The Ariel Helwani Show - LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS (DAY 2): Chael Sonnen, Mauricio Ruffy, John Wood, Owen Roddy all in studio

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

Ariel Helwani starts the show by reflecting on winning his 16th straight Journalist of the Year award, recapping UFC 329 media day, including comments from Conor McGregor, and more (04:00). Old friend Chael Sonnen joins Ariel in-studio, discussing his surprising beef with Francis Ngannou, his political interests and a potential run at the presidency, his role with RAF, Conor McGregor’s demeanor during fight week, Dustin Poirier’s arrest, reports of McGregor’s banned substance use, his relationship with Josh Hokit, and more (39:35). Coach Owen Roddy drops into the studio for a chat about Conor McGregor’s preparation for UFC 329 (1:32:02). UFC lightweight contender Mauricio Ruffy stops by the studio to talk about his past performances, including the revelation that he was injured before the Rafael Fiziev fight, volunteering to be the backup for Conor McGregor and Max Holloway, what he hopes to do next, and more (1:56:34). Uncrowned’s Petesy Carroll and Chuck Mindenhall join Ariel to catch up on all the fight week action (2:31:41). Coach John Wood is the final in-studio guest, discussing being recognized as Coach of the Year and Syndicate MMA as Gym of the Year, the latest on Gina Carano, Merab Dvalishvili, and Khalil Rountree Jr., how he sees McGregor vs. Holloway playing out, and more (2:56:47). Ariel and the crew close the show with your Super Chats (3:47:31).

Live from beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. The fabulous Ariel Helwani show has hit the road, and the team is in Sin City for International Fight Week. Now, put your hands together for your host, Ariel Helwani. Back in your life on this Thursday, July 9, 2000. And 26, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. Welcome to our makeshift, Las Vegas studio. Welcome to our home away from home. Welcome to the Venetian sports book, the Yahoo Sports Fan Caves inside the Venetian sports book. And it's been amazing being here. We're just getting started. We're just getting rolling. Yesterday we had our first show. Phenomenal. We had an amazing day yesterday. Holy smokes, what a day. Of course, yesterday was my birthday. And I appreciate all the love. I appreciate all the support. I appreciate. I appreciate all the support. I appreciate. I appreciate. All the nice messages. I felt the love. A friend of mine asked me, Ariel, do you feel the love?

And I said, you know what? Julia was her name, or is her name? I said, I do feel the love. I really do feel the love. And so thank you to everyone who sent messages. And yeah, it's just been an amazing time, an amazing time. Today is on-air Jordan's birthday. And so a very happy birthday to our very own, on-air Jordan, who is back there working so very hard. Yeah, on-air Jordan. And On Air Jordan, on your birthday, I have delivered to you a one-year deal for Jordan Clarkson back on the Knicks. Yeah. Aren't we happy about that? I couldn't be happier.

Thank you very much. And thank you to Frank for the first birthday message of the day. Novel, beautiful. Thank you. Bit of a controversial one because the first thing I said to you was who was the first. Of course, I texted. I mean, I think I set my alarm to try to be first. and then I'm told that Frank sends you the text at 1233,

but then I find out after a little bit of digging that it was a like a preset scheduled text. Nothing wrong with that. Do you need to keep a secret? Listen, when it comes down to like who's first in the text, happy birthday game, I need to know who's playing by the rules. You're not playing by the rules.

Unfair. You want to get the recognition. You're not going to get the recognition. As far as people who were awake and texted Jordan, who was first. Well, my sister actually texted me at 4 o'clock Pacific yesterday because she's in Europe. So she was like... Wait, yesterday?

She texted you a day early? Because she's in Europe, so it was midnight early there. Nah. What? What about on the team? Still Frank. It's nonsense. Well, he wasn't awake.

It was scheduled. It's okay. He scheduled it. He did the work. Anyway, we have a lot to be excited about, a lot to be thankful for. Jordan's birthday, my birthday yesterday. The show was underway. Look at us here.

at the Venetian, UFC 329 Fight Week. We are loving, love. Can I just break the fourth wall? There's a red thing flashing on the camera over there. Is that a problem? No? Is the camera going to die on me? I mean, it's tripping me out. I have high anxiety. Our new cameramen here in Vegas, Preston and Jordan, are starting to learn about my idiosyncrasies yesterday with the audio and the videos going out. But that's just that the camera's recording. It wasn't doing that yesterday. We, yeah, well, it's switching cards right now. Okay, so camera three here and one there aren't doing that. I just run on my face. It's like right in my face. It's like flashing red, red, red, red, it's okay. As long as we're okay, we're working through the Kings. How do we sound, by the way, Frankie?

Yeah, man. We sound okay? Oh, yeah. Okay, okay, okay. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Now that I know that it's okay, I'm all good. I'm just on high alert after yesterday working through the kinks. Working through the kinks, no problem, no problem. I didn't see any kinks that you were working through. We're working through it. We're working through it.

Yesterday was great. Four great guests. Four great guests on today's show. Can I just tell you guys very quickly about the rest of my day yesterday? Left here, remember coach Eric Nixick told me that coach Missoula of the Boston Celtics, Joe Missoula, was going to train with him later in the day, invited me to Extreme Kouture to go witness the training. And so Casey, Esther and I went to Extreme Kirtikers. tour at 5 o'clock. Sean Strickland, nowhere to be found, just for the record. And I got to see

Joe Missoula, the head coach of the Boston Celtics trained with Eric Nixick, hit pads, do all kinds of training blown away by this guy's, you know, skill first and foremost, the shape that he's in, 38 years old, head coach of the Boston Celtics, a very stressful job, and got to chat with him afterwards. Stay tuned for that, recorded a little interview. He then started asking me questions. We just had a really nice chat. And I told him I was a Knicks fan, asked him about Mitch. And I have to say, like, you know, when you're a Knicks fan and the coach of the Celtics, like you're kind of programmed to not like these.

I loved it. I loved getting to know him. I find him to be a very intelligent person, cerebral person. The way he treats the media, the way he talks to the media, the way he talks to his play, is very unique. And getting a chance to pick his brain was a real treat for me. So I really, really enjoyed that. Thank you to Coach Nixick.

for inviting us. You'll hopefully get to see that next week on the channel. Great opportunity and just made the day all that much more special. After that, went straight to the MMA Awards, wearing the exact same thing that I was wearing all day long, no problem, black tie, NBD, we've been there before, 16 in a row. Now, it wasn't just about me. The website was nominated. There was a funny moment. They went through the nominees. And once they got to Uncrowned. It was not our logo. It was some weird AI thing, and it said Uncrown podcast.

It reminded me of that infamous call from Pt Caryl, and he's like, what is this? Some sort of AI thing. But anyway, we didn't win that one for Media Source of the Year. M.MA Junkie won that. Congratulations to them. Uncrowned is coming. Make no mistake about it. Then it was a source, media source.

We were up for that one, but we're up against Contender Series. We're up against Ultimate Fighter. We ain't going to win that. Embedded. I think it was Contender Series that won. We're completely different styles of programming. This is a show, podcast, whatever you want to call it. That's an actual fight event. Nevertheless, nevertheless, all good. But then we got to Journalists of the Year. And my friends, for the 16th time, and I should stress, for the 16th straight time, we are the reigning, defending MMA journalist of the year. And as I said in my speech, which we can, watch together in a moment. It means a lot because it comes from the fans. And the support has been

unbelievable. They've had my back. I do not take this for granted. It does mean a whole lot. But this particular one meant even more. I explain why in my speech, you can now watch it right here. And the winner is? Ariel Hawani. Thank you so much. Sorry, I'm not dressed as nicely as all of you, but I was working. So I guess I have a good excuse. This is actually my 16th award in a row. I've won these for the last 16 years, and I don't take it for granted. It means the world to me because it's voted on by the fans

who have stood by me through so many ups and downs over the course of the last few years, so I appreciate you all so very much. Actually, a few firsts on this 16th victory. First time that I get to win one of these with the New York Knicks as NBA champions. Yeah! Go, Nick's baby.

First time I get to win one of these on my birthday. Today is my 44th birthday. And most importantly, it's the first time that I get to win one of these with my entire team in attendance. Connor, Rick, Jordan, Andy, Frank, Pizzi. They're all here, and I can't thank them enough because without them, there is no me, there is no show, there is no uncrown. And so I'm so happy that my best friends are here to be with me on my birthday winning this award. Before I go, I know I'm going long. Thank you so much to Fighters Only.

You guys have been doing a great job, and it's such a huge honor for me to win this time and again. I don't, again, take it for granted. I want to give a shout out to all the other journalists who are nominated, all the other journalists who cover this sport so very, very well. And most importantly, I want to give a shout out to the fighters. You know, a lot of people could say a lot of things about me,

call me whatever you want, take shots at me. I don't care, but please, please. When you talk about me, say one thing, most importantly. say that I'm fighter first. I will always try to advocate for the fighters. I will always try to tell the fighter's story. I will always try to spotlight the fighters and I will always try to say that the fighters deserve more a greater piece of the pie. They deserve to get paid more. They deserve more attention and love from all the fans, all the promoters, everyone involved in this sport. So for all the fighters, thank you so much. It's an honor to be able to cover all of you and tell your story week after week, month after month. Thank you to my family. I love you guys so much. you all, good night. So there you have it. There's my little speech. It was all up top the dome, by the way.

It occurred to me a couple of minutes before that I had not thought of anything because we were so busy. But it was all atop the dome from the heart, from My Corazon, as they say. And yeah, it was actually cool to see Ariani there, my old friend that, you know, we kind of started together

way back when on MMA rated.com, if you recall. So it was cool that she was the one up there. And it was great to see some old faces, some old friends, some fighters, some managers, media members. It was just a nice little reunion. And I enjoyed it. And the best part was that the team got to go as well. The whole crew got to go. It was a lot of fun to have them there sitting with Pee-C for some time, sitting with Rick as well. We were pretty close to each other. We weren't exactly side-by-side.

I'm not sure why the separation of class, but I was really, really happy to be able to go there with them. And again, really, really touched and pleased to win the award. I do see some people saying, ah, you know, they should let someone else win. They should do this, that, and the other. I mean, we're not rigging this thing. It's coming from the people. And I'm not planning on going anywhere. And what I want is for this show and for this website to start winning some awards as well. So I don't think anyone wants a participation trophy. We're not looking to bow out. That was number 16 in a row. So move over Rick Fleck. you were once the only 16-time champ in this business.

Now there's another. And I say this with a tear in my eye. I should have said that up there. Damn it. See? Should have thought of this. Next year. Woo!

Shout out to Rick. Shout out to the nature boy. But now I am too a 16-time winner. So amazing, amazing stuff. Afterwards, we were thinking, okay, where are we going? Where are we going? What are we doing? What's the plan?

Where are we going to eat? Where are we going to celebrate? Where's the after party? Because as you know, Frank, in Vegas. After the show is the what? The after party. And after the party is the? After after party.

No, the Hotel lobby. Come on, Frankie. Anyway, we decided on In-N-Out Burger because it was back in 2015, my 33rd birthday. I'm in Vegas for McGregor Mendez. And I went to In-N-Outburger with my good friend, John Biern. Who's waiting in line? None other than Yana Sentit-Tacompo and Thanassas sentit-Ducumpo. In-line wearing their Summer League.

gear and that was a very memorable one so we got to recreate that to a degree no and titicumpo brothers in line but we had a great time i still maintain in and out as i said in l.a highly highly highly overrated uh but it was great it's no shake shack i've never had five guys but i do find it highly overrated and maybe one of my last times having it because i just don't even think it's that good the french fries are like styrofoam frank it's unbelievable the cheese like gets like so hard it's not the best but the vibes were great and the company was even better and I was so so happy to be able to do all of that. So we roll on here, day two of our programming, special Thursday edition.

Friday we have a show, special time, actually special day, same time, 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. We're also doing our live show with DJ that will stream live on X. Demetrius Johnson, 7.30 p.m. tomorrow, local time, 10.30. the east. Mama Rabbit, Park MGM, myself, DJ, Rick, GCP, Frank, Andy, Jordan, all going to be there. Previewing 329. First come, first serve, absolutely free, absolutely positively free. First come first serve. Doors open at 630. Show at 730. Capacity about 120. So if you want to hang out, we'll have prizes as well. Giving out three DJ signed UFC gloves. Not sure how we're going to decide who's getting them, but you can get them. And that will be tomorrow at 7.30. Watch party on

Saturday, post show on Saturday, one last show on Monday. Tonight, going to the sushi spot, myself, G.C. Rick Frank, the original quartet, if you will, the original parlay boys. And then it's on to the sphere for Wizard of Oz. And I told my wife about this, and I found out that she too loves Wizard of Oz. I didn't know that. I thought it was just Rick. I thought he was the only one. We all have a big pop for Wizard of Oz. Hell yeah. Now, I do want to remind you that today's program is brought you by our good friends over at Kalshi. We love Kalshi.

And if you're putting money on the fights this weekend, you better listen up. If you use a traditional sports book, $200 on max hallway gets you a measly 86 bones. On Kalshi, 200 on max makes you 100 bones. that's $14 more. Kalshi is the best way to trade on sports since it's peer to peer and they aren't the house. They offer better odds, live trading, and don't limit you like a traditional sports book.

Use code Helwani right now, after you download, of course, and there's a QR code for you to get $10 when you sign up and trade. Again, that's Helwani, me, H-E-L-W-A-N-I, to get $10 when you sign up and trade. We appreciate their support very much. Please support them because they support us. yesterday four great guests in studio today another four great guests in about 15 minutes time

maybe even less my old friend the bad guy the american gangster who it was i do believe 14 years ago this week fought here in las Vegas against anderson sylva ufc 148 you remember the spinning back fist from hell uh he'll be joining me mr chel sun in in studio to talk all things whatever who knows what a great pleasure it will be to be face to face mono a rare occasion with the one and only Chale P. After Chale P, the long-time striking coach of one Connor McGregor, Owen Roddy, is going to join us. He's been by his side for so many years,

really since the beginning of his MMA journey, not just UFC journey yesterday. We had John Kavanaugh. Now we get a chance to speak to Owen Roddy, Adiatar yesterday as well. Tyler Minton, long-time nutritionist, dietitian, coach, for one, Max Holloway joined us too. So Owen Roddy on the program today in studio.

Everyone this week will be in studio. Face to face, that's why we're here. In addition to that, one of the top contenders at 155 pounds, a man who just beat Michael Chandler at the White House, what, less than a month ago? Maricio Hoofi is going to join us in studio. He actually won the knockout of the year award yesterday at the World MMA Awards.

Marisha Hoofei and Fabiano is going to join us. The goat of translating. here in studio as well. And then we'll round out today's program with the one and only John Wood, who won coach of the year yesterday and also won Jim of the Year. Syndicate MMA, of course, home to the likes of Gina Carrano, who we just saw in action. Marab Duolishvili, Khalil Roundtree trains out of there as well and so many others, Mr. John Wood, who of course is the husband of Joanne Ney Calderwood, now Jojo, Dr. Neville. He will join us in studio as well. So it's an amazing quartet of guests. Look at this. Isn't it great getting to do the shows

from Vegas? Absolutely love it. The Venetian has been very, very kind to us. We appreciate them very much. And this Yahoo Sports fan cave is really cool because it's right next door to, like, we're right kind of facing on the opposite of the wall in front of me, the sports book. So there's Wimbledon going on, France, Morocco later today. There's all kinds of activity. G.C. is like a pig and shit here. I mean, he's absolutely loving it. He did a lot of this decorating in a next life. I think he'll be a great interior decorator. I think he will do very well at that.

And later in the program, by the way, we're going to be joined by not only G.C. in here, New York Rick in here, Pizzi Carroll in here as well, who sort of melts away in Las Vegas whenever he is here. yesterday there was all kinds of activity regarding Media Day Connor McGregor did speak to the media Max Holloway did speak to the media all the fighters spoke to the media actually

or at least all the big fighters and I actually wanted to play a few of those clips unless we're close to getting our guest here we're not okay so I have some time I have some time by the way Andy did you are this on air or off air Are you able to speak on air? I can't speak on air.

Did you enjoy the awards? It was so fun. We had a great time. What did you like about it? It was weird to sit away from you and Pizzi. That was not my doing, by the way. Wow. You know, like the comments about like sitting in the front of the plane and I'm thinking

in the back and like, do you guys have TV? Wow. See, the thing about Andy is she really takes these comments to heart. She really takes these comments to heart. And she keeps a running list. I do. Yeah. Yeah, I just pull them out when I need to.

Like, you know, like moments like these. Like these. Okay, you enjoyed it? Yeah, it was a great time. Did you enjoy Frankie? Best of end of the year. I need more than that. I need like highs and lows.

I had goosebumps when you were doing the speech. Got to see Mark E.G. Take an award for Best Reef of the year. Mark E. No, Mark E.G. And, yeah, all the luminaries that we got to see in person as opposed to on a Zoom screen really changed a lot. Were you starstruck by anyone?

A lot. But I have to say people kept coming up to me and they were like, Loki, I would ask to take a picture, but I know better. And I was like, yeah, I don't know what you're talking about, but have a good day. Okay. LK. LK. Okay.

And HK. In other words, your lovely wife, Tracy was there as well. I did feel bad that I didn't mention her. Why? Well, you know, I kind of went down the line and luckily I was able to see you guys. And I was like, no, fuck you, fuck you. You're cool. And then I just, it was the opposite of that.

Wait, well, because. I'll let her know. She's probably listening right now. She was crying next to me for the record. You went down the line and went, Andy, Frank, and I was like, oh. And then she was like, well, there goes the bills. I should have just said. I mean, we're bonded by our love of the bills.

If it makes her feel any better, my own wife did mention, eh, you kind of left us for the end there, like, just like the sort of like passing comment, you know? I wanted to be about the fighters, you know? I wanted that one to be about the fighters. My kids aren't watching there at camp. I will say, amazing day, right before I get to, I go to bed, I get one of these emails from the camp where they scan the letter that your kid sends to you, like they handwrite and then they scan it. And it's basically five lines of my daughter begging me to come pick her up. I'm homesick. I want to come home. I miss you. Please pick me up. I don't want to be here anymore. I'm like, oh, this is a bit of a

buzzkill right now. That made me feel awful. But according to my better half, this, this is an old letter. I don't know how she knows that. And everything's okay now. I was ready to get on a plane and go back home and actually pick her up. But she said not to. In any event, yesterday was great. And yeah, I cherish those moments. I was telling someone earlier, there's going to be a time where we're going to be old and gray and we're going to be like, remember that day where we got to do the show and then Missoula, and then the awards, and we capped it off with in and out. Do you ever see, Frank, you ever see that clip from the office with the guy talking about

the good old days? Yes, of course. I've mentioned it a bunch of times. It's not that unique. But it really felt like one of those days. Did it not? It absolutely was. I thought it was great.

It was nice to enjoy the evening heat of Las Vegas. Love it. Can't get it out. I mean, I'm wearing a fleece, for goodness sakes. It looked great, by the way. I do appreciate that. What about, by the way, all the nice people at in and out yesterday? They were so kind.

So many. They were lined up. Yeah, they were so nice. Yeah, a little disruptive, to be honest. No, I enjoyed them. No. They brought a nice energy. And later tonight, sushi, excited? I couldn't.

I mean, that's the whole reason I'm here. Sphere later? Yes. Can't wait. Yesterday, Connor McGregor spoke to the media. Going to play a select amount of clips, some before. We get to our guest, some after.

Here's one on Fighter Pay. Connor McGregor talking about how proud he is, that he has helped elevate Fighter Pay and even hypothesized that Max has never been paid more than he is for this particular fight. Take a look. Colleagues, it's fighters. You know, I'll always campaign for the fighters getting their worth.

And I'm very happy with it. We're getting it's a steady rise. If you ask Max, I'm sure it's probably five times highest pay, you know? So the boys are getting there. And I'm, the boys and the girls are getting there. And I will always campaign for that. And I always be happy that I have helped spearhead that. You know, as an owner of Bernacle fighting championship, it kind of puts me in a, in a pickle. You know, I always vouch for the fighters. So, but I also have a stake in the company. So there has to be some sort of balance. But still, I am a fighter at heart. I know what it takes in this business.

and I know without the fighters, there is none of this, not an iota of it. So I'm happy that the money is rising in the fight business and that we're thriving. And I'm happy to be back and give it that extra little, extra little fuel to its rocket. And off it goes. Yeah, he's probably right regarding Max's pay. And as I said to Audi yesterday, without a doubt the highest paid athlete in the history of the U.S. have seen the history of MMA, but also the most underpaid as well, which is a unique thing. There is no chance that he is getting what he is truly worth, what he truly brings into the

company. When you compare it to what some of the boxers make as well, who are nowhere near as famous, popular revenue generators like he is, like it's not even close. But we'll see. Two fights left. We got to speak about the business of it all, the business of the comeback with Adiatar. That's up on the YouTube channel right now. Speaking of Max, here he is hinting at this being his biggest payday. Is this the best payday of your career this fight? Ah, for sure. I mean, maybe we see.

Everybody keep talking about Conover Greger, this and that, and fighting for money. Like I said, man, anybody who ever says that they don't fight for money, they're lying through their damn teeth, bro. We're prize fighters, we're money fighters, is what we want. Did you notice anything like particularly when you fought on Paramount the last time versus, obviously, you're a pay-per-view headliner,

your last one would have been against Porreier on pay-per-view. Did you notice, like, financially there was much of a difference between those two? Yeah, for sure. 100%. And if you didn't notice it, you guys need new managers, fighters. Wait, was it good or bad? Like, was it was very nice. So there you go.

He seems happy. He seems appreciative and content. And seemingly agreeing with Connor and confirming what he has to say about his pay. Now, Connor was also asked about his legal troubles. Obviously, the civil trial in which he was found live. for rape back in December, November, excuse me, of 2024. He was asked about it. And he was also asked about the relationship that he has with the Irish public. First, here he is on his recent legal issues. Can you understand why some people feel you don't deserve this platform, given

the court case two years ago? I'm an innocent man, and I stand for my innocence until the day I go out. and that is still a situation where I fight. There's a reason it didn't go where it went and it went to a civil trial. It is what it is. It stings deep. I continue to fight. I know the truth and I know that lying lips and an abomination to the Lord. And I know that anything done in darkness will soon come to light.

And I trust in God that it's coming. You best believe it's coming. And I look very, very forward to the day. I asked Connor when he was in studio if he had any regrets, and you may recall that he said he didn't. He was also asked about that yesterday at Media Day. Let's take a listen. Do you have doubts or do you have regrets, excuse me,

about anything that's happened in your career or anything that you've done along the way? You know, I'm thankful for the lessons I've learned. And my job is to honor the position God has put me in. and do not disrespect it. And that's where I'm at. I'm thankful for the lessons I have learned. And on I go.

Connor, when I saw you in Saudi Arabia a couple of years ago at the Tyson Fury Francis and Ghani fight, you were pretty frustrated and said you're being kept from your living. To be back here now, like sitting on that stage just days away, are you, can any part of you be grateful to get those extra two years? Or like, how do you feel sitting up there right now?

I don't want to get into this therapy vibe. It's a few tough years. It has been a few tough years. Thank you for reminding me that because that's not to give me a nice feeling of, yes, I'm here. I am here now. It's been a tough one, you know? But God works in mysterious ways.

It is all as it should. So maybe it just wasn't meant to be at that time. And I'm happy how it has come about. Looking back and looking at how my preparation is going. gone. I'm thankful how it's gone. I'm well ready here. You know, if you think about it, I've spent a few, some time preparing for the stocky, the stocky boxer wrestler, the athletic wrestler in Chandler, and then I, you know, you go to a longer rangey, more volume, striker and max. So, I had to be very, I had to be very proper in my preparation. You know, I couldn't take that for granted.

You're switching a completely different stylistic opponent. So, you know, I put the walk in and the time has walked. I'm happy and thankful. One thing that Connor has said a lot over the course of this promotion is he doesn't want to get into a therapy session. He said that with me once. He said that in other interviews as well. Maybe he doesn't want to let his guard down. He wasn't want to open up.

I don't know what it is. But he has said that a lot over the course of this promotion and throughout the interviews that he has done. He was also asked about falling into the trap of fame. and money. Thought this was an interesting answer. Take a look at this. Do you feel like you fell into the trap that so many fighters do with fame and money?

Obviously. Obviously. You know, 2017, doubleweight world champion, Floyd Mayweather banked. And then I launched an Irish whiskey. I didn't drink heavily, if at all,

in that time of my life. I was an athlete at the top of my game. game next thing you know there's thousands upon thousands of bottles in my garage sell this Connor okay I'd leave my property and with two bottles under my arm and that was it I was caught you know I wasn't used with I fuck and that's it God gave me these lessons that's it I was trapped and caught and it is what it is I trust in God I trust in my journey and I trust in the truth

and if the world is against the truth then I am against the world and that is where I stand I never heard him say that about proper 12 which he I don't think has any sort of stake in anymore they they sold it and then they parted ways after the civil case

came and went and I'd never heard him say that like hey having a garage filled with whiskey was problematic and took me down a wrong path The drama and the headlines, they certainly don't stop. And yesterday there was a new report that came out from Michael Schmidt of the New York Times. You'll recall he wrote that article maybe three or so weeks ago regarding his use of drugs to try to heal the injured leg, the broken leg that he suffered against Dustin Porier.

