MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Glover Teixeira: UFC Champion, King of Connecticut, UFC 275 Main Event | Morning Kombat RSD

Episode Date: May 18, 2022

Room Service Diaries is back and UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira is in studio to launch the new revamped version. The boys discuss Glover illegally coming to the US, Meeting Chuck Liddell and much more. You won't want to miss this one. (1:30) - Winning the Title (6:10) - Coming to the United States Illegally (11:25) - Meeting Dana White/ Pre UFC Run (19:30) - Meeting Chuck Liddell (24:30) - Making it to the UFC (27:00) - Jon Jones (29:30) - Losing in the UFC (34:40) - Jon Jones at Heavyweight (38:00) - Life Outside the UFC (44:17) - Fighter Health (46:25) - Jiri Prochazka (48:30) - Changing his Style (49:50) - Teixeira MMA & Fitness (51:50) - Connecticut Life (57:10) - Marco Ruas (58:50) - Brazilian MMA (01:02:40) - Brazilian Nuts (01:03:40) - Glover's Boxing (01:04:50) - Career Goals (01:05:50) - Cory Anderson (01:08:10) - Becoming UFC Champion (01:13:30) - King of Connecticut Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. I'm always all about taking shit to the next level. And that's really what we're going to do when we're going to launch our interview series room service diaries that's the couch that they fell into in uh get out what are you expecting out of this interview with brian and luke i don't

know man just um just go and uh get excited about it you know i'm ready man yeah let's do this. There you go, guys. The champ is here. How are you? Brian Campbell, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir. Hi, Glover. Luke Thomas, how are you? Watch.

Try the Brazil match, you know? Yeah. They are. They are. Dude, in Europe, they all say Rodrigo. But like, his name is Heung. It's like Royce. Royce, right.

Royce, Grace, not Royce. We're about 60 seconds out. So much Connecticut up in here in the MK as Morning Combat hits you. Episode one of Room Service Diaries, Brian Campbell, Luke Thomas, and how about the king of Connecticut, the light heavyweight champion of the world, Glover Teixeira,

pulling up a spot on our beautiful vintage couch right here. How excited are you to be on a show you've never heard of? It's great, right? Hey, man. Yeah. It's great to come over here expecting whatever, you know? Expecting professionalism. Whatever comes.

That's right. You know, I got to be prepared. That's right. You know, I got to be prepared. That's right. Glover, to get a chance to sit down with you in any situation is great because you're a wise man. You've done it the hard way. You've done it the long way. You've got one of those blue-collar stories that we can all connect with. But, like, damn, man, like, they should make a movie about this pretty soon.

I mean, this is like you've always been great once you got to the UFC and been very elite, but the way this has gone down at the end of your career, it's got to feel like a fantasy, man. Yeah, man, it feels great. I don't know how wise I am because it took me that long, you know what I mean, to get it right. But finally we got something going, and I'm happy. I'm happy with everything that's going on right now.

How did you feel the morning after you won the championship? Oh, that night, I saw the sunrise in the balcony of my hotel room. You never went to sleep? I never went to sleep, no. Because with the hotel hotel It's locked down At Abu Dhabi And they have like 2 o'clock in the morning They was going to close the bar

But they say Hey you coming down to eat If you are we're going to We're going to keep the bar open And like Yeah we come down So they open until like 6 in the morning and I went to my hotel room

and we saw the sunrise and man, it was incredible. Okay, what does the champ drink? Right now you're in training camp. You got a big fight coming up. You know, we got some beverages of mysterious. Glover has one, to be clear, but there's no booze. There's no booze. It's H2O right there, but when the champ has his moment,

what's the drink of choice there? To be honest, at that time, man, at that day, it didn't care. You know, whatever is going to make me, you know, get crazy. And it was just too happy, man. It was just funny. I walked down. As I walked down, Andre Olasky was there sitting down. Yes.

And I was a bottle of whiskey in front of him. He just like pounded like drinking a beer. It was pretty cool, you know, the Russian crazy. I said, you have a beer there? Can I have a sip of that beer? And then we start there. It was a fun, fun

time. But do you get like caught up in the, like, I don't want to say nostalgic, but like the magic of i'm the champion i've literally got this huge amazing world title that i can put on a shelf or i can walk around naked if i want to with it on but like i know like you work hard and you stay in the game because you always wanted to prove that you could be the best but do you like once in a while pick that shit up put it over your shoulder and be like, motherfucking right. You know what I mean? Do you get into that element of it?

Like, you're like a king now, you know? No, no. I never, I like to put a piece, I like to kind of look at it sometime and I say, this belt is damn beautiful, you know? But like, yeah, don't do that. I don't, not kind of guy that's going to look at me and stuff like that. But it feels good, like, when people ask, hey, can I take a picture

with the belt? And we put the belt on. What does the belt mean to you, though, when you look at it? Like, what is it symbolic of? Yeah, what do you see when you look at it? Yeah, it's my whole life I work towards it, you know? My whole life in MMA career, you look, you go

in, and you think of being the champion of the world, UFC, you know, champion. Every kid dreaming, see my nephew right there, he's just doing the, his dream is to be UFC champion. He look at the belt and he's saying the same thing, you know, oh, man, that's really cool, you know, to have. So it's kind of like it's accomplishment, you know. It's everything's like, yeah, it's more than, you know, just belting it. It's just like, man, I accomplished something that I put my mind into 20 years ago

that I worked hard for, you know. And I realize how hard it is, how it mold me to be a better person, to be a better everything. That belt is not just champion of the world. It makes me who I am today because for me to get it, I need to learn so much things. It's not about just training and fighting like we think, you know,

party hard, train hard, fight hard. But it's not just about that, you know, situations that you got to dig deep, you got to find out who you are, who you are, you know, and the situations that I come, you know, John Jones. First situation before I come here, you know. I mean, you had to wait out just to get into this country and fight. Exactly. Probably felt like your physical prime, like you're giving it away,

just waiting for your chance. Let's set the context here, if I may, Glover. There was a lot of hype for you in the American market because for a time you had had a win over Sukuju, who had made a big splash in pride. But it was, even though the Sukuju win was in Lemoore, California, I believe with either WEC or some other promotion in the area, you had to go back to Brazil, and it was always told to us that it was visa issues that were keeping you out.

Can you tell us specifically what had happened where you had to go back to Brazil and you couldn't come back? Well, I come here illegally, you know, through Mexican border, you know, and... Let's back up a step. How'd you do it? Yeah, how did you get here? How freaking scary is that story? I mean, come on.

Well, from my hometown, a lot of people, Valadares, you know, a lot of people come from Mexico, I mean, through Mexico, you know what I mean? Because they have all these connections, the guys have connections, because we don't, nobody get a visa. So it was a dream. The kids and Valadares at that time used to come over here, you know, to Mexico, make a living, go back and, you know, make a little money.

You know, like, you know, invest, buy a house, buy a car. Some of them buy a car, come back again because they get, you know know because it's an illusion you know you make this money but then you don't know what to do with it you're gonna come back

but like that was my thing I said I wanna go to United States you know and I was 19 years old 18, 19 years old

I jump in this journey with a couple guys and we cross you know come to Colombia all these countries and we cross the you know, come to Colombia, all these countries, and we crossed the border, Mexico. Did you fear for your life during that time?

