MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - Urijah Faber Talks TJ Dillashaw, Fighter Pay and Losing McGregor fight in 2016 | Room Service Diaries

Episode Date: August 4, 2022

Room Service Diaries is back with a BANG as UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber sits down with Luke and Brian. Faber discusses why didn't get the Conor McGregor fight in 2016, how to fix fighter pay and much more. You won't want to miss this one! (1:10) - Family Life (3:05) - Career Longevity (7:15) - Being the Face of WEC (9:50) - California Life (13:40) - WEC Mount Rushmore (15:00) - Jose Aldo (18:20) - Managing Fighters (21:30) - Fighter Pay/MMA Unions (29:50) - Being an Entrepreneur (37:20) - Tattoos (38:00) - TJ Dillashaw (40:30) - Song Yadong (44:00) - Maycee Barber (46:00) - Mike Malot (48:45) - Chris Holdsworth (49:30) - Neurological issues (51:25) - Josh Emmett (55:15) - Almost Getting the Conor McGregor fight in 2016 (61:30) - Reflecting on his MMA Journey 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

What's up guys, Uriah Faber here. Just about to do this interview. Mr. Faber, Mr. Faber in the house. I've done interviews with those guys plenty of times in the past and always a good time, man. You got a weird drink? I've got a weird drink and I've got an unopened bottle. This is what it looks like when Andre the Giant would hold a beer can or a full beer. We don't care. Here to talk shop and have a good time.

Let's get this. Let's get it. Room Service Diaries. Let's go, baby. Boop, boop. Well, there are three dads in this room. Two of them are washed, and one of them is an MMA legend. Can you figure out which one's which?

That's Brian Campbell, Luke Thomas, and this, welcome to Room Service Diaries, is Uriah Faber. Uriah Faber, everybody. Round of applause. Let's hear it for him. Thanks for inviting me to your room. That's kind Campbell, Luke Thomas, and this, welcome to Room Service Diaries, is Uriah Faber. Uriah Faber, everybody. Round of applause. Let's hear it for him. Thanks for inviting me to your room. Yes, welcome to our room. We class things up. At least there's one girl in here.

You guys are pretty standard for you guys. You got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven guys, one girl. No big deal. You know, we had Michael Chiesa on this couch, and he might be a great fighter, but he's a dirt hole proper like one of us. We classed it up with Mr. Faber. Yeah, he's better than us. You know what I'm saying? How you doing, Uriah?

I've been good, man. Dude, you stay busy. You're just from one lane to the next, but it's just a switch. It never seems to slow. Yeah, I'm kind of wired like that. I feel like I need to just keep things moving, and I get antsy if I don't have enough going on. And the kids, I do that.

Dude, congratulations. I mean, you put them on social media. I see you have enough going on. And the kids, dude, congratulate. You have, you have, I mean, you put them on social media. I see you have beautiful, beautiful family, man.

Thank you. It's, it's been a lot of fun, man. Those kids are the best. So, uh, Rome is now 20, a little over 20 months and Callie is,

you know, three years and a couple months. And yeah, but you were telling Luke running the show and this will break his heart again. I know that since you've had became a dad, your wife, uh, by the way, I just want to point out before you finish, he's the only dad I've ever and this will break his heart again, that since you've had, became a dad, your wife gave birth. By the way, I just want to point out, before you finish, he's the only dad I've ever heard this from. I believe him, but it's just crazy.

You get better sleep now. I mean, Luke can't keep his daughter out of his room. Luke, some people have given tips, like maybe just put that foot down. Yeah, these people can shut the fuck up. They don't know what they're talking about. We put our daughter down in the other room, but I don't want to lock the door, so she does the whole Velociraptor Jurassic Park bit, turns the knob, and then she comes into the bed at 2 a.m., and then she just, you know,

it's kung fu fighting. She's kicking and punching. You guys don't have to deal with any of that? I actually, they're still co-sleeping for the most part. So if they don't go down with me, they'll go in their own beds and then come in with me, but I'm fine with it. And so, yeah, that's what helped with it. And so that's what helped. But yeah, that's what I'm saying.

I get more sleep now than I ever did because, like you said, I'm going all the time. My brain, it's hard to shut off. Maybe I have just more of an ease about more contentness going on. You're happy. Yeah, dude, you're happy. On top of less of a hustle and more less, not less ambitious, but just makes you prioritize things better. And so I can sleep better. I'll pass out.

It's terrible for my teeth. Like I said, I pass out without brushing my teeth all the time. Me too. I told my dentist, I'm like, dude, we need to do something about this. But it's been great, man. It's been awesome. Time's changed, Uriah. But you're great, man. It's been awesome. Time's changed, Uriah, but you're timeless, dude.

Like, you know, you came in with the gimmick, and it worked, and it was who you are. You're still that dude, man. I mean, you're not far removed from still being a very competent UFC fighter at the same time. It's like there is something ageless about your longevity. You still have that youthful spirit. I mean, there's a cheat code into your genetics. Maybe.

I think it's from my parents. My dad is like Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky. You know, I get more jokes about the 50-year-old skateboarder than anything from, you know, since Conor McGregor said that. And I was like, my dad, he's 69, but he's more the 50-year-old retired skateboarder. Love it. Well, look, part of my times Change joke was that, you know, PC standards change. We have to correct and update.

And obviously, dude, we're like the same age here. So the California kid may have to go despite his branding potential. I'm going to be 44 in July. Okay, so I'm an old piece of shit. Okay. So I'm thinking we just graduate to the California dad. No harm, no foul. Team Alpha may have a great gym,

but in this day and age we may have to go team alpha Non-bondary gender and I think that'll work on a t-shirt already changes its team alpha MMA Oh, that's right. We've got the website still says team alpha male, right? Well the Instagram and you can't change the instant But uh, it's team alpha MMA there it is. We have alpha males you have alpha females We have alpha whatever you are. There it is. Changing with the times, but still the same.

I was thinking about this the other day. Are you glad you came up in the era of MMA you came up in? Because you look at MMA today, it's unrecognizable from when you got in it. Obviously, you had a ton of success. It was hardly some failed venture. But I guess I'm wondering, now that you see it from an older perspective and how everything's changed, would you want to be starting out in this era or are you glad you started out in the era that you did?

From a monetary standpoint, I see both sides of it. Obviously, getting the prize, being the best fighter in the world at this point in mixed martial arts space, it would be the ideal thing to do it now. But I was also a pioneer back then so i got to experience everything that's happened in mma and have businesses along the way and i've worn every type of hat it makes me like a real expert i've been uh you know the poster boy i've been the champion the contender like had slides i've been a manager i've owned clothing companies i've done, you know, entertainment

stuff. And all along the way, you know, managing guys. So I had multiple gyms. And so I've learned so much. And for me, that was pretty valuable in the big scheme of things. So I'm glad. No regrets. No regrets. Not even one letter. We call a lot of people a legend, and sometimes they're not a legend. We just heard one of our guys in the background go, you know, Rio Iro was the first guy I really gravitated towards

when I first started watching MMA. He's a Showtime boxing guy. And so many people still say that today. So, like, I mean, do you kind of get off on that? Like, you know, I was kind of like a day one. You were the first star of the lower weight classes for sure in MMA. mma but like you were people's entry point into this game across the board did does that still resonate with you it does i mean i hear that a lot especially for like females or old older women like like my mom loved you like that kind of thing like like seven-year-old one room like well that's kind of cool i guess you know not ideal but uh i i was friendly enough and said hi to my mom enough and i never got bloodied

up or gory on my side at least um maybe that was part of it but uh i think the history of how the wc was resurrected from a show on the Indy Casino to bought by UFC, Zufa basically, and then it was to free TV, and then I was the hot ticket at that time. 100% face of it, yeah. And they had just rebranded the outdoor channel to Versus, and so it went from people rowing boats in the ocean

and bike riding to this combat show. And so Versus was promoting just WC cage fighting. And they didn't have much of the programming at the time. And then I was the main guy there. So my fights were playing all the time for free. And that wasn't the case back then with UFC. It was a lot of pay-per-view cards. And it was harder to get a hold of.

