My Mom's Basement - FRIDAY BONUS EPISODE 5 - UFC 238 SPECIAL WITH KATLYN CHOOKAGIAN & MARLON MORAES

Episode Date: June 7, 2019

On this special Friday Bonus Episode of My Mom's Basement, Robbie is joined by two of the fighters that will be competing at UFC 238 this weekend - Katlyn Chookagian and Marlon Moraes! You may remember Katlyn as the woman who kicked Robbie's ass during the Fight of the Century two years ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQaS3CzlIDk), tapping him out 19 times in 4 minutes before kicking him in the face to finish the bout...and she's back to bury the hatchet on this show! Marlon Moraes, her teammate, fights for the UFC Bantamweight Championship in the card's co-main event, so you'll get a look into the mind of a fighter days out from gold in that chat!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. UFC 238 going down tomorrow night in Chicago, Illinois, and on today's show I have Marlon Marais who will on the show, who I had a bit of a past with in making my first ever Barstool Sports video with her. If you haven't seen it, go check it out because I think it'll be a funny watch before I interview our chat. It's called Fight of the Century, Fox vs. Chukagian on YouTube. You can find it pretty easily. And she kicked my ass. She tapped me out 19 times in 4 minutes, and then kicked me in the face. It was not a great

day for me, but we got a very funny video out of it. I got my start, my start in my video career at Barstool because of it, so it was fun to reconnect with her and have her in the office and do, finally, like an actual sit-down interview with her. So both of them, they're actually from the same camp in Tom's river,

New Jersey are fighting on tomorrow night's card. She's opening the card off, uh, against Joanne Calderwood and Marlon is closing the card. So we have, we have the bookends of Chicago's Chicago's pay-per-view on the show today. Remember, if you like the show,

make sure you're subscribed to leave us a review, leave us a rating tweet about the show. Let's keep the discussion going throughout the weekend, throughout the week. We did record these interviews early in the week, so I think we did Monday and Tuesday, so we didn't get any of the Henry Cejudo cringe fest in there, but oh my god, Henry Cejudo. Folks, I fucking hate this guy, and I need Marlon to kick his head into the ether, as someone put it on Twitter earlier. It's just a rough watch. Anytime that guy is talking about anything, anytime that guy is bringing props out, he's wearing a Party City crown to throw out the first pitch, talking about his gold medal.

Jesus fucking Christ. I've heard enough of it. And I defended him for a long time, too. I thought maybe he's a good ambassador for this sport. You know, he did beat DJ. I didn't think he beat DJ, but he has that massive win to his name. It could add to, you know, the intrigue of the flyweight division, possibly, which I want to stay around.

But now I'm all out on him. I need Marlon to kick his ass tomorrow night. I need Henry Cejudo to go back down to flyweight and give Joe Benavidez his rematch, which he deserved because Joe beat him. And then Henry just went on to get a title shot and win. So Joe needs a match. You give that to Joe Benavidez, he kicks Henry's ass and Henry just goes off into the oblivion. And I feel bad saying that because he's an American legend, you know, Olympic gold medalist, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. If you don't know about it, just ask him.

He'll tell you about it. I just fucking hate him. I'm sorry, folks. I'm sorry to be so crass on this podcast. I'm sorry to be so rude. I don't like showing my bias as, you know, a big J journalist in the MMA game. But, God, before we get into the interviews, I will say if you're coming to this podcast looking for picks, if you're looking for gambling picks for UFC 238, you're looking at the wrong guy.

You're listening to the wrong guy. I really don't give out picks often. It's kind of weird, you know, as far as your relationship with the fighters goes. And also, I'm not good at it. So why would I do that? It's just kind of a lose-lose. But I do know the people's main event tomorrow night is Cowboy Cerrone versus Tony Ferguson. I think it's a tremendous fight.

