn't a win. I'm not too happy about it, but I guess there's a new scoring criteria, and you've got to stick to what the judges say. So here we are, fresh off a draw. Yeah, I mean, obviously a lot to discuss in regards to this fight, the build especially. But first off, it didn't seem at least right off the bat that you were too thrilled with the fight being scored the way that it was scored. The first round was clearly his. A lot of people thought it was a 10-8 round for him.

The other two rounds were highly competitive. personally. I thought you won rounds two and three, but I mean, right off the bat, your thoughts on the fight being scored to draw now that, you know, some time has passed since the fight. Well, you know, I'm not happy about it one bit. I thought I won two rounds to one round. And anytime you win two rounds out of a three round fight, I think it should be your fight to win. And now with these 10-8 scoring, I don't understand how that's a 10-8 round either. Of course, he controlled me the entire round, but where in my day and how I came my point a 10-8 round is you just get completely beat down and by the grace of god you make it

back to the stool for the next round and you know that certainly didn't happen the first two minutes of the round we're on the feet i hit him with some very hard leg kicks i hit him with a jab a few times um and then he takes me down and then they give him eight takedowns which call it what you want i mean yeah he controlled me but i don't see how that's eight takedowns if you just it's kind of like a just red dump really. And yeah, he did a good job of controlling me, but I was never in danger. I was never taking too much damage. Halfway through that first round about two minutes in of me trying to break his grip and

him just, you know, putting me back down. I was like, you know what? Screw it. I'm going to let him do his thing. I'm going to let him gas his arms out because I knew the whole time he's trying to hold on to me really tight that his arms are gassing. So that's where it was. And then at the end of the round, I was able to get up.

I threw a knee and a couple more punches. So I don't know, man. I mean, yeah, he did a great job in controlling me. I will never see that at 10-8 rounds. And with this new scoring criteria, if you're going to start handing out 10-8 rounds like that, how is the guy ever supposed to come back and win unless he finishes him, which, you know, I certainly tried doing.

But once it's a 10-8 round right off the bat, the best you can do is get a draw if you win the next two rounds. So, yeah, man, it's frustrating. But, you know, and the biggest, thing is the UFC saving a boatload of money by not paying either one of us or our win bonus. So that's frustrating as well. I took the fight on a short notice and thought I, you know, on 10 days notice did okay. But, you know, a full camp, there's no doubt in my mind. I finished that guy and I beat him decisively. So it is what it is, man. Got to live and learn from it.

Yeah. I mean, you said some interesting things there, one of which was just about the scoring in general and you've been you've been doing m-ma and combat sports for a very long time now for well over a decade were you aware that the scoring criteria had changed or were you just kind of taking that old school approach like this is what i always thought a 10-8 round was yeah i was not aware you know i was i was just taking the old school approach like you said i've been in this game for over a decade now professionally and and a 10-8 round has always been like you just get a beaten down badly and somehow make it to the next round. And, you know, you got plenty of warnings from the ref.

Like, you know, Dust, I'm going to stop the fight. You got to fight back. I'm going to stop the fight. There was none of that. And, yeah, I was unaware of the scoring change. So I guess, you know, like I said, I can't complain about it. It is what it is. I said my two cents and I've moved on.

So, yeah, here we are, man. I assume you've gone back and watched the fight a time or two, maybe more. What did you think of it watching it back? I watched it once and I thought exactly you know kind of what I said in my my post fight post you know he did a great job of controlling me

round one especially for the first couple of minutes but there was no significant damage you know he was just holding on for for dear life and he was incredibly strong you know I'll give him that I was trying to break the grip and every time I got like one finger broke he'd put me back down

I'd get right back to the cage I'd get right back up I'd start breaking the grip and he'd put me down again. And yeah, I did a great job of that. And I certainly didn't see a 10-8 round any way you look at it. I saw a 10-9 round, you know, and he won the round 10-9. And kudos to him in my mind. I was like, you know, I'm going to get you the next two. And that's what I think I did, you know. And another thing about that, yeah, the second round, both around, it was a very competitive fight. You know, I'm going to take anything away from him. He's a true warrior and a great fighter. I just, I was the one in there. And, you know, my Cody was just telling me he was ringside, too.

And it's when you're watching on TV, you can't really see and feel the energy being drained from the other guy. But there's no doubt in my mind as the fight went on, I was taking a soul. I could feel me sucking the life out of him. I was walking down. He was getting tired. And you know, another thing, Mike, at the end of that fight, he grabbed me and he talked to me. He's like, you know, you're a true warrior. You push me.

You know, it was a great fight, blah, blah. And I'm getting ready to walk out of the cage. And he grabs my arm, like, real firm. And I was like, oh, shit, here we go again. Like, what? What now? And he grabbed it firm. He, like, pulled me close.

