The Ariel Helwani Show - Julianna Peña, 'The Iron Turtle' JunYong Park, Rose Namajunas, Andrei Arlovski, Phil Rowe

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Phil Rowe kicks off the program fresh from his UFC Atlanta comeback win over Ange Loosa and shares his thoughts on his struggles to get a fight, the stakes around his last performance, his mom’s health struggles, releasing a song, and more (05:54)."The Iron Turtle" JunYong Park, UFC middleweight contender and one of the show’s most highly anticipated guests, joins the program before his fight this weekend to discuss the origins of his nickname, his large fan base, his MMA background, training with Alex Pereira, and more (32:30).Andrei Arlovski calls in to preview his BKFC debut and talks about his reasons for leaving the UFC, his motivations to continue fighting, the GFL’s demise, picks his heavyweight GOAT, and more (1:02:11).Julianna Peña stops by after her title loss to Kayla Harrison at UFC 316. In an emotional conversation, she delves into competing with injuries, the finishing sequence, Kayla’s size, Amanda Nunes’ return, her comeback plans, and more (1:32:28).Rose Namajunas is the final guest and breaks down her big win over former training partner Miranda Maverick, bee-induced injuries, her mindset leading into the fight, chasing the belt, the Shevchenko-Zhang superfight, and more (2:02:34).Ariel and the Boys in the Back wrap up the show with an update on Ben Askren courtesy of his wife and by answering your Super Chats (2:34:22).       

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Err-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- And 25. Hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. Yes, I did say June 17th. It doesn't look like June 17th outside. What the hell is going on in New York City? It is cold. It is rainy. Yes, Oban.

I know it's probably nice out there in Baku. It ain't so nice out there. Look at this. You can't even see the Empire State. It's a mess of a situation. What's going on? We need our summer weather. We need our spring weather. It's technically not summer yet. I think it's going to get nicer. And of course, next week it will be very nice over in Las Vegas. We'll all be out there. It's going to be a very special week of programming. Monday, Hawhani Show. Tuesday, Boys in the Back.

Wednesday, Crack. Thursday, Helwani Show, Live from Vegas. Friday, Helwani Show, Live from Vegas. Saturday, Watch Party, Live from Vegas. Saturday night, Post Show, Live from Vegas. Monday, Helwani Post-Paper View Show, Live from Vegas. Did you get all of that? Oh, by the way, Fanatics Fest on Friday at 3 o'clock at the Jacob Javits Center with special

guest Ice Cube on the program. Are we killing it or are we killing it? It's a great time to be a part of what we're doing here at Uncrowned. Very very happy. There it is. If you're at Fanatics Fest on Friday, they've got a, I mean just an unbelievable lineup of people rolling through, none bigger, of course, than mysterious Frank, who will be in attendance to work on the show. So everyone's very excited about that.

Yep. Three o'clock we'll be on the cold as balls stage. Yes, that's right. And we'll be talking to Ice Cube and maybe, maybe someone else as well. The biggest news, by the way, since we last spoke, happened last night, not just the Thunder going up 3-2 in the best of seven NBA finals, hoping to close it out on Thursday. Yes, sirs! Yes, sirs! No, the biggest news was our old friend Bill Goldberg showing up on Monday Night Raw. You know,

he hinted when he was on the program a couple months ago that he'd have one more match and that it might be against Gunther. Well, it did in fact happen. He showed up yesterday, Monday Night Raw, to face off against a man formerly known as Walter and it's going down July 12th, Saturday night's main event in Atlanta. Atlanta has all of a sudden become the epicenter of all things combat. GC hype. You flying back home for that one too, GC?

Yeah, I'll be there. I'll be in a tent. It's a big one. It's a big one. From Taylor Serrano three to Oh my God, what a weekend. Goldberg Gunther. Oh yeah, you're right.

Taylor Serrano three on the Friday. You got the US Open fight card on Saturday as well, right? The one with Shakur Stevenson. Yep, yep. I'm calling it the US Open fight card on Saturday as well, right? The one with Shakur Stevenson? Yep. I'm calling it the US open fight card. Saturday night's main event. There's a UFC that night as well. That's to share against Derrick Lewis. Yeah, yeah.

The Taliesin to share. UFC Nashville. UFC Nashville. That's a biggie. That's a biggie. Well, anyway, he came back. He said, you're next. And it appears as though we are getting the,

the farewell match for one William Bill Goldberg another stack show today, and you know on Tuesdays. We like to play too We've got the Ariel and Adé program at his moonlighting these days as a presenter on the Club World Cup but he will be gracing us with his presence at 5 o'clock the The fighter turn promoter Demetri Salida will join us. He is the promoter of one Clarissa Shields who will have her last fight, at least for now under his banner in July. We'll talk about that situation, MVP getting into women's boxing and all things going on

in the world of the sweet science in addition to some news and notes. So please do join us at 5 o'clock. But on this here program, five guests once again. We had five yesterday. We got another five today here on the show. Back into the show, we'll be joined by Thug Rose Namayunas. She had a big win this past Saturday over Miranda Maverick, former training partner, and potential future training partner as well. So we'll be joined by her at three o'clock.

Always great talking to Thug Rose, the now former UFC women's bantamweight champion, the Venezuelan Vixen, Juliana Pena will join us at 2 30. Her first chat since the loss to Kayla Harrison. Looking forward to having her on at two o'clock. We'll be joined by Andre Arlovski. Andre Arlovski is going to be making his BKFC debut this weekend. That's bare knuckle fighting. He did make his DBX that's dirty boxing debut a couple months ago. Now he's crossing over into the world of bare knuckle and he's going up against a former UFC fighter in Josh Copeland

So stay tuned for that. That'll be at 2 o'clock at 1 30 June Young Park aka The Iron Turtle. Yes, perhaps the most requested guest in the history of this show We have tweets dating back a couple years of people demanding for the Iron Turtle to come on the program. Well, at 1.30 he'll be joining us. He returns to action on Saturday in Baku, Azerbaijan, and he'll make his long-awaited debut on this program at 1.30. But first things first, let us start with another big winner from this past Saturday. What a finish for Phil Rowe. A much-ne but another scintillating stoppage. This time he came

in the third round with a little less than a minute to go against Anj Lusa. A tremendous win for one of the more entertaining fighters in the UFC. The great Philly Fresh they call him. Phil Rowe is going to join us. Top of the show. Let's kick things off with him and say hello to him on this year program. Hello, my friend. How are you? Yo, yo, what's the word?

What's happening? How you doing, brother? Yo, I like your style, your energy, your sense of humor. You're a very entertaining guy. Congratulations on the win. Like I said, a scintillating win. How are you feeling afterwards? I see a couple of stitches up there, little black eye.

How are you feeling? I feel good, man. I feel good. I'm grateful. That's the word, I'm grateful. So I've been here for a while, man. And now I learned that in the UFC, it's never too high, never too low.

You know, you just gotta enjoy, enjoy it while you're here, you know, and keep it moving. But I just feel grateful, grateful. Well, I appreciate that and that is a great sentiment. That was not an easy night at the office, right? I mean, according to the judges, you were down two rounds to none heading into the third. And then of course you get the stoppage.

So a great comeback win for you. What were you thinking heading into that third round what was on your mind? I'm like I'm not letting this guy take my dream from me um there's no chance he's he was tough he was heavy he was he was durable but um I just had my mind made up my biggest problem in, I'm always battling myself. I had the skillset to beat any of these guys. I got the power to beat, put away anybody. I got the jitsu to grapple with anybody.

Everybody that trains with me knows, but for me, it's like I'm always battling with myself in there. And it's hard to do what you do in the gym, obviously in the lights. I was in a position where I've lost two in a row. I was out for a year, not by choice. I was in this weird purgatory with the UFC where I wasn't getting booked for whatever reason. I signed the five fight deal when I fought Neil Magny and that was the first fight on my contract and I lost a split decision to him at home and then I dropped a fight to

Jake Matthews. After that fight I saw one of the matchmaker and said hey man I need to be active man please you guys are coming to Jacksonville next month on my birthday I said I would love to fight I didn't hear anything for about seven months I ended up flying out to to an event speaking to Sean I saw him I said hey Sean man I don't know the disconnect but I saw him, I said, hey Shawn, man, I don't know the disconnect, but I love being here. I said, I need to fight, I need to be active, man.

I'm not at the bottom of the food chain anymore, essentially like when you first get in the UFC from the contender, so the guys that I'm fighting now are different caliber guys, so I can't pop out once a year and try to, you know what I'm saying, fight these higher level guys, I I can't pop out once a year and try to, you know what I'm saying, fight these higher level guys. I need to be active.

Conversation went well, you know, I still didn't hear anything back. Had a couple very short notice opportunities. When I say short notice, I mean days. You know, so I wasn't getting booked. I don't know why. You know, I'm not mad at anybody. Business is business.

I don't know why, what was the situation that I was in. You know, I got presented this opportunity April 24th. Abraham Cowell messaged me, our manager, he says, Angeloose, May 17th, I said, send the contract. I heard nothing back, right, for two weeks. So now this is fight week, so I'm like, okay, am I fighting, am I not? Clearly I'm not fighting.

Then a week after the 24th, or May 17th, I got his name again for Atlanta and then the fight happened. So like I said, I don't really know the logistics behind the scenes. I'm biased for me. You know, I think I'm marketable. I think I'm a fighter that's easy to push, but I don't know, you know. So I knew what I was up against and I knew I had to go out there and get a big finish, man, and I'm just grateful that I did. I appreciate all that intel, and there's a lot I wanna ask you about that,

but is it fair to say you felt like you were fighting for your spot in that third round? Yeah. You didn't win. Yes, man. I'm not shying away from it. I told my coach, I said, look, I'm not losing. You know, I lose again, we're gone. And I realized that just from the lay of the land

for the past year, what happened, I don't wanna be down three fights. Before that, I was on a three fight knockout streak. This is so quickly how it can change. And I just had my mind made up in the second round. I remember sitting on the stool and Julian's talking to me and it was almost like a movie. Cause in my head it was just like,

boom, boom. Like it was so muffled because I didn't care what he was saying. I knew when I got up, I was going to hurt him. And as corny and cliche as that sounds, I didn't care what he was saying. I knew when I got up, I was going to hurt him. And as corny and cliche as that sounds, I didn't care what happened to me. I said, I'm stopping this guy. And he's like, I'm like, I don't care.

Once I get up, I'm going forward and he's getting out of here. And this ain't no easy month I could have stopped Ariel. This guy is from the Congo, bro. He's from the epicenter of blackness, dawg. Like he is, bro, that guy's neck, that guy, he was strong. And then you got to think, like he's fought some tough guys, man. Nobody's ever put him out.

He's fought Bon Fim, he's fought JDM. He's never been put out. So you're talking, I'm in down two rounds. Essentially got to knock a guy out that's never been put out for my job. But we got him out of here, man. We got him out of here. And not only did you get him out of there,

it was like highlight real stuff. That move that you did where you're essentially like posting him up, your face palming him, and then beating him up, You see a photo right there. Is that something you work on or is that just you in the moment saying like, nah man, you ain't moving and I'm about to knock you out? I learned that in East Flatbush, New York.

That's where I learned that, you know what I'm saying? Just had to make sure he ain't going nowhere and feed him these right hands, man. But I was just squabbling with him, man. Ain't no jitsu, ain't no boxing. We just fighting. And I had my mind made up that I got to get this guy out of here. So everything went out the window, my second nature took over, and I was just fighting

that guy. That's it. How good did that feel? It felt good, man. It felt good. It was a relief but more than anything like I said, man, I I don't let it I'm grateful. I don't let it get get to my head too much. I just want to get back in there get back to work and

Keep the winds rolling, you know, I got a hundred percent finish rate every fight I've ever been in any sanctioned bout I've ever been in people don't realize like I have finished if I won I finished amateur or pro if I've been in a fight and I win that guy has been knocked out or submitted hundred percent of the time So the thing is you were just telling me about the timeline there the Jake Matthews fight was in June of 2024 And we constantly hear like we got to give the guys three fights three fights Do you think that they were counting those short notice fights as the fights? Because I don't understand why it took a year for you

to get another fight, unless you were injured or something like that, but it doesn't sound like you were. Ariel, look man, you know this game well. I know this game. I can just control what I can, man. So when I hear guys like Kevin Hollan talk, he'll be like, man, these motherfuckers don't want to fight. And like, they fight once, like,

I don't dictate if I fight. You know how this game goes, Arab. You know, you know, you know, without saying too much, you know, you know, like, I cannot just show up at an event and decide to fight someone. Right, of course. You're like, I don't want to fight once a year. Fighting is scary, right?

Anyway, we got to deal with the anxiety of fighting anyway, but imagine not knowing when you're going to fight or not knowing the next opportunity. I train every day twice a day. I control what I can, bro. I show up to the gym and I train, but if I could fight, I would simply fight, right? I can't show up at an event weighing and fighting an opponent. They have to send me a bout agreement. They have to give me an opponent. They have to give me an opportunity. So once you get here, you can't count your chickens before they hatch, you know, because you're not in control of anything, you know.

So control the controllable, stay ready, stay humble, stay focused, and what God intends for you to happen and what he intends for you to have will happen. That's how I keep it, man, but it's hard. It's hard in the UFC, harder than people think. How frustrating was it to be on the sidelines and you see other guys getting two, three fights while you're sitting on you know a bit of a tough streak for you right? You want to get back in there, you want to get a W, you want to get back on a roll. How did you deal with that? It's hard,

Ariel. Especially when you got people that count on you, you know what I'm saying? Especially when you got sick people in your family, especially you got people to take care of, you know, it's hard. But once again, I control what I can and that's all I can do. So I don't worry too much on things that I can't control. And I know if I'm accessible, I know if I'm humble, I know if I'm diligent, I know I'm working hard, God's going to make a way for a way for me. And the cool thing about fighting, people get caught up on age. Fighting, it's all based on the attrition you've taken in this game.

I'm fresh, man, I'm fresh. I've been knocked down maybe twice in my career. This is the second time I've ever had a cut in my life in fighting, ever. So like, I got miles left. So like I got miles left, you know? So the longer they want to wait, you know, the better I'm getting and I can beat anybody. I can fight with anybody.

I can knock out anybody. So I'm just hoping that I did enough right there to show that I'm still readily available. I'm still here and I'm still a big factor at welterweight. Two more KOs, I'm back in the mix. I got four knockouts in the UFC. Every one I've had is a knockout. I was in a three fight knockout streak at one point,

but once again, you can't push yourself. I can't drive media to me. Like I'm not in charge of nothing here. So. I get it. Well, you just. It is what it is. You just mentioned family and you revealed

in the post-fight press conference that your mom is sick. Can I ask, first of all, how is she doing? I'm sending her my best, but currently, how is she doing right now? My mom is doing well, you know. If anyone knows the journey with cancer, it's peaks and valleys, right? And you have to take the wins when you get them, and you have to truck through the losses. It's just like the fight game.

