MMA Fighting - What the Heck: Episode 61 | Rob Font, Sean Brady, Jordan Leavitt & Jared Vanderaa

Episode Date: June 2, 2021

This week on What the Heck, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck speaks with Sean Brady (4:01) as he reacts to his booking with Kevin Lee at UFC 264, teammate and mentor Paul Felder's retirement, and more. Jordan Leavitt (20:10) previews his UFC Vegas 28 matchup with Claudio Puelles this Saturday at the APEX. Jared Vanderaa (39:30) recaps his Fight of the Night bonus earning unanimous decision win over Justin Tafa at UFC Vegas 27 and reveals what he wants next. Finally, Rob Font (1:08:33) discusses what could be next following his big win over Cody Garbrandt in the main event of UFC Vegas 27 less than two weeks ago. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. What the Heck with Mike Heck on MMAfighting.com. Now here is your host, Mike Heck. What the heck? Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of What the Heck here on MMAfighting.com. I am Mike Heck. Hope everyone's having a wonderful week.

And yes, I am aware the program has been delayed an extra day. But to be fair, I warned you about that last week with the long. weekend here in the U.S. The new dog joining us in the household. A lot was going on, but good news. We have a show. It's a day late, but oh well. Okay? The UFC

the UFC and Bellator were off this past weekend. There were some other MMA action in the world. Combate, America had a great event. Had a big tournament. CFFC had a pair of events. There's a lot going on. This weekend, this week in particular, things are kind of getting back to normal.

Things are about to get chaotic again. UFC's back on Saturday with the event headlined by Jarzino Rosenstrike and Augusto Sakai. Belator off again this weekend. They're back again next Friday. Belator 260. That one is headlined by a very interesting fight at 170 pounds for the Walterweight title between Douglas Lima and Yaroslav Amosov. And then the UFC's back on pay-per-view next Saturday as well. In Glendale, UFC 263, massive event there.

Got the two title fight rematches. You got Adasania versus Vittori 2. We got the rematch that I am so fired up for it for the flyway title between Davis and Figito and Brandon Moreno. We got Nate Diaz coming back to fight Leon Edwards. A whole lot to like there. Oh yeah. How could I forget this? This Sunday, Floyd Mayweather versus Logan Paul, the fight that makes streams come true.

God, I can't believe this is happening. But it's going to be a spectacle. It's going to be fun. Just don't take it too seriously, and you'll probably like it a lot more than you think you will. We'll see what happens. Oh, yeah, by the way, Jake Paul versus Tyron Woodley, that's going down on August 28th. So as Jim Ross says, business has picked up my friends and let us start the business of this week's episode of what the heck. Let's run down the lineup.

Get you to the first chat. Wrap it up the show this week. If you miss my chat with Rob Fonts, coming up the biggest win of his career, a little over a week ago in the main event of UFC Vegas 27 against Cody Garbrandt, a masterful performance for 25 minutes. I thought he won every round of that fight. I don't know where he goes from here. I don't know if the win was big, big, if it didn't really matter. I'm not really sure. He kind of has a couple of solutions to the logjam at 135, if you will. So you'll hear that conversation to wrap up the show this week. He's obviously in a very interesting position.

in one of the most loaded divisions in the UFC. Jared van dera is going to join us for quite the chat coming off his first UFC win on that same UFC Vegas 27 card. He got the fight of the night with a decision win over Justin Taffa. We discussed a lot about the fight, all the bleeding, the long road to the matchup, what he wants next. He's got a few options in mind and much more. Jordan Levitt's going to join us once again.

He's going to be fighting this Saturday at UFC Vegas 28 against Claudio Poet. us looking to follow up that highlight reel slam KO over Matt Wyman back in December. He's obviously a new dad as well. So we'll talk about that and much more of her first. Let us say hello to a man who will have the biggest career opportunity to date on July 10th. Huge one, huge event at 170 pounds kicking us off this week. Philadelphia's own Sean Brady. All right, let us welcome back the undefeated Sean Brady, who has his next fight booked.

is a big one on a big fight card. He's going to face Kevin Lee at UFC 264 in a little over a month's time in front of a sold out crowd in Las Vegas. How about that? Sean, good to see you, man. How are you? I'm good, man. Thanks for having me back.

I appreciate it. Absolutely. It's great to have you here. It was some road to get to this point, but you got a big fight. How does it all feel knowing that you got a date? You got an opponent and you got somebody with a pretty big name, which is something that you've been after for a little while now. It feels good, man.

and it felt like it was a lot harder than it should have been. You know, I was asking for some big names that were ranked in the top 15. You know, I really didn't want to take a step back and go with someone outside the top 15 in the Walterweight Division. But then they came along and they offered me Kevin Lee. And he's not ranked in the top 15 in the Walter Ray Division, but he's a huge name in the lightweight division. He's a huge name in MMA. So it made sense, you know, he wanted to move up. and I'm here to welcome them back up to the division.

Yeah, I mean, when you're on the kind of run that you're on right now, I mean, it's a pretty dangerous fight to fight you. I mean, it's a lot of risk for some of these top 15 guys, guys are that stature in the organization. It's kind of a blessing and a curse, right? Like, you want to win these fights and climb the ranks, but when you're in this position on the beginning of this UFC run with a lot of excitement around you, it's tough to get these fights you want.

Like, look at Islam Makachev right now. He's dealing with something similar at 155 right now. Now, you got a big one, but has it been a little frustrating for you since the one over Jake Matthews? Just trying to get what you deserve. Like, if Kevin Lee wasn't an option right now, do you feel like you'd be kind of in a tailspin right now? Yeah, so originally what we were thinking was I was going to get, I was pushing for the, the leach fight. I mean, I kind of thought that I was going to, what was going to be next. I'm 13.

He's 11. It's what seemed, but what seemed like should have happened. And the whole thing happened on Twitter where I asked him the fight and then supposedly he gave me the middle finger. But then I'm hearing that his Twitter got hacked and all kinds of stuff. And I didn't want to seem like I'm being a bully. I was just asking nicely to like, yo, this is what we do. Like let's fight. Like it only makes sense.

You haven't fought. I just fought. Like let's make it happen. And nothing back from him, nothing back from my manager about hearing back from him. So yeah, it was definitely frustrating. and I was getting super frustrated, honestly. And every day I was just like looking at everybody in my division's Instagram, like seeing what they were doing, like trying to just call my manager,

like asking him if he's heard anything. And it wasn't seeming like anything was happening. So I was like, you know what? Let me just take a step back. I've been training super hard. Let me just continue to do that and not get all worked up. Whatever's going to come and whatever's going to happen is going to happen. And I knew eventually something was going to come, and they offered the Kevin Lee fight,

and they originally offered it for August 7th. And I was like, all right, that's completely fine. Let's do it then. And then it went on for about like a week or so where we didn't really hear anything. They were waiting to hear back, and we didn't know what was happening. And then they said, do you want to do it July 10th? And I was like, yeah, at this point, I'll take any date. So when I originally, when that July 10th card got, like, put together, I wanted to get on that a couple months ago.

So here I am and I'm on it. And I got a big name and I got everything I asked for. So no complaints for me. There you go. And you went from a fight night card to like maybe the biggest pay-per-view event of the year in front of people. Like if they push this fight back to August 7th, you'd be fighting in an empty arena again. And now you get a sold-out T-Mobile arena is the first. time you'll be able to experience this in a little while now, how, how exciting is that for you to be

able to not just have this fight, but to do it in front of a sold-out crowd? Yeah, it's honestly kind of, it's kind of crazy, you know, and I really got to keep thinking about it because it's going to be a huge moment, and it's going to be, I've got to prepare myself for it. You know, I haven't fought in front of people in a little while, and I've never fought in front of the magnitude that this is going to be of a crowd. And now, it's a Connor McGregor card. It's going to be massive. So I'm just mentally preparing myself for what that walkout's going to feel like and everything like that. But at the end of the day, when we get in there, it's just going to be a fight. So I'm good at fight in.

And once we get in there, I'll do what I always do. But I'm definitely excited to be part of another huge pay-per-view. That last one I was on was historic pay-per-view with all those. It was stacked from top to bottom. And now I'm on another amazing pay-per-view car with Connor and Dustin and all these guys. And then I got two other guys in my division who are at the top of the division fighting. So it's going to be nice to see how everything plays out. Yeah.