And he goes, and one more thing, you won that fight. And I was just like, and he told me that inside the octagon, man, I can't make that up. And that's for someone like Kim, you know, a big egotistical guy, someone like that to tell me I won the fight inside the ring. Like, what does that tell you? You know what I mean? I mean, that felt pretty good when he did say that, but it doesn't change anything. Like, I knew I won. I felt it.

I was sucking the life out of him. And certainly we go back. to the hotel and we ran into each other again and he comes back up and tells me, man, he pushed me really hard. Meanwhile, both eyes are swollen shut. His face is black and blue. And I'm like, yeah, man, I feel like I won too. But, you know, hats off to him.

He's a true warrior. And it was a great fight, man. He pushed me and I pushed him. And I think the fans enjoyed it. It probably would have felt better if he said not only did you win the fight, but you know what, I'll give you your win money. How about that? Yeah, of course.

I'd feel a lot better, man. That's one thing that really frustrates me too is just, you know, it was short notice. I thought like it was a pretty decent showing. I mean, that people were pleased with it. And then to just, I don't know, kind of feel, I just hate the whole draw thing. Like they should take whoever's making the most or lease or however they want to do it and then just split the purse between the two guys. Because like I said, man, they're saving a boatload of money by not paying anybody a win bonus that we both went in there and put a lot on the line. I feel like we both left a lot of ourselves inside that octagon.

and to walk away with, you know, just have to pay based off, you know, guys that, you know, don't even fight. They just judge for a living. I mean, it's just messed up, man. I think they should have fighters be the judges. And, but, you know, that's a whole other topic. Yeah. I mean, did, did, I know Jason Howes is your manager.

The guy is a bull. No doubt about that. Did he try to, like, reach out to the UFC maybe that you're aware of and try to get that situation for you? Yeah, he did. And, I mean, even, you know, he was talking with. McManard and they said, you know, my stock wasn't earned at all. They thought it was a great fight. They thought that, you know, they arguably thought that I won. And I think he tried, but, you know,

it just, all I know is, you know, on Tuesday morning, only half my check showed up in the bank account. Like I said, I'm a little disappointed about that. Just especially, I feel like him and I both left so much in the octagon and, you know, to fight that hard and on short notice and just, you know, make it be a draw. I don't know, whatever, man. It's frustrating. So you mentioned that he grabbed your arm and you were like, here we go again.

So I do want to go back to the day before because, you know, we had spoken a few days prior to that and you knew he was an intense dude that he would bring something to the stair down. And he did just that by grabbing the back of your neck and you guys had a good old fashioned pull apart. And these shenanigans at the faceoffs have been quite a topic as of late because of what happened between Jeremy Stevens and Dracar close, everything that came from that and the injuries that Dracar suffered from that.

What did you make of his approach and just the skirmishes before the fight in general? Yeah, well, like I said, I knew he was real dramatic at weigh-ins. I knew he was going to get up in my face and scream. And that's why I usually don't put my hands up at weigh-ins, but that's why my hands were up. I was ready for it. I kept him out there. I kept the distance.

And I think that threw him off. And I think it was just one of those things where he just, instantly just out of character, just grab my neck, you know, because he couldn't yell at my face. He wasn't getting near my face to yell. I think it just happened. And, and I was one of the guys when that happened with Jeremy Stevens. I was like, dude, come on. You can't fight. Like, you just got pushed. But dude, I take that statement back big time because now I went through it and I went down to my seat. And Cody Brunage was there with me. And I was like, dude, I'm not kidding. Like I had a knot in the back of my neck and my upper back was stiff. And what you don't realize is

you're just kind of chilling, right? You're relaxed, but then when he goes and grabs you, your body just instinctively reacts and your adrenaline kicks in, and it's moving super fast, twitched. And I immediately said, man, I can see how Klaus, close, whatever his name is. I can see how he couldn't fight because of that, you know, when he was just chilling arms behind his back,

Stevens pushed him hard as hell, man. I could totally see how he was messed up and not able to fight. So I think that, you know, you should keep your hands to yourself, of way-ins, I think if the other guy grabs, your touches, your pushes, you know, you should get, just like when they miss weight, you should get a piece of their purse. You should get a percentage of their purse because, you know, we're getting in the ring and settling it the next day. Like, you don't need to be doing that, you know, at weigh-ins. But of course, you know, the UFC eats it up. The UFC loves it. Hell, I hadn't even made it to my seat. And Dana White shared it

