MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Michael Chiesa: Drunk Stories, Welterweight Division Breakdown, UFC Commentary | Room Services Diaries

Episode Date: July 12, 2022

Room Service Diaries is back with a BANG as UFC welterweight Michael Chiesa sits down with Luke and Brian. Chiesa discusses his UFC Commentary Role, breaks down the welterweight division and shares some wild drunk stories. You won't want to miss this one! (1:00) - UFC Commentary Gig (8:30) - Changing Management Teams (10:00) - Receiving Sausages (11:30) - Pre UFC Jobs (13:00) - Spokane Washington (15:20) - Drunk Stories (19:50) - More on Spokane Washington (22:20) - Tattoo Game (27:25) - New UFC Deal & Weight cuts, (34:40) - MK Hosts' T Levels (37:50) - Talking about Mike's Mom (Kevin Lee) (40:25) - Sean Brady (46:15) - Colby Covington (47:30) - Khamzat Chimaev (49:15) - Losing His Father During TUF (51:00) - Juggling Fighting and Commentary (52:15) - Shavkat Rakhmonov (54:20) - Arman Tsarukyan (56:25) - Pressure Coming Off Two Losses (57:40) - Kamaru Usman (58:30) - Favorite Fighters to Watch (60:50) - Chocolate Hummus 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

All white? Do you have the hat on? Just for you, just for you. I knew you were awesome. Michael Chiesa, about to sit down with Luke Thomas. What's up man? Look at this guy, nice to see you. How are you?

Good to see you buddy, how are you? What's going on brother? Good to see you. Good to see you too. I'm really looking forward to this interview. I'm looking forward to sitting down and chopping it up. The ashtray for his douche flute is like a really nice one. I'm sure it's going to get real interesting.

Oh yeah, I'm from the Pacific Northwest. get real interesting. Oh, yeah. I'm from the Pacific Northwest. I tell you. It's IPAs all day. There's also high news that are watermelon or pineapple. What is a high news? There's so many bad times. That's the exact one. He's from the great Northwest.

He's a UFC welterweight. He loves chocolate hummus. But despite all those factors, we love him just the same. Welcome to Room Service Diaries. Luke Thomas, Brian Campbell, and the guest of the hour, the one and only Michael Chiesa. A round of applause for Michael Chiesa, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.

Good to be here. Mike DeMav, real talk, real talk. When we pitched the idea of the show, and this is the first time we're taking it on the road. We're happy to be in Vegas. But our short list of guests, of anybody, was like, we've got to get this guy because he's one of us. Now, in the end, that's an insult because we're absolute pieces of shit, but he's one of us, all right?

I'm one of the, I'm one of, I'm one of, I'm a fine, I'm a fine fan of being a degenerate. So, gentlemen. Thank you, sir. Welcome, welcome. I cheers you. I can't drink alcohol right now, but I appreciate you being here. So, you're in town. Real quickly, are you doing some desk work for UFC?

Yeah, I work the Shurikian Gamrot main event, which, by the way, was freaking the best fight. What a fun-ass, amazing fight. That's the future of mixed martial arts. That fight we saw in itself, and I'm sure we're going to unpack that at any point in time. But yeah, I did work the fights last weekend. I figured I'd just stick around for International Fight Week. How did you get that gig um there was a few moments where i think i i i think i had a post-fight speech where i said something and then i kind of just started chirping about it i think i did a few interviews and talked about it um i actually snatched ariel's mic one

time when he was doing like a backstage interview i was like give me your mic and i started interviewing him and then uh, I think DC, he kind of had something to do with it. He took me to a dinner and sat me next to Zach, the guy in charge of the hiring. Zach Candido. Yeah, sat me next to him and he's like,

hey, do you know who that is? I go, yeah, that's Zach. He goes, no, that's the guy. That's the guy. And I'm like, dude, just got him. I worked with Zach at ESPN a long time ago.

Did you really? Oh yeah, he was the, he was, you remember ESPN's MMA Live, which had an impact, right? John Anika, you know, Rashad Evans. He was the producer of that show. And I was sort of one of the like editors who would see the final product and critique any, any issues. But that show launched so many careers. So shout out to Zach there. But about your broadcasting work, I did want to start there because you're already making a very nice transition, even though

you're in the midst of the prime of your career. career how do you gauge yourself now we say on record we like your work a lot on camera but I know this game as well and how confident are you when you put on the suit and sit there in terms of what you're putting it took some time honestly it took a lot of time because you have to figure out what you're trying to do like when for me you know I eat sleep and breathe mixed martial arts is all I do so when I have to break a fight down dude I have a list of a ton of things X's O's intangibles all sorts of stuff and I can't express all of that so it took me time to figure out like hey you got to pull just a couple things and

stick to those points because when it when I would get overwhelmed myself and they're in your ear and I don't I didn't understand terminology of rap layout all this stuff and so I mean you know Jack john I'm like you gotta rap rap stop talking I'm like oh shoot so once I kind of figured that out and got comfortable man it's been a fun transition and it's so it's very convenient when you're out here like we're you know 80 of my shows are at the apex so it doesn't disrupt training it doesn't, you know, what's ultimately the most important thing, which is my competitive career. But I mean, I just come out and basically work at Death Show and train.

I mean, it's a good advertisement too. Yeah. You know, it's a lot of fun. And, you know, I'm glad the pieces came together for it. You know, my manager had a big part in that too. Shout out to Danny Rube. Shout out to Danny Rube. Really?

He had a part in that? Did he? Yeah. I mean, he's... I'm skeptical hippo eyes over here. He has. You know, he knows what I want. You know, him and DC are buddies.

And so he kind of... I think he did a good job kind of planting the seed for me. And it just... I had to just kind of find those opportunities when you're brushing shoulders with the right people and try and make an impression. Do you want to do commentary? Yes. I will be a UFC octagon side commentator 100%.

That's the goal? That is like... Yeah. That's always been the goal for me. Like, you know, I don't want to just be a UFC octagon side commentator 100%. That's the goal? Yeah, that's always been the goal for me. I don't want to just be a UFC champion. I put everything into this sport, and this is all I want to do. I've been blessed. My trajectory is headed that way. It just comes in due time because commentating takes so much work. When fans bust their balls, it drives me up the wall because these guys takes so much work. Like when fans bust, when they bust their balls,

it drives me up the wall because these guys prepare so much. Like just to do a desk show where you're only highlighting a few fights where I just have a few 30 second B-rolls to talk over and an open discussion just like this. That's easy. But to be there,

to have your facts in the back of your mind written down in front of you, to know their opponents, how they won, and just to have the knowledge to be able to broadcast, to ultimately be the narrator in these fights, it takes so much work. So I hate when people bust their balls. And for me, if that call came now, I'd jump on it. But I'm not pushing for it like I was.

That is when you really... I don't even know how DC did it. For him to be a commentator while he was competing and everything else he does. Well, according to Dom Cruise, the reason why is because he doesn't watch film. Also, we don't do the same kind of work, but when me and BC roll up to the desk, it's usually on a fair amount of edibles, so we just kind of wing it on there. That makes preparation a little bit easier. I will say, though, that the one thing I have about MMA commentary, and it's not specific to anyone in particular because this is just true across the board dude MMA commentary it's all sports commentary

is hard yeah but baseball gives you a little bit of time to like work into it and you can weave a narrative and you're not like on the gun about what you have to do all the time of course I'm sure I'm wrong about some things but MMA like dude you miss so much until you have a chance to kind of review it and think about it and so I so to react quickly to what you're seeing every time and getting it right, it's not that easy, actually. Not to mention, if you're sitting down calling a fight. So I do commentary for LFA. That's kind of where between the desk work

and getting my reps, thanks to Ed Soros. You know, he gave me a shot to be on their commentary team. And those reps you're getting there, by the way, are going to be the most invaluable thing to get you to that next level. It's true. Yeah, but it's good to get comfortable. But it's true, when you're watching a fight, it's hard to stay just staring that next level. It's true. Yeah, but it's good to get comfortable. But it's true.

When you're watching a fight, it's hard to stay just staring at the fight where you're talking. Like, you want to make a point and turn to the guy. And in this sport, it's not like baseball. You hear a guy hit a baseball, you can turn real quick. You don't know what's going to happen. I can turn to say one word and in a flash, a fight could be over and you can miss it.

Even Paul and I were talking on UFC Roundup. Shout out to UFC Roundup. If anybody has a list of mine and Paul Felder's podcast, you want to check it out. It's great stuff. Sorry I'm advertising on your show. God, you suck. Get the fuck out. I told you I was a degenerate. This is what I do. But, you know, he even said he didn't even

know in the moment that Gamrot got dropped to the spinning backfist. On the round four. Yeah, because he was in the midst of a conversation. I was wondering why the booth didn't really react to it. I think there was the angle. I mean, obviously, in that fight, they're firing on all cylinders. But it's like, just like you said, you're making a point or an angle. It's hard to kind of, like a baseball game, you're up high.