It's been a while since we've seen Kevin compete. He last fought in March of last year. It was like the first event where we had the empty arena. Everything was starting to get shut down because of the pandemic. And he got submitted by Charles Olivera. And he's had some gnarly injuries. He tore both of his ACLs along the way. Plus he's kind of had some struggles with the swings of the sport because, as you know,

this game and this sport is clearly not for everybody. And sometimes you got to take a look in the mirror and find your why. Like, why do you do this? And he seems like he's fond of once again. So I'm curious, like as a guy yourself who's 14 and O and you've been a highly tired prospect for a long time, is that something you've had to deal with at any point in your career? Yeah.

I mean, we all have our own struggles, I guess, in a way. And it was kind of going through it where it's like I'm climbing the ranks and I'm getting more recognized and I'm getting up there and my name's getting bigger. and then I couldn't get a fight, you know, and like you mentioned Islam, like he's going through the same thing right now. Like he couldn't get anybody in the top 15. He didn't take a fight outside of that. So I was just getting kind of frustrated with that, but it is what it is, you know.

And at the end of the day, it's not just fighting, you know, there's all kinds of other things that play into it. And I had to just let the cards play out. And I got a good hand. So I'm excited to capitalize on it. So you're kind of dealing, you kind of experienced this more recently than, you know, say maybe earlier in your career? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, obviously, before I got signed to the UFC, there was a point in my career where I definitely, like, had serious talks with my girlfriend, my now fiance, if I didn't make it at a certain time, like what we were going to do, you know, and if I was going to have to start working, because we were buying the house right before I got signed to the UFC, and there was definitely some serious talks. But, so I've had my own struggles with that.

And like you said, this game ain't for everybody. And I tell people that all the time, like a lot of kids coming up, like they see guys like having success and making money. I'm like, listen, it ain't all sunshine and rainbows, you know. So you really got to have a good support system behind you and a lot of people that support you because if not, it's a long, lonely road. Is Kevin a guy you've been watching over the years? Like I know he's been a 55 or most of his career, but is he a guy that you've been kind of a fan of along the way? Yeah, for sure. Kevin's, I have nothing bad to say about Kevin.

Kevin's a great fighter, you know, he's had some ups and downs. He's super dangerous. He's beat a lot of good guys. He's lost to really good guys. I remember him fighting RDA at 170. I was watching that, you know. So I've been watching Kevin forever, and I've been watching him a lot more lately. So, yeah, I'm excited.

He's almost like a similar me, you know. He's a shorter guy, stockier guy, you know. I think I might be a little bit bigger. Like, I could never make a hundred and five. pounds. Literally you'd have to cut off a limb for me to be able to make it. But yeah, so I think it's, I think we have a lot of the same attributes and I think it's going to be a good fight. Of course, his name gets you excited, but, you know, you mentioned having similar attributes. This is like one attribute that he brings to the table that has you excited and feeling more

challenged than anything else heading into July 10th? I know he's going to, a lot of people don't try to grapple with me. And I'm pretty sure he's going to try to grapple with me. So that, uh, I think he's going to shoot on me. And it's going to, I'm excited for you. You know, it's going to, uh, it's going to be fun. And I just want to, I'm here to test myself against the best guys in the world. Kevin's one of the best guys in the world. And I'm looking forward to test myself against them. I know we're still five, six weeks away from this fight. But have you, have you thought about how this ultimately plays out? Like, if you envision it all, like the finish of the fight or how this all goes down? Um, yeah, I've been

and some stuff in training and the way my training's been going. But for me, I always, it's just win the fight, but obviously I always want to finish the fight. So if I can submit them, I'm going to submit them. If I see a punch that I can land, I can put them out. I'm looking for that, you know, but I really think that my ground game and my submissions are miles ahead of a lot of these guys. And I think I'm just going to keep showing that and keep dominating on the ground where I've been dominating guys at. Where does a win over Kevin put you in this position? Like, do you feel as if beating him opens all these doors?

Like, it doesn't just open them. You burst right through it to some of these other fights you've wanted. Like, maybe Lijing Lang's like in the background now. Like, you just surge past him and start getting these guys in the top 10. Is this like a break down the door kind of fight for you? Yeah, I feel like this is, I think obviously every fight is your biggest fight. But this is, I think this is my coming out party for a lot of people who don't know who I am. You know, they see me match up against Kevin.

And the people who know I am are super excited to see me fight. And, uh, finally, you get to see me against a big name, you know, all these other guys are great fighters, but they didn't have the name that Kevin has. Kevin's name carries a lot of weight. And a lot of people are going to be excited to see how I do against one of the best guys in the world. What did you think of the reaction from the fans? I felt like this was a universally praised fight. They were like, oh, man, this is great. This is a great test.

And normally in this sport, you don't get that that often. They might say, like, who is this guy or something like that? But it seems like this one has been universally praised. What have you made of that? The night that they announced it, well, it all started to come out. I had to just turn my phone off because my phone was just blowing up. And I didn't see, like, everyone was stoked about the matchup, you know? Like my fans, his fans, it seemed like everyone was.

was relatively on the same page about like just being excited and like cool with like, all right, this, this fight makes sense. Like, let's do it. That's how I feel too. You know, it makes sense to me. He wants to come up. He's got a big name. He's got a ranking at lightweight.

Let's do it. You mentioned the big one at 170 in your division, Stephen Thompson and Gilbert Burns. You have to think that if Wonderboy wins that fight, a title shot is in his future. Gilbert Burns, he might need things to play out in a certain way for that's happened for him. but who do you like in that one? Like when you look at that fight, is there any, does one,

do you favor one fight over the other? I'm going to have to favor Gilbert just because he's a jih Tzu guy. I'm a jih Tzu guy. And I think Wonder Boy is so hard to deal with, you know, and not many people have been able to crack his code. And it's going to be hard for Gilbert,

but I think if Gilbert can play into his strengths and get a hold of him and drive him to the mat, it'll be a good night for him. But if Wonderboy keeps you, the end of their sidekicks, it's going to be a long night, you know? So I'm excited to fight, be done, watch that, and just be a fan after that, you know, the courage stack. I'm going to get to watch Connor and Dustin, and it's going to, it's going to be an amazing night. I did, of course, want to ask you about this. One of your mentors, longtime teammate, training partner, friend, Paul Felder

announces his retirement a little over a week ago. So first thing I thought it was like, did Sean Brady know this is happening? Like, did you know this is coming? Did you know he was going to do that on the broadcast? No, I had no idea. So when people would ask me what Paul was doing, I kind of had the, I was kind of, I've been trying to push Paul to fight. Like, come on, like, you still got it. You still got it. But at the end of day, only he knew how he was feeling, you know, and he went to be done. And so he's retired. He's happy. I know he has his first race this weekend as triathlet. the stuff. So once he's done that, he told me he's going to come in and help me out for the last five weeks in my camp. And he's still going to be in the gym. He's going to keep helping me, keep helping me grow and keep helping me rise. And Paul, I think Paul could be a very good coach, too. So I'd like to see him, like, stick around the gym and just help the guys out. And I think he'll do that. So I'm excited for him. And I'm excited to see where all of it is running and cycling

and swimming goes because I know my man's been putting in some work. Is he going to be in the corner on July 10th? No, he's going to be there, though. He told me he's going to be there as a fan. So I'm excited to have him there. We'll go out and we'll celebrate afterwards. We'll drink some beers. So he'll still be, obviously, be in the gym training.

He's going to help you out getting ready for this fight. He'll be on the broadcast. He'll still be very much involved in this crazy sport of ours. But is there any, like, Paul Felder, the fighter memories that stick out to you? Like, was there a certain performance he had that, like, really sticks with your memory? when he finished Charles Alvara. I remember watching that fight, and he was in, I think, I can't remember if it was an Andaconda or if it was a dars.

And it was one of the tightest chokes I've ever, I could hear him gargling. And I was like, Jesus Christ, like he's going to go to sleep. Like there's no way he's not, I knew Paul he's not going to tap. So he's going to go to sleep. And when he got out of that and Alvara was exhausted. And I remember him just being in his guard and he postureed up and was just dropping punches and elbows, and he finished him.