on Instagram with like 14,000 views and like literally seconds. So, yeah, I mean, they love that shit. But I think that, yeah, you put your hands on your opponent. You should lose a percent of your person and go directly to your opponent. Yeah, it's just one of those weird things that, like, we kind took for granted for a while. And then we saw what happened with your car and getting a concussion and getting the neck injury. He still hasn't even been able to get in there and train since that whole thing. I can totally see how that happened, man, because he got pushed. Like, he just pulled me, right? And my instincts, like, I, you know, did my thing, but my body, it reacts so fast that you don't even realize I'm not kidding I had a knot in my neck my upper back with stuff I can't imagine how old boy felt when he got pushed and like his head jerked and you know I immediately retracted my statement I was like man I now I take that back I can totally see how he's messed up you know so we did our preview shows for the event and I don't think I was alone on this but I you know had the fight with Kutalaba been like a full on striking battle I favored you to win that fight but the caveat was you know maybe Kutalaba the wrestler will show up the guy we saw the guy we saw the guy we saw

against Khalil Roundtree that, you know, just surprised him and took him down and beat him up. And obviously, we saw that early on in the first round, which is sort of the point of contention in the fight. Did him taking you down surprise you at all, or did you kind of expect that? You know what? I thought he would. You know, with my kickboxing background, I feel like a lot of guys aren't going to want to stand with me. I'm one of the best stand-up strikers in the division, and I've got a really strong jab. So, and my low kicks as well. And here's another thing. I took that fight on a short notice. So if I were to fight him against, in and have a full camp, dude, I'm taking his leg home with me. I'll break that leg

with kicking it. I didn't want to gas myself out doing that this time. And of course, you know, hard leg kicks. He's got the big counter with the hooks and the takedown. So I kind of expected him trying to take me down. And yeah, it is what I expected because not only did he take me down, like he was just, I felt him. And he was so strong, but he was just holding with all his might. So I knew that's all he was trying to do, right? But at the same time, I'm like, dude, that's gas in you as well. And another thing, it gets rewarded so high for, you know, all of these takedowns, you know what I mean? Well, how about the next two rounds when I, how many takedowns I defend, you know?

And I don't get credit for any of that, which I think is another problem with the scoring. Like, you guys want to score this and give so much credit to a takedown. How about the 10 times I stuffed to take down? You know, and you don't reward that at all. So, I mean, I wasn't surprised, you know, and if we fought again, I'm sure he'd try wrestling me again. But here's the thing with that. I can take that for a round. He can only do that for a round.

As you saw, he had a full camp. He was prepared for this. After that first round, he couldn't take me down. And he didn't have the energy to do so. So, you know, if there's ever a rematch, man, go ahead and get your best take down in and round one. And then I'm going to get you. And next time, I will finish it. I think, you know, kind of going back to what you just said, I think the thing that

surprised me most in the fight was, yeah, I mean, the first round tired him out. You know, he lost some energy the longer the fight went, but he didn't completely like gas out the way he typically does. Like, did you think after that first round that like, there's no way he's going to be able to keep up any kind of a pace the rest of the way? It's just a matter of time before I put this man away. Well, if I was in, if I had more of a can, I didn't spar one time for that fight. You know, I took it on 10 days notice. I was still recovering. My nose was still busted open for my last fight. And so I wasn't taking any punches to the face. You know, I was still training, but I wasn't getting after like it would be for a fight. And with his wrestling, I forgot,

hold on. What did you say? I forgot where I was going with that. How, like, him, he got tired, but he didn't, like, completely guess. So, yeah, that's what I was going to say. I mean, kudos to him because in every other fight I watched it, his, I thought that he faded much harder than in this fight. I thought in the second, third fight, he was still going pretty strong. I felt him fading. I could see it in his eyes. I was breaking him. But it did surprise me that in the third, in the second and third round, he was still coming pretty strong. And I remember thinking like, damn, usually like, I think he's done by now, you know, but I also think we fight again. I have a full camp. My pace will be much higher. My output will be much higher. And I think it'll slow him down

even more so. So just based on like takeaways from the fight in general, I mean, you posted earlier on your Instagram today that updates are already underway, Dustin. So what updates are you speaking of? Just getting back in the gym, man, getting to work. You know, I was at strength conditioning bright early this morning. And actually, I missed the 10 a.m. session because I got a random text from Cody to come pick him up to the airport.

But yeah, and this afternoon I'll be getting after it. Just getting back in shape, man, getting back in the gym. And like I said, I am the takeaway from that fight is I'm impressed at how well I did perform on such short notice. And I feel like the next time now, it just made me hungrier, you know. I want that win. And it's not a loss. So I'm still, you know, on a good run. You know, stock's still high.

But it just really irks me that, you know, it wasn't a win. it was a draw. And yeah, man, I'm just just getting back after it and just fine-tune some things and just get better for my next performance. You said a couple of times if there was a rematch, like, would you want to run it right back with him? Like I know, like you just said, you felt like you won the fight, but would you want to do it again, like right away just to fully be able to move on from this matchup since on paper?