So my fights were just playing and playing and playing. So I think that helped out a lot too. I wanted to jump in and not lose this moment. When you were that guy 15 years ago, the face of non-heavyweight MMA, the face of the WEC, was it hard not to start living the rock star lifestyle and drinking your own juice at that point? I know you're probably not making the money that allowed you to say fuck you,

but at the same time, did you live it up outside of the cage? Well, you probably know this story, but at the time, I was nose to the grindstone. It wasn't like I'm out. And I remember I had a buddy, one of my best friends,

who's like biggest supporter, big hater. He'd be like we lived together when I lost the title for Mike Brown and he like gave me the silent treatment in my own house

like that's how much he loved me but also was emotionally a mess and so as a married man we know that we've been through that

so he's like I'd be like see him in the hallway at the house he's like what's up that's a little shitty though right well it wasn't his fault he's emotionally, I'd be like, see him in the hallway at the house. He's like, what's up? That's a little shitty though, right? Well, it wasn't his fault.

He's emotionally, you know, wasn't right. Couldn't handle that I had lost and whatnot. So, you know, at that time he was telling me, you need to go to this gym and you need to go to that gym and you need to do this and you need to do that. And for me, I was just like, I'm building it here. You know, I'm going to be here and create something that is bigger than me and that was more my focus that time it wasn't about like going and living it up i was like building a team and building a uh you know

setting the rubrics for what what it is now or the the you know the team that we have now and the setting that we have across the globe i mean the the team is known across the world you know, the team that we have now and the setting that we have across the globe, I mean, the team is known across the world, you know, in Japan and China and Brazil. Our team is one of the biggest teams on the planet, so I'm pretty proud of that. I mean, they didn't have DMs back then, but, like, you know, they were probably knocking. They were probably knocking on the door.

Let's be fair, okay? To be fair, I've never had an issue with females, you know, in junior high, high school, it wasn't like, it was like a weird thing, so it wasn't like all of a sudden I'm like, oh my gosh, now there's a bunch of females. I was focused. Right, we can't imagine a reality like that for ourselves. That's why he asked that.

Why do these nerds always ask me the same question? He's like, yeah, it just never really changed. Right, see, for us, it would be a big difference. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, all right. Well, I was able to stay focused. Yes, I understand that. It's interesting that. Right. See, for us, it would be a big difference. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. All right. Well, I was able to stay focused. Yes, I understand that. It's interesting that you never left Sacramento.

There are certain guys, like Greg Jackson was like, I'm in Albuquerque. You're in Sacramento. Some of the guys from South Florida were from there. Obviously, they have a lot of transplants. Was there ever a time where you ever got close to being like, maybe I need to... Why was Sacramento such a gravitating pull for you? I know you're from there obviously but like so many people uproot and go to where the action is you kind of just made the

action yeah Sacramento why was that important for you um you know it's funny the way you are you have a pride about where you come from from a young person I remember you know and I didn't have a lot of money growing up but uh I enjoyed myself. You know, my dad would drop us off. He'd go to work. He'd drop us off at a pond or a river, and we'd hang out the whole day until we got off work. And, you know, I'm just familiar with the whole place. And so you always have this pride about where you're from. And then there's a time when you start making a name for yourself where the town appreciates you back.

And then it really makes sense of why you stick to your roots a lot of times. It's the same with the people you surround yourself with. You don't go... I remember Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta would sit down with guys that they knew they were going to throw into the limelight and say, hey, don't drop your friends, don't do this, don't drop your friends. Don't do this. Don't do that. Cause that happens a lot. People think they need to change everything up. Um, there's some, you know, the people I, I'm surround myself with are some of my best friends from elementary school, from, from high school, from, from college and, and from my MMA journey. Um, and that's important. That's, that's grounding, and it just never appealed to me to go change everything up.

To what extent were any other forces, gyms or businesses or whatever, trying to recruit you out of Sacramento at any point during your journey? You know, if you wanted to go pursue entertainment, out in la would be good i actually had uh a place out in la for a couple years and at the right time where i was literally uh i was a ball on a budget i on that time for sure i had a uh there's a jet service called surf air and one of my business buddies had had like pre-bought in a corporate deal with it and he could apply a couple of people so for like 500 bucks a month i had a jet service out of sacramento and my other buddy had a place at the w hotel paul shown and i had stayed there after

one of my fights after i fought scotty jorgensen here um we were trying to save the kings and we did a tour into la i stayed at his place and i was like hey man how much would it cost to upgrade this to like the badass one like over the pool and he's like i don't know look into it it was like 1100 bucks extra on top of what he was paying it was fully furnished and everything and so then i bought my brother-in-law's chevy nova for 7,500 bucks it was a badass car but just an old junker you know and so i had like a jet service for 500 bucks a month i could just get on a plane and go to go to la go to santa barbara go to las vegas go whatever they had flights daily i had a like a badass car it cost me 7,500 bucks in la and i had a a pimp ass hotel like at the 1600 Vine with Logan Paul and all those guys. They were all there at that time making their names.

And so I got my little taste of being out there. And I lived out here in Vegas for Coach and the Ultimate Fighter three times. Jesus. Once against Dom, once against Connor, and then helping Cody Garbrandt out. And I've done traveling all over the world it's not like i'm haven't seen the world you know it's it's uh i've got a place in mexico i've got a place on the northern coast but i just like home going back to wec for a second who's the mount rushmore of of like the romanticized look back at what that meant to watching MMA at that time. Who are the top four WC dogs?

Who do you think, whether it's their personality or their performance in the cage or whomever, should be up there? You. You're up there, dude. You're up there. You're the face. Probably Anthony Pettis, Cowboy Cerrone, and Jose Aldo. That's not bad. There's a couple other names. See, here's the thing. That's not bad. That's not bad, but maybe you've got to make some room

because the first time I remember I got friends to watch non-UFC MMA with me was your fight with Pulver. Oh, yeah. The Pulver fight. And that fight was

record-breaking for WEC. So, I don't know if you could put Pulver on the WEC mantle in the same way you could for Cerrone and Pettis. Well, the one thing is, I mean, Pulver needs to be in the UFC Hall of Fame.

I just saw somebody tweet about this because he was the first UFC champion at 155 pounds. Beat Penn. Beat Penn. Damn. Beat, what, did he beat Cal Uno too? I can't remember who all he beat, but he was knocking dudes out.

And then he went and had a boxing career. And then they brought him into the WC, but he was a UFC guy. So I don't think he's on the WC, but he should definitely be on the UFC on the mark. But it would be you, let's see, Pettis, it'd be Cerrone,

and it has to be Aldo. Isn't it amazing he is still going? I know Cowboy's still going. It's amazing how young he is. I know, but see, it's like, okay, Pettis is kind of doing his thing in the PFL. Maybe he'll win this tournament. I don't know, but you know, he's losing and winning up and down a lot. Cowboy, I think it's fair to say, is probably pretty close to retirement. Dude, Aldo is still giving these young bucks problems. At a lower weight class. I love that guy. I always said

I thought he was the best pound for pound guy. And, you know, Conor derailed him quickly. But for 12 years, he was undefeated in that time. And between his gifts as an athlete, his focus, I've talked to a guy that stuck to his roots, you know. How hard is it to fight him, dude? Because you fought him at your peak. Yeah.