Never too high, never too low. She has multiple myeloma. She got diagnosed with that three years ago. And throughout this whole process, ended up metastasizing in her chest. She got breast cancer. They ended up taking off one of her breasts, then she ended up having a double mastectomene and metastasizing her head.

And then they ended up taking a tumor out of her head. So it's tricky, you know, but she's doing well now. Her numbers look good. There's nothing lighting up as far as the breast cancer goes, there's nothing in her head. Her PET scan is great, her myeloma numbers are low, but she's still doing chemo, right? So with myeloma, it's something that you have

to kind of monitor, right? You can live with it, but it's cancer, right? And if you go without treatment, it's gonna flare up and it's cancer of the blood. So you're talking, it can. Oh, I think we just lost him. What were we gonna do? Yeah, maybe his phone died or got a phone call. What a nice young man, what a lovely young man. Reminds me of yesterday, two degree, a little bit younger,

but Malcolm Wellmaker was blown away by him and love getting to know these guys who, you know, we get to just see them in these brief moments on Fight Week. They'll pop up on social media, they'll do a hit here, and they'll be like, And love getting to know these guys who, you know, we get to just see them in these brief moments on Fight Week. They'll pop up on social media. They'll do a hit here, an interview there, a press conference here or there. They'll maybe get a big win.

They'll get on the microphone. They'll get to do a post-fight press conference as well. And then they just kind of move on. Now it's on tobacco. Like Atlanta is almost in the rear view mirror. That's why I love getting to do the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I still feel like we're eating off Atlanta's plate, if you get what I'm almost in the rear view mirror. That's why I love getting to do the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I still feel like we're eating off Atlanta's plate, if you get what I'm saying.

So getting to talk to a well maker, getting to talk to a Phil Roe. The boys getting to talk to some other fighters as well who may have had a big win on their Thursday show. I love this stuff. And everyone has a story, everyone has a backstory, a struggle, a reason. And this is a guy who, as he said, 100% finishing rate, not only in the UFC, but also in his MMA career. Seven wins via KO, four via sub. I'd love to know why he wasn't getting offers. And if they counted those short notice opportunities as his offers,

don't think that's necessarily fair. But, you know, Dana likes to say sometimes like, oh, we've got to give these guys three fights. Well, more often than not, it doesn't really quite work out that way, especially with the top tier guys. But he is a fun fighter who, as he also said, was on a roll not that long ago. Also loves to partake in the grappling. Even went up against Craig Jones not that long ago. Loves a Christmas decoration.

Have you guys seen his Christmas decorations? This is his house. Not now. But in Christmas time. Look at his car! Who does the car like that? That's next level. I've never seen that before. I mean I've seen the house. The car? What do you do? Yeah, I guess it runs off the battery or something. That's crazy. But also, is it possible that it could

scratch the car? Yeah, maybe you wrap the car first mmm that's that's a big-time job yeah that's a big time job although you into that you do that I would do that are you a big Christmas decoration guy oh you know it is that true I don't know if I believe you why would you believe me you asked me a question I give you an answer you don't believe me just like the way you answered it. I feel I know GC is a big Christmas decoration guy Oh for sure man me and Phil cut from the same cloth there. Oh, yeah I don't know Frank is oh, you know I just told you I was Yeah, I don't think he is no love putting the star on top the angel couldn't even be bothered to wear a sweater around the holiday

Season yo, he's an incredible talent this guy. He even made a music video in the midst of the intense 100 man versus one gorilla debate. But he flipped it. His song is one man versus 100 gorillas. Yo, this man did this. Killed it. What a character. Did, this man did this. Killed it. What a character.

Did, did an original song too. We can't play it, but it's like, one man versus a hundred gorillas. Yo, he's got an amazing personality. Got his own chain on in the video too. The R. Incredible hair as well. Incredible hair.

I don't think his hair looked like that on Saturday, the way it looked in the Zoom chat. He's got troll doll-like hair. He actually did that comparison himself. Yeah. Look at that. Haven't seen one of those in a while. Not just the troll doll hair.

Teeth looking great there, man. Teeth look fantastic. We getting those professionally whitened? Legit, what do you think? Or is that just crest, man? Or are they- No matter what it is, are they veneers? Are they the veneers?

No matter what, they look good. I wish I had teeth like that. Dang, don't show my teeth now. I'm getting comparisons all the time. Listen, it's tough. Has great t-shirts? Yes, sold out. Sold out the t-shirts?

Did a custom ATL tee and sold it out. Everyone's doing the custom tees these days, right? Yeah, yeah, like for each event. I can't decide on that or not. What do you mean? Because if you buy it for the fighter and then like, God forbid they lose, you don't want to like that memory. That's a good point, yeah.

Plus can I buy a shirt for every single event that they fight at? If you go hard for your guy, like if that's your guy, I think you're buying, it's sort of like buying their poster. And by the way, how much are the shirts? Like 30 bucks, 40 bucks? Probably something like that. It was sold out, didn't have a price. I'd rather the shirt than the poster. You know like those sign posters? Which end up being like 200 bucks? Yeah. 250? Those posters are crazy. I actually didn't even see the posters for sale on Saturday. I did get a pretty sick custom.

You know what annoys me about the posters? Did you really? What did it look like? They did like a retro-Hawks crossover. Oh. UFC and like retro-Hawks. Oh, that's kind of surprising. Guess who's back.

Okay, Philly's back? Philly's back. Is he there? He's there. Hey man. Sorry, bud. No, it's all good. I'm in my wife's dental office and she frigging had a little power out of his damn bud. No it's all good. I'm in my wife's dental office

and she friggin had a little power out of it. No it's all good. It's all good. She's a dentist? Yes, Dr. Rowe. Wow. By the way, we were just complimenting your teeth. She would love to hear that. Yo, we showed the picture of you comparing your hair to a troll doll, but what really stood out to us was the teeth. Look at the teeth. Is that her doing? Absolutely. Amazing.

Well done. We also showed your Christmas decorations. You go hard, man, with the car and all that. Man, I live in the gated community, man, amongst the whites. I got to show out. You like living in Florida compared to East Flatbush? Bro, it's not even close, man. My backyard at nine o'clock every night, you see the fireworks from Disney World.

Oh, that's incredible. So you're living the dream. I live in Winter Garden. I live close to Mike Perry. Me and Mike Perry are neighbors. Okay. I just wanted to finish up the discussion about your mom. I'm wondering if you put that pressure on yourself to say like, hey, I need to

be here not only to keep my dreams alive, but to maybe help her out so that, you know, to keep her in spot. Absolutely. You put that on yourself. You have to. You have to. You know, you have to put that pressure on yourself. You don't shy away from it, You know, I mean, I think that's what men do and that's what men are supposed to do. So I'm cool with it, you know, and I was cool and congruent with the fact that if I lose this, my dream is gone, you know, but I need to be able to take care of my family. I need to be able to help provide for my mom resources, opportunities, and putting this guy away helps for sure. So once you were there with the brass on Saturday,

did you say like, get me back in there, let's make up for lost time here, or do you not even want that at this point? Of course I do. But you gotta tread lightly in the UFC, you know how that goes. Okay. Malky, he's a shark, man.

So he's a smart guy. He knows what he's doing. So this week, I'm sure they're going to talk to them and let them know like, yo, man, we need Phil to be out there again. I'll be out there next week with my teammate, Terrence McKinney. And then I will be in Nashville with Mike Davis. And then I'm going to see the next week, I'm going to see DP fight. So I'm going gonna be popping up.

People are gonna see my face. I'm gonna be in the algorithm. So hopefully I see Sean and hopefully I did enough that he's like, okay, cool. I still got fights after my contract. I would love to fight like October. You know, that'd be awesome. And I could get back in there and knock some heads, man.

Well, that's perfect. Cause I heard JDM is coming back in October and I heard you want JDM and knock some heads, man. Well, that's perfect, because I heard JDM is coming back in October and I heard you want JDM next. I would love it. I mean, look, if you're going to ask me, that's who I want to fight, right? If they're going to ask me who I want to fight, I don't make up no rules, you know that.

If you ask me, I want the guy with the belt, right? Of course, that's the great mindset to have, but realistically, probably not going to happen. I hope you're not offended. Probably not. Is there someone that does make sense in your opinion? I mean, I tried to, I was calling out Alex Murano for a while, nothing personal.

He just had a lot of fights and the way the match making looked like for me, like they gave me Jake Matthews, they gave me Neil Manning, like all guys, like Alice Marano type guys like 20 something fights in the UFC been around for a while he's just on a he's on a couple losing he's on a couple else so I don't really know how that works but I'm accessible man you know um I don't care I like fighting short wrestlers I always knocked them out so like they take me down. I got jitsu They never passed my guard. I eventually get up. I end up knocking them out. So I don't care man. I

Can't call no shots right now. I just want to be active. I want to keep making these six-figure checks, man That was the first time in my life. I got six figures in one shot, bro. So wow, I'm stacked I'm stoked right now, you know, so like my account went from Low I'll just say that okay to To six figures, you know, and it was it was pretty cool to see so and they had me to second five the night Which was weird, but I guarantee you nobody The second fire the night went home with a check like like me. That's a fact, so I'm pumped.

Well, yeah, I saw your reaction to getting the check. You posted it on social media. Man, you're a very entertaining guy. They need to get behind you. Look at you, man. I don't know why they don't, man. Look at that. Look at them moves.

We even showed your music video, the 100 Men versus a Gorilla music video. Oh! You did that. Look at them moves. We even showed your music video, the 100 men versus a gorilla music video. Oh! See, you did that. How fire is that song, Larry? I want to play it, but I think we'll get dinged by YouTube, but we showed the video. The video was great.

That's my song. I know, but you know, sometimes, I don't know, can we play? Should we take a chance, guys? My song. It's my song. Let's play it. Just play a little bit. Just a little bit. Just so. Yeah. Who made this? You made it?

Just the way I did. What the hell? What inspired you to do this? This is great stuff. Where'd you come up with this? I'm a fuck them gorillas. Where'd you come up with this? Oh, look at him just enjoying his work. They get another. Oh.

Oh. By the way, can I just say it's a catchy tune. Just one man. Oh, there he is. Sorry, we lost you. How you lose me? I'm chilling. I don't know, what happened?

You froze. I'm here. Yo, the dental office needs to, you need to invest some of that 100K into the wifi over there. Right, right. But no, you know the thing was going viral, 100 men versus one gorilla?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I kind of flipped it and made a song from it. So that was pretty cool. A man of many talents. Oh yeah. How much long you want to do this for the fighting thing? I think I have eight to 10 high level fights in me left. Oh wow, okay.

And like Ariel, you know this game, you know, like I said, like it's about the attrition that you're taking. I'm fresh, man. I haven't been in much fights, you know this game, you know, like I said, like it's about the attrition that you're taking. I'm fresh, man. I haven't been in much fights. You know, I know 30 year olds has been knocked out violently in the UFC. You know, I know, I know 23 year olds has been knocked out violently in the UFC, you know.

I'm fresh. I'm 34 years old. I'm at my physical peak. My mind is sharp. I haven't taken much damage, man. I haven't taken much attrition in this game. Everything's superficial. My ears, you know, a little scar tissue here and there. But my mind is good, man.

And I think I got eight to ten high-level fights left in me. Well, you're back on track. Great win. Well done. Congratulations. Great to have you on the show. Much love. high level fights left in me. Well, you're back on track. Great win, well done. Congratulations, great to have you on the show. Much love, sorry that we didn't tag you on the IG.

It's all good, man. That's our bad. I'm grateful, man. I really like the platform. Thank you. And I'm grateful to be here, man. I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity, man. You always have my boy Mike Perry on here, man.

So it's cool to be on here. You'll be on very soon again after you get another win in a couple months. Let's go, let's go. Thanks my man and all the best to your mother. Thank you, man. I mean that, I love that. Thank you.

All right, there he is. Phil Rowe, big win for him back on track. Fantastic stoppage. Posted him up, Ange-Luce, and he was just like, do, do, do, do. A much needed win for the Brooklyn boy now residing in training in Orlando, Florida. They got Desmond Bain for like four draft picks.

Crazy. Is Desmond Bain worth four draft picks? First round? Seems like a lot. Anyway, we move along now and in a matter of seconds we'll say hello who is a guest that I would say is one of the most requested guests in the history of the program. We have a bunch of tweets here from people over the years,

even dating back to the MMA Hour days, saying, yeah, all these big names are cool, but this is just like a, this is a sprinkle. Iron Turtle Fight Week, you gotta have Iron Turtle on. Where's Iron Turtle? Iron. Iron. Any chance we can get Iron Turtle on the show? I hope this lives on for Moonies. Let's get Iron Turtle on! Any interest in getting Jun-Yong Park on the program? He is the Iron Turtle. He is returning to action this Saturday in Baku against Ishmael He is returning to action this Saturday in Baku against Ishmael

Narduev and you guys have been asking for him. You guys have been wanting him You guys have been demanding you have requested you have I mean pretty much threatened Threatened to riot if we don't get the pride of Seoul, South Korea on the program And so without further ado, let us finally deliver for all of you Let us say hello to Junyoung Park. The Iron Turtle is here. Hello, my friend. How are you? Hi.

Hi. Welcome. Hello. Hello. It's great to have you. And we have your translator, John, here as well. My friend, do you know that you have a massive, massive fan base who love you and are very loyal and who have been hounding us here on the show to have you on the show?

Are you familiar with this? Are you aware of this? I guess a lot of fans have asked for I.N. Toto to be on the show. Do you know that? I don't know. I'm only in Korea. Why do fans like you so much? Why do you think people love you so much? Because I'm very easy. You're easy to like?

They don't think highly of me. That's how I feel. What do you mean? No, they love you. They support you. They don't think highly of you or they do think highly of you. Why do I look like I'm not that bad? You don't look like a MMA fighter. It's because I don't look like an MMA fighter at all.

Okay. Do you act like an MMA fighter? Do I look like an MMA fighter? Do you act like a MMA fighter? Hmm... I don't look like one. I don't act like a MMA fighter. I just act like a person who studies hard. I definitely don't look like an MMA fighter. More probably like a school kid studying a lot. Well, you are a very fun fighter to watch and you have a great nickname as well. I think people love your nickname.

