MMA Fighting - What the Heck: Episode 64 | Ovince Saint Preux, Rick Glenn, Shaun Al-Shatti & Talita Alencar

Episode Date: June 22, 2021

On this week’s edition of What the Heck, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck reacts (2:55) to the big news of Ariel Helwani and The MMA Hour returning beginning Aug. 16. Then, Mike chats with Shaun Al-Shatti (7:03) to recap some of the top storylines coming out of this past weekend in the combat sports world. Ovince Saint Preux (34:32) previews his return to heavyweight when he faces Tanner Boser in the co-main event of this Saturday's UFC Vegas 30 event. Multi-time IBJJF world champion Talita Alencar (58:20) previews her upcoming MMA debut against Staci Vega at Titan FC 70 on July 2. Finally, UFC lightweight Ricky Glenn (1:15:40) recaps his 37-second KO win over Joaquim Silva at UFC Vegas 29. 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

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-by journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?

The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. This is What the Heck with Mike Heck on MMEFighting.com. Now, here is your host, Mike Heck. What the heck? Well, hello there, everybody, and welcome to a brand new edition of What the Heck here on MMAfighting.com. I am Mike Heck. Thank you for checking out the program, as always.

There is a lot to discuss this week, as there is each and every week, including some big news that dropped in the world of MMAFighting.com on Monday. I'm sure you've seen or heard about this news by now. And truth be told, ever since that announcement dropped, I have been bombarded with texts, calls, DMs, etc., asking me a litany of questions. And rather than just respond to each of you individually, I will answer those questions in a matter of moments. But first, do something a little different. I'm just going to run down the lineup now, let you know what's going to happen on the show,

and then I will get to all that stuff. So we're going to wrap up the show this week with Ricky Glenn, who had a big win in his first appearance in the Octagon, in a little under three years. He had a 37 second knockout win over Joaquin Silva at UFC Vegas 29. We will check in with him later on because not only did he get a win, he didn't get a bonus, but he might have gotten something even better from the UFC. Now, in the MMA world, the name Tolita Allencar is not a household name, and that's because she has yet to compete inside the cage.

But that's going to change on July 2nd at Titan FC70. and for those who follow the grappling in Jiu-Jitsu worlds, you know who she is. She's a multi-time world champion Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. She has spent the last year and a half or so getting ready to make the move to mix martial arts. She's taking it very seriously, and you'll hear her story later on the program,

and in my opinion, watching her grapple, she has big potential in this sport. No doubt about that. OSP, Obin-St. Peru returns to action and returns to the heavyweight division. This Saturday in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 30s taking on Tanner Bozer. And this all came together very quickly. He's supposed to fight Maxim Grishin.

That changed. And we'll talk about how that came to be and a whole lot more. Great stuff from OSP. And in a little bit, we're going to kick things off with our good friend, MMA fighting's own, the returning Sean Al Shadi, who's going to discuss the big storylines coming out of this past weekend. The Korean Zombies big win over Dan Ige, the state of the featherweight division. and of course Anderson Silva's illustrious return to the boxing ring and how much fun that was to take part in on Saturday for those of you who joined us for the watchalong.

We appreciate that very much. But let us begin by answering all of those questions that I have been getting at least to the best of my knowledge and abilities. Okay. So as you probably know by now, Ariel Hawani, the man who helped launch this place, MMAFighting.com, the face of this website for many, many years. is back with us. At least the MMA hour is back with him. And that will be his role with us. And that show will take place on Mondays and Wednesday.

So I'm sure you saw his video. He's locked up with a number of different places, doing a lot of different things. But the MMA hour is back in your lives. It's his line on Mondays and Wednesday. So two shows a week. And this is a very, very big deal. And a lot of people have asked what that means for me,

what that means for the show, the heck. We've been at this for now what is this? The 64th episode started in April of last year, a couple weeks after I came on with MMA fighting. And, you know, it's a similar type of show. It's not live. We're not in a, in a studio. Definitely a different feel because, one, his show had all those things. And I also feel like Ariel and I approach these interviews a little bit differently from each other, and I'll address that part of it in a minute, but I've had so many people just ask like, oh, man, so you're not with MMA fighting anymore? Where are you going to work now? Are you okay? And let me just be super clear with all of you. I am absolutely fired up that this is happening.

Are you kidding me? This is massive, massive news. I mean, the best MMA show in the history of this sport is back and back with us. This is amazing. I couldn't be more thrilled that this is happening. And as far as the other stuff goes, I'm not fired, I'm still working here, I'm still going to be doing a million things, I'll still be doing interviews, still be doing between the links, the pre-and-post fight shows, the People's Pre-Fight Show, 30 minutes before the event starts with all of you. That all remains. On to the next one with AK. All of that is still happening. All of it. It's all still happening. In fact, there's potentially more stuff that I'll be able to do. There's more content that we can do here over at MMA fighting. So this is a great thing for everybody. And I am beyond, excited for for Ariel not just because he's coming back here but you can tell the man is happy he has seemingly lifted a big weight off of his shoulder so I'm very happy for him I'm selfishly very happy for me I'm happy for you especially because the MA hour is back twice a week and I'm happy for all of us this is massive so on the other end what is going to happen with this show in my answer and this is the God's honest truth I have no idea what I do know is whether the show will drop on

or not, the what the heck brand will remain. I will still be doing interviews. Like I said, will it be in this format? I'm not sure. Maybe it will be. Will we still do a podcast? Probably. And for those who know me and have worked with me can probably tell you, I'm a team player to the max. So whatever I'm needed for, put me in, give me the damn jersey. I'm going to run whatever play you want me to run. And again, let me reiterate, this is great news. I am thrilled. And as a guy who was starting his own little MMA podcast several years ago while I was in the radio business, I used to sneak back in to the radio station that I worked at just to record this little podcast that I did.

And on the side, I produced the old Rickspick theme song back in the day. So hearing that song back in the day and plus like the M.A. hour was my jam. It was my jam. So now to be like working alongside Ariel having the show back. and just, you know, albeit in a limited capacity working with Ariel, I couldn't be more happy. So stop asking the questions.

I'm still employed. This is all wonderful news. I'm not going anywhere. Let us celebrate this moment because it is phenomenal stuff. So that is out of the way. Let us get to the show. So let us discuss the weekend that was

with another gentleman who returned recently to the MMA fighting family, Mr. Sean Al-Shadi. All right. So it's only fitting that for the first time in the history of this program, I actually bring on one of my colleagues to join us to discuss the news and notes of M.A. Because normally we do this on between the links.

We try to get somebody from the staff on. But I didn't want to have a battle. I didn't want Sean versus Jed and all that chaos. No, no, no, no, no. I want to just have an intelligent conversation about the sport of mixed martial arts. And who better to do that with than the returning Sean L. Shottie. It's great to have you back. Great to be working with you, Sean.

How are you, sir? I'm doing wonderful, my friend. Thank you for bringing me on. And you're right, we can't have an intelligent conversation with Mr. Michoud over here involved. So that's what we're going to try to do over here separately. And I'm excited to be here, man. I'm excited to be back with him, fighting back with the team. And we've got a lot of fun stuff cooking.

Well, I might as well just ask you right after back, because I'm sure people have asked you. We might as well answer those questions. How does it feel being back? Like, I know you're excited, but just like overall, it's been a little while. You took a different journey, but now you're back. Is it like, how does it feel just being back? Like, did you see this coming at all? I saw it coming a little bit because we've been working on putting it together for a while.

I had been sort of looking for opportunities for a while now, and this one had been at the top of my radar really since mid last year. So I saw it coming, but it is a little surreal, I will say, man. It's been wonderful so far. It's so fun, just reuniting with all the team members still here. What's up, Casey? Casey is producing this right now. And also meeting all the new team members like you, Mike, and everybody else who's been doing such incredible work while I've been gone.

It is super surreal, though. It really is. And it feels nice though. It feels really, really nice. It feels right. I still have my MMA fighting mug right back there. I still have the T-shirt. I busted out the T-shirt for a fight week for this past pay-per-view.