I was, you know, man, I was 19 years old, man. I was more like, yeah, adventure, I'm into adventure, like this kind of stuff, like, no really fear, you know. I was, for me, I didn't really, I didn't have any situation that I have to fear my life, you know i was for me i didn't really i didn't have any situation that i have to fear my life you know but it was dangerous overall it's dangerous you know you in the hand of you don't know who is going to cross the desert you you don't know this person you know it's called coyote yeah you don't know who you work for. And they can steal from you? Yeah, they can do whatever. I mean, you don't know.

You're just getting in a soul. But, you know, again, I was too young to know. You know what I mean? So then I was too young to do that, you know, and then I realized, like, what I wanted to do. I come to Connecticut, and I see the opportunity. There's more opportunity the way I come from, I was like, oh my God, this country, I can be a professional athlete, you know, I can be

a boxer, so I start boxing. What had you done? What martial arts experience or sports experience had you have before, at age 19, moving to Connecticut? Nothing, zero. You know, I did karate for like two months because the guy moved there, opened the gym, I stayed there two months.

He had to leave. But it was just like when I was 12 years old. Literally, it was two months. And I have nothing, no experience. I just started with boxing in 2001. Did you know? I mean, were you a tough guy? Did you handle yourself?

Did you have to prove yourself? You know, growing up, you knew you could. I was a big kid, you know. i was a big kid in my in my schools really tall really strong farm guy working the farm so i didn't have to prove i i have a couple fights in school but it wasn't much people like you know trying to bully me have to prove myself or anything sometimes i fight with uh older guys you know, most of the time. Nobody from my class wants to fight with me. I was the biggest kid, you know.

But the reason you walked into a boxing gym is what? You just saw it and one day it clicked? Opportunity, right? I always like it. I like the movies. I like Mike Tyson so we just asked my dad to wake me up at 3 in the morning to watch Mike Tyson fight you know and watch Mike Tyson but I think 93 I was 13 years old when he fought a Holyfield was like waking up 96

96 yeah 56 years old so So all that, man. And I come over. He asked me the opportunity. And that's when I knew I made the mistake. You know, I was like, damn it, man. Now all this opportunity to be a professional athlete. And I come over. Because you had come illegally.

Illegally, you know. So did they deport you? No. Because I got married to American woman. And before we get married, before 2001, you just apply and get a green card. Yeah, not anymore. Not anymore because they changed the law. So I have to go to Brazil, have their waiver. And that takes a long time.

It takes about almost six years. Wow. Six years. I fought Tsukuju in 2006. Six, yeah. Six. And that's when I got called to fight in UFC. I talked with Dan White right there.

Yeah, it was in the WEC. He was there. And he was there. He was there. How did the conversation go? And I say, I wanted to, because Chuck told him, watch this guy. He's my jiu-jitsu guy.

This guy's coming out. You're talking about the Iceman, Chuck Liddell. Yeah. Yeah, and Chuck, I mean, it could have been Chuck Mendenhall. It could have been. It could have been the same age. Yeah, but Chuck Liddell was like, hey, watch this next guy that's coming in.

He's my jiu-jitsu guy. And he was there like as a... He watched these fights before. Like he was doing a contender now. He kind of look it. Like Dana White is looking for a fight. And everybody, I remember, he used to go on a show and people say, Oh, Dana White's going to be there watching.

So everybody wants to put it up a show, you know. Because he's watching you know and he might he might take you so I won and I come to him I shake his hand

I say hey man I wanna fight in UFC and he say I know your situation get your situation figured out and we got you right in man

we got you right in so we talk we talk with Joe Silver at the time and Joe just say hey man we can't so how long can I hire you like there We talked with Joe Silver at the time. And Joe just said, hey, man. We can't hire you like that.

You got to go get it. Go get it and you get in. But it's not that easy. No, no. Yeah, it's not that easy. But, you know, he was like, there's a situation that he's like, yeah, I can't do anything. You just got to get a situation figured out.

So by the sixth year, you're back in Brazil, and you've waited, and you've waited. You're still fighting there, still winning, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Beating lots of good fighters. Was there ever a point where you're like, I don't know if this is going to go? Did you ever not lose hope, but maybe start to get this is not going to be

the life that I thought it was? Listen, every tough time, right, it comes a flash in your head about, you know, some negative thoughts, you know? Things is like you're really thinking about it, you know, like any hard time that you go through,

the day, oh, this, oh, shit, this traffic, I'm not going to make that meeting, you know, you pass there, but then you're like no I gotta do it you know of course at the point there that I thought about I see my prime is going I say what's going on

what's happened you know what's this why is it happening that way why I'm missing this prime and I'm just I'm such a good fighter You know, what's this? Why is it happening that way? Why am I missing this prime? And I'm just, I'm such a good fighter because I knew how good I was by training with everybody. I trained with Chuck Liddell when he was the champion of the world. And I knew how I can handle myself with him, you know. And then I went to Brazil, I trained with everybody there.

Liotto, when he was a champion, he fought Shogun, then he fought John Jones, you know, training with everybody, Junior dos Santos, and it was just a message like, but what kept me going is knowing how good I was

and that I was going to make some of it. So what do you think you did with your time that you're waiting? You can't get into the UFC because you're waiting on your visa situation to get cleaned up and cleared up. Excuse me. When you look back, what did you build within yourself, or what did you gain during the time of waiting

that you feel like maybe that was supposed to be there? I lived this, man. I was just getting better and do the training. Every day like I am doing now, right now. People think I'm 42 years old, and I'm in the gym every single day. After my fight, I take a couple weeks off, relax, rest my body. I'm back there helping grinding. The rank is due. That's. I'm back there helping, grinding, grinding. The rank is due.

That's what I'm talking about. Doing the jiu-jitsu, doing the grappling, taking those guys down, because Poitin was getting a fight coming up. Wellington Toomey was getting a fight coming up. Those guys, and I'm over there sparring with them, do a round, you know, every day. That's what I did back then.

That's what I keep doing now until the day that I'm retired. I tell them the same thing. I say, the day that I'm retired, guys, it'll be the last day I do spa. Because I'm probably going to grapple, but spa, man. You deserve to get pretty fat if you want to do it, Glover. No, no, no. You would have burned it by that point. I think I like, man.

I like when I actually feel really good when I'm doing the camp. You know, I'm like eating the good food. And yeah, man, this is like a lifestyle, like I say. It would teach me this lifestyle. Because before, when I fought John John, when I met you I was 250 pounds yeah because that was oh yeah that was like about that was about we went to the Capitol buildings like about two months eight weeks maybe nine weeks before I fought John John what's this 2013 2014 2014 yeah I was big man I used to get really big back then, but I find my diet, man, felt really good.

Stay slim, do the bike, you know, bike ride. Let me ask you about this then. So do you remember the day that you got the phone call or the notice that you were going to be able to go back to the States? And then how soon after you got that did the UFC make it work? Yeah, I got the call in August right after I fought Marvin Eastman,

a boppy, you know, show tour Brazil. Yeah, Marvin the Beastman Eastman. Yes, yes. Right after I fought him, I got the call, and they say, UN review is set up. You got, we got, UN review is set up because my wife sent a letter, right, to the senator, you know, asking him to help. It was this paper, blah, blah, blah. And in August, they send a message saying, your interview is set up for December 23rd.