It's, I guess, for lack of a better term, unsolved. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm not opposed, you know. I know the UFC doesn't typically do, you know, the rematches, unless it's, you know, it's for the bigger fights, the title fights. But I think it's a fan-friendly fight. I think a lot of people are into that. And I want to fight him on a full camp. I want to fight him on eight weeks notice, you know, 10 weeks' notice, whatever it is.

Give me six weeks notice just on a little bit of time. And just to show how I know I'm better than that guy, and I know I can finish that guy and beat that guy. and a full camp, I would love to prove that. It's not something that I'm calling for or shouting for, but I'm totally open to it. You know, it's the ultimately is the UFC's decision. But, you know, if not, man, I want a top 15 guy.

I want a guy anywhere from 10 to 15 to really jump those rankings. Is there any name in particular, like in that group that you're looking at right now? Not necessarily. Just any one of them. I think, you know, the last guy, I fought Max Grishon. I think he's fighting OSP. And OSP, I think, was in the top 15.

I think he was like 13th or 12th, maybe last time I looked. And he's fighting him in June. So, you know, and I got a unanimous decision victory over him. So if he's fighting somebody there, any one of those guys I'd like. Time-wise, have you started to look? Like, I know you'd rather get yourself a little bit more of a camp this time around. But what do you think of like summertime, maybe? Yeah, I'm thinking summertime.

I mean, like I said, we're back to work this week. So you got all of May, all of June. I mean, you know, whenever, like in July sometime, you know, yeah, a card in July would be great. So you and Ewan, the beef is, I guess, squashed for the time being. Yeah, you know, I mean, I'm not happy about him grabbing me at Lans and doing that thing. But when you do go toe to toe with somebody for 15 minutes like that and it's a hard fight, you got nothing but respect. You know, like I said, I mean, do I think highly of the guy? guy, not really. I mean, do I still want to beat him? Of course I do, but I have respect for him.

You know, I felt him, you know, it's when you lock horns with somebody, man, it just gives you like instant respect for him. And, you know, I appreciate the hard work he puts in. And, you know, he certainly came prepared and he pushed me. And, and he's a very worthy opponent. So, you know, when it comes to the fighter, you know, I'll give him credit. You know, he's, you know, I said, I don't have any animosity. It is what it is. And, you know, if the stars align, I would like to get that fight back. Can I get your take on Yuri Prakashkis performance? Because, I mean, as a fellow striker yourself,

I can't help but think that you're maybe, I don't know if mesmerizes is the right word, but I think you were probably like, man, this is fun. Oh, yeah, oh, absolutely. You know, I think one thing that I took away from him, and I like the guy. He's a great dude. You know, I saw him all fight week.

and we talked here and there, you know. And very interesting guy. And I'm a fan of him. Great dude. And one thing I took away is like he's almost, I don't want to say this in a bad way. Like it's almost like he's so, he's good. He's so awkward. It's not that he's so bad.

He's so awkward. And I think like it opens my eyes because I'm such like a clean striker. And I'm real like, you know, one, two, like just real, real clean, right? And where I take away from him is he's not clean at all. He's like herky jerky, arms down. It almost looks so bad that it's good. But it's not bad. It's just his style, right?

So I think I need to incorporate a little bit more of that into my style. You know, I watch these guys. I learn from these guys. I think instead of being so clean, maybe, you know, I try that as well, being a little more loose and just kind of flowing it awkwardly, you know, so to speak. And I think that's what he does a great job of. And honestly, I thought he'd be a lot bigger when I saw pictures of him. I mean, we're damn near the same exact size.

And I thought, you know, I was curious to see him in person because I was like, man, I wonder how big this guy is. And I did. And, you know, I don't, I mean, I feel like we're just identical in size. So I think that would be a fun fight for sure. Obviously, he's going to be fighting for the title, I think. And, you know, just a couple fights in. But more power to him, man, I think he's a great guy.

And I'm going to take some of his style away. I'm going to try to incorporate that into my style. So a little more maniac from you coming in next time. Yeah, just a little more. And it's hard too because I've just always been so clean. But I loved watching them fight, man. I'm definitely taking some things, taking notes and watching more of his fights and taking a few things away and put them in my toolbox as well.

There you go. Well, Dustin, I appreciate the time. Like I said earlier, it would be better if we were talking about an actual win on paper. But listen, in your heart of hearts, You felt like you won the fight and maybe the bank account didn't show as much. But still, in your own mind, you walk away with a little bit of a victory and your head is held high. So thank you for the time, man. Excited to see you back.

Hopefully this summer and maybe you get to run him back with them. Maybe the next chapter begins for you nonetheless. So thank you for the time, man. All the best to you. And look forward to seeing you again, man. Hey, appreciate you. Mike. Yeah, always a good time talking with you.

And hopefully we can get a fight booked and get back to it. Sounds good, man. Thank you. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.