And it just, again, it feels right. It feels good. We got Ariel back. Everything's going. it's going to be fun. Pretty wild, man. There's Casey. He has to get involved with the sound effects and the fire and the DJ sound.

So by the way, I don't have an MMA fighting mug nor a T-shirt. So hopefully we can get that situated and change up over the next. Yeah, we need to work on that then. That is an issue that that is now the top of my to-do list is we need to get Mike heck, the gear, the swag. Come on, man. I know. I don't want to be wearing red socks paraphernalia.

every time I, every time I'm on here. So we could talk about all this stuff for hours and hours, but let us talk about what happened this past weekend. We'll start with the UFC, Korean zombie back in the wind column. He's now 3 and O training in the U.S. When he trains a fight ready with Eddie Chah and the crew in the U.S. He's now 3 and O defeats a very game, a very gritty Dan Ige. Impressive showing showed his wrestling game.

I don't think Dan Ike or the great team over at Extreme Coutor saw that coming. But TKZ look great, got it done. What did you think of his first? performance. Oh, was there a UFC event this weekend? I totally forgot with all the Anderson Silva in media going on. It felt like that was the biggest thing going this weekend. No, man, you're absolutely right. I think that was, I was very impressed by what we came away, I guess, seeing from Korean zombie and just also the aftermath, man, because to me, nothing typifies and embodies this guy more than what we found out afterwards, whereas just like he separated his shoulder

or seemed to really injure his shoulder pretty badly in that second round. And then pops back in and he kind of fights with one arm for the rest of the fight. And it's the same shoulder, obviously, that he hurt eight years ago against Jose Aldo. And he wasn't even going to tell anybody. Like it was on Eddie Cha to tell us all of this of just like, hey, by the way, he's not trying to say this. But this happened and it was a problem. And he couldn't really play defense at that point or punch with one hand. To me, that just embodies what Korean zombies about and why he's such a fan favorite man.

He is the toughest MFer in that featherweight division. And he is just, you have to kill him to end him, right? Like you can't chop off an arm. You can't chop off a leg. Like you need to really take that guy down to end him. He's going to just try to work through whatever, whatever's going on. But really, it's impressive. You mentioned the moves that he's been making with this new team and really how well he's

been doing with this new team, Eddie Chah and the fight ready team here in Arizona, actually. and it's impressive to me sort of the transition and the evolution that this guy has undergone because for a long time, Korean zombie, we thought of him as sort of this one-note brawler who maybe one note is not fair,

but he was sort of looked at as this brawler who's going to come in here, it's going to be really fun, it's going to be really wild, and somebody's going to get really, really hurt, but probably two people are going to get really hurt and it's just going to be a fight of the night. And now he really feels as if he has evolved

into one of the most technical, well-rounded, just featherweights in the entire world. And really, we've seen that expedited since he's gone over to this team with Eddie Cha and Captain Eric over there at Fight Ready. And it's impressive, man, for someone who has been in this game so long to be able to make these sort of adjustments and changes this late in their career and be finding such good success with it, I can't say enough good things about Korean zombie and what we saw this weekend, but also just really what we've seen over this run. I mean, you take away that Brian Ortega fight where Brian Ortega 2.0 looks like he might be the best featherweight in the world. We'll see. But you take away that Brian Ortega fight and it is just all coming up roses for Korean zombie. It was funny talking to Captain Eric a couple weeks ago for the, during the right after the Bellator Media Day. And he was saying like, dude, I'm telling you, fight rate is going to be the best wrestling gym in MMA in like a couple of years.

You just watch bringing these guys over. Now they have Marco Mattson over there too. So, I mean, you can't find better guys. to work on your wrestling with. But heading into this fight, one, I probably should have expected the wrestling to come after talking to Captain Eric, but I still really didn't see it coming. But I was really interested to see the approach that Korean zombies was going to take

because I know he took the Ortega loss pretty hard. He had to take a long look in the mirror, even briefly contemplated calling it a career and just saying, I'm done with all this. There's other things I could be doing. But that quickly turned back into, I still feel like I'm in title contention. I feel like I could still be the UFC featherweight champion at some point.

I found it interesting just seeing how composed he was. Because had the fight not gone the way it did, I don't know if we would have saw him again. Like when you start having those thoughts, usually like the aftermath of it all and like how you perform in your next fight sort of tells the story like, am I making the right decision?

So it sure seems like he's making the right decision. So I'm wondering, where does he go from here? Because this division is so loaded, but a lot of these top guys are either booked, Ortega and Volcanowski. We just saw the Holloway. Rodriguez fight is getting postponed at some point. We don't know what's going to happen. The plan is to try to rebook that thing.

So what does he do after a headline spot and having the performance like he had? Like, where does he go from here? Well, you're absolutely right when you mentioned the composure because that to me is maybe the quality that stood up the most over this run is just the fact that you can't really rattle Korean zombie at this point, man. To make that midfight adjustment of, hey, I don't have a right arm anymore.

I'm just going to go right to this wrestling in this round three. And I'm going to do it again in round four and it's all going to work out and no big deal. And again, I'm not going to say anything about it afterwards. It's up to Eddie to say something. That is so impressive to me. And that just speaks to really the level of experience. And Dominic Cruz used a really good phrase on Saturday in the commentating that I thought was apt where just the ring generalship that a Korean zombie has accumulated over the course of this run. He is one of the most experienced fighters in this division at this point.

And it's weird to think of him like that for some reason, for some reason. Again, he still feels at least in my mind like he was this guy that he was in WEC where he's pulling off twisters and just getting in these crazy fights. But that's not, that's such an outdated view of him. And he really is just one of the most experienced composed guys in there at 45 at this point. You asked where to go next with them. And you mentioned Max Holloway and what's going on with this Riaira Rodriguez fight. And it seems like Giga Chikaze is sort of in the mix right now for this Yaya Yer Rodriguez fight.

If I'm a UFC matchmaker, that is exactly. where I'm going with this. That, that, to me, lays out perfectly. You get Giga in there against Yaiyre. I don't know that Yair, yeah, year's a weird case, right? Because he hasn't fought a lot. He really hasn't fought much at all. And so you could say he deserves a Max Holloway fight,

and I wouldn't argue with you. But I also would say that he's not entitled to it. And so to take a step down and fight someone coming up the ranks who is being active like Giga, that feels like it fits to me. And also, that's just a really crazy matchup. Like the mind delights at the idea of those two guys fighting. And then to me, you take Korean zombie and you throw him against Max Holloway. And that is just mouth-watering matchup to me.

Like I'm getting chills and goosebumps at the idea of what those two demons could do against each other. That feels like the move to me if you're able to get the Giga fight going. I'm like torn on the idea because I feel like Giga could be a very big player in this division at some point. Like he's still, I mean, he's got tons of combat sport experience. but MMA experience, he's got some and he's getting more and more as he continues to fight. But I don't want to like, especially in a division like this, throwing him to a guy like Yair,

it kind of scares me a little bit because if you go in there and Yaiir does what Yaiir does and lights him up and kind of knocks his confidence back for a loop, then you're just like, oh, man, like we could have slowly built this guy. The purest in me is like, no, don't do that. But the fight fan of me is like, ooh, can you imagine Gigi Chikaze and Yayae Rodriguez throwing them fangs, that's just pure entertainment.

That's what I'm saying. The ideal of that fight is great. And also, it's funny the way that you just talked about Yaiyir, because I feel like a lot of us do this when we just talk about Yaiyir in this division. I don't know. He almost has like a spot in this division that he hasn't really earned yet, despite how long he's been here, just because of how inactive he's been.

Again, he hasn't fought since 2019. And his best win is really just this, weird, fluky last second elbow over Korean zombie. And then after that, what's his best win? It's, you know, Jeremy Stevens. And like a lot of people have beaten Jeremy Stevens now at this point, right? Like that, Yair exists in this very weird nebulous spot in this division when it comes to how we consider him in the rankings. And it's one that I don't know that he's exactly earned. So the idea that like, oh, he might do terrible things to Giga Chikaze. Yeah, like he might, but he also might not. And Giga might just be better than him. And we don't know at this point

because yeah, you're sort of been artificially inflated. So I don't know. I want to find out, really. That's why I love that matchup so much. And also, like, you get those guys each kicking each other, like doing all sorts of crazy kicks in that fight? Like, come on, inject that into me. That's great.