And that's when he was also incredible. What was it like where you're just like, fuck, man, this guy really is that good? him dude because you fought him at your peak yeah and and that's when he was also incredible what was it like where you're just like fuck man this guy really is that good well you know they were saying a big thing about the speed i i felt like i was faster than him in the fight and in the first round i feel like i was i was doing really well and as soon as he got a taste of that and he just went right to the to the went right to the leg kicks. And I literally, I sat down in the corner after the first round, and I remember I knew that the leg kicks were going to hurt,

and I was going to try to push kick instead of check most of them. Worked on that a lot and moving my leg out of the way. But there was a huge softball hematoma after the first kick, and I couldn't bend my leg very well, so I was like, what the fuck? I wasn't factoring that in. That changed your strategy a little bit. Yeah, like his kick will change your body and your body's function, and so in retrospect, I probably should have done a lot more checking and less getting out of the way and push kicking. It's funny because at the time we're recording this,

it's UFC 276 fight week, and so there's this debate about like, oh, is Volkanovski or is Max going to win? And obviously the winner, by some people's estimation, would be the featherweight goat. But I actually asked Max about that, and Max said, no, it's still Aldo by a landslide. What do you think? Yeah, I think so.

I think it's Aldo. I mean, look, even the fact that Volkanovski and Max, there was no doubt when Aldo was the man that he was the man for that stint. Mike Brown, he was a legit guy, amazing coach now. People don't know how good he was at WC. Yeah, killer. He was very good. Mike Brown, if Mike Brown was a little more outspoken,

he'd be one of the guys everyone's talking about. Understated guy, but Aldo took him out like that. He was a tough guy. Took out a lot of guys like that. Was that Cub Swanson he took out? Yeah, with the double knees. Double knees. Nine seconds or something.

Double knees. That one Mendes fight, he fucking... I know the second fight was great but the first one the first one yeah and Mendes the second one

was friggin that was awesome but yeah so I think so okay nevertheless though I want to talk a little bit more

about what you're doing today so I noticed there was some big news again at the time of this recording it was yesterday I saw I think it was

Evelyn Rodriguez had reported that you are now managing Devison Figueredo. Yeah. That's correct, right? Yeah. How did that come about?

So I don't know how many people know my story or whatnot, but I started MMA Inc., which is one of the top management companies for a lot of years, managed Anthony Pettis and TJ Dillashaw and Chad Mendez and Chael Sonnen and myself and, you know,

Joseph Benavidez, Scotty Jorgensen and the whole gambit back in the day. We were one of the largest management companies for years. And my partners, Jeff Meyer and Mike Roberts, decided to wrap it up around the time they took sponsorships out of the UFC. And it was just not fun for them anymore. And at that time, I still had a need

for functioning management partners. And I stayed helping guys like Josh Emmett out and a few hand-picked people that were on our team so that I was still helping out with on the management side. But I was the founder of that company before anyone knew who I was. I started managing guys back with Scott Smith and James Irvin back in the UFC.

James Irvin, haven't heard that name in a while. James Irvin's the man. He works for me at UFC Gym, runs both my gyms. Is he still jacked as shit? He's the scary guy. People don't give him respect. His flying knee knockout of Terry Martin still stands the test of time. I've got that picture up at our UFC Gym, Rockland.

James Irvin, like, understated guy, does mitts all day, runs a whole crew of people that he oversees, and he's a killer. But anyway, so I was doing that management for a lot of years, and once that died out, I really needed help. And so I've been doing a bunch of different things, and I met up with the Vayner group, you know, AJ Vaynerchuk and Gary Vee. Everybody knows Gary Vee, and they're such a professional team.

Lloyd Pearson is running the MMA segment of that. He has Josh Emmett and he has Song Yedong and myself. And so I work with them as a team. And Figueredo is a guy that's trained with us in the past. Because Cody was dropping to 125, it was kind of an awkward time to have him come back because he'd been making short stints down to train with us. And we always had a great relationship. And so when he said he needed help, and my jiu-jitsu instructor and longtime coach

and also someone that helps manage the Brazilian side of our team, Fabio Prado said he wanted to talk to me. I said, yeah, absolutely. And we had a great talk and I think he's got a lot of potential and could do some big things. And so I'm happy to have me as part of the team that's going to help out a world champion get his. One of the things that was brought up to my attention, at least in reports in the media, and again, those were what they were worth, was that he had some issues with, he wasn't getting paid enough. And I saw some of the payouts that he got, and they

were surprisingly paltry. Now that you're on the management side, having already been on the fighting side, I'm going to ask this sort of broadly. Not even so much about Devison per se. What is the solution to increasing fighter pay? You mean it's not crypto?

Not right now. Well, first off, the pay has gone up tremendously since back in the day, as you know. But we need leverage, I think, with more legitimate shows coming up, with more options, even the fact that like habib's got his eagle promotion he's actually paying guys decent and then you've got the the pfl which is kind of a partnered with the ufc it seems like with on the espn side we've got um but they're fighting for

big dollars you've got one f, you've got Bellator. But I think more than that, it's gotta be intelligence on the fighter side because you can be making a little bit of money and not go over your skis on how you're spending your money. When you have to fight because you're broke, that's when you're fucked, right? And so when we get these fighters to understand how to not're broke, that's when you're fucked. And so when we get these fighters to understand how to not be broke,

then we can really have the leverage on their side because then they don't have to fight as much. And I think... Maybe like saying no to potential offers. No, I mean... Is there mandatory UFC training at the PI in this category that needs to happen to help this? I mean, it would be nice.

I wouldn't think that, I mean, the UFC is all about educating their guys. I think it's generational, unfortunately, and you can teach people. Like, for my team, you talk to Chad Mendes, you talk to Cody, probably even TJ, and the list goes on. Josh Emmett. Like, we've discussed this kind of thing as a team for a lot of years, and that's part of what's made us unique. Joseph Benavidez has a little real estate portfolio. And I know Chad has the fins and feathers thing.

Fins and feathers, gills and thrills, Clay Guida. Josh Emmett's got a bunch of different things and understands how to not go broke. I think there's an education process, and that will help. The second thing is people knowing their worth. And I think like for Figgy, for example, he's out in the jungle in Brazil. People maybe just surrounding him or helping him were probably just not thinking big enough. That sounds like a lot of money to them, whatever he was getting.

Oh, my gosh, it's more money than he's ever seen. But in the big scheme of things, like, could he live in L.A. for six months with that money? I don't think he'd live in L.A. for a long weekend with that money. Dana couldn't. Yo, he said, by the way, you know this already, figure out it's a savage. What he did, and you know about staying relevant at an advanced age,

what he did at 34 in a trilogy against a guy who just finished him to win back the championship, I don't think that people look at that close enough to see in a lower weight class. That's not normal to see that. Yeah. I mean, that guy is not normal, though. If you touch him, he feels like steel.

Dude, those weigh-ins, I'm like, there's like an unhealthy lack of fat. You know what I mean? You can't believe someone can look like that. He's a savage. He's an absolute savage. That's the acai, man. We're bringing it to America. You guys don't look like that.

Cali acai is coming to you. Let me circle back, though. So two of the major things that get talked about mma media and among fans as well and fighters too is there's two major proposed solutions to not just fighter pay but let's speak to the larger leverage the lack of uh power balance between or the imbalance i should say between let's say management and talent one would be an mma union and there's been many attempts they've all failed dramatically and management and talent one would be an MMA union and there's been many attempts They've all failed dramatically and then the second one would be extending the Muhammad Ali boxing reform act to MMA Let's start with the Union in theory because practice is a different matter in theory. Are you in favor of a union?