Here's the new headline. UFC Star is said to have continued use of band. drugs after injury healed. Connor McGregor, who will make his return to fighting this weekend, took human growth hormone and anabolic steroids after recovering from a broken leg, people with knowledge of the matter said. And this certainly brings up the interesting point of in competition, out of competition, as Audie pointed out yesterday, as John Kavanaugh pointed out yesterday, he is at last check the most tested athlete. in the UFC, somewhere in the 20 to 25 range.

So is he using those drugs to get back to 100%? Is he using it to gain an advantage? Is there a distinction between in competition, out of competition? These are all very interesting topics and very interesting questions to ask. I don't know what the right answer is because there are some people, including him, who believe you should be able to take what would be deemed as performance it's had to drug, if it also is used to help you get back to 100%. Now, then the question is, if you are 100%, and you're still using them, well, why do you

need them, why are you using them? But if you're still at a competition, out of the testing pool, which he was for some time, is that considered gaining an advantage? Is that considered cheating? It's a very unique one. There are some people, like my good friend, ShielP, who's going to come in here, who would probably, and I'd like to ask him this question, who would probably say, like, no, like take whatever the hell you want.

Like those enhanced games. Let anyone take whatever the hell they want and let's see who the better man is. Who the hell knows? I don't know. I don't know what the answer is. I'm not an expert at this. But he showed up. He's answered the questions and here we are two days away now from this fight finally happening.

And let's be honest, once again, a lot of people did not think he would make the walk. A lot of people didn't think that he would actually be here fighting in July of 2026 against anyone, let alone Max Holloway again. Do you want to bring up one sot, if you will? This is sound on tape. They call it a sought in the business from King Green. King Green versus Terrence McKinney has been a very interesting build. There seems to be an issue between them.

There seems to be a history. King Green kind of planting his flag, so to speak. And it's getting testy. It's getting hot between the two of them. Here's King Green yesterday at Media Day. All right, watch. I'm going to do more punching than you do. I'm going to do more work than you do.

And I'm going to put more time in. I'm going to beat you at everything. I'm going to beat him from the get-go. I've been beating his ass all week long. With the interviews, with the way we dress, with the way we speak. I'm going to beat you every day all the way to the fight. And then I'm going to whoop your ass in the cage. He's fired up.

He sells a great fight. I can't wait for that one. All and all, by the way, like there have been Connor McGregor cards that have not. been very strong on paper. This is a strong one. You have to admit, credit where it's due. This is not a top heavy card. McGregor Holloway, tremendous. BSD Patty, tremendous. Corey Sanhagen, Mario Batista, amazing and important fight at 135. Rematch. Brandon Royville. Lonnie Kavanaugh. Very important fight at Flyway. King Green Terrence McKinney. That's an amazing five-pack right there. Oh, by the way,

Robert Whitaker at Light Heavyweight against Nikita Krillov. I'm in. Gable Steveson. making his UFC debut. I am in. Cody Garbrand against Adrian Yanez. I am in. That's an amazing fight at 135. Luke Riley against Kaikamaka III. Great stories on both ends there. I'm in. Tracy Cortez on the early prelims. Cesar Almeida, Fried Basharat. It's a really, Zachary Reese. It's a really good card, top to bottom. There have been some McGregor cards, 2020, 2021. Very, very, very top heavy. This is not one of them. For the most part, Great questions yesterday. Good media stuff.

This one question, though, to Patty Pimbleau was absurd. And I'd like to think that the reporter that asked the question was just trying to, like, rile him up, troll him, as they say. An absolutely crazy question to ask someone who's about to fight in a cage match on Saturday against someone like BSD. Take a listen. You fight on Saturday night. England is also playing Norway.

What are you more nervous about the fight or the soccer? I'm not nervous about either What are you more excited about? What do you think, lad? Something that 11 other fellas are going to do or something that I'm going to do? Good answer. Yeah, that was a bad question.

I mean, that has to be a joke, right? Asking him if he's more excited, more nervous about England playing Norway, big match, obviously we know he's a big football fan or his own fight? That's got to be a big. nonsense. Total nonsense.

Great answer from him. Is he, Andy, can I ask you as the lone female here? Ask me. Is he straightening? What's going on there with the hair? Like, it seems more sort of stylized. He has, I mean, he has straight hair. I think he's just parting it differently.

What do you think? It's like a little bit bangs here to the side. Like, what do we make of that look? Is it almost too long? I'm going to put it back so we can take a look together. I don't know. Like, it seems layered almost. What's happening?

I think the Justin Beaver like swish from like, I don't know, like early 2000s. Yeah, it looks like he kind of cut it a little bit off the side. The part is definitely like way off. Yeah, what's happening there? It's interesting. But it's better than the bowl cut, let's be honest. I love the bowl cut. Really?

For him. Oh, for him. This feels like he went to a salon in Beverly Hills and like, let me Hollywood you a little bit. I'm trying to remember how his hair was. yesterday. Maybe we can pull up a picture, but I don't think it was like this. At the at the awards? Yeah. Yeah, he did win an award. I think for, what was it? Internet. The weird thing about the awards yesterday, by the way, was that this original award show was supposed to be in December. So it was very much like 2024 to 2025 categories and winners. And it was a little bit awkward

in the sense that like there was one category, PT and I were having a great time with this. There was one category where it was like international fight of the year and all the fighters were coming off of losses jack della um i think him yeah patty pimblit was one of them as well uh there was another one there was another one of the year had a r d r d r d from noche ufc yeah like the first right at the sphere yeah two years ago what about do we have the picture of how they uh they put up on crown on the uh well we have a picture i believe of the spotify uh yeah what was this they they they gave us a logo and it was like so you said before it was AI. This is not AI. They just took the wrong place. That was the logo. You're famously

not a Catholic Christian person. I didn't even know this existed. Do we have a problem here? Do we have like a... No, no, no. We accept all creed, color, religion. No, I mean... Excuse me. I'm getting offended now. No, because we've, we've trademarked on Crown. Well, this is the uncrown. Oh, okay. Okay, okay. Got you. Got you. I do think it's weird, though, that they just grab this. and like didn't double check.

Also, when they did show of the year, whatever it was, every single nominee had like a 60 second highlight reel and hours. I wish we could show them what you did. It was just a guy like... I'm also pretty sure

it was like the M.MA hour set and not even the one we have now. Jeez. Yeah, that was bad. It was so good. Who's in charge of getting them the clips? If I'm being 100% honest, I'm pretty sure it's EP Eric.

That's a great point. absent right now. Not to be, I don't know where he is. Not here to defend himself. Yeah, where is he? What's he doing? I don't know. I don't really know what he does.

I don't know what he's doing. Clearly it doesn't do much if he's not getting them the clip. Chale was supposed to be here eight minutes ago. What's he doing? What are they doing? They're hanging out? What are they? What are they?

They're kibitzing? Um, yeah, I was like, oh, wow. Antiqu and Forreing. Great. 60 seconds. Oh, wow. This other show, six seconds. The area of Hawaiian show.

Me just said. We did die when that happened. Like, we were dying. Man. During your speech, by the way, to go back, there was a gentleman over our right corner, over our right shoulder, going crazy when you were... For me? Yeah, going nuts. He loved everything you were saying. Fighter Pay, protecting the fighters. Loved it. Okay, well, I'm going crazy now because Chale P is here. Ah, better late than never, Chale. Please have a seat.

Have a seat. Right here. I'm so sorry. I did everything right. I was up. I was out there. I was to see you. Please, please, have a seat. Chil P. Welcome to the program. It's like Mr. Rogers' neighborhood. You just kind of knock on the door. You say hello. Chill, what's going? Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, one day late, my friend Ariel, 17 times, 16 time. Champion. Happy birthday. Wow, you really went through the whole thing. Hey, I thought you want to. I was going to do it last night,

but you left the stage. I was going to hit you in front of everybody and really. Front of the world. Embarrassed the world. Can I do? There's so many things I need to say. You look phenomenal.

Holy-you. How much you weigh? You know, I really appreciate that compliment. You look sveled. I used to get that. Talking to the microphone. Make love to the microphone, please. Not a long time.

I haven't gotten a long time. My son started working out. Am I close enough? Yeah, yeah, that's good. My son started wrestling, and so I just started going through the motions with him, which, by the way, turns out as a very hard sport. I used to take it for granted.

About an hour a day going through the motions and snap downs and front headlocks. And anyway, so I appreciate that compliment. I worked for it. Thank you. But, like, honestly, how much, do you weigh like one, I'm going to say $1.95.

Can I talk to you privately? Okay, yeah, yeah. And no one's listening. Okay, so I have an idea, but I don't want to be a dork. And there's a chance it's a dorky idea. Okay. I want to challenge and put my beef to rest with Francis and Gano. Oh.

On your show, one year from today, in an arm wrestling match. Wow. Now, I wanted to call you and ask you a couple of weeks ago if we could try to facilitate that of which, yeah, but I don't know where he would be. I don't think that's dorky. I think it's incredible. Nobody gets hurt And I show him the hard way Why you don't piss off a gangster

Like over the top Circa 1988 1968 Sylvester Stallone 100% We've got a little bored Mark Garo Come out and officiate it Or something along these lines Is it a one and done Or is it a one and done

Not best two out of three? No, no, no one time And I don't quite know all of the rules on that I think I don't know if you tie the wrist Or if that's just... I love this and we can do it live on my show We just put this to rest Wow

You know he let me slide one time in a parking lot Because my son was there Oh, in Dallas. Yeah. He was upset. I always respected him for that, though. What a monster this guy's. By the way, his career's looking better.

You want to talk about Francis? His career is looking better. I don't want to go down to Francis Frow right now. First, I want to digest what you just said. So you are throwing it out there a year from now, July of 2027, International Fight Week. Here. Live on this program, Chil P. Francis.

Yes. Only thing at stake is, let's squash the beef. He knows and I know what it will mean. Yes, right arms, by the way. That's going to come up. Right arm. Right versus right? Yeah, he's the right, I'm a right, right arm.

One and done. One and done. No best out of seven. What is the impetus of this beef? Like, what did it? Oh, this is so ridiculous. So I was always talking trash about Francis. But it wasn't like a personal thing.

It's just like kind of the way the cards lined up. I've had that same thing with Leon Edwards, by the way. But it wasn't, it just happened to be the guys he's drawn. He's going to go fight Colby, for example. It's just one of these things. Eric Nixon calls me. And he says, hey, you've been putting some stuff out about Francis, and you don't have it right. But let's make a deal.

Call us and we'll give you the accurate info in exchange for you not just. That's a very reasonable request by them. Yeah. But, Aaron, I like to speculate. I wasn't trying to put someone down. I like to get, kind of look at the information you put out and go, okay, here's what I think's going to happen. And it irritated down. And then it just, you know, it escalated from there.

And he lets me know he's mad. And then I got an ego and it's, you know, FU, FU. And it turned into this whole thing. You did great yesterday. Thank you. Do you enjoy hosting? I love it. Okay.

I love it. And they never give me that gig, by the way. I can't remember the last time I didn't do it. Brian Stan, I think did. That goes back a little bit of time. They never give me that gig to the point that one time, and it might have been last year, they called me hours before the event, and I just happened to be in Vegas. It's like, you know, guys, you're making it very clear that I am not your first choice.

And I'm a little curious, who is, by the way? Who is it that you're calling that's like blowing you off? I'm your guy. And when I tell them that, you think they'd be like, oh, no, dude, we got you. We love. Never. They just laugh. They've never said like, oh, no, we want to do. Yeah. So this one, how many days before did you find out? I knew about this one a couple weeks. Okay. Got the script. Adam Hunter wrote that script, which by the way, does just a great job. For our brothers do such a good job putting that on. And then Rob Hewitt, man, he gets us all together.

And in our industry, that is the biggest thing that we have. Yeah. He's from a different country. He puts this whole thing together. He deserves praise. He knows. He gives it to him as Dana. He does. He comes out of respect. His speech. Yeah, he comes. He shows up. They had him win the first award, I think, so he could dip out afterwards, but neither here nor there. They, did they ever find your luggage? They lost your luggage? That's why you're dressed like, no, no, I'm just,

I'm just cozy. Really? It's cold in here. So, um, you sent me a test. And no one, no one in your crew said to you, you know, should dress a little, 44. Huh. Just a little what? You know, a little nicer, a little sharper? You know, a little more spry?

This is, this is like, you know, much this cost? I feel like, no, I don't. I'm gonna guess $40? $350? $350? 100? I bought a jacket one time. wanted $700.

I was going to meet the president at Marlago. You had to have a coat. Which president? Mr. Trump. They lost Brittany and I's stuff. So we had to go to the store. I put my credit card, arrow, $700. I said, what did I break a window?

What do you mean $700? For a coat? And did you buy it? I had to. I was going to Marlago. It was that or not meet the president. You didn't mention a couple of times yesterday. 2028.

This is not a joke. It is a joke. It is a joke. Yes, that's a scam. No, I want to be governor. I don't want to leave a word. But you didn't do the governor thing. No.

Why? But I'm in full support of Christine Drazen, by the way. Who happens to watch your program? Oh, hello. You'd be stunned how many Oregon politicians watch your program. Do you think they only watch it because you mentioned a couple times about the Oregon things and they want to see what you're going to say? It's possible, but I'm telling you when I say something to you, it is bigger than if I go on my own Twitter or my own pages. When I talk Oregon politics, yes, they watch this program.

Why didn't you go through with it? I have tremendous regret. I backed down. I've never backed down in my life. And win or lose, but I try. And I came out to Vegas so I could think. I had a meeting with Dana and had to do it to Paramount and it turned into a thing.

And I felt like a bit of an arrangement was made for me to wait a cycle. But I regret it. You know, it's like one of those things in life. If you wait until you're ready, it will never happen. Yeah, I back down. So would you have, in retrospect, if it meant not doing media, would you have done it?

Like if they said, listen, you've got to pick one lane or the other in your heart. That's a very tough one. I believe so. Wow. I had tremendous regret. I think that's all I can tell you. But you ask a fair question because I would have had to choose one or the other if I could go back. I'm very happy to be here with you and still be part of this.

Once you say no to this, by the way, you don't get back in. I mean, this is the gang that once you get out, you do not return to. I feel by different set of rules. Thank you, buddy. I think you get special treatment. Thank you very much. You're one of the few guys who can work for RIF. You can work for Bellator and UFC at the same.

time no one gets those. They are so appreciative to you. Chad and Izzy and Eric are so appreciative that you have chosen to platform. Oh, I love those guys. All right. Well, but Ariel, I mean, look at what they've done in such a short period of time. I remember trying to get submission underground off the ground and calling you. And you go, listen, man, I'll do it for you. But these things come and go. Are you sure you got a plan here? You must have had that same thought with these guys. Nobody can make it in wrestling. They're selling out arenas. They're doing international business. They're in Tbilisi. They invited me. I was thinking, yeah, Atlanta, I'll go to that. Turns out there's a country called Georgia.

Pretty cool they're there. How does that work, by the way? Because I figured you would have been there, but this takes precedence? No. RAF actually has the power hand. Oh, wow. Yes, they didn't know about this event, and so I had committed. Then they announced the event, and Bischoff didn't even mess with it.

He's a good leader, dude. I watched Eric Bischoff control a locker room that spoke five different languages without using a word. It's what he didn't say. What do you mean? Well, okay, there was an interview. A match ended. It was the Olympic champion. And the match wasn't the way, the excitement and the effort.

The guy got tired. It was a little boring. And Eric didn't interview him. So the guy stood up there and he's looking for his interview. And everybody wants their interview. It's a big deal. And he didn't get it. So it sent a message to a locker room that spoke five different languages

without saying one word. And this was live on the fly. He's a good leader, man. Yeah. It turns out if you can beat Vince McMahon for a number of years in a row, it turns out you're pretty good at something. 83 weeks. 83 weeks.

Other issue that I have with you. I wake up today Cool that you knew that. To a string of text, but at the very bottom is a text from Chalp at around a 1 a.m. or so yesterday sending me a screen grab

from someone online saying, you know what, it's time for Ariel to bow out of the journalist of the year award, let someone else win. Yes. Out of the kindness of his heart. There was a caveat that I think

maybe you missed. No, I didn't miss it. I don't need the award named after me. But may I tell the audience, This is what the suggestion was. Ariel's going to win this every time we can't beat him. So let's do this. Let's take him out of it to respect Ariel.

Let's name the award after him. And in some way, that keeps you around forever. Right. I mean, there's going to be a time, sadly, that you're not going to be here. But Oliver and your other kids would really enjoy the Ariel Hawanian Award. I mean, it really is a big compliment to you. I didn't think it was the world's worst suggestion. There was once a very smart man who said publicly, beat me if you can.

Yes. Survive if I let you. Yeah, that's beautiful. has poetry. That's the mindset. Beat me if you can. What do you think of this setup? I think of this set up. I think of my shirt. They show you a tremendous respect here in Vegas. I mean, you've got a whole team. I was once banned from Vegas according to Brendan Schaub. Were you really? No, he just said that. It was a weird thing to say. That's funny. I remember you and Brendan's beat. You know, we better just walk away because that could turn right back into a thing.

No, we're good. And you guys went out for a while, hard. Yes, yes, yes. No, we're good. It's so great to see you. Should we do beef of the year? Should we add that to the World MMA Awards? would be a good one. I think so too. Can I tell you one thing that I thought was a little bit awkward? And I have some inside scoop. Yeah, go ahead. There was one category where it was like Fighting Spirit Award. And it was like Ben Ascran, Ryan Kirk. Everyone who deserves their own award, I think it's weird to pick like who overcame, excuse me, the most. Sure. Like who defied the odds the most. I feel like sometimes when it's like you did it, you know, Gipper, it should just be like we're picking one person. There's a piece of it of you all lived

which one if we could only choose? Did we want to live more? You make a good point. Well, it is now that you said it, I never thought about it like this. I saw Connor yesterday. Okay, I was going to ask you. You interviewed Connor. Connor's not interviewing with anybody.

He gives you interviews, and Ian Parker actually lined that up. I got to be part of it. First off, Ariel, we're in a room that's kind of like this in terms of lighting, but it's 108 degrees outside. So when Connor comes in and he opens the door, I swear to goodness there was this glow that walks around him. And no one knows when he's going to come. That's the other thing.

You set a time with Connor and then you stick around for Connor. So he pulls this door open and it's his power team. I mean, they are moving. They're moving fast. He's dressed like a million bucks. He's got this glow. And then somehow a microphone just like appeared in his hand. I don't know if they gave it to him outside.

So he comes in and he starts addressing the audience. He doesn't know if we're live. He doesn't know what we're doing. He comes and he takes over this whole thing. They're giving him the pop. He's like, what's up Vegas? Are you enjoying Vegas? You know, all the cheap pop.

Oh, he's in front of a live crowd. Yes. Okay. Wow. They go crazy. Ariel, this guy's huge. I get up and give him the bro hug. First off, he's as hard as a rock.

And secondly, I'm looking at him. I said, Connor, I fought middle weights my whole life. I didn't find anybody smaller than you. He said, Chale, I don't want to talk about my weight. This was a surprise answer. He said, I'm going to keep my weight close. But I will tell you for the first time ever, I got a pull down to 170. And if I was to guess, I mean, he's closer to 180 than he is 170.

Could that be relevant in the fight? Yeah, maybe if he got on top of Max, he would hold Max. he held him the first time and now he's a bigger, stronger guy. It is a piece of this that the betters, the odds makers that nobody knew. It's a piece. Absolutely. There's the other part about Max. We had his nutritionist, Tyler Minton, on the program yesterday.

I think Max will probably come in at like 168. Yep. I don't think he'll hit the 170 limit. 171. He doesn't, yeah, because non-title fight. He doesn't, he's not a 170 pounder, right? Connor said he's never been hit by a welterweight before. But is Connor a true welterweight?

There's a difference in being hit by. by Jack Della and being hit by Connor, my opinion. Connor's a 155 or who's fighting at Walterweight. There's a difference, right? This was tested in some ways. Rico maintained. Rico said nine out of ten times, straight up striking. Alex Piera, surreal gone.

Surreal would win. I said, why? He said, he's bigger. I said, no, they weigh this. They're separated by like three pounds. He said, no, they're not. Growing to a heavy weight as opposed, he said, you don't understand the bone density.

You don't understand. I mean, Rico called this so perfectly, and I only share, like, to your point, Yes, you're right. And that would be a recent example. Okay, so what did you make of Connor's demeanor? Everyone's dissecting. Bro.

Yeah, tell me, tell me. Come on, man. First off, the entertainer did not show up. The performer did not show up. This was Connor McGregor. And by the way, Connor at his roots is a very philosophical guy. He's a bit of a straight blast jam, coach Kavanaugh, Roddy.

They give a lot of tribute to Bruce Lee, which was really just philosophies, but Connor's that same type of philosopher. And that's how he was speaking. And there was a couple of times when I almost got him off, he was very disciplined. In fact, if I was to use one word for the interview, it would be disciplined. He has an approach, and he's not getting rattled. I brought a Floyd Mayweather. He said, listen, Connor, it seems like you can't ever do enough. Whatever you do, somebody wants more, and this is no different. You know, what's next? And I said, there's been some talk of Floyd.

And he said, when it comes to his great answer, he goes, when it comes to Floyd, I just sit back like this. Meaning, yeah, I wanted if it comes. But then he got right back on and he stayed on Max. And he's bitter. He's angry about Max. Max said he was going to drag him into the deep water. That offended Connor McGregor. Conner said, I'm not saying I won't get tired. I'm a human. We get tired. You think you can push me to a limit that I'll quit.

It upset him. Interesting. Yes, that was interesting. Did you feel like he was motivated? Did you feel? Because, again, everyone's trying to dissect every, like he's signing the posters and he doesn't look happy. He did you, yeah.

He's got the move. Yes, yes. He's got the move, you know? It's cool, man. He's cool, man. He's cool, he's happy to be here. Do you feel like he's ready to go? Yes.

You do. Well, okay. Arrow, what I could. leave there with what I'm attempting to relate to your audience was the mental approach is in the right place and the mental approach is is the very Connor right you're trying to return to your old form he has returned to the Connor that was hungry and that wanted to win fights not sell tickets and not not be a star he has returned to that Connor there's a physical side and that's going to be tested we don't actually know the answer to that he can't give it to us there's a reason they got to go out there and and settle this in the octagon can a person be ready after a compound fracture Chris Whitman says no Anderson Silva says no Can Connor McGregor, and they didn't take as long of a break by the way? Can a person be ready coming to a weight class that was not their prime?

Can a person be ready into a five round proposition after six years off? It is a big ask of anybody. That's the physical side. Okay, now, perfect segue, mental side. Silk pajamas. You know, the Hagler line. No one ever does well at this point when you're

that rich, when you're that famous, you just don't have the same hunger and motivation. So how do you, you could say, all you want, love of the game, I don't need the money, this and that. But it's here. When you're poor, you push yourself. You wake up at 4 a.m. You're forced to. Yes. Do I want to win? Am I willing to win? Do I have to win? And you can't control that. Yeah. And there is a couple of exceptions, by the way. I think De La Jolla showed that a rich man can fight. I think that Mayweather showed that a rich man can fight. Connor sold me on the idea that he really liked it. He made an

interesting comment. He said to me, I want, and Ian Parker, of course, he said, I want to finish my career in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Then it called the USC, which is kind of cool. I love what he goes out. Yeah, I like that too. He changes vernacular. Then the whole industry copies him. Anyway, Ultimate Fighting Championship.

And he said, but I want my worth. I want them to figure out. I want to sit down. I want to figure out my worth. Now, I thought that was interesting because if you're not doing pay-per-view, which is a sliding scale, and for him a very exciting one, it's proven to be, but it's a sliding scale. If you're not doing pay-per-view, I thought that you would then just do a flat rate.

I actually, even in my creative mind, don't know of it. third option but the way he worded it I hope we can come to a number it's like brother aren't we there aren't we at that number and so I thought that was an interesting comment and I really wanted to pry but you know might be disrespectful you could have got away with prime but I you know I want to know what he meant by what's he mean he doesn't have a number yet well I was surprised when he sat down with me where he said we met in the middle yeah old Connor doesn't say we met in the middle old Connor says I want a piece of the company yeah he also said things like you know I asked them does the game need you?

Game doesn't need me, but it's good to have you back. Yeah, but that's a different version of him. What do you make of that? Has he been humbled, in your opinion? I think that he did come to push to shove with one question, which was, do you want to fight?

Yeah. I think that's the bottom line. Do you want to fight? There's a number out there, and we can get to, do you want to do this? And I think that his answer was yes. I think he was sincere.

And by the way, when he says we met in the middle, I think he came to them with a very big number. Like, meeting in the middle is, I mean, he's going to break Brock Lesnar and Chuck Liddell and Rhonda Rouse it combined. So I think he really wants to do this, Ariel. You know, you talk about love with the game, but that is a real thing. If you're a competitive, you're truly a competitor. And I still have that, but I just can't make that.

I want it to piece of error. I want a piece of Francis. But I would train for that. I would generally be excited. My family would be in to our match should this go down. If you're really a competitor, you know, that money isn't as important as we play in the media. If you want the match, you want the match. Are you surprised?

But why would he want Max? He's already beat him. What would get him out of bed for Max? I thought it was the worst possible matchup they could do. I was actually surprised that the UFC went in this direction. You know, it's weird. We've been talking for about 20 minutes. I was sort of like organically casually waiting for the apology, but I still, you know.