You know it'll be like a pro wrestling match where one guy's chop and the other guy and then the other guys are trying to chop them harder. They're just going to keep, like, exchanging single kicks to each other's bodies, and it'll just be gnarly. Calvin Cater was kind of like the matchup I was looking at for zombie just because that's kind of the only guy that's left.

And Zombie took the EGay fight because this is the only guy that was left. He goes, everybody else is booked. I had to take this fight. There's no other way around it. So it would be interesting to see where he goes because obviously, Cater did, you know, that fight with Max Holloway was not great. He suffered a lot of damage. Not great is an understatement.

Not great is a huge. His stock still rose. His stock still rose in that loss, which is like unbelievable because of how tough he is. But his team has done a really good job at like, slow rolling him because Calvin's an animal. And if it was up to him, he would have fought in February. But they're slow rolling him a little bit, making sure his head's right.

And Tyson Charity was telling me that Calvin Cater's mind, is it a better, like, like, they try to test for concussion syndrome and stuff after these fights and see where their heads at. They said that his numbers are better after the Holloway fight than like any of his previous UFC fights, which is just mind-boggling to be. I don't even know what to make of that. I don't even, like, I don't even say that to me, and I don't even understand what that means. His numbers, what is that? Like, he took a lot of numbers. He took the most numbers that

anybody has ever taken in any single fight ever. Like, that's, I don't actually know what that means. That's crazy. Like the concussion-esque type of damage, like the long-term effects, were lower and, like, coming out of that fight than any of the other fights he's had in the UFC. So I would not recommend to any other fighter listening to go take 400 max Holloway punches. That probably is not replicable. Like, that's not happening again. Yeah, don't do that ever again. Dan Ige. Yeah. Called a shot.

Got to get gusto. Not many people get on the microphone and say, hey, that Korean zombie guy, I want to fight him. He did it. Went in there. One, maybe around, maybe two. Some people had a 40, 47. The scores were kind of all over the place, but the right man won in the end. What did you see from Dan?

And, you know, where does he go from here? Because, again, you get a lot of young, hungry, up-and-coming lions in this division that are going to be hunting for Dan Ike after this fight more than likely. Yeah, it's a tough one for Dan. I mean, he's such a good guy and he has such a good story. But it's tough to sort of judge where he belongs in this division, right? Because I feel like he does, he has gotten the maybe a few generous decisions, let's say that, on the judge's scorecards. And so his overall record could look much, much worse conceivably.

If you play this out, you know, 10 different times, I think he's probably existing in probably one of the better timelines for him in this featherweight division. But he is still so obviously skilled and he is just as tough. as a human being can get in there. His two fights that he's sort of taken up the ranks, obviously Qatar and now Korean zombie, he's lost both of those, and I honestly thought he lost the Edson-Barboza fight as well. But again,

he's kind of in a tough spot now where he's probably going to be fighting down the ranks, and he's going to get a couple fights in a row of these up-and-comers who are really hungry trying to steal his number and steal his spot. And that feels right for right now, but he's still so young man. I mean, he's still like in his 20s, right?

He's still like 29, I think. He has a lot of time left to be able to make work in this division. But it does feel like he's kind of going to get pushed back into this corner of having to fend off the up-and-comers for at least a few fights. Yeah, even if they threw Igay in there with Giga, I'm down for that. Shane Burgos would be fun, guys like Suduguess and Hakim Dawadu, all interesting matchups. So the list will be, is a pretty long one for Dan Eagate moving forward. But let's talk about the Spider-Man, the amazing Spider-Man. as you absolutely put him in your returning big weekend feature that I was so honored and proud to read without having to pay for it.

So it was great to be able to see that. Anderson Silva, man, I'm telling you, there's, and I'm sure you agree with there's, there's certain fighters that whatever attitude they bring to the table, it is unbelievably contagious. Like, if Anderson's having a bad night and you can see it in his face, like, it just seems like the fight's going to be pretty rough. And like everyone sort of has a bad night. but when Anderson's smiling and he's flowing out there, you just have such a great time watching him. And that's what he did in this return to the boxing ring against Hulier Cesar Chavez on Saturday.

How fun was that, man? Like with all this sort of negative talk about the crossover fights and the Paul brothers to see Silva go in there and have a performance like that, like how fun was that? I'm smiling right now, just even thinking about it, man. I had so much fun watching that fight. And I was not alone.

It felt like the MMQ community was celebrating, like openly celebrating, and even just halfway through that fight. It is, Anderson Silva is just one of those very unique figures when it comes to the fight game, right? Because I know for people my age, I'm in my 30s, Anderson Silva was one of my earliest favorite fighters. Like when I was a fan, I came up really in the heyday of Anderson Silva.

He was in an absolute apex, and he was a magician. He was doing, he was Dr. Strange. He was doing things in there that didn't feel possible. He was acting as a. he was in a Hollywood movie in the middle of these fights and just destroying people in ways that I had never actually conceived of being real, of a human being being able to do. And he will always be that guy in my head. He is the greatest middleweight of all time by far.

And he's just one of the greatest fighters of all time by far. And we really have lost that sense over the last like five years, right? Like I think there are a lot of new fans in the sport who don't actually understand or have any real sense of like who Anderson Silva is. why he matters, why any of this mattered, and just what he meant in his prime when he was the guy, when he was the king of the world, really, when it came to MMA,

I think there's a lot of fans who just don't actually have that sense and to see the way that the last five years have gone for him in the UFC, and then to see what he did on Saturday. It really just makes me wistful and wishing we could redo these last five years because it's just like, what were we doing spinning our wheels, throwing Anderson Sova out there against, Jared Canaaner and Derek Brunson and

Uriah Hall like there's so much more there's so much better things that we could have been doing with these last years of Anderson and there's so many different opportunities that we could have I would have loved to see Anderson Box when he was UFC Middle Day champion like he is obviously extraordinarily good at this when he was in the middle of this

this fight in his opponent's dad's on his opponent's dad's event in Mexico in their backyard and he's doing what he's doing it was you could see the joy on Goyito Perez's face on the commentary booth, just as to see an MMA person represent us when we've been taking L's, like hard L's. Week after week,

it seems like every month there's just like another MMA fighter getting embarrassed somewhere to see this guy at age 46 come in here. And what was it, like mid third round, fourth round, where he's doing the Stefan Bonner, where he's getting in the corner and he's pointing down to the ground, he's getting real animated, and you can just see how much fun Anderson Silva, it was having and that to me was the coolest part of all of this was just seeing that joy

return to the face of Anderson Silva to see him remember like I am Anderson F and Silva like that's who I am and you could see it in the middle of the fight of just him being that guy again and existing as that guy again thriving as it and just being in the middle of a gunfight and knowing that he is complete ownership of what's going on right there it was so obscenely cool like it was just such a great feel-good moment for someone who really hasn't had any feel good moments at all over the last five years. Like the Derek Brunson fight, I guess, was kind of a feel good moment. But even that, like, I don't know, man.

I had such a good time watching that. And that really, it makes you, it makes your heart swell for Anderson. Because, again, it's, I don't know that this is going to be the end, right? Like, he definitely is going to probably continue to box after this. But it's going to at least open up some more doors for him. I'm sure he's going to make several millions doing a fight against, you know, some other celebrity or whatever. like however this boxing road is going to go for him, he's going to end up making pretty good money. And maybe he can finally find the storybook end that he very much did not find in the UFC

when we keep throwing him against these rando guys that just do nothing for him. And we're just trying to build other people up off Anderson Silva's name. Like some people, some people are above that when it comes to the historical ramifications of fights like that. And when you just look at through the history of the sport, like some people are above doing the building their name off of thing. And to me, Anderson Silva should be above that. And we've been doing that for five years. So for him to be able to get an actual legacy fight like this and an actual fight where we can feel good about it

and everyone can celebrate him for who he is, it just felt so good, man. It felt so good. As someone who has been the biggest Anderson Silva mark, pretty much my entire adult life. Like, it felt incredible to watch. And it was nice to see him fight somebody who doesn't get lost in the allure of Anderson.