Can you tell us about Wild Turtle came about? Wild Turtle is a bit... In Korea, the image of a turtle is slow but very sincere. It's a slow but very sincere image. So it's like when General Lee Soon-shin made the turtle ship, he made the Iron slow animal, but back in the dynasty days, it's been progressed where they're very smart and very thoughtful and methodical in how they do things as a turtle. So not only that they're slow, but they're very precise on how they do things.

And it's just something that's been backdated back in the dynasty days in Korea. Who gave you that nickname? Who gave me that nickname? There was a player named Mike, who was the leader of that team. One of the aspiring partners that helped me out named Michael had thought of that name for me. Do you like the nickname? Do you like the nickname?

Good nickname a Joanna Mmm, I'm gonna have a job at the turtle image But I'm at the one you got John what? It's not that bad. I like it. You know I kind of have that image of a turtle Oh, that is a tremendous shirt. I love this shirt. I think a lot of people love it. Can people buy that now? And where can they buy it?

So it's not for sale, but he definitely want to gift you one, Ariel. Yeah, it's definitely not a shirt that he's selling at the moment. Okay, well, you should sell it. I think you would sell it out. Does the turtle reference have anything to do with Ninja Turtles? Yeah, in the past, people said that the turtle image is very a lot like Ninja Turtle and the turtle image. I've seen your celebrations. Where does this come from? What's the inspiration for the way you move? Look at you here, look at this. This is incredible stuff. Where does this from?

You said you're a great dancer. Where did you get this inspiration? Where did you start? I love soccer. I used to play soccer, and I used to put in the goal, and I used to tease my friends when fun of my friends while dancing. When my friends made fun of me.

So that's you almost mocking your opponent. Yeah, it definitely is something that, you know, to make fun of that fight because I felt like I was a good player. When you were a kid, did you want to be a soccer player? When you were young, did you want to be a soccer player? When I was young, I wanted to be a swimmer and a soccer player. Who introduced you to martial arts? How did you start? When I was in the army, I had a big fan of UFC. It was a match between Tank and Kimbo Slice. I was thinking that I could be good at fighting in the match, but I just thought about it and started fighting after I was discharged from the army. Yeah, definitely my military days of my ranking officers had loved the USC. He was a huge fan and as they were watching the Kimbo slice fight,

this one he had thoughts about MMA itself. And then after he got out of the military, he was like, you know what, let me give it a shot and got into the whole MMA. Wow, Kimbo slice. That's amazing. How long were you in the military for? About two years. Okay and prior to that you had no martial arts background you had not done anything. Did you ever train in MMA or MMA? No, I never trained in MMA. I quit swimming and then stopped training in MMA.

I never trained in MMA or MMA. I heard you say in the beginning of your UFC career that you consider yourself like a white belt UFC fighter and maybe didn't feel 100% Comfortable calling yourself a UFC fighter or veteran. Do you feel like you've earned that now? Do you feel like you're a black belt in in UFC fighting so to speak and that you you belong that you you have a spot in the company Good John can give a little us enough You said you only have white belt in the previous matches and you only have white belt in the UFC. Do you think the same thing now? Or do you think you're a UFC fighter? White belt? What does that mean?

You only have white belt white in UFC. Oh, this? Yes. You're white overall. But you're still white. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall.

But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall.

But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still white overall. But you're still a white belt, you know, but I feel like I have three stripes now on my belt. You know, I'm working my way up. You've been in the UFC for a while now, for several years.

Why do you still consider yourself a white belt and what would allow you to move up in your opinion? Do you still think it's a hint? Or do you have a previous experience? I think after this year I'll move on to the blue belt. In my opinion. And what do you think should be done to become a bigger player? I think I should be a ranker. If I become a ranker, I think I'll be ranked. I think I'll be purple. How is Baku treating you? Cause you had a stretch of Apex fights. So I would imagine getting out of the Apex is very exciting.

What is it like being there in Azerbaijan? How is Baku? Baku is a very nice city. It's very different from what I thought. When I said Azerbaijan, I thought a lot about it as a desert. But this is a coastal city. I think the city is just beautiful and it's just changed the way i envisioned it before i got here do you like fighting at the apex

oh apex is a sound one joani oh no I think fighting anywhere in the UFC is good. I think it's just so much fun to be able to fight MMA. Preparing for the fight, fighting, and losing weight like this. These processes are so much fun. It's just a pure fact that I can get the fight. It's what I like and I want to continue that. So you're fighting a tough guy, Ishmael Nardurev. How do you feel like this fight is gonna play out? What are you thinking? What are you feeling? You're fighting Ishmael Nardurev. What do you think of him? He's a very aggressive fighter. I think he's a great opponent. When you fight a strong opponent, you get a lot of dopamine.

It's so fun. Should I say a judok? that you know that make you feel that same way that give you that same dopamine feeling? Other than martial arts, do you feel like you're receiving the dopamine level similar to what you're doing? Drinking. He said drinking. Drinking? What do you like to drink?

You know, you drink everything. He's telling me that I know better. He definitely likes to drink anything. Do you drink throughout your training camp as well? So approximately seven weeks prior to the fight, I definitely stopped everything. Okay. Do you miss it? Is that like the first thing you look forward to partaking in after a fight?

I miss that after the game. You drink alcohol after the game? I'm going to drink soju with Chinese food after the game. Yeah, definitely right after the fight. But after this fight, my goal is to drink soju, which is a Korean vodka with Chinese food. Yes, I heard that's one of your favorite things. I heard that you like soju. We saw it there on the list here of getting to know you. Soju, I've never heard of that before. Soju and beer.

He said if you mix soju with beer, it's the best. With beer? I was always told beer before liquor never been sicker. Aha, originally, beer before liquor. I don't know how you translate that. Good luck with that one. Oh, originally... There's a saying that if you drink beer before you drink soju, it's harder. Oh, really? So you have to drink the beer first to drink soju. But if you drink beer first, there's a saying that drinking soju is stronger.

In Korean culture, what's the least amount of money I can spend by getting drunk the quickest. In that list there, and shout out to Alex Buhainen for putting that together. You write that, he asks you, where's your favorite place to travel? And your response was, I'd rather just stay home. When you were doing the interview, you said you wanted to stay at your favorite place to travel. Why did you do that? When I travel abroad, I always feel like I'm going on a trip in a game. It wasn't like my teammates were playing or I was playing. It wasn't like I was going out to play. So when I went to the airport or somewhere else, it didn't feel like I was resting.

It felt like I was getting a little sharp before the game. I kept feeling that way. So I think I'm most comfortable at more sharp. So I think staying at whether it's, you know, my fights, I'm traveling or, you know, with my sparring partners or coaches that I go out with to support, you know, that just that feeling of going out, it just feels like I'm getting ready to fight. So for me, it just feels more comfortable to be at home. That's the only reason that I actually respond. That makes total sense. Do you get very nervous before your fights? I feel like there are so many different things. I think that's where the dopamine comes from. I think that's why I brings up my dopamine level.

And that's where I feel like, you know, I'm an addict to it. And you know, I just want to continue to fight. I read in Cripple Found Wrong that your favorite fight is Robbie Lawler versus Rory McDonald too, which happened at UFC 189. I have this doll. Look at this. Do you know where this is from? Can we show them here on this?

You know this one. This guy. Rory McDonald from that fight. You know this one. Yeah. Why do you like that fight so much? After the 4th round, we were spitting blood and looking at each other in the corner. I think that was the only time that we saw dopamine in other people's games. after that fight when they sat back looking at each other with the blood dripping down, you know, he just felt like the dopamine level had to have been so high. And just off of that, just a pure fact, that's why he liked that fight. I saw that you were training with Alex Pereira a few months ago. What was that experience

like? I saw a video of you training with because it was a show-off. Alex Pereira's body condition was very bad. I can't really consider it more of a sparring. It was just more of like showing different techniques and you know, just Uh more of just like let's get together and show different things There's another south korean fighter on this card. He's fighting oban elliot. Um, I hope i'm not mispronouncing his name Are you friends with other Korean players? He's a student of Donghyun, but he was referring to the picture that was brought up on the screen all the way to the left. Donghyun Kim, you know, he's like my older brother and I'm like his little brother and we definitely mixed together and trained together. I love it. And you know,

one of my favorite, at least from afar countries, is South Korea. I've always wanted to visit South Korea. It's one of the few places in the world that I haven't been to yet. If I ever were to come to South Korea, what would we do? What would be the perfect night? Me and you out on the town in Seoul, where would you take me to experience a beautiful part of the country and of your hometown. What Erya explained is that you've never been to Korea, but it's the country you want to go to the most. If I get the chance to go, what would you do in Korea? Ah, fucking drink. What? What is that?

I'd show you how to drink in Korea. What? What is that? He said he will show us the Korean drinking culture. He said drinking. So I'll definitely show you the Korean culture of drinking in Korea. I feel like drinking is a big part of your life. That's the sense that I'm getting here. Please tell us that there are a lot of delicious food and drinks in Korea. Definitely in Korea, there's a lot of great food. Okay, and a lot of a lot of drinking opportunities involved And are you was he gonna say something? Yeah, were you gonna say something? What are you gonna say? Are you gonna say something?

No, no, no. I'm not gonna regret coming here. I'm it just by eating and drinking. It was great to have you. Is there anything that you want to say to all the people watching our show who have been hounding us, who have been asking for you to be on the show, they have been asking for one guest and one guest only and that's you. Is there anything you want to say to them? Well, it's nothing. Thank you for your support. I'm honored to know that there are a lot of people who visit me abroad. I hope I can work harder and talk conversations with famous reporters like Herani. high caliber show like Ariel Hoani and hopefully in the near future I'll be able to do more shows like this. Amazing. Well, we look forward to that for now. Good luck on Saturday.

Thank you so much for coming on. It's definitely an honor. You know, one of the biggest things I've learned in my career is that I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. I'm a professional. Oh, okay. It's an honor to be able to do an interview with you in person. the Iron Turtle himself, I think that lived up to the hype. Legend.

What a guy. Exceeded the hype. Exceeded the hype. I'm trying to go drinking Seoul with the Iron Turtle. Could you imagine? Seems like a good time. I think he asked you, when you asked him, what do you want him to do?

I think he just said fucking drink. Yeah, yeah, I think that was it. It was either funny, I had an old photo of myself in 2002, the World Cup was in South Korea and Japan. And South Korea went on an incredible run. I think they either made it to the quarters or the semis. And I was backpacking through Europe and I bought a South Korea jersey because I had fallen in love with the team. They had a beautiful red jersey, like a sort of bright red. And I was looking for the photo to show him that,

I've got mad love for South Korea, but unfortunately I couldn't find it in time. But what a great character, what a nice smile he has. And what a fun demeanor. And so if you're excited about him fighting, he is returning on Saturday on this UFC Baku card, which by the way, starts at 12 p.m. Eastern. Did you guys know that? Oh yeah, absolutely lovely. Prelims on ESPN, main card on ABC. I love

the fact that an ABC card is going to be emanating from Azerbaijan. I wonder why the shift occurred where back in the day the Fox events, they used to really stack, the Fox events were like mini pay-per-views. They were usually, especially in the early days, they were usually four fights instead of five on the main card, so it felt a little bit more compact. And there was always either a title fight, and you know, it was usually maybe a DJ title fight or a Benson Henderson title fight at the very top. And if not, an important number one contender type fight. They've really gone away from that. I mean, to be honest, I didn't even realize that this was an ABC card. There was a big difference between the UFC on Fox cards and the UFC on FS1 cards, the UFC on Fuel TV cards, obviously the pay-per-views. I would love for them to do these up a little bit. And by the way, why don't we call them UFC on ABC 1, 2, and 3?

I mean, we freaking number the Apex cards. We've numbered everything else in the history of UFC fights. UFC on versus, UFC on Fox, UFC on FS1, UFC on Fuel TV. Why don't we number the ABC cards? If anything, the ABC cards are the biggest deal of them all. The ABC cards are a bigger deal than the Fox cards. Maybe Aunt Evans is right. Anyway, 12 fights on the card. Rafael Fiziev against Ignacio Bahamundes. That's a great fight. That's a great fight in the co-main. Curtis Blades on the card as well. Looking forward to that. Also on Saturday, by the way, BKFC is back. They're back in Fort Worth, Texas. Going to be airing on Dazon. And I'm very intrigued about one particular

fight on this card and it features a former UFC fighter, two and one in the world of BKFC, Josh Copeland, going up against our old friend Andre the Pitbull Arlovski, also on the card by the way. Jessica I, who you may recall, was on this program announcing that she had signed with BKFC going up against Maria Agapova, another former UFC fighter. Kenzie Morrison, the son of the late great Tommy Morrison also on the card against Alex Rhino-Davis. So in a matter of seconds, Andrzej Arlovski the pitbull who had a nice debut in the world of DBX, Dirty Boxing. I don't know what are we calling Dirty Boxing? Are we calling it DBX? Are we calling it dirty boxing? I kind of feel like DBX is a thing. I kind of feel like it works.

By the way, I do want to give a shout out to Humanizing Athletes by Alex Behainen. He puts together those lists, asks some great questions, you get some nice fun nuggets out of the fighters. So thank you to him. Shout out to him. And coming up in about 30 minutes we'll be joined by Julianna Pena and then Rosanam Younis will be the last guest of the day. So

plenty more to get into. For now though let us say hello to our next guest. He is the former UFC Heavyweight Champion, a veteran of the game now making his debut he's a rookie all over again to make his debut in the world of the kfc this saturday on the zone it's the great on tray

are lost the kind enough to join us on this tuesday hello andrea how are you my friend and how you how this might be the yeah i don't even have to ask about it now you just give it to me thank you i. I appreciate that. That's very nice of you. You look fantastic, Andre. The beard is always so nice. I love it. Just left my barber, yeah. Getting ready for surgery. Okay, so you know, this is interesting because you've been around the fight game for a long time. But I'm wondering if, because this is a first time for you and bare

knuckle if you feel like a young fighter again like a rookie if you will because you've never done this before I've never done this shit before but I'm super excited yes I really absolutely right and I can't wait till Saturday leaving tomorrow morning and like Nike just do it. Yes, why did you decide to sign with BKFC? Because UFC asked me to leave, that's why I'm here for BKFC. So honestly, it's like, hopefully my management team has a plan for my future for couple of next years, so we'll see. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe I'm going to fight one day, going to have rematch in boxing against Emelianenko, so we'll see maybe maybe maybe maybe I'm gonna fight one day gonna have rematch in boxing against Emelianenko so we'll see but I read news he's gonna fight probably supposed to fight the Mike Tyson which I think it's not a good

fight for him it's gonna fight against me but we'll see is this is this is this at this stage of your career is this the goal you versus Fyodor part two now in boxing? The fuck him so I keep all the out. He mentioned my name. I still fighting He's not so I guess he he needs this shit more than me But there's definitely I'm not gonna let I would love to fight him and and especially in boxing Definitely not gonna do this stupid shit. What I did first time and I pay for this It's it's a fact. You knock me my ass out. So Yeah, if yes, yes, perfect if no like

I already moved forward, but he brought my name all the time. So wow Yeah, when did he talk about you? Um, actually my friend, uh, throw me link He was on some russian tv and he mentioned all like a lot of people asked me about fight against Arlovski name came up all the time at Mirko crockup and I and after my fight again first fighting like dirty boxing I heard you talking about dirty boxing My friend show me that video. I record another video. Listen, you mentioned my name. Let's fight Let's let's let's fight, let's do

it. If not, if yes, I will be more than happy to fight you again. How did you like the experience with dirty boxing? It was a great experience for me and it shows that I was stupid, that I never understand my elbows. It's a great weapon, and definitely if I'm gonna fight in MMA again, I'm gonna use a lot, I'm gonna practice a lot with my elbows, and it's a deadly weapon, 100%. If you don't fight in MMA again, are you at peace

with that, are you okay with that, or do you really want at least one more MMA fight? And that's it. How does your wife feel about you doing bare-knuckle? Because that's intense stuff. Not happy. She'd rather you don't. Yeah, but listen, I already have a beautiful wife, kids, family. If I'm gonna be a little bit cut, it's no big deal. You're still a great looking guy, if I do say so myself.