Give me a hint. I do so many nasty things to you on the side. Your reports are wrong. This fight isn't happening. Oh, you know, just because I couldn't see it, aerial. There was so many things. I was out there on front lines and there you are refuting my reporting. Most certainly were. But there was a number of things. First off, when the dialogue started there was going to be counterversus Max, don't forget Max had a belt. It would have

been a championship match. That pushed me even, you know, a little bit further away. Then they're going to do it. The only thing I knew about this fight without knowing anything about the fight is they're not going to do it at 1.55. It could be 65, 75, it could be 85, but he's not pulling down to 55. Therefore, they will find a 70-pounder. They won't redo what they did with Cowboy. That was very short notice that was a different scenario. They're not going to find two 555 pounds and put him at 170. This is just what I thought. And then not to mention, what would Connor's motivation be? We are huge Connor fans. Whether we're cheering against him or four men, he gets an emotion from everybody. And when the story's done, we're going to talk about the three fights he had with Dustin Porre and

the two he had with Nate and we won even one more with Nate. Oh, and by the way, it's Max again and again. As you're looking at his record, it's like, hey, let's spread this around. It would be so fascinating, him and Chandler, him and Rufie, anything new, I thought. I'm very happy we're here. They're about to do record business. But yes, I did think that your report was wrong. Okay. For those,

not because I hit inside scoop, I was just using chale. It didn't make sense to you. Yeah, it didn't make sense to me. But you still refuted the report. I did refute the report. So are you going to apologize?

I don't know if I own a fault. I was wrong. I'm sorry. As your friend, I should have been out there not doubting you. I am sorry as your friend. I should have been out there not doubting you. Yes.

But there's a case of being wrong. As crazy as it may sound, it's accurate. There are times I will come to you as a means. spirited prick to attempt to ruin a few moments of your day. This wasn't one of them. I just had it wrong. Did you see how happy I was that the Knicks won the championship? Yeah, it pained me. Oh, it pained me. Why? You got your street celery. You got your little jersey. Oh, so good. So all of a sudden, you're part of so many different things. Yeah, yeah. It pains me. I'm part of nothing. Yeah. Why? I'm part of nothing. I'm just part of the UFC.

I'm part of wrestling as well, I suppose, but it's a very small community. You go to the trailblazers. Oh. No, we had a chance to run them out of town, by the way. Current governor could have ran them out of town. She made the right call. You got to keep them. You got to keep your sports team, but I'm not a Trailblazers fan. Okay. More on Connor. One thing he gets, this is so great. One thing he keeps talking about is, I don't want a therapy session. I don't know if he mentioned that to you. And by the way, when is that interview airing, the one that you did with him? Well, I saw a promo that it's airing today. That's right. I actually thought it came out last night. I thought it came out last night, because there was a headline that was quoting Connor. It was something he said to us. I suppose he could

have said it to somebody else. He paid Islam a compliment. He said that Islam's got a very impressive body of work. But for Connor and Islam, that's a big praise. Therapy session. He keeps saying that. People are asking about regrets, this, that, trying to dig deep. When you were fighting, when you had a massive fight, by the way, 14 years ago this week, you versus Anderson, too, UFC 148 in this town, July 7th, we'll never forget it. Did you try to avoid that as well? Getting emotional, thinking of your life, mortality, things like that. Were those things that you were trying to shun as well, or you didn't care? I don't know. I didn't care. I can't specifically remember that crossing my mind. I mean, that is a very real thing.

These athletes, Sean Strickland, who's as tough as anybody, has some therapy sessions on here. Sean O'Malley has verged on that. I mean, I'm just sharing, like, if you get in front of a camera enough, and then you have an audience that you feel you owe something to, whether you do or not, you will feel. And I, you know, I feel I owe the audience accuracy once an event is done. I feel I owe them entertainment leading into the event. I mean, I have my own code. And yeah, Connor had some of those hey, he's a PR master. Whoever he is working with is the right people. That guy, I mean, he was talking about partying on a yacht just the other day,

and he didn't go too far with it, but he did reveal some of these rumors you're here about me are true. Some of these things where I got off course are true. Am I using fighting similar to BJ Penn to stay on course in life? Yes, I am. I thought these things were very compelling. I asked him about Dustin Poirier. Everything that Dustin's going through in their relationship, and Connor said, if I was to tell Conner's something,

And I said, what would you say to Dustin in this moment? He said, if I was to tell him something, I would tell him to take this deadly serious. And then he got back off on, you know, he sprinkled around the entertainer on Porier and definitely left that door open for a competition. But he said, take this deadly serious. The world is showing you something. Listen to it. And I thought it was powerful. What do you make of what happened to Dustin?

Oh, come on, man. Anything that could go wrong went wrong. He uses the word for one. I think it was in like a tank top for two, which nobody really wants to be. caught on. He challenges a peace officer. Anything that could go wrong went wrong. And I still thought he didn't look that bad in fairness. And you want to know who the hero of that story was? The officer. The officer was solid. He never raised his voice. There's guys that would have tased him. There's guys that would jump back or jump forward or call for backup or pull a gun. This officer was solid.

I would be curious what his background was. Can I tell you a similar story? Sean Strickland got in the ring. You remember when he was trying to get the things off his feet and then he punched that guy? that guy that he punched happened to be a cop. That guy would know everything to say to victimize that moment. He wasn't. He said, man, that was cool. I never thought I'd been in a cage fighting Sean Strickland and, you know, Chris Curtis at the same time.

I wanted that guy rewarded. I wanted him giving a shot on Dana White Contender Series. And last week they announced that's exactly what he's getting. Serious. Yes, but I also thought that this cop. And that's what Dustin on a personal level I've spoke to him. This is what he feels so bad about is that that guy was so soft. He's a man, I got to find that guy.

I got to tell him. I got to tell him, thank you. I'm going to change my life. It was largely because of this officer. That's a cool story. That cop should feel proud of that. Yeah, maybe it was because he was standing in front of Dustin Portia, a UFC fighter. I don't know.

And he knew. Yeah, yeah. He said that in the thing, but he stayed nice and calm, man. He was caught. That guy's a leader. That guy, I would suspect, had a military background. Do you relate to any of this? Do you sympathize with any of this?

Yeah. Dustin told us several times post-retirement, like, I'm struggling. And when the music stops, it's hard, right? When the attention sort of dims, like, a little bit, it's hard. And so how do you internalize this when you see? Ariel, the biggest problem is, what do I do with my time? And I did not realize that. Like when I retired, I did not realize how much being at the gym, getting in the early, staying late, getting in a sauna, talking to the guys was such a big part of my social life. I didn't understand that. You know,

the drive to the gym and whatever your process was. Mine involved a stop off at the coffee shop. But it was a process. My mother would come, Brittany would come. This was a family event. And when that was gone, I got about five hours on my hands with drive time. I got about five hours on my hands in a day. What do I do at this time? And boredom is a problem. There's an expression in idle mind is the devil's workshop. And I've always been curious in other areas.

I've always had other things that did kind of take up my time. But I think I was very lucky in that regard. And some of these guys have been very open. Dustin from Jump Street, Volcanowski, who's not gone through it yet, has shared with you. I don't want break. in between fights. I don't care what the negotiation or the opponent is. Get me back in the gym. BJ Penn was a very public

one, and BJ called his own fate in many ways. He said, when this music stops, to use your quote, he said, it's going to be a problem for me. It's been a problem for him. Was it ever a problem for you? No. It wasn't overly a problem, but I had some timing issues on my side. Miss Brittany, we just had some little

angels that were delivered, and so I had things to do, and I come from a small town anyway. But I don't mean that it wasn't a problem, by the way, Arrow, I didn't turn to the bottle, for example, but was it a problem in that it bothered me or there was some, I noticed it, yes. Yes, it was a very real thing where I could go, oh, this is what everybody's talking about. And then I wasn't the level of famous either. I wasn't level of famous where I couldn't still go out. If you were the

level of famous in your community where going out turns into a thing, now all of a sudden you're more sheltered, now you've got all this free time, and you're at home. One thing about the gym, it's a very safe place. Everything's equal. This guy, they got a level of celebrity in some world, but so do these guys. And then we know each other's secrets, which is we have nothing and we're all starving. This whole thing's an act and we've got to get to the next event. When you lose that, there is something very real to that. I do sympathize with these guys. In Westland, you're not that level of famous? Not to where people care. No, I would be recognized the town would know me, but I know all of them too. There's 40,000 people. I've lived there for 50 years.

Right. I know who's sleeping with who in every neighborhood in that town and vice versa. that was an expression. We're just saying that we all know each other, but no, I'm not getting cuts in line at Starbucks. No. No. You don't walk into the Starbucks or the local coffee shop and they know your order in advance? Yes, they would know that. Yes.

They don't know my name, though. Really? Yeah, they write shale on there. And sometimes, you know, I'll take my father-in-law's, cowboy Steve's line. I'll just tell him Elvis. And they'll actually write it down and it actually pisses me off. You should know it's not Elvis. Of course.

I am chale like the famous gangster from West Lynn. and some of them are like, I'm not familiar with that guy. You're not. That should be required learning. And when I'm governor, it will be. What do you remember from that fight week with Anderson Silva? What do you remember from that one, that second one here? I have such good memories.

The one thing that took away from that aerial is not just the stress of the event. The one thing that took away from my enjoyment was that weight cut. Thank you, buddy. It was the weight cut. 185 pounds was so difficult. I remember being behind the curtain. And I was planning to win that fight, and a lot of people thought I was going. And this is the second we're talking.

The second fight. And I remember making a deal with my, knowing my own secret, which is I will never weigh 185 pounds again unless I've got a terminal illness. I remember saying that I'm going to win this belt and I'm going to drop the belt tomorrow night. Wow. I'm not returning to this. It was very difficult. I was 22 pounds over the night before. Now, I worked with Tyler Minton.

I worked with Mike Dolce. There was a lot of water involved with there was a gallon of water. so it's kind of an inflated 22 pounds. But either way, I had to get 22 pounds off in 24 hours. And it was one of the more trying things I've ever done. Really? Yeah. Did it affect your performance, would you say in retrospect?

No, no, it did it. And maybe even helped it. You know, I was kind of like following the Rich Franklin model of trying to get my weight then put some size on and use it as an advantage. But no, it was never a disadvantage to me. It forced a real discipline. It forced a lot of extra workouts. But I will just tell you, living life, cannibalizing your body, right?

I'm taking a testosterone to gain some. I'm not eating food to pull off size. I've got two practices a day, which is grueling hard under Clayton hires. And then, by the way, I got to find a third one on my own just to be moving to burn calories. Six days a week, I would just tell you, it was very difficult to do with how calories.

Was the spinning back fist something you guys worked on? Yeah. Yeah, but there's a little bit more to that that embarrasses me. The coach showed me, Scott McCoye showed me how to do that perfectly. I did that perfectly in the gym. there was some part of me I wanted to get Anderson down to the ground I was failing to get him to the ground he shows up with this new defense he shows up with the defense I've never seen before in fact Kenny Florian had to

show me it after he goes well here's what Anderson was doing to you I'd never even seen it and it was as simple as a real a wrestler needs another wrestler to stand still or come forward it's a rule of the sport of wrestling because if that doesn't happen no wrestling can take place Anderson starts backing up I've never been a showed a move in my entire life to take a guy down that's going that way. Then when he got to the cage, he was doing this thing with his heels. And this is what Kenny showed me later. I couldn't get behind his legs. I would push everybody into the fence very similar to Khabib. Now I got him. There's nowhere they could go. He was locking his body onto the fence that when I tried to bring

my hands in to get behind his legs, I can't get past the chain link. I'm going, what is he doing? I don't know this position. And it was creating a frustration. And there was part of me when I went for the spinning back fist, and I started to fall. He goes, this is great. He'll come. We'll be on the ground. I'm going to have to reverse him, but at least we'll be on the ground, which in my mind is where this fight needs to be.

And everything unfolded from there. You come up with one stupid idea in a fight. One second in a fight is enough to cost you a world champion. But you guys drilled that. Oh, yes. Because we'd never seen you hit that before. No, we drilled that. A bit of a secret weapon.

We had a couple of things. We actually had a couple of elbows. We had a couple of different things. It was a very good strategy and a very good plan. Scott McCorrie took so much heat because he was the one that showed. No, he was such a good coach. He showed me that move perfectly. I could get up right now and show you the perfect dynamics of that move.

I just screwed it up in that moment. Are there moments where you ever like daydream about UFC 117 about how close you were? Yeah. Yeah, 117 was the first one. Okay. And yeah. We were literally two minutes away. The only good thing that that did for me, that heartbreak, that failing being that close,

uh, I had lost more sleep in my life. over a all-American match in college. It was the all-American match, just beat this one guy, your dreams come true, his name was Zach Thompson. I was ahead by one point. I had all the points that I needed,

and I got greedy. I saw an opportunity to go for a big move. I went for it. I went to my back, and I never got up. That is the one that would put me in more tears, and that was the one. And the only good thing that came from the, Anderson finds that I didn't think about Zach anymore.

I was able to move on from that page. That was the one up and... A new pain, yeah. And now, which one hurts more? Now that it's become sort of equal over time, is it the old one? If I could only have one back, the Anderson fight was more important. The Anderson fight was more important. But nothing in my life until that moment, I would have taken the All-American honors.

For sure. Have you ever showed 117 to your son start to finish? No. Do you know if he's watched it on his own? Yes, many times. And has asked me about it and then bought himself an Anderson-Silded doll on Amazon on and has the doll beat up Chale Sunnan. Why?

Yeah, I don't know. He thinks that's funny. He has Francis Ngano beat up Chal Sundan too. You don't know what the thing is. He likes, yeah, he's fun. He's a funny guy. He doesn't mean it disrespectful. You never wanted to sit down with him and they're like, let me show you what happened

here. No, I got forced to watch. I never watched that match myself. And in fact, I came out of the ring and I was so frustrated in that match because nothing happened. I couldn't get anything going. And the very first person I saw was Joe Silva, who was really about, hey, man, if I give you a car placement, you got to give me something back,

which is a fun match. I got out of the, and I shook his hand, I looked at him, and I said, I'm sorry, because nothing happened. And they came in the back, and they gave me the bonus. They said, Lorenzo and Dana want you to have this. And back then the bonuses were $60,000. And I remember when they gave it to me, I remember thinking, this is out of pity. And that fight later, not only was fight of the night that night, we were nominated, and then one fight of the year. And they such put the fight in the Hall of Fame. But in the moment, I did not know anything was happening. I didn't know. I was just, the whole time, it's like, why can't I get to this guy?

Then it turned out I actually had set a record for the number of strikes landed. And it turned out it was a fun fight to watch. But it didn't feel that way. I don't remember a lot about the fight. I guess that's what I'm saying. Somebody forced me. Some member of the UFC was doing a breakdown and forced me to sit and watch that fight and then like talk about it. It was very hard to do.

That's the only time you've ever done it. If I could have gone my life and never relive that moment, I would have. Wow. 60K, by the way? Had to have been more. No, 60K. Well, for this one. This was the fight of the night bonus.

Yeah, but they didn't give you the extra? Yes, they did. I'm talking about of the night that anyone could have won. Can I ask what the extra was? DC talks about the Millie that he got, the Million. Yes, that's right. I had on my, oh boy, because now I had two of them. I might get you wrong.

Millie is a very good number. You will for sure get that. They walk in there with that. No, they wire it to you. Wow. It just shows up. Yeah, Dana will call you and let you know, hey, be expecting this. Wow.

We're proud of you. Here's what happened. You get that call, which is really. Really organized, by the way. This happens on Monday morning. A lot of times when they would just give you the money that was never discussed, again, you travel home on Sunday, you get the call on Monday. At your door, couriered and delivered is a check by Tuesday.

Really? Yes, they pay you right away. How many times that happened? That happened every time starting at the Dan Miller fight. Every single time. And there was a sliding scale where some guys, Bomba, rest of his soul, got $2,500. He was the first fight of the night. and he lost it.

If you were on the main card, though, you were for sure going to get 10 grand. If you were a co-main event, generally the number was 50, if it was a title fight, to Daniel's point, for a very long time under Lorenzo was flat, $1 million.

Have you been following this New York Times stuff with Connor McGregor? Yeah, what a scummy thing they did? Okay, so comes back to the PR, master that he is. He came and explained this to you. Yeah. Then, hey, guys, forget about the substances. I wasn't a fighter.

I don't know if I'm never going to fight again. I don't know if I'm going to walk again. That's really. He is telling you the absolute truth. So then not fully understanding the rules, understand, hey, this can happen quick. I go work with my doctor today and Usada shows up. I look bad. On the other side of it, if I remove myself from Usada, I can now focus on my leg, which

may involve something that is against the rules of the pool. He took himself from the pool. That is 100% what they tell you to do. He should have been commended, and it should have been used it as an example. This is how you handle this. This is how a man handle this, which, by the way, comes with a punishment, which is when he's going to return, he's got to sit for six months, was for some guys, I mean, don't forget this is their livelihood.

It's a very big deal. And that alone would encourage some guys to think, hey, I'm just going to take this risk. He did it right. And they didn't tell the story that way. They tried, they twisted that story. There's a new story that came out yesterday. Did you see that? No.

Oh, yeah, a follow-up article, which stated that once he was, quote, unquote, healed, he continued to use PEDs, banned substances. This is the headline right here. UFC Star is said to have continued use of banned drugs after injury healed. Now, is it okay to do this in your opinion if you're not in the testing pool? He's not failed any test. Oh, yes. Oh, he didn't even know if you're not in the testing pool, he doesn't even know he's going to return to fighting. Don't forget, he had no license in any jurisdiction.

He was not even a licensed fire. He would still have to go. I understand that that's paperwork, but it's relevant to the story. What order you did these events in is totally relevant. It's no different than drinking and driving. You're allowed to drink and you're allowed to drive, but not in that order. So, I mean, I only share with you that, um, and first of all, who's to say that he's healed? You and I were just talking a minute ago.

Is he healed? Can he do this fight? I mean, I'm just sharing like that. That's a really strange thing to do. Look, if you're following the advice of your doctor, that sounds right to me. That sounds right to me. And this whole he's healed. Well, if you're healed, but you still have a regimen and I've been healed from stuff and still

had to do physical therapy, for example. Connor did everything. That is textbook. That is how you're supposed to do it. and a lot of guys can't. They weren't in Connor's position. That was perfect. He handled that perfect.

Would you prefer we lived in a world where anything goes? Do you agree with that? I do, actually. Yeah, he did it perfect. I believe that if you're in competition, that's way different than being out of competition. And so to willingly remove yourself, he's just trying to get back to 100%. There's no, I guess you could say like, okay, let's go down the list. What did he take?

Is that banned? Is that not banned? but I don't think he did it for performance enhanceance. Of course. There was no performance. He had no fight. He didn't know if there would ever be a fight. And then by the way, it turns out there was six years until there's a fight.

Like, no, his heart and mind, everything was done perfectly. And a lot of that is credit to his team. He's got good lawyers around him, but they took the time to learn the rules. They did that just right. You asked something in there. And what was it? I want to answer. Do I wish that it was anything goes?

No. No. Really? No. You have to have clean sport. The problem with anything goes. There's a number of problems, but the problem with anything goes, you would then have government sanctioned. I mean, the things that Russia has been accused of and banned of. But all of a sudden,

if you do have started to have government sanctioning, now you have guys that just have better chemicals than the other guys. And I will tell you one thing about Peds is the middle word, the E enhancer. They work. The Peds work. So you got to have a level playing field somewhere. So it's all approved, which creates a lot of problems, or nothing's approved. That creates a lot of lot of problems, but you have to have one of the two. They chose the right one. And I would just offer one more thing on that. Human nature is take two. Okay, two's good, four is better, I'll have six. That's where the problem comes. Steroids or even ped use is supported by most doctors and most medicine. It's abuse. And that happens to almost everybody that is able to get

access and dose themselves at home, it becomes a real problem. So ultimately in this particular fight, now that you've had a chance to speak to Connor, you know Max, who are you actually leaning towards? Oh, Max, perhaps has the clearest path to victory of anybody that's fought in a UFC main event in history. How so? The most obvious sporting event of my lifetime was Anthony Joshua versus Jake Paul. That was the most obvious outcome that we're going to have.

In UFC history for main events, Connor is not going to. going to have to just do something that no human has done. He has to do three things. Nobody has returned to a weight class higher than their prime, and you could even go back to boxing. Looked great. Nobody has returned from a compound fracture looked great or even found success on their first time. Nobody has returned to a five-round proposition, and that is the biggest one. This is a different sport. People want to talk about Connor versus Max part one. Is that relevant? Does that matter to this? It was a different game. You change one rule to a game. You go make basketball five quarters or three quarters. You have a different game.

Connor and Max are being asked to do something that nobody else on the card are being asked to do. They're playing a different sport, which, by the way, is different than the one that they first play. That's the biggest problem. If this was a three-round proposition, fine. There is no scenario where Connor McGregor will leave his stool for the fourth round. Now, I don't give you a prediction that this won't happen. I'm going further, and I'm telling you from a human anatomy standpoint, it can't happen. Wow. He cannot, has not, with that fracture, had he enough time to train to go to this weight class after this layoff and see championship rounds. So if he wins, it's the most impressive win, you would say that. Ever. And that's what I'm

building it for. In all fairness, I'm just answering your question straight not to go against Connor. I'm saying if he wins, he will have done three things that have never been done by anyone. That's incredible. And by the way, you got to do it against Max Holloway, who dog walked our current world champion. Not for nothing. Max might be the best guy in the world. On a given day, Max is the best guy in the world. That's a hard draw. I heard you say something that was actually really interesting. You don't recall, correct me if I'm getting this wrong,

a bigger main event in the history of the UFC that doesn't have a title attached to it as far as stakes are concerned. Accurate? Implication. Not even an implication. People aren't even talking an arrow. It would be very hard. Look, if Connor wins here, there is going to be a mad rush to get him and gate you

together. That offer will be made. But I'm just sharing, that's a little bit weird. You win at 170 and then you fight the 55-pound guy, which Connor is not on board with. Connor's saying, if I win here and you think I deserve a title shot,

then I take Islam on. That's what Connor's saying. And by the way, should we even be talking about titles? What I'm trying to share... They're not going to do it, by the way. We're not. No, because there's only one fight left

on his deal. They're not going to give him a title shot on the final fight of the deal. Oh, no, no, of course they're not. They're going to try to resign him. Discussion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The discussion for a fight of this magnitude

has always had a title attached to it, an implication. There's not even, you know, a little rumor on threads online that are meaningful. That's not what this is about. This is about something else. And I'm not clear on what that is. For Max, I guess it would be redemption, I guess. But Max hasn't really banged that drum. He's mentioned over the years he'd like to rematch Connor, but he never banged that this is the one. This keeps me up, but not. I got to get this way. It was nothing like that. Connor's going to go

out and try to beat a guy. Did he's already beat? I mean, I'm just sharing for you, I don't get it. I don't totally get it. And talking to Connor, and Connor could sell time to a clock, by the way, but he has convinced me that this really just is about the competition. He has found a reason. He has it, whether it's intrinsic or not. He's got his reasons. I respect that. What do you think of White House card? I loved it. I loved it from a production standpoint. Like Brasari and Candido, would they pull off there, and they'll never get credit. But what they pulled off there was so remarkable. Did you see? he's in the Oval Office, he directed the show.

He's the producer, but then he became the director. He's going to tell the president and the CEO when to make their wife. That was awesome stuff. He'll never get credit for it. I think he is getting credit. I mean, on our show, I thought it was phenomenal. The walkouts, the walkouts were like, at times I was like a little bit emotional. Sean O'Malley's walkout, Justin's walkout, Ilya's walkout,

to hear it being played that way with no crowd noise, there was like a class that was sort of added to it. Do you know what I mean? Like a gravitas with that woman singing with her voice, the lighting, the landscaping, the old... The Gold Star family that would meet them in the oval and company them. Come on. I just have a heart.

Listen, I know that politics are polarizing. But if you're an MMA fan, I don't care which side of the fence you're on, how do you not sit there and be like, this is freaking cool? This looks awesome. This is breathtaking. What about Hokit coming on your show and double-indexam? down. I was complimented. It was a compliment. What did you make of that? Was it was it too far? Oh, for sure. No, absolutely not. Was the timing and the placement on? Yeah, did it make the president

himself uncomfortable? Yeah, sure. That's what he went for. Yeah. This is, Hoke, didn't do this so that you would all go, hey, that's great. He tried to discuss you. And I will tell you this in Josh's absolute defense. I have never really heard somebody scolded for something they said that did not involve a threat, did not involve violence, and did not use profanity. I mean, I will remind you, children could watch what he said, but then adults designed that they're all upset. I mean, you know, he got what he went for. He won. That's what he went for is to disgust you. Have you ever spoken to him, like, privately? Oh, yeah. What do you make of him? Oh, I just spoke to him. Oh, he's the real deal. Have you taken him under your wing?

I am willing to. He is, and many people thought that I, that I was orchestrating Colby as well, but it just wasn't true. I had a great relationship with them, and I was there for advice, and if there was any kind of mentorship, I was happy to give it. They didn't actually ask me. No, Josh Hoken has a very clear plan. Let me share one thing with you on Josh Hockett. He is developing a character.

That character has not arrived yet. He is telling a story, and it's going to take him almost a year to do it. You will understand it, and I will come back, and I will even tell you the genesis of his inspiration. The Josh Hockech character, the people think that they think they know the three of them and they got this whole thing figured it, No, they don't. He's telling the story now that he's actually doing character development.

If he used to get beat or he's to get ran out of the USA, you'll never know. We've got to stick with this guy for another year. Then you make the choice. Do you like what he was building to or not? It's not arrived. He's not done. Is he that good or is he a byproduct of maybe the worst heavyweight division of all times? Oh, you mean physically?

