The Ariel Helwani Show - Helwani Reacts: Classic interview stories including Rampage Jackson, Nick Diaz, the infamous Undertaker x Brock Lesnar run-in, and more

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

In this special episode, Ariel Helwani looks back at some of his classic interviews and tells the untold stories behind each, including:Nick Diaz before his Strikeforce fight against Paul Daley in April 2011 (09:05)Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller in Las Vegas right before UFC 84 in May 2008 (28:09)Rashad Evans in the immediate aftermath of UFC 128, where former teammate turned rival Jon Jones defeated Shogun Rua to become UFC champion in March 2011 (35:14)The infamous Undertaker interview seconds after Brock Lesnar’s defeat at the hands of Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in Oct. 2010 (43:51)Pro wrestling royalty including Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg Jim Ross, and Paul Heyman speak after Brock Lesnar’s incredible comeback against Shane Carwin at UFC 116 in July 2010 (57:03)King Mo’ Lawal’s emotional locker room interview after beating Gegard Mousasi to become Strikeforce champion in April 2010 (01:06:57)Rampage’ Jackson in rare form after his loss to Jon Jones at UFC 135 in Sept. 2011 (01:15:33)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ariel Hawani Show! The Ariel Hawani Show is back in your life. Hello everyone. How are you doing? Hope the holiday season has been treating you well. We're still very festive around these parts. And you know, it's a bit of a quiet time as far as the schedule is concerned. And so we thought that this would be a perfect, perfect time to do something that I have actually wanted to do for quite some time. You know, I'm a very nostalgic guy. I love to reminisce. I love to look back.

I always talk about the book that one day I will write, and it will be entitled Highway to Helwani. And so perhaps consider this the audio version, or perhaps even the video version as well, depending on how you're consuming this, of the soon- one day be released Highway to Helwani, because this is the very first episode in a series that we will be doing here at the Uncrowned Network, where I look back at some of my old interviews, dare I say classic

interviews, interviews that I see pop up all over the place. And it won't just be me, you know, showing you the interviews. I want to give you the backstory. I want to give you the goods. I want to tell you about what I was doing that week, where I was in my life and career, some of the things that I've never talked about before. I'll be revealing some of those details here. And this won't be the only one. There'll be themes, there'll be episodes that we'll do throughout the years. This will be the first and it involves some of the real classics, if you will, some of the ones that we've talked about. And I've unearthed maybe an interview or two that has been forgotten about, but have some

real juicy backstory to it. Does that all make sense to you guys? Do you understand where I'm coming from? Everyone's back here, by the way. They're just being shy. Yeah. Okay. Super shy. Yeah. Super shy. Yeah. I don't know if you noticed, Frank, but I'm wearing my holiday best.

Yeah. Are you wearing a satchel? I'm not quite sure what that means. A satchel is like, there looks like a cross strap in front of you. Wow. No, this is a jumper designed by my brother, David Helwani of 20 fame. Oh, that's awesome. And, uh, you know, I was told to dress holiday cozy. Uh, we've got the Yule log in effect right over

there. It's, uh, you know, that, that is a real, that is a real fireplace. Did I just hear crackling? Sounds great. Yeah. Sounds warm. Sounds nice and cozy.

We're in the spirit The holiday season is upon us Like I said Slow time in the schedule And so I thought that this would be fun And my prediction is That other than Eric Everyone else back in the control room

Has maybe seen 10% of these interviews What do you guys say? That's accurate You sleep on me Okay You sleep on me Well we'll find out We shall

Find out I'm really looking forward To this And you know We're not going to go Through the entire library But we're going to Have some fun

We're going to sit back Relax Perhaps Grab a tea A peppermint tea Maybe even An eggnog An old fashioned

Whatever your drink of choice is, sit back, relax, have a great time, and let us reminisce, because truth be told, I'm getting pretty old, and, you know, now I've got a bit of a, a bit of a library, a bit of a resume, where I can be like, you know what, kids, back in my day, I did a thing or two. All right, let us kick things off, my friends, and let us go all the way back almost 14 years ago to April of 2011. Let's go to the West Coast. Let's go to beautiful San Diego, California.

Let's go to Southern California, and let's go to an event known as Strikeforce San Diego, a very important event in the history of MMA for multiple reasons. Yes, there it was. Welterweight title on the line. Nick Diaz, the pride of Stockton going up against Paul Semtex Daly in a fantastic, fantastic main event. Some might say the fight of the year, at the very least, the round of the year for 2011. It was an unbelievable back and forth round. It ended in the first round, 457 of the very first round Nick Diaz won.

If you have not seen that fight, by the way, do yourself a favor, go watch it. It's only four minutes and 57 seconds. You saw on the poster right over there, Gilbert Melendez defending his lightweight title against Tatsuya Kawajiri. Other names on the card, by the way, Gegard Mousasi going up against Keith Jardine, Shinya Aoki against Lyle, Fancy Pants, Beer Bomb, and many others as well.

I mean, it was a pretty solid card, but it was notable for this reason. Less than a month prior, Zufa had purchased out of the blue Strikeforce, completely out of the blue. And a bit of a spoiler, more on that particular story to come. There was one event since they purchased it, a Friday night challengers event in Stockton, California, of all places, the weekend before. But this was the first major event under new ownership. And you'll recall that Dana White showed up to the event wearing a Strikeforce t-shirt. That was surreal in its own right because they were involved in a war. At this point, come 2011, Strikeforce was really, you know, they were really gaining momentum. They were really starting to become a thing.

They had kicked off their heavyweight Grand Prix at the Meadowlands. That was becoming quite the success. And their ratings on Showtime doing quite well. They had homegrown stars like Daniel Cormier and Luke Rockhold. They had Alistair Overeem back. They had Fyodor Emelianenko. They had the likes of Gina Carano under their umbrella and others. And so they were really starting to gain some momentum. And then poof, out of the blue, March of 2011, we find out via an interview that Zufa slash UFC had purchased Strikeforce. And so this was the first one and it was surreal. The whole week was surreal. I'll never forget the media day. We're at Alliance, Alliance MMA, home to the likes of Dominic Cruz,

head coach Eric Delfiero Were at the media day which was At the gym, it was like the open workout Slash media day And all of a sudden And this was like straight out of WWF taking over WCW In 2001

The UFC PR team strolls up Dave Schaller and company If you remember that name, if you're a real OG fan, they stroll into the gym. And a nice kind of fun note on their part, they stroll up with a Monster Energy can. Monster Energy, as you saw in the poster, one of the main sponsors of Strikeforce. They told me they stopped at a local gas station. They got some monsters. And this was the takeover. All week long, no one really had any idea what this all meant, who was going to be in charge, were the fighters going to have jobs, were the events going to continue, would they

run it as a separate promotion like WC? There were so many questions. But there was an event that was already on the books. This fight was already booked and announced and promoted. And it was on Showtime, who, oh, by the way, Dana White was not a fan of and who had, you know, he had been in a public battle with. So there was all kinds of awkwardness in the air. And so I'm at the media day, and we're interviewing the fighters, and we're asking them questions. And one of the interviews that I didn't get was Nick Diaz. Nick Diaz, obviously a massive

star. He was the welterweight champion. And so I held out hope that I could get him at the press conference or after the press conference, which was being held the next day, the Thursday afternoon in San Diego, April 7th, to be exact. And so the UFC PR team, believe it or not, we were once the best of friends. And they said, we're going to get him for you. We're going to get him for you. And so the press conference comes and goes. It wraps up and Nick's pretty much done. He wasn't a huge fan of doing the one-on-one interviews.

And they say, hey, Nick, can you do this interview with Ariel? And he's like, this and that. And he's up there and he's contemplating. And I remember it it probably the contemplation probably lasted two to three minutes but in reality for me it kind of like it honestly felt like 30 minutes because it was so freaking awkward uh I wasn't sure what he was going to do what he was going to say is he going to tell me to f off is he going to say no he starts contemplating. He's thinking. He's pondering.

He clearly doesn't really want to do it, but he eventually does it. And so the first interview that we will look back on happened on April 7th, 2011, two days before that event, which he headlined and he eventually won that main event fight against Paul Daly. It's myself and Nick Diaz. If you're online, you may recall a very famous line that he says in the interview. You'll see it now in a matter of moments. And I'll chime in with some thoughts, some memories as the interview plays. But again, sit back, relax, and enjoy this interview. Myself and Nick Diaz from April of 2011. Ariel Helwani in San Diego getting set for Strikeforce Diaz vs. Daly alongside

the Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz and Nick good to see you again a lot of people are very excited for this fight how are you feeling in the days leading up to it? I'm alright you know I wasn't gonna do this interview but they told me I had to so you know I feel good I'm ready to fight and uh I don't know that's I don't have much to say you know something against me do you not like me Nick I feel like you instigate fights quite a bit but uh you know that's fights between the fighters yeah I mean maybe that's your that's your job but where I come from you know people like that get slapped do you think I'm instigating or do you think I'm just asking questions?

You're just doing your job, bro, you know. It's nothing personal. Respect, right? Saying, yeah, I just don't like to fall, you know, fall into play with the whole thing. I hope we can have a mutual respect and, you know, always enjoyed watching you fight and respect the time. And I've been covering you for a long time, so I appreciate the time as always.'s all good I see how you are let's say that's that's how you got to be that's how you you know that might not be a good thing well it's it's not it's you know it's not a problem for me it's your job so I mean I don't know it's it's it's it might not be a good thing

but like I don't know you get paid right so right? So we got to do what we got to do out here. Okay, let's pause it right there if we can. Let's talk about the fight itself. Let's pause it right there because you can see he's looking around. That's kind of classic Nick Diaz. But he is accurate. He did not want to do the interview. He was asked to do the interview.

And there's the classic line. Where I come from, people like you get slapped. And, you know, there's a moment there where I'm like, I don't know how this is going to go I'm a little bit nervous He's looking around And I think he thinks that I'm wrapping up the interview at one point And that's when we shake hands

But I was just trying to kind of sort of diffuse the situation But I see the smile He's in pretty good spirits And so I'm like alright we're going to keep this going Now I think it turns And you'll see this in a moment, the vibe turns. But at that point, I'm like, all right, the coast is clear. The storm is behind us. He insinuates that people like me get slapped where he's coming from, the 209 Stockton.