Of course. Thank you. What's the motivation, Andre, at this point? You've done it all, you've fought them all. Why even stick around? I love doing what I'm doing. And I want to repeat again, I'm a happy fighter. My family supports me, my kids support me.

Since then I still have fire in my eyes. Every workout is like a big holiday for me. I finished today an early morning workout with my boxing coach Ivan Olivier. I felt like a young guy again, like 25. Hopefully, my fans are going to join my fight. My debut and DKFC on Saturday, 21st. I and I wanna fight. You have a history with the heavyweight champion there in bare knuckle, Ben Rothwell. Is that a fight that interests you?

Actually, when he became a BKFC world champion, I congratulate him via text message under his post. I make a comment, congrats, Ben and let's dance you and me in BKFC in the ring so no response. It would be great, yeah I didn't think about it but yes you're right. Yes I saw recently that you gifted Dana White I think you gave him like a rifle or something? Very nice. The usual build by Stella Arms here and yeah. He promised to post so I'm waiting for the post from him. So why did you feel? Why did you feel the need to do this?

What was the the reason behind the gift? And no, if you think about the back, back him to back in in UFC, no, because I worked with Stella Arms and they saw that I brought my friend T-Gun Vol Tarik, he brought to his office, he present him a gun. I brought another couple guys and they felt like, you know, it's tradition and they want to be a first person who's going to present him a rifle and actually Beyoncé's it's a great rifle built under my after my pit bull Maximus called Maximus is going to be only 150 a rifle built limited edition and it's great rifle. I asked

okay I'm gonna ask Dana if he's okay to meet with you guys and with me, we're gonna do it. I spoke with him and he said, yeah, come to my office. I brought my friends and before I brought Staccato company, gun company from Texas, after it was Stellar Arms. And the same day, Dana got two presents, a gun and a rifle. You like shooting guns? What's your favorite kind of gun to shoot or rifle? Of course, Maximus.

Yeah, that's good. Of course, and I have a lot of guns, but I have a number of favorite guns. And I live in Florida, you know, it's a red state and everybody friendly with the firearms. Plus, I'm happy that my kids my my oldest son Andre my middle son Dominic they like to shoot as well. So which is great. I also saw it. Did you did you recently win an axe throwing championship or something

like that? It was like, yeah, it's actually, it was after meeting with Dana. We went to Area 51, I believe it was in Las Vegas. Yeah, yeah. For kids and yeah. Look at that belt. That's a nice belt. Add it to the list. Add it to the mantle, if it to the mantle if you will.

Oh yeah. You've had a lot of belts over the years. And by the way, you mentioned your son, I saw also on your social media, you told us about him being a good baseball player, and you know sometimes when parents talk about their kids playing sports, I saw him hit a very nice home run. He's got skills, look at this. Oh yeah, thank you sir.

And actually he was the first one on the team who hit home run in the game. And listen, I'm into games right now, in baseball right now. And sometimes he tell me that be quiet, don't embarrass me, but I'm running screaming like a kid, you know. I heard you. I'm not like acting like all other 99% parents but yeah I'm supposed to go with him with him on his dormant but unfortunately I'm gonna be in Dallas Texas I'm gonna fight on 21st so I'm not gonna be able to go

to Cooperstown oh wow it's a it's a the biggest event for 12 you but yeah Cooperstown is the Hall of Fame are the biggest event for 12 years, but yeah. Cooperstown is the hall of fame. Are you sad about that? Are you sad you're missing it? 100%. 100%. What's it like now seeing your kids become athletes? Like you had a great athletic career, you're sort of coming soon to the end.

What's it like to now watch it as a parent? I wish my sons, my kids, my two sons and my daughter are gonna be better than me if they're gonna choose some sports. Obviously, first one, oldest one play baseball. And listen, I would love to see him on a big field and get the MLB ring. Yeah. Would be great.

I heard in that video you yelled Buya Kasha when you hit the home run. I don't know from why I'm screaming this. I heard my Jiu-Jitsu coach, Gina Kastel, scream once, Buya Kasha, and I liked it, the scream. I have no idea what does it mean. So, but Buya Kasha, every time when he hit home runs, I scream Buya Kasha.

I like it, from Ali G. From some, yeah, from some movie. Yeah, that's your thing. I love it. Can I ask you, Andrei, like I said, you've been around, you fought for everyone. You were recently a part of this GFL that never came to fruition, you know, the whole thing.

How do you feel about how that all played out? Everybody still hopes they're gonna come back and what what I heard and maybe in July, August, most likely not. But you know, deep inside here, grandpa grandpa fighting leaks, maybe maybe we'll see. But you know, you've been around, like I said, so were you always kind of thinking this doesn't seem like it's going to happen? Or did you really think it was gonna get off the ground? To be honest with you, in the beginning I thought it's great but when I read about money what you're going to pay I start like kind of like asking myself is it true? Are they really fucking gonna pay those kind of money? Because every event in GFL cost more than any UFC event. Right. So I thought maybe something fishy, but it is what it is, so we'll see.

Have you started to think about how you're gonna spend your days after fighting? What do you want to do? How do you spend your time? time. We're gonna have a couple drinks. I'm gonna fly back home the next day early morning and And you'll see I might I might I know I have to go on the Monday. I have to go to Chicago To visit my friend Derek. So but I mean I mean when you're done fighting not not this weekend Like when you're done done. What is Yeah, I have no idea I have no idea maybe maybe I'm going to shoot every day somewhere and compete in a three-gun competition or something. Okay. Who in your opinion is the greatest heavyweight of all time?

Listen, John Jones moved to the heavyweight division. Obviously, he's a- Nah, he's not the greatest heavyweight of all time. Come on. He's had two fights at heavyweight. How can he be the greatest heavyweight of all time. Come on, he's had two fights at heavyweight. How can he be the greatest heavyweight? We're talking about MMA, not boxing. MMA. MMA. Who's the greatest MMA heavyweight of all time? A number of good heavyweights. I count myself one of them, but I don't know this Brandy could tour. He was a heavyweight champion like sure a lot of great aspen

his Star he's not champion. I don't know if a fight is going to happen between him and John Jones I'm not sure about, but definitely it's going to be an interesting fight and I don't know. Who do you think wins that fight? Definitely it's going to be be hard fight for John Jones. Okay he's very terrible, but but Aspen all his quick as fuck and and

Strong has a good good the ground game. I'm only one yeah who he is choked Like not don't knock me out out he fucking faked me and got my back and chopped me I still upset about that fight but it is what it is and anyway it's gonna be interesting fight definitely if it's gonna fight gonna happen I would be happy to watch this fight sure I noticed when I asked you you didn't mention fador do you not consider him one of the best of all time? Fuck no, absolutely not, come on. Why?

What do you mean? No, he's never fought in UFC, he fought in Pride. At that time, you fucking never know if it was a doping athletic commission or was there not. Six fights in a fucking one year, it sounds like not right. the It's kind of, sounds not right to me. And some people- No doubt about it, but he's a champion. Yeah, he's somebody consider him the great heavyweight

and Arlovski, Jackass just don't think in the same way. That's it. Nah, your opinion matters. You're one of the greatest heavyweights. Definitely he's a great fighter. He was a pride heavyweight champion, no doubt about his stuff. He knocked my ass down, maybe it's, yeah.

Some people have also even said about the pride fights that maybe they weren't 100% real at times. Mark Coleman has talked about that they offered him to fix the fight, you know this. No, I heard, first time I heard this shit, and I would say it's another point that I might be right, because if you wanna, I never heard about fights, fights called...

Fix. Fix, fix fights in the UFC. No, no, never, never. First it's like, I guess it's federal crime, right? You might go to the jail for this. So everything like, so legit here except the pride fights. Let me ask you two last things, Andrei, and we'll let you go. Do you want to do more than one BKFC fight,

or are you gonna try this out on Saturday and then decide? Or is it a multi-fight deal with them? I don't know, we'll see. But I'm gonna tell you one thing. I will do everything possible to get W because I'm not going to support my son and I'm super upset about this shit. And my opponent is going to be the reason why I'm going to Dallas, not Coppers Town. And I'm supposed to fight one guy. He didn't get a visa to the United States, I got another guy. So, but anyway, I'm ready. I love that. That's great motivation. My last thing for you is, you know, right now we're seeing some disturbing stuff with BJ Penn and other fighters who, you know, when they get older, it's hard for them to transition.

It seems like you've got a great life. You've got great family. You're set up. You're happy. You're content What has been your secret to be able to sort of like land the plane and get ready for the next chapter of your life? You know what I heard something about the BJP and but I don't know all the details but like I mentioned before, you you know I'm super happy that my family and my wife supports me and my kids and now I'm I don't be honest with you it's embarrassing but I don't know all rules and all details in baseball I tried to learn and my oldest son he tried to teach me all the time some small details some like slang etc etc but I'm happy that I found somehow transitioned like in a gun world you know it's a second company I'm an ambassador right

now I work with a great guy his name is Ryan Rapoport. He helps me a lot with gun stuff. So try to get me even deeper in the gun world and hopefully it's gonna be a smooth transition. And I just, if not, I'm gonna be forever baseball dad. So my son gonna get a great contract and I'm gonna travel with him and I'm gonna carry his bags to the stadium. I love that. I love that Andrei. Much love to you my friend. Good luck on Saturday. Looking forward to it. Wishing you all the best. Thank you for coming on. Thank you very much for having me. Thank

you for your wishes and God bless you. Thank you. Thank you and same to you. There he is the great Andrei Arlovski, the pride of Belarus, Chicago, and now Florida, a legend of the game, one of the greatest of all time. Love the answer regarding greatest heavyweight in the history of the sport. And then when I asked about Fedor, F no. That's tremendous. That's BKFC, by the way, on Saturday, June 21st. They'll be in Fort Worth Texas and there's the

poster right there at Josh Copeland. BKFC 76 tickets available right now BKFC.com you can watch it on DAZN the home of all things combat and as I said there's a bunch of there's a bunch of familiar. Jessica I making her BKFC debut as well. Maria Agapova on there. Kenzie Morrison. And so usually good for, I don't know, five to six knockouts, one of those events. So go check out Andrei Olovski on the BKFC card,

especially if you're in that region, the North Texas region this weekend. By the way, some breaking news regarding the UFC's return to Chicago. I don't know if you guys saw this, but the UFC has officially announced the Drikus Duplessis versus Khamzat Shmaev card. That's August the 16th, UFC 319, their long-awaited return to the United Center home of the Blackhawks and Bulls middleweight title fight on the line featured bout that would be the chief support aka the co-main Jared Cannon here against Michael Venom page who is sticking around at 185 pounds they did

announce a bunch of other fights for the card, notable ones. Gerald Mearschart against Michal Oleg Sheyshuk. Edson Barbosa returning against Drakkar Close. What about King Green against Diego Fajeda? Kareen Silva against JJ Aldrich. Brian Battle is back against Nur Sultan Ruzibiev. There it is. Hey, that was fast. Tim Elliott going up against Kaya Sakura. Well done. On Air Jordan.

Do you got this one? Chase Hooper? No, damn it. Against Alex Hernandez. Also, Jessica Andrade against the Pride of Mexico and Canada. Oh, we have that one. Jessica Andrade versus the Pride of Mexico and Canada. Oh, we have that one. Jessica Andrade versus Lupi Godinez? Yes, wow.

Where did this come from? Heck, you're grinding, man. Yo, this is amazing. Also, Jessica Andrade already taking another fight. She's crazy. She's just, pay me and let's go. Beast. Rate the pay-per-view card for us.

What are you giving that? 319. Yeah, a lot of people into that one. I mean, they're just excited. They wanted the UFC to come back to Chicago. It's in Chi-Town. It's being carried by an incredible main event. Solid Cobra.

Back to Cobra back. I'm excited about that one. Give it like a solid eight. Okay. Infinity out of 10. Yeah, that's your fight. Yeah, I mean the main event's. If that main event stays together

That's the thing right isn't it one of those where you're like Why does it feel like something's gonna happen here? And by the way between you'd have to think that canineer venom page are the backups right one of them Who gets the call who gets the nod? Probably Jared, right? Yeah, just MVP is probably the more popular and fresher. Jared's been ranked at the top, has fought for that belt before. You know the fight that should be on here is Kyle Bahalia versus Imavov. Yeah. There's your backup.

Didn't Imavov say he was the backup or did he make that up or something? Who knows these days with the backups. But yesterday I was talking about Armand Tarukyan saying that he was the backup for the title fight next weekend and that has in fact been confirmed by his team. So I think that's good. That's a good step. First of all I like that. Yeah. He's a solid backup. I don't suspect there'll be many issues but who the hell knows famous last words. Charles is dicey on the scale before. But, hopefully this is a sign,

do we think that this is a sign that he has the winner? No. No. No. I don't think that's a, I think it's, he's closer now than he was on the heels of pulling out of the fight. Sure. I think it is contingent on the winner.

I think if Charles wins, then he has a better case because he has the win over Charles. If Ilya wins, I don't know. It feels like that patty fight is right there. Isn't it weird though that they're offering him a taste gamerut in one breath and then the next breath he's the backup fighter for a title fight? Like there's really no rhyme or reason to any of this.