I'm looking forward to it a ton. I like Cowboy in that fight simply because he's a dad, and I don't think dad Cowboy can be defeated. But I think I even touched on that in my Memorial Day mailbag episode, so I won't spend too much more time on it. I do like Marlon in the main event. I like Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event. And, of course, I like my girl Kaitlyn Chukagian in the first fight of the entire card. And without further ado, let's bring her on the podcast. Let's talk about it. So here you go. Here is my discussion with Caitlin Chukagian ahead of UFC 238. Okay, welcome back to the show. I have a very special guest joining the program now. It's an

in-person interview with the one, the only Caitlin Chukagian. Now, we're two blocks down the street right now from where one of the fights of the century happened, where I got my ass kicked by Caitlin, tapped me out I think 19 times in four minutes. I just rewatched that video for the first time in a long time. It's my first video ever with Barstool. Two years following that gruesome fight yeah what kind of toll did that take on you what kind of toll did that take on your career how have you been since i think since like that fight that kind of you know started jump started my real fighting career oh yeah for sure for sure all right we're actually going to do a real interview though we're not we're not doing

this kayfabe i want to go back to the beginning with you getting into fighting getting into martial arts because you've been training forever correct like since you were a little kid yeah so how did that start for you what was your parents like did they get you into it yeah so i started karate when i was four my um my older brother who was four years older than me he did it so um when he was training karate you know just like how a lot of us did when we were little, it was pretty common. I was always in the lobby and like pretty much all like the younger sisters would always play in the lobby. And then when they got old enough, they were there all the time. So they just kind of signed up to.

And, you know, most of them just did it until they were like eight, nine and then did gymnastics and dance and cheerleading and all that stuff and i just kind of like stuck with it i did other sports but that was always like my main sport you know like um so i did karate yeah i did karate and i was always like one belt like one big belt behind my brother so like when i started he had got a black belt and then when i got my first degree black belt like they had a kid system then he got his second degree so I was always like trying to chase that and um you know it was just us two so I always wanted to kind of be like him and be tough so I could play with him and his friends when they were over I thought they were you know that was cool so that was kind of like my motivation and then you know through that I was just I was like really good at it. I just so I got like a lot of attention doing it. And I like I loved being like the best one in the class, you know.

And when did it become serious then from like, oh, this is fun and I'm really good at it to like, wait, this might be like a career. Well, I think I always knew. I don't think I thought, oh, I'm going to fight professionally. And like, are you watching mixed martial arts at that time being like this could be a career? No, I kind of just thought like I looked up to like the senseis at the gym and kind of was like oh that's cool. There was like one girl instructor and I was like oh

that's so cool. She's the only girl sensei like I want to be like that. So I didn't know that I would be like fighting professionally but I thought I'd be teaching or just being to a higher level of martial arts where I would be teaching or you know just achieving that goal whether you know i mean i think even in high school they start like ufc started getting kind of popular with but i i mean i kind of watched it you know like when that was like when gsp was super popular and like i

kind of watched it and did kids in high school know like, Caitlin will fuck you up? No. No, not at all. I got made fun of like they would always, like in high school they were like, oh, you do Kung Fu, Mr. Miyagi. And then we would watch, UFC would be on.

I'm like, that's, I mean, we don't, what I did, I didn't call it MMA, but I was like, that's basically what I do. And like, I would get made fun of all the time for doing that. Yeah, they were like, oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can get engaged.

You play with nunchucks and stuff. And sometimes they'd see pictures of me when I was younger with the karate. But high school, I was competing in Golden Gloves boxing. I won Pennsylvania. So when did you go from karate to like, all right, let me do boxing. Let me do jujitsu. Let me do this. Let me do that.

Probably around the beginning of high school. The place where I did karate at was kind of like a hybrid of different styles. And they were still called karate, but we were doing jiu-jitsu. We were doing kickboxing. You know, when I was like five, I did point sparring. But besides that, we did full contact sparring with takedowns, just not to the face for kids. So it wasn't like karate, like point sparring. We were still basically doing MMA. We just didn't really have like all the tools and kids so it wasn't like karate like point sparring we were still basically doing

mma we just didn't really have like all the tools and techniques of it and then when it gets serious for you that's after high school yeah i mean i would say high school got pretty serious just because i had about 10 boxing fights and like uh you know i like i said i won the golden gloves and then i've had about 20 like kickboxing fights and i started doing jujitsu tournaments like very basic stuff and then in college i um i moved to like i moved to new jersey so i could be like around more yep uh you know more training and better you know higher level training and then that's when i was like hey i want to do mma i'm doing everything i'm doing jujitsu separate and kickboxing separate i want to combine it and

then um i started training i need to get better at jujitsu so i started training at a henzo gracie in jersey or in new york i first started at a henzo gracie affiliate in newark new jersey which one um bitten court okay yeah and I know somebody that trains there yeah yeah follow them on Instagram yeah and I started training there and then everyone in the Henzo community kind of all know each other and they that was just a jiu-jitsu school so I put the gi on and I did jiu-jitsu twice a day every day for like a whole year and I just did that and then um you know through there I met a bunch of people at Henzo's, and they knew I wanted to get into MMA. So they kind of sent me to Henzo's here in the city because they have more MMA stuff there.