A football game, you're up high. You can see everything as it's happening. A fight, you can miss it because of a fence post. You can miss it because of just a ref. Miss it trying to make a point. But yeah, things happen so fast when you're off the outside it's crazy how are the checks for yeah they're good yeah i can't complain i'm i'm fine you're so full dude they're great yeah they're great it's good it's nice you know it's like when the money is stupid money it's it is it's but it's like uh you got to keep it humble. You know what I mean? As much as I want to say it's a career, because I've been in the UFC for 10 years,

I've been at this for 14 years, I do believe it is an opportunity. So especially in these instances where you're working television, the UFC could go from ESPN back to Fox, and they might just be like, we're done with these guys. And that would be out of the UFC's hands maybe. Do you know how much? The answer is I don's hands, maybe. Do you know how much? The answer is, I don't have any idea. Do you know how much Rogan makes?

I have no idea. Why are you obsessed with what Rogan makes? I know. Because, dude, it doesn't get much higher than that. I'm more obsessed with the exact height. I'm going to go 5'3". No, he's taller than that. He's probably about as tall as Rube.

I'd say they're around the same height. So 5'4". We're roasting. He's giving us the middle fingers over here. He's like, yo, I wrestled at Oklahoma. He'll double-leg this shit, all right?

When did you start working with him? You know what? I started working with Danny. It was pretty, it was around the time, I think, I think our first fight

was Benil. Benil was our first fight. So Danny, I met Danny on the road. So yeah, I just met him in passing because he was at a lot of UFC events. I didn't have any friends then, but I saw this guy there all the time. So I kind of buddied up

with him. And he poured in the storm. We hit it off and he wasn't even, he was representing two guys, Matt Grice and Sun Tzu and I think Holtzman came in the mix at one point. But there was no Ruby Sports and Entertainment. There was no management group. It was just him doing this just for his buddies. And I was signed with a different agency

and I was unhappy. And I, so I reached out to him and was like, I know you're not, you don't really manage guys, but I don't trust anybody in this business. You know, and I'm not saying that I feel the same now. You know, I'm good friends with a lot of the managers in this business, but at the time I didn't know anything. I only knew one and I was on the outs with him um and i just asked him i was like we just i trust

you dude and to this day it's like it's it's it's a we we have we have our friendship and that's what kind of forged the business relationship but that still will always come first yeah danny's my favorite because he won't stab you in the back but he will stab you in the face yes he will yeah you know that's tough i don't know danny's background but you but we have this thing like people hate people that do the Irish exit. That's why I do the Lithuanian exit because you tell them in advance, I'm leaving you. I'm getting up. I no longer want to be here. This is his way of saying by the time the edibles have kicked in, he just leaves the dinner.

We could talk to you about a million things, but when people hear Michael Chiesa, they think Spokane, Washington. Yeah. In fact, you probably got some crazy fans. We got crazy fans at Morning Combat. We did a live show a year ago from now in Las Vegas, and it was Luke and I drinking out of shoes. It was intense. These people are crazy.

It was stupid. One guy drove, shout out to Aaron, from Spokane, Washington. Yeah, and he goes, Edgar Meats. I know who you're talking about. You know who the guy I'm talking about. Yeah. If it's Aaron, I'm thinking of. Holy shit, you know this guy.

You know Aaron. What's his Twitter name? I don't know. Well, you're talking about. You know who the guy I'm talking about. Yeah, I think it's Aaron. Holy shit, you know this guy. You know Aaron. Let me see if you, what's his Twitter name? I don't know. Well, we're about to show. If you can slip in this earbud to hear it. You got it. Let's go back to when we met Aaron from Spokane last summer. Yeah, Spokane. Luke's want to remind you that I was the giver and you were the receiver of the sausage. Yeah, that's from Spokane, Washington.

Mike Chiesa. That's pretty much Gonzaga. That's all we got. We don't have anything else. Now, shout out to our boy Aaron, who ran that land Jaeger across the country like it was smoking the bandit. Put it in Luke's hand. Whether or not that man

inflicted his own sauce into it to make bad progress. Luke did eat it and he loved it, but one thing he echoed on Aaron did. That's all we got in Spokane. It's basically land Jaager and Chiesa. That's it. That's all we got. I met Aaron, so he owns Eggers Meats in Spokane.

Great meat block. Great butcher block. Oh, so this guy's legit. Yeah, this guy's legit. We just thought he... The team goes to his... He's got a... We go out to his place to get steaks and stuff.

I had some of the Land Yeager because I was so hungry and it was tasty. But it was just a dude who showed up and had a bag of meat. And I was like, he definitely ejaculated. He's a huge, he's a, no, he's a huge fight man. He's got a condo around here somewhere, but I met him when I worked at Budweiser. You worked at Budweiser? I worked at Budweiser.

Oh, tell us this story. Yeah, I was, how old were you? Full of stories, this is a Spokane story. This is when I was 20, about 21 to 24. It's my last job before I. So you were a piece of shit just like me. I was still working. Yeah, dude, slanging beers. At me. I was still working... At 27,

I was still working in a factory. I'm not kidding. It's a true fact. You're dubbed to you just like us, bro. I used to... When I worked at Bud, dude, I used to get so turnt

every day of the summer. I would go home at night and I would put on my work uniform, my Bud uniform, my shorts and my Bud shirt and I would just sleep on my couch.

I'd go to bed at like two in the morning in my uniform and you gotta be up at five if you're slaying in cases. So I'd be like, boom, shoot up off the couch at five, go right to work. But that's how I met Aaron is when I was slaying in beers. He just, he was, so he was kind of there

like when I was on my way out. Did you deliver beer? I was a merchandiser. So they dropped the beers off at the store and I just stocked the shelves, built displays. Oh, I see, I see, okay, yeah. Great job for DeGeneres. Did you get like product for free? the beers off at the store and I just stocked the shelves, built displays. Great job for DeGeneres.

Did you get product for free? Actually we didn't get product for free but when it came down to company functions, you got your fill. Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick's Day when you work for an Anheuser-Busch distributor. I feel like a lot of young dudes in their 20s want to work in the alcohol industry. I used to work in bars. After a time you're like, this ain't that money. At the time, I'm such a fanboy. It was cool because it's like

I'm working at the Anheuser-Busch playing all this Bud Light UFC merchandise is coming through. So you come to my house and this just looks like a... I want to talk some drunk stories, but to this point... Yeah, I got plenty of them. I have a famous one that I'm sure everybody knows about. I got a fledgling promotion slash gym I'm starting

called Factory Town MMA. Mike Yessir could have been the poster boy. Yeah, he really could have. What is Spokane like? I've actually never been. Dude, Spokane's great. We're on the east side of Washington State. So it's very conservative. So you think Washington and you think it's, and I'm not a political guy, but I'm just saying people think Seattle. When I say Spokane, they think Seattle. No, it's the opposite. The weather's the opposite. The people are the opposite. So you live in the desert part of Washington? No, I live on the east side.

The desert would be like Yakima. How many times have you ever picked a tick off your back or some shit? I just picked three ticks off my dog the other day. Yeah. No, I haven't got one on me yet. But how representative of Spokane would you say you are for someone who's never been? No, I, yeah, that's a fair assessment. Yeah, I definitely, I definitely resemble Spokane, unless you're like a preppy college kid.

I mean, you looked even gnarlier, to cut you off, you looked even gnarlier a few years ago when you had that mini curl, like, mullet going. Oh, there was nothing, that wasn't mini. With the full beard. So, Luke, he represents blue collar gnarliness. Yeah. Give him his flowers. I remember one of the media days, which one, I forget who you were beard. So, Luke, he represents blue-collar gnarliness. Yeah. Give him his flowers. I remember one of the media days. Which one?

I forget who you were fighting. Was it Brooklyn, maybe? The one that I showed up in a flannel or the one I showed up in a fruity little. Fruity. Fruity. Oh, my God. And you had the shades, too, right? Dude, that was bad.

That was, I would not. That's one of the ones. Was that late 20s, Kiesa? That was just stupid, Kiesa. That was just me. I don't even like saying my name iniesa. That was just stupid kiss. That was just me Like I I don't even like say my name in third person It was just like stupidity at the time I'm trying to be like talking shit to everybody trying to stand out my teammate Sam was like I never knew this

So but after the bag, yes, Cecilia was like I cannot believe I fucking let you wear that out in public you you Made me look like a total idiot when I dressed the same. It's like band t-shirts and flannels. We got a picture? Yes, that was it. That was it. They sucked it. I was delusional. I remember I asked you about it.