Like even Israel out of Sanya goes in there in a main event spot and it fights Anderson Silva and as good as Izzy was and you know, we felt pretty bad heading into that fight. We're like, oh, man, like, we don't want to see this. But then even Izzy got kind of lost into the all in the allure of Anderson Silva and the legacy and the legend that he presented us for so long.

But to see him in a boxing ring against a guy who clearly knew who Anderson was, but didn't feel that same way, it was great because it didn't take anything away from either performance. Like, we probably got the best Julio Szil O'Savr's Jr. We were going to get in that fight.

And he can't say like, you know what? Like, it's just, I fought a legend. It was too much. It was too much to overcome. Anderson just did the damn thing and it was awesome. And he embarrassed him. Again, he embarrassed him on his dad's show, like this whole show celebrating his dad in their own hometown,

in their own home country with home cook judges. Like, that was obviously not a split decision. Like, they tried as hard as possible to take that away from Anderson. And he made it so absolute that it was just impossible to do it. It was the coolest thing that I've seen in some time, man. And it really, again, just to see Anderson feeling good about it and Anderson happy and enjoying himself. Like, that is so much better than what we've gotten with all these crap fights. Like, I didn't need to see Uriah Hall knock out Anderson Silva or any of this, right?

Like, I didn't need to see, you know, whoever Jared Canaaner beat Anderson Silva. Like, all of these have been so pointless. And we could have been having so much more fun with this true legend of the game. and in the waning years of his career. Because, again, he's 46 years old. The fact that he is 46 years old, and he's out here fighting a 35-year-old who has 60 fights of pro-boxing experience.

And I understand that Hulu Cesar Chavez-Jr is not, let's say, well-regarded by the boxing populace. Like, he definitely seems like a black sheep when it comes to how boxing fans consider him. But, man, still, like, 11 years is senior. And, again, 60 boxing fights of experience versus two. that's crazy man that's crazy it's wild stuff and i'm so happy for that guy well-deserved moment for him hopefully he continues on and get some big fights and some big paydays and that smile remains on

not just his face but all of our faces watching him going forward uh i'd love to see the roy jones junior fight finally get made i understand why it might not get made because i don't know if like a commission would clear roy because he's because of his age i don't know it depends if you find like just the right sweet spot to make that fight we could do it i don't think anderson's in the fight kind of reality right now. Maybe he is if the pay is right, but I feel like we got to see this fight at some point and we got to do it relatively quickly, do we not? The Jones fight, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, if we're able to get this together, why not, right? Like, this is how, I remember Anderson Silva wanted this fight, like, after he fought Rich Franklin. Like, he has been calling for this fight, basically his entire career. Like, this was the dream for him for the entirety of me knowing who Anderson Silva was. is I want to fight my clone and I want to fight Roy Jones Jr. Those were the two like dream fights for him from the beginning. So like why not, man?

Let's do it. Like if we're doing all this stupid BS out here where Frank Meir is boxing, you know, Steve Cunningham or something and it's just like Jake Paul is going to just take on every crappy MMA fighter or retired MMA fighter, like why can't we just have Anderson out here living his dream? Like who's stopping that? That should absolutely be the fight. I completely agree.

And last thing, I think we're going a little over the 15 minutes that I allotted, but I had a feeling this might happen. We got another UFC events coming up on Saturday, UFC Vegas 30, that we get a little bit of a reprieve before we headlight to Las Vegas, UFC 24, headlined by Dustin Porier versus Connor McGregor, the trilogy fight. But big matchup in the heavyweight division, one that's flown under the radar. We got Cyril Gan, the undefeated up-and-comer looking to get to that title shot very quickly in his career, but he's taken on just an absolute menace in Alexander.

Volf the guy is a savage. He's big. He's long and he's on a streak and his confidence in sky high right now. What do you think of the matchmaking? And what's sort of at stake for both of these guys? I like the matchmaking. What's at stake is hard because the heavyweight division is hard, right? Like, we don't, the heavyweight division is some sort of, it's been impending for a long

time at this point. And it still remains impending because we don't know the status of is John Jones going to end up, you know, being a player at this at all? Like, is they going to eventually? figured that out with his new representation. And then also, you know, with the Curtis Blades. I'm sorry, not Curtis Blades, but Derek Lewis, Francis and Ghanu fight. Like, when is that actually going to happen?

Are they going to be able to convince Francis to accept that fight, even though a much bigger one is out there? The whole heavyweight division makes fights like this feel a little bit less important in a way that I think is not really fair to the guys involved because you're right. Siraghan might be the best prospect in this division right now. I think he probably is. And I don't even know that he's really a prospect anymore. Like you beat JDS and Yarsino Rosenstruck back to back. Like, I don't know that I can consider you a prospect at that point. You're like a legitimate player.

I'm a huge zero gone guy. Like I am really, really impressed with what he has brought to the table to be able to do this so early into his career and sort of the physical stature that he has. Like he's not a small guy. He feels like a small guy because he's so athletic, but he's six five, like two 50 in there. Like he's a giant human. And he is really more of an all around talent than I think even most of us expected because he's pulling. off submissions, he's pulling off big knockouts against JDS. The Rosenstruck fight was, you know, it wasn't great, but those things, not all of them

can be gems. So for me, I'm actually really intrigued by this fight, but it does feel like the stakes sort of make it less significant than it should be, if that makes any sense. Yeah, I'm with you on that one. This is the big litmus test, too. Like, I felt like I favored gone against Rosenstrike, and I felt like for him to win, it was going to be sort of a boring fight because you don't want to get. to a firefight with a guy like Jarzino.

You want to pick your spots and be lucid. And that's exactly what he did. And this one, I mean, if he can go in there and beat Alexander Volkov, then good Lord, strap the rockets to him and just let him do his thing. So I'm really interested in that fight. Of course, we get another heavyweight fight in the co-main event, OSP versus Tanner Bozer. Didn't see that coming. That wasn't on my bingo card.

So that'll be an interesting co-made event leading into the main event. But Sean, appreciate the time. We could do this for another 30 minutes easy with everything going on in the combat. sports world, but who knows, maybe we got something that we can work with here in the future, perhaps the two bald men, the two handsome bald men from MMA fighting talking fights. Hmm. Perhaps. I like that theme. I like that theme. We got ideas cooking. We got ideas cooking, y'all. Good stuff coming. There he is shot al-Shoddy. So much going on in the world of MMA and we merely scratched the surface of it all. The one thing that is happening is another

UFC fight night event. UFC Vegas 30 coming up this Saturday. And an early start time, too. 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. I am so excited for that. I love when that happens. Once in a while, give us an early afternoon card. A little late morning for those of you on the West Coast, I am all in on those.

Sprinkle in one of those once a month, and I'm a happy camper. And in that event on Saturday, the co-main events of the afternoon, we will have a heavyweight matchup between Tanner Bozer and this man joining us right now, Ovin St. Prue. All right, it is officially,

fight week for this man the 41st time. This has happened to him as a professional mixed martial arts competitor, but things have been shuffled up a bit. New opponent, new weight class for this Saturday's UFC Vegas 30 event, back up to the heavyweight division to fight Tanner Bozer this Saturday. This one left people scratching their heads a bit. So let's get some answers from the man himself. OSP. Oven-Saint-P Oven St. Pru. How are you, my man? And I'm doing pretty good. I can't complain. It's good to have you here once again. So right off the bat, Maxim Grishin is the original opponent. He's out of the fight. How do we get from that to back up to heavyweight to fight Tanner Bozer? Because this seemed to happen very, very quickly. Well, I had to think about it. It took me about a day

to come up with the decision and whatnot. Because initially, I think Maxim had a beef issue and it couldn't happen. And I was like, you know what, I'm not going to fight. I just, not worried about it. Then my manager, Orrin, came up to me, and it said something about, I'll find that heavyweight. And I was like, nope, I'm definitely not fighting that heavyweight because the last heavyweight that I fought was just, I was like, that was just too much. But then again, I sat down.