And that's kind of how I got into it. And then you start tearing up the regional scene in MMA in Atlantic City, right? Yeah. I had seven amateur fights all in about a year and a half two years that's crazy yeah i was surprised that like now like that's insane especially because that was like four or five like five years ago i was surprised that i could get that many fights yeah you know just because they were even two years ago wasn't as popular as it is now for girls yeah so i got you know seven seven amateur fights and then i turned pro and i got seven pro

fights and they were mostly all like around new jersey pennsylvania atlantic city like philadelphia and then um i fought two fights in hungary because i could i fought twice in one night because i could it got to a point in the regional twice in one night yeah like a tournament yeah it was like a four girl tournament. That's crazy. That's fucking bonkers. When did you get the call to the UFC? Like the actual call call. I was bartending.

I actually, you know what's crazy is I knew that because I trained jujitsu. My friend is going to fucking kill me for saying this. But I trained jujitsu with a guy back in Jersey who said he met you once while you were bartending. And he tried to kind of flex a little bit and be like, oh, yeah, i trained jujitsu with a guy uh back in jersey who said he met you once while you were bartending and he tried to kind of flex a little bit and be like oh yeah i train uh jujitsu and you were like i'm a brown belt and he was like oh well i'm gonna take my drink to the other side of the board oh my gosh that's so funny yeah yeah um yeah i was bartending in hoboken and i remember it was like a slow it was like a day shift and my i had a manager for my two previous fights and and he called me.

He's like, well, we had talked about it because I was fighting at 125, and they didn't have 125 in the UFC for women. They had 115 or 135. So, you know, it was kind of getting to the point where, like, well, it's getting hard. I have seven pro fights. It's hard for me to find fights outside of the UFC. So I can either move up a weight class and go in the UFC or I can just sit around and wait and hope that they open up 125 but there

was no promise that there would be and they were kind of saying at the time that they had no plans to do so yeah they just say no no no and then one day they're like yeah we're doing it which seems to be the Dana White way yeah exactly so um yeah I told my manager I was like well I mean I guess I'll just move up to 125 if that means I can get in the UFC, like running out of things to do. And then, you know, I'll do that. And then if they open up 125, I'll move down. But whatever, I guess I'll just move up. There's nothing else I could do. And it was like two weeks later, he's like, so he called me and it was like, so I was bartending. It was like a slow day shift. And he's like, so do you want to go up to 135 for real for the UFC? I was like, yeah. I mean, I said I would. He's like, okay, do you want to fight in two weeks? It was like two and a half weeks. I was like, wait, really?

He goes, yeah. Do you want to fight Lauren Murphy? And I think it was like South Carolina or Sioux Falls. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, I was like, uh, sure. Really? And like, all right, we'll send all the paperwork tomorrow and yeah and I was like I was like uh sure really like all right

we'll send all the paperwork tomorrow and stuff I was like okay so short notice and you came and you won that fight yeah yeah is that like I mean at that point had to be the greatest night of like your career yeah it happened it was kind of I'm so happy that it was like short notice it happened so quick it was like you didn't have time to be nervous about it yeah I didn't have time it was just like oh shit okay gotta be gotta get ready you know you didn't have time to be nervous about it? Yeah, I didn't have time. It was just like, oh, shit, okay, got to get ready. I didn't have time to think about other stuff. Had you gotten nervous for fights before that, like when you had Atlantic City fights or whatever? Do you get nervous?

Yeah, I get nervous probably a couple hours, like once we get to the arena. Because any time before that, it just feels like it doesn't feel like I'm fighting. I'm like, yeah, I don't know. It doesn't feel like i'm fighting it just i'm like yeah i don't know it doesn't feel like it i guess when it gets here and then once i get to like the arena i start to get a little nervous and like no matter what fight it's always the same like my first amateur fight in like some high school gym i get just as nervous as when i fought at msg it's like that's interesting you know because every fight is your biggest fight and when when does that go away for you because i always i always wonder about this as a kid with horrendous anxiety. I mean, look at me.