You're like, yo, this shit rocks. And I'm like, I'm not cool. God, I was a douchebag. Some people would say I still am a douchebag, but I was definitely a douchebag then. I didn't have enough wherewithal to know what was cool, but I definitely did one of these when you were there. No, that was bad.

Yeah, Sam was like, dude, you made us both look terrible. Did your wife make you cut the hair? Or your girlfriend at the time? No, I knew I'd have to sell out at some point to move along in broadcasting. And I think I could grow my hair out now and be fine. But at some point, if you want to play the part, you've got to look the part, too. The famous drunk story with Al Iaquinta. How long ago was that now?

Oh, the tough one. Yes. With the producers. Oh, man. It's been over 10 years. And that was fucking wild. That's like, that day is like when I forged my brotherhood with Alex. He's such a rigid New York guy.

Like, you know, if you ask someone to like stop doing something or quiet down with a New York person, It's like, yo, tune it the fuck down or something like, Whoa, sorry guy. You know, but that day we finally became friends. Like he's a, that was fucking wild. It's crazy to look back on that too.

He saw you at timeshare. No, no, I, there's only one time. There'll only be one timeshare, but it's only like the, the bloopers of the DVD,

which I'm surprised it made that cause we got in deep shit for that. Did you really? I, I was, I got so drunk that day Al we got fine because like Al at some point

like jumped in so you know these guys know like the sound guys with a microphone he jumped in the pool so it like exploded in their ears

and there was one guy this one guy that was an audio guy was a total asshole to us the whole season so we kind of were taunting him he must have hated that job

yeah so the producer Jamie came in I was laying in bed I was sick in bed. I was sick, and I had, like, an empty pitcher. I'm, like, laying on my little twin bed flat on my back, and she comes running up the stairs. She's like, you're in so much shit.

You're getting fined, blah, blah, blah. And I sat up and, like, was like, I don't give a shit. Blah! I, like, puked in the pitcher. Is that... Every time I ask a drunk story, I always need to know in reference where it stands. To what extent is that closest to your rock bottom story?

that was like college kid type stuff that was like you know that's some Junie Browning type shit right there no Junie Browning was a dick we were just having good fun I don't know if I have a bad rock bottom drunk story if there is one I probably don't remember it

which is probably good I've got some real rock bottom drunk so I think probably you have like if there is one I probably don't remember it which is probably good oh I've got some I've got some I've got some I've got some real rock bottom ones you talking about like shit in your pants

rock bottom no I don't I don't have a shit or piss in pants story oh I do have a rock bottom one okay let me talk you go first then

I can't this is still to this day there is a man that works let me let me let me ash my vape before you get going I've been waiting

to keep letting that thing smolder this whole time. UFC Goiânia. I went there after I fought... Brazil. Yeah, I went there after I fought Colton Smith. I went out with Cristiano Marcelo and got pretty tuned up. I woke up in somebody else's hotel

room and I had vomited. I woke up and was like, where the fuck am I? Like, kind of got mad at the guy. And this is somebody that used to work in MMA media. A prominent guy. Oh, no. No. No.

Oh, you said it. They can bleep it out if they need to. Oh, no. Yeah, I don't care at this point. This is so long ago. And it was not my fault. Like, I got tuned up, and I went in the cab and fell asleep. And so they knew what hotel I was not my fault like i got tuned up and they i went in the cab and fell asleep and so they knew what hotel i was in and his last you're lucky

nothing bad happened well i was in good hands because uh one of the ufc employees had kind of came out and kind of guided me home okay okay so i think she was in like the cab ahead of me or something so yeah yeah mine's not quite like that my rock bottom i used to live in new york and um i remember we went out one night too you ever been you've used to live in new york and um i remember we went out one night too you ever been you've been like drinking in new york city at all like not too much you know there's a famous place i don't know if it's still around but it's called hogs and heifers it's where like coyote ugly is kind of based off of because you go in there's like bras on the ceiling and everywhere but it's all biker bar and we got drunk as like we lost one of our friends we you know it

was a whole thing but i remember i don't remember the night and the only thing i remember the next morning is hearing a walkie-talkie and then I got poked with a nightstick and my face is like really hurting because it's laying on a doormat

and we tried to go into my friend's place and I was sleeping on his doormat and my friend was sleeping right in front of the elevator so people had to like step over him

and so they called the cops on us and the cops are like, but my buddy had lost his ID so they're like, how the fuck did you get in here? And we're like, oh, well, we live right here. We're like, well, open the door.

Like, funny story. We don't have the key. And then we called our other friend who we had lost. And he had fallen asleep on the subway. He woke up in Corona, Queens. And on the phone, we just had a moment. With Corona. Probably with Corona.

And he goes, hey, man, is this Rock Bottom? I was like, it's pretty fucking close. Yeah, I think that our stories are similar because it just involves somebody being somewhere

that they weren't intended to be. BC, you got some crazy ones? I'm sure you got some. Yeah, but it, you know,

it ends up with me throwing up on a nude girl. We don't have to do stuff like that. Yeah, that's cool. So Sam Sicilia is, that's an Italian that. Yeah, that's cool. So Sam Sicilia is, that's an Italian name. Yeah, very.

Chiesa is an Italian name. There are a bunch of Italians in Spokane, Washington? Dude, what's crazy is down the street from my house, there's a restaurant called Camelini's, and it's famous because Al Capone actually hid out there back in the day. So there's a little area called Hilliard in Spokane, which actually used to kind of be like the little refugee for Italians from that era. And Comilini's was made as like a hideout because before I kind of live in the back sticks a little bit, like on the edge of town.

But prior to that, it was like totally wooded and it was just like this cabin. There was just this little Italian restaurant for these wise guys, I guess. But yeah, Capone, it's like if you walk in there, it's part of their little history of Comilini. That's cool. Yeah. So I lived like a mile down the street. How close is your closest neighbor on either side they're fairly close i'm on like five acres but i can see their houses you know but i couldn't live with anything less you got yard animals no i just got two dogs and fucking bats i got fucking bats everywhere

there's bat wait you raise them or they're no fuck no i yeah raising bats i hate bats that would be the weirdest the only reason I'm saying bats is because it's summertime and I'm having to deal with them. Like, if you're having this talk in the winter and you have pets, I'm like, no, just two dogs.

But since it's summer and I can hear those little fucking things creeping around, they make weird fucking noises. Wait, correct me if I'm wrong, I interviewed you years ago. Did you not build

a log cabin or some shit? I bought a log cabin. You bought a log cabin. Still living in it. Yeah. What's it like living in a log cabin? It's the same, right?

You got insulation and shit? No, it actually naturally insulates itself. It's crazy same right got insulation and shit It's you know, it's it's actually naturally it insulates itself It's crazy The only spot we lose a little bit of the heat or the cooling is just from like the joint there the joists because you got You got a seat window units you got central. Oh, yeah, I got nice central you know, so you dub to your shit Yeah, the window most of you Johnny Hendricks and Brock Lesnar the most American fighters of all time I do want animals, though, dude. I want, like, a donkey, you know, and, like, a goat.

I want to raise a highland cow and, like, not butcher it, just have a pet cow. Like, imagine if you pulled up to someone's house and their cow is, like... Yeah, that's weird. That's pretty weird. That's looking sick, though, dude. You've seen that? I mean, my sister tried that bit for a while where they had people, like, raise chickens in their yard.

Like, oh, we have fresh eggs every day. It's like, yeah, you got fucking chickens rolling around your fucking joint. Yeah, okay, all right. No kidding. Dude, my neighbors have... What a city boy. In the city, you can't have roosters. Oh, you got fucking chickens rolling around in your fucking joint. Yeah, okay, all right. No kidding. Dude, my neighbors have, in the city, you can't have roosters. Oh, you got chickens there,

tough guy? You can barely mow your yard. You have a riding mower. Well, that's because I broke the riding mower, all right? Okay, all right, yeah. Have you ever lived

next to someone with a rooster? Have I lived next to someone with a rooster? No. Probably because you guys live in the city. You're not supposed to have a rooster

in city ordinance in most cities. Since I'm right on the edge of town, my neighbors got like fucking five of them. There's nothing worse coming home from it. Yo, I'm in the city. You're not supposed to have a rooster in city ordinance in most cities. Since I'm right on the edge of town, my neighbor's got like fucking five of them. There's nothing worse coming home from a rough night

and you're trying to go to bed and the fucking rooster starts barking. And there's cocks everywhere. Yeah, Luke knows that. It's like college. He's five years old.