He shot me, he was like, hey, this is the guy they were talking about. And, you know, I sat down and I looked at it. And I was like, well, okay, he's not one of the bigger heavy weights. And, you know, at the same time, and I told myself, like, you know, I, I would entertain the heavyweight division again if the opportunity to present itself. And to be honest, I have to sleep with on it for a night and talking to a few people. And I just woke up the next morning, getting all that detail together. And I was like, let's do it.

Yeah, you make a great point about Tanner not being one of the bigger heavyweights because there are times, especially over the last year, where people were asking him if he would be able to drop down to 205. And he had to keep kind of shrugging those questions off. So, you know, in a weird way, it's just kind of like a bigger 205 fight in a lot of people's eyes. Oh, pretty much, yeah. I mean, like, I was, I was, man, it is crazy too because this weight cut was going to be almost perfect. And, uh, and when it happened, I was like, come on, man. So I kind of shrug my shoulders about it.

You know, it's, it is what it is. It's part of my job, you know, and, you know, time after time again, it's not the first time this happened to me. Sometimes it worked out for the best. Sometimes it didn't. So the opponent changed, to be quite honest, happened. I was talking to my trainer about it. It happened quite frequent, to say the least. So when did you actually know about this?

Like when did Oren present you with the option of going to heavyweight and then finding out that Tanner was the guy? I found out pretty much about everything on Tuesday because I remember, I remember Tuesday before I went to the gym. I did not look at my phone at all. And I was driving to the gym. and as I got to the gym, I looked at my phone, and he gave me, I guess he shot me a screenshot of Tanner,

and I was like, oh, man, you got to be kidding me. So I walked in the gym, and I was talking to my trainer, and I was like, okay, what's going on? And he was like, oh, your guy has been the issue, so this is going on right now. And so he's like, what do you think about this fight? And I was like, I just need to sleep on it. And, you know, I told him I needed to sleep on it

because I wanted to make a couple of phone calls just to kind of clear my head out. And I know you were a little over in your last fight missing by a pound and a half against Jamal Hill, but it sounds like those troubles weren't affecting you here at all. It sounded like it seems like the weight was coming off perfect to get to that 206 mark. So yeah, I mean, that's crazy. You're having a great weight cut and then this opportunity comes along. Man, this is just MMA in 2021, is it not?

Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, it's something that you've got to expect to happen. Like, I know throughout my career, I kind of always expected it, like, even, You know, two weeks out before the fight, I start really getting anxious or whatnot. And then I always put it behind my head if something happens. I always put myself in like the best case scenario up here, worst case scenario down here. And, you know, like I said, it happens to me before. It happens two weeks out before the fight.

Be like, hey, look, this was going to happen a week out before the fight. Hey, look, this was going to happen. Shoot, when I was supposed to fight Shogun and Japan, I was on a flight going to Japan, and I didn't have an opponent until I got there. So, you know, so yeah. After the Jamal Hill situation and missing weight and how that all went down, I know you've been talking about like if a heavyweight opportunity came down that made sense. It was kind of like a case by case basis with you?

But was there any thought of just being like, screw this weight cutting thing? And let's just go to heavyweight, man. Like, why I put myself through this anymore? Man, it's not about me putting myself through it. It's just like, you know, even before that fight, the, the, the, the, the long-for-benefile fight, like, that weight cut was almost, I made, it was crazy. I made 205 twice in two weeks. I did not have a problem at all making way. I made 205 twice in two weeks.

And the weight cut came off like, like that. It just so happened the following time, I thought of Jamar Hill. In hindsight, I probably should have actually in hindsight, I probably should pull from that fight just in general because I was dealing with a lot of other stuff. But it is what it is. You live and you learn. So this fight around, I thought about it, I was like, you know what, I'm going to pull from this fight.

But then after that, he's just like, I'm feeling good. You know, he's not going to be, you know, pretty much for this fight. I'll be walking around under 230. I'll be fighting under 230. But even for Tanner or whatnot, his last fight, he was. like 242 and I was like okay at least he's not 280 so I can I'm good with that how close were you to to just saying

for the Jamal Hill fight like nah maybe I shouldn't do this man you know what like it was it was very very very close it was at one point of time I just was like I was just like I was gonna say no but I end up psyched myself out just because I thought I was good, but I really wasn't. But I tell people, like, if I start, I told myself, if I ever put myself in a situation where I start hesitated again

and I really don't know what to do, I'm out of what this go. I mean, I'm going into the fight with conflict anyways, and I don't need that in my head. So after that fight, I kind of sat down with myself and I kind of like, okay, this is going to happen next time if this happens or if we're in a situation like this, similarly of this, he's just going to, you know, save me a headache and everybody else a headache too. You can tell me to kick rocks and mind my own business all you want, but are you able to talk

about some of the things that you were dealing with? Like what were some of the things that you were having to deal with? Because I know, listen, people just think like you guys are fighters and fighters just go in there and fight, but you're people. Like you deal with things that everybody else deals with. Are you able to talk about something else that stuff? I mean, yeah, it's just just a week before the fight, I had to take a quick trip to the emergency room. I'm back locked up on me.

And I just, it was, it was bad. I thought I was good. Wake up was going good. Even when I was cutting away, the weight coach was going good. And after the coach was getting

more and more, I got down to about 206 and I was like, you know, I got, no, I got down to about 2007 and a half. And I told my coach I was done, I'm just kind of,

I ain't going to waste some energy. So in hindsight, I probably should have just been like, just be done in general. Man, and so you're dealing with the back and you're just like, let's just fight through this and let's just try to make it. That's the decisions, like those crossroads that fighters have to take from time to time.

Yeah, like I said, it's one of them things where like I was thinking about it from more of a, like a football perspective, because I've never really dealt with anything like this before. Like, you know, I'm hurting, but then after I got the treatment that I needed, and my body started feeling good. And then in hindsight, I was thinking about it.

I was like, why did I just went back and just jump right back into doing something else instead of actually, you know, probably taking, you know, another week to two weeks to get more treatment and actually feeling better. But, you know, I was like, okay, you know, the Friday night, emerging room, then next year, you know, I'm flying. I didn't do anything pretty much Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. I didn't do anything until I got to Vegas. So basically like four or five days. I didn't do anything. Now I'm feeling good. I think I can do it.

I think I can do it. And they see, you know, just like, but, you know, things happen. It is what it is you learn. So I just told myself like, okay, I have to hesitate. I'm not going to do it. I'm just going to be like, okay, cool, I'm good. We're just going to figure out another day to handle this. Did you watch Jamal's fight with Paul Craig, the whole arm situation?

I didn't get to see that part. I saw the last bit of it. I don't even know how I don't even know. I know he, I know Paul Craig obviously is really good in a triangle or whatnot. And I don't, I just don't understand how a lot of people, well, I don't know. But I didn't get to see that part, but it looked pretty nasty. Yeah. It's, it was.

Yeah. Yeah. That moment's surreal. Like, it's just weird to watch. And then the referee is just like letting it happen, like with his arm dangling around. Like, didn't stop it. Both fighters are telling him, like, like, dude, what are you doing?

Stop it. Like, his arm's done. And the ref just let it go for like another 20 seconds. It's crazy. Wow. Like, was it worth paying attention that close to make sure he didn't pass out or just didn't see the arm? I mean, it'd be one thing if he's like seeking it and like, Jamal's sitting there just being like, shh, like don't say anything. I'm okay.

Like, I'll fight through it. But they're both like, Paul's telling him like, dude, his arm's done. And then Jamal's like, dude, my arm's done. And the ref's just like, keep fighting. Keep going. It's so weird to watch, man. I mean, there's a lot of crazy stuff that would be happening and stuff. It's just at times you'd be like, you know, like, what are the rest of the things?

So, I mean, I don't know, man. It's just, I know if I'm in a situation, it's hard. And it's hard, too, like, you know, Paul Craig could have easily got off. But, you know, as a fighter, you always taught, don't ever stop until the rep pulls you off. So, and then it's very. the rep don't pull you off, don't stop. Because there's been situations where, you know, fighters have been like, okay, cool, he's done. Or they feel somebody tap.