Yeah. The heavyweight division. The heavyweight division has never been more unrepresented in wrestling. until now. Now, the U.S.S.s almost fixed that in about the last five, six months. Tyrell Fortune signing, Josh Hokit signing, and of course, Gable Steven. So the wrestlers have now arrived, but is Hokkett that good? Boy, I needed to see him take Derek down, and I needed to see how he was going to take Derek down. Sometimes you get some good wrestlers, they can't wrestle in the octagon. They go for single legs. They don't understand. You have to knock a guy backwards.

If you ever shoot to your athlete, wrestlers will understand this. I'm going to be a big tip. If you shoot to your opponent and that means that your opponent's feet are planted and when you make contact they're still planted it's not going to work that'll work in a college wrestling match you can wrestle to your opponent and m-ma you must go through him which just means when you make contact you've got to stumble him backwards you've got to hit him hard enough that he stumbles back that's that's the difference when and i needed to see him do it to derrick he hit derrick so fast that takedown was so incredibly fast and i would have liked to have seen another one sure he hit that so fast I thought he did likely pass the test.

He probably did have guys like Pierre or like Aspinall. They're going, hey, this guy, if he's going to ground and pound me, he's got the skills to do it. Will Iliot Tuporia be champion again? He's the champion right now. Do you know what a good job I'm going to Pry is? Wait, wait, how's he the champion right now? He's not the champion. First off, first off, that fight is not the way people remember it.

And I have full respect to Justin Gage, but Justin got it. He doesn't need my praise right now. It's not the way people remember it. Sean O'Malley just did a piece a couple of days. days ago. He said, go back and watch that second round. When Iliot put him down with body shots, those body shots paralyze your body. You literally can't move just for a couple of seconds. And O'Malley said when he put him down, if he would have just turned and walked away, Justin would have been in a ball going through that paralyzation, the referee would have been

forced to stop the fight. Secondly, if you go back to that second round, that ground and pound situation that he did when he put him down, he goes to knee ride to full mount, swings into an arm bar. That was so Kabib-esque. That was some of the best display of martial arts, you then run into championship rounds. And I'm just telling you, that's a different sport. When you have a guy that went through a heartache, he went through a personal problem, he has to move to a different country, he has to join a different gym, put a camp together. By the way, do all the media. They were bringing him on political shows just because he's so handsome and talented. When's he supposed to train? I mean, when was he supposed to get physically ready?

And it's a great example because when we talk about Connor and Max and just the body can't do that, Connor was out for six years, right? Ilya was out for one, but of the one, it was more like nine months, and he got back in the gym. But he still can't do it. He had to finish Justin Gachie, and he had his opportunity. And to Sean's point, he read it wrong. He should have turned and walked away. If he did, he's still the world champion.

Okay, we have to let you go on. But then he's coming out the back in and people are saying he quit? No, though. You've got to be kidding me. He's got his eyes broken. He's out there still fighting. He's pushing. He's dog tired.

The cards are against him. He goes and does another. round, you're going to say that guy quit? Excuse me. No, ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. The display of heart is quite the opposite of quitting. I wish we could do two hours here. Doesn't feel like it. Are you going to get this match with Francis? You know Francis. No, no. I don't want to put him on the spot. I don't think. Do you want a piece of chale son? By the way, is there a purse? Is there a purse? No, there's no, there's honor. There's honor. Okay. I like that. This is his town. This is his adopted town. I'm coming to his town. I'm

coming to his town. I'm calling him out. Right arm. Right arm. Aspinall, Gary, Eddie Herne are they making a mistake? Yeah. Eddie Hearn is so handsome and likable. He's so good. Yeah, that I can't get me. I just not quite mad at him and I want to be. I want to get on Team Dana.

I want to be a pit bull. I want to be Dana's pit bull here. I can't do it because I'm not. I don't believe Eddie yet. I think Eddie's work. I don't believe him yet. I think he's using the media. I think that Eddie's having some fun.

I don't think Eddie's at their expense. Yeah. I don't think he's pissed off at Dana. I don't think he's near as man as he thinks. I think he's got a vision that he's going to build to something and actually even in a rival standpoint, partner with Dana. Really? Yes, I do.

I think, well, you know, he co-promotes. Yeah, yeah. So you think they're being used as pawns, as Michael Bisping has suggested? Yes, I very much do when I worry about it. Yeah. It's very hard to fight. We were talking about Connor McGregor, it's very hard to fight. When you have a team around you that's not all in, it's very hard.

And so if you have a manager that's telling you, don't do this. While you're trying to get in the gym, dig down and go in there with a guy that just gave you physical damage, you need everybody around you all in. And if they pull Tom out, and I mean even this much, Ariel, in this sport, this much, different between World Championship and just one of the guys. So, yeah, I want Tom to refocus, and I don't know if he can.

If they start distracting them with contracts and you're getting used or you're getting taken advantage of, come on. The company has showed Tom tremendous respect. They kept the belt around them. They went on with the interim. There's even a rumor that perhaps surreal will defend the interim belt. That's a respect to Tom.

hope he sees that. We're going to auction this off if you don't mind signing to someone and give it all to charity. Yeah. The poker table. How about that? I run around with you do something like this. They will show you the door. All right. Undefeated, undisputed interview. Oh, look at that one. That's a beautiful one. Just chill. No sun and a

first and only. So unbeaten arm wrestler. Interview with Connor. I will be defending! So Francis Ngano, July, 2027, in a room like this. Live, one fall only, we want arm wrestle. The challenge has been laid down. We await a response.

With an understanding by Francis, we settled. Beef squashed forever. Please. Thank you. Happy birthday, buddy. Thank you. This was a pleasure and an honor. I remember UFC 98, you complimented my shirt after you beat Dan Miller.

Now I'll never forget when you insulted my shirt all these years later. Love you, Chale. You're the best. God, I love Chale so much. What a guy. What a guy. A freaking legend. A legend of the game.

That was unbelievable. You, you, uh, you sort of feel like he's like, uh, he's like a whirling dervish. He's like a whirling, the energy that he brings when he comes in. He comes in and he lays down a challenge for. Speaking of him. Francis Inganu, yes? Francis actually replied. He did?

What the fuck he's done? Ah, you got me. You got me, Frankie. Still to come, John Wood, coach of the year. Maricio Hoofee, we have our next guest here. Let's keep the train rolling along. He is the striking coach, long time first and only, for the great Connor McGregor. There he is. Well, well, my man.

Coach Owen Roddy. What's the crack? All good? Not too bad, yeah, not too bad. At least have a seat. Wow. Come here, it's your birthday yesterday. Yes.

So I brought you a little gift. What? What? Oh. You're kidding me. You're kidding me. This is, tribute to the,

this is unbelievable. Yeah, so. Wow. I have to say, we've had six or so guests come in, not a single one has brought me a gift. There you go. Your class.

I don't care what they say about you. Look at this. I should do the whole interview holding it like he did on my show. Yeah, well, we'll celebrate on Saturday night, my man. I really do appreciate this. Thank you so much, Owen.

And my audio guy is saying, please make love to the microphone here, he says. How are you? Fantastic. It's been so long. since I've seen you. Yeah, it's been many years, yeah, been many years, but it's great.

What is it like doing this all over again? It's exciting. It's exciting. It's great to be back. You know, the team is back. Connor's excited to fight on Saturday, so we're all in good spirits. Was there ever a point where you thought, you know, that was a great time, a great chapter in my life, but it will never happen again.

It was over? No, you know, every time I spoke to Connor, he's like, oh, no, I'm getting out. I'm getting out soon. I can't wait to go again. So, no, we never thought. Like, obviously that day will come sometime down the line, but who knows when. So we keep riding the wave until we can, you know what I mean? Do you allow yourself to get nostalgic, to compare this week to those weeks?

Are you thinking like that, or is it all business and you guys are 100% locked in? I know, we're locked in. We're locked in now. But I do, you know, when you're at home with your family and you're just chilling, you think about everything that's happened over the years, you know. all the accolades that Connor has achieved. And you think, Jesus, what a journey, you know what I mean. And now we're back again for another, for another big one.

So it's exciting. I can't wait. John Kavanaugh told us yesterday. Around Christmas time, Connor said, I want to sleep in the gym. I want to be there. When you heard about this, what did you think? I thought I was a lie. I think that sleeping in the fucking gym.

He's mad. But he was, yeah, he was. He was staying in the gym and stuff like that. So that's just, you know, I think he just didn't want any distractions. And, you know, staying in the gym, you know, you can't walk past the mat, whatever, you know. Sure. Whatever happened to get on.

So, yeah. Did you probably think like it would maybe last like a day or two, let alone several weeks, months? No, I mean, my one kind of says he's going to do something. He does it. And he's all in. I mean, that was one of his best qualities when he chooses to do something. He's all in on it. So, you know, I'm sure he has it.

I'm sure he has the room noise. I haven't seen the room, but I'm sure he has it nice. It's probably nicer than my room at home, but like, you know, when he's, when he, when he sets his mind to something, he's all in on us. So I think it's great, you know. How would you describe this version of him that we're seeing this week? This version of him in 2026, he's not the same guy. He doesn't speak the same way.

He says different things. He talks about religion and family and things like that, those little things. But when you're with him and you see him and you see his evolution, how would you describe the way he is? Well, I think he's in there, he's in a, he's in a great. place in his mind in his in every aspect of his life he's he's happy

you know what I mean he's excited he wants to prove a point to the world you know what I mean and yeah you know an excited happy motivated Connor is a very very dangerous Connor so yeah he says

I say what's fighting at the time I was still fighting at the time yeah so who was he just some you know strappy lad and he just came in to join the gym obviously he was friends with Tom Tomah joined the gym, kind of was, wanted to try something different. He came in and, you know, just a ball of energy, very excited about the training, kind of in awe, like, you need to tell me how when you go in and you actually fight in a,

you fight, I can almost hear him say this, yeah. You fight no holds bad. We didn't really fight in cages. There wasn't any cages in Ireland at the time, so you do that, you full on fighting. No rules. And I was like, yeah, yeah. He said, I can't wait to do it. And he's probably a teenager, right, at that point?

I think he was about it, maybe 18. Yeah, no fights yet. No fights yet. Amateur or pro? Nothing. Wow. And just excited and mad to get on, you know. You probably come across a lot of kids who are excited and mad, but then kind of fizzle out.

Yeah. Did you think, like, oh, this guy is just like another one of these people who just wants to come in here and say they. Well, I mean, I didn't know. I forced, I could see the enthusiasm and the excitement. It was over the coming months. where you see he's continuing to show up and he's okay with being submitted and stuff. Like he could box, he'd good hands, you know what I mean?

But he had no kickboxing and he'd know grappling or wrestling. So when you watch somebody and you see him continue to put themselves in those situations and be okay with tapping out and going again. And then you're watching him and are like, shit, he's getting fucking good. He defended that double leg there fairly quick. he's only six or seven weeks in and he's stuffing takedowns and you just say he's a quick learner

and he has the ability to he has the ability to take a technique that you learn that day and add it to his game very very quickly like most fighters it takes a couple of months you know you drill you drillie you drill it and then you might land it and then he has the ability to just go

show me that again yeah and then the next round he's he's catching he's got a yeah he's got a gift John talks about the story of him sort of disappearing for some time and his mother calling John to come to the house and get him out of bed do you remember that? Yeah.

What do you remember from that? I think that was after he lost his a tentoff leglock leglocker from Europe and he just went missing and he was like fuck this, you know what I mean? And

he went missing for a couple of months So yeah, I thought you've been gone. He doesn't look like he's coming back, you know. And, you know, it's a kind of turning point in somebody's career when they lose. Like, you know, they either go, fuck this, or they go, I'm getting that back, or I'm going to come back and prove to people.

And it was a couple of months he went missing. And then he came back. He went on a tear. Then I think he won five or six fights in a row. And then he fought Joe Duffy. He lost again. And the big difference between the force loss and the second loss was he was back in the gym on Monday.

And he was back training and he was like, yeah, I made a mistake there. I'm going to really focus on the grappling. Went to Iceland, I believe then after that. And then he just, you know, he just came back a different person after being in Iceland for a month just focusing on training and learning to enjoy Jiu-Jitsu and not do Jiu-Jitsu just as a defensive, you know, just for the defensive aspect.

he started to enjoy jiu-jitsu and want to learn it as an offensive part of his game and enjoy it and then from then on he was just through the roof. Do you remember the time frame where you started to believe there's something different here? Like he's not just a great fighter, he is going to go on if he sticks with this to doing exceptional things?

Yeah, I mean it was early on when, you know, you see him early on and he's picking up the techniques very quick and he's you know he's he's getting good fast but then then you watch him fighting and you know there's one thing about being brilliant in the gym you know what I mean we have we have we have loads of guys that are phenomenal in the gym but to go out and they were under the lights when everyone's watching that's different and he done it in every fight we went then and even from then he's like I'm gonna knock this guy out 30 seconds later the guys

pan down kind of on top of the ropes screaming you know so So when you see that, then you start to believe slowly but surely. But there's always these milestones like Tom Egan had fought in the UFC. UC-93, I think it was. Yeah, UFC 93 and he lost. Jesus, he got a tough fight. But, like, Conner's like, I'm going to be UFC champion. And we're like, well, you haven't even got a fucking,

Ireland hasn't even got a win in the UFC, like, so, you know, take small steps. But he was saying it. And then he was saying, like, okay, I'm going to win this Cage Warriors belt. We hadn't got a Cage Warriors champion. He wins the Force Belt. And he's like, right, okay, that's okay. It's Cage Warriors. It's not UFC or whatever.

And he's going to win the second belt. And we're like, you're moving up way and you're fighting Boaching her, and he's fucking phenomenal. And he puts him away. You know, he's like, fucking hell. So after two or three times he says he's going to do these things, you start to believe. He's started to go, right, this, fuck.

fucking mad bass that says he's going to, he's going to do this, and he does it. So then everyone started to believe. And I think once we all started to believe, there was this kind of, this energy in the gym that we felt like we were unstoppable. He was leading the way. And then the other crew started coming through. And it was an exciting time. It was kind of just, you know, a pour down through the gym, you know.

And it was brilliant. So everything he said he was going to do, he did. We showed a picture earlier. of young Owen Roddy with young Connor McGregor in his corner. I'm curious, what... He was in my corner, that one, yeah. Jesus, that's a cracker. He was in your corner?

Now, actually, now he fought that night. Or did he just jump in the cage for the picture afterwards? I think he jumped over the cage, yeah? Yeah, it was a crack in night. Which fight was this? That, I, let me see. Have you a row of favor shorts on there? Oh, yeah.

Yes. And that was cage contenders, and I think I, I think that was my second title defense against the guy. I think I won the fourth round. Was it 2013? Who knows? Yeah. When was your last fight?

What year? I don't know. I was 30, so. Okay. Well, 13 years ago. Okay. Why the Faber shorts, by the way? Were you a favorite fan?

You're a form athletics? You know, come here, I was a fan. And then when we'd done the ultimate fight, I never told him, was a fan. But I was like, you fucking used to wear your shorts. Because I had a couple of pairs of them. Oh, really? The California kid. You can't.

You got to love you, Roy, you know what I mean? Of course. So did he ever corner you? He did. Really? He cornered me for, he actually cornered me for my last fight. Wow. In Cage Warriors, in Scotland, I fought.

Wilson Hayes went on, he went on, had a great game. Yeah, Bellator, yeah, yeah. And stuff like that here in the UFC as well. He's done the corner. He lost that fight, unfortunately. And then after that fight, obviously, I found out that I had issues on the brain and I had to retire after that, so.

But he done my last way, yeah, it was great. Yeah, so for those that don't know, it wasn't your decision to retire, you were sort of forced into retirement. No, I never talked about years ago because I was a bit insecure about what happened, and I used to tell everybody. I remember doing a really good interview

with somebody years ago, and I never told them that I had the brain injury. But after the Wilson Hays fight, I am a friend of mine, a doctor friend that was doing P.T. where I said, have you ever had brain scans? None of you was first got brain scans. That's crazy.

And he said, well, I'll do it for you. And I says, yeah, no problem. Do the scan. Got the scan. And then I get a phone call. He says, come in and I have a chat with you, own. And I'm thinking, yeah, I felt fantastic. Like you felt grand after the fight, no issues, no symptoms of anything.

And then he says, Ohn, you have, you've got about 20 or 40 spots on your brain. White matter, hyperintensities. And for somebody your age, you should probably only have. have one or two and he says, uh, like, I don't know where, I don't know whether you had those, I don't know whether you got those spots in the last six months, the last six years, whether you, you got them early on from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, from, looking at what you've done for the last 12, 13 years, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, damage from repetitive strike, strikes over the years. So I, you know, you know,

know, I had to think about what I was going to do and had a chat with my wife and kids. And I did try and get, you know, I tried to reach out and find out of doctors that were with the UFC to see if there was potential to be signed with damage like that. And they said it would be highly unlikely. And, you know, with two kids at the time. And I just, I just says, look, I got to call it a day. You know, got to look out for my kids. Heartbreaking, you know.

And then that was that. I just, you know, I called it. day. I cried in a moment for a couple of months and then I says I'm going to take up the coaching role you know. A couple months? A couple months I tried to see if there was any way to like my only goal was to get

to the UFC and weigh the gloves. Yeah. And if that was not going to be the case, it does not point fine. We want to fight and just a random show who cares, you know what I mean? Right. So when I when it was very unlikely that it would happen, I just says, look, I'll retire

you know. How much does that still bother It kills me, but look, you don't have regrets because if I did continue to fight, then I wouldn't have probably took up such a big role in Conner's career, and then I wouldn't have went on the journey that I went on, and then I wouldn't be where I am today. So you don't have regrets. At the time, yeah, it was sad, but now I am where I am, and I'm happy where I'm at, so. So you've got to enjoy that. Any ill effects, any issues? Does it ever, no, no, no, nothing. No, nothing.

No sparring probably for you. I stopped fairly quick after that, you know. Once I realize, well, you know, I still used to jump in and just prove to myself that I can still have a little knock. And, but yeah, no symptoms, no, no issues at all, you know what I mean? It's more the, it's more the knees in the back. You know what I mean? But the head is fine. I think, who knows?

Have you had further scans? I've had four of scans. Does it get worse? No, I have had many scans after. after it. I've had a good few scans over a period of about five or six years and there was no changes. Okay. Well, that is good. Yeah. Yeah. So the first, so you said the dream was to wear the gloves, man, yeah. You didn't get that opportunity, but you certainly have been in the cage many a time and cornered. Yeah. Was the first one the Brando fight? Brandel, yeah. That was the first

you, UFC one. For you? Of course. Yeah. Like the first time you got to make the walk Yeah, yeah.

Was that emotional for you? It was brilliant. It was brilliant. It was brilliant. It was nerve wrecking. Yeah. Like it's brilliant. Everything is brilliant after the fact.

But I, now, I can't enjoy it until, until it's over. Really? You know? You know, because there's so much riding on it. You want,

you want, you want it to all go well from. You know what your fighters, you want them to, you see what they do. You see what they put in. and you know it's a cruel game because somebody's got to lose and you just you know you pray to god that you know you go gets the nod you know what I mean so that forced walk was unbelievable

because you know it was Conner's force walk and you know they journey up to it and it was exciting and then for him to go in and do what he done as well and I remember looking at I said I said Brando yeah Brimish yeah I said I remember seeing Brimidge and he was huge. You know what I mean? We've seen him the day the way in. Obviously he's dehydrated and he was a bit narrow. And then when I seen him just at the side of the cage,

he was bigger this way that he was in Hoyt, you know what I mean? He was huge. So I was like, Jesus Christ and it's UFC and the nerves is gone. And then Connor just gets in and flows. That was a phenomenal. Just flows, you know what I mean? Just magic. Did you take a minute or were you so locked in?

like this was your first time walking UFC arena, UFC fight with your guy, did you take it in or it was all business? No, yeah, it was all business. It was all just like focusing on what you've got to do. Be ready, be ready

for anything in them. Which was your favorite body of work, your favorite masterpiece? Obviously there's been amazing. There's been amazing fights for different reasons. But, you know, for an almost

perfect performance you gotta go with with new york you know i was going to say that that finishing sequence from a striking perspective oh four four shots like all on the button you know it's different yeah different and that's what connor is capable of you know what i mean and that's what he does it was um yeah it was unbelievable but it was also you know it was life's walk in the lead up to that as well you know it's been so many fights before that and it was just it was magic life is all about decisions and sliding doors Mayweather was so much fun but there's a part of me that wonders if he just would have

like because the next fight was Mayweather almost you know 10 or so months later if the next one was MMA like how much better could he have gotten if he just stayed with MMA for a little bit there because that kind of the Mayweather thing kind of changed everything money was great I think there are no regrets attached but I do that performance was so perfect

that I do wonder what would have happened the next one you know I mean who knows that's the thing who knows he was he was on fire and he was on fire

you know and he'd went through everything you know he'd also went through a loss and he got redemption from the loss

and the comeback so there's so many things that he proved himself in the lead up to that fight that it just it just all came together on that night and it was magic

it was just it was you know almost flawless And Eddie was in it Like you know Eddie Very tough and durable And he stayed in there But he just

He just couldn't touch Kind of just couldn't touch And then yeah Who knows what would have happened after that You know But You know You know

You don't have regrets You went on You had a phenomenal fight Against Floyd What an experience You know What a spectacle for everyone You know

So it was amazing as well So as far as day to day To you now You have your gym Yep SBG Charleston Yeah

Northside Dublin yeah Still going Still going Yeah Have the fight team I've got Young lads

Coming true Yes a couple of pros I'd Andreas Binder who was on the ultimate football last year Yeah He lost

He's back on there He's two wins There on Cage Warriors Against two really experienced guys Two TKO finishes In the fourth round And then we've got

Max Lally 6 and O on Cage Warriors as well He won a trip To come over To the Performance Institute And get all the tests And with Cage Warriors, I think he's very close.

So those two guys are, I believe, on the doorstep, and then we've got some young guys coming through as well. So it's exciting, it's great to watch young lads that I have. Like, you know, Jesus, Max has been with me since he's 11 years of age. Wow. You know, he's a kid. Andres has been with me many years now as well. But it's great to watch a kid come up, and now he's just on the doorstep, you know.

So how would you describe the state of MMA in Ireland right now? Is there? We're back, I think. Do you feel like it? Okay, because there was a period where there was an influx and then it felt like it kind of, and it happened, you know, my home country, Canada had the same thing. Yeah, it happens. It comes in cycles.

So why are you back? I don't know. I think it's just, you know, it's the lads that watch the kids that watch Connor over the years that are all starting to come into form now, you know. There was a bit of a lull of obviously with Irish MMA with the death of Joe Caldario many years ago and you know we got a lot of bad publicity

and you know there was a lot of changes made but Irish MMA is super you know it's the gold standard now with the scans and stuff like that so we've got a big influx of a big influx of kids doing it doing the oil moffs, lots of competition and now they're watching

they're watching obviously Ian and Connor and these people Sean and now is smashing it for the girls and you know people are excited about it and you know the standard of virus mMA has always been very good we just have a big influx now at the moment and it's exciting because i i believe there will be a lot of new orish kids in the ufcary very soon you know you mentioned byproducts of connor none bigger right now than ian machado gary who's about to fight for the belt i know he's not your guy but just curious fellow country mate what do you make of his skills and in particular his striking yeah it's phenomenal phenomenal he utilizes his range very well. He's an intelligent fighter. Very, very, very smart. He makes his rates fairly quick and he's very disciplined and I think it's an exciting fight coming up in a couple of weeks. It's a Chabibh Connor Part 2. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In some respects. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of exciting things.

Yeah. I want to ask you if you don't mind signing this for us, this poker table of ours. Yes. We've got everyone and then we're going to donate it to charity, coach. So lovely. You know, I hear the team isn't making predictions, so I'm not going to put you. you on the spot. No, please don't. But now I appreciate it. I'm not used to that from you guys because you're usually very precise with your prediction. Yeah, well, you know, as you said, John, yes, he, it's been quiet, you know.

I keep the head down. We're here to do a job. We're focused on the task of hand and we go in, get it done and then on to the next, isn't it? It's so great to have you. Appreciate it. So great. Thank you for. And congratulations.

I heard you, one journalist. I did, yes. 16 in a row. 16 in a row. Did you believe it? They'd go, yeah. I appreciate it. You can't be touched.

I appreciate that. Still the bread, as a wise man once said. Thank you so much. Good luck to you guys. Really appreciate you coming in. I know you don't do a lot of these, so it was great to reconnect and see what was going on. And good luck to the team as well. All the youngsters, I hope that we can talk to them in the future.

Hopefully, we'll have a few on with you down the long. Yeah, for sure. There he is. Coach Owen Roddy, the striated coach for one contractor and somebody else. Thank you so much for the gift. No, what I. No, what I. There's a couple of these tonight. There he is.

All right, Coach Owen Roddy, we've had many a chat, but it has been a while, and it's so nice to reconnect with some of these old figures who have been a part of the fight game, who have had many a great night here in Las Vegas. Of course, by Connor's side, he was there for all of them, and dating back to that Brimidge fight. I said Brand out Brimich. That stuff kills me. John Wood, speaking of coaches, the syndicate headman who won the Coach of the Year award at the MMA Awards yesterday is going to join us back into the show.