You can tell I have anxiety just by my face. But when you're walking out, is the adrenaline already pumping? Where the nerves are gone there? No, not until, like, the first, like, until I get hit. Like, the first punch. Oh, shit. So even when Buffer's like, come on, fighter. Yeah, I'm like, just hurry up.

Just shut up and let's get this started. Like, I mean, I'm not that nervous where I'm like panic attack, but I'm definitely just like, fuck, I just want to get this over with. Because once you're actually fighting, then it's like boom. And I keep telling myself, as soon as our first punch is thrown, I'm like, it'll be fine. And then it's like, even if it's a super easy fight or a super hard fight, it's all the same. Once you start, it's like right before like when we're standing there and like Bruce is talking, I always just tell myself, I'm like, 17 minutes and then we're done. Yeah.

17 minutes and then we're done. I could be a normal person in 17 minutes. Like no matter what happens, this is over with. And it's so crazy too that it is only 17 minutes. It's so important. Yeah. But like when you look at it, it's not even the length of like a half-hour television show without the commercials. Oh my god. It's so important. Yeah. But like when you look at it, it's not even the length of like a half hour television show

without the commercials. Oh my God. It's crazy to think about. So when did you start training with Mark Henry? You're like, I know right now you're training

in Mark Henry's basement. Yeah. Well, when we do like one-on-one sessions with him, we do it at his house. I saw an interview with you where you were like,

yeah, we walk in and his wife is making coffee in his school's basement. Well, first of all, his house is really nice. You say basement and basement and everyone's like oh i'm like his basement's like nicer than most apartments i've lived in before so um but yeah we do he's so busy like with he has his pizzeria like the whole coaching the whole coaching thing is a side gig it's like

his hobby so like his main thing is his pizzeria. And he's one of the best coaches in the history of MMA. Yeah. Which is interesting that that is his side gig. Yeah. So it has to be at his house because he can do one fighter in the morning before he leaves. And then when he gets back in the afternoon, he can do one before – train another fighter before he like has to spend some time with him. And what's that team? It's you, Frankie, Marlon, Zabit.

Yeah. Eddie Alvarez. It's like a very, Marlon, Zabit. Yeah, Eddie Alvarez. It's like a very tight-knit, small team. Yeah. But it makes me laugh because as a kid that grew up in Jersey and has a ton of friends from Long Island, it's the most like New Jersey, Long Island team of all time. Yeah, yeah. When that team rolls into a UFC event and you're in the media room,, you know they rolled in because it sounds like you're family gathering at home. Yeah, exactly. And that's what's cool about it is it's very, like, you know, it's tight-knit.

It's very family-oriented. Like, you know, we're all friends. Everyone's just, like, really – there's no, like, douchebags. You know what I mean? If you were that type of personality, you probably wouldn't like it there and you probably just wouldn't last there because it's just not our first team. I feel like that's, for the most part, New Jersey and New York MMA fighters in general. The high-level UFC ones, the whole Weidman group, the Iaquinta, Weidman, Volante, that whole squad. It kind of feels like a fun-loving, maybe they get a little bit of the New York hard-o reputation, but it feels like a fun-loving squad. Yeah, it's more of like if you kind of like mess with

our our people then there's a problem but you know like even i just moved to long island so i do my strength training at at wyman's gym and um you know me and my fiance were really good friends with ryan laflair and dennis bermuda's chris wade and it's just kind of like it's the same with those type of people it's the same environment as like it is in South Jersey. So your first loss in the UFC at Madison Square Garden, it's a split decision to Liz Karmuch. Yeah. What was that like? I remember talking to you when we filmed the video and I was like, oh, so close.

And you were like, no, I definitely lost. You were like. Yeah. A lot of people are like, oh, I thought you won that fight. And I'm like, I mean, at best, if they had the new ruling system, which they didn't at the time. So I think it could have been a draw because I think, you know, I lost the first two rounds and then I almost knocked her out in the third round.