And then the guy could come back and be like, oh, I didn't tap. So, you know, and that's the crazy part. He's just like, you want to be a, I guess, a respectable fighter or whatnot. But at the same time, you just, you know, you got a job to do. So I don't know. The rest is just got to be more. It might be a situation where you might have another. reference the outfit I look in it. So, you know.

That's not a bad idea. Just kind of have like a special enforcer, a second set of eyes. Yeah. I like it. It's a weird, it's an interesting situation for you, but it's a really interesting situation for Tanner coming into this fight because he was hoping to get back in there quick after the fight with Alia Latifie just a couple weeks ago. And since that fight, and I saw some interviews that he did, he's been in quarantine this entire time. Like, he hasn't been able to get to the gym and really trained for this fight. So, as a guy who's been in this game for a while and seeing all these different things, like, what do you make of his situation?

And is there, like, an advantage or a disadvantage to just going in there and not overthinking anything and just getting in there and fighting? That's been, to be honest, I'm, like, thinking to you, like, he's been in what? I don't know what to think about that situation, just for the simple fact where, like, I really don't know. Like, I'm never really been in that situation. If I, to be honest, if it was me, I would have been, I'd probably would have been like, nah, I'm good.

He just wanted to fight again. Like, and he got this, and I think he got a new contract and all that stuff. Okay. Okay, cool, cool. I mean, I don't know. I guess it can be, it can be a good thing. It can be a bad thing.

It's just like, you know, I guess sometimes you got to run before you walk. In this case, he might be running before he's walking. Do you like the matchup from like a stylistic perspective? Like, I know there hasn't been like a ton of time to prepare for Tanner specifically. so, you know, engulfs in this game that you don't really focus on your opponents that much. You're focusing on yourself and what you're going to bring. But this isn't a brand new thing for you, obviously.

Do you like this one? Do you like it maybe better than the other fight from a stylist perspective? Stylistic, yeah. The reason being because, you know, Tanner is a bigger heavy weight. He does a lot of, he does have a lot of output, which is really good for, which is good for a heavy weight. But along with that output comes, you know, cardio comes down tremendously or whatnot. and, you know, just kind of watching him against, you know, Allure, like, I know I got to watch out for certain things.

He likes to kick. He got a heavy right hand. You know, a long as I like, I can watch out for those. And, you know, I kind of been preparing myself for that fight, for those type of fights anyways. So for the grappling exchange, I never really got to see him grapple or whatnot. And I never really seen him on top of anybody. And I've seen him a couple times. I've seen him when he was on top of earlier. but a lyric ended up getting up and kind of circling off or whatnot. But pretty much anything I've seen, he's been kind of playing off his back. I know one thing, though, he hasn't been finished.

So I know that's, I'm not going to go in there, try to be like, okay, I'm going to rip your head off. But, I mean, if I can land a solid shot, I think I'm going to try to finish him. Because he hasn't been finished, but to say the least, when I did go up the heavyweight, I did drop Ben twice. and I know I have the power to hang in with those guys

but I'm not going to be in a box in a phone booth trying to trade blows with those guys either. You blew a lot of people's minds when you stepped on the scale for the Ben Rothwell fight. You weighed into 240 pounds and everyone's like, oh my God, you weighed 240. So what do you think we're going to see on Friday? Like, will we see you close to that range

or below since you were cutting weight? You're getting ready to cut to 206 anyways. Where are we going to be, I think? man I'll be definitely under 230 I'll definitely be on the 230 like I said when I got the phone call I remember on a Tuesday night last Tuesday I was 223 last two that was 223 so I might be knowing myself I might be anywhere between 225 and 230 okay so 240 OSP is not it's not showing up oh hell not 240 OSP is hurting like I was too it's crazy because like like you know like I can move at that way but I don't feel good moving at that way

so even when I thought like because when I weighed in I weighed in pretty much everything on I was around probably about 238 8-8ish but I was still feeling like I felt strong I felt fast but it's different where like you know the lighter you feel the longer you can move around the heavier you feel after a while you just start it gets it gets harder to move around. So when you have a, when you fight at 205, what do you think you weigh in at like on fight day?

Like after you cut the weight and you hit the scale and you rehydrate and all that stuff. Like what do you typically weigh in on fight day itself? On fight day. I'm usually, well, it depends. If I,

if I come in on Tuesday, on Tuesday for fight day, the UFC check your way. If I come in on Tuesday and I'm too, let's see I'm too I come in like 220 on 5th day I'm 220, 221

and I'm and I can move I mean like I could if I if I come in Tuesday when I come in Tuesday when I come like your fight day for a fight week if I come in on 5 week at 220 or 21

it's going to be trouble it's going to be really true I'm not I don't have to cut no I'm not the weight just comes up easy I don't have to worry about it at all I don't struggle with a white cutter at all. The times that I have come in, anytime I come in 221 and under,

it's pretty much been a bonus stop the night for me. So is there a part of you that might maybe cut a little bit just so you can have that feeling of like the rehydration and kind of getting into that zone to try to be like 221, 221, 222. Or are you fine just like 220? Yeah, or are you fine just being like 228, 229? No, so this is, this is 228 right here is really good for me.

Okay. It's almost like it is essentially fight camp weight for me anyways. So 228, 227 is like fight camp weight because, you know, when I actually start doing my water load, my water cut and stuff, that's my weight just boom, flushes out very quickly. So like this week today,

I probably should have been waking up right at 220, to be honest with 220. but like you know 227-28 fight night like it's going to be perfect for me so how do we get this done Saturday I know you want to be you're not going to be looking their tear his head off like you said but you know co-main event spot how do we set the table for at least for this fight opens your fellow heavyweights surreal gone and Alexander Volkov um still the show from then that's all I can say so uh as long as I can still the show from the heavyweights

I'm good. So I don't know how I'm going to get it done, man. I know one thing, though, I'm going to be light on my feet. I'm going to be feeling good or whatnot. So, you know, like I said, Tanner is an athletic heavy way. He moves pretty good. But, you know, myself, I don't think he's going to find, I don't think he's going to, at least in the heavyweight division, I don't think he's going to find guys that actually

move around like I have. And when I do hit him, he's going to be surprised with my. power too. So if this fight goes according to plan, if you go out there and you dominate Tanner Bozer, would you be ready to say, listen, 228's the sweet spot? What am I doing? Like, even in the Rafa fight, you even said it, like you had some success. You waited. He didn't feel as great because you were up to like 238, 240 or whatever. You lose a split decision, but you stung him a couple times. You dropped him in that fight. Like, could that happen? Like, if you feel good and you beat him decisively, like, are we even going to talk about going back to two?

or can we float around as long as the matchups are correct? I mean, it just seems... We can float around. We can float around as long as the matchups are correct. And I mean, even being 228, though, even being in that reason, in 228, you get heavy weights that cut the 265 and the next day, they're like, like the next day, Ben was then at 280 and I'm 228. That's a lot of...

That's, I'm going to get tired trying to move them. That's true. So, and I've trained with headway that up Francis Nagania before. Oh, hell. It is, it is, it is, I mean, like, literally like, seeing him in person, I'm like, man, that's a big ass dude. I play football in my life. I've seen big people. But seeing him in person, I'm like, man, that's a big dude.

Then I actually got in a train with him too. And like, when he's like, okay, kind of like. like, okay, a little brother, come here, just boom. Now I was like, okay, I don't, why do he just make me feel like a little bit, like literally threw me? And I'm like, okay, cool. I was like, I know, I know, pretty much I know how to stay in my lane. I mean, those guys are big for a reason.

And in the heavyweight, like, people say they don't move as fast, but they do hit hard. And me, I'm a numbers person. And if you're heavyweight, if you throw 20 punches and a heavyweight in a UFC, at least five of them are going to land. And they don't take nothing but one of them to pitch you out. That's some good math right there. Yep.

Especially with Francis. Good Lord. That is a mountain of a man. And that's just the punches. That's not the kick. Just imagine me trying to block a leg like that. Oh, my God. I have been a proponent.