December 23rd is my wife's birthday. Wow. So I was like, and after that letter that she said, the crying that she did because she was really angry and upset because we could have this life. Right. Champion of the world and give a better life. And I did everything right when I was here before. Even though I come here illegally, right away I got my tax ID number. Every work I did over here was paying taxes,

trying to do everything right, you know, because I knew I made a mistake. I can't change this now, but I'm going to do it right now. So they did that. And she's like, you know, and I knew, man. I knew because it was her birthday. I was like, yeah, it's going to be this time. This time is new. And things was funny because things was already going good.

Like when in Brazil, man, I struggled because I was there and I went to fight in Australia and this guy don't pay nobody. Me, Josh Barnett, Jeff Muscle, Pedro Rizzo, all those guys, we fought in Australia. And I went as a corner for Pedro Rizzo.

Pedro fought Ken Shamrock that day. And then the guy say, hey, you want to fight? I got to fight for you. Because the guy there was going to fight 205. His opponent pulled out. So I make the weight,

struggle to make a weight. And I did in 10 days and I fought. I won the fight. And the guy don't pay nobody. And then in Brazil too, I would have a hard time. You can still find him, Glover, if you look. I'm like, I'm over, man.

I'm good. I'm good. I don't want no problem, you know? Maybe he need it, you know? But at that time, if I find him, I'll probably kill him. But because it was $5,000 for me, I have nothing. That's, you know, eat or not to eat at that point. Exactly.

No question. A million questions we can ask you each step of the journey, but how about you fight against a fighter from Chuck Liddell's camp. John Hackleman sees you. Yeah. He goes, wow, we should invite this guy in. Yeah. What's the first meeting like with Chuck Liddell at that point?

Because he's like, is he at that point the champion and the baddest man in the world when you joined that yeah no he was about you a cheetah was a champion um but Tito Tito was a cheetah was ducking him yeah yeah but the red yeah he's the better Chuck was the people he was already yeah he's already people's champion yeah but um while Chuck was there I met him over there take a picture with him in my first fight. I fought this guy, Eric Short. Eric Short is a good friend of mine now.

We become good friends. I went to the pit. So John, after the fight, second round fight, John come to my corner there and invite me to come over. I didn't speak much English. It was very bad. I barely have a conversation with him, but then I set up.

I said, next year, next year. Then the next year, 2003, I think beginning of 2004, I went there to Chuck's camp. Was he intimidating? First was John, right? What was it? First was John, right?

John was more. I met John first, and he's really weird, you know, toenails, panting, you know. I was, like, very shy, very, like, I don't know. But then Chuck come with his brother to pick me up, and Chuck didn't say a word. He just on his phone all the time. He's always texting, always texting. And the next day we sparred with him, I was nervous, man.

I was like, like more nervous than I was when I was fighting. No, no. He was texting. I don't know. No, was he testing you? Was he trying to see

whether you're tough enough to hang in that camp? No, no. That's, no, I don't, you talk Chuck now. Chuck is, that's the way he is man he's cool is

his coolest can be man he's the damn ice man i got you yeah his coolest can be man he's like uh he's just not a conversation guy you know hey i don't know i didn't that was there he's like he was cool you know he's when i come to his house, he's like, hey, man, mi casa es su casa, right? Feel free at home and that's it. And then he walk out, I never speak a word again, you know? I was like, oh, okay. And then you went and blew up at the bathroom. That's what happened after that. Yeah, I was like...

If you don't meet Coach Ackleman and get that time in that camp, do you think you end up having the success you went on to have in the UFC? No, no, because everything that happens is for, it's, you know, it's what happened,

you know? It's because I'm here, I'll definitely be in a different situation. If you never, who knows, maybe, I don't know,

it'll be a different situation for sure. But did you find a situation? Right away that you could hang on that level? That when you went, you know,

Yeah, I know, I have a lot of doubts in there, man. Because I left my job in Connecticut. Because the first time I went, I went just to help Chuck. Then I come back, I got my money situation. You know, hard to make money.

You save money. Went to California, different place. That's a big commitment to make. I just got married with my wife in 2003. So I went over there in the end of 2004, in the beginning of 2005. I moved out there. And there was times, man, there was times that I remember one time

I laid down in a ring that we just trained with Chuck, and Chuck was so much better in wrestling and jiu-jitsu. And I was very upset and started crying over there and taking my hand wraps off. And I called my wife, and I remember saying, you don't have to worry about coming over here, because I'm going back. Wow. You know, I don't think I have or mean to do this.

But then in the drive home, I'm like, man, I'm 25 years old, you know. If I don't do this now, if I don't try now, I'm going to regret it. You know, I don't want to be 42 years old, but I say 40. I don't want to be 40 years old and think, what if I had tried? You probably would have had this couch if you were 42. This would be your real couch. No, and the thing is, because what I'm going back for to Connecticut, to landscaping, fuck, I can't do landscaping.

I don't know if I can swear. I can't do landscaping. I don't know if I can swear. I can't do landscaping when I'm 40, 50. I can't do landscaping now. You know what I mean? So that's what I thought. And I was like, yeah, I'm just going to stay. And I called back and said, yeah, just pack up your things and come. You had nowhere else to go, though.

That's a monster life decision right there. It truly is. All right, so you finally make it to the UFC. Was it all you had thought it was going to be when the wind started rolling? Yeah, you know, November, when I got called for UFC, not for UFC, but for the thing in August, right after I fought Marvin Eastman, I had a fight in November with Rico Rodriguez.

You know? Rico Rodriguez, UFC heavyweight champion. Everybody told me to not to fight. Because I had already deal with the UFC. I had deal with UFC before

went to Brazil, and I did 16 fight in Brazil, and I didn't lost one. So I was like, I I went to Brazil. And I did 16 fights in Brazil and I didn't lose one. So I was like, I'm good to go. You know? I'm good to go. So they say, yeah, man, just wait and sign. But Chuck told me one thing. He say, man, you just got to fight everybody.

Because if you lose with those guys that is out of UFC, what the hell you think you're going to do in UFC? Wow. You know? That's good advice. So beat everybody. And that fight, of course, November fight, if I lose to Rico Rodriguez, it could be, hey, man, no contract.

But I say, hey, man, if I lose to him, what I want is the belt. And Jon Jones, I think, already had the belt when I went. So I said, what am I going to do looking for Jon Jones if I can't beat Rico Rodriguez here? And of course you beat him, you did. I took the fight, won the fight. I was going to fight in December. In January, actually, first fight in USC Rio.

But my hand was hurting. I didn't hurt in a fight I hurt in the training and then I couldn't fight I fought in May and yes was everything I I looking for me a guy told me in a battle one time right right a couple weeks after I say I got my green card, you know, UFC sent a contract, and we were ready to go, and I was taking a shower, and the guy just pointed at me and said, hey, my friend, good luck in UFC. I know you're going to be top five in less than a year. And one year, I got, you know,

I was fighting Ryan Bader for elimination for the title. That's crazy. One year later. See, the best inspiration comes in the bathroom. I always say that. You know what I mean? I always say that. But see, the problem is that's your only source of inspiration.

That's the difference. That's the point. Is Jon Jones lucky in hindsight you hurt your shoulder? I mean, did that eat at you for a long time that you got the title fight? And you're facing the best of all time, in my opinion, Jon Jones. So who knows what that's going to happen, injury or not. But how much do you look back, you know, bittersweet in the years after going, man, that was my chance and I wasn't 100%.