And, like, that is probably the best win he's ever had. And it's just gotten better and better and better over time. So my man's got a win over the champ. So for him to retire and have that, can't complain about that, you know. But that's probably we have numerous, like, sparring stories and him being Paul and being a hothead. And I have many memories with Paul, and I'm sure I'm still going to have more. So I love Paul to death. I'm happy he's happy.

Can you give me one hothead Paul Felder story? He was sparring my teammate, Pat. And I think he dropped him. And he was standing over top of him, kind of like Charles Alvarez style, dropping punches. And my teammate was on the bottom, like saying, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. And Paul just kept hammering him.

And eventually he quit. He was like, all right, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. So he's cursing Adam. Paul's punching him until he quits. And yeah, so this was years ago, but there's a lot of good angry Paul Felder's barn stories. Really love the matchmaking here with this fight between Sean Brady and Kevin Lee. Picture perfect matchmaking, if we're being honest, because Brady deserves this shot.

He deserves the opportunity to fight a name. Kevin Lee needs a tough fight to come back to, especially if he's going back up to 170. I think this is perfect. This is the fight to make, and it should be a lot of fun at UFC 264. As we move ahead to this Saturday, UFC's back. UFC Vegas 28,

main event Jarzini Rosenstrike versus Augusto Sakai in the heavyweight division. But an interesting matchup at 155 pounds is we're going to see the second UFC appearance for one Jordan Levitt. He joins us right now on what the heck. All right,

let us welcome back. Jordan Levin to the program. He returns to the Octagon at the UFC's next event on June 5th. He's going to take on Claudio Plias. Always a pleasure to have the Monkey King join us. Jordan, how are you, man? I'm doing pretty well. How are you doing, Mike? I'm doing great. Of course, we're going to talk all about the fight, but right off the bat, the Monkey King and the Monkey Queen have been joined by the Monkey Princess back in January. You and your wife welcomed a baby daughter into the world. So congratulations officially now that I see you. How has fatherhood been treating you thus far?

Oh, it's been treating me pretty dang good. I enjoy it, a little person growing more complex, like exponentially and smiles and she sees me. It's pretty nice. Yeah, I remember our last conversation, we spoke about what it would mean to you to be a dad. And, you know, she hadn't arrived yet. She was about to. She was kind of knocking on the door. And, you know, you felt like a lot of that weight and pressure was lifted off your shoulders

because of getting that win over Matt Wyman, got the bonus and such. It took a lot of pressure from the finances off of you. But being a parent puts you in this like tunnel vision state where it's not just about fighting. It's like everything else. It almost like forces you to do better at everything because, you know, now you're the role model. You're the example in your dad right now. Like are you feeling it in that way as well? Because I mean, being a dad and myself, I know it really does change you, doesn't it?

Yeah. It changes me especially in the sense that there's more of a sense of urgency about the things that I do and more of a sense of purpose. Like it's much easy to take care of just you and your wife. And it's take care of you and your wife and a person that you're trying to grow into like a contributing human being in society and be a good example. So it definitely has brought a sense of urgency. And I'm not a person that ever feels sense of urgency. I'm very slow like, oh, it will happen when things happen. But now I'm like trying to make things happen.

So I can, you know, be the dad that she deserves and do the things I'm supposed to do. So it definitely is, you know, yeah. Like I said, tunnel vision, more of like a focusing, focusing influence on my life. What's been kind of the breakout moment thus far, like that breakout discovery, because when kids, like, for example, like, when kids see bubbles for the first time, it's like seeing a unicorn. So have there been like, I know she's super young, but has there been like any exciting things your daughter has, like, discovered in this new and exciting world? Well, I learned that only I can make her laugh. and when I laugh, like, she'll laugh back. And it's kind of cool with, like, share that little moment where I'm laughing at her laughing and she's laughing at me laughing.

And it's like a really, you know, it's like a silly thing. That's also kind of like a beautiful thing because I was like especially of the belief, like all my siblings, like my older sisters are five years apart. My younger sister's five years below me. So I don't really have a lot of memories of like a baby being around. So I kind of just took grand. They're kind of like, their babies aren't very small. They're kind of like a house plant until they're like one or two. And then they become a person.

But she's a person much faster than I anticipated and, you know, love her to death. And it's really cool to see like even though like babies are very, you know, simple and emotional and stuff. It's really cool to see that like I could bring her joy and that she can bring me joy. And we're kind of like, you know, it's like, even though a relationship's just starting. It's kind of really deep and it's kind of a beautiful thing. Your kindred spirits right away. I know you were, you're obviously on Cloud 9 now being a dad, but you were on Cloud night after the win over Matt Wyman and, you know, that was your first knockout win with

that slam and you were basically open to two options. It was either, you know, be there for your wife for the last stage of the pregnancy, fight sometime like in the first half of 2021, or you were hoping to maybe bounce back and get on that December 19th card. So I'm curious, I'm wondering if anything was actually brought to your attention for a quick turnaround after the Wyman fight. There were a few last minute things

for me to fill in the week of. And it didn't, you know, it didn't materialize, which is fair. 2020, I was super blessed. I had plenty of fights. So a lot of fighters, they were just kind of stranded for a year. So the UFC made the better decision

and like giving more people a shot to provide for themselves. I really wanted to get on that card. And then they told me to be ready for March. So I've been skinny since March. And I haven't been this skinny for a fight ever. So if I lose, it's because I'm undersized and the UFC screwed me. That's hilarious. So I mean, listen, now you got that extra time with the fam, which is always

great. And now we have a date. We have an opponent, Claudio Poyas. And this is going to be his fourth UFC walk. More of a grappling heavy style, kind of like yourself. And like the more I think about this fight, the more I feel like there's a lot of similarities between the two of you guys. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I agree so. I was saying in a previous interview because I do think this fight can be excited. I'm like, honestly,

it could probably be very awkward. Like, there's a pretty good chance this fight doesn't be an ugly, strange off-rhythm decision. But I hopefully I'll finish it. I'm trying to finish them for you guys. But, yeah, when this fight was given to me,

I was like, that's, this can either be really good or really, really, really, um, sluggish. He, uh, he's more of, um, he's a reactionary. Like he walks forward, he gets scared and fluster than he takes people down and, which I would do the same thing if people have repressed from me. They just don't yet. And I'm a person who presses forward and then takes them down. So I feel like this fight will be decided on who's more comfortable on the feet and

who's more comfortable being patient. And I feel like, I, I, I, I, I love pressure. I love scrambles. I love when things get going. I feel like he shies away from it. And we're both young. So even though he hasn't fought, it'll be like a year and a half on fight night, like I remember how much I improved from 22 to 24, and I imagine he'll improve just as much. So if I fight Claudio Puez from 2018, 2019, I think, I think it should be, there's very clear, there's several clear paths to victory for me. But I'm really hoping. I want this to be a hard fight.

I haven't had a hard pro fight yet. And I kind of got into this to grow as a fighter. And I'm out here looking for a loss, not someone just looking for wins. So I really hope that he's game. I really appreciate it if he was game. We haven't really seen a lot of you on the feet, especially in your last couple of fights,

like with the striking a whole lot. So, I mean, you're a guy who loves challenges, and I feel like this could present an interesting challenge because you said it would be kind of awkward, you know, some of that wrestling and the grappling sort of negates itself, and you guys would just stand there on the feet. But, you know, do you feel like we're going to see a little bit more of that game that you have in this fight? Like, we're going to see, you know, Jordan Levin throwing them bombs on June 5th? I'm planning on it.

I know I have the power advantage. I know it. I know I'm not scared of getting hit. I just, I just, even though I have no reason to believe so from past experiences, I have no evidence in my favor. I just, I don't think he can hurt me and I think I can hurt him on the feet. And I don't think I'm going to shoot first. I have dreams about the fight. And every time it plays out, I'm not panicked shooting.

I think he's going to panic shoot. I think they accept this fight. They're okay. The grappling is going to cancel each other out, which it won't because I'm a better grappler. But if it does, I think they're going to be on the stool after the second round and be like, You need to knock this guy out. We don't know what's happening. And that's the plan.