I don't know if I told you that. That's who he is right here. Yeah. We can talk about him as a fighter as well, Luke. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I want to get

to know him, fuckface. And a very interesting fighter. Not only because he arguably has the best tattoos in the game, which Luke, it matters to Luke Thomas, okay? It's like him and Josh Edmond

atop that mountain. Do you have like one guy you go to? Now I do, yeah. I'm going to branch out, but yeah, I stick to my one guy. Like, he's a good friend of mine. Yeah, but do you feel like

you might have the best tats in the game? Do you walk around with that BDE? Sean Brady's got good tattoos, too. It does. do you feel like you might have the best tats in the game? Do you walk around with that BDE? It does. And I like his commitment to knowing what all those things are. Because in this day and age, especially in the fighting world,

some dude will have a fucking koi fish. Like, what's that mean? They're like, strength. This koi fish is the symbol of strength. Like, Brock, what's that sword? His body tattoos probably tell a story. He could tell you why each one's there and why it serves a purpose. Like, I'm biased. I think I have the best because I'm not i'm not into japanese stuff like that that's cool

i'm not against it but i have a fucking sasquatch on my arm which is 100 pacific northwest with a fucking abominable snowman on my thigh like those are my i guess those are my dragons yeah that's awesome this is my dragon this is my samurai i don't fucking know they make you pay for them um he did this one for free because i i put together a shadow box with some signed gear That's awesome. This is my dragon. This is my samurai. I don't fucking know make you pay for him He did this one for free because I put together a shadow box of some sign gear for his son's ski team And then I paid for this one and I'm paying for it dearly because have you ever had your ass cheek tattooed? Oh Answers no not yet. Oh, that's the plan. He sends me a picture of male ass all the damn time on text. So mine's not full cheek, but like my, so my Yeti comes up like, you know, fuck it. If we're going to get naked. Yeah, let's see it.

I mean, I don't know if, I mean, you know. Getting naked. Woo! I haven't even had a full beer. Unfortunately, this fits the show perfectly. So you can see where it comes up my cheek here. Yeah. So I only got like bottom cheek.

Dude, I was like every, every 10 minutes, I'm like, you got to give me a break. And he's like, no. Like. You didn't use the numbing cream? It's, well, here's you didn't use the numbing cream it's well here's the problem with the numbing cream it makes your skin firmer so when you're getting a lot of color it won't absorb as well so like he'll get acid I feel like weed makes it worse yeah I mean you can't drink I feel like it tattoos are meant to like you gotta just hunker down you gotta be a real just deal with it like I just is

the only one I've ever gotten that was with tattoo cream but the other i've had see yeah so like when you when you pack on a lot of color like they they shade over a lot of raw skin so once he kind of pounds in the ink that's like the i don't know the darker stuff he'll put some cream on to get me through because it's like imagine getting to explain for people with tattoos imagine getting road rash okay and then you go home and instead of putting a banding on it, you start scratching it. A little bit, you scratch it some more. It's like, it's not fun. It's liquid fire. It's liquid fire.

Did you see Andy Ruiz, the boxer? Yeah. So he got all black and gray work, and then he was complaining to Canelo in Spanish, because he got his whole ass done, the whole joint. He basically got the anus, too. So his literal complaint was that it was hard to wipe his ass because it hurt from all the tattooing. See, that's not good. That's not good at all.

Yeah, I'm not here for ass tats on anyone. Thank you very much. What is your take on the most controversial tattoo debate that we've ever had on Morning Combat here? Which is? That, you know, good old Father of the Year candidate, Mr. He-Boss, when Amanda got her UFC debut and she got a win by choking out Spitfire Whitmire. Yeah. Dad got the tattoo of that moment on his forearm, dad and coach, for the rest of his life.

And I showed it to Luke and have you seen this shit? Just trying to celebrate, you know, like the late Kobe Bryant, he's a hashtag girl dad, right? Okay, what are you doing? You're so awful. Okay. I got to, I got to, yeah. He's like, like this dead person that was famous once.

What I'm saying is, could you overlook the fact that maybe it's not the highest quality technical work just because this man loves his daughter, right? This V is for my daughter, so I understand that. It's a little banged up. It's a little banged up. That's like, if you're going to get that tattoo like it's you can't just the gesture counts but like you gotta go see someone good to get a portrait of one face alone is tough yes but to get three of them in it yeah that's it's it's that's gonna cut that yeah i admire the gesture but i think that that's gonna turn into are you gonna have kids oh man i get that question a lot

these days yeah mid-30s bro i know usually from your elderly female relatives, not from a man. Everybody thinks we're nuts. We don't want kids. That's a fair point. We don't want kids. It's just not in the... No? I just, dude, I'm like, I'm so involved with this.

Like, I've gone this long. Even the wife doesn't want to? No. See, we're very career-focused. We're very career-driven. And as wild as I am... That means you must have awesome dogs, then. My fucking...

Oh, fuck, yeah, dude. I have a dog named Stone Cold. Oh, that's pretty bad. Do you stunner him all the time? No, but he stuns me with his fucking fat ass. He's 40 pounds. He stuns me with his little obese round body. And I got a big King Corso blue.

Oh, did you buy from like a breeder? He's going to judge you. My wife did before. He's going to judge your ass, no. Yeah, I know. Mutts are cool. I grew up with mutts. I got a couple from the pound, bro. Did you? couple from the pound bro. You mean street? Yeah, that's where we came from in life from the dog shelter

We came from the dog. Yeah, Jake the camera guys been to my home. I got picked up by the Humane Society. Yeah, right That's the dog. Look at him Let's talk about your career a little bit. Where are you in terms of your existing fight contract? How many fights you got left on it? That's a personal question. Yeah, no. I asked Matt Colley about brain damage yesterday. Yeah, I guess that's fair.

Yeah. We re-signed a new deal. Recently? Yeah, recently. Yeah, after the last fight, too. I'm happy with it. Very happy. Yeah.

Can't complain. So how many... Okay, I'll ask this way. How many years do you think that would take to complete? It depends on my body. That's the tricky thing for me. Are you super banged up? I'm not super banged up.

I just have, you know, back in 2016, I dealt with that. I had a little back injury. Or actually a big back injury that pulled me out of the Ferguson fight. So that kind of has come back kind of baring its teeth a little bit. So the biggest thing for me is, you know, I have to learn to, when you're young, you take more chances. You fight when you're injured. You kind of roll the dice a little more. When you get older, it's like, is this really, I got to make sure that I get this thing taken care of before I acquire another injury through a training camp.

You're always going to go in there banged up. But you also don't want to get to your moment and be hurt for it, right? Yeah, well, you're always going to be. I can't tell you a single fight that I've not gone into with some type of injury like it's to the point where like if i haven't gotten hurt of in some way that's significant in a fight camp i'll get to fight week and i swear to god i'll be panicking i'll be like something bad is going to happen when we're cutting weight or doing something stupid i'm a twist of finger like i haven't gotten injured yet you just always kind of expect it maybe that's bad maybe it's manifesting it i don't know but at this point it's like make sure your back is healthy this is important like i love as much as i love and admire

i want the career this is a perfect example i want to have the career that forrest griffin had won the ultimate fighter won a ufc belt has moved on and he continues to work with the company he's basically an ambassador part of it yeah he's kind of an ambassador i want that career but i see the side effects of like just maintenance going into fights injured like he's you know he he left banged up you know and he'll talk about it openly all the time so it's like he'll even harp on me stretch more dude take care of your body if you're injured if your shoulders fucked take care of it don't don't you know yeah you don't put that dd don't put band-aids on things that need stitches basically just kind of really if something's bad get it Fixed so that's the biggest thing for me is making sure I'm healthy when I get back

How fucked up were you all those years trying to make lightweight? Like what was the I mean, I know there was losses attached to it, but yeah, I'm there But like from a physical standpoint, can you describe at what point you were like man? Fuck this this is not fucking worth it It was it was that last cut because for me It's like he just I kind of when I started MMA It was like still the kind of I was called the military when I started training. It was that last cut. Cause for me it's like, he just, I kind of, when I started MMA, it was like still the kind of, I always call it the military Jared. When I started training,

it was like hard sparring every day, hard weight cuts, 10 rounds, hard weight. Everything was very extreme. It's a very extreme sport. So I was still kind of riding that up until I started to kind of get a taste of getting older, having your bones get a little denser,

having not being able to lose weight as easy as you, as before. Like I used to leave for fight week and have cheesecake with my family before I go to fight. We can still make weight. Is that smart? No. But that last cut for Pettis, man, I just, I came in too big. It was dealing with an injury and just like, you always kind of feel like you're walking to a very extreme situation. Like weight cut days, always like you really dread it more than, more than anything. What was the most you ever cut in a day? I always did good, like,

Day of or whatever? Day of, Day of weigh-ins. I never really had big cuts, but I remember before I fought Joe Lozon and Mitch Clark, I had some real,

and Jim Miller. I mean, and everybody. And every fight you ever had in a weight cut. Every fight's attached to some fucking

bad weight cut story and shit even at 170 now it's like I only had one cut that didn't feel like a cut it was the first one now it's like

it's not as bad but I'm just saying it's what's your weight right at the moment oh I'm proudly like 203 like

wow like I can't grapple and spar but I'm going through a lot of like you know strength conditioning I'm still lifting weights I'm not gonna fucking I don't get these biceps sitting on the couch

yeah as I'm solid as I'm pushing them up but yeah so I'm doing what I can you know and I like maintaining size I think that that I think that that's another thing too is when you're when you're cutting weight all the time and putting yourself through it you acquire more I think my back problems I had came from there's no doubt There's nothing good that would be comfortable I'm trying to do power cleans and stuff While I'm trying to cut To 155 pounds That's how my injury happened

Did you ever talk to Chris Lieben about his weight cuts? No I had him on my show, this was long after he retired Or maybe he had come back for the BKFC And I had talked to him And he told me he's on pills the rest of his life to regulate his endocrine system. Because he fucked up everything so bad from weight cuts, his body can't regulate it anymore. See, and I'm glad I got out when I did.