Yeah, I definitely was really upset after the fight. You know, going from strict to win like 20 20 some fights winning strict most of them by finishing and thinking that i can knock this guy out or finish him and uh knew and how good he was and how tough but you know finding tough guys and when you were next strict you just think is positive but like uh john was you know man, man, he's a different beast, man. He did well. The way he fights, very defensive. He did a great fight.

And, of course, I was upset weeks after thinking, like, man, I got to get back to the drawing board, you know, and go back and get the title again. And I never really give up, you know, from that time was, I'm not a guy that keep thinking too much on what I could have done, what this this, that happen. You know, he hurt my shoulder. I didn't, I didn't fail, you know, and hurt my shoulder in the locker room. Like, for example, doing, and then I fell and I hurt my shoulder. Then I'll be saying, hey, man, he was lucky. That was his time because I hurt my shoulder in the locker room. Well, some people have to be fair. Some people have to lean on that excuse to. No, no, but he hurt, he did it though.

He did it, right? He wrenched it to the inside. He did it. So, you know, it's like to lean on that excuse to get through. No, no, but he did it, though. He did it, right? He wrenched it to the inside. He did it. So, you know, it's like, what am I going to say? Well, it's like he, you know, like, what are you going to say? Like, the guys fight and you lose a fight. Oh, well, if my nose wasn't broken, my ribs wasn't broken. Well, he did it.

That's why he broke your nose. You know what I mean? Well, we love that you look at it that way. I always look at it that way, and I say it's got to get better, and I never give up, and I just keep going. Alright, when you say never give up, it's like, it's one thing to

get to the top of the mountain like you did against John, lose, not everybody comes back and figures out how to be their best again, but you came back, won some big fights lost a couple but you suffered you know some of the losses the lock the knockout loss to rumble johnson where i didn't know if you were going to be able to come back from that and still be an elite fighter again because forget physically just mentally that can end any kind of invincibility of

what's inside a man that's as you know that's as tough as law of the loss as you can endure how the hell did you get through it like nothing? Yeah, and also let me add to that, of the losses that you have, the Jones one was the biggest one because that was for the title, right? But, like, was that necessarily the toughest loss for you? Yeah, toughest loss definitely Anthony Johnson because the way the fight was, you know, I'd never been knocked out, you know, and the fight was so quick. And it was one of those things, shit,

that did happen to me, you know. And it teaches you, but, like, at the same time, it teaches me who I am, you know. It's like you know who you are. I read that in the book, right? You find out who you are when you know who you are. I read that in the book, right? You find out who you are when you know who you are not, you know? And what I am, you know, to come back from this and to like, am I one of those water?

Because I'm into martial arts, you know? Miyamoto Musashi, all the meditation, all the focus. And, you know, the guys, I used to love those moves. The guys go to the mountains and they isolate themselves. They find insight, you know, find it in what's your warrior. And that's what I did, man. I was like, I didn't go to the mountains. But, you know, I still focus on it better and get better.

I say, this is not going to take away my drive, my will. That's some Rocky Balboa shit. Like, seriously, bro. That's like, that's some deep nothing's going to stop me no matter what. I'm just saying I've seen a lot of great fighters that don't get to that point. Yeah, they don't do that. They don't do that. They go, I'm fine being a celebrity now.

I'll take a couple more fights. I'll put my money away. But you're like, you just never stop trying, is really how you got to this position, right? You just never stop trying your best. Yeah, man. I love to fight. I love to be in shape.

I love the martial arts of the game. It's just the competition, you know? And to fight over there, the big fights, the good fights, you know, they go back and forth, like, Anthony Smith and Kutelaba, that I can come back, you know, and how can I beat these guys? Thiago Santos, I thought he had you down. Thiago Santos, you know what I mean? Like, I was, like, in the bottom there, like, oh, man, the ref can, it's all thinking for

me, it's like, the ref, can I stop this fight? Because all I'm afraid. I mean, if you lose, there's no title. There's no title if you lose. All I'm afraid when I get knocked down or getting hit by storm by those guys is like, oh, geez, I hope the ref don't stop this, you know? Too early, you know what I mean?

Because I don't know. Sometimes, then I look at the fight, and I'm like, oh, okay, it wasn't that bad. But when Thiago knocked me down, when I was in the ground, all I was thinking was like, oh, my God, please don't stop this fight. Please don't. Because all I can think is like, this guy come in and stop that fight. You know what I mean?

But because in my mind, it was worse than I thought. You know what I mean? Because I was kind of dizzy because I fell down with a knockdown, and this guy come down, ba-ba-ba-ba, man, I was just trying to hold up, you know? It was in my mind like, okay, don't stop, don't stop this fight. Do you have flashbacks in that moment of, like, you know, cutting through Mexico to come to this country? Or, you know, like, what do you think about in that moment

to be able to dig that deep? Just a fight, man, just a fight. You know, I don't think of much. You know, empty your mind. You know, Bruce Lee say, empty your mind, be water, be relaxed, be there at the present moment. You know, this moment is there. It's not to think where you come from Mexico,

I come to this, and I did this, and I did that. It has nothing to do. You identify with the things that you did. Where you are is right there. You are right there. You're there. Their body, their training, and you got to figure it out in a fight, you know?

That's what I see in every fight is the moment. What can I figure out here? And nothing really because I don't know. I'm not afraid of nothing really in a fight. I'm afraid to get knocked out. And like Anthony Johnson, where's the fight? If the ref stops, I was fighting the ref in the ground. Taking the ref down, if the ref would stop and say,

hey, hold on a second, you want to fight again? Yes, I want to fight again. And he got knocked out. If I get knocked out again, I say, you want to fight again? Yes, I fight. I want to keep fighting,

you know, because I think I can beat this guy. Even John Jones, I was like frustrated and trying to hit him, jumping and trying to, oh man,

I got to do a Superman punch over here and knock, can you imagine? And then I was like, if do a superman punch over here and knock, can you imagine? and then I was like, if I do a superman punch over here and knock him out, it'd be crazy I gotta ask you let me jump in, I was gonna just say about Jon Jones quickly, is there any part

of you, I know you're happy to be champion you don't care who you have to beat to get it, but is any part of you wish, it's like, you did this redemption arc, you lost to Jon Jones for the title then you come back and you win it back, but Jon's not in this division anymore. Is there any like romantic side of you that wished he would be? It's a massive fight.

It would be a, a store, you know, full, full circle. You know, Jon's, like I say,

I think Jon Jones, you, you say the right thing. All right. Jon Jones is one of the greatest of all time. And I believe Jon Jones, you say the right thing, all right? Jon Jones is one of the greatest of all time. And I believe that he is, but I always put Khabib in my book, right? Yeah. Because Khabib did what he did, and he never scratched his thing.

You know, Jon Jones did, you know? Jon Jones did steroids and cheat a little bit and people can say whatever but that was a cheat man whatever he was was doing

so you know and maybe he's such a talent and such a great and a lot of the fights I bet he didn't do because he can't do it anymore and he's still winning

he's still fighting but he did it you know so that's why I put Khabib on there but uh i'm not like i say i'm happy with this i'm gonna fight uh jimmy prohashka now and who knows me i'm living the moment and if you one day it's possibility how do you think just no one knows i don't know know. You don't know. None of us know. But what is your best guess on how

Jon Jones does at heavyweight? Yeah, like we say, I don't know. We don't know, right? I think he come back with a strategy. If you don't lose, of course he's going to lose

some of the speed, right? But he needs the power. The way he do things, I think he's going to be a of that speed, right? But he needs that power. The way he do things, I think he's going to be a champ. You think he'll wrestle? He's going to be a champ. You think wrestling will be a big part of this? Yes, his wrestling is definitely going to be a big part of this. For sure.