Pressure, confusion. Pressure makes diamonds or dust. And most people don't turn to diamonds. So we'll see what happened. Well, said, oh, yeah, I saw you've been getting in some work with Neil Malanson. That guy is one of the more underrated gens from a coaching perspective in this sport. And you haven't seen, like, a whole lot of him around, like, at least from the public eye over the last few years. And he's obviously cornered a lot of big names, help him get to the next level, to world titles, et cetera.

out like how much of an eye opener has it been adding neal to the mix it's been i've never been humbled with grappling i've always kind of been a savant for grappling like it came to me very naturally but when i trained of neal he'll explain things like in 12 words and i'll be like i feel so stupid for not coming to the same conclusion and you know and he's a big good guy, but he's also has bedchets, he's blind, you know, has basically one functional arm, because he's a torn tricep, and we'll roll, and he'll

murder me. Like, there is not a thing I can do. And I'm learning so many, like, mean tricks, which my style is very flowing, not a lot of, like, brutalness in what I do. And he's basically, he's, taking it to the next level a little bit. My style is going to be a little bit more sadistic,

especially if I get to do some Neil Melanson stuff. And I'm very blessed to finally get to work with him like regularly regularly um two to three times a week because i you know i remember buying his triangle book when it first came out when i was in high school and i remember buying his instructional and it's just wild to have him you know on my side now sadly you can't corner me but hopefully for the next fight he'll be able to make it why not um just quarantines and health issues you know he doesn't want to commit if he can't be sure if he can make it and i would totally

understand um you know like a bad shit just like crone's disease like on steroids and i would hate for him to feel pressure to not feel well and stuff like someone we're quarantined for several days it's kind of is a recipe or disaster i imagine so hopefully next fight we'll get to see some gilman lancin in my corner well you get to bring some of that kneel with you into this fight and you know i was i was actually wondering about this because a lot of times when you come off of a finish like you had like a big time memorable debut, there's like an added pressure that comes along to try and top it. Like I know Joaquin Buckley after that insane spin kick knockout of Impa Kasagadai, he had last year. Like he admitted that he felt extra pressure to try to live up to or even

top that moment, which is like almost impossible to do. Something tells me not a lot ways on your shoulders. Like you said, you're very flow and now you get Neil Malantz and teaching you all these sadistic things. But do you feel like in a way you've had to battle with that in the back of your mind at all? So to be honest, I still mostly see my last knockout victory as more of a lucky happening. I never trained for that. And it was like in the moment, I'm like, oh yeah, and then my forearm here and I slam and I could get it. And then it happened. So it'd be different if I trained those things. And that was like a, that was like a tool I knew was in the, I knew was in my toolbox. But since it's, it's not really characteristic of my style, I kind of, I don't plan on

probably ever doing that again. So for me, since it was like a happy accident, I don't feel any pressure. I mean, it's a fastest debut in my division of history. It's a slam knockout. All these cool things. But like, it's just a fist fight at the end of the day. I don't see like some of my guys make it so much crazier,

more important than it is. This guy would have pushed me on the playground. I would have pushed him back and we would have fought. And we just get paid to do it. So a win is a win. If I could top last time, that'd be wonderful, but you can't really top that highlight. So I'm just going to go out there, no expectations except to show more of my skills, hopefully, a little bit more time, a little bit more ring time. I'm going to get ring grass of all these first round finishes.

So, yeah. How does that, like, how does that Zen state stick with you, like, as a fighter? Because not, like you said, not a lot of people think that way. They just, you know, it's everything. Fighting is everything to them. And, you know, while it's a big part of your life, you're not, you know, putting all that extra weight of the fight game and, you know, and taking all that with you everywhere you go, you just, this is what I do.

And it's cool. And I like it. And it's fun. Like, where does that come from? Like, have you always been like that? Towards the end of high, like, I used to be a very anxious, very shy person. And I didn't do well of, like, social things and I wasn't very popular and I was horrible at first impressions and

you know bad at dean and blah all the things that are a little nerdy weird you know fruity kids from Las Vegas suffer from so my senior year I kind of like had like an epiphany where I was like I got to be happy with myself and I got to be comfortable like with who I am and and if people aren't comfortable with that it doesn't matter like you can't win everybody and I kind of gained the courage to be disliked by other people and why Once I stopped, you know, worrying about how people perceive me, allowed me to really come out of my shell. And I really feel like a lot of people put on like a facade,

especially in the fight game. They have this alter ego. They try to show the world and it's not really who they are. And I can't imagine like wearing like a mask again going back in my shell. It's, you know, I'd rather have lived this life, like working this career, being who I am, then leaving this sport and being like, oh yeah, this is who I was trying to find myself

again. I've already found myself. And I like who I see. I like who I see in the mirror. I like to fight and I just, it's just a fight. At the end of the day, like, I prefer to win and I prefer to get the win bonus and, you know,

everything is better when you win. But I'm mostly just buying because I love it and all the other benefits are just you know cut accessory that is so cool man like that's gotta be such a freeing feeling

like outside of having a screaming baby in the house you must sleep tremendously on a nightly basis not having to deal with that anxiety that a lot of other people deal with yeah it's you know I always joke with like my wife

and my friends and like anxieties for people who need to create problems for themselves themselves because I was raised by my mom. My mom's like been the my been the rock of like my life. You know, she raises like three kids on her own. Um, Chris at all started business and she did a really good job. And she didn't start having anxiety until we all kind of grew up. And now she like has less worries. You know, I feel like a lot of times is when you have a struggle and you have hardships in your life, you get addicted to those things. And a lot of, you know, create problems for them to overcome. But, you know, life's already hard, even with a positive attitude, even when it's

lovely and everything goes according to plan, life still, life's still a lot. Like, crap happens. But I ain't going to, I'm not going to create any more problems for myself than, you know, what God's have put in my path. And, you know, perhaps I'm not as intense as I could be. Perhaps I could be better if I was more competitive, more driven. And I kind of, like, gave into that ego. but honestly I'm just like so blessed to be at where I am my life at this age with like my health intact and my mental my mental faculties you know unaffected you know my life's in God's hands and I'm aware of that and I'm just really be thankful for any blessings I'm blessed with so I'm a lot of times I'm not sure if I'm like worthy of all the great things that's happened for me that's uh Yeah, that's something that a lot of people have to deal with and weigh in the back of their minds. But you don't want to create problems for yourself. But on June 5th, you plan on creating problems for one Claudio Pueyes.

How do we get this done? Do we have an official Jordan Levitt prediction here? I'm going to pressure him. He's going to shoot. And I'm going to submit him and punish him for his insolence. You can see, like, the effect Roxanne Montefari has on you because that's, like, very similar to how she predicts fights. Yeah, she's my hero. You know, Roxy's really been a big influence, you know,

helped me gain that courage to be disliked, so to speak. You know, it's very, she's like an anime protagonist. You know, happy go lucky, she changes the people around her for the better. And, you know, she changed my life and my career for the better. And it's given me a lot of courage to be who I am. And it's worked out great. So, you know, thankful for her all the time. How's she doing?

She's doing good, walking better every day after her knee surgery. And she just seems very happy and said, and I'm excited for her to get back out there and to see what she does best. As are a lot of people watching this right now. So just to sort of keep in with tradition, Jordan, we'll wrap the chat up by checking in on the Jordan Levitt book suggestion for all the peeps out there. I know you like to challenge yourself on a yearly basis to read a certain number of books. Have you set a number for yourself this year?

I know life has changed a little bit in 2021, but if so, is there something new and exciting you've read that you've read recently that you would recommend to the folks watching and listening right now? So my goal is between 50 and 60 books here. I'm trying not to do too crazy a number. 75 to 100. It's really stressful. But if I had to recommend one book series that I've really enjoyed this year, their murder-bought

diaries and stuff. They're a novella series, nice little sci-fi. Each, like, maybe six of them all three-hour-long reads. They really could. I'm not a big fan of sci-fi, but it's kind of cool following

like a robot who's like learning how to be an individual. So yeah, the murder pro, the murder bot series, for sure. I definitely recommend that highly. Say what you will about that man, but he is uniquely him.