I've thought about this a lot like which route I would like to go I mean I do like like in the entertainment side like the unions help out a lot it's also can get really weird and it makes things more even i don't know if it if it makes for the same ability to have the superstar um probably does i would think yeah that would be that would be good if it was done wisely um and people have tried and have been trying for a long time you need a strong leader though for a long time. You need a strong leader, though. That's the face of it, a strong one. Yeah, you do need a strong leader,

but you need a strong leader, and then you need billionaires behind the strong leader because money wins out on these big confrontations. And the rare thing with the UFC is you had guys that love, love, love the sport, the Fertitta brothers and Dana White who are passionate about the sport and that's all they're into.

And then they had the resources. You can maybe match the resources, but you're not gonna match the passion of those guys. Like they built this thing. That's the hard part there. On the Muhammad Ali Act, that would be a huge key, but it only becomes a big key

once the UFC has done their job because we're the big stars in any other organization right there aren't any big stars in any other I mean you could say there are but there aren't right but the idea would be like this is how we got to the full four belt era it's every time someone who was legitimized fought someone who had the belt that wasn't that then legitimized it and so The way would be to open it up and then that cross legitimization then adds more stars Yeah, I think that's the key is we get that that Muhammad Ali act that would be the best thing but and so those that don't know the Muhammad Ali like basically just puts every match up for bid. So John Jones and DC are going to fight again.

Then that would go to bid to every promoter, and every promoter would have an opportunity to be the host of that. And in turn, to get the fighters to come with them, they're going to have to give more to the fighter and less to them, and that's the way boxing is. So boxing gets to bid on these fights, and they go, okay. You could still be tied to a promoter, though. It would just be much shorter contracts.

Right. That's the other part, too. You could just have. The whole point is you get an automatic negotiation. Yes. And if you can't negotiate, you go to a bid. You go to a bid, yeah. So, yeah.

So, it changes the dynamic and that would be great. And there's powers fighting that and there's powers fighting for it. Who has more money and more passion, that's who's winning right now. So, what is it in terms of being on the management side, when you think about, let's say Figueredo, and I don't expect you to give away his contract details, but I'm just thinking strategically, when you think about, okay, how do I get this guy more money? From the management perspective, what is your major task? What do you have to do?

I think first you just have a real conversation with um with the ufc brass i mean they have to know what standard and a guy's fought four fights and for titles and he's getting paid this i mean it's not like a secret that what's going on and in there i don't know if his manager in the past has ever been able to sit and talk to Dana or talk to Hunter or or even Mick and and say guys this is not fair um I would start with that because I've got a good relationship there um you know with with Lloyd he he has a pretty good uh roster of people that he's drawn from and has worked with throughout the years where there's been big contracts done so you've seen the back side of things and and the vayner group behind it they're definitely

thinking big you know it's not like hey our world champion is getting you know 100 grand it's like okay that's weird that's weird really isn't it super weird it's super strange and i think the ufc knows that and so we'll just have a conversation to start. This is all brand new. Figgy's on his way here from Brazil right now, you know, sunglasses and belt on. Sure, list on the plane, definitely. Probably, you know, living it up on the plane right here. But, you know, I think it starts with a real conversation of, guys, it's not fair. And go from there.

You seem to be doing this from a good place to help the sport and i really respect that because you're using your brand and your leverage to give back but you're also able to now be a manager whatever so do you get as motivated to sit across the negotiation table from dana or whatever thing you're doing on the business side where it is thinking on your feet like in the cage do sort of, have you just kind of graduated competition wise from fighting to now business in that regard? My, I do not want to be the guy negotiating with Dana and I won't be, um, I'll be the guy that starts a conversation and, and help set up a meeting and I'll be there, but I'm, I'm not the key negotiator. I have, uh, you know, a management company that I'm a part of that does that.

But do you get amped up for that side of it is really what I'm saying? I get amped up for business in general. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm part of a group called EO, Entrepreneurs Organization. We have mastermind groups that we meet once a month, and I'm learning all the time. I love it. And I've got a lot of things that I'm working on and, and business is hard. Business is, is like the fight game. It really is. And it's not easy. Everybody thinks it's,

you know, I've had, I think 16 gyms spur off of my gym in Sacramento, either members, former employees, former teammates. Uh, and it's just, that's, that's, that's the fight game. And the business game is like, you're in, you're in constant battles. And so, um, for me, I feel like I really enjoy that process negotiating per se from a management standpoint, I'm going to stay in my lane on the management side. Lloyd Pearson, AJ Vaynerchuk, and Gary Vee, those guys will be helping

with a lot. You're a guy that knows a guy. You're a facilitator. You make it happen. I respect that. In terms of boxing, boxing's under a different model. They have different regulations. There's different situations. How would you rate the effectiveness of current at scale MMA management? Like do MMA managers in general reasonably actually increase the

purse amounts that these guys get? Like the thing is actually a question to be asked about that. I'm going to tell you, it varies like far and wide. And I'm going to tell you, like there are some managers that are basically just working for the UFC. Like, you know, if you look at contender series and one manager has 40 fighters on the contender series, you know, and his highest paid guy is pretty low. just bringing in mid-level talent. And then there's guys that actually have to go and have hard conversations with the UFC and have to fight over money. And then there's guys that are just happy to get any kind of money, like probably some of the guys that aren't used to business and haven't seen big paychecks.

And they're like, oh, man, that's a lot of money. So it's far and wide. Some people got their uncles managing them, their brothers, their girlfriends. There's no licensing. To be an NFL agent or manager, you actually have to get licensed to do it. We had license with MMA Inc.,

and we went the right way. But yeah, most people are not doing it correctly. You have to have insurance. You have to have all that kind of stuff. Most people are not doing it correctly. And to have insurance you have to have all that kind of stuff most people are not doing it correctly and and so there's guys that and you know it is relationships so then there's people that are scared of ruining their relationship to get their new fighter in versus going to bat for the fighter that needs to get their money now and it's a hard balance i'd imagine, for some of these guys who their bread and butter is just bringing in as much talent as possible versus fighting for the mighty dollar.

You need both. So what's your management goal? What do you feel like you want to get out of this experience? Let's say if I talked to you in five years, what would be an ideal five-year scenario for you? You know, I would like my guys to be first off educated about taxes, about, uh, you know, being smart with your money, about their value of what they're actually worth, have an idea of what is the current market value. Um, and then I want to make sure my guys are getting, getting the most, getting the best. In terms of like... Everything.

Purses or whatever? Purses, outside opportunities, their own. Some people have creative juices, like Andre Feely, for example, is a guy that has a super creative knack. And so he's got all these things that he wants to do. And he's got his clothing. He's got his music. He's got acting.

Please, I'm waiting to make that transition. Then there's other guys like Mike Brown, for example, who knows the sport, keeps to himself, is an outspoken guy, and now he's Coach of the Year. Those are two various things. Feely will probably have an entertainment in the limelight type of pathway and mike brown already has a behind the scenes pathway you were gonna say

i want to talk about your one of your projects you have invested in that andre touchy feely did a great job acting and it was 2020s green rush which i'm not doing a bit here you can find it i think it's streaming right now on uh a different sites, but it's a weed thriller. It's violent as shit. It's a great watch. But when the movie opens, this motherfucker's voice is like, latest trends in California. Our weed fields are growing. How does that end up happening that this guy's in the movie that you financed?

That movie. So I have a production company. We've got a bunch of stuff we're working on. But Jared Roxburgh, I met him. He's my partner. I met him on the Ultimate Fighter set over a decade ago. And we just have a lot of ties in on the MMA space. And we had the writer.