I think that would have been a 10-8 round. So at best, if it was the new rulings, it would have been a draw, but it wasn't. So I definitely think I lost that. You know, I think I lost the first two rounds i think i'm a better fighter and i you know that was my second ufc fight you know she had fought for fought ronda for the titles my first real camp you know so i think that i was kind of putting myself down a little bit like kind of like thought oh wow now i'm here i'm fighting these girls that have been around forever. But, you know, I've been training probably longer than those girls just because they were in the UFC. It doesn't, you know, I kind of, that's where like now, me as a fighter now compared to then,

I think I've grown so much more in like confidence and knowing how good my abilities are. Yeah, especially having way more fights in the UFC and like knowing you're battle tested, you've won way more fights since then. But at the time – so now looking back, definitely positive for your career that you lost that fight probably. But at the time, like how did you take that because it's your first like major high-level loss? Yeah. I mean it was – I was definitely like really upset but I mean – Were you able to brush it off your shoulder and like get back in the gym yeah right away i mean i've competed so much in jujitsu like muay thai

boxing like i've lost you know everyone's like oh you're undefeated it's your first loss i'm like well i've lost in like other aspects and i think that that helped me a lot and because i've just competed so much maybe not in mma but it's different combat sports. So you know what I mean? I've experienced loss before and realized like it's not the end of the world. And then you did come back and you won a few fights in a row. You strung together a few wins. The flyweight division is like officially opened, officially becomes a real thing. On the rise, like what has the rise been like?

Because I've been watching your fights since then because we did the video right after that uh madison square garden card yeah by the way when we did that video do you ever get people that come up to you and are like oh i saw that video where you kicked that kid's ass all the time especially when that happened and i swear to i was like three weeks ago i was at training at nicks and like what nick's nick cotones um and one of like the regular students walked by he's like he's like hi i'm so-and-so i was like oh nice to meet you he's like you know i saw you on a bar stool he's like that's amazing that'm so-and-so. I was like, oh, nice to meet you. He's like, you know, I saw you on a barstool. He's like, that's amazing. That was so cool. And you beat Robbie up.

I was like, oh shit, that's awesome. That's very funny. Yeah. I always think about that because I'm like, I was literally an intern when we did that. I got the idea for it. And I was like, yeah, I was like, I got to hit up like a New York fighter. Who can I hit up? Yeah.

I was like, let me hit up Caitlin. But that was a lot of fun to do. And it's like funny to look back at now. Yeah. Like, oh my God. Like that was over two years ago now. It was funny because a lot of people at the time, I was like, I didn't realize how many people – I mean now it's like crazy. But I didn't realize how many people watch Barstool Snapchat.

And then I was getting so many – everyone was like, wait, did I just see you on Barstool Snapchat just beating their intern up? I was like, yeah. We had our old office. There was like a – There was a massage chair. Someone sent us a massage chair as a gift. And right afterwards, I was super sore. I was in the massage chair and my phone blew up. And it was kids that I was in college with at the time.

And they were like, did you skip class today to fight someone? And I was like, why would you say that? And they were like, there's videos of it on Barstool Snapchat. Everyone loved it. Correct. I did skip class today to get beat up. to fight someone? And I was like, why would you say that? And they're like, there's videos of it on Barstool Snapchat. Yeah, yeah. Everyone loves it. Correct. I did skip class today to get beat up. Everyone loved it

except my grandma. God rest her soul. Oh my God, she hated it. Really? What did she say? She was like, he needs to quit this job.

She's like, what is he doing? They're making him do horrible stuff. He's getting beat up by women. Oh, it was the funniest thing. Her, my sister and my mom were the three that they were like you you think this is funny you really like this is what

you're doing they're like and how do you up this yeah how do you how do you one up this you're gonna get beat up by a man next i was like no i swear to god i'm not uh you come up you have a bunch of wins in a row you lose to jessica i another split decision unfortunately that seems like the shittiest way to lose and yeah it does like definitely sucks this might sound super stupid i feel like i'd rather get knocked out oh 100 like i kept saying after my last one like fuck i'm like i just wish that like i just wish she like beat the shit out of me because then i could have been like damn she was just so good and that's why i I lost. Does your mind go to like, what if I did one more thing in the second round? Yeah.

I mean, that particular fight was like the first fight I've ever had where I was like, kind of felt like I just had an off night. You know, I would hear people say that all the time. And I'm like, I don't know. It's never happened to me. And that was like the first fight where I was like, damn. I was like, during the fight, I was like talking to myself. I'm like, all right, let's go.