Backup's one of those that they're like, we hope we don't have to use this here, Sure, but I mean, like, look what happened when he was about to fight. Yeah, there was no backup. Freaking Enato Maikano. I know, I was saying. No, but I'm saying. Like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

he could conceivably be fighting for the belt in 11 days. Could be. You know what I mean? It would be, it would be wild. What a turn of events that would be, right? Yeah, if he saves the main event. Wow, that would be crazy. What a, what a the main event. Wow, that would be crazy. What a six month period.

I just want to see the guy back. I mean, he was my fighter of the year for 2024. My prediction for fighter of the year 2024. By the way, speaking of BKFC, they had their first ice wars event this past weekend in Michigan. And the man in the hat, this is tailor made for the man in the hat. Chuck Mendenhall, of course, one of the greatest writers in the history of not just combat sports,

but sports, if you ask me, feature writers. He went there. He was there. And he wrote about it for Uncrowned.com. This is the type of journalism that you're getting over at Uncrowned.com. Your home for all things combat, real life slap shot inside the unbridled chaos of ice wars. BKFC's push into organized hockey fights, no puck, no penalty box, and no reason to hold back. Whatever ice wars is, it's not subtle and that's exactly the point. I love it. I saw him with Thomas Hearns, the hitman, sitting... Rinkside? Kate? Rinkside? Ice side? It's a great piece. It's very fun.

Give me one of those a month. Maybe that's too much. Chuck is so good at these sort of offbeat, quirky stories and there's a lot of that in the fight game and so I love the fact that he did that. Go check it out on crown.com. The place to be for all things fighting. By the way, we are going to be joined by Julianna Pena hopefully in a couple of minutes here, but I do want to give a shout out to Sean O'Malley who came on the show yesterday and I think like in some respects and not everyone's going to do it the same way, but in some respects almost like puts out the

blueprint in my opinion on how to deal with a loss, especially a high-profile loss, especially in the title fight. And again, like Sean is living good. He's got his compound. It seems like everything's working out and not everyone's the same. I know that. And different people have different reasons why they do this and are in different spots, but like he's so level headed about it all at times, a little bit self-deprecating that it was nice to see people be like, you know what?

I respect this and I think there's a lesson there Fans will maybe initially Want to shit on you especially in this social media era? They'll want to talk shit. They'll want to step to you and all this stuff, but I think Once you come out the way in which you handle the loss Once you come out, the way in which you handle the loss, the defeat, which is public, and of course, you know, Joe Schmoes who are talking shit to fighters, nothing they do is public. And so, like, if you screw up at work, no one's coming to you and pointing in your face or mocking you. Just think about how difficult that must be as an athlete.

You have this incredible ego. You're essentially naked in front of the world, and then you get, you know, submitted or knocked out or whatever it is, and then you got people talking shit to you. It's an absurd thing. It's an absolutely absurd thing. But if you handle it somewhat like that, I think you'll win over a lot of people. That's the way to do it. Take it in stride, not a lot of excuses, just do it the right way. We found a DM that someone sent Phil Rowe. Like, I don't even know what prompts someone to do this, and I think this young man, I think he's like 17 or something like that. Do we have the DM? Not that one. That's a cool tattoo though. I'll get to that in a moment. There's a DM that someone sent to Phil Rowe talking shit to him.

And I'm reading this and I'm like, who's doing this? Looking sluggish as ever, little bro. I'd actually cook you on the feet, lol. I'm 17. That's on God. 100. O-N-G. His response is great though. I mean, he takes the time to actually write back to this jabroni. If I wanted to, I could come to your home, beat up your father in his home, take his wife, your mom, play your PlayStation, then make you do chores all day. It's just weird to talk to fighters like that. We just showed an amazing tweet here from a young man who is apparently a big fan of all things uncrowned. He got an uncrowned tat on his neck behind his ear.

Best podcast out there. I wonder if we got it on Friday. Hey Frank, I'm trying to give a shout out to this guy for fuck's sake. Clay Warford. Shout out to Clay Warford. Best podcast out there. Now what do you want to say, Frank, go ahead. Well, let's just get ahead of this. Frank was discussing something about a P and G, telling me that the P in P and G stands for Pixar, but it doesn't, and then you called for the troll thing.

Oh. And just Frank. I apologize for Phil Rowe. Frank's like, the P in P and G stands for, like the DM, the DM, like, ah-ha, yay, yay, yay. And Ash Rallity was apologizing for the guy yeah, yeah, yeah, and actually it was Anyway, I'm trying to steer a ship here and Frank is telling you guys to take a left turn Yeah, Frank's famous. We were also is it ground?

He goes and where is the best place to get coffee in the office Wow From Frank my question before just wait guys, this is gonna be so good. No, it was, did the guy get the tattoo on Friday the 13th? Cause I was trying to get everyone to go get tattoos on Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th to you, is that a good day or a bad day? It's a, like it's a, almost a tradition with tattoo shops.

So you could get a $13 tattoo. It's usually what they call trash, which is like the ones that are up on the wall. You're just like, I want that one. They'll do it for you. But I'm like, if we have become trash on a tattoo parlor somewhere, that'd be awesome. Sounds like the tattoos that you get.

Absolutely. No, I'm kidding. 613 was a big day. You know why? Because there are 613 good deeds in the Bible. And so June 13th a big day. You know why? Because there are 613 good deeds in the Bible. And so June 13 was 613. It was a sign from the heavens, Frank. Do you get it? I get it. So you should have gotten the tattoo that said 613 to show that you are one of the righteous

ones, that you are a mensch. Well, next time. Did you get it? I get it. No, no, no. Did you get the tattoo? I did not get the tattoo. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, Shaking Hellshadi is in the chat asking group trip for your tats fellas. See? He knows his own. I don't know if I could do it guys. Yeah, I'll be passing on that. Behind the ear nobody will see it. Nah, I appreciate it though. Thank you for the offer.

Yeah, it's a tough one. Actually, I don't know if I could get buried in a cemetery with a tattoo. You could go right outside the cemetery. Yeah, that's true, it's a good point. Just like get buried. We'll have like a headstone for you that says if you'd like to see Ariel, it's across the street.

It's across the street. If you'd like to pay your respects. Well, that was great. Shout out to Clay. Shout out to Clay, thank you very much for that. If that is real, I don't know. Is it AI? Is it Photoshop?

What is it? It's real. Thank you very much for that. If that is real, I don't know. Is it AI? Is it Photoshop? What is it? It's real. It looks real. All right. I appreciate that very much. Very, very kind of him. Matter of seconds, we're going to be joined

by a very special guest. Someone who, dare I say, consider a part of the family here at the Uncrowned HQ, Ariel Hawani Show, whatever you want to call us. She has been by our side. And I'd like to think we have been by her side as well. I really appreciate her coming on and talking to us. And I do believe, I do believe, correct me if I'm wrong, her first

chat since two Saturdays ago in Newark, UFC 316, it has come and gone. And the Venezuelan Vixen Juliana Pena is here to talk to us. Hello Juliana. You look fantastic How are you? Hey, how's it going? I am great Minus all things considered. Oh, okay Well, well, I'm happy to hear that you're doing great minus all things considered Could I first of all thank you honestly, sincerely. Thank you for coming on. I appreciate it I do think this is your first chat unless I missed something else. No, this is the first one and the only one.

I appreciate that even more. What has life been like since two Saturdays ago for you? Depressing, maybe. But otherwise, I must be growing up, I think, because I feel like I took this one better than all of the rest, that's for sure. I definitely was bummed, but I must be growing up because I'm like, oh man, live to fight another day, it's all good. Life isn't over, weird. Wow, and so like five years ago, completely different reaction? I would have already thrown myself in front of a bus.

No, stop. Yeah, yes, yes, yes. I am way too competitive for my own good sometimes, yes. And, what do you think it is? Is it just you're getting older or you have other things in life, better perspective? Kirsten I'm getting older, yeah. I would say, you know, obviously getting closer in relationship with Christ is a big one. Getting older, having a daughter, not wanting to have like that, what is it called, bad sportsmanship or poor attitude to show her. Then just overall,

being blessed and grateful for the things that I have. I've got a roof over my head and clothes on my back. I'm able to support me and my daughter and give her a life that I could only dream about as a kid. So, you know, I'm still standing and, you know, life is all about perspective. So I have to say, I mean, I think you exemplified that in the immediate aftermath, like that's seconds after the fight. The way in which you embraced, I think you shared a prayer with her, she shared one with you. Like you did not show any negative attitude or unsportsmanlike behavior, like look at this scene, this is beautiful stuff.

Yeah, you know, I think that for me, again, I am just grateful and blessed to be able to do what I love on a daily basis, you know, fighting and MMA, it truly, truly sets my heart on fire. It's something that I'm very passionate about. And, you know, at the end of the day, it's all a sport. And it's just something that I do for a living. It's a weird thing. It's not a typical job that most people would do or say that they want to do for a living. But when you put so much into it and when you work so hard, you can only say, hey, good job, you get them next time and you played a great game. So it's not anything, no ill will or bad sportsmanship on my end.

I've been competing for a long time. And I think that the best thing that you can do is just tip your hat and tell the person that they did a great job. And if they're as close to Jesus as you are, you share a prayer. So that was a special moment. Could I ask, what did you say to her in that moment specifically? I prayed for her. I thanked God for the opportunity. I thanked God for getting me out of bed and for motivating me and for her motivating me to get out of bed.

I prayed for her reign and for her children and the fact that God has placed her into those children's lives to better their lives and to take them out of a hard situation. And that is, you know, it takes a special person to be able to take on that burden. And I know they're not a burden. I don't mean it like that, but to take on and to carry that cross for children that are not her own and for adopting them as her own. So, you know, just a little nice prayer that we shared and it was all sincere.

I love that and it says a lot about you to do that in the moment. Could I ask, has your level of respect changed for her since fighting her? Has it evolved or, you know, some of the things that, is that all just part of the promotion or did you feel that way about her? I felt that way about her. There's some of the things that I absolutely still feel about her. But with that being said, yes, it is a sport. And yes, there are some things that are said to lead up to a fight, which I stand by everything that I said. However, again, it's just one of those things where you can share the octagon, share that time,

and just kind of be ultimately grateful for the time spent. And so, you know, it's... I forgot the first part of your question, but, yeah, I know it's definitely a part of the sport, I believe, to be able to, you know, find something that fuels you to get you to get up there and muster up the courage to get locked inside that octagon. That's definitely a truth.

So you said there are something that I still feel about her. What are the things that you still feel about her? What are you referring to there? You know, there was so many instances with people talking to me about her, knowing her from a personal experience that had written to me or talked to me in person and about her. And I mean, maybe she just rubbed like eight different people the wrong way, maybe, you know, but I think that there's probably some truth to that, you know, when she went with the way

that she, you know, treated those people. So she had people like sending you messages, DMing you, emailing you, whatever, and saying, I hope you are people that dealt with her on a personal basis to like in person, you know, so it wasn't just the DMS that I was receiving. It was actually people that have like come in contact with her, worked with her, known her, you know, dealt with her in passing, whether it was equipment guys, you know, just people in general around the entire camp that were just like, kill this broad, you know, we do not like her. So I think that some of those things were probably... They had to have been true in some facet, but you know what?

Here's the flip side to that. Maybe there's people writing her about me and what a, you know, BZ I am, so you never know. There's two sides to every story, somewhere in the middle lies the truth. How were you feeling from a confidence level going into this fight? It was well documented that you were an underdog, and it was rare to be that kind of an underdog as a champion. How were you feeling, though, as you were preparing

for the fight? Not great. I, and as you know, and a lot of people kind of flip me crap for this, I've been doing this since 2008. I think I have dislocated, broken, and torn every ligament in my body. I was plagued with several injuries leading up to that fight. And it was not a good camp for me in that sense,

because I knew that I was going into the fight with a pretty severe handicap. So bad that you thought about not fighting? It crossed my mind, but it was not bad enough to the point where I would have to not fight because I knew I was going to be able to push through. But I think it's a funny thing that my coaches probably didn't explain the severity of the situation to me.

Because otherwise I probably would have thought more heavily on not competing. Do you regret competing? No, I don't. I don't regret competing. I put in too much time. I've taken away too much time from other people, from my daughter, from my coaches, from their families. So I don't regret competing. No. I just wish that I could have competed under better circumstances. Could I ask specifically, what are you referring to? What were you dealing with? with? Sure. So, in about the second week of May, I like, I want to say I like broke my thumb on my

training partner and it was swollen. It looked like somebody had hit me in the hand with a hammer and it was really difficult to grip. It still is right now, very difficult to grip and to have grip strength. So, that was a big one. But then about a week and a half after that, I took a really bad, no, not week and a half after that, the 29th of May, I took a really bad fall in the octagon and I tore my elbow and broke off like a ton of bone chips so that I wasn't able to like straighten my arm or bend my arm fully.

And so I worked on that for a few days before I left to fight week. But every day it was just worse and worse and worse. And it looked like somebody like whacked me in the back of the elbow with the baseball bat. It was just so swollen and the MRI, the x-rays showed a tear and it showed a lot of bone chips in the back of that. So I got, you know, going into a fight 10 days out after having a tear like that and all those bone chips and, you know, just having the wear and tear from the golfer's elbow

and the cauliflower elbow on both sides, it's just excruciating. And it's very painful. It's hard to throw a punch. It's hard to extend. It's hard to grip. It's hard to bend. And it's just all around very painful.

And I'm having surgery for that in July and I'm gonna clean that up. So looking forward to getting that done. But I remember a long time ago, I don't know if I was on the Ultimate Fighter, Ronda Rousey said, you have to be able to perform and be your best on your worst day.

And that just kept carrying me through fight week where I was just thinking, I still have to be able to perform. I still have to be able to perform. you know, carrying me through fight week where I was just thinking, I still have to be able to perform, I still have to be able to perform no matter what. And so it doesn't matter because you're gonna get locked inside that octagon anyways. And so I think, you know,

knowing that I was going into the fight with that big of a handicap definitely sucked, but then lo and behold, that's actually the same arm that she isolated and was able to Kamaura, so I had no strength to be able to fight that. And then go hot dog it with five seconds left in the round. It's humiliating, it's embarrassing, and it sucks,

but like I said, oh well, live to fight another day. It's interesting that you use the word humiliating and embarrassing. You are fighting at the absolute highest level of the sport. Like, you know, like, like the Indiana Pacers losing to the Thunder last night is not humiliating.

They just lost to another team at their level. You lost to a two-time Olympic gold medalist. I know none of this means anything to you. That's not embarrassing. That's not humiliating. That's sports. That's athletic. Why That's not humiliating. That's sports. That's athletic. Why do you put it in that bucket?