Like, I know people talk about weight classes. I know 165 has been like a huge topic over the last couple of years, and Dana hasn't really entertained that. But I've always been a proponent of the cruiser way class, 225. I feel like 205 to 265 is crazy. And you can mix and match however you want. You can have a guy weighing in a 210 pounds fighting Francis Ingano, and it just makes no sense.

But if you sprinkle in the cruiser way to 225, like we got a happy medium for guys who cut a lot to get to 205, but are not big enough to fight the Anganos and the Rothwells of the world to have it like make any susceptible sense. Like, are you a proponent of that as well? Like, if the UFC introduced a 225-pound weight class, is that your, like, would that be your home? Yeah, guys like that, it's kind of, kind of remind me because, you know,

in college I was in a position where I was between linebacker and defense event. I was, you know, kind of too big for a linebacker, but too small for a D.N. So they always called us a tweener because you kind of in between. So considering the fact of my MMA career, when you explain it like that, pretty much that's the role I'm playing right now. It's kind of like a tweener where, you know,

I can make 205, but I'm one of the bigger tool of five-pounders. But at the same time, heavyweight, I'm not one of the bigger heavyweight. I'm not one of the bigger heavyweight fighters. So, so yeah,

I would definitely entertain that. Especially, shoot, to be honest, 215 would be perfect, actually. I like that one. 215 would be perfect.

So you're like the JPP of MMA. You're like, just right on that sweet spot, man. You get that quickness. Pretty much. Yeah. Last thing for me, did you watch Anderson Silva's return to the boxing ring on Saturday?

It was nice to see, like, legit happiness on his face, man. I mean, I didn't get to see it. I told myself, like, I mean, I'm going to have a lot of downtown since I'm going to be in Vegas for the next couple days, but I'm definitely going to watch it or whatnot. I mean, you got to understand, man, like when people don't realize when you've been in the sports for so long, especially combative of sports for so long,

you've been in the top for so long. And, you know, the last several years of your career have been a lot of up and down or whatnot. And you try something new and come out on top, yeah, that's definitely going to brighten up your day. OSP, always enjoy chatting with him. Super interesting fight on Saturday. Back up in the heavyweight division against Tanner Bozer.

And I agree. He's in a tweener place. Not big enough for heavyweight, but maybe like a little too big for light heavyweight. I don't know. It's an interesting spot to be. but we move ahead. Let us welcome in an individual who will be making her

mixed martial arts debut on July 2nd at Titan FC70, multiple-time Jiu-Jitsu World Champion. Let us say hello to Tolita Alancar. All right, let us say hello to the multi-time IBJF world champion. Tolita Alancar, who has put together an incredible resume in the Jiu-Jitsu world, and now she's about to embark on a new chapter in her combat.

that sports career into the world of mixed martial arts. Her MMA debut will take place July 2nd at Titan FC 70, which will air on UFC Fight Pass, and she will compete in the Straw White Division against Stacey Vega. Toledo, welcome to the show. Welcome to MMA. How are you?

Thank you. I am you. I am great. So I guess my first question right off the bat, why now? Why make the move to MMA now? If you watched my Jee to Fighters, fights like nights.

You could see that I have a very aggressive style, that transition perfect to MMA. People start to see me more to do MMA, knowing that such a big school is perfect because I just meet these. Okay, so two years ago you met Charles. Where did you meet Charles? Did you guys just kind of run into each other, or have you known Charles for a little while?

I've spoken to folks. spoken to folks such as like Gordon Ryan, for example, about making the move to MMA. And he said, you know, essentially when he's ready to do this, it's not something you just say, okay, I'm an MMA fighter now. Like, just like kind of you, like he knows you have to take quite a bit of time to learn the striking, to use grappling effectively. How beneficial has these two years been for you sort of honing your craft in preparations for this fight?

Like I said, I was living in California. I came to Florida the Chuban Academy Gambler Jiu-Jitsu and I didn't know West Bowl he was just forfeiting his purpose

just to see how Yeah, I was curious like what the feeling is like a little less than two weeks two weeks away from this fight like I'm sure there's feelings of some sort of nerves

that come over you before a big jiu-jitsu match or a tournament but now there's a good chance that you're gonna get punch in the face I think I lost you. You still there?

Yep, I got her. back. Okay. Yeah, so now you're probably going to get punch in the face, like, in a combat sports atmosphere. So, like, how would you compare the feeling of getting ready for an MMA fight, the buildup to that compared to getting ready for a big jiu-jitsu match or a big jiu-jitsu tournament? It's no different, of course, you know, I have to be worried about many things. Of course, I studied, like, to be aware of what is her good eye and it's not scimmy. That was pretty much the first stage of, like, do you decide to do it. Yeah, I think from talking to folks, especially in the jiu-jitsu community,

a lot of people sort of compare your debut to, like, when McKenzie Dern came over into MMA, and she's obviously found a lot of success in the MMA world. She's getting close to a title shot in the UFC. Is she someone that you've been paying attention to, kind of seeing how she transitioned from that world into MMA, and have you been following along with the success that? that she's been having? So you're going to be fighting Stacey Vega,

and she's been in the game for a little while now. She even fought Raquel Pennington, who's in the UFC on the amateur scene way back in the day in 2009. Did you know, do you know much about her? Like, I know you're going to study her a little bit, but you're more focused on yourself, but what are your thoughts on Stacy as your first MMA opponent?

No, and the first thing I accepted the things, the subscribe spot. She's like if she won't strike or if she decides to go to a ground game, is excellent. My pressure is excellent on top. Even in the body, I'm ready for each situation that could be happening. You talked about what it was like when you got punched in the face for the first time. You just got a little more aggressive. You got all fired up. What is it like for you to actually punch people in the face? Do you enjoy it? Like, I know it's more in a sparring

scenario, but like, have you thought about what it's going to feel like to actually throw a super hard punch at somebody and hit them in the face at a fight? actually that fortunately and of course effing somebody up is is at the top of your priority list if you could right so I'm curious like at this point what what is your overall goal in the sport of MMA like is it to eventually get to one of these major organizations to get to the UFC someday become a world champion like what's the end game for you in this sport Toledo two years to get excellent to get to get actually what I need, but for sure my main focus is USC based on my background, bouncing around, like I said.

I am very focused and committed to do what I want and what my team is planning from me. I have a team based on 7, 8 people that are helping me going from wrestling judo, takando karate, base to basic basic, basic. boxing, working with World Champion high level guys to fix DTIUs, you know, and I definitely know that my focus would be three or four fights

in my next tank is the UFC for sure. There you go. Hopefully Charles Rosa can set the table for you. He fights this Saturday. Of course, he's very close to Charles McCarthy as well. So do we have an official, do we have an official prediction for next week? How does this all go down at Titan FC70?

You know, it's just an amazing athlete, and you see it that he don't ever give up, you know. He had the one, he was amateur. He had the nickname of Rapidino. And we know about his last fight. He was not successful. He won. And we know how hard he won this fight. My prediction is all first fight, TKio or second.

and fight in the ground game, round the pound finish for sure. There you go. Well, this is exciting stuff, Toledo. A big fight on July 2nd. The MMA debut is going down in the Titan FC cage. And we wish you all the best for the rest of this camp and in the fight itself. Thank you for the time. And we'll see you in the cage next Friday night.

Thank you, too. And thank you to give me this attention. And I'm excited to be fighting a tight FC in July 2nd in Miami. me. She got me so fired up with the, I want to F people up thing. Good stuff. Keep an eye on her because, you know, like she said, and I agree with this wholeheartedly, if her grappling style translates over into MMA and if her striking can get anywhere near her grappling, man, she is going to be a lot of fun to watch in the sport as we get ready to put a bow on this week's show. Thank you again for checking us out. Big thank you to Casey Lydon on the production. Alex and Jose on the graphics

like they are each and every week. It means a lot. Back again next Tuesday. Until then, have a heck of a week, everybody. We will leave you with my chat with Ricky Glenn. All right, we move ahead to one of the big winners from this past Saturday at UFC Vegas 29, a spectacular 37 second knockout of Joaquin Silva. What a return it was for one, Ricky Glenn. Congratulations, sir. How are you? Before we get into, to the performance, and I'm sure you've talked about it before, but I have to ask you, because everyone keeps asking me about it. The Ricky name. I was wondering what sort of led to the decision of the more youthful Ricky Glenn name being used in your fights as opposed to

the old Rick Glenn, the gladiator, which is a manly name. Ricky's still manly, as it showed in the performance, but why the decision to change up? Well, it is my, so it's kind of a stupid reason I started going by Rick in the first place, you know, because my father, he had at the time, I was like second grade, he had a girlfriend named Ricky. And I was like, no, I'm not going to have a girl's name. I'm Rick. Most of my close friends and family call me Ricky anyways, so, or Ricky G. So I just, I'd rather go by my name.