But like I say, it's the motivation. It's hard to say if he's there. You know what I mean? Because of all the... It's for a lot of things. It's for a Because of all the... It's for a lot of things. It's for a lot of things. You lose motivation for a lot of things. You lose motivation for a knockout like Anthony Johnson.

People lose motivation. I tell people all the time. A lot of fighters don't come back. More than come back. More don't come back than come back. You know what I mean? More fighters than winning straight like that, they get knocked out.

The more fighters they don't come back from to be ever again the same fighter. You know what I mean? But like... But you're not just the same fighter. You might actually be better now. Although your style has changed, right? You're focusing, in my opinion,

on the basics, on the foundation, on the grappling, there's no holes in your game right now, and you're still a badass and you're tough and all that, but do you feel like, my opinion is true, that you might be better now than you were on the guy who fought Jon Jones, that area of your game?

Well, my mindset is definitely better, you know? Mindset, I'm like more focused now. Let me interject here, if I may. Have you gotten everything out of the fight game you wanted? Here's what I mean. You said you wanted to be champion. You got it.

The prize fighting, has it given you the money that you wanted? And also, maybe you don't care about it because a lot of fighters don't. Have you gotten the acclaim or the fanfare that you wanted as well? I'm happy with everything that's happening to me. I wanted to be a champ of the world. And, you know, it take me long enough. I become a champ of the world. My life, I'm so happy with my life financially.

I mean, I'm super happy. I am all set to retire in my last fight, you know, if I want to. But I want to keep fighting. I have my gym that's doing really good. I have some, you know, all the investments. I have a house in Brazil. I'm like, it's a simple thing. I live simple.

You go to my house, my house is not like, I didn't go crazy, man. I just live simple and I just live nice, eating a good food. You know what I mean? So you didn't win the championship and then buy a Ferrari the next day? No, no, no, no, no. I like to live a good lifestyle, you know. I like, people say all the time, like, you got to invest in this, you got to invest in that, you got to build a bigger gym,

you got to do this, you got to do that. Say, bro, when I'm retired, I want to work less. I'm off. Yes, thank you. I'm investing all my money right now. What the hell? I trained and I fought it for 20 years, and now I invest all this money and real estate this, all over over here gym over there in Utah

gym over here in New Jersey and gym in Connecticut what the hell but still you see like a lot of fighters today they do want to make money and they might make some sound financial decisions but they like a lot of the attention they like a lot of a big following on social media no I'm different I know it just seems like I don't that. But is there anything wrong with that? It may not be for you, right? But when you see young fighters doing that, what do you make of that? I think it's great. I think that's what the money is.

I think it's great. I tell my nephew, I tell everybody, I tell all my students in the gym. I say, man, be respectful, be polite, but be funny, trying to do something. Yeah, get out there, man. Get Don't, you know, but be funny trying to do something. Yeah, get out there, man. Get out there, you know. And like I say, I'm satisfied with what I do and what I am because I really never care about this shit. So why would I complain?

Why would I complain? Why would I complain that, like, complain that I don't have followers on Instagram or I don't have a big fight? I never really cared about this, so I never really put my face out there to make the big money. I'm over there to fight and to be a champion, to be the best. And of course, by being the best, you're going to make money automatically. You can and you're supposed to like boxing that's what like uh they don't have to sell much but

still today is a selling today is the pay-per-view right today is you put a boring fighter there but right now a lot of the boring fighters they talk they talk so it's still selling you know they fight like shit but they talk so that pissed you off? it pisses me off as a fan it pisses me off as a fan I'm like this fucking

guy talk all this shit and didn't back it up you know as a fan yes But like as a business, I think he's doing the right thing. As business, I'm gonna say, hey man, he make his money. You know? Some people know how to sell. They know what they're doing. He's making his money.

Your work is your money. You speak with your game. It's all what you do it for. What do you do it for? Hey, I do it for make money. I don't care if I cross the money. I don't care if I cross the line. I don't care if people gonna hate me. I don't care if I'm gonna make 200 enemies.

The people gonna hate me for the rest of their life. You know, I'm here to make money. And that's why it's beautiful. Beautiful. You heal for that, you go after that. I'm here for the belt. And I'm here to bring the discipline of martial arts

and the discipline as an athlete, to show to the kids that I teach, to show to the people. That's what I'm here for. But you know, to be the complete master, you gotta be all those things, and you gotta stand for something, which you do, hard work and all that, determination,

but you also have to be a killer businessman negotiating contracts fighting yeah but you can be a businessman without being an entertainer right entertain with the fighting but i'm saying entertaining i guess i wanted to ask at what point in your career do you feel you finally began to understand the business and how when it comes to negotiating or whatever you do with your money outside the game you you figured out how to compete just as hard on that side as you do in the playing field. Yeah, negotiations, like, we didn't really have problems with UFC,

and me and my manager, we just talked back and forth. We always come out with a greet, man. Like I say, I'm happy with uh ufc give me for all those years and where i am right now and and life and uh and you know just pray to continue to be like that you know getting man i just bless you know i can't i can't ask for anything more. But I fight because I like. And like I say, now it's action, man. If I want a little toy, a little gift, you know, and I go there and get another fight

and defend the title one more time. A little put a little red thing on there, you know? Yeah. Oh, the little jewel on the belt. Yeah. So for me, it's just there right now. You know, it's like, oh, win the title. I could retire. I could be. But hey, I's like, oh, win the title. I could retire.

I could be. But hey, I'm doing good. I'm at the top of my game. I'm feeling good. I got to a point in my life that I know I kind of find the body, right? How to work with my body. How to train the right time. You're efficient.

You're very efficient. The picking in the right time. I know how to do camp. After 45, take me longer knife. Let me ask an honest question. Do you worry about brain damage long term? You sound great, but I'm saying in 10 years, 15 years. Yes, yes.

I always worry about that for everybody in my gym. I don't like hard sparring you know i never my all my students they can never spar uh without me over there i'm always gonna be there uh unless the fight team the fight team of course different the professional fighters and somebody's there but like uh we all know that's the main thing that i say because the main uh a concern about it the the brain damage we already know we did this big talk a while back right 2014 is it is from training for training for fight really i mean you take a guest, Justin Gage, and what's his... He was there too, Michael Chandler.

Michael Chandler, yeah. Yeah, Michael Chandler. He was there too, 2004. You take that fight, but it's 25 minutes with the little gloves, and they got knocked down a couple times. But you look at guys like Justin Gage, right? You kind of... I've never seen him train.

I've seen him train here and there, but you kind of think, like, is this guy go hard, he spar, and he probably just put his face out there and spar like that. That's the dangers, you know? I don't know. I'm not here saying, I don't know. But the training, I think, is the biggest importance on the brain damage stuff.

Of course, it can happen in a fight, too. You know, everything can happen there, man. But I train very, very careful, very well. We don't need to go crazy. We just need to cardio up and get those guys' faces. It's working. I mean, you know. They can't breathe anymore, man.