Well, because I was trying to do this move, this jujitsu sweep that I thought was going to work, and it ended up getting me in deeper in the hole, and it just made my arm even easier to isolate. And I think that by me trying to do that move, it cost me everything. I could have just held on for five more seconds, that would have been great, but then we would have been having

me in a discussion about a whole different type of a surgery. But with that being said, five seconds left on the bell and the fight and my perception going the way that I thought that it was going to go, going the way that I had trained for, you know, I think in this fight camp, it was like, tap into her gas tank, tap into her gas tank,

tap into her gas tank. And so for fight camp, I'm getting taken down round one, I'm getting taken down round two, no problem. In round three, everybody's gassed. Everybody can't keep the pace. Everybody's getting choked. Everybody's being submitted. So going into that fight and being round two with minimal damage, I was like, this is going exactly the way that I thought it was going to. This is perfect. Everything is going exactly how I thought. And so I was relatively happy with the way that things were going. So for it to just go completely off the rails

with five seconds left to go, I mean, it's just absolutely humiliating. It just, it sucks. It really, really, really sucks. Were you aware, like, did you hear the clapper? Were you aware that you were approaching the end of the round? I think I might have been,

but still, it just, it wouldn't have mattered, you know? Kamara is a power move, and she's so strong physically, and it was already, you know, too late. There was nothing I could have done, like I said. I screwed up going for that move. And when they say, and if anybody's listening, that this is a game of inches,

it couldn't be more true. This game is a game of inches and one inch will cost you everything. I was gonna ask about that because even as you guys like moved closer to each other in the middle of the cage, at the beginning of the fight, you could tell there's a size difference there. You could tell that she is bigger than you. Could you feel that as well?

Did you feel like you were fighting someone who was a weight class above you? Honestly, no. I felt her strength and it wasn't some like, oh my gosh, like Amanda 2. Amanda 1, not strong, okay, strong, but not the strongest that I felt. Amanda 2 was like another level of strength and she did not feel stronger than that. So it was just her technique with her takedowns are just so much better than a lot of the women that I have faced. And so I think that her technique is what made her so strong. And it just proved that it's hard to get a big girl like that off of you. But I felt like I could have done it if I would have just not gone from that mood, you know?

I just, it's just, everything is by a hair. So to answer your question, no, it didn't feel like that in the clinch that she was just, you know, some Hercules that I've never felt before. Okay. This was your second title reign. So, you know, you've done more than most people could ever dream of. Does that, does it make it a little less, you know, if you would have made it all the way to the belt and not won the belt, not gotten over the hump, that would be devastating. Because you've already tasted, I'm sure you want it to win, I know you want it to win, but because you've accomplished ultimately the goal twice of

Every MMA fighter every combat sports athlete does it make it easier to deal with moments like this in your life? Yes, but it's not satisfying in any way because I goofed again for the second time And I wasn't able to to hold on to the belt for the second time. And I wasn't able to hold onto the belt for the second time. So if anything, it's just a big chip in my mental state, I guess, for not being able to defend again. But who knows, penya three times sounds good too. Maybe I'll get the belt again. That would be the best case scenario and then I'll go you know, get the belt again. That would be the best case scenario,

and then I'll go defend it again. And, you know, what if I just mess it up the third time? I don't know. Third time's a charm. We'll see. You did post afterwards that you were calling dibs on the winner of her versus Amanda Nunez. Do you feel like that's going to play out in your favor? Do you feel like that's gonna play out in your favor? Do you feel like you will get the winner of that fight? Well, Amanda and I were one in one,

and I still feel like there's some unfinished business there. And Kayla, I would love to compete against again with a camp where, you know, I'm not going in there like a bag of bones trying to put them together with duct tape. So that would be Best case scenario, but I'll definitely be their cage side watching them do their thing when when they get ready to go for sure I'm curious

I couldn't help but notice in that moment how you were feeling because you were the first one you were the only one at The beginning saying like she's not really retiring. She's gonna come back all this stuff and more you you said it from the moment she did retire and so there she is in the cage just as you fight and facing off against someone else you were probably thinking of a million different things but at any point did you allow yourself to digest that and if so what did you think of that whole scene afterwards? Yeah no I was just more so being like, cool, I want the winner of this. That'd be great. Because now that I've fought in them both, I have first-hand experience. But then also, I was like, man, I really want to get out of this octagon. But they kept telling me that Joe wanted

to interview me and that I can't leave because Joe is wanting to do an interview. And so I'm just sitting here like, I want to leave and I don't care about this right now and I really want to go. And they're like, no, you can't leave. You have to stay. So I'm just sitting there just like watching it like, okay, is it over? Can Joe interview me so I can get out of here? And then as soon as Joe was done doing their little face off thing, they're like, cut cut and they turned off the lights and he was like I'm so sorry I really wanted to interview you and I'm just like can somebody just like we got to keep this thing turning you know what I mean like

I should have just left a long time ago when I wanted to so it was just for me more irritating than anything because at that moment I could have I care I could have cared less about their little you know drama show sure by the way was your was your daughter there no no no no she wasn't there I I think it was easier when she was a baby baby to bring her along and it was a nice distraction but you know kids are very needy especially at this age where they want your attention and they are you know, don't care about anything except for you know What they want to do and you know, I like maybe you do sometimes and you know Sometimes I take her like I have in the past but like do you bring your kids to work every day Ariel?

No, no, no, no. No, so that's kind of the mindset that I have. I get that. I don't bring my kids to work. I don't know, I saw some fighters, like they'll sleep in the same hotel room as their kids. And I feel like that's probably very stressful. Well, and I did that when she was still, like when I came back and fought Nico Montano,

I mean, I think I was still breastfeeding at that time. Like she was definitely in bed with me when I won my world title. She was there when I fought Amanda. She was, you know, squaring up right behind my back. I know that she watches and that she's, you know, of course, very supportive. But this is a place of business. And this is a place where I come to go to war quite literally, it's very violent. And sometimes I don't know that that's the best place

for a little girl. I was just curious, like, how does she process this? What does she say to you when you come back? She was so sweet. She just kept telling me how proud of me she was and that I did great, you know? And I just am so hard to be like, oh, thanks. You know, I appreciate it when you don't feel

that good about yourself. So it sucked. But she was just like, I had the world's best mommy, and I'm so proud of you. And you did great, you know? And so I think for her, by maybe me being and doing great, she means like you don't have a cut on your forehead and you don't have a black eye,

like you did amazing because she doesn't want to see me like that. She has expressed to me many times, unfortunately, that she wants me to find a different job and to do something else. So she just that she wants me to find a different job and to do something else, you know? So, she just doesn't want me to get hurt. And I recognize that that's the place that it's coming from, is she's just very cautious of me and not wanting to see me banged up. And so, her not seeing me banged up, she was like, that's a win!

Jared Ranere Is there any part of you that wants to move on from all this? It obviously affects you and that's a byproduct of the passion that you have for it all, but because you've been around the game a long time, it's taking a toll on your body, you're a mom, is there any part of you that is thinking about maybe not doing this anymore? Maybe in that moment when I lost, I said some things, but I can tell you that they're fleeting because I don't want to do anything else. Fighting has been so much a part of my life that, golly, I can't even imagine.

I mean, it's been, what, a week and a half, almost two weeks and I'm sitting here like, what am I supposed to do now, you know, with the rest of my time? I mean, obviously I'm going to Disney World, I'm going on a vacation, you know, so that's definitely one thing. But after that, you know, it's, I have a lot of things to consider aerial and they will all come after my surgery and my healing stage.

But after healing, you know, I've proven that you can tear four out of five ligaments in your knee and still win and compete at the highest level. I've proven that I can tear my other knee out and still come back and compete at the highest level. I've proven that I can tear my other knee out and still come back and compete at the highest level. I have proven that I can dislocate my elbows and still come back at the highest level. So I've broken it all, I've torn it all. There's really not anything that I don't think

that I couldn't come back from. And so this is just a part of the game. This is from years of wear and tear on my body and I'll be able to come back and feel better, which is an exciting thing. Cause if I'm fighting with two arms, you girls better watch out. What kind of timetable are you looking at here?

So you said surgery in July. And is that on the elbow or the shoulder? That's the elbow and then there's some other surgeries, another surgery that I'm going to have to get that I don't really feel like disclosing at this time but that one is also directly after. So I have two surgeries that I need to take care of. And then after that, um, I'll be, I'll be in good shape. Um, if they approve me for the second surgery, supposedly it's only a six week recovery time, and obviously I would be very much easing into that. So six weeks recovery for both surgeries.

And, and then I'll be able to get back into training and, and, and live to fight another day. I was one before we found out about this, I was wondering if you'd say like, oh, I want to fight on that Chicago card. Cause I know that's one that's been top of mind. But that's not going to happen, right? No, unfortunately, I am just going to be a spectator. Okay.

And, and as far as, can I just ask just cause you know that Amanda and Kayla, who do you, who do you think wins? I don't care. I don't know. As far as, can I just ask, just because you know that Amanda and Kayla, who do you think wins? I don't care. I don't know. Who do you want to win? Like, so it works out for you. Amanda, obviously, Amanda. And I think that she probably more than likely will.

But I think she more than likely will. But I really don't care. I'm just there to eat my popcorn and watch the show. Can I ask you a question that I think, and I'll let you go in a moment, I promise, and thank you for doing this. And I have to say, it's hard to see you so upset. No one likes to see that because you guys give it your all.

I think you're an incredibly entertaining fighter. I think you get it. You self-fights. You cut promos. Like, I don't understand the heat that you get. And I know that sometimes you lean into it and that's what makes you smart. But does it ever annoy you? Does it ever bother you?

Do you wish that you could be like, oh, I want everyone to love me? Or are you okay with the relationship that you have with the with the fan base? I tried that I tried the America sweetheart girl next door and it wasn't working for me so I think that you know when you just realize And cat Williams plays into my head a lot on this because he's like, if you got 10 haters by the summertime,

you need to figure out how to get to 20 haters by the end of summer, you know? It doesn't bother me these people are, you know, doing, I don't wanna say they're not doing anything with their lives, but for me, whether you love me or hate me, as long as you're invested in my failures or my successes, I think that that's the only thing that really matters.

And so I just, my message to those people are, I'm sorry. I hope to do better next time. I truly give it everything that I have. And if there is a way that I can make it up to you, I think I know what that way is, and it's by winning. And when I win, maybe they will have a softer heart for me, and maybe they'll still hate me, that's okay. But at the end of the day,

the people that are in my life that love me for me are the ones that I care about. And as long as I'm a good person to those people, then again, that's all I care about. And I don't know, very many occasions where I haven't been nice and good to even perfect strangers, you know, I think that I'm pretty respectful and easy to get along with with the majority of people that I come in contact with and I think it's funny that

Most of these people that give me all this heat online would more than likely never say it to my face But I would encourage them to if they were ever to come across me in person and and let's talk about it you know, maybe I can sway their opinion in in real life, but These keyboard warriors or these people that are chirping at me. I I do not pay mind to in fact I don't read the comments and I don't Get into it with them too much because I just don't care. I really don't. Not for nothing.

You sold the hell out of the fight. It was entertaining. It was my most anticipated fight of the first half of the year. And I have to say, the fight night fit, if you will. It was June, but to show up like that, like a boss lady out of the Sopranos with the fur coat, I mean, that's big time stuff.

Well done. Forget about it. What do you know? What do you say? Did you like the mob wife? Yes, it was a great look. It was a great look. The penya power's a whole vibe.

I'm a vibe. And that was so fitting for me because I know that the show was filmed in New York and I was a first time fan. I never saw the Sopranos before. So after watching it, I was like, I have to do this. Well done. I appreciate you coming on.

I know it's not easy. And I know part of you probably didn't wanna talk. So thank you very much. And congratulations on another great run, on selling a great fight, and I know part of you probably didn't want to talk. So thank you very much and congratulations on another great run, on selling a great fight, on going in there against one of the best fighters in the world. We look forward to the comeback,

which will be greater than the setback as they say. Good luck with the surgeries. Enjoy your vacation, Juliana. And if nothing else, let it be known that we love you here on the program and you'll always have a home here. So forget everyone else. This is all that matters. This right here. Thank you, and you'll always have a home here. So forget everyone else, this is all that matters.

This right here. Thank you, thank you. I appreciate it. Tell the boys I said hi, and I appreciate the time, Ariel, as always. Thank you, Juliana. All the best. There she is, the Venezuelan Vixen Juliana Pena,

kind enough to join us. A tough one, an emotional one, but she shall be back. And I do think that she deserves a lot of respect and love. She is a fighter through and through. She has been through a lot in her personal life. She has overcome injuries, setbacks, all kinds of things. And so, you know, this is to me a Hall of Famer, two-time champion. That is Hall of Fame worthy stuff. And like I said, I appreciate her coming on. Another individual who is a future Hall of Famer and a two-time champion in her own right

was victorious this past Saturday in Atlanta, picking up a win over a former training partner of hers, Miranda Maverick, very much back on track in the Flyweight division. She is the one and only Thug Rose, Nama Younis, and she is kind enough to join us here and now on the program. Hello, Rose, how are you?

Hey, I'm doing good. It's good to have you back on. Congratulations on the win a couple days ago, a couple marks on the face, but overall, how are you feeling? Yeah, I feel great. Caught up on some sleep, you know. Nothing better than getting your hand raised, you know, and also being healthy too. Yeah, I had a little couple little scratches and things, but, you know, nothing serious. So yeah, I can't be happier. Caught up on maybe some gardening as well.

You got back to that? Yeah, I know. Man, we came back and everything exploded. It was like, you know, all the good stuff and all the weeds too and everything. So it was just a jungle. And I spent pretty much like half a day just organizing everything. And I kind of needed to redo some things.

So I'm happy now to just kind of have a little bit of that off my shoulders so I can kind of, you know, I guess just, yeah, just have, just be the warrior in the brain right now. Sure. I love that. By the know, I guess just, yeah, just have, just be the warrior in the garden right now. Sure. I love that. By the way, congratulations on the radish that we just showed right.

Look at that. That's a big deal. Yeah. My first little radish, yeah, for the season. Yeah, they were really good too. They're called like French breakfast radishes. So they're like a little longer, but like super juicy, super delicious. And I love, I love them.

Are you still working with the bees and the honey and all that stuff? Yeah, I am. And the guy that gave me the bees, and yeah, I actually just hit him up because like the whole training camp, the bees, I think the queen is kind of old, so like the hive wasn't really expanding

as much as I think it should be. So I'm gonna see what we can do about that I think the queen is kind of old, so like the hive wasn't really expanding as much as I think it should be, so I'm gonna see what we can do about that Because yeah at this rate they should be bigger, but they're not doing bad It's just I think the queen isn't laying as much as she should be so Hopefully we'll get that sorted out soon. We have a guy who works on our show here Brad. He's a cameraman He too has a whole hive and he grows his own nice But he showed up last week with a massive black eye. The bee stung him in the eyelid. Oh no, that's terrible.