But it's all good. We've moved past it. Now, let's talk about some business. A lot of people think that Paul Daly might give you your toughest test as welterweight champion would you agree with that you never know you know sometimes it's matchup and fighters you know you know I can always end up taking some bad shots right off you know they get go and having it cost me the fight in the later rounds or in the first round you know like this is you know anything can happen but um um you know i'm not afraid to fight you know i'm here to represent my team um you know they asked me to take this fight um and uh you know it was it was real short notice

i just had all these fights they fight me too much you know uh i'm most over over overworked over trained underpaid you know uh fighter you know that's the way that's the way i feel anyways you know i do get i do get paid well as an mma fighter but this you know this isn't boxing and i think we should get paid like this is boxing i hear about people like you know george getting paid way more than me pause right there pause right there now you're going to start to see it ramp up now now you see him start to get agitated now now here it comes and now he starts to lose his patience a little bit and he starts to bring up some things that he's brought up in that time period a lot about being overworked and underpaid y'all and people you know box professional boxers getting paid that much money i don't even know why

i'm doing this anymore because i feel like i get paid way too much money, but not enough. And, uh, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm more than happy with that. I can live with that. You know what I mean? I'm, I'm, I'm, I live in Stockton, you know, I don't need much. And, uh, and you know, so, you know, but I'm here to fight. I'm not afraid to fight. And, uh, you know, they asked me to come here and fight, and I'm not going to be the one, you know, to not take the fight. And I'm ready to go, so. After you mentioned boxing, after your fight against Cyborg, you had expressed interest in fighting Fernando Vargas in a boxing match. What became of that?

You know, people talk a lot of s***, you know. I don't know who that is. I don't know if, you know, promoters talking that s***. They're going to actually sign me to fight, you know, in a boxing promotion or if the boxers talking MMA fighters. I noticed that my finger has that same sort of thing that I got over. Did you guys notice that? There's a finger. Yeah.

Is there something to that? That wasn't my son. In fact, the son who caused this one wasn't born at the time. But I just noticed that maybe it's a thing. I don't know. Maybe you have weak nails. Are you going to tell us what this? I don't remember, but it's happened a lot where like something,

a door has closed. This one, I mean, my memory is pretty good, but what happened to that nail 14 years ago escapes me at the moment. I feel like you're just chomping down on them. No. What's making that yeah this big chomper i don't think the sun had anything to do with it i think that's crazy maybe some vitamin k and you notice like i've kind of salvaged this one the other one was completely blue or purple or whatever color that is every few years and i'm like holding the mic because i think it was pretty fresh so just wanted to note that i mean i've i've worked through a lot of the kinks a lot of the issues so anyway we continue

as someone says something about my boxing to them so then they make a comment or a quote you know back you know about you know whatever so I don't know but I don't know how much of that's for real or what you know I'm uh but yeah that's what I'm saying, you know, I'm motivated if we're talking big money like that, you know what I mean, so it's whatever, but regardless, you know, fighting or not fighting, you know, in the future, you know, I'm a serious athlete and I'm going to be training and see, I've learned, I've from MMA I got enough I got enough money number one I got enough experience and how to live how to live now from this and that's all I need I don't need this you know what I mean so just one last question for you before I let you go there seems to be a lot of

respect between you and Paul you know a lot of people when this fight was announced thought there would be some trash-talking, but he said very nice things about you, and you seem to have respect for him. I'm trying to defuse it. Is that the case? Well, you're the only one that started any f***ing talking about this fight. That's what I'm saying. Like, you're the one saying,

oh, he says he's going to, you know, do this to you and that to you. I was giving an analogy about how I thought the fight might go in my favor, if it did, you know? And then you're saying i made these statements to him and then he's like oh i'll knock nick diaz out or something and all i say now is like right you know he says he's gonna knock me out but that's the all i say is that's that's the only way he can win um so you know there's not much there's not much to say there's no mutual respect what you know he's not talking no I'm not talking

why would I have anything you know talk bad about him you know I hope he don't hit me with the cheap shot but I understand you know what it feels like to be held down for three rounds and you know and you know he's referring to the Josh Koscheck situation a year prior Paul Daly gets fired from UFC because he hits Koscheck after the bell. He's also referring at the beginning there to the interview that I did with Paul the day before where I tell him, you know, what do you think is going to happen, this and that. And fighters, I acknowledge, would consider that a form of instigation. I consider that a form of journalism. He said this about you. He said, why don't I get your response to

said statement? And so that's what he's referring to. And it clearly, at that point, I will say one of the very few times where in my mind, right then and there, I'm thinking, I'm not sure what's going to happen. Considering his trepidation about doing the interview to begin with and just kind of how it was sort of escalating there and simmering that moment where he says you're the only one i'm like i have some doubts at this particular time and i haven't had those feelings um quite often in that role of doing those interviews and that was one of the very few times i'll never forget at that moment where it felt like things turned we continue like this guy you know this guy is avoiding the fight now. You know what I mean?

He's avoiding the fight and he wins the fight so the guy who doesn't fight gets to win so on account of this rules and scoring criteria that we've developed and And you know You know that we used to have a whole nother organization called pride with different rules And I think it worked out way more for exciting fights. You get to see a lot more technical aspect come out in the fight. You get to see a guy get yellow carded if he holds the guy. So it forces him to punch the guy.

He can't just elbow the guy because he has to create some space to punch. So he can't just hold the guy and cheat with little bumpy, you know, bumping the guy with little elbows. He has to create an amount of space, you know, away from this guy to punch down on him. That space that he needs to make before he gets yellow carded is the same space I might be trying to make so that I can get my ass back up and fight this guy when he's not trying to fight me. So he should be carded for stalling. And we've got this whole system going on here, and everybody's, you know, bought up the other organization and thrown it away, tried to hide it.

And it's just wrong, you know. I feel like the Japanese, they kind of knew how the martial arts went and how it should be. And, you know, the more technical, you know, martial artists or wrestler or boxer, and the best man's going to win by these old rules. I feel like it favors the more technical boxer and martial artist. All this UFC and the cage fighting nowadays, it's always been geared, you know, it's always been geared towards the wrestler. It's always been geared towards the wrestler.

I knew that. And then as soon as I started fighting the UFC, I knew I needed to really, you know, pick it up and start playing that game, you know, and learn how to fight like that. Because I'm winning, you know, I can go out there and do damage and win on damage and lose a fight. But I got to win on this criteria, you know. So, like, I won fights on the past do damage and win on damage and lose a fight, but I've got to win on this criteria. I've won fights on the past and damage in my own mind, in my eyes, in their eyes, but in the judges' eyes, the other guy won. But when I went home and they went home, they know who really won the fight. But they knew how to win the fight, and they were aiming were they had a you know they were aiming to go in there and and win on those on on that scoring credit i just you know i wasn't up on game and i

should have been and i just didn't have anybody to tell me hey listen you will lose the fight if you go on bottom in the first round and they start you know what i mean it's just not you don't you don't realize that stuff when you're when you're 18 years old well thank you so much for the time nick i appreciate it as always regardless of what you may think. A lot of respect for you and I wish you the best of luck on Saturday night. All right, thank you. There you have it.

There was nothing, especially in that era, nothing like Nick Diaz interview. I'm reminded while watching that of an Elite XC interview that we did a couple of years prior in Stockton. We did the entire interview and then he just said, I don't like it.

We need to do it again. And, you know, it was always like nine, 10 minutes and we did it all over again. And I had no problem with that. Always had a ton of respect for Nick, always had a ton of respect for his brother. You could see why people,

like this is Nick in his prime and you could see why people adored him. He was as real as it got. A real authentic OG of the game. He's talking about pride, and he's talking about pride being purchased and forgotten about. And here we are a month into the UFC purchasing Strikeforce. It was a fascinating time, a bizarre time, and it's awkward for me. I've never really rewatched these.

Obviously, the moments I've seen and people share them and all that stuff, I've never really rewatched these, and it's hard to watch myself again, especially from all those years ago. But great, great memories. And I think about where I was in life, you know, outside of the job.

When I see, I can remember exactly where I was in life, April of 2011, hadn't had a kid yet, all that stuff. So great memories there. Much love to Nick. What happened at the end like the

interview ends yeah you just part it's just like literally walks away yeah nothing no conversation literally walks away and i remember i remember actually um going to eat tacos with ben folks later that day and telling him about that it hadn't been posted yet and telling him about that. It hadn't been posted yet, and telling him about like, yo, I think Nick was like, maybe going to do something. I wasn't sure. It got a little weird. It got a little contentious. And, you know, again, credit to the UFC PR team.

They made that happen. They told him like, we'd really like for you to do this. And he did it. Credit to him. But yeah, he just walked off. Cesar Gracie was there. Members of his team was there.

He never traveled alone, right? He always traveled pretty deep. Walked off and we did a million interviews after that. So it was never a problem. People look at that interview and say like, Nick Diaz, you know, look at how he felt about you. He said like, we did like a hundred interviews after that. So that was just him.

And I appreciated him telling me how he felt and keeping it real. And I obviously disagree. That's why I said, you know, I instigate fights between the fighters. Like you are fighters. Um, I'm just telling you maybe what you don't like is when I say that this guy

said this, that to me, I'm actually doing journalism. I'm going to the source to get his response as opposed to speculating or making shit up, which I never did But yeah that was a great scene and those San Diego Events were great as well because it was a great

MMA community over there Alright let's move along now And let's actually travel Two years prior May of 2009 At the time I am working for MMArated.com that interview by the am working for MMArated.com. That interview, by the way, was with AOL.com.

This is now before all that. My first job, all right, well, look, the first, I started all this in 2006. I was the tough five blogger for spiketv.com. 2006, that's like the spring summer of 2006. Still working in production. October of 2007, I say, I'm going to go all in, and I'm going to devote everything to being a combat sports slash MMA-specific journalist. And I have this website called jerrypark.com, and I give myself from October of 2007 to April of 2008 to get noticed. And I've told this story before.

I write to people on MySpace. I get responses. Every morning, I post an audio interview with a fighter in hopes of getting noticed. We fast forward to March of 2008. I still haven't gotten a job. There aren't a ton out there. And finally, a guy who I worked with, excuse me, a guy who I played basketball with, the New York Urban Professionals League. It was the

Montreal Expos Basketball Club. A teammate named Brian Seidenberg, shout out to him, tells me that the company that he works for, the Wasserman Media Group, is starting an MMA website and I should write to them. And so I say, why not? And this is maybe now like, you know, end of February We're getting to March And I say to myself, if I don't get something by April 1st I'm going to go back and get a real job Because at this point, I'm getting married later that year I'm living in an apartment in New York City

I'm making zero dollars, zero And that's why I laugh sometimes You know, I remember having an interaction with the Shmoan He's like, you've been given everything You've been handed everything, this platform, you get the opportunity to be mainstream. I didn't know a soul. I didn't know a single person. I didn't know a manager.