And we will also be joined by Maricio Hoofee soon. So stand. Okay, they're having a chat. Wow. They're having a nice chat back here. I love that. I love that. You know what's fun about this?

It's like Mr. Rogers' neighborhood. People come in and out. We don't take breaks. We don't stop down. And it's like we're just like, we're like a fight house here. People are just coming to hang out. And that's that. On a lovely...

Mr. Rogers famously live. Was he live? No. Oh. We are our own thing, Matt. Why are they saying working through the king? Is everything okay in the chat? Chat?

Everything okay? Hmm. We're going to have to bring a... A secondary chair here, right? Because Hoofee's coming with... We're on it, yeah. All right. Was that a knock?

Okay, our next guest is here. One of the absolute best lightweights in the world. Mauricio Hoofee is here. Knock out of the year winner. How are you, my friend? Fabiano is here, too. The goat is in the house. Fabiano, look at this guy.

Thank you. And Mrs. Hoofie, soon to be, coming in town. Wow, this is great guys. Thank you so much. Good day. Good day. Good Portuguese. Hey. Yeah, you speak into the microphone, yeah? You make love to the microphone. Go, so. Go with everything. Okay. Parabence. Knock out of the year. Big deal for you. You're happy about it? What does it feel like?

It was a lot of you. It's a thing that significant. It was a lot. Yeah, yeah. I was in expectation. I knew that if one day I could get this shoot, I would get to get also the knockout the year. Yeah, it was a lot of expectation. I knew that if I got that

kick right, I would get knock out of the year one day. And I think you're going to have a few more potential ones, candidates throughout your career. Last time we saw you, Parabez, congratulations on the win over Michael Chandler.

First, let me just ask the experience of fighting at the White House. How would you describe it? I think you'll have many other candidates to knockout the year, with everything you brought to us to talk.

First, first of all, I'm doing, for the victory in the UFC 250 there in the Casa how is the the experience

and the victory against Michael Michael Jell? The Casa Branca was a

experience very special, very unique everything was all everything was totally different

of all that I was very great, and I got also a knockout and

also a performance for me myself. I had the performance to lead

with a way like I were if I So for me to legate. Unique, different than anything I've ever seen or ever experienced with the UFC. It was amazing.

And obviously getting the win. And to me, it was a performance for myself. I got the performance that I wanted out of myself. It was just the fact that how I managed such an important fight week and such an important fight, I was very proud of myself. I was able to accomplish throughout that fight weekend with the win. Speaking of the fight week, was it stressful? There was a lot going on.

There were delays, the weather and whatnot? I'm sure every fight week is stressful would you describe this one as even more so I'm talking about some about the thing interesting because there was a question of the time, some of some of the uncertainas this impact or you'd say that

in a way general was like a one, a week, I don't know I'm not trying to stop to hear here, I don't think I'm in front of Ariel Ramane here. I saw a lot of time

to be interviewed for you, just, I just wanted to let you know I can't stop smile, and giggling here because I can't believe I'm in front of you, brother, because I wanted to be in front of you. It was kind of like a lifelong drink. I can't believe that I'm in front of the interview.

So I just wanted to let you know that up front. Hey, we had to work very hard to get you here. We had to move a lot of things to get you here. That's how much it means to us to have you here. And it's a much for us to have you here. So thank you. So much it's very much for us. Good.

What was? About the question. Oh, the question was about the stress of Fight Week, the delays, the weather, the scenery, it wasn't your typical fight weekend. I was wondering how it affected him, if at all. In terms of stress, the lot, of the atrazos that had, of all that whole that park, the black,

if affected you or not? No, I, I was, I was trying to every moment. For me, if you had to lot in the show, or in the road, there was a lot in the front of the gramada, for me, it would make a minor difference. And I was animated, I was a lot of greatness, but the

but the lute is that I did with more facilitation of my life I have little as I've never looked at a

mother in nothing in my life. So I just have I'm so I'm 14

and 14 victories is all the I have to get a experience. So, conform I have done

more experience and it's have been more more calm and in the house

back after all after I did all after the was the last I did

the last I was the lot of funny it was a fight that I was prepared all throughout. It didn't phase me. It was a lot, everything that I do in the UFC brings me more experience. I've never had amateur career. I just basically had the 14

fights at a 14 wins. So everything brings more experience. And this was, from the work that I've put in, that allowed me to feel comfortable with everything that happened. It didn't phase me at all. Didn't feel rattled. It was the fight that I had most magnitude in my entire life. And it was the one that I was able to have most fun. After the fight that I had against Fiziv, for example, this was nothing to me. It felt just very natural and very organic. Ariel,

I passed for a lot of the fight against Rafael Fiziev, that I was just wanted to call back to the answer. I would have fought in the rain. I would have fought in the lawn. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what happened. I went through so many things in the fight against Raphael Fiziz because I was ready to face anything in this fight.

Okay, like what? What did you go through? For example. I took influenza in the semester in the summer of the Saturday. The peso the peso subbed

the peso took the influence, passing very much the end up. The UFC kind of did me take the lot,

then it gave more chance because I saw that I didn't have more with the virus, so he gave

the responsibility I had eight kilos to take, even more of the influenza. After I was,

I got, I got to get the piece, I began me to eat me alimented to advance

to run to get a minute of myrne of the doctor of the FC got to be able to the doctorate to

took a little bit more than I was able to make sure, I'm subed noctobering, I was able to get erect, 100%. When I was set a lot, I setter-weights, on fight week um things went downhill from there um the there there was still 14 15 pounds on to take off uh the the weight really went up after i had the influence of the ufc pretty much like kind of took me out of the fight and put me back and said they said okay you are clear off the virus so you can fight but they really considered there was a there there might have been an issue

there but they gave me another chance and they said they basically just put the responsibility I mean, I go, no, you're going to have to make the weight and feel good. So after all that challenge, about half an hour going into the, before, you know, going into the arena, I'm in the van, going to the arena, and hernia a disc just kind of blows up. And I just, my back acts up. I couldn't basically be straight. I went up in that octagon. And obviously, they gave me some stuff that I could take to loosen up a little bit.

We warmed up, got ready for the fight, but I basically got up. that I'd have to be able to actually kind of stand up straight. Wow. And there I was, and I was able to knock a guy out that was considered to be the best striker. Right. Wow, that's crazy. Considering all of that, is that your most proud performance?

Is that the one that means the most to you? And considering all of what happened, what you've passed, is the performance that you put, what you're the more, I'm more, I think, there's a more of a good, that's a lot more than you? I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, to me to fight in a house-branca, this lute. So I I believe that could have been my

my major victory, the moment that I lived, that I had, I'd, I'd some of the moments more difficult in my life, the perka of my man, so, for, to, put,

to, go, back, after had lost, to have to be back to Raphael Fizyev, knock out of the way that was, I don't feel, I don't feel, then, I do, I do, the credit for this LUT.

I do believe so. It was a fight, I mean, thinking of all the adversity that had gone through, I think that fight not only it gave me the opportunity that put me into the Ohio's pretty much, right? And you think about the loss that I experienced my brother,

the loss that I had in the previous fight as well and he had just a call back to the previous answer that's the night that I became a true soldier. So I do believe that that fight and then again, the knockout that I had without being touched in that fight. So I do believe that was the most significant I've had.

Yesterday when you were accepting your award, you had mentioned that you have been through a lot and that maybe you couldn't have ever imagine being up here talking about your own life and the battles that you've been through. Can I ask you about that? When was this? When were you dealing with this and why were you feeling this way? On the M.M.A. Awards, you mentioned the provaations that you had, the moment that you had two years ago, a place, a place more secure that you passed on your life, some of some experiences that you now supered, but they're there. You could be able to ask for

you, how it was this, the what you battled, and how are you got to you do you? Sure,

I've I've got two years of my life practically in a camera, so much much much

every time when I had to I was I had had a time, and the wife

would be back the house I was my 14 years of the to be

to be to be aftlet of the life and all right also. My

My husband had a illness, she was a mother, and my son was my son was my son

or I had two my own. I was, you know, a lot of the breadwinner in there. And I left home at 14. So basically I was the one that was my own man for quite some time. And I had to, I was dedicating myself to going to the UFC to go in a fighting career to make it to the UFC.

And nothing was going right for me. And at that time, she also had a condition that she thought that she couldn't have children. And I said, well, these are dreams that were going to have to basically trade off. You know, I wanted to be a father. She wanted to be a mother. She couldn't be a mother. So a lot of things were happening, and a lot of treaties were happening at that time,

and not going right at that time. And then, this time, I became very very happy, me came into many the lives, to try my life, to end up with that door. I, my, my happiness was when I'd dreamy.

And then I met him, a guy, went to cut the, my hair, my hair, in my house, and he said to my wife, and said to me, like, where'd your husband?

He came to where was my husband. I thought a question about him and I'm

asking, where did my wife? And he said that God, Jesus,

had left him in my house, not just to cut my hair, but to cure her.

And he he said that she was a, she was she was I, I confess

that I not I think I'm but he said that God was too

that was that if I to give this my life for Jesus, all would have moved to me. And I had no option, I went to give me, I said to him,

okay, I want to give my life to Jesus. And, infin, he went and went back. 10 days after, my wife was my husband was going to be the endometriose

that she had this disease, and she had no more, she was really 100 cured, and God said, I wanted to do something new in my

life, and in one year, I was in the UFC, getting the first of the year, knockout of the year, and

all this me happened. So, all the times that I sub knowct when I talk to Jesus, I'm 100 compromised to say this message. I used to go to bed not knowing what happened and what no, you know, having a lot of dark thoughts and just not, just not being

all there and a lot of things went through my mind and a guy came to cut my hair and home and basically he asked for my wife and said, but I thought it was weird right, guys come to give me a haircut, where's your wife? And I was like, well, it was not sent here just to cut your hair. I want to

I'm obviously here by God and by Jesus to talk to you. So your wife, we need to, I need to pray for her to heal her. And I confess I did not believe in it in the first. And I just, you know, I was very skeptical about it. And he prayed for her. And eventually we got tests and exams done. And she was done with endometriosis. And she was cured.

We were able to, and then you think about everything that happened. He knew he's become a father. and then going into the UFC within a year and look at all that happen. And he looked at me and he said, a lot of good things. God is going to bring you a lot of good things into your life.

And that's why, skeptically at first, but then I said, I give my glory in my life to God and to Jesus. And I really surrender myself to him. And I'll just take these blessings. And that's why every time I step into that octagon, I always talk about Jesus and how my life was changed and look at all the things that happened since.

Wow. Yeah, I know what is living and not are living. I was, like, it was like I don't have been, I don't want to live. So, today, is on the UFC, to live all this.

For me, it's a great privilege. I never imagined to live all this. So, I don't have impression. I'm a guy, 100 happy. It's impossible to be a guy more than I am today.

I don't know what can be tomorrow, but be more happy than I am today. Nothing can make me more happy than I am today. I'm very grateful to God for all this. And, maybe this is all that someone

on the other side needs to hear. I know how it is to try the proper life, and for that I don't open the hand of this message. And I'm always saying, this for me, is my objective number one, to help people who are passing for this.

The Cinturon and all the rest will come, well, then, before. I know what it is to live, but to not feel alive. to not want to be there, to be there, but not be there altogether. And so many good things happened to my life, and so many things had happened before that were not so good that I don't feel any pressure. Nothing phases me.

What else can happen to me that hasn't happened before? And I feel that's why you always see me with a smile on my face, always see me happy, always grateful to God, always willing to inspire people, to help people. and I know what it is to want to take your own life and to not be happy with yourself. So that's why I want to spread happiness. And maybe that's the one thing that people need to listen to and to hear out there on the other side. Because maybe the one thing that you're hearing from me may inspire them and to not do that and just think more of themselves. And the belt, knockouts, career, and everything that happens.

I mean, does it be inspiring people and helping change people's lives is something in a mission in my life. I appreciate you sharing this with us. It's an unbelievable story. I just have a few follow-ups if I can. This gentleman who came to your house to cut your hair, did you invite him? Did you book him to come or did someone do it on your behalf or for you? I thank you to talk about this, all this experience with everyone. But I just would say this guy who went to cut the hair in your house.

It was a person who you called, because you said he said that he said, or someone, someone how he went to, how he went to be the maximum, but I was separated the

my spouse, in this time, we had more conditions to get together, and I contracted this guy to cut my

hair, I said to him, he could, he could go in the hotel where I just were there

where I was to go to the hotel would decide to where I would, so the hotel not could

get to my car to my husband, uh, by Neidine, and And getting there, this guy who went to cut my

hair, he said that he was there for this mission that Jesus had invited him to talk to me, all this guy, today, he is my pastor, he's always with all the years that I do to fight, he voyages with me, and we have a relationship, like,

of a father and a few. So I shortened the story a little bit, but at that time, I was thinking of, you know, and my wife and I were just thinking of splitting up. We were going on a separate way, and I was actually at a hotel from that moment on. I was just gonna move on with my life

and see what was coming next and what was my next step. But they couldn't allow him to come in and cut the hair there in the hotel. So he said, well, we'll go, I had to go back to home, to Nadeen's home and do it there. And once he came in there, he said, oh no, I just, I was sent by Jesus for something more

than just giving you a haircut. Wow. I came here to actually towards your wife and do that. And so they used to do it. you know, this man has been with me ever since. He is my pastor. He's been around me for every single one of my fights. And we have a relationship that's a father and son

relationship, so he's been with this all along. I was going to ask that question, that follow-up, do you still keep in touch with him? Clearly you do. So do you bring him to your fights? Like was he in DC with you? And this is the question that I would ask, just to understand, then,

he came to all the last of all the lot, I brought him to Washington with you, to the Cusa of the Casa Branca? He's always with you? Yes, he's always with me. He not able to see to the States even, because we have problems with the visit,

but I'm always in the day in ligation with him. We're all right, do all together. Always, from me. And unfortunately, he hasn't been able to come to the fights in the United States because of visa issues,

but we're fighting through it. We're hoping we can get that done. but always together, always talking every day. We're from afar, it doesn't matter. We're near each other, and we pray together, or we're always in touch. How many kids do you have? How many kids do you have? I've two children in one.

In one, God has given me two children in one year. Wow, unbelievable. Parabins on that as well. And we remember in the cage, after you beat Michael Chandler, you proposed to your, you refer to her as your wife, but you're not married yet, right? You obviously, if it's fair, an Agina as a woman, but you're not are married, you're not being married.

Yes. In the time, we're we're what, uh, was what, uh, was what, uh, was that was what, uh, was she was a woman for my life. So, we're not, we didn't do we didn't have fests

or not we didn't, uh, I didn't, I don't have money to make a festival, like, like, like, um, she'd, uh, to visit a family and everything. Yeah, but now, uh, but now, put,

so many the doors opening, I can't make a little bit so I'm going to

make her in a little a ceremony and a thing, a thing, a thing, a thing,

it's a end of the end of day, we knew she was the woman of my life, and the

woman that I wanted to spend my entire life with, so I knew she was my wife back then, so we actually got,

you know, we got married, but never had the condition or the time or or the find the resources to be able to

have the party that she deserves. Okay. Ceremony with everybody and having people invited and everything else. And now, with all the things

are happening with the resources that we have and the opportunity we have now, if everything goes right, love to do it by the end of this year. So the party is coming.

Did you plan on doing that or did it come to you in the moment? Planéjo, do you, in that case in a lot of, in that moment, you said, I'm,

I was going to do it. I planegee, planed, do, And I was to be doing strategies for God to I don't

me can't too, I'd say all those the words. Yeah, I planned it. I planned

a lot and I was asking God for strategies so I wouldn't you know, wear myself out during the fight so all the words

would come out. And of course you have to win the fight because if you don't win the fight, you don't get on the microphone.

Your wife is actually here. Did you know he was going to do this or were you surprised? She said, she didn't know.

And were you there? Were you in, you were in the crowd? Wow. I was hoping that you would come into the cage for the moment. The security was tight, right? They didn't let.

But I'm sure you guys saw each other afterwards, and that made the moment probably that much more special, right? First of all, it had to gain a lot, obviously. The fact that he asked her now, obviously, if she was, if she was there were there was people who were not coming, and, unfortunately, she didn't know, because the security, obviously,

in that day was, much. But then you guys were, there were, there, you know, that you saw there, that we were there, that we were, really, really incredible. And I just want to show you here, are those two. Wow, wow, wow. Those are your kids?

Yes, yes. Show to this one right here. Yeah, there one. Yeah. What are their names? Lorenzo and Lorena. Wow. And Lorenzo, so they were able to see each other on their way out.

So she was like right there. So on their way out was a very special moment. So I wanted this. Amazing. Amazing. Thank you. She was more than I was asking her in a house. But, boy, it was, it was very special.

she was saying that while I paid in a lot of the camera in her face, a lot of people asking and all of

it was a moment markant. Who was what other woman on planet was being in a

house she was blushing a lot too because they stuck a camera right in her face as soon as the

proposal was happening but it was a remarkable moment it was a special moment and what woman in the world

can say that she was opposed at the sound law of the White House that is true that is true

very unique. By the way, you mentioned earlier, you left your home when you were 14. Why so young? You left your house at 14 years of age. Why so young? Because in my city, it's a city very dangerous in Brazil. The city most perigosa, the city more dangerous, was a laageru, was very dangerous. All right, all of my friends of infancy

including I only only have one a friend of he's but he's but

all they were very young so I knew that I knew that I was to go to

my temperament so I needed to find out of my same before I

not to get me to I'm involved because it's

one of Brazil's most dangerous cities up and then towards

the northeastern northern the north of Brazil and the state of Alago is the capital Massaero. All my friends from childhood, I mean, there's only one remaining out there.

He's actually behind bars. So I knew I needed to get out there because of the conditions, because of everything, the adversity, and also because of my temper. So I really wanted to make sure I got out there and got out of that environment. You have a temper.

You seem like such a calm guy. There's another side of you that we don't know or is that side gone now? And you have a temperament that we see you as a guy so tranquil, so calm this temperament still is?

Or is a other other side? Or this is one other other side? The Bible says that when we know we we're saying we we're taking us

to him, he us transform. And it's what I see in me, all those people say the same thing, poe, you know,

you're not the same person? And it was that God did so about my I'm not, I'm not the same guy than before. I was 100% transformed. And they say that in

the Bible, they say that whenever you surrender your life to Jesus to God, you become a different person. He transforms your life and that's how I feel. I feel like I'm not the same person. Everybody looks at me because you're not the same person as you were before. I feel 100% transformed.

But I have a, I'm in brevet will launch this book and I have stories that will shock the world when I know what I've ever and things that have happened with me. At the time right, I will I will open this game. I think

the world still isn't, the world still not is ready to hear this, all this, all this, so on me. And I'm going to release a book with all the stories that I've had. I mean, people, the world will be shocked,

the things that I've seen and things that I've done. And I think that people will want to hear it, but I don't think that people are ready yet, at the right time, I release a book, and people will see and I think it will be shot of the things that I've seen and went through in my life. Did you get into a lot of trouble as a kid? You made a lot of problems whencella minor?

Much, many, many problems. And when I was mayor, when I went to San Paulo, me made proposals that I not could recusar because I needed to survive. So, I, I, I passed by things that me prohibit on the FC to share but in the right right I'm going to as a kid as an adult as well when I moved to

San Paulo I had to take up an opportunity because I needed the money and needed the funds and I just took up on some things that I'm not particularly proud of

and I they those are things that the UFC has told me let's not share at the moment okay okay but there will be a moment that will

wow I want to read this book Gara Lesile I want to read this book yes I want to read it I know you have to go very soon and I told you would keep you until 1230, so I want to respect that. But you did announce that, and this has been amazing.

This is why I love the in-person interview so much because you get to learn so much more about the fighters. And if you want to relay that to him on the front end of this question, you put out a video saying, I'm coming to Vegas to be the backup fighter. Can you explain what's going on there? Is this you volunteering, or did someone call you

and say, we need you to be ready just in case? In respect to your time, probably we can respect to this, but I would like to thank you I'm actually that's so important to do my interview to live, because there's a trocate different of information and also the tete-a-tete is

always the better. You announced that you will be reserved for the lute of Saturday. This came to you call to I want to be a reserve,

you receive a connection, how is it does this process? As soon I knocked out-eerie Michael Chandley, I just asked to my employer

to talk with Hunter. I said, I said, poe, I want your reserve of the Lutta. And I think they don't are more contracting for you to your reserve

official, like, say, and bathe the peso and contracted for them. I think it's more the same process, but I'm put

the disposition, and they topped, so, do this. And I'm doing, I'm to come to here, I said to them to say, I'm

going to be able to pay the peso, and I'm ready to me want. So as soon as the fight of the White House was over, I told my manager,

like you call them up and tell them I want to be the backup for that, for that fight. And then obviously talk to Hunter and sell us

in the process for you to be a backup fighter is not like used to be before. I mean, they just kind of go through the motions of you're paying

for to making weight and everything else. But we'll take up on it. They did accept that. I said, well, I'm doing everything. If I need to make the weight,

I will make the weight. And if I need to be ready, I will be ready to fight outside. So will you weigh in tomorrow? So, if I, so I, so I will,

They still not confirmed if I if I'm if I'm I'm not I think they're no problem with the

but I said I was available so they're they're gonna they're waiting or I'm not confirmed whether I need to

wait in or not I'm assuming because I don't think they've had any issues regarding to wait but if they need anything I'm waiting for the phone call

I'll be ready okay if all goes well you don't fight this weekend if it was up to you who are you fighting Next. If all do this

last lot of this is a little you don't need to look to do you? Contra who's

when you go to do? Contra the winner of this I don't know, I think I'm doing the hunter,

the Shannes the Danna have me done the opportunities. They said for that I convinced me

this in my last lutees in my contendium, Who knockedoed the Chandlery the way that I knocked out of Cheney? Who knockedo Fisiev

the way that I knocked out. All those were one against the other. The novelty, is I who came here. So I want to look for the Cinturon. I believe that they will

me give this opportunity. How the Gate will do you fight on the year? Maybe he'll put the centuron interino. I'm super-animated to know what will happen. You know, the winner of this fight?

Maybe I think I've earned it. I think I'm ready to fight for anyone. And if you think about the fact that who knocked out Michael Chandler the way I did? Who knocked out of Zeev the way I did? They've all fought each other.

Who brought the novelty? Who brought something new? It was me. So I do believe that I have a chance to fight for the title. We don't know where Gage is going with is maybe fighting at starting of next year. So maybe they put an interim belt on the line.

But I believe in the plans that the UFC has, have given me since, you know, it's as Dana, it's Hunter, Sean. Like, they, I believe in the plans and the path they trace for me. So I do believe in their plans and I do believe that I could be able to get a time shot. What did you think of Fiziv's knockout two weeks ago? You kicked such for the knockout of Fiziv. Not bad, huh?

Bacquite. Congratulations. Maybe he learned from you. Maybe I'll learn from you. Yeah, maybe. Amazing. Wow. Getting to learn more about your backstory and everything you've been through makes all your accomplishments

that much more impressive. So again, congratulations on everything you've done. I can't wait. I feel like maybe this time next year, you're right there. You're in this time next year, July of 2027. Are you champion yet? Have you fought for the belt? What do you think?

Sabre those adversities, the provasions, and those things that happened in your life, are doing with the things that you've won't even more than. So it was very baccanae you've been to have been with us. I think you're in the way,

I think you're there, by the book, where you are in July of the year of the year? In 2017. You are champion, I think I think I'm

I'm sure I'm I think I think that all the world will be training the roof style. It's like I

always say maybe I'm very lousad in to say this but it's a thing that I think I I think

I think that I the world entire will know the born, the Guatototel and Jawa

I've insisted much in this I'm I'm going to something new. One day I think that the people will be training much about Roof Style. I have seven Lutas in UFC.

I practically not was touched in the Roste and I want to see the new generation, everyone training Roof Style, and to open some academies about Roof Style. I do believe I will be champion. People say I'm a little bit daring to say this, but I've worked really hard, and I put my mindset into it,

and I want Rufi Style to be a thing, I want people to understand what that is, and I want people to be training Rufi style. I want people to understand that I have been, seven fights in years who have barely been touched my face, and I want people to understand what born, Montori and Jova are the three stages of fighting that I preach, and I want people to be training a new generation of fighters

to learn and open, you know, new gyms for people to understand what Rufi style is all about. I don't want your lovely wife to get mad at me, so I'm going to let you go, Do you mind signing this table for us and we're going to give it to a charity? We're going to auction it off and give it to charity. Do you mind? Let me give you to give you to Nadine.

I just would, for favor, this table here, go to carriages. So, for favor, so. And Fabiano, you too. That's for fighters. No, no, no. You're in there. Come on. You're a legend.

Anywhere you want. By the way, am I pronouncing a wrong? Is it Rufi or Huffy? You said Rufi, Fabiano. But I say Hufi because I thought in Portuguese the R is. You're right. I just tend to do that. You anglicize it.

Yes. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Do you hear that? Is it Rufi? Yes, it's one piece.

He's a problem. I know this guy. The question of what we say Ruf. But when we say in English, it's a Roofy. It's that in Japan, they're not?

So, the pronunciation is R because. In Japan, is obviously the different Yeah, yes, yes, yes. So the pronunciation goes, Rufi.

Okay. So he prefers Rufi? You prefer to prefer that the person Fife or Roofie. Ah. No problem. name you decide morisio rufe rufe we we settled it okay please uh signature here and uh you'll be on

your way thank you so much what a guy beautiful shirt can people buy this shirt is this available anywhere and it's a manna can't come this can't this can't be this one this here i'm sorry this is this your own shirt yeah yes it's your own shirt yeah yes it's this is this This is the character. Yeah, that's what I'm just to explain to him. But, boy, the Roof is a anime that's coming the world. Everyone has a knowledge. There's a story incredible for behind of all this.