Has that ever happened? He's gotta wear his thing, man. I'm assuming that's never happened to you. Well, so I did get stung a couple times and I wear my full B suit now. I mean, I always wore the B suit, but when I first started, I didn't really like wearing gloves because, you know, just messing around with like the frames and the propolis and it gets so sticky that like it's just easier to like grab it with your fingers.

But one time I got stung on my thumb, nothing happened. Then the next week or the next check, I should say, which was like 10 days later, I got stung in pretty much the same spot and my whole hand swolled up so I couldn't punch for a good week. I think it was just a buildup of the previous thing. I was like, yeah, I can't afford to have anything swell up.

So I'm going to be covered from head to toe from now on as long as I'm as long as I need to be able to punch or do anything really. I mentioned it when I introduced you and it was talked about a lot in the buildup to the fight former training partner and Walda like how did you feel about this matchup? Would you have preferred not to fight her or was that made out to be a bigger thing than it was? No, I definitely didn't prefer to have her as a fight. I mean, looking back in hindsight, I think she, like what she presents and brings to the table, I think it was great for me just to, you know,

like, I guess just work on beating that style. And so, so that was good. But as far as like, you know, fighting down on the rankings for one, two, for us training together for so long, it's not like I have a problem with fighting somebody that I have trained with or know. It's just, you just don't prefer to do that, you know?

So, yeah. So it just kind of happened that way and I was preferring to fight somebody above me in the rankings, but I understand, like, I also felt for her in a sense too, because the last few fights that she had, she was fighting constantly people that were like, on ranked or somebody below her.

So, I wanted to give her that opportunity, but yeah, I think just being training partners in a sense, it was kind of strange, you know? When was the last time you trained together? The last time we trained together was during the... It was after the Aaron Blanchfield fight. I can't remember exactly. Oh wow, so very recently.

Yeah, we wrestled together. It wasn't like, um... Like, for the Aaron Blanchfield fight, we did train together quite often. And then there was like a break after that because she had a... No, it was after that fight they called me in to, um, they needed help with some rounds. So, um... So yeah, I came in and gave her some rounds after that fight. Wow.

Would you be open to training with her again? Yeah, I mean, if she wants to come, I don't know necessarily if she wants to come into the gym. Yeah, she's always welcome, you know what I mean? I'm always, the door's always open for anybody that wants to get rounds. Okay. Overall, were you happy with your performance? Yes. Yeah, I was. There was things obviously that could have been better or that can always be

better. I already kind of know little things that I should have did or like things to work on from going forward, little details, But overall, I don't know, I don't understand how anybody could give her more than possibly one round. Which during the fight, I thought initially that the first round was mine, clearly. But when I watched it back, I thought the first round was a... I could see how somebody might want to give that to her even though I still don't think she won that round. But I'm saying I could see maybe somebody else's perspective in that sense. But I don't see how anybody, during the fight, I thought to myself maybe she got the second

round because she had me in an arm triangle. But thinking, even though in my mind I had her just in as much trouble with my rear naked choke, that maybe because people couldn't really see it as much, like, you know, and then that was the last thing that people thought about was the arm triangle. Because I was so dominant for the entire round that it finished off that way, maybe that's why people thought like somebody might have thought like the second round. So in my head I thought maybe, okay, first round's mine, second round's maybe could be hers. And then I'm like, it basically come down to this last round.

And I still was gonna try to, you know, I still was looking for the finish, the entire fight. You know what I mean? I don't wanna go to decision, but, and I'm the first one to also admit if I feel like I lost a fight, even if it was a close fight or whatever. And anytime it's close,

you can't really get too upset with the result. But I just don't see how you could even say she would win two rounds. You know what I mean? I would say if anybody wants to make an argument, maybe the first. But you don't win a round just by getting a reversal and a sub attempt but you don't win a round just by getting a reversal and a sub attempt the last 20 seconds of a round. Because before that, she was getting bopped up, I took her down, I had her in a simmage, so we had sub for sub.

So anyway, I didn't mean to make this a whole... No, no. You know what I mean? But I did see... I don't pay attention too much all the time, like what people are saying, but I did kind of see some people like, it's just so weird to me. Like I feel like my brain is so opposite from like how normal people think. Like a lot of people were telling me that I thought, they thought that I won the Aaron Blanchfield fight, which I know it was close and I could see how maybe somebody could give, could make

that case, but I didn't feel like I won. Wow. You know, I felt like I kind of left, kind of gave it away, like kind of just my, in my soul, I just kind of, you know, took that, that sigh of relief where, or that, not that sigh of relief, but that just kind of, you just kind of accept, acceptance of maybe a bad position or something like that. So to me, that's where I felt like I lost.

And I also, there's other fights where, or like for example, when I got dropped in my head by Andras, everybody's like, oh, it's a fluke. And I'm like, no one. What are you talking about? I got knocked out. So it is just, but then on the flip side, there's certain fights where I'm like, the rem, like the rematch with way there's some people that thought oh

We really really won that fight's like dude Like that was a really close fight But the like she ended up on her back the last round of that five round fight and was not trying to get back Up like I felt her take that that feeling of that same that same Like acceptance feeling that I talked about in Erin Blanchard, I felt that on the flip side with her. So, those are the things that I think about as a martial artist. I don't necessarily go like, I don't look at the points necessarily all the time, but

I do take that into consideration, but I always think about it too. Like, okay, if this also, what is the story of this fight? What is the, what is after this fight, who do I feel like won if this fight were to continue on? You know what I mean? And I know that's not like judging criteria, but I kind of do think about that sometimes too. And I guarantee you, if that was a no time limit fight,

I'm never getting tired. You know what I mean? Like within this last one. So anyway, didn't mean to rant about all that stuff, but that's just kind of some of the, I guess, the thought process that I go through. Well, I thought it was a great performance. I thought you looked great.

I thought it was very easy to determine that you won. But then in the immediate aftermath, you did mention the night before and the morning of the fight that you were sort of battling some stuff. Can I ask about that? What was going on? Um, um, nothing like abnormal. I just, um, yeah, very normal, like pre fight nerves. Okay. Um, it's just weird because I didn't really have much of it leading up to the fight. I usually have way more, like,

I don't know, emotional, mental breakdowns leading up to the fight. Yeah, I think all fighters do. But more than, so this was actually not out of the ordinary at all? No, and yeah, if you don't have them, you know, like, I guess, nervous moments that, you just gotta turn it into excitement. So, but if you don't feel that,

I think that's something, unless you're like psycho, I think something that, you ain't, like your body needs to get ready, you know, because you're putting yourself, everybody has a chance. Everybody, no matter how much, you know, you prepare and things like that, and you're ready, it's like anything can happen. So you hope for the best result, but I think giving it into God's hands and just kind of letting go of that and not trying to instill my will and just kind of just doing my best and and kind of being content with that. That's like the hardest part

But once you do that, then you can just kind of be free to Perform and I'm sure by now you like this is all old hat for you. I mean you've been there done that Yeah, it's just it never it never it like it never Truly goes away or at least it hasn't And I think the day that it does is when it really is dangerous, you know, or at least it becomes, yeah, like, I don't know. Like, I can't imagine maybe there's a 1% of fighters that it just goes away, or they just have, like,

hundreds of fights, and, you know, it's just, it is just another day in the office. It's weird because we make it bigger than what it is, but then it's also a really big moment too. It's both at the same time. There's everybody watching and it's this whole thing and your whole trajectory of your life, this one moment can dictate where you go in life,

but then it also is just a moment. And at the end of the day, and your whole trajectory of your life can, this one moment can dictate where you go in life, but then it also is just a moment. And at the end of the day, the people that love you and the people that are there for you are gonna still be there regardless. So it's just kind of like putting all those things into perspective, but you care, so you wanna do your best.

And I think some of the things that maybe were popping up for me was like past regret, past mistakes that I made. Like, am I gonna do that thing where I like just, I don't know, like am I not like gonna quit, but am I gonna kind of quit? You know what I mean? Like, am I gonna get to that crossroads and just be like,

you got me or whatever, I don't know. You know what I mean? So, and it get to that crossroads and just be like, you got me or whatever I don't know You know what I mean? So and and and it's like we're human like it can happen and and you never really know until you're there I find all of this to be so fascinating the mental side of the game because for 15 minutes like people don't realize What those five minutes are like what what around is like and how exhausting it is and you're put on display and you have To like build up three, four months just to get to this 50 minutes and one mistake changes everything, your trajectory,

and now you go to the back of the line and you're built. There's so much freaking pressure on you guys. I do not envy you, I do not envy you at all. And the only reason I brought that up, of course I know, I've talked to the likes of GSP who have told me he would throw up before walking out, before Burt Watson would come into his room. So I mean, and that's the creme de la creme and you are in that category as well.

I just wonder like at this point, what's the motivation at this point in your life and in your career? Why do you keep doing this? What keeps you going? Yeah, definitely that flyweight belt for sure. You care about that because I feel like there was a time where like you didn't really want the belt or care about the belt. Why is that the thing? Um, well, it's not that I didn't ever care about the belt. I mean, what drove me,

it's, it don't identify me. Like, if I don't get there, then I'm not going to like, think less of myself. You know what I mean? Like, I'm a child of God and that's't identify me. Like if I don't get there, then I'm not gonna like think less of myself. You know what I mean? Like I'm a child of God and that's what identifies me. You know, I'm saved by the blood of Jesus. Like nothing, there's nothing in this world materialistic that can make me change who I am or make me act different or make me treat people differently

or look at myself differently. So winning and losing doesn't define any of us. And so that's the whole message of why I said what I said when I first became champ, is because it's like I could just see this culture of like idolization of this belt and this materialistic thing. Like obviously there's an achievement that you overcome yourself and the demons that's in your head that's trying to tell you all these negative things and trying to provoke fear and control you and you overcome that and you surpass that and you're not afraid. Like you're courageous in front of danger and it's all about also congratulating your opponent

regardless of what happens afterward. We can hug each other and it'd be fine. Who cares? We're all here to come here and be inspired and hopefully we can go home and just be with our families at the end of the day and not be too messed up. You know what I mean?

But so that's why, it's not that I don't want be with our families at the end of the day and not be too messed up. You know what I mean? But so that's why it's not that I don't want to have that achievement of see if I can do it, you know what I mean? But if I can't or if it's not meant to be, then I'm not going to sit here and be like, oh my gosh, like I'm worthless. You know what I mean? So how far away do you think you've won three of four? That's a big win there. How far away do you think you are from the belt? I'd say one more win. Okay. Yeah, but I don't know.

Sure, of course. It's a lot of things that come into play. I saw you mention Grasso and some other names. That's the one that stood out to me as one that made a lot of sense. You would get really close, Valentina's still the champ, speaking of training partners,

that's someone you know and I think have admiration and respect for. What do you think that would be like if it ever happened where you'd have to fight her? Would that be weird? It would definitely be weird. I like her too much, you know? But at the same time, like, I mean, we did also,

like I said, I'm not opposed to fighting people that I've trained with before, but it's not something that like, it would definitely be bittersweet because on the one hand, like as a martial artist fan and mixed martial artist fan, like, she's somebody that I really look up to and is somebody that I never want to see lose. You know what I mean? But if I was matched up against her, it'd be like,

okay, I'm going to do my best. And I want to give her also because I know how relevant martial artist she is and she wants to test herself. She wants to be pushed to the limit. And so it would kind of be that weird thing, but and we just have to embrace it. But yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where it would be bitter in that sense, but then it would also be sweet in the sense of I get to test myself against the bullet, you know what I mean? So I don't know. It's just, I guess, and yeah, I don't know. It does sound like we're getting her versus Zhang next, maybe. How do you feel about that when you know her, obviously you know Zhang Weili very well as well.

How do you think that plays out? I lean towards Valentina in that one. I mean, I think that Valentina, Weili has definitely grown a lot and she's gotten better. So I do think that she can, like, she's really strong for her size too, so I don't think she would have to necessarily, and she could try to use maybe her speed to her advantage or something like that, but I don't know. I just see Valentina's grappling being better. I also see, I don't know, yeah, it's, I definitely lean towards Valentina on

that one though. You know, Georgia is one of the few states that actually releases the purses after the events. Some states will release sort of like, well, they'll either not release or they'll put out fake numbers and things like that. I think Georgia does it on the up and up. And it's fascinating to watch or to read about and to look at from this perspective. But how do you feel about how much you're earning getting out there? And that allows people to comment on who's getting what? Man, yeah, it definitely was an interesting thing.

I didn't know that, I always remember them releasing like bogus numbers and fake numbers, like for the longest time. But I'ma be honest, it was accurate this time, at least for me, I don't know about everybody else. But so, I don't know. I mean, there's nothing I can do about it. You know what I mean? Does it bother you?

No, only because I'm actually very proud of what I've like worked up to at this point. Because there is a lot of patience for a long period of time. I think it's just nice to know that I feel like there's been many moments I feel like where I could have maybe been bitter or ungrateful. And there has been times like in the past where I've just been like kind of like felt entitled to stuff, you know what I mean? But I never really said anything about it or whatever.

And I'm not even talking about like moneywise, just like situations or just with people in general. And so I guess in a sense it's like, well, number one, I think it's just a great testament to my manager and things like that, and Brian and stuff, we have a long relationship, and there's been some kind of twists and turns, and it's just kind of cool to get back to, I guess, back together and just kind of, I don't know, I don't even know what to say.

What you're trying to say is you freaking earned it, you deserve it, and is you freaking earned it, you deserve it, and if I'm being honest, you deserve even more than that. And so you should be proud. Well, I appreciate that. I appreciate that. And to me, it's like, I just feel like I,

it's just nice to get to a point where it's like, okay, just letting other people do the talking, you know, if you if other people think I deserve something let them say it You know, like I'm not gonna be out here like I need a title shot or I need this I need that I deserve this I deserve that yeah, like let my let my actions show that and that's what I've been trying to do you know, hopefully it's been hopefully it's been a showing that way but I think it's been, hopefully it's been showing that way. But I'd rather people like tell me what I am as opposed to say that, speak for me I should say,

than me go out and be like, man, I'm this, I'm that, whatever, you know what I mean? Like I say I'm the best, but I'm just trying to pump myself up. Sure, sure, sure. You know what I mean? No, it's good to have someone in the trenches that you trust that can negotiate and do stuff

I know there was a period where you didn't have that but I think if you have someone that you trust It's a good thing to have to deal, you know to sort of be the good cop to your bad cop Or vice versa the bad cop to your good cop would be more apropos So I I was I was happy to see that but like I said, I'm being honest I think you even deserve more than that because you are a two time champion and a legend and still very relevant in your weight class. Could you chill on the jumping into the river with the dog though? Because that I mean, like you still have some fights and I feel like this is dangerous stuff. What's going on here? I mean, this isn't just like a jump in the lake here. This is this is scary stuff.