Because I feel like I was getting to that point. The Pettis fight was like, at that point, everything had to be perfect to make weight. You have to be, at this point, during fight week, you have to be at this point during fight week you have to be injury free it's like everything has i mean literally no cheat day that would screw up well before there was a lot of cheat days i was just young and stupid but like as i started to get older and more like most of all i started falling in love with lifting weights i never did before you know so i'm trying to get stronger and trying to get stronger become a better athlete but while i'm depleting myself those two things passing by each other fucked me up so i had the back injury tried to come back

and i did against kevin lee but i was like i'll do no strength conditioning i'll focus just on martial arts skills and look what happened it's like no if you're a grappler if you want to be a power grappler if you want to take guys down if you want to dominate positions get submissions you can't be a skinny little bitch like so in order also like to lift weights you do have to eat like yeah and i didn't and i didn't understand that you know so it's like even a guy like charles olivera the greatest submission artist we've ever seen his skills are really shiny as he's like gone up in size like he kind of is a i feel like as a grappler you're always like i need to be as big as i can in the lowest weight class because that's what's best for me because I want to take guys down and blanking them.

You know what I mean? But here's one of life's greatest mysteries. No, it's not true. It's better to be bigger. You went from being a big lightweight to being like the biggest welterweight. Yeah, that was the thing. It wasn't like there was like, well, he's okay for this weight class. I remember that Kimura you had on Condit.

Yeah. Your fucking back looked like a turtle shell. I was like, whoa, where did this come from? It's crazy. Well, dude, from that, that was getting with the regiment. Like, I was kind of going renegade style, looking up YouTube workouts to do to lift weights. And I had a good guy kind of taking me through it, but I kind of went off on my own and coming to the PI. Like, getting in a regiment, like, my body was like, if I'm going to do this with these guys, like, you've got to make a choice.

And, yeah, the Condit fight, I finally bloomed up like i've got to take creatine creatine's like i can't believe i've gone this long word from mcguire bro i never got to hit the creatine until i was like 30. i didn't even know dude really well i just was never like 20 years old you can't take it you're gonna get too big so it's like no 20 years old i was swallowing every pill at gnc possible yeah how bad is that for your kidneys? Did you ever have any moments where your kidneys just felt like they were just dried up and dead? No, I never had. I mean, I'm not. You probably trained way harder than I ever did, so I never got to any points of extremity like that.

But I was at GNC when they were still selling ephedrine. Remember ephedrine? It was killing baseball players. I was like, that's the one I want. It was killing records, old records. Hold on. They want to offer you more beer. I'll do another beer.

I think I threw my cup somewhere over here, though. If we can get one of the gas. Why don't you keep nursing that stupid red drink? What is this? It's like some mystery. You took the label off. Is this Polycosta's juice? Oh, no. Yeah, it's a Merlot with

green tea in it. Okay should make a energy drink, Holocaust. Okay, I'm such an old piece of shit that this has green tea in it to keep me going during the show because we're all people. Bro, let me explain something about aging. None of us are pro athletes. But in the way you're at now, 35, feel about the same. 36, you know. When you age in the way you're at right now in your 30s, it's arithmetic. When you're at 40, it's exponential. What are you, 40? It's exponential. You just hit the wall. I can't tell you how different it is. I may dress like I have high T,

but I don't think I do at all, to be fair with you. No one thinks you have high T, just to be very clear about that. Dude, do you guys take, I don't mean to ask, I mean, if Luke's going to ask me how much fucking money I make,

I'm going to ask, do you guys take tests at all? I'm thinking about it. Dude. Yo, you're talking about him cycling on a 2013 Mohawk VTOR style victory run of life, bro.

You know what I mean? He's going to make a run at powerlifting. No, no. I don't want that. I just don't want my back to hurt when I brush my teeth anymore.

That's really... That's my fitness goal. That'd be nice. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Have you thought about it I mean obviously you're fighting so it's So this is something you think about, you know, yeah, you know, I've been thinking about seeing a dog

I mean, I mean in the next chapter of your life. Oh, dude. Absolutely. My body's gonna be so fucked I mean, that's just the reality like even if I stretch and do everything right at some point I'm gonna it's not like I'm gonna wait till like this day. I'm out of the USADA pool It's like it'll be like is once I start to fall apart and like I can't train and I can't do I'm going to wait until this day I'm out of the USADA pool. It's like, no, it'll be like once I start to fall apart and I can't train and I can't do. I'm like, I have a very physical lifestyle. I like to grapple. Jiu-jitsu is a big passion of mine. I'll always do that.

I like to snowboard. I like to do things like that. Once my body starts giving out on me, I'm like, all right, well. Are you a less dangerous, in terms of your own personal safety, Donald Cerrone? Yeah. I was going to call him specific Northwest Donald Cerrone. I'm just going to nail that. Look, man,

maybe we're slightly covering the same cloth, but I couldn't snip that guy's jockstrap. He's a fucking lunatic. That guy is fucking, his stories are insane. He did a UFC countdown show

and like, the first five minutes they're filming, they had a camera guy in his brand new Raptor and he fucking flipped it. Like, the first five minutes. I'm not even in

that guy's ballpark like but you ever seen you know the Meow Brothers in Jiu Jitsu yeah you ever seen that famous picture

I don't know if it was Joan or Apollo but you ever seen the picture of his hands yeah and the arthritis in the knuckles because those guys

were big in Gi they did no Gi too but they were really big Gi grippers yeah if you guys have never seen it Google Meow

it's spelled M-I-Y-A-O and you see his hands and this is a picture they took in his mid to late 20s and the arthritis is you cannot believe it if you've never it's like having big pickles for fingers they just look all big and bumpy and i can't even you it's like how do you still grip it's like when you see an old jujitsu guy like a carlson gracie he moves kind of slow yeah they limp but when they get on the fucking mats his hands look bad dude but i bet when he gets to grabbing yeah i went to a meow seminar like a Carlson Gracie, he moves kind of slow. Yeah, dude, they limp. But when they get on the fucking mats, his hands look bad, dude,

but I bet when he gets to grabbing... Yeah, I went to a Meowth seminar, and I saw his hands, and I was like, what the fuck? But dude, then he would just get on the mats and roll, and it was like nothing ever happened. That's those OG jiu-jitsu guys, dude. Those guys are old-school cowboys, man.

Dude, they really are. Those are just fucking real men. Like Marco Huas, real men, right? King of the streets. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, but you're entertaining the... Stop, just just stop okay Just just don't be a bitch all right

Mike when I you've you've you've got actually a sneaky good resume And I don't think people always realize when they put the club like I mean you'd be fucking RDA like yeah Like you still got it. Yeah, you've done. You've done some really good things, but you also had that viral moment of Kevin Lee Oh, yeah, let's talk about my mom. Yeah, we're not gonna talk about your mom today, so people yeah I was gonna say you're lucky I had a beer too, because I would have perked right up. Motherfucker, people care about that. It was a moment.

Did you ever have any doubt that you were going to just fucking go make that moment happen? I know. That was just, you know what? In hindsight, good old Kev, good on him for knowing how to get under my skin. Like, that's the one nerve you can strike. I'm a pretty cool-headed guy.

And granted, lightning would not strike twice. It wouldn't matter. Somebody could go full Chaos Covington mode and start saying some volatile shit, and I'd keep my composure. But that was the first time I'd ever dealt with that. We're like, wow, someone said something that actually got under my skin.

So I got to give Kev. He might say some stupid-ass shit, and I still think he's an idiot, but I got to give him his kudos. He got me good with that one. Is that the only time you ever had an opponent who you were just like, man, fuck that guy? No. The crazy thing about Kevin is we actually trained a little.

We were not like we worked together, but we were in the same room at Syndicate a few times. So everything was like pretty cordial in passing. And literally up until the press conference, like I saw him beforehand. I'm like, hey, you know, handshake, walk away. Everything seemed fine. But the second the press conference started, I think we were both kind of raring to go. Like I said earlier, I was wanting to be a douchebag. I was like, I'm ready to get on the mic and start talking shit to guys.