I didn't know a coach. I didn't know a fighter. I didn't know an executive. I didn't know an editor. I knew zero people in the world of combat sports. And so I'm starting to write to people, all this stuff, but I'm not, people are noticing the work and they're consuming the content

And the fighters are coming back For more, but I'm not getting any jobs So, get this This tip from my friend Brian Says this company's starting an MMA website I write to them, I get a call back From Sang No, and he tells me Hey, we saw your stuff, and I wrote to them

You know, here's my stuff, here's my interviews This is what I want to do, and he tells me that this website that they're starting called mmarady.com is going to be the MySpace of MMA. It's going to be a community website where people can upload their videos and interact with other MMA fans or fighters. And I said, quite frankly, I don't think this is a great idea. Let's just make a great MMA website. And you have a video platform. Let me be your video guy. Let me be your editor. Let me run the page. Give me the keys to the car. And he said, you know what? We're in. He asked me, how much do you want to get paid? And I took the number that I was making at my last job,

Spike TV. And when I quit that job after a week, I told my boss, this wasn't the place for me. I want to go and live out my dream. He said, you're making the biggest mistake of your life. I was making $35,000 at Spike TV. And so Sang-No said to me, how much do you want to get paid? And just to stick it to that guy, Brian, I said, you know what? Let me see if I could double it. And I said, can I get 70? And he said, you got a deal. And there I was on my way. And so we doubled, I doubled the pay after not making any money for six months. I stuck it to the guy who told me I was making the biggest mistake of my life. And we were on our way.

And MMA Rated started to make some noise and gain some traction because I was looking at everyone else the way they were doing interviews. And I was like, you know, everyone's holding them on the thing here. And there's no one actually asking questions with a microphone and getting dressed up. Everyone's wearing affliction shirts and tap out shirts.

What if I treat this a little bit more professional? Get a microphone, get a mic flight, get a videographer, dress up a little bit, collared shirt, this and that. So when we started it, when we launched it in April of 2008, I tried multiple times. The UFC would not credential us. They just would not not credential us They said we weren't big enough They said we don't credential these types of websites And so I had to get a little bit I had to get a little bit creative And I had to go to the afflictions of the world

And the elite XCs of the world And the strike forces of the world And then finally it's May of 2009 And now we're up and running for about a year And we're making some headway. And I'm like, I need to go to some of these UFC events, but I still can't get credentialed. And so I decided to fly to Las Vegas for the traditional Memorial Day weekend card. It was UFC 98. It was headlined by Rashad Evans versus Lyoto Machida. Rashad Evans was the light heavyweight champion.

He had beaten Forrest Griffin to win the belt at UFC 92. And here he was fighting the upstart Lyoto Machida. Co-main event, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, bitter rivalry. That was a big one. I didn't have credentials. My brother, who works in the financial world, said he'd look around this and that. He'd try to get me a ticket. I remember getting to Vegas, getting to the MGM, and him calling me and saying, I found you a ticket. It's going to be with the concierge. You get one ticket, one seat.

And so I attended the event by myself as I was working for MMA Rated a year into the gig. While I was in Vegas, I had to make the most of it. And this is what I would do when I would go to all the events. I would go to gyms. I would set up interviews. I would do interviews in hotel rooms. I would go visit fighters. And I would urge any young journalists out there, if you go cover an event, don't just cover the event. Go to the local gym. Set up an interview with a manager, with a coach, with a fighter, do stuff that other people aren't doing. And so I did that. And so I would go to Extreme Couture and I would go to Vanderlei Silva's gym in Las Vegas. And I didn't really know any better. I was going around on

weigh-in day trying to interview people. And so the weigh-ins were at the MGM Grand, but it was like at the property, like connected to the MGM Grand. It's like past the arena, down the escalator, and then in this long hallway. And who do I see? I see superstar Jason Mayhem Miller. I had never met Jason Miller before. I obviously knew much about him. He was fighting in Japan at the time. He was, you know, a very well-known colorful character, bully beatdown, all that stuff and more. And so I just go up to him. This is my very first interaction with Jason Mayhem Miller. And in the interview, he refers to me as Scoop McGillicuddy. That was another name that kind of got attached to me. And my wife, Jacqueline has called me that many times when I poke and prod. Here's me just essentially run and gunning it, if you will, with the great Jason Mayhem Miller in May of 2008,

the day of the UFC weigh-ins. In fact, he was walking to the UFC weigh-ins. So specifically, this is May 22nd, 2009. I said 2008, sorry. UFC 98, 2009, May 22nd. Myself, Jason Mayhem Miller

for the very first time. Fire right now! All right, I'm talking with Mayhem Miller. What's going on, man? for the very first time. Fire right now! Alright, I'm talking with Mayhem Miller. What's going on, Mayhem? Yo, can I cuss on this interview? Absolutely, baby. Yes! Motherfucker! Alright, we saw you in Japan for Dream just a couple of weeks ago. A lot of shenanigans on that fight. Shenanigans?

I like the peace sign. As you know, my middle name is Shenanigans, and as a matter of fact, I enjoy shenanigans on a regular basis. If there was a food called Shenanigans, I would probably dev fact I enjoy Shenanigans on a regular basis. If there was a food called Shenanigans I would probably devour it with the utmost devotion. What was the biggest difference in terms of competing in front of the Japanese crowd as opposed to Americans? It was quiet as hell. It was like fighting in a library. It was awesome. I heard somebody

in the 13th row. The reason I did the peace sign was because somebody in the 13th row was going, I may have a mirror and I went, ah, To the guy. I mean, it was a chick, actually. Nice. Okay, so when's the next time we're going to be seeing you compete? Yo, June 15th in Dream. I'm fighting again, man. I'm in the tournament. Sakuraba? No, I wish. I hope. I've been crossing my fingers like a kid on Christmas

waiting for Nintendo. I hope that it's going to happen. Who are you fighting? I don't know. What are you looking for? The scoop? I'm looking for the scoop, man. This is Christ and Latter Day Saints, bro. I ain't getting no damn scoop. What do you think I am? Scoop McGillicuddy? What do you got? You got a press pass in your back pocket? And how

the hell are you filming in here anyway? UFC throws me out every time I have a camera near me. Alright, let me ask you this though. What do you say to the critics that say that you're a little too much? You don't focus on the fighting, the respecting of the opponents, all that stuff. I think they're right. I think this is all an act. This whole persona?

Yeah. Alright, mayhem. I just made this all up. Good stuff. We'll see you again. Best of luck. Chest bump? Nice. Alright. Okay, so this is amazing right now, and I want to keep this. Obviously, we're not live right now.

We're pre-taping this. I screwed up. In fact, that was May of 2008, and as I was saying all of that, as I was saying all of that, guys, something wasn't adding up in my brain because I know the timeline of my life. 2007 to 2008, I do Jerry Park. April of 2008, I get the MMA rated job mma rated only lasted six months it was done essentially right after the the the kimbo slice seth petruzzelli fight that's 2009

i'm like wait a second did i screw this up what happened and then i'm like that wasn't ufc 98 that was ufc 84 that was ufc, May of 2008, Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas. How could I forget? Now it all makes sense. That was in the height. Actually, we were only like a month and a half old. That was May of 2008. Could you believe that, guys? Is that a sign that I'm getting old, or did I save it?

That steel trap's going, man. That steel trap's going. First you don't remember the finger, now this? The who me hits a lot harder now when you put this into context of do you know where his memory is gone what do i need to start recording this stuff we yeah journal would be great man i know what i'm getting you for hanukkah we need to start writing our our yeah this is it you're seeing me start to lose it if we lose this, we lose everything. I feel like we're only going to get 90%

of the Highway to Hawaunee now. You know, I don't know why I screwed this up so bad. I'm actually quite disappointed in myself and there's a part of me saying like,

should I just stop down and redo all of this? But I kind of think that this is, you know, this is warts and all. We're a live program. I don't pre-tape things

and so you're seeing it in real time. And here's why I should have known better. I told On Air Jordan to get this picture of Tito Ortiz. Tito Ortiz at the weigh-ins, literally minutes later, showed up to weigh in for his fight against Leona Machida, which of course I know was UFC 84, not 98, where he had a t-shirt that said, Dana is my bitch. That was at the same weigh-ins. That was the weigh-in that Mayhem was walking to And so the point still stands May of 2008, MMA rated

I walk up to Mayhem Miller And ask him questions And he's like, who is this guy? Who's this guy asking me all these pointed questions? It was me, it was me, great memories It's an incredible interview The energy is scooping up What a time

But yes, I didn't get any tickets. I did sit there. And of course, UFC 84, which again, I'm mad at myself for it. I was there when BJ Penn beat up Sean Shirk with the flying knee. It was incredible. I'm sitting there Memorial Day weekend, 2008. I'm like, this is the best. This energy is incredible.

The Machida-Ortiz fight was incredible as well. And I was out there running and gunning and trying to build the website. And fortunately, fast forward, literally five months later, another company bought the parent company, Sportnet, it was called, and they pulled the freaking plug on the whole thing. And I was out of a gig. I was out of a gig for several months. I had to go back to TV production. I worked on the UFC 94 primetime show. And then in 2009, April of 2009, I got the AOL job and the versus job. Ah, it all makes sense. We all figured it out. All right. Let us fast forward. Now we're back to AOL. And you know, one fun thing about once we were rolling like 2010, 2011, the UFC let us do these interviews around the cage in the arena, these sort of like run and gun style. Like I was out there and I, you know, I believed in the theory, you know, 80% of success is just showing up, just show up and try to get as much content. I mean, we were sometimes leaving these weekends, like 30 interviews out there on our YouTube page. And I would ask mid-event like,

oh, hey, this guy's over here. And can I talk to that guy? And I see this guest fighter here. No one else was doing this. No one else was doing these interviews. No one was coming there with a video camera. Believe it or not, it was not the norm. You see it now. You see everyone with a camera, with an iPhone, this and that. It was not the norm. So UFC 128, March of 2011. There it is. John Jones, young John Jones, 23 years old against the champion Shogun Hua. Let's take a step back. We're in Newark, New Jersey. You'll recall UFC 126, John Jones beats Ryan Bader.