And, for the friends of Japan, even, even for me called, me invited to go there. So I'm very animated to go to Japan and to know all the show. Ruffy's story from One Piece is amazing. People are getting to know the character, getting to know his story a lot, and people are reaching out to me. Oh, love it. Even from Japan, people want me to go to Japan to actually share the story.

So I've been very grateful for this. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you, my friend. Yes, really appreciate it. Fabiano. Good man. Thank you.

What a pro. It's amazing to see you work in action. Here to help. Thank you. Thank you so much. There they are. Champion, this time next year. Maricio Ruffy.

Don't get it twisted. What a guy. What a great story. Thank you so much, guys. Take care. Okay. Okay. That was incredible.

Where am I going? Oh, here we go. Oh, yeah. No. bring in everyone. We've got other people here. This is amazing. I'm having a blast. I'm having the time of my life. That conversation with Mauricio was great. And on-air Jordan is telling me that luminaries are here. Who do we have? Who do we have? Do I need to kill time or are they coming in? Yeah, that's fine. Keep the mic. Don't keep the mic. This is a party. This is Fight House USA.

Sin City. Viva. Wow. The whole gang is coming. Are you kidding me? Who's here? Ah, wow, look what the cat dragged in. The man. Look at that shirt, by the way. Yeah, yeah, baby. I was there. It's the original Ringer MMA crew. How about, wow, look at this. This is the famous shirt.

Show him the back shirt. Did they see the back? I was there. He was there, baby. Wasn't this the shirt that you got him? Yeah. Oh, he was also there. Wait, you got one for yourself too?

I got two of them. Okay. I sent one over to Pizzi for, you know, irony or what you're doing. Yes, of course, of course. Oh, this is so nice. Cool, man. Don't mind that water. That's Mauricio, so I don't want you to get the, uh, you know.

All right, all right. Welcome, guys. Yes, man. Thanks for stopping by. That's like a $350 shirt. This is $350, yeah, yeah. Che would have to know about fashion. There's couture and then there's sort of like, you know, when did you get here?

I got in late last night, so I missed all the awards. The shenanigans. Thank you. Thank you. 16. Congrats to all of us. Yeah, Rick Flair, you know, who's counting. He's counting, you know.

What about this? What about this from Mr. Roddy, huh? He said he's going to send me out some, too. I don't know about that. A little cigar? Special edition ones for me. Oh, really? Okay, wow.

Did you see him back there? Yeah, talked to him over half an hour there. Look at these. They're gold-plated. I don't know what you, do you smoke cigars, Chuck? No. I'll take anything that's going. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Usually. Okay, so what's... You can imagine you smoking a cigar. You know, when you win a big one... Actually, the... As I spoke to Coach Missoula about yesterday, did you hear my story about Coach Missoula? I heard it. That's pretty damn cool, man.

I got to the airport last night walking off the plane. You know the big Las Vegas. Yeah, of course. Right in front of me, Michael Porter, Jr. Oh, your guy. What'd you say to him? I just said, we miss you? Yeah.

I mean, I wanted to tell him all of that stuff. I wonder why I guess just come check out the site. He's not playing in Summer League. No, he's just here. Just hanging. Did you say you ran into the brothers at the end and out? Oh, yeah, but they were. playing. This is 2015. Oh, you were talking back in the day. Yeah. I thought you were talking about

no, no, no. Okay. They were playing. Yeah, they were wearing their training gear. Are you going to get to go to summer league? I'm thinking. Well, they, the nuggets start tomorrow, so I might, gotta go. I might sneak. Have you ever been? Never been. It's awesome. Well, I was working for ESPN. I was working for ESPN. I did sidelines for three games. And then I stuck around. It was R.J. Barrett against Zion Williamson. They were rookies. And it was Nick's Pelicans. And then there was an earthquake. Do you remember? And they had to cancel the game midway. That was the night that Kauai Leonard signed with the Clippers, leaving the Raptors. We've come full circle. It was 2019. And it was R.J. versus, and there was a moment where Zion Williamson ripped the ball away from

Kevin Knox. You guys probably don't remember any of this. I don't remember that. NBA TV to watch you do Soyd Leonard Martin on that thing. That's a friend right there. I still have it. Charging a lot. I think there's some pushback on that Kauai trade. Did you see this? Oh, no. Just now. Like, it's all going down. That it's not happening? Because of that investigation that's going. Oh, dear God. Yeah. NBA's a match. I'm a meaning here. Big fight on this weekend.

Yeah, big fight guys. Big fight. Okay, Chuck, I asked PT yesterday. Let me ask you, you just got here. Yes. But is it feeling like old McGregor fight weeks? What's the temperature? What's the vibe?

Is it too early to say? What do you think? I haven't noticed it if it's there yet. Okay. Yeah. You guys were actually out and about all day yesterday. So I don't know. We're going to find out tonight.

It's tonight. I think that that's really good. Presser. The press con. Yeah. I'll be there. Yeah. I'll be there.

Probably do some kind of piece coming out of that. And then we'll know. But I always felt like that was kind of, I mean, you would feel it much more earlier in the week. Because back in those days, like Dana would just punch out like a fight week and it felt like we were just, remember this? It was like kind of kicked off. But I haven't really encountered that. Usually when you go to the hotel, whenever you check in, you'll see people. And I didn't really see that.

And stuff like that. Yeah, I did not see anything like that. A lot of people are making this argument that UFC aren't promoting them the way they were. They aren't pushing this because he has only two foot. fights left. Do you think there's an element of that? Like, obviously, when you think back on 194, 189, there was like world tours. There was all these massive media spots. But I think I think Max and Connor are at a stage of their career where they're not like, I'm not throwing myself out here, left, right and center. You know, like, we're here to fight at the end of the day.

Do you think there's any element that are, I really? Like, you're feeling they aren't going to get behind it the way they could? To a degree, yes. They don't have to fly them out. As we talked about, this is all bought and paid for already. It would actually be on paramount to say we want them out. We want to pay to have them out because they're the ones benefiting from them doing media. So yeah, there was no kickoff press conference. Now, it was all announced and put together a little bit late.

Like, it was announced the week after the newer card, right? That was when it was in. I remember everyone thought it was going to actually be announced on the night of the Newark card and it didn't happen. It happened on the Instagram live during the Netflix card. And so I feel like by then they were in White House mode. So they missed the opportunity. I thought they were going, there was a plan in place to do a presser at the White House,

like fight week, which I thought would have been brilliant. But I think they just, they have no incentive to do it. What does that mean then? What do you take that to mean? I think it's a sign of the Times. It's a sign of pay-per-view being dead. It's a sign of them not having the pressure to sell these fights anymore because it's all bought and paid for in advance.

And we lose out. And I think Connor and Max are probably happy not to do it. They're getting paid. They have guaranteed money. And your Max hallway, you want to fly from Hawaii. DC or Connor you want to fly from Dublin to DC you don't want to do it so you're like all right fine I'm not going to do it but we I think the ones who eat it all up miss out on it and it's a shame because that was a fun part of the fight game right like this is just had such a

different feel back yeah I mean you hate to kind of belabor it even yesterday he's sitting up there it's different than like the one-on-ones and stuff like that it's just a different vibe I don't like those media things on all the you don't like him don't he just the poor media are sitting there for like eight hours yeah and this conveyor belt Like, I probably think the most McGregor from back in the past, I was even saying this to Roddy is like the fact he showed up 90 minutes late. I was like, well, that's something we can compare it to the old days. Yeah. Yeah.

Dude, were you at? Like, so the first time he came to the States, they went to Peter Welch's gym. Do you remember? Were you there for that? I came later in the week. I remember it. Were you there? I was there for it.

Okay. So it was like, well, I was first on the scene. It was early. It felt like the Beatles. You know, it felt like that Shay State of moment because there was all these people, like all these fans. And, you know, Dana, we were. was there because he knows Peter from way back in the day. And like they had, you know, it was just this very strange.

Like, get your sneak peek of this sensation coming through. I always, so like when we go through these nostalgic things, I always remember that, you know, like. And then that was like the big American unveiling. Yes. And he, you know, he's in there like putting on a show. Yeah. I think it was his own, wasn't it his own open workout? It was his own open workout.

Which is rare. Yeah. And Dana was there, though. Yes. That's what told you like. It felt very boxing like. Like this is the guy that we are spotlighting, which they never do. cool, man. And look, that's a thing in the past. Another thing is the Porre fight. And I'm not,

I'm not trying to say, like, the very first one. Okay. I remember this so well because we were at the the way in, right? The press conference was that was a few weeks after Brande out. I can't, now maybe I wasn't there on time. I can't remember a press conference on the Thursday before that fight, but I remember the way in. Remember Dustin had the big reaction because out of nowhere, this tsunami of Irish people. I think there were J-1 students just arrived. And I can remember sitting there and they just started pouring in. And I think you and one of those videos of Romani and maybe Chuck where he's standing there among all these people who just came from absolutely nowhere.

Look, I'm not trying to say it's going to be anything like that. But it's just a reminder of that things can happen very late that changed the feel of a fight week. I was talking to Ariel. Remember the bottle incident with the Diaz? Oh, he was outside with you and Shaheen going, don't, doesn't really feel the same. Doesn't we're like, no, and then just out of nowhere. It explodes.

Yes. I was actually reminiscing with Kavanaugh yesterday. and I think you were there, tough premiere in Boston movie theater. Did you go to that? Yeah, I did not go. I do remember that happening. Oh, because Connor and John were just sitting there by themselves

because they just wanted to take it all in. So crazy, man. Took a walk from the hotel, heard that it was happening, and they were just so wide-eyed and eager to eat it all up, a fight week in Boston, debut on FS1,

and they just sat in the theater with us. This is the context of the whole thing, right? Like, we can remember all of these things. Because when he fought Brimidge, right, that was the first one. one in Sweden. Yeah. Backstage, do you remember Dana goes and talks to him?

He's like, wow, man, that was great. Yeah. We have an event in Boston. I'd really love to get you. He's telling him this stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you're in Boston. You're like, now we're here at this moment.

They're dropping the lights on him. He's like midway through the prelims. I mean, just that whole thing is just, you get, it's tough for us, right? Because you remember every step of the way. We've become like the old beat writer guys. We're Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe, reminiscing about Larry Bird in 86.

I'm the only guy who brings a typewriter to press row these days, you know, so. We're one step removed from the hat with the press ticket in there, you know, those days. I thought it was interesting what Chale said, though. Yeah, which part? About, like, McGregor's here to prove people a lot. Like, he, Chale completely dismisses this as a contest. Like, this makes no sense.

It's weird. This is, from the beginning. Yeah, like, didn't even entertain it. Yeah. Like, no, this isn't what it's about, but you do get that sense. Obviously, the question was asked about the sexual assault case yesterday. Yeah, what did you think? Everyone's in the trenches.

nothing he says is going to change opinion on this. I really believe that. But I think it's... Everyone's in the trenches. What do you mean? As in the polarity of people in Ireland, don't even want to... Their mind is set.

I was writing about this in the diary. I was like, they don't want to even consider him as an athlete. They just, they want this to be, this is what the main story about McGregor is. And then on the other side, you have these fans that are so interested. And they're like,

I don't want to hear about the other stuff. I want to be entertained with this guy. I don't think he could say anything where people would be like, Do you know what? I've changed my mind. But I think it's good that it was said. I think it was good that was out there so close to this big fight,

which we think could have more numbers than the White House, right? For sure. It's important. Just for the sport that it's out there, it's said, like, this is the reality of the situation. I just think that was important in itself. But I think that is a massive factor here. I think it's a, I think he, this is a guy that was absolutely adored. And people don't want to think about that in Ireland.

And they get in the piece I wrote, I woke up to a message, me talking about the glory days. And someone was like, how are you talking about this? They don't want to acknowledge that that was a real thing, be in light of everything that's happened. And there's a long list of controversy. You've been talking about it all week. But I do believe, talk about Ricky Hatton when he passed away. And people were talking about how he was really addicted to the adulation. And he was going back and he was trying to fight later on his career to recapture that adulation.

I was listening to Child, speak to you today. and I was like, there is an element that I hear that has to be. You can't be on top of the world the way he was and be in this situation and not want to get it back. I just think that's... We're sitting here reminiscing about it. Yeah. You'd have to think at some point he's able to look,

especially in five years, right? Like to kind of look back and have perspective on his career and be like, I remember those days too. You know what I mean? I wish I could get those back. And I mean, Kevin I was saying like he's treating it this way, right? Like he's kind of trying to kind of reintroduce the hunger to the situation. Didn't he say he had like a bed set up in the gym?

And things like that, that adds an element to me. I just, I think that you're right, though, like, the people who are now turned and, like, they just aren't going to look at Carmberg may never do it again. I mean, he's not going to win anybody over. But we know the fight game in general. Yeah. And we know the hysteria that happens if you have a big showing.

So if he goes out there and he wins, there's going to be a whole new crop of people that... In Ireland? That's what I was curious about. I think a lot of people, even if they don't, like they're, they're, ghost about Connor, I'm going to watch the fight. If he wins, though, does that help?

I think it becomes a different conversation. I think this is the first fight since that happened. Sure. And I think that's why it's going to be such... But it shouldn't help in that if you feel that this is a bad person, a win or a loss shouldn't change your mind. But it may help. Look, everybody is talking about this in hushed tones in terms of like,

oh, I know he's not a good... I can't wait see the fight, though. Yeah. And that, look, look. Oh, so that is a sense. Oh, absolutely. Do you think the bars will be packed? Do you think people?

No. You don't think so. There's people literally, like, posting, like, we are not putting on this fight. The Irish Mirror had a report today from Rie Raw, which is down the strip, and they used to sell out the venue for the fights, and they're only opening the back room this time for the fight at all. Like, in terms of this whole bar used to just be dedicated to a McGregor fight week, whereas they're just opening kind of a back room now for the event. It's a reality of situation.

Look, lads, it was 10 years ago. Hmm. This is combat sports as well. everything that's happened, like it, it's been nine years of, of rough stuff from McGregor. Like, it's been controversy after controversy to some degree. Like, there is going to be an impact here. But. And it's not apples.

What do you think happens on the Monday? The Monday he knocks him out. What do you think the sentiment is? The Monday, who knocks him out? Connor knocks out Max. What is the sentiment on the Monday? I think people will be. The king is back?

In Ireland? Yeah. Absolutely. There's nothing that can change it. I don't think so. Okay. I do, look, but I'm not trying to say. stronger convictions than Americans.

This is broad strokes. You have to remember, Connemogreg is the most famous Irish person in the world. Like, there's a certain point where he's winning an RT sports person in a year. We're saying this is the most popular athlete

in the country. And I think when he's misbehaving and he's saying things, and a lot of Irish people won't agree with this, but I think they feel like it has an impact on the Irish identity to a large degree.

If that's people's most frame of reference, Ireland. Is that fair, though? What do you mean? Is that fair? On who? On everyone. Like,

Should Irish people do, like, don't, don't attach your country's identity to one person. This happened to America as well with Donald Trump, whether you like him or not? It's a reality of a situation. The President of the United States. For example, when Mike Tyson did what he did or Kobe Bryant was accused of doing what he did, no one said, ah, this is a stain on America. You were having a conversation about the best athletes in New York history last week. Where was Mike Tyson on that list?

He didn't. He wasn't on that list. McGregor. We were focusing on team sports, but that's fair. But I was thinking team sports, to be 100% honest with it. you. Yeah. But I don't know if I don't know, to me, there's no, there's no comparison. But dude, there's a deeper sense of humiliation or mortification to it, right? Because they vicariously lived. Right. Do you remember this? I mean, I felt like, oh, a hundred. Also,

there's way less to choose from, right? And it was indistinguish, too. Like, it was indistinguishable, Irish. He was making, you know, it's like, it was, they were. He was making Ireland very cool. You know, this is a guy that's changing the identity of, of, of Irishness as far as I was concerned. And I think people don't want to acknowledge the impact he had. But I've been getting calls from coaches in England, coaches in America, saying like everyone in MMA should want this going to win because the impact it will have on the sport. You know, like in terms of everybody in the industry of MMA,

the coaches, the gyms will be full, all this kind of stuff because of how he makes people feel. I don't know if he has that power anymore, but that's certainly a sentiment within MMA that I've heard a lot in lead up to this fight. Chuck, what did you make of his demeanor yesterday at the Media Day? I mean, I didn't get to see a lot of it because I was traveling. I did see little clips. I was anxious to see, though, honestly, because we used to put so much stock into just what he would look like.

He would show up with a shaved head or whatever, like facial hair, the pool noodles. It didn't matter. Whatever the thing was, this became part of the storyline, the story within the story. I thought he kind of, I felt he would take this kind of approach. Yeah. This kind of like, I found God approach. what he said about the proper 12 stuff I thought was interesting I never heard him say that before saying yeah yeah like

I had a garage full of stuff I never heard him acknowledge that it was a mistake and I don't know if he feels that way now because they've sort of severed ties in it you don't want to be like yeah no like I'll have a serious for sure but even in the last couple years I've never heard him say that you probably tried it finally and realize this mistake I was saying that at the time and they weren't too happy about me

I tell you that a lot of this stuff comes to light a few days in the road he's still he's still connected to the forged stout, right? So that's still... That's his. Yeah. But here he is talking about how alcohol played a nasty role in his life. Of course it did. Oh, of course it did. I never heard him say that. Oh, he can remember the lead up to the before. He's drinking at the press conference. Of course, but I've never heard him say that is the thing. And I don't know what to make of it. I mean, I don't know what to make of it. Look, people think that when we dissect this from different angles,

like we're trying to either endorse or some... No, we're just trying to like break it all down from all the different angles. This is unique for us as well. Like this, 100%. We're talking about this on the crack. We haven't been here many times. In MMA. Yeah, in MMA, yeah. This is new. And you know what I'm? Boxing's been here before. Yeah. But it's different. Like, with tank, I don't know. And I don't know if it's because it's our little sport, but like when tank fights or Floyd fights or Mike in the past,

I don't know if if the media covering had this much of like a moral dilemma or like a dissection, you know what I mean? It's been around it a lot more. Yeah, yeah. Been around it a lot more. What is it? Compassion fatigue at that stage? Like, it's just they've been through it so many times. People are like, you know, the drill. It's more of a jaded, I think, you know, lived in experience of covering boxing.

If you've covered boxing, like a lot of those chroniclers, you've seen so much, you know, and it's just, I don't know if it's hardened to the game, but you're just used to that sort of, not exactly this, but there is a lot of that type of thing. What's so interesting about it is, there is a sector that is very much like, how dare you, this is all we want to hear about.

We want to hear about how bad of a person this is. And then there's a sector, That's like, please stop talking about this. Can't balance the story. There is no way to balance it. And just, I just want to see this guy fight. I want one last hurrah. This might be my last time.

Please stop. And it's very hard, I acknowledge, to find that balance. And actually, I think we've come to the conclusion. It's impossible to please everyone. Right. Because these guys are going to see a clip of us just sort of reminiscing and be like, what are you guys, guys, platforming? And then these guys are going to see a clip of us talking about this and be like,

you guys suck. no fun police. And it's like you can't win. I don't know, I don't know what the answer is. I feel very confident that uncrowned as an outlet has covered it from all angles. We're talking about it. How many conversations? All the writers are like, what way are we going to do this? We're trying to, we're trying to give the Irish perspective. We're trying to do everything. And it's impossible. It's, it's, there is no way. I think you almost have to just decide that you're going to just check off all the boxes. That's what we're trying to. You know what I mean? Very difficult. And we're trying to step on each other's toes either. We're talking to what are you doing.

What are you doing? I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. It's, it's. Well, you used to watch him and his different approaches, his big picture approach, and he would show up in one form of another. Even on that, the greatest thing you can look at is the four-day press tour with Floyd Mayweather, where he kind of was a different person each day he showed up, which is very bizarre. So now you're saying, you're also tasked with how genuine is the guy that we're seeing right now? That becomes part of this thing, too, and the human drama of fighting in general like the guys are like this, but like he, you're not sure of his conviction scale. And I I feel like that that has to play out.

If this is the real moment where you're like, okay, maybe he has changed. This would be the moment he would need to show that, right? But again, it just plays into the complexity of this whole situation. And also change is not going to come from just something you say. There was a pattern of behavior that emerged as we talked about. This isn't like Dustin Porriere in the airport where you're like, we've never seen this guy do this before. This was basically from 2017 and continuous.

And now we showed up and he said, I was point out that ringer article that was like 4,000 words of all of the time. It's just a three-year period that we put together. Yeah. So I think if you want to get people to acknowledge a change, it needs to be a pattern of behavior as substantial as the one that we've seen them go into. Another interesting element is how this is going to sound harsh, but I feel like Max is such a, like, he's such a bit player and all the, like, not a non-factor, but he's, it's so. It's so, it's so sad. Yeah.

Like when you think about it, he's at eight fights. Look at those eight fights. BMF title, like title fights. Huge fights. This is a huge kind of crossroads moment for him too. And we're right back to the 21-year-old guy completely overlooked in a situation. How weird is that?

Yeah. How weird is that? Poetic. It is weird. It's almost like chooks a good writer or something. You're 100% right because he's in another universe, he's fighting someone else coming off the Oliva fight, and it's like, who is he?

What happened? Why did he look that way? Was it just a bad matchup? Was it something else? Has he slowed down, father time, blah, blah, blah. And here I feel like it's like 95% on the A side. I guess Connor's going to walk out second,

I would imagine, and 5% or 2% on the B side. Is he going to have those McGregor belts, those that look like St. Patrick puked all over them? Is he going to bring them? I think they're selling them, I think. But they put out the money shorts, and then he's not wearing the money shorts.

But it is that element of Max, and what it just a pure fighter is, that makes it seem like an astronomical fee for McGregor to come back after five years and win a fight. like did like he said it himself at the the media day yesterday you know he put him face down the lightweight champion the world was face down max hollway was winning that fight he just did that for the crack yeah he just like fuck it that may as well do this like mcgregor beats him

people people in ireland who are very like as i said earlier very strong negative feelings towards connor they're going to have to prepare themselves because it's going to go it's going to go wild Can I say one thing that I've appreciated, I guess you could say about Max? And he can do whatever he wants. But Max could have used this opportunity to really dig in and gain some fans. If Max went into like that dark place and made this very personal about all the stuff, like there's a lot of fodder there, right? For an opponent, you're a bad dude.

I mean, he's not gone there. And I think that's actually class on his part. Like he could easily view this as a situation to gain a whole second. our fans. I would imagine, we saw the picture in, I think, in dairy. Yeah. Like, imagine if he went into that territory. He says, I'm going to do you all a favor. I'm going to beat this guy up. He's not doing any of that. He's not doing any of that. And I think that's kind of, and there's an opportunity for that. Absolutely. Oh, I think people would

love it, especially in Ireland. I think people would love it. And he's not going there. And I think that's, yeah, that says a lot about him. It's, it's impressive. It's so much shit to talk about. I know. It's just, it's overwhelming. It's layers. Well, this was nice, guys. Thanks for stopping by. Appreciate it. Don't be a stranger. You guys are going to the presser? I'll be there, yeah.

What time is it at? Six, right? He's inside, I'm outside. We're trying to give different. Wait, what does that mean? Like, he's going to go into the press comments. I'm going to be looking at the people going in. I'm going to sample the opposite.

On crown.com. Diary was great. Thank you. Well done. It's good, man. Part two tomorrow. What do you got? I have dispatches.

It's different than a diary. Okay. Don't step on my toes, man. Has there been one yet? No, not yet. Because I just got in. I thought about doing something, but I was like, I better just be on the ground and then I'll start. I'll have a couple of times.

Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate it. Chuck Minen and Hall. And P. Congrats. Formerly known as a three pack from the RinggrabMMA show. Shout out to TST, by the way. Troy, keep doing yoga, baby.

He hard launched. Did you hear about this? Yeah, please. Oh, yeah, yeah. Go ahead, go ahead. No problem. That was great, guys. That was great.

Thank you so much. I'm seeing something right here. Chuck and Pizzi stopping by. Wow, how about this, T&T Sports and DeZone. More than 3.2 million viewers reached across TNT, True TV, and DeZone for Fight Week coverage. How many people watched the show? Live championship peaked at 820,000 on TNTT, True TV and DeZone from 1145 to 12 a.m. It's not bad.

That's not bad. All right, we continue. Our final guests of the day, the reigning, defending coach of the year, hailing from the gym of the year. Wow. I didn't realize what we booked to you. To the journalist in the year. Welcome to the coach. That wasn't your first one, was it?

That was the first for the MMA Awards, yes. Was it really? Yes. Wow. You were a little bit of... John Wood is here, everyone, from Syndicate MMA. Yeah, there he is. You were a little bit of...

And thank you for coming. Of course. And I know you kind of had to move things around, so I hope we weren't a nuisance. Danny was cracking the whip. You know, when Ariel, when the great aerial... Ah, no. We come running.