One of the writers was also the main character, Telfer, the bad guy. He was awesome in that film. Yeah, he was nuts. We had a bunch of the people involved were helping on the set. We killed it with that thing. You paid him in weed. I know you paid him in weed. I did not pay him in weed, no.

But we shot the whole thing in one place, and the movie was in a one and it was, the movie was in a one day setting so it was from dusk to dawn so that was a little bit easier and we just

pulled our resources. People with talent. This guy's got a voice. It was, face for radio they say. Yeah, that's right. It was,

it was your, I think it was a mutual acquaintance of ours, a friend, Rick Lee. Yeah. He hit me up.

He was like, can you do this? And I was like, yeah, sure, anything of it. And then the trailer came out, I go, Rick Lee. He hit me up. He was like, can you do this? And I was like, yeah, sure. And then the trailer came out. I go, people started hitting me up on social. And I was like, what the fuck? I thought he was just using it like... Because you know how it goes.

People have you record stuff and maybe it makes it and maybe it doesn't. Or you record a 30 minute interview and they use 5 seconds or whatever. So I didn't know what was going to happen. And there it was. That was kind of funny. That movie was just basically like... My jared's a great director writer he's by trade does editing and he's been a producer for for for a lot of things but um that was him like hey let's just make this happen we threw that thing together like we were writing the script as we got the money

together and just wanted to do something it's like it's so hard to actually do something in that space it's like you have to jump through all these different hoops and so it was a huge learning process just to get one under our uh a feather under a cap of making a movie selling it to lion's gate and and and you know feely killed it in there too feely's got a great future i couldn't i honestly i was shocked i don't manage feely by the way okay yeah he's just still a friend. Nevertheless. He's my boy. No, he's like a father figure to that man. Maybe so.

He does have my face tattooed on. He didn't tell me because I know I would have tried to talk him out of that. So how did you react to that? Because some people think that's weird, but that's a gesture right there. Rogan always posts on social whenever someone tattoos their face on him. He always tweets or shares it on social. I mean, it was cool. I mean, honestly, I've given so many guys crap about tattoos in a loving way throughout the years.

So that was really hard. Now, I don't have one, but I couldn't hate on that front. It was just, like, really cool. And for him, it wasn't about me. It was about what the team meant to his life. And obviously, I started the team. So it wasn't like, this is of Uriah. That was a representation of his whole experience on Team Alpha.

Do you ever look back on the Dillashaw stuff? And I remember towards the end when the beef was at its peak and then slowly dying. Just as an observer, literally as a media observer, even I was exhausted with it. Oh, see, I'm the opposite. That was like some WWE feud shit. I loved it, dude. Even I was like, man, this has... I was like, when are they going to fight for real? I want one in the cage and one in the street. And it seems like everyone's moved on.

Everyone's happy. He's back. He's doing his thing, whatever. He'll probably get a title shot, depending on how everything goes. When you look back on that whole episode, what lesson do you take from it? Is there one? Yeah, I should have listened to Conor when he saw the snake wiggle him. No, I think my lesson was look because of the setting and and really the whole beef between he and i is the misinterpretation of what actually happened that's that's my beef is him saying

that one thing happened and me saying another thing happened. My thing was that he left the team, him saying I kicked him off the team. And I'm like, it's very obvious what really happened. So I don't like the misinterpretation. I could do without all the beef. And now I try to just ignore it. I don't need that kind of drama. People have asked if we're going to fight, and I'm like, unless it's a big friggin' payday,

like an extremely big payday, then I don't want that stress of that, and I don't think he wanted the stress of that. But he was like Bobby the Brain Heenan in Cody Garbrandt's corner. Like, it got pro-wrestling, Luke. That's probably why you hated it. Probably. Oh, that's funny. I was there to support

Cody at the time. It just seemed never ending and ugly. But the weird part I never understood was, and again, I don't even know what to make of the beef anymore because it was so hard to see what's coming and going. But in the end, it does seem like it kind of changed things,

at least from the outside perspective, which is to say, guys after that, I know you have your core team, a lot of those guys are just the core team, but it does seem like sometimes people come and go or they take a new coach here or there and it doesn't seem to be an issue anymore.

It's never been an issue. It's never been an issue. The issue is if he's leaving, but he's saying he got kicked off the team. That's the whole issue. Yeah, that's the issue. Oh, I see. We've had plenty of people go, Joseph got married, moved out here with Megan. We have Lance.

Look, this is something that people don't understand. My team is like America, right? It's made up of immigrants. Why would you expect Song to come out here and be on our team and never go somewhere else? It's like, he came from frigging China, doesn't speak any English. Why would he be required to stay? Never, never.

That was their whole thing. That was their whole thing. That was their whole thing. I mean, would you text TJ? Like, do you guys ever shoot? No, we don't really talk now. Dwayne Lugwood blocked me on social media. I don't even know what I did. I like the guy.

I don't have an issue with it. Do you ever talk to him? Do you ever see him? You must cross paths on the coaching side of things. No, that was a whole different animal. That was like a whole separate thing. Separate issue. Without the TJ thing, you know? No, I don't see him.

Go ahead. No, no, please. I would have derailed it. I would have been like, speaking of, dude, let's talk about him. Yadong is big, man. He's coming on, you know. You are such a fucking worthless animal. But you have to understand. You're such a worthless animal. I'm glad he could tell. I landed that plane like Sully Sullenberger, though.

I put that shit right in the back of me. Some people can't tell. But in full seriousness, he was always looked at as your boy. And I remember, like, a couple years ago at International Fight Week, you came up to us, and we had the cameras, and you were like, you've got to interview him. And, yo, he's shown some real promise in a division full of sharks. Where do you think he's at right now in his progression?

I think he can beat anybody i mean the one thing i'll say about song is he's constantly pushing himself to get better and uh you know right now he's been he's been going out and doing some some like cross training jujitsu wise with some high level guys and um and he's constantly trying out new fitness regimens because he's trying to push himself. He's hungry, and he's got his eye on the prize. He believes it. That was the biggest thing with me is making sure that he believes he's going to be the world champion,

and I think he understands now that he's supposed to be the world champion. How old is Song Yedong? 24. Jesus, he's just 24? Yeah. I think he's real promised. He's the number one fighter under 25 in the world. We have Macy Barber and Corey McKenna that were on

that list in the top 10 that are on our team as well. We've got a couple other that you're going to know very soon. Kaleo Romero is the guy that I can call champs, and I'm like, Kaleo's going to be a champ. I bought him a bag three years ago that says the champ, and I've been trying to get Shelby to get him in to fight for three years, and he's 25 now, I think.

And he's a stud. You've got will see him on the contender series coming up. When do you think he'll hit his prime? When do you think Song Yedong's going to really

I understand he's getting better all the time and he's starting to beat really good guys but I mean like not relative to where he stands in the division relative to where he stands

at his potential at his possible peak how far is he from his peak? Well I think like Figgy these guys are like strong and healthy inside and outside of training. That for me is the key.

That's one of the things that's helped me stay young is a lifetime of, you know, I'm actually drinking a probiotic that's supposed to be like you know brain gut like in and and keeping your body as it was when you were born you know that's what our goal is right is is have the same body as a toddler to a teen to an old guy uh and not get you know distended and and how things go in there i'm in okay i don't even know what's in here i'm just learning about this i have nothing to do with it yet we'll see oh we brought up macy barber real quick there's something's changed what has changed inside of her i think macy needed i had a conversation with macy barber and she had done so much changing from this to that to this to that to this to that and she was getting some bad advice and and just looking at things the wrong way and i just told

her macy the the the best you is internal it's not out here this coach or am i getting this much work blah blah you know it's like are you are you the one you know do you believe it do you do the work she does the work she has the skill there's a monster inside yeah oh she's a beast and and um you know she's she had to go out on her own a little bit and she's you know got great relationship with her family still but now is like making her own decisions and and i think think that's been the key for her. When did she start working with you? After the two losses? I don't know.