Jordan Levitt, like him or not. He is who he is. He ain't changing for anybody. And he's such a little bit. an interesting guy, he shouldn't change who he is. This is how he should be. And I appreciate how he just kind of, you know, let's all this stuff roll off his shoulders. You know what I mean? Like, you can like him, you can dislike him. And he doesn't care. He's just going to continue being Jordan Levitt. And that's why he sleeps so well at night. So appreciate the candor,

the openness. And congratulations on him becoming a father as well. As we welcome in another individual coming off his first Octagon victory. He's about to become a father for the second time. His win came a little less than two weeks ago in an absolute barn burner at UFC Vegas 27. Let us welcome to what the heck for the first time, Jared van dera. All right, let us welcome Jared van dera to the show coming off his first UFC win and first UFC bonus in his fight of the night, unanimous decision win over Justin Tafa this past Saturday at UFC Vegas 27. Jared, good to see you, man. Congratulations on the win. How are you? Sorry about that. I just had, I just finished my freaking kombucha, forced myself to drink that. It's not a fun time. No, it's good. I'm sore. I'm excited that I won.

I really didn't expect five of the night. That's a nice little bonus. Yeah, so I'm, I'm tired still. friend like for me it's usually I don't feel the next day like the next day like yeah I'm good I'm good excuse me again that kombucha kicks my ass I don't I usually don't feel it the next day it's it's usually the second day it's for me two days is when I get beat up I'm just like oh I feel everything Excuse me.

Sorry. You got to get that gut health in check with the kombucha, man. I hear you. Yeah, like, to anyone that tells you that kombucha tastes good, they're lying to you, and they're not your friend. I would agree with you. I have friends who swear by it, and they say it's delicious, and I'm like, what are you drinking?

I don't believe you because I've never, no, I mean, I obviously understand the, Like the goodness behind it and what it does for you, like on the inside and stuff, but it tastes horrendous. Oh, yeah. No. The only one I tolerate is the turmeric one because turmeric doesn't taste that good. But they have it just like, I saw this like golden pineapple. Now my, I like pineapple.

No, this is an insult to pineapple. It's just this. But it's like it's like a really spicy carrot. Yeah. It's good stuff. And it's like, okay, I can tolerate it. Well, that's good. If you can find one that you like, you get to stick by that one for sure.

But no matter what life has to offer you, Jared, you always remember your first. And you got that proverbial monkey off your back. You got the first UFC win. You got some extra loot in the old bank account. That's got to feel good as tired as you are right now. Kind of thinking about that stuff probably makes you feel a little bit better, right? Oh, yeah, definitely. You know, it takes off the burden of, like, my business and all the, you know, business factors.

I'm going to try to be, what I call it, a little bit more responsible with money because I'm, God forbid, awful with money. So I'm trying to act more of like an adult. But, yeah, no, I'm just trying to get my actual businesses kind of in order to get that situation. So that definitely helps and I have a kid on the way so having that win bonus definitely helps. But going into the fight, that was actually my last thing. I was like, yeah, I'm not, I'm not worried about it. Like everyone was like, oh, you need to, I'm like, I'm not going to stress over having this, you know, extra pressure over you know a bonus

I'd just like I'd rather go out there performing whatever helps me win or if I get that bonus from a good fight cool because my plan though was not like like everyone was like oh go out there and get that bonus but I'm like you know the game plan right like we agreed the game plan was

to wrestle him and take him a ground hump his leg a few times and choke them out. That's not that exciting of a game plan. I'm like, that's kind of a boring fight. I'm like, I'm not planning on this actually working out. They're like, no, bro, you got this. I'm like, all right.

And then you saw how well that's your name. So egg-hopping, that grappling exchange. Fucking pristine. Absolutely. I will say that like one of the first things I noticed when Bruce Buffer looking dapper as always introduced you, you were looking spelt to my man. Like I'm not saying you weren't in good shape before, but you looked like in really good shape. You looked bigger. You looked stronger.

You were a little more lean. Like I don't know. Like that was pretty noticeable to me, man. Like was I correct in that assessment? Like I felt like you didn't look like it wasn't like two different people, but you definitely looked in way better shape this time around. Yeah, God, it's a weird one. So I'm one of those people that fluctuate weight really bad. Like, okay, so like last year, you know, going through a rough patch,

we've been in the relationship, you know, I was able to drop a lot of weight from like, you know, just dealing with that. and then my fight gets postponed so it gives me you know it gave me some time to actually work you know with my my personal life and you know we got that back on track

you know we you know had to do the necessary steps to get to where it's now and but like after we got things back on the road in my personal life And it's like, oh, yeah, da-da-da. And then my contender series fight, I wasn't as lame as I wanted to. Then going into, like, immediately going from a contender series fight, scheduled five weeks out for another fight.

Excuse me. I was like, yeah, I'm ready for this fight. I felt like I looked good. I was ready. COVID. I got, I had it. I, I, I had it. Fuck.

Then I got postponed. And the week in December that I had tested positive for about three weeks, I just kind of sat on my couch and did absolutely nothing. I went from like 267 straight up all the way to fucking like $2.90 in about three weeks. Yeah, all I did was like me and the fiancé ordered fast food, basically all three meals. And I beat cyberpunker, like twice. and so yeah i shot up uh i shot up to like 290 and i was like yo i i really can't you know do this and then i started like getting into getting ready for that fight a little too heavy i like

and the week of i like i came in the week of at like 277 like fuck i'm not you know i'm not you know i'm not looking great. And then, like a month out, I started working with the strength and conditioning guy and wrestling. But, you know, I had, like, I don't want to say anywhere from six weeks to a month with them. It's not a lot of time and effort to put it in somebody. So they didn't necessarily, so come to my Sergey fight did not.

I just look like shit. Now, fast forward to this last fight, I, you know, I spent about two. two to three weeks enjoying myself after the, after the fight. I'm all right, let's take a moment. You know, you, you know, train hard. It just didn't get your way. And then I like I started getting back on, you know, dieting and stuff. And I made that the big focal point of my camp.

But I'm like, hey, let's work on my dad. Let's work on making sure I'm eating right, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's get the food in you. Let's start working out. a lot more I did strength conditioning for a good, I would say, about eight weeks of this camp. In the last three or four, it was just cardio training for the fight. And so when I came in the week of, I was a little nervous because the week prior was like 170 or 270. I wish I was 170.

It's like, all right, I'm 270. like I'm like and then I had to go in day early because of my my nose checked and my my fiance she's pregnant and all that jazz so we went out a day early so I was like fuck I'm in Vegas for a whole day you know we were eating out I like we try to eat as clean as possible because Vegas has a lot of good options outside the strip so I go in Tuesday I weigh myself at like 260 I was like

oh shit I'm there I'm on white and I on Thursday we went to the PI I did a little quick workout for about an hour and then after that you know I ate some dinner weighed myself at like 266 267 I was like oh shit look at me man wait I woke up I I weighed myself that morning. I was like a 265 point something. I was like, I don't have to do shit. Got on the scale and stuff. And I waited and I was a 264 or something.

I was like, awesome. I was the only heavyweight that didn't have to cut to make weight. And I think it really showed like physically that my strength and conditioning, my cardio, I look leaner. I hope I do. so still not as lame as I want and it's just you know with a lot of life issues I've always kind of put my nutrition on the backburners so it definitely you could see it hit me in all my like especially the last two fights you obviously see but when I kind of put a little bit more forth it I felt like I showed a little bit better in this last fight and good for me or a good thing but that I think for me is like my fiance has a judasional diabetes right now. So it's going to help me maintain staying on a diet for her sake, you know, being pregnant

and having that diabetes because of the placenta, you know, we want to make sure she's eating right. And I don't want to be one of those people that, oh, you have to eat healthy now. I already did that. It's my turn to eat like a fat person. Like, let me get all the food that you want. want in you in front of you. Instead of doing that, I'm like, yeah, you know what?

We'll eat, we'll help you together. So I took two days of just, you know, eat whatever I want, drink whatever I want. And as of like this morning, I'm back on dieting and stuff. And I'm trying to lean out even more so for my next fight. Yeah, it's amazing like being with somebody who's pregnant because it's kind of like you're pregnant with them. So whatever sort of cravings and stuff that they have or whatever they, they choose to eat or have to eat, you kind of go along with the ride. Like I remember when my wife was pregnant, she would have all these like crazy different cravings. And I'd be like, okay, I will do that as well.

So, you know, she put on pregnancy weight and so did the hubby. I put on some pregnancy weight myself. Yeah, no, I get like the sympathy injuries. Like my hips would pop out. Like, so I've dislocated. I'm a person that dislocates easily. Which happens. But my hips dislocate pretty often also.