That's how I'm going to get to big fights. And that was like my first time trying to do it. And I attempted and I got like, I got 10-8'd. He talked about my mom and I literally ran at him and got punched. That's the worst part, dude, is I literally ran at the guy. I was like, don't you talk about my mom. And literally ran at him and got punched. That's the worst part, dude, is I literally ran at the guy. I was like, don't you talk about my mom. And I'm the guy that got punched. I'm like, you fucking dumbass.

Did you get love, though, in certain circles for that? Are there moms that stop you on the street and they're like, thank you? Oh, dude, I'm a high school wrestling coach. So I'm around fucking cool-ass wrestling moms all the time. And they were like, yeah, way to stand up for us moms. I'm like, fuck yeah. I'd do it again. I don't give a shit.

And it's something like when it happened, I was like, oh. It's not one of my prouder moments. But as you get older, you kind of play into that role of those comments. Like, look at Poirier. He's like the king of it. When people throw shade at him, he's always like, he'll go with it himself. So now it's funny to me. And I'm glad it happened.

It's always funny. My mom, on my 30th birthday, got me a shirt made me a shirt made like don't you ever talk about my mom? No, we took a picture and then we soon I sent it to Kevin tagged him I was like a happy 30th birthday to me, you know, so I kind of play into it now But he 10-8 to me fucking beat me 2 to 0 the fight and the press conference. It happens. Yeah, I know career That's a fuck. All right. So but let's speak of which do you you want to and the last two you've lost to yeah Where do you think you are? I mean, obviously you're still ranked. Yeah, where do you think's a tough career. That's a fuck. All right, so speaking of which, you won two, and then the last two you've lost two. Yeah. Where do you think you are?

I mean, obviously you're still ranked. Yeah. Where do you think you are in your career right now? Dude, I'm one, I go out there, it doesn't matter who I fight, I go out there and beat anybody and show who I really am. I mean, you were like a dark horse title candidate at the moment. Yeah, I was right. Once you switch to sort of beating guys that weren't.

Four straight wins, you know, and the Sean Brady fight's one I can hold my head high on. You know, like nobody wanted to fight that guy. And, you know, I took on that challenge. And I don't, I feel like he legit beat me. But I wasn't, it's like going through the fight, still staying in it, having my moment at the end of the third round. You were like Valentino against Amanda in the first fight. That's what you were like.

He legit beat me. That's the first time in my career where I just feel like he got me. You know, I didn't, every other fight I always feel like I beat myself. Like, I went into that fight very active. You know, this is coming off, you know, the Magni fight, Luque fight, Brady fight, three camps in a row, three camps where I'm healthy, feeling strong. He just, he got the best of me. But every other fight, it's always like I beat myself.

There's something I did to myself. I mean, it's always something mental. myself there's something i did to myself i mean it's always something mental it's always okay i want to hit that where something happened it within whether it's within the fight or just something that's where it's always been because you were honest about that after the luke lost because that luke fight was the moment i thought you were coming on yeah and there's still time and you're still coming on i do i'm not sweating those but bro what my point is away from all this, bro, my point is... I'm one fight away from all this stuff, all the last two fights that go over and get washed away. It looked like you were ready to seal it. Yeah.

I liked your honesty afterwards. What sort of happened in that moment? I think, for me, this is the instance of beating myself. It's not like I'm a mental midget. Like, I've shown in my career, I'm one of the mentally toughest motherfuckers you'll ever see.

Like, it's the times when I've... It's mental choices I've made within the fight that have cost me. Like, hey, go for the finish. Just really trying to push that push on the gas, kind of dealing with the stress of wanting to put an emphatic finish on this win instead of like, hey, why don't you just go out there and beat the guy like you beat the last four? Do what you did before. And I just kind of got away from myself wanting to try to capitalize on a big moment.

If I went 5-0 that night, this would be a really interesting conversation. Because at the time, I was kind of in the mix to fight Kamaru just from word of mouth between him and Ali. So it's like, that could have got me into the dream spot. You were the only one that hadn't fought him at that point, so I thought you could have potentially made a real leap. Yeah, you know, and just, I made a,

it was a bad mental decision on my part. You're in an interesting spot at Welterweight right now because you got a lot of guys that are kind of hung around for a little while. Your Colbys, your Jorges, Kamara was obviously

still at the top but that cannot, for anybody, cannot last forever. No. And then you got a bunch of young guys, Shumayev,

Rachmanov, Brady. Yeah. It's an interesting time in this division. It seems like there's a new class starting to slowly push

the other ones out. People want to know which class are you in. The one that's going out or the one that's coming in. I'm right in the middle. It is kind of a weird thing. I don't feel like the veteran,

but it's like, fuck, I have been here for 10 years and maybe it's good that I don't feel like the veteran. I still very much feel like a hungry up-and-comer. I feel like it's probably

how Clay Guida feels. Clay Guida, I've never heard him say at any point he's laying off the gas from not wanting to fight and get to a title. And he's still, shit, he was on a good little streak himself recently. So, yeah, dude, it's, I've already hung in there with one of the best up-and-coming guys, if not the best. Sean's as good as it gets.

What was it, tell me what it was like fighting him. Because it was funny the way the fight played out. You actually had some success on the feet. Yeah. I thought that it was going to be, I didn't know how the ground was going to play out but i thought i was surprised at how much success he had and not anymore now that i realize like whoa he's really really good fucking he's gorilla strong like that was one of those that was one of those instances where like i said i i'll be as open about any of my fights wins or losses more

importantly the losses um yeah i just i did not think that there would be a guy that would feel like that like that guy has to be he has to be the strongest guy at 170 pounds that doesn't mean he's going to go out there and do the same thing to guys like chamayev or kamaru i'm just saying for that aspect of mixed martial arts skills or just skills in general that guy is so fucking strong we had him in studio and he, it was, I was, the only other guy I've ever seen like this, you ever see Evander Holyfield in his prime?

Yeah, traps up to here. where they almost rotate forward by virtue of how muscular they are. That's what he looked like in person.

Dude, you can, I mean, you know when someone's really strong when you look at their back. You'll never see somebody that's fucking freakishly strong

that does not have big back muscles. You ever heard the, they can have fucking skinny arms and legs but if you look and someone's got a big back... Ian Hynes has Jurassic back. Yeah. Dude, it's the... What did Matt Brown say?

The front is for show, the back is for go. Yeah. It's like more cushion for the push. Sounds like... It's an LBB thing, Luke. You know, yeah. But the Sean Brady fight felt good to have success on the feet, though. I will say this.

That was one of those fights where I kind of knew going into it, this is the one, let's pick Adam on the feet and then kind of force him into trying to make those engagements, but not in an offensive way, like a defensive way. Let's pick Adam until he's like, fuck, I'm done with this. I want to grapple now. I give him praise for the win, of course. But there are critical fans who feel like maybe you exposed him to a to a certain degree do you buy into that that's tough

to say like um you broke his nose first right away yeah and he told me he had to swallow blood and it was incredibly distracting i mean he fought through some shit i believe that but i do but i still i believe him in that sense i broke my nose in an amateur fight before and i know it's like to have to fight when literally your blood is pooling up in your mouth and you're spitting it out. Yeah, I feel for that because I've been there, but I still don't think it would have changed anything. I still think I would have came on.

It's fucking hard in a fight to ride someone's back like that. Your body gets gassed up. Maybe not your lungs. It's your body just starts to kind of give out. I've had fights where I've body-triangled someone for 10 minutes in the third round. It's like I'm almost on chicken legs and I haven't even gotten punched. So I still think the nose didn't make that big of a difference.

Where do you think Colby deserves to be ranked? I realize where he has been ranked. But the big argument against him is the last relevant win was actually Jorge, who is certainly much, much, much older. And so, honestly, who the hell knows what's going to happen with that whole shit between them and the court case. But I'm not saying we don't take him seriously, but I do wonder to what extent do you think that there might be a bit of an inflated sense of where he actually is. That's a harsh reality he's going to have to face because the stick doesn't really sell you know it's like for me it's like you're not going to be able to use that and get yourself in any more bigger fights you're going to have to now

fight somebody that isn't has been in a pay-per-view main event that hasn't fought for a title you're going to have to fight a guy like or maybe i mean the only other one i can say would be like a gilbert burns like why don't you fight gilbert burns he's he's been in a high profile fight that's not an easy fight. Good luck fighting that gorilla. Him and Brady would be a fun fight. But it's like, at some point, you have to realize,

if you want to keep competing, you're going to have to fight someone like me. You're going to have to fight someone like Balaw. You're going to have to fight somebody like Chimaev. You're going to have to fight somebody that's not as marquee as these other guys. That's not saying... it's just a harsh reality. I think Colby should call out Chemaev. And while we can say what we want about his chances in that fight.