Or maybe her second one? I'm not sure when her losses were. Yeah, after that she came back and... Were you with her for the Maverick fight?

Yeah. That was a tough fight. You could have scored it against her. It was one of those close fights. But Maverick is also like her, you know a dynamic force on the rise yeah she's tough too but um yeah for macy it's it's basically been that is like there's no doubt like

that girl i was i was giving her crap because um i was like dude where were you for morning practice or i i had something morning call and she's like oh i was on at 5 30 where were you for morning practice? Or I had something morning call, and she's like, oh, I was on at 5.30. I said, you were sleeping in? And she said, no, I was on at 5.45 with my mind coach, or she had a personal coach. And I go, yeah, right. Then she sent me a screenshot at 5.45, and she's got like two people that she talks to early in the morning that gets her mind straight. She's like, she's on top. That's ahead of the game right there, right?

Oh, she's way ahead of the game on that kind of stuff. Like, she's, she's doing all the right things and now it's just gotta, you know, just gotta come out in the fighting

and she's right there for the chat. It's all mental, Luke. It's all mental, dude. Yes. You're a mental midget. How about Mike Malott? Well, he is

an absolute hammer. Chiseled out of stone, he can punch people's lights out. Obviously, he's still developing. He's far from his peak as well, but how did he end up in your stables? Mike Malott came about six years ago to our team, and he was first off trying to cut to 145 pounds for the longest time yeah he's a 70 pounder he hasn't he's he's not grown taller he's just like let himself go out and there was a time where he was battling some some injuries you know we have our team banquet that we that we have uh you know giving awards and whatnot and he was the newcomer award back when he came out in Canada, educated guy, disciplined guy, super skilled. His brother plays pro hockey.

He comes from a family of athletes. And he took a time where he just decided that he didn't want to hurt anybody and he didn't want to get hurt. He had been having issues with his head. And so he took like a four-year hiatus. And in that time, I said, what do you want to do? And I molded him or like switched his role into a coach because he's so good at jiu-jitsu and he's so good at stand-up. And so it was like a process of blending him in because I was like, I don't want to lose this guy as a resource because of, you know, he's got a great attitude. He's, you know, so knowledgeable.

And so we turned him into a coach he's cornered a lot of guys in championship fights and and then he just got the itch back it was like i want to fight he just hit a switch like that like i want to fight and he wanted to fight in the pfl he's like i want to go fight in the pfl i want to go get that million bucks and i just talked to uh um what's his name who runs the pfl the ray sefo yeah ray sorry ray i i talked to, what's his name who runs the PFL? Ray Cefo? Yeah, Ray. Sorry, Ray.

I talked to Ray. I said, dude, I said, Ray, I tried to get Malat. He wanted to fight, and he said, oh, he doesn't have enough fights. He hasn't been active enough. And so I said, Malat, we've got to get you some fights, and then we can get you in. And then he switched his mind and said, I want to go to the UFC. I go, all right, let's go. And that's the guy we managed and got him this opportunity.

And it was like maybe six months after he decided he wanted to fight again where he was in the contender series. Just putting people's lights out. Yeah, knocking dudes out, submitting people. He had a really high-level prospect that he took out that was on the LFA, I think LFA or CCFC, I can't remember, and was having a tough first round and then iced the dude with one punch. And yeah, he's super focused and life is on target for him. Can you give us an update on, it's the forever question for people like me,

and maybe he has addressed this and if he already has, forgive me, Chris Holdsworth. Chris Holdsworth has been a dynamic talent, but I know he had some neurological issues related to concussions. I know he is coaching. Yeah. Is it still just that? Yeah, for him it is, and he's really taking on business at this point because he's started his own gym. In Sacramento? In Sacramento, yeah.

Is it affiliated with you in any way? Other than he's a coach for us still, no. It's Chris Holdsworth. But he's doing awesome. I was hoping that I'd get him to be in our gym a little bit more, but he still helps out with the guys he's been working with, like Josh Emmett and Darren Elkins, and we've got a great relationship.

So, yeah, he was a skilled guy. Another guy who had a scare and decided, you know what, I don't want to take a risk with my body. And it makes sense. Have you ever experienced, I asked this for Max because Max says he doesn't spar, which is great. But you've seen some of Max's fights, even when he wins sometimes, man, they're just trench warfare. Have you ever experienced, and I know it's a sensitive question, so I don't mean to like, you're having neurological issues. I don't mean like in a fight itself,

but after the fight. Not, no, and I'm kind of the opposite of Max. You don't see me in a lot of like nasty, you know, if you can think back, there's never been like, you know, a big like, where I feel like I've lost,

lost brain cells in years off my life, per se. But sparring and training is the hard part. You do years and years and years of that. I feel like I've definitely questioned, like, hey, am I going to have some sort of issues in the past? Like, I've heard people that are slurring their words and stuff. Yeah. And that I can tell have some sort of issues issues boxers and people that have that type of style

and so i've asked i'm like hey am i like am i talking all right you sound lucid okay yeah no you beat the game in a few different ways but but you've certainly beat the game in that regard yeah and and so for me i feel like i have a lot of my plate a lot of times so i am a little forgetful and i don't know that that's from being hit in the head or that's from having a ton of stuff on your plate at our age yeah at our age that's just being 40 there's nothing else to that because i've been hit in the head i did the exact same shit and the other thing that's really hard for me is like because people know where i'm at so i can get bombarded throughout the whole day so you know you can only have so many things on your conscious mind at a time i think it's like seven for the average person.

Like, if I'm trying to do me and I'm getting, like, a barrage of people, like, in my face with their issues, like, I need to, like, just close myself in a room sometimes. Otherwise, it's like, it's like, yeah. But we gotta,

I wanna ask about one more fighter in the stable that I... Okay, then I gotta play the hits, man. I gotta do all your favor on the couch. What are you trying to do to me? One more. Josh Emmett. Josh Emmett. Josh Emmett, big win over Calvin Cater.

He's had a few big wins, but of course that was one, again, at the time of this recording, the most recent one. I will say, 37 years of age, he's an absolute hammer. His power is ridiculous. Yeah.

He's taken a lot of damage. You know, that Jeremy Stevens fight, messing up his gums and nerve endings. He's tough as shit, dude. He must be tough. I can see who Josh Emmett is as an observer watching what he does. But knowing him more intimately, what can you say about him to that effect? Man, Josh Emmett, it's like hard to get a paragraph out of him in a long conversation.

He's just so quiet, keeps himself, and just, he's got a real chip on his shoulder. He feels like, you know, he should have had more opportunities earlier, and I agree. Because of the way he fights and the power in his hands and everything else, he's had some major, major setbacks, even before he was in the UFC.

It took him forever to get to the UFC. He's another guy, I can go back to emails from 2011 where i'm trying to get him in you know he's hey he's six and oh he's seven or no he's eight no he's nine oh he's ten or no over a span of years and him not getting his call i don't know if it's because he's quiet or what the deal is um because there's big stints in between his fights on the activity level but um he's actually had a lot less damage in the practice scenario than a guy like myself or guys that have been healthy the whole time through you know i've had 46 fights he's had a handle of fights you know i had i had 40 40 44 fights by the time i was 37, and he's had however many.