So you knew in the fight that you were having an off night? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I felt fine during warm-up. As soon as it started, I just wasn't. Usually I count it with four or five punches. I was just kind of like, I don't know. The best way to describe it is I wasn't really feeling it that night. I was in there, and I was kind of just like, I just want to get this over with.

If I fought her the next day or the day before I think it would have been completely different I mean it's easy to say that you know I'm sure a lot of people say that but I just wasn't feeling it and then it was like maybe like three weeks ago I watched the fight for the first time I hadn't watched it and um you could see on like my I mean I could tell like my face in between rounds I just kind of looked like annoyed. Like I was – not annoyed but I was just like – because I knew it wasn't – You knew you weren't getting into the groove of things. Yeah, I just know that I'm like a lot better than her.

I'm a lot better than I was and I lost the split decision. I lost the split decision for number one contender spot on like a shitty day. So that's what made that loss. That loss was way worse than my other loss because my other loss i was just like well i'm learning you know that you know and i tried my best division then yeah this one was just kind of like damn i just i know i'm so much better and then it also stings because she does get the title shot now against valentina on saturday yeah but you've been told if something doesn't work out with that, someone pulls out, you

can fill in as a replacement for that. Yeah. Your opponent has been told the same thing. Yeah, yeah. Because that's the way the UFC operates, obviously. But this Saturday night, what are you, what are you like, are you looking to get in there and just get like a finish? Are you in that mode?

Or are you just like, let's get another win? Yeah. I mean, I'm always thinking like, whatever, just win, just win. You know, win's a win, doesn't matter how it is. I don't care if it's like, you know, I'm like laying on top of her for three rounds and the crowd's booing. Like, I don't, that stuff doesn't bother me. I'm not really like, I'm just

going to put on a show for the fans and go out there and do something stupid. You know, I fight for myself. You know, I know that's probably not the most popular thing to say. I don't fight for the fans, but they don't pay my bills. Fuck them, yeah. Yeah, so I just want to get a win.

But for this particular fight, I really just keep visualizing myself getting a finish. I visualize it like submitting her, and then I also visualize not being out. Because you would imagine if you do that, you will get the next title shot for sure. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm ranked number two now, and I think they put us on this card for a reason. Yeah. Would you like to, if you get a win on Saturday, when you get a win on Saturday, let's keep the positive vibes flowing here. When you get a win, maybe get your title shot on that MSG card?

That's definitely. I would assume that's, yeah. You know, I'm trying to focus on Saturday, but, I mean, the timing makes sense. I know that, you know, I mean, Jessica, I could win, but realistically I think Valentina's going to win, and I know she likes to be very active and fight as much as she can. So, you know, timing-wise, as long as, like, there's no injuries, like November for MSG sounds like it would make the most sense. Would that make you more nervous?

Do you get, like, more the bright lights at MSG? Youg you fought there already so it's a little bit different but like a title fight at msg i've seen people say they don't like fighting in front of their families like when their whole family gets to be there yeah i mean i think honestly like for when i fought at msg it was like the least amount of people i knew my family was there because it's so expensive and everyone's like yeah it's right there we'll see you after the fight. But I don't really notice a difference at all. I mean, I would like it if it was in New York because then press and stuff is a lot easier because you don't have to travel.

But yeah, I mean, when I fought at MSG, I remember thinking like, I don't know, it just felt like any other fight. It didn't feel any... It's crazy to me that fighters are able to block that out. It's crazy. It's like a different breed. I think the lights are like that because it's like, you know, you can't see past the first,

you can't see past the first row. But then I remember after that fight, I, uh, I showered, I went back and you're not like fighters aren't allowed to go back into the arena. Like we're like in the actual seats. Because then a Habib works out yeah yeah exactly uh but like i always sneak i snuck my way and i was like sitting with my parents and they were kind of at the top and it was when um eddie and connor fought and it was so insane in there and i was like for a second teammates with eddie at that point yeah so for a second like because that's like a couple hours

after your fight so you you know i think we got pizza and then i showered and we went back in and i was sitting there i'm like this is so insane i'm like holy shit and like for a second i forgot i'm like i just fought you fought like i'm watching it i mean granted it wasn't like as hyped up as it was for my fight like in the beginning of the card as it was for there but it was like i was so happy that i went back in and sat there so i could take it in from like that perspective because otherwise if i wouldn't have i don't think i would have it would have felt like another just like any other fight which is good when i'm fighting but you know for like as the fight goes on my life goes on to look back yeah i have that historic like you know

i'm sure you can picture it like looking at the octagon at madison square garden no one fought there the same place where all these legendary fights have happened. That main event being like one of those legendary fights people look back on. Yeah. So this Saturday, biggest fight of your career. I've seen you say all the time. Next fight is the biggest fight. I love that mentality.