Yeah, good fucking luck. Dude, that's a potential big high-profile situation. That's not what we're here to do, though. We're not here to like, he's the only guy that that's actually a real scenario where you look at him and say, wow, I want to shy away from that fight because he's so tough. A guy like me or Bilal or Brady is like, we don't care. That's the hottest guy on the market right now.

I want to fight that motherfucker. How is he not jumping to that? You've got to face the challenge. If you want to maintain your spot in this sport, if you want to maintain being Colby Covington, the guy at the top of the division, you've got to up the ante. You've got to fuck, and it was right in front of his face.

He could have went and fought Shamayev, and even if you go out, as much as I think he's a fucking dork, and he's got me sitting up out of my fucking chair, it's like, the way he fights, he's a tough son of a bitch. Like, he would go out there and give Shamayev a fucking fit, if not beat him. So that's just a reality. Shamayev could very well beat him, but I'm just saying

Colby should have taken that chance. Because if he's the first guy to hand him his loss, he's sitting on top for a wide room. He puts him down. Guess what? You jump Leon, you jump everybody else, and you can sit atop where you think you are for the next two or three years.

There's a win and a loss in that fight if it goes that way for Colby. There's a win for taking that fight. And we know from interviewing Gilbert Burns, it became like the highest traffic thing we ever did. Because people were so in on Chumaya because he's glowing right now. Yeah, that's...

Our biggest one's actually Floyd saying, beating Conor is easy. Well that's because Floyd sent me to hell over that remark I had about his resume. He did, Floyd did send you. This guy, in Floyd's face, challenged him about the weakness of his resume. You know what I thought was I had an opportunity.

Floyd didn't love that too much. I had an opportunity to make magic on the mic, and I knew it, so I went after it, all right? You know what I'm saying? You fucking went for it. That's a hit. Seriously, what is your proudest victory? Man, I would say, yo, you can't beat RDA.

That win was nice, dude. No, it will always be. That's a good win. It's a no-brainer. It'll always be the Ultra Fighter finals. I mean, dude, that's my mom's birthday on the end of that. Was it really? That's cool.

That was my mom's birthday on the end of that run I had dealing with the passing away of my dad and stuff. Like, that was like. 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. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from Real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit Superstore.ca to get started. I don't even think, and I still, the ultimate goal is always win a world championship, but I really think that when it's all said and done after I do it,

and I compare the two moments, the ultimate fighter one will always be the best one. That was like, you can't beat that. It's like a book was written, like, oh, your dad died, and now you're going to go fight on your mom's birthday. It's like a Disney movie. Well, I fucking lived through it, and for me and my family, that'll always be like, it was like Bambi. I don't want to pry, but I. I don't mind.

When my mother passed, it was sudden and tragic and unexpected. Yeah. Did you have a similar circumstance? No, my dad had cancer. So before, I actually didn't go, I almost pulled back on The Ultimate Fighter because I knew my time was limited. So I was like, do I want to go through with this or do I want to be with my family? And he was just like, you got to go do this. Like, I don't care. So I was like, do I want to go through with this or do I want to be with my family? And he was just like, you got to go do this.

Like, I don't care. So I had this. So I literally, the last time I saw my dad was at the front door of the house and he was just like, this is it. Like, and then a week later he passed away. And you were on the show? I was on the show. I won my fight. That was a gift.

I won my fight. I forgot about all of this. Yeah, I won my fight to get in the house. Then my dad passed away the next day. Like, within hours of after my fight. Like, hinged on long enough to know I won

he didn't see it but he was like but that's a dad move that's like a gift he gets that's what the dad's supposed to do that's your final moment

you know when the day comes and I wake up in my hotel room with a world title sitting on my end table and I compare the moments that'll never be beat

forever that's like that was huge for me I gotta say though I wonder how the pressure feels to win now that you are in the commentary business a little bit. Like, you know, they obviously, I'm sure they're not going to be, it's not a question of, oh, if you lose, you're out the door.

But it can't be false that they don't want you guys to win in those roles. Oh, man, it makes the team look good, you know, but it's one of those things, it's more, you shine through your performance. You shine through being, there's a lot of guys you could put up there with really high credentials. Like, Daniel Cormier is one of the rare guys that has the best credentials in the sport, but he can speak really well. No disrespect to Henry Cejudo, one of

the greatest fighters we would ever see, but he would not be good on the mic at all. It's a little cringy. Have you watched Eagle FC? No. I'm on mute. Love Chael, though. Love Chael. Chael's a born star. It's not all about

having the accolades. It's about performance. You get the opportunity, show that you can speak and show that you analyze these fights and you take it serious. Most importantly, take yourself out of the equation. It's like you can't assert yourself and this is what I would do or this is. You give your analysis with you outside of the equation.

And I think that's hard for some fighters because it's always about how would I beat this guy, especially when you're doing things involving guys in your weight class. All right. You can send me to hell for this, but you're open enough that I want to ask you. I said before, you know, man, I'd love to see Colby call out Jumaev and do it now. What if someone said, I'd love Michael Chiesa to call out Shavkat Rakhmanov or someone like that and do that right now?

We're on the same management team. Yeah, that's not the one for me. For him, I'm not the one going to call the lower-ranked guys out anyways. I'm still sitting in the top 15. I'm not going to. That, for him, why would he? That has to be a title fight, you're saying? That has to be a title fight?

No, it wouldn't have to be a title fight, but it would have to be. A more organic pairing. Something more organic, something worth more. Still. More than just a fight. What did you make of his performance? It was nice. He's tremendous.

I mean, we would have to go tit for tat as to who's the bigger Rachmaninoff, man. I think the guy's tremendous. I mean, we would have to go tit for tat as to who's the bigger Rachmaninoff, man. I think the guy is stellar. I mean, it's like in the world, Chuck Full of Hamzat Chemaev, like there's this guy lurking in the shadows that to me is better than he is. Like I think they have the same skills, but when you watch Shavkat fight, he has bulletproof composure. He might not be as funny on the microphone and have his viral moments, but Yul Raburnas couldn't get him to break stature and fight reckless, like the way Hamzat fought him.

Like he should have fought a little more, like his coach was saying to him in the corners, like quit trying to brawl, be more technical, put the jab in his face, those types of things. Rachmaninoff, you could do, say or do anything. That guy is so composed. Luke was the Howard Cassell for him to Ali. Luke was day one-ish

that this guy's coming. First time I saw him, I was like, whoa. And I'll tell you this, too. It doesn't matter what country you're from, if you wear dead animals on your head, you're a different motherfucker. He still owes me a hat, by the way. Danny's on the other side of the scene. They say that about my hat in Alfred, too. Think about any culture you've ever seen, including ones in the United States

with Native American populations, where they wear animal pelts. Dude, that's a different level of dialed in right there. Oh, dude, for sure. Not to mention, those are authentic. That's a real wolf on his head. It's not like you can fly through the airport like a coonskin cap, like, oh, this is cute. I'll just buy this little wolf hat.

On my way to the United States, like, heck no. They go out there and skin the thing out back and tie her up. I know he's out, he obviously is from Kazakhstan, and he's with Sanford MMA. Yeah. But you guys have the same management. You ever train with him at all? I haven't, no.

No, okay. I'd love to. I want to train with Armand. Armand was just here in Las Vegas, and we eclipsed each other. That's another kid that's Sarukian. Dude, his balance on the single leg when Gamrot was... I was... I just...

My mouth hit the floor. I could not... It's like wrestle porn. It's like going for the high crotch and running that pipe. Shut the fuck up. You are the worst human on earth. He does this all day. But in reality, dude, was that not, that was just next.

I mean, it's hard to explain, but it was so athletic, skill-based, intense. And Gamera, by the way, not relenting and finding it in the fourth and fifth rounds. Like an unbelievable teacher like that unbelievable that was just a display and I know that's kind of been the narrative after the fight is that was really

the display of like the next generation of fighting that we get to look forward to like that's that's what fights are going to look like going forward

like that was something special for anybody that's a fight fan just to see that display but to that like it just was so dynamic like everything

on the ground and the exchanges was dynamic the single leg defense was dynamic the exchanges everything was just kind of like a step above almost like in a progression type of sense like wow this is the this is the progressive level of mixed martial arts like we get to look forward to down the road and it's just like dude i i openly said it if i was 25 when i when i was 25 in the UFC, and I had to fight him at 25, I'd get fucking thumped. I would have gotten my butt kicked. Also, the energy expenditure between those two at 155 pounds,

you just don't see that a lot. No, I talked to a kid that trained with Gamrot at Tiger, and he said that that guy is just the goer. He's the guy in the gym that just endless gas tank, notorious for just having good cardio. And that was like next-level conditioning, dude, because everything he did was a big move. Like even the entries, the takedowns were big moves.