And then I trained all the way through, never took a break at all. I mean, dude, your longevity is sick. I mean, it's ridiculous. But Josh, he's been on that same path, but he's been training smarter for longer, and then he's had fewer fights. But when his fights go down, I mean, it's power and explosion, and he's had some bad breaks in his hands and a few things on his head. That one where he had his face crushed was just heartbreaking.

It's the Jeremy Stevens fight. The Jeremy Stevens fight. It was bad. It was bad and it was, in my opinion, a legal need. Learning after the unnecessary blows. And I'm like, didn't need to happen. And he already had a knockdown on Jeremy Stevens that way, so that fight puts him in the title contention right there.

Dude, even his win over Shane Burgos, he had to empty the tank. That was an all-in win right there. How about Holtzman? I mean, that... Or Hot Sauce. Or Hot Sauce, Holtzman. Dude, that was a friggin' war in Sacramento, and Holtzman's no joke. And that kind of like – that was like a who moves on kind of scenario.

But those guys were pretty damn even, and it just came down to willpower and being a little bit better on the day. You think the – it seems like the cater win is going to get him a title shot. Now, we don't know who it's going to be, but gotta get him a title position he's ever been in it's the best position he's ever been in but i mean why not it's like and i was a human development major they always talk about like if you're going to be going to be a teacher the quiet kid gets overlooked a lot it's always the mouth that's talking and the people that kid has trouble or whatever. Like the good quiet kid just doesn't get as much attention, doesn't get as much nurturing. And, and as an, as somebody that's in a role to develop humans, you have to give that

person their time. But in the promotion game, they get overlooked. It's fucked up. You know, it's, it's his time. 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. All right, I've got a Uriah Faber here.

I've got to play the hits with the California Kid. Take me back to 2016, three months before you end up getting the trilogy with Dom Cruz at UFC 199, the phone rings and they're like, yo, RDA's hurt. Conor needs a dance partner for UFC 196. Oh, yeah. It came down to you and Nate Diaz. Yeah. What was that phone interaction like and how bad did you want that fight in that moment? Oh, man.

I wanted that fight. Not because I dislike Conor. I actually love Conor. We have hilarious conversations on DMm all the time he's a riot but that's the fight you know and he knows that i know that i was that was the fight for me and so dana's like hey kid i know you i told you weren't going to get this fight but we need you to step in and this is at 55s i'm a 35 pounder and i'm like yes let's do it and uh and so then he's like okay okay let me see and i go what's going on like he goes you're you're a guy and like blah blah he's he's like

blowing smoke and i go all right what's going on i know frankie i know aldo i know uh pettis i know I know Cowboy. I know Nate Diaz. So I started doing some research. And Frankie Edgar was injured. Pettis was coming off a loss. No, Cowboy was coming off a loss to RDA. And so Conor said, I'm not fighting him off a loss. Pettis had been injured as well. He was on a skid.

He was on a couple-fight skid. That was around when RDA knocked him out. Aldo didn't want the fight, and then Nate Diaz told him to fuck off because they wanted him to extend his contract. And I'm buddies with all these guys. That's one of my value valuable traits is i can get to get to anyone and find out what's going on and so all those guys are out and data's like you're the guy and i'm like yeah well that's why i'm the guy at the moment they go up two weight

classes and fight and then uh so why'd you lose it how'd you not get it so then they go back to nate so nate says fu hangs up on him because they wanted him to extend his contract from 40 and 40. They wanted to give him like 50 and 50 on like a seven fight deal or something. And he was getting so drastically underpaid. And so then they're like, you know, they're going to pay him a million dollars but extend his contract. And then Connor says, I want Diaz. Connor made the call. He didn't want to fight me.

Like, we're kind of friends too, you know, and I'm coming up two weight classes. He's got nothing to win there. His only losses are submissions. I've got the most submissions at the time in UFC, WC, and Pride combined. You know, me and Noguera were tied for it at the time. And so he said he wanted Nate.

And so they had to go back. And because Conor wanted Nate, they had to go pay Nate. And Nate made out like a bandit on that. He did. I was there the whole time. Because I talked to Nate and I knew the whole shebang. And Lloyd, who's actually my partner at the Vayner group uh who's helped with Figgy and all my guys he's the one that did that deal with Nate and and Connor not

bad not bad um look you would have been up at 55 I think people would would assume it's more likely that Connor would stop you but he imploded that night against Nate anyway so there were ways to blow up that Death Star. How would you have approached that fight? I mean, the one thing that would have been an advantage for me, and it happens all the time, is speed. I mean, I used to have the worst trouble with Joseph Benavidez because he was so frigging fast.

He was my hardest sparring partner. I'd go with Danny Castillo, and I'd go with Justin Buckles at those times and other 55-pounders, and I would go with, you know, Justin Buckles at those times and other 55 pounders and I would have an easier time with them than I would with Joseph because Joseph was so fast. The other thing would be if you saw Chad take Conor down,

Chad broke his hand on the first punch on ground and pound when he fought Conor. Damn. In that fight. But Chad took him down like that and uh and so i would have tried to use speed and then do everything to get it to the ground because i mean connor hits like a truck obviously and he's got precision and he's he's a big guy connor's been too successful right i mean he's gotten so good he's gotten so many options he

doesn't have to do jack shit. Especially with all the alcohol money he's made, you know? Yeah. Do you think he comes back? What do you think? I think so. I know he says he wants to, but like, he's stupid wealthy. Look, when I retired, when I retired from fighting, I found myself in

practice every day. You know what I mean? Like, he's built a habit, and he's got an internal, that you don't fight for money i mean you could say you're fighting for money or whatnot the guys that are fighting for money have very short careers he's got an internal desire to show that he's the baddest guy on the planet um now whether he's been cushioned up a little bit because of all the the perks that he has from being the wealthiest athlete in the world at this point, or for that one year at least.

Who knows? But he still doesn't change who you are or you think you're the baddest dude. You know, that's like an internal thing. So I think he probably will fight. Yeah. 170? I think he should fight 55. I mean, he looks jacked right now.

He looks huge. Yeah, he looks huge. I don't know. 170? You think he comes back to a title fight? I don't know about that. Probably not. But, yeah, I mean, if he wants it.

Like a Tony Ferguson, like that type of match? If somebody has the title that he's interested in, yeah. But he's not about the titles much anymore. I think he wants the bigger fights, you know, which I don't blame him. Like, those are the ones that are going to get him

paid because he gets a cut of everything, you know? Also, like, do you think it's the Diaz trilogy? Do you think we see a trilogy with them?

That'd be great for both those guys. Max rematch. Max rematch is going to happen. Max rematch is there. He's got a lot of irons on the fire. He can go to the

Dustin Poirier fight. Oh, he can go to Masvidal and want some bad. Masvidal wants a piece of him. They all kind of want a piece of him. I think Masvidal and Conor would be a good one because Conor's gotten a lot bigger and they're both sluggers.

Yeah, I think that'd be a good one. When you reflect on your entire journey in MMA from fighter and you've done clothing and you've done management and everything else in between it's been a hell of a journey i wonder like is there a singular way you think about like what it takes to succeed in mma like what is what is what is the truth of that push um i mean obviously success is a pretty internal thing like where are you happy and content and

i've talked to guys that are pretty happy and content, like where they're at. So that, that's a big win, you know, being happy with where you're at. Um, but for success, I would say like, you asking for what is the measure of success or how do you get success? How is it possible that you, there must be something a about you, but be about what you understand about the industry that you have navig be something a about you but b about what you understand about the industry that you have navigated so successfully with so many different hats on um you know for for that for that kind of thing i would say first off i'm a people person and i try not to to have enemies unless they like choose me you know even dominant cruz i feel like he always

chose me as an enemy and at this point we we're, we're, we're cool. Um, and I, you know, have, have a, a short memory when it comes to that kind of stuff. I think working extremely, extremely hard is step number one. I don't play video games. I don't like do all the leisure shit. I, you don't, I don't, I don't chill all the leisure shit. You don't vape is what you're saying. I don't vape. I don't chill. I'm like go mode. I try to squeeze as much into my day as possible. And then the number one ingredient for anybody's success anywhere, you guys and everyone, is just how big are you thinking.