Kaitlyn is a barstool fighter. I've been telling barstool fans for two years now. Undefeated barstool. Like she fights. You better get behind her. You better support her same goes for this saturday night i'm very excited for getting another big win getting a title shot afterwards we'll be there at msg for that title win eat pizza afterwards exactly it'll be a great

time caitlin thank you so much for joining the show thanks for having me thanks again to caitlin for coming on the show it was a blast talking to her her. We got to get back together and make a video. We talked about it after the interview a little bit. But after she gets this win, she'll come back to New York, and we'll get something sorted out. Maybe another challenge of some sort that could be fun. Now we're going to kick it over to the man that is in tomorrow night's main event, the man that will hopefully put an end to the king of cringe, Henry Cejudo. Please, God, Marlon Marais.

This interview is pretty interesting. I only had a 10-minute slot with him, and I tried to make the best of it. Marlon was, I don't know, not the most energetic. It sounded like he just woke up, but we tried to have fun with it. We tried to salvage it, and I think just listening to his answers, he's so locked in and determined. It kind of just made me laugh while I was doing it. I hope it makes you laugh as well.

Okay, Marlon, you're speaking with Bobby Fox from Barstool Sports. Marlon, how are you? I'm good, man. It's Wednesday. We're just a few days out from the fight now. Has the weight cut began? Yeah. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the hardest days. I still feel good, and Thursday are the hardest day, you know. I still feel good, and I'm on point, you know.

I can't wait to make weight and perform Saturday night. I'm glad to hear it, because this is a fight that I'm looking forward to very much as a fight fan. It's the main event of UFC 238, Marlon Marais versus Henry Cejudo for the Bantamweight Championship of the World, which is vacant right now in the UFC. Henry Cejudo, the 125-pound champ, coming up to try to become a double champ like that. I saw you had some issue with Henry Cejudo coming up into your weight class. You said it was a selfish move. Do you still feel that way? Do you still feel a little animosity towards Henry?

Oh, man, he wants something I want, you know. We're about to fight, and there's no way I didn't have that, you know. And he's stepping up. He wants two belts. And I want to defend my division, and I worked hard to get here to have my title shot to be the number one contender. And I'm going to welcome him Saturday night, and I'm ready to go out there and win. Something I saw that was very interesting to me in the build-up to this fight

was that you did an interview with Ariel Helwani, and you kind of mentioned in passing that Henry had reached out to you. This was a few months ago uh to try to maybe ease tensions when the fight wasn't even official yet and you felt like he was trying to almost hinder your mentality towards this fight that that was super interesting to me do you did you take that as like I want to say like a sign of weakness from Henry that he was trying to almost be friendly with you in the build-up to this and you weren't interested in that? I can't trust, you know.

He wants to be champion. I want to be champion. Maybe it's a game. It's a game. I'm not goofing around, man. I've been raised in Brazil and I'm ready for anything, you know. Yeah. And I don't want to make no friends now.

I want to fight, and when you fight, it's you and your opponent across the cage. In this game, there's no team, and at some point we're going to have to compete and we're going to have to go at it, and this is what we're going to do Saturday night. Marlon, I've got to tell you, I'm talking to you over the phone right now and you're intimidating

me. You're so locked in right now. I love to hear this. As a fighter from Tom's River, I used to actually live in Tom's River, beautiful area. You're not from there, but you're fighting out of Tom's River. How do you like Jersey as a guy from Brazil? I'm curious. Summertime is the best.

Wintertime is not the best. Yeah. Summertime is not the best. Yeah. Have you tried any of our Jersey delicacies, such as the pork roll or the Taylor ham? Yeah, yeah. I like it. Yeah. Mark Henry's got you on that stuff? Yeah. Frankie, Frankie. Oh, it's Frankie. Yeah, I try. I like it. So you are training with that whole team, Frankie and Zabit and Caitlin Chukagian. I actually had Caitlin Chukagian on this show. I spoke to her earlier in the week, and she mentioned that your team very much feels like a family. Do you echo that statement? Do you think that the Mark Henry kind of school is like a family like that?