I'm telling you. They start freaking out. Let's talk about Yuri Prochocka. So he's... He's dangerous as shit. He's dangerous as shit. I mean, here's what you say about Yuri, right? Athletic, strong, very talented, but he's weird as shit,

and he's totally unorthodox. He's got this absolutely bizarre... Puts his chin out. Yeah, puts his chin out, and, but his chin I he throws weird Strikes like you know spinning back kick into Superman punching and all this assess him from your standpoint What do you what do you believe is the major challenge for you? Is there you know is there is there his style to see the movement? Can we work a lot of my eyes, I have good people. You can see in my last few fights, the way I'm rolling with the punches better, you know,

and not getting hit clear like before. Before I just walked straight and kept going. But now moving, move a little more, working my eyes and working the timing for him. This is the main thing. But I look at the fight a little bit. I look at his fight and I see, like I say, I see the openings that he does. When he strikes, he leaves the opening for some positions. And, you know, this is the main thing that I think the most difficult thing to deal with is probably, like, the style.

But when you come, when you're patient, man, you see everything. That's the cool about martial arts is how to adapt it to the style, you know? How am I adapted to that style? Oh, he's going to take him downtown. He's going right down to the ground. You know you see it in the problem. But you know, that's the thing. He knows that, but that's the thing.

Like, how much he's going to worry about that? And that's when the left hook came in, you know, the right hand. And I mean, Brohovich in the second round, he started defending the takedown too much, and the left hook come in. And now he's like, oh, shit. I got to worry about the punches, too.

So those guys forget about it. They forget that I have hands, too. And they're heavy. That's one thing. You rebuilt yourself to be more dangerous or maybe more efficient. I always have the power, knockout power. Now I have more, like, patience.

More relaxing patience. It feels like now, also, you like, you know how Demi and Maya for a while just went to a striking and kind of forgot about his jiu-jitsu? Now he went all the way back to his jiu-jitsu. I'm saying you mix it more, but I do feel like your jiu-jitsu has been a much more forward part of your game

the last few years. Striking, of course. Striking, of course. The Anthony Smith fight, for example, or again, the Tiago Santos fight. There's a lot of fights where that was the difference the duck the Anthony Smith fight for example, right or again the Tiago Santos fight There's a lot of fights were like that was the difference maker was the jujitsu Yeah, a lot of the guys don't like to train jujitsu, you know, I'm gonna do they don't like to train jujitsu They don't like to train wrestling so they get tired and they they don't like to train jujitsu because this is a hard sport They so they get, and I do.

I like to train Jiu-Jitsu. I train with those 20-year-old guys. They train. And I have Kyle Magalhães, Huerto Tum. Those guys, Kyle Magalhães is one of the best Jiu-Jitsu guys. Former UFC fighter as well, yeah. Former UFC fighter, and his Jiu-Jitsu is high level, you know? And I'm telling you, one of the,

I tell you top 200 jiu-jitsu guys in the world right now, I'm talking about getting him over there with those big names. Right. Who all is at your gym these days? So Pereira? The amateurs, you know. Pereira, Wellington Turma. Yep, UFC fighter.

Yeah, Caio Magalhães is my main. And I have two boxers. One is Fenelli Jr., he's a professional boxer, heavyweight. He's my coach's son. The other one, also my coach's son, 18 years old, heavyweight, amateur boxer. He's going to go pro. But those guys have been helping me for my last few fights. Sabina Mazzo with you? Sabina Mazzo, she was there for the last fight and she come back.

She say she's gonna move to Connecticut. Okay, from California, I go wherever she is, yeah. She's in California, we looking for place for her, she's gonna move to Connecticut. Are you looking like, okay, you're obviously still looking to fight, no doubt about it, but do you feel like you'll have a role as a coach for a long time when it's all said and done? Yeah, that's my thing, yeah.

Sure. No more landscaping. Coaching. Yeah, that's the thing. Yeah, I put something over there. Even though I don't mind landscaping, I actually like outside, but this is my passion. This is what I wanted to do.

And I'm good at it, and I am going to, yeah, the coaching is definitely the next chapter. I have to say, one thing as a media guy covering your career that's just been so refreshing, to be honest with you, is I never have to worry about Glover Teixeira. You know, Glover Teixeira pulled over for drunk driving. Nope, never going to happen. Glover Teixeira, oh, you hear Glover's mean to the young people in the gym.

You hear about certain fighters who beat up young people. Dude, I've never heard a single, and you know this industry, it's full of snakes. I've never heard one person say a bad word about you. It's kind of remarkable, I have to tell you. Yeah, but this is like something that is just being like, it's not what I say, it's not credit, right? It's just the way we should all be.

You know what I mean? It's not like people, people have to mention that a couple times. They give me credit for that, but it's just not credit. It's like the guys. Yeah, this is normal. This is being a decent citizen, you know? A decent man. What is so great about Connecticut?

I have to say, I don't really like Connecticut that much. Let's do that. I'm not a big fan. I don't hate Connecticut, but Hartford, kind of lame. Okay, you can pick out the arms. To the city, you know? I like the country, man. I like the trees, the beautiful trees. Money is good, you know?

Okay, but here's the thing. You come from Brazil. Now, maybe I'm stereotyping, but I always think of, like, the Brazilian guys. They all end up in Southern California. Half of them surf. The other half are in Florida. How'd you end up in Connecticut? You don't know about that Danbury-Brazil connection.

I guess I don't. I guess I don't. Portuguese or Brazilian. Yeah, I'm from a country in Brazil. Farm work. So, when I come to Connecticut, Sobralia. A lot. Farm work. So, Brilha. So, Bralha. A lot of farm work.

No surfing for me. So, I couldn't go to Florida or California. And over here, they have a lot of landscaping. A lot of landscaping company, carpenter. So, a lot of jobs. And I already knew people from my hometown that was there in Connecticut. I come to Connecticut, you know, got married. I went to California. I love California, man. My favorite place, San Luis

Obispo. That is beautiful. But then I went to Brazil, you know, my wife come over here and then I come back. I was doing my fights, doing camp to find where I was. I did a camp in California, Black House for Rampage. I did for Maldonado there. And I did a camp in Florida. You know, then I was like, after John Jones' fight, I did the last camp in Florida, John Jones. After John's fight, I opened my gym.

I opened my gym. I said, you know what? I'm 34 years old. I've been all over the world. I've been everywhere. Everywhere. I've been in Peter Hart School. I trained over there.

I trained with... Go to Brazil. So many. We drove around Holland. I trained with Pedro Rizzo and Minotauro and you name it. You name it, it was old school and I trained with. And I say, I'm going to open my gym. I asked Fanelli if he...

And I opened a gym in Connecticut. First was just a gym, just like a garage for me to train. And Fanelli was a pro boxer and he was your boxing coach right yeah pro boxer from connecticut he retired and then i asked him if he wants coach me he said i don't know anything about mma man i said just coach me boxing man i'll uh i'll get a guy for wrestling and i just actually bring guys from brazil like King Mo went from one of the... I start bringing guys. I have a lot of, like I say, I have a lot of connection.

I say, I have all the connection. I can call people and they can come over. I know all the people, yeah. So, you know, the first start coming, and then later on, people start coming to the gym. Like right now, I don't have to bring anybody anymore. Platão is there. You know, those kids grow up. I spar with a kid now. He's 18 years old.

But when I first called Fanelli to train me, he was 10. When I actually first ran after Fanelli, his mom was pregnant with him. And now he's doing spar with me. He's turning pro.

