My Mom's Basement - FRIDAY BONUS EPISODE 14 - RORY MACDONALD & DOUGLAS LIMA

Episode Date: October 25, 2019

Bellator Welterweight Champion Rory MacDonald, and the man who will be challenging him for that title at Bellator 232, Douglas Lima, headed down to the basement before their $1,000,000 fight this weekend to break it down with Robbie. They discussed doing media together as opponents, their take on Bellator's differences from the UFC, what we should be looking out for this weekend, and more.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey, My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. I interviewed these guys at the exact same time. They rolled in together. I had one sit on one side of me, I had the other sit on the other side of me, and it was pretty tense. There were a few moments there where, obviously, these two guys like each other, they have a lot of respect for each other and all that kind of stuff. They weren't rude, they weren't breaking out in brawls in the studio. I kind of wish they were. But there were moments where Rory McDonald was saying, you know, I think this is how the fight's going to go. And Douglas Lima was saying, I think this is how the fight's going to go. It was a good time. It was a tense time. I hope to do it more in the future, interviewing, you know, two fighters that are fighting each other at the same time the week of their fight. It was a lot of fun. This Monday, I'm coming at you with

an all-time episode featuring one of my heroes, really, Rey Mysterio, as well as Cain Velasquez. They were promoting Crown Jewel. They came in the office as well this week. For now, enjoy this interview with Bellator welterweight champion Rory McDonald and his opponent this Saturday, Douglas Lima. Check out the fight on DAZN tomorrow, October 26th. I do believe it to be the best MMA fight of the weekend this weekend. And as always, if you're not subscribed already, please do that and leave us a good rating and review if you like the show. I really appreciate it. I'll see you on Monday with Rey Mysterio and Cain Velasquez. Enjoy this interview with Rory McDonald and Douglas Lima.

All right, welcome back to the show. It's My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox, and I'm joined in studio by two very special guests. I've got Rory McDonald and Douglas Lima. You guys will be fighting each other on Saturday, October 26th for $1 million. $1 million is on the line. 50 cents, $1 million. First question, is it weird doing media like this, like with an opponent you could one of you guys could start first i don't need to see it's awkward for me i can't even throw to somebody uh i uh i don't feel it very awkward because you guys like each other right or at least they're friendly enough yeah yeah we're friendly we don't know each other very well but

we're both professionals and uh i don't know it just feels like we're competing we're not like having a street fight. So it's a little different. There's tension from the competitive side of things, but not from... Not like animosity, right? Yeah, exactly. It's just a competitive spirit, but it's not awkward for me. What about you? Yeah, same here.

We've done it many times before. We did it for our first fight as well third time today doing it together so now it's uh do you guys like make small talk in an elevator sure yeah you're on that level all right that's that's friendly enough have you ever had an opponent that you like truly despised that you truly felt you like hated um not one that i like uh no no i never like hate anyone i've had people where it's like a pain to like have to do like promotion with but uh that person i never had to do something like this with so what about you douglas uh no not me particularly but i had people that talk a lot of smack and your last opponent talked a lot of smack.

But not to me, though. He was very respectful towards me the whole time, the whole camp. I met him before, like a couple years ago. We're talking MVP, by the way, for those not aware. Yeah, he was always respectful towards me. But I had other guys that wasn't. MVP never said anything in the lead-up to that fight that rubbed you the wrong way. Like, personally, he's building a fight, he's selling a fight.

What about the showboating in the cage? Did that bug you at all? No. I mean, I couldn't let that get to me, you know. That's what he does to people. You know, he gets into people's head, you know, with the showboating, the dancing around. And I think that's mainly what throws people off, you know. I just stay composed, stay calm, waiting for the right moment.

What about you, Rory? How do you feel about showboating in the cage? Could that get into your head, do you think? Or do you think you could separate the two? Yeah, I never really fought someone like MVP's kind of dance style before. I don't think it would, though. I think just try to focus separate the two and you're all good how different does it make a fight if you do like feel the way that you guys

does it does it make it any difference if you guys are friendly and you guys don't like each other like i'm sure you've been in both scenarios so what's the difference there well i think it depends on the person if you're an emotional person an emotional person, you can't just focus on the task at hand. The emotions could make you fight different, which could be a good or bad thing depending on how the fight goes. What do you think? I don't think it makes a difference for me because I focus on myself. I don't care what other people do or what they say.

If you let the emotions get to you that way, that will definitely throw you off in a fight or make you fight better. Like he said, it depends on the person. Stuff like that doesn't bother me. I'm just focused on the fight and that's it. Next question. This million dollars that you guys are fighting for,

it's 50 cents, $1 million. You guys have met 50 Cent, I assume, right? Yeah. What's he like? You haven't? No. Would you like to meet him? I mean, you're competing for his million dollars.