No, it's a it's a it's a fast river. But the thing is, is I know this river. This is scary stuff. No, it's a fast river. But the thing is, I know this river. This is our spot. We have a kind of a place that we go do ice baths in there and just hang out and stuff. So I do know the landscape a little bit. So I wouldn't just do that with any rushing river, obviously. And even with my dogs and stuff, like Ross does a little bit, he's more like a puppy, so he doesn't really know.

Like right after that, before the camera goes up, I grab him by his neck and pull him to the side, because he's not as good of a swimmer as Mishka is. And all the snow melted at that point, so it's really high right now. It's at its highest point. So it was just funny because we went out there, it was right before the fight, or leaving, and I needed to do my last ice bath. And I was like, I don't feel like doing it at home. Let's go out to the mountain.

So I stayed in there for like six minutes. But then once I got out, I was like, man, I kinda wanna jump in. Like just to get that little adrenaline spike, you know what I mean? But then I was like, oh, maybe I shouldn't. It is pretty sketch right now. But then, huh? You've got no money.

Oh, yeah. And well, anyway, so I just decided the last second, I was like, no, I can't be scared of this. And you did it. But try not to do it too often I was like, no, I can't be scared of this. And you did it. But try not to do it too often because... No, no, no, no. I'm not really like a daredevil. Like I, well, I'm, you know, we rebuked devils, but I'm just saying, like the expression.

I'm not looking, I'm not like an adrenaline junkie necessarily. I mean, there's time, but when, when, uh, every once in a while I'll get in the mood for doing something a little adventurous and yeah, and then I just, and then I fully commit. By the way, Mishka, Mishka still around? Yeah, she is. Yeah. Amazing. How old is she now? Yeah, she, she's going on 12.

Oh, wow. I remember you showing up to like the media days and all that with her way back in the day. Yeah. She's a little more sensitive to loud, high-pitched noises and stuff, so it's not as... It would be hard for her. But yeah, she's still very athletic and spry. She used to get an ice bath with me, but now she'll jump in the sauna with me and stuff. So she's still, she's still part of the team. Also, by the way, I saw that you were on the Ultimate Fighter.

What was it like being back? That was cool. I mean, yeah, it definitely was different being at the PI. It kind of like, yeah, it was, it was cool seeing Rick Pell and, and, you know, just kind of seeing everybody else be in that situation and stuff, but it definitely felt, it felt quite different than, than, it just made me feel like, oh man, so much time has gone by. It's a little bit of a different thing as opposed to like the warehouse back in the day where you were. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah,

it was way more of a grungier feel. Yes, yes, yes. But I thought that was cool. It's cool that they're bringing back some of the old champs. By the way, we were talking about the beehive and I'll let you go in a moment. This happened to our colleague, our cameraman's beehive. So this is his home.

Look at this. Oh wow. Oh yeah, they love to eat the bees. Look at that. Oh no. Yeah. has that ever happened? No, because we live in city limits, but I do have so so our friend that that has the river spot He just got a beehive out there He caught a swarm actually and so now he's a new beekeeper for the first time and there is bears and moose and all kinds of stuff out there

So yeah, so you know they say that yeah They say to get like a bear fence around it or something like that But it looks like there's a fence right there. Yes, look at this. Oh Wow, yeah, they're going to town You know what's funny is I was told that they're not even after the honey They're after the bees. And you know what's funny is I was told that they're not even after the honey, they're after the bees. Like they eat the bees. They eat the bees?

Suppose, that's what I was told. I don't know how true that is, but that's, somebody told me that. Golly, and there's a third one coming in there. So I hope you guys are dealing with this. This is, I would move if this happened. I would just leave. Yeah, no, definitely Colorado's a little crazy.

And now they've like released wolves out here too. Yeah It's a little crazy in the mountains. So we in the city though. All right. Well, stay safe Congrats. Well done And appreciate you coming on as always enjoy enjoy some time off here Enjoy the gardening and all the stuff that comes with it and looking forward to the next one. Thanks as always for the time Rose Awesome. Thank you so much. All right. There she is the great thug Rose Nami you and is kind enough to join us always appreciate her time and Good to see her still doing her thing all these years later. And yes, you know, she talked about the purses

I I talked to them about it beforehand You know, it says five hundred that's legit, and she deserves that. It's a 250 show slash 250 win bonus, but considering her time, considering what she's done, considering who she is, I would argue she deserves more than that. But that is good. I think she was... It's fascinating to see this and and and some might say it's like oh you're getting to their personal business I mean like like I always say like we know what Kevin Durant makes to the penny

And so it does give you good insight into what these fighters really make Buckley Usman Usman didn't have a win bonus. Things like that, very interesting to me. But shout out to Rose, the highest paid fighter on the card. Shout out to Cody Garbrandt, got a nice little check as well. And shout out to Georgia for actually revealing these purses

and not the fake numbers. I hate when people write about the fake numbers when they're very clearly fake. Oh, Isam Al-Khachab made 75K for the win over Destaporia. I'm making that number up, but you get the point. Yeah, silliness. Here's Nasurdine Imavav on Twitter saying, "'No backup anymore.

"'Conditions have changed. "'You wanted to talk, son? "'I'm here, I'm going to break you.'" This, what, minutes after we just talked about it? Sending a message to Kaio Bahalio? Let's go. Put him on that card. That's the one. That's the fight. Make that the co-main. I want to see that fight. Bad. Real bad. As far as like non-title fights are concerned right now, that's high up there on the list. We do have an update on Ben Askren from his wife Amy who has done a great job, but I don't even know how, of updating us every couple of days.

This is a message that she posted on her social media not too long ago. I haven't shared an update because Ben has been in limbo for a while and I was hoping to have him wake up and be the one to decide to share. I've had some media people contact me that they're going to share an update and I would rather it come from me. By the way, for the record, I'm not one of those. Ben is still on a ventilator and ECMO to support him while he heals. There are good days and bad but on the good they have been able to wean his sedation enough for him to open his eyes and squeeze hands. His body can't handle coming off sedation too much yet. I am still praying for a miracle with his current lungs but they are currently starting the evaluation

process for a lung transplant. Please pray for his continued healing and if transplant is the solution that he could get on the list quickly and easily. I know transplants are such a blessing and I'm overwhelmed at the thought of him receiving a gift like that. No one would take better care of that gift than Ben. Thank you for every message and all the support. Despite this awful situation I'm feeling so blessed by the community we're surrounded by. Give your loved ones a hug today and make sure you're prepared for situations like this. Ben is the healthiest guy I know and I never could have expected this." Terrifying shocking stuff.

And yeah, again, we continue to send our best to Ben and of course his wife and his family, his kids and all his friends and all his students. He means so much to so many people. He's a great guy who has done so much for so many others and has obviously had a tremendous athletic career, but that's not important right now. Just want to see him back out there and living life as he was not too long ago. I appreciate the update and we are definitely going to continue to you know send them our best and send them our love. That is very very scary stuff.

But hang in there Ben, keep fighting and we are definitely thinking of you. We do have some super chats that we needed to get to before the hard out. 336 was the prediction. Your prediction was 336? Yes, yes, yes. What do we have? Cosmo Kramer, favorite Ice Cube song and movie? Oh wow, thank you Cosmo. I would imagine this is in reference to Ice Cube being on the special Fanatics Fest edition of the program on Friday 3 p.m. at the Jacob Javits Center, the father of O'Shea Jackson Jr., who was on our show a couple months ago. I think the obvious one is, just waking up in the morning, gotta thank God.

I don't know, but today seems kinda odd. No, just shot a triple double Seattle Super Sonics you know that one? Shot a triple double huh? Yeah yeah what do you say I might mess around and catch a triple double or something you know he references the Super Sonics in that one that's what he says he does yes no he messed around and got a triple double yeah it's a great song okay Friday one of the all-time great movies. Yeah, I think that's my Ice cube as a surprisingly like pretty good. I am DB. Yeah, but

Friday for me Friday is like feel like I feel like he's 21 Jump Street era Connor is I was just gonna say He's not the main character but 21 Drum Street. I knew it. Wait a second. Wait a second, but you've seen Friday Yeah, okay Friday's such a freaking great him and Chris Tucker I would say he's not the main character, but 21 Drums Street is fantastic. I knew it. Wait a second, wait a second. But you've seen Friday? Yeah. Okay, Friday is such a freaking great, him and Chris Tucker. Yeah, it's all time. 21 Drums Street is also great. Ride Along, Kevin Hart.

Boys in the Hood, Gunners to Society, like, he's... Jeez, Boys in the Hood. Sneaky, Sneaky? NWA, yep. Three Kings. Oh yeah. Wohlberg, Clooney, Cube, I mean, come on man. Sneaky?

Are we there yet? Mm. Not yet long? By the way, he did have like a kids movie era, right? Yeah, yeah. Are We There Yet was a kids movie era. Which was interesting because like in the late 80s. 4.8 on IMDB.

In the late 80s, he was NWA. You know, he was like F the police. The one that... Coming straight from the underground. I'll never get mentioned, but Players Club. That's the one. Oh, wow. You guys go deeper.

Barbershop. Yeah. Yeah. Not a bad one. Oh, that one. There was a bunch of those, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was two, Barbershop and then Barbershop.

The next cut. Yeah. Yeah. Triple X. Oh, wow. Return of Xander Cage. He was in Triple X., yeah. Triple X. Oh wow. Return of Xander Cage. He was in Triple X? He was in Triple X,

then he became Triple X in a later sequel. Within the sequel to Are We There Yet? Are We Done Yet? How many movies was this guy in? He's been in a lot, man. He's been in a lot of them as well, right? Ninja Turtles. The animated one?

Are We Done Yet? Actually topped Are We There Yet? Are We There Yet? 4.8 on IMDb. Are We done yet? Actually topped, are we there yet? 4.8 on IMDB, are we done yet? 4.3. Well I'm excited, I don't know about you guys. Also, like, one of the all-time great voices, just like one of the all-time great faces, right? Like you just like,

you talk about Aura. Ice Cube as Aura. Ghost of Mars, another great one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. did that thing that like Mike Tyson and some others have been able to do started as hard dude Gangster and then just became like oh, that's ice cube. That's everybody's uncle. I love this guy. I know this guy degree Yeah, a hundred percent Camera man on the bow. I actually love that. I actually love that. It's a great premises for a movie. Oh my God. JLo and and John Voight, I believe. Oh, legendary. Owen Wilson. I kind of- What? Oh, I haven't seen it in like 20 years.

By the way, I kind of sneakily saw Anaconda like a bunch of times for some reason. I saw it a hundred times back then. every couple weeks. Yeah, I don't know why. It must have been on TNT before basketball games like a ton of times. Or after or after. What else Frank? What else? Matt asked GC or the rest of the crew you tapped into the College World Series bet on America's team Coastal Carolina I highly recommend very entertaining Chantz Up. Chantz Up. Chantz Up actually. Chantz Up. The Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina, I highly recommend very entertaining Chants Up. Chants Up. Chants Up, actually. Chants Up. The Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina, shout out. Love it.

No, I'm not watching. Okay. I can barely even be bothered with the MLB, nonetheless, the College World. What about NBA finals? Are we locked in? No. I was at the gym at like 5.15 this morning and they like rerun the game. And that's how I watched it

You know it's early when they're replaying the entire game. Yeah, I watched the entire fourth quarter not a bad fourth quarter They cut it down to two 515 gym sesh, huh? It was only because I had a dentist this morning I gotta get a filling on Thursday. My OG filling fell out. That's annoying. It's tough. It's tough. It is tough What else Frank? What else? EJJ and DND, Sammy Zane said on Raw last night that after King of the Ring he's done and he'll be facing Karrion Kross. Would love for Kross to come on and confirm. Yeah, it's not happening. I mean, what is he gonna come on and confirm a storyline? Let's just see how it all plays out. Shout out to Bill Goldberg, as we said.

Shout out to Liv Morgan. Appears to have suffered a gnarly shoulder injury yesterday. So we hate to see that. I've been seeing some people say, oh, the scene had turned. It feels forced. It feels like he's acting. Who said that first, huh? Who said that first?

Who was the first one that said it said that first, huh? Who said that first? Who was the first one that said it? What else, Frankie, what else? And lastly, Jonah Friedman says, I was worried it wasn't gonna happen again, but with Iron Turtle on, you've secured it. Congrats on number 16, Ariel. Oh, wow.

Clap emoji, love it. I did it in June? I secured it in June? Just because, did you guys enjoy Iron Turtle? Absolutely. Iron Turtle. Fucking drinking, you know? That's great. Legend. What a guy. Is he a favorite going into his fight? I wonder. He is, he is. Minus 180 right now. Oh wow. In Young Park. What about Obann? Is he a favorite? Massive. Five, minus 500. Minus 500, golly. Obann cracks me up. His Twitter is great.

Or his ex, as the kids like to say. All right, gents, thank you very much to all the super chat. Wow, quick on the draw. Oh, the 236 R down. Yeah, I was just... Tomorrow on the nose, aria-hawani.substack.com is the place to be to send in your questions. The post is up right now. The title of the post, by the way,

GC, let's see if you can get it. All my exes live in Texas like I'm George Strait. Who said it? George Strait. Yeah, George Strait. Well, it's referencing George Strait, but like. He was referencing himself. I don't know who said it.

Drizzy. Nice. All my exes live in Texas like I'm George Strait but like he was referencing himself I don't know who said it? Drizzy! All my exes live in Texas like I'm George Strait anyway the Georgia State and HYFR? No. That's the one you went with. That's the one I went with. Do you know why? Why? Have you ever seen the music video? I'm sure I haven't. It's one of the all-time great music videos where he gets Ree Bar Mitzvah'd and DJ Khaled is there and Little Wayne is there. It felt apropos. There's always a, if in case you're wondering, there's always a reason. I love it. The picture is always in reference to the next big event. This time it's Baku. Are you high right now? You ever get nervous? Are you single? I heard you dun dun dun dun

Hell yeah Hell yeah, hell yeah That was a great era for Drake, right? It's like 09, 2016 was unstoppable Banger after banger, Kendrick wishes Kendrick could never touch that era

Thank you very much to all our guests. Phil Rowe, Iron Turtle, Julianna Pena, Andrzej Rolofski, Thug Rose, and I'm Eunice. The Zone Show at 5. Back tomorrow, stay tight, boys. Stay peace, everybody.