One, my fiance, like, during this pregnancy, her hips been popping out in and out place. Guess whose hips has been popping out from? So fucking much is ridiculous. I can't fuck my hip. I'm like, excuse me a minute. Let me try to pop this back in a place.

It happened so many where my coaches were. like you just stay away from her like no you can't but like you broke in because of her I'm like yeah it's the journey it's the journey yeah it wasn't the best but it happened yeah I i i outside of like some of the you know the weight issues you were dealing with heading into the Spivak fight. I know you didn't feel completely like yourself. There's a lot going on in your life. And because it's pretty rare that after a contender series fight, you call somebody out and it actually comes to fruition. Like even before you got the contract, you called out Spivak or maybe it was right after you got the contract and then they booked that fight like right away. And, you know,

got rebooked and everything because you dealt with the COVID. But fight happens. It didn't go your way outside of like some of the other things you were dealing with the underlying sort of problems that you were having heading in, what were some other things you took away from that fight in February? It was weird because, even though I remained on the bottom of the fight, you know, I can't, you know, it was like, yo, like, after kind of like figuring out what happened, stuff, it's like, his ground wasn't this, this amazing thing. It was just like, oh, I could grapple with them. Like, I could have grappled with them properly if I pulled my head out of my ass and executed things.

I was more nervous and like, oh, lights, so pretty. And I do think that it became postponed, mentally fucked with me because I think we'm not going to say we would have had a completely different outcome, but we would have had a different completely fight, different fight if I fought speedback on that five-week notice versus my second time of February. I will say this, you know, hypothetically, if I beat speedback, it would have put me on the fast track into maybe the top 20 slash top 15 a lot sooner.

And I don't mind that, but I'm kind of glad that I'm taking a little bit longer over a road. because I feel like if I rushed it, you know, like maybe my career wouldn't have been, or like a potential future of my career wouldn't have been as long-lasting as it possibly can be. Because, you know, you see those guys that get put in a good position and shot up the ranks immediately. And then, you know, they win a few fights, then they lose and then they lose hard. I don't want to be one of those guys I don't, you know, if I lose, I mean, oh shit,

I lost or others bounce back to you know, and I can bounce back home. I don't want to be one of those people like, oh, I'll lose, lose five, six more and then I have to retire or something. So, like, I'm, like, it's a it's a double-edged sword,

you know, it's like, yeah, I could have been maybe better in my career, but at the same time, it's not the worst position to be in. Yeah, I think you make some really, good points there. And then, you know, that that all falls out. You get Justin Taffa. And that guy, despite not having a ton of professional MMA experience, the man is powerful. He's tough as nails. And he is a gamer. That guy will fight anybody and be ready to go. He's a good

test for a lot of guys in that division because not just some of those, those sort of descriptions of him, but he's a super durable guy too. That's very tough to put away. I know you're going to put him away. But still, that was kind of like an anomaly looking at the rest of his career. But did you feel like that was a perfect next step for you, like a good test coming off of the speedback fight? Yeah, no, I think that was a, you know, not necessarily a guy that has the experience that I have getting engaged, but, you know, has a good kickboxing background.

You know, I was like, you know what, beating him, I could show people that I'm a good jih Tjitsu person, but obviously we saw how good my jih Tjitsu was showing in that fight. and yeah it was just one of those things where it's like like people forget that i'm a striker like i yeah like i've got a few messages like oh you're striking improved so much for that speed back i'm like i remember winning the striking exchanges against uh surrogate i'm like it's not a lot of things i'm certain of but i beat him in the feet that's why he took me down and kept me there for like nine minutes.

I'm like, my stand-up was good. Yeah, I missed one head kick, and I mean centimeters, inches, wherever you're from. I was like, close. I saw a picture. My calf, like, touched the top of his head. I'm like, no. I would have won that fight, too.

If I was a little bit, a little bit lower. But, hey, you know, regardless, I learned a lot I go into that fight and fighting Tofah I think was a good fight for me just because it allowed me to show that I am someone that's capable of taking a bunch, being able to deliver some,

and also kind of deal with his pressure, you know, deal with someone that is, you know, he's not necessarily the best, but he's a little bit more technical of a striker than a lot of the other heavy ways that a lot of them do rely on power. he does come from a place that has, you know, a place that, you know, teaches setups and knows how to use all of their weapons. So I was able to, you know, counteract them, show my weapons, and I thought it was a good time.

And you literally bled for this way. And I mean, everywhere, like half your body was covered in blood. It was like the movie Carrie in a way. But it wasn't like this gigantic potential fight stopping cut either. I mean, we could still see it, like the, you get the little cut on your nose. And there's the cut right there. I'm sure you bled in fights before but when you actually like saw the size

of the cut where you like really like all of that blood from from that little cut no I'm a bleeder I get cuts I've literally over a hundred and now 25 stitches in my face so definitely not my first cut I have a strong feeling

and won't be my last like you could see maybe the cut from the Sergei still lingering around here the scar tissue uh i i think this eye also i split it open once where it was 14 stitches like four internal and then 11 across that that one was pretty bad uh when i broke my nose the first time going against sean shan strickland that one i think was made my bloodiest That was just a bloodiest training. Blood everywhere.

I'm just like, God, damn. How many stitches for the head? A three, I think. Three or four. It's really not that big. This one, just one. He was like, I don't know if I'm, he goes, I'm one stitches one just in case.

It's not that bad, but just in case. I'm like, I, I. Uh, so yeah, that, that, that, that, that was the bleeder. Do you know, like, was it, was it a punch? Like, I, I, I, we were wondering, like, it was like the tip of the glove that, that cut you? Oh, well, some people think it's that I don't remember. Like, I really don't. I just remember, oh, there's blood.

Who was bleeding? I'm like, almost likely me. I'm like, I guess there was a point where there was a light head butt. or like a head touch I was like and then blood everywhere I'm like that was so dumb of me

like all right carry time I'm sure I mean I'm sure you knew how tough top was heading into the fight you landed 121 significant strikes throughout it you had him rattled a bit

in the first round and he just kept coming throughout the 15 minutes so at any point in the fight where you're starting to think like damn dude like what is keeping this guy standing right now? Yes and no.

Like he was able to recover a lot and I knew when I heard him too because the power he threw when I rocked him and he started throwing freaking heat. I was like there was a few times I'm like oh I'm so glad I had my hands up or I moved

that came in hard because there's a few times he hit my hand I'm just like ow And I'm just like, all right, that could be, like, it was good to know when he was hurt. Like, I'm like, okay, I could try to put him away. And I didn't want to, like, go in there, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, rushing in. Because I think, you know, we'll go back to one of his fights.

I think this kind of what happened with him and Castro. I think he rocked Castro. He ran in there face up, hands down, and Castro just caught him. And I'm like, I don't want a repeat of that. So I was like, all right, you know what? I might have to, you know, touch him, touch him and try to get myself back in there. But sometimes when I touch him, it kind of give him time to heal and recover a bit. But I rather him recover a bit instead of me being foolish and maybe catching myself with a big punch and losing the fight, be a knockout or something.

You get the win, the bonus. Was it 50, was it 50 Gs? Yeah. Yeah, I haven't got the bonus just yet. Yeah, I know that's a little bit extended. Yeah, the bonuses are a bit more extended than I thought. So I'm assuming it's $50,000. I'm not going to cry either way.

50 or 75, I'm perfectly fine with either. Yeah, because, I mean, that's what a lot of people saying, like, oh, man, like if you fought a week earlier, you would have got 75. But at the same token, if you had fought a week earlier, you would have been up against the Burgos Barboza fight. you would have been up against the title fight. So all in all, this worked out just great for you. Did it not?

Like, I'm not upset with that at all in my up. Like, through them, I had a fun fight, you know? And I think me, I know, like, Tauff and message me afterwards, like, yeah, that was fun. He goes, I'm glad that we both got, he was like, I'm glad we got the fight of the night, too. Because, like, we both get paid 50 grand. So I'm like, fucking, yeah. We both had a fun time fighting and I think, you know, having the extra money on both ends, you know, makes us happy. Couldn't agree more.