Would you be kind of sick if he gave you the briefcase himself, you know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, I don't mind. All right. What's your experience with 50 Cent like? I mean, I met him backstage. Not met him, met him, but I just introduced myself. First fight, he was good. He gave me his bottle, the thing that he does there.

But he wasn't so happy on the last fight. No, you think he wanted MVP? Yeah, he did. I think his boys, they're friends. And there was a video that shows him just hitting the table right after the finish. Him and all his boys were at MSG for your last fight, Rory, and I was seated right behind them. And I'll tell you what, I think they might have bet against you,

and you upset them a lot that night. It happens two times. Because they were absolutely screaming at your opponent to try to get up, and obviously it's not that easy. But we're at the end of the Grand Prix now. It's obviously a different system of fighting than we're used to in general mma it's a tournament style how did you guys like fighting in the tournament styles your first time yeah my first time i enjoyed it it's uh it's different right it is different there's different strategies and

things like that could be applied so it's cool what about you this is my fourth tournament you know i did one before bellator i actually did that one that middleweight and then two with bellator and this is the third and do you like fighting tournament style as opposed to regular knowing your opponent in advance and stuff like that yeah i like it i like the tournaments and uh this one was spread out throughout the whole year you know the first two that i did with bellator was like every four weeks which is crazy yeah that was pretty crazy i mean i liked it because you know i stayed busy you know and it was spread out throughout the whole year. The first two that I did with Bellator was like every four weeks. Which is crazy. Yeah.

That was pretty crazy. I mean, I liked it because it stayed busy. A lot of fights, every month you're fighting. I liked that, but it takes a toll on the body. Yeah, especially as you're getting older as a fighter. You probably don't want to be doing that anymore, cutting the weight and all that kind of stuff. You've been with Bellator a very long time now.

How much has Bellator changed since 2011, and in what ways do you think to make it the company it is today i think it just grew so much more when scott coca came in yeah like the social media and all the like promotion tv everything just grew with him a lot of fighters have a lot of respect for him oh yeah for sure he knows the fighter he knows the the. He knows the sport. He brought in great names. Ever since he started coming in, big, he got better. Everything got better. And, Rory, you were with the UFC for a while, and then you came over to Bellator.

You've now been with Bellator a few years now. What do you think the biggest differences between those two companies are? For you, a fighter. Yeah, the management and employees, it's on a smaller scale. You know, there's less fighters. It's just I find that there's a personal approach that's a little different with just like the staff, fight week, things like that. Especially now, UFC's gotten so big. They really like, you know, they have an employee for every single thing.

It's very organized, very well done. But there's no like personal relationship. And that's a different feel than coming over here. There's quite a bit of different things that happen, how things are organized, but it's cool. I really enjoy working with all the people at Bellator. They're really good people, so it's been nice. And obviously the opportunities are different. The way they manage fights, they've been able to give me some pretty cool opportunities

and experiences as a fighter. Totally. And I've really enjoyed your run in Bellator. I think it's been fun to watch. Let's look back at UFC, or not UFC, I'm sorry, Bellator 192. Your guys' first fight. Sorry to bring up any old wounds, leg kicks, takedowns. Looking back at that first fight, what is your takeaway now?

Right now, if I said to you, what do you think of when you think of that fight? What is it? Oh, it was a hard fight. I had to push through some moments of anxiety and obviously the pain in my leg. But I was very hungry, and I wanted to win. You say moments of anxiety in the fight you felt it? Yeah, absolutely. When you're fighting in front of people and you're hurting,

you have that voice in your head like you're losing or you're gonna lose you know that gives you anxiety that's very interesting because i have crazy anxiety i mean look at me you could tell yeah um i i always hear it from fighters they say sometimes the adrenaline is pumping and you don't feel it once you're in the fight some fighters say what you just said and say there is that voice still in the back of your head what it's not all the time but you know when things are going against you and you're getting you know when you're going through something where you're losing the fight or you know eating you're in a bad position leg kicks if you're in a bad position you you you know you have these moments where you feel anxiety it's your choice at that point

to which direction you're going to take it you know that's crazy um douglas what do you what do you look back at that first fight and think i mean for me the main thing you know that i take away is just the experience you know just going through those hard rounds five good rounds you know the opponent like himself and i learned i learned a lot from it you know uh there's more there was definitely more much more you know positive that I take out of that fight. Do you subscribe to the narrative that you do learn more from a loss than you do from a win? Yeah, I would say so. I don't want that to keep happening.

Of course, no. You win whether you win or lose, but there's definitely other things that come into play when you lose a fight, especially a fight like that. It was close, you know what I mean? It was a war. We fought standing, we fought on the ground, we wrestled. So it's a type of fight that you really learn a lot, not just in martial arts but about yourself and stuff like that.