Yeah, man. Yes, it is. It's a good team. I'm happy to be there. They support me. I put in the work. I support everyone. And I believe we are one of the best teams in the world, you know. When you look at the landscape of mixed martial arts right now, who is it that you feel is entertaining to watch and you enjoy tuning in to watch them fight? I like to watch Ed Semper Bos. I like to watch Justin Gates. I like to watch Eddie Alvarez. He fights.

He goes at it. I like to watch Johnny Walker. He's a very, very good guy. Yeah, Johnny Walker is electric. John Johns. And there's so many guys. I like to watch Daniel Cormier. So you're very much a student of the game.

You enjoy watching mixed martial arts. Especially these stars, you know. Yeah. So this Saturday night, when you're visualizing it in your head, what are you visualizing? Are you thinking of the walk-in? Are you thinking of the fight itself? Are you thinking of the moment of the crowned champion? What is it in your mind right now that, when you think of Saturday night, sticks out to you?

My performance, you know? Yeah. I've got to perform. I've got to have a good performance. I've got to do well and do what I know and be the best version of Marlon you guys have ever seen. That's it. And you're looking for a finish, correct? You kind of made that clear that you're going out there every fight, it seems,

that you're not one to leaving it to the judges. You don't love doing that. Every fight that steps in the cage is looking for a finish, you know. If they say they're looking for points, they're lying because you are across a guy and you want to hit him. When you want across a guy and you want to hit him. When you want to hit someone, you want to see him going down. You don't want to hit the guy and have him coming at you again. So everybody that steps in there is looking for a finish.

And why do you feel that you're the one that will be able to finish Henry Cejudo at UFC 238? I'm the best mental weight in the world, you know, and one of the dangerous, and I'm ready, man. I'm ready to go out there and scrap.

Dude, you sound ready, and after this fight, do you, are you thinking past this fight at all in terms of, like,

do you know if you want to fight again this year? Do you know if you want to, do you know if there's a guy in the division

that you know you want to call out? Is there something like that, or is it just Saturday night for you right now? I want to win the belt first, you know, there's a guy in the division that you know you want to call out? Is there something like that, or is it just Saturday night for you right now? I want to win the belt first. You know, I want to focus on Henry's fight.

It's a tough fight. I worked hard for this fight. And I want to get in there, and I want to win. And after that, we will see. I don't know. I focus on this fight. And finally, just one last question from me. I really appreciate you

making the time on Fight Week, especially during your weight cup, but does Henry Cejudo make you uncomfortable or like, I don't know, every time I watch an interview with this guy,

I kind of cringe. He's just kind of a weirdo. Do you get those vibes from him? It's weakness, my friend. It's weakness. When you have to talk yourself so up, you know, It's weakness, my friend. It's weakness. When you have to talk yourself so up, you know, and that's a sign of weakness,

and I'm going to be able to touch it and capitalize it. I know I will. Interesting. So he does make you cringe as much as he makes me cringe. Yep. All right. Good to hear. Good to hear. Marlon, thank you so much for making the time again. You can tune in to see him fight this Saturday night, UFC 238. I can't wait. I think you're going to be the new bantamweight champion

of the world come Saturday night, sir. Thank you. That's the goal and that's what I'm going to do. Absolutely. Bring it home for Tom's River, home of the Little League World Series champions many times over. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, thank you once again to Marlon, and of course, thank you to Caitlin Chukagian. Thank you guys for listening. I hope you enjoyed the show. Make sure you're subscribed because on Monday, I'm coming at you with an awesome wrestling show.

Myself and my tag team partner in all of the From the Top Rope Ventures on this podcast, Jared Kravitz, sat down with Bayley, the WWE SmackDown Women's Champ, got to talk to her. And I sat down with a guy who wrote for the WWE for nine months in the last year, my guy Kazim, and we had a very interesting chat. And I think any wrestling fan would be fascinated as far as what goes down in a writer's room on raw and smackdown in 2018 2019 i'll be covering in live tweeting and live blogging ufc 238 tomorrow night so make sure you follow along on my twitter account at robbie barstool and on barstool sports.com for that and enjoy the weekend i'll talk to you on monday