He's going to be pro box. Now he's turning pro. Go, Joe, go. Yeah. He's a pro. He's going to be pro boxer. He's 18 years old. I met Fenelli when his mom was pregnant of him. We're old, Glover. We're old. Now this kid's kicking my ass. So, Glover, I grew up not far from the Danbury area in Naugatuck, Connecticut.

And this guy, I'm always acting like it is, man. That shit's just, you know, we're tough there. You know what I mean? We're hardworking. We're tough as shit. I live in Washington, D.C. Glover, could you speak to him about where I come from? Glover doesn't have to prove to me that he's tough.

But you are the one I have a question to ask. You know, I come from the hard scrabble, okay? You can prove that. You've been there. What was tougher, Connecticut or Brazil? In terms of like, you know. No, Connecticut is definitely tough. Yeah?

Take that. There's both different ways. Yeah. Brazil, for me, you know, it's tough to get money, to get things. Right. Right? Definitely in the United States, you don't have that. Connecticut is just tough

Like The cold Those winters bro The winter is brutal They spring That's the other part I came back How do you do those winters?

They spring You think Oh nice day Tomorrow's raining It's windy But hey man You know I bought an ice bath now

I go in an ice bath Every day And It Don't matter how it is outside. I just go in. Now, didn't Danbury, the city of Danbury, didn't they make like a glover to share a day?

You got a key to the city? Yeah, I have the, they did a good parade there. And I have the key for the city. It was amazing. That has to feel like, wow, man, that's like a real, like the community really embraced you. Yes, yes. Community is like everywhere I go. Do your neighbors know

you're a maniac? Like, do your neighbors know that you beat the shit out of people for a living? Yeah, I have the kids that come like, Glover, look at this. I learned this move. They show you all the punches or whatever. Yeah, like me and Brian, basically. Yeah. Glover, you were mentioning all the badasses of Brazil that you trained with. We named them.

You've trained with them. I know you trained with Marco Huas. And I don't think enough people talk about it these days. That guy's a fucking badass. What was that like? I think he should be a Hall of Fame. I agree. If he's not, he will be.

Yeah, but I think he was supposed to be already. If you think about it. Because, you know. Yeah, but I think he was supposed to be all ready if you think about it because, you know. King of the streets. He's a champion. UFC 7. Yeah, he won a tournament. Oh, Marlins, yeah. He is such a great guy and a man.

Mentality of a fighter, man. He is a fighter, man. He is like a crazy. He's crazy. Marco, who is a fighter man he is like a crazy he's crazy Marco who is crazy man he's like he's to get like

you know telling the stories you gotta say every time I sit next to him I wanna hear the stories you know cause back then

in Brazil they used to go to gyms gyms like Hicks and Gracie yeah they go to the gym and they

that's fucking wild yeah and then in the beach and they that's fucking wild yeah and then the beach you know and then he say I guess somebody was telling me hey these guys

is uh wanted to fight with you Copacabana posto posto is you know Copacabana the beach all the beach in Brazil

they have the post you know the guard the guard life post yeah yeah they have the numbers 13 12 you know 11 he's like post, you know, the guard, the guard life post. Yeah, yeah. They have the numbers. 13, 12, you know, 11. He's like, post 11, you know, he's going to wait for you.

He's like, I'm going over there. He's taking a shot off. I went over there. There was a bunch of guys there. He's like, hey, say you want to fight me? Let's do it right now. And he's throwing his sandals out there. It was him by himself.

It was a bunch of guys. But they didn't end up in a fight, you know? Okay, I want to talk about Brazilian savagery because it's, you know, Brazil's fighters have such a great reputation for skill, but obviously toughness. Is there, within the gorillas, I mean, within the all-time great tough men,

MMA champions that come from Brazil, is there a hierarchy in just being a badass? Like, you know, there's the Nogueira brothers, there's Vanderlei, but in that culture, do they consider one guy... Who do Brazilian fighters consider to be the most badass Brazilian fighter? Probably like

Minotauro because of his... You know, it's difficult to say. The Bob Sapp fight was big. So many, you know, but Min difficult to say. So many. The Bob Sapp fight was big. So many, you know, but Minotauri is the most likable one because

all the people look up to him, you know, because he just, now he's an ambassador of Brazil. He worked for UFC Brazil. He's got a steak restaurant too, right? Yeah,

he does everything, man. Guys is like incredible. And I think it's him that all the young fighters they look up more. If you ask one legend, they're

going to say him. But like you say, so many. Marco Rua, Wanderlei, all those guys. They're incredible, man. Incredible. Minotauro is not just for me. Really, it's like all the fighters that I see, they love him, you know? You should tell them what you think about Little Nog. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I mean, Little Nog, he was an elite fighter for sure, absolutely. Yeah, right. Do you think you get the love in Brazil? Do you get the— Yeah, how famous are you in Brazil? You know, I mean, there's a lot of favorite champions from Brazilzil like i mentioned i just named a few of them i mean there's jose aldo there's so many freaking legends but you're one of them now do you get that love do

you feel yeah i feel like uh a lot of people man yeah they uh they're very uh i don't you know not not that popular like anderson silva you, all those guys have because they're different level, you know. But like myself, I feel the love. You know, I enjoy the way it is. Like I say, man, if it's too much, I'm kind of like, I enjoy myself too much, you know. I'm not the kind of guy that like to call the attention, go in and walk around the mall with my belt so people can take pictures, you know? How about the guy that's going to hide

and walk in the past? Do you know what you said? I forget what media day it was, and I was like, I was just trying to find something to talk to you about, and I asked you, like, at a party, everyone's got a role.

Like, someone's dancing on the floor, someone's the guy who's, like, helping everyone get their drinks, and I was there. The DJ. Right, someone's the DJ. I asked you, who are you at the party? Do you remember this conversation? You probably don't.

You said to me, you go, I'm the guy who's drinking whiskey, telling stories. That's who you said you were. Tell us the story. It's hard. We get to waste the whiskey. I don't know if we have any whiskey. Next time. It's harder Where's the whiskey? I don't know if we have any whiskey Next time

Yeah, we just Talk about, you know, the crazy stuff But, you know Stories and drinking And it's just a situation that You say something And I remember something When Chuck did this

For me to come up with something funny or something, it's not my thing. But yeah, I'm like talk about the stories. We have so much funny, cool stuff that happens in the gym. My producer wants me to know, you're in camp, so I'm sure

you're going to say no. They do have whiskey if you'd like some. No, no, thank you. We'll call him out. We'll test them. I'll tell you the story next time. Say what? After you win and defend your belt, come back here. We'll have some whiskey. Yes, definitely. Definitely. I'm talking about so we got Brazilian nuts

on the table, not just because a Brazilian champion is here, but people on our staff sometimes accuse some of these weirdos behind the cameras of having low T, low testosterone. Maybe they're not manly enough. They said, if you eat more Brazilian nuts, your testosterone levels just rise.

I don't think Glover has that problem, bro. I'm going to be all love with that shit if it's true, Glover, okay? Yeah, I don't know. But those are good. They call a castanha do Pará. It's from the Pará, from Lioto State, Amazonas that's a good

I'm going to overdose on those alright I'm going to bring in so much I'm going to be like 2013 Vitor after that I eat too much

of those man why? maybe because of the I don't know you could you could pop dirty if you eat too many of those alright

that's the thing you could grow a third ball yeah that's what I'm talking about yeah oh yeah Glover do you ever look back and wonder if you had gone just the boxing path any of those, all right? That's the thing. You can grow a third ball. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, oh, yeah. Glover, do you ever look back and wonder if you had gone just the boxing path where you would have ended up?