He's told in the cage, hey, your teammate Rashad Evans, who was supposed to fight Shogun Hua in two months, is injured and we want to give you the title shot. And he's freaking out and he's emotional and he's crying and he says, yes, I'm in. And then I interviewed him in the hallway in Las Vegas. I believe that one was at Mandalay Bay and he's like, I can't believe it, but I'm going to go for it. You'll recall at the time I'm working for Versus as well. I go to Albuquerque and I do a sit down with John Jones. Now at this point, people are like, this is a little bit awkward. John Jones and Rashad Evans are teammates. They both train at Jackson Wink in Albuquerque. John's taking the title shot. What if John wins? Is Rashad going to fight him? No, no, no. They both said, we're not going to

fight each other. Greg Jackson said, I'm not getting involved. I don't want to corner against one of my fighters. It's all very awkward. I sit there and go to Albuquerque and am sitting in front of John Jones before this title fight at UFC 128. And I ask him, if you win, would you fight Rashad Evans? He says, yes. Now this isn't live. We go back. I'm like, oh my God. He actually said, yes. They've never said yes. They've never acknowledged it. Never, ever, ever, ever. Holy crap. Fast forward. It's March of 2011. It's UFC on versus in Kentucky, in Lexington, Kentucky at the KFC Yum Center. That's where it is, right? The KFC Yum Center in Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. Of course, I went to the Muhammad Ali Museum and we're sitting there, we're having dinner with the

producers. The next day, I'm on the pre-show and the post-show for this Versus event. And I say, oh, we're going to play this sit down with Jon Jones on the pre-show because the title fight is happening in two weeks. So it's kind of like, oh, we got this exclusive sit down with Jon Jones. I fly to Albuquerque. Great. They tell me what's in the piece. They cut down the interview to five minutes. I say, wait a second. The part about Rashad isn't in there? No, we didn't think that was notable. What do you mean that's unnotable? This is him saying for the first time that he would fight Rashad Evans't in there? No, we didn't think that was notable. What do you mean that's unnotable? This is him saying for the first time that he would fight Rashad Evans. It's a massive, massive, massive revelation.

They're like, oh my God, it's too late. We can't insert it. So this is what we're going to do. On the pre-show the next day, you're going to tee it up. You're going to play the interview. Then you're going to come back and say, oh, by the way, he also said this. You're going to throw to the actual answer

of him saying he would fight Jon Jones. So we salvaged it. All right. We salvaged it. The world saw it. Now for the next two weeks, the story is, oh my God, he says he's going to fight, not Jon Jones, Rashad Evans. Jon Jones says he's going to fight Rashad Evans. The next two weeks, that's what people are talking about. As this young man, Jon Jones is getting ready to fight for the belt against Shogun. You know, by now he completely annihilated Shogun. He became the youngest champion. It was a crazy day. He takes down a mugger. That morning he's meditating. The waterfall is Newark. A star has been born. Well, when he beats Shogun Hua, they had Rashad

enter the cage. And then it was like, whoa, it's on. It's actually happening. And who's waiting for Rashad as he exits the cage? Me, young Heel Wani. And I was able to talk to him. Again, these things don't happen anymore, but that was the magic of the times. And so here is me talking to Rashad Evans as he exits the cage immediately after being face-to-face with his young protege, guy he mentored, his teammate at Jackson Wink, and then he drops a massive revelation right on my lap. Take a look. Post-fight at UFC 128 where Jon Jones just defeated Shogun Hu, Rashad. You were just in the cage.

What was that experience like for you? What was that moment like? You know, I thought about it was going to happen before it even happened, so it's just whatever. Was it awkward considering your friendship with John? This whole situation is awkward, but it is what it is. You seem to be experiencing some mixed emotions right now. Yeah, I'm happy for the dude.

He went out there and he fought well. I'm happy for him that he looked phenomenal, but at the same time, he got that strap, so now I've got to go and get it. Were you pulling for Shogun so that you wouldn't be in this situation? No, I know I was going to fight him. No matter if he lost tonight or not, I was going to fight him. What did you think of his performance? Phenomenal. Great performance. Did you expect him to dominate the fight that easily? Yes, I did.

From the minute they called that he was going to fight him, I knew he was going to destroy him. And when you're watching that, are you thinking of how you will fight him now? Or you haven't really... I already know how to fight him. I train with him. Right. What do you think you're going to do? Will you train with Jackson or stay at Grudge? Do you know? I'm done with Jackson. You're done? How come? I'm done. You feel as though they betrayed you? I'm done. I'm done with Jackson's. You're done? How come? I'm done. You feel as though they betrayed you?

I'm done. I'm done with Jackson's. Last question, when do you think the fight will happen? Whenever John's ready to do it. Are you ready? Always. Thanks, Rashad. I will never forget that one.

I'm done with Jackson's. I mean, I get chills just seeing it. You can see very clearly he wasn't in the best of moods. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to really be answering those questions, but he was very kind to me. And I, I always loved Rashad and still love Rashad.

And, um, this is a man who had just exited the cage and had looked at the guy he mentored, who's a part of his team. And now he says, I'm done with these guys. Cause he felt betrayed.

He felt betrayed by the whole situation. And, uh, it was supremely awkward. They ended up fighting, uh, a UFC one 45. So almost a whole year later.

Um, but I'll never forget him saying I'm done. And the way he walked away, like you could tell guys like, he's like, can you stop asking me questions? I'm done with you, man.

Right. Yeah. It gets a little bit, it gets a little bit uncomfortable there, man. These, these memory lane moments i was i was there too i was in the building for that i was i was watching that event i bought the tickets

when it was rashad versus shogun and then the switch yeah uh to john jones i don't even think i was born yet second grade no it was in like eighth. It led to that incredible rivalry. It led to that incredible rivalry. But, you know, you have to feel for Rashad. I think we've all been in a position where Rashad felt like he had been so generous and given somebody something and felt like John was not appreciative of the gift that he had been given. Yeah. And you understand it from a mentor-mentee kind of perspective. Man. understand it from a mentor-mentee kind of perspective. Man, those interviews where I got

to go around the cage and talk to people, run and gun, just a couple minutes, some of my favorites, some of my absolute favorites. It's hard to imagine that even being a thing. Yeah, right? Like it would never, ever happen now. It's so controlled now. Remember on a recent episode of the show, I was talking about this, how boxing is sort of like run and gun wild west like old ufc that was it and also i benefited from the fact that there weren't that many people doing this no one wanted to do it so it wasn't like there was a queue of people asking for this they were like oh yeah ariel go do it like there were sometimes media days where it was like there were more writers there they would crowd around the fighter and then everyone would part and be like all right right, Ariel, you do the one video interview.

The one. It was just me. That was it. I do like also the suit. You know, the suit is clean. I wore the suit. No one was really doing it. And again, I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, but I just felt like dress up, act professional.

It's fight night. You know, take pride in the work and people will give you the time of day. And so let's stick with that run and gun around the cage after the fight theme. And let's go to October of 2010, October 23rd, 2010, UFC 121. It's Brock Lesnar, the heavyweight champion going up against the challenger, the pride of Mexico, and of course, Arizona as well, the one and only Cain Velasquez, who at that point was training at AKA in San Jose. And this was a huge event. This was a massive event because a lot of people thought, okay, this would be the guy, this could potentially, you know, a wrestler from Arizona State going up against big bad Brock Lesnar, who was a meg event because a lot of people thought, okay, this would be the guy, this could potentially, you know, a wrestler from Arizona State going up against big bad Brock

Lester, who was a megastar, who in many respects was the face of the UFC, the former, you know, WWE superstar who had crossed over. And it was, it was a really huge and important fight. It was at the Honda Center. It was in Anaheim, California. You know what happened? Cain Velasquez wins. He becomes the first Mexican-American heavyweight champion. It's a massive deal for the UFC, and it's like the birth of the Cain-era superstar is born. A little bit before the fight happens, I notice The Undertaker in attendance. Now, a theme for a lot of the Brock Lesnar fights was that a lot of WWE superstars would be there. So I noticed The Undertaker is there. So I go up to Jim Byrne,

who was one of the head PR guys at the UFC, and I say, could I talk to The Undertaker right after the fight, get his thoughts on whatever happens? Brock win, Brock loss. Jim actually used to work for WWE, so I thought he was the best person to ask. He goes up to The Undertaker,

who was there with his wife, Michelle McCool, asks him, can ariel interview you after the fight he says yes and so he takes me jim takes me to around where the undertaker is sitting the vip section and i stand there i kind of like kneel down for the entirety of the fight now the fight lasted four minutes and 12 seconds. It ended in the first round. So I didn't have to stand there very long, but I wanted to be there right after to get his immediate reaction.

You probably know where all of this is going. I'm guessing you've seen this infamous You Want to Do It interview. And this was a massive turning point in my career. I'll never forget the next day, Bill Simmons tweeting it out, it exploding, TMZ picking it up. Everyone picked it up because it was so surreal to see what happened while we were filming. Some people

even accused Casey Leiden and I, who by the way, shot the vast majority of these. He didn't shoot the MMA rated ones. The great E. Casey Leiden. They thought we were in on it. They thought we were in on the kayfabe, the work. I don't know. I had no idea what happened. And I'll let you in on a secret. I couldn't hear most of it because it was so damn loud in there. So I'm asking him questions, hoping to unearth something, and only finding out after what he said. In any event, here's my conversation with The Undertaker, Mark Calloway,

seconds after Cain Velasquez beat Brock Lesnar in October of 2010 at the Honda Center post-UFC 121. Ariel Helwani post-fight at UFC 121, where Cain Velasquez just beat Brock Lesnar, and we're here with The Undertaker. Sir, what are your thoughts on what we just witnessed? I'm a little bit shocked, you know. I thought Brock was going to come out strong like he did. I thought Cain's chances would be better if they went in the fourth or fifth round. I'm a little bit shocked.

I thought Brock might have got to him early, but you know what? Kane's a hell of a fighter, and he did a hell of a job. One fun thing about this particular interview, keep it full screen if you don't mind, Andy. It's like, where's Waldo? Michelle McCool right over his shoulder. MC Hammer is behind Jim Byrne. Jim Byrne is the guy with the tie looking down right now. You see MC Hammer right behind him?