Yeah, and do you think that the fight on Saturday is going to be the same way? Do you think it's going to be a war? Do you think it's going to go super differently? Do you think it's going to look similar? What, you know? Yeah, and do you think that the fight on Saturday is going to be the same way? You think it's going to be a war? You think it's going to go super differently? You think it's going to look similar? What are you feeling? I mean, I train for everything, you know. We train for two 5-5 rounds or one round, you know. I was going to be looking for the finish, you know.

But it's just I got to be ready for everything, you know. Rory is just a very smart fighter, you know. Their camp comes up with some great game plans so i gotta be prepared for everything you know and that's what i did in this camp what do you think about this fight rory what do you think is going to happen on saturday in terms of do you think it's going to look similar to the first fight different how you feeling no i don't i i think that i'm going to be very dominant in this fight i think it's going to look a lot different and open a lot of people's eyes up on who I am as a champion and as a fighter.

I felt the tension in the room when he said that. Do you guys believe that whoever wins this fight is the greatest welterweight in the world? Bellator obviously has that stacked division. Currently best? Yeah, currently, yeah. Well, I feel that I am currently the best welterweight, so yeah. Douglas, you think with a win here, you would definitely be currently the best welterweight, so yeah. Douglas, you think with a win here, you would definitely be considered the best welterweight in the world?

Yeah, for sure. You know, this is huge. This is a big fight. You know, we're in the top, you know, five, top ten, you know, of all the rankings, but I believe so. I believe I can beat anybody, anyone 70 out there, I can beat them. Does a move up in weight interest you at all to middleweight? I don't believe you've done that, at least not in Bellator.

No, not in Bellator, but I think about that every time, every time. I think a good win this Saturday would definitely open up the doors for that chance. I've been saying that for years. I think I'll be a decent-sized middleweight. Not big, but I trained a lot of middleweight guys before, and it doesn't feel too bad.

I'm thinking about it, so we'll see. Focus right now is Saturday night, and after that, I've got some decisions to make. Rory, you have moved up and weighed before to 185. Do you have any interest in going back up? Not right now, no.

Just staying trying to defend the title? Yeah, I'm pretty focused on just remaining champion right now. It's not a bad time to do it with that division. Like I mentioned, it's super stacked. A few more questions. Rory, I have to ask you about my favorite fight of all time. It's the second Robbie Lawler fight that you had. Looking back at that

now, do you remember anything from the fight itself or is it kind of all hazy when you're, when you're in a crazy war like that? No, I remember it quite well. And what do you remember about that? Do you remember like that fourth round stare down that you guys had? What was going through your mind? It was very intense. Um, I had a lot of adrenaline and a lot of anxiety battling in that one. I broke my nose early on, but I was very hungry. I wanted to win, so I stayed hungry. Had him hurt, got myself pretty tired. Had him hurt again at the beginning of the next round. But he just wasn't seeming to get tired. I didn't come in good enough shape for that fight.

The fatigue and his presence of pressure and looking into his eyes, he was ready to go until one of us was dead, and I wasn't. And that intimidated me, that gave me anxiety, and I ended up shutting down at the last round. Is there anything that, you know, I'm sure the night of, it's obviously a devastating loss, but is there anything that is added to it when the almost mystique of that fight and the mythos of that fight builds up? And there are many people like me who consider it the greatest fight in the history of MMA. Do you look back at that now and you're like, all right, we did something cool that night? Or is it still kind of just like, no, I had a loss? Yeah, it's a

memorable moment in my career. I get it almost every interview. Everyone wants to talk about it. So, you know, I got to show a side of myself. I wish I got to show a better side of myself, but it was a huge moment in my career, my life. So a lot of stuff happened because of that fight. So I'm grateful for the experience. And one more question. Do you think GSP will ever fight again? I have no idea. Gun to your head. Someone says yes or no. Rory, will he fight again? Oh, man.

Yeah, I could go either way. Yes, I would love to see it. And then a question for both of you. Let's say that you're teamed up. This is the final question. You're teamed up. How many preschoolers would it take to overwhelm you in a fight? How many?

Are we talking 50? Preschool. 50 preschoolers. 54-year-olds. No, no. It's got to be like 300. 300? Literally like Sparta style? Probably. What do you think? Yeah, probably, yeah. Three to 500.

What if we upped it and we were like, how many of me would it take to overwhelm you? I'm a tiny 145, little scrawny nerd. Maybe 50. 50 of me? Come on. A dozen of me? Probably maybe two dozen. Maybe. That was an insulting look I just got from Doug.

Guys, thank you so much for this. Check out the fight. It's going to be on DAZN October 26th and a million dollars is on the line. 50 cents, one mil. Hopefully you could finally get to meet him. If you don't, who knows? Doesn't seem like you're really dying to meet 50 cents.