I appreciate that. My wife would kill me if I didn't. I appreciate that as well. Congrats to you and her. Likewise. Thank you. Happy birthday. Happy birthday.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You seemed a little bit emotional. Like you were, you were, you surprised, touched. What were the emotions that you were feeling when you were up there? It was definitely a little more emotional than I thought it was going to be, you know. And hell, this thing got delayed so many times. I know when it was going to. I kind of chalked it up. I was like, listen, they're canceling the thing just because I got nominated. They're not going to give it. But that wasn't your first time nominated? For this, I think it was. Really? Yeah. What the hell? Yeah. Okay. It was. I've been nominated for a lot of other things. But for the big one, that was the. this was the first one. And yeah, it was, it was really weird, you know, being there hanging out and having the whole crew. It was, it was awesome. It got, yeah, it got, it got real. Somebody came

over to me and they were just like, hey, you can't leave, make sure you stay here. I was like, oh, shit. So then I got like nervous and I usually don't get nervous. I'm not, I'm not a nervous guy. I don't get nervous in corners. I don't get nervous in situations. That was the first time I was like, oh, my God. I got nervous. And yeah, it. It was a really cool experience, man. It's very surreal, still very surreal. What does it signify for you? You know, I mean, listen, we don't do these things,

at least I don't personally for awards and accolades. I'd be lying if it was not to say it's nice and it feels good to get it, you know. But as a coach, you're kind of always the guy behind the guy. You know, and so I always tell people, if you know my name, the gym's name, that means I've done my job and these guys are winning and these guys are doing what they're supposed to do.

You know, this sport and this job is about the fighters. So it's really cool for me to know that I'm doing my job well. You know, it's just one of those things where it's like, man, I've, you know, I've done what I'm supposed to do. You know, is there an element of like, you know what, maybe for the longest time people weren't giving us props and now they are and that feels really good? Like maybe there was a bit of a chip on our shoulder and now we're being recognized. Is that nice? Of course. Again, I'd be lying in saying if it wasn't nice.

The chip on the shoulder, I don't operate that way. You don't. Like you can get down a really dark hole and kind of start to make yourself miserable if you think about that stuff. The world is too negative as a place it is. Social media is too out there. There's too many things that if you start operating in the sense that you're doing this for that. These guys, I don't deserve, you know, I deserve to be up there. My name deserves.

I don't know. Then you just start kind of spiraling down a hole that, you know, I personally don't want to go to. So for me, win or lose, it's awesome to be nominated. It's even way more awesome to win. Obviously, like I said, I hasn't really even set in yet. But I don't honestly do it for the fact of like to prove people wrong. You know, I do these things. Like I said, I always set high standards for myself, for my team, and I try to figure out how to do things better.

And now that we've won this, it's like, okay, how do we do a better now? How do we try to get nominated again? How do we do these things better? you know it's just it's hold yourself to a high structure and in accountability i loved when uh you won gym in the year you had like i've never seen like 30 deep go up there yeah were those i would imagine not all fighters right just everybody on that stage works for the gym in some capacity okay you know um they're all front desk staff my assistant um viz morales is our team captain you know everybody on that stage plays a part at the gym in some way.

So, you know, I told them, hey, you guys all come up if we can do it. I'm so happy that they did. It's great. You know, it's our coaches, our coaching staff, our front desk staff, like I said, assistant, everybody on there plays a part in the gym. How did Vince Morales become team captain? You know, Vince is one of those guys. I love him to death.

He's one of my favorite people in the gym, inside and outside. He's such a great dude. He just, no matter what's going on, he shows up. every day. He's a great training partner. He's always got a great attitude. He's there day in, day out, no matter what's going on. And he just kind of, you know, we do a yearly thing where we vote when we have the team kind of vote. So changes every year? It can. Okay. How long has he been captain for? The last couple years, it's been him. Wow. So we started this a couple years ago and he's been team captain sent. He continues to get it. Yeah. And it's voted on by the fighters only? Yeah. We do a, we do a fight.

We do a yearly kind of voting thing. Like a secret, valid thing. Do you vote as well? I don't know if I do. I don't remember. I think I do. Okay. I'm pretty sure I do. I don't know. And why did you feel the need to have?

Because you say it's only been a few years that you've been doing it. Yeah. Why did you feel the need that? Just everything, you know, trying to piece together, everything for the team, you know, making sure that we cover all the grounds and all the bases of really kind of building that unity and that camaraderie. You know, it's just trying to make people involved in every little bit. You know, we do our team outings.

have our dinner as we do our things and trying to do that more you know we used to do a lot more back in the day and I just feel like it brings that bonding that level of of team and team work just to a different level you know and I think that's something that kind of suffers in this sport for sure in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a very crazy place when it comes to the fight business and training and teams and fighters so you know I try to do like I said a little bit different and make everybody feel like they have a part in the hand in the team. You've been a part of a lot of big fights, big fighters Gina Ronda was

pretty unique I would imagine the attention the build the fight week can you describe what you felt inside when you saw the fight play out after everything you guys have been through

I remember the look on your faces the whole team and her face I'll never forget it can you describe what you felt when it played out that quickly uh devastated you know for her because I know how much

work and not just work but mentally physically everything she put in to come back and she really wanted it and and and she did a good job and i even told her this she convinced me that she was capable of doing it you know and and it was one of those things where you know it was going to go this way or that way and fortunately it went that way ronda still does ronda things and and it's hard for anybody to spend that much time out of the octagon and then come back and fight anybody, let alone somebody who's a world-class specialist at what she does.

So it was one little, you know, mental error. And the thing was is I know she didn't even mean to do that. So she was even more, oh, I'm so sorry. You know, I'm like, oh, listen, it's fighting. This is what we do. And she just capitalizing it. So I was really heartbroken for her, just not, after all that worked to not even get out there and just get a good tussle up, you know, and just a good scrap.

and that's all we were hoping for you know and i truly believe that i thought like if it stayed on the feet gina still has it man she still got that pop that power so i knew we'd be able to get it done if that was the you know the case and it just wasn't what was the mental error just for the record she went out and threw a kick right off the bat and that wasn't the plan no that was not the plan why do you think she did that uh i just think years and years of doing what she's done and then having all this time off it happens best trainers and best fighters and best fighters and best fight in the world train countless hours day-to-day-out for game plans, guys that are in it every day and go out and make mistakes and do stuff.

That's just fighting. And that's in her DNA. She has a Muay Thai background, and that was the one thing. She just threw a jab and a kick. And Rhonda was, I think Rhonda was shooting in no matter what right off the bat. And that was the one thing we didn't need to do was give her the legs and the hips. And that's it. It just was a small.

And it wasn't even a bad error. She did it good. It's just, Rhonda just committed. You know, it's interesting about that. I haven't gone back and look, but even Rhonda's shooting was unique, right? That's not usually how she would get people that. Did you expect that? We did, actually.

You did? Why? Lundell? You know, there was videos and things and stuff that we obviously saw. Okay. Stuff that came out of her shooting double legs. She never did that, right? realistically, to be fair, in the camp,

Gina was defending, we covered all the grounds. Gina was defending the collar ties and the upper body stuff, so good. Like it was one of those things where we actually trained for it because had a feeling that we'd actually be able to stop that. You know, that we would stop Rhonda from doing that and Ronna would have to start taking those shots.

And again, I think Ronda had a team and people around her that you look at her last fight with Holly when you're reaching out there and grabbing or, you know, not their last fight but the last couple fights when you're trying to reach and grab those people that are good strikers and they're able to capitalize on getting out the way and piecing you up, that's something that, you know,

obviously you might want to change. And so do you think, obviously impossible, she would be the one to answer it? Do you think she was planning on doing that? Or do you think she saw the opening after the kick was thrown? I think she was planning on doing it. Okay, interesting. I think that was really, you know.

And was there anything that Gina could have done on the ground at that point? Like in retrospect, from a technique standpoint, to fight off the arm bar? Listen, you're talking about a woman who is literally the best in the world of what she does. Yeah. It's very hard to see. stop. People in their prime when they hit the ground with her, it was almost impossible to stop her. So, you know, she just has a skill that is just so impeccably almost perfect when she hits the ground. It's hard to stop. So I don't know. I don't think that there's obviously techniques and

things that can stop it, but you have to have the most perfect defense to happen, the most perfect timing, the most perfect everything to stop that. And it's just really hard to do. How would you describe, and you can obviously share as much as you want. We saw Gina, we spoke to her, but then when you guys were in the locker room, like how she internalized it? How was she? She handled it really well.

She handled it like a very, you know, very professional way. Obviously, I think she was very disappointed and I think that she was bummed, I think, more for us than, you know, wanting to go out there and perform for us than it was for herself. But I mean, I think there's just a sense of, you know,

just you didn't get to feel that need that want to go out there and punch somebody in the face. Like even if it would have ended in the second round, but she had like a, it would have been different, right? 100%. Yeah. You feel fulfilled. Yeah. A fight. That wasn't, unfortunately, it wasn't, we didn't even get to have a fight, you know, it was just one technique and boom and it's done.

That was the word I used. I felt like it was unfulfilling. Very unfulfilling. Yeah. And that's how I think she's taking it. But again, from what I saw, she handled it very well. very professional. Obviously, there's a level of, you know, things that you don't see and stuff inside

that, who knows, she'd have to be the one to answer that. But, like I said, from the outside and externally, she handled it well. How much did it annoy you if you saw any of it when people say it's rigged and all that nonsense? Oh, my God. Does that drive you nuts? It drives me nuts, and I'm not even connected to it. It doesn't drive me much. It's just stupid.

If you're going to ring a fight, you might as well, like, not let it last 17 seconds, right? Yeah. Like, I don't think that that's the thing that you would do. to rig it. You'd make it a little bit a little bit more of a fight if you're going to, in my opinion. Of course. To rig it. But everybody's you know, that's always going to be

the thought and the fact of the, you know, the W.W.E. era is still there. Pro wrestling. You know, people still look at some of the, especially the uneducated people look at it as, oh, is this, you know, you guys do wrestling? No, it's not that. But I understand, especially

with some of the things that have gone on in the recent years, the last couple years with some of the stuff and, you know, some of the, you know, betting scandal going on. So I can see how people can, can jump to that conclusion really quick. But absolutely not rigged, absolutely not, you know, intention was not to go out there. Had Rhonda gone out there and knocked her out, then I'd be like, hey, you guys can jump on the rig, but Rhonda went out there and did what Rhonda always does.

Right. You know, so we had seen her do 10 years ago. Yes, it's not like a shot. 15 seconds. Yeah. And she's beat that record before. Garbarred people quicker than that, you know? So it's just, it is what it is.

Do you think Gina fights again? Ooh, I can't speak for her. I think that, like what you just said, there's an unfulfilled mission, void, whatever you want to call it there, that could, I could see that possibly happening. I don't know. And by the way, you see, I phrased it as,

not will she fight again because that would be you speaking of her. Yes. Do you think she fights again? I think there is a good possibility. You know, I think that like barring the conversations that we had a few weeks ago, a month ago, there's interest. I don't know. Things she goes home, goes back to the ranch and has a, you know, has her life and she has to sit back with her husband, Kevin, and talk about all those things.

I really don't know. That can change. I know that right after the fight, there was definitely that want to still potentially do it. I tell you this, it's not been a hard no. It's definitely not been a hard yes. You've still kept in contact. You're still talking. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Has you been back to the gym? Those are lifelong friends. No, they went back to Montana where they live and, you know, they're back to the wilderness and riding horses and doing their thing. But we've kept in contact for sure. Okay. Rob's competing this weekend.

Yes. In the RAF, Georgia debut. Do you like your guys doing that? Are you okay with that? I mean, if it keeps something. busy they're not getting their head beat in you know it's not like they're going out and doing bare knuckle in this yeah yeah in spare time it's wrestling obviously at that level you there's always the risk of injury and that injury could put you out you know of a big fight that's the biggest thing

i don't mind them doing it it's just the risk of injuring yourself which then when you're someone like morab who's sitting on a potential title fight that's it but for him he's a guy that needs to stay busy he wants to stay active so i think it's great the money that they's they pay is phenomenal you know so for these guys to be able to stay active keep their minds occupied keep their bodies occupied and get a good paycheck i think it's i think it's a pretty good deal do they even do training camps for these or is it just so like you know like like he gets an assignment he gets a fight does he talk to you about it do you game plan or do they view it differently he's got with grappling coaches wrestling and he he's definitely upped the wrestling and grappling okay so he just

focuses on that definitely more focus on that and and goes and does his thing with the wrestling coaches and spends more time on that for sure than just, you know, MMA. I'm not trying to get you to break news, but I just want to know, have you guys been told when he might fight for the belt? No, not officially on anything.

There's the rumors flying around, but nothing yet. We're hoping, you know, for October. Everything kind of just is based on Yon right now. Right. He's coming back from injuries and things, and now you're finally seeing him post more and get out there and so,

media looking like everything's pretty good and back on track. So we're hoping for October at the latest, but nothing's been officially confirmed. He's his own man. Have you ever had a situation? Like I see the dude Marab, that is, like climbing scaffolding and stuff in the middle of Philadelphia, I think he was. Like, do you ever tell him, yo man, you've got too much at, like, he was on a, he was on a, like a, what was the, scooter or so? What was that thing? On a, on a couch driving around Las Vegas. Yes, yes, he is. What is that? Do you ever tell him, yo, chill? Like you're madman in the beginning, kind of, but he was like that before he even got to the gym. He's going to continue to be like that.

That's in his DNA. So there's no point. There's really nothing like myself, no one else is going to say, hey, stop doing this and change. And then again, also, it's who he is. It's part of his makeup. You know, when you get these guys that are so successful, it's not only what they do in the gym, but their lifestyle, the way they are kind of all plays into that. So you don't want to change too many things.

So if he wants to climb trees and jump off mountains and dive headfirst into frozen lakes and things, then so be it. If that's going to get him a world title, then that's what we're going to do. It's like the one with the couch as it's like teetering on that thing. I don't know. And I don't know what he did with that thing, but it was hauling ass. Yes. He did some kind of modification.

On the streets. Where he was, it looked like he was doing 40 miles an hour down the street. And that's a real street. That's like here, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's not too far down the road. and he's just hauling ass on a couch down the street with people on it.

But that's just Marab. That's the Marab in a nutshell. I saw a photo of you and Khalil Roundtree. Yes. Recent? How long ago? Yeah. He's back.

Yeah. So, whenever left. He was in California for a bit? He's still there. Okay. So he actually relocated to Newport. You know, they have a family, you know, growing family. They're pregnant and getting rid of some babies.

And so they were, you know, looking at where they're going to nest and they went to Korea and that didn't work out. Ended up in Newport. And, you know, he's got a good thing going out there with Santo and all those guys at Santo Studios and with Bear. And they do a lot of good work out there. But basically, you know, I'm still working with him for the camps. I'll go out there. He comes back to syndicate. This is our first go where it's been, you know, where we haven't lived in the same spot.

So we're kind of figuring it out. But, yeah, we did this camp. most part together. He's actually out in Abu Dhabi right now. And so I'm trying to get things wrapped up and then head out there soon and go corner him for the fight. Is this stressful for you? Like when the guy's not living there, how do you describe it? Your face says it all.

It's not the most ideal thing, I can say. And everything about fighting is stressful. Right. But it adds a layer of stress. Guys like to add layers of more stress on stuff, but the whole job as a coach and his team is to figure it out. You know, you got to figure out what the athlete needs and how to work around what they got going on, you know. And sometimes you don't. Sometimes it's, hey, you know, it's been a great time and, you know, I think you should move on.

But Khalil is somebody that I've worked with for almost 13, 14, 15 years. This guy I love, he's family. So with him, I'm going to try to do whatever I can do to help him in with whatever he needs. They're all big fights. This is a big one for him, I think. How do you feel about it? Tough. I mean, you're fighting the number one ranked light heavyweight in the world, former champion. Mago Man Uncle Live, yeah. Well, rounded. It's a very tough fight.

Yeah. Every fight in the UFC is tough, and every fight in the top 10 is incredibly tough. you know so um obviously we got our hands full in a fight like we expect you know he's going to bring what he brings to the fight he's he's a guy who's who's very able to dictate the pace of a fight slow it down speed it up grind it make it how he wants to and our job is to not let that happen so um obviously i know everybody knows what calil is capable of and you know our goal is now to get him across that finish line in those big fights You know, we've been winning every fight until we weren't.

Right. You know, and so that's the big thing that we have to try to change is go out there and get that finish, get that win. Is that a mental thing? There's a lot of things behind the scenes that have gone on in the camp and things that, you know, maybe we need to do more of or less of. I don't necessarily would say that it was a mental thing. It's just some things that we need to change, you know, and some structures on training of how when the shit gets. it's crazy how to not jump headfirst into that fire, you know, slow things down, operate in whether, you know, when we're getting tired, or if we're getting hurt,

not to just sit down and bite down on your mouthpiece and start throwing back. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. At the higher level, it's tough. So just changing some structures and some things that, you know, I think inside of training will be a big difference. I was talking to Joe Missoula, who's the head coach of the Boston Celtics, who's a big MMA fan yesterday, actually.

And I was fascinated by, he has a very interesting mind. And he was telling me that he likes to study MMA coaches, in particular, how they talk to their athletes in between rounds. Because when he calls a time out and he has to get a point across, he usually only has like 60 or 30 seconds to get that point across. And he likes to see how different coaches talk to different fighters in different ways. And, you know, the tone is different. The language is different and whatnot. Do you have a singular approach when it comes to your fighters? And does everyone get a different sort of?

Yeah. So how do you deal? Because I thought it was so interesting to hear like a stick and ball sport coach, talk, actually look to you guys and be like, okay, I've never heard a coach say that. Like, oh, they only have a minute to get the point across. So I'm going to study this so I can do the same with my guys. I love listening to the corner stuff. Really cool, right?

That's interesting. Yeah. I just like in the gym and training operate different with everybody. There are some people that need that. that yelling, that, you know, fire. There's some people that need to be calmed down. There's some people that, you know, you just have to walk through the entire fight. As I'm cornering my corner style when I'm talking, I talk to my fighters throughout the whole fight.

You know, I'm constantly kind of letting me, hey, and I'm also talking to the other fighters sometimes subconsciously. Judges too? Without talking to the judges? Talking to everybody. Yes, yes. If you go back and you watch any of the fight, you know, with my fighters, you'll always hear me. You'll have my voice. and when we're in the fight it's very calm, cool, concise.

In the corner, everybody's a little different. There's people that I've talked to, hey, I need you to fire me up. Hey, I don't like it when you don't say, don't do this. Or some people say, hey, tell me not to do this. Everybody's a little different. And you figure out each individual and what they need and how they need. And sometimes it's taken me a while. And you try to figure that out.

One thing we've changed in the room is we do, you know, we schedule out our cage time so that we're, that guy's up in the cage specifically being coached by the coaches that he's going to fight with so that we're going through that repetition already. And I'm figuring those things out before we even get to the fight, you know, and then go back and, you know, talk to the fighter, hey, you know, what do you like, what he didn't like? How do you like to be talked to? And see trial and error of like, you know, do you need to be a little more fiery in the corner? Do you need to be a little less? And so I try to get all that out before we get to the cage and figure that out. But everybody's

a little different. What were you like as a fighter? Like, how did you like to be coached? Man, you know, for me, I was, to be honest, scared shitless. And I unfortunately early on kind of got caught up in the mix with following a bunch of bigger name fighters around and jumping from gym to gym and kind of getting lost in the shuffle. So I was a lot of times cornered by different people almost every time. You know, training partners, I've had Forrest has cornered me a couple of times. and I can tell you one fight,

he was standing up on the cage screaming, kill him, kill him, you know, shaking the cage in the middle of the, and I'm like, okay, I'll kill him. And so, you know, and then you've had, I've had all kinds of different stuff. So I don't know. For me, I would have probably wanted somebody to calm me down and talk because I was always, as a fighter, was killer be killed.

I never felt comfortable. So it was either go in and I'm going to finish you or you're going to finish me, and that's pretty much what happened every time. Wow. I never felt. You were scared shitless. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Why did you do it? Yeah. Why would you do something that makes you feel that bad? I mean, that's kind of, I mean, everybody feels like that. That's what makes you feel alive. That's the, like, if it's not scary, is it, you know.

Well, this is relatable because a lot of the fighters were like, oh, I've never been so calm. Like, how is that possible? There are guys. I mean, and sometimes those guys are psychopaths. But it really is, I started fighting because I grew up, you know, street fights and thought I loved it. and you know it's different than getting in a fight in a street you don't have to think about it you

don't have to prep for 10 weeks and get all this pressure on you just go you know and so it was scary i can't think of one fight where i wasn't scared shitless and once i started doing it i knew early on that i really did know that i was going to be a coach and i fought just to have experience oh really to be more like totally honest i fought just to have the experience pretty much to go you know hey, I've done this. Okay. And I never wanted to be a world champion. I never thought I was going to be a world champion.

And that's where, like, you know, I got to the levels of being in the ultimate fighter and can sign by strike force and some things. And I was always there, but I didn't have that. Like, I never felt good about it. You know, I just, I wanted to, you know, I always knew I wanted to be part of the sport. And then once I realized, okay, I really like coaching. I think I'm going to do this on the job training, learn what I can learn and go from there. Oh, wow.

I've not heard that from a lot of coaches. Usually it's like, okay, I had a career. career ends, now I coach. Yeah. From the beginning you wanted to be coach. I did. I started, you know, I started, Jiu-Jitsu was my first love.

And so when I started competing in Jiu-Jitsu and going to tournaments, and I would go coach people in Jiu-Turnaments and show up and help my coaches and then started getting good at Jiu-Jitsu and then coaching teaching classes, and I was like, man, I really like this. And I always knew early on from the first time I got a job bagging groceries. I was like, I don't want to work for anybody. I want to work for myself. This shit sucks.

I don't want people. telling me what to do. So I didn't know what that was until I found fighting. And when I found fighting, I was like, this is it. I love this shit. I'm going to do this forever. So I just had to figure out a way to make that happen. You would get in street fights.

Oh, yeah. How many? Like, how many of you had? I mean, I'm 400 and oh in the streets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, would it be constant, like a weekly thing? You're just looking for a fight or how's it going? In high school, yeah, you know, I started fighting in like elementary school.

I get in playground fights all the time. I really liked, I wanted to be a pro wrestler when I was a kid. Oh, really? Yeah, so I love body slamming people. I'm joking about, you know, and so I started just getting in fights with the bullies at school. And I grew up watching combat sports with my dad, boxing, kickboxing. I always loved it. I just thought it was great.

And like, like I said, the UFC showed up. And I was like, oh, once I started training and learning how to actually train, then you just, you don't want to fight anymore. Once you know how to defend, defend yourself and properly fight, you don't have that urge to go get into a street fight. But when I was young and dumb, you know, bar fights and I started bouncing so I could beat people up for money and things like that. It was just ridiculous. You bounce so you could do that? Yeah, it was fun. So this is the second time you've told us that you've done something like, almost like as a means to an end. You fought so you could coach. You bounced so you could fight. Yeah, what was that? I mean, there's a very methodical to get paid to actually, you know,

beat people up in a bar, fight people at bar. It's not bad, yeah. You're the enforcer. It's great. Yeah, That was great. Did you ever, like, lose badly in the streets to where it was like? Ooh, I've been jumped a couple of times. I've had my nose broke. Damn. Like, three or four times in street fights. Like you're in a fight and people come from...

Oh, yeah. Yeah, one time I got blasted in the bar. Really? Yeah, I never saw it coming and boom, and my nose was over here. And what are you fighting about? Who knows? I looked at them wrong. Young and stupid.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just dumb. You know, it was just completely dumb, and I don't... No, it's awful. Did you ever get hit with, like, a bottle or something? Oh, yeah. Really? Yeah.

The worst I ever got hit is I got hit over the head with a bottle. It was a 40 bottle. Oof. And it didn't break. Oh. Really? It bounced off my head. Yeah.

That was terrible. I don't know what's worse. Yeah. No, I don't know. Yeah. Damn. Yeah. Full force?

Yeah, I think so. Damn. I think so. It felt like it. Did you get knocked out? No, but it hurt really bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was fully pretty up my head.

Okay. Do you spot. You don't spar now, right? I do. You do? Yeah, it's pretty stupid. Wow. I still have this thing where,

you know my brain says I'm 21 yeah my body I just turned 47 so it's like I'm getting to that age where I you know it takes like three or four days to recover yeah yeah but I love it it's like almost a it's a release you got to get in there and mix it up and so much fun I still love being part of the team are you doing this to prepare like for the guy like will you spark calil um when we're training for a fight yeah it's pretty close to simulate spar I don't actually put on the gloves and spar, but if you watch this train, you'd be like, holy shit, they're sparring. Wow. So with the UFC guys,

have you ever just do it for fun? Oh, yeah. I jump into so about every other week, I'll jump into one of the sparring classes. If there's an odd number, I'll get in, and I'll grapple, or I'll do the ground and pound, or I'll just do the sparring. You know, a lot of times, Saturdays we kind of a more relaxed Saturdays, I'll jump in with the guys.

And there's guys I stay away from now, and there's guys that I still love to just move around with and get a good workout. Like I said, it's a great stress for the Me and Joe, she took me in, we did a bag class. We did a bag, you know, a heavy bag workout the other day. So I still try to, I want to do this and be as active as I can for as long as I can with the guys, you know, before I get too old and decrepit. Jojo teaches as well?

She doesn't really teach. She will fill in and work with the kids. She does some privates. She works with a lot of people holding pads and stuff now. And, you know, a lot of people would like her to get into coaching. You know, she's busy running the gym. When you say with the kids, do you mean like... Yeah, yeah, she'll jump into the kids' classes and help them.

Joanne Wood teaching little kids seems like... She's great. She'd be the perfect martial arts teacher, given her demeanor. You know what I mean? Yeah, she's the best. Because she could also be like a kindergarten teacher. Oh, yeah. She has such like a soft...