So many people are afraid or ignorant to thinking big. They just don't understand all that they can do. You can do a lot and you can accomplish a lot and people are not thinking big enough. I've met people of all different walks, self-made billionaires and and actors and athletes and kids fighting cancer on their deathbed before puberty. It's like the mind is the key. You've got to believe and then you have to not be deterred on all the negative stuff because there's going to be negative stuff over and over again. You're not going to not be anxious or not be uh scared or feel like everyone's against you or uh you know feel like it couldn't get any worse you know that shit is happening for sure just like if you're in a fight you're

going to get hit uh so you got this surfer zen thing that kind of just regulates you right it writes you and you and you just flow i mean what what other choice do we have you're either dead or you're trying you know you can do what i do which is just live anxiety ridden and paranoid at all times well but you're having success a little bit you're here today you got your beautiful daughter like true like you're rolling you got me i've got this i've got this just absolutely i'm stuck with but uh he's pretty good too. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. And I try not to put a value on material things. I'm like, you know, like I try not to think about money. But I'm always trying to make fun ways to where I can have some so I can keep doing what I want.

And that's been a big key. Like I see people that focus on this. And there's been times when I've been, you know, I never had huge paydays for most of my career. It was like, you know, there have been times where I've been pressed

for cash and whatnot and you just don't worry, you just keep going, right? But you had a knack for, even as a fighter in the second half of your career,

finding your way back into title fights and that's a skill on top of also being really good enough to justify it. Like, you seem to maneuver

your career in, like, I was looking at Sugar Ray Leonard on the boxing side and say like, you know,. Like, you seem to maneuvered your career. Like, I always look at Sugar Ray Leonard on the boxing side and say, like, you know, him, Floyd, like, those guys beat the game. They came out of this death trap of an industry and are, like, better off for it and are now doing all these things. You even had that kind of mojo, you know, while still an active fighter.

Well, yeah, because people... You slithered well. I don't know how many times in aerial, I always make fun of aerial for this, I'm like, how many times, yeah, because people – You slithered well. I don't know how many times in aerial – I always make fun of aerial for this. I'm like, how many times is this it? Is it over? And I'm like, why would it be over? You've had two title shots. It's like, yeah, I was in the Super Bowl, and I lost the Super Bowl.

If you aren't the reporter of the year, are you going to quit? You took second? Come on. What is the logic behind that? We heard all the podcasts. aren't the reporter of the year are you gonna quit she took second like come on like we don't know about all the podcasts you know so like like honestly it's like just completely about interpretation on things it's like people just how are they taking things in and interpreting them is so different and when you can just stick to what you want to believe i think that's a key two things i always say this and and I started pointing this out.

Two things that are great that people put a bad rap on. One is making excuses. I'm great at making excuses. Why did I lose to Dominic Cruz on 2011? Well, the judges were looking at the wrong crap, in my opinion. That's my excuse. Had I had more more output then hopefully they would have gone my way

meaning throw more punches like in a volume sense right you got to make excuses that you can fix right if if you can make an excuse that you can fix like well shit he you know he threw this many more punches than i do okay well i can fix that i can try to throw that many punches or more and then you can time it and do that you know if you have beliefs that and excuses that you can't fix those are bad the second thing is being delusional some of the connor's delusional that dude's delusional but it panned out right it really did the magic somehow yeah it panned out and i've met uh you know even like a gary v who's who's a guy that when i when i first started gary seeing gary v's stuff on on um instagram he had a little bit fewer followers

than i did and now he's at like 11. He made all his focus on growing his social media outreach and he wrote a book about it and he's used it to, you know, has a marketing company, has all these different brands that have built off of that and people pay him to do this and do that. And that's where he set his focus, but he just believed it, you know, and Joseph Benavidez, I remember when he first came down and he used me as an example of like, hey, you're, he goes, you're the guy. And I was, I was getting paid when he, when he moved down, I think I was getting paid maybe 4,000 and 4,000 to shit fight. And he's like, you're the biggest name guy in the sport for the lightweights. That's what I want to do.

And I'm thinking, dude, I'm making like $8,000 every four months. And facing killers. Dude, you faced like, your WEC run is fucking killers across the board. It's wild, man, to look back at that. And also, to speak to your longevity, two of my favorite fighters as a fan along that time, Mike Thomas Brown, Baron Barau, they beat you, then they just disappeared. And then you just kept going, more title fights after that. So it's like you were in big fights, and even if you didn't win it,

because you always bounced back and because you always sought out another big name, you got that respect along with it. You didn't have to be a full-time brawler to get that respect. You got that respect in the way that you sort of handled yourself. Yeah, just stay in the game. I mean, people quit early. I talk about that all the time, too. I wasn't the best high school wrestler. I did pretty good, and then I went on.

I was top 12 in the state in California. Then I went on with the same mentality, work ethic, and I was top 12 in the nation. I took second at University Nationals. And then guys that I beat or lost to got into MMA for a little bit and then they petered out, but I stayed there 20 years. If I fight this year,

that'd be 20 years as a combat athlete and that doesn't include my wrestling. That's just as a professional mixed martial artist. So that's kind of tempting. And if you would have beat Jan, you would have fought for a title in your next fight. I mean, it's wild. You were that close again, dude.

I know. And those are the risks you take. You. And those are the risks you take. You know, those are the risks you take. Well, I've got to tell you, you've taken a lot of risks, but a lot of them have paid off, man. You have done so well for yourself. Including sitting on this couch. Today was a big day.

Today was a big day. I mean, this is a milestone you won't soon forget. I was like, Uriah, was this the number in your phone? Because we had a whole miscommunication. And I was like, no, I actually never had that number. I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, never had a 702. I know we've talked before, though.

I've had you on every version of every show I've ever had. I remember you did a meet and greet one time for an old Mid-Atlantic promotion. Remember UWC back in the aughts? And you came out there. We talked all the time back then, too. I've been covering your career for a long time. Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for making yourself accessible.

But seriously, in all seriousness, for a guy who has seen everything from all the way from Gladiator Challenge to WEC and everything else, dude, you are not relevant by accident. It is not an accident. Well, I appreciate that. So we appreciate you making some time for us. We'll do this again in 20 years. You want to pump any product? We'll still look the same. Buy this man's product.

What do we got coming up? Yeah, we ate Cali Acai. So if you've heard of Trifecta Nutrition, that's a business set up in Boulder. They ship you the meals. They ship you meals directly, and it's the best food. My kids are built on that stuff. I'm going to do the same thing with the acai. Not only are we going to be in a lot of mom-and-pop places for jiu-jitsu and gyms, etc.,

but we're going to be able to ship the best acai on the planet to you directly so that's coming soon and then uh as you know we have all these fighters coming up so check us out there we've we've got a great stable fighters that that are really making a name for themselves on their own which i love you'll make a green rush sequel bro make us and we got movies coming too so. Make a sequel to that shit, right? That was just, that was the worst movie we're ever going to make,

but it was still great. I love it. Yeah. It was really great. Congratulations. Thank you for your time. Uriah Faber, ladies and gentlemen. Uriah Faber.

Hey! There he is. You did it!