No, not really, man. Probably, like, no, I don't know. It's just I don't think of those things, you know? I'm, like, more like, it's one of those things, like, can you imagine if you leave go back and you can just keep going back to the past and take another path right take another path you know i think at the end of the day don't matter or if i take if i could go back right let's make a movie all right i could go back in 2002 or even 99

before i come here and take a different path in my life you know go which way i go anyway i would be here 42 years old uh maybe not the champion maybe something else maybe an actor maybe a farmer maybe some you know whatever with the same uh state of mind, you know, with the same feeling, with the same gratitude with the world, you know, because who you are inside has nothing to do with what you do outside, I think, you know? This guy's just sweating class. Okay, so then it's true, it's true.

But at least to the question, obviously you want to win your next fight. I mean, I'm not asking that. Yeah. But I am asking, is there any big goal that you haven't done yet in your career? Big one. Like the things that really matter. Because you got the belt. Yeah.

You've headlined on pay-per-view. Yeah. You've been in sold-out shows. I like to fight You know fight in Las Vegas was one I was the first one as I wanted to fight in Vegas so bad because I think Vegas is a college them the new college college him of Yeah, the new the new generation, you know? And I fought there. It's like me fighting over here in New York City,

Madison Square Garden, because I haven't fought in the arena yet and because it's so close to Connecticut. Hey, what are you doing in November? We might be able to make this happen, okay? Just keep winning, you know? Who knows, you know? You're the best 205-pound fighter in the world to many people, but there's one guy, Corey Anderson, who's not a believer on that same level.

You know what I mean? What do you like when you hear that? What do you feel? I say before, I think it was a reporter that told me about this. I didn't know. I didn't see. I don't really look at Instagram too much, especially. Because you're not a trash talker, man.

No, well, Corey wasn't. No, but Corey actually, he called. He texted me before and said he wants to go train with me. And I said, yeah, man, you know, come down. We'll train, get ready, help you get ready for a fight. And then in the fight, I heard he's talking all this, but I see the you know, man,

the position, right? He beat me, and times change, bro. You lost your fight. He got knocked out by the guy I take the title away, you know? He got fired from the company. Now he's in another company

he's doing better but hey I'm not it's not me trying to say is in another company bro he's in the not in UFC if using UFC number second number two in the world or number one I'll fight him, right? But he's not. He's a Bellator, so he's talking about it because he wants the attention. But I don't know. You think I'm going to give him the attention? You said a great quote.

I did. I said, hey, man, if that fight happens, I'll be happy to do it. I'll fight anyone. If that fight happens, they'll be happy to do it. I'll fight anyone. If that fight happens, they want to fight the titles, hey, let's do it. But didn't you say something like, I'd rather watch a cat piss than watch him fight? You had a funny line.

Is that a Brazilian thing? I say, I'd rather watch the birds sing. Yours was much nicer than mine. The birds sing. Yeah, because then look on Instagram the birds thing I take this thing out yours was much nicer than mine yeah the birds thing yeah because then look in Instagram and pay attention to Corey talking shit

you know what I mean alright when when they make a when you say when it's all said and done one day and they make a you know career highlight

of what you've done in mixed martial arts what's gonna be the opening scene of it what's the you know has that fight happened yet or what's going to be the opening scene of it? What's the, you know, has that fight happened yet? Or what's the moment that's going to be the, that's going to lead off

that video? What's the number one moment? What do you mean? The highlight? Maybe the feeling of winning the championship? I mean, what part of your career do you think, first and foremost, that moment above all else? Yeah, I guess you know, have my arm raised over there. Yeah, I guess, you know,

having my arm raised over there in Abu Dhabi, you know, and Cormier come to answer the question, see how that feels, and it's like waiting for so long. And for so many years, you just think like, what would I say? And that question you say, man, it's kind of funny because I always think

that, you know, every time somebody wins a championship, I always sit back the next day, like, let's say every time, right, I watch fights. I watch a fight 12 o'clock at night, 1 in the morning over here for us in Connecticut.

And then I go to sleep in the morning, Sunday morning, I wake up and I always think, how would that guys feel today? Like when Charlie Zubronk is one, when Rosie won the belt, you know? I say, how she'll feel today, you know? Today must be the

best day of her life. And there was, man, like I was explaining, I saw the sun rise, you know, and I went to take a nap a little bit, but then I went to the pool, and I just stayed in the pool, man. It was just like drinking some margarita and just like trying to sink in, you know.

And it was kind of weird because it was like, it was like, I feel really good. And like, but every time, then people say, hey, champ, you're champ of the world, man. I was like, fuck. And they're going to call you champ for the rest of your life. Yeah, you'll get, that's like being a doctor. You're just a doctor.

Unless you get this far or whatever, but. What's up, champ? That's your future right there. And it's well-deserved, and it's well earned, and it's funny, you know, he said to you, what other goals are left? Does your vision of the rest of your career include multiple title defenses, walking

away on top? Do you have any sort of concept of how it ends? I try to enjoy what's happening right now, and keep going, man. Keep defending, of course, to see what happens. But to be honest, I don't

have the goal per se. I just want to enjoy this moment. And keep it like I did it for the fight. When I was there in Dubai, I keep saying this interview. I say, man, I already feel like a champion to be here.

I'm glad to be here the second time, 42 years old. Try again, and I'm going to try, and I'm going to keep trying. But I am enjoying this moment. No matter what happens tonight, you know, tonight, I am a champion for a week because they treat me like a champion. For the first day I got in Abu Dhabi and I told my wife,

I said, hey, if I lose this fight tonight, at least I know how to be, how was the feeling to be a champion for a week because those guys treat me like a champion and I was a champion for a week because those guys treat me like a champion, and I was a champion for a week here. That's right.

But, you know, we want to treat you like a champion and a king. Where's the crown for the king of Connecticut? So here's the deal, Glover. We have a bit going on the show where when we first started doing it, there's you, there's Brian Campbell, and then there's this rapper named Apathy. He's from Connecticut as well. And we couldn't decide who the king of Connecticut was.

This was before you were champion. But then you won. And then me and Brian decided, wait a second, Danbury is celebrating this guy. He's now got the title. Glover to share, I don't know if you know this, but we have decided that you are the official king of Connecticut. And every king deserves a crown.

Okay, okay. There he is. And I'll pronounce you king of Connecticut. There he is. So now I'm the viceroy of Connecticut, apparently. So until you either surrender the title or lose it, you're the king of Connecticut. He is the clown prince or whatever you want to call it.

There it is. The champ is here and you're going to face Yuri Prohotska. Singapore? Yeah, UFC 275. Singapore, man. Yeah, I'm excited. Title defense number one. Ready. I'm excited with the train. I'm excited with everything that's going on. Well, we wish you the best

of luck. Hearing your backstory, man, I give you a lot of respect. Thank you. No one can say anything other than everything you've got you've earned times 10 so congratulations on everything

thank you for spending time with us and uh you know when you win come back here as the king we'll do some shots of whiskey with the king yeah

you guys gonna hear some funny stories the king is out he has left the building