So where do we go from here with this newfound momentum? Like we got the medical suspensions. Doesn't appear like there's anything besides those two cuts that are going to keep you out for any significant amount of time. Are you looking to sort of keep the train moving and get right back in there? Or do you want to, you know, take a little time, smell the rose a little bit and get something on the books before the year's over? Oh, we're looking in September. Okay. What was it, three, three and a half months?

Yeah, that's good a long time. Yeah. My unborn daughter is supposed to be arriving and we're from July to August. So July to August, September. I mean, that seems reasonable. Yeah. Gives you some time with the family, get a, get a justice. It's having the crying baby in the house.

You know, hopefully you get lucky and the new baby sleeps through the night and it makes life a little easier on you. I'm not that lucky plus my... So I'm just like, I'm going to be a hellion. Just want to cry all the time. So I'm like, I'm not looking forward to it, but it's going to happen. Yeah. Any particular name stick out to you?

I mean, there's obviously heavyweight. There's a lot of fun, interesting matchups for you. Is there anything that kind of sticks out to you right now? I was thinking, you know, like I was liking, you know, Alaska just because I'm a fan and I would love to fight Alaska. Ben Roswell, just because we both won on the same card, you know, fair enough from call out. And lastly, you know, someone said this and I was like,

I don't hate that idea. Don't tell Mays. I feel like that could be a fun fight. Interesting and fun. So I was like, I'm down for that one too. so but if they're like hey you want to fight so and so sure i'm not going to cry like i like fighting so i'm not going to be like i'm like we can we'll fight them all we'll do it all so earn that ranking spot just fight everybody exactly there you go so i mean obviously 2021 is a

much different year than 2020 was for you and it was 2020 was very busy for you in the cage out of it I know you dealt with the lot. So you obviously feel like at this point in 2021, you're just in a much better spot than you were a year ago. Oh, yeah. Well, especially after this weekend, way better spot. Because last year, I just bought business. And we had a, like, I was getting my final inspection

from the police department before the city department. the day they called COVID for the pandemic. So we had we were closed for about two, three months. We were stressing. Luckily our landlords were like, you just moved in here.

We're not going to kick you guys out. Plus, we weren't making any money. Regardless. So it's like, you know, what's the point of if you have done in this of not making any money? And, you know, so we, you know, once we opened it, we opened up in June, and they were like, oh, yeah, you have that time in June open up.

I'm like, all right, cool. So we opened up and we just stayed open in June. So I'm definitely in a better place now than I was last year. Really interesting stuff there from Jared Vandera. The kombucha stuff was a little gnarly, but very funny nonetheless. excited to see what is next for him in the heavyweight division. There's definitely a lot of fun scraps ahead of him. As we get ready to wrap up the show this week, as always,

we say thank you to all of you for watching or listening to the program. However you consume this show each and every week, it means a lot. Thank you for the support. As far as the rest of the scheduling this week here on MMAFighting.com, everything stays the same. A sides back a little bit later on today as you see this. Between the links tomorrow, well, preview shows, all that stuff on Friday. then we'll have the people's pre-fight show before UFC Vegas 28.

We'll have a post-fight show and all sorts of craziness. And then everything's sort of back to normal next week, including this program, back here next Tuesday. Shout out to Casey on the production side. Jose and Cool Alex and the graphics and the social media stuff. As always, have a heck of a week, everybody. We leave you with one of the top band-in-weights on the planet. Coming off his biggest career win to date, Rob Fond.

All right. You know this man. Big win this past Saturday and the main event of UFC Vegas 27, a dominant decision win over Cody Garbrand's biggest win of his career. And now the big question is, where does he go from here? Let us say hello once again to Rob Fott. Rob, how are you, man? I'm feeling good, man. A little beat up, but I'm feeling good, man.

I can't complain. I've got the first big, big main event under our belt. I'll just, you know, all to the next one. I mean, how does not feel? I'm feeling good, man. Like I said off there, like I didn't just win a big main event against a former world champion like you did, but I'm feeling pretty good nonetheless. But I mean, how does the win all feel a few days later? Like I know you expected to go in there and win, but this is your first main event and you went out there and dominated for five rounds.

You broke all sorts of individual records in the process. How does it all feel now? Yeah, it's a great, great relief, you know. It's kind of like you say it. You believe it. think it all day, but when it actually happens the way exactly you planned it, it's even better, you know. Now I'm in a weird situation to where I don't know where I'm fighting next, you know? Yeah, it's, it's such an interesting place. And I'm not like, I'm in kind of a, like a funk trying

to figure this out, because normally like I can predict like a path here, but considering where you're at right now, you got Sanhagen and Dillishaw, you have the title fight that's going to happen like at the end of the year. I don't know if the timing, you going first, you're was like better for you or worse for you. I can't really put my finger on it. So you're in a kind of a strange spot. But at the same time, you're just fresher move from the, from the biggest win of your career.

So we'll get to the future in a moment. But just overall, the fight seemed to go according to plan because that jab was on fire. And watching the fight, I'm just like, man, poor to techie Matsuda, who had to take probably 7 million of those jets throughout your training camp. The jab worked to perfection. it seemed like the fight went exactly the way you thought it would. Yeah, man. Like I said, you get to solve some of the sparring on the last session.

And we, you know, say we started to the gameplay. And shout out to Tcha Matsuda, man. He's a man. And like you saw, you saw he doesn't stop. So it's kind of like, you know, I owe him a lot more than a dinner and some money. But, yeah, you know, it worked out perfect, man. You know, we just had to be smart. We had to be real smooth with our jet.

I'm going across and I go too big. I got a little big sometimes, but then obviously the corner will be back in. And, yeah, you know, I just, you know, I didn't get the finish, but that's obviously what we wanted. But that kid was tough. He toughened it out. He took some big shots. And I hit him with some clean shots. He wasn't going anywhere.

But, yeah, I mean, I can't complain. You know, we got the W. We got in, we got out, and we were healthy. We got a couple bumps and bruises, but that's about it. Was it almost better this way, like having a five-round dominant decision like that? You can go in there and land the big shot. You had him hurt at one point, and it seemed like the fight might have been close to being towards the end. But, you know, you just continued on, and you got better.

Like, the stats numbers just kept getting better and better. The striking discrepancies were getting wider and wider as the fight went on. Is it almost better this way than going up there and getting a quick finish? I do. I do. I think it kind of, like, you know, like, puts it in people's minds that, you know, like, I can strike with the best of them for sure. It wasn't just a lucky punch. Some people think, you know, like,

You know, even like Cody's last fight, if you were kind of saying I was a lucky punch, you know. But, yeah, I can get in there. Cardo is definitely not an issue. I definitely believe I get better throughout the rounds. Again, shout out to my sparring partners.

You know, the way that they push me is, you know, I get pushed so hard and sparring that the fight is just another day for me. Yeah, and I think it definitely worked out better this way because, you know, I got the experience of the full five rounds. I know I can go five rounds at a high pace, at a high clip, and still with a dangerous striker at that. Nobody's James, Coyne's like that and survives that long, you know, and I took some of his shots.

You know, he took my shots and he both went at it, but I just, I was a little bit more fresher and more, I think they had a lot more energy. And just be a little, I was a little more enthusiastic than he was that night. And, you know, that's what comes to the territory. You know, sometimes you're on, sometimes you're off. And I definitely was on Saturday night. You told me, and I know you did a bunch of other interviews along the way, that your plan was, obviously, you wanted to get a second round finish, but this probably worked out better, but you wanted to get him angry. You wanted to piss him off. You wanted to get him back in that place. It seemed like maybe early in the fifth round, we kind of saw that guy, but I think that was more of a dude who realized he needed to finish more than just getting angry. But were you surprised that he didn't really get out of that zone at all? He didn't. He didn't. He had a quick burst in the fifth round. That was it. But even then he stayed technical and it was all right fine if you're gonna stay technical that's fine

But you can't be that technical with me you know like I'm just too long especially when you're that much behind You know it was just like just be smart don't get hit with the big shots and um and he felt it too he could feel like he went went went big with the burst and after that and like grabbed him like I could feel like fuck like he like not necessarily quitting but tired you know like he was tired it was into the whole time but he was just tired the energy wasn't there same and it wasn't that big burst of Cody that you used to, it wasn't coming out the same in that fifth round. One of the things I thought about breaking down the fight is I will say, Rob, we do our staff picks heading into these fights like the day before. I was the only one who picked you. Everyone else picked Cody. So there you go. They left me on the island all about myself. Yeah, no, they didn't get behind the scenes look like you did, man. I know.