Can't touch him. Behind MC Hammer is Randy Couture. Soon you'll see Sam Stout pop up and others as well. And that's what it was like. The event, you know, there's the music playing, all that stuff. It was a chaotic scene. And I'm talking to The Undertaker, by the way,

which is surreal for me in its own right we continue do you think considering the size difference that he'd be able to manhandle him like that no I didn't I didn't think so I think Brock's strength and size would over would overmatch him I thought it would have to go into a cardio battle and pause right there pause right there and I don't know Can we go back a couple frames Because this is the key part of the whole interview Look at his eyes Just a couple seconds prior to all of this

You see right there Right there He locks eyes with Brock Lesnar And this is the important detail The fighters usually would walk out And they would walk out of the cage And they would go to the right and they would leave After they lock eyes

And this is Brock Lesnar who just lost Okay, this is Brock Lesnar who just lost his belt And got TKO'd in a real fight They lock eyes right there And Brock comes the other way Now I'm like in there I don't know what the hell is going on I don't even see Brock

But the most important thing of all this is look at his eyes. Because that's when he starts talking to Brock, if you will. He locks eyes with Brock Lesnar. It's so fast. I love this shit. Okay, keep going, keep going. Look at this. I'm actually very surprised.

Okay, now look at his body. It's almost like you're at a loss for words there. You want to do it? Okay, pause, pause, pause, pause. and go back a few frames if we if we can you see him his body he's leaning towards he's telling brock come here come here and now at this point i'm like i'm completely oblivious but i start to feel brock lesnar walking past me right so he's like he's leaning over he's leaning over and then i'm like holy shit is that So he's like, he's leaning over, he's leaning over. And then I'm like, holy shit, is that Brock Lesnar? And he leans over and you hear him say, you want to do it. I did not hear that. So that, so I literally will say in a matter of seconds, what did you say to

him? Cause I could not hear it, but this is Brock Lesnar, former WWE superstar taker, current WWE superstar. And he's leaning over to say something to him. I didn't know if he was like, you suck. I don't know if he was like, you know, tough sleddings. I don't know what. But I'm like, holy crap. What just happened? So I'm like, all these questions are legit.

I'm not playing any sort of role here. I'm like, what did you say to him? I would love to know. We continue. That was Brock Lesnar right there. What did you just say to him? I would love to know. We continue. It was Brock Lesnar right there. What did you just say to him? It's kind of a personal thing. You know, I think maybe he needs to,

I think he needs to train a little harder. Are you guys cool? I'm like, are you cool? Personal. Who are you rooting for tonight? Puck it, puck it, puck it, puck it. You see, now in my mind, I'm thinking, wait a second. He's saying he's personal.

Are you guys cool? Then I'm like, I was interviewing him as Brock Lesnar's friend. I was interviewing him as Brock Lesnar's colleague. And then he says it's personal. And then he's like, he needs to train. I'm like, wait a second. Were you here to root against brock lesnar what is going on so all this is happening in my mind continue you know

what i uh i got background with brock but uh you know that just showed you something right there are you fan of this sport i'm a big time fan i asked that question to buy myself some time i asked myself to buy myself i asked him that question to buy myself some time. I asked myself to buy myself. I asked him that question to buy myself some time because I'm like, I need to think of more things, but I can't think of them right now because there's so much going on in my brain. So I just asked him the simple, are you a fan of this sport?

But if my memory serves me correct, I go back to the Brock thing right after this. Actually introduced MMA to pro wrestling, the gloves, the go-go platter. Oh yeah. I'm a, I'm a big fan.

I, and I like to, you know, the things that Iata oh yeah I'm a big fan I and I like to you know the things that I can bring from MMA into into what we do obviously there's not many people prepared for it you know and you know it's uh I just I'm a big fan perhaps 20 years ago if this sport was as popular as it is today you think you would have done it? Safe bet. Real safe bet. It's a little late in the game for me to start now,

but 20 years ago, I'd be all over it. Thank you so much for the time, sir. Very much appreciated. So there it is. And I asked for two minutes, so I kept it two minutes. And now, here's the thing. We're done that interview, and I'm talking to Casey, and I'm like, what the hell just happened? And I'll never forget this

We start walking to the back now And who is standing there At the back of the tunnel Like the tunnel To go back inside To the arena Like where like The hallway is

And the media room And all that Paul Heyman Who's a very good friend Of Brock Lester And was sort of like His de facto manager And I told him

What had just happened Hey I just interviewed Taker And he leaned. And I told him what had just happened. Hey, I just interviewed Taker and he leaned over and I think he said something. Is there a problem there? And he got so mad and he's like, I can't believe he did that. He was not happy about it. And I'm like, okay, let's go back.

I'll never forget him standing there. Like of all people, it's Paul Heyman standing there. And he was obviously upset that his friend had just lost. So we go back to the media room and we Re-listen to it and I hear You want to do it for the first time and I'm like Holy shit did he just did he just like pick a Fight with Brock Lesnar what is going on here

Is he trying to get him back to WWE is he trying to fight Him in MMA what is going on we post It the thing explodes on the YouTube channel It has 10 million views and this is back In 2010 lord knows where It would be in this day and age with social media and whatnot. Later, I have asked Taker about this. I have asked Brock about it. I've asked Paul Heyman about it. I say this with the utmost honesty and sincerity. I still don't

know what happened. People have said that he showed up. What Taker told me was he showed up to work an angle with Brock, to pick a fight with Brock. And the original plan was that he was going to show up to the press conference. But once that all materialized, he was like, peace, I'm out of here. I don't need to show up to the press conference. It just happened, you know? And it just so happened to happen in my interview. And so he was kind of hanging around, but he never crashed the press conference. He came there and it's unclear. Was it his idea? Was it Vince's idea? I don't know. I still don't really know. I'm pretty sure. I don't know. I start to get a headache when I start to think about it. But I remember the next day, because TMZ had written something wondering if it was

legit or not. And I remember calling Dana and being like, you know, I had nothing to do with that. Like, I have no idea what these people are talking about. I was just there wanting to talk to The Undertaker, who I thought was there to support his friend. He's like, yeah, of course. That's very, that's very clear. So I was like, okay, good. Because I, you know, I didn't want to try to play those types of games while I'm there covering an event. And it's an interview that has lived on for many, many years. I got to interview Taker for the first time after that during the pandemic, and we got to talk about it a little bit,

but the connection wasn't great. And I don't know, one of these days, I need to get the full story. Still haven't quite figured it out. The most fascinating part to me was Brock in. Did Brock even have the like whiff hint of it because you know and also you're talking about paul hayman being like the messenger in some of this regard he's always working you never know if he's feigning anger on behalf of brock or real like

who knows but i do wonder what brock felt in that moment like was he like okay here's the angle let me give him the girl back let Let me just keep it pushing. Or was he just like, I just got knocked out by Kane. I'm not trying to do any of this. It's super fascinating. It's wild because he must have had the presence of mind to see us and walk that way. But did they talk about it beforehand? Did they not talk about it beforehand? Did they not talk about it beforehand?

This is the magic of it. This is the magic. The magic of that clip. And so let us continue on that theme. Around the ring, around the cage, right after an event, and we stick with Brock Lester. Brock Lester fought at UFC 116.

The specific date was July 3rd, 2010 at the MGM Grand. It's a great card. And one of the highlights of the card was Chris Lieben beating Yoshihiro Akiyama via triangle choke in the third round. Two weeks after he had fought on a fight night event, he came back and it was an incredible stretch. But the big one, of course, was Brock Lesnar versus Shane Carwin. It was for the undisputed heavyweight title. And at that point, Brock is rolling, UFC 100, all this stuff, but Shane Carwin could hit like a truck. I mean, the guy at that point was 12-0.

He was on an unbelievable run. He had beaten Frank Mir to win the interim belt, and this was the big unification bout. He beat him at UFC 111, George St. Pierre versus Dan Hardy. And I happened to see a couple of the wrestlers cage side. And so I asked the same question. Can I interview them after the fight? I didn't realize that there were that many famous people.

I don't even want to set this up. You may have never seen this interview because it doesn't get picked up as much. But just think of me, lifelong pro wrestling fan, covering this mega event in Las Vegas, 4th of July weekend, total pig and shit. And it's just like legend after legend after legend. I go down the line. It's one of my favorite moments, one of my favorite interviews ever. Brock Lesnar, comeback win over Shane Carwin. Who could ever forget?

It was unbelievable. Second round, arm triangle choke. He gets beat up. He's literally that close to getting stopped in the first. Josh Rosenthal lets it go. He comes back in the second, and he cranks it, the arm triangle. Brock Lesnar, who knew that he knew any jiu-jitsu? He just cranks it, cranks it. Shane Carwin is exhausted. The lactic buildup, all that stuff. He cranks it, he cranks it, he cranks it, the arm triangle. Brock Lesnar, who knew that he knew any jiu-jitsu? He just cranks it, cranks it.

Shane Carwin is exhausted. The lactic buildup, all that stuff. He cranks it, he cranks it, he cranks it. He wins via submission, and he is the man. He's pointing at himself and all that stuff. I ask if I can interview some of the wrestlers. Cage side, all of a sudden, all these dudes emerge, and I am just freaking out.

I am like, where the hell am I? How did I get here? And is this the greatest moment of my life? Take a look. You think about what happened just there, just freaking out i'm like where the hell am i how did i get here and is this the greatest moment of my life take a look you think about what happened to their blockbuster defeat shank are via submission well tell us where the first round and i i know the brock's a great got so determination

he's got a really nice spirit about his life and we saw that but i don't know of any other heavyweight in MMA that would have endured the first round against a great fighter like Shane Carwin other than Brock Lesnar. Pause it right there. First of all, that's Jim Ross, legendary announcer, Monday Night Raw, slobber knocker. I can't believe I'm talking to him, and he's giving me the Jim Ross, the good old JR. Are you guys fans of the television show?

And keep it right here. Don't go full screen on me. Are you guys fans of the television show And keep it right here Don't go full screen on me Are you guys fans of the television show Modern Family Love it Favorite show Look above his right shoulder Oh it's fucking Cam

Yes Wow I noticed Court McGee in the tap out there Court McGee is there Yep The Wow Cam Pritchett

Yeah he's right there Amazing That's what's fun about these In arena crowd interviews But there I am talking to JR And he's giving me the breakdown of Brock Lester's big win over Shane Carlin. We continue. I'm really proud of Brock. And how about everything he had to go through this past year to see him go out there so happy and humbled?