I don't mind. I guess Rick, Ricky G, whatever, Rick. It all works. I mean, whatever you did, it obviously paid dividends because that was some performance, Ricky. It had been almost three years since we had seen you inside the Octagon. I mean, how does it all feel a couple days later? Is it kind of surreal because it had been so long? No, I wouldn't say surreal. I'm going to have that high feeling for probably the rest of the week. I'm just super jacked up still. I'm actually going to, I started teaching a Ghi Jiu-Jitsu program for youth and adults, and I'll be teaching tonight. And then there's a teammate that I'll be helping out.

He's fighting this weekend. So I'm actually getting right back to training. Not as many sessions a day, but I'll be getting right back to training. And, yeah, just getting right back into it, I guess. It had been a long road back with, you know, different injuries, the pandemic. you had about a COVID yourself, you moved back home, you took some apprenticeship work if memory serves me correctly, and it obviously translated into a damn good result. But what do you think was the most important thing about the time away from mental perspective and sort of like

the importance of reflection on both life and career? I probably gained some more clarity at what what I really wanted with my life and where I want to spend my time. And now that we have a child, you know, that, you know, rings even more, you know, where we spend our time and what we're doing and what we're working towards is a lot more important now. And obviously, being dad, we see the car seat in the back. How much of a boost is that given you in so many ways? I know I have an eight-year-old, so I know exactly. how that feels, but, you know, how has that been a boost for you?

Not just as a fighter, because I'm sure the motivation just kind of increases tenful, but just overall. Yeah, overall, just a lot sharper with my time and, you know, my energy where I'm putting it. I have, you know, I have a little more motivation and, you know, something, something to fight for a little more, I guess. How did you enjoy the first Father's Day, man, outside of probably being on a little bit, airplane and traveling back home. But once you got there, how did you enjoy the rest of the day? It was cool. I went straight home and cleaned up quick and then met up with some family.

Got a brother-in-law that's in town. So we visited with him. Actually saw him this morning too. And ate some good food, you know, some broads and burgers and mac and cheese type stuff. some typical American grill-out type food. Yeah. Pretty cool. As good as a 37-second knockout is as a Father's Day gift, it would have been only enhanced by an extra 50 Gs. And normally a quick emphatic kale like that

is pretty much a guaranteed performance bonus, but not this time around. There are obviously a lot of choices. That was a crazy card. They went with Matt Brown and Sung Wu-Choi. Were you little bums that you didn't get a bonus? Oh, yeah. I had to check myself.

too like all right settle down like i'm thankful i got the victory that's why i came there for get the job done and and be victorious but man like i guess with my circumstances you know out almost three years i would have thought that would have a little more weight and the performance alone i didn't get i didn't get hit at all and it was really quick um so i i thought you know it was almost for sure 50 Gs. So. Do you feel like placement on the card affects that as much as other people do? Like since this is a, you know, what have you done for me lately kind of a sport,

do you feel like if that fight was maybe on the main card that you would have gotten a bonus? You know, I used to think that, but then I have seen quite a few fights where, you know, the early on the card, you know, on the prelims or early prelims. Yeah, I don't know. I guess I can't say. Fair enough. Played in their decision on that. So almost three years away to 37 seconds of fighting.

I mean, it's wonderful to get a quick finish like that and take little, if any, damage. But is there a small part of you that's like, I don't know, unfulfilled because it was so quick? Like, did you have to go for a run or something after the fight to burn that leftover adrenaline? Well, after the fight, we got dropped up. the Harris Casino right on the strip, and we walked quite a bit of the strip. Went to you playing in Hollywood. Walked Fremont. Walked.

I mean, we walked. We walked hours. And I had to slow down. I think I was pumped up still. You know, the guys were like, holy cow, I kept looking back. You coming? What's going on? I was just like, just walking hard.

We walked for hours. But my. My celebration, it was a little different. I normally, you know, it's been a while since I had to finish. I think I had six or seven decision fights prior to this match. And so when I finished them and the rest, Mike Beltron, pushed me off. I was just so pumped up like I usually don't yell or get all dramatic and stuff like that. But it's just like, the energy just came out, you know.

And once I stopped, like, I just. start pour and sweat. I think just from like flexing it is like so so I think that just came out too because I was prepared to go the whole the whole fight and push it and push it in uh and I want to set the pace and just go as hard as they could was in and out unscathed to take any damage it was like a like a sigh of relief too just just being out that long and just here you got it 37 seconds you get you get that finish that you've been waiting for for a while and did you just feel like this big sigh of relief? Oh, yeah, super big sigh of relief.

It's hard to describe the feeling of victory alone. And then after all the time, the surgery, the other injuries I've had, you know, the time away, some other things that leading up to the fight is just such a relief. Did you enjoy the empty arena experience? Because the only thing that outside of the getting the bonus, that would have made that better is if you had a bunch of fans screaming and reacting to it. I enjoyed it. I liked it.

I could hear my cornerman good. I heard his cornerman. Speaking in Portuguese. But it was cool. I liked it. A little different. You told Michael Bisbing after the win, essentially,

I'll fight again tonight. Give me somebody, and I'll just stand here and wait for you. You ready to run the gauntlet, Ricky. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen, but I assume you already said

you're going to get back in the gym later on this week. You're not going to go crazy. But I assume you don't want to wait around long to produce an encore of some kind. is that accurate? I would like to fight, you know, by fall. But then just number would be nice. Ideally, I want to fight at least three times a year.

Three, four times a year, I think, would be perfect. And they actually, you know, they haven't got it yet, but I'm supposed to get the details on my new contract soon. So a four-fight deal, they sent me over, or they sent my managers some stuff and had already kind of worked that out. Nice. Congratulations. Best fathers day ever. Was that the last fight of your deal?

Or did they just say, man, Ricky, you blew us away. Let's just restructure this thing and give you some more money. Oh, that was the last one on my fight contract. So I said in another interview after the fight, I think, I think. felt like this was, it was kind of like an interview again. You know, I could, I mean, I was, I'm very thankful they gave me the opportunity to, to fight. You know, I've been out for so long.

I guess, you know, they, they knew I had a surgery, so I was playing on coming back because sometimes, you know, guys sit out too long on injuries and they get looked over or just, they get passed on. And I feel like if I, if I would have lost this fight, I probably, they probably wouldn't to resign me or I would probably have gone to a different promotion and work my way back in. There you go. So if you were still going to compete no matter what happened, you just wouldn't be in the UFC if you had lost that fight.

So now you get a four-fight deal. You're looking to get back quick. Is there anybody you got in mind that would be a fun fight for you? Like no trash shock, just in a friendly dude, I respect you. Let's throw some hands and have some fun kind of way. Yeah, I kind of thought about Cowboy, but he's, You know, he's come off so many losses. I'm not really sure if it would really look that great, you know,

beating him right now or not. You know, he's a big name, but... They gave it to you. I'm sure you'd take it, right? So there's not really anyone I'm thinking of. I would like to fight probably a couple matches or a couple of fights, And then, you know, I'd really like to start getting into the top 10. There you go. In this new division of yours.

It's top 10. Well, I'm sure coming back home to see Little Jackson after a performance like that was worth it. And then some, man. Good to see you back in there, Ricky. It had been far too long. And hopefully we see you back in there sooner rather than later. Again, congratulations on the win. Congratulations on the new contract.

And thank you for the time. And all the best to you, my man. Thank you. it. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.