The escapes from bottom, like Armand's really sticky. He's got like more of the Dagestan style, where Gamrot just wants to scramble all over guys. I'm like, how is this guy not toast? Like how many back bridges do you do to get out of those positions it's crazy who are sorry go ahead BC I was gonna say you you clearly got a lot of work to do and you're ready to come back and I can't wait to find out who you're fighting next but um you can beat anybody on any night you've shown that flash without question so do you feel you know extra pressure right now in pressure right now in this comeback to your next fight?

The shitty reality is I've been in this position before. I know what it's like to have to go into a fight on two losses. And it's something that there's no more, there's no higher amount of pressure I can put on myself than what I already do. So like it being two losses, I put the same amount of pressure on myself. If I'm, if not more than I'm, I'm on a win streak, you know, it's like, it's not like I feel like I have nothing to lose, but I've been here before. Like it's like what Chael said before, like in order to win,

you got to know how to lose. And that's a reality. You got to know how to like, that's brilliant. It really is. You have to know how to lose. And I, and fortunately I've, I've, I've got to live that. I know how to handle this type of scenario. So does that very well. So come fight night, you got to live that. I know how to handle this type of scenario. Max does that very well. So come fight night you've got to just

put it behind you dude. Especially if you when you spend enough time here and you put on exciting fights it goes a long ways. When you bring

your best product that's the most important. And I ask it to you that way because when I think of you getting back to the top which let's be fair you're a couple wins away

I mean you're right there. I could be one win. I love your style against Usman. I just want to see what it looks like. You know what I'm saying? Like, do you think about that same thing when you watch him defend his title? Yeah. He's stylistically, he's one of the more intriguing matchups for me, for sure. Like it's, it'd be interesting to see somebody really have to bring out the wrestler in him, like really try to be able to get him to stay engaged in some wrestling scenarios. Cause he's pretty springy. Like he's a guy, you get him to the floor, he's gonna bounce up if you even get him there.

But is the wrestler in you like, yeah, I wanna see that, I wanna feel that, I wanna see how I do. Oh yeah, absolutely. Those are always for me the more challenging fights and the ones I run towards most. Like the Brady fight was like, fuck this guy is supposed to be the better grappler.

I always wanna challenge myself against a guy that's a good wrestler or a good grappler. Like that's always, it's kinda like the style I have is I always want to challenge myself against a guy that's a good wrestler or a good grappler. Like, that's always, it's kind of like, the style I have is the style I want to challenge myself against. I feel like it's the most,

it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up a lot more when I got to go. As a fan of the sport, who are the fighters you like, as a fan,

as a fan, you just like, love to watch? I'm a big Izzy guy, Saryukin guy, Rachmaninoff guy. Ioana, Ioana, man. Izzy Ioana guy.

I'm a big, I like Shavkat a lot, and I've been on him for a long time. I do like watching Aljamain Sterling fight. I enjoy watching, I like watching Adrian Yanez. That's Luke's guy. Dude, I just interviewed him. We had a 45-minute interview about boxing and MMA. Dude, he is a fuck.

That's impressive. That's another one of those guys you throw in the categories with the Sarukians and the Gamrots. He's showing that next level of MMA that's going to be the norm. He's 28. It's a paradigm shift in where the sport's headed now. Back when it started, it was like the jiu-jitsu guys. Then it's the ground and pound guys. Then it's the strikers that can wrestle.

Then it turns into the athletes. We've had that for a long time the george st pierre is the athletes of the sport now we're starting to see the athletes that can blend the techniques at the same time like israel adesanya amazing martial artist but he's also a fucking phenomenal athlete i bet he could do a very a lot of athletic things on a track field you ever seen him dance like no bullshit yeah even in the way he dances. But now we're going to see the more extreme version of that. We're seeing that in Adrian Yanez. We're seeing it in Armand Saruki. Like, it's just crazy. Yanez said something to me that kind of caught my attention, too,

which is you think about, like, the next-gen guys, his generation dudes. He was telling me, like, how many times he encounters people. The word he used was they're stupid. They can't compute. They don't have thoughtful offense and the early generation of mma has had a lot of aggro toughest shit some skills no doubt about it but now you're getting the guys who are real like dude floyd you can say whatever you want about floyd fight iq off the charts oh maybe the smart seriously yeah one of the best guys with fight IQ, especially in a sport when you can,

you can lean on that a lot. In MMA, and this isn't me taking a shot at boxing, but in MMA, you can't, you can't just lean on having really high fight IQ.

It's like, there's too much stuff going on. There's too many things to compute. Yeah, Dustin Heasler would have been a champion if that was the truth.

In a boxing match, you could have very high, Floyd, yeah, he's got the highest fight IQ for a boxer. I wouldn't say for a fighter, but for boxing, I think that's the easiest. Bud Crawford's up there too. Bud Crawford's good, yeah, he's got the highest fight IQ for a boxer. I wouldn't say for a fighter. But for boxing,

I think that's an easier... Bud Crawford's up there, too. Bud Crawford's good. Yeah, he fights from both stands as well. You know, Michael Kies is up there, too. Yeah.

I'm working on the fight IQ. Get the fuck out. What are you doing here? Get the hell out of here. All right. Here's one thing, though. I mentioned... Well, we brought it here,

so let me just bring it up. You're a disgusting person who eats... I'm actually hungry, a disgusting person who eats disgusting things. What is this experiment we got going on? So let me explain my side of the story. So one day, I don't know how I found out you ate chocolate hummus, which is just, I wouldn't hit you because you kicked my ass, but I do want to hit you over it.

Because you're Lebanese too, right? My mom's from Lebanon. And so here's why I want to pitch this to you, because you are Italian, and you know with Italian cooking, what's the secret to Italian cooking? They don't have a shitload of ingredients, but what they have is all high quality. Like you have the right tomatoes, the right pasta, Middle East by putting fucking chocolate in your hummus? Well, for one, I didn't put the chocolate in the hummus. This wasn't my idea.

I just happened to be at Fred Meyer passing by, and I got some pretzel chips in my cart. And my fiancee, now wife, saw this chocolate hummus, and we're like, let's give it a go. Let me explain something to you. We fucking love hummus My mom I'm telling you passed away a long time ago, bro And you're a pro fighter and you're a pro fighter Yeah, if my mom was around and she saw this she'd beat your fucking ass believe that Beat your ass. I'm gonna make you try this. All right, I'm gonna eat it. Oh

Is that good? It was probably like a dessert look you're gonna eat first of all, you don't even hummus with pretzels Just number one off the break. you're doing this all wrong. I want to point that out. Somebody's been watching Cooking with Vol. Get a decent amount. That's a decent amount, right? That's good, yeah. Sorry, Mom.

Don't. Oh, God. I'm going to sit here with this bag for a while. Oh, my God. That's a lie. Yeah, yeah. This is all for show. This is good for TV. I love good. I need a frasher.

This is terrible. This is good for TV. I love this. Dude, I cannot swallow this. Yeah, swallow it. It's good for you. Do you eat fucking cigarette butts and rose salt? What is wrong with you?

It's like, Michael, what are you eating for your weight cut there? Banana peels. No, chocolate hummus. This is delicious. Oh, my God, dude. That is so fucking gross. Let me wash it down with my energy drink and my refined palate. That's really bad. I want you to know that. It's really fucking bad. No, it's like the dessert. It's just like, it's delicious. Michael, I gotta tell you, you're one of a kind, dude. You're a

great asset to the sport. You're a funny dude. You're a smart dude. Take care of your brain. I mean that quite sincerely. Yeah. Because you're using it to great sport. You're a funny dude. You're a smart dude. Take care of your brain. I mean that quite sincerely. Yeah. Because you're using it to great effect. Thank you, sir. And when do you think you might be back? For me, I think early fall would probably be the most realistic. I've got to make sure I just, like I said, when it comes to my body at this point,

I've got to dot my I's and cross my T's. I've got to make a real run at this, and I can shorten that by not making sure that I take care of this. So like third, fourth quarter of this year, you're thinking about coming back? Third, fourth quarter, yeah. Well, we can't wait to see it, man. I can't wait to fucking get back in there, baby. You were on the short list when we thought of this whole concept. Get this man a drug rug already.

Yeah, get this man a drug rug. Round of applause for Michael Kies, everybody. There he is. UFC welterweight, UFC analyst. Anything you want to plug? And complete degenerate don't forget before we go

anything you want to plug no just shout out to my fans my family I always give Danny a shout out not just because he's sitting on the other side

also we gave Danny a ton of shit he's a great manager he's one of the few reasonable people in the sport and honestly your success

is not accidental either well it's somewhat accidental but that's you know okay yeah that's all I got but thanks boys this was great hope to do it again. Well, there you go. Room Service Diaries. We're out.

Bitch.