Yes. But then to have her as an actual fighting coach is brilliant. Yeah. So we'll see how that goes. I mean, she gets the age every now and then, but she'll jump in when, like, if a coach is out, she'll jump in and help teach. years. We got Davey Grant is actually running our striking program now and he works with a lot of the kids too. So we got that whole UK thing going on. Yeah. And he has his kids too, right? They're helping

out. They're coaching now too. Jay and, you know, his oldest son Jay is, is in their coaching every day. Wow. With the AMI team and he goes to fights and corners guys. It's great. It's a love it. It's a family thing for sure. Quill and Saul killed. I saw you with him. So what was the situation there? Did he, he was just in town? Yeah, he's been in a few times and he comes in and work. with us, man. He's a great dude. I think he's a stud. Super talented. That guy

absolute stud. I think his ceiling is amazing respect. You know, he's very respectful. He's a great guy on the mat and ultra talented. I mean, he's definitely got it. He's fighting here, Apex, against

Mateus Gamera. So will you help him prepare? Is he going to come early? I think he said he's going to come out with his team and work at the gym for a little bit, come out early. and we've definitely extended that. I told him he's got a home away from home anytime he wants to come to Vegas. Syndicate is open to him. As far as me working with him, I held paths for him one time.

I don't know, you know, I'm not, if he needs help or if his coaching staff needs help, absolutely I'd love to. But, you know, there's not been any talk about that really. Other than he said he was going to come out a little bit early and see how goes. Do you have anyone on the card this weekend? I do not. We're going to sit at home and chill. Just chill.

So, okay, no dog in the race main event. Can I ask from your... analytical coaching mind, how do you see it playing out? Connor versus Max. I don't see how after all this time and injuries and layoff, Connor comes back and is a better version of himself. I feel like over the years, Max has gotten better. He's found his stride.

You know, the one X factor is this upweight class for both of them. Who knows how that goes. but my gut tells me that Max is going to get this done. I just feel like he's more durable than he has been and he's going to be able to take whatever Connor has. But again, Conner's a special dude and if he comes out like the old Connor, any version of that,

he's always got a capable chance of putting anybody out. But it's just been so far, you know, it's such a long time and Max has been so active fighting the top level guys in the world. I just, I don't know. that's a big gap to close. There's always a lot of talk about Connor's striking style and how he changed it when he went over to boxing.

Do you subscribe to any of that, that it messed him up, that he needs to go back to the original style? What do you think of that? I mean, everything evolves. Everything moves forward. Even, you know, when Connor first came out, nobody moved like him, footworked, head, angles, all the stuff he did.

Everybody jumped onto what I call the movement theory, you know, at that point in time. Everybody's, I want to move like this and do this and do that. It kind of got figured out. People know how to deal with that. As coaches, we see it more. We know how to deal with it. We know how to stop that stuff. So everything evolves.

You know, the style did work with him and it is going to work. He was so good at what he did. You know, but then people kind of figured out the, okay, I just need to do this or we need to grapple wrestle. And then guys, you know, once you lose, the allure kind of comes off. People weren't so, oh my God, it's Conover Gregor. You know, Pory got in there and made him look, you know, like a human. I think you everybody has to adapt and everybody has to change that style, you know, through time. People are going to figure you out.

Somebody's eventually going to figure you out. So when he switched to boxing, do I think that that's a better style? I don't know. You know, I don't know what's going to work with him now with, it's just been such a long time. It'll be really interesting to see what kind of style comes out. What about Patty BSD, excuse me, what do you think of that one? Man, two tough dudes, two guys that are obviously durable as hell. You know, like Patty has shown that obviously he can hang in there and take a beating if he needs to.

And he's so talented everywhere. My gut tells me, Patty's going to get it done. Wow. This seems to be a sentiment brewing this week. I don't know why, because that wasn't a good showing against Gaichi, but maybe Gaichi's just that good. Yeah. Benoit has looked great as of late. Yep.

But. I just, I have a gut feeling. Okay. And sometimes you've got to go with it. Yeah, yeah. When I look at a fight, sometimes I do the, oh, man, this guy's going to get it. And it's just something when that fight came up has always said that I feel like Patty is going to sneak something out there and get it done. Okay.

I want to ask you about one more thing. You've been around this game for a long time. And it's something, I don't know what the answer is, but I'm just curious your perspective. Like the Dustin Poirier situation, when the music ends for these guys. And what was heartbreaking about Dustin was that he kept telling us, this is hard on me. I'm drinking. I'm doing this. So it wasn't like a shock

that he would get himself. But how do the guys just sort of get into normal life when they're that famous, that popular, that whatever? But now you don't have that idea. We talked about it would chill earlier in the day. And he's like, yeah, it's really tough.

Like I don't, I don't have that structure anymore. I've now got five hours in my day that I don't know what to do because I don't have gym, this camaraderie. What do you tell to the guys when the music stops? It's an identity.

It's not. even just, you know, a sport that you're playing. It becomes you. You're a fighter. Everybody looks at you as a fighter and holds you up on this pedestal and there's nothing like being a fighter. We are the sport that other athletes look at and go, shit, that's bad ass, you know. So you're held up on this, the manliest of manly, the ultimate, you know, testosterone-filled pedestal, and then it goes away. The one thing I try to tell my fighters, you know, is don't ever use the hard R word, you know, like, don't say, just move into the next thing.

Like Dustin, you know, where it's like, hey, the hard I'm retired, I'm stopped, you know, it doesn't ever really go well. People, that's where you see guys coming back. I think you just got to find other things to do. It is such a loss of identity, though. And someone like Dustin, he's got so many opportunities. He's marketable. He's, you know, he's smart.

He's a good looking dude. He's done it all. People are going to want him to do. do stuff. You just have to find that other area that is going to fill those voids, but it's tough, man. There's nothing like fighting. There is no high like fighting. There is no, you know, nothing to get you out of bed like fighting. And the structure of a team, the structure of, you know, that we give you guys of like, hey, be here at this time, do this. All that goes away, it's tough. So I feel like, you know, you really have to kind of ease into that. And I always tell my

guys like whether you're retiring or not don't say it just leave that option open in your head until that feeling goes away because once you say i'm retired you're no longer a fighter just say hey you know i'm stepping away from this and we'll see what else happens and then your mind doesn't go so crazy into the oh my god i'm not a fighter anymore just leaving my options open you know this is fascinating perspective because in retrospect now that you mentioned this it sort of unlocked something that retirement fight was such a beautiful thing, but in reality, maybe it was the worst thing. Yeah. It's just a hard stop. Yeah. Boom, you fall off the ledge. So don't, you know, just, just, hey, you know what, I'm going to take some time away. I'm going to, you know, see what's next. Yeah. It's that hard R word,

dude, that really gets people. Wow. It really does, unless the person is really ready. Obviously, what we're seeing, Dustin isn't ready for them, you know, and he's a great dude and he's going to get it all figured out, I'm sure. But it's just, like I said, it's such a stupid little thing. But like I said, I'm retired. That's tough. It's tough for anybody in a lot of professions. Of course.

Yeah. If I came out and said, I'm done doing this, I would feel depressed. So it's like, I'm maybe just done at the moment with this. And then see how it goes and other things open up. And then you always have that opening. I don't know. Maybe I'll come back. Maybe I'll take a fight in a year.

Maybe I take some time off. But when you just cut it like that, anything. Going cold turkey on anything. Yeah. And in a profession, in a sport like this, it's really tough because it's such an identity. And then he's probably thinking like now I can't go back because I just had a whole ceremony. Oh, yeah, and that adds more. And that's the thing.

It's like you don't want to put yourself, you know, paint yourself into that corner where you feel like, oh shit. I've said it now. I can't unsay it. Right. But you always can. My guess is he ain't done yet. He's going to come back. He's going to, you know, there's probably going to be another who knows.

Connor or Gagy. He's already listed off people that he would come back for. That's not you. That's not you saying you're done. He just wasn't ready. And I think sometimes your mind or your body tells you quickly, hey, I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. Or it becomes overwhelming.

It becomes, you know, at that level, there's so much more into it that just goes into training. There's all the shit you have to do with the interviews and the travel and the appearances. It adds up, man, the pressure of it all. And so sometimes you still love fighting. but you're just so burnt out on everything else. Social media. I see it all the time.

I see guys just get burnt out. And it's like just back off some of these things. But again, who knows what's going on there? But I think that he'll figure it out. And my guess is he ain't done yet. Do you see guys getting messed up by social media? Yes. How do you deal with that?

It's tough because this generation, it's a normal part. I grew up where that wasn't a thing. You know, like we grew up where that was not even in now, people now that's part of life what happens with social media what gets set on there is real that's a real thing i that concept to me is like hey just turn it off or mute them yeah like i've even sucked into those things before we're getting into these social media wars with people back in the day i don't you know yeah yeah you know and then it's like why it takes so much energy but it's just part of the lifestyle now and it is such a big part of your brand that's how you market yourself that's how you get out

That's how you get sponsors. That's how you get paid. But it's a slippery slope, man. It really, to a lot of people, it becomes reality. A lot of people, you just see them all day. I have guys come in the gym before they've been training, and they're just still doing this. Yeah.

It's like, dude, just set it down, you know, and like, come over and focus on this. It is a, it is kind of an issue. Yeah. I can't imagine being a fighter where everything is scrutinized. You're getting knocked out. You're being mocked. You start doubting yourself. It makes you depressed.

no doubt. And also on the flip side, you're doing great things. Everyone thinks you're a king of the world. And then that's going to, it's... It's such a high and a lot. Yeah. You know, for me, I have fights every week.

Yeah, yeah. It's not just one guy. They fight once every six months. It's like, I got things going on. And one week, I'm the best. The next week, you're the worst coach. You know, or you're not voting me for coach the year because I lost the fight.

It's fine. Yeah, I know, I know, I know. Listen, you got a deal with the... You got the better award. You got the better award. I don't know, man. I don't know. world of me you got to deal with the eyes and the lows and again it's just you got to have a thick

skin you got to know what's reality and what's not and if you have a good you know family core joe keeps me grounded man she's always on my ass about you know well everything yeah wife and my manager and you know runs a gym and all these things but in a great way you know she keeps me grounded a lot of that stuff and you know i have a good family component and unit and i've gotten sucked into that world before too but you got to have people that bring you out right have that have not just to focus on when you go home, you're just immediately on social media, listening to all this bullshit.

I have kind of a rule. For me, if someone post something negative, I might say something back, but I'm immediately just blocking you or a mutant. Move on. I don't get into it anymore. Life is stressful enough to have some imaginary bullshit

in the airwaves out there ruining your life. Love these chats, man. Thank you so much. Hey, thank you. I appreciate coming. Congratulations. Do you mind signing this for us? Absolutely.

And we're going to give it to chat. and auctioned off, all that stuff. But very, very happy for you. Great scene yesterday with your crew up there and really happy for you getting that long overdue recognition. I appreciate it, man. Thank you for changing everything around to accommodate us. When the great aerial calls, we're in.

Thank you. There he is. The headman over at Syndicate MMA. Safe Travels to Abu Dhabi. We'll be watching. The great John Wood is here, and well, now he's leaving, and that was amazing stuff.

those chats with the coaches. I hope you guys enjoy them as much as I do as well. Oh, here's a drive carefully. You've got two sides of the spectrum. Drive careful. I guess I could put it this way because the show is wrapping up. I don't know if you guys can hear, but on the other end of this wall is the sports book and they're going crazy and I suspect it's because France is playing Morocco right now. Oh, wait, yes? Another, oh, I was wondering if you were here. I should have There she is. The one of, actual present. Yes.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're the best. Congratulations. Say something to the people with your wonderful voice. Say something to the people. How are you? Good.

How are you? Congratulations. You were up there, like the big boss, telling everyone you're going down, you're going to the back. You're the leader of the clan. I loved it. PT and I were watching like,

look at Jojo up there. Guiding these 30 people. I was so happy for you guys. Thank you for this. Wow. Oh, the famous. Yes. Start Red.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. You're the best Jojo. I'm sure with your team. You've got the best team. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. As do you.

The great Jojo is here. Oh, wait, wait, Jojo. Sign the table. Sign the table. You're a legend. Come on, come on. Thank you so much. Sorry about Scotland and the World Cup.

But they drank a lot and had a good time, right? Yeah. That was an experience. They made you proud, right? Yeah. I realized what people say, oh, you hate the English. And I'm like, no, I love, I love everyone.

But I was watching Brazil and Scotland, and there was so many English people dressed in Brazil shouting F, Scotland, F Scotland. I was like, okay, that's why you can see that. Yeah. Much love to you. So great to see you. There she is, the one and only, Joanne Wood,

nay, Calderwood, with the famous Scottish shortbread. Look at this right here. Boom. Wrong camera. Yeah. Everyone's coming with gifts for me today. And it's Jordan's birthday. And it's Jordan's birthday, and I'm getting the gifts.

Jordan, after this, we're going to have a Scottish shortbread. I'm opening this. I would love it. And then we're going to smoke a cigar together. Well, we'll do it. Jordan, I have a great idea. We'll do it after sushi. Yeah, man, I'll be there.

Okay, wonderful. Who's winning in the France game? Because I hear all kinds. Oh, is that why everyone's going? There's been some drama. Mbapapé had a penalty saved. Oh, penalty saved. Yeah, that's when everyone really popped.

And they just hit the crossbar. Wow. Do we have any super chats? We do. Why don't you read them today? Well, they ate just not your birthday. Oh, listen to that. The boys coming in, or should I just take us home?

I think Connor wanted to talk to you about something, actually. Please, please. I thought that's what we were doing. All right, this is so good. Wow. This is so good. Tell me, tell me, what's happening? There's all kinds of shenanigans happening up.

Where are you going? What are you doing? Where is he going? What is he doing? Oh, do we have another cake? Not another cake, but we got something for Jordan. Oh, Jordan, get in here. Jordan!

Happy birthday. Oh, what is this? He almost tripped on the thing. Birthday to you. Is he coming? Happy birthday! Yeah! Pull up a chair, Jordan.

Happy to you. On here, Jordan. Is this, is this, is this, is this your debut on camera, like actual in studio? Look at this guy. Whoa. Oh, wait, open that up. Oh, special. I brought action those, uh, Matt, that's, right.

Oh, yes, that's right. Oh my God, those are fantastic. Incredible. Incredible. Thank you to the crew. Wow. On your join here. Thank you to you, man.

Yeah. The real sort of. Oh, some World Cup theme. Immetry, yeah. All right. Custom box too. I had to get that design. How old?

How old? 35. 35. Yeah, yeah. Kevin Durant year, they said. Kevin Durant year. This is so fun seeing him in the flight. I joined the team because I thought I'd win a title just like Durant, join the Warriors,

couldn't win elsewhere. And look at you. Look at us. We didn't win a title. We didn't win anything yesterday. What do you mean? The Knicks have won a title? Oh, right.

But I mean like Uncrown didn't win anything yesterday. Okay. Well, I would say the Uncrown podcast has won a lot. They have won a lot. They got a lot. Can we play the clip? We have. Oh, how they did it?

We do have the clip. Oh, yeah. That and. end the mention of the area of Hauani show. Who's going to play the clip of Jordan? The Anna is a great clip. Oh, here we go. Here we go.

Okay, here it is. This is the Huanian show. This is the Huanian show. I'm sitting there. I see this. I'm just like, oh shit, we might get some love here. They might play some clips. A little air time, yeah.

A little hot take or two. It's going to be fucking great. They've got like multiple clip. Oh, sick, sick. Yeah, yeah. I mean, definitely doesn't make any sense to have competing against each other. Look that.

Dana White's Confederacy. Totally different. Hold up, Cam. I mean, not even. There's a big dog. Leading man in the year, Dana White. Oh, here. Yeah.

Oh, you know. It wasn't even like three seconds. Now we did confirm, though, after seeing that, it was the uncrown studio, yeah. But that wasn't even like, they didn't even let the picture. She literally goes, The area Hulwani show.

The Jackson podcast. I knew in that moment we had no chance. Oh, I knew we were fucking that one. Why didn't Tuff get nominated this year? It did. Tough was not, that was Dana White's contenders. No, but I thought Tuf was after Ariel as well, no?

I don't remember. They got nominated for something else. Okay, no, do we have the other one? Do we have the ungrounded one as well? ESPN. Okay. There it is. Media source of the year.

I can't lie. I'm a little bit nervous for this one. I'm like, oh, did you imagine? Ground pulls it off? I wasn't even sure. I didn't remember. Are we all going to run up on the stage, a lot, John Wood? We should have.

Junkie, great. Oh, we got to be getting a nomination. Okay, okay. Respect, we're going. We got to be coming. There it is. What the fuck is that? What is that?

What is that bullshit? Can I ask you a question about this picture? So we clearly find out that this is some sort of religious podcast. Why is there a dude there? That's a moaback. what? It's just a picture. Oh, that's your back.

No, but like that picture of the guy's back is not associated with that pod. Yeah, what is? So what did they do? Did they try to like... I think it is. It was on the Spotify earlier. Oh, I guess so it's like...

Probably they saw that and they were like, oh, that... Of course it's that. I was trying to pretend to Ariel that is actually our logo. I was like, what? There it is. I was flabbergasted, but we won one. Well, listen, listen, I will say, Amai Junkie won.

Wasn't it lovely that? Abby got the big shout out. Abi Subon. Why am I hearing that? Do you guys hear that too? Yeah, I'm hearing. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm hearing the, Ariel.

Yeah, Lenny. Why are we hearing that, Frankie? Hearing what? I think I got to, I think I got to go back there. I'm hearing the interesting. Okay, wait, no, no, no, no. This is not my, that's not my venue. I don't need to be seen.

Happy birthday. Happy birthday. We love. Thank you, guys. Much love. Everyone on Air Jordan. 35. Please take your gifts.

Yes, take everything. I don't know why I was here. hearing that. Sorry, I cut you off. I was hearing the intro of the show. I did hear that myself. Okay, yeah, yeah. What were you trying to say? I was saying, uh, MMA junkie obviously won it, but wasn't it lovely to Mike Bond to give a tribute to Abysson. Oh, that was great speech by Mike Bond. Amazing. Amazing. Yes. And we both said we were so happy that he, that he won because he said that. Yeah. Okay. Super Chats. Let's do this together, guys. Kavanaugh saying he meaning Connor slept in the gym. Thoughts. Thank you, peace and love.

This is from, uh, laz, laz, la, la, da, da, da, da. Yeah. slept in the gym cap or no cap man it's all look these things happen pro wrestling k-fave

yeah I mean maybe he did but I mean I'll buy into it sure yeah sure why not he did

he did actually say on the back end of that last couple months he did not sleep in the gym I mean what are we meant to take out of that anyway well we'll find out

uh in BU 90 after seeing how stressed the BITB were yesterday want to say the chat truly appreciates the team's consistent hard work on five plus great shows a week. That said, we'll keep roasting Frank for any minor issue because AH Inc is synonymous with excellence. Give me a fucking break.

I appreciate the super chat, brother. $499. Did we see less stressed? I don't think you guys seem stressed. If anything, I seem the most stressed. Oh, here's LazyBed M.A. Smoking these P? Audio is exceptional.

Frank's a legend. Love y'all. Love you, LazyBead. Lazybed is sometimes a little trollish. I love it. I respect it. I respect it. I'm impressed with the strict straight compliment. Here is

Ozzy gaming. Congrats on the win, Ariel, 16 time. Congrats to all the lads. Super proud of all of you guys. Keep crushing it. And also, happy birthday. Oscar Z. We continue. Muhammad, Connor by two to three

round TKO. The only Orthodox Connor lost to was Max is no wrestler, plus Conner is much stronger than Max. Fucks with it? Do we know that? How much bigger is he going to be? I don't think he's not much bigger, honestly. Max also.

You shredded. Tough or nothing since 2019. Like, he is only 7 and 6. Wow. Sneaky. Nice little stuff now. He's on a 7 and 6 runs since 20-19. Really?

It's just barely above 500. What's Connors' runs in, Zem? Since 2019? Gene? One in three? But his highlights have been so profound. Max's highlights sometimes. Yeah, I mean, he also has a champ win over the current one.

Yes. NBew 90, please make a drop for he was, okay, quote, he was rock hard by Chale. Did Chale say that? Yeah, he said that about Connor. When I hooked him, he was rock hard. When I hugged him, he was rock hard. Direct quote.

I mean, we need, not just that he was rock hard, when I hugged him, he was rock hard is the entire drop right there. And Bue also says, need Ariel saying, This is a $350 shirt next to Gobloth from Joe Bloth. You see, Frank, maybe you're better than I am from Rest of Development saying this is a $1,000 suit. I mean, listen, shout out to Hooke, a Canadian company.

I think it looks great on you. I appreciate it. Shout to Hooke, man. All right, so as of right now, France, what? Zero. Zero, zero. Great game. At the end.

Actually, you got stopped. Didn't you hit the bar as well? Half time. Half time. Where are they playing? America. Foxborough. Oh.

Sight of the infamous 1994 quarter final match. Nigeria and Argentina? Yeah. Argentia. I'm tired as fuck. I am tired as F. Gents, we're going to have some sushi tonight. In honor of the 2026 NBA champion New York Knickabuckers, this man will not be joining.

No, I will not. Pizza, you're afraid, man. Yeah. We're doing fatty-bon baddies. afraid of Ariel slapping there on $4,500 quid, and me going, no, I actually don't like this. You fake it. You fake it.

I'm not a fake motherfucker. Everyone knows that. We'll tell you all about the $50 canny lopes. Listen, Frank talked me over, I'm being honest. All right. Well, Frank put the pressure on. Fatty boom baddies. Yep.

Incredibly expensive, Omicosta. Before or after, by the way. I feel like we've got to do before and then in between. When are you going? When he was going? Listen, these are the certain things that you're either in or you're out. Come on, Pete. You can't know.

Before or after the sphere. Before. Oh, cool. Fatty Boom Baddies. Omacase. Fatty Boom Baddies. I'm not going to be there for any of them. Wizard of Oz feared.

Damn. Sounds like a night to me. What a night to sit in the boys. And the train rolls along tomorrow. Tomorrow on the program, same time. Another special edition of the show. Same time. So 10 a.m. Pacific.

1 p.m. Eastern. Rick didn't want to come in, by the way? He's taken John. What up? Rubenstein Rubenstein needs to get his limousines John and Joe they're just

they're an unbelievable duo tomorrow on the program there you see Yawani on Jacek Wow Wow In studio One of the European ghosts

One of the European ghosts All in studio Al Jemate Sterling Wow In studio Yes Boasinha Palo Costa in studio

Hairco for Rick Maybe You never know Who's the check You never know And also I would say Maybe this is our

strong song And then your guy. Dateline, Vegas. Johnny A. In studio. Coming in studio. What a lineup that is. What a lineup.

And then 7.30 local time. 10.30 in the east. Mama Rabbit. Park MGM. Myself, DJ, Pizzi, G.C. Rick. Frank. Jordan.

Andy. Everyone there. First come first serve. Free. We've never done this before. We're going to try it out. Free. No sign up.

No. tickets, no nothing, you just got to show up, Park MGM, right next door to T-Mobile, so you can go from the Wayans to hang out with us. I'd say that's not a bad Friday. Can I hang out with you? I'd say that's not a bad Friday. You are expected. You're part of the promotion.

You have to be there. Oh, okay. But like, just because I think he's going to bond more heavily on the sushi thing? We'll find out. We'll find out. He's trying to get out of it. I'm not going to lie. What? The show? He was like, oh, I don't have to be there?

He's like, of course you're not going to be on the stage, mate. We're done. Okay. We're done. As a friendship, like? It's been a long day. I'll never forget that, GC. You see me?

I'll never forget you saying, man. It's over. Me and you. How about you and Chuck just popping in? That was lovely. Chuck walked up like he was just some random dude. I was just like, I loved it.

It was, it reminded me of the summer of 2022. You, me, Chuck, TST, who rumor on the street is, by the way. What is this hard launch I'm hearing? I can't find any. Oh, shit. He mentioned this. He mentioned this. I didn't know what you're done.

What is this? Okay. Forget it, forget it, forget it. What is it? How do you not know about it? It's about the podcast. He's about the podcast. He's about the podcast.

He's about to, I heard rumors. He's about to text me. Please God, I hope he is not. Is what you get for sharing people's secrets? No, no, no, no. I was talking about the pod. Seacoast stories.

Huge. Hard launched the Seaco's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know yourself. I do know. I do. You keep mentioning that. You keep mentioning that.

Whofee was really admiring himself up there the whole time. I mean, I do this. saying, but I'm having a hard time without bad look right now. It's a bad look when the guy from Ireland is tanners and you. It's a bad look. Remember, I'm deep with Irish blood. I'm deep with Irish blood, Jordan. What about Hoofie, huh? Hansom. No, but what about that backstory? Oh, sorry, yeah. I mean, that too. How about Hoofie? He's a hot son of a bitch. Yeah. He is. A tall glass of milk. He's got great facial hair, very cool, but I was, I was just, that's the thing. When you do an interview on Zoom, you can't dig deep like that. They come here, all of a sudden, there's a million things. You got

Fabiano with the facial expressions and the Fabiano, the absolute goat. The absolute goat. What a day. What a day, my friends. Thank you so very much to everyone who tuned in. Thank you to the whole team here. Everyone here. Our whole entire crew here and back home, thanks to all the guests as well. Back tomorrow.

Same time, place to say we're out here.