How does that make you feel? Well, he's a changed man. He's still the baddest SOB he's had on the planet. He's right about that, though somebody changes it, but he's got a different outlook. It's a healthier outlook for him. And now that everything is on the same page, he's quite the specimen. Can anyone stop him? No one's unbeatable.

He realizes that, and that's why he'll continue to train. No one is unbeatable, especially in the UFC heavyweight division. But Brock Lesnar is an animal. And he is a rare breed, I'll tell you. Thank you very much, JR. We appreciate it. Now we go to the next one. No, no, keep going.

Look at who's next. That's Lobberknocker. We move along here to Mr. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Your thoughts on what you just witnessed. Look at Cam. I really enjoyed the fight. I can't believe fight. I knew it. I can't believe that.

I didn't think Brock wanted to stand up and trade with him. Modern family. Shane is very heavy-handed, and I really like to watch Shane fight. But Brock's my guy. He showed so much heart in this fight, making it through that first round, weathering a storm, and then coming back. I knew once you took Shane down, Shane wasn't going to get back up, and that was the case.

I was a little surprised to see the tap out. I didn't think Brock would win like that. But I knew that once Shane got on the ground, Brock would not let him up, and I'm very, very proud of Brock. How about that dicey situation in the first round? Did you think the ref made the right call to let the fight continue? Oh, in a fight like this, you know, yeah, you let it go. Brock's a tough guy.

You've got to let the Titans go at it. He did, and, you know, Brock weathered the uh brock's a tough guy you've got to let the titans go at it he did and you know brock weathered the storm he made it through uh he was in trouble but i agreed with the referee's decision all the way final question is brock lesnar the best heavyweight in mma yes brock hands down brock jr listening i love it he's just uh freaky strong very fast very quick uh he continues to improve every time you see. GC, who's next? Who's next? I have no clue, but I can't wait to see him.

I'm a pig in shit right now. I'm very proud of Brock Lesnar. He's a great champion and obviously a very, very big draw here for the UFC. Thank you very much, sir. We appreciate the time. Let's move along here to a very happy Paul Heyman. Describe for me your emotions, sir. I need a medic.

Is that a ponytail on Paul? Oh, yeah. Wow, I'm blown away. I mean, first of all, I think Josh Rosenthal deserves all the credit in the world because that was a hell of a judgment call in the first round. You could have called it there, and Brock was moving, and he was defending himself, but, you know, somebody could have. I mean, if it was Mazzagati, the fight would have been stopped, you know? So, I thought Rosenthal deserves a lot of credit because it was tremendous officiating.

And just, again, Brock, you know, I mean, who's the f***ing man, you know? I mean, he took a beating. Anybody questions his chin anymore can shut the f*** up. Anybody that questions whether he can take a pounding can, you know. And Carwin deserves a lot of credit because he took the fight to Brock like nobody ever did. And I was terrified out of my mind. And I'm clutching. Hey, you know what?

This is a great moment. You haven't watched it, you should. Show to everyone what Brock Lesnar means to you, Paul. That's the picture. That's the picture. That's the picture. That's Brock's daughter, Maya, and my daughter, Azalea, when they were both nine months old at WrestleMania 2003 in their strollers becoming friends.

And that's how our week began. It was his only sentimental, mushy moment of the week. He said, here you go. And then all week long, he's just thought about how blessed he is and what he said was how he feels. You know, he was on his deathbed and he came back and he came back with his wife's about to have another baby. And he did this for his family and his friends and his training camp

and for himself. And I'm just babbling on because I'm blown away. I mean, I'm just so happy for because i'm blown away i mean i'm just i'm so happy for him i can't begin to tell you president that he's talking about the diverticulitis that that brock at the valley at the take a part of his colon out it was a huge huge deal we didn't think that he would

ever fight again and uh... that moment right there would be the photo told me about his his daughter and Brock's daughter becoming friends. Many years later, I attended Paul's daughter's bat mitzvah. And now she's what? Well, at that point, I mean, I attended it in 2015 and she's 12. It's 20. So like 12? No. Well, now she's like 21. If my memory, yeah, my math is correct. Something like that, but you see how far we've come. In any event,

you see how much, like he's sweating. You see how much it all means to him. So anyway, I just want to provide the context. He was in fact extremely sick and he was able to come back and win against Carwin. That's why they had the interim title fight against Mir a few months prior because they weren't sure when he was going to

come back. Now we introduce another famous person. Bring in Bill Goldberg here for a second. Mr. Goldberg, come on here for just a quick second and stick around for just a moment. Meeting all these people. Bill is sweating like he was just involved in a three round war

out there. What do you think of what you just saw? Brock Lesnar submitting Shane Karwin. I haven't been to a UFC fight in a three round war out there. What do you think of what you just saw Brock Lesnar submitting Shane Carwin? I haven't been to a UFC fight in a while and I wasn't going to miss this one to cheer my boy on for nothing in the world. I think he had a good game plan as he said. He was going to weather the storm. Shane's never been out of the first round. You know Brock is a miracle walking now you know the fact that he's

even competing again is unbelievable at this level is astonishing I mean I think the most thing that I'm proud of a Brock is not that he won tonight it's how he acted afterwards Brock Lesnar is a great human being he's a great family man he's a great husband and a great father. But he's very emotional, as people have seen in the past. But if you know the guy deep down inside, he's as good as they come. And what he did in the cage tonight is unreal. He's progressed. Whether it's training with Randy or his new boxing coach, the guy is making leaps and

bounds progress-wise. And he's only just begun. What's this, his sixth, seventh MMA fight? That's crazy. He commentated his first one. It's always emotional when I come here and my buddies are fighting. But a guy so close to me is Brock. I'm just...

It's awesome. It's just great. Well, I can see the emotions. We thank you very much for the time. The end is so good here. Great to me is Brock. I'm just, it's awesome. It's just great. I can see the emotions. We thank you very much for the time. The end is so good here. Great to talk to you, Bill Goldberg. All right, what a scene here at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. I'm recording live.

We'd like to get a final word with Paul Heyman. Paul. I go back to Paul. We'll get a final word with Paul Heyman. Look at this promo from Paul. Final question to you, Paul. Look at this promo right here. This is the best.

Final question to you, Paul. We've just talked to a bunch of old professional wrestling stars, some of the biggest names in the history of this business. What does it mean to this fraternity to have Brock Lesnar go in there and win like this? I think it means a lot to his friends or the wrestling fraternity. I think they need to get their shit together on their own. If they want to ride Brock Lesnar's coattails, then they need to get their own house in order

because Brock Lesnar has got his house in order. Very well said. We'll leave it at that. Brock Lesnar defeats Shane Carwin via second-round submission. I mean, what a time, man. What a time. I love those days. Those were great days.

Going from JR to Stone Cold to Heyman to Goldberg to Heyman. Those were the days. And what a scene. And, you know, he did come back from an incredible illness. And that was a lot of fun. Those around the cage interviews immediately after the fight. So that was UFC 116. Yes.

A sneaky fun part of that one was Paul Heyman putting over Josh Rosenthal. Oh, yeah. Big. And then he's in the background just like. Oh, is he? Dapping up Stone Cold Steve Austin. He's literally on screen as Paul Heyman is putting him over. Oh, yeah. Big, and then he's in the background, just like- Oh, is he? Dapping up Stone Cold Steve Austin. He's literally on screen as Paul Heyman is putting him over.

Oh, that's amazing. It was a great performance by Rosenthal there, letting it go, because Brock completed an incredible comeback. Yep. All right, let's travel three months prior. Everyone remembers Strikeforce Nashville for the post-main event brawl.

Mayhem, Diaz brothers, our good friend Jake Shields. This was a massive one. Jake Shields against Dan Henderson. It was on CBS. And a lot of people were hoping that, well, within the company that Dan Henderson, who had crossed over from the UFC to sign with Strikeforce, which was a massive deal for them as they were trying to, you know, build things up. This was a huge coup to get Dan Henderson. Dan Henderson knocking out Michael Bisping at UFC 100. Now all of a sudden he's in Strikeforce,

and Jake Shields was at the end of his deal, and there were a lot of rumors, a lot of talk, that he was going to sign with the UFC. And this was the last fight on his deal. And they were thinking like, all right, he's the champion. What is going to happen here? He's the middleweight champion. Maybe Henderson beats him and can take the belt off of him.

It was very awkward. It was reminiscent of Survivor Series 1997 with Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. And so everyone remembers what happened after with Mayhem popping up in the post-fight interview and the brawl that ensued and how big of a deal and Gus Johnson's famous line, these things happen in MMA. I will always remember the event because it featured one of my very favorite post-fight interviews. And during that time, I was able to do interviews in the locker room. Again, there weren't any other people doing it. So I would ask the PR team, this was a Strikeforce event, and this was pre-Zufa purchase. I would ask the PR people like, hey, can I get this person in the locker room after they win? And unless the person was unavailable, supremely hurt at the

hospital, it was usually a yes yes and there were only three fights on this card on this main card i should say on cbs because they were all title fights main event jake shields versus dan henderson which was won by jake shields which really screwed up their plans and then he eventually did go to uh the ufc gilbert melendez versus shinya yoki for the lightweight title a huge fight that was won by Gilbert Melendez. And the third one was King Mohamed Lawal against Gegard Mousasi. And at the time, King Mo was just 6-0, Mousasi 28-2-1. And obviously, Mousasi, legend, comes over from the world of kickboxing, has been a veteran for quite some time, and everyone thought this is

way too soon for King Mo. Well, King Mo ends up winning the fight, and maybe it wasn't the most exciting fight. It wasn't really the most exciting card. All three fights went the distance, but I got to go to the back and had a great relationship with King Mo and his whole team, Ryan Parsons, his coach slash manager. And I was able to interview King Mo. Mo was in so much pain, he could not stand up. And I really always appreciated the fact that he spoke to us despite the fact that he was in that much pain. And so we go into the locker room and he's lying on the ground. And I remember asking him, are you okay to do this? And he's like, yeah, let's do it. national championships and win Olympic gold and all this stuff and always kind of fell just short and he alludes to that here and so you see there's great emotion and I'll be honest with you I started tearing up in the interview as well because of his emotion and knowing how much it meant to him we'll never forget this may be my favorite post-fight interview ever it's April of 2010

it's in beautiful Nashville Tennessee it's my post-fight chat with the now Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, Mohamed Lawal. Ariel Helwani post-fight at Strikeforce Nashville with the new Strikeforce light heavyweight champion, King Mohamed Lawal. King Mo, how does that sound? Uh, I guess it sounds pretty good, man. You know, I'm happy. You had a lot of critics, a lot of people who said you were too young, too inexperienced, too cocky. What do you say to them now? You already know.