You knew something they didn't know, man. But one of the things I was thinking of, I was like, if Cody's going to win this fight, he's going to have to wrestle you. He's going to have to take you down over and over again. And I was just talking literally moments ago with Tyson. And I told him the same thing. I'm like when Cody took him down in the first round, I'm like, all right, this is probably like his best strategy to victory. And then he let me know like, dude, we've been preparing for a wrestler for like four months now. Like we didn't know who we're going to fight, but we were ready for a wrestler depending on who we got. So him taking you down. That didn't really surprise you at all, did it? No, at all. We knew, we know, once we get him shooting, we know we're doing a job, right? And, and, yeah, I said, we brought in wrestlers. We've been wrestling since we got the call, you know, it was like, and we, and, like, we knew he was tired out, even if he got a couple of takedowns, you know. I'm not the best wrestler, but I'm decent at wrestling, but I'm even harder to hold down and submit. You know, people forget, I started at Jesus class in Jesus school, you know, so, like, I naturally, I'm decent on the ground. not the best wrestler, but once it goes there, I'm well educated there as well. And, um, you know, we know he'll get tired and eventually the shots got, got a lot slower.

I'm trying to remember. I'm, I'm looking up the scorecard right now because I knew there was like one, I think it was maybe this fight. There's one scorecard that drove me crazy. Was there a 48, 47 in this one? I think so. At first I was, how the hell is that possible? I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know. I do not know. I got to go back and watch it, but I think somebody gave it to him. Like, makes no sense. Yeah. Maybe, I think maybe he could have squicked out the first round.

But even then, I think a lot of people gave me that round as well, but that was it. Yeah, I thought the first round was the closest. And I think the judge may have given him the fifth round. But, like, if you look at the numbers, like, he started off hot, but, I mean, you like tripled them up on strikes in that round, which is wild. Yeah. Yeah, man. Shout out just to take you.

Yeah, poor to techie. I mean, have you talked to him at all? I'm sure. Do you reach out to you? Yeah, not yet. We'll probably get together soon, probably this weekend and hang out and chop it up a little bit. Take him to the driving range, hit some golf balls. Get him out there.

Get him the extra large bucket for his help. There you go. So kind of going back to like the position you're in right now, it is really interesting because we got, I know the San Hagan-Dillishaw fight has been. reportedly we were booked for July 24th. Sterling City's come back in November. Jan seems to be ready to go. So we have like this, you know,

two, three months between all of these big fights, and there's you, and I'm not really sure how this is going to go. So just kind of in your mind, what do you think is the best case scenario for you? Best case scenario, they give me Peter Jan right now, and we get it going.

I doubt that happens. Maybe intern Bell, I don't know, we'll see what's up, but give me Peter Jan. He's only one. that's available and make it happen. You know, like the fans want to see exciting fights. I know that's an exciting fight. And then, you know, I'll take care of the belt for him. You just sit back, don't worry about the belt.

I'll take care of it for him, man. But or the winner of, I'm sorry, the loser or winner, whoever, of the, obviously, Corey Sanagan fight. Definitely don't want to wait that long either, though. As far as, like, again, you never know what happens. Whoever gets hurt or injured in that fight. It's another waiting list. I can potentially be on.

But realistically, I know I don't want to fight backwards. So I'll be patient. I've sat here. I know what it feels like. I don't want to fight backwards. I don't see there's no need for me to go to fight anybody that's behind me right now. So, yeah, it's just a weird conundrum because you don't see this in any other division right now. Normally it's like a clear path.

And when you have a win like that, we're talking Rob Fon fighting for the title right now. But we got all these different roadblocks along the way. And I said this on my show on Monday, heading into Tuesday, I was like, I honestly think Corey Sandhagen, if this is done correctly, I think Sanhagen gets hosed more than anybody because of the delay and because of where this division's at right now because how I think this should play out and it sucks for Corey is that your fight with Cody should have been the start of this quasi mini number one contender tournament. And especially with the fight not happening until November for the belt. So once that fight happened July 24th, they put you and whoever wins that fight on the same main card as the title fight between Sterling and Jan. One, because now we can have a number one contender. We're showcasing the division more. And two, in case something does happen, we do have a contingency plan in place, which might kind of hose you out of the equation.

But at least like you're on the card and we got something to get excited about. Yep. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. It's tough because, like, I know the champs. he just got back. I was talking to him earlier. I was in Vegas.

He just got back to just kind of even lifting and getting back to it. So he's going to be out for a while. I don't know what the deal with Peter Young, but if he wants to toss it up, he definitely jump in there and mix it up. He doesn't want to sit out. But yeah, man, I'm going to wear a spot, but a good spot.

There's nothing but a big fight after this. So my job is obviously lick my wounds, get back in the gym, and get prepared because it's going to be nothing. again it's either going to be tj corey peter yon or the champ so again all all those all the fights are tough man i gotta get back to the gym and get to back to work dany have like the the legacy name fights like i know you don't want to fight you don't want to fight backwards at all but if they offered you a domitre cruz or if like josie alde beats pedro munoz would that interest you at all

i mean yes i mean maybe the aal maybe more than the cruise fight the cruise fight not so much um yeah he exactly he's nowhere near like uh like near that belt at all um holzer i guess is a little closer um he has the name but you know nobody's nobody's dying to watch dominant cruise fight you know like if anything i probably fight shane o'malley before i fight dominant cruise you know like that's the guy that's kind of like buzzing right now he has that name and she i can't wait for him to fight you know so it's kind of like nobody's sitting dying to watch dominant cruise fight you know um but you know i'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind watching a sugar shame. But, you know, so I think he's a bigger name, if anything.

But then again, I don't want to fight backwards. If it come down to it, I'm assuming, you know, the Jose Aldo, Muño's fight will be good. I could, if Muño wins, I could revenge that loss. And obviously, if Jose Aldo wins, that's a pretty big name that I can get in there, jump in there with. But realistically, I would rather wait and see how everything else plays out. We saw the medical suspensions get released out to the public, so we all saw what happened

and it looked like your foot was a little jacked up. How's it feeling right now? It's good now. It's a little swollen. I think I kicked his elbow. I'm not sure, but it was just swollen. I thought I thought about it broke it, but it's fine. Now, the swelling went down.

It's just got to have better aim with my cakes. So if something were to happen, like, and I know you just fought, but if something were to happen and Sanhagen or Dilleshaw can't make July 24th. Are you down to jump in there? 100%. You know, that's the only reason why I want to, you know, obviously get back to it. That's a high-paced fight. Those guys bring it, you know what I'm saying?

They're both super well-rounded, so I got to get back to it. And I'll say, I don't want anything to happen. But if it did, you know, I'm the guy to call. You're ready to go. You're like Ghostbusters, man. Give me a call. Who are you going to call? Call Rob Funt and get him in there.

I know. You had like a crazy schedule getting back home, right? Like you didn't fly out to like super late on Sunday. Like how, how's your sleep schedule right now? I was a little bit jacked up. I was a little jacked up for a couple of days. We hung out for a couple more hours on Sunday and left Sunday night.

So we definitely didn't wake up and go straight to the airport. We hung out for a few. And I knocked back out. I was just like sleeping, cover, covering, eating everything in sight. But I'm solely getting back to the regular schedule. I almost missed this interview. I'm like, wait, hold on. What time is it?

I got up. But, you know, I'm slowly getting back. I'm getting back to normal. Yeah, you got back to, like, perfect weather, too. It's going to be like, it was like 80s the last two days. It's supposed to be 90s out there today. But then it's going to, like, drop back down to like the 50s all long weekend. This is crazy.

Yeah. Fucking mass has the temper tantrum. Well said. Rob, congratulations, man. Hell over performance. This was, there was something else. That jab was tremendous. And it seemed like everything was flowing beautifully at the right time for you.

So hopefully this all pans out for you. so fascinated to see how this band and weight division shapes up over the next several months. But I appreciate the time, man, especially a few days after the fight. And all the best of you, my man. Enjoy the victory. My man, appreciate it. Thank you again for having me on, bro. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.