You know what I'm going to say to them, like I always say. F them, I don't give a damn. You know what I'm saying? Everyone that's critics, I've always been down my whole life, and I just keep on proving them wrong by winning. It's my first world title, man. I tried four years, man, wrestling. I tried my whole life to I just keep on proving around by winning. It's my first world title match tried Four years man wrestling even last I tried my whole life and rustic a world title man And I finally got one was it my make and I made it happen

You feeling pretty emotional right now? Yeah Destiny you feel it's seven professional fights and you get a world title. Did you think it would come this quickly? I know man. I just like to thank all my coaches. Coach Mel, Danny, Ryan, Parsons, Dean, Fabricio, Kevin Jackson,

David James, John Smith, because they helped me get here. It's been a long journey, man. I thought I got here. It's my first world title, man. It's something real. Well, it was a very impressive performance. You dominated, you know, decisively four out of the five rounds. Were you happy with what you accomplished out there in terms of your performance?

No, not at all. I could have made it easier, but I got lazy a few times, man. I took them for granted because I didn't respect the skills all too much because I knew I could beat them. I should have taken it a little more seriously. I could have finished him because that was my plan to finish him. I didn't want him to go five rounds. I wanted to leave him laying and go sleeping, but he's tough, man. He's seasoned. How about the takedowns? I mean, you were able to take him down at ease. Were you surprised that his takedown defense just, you know,

he just couldn't stop. You were taking him down at ease. MMA, man, ain't nobody got good takedown defense, man. People don't know that. But, you know, you hear good takedown defense, it's a joke. Because you put me against anybody in MMA, I'm going to take them down. You know what I'm saying? There are a few guys like Daniel Cormier I struggle with, even Rashad, because Rashad's athletic and he knows good baseline defense. But for the most part, a lot of guys, they don't got good baseline D, so I could take him down all day. Did he hurt you seriously at any point in the fight?

Nah, man, except he, I felt like he hit me with his knuckle in my eye, you know, his thumb in my eye, but he couldn't hurt me, you know, even the kick. So my coach out here punished me so much, you know, he's beat me up more than anybody, him and my mama. Danny, all my trainers beat me up. And that right there, all the punishment I took from them prepared me for this day. Okay, final question. How are you going to celebrate this victory?

I got an after party at Common. I'm going to go just lay down and watch TV. Shout out to the after party. Yeah, I mean, nothing like those raw moments after a win that was a hell of an interview man like getting down on the floor with him like i would have been paranoid i'm gonna drop the mic or something in a home but he did it i appreciate that frank no that and that's why it's one of my favorite interviews ever because a he could have said no um the emotion obviously he was very very kind to me um some other fans will remember after Strikeforce was purchased by the UFC, he was fighting for Strikeforce and it was January of 2012 and they were doing a pre-fight press conference and he was looking around and he's like, where's Ariel?

And, uh, he said something to the effect of like, if Ariel ain't here, this ain't a big event. And I had just started working for Fox and they they all saw that, and they were like, wow, look at this. And I was like, man, Mo, I really appreciated that. And that's 2012. Like, I'm pretty young in my career. And he said that, he's like, no disrespect to all of you out there.

You remember that, Rick? He's like, no disrespect to all of you reporters out there, but if Ariel ain't here, this really ain't a big event. It was like at the Hard Rock or something. Speaking truth, my brother. But it was amazing for him to say that at the press conference, because he was really kind of insulting everyone else uh in attendance but yeah i will never ever ever forget that one i felt bad i felt guilty i wasn't really

quite sure how to to to react and you see like i sort of screwed up the last question or second the last question there but we'll never forget the emotion and to have the privilege to get that kind of access and be in the locker room seconds after someone realizes a lifelong dream, he's holding the belt. It's just, it's stuff that will stay with me in my heart forever. So when I think of classic interviews, when I think of my favorite interviews, that one, maybe to the newer fans, they don't know who Mo is. They don't know about his history maybe that one flies under the radar but it's certainly at the top of my list

and look up King Mo and look at how smart he was towards the end it didn't quite work out for him and for whatever reason with the UFC it didn't quite work out as well but a supremely talented fighter

and one who the likes of Daniel Cormier would speak so highly of someone who got a great moment there and maybe deserved a couple more extremely talented fighter and one who the likes of Daniel Cormier would speak so highly of. Someone who got a great moment there and maybe deserved a couple more throughout the rest of his career, but I will never forget that one. All right, one more. And I picked this one to end things off. It's another post-fight interview. It's another interview backstage. And it's one that for some crazy reason has enjoyed a renaissance because I can't tell you how many people come up to me and say, I love your interviews with Rampage and specifically this one with Rampage Jackson. I was just at the grocery store around the block. I was getting a salad literally two hours ago.

And someone comes up to me, one of the guys working there saying, I love your interview with Rampage. And I know about the one he's talking about because it's always this one. It's always post UFC 135, Denver, Colorado. There it is, September 24th. We're backstage, 2011. We're at the Pepsi Center. It's Rampage Jackson against Jon Jones. Jon's first fight after the Shogun fight. And it's Rampage Jackson against Jon Jones Jon's first fight after the Shogun fight and it's the legend Rampage Jackson who at this point I have a pretty good rapport with well as you know Jon Jones beats Rampage Jackson he beats him in the fourth round via rear naked choke was a great fight a great build uh there was talk of spies and all this kind of stuff and Rampage was was a legend and so here's the part that maybe you don't know. And this is the interview that somehow, I don't know why or how

it has enjoyed this incredible renaissance on TikTok and Instagram in particular. I can't tell you how many times it gets sent to me now. I interviewed Rampage Jackson. So they did the press conference. And I believe if my memory serves me correct, this is right before he goes up to the press conference. And I asked him if I could interview him. And he says, yes. And he says, let's go into this like side room. So we're not, you know, being bothered by other people. And I'm like, you know, I am over the moon.

I'm thrilled. I'm going to get a chance to talk to Rampage after he fights for the belt. It didn't go his way, but I'm really appreciative that he's giving me this time and the opportunity. You'll see the beginning of the interview here. And this is me breaking the fourth wall, and I'm sure he won't mind. He's the man. We're buddies. All good.

At the very top of the interview, you'll hear me say how he loses the fight. Well, here's what you don't know. Right before the interview starts, he says, hey, make sure when you introduce me to say how I lost. And, you know, when you interview someone who just lost, I try to like almost sugarcoat it. You know, typically I'd say like Ariel Helwani backstage at UFC 135 with Rampage Jackson coming off his hard-fought battle against Jon Jones. I'm not trying to, believe it or not, I'm not a total asshole. I'm not trying to harp on the fact that he lost and how he lost. He told me right before we pressed record, mention that I lost and mention how I lost.

It's in my mind. I'm like, all right. I mean, that's an unusual request. I don't really get fighters saying that to me, but fine. Keep that in mind and look at his reaction. Here's my conversation with Rampage Jackson, September of 2011.

Ariel Helwani, post-fighter, UFC 135, alongside Quinton Rampage Jackson, who lost via submission tonight to Jon Jones. Wait, hold on. Why you had to bring it up the way I lost tonight you could have just said fault Jon Jones why you had to just bring it up the way I lost it is a fact right I'm just trying to state the facts in case someone didn't see the pay-per-view oh okay I'm sorry for rubbing it in it seemed like you was rubbing in it how much money you win tonight okay it's my business okay well let me ask you first about the fight you see what

he did you know see what he did the sob yeah okay well first let's start from the beginning and move our way down okay your entrance song you know i like to think about your entrance songs and what they mean right you're not going back to jail i ain't going back to jail have you ever been to jail hell yeah man i didn't know that. Everybody know that. What was that? The last time I went to jail? We ain't gonna talk about it. I was just surprised that that was the song.

Why'd you choose that? I mean, are you on the verge of... Is someone after you? No, no one's after me. You know, this Memphis rap, I'm from Memphis. Project Pack and Three 6 Mafia, they're some of the baddest rappers out of Memphis, but I really like that song. And, you know what I'm saying? Think song. And, you know what I'm saying?

Think about it now, you know what I'm saying? It was like one of those songs. The song I wanted to have wasn't, you know what I'm saying, really available, but I wanted that one too. It was just one of those songs, no matter what happened, you know what I'm saying? Like, people don't understand, like, I dodged all that, you know what I'm saying? Like, where I come from, you know, I could have been dead or on in jail or something like that and I just let people know like no matter who I fight if I win or lose I'm already

winning because you know I'm saying I don't dodge that bullet and I'm dodged a few bullets literally you know say I'm just happy to be where I am you know saying I'm a success no matter what happens because Cause you know, there's a lot of, I got a lot of fans that support me, but at the same time you got a lot of haters and they don't understand my mind frame. Like I'm a winner, you know what I'm saying? A lot of people don't step in the cage and do what we do.

So I ain't going back to jail. The fight starts and John starts to fight on his hands and knees. What's going through your mind when you see him starting to fight like that? I didn't know i was fighting a gorilla you know i didn't know what i didn't know like what the hell you know how about the spirits that rampage is in like he just lost a title fight who knows if he ever gets a title fight in his mind at

this point and he's joking around he's laughing he i mean you would never know you would think that this is a post-fight victory interview uh credit to him and and did you see what he did there he told me to ask him or to mention how he lost and then he gives me shit for mentioning how he lost kayfabe gotta love it we continue obviously you know he was a little intimidated by the punching power which is um a common thing in the UFC with my opponents. So I figured that's what it was. I was thinking about kicking him in his face. I'm like, oh, that might be illegal.

So I just talked it up to him, just trying to throw me off. So you look at your performance overall. I mean, your head movement was great. He went for a lot of those spinning, and I'm trying to give you props here. I mean, he went for those spinning back elbows. He missed. Take down the fence. I thought that was very good When you look at the entire fight, obviously you lost and obviously that's disappointing Why is it got to keep well, I'm trying to say I can't take any positives away from this Okay, I was trying to get there

I was building up to it you you got you went the wrong you went to the wrong route to get to it to the To the positive question. You know what? I really didn't do my game plan the way I wanted to. I'm in great shape. It's almost like I didn't trust my cardio, but I knew I was in great shape. The times I let go on him, the times I let go and he evaded me and stuff like that, that really discouraged me a little bit. I was really worried about his wrestling because honestly watching Jones I think he's one of the best wrestlers in the UFC and so I worked really hard with my new wrestling

coach Ryan Swanson and you know I was really impressed with my wrestling and stuff and him he had me on my back too long you know know. I was just, I was just, I just didn't execute my game plan. It's like now I'm thinking about it. Because I can barely remember what goes on in a fight. Now you bring it up, I can barely remember. But I remember. What was the game plan, though? The game plan was to use the head movement and get close to him, you know.

I had, if he takes me down, I get right back up. You guys have no idea. I got some of the best coaches in the world. I got Mark Kenny on my boxing, Tom Blackledge on my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Dave Jackson on my kickboxing, and Ryan Swanson with my wrestling. We all came together and formed a great game plan for me to get close

to him, use a head movement when he backs away, throw the leg kicks, and use a jab. If he takes me down, unhook and get right back up. But basically I choked. I didn't do what I was supposed to. A couple times I just worried about the wrong things. I'm worried about getting poked in the eye.

I'm worried about this. It just wasn't myself out there. I'm very disappointed in my performance. Did the moment get to you because it was a title fight because no I don't I didn't this stuff don't even matter to me it's like that so I can say I'm not impressed with my performance that's a because I didn't I didn't I don't know why I choked I just didn't do I think it was his reach and and and everything I think it bothered me a little bit. You gained a newfound respect for John right after this? Yeah, actually I do.

I respect him because the kid beat me. You know what I'm saying? He beat me at my best. That was the best. I was at my best today. I was at my best physically. I was at my best. I've never trained this hard before in my life.

The only thing that came close to this is when I trained for Vanilla A. Silver the last time in UFC. And I was at my best. I was so confident Van Lee Civil the last time in UFC and I was at my best I was so confident I was going to win I just knew I was going to knock him out but it didn't didn't happen. Do you think Rashad beats him? Well I don't like I don't know I don't see a lot of whole lot of people beating him but Rashad says he got his number Rashad is tough too like my manager thinks that Rashad is one of the best in the weight class because his wrestling and his speed and his fighting style. I'm very interested in seeing that fight.

I think Rashad is the only person that has a chance of beating him. I don't see nobody beating this kid other than Rashad. I don't see nobody else. And Rashad is a if. He was right. Now you want to take off five months and fight in Japan. That's the plan, right? Well'm I'm going to help um my teammates and stuff get ready I got you know Congo help out and stuff like that so I'm just going to let my eye

heal up and and let these little bumps and bruises heal up and uh drive my new Lamborghini that MusclePharm gave me and enjoy enjoy my life a little bit and get back in the gym and work on things and get better. I wanna come back to Denver and work more with Ryan Swartz, with his wrestling and go to the UK and work with my coaches out there and work my head movement and stuff better cuz we've been doing it for nine weeks and stuff like that. And I think if I keep working and keep working, I'm gonna be a brand new striker in the UFC in the ufc here's a question how are you celebrating

tonight i mean you need to obviously you're not celebrating win but you need to you need to get some in my mind some aggression out right you mean you've been cooped up why you why you have to use the word celebrate you know i lost but you know what i mean you want to let out some steam you know what i mean just you're done you're you know i i agree to give you this interview right and and you and you kind of keep rubbing in my face that that loss this is a this is a real harsh loss for me because i wanted to get my belt back and you keep blowing in my you know in my face i'm perhaps celebrating wasn't the right word i just mean how you're going to blow off the steam how you're going to just kick back i think you if you give me an apology about the celebrating comment,

then I'll answer that question. I sincerely apologize. Do that apology look sincere, guys? Well, I'm going to tell the fans. I'm not telling you. I'm telling the fans. I'm going to celebrate tonight by getting. You're going to celebrate.

See, he got me saying it in my head. Actually, I am going to celebrate i'm going to celebrate a a good camp it was the best camp i ever had and i got a fight of the night bonus that's a lot of money so i'm bonus and all my my spa partners and my training on all my train my coaches everybody getting everybody getting a little everybody getting a little more money in the pot not much how much I'm not telling you. It's going to be a lot, though. They don't care about that, but that's what I like to do.

They took good care of me, and then I'm going to get drunk as hell. I'm going to be like stumbling. I'm going to take my shirt off. I ain't been this ripped in a long time. Here's the good part. He just said, mm. This interview is over. No, no, no.

I was just trying to reaffirm. What's your wife's name? Frank? You had to go there, right? Well, you... It always comes back to that with you. You always ask about my personal life. Show me a picture of your wife.

Right now? Yeah, right now. But we can't show it on camera. Why? I won't show it to camera. I have to say something, though. Mrs. Helwani, my mother, she's very upset at you. Why?

You and Congo. Because we jumped in. Because you put your hands on me. Well. They choked me. This is it. Tell your mom I love her. You love her?

Yeah. Your mom is a nice lady. This is her from... This is her looking at the Brooklyn Bridge from the back. He would. He would show me a picture of his wife from the back. Well, just her head, you know. She didn't shave her shoulders that day. Wow. Stop. You went there. to the white from the back over the disturbing her head you know that the uh... she's she's she's a little so does it it was a

well i see your wife i don't have one well your lady you said you're all your one woman man well i'm not how to cancel on it ladies you know i'm i'm moving on the man when i'm with you get out of my face made that's it i gotta go get drunk man i just had one one last question if you can't get shogun in in japan is there anyone in particular you'd like to fight there

you know what i think since me and forrest just lost our fights i think we should fight each other is he is he retired yet no he just well he lost his last fight but he's you know he's he just had a kid actually i don't know if you know that. His first child. I feel sorry for that baby. I hope he look like his mama. I don't know about that, but he's around. There was another name I was going to throw out, but I don't think you'd be happy if I threw it out. Who?

Forget it. It was a bad idea. Whisper it to my ear. He's part of the royal family. What royal family? He has a nickname. Who? Forget it. We'll talk about it off camera you know you don't like when i bring up his name because you're both very popular in japan he's part of the royal family in japan oh man that would be a main event i'll fight that chump you know what i'm talking about right you're talking about now king ho something like that that would that would that would sell out saitama no then with that yeah you're huge very

that's where he was born his career was born he was born he's japanese no but his career he's huge in japan i'm you're a huger i'm huge in japan am i yeah no they forgot about me over there no they didn't hey i know you and you and mo uh homies I know y'all homies. No, no, I was just trying to. I know y'all homies. Hey, I'm just happy you like black folks, dog. That is true. Okay. Jews and blacks got to stick together.

I know, we do. I think Jews used to be black. Nice watch, by the way. Yeah, thanks, man. Thank you for the time, Quinton. No problem. A classic, and he's referencing King Moe, who I interviewed a few months prior when he won the light heavyweight title for Strikeforce. That's the one. And is he referencing Frank, who I would end up meeting some 10 years

later? Who, me? What's your wife's name? Frank? My favorite part of the whole thing is when he has the walk-off line, and he's just like, all right, peace. And then he turns around, and you're just still standing there, and he's like, out of my face it's so good it's so good oh my gosh you two together is always magic and i'm not surprised those clips are are having a moment now they're really just magical to see him acting like that with yeah 30 40 stitches in his eyebrow and having coming off a loss what like an hour ago? Yeah. It's great. If not less.

Great. But, but again, it goes back to just so grateful and thankful. These guys, you know, I, I happened to be there and it was great, but they could have all said no, they could have all said, um, get, get lost, get out of here. I don't want to talk, but it, you know, it, it made for some great moments, some great

memories. I don't understand why this one has enjoyed this revival of sorts, but it's very nice, and I love it for Rampage too because there's a lot of new fans learning just how brilliant and how entertaining and talented he was. I'll be honest with everyone. I actually had more on the list, but I told the guys, let's cut them because we're gonna do we're gonna do this

again i hope you all enjoyed it it's a fun look back for me it's made me all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic inside uh and maybe we do these i don't know every quarter every month i mean every six months sounds good man i think that'd be great frank was advocating for every weekend having a new one every damned weekend wait one last thing on the Quentin thing. When he turns to the camera and he's just like, does that sound like an apology? And Casey hits the camera shake so good. It's a little Office-esque, if you will.

Those were all Casey. All of them except for the Mayhem one, the MMA rated one. Absolute legend. You remember when Frank bet against Casey? Yeah, that was weird. Frank, how could you? One of our own.

He's one of our own. In any event, those were great moments. Those were great memories. It was really hard for me to whittle it all down to those. And like I said,

I've cut a few here because I don't want to keep everyone around for four or five hours. That would be very inconsiderate of me. And I'm still kind of harping. Should I have redone that one with Mayhem

or was it raw? Was it fresh? Was it real? Was it authentic? You get the 100% with us. We don't do that. We don't edit. Yeah, we don't edit that.

Keep it in. We keep it 100. I have to admit. We keep it a buck. It's so unusual for you to make a mistake like that. That I saw everyone scrambling to double check that the mistake was yours and not theirs. Because that's how you have the ship being ran. No, it's just, I'm mad at myself, but I guess it's a sign of me, old man, dad sweater.

You lose a few things. And perhaps there's a silver lining. You lost your water bottle before we started. Yes, I did. All I'll say about the silver lining, please take the perhaps there's a silver lining. You lost your water bottle before we started. Yes, I did. All I'll say about the silver lining, please take the correct road to the silver lining. Because with Rampage, you took the wrong road. Perhaps it is an indication that I need to start writing down some of these memories. You called me Frank earlier, too.

I called you Frank. It's a compliment, Connor. I don't remember. Is that true? What's up, Frank? Let me be frank with you. It's a compliment. Connor. I don't remember. Is that true? What's up, Frank? Let me be frank with you. It's a compliment. Frank, isn't that amazing?

Frank's not in here. Isn't it amazing that he mentioned you? And you were like, no, I was speaking about my wife. Wow. Wow. That's good stuff. Anyway, hope you enjoyed that as much as we did. Hope you continue to enjoy the holiday season.

A reminder, we're back on January 6th for our award show and many more of these trips down memory lane to come. For now, though, once again, Happy New Year, much love